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and to remember the day of the month, as well as the year, on which William III landed in this country. This great event took place on the 4th of November, 1688, in Devonfhire; and the date, if a little difficult in itself, is too important to undergo any modification. This year faw the country freed from the yoke of a tyrant, who, not inftructed by the calamities of his father, perfifted in the fame criminal attempt to introduce arbitrary power, and added to it the foolish as well as nefarious defign, to bring the country again under the yoke of papal fuperftition. His defigns were baffled by the general indignation of the people, and the generous ardour of a few brave, wife, and difinterested men, who laid the plan for the deliverance of their country, and, in feating the new fovereign upon the throne, infifted upon thofe rights for the people, which were not to be invaded by him or his fucceffors with impunity. Queft. IV. What are the reflections to which the above epochs give rife?

The figning of magna charta by King John was done in the prefence of his barons, and at that time the contelt lay between monarchy and ariftocracy: the people were little thought of, or rather treated with contempt, by both parties. But in a conteft of this nature both powers muft, in fome degree, be weakened; and the fame oppreffion could not remain, as if they had been clofely united, and determined to refitt every encroachment from the lower orders. The charter, was not intended to confer a privilege upon the people, but the barons could not carry their point without fome flow of juftice; and the people gained a few points, which were ) the feeds of future liberty. As the barons had thus got the maftery of the King, it was naturally his with, and that of his fuccefiors, to reduce it as much as poflible; and thus

both parties were continually obliged to lower their refpective pri vileges, and the people gradually began to affume a degree of confequence in the affairs of state. It was, however, a long time before the ignorant multitude could underftand the nature of their claims: they were affembled under various banners, were fet to worry each other like bull dogs, and, as if devoid of reafon, they became the blind inftruments of faction, inftead of the means of adding to their own comforts, and those of both king and barons.

The mere abolition of the papal power was a great point gained, and it is a matter of no confequence that the king, who effected it, was lewd, cruel, and avaricious; that the religion he fet up was fcarcely better than what he put down; and that the people did not know, for a month together, what they were to believe, or what to difbelieve. The end intended by the king might be trifling or bafe: that intended by Providence, who makes ufe of wicked, bafe, and contemptible inftruments, was grand and noble. The great point gained was the tranflating of the bible into the language of the country, thus giving the loweft perfons an opportunity of difcovering the foundations on which their opinions refted, and correcting the prejudices in which they had been intangled by the arts of prieftcraft. But many proteftants are very little aware of this great privilege: the papal power was abolished by Hen. VIII, but new popes arofe afterwards without number; to which protellants were fo ridiculous as to refign their faith. It matters not that fubjection to the fee of Rome is deftroyed, if the proteftant retains its principle; and in the lowest meeting of this country there may be more of the fpirit of popery than under the magnificent dome of St. Peter's. Any perfon may easily tell, whether he is led away

er not by this fpirit; and by afk-
ing him felf thefe plain queftions:
From what fource are my religious
opinions derived: from the bible,
or the authority of fome church or
favourite preacher? If it is an-
fwered, from fome church

or

preacher, then the perfon is in the ftate of the papift, and the quantity of error in which he is enveloped will depend on a comparifon far more difficult and irkfome, than at once to bring the opinion to the teft of fcripture, and to receive or reject it, as it appears, on a steady and impartial perufal of that most invaluable book, to be worthy of approbation or rejection.

The revolution of 1688 gave England a conflitution far fuperior to that of any country at that day in Europe. The limits of power were not fufficiently defined; but the kingly power was no longer arbitrary. The right of parliament was acknowledged; but, unfortunately, in declaring that they hould be frequently fummoned, it was not fettled how long fhould be their duration. This error, evidently not intentional, has been the foundation of much calamity: the House of Commons reprefents a kind of peerage, and a feat for seven years removes the reprefentative too far from his conftituents, for him, from the natural caufe of humanity, to give his whole attention, as their deputy, to their interefts. The effect of this fatal error in the founders of the revolution of 1688 has been experienced at many periods; but no one could be blind to its influence in the late agitation of the public councils, where the minifters of the crown have been compelled to refign their fituations, from the combination of thofe perfons who have fufficient intereft, from well known caufes, to refit the inclination of both king and people. VOL. I.

prove the lighting of our ftreets by Quest. V. Is it poffible to imfome contrivance free from the ob jections specified to the lenfes now in ufe, and which fhall throw on the pavement the light now lost in the air?

is not practicable, from the nature To bring all the light downwards of the lamp which produces it: down. For the glafs above the but much may be thus brought level of the flame of the lamp, is of no ufe to the paffengers in the the glafs only which is below that ftreet, who receive light through level: again; a fection of the glafs nearest the houses ferves only to light the houfes, which is not refubftituted a reflecting fubstance, quifite; and if for that fection was the light that would have been thrown againft the houfes may be reflected on the street. common tin juft curved would anA piece of fwer this purpose. The space above cupied by reflecting furfaces, exthe level of the flame might be occept where vents are neceffary for the iffuing of the fmoak of the lamp; and these might be arranged backs of carriage-lamps. Thus the in a manner fimilar to thofe in the paffenger would enjoy not only the benefit of the light proceeding thro the glafs below the level of the flame, but by reflection all the light that would have gone through the glafs above the level of the flame. According to the nature of the reflecting furfaces, the greater gained: and, as they fhould be will be the quantity of light thus plain furfaces, the expence of making and adjufting them will be inconfiderable.

Quest. VI. Suppofe fifty men to hundred feet long, and to be wheeled be placed in a traight line one into a line perpendicular to the firft direction, the pivot-man remaining in his place; how many yards will they go over more than Uuu

if each man march ftraight to his laft pofition?

In the one cafe, each man, except the pivot-man, moves in the quadrant of a circle, whofe radius is his diftance from the point on which the pivot-man ftands: in the other cafe, each man describes the chord of a quadrant having the fame radius. Hence the whole space defcribed in the firft inftance is forty-nine quadrants, in the fecond forty-nine chords: but the quadrants as well as chords have different radii. But though they have different radii, both quadrants and chords will vary in length in proportion to their refpective radii, or the diftance of each man from the point on which the pivot-man ftands. The space therefore defcribed by the men who move in quadrants is eafily determined, from the rature of arithmetical progreffion, to be three thousand nine hundred and

twenty-fix feet, cleven inches; and, in the fame manner, the fum of the chords may be determined, which is three thousand five hundred and thirty-five feet, fix inches. The

difference between thefe numbers is four hundred and ninety-one feet, five inches; or a hundred and fixtythree yards, two feet, five inches: which is the ground that the men moving circularly pafs over more than they would have done i marching ftraight to their laft pofitions. The proportion of each man's march in a circular direction to his march in a ftraight line is that of 1570796 to 1414213.

QUESTIONS to be answered next

month.

Which are the most important epochs between the recting of the tent in the wilderness for the worthip of the one and only true God, and the first dedication of a temple in Jerufalem for the fame purpose ?

To what reflections do thefe epochs give rife?

Which are the most important epochs between the invafion of this

kingdom by William the Norman, and the figning of Magna Charta by King John?

To what reflections do thefe epochs give rise ?

It is faid that Dr. Olbers has difcovered a planet at the distance of three thousand and forty-feven millions of miles from the fun, about which it moves round in 211 years; that the fun would appear to us, fituated in the planet, of the fize only of a fixed star; and that the planet is three times the fize of Jupiter. Now, fuppofing that this planet is at the distance from the fun laid down, it is required to determine its periodical time; alfo of what fize the fun would appear to us if we were in the planet; and what is the proportion of heat in the planet to us on this earth, when the fun is at the fame altitude in both places?

Is there a well grounded probability that many more planets may be difcovered moving round the fun; and whence did it arise that this planet has not been feen at any other time?

THE INSPECTOR. NO. V.

Be niggards of advice on no pretence, For the worst avarice is that of fenfe. "Has language a divine origin, or did it arife from the progressive exertions of mankind?"

IT cannot, perhaps, be faid that this is a queftion of utility; but it is at least one of intereft, and one which has always excited the curiofity of every reflecting mind it has likewise directed the researches of many, capable by the ftrength of their intellectual faculties, and the ardor of their genius, of throwing fome light upon it. Yet, like every other event which is beyond the reach of demonftrative evidence, it has, even to the prefent time been confidered as problematical; and though, perhaps, the most conclufive arguments have been

adduced in fupport of its divine origin, yet many, of no contemptible authority, are inclined to a fcribe it to the progreffive exertions of mankind.

Being still without any decifive data to argue from, all that can now be done will be to proceed in our enquiry by the help of analogy and prefumptive or probable evidence; and as this kind of evidence is effentially diftinguished from demonftrative, becaufe it admits of degrees, we shall moft likely find it fufficient for the prefent purpose.

Thofe who maintain language to have been the refult of human invention, appear to me to throw a very confiderable difficulty in their own way; a difficulty which they must accede to, though perhaps they would reftrict its operation to known facts.

It is admitted, and indeed generally known, that people who are born deaf always remain dumb, . until, within thefe few years, the active philanthropy of different individuals bas difcovered means of freeing those unfortunate beings from the mifery they were doomed to*. Why, it may be afked, is this the cafe? Becaufe they have no means of acquiring language through the medium of imitation.

Now, in the first formation of man, fuppofing him not to be preternaturally endowed with the gift of fpeech, he must have been, as far as relates to the power of imitation, deaf alfo: the moft effential organ in acquiring the faculty of fpeech from others is the ear; for without it we can have no idea of founds, on which it is formed. There must have been an original, a primitive, or archetypal man, or fet of men, created before all others, and who, of courfe, if language was not imparted to them by the Crea

The reader is referred to p. 242 of the Univ. Mag., New Series, for a very inte refting article on this fubject.

tor, muft have invented it themselves. But it is difficult to conceive which way they went about it. They could not receive it from others by imitation, because no others existed who knew it; for all, like themfelves, were in a state of savagism*.

Some writers affert, that language was the confequence of refinement, produced by the fponta neous operations of the human intellect. But it may be asked, how was this intellect fufficiently refined to produce this, before the knowledge of language. Such an affertion appears to me to be perfectly ridiculous and paradoxical.

But to return to a child being born deaf, which I think, as far as relates to that calamity being an impediment to the acquifition of language, is a very juft prototype of man in his firft ftage of existence. The contemplation of this brings us directly to the fubject under confideration. Why do they remain dumb, if left to themselves?— They are in full poffeffion of all their other faculties. The organs of found neceffary for the production of fpeech are complete; they can fee trees, houfes, men, carriages, &c.; the whole vifible world lies open to their infpection; every object of vifion they can perceive with the fame accuracy as they can who are gifted with the powers of hearing and of tpeech. Yet, notwithftanding all this, they are deprived of the great diftinction between man and brute. Why do they not endeavour to form a language for themfelves? It is rational to conclude, according to those who argue that speech is of human invention, that though they would not affix the fame terms to objects as we do, yet they would have an expreffion to indicate every object they fee;

Gilbert Wakefield has fhewn, with great clearness, that alphabetical writing could not nor was not the production of man. Vide his Effay on the Origin of Alphabetical Characters."

at leaft, they would try fo to do; but it is no fuch thing. And yet they are precifely in the fame predicament as the primitive created beings thefe laft were fent into the world furrounded with a multiplicity of objects; thy faw around them every thing of nature which imagination could fuggeft; but with none of them were they nominally acquainted: they experienced all the wants which man is born to experience, but they could not exprefs them. Being, however, we muft fuppofe, at length tired of this dumb existence, they refolved to invent a language, tho' we are ftill at a lofs to conceive how they communicated that refolve to each other. However, they fet about it, and produced a vocabulary fufficient for their purpofe; but the greatest difficulty must have been to speak firft, and I will give great credit to that man, did I but know his name, who uttered the first word; for, like Lord Lovat, walking after his head was cut off, that (as Chesterfield obferved with regard to this laft) would have been the only difficulty.

A deaf child, being born so, cannot exprefs in articulate founds its perceptions and conceptions to others, because, being deprived of hearing, they are unable to acquire thofe arbitrary terms for visible things, which have been adopted by the common confent of mankind. Hence, therefore, they are precifely placed in the fame fituation as must have been thofe archetypal gentlemen, whom, we are told, invented language. The queftion, therefore, that naturally arifes is,

"Whence is it that thofe perfons who are born deaf and dumb never attempt to exprefs their fenfations arifing from the perception of vififible objects by any intelligible found, or, in fact, by any found at

all?"

For it appears reasonable to fuppofe that they would be influenced precifely in the fame manner as the inventors of language, and endeavour, at least, to form for themfelves a rude kind of fpeech, being the natural fuggeftions of perception, and intended to fland for certain objects with which they have become familiar: it would probably be a harfh and guttural utterance, varying according to the idea it was intended to convey; but yet it would be fufficient, even this folitary fact, could it be made out, would be fufficient, to authorise us to attribute the origin of language to human invention.

It may, finally, be remarked, that, if language had been of human invention, it would be reafonable to expect that words expreffing objects of vifion, especially animals, would bear fome affinity to those objects in their found, as that would be the natural progrefs of intellect among favages. But this is not the cafe, excepting fometimes with regard to the qualities of animals, which was certainly of later origin.

QUESTION to be discussed in the enJuing Number.

"Which may be deemed the happieft:------the man of intellectual refinement, or the man of uncultivated mind?"

THE BABILLARD. NO. V. Come like fhadows; fo depart! SHAKESPEARE.

· Thomas Hobbes.

IT was faid by this acute writer, that "the papacy is the ghost of the deceafed Roman empire fitting crowned upon the grave. It is a fhuttle-cock, kept up by the difference between princes.

"Ambitious men wade through the blood of other perfons to their own power.

"Words are the counters of wife men: they do but reckon them; bat

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