THE TRIFLER, dally with that which was the admira tion of their fubjects. When the Europeans first introduced locks and keys into America, the Virginian king was fo truck at the oddnefs of the phænomenon, that it was his conftantemployment, for fome time, to turn the key, and be come door-keeper to his attendants: but, when arts and fciences began to flourish more diffufely over the whole globe, they became the objects of more circumfpect attention; the folly and ignorance of preceding ages was now beginning to wear off, and there was manifeftly to be seen in every new difcovery fomething that called for enquiry, and demanded analyfis. What was dif'covered in this led to the difcovery of fomething more myfterious, and of greater confequence; till, at length, the whole body of philofophy was laid open, its contents examined, the thread of its myfteries unravelled, and its truths expofed to publick circumfpection. By this means Novelty is become more common and lefs ftriking. It must be fomething of the greatest importance, and fomething of the moft extraordinary nature; that can now excite the publick curiofity; I mean, that can affect every individual equally alike; for fashions are continually changing; manners and customs depend totally upon the fancy and whimies of court: but revolutions of this fort are not of equal moment to all ranks of people; the great alone are fubject to them, and to thefe I fhall very fparingly allude. The late rage of Ballooning, which had fpread itfelf beyond even the nations of Europe, begins now to be appealed: every fecret of the art is explored, and every principle that actuated the powers of this wonderful bubble is rendered common to the most ignorant beholder. Yet nothing at its first appearance met with fuch univerfal attention; nor was the inventor unworthily rewarded: and I am forry to remark, that fo celebrated à nursery of the arts and fciences, as that Univerfity of which I have the honour to be a member, fhould degrade itself fo far as to fuffer fuch ingenious and truly philofophic merit as that of Mr. Sadler's to lie undiftinguished by any fingle mark of esteem, or even attention. The improvement of an invention of fuch a nature, though at prefent fo imperfect, may lead to the difcovery of fomething more confiderable, efpecially when ingenuity and ambition concur in the purfuit of one grand end. For an N° IV. 309 ambition fo highly laudable as this myst be, raifes in our minds a defire, which, if it once calls for gratification, will never be refifted, nor cught we to resi a paffion which may tend to produce fuch great and ufeful fervices. In every inftance, this paffion of Novelty may eafily be proved to be not lefs useful than confiderable. Genius, however depreffed by accident or inclination, muft, at one time or other, be exerted. A ftate of indolence and folicitude can no longer be endured when once the paffions are called forth by the force of example, or the hopes of encouragement. The warbling of birds, the falling of cafcades, and all the variety of rural enjoyments, become either naufeous or totally infipid, when once the charm of Novelty has raifed our defires, and its pleafures demanded gratification. It is true that folitude and quiet are the most effectual requifites for diving into the mysteries of profound literature; but while they improve the understanding, and favour the purfuits after real knowledge, genius and taste are left at a distance behind. The man of the world, who has travelled through most of the countries in Europe, and carefully obferved the difference between their manners and customs; has ranged from tavern to tavern, from coffee-houte to coffee-houfe, and indulged himself with the gratification of every enjoyment of life, from the pomp and fplendor of St. James's to the privacy and humility of the "ftraw-built cot;" be able to temper his genius, and direct his tafte to a degree of elegance and accuracy, to which the rural enthusiast is an entire ftranger. In order, therefore, to correct the natural morosity of fuch a man's temper, and to divert the peculiarities of his manner, nothing will be found of greater efficacy than a change of place, converfation, and acquaintance. A tranfition from obfcurity to publick attention; from the fecurities of retirement to the hazards of a riotous and vitiated metropolis; from the private conviviality of a few friends to a wide world of acquaintance; from the artless melody of a nightingale to the choral dignity of an opera; from the humble employments of husbandry, or the ftudy of vegetation, to the match lefs fublimity of theatrical entertainments, or the matter and importance of political fquabbles; cannot but awake him from his lethargy, and demand his attention. He has now an opportunity may of TRIFLER, N° IV. of afcending from fpeculation to practice, from precept to example. The moralift, who has the intereft and happinefs of a few individuals at heart, muft expect the rewards and acknowledgements of a few individuals only; but he that has all mankind for his fubject, will not only be rewarded by fuch myriads of thofe to whom his labours were confecrated, hut will receive the particular diftinction of HIM, in whofe hand is the full and fole power of compenfation and applaufe. In order to profefs this latter, in any degree of perfection, a large acquaintance must be attained with the world and its foibles, which can only be done by the above tranfition and accurate obfervation; and it generally happens that this tranfition is effected merely by the averfion which moft people difcover to a tedious return of the fame pleasures, and the fame uniform method of life. At a period when letters are fought after as the grand incentative to earthly happiness, and cultivated as the moft indiffoluble cement of Society, I am happy to obferve, that a means of circulating them by an eafy and concife plan of publica tion becomes daily increased. Within the narrow bounds of a Magazine may be found, at once, information, variety, and entertainment. The generous reception with which the Gentleman's Magazine ever has, and ftill continues to be honoured, may prove the truth of this affertion; nor can the closest imitations ever hope to rival originality of defign, and a noble fpirit of execution; and I regard as a favourable omen the circumstance of having introduced myfelf to the world by means of fo extenfive and communicative a mifcellany. The warmth and spirit which has hitherto buoyed up this publication, it is to be hoped, will ftill continue to be countenanced and applauded for, in purfuit of any thing new, nothing can be too much applauded, nothing too much en couraged.-1 ball here remark an error which parents are continually guilty of, in reftraining their children from that fphere of life, which the early bent of their genius has difcovered a strong partiality for. Perhaps eight out of ten are prejudiced in favour of a travelling life; a life which the most dignified rank, and the most luxurious enjoyments, can never be compared with, either in point of pleafure or utility. To charm is in the power of every kind of life; but to charm with continuance the life of a traveller can only profefs. He is carried off in the heat of his cu riofity from the contemplation of one project, to others as different in their kind as diftant in their station. Before. one pleafure has loft its power of attrac tion, another fucceeds in its place; from from profpect to profpect, his attention court to court, from country to country, is diverted, while every fresh motion brings along with it fome new beauty, boundaries of his understanding are or confeffes fome unknown truth. The hereby extended, the bent of his genius complied with, and the ardour of his curiofity appeafed. The ftudy of arts and fciences is facilitated by a continual fucceffion of new discoveries. The fyftem of vegetation becomes more enlarged, the diftance and station of countries more determinate, and their manners and policy, more publickly underftood. In short, every pleasure that can touch the heart, and every good that can improve the mind, is to be expected only from the fulleft enjoyments of variety, and the keenest thirst of Novelty. MR. URBAN, April 3. AS, from feveral years conftant peruways found it a ftrenuous advocate for fal of your Magazine, I have alwill not be found unworthy of a place truth, I hope the following frictures in your ufeful mifcellany. That the good actions of men were written on fand, their ill deeds engraven on brais, was the cenfure our great dras matic poet paffed on the decifion of his cotemporaries, in appreciating the characters of mankind. Should this cenfure be applied to fome modern Biographers, it will be found far too fevere, The maxim is now frequently reversed; the vices of individuals are concealed under the ornaments of panegyric, and their crimes covered with the fafcinating garb of flattery. This practice at once confounds the diftinction of worth and excellence, and confers on vice the honour due to virtue, as far as the effects of fuch ill bestowed praise extends. The benevolence of philanthropy? and the warmth of friendship, fhould incline us to bear with the follies of mankind, and to forget the failings of our friends; the frailty of human nature obliges us indeed to do fo. But when once a man is configned to the filent grave, if his character or conduct be fufficiently important or exemplary to Danger of palliating the Crime of Suicide.-Remarks on Pope. 311 be prefented to publick notice, it feems juft, that nothing but the ftricteft truth hould be advanced, and that his good qualities, or his failings, if they are fpoken of, fhould be reprefented in their true light. Thefe, Mr. Urban, among many other thoughts, which I will not obtrude on you or your readers, were fuggefted by the account given of Mr. Forreft, in your Magazine (Vol. LIV. p. 877). I do not intend to fpeak of the compofition of that article, I would only remark a paffage in it, in which the cause of religion and morality feem to be interested. The writer has en deavoured, with all his invention, to remove the ftigma juftly fixed on one of the worft of crimes, Suicide, a crime, 'which, from its now too frequent commiffion, fhould be every where difcountenanced, inftead of having quod multi fecerunt et boni urged as a moral juftification of it. Indeed, I cannot help thinking, that in a moral as well as a religious view, from the moment fuch a refolution is put in execution, much of any man's former goodness is done away. Yours, &c. ALETHES. MR. URBAN, the following remarks on Pope are great and almoft fuperior merits as a moralift; but, I mean, dry as opposed to poetry addreffed to the imaginationit must give concern to every feeling reader to find fo large a portion of a valuable life given to tranflations and imitations, to the lavish abuse of his Dunciad, and the infipid innocence of his paf torals; in adopting occafional phrases from our older poets, it is curious to obferve what art Pope has fhewn in the felection; and in his imitations of paffages, what improvement he has made on his originals.-The ingenious Mr. T. Warton has before noticed his ob ligations, in this way, to Milton.-It appears from his letters that he was a reader of Crafhaw; with what attention he read him, the following inftances are fufficient to discover.-It is to be la mented, that Mr. Phillips, in his late edition of Crafhaw, has omitted the Poems upon Theological fubjects; many of his beauties, by this means, are loft and, unluckily, thofe paffages which feem more immediately to have dwelt upon the mind of Pope: furely the whole volume might have been repub lifhed with great fafety. Readers, who concern themselves with Crashaw, concern themselves with him not as a Di I worth inferion in your Magazine, vine, but as a Poet. they are much at your fervice. O fi fic omnia!- From the great merit of the Eloifa to Abelard, the Temple of Fame, part of the Windfor Foreft, and the Elegy upon an Unfortunate Lady, it is much to be regretted that Pope's mind was fo little accustomed to the fimpler beauties and diftinct imagery of our earlier models; they would have taught him a more frequent ufe of compound epithets, and, inftead of that general caft which is too much the characteristic of many of his lines, we fhould have had jufter perfonification, and imagery more appropriated, of courfe more poetry and lefs verfification-that faftidious eye of correct judgement, with which he furveyed both men and manners, feduced him from the fablings of fancy, the picturefque fcenes of animated nature, and the latent beauties of antiquity;perhaps his bodily infirmities, added to a confiderable fhare of conftitutional bile, might have had great influence in directing the purfuits of his mind; at least, by embittering it, they led him to carping, fatyr, and dry morals-abfit verbo invidia!-I would not be understood to detract from his See Crafhaw, Edit. 1670, p. 204. Defcription of a religious houfe, and condition of life (from Barclay). Pope's mind feems to have caught many hints from this when he wrote his Eloifa to Abelard. A hafty portion of prescribed fleep, CRASHAW. No roofs of gold o'er riotous tables fhining, Whole days and funs devoured with endless dining; No fails of Tyrian filk proud pavéments fweeping &c. &c. 312 Remarks on Pope's Imitations of our early Poets. Crafhaw, oddly deferibing the woods that furround the Religious House, fays, 'This is evidently fuggefted by a paffage in the Alexias, the complaint of the forfaken wife of St. Alexis, ift Elegy. graves, And fure where lovers make their watery [waves, The weeping mariner will augment the For who so hard, hut paffing by that way, Will take acquaintance of my woes, and fay, "Here 'twas the Roman Maid found a hard fate, [wand'ring mate, While through the world the fought her Here perifh'd the, poor heart! Heavens be my vows As true to me as she was to her fpoufe."CRASHAW. If thefe lines are deficient in elegance, they make it up in fentiment and fimplicity: For thee I talk to trees, with filent groves Expoftulate my woes and much wrong'd loves, Hills and relentless rocks, or if there be Things that in hardnefs more allude to thee. 2 Elegy, CRASHAW. This epithet Pope has taken : Relentless walks, whofe darkfome round contains, &c. &c, How sweat the mutual yoke of man and wife, life! When holy fires maintain love's heavenly CRASHAW, 3 Elegy, Pope, though his idea is different, has an exclamation fomewhat fimilar Oh happy ftate when fouls each other draw, When love is liberty, and nature law.Crafhaw fays moft beautifully of Hope what Pope has transferred to FaithFair Hope! our earlier Heaven, by thee Young time is tafter to eternity.— Fresh blooming Hope, gay daughter of the fky, And Faith our early immortality.—Porz. Whether Pope was a reader of the poetry of Phineas Fletcher, I know not; m his Eloifa to Abelard he has the following phrafe, which we find like wife in Fletcher : : And by his fide, fucking bis fleeting breath, His weeping fpoufe, Elifa.-FLETCHER. Where Sprazol the faints of Verrio and Languerre. is a line in Pope's Epiftles, which Dr. Warton has noticed for the peculiar felicity of the word sprawl: it is used with the fame felicity and force by Drayton, B. Warrs 6 B. XLII. where he defcribes the painted roof of the tower of Mortimer Where, as among the naked Cupids sprawl, Some at the fundry-coloured birds do fhoot, Some fwarming up to pick the purple fruit. We find a paffage in Drayton, B. Warrs 5 B. XLIII. not unlike lines from the 241 to the 244 Epift. Eloifa to Abelard. See likewife a paffage in Young's Night Thoughts, 1 Night, beginning with, 'Tis paft conjecture, all things rife in proof Drayton has the word touch, in the fame fenfe Pope has ufed it, in the Invocation to his Muse-Polyolb. Had Pope been a reader of Quarles, which poffibly, by the bye, he might have been, notwithstanding he has given him a niche in the Dunciad, he would verfe much better than Blackmore, have taught him the art of reafoning in whom Dr. Johnfon has recommended for that purpose; there is an energy lines, not to be found in any of his and compreffion in fome of Quarles' contemporaries; but, as to verfification -What could Dr. Johnfon mean by fuppofing him to ftand in need of any moral and philofophical caft in fome inftruction on that head?-There is a paffages of Quarles not unlike Pope, in 11th Meditation, Job Militant :his Effay on Man. See the whole of the Since thou art dead (Lord), grant thy fervant roome Within his breaft to build thy heart a tombe. Thefe. Mathematical Error pointed out.-Simeon.- Argentine, &c. &c. 313 MR. URBAN, April 6. A GENTLEMAN who figns himfelf EUMENES, in the Gentleman's Diary for 1783, has given a falfe anfwer to the firft Queftion, which was propofed by himself the year before. The globe will never ftop, but will roll and flide till the progreflive and rotatory motions become equal, when the friction will ceafe, and the body will continue to roll, without fliding, with an uniformly volocity, and not ftop as he fuppofes. The fame gentleman has alfo, in the Diary for this year, given an erroneous anfwer to the 15th question. As thefe folutions are both wrong in PRINCIPLE, I have, as a friend to fcience, thought it proper thus to advise the readers not to be mifled by them. For a true folution to the latter of these quftions, I refer the reader to Mr. ATWOOD's very excellent Treatife on the Principles of the rectilinear and rotatory Motion of Bodies, As a very unfair criticifm on this valuable work has been given in the Monthly Review for October laft, I propose foon to fend you fome obfervations thereon, in which I fhall examine how far the remarks of the Reviewer are juft; and endeavour to fet the merits of Mr. A's book in their proper light to the publick, that they who have not feen, or may not be able to judge of that performance, may re be induced to think unfavourably of a work fo highly deferving attention, for its many new and very ingenious ovestigations in the various parts of meGENT. MAG. April, 1786, 6 . chanics, as well as for the extreme accuracy with which he has treated what may have before been given by others. Yours, &c. Y. Z. MR. URBAN, MAY TAY not a part of the history of our Saviour's prefentation in the tem. ple be the fubject of fig. 3, in the mifcellaneous plate published in your Magazine for March (p. 217)? Simeon reciting the nunc dimittis, with the child Jefus placed upon one hand, would be characteristically delineated, as holding a palm-tree branch, which was an emblem of victory. Obfervator, at p. 219. has not mentioned in which of the churches at Coventry this ebony figure was discovered. If in a church or chantry chapel dedicated to the Virgin Mary, the conjecture above hinted will be the more probable. It is true, as remarked by your correfpondent, that not one of her attributes is difplayed upon this curious antique relic. Should, however, my furmife hold good, there will be an indirect allufion to a principal occurrence of her life. And it may be noticed, that, formerly, the festival of Candlemas Day was diftinguifhed by three denominations; viz. the Purification of the Virgin Mary-Chrift's Prefentation-and the Holyday of St, Simeon. Mafter Richard Argentine, Doctor in Phyfick, enquired after by C.N. (p.216) was fucceffively under and upper mafter of the grammar fchool in Ipfwich. His works are enumerated by bishop Tanner, in Bibliotheca Britannica, p. 48. Of Edward Grimfton I can give no information. It appears from Le Neve Faft. that Thomas Grimston, of Gonville and Caius College, ferved the office of proctor, at Cambridge, in 1592. In the Memoirs of our refpectable departed friend, Mr. Duncombe, I take the liberty of pointing out two fmall inaccuracies. When he was admitted of the Univerfity, not the late bishop Green of Lincoln, but that excellent man, that Ifraclite indeed, Mr. Caftle, afterwards dean of Hereford, was master of Benet College. At p. 188, col. 2, 1. 40, for years r. months; Mr. D. being collated to St. Andrew's, in Jan. 1757, and archbishop Herring dying on the enfuing 13th of March. P. 217, col. 1. 1. 6, for Endfield r. Lindfield. W. and D. SUM Zenne |