presenti'i> m »
Cmpclopaetita Brttaimtca:
OR, A
DICTIONARY
OF
ARTS, SCIENCES, AND MISCELLANEOUS
LITERATURE;
ENLARGED AND IMPROVED.
THE FIFTH EDITION.
jnusftcateO salt?) nearlg sir Jjunureti 3EngraWngs;.
VOL. XV.
INDOCTI DISCANT; AMENT MEMINISSE PERITI.
EDINBURGH:
Printed at the Encyclopedia Press,
FOR ARCHIBALD CONSTABLE AND COMPANY, AND THOMSON BONAR, EDINBURGH
GALE, CURTIS, AND FENNER, LONDON; AND THOMAS WILSON
AND SONS, YORK.
1815.
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Encyclopaedia Britannica.
Nice.
N I C
NicamJer "'^T* I GANDER of Colophon, a celebrated gramma-
JL ’I rian, poet, and phyfician, who lived about the
i6^th Olympiad, 140 years before Chrift, in the reign
of Attalus king of Pergamus, who overcame the Gallo-
Greeks. He lived many years in Etolia, of which
country he wrote a hiftory. He wrote alfo many other
works, of which only two are now remaining. The
one is entitled Thenaca, defcribing in verfe the acci¬
dents attending wounds made by venomous bealts, with
the proper remedies 5 the other bearing the title of
A/exipharmaca, wherein he treats poetically of poifons
and their antidotes. This Nicander is not to be con¬
founded with Nicander of Thyatira.
NICANDRA, a genus of plants belonging to the
decandna clafs •, and in the natural method ranking un¬
der the 30th order, Contorts. See Botany Index.
. NICARAGUA, a large river of South America,
m a. province of the fame name, whofe weltern extremi¬
ty lies within five miles of the South fea. It is full of
dreadful catarads, and falls at length into the North
Nicaragua, a maritime province of South Ameri¬
ca, in Mexico, bounded on the north by Honduras, on
the ealt by the North fea, on the fouth-eaft by Cofta
Rica, and on the fouth weft by the South fea; bein£
400 miles in length from eaft to weft, and 120 in
breadth from north to fouth. It is one of the moft fruit¬
ful and agreeable provinces in Mexico, and is well wa¬
tered with lakes and rivers. The air is wholefome and
temperate; and the country produces plenty of fugar,
cochineal,. and fine chocolate. One of the lakes is 200
miles m circumference, has an ifland in the middle, and
as fome fay, has a tide. Leon de Nicaragua is the ca¬
pital town. 0
NIC ARI A, an ifiand of the Archipelago, between
Samos and I me, about 50 miles in circumference. A
chain of high mountains runs through the middle, co-
vered with wood, and fupplies the country with fprings.
I he inhabitants are very poor, and of the Greek com-
mU”10.n* . The produaions of the ifiand are wheat, a
^NICASTRO1^’ fig'S’-!-10ne3[’ and Wax‘
Vtu, an ePlfcoPal town Laly, in the
kingdom of Naples, and in the Farther Calabria ; 16
nnles ^fouth of Cofenza. E. Long. 16. 21. N. Lat.
on ^iCE’an anc_Ie£t> handfome, and confiderable town
countv FranCe 3nd Ita1^ and caPJtal of a
Vr^^tL^ Wlth 3 ftr°ng Citadel>abi-
N I C
fiiop’s fee, and a fenate, which is a kind of a democra- Nice,
cy. It has been feveral times taken by the French,v~lW
and laft of all in 1792, but reftored after the treaty
of Aix-la-Chapelle. It is very agrefeably fituated, four
miles from the mouth of the river Var, 83 miles S. by
W. of Turin, and 83 E. of Aix. E. Long. 6. 22.
N. Lat. 43. 42.
Nice, a province formerly belonging to the duke of
Savoy, but now annexed to France. The inhabitants
fupply Genoa with timber for building {hips ; and car¬
ry on a trade in linen cloth, paper, oil, wine, and honey.
—“ Although the county of Nice be on this fide of the .
mountains, geographers have always confidered it as ^dTiSL
province of Italy, fince they have given to this beautiful refque De-
part of Italy the river Var for a weftern limit, which \%fcription of
alfo the boundary of the county, and flows into the fea^e County
at a league diftance from the capital. This province is°^ ^ce'
partly covered by the maritime Alps; and is bordered
on the eaft by Piedmont, and the ftates of Genoa; on
the fouth by the Mediterranean ; on the weft by the
Var ; and on the north by Dauphiny. Its length is
about 20 leagues of the country, which make about 3.6
Englifii miles ; its breadth is 10 leagues; and its popu¬
lation is about 120,coo fouls.
“ T*16 city °f Nice is the capital, and the feat of the
fenate, the biftiopric, and government. It has become,
within thefe few years, a delightful abode, by the num¬
ber of ftrangers who afiemble there in the winter, either
to re-eftablifh their health, or to enjoy the mildnefs of
the climate, and the beauty of the country, where an
unceafing verdure prefents eternal fpring.
“ The town is fituated on the fea ftiore, and is back¬
ed by a rock entirely infulated, on which was formerly
a caftle, much efteemed for its pofition ; but it was de-
ftroyed in the year 1706 by Marechal Berwick, the
garrifon being too thin to defend the extent of the
works. There is a diftinaion between the old and the
new town ; this laft is regular, the houfes are well built,
and the ftreets are wide. Its pofition is by the fide of
the fea, and it is terminated, on one fide, by a charmino-
terrace, which ferves for a promenade.
“Any perfon may live peaceably in this province,
without fear of being troubled on points of faith, pro¬
vided he conducts himfelf with decorum. The town has
three fuburbs. ift, That of St John, which conducts
to Cimier, about three leagues north from Nice, &c/
I lie promenades this way are very delightful, and’ may
be enjoyed in a carriage. 2d, That of tLe Poudriere.
A 3d,
NIC [2
N :ce, qd, That of the Croix de Marbre, or Marble Crofs.
Nicepho- 'This fuburb
is new and the Engliih almoft all lodge
‘ in it, being very near the town. The houfes are com¬
modious, facing on one fide the great road which leads
to France, and on the other a fine garden, with a pro-
fpeft of the fea. All the houfes are feparate from each
other : the company hire them for the feafon, i. e. from
October till May. Apartments may be had from 15
to 250 louis. The proprietors commonly furnilh linen,
plate, &c. There are alfo in the town very large and
commodious houfes •, as well as the new road, which is
opened from the town to the port, by cutting that part
of the rock which inclined toward the fea. The fitua-
tion is delightful, and warmeit in winter, being entire¬
ly covered from the north wind, and quite open to the
fouth.
“ The company is brilliant at Nice, and the amufe-
ments of the Carnival are, in proportion to the fize of
the town, as lively as in any of the great ones in
France. There is always an Italian opera, a concert
and malked ball, alternately } and the company play ra¬
ther high.
It is irapoflible to find a happier climate than Nice,
both for fummer and winter. Reaumur’s thermometer,
in 1781, never fell more than three degrees below the
freezing point, and that only for two days while at
Geneva it fell ten : and in the courfe of the winter of
1785 it fell only two degrees j while at Geneva it fell
15. The month of May is rarely fo fine in France as
February at Nice. The fummer is not fo hot as might
be expended. The thermometer never rifes more than
24 degrees (86° Fahren.) above temperate in the {hade j
and there is always an agreeable fea breeze from ten in
the morning till funfet, when the land breeze comes
on. There are three chains of graduated mountains,
the lafi of which confound their fummits with the Alps j
and to this triple rampart is owing the mild tempera¬
ture fo fenfibly different from that of the neighbouring
parts.
“ The cultivation of the ground is as rich as can be
defired. There are alternately rows of corn and beans,
feparated by vines attached to different fruit-trees, the
almond and the fig j fo that the earth being inceffantly
cultivated, and covered tvith trees, olive, orange, ce¬
dar, pomegranate, laurel, and myrtle, caufes the con-
ftant appearance of fpring, and forms a fine contrail
with the fummits of the Alps, in the back ground, co¬
vered with fnow.”
Nick, an ancient town of Afia, in Natolia, now cal¬
led Ifnic, with a Greek archbilhop’s fee. It is famous
for the general council affembled here in 325, which
endeavoured to fupprefs the doflrines of Arius. It was
formerly a large, populous, and well built place, and
even now is not inconfiderable. See Isnic.
NlCENE Creed, was compofed and eftablifhed, as a
proper fummary of the Chriilian faith, by the council at
Nice in 325, againft the Arlans.—It is alfo called the
Conjlantinopolitan creed, becaufe it was confirmed, with
fome few alterations, by the council of Conftantinople
in 381. See Creed.
NICEPHORUS, Gregoras, a Greek hiftorian,
was born about the clofe of the 13th century, and flou-
riflred in the 14th, under the emperors Andronicus,
John Pa-aeologus, and John Cantacuzenus. He w’as a
great favourite of the elder Andronicus, who made him
] NIC
librarian of the church of Conftantinople, and fent him Nicepho-
ambaffador to the prince of Servia. He accompanied T.rus>
this emperor in his misfortunes, and aflifted at his. 1Ct-^0^^
death ; after which he repaired to the court of the
younger Andronicus, where he feems to have been well
received ; and it is certain that, by his influence over
the Greeks, that church was prevailed on to refufe en¬
tering into any conference with the legates of Pope
John XXII. Rut in the difpute which arofe between
Barlaam and Palamos, taking the part of the former,
he maintained it zealoufly in the council that w'as held
at Conftantinople in 1351, for which he wTas caft into
prifon, and continued there till the return of John Pa-
leeologus, who releafed him *, after which he held a dif-
putation with Palamtjs, in the prefence of that emperor.
He compiled a hiftory, w'hich in 11 books contains all
that paffed from 1204, when Conftantinople was taken
by the French, to the death of Andronicus Palaeologus
the younger, in i34i«—-The beft edition of this rvork
is that of the Louvre, in Greek and Latin, in 1702.
Nicefhorks, Calijlus, a Greek hiftorian, rvho flou-
riflied in the 14th century under the emperor Androni¬
cus Pakeologus the elder, wrote an ecclefiaftical hiftory
in 23 books $ 18 of which are ftill extant, containing
the tranfaftions of the church from the birth of Chrift
to the death of the emperor Phocas in 610.—We have
nothing elfe but the arguments of the other five books,
from the commencement of the reign of the emperor
Heraclius, to the end of that of Leo the Philofopher,
who died in the year 911. Nicephorus dedicated his
hiftory to Andronicus Palaeologus the elder. It was
tranflated into Latin by John Langius } and has gone
through feveral editions, the beft of which is that of
Paris, in 1630.
NICERON, John Francis, a French philofopher,
was born at Paris in 1613. Having finiftied his acade¬
mical ftudies, with a fuccefs which raifed the greateft
hopes of him, he entered into the order of the Minims,
and took the habit in 1632 j and, as is ufual, he chan-
fed the name given him at his baptifm for that of
'rancis, the name of his paternal uncle, who was alfo
a Minim, or Francifcan. The inclination and tafte
which he had for mathematics appeared early. He be¬
gan to apply himfelf to that fcience in his philofophical
ftudies, and devoted to it all the time he could fpare
from his other employments, after he had completed his
ftudies in theology. All the branches of the mathema¬
tics, however, did not equally engage his attention ; he
confined himfelf particularly to optics, and only learned
of the reft as much as was neceffary for rendering him
perfeft in this. There remain ftill, in feveral houfes
wherein he dwelt, efpecially at Paris, fome excellent
performances, which difeover his {kill in this way, and
which make us regret that a longer life did not fuffer
him to carry it to that perfection which he defired }
finee one cannot help being furprifed that he proceeded
fo far as he did, in the midft of thofe occupations and
travels by which he was forced from it during the
ftiort fpace of time which he lived. He hath hhnfelf
obferved in the preface to his Thnumaturgus Opticus,
that he went twice to Rome ; and that, on his return
home, he was appointed teacher of theology. He was
afterwards chofen to accompany Father Francis de la
None, vicar general of the order, in his vifitation of
the convents throughout all France. Eut the eagernefs
NIC
[ 3 ]
Niceron. of his paflion for ftndy put him upon making the oeft of
1 * -v " L‘ all the moments he had to fpare for books: and that
wife economy furnifhed him with as much as iatisfied
him. Being taken fick at Aix in' Provence, he^ died
there Sept. 22. 1646, aged 33. He was an intimate
acquaintance of L)es Cartes. The following aie his
principal works : VInterpretation des chifres, ou regies
pour bien entendre et exphquer facilement toutes fortes
des chiffres Jimples, &cc. 2. La perfpeElive cuiieufe, ou
magie artificielle des effete merveilleux de l optique, cat-
cptrique, et dioptnque. This is only an eflfay to the fol¬
lowing work: 3• l haumaturgus opticus^ jive^ Adnw anda
opt ices, catoptrices, et dioptrices, pars prima, &c. 1 wo
other parts were intended to complete the latter work,
but were unfinilhed at his death.
Niceron, John Peter, fo much celebrated on ac¬
count of his Memoirs of Men illuftrious in the Republic
of letters, was born at Paris March 11. 1685. He was
of an ancient and noble family, who were in very high
repute about 1540. He fludied with fuccefs in the
Mazarine college at Paris, and afterwards at the college
Du Pleffis. In a fliort time, refolving to forfake the
world, he confulted one of his uncles who belonged to
the order of Barnabite Jefuits. This uncle examined
him •, and not diffident of his ele&ion, introduced him
as a probationer to that fociety at Paris.—He wras re¬
ceived there in 1702, took the habit in 1703, and made
his vows in 1704, at the age of 19.
After he had profefied himfelf, he was fent to Mont¬
arges, to go through a courfe of philofophy and theo¬
logy *, thence he went to Loches in Touraine to teach
thofe fciences. He received the priefthood at Poitiers
in 1 708. As he was not arrived at the age to aflume
this order, a difpenfation, rvhich his uncommon piety
had merited, was obtained in his favour. The college
#f Montarges having recalled him, he was their pro-
feffor of rhetoric two years, and of philofophy four.— In
fpite of all thefe avocations, he was humanely attentive
to every call and work of charity, and to the inllruc-
tion of his fellow creatures, many of whom heard him
deliver out fit rules of conduft for them, not only from
the pulpits of moft of the churches within the province,
but even from thofe of Paris.—In 1716, his fuperiors
invited him to that city, that he might have an oppor¬
tunity of following, with the more convenience, thofe
Rudies for which he always had expreffed the greateft
inclination. He not only underftood the ancient but
the modern languages j a circumftance of infinite advan¬
tage in the compofition of thofe works which he has
given to the public, and which he carried on with great
affiduxty to the time of his death, which happened, after
a ffiort illnefs, July 8. 1738, at the age of 53.. His
works are, 1. Le grand Febrifuge ; or, a Diflertation to
prove that common water is the beft remedy in fevers,
and even in the plague ; tranllated from the Englifh of
John Hancock minifter of St Margaret’s, London 5 in
12mo. This little treatife made its appearance, amongft
other pieces relating to this fubjeft, in 1720 j and was
attended with a fuccefs which carried it through three
editions-, the laft came out in 1730, in 2 vols. i2mo,
entitled, A Treatife on Common Water ; Paris, print¬
ed by Cavelier. 2. The Voyages of John Ouvington to
Surat, and divers parts of Afia and Africa, containing
the hiftory of the revolution in the kingdom of Gol-
conda, and fome obfervations upon fxlk worms j Paris,
N I C
1725, 2 vols. l2tno- 3. The Converfion of England Nitron
to Chrifiianity, compared with its pretended Reforma-
tion, a Work tranflated from the Engliffi j Paris 1 729, __—y—
8vo. 4. The Natural Hiftory of the Earth, tranflated
from the Englith of Mr Woodward, by M. Nogues,
doflor in phyiic} with an anfwer to the objedtions of
Dr* Camerarius ; containing alio feveral letters written
on the fame fubjecl, and a methodical diftribution of
foffils, tranflated from the Engliffi by Niceron j Paris,
1735, 410. 5. Memoirs of Men illuftrious in the Re¬
public of Letters, with a critical account of their works.}
Paris, i2mo. The firft volume of this great work ap¬
peared in 1727 } the others were given to the public in
fucceflion, as far as the 39th, which appeared in 1738.
The 40th volume was publiffied after the death of the
author, in 1739.
, NICETAS, David, a Greek hiftorian, a native, as
fome relate, of Paphlagonia, who lived about the end
of the 9th centtry. He wrote The Life of St Ignatius,
patriarch of Conftantinople, which was tranflated into
Latin by Frederic Mutius biffiop of lermoli: he com-
pofed alfo feveral panegyrics in honour of the apoftles
and other faints, which are inferted in the laft continua¬
tion of the Bibliotheca Patrum by Combefis.
Nicetas, furnamed Serron, deacon of the church
of Conftantinople, cotemporary with Theophylaft in the
IKh century, and afterwards biffiop of Heraclea, wrote
a Catena upon the book of Job, compiled from pafiages
of feveral of the fathers, which was printed at London
in folio, 1637. We have alfo, by the fame writer,
feveral catemc upon the Pfalms and Canticles, Bafil,
1552 ? together with a Commentary on the poems of
Gregory Nazianzen.
Nicetas, Arhominates, a Greek hiftorian of the
13th century, called Coniates, as being born at Chone,
or Coloffus, in Phrygia. He was employed m feveral
confiderable affairs at the court of Conftantinople} and
when that city was taken by the French in 1 204, he
withdrew, with a young girl taken from the enemy, to
Nice in Bithynia, where he married his captive, and
died in 1206. He wrote a Hiftory, or Annals, from
the death of Alexius Comnenus in the year 1118, to
that of Badouin in 12055 of which xvork we have a
Latin tranflation by Jerome Wolfius, printed at Bafil in
1 357 } and it has been inferted in the body of the By¬
zantine Hiftorians, printed in France at the Louvre.
NICHE, in ArchiteBure, a hollow funk into a wall,
for the commodious and agreeable placing of a ftatue.
The word comes from the Italian nechia, “ fea-fhell}”
in regard the ftatue is here enclofed in a ffiell, or per¬
haps on account of the ffiell wherewith the tops of fome
of them are adorned.
NICHOLLS, Dr Frank, phyfician and anatomift,
was born in London in the year 1699. His father was
a barrifter at law } and both his parents were of good
families in Cornwall. After receiving the firft rudi¬
ments of his education at a private fchool in the coun¬
try, where his docility and fweetnefs of temper endeared
him equally to his mafter and his fchool fellows, Frank
was in a few years removed to Weftminfter, and from
thence to Oxford, where he was admitted a commoner
(or fojourner) of Exeter college, under the tuition of
Mr John Haviland, on March 4. 1714. There he ap¬
plied himfelf diligently to all the ufual academical ftu-
dies, but particularly to natural philofophy and polite
A 2 literature.
NIC [ 4 ] NIC
Nkholls. literature, of winch the fruits were mofl conf|)icuous in
v his fubfequent lectures on phyfiology. After reading a
few books on anatomy, in order to perfedt himfelf in the
nomenclature of the animal parts then adopted, he en¬
gaged in diiTeftions, and then demoted himfelf to the
itudy of nature, perfeftly free and unbiaffed by the opi¬
nions of others.
On his being chofen reader of anatomy in that uni-
verfity, he employed his utmoft attention to elevate and
illuitrate a fcience which had there been long deprefled
and negle&ed ; and by quitting the beaten track of
former ledturers, and minutely invelligating the texture
of every bowel, the nature and order of every velfel,
&c. he gained a high and juft reputation. He did not
then refide at Oxford j but when he had finiftied his
ledtures, ufed to repair to London, the place of his
abode, where he had determined to fettle. He had
once an intention of fixing in Cornwall, and for a fhort
time pradtifed there with great reputation ; but being
foon tired of the fatigues attendant on that profefiion in
the country, he returned to London, bringing back
with him a great infight, acquired by diligent obferva-
tion, into the nature of the miliary fever, which was
attended with the moft falutary effedts in his fubfequent
pradlice at London.
About this time he refolved to vifit the continent,
partly with a view of acquiring the knowledge of men,
manners, and languages ; but chiefly to acquaint him¬
felf with the opinions of foreign naturalifts on his favou¬
rite ftudy. At Paris, by converfing freely with the
learned, he foon recommended himfelf to their notice
and efteem. Winflow’s was the only good fyftem of
phyfiology at that time known in France, and Morgag¬
ni’s and Santorini’s of Venice in Italy, which Dr Ni-
cholls likewife foon after vifited. On his return to
England, he repeated his phyfiological ledfures in Lon¬
don, which were much frequented, not only by ftu-
dents from both the univerfities, but alfo by many fur-
geons, apothecaries, and others. Soon after, his new
and fuccefsful treatment of the miliary fever, then very
prevalent in the fouthern parts of England, added much
to his reputation. In 1725, at a meeting of the Royal
Society, he gave his opinion on the nature of aneurifms,
in which he diflented from Dr Freind in his Hiftory of
Phyfic.
At the beginning of the year 1728, he was chofen a
fellow of the Royal Society, to which he afterwards
communicated the defcription of an uncommon diforder
(publifhed in the Tranfadtions), viz. a polypus, refem-
bling a branch of the pulmonary vein (for which Tul-
pius has ftrangely miftaken it), coughed up by an afth-
rnatic perfon. He alfo made obfervations (in the fame
volume of the Tranfadfions) on a treatife, by M. Helve-
tius of Paris, on the lungs. Towards the end of the
year 1729, he took the degree of dodlor of phyfic at
Oxford. At his return to London, he underwent an
examination by the prefident and cenfors of the College
of Phyficians, previous to his being admitted a candi¬
date, which every pradHtioner muft be a year before he
can apply to be chofen a fellow. Dr Nicholls was cho-
len into the college on June 26. 1732 ; and two years
after, being chofen Gulftonian reader of Pathology, he
made the ftrudture of the heart, and the circulation of
the blood, the fubjedt of his ledfures. In 1736, at the
requeft of the prefident, he again read the Gulftonian
ledture j taking for his fubjedt thofe parts of the human
body which ferve for the fecretion and difcharge of the
urine ; and the caufes, fymptoms, and cure of the dif-
eafes occafioned by the ftone. In 1739, he delivered
the anniverfary Harveian oration. In 1743, he mar¬
ried Elizabeth, youngeft daughter of the celebrated Dr
Mead, by whom he had five children, two of whom
died young. Two fons and a daughter furvived him.
In 1748, Dr Nicholls undertook the office of chirurgi-
cal ledturer, beginning with a learned and elegant dif-
fertation on the Ammo, Medico. About this time, on
the death of Dr John Cuningham, one of the eledts of
the college, Dr Abraham Hall was chofen to fucceed
him in preference to our author, who was his fenior,
without any apparent reafon. With a juft refentment, he
immediately refigned the office of chirurgical ledfurer,
and never after attended the meetings of the fellows,
except when bufinefs of the utmoft importance wTas in
agitation.
I7Jr» lie took fome revenge in an anonymous
pamphlet, entitled “ The petition of the Unborn Babes
to the Cenfors of the Royal College of Phyficians of
London) in which Dr Nelbit (Focus), Dr Maule
(Mau'us). Dr Barrowby (Barebone), principally, and
Sir William Brown, Sir Edward Hulfe, and the Scots
incidentally, are the objedts of his fatire.
I753> on tl16 death of Sir Hans Sloane, Bart, in
his 94th year, Dr Nicholls was appointed to fucceed
him as one of the king’s phyficians, and held that office
till the death of his royal mafter in 1 760 $ when this
moft Ikilful phyfician was fuperfeded with fomething
like the offer of a penfion, which he rejedted with dif-
dain.
I he caufes, &c. of the uncommon diforder of which
the late king died, viz. a rupture of the right ventricle
of the heart, our author explained in a letter to the
earl of Macclesfield, prefident of the Royal Society,
which was publilhed in the Philofophical Tranfadtions,
vol. 1.
In 1772, to a fecond edition of his treatife De Anima
Medico, he added a differtation De motu csrdis et fan-
guinis in homine naio et non nato, infcribed to his learn¬
ed friend and coadjutor the late Dr Lawrence.
Fired at length of London, and alfo defirous of fu-
perintending the education of his fon, he removed to
Oxford, where he had fpent moft agreeably fome years
in his youth. But when the ftudy of the law recalled
Mr Nicholls to London, he took a houfe at Epfom,
where he paffed the remainder of his life in a literary
retirement, not inattentive to natural philofophy, efpe-
cially the cultivation of grain, and the improvement of'
barren foils, and contemplating alfo with admiration the
internal nature of plants, as taught by Linnaeus.
His conftitution never was robuft. In his youth,
at Oxford, he was with difficulty recovered from a
dangerous fever by the fkill of Doflors Frampton and
Frewen ; and afterwards at London he had frequently
been affli&ed with a catarrh, and an inveterate afth-
matic cough, which, returning with great violence at
the beginning of the year 1778, deprived the world of
this valuable man on January 7th, in the 80th year of
his age.
Dr Lawrence, formerly prefident of the college of
phyficians, who gratefully afcribcd all his phyfiological
and medical knowledge to his precepts, and who, while
he
Nicholls.
 '
NIC [ 5 ] NIC
Nicliolls he lived, loved him as a brother, and revered him as a
. II parent, two years after printed, and gave to his friends,
jJicobar. ^ few COpies of an elegant Latin Life of Dr Nieholls
(with his head prefixed, a ftriking likenefs, engraved
by Hall from a model of Goflet, 1779) j from which,
through the medium of the Gentleman’s Magazine, the
above particulars are chiefly extradled.
NICIAS, a celebrated painter of Athens, flourilhed
about 322 years before the Chriftian era j and was uni-
verfally extolled for the great variety and noble choice of
his fubjects, the force and relievo of his figures, his fkill
in the ditlribution of the lights and (hades, and his dex¬
terity in reprefenting all forts of four-footed animals, be¬
yond any mailer of his time. His moll celebrated piece
was that of Tartarus or Hell, as it is defcribed by Ho¬
mer, for which King Ptolemy the fon of Lagus oft'ered
him 60 talents, or 11,250!. which he refufed, and ge-
neroully prefented it to his own country. He was much
efteemed likewife by all his cotemporaries for his excel¬
lent talent in fculpture.
NICKEL, a metallic fubftance ; for the nature of
which, fee Chemistry Index; and for an account of
its ores, fee Mineralogy Index.
NICOBAR ISLANDS, the name of feveral iflands in
Afia, lying at the entrance of the gulf of Bengal. The
largeft of thefe iflands is about 40 miles long and 15
broad, and the inhabitants are faid to be a harmlefs fort
of people, ready to fupply the ftrips that flop there with
provifions. The fouth end of the great Nicobar is pla¬
ced in eaft longitude 940 23' 30" \ and we collefl from
Mr Rennel’s Memoir, that it is within the 12th degree
of north latitude.
Of the northernmoft ifland, which is called Carnico-
bar, we have, in the fecond volume of the Afiatic Re-
fearches, fome interefting information refpefting both
the produce and natural hiftory of the country, and the
manners of its inhabitants. The author of the memoir
is Mr G. Hamilton, who, in his account of this ifland,
fays, “ It is low, of a round figure, about 40 miles in
circumference, and appears at a diftance as if entirely
covered with trees : however, there are feveral well
cleared and delightful fpots upon it. The foil is a black
kind of clay, and marlhy. It produces in great abun¬
dance, and with little care, molt of the tropical fruits,
fuch as pine apples, plantains, papayes, cocoa-nuts, and
areca-nuts ; alfo excellent yams, and a root called cachu.
The only four-footed animals upon the ifland are, hogs,
dogs, large rats, and an animal of the lizard kind, but
large, called by the natives tolonqui; thefe frequently
carry off fowls and chickens. The only kind of poul¬
try are hens, and thofe not in great plenty. There are
abundance of fnakes of many different kinds, and the
inhabitants frequently die of their bites. The timber
upon the ifland is of many forts, in great plenty, and
fome of it remarkably large, affording excellent mate¬
rials for building or repairing (hips.
“ 1 he natives are low in llature, but very well made,
and furprifingly aftive and ftrong ; they are copper-co¬
loured, .and their features have a call of the Malay,
quite the reverfe of elegant. The women in particular
are extremely ugly.. The men cut their hair fhort, and
the women have their heads fliaved quite bare, and wear
no covering but a Ihort petticoat, made of a fort of rulh
or dry grafs, which reaches half way down the thigh.
I his grafs is not interwoven,, but hangs round the per-
I
fon fomething like the thatching of a houfe. Such of
them as have received prefents of cloth petticoats from
the {hips, commonly tie them round immediately under
the arms. The men wear nothing but a narrow {trip of
cloth about the middle, in which they wrap up their pri¬
vities fo tight that there hardly is any appearance of
them. The ears of both fexes are pierced when young j
and by fqueezing into the holes large plugs of wood, or
hanging heavy weights of fliells, they contrive to ren¬
der them wide, and difagreeable to look at. They are
naturally dilpofed to be good humoured and gay, and
are very tond of fitting at table with Europeans, where
they eat every thing that is fet before them ; and they
eat moll enormoully. They do not care much for wine,
but will drink bumpers ©f ai'ack as long as they can fee.
A great part of their time is fpent in feafting and dan¬
cing. W hen a fealt is held at any village, every one
that choofes goes uninvited, for they are utter fl rangers
to ceremony. At thofe featls they eat immenfe quanti¬
ties of pork, which is their favourite food. Their hogs
are remarkably fat, being fed upon the cocoa-nut ker¬
nel and fea water ; indeed all their domeftic animals,
fowls, dogs, &c. are fed upon the fame. They have
likewife plenty of fmall fea filh, which they ftrike very
dexteroufly with lances, wading into the fea about knee
deep. They are fure of killing a very fmall filh at 10
or 12 yards diltance. • 'l hey eat the pork almoft raw,
giving it only a hafty grill over a quick fire. They
roaft a fowl, by running a piece of wood through it, by
way of fpit, and holding it over a brilk fire until the
feathers are burnt off, when it is ready for eating, in
their tafte. They never drink water ; only cocoa-nut
milk, and a liquor called /oura which oozes from the
cocoa-nut tree after cutting off the young fprouts or
flowers. This they fuffer to ferment before it be ufed,
and then it is intoxicating ; to which quality they add
much by their method of drinking it, by fucking it
flowly through a fmall ftraw. After eating, the young
men and women, who are fancifully dreffed with leaves,
go to dancing, and the old people furround them fmok-
ing tobacco and drinking /oura. The dancers, while
performing, fing fome of their tunes, which are far
from wanting harmony, and to which they keep exa&
time. Of mufical inftruments they have only one kind,
and that the fimpleft. It is a hollow bamboo about two
feet and a half long and three inches in diameter, along
the outfide of which there is ftretched from end to end
a Angle firing made of the threads of a fplit cane, and
the place under the firing is hollowed a little to prevent
it from touching. This inftrument is played upon in
the fame manner as a guitar. It is capable of produ¬
cing but few notes •, the performer, however, makes it
fpeak harmonioufly, and generally accompanies it with
the voice.
“ Their houfes are generally built upon the beach,
in villages of 15 or 20 houfes each ; and each houfe
contains a family of 20 perfons and upwards. Thefe
habitations are raifed upon wooden pillars about 10 feet
from the ground ; they are round, and, having no win¬
dows, are like bee-hives, covered with thatch. The.
entry is through a trap door below, where the family
mount by a ladder, which is drawn up at night. This
manner of building is intended to fecure the houfes from
being infefted with fnakes and rats j and for that pur-
pofe the pillars are bound round with a fmooth kind of .
leaf, j
Nicobar.
NIC [ 6 ] NIC
Nicobar. leaf5 •nObich prevents animals from being able to mount :
'v befides which, each pillar has a broad round flat piece
of wood near the top of it, the projecting of which ef¬
fectually prevents the further progrefs of fuch vermine
as may have paffed the leaf. The flooring is made
with thin ftrips of bamboos, laid at fuch diftances from
one another as to leave free admifllon for light and air ;
and the irifide is neatly finiflied and decorated with tith¬
ing lances, nets, &c.
“ The art of making cloth of any kind is quite un¬
known to the inhabitants of this ifland ; what they
have is got from the thips that come to trade in cocoa-
nuts.
“ They purchafe a much larger quantity of cloth
than is confumed upon their own ifland. This is in¬
tended for the Choury market. Choury is a fmall ifland
to the fouthward of theirs, to which a large fleet of
their boats fails every year about the month of Novem¬
ber, to exchange cloth for canoes j for they cannot
make thefe themfelves. This voyage they perform by
the help of the fun and ftars, for they know nothing of
the compafs.
“ In their difpofition there are two remarkable qua¬
lities. One is their entire negleCt of compliment and
ceremony 5 and the other, their averfion to diflionelty.
A Carnicobarian travelling to a diftant village, upon
bufinefs or amufement, paffes through many towns in
his way without fpeaking to any one ; if he is hungry
or tired, he goes into the nearefl: houfe, and helps him-
felf to what he wants, and fits till he is refted, without
taking the fmalleft notice of any of the family unlefs
he has bufinefs or news to communicate. Theft or
robbery is fo very rare amongft them, that a man going
out of his houfe never takes away his ladder or fhuts
his door, but leaves it open for any body to enter that
pleafes without the leaf! apprehenfion of having any
thing ftolen from him.
“ Their intercourfe with flrangers is fo frequent, that
they have acquired in general the barbarous Portuguefe
fo common over India 5 their own language has a found
quite different from moft others, their words being pro¬
nounced with a kind of flop, or catch in the throat, at
every fyllable.
“ They have no notion of a God, but they believe
firmly in the devil, and worfhip him from fear. In
every village there is a high pole ereCted with long
firings of ground rattans hanging from it, which, it
is faid, has the virtue to keep him at a diflance. When
they fee any figns of an approaching ftorm, they ima¬
gine that the devil intends them a vifit, upon which
many fuperftitious ceremonies are performed. The
people of every village march round their own boun¬
daries, and fix up at different diftances fmall fticks
fplit at the top, into which fplit they put a piece of
cocoa nut, a whifp of tobacco, and the leaf of a cer¬
tain plant •, whether this is meant as a peace offering
to the devil or a fcarecrow to frighten him away, does
not appear.
“ When a man dies, all his live ftock, cloth, hatchets,
fifhing lances, and in fhort every moveable thing he
poffeffed, is buried with him, and his death is mourn¬
ed by the whole village. In one view this is an excel¬
lent cuftom, feeing it prevents all difputes about the
property of the deceafed amongft his relations. His wife
mull conform to cuftom by having a joint cut off from
2
one of her fingers* and if Ihe refufes this, fin* mull
fubmit to have a deep notch cut in one of the pillars
of her houfe.
“ I was once prefent at the funeral of an old woman.
When we went into the houfe which had belonged
to the deceafed, we found it full of her female rela¬
tions ; fome of them were employed in wrapping, up
the corpfe in leaves and cloth, and others tearing to
pieces all the cloth Which had belonged to her. In
another houfe hard by, the men of the village with
a great many others from the neighbouring towns,
were fitting drinking fuut'a and fmoking tobacco. In
the mean time two flout young fellows were bufy
digging a grave in the fand near the houfe. When
the women had done with the corpfe, they fet up a
moft hideous howl, upon which the people began to
affemble round the grave, and four men went up into
the houfe to bring down the body 5 in doing this
they were much interrupted by a young man, fon to
the deceafed, who endeavoured with all his might to
prevent them ; hut finding it in vain, he clung round
the body, and was carried to the grave along with
it: there, after a violent ftruggle, he was turned
away and conducted back to the houfe. The corpfe
being now put into the grave, and the lafhings which
bound the legs and arms cut, all the live ftock which
had been the property of the deceafed, confifting of
about half a dozen hogs, and as many fowls, was
killed, and flung in above it j a man then approached
with a bunch of leaves ftuck upon the end of a pole,
which he fwept two or three times gently along the
corpfe, and then the grave was filled up. During
the ceremony, the women continued to make the
moft horrible vocal concert imaginable : the men faid
nothing. A few days afterwards, a kind of monu¬
ment was erected over the grave, with a pole upon it,
to which long ftrips of cloth of different colours were
hung.
“ Polygamy is not known among them j and their
punilhment of adultery is not lefs fevere than effectual.
They cut, from the man’s offending member, a piece
of the forelkin proportioned to the frequent com mi f-
fion or enormity of the crime.
“ There feems to fubfift among them a perfect equa¬
lity. A few perfons, from their age, have a little
more refpeft paid to them j but there is no appear¬
ance of authority one over another. Their fociety
feems bound rather by mutual obligations continually
conferred and received ; the fimpleft and heft of all
ties.”
It is our wifti to take all opportunities of laying
before our readers every authentic fa£t which can
throw light upon the philofophy of the human mind.
In this narrative of Mr Hamilton’s refpefting the na¬
tives of Carnicobar, there is however one circumftance
at which we ftumble. It is known to the learned,
that the philofophers of Greece and Rome, as well as
the magi of Perfia, admitted two felf-exiftent beings, a
good and an evil (fee Polytheism) ; but we never
before read of any people who had no notion of a
God, and yet firmly believed in the devil. We could
give inftances of men worfliipping the evil principle
from fear, and neglecting the worfliip of the benevo¬
lent principle from a perfuafion that he would do them
all the good in his power without being bribed by fa-
crifices
Nicobar.
1
NIC [ 7 3 NIG
JsTicobar. orifices and oblations ; but this is the only mftance of
mm—if— which we have ever heard, of a people, under the in¬
fluence of religion, who had no notion of a God. As
good is at leaft as apparent in the world as evil, it ap¬
pears to us fo very unnatural to admit an evil and de¬
ny a good principle, that we cannot help thinking that
Mr Hamilton, from his ignorance of the language of
Carnicobar, (which he acknowledges to be dift'erent
from moft others), has not a perfeft acquaintance with
the religious creed of the natives : and that they be¬
lieve in a good as well as in an evil principle, though
they worlhip only the latter, from a perfuafion, that to
adore the former could be of no advantage either to him
or to themfelves.
Nancowry or Soury, and Comerty, two other of the
Nicobar iflands, are faid to be the belt peopled, con¬
taining not lefs than 800 inhabitants. Between thefe
iflands there is a fafe and fpacious harbour. On the
north point of Nancowry, within the harbour, the
Danes have long retained a fmall fettlement, protected
by a fergeant and a few foldiers and flaves.
NICODEMUS, a difciple of Jefus Chrift, a Jew
by nation, and by feft a Pharifee (John iii. 1. &c.)
The Scripture calls him a ruler of the Jews, and our
Saviour gives him the name of a mailer of Ifrael.
When our Saviour began to manifell himfelf by his
miracles at Jerufalem, at the firft paffover that he ce¬
lebrated there after his baptifm, Nicodemus made no
doubt but that he was the Mefliah, and came to him
by night, that he might learn of him the way of fal-
vation. Jefus told him, that no one could fee the
kingdom of heaven except he Ihould be born again.
Nicodemus taking this in the literal fenfe, made an-
fwer, “ How can a man that is old be born again ? Can
he enter the fecond time into his mother’s womb ?” To
which Jefus replied, “ If a man be not born of water
and of the fpirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of
God. That which is born of the flelh is flefli, and
that which is born of the fpirit is fpirit.” Nieodemus
alks him, “ How can thefe things be ?” Jefus an-
fwered, “ Are you a mailer of Ifrael, and are you ig¬
norant of thefe things ? We tell you what we know,
and you receive not our teftimony. If you believe
not common things, and which may be called earthly,
how will you believe me if I fpeak to you of heavenly
things ? Nobody has afcended into heaven but the Son
of God, who came down from thence. And jull as
Mofes lifted up the brazen ferpent in the wildernefs, lb
mull the Son of Man be lifted up on high. For God
fo loved the world that he has given his only Son, fo
that no man who believes in him lhall perilh, but fliall
have eternal life.”
After this converfation Nicodemus became a difci¬
ple of Jefus Chrilt 5 and there is no doubt to be made,
but he came to hear him as often as our Saviour came
to Jerufalem. It happened on a time, that the priefts
and Pharifees had fent officers to feize Jefus (John vii.
45. See.), who returning to them, made their report,
that never man fpoke as he did •, to which the Pharifees
replied, “ Are you alfo of his difciples ? Is there any
one of the elders or Pharifees that have believed in
him ?” Then Nicodemus thought himfelf obliged to
make anfwer, faying, “ Does the law permit us to con¬
demn any one before he is heard ?” To which they re¬
plied, “ Are you alfo a Galilean ? Read the Scrip¬
tures, and you will find that never any prophet came Nicodemus
out of Galilee.” After this the council was difmifled. . W
At lalt Nicodemus declared himfelf openly a difciple of )]ic&l:^c-eS;
Jefus Chrift (7r/. xix. 39, 40.), when he came with Jo-
feph of Arimathea to pay the laft duties to the body of
Chrift, which they took down from the crofs, embalmed,
and laid in a fepulchre.
We are told, that Nicodemus received baptifm from
the difciples of Chrift } but it is not mentioned whe¬
ther before or after the paffion of our Lord. It is
added, that the Jews being informed of this, depofed
him from his dignity of fenator, excommunicated him,
and drove him from Jerufalem : but that Gamaliel,
who was his coufin-german, took him to his country
houfe, and maintained him there till his death, when
he had him buried honourably near St Stephen. There
is ftill extant an apocryphal gofpel under the name of
Nicodemus, which in fome manuferipts bears the title
of the Adis of Pilate.
NICOLAITANS, in church hiftory, Chriftian he¬
retics, who aflumed this name from Nicholas of An¬
tioch ; who, being a Gentile by birth, firft embraced
Judaifm and then Chriftianity \ when his zeal and de¬
votion recommended him to the church of Jerufalem,
by whom he wras chofen one of the firft deacons. Many
of the primitive writers believe that Nicholas was ra¬
ther the occafion than the author of the infamous prac¬
tices of thofe who aflumed his name, who wrere exprefsly
condemned by the Spirit of God himfelf, Rev. ii. 6.
And indeed their opinions and aftions were highly ex¬
travagant and criminal. They allowed a community
of wives, and made no diftindlion between ordinary
meats and thofe offered to idols. According to Eufe-
bius, they fubfifted but a ffiort time $ but Tertullian fays
that they only changed their name, and that their here-
fies palled into the fedl of the Cainites.
NICOLAS, St, an ifland of the Atlantic ocean, and
one of the moft confiderable of thofe of Cape Verd, ly¬
ing between Santa Lucia and St Jago. It is of a trian¬
gular figure, and about 75 miles in length. The land is
ftony, mountainous, and barren ; there are a great many
goats in a valley inhabited by the Portuguefe. W. Long.
33- 35- N. Lat. 17. o.
NICOLO, St, the moft confiderable, ftrongeft, and
bell peopled of the ifles of Tremeti in the gulf of Ve¬
nice, to the call of St Domino, and to the fouth of Cap-
parata. It has a harbour defended by feveral towers j
and a fortrefs, in which is an abbey, with a very hand-
fome church. E. Long. 15. 37. N. Lat. 42. 10.
NICOMEDES, the name of feveral kings of the
ancient Bithynia. See Bithynia.
Nicodemes I. had no fooner taken poffeffion of his
father’s throne, before Chrift 270, than, according to
the cuftom which has in all ages been too prevalent
among the defpots of the call, he caufed two of his
brothers to be put to death. The youngefl, Ziboeas,
having faved himfelf by timely flight, feized on the
coaft of Bithynia, which was then known by the names
of Thracia Thyniccia, and Thracia Afiatica, and there
maintained a long war with his brother. Nicomedes
being informed that Antiochus Soter, king of Syria,
was making great prt parations to attack him at the
fame time, called in the Gauls to his affiftance 5 and
on this occafion that people firft pafied into Alia.—
Nicomedes _..ving with their affiftance repulled Antio-
NIC [
Nlcomedes. chus, overcome his brother, and acquired the poffef-
v fion of all his father’s dominions, beftowed upon them
that part of Alia Minor which from them was called
Gal/o-Grtecia, and Gallatia. Having now no enemies
to contend with, he applied himfelf to the enlarging
and adorning of the city of Aftacus, which he called
after his own name Ntcomedia. He had two wives,
and by one of them he was perfuaded to leave his
kingdom to her fon, in preference to his elder bro¬
thers j but when or how he died is not certainly
known.
NicoMEDES II. the grandfon of the former, began
his reign like him, by facrificing his brothers to his
jealoufy, after having waded to the throne in the blood
of Prufias his father. He aflumed the name of Epi-
phanes, or “ the Illultrious,” though he performed no¬
thing worthy of this title, or even of notice, during the
whole time of his long reign. He was fucceeded by his
Ton 
Nicomedes III. furnamed, by antiphrafis, Philopa-
ter, becaufe he had murdered his father to get poflef-
fion of his crown. This monarch having entered into
alliance with Mithridates the Great king of Pontus,
invaded Paphlagonia *, and having feized on that coun¬
try, he attempted likewife to make himfelf mailer of
Cappadocia. This country, however, was at that time
fubjeft to his powerful ally ; who thereupon marching
into Bithynia at the head of an army, drove Nico-
medes from the throne, and railed his brother Socrates
to it in his room. The dethroned prince had recourfe
to the Romans, who expelled .the ufurper, and reftor-
ed him to his hereditary dominions. For this favour
they preffed him, and at length prevailed upon him,
contrary to his own inclination, and the opinion of his
friends to make inroads into the territories of Mithri¬
dates, with whom Rome wanted a fubje£t of difpute.
The king of Pontus bore for fome time the devafta-
tions committed by Nicomedes with great patience,
that he might not feem to be the aggreffor *, but at
lall he routed his army on the banks of the Am-
nius, drove him a fecond time from his dominions,
and obliged him to feek for fhelter in Paphlagonia,
where he led a private life till the time of Sylla, who
replaced him on the throne. He was fucceeded by
his fon 
Nicomedes IV. who performed nothing which the
many writers who flourilhed in his time have thought
worth tranfmitting to polferity. As he died without
iffue male, he left his kingdom by his lall will to the
Romans, who reduced it to the form of a province.
Sallull, difagreeing with the ancients, tells us, that Ni¬
comedes left a fon named Mufa or My fa ; and introdu¬
ces Mithridates as complaining of the Romans to Ar-
faces king of Parthia, for feizing on the kingdom of
Bithynia, and excluding the fon of a prince who had
on all occafions fhown himfelf a Heady friend to their
republic. But this Mufa was the daughter and not the
fon of Nicomedes, as we are told in exprefs terms by
Suetonius, Velleius Paterculus, and Appian. All we
know of her is, that upon the death of her father Ihe
claimed the kingdom of Bithynia for her fon, as the
next male heir to the crown, but without fuccefs } no
motives of juftice being of fuch weight with the
ambitious Romans as to make them part with a king¬
dom.
8 ] NIC
N1COMEDIA, in Ancient Geography, a metropolis Nicomedla
of Bithynia, built by Nicomedes the grandfather of Pru- .11
lias. It is fituated on a point of the Sinus Altacenus,. Kik_ori' .
(Pliny) ; furnamed the Beautiful, (Athenseus) : the " “
large it city of Bithynia, (Paufanias), who fays it was
formerly called Aflacus; though Pliny diftinguiihes
Aftacum and Nicomedia as different cities. Nicome-
dia was very famous, not only under its own kings, but
under the Romans : it was the royal reiidence of Dio-
clefian, and of Conl'lantine while Conllantinople Avas
building, if we may credit Nicephorus. It is Hill called
Nicomedia, at the bottom of a bay of the Propontis in
the Hither Afia. E. Long. 30. o. N. Lat. 41. 2c. It
is a place of confequence ; carries on a trade in filk, cot¬
ton, glafs, and earthen ware, and is the fee of a Greek
archbiihop.
NICOMEDUS, a geometrician, famous on ac¬
count of the invention of the curve called conchoid,
Avhich is equally ufeful in refolving the two problems
of doubling the cube and trifedling the angle. It
appears that he lived foon after Eratofthenes, for he
rallied that philofopher on the mechanifm of his mefo-
labe. Geminus, who lived in the fecond century be¬
fore Jefus Chrift, has written on the conchoid, though
Nicomedus was ahvays efteemed the inventor of it,-
Thofe who place him four or five centuries after Jefus
Chrift muft be ignorant of thefe fadls, by which we arc
enabled to afeertain pretty nearly the time in which he
lived.
NICON, a native and patriarch of Rufiia, was born
in 1613, in a village of the government of Niftmei No-
vogorod, of fuch obfeure parents, that their names and
ftation are not tranfmitted to pofterity. He received
at the baptifmal font the name of Nikita, which after-
wards, when he became monk, he changed to Nicon,
the appellation by Avhich he is more generally known.
He was educated in the convent of St Macarius, under
the care of a monk. From the courfe of his ftudies,
which Avere almoft folely dire&ed to the Holy Scrip¬
tures, and the exhortations of his preceptor, he im¬
bibed at a very early period the ftrongeft attachment
to a monaftic life j and Avas only prevented from fol¬
lowing the bent of his mind by the perfuafions and
authority of his father. In conformity, hoAvever, to
the Avilhes of his family, though contrary to his own
inclination, he entered into matrimony •, and, as that
ftate precluded him from being admitted into a con¬
vent, he Avas ordained a fecular prieft. With his wife
he continued ten years, partly in the country, and
partly at MoIcoav, officiating as a pariffi prieft. The
lofs of three children, hoAvever, gave him a total dif-
guft to the world 5 in confequence of which, his wife
Avas perfuaded to take the veil, and he became a monk j
his retreat Avas in an ifland of the White fea, and a
kind of ecclefiaftical eftablilhment Avas formed, as re¬
markable for the aufterities of its rules as the fituation
Avas for its folitude. There Avere about 1 2 monks, but
they all lived in different cells. Such a fyftem, com¬
bined with the moft gloomy ideas, occalioned fo much
cloiftered pride as tarnilhed his chara6ler, when he
Avas afterAvards called up to fulfil the duties of a pub¬
lic and exalted ftation. Our limits do not permit us
to be minute in our account of his life, avc muft there¬
fore be contented Avith barely reciting general fafts.
Within lefs than the fpace of five years, Nicon Avas
fucceffively
NIC t 9 ] NIC
Nicon fucceHively created archimandrite, or abbot of the No- was called Nicotmna, but is now more generally known
Jl vofpatlkoi convent, archbilhop of Novogorod, and pa- by the name of Tobacco. He died at Paris in l< 03.
'‘ot' . triarch of Ruflia. That be was worthy of thefe rapid He wrote a French and Latin dictionary in folio 5 a
promotions, few will doubt who are acquainted with treatife on navigation •, and other works,
his charafter ; for he was poffelfed of very extraordi- NICO IT AN A, Tobacco, a genus of plants belong-
nary qualities, fuch as even his enemies allow and ad- ing to the pentandria clafs, and in the natural method
/ mire. His courage was undaunted, his morals,irre- ranking under the 28th order, Luridce. See Botany
proachable, his charity exteniive and exalted, his learn- Index.—There are feven fpecies, of rvhich the molt re-
ing deep and comprehenfive, and his eloquence com- markable is the tabacum, or common tobacco plant,
manding. When archbifliop, he obtained the refpect This was firit difcovered in America by the Spaniards
of the inhabitants by his unwearied adiduity in the dif- about the year 1560, and by them imported into Eu-
charge of his truft ; and conciliated their affe&ions by rope. It had been ufed by the inhabitants of America
adts of unbounded charity : Nor was he lefs confpicuous long before j and was called by thofe of the iflands yoliy
in the difcharge of the office of patriarch, to which and by the inhabitants of the continent. It was
dignity he was appointed in 1652, in the 39th year of fent into Spain from Tabaco, a province of Yucatan,
his age. where it was firft difcovered, and from whence it takes
Nor was he only diftinguiffied in his own profeffion, its common name. Sir Walter Raleigh, it is generally
for he ffione even as a ftatefman. At length, however, faid, firft introduced it into England about the year
he fell a vi6tim to popular difcontents j which misfor- 1585, and taught his countrymen how to ufe it. Dr
tune, though he was far from deferving it, was certainly Cotton Mather, however, (in his Chriftian Philofo-
the effect of imprudence. He abdicated the office of pher) fays, that in the above year one Mr Lane car-
patriarch, which would otherwife have been taken from ried over fome of it from Virginia, which was the firft
him, in July 1658, and bore his reverfe of fortune time it had ever been feen in Europe. Tobacco is com-
with heroic magnanimity: he -eturned to a cell, and monly ufed among the oriental nations, though it is un¬
commenced his former aufterities. His innocence, certain by whom it was introduced among them. Con-
however, could not proteft him from further malice : his fiderable quantities of it are cultivated in the Levant,
enemies obtained him to be formally depofed in 1666. on the coafts of Greece and the Archipelago, in Italy,
This degradation was followed by imprifonment, which and in the ifland of Malta.
was for fome time very rigorous, becaufe he, eonfeious There are two varieties of that fpeeies of nicotiana
of his own innocence, refufed to accept pardon for which is cultivated for common uie, and which are
crimes of which he was not guilty. In 1676, how- diftinguifticd by the names of Oronokoe, and fweet-
ever, he was removed to the convent of St Cyril, and feented tobacco. They differ from each other only in
enjoyed perfect liberty. the figure of their leaves ; thofe of the former being
Nicon furvived his depofition 15 years. In 1681, longer and narrower than the latter. They are tall
he requefted and obtained permiffion to return to the herbaceous plants, growing eredl with fine foliage,
convent of Jerufalem, that he might end his days in : and rifing with a-ftrong ftem from fix to nine feet high,
that favourite fpqt/, but he expired upon the road The ftalk near the root is upward of an inch dia-
near Yaroflaf, in the 66th year of his age. His re- meter, and furrounded with a kind of hairy or velvet
mains were tranfported to that convent, and buried clammy fubftance, of a yellowiftr green colour. The
with all the ceremonies ufed at the interment of pa- leaves are rather of a deeper green, and grow alternately
triarchs. at the diftance of two or three inches from each other.
NICOPOLI, a town of Turkey in Europe, and in They are oblong, of a fpear-fhaped oval, and fimple ;
Bulgaria, famous for being the place where the firit the largeft about 20 inches long, but decreafing in
battle wras fought between the Turks and Chriitians fize as they afeend, till they come to be only 10 inches
in 1396-, and where the latter were defeated with long, and about half as broad. The face of the leaves
the lofs of 20,000 men. E. Long. 25. 33. N. Lat. is much corrugated, like thofe of fpinage when full
43- 46. ripe. Before they come to maturity, when they are
NICOSIA, the capital of the ifland of Cyprus, about five or fix inches long, the leaves are generally
where a Turkifh baihaw refidcs. It is delightfully of a full green, and rather fmooth ; but as they in-
fituated between the mountains of Olympus and a creafe in fize, they become rougher, and acquire a
chain of others, and was formerly well fortified by the yellowilh cart. The ftem and branches are terminated
Venetians ; but the works are now in ruins. It is by large bunches of ilowers collected into clufters, of
about 31 miles in circumference 5 and there are plan- a delicate red ; the edges, when full blown, inclining
tations of olives, almonds, lemons, oranges, mulber- to a pale purple. They continue in fucceffion till the
nes, and cyprefs trees, interfperled among the houfes, end of the fummer ; when they are fucceeded by feeds
which give the town a delightful appearance. The of a brown colour, and kidney-fhaped. Thefe are very
church of Sandla Sophia is an old Gothic ftrudture, fmall, each capfule containing about 1000; and the
which the Turks have turned into a mofque, and de- whole produce of a fingle plant is reckoned at about
ftroyed the ornaments. It is loo miles weft of Tri- 330,000. The feeds ripen in the month of September,
poli, and 160 fouth-weft of Aleppo. E. Long. 34. Mr Carver informs us, that the Oronokoe, or, as
45. N.^ Lat. 34. 34. ft is called, the long Virginian tobacco, is the kind be ft
NIC01, John, lord of Villemain, and mafter of fuited for bearing the rigour of a northern climate, the
requefts of the French king’s houiehold, was born at ftrength as well as the feent of the leaves being greater
Nifmes, and was fent ambaffador to Portugal in 1359 $ than that of the other. The fweet-feented fort flcu-
whenee he brought the plant which, from his name, riihes molt in a Tandy foil, and in a warm climate.
A ol. XV. Part I. B where
Nicot,
Nicotiana.
NIC [ io ] NIC
Nieotiana. where it greatly exceeds the former in the celerity of
k“*"~v its growth ; and is likewife, as its name intimates, much
more mild and pleafant.
Culture.—Tobacco thrives beft in a warm, kindly,
rich foil, that is not fubjedt to be overrun by weeds. In
Virginia, the foil in which it thrives belt is warm, light,
and inclining to be fandy 5 and therefore, if the plant
is to be cultivated in Britain, it ought to be planted
in a foil as nearly of the fame kind as pofiible. Other
kinds of foil might probably be brought to fuit it, by a
mixture of proper manure 5 but we mull remember, that
whatever manure is made ufe of, muft be thoroughly
incorporated with the foil. The bed fituation for a to¬
bacco plantation is the fouthern declivity of a hill, ra¬
ther gradual than abrupt, or a fpot that is (heltered from
the north winds : but at the fame time it is neceflary
that the plants enjoy a free air ; for without that they
will not profper.
As tobacco is an annual plant, thofe who intend to
cultivate it ought to be as careful as poflible in the
choice of the feeds ; in which, however, with all their
care, they may be fometimes deceived. The feeds
are to be fown about the middle of April, or rather
fooner in a forward feafon, in a bed prepared for this
purpofe of fuch foil as has been already defcribed,
mixed with fome warm rich manure. In a cold fpring,
hot beds are mod eligible for this purpofe, and gar-
Treatife on deners imagine that they are always neceffary : but
/7;c Culture iyfr Carver tells us, that he is convinced, when the
'■J ■['lj‘jacco- weather is not very fevere, the tobacco feeds may be
raifed without doors j and for this purpofe gives us the
following directions.
“ Having fown the feed in the manner above di¬
rected, on the lead apprehenlion of a frod after the
plants appear, it will be neccflary to fpread mats over
the beds, a little elevated from the ground by poles
laid acrofs, that they may not be crufhed. Thefe,
however, mud be removed in the morning, foon after
the fun appears, that they may receive as much benefit
as pofiible from its warmth and from the air. In this
manner proceed till the leaves have attained about
two inches in length and one in breadth } which they
will do in about a month after they are fown, or near
the middle of May, when the frods are ufually at an
end. One invariable rule for their being able to bear
removal is, when the fourth leaf is fprouted, and the
fifth juft appears. Then take the opportunity of the
firft rains or gentle fhowers to tranfplant them into
fuch a foil and fituation as before defcribed ; which
muft be done in the following manner.—The land
muft be ploughed, or dug up with fpades, and made as
mellow and light as poflible. When the plants are to
be placed, raife with the hoe fmall hillocks at the dif-
tance of two feet or a little more from each other, ta¬
king care that no hard fids or lumps are in it \ and
then juft indent the middle of each, without drilling
holes, as for fome other plants.
“ When your ground is thus prepared, dig in a
gentle manner from their native bed fuch plants as
have attained the proper growth for tranfplanting
above mentioned •, and drop, as you pafs, one on every
hillock. Infert a plant gentry into each centre, prefling
the foil around gently with your fingers ; and taking
the greateft care, during the operation, that you do
not break off any of the leaves, which are at this
time exquifitely tender. If the weather proves dry
after they are thus tranfplanted, they muft be watered
with foft water, in the fame manner as is ufually done
to cole worts, or plants of a fimilar kind. But though
you now feem to have a fufficient quantity of plants
for the fpace you intend to cultivate, it is yet neceffary
that you continue to attend to your bed of feedlings,
that you may have enough to fupply any deficiencies
which through accident may arile. From this time
great care mud be taken to keep the ground foft and
free from wreeds, by often ftirring with your hoe the
mould round the roots j and to prune off the dead
leaves that fometimes are found near the bottom of
the ftalk.
“ The difference of this climate from that in which
I have been accuftomed to obferve the progrefs of this
plant, will not permit me to direct with certainty the
time which is mod proper to take off the top of it, ta
prevent it from running to feed. This knowledge carr
only be acquired by experience. When it has rifen
to the height of more than two feet, it commonly be¬
gins to put forth the branches on which the dowers
and feeds are produced ; but as this expanfion, if dif¬
fered to take place, would drain the nutriment from
the leaves, which are the mod valuable part, and there¬
by leflen their dze and efficacy, it becomes needful at
this ftage to nip off the extremity of the dalk to pre¬
vent its growing higher. In fome other climates,
the top is commonly cut off when the plant has 15
leaves j but if the tobacco is intended to be a little
ftronger than ufual, this is done when it lias only 13 $
and fometimes, when it is defigned to be remarkably
powerful, 11 or 12 are only allowed to expand. On.
the contrary, if the planter is defirous of having his
crop very mild, he differs it to put forth 18 or 20 : but
in this calculation, the three or four lower leaves next
the ground, which do not grow fo large and fine as the
others, are not to be reckoned.
“ This operation, denominated topping the tobacco, is
much better performed by the finger and thumb than
with any inftrument ; becaufe the grafp of the fingers
clofes the pores of the plant 5 whereas, when it is done
by inftruments, the juices are in fome degree exhauft-
ed. Care muft alfo be taken to nip off the fprouts that
will be continually fpringing up at the junfiion of the
leaves with the ftalks. This is termed fuccouring, or
fuckering, the tobacco \ and ought to be repeated as of¬
ten as occafion requires.
“ As it is impoffible to afeertain the due time for
topping the plant, fo it is equally irr.podible, without
experiment, to afeertain the time it will take to ripen
in this country. The apparent figns of its maturity
are thefe : The leaves, as they approach a date of ripe-
nefs, become more corrugated or rough \ and when fully
ripe, appear mottled with yellowifh fpots on the railed
parts } whilft the cavities retain their ufual green colour.
They are at this time alfo thicker than they have been
before } and are covered with a downy velvet, like
that formerly mentioned, on the ftalks. If heavy rains
happen at this critical period, they will waff off this
excrefcent fubftance, and thereby damage the plants.
In this cafe, if the frofty nights are not begun, it is
proper to let them (land a few days longer ; when, if
the weather be moderate, they will recover this fub¬
ftance again. But if a froft unexpectedly happens du¬
ring
N
NIC [i
Nicotiana. ring tlie night, they muft be carefully examined in the
'-“-V—morning, before the fun has any influence upon them j
and thofe which are found to be covered with frofty
particles, whether thoroughly ripe or not, muft be^ cut
-up } for though they may not all appear to be arrived
at a ftate of maturity, yet they cannot be far from it,
and will differ but little in goodnefs from thofe that
are perfectly fo.”
Tobacco is fubjeft to be deflroyed by a worm-, and
without proper care to exterminate this enemy, a
whole field of plants may foon be loft. This animal
is of the horned fpecies, and appears to be peculiar to
the tobacco plant; fo that in many parts of America
it is diftinguifhed by the name of the tobacco worm. In
what manner it is firft produced, or how propagated,
■is unknown c but it is not difcermble till the plants
have attained about half their height } and then ap¬
pears to be nearly as large as a gnat. Soon after this
it lengthens into a worm and by degrees increafes in
magnitude to the bignefs of a man’s finger. In fhape
it is regular from its head to its tail, without any di¬
minution at either extremity. It is indented or ribbed
round at equal diftances, nearly a quarter of an inch
from each other ; and having at every one of thefe di-
vifions a pair of feet or claws, by which it faftens itfelf
to the plant. Its mouth, like that of the caterpillar,
is placed under the fore part of the head. On the top
of the head, between the eyes, grows a horn about half
an inch long, and greatly refembling a thorn; the ex¬
treme part of which is of a brown colour, a firm tex¬
ture, and the extremity fliarp pointed. It is eafily
crulhed ; being only, to appearance, a colle&ion of
green juice enelofed in a membranaceous covering,
without the internal parts of an animated being. The
colour of its {kin is in general green, interfperfed with
feveral fpots of a yellowiftt white ; and the whole co¬
vered with a fliort hair fcarcely to be difcerned. Thefe
worms are found the moft predominant during the lat¬
ter end of July and the beginning of Auguft ; at which
time the plants muft be particularly attended to, and
every leaf carefully fearched. As foon as a wound is
difcovered, and it will not be long before it is percep¬
tible, care muft be taken to deftroy the caufe of it,
which will be found near it, and from its unfubftantial
texture may eafily be cruftted : but the beft method is
to pull it away by the horn, and then crufli it.
When the tobacco is fit for being gathered, as will
appear from an attention to the foregoing dire£tions,
•on the firft morning that promifes a fair day, before
the fun is rifen, take an axe or a long knife, and holding
the ftalk near the top with one hand, fever it from its
root with the other, as low as poflible. Lay it
gently on the ground, taking care not to break off the
leaves, and there let it remain expofed to the rays of
the fun throughout the day, or until the leaves, accord¬
ing to the American expreflion, are entirely wilted:
that is, till they become limber, and will bend any
way without breaking. But if the weather ftiould
prove rainy without any intervals of funftiine, and the
plants appear to be fully ripe, they muft be houfed
immediately. This muft be done, however, with great
care, that the leaves, which are in this ftate very
brittle, may not be broken. They are next to be placed
under proper {belter, either in a barn or covered hovel,
where they cannot be affefted by rain or too much air,
i ] NIC
thinly fcattered on the floor; and if the fun does not
appear for feveral days, they muft be left to wilt in that
manner 5 but in this cafe the quality of the tobacco
will not be quite fo good.
'When the leaves have acquired the above-mentioned
flexibility, the plants muft be laid in heaps, or rather
in one heap if the quantity is not too great, and in
about 24 hours they will be found to fweat. But
during this time, when they have lain for a little while,
and begin to ferment, it will be neceffary to turn
them -, bringing thole which are in the middle to the
furface, and placing thofe which are at the furface in
the middle. The longer they lie in this fituation, the
darker coloured is the tobacco; and this is termed.
fweating the tobacco. After they have lain in this
manner for three or four days, (for a longer con¬
tinuance might make the plants turn mouldy), they
may be fattened together in pairs with cords or wood¬
en pegs, near the bottom of the ftalk, and hung acrofs
a pole, with the leaves fufpended in the fame covered
place, a proper interval being left between each
pair. In about a month the leaves will be thorough ¬
ly dried, and of a proper temperature to be taken
down. This ftate may be afcertained by their appear¬
ing of the fame colour with thofe imported from Ame ¬
rica. But this can be done only in wet weather.—The
tobacco is exceedingly apt to attradt the humidity oi
the atmofphere, which gives it a pliability that is ab-
folutely neceffary for its prefervation 5 for if the plants
are removed in a very dry ieafon, the external parts of
the leaves will crumble into dull, and a confiderable
wafte will enfue.
Cure.—As foon as the plants are taken down, they
muft again be laid in a heap, and preffed with heavy logs
of wood for about a week -, but this climate may
poflibly require a longer time. While they remain in
this ftate, it will be neceffary to introduce your hand
frequently into the heap, to difeover whether the heat
be not too intenfe; for in large quantities this will
fometimes be the cafe, and confiderable damage will
be occafioned by it. When they are found to heat
too much, that is, when the heat exceeds a moderate
glowing warmth, part of the weight by which they
are preffed muft be taken array ; and the caufe being
removed, the effedt will ceafe. T his is called the fc~
cond or lajl fwcating; and, when completed, which it
generally will be about the time juft mentioned, the
leaves muft be ftripped from the ftalks for ufe. Many
omit this laft fweating 5 but Mr Carver thinks that it
takes away any remaining harftmtfs, and renders the to¬
bacco more mellow. The ftrength of the ftalk alfo is
diffufed by it through the leaves, and the whole mafs be¬
comes equally meliorated.—Vv hen the leaves are ftrip¬
ped from the ftalks, they are to be tied up in bunches
or hands, and kept in a cellar or other damp place j
though if not handled in dry weather but only during
a rainy feafon, it is of little eonfequence in what part of
the houfe or bar n they are laid up. At this period the
tobacco is thoroughly cured, and as proper for manu-
fadturing as that imported from the colonies.
Our author advifes the tobacco planter, in his firft
trials, not to be too avaricious, but to top his plants
before they have gained their utmoft height : leaving
only about the middle quantity of leaves directed before
to give it a tolerable degree of ftrength. For though
B 2 this,
Nicotians.
NIC [i
ana- this, if eXceflive, might be abated during the cure by an
increafe of Iweating, or be remedied the next feafon by
fuifering more leaves to grow, it can never be added ;
and, without a certain degree of ftrength, the tobacco
will always be taftelefs and of little value. On the
contrary, though it be ever fo much weakened by
fweating, and thereby rendered mild, yet it will never
lofe the aromatic flavour, which accompanied that
ftrength, and which greatly adds to its value. A fquare
yard of land, he tells us, will rear about 500 plants,
and allow proper fpaCe for their nurture till they are fit
for tranfplanting.
The following extract, which is copied from a ma-
nufcript of Dr Barham (a), for directing the raifing,
cultivating, and curing tobacco in Jamaica, is perhaps
worthy of the attention of thofe who wifh to be further
acquainted with this fubjelU.
“ Let the ground or woodland wherein you intend
planting tobacco be well burned, as the greater the
quantity of wood allies the better. The fpot you in¬
tend raifing your plants on mull be well Brewed with
allies, laid fmooth and light : then blow the feed from
the palm of your hand gently on the bed, and cover
it over with palm or plantain leaves.
“ When your plants are about four inches high,
draw them and plant them out about three feet afun-
der ; and when they become as high as your knee, cut
or pluck off the top ; and if there are more than 12
leaves on the plant, take off the overplus, and leave the
reft entire.
“ The plant fhould now be daily attended to, in or¬
der to deftroy the caterpillars that are liable to infeft it;
as alfo to take off every fprout or fucker that puts out at
the joints, in order to throw the whole vegetable nourilh-
ment into the large leaves.
“ When the edges and points of the leaves begin to
turn a little yellow, cut down the ftalks about ten
o’clock in the morning, taking the opportunity of a
fine day, and be careful the dew is fully off the plant,
and do not continue this work after two in the after¬
noon. As faft as it is cut let it be carried into your
tobacco houfe, which muft be fo clofe as to fliut out
all air, (on this much depends), and hung up on lines
tied acrofs, for the purpofe of drying.
“ When the ftalks begin to turn brownifti, take
them off the lines, and put them in a large binn, and
lay on them heavy weights for 12 days ; then take
them out, and ftrip off the leaves, and put them again
into the binn, and let them be well preffed, and fo as
no air gains admiftion for a month. Take them out ;
tie them in bundles about 60 leaves in each, which are
called monocoes ; and are ready for fale. But obferve to
let them always be kept clofe till you have occaficn to
difpofe of them.
“ Let your curing houfe be well built, and very
elofe and warm 5 if a boarded building, it will not be
amifs, in a wet fituation, to cover the whole outfide
with thatch and plantain tralh, to keep off the damps;
for by this care you preferve the fine volatile oil in the
2 ] NIC
leaves. Obferve, no frnoke is to be made ufe of or ad- Nicctiana,
mitted into your curing houfe.” Nictitating
For an account of the medical effects of tobacco, fee [t]embrane»
Materia Medica Index. ’ v ^
The moft common ufes of this plant, are either as a
fternutatory when taken by way of fnuff, as a maftiea-
tory by chewing it in the mouth, or as effluvia by fmok-
ing it; and when taken in moderation, it is not an un¬
healthful amufement. Before pipes were invented, it
■was ulually fmoked in fegars, and they are ffill in ufe
among fome of the fouthern nations. The method of
preparing thefe is at once fimple and expeditious. A
leaf of tobacco being formed into a fmall twifted roll,
fomewhat larger than the Item of a pipe, and about
eight inches long, the fmoke is conveyed through the
winding folds which prevent it from expanding, as
through a tube j fo that one end of it being lighted,
and the other applied to the mouth, it is in this form
ufed without much inconvenience. But, in procefs of
time, pipes being invented, they were found more com¬
modious vehicles for the fmoke, and are now in general
ufe.
Among all the produftions of foreign climes intro¬
duced into thefe kingdoms, fcarce any has been held
in higher eftimation by perfons of every rank than to¬
bacco. In the countries of which it is a native, it is
confidered by the Indians as the moft valuable offer¬
ing that can be made to the beings they worftiip. They
ufe it in all their civil and religious ceremonies. When
once the fpiral wreaths of its imoke afcend from the
feathered pipe of peace, the compaft that has been
juft made is confidered as facred and inviolable. Like-
wife, when they addrefs their great Father, or his guar¬
dian fpirits, refiding, as they believe, in every extraor¬
dinary produ&ion of nature, they make liberal offerings
to them of this valuable plant, not doubting but that
they are thus fecured of prote&ion.
Tobacco is made up into rolls by the inhabitants of
the interior parts of America, by means of a machine
called a tobacco wheel. With this machine they fpin
the leaves after they are cured, into a twift of any fize
they think fit; and having folded it into rolls of about
20 pounds each, they lay it by for ufe. In this ftate
it will keep for feveral years, and be continually im¬
proving, as it always grows milder. The Illinois ufual-
ly form it into carrots ; which is done by laying a num¬
ber of leaves, when cured, on each other after the ribs
have been taken out, and rolling them round with pack¬
thread, till they become cemented together. Thefe rolls
commonly meafure about 18 or 20 inches in length,
and nine round in the middle part.
Tobacco forms a very confiderable article in com¬
merce *, for an account of which, fee the articles Glas¬
gow and Virginia.
NICTITATING membrane, a thin membrane
chiefly found in the bird and fifh kind, which covers the
eyes of thefe animals, fheltering them from the duff or
too much light; yet is fo thin and pellucid, that they
can fee pretty well through it.
NIDDUI,
(a) This gentleman was cotemporary with Sir Hans Sloane. He was a man of great probity, an able phyfi-
cian, and a Ikilful naturalift. He collefled and arranged a number of the plants of Jamaica, which he prefented
to Dr Sloane, and made feveral communications to the Royal Society.
N I E f 13
IIMui NIDDUI, in the Jewifh cuftoms, is ufed to (ignify
II “ feparated or excommunicated.” I his, according to
Niefter- . jfome, ’tvas to be underftood of tlie leffer fort of excom¬
munication in ufe among the Hebrews. He that had
incurred it was to withdraw himfelf from his relations,
at leaft to the diflance of four cubits : it commonly-
continued a month. If it was not taken oft in that
time, it might be prolonged for 60 or even 90 days :
but if, within this term, the excommunicated perfon
did not give fatisfacfion, he fell into the cherem, which
was a fecond fort of excommunication and thence
into the third fort, called fhammnta or Jhematta, the
moil terrible of all. But Selden lias proved that there
were only two kinds of excommunication, viz. the great¬
er and lefs 5 and that thefe three terms were ufed indif¬
ferently.
NIDUS, among naturalifts, fignifies a neft or proper
repoiitory for the eggs of birds, infefts, &c. where the
•young of thefe animals are hatched and nurfed.
NIDIFICATION, a term generally applied to the
formation of a bird’s neft, and its hatching or bring¬
ing forth its young. See Ornithology.
NIECE, a brother’s or filler’s daughter, which in
the civil law is reckoned the third degree of confan-
guinity.
NIEMEN, a large river of Poland, which rifes in
Lithuania, where it pafles by Bielica, Grodno, and
Konno : it afterwards runs through part of Samogitia
and Ducal Pruflia, where it falis into the lake called
the Cwifch-haff, by feveral mouths, of which the moll
northern is called the Rufs, being the name of a town
it pafles by.
NIENBURGH, a rich and ftrong town of Germany,
in the duchy of Brunfwic-Lunenburg, with a ftrong
caftle. It carries on a confiderable trade in corn and
wool, and is feated in a fertile foil on the river Wefer.
E. Long. 9. 26. N. Lat. 52. 44.
NIEPER, or Dnieper, a large river of Europe, and
one of the moll eonfiderable of the north, formerly call¬
ed the Borifthenes. Its fource is in the middle of Muf-
covy, running weft by Smolenlko, as far as Orfa ; and
then turns fouth, palling by Mohilow, Bohaezo, Kiow,
Czyrkafly, the fort re fs of Kudak, Deflau, and Oczakow,
falling into the Black fea j as alfo in its courfe it divides
Little Tartary from Budziac Tartary.
NIESS, a mountain in the environs of Berne in
Switzerland. It is the laft mountain in a high chain
of calcareous hills, of which the Stockhorn, the
Neuneren, and the Ganterifh, have been illuftrated by
the botanical labours of the celebrated Haller. Niefs
Hands on the borders of the lake Thun, and feparates
the valley of Frutingen from that of Simme. It is
very interefting to the curious traveller, on account of
the fine view from its top ; and to naturalifts, becaufe
it joins the Alps. Towards its foot, beds of Hate
have been difeovered 5 it is of calcareous Hone higher
up *, and near its top is found a fpecies of pudding-
ftone, filled with fmall fragments of broken petrifac¬
tions.
NIESTER, a large river of Poland, which has its
fource in the lake Niefter, in the palatinate of Lem-
burg, where it pafles by Halicz. Then it feparates
Podolia and Oczakow Tartary from Moldavia and
Budziac Tartary j and falls into the Black La at
4-
] NIG
Belgorod, between the mouths of the Nieper and the Niefter
Danube. H
NIGEL LA, Fennel-flower, or Devil in a Bujl,, ^ ^ ^
a genus of plants, belonging to the pentandria clafs. See
Botany Index.
NIGER, C. Pescennius Justus, a celebrated gover¬
nor in Syria, well known by his valour in the Roman
armies while in a private ftation. At the death of Per-
tinax he was declared emperor of Rome; and his claims
to that elevated ftation were fuppoited by a found
underftanding, prudence of mind, moderation, courage,
and virtue. He propofed to imitate the aftions of the
venerable Antoninus, of Trajan, of Titus, and M. Au¬
relius. He was remarkable for his fondnefs of ancient
difeipline. He never fuffered bis foldiers to drink wine,
but obliged them when thirfty to ufe water and vinegar.
He forbade the ufe of filver or gold utenfils in his camp.
All the bakers and cooks were driven away, and the
foldiers were ordered to live during the expedition they
undertook merely upon bifeuits. In his puniftiments
Niger was inexorable : be condemned ten of his foldiers
to be beheaded in the prefence cf the army becaufe they
had ftolen and eaten a fowl. The fentence was heard
with groans. The army interfered; and when Niger
confented to diminifh the punilhment, for fear cf
kindling rebellion, he yet ordered the criminals to make
each a reftoration of ten fowls to the perfon whofe pro¬
perty they had ftolen. They were befides ordered not
to light a fire the reft of the campaign, but to live upon
cold aliments and to drink nothing but water. Such
great qualifications in a general feemed to promife the
reftoration of ancient diicipline in the Roman armies;
but the death of Niger frullrated every hope of reform.
Severus, who had alfo been invefted with the imperial
purple, marched againft him : fome battles were
fought, and Niger was at laft defeated, A. D. 195. His
head was cut oft' and fixed to a long fpear, and carried
in triumph through the ftreets of Rome. He reigned
about a year.
Niger, a large river of Africa, of which many er¬
roneous opinions have been entertained. According to
Herodotus, Pliny, Ptolemy, and many of the ancients,
this river runs from weft to eaft, an opinion which was
long forgotten, and in more modern times it was be¬
lieved to flow from eaft to weft ; but from the recent
difeoveries of the indefatigable Mr Park, who himfelf
faw this majeftic river, the opinion of the ancients is
now fully eitabliftied, that its courfe is from weft to
eaft. The fource of the Niger is fuppofed to be in
that mountainous region in weftern Africa, which gives
origin to the rivers Gambia and Senegal, which dii-
charge their waters into the Weftern ocean, while the
Niger vifing from the oppofite fide of the mountains,
takes an eafterly direction. See Africa, p. 264. and
272. The Niger is called Joliba by the natives.
NIGHT, that part of the natural day during which
the fun is underneath the horizon; or that fpace where¬
in it is dulky.
Night was originally divided by the Hebrews and
other eaftern nations into three parts or watches.
The Romans, and after them the Jews, divided the
night into four parts or watches ; the firft of which be¬
gan at funfet, and lafted till nine at night, according
to our way of reckoning; the fecond lafted till mid¬
night ;
NIG [i
J'fight night; the third till three in the morning ; and the
^ fourth ended at funrife. The ancient Gauls and Ger-
TVatchinjr. mans divided their time not by days but by nights ; and
w—the people of Iceland and the Arabs do the fame at this
day. The like is obferved of the Anglo-Saxons.—The
length and fhortnefs of night or of darknefs is according
to the feafon of the year and portion of the place ; and
the caufes of this variety are now well known. See
Astronomy, &c.
Night, in fcripture language, is ufed for the times
of heathenifh ignorance and profanenefs (Rom. xiii.
12.) ; for adverlity and affliction (If. xxi. 12.) ; and
laflly, for death (John ix. 4.).
Night-Angling, a method of catching large and fhy
fi(h in the night-time. Trout, and many other of the
better forts of fflli, are naturally fhy and fearful ; they
therefore prey in the night as the fecureft time.—The
method of taking them on this plan is as follows :
The tackle mud be ftrong, and need not be fo fine as
for day fifhing, when every thing is feen ; the hook
mud be baited with a large earth worm, or a black
fnail, and thrown out into the river •, there mud be no
lead to the line, fo that the bait may not fink, but be
kept drawling along, upon or near the furface. What¬
ever trout is near the place will be brought thither by
the motion of the water, and will feize the worm or
fnail. The angler will be alarmed by the noife which
the fidi makes in riling, and mud give him line, and
time to fwallow the hook ; then a flight touch fecures
him. The bed and larged trouts are found to bite thus
in the night 5 and they rife modly in the dill and clear
deeps, not in the fwift and fhallow currents. Some¬
times, though there are fifh about the place, they will
not rife at the bait : in this cafe the angler mud put on
fome lead to his line, and fink it to the bottom.
Night-Mare, or Incubus. See Medicine, N° 329.
Night-Walkers. See Medicine, N° 329, and Noc-
' TAMBULI.
Night- Walkers, in Lavo, are fuch perfons as deep by
day and walk by night, being oftentimes pilferers or
didurbers of the public peace. Condables are authori¬
zed by the common law to arred night-walkers and fu-
fpicious perfons, &c. Watchmen may alfo arred night-
walkers, and hold them until the morning: and it is
faid, that a private perfon may arred any fufpicious
night-walker, and detain him till he give a good ac¬
count of himfelf. One may be bound to the good be¬
haviour for being a night-walker j and common night-
walkers, or haunters of bawdy-houfes, are to be indict¬
ed before judices of peace, &c. But it is not held law¬
ful for a condable, &c. to take up any woman as a
night-walker on bare fufpicion only of being of ill fame,
unlefs die be guilty of a breach of the peace, or fome
unlawful act, and ought to be found mifdoing.
NIGHTINGALE, afpeciesof motacilla. See Or¬
nithology Index.
NIGHTSH /VDE. See Solanum, Botany Index.
Deadly NIGHTSHADE. See Atropa, Botany In¬
dex.—The berries of this plant are of a malignant poi-
fonous nature; and, being of a fweet tade, have fre¬
quently proved dedruCtive to children. It is faid, that
a large glafs of warm vinegar, taken as foon as pofli-
ble after eating the berries, will prevent their bad ef¬
fects.
NlGBT-Watching, a praCtice of very remote antiquity,
4 ] NIG
which belongs to the olded regulations of police. So Night-
early a,s the time of Solomon we find mention made of ^Vatching.
it, and likewife in the Pfalms of David *. Sentinels
were dationed in different places in Athens and other Solomon]
cities of Greece, and they were kept to their duty by chap. iii.
the vifitations of the Thefmothetce. There were alfo ver- 3; p/T-
triumviri noBurni in the city of Rome, as appears from i XaVU- i*
the commentaries of Heubach on the police of the Ro¬
mans. It appears, however, that the defign of thefe
inditutions was rather the prevention of fires, than the
guarding againd alarms or dangers by night, although
attention was likewife paid to thefe in procefs of time..
The apprehenfion of fires was the pretext of Augudus,
when he widied to drengthen the night-watch for fup-
preffing noCiurnal commotions.
It does not appear that calling out the hours became
an edablitlied praCtice before the ereCtion of city gates,
and probably had its rife in Germany j yet it would
have been attended with advantages in ancient Rome,
where there were no public clocks, nor any thing in
private houfes to indicate the hours. The periods for
foldiers to mount guard were determined by water-
clocks ; at the end of each hour they blew a horn, and
by means of this fignal each individual might afeertain
the hour of the night. It feems evident, however, that
thefe regulations were only attended to in time of
war.
In the city of Paris, night-watching was edabliflied,
as at Rome, in the very commencement of its monarchy5
and De la Mare quotes the ordinances of Clothaire II.
upon this fubjeCt, in the year 595. The citizens at firli
kept watch in rotation 5 but this practice was after¬
wards fet afide, and, by the payment of a certain fum
of money, a permanent watch was edablidied. In the
opinion of the learned and indefatigable Beckmann, the
eftablifhment of fingle watchmen, to call out the hours
through the ftreets, is peculiar to Germany, and only
copied by furrounding nations in more modern times.
The elector, John George, in 1588, appointed watch¬
men at Berlin ; and Mabillon deferibes it as a practice
peculiar to that country. Horns are made ufe of by
watchmen in fome places, and rattles in others, the for¬
mer being moft proper for villages, and the latter for
cities.
The Chinefe, fo early as the ninth century, had
Avatchmen ported on their towers, who announced the
hours both by day and night, by ftriking forcibly on a
fufpended board, which in that country is faid to be in
ufe to the prefent period ; and at Peterfburgh, in Ruf-
fia, the watchmen employ a fufpended plate of iron for
a fimilar purpofe. In this manner alfo Chriftians are
affembled together in the Levant, for the purpofe of at¬
tending divine fervice; and monks were thus awakened
in monalteries at the moft early periods, to attend to
the proper hours of prayer.
We find mention made of fteeple-watchmen in Ger¬
many in the 14th century. In the year 1563, a church-
fteeple was erected in Leifnig, and an apartment built
in it for a permanent watchman, who was obliged to
proclaim the hours every time the clock ftruck. Per¬
manent watchmen were kept in many of the fteeples at
Ulm in the 15th century. The fame thing was prac-
tifed at Frankfort on the Mayne, at Oettingen, and
many other places j and Montaigne was aftonifhed at
finding a man on the fteeple of Conftance, who kept
watch
Night-
Watching
Nile
NIL '[ 15 ] NIL
watch upon it continually, and avIio on no pretext -what¬
ever was permitted to come down. Becbnami's Hijl. of
Inventions, iii. 425.
NIGIDiUS Figulus, Publius, one of the molt
learned men of ancient Rome, flouriflied at the fame
time with Cicero. He wrote on various fubjects •, but
his pieces appeared fo refined and difficult that they
were not regarded. He affifled Cicero, with great
prudence, in defeating Catiline’s confpiracy, and did
him many fervices in the time of his adverfity. He
adhered to Pompey in oppofition to Ciefar j which oc-
cafioned his exile, he dying in baniffiment. Cicero,
who had always entertained the higheft efteem for him,
wrote a beautiful confolatory letter to him (the 13th of
lib. iv. ad Familiares').
NIGRINA, a genus of plants belongingto the pent-
andria clafs. See Botany Index.
NIGRINE, an ore of titanium. See Mineralogy
Index.
NIGRITIA. See Negroland.
NIGUA. See Chegoe.
NILE, a large and celebrated river of Africa, to
which the country of Egypt owes its fertility ; and the
exploring the fources of which, has from the remoteft
ages, been accounted an impracticable undertaking.
This problem has been folved by James Bruce, Efq. of
Kinnaird, in Scotland \ who fpent feveral years at the
court of Abyffinia, and by the favour of the emperor
and great people of the country was enabled to aecom-
pliffi the arduous talk.
In the account of his travels, this gentleman has been
at particular pains to ffiow, that none of thole who under¬
took this talk ever fucceeded in it but himfelf. The in¬
quiry concerning its fprings, he fays, began either be¬
fore hiftory or tradition, and is by fome fuppofed to be
the origin of hieroglyphics. Though Egypt was the
country which received the greatelt benefit from this
river, it was not there that the inquiries concerning its
inundation began : it being probable that every thing
relative to the extent and periodical time of that inunda¬
tion would be accurately fettled (which could not be
done but by a long feries of obfurvations) before any
perfon would venture to build houfes within its reach.
The philofophers of Meroe, in our author’s opinion,
were the firft who undertook to make a number of ob-
lervations fufficient to determine thefe points \ their
country being fo fituated, that they could perceive every
thing relative to the increafe or decreafe of the river
without any danger from its overfiorving. Being much
addicted to afironomy, it could not long efcape them,
that the heliacal riling of the dog-ftar, was a fignal
for Egypt to prepare for the inundation ; without which
it was vain to expeft any crop. The connexion of this
celeltial fign with the annual riling of the river would
undoubtedly foon become a matter of curiolity ; and as
this could not eafily be difcovered, it was natural for an
ignorant and fuperifitious people to afcribe the whole to
the action of the dog liar as a deity. Still, hovcever,
by thofe who were more enlightened, the phenomenon
would be afcribed to natural caufes •, and a great Hep
towards the difcovery of thefe, undoubtedly was that of
the fources of the river itfelf. In the early ages, when
travelling into foreign countries was impradlicable by
private perfons, the inquiry into the fources of the Nile
became an object to the greatefi: monarchs. Sefoltris is
faid to have preferred the honour of difcovering them
almoft to all the victories he obtained. Alexander the
Great is Avell known to have had a great curiofity to
difeover thefe fountains. On his arrival at the temple
of Jupiter Ammon, he is faid to have made inquiry con¬
cerning the fountains of the Nile, even before he alked
about his own defeent from Jupiter, 'ihe prielts are
faid to have given him proper directions for finding
them : and Alexander took the molt ready means of
accomplilhing his purpofe, by employing natives of
Ethiopia to make the fearch. Thefe difeoverers, in the
opinion of Mr Bruce, miffed their aim, by reafon of
the turn which the Nile takes to the call in the latitude
of 90 where it begins to furround the kingdom of Go-
jam 5 but which they might imagine to be only a wind¬
ing of the river foon to be compenlated by an equal
turn to the weft. “ They therefore (fays he) continued
their journey fouth till near the line, and never faw it.
more j as they could have no poffible notion it had
turned back behind them, and that they had left it as
far north as latitude 9°. They reported then to Alex¬
ander, what -was truth, that they had afeended the Nile,
as far fouth as latitude 90 ; where it unexpectedly took
its courfe to the eaft, and was feen no more. The river
Avas not knoAvn, nor to be heard of near the line, or
farther fouth ward, nor Avas it diminiffied in fize, nor
had it given any fymptom that they Avere near its
fource; they had found the Nile calentem (warm),
Avhile they expefted its rife among melting fnows.
Mr Bruce is of opinion that this turn of the Nile
to the eaftAvard Avas the occafion of Alexander’s ex¬
travagant naiftake, in fuppofing that he had difcovered
the fountains of the Nile Avhen he Avas near the fonree
of the Indus ; and Avhich he Avrote to his mother,
though he aftertvards caufed it to be erafed from his
books.
Ptolemy Philadelphus fucceeded Alexander in his
attempts to difeover the fource of the Nile 5 but he like-
AA'ife proving unfuccefsful, the talk Avas next undertaken
by Ptolemy Euergetes, the moft poA\:erful of the Greek
princes Avho fat on the throne of Egypt. “ In this
(fays Mr Bruce) he had probably fucceeded, had he
not miftaken the river itfelf. Pie fuppofed the Shis,
noAV the Tacazze, to be the Nile ; and afeending in the
direction of its ftream, he came to Axum, the capital
of Sire and of Ethiopia. But the ftory he tells of the
fnoAV Avhich he found knee-deep on the mountains of
Samen, makes me queftion whether he ever crofted the
Shis, or was himfelf an ocular Avitnefs of Avhat he fays
he obferved there.”
Cmfar had the fame curiofity Avith other conquerors
to vifit the fprings of the Nile, though his fituation did
not alloAV him to make any attempt for that purpofe.
Nero, hoAvever, Avas more ailive. He fent tAVo centu¬
rions into Ethiopia, with orders to explore the unknoAvn
fountains of this river *, but they returned Avithout ha¬
ving accompliffied their errand. They reported, that,
after having gone a long Avay, they came to a king of
Ethiopia, who furniffied them with neceffaries, and re¬
commendations to fome other kingdoms adjacent; pai-
fing Avhich, they came to immenfe lakes, of Avhich no¬
body knerv the. end, nor could they ever hope to find it.
Their ftory, hoAVover, is by Mr Bruce fuppofed to be a
fiftion y
5
NIL [ i
^e- fidtion 5 as tlie Nile forms no lakes throughout its courfe,
v excepting that of Tzana or Dembea, the limits of which
are eafily perceived.
No other attempt was made by the ancients to difco-
ver the fources of this celebrated river j and the matter
was looked upon to be an impoffibility, infomuch that
caput NM queerer? became a proverb, denoting the im¬
poffibility of any undertaking. The firft who, in more
modern ages, made any attempt of this kind, was a monk
fent into Abyffinia in the year 522, by Nonnofus, am-
baffador from the emperor Juft in. This monk is called
Cofmas the Hermit, and likewife IndojJarJles, from his
fuppofed travels into India. He proceeded as far as the
city of Axum, but did not vifit that part of the coun¬
try where the head of the Nile lies ; nor, in Mr Bruce’s
opinion, wrould it have been practicable for him to do
fo. The difeovery, however, is faid to have been made
at laft by Peter Paez the miffionary. But the truth of
this account is denied by Mr Bruce, for the following
reafons : 1. “ No relation of this kind (fays he) was
to be found in three copies of Peter Paez’s hiftory,
to which I had accefs when in Italy, on my return
home. One of thefe copies I faw at Milan *, and, by
the intereft of friends, had an opportunity of peruling
it at my leifure. The other two were at Bologna and
Rome. I ran through them rapidly j attending only to
the place where the defeription ought to have been, and
where I did not find it: but having copied the firft and
laft; page of the Milan manufeript, and comparing them
with the two laft mentioned, I found that all the three
were word for word, the fame, and none of them con¬
tained one fyllable of tire difeovery of the fource. 2.
Alphonfo Mendez came into Abyffinia about a year af¬
ter Paez’s death. New and defirable as that difeovery
muft have been to himfelf, to the pope, king of Spain,
and all his great patrons in Portugal and Italy *, though
he wrote the hiftory of the country, and of the parti¬
culars concerning the miffion in great detail and with
good judgment, yet he never mentions this journey of
Peter Paez, though it probably muft have been convey¬
ed to Rome and Portugal after his infpedftion and under
his authority. 3. Balthazar Tellez, a learned Jefuit,
has wrote two volumes in folio, with great candour and
impartiality, confidering the fpirit of thofe times ; and
he declares his work to be compiled from thofe of Al-'
phonfo Mendez the patriarch, from the two volumes of
Peter Paez, as well as from the regular reports made by
the individuals of the company in feme places, and by
the provincial letters in others j to all which he had
complete accefs, as alfo to the annual reports of Peter
Paez, among the reft from 1598 to 1622 ; yet Tellez
makes no mention of fuch a difeovery, though he is
very particular as to the merit of each miffionary during
the long reign of Facilidas, which occupies more than
half the two volumes.”
The firft, and indeed the only account of the foun¬
tains of the Nile, publifhed before that of Mr Bruce,
was Kircher’s j who fays that he took it from the writ¬
ings of Peter Paez. The time when the difeovery is
faid to have been made V'as the 21ft of April 1618; at
which feafon the rains are begun, and therefore very un-
wholefome ; fo that the Abyffinian armies are not with¬
out extreme neceffity in the field \ between September
and February at fartheft is the time they are abroad
from the capital and in a&ion.
6 ] NIL
“ The river (fays Kircher) at this day, by the Ethio- Nile,
plans, is called Abavy ; it riles in the kingdom of Go- 1
jam, in a territory called Saba/a, whofe inhabitants are
called A/goxvs. The fource of the Nile is fituated in
the weft part of Gojam, in the higheft part of a valley,
which refembles a great plain on every fide furrounded
by high mountains. On the 21ft of April 1618, being
here, together with the king and his army, I afeended
the place, and obferved every thing with great atten¬
tion : I difeovered firft two round fountains each about
four palms in diameter, and faw, with the greateft delight,
what neither Cyrus the Perfian, nor Cambyfes, nor
Alexander the Great, nor the famous Julius Caefar,
could ever difeover. The two openings of thefe foun¬
tains have no iiTue in the plain on the top of the moun¬
tain, but How from the root of it. The fecond fountain
lies about a ftone-caft weft from the former : the inhabit
tants fay that this whole mountain is full of water j and
add, that the whole plain about the fountain is floating
and unfteady, a certain mark that there is wrater con¬
cealed under it ; for Avliich reafon the water does not
overflow at the fountain, but forces itfelf with great
violence out at the foot of the mountain. The inhabi¬
tants together with the emperor, who was then prefent
•with his army, maintain, that that year it trembled very
little on account of the drought ; but in other years,
that it trembled and overflowed fo that it could fcarce
be approached without danger. The breadth of the
circumference may be about the call of a fling : be¬
low the top of this mountain the people live about a
league diftant from the fountain to the weft ; and this
place is called Geefh; and the fountain feems to be
about a cannon-lhot diftant from Geefh ; moreover the
field w here the fountain is, is on all fides difficult of ac¬
cefs, except on the north fide, where it may be afeended
with eafe.”
On this relation Mr Bruce obferves, that there is no
fuch place as Saba/a ; it ought to have been named Sa~
cala, fignifying the highell ridge of land, where the wa¬
ter falls equally down on both fides, from eaft and weft,
or from north and fouth. So the ffiarp roofs of our
houfes, where the water runs down equally on the op-
pofite fides, are called by the fame name. Other objec¬
tions are drawn from the fituation of places, and from
the number and fituation of the fountains themfelves,
every one of which Mr Bruce found by adlual menfu-
ration to be different from Kircher’s account. The fol¬
lowing, however, he looks upon to be decifive that Paez
never was on the fpot. He fays, “ the field in which
the fountains of the Nile are, is of very difficult accefs ;
the afeent to it being very fteep, excepting on the north,
where it is plain and ealy. Now, if we look at the be¬
ginning of this defeription, we fhould think it would bo
the defeent, not the afeent, that would be troublefome j
for the fountains wrere placed in a valley, and people ra¬
ther defeend into valleys than afeend into them ; but
fuppofing it was a valley in which there was a field up¬
on which there was a mountain, and on the mountain
thefe fountains; ftill, I fay, that thefe mountains arc
nearly inacceffible on the three fides; but that the moffi
difficult of them all is the north, the way we afeend
from the plain of Goutto. From the eaft, by Sacala,
the afeent is made from the valley of Litchambara, and
from the plain of Affoa to the fouth you have the al-
moft perpendicular craggy cliff of Geefh, covered with
thorny
NIL [ i? ] NIL
thorny bufhes, trees, and bamboos, which cover the
mouths of the caverns •, and on the north you have the
mountains of Aformafka, thick fet with all forts of
thorny trees and flmibs, efpecially with the kantuffa :
thefe thickets are, moreover, filled with wild beafls, ef¬
pecially huge, long-haired baboons, which we frequent¬
ly met walking upright. Through thefe high and dit-
ficult mountains we have only narrow paths, like thofe
of (keep, made by the goats, or the wild beads we are
fpeaking of, which, after we had walked on them for a
long fpace, landed us frequently at the edge of fome
valley or precipice, and forced us to go back again to
feek a new road. From towards Zeegam to the welt-
ward, and from the plain where the river winds fo
much, is the only eafy accefs to the fountains of the
Nile. : and they that afcend to them by this w^ay will
not even think that approach too eafy.”
Peter Heiling, a Proteftant of Lubec, refided feveral
years in the country of Gojam, and wras even governor
of it, but he never made any attempt to difcover the
fource of the Nile ; dedicating himfelf entirely to a ftu-
dious and folitary life. The moft extraordinary at¬
tempt, however, that ever was made to difcover the
fource of this or any other river, was that of a German
nobleman named Peter Jofcph de Roux, comte de Defre-
val. He had been in the Danilh navy from the year
1721 j and, in 1739, was made rear-admiral. That
fame year he refigned his commiflion, and began his at¬
tempt to difcover the fource of the Nile in Egypt. To
this country he took his wife along with him ; and had
no fooner reached Cairo, than he quarrelled with a Tur-
kifh mob on a point of etiquette •, which inftantly
brought upon them the janizaries and guards of police,
to take thetn into cuftody. The countefs exerted her-
felf in an extraordinary manner ; and armed only with
a pair of fcilfars, put all the janizaries to flight, and
even wounded feveral of them ; fo that her hulband was
left at liberty to purfue his plan of difcevery. To ac-
complith this, he provided a barge with fmall cannon,
and furnifhed with all neceflary provifions for himfelf
and his wife, who was ftill to accompany him. Before
he fet out, however, it was fuggefted to him, that, fup-
pofing government might proteft him fo far as to allow
his barge to pafs the confines of Egypt fafely, and to
the firft cataraft ; fuppofing alfo that (he was arrived at
Ibrim, or Deir, the laft garrifons depending on Cairo ;
yet ftill fome days journey above the garrifons of Deir
and Ibrim began the dreadful deferts of Nubia •, and
farther fouth, at the great cataradl of Tan Adel, the
"Nile falls 20 feet down a perpendicular rock—fo that
here his voyage muft undoubtedly end. The count,
however, flattered himfelf with being able to obtain fuch
afliftance from the garrifons of Ibrim and Deir as would
enable him to take the veflel to pieces, and to carry it
above the cataradf, where it could again be launched in¬
to the river. To facilitate this fcheme he had even en¬
tered into a treaty with fome of the barbarians named
Kennoufs, who refide near the cataraft, and employ
themfelves in gathering fena, which abounds in their
country. Thefe promifed to aflift him in this ex¬
traordinary adventure •, but, luckily for the count, he
fuflfered himfelf at laft to be perfuaded by fome Venetian
merchants at Cairo not to proceed in perfon on fuch a
dangerous and unheard-of navigation, but rather to de¬
pute Mr Norden, his lieutenant, who was likewife to
Vol. XV. Part I.
ferve as his draughtfman, to reconnoitre the forts of Nile.
Ibrim and Deir, as well as the cataraft of Jan Adel, ”-y““
and renew his treaty with the Kennoufs. This gentle¬
man accordingly embarked upon one of the veffels com¬
mon on the Nile, but met with a great many difficulties
and difafters before he could reach Syene and the firft
cataraff •, after which having with ftill greater difficulty
reached Ibrim, inftead of meeting with any encourage¬
ment for the count to proceed on his voyage, he was
robbed of ail he had by the governor of the fort, and
narrowly efcaped with his life \ it having been for fome
time determined by him and his foldiers that Mr Nor¬
den ftiould be put to death. By thefe difficulties the
count was fo much dilheartened, that he determined to
make no more attempts on the Nubian fide. He now
refolved to enter Abyfiinia by the itland of Mafuah.
With this view he undertook a voyage round the Cape
of Good Hope, in order to reach the Red fea by the
ftraits of Babelmandel: but having begun to ufe his
Spanilh commiffion, and taken two Englilh (hips, he was
met by Commodore Barnet, who made prizes of all the
veflels he had with him, and fent home the count him¬
felf palfenger in a Portuguefe ftiip to Lilhon.
Thus Mr Bruce confiders himfelf as the firft Euro-
ropean who reached the fources of this river. He in¬
forms us that they are in the country of the Agows, as
Kircher had faid ; fo that the latter muft either have
vilited them himfelf, or have had very good information
concerning them. The name of the place through
which is the paflage to the territory of the Agows, is
Abala ; a plain or rather valley, generally about half a
mile, and never exceeding a whole mile, in breadth.
The mountains which furround it are at firft of an in-
confiderable height, covered to the very top with herb¬
age and acacia trees ; but as they proceed to the fouth-
ward they become more rugged and woody.—On the
top of thefe mountains are delightful plains producing
excellent pafture. Thofe to the Aveft join a mountain
called Aformafka, where, from a direftion nearly fouth-
eaft, they turn fouth, and enclofe the villages and terri¬
tory of Sacala, which lie at the foot of them •, and ftill
lower, that is, more to the weftward, is the fmall village
of Geeffi,* where the fountains of the Nile are fituated.
Here the mountains are in the form of a crefcent ; and
along thefe the river takes its courfe. Thofe which en¬
clofe the eaft fide of the plain run parallel to the former
in their whole courfe, making part of the mountains of
Lechtambara, or at leaft joining with them, and thefe
two, when behind Aformalka, turn to the fouth, and
then to the fouth-weft, taking the fame form as they do j
only making a greater curve, and enclofing them like¬
wife in the form of a crefcent, the. extremity of which
terminates immediately above a fmall lake named Goo-
deroo in the plain of Affba, below Geelh, and diredlly
at the fountains of the Nile.
Having palled feveral confiderable ftreams, all of
which empty themfelves into the Nile, our traveller
found himfelf at laft obliged to afcend a very fteep and
rugged mountain, where no other path was to be found
but a very narrow one made by the fheep or goats, and
which in fome places was broken, and full of holes ; in
others, he was obftrufled with large ftones, which feem-
ed to have remained there fince the creation. The
whole was covered with thick wood ; and he was every¬
where flopped by the kantuffa, as well as by feveral other
G thorny
NIL [ *8 ] NIL
thorny plants almoft as troublefome as that. Having
at laft, however, reached the top, he had a fight of the
Nile immediately below him 5 butfo diminilhed in fize,
that it now appeared only a brook fcarcely fufficient to
turn a mill. The village of Geefh is not within fight
of the fountains of the river, though not more than 600
yards diftant from them. The country about that place
terminates in a cliff of about 300 yards high, which
reaches down to the plain of Affoa, continuing in the
fame degree of elevation till it meets the Nile again
about 17 miles to the fouthward, after having made the
circuit of the provinces of Gojam and Damot. In the
middle of this cliff is a valt cave running ftraight north¬
ward, with many bye-paths forming a natural labyrinth,
of fufficient bignefs to contain the inhabitants of the
whole village with their cattle. Into this Mr Bruce
advanced about 100 yards; but he did not choofe to go
farther, as the candle he carried with him feemed ready
to go out; and the people affured him that there -was
nothing remarkable to be feen at the end. The face of
this cliff, fronting the fouth, affords a very piclurefque
view from the plain of Affoa below; parts of the houfes
appearing at every ffage through the bullies and thick¬
ets of trees. The mouths of the cavern above mention¬
ed, as well as of feveral others which Mr Bruce did not
fee, are hid by almoff impenetrable fences of the worft
kind of thorn; nor is there any other communication
betwixt the upper part and the houfes but by narrow
winding (beep paths, very difficult to be difcovered ; all
of them being allowed to be overgrown, as a part of the
natural defence of the people. The edge of the cliff is
covered with lofty and high trees, which feem to forma
natural fence to prevent people from falling down; and
the beauty of the flowers which the Abyffinian thorns
bear, feems to make fome amends for their bad qualities.
From the edge of the cliff of Geelh, above where the
village is fituated, the ground dopes with a defcent due
north, till we come to a triangular marfh upwards of 86
yards broad, and 286 from the edge of the cliff, and
from a prieft’s houfe where Bruce refided. On the eaft,
the ground defcends with a very gentle flope from the
large village of Sacala, which gives its name to the
territory, and is about fix miles diftant from the
fource, though to appearance not above two. About
the middle of this marfh, and not quite 40 yards from
the foot of the mountain of Geefh, rifes a circular hil¬
lock about three feet from the furface of the marfti it-
felf, though founded apparently much deeper in it. The
diameter of this hillock is not quite 12 feet, and it is
furrounded by a (hallow trench which colledf's the water,
and fends it off to the eaftward. This is firmly built
of fod brought from the fides, and kept conftantly in
repair by the Agows, who worfliip the river, and per¬
form their religious ceremonies upon this as an altar. In
the midft of it is a circular hole, in the formation or
enlargement of which the work of art is evidently dif-
cernible. It is always kept clear of grafs and aquatic
plants, and the water in it is perfectly pure and lim¬
pid, but without any ebullition or motion difcernible on
its furface. The mouth is fome parts of an inch lefs than
three feet diameter, and at the time our author firft vi-
fited it (Nov. 5. 1770), the water flood about two inches
from the brim, nor did it either increafe or diminifh du¬
ring all the time of his refidence at Geefh. On putting
dowm the fhaft of a lance, he found a very feeble refi-
ftence at fix. feet four inches, as if from weak rufhes and
grafs ; and, about fix inches deeper, he found his lance
had entered into foft earth, but met with no obffrudHon ^
from ftones or gravel; and the fame was confirmed by
ufing a heavy plummet, with a line befmeared with foap.
—This is the firit fountain of the Nile.
The fecond fountain is fituated at about ten feet di¬
ftant from the former, a little to the welt of fouth; and
is only 11 inches in diameter, but eight feet three inches
deep. The third is about 20 feet SSW from the firft;;
the mouth being fomewhat more than two feet in dia¬
meter, and five feet eight inches in depth. Thefe foun¬
tains are made ufe of as altars, and from the foot of each
iffues a brifk running rill, which, uniting with the wa¬
ter of the firft trench, goes off at the eaft fide in a ftream
which, our author conjectures, would fill a pipe about
twro inches diameter. The water of thefe fountains is
extremely light and good, and intenfely cold, though
expofed to the fcorching heat of the fun, without any
fhelter ; there being no trees nearer than the cliff of
Geefh. The longitude of the principal fountain was
found by Mr Bruce to be 36° 551 30" E. from Green¬
wich. The elevation of the ground, according to his
account, muff be very great, as the barometer flood on¬
ly at 22 Englifh inches. “ Neither (fays he) did it
vary fenfibly from that height any of the following days
I ftaid at Geefh ; and thence I inferred, that at the
fources of the Nile I was then more than tivo miles
above the level of the fea; a prodigious height, to enjoy
a fky perpetually clear, as alfo a hot fun never overcaft
for a moment with clouds from rifing to fetting.” In
the morning of Nov. 6. the thermometer flood at 440,
at noon 96°, and at funfet 46°. It Avas fenfibly cold at
night, and Itill more fo about an hour before funrife.
The Nile thus formed by the union of ftreams from
thefe three fountains, runs eaftward through the marfh
for about 30 yards, with very little increafe of its Avater,
but ftill diftinClly vifible, till it is met by the graffy
brink of the land defcending from Sacala. By this it
is turned gradually NE, and then due north; and in the
tAvo miles in Avhich it flows in that direction it receives
many fmall ftreams from fprings on each fide ; fo that
about this diftance from the fountains it becomes a
ftream capable of turning a common mill. Our travel¬
ler Avas much taken with the beauty of this fpot. “ The
fmall rifing hills about us (fays he) Avere all thick co¬
vered with verdure, efpecially with clover the largeft
and fineft I ever farv ; the tops of the heights covered
Avith trees of a prodigious fize: the ftream, at the banks
of Avhich Ave Avere fitting, was limpid, and pure as the
fineft: cryflal ; the fod covered thick Avith a kind of
bufhy tree, that feemed to affeCl to grow to no height,
but, thick Avith foliage and young branches, rather to
affift the furface of the Avater ; Avhilft it bore, in prodi¬
gious quantities, a beautiful yelloAV floAver, not unlike a,
Angle rofe of that colour, but without thorns ; and in¬
deed, upon examination, we found that it AAras not a fpe-
cies of the rofe, but of the hypericum.”
Here Mr Bruce exults greatly in his fuccefs; as hav¬
ing not only feen the fountains of the Nile, but the ri¬
ver itfelf running in a fmall ftream; fo that the ancient
faying of the poet,
Nec licuit populis parvum te Ni/e videre,
could not be applied to him. Here he Jlepped over it,
he fays, more than 50 times, though he had told us, in
the preceding page, that it was three yards over. From
this ford, however, the Nile turns to the weft ward; and,
after
Nile.
N I L
Nils, after running over loofe Hones occafionally in that di-
--V——-1 region about four miles farther, there is a fmall eata-
raft of about fix feet in height j after which it leaves
the mountainous country, and takes its courfe through
the plains of Goutto. Here it flows fo gently that its
motion is fcarcely to be perceived, but turns and winds
in its direction more than any river he ever law j form¬
ing more than 20 (harp angular peninfulas in the fpace
of five miles. Here the foil is compofed of a marfhy
clay, quite deftitute of trees, and very difficult to travel
through ; and where its ftream receives no confiderable
addition. Iffuing out from thence, however, it is joined
by feveral rivulets which fall from the mountains on
each fide, fo that it becomes a confiderable ftream, with
high and broken banks covered with old timber trees
for three miles. In its courfe it inclines to the north-
eaft, and winds very much, till it receives firft a fmall
river named Diwa, and then another named Dee-ohhn,
or the river Dee. Turning then ftiarply to the eaft, it
falls down another catara£t, and about three miles be¬
low receives the Jemma, a pure and limpid ftream, not
inferior in fize to itfelf. Proceeding ftill to the north¬
ward, it receives a number of other ftreams, and at laft
crolfes the fouthern part of the lake Tzana or Dembea,
preferving the colour of its ftream during its paffage,
and iffuing out at the weft fide of it in the territory of
Dara.
There is a ford, though very deep and dangerous, at
the place where the Nile firft affumes the name of a ri¬
ver, after emerging from the lake Dembea *, but the
ftream in other places is exceedingly rapid : the banks
in the courfe of a few miles become very high, and are
covered with the moft beautiful and variegated verdure
that can be conceived. It is now confined by the
mountains of Begemder, till it reaches Alata, where is
the third cataraft. This, we are informed by Mr
Bruce, is the moft magnificent fight he ever beheld ;
but he thinks that the height has rather been exagger¬
ated by the miflionaries, who make it 50 feet; and after
many attempts to meafure it, he is of opinion that it is
nearly 40 feet high. At the time he vifited it, the ri¬
ver had been pretty much fwelled by rains, and fell in
one fheet of water, without any interval, for the fpace
of half an Englifh mile in breadth, with fuch a noife
as ftunned and made him giddy for fome time. The ri¬
ver, for fome fpace both above and below the fall, was
covered with a thick mift, owing to the fmall particles
of the water dafhed up into the air by the violence of
the (hock. The river, though fwelled beyond its ufual
fize, retained its clearnefs, and fell into a natural bafon
of rock ; the ftream appearing to run back againft the
foot of the precipice over which it falls with great vio¬
lence ; forming innumerable eddies, waves, and being in
exceflive commotion, as may eafily be imagined. Je¬
rome Lobo pretends that he was able to reach the foot
of the rock, and fit under the prodigious arch of water
fpouting over it} but Mr Bruce does not hefitate to
pronounce this to be an abfolute falfehood. The noife
of the cataract, which, he fays, is like the loudeft thun¬
der, could not but confound and deftroy his fenfe of
hearing ; while the rapid motion of the water before his
eyes would dazzle the fight, make him giddy, and ut¬
terly deprive him of all his intelleftual powers. “ It
■was a moft magnificent fight, (fays Mr Bruce), that
ages, added to the greateft length of human life, would
N I L
not deface or eradicate from my memory : it ftruck me Nile,
with a kind of ftupor, and a total oblivion of where I
was, and of every other fublunary concern.”
About half a mile below the catarad, the Nile is
confined between two rocks, where it runs in a narrow
channel with impetuous velocity and a great noife. At
the village of Alata there is a bridge over it, confifting
of one arch, and that no more than 23 feet wide.
This bridge is ftrongly fixed into the folid rock on both
fides, and fome part of the parapet ftill remains. No
crocodiles ever come to Alata, nor are any ever feen be¬
yond the cataraft.
Below this tremendous water-fall the Nile takes ft
fouth-eaft diredtion, along the weftern fide of Begem¬
der and Amhara on the right, enclofing the province of
Goiam. It receives a great number of ftreams from
both fides, and after feveral turns takes at laft a direc¬
tion almoft due north, and approaches within 62 miles
of its fource. Notwithftanding the vaft increafe of its
waters, however, it is ftill fordable at fome fealbns of
the year ; and the Galla crofs it at all times without
any difficulty, either by fwimming, or on goats-fkins
blown up like bladders. It is like wife crofted on fmall
rafts, placed on two (kins filled with wind : or by twill¬
ing their hands round the tails of the horfes who fwim
over ; a method always ufed by the women who follow
the Abyffinian armies, and are obliged to crofs unford-
able rivers. In this part of the river crocodiles are met
with in great numbers ", but the fuperftitious people pre¬
tend they have charms fufficiently powerful to defend
themfelves againft their voracity.—The Nile now feems
to have forced its paffage through a gap in fome very
high mountains which bound the country of the Gongas,
and falls down a catarafl of 280 feet high ; and im¬
mediately below this are two others, both of very con¬
fiderable height. Thefe mountains run a great way to
the weftward, where they are called Di/re or Teg/a, the
eaftern end of them joining the mountains of Kuara,
where they have the name of Fa%uclo. Thefe moun¬
tains, our author informs us, are all inhabited by Pagan
nations ; but the country is lefs known than any other
on the African continent. There is plenty of gold
waflied down from the mountains by the torrents in the
rainy feafon 5 which is the fine gold of Sennaar named
Tibbar.
The Nile, nowr running clofe by Sennaar in a direc¬
tion nearly north and fouth, makes afterwards a (harp
turn to the eaft ; affording a pleafant view in the fair
feafon, when it is brim-full, and indeed the only orna¬
ment of that bare and inhofpitable country. Leaving
Sennaar, it paffes by many large towns inhabited by
Arabs, all of them of a white complexion ; then paffing
Gerri, and turning to the north-eaft, it joins the Ta-
cazze, paffing, during its courfe through this country, a
large and populous town named Cnendi, probably the
Candace of the ancients. Here Mr Bruce fuppofes the
ancient ifland or peninfula of Meroe to have been fitu-
ated. Having at length received the great river Atba-
ra, the Aftaboras of the ancients, it turns directly north
for about two degrees ; then making a very unexpected
turn weft by fouth for more than two degrees in longi¬
tude, and winding very little, it arrives at Korti, the firft
town in Barabra, or kingdom of Dongola. From Kor¬
ti it runs almoft fouth-weft till it paffes Dongola, called
alfo Bejci, the capital of Barabra ; after which it comes
C a te
[ 19 1
NIL
to Mofcho, a corificierable town and place of refrefliment
to the caravans when they were allowed to pais from
Egypt to Ethiopia. From thence turning to the
north-eaft ;t meets with a chain of mountains in about
22° 15' of N. latitude, where is tire feventh cataract
named Jan Adel. This is likewife very tremendous,
though not above half as high as that of Alata. This
courfe is now continued till it falls into the Mediterra¬
nean • there being only one other cataract in the whole
fpace, which is much inferior to any of thofe already
defcribed.
i bis verv particular and elaborate account of the
fources of the Nile and of the courfe of the river given
by Mr Bruce, hath not efcaped eriticifm. We find him
accufed by the reviewers, not only of having brought
nothing to light that was not previoully known to the
learned, but even of having revealed nothing w hich was
not previoully published in Guthrie’s Geographical
Grammar. This, however, feems by no means a fair
and candid critkdfm. If the fources of the Nile, as
defcribed by Mr Bruce, were known to the author of
Guthrie’s Grammar, they muft likewife have been fo
to every retailer of geography fince the time of the
miffionaries ; which, as the reviewers have particu¬
larized that book, would not feem to have been the
cafe. If any thing new was publilhed there previous
to the appearance of Mr Bruce’s work, it mutt pro¬
bably have been derived indireftly from himfelf j of
which clandeftine method of proceeding that gentleman
has had frequent occafion to complain in other cafes.
It is alleged, however, that he has given the name of
Uile to a ftream which does not deferve it. This, like
all other large rivers, is compofed of innumerable
branches ; to vilit the tojv of every one of which would
be indeed an Herculean talk. The fource of the largeft
branch, therefore, and that which has the longett
courfe, is undoubtedly to be accounted the fource of
the river*, but here it is denied that Mr Bruce had
fufficient information. “ Of the innumerable ftreams
(fay they) that feed the lake of Tzana, there is one
that ends in a bog, to which Mr Bruce was condudled
by Woldo, a lying guide, who told him it was the
{burce of the Nile. Mr Bruce, in a matter of far
lefs importance, would not have taken Woldo’s word ;
but he is perfuaded, that in this cafe he fpoke truth 5
becaufe the credulous barbarians of the neighbouring
diftridf paid fomething like worfnip to this brook,
which, at the diftanee of 14 miles from its fource, is
not 20 feet broad, and nowhere one foot deep. Now
it is almoft unneceffary to obferve, that the natives of
that country being, according to Mr Bruce’s report,
pagans, might be expe&ed to worlhip the pure and fa-
lutary ftream, to which, with other extraordinary quali¬
ties, their fuperftition aferibed the power of curing the
bite of a mad dog. Had he traced to its {burce any
of the other rivulets which run into the lake Tzana,
it is not unlikely that he might have met with fimilar
inftances of credulity among the ignorant inhabitants
of its banks. Yet this would not prove any one of
them in particular to be the. head of the Nile. It
would be trifling with the patience of our readers to
fay one word more on the queftion, whether the Por-
tuguefe Jefuits or Mr Bruce difeovered what they er-
foneoufly call the head of the Nile Before either
they or he had indulged themfelves in a r ain triumph
20 J N I L
over the labours of antiquity, they ought to have been Nile,
lure that they had effe&ed what antiquity was unable v }'
to aecomplilh. Now the river defcribed by the Jeluit
Kircher, who colledted the information of his brethren,
as well as by Mr Bruce, is not the Nile of which the
ancients were in quell. This is amply proved by the
prince of modern geographers, the incomparable D’An-
viile (at leaft till our own Kennel appeared), in aSee-SW-
copious memoir publilhed in the 26th volume ot the.^^J1^
Memoirs of the Academy of Belles Lettres, p. 45.— ^ ^
To this learned differtation we refer our readers \ add¬
ing only what feems probable from the writings of
Diodorus Siculus and Herodotus, that the ancients
had two meanings when they fpoke of the head or
fource of the Nile : Firit, Literally, the head or lource
of that great weflern ftream now called the White
River, which contains a much greater weight of
waters, and has a much longer courle than the river
defcribed by the jefuits and by Mr Bruce : and, 2dly,
Metaphorically, the caufe of the Nile’s inundation—■
This caufe they had difeovered to be the tropical rains,
which fall in the extent of 16 degrees on each fide of
the line ; which made the facriftan of Minerva’s temple
of Sals in Egypt tell that inquifitive traveller HeroT
dotus, that the waters of the Nile run in two oppolite
directions from its fource *, the one north into Egypt,
the other fouth into Ethiopia j and the reports of all
travellers into Africa ferve to explain and confirm this
obfervation. The tropical rains, they acknowledges,
give rife to the Nile and all its tributary ftreams which
flow northward into the kingdom of Sennaar, as well
as to the Zebee, and fo many large rivers which fiow
fouth into Ethiopia *, and then, according to the incli¬
nation of the ground, fall into the Indian or Atlantic
ocean. Such then, according to the Egyptian priefts,
is the true and philofophical iource ot the Nile ; a
fource difeovered above 3000 years ago, and not, as
Mr Bruce and the Jefuits have fuppofed, the head of a
paltry rivulet, one of the innumerable ftreams that teed
the lake Tzana.”
On this fevere criticifm, however, it is obvious to re¬
mark, that if the fource of the Nile has been difeo¬
vered fo many years ago, there is not the leaft proba¬
bility that the finding of it fliould have been deemed
an impoftible undertaking, which it molt certainly was,
by the ancients.—That the finding out the fountains
of the river itfelf was an objeft of their inquiry, can¬
not be doubted *, and from the accounts given by Mr
Bruce, it appears very evident that none of the an¬
cients had equal fuccefs with himfelf ^ though indeed
the Jefuits, as has already been obferved, feem to have
a right to difpute it with him. From the corre-
fpondence of his accounts with that of the Jefuits, it
appears certain that the moft coniiderable ftream which
flows into the lake Tzana takes its rife from the foun¬
tains, at Geefh already defcribed j and that it is the moft
confiderable plainly appears from its ftream being vitible
through the whole breadth of the lake, which is not the
cafe with any of the reft. The preference given to this
ftream by the Agows, who worflnp it, feems aifo an in-
con teftable proof that they look upon it to be the great
river which pafles through Ethiopia and Egypt ; nor
will the argument of the reviewers hold good mfuppojing
that other ftreams are worftiipped, unlefs they could prove
that they are fo. As little can it be any objeftion or
difparagement
Nile.
NIL [2
disparagement to Mr Bruce’s labours, that be did not
difcover the Sources of the weftern branch of the Nile
called the White River. Had he done_ fo, it might
next have been objefted that he did not vifitthe Springs
of the Tacazze, or any other branch. 'I hat the ori¬
gin of the White river was unknown to the ancients
may readily be allowed ; but So were the fountains^ of
Geelh, as evidently appears from the erroneous polition
of the Sources of the eaftern brancli of the Nile laid
down by Ptolemy. Our traveller, therefore, certainly
has the merit, if not of discovering the Sources, at leaft
of confirming the accounts which the Jefuits have given
of the Sources, of the river called the Nile; and of
■which the White river, whether greater or Smaller,
Seems to be accounted only a branch. The Superior ve¬
neration paid to the eaftern branch of this celebrated
river will alfo appear from the variety of names given
to it, as well as from the import of thefe names } of
■which Mr Bruce gives the following account.
By the Agows it is named Gxeir, Geefa, or Setr;
the firft of which terms fignifies a god. It is like-
wife named Ab, father ; and has many other names,
all of them implying the moft profound veneration.
Having defeended into Gojam it is named Abay ;
which, according to Mr Bruce, fignifies the river that
Suddenly Swells and overflows periodically with rain.
By the Gongas on the South fide of the mountains
Dyre and Tegla, it is called Dahli, and by thofe on
the north fide Kownfs; both of which names fignify a
'watching dog, the latrator anubis, or dog-far. In the
plain country between Fazuclo and Sennaar it is called
Nile, which fignifies blue; and the Arabs interpret
this name by the word A%ergue ; which name it retains
till it reaches Halfaia, where it receives the White
river.
Formerly the Nile had the name of Siris, both be¬
fore and after it enters Beja, which the Greeks ima¬
gined was given to it on account of its black colour
during the inundation *, but Mr Bruce aflures us that
the river has no Such colour. He affirms, with great
probability, that this name in the country of Beja
imports the river of the dog-far, on whofe vertical ap¬
pearance this river overflows ; “ and this idolatrous
worfhip (Says he) was probably part of the reafon of
the queftion the prophet Jeremiah afles: And what
haft thou to do in Egypt to drink the water of 5eir>
or the water profaned by idolatrous rites ?” As for the
firft, it is only the tranflation of the word applied
to the Nile. The inhabitants of the Barabra to this
day call it Bahar el Nil, or the Sea of the Nile, in con-
tradiftinflion to the Red Sea. for which they have no
other name than Bahar el Molech, or the Salt Sea. The
jundlion of the three great rivers, the Nile flowing on
the weft fide of Meroe; the Tacazze, which wafhes
the eaft fide, and joins the Nile at Maggiran in N.
Lat. 17®; and the Mareb, which falls into this laft
fomething above the junction, gives the name of Triton
to the Nile.
The name TEgyptus, which it has in Homer, and
which our author fuppofes to have been a very an¬
cient name even in Ethiopia, is more difficult to ac¬
count for. This has been almoft univerfally fuppof-
ed to be derived from the black colour of the inun¬
dation } but Mr Bruce, for the reafons already given,
will not admit of this. “ Egypt (Says he) in the
i ] NIL
Ethiopic is called y Gipt, Agar ; and an inhabitant of Nil
the country, Gypt, for precifely So it is pronounced 5 ^
which means the country of ditches or canals, drawn
from the Nile on both fides at right angles with the
river : nothing Surely is more obvious than to write
y Gipt, So pronounced, Egypt; and, with its termina¬
tion us or or, Egyptus. The Nile is alSo called Kro-
nides, Jupiter ; and has had Several other appellations
beftowed upon it by the poets ; though theSe are ra¬
ther of a tranfitory nature than to be ranked among
the ancient names of the river. By Some of the an¬
cient fathers it has been named Geon; and by a
Strange train of miracles they would have it to be one
of the rivers of the terreftrial paradife ; the fame which
is Said to have encompafled the whole land of Cuth or
Ethiopia. To effect this, they are obliged to bring the
river a great number of miles, not only under the earth,
but under the Sea alfo; but Such reveries need no refu¬
tation.
Under the article Egypt we have So fully explained,
the caufe of the annual inundation of the Nile, that,
with regard to the phenomenon itfelf, nothing farther
Seems neceffary to be added. We ihall therefore only
extrabl from Mr Bruce’s work what he has faid con¬
cerning the mode of natural operation by which the
tropical rains are produced •, which are now univerfally
allowed to be the caufe of the annual overflowing of this
and other rivers.
According to this gentleman, the air is So much ra¬
refied by the fun during the time that he remains al¬
moft Stationary over the tropic of Capricorn, that the
other winds loaded with vapours ruth in upon the land
from the Atlantic ocean on the weft, the Indian ocean
on the eaft, and the cold Southern ocean beyond the
Cape. Thus a great quantity of vapour is gathered,
as it were, into a focus ; and as the fame caufes con¬
tinue to operate during the progrefs of the fun north¬
ward, a vaft train of clouds proceed from South to
north, which, Mr Bruce informs us, are Sometimes ex-,
tended much farther than at other times. I hus he tells
us, that for two years Some white dappled clouds were
Seen at Gondar, on the 7th of January ; the fun being-
then 340 diftant from the zenith, and not the leait
cloudy Speck having been Seen for Several months be¬
fore. About the firft of March, however, it begins to
rain at Gondar, but only for a few minutes at a time,,
in large drops •, the fun being then about 50 diftant
from the zenith. The rainy feafon commences with
violence at every place when the fun comes direbtly
over it ; and before it commences at Gondar, green
boughs and leaves appear floating in the Bahar el Abiad,
or White river, which, according to the accounts given
by the Galla, our author fuppofes to take its rife in about
50 north latitude.
The rains therefore precede the fun only about 50 j
but they continue and increafe after he has paffed it.
In April all the rivers in the Southern parts of Abyf-
finia begin to Swell, and greatly augment the Nile,
which is now alfo farther augmented by the vaft quan¬
tity of water poured into the' lake Tzana. On the
firft days of May, the fun paffes the village of Gerri,
which is the limit of the tropical rains ; and it is very
remarkable, that, though the Sun ilill continues to
operate with unabated vigour, ail his influence cannot
bring the. clouds farther northward than this village \
NIL [ 22 1 NIL
tlie reafon of which Mr Bruce, with great reafon, fup-
pofes, to be the want of mountains to the northward.
In confirmation of this opinion, he obferves, that the
tropical rains flop at the latitude of 140 inftead of 160
in the weftern part of the continent. All this time,
however, they continue violent in Abyflinia 5 and in
the beginning of June the rivers are all full, and con¬
tinue fo while the fun remains llationary in the tropic of
Cancer.
This exceflive rain, which would fweep off the whole
foil of Egypt into the fea were it to continue with¬
out intermiflion, begins to abate as the fun turns fouth-
ward ; and on his arrival at the zenith of each place,
on his paffage towards that quarter, they ceafe entire¬
ly : the reafon of which is no lefs difficult to be dif-
covered than that of their coming on when he arrives
at the Zenith in his paffage northward. Be the rea¬
fon what it will, however, the fadt is certain *, and not
only fo, but the time of the rains ceafing is exaft to a
lingle day; infomuch, that on the 25th of September
the Nile is generally found to be at its higheft at Cairo,
and begins to diminiffi every day after. Immediately
after the fun has palled the line, he begins the rainy
feafon to the fouthward 5 the rains conftantly coming on
with violence as he approaches the zenith of each place ;
but the inundation is now promoted in a different man¬
lier, according to the difference of circumftances in the
iituation of the places. From about 6° S. Lat. a chain
of high mountains runs all the way along the middle of
the continent towards the Cape of Good Hope, and in-
terfe&s the fouthern part of the peninfula nearly in the
fame manner that the Nile does the northern. A ftrong
wind from the fouth, flopping the progrefs of the con-
denfed vapours, daffies them againfl the cold fummits of
this ridge of mountains, and forms many rivers, which
efcape in the direftion eilher of eaff or weft as the level
prefents itfelf. If this is toivards the weft, they fall
down the fides of the mountains into the Atlantic, and
if on the eaft into the Indian ocean.—“ The clouds
(fays Mr Bruce), drawn by the violent aflion of the
fun, are condenfed, then broken, and fall as rain on the
top of this high ridge, and fwell every river 5 while a
wind from the ocean on the eaft blows like a monfoon,
up each of thefe ftreams, in a direftion contrary to their
current during the whole time of the inundation ; and
this enables boats to afcend into the weftern parts of So-
fala, and the interior country, to the mountains where
lies the gold. The fame effeft, from the fame caufe, is
produced on the weftern fide towards the Atlantic ; the
high ridge of mountains being placed between the dif¬
ferent countries weft and eaft, is at once the fource of
their riches, and of thofe rivers which conduft to the
treafures, which would be otherwife inacceffible, in the
eaftern parts of the kingdoms of Benin, Congo, and An¬
gola.
“ There are three remarkable appearances attending
the inundation of the Nile. Every morning in Abyffi-
nia is clear, and the fun ffiines. About nine, a fmall
cloud not above four feet broad, appears in the eaft,
whirling violently round as if upon an axis ; but arri¬
ved near the zenith, it firft abates its motion, then lofes
its form, and extends itfelf greatly, and feems to call ^
up vapours from all the oppofite quarters. Thefe clouds
having attained nearly the fame height, ruffi againft each
other with great violence, and put me always in mind
of Eliffia foretelling rain on Mount Carmel. The air,
impelled before the heavieft mafs, or fwifteft mover,
makes an impreffion of its form on the colleftion of
clouds oppofite ; and the moment it has taken poffeffion
of the fpace made to receive it, the moft violent thun¬
der poffible to be conceivedinftantly follows, with rain;
after fome hours the Iky again clears, Avith a wind at
north : and it is always difagreeably cold when the ther¬
mometer is beloAv 63°.
“ The fecond thing remarkable is the variation of the
thermometer. When the fun is in the fouthern tropic,
36° diftant from the zenith of Gondar, it is feldom Ioav-
er than 72° ; but it falls to 6o°, and 63°, when the
fun is immediately vertical ; fo happily does the ap¬
proach of rain compenfate the heat of a too fcorching
fun.
“ The third is that remarkable flop in the extent of
the rain nortlmard, Avhen the fun that has condufted
the vapours from the line, and fhould feem norv more
than ever to be in the poffeffion of them, is here over¬
ruled fuddenly ; till, on his return to Gerri, again it re¬
fumes the abfolute command over the rain, and recon-
dufts it to the line, to furniffi diftant deluges to the
foutliAA-ard.”
With regard to the Nile itfelf, it has been faid that
the quantity of earth brought doAvn by it from Abyffi-
nia is fo great, that the whole land of Egypt is produ¬
ced from it. This queftion, hoAvever, is difcuffed under
the article Egypt, where it is ffiown that this cannot
poffibly be the cafe.—Among other authorities there
quoted was that of Mr Volney, who ftrenuoufly argues
againft the opinion of Mr Savary and others, who have
maintained that Egypt is the gift of the Nile. Not-
withftanding this, however, A\Te find him afferting that
the foil of Egypt has undoubtedly been augmented by
the Nile, in wffiich cafe it is not unreafonable to fup-
pofe that it has been produced by it altogether.—“ The
reader (fays he) will conclude, doubtlefs, from what I
have faid, that Avriters have flattered themfelves too
much in fuppofing they could fix the preeife limits of
the enlargement and rife of the Delta. But, though I
would rejeft all illufory circumftances, I am far from
denying the faft to be Avell founded j it is plain from
reafon, and an examination of the country. The rife
of the ground appears to me demonftrated by an obfer-
vation on Avhich little ftrefs has been laid. In going
from Rofetta to Cairo, when the Avaters are Ioav, as in
the month of March, Ave may remark, as Ave go up the
river, that the ffiore rifes gradually above the Avater 5 fo
that if overfloAved tAVo feet at Rofetta, it overfloAvs from
three to four at Faona, and upAvards of tAvelve at Cairo
(a). Now by reafoning from this faft, Ave may deduce
the proof of an increafe by fediment 5 for the layer of
mud being in proportion to the thicknefs of the ffieets
of Avater by which it is depofited, muft be more or lefs
confiderable
Nile.
(a) “It Avould be curious to afcertain in what proportion it continues up to Afouan. Some Copts, Avhom I
have interrogated on the fubjeft, affured me that it Avas much higher through all the Said than at Cairo.”
NIL [ 23 ] NIL
Nile. confiderable as thefe are of a greater or lefs depth j and
xvq have feen that the like gradation is obfervable from
Alouan to the fea.
“ On the other hand, the increafe of the Delta ma-
nifefts itfelf in a linking manner, by the form of Egypt
along the Mediterranean. When we confider its figure
on the map, we perceive that the country which is in
the line of the river, and evidently formed of foreign
materials, has affumed a femicircular lhape, and that the
Ihores of Arabia and Africa, on each fide, have a direc¬
tion towards the bottom of the Delta ; which manifellly
difcovers that this country was formerly a gulf, that in
time has been filled up.
“ This accumulation is common to all rivers, and is
accounted for in the fame manner in all: the rain wa¬
ter and the fnow defcending from the mountains into
the valleys, hurry inceflantly along with them the
earth they wadi away in their defcent. The heavier
parts, fuch as pebbles and fands, foon flop, unlefs for¬
ced along by a rapid current. But when the waters
meet only with a fine and light earth, they carry away
large quantities with the greateft facility. The Nile,
meeting with fuch a kind of earth in Abyffinia and
the interior parts of Africa, its waters are loaded and
its bed filled with it ; nay, it is frequently fo embar-
rafled with this fediment as to be ftraitened in its
courfe. But when the inundation reftores to it its
natural energy, it drives the mud that has accumu¬
lated towards the fea, at the fame time that it brings
down more for the enfuing feafon 5 and this, arrived
at its mouth, heaps up, and forms ihoals, where the
declivity does not allow fufficient adtion to the cur¬
rent, and where the fea produces an equilibrium of
refiftance. The flagnation which follows occafions
the grofler particles, which till then had floated, to
fink ; and this takes place more particularly in thofe
places where there is leaf! motion, as towards the
fhores, till the fides become gradually enriched by the
fpoils of the upper country and of the Delta itfelf;
for if the Nile takes from Abyflinia to give to the
Thebais, it likewife takes from the Thebais to give
to the Delta, and from the Delta to carry to the fea.
Wherever its waters have a current, it defpoils the
fame territory that it enriches. As we afcend towards
Cairo, when the river is low, we may obferve the banks
worn deep on each fide and crumbling in large flakes.
The Nile, w’hich undermines them, depriving their
light earth of fupport, it falls into the bed of the ri¬
ver ; for when the water is high, the earth imbibes it;
and when the fun and drought return, it cracks and
moulders away in great flakes, which are hurried along
by the Nile.”
Thus does Mr Volney argue for the increafe of the
Delta in the very fame manner that others have ar¬
gued for the production of the whole country of
Egypt; an opinion which he is at great pains to refute.
Under the article Egypt, however, it is fhown that the
Nile does not bring down any quantity of mud fufficient
for the purpofes affigned 5 and with regard to the argu¬
ment drawn from the ffiallowmefs of the inundation
when near the fea, this does not prove any rife of the
land ; but as Mr Rennel has iudicroufly obferved in his
remarks on the inundation of the Ganges, arifes from the
nature of the fluid itfelf. The reafon, in ffiort, is
this; 1 he furface of the fea is the lo'weft point to which
3
the waters of every inundation have a tendency j and
when they arrive there, they fpread themfelves over it
with more eafe than anywhere elfe, becaufe they meet
with lefs refiitance. Their motion, however, by reafon
of the fmall declivity, is lefs fwift than that of the
waters farther up the river, where the declivity is greater j
and confequently the latter being fomewhat impeded
in their motion, are in fume degree accumulated. The
furface of the inundation, therefore, does not form a
perfeftly level plain, but one gradually doping from the
interior parts of the country towards the fea 5 fo that
at the greatefl: diftance from the ocean the water will
always be deepeft, even if we fliould fuppofe the whole
country to be perfectly fmooth, and compofed of the
molt folid materials.—This theory is eafily underftood
from obferving a quantity of water running along a
wooden fpout, which is always more (hallow at the
end of the fpout where it runs olf than at the others.—
With regard to Mr Volney’s other arguments, they
are without doubt contradictory 5 for if, as he fays,
the river takes from Abyffinia to give to the Thebais,
from Thebais to give to the Delta, and from Delta to
the fea, it undoubtedly follows, that it gives nothing to
any part of the land whatever, but that altogether
is fwept into the Mediterranean fea, which, indeed,
feme very trifling quantities excepted, is mod probably
the cafe.
It has been remarked by Mr Pococke, a very judi¬
cious traveller, that in the beginning of the inunda¬
tion, the waters of the Nile run red, and fometimes
green ; and while they remain of that colour, they are
unwholefome. He explains this phenomenon by fup-
pofing, that the inundation at firfl: brings away that red
or green filth which may be about the lakes where it
takes its rife ; or about the fources of the fmall rivers
which flow into it, near its principal fource •, “ for, fays
he, although there is fo little water in the Nile when at
lowed, that there is hardly any current in many parts
of it, yet it cannot be fuppofed that the water ffiould
dagnate in the bed of the Nile fo as to become green.
Afterwards the water begins to be red and dill more
turbid, and then it begins to be wholefome.” This cir-
cumdance is explained by Mr Bruce in the following
manner : the country about Narea and Caffa, where
the river Abiad takes its rife, is full of immenfe marlhes,
where, during the dry feafon, the water flagnates, and
becomes impregnated with every kind of corrupted mat¬
ter. Thefe, on the commencement of the rains, over¬
flow into the river Abiad, which takes its rife there.
The overflowing of thefe vafl marffies fird carries the
difcoloured water into Egypt; after which follows that
of the great lake Tzana, through which the Nile paffes ;
which having been dagnated, and without rain, under a
fcorching fun for fix months, joins its putrid waters to
the former. In Abyffinia alfo, there are very few ri¬
vers that run after November, but all of them dand in
prodigious pools, which, by the heat of the fun, likewife
turn putrid, and on the commencement of the rains
throw' off their dagnant water into the Nile •, but at
lad, the rains becoming condant, all this putrid matter
is carried off, and the fources of the inundation become
fweet and wholefome. The river then paffing through
the kingdom of Sennaar, the foil of which is this red
bole, becomes coloured with that earth ; and a mixture,
along with the moving fands of the deferts, of which it
receives
Nile.
V
NIL F 24 1 NIL
receives a great quantity when raifcd by the wind, pre¬
cipitates ail the vifcous and putrid matters which float
in the waters j whence Mr Pococke judicioufly obferves,
that the Nile is not wholefome when the water is clear
and green, but when fo red and turbid that it ftains the
Avater of the Mediterranean.
The rains in Abyffinia, which ceafe about the 8th
of September, generally leave a fickly feafon in the low
country •, but the difeafts produced by thefe rains are re¬
moved by others Avhich come on about the end of Oc¬
tober, and ceafe about the 8th of November. On thefe
rains depend the latter crops of the Abyflinians-, and for
thefe the Agorvs pray to the rfoer, or the genius or
fpirit refiding in it. In Egypt, however, the effeft
of them is feldom perceived ; but in feme years they
prove exceflive 5 and it has been obferved that the Nile,
after it has fallen, has again rifen in fuch a manner as
to alarm the whole country. This is faid to have hap¬
pened in the time of Cleopatra, when it was fuppofed to
prefage the extinction of the government of the Ptole¬
mies ; and in 1737 it Avas likeAvife imagined to portend
fome dreadful calamity.
The quantity of rain, by which all this inundation
is occafioned, varies confiderably in different years,
at leaft at Gondar, Avhere Mr Bruce had an opportu¬
nity of meafuring it. In 1770 it amounted to 35^
inches j but in 1771 it amounted to no lefs than
4X,355 inches from the vernal equinox to the 8th of
September. What our author adds concerning the
variation of the rainy months feems totally irrecon¬
cilable with Avhat he had before advanced concerning
the extreme regularity of the natural caufes by Avhich
the tropical rains are produced. “ In 1770 (fays he)
Auguft was the rainy month ; in 1771, July. When
July is the rainy month, the rains generally ceafe for
fome days in the beginning of Auguft, and then a
prodigious deal falls in the latter end of that month
and firlt Aveek of September. In other years July and
Auguft are the violent rainy months, Avhile June is
fair. And laftly, in others, May, June, July, Auguft,
and the firft Aveek of September.” If this is the cafe,
Avhat becomes of the regular attraction of the clouds
by the fun as he advances northAvards ; of the coming
on of the rains when he arrives at the zenith of any
place, in his paffage to the tropic of Cancer ; and of
their ceafing when he comes to the lame point in his re¬
turn fouthward ?
Under Abyssinia Ave have mentioned a threat of
one of the Abyffinian monarchs, that he Avould direft
the courfe of the Nile and prevent it from fertilizing
the land of Egypt; and it has likeAvife been related,
that conliderable progrefs was made in this under¬
taking by another emperor. Mr Bruce has bellow¬
ed an entire chapter on the fubjeCland is of opinion,
that “ there feems to be no doubt that it is poflible
to di mini Hi or divert the courfe of the Nile, that it
fhould be infufficient to fertilize the country of Egypt;
becaufe the Nile, and all the rivers that ruit into it,
and all the rains that fwell thefe rivers, fall in a coun¬
try two miles above the level of the fea ; therefore it
cannot be denied, that there is level enough to divert
many of the rivers into the Red fea, or perhaps ftill
■ calier by turning the courfe of the river Ab’ad till
it meets the level of the Niger, or pafs through the
defert into the Mediterranean.” Alphonfo Albuquerque
is faid to have Avritten frequently to the king of Por- Nile,
tugal to fend him pioneers from Madeira, Avith people
accuitomed to level grounds, and prepare them for fu-
gar canes ; by whole afliftance he meant to turn the
Nile into the. Red fea. This undertaking, however,
if it really had been projected, wras never aceomplilhed ;
nor indeed is there any probability that ever fuch a mad
attempt ivas propofed. Indeed, though Ave cannot deny
that there is a pollibility in nature of accomplilhing it,
yet the vaft dithculty of turning the courfe of fo many
large rfoers may jultly ftigmatize it as impracticable ;
not to mention the obftaeles which muft naturally be
fuggefted from the apparent inutility of the undertak¬
ing, and thofe Avhich would arife from the oppolition of
the Egyptians.
It has already been obferved in a quotation from
the reviewers, that Herodotus Avas informed by the
facriftan or fecretary of the treafury of Minerva, that
one half of the Avaters of the Nile run north and the
other fouth. This is alfo taken notice of by Mr
Bruce; Avho gi\res the folloAving explanation of it.
“ The fecretary Avas probably of that country himfelf,
and feems by his obfervation to have knoAvn more of it
than all the ancients together. In faCt Ave have feen,
that betAveen 130 and 140 north latitude, the Nile,
Avith all its tributary ftreams, Avhich have their rife
and courfe AArithin the tropical rains, falls doAvn into
the flat country (the kingdom of Sennaar), which is
more than a mile loAver than the high country in Abyf¬
finia ; and thence, Avith a little inclination, it runs into
Egypt. Again, In latitude 90, in the kingdom of Gin-
giro, the Zebee runs fouth or fouth-eaft, into the Inner
Ethiopia, as do alfo many other rivers, and, as I have
heard from the natives of that country, empty themfelves
into a lake, as thofe on the north fide of the line do into
the lake Tzana, thence diftributing their Avaters to the
eaft and weft. Thefe become the heads of great rivers,
that run through the interior countries of Ethiopia (cor-
refponding to the fea coaft of Melinda and Mombaza)
into the Indian ocean ; Avhilft, on the weftward, they
are the origin of the vaft ftreams that fall into the At¬
lantic, paffmg through Benin and Congo, fouthward of
the river Gambia and the Sierra Leona. In Ihort, the
periodical rains from the tropic of Capricorn to the
line, being in equal quantity with thofe that fall be-
tAveen the line and the tropic of Cancer, it is plain,
that if the land of Ethiopia Hoped equally from the
line fouth Avard and northAvard, the rains that fall Avould
go the one half north and the other half fouth ; but as
the ground from 30 north declines all fouthAvard, it fol-
Ioavs, that the rivers which run to the fouth Avard muft be
equal to thofe that run nortlnvard, p/us the rain that
foils in the north latitude, Avhere the ground begins
to Hope to tin fouthAvard; and there can be little
doubt that is at leaft one of the reafons Avhy there are
in the fouthern continent fo many rivers larger than
the Nile, that run both into the Indian and Atlantic
oceans.”
From this account given to Herodotus, it has been
fuppofed, by fome writers on geography, that the
Nile divides itfelf into two branches, one of which
runs nortliAvard into Egypt, and one through the
country of the Negroes weft Avard into the Atlantic
ocean. This opinion Avas firft broached by Pliny.—
It has been adopted by the Nubian geographer, Avlr>
urges
NIL [2
Nile, urges in ’fupport of it, that if the Nile carried down
—v—-'all ’ the rains which fall into it from Abyffinia, the
people of Egypt would not be fafe in their houfes.
But to this Mr Bruce anfwers, that the wafte of wa¬
ter in the burning deferts through which the Nile
paffes is fo great, that unlefs it was fupplied by an¬
other dream, the White River, equal in magnitude
to itfelf, and which, riling in a country of perpetual
rains, is thus always kept full, it never could reach
Egypt at all, but would be loft in the fands, as is the
cafe with many other very conliderable rivers in A-
frica. “ The rains (fays he) are colleaed by the four
great rivers in Abyffinia ■, the Mareb, the Bowiha,
the Taoazze, and the Nile. All thefe principal, and
their tributary ftreams, would, however, be abforbed,
nor be able to pafs the burning deferts, or find their
way into Egypt, were it not for the White River,
which having its fource in a country of almoft perpe¬
tual rains, joins to it a never-failing ftream equal to the
Nile itfelf.”
We {hall conclude this article with fome account
of the Agows who inhabit the country about the
fources of the Nile. Thefe, according to Mr Bruce,
are one of the moft confiderable nations in Abyffinia,
and can bring into the field about 4000 horfe and a
great number of foot; but were once much more
powerful than they are now, having been greatly re¬
duced by the invafions of the Galla. Their province
is nowhere more than 6a miles in length, or than 30
in breadth •, notwithftanding which they fupply the
capital and all the neighbouring country with cattle,
honey, butter, wax, hides, and a number of other ne-
eeffary articles *, whence it has been cuftomary for the
Abyffinian princes to exaft a tribute rather than mili¬
tary fervice from them. The butter is kept from pu¬
trefaction during the long carriage, by mixing it with
a fmall quantity of a root fomewhat like a carrot, which
they call mormoco. It is of a yellow colour, and an¬
swers the purpofe perfectly well; which in that climate
it is very doubtful if fait could do. The latter is be-
fides ufed as money ^ being circulated inftead of filver
coin, and ufed as change for gold. Brides paint their
feet, hands, and nails, with this root. A large quan¬
tity of the feed of the plant Avas brought into Europe
by Mr Bruce.
The AgoAvs carry on a confiderable trade Avith the
Shangalla and other black favages in the neighbour¬
hood ; exchanging the produce of their country for
gold, iv'ory, horns of the rhinoceros, and fome fine cot¬
ton. The barbarity and thievifh difpofition of both
nations, hoAvever, render this trade much inferior to
Avhat it might be.
In their religion the Agotvs are grots idolaters, pay¬
ing divine honours to the Nile, as has already been ob-
ferved. Mr Bruce, who lodged in the houfe*of the
prieft of the river, had an opportunity of becoming ac¬
quainted Avith many particulars of their devotion. He
heard him addrefs a prayer to the Nile, in Avhich he
ftyled it the “ Moft High God, the Saviour of the
world.” In this prayer he petitioned for feafonable
rain, plenty of grafs, and the prefervation of a kind of
ferpents ; deprecating thunder very pathetically. The
moft fublime and lofty titles are given by them to the
fpirit Avhich they fuppofe to refide in the river Nile ;
calling it everlafting God, Light of the World, Eye of
Vol. XV. Part I.
; ] NIL
the World, God of Peace, their Saviour, and Father of Nile,
r t • c Nilometer.
the Umverie. > ^ a
The AgoAvs are all clothed in hides, which they ma-
nufacture in a manner peculiar to themfelves. Thefe
hides are made in the form of a Hurt reaching down to
their feet, and tied about the middle Avith a kind of falh
or girdle. The lower part of it refembles a large
double petticoat, one fold of Avhich they turn back
over their Ihoulders, faftening it Avith a broach or Ike AV¬
er acrols their breaft before, and the married Avomen
carry their children in it behind. The younger fort
generally go naked. The Avomen are marriageable at
nine years of age, though they commonly do not marry
till eleven ; and they continue to bear children till 30,
and iometimes longer. They are generally thin and be¬
low the middle fize, as Avell as the men. Barrennefs is
quite unknoAvn among them.
The country of the Agows has a very elevated litua-
tion, and is of courfe fo temperate that the heat may
eafily be borne, though little more than io° from the
equator. The people, hoAvever, are but Ihort lived ;
Avhich may in part be owing to the oppreffion they la¬
bour under. This, according to Mr Bruce, is cxceffive.
“ Though their country (fays he) abounds Avith all the
neceffaries of life, their taxes, tributes, and ferviees, efpe-
cially at prefent, are fo multiplied upon them, Avhilft
their difirefles of late have been lb great and frequent,
that they are only the manufacturers of the commodities
they fell, to fatisfy thefe conftant exorbitant demands, and
cannot enjoy any part of their oavo produce themfelves,
but live in penury and mifery fcarcely to be conceived.
We faAv a number of Avomen Avrinkled and fun-burnt fo
as fcarcely to appear human, Avandering about under a
burning fun, Avith one and fometimes two children upon
their backs; gathering the feeds of beut grafs to make
a kind of bread.”
NILOMETER, or Niloscope, aninftrument ufed
among the ancients to meafure the height of the Avater
of the river Nile in its overflowings.
The Avord comes from NsfAfl?, Nile (and that from
net “ neAV mud,” or as fome others Avould have it,
from no), “ I floAv,” and tXvg, u mud,”) and ^sr^ey,
“ meafure.” The Greeks more ordinarily call it, Ne<-
?>otrx.o7rtov.
The nilometer is faid, by feveral Arabian Avriters, to
have been firft fet up, for this purpofe, by Jofeph during
his regency in Egypt : the meafure of it Avas 16 cubits,
this being- the height of the increafe of the Nile, Avlnch
was neceffary to the fruitfulnefs of Egypt.
From the meafure of this column, I)r Cumberland * * Scripture
deduces an argument, in order to prove that the JeAvifli
and Egyptian cubits were of the fame length. fines, p. iS,
In the French king’s library' is an Arabic treatife on
nilometers, entitled JVW/ Ji alnal al Nil; Avherein are
deferibed all the overflowings of the Nile, from the firft
year of the Hegira to the 875th.
Herodotus mentions a column erected in a point
of the ifland Delta, to ferve as a nilometer 5 and there
is ftill one of the fame kind in a mofque of the fame
place.
As all the riches of Egypt arife from the inundations
of the Nile, the inhabitants ufed to fupplicate them at
the hands of their Serapis ; and committed the moft
execrable crimes, as actions, forfooth, of religion, to ob¬
tain the favour. This occafioned Conftantine exprefsly
D to
N I M [ 26 ] N I M
Kilometer to prohibit thefe facrifices, &c. and to order the nilo-
^r. II meter to be removed into the church 5 whereas, till
7 ^ ‘ that time, it had been in the temple of Serapis. Julian
the Apoftate had it replaced in the temple, where it
continued till the time of Theodolite the Great.
The following is Mr Bruce’s account of the nilome-
-}■ Bmce's ter. “ On the point f of the ifland Rhode, between
Trawls, Geeza and Cairo, near the middle of the river, is a
mi. Li. round tower encloling a neat well or ciftern lined with
marble. The bottom of this well is on the fame levt-1
with the bottom of the Nile, which has free accefs to it
through a large opening like an embrafure. In the
middle of the 'well rifes a thin column of eight faces of
blue and white marble of which the foot is on the fame
plane with the bottom of the river. This pillar is di¬
vided into 20 peeks, of 22 inches each. Of thefe peeks
the two lowermoft are left, without any divilion, to Rand
for the quantity of fludge which the water depofits
there. Two peeks are then divided, on the right hand,
into 24 digits each ; then on the left, four peeks are
divided into 24 digits 5 then on the right, four j and on
the left another four : again, four on the right, which
completes the number of 18 peeks from the firfl divilion
marked on the pillar, each peek being 22 inches. Thus
the whole marked and unmarked amounts to fomething
more than 36 feet English.”
On the night of St John, when, by the falling of the
dew, they perceive the rain water from Ethiopia mixed
with the Nile at Cairo, they begin to announce the ele¬
vation of the river, having then five peeks of water
marked on the nilometer, and two unmarked for the
Rudge, of which they take no notice. Their firR pro¬
clamation, fuppofing the Nile to have rifen 12 digits, is
12 from 6, or it wants 12 digits to be 6 peeks. When
it has rifen three more, it is nine from fix ; and fo on,
till the W’hole 18 be filled, when all the land of Egypt
is fit for cultivation. Several canals are then opened,
which convey the rvater into the defert, and hinder any
further flagnation on the fields. There is indeed a
great deal of more water to come from Ethiopia ; but
wrere the inundation fuffered to go on, it would not drain
foon enough to fit the land for tillage : and to guard
againR this mifthief is the principal ufe of the nilome¬
ter, though the TurkiRr government makes it an engine
of taxation. From time immemorial the Egyptians
paid, as tribute to the king, a certain proportion of the
fruit of the ground } and this was anciently afeertained
by the elevation of the wTater on the nilometer, and by
the menfuration of the land aftually overflowed. But
the Saracen government, and afterwards the Turkifh,
has taxed the people by the elevation alone of the wa¬
ter, without attending to its courfe over the country, or
the extent of the land aflually overflowed 5 and this
tax is fometimes cruelly oppreflive.
NIMBUS, in antiquity, a circle obferved on certain
medals, or round the heads of fome emperors j anfw'ering
to the circles of light drawn round the images of faints.
NIMEGUEN, a large, handfome, and flrongtown
of the Netherlands, and capital of Dutch Guelderland,
with a citadel, an ancient palace, and feveral forts. It
is noted for the peace concluded there in 1695. It has
a magnificent townhoufe, and the inhabitants are great¬
ly given to trade. It is feated on the Vahal or Wahal,
between the Rhine and the Maefe. It is the utmoR
eaflern boundary of the Netherlands. It contains two
I
Dutch churches, a French Calvinifl and a Lutheran Nimeguen
church, five Popifli, and feveral hofpitals. It was once II
a Hans town and an imperial city. It was once the ,7Vwi- rot*-
feat of government, has a canal to Arnheim, and confi-
derable trade to fome parts of Germany : it trades alfo
in fine beer brewing, fattening of Cattle, and exporting
of its butter, which is extremely good, into all the o-
ther provinces. It was taken by the French in 1794.
It is in E. Long. 3. 45. N. Lat. 51. 55.
NIMETUL AHITES, a kind of Turkiflr monks,
fo called from their founder Nimetulahi, famous for hi*
dodlrines and the auRerity of his life.
NIMPO, a city and feaport town of China, in the
province of Chekiang. It is feated on the eallerii tea
of China, over againR Japan. It is a city of the firR
rank, and Rands at the confluence of two fmall rivers,
which, after their union, form a channel that reaches to
the fea, and is deep enough to bear veflels of 200 tons
burden. The walls of Nimpo are 5000 paces in circum¬
ference, and are built with freeitene. There are five
gates, befides two water gates for the palfage of barks in¬
to the city j a tower feveral Rories high, built of bricks;
and a long bridge of boats, fattened together with iron
chains, over a very broad canal. The city is command¬
ed by a citadel built on a very high rock, by the foot
of which all veffels mufl neceffarily pafs. The Chinefe
merchants of Siam and Batavia go to this place yearly
to buy filks, which are the finelt in the empire. They
have alfo a great trade with Japan, it being but two
days fail from hence : thither they carry filks, fluffs, fu-
gar, drugs, and wine ; and bring back copper, gold,
and filver. E. Long. 122. O. N. Lat. 30. o.
NIMROD, the fixth fon of Cufli, and in all appear¬
ance much younger than any of his brothers: for Mofes
mentions the fons of Raamah, his fourth brother, before
he fpeaks of him. . What the facred hiflorian fays of
him is Riort; and yet he fays more of him than of any
other of the poflerity of Noah, till he comes to Abra¬
ham. He tells us, that “ Nimrod began to be a mighty
one in the earth that he was “ a mighty hunter be¬
fore the Lord,” even to a proverb ; and that “ the be¬
ginning of his kingdom vras Babel, and Erech, and Ac-
cad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar.”
From this account he is fuppofed to have been a man
of extraordinary flrength and valour. Some reprefent
him as a giant; all confider him as a great warrior. It
is generally thought, that by the words a mighty hunter,
is to be underflood, that he was a great tyrant; but
fome of the rabbins interpret thofe words favourably,
faying that Nimrod rvas qualified by a peculiar dex¬
terity and flrength for the chafe, and that he offered to
God the game which he took ; and feveral of the mo¬
derns are of opinion, that this paffage is not to be un¬
derflood of his tyrannical oppreflions, or of hunting of
men, but of beafls. It mutt be owned that the phrafe
before the Lord may be taken in a favourable fenfe, and
as a commendation of a perfon’s good qualities ; but in
this place the generality of expofitors underfland it
otherwife.
Hunting mufl have been one of the mofl ufeful em¬
ployments in the times juR after the difperfion, when
all countries were overrun with wild beafls, of which it
was neceffary they fliould be cleared, in order to make
them habitable ; and therefore nothing feemed more
proper to procure a man efleem and honour'in thofe
ages,.
N I M [ 27 ] N I N
Nimrod, ages than his being an expert hunter. By that exercife,
“""v we are told, the ancient Perfians fitted their kings for
war and government ; and hunting is ftill, in many
countries, coniidered as one part of a royal education.
There is nothing in the (hurt hiftory of Nimrod which
carries the lead air of reproach, except his name, which
fignifies a rebel; and that is the circumftance which
feems to have occafioned the injurious opinions which
have been entertained of him in all ages. Commenta¬
tors, being prepoffeffed in general that the curfe of Noah
fell upon the pofterity of Ham, and finding this prince
ftigmatized by his name, have interpreted every paffage
relating to him to his difad vantage. They reprefent
him as a rebel againll God, in perfuading the defeendants
of Noah to difobey the divine command to difperfe, and
in fetting them to build the tower of Babel, with an
impious defign of fealing heaven. They brand him as
an ambitious ufurper, and an infolentopprefior \ and make
him the author of the adoration of fire, of idolatrous
w or {hip given to men, and the firft perfecutor on the
fcore of religion. On the other hand, fome account
him a virtuous prince, who, far from advifing the build¬
ing of Babel, left the country, and went into Afiyria,
becaufe he would not give his confent to that projeft.
Nimrod is generally thought to have been the firll
king after the Hood ; though fome authors, fuppofing a
plantation or difperfion prior to that of Babel, have
made kings in feveral countries before his time. Miz-
raim is thought, by many who contend for the antiquity
of the Egyptian monarchy, to have begun his reign
much earlier than Nimrod ; and others, from the uni¬
formity of the languages fpoken in Affyria, Babylonia,
Syria, and Canaan, affirm thofe countries to have been
peopled before the confufion of tongues.
The four cities Mofes gives to Nimrod conftituted a
large kingdom in thofe early times, when few kings had
more than one j only it muft be obferved, that poflef-
fions might at firft: have been large, and afterwards divi¬
ded into feveral parcels •, and Nimrod being the leader
of a nation, we may fuppofe his fubjecls fettled within
thofe limits : whether he became poffeffed of thofe cities
by conqueft or otherwife, does not appear ; it is moft
probable he did not build Babel, all the pofterity of
Noah feeming to have been equally concerned in that
affair; nor does it appear that he built the other three,
though the founding of them, and many more, with
other works, are attributed to him by fome authors. It
may feem alfo a little ftrange, that Nimrod fhould be
preferred to the regal dignity, and enjoy the moft culti¬
vated part of the earth then known, rather than any
other of the elder chiefs or heads of nations, even of the
branch of Ham. Perhaps it was conferred on him for
his dexterity in hunting; or, it may be, he did not af-
fume the title of king till after his "father Cufti’s death,
who might have been fettled there before him, and left
him the fovereignty ; but we incline to think, that he
feized Shinar from the defeendants of Shem, driving out
Affiur, who from thence went and founded Nineveh,
and other cities in Affyria.
The Scripture does not inform us when Nimrod be¬
gan his reign : Some date it before the difperfion ; but
fueh a conje<fture does not feem to fuit with the Mofai-
cal hiftory ; for before the difperfion we read of no city
but Babel j nor could there well be more, while all
mankind were yet in a body together j but tvhen Nim¬
rod affumed the regal title, there feem to have been Nimrod
other cities; a circumftance which fliows it was a good Ninjjvejj
while after the *ifperfion. The learned writers of the ,
Univerfal Hiftory place the beginning ot his reign 30
years from that event, and in all likelihood it ftiould be
placed rather later than earlier.
Authors have taken a great deal of pains to find
Nimrod in profane hiftory : fome have imagined him to
be the fame with Belus, the founder of the Babylonifti
empire; others take him to be Ninus, the firft Affyrian
monarch. Some believe him to have been Evechous,
the firft Chaldean king after the deluge and others
perceive a great refemblance between him and Bacchus,
both in aftions and name. Some of the Mohammedan
writers fuppofe Nimrod to have been. Zohak, a Perfian
king of the firft dynafty : others contend for his being
Cay Cans, the fecond king of the fecond race 5 and
fome of the Jews fay he is the fame with Amraphel the
king of Shinar, mentioned by Mofes. But there is no
certainty in thefe conjectures, nor have we any know ¬
ledge of his immediate fucceffors.
The Scripture mentions nothing as to the death of
Nimrod 5 but authors have taken care that fuch an el-
fential circumftance in his hiftory fhould not be want¬
ing. Some of the rabbins pretend he was {lain by
Efau, whom they make his contemporary. There is a
tradition that he rvas killed by the fall of the tower of
Babel, which was overthrown by tempeftuous winds.
Others fay, that as he led an army againft Abraham,
God fent a fquadron of gnats, which deftroyed moft of
them, and particularly Nimrod, whole brain was pier¬
ced by one of thofe infedls.
NINE, the laft of the radical numbers or charaCfers j
from the combination of which any definite number,
however large, may be produced. “ It is obferved by
arithmeticians (fays Hume), that the products of 9
compofe always either 9 or fome leffer produCls of 9, if
you add together all the charafters of which any of the
former products is compofed : thus of 18, 27, 36, which
are produfts of 9, you make 9, by adding 1 to 8, 2 to
7, 3 to 6. Thus 369 is a produCl alfo of 9 5 and if
you add 3, 6, and 9, you make 18, a leffer produCt of
9.” See Hume's Dialogues on Nat. Relig. p. 167, 168,
&c. 2d. edit.
NINEVEH, in Ancient Geography, the capital city
of Affyria, founded by Aftiur the fon of Shem (Gen.
x. 11.) j or, as others read the text, by Nimrod the fon
of Cufh.
However this be, yet it muft be owmed, that Nineveh
was one of the moft ancient, the moft famous, the moft
potent, and largeft cities of the world. It is very dif¬
ficult exaftly to aflign the time of its foundation ; .but
it cannot be long after the building of Babel. It was
fituated upon the banks of the Tigris *, and in the time
of the prophet Jonas, who was fent thither under Jero¬
boam II. king of Ifrael, and, as Calmet thinks, under
the reign of Pul, father of Sardanapalus, king of Affy¬
ria, Nineveh was a very great city, its circuit being three
days journey (Jonah iii. 3.). Df-fdorus Siculus, who has
given us the dimenfions of it, fays it was 480 ftadia in
circumference, or 47 miles j and that it was furrounded
with lofty walls and towers; the former being 200 feet
in height, and fo very broad that three chariots might
drive on them abreaftq and the latter 200 feet in height,
and IJOO in number j and Strabo allows it to have been
D 2 much
N I N [ 28 ] N I N
Nineveh,
_N ini a.
much greater than Babylon. Diodorus Siculus tvas,
however, certainly miftaken, or rather his tranfcribers,
as the authors of the Univerfal Hiftory think, in placing
Nineveh on the Euphrates, iince all hiftorians as well
as geographers who fpeak of that city, tell us in exprefs
terms that it Itood on the Tigris. At the time of Jo¬
nah’s miffion thither, it was fo populous, that it was rec¬
koned to contain more than fix fcore thoufand perfons,
who could not diftinguifh their right hand from their
left (Jonah iv. n.), which is generally explained of
young children that had not yet attained to the ufe of
reafon •, fo that upon this principle it is computed that
ihe inhabitants of Nineveh were then above 6oo,oco
perfons.
Nineveh Avas taken by Arbaces and Belefis, in the
year of the Avorld 3257, under the reign of Sardanapa-
lus, in the time of Ahaz king of Judah, and about the
time of the foundation of Rome. It Avas taken a fecond
time by Aftyages and Nabopolaffar from Chynaladanus
king of Affyria in the year 3378. After this time,
Nineveh no more recovered its former fplendour. It
was fo entirely ruined in the time of Lucianus Samofa-
tenfis, Avho lived under the emperor Adrian, that no
footfleps of it could be found, nor fo much as the place
Avhere it Hood. However, it Avas rebuilt under the Per-
fians, and deftroyed again by the Saracens about the
feventh age.
Modern travellers fay (a), that the ruins of ancient
Nineveh may ftill be feen on the eailern banks of the
Tigris, oppofite to the city Moful or Mouful : (See
Mousul). Profane hiftorians tell us, that Ninus firft
founded Nineveh ; but the Scripture affures us, that it
Avas Afhur or Nimrod.
The facred authors make frequent mention of this
city •, and Nahum and Zephaniah foretold its ruin in a
very particular and pathetic manner.
NINIA, or Ninian, commonly called St Nmian, a
holy man among the ancient Britons. He refided at
or near a place called by Ptolemy Leucopibia, and by
Bede Candida Cafa ; but the Englifh and Scotch called
it Whithorne. We mention him, becaufe he is faid to
have been the firft avIio converted the Scots and Pifts
to the Chriffian faith j Avhich he did during the reign
of Theodofius the Younger. Bede informs us, that
he built a church dedicated to St Martin, in a ftyle
unknoAvn to the Britons of that time ; and adds, that
during his time the Saxons held this province (Gallo-
vidia, now Galloway), and that, as in confequence of
the labours of this faint the con\rerts to Chriftianity
increafed, an epifcopal fee Avas eftablifhed there. Dr
Henry, confidcring that “ few or none of the Avritings
N inon.
of the moft ancient fathers of the Britifh church are Ninia
now extant, and fince little being faid of them by
their cotemporaries, we can knoAV little of their per-
fonal hiftory and of the extent of their erudition,”
gives a fhort account of fome of them. Of St Ninian
he fays, “ he was a Briton of noble birth and excel¬
lent genius. After he had received as good an edu¬
cation at home as his own country could afford, he
travelled for his further improvement, and fpent feve-
ral years at Rome, which Avas then the chief feat of
learning as Avell as of empire. From thence he return¬
ed into Britain, and fpent his life in preaching the gofpel
in the moft uncultivated parts of it, Avith equal zeal and
fuecefs.”
There is a fmall toAA’n called St Ninian, about a mile
foutb of Stirling. Its church had been occupied by the
rebels in 1745 as a poAvder magazine 5 who on their re¬
turn bleAV it up in fuch haite, as to deftroy fome of their
owm people and about fifteen fpeflators.
NING-PO-FOU, called by the Europeans Liampo, is
an excellent port, on the eaftern coafl of China, oppo¬
fite to Japan. Eighteen or tAventy leagues from this
place is an ifland called Tcheou-chan, where the Englifh
firlt landed on their arrival at China.
The filks manufa&ured at Ning-po are much efleem-
ed in foreign countries, efpecially in Japan, Avhere the
Chinefe exchange them for copper, gold, and filver.
This city has four others under its jurifdiftion, befides
a great number of fortrefles.
NINON L’Enclos, a celebrated lady in the court
of France, Avas of a noble family, and born at Paris in
the year 1615 ; but rendered herfelf famous by her
Avit and gallantries. Pier mother was a lady of exem¬
plary piety $ but her father early infpired her Avith
the love of pleafure. Having loft her parents at 14
years of age, and finding herfelf miftrefs of her oAva
aftions, ftie refolved never to marry : ftie had an in¬
come of 10,000 livres a-year j and, according to the
lefl'ons (he had received from her father, drew up a
plan of life and gallantry, which ftie purfued till her
death. Never delicate Avith refpeff to the number,
but always in the choice, of her pleafures, ihe facrificed
nothing to intereft ; but loved only Avhile her tafte for
it continued j and had among her admirers the greateft
lords of the court. But notwithftanding the levity of
her conduft, file had many virtues.— She Avas conftant
in her friendfhip, faithful to Avhat are called the laws of
honour, of ftridl veracity, difinterefted, and more parti¬
cularly remarkable for perfect probity. Women of the
moft refpeftable characters were proud of the honour
of having her for their friend 3 at her houfe Avas an af-
femblage
(a) This alTertion, hoAvever, is far from feeming probable 3 for every trace of it feems to have fo totally difap-
peared, even fo early as A. D. 627, that the vacant fpace afforded a fpaeious field for the celebrated battle betAveen
the emperor Heraclius and the Perfians. There are ferv things in ancient hiftory Avhich have more puzzled the
learned Avorld, than to determine the fpot Avhere this city flood. Mr Ives informs us, that fome have imagined it
flood near Jonah’s to&b 5 others, hoAvever, place it at another place, fome hours journey up the Tigris. Thefe
different opinions, hoAvever, feem perfeftly reconcileable 3 for it appears atleaft probable, that ancient Nineveh took
in the whole of the ground which lies betAveen thefe tAVO ruined places. Mr Ives adds, that “ Avhat confirms this
Conjefture is, that much of this ground is now hilly, owing no doubt to the rubbifh of the ancient buildings.
There is one mount of 200 or 300 yards fquare, Avhich Hands fome yards north-eaft of Jonah’s tomb, whereon it
is likely a fortification once flood. It feems to have been made by nature, or perhaps both by nature and art,
for fuch an ufe.”
5
N I O [ 29 ] N I O
Ninon femblage of every thing moft agreeable in the city and
,JI the court; and mothers were extremely defirous of
■Nu'be' fending their fons to that fchool of politenefs and good
tafte, that they might learn fentiments of honour and
probity, and thofe other virtues, that render men ami¬
able in fociety. But the illuftrious Madame de Sevig-
ne with great jultnefs remarks in her letters, that this
fchool was dangerous to religion and the Chriftian vir¬
tues ; becaufe Ninon L’Enclos made ufe of feducing
maxims, capable of depriving the mind of thofe invalu¬
able treafures. Ninon was efteemed beautiful even in
old age ; and is faid to have infpired violent palTions at
80. She died at Paris in 1705. This lady had feveral
children; one of whom, named Chevalier de Vilhcis,
excited much attention by the tragical manner in which
he ended his life. He became in love with Ninon,
without knowing that (he was his mother ; and when
he difeovered the fecret of his birth, ftabbed himfelf
in a fit of defpair. There have been publilhed the pre¬
tended Letters of Ninon L’Enclos to the Marquis de
Sevigne.
NINTH, in Mufic. See Interval.
NINUS, the firlt king of. the Aflyrians, was, it is
laid, the fun of Belus. It is added, that he enlarged
Nineveh and Babylon ; conquered Zoroaiter king of
the Battrians ; married Semiramis of Afcalon ; fub-
dued almoft all Alia ; and died after a glorious reign
of 52 years, about 1150 B. C ; but all thefe fads are
uncertain. See Semiramis.
NIO, an itland of the Archipelago, between Naxi
to the north, Armago to the eaft, Santerino to the
fouth, and Sikino to the weft, and is about 35 miles
in circumference. It is remarkable for nothing but
Homer’s tomb, which they pretend is in this illand;
for they affirm that he died here in his paffage from
Samos to Athens. The ifland is well cultivated, and
not fo fteep as the other iflands, and the wheat which
it produces is execellent ; but oil and wood are fcarce.
It is fubjed to the Turks. E. Long. 25. 35. N. Lat.
36- 43* .
NIOBE, in fabulous hiftory, according to the fidions
of the poets, was the daughter of Tantalus, and wife of
Amphion king of Thebes ; by whom (lie had feven fons
and as many daughters. Having become fo proud of
her fertility and high birth, as to prefer herfelf before
Latona, and to (light the facrifices offered up by the
Theban matrons to that goddefs, Apollo and Diana,
the children of Latona, refented this contempt. The
former flew the male children and the latter the fe¬
male ; upon which Niobe w7as (truck dumb with grief,
and remained without fenfation. Cicero is of opinion,
that on this account the poets feigned her to be turned
into (tone.
The ftory of Niobe is beautifully related in the fixth
book of the Metamorphofes of Ovid. That poet thus
deferibes her transformation into (tone.
Widow’d and childlefs, lamentable ftate !
A doleful fight, among the dead (he fat ;
Harden’d with woes, a ftatue of defpair,
To ev’ry breath of wind unrnov’d her hair ;
Her cheek ftill redd’ning, but its colour dead, Niobe.
Faded her eyes, and fet within her head. 'fmmm
No more her pliant tongue its motion keeps.
But (lands congeal’d within her frozen lips.
Stagnate and dull, within her purple veins,
Its current (lopp’d, the litelefs blood remains.
Her feet their uiual offices refufe,
Her arms and neck their graceful geftures lofe :
Action and life from every part are gone,
And ev’n her entrails turn to (olid (lone.
Yet ftill (lie weeps; and whirl’d by ftormy winds,
Borne thro’ the air, her native country finds ;
There fix’d, (lie (lands upon a bleaky hill ;
There yet her marble cheeks eternal tears diftil.
Niobe in this ftatue is reprefented as in an ecftacy
of grief for the lofs of her offspring, and about to be
converted into (lone herfelf. She appears as if de¬
prived of all fenfation by the excefs of her forrow, and
incapable either of (hedding tears or of uttering any
lamentations, as has been remarked by Cicero in the
third book of his Tufculan Queftions. With her right
hand (lie clafps one of her little daughters, who throws
herfelf into her bofom ; which attitude equally (hows
the ardent affeftion of the mother, and expreffes that
natural confidence which children have in the pro¬
tection of a parent. The whole is executed in fuch
a wonderful manner, that this, with the other ftatues
of her children, is reckoned by Pliny among the moft
beautiful works of antiquity : but he doubts to whom
of the Grecian artifts he ought to aferibe the honour
of them (a). We have no certain information at what
period this celebrated work was tranfported from Greece
to Rome, nor do we know where it was firll eredled.
Flaminius Vacca only fays, that all thefe ftatues were
found in his time not far from the gate of St John,
and that they were afterwards placed by the grand
duke Ferdinand in the gardens of the Villa de Medici
near Rome.—An ingenious and entertaining traveller
(Dr Moore), (peaking of the ftatue of Niobe, fays,
“ The author of Niobe has had the judgment not to
exhibit all the diftrefs which he might have placed in
her countenance. This confummate artift was afraid of
difturbing her features too much, knowing full well that
the point where he was to expe£t moft fympathy was
there, where diftrefs co-operated with beauty, and where
our pitij met our love. Had he fought it one Hep farther
in exprcjfion, he had loft it.”
In the following epigram this ftatue is aferibed to
Praxiteles :
E* pi 6tv (rxvXiSov. Ex 5s XiOoto
Zunv n^*|(TSA-yi5 tf*7rzite)i tigycttrciTO.
While for my children’s fate I vainly mourn’d,
The angry gods to maffy (lone me turn’d ;
Praxiteles a nobler feat has done,
He made me live again from being (lone.
The author of this epigram, which is to be found in the
4th book of the Anthology, is unknown. Scaliger the
father, in his Farrago Kpigrammatum, p. 172. aferibes
it to Callimachus, but this appears tube only conje&ure.
Caelius
(a) Par hsefitatio ia templo Apollinis Soliani, Niobem cum liberis morientem, Scopas an Praxiteles fecerit
NTS [ 3° ] N I S
Niche
II .
Nilibis.
Cselius Calcagninus has made a happy tranflation of it
into Latin.
Vivam olim in lapidem verterunt numina ; fed me
Praxiteles vivam reddidit ex lapide.
And perhaps the following French verlion of it will ap¬
pear no lefs happy:
De vive que fetois, les Dieux
Mi'ont changee en pierre mafjive ;
Praxitele a fait beaucoup mieux,
De pierre il m'a feu rendre vive.
NIPHON, the largeft of the Japan iflands, being
600 miles long and 100 broad. See Japan.
NIPPERS, in the manege, are four teeth in the fore
part of a horfe’s mouth, two in the upper, and two in
the lower jaw. A horfe puts them forth between the
fecond and third year.
NIPPLES, in Anatomy. See Mammae, Anatomy
Index.
NIPPLE-wort. See Lapsana, Eotany Index-
NISAN, a month of the Hebrews, anfwering to our
March, and which fometimes takes from February or
April, according to the courfe of the moon. It was
the firft month of the facred year, at the coming out of
Egypt (E\'od. xii. 2.), and it was the feventh month
of the civil year. By Mofes it is called Abib. The
name Nifan is only fince the time of Ezra, and the re¬
turn from the captivity of Babylon.
On the firft day of this month the Jews failed for
the death of the children of Aaron (Lev. x. 1, 2, 3.).
On the tenth day wras celebrated a fall for the death
of Miriam the filler of Mofes 5 and every one pro¬
vided himfelf with a lamb for the paffover. On
this day the Ifraelites palled over Jordan under the
conduct of Jofhua (iv. 19.). On the fourteenth day
in the evening they facrificed the pafeal lamb 5 and
the day following, being the fifteenth, was held the
folemn paffover (Exod. xii. 18. See.). The lixteenth
they, offered the fheaf of the ears of barley as the firlt
fruits of the harvetl of that year (Levit. xxiii. 9. &c.).
The twenty-firll was the oftave of the paffover, which
vras folemnized with particular ceremonies. The twenty-
fixth the Jews failed in memory of the death of Jolhua.
On this day they began their prayers to obtain the rains
of the fpring. On the twenty-ninth they called to
mind the fall of the walls of Jericho.
NISI prius, in Law, a judicial writ which lies in
cafes where the jury being impannelled and returned
before the juflices of the bank, one of the parties re¬
quells to have fuch a wrrit for the eafe of the country,
in order that the trial may come before the juftices in
the fame county on their coming thither. The pur¬
port of a writ of nifi prius is, that the Iheriff is thereby
commanded to bring to Wellminller the men impan¬
nelled, at a certain day, before the jullices, “ nifi prius
jujliciarii domini regis ad affifas capiendas venerint."1''
NISIBIS, in Ancient Geography, a city both very an¬
cient, very noble, and of very confiderable llrength, fi-
tuated in a dillricl called Mygdonia, in the north of
Mefopotamia, towards the Tigris, from which it is di-
ilant two days journey. Some aferibe its origin to
Nimrod, and fuppofe it to be the Achad of Mofes. The
Macedonians call it Antiochia of Mygdonia (Plutarch) ;
fituated at the foot of Mount Mafius (Strabo). It was
the Roman bulwark againil the Parthians and Perfians. Nifi bis,
It fullained three memorable fieges againit the power Nifmes.
of Sapor, A. i). 338, 346. and 350 but the emperor
Jovianus, by an ignominious peace, delivered it up to
the Perfians, A. I). 363. A colony called Septimia
Nifibitana. Another Ni/ibis, of Aria, (Ptolemy)
near the lake Arias.
Mr Ives, who paffed through this place in 1758,
tells us, that “ it looked pretty at a diltance, being
feated on a conliderable eminence, at the foot of which
runs a river, formerly called the Mygdonius, with a Hone
bridge of eleven arches built over it. Jull by the ri¬
ver, at the foot of the hill, or hills (for the town is
feated on two), begin the ruins of a once more flourifh-
ing place, which reach quite up to the prefent town.
From every part of this place the moll delightful pro-
fpe£ls would appear, wrere the foil but properly culti¬
vated and planted ; but intlead of thofe extenfive woods
of fruit trees, which Rawolf fpeaks of as growing near
the town, not above thirty or forty ftraggling trees of
any kind can be perceived ; and inltead of that great
extent of arable land on which he dwells fo much, a
very inconfiderable number of acres are now remaining.
The town itfelf is defpicable, and llreets extremely
narrow, and the houfes, even thofe which are of Hone,
are mean. It fuffered grievoully by the famine of 1757,
lofing almoil all its inhabitants either by death or de-
fertion. The flreets prefented many miferable objedls,
who greedily devoured rinds of cucumbers, and every
other refufe article of food thrown out into the highway.
Here the price of bread had rifen near 4000 per cent,
within the lall 14 years.
NISMES, an ancient, large, and Hour idling town of
France, in the department of Garde, with a biihop’s fee,
and an academy. The manufaftures of cloth both of gold
and filk, and of duffs formerly known by the name of
ferge of Nifmes, exceed that of all the red of the pro¬
vince. There are feveral monuments of antiquity, of
which the amphitheatre is the principal built by the Ro¬
mans. The maifon quarre'e, or the fquare houfc, is a
piece of architedlure of the Corinthian order, and one of
the fined in the world. The temple of Diana is in part
gone to ruin. It was taken by the Englidi in 1417.
The inhabitants were all Calvinids ; but Louis XIV.
demolidied their church in 1685, and built a cadle to
keep them in awe. It is feated in a delightful plain,
abounding in wine, oil, game and cattle. It contains a
great number of venerable relicks of Roman antiquity and
grandeur, which it is not our bufinefs to deferibe, though
it is chiefly remarkable for thefe and its delightful litu-
ation. It owed much to M. de Becdelievre, a late
bilhop there : “ A prelate (fays Mr Townfend) equally
didinguilhed for wifdom, benevolence, and piety ; who,
by his wifdom and beneficence, in the fpace of 45 years,
much more than doubled the number of inhabitants of
Nifmes •, for, having found only 20,000, he had the
happinefs before his death of feeing 50,000 rife up to
call him bleffed.” Mr Wraxal fays “ it is an ill built
place, containing in itfelf nothing extraordinary or re¬
markable.” A hundred fables are related concerning
its origin, which is carried into times anterior by many
centuries to the Roman conquefls. It probably does
not occupy at prefent the fourth part of the ground
on which it formerly dood. E. Long. 4. 26. N. Lat.
43- 51*
NISROCH*
NIT [ 3
Nifroch NISROCH, a god of the Aflyrians. Sennache-
II . rib was killed by two of his fons while he was pay-
^Nuocn>. adoration to his god Nifroch in his temple
(2 Kings xix. 37.)• ^ is not known who this god Nif¬
roch was. The Septuagint calls him Mefrach, Jofe-
phus calls him Arafkes. The Hebrew of Tobit pub-
lifhed by Man Iter calls him Dagon. rI he Jews have
a itrange notion concerning this deity, and fancy him
to have been a plank of Noah’s ark. Some think the
word fignifies a dove *, and others underftand by it an
eagle, which has given occafion to an opinion, that
Jimiter Belus, from whom the Afiyrian kings pretend¬
ed to be derived, was worfhipped by them under the
form of an eagle, and called Nifroch. Our poet Mil-
ton [fives this name to one of the rebel angels.
• In the affembly next up flood
Nifroch, of principalities the prince.
Par. Lojl, book vi. 447.
NISSOLIA, a genus of plants belonging to the
diadelphia clafs, and in the natural method ranking
under the 32d order, PapiUonacece. See Botany In¬
dex.
NITHSDALE, NithisdalE, or Niddifdale. a dif-
tridt of Dumfrksfhire in Scotland, lying to the weft-
ward of Annandale. It is a large and mountainous traft,
deriving its name from the river Nid, or Nith, which
rifes on the borders of Ayrfhire, and runningby Sanquhar
and Dumfries, difeharges itfelf into the Solway frith.
This country was formerly fhaded with noble forefts,
•which are now almoft deftroyed 5 fo that at prefent, no¬
thing can be more naked, wild, and favage. Yet the
bowels of the earth yield lead, and, as is faid, fllver and
gold : the mountains are covered with (beep and black
cattle \ and here are ftill fome confiderable remains of
the ancient woods, particularly that of Holywood, three
miles from Dumfries, noted for a handfome church,
built out of the ruins of an ancient abbey •, and alfo
for being the birthplace of the famous aftrologcr, hence
called Joannes de Sacro Bofco. Mr Pennant calls it
a beautiful vale, improved in appearance by the bold
curvatures of the meandering ftream, and for fome
fpace, he fays, it is adorned with groves and gentlemen’s
feats.
NITOCRIS, the mother of Belfhazzar (whofe fa¬
ther was Evil Merodach and his grandfather Nebu¬
chadnezzar), was a woman of extraordinary abilities \
fhe took the burden of all public affairs upon herfelf;
and, while her fon followed his pleafures, did all that
could be done by human prudence to fuftain the tot¬
tering empire. She perfected the works Avhich Ne¬
buchadnezzar had begun for the defence of Babylon ;
raffed ftrong fortifications on the fide of the river,
and caufed a wonderful vault to be made under it. lead¬
ing from the old palace to the new, 12 feet high and
15 wide She likewife built a bridge acrofs the Eu¬
phrates, and accompliflied feveral other works, which
were afterwards aferibed to Nebuchadnezzar. Philo-
ftrates, in deferibing this bridge, tells us, that it was
built by a queen, who was a native of Media •, whence
we may conclude this illuftrious queen to have been
by birth a Mede. Nitoeris is faid to have placed her
tomb over one of the moft remarkable gates of the city,
with an infeription to the following effefl :
If any king of Babylon after me Jhall be in diflrefs
i ] N I V
for money, he may open this fepulchre, and take out as Nitocris
much as may feme him ; but if he be in no real necejjity, . *1 .
let him forbear, or he Jhall have caufe to repent of his fivein01'
prefumption.
This monument and infeription are faid to have re¬
mained untouched till the reign of Darius, who, con-
fldering the gate was ulelefs, no man caring to pafs
under a dead body, and being invited by the hopes
of an immenfe treafure, broke it open ; but, inftead
of what he fought, i-> iaid to have found nothing but
a corpfe 5 and another infeription, to the following
effe<5l :
Hadji thoit not been mojl tnfatiably avaricious and
greedy of the mojl fordid gain, thou wouldjl never have
Violated the abode of the dead.
NITHRARIA, a genus of plants belonging to the
dodeeandria clafs, and in the natural method ranking
with thofe of which the order is doubtful. See Botany
Index.
NITRE, Saltpetre, or Nitrate of Potafh. See
Chemistry, N° 938, etfeq.
Calcareous NlTliE. See LlME, Nitrate of, CHEMIS¬
TRY Index.
NITROUS, any thing impregnated with nitrous
air.
Nitrous Air. See Azote, Chemistry Index.
NIVELLE, a town of the Auftrian Netherlands,
in the province of Brabant, remarkable for its abbey
of canoneffes. Here is a manufacture of cambrics,
and the town enjoys great privileges. The abbey juft
mentioned is inhabited by young ladies of the firft
quality, who are not confined therein as in nunneries,
but may go out and marry whenever they fee conve¬
nient, or a proper match offers. E. Long. 4. 36. N.
Lat. 50. 35.
NlVELLE de la Chauffee (Peter Claude), a comic
poet, born in Paris ; acquired great reputation by in¬
venting a new kind of entertainment, which was call¬
ed the Weeping Comedy. Inftead of imitating Arifto-
phanes, Terence, Moliere, and the other celebrated
comic poets who had preceded him ; and inftead of
exciting laughter by painting the different ridiculous
characters, giving ftrokes of humour and abfurdities in
conduct 5 he applied himfelf to reprefent the weak-
neffes of the heart, and to touch and foften it. In
this manner he wrote five comedies : 1. La fauffe An-
tipathie. 2. Le Prejuge a /a Mode; this piece met with
great fuccefs. 3. Melanide. 4. Amour pour Amour;
and, 5. HKcole des Meres. He was received into the
French academy in 1736 ; and died at Paris in 1754,
at 63 years of age. He alfo wrote a tragedy, entitled,
Maximianus ; and an epiftle to Clio, an ingenious di-
dadlic poem.
N1VERNOIS, an inland province of France, with
the title of a duchy, lying on the weft fide of Burgundy,
and between it, Bourbonnois, and Barri. It is pretty
fertile in wine, fruit, and corn *, except the part called
Moment, which is a mountainous country, and bar¬
ren. There is a great deal of wood,'and feveral iron
mines 5 as alfo mines of pit coal, which ferves to work
their forges. This province is watered by a great
number of rivers ; of which the Allier, the Loire,
and the Yonne, are navigable. It now forms the de¬
partment of Nevers, which is alfo the name of the capi¬
tal city.
NIWEGAL,
N O A [ 3
Kiwegal NIWEGAL, a village lying on the coaft in Pem-
^ brokefhire. South Wales, remarkable only for the dif-
~ covery of an immenfe quantity of the flumps of trees
appearing below low water mark, after and during a
ftorm in the year 1590, notwithflanding the country all
round is now entirely barren of wood.
NIXAPA, a rich and confiderable town in New
Spain, with a rich convent of Dominicans. The coun¬
try about it abounds in cochineal, indigo, and fugar.
E. Long. 97. 15. N. Lat. 16. 42.
NIZAM (fays Gibbon), one of the molt illuflrious
minillers of the call, was honoured by the caliph as an
oracle of religion and fcience 5 he was trufted by the
iultan as the faithful vicegerent of his power and ju-
flice. After an admin iff ration of 30 years, the fame of
the vizier, his wealth, and even his fervices, were tranf-
formed into crimes. He was overthrown by the in-
fidious arts of a woman and a rival; and his fall was
haflened by a rafh declaration, that his cap and ink
horn, the badges of his office, were connected by the
divine decree with the throne and diadem of the ful-
tan. At the age of 93 years, the venerable ftatefman
was’ difmiffed by his mailer, accufed by his enemies,
and murdered by a fanatic : the lalt words of Nizam
attefted his innocence, and the remainder of Malek’s
life was fliort and inglorious.
NO, (Jeremiah, Ezekiel), No-Ammon, (Nahum);
a confiderable city of Egypt, thought to be the name
of an idol which agrees with Jupiter Ammon. The
■Septuagint tranfiate the name in Ezekiel, Diofpolis,
the city of Jupiter.” Bochart takes it to be Thebes of
Egypt; which, according to Strabo and Ptolemy, was
called Diofpolis. Jerome, after the Chaldee paraphraft
Jonathan, fuppofes it to be Alexandria, named by wray
of anticipation ; or an ancient city of that name is fup-
pofed to have flood on the fpot where Alexandria was
built.
No-Man''s-Laru}, a fpace between the after part of
tire belfrey and the fore part of a (hip’s boat, when the
faid boat is flowed upon the booms, as in a deep waifl-
ed veffel. Thefe booms are laid from the forecaflle
nearly to the quarter-deck, where their after ends are
ufually fuflained by a frame called the gallows, which
confifts of two ftrong polls, about fix feet high, with
a crofs piece reaching from one to the other, atlfcvart
flaps, and ferving to fupport the ends of thofe booms,
mails, and yards, which lie in referve to fupply the
place of others carried away, &c. The fpace called
JTo-Man's Land is ufed to contain any blocks, ropes,
tackles, &c. which may be neceffary on the fore¬
caflle. It probably derives this name from its fitua-
tion, as being neither on the flarboard nor larboard fide
of the fhip, nor on the wafle or forecaflle ; but, being
lituated in the middle, partakes equally of all thofe
places.
NOAH, or Noe, the fon of Lamech, was born in
the year of the world 1036. Amidfl the general cor¬
ruption into which all mankind were fallen at this
time, Noah alone w'as found to be jull and perfecl in
his generation, walking with God (Gen. vi. 9.).
This extraordinary perfon having therefore found fa¬
vour in the eyes of the Lord, and God feeing that all
flefli had corrupted their ways, told Noah, that he was
refolved to deflroy mankind from the face of the earth
by a flood of waters; and not them alone, but all the
2 ] N O A
beafls of the earth, and every creeping thing, as Well
as the fowls of the air (Id. ib. >].). The Lord there¬
fore directed Noah, as a means of preferving him and
his family (for he had three fons, Shem, Ham, and
Japheth, who were all married before the flood), to
build an ark or veffel of a certain form and fize fitted
to that end, and which might befides accommodate
fucli numbers of animals of all forts, that were liable
to perifli in the flood, as would be fufficient to preferve
the feveral fpecies, and again replenilh the earth ; to¬
gether with all neceffary provifions for them ; all which
Noah performed, as may be leen more particularly un¬
der the article Ark.
In the year of the -world 1656, and in the 600th year
of his age, Noah, by God’s appointment, entered the
ark, together with his wife, his three fons, their wives,
and all the animals which God caufed to come to
Noah; and being all entered, and the door of the ark
being (hut upon the outfide, the waters of the deluge
began to fall upon the earth, and increafed in fuch a
manner, that they were fifteen cubits above the tops
of the higheft mountains, and continued thus upon the
earth for 150 days; fo that whatever had life upoti
the earth, or in the air, was dellroyed, except fuch as
were with Noah in the ark. But the Lord remember¬
ing (Noah, fent a wind upon the earth, which caufed
the waters to fubfide; fo that upon the feventcenth day
of the feventh month the ark refted on the mountains
of Ararat ; and Noah having uncovered the roof of the
ark, and obferving the earth was dry, he received or¬
ders from the Lord to come out of it, with all the ani¬
mals that were therein ; and this he did in the fix hun¬
dred and firft year of his age, on the 27th day of the
lecond month. But the hiltory of the deluge is more
circumilantially related already under the article De¬
luge.
Then he offered as a burnt facrifice to the Lord one
of all the pure animals that were in the ark ; and the
Lord accepted his facrifice, and faid to him that he
would no more pour oftt his curfe upon the whole
earth, nor any more deftroy all the animals as he had
now7 done. He gave Noah power over all the brute
creation, and permitted him to eat of them, as of the
herbs and fruits of the earth : except only the blood,
the ufe of which God did not allow them. He bid him
increafe and multiply, made a eovenant with him, and
God engaged himfelf to fend no more an univerfal de¬
luge upon the earth ; and as a memorial of his promife,
he fet his bow in the clouds, to be as a pledge of the
covenant he made with Noah (Gen. ix.).
Noah, being an hufbandman, began now to cult ivate
the vine ; and having made wine and drank thereof, he
unwarily made himfelf drunk, and fell afleepin his tent,
and happened to uncover himfelf in an indecent p< (lure.
Ham, the father of Canaan, having obferved him in
this condition, made himfelf fport with him, and ac¬
quainted his two brothers with it, who were without.
But they, inflead of making it a matter of fport, turm d
awray from it, and going backwards they covered
their father’s nakednefs, by throwing a mantle over
him. Noah Awaking, and knowing what Ham had
done, faid, that Canaan 1 the fon of Ham ffiould be
accurfed, that he Ihould be a Have of flaves in refpeft
of his brethren. It is thought he had a mind to (pare
the perfon of his fon Ham, for fear the curfe might light
upon
N 0 A [3
Noah, upon the other children of Ham, who had no part in
this aftion. He curfed Canaan by a fpirit of prophe¬
cy, becaufe the Canaanites his defcendants were after
this to be rooted out by the Ifraelites. Noah added,
Let the Lord, the God of Shem, be bleifed, and let
Canaan be the fervant of Shem. And he was fo in
effeft, in the perfon of the Canaanites fubdued by the
Hebrews. Laftly, Noah faid, Let God extend the
poffeffion of Japheth j let Japheth dwell in the tents
of Shem, and let Canaan be his fervant. This pro¬
phecy had its accomplifliment, when the Grecians, and
afterwards the Romans, being defcended from Japheth,
made a conqueft of Afia, which was the portion of
Shem.
But Noah lived yet after the deluge three hundred
and fifty years ; and the whole time of his life having
been nine hundred and fifty years, he died in the year
of the world 2006. He left three fons, Shem, Ham,
and Japheth, of whom mention is made under their
feveral names •, and, according to the common opinion,
he divided the whole world amongit them, in order to
repeople it. To Shem he gave Afia, to Ham Africa,
and Europe to Japheth. Some will have it, that be¬
tides thefe three fons he had feveral others. The
fpurious Berofus gives him thirty, called Titans, from
the name of their mother Titsea. They pretend that
the Teutons or Germans are derived from a fon of
Noah called Thuifcon. The falfe Methodius alfo
makes mention of Jonithus or Jonicus, a pretended fon
of Noah.
St Peter calls Noah a preacher of righteoufnefs
(2 Peter ii. 5.), becaufe before the deluge he was in-
ceffmtly preaching and declaring to men, not only by
his difcourfes, but by his unblameable life, and by the
building of the ark, in which he was employed fix
fcore years, that the wrath of God was ready to pour
upon them. But his preaching had no efTeft, fince
when the deluge came, it found mankind plunged in
their former enormities (Matt. xxiv. 37.).
Several learned men have obferved, that the Hea¬
thens confounded Saturn, Deucalion, Ogyges, the god
Coelus or Uranus, Janus, Proteus, Prometheus, &c.
with Noah. The wife of Noah is called Noriah by
the Gnoftics ; and the fable of Deucalion and his
wife Pyrrha is manifellly invented from the hiftory of
Noah.
The Rabbins pretend, that God gave Noah and his
fons (all who are not of the chofen race of Abra¬
ham they call Noachidas) certain general precepts,
which contain, according to them, the natural right
which is common to all men indifferently, and the
obfervation of which alone will be fufficient to fave
them. After the law of Mofes, the Hebrews would
not fuffer any ftranger to dwell in their country, un-
lefs he wmuld conform to the precepts of the Noachidse.
In war they put to death, without quarter, all that
were ignorant of them. Thefe precepts are feven in
number.
Theyfry? dire&s, that obedience be paid to judges,
magiftrates, and princes.
By the fecond, the worlhip of falfe gods, fuperftition,
and facrilege, are abfolutely forbidden.
The third forbids curfing the name of God, blaf-
phemies, and falfe oaths.
I hc fourt/i forbids all inceffuous and unlawful con-
Vol. XV. Part I,
5 ] NOB
junftions, as fodomy, heftiality, and crimes againft na- Noah
ture. li .
The Jlft-i forbids the effufion of blood of all forts of;
animals, murder, wounds, and mutilations.
The Jixt/i forbids thefts, cheats, lying, &c.
The feventh forbids to eat the parts of an animal ftill
alive, as was practifed by fome Pagans.
To thefe the Rabbins have added fome others j but
what inclines us to doubt the antiquity of thefe precepts
is, that no mention is made of them in Scripture, or in
the Avritings of Jofephus or Philo ; and that none of the
ancient fathers knew any thing of them.
NOB, a facerdotal city of the tribe of Benjamin or
Ephraim. St Jerome fays, that in his time it was en¬
tirely dertroyed, and that the ruins of it might be feen
not far from Diofpolis. When David was driven aAvay
by Saul, he Avent to Nob, and alking the high prieft
Ahimelech for fome provifions and arms, the prieft
gave him the fhew bread Avhich had been lately taken
off the holy table, and the fvvord of Goliath. Saul be¬
ing informed of this by Doeg, caufed all the priefts of
Nob to be flain, and the city to be deftroyed, 1 Sam.
xxi. xxii.
NOBAH, a cityT beyond Jordan. It took the name
of Nobah from an Ifraelite of this name Avho had made
a conqueft of it, (Numb, xxxii. 42.). Gideon purfued
the. Midianites as far as this city, (Judg. viii. 2.). Eu-
febius fays, that there is a defolate place of this name
about eight miles from Helhbon towards the fbuth.
But this could not be the Nobah now mentioned, be¬
caufe it Avas much farther to the north.
NOBILIARY, in literary hiftory, a book con¬
taining the hiftory of the noble families of a nation
or province : fuch are Choriere’s Nobiliary of Dau-
phine, and Caumartnrs Nobiliary of Provence. The
Germans are faid to be particularly careful of their
Nobiliaries, in order to keep up the dignity of their
families.
NOBILITY, in general, fignifies dignity, grandeur,
or greatnefs } more particularly, it fignifies antiquity
of family, joined Avith riches : in the common accepta¬
tion of the wrord, it means that quality or dignity
which raifes a man above the rank of a peafant or a
commoner.
At a time Avhen the public mind is fo much agita¬
ted on this fubjeft, or fubjefts nearly allied to it, per¬
haps the lefs that is faid on it the better. We fhould
therefore (as far as concerns the queftion about its ex¬
pediency in civil life, or the contrary ) moft cheerfully
pafs it over in filence, did we not efteem it our duty
to give our readers at leaft fome idea of it, and Avere it
not our bufinefs to lay before them a feuv of thofe argu¬
ments Avhich of late have been fo copioufly retailed botli
for and againft this illuftrious order of civil fociety :
leaving them, however, that liberty Avhich every man
unqueftionably ought to be allowed of judging for them-
felves as they (hall fee moft proper.
Whether that equality of rank and condition Avhich
has of late been fo loudly contended for Avould be more
agreeable to the order of nature, or more conducive
to the happinefs and profperity of mankind, may in¬
deed be made a queftion \ but it is a queftion, Ave ap¬
prehend, which cannot receive different anfwers from
men capable of reflecting Avithout prejudice and par¬
tiality. A ftate of perfeCt equality can fubfift only
E among
NOB [ 34 ] NOB
among beings poileffing equal talents and equal vir¬
tues j but fuch beings are not men. Were all man¬
kind under the conftant influence of the laws of vir¬
tue, a diftinction of ranks would be unneceffary •, but
in that cafe civil government itiell would likewife be
unneceffary, becauie men would have attained all that
perfedtion to which it is the objedt of civil govern¬
ment as well as of religion to guide them : every man
then would be a law unto himfelf. But whillt, in fo
many breads, the felfiih pafiions predominate over
ihofe which are focial, violence mult be reitrained by
authority •, and there can be no authority without a
diftindtion of ranks, fuch as may influence the public
opinion.
It is well obferved by Hume, that government is
founded only on opinion *, and that this opinion is of
two kinds, opinion of intereft, and opinion of right.
When a people are perfuaded that it is their intereft
to fupport the government under which they live, that
government muft be very liable. But among the
worthlefs and unthinking part of the community, this
perfuaficn has feldom place. All men, however, have
a notion of rights—of a right to property and a right
to power : and when the majority of a nation confl-
ders a certain order of men as having a right to that
eminence in which they are placed, this opinion, call
it prejudice or what we will, contributes much to the
peace and happinefs of civil fociety. There are many,
however, who think otherwife, and imagine that “ the
fociety in which the greatefl: equality prevails mull al¬
ways be the moll fecure. Thefe men conceive it to be
the bufmefs of a good government to diilribute as equal¬
ly as poflible thofe bleflings which bounteous nature of¬
fers to all.” It may readily be allowed that this rea-
foning is conclufive •, but the great queflion returns,
“ How^/hrcan equality prevail in a fociety which is
fecure ? and what is pqffible to be done in the equal
diflribution of the bleflings of nature ?” Till thefe
queftions be anfwered, we gain nothing by declaim¬
ing on the rights and equality of men 5 and the an-
fwers which have fometimes been given to them fup-
pofe a degree of perfection in human nature, which,
if it were real, would make all civil inftitutions ufelefs,
as well as the reveries of thofe reformers. The conduCl
of the democratic Bates of Pagan antiquity, together
with the oppreflive anarchy and flrameful violences which
we have feen and Hill fee in a neighbouring kingdom,
will be confidered by many as a full and fatisfaClory an-
fwer, deduced from experience, to ail the fchemes of
the vifionary theorift : fuch faCls at lead render the abo¬
lition of the order of nobility a matter of more impor¬
tance, and of infinitely greater difficulty, than thofe who
plead for it are difpofed to allow.
It is an opinion not uncommon, and at leaft plaufi-
ble, that the nobility of a well regulated ftate is the
beft fecurity again ft monarchical defpotifm or lawlefs
usurpation on the one hand, and the confufion of de¬
mocratic infolence on the other. Self intereft is the
mod powerful principle in the human breaft •, and it
is obvioufly the intereft of fuch men to preferve that
balance of power in fociety upon which the very ex-
iftence of their order depends. Corrupted as the pre-
fent age confeffedly is, a very recent inftance could be
given, in which the Britilh Houfe of Peers refeued at
once the fovereign and the people from the threatened Nobility,
tyranny of a fadtious junto. As it is our bufinefs, how- —v—
ever, to exhibit all opinions of any celebrity, we ihall
lay before our readers a {hurt extradt from Dulaure’s
Critical Hiftory of the French Nobility, which contains,
in few but forcible words, fome of the common argu¬
ments againft this diftindtion of ranks.
“ Nobility (fays he), a diiiindtion equally impo¬
litic and immoral, and worthy of the times of igno¬
rance and of rapine, which gave it birth, is a violation
of the rights of that part of the nation that is depriv¬
ed of it} and as equality becomes aJlimu/us towards
diltindlion, fo on the other hand this is the radical
vice of a government and the fource of a variety of
evils. It is almoft impoflible that there ftiould be any
uncommon inftances of virtue in a ftate, when recom-
penies belong exclufively to a certain clafs of fociety,
and when it cofts them no more to obtain thefe than
the trouble of being born. Amongft this lift of privi¬
leged perfons, virtues, talents, and genius, muft of
courfe be much lefs frequent than in the other clafies,
fince, without the pofleflion of any of thefe qualities,
they who belong to it are ftill honoured and rewarded.
Thofe who profit by this abfurd fubverfion of principles,
and thofe who lofe by this unj&ft diftribution of favours,
which feem to have grown into a right, cannot have
any other than falfe, immoral, and pernicious ideas con¬
cerning merit.'1'’
A perfect equality, however, in rank and fortune
has feldom been contended for, except by the moft
ignorant enthufiafts. It is indeed doubtful whether
it could poflibly exift. The more moderate and ra¬
tional reformers have acknowledged, that as thefe differ¬
ences have always exifted in fome way or other, fo,
from the infinite variety of talents and attainments in
the world, we have reafon to expert they will exift
in every form of government and among every people.
The queftion, therefore, is reduced to this: Whether
the prefent mode of diftindtion, or any other which
could be inftituted in its ftead, be upon the whole the
beft ? That the prefent is not perfedl, or wholly with¬
out faults, few will be fanguine enough to contradidt :
and a wife man in the lober hour of philofophical
refledtion will fcarce prefume to affert, that any other
fchetrte which human ingenuity can plan would be
wholly without imperfedtion, or altogether free from
error. The cafe is, the errors of our own fyftem are
prefent, and on this account we fee and feel them with
peculiar force: the other plan we look forward to
perhaps in too fanguine a manner, and we probably
forget, in the delufive heat of imagination, that if di-
ftindtion depended entirely on merit, we ftiould fcarce
find a fociety of men fo honeft, or fo able, as always
to reward it according to its deferts 5 or if this were
poflible, as perhaps in the nature of things it is not,
i’uch is the felf-partiality of the generality of men,
that few would think he were dealt juftly by if he
were not promoted as well as his neighbour *, and it
is clearly impoflible to promote every one. For fuch
rtafons then, and many more which our limits oblige,
us to omit, many think (and we are inclined to think
with them), that it is fafer to remain as we are, as,
we know the evils that attend our fituation, and are
ftill able to bear them, rather than to hazard a change,.
which,
NOB [ 35 ] NOB
Nobility, which, with fome benefits, might alfo perhaps increafe
the troubles, and deftroy many of the pleafures of fo-
cial life.
Perhaps it may not be amifs to lay before our
readers the following obfervations from that moft judi¬
cious commentator on the laws of England, Mr Jultice
Blackftone, on this important fubjeft.
„ “ The ditlin6lion of rank and honours (fays he) is
Comment, neceffary in every well-governed Hate, in order to
reward fuch as are eminent for their fervices to the
public, in a manner the moll: defirable to individuals,
and yet without burden to the community •, exciting
thereby an ambitious, yet laudable ardour, and gene¬
rous emulation, in others. And emulation, or vir¬
tuous ambition, is a fpring of aflion which, however
dangerous or invidious in a mere republic or under a
defpotic fway, will certainly be attended with good
effeifts under a free monarchy \ where, without deftroy-
ing its exillence, its exceffes may be continually re-
ftrained by that fuperior power from which all ho¬
nour is derived. Such a fpirit, when nationally dif-
fufed, gives life and vigour to the community j it fets
all the wheels of government in motion, which, under
a wife regulator, may be. direcled to any beneficial
purpofe \ and thereby every individual may be made
fubfervient to the public good, while he principally
means to promote his own particular views. A body
of nobility is alfo more peculiarly necefifary in our
mixed and compounded conftitution, in order to fup-
port the rights of both the crown and the people, by
forming a barrier to withftand the encroachments of
both. It creates and preferves that gradual fcale of
dignity, which proceeds from the peafant to the prince;
rifing like a pyramid from a broad foundation, and
diminilhing to a point as it rifes. It is this afcending
and contracting proportion that adds liability to any
government; for when the departure is fudden from
one extreme to another, we may pronounce that Hate
to be precarious. The nobility, therefore, are the pil¬
lars, which are reared from among the people, more
immediately to fupport the throne ; and, if that falls,
they mull alfo be buried under its ruins. Accordingly,
when in the 17th century the commons had determined
to extirpate monarchy, they alfo voted the houfe of lords
to be ufelefs and dangerous. And fince titles of nobili¬
ty are thus expedient in the Hate, it is alfo expedient
that their owners (hould form an independent and fe~
parate branch of the legifiature. If they were confound¬
ed with the mafs of the people, and like them had only
a vote in eleCting reprefentatives, their privileges would
foon be borne down and overwhelmed by the popular
torrent, which would effedtually level all diftinCtions. It
is therefore highly neceflary that the body of nobles
{hould have a diftinCt aflembly, diltinCt deliberations,
and dittinft powers from the commons.”-—Thefe re¬
marks, at a time like the prefent, deferve our ferious
attention ; nor do we fuppofe our readers will be dif-
pleafed, if we add the following obfervations on the fub-
jeft from a periodical publication of long Handing and
very confiderable merit.
.Cent. Mug, “ Birth and nobility are a (tronger obligation to vir-
vcl. xii. tue than is laid upon meaner perfons. A vicious or
difhonourable nobleman is in effect perjured; for his
honour is his oath.
“ Under the patriarchal feheme, and at the firfl fet-
ting out of the tribes, the heads of families had their
particular efcutcheons, and their genealogies recorded
with the utmoft exadtnefs : Even the Ancient of Bays
confirmed this ; he often put his people in mind of the
glory and virtues of their forefathers ; and hath fet a
precedent for attainders, by vifiting the third and fourth
generation.
“ It is a vulgar error to fuppofe, that his bleffed Son
chofe his followers out of the meaneft of the people,
becaufe mechanics ; for this was part of the educa¬
tion of every Jewifh nobleman : Two of the number,
being his kinfmen, were of the royal houfe of David ;
one was a Roman gentleman, and another of the
royal family of Syria ; and for the reft, he had the fame
right of creation as his Father and his vicegerents, of
advancing the poor to honour, and of exalting the lowly
and meek.
“ The ancient Greeks and Romans paid great regard
to nobility ; but when the levelling principle obtained,
and the people ftiared pofter and honour, thofe ftates
foon dwindled and came to ruin. And in prefent
Rome, great refpedt is paid to the renowned fami¬
lies of Colonna and Csefarini. In Venice, the notion
of nobility is carried fo high as to become inconliftent
with a republican feheme. The Spaniards pay more
regard to their old nobles than to their old Chriftians ;
and the French are but little behind them. What
was faid of the duke of Montmorency by Henry IV.
“ That he was a better gentleman than himfelf,” was,
perhaps, the reafon why the laft heir of fo illuftrious a
family was cut off, to make the houfe of Bourbon the
firft in France.—The Welfh, Irifti, and Polanders,
are remarkable for their attachment to blood and pe¬
digree.
“ It is for the fake of the meaneft of our people, that
the high value and regard for quality {hould be kept
up ; for they are beft governed by thofe who feem form¬
ed for power : the robe of authority fits eafy upon them,
and fubmiftion is as much our choice as our duty ; but
upftarts prove the worft of tyrants.
“ The ancient legifiators, who ftudied human nature,
thought it advifeable, for the better government of ftates,
that the people fhould be divided into the noble and
the common. They judged it for the univerfal good
of mankind, that the valiant and the wife {hould be fe-
parated from the reft, and appointed for council and
command.
“ To this I take it that the inftitution of nobility
is owing in all countries ; even thofe nations which
we are pleafed to call favage, diftinguilh the wife and
the valiant, obey them as counfellors and "commanders,
which is placing them in the rank of nobles.
“ Some, I know, look upon the inftitution of nobi¬
lity to be one of the groffeft impofitions upon the eom-
mon fenfe of mankind ; they confine it indeed to he¬
reditary nobility ; they allow, that thofe who have
done the commonwealth any fignal fervice {hould be
diftinguifhed with honours, but. it feems an abfurdity
to them that a man {hould be born a legitlator, as if
wifdom or a knowledge of government ran in the blood.
But if they would confider how ftrong the love of po-
fterity is planted in human nature, they muft allow
that nothing can be a ftronger motive to great and
worthy aftions, than the notion that a man’s pofte-
rity will reap the honour and profit of his labours.
E 2 Befides,
NobiiitVi
NOB [ 36 ] NOB
Nobility. Bdides, we are to fuppofe that men born to honours
ancJ a hjgh fortune may be bred up in generous fenti-
ments, and formed for the ftation they are to fill j
that they muft be ftrangers to thofe vicious falfchoods
and corruptions which neceflity firfi:, and then habit,
puts men upon pra&ifing, whofe lives are fpent in
purfuit of their fortunes. I will own, notv/itliHand¬
ing all thefe advantages, that many of them are like
rocks whofe heads are in the clouds, but are fo barren
that they are quite incapable of producing any thing j
but in general, were their minds only upon a level
with thofe of other men, we fhould expe£t better fruit
from them.
“ As authority is founded in opinion, all wife com¬
monwealths have been extremely jealous in keeping
up the honour of their nobility. Wherever they be¬
come bafe, effeminate, cowardly, or fervile, their au¬
thority finks, they fall into contempt; then the people
begin to confider them as ufelefs to government, and
look upon their privileges as a grievance to fociety,
and perhaps they think how to get rid of them, as
happened in the commonwealth of Florence, where,
after the expulfion of the duke of Athens, a petty
tyrant of that city, many of the nobility having behaved
fervilely to him, and infolently to the people, were
degraded from the fenate and the magiftracy, and ren¬
dered incapable of holding any employment in the com¬
monwealth.
“ Father Paul, the Venetian, fays, that you muft
either keep your nobility free from taint, or have no
nobility at all : That the high employments of the
commonwealth fhould be beftowed amongft the moft
ancient families, unlefs where a perfon ftiould diftin-
guifh himfelf by fome fignal fervice to the ft ate. Such
a man would think him'felf fufficiently rewarded by
the honour of being out upon a footing with the ancient
nobility *, and the nobility would be pleafcd to find that
no commoner, except fome of great reputation and merit,
was to hold any of the employments ufually poffeffed
by their body. If the perfon fo preferred fhould not
be rich enough to fupport the dignity of the office, the
ftate may give him a penfion, but by no means fhould
employments be made lucrative ; which not only ex-
hauft and weaken the commonwealth, but wherever
the high employments are fought for profit, the nobility
lofe their generous fentiments, and it is a means of in¬
troducing corruption amongft them.”
The origin of nobility in Fmrope is by fome referred
to the Goths ; who, after they had feized a part of
Europe, rewarded their captains with titles of honour,
to diftinguifli them from the common people. We
ft;all only in this place further confider the manner in
which in our own country they may be created, and the
incidents attending them ; referring for a fuller ac¬
count of their origin in Europe to the articles REVOLU¬
TION, and Civil Society.
1. The right of peerage feems to have been origi¬
nally territorial } that is, annexed to lands, honours,
caftles, manors, and the like ; the proprietors and
pofieffors of which were (in right of thofe eftates)
allowed to be peers of the realm, and were fummoned
to parliament to do fuit and fervice to their fovereign :
and, when the land was alienated, the dignity palled
with it as appendant. Thus in England the bifhops
ft ill fit in the houfe of lords in right of fuccefTion to
certain ancient baronies annexed, or fuppofed to be Nobility-
annexed, to their epifcopal lands ; and thus in 11 v-—v-”'
Henry VI. the poftefTion of the cattle of Arundel was
adjudged to confer an earldom on its poffefibr. But
afterwards, when Alienations grew to be frequent,
the dignity of peerage was confined to the lineage of
the party ennobled, and inftead of territorial became
perfonal. Adtual proof of a tenure by barony became
no longer neceflary to conftitute a lord of parliament j
but the record of the writ of fummons to him or his
anceftors was admitted as a fufEcient evidence of the
tenure.
Peers of Great Britain are now created either by
writ or by patent; for thofe who claim by preferip- Comment*
tion muft fuppofe either a writ or patent made to their
anceftors 5 though by length of time it is loft. The
creation by writ or the king’s letter is a fummons to
attend the houfe of peers, by the ftyle and title of that
barony which the king is pleafed to confer : that by-
patent is a royal grant to a fubjedf of any dignity and
degree of peerage. The creation by writ is the more
ancient way 5 but a man is not ennobled thereby, unlefs
he a&ually take his feat in the houfe of lords $ and
fome are of opinion that there muft be at leaft tivo
wrrits of fummons, and a fitting in two diftinft parlia¬
ments, to evidence a hereditary barony \ and there¬
fore the moft ufual, becaufe the fureft vmy, is to grant
the. dignity by patent, which endures to a man and his
heirs according to the limitation thereof, though he
never himfelf makes ufe of it. Yet it is frequent to
call up the eldeft fon of a peer to the houfe of lords
by writ of fummons, in the name of his father’s baro¬
ny, becaufe in that cafe there is no danger of his chil¬
dren’s lofing the nobility in cafe be never takes his
feat ; for they will fucceed to their grandfather. Crea¬
tion by writ has alfo one advantage over that by pa¬
tent ; for a perfon created by writ holds the dignity to
him and his heirs, without any -words to that purport
in the wrrit; but in letters patent there muft be words
to diredl the inheritance, elfe the dignity endures only
to the grantee for life. For a man or woman may be
created noble for their own lives, and the dignity not
defeend to their heirs at all, or defeend only to fome
particular heirs : as where a peerage is limited to a
man and the heirs male of his body by Elizabeth his
preient lady, and not to fuch heirs by any former or fu¬
ture wife.
2. Let us next take a view of a few of the principal
incidents attending the nobility,—exclufive of their
capacity as members of parliament, and as heredi¬
tary eounfellors of the crown j for both which we
refer to the articles Lords and Parliament. And
firft we muft obferve, that in criminal cafes a noble¬
man fhall be tried by his peers. The great are al¬
ways obnoxious to popular envy : were they to be
judged by the people, they might be in danger from
the prejudices of their judges ; and would moreover be
deprived of the privilege of the meaneft fubjefts, that
of being tried by their equals, which is fecured to all
the realm by magna charta, c. 29. It is faid, that
this does not extend to bilhops, who, though they
are lords of parliament, and fit there by virtue of their
baronies which they hold /are ecclefice, yet are not en¬
nobled in blood, and confequently not peers with the
nobility. As to peereffes, no provifion was made for
their
NOB [ 37 ] NOB
Nobility, their trial when accufed of treafon or felony, till after
“—V Eleanor duehefs of Gloucefter, wife to the lord pro¬
testor, had been accufed of treafon, and found guilty
of witchcraft, in an ecclefiaftical fynod, through the
intrigues of Cardinal Beaufort. This very extraordi¬
nary trial gave oceafion to a fpecial ftatute, 20 Hen. VI.
c. 9. which enacts, that peerefles, either in their own
right or by marriage, fhall be tried before the fame
judicature as peers of the realm. If a woman, noble
in her own right, marries a commoner, Ihe Hill re¬
mains noble, and ft)all be tried by her peers : but if
ftie be only noble by marriage, then by a fecond mar¬
riage with a commoner ftie lofes her dignity 5 for as by
marriage it is gained, by marriage it is alfo loft. V et
if a duchefs dowager marries a baron, fhe continues
a duchefs ftill: for all the nobility are pares, and there¬
fore it is no degradation. A peer or peerefs (either in
her own right or by marriage) cannot be arretted in
civil cafes: and they have alfo many peculiar privileges
annexed to their peerage in the courfe of judicial pro¬
ceedings. A peer fitting in judgment, gives not his
verdidt upon oath, like an ordinary juryman, but upon
his honour^ he anfwers alfo to bills in chancery upon
his honour, and not upon his oath : but, when he is
examined as a witnefs either in civil or criminal cafes,
lie muft be fworn; for the refpedt which the law' ftrows
to the honour of a peer does not extend fo far as to
overturn a fettled maxim, that in judicio non creditur
nijijuratus. The honour of peers is however fo high¬
ly tendered by the law, that it is much more penal to
fpread falfe reports of them, and certain other great of¬
ficers of the realm, than of other men : fcandal againft
them being called by the peculiar name of fcandulnm
tnagnatum, and fubjedted to peculiar puniihment by
divers ancient ftatutes.
A peer cannot lofe his nobility but by death or at¬
tainder } though there was an inftance, in the reign of
Edward IV. of the degradation of George Nevile duke
of Bedford by adl of parliament, on account of his
poverty, which rendered him unable to fupport his
dignity. But this is a Angular inftance, which ferves
at the fame time, by having happened, to (how the
power of parliament} and, by having happened but
once, to (how how tender the parliament hath been
in exerting fo high a power. It hath been faid in¬
deed, that if a baron waftes his eftate, fo that he is not
able to fupport the degree, the king may degrade him:
but it is exprefsly held by later authorities, that a peer
cannot be degraded but by a£t of parliament.
Anton. Matthaeus obferves, that nobility, among
the Romans, was a quite different thing from what it
is among us. The nobles, among the Romans, were
either thofe raifcd to the magiftrature, or defcended
from magiftrates: there was no fuch thing as nobility
by patent.
Bartoli fays, that dodlors, after they have held a pro-
feffor’s chair in an univerfity for 20 years, become noble 5
and are entitled to all the rights of counts.
But this claim is not admitted at court, &c. though
Bartoli’s fentiments be backed with thofe of feveral
other authors, particularly Chaffanseus in his Confueta-
din. Burgundies ; Boyer fur la Coutume de Berry ; Faber
C. de Dig. Def. 9. &c. which laft, however, reftrains
Bartoli’s rule to doflors in law, and princes phyficians.
By an edi£t of the French king in 1669, it is de-
3
dared, that trade (hall not derogate from nobility, pro- Nobility,
vided the perfon do not fell by retail. Nobie.
In Bretagne, by ancient cuftom, a nobleman lofes " v "*
nothing by trading even in retail ; but he reaffumes all
his rights as foon as he ceafes traffic, his nobility having
flept all the time.
In Germany, a woman, not noble by birth, doth not
become, v. gr. a countefs or baronefs by marrying a
count or baron : a lady of the higher degree indeed be¬
comes a princefs by marrying a prince } but this does
not hold of a lady of the lower nobility.
On the coaft of Malabar, children are only capable
of being noble by the mother’s fide } it being allowed
them to take as many hulbands as they pleafe, and to
quit them whenever they think proper.
NOBLE, Nobiiis, a perfon who has a privilege
which raifes him above a commoner or peafant, either
by birth, by office, or by patent from his prince. The
word comes from the Latin nobilis; formed from the
ancient nofeibilis, “ diftinguil'hable, remarkable.”
In England, the word noble is of a narrower import
than in other countries, being confined to perfons
above the degree of knights} whereas, abroad, it com¬
prehends not only knights, but what we (imply call
gentlemen. The nobles of England are alfo called pares
regni, as being nobilitatis pares, though gradu impares.
The Venetian noblejfe is famous: it is in this that
the fovereignty of the ftate refides. It is divided into
three claffes. The firft only comprehends 24 families.
The fecond includes the defeendants of all thofe who
were entered in the Golden Book, in 1289, and deftined
to govern the ftate, which then began to be ariftocratic.
The third confifts of fuch as have bought the dignity
of noble Venetians. This laft clafs is only .admitted
to the inferior employs} the two former to all indiffer¬
ently. The title of noble Venetians is fometimes alfo
given to foreign kings, princes, &c.
Nobles, among the Romans, were fuch as had the
jus imaginum, or the right of ufing the pictures or
ftatues of their anceftors } a right which was allowed
only to thofe whofe anceftors had borne feme curule
office, that is, had been curule cedile, cenfor, preetor, or
conful. For a long time, none but the patricii were
the nobiles, becaufe no perfon but of that fuperior rank
could bear any curulc office } hence in Livy, Salluft,
&c. nobilitas is ufed to fignify the patrician order, and
fo oppofed to plebs. To make the true meaning of
nobiles ftill more clear, let it be obferved, that the Ro¬
man people were divided into nobiles, novi, and ignobiles.
Nobiles were they who had the pidlures, &c. of their
anceftors } novi were fuch as had only their own } igno¬
biles wrere fuch as had neither. See Jus Imaginis.
The Roman nobility, by wray of diftindtion, wore
a half moon upon their ffioes, efpecially thofe of pa¬
trician rank.
The Grecian nobility were called EvTrxlgidai, as being
defcended from thofe old heroic anceftors fo famous in
hiftory. Such W'ere the Praxiergidee, Eirobutidcc, Alc-
mceonidce, &c. all which had many privileges annexed
to their quality } amongft which was this, that they
wore gralhoppers in their hair as a badge of nobility.
Noble, a money of account containing fix (hillings
and eight pence.
The noble was anciently a real coin ftruck in the
reign of Edward III. and then called the penny of gold;.
but.
N O C [ 38 ] N O C
Nobk but it was afterwards called a r of e-noble ^ from its being
AT H ftamped with a rofe : it was current at 6s. 8d.
buii.m* NOCERA, a town in Italy, in the dominions of
—the king of Naples and Sicily, or, as he is more com¬
monly called, the king of the Two Sicilies. It is an
epifcopal city, but might with greater propriety be
ftyled a duller of villages 5 its feveral parts being ex¬
tended along the foot of the mountains, from the
Citta Sotana, or low town-, and the bilhop’s palace,
together with fome convents embowered in cyprefs
groves, cover the peak of a fingle hill in a very pic-
turefque manner, and compofe the Citta Soprana.
Nocera (a), it is reported, contains near 30,000 in¬
habitants -, they are difperfed in forty patches of habi¬
tation. Their houfes are conftruded of two kinds of
Hone: the common walls are built with yellow tufa
dug out of the hills that lie about a mile to the ealt
of the town ; which ftone feems unqueftionably to have
been formed by a confolidation of fubftances thrown
out of Vefuvius, becaufe, on opening thefe quarries,
the workmen have frequently difeovered tombs, vafes,
and coins locked up in the body of the ftony ftratum.
The cafes of their doors and windows are made of a
black ftone drawn from the hill of Fiano, two miles
to the north : it lies eight feet below the furface, in
a bed or vein 140 feet thick, refting upon a bafe of
fand. This feems evidently to be a ftream of lava
congealed.
Nocera is a place of very confiderable antiquity : in
the 13th century it was called de Pagani, to diftinguilh
it from a city in Umbria of a fimilar name 5 this addi¬
tion was in allufion to a colony of Saracens which Fre¬
derick of Suabia brought from Sicily, and fettled here,
that they might be out of the way of their dangerous
connexions with Africa: hence Nocera has often been
confounded with Lucera by the negligent or ignorant
chroniclers of the fucceeding ages. The moft remark¬
able event that occurs in its hiftory is the fiege of its
caftle, A. D. 1384. E. Long. 12. 49. N. Lat. 43. 1.
Terra NOCEIUJNA, Earth of Nocera, in the Materia
Medica, a fpecies of bole, remarkably heavy, of a gray-
ilh-white colour, of an infipid tafte, and generally with
fome particles in it which grit between the teeth. It
is much efteemed by the Italians as a remedy for venom¬
ous bites, and in fevers; but, excepting as an abforbent
und aftringent, no dependence is to be had on it.
NOCTAMBULI, Noctambulones, or Night-
walkers ; a term of equal import with fomnambuli,
applied to perfons who have a habit of riling and
walking about in their deep. The word is a com¬
pound of the Latin nox, “ night,” and ambulo, “ I
walk.”
Schenkius, Plorftius, Clauderus, and Hildanus, who
have written of deep, give us divers unhappy hiftories
of fuch no&ambuli. When the difeafe is moderate,
the perfons aftefled with it only repeat the aftions of
the day on getting out of bed, and go quietly to the
places they frequented at other times ; but thofe who
have it in the moft violent degree, go up to dangerous
places, and do things which would terrify them to No&am-
think of when they are awake. Thefe are by fome buli
called lunatic night-walkers, becaufe fits are obferved y0io^nVJ,
to return with the moft frequency and violence at the ■ ° “-"a'
changes of the moon.—For the cure fome recommend
purging and a cooling regimen : others are of opinion
that the belt method is to place a velfel of water at
the patient’s bedfide in fuch a manner that he will na¬
turally ftep into it when he gets out of bed 5 or if that
Ihould fail, a perfon Ihould fit up to watch and beat him
every time it happens. See Sleep-walkers, or Som-
NAMBULI.
NOCTILUCA, a fpecies of phofphorus, fo called
becaufe it Ihines in the dark without any light being
thrown upon it.
NOCTURNAL, fomething relating to the night,
in contradiftimftion to diurnal.
Nocturnal, NoElurlabium, an inftrument chiedy
ufed at fea, to take the altitude or depreffion of fome
ftars about the pole, in order to find the latitude and
hour of the night.
Some nocturnals are hemifpheres, or planifpheres, on
the plane of the equinoctial. Thofe commonly in ufe
among feamen are two 5 the one adapted to the’polar
ftar, and the firft of the guards of the Little Bear j
the other to the pole ftar, and the pointers of the Great
Bear.
This inftrument confifts of two circular plates, ap¬
plied to each other. The greater, which has a handle
to hold the inftrument, is about 2I7 inches diameter,
and is divided into twelve parts, agreeing to the twelve
months -, and each month fubdivided into every fifth
day 5 and fo as that the middle of the handle corre-
fponds to that day of the year, wherein the ftar here re¬
garded has the fame right afeenfion with the fun. If
the. inftrument be fitted for two ftars, the handle is
made moveable. The upper left circle is divided into
twenty-four equal parts for the twenty-fours of the day,
and each hour fubdivided into quarters. Thefe twenty-
four hours are noted by twenty-four teeth to be told in
the night. Thofe at the hour 1 2 are diftinguifhed by
their length. In the centre of the two circular plates ^ f
is adjufted a long index, moveable upon the upper plate4 ccCLX'c
and the three pieces, viz. the two circles and index, are
joined by a rivet which is pierced through the centre
with a hole, through which the ftar is to be obferved.
To ufe the nofturnal, turn the upper plate till the
long tooth, marked 12, be againft the day of the month
on the under plate ; then, bringing the inftrument near
the eye, fufpend it by the handle with the plane nearly
parallel to the equinoftial, and viewing the pole ftar
through the hole of the centre, turn the index about,
till, by the edge coming from the centre, you fee the
bright ftar or guard of the Little Bear, (if the in¬
ftrument be fitted to that ftar) : then that tooth of the
upper circle, under the edge of the index, is at the hour
of the night on the edge of the hour circle, which may
be known without a light, by counting the teeth from
the longeft, which is for the hour 12.
, NOB,
(a) Anciently, Nuceria Alphaterna, a word of unknown etymology. It was a Roman colony, and had its mint,
Num. Nucerin.
I. Caput virile imberbe.—Equus ftans capite reflexo inter crura. A . . IN , .
OLIVE PRESS
PLATE CCCLXX.
NODE S
BB-AMIPf’S observatory
NOD C 39 ] N O L
NOD, or the Land of NOD. It was to this country now LP, or any part LS, reprefent the excels of the
that Cain withdrew after his fratricide, (Gen. iv. 16.). fun’s aftion at T ; and this being refolved into the
The Septuagint, as well as Jofephus, read Naid inftead
of Nod, and have taken it for the name of a place. It
is not eafily known what country this was, unlefs per¬
haps it was the country of Nyfe or Nyfea, towards
Hvrcania. St Jerome and the Chaldee interpreters
have taken the word Nod in'the fenfe of an appella¬
tive, for vagabond ox fugitive ; “ He dwelt a fugitive
in the land.” But the Hebrew reads, “ He dwelt in
the land of Nod,” (Gen. iv. 16.).
NODAB, a country bordering upon Iturea and
Idumcea, but now unknown. We read in the Chro¬
nicles, that the tribe of Reuben, aHifted by thofe of Gad
and Manafleh, had a war againft the Hagarites, the
Jeturites, and the people of Nephifh, and of Nodab, in
which the Ifraelites had the advantage (l Chr. v. 19.).
But the time and the other particulars of this rvar are
unknown.
NODATED HYPERBOLA, a name given by Sir
Ifaac Newton to a kind of hyperbola, which, by turn¬
ing round, decuflates or erodes itfelf.
NODDY. See Sterna, Ornithology Index.
NODE, a tumor arifing on the bones, and ufually
proceeding from fome venereal caufe ; being much the
lame with what is otherwife called exojlofs.
NODES, in Aflronomy, the two points where the
orbit of a planet interfefls the ecliptic.
Plate Such are the two points C and D, fig. I. of which
CCCLXX. t|ie no(Je C, where the planet afeends northward above
'‘S- the plane of the ecliptic, is called the afeending node, or
the dragon’s head, and is marked thus fp. The other
node D, where the planet defeends to the fouth, is
called the defeending node, or the dragon's tail, marked
thus TS •
The line CD, wherein the two circles CEDE and
CGDH interfedl,. is called the line of nodes. It ap¬
pears from obfervation, that the line of the nodes of
all the planets conflantly changes its place, and drifts
its fituation from eaft to weft, contrary to the order
of the figns ; and that the line of the moon’s nodes,
by a retrograde motion, finifhes its circulation in the
compafs of 19 years ; after which time, either of the
nodes having receded from any point of the ecliptic,
returns to the fame again ; and when the moon is in
the node, (he is alfo feen in the ecliptic. If the line
of nodes were immoveable, that is, if it had no other
motion than that whereby it is carried round the fun,
it would ahvays look to the fame point of the ecliptic,
or would keep parallel to itfelf, as the axis of the earth
does.
From what hath been faid, it is evident, that the
moon can never be obferved precifely in the ecliptic,
but twice in every period *, that is, w^hen (he enters
the nodes. When flic is at her greateft diftance from
the nodes, viz. in the points E, F, Ihe is faid to be in
her limits.
The moon muft be in or near one of the nodes, when
there is an eclipfe of the fun or moon.
To make the foregoing account of the motion of the
moon’s nodes ftill clearer, let the plane of fig. 2. re¬
prefent that of the ecliptic, S the fun, T the centre of
the earth, L the moon in her orbit DN d n. N« is
live line of the nodes palling between the quadrature
Q, and the moon’s place L, in her laft quarter. Let
4<
force LR, perpendicular to the plane of the moon’s i
orbit, and PR parallel to it, it is the former only that
has any effedl to alter the pofition of the orbit, and in
this it is wholly exerted. Its effedl is twofold : 1. It
diminilhes its inclination by a motion which we may
conceive as performed round the diameter D d, to
which LT is perpendicular. 2. Being compounded
with the moon’s tangential motion at L, it gives it an
intermediate diredlion Lr, through which and the centre
a plane being drawn, muft meet the ecliptic nearer the
conjunction C than before.
NODUS, or Node, in Dialling, a certain point or
pole in the gnomon of a dial, by the fliadow or light
whereof either the hour of the day in dials without fur¬
niture, or the parallels of the fun’s declination, and his
place in the ecliptic, &c. in dials with furniture are
Ihown. See Dialling.
NOEOMAGUS lexuviorum, (Ptol.) *, thought
to be the Civitas Lexoviorum of the lower age. Now
Lifieux, a city in Normandy.—Another of the Trica-
fini; a town of Gallia Narbonenfis ; thought to be
S. Pol. de Trois Chateaux, fix miles to the weft of Nyons
in Dauphine.
NOETIANS, in church hiftory, Chriftian heretics
in the third century, followers of Noetius, a philofopher
of Ephefus, who pretended that he was another Mofes
font by God, and that his brother was a new Aaron.
His herefy confifted in affirming that there was but one
perfon in the Godhead j and that the Word and the
Holy Spirit were but external denominations given to
God in confequence of different operations : that, as
Creator, he is called Father ; as Incarnate, Son ; and as
defeending on the apoftles, Holy Ghof.
NOLA, a very ancient city, formerly populous and
ftrong, fituated in a plain to the north-eaft of Vefuvius,
in Campania, faid to be built by the Chalcidians j
(Juftin, Silius Italicus) ; according to others, by the
Tufcans. At this place Hannibal met with the firit
check by Marcellus. Vefpafian added the appellation
Augufa Colonia, (Frontinus). At this place, or in its
neighbourhood, Auguftus is faid to have expired. It
is alfo faid that bells were firft invented there in the be¬
ginning of the 5th century ; hence their Latin names
No/ce or Campance. It retains its old name to this day,
but it hath vaftly fallen ftiort of its ancient fplendour.
A town of the kingdom of Naples. E. Long. if.
N. Lat. 41. 5.
NO LANA, a genus of plants belonging to the pent-
andria clafsj and in the natural method ranking under
the 41ft order, Afperifolice. See Botany Index.
NOLLE prosequi, is where a plaintiff in an ac¬
tion does not declare in a reafonable time ; in which
cafe it is ufual for the defendant’s attorney to enter a
rule for the plaintiff to declare, after which a non prof.
may be entered. A nolle profequi is efteemed a volun¬
tary confeflion, that the plaintiff has no caufe of aftion j
and therefore if a plaintiff enters his nolle profeqm, he
ftiall be amerced ; and if an informer caufe the fame to
be entered, the defendant (hall have cofts.
NOLLET, Jean Antoine, a deacon, licentiate in
theology, preceptor to the Enfans de France for phy-
fics and natural hiftory, regius profeffor of phyfics in-
the college, of Navarre, member of the Academy of.
Sciences
Nodes
II
Nollet.
N O L [ 40 ] N 0 M
Nollet. Sciences at Paris, of the Royal Society of London, of
—"v—the Inftitution of Bologna, and of the Academy of
Sciences of Erfort •, was born at Pimbre, in the diocefe
of Noyon, on the 17th of November 1700, of refpedt-
able but not -wealthy parents. To make up the want
of riches, they determined to give their fon a good edu¬
cation. They fent him to the college of Clermont in
Beauvoifis, and afterwards to Beauvais, there to finifh
his introduftory ftudies. The progrefs which he made
in the different claffes, determined them to fend him to
lludy philofophy at Paris. Thenceforward they intend¬
ed him for the clerical order *, and they confidered the
ftrktnefs and purity of his morals, together with his un¬
wearied application to ftudy, as fufficient proofs of his
vocation. The young Nollet yielded without reluct¬
ance to the withes of his parents. As foon as he was
capable of ihowing an inclination for any thing, he had
difcovered a tafle for phyfics •, but this was not become
his ruling paflion •, he therefore facrinced it to the ftudy
of fcholaftic divinity, to which he wholly dedicated
himfelf during his time of probation in 1728. No
fooner had he been invefted wuth the deaconfhip, than
he folicited and obtained a licence to preach. This new
occupation, however, did not make him entirely lofe
light of thofe ftudies which had firft engaged his atten¬
tion. They infenfibly began to occupy a greater por¬
tion of his time, which was now more equally divided
between theology and the fciences. The latter, how¬
ever, prevailed ; and thenceforth he entered into the
ftudy of phyftcs with an ardour which was only increaf-
ed by that kind of privation to which he had been long
fubjeft. He was received into the Society of Arts,
eftablilhed at Paris under the patronage of the late
count de Clermont. In 1730, the abbe Nollet was en¬
gaged in a work conjunftly with Reaumur and du Fay
of the Academy of Sciences. In 1734, he went to
London in cornpany with M. M. du Fay, du Hamel,
and de Juflieu. His merit procured him a place in the
Royal Society without any folicitation. Tavo years af¬
ter, he went to Holland, where he formed an intimate
connexion with Defaguliers, Gravefande, and Mufch-
enbroeck. On his return to Paris, he reftimed the
courfe of experimental phyfics which he had begun in
1735, and which he continued till 1760. Thefe
courfes of phyfics firft fuggefted the idea of particular
courfes in other bratiches of fcience, fuch as in che-
miftry, anatomy, natural hiftory, &c. In 173^5 ^ie
count de Maurcpas prevailed on the cardinal Fleury
to eftablifh a public clafs for experimental phyfics •, and
the abbe Noll’et was appointed the firft profeffor. In
the beginning of the year 1739, he -was admitted a
member of the Royal Academy of Sciences ; and in the
month of April following, the king of Sardinia intend¬
ing to eftablilh a profefforfliip of phyfics at Turin, in¬
vited the abbe Nollet into his dominions. From thence
he travelled into Italy. In 1744, he was honoured
with an invitation to Verfailles, to inftrudl the dauphin
in experimental philofophy ; the king and royal family
were often prefent at his ledlures. The qualities as
well of his underftanding as of his heart gained him the
efteem and confidence of his pupil. Going one day in
ftate to Paris, he caufed intimation to be made that he
was to dine at the Thuilleries. M. Nollet having gone
thither to pay his court, the dauphin no fooner perceiv¬
ed him, than he had the goodnefs to fay, “ Binet has
the advantage of me, he has been at your houfe.” Till Nollet,
the period of his death, this prince ftrowed marks of the
ftrongeft attachment and favour for this ingenious phi- v
lofopher. He would have wilhed that he had been a
little more attentive to the improvement of his fortune.
He prevailed upon him to go and pay court to a man
in power, whofe patronage might have been of fervice
to him. The abbe Nollet accordingly waited upon the
placeman, and made him a prefent of his works. “ I
never read any works of that kind,” faid the patron
coldly, and calling a look at the volumes before him.
“ Sir (replied the abbe), will you allow them to remain
in your antichamber i1 There perhaps there may be
found men of genius who will read them with pleafure.”
In the month of April I749> he made a grand tour in¬
to Italy, being fent thither for the purpole of making
obfervations. At Turin, Venice, and Bologna, the
abbe Nollet appeared as a deputy from the philofophers
of the reft of Europe. During his Ihort ftay in Italy,
the rvonders of eledlricity Avere not the only objedt of
his refearches ; every part of phyfics, the arts, agricul¬
ture, &c. came equally under his notice. Upon his
return through Turin, the king of Sardinia, ahvays
truly fenfible of bis merit, offered him the order of
Saint Maurice, which he did not think proper to ac¬
cept Avithout his fovereign’s permiflion. In 17.53 the
king inftituted a clafs of experimental philofophy in
the royal college of Navarre, and appointed the abbe
Nollet profeffor. In 1757, he received from the king
a brevet appointing him preceptor in phyfics and natu¬
ral hiftory to the Enfans de Fi'ance. In the month of
Auguft, the fame year, he Avas appointed profeflor of
experimental philofophy in the fchool of artillery, at
that time eftabliftied at la Fere. In the month of No¬
vember following, he Avas admitted as a penfionary of
the Royal Academy of Sciences. M. de Cremillo, di-
re&or general of artillery and fortification, having
founded a clafs of experimental philofophy at Mezieres
in 1761, the abbd Nollet Avas appointed profeffor. This
celebrated and laborious philofopher, Avho has rendered
the moft important fervices to phyfics by the difeoveries
Avith which he has enriched every branch of this feicnce,
but particularly eleflricity, died at Paris on the 25th
of April 1 770, aged 70 •, much regretted by the lite¬
rary Avorld, and by his friends, of Avhom his gentle cha-
rafier and beneficent heart had procured him a great
number. He often retired from the gay and fplendid
focieties of Paris, to gNe affiftance to his relations, Avho
Avere by no means in affluent circumftanees. His Avorks
are, 1. Several papers inferted in the memoirs of the A-
cademy of Sciences; among Avhich one on the Hearing
of Filhes is particularly valuable. 2. Lefotis de Ehj‘
Jique Experimentale, 6 vols 12mo *, a book Avell com-
pofed, and uniting pleafure Avith inftru£lion. 3. Recueil
de Lettres fur REle&ricite, 3 vols I2mo, 1753. 4. Ef-*
fai fur I'EleBricite des corps, 1 vol. 12mo. 5. Recherches
fur les caufes particulieres des Rhcnonienes Eleciriques,
I vol. i2mo. 6. DAndes experiences, 3 vols i2mo,
with figures, I77°*
NOMADES, a name given, in antiquity, to feveral
nations, Avhofe Avhole occupation Avas to feed and tend
their flocks *, and Avho had no fixed place of abode, but
Avere conftantly fhifting, according to the conveniences
of pafturage.—The word comes from the Greek
pafco, “ I feed.”
The
N O M [ 41 ]' N O M
Nomades The moft celebrated among the Nomades were thofe
II of Africa, who inhabited between Africa properly fo
Nommals. ca]jec^ j_0 t]ie eafl^ anc^ Mauritania to the weft. They
are alfo called Numiclce or Numidians.—Salluft fays, they
were a colony of Perftans brought into Africa with
Hercules.
The Nomades of Afia inhabited the coafts of the Caf-
pian fea. The Nomades of Scythia were the inhabi¬
tants of Little Tartary 5 who ftill retain the ancient
manner of living.
NO MARCH A,, in antiquity, the governor or com¬
mander of a nome or nomog.—Egypt was anciently di¬
vided into, feveral regions or quarters, called names, from
the Greek >«««?, taken in the fenfe of a divifion ; and
the officer who had the adminiftration of each name or
nomos, from the king, was called nomarcha, from
and “ command.”
NOMBRE-de-dios, a town of Mexico, in the pro¬
vince of Darien, a little to the eaftward of Porto-Bello.
It was formerly a famous place *, but it is now abandon¬
ed, on account of its unhealthy fituation. W. Long.
78. 35. N. Lat. 9. 43.
NOMBRIL point, in Heraldry, is the next below
the fefs point, or the very centre of the efeuteheon.
Suppofing the efcutcheon divided into two equal parts
below the fefs, the firft of thefe divifions is the nombril,
. and the lower the bafe.
NOME, or Name, in. Algebra, denotes any quan¬
tity with a fign prefixed or added to it, whereby it is
connedled with fome other quantity, upon which the
whole becomes a binomial, trinomial, or the like. See
Algebra.
NOMENCL ATOR, in Roman antiquity, was ufual-
ly a flave who attended upon perfons that flood candi¬
dates for offices, and prompted or fuggefted to them the
names of all the citizens they met, that they might
court them and call them by their names, which among
that people was the higheft piece of civility.
NomencLators, among botanical authors, are thofe
who have employed their labours about fettling and ad-
jufting the right names, fynonymes, and etymologies of
names, in regard to the whole vegetable world.
NOMENCLATURE, NoMENCEATURA,acatalogue
of feveral of the more ufual words in any language, with
their fignifications, compiled in order to facilitate the
ufe of fuch words to thofe who are to learn the tongue :
luch are our Latin, Greek, French* &c. nomencla¬
tures : Or a fyftem of technical language by which the
objeds of any fcience are denoted, as, for inftance, the
prefent language of chemical fcience, ufually called the
new chemical nomenclature, from its recent conftruftion.
NOMENEY, a town in Germany, in the duchy of
Lorrain, fituated on the river Seille, 15 miles north of
Nancy.
NOMINALS, or Nominalists, a fe& of fchool
philofophers, the difciples and followers of Occam, or
Ocham, an Engliffi Cordelier, in the 14th century.
They were great dealers in words, whence they were
vulgarly denominated 1^0^-/^//^; but had the deno¬
mination of Nominalijls, becaufe, in oppofition to the
RealiJIs, they maintained, that words, and not things,
were the objeft of diale&ics.
This feft had its firft rife towards the end of the nth
century, and pretended to follow Porphyry and Ari-
Vol XV. Part I.
ftotle; but it wras not till Ocham’s time that they bore Nominal^ .
the name. The chief of this feet, in the nth century, Nomina-
was a perfon called John, who, on account of his logi- , mc' .
cal fubtility, was called the fophijl; and his principal
difciples were Robert of Paris, Rofcelin of Compiegne,
and Arnoul of Laon. At the beginning, the Nominals.
had the upper hand : but the Realifts, though greatly
divided among themfelves, were fupported by men of
great abilities fuch as Albertus Magnus, T. Aquinas,
and Duns Scotus. The nominal fe£t came hereby in¬
to difrepute 5 till William Occam, in the 14th century,
again revived it, and filled France and Germany with
the flame of difputation. Having joined the party of the
Francifcan monks, who ftrenuoufty oppofed John XXII.
that pope himfelf, and his fucceftbrs after him, left no
means untried to extirpate the philofophy of the Nomi-
nalifts, which was deemed highly prejudicial to the in-
terefts of the church : and hence it was, that, in the
year 1339, the univerfity of Paris, by a public edift,
folemnly condemned and prohibited the philofophy of
Occam, which was that of the Nominalifts. The con-
fequence was, that the Nominalifts flouriftred more than
ever. In the 15th century, the controverfy was conti¬
nued with more vigour and animofity than before ; and
the difputants were not content with ufing merely the
force of eloquence, but had frequently recourfe to more
hoftile and dangerous weapons ; and battles ivere the
confequence of a philofuphical queftion, which neither
fide underftood. In moft places, however, the Realifts
maintained a manifeft fuperiority over the Nominalifts.
While the famous Gerfon, and the moft eminent of his
difciples were living, the Nominalifts were in high
efteem and credit in the univerfity of Paris. But upon
the death of thefe patrons, the face of things was much
changed to their difadvantage. In the year 1473,
Louis XL by the inftigation of his confefibr, the biffiop
of Avranches, iffued out a fevere edidl againft the doc¬
trines of the Nominalifts, and ordered all their writings
to be feized and fecured, that they might not be read by
the people : but the fame monarch mitigated this edi<R
the year following, and permitted fome of the books
of that fe<R to be delivered from their confinement. In
the year 1481, he not only granted a full liberty to
the Nominalifts and their writings, but alfo reftored that
philofophical fe£t to its former authority and luftre in
the univerfity.
The Nominalifts were the founders of the univerfity
of Leipfic : and there are many yet abroad who pique
themfelves on being Nominals.
The Nominals, with the Stoics, admit the formal
conceptions or ideas of things, as the fubjeft and foun¬
dation of univerfality : but to this they add names,
which reprefent and fignify, after the fame univocal
manner, and without any diftinflion, a great variety of
fingle things alike in genus and fpecies.
Whence it is that they are called Nominals ; as pre¬
tending, that to become learned, it is not enough to
have juft ideas of things, but it is likewife required to
know the proper names of the genera and fpecies of
things, and to be able to exprefs them clearly and pre-
cifely, without confufion or ambiguity.
NOMINATIVE, in Grammar, the firft CASE of
NOUNS which are declinable.
The fimple pofilion, or laying down of a noun, or
F name,
NON [ 42 ] NON
Hominutive name, is called the nominative cafe ; yet it is not fo pro-
tl perly a cafe, as the matter or ground whence the other
Nonagon. ^ cafes are t0 forme(jj by the feveral changes and in¬
flexions given to this firft termination. Its chief ufe is
to be placed in difcourfe before all verbs, as the fubjeX
of the propofition or affirmation.
NONA, a city of Dalmatia, remarkable at prefent
only for its ruins, which might furniffi abundant mate¬
rials to gratify the curiofity of antiquaries ^ but indeed
they are fo buried by repeated devaftations, to which
that unhappy city has been expofed, that rarely any vef-
tige of them appears above ground. “ I went thither
(fays Fortis in his Travels), in hopes of finding fome-
thing worthy of notice, but was difappointed. Nothing
is to be feen that indicates the grandeur of the Homan
times 5 neither are there any remains of barbarous mag¬
nificence, to put one in mind ot the ages in which the
kings of the Croat Slavi had their refidence there. It
lies on a fmall ifland, furrounded by a harbour, which
m former times was capable of receiving large Hups j
but is now become a fetid pool by means of a little
muddy river that falls into it, after a courfe of about
fix miles through the rich abandoned fields of that di-
IlriX. The ancient inhabitants turned this water into
another channel, and made it run through the valley of
Drafnich into the fea 3 and the remains of the bank
raifed by them for that purpofe are Hill to be feen.
Notwithftanding, however, the depopulation of this di-
IlriX, and the dreary fituation of Nona in particular,
the new inhabitants have not loft courage 5 and animat¬
ed by the privileges granted to them by the moft ferene
republic, are endeavouring to bring the population and
agriculture once more into a flourifhing ftate. Proper
drains for the water w'ould not only render that rich
territory habitable, but moreover very fertile ; and the
brackiffi marfh that furrounds the walls of Nona is well
calculated to fupply a confiderable quantity of fift, efpe-
cially eels. The government generoufly granted the
inveftiture to private perfons, who already drawr no in-
confiderable advantage from the fiffiing \ and did they
but adopt better methods, they might every year fait
many thoufands of eels, which would greatly anfwer
our internal commerce, and fave at leaft a part of the
money that goes out of the country for foreign fait fiffi.
To the left of the city of Nona, the walls of fome an¬
cient ruinous buildings appear \ which probably in an¬
cient times were fituated on the main land, though now
furrounded by water. I. he fea forms a narrow channel
in this place, which is eafily fordable, and, at low wa¬
ter, the fmalleft boat can fcarcely pafs.”
NONAGE, in Law, generally fignifies all the time
a perfon continues under the age of 2! ; but in a fpe-
cial fenfe, it is all the time that a perfon is under the
age of 14.
NONAGESIMAL, or- Nonagesimal Degree^
called alfo the Mid Heaven, is the higheft point, or
poth degree of the ecliptic, reckoned from its interfec-*
tion with the horizon at any time ; and its altitude is
equal to the angle which the ecliptic makes with the
horizon at their interfeXion, or equal to the diftance of
the zenith from the pole of the ecliptic. It is much
ufed in the calculation of folar eclipfes.
NON AGON, a figure having nine fide? and angles.
In a regular nonagon, or that whofe angles and lidcs
are all equal, if each fide be 1, its area will be Nonagoa
6.18x8242=1 of the tangent of 70°, to the radius I. NonCor.
NON, Cape, a promontory on the weft coaft of A- formigs,
frica, oppofite to the Canary iflands. W. Long. 12. O. u—y—-
N. Eat. 44. 28.
NONCONFORMISTS, thofe who refufe to join
the eftablilhed worlhip.
Nonconformifts, in England, are of two forts. Firft,
Such as abfent themfelves from divine worffiip in the
eftablithed church through total irreligion, and attend
the fervice of no other perfuafion. Thefe, by the fta-
tute 1 Eliz. c. 2. 23 Eliz. c. 1. and 3 Jac. I. c. 4. for¬
feit one (hilling to the poor every Lord’s day they fo
abfent themfelves, and 20I. to the king if they continue
fuch default for a month together. And if they keejy
any inmate thus irreligioufly difpofed in their houfes^
they forfeit icl. per month.
The fecond fpeeies of nonconformifts are thofe who
offend through a miftaken or perverfe zeal. Such
were efteemed, by the Englifh laws enaXed fince the
time of the Reformation, to be Papifts and Proteftant
diffenters : both of which were fuppofed to be equally
fchifmatics, in not communicating with the national
church ; with this difference, that the Papifts divided
from it upon material, though erroneous, reafons j but
many of the diflenters upon matters of indifference, or,
in other words, for no reafon at all. “ Yet certainly Blackjf.
(fays Sir William Blackftone) our anceftors Avere mil- Comment
taken in their plans of compulfion and intolerance. T he
fin of fchifm, as fuch, is by no means the objeX of tern*
poral coercion and puniffiment. If, through Aveaknefs
of intelleX, through mifdireXed pietythrough per.
verfenefs and acerbity of temper, or (Avhich is often the
cafe) through a profpeX of fecular advantage in herding
with a party, men quarrel with the ecclefiaftical efta-
blHhment, the civil magiftrate has nothing to do Avith
it unlefs their tenets and praXice are fuch as threaten*
ruin or difturbar.ee to the ftate. He is bound indeed?
to proteX the eftablilhed church r and if this can be
better effeXed by admitting none but its genuine mem¬
bers. to offices of truft and emolument, he is certainly-
at liberty fo to do •, the difpofal of offices being matter
of favour and diferetion. But this point being once
fecured, all perfecution for diverfity of opinions, Ixoav-
ever ridiculous or abfurd they may be, is contrary to
every principle of found policy and civil freedom. 1 he
names and fubordination of the clergy, the pofture of
devotion, the materials and colour- of the minifttr’s
garment, the joining in a known or unknoAv-n form of
prayer, and other matters of the fame kind, muft be left
to the option of every man’s private judgment.
44 W ith regard therefore to Protejiant diffenters, al¬
though the experience of their turbulent difpofition m
former times occafioned feveral difabilities and reftric-.
fions<(Avhich I (hall not undertake to juftify) to be laid
upon them by abundance of ftatutes ; yet at length the
legiflature, ivith a true fpirit of magnanimity* extended
that indulgence to thefe feXaries, Avhich they them¬
felves, Avhen in power* had held to be countenancing
fchifm, and denied to the church of England. Tha
penalties are conditionally fufpended by the. ftatute
1 W. & M. ft. 1. c. 18. “ for exempting their majefties
Proteftant fubjeXs, diffenting from the church of Eng¬
land, from the penalties of certain laws,” commonly
culled-
NON
t 43 1
NON
Hwcrm- called the lalerittion ti£l; which declares, that neither
fermifts. iaws above mentioned, nor the ftatutes I Lliz. e. 2.
' i 14. 3 Jac. I. c. 4. and 5. nor any otsher penal laws
made againft Popilh recufants (except the ted acts),
{hall extend to any diffenters, other than Papilts and
fuch as deny the Trinity : provided, 1. That they take
the oaths of allegiance and fupremacy, (or make a nnu-
lar affirmation, being Quakers), and^ iubferibe the de-
-claration againft Popery. 2. lhat they repair to tome
•congregation certified to and regiftered in the court of
the bithop or archdeacon, or at the county fefiions.
3. That the doors of fuch meeting-houle {hall be unlock¬
ed unbarred, and unbolted •, in default or which, the
perfons meeting there are ftill liable to ail the penalties
of the former adds. Diffenting teachers, in order to be
exempted from the penalties of the ftaiutes 13 and
14 Car. II. c. 4. 17 Car. II. c. 2. and 22 Car. II. c. I.
are alfo to fubferibe the articles of religion mentioned in
the ftatute 13 Eliz* c. I2> (viz. thofe which only con¬
cern the confeffion of the true Chriftian faith, and the
doftrine of the facraments), with an exprefs exception
of thofe relating to the government and powers of the
church, and to infant baptifm. And by flat. 10 Ann.
c. 2. this toleration is ratified and confirmed j and it is
declared, that the faid aft fhall at all times be inviola¬
bly obferved for the exempting fuch Proteftant diilent-
ers as are thereby intended from the pains and penalties
therein mentioned. 1 hus, though the offence of non¬
conformity is by no means univerfally abrogated, it is
fufpended, and ceafes to exift with regard to thefe Pro¬
teftant diffenters, during their compliance wfith the con¬
ditions impofed by the aft of toleration : and, under
thefe conditions, all perfons, who will approve them-
felves no Papifts or oppugners of the Trinity, are left
at full liberty to aft as their confeiences fhall direct
them in the matter of religious worfhip. And if any
perfon ftiall wilfully, malieioufly, or contemptuoufly di-
flurb any congregation, affembled in any church or per¬
mitted meeting-houfe, or fhall mifufe any preacher or
teacher there, he (hall (by virtue of the fame ftatute)
be bound over to the feffions of the peace, and for¬
feit 20I. But by ftatute 5 Geo. I. c. 4. no mayor or
principal magiftrate muft appear at any diffenting meet¬
ing with the enfigns of his office, on pain of difability
to hold that or any other office : the legiflature judging
it a matter of propriety, that a mode of worfhip, fee up
in oppofition to the nation, when allowed to be exer-
cifed in peace, ffiould be exercifed alfo with decency,
gratitude, and humility. Neither doth the aft of tole¬
ration extend to enervate thofe claufes of the ftatutes
13 & 14 Car. II. c. 4. and 17 Car. II. c. 2. which pro¬
hibit (upon pain of fine and imprifonment) all perfons
from teaching fchool, unlefs they be licenfed by the
ordinary, and fubferibe a declaration of conformity to
the liturgy of the church, and reverently frequent di¬
vine fervice ejlablifhed by the laws of this kingdom.
“ As to Papijls what has been faid of the Proteftant
diffenters would hold equally ftrong for a general tole¬
ration of them ■, provided their feparation was founded
only upon difference of opinion in religion, and their
principles did not alfo extend to a fubverfion of the
civil government. If once they could be brought to
renounce the fupremacy of the Pope, they might
quietly enjoy their feven facraments; their purgatory,
and auricular confeffion ) their worffiip of relicks and
images; na^yeVen their tranfubftantiation. But while
they acknowledge a foreign power, fuperior to the fo- ^
vereignty of the kingdom, they cannot complain, if the
laws of that kingdom will not treat them upon the foot¬
ing of good fubjecls.
“ The following are the-laws that have been enacted
againft tiie Papifts ; who may be divided into three
claffes, perfons profeffing Popery, Popiffi recufants
convift, and Popifti priefts. 1. Perfons profeffing the
Popiili religion, befides the former penalties for not
frequenting their pari fit church, are difabled from taking
any lands either by defeent or purchafe, after 18 years
of age, until they renounce their errors; they muft at
the age of 21 regifter their eftates before acquired, and
all future conveyances and wills relating to them; they
are incapable of prefenting to any advowfon, or grant¬
ing to any other perfon any avoidance of the iame*;
they may not keep or teach any fchool, under pain of
perpetual imprifonment; and, if they willingly fay or
hear mafs, they forfeit the one 200, the other ico
tnerks, and each ftiall fuffer a year’s imprifonment. Thus
much for perfons., who, from the misfortune of family
prejudices, or otherwifo, have conceived an unhappy at¬
tachment to the Romifli church from their infancy, and
publicly profefs its errors. But if any evil induftry is
ufed to rivet thefe errors upon them ; if any perfon
fends another abroad to be educated in the Popifti re¬
ligion, or to refide in any religious houfe abroad for
that purpofe-, or contributes to their maintenance when
there ; both the fender, the font, and the contributor,
are difabled to fue in law or equity, to be executor or
adminiftrator to any perfon, to take any legacy or deed
of gift, and to bear any office in the realm ; and fhall
forfeit all their goods and chattels, and likewife all their
real eftate for life. And where thefe errors are alfo ag¬
gravated by apoftafy or perverfion ; where a perfon is
reconciled to the fee of Rome, or procures others to be
reconciled, the offence amounts to high treafon, 2. Po¬
pifti recufants, convi&ed in a court of law of not at¬
tending the forvice of the church of England, are fub-
jeft to the following difabilities, penalties, and for¬
feitures, over and above thofe before mentioned. They
are confidered as perfons excommunicated ; they can
hold no office or employment: they muft not keep arms
in their houfos, but the fame may be feized by the juf-
tices of the peace ; they may not come within 10 miles
of London, on pain of look; they can bring no ac¬
tion at law or fuit in equity ; they are not permitted
to travel above five miles from home, unlefs by li~
cenfe, upon pain of forfeiting all their goods; ami
they may not come to court, under pain of xool. No
marriage or burial of fuch recufant, or baptifm of his
child, ftiall be had other wife than by the minifters of
the church of England, under other fevere penalties.
A married woman, when recufant, ftiall forfeit tw7o-
thirds of her dower or jointure, may not be executrix
or adminiftratrix to her hufband, or have any part of
his goods ; and during the coverture may be kept in
prifon, unlefs her hufband redeems her, at the rate of
jol. a month, or the third part of all his lands. And
laftly, as a feme-covert recufant may be imprifoned, fo
all others muft, within three months after conviftion,
either fubmit and renounce their errors, or, if requi¬
red fo to do by four juftiees, muft abjure and renounce
the realm : and if they do not depart, or if they re-
F 2 turn
Noncofli
form i ft s.
NON r 44 ] NON
Jfoneon- turn without the king’s licence, they fhall be guilty of
formii'b. ^ felony? an(l fuffer death as felons, without benefit of
Dlackjl. clergy. There is alfo an inferior fpecies of recufancy,
Comment, (refilling to make the declaration again!! Popery en¬
joined by ftatute 30 Car. II. ft. 2. when tendered by
the proper magiftrate) ; which, if the party refides
within ten miles of London, makes him an abfolute
recufant convidl ; or, if at a greater diftance, fufpends
him from having any feat in parliament, keeping arms
in his houfe, or any horfe above the value of 5I. 3. Po-
pilh priefts are ftill in a more dangerous condition. By
ftatute 11 & 12 W. III. c. 4. Popilh priefts, or bi-
Ihops, celebrating mafs or exercifing any part of their
fundlions in England, except in the houfes of ambaf-
fadors, are liable to perpetual imprifonment. And by
the ftatute 27 Eliz. c. 2. any Popilh prieft, born in
the dominions of the crown of England, who lhall
come over hither from beyond fea (unlefs driven by
ftrefs of weather and tarrying only a reafonable time),
or lhall be in England three days without conforming
and taking the oaths, is guilty of high treafon : and all
perfons harbouring him are guilty of felony without the
benefit of clergy.
“ This is a Ihort fummary of the laws againft the Pa-
pifts ) of which the prefident Montefquieu obferves,
that they are fo rigorous, though not profeffedly of
the fanguinary kind, that they do all the hurt that
can poftibly be done in cold blood. But in anfwer to
this, it may be obferved (what foreigners who only
judge from our ftatute book are not fully apprized of),
that thefe laws are feldom exerted to their utmoft ri¬
gour : and indeed, if they were, it would be very dif¬
ficult to excufe them. For they are rather to be ac¬
counted for from their hiftory, and the urgency of
the times which produced them, than to be approved
(upon a cool review) as a Handing fyftem of law. The
reftlefs machinations of the Jefuits during the reign of
Elizabeth, the turbulence and uneafinefs of the Pa-
pifts under the new religious eftablilhment, and the
boldnefs of their hopes and wilhes for the- fucceflion of
the queen of Scots, obliged the parliament to coun-
teraft fo dangerous a fpirit by laws of a great, and
then perhaps neceflary, feverity.. The powden-treafon,
in the fucceeding reign, ftruck a panic into James I.
which operated in different ways : it occalioned the
enabling of new laws againft the Papifts j but deter¬
red him from putting them in execution. The in¬
trigues of Queen Henrietta in the reign of Charles I.
the profpedt of a Popilh fucceffor in that of Charles II.
the affaffination-plot in the reign of King William, and
the avowed claim of a Popifti pretender to the crown
in fubfequent reigns, will account for the extenfion of
thefe penalties at thofe feveral periods of our hiftory.”
But now that all juft fears of a pretender may be faid
to have vanilhed, and the power and influence of the
* See their p0pe lias become feeble, ridiculous, and defpicable,
riot only *n f>rhain, but in almoft every kingdom of
throne° 6 Europe : and as in fa£! the Britilh Catholics folemnly
May 1. difclaim the dangerous principles afcribed to them * j
1778, as in-the Britilh legiflature, giving way to that liberality of
th^Ma^a ^entiment becoming Proteftants, have lately repealed
zincs or An-the moft rigorous of the above edifls, viz. The pu-
nual Regif- nilhment of Popilh priefts or Jefuits who Ihould be
ter for that found to teach or officiate in the fervices of that church j
year. which a£ls were felony in foreigners, and high treafon
i
in the natives of this kingdom —The forfeitures of Noncon-
Popilh heirs, who had received their education abroad,
and whofe eftates went to the next Proteftant heir :— "v—~
The power given to the fon, or other relation, being
a Proteftant, to take poffeffion of the father’s or other
relation’s eftate, during the life of the real proprietor :
—And the debarring Papifts from the power of ac¬
quiring any legal property by purchafe.—In propo-
fing the repeal of thefe penalties, it was obferved, That,
belldes that fome of them had now ceafed to be necef-
fary, others were at all times a difgrace to humanity.
The imprifonment of a Popilh prieft for life, only for
officiating in the fervices of his religion, was horrible
in its nature : And although the mildnefs of govern¬
ment had hitherto foftened the rigour of the law in the
practice, it was to be remembered that the Roman Ca¬
tholic priefts conftantly lay at the mercy of the bafeft
and moft abandoned of mankind—of common informers $
for on the evidence of any of thefe wretches, the ma-
gifterial and judicial powers were of neceffity bound to
enforce all the lhameful penalties of the aft. Others of
thefe penalties held out the moft powerful temptations
for the commiffion of afts of depravity, at the very
thought of which our nature recoils with horror : They
feemed calculated to loofen all the bands of fociety ; to
diffolve all civil, moral, and religious obligations and
duties, to poifon the fources of domeftic felicity, and
to annihilate every principle of honour. The encou¬
ragement given to children to lay their hands upon the
eftates of their parents, and the reftriftion which de¬
bars any man from the honeft acquilition of property,
need only to be mentioned to excite indignation in an
enlightened age.
In order the better to fecure the Engliffi eftablilhed
church againft perils from nonconformifts of all deno¬
minations, Infidels, Turks, Jews, Heretics, Papifts, and
Seftaries, there are, however, two bulwarks erefted j
called the corporation and tejl a£is: By the former of
which, no perfon can be legally elefted to any office
relating to the government of any city or corporation,
unlefs, within a twelvemonth before, he has received
the facrament of the Lord’s fupper according to the
rites of the church of England ; and he is alfo en¬
joined to take the oaths of allegiance and fuprtmacy
at the fame time that he takes the oath of office : or,
in default of either of thefe requifites, fuch eleftion
fhall be void. The other, called the teji aSi, direfts
all officers civil and military to take the oaths and
make the declaration againft tranfubftantiation, in any
of the king’s courts at Weftminfler, or at the quarter
feffions, within fix calendar months after their admif-
fion } and alfo wfithin the fame time to receive the fa¬
crament of the Lord’s fupper, according to the ufage
of the church of England, in fome public church im¬
mediately after divine fervice and fermon, and to deli¬
ver into court a certificate thereof figned by the mi-
nifter and church warden, and alfo to prove the fame
by two credible witneffes 5 upon forfeiture of 500I. and
difability to hold the faid office. And of much the
fame nature with thefe is the ftatute 7 Jac. I. c. 2.
which permits no perfons to be naturalized or reftored
in blood, but fuch as undergo a -like teft 5 which teft
having been removed in 1753, in favour of the Jews,
was the next feffion of parliament reftored again with
fome precipitation.
Non-
NON r 45 ] N O O
Non-na- NON-Natura/s, in Medicine, fo called, becaufe by their
tin-als abufe they become the caufes of difeafes.
Nonius Phyficians have divided the non-naturals into fix
■ claffes, viz. the air, meats and drinks, deep and watch¬
ing, motion and reft, the pafiions of the mind, the re¬
tentions <md excretions. See Medicine, pajjim.
t NON-ObJlante (notwithstanding') a claufe frequent in
ftatutes and letters patent, importing a licenfe from the
king to do a thing, which at common law might be
lawfully done, but being reftrained by aft of parliament
cannot be done without fuch licenfe.
NON-Pros. See Nolle Profequi.
NON-Suit, fignifies the dropping of a fuit or aftion,
or a renouncing thereof by the plaintiff or defendant 5
which happens moft commonly upon the difeovery of
fome error in the plaintiff’s proceedings when the caufe
is fo far proceeded in, that the jury is ready at the bar
to deliver in their verdift.
NONES, (noNjE), in the Roman kalendar, the fifth
day of the months January, February, April, June, Au-
guft, September, November, and December j and the
feventh of March, May, July, and Oftober. . March,
May, July, and Oftober, had fix days in their nones j
becaufe thefe alone, in the ancient conftitution of the
year by Numa, had 31 days a-piece, the reft having
only 29, and February 30 : but when Caefar reformed
the year, and made other months contain 31 days, he
did not allot them fix days of nones.
NONJURORS, thofe who refufed to take the oaths
to government, and who were in confequence under
certain incapacities, and liable to certain fevere penal¬
ties. It can fcarcely be faid that there are any non-
jurors now in the kingdom 5 and it is well known that
all penalties have been removed both from Papifts and
Proteftants, formerly of that denomination, as well in
Scotland as in England. The members of the Epif-
copal church of Scotland have long been denominated
Nonjurors ; but perhaps they are now called fo impro¬
perly, as the ground of their difference from the efta-
blifhment is more on account of ecclefiaftical than poli¬
tical principles.
NONIUS, Peter, in Spanifh Nunez, a learned
Portuguefe, and one of the ableft mathematicians of the
16th century, was born at Alcacer. He wras preceptor
to Don Henry, King Emmanuel’s fon, and taught ma¬
thematics in the univerfity of Coimbra. He publifhed
the following works, by which he gained great reputa¬
tion : r. De arte Navigandi. 2. Annotationes in theo-
rias planetarum Purhackii; which are greatly efteem-
ed. 3. A treatife De Crepufculis. 4. A treatife on
Algebra. It is obferved in Furetiere’s diftionary,
that Peter Nonius in 1530, firft invented the angles of
45 degrees made in every meridian, and that he called
them rhumbs in his language, and calculated them by
ipherical triangles. Nonius died in 1577, aged 80.
Nonius, the name which was not many years ago
given to the common device for fubdividing the arcs
of quadrants and other aftronomical inftruments, from
the perfuafion that it was invented by Nonius or Nu¬
nez, of whom fome account has been given in the pre¬
ceding article. The generality of aftronomers of the
prefent age, transferring the honour of the invention
from Nunez to Peter Vernier, a native of Tranche
Comte, have called this method of divifion by his
name. (See Vernier). Mr Adams, however, in his
Geometrical and Geographical Kjfays, has lately fhoWn Nonius
that Clevius the Jefuit may difpute the invention with
them both. The truth feems to be, that Nunez ftart- soun(p
ed the idea, Clevius improved it, and Vernier carried
it to its prefent ftate of perfeftion. The method of Nu¬
nez, deferibed in his treatife De Crepufculis, printed at
Lifbon 1542, confifts in deferibing within the fame
quadrant 4 9 concentric circles, dividing the outermoft
into 90 equal parts, the next within into 89, the
next into 88, &c. till the innermoft was divided into
46 only. On a quadrant thus divided the plumb line
or index muft crofs one or other of the circles very
near a point of divifion 5 whence, by computation, the
degrees and minutes of the arch might be eafily afeer-
tained. This method is alfo deferibed by Nunez in
his treatife De arte atque ratione Navigandi, where he
would fain perfuade himfelf, that it was not unknown
to Ptolemy. But as the degrees are thus divided very
unequally, and as it is very difficult to attain exaftnefs
in the divifion, efpecially when the numbers into which
the arches are to be divided are incompofite (of which
there are no lefs than nine), the method of dia¬
gonals, firft publiffied by Thomas Digges, Efq. in a
treatife entitled Alee feu fcalce mathematicce, printed at
London in 1573, and faid to be invented by one Rich¬
ard Chenfeler, was fubftituted in its room. Nonius’s
method was, however, improved at different times and
by different perfons 5 and it muft be acknowledged,
that if Vernier faw either the original or any of the
improvements (and there can be little doubt of his ha¬
ving feen them all), his merit is only that of having
applied to an ufeful praftical purpofe the fpeculative
invention of another per fon.
NONNUS, a Greek poet of the 5th century, and
native of Panopilis in Egypt, was the author of an he¬
roic poem in 48 books, entitled Dionysiacorum, and a
paraphrafe in verfe of St John’s Gofpel, which may
ferve as a commentary upon it.
NONUPLA, in the Italian mufic, denotes a quick
time, peculiar to jigs. This fpecies of time is other-
wife called the meafure of nine times, which requires two
falls of the hand, and one rife. There are three forts-
of nonupla. I. Nonupla difemi minime, or dupla ffqui-
quarta, thus marked -f, where nine crotchets are to be
in the bar, of which four make a femibreve in com¬
mon time, i. e. in the down ftroke fix, and but three
up : it is ufually beat adagio. 2. Nonupla di crome, or
ftfqui ottava, marked thus wherein nine quavers
make a bar inftead of eight in common time, i. e.
fix down and three up : it is beat prejlo. 3. No-
nupla di femicrome or fuper fetti partiente norm, thus di-
ftinguiffied T9^, in which nine femiquavers are contain¬
ed in a bar, whereof fixteen are required in common
time, fix down, and three up : it is ordinarily beat pre-
Jtifjimo. Befides thefe, there are two other fpeeies of
nonupla, for which fee Triple.
NOOTKA sound, or, as it was called by Captain
Cook, King George's Sound, lies in N. Lat. 49. 33.
W. Long. 153. 12. It is an entrance or ftrait to a
vaft inland fea on the weft coaft of North America,
and is faid to referable the Baltic or Mediterranean in
Europe. Upon the fea-eoaft the land is tolerably high
and level*, but within the found it rifes into fteep hills,
which have an uniform appearance. The trees of which
the woods are compofed, are the Canadian pine, whits.-
cyprefs^
N O O
[ 46 ]
N O O
; NorttTca
Sound.
-cypl'efs, and two or three other forts of pine. In ge¬
neral, the trees grow here with great vigour, and are
’ of a large fize. About the rocks and borders of the
woods were feen fome ftrawberry plants, and rafpberry,
-currant, and goofeberry bullies, all in a flourilhing
r ftate. The principal animals feen here were racoons,
martens, and fquirrels. Birds are far from being
numerous, and thofe that are to be feen are remarkably
^ fhy, owing perhaps to their being continually harafftd
by the natives, either to eat them, or to become pofleffed
of their feathers to be worn as ornaments. The que-
brantahueffos, thags, and gulls, were feen off the coaft 5
and the two lalt were alfo frequent in the found.
Though the variety of filh is not very great, yet they
are in greater quantities than birds. The principal
forts are the common herring, a filver coloured bream,
and another of a brown colour. Captain Cook and
Mr King, who vifited this place, confider it as an
excellent thelter for Ihips: and in the account of A
Voi/aqe to the Pacific Ocean, they give fome directions
for failing into it. Thefe and other matters of that kind
we thall not trouble our readers with ; and perhaps the
- generality of them will be better pleafed with the fol¬
lowing extraCt from Meares’s Voyages to the North-
weft Coaft: of America.
“ The people of the Nootka nation are, in general,
robuft and well-proportioned :—their faces are large
and full, their cheeks high and prominent, with fmall
black eyes:—their nofes are broad and flat, their lips
thick, and they have generally very fine teeth, and of
the moft brilliant whitenefs.
“ The manner in which the children of Nootka are
treated, when young, is not more extraordinary from
its ftrange, and, as it fhould appear, total inutility, as
from its agreement with the cuftoms of the Chinefe
and Tartars, to whom this praClice gives thefe people
a confiderable refemblance. The head of the infant
is bound by the mother with a kind of fillet of feveral
folds, as low down as the eyes, in order to give it a
certain form, which, at this tender age, it is capable
, of receiving. It might be fuppofed, that fuch a tight
drawn ligature muft caufe confiderable pain to the
child •, but we never obferved that any of the infants,
in fuch a ftate of preparation for fugar-loaf heads, fuf-
fered any vifible pain or inconvenience.
“ Though the cuftom of compreflxng the head in
this manner gives them an unpleafant appearance, by
drawing up the eyebrow's, and fometimes producing
the difagreeable effeCt of fquinting, as well as of flatten¬
ing the nofe and diftending the noftrils, they are by
no means an ill-looking race of people. . They have
alfo the cuftom, which is,known to prevail in fo many
Indian nations, of plucking out the beard by the roots,
on its firft appearance *, and, as it continues to fprout,
to keep it down by the fame praClice. It is one of
the domeftic employments afiigned to their wives, to
watch this appearance of manhood, and to eradicate
the hairs as they come forth 5 which they do in a.very
dexterous manner with their fingers, and without giving
the leaft pain in the operation.—Some of them, however,
though we faw but very few of this difpofition, when
they advance in years and become infirm, fuffer their
beards to grow without interruption. But, notwith-
ftanding they have fo great an averfion to the hair of
„their chin, that of the head is an objeft of their atten¬
tive vanity : it is ftrong, black, and glofly ; grows-to a
confiderable length ; and is either tied in a kind of knot
on the top of their heads, or fuffered to hang down
their backs in flowing negligence.
“ In their exterior form they have not the fymme-
try or elegance which is found in many other Indian
nations.—Their limbs, though flout and athletic, are
crooked and ill fhaped ; their ikin, when cleanfed of
filth and ochre, is white ; and we have feen fome of the
women, when in a ftate of cleanlinels (which, however,
wras by no means a common light, and obtained with
difficulty), who not only pofTcfied the fair complexion
of Europe, but features that would have attracted no¬
tice, for their delicacy and beauty, in thofe parts of
the world where the qualities of the human form are
beft underflood. But thefe examples of beauty are
by no means numerous among the women of Nootka,
who are calculated rather to difguft than to charm au
European beholder. Their hair, like that of the men,
is black 5 their eyes are of the fame colour •, and, in
exterior appearance, they are not to be immediately
diftinguiffied from the men. In their characters they
are referved and chafte ; and examples of loofe and
immodeft conduCt were very rare among them. There
wrere W'omen in St George’s Sound, whom no offers
could tempt to meretricious fubmiffions.”
All reports concerning Nootka Sound agree in cha¬
racterizing the inhabitants as “ a very inoffenfive race
of people.”—Inoffenfive, however, as they are, a cu¬
ftom of a very unnatural, and we fhould imagine cruel,
kind prevails among them j for, together with many
other articles which they expofed to fale to Cap¬
tain Cook’s fliips, they brought human fkulls and
hands (part of the llefh ftill remaining on them),
which they acknowledged they had been feeding on j
and fome- of them, we are told, had evident marks of
the fire.
From hence it is too apparent, that the horrid prac¬
tice of devouring their enemies exifts here as well as at
New Zealand and other South fea i Hands : and hence,
too, appears what men of even the beft natural difpofi-
tions will be, if left entirely to the freedom of their own
will, without law to controul or religion to inftiuCt
them. As there are but two villages of the Sound in¬
habited, the number of people cannot be many 5 per¬
haps they are about 2000 in all. Our limits prevent
us from being fo minute as we could wifh to be, re-
fpeCling the form of their houfes and their manner of
building them ; of their furniture, decorations, and
other things of that kind: we can therefore only refer
thofe who wifh for further information on this fubjcCt
to Cook, and other voyagers and travellers, &c.
The employment of the men is chiefly fifhing, &c.
whilft the women manufacture their garments. Their
ingenuity in this and in the mechanic arts is far from
being inconfiderable •, and in the imitative arts their
fkill is very great. On thefe fubjeCts, however, we
cannot enlarge: W'e have in general made it our bu-
finefs, audit certainly is our duty, to dwell, where it
can be done, on the manners or religion of the inha¬
bitants of the feveral places which come under our
notice ; and they who know the utility of this in deve¬
loping the philofophy of the human mind, the moft;
important of all feiences, Avill not blame our intentions,
even if thev fhould not approve of the execution. In
' Cook’s
Nootka
Sound.
N O O [ 47 1 N O K'
STootka Cook’s Voyages before referred to, we find the fol-
Soumt i0,v}ng obfervations on the religion and language of
ti.je Inhabitants of Nootka Sound.
“ Little knowledge we can' be luppofed to have ac¬
quired of the political and religious inftitutions efta-
blilhed among thefe people. We difcovered, however,
that there were fuch men as chiefs, diftinguilhed by
the title of Aciveek, to whom the others are, in fome
degree, fubordinate. But the authority of each of
thefe great men feems to extend no farther than to
his own family, who acknowledge him as their head.
As they were not all elderly men, it is pofiible this title
may be hereditary.-
“ Nothing that we faw could give us any infight
into their notions of religion, except the figures alrea¬
dy mentioned, called Klumma. Thefe, perhaps, v'ere
idols $ but as the word acweeh was frequently men¬
tioned when they fpoke of them, we may fuppofe
them to be the images of fome of their anceftors,
whofe memories they venerate. This, however, is all
conje&ure ; for we could receive no information con¬
cerning them ; knowing little more of their language
than to enable us to afk the names of things, and
being incapable of holding any converfation with
the natives relative to their traditions or their infti¬
tutions.
“ Their language is neither harfh nor difagreeable,
farther than proceeds from their pronouncing the k
and h with lefs foftnefs than we do. As to the com-
pofition of their language, we are enabled to fay but
little. It may, however, be inferred from their flow
and diftindt method of fpeaking, that it has few pre-
pofitions or conjunftions, and is deftitute of even a-
Angle interje<ftion to exprefs furprife or admiration.
The affinity it may bear to other languages, we have
not been able fufficiently to trace, not having proper
fpecimens to compare it with 5 but from the few Mexi¬
can words we have procured, there is an obvious agree¬
ment throughout the language, in the frequent termi¬
nations of the words in /, tl or
“ The word wakajh was frequently in the mouths
of the people of Nootka. It feemed to exprefs appro¬
bation, applaufe, and friendfhip. Whenever they ap¬
peared to be pleafed or fatisfied at any fight or oc¬
currence, they would call' out wakajh ! wakajh!— It is
worthy of remark, that as thefe people do eflentially
differ from the natives of the iflands in the Pacific
ocean, in their perfons, euftoms, and language, we can¬
not fuppofe their refpe&ive progenitors to have belong¬
ed to the fame tribe, when they emigrated into thofe
places where we now find their defcendants.”
We cannot finifli this article without taking notice
of a circumftance, which at the time made a great noife
in Europe, and which it is probable will find a place
in the future hiftories of the contending countries.
A fmall affociation of Britiffi merchants refident
in the Eaft Indies had, early in the year 1786, form¬
ed the projeft of opening a trade to this part of the
world, for the purpofe of fupplying the Chinefe mar¬
ket with furs. The principal point towards which
thefe expeditions w^ere direfted, was Port Nootka, or
King George’s Sound*, and the adventurers, being in
fome degree fatisfied with their traffic, took meafures,
in the year 1788, to freure to themfelves a permanent
ietllemcnt $ at the fame - time that the flopping em»
ployed in this expedition was generally two, and never Nootka
exceeded the amount of four, fmall veffels. The Spa- Sound
niards conceived fomejealoufy of the intrufion of the Nordbeimv
Engliffi into a part of the world which they had long > n i...v t
been defirous to regard as their exclufive property *,
and accordingly a Spaniffi frigate of 26 guns was de--
fpatched from the province of Mexico, for the purpofe
of putting an end to this commerce. The Spaniflv-
frigate arrived in May 1789, and captured two Eng¬
liffi veffels in the following July, at the fame time tak¬
ing poffeflion' of the little fettlement which had been
formed upon the coaft. Such, in ftiort, is the circum¬
ftance which was likely to involve us in an expen-
five wrar. Happily, however, for both countries, and1
perhaps for Europe, the matter wras at length, after
great altercation, amicably fettled ; and it muft ftill
be fo freffi in the memories of our readers, that we
truft they will excufe us from enlarging further upon
it—the whole article having extended perhaps to more
than a fufficient length.
NOPAL, Raquette, or Indian Jig; plants fo
named by the Indians, on which the cochineal infedl
breeds in Mexico. See Cochineal, Dyeing Index.
NOPALXOCHQUETZALLI, or Nopalcoch-
quetzaeli, the prickly pear of Mexico, which is com¬
mon over all the Weft Indies. See Cactus, Botany
Index.
NOPH. See Memphis.
NORBURY, a town ofStaffordffiire, in England, on
the fouth-weft fide of Eccleffiall. Here is a furprifing
echo, which, taken 440 yards north-eaft from the ma¬
nor houfe, near a little bank under a wood fide, repeats-
in a ftill day 10 or 11 fyllables very diftinftly, or 12
or 13, if fpoke very quick. It is remarked that the
banks of the Black Meer, in this pariffi, grow forward
every year over the furface of the water at the rate-
of three or four yards every feven years.
NORDEN, Frederic Lewis, an ingenious travel--
ler and naval-officer in the Daniffi fervice, was born
at Gluckftadt in blolftein in the year 1708. He w'as
well {killed in mathematics, fliip-building, and efpe-
cially in architefture ; and in 1732 obtained a penfion
to enable him to travel for the purpofe of ftudying
the conftruftion of {hips, particularly the galleys and
other rowing veffels ufed in the Mediterranean. He.
fpent near three years in Italy j and Chriftian VI. being-
defirous of obtaining a circumftantial account of Egypt,
Mr Norden while at Florence received an order to ex¬
tend his travels to that country. Flow he acquitted-
himfelf in this commiffion, appears from his Travels
into Egypt and Nubia, printed at Copenhagen in folio,
1756 5 and which were foon after tranflated into Englifli
by Dr Peter Templeman. In the war between Engs,,
land and Spain, Mr Norden, then a captain in the Da¬
niffi navy, attended Count Ulric Adolphus, a fea cap^
tain, to England 5 and they went out volunteers under
Sir John Norris, and afterwards under Sir Chaloner
Ogle. During his ftay in London, Mr Norden was
made a fellow of the Royal Society, and gave the public
drawings of fome ruins and coluffal ftatues at Thebes in
Egypt, with an account of the fame in a letter to the
Royal Society, 1741. His health at this time was de¬
clining 5 and taking a tour to France, he died at Paris
in 1742.
NORDHEIM, a town in Germany, in the Piano,
ver r
NOR [ 48 ] NOR
• Nordheim ver quarter. Of the four larger towns of this princi-
Norfoll' Pa%» ^ third in order. It is fituated on the
» . ^ J‘" . Iluhme, which runs into the Leine. It contains 500
houfes, and, befides a fecularized Lutheran abbey, has
one parifh church, and fome charitable foundations,
and alfo enjoys fome manufactures.
NORES, Jason de, a fcholar, poet, and philofo-
pher, was born at Nicofia in Cyprus. He loft his for¬
tune when the Turks made themfelves mafters of that
ifland in 1570. He retired to Padua 5 where he ac¬
quired great reputation by teaching moral philofophy.
His character had that call of feverity which is often
the confequence of fcholaftic habits. He was one of
thofe men who difcufs every thing without being ca¬
pable of feeling any thing. The Pctjlor Fido of Gua-
rini made its appearance ; and paftorals became a fa-
thionable fpecies of reading throughout all Italy. No-
res, who did not relifh works of this kind, attacked
the production of Guarini; who entirely confuted him
in a little piece printed at Ferrara in 1588. Nores
made a reply twro years after 5 and the poet was pre¬
paring an anfwer ftill more fevere than the former,
when his antagonift died of grief, occafioned by the
banifhment of his only fon for having killed a Vene¬
tian in a duel. He left behind him a great many wmrks,
fame in Italian, and others in Latin. The chief of
his Italian works, are, 1. The Poetieks, Padua, 1588,
qto ; this edition is rare. 2. A Treatife on Republics,
1578, 4to •, which he forms on the model of that of
the Venetians, his mafters. 3. A Treatife on the
World and its Parts, Venice, 1571, 8vo. 4. Intro¬
duction to three books of Ariftotle’s Rhetoric, Venice,
1S84, 4to, valuable. 5. A Treatife on what Comedy,
Tragedy, and Epic Poetry, may receive from Moral
Philofophy. His Latin works are, 1. InJUtutio in
Philofophiam Ciceronis, Padua, 1576, 8vo. 2. Brevis
et diJlinBa fumma preeceptorum de arte difcendi, ex hbris
Ciceronis collecia, Venice, 1553, 8vo ; a good v'ork.
3. De ConJHtutione partium humance et civilisphilofophict,
4to. 4. Interpretatio in artem poeticam Horatii, See.
In all his works we remark great perfpicuity and ac¬
curacy, profound erudition, happy expreflions, an elevat¬
ed and fometimes forcible ftyle.—His fon Peter Nores,
fucceflively fecretary to feveral cardinals, at once a man
of letters and a man of bufmefs, left behind him differ¬
ent manuferipts ; among others, the life of Paul IV. in
Italian.
NORFOLK, a county of England, fo called from
its northern fituation in refpeCt of Suffolk, is bounded
on the eaft and north by the German ocean 5 on the
fouth by Suffolk, from which it is parted by the
rivers Waveney and the Leffer Oufe ; and on the
weft it is feparated from Cambridgelhire by the Greater
Oufe, and from a fmall part of Lincolnlhire by the
Wafties. According to Templeman, it extends in
length 57 miles, in breadth 35, and 140 in circumfe¬
rence. It contains an area of 1426 fquare miles, one
city, 32 market towns, 711 villages, according to the
book of rates, though fome make them 1500, and
273,371 inhabitants. It is divided into 31 hundreds,
364 vicarages, and 660 parifties.
The air differs in different parts of the county ac¬
cording to the foil, which in fome places is marfliy,
efpecially on the fea coaft, and there the air is foggy
^and unwholefome j in others it is clayey and chalky,
poor, lean, and fandy, and there the air is good. The
county is almoft all champaign, except in fome places,
where rife gentle hills. The marlh lands yield rich v
pafture for cattle } the clay grounds peafe, rye, and
barley 5 and the fandy heaths feed vaft flocks of large
ftreep, of which fome villages are faid to keep 4000
or 5000. Thefe heaths abound alfo in rabbits of a
filver gray colour. Walftngham is noted for produ¬
cing the beft faffron. Great quantities of mackarel
and herring are caught upon the coafts of this county,
the former in the fpring, and the latter in September j
efpeeially at Yarmouth, where they are cured in a
particular manner, and to great perfedtion. Wood
and honey are alfo very plentiful in this county ; and
on the coafts jet and ambergreafe are fometimes found.
The inhabitants are generally ftrong and adtive, fagaci-
ous and acute. That they are fo robuft, is the more
to be wondered at, becaufe the common people live
much on puddings, Norfolk dumplings. They are for
the moft part in eafy circumftances, and rvere formerly
very quarrelfome and litigious. In confequence of this
difpofition, lawyers fwarmed among them to fuch a de¬
gree, that a ftatute was made fo early as the reign of
Henry VI. to reftrain their number. The manufadlures
of the county, which is exceedingly populous, are chief¬
ly woollen and w or fled fluffs and ftockings, for which
they are well fupplied with wool from the vaft flocks of
fheep bred in it. It gives title of duke to the elder
branch of the family of Howard, lies in the diocefe
of Norwich, and fends twelve members to parliament,
viz. two knights for the {hire, two citizens for Nor¬
wich, and two burgeffes for each of the boroughs of
Lynn Regis, Great Yarmouth, Thetford, and Caftle-
rifing.
The county is well watered, and fupplied with
fifh by the rivers Yare, Thyrn, Waveney, the Greater
and Leffer Oufe, and the Bure, befides rivulets. The
Bure abounds in excellent perch, and the Yare has
a fifli peculiar to it called the ruffe. The latter rifea
about the middle of the county 5 and after being
joined by the Waveney and Bure, falls into the fea at
Yarmouth. At the equinoxes, efpecially the autum¬
nal, the Oufe is fubjeft to great inundations, being
forced back by the fea, that enters it with great fury.
This county was famous at a very early period for its
fiftieries, which were extenfive and valuable, and feem
to have been carried on with fpirit. It has alfo been
remarkable, for at leaft 400 years paft, for the manu-
fafture of fine worfted fluffs.
Norfolk, a county of Virginia contiguous to North
Carolina.
NORFOLK IJlandy a fmall ifland of the South fea, lying
in 290 12' 30" fouth latitude, and 1680 16' eaft longi¬
tude. A colony was lately fettled on it ; and the fol¬
lowing account of it is given in Governor Philips's
Voyage to Botany Bay, &c.
“ Norfolk ifland is about feven leagues in circum¬
ference ; and if not originally formed, like many other
fmall iflands, by the eruption of volcanic matter from
the bed of the fea, muft doubtlefs have contained a
volcano. This conclufion is formed from the vaft
quantity of pumice ftone which is fcattered in all parts
of it, and mixed with the foil. The crater, or at
leaft fome traces of its former exiftence, will probably
be found at the fummit of a fmall mountain, which
■ rifes
Norfolk,
Norfolk
Ifland.
NOR [ 49 J NOR
Norfolk rlfes near the middle of the ifland. To this mountain
Wand. t]ie commandant has given the name of Mount Pitt.
i{|and is exceedingly well watered. At or near
Mount Pitt rifes a flrong and copious dream, which
flowing through a very fine valley, divides itfelf into
feveral branches, each of which retains fufheient force
to be ufed in turning mills j and in various parts of the
ifland fprings have been difeovered.
“ The climate is pure, falubrious, and delightful ;
preferved from oppreflive heats by conllant breezes from
the fea, and of fo mild a temperature throughout the
winter, that vegetation continues there without interrup¬
tion, one crop fucceeding another. Refrelhing fhowers
from time to time maintain perpetual verdure : not in¬
deed of grafs, for none has yet beenfeen upon the ifland j
but of the trees, fhrubs, and other vegetables, which in
all parts grow abundantly. On the leaves of thefe, and
of fome kinds in particular, the flieep, hogs, and goats,
not only live, but thrive and fatten very much. To
the falubrity of the air every individual in this little
colony can bear ample teflimony, from the uninter¬
rupted Hate of good health which has been in general
enjoyed.
“ When our fettlers landed, there was not a Angle
acre clear of wood in the ifland, and the trees were fo
bound together by that kind of creeping flirub called
fapple jack, interwoven in all directions, as to render it
very difficult to penetrate far among them. The
commandant, fmall as his numbers rvere at firft, bv
indefatigable activity, foon caufed a fpaee to be cleared
fufficient for the requilite accommodations, and for
the production of efculent vegetables of all kinds in
the greateft abundance. When the lafi accounts ar¬
rived, three acres of barley were in a very thriving
ftate, and ground was prepared to receive rice and In¬
dian corn. In the wheat there had been a difappoint-
ment, the grain that wras fown having been fo much
injured by the -weevil as to be unfit for vegetation.
But the people were all at that time in commodious
houfes ’, and, according to the declarations of Mr King
himfelf, in his letters to Governor Philip, there was
not a doubt that this colony would be in a fituation
to fupport itfelf entirely without afiiffance in lefs than
four years*, and with very little'in the intermediate
time. Even two years would be more than fufficient
for this purpofe, could a proper fupply of black cattle
be font.
“ Fiffi are caught in great plenty, and in the pro¬
per feafon very fine turtle. The woods are inhabited
by innumerable tribes of birds, many of them very
gay in plumage. The moft ufeful are pigeons, which
are very numerous; and a bird not unlike the Guinea
fowl, except in colour (being chiefly white), both of
which were at firfl: fo tame as to fuffer themfelves to
be taken by hand. Of plants that afford vegetables
for the table, the chief are cabbage palm, the wild
plantain, the fern tree, a kind of wild fpinage, and a
tree which produces a diminutive fruit, bearing fome
refemblance to a currant. This, it is hoped, by tranf-
planting and care, will be much improved in fize and
flavour.
“ But the produ&ions which give the greateft im¬
portance to Norfolk Ifland are the pines and the flax
plant; the former rifing to a fize and perfe£Hon un¬
known in other places, and promifing the moft valuable
Vgl. XV, Part I.
fupply of mafts and (pars for our navy in the Eaft In- Norfolk
dies ; the latter not lefs eftimable for the purpofes of Iflar|d
making failcloth, cordage, and even the finelt manu- jsforia.
failures, growing in great plenty, and with fuch luxu- —-y—
riance as to attain the height of eight feet. The pines
meafure frequently 160, or even 180 feet in height, and
are fometimes 9 or 10 feet in diameter at the bottom of
the trunk. They rife to about 80 feet without a
branch : the -wood is faid to be of the beft quality, al-
moft as light as that of the beft Norway mafts; and the
turpentine obtained from it is remarkable for purity and
whitenefs. The fern tree is found alfo of a great height
for its fpecies, meafuring from 70 to 80 feet, and affords
excellent food for the ffieep and other fmall cattle. A
plant producing pepper, and fuppofed to be the true ori¬
ental pepper, has been difeovered lately in the ifland,
growing in great plenty ; and fpecimens have been
fent to England in order to afeertain this important
point.”
NORFOLK Sound, according to the account of Cap¬
tain George Dixon, is fituated in 570 3' north latitude,
and 1330 36' weft longitude. It is a very extenfivq
place, but how far it ftretches to the northward is not
known. There may poffibly be a paffage- through to
the Bay of Iflands, but neither is this certain. The
ffiore, in common with the reft of the coaft, abounds
with pines ; there are alfo great quantities of the witch
hazel. There are various kinds of flowering trees and
ftirubs, wild goofberries, currants, and rafpberries ; wild
parfley is found here in great plenty, and it eats excel¬
lently either as a falad or boiled amongft foup. The
faranne, or wild lily root, grows alfo in great plenty and
perfection. There are a very few wild geefe or ducks
feen here, but they are fhy and difficult of approach.
NORHAM, a town in England, in the county of
Northumberland, on the river Tweed, near the mouth
of the Till, under the caftle, which w-as aneientlv erec¬
ted on a fteep rock moated round, for the better fecuri-
ty againft the incurfions of the Scotch mofs troopers. It
is of great antiquity ; and its old church has lately re¬
ceived repairs, and been made a decent place of wor-
fliip. Antiquities have been difeovered here. The
church had the privilege of a fanCluary. The caftle
has been frequently honoured with the prefence of fove-
reigns, particularly Edward I. here received the oath of
treaty from John Baliol of Scotland. It has been a
formidable ftructure, a great part of which is in ruins;
the lite of which, with its demefnes, confifted of 1030
acres.
NORIA, a hydraulic machine much ufed in Spain.
It confifts of a vertical wheel of 20 feet diameter, on
the circumference of which are fixed a number of little
boxes or fquare buckets, for the purpofe of raifing the
-water out of the well, communicating with the canal
below, and to empty it into a refervoir above, placed by
the fide of the wheel. The buckets have a lateral ori¬
fice to receive and to difeharge the water. The axis
of this wheel is embraced by four fmall beams, crofting
each other at right angles tapering at the extremities,
and forming eight little arms. This wheel is near the
centre of the horfe w’alk contiguous to the vertical axis,
into the top of which the horfe beam is fixed : but near
the bottom it is embraced by four little beams, forming
eight arms fimilar to thofe above deferibed, on the axis
of the waterwheel. As the mule which they ufe goes
G round,
Noria,
Noi'icum
NOR [5
round, thefe horizontal arms, fupplying the place of
cogs, take hold, each in fucceffion, of thole arms which
are fixed on the axis of the water wheel, and keep it in
rotation.
This machine, than which nothing can be cheaper,
throws up a great quantity of water; yet undoubtedly
it has two defeats : the firft is, that part of the water
runs out of the buckets and falls back into the well
after it has been raifed nearly to the level of the refer-
voir : the fecond is, that a confiderable proportion of
the wrater to be difcharged is raifed higher than the re-
fervoir, and falls into it only at the moment when the
bucket is at the higheft point of the circle, and ready
to defcend.
Both thefe defers might be remedied with eafe, by
leaving thefe fquare buckets open at one end, making
them fwing on a pivot fixed a little above their centre
of gravity, and placing the trough of the refervoir in
fuch a pofition as to flop their progrefs whilft perpendi¬
cular } make them turn upon their pivot, and fo dif-
charge their contents.
From the refervoir the water is conveyed by channels
to every part of the garden 5 thefe have divifions and
fubdivifions or beds, fome large, others very fmall, fepa-
rated from each other by little channels, into which a
boy with his fhovel or his hoe direfts the water, firft in¬
to the moft diflant trenches, and fucceflively to all the
reft, till all the beds and trenches have been either co¬
vered or filled with water.
Mr Townfend, from whom we have taken the above
account, thinks, that on account of the extreme fimpli-
city of this machine, it is an invention of the moll
remote antiquity. By means of it the inhabitants every
morning draw as much water from the well as will ferve
through the day, and in the evening diftribute it to
every quarter according to the nature of their crops.
The refervoirs into which they raife the water are about
20, 30, or even 40 feet fquare, and three feet high above
the furface of the ground, with a flone cope on the wall,
declining to the water for the women to wadi and beat
their clothes upon.
Our limits preclude us from following Mr Townfend
farther in the defcription of a particular noria ufed at
Barcelona j which he conceives to be the original chain
pump, or at leaft its parent. He compares it with
fimilar inftruments, and fhows its advantages and difad-
vantages.
NORICUM (Ptolemy, Tacitus) ; a Roman province,
fituated between the Danube on the north, and thus fe-
parated from ancient Germany ; the Alpes Noricae on
the fouth •, the river iEnus on the weft, which feparates
it from Vindelicia 5 and Mons Cetius on the eaft, which
divides it from Pannonia. Now containing a great part
of Auftria, all Saltzburg, Stiria, and Carinthia. It was
anciently a kingdom under its own kings (Caefar, Vel¬
leius, Suetonius). Noricithe people, fubdued by Tibe¬
rius under Augufius, as allies of the Pannonii (Dio,
Velleius). Tacitus reckons Noricum among thofe pro¬
vinces which were governed by procurators, officers lent
by the emperors to receive and difpofe of the public re¬
venue-according to order. It was divided into two pro¬
vinces, but at what time uncertain j fuppofed as low
down as Dioclefian and Conftantine, vix. the Noricum
Ripenfe, running along the fouth fide of the Danube j
o ] NOR
and the Noncum Mediterrancum, extending towards the Noricum
Alps. How far each of thefe extended in breadth does II.
not appear : all the account we have of the matter be- ,
ing from Sextus Rufus, and the Notitia Imperii Occiden-
talis. Anciently a country famous for its iron and
Reel (Horace) 3 as is Stiria at this day, a part of
Noricum. A climate cold and more fparingly fruitful
(Solinus).
N0R1N, a river which rifes in a corner of the Ve¬
netian confines, that runs between the rugged marble
hills, and is left entirely to itfelf from its very fource 3
hence a vaft traft of land is overfimved by it, and en¬
cumbered with reeds, willows, and wild alders. A
fmall fpace of ground only remains dry between the roots
of the hills and the marffi at a place called Prud, and
that is all covered with pieces of ancient hewn Rones,
fragments of inferiptions, columns, and capitals, and bafs
reliefs of the befl age, worn and deformed by time, and
the barbarifm of the northern people, who begun on that
fide to defiroy Narona. The inhabitants, who go often
to cut reeds in the marfli, affert, that the vefliges of that
large city may Rill be feen under water. It appears to
have been extended over the plain a great way, and un¬
doubtedly it was three miles in length at the foot of the
hills. The ancient road is now under water 3 and it is
neceffary to afeend a very fteep road, in order to pafs the
point of a craggy hill, on which, probably before the
Roman times, thofe fortifications were eredted that coR
Vetinius fo much labour.
NORIS, Henry, cardinal, a great ornament of the
order of the monks of St AuguRine, wras defeended
from the prefident Jafon, or James de Noris, and was
born at Verona 1631. He was carefully educated by
his father Alexander Noris, originally of Ireland, and
well known by his hiflory of Germany. He difeover-
ed from his infancy an excellent underRanding, great
vivacity, and a quick apprehenfion. His father inflruc-
ted him in the rudiments of grammar, and procured an
able profeffor of Verona, called Majfoleim, to be his
preceptor. At 15 he wras admitted a penfioner in the
Jefuits college at Rimini, where he Rudied philofophy 3
after which he applied himfelf to the writings of the
fathers of the church, particularly thofe of St Augu¬
Rine : and taking the habit in the convent of the Au¬
guRine monks of Rimini, he diRinguiffied himfelf among
that fraternity in a ffiort time by his erudition : info-
much, that as foon as he was out of his noviciate or
time of probation, the general of the order fent for him
to Rome, in order to give him an opportunity of im¬
proving himfelf in the more folid branches of learning.
He did not difappoint his fuperior’s expectations. He
gave himfelf up entirely to his Rudy, and fpent whole
days, and even nights, in the library of the Angeliques
of St Augufline. His conflant courfe was to flick to
his books 14 hours a day 3 and this courfe he continued
till he became a cardinal. By this means he became
qualified to inflruft others 3 and on this errand he was
firfl fent to Pezaro, and thence to Peroufa, where he
took his degree of doCtor of divinity 3 after which, pro¬
ceeding to Padua, he applied himfelf to finiffi his Hiflo¬
ry of Pelagianifm. He had begun it at Rome at the
age of 26 ; and, having completed his defign, the book
was printed at Florence, and publilhed in 1673. The
great duke of Tufcany invited him the following year
to
NOR [ -
Mens, to tliat city, made him his chaplain, and profeflor of ec-
Norkoping. clefiaflical hiftory in the univerfity of Pifa, which his
v highnefs liad founded with that view.
In his hiftory he fet forth and defended the condem¬
nation pronounced, in the eighth general council, againlt
Origen and Mopfuefta, the firit authors of the Pelagian
errors : • he alfo added an account of the Schifm of
Aquileia, and a Vindication of the Books written by St
Auguftine againft the Pelagians and Semi-Pelagians.
The work had procured him a great reputation, but met
with feveral antagonifts, to whom he publifhed proper
anfwers : the difpute grew warm, and was carried be¬
fore the fovereign tribunal of the inquilition. There the
hiftory was examined with the utmoft rigour, and the
author difmifled without the leaft cenfure. It Avas re¬
printed twice afterwards, and Mr Noris honoured by
Pope Clement X. Avith the title of Qualificator of the
Holy Office. Mot Avith Handing this, the charge rvas
renewed againft the Pelagian Hiftory, and it Avas dila¬
ted afrefti before the inquifition in 1676 ; but it came
out again with the fame fuccefs as at firft. Mr Noris
Avas noAV fuffered to remain in peace for fixteen years,
and taught ecclefiaftical hiftory at Pifa, Avithout any
moleftation, till he wras called to Rome bv Innocent
XII. Avho made him under-librarian of the Vatican in
1692. This poll was the A\’ay to a cardinal’s hat *,
his accufers, therefore, took frefti fire, and publifhed fe¬
veral neAV pieces againft him. Hence the Pope appoint¬
ed fome learned divines, Avho had the character of ha¬
ving taken neither fide, to re-examine Father Noris’s
books, and make their report of them. Their teftimo-
ny Avas fo advantageous to the author, that his holinefs
made him counfellor of the inquifition. Yet neither
did this hinder one of his adverfaries, the moft formida¬
ble on account of his erudition, to rife up againft him,
and attack him Avarmly, under the afiumed title of a
Scrupulous DoElor of the Sorbonne. Noris tried to re¬
move thefe fcruples in a Avork Avhich appeared in 1695,
under the title of An Hiftorical Diflertation concerning
one of the Trinity that fuffered in the Flelh ; Avherein,
having juftified the monks of Scythia, who made ufe of
that expreffion, he vindicated himfelf alfo from the im¬
putation of having attainted the Pope’s infallibility, of
having abided Vincentius Lirinenfis, and other bifhops
of Gaul, as favourers of Semi-Pelagianifm, and of ha¬
ving himfelf gone into the errors of the bilhop of
Y pres.
His anfvvers to all thefe accufations Avere fo much to
the fatisfa&ion of the pope, that at length his holinefs
honoured him with the purple in 169 After this, he
was in all the congregations, and employed in the moft
important affairs; fo that he had little time to fpend in
his ftudy, a thing of Avhich he frequently complained to
his friends. Upon the death of Cardinal Cafanati, he
Avas made chief library keeper of the Vatican in 170O',
and two years aftenvards nominated, among others, to
reform the kalendar : but he died at Rome in 1704 of a
dropfy. He was one of the moft learned men in the laft
century j his Avritings abound Avith erudition, and are
v'ery elegantly finilhed. He ivas a member of the Aca¬
demy ; Avhence he affirmed the name of Eucrates Ago-
rctico. His Avorks arc numerous, and were publifhed at
Verona, in 1729 and I73°> *n five volumes folio.
NORKOPING, a toAvn of Sweden, in the province
of Eaft Gothland, in eaft longitude 150 30', latitude
;i ] NOR
58° 2o'. Its name fignifies “ the northern market,” in Nbrkoping.
the SAyedifh language. It ftands on the banks of a Normandy.
large river called Mot ala, which coming from the lake
Vetter, falls a little lower into a gulf called Brawicken.
It is the largeft and moft populous toAvn in Sweden,
next to Stockholm, conveniently fituated near the fea on
a navigable river, which brings large veffels up to the
middle ol the toivn. There are fome handfome ftreets,
and the houfes in general are neatly built. Some of
the churches are Avorth feeing ; but the greateft curio-
fity are the famous copper mines, where there is a A’aft
number of people conftantly at Avork. In this article
the town carries on a very good trade ; as alfo in feve¬
ral other manufactures, as leather, fteel, and guns, Avhich
they make the beft in SAveden.
It covers a large fpace of ground, being ten miles in
circumference 5 but the houles are fmall and fcattered,
and the inhabitants do not exceed io,oco. The river
Motala floAvs through the toAvn, forms a feries of cata¬
racts, and is divided into four principal ftreams, Avhich
encircle feveral rocky iffands, covered with houfes and
manufactories. At the extremity of the town it is na¬
vigable for fmall veffels. Several manufactories are
eftablilhed in the toAvn ) 55 fabrics of cloth, which em¬
ploy 1500 men ; 3 fugar-houfes ; 1 of fnuff 5 50 mills
for grinding corn, which is exported in large quantities j
and a brafs foundery. A falmon fifhery gives employ¬
ment and riches to many of the inhabitants.
NORMANDY, a province of France, bounded on
the north by the Englilh channel; on the eaft by Picar¬
dy and the Ifle of France; on the fouth by Perche and
Maine, and one part of Bretagne ; and on the weft by
the ocean. It is about 155 miles in length, 85 in
breadth, and 600 in circumference. It is one of the moft
fertile, and brings in the largeft revenue of the king¬
dom. It abounds in all things except Avine, but they
fupply that defeeft by cyder and perry. There are vaft
meadows, fat paftures, and the fea yields plenty of fifh.
It contains iron, copper, and a great number of rivers
and harbours. It carries on a great trade, is very popu¬
lous, and comprehends a vaft number of toAvns and vil¬
lages. It is divided into the Upper and Loiver j the
Upper borders upon Picardy, and the Loiver upon Bre¬
tagne. It contains fe\'en diocefes or bilhoprics, Rouen,
Bayeux, Avranches, Evreux, Sees, Lifieux, and Cou-
tances, in ivhieh they compute 4189 parilhes, and 80
abbeys. I he inhabitants are ingenious, and capable of
underftanding any arts and fciences, but they are chiefly
fond of law. The Normans, a people of Denmark and
Norway, having entered France under Rollo, Charles
the Simple ceded this country to them in 912, Avhich
from that time ivas called Normandy, and contains about
8200 fquare miles. Its chief city is Rouen. Rollo Avas
the firft duke, and held it as a fief of the croivn of
France, and feveral of his fucceffors after him, till Wil¬
liam, the feventh duke, conquered England in 1066 :
from ivhicli time it became a province of England, till
it ivas loft in the reign of King John, and reunited to
the croAvn of France ; but the Englilh ftill keep the
illands on the coafts of Normandy.
The principal rivers are the Seine, the Eure, the
Aure, the Iton, the Dive, the Andelle, the Rille, the
Fouque, the Dr6mee, and the Orne : among the fea
ports, the principal are thpfe of Dieppe, Havre, Hpnfleur,
Cherburg, and Granville. Rouen is the principal city.
G 2 ' NORMANS,
NOR [5
NORMANS, a fierce •warlike people of Norway,
Denmark, and other parts of Scandinavia. They at
different times overran and ravaged moft countries in
Europe : to the refpeclive hiilories of thofe countries
we therefore refer for a fuller account of them, as it is
impoffible to enlarge upon particulars in this place with¬
out repeating what has been already faid, or may be
faid, in different parts of this work.
NORMAN Chambers, a fpecies of writing introduced
into England by William I. From fome old manu-
feripts the Norman writing appears to have been com-
po'ed of letters nearly Lombardic. In regal grants,
charters, public inftruments, and law proceedings, this
charadler was ufed with very little variation from the
reign of the Conqueror to that of Edward III. See
Writing.
NORRIS, or Noris. See Noris.
NORTH, one of the four cardinal points of the
world ; being that point of the horizon which is di-
reftly oppofite to the fun in meridian. The north
•wind is generally accompanied with a confiderable de¬
gree of cold. It fometimes blows with almoft irrefift-
ible fury. It is often mentioned by the elaffic authors
Under the name of Boreas, which is of Greek original.
See Boreas.
North Po/e. See Pole.
North, Dudley, Lord, the third baron of that ac-
complifhed family, was one of the fineft gentlemen in
the court of King James ; but in fupporting that cha-
rafter, diffipated and gamed away the greateft part of
his fortune. In 1645, he appears to have adted with
the parliament ; and was nominated by them to be ad-
miniftrator of the admiralty, in conjundlion with the
great earls of Northumberland, Effex, Warwick, and
others. He lived to the age of 85, the latter part of
which he palled in retirement j and w'rote a fmall folio
of mifcellanies, in profe and verfe, under this title, A
Foreft promifeuous of feveral Seafons Produdlions, in four
parts, 1659.
North, Dudley, Lord, fon of the former, was made
knight of the Bath in 1616, at the creation of Charles
prince of Wales *, and fat in many parliaments, till ex¬
cluded by the prevailing party in that which condemned
the king. From that period Lord North lived privately
in the country, and towards the end of his life entertain¬
ed himfelf with books, and, as his numerous iffue requir¬
ed, with economy •, on which he wrote a little tra£I, call¬
ed Obfervations and advices economical, 1 2mo. Flis other
works are, Paffages relating to the long parliament; the
hiffory of the life of Lord Edward North, the firft baron
of the family, addreffed to his eldeft fon 5 and a volume
of Effays.
NORTH, Francis, Lord Guildford, lord-keeper of the
great feal in the reigns of Charles II. and James II.
was a third fon of the fecond Dudley lord North, ba¬
ron of Kertling 5 and ftudied at St John’s college in
Cambridge, from whence he removed to the Middle
Temple. He acquired French, Italian, Spanifh, and
Dutch ; and became not only a good lawyer, but wras
well verled in hiftory, mathematics, philofophy, and
mulic. He was afterwards made the king’s folicitor-
general, and was chofen to reprefent the borough of
Lynn in parliament. He fucceeded Sir Heneage I inch
in the poll: of attorney-general; and Lord Chief-]uf-
tice Vaughan, in the place of lord chief-juftice of the
4
] NOR
common pleas. He was afterwards made keeper of North,
the great feal; and in 1683 was created a baron by
the title of I^ord Guildford. He died at his houfe at
Wroxton in 1685. Fie wrote a philofophical effay on
mufic ; a paper on the gravitation of fluids, confidered
in the bladders of fillies, printed in Lowthorp’s abridge¬
ment of the Philofophical Tranfabtions; and fome other
pieces.
North, Right Honourable Frcdcrich, earl of Guild¬
ford, Lord North, lord warden and admiral of the
Cinque Ports, governor of Dover cattle, lord lieutenant
and cuftos rotulorum of Somerfetlhire, chancellor of the
univerfity of Oxford, recorder of Glouceffer and Taun¬
ton, an elder brother of the Trinity houfe, prefident of
the Foundling hofpital and of the Afylum, a governor
of the Turkey Company and of the Charter houfe, K. G.
and LL. D. was born April 13. 1732; and married.
May 20. 1756, Mifs Ann Speke, an heirefs of the an¬
cient family of Dillington in Somerietlhire, by whom
he has left two fons and three daughters : the eldeft fon
George Auguftus, born September 11. 1759, and mar¬
ried, September 30. 1785, to Mils Hobart, fucceeds to
the earldom and eftates. The late earl fucceeded his fa¬
ther Auguft 4. 1790. His lordlhip fucceeded the cele¬
brated Mr Charles Townfend as manager of the houfe
of commons and chancellor of the exchequer ; and in
1770, on the refignation of the duke of Grafton, was
made firft lord of the treafury ; in which office he con¬
tinued until the clofe of the American war, or rather
until the formation of the Rockingham miniftry, which
began the bufinefs of peace with the colonies. He was
a man of ftrong mental faculties ; and as an orator, at
once commanded attention and enforced conviblion : but
taking the helm at a time when the king’s party were
unpopular, and when it was fuppofed that the late
earl of Bute was the great machine by which the ca¬
binet was moved, fo he continued in that ftate of un¬
popularity until he refigned the feals. During the
whole of his premierffiip (and to conduct the helm at
that time required uncommonly great abilities) he ftu-
dioufly avoided impofing any taxes that fliould mate¬
rially affebt the lower clafs of people. The luxuries,
and not the neceffaries, of life were repeated objebts
of his budget. As a financier, he flood high, even
in the opinion of oppofition ; and they wrere a combi¬
nation of all the great talents in the kingdom : but,
fatally wedded to the deftrublive plan of fubduing the
republican fpirit of the Americans, his adminiftration
will not only Hand marked in the page of hiftory with
an immenfe wafte of public treafure, but it will appear
befprinkled with the kindred blood of thoufands of
Britifli fubjebls. To the very laft moment he fpoke in
the fenate, however, he defended that war ; and faid,
he w'as then, as he was formerly, prepared to meet the
minuteft inveftigation as to his condubt in that bufi¬
nefs ; which nothing but the unforefeen intervention
of France could have prevented from being crowned
with fuccefs. His lordftiip was one of the firmeft and
moft ftrenuous fupporters of the conftitution in church
and ftate. He died on the 5th of Auguft 1792. His
recolleblion he retained to his laft moments : his fa¬
mily, except Lord North, who came within a few mi¬
nutes afterwards, were affembled round his bed, and he
took leave of them individually. Their grief did not
fuffer them to leave the room for fome time after the
event.;
NOR
[
Tsorth
Faffaee.
event *, and Lady Caroline Douglas was at laft forced
from it. Even Dr Warren, who niufl be ftrengthened
North-weft ag £ar as can operate againft nature to endure
fuch feenes, ran from this, convulfed with forrow. If
any extent of fympathy can leflen affliction, this family
may find fuch relief ; for perhaps no man was ever more
generally beloved by all who had accefs to him than the
earl of Guildford.
We may form an opinion of the eftimation the cele¬
brated univerfity of Oxford entertained of their chan¬
cellor while living, by the very great honour they
paid to his remains. About five o’clock in the after¬
noon of the 15th, the great bell at St Mary’s church
at Oxford rang out, which was a fignal that the fune¬
ral proceffion had arrived in the environs of that city.
The officers of the univerfity, and the whole body of
refident Undents, were previoufiy affcmbled in Mag¬
dalen College, in order to pay fome tribute to the
memory of their deceaied chancellor. I hey joined the
proceffion at Magdalen Bridge, and paraded on foot
before the herfe up the high Itreet to Carfax ; from
thence down the corn market to St Giles’s church at
the town’s end, in a moft folemn manner. Here they
halted, and opening to the right and left, the herfe and
other carriages palled through, the whole univerfity be¬
ing uncovered. The herfe and attendants then proceeded
to Banbury, where his lordlhip’s remains were depofited
in the family vault.
North Cape, the moft northerly promontory in Eu¬
rope, on the coaft of Norway. E. Long. 2i. 0. N. Lat.
78. o.
NORTH Ferry, a fmall village, on the north fide of
the frith of Forth, at the Queen’s Ferry paffage. There
was here formerly a chapel, ferved by the monks of
Dunfermline, and endowed by Robert I. Near it are
large whinftone quarries, which partly fupply London
with paving ftones, and employ many veflels for the con¬
veyance. “ The granite ( whinftone) (Mr Pennant fays)
lies in perpendicular ftrata, and above is a reddifh earth,
filled with micaceous friable nodules.”
NORTH Foreland, a cape or promontory of Kent, in
the ifle of Thanet, four miles call of Margate. Between
this and the South Foreland are the Downs, through
which all fhips pafs that are bound to or from the weft.
E. Long. 1. 2?. N. Lat. 51. 25.
NORTH-Wefl Paffage, a paflage to the Pacific ocean
through Hudfon’s bay or Davis’s ftraits, and which hath
been frequenily attempted without fuccefs *, notwith-
ftanding which, many people are ftill of opinion that it
is pra£licable.
The idea of a paflage to the Eaft Indies by the north
pole, or through fome opening near to it, was fuggefted
as early as the year 1527. The perfon who had the
honour to conceive jdiis idea was Robert Thorne, a mer¬
chant of Briftol, who addrefled two papers on the fub-
je<ft, the one to King Henry VIII the other to Dr
Ley, ambaflador from that monarch to the emperor
Charles V. To remove any objeftion to the under¬
taking, which might be drawn from the fuppofed dan¬
ger, he infills, in his addrefs to the king, upon the great
advantages of conftant daylight in the polar Teas, and
the probability of the climate being in thole regions
temperate during the fummer months. In the paper
addrefled to Dr Ley, he obferves that cofmographers
way as probably be miftaken in the opinion winch they
S3 1 N ° R
entertain of the polar regions being impafiable from ex- North-weft
treme cold, as it has been found they were in fuppofing P^age-
the countries under the line to be uninhabitable from
exceffive heat.
The poffibility of the paflage was, in confequence of
thefe addrtffes, very generally fuppofed ; and in 15 <17,
Sir Martin Forbiftier failed to 62° north latitude, where
he difeovered the ftraits which have lince borne his name.
In 1577, Barne, in a book entitled the Regiment of the
Sea, mentions a north-weft paffage as one of the five w'ays
to Cathay} and dwells on the mildnefs of the climate,
which, from the conftant prefence of the fun during
fummer, he imagines muft Be found near the pole. In
1578, George Belt, a gentleman who had been v'ith
Sir Martin Forbilher in his voyages of difeovery, wrote
a very ingenious difeourfe to prove all parts of the world
habitable. It does not, however, appear that any voyage
was undertaken, for the exprefs purpofe of attempting
to fail to India m a north-weft direftion, till the year
1607, when Henry Hudfon was fent, at the expence
of fome merchants in London to difeover a paffage by
the north pole to Japan and China. He failed from
Gravefend on the ift of May, and on the 2lft of June
fell in with the land to the weft ward, in latitude 730,
which he named Hold-wuh-hope. On the 27th he dif-
covered Spitfbergen, and met with much ice. The
higheft latitude in which he made an obfervation was
8o° 27'. See Hudson.
In March 1609, Jones Poole was fent by Sir Tho¬
mas Smith, and the reft of the Mufeovy Company, to
make further difeoveries towards the north pole. Af¬
ter great feverity of weather, and much difficulty from
ice, he made the fonth part of Spitfbergen on the 16th
of May 5 and failing along and founding the coaft, he.
made many accurate difeoveries ■, but was not in that
voyage able to proceed beyond 790 50'. He was.
again employed (1611), in a fmall veffel called the
Elizabeth, to attempt the north-weft paffage ; but af¬
ter furmounting numberlefs difficulties, and penetrating
to 8o° of latitude, he loft his ftiip at Spitfbergen. Two
voyages equally unfuccefsful, were made in 16x4 and
1615, by Baffin and Fotherby *, the latter of whom con¬
cludes the account of his difeoveries and dangers, with
exhorting the company which employed him not to ad¬
venture more than 150I. or 200I. at moft on yearly voy¬
ages to thefe feas.
Hitherto nothing had been done in this great under¬
taking but by private adventurers, fitted out for the
double purpofe of difeovery and prefent advantage } and
the polar regions were fuffered to remain unexplored in
that diredlion, from the year 1615 till 1773, when the
earl of Sandwich, in confequence of an application which
had been made to him by the Royal Society, laid before
his majefty a propofal for an expedition to try how far
navigation is practicable towards the north pole. Upon
receiving this propofal, his majefty was pleafed to direft
that the voyage ftrould be immediately undertaken, with
every affirtance that could contribute to its fuccefs. Ac¬
cordingly, the Racehorfe and Carcafs bombs were fitted
out for the purpofe, and the command of the expedition '
given to Captain Phipps, now Lord Mulgrave. His
Lordfhip’s inftruflions were to proceed up to the pole,
or as far towards it as poffible, and as nearly upon a me¬
ridian as the ice or other obftrudlions fhould admit; and
during the courfe of the voyage, to make fuch obferva-
lions
NOB. [54] NOB
North-weft tions of every kind as might be ufeful to navigation, or
, PaffaSe- i tend to the promotion of natural knowledge. A very ac-
^ curate account of this voyage was publithed by his Lord-
fhip in 1774- He had, by exerting all the powers of a
fkilful and intrepid feaman, forced his way, on the ill
of Auguft, to 8o° 37' j but could proceed no farther,
as he was there oppufed by one continued plain of fmooth
unbroken ice, bounded only by the horizon.
Many other attempts have been made to difcover this
paffage, by failing along the weftern coait of America ;
but hitherto none of them has been crowned with fuc-
cefs. So early as 1579, Sir Francis Drake affured Queen
Elizabeth that he had failed fome leagues up the ilraits
of Anian (fee AnIAN), and difcovered New Albion, to
the north of California but the ftrait is now known to
have no exiftence j and Drake’s real difcoveries were
not improved. In 1638, King Charles I. fent Captain
Luke Fox in one of his pinnaces to attempt the paffage •,
but of his proceedings we know nothing, but that he
reached Port Nelfon in Hudfon’s bay, where he found
fome remains of former navigators. Next year Captain
James was fitted out by the merchants of Briftol for the
fame purpofe. James was one of the ableft navigators
that ever failed from England or any other country ;
and his voyages to the north were printed in 1633. Af¬
ter all the experiments he had made, he concluded that
there was no fuch paffage •, or if there be, he affirmed
that the difcovery of it would not be attended with thofe
advantages which are commonly expefted. His reafons,
however, for thefe opinions have been anfwered, and
many fubfequent attempts have been made to perform
what he thought impoffible. The arguments for a
north-weft paffage were fo plaufible, that in 1744, an
aft of parliament was paffed to encourage the difcovery
of it. Among many others, Captain Cook attempted
the difcovery in vain, and thence adopted James’s opi¬
nion. (See CoOKE'S Difcoveries, N° 103.). This cele¬
brated navigator, after having proceeded northwards to
the weftern extremity of America, and afeertained the
proximity of the two great continents of Afia and Ame¬
rica, returned to the Sandwich iflands, firmly perfuaded
of the imprafticability of a paffage in that hemifphere
from the Atlantic into the Pacific ocean, either by an
eaftern or a weftern courfe.
Later voyagers, however, have pretended to deteft
fome errors in Cooke’s difcoveries ; and the author of
a fmall traft, entitled An authentic Statement of all the
Fuels relative to Nootka Sound, goes a great way to
make the difcovery not yet hopelefs. In his account
of the expedition under the direftion of Meffrs Etches,
he fays, that “ one of the firft difcoveries made by
thefe (hips was, that wffiat was by the immortal Cook
laid down as a continuation of the north-weft continent
of America, and lying between the northern latitudes
of 48° and 570, is on the contrary an extenfive clufter
of unexplored iflands inhabited by numerous tribes of
friendly Indians, with whom a regular connexion was
formed.”
Thefe iflands they difcovered, contrary to the affer-
tion of Captain Cook, to conceal the opening of a vaft
inland fea, or archipelago, in all probability equal to
the Mediterranean or Baltic feas, and dividing the great
northern continent of America. The Princefs Royal
penetrated fome hundred leagues among them, in a
north-eaft courfe, to within 200 leagues of Hudfon’s
5
houfe, but had not then an opportunity to explore the Nortli-w#ft
extreme termination of that archipelago, their commer- ^Railage,
cial concerns obliging them to return to the China mar-
ket ; but the commanders had the ftrongeft reafons to ‘-t - "j
believe, had the time favoured their furvey, that they
ffiould have been able to difcover the long-wiftied for
paffage between the Atlantic and South fea. They con¬
ceived, that ftiould neither the inland arm of the fea
through which the Princefs Royal penetrated, nor a large
ftrait named Sir Charles Middleton’s about three degrees
to the fouthward, be found to reach acrofs the continent,
yet that the land barrier muft be very inconfiderable }
and that at the extremity of this bay a practicable paf¬
fage, either by rivers or lakes, will, by perfeverance, be
found terminating towards Hudfon’s bay.
The laft attempt to difcover this paffage was made by
Vancouver between the years 1790 and 1795 ; but the
refult of this voyage renders the exiftence of fuch a paf¬
fage ft ill more doubtful.
Upon the whole, however, it appears to us extreme¬
ly doubtful whether there be fuch a paffage •, but it
is much more likely to be difcovered, if dilcovered at
all, by the progreflive advances of mercantile enterprife
than by any immediate expedition undertaken for that
purpofe.
NOETH-Enft Vajjage, a paffage to the Eaft Indies
along the northern coafts of Afia, which, like the for¬
mer, hath frequently been attempted, but hitherto with¬
out fnccefs. The firft attempt was made in 1553, by
Sir Hugh Willoughby, who commanded three fnips.
He departed from the Thames and failed to the North
Cape, where one of his (hips left him, and returned
home. The other two (hips being feparated, Sir Hugh
proceeded farther northward, and difcovered that part
of Greenland which the Dutch have fince called Spit%“
berg ; but the feverity of the cold obliging him to return
to the fouthward, he wa« forced, by bad weather, into
the river Arzina, in Mufcovite Lapland, where, not be¬
ing able to come out, he was found the next fpring fro¬
zen to death, with all his (hip’s company j having the
notes of his voyage and his laft will lying before him,
whereby it appeared that he lived till January. But
Richard Chancellor, in the third (hip, with better fuc-
cefs, in the meanwhile entered Wardhuys, where he
waited fome time for his companions to no purpofe ; un¬
certain whether they were loft, or driven farther by ftrefs
of weather. He held a council on what he fhould do \
whether to return, or purfue his voyage. Whatever dan¬
ger might be in the laft, every one agreed to it, that
they might not feem to have lefs courage than their cap¬
tain. They therefore fet fail, and in a few days found
themfelves in a fea where they could no longer perceive'
any night. This (hip, wandering about, entered foon
after into a large bay or gulf. Here they caft anchor,
in fight of land 5 and while they were examining the
coaft, they difcovered a fiffiing boat. Chancellor get¬
ting into his (loop, rvent towards it ; but the fifliermen
took to flight. He followed, and, overtaking them,
(bowed them fuch civilities as conciliated their affec¬
tions to him ; and they carried him to the place where
now is the famous port of St Michael the Archangel.
Thefe people immediately fpread through all the coafts
an account of the arrival of thofe ftrangers; and people
came from feveral parts to fee them, and a(k them que-
ftions. They, in their turn, examined the others, and
found
NOR [ 55 ] NOR
North-call found that the country they were in was Ruflia, go-
Patlage, verne(J by tbg mighty emperor John Bafilowitz. Chan-
°ton”1 Cr" cellor from Archangel travelled on fledges to the Czar
> - - ^ ' at Mofcow ; from whom, overjoyed at the profpeft of
opening a maritime commerce with Europe, he obtain¬
ed privileges for the Englilh merchants, and letters to
King Edward VI. who was not, however, alive to re¬
ceive them.
In 1585, Mr John Davis in two barks difcovered
Cape Defolation, which is fuppofed to be part of
Greenland j and two years after advanced as far as
Lat. 72°, where he difcovered the flrait which ftill
bears his name. To enumerate all the attempts which
have been made to difcover a north-eaft paflage, would
fwell the article to very little purpofe. The Engliih,
Dutch, and Danes, have all attempted it without fuc-
cefs. The lait voyage from England for this pur¬
pofe was made in 1676, under the patronage of the
duke of York. That unfortunate prince, who wras
on all occaflons earnett for the promotion of commerce,
and the Lord Berkeley, &c. fitted out a Ihip, com¬
manded by Captain Wood, for an attempt once more
to find a north-eaft paflage to India, accompanied with
a Ihip of the king’s. They were encouraged to this at¬
tempt, after it had been fo long defpaired of, by feveral
new reports and reafonings: fome of which feem not
to have been very well grounded—As,
“ I. On the coaft of Corea, near Japan, whales had
been found with Englifh and Dutch harpoons flick¬
ing in them. This is no infallible proof that fhips
could get thither by a north-eaft pafiage, although
whales might.
“ 2. That, 20 years before, fome Dutchmen had
failed within one degree of the north pole, and found
it temperate weather there : and that therefore Wil¬
liam Barents, the Dutch navigator who wintered at
Nova Zembla in the year 1596, fliould have failed
further to the north before turning eaftward ; in which
cafe, laid they, he would not have found fo much ob-
ftru&ion from the ice.
“ 3. That two Dutch Ihips had lately failed 300
leagues to the eaftward of Nova Zembla •, but their
Eaft India Company had Hilled that defign, as againft
their interell:—and fuch like other airy reports. But
this attempt proved very unfortunate. They doubled
the North Cape, and came among much ice and drift
wood, in 76° of north latitude, fleering to the coaft of
Nova Zembla, where the king’s Ihip llruck upon the
rocks, and was foon beat to pieces j and Captain Wood
returned home with an opinion, “ that fuch a paflage
was utterly impracticable, and that Nova Zembla is a
part of the continent of Greenland.”
Thefe paflages, however, are not yet deemed imprac¬
ticable by all. I he count de Buffon holds it for cer¬
tain, that there is fuch a paflage , and he thinks, that if
any farther attempts be made to difcover a paflage to
China by the north, it will be neceflary to fleer direCl-
ly towards the pole; and to explore the moll open feas,
where unqueftionably, fays he, there is little or no ice.
1 his opinion has been revived by the honourable Daines
Barrington. See North-POLE.
NOR!HALLERTON, a borough town of Eng¬
land, though not incorporated, in the north riding of
J orkflure. It fends two members to parliament. The
population in 1801 exceeded 2000. In 1138, theNorthallev-
Scots arpy under King David was defeated by the t®n»
Englilh near this town. It is 34 miles S. from Dur- x °jt0|1am^''
ham, and 223 N. from London.
NORTHAMPTON, a town in England, capital
of a county of the fame name, fituated in W. Long,
o. 55. N. Lat. 52. 15. According to Camden, it
was formerly called North-afandon, from its fituation
to the north of the river Nen, called anciently Slu-
fona, by which and another lefler river it is almofl:
enclofed. Dr Gibfon fays, that the ancient Saxon
annals called both it and Southampton limply Hamp¬
ton ; and afterwards, to diltinguilh them, called the
one, from its fituation, Southampton, and the other
Northampton; but never North-afandon. Though it
does not appear to be a place of very great antiquity,
nor to have emerged* from obfcurity till after the Con-
queft, it has fent members to parliament lince the
reign of Edward 1. and being in the heart of the
kingdom, feveral parliaments have been held at it.
There was alfo a caftle, and a church dedicated to St
Andrew, built by Simon de Sandto Licio, commonly
called Sen/e%, the firft earl of Northampton of that
name. It is faid to have been burnt down during the
Danilh depredations ; but in the reign of St Edward it
appears to have been a confiderable place. It was be-
fieged by the barons in their war with King John 5 at
which time that military wmrk called Hunjkill, is fup¬
pofed to have been raifed. In the time of Henry III.
it fided with the barons, when it was befieged and
taken by the king. Here the bloody battle was fought
in which Henry VI. was taken prifoner. It was en¬
tirely confumed by a moft dreadful fire in 1675 •, yet,
by the help of liberal contributions from all parts of the
country, it hath fo recovered itfelf, that it is now one
of the neateft and beft built towns of the kingdom.
Among the public buildings, which are all lofty, the
moft remarkable are the church called All-hallows
(which Hands at the meeting of four fpacious ftreets),
the feffions and aflize houfe, and the George inn, which
belongs to the poor of the town. A county hofpital or
infirmary has been lately built here, after the manner
of thofe of Bath, London, Briftol, &c. It has a con¬
fiderable manufacture of flhoes and ftockings 5 and its
fairs are noted for horfes both for draught and faddle ;
befides, it is a great thoroughfare for the north and
weft roads. It was formerly walled, and had feven
churches within and two without. The horfe market
is reckoned to exceed all others in the kingdom, it be¬
ing* deemed the centre of all its horfe markets and
horfe fairs, both for faddle and harnefs, and the chief
rendezvous of the jockies both from York and London.
Its principal manufacture is fhoes, of which great num¬
bers are fent beyond fea \ and the next to that, ftock¬
ings and lace, as we have hinted at above. It is the
richer and more populous, by being a thoroughfare
both in the north and weft roads ; but, being 80 miles
from the fea, it can have no commerce by navigation.
The walls of this town were above two miles in com-
pafs. The number of inhabitants in 1801 exceeded
7000. It had formerly a nunnery in the neighbouring
meadows, with feveral other monafteries; and of its
very old caftle on the weft fide of the town, a fmall part
of the ruins is ftill to be feen. Some difcontented
fcholars
NOR
North
Kock.s.
Northamp- Scholars came hither from Oxford and Cambridge, about
ton the end of the reign of Henry III. and, with the king s
leave, profecuted their ftudies here academically tor
three years ; during which there was the face of an
' univerfity, till it was put a flop to by exprefs. prohibi¬
tion, becaufe it was a damage to both univerfities.
The public horfe races are on a neighbouring down,
called Pey-Leys. In and about the town are abundance
of cherry gardens. W ithin half a mile of the towrn is
one of the croffes ere&ed by King Edward I. in memory
of his queen Eleanor, whofe corpfe was relied there m
its way to Weftminfter. On the north fide of the river,
near that crofs, many Roman coins have been ploughed
up. At Guilelborough, north-weft of Northampton,
are to be feen the veftiges of a Roman camp, the fitua-
tion of which is the more remarkable, as lying between
the Nen and the Avon, the only pafs from the north to
the fouth parts of England not intercepted by any river.
This camp was fecured only by a Angle intrenchment,
which was, however, very broad and deep.
Northampton, a county of North America, in
Virginia, forming the fouth part of the peninfula on the
ealtern coaft of Virginia.
NORTHAMPTONSHIRE, a county of England,
is fituated in the very heart of the kingdom : bounded on
the eail by the counties of Bedford and Huntingdon ; on
the fouth by thofe of Buckingham and Oxford ; on the
the weft by Warwicklhire 5 and on the north by the
counties of Leicefter, Rutland, and Lincoln, which are
feparated from it by the Leffer Avon, and the Welland.
Its greateft length is about 50 miles, its greateft breadth
about 20, and its circumference about 130. It con¬
tains 336 parilhes, one city, eleven market towns,
23,000 houfes, and in 1801 the inhabitants amounted to
I3i,737. Nine members are returned to parliament for
this county, viz. two knights for the Ihire, two for the
city of Peterborough, twTo for each of the towns of
Northampton and Brockly, and one for Higham Fer¬
rers. It lies in the midland circuit, and in the diocefe
of Peterborough. As this county is dry, well culti¬
vated, free from marlhes, except the fens about Peter¬
borough, in the centre of the kingdom, and of courfe at
a diftance from the fea, it enjoys a very pure and whole-
fome air. In confequence of this, it is very populous,
and fo full of towns and churches, that 3o fpires or
fteeples may be feen in many places at one view j and
even in the fens the inhabitants feem to enjoy a good
ftate of health, and to be little affefted by the water
which frequently overflows their grounds, efpecially in
winter, but is never fuffered to remain long upon it.
Its foil is exceeding fertile both in corn and pafturage •,
but it labours under a fcarcity of fuel, as it doth not pro¬
duce much wood, and by lying at a diftance from the
fea, cannot be eaflly fupplied with coal. Its commodi¬
ties, befides, corn, are (beep, wool, black cattle, and falt-
petre •, and its manufactures are ferges, tammies, {bal¬
loons, boots, and (hoes. Befides many leffer brooks and
ftreams, it is well watered by the rivers Nen, Welland,
Oufe, and Lerm ; the three firft of which are large, and
for the mod part navigable.
NORTH rocks, (otherwife called St Patrick's rocks,
from a feat of ftone amongft them called St Patrick's
chair, whence the rocks have taken this fecond name);
fituated in the harbour of Donaghadee, in the county
of Down, and province of Ulfter, in Ireland. From
[ 56 ] NOR
north to fouth they are about two-thirds of a league,
betw'een which is clean good ground. But care muft
be taken of the fouth rock, on which many {hips have
perifhed: for it is overflowed by every tide, and no
crew can fave their lives if the wind blows high. This
rock Hands a full mile from the fhore.
NORTH sea. See North Sea.
NORTHERN lights, the fame with Aurora
borealis, under which article we have given a co¬
pious account of this phenomenon, and of the fup-
pofed caufes of it. Natural fcience, however, does not
arrive at perfection at once, and it is well if it does fo
after trials repeated for years wdth care and accuracy.
How far the caufes that have been afligned for this
appearance will account for it, or whether they wrill
be able to remove all difficulties, it is not for us to de¬
termine ; but it is the part of philofophers to hear all
{ides, and to attend wTith patient afliduity to every hy-
pothefis, rejecting or receiving, as reafon, after the
ftriCteft invelligation, {hall feem to favour the one fide
or the other. We fliall here notice a hypothefts which
DoClor Stearns, an American, formed, about the year
1788, to account for the appearances called aurora bo¬
realis, anu aurora aujlrahs.
DoClor Stearns fuppofes that thefe phenomena ori¬
ginate from aqueous, nitrous, fulphureous, bituminous,
and other exhalations, from the fumes of various kinds
of earths or other minerals, vegetables, ■animals, fires,
volcanoes, &c. Thefe, he thinks, become rarefied,
and being charged with electrical fluid, become fpeci-
fically lighter than the circumambient air •, hence, of
courfe, they afcend ; and being elevated to the upper
regions of the air, and driven by the winds irom warmer
to colder climates, the cold makes them combine and
‘ ftiffen. When they are afterwards agitated by dif¬
ferent currents of air, they fparkle and crackle like the
hairs of cats and other animals when lliffened with cold.
This corufcation in quite cold atmofpheres, and in thofe
which are more temperate, appears in different politions
in the horizon, zenith, or otherwife, according to the
fituation of the fpeClator, and the pofition of the elevated
exhalations. The difference of colours the doCtor fup¬
pofes to arife from the different qualities of the articles
combined, thofe of the moil inflammable nature thining
with the greateft luitre.
The dodlor likewife tries to account for thefe lights
not appearing, or but feldom appearing, in ancient
times. The atmofphere, he thinks, was not impreg¬
nated with materials proper to produce them. He ima¬
gines that the increafed confumption of fuel, in A-
merica in particular, the burning of volcanoes, and the
approach of blazing ftars, whofe atmofpheres have been
fo expanded by the fun’s heat that part of them have
fallen into the earth’s atmofphere, and communicated
to it new matter, have fo changed and prepared our air,
that whenever its confiftence is proper, then, if the light
of the fun and moon is not too powerful, the aurora
borealis will appear.
NORTHUMBERLAND, the mod northerly coun¬
ty of England, and formerly a dirtincl kingdom, is
bounded on the north and weft by the river Tweed,
which divides it from Scotland, the Cheviot hills, and
part of Cumberland ■, w^aftied on the eaft by the Ger¬
man ocean •, and feparated from Durham on the fouth
by the rivers Tyne and Derwent. This county, which
North
Rocks
It
Northum.
berland,
#•7 ortlium
f berlaiid.
NOR [ 57
gives the title of duke to a nobleman, who married
the daughter of Algernon duke of Somerfet, whbfe
J motlier was heirefs of the Percy family, extends about
66 miles in length from north to fouth, and about 47
in breadth from eaft to well. It is remarkably popu¬
lous, containing 12 market towns, 280 villages, and
460 parilhes. The face of the country, efpecially to¬
wards the weft, is roughened with huge mountains, the
moft remarkable of which are the Cheviot hills, and
the high ridge called Redefdale ; but the lands are level
towards the fea fide and the borders of Durham. The
climate, like that of every other mountainous country
in the neighbourhood of the fea, is moift and dilagree-
able : the air, however, is pure and healthy, as being
well ventilated by breezes and ftrong gales of wind j
and in winter mitigated by the warm vapours from the
two Teas, the Irilh and the German ocean, between
which it is fituated. The foil varies in different parts of
the county. Among the hills it is barren ; though it
affords good pafture for (beep, which cover thofe moun¬
tains. The low country, when properly cultivated,
produces plenty of wheat, and all forts of grain ; and
great part of it is laid out in meadow lands and rich en-
clofures. Northumberland is well watered with many
rivers, rivulets, and fountains : its greateft rivers are the
Tweed and the Tyne. The Tyne is compofed of two
ftreams called South and North Tyne: the firft rifes on
the verge of Cumberland, near Alfton moor •, enters
Northumberland, running north to Haltwhiftle; then
bends eafterly, and receiving the two fmall rivers Eaft
and Weft Alon, unites above Hexham with the other
branch, taking its rife at a mountain called Fane-head
in the weftern part of the county, thence called Tyne-
dale ; is fwelled in its courfe by the little river Shele ;
joins the Read near Billingham 5 and running in a direct
line to the fouth-eaft, is united with the fouthern Tyne,
forming a large river that wafhes Newcaftle, and falls
into the German ocean near Tynemouth.
In all probability the mountains of Northumberland
contain lead ore and other mineralized metals in their
bowels, as they in all refpefts referable thofe parts of
Wales and Scotland where lead mines have been found
and prdfecuted. Perhaps the inhabitants are diverted
from inquiries of this nature, by the certain profits
and conftant employment they enjoy in working the
coal pits, with which this county abounds. The city
of London, and the greateft part of England, are fup-
plied with fuel from thefe ftores of Northumberland,
which are inexhauftible, enrich the proprietors, and
employ an incredible number of hands and Hupping.
About 658,858 chaldrons are annually (hipped for
London.
There are no natural woods of any confequence in
this county, but many plantations belonging to the
feats of noblemen and gentlemen, of which here is a
great number. As for pot herbs, roots, falading,
and every article of the kitchen garden and orchard,
they are here raiftd in great plenty by the ufual means
of cultivation j as are alfo the fruits of more delicate
flavour, fuch as the apricot, peach, and ne&arine. The
fpontaneous fruits it produces in common with other
parts of Great Britain, are the crab-apple, the floe or
bullace, the hazel nut, the acorn, hips, and haws, with
the berries of the bramble, the juniper, wood ftraw-
berries, cranberries, and bilberries.
Vox.. XV. Part I.
berland.
] NOR
Northumberland raifes a good number of excellent Northum-
horfes and black cattle, and affords palture for numer¬
ous flocks of fheep 5 both the cattle and fheep are of
a large breed, but the wool is coarfer than that which
the more fouthern counties produce. The hills and
mountains abound with a variety of game, fuch as red
deer, foxes, hares, rabbits, heathcock, groufe, partridge,
quail, plover, teal, and woodcock: indeed, this is
counted one of the beft {’porting counties in Great Bri¬
tain. The fea and rivers are well flocked with fiih ;
efpecially the Tweed, in which a vaft number of fal-
mon is caught and carried to Tynemouth, where being
pickled, they are conveyed by lea to London, and fold
under the name of Newcajlle falmon.
The Northumbrians were anciently ftigmatized as a
favage, barbarous people, addicled to cruelty, and in¬
ured to rapine. The truth is, before the union of the
two crowns of England and Scotland, the borderers on
each fide were extremely licentious and ungovernable,
trained up to war from their infancy, and habituated
to plunder by the mutual incurfions made into each
kingdom ; incurfions which neither truce nor treaty
could totally prevent. People of a pacific difpofition,
w'ho propofed to earn their livelihood by agriculture,
would not on any terms remain in a country expofed
to the firft violence of a bold and defperate enemy j
therefore the lands lay uncultivated, and in a great
meafure deferted by every body but lawlefs adventur¬
ers, who fubfifted by theft and rapine. There was a
tradt 50 miles in length and fix in breadth, between
Berwick and Carlifle, known by the name of the de-
bateable land, to which both nations laid claim, though
it belonged to neither *, and this was occupied by a fet
of banditti who plundered on each fide, and what they
Hole in one kingdom, they fold openly in the other :
nay, they were fo dexterous in their occupation, that
by means of hot bread applied to the horns of the
cattle which they Hole, they twifted them in fuch a
manner, that, when the right owners faw them in the
market, they did not know their own property. War¬
dens were appointed to guard the marches or borders
in each kingdom 5 and thefe offices were always con¬
ferred on noblemen of the firft character for influence,
valour, and integrity. The Englifli border was divided
into three marches, called the eajl, vuejl, and middle
marches ; the gentlemen of the county were conftituted
deputy wardens, w7bo held march courts, regulated the
watches, difeiplined the militia, and took meafures for
aflembling them in arms at the firft alarm : but in the
time of peace between the two nations, they were
chiefly employed in fuppreffing the infolence and rapine
of the borderers. Since the union of the crowns, how¬
ever, Northumberland is totally changed, both with
refpefft to the improvement of the lands, and the refor¬
mation of the inhabitants. The grounds, being now
fecure from incurfion and infult, are fettled by creditable
farmers, and cultivated like other parts of the kingdom.
As hoftilities have long ceafed, the people have forgotten
the ufe of arms j and exercife themfelves in the more
eligible avocations of peace, in breeding fheep and cat¬
tle, manuring the grounds, working at the coal pits,
and in different branches of commerce and manufacture.
In their perfons they are generally tall, ftrong, bold,
hardy, and frefh coloured ; and though lefs unpolifhed
than their anceftors, not quite fo civilized as their
H fouthern '
NOR [5
Northum- fouthern neighbours. The commonalty are well fed,
berland i0(iged? ancJ clothed j and all of them remarkably dif-
Norton’* by a kind of Jhibboleth or whurle, being a
Sound, particular way of pronouncing the letter R as if they
-V-"—' hawked it up from the windpipe, like the cawing of
rooks. In other refpefts, the language they fpeak is an
uncouth mixture of* the Englhh and ScottHh dialefts.
There is no material diftindion between the fafhionable
people of Northumberland and thofe of the fame rank
in other parts of the kingdom ; the fame form of edu¬
cation will produce the fame effedts in all countries.
The gentlemen of Northumberland, however, are dif-
tinguiihed for their induftry, knowledge of rural affairs,
and hofpitality. The number of inhabitants in 1801
was reckoned at 157,101 ; of houfes 22,740,
A great number of Roman monuments have been
found in this county, but the moil remarkable curio-
fity of that kind confiils in the remains of Hadrian’s
vallum and the wall of Severus. See ADRIAN, note (a),
and Severus's Wall.
The moft noted towns in Northumberland, are New-
caftle, Morpeth, Alnwick, Berwick, Hexham, and
North Shields. It fends two members to parliament.
NORTHWICK, a fmall town of Cheihire, long
celebrated for its rock fait and brine pits. The itra-
tum of fait lies about 40 yards deep ; and fome of the
pits are hollowed into the form of a temple. The de-
fcent is through a dome, the roof fupported by rows of
pillars about two yards thick, and feveral in height j
and when illuminated with a fufficient number of candles,
they make a moft magnificent appearance. Above the
fait is a bed of whitifh clay, (Argilla ccerula-cmerea),
ufed in making the Liverpool earthen rvare •, and in the
fame place is alfo dug a good deal of the gypfum, or
plafter ftone. The fodil fait is generally yellow, and
lemipellucid, fometimes debafed with a dull greenilh
earth 5 and is often found, but in fmall quantities, quite
clear and colourlefs. The town is fituated near the
river Dane, and is tolerably handfome : it has a market
on Fridays. It is 20 miles north-eaft of Chefter, and
173 north-weft of London. W. Long. 2. 36. N. Lat.
53- l6-
NORTON, in Cheftiire, a good modern alms-houfe,
founded by P—y Brooke, Efq. on the fite of a priory
of canons regular of St Auguftine, founded by William,
fon of Nigellus, A. D. 1135, who did not live to com¬
plete his defign •, for Euftace de Burgaville granted to
Hugh de Catherine pafture for 100 fheep, in cafe he
finilhed the church in all refpefts conformable to the in¬
tent of the founders. It was granted afterwards to R.
Brooke, Efq.
NORTON’S SOUND, was difcovered in Captain
Cook’s laft voyage, and was fo named in honour of
Sir Fletcher Norton (Lord Grantley), a near relation
of Mr afterwards Dr King. It extends as far as N. Lat.
64° 55'. There is no good ftation for (hips, nor even
a tolerable harbour in all the found. Mr King, on his
landing here, difcerned many fpaeious valleys, with
rivers flowing through them, well wooded, and bounded
with hills of a moderate height. One of the rivers to¬
wards the north-weft feemed to be confiderable •, and he
was inclined to fuppofe, from its direftion, that it dif-
charged itfelf into the fea from the head of the bay.
Some of his people, penetrating beyond this into the
country, found the' trees to be of a larger fize the
3
8 ] NOR
further they proceeded. E. Long. loy. ij. N. Lat. Norton’*.
6 ^ 01 ‘ Sound,
NORWAY, a country of Europe (for the map fee .
Denmark), lying between the 57th and 72d degrees
of north latitude, and between the 5th and 31ft de¬
grees of longitude eaft from London ; extending in
length about 1000 miles, in a diredt line from Lindef-
naes, in the diocefe of Chriftianfand, to the North Cape,
at the extremity of Finmark. Its breadth, from the
frontiers of Sweden weftward to Cape Statt, may
amount, to about 300 miles j but from thence the coun¬
try becomes gradually narrower towards the north.
On the fouth it is bounded by the Schagen rock, or
Categate, the entrance into the Baltic; on the eaft it
is divided from Sweden by a long ridge of high moun¬
tains ; and on the weft and north it is wafhed by the
northern ocean. In the fouthern part of Norway, the
country is craggy, abrupt, and mountainous, diverfi-
fied fometimes with fertile and even delightful foots.
In thefe refpedls it refembles Switzerland : the pro-
fpedts and the meteorological phenomena feem to be
very fimilar. The range of the thermometer is of
great extent; in the fummer having rifen to 88°, and in
the winter fallen to —40° : in general it is between 8o°
and —22°.
Refpedling the population of Norway it is difficult to
attain to certainty. An author of fome note (Coxe)
feems to think it amounts to 750,000 ; but .he appears
to have over-rated it confiderably.
The Norwegian peafants are free, well clothed, well
lodged, fpirited, aftive, frank, open, and undaunted.
They are faid to have a very confiderable refemblance
to the peafants of Switzerland. The foil is too thin
for the plough : corn is therefore obtained from the
neighbouring ftates and the chief employment of the
peafants of Norway is grazing. The following extradl
from Mr Coxe, being a defeription of the feene near
Chriftiana, is not befide our purpofe, and may not per¬
haps be difagreeable to our readers.
“ As we approached Chriftiana, the country VizsCoxe'sTra-
more wild and billy, but ftill very fertile and agree-
able •, and about two miles from the town we came to
the top of a mountain, and burft upon as fine a view
as ever I beheld. From the point on which we flood
in raptures, the grounds laid out in rich enclofures,
gradually Hoped to the fea *, below us appeared Chrif¬
tiana, fituated at the extremity of an extenfive and
fertile valley, forming a femicircular bend along the
ffiore of a moft beautiful bay, which, being enclofed
by hills, uplands, and forefts, had the appearance of a
large lake. Behind, before, and around, the inland
mountains of Norway rofe on mountains covered with
dark forefts of pines and fir, the inexhauftible riches
of the north. The moft diftant fummits -were caped
with eternal fnow. From the glow of the atmofphere,
the warmth of the weather, the variety of the produc¬
tions, and the mild beauties of the adjacent feenery, I
could fcarcely believe that I was nearly in the 60th de¬
gree of northern latitude.”
The coaft of Norway, extending above 300 leagues,
is ftudded with a multitude of fmall iflands, affording
habitation to fiftiermen and pilots, and pafture to a
few cattle. They form an infinite number of narrow
channels, and a natural barrier of rocks, which ren¬
ders Norway inacceffible to the naval power of its ene-
mies..
N O ft * [ 59 1 NOR
Norway, mies. Attempts of this kind are the more dangerous,
as the fnore is generally bold, deep, and impending ;
fo that clofe to the rocks the depth of the fea amounts
to 100, 200, or 300 fathoms. The perils of the north
fea are moreover increafed by hidden ftorms, funk
rocks, violent currents, and dreadful whirlpools. T he
moft remarkable vortex on this coaft is called Mojltoe-
Jirom, from the fmall illand Molkoe, belonging to the
diltrift of Lofoden in the province of Nordland. In
time of flood, the ftream runs up between Lofoden
and Moikoe with the moft boifterous rapidity; but in
its ebb to the fea, it roars like a thoufand cataradls,
fo as to be heard at the diftance of many leagues. The
furface exhibits different vortices ; and if in one of
thefe any (hip or veffel is abforbed, it is whirled down
to the bottom, and daftied in pieces againft the rocks.
Thefe violent whirlpools continue without intervals,
except for a quarter of an hour, at high and low Ava-
ter, in calm weather ; for the boiling gradually returns
as the flood or ebb advances. When its fury is height¬
ened by a ftorm, no veffel ought to venture within a
league of it. Whales have been frequently abforbed
within the vortex, and howded and bellowed hideoufly
in their fruitlefs endeavours to difengage themfelves.
A bear, in attempting to fwim from Lofoden to Mof-
koe, was once hurried into this whirlpool, from whence
he ftruggled in vain for deliverance, roaring fo loud as
to be heard on fliore ; but notivithftanding all his efforts,
he was borne down and deftroyed. Large trees being
abforbed by the current are fucked down, and rife again
all fhattered into fplinters. There are three vortices of
the fame kind near the iflands of Ferroe.
Norway is divided into the four governments of Ag-
gerhus, Bergen, Drontheim, and Wardhus, befldes that
of Bahus, which is now fubjeft to Sweden. The pro¬
vince of Aggerhus comprehends the fouth-eaft part of
Nonvay, extending in length about 300 miles. Its
chief towns are Chriftiana, the fee of a Sifliop, fuffragan
to the metropolitan fee of Drontheim, where the fovereign
court of juftice is held, in prefence of the viceroy and
the governor of the province ; Aggerhus, about 15 miles
to the fouth-weft of Chriftiana ; Frederickfhall or Fre-
derickftadt, in the fiege of which Charles XII. of Sive-
den loft his life 5 Saltzberg, Tonfberg, Alleen, Ham-
mar, and Hollen.
The government of Bergen lies in the moft fouther-
iy and rvefterly part of Norway, including the city of
the fame name, which is an epifeopal fee, and a place
of confiderable trade 5 and Staffhanger, fituated in
the bay of Buckenfior, about 80 miles to the fouth-
Avard of Bergen. The third province, called Dron¬
theim or Trontheim, extends about 500 miles along
the coaft ; and is but thinly peopled. The chief town,
Drontheim, feated on a little gulf at the mouth of the
river Nider, is the only metropolitan fee in Nonvay 5
and carries on a confiderable trade in mails, deals, tar,
copper, and iron. Leetftrand, Stronden, Scoerdale,
Opdal, Romfdael, and Solendael, are like wife places of
fome traffic. The northern divifion of Drontheim, call¬
ed fub-government of Sa/ten, comprehends the toAvns
Melanger and Scheen. The province of Wardhus, ex¬
tending to the North Cape, and including the iflands, is
divided into tAvo parts ; namely, Finmark and Nor-
AA'egian Lapland. The chief toAvn, which is very in-
confiderabF, ftands upon an ifland called Ward, from
Avhence the place and the government derive their name. Norway.
The province of Bahus, though now yielded to the
Swedes, is reckoned part of Norway, being a narrovv
tradl of land, about 90 miles in length, lying on the
coaft of the Categate.
The great chain of Non\ray mountains, running from
north to louth, called indifferently Rudfield, Sudefe/d,
Skarsfeld, and Score berg, is knoivn in different parts by
other appellations ] fuch as Dofrefe/d, Lamsfeld, Sag-
nifield, Filefeld, Halnefeld, Hardangerfield, Joklefeld,
Byglejield, Hick/efeld, and Hangfe/d. The height and
breadth of this extenfive chain likeAvife vary in different
parts. To pafs the mountain Hardanger, a man muft
travel about 70 F.nglifti miles, whereas Filefield may be
about 50 over. This laft rifes about tivo miles and a
half in perpendicular height 5 but Dofrefield is counted
the higheft mountain of Norway, if not of Europe.
The river Drivane Avinds along the fide of it in a ler-
pentine courfe, fo as to be met nine times by thofe ivho
travel the Avinter road to the other fide of the chain.
The bridges are throwm over roaring cataradls, and but
indifferently faftened to the fteep rocks on either fide j
fo that the whole exhibits a very dreadful appearance,
fufficient to deter the traveller from hazarding fuch a
dangerous paflage 5 for ivhich reafon, people generally
choofe the road over Filefield, Avhich is much more te¬
dious. This, hoAvever, is the poft road ufed by the king’s
carriages. The Avay is diftinguiffied by polls fixed at
the diftance of 200 paces from each other, that, in
fnoivy or dark Aveather, the traveller may not be be-
wildered. For the convenience of refting and refrefn-
ing, there are two mountain ftoves or houfes maintain¬
ed on Filefield, as Avell as upon other mountains, at the
expence of the public, and furniftied Avith fire, light,
and kitchen utenfils. Nothing can be more difmal and
dreary than thofe mountains covered i\'ith eternal fnow,
where neither houfe, tree, nor living creature is to be
feen, but here and there a folitary rein deer, and per¬
chance a few Avandering Laplanders.
In travelling from SAVeden to Nordenfields, there is
only one Avay of avoiding this chain of mountains j and
that is, where it is interrupted by a long deep A^alley,
extending from Romfdale to Guldbrandfdale. In the
year 1612, a body of 1000 Scots, commanded by Sin¬
clair, and font over as auxiliaries to the SAVedes, were
put to the fword in this defile, by the peafants of Guld-
brand, Avho never give quarter.
Befides this chain, there is a great number of de¬
tached mountains over all the country, that form Aral-
leys and ridges, inhabited by the peafants. Some of
thefe are of incredible height, and others exhibit very
remarkable appearances. In failing up Joering Creek
on the left hand, the fight is aftonilhed Avith a group of
mountains, refembling the profpect of a city, Avith old
Gothic toAvers and edifices. In the parifti of Oerikong
is the high mountain Skopfhorn, the top of which repre-
fents the figure of a fortification, with regular Avails and
baftions. In the diftridl of Hilgeland appears a very
high range of mountains, Avith feven pinnacles or crefts,
knoivn by the appellation of the Seven Sifters, difeern-
ible a great way off at fea. To the foutliAvard of this
range, though in the fame diftrift, rifes the famous
mountain Torghatten, fo called becaufe the fummit re-
fembles a man’s head with a hat on, under which ap¬
pears a Angle eye, formed by an aperture through the
H a mountain}
N O 11 [ 60 ] NOR
Norway, mountain, 150 ells high, and 3000 ells in length. 1 he
 v~—' fun may be feen through this furprifmg cavity, which
is paflable by the loot of travellers. On the top oi the
mountain we find a refervoir of water, as large as a mo¬
derate fiih pond : in the lower part is a cavern, through
which a line 400 fathoms in length, being let down,
did not reach the bottom. At Herroe in Sundmoer is
another cavern called Doljleen, fuppofed to reach under
the fea to Scotland j which, however, is no more than
an idle tradition. In the year 1750, tw-o clergymen
entered this fubterranean cavity, and proceeded a con-
fidenable wav, until they heard the fea dafliing over
their heads: the paffage is as wide and high as an ordi¬
nary church, the Tides perpendicular, and the roof vault¬
ed. They defeended one flight of natural Hairs •, but
arriving at another, they were afraid to penetrate far¬
ther : they had gone fb far, however, that two candles
were confiimed in their progrefs and return. A cavern
of a very curious nature, ferving as a conduit to a dream
of water, penetrates through the Tides oi the mountain
Limur. In the diftrift of Rake, in the neighbourhood
of Frtderiekdiall, are three cavities in a rock j one of
which is fo deep, that a fmall itone dropped down does
not reach the bottom in lefs than two minutes \ and
then the found it produces is pleafant and melodious,
not unlike the found of a bell.
The vaft mountains and rugged rocks that deform the
face of this country are productive of numberlefs incon¬
veniences. They admit of little arable ground : they
render the country in feme parts impaffable, and every¬
where difficult to-travellers : they afford {belter to wild
beads, which come from their lurking holes, and make
terrible havock among the flocks of cattle: they expofe
the fheep and goats, as well as the peafants, to daily ac¬
cidents of falling over precipices: they occafion fudden
torrents, and falls of fnow, which defeend with incre¬
dible impetuofity, and often fweep away the labours of
the huflxmdman •, and they are fubjeft to dread&l dif-
ruptions, by which huge rocks are rent from their Tides,
and, hurling down, overwhelm the plains below with
inevitable ruin. The peafants frequently build their
houfes on the edge of a fteep precipice, to which they
muff climb by ladders, at the hazard of their lives; and
when a perfon dies, the corpfe muff be let down with
ropes, before it can be laid in the coffin. In winter the
mail is often drawn up the Tides of fteep mountains.
Even in the king’s road, travellers are expofed to the
frequent rilks of falling over tbofe dreadful rocks ; for
they are obliged to pafis over narrow pathways, without
rails or riling on the fides, either {bored up with rotten
ports, or fufpended by iron bolts faftened in the moun¬
tains. In the narrow pafs of Naeroe is a remarkable
way of this kind, which, above 600 years ago, the fa¬
mous King Surre caufed to be made for the paffage of
Lis cavalry ; and even this would have been found im¬
paffable by any other horfes than thofe of Norway,
which are ufed to climb the rocks like goats. Another
very difficult and dangerous road is that between Shog-
fladt and Vang-in-Voider*, along the fide of a fteep
mountain, in fome places fo narrow, that if two travel¬
lers on horfeback fliould meet in the night, they would
find it impracticable either to pafs each other, or turn
back. In fuch a cafe their lives could not be faved,
unlefs one of them fhould alight, and throw his horfe
headlong into the lake below, and then cling to the
rock, until the other could pafs. When a {beep or goat Norway,
makes a falfe ftep to the projection of a rock, from l"n v—“
whence it can neither afeend nor defeend, the owner
hazards his own life to preferve that of the animal. He
direCts himfelf to be lowered down from the top of the
mountain, fitting on a crofs flick, tied to the end of a
long rope ; and when he arrives at the place where the
creature {lands, he fallens it to the fame cord, and it is
drawn up with himfelf. Perhaps the other end of the
rope is held by one perfon only ; and‘there are fome in*
fiances in which the afliliant has been dragged down by
the weight of his friend, fo that both have periihed.
When either man or beaft has had the misfortune to fall
over very high precipices, they have not only been fuf-
focated by the repercuflion of the air, but their bodies
have been always burft before they reached the ground.
Sometimes entire crefts of rocks, many fathoms in length
and breadth, have fallen down at once, creating fuch a
violent agitation of the air, as feemed a prelude to the
world’s diffolution. At Steenbroe in Laerdale, a flu-
pendous rnafs, larger than any caftle in theuniverfe, ap¬
pears to have been fevered and tumbled from the moun¬
tain in large, lharp, and ragged fragments, through
which the river roars with hideous bellowing. In tins
year 1731, a promontory on Sundmoer, called Rum-
mersfield, that hung over Nordal Creek, fuddenly gave
way, and plunged into the water ; which fwelled to
fuch a degree, that the church of Strand, though half a
league on the other fide of the bank, was overflowed :
the creek however wras not filled up ; on the contrary,
the fifhermen declare they find no difference in the
depth, which is faid to exceed 900 fathoms.
The remarkable rivers of Norway are thefe : The
Nied, iffuing from Tydalen, on the borders of Sw'eden,
runs weftward into the lake Selboe ; and afterwards,
turning to the northward, pafles by the city of Dron*
theim, to which it anciently gave the name of Nideros
and Nidrofia: Sule Ely, that defeending from Sulefield,
runs with a rapid courfe through Nordale into the fea ^
Gulen, which rifes near Sffarsfield in the north ; and
running 20 leagues weftward, through Aalen, Hlotaa-.
len, Storen, and Melhuus, difeharges itfelf into the fea
about a league to the weft of Drontheim. In the year.
1344, this river buried iifelf under ground: from,
whence it again burft forth with fuch violence, that the
earth and ftones thrown up by the eruption filled the
valley, and formed a dam ; which, however, was foon.
broken and wafhed away |?y the force of the water.
Divers churches, 48 farm houfes, with 250 perfons,
were deftroyed on this occafion.—Otteroen, a large ri-.
ver, taking its rife from the mountain Agde, runs about
30 leagues through Seeterdale and Efie, and difem-
bogues itfelf into the cataraft of Wiland. The river
Syre rifes near the mountain Lang, and winds its courfe
through the vale of Syre into the lake of Lunde in the
diocefe of Chriilianfand; thence it continues its way to.
the fea, into which it difeharges itfelf through a narrow
ftrait formed by two rocks. This contraction augments
its impetuofity, fo that it fhootsdike an arrow into the
fea, in which it produces- a very great agitation. Nid.
and Sheen are two confiderable ravers, iffuing out of
Tillemark. Their water-falls have been diverted, with.
infinite labour, by canals and paffages cut through the.
rocks, for the convenience of floating down the timber.
Tyrefiord or Dramme, is in the neighbourhood of PIo-
nifoffe,.
NOR [ <5i ] NOR
Norway, rufoffe, joined by two rivers from Oedale and Hade-
-V ’ land, and diiembogues itfelf into tlie fea near Bragnefs.
Loven rifes in the higheft part of Nummedal, and runs
through Konlberg to the fea near Laurwig. Glaamen
is the largelt river of Norway, diftinguilhed by the
name of S/or Eivin, or the great river. It derives its
origin from the mountain Dofre, from whence it winds
all along the plains of Oefterdale and Soloe j then joins
the Vorme, another confiderable river riling out of
Mioes and Guldbrandfdale. Thefe being joined, tra-
verfe the lake Oeyern ; and thence ilfuing, run on to
Sarp near Frederickftadt.
Norway abounds with frefh-water lakes •, the princi¬
pal of which are Ryfvand in Nordland, Snaafen, Selboe,
the Greater and Leffer Mioes, Slirevand, Sperdille,
Rand, Veftn, Saren, Modum, Lund, Norfoe, Huidfoe,
Farifvand, and Oeyevand : all thefe are well Hocked
with filh, and navigable for large veffels. Wars have
been formerly carried on upon thefe inland feas 5 in
fome of which are fmall floating iflands, or parcels of
earth, with trees on them, feparated from the main
land, and probably preferved in compact maffes by the
roots of trees, fhrubs, and grals, interwoven in the foil.
In the year 1702, the family feat of Borge, near Fre-
derickftadt, being a noble edifice, with lofty towers and
battlements, fuddenly funk into an abyfs 100 fathoms
deep, which was inflantaneoufly filled by a piece of wa¬
ter 300 ells in length and about ha1f as broad. Four¬
teen perfims, with 200 head of cattle, periihed in this
cataltrophe, which was occafioned by the river Glaamen
precipitating itfelf down a water-fall near Sarp, and un¬
dermining the foundation. Of all the water-falls in
Norway this of Sarp is the moil dangerous for its height
and rapidity. The current drives 17 mills 5 and roars
with fuch violence, that the water, being dafhed and
comminuted among the rocks, rifes in the form of rain,
where a beautiful rainbow may be always feen when the
fun fhines. In ancient times this cataradl was made ufe
of for the execution of traitors and other malefactors :
they were thrown down alive, that they might be dalli¬
ed in pieces on the points of rocks, and die in a dread¬
ful commotion, analogous to thofe they had endeavour¬
ed to excite in the community.
Great part of Norway is covered with fore ft s of
wood, which conftitute the principal article of com¬
merce in this country. They chiefly confift of fir and
pine, for which great fums are received from foreigners,
who export an immenfe number of marts, beams, planks,
. and boards. Befides, an incredible quantity is con-
fumed at home in building lioufes, (hips, bridges, piles,
moles, and fences 5 over and above the vaft demand
for charcoal to the founderies, and fuel for domeltic
ufes.—Nay, in fome places, the trees, are felled for no
other purpofe but to clear the ground, and to be burn¬
ed into aflies for manure. A good quantity of timber
is yearly exported from all parts of Norway ; but the
chief exports arc from Drammen, Frederickfhall or
Frederickftadt, Chriftiana, Skeen, Arendal, Chriftian-
fand, Chriftian’s Bay, ^and Drontheim. The mafts
and large beams are floated down the rivers, and the
reft is divided into boards at the faw mills. Thefe
works fupply a vaft number of families with a com¬
fortable fubfiftence.—A tenth part of all fawed tim¬
ber belongs to his Danifti majefty, and makes a confi-
derable branch of hu revenue.. The foreits in Norway
are fo vaft and thick, that the people feem to think
there can never be a fcarcity of wood, efpecially as the
foil is peculiarly adapted for the produftion of timber :
they therefore deftroy it with a wafttful hand ; infomuch
that more wood rots in Norway than is burned in the
whole kingdom of Denmark. The beft timber grows
in the provinces of Saltan, Helleland, Romidale, Guld¬
brandfdale, Oerterdale, Soloe, Valders, Hallingdale, Sog-
nifiord, Tellemark, and the lordihip of Nedenes'.
The climate of Norway is very different in different
parts of the kingdom. At Bergen the winter is fo mo¬
derate, that the leas are always open arid pradficable
both to mariners and filhermen, except in creeks and
bays, that reach far up into the country towards File-
field, when the keen north-eaft wind blows from the
land. On the eaft fide of Norway, from the frontiers
of Sweden to Filefield, the cold generally fets in about
the middle of October with great feverity, and lafts till
the middle of April; during which interval the waters
are frozen to a very confiderable thicknefs, and the face
of the country is covered with fnow. In the year
750c Swedes, who intended to attack Drontheim, pe-
rilhed in the fnow on the mountain of Ruden or Tydel,
which feparates Jempteland in Sweden from the diocele
of Drontheim. A company of 200 Norwegian Hedge-
men under Major Emahus, found them all frozen to
death on the ridge of the mountain, where they had
been overtaken by a ftorm accompanied with fnow, bail,
and extreme cold. Some of thefe unhappy vidfims ap¬
peared fitting, fome lying, and others kneeling in a pof-
ture of praying. They had cut in pieces their mulkcts,
and burned the little wood they afforded.—The gene¬
rals Labarre and Zoega loft their lives j and of the
whole corps, confiding originally of x0,000, no more
than 2500 furvived this dreadful cataftrophe.
The cold is ftill more intenfe in that part of Norway
called Finmark, lituated in tire frigid zone near the po¬
lar circle. But if the winter is generally cold, the fum-
mer is often exceflively hot in Norway. The rays of
the fun are reverberated from the fides of the mountains
fo as to render the weather clofe and fultry in the val¬
leys ; befides, the fun’s abfeuce below the horizon is fo
ftiort, that the atmofphere and mountains have not time
to cool. The beat is fo great, that vegetation is re¬
markably quick. Barley is fown, grows, ripens, and
is reaped, in the fpace of fix weeks or two months.
The longeft day at Bergen eonfifts of 19 hours j the
fun rifing at half an hour after two, and letting at half
an hour after nine. The Ihorteft day does not exceed
fix hours ; for the fun rifes at nine in the morning, and
fets at three in the afternoon.—In the beginning of the
year the daylight increales with remarkable celerity y
and, at the approach of winter, decreafes in the fame
proportion. In fummer one may read and write at mid¬
night by the light of the Iky. Ch; iftian V. while he
refided at Drontheim, ufed to fup at midnight without
candles. In the diiiritt of Tromfen, at the extremity
of Norway, the fun is continually in view at midfum-
mer. It is leen to circulate day and night round the
north pole, contracting its orbit, and then gradually-
enlarging it, until at length it leaves the horizon. In
the depth of winter, therefore, it is for fome weeks in-
vifible y and all the light perceived at noon is a faint
glimmering for about an hour and a half, proceeding
from the refle&iun of the fun’s rays from the higheft
Norway.
mountains.-
NOR [ 62 ] NOR
Norway.
mountains. But the inhabitants of thefe provinces are
fupplied with other lights that enable them to follow
their employments in the open air. The fky being ge¬
nerally ferene, the moonlhine is remarkably bright,
and, being reflefted from the mountains, illuminates
the valleys. They are alfo a flirted by the aurora bo¬
realis, which is very frequent in the northern parts of
Europe.
The air of Norway is generally pure and falubrious.
On the fea coafts, indeed, it is rendered moift by va¬
pours and exhalations : but in the midland parts of the
country, towards the mountains, the climate is fo dry,
that meal may be kept for many years without being
worm-eaten or damaged in the leaft. The inhabitants
have no idea of ficknefs, except what is occartoned by
excefles. It is faid, that in the vale of Guldbrand the
inhabitants live to fuch extreme old age, that they be¬
come weary of life, and caufe themfelves to be removed
to a lefs falubrious climate, whereby they may have a
chance of dying the fooner. In confumptions, how¬
ever, the moilt air on the fea fide is found to be moft
agreeable to the lungs in refpiration. Norway, being
a mountainous country interfered by creeks, abounding
with lakes, rivers, and fnow, muft be fubjeft to fre¬
quent rains ; and from fudden thaws the inhabitants are
fometimes expofed to terrible difafters. Vaft mafles of
fnow falling from precipices overwhelm men, cattle,
boats, houfes, nay even whole villages. About two
centuries ago, a whole parifli was covered and deftroyed
by an immenfe mafs of fnow •, and feveral domeftic uten-
fils, as fciflars, knives, and bafons, have been at differ¬
ent times brought to light by a rivulet that runs under
the fnow, which has been gradually hardened and in-
creafed by repeated frofts and annual acceffions.
The winds that chiefly prevail on the weftern coaft
are thofe that blow from the fouth ; whereas, on the
other fide of Filefield, the winds that produce and con¬
tinue the hard frofts are always northerly. In the fum-
mer, there is a kind of regular trade-wind on the coaft
of Bergen. *In the forenoon the fea begins to be cooled
with a wefterly breeze, which continues till midnight.
Then the land breeze begins from the eaft, and blows
till about ten in the morning. The coaft is likewife
fubjeft to fudden fqualls and ftorms. Hurricanes fome¬
times rife at fea *, and in thefe latitudes the phenomenon
called a water-fpout is not uncommon. One of thefe in
the neighbourhood of Ferro is faid to have fucked up
with the water fome lafts of herrings, which were
afterwards dropped on Ivolter, a mountain 1200 feet
high.
The frefh water of Norway is not very light or pure;
but on the contrary is generally turbid, and depofites a
fediment of adventitious matter, being fometimes im¬
pregnated with ochre and particles of iron.—Neverthe-
lefs it is agreeable to the tafte, and remarkably falubri¬
ous } as appears from the good health of the common
people, ivho drink little or no other liquor.
The foil of Norway varies in different places accord¬
ing to the fituation of rock or valley. The mountains,
here, as in every other country, are bare and barren;
but the earth walhed down from them by the rains en¬
riches and fertilizes the valleys. In thefe the foil gene- "
rally confifts of black mould, fand, loam, chalk, and
gravel, lying over one another in unequal ftrata, and
fometimes in three or four fucceffions: the mould that
lies uppermoft is very fine and mellow, and fit to non- Norway,
rifti all forts of vegetables. There is alfo clay found in v'—
different parts of this kingdom, of which the inhabitants
begin to make earthen ware-, but bricks and tiles arfe
not ufed in building. The face of the country is in
many places deformed by large fwamps and marlhes,
very dangerous to the traveller. Near Leeffoe in the
diocefe of Chriftianfand, a wooden caufeway is extend¬
ed near a mile over a morafsj and if a horfe or any
other animal ftiould make a falfe ftep, he will fink at
once into the abyfs, never to rife again.
In a cold country like Norway, roughened with rocks
and mountains, interfperfed with bogs, and covered with
forefts, we cannot expeft to find agriculture in perfec¬
tion. The ploughed lands, in refpedt to mountains,
woods, meadows, and waftes, do not exceed the pro¬
portion of 1 to 80 ; fo that the whole country does not
produce corn to maintain above half the number of its
inhabitants. The peafants are difeouraged from the
pra&ice of hufhandry by the frequency of accidents that
feem peculiar to the climate. Even in the fruitful pro¬
vinces of Guldbrandfdale, Oefterdale, and Soloer, as
well as in the other places, when the corn appears in
the moft flouriflning condition, the whole hope of the har-
veft is fometimes deftroyed in one night by a fudden
froft that nips the blade and extinguilhes the vegetation.
The kingdom is moreover vifited by fome unfavourable
years, in which the fun feems to have loft his genial
power ; the vegetables are ftunted the trees bud and
bloom, yet bear no fruit *, and the grain, though it rifes,
will yet produce nothing but empty ears and ftraw.
This calamity, however, rarely occurs } and in general
the cultivated parts of Norway yield plentiful crops of
excellent rye, barley, and oats. The moft fruitful pro¬
vinces are Nordland, Inderbarre, and Numedale, in the
diocefe of Drontheim ; Sognifiord and Vaas, in that of
Bergen; Jedderen, Ryefylfk, Raabygdelag, and the
lordftiip of Nedenes, in the diocefe of Chriftianfand ;
Hedemark in the diocefe of Aggerhus ; Hadeland,
Toten, Romerige, Ringerige, and Guldbrandfdale : thefe
territories not only produce grain enough for their
own confumption, but likewife fupport their neighbours,
and even fupply part of Sweden.—Peafe are likewifd
propagated in this country, together with wheat, buck¬
wheat, hops, hemp, and flax, but not to any confider-
able advantage. The meadows are well fiored with
pafturage for flieep and cattle, and the fields are produc¬
tive of thofe vegetables which are common in other
northern countries. Within thefe 50 years the people of
Norway have beftowed fome attention on the culture of
gardens, which in former times was fo negledled, that
the cities and towns were fupplied with leeks, cabbage,
and roots, from England and Holland. At prefent,
however, the Norwegians raife their own culinary and
garden roots and vegetables, which thrive there as well
as in any other country. The feurvy being a difeafe
that prevails along the fea coaft, Nature has fcattcred
upon it a variety of h-vbs efficacious in the cure of that
diftemper-, fuch as angelica, rofe-wort, gentian, creffes,
trefoil, forrel, feurvy-grafs, and a plant called crkK's
grafs, that grows in great plenty on the iflands of Nord¬
land : from whence the people of the continent fetch
away boat loads of it, to be preferved in barrels as a
fuccedaneum for cabbage. There are alfo a few noxious
vegetables little known in any country but Norway.
NOR [ 63 ] NOR
Norway. In G uldbrandfdale is a fpecies of grafs called felf nape ;
the root of which is fo poifonous, that any bead which
eats of it dies immediately, the belly burfting 5 nay, the
carnivorous fowls that prey upon the carcafs ot the
bead meet with the fame fate : children have been more
than once poifoned by this root, which neverthelefs is
fometimes ufed externally as an amulet for arthritic dii-
orders. Another vegetable pernicious to the cattle is
the Gramen oflifragum Norwegienfe, which is faid to
mollifv the bones of the cattle which feed upon it. A-
mong the noxious plants of Norway we may alfo reckon
the igle-grafs, fatal to the fheep and goats ; the tour-
grafs, which affedls horfes and cows with a fort of le¬
thargy } and the plant torboe, or hide-fpring, which
produces nearly the fame effeft on horfes, but is not at
all prejudicial to cows, dieep, or any ruminating animals.
The herb turte, not unlike angelica, operates nearly in
the fame manner : yet the bears are faid to feed upon
it writh peculiar relith; and when their hair begins to
fall off by feeding upon this plant, they cure themfelves
by eating the fledi of animals.
The common fruit trees thrive tolerably well in Nor¬
way, the inhabitants of which have plenty of cherries,
apples, and pears. Some kinds of plums attain matu¬
rity ; which is feldom the cafe with grapes, apricots,
and peaches. But even the apples and pears that ripen
here are dimmer fruit; that which grows till the winter
feldom coming to perfection. Great variety of agree¬
able berries is produced in different parts of this king-
dod 5 fuch as the hagebar, a kind of does ; an infudon
of which in wine makes a pleafant cooling liquor ; juni¬
per berries, corinths red and w'hite, foelbar or fun-
berries, rafpberries, goofeberries, blackberries, draw-
berries, &c. with many other fpecies that feem to be
natives of Norway and Sweden. Among thofe are the
tranaebar, the produce of the myrtillus repens, red and
audere, found in the fpring in perfection under the fnow,
and much relifhed by the reindeer ; crakebeer, refemb-
ling bilberries, deemed a powerful antifcorbutic ; ager-
beer, larger and blacker than bilberries, of a pleafant
acid, ripened by cold, and ufed as cherries for an infu-
fion in wine ; and finally tyltebeer, a red pleafant berry
growing on a fiiort dem, with leaves like thofe of box ;
they are plucked off by handfuls, and fent to Denmark
to be preferved for the table, where they are eaten by
way of deffert.
Of the trees that grow wild in Norway, the prin¬
cipal are the fir and the pine. The fird yield an an¬
nual revenue of 1,000,000 of rixdollars, if we include
the advantages refulting from the faw mills and the
mads ; one of which lad has been kmnvn to fell for 200
rixdollars. The red fir tree, which grows on the moun¬
tains, is fo rich in turpentine as to be almod incorrupti¬
ble. Some of the houfes belonging to the Norway pea-
fants, built of this timber, are fuppofed to be above 400
years danding. In Guldbrandfdale the houfe is dill to
be feen danding in which King Olaf lodged five nights,
above 700 years ago, when he travelled round the king¬
dom to convert the people to the Chriftian faith. Even
100 years after the trunk of the fir tree has been cut
down, the peafants burn the roots for tar, which is a
very profitable commodity. In the fens, the refin of
the fir tree is by nature transformed into a fubdance
which may be called Norway frankincenfe. The buds
or pine aples of this tree, boiled in dale beer, make an Norw
excellent medicine for the fcurvy j lefs unpleafant to 'r
the tade, though as efficacious, as tar-water. The pine
tree is more tall and beautiful than the fir, though in¬
ferior to it in drength and quality ; for which reafon the
planks of it are fold at an inferior price, and the peafants
wade it without remorfe. Norway likewife produces
fome foreds of oak, which is found to be excellent for
diip-building. Here alfo grow plenty of elm trees j the
bark of which, being powdered, is boiled up with other
food to fatten hogs, and even mixed by the poor among
their meal 5 alfo the afh, from which the peafants didii
a balfam ufed in certain dxforders, and which is ufed
both externally and internally. Many other trees flouridi
in this country, an enumeration of which would prove
too tedious. Hazels grow here in fuch abundance, that
100 tons of the nuts are annually exported from Bergen
alone.
A great diverfity of dones is found in Norway, fome
of which are of a furprifing figure. Several mountains
confid chiefly of a brown pebble, which decays with-
age ; nay, it fometimes diffolves, and drops into the fea,
and the cement being thus loofened, a terrible difruption
enfues. In fome places the gray and black pebbles are
intermixed with iron, copper, lead, filver, and gold.
The ground in certain didrifts is covered with the frag¬
ments of rocks that have been precipitated from the
fummits of mountains, and broken by their fall into in¬
numerable Ihivers. Between 20 and 30 years ago, in
the neighbourhood of Bergen, a man wras fuddenly over¬
whelmed with fuch a mafs, which formed a kind of vault
around him. In this dreadful tomb he remained alive
for feveral weeks. By his loud cries the place of his
confinement was difcovered : but it was found impoflible
to remove the huge dones by which he was inclofed.
All that his friends could do for him was, to lower
down meat and drink through fome crevices ; but at
length the dones fell in, and crulhed him to death.
In Norway are inexhaudible quarries of excellent
marble, black, white, blue, gray, and variegated 5 to¬
gether with fome detached pieces of alabader, feveral
kinds of fpar, chalk-done, gypfum, fand-done, mill-
done, baking-done, date, talc, magnets, and fvvine-done,
a produftion natural to Norway and Sweden, of a
brown colour, fetid fmell, in texture refembling crydal,
and deriving its name from a fuppofed efficacy in curing
a didemper incident to fwine. Here alfo is found the
amianthus or done-flax, of which incombudible cloth
may be made. Norway, however, affords no flints,
but plenty of pyrites, beautiful rock cryflals, gra¬
nites, amethyfts, agate, thunder-dones, and eagle-
dones. Gold has formerly been found in fmall quan¬
tity in the diocefe of Chridianfand, and coined into-
ducats. There is at prefent a very confiderable filver
mine wrought at Konglberg on account and at the
rifk. of his Danilh majedy : the ore is furprifingly
rich, but interrupted in fuch a manner, that the vein
is often lod. Many maffes of pure filver have been
found ; and, among the red, one piece weghing 560
pounds, preferved in the royal mufeum at Copen¬
hagen. Such is the richnefs of thefe mines, that the
annual produce amounts in value to a ton and a
half in gold. About 5000. people are daily employ¬
ed, and earn their fubfidence, in thofe dupenduous
works.
N O R [ 64 ] N O R
Norway, r.orks (a'). Other filver mines are profecuted at Jarlf-
jjerg^ ljUt not to the fame advantage •, and here the ore
is mixed avith lead and copper. In many parts of this
country copper mines have been difeiWered but the
•principal, and perhaps the richeft in all Europe, is at
Jioraas, about 100 Englilh miles from Drontheim.
This work yields annually about noo drip pounds of
pure copper : the founderies belonging to it confume
yearly about l-j.,000 lalls of coal, and 50Q fathoms of
wood. The next in importance is the copper work
at Lykken, about 20 miles from Drontheim. A third
mine is carried on at Indfet or £)uickne, at the dif-
tance of 30 miles from the fame place ; and here they
precipitate the copper from its menftruum, by means
of iron. There is a fourth copper work at Silboe,
about 30 miles dillant from Drontheim, though the
lead confiderable of the four. Other copper mines
of lefs note are worked in different parts of the king¬
dom. Iron is dill in greater plenty, and was the fird
metal wrought in this country. Many hundred thou-
» land quintals are annually exported, chiefly in bars,
and part of it in doves, pots, kettles, and cannon :
the national profit arifing from this metal is edimated
at 300,000 rixdollars. There is a fpecies called moor-
iron, found in large lumps among the moraffes : of
this the peafants make their own domedic tools and
utenfils, fuch as knives, fcythes, and axes. I he lead
found mixed in the filver ore is an article of fmall im¬
portance in Norway 5 yet fome mines of this metal
have been lately opened in the didrifl of Soloer by
the proprietors of the copper work at Oudal. A vi¬
triol work has been begun near Kongfberg : the mines
yield great plenty of fulphur *, which, however, the
Norwegians will not take the trouble to melt and de¬
purate, becaufe immenfe quantities are found at a
cheaper rate in the idand of Iceland. Alum is found
between the date flakes near Chridiana in fuch plenty,
that works have been fet up for refining this mineral,
though they have not yet brought it to any degree of
tranfparency. His Danidi majedy has edablidied fait
works in the peninfula of Valoe, about fix Englifh miles
from Tonfberg, where this mineral is eXtra&ed in large
quantities from the fea water.
Befides the animals common to other countries, Nor¬
way is find to contain many of the uncommon and du¬
bious kind *, fuch as the kraken, mermaid, fea ferpent,
&c. See thefe articles.
Many Danidi, Englifh, Scotch, Dutch, and Ger¬
man families have now fettled in Norway j and indeed
form no inconfiderable part of the trading people : but
the original inhabitants are the defcendants of thofe fe¬
rocious Normanni, who haraffed almod all the coads of
Europe with piratical armaments in the 8th, 9th, and
10th centuries.
“ Our fird certain knowledge of the inhabitants of
* At-a. this country (fays Pennant*) was from the defola-
■Zool.
tion they brought on the fouthern nations by their Norway,
piratical invalions. Their country had before thaty-'**'
period the name of Nortmanland, and the inhabitants
Narimans, a title which included other adjacent peo¬
ple. Great Britain and Ireland were ravaged by them
in 845 ; and they continued theif invafion till they
effefted the conqued of England, under their leader
Canute the Great, They went up the Seine a3 far as
Paris, burnt the town, and forced its weak monarch to
purchafe their abfence at the price of fourteen thoufand
marks. They plundered Spain, and at length carried
their exeurfions through the Mediterranean to Italy,
and even into Sicily. They ufed narrow veffels, like
their ancedors the Sitones ; and, befides oars, added
tiie improvement of two fails 5 and vidlualled them
with failed provifions, bifeuit, cheefe, and beer. Their
fliips were at fird fmall j but in after times they were
large enough to hold 100 or 120 men. But the mul¬
titude of veffels was amazing. The deet of Harold
Blaatand confided of 700. A hundred thoufand of
thefe favages have at once failed from Scandinavia, fo
judly dyled Officina gentium, aut eerie velut vagina na-
tionwn. Probably neceffity, more than ambition, caufed
them to difeharge their country of its exuberant num¬
bers. Multitudes were dedroyed ; but multitudes re¬
mained, and peopled more favourable climates.
“ Their king, Olaus, was a convert to Chridianity
in 994 5 Bernard an Englidiman had the honour of
baptizing him, when Olaus happened to touch at one
of the Scilly iffands. He plundered w ith great fpirit
during feveral years; and in 1006 received the crown
of martyrdom from his pagan fubjedls. But religious
zeal fird gave the red of Europe a knowledge of their
country and the fweets of its commerce. The Hanfe
towns poured in their miffionaries, and reaped a tem¬
poral harved. By the year 1204, the merchants ob¬
tained from the wife prince Suer every encouragement
to commerce ; and by that means introduced wealth and
civilization into his barren kingdom. England by every
method cherilhed the advantages refulting from an in-
tercourfe with Norway, and Bergen was the emporium.
Henry III. in 1217, entered into a league with its mo¬
narch Haquin ; by which both princes dipulated for
free accefs for their fubjefts into their refpeftive king¬
doms, free trade, and fecurity to their perfons. In 1269,
Henry entered into another treaty with Magnus ; in
which it was agreed, that no goods Ihould be exported
from either kingdom except they had been paid for ;
and there is, beddes, a humane provifion on both ddes,
for the fecurity of the perfons and effefts of the
fubjefts who fhould differ diipwreck on their feveral
coails.'”
The inhabitants now fpeak the fame language that
is. nfed in Denmark, though their original tongue is
the dialeft now fpoken in Iceland. They profeis the
Lutheran religion, under an archbidiop edablilhed at
Drontheim,
(a) Mr Coxe tells us, that he vidted thofe mines. They formerly, he fays, produced annually 70,000!.
but at prefent yield little more than 50,600!. The expences generally exceed the profits ; and government
pains only by the number of miners employed. The mines of cobalt, and the preparation of f ruffian blue,
are much more produftive. The latter goes through 270 hands, and the number of men employed is
365. It is fuppofed, that, at this period (1793), it may produce to government a profit of 16,cool,
a-year.
NOR [65
K'orway. Drcmtheim, 'with four fuffragans ; namely, of Bergen,
 J Staffanger, Hammer, and Chriitiana. By the union of
Calmar, the two kingdoms of Norway and Denmark
were united under one monarch \ and then the people
of both nations enjoyed conhderable privileges : but
the Daniih government foon became abfolutej and Nor¬
way was ruled defpoticaliy by a viceroy, who redded in
the capital, and prelided in the fupreme court, to which
appeals wrere made from the fubordinate courts of judi¬
cature. A great change has, however, taken place iince
the prefent amiable and accomplilhed prince of Denmark
had part of the government j and more may be expected
from his virtue and adiduity when the power (hall come
wholly into his own hands.
The Norwegians are generally well formed, tall,
fturdy, and robult, brave, hardy, honed, hofpitable, and
ingenious ; yet favage, raih, quarrelfome, and litigious.
The fame character will nearly fuit the inhabitants of
every mountainous country in the northern climates.
Their women are well lhaped, tall, comely, remarkably
fair, and obliging. The nobility of Norway have been
chiefly removed by the kings of Denmark, in order to
prevent faction and oppofition to the court ; or are long
tago degenerated into the rank of peafants : feme fami¬
lies, however, have been lately raifed to that dignity.
Every freeholder in Norway enjoys the right of primo¬
geniture and power of redemption ; and it is very ufual
to fee a peafant inhabiting the fame houfe which has been
poflefled 400 years by his anceflors. The odels-gads, or
freehold, cannot be alienated by fale or otherwife from
the right heir, called odels-mand: if he is not aole to
redeem the edate, he declares his incapacity every 10th
year at the fedions j and if he, or his heirs to the third
generation, fliould acquire wealth enough for that
purpofe, the poffeffor pro tempore mud reflgn his pof-
feflion.
The mountaineers acquire furpriling drength and
dexterity by hard living, cold, laborious exercife, climb¬
ing rocks, Ikating on the fnow, and handling arms,
which they carry from their youth to defend themfelves
againd the wild beads of the fored. Thofe who dwell
in the maritime parts of Norway exercife the employ¬
ments of fithing and navigation, and become very expert
mariners.
The peafants of Norway never employ any handi-
craftfmen for neceffaries to themfelves and families :
they are their own hatters, (hoemakers, taylors, tan¬
ners, weavers, carpenters, fmiths, and joiners : they are
even expert at ihip-building 5 and fome of them make
excellent violins. But their general turn is for carving
in wood, which they execute in a furprifing manner with
a common knife of their own forging. They are tauoht
in their youth to wredle, ride, fwim, ikate, climb, (hoot,
and forge iron. Their amufements confid in making
verfes, blowing the horn, or playing upon a kind of gui¬
tar, and the violin : this lad kind of mufic they perform
even at funerals. The Norwegians have evinced their
valour and fidelity in a thoufand different indances. The
country was always didrafted byintedine quarrels, which
raged from generation to generation. Even the farmers
dand upon their pun<ailio, and challenge one another to
Angle combat with their knives. On fuch occafions they
hook themfelves together by their belts, and fight until
one of them is killed or mortally wounded. At wed¬
dings and public feads they drink to intoxication, quar-
Vol. XV. Part I.
] NOR
rel, fight, and murder generally enfues. The very com- Norway.
mon people are likewile paifionate, ambitious of glory   v~~-
and independence, and vain of their pedigree. T he no¬
bility and merchants of Norway tare lumpLuoufly ; but
the peafant lives with the utmoit temperance and fruga¬
lity, except at tedivals : his common bread is made of
oatmeal, rolled into broad thin cakes, like thole uled in
Scotland. In time ot learchy, they boil, dry, and grind
the bark of the fir tree into a kind of flour which they
mix with oat meal ; the bark ot the elm tree is ufed in
the fame manner. In thoie parts where a tilhery is car¬
ried on, they knead the roes of cod with their oat meal.
Ot thefe lad, mixed with barley meal, they make hady
pudding and foup, enriched with a pickled herring or
faded mackerel. Frelh till) they have in plenty on the
fea coad. They hunt and eat groufe, partridge, hare,
red deer, and reindeer. They kill cows, Iheep, and
goats, for their winter dock: thefe they pickle, or fmoke,
or dry for ufe. ihey make cheefe ot their milk, and a
liquor called fijre of their four whey : this they common¬
ly drink mixed with water ; but they provide a dore of
drong ale for Chridmas, weddings, chridenings, and
other entertainments. From their temperance and ex-
ercife, joined to the purity and eladieity of their air,
they enjoy good health, and often attain to a furprifing
degree of longevity. Nothing is more common than to
fee a hearty Norwegian turned of 100. In the year
I733> four couples danced before his Daniih majdty at
Frederickfliall: their ages, when joined, exceeded 8co
years. Neverthelcfs the Norwegians are fubjedt to va¬
rious difeafes j fuch as the fcab, the leprofy, the feurvy,
the catarrh, the rheumatifm, gout, and epilepfy. The
drefs of the Norway peafants confids of a wide loot©
jacket made of coarfe cloth, with waidcoat and breeches
of the fame. Their heads are covered with flapped hats,
or caps ornamented with ribbons. They wear Ihoes
without outer loles, and in the winter leathern bulkins.
Fhey have likewile fnow Ihoes and long Ikates, with
which they travel at a great pace, either on the land ox-
ice. There is a corps of foldiers thus accoutred, who
can outmarch the fwifted hories. I. he Norwegian pea¬
fant never wears a neckcloth, except on extraordinary
occafions : he opens his neck and bread to the weather,
and lets the fnow beat into his bofom. His body is girt
round with a broad leathern belt, adorned with brafs
plates, from which depends a brafs chain that fullains a
large knife, gimlet, and other tackle. The women are
dreffed in clofe laced jackets, having leathern girdles
decorated with ornaments of iilvtr. 'They likewift wear-
filver chains round their necks, to the ends of which are
fixed gilt medals. Their caps and handkerchiefs are ai¬
med covered whh fmall plates of filver, brafs, and tin,
large rings, and buttons. A maiden bride appears with
her hair plaited, and, together with her clothes, hung
full of fuch j tngling trinkets.
The churches, public edifices, and many private
houfes in Norway, are built of done \ but the people
in general live in wooden houfes, made of the trunks of
fir and pine tree laid upon each other, and joined by
mortifes at the corners. I hefe are counted more dry,
warm, and healthy, than done or brick buildings. In
the whole diocefe of Bergen, one hardly fees a farm
houfe with a chimney or window : they are generally
lighted by a fquare hole in the top of the houfe, which
lets in the light, and lets out the fmoke. In dimmer
I this
NOR [ 66 ] NOR
Norway, this hole is left quite open : in the winter, it is covered
Norwich.^ w]iat tjiey cau a Jiau; that is, the membrane of
v lome animal, ftretched upon a wooden frame that fits
the hole, and tranfmits the rays of light. It is fixed or
removed with a long pole occafionally. Every perlon
that enters the houie, upon bufinefs or courtlhip, takes
hold of this pole, according to ancient cutlom. I he
ceiling is about eight feet high in the middle ; and, be¬
ing arched like a cupola, the fmoke of the fire under¬
neath rolls about, until it finds a vent at the hole, which
is called liiir. Under this opening Hands a thick table
with benches, and a high feat at the upper end for the
mailer of the family : he has likewife a fmall cupboard
for his own ufe, in which he locks up his moll valuable
effe&s. The boards of the roof are coated with the
bark of the birch trees, which is counted incorruptible :
this again is covered with turf, which yields a good crop
of grafs for goats and Iheep, and is often mowed as hay
by the farmer.
The Norwegians carry on a confiderable trade with
foreign nations. The duty on the produce of their own
country exported, amounts annually to 100,000 rix-
dollars. Thefe commodities are, copper wrought and
unwrought 5 iron cad into cannon, ftoves, and pots, or
forged into bars 5 lead, in fmall quantity; malls, tim¬
ber, deal boards, planks, marble, millllones, herring,
cod, ling, falmon, lobilers, flounders, cow hides, goat
fkins, feal fkins, the furs of bears, wolves, foxes, beavers,
ermines, martens, Sec. down, feathers, butter, tallow,
train oil, tar, juniper, and other forts of berries, and nuts*,
fait, alum, glafs, vitriol, and pot allies. All other com¬
modities and articles of luxury the Norwegians import
from different nations. The nature of the ground does
not admit of much improvement in agriculture : never-
thelefs, the farmers are not deficient in indullry and Ikill
to drain marlhes, and render the ground arable and fit
for paffure. Many are employed in grazing and breed¬
ing cattle: but a much greater number is engaged in
felling wood, floating timber, burning charcoal, and ex-
traSfing tar from the roots of the trees which have been
cut down ; in the filver, copper, and iron mines 5 in the
navigation and filhery. A confiderable number of peo¬
ple earn a comfortable livelihood by hunting, Ihooting,
and bird catching. Every individual is at liberty to pur-
fue the game, efpecially in the mountains and commons:
therefore every peafant is expert in the ufe of fire arjns j
and there are excellent markfmen among the mountains,
who make ufe of the bow to kill thofe animals, whofe
Ikins, being valuable, w'ould be damaged by the fhot of
fire arms.
Norway can produce above 14,000 excellent feamen.
The army of this country amounts to 30,000 effe&ive
men-, and the annual revenue exceeds 800,000 rixdollars.
Nortvat Rat. See Mus, Mammalia Index.
NORWICH, the capital of the county of Norfolk
in England, fituated in E. Long. 1. 26. N. Lat. V2. 40.
It is fuppofed to have had its name, which fighifies “ a
eaftle to the north,” from its fituation in refpeSf of Caf-
ter, the ancient Venta Icenorum, three or four miles to
the fouth of it, out of whofe ruins it feems to have rifen.
In its infancy, in the reign of Ethtldred, it was plun¬
dered and burnt by Sueno the Dane, when he invaded
England with a great army. Afterwards it recovered
and in the reign of Edward the Confeflbr wras a con-
fidcrable place, having 1320 burghers. But it fuffered
again much in the reign of William I. by being the feat Norwich,
of a civil war, which Ralph earl of the Eail Angles " v"'11—1
raifed againil that king. So much w7as it impaired by
the fiege it then underwent, that there wrere fcarce 560
burghers lett in it, as appears from Doomfday book.
From that time forward it began by little and little to
recover, efpecially after Bilhop Herbert tranflated the
epifeopal fee hither from Thetford in the reign of Wil¬
liam Rufus in 1096 •, and built a beautiful cathedral, of
which he himfelf laid the firll Hone, with this inferip-
tion, Dominus Herbertus pofuit pritnam lapidem, in
nomine Patris, Filii, et Spiritus Sanfti, Amen j i. e.
“ Lord (Bilhop) Herbert laid the firll Hone, in ihe
name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghoft j” and by a
licenfe from Pope Pafchal, declared it the mother church
of Norfolk and Suffolk. After this, as Malmfbury has
it, it became a town famous for merchandife and the
number of inhabitants. Yet it wTas miferably harafftd
in the reign of Henry II. by Hugh Bigod earl of Nor¬
folk, who was an adherent of Henry’s fon, called the
junior king. In the t’me of Edward I. it was walled
round by the citizens, who had prefented a petition to
parliament for liberty to do it. Henry IV. allowed
them, inllead of bailiffs, which they had before, to ele<T
a mayor yearly, and made the city a county of itfelf.
In the year 1348, near 38,000 perfons were carried off
by the plague 5 and in 1505 the city w7as almoft con-
fumed by fire. For the flourilhing Ilate to w hich the
city is now arrived, they are much indebted to the
Flemings, who fled hither from the tyranny of the duke
of Alva and the inquilition, and taught them the manu¬
facture of thofe ftriped and flowered damafks, camblets,
druggets, black and white crape, for w hich the place is
now fo noted, and which have been computed to yield
fometimes 200,000!. a-year. In the year 1383, the ci¬
tizens, by the help of an engine, conveyed water through
pipes to'the higheft parts of the city, which is plea-
fantly feated along the fide of a hill, extending a mile
and a half in length from north to fouth ; but the
breadth is much lefs, and it contrafts itfelf by degrees
towards the fouth. It is now one of the moll confider¬
able cities in Britain for wealth, populoufnefs, neat
buildings, beautiful churches, (of w hich it had once
38, but now only 36), and the indullry and civility of
the inhabitants. The cathedral is a very venerable
HruClure, with a curious roof, adorned rvith the hillory
of the Bible in little images, carved to the life, and a
lofty lleeple 103 yards high. The wall of flint Hone,
beautified with 40 towrers and 12 gates, finilhed in 1309,
is now much decayed. The city, though there is a
great deal of w'alle ground within the walls, v:as com¬
puted, about 60 years ago, to contain 8000 houfes and
30,000 inhabitants. In 1801 the inhabitants amounted
to 36,832. Befides the cathedral already mentioned, the
moll remarkable buildings are, the duke of Norfolk’s
houfe, one of the largelt in England ; the callle, which
is now the county gaol, and Hands in the heart of the city,
with a deep moat round it, over which is a bridge of one .
very large arch 5 the town hall the guild hall, formerly
the church belonging to the monaflery of Black Friars j
the houfe of correction 5 the fliire houfe, where the
affizes are held a lofty market crofs, built after the
manner of a piazza the bifliop’s palace j the king’s
fchool, founded by Edward VI. the boys of which are
nominated by the mayor for the time being, with the
confent
V
NOR [ 67 1 NOS
Norwirh confent of the majority of aldermen. There having
* been formerly many thatched houfes, an order was made,
that all houfes that thould hereafter be built thould be
covered with tiles. The city is inteTperfed with gar¬
dens, orchards, and trees, which make it both pieaiant
and healthful. It ha^ four hofpitals, in which a great
number of old men and women, boys and girls, are main¬
tained ; and a dozen charity fchools. Here are two
churches for the Dutch and French Flemings; who have
particular privileges, and are very numerous. Some of
the churches are thatched, and all of them crulted with
flint flone curioufly cut; which is the more wonderful,
as Norwich Hands in a clay country, and has no flint
within 20 miles of it. It is now. governed by a mayor,
recorder, fleward, two fheriffs, 24 aldermen, 60 common
council, with a town-clerk, fword-bearer, and other in¬
ferior officers. The mayor is chofen on May-day by
the freemen, and fworn in on the Tuefday before Mid-
fummer-eve. The ffieriffs are alfo chofen annually, on
the firfl; Tuefday in Auguft, one by the freemen, the
other by the aldermen, and fworn in on Michaelmas day.
The freemen of the feveral wards choofe each their al¬
derman. The common council is chofen in Midlent.
The mayor is a juftice of the peace and quorum, during
his year (as are alfo the recorder and fleward) within
the city and liberties ; and after his mayoralty, he is a
juftice during life. The trade and manufactures of the
city are very confiderable. At Yarmouth they export
large quantities of their manufaflures, moft of which are
fent to London ; and import a great deal of rvine, coal,
fifli, oil, See. All the city and country round are em¬
ployed in the worfled manufacture, brought hither, as
already obferved, by the Flemings, in which they not
only confume the wool of their own county, in fpinning,
weaving, See. but ufe many thoufand packs of yarn
which they receive from other parts of England, as far
as Yorkffiire and Weftmoreland. There are eight
wardens of the weavers chofen annually, and fworn to
take care that there be no frauds committed in fpinning,
weaving, or dyeing the fluffs. It is computed that there
are not lefs than 120,0u0 people employed in the city
and neighbourhood in the filk and woollen manufactures.
Their markets are thought to be the greateft in Eng¬
land, and furniffied with a furpriiing plenty and variety
of goods and provifions. At a fmall village to the north
of the city, called St Faith's, not lefs than 40,000 head
of Scotch cattle are faid to be yearly bought up by the
Norfolk graziers, and fattened in their meadows and
marrties. Its markets are on Wednefday, Friday, and
Saturday. It has a great number of fairs, fends two mem¬
bers to parliament, and gives the title of earl to the duke
of Gordon.
Few cities or towns feem to have fuffered more than
Norwich has done at various periods, and few feem to
have felt it lefs 5 for though quite burnt down by Sueno
as above, it was of confiderable confequence in Edward
the Confeffor’s time; nor did it long feel the evils of
the infurredion and fiege in William the Conqueror’s
time, for it was rebuilt in Stephen’s reign, and made
a corporation.
The city of Norwich has long been famous for its
manufaftures •, which are not, in the opinion of fome, at
prefent in fo flourjlhing a ftate as formerly. In addition
to the manufacture of camblets, druggets, and crapes, it
is alfo remarkable for baize, ferges, (balloons, (lockings, Norwich,
and woollen cloths. N,!°^e‘
The inhabitants of Norwich are generally fo em v
ployed in their manufactures within doors, that the
city has the appearance of being deferted, except on
Sundays and holidays, when the ftreets fwarm with
people.
Caller, near Norwich, was the Venta Icenorum,
or capital city of the Iceni, the broken walls of which
contain a fquare of about 30 acres. In thofe walls
may (till be perceived the remains of four gates and a
tower. Several Roman urns, coins, and other relicks
of antiquity, have been found in this place.
NOSE, the organ of fmell. See Anatomy. The
ufes of the nofe are, its giving us the fenfe of fmell-
ing ; its ferving in the great office of refpiration, and
in modelling the voice ; in receiving the abundant hu¬
mours from the eyes, and in adding to the beauty of the
face.
The nofe was by the augurs particularly attended
to in forming conjeClures concerning future good or
ill fuccefs. The tingling of the right or left fide of it,
for inftance, was thought to have different (ignifica-
tions as it happened to different fexes, or perfons in dif¬
ferent conditions.
In Tartary, the greateft beauties are thofe who have
the lead nofes. Ruybrock mentions the wife of the
great Jenghiz Khan as a celebrated beauty, becaufe (lie
had only two holes for a nofe. The Crim Tartars break
the nofes of their children while young, as thinking it
a great piece of folly to have their nofes (land before
their eyes. In moft other countries, China excepted,
great nofes are an honour.
In what the beauty of the nofe confifts, different
nations have dift'erent opinions : and the following re¬
flexions of Sir Joffiua Reynolds on this fubjeX, are
perhaps the moft philofophical account of the beauty
of form that is to be found in any language. “ 1 Idler,
fuppofe (fays Sir Jolhua) it will be eafily granted, vol. in
that no man can judge whether any animal be beauti¬
ful in its kind, or deformed, who has feen only one of
that fpecies : that is as conclufive in regard to the hu¬
man figure ; fo that if a man born blind was to reco¬
ver his fight, and the moft beautiful woman was brought
before him, he could not determine whether (he was
handfome or not •, nor, if the moft beautiful and moft
deformed were produced, could he any better deter¬
mine to which he (hould give the preference, having
feen only thofe two. To diflinguifli beauty, then, im¬
plies the having feen many individuals of that fpecies.
If it is alked, how is more (kill acquired by the obfer-
vation of greater numbers ? I anfwer, that, in confe¬
quence of having feen many, the power is acquired,
even without feeking after it, of diftinguifhing between
accidental blemifhes and excrefcences, which are conti¬
nually varying the furface of Nature’s works, and the
invariable general form which Nature moft frequently
produces, and always feems to intend in her produc¬
tions.
“ Thus amongft the blades of grafs or leaves of the
fame tree, though no two can be found exaXly alike,
yet the general form is invariable : a naturalift, before
he chofe one as a fample, would examine many, fince,
if he took the firft that occurred, it might have, by
I 2 accident
NOS [68] NOS
accident or otherwife, fuch a form as that it would
fcarce be known to belong to that fpecies j he felefts,
as the painter does, the moft beautiful, that is, the molt
general form of nature.
“ Every fpecms of the animal as well as the vegetable
creation may be faid to have a fixed or determinate
form, towards which nature is continually inclining,
like various lines terminating in the centre ; or it may
be compared to pendulums vibrating in different di¬
rections over one central point *, and as they all crofs
the centre, though only one paffes through any other
point, fo it will be found that perfeCt beauty is of-
tener produced by nature than deformity: I do not
mean than deformity in general, but than any one
kind of deformity. To inftance in a particular part
of a feature : the line that forms the ridge of the nofe
is beautiful when it is ftraight *, this then is the central
form, which is oftener found than either concave, con¬
vex, or any other irregular form that lhall be propofed.
As we are then more accuftomed to beauty than defor¬
mity, we may conclude that to be the reafon why we
approve and admire it, as we approve and admire cus¬
toms and fafhions of drefs for no other reafon than
that we are ufed to them; fo that though habit and
cuftom cannot be faid to be the caufe of beauty, it
is certainly the caufe of our liking it: and I have
no doubt, but that if we were more ufed to defor¬
mity than beauty, deformity would then lofe the idea
now annexed to it, and take that of beauty ; as if the
whole world ftiould agree that ijes and no fhould change
their meanings, yes would then deny, and no would
affirm.
“ Whoever undertakes to proceed further in this
argument, and endeavours to fix a general criterion
of beauty refpedting different fpecies, or to ffiow why
one fpecies is more beautiful than another, it will be
required from him firft to prove that one fpecies is really
more beautiful than another. That we prefer one to
the other, and with very good reafon, will be readily
granted *, but it does not follow from thence that we
think it a more beautiful form •, for we have no criterion
of form by which to determine our judgment. He
who fays a fwan is more beautiful than a dove, means
little more than that he has more pleafure in feeing a
fwan than a dove, either from the ftatelinefs of its mo¬
tions, or its being a more rare bird \ and he who gives
the preference to the dove, does it from fome affociation
of ideas of innocence that he always annexes to the
dove ; but if lie pretends to defend the preference he
gives to one or the other, by endeavouring to prove that
this more beautiful form proceeds from a particular
gradation of magnitude, undulation of a curve, or
direction of a line, or whatever other conceit of his
imagination he (hall fix on as a criterion of form, he
will be continually contradi&ing himfelf, and find at
lad that the great mother Nature will not be fub-
jedted to fuch narrow rules. Among tlie various rea-
fons why w'e prefer one part of her works to another,
the moft general, I believe, is habit and cuftom : cu¬
ftom makes, in a certain fenfe, white black, and
black white j it is cuftom alone determines our pre¬
ference of the colour of the Europeans to the ./Ethio¬
pians •, and they, for the fame reafon, prefer their own
colour to ours. I fuppofe nobody will doubt, if one
of their painters was to paint the goddefs of beauty,
5
but that he would reprefent her black, with thick Nofe
lips, flat nofe, and woolly hair 5 and it feems to me
he would aft very unnaturally if he did not •, for by . '
what criterion will any one dii’pute the propriety of
his idea ? We indeed fay, that the lorm and colour of
the European is preferable to that of the Ethiopian :
but I know of no other reafon we have for it, but
that we are more accuftomed to it. It is abfurd to fay,
that beauty is poffeffed of attraftive powers, which ir-
refiftibly feize the correfponding mind with love and
admiration, fince that argument is equally conclufive in
favour of the white and the black philofopher.
“ The black and white nations muft, in refpeft
of beauty, be confidered as of different kinds, at leaft
a different fpecies of the fame kind ; from one of
w hich to the other, as I obferved, no inference can be
drawn.
“ Novelty is faid to be one of the caufes of beau¬
ty : that novelty is a very fuffieient reafon why we
ftiould admire, is not denied; but becaufe it is un¬
common, is it therefore beautiful ? The beauty that
is produced by colour, as when we prefer one bird to
another, though of the fame form, on account of its
colour, has nothing to do with this argument, which
reaches only to form. I have here confidered the
word beauty as being properly applied to form alone.
There is a neceffity of fixing this confined fenfe } for
there can be no argument, if the fenfe of the word
is extended to every thing that is approved. A rofe
may as well be faid to be beautiful, becaufe it has a
fine fmell, as a bird becaufe of its colour. When we
apply the word beauty, we do not mean always by it
a more beautiful form, but fomething valuable on ac¬
count of its rarity, ufefulnefs, colour, or any other
property. A horfe is faid to be a beautiful animal j
but had a horfe as few good qualities as a tortoife, I
do not imagine that he would be then efteemed beau*
tiful.
“ A fitnefs to the end propofed is faid to be another
caufe of beauty ; but fuppofing we were proper judges
of what form is the moft proper in an animal to confti-
tute ftrength or fwiftnefs, we always determine concern¬
ing its beauty before we exert our underftanding to
judge of its fitnefs.
“ From what has been faid, it may be inferred, that
the works of nature, if we compare one fpecies with
another, are all equally beautiful 5 and that preference
is given from cuftom, or fome affociation of ideas j and
that in creatures of the fame fpecies, beauty is the me¬
dium or centre of all various forms. See the article
Beauty, towards the end.
NOSOLOGY, is a Greek word fignifying a dif-
courfe or treatife of difeafes ; otherwife called pathology.
The importance of a comprehenfive and accurate
nofology has been long and generally allowed. Bag-
livi, Boerhaave, Gorter, Gaubius, and Sydenham, have
expreffed their defire of a work of this kind, the great
objeft of which is to fix pathognomonics to every dif-
eafe •, or in which all difeafes are difpofed into certain
claffes, orders, and genera, founded on diftinftions taken
from the fymptoms only, without regard to remote or
proximate caufes. See MEDICINE.
NOSTOCH, Shot Stars 5 tremella nojloc, (Lin.
Spec. Plant. Dillenius de Mufeis, tab. 10. fig. 14.
Flor. Danica, tab. 885. fig. 1.) 5 tremella intejlinalis yel
mejenterica.
NOS [69! NOS
Noftoch. mefenterica, (Lin. Spec. Plant. Dillen. de Muf. tab.
"■“"Y—10. %. 16. Flor. Danic. tab. 885. fig. 2.). <
A writer in the Gentleman’s Magazine gives this
account of it : “ The fubftance in queftion is not un¬
frequent in England, nor in all other parts of Europe,
after rains, both in fpring and autumn. Very large
fpots of it are feen in gravelly foils, and particularly on
the tops of hills, and on open downs, and often it is
found on gravel walks.
“ It is met with in fome of the old authors, under
the name of nojfoch, as in Paracelfus and others j and the
alchemifts fancied there was fomething' wonderful in
it, and that it would afford a menftruum for gold.
Noftoch is faid to be a word fynonymous to Jaculum
glicujus JlelLz, vel points ejus repiirgatione deje&um quid
in terrum ; Jios aeris ; fragmcntum nimbi ; as this fub¬
ftance was believed to fall from the fky with the me¬
teors that we often fee, and call falling-Jlars. Hence
the country people in Sweden have called it fky-fall;
and in England it is known by the name of witches
buttery in common with fome of the gelatinous liver¬
worts.
“ Paracelfus, Helmont, and others, ranked it with
the terniabiriy or manna, and thought it dropped, as
that did, from heaven. It is defcribed, and the che¬
mical analyfis thereof given, by M. Geoffroy, in the
Paris Memoirs for 1708, and is there faid to yield, be-
fides an acid phlegm, a portion of concrete volatile fait
and Tome fixed fait. The diftilled water from it was
believed by fome to poffefs lingular virtues, in allaying
pains of the joints j but there is certainly no room to
attribute any extraordinary qualities to it.
“ Since the days of Paracelfus it has been confider-
ed as a vegetable production \ but the botanifts have
had difficulty to affigii its place or genus in their fe-
veral fyftems. Our own countryman, Dr Merret,
feems to have been among the firft authors who ranked
it among vegetables, and he calls it Lichen humiditate
intumefcenSyficcitateevanefcens (Pin. page 71.'). Others
have retained it among the plants of that genus to this
day ; as does the celebrated Dr Haller, in his Hi/ioria
Stirp. Helvetia?y who calls it Lichen ge/atinofus, plicatuSy
undulatus; laciniis crifpatis, grunitlo/is, N° 2041, as
there are feveral of the liverworts that have a gelatinous
texture and appearance ; though they differ much from
the noftoch, in not being fo inftantly dried up. It was
put into Hay’s Synopfis, by Dr Dillenius, under the
name of Ulva terrejlris pinguis et fugax, p. 64. ; but he
afterwards changed that name for tremella, in his Hif-
tona Muf corum, where he calls it tremclla terrefris
fnucfa pinguis et fugax, p. 52. tab. 10. f. 14, ai'd re¬
duces the lavers to the fame genus. Micheli, an Ita¬
lian botanift, famous for his attention to the Cryptoga-
mia clafi of plants, makes it a fungus, as Magnol and
Dr Morif n had done before him, and deferibes and
figures it, in his Nova P/antarum Genera, under the
name of Luikia terrejlris gelatinofa, tnembranacea, vul-
gati/Jima, p. 126. t. 67. f. 1. He deferibes the feeds as
lying in the form of little firings of beads, coiled up
wi'hin the plant, or rather in the folds thereof, and on¬
ly to be difeovered by the microfcope. Linnseus men¬
tions it, firft under the name of Byffus gelatinofa fugax
terrefris, in his Flora Lapponica, N° 530 ; but he af¬
terwards adonted Dillenius’s term, though he does not
make it a laver. Linnaeus has called it, in all his fub-
fequent works, tremella (nofoc) plicata, undulata, un- Nbftoch.
der which name it Hands in his Species fiant arum, '•“""Y—
p. 1157, and in Hudfon’s Flora Anghca, p. 463, as alfo
in a numerous fet of other authors who follow his fyf-
tem.”
Another writer in the fame work gives this account
of it. “ This fubftance is very rarely feen between the
middle of April and the month of OClober. It is
moft frequently to be found in the high pafture lands,
where the ground is inclined to wet, and on the moors
and commons in the north of England. The time
we always meet with it is after a very wet night,
when the air in the morning fuddenly clears up, and a
fharp froft enfues. The frogs that then happen to be
out are immediately feized by the froft, and turned
into this jelly-like fubftance. For as I have had oc-
cafion fometimes to go out very early, I have found
feveral parts of the frog not yet diffolved among the
jelly, fuch as feet, legs, and thighs, yet in a little time
afterwards the change was fully completed. The
quantity of jelly produced from one fingle frog is almoft:
beyond belief, even to five or fix times its bulk when in
its natural ftate.
“ I communicated this difeovery to an acquaintance,
who has fince had frequent opportunities of obferving
and examining this produdlion ; and we are fully afi
fured, that, whatever opinion the learned may have of
it, it certainly proceeds from the above-mentioned caufe
wherever found.
“ Moft people that I have converfed with on the
fubjeft, are of opinion that this jelly falls from the
ftars, or out of the higher regions of the air ; which ^
notion, however abfurd, many are credulous enough to
believe.”
Naturalifts had for fome years begun to doubt whe¬
ther thefe gelatinous fubftances V'ere of a vegetable or
animal nature, when at length Mr J. Platt of Oxford,
in a letter printed in the Gentleman’s Magazine for
1776, page 402, threw fuch light on the fubjedt as to
us, at leaft, is perfedlly fatisfadlory.
“ From a child I remember feeing the meteors {hoot¬
ing in the air, which appearance, by my comrades, was
called far-fhooting, believing the ftars no larger than
their apparent magnitude. This jelly-like fubftance
mentioned in your magazine, was believed to be the
drofs of thefe meteors, and took the name of far-Jhoty
which palled for certain with me till I had arrived at the
age of 24, when I was engaged in bufinefs that requir¬
ed my frequently pafling over both meadows and pafture-
grounds, where in fpring and autumn I faw many por¬
tions of this fuppofed alga or noftoch, but never more
than one or two contiguous, moftly near the water,
when the meadows w'ere or had been juft before flooded.
My conjedlures were various, until I faw a crow peckinr
of fomething in a field, which I heard to cry 5 when
turning my horfe to the place, I found a frog of the
common fize, which the crow (of the carrion kind)
would foon have killed and gorged, had I not difturbed
her, and chafed her away.
“ About this time I found in a meadow the bowels
of a frog indigefted, and compaft as the chitterlings of
a calf or pig j but white as the paper I write upon,
though not tranllucid. I took it up, and placed it in
a paper expofed to the air j leaving it in fome graft
where I found it, till my return that way in three days
timej,
NOS
[ ?o ]
NOS
Noftoch, time, when I faw it changed to that tremulous jelly-
Noftrada- fubilance, the alga or llar-lhut. 1 was much
. nius' . pleafed with this difcovery, and took it home in my
pocket wrapped in a paper, where 1 ihowed it to a fo-
ciety of young perfons of which I was a member, who
agreed with my fentiments of its being the, indigettible
part of a frog difgorged by fome bird of prey.
“ To corroborate my fentiments of this alga being
the bowels of a frog, I luckily faw fome of it lying by
the fide of a brook, where I lighted and took it up,
and to my great furprife found attached to the jelly
the head, heart, liver, and one leg ot the frog, which
had been (I prefume) difgorged by fome carrion crow,
who frequented the flooded grounds to pick up worms
and other vermine. There was aifo fome of it found
on an apple tree at Wyfton Magna, near Leicefter,
where I then lived, which, no doubt, was difgorged by
fome owl.”
Dr Darwin, in his Poem on the Loves of the Plants,
is of the fame opinion with Mr Platt, that thefe gelati¬
nous fubflances are of an animal nature, and that the
different appearances they put on are owing to various
circumftances, viz. the different birds who feed on
frogs, the quantity they devour at a time, and the Hate
of digeflion before they are voided.
NOSTRADAMUS, Michel, an able phyfician
and a celebrated aflrologer, was a Provencal, and de-
fcended of a noble family, and born Dec. 14. 1503, at
St Remy, in the diocefe of Avignon. By his grand¬
father he was initiated in the fludy of the mathema¬
tics. He afterwards completed his courfes of hu¬
manity and philofophy at Avignon ; and, going thence
to Montpelier, he there applied himfelf to phyfic, till
being forced aw'ay by the plague in 1525, he took his
route towards T houloufe, and palled on till he came to
Bourdeaux. This courfe held him five years, during
which he undertook the cure of all fuch patients as were
willing to put themfelves under his care. After this he
returned to Montpelier, and was created dodfor of his
faculty in 1 ^29, and then revifited the fame places
where he had pradtifed phyfic before. At Agen he
contradted an acquaintance with Julius Caefar Scaliger,
which induced him to make fome flay in that town, and
there he entered into matrimony j but having buried his
wife, and two children which ihe brought him, he quit¬
ted Agen after a refldence of about four years. He re¬
turned into Provence, and fixed himfelf firfl: at Mar-
feilles ; but his friends having provided an advantageous
match for him at Salon, he tranfported himfelf thi¬
ther in 1 544. In 1546, Aix being afflidted with the
plague, he went thither at the felicitation of the in¬
habitants, and was of great fervice j particularly by a
powder of his own invention : fo that the town in
gratitude gave him a confiderable penfion for feveral
years after the contagion ceafed. Returning after¬
wards to Salon, he became a reclufe, and made ufe of
his leifure to apply himfelf to his ftudies. He had a
long time followed the trade of a conjurer occafionally
and now he began to think himfelf infpired, and mira-
culoufly illuminated with a profpedt into futurity. As
fall as thefe illuminations had difcovered to him any
future event, he entered it in writing, in Ample profe,
but by enigmatical fentences, as he declared himfelf}
but revifing them afterwards, he thought the fentences
would appear more refpedtable} and would favour more
of a prophetic fpirit, if they were exprefled in verfe. "Noftnula-
This opinion determined him to throw them all into ,
quatrains, and he afterwards ranged them into centu¬
ries. When this was done, he hefitated about mak¬
ing them public, till reflecting that the time of many
events which he had foretold was very near at hand,
he determined to print them. This he did with a de¬
dication addreffed to his fon Caefar, an infant only
fome months old, in the form of a letter or preface,
dated March 1. 1555. This firfl; edition, which is in¬
cluded in feven centuries, was printed by Rigault at
Lyons. He prefixed his name in Latin, but gave to
his fon Cajfar the name as it is pronounced, Notra-
dame.
The public were divided in their fentiments of this
work : many looked upon the author as a fimple vifio-
nary or a fool •, while he was accufed of the black art,
or black magic, by others, and treated as an impious
perfon, who held a commerce with the devil : at the
fame time there were not wanting fuch, and thofe in
great numbers, who believed him to be really and truly
endued with the fupernatural gift of prophecy. Laft-
ly, Some were found who remained in fufpenfe, and re¬
frained from giving any judgment at all upon the point.
However, Henry II. and £)ueen Catherine of Medicis
his mother, were ‘refolved to fee our prophet j and, re¬
ceiving orders to that effeCt, he prefently repaired to Pa¬
ris. He was very gracioufly received at court ; and,
befides the extraordinary refpeCt that vras paid to him,,
received a prefent of 200 crowns. He was fent after¬
wards to Blois, to make a vifit to his majefty’s children
there, and report what he fliould be able to difcover
concerning their deftinies. No doubt he exerted him¬
felf to the utmoft. on the occafion-, but what his fentence
was is not known 5 however, it is certain, he returned to
Salon loaded with honour and prefents. Animated with
his fuccefs, he augmented his work from 300 quatrains
to the number of a complete milliade, and publiftied it
with a dedication to the king in 1558. That prince
dying the next year of a wound which he received, as
is well known, at a tournament, the book of our prophet
was immediately confulted } and in the 35^ quatrain of
the firfl century this unfortunate event was found pre¬
dicted in the following verfe :
Le lion jeune le vieux furmontera,
En champ belhque par Jingulier duel,
Dans cage d'or les yeux lui crevera.
Deux clajjes une puis mourir, mart cruelle.
So remarkable a prediction added new wings to his
fame *, and he was honoured ftiortly after with a vifit
from Emanuel duke of Savoy and the princefs Marga¬
ret of France his confort. From this time Noflrada-
mus found himfelf even overburdened with vifitors, and
his fame made every day new acquifitions. Charles IX.
coming to Salon, was eager above all things to have a
fight of him. Noftradamus, who then was in waiting
as one of the retinue of the magifirates, being inftant-
ly prefented to his majefly, complained of the little
efteem his countrymen had for him ; whereupon the
monarch publicly declared, that he Ihould hold the ene¬
mies of Noftradamus to be his enemies, and defired to
fee his children. Nor did that prince’s favour flop here j
in pafling, not long after, through the city of Arles, he
fent for Noflradamus, nrefented him with a purfe of 200
crowns,
NOT
I 7
Noftra-
damtis
II
Notre.
crowns, together with a brevet, conftituting him his phy-
fician in ordinary, with the fame appointment as the reft.
But our prophet enjoyed thefe honours only for the fpace
i of fixteen months, for he died July 2. 1566, at Salon.
Befides his “ Centuries,” we have the following compo-
fitions of his : A Treatife de Fardemens et de Sent curs,
1552.—A Book of fingular Receipts, pour Entretenir
la Sante du Corps, 1556.—A piece dcs Confitures, 1557.
—A French Tranflation of the J.atin of Galen’s Para-
phrafe, exhorting Mcnedolas to Study, efpecially to that
of Phylic, 1552. Some years before his death, he pu-
•blifhed a fmall inftruftion for hufbandmen, Ihowing the
beft feafons for their feveral labours, which he entitled,
The Almanack of Noftradamus. Laftly, After his
death there came out The eleventh and twelfth Centu¬
ries of his Quatrains, added to the former ten, which
had been printed three times in two feparate parts. It
is only in thefe firft editions that our author’s Centuries
are found without alterations, additions, &c. It is to
this work that the following diftich of Stephen Jodelle
alludes.
Nofira damns cam falfia damus, nam fallere nofirum efi.
Et cum falfia damus, nil nifi Nofira damus.
NOSTRE, Andrew le, comptroller of the build¬
ings of the French king, and defigner of his gardens,
diftinguilhed himfelf by carrying the art of laying out
gardens to great perfeflion. He was born at Paris in
1631 ; and was near 40 years of age when M. Fouquet,
luperintendant of the finances, gave him an opportunity
of becoming known by the fine gardens of Vaux-le-
Vicomte. He was aftenvards employed by Louis XIV.
at Verfailles, Triannon, St Germains, &c. and difeove-
red an admirable tafte in all his works. In 1678 he
went to Rome, with the permiftion of the French king,
to improve his Ikill ; but he found nothing there com¬
parable to what he himfelf had done. Pope Innocent
XI. refolved to fee Le Noftre, and gave him a pretty
long audience , at the conelufion of which Le Noftre
faid, “ I have feen the two greateft men in the world,
your holinefs, and the king my mafter.” “ There is a
great difference,” anfwered the pope : “ The king is a
great vi&orious prince ; and I am a poor prieft, the fer-
vant of the fervants of God.” Le Noftre, charmed
with this anfwer, and forgetting who he was with, clap¬
ped the pope on the ftioulder, faying, “ Reverend fa¬
ther, you look extremely well, and will live to bury all
the facred college.” The pope laughed at his predic¬
tion. Le Noftre, charmed more and more at the good-
nefs of the fovereign pontiff and the fingular efteem he
fliowed for the king, threw his arms about the pope’s
neck and killed him. It was his cuftom to behave in
the fame manner to all who fpoke in praife of Louis
XIV. and he even embraced the king himfelf whenever
that prince returned from the country. Le Noftre had
alfo a talent for painting. He preferved his good fenfe
and vivacity of mind to the end of his life ; and died
at Paris, in 1700, aged 87.
NOT/E, figns ufed in writing, which have the force
of many letters. This contrivance for expedition is of
4 t/?; ’ great anti(luity- ^ was known to the Greeks, and
Origin 'and fr0m.them derived to.the Romans. By whom the in-
Progtejs option was brought into Rome is not precifely afeer-
Wnting. tained j but the moft general opinion f is, that in xnat-
1 ] NOT
ters of importance Tully firft made ufe of notes or fhort-
hand writing, when Cato made an oration in order to
oppofe Julius Caefar relative to the confpiracy of Cati¬
line. Cicero, who was at that time conful, placed no-
tarn, or expert ftiort-hand writers, in different parts of
the fenate hoiife, to take down the fpeech $ and this was
the firft public occafion which wre find recorded of em¬
ploying ftiort-hand writers among the Romans. It is
unneceffary to obferve, that hence proceeded the name
of notary ftill in ufe.
There were three kinds of notes for ftiort-hand writ¬
ing ufed by the ancients, either for difpatch or fecrecy,
1 he firft and moft ancient was that of hieroglyphics,
which are rather images or reprefentations of things
than of words. (See Hieroglyphics). The Chinefe
charaflers are of this kind, and may with greater pro¬
priety be called not<r than hterce, as appears from what
hath been already advanced.
T he fecond fpecies of notes were called fingularice,
from their exprefling words by Angle letters. Serto-
rius Urfatus has compiled a very copious collection of
fuch abbreviations, of which work there are feveral edi¬
tions.
1 he third kind of notes were called notes Tironianec,
from liro the freed man of Cicero, who was excellent¬
ly fkilled in this art; and it is to him that we are in¬
debted for the prefervation of Cicero’s letters, of which
a great part ftill remain, and one entire book of them
written to Tiro himfelf.
From books it appears, that notes were very frequent
among the Romans, and continued in ufe to the 1 oth
and 1 ith centuries. We have indeed but few books
remaining that are written in ftiort-hand ; but this is not
furprifing, when fuch was the unhappy fituation of early
ages, that either fuperftition condemned them to the
flames as the works of impious magicians or necroman¬
cers, or they were left to be devoured by vermine,
through ignorance and ftupidity, which was fo very
great, that fome people, as Trithemius affirms, looked
upon notes in thofe days as the elements of the Arme¬
nian language. It is probable, however, that there are
writings of this fort ftill extant, which might contribute
to enrich the republic of letters.
I here are feveral MSS. and Inftruments written in
thefe kind of notae, in the royal library at Paris. In
the year 1747, the learned and ingenious Monf. Char-
pentier, engraved and publiftied at Paris a capitulary,
and 54 charters of Louis the Pious, emperor and kina-
of France, written in thefe notae Tironian*. To this
work the learned editor hath prefixed an Alphabetum
Tironianum, together with a great number and variety
of notes or marks for the different parts of fpeech, and
rules for acquiring the art of writing in thefe kind of
notes. Valerius Probus, in his book De Literis Anti-
quis, explains many of the characters ufed by the fhort-
hand writers ; and there is a dictionary of them fet
forth by Janus Gruterus. See Stenography.
NOTARII, perfons employed by the Romans to
take, by notes, trials and pleadings in their courts of
judicature, or to write as amanuenfes from the mouth
of an author.. Thefe notarii were of fervile condition.
Under the reign of Juftiriian, they were formed into a
college or corporate body. Notarii were alfo appoint¬
ed to attend the preft fts, to tranferibe for them. There
were like wife notarii domefiici, who were employed in.
keeping
Notse,
Notani.
NOT
r 72 ]
N O T
Not*.
'Notarii keeping tlie accounts of the Roman nobility j and when
the empire became Chriftian, there were notaries for
1 ecclefiaftical affairs, who attefted the adls of archbifliops,
bilhops, and other fpiritual dignitaries. We find ectle-
fiaftical notaries at Rome, under Pope Julius IV. and in
the church of Antioch, about the year 370. From thefe
notaries is derived the office of chancellor to tne bi-
fliops j afterwards almoft every advocate was admitted a
notary.
NOTARY (Notarius), fignifies a perfon, ufually
fome fcrivener, who takes notes, or frames fhort draughts,
of contra&s, obligations, charter parties, or other writ¬
ings. At prefent we call him a notary public, who
publicly attefts deeds or writings, in order to make them
authentic in another nation : but he is principally em¬
ployed in bufmefs concerning merchants •, as making
protefts of bills of exchange, &c. And noting a bill,
is where he goes to take notice of a merchant’s refufal
to accept or pay the fame.
NOTATION, in Arithmetic and the method
of exprefling numbers or quantities by figns or charac¬
ters appropriated for that purpofe. See Arithmetic
and Algebra.
NOTES, in Mujic, chara&ers which mark the founds,
5. e. the elevations and fallings of the voice, and the
fwiftnefs and flownefs of its motions.
Note is likewife ufed for a mark made in a book or
■writing, where there occurs fomething remarkable and
"worthy of particular notice r as alfo for an obfervation
or explication of fome paflage in an author added in the
margin, at the bottom of the page, or elfewhere ; in
which fenfe it ftands contradiftinguifhed to text.
Note, is alfo a minute, or fhort writing, containing
fome article of bufinefs j in which fenfe we fay, pro-
miffory note, note of hand, bank note, &c.
NOTHUS, fignifies fpurious or bajlard; whence it
is figuratively applied by phyficians to fuch difeafes as,
though in refpeCl of a fimilitude of fymptoms, &c. they
have the fame denomination as fome others, yet are of a
different origin, feat, or the like, from the fame.
Nothus, a Perfian prince, and grandfather to Darius
Codomannus. He is worthy of being mentioned only
as he was progenitor to that fovereign whofe overthrow
conferred upon Alexander the title of Great.
NOTION, a word which in common language is
confidered as of the fame import with idea. This, how¬
ever, is improper. Notion comprehends the meaning
of idea, but it denotes much more. We have a notion
of fpirit, of power, of folidity ; but of thefe things we
can have no ideas. Ideas are relicks of fenfation ; but
there are objeCls of knowledge which fall under the
cognizance of no fenfe } of thefe objefts, however, we
mav have very diftinCl Lotions either direft or relative.
See Metaphysics, N° ii.
NOTIT I A, in literary hiftory, a book that gives
an account of a particular country, city, or other place :
fuch is the Notitia Imperii Romani, Notitia Rottue Anti¬
que?,
NOTO, an ancient, large, and handfome town of
Sicily, and capital of the Val-di-Noto. It was entirely
ruined bv an earthquake in 1693 » but ^ie inhabitants
built another town at fome diftance from it, which they
call Noto Nnovo. E. Long. 14. O. N. Lat. 36. 5°-
NOTO, Val di, one of the three valleys or provinces
into which Sicily is divided $ and it lies between the fea,
Val-di-Demona, and Val-di-Mazara. Noto is the capi¬
tal town.
NOTONECTA, the boat fly, a genus of Infects be¬
longing to the order of hemiptera. See Entomology
Index.
NOTTEBURG, a town of Ruflia, in the province
of Ingria, feated on an ifland in the lake Ladoga, at the
place where the river Neva proceeds from this lake. It
is ftrong, has a good citadel, and was capital of the pro¬
vince before Peterlburg was built. E. Long. 31. 40.
N. Lat. 60. o.
NOTTINGHAMSHIRE, a county of England,
bounded on the eafl: by Lincolnfhire, on the fouth-eaft
and fouth by Leicefterfhire, on the weft by Derby fldre,
and on the north and north weft by Yorkfhire. It ex¬
tends in length 48 miles, 25 in breadth, and 11c in
compafs j containing 560,000 acres, 8 hundreds, 9 mar¬
ket towns, 168 parifhes, 450 villages, about 25,611
houfes, and 140,350 inhabitants. No county in Eng¬
land enjoys a pleafanter and healthier air. As for the
foil, it differs widely in different parts of the county.
Towards the iveft, where lies the foreft of Sherwood, it
is fandy ; and therefore that part of the county is called
by the inhabitants the Sand: but the fouth and eaft
parts, -watered by the Trent and the rivulets that fall in¬
to it, are clayey ; and for that reafon are called by the
inhabitants the Clay. The latter is fruitful both in com
and pafture j but the former produces little befides wood,
coal, and fome lead. The county has a variety of com¬
modities and manufadlures, as wool, leather, tallow,
butter, cheefe, coal, marl, cattle, malt, liquorice, ftock-
ings, glafs, earthen wares, and ftrong ale. The princi¬
pal rivers are the Trent and Idle. The Trent, whofe
name is fuppofed to be derived from the French or La¬
tin word fignifying thirty, either becaufe it receives
thirty fmaller rivers, or has thirty different forts of fifh
in it, is inferior to no river in England, but the Severn,
Thames, and Humber. It enters the county on the
fouth-weft, and paffes through it to the north-eaft,
where it enters Lincolnlhire, and after a long courfe falls
at laft into the Humber. The Idle rifes in Sherwood
foreft *, and after traverfing the northern part of the
county, falls into the Trent upon the borders of York-
fliire and Lincolnfhire.
The fpacious foreft of Sherwood lies in the weft part
of the county, and indeed takes up the greateft part of
it. It was formerly fo thick, that it was hardly paffa-
ble *, but now it is much thinner. It feeds an infinite
number of deer and flags ; and has fome towns in it, of
which Mansfield is the chief. It abounds in coal, and
a road lies through it for thirty miles together. Since
the reign of King Edward I. the nobility and gentry
have had grants of it. It was governed by a great
number of officers under the late earl of Chefterfield,
chief forefter ; whofe anceftor, Sir John Stanhope, had
a grant of it, with liberty to deftroy and kill at plea-
fure, referving only a hundred deer in the whole walk.
The duke of Newcaftle is now Reward and keeper.
The principal town is
Nottingham, which gives name to the county. It
Is a handfome town, and a county of itfelf by charter.
The name is derived from the Saxon word Snottengham,
which fignifies caves, from the caves and apartments
anciently dug in the rocks on which the town ftands.
Thefe, being foft, eaftly yield to the fpade and pickaxe j
whence
Noto
11.
Notttng.
ham.
NOT t 73 ] NOT
jetting- whence the townfmen have excellent cellars for the vaft
ham. quantities of malt liquors made here, and fent, as well
v " 1 as their malt, to moft parts of England. The lituation
of the town is very pleafant, having meadows on one
hand, and hills of a gentle eafy afeent, on the other.
I t is well fupplied with fuel, both wood and coal, from
the foreft •, and with filh by the Trent, which runs
about a mile to the fouth of it, and has been made na¬
vigable for barges: fo that they receive by it not only
great quantities of cheefe from Warwickfhire and Staf-
fordthire •, but all the heavy goods from the Humber,
and even from Hull. Over the Trent is a flately ftone
bridge of 19 arches, where the river is very large and
deep, having received the addition of the Dove, the
Derwent, the Invath, and the Soar, three of them great
rivers of themfelves, which fall into it after its palling
bv Burton in Staffordfliire.
The town is of great antiquity, and it had formerly
a ftrong callle, in which the Danes, in the time of the
heptarchy, held out a liege againll Buthred king of
Mercia, Alfred, and Ethelred his brother king of the
Weft Saxons.
Soon after the .Conqueft, William either repaired this
fortrefs, or built a new one on the fame fpot, in the fe-
eond year of his reign, probably to fecure a retreat on
his expedition againft Edwin earl of Chefter and Mor-
car earl of Northumberland, who had revolted. He
committed the cuftody of it to William Peverell, his
natural fon, who has by fome been confidered as the
founder. It Hands on a fteep rock, at the foot of which
uns the river Leen.
Deering, in his hiftory of Nottingham, feems very
juftly to explode the ftory of the place called Morti¬
mer’s Hole, having been made as a hiding place for him j
and from his defeription of it, ftiows that it was meant
as a private paffage to the caftle, to relieve it with men
or provifions in a liege. He fays that it is one conti¬
nued ftaircafe, without any room, or even a place to fit
down on. It was by this paffage that Edward III. got
into the caftle and furprifed Mortimer and the queen ;
and from hence, and his being carried away through it,
it has its name.
Edward IV. greatly enlarged the caftle, but did not
live to complete the buildings he began. Richard III.
finifiled them.
It was granted by James I. to Francis earl of Rut¬
land, who pulled down many of the buildings 5 but it
was ftill of fo much ftrength, that Charles I^in 1642,
pitched on it as the place for beginning his operations
of war. He fet up his ftandard, firft on the walls of
the caftle, but in two or three days removed it to a
rlofe on the north fide of the caftle, without the wall, on
» round fpot; after which it was for many years called
Standard clofe, and ftnee, from the name of one who
rented it, Nevil’s clofe. Where the ftandard was fixed,
there Rood a poft for a conliderable time. It is a
common error that it was erefted on a place called Der*
rymount, a little further north than the elofe juft men¬
tioned; this is an artificial hill, railed on purpofe for a
wind-mill which formerly flood there. The caftle was
afterwards fequeftered by the parliament, and the trees
In the park cut down,
1 his caftle was fo (trong that it was never taken by
ftorm, After the civil war, Cromwell ordered it to
be demoiifhed. On the Reftoration, the duke of Buck-
Vol, XV. Part I,
ingham, whofe mother was daughter and heir of this Notting-
Franeis earl of Rutland, had it reftored to him, and ^an1,
fold it to William Cavendilh, marquis and afterwards '
duke of Newcaftle. In 1674 he began the prefent
building, but died in 1676, when the work wras not
far advanced. However, he had the building of it lb
much at heart, that he left the revenue of a confider-
able eftate to be applied to that purpofe, and it was
finilhed by Henry his fon. The expence was about
14,000!. It is one of the feats of the prefent duke of
Newcaftle.
In the park, weft of the caftle, and facing the river
Leen, are fome remains of an ancient building (if it
may be fo called) cut and framed in the rock. Dr
Stukeley gives it, as he does moft things, to the Bri¬
tons. Many other ancient excavations have been found
in other parts of the rocks.
The frames for knitting ftockings w’ere invented by
one William Lea of this county, about the beginning
of the 17th century; but not meeting with the encou¬
ragement he expedted (a cafe too common with the
firft inventors of the moft ufeful arts) he went rvith fe-
veral of his workmen to France on the invitation of
Henry IV. The death of that king, and the troubles
which enfued, prevented attention being given to the
work. Lea died there, and moft: of his men returned
to England. Other attempts were made to fteal the
trade, without better fuccefs, and it has flourifhed here
ever fince, and is now carried on to a very confiderable
extent. It is noted for its horfe-races on a fine courfe
on the north fide of the town. The corporation is go¬
verned by a mayor, recorder, fix aldermen, two coro¬
ners, two Iherifts, two chamberlains, and twenty-four
common-council men, eighteen of the fenior council,
and fix of the junior, a bell-bearer; and the whole
population in 1801 was nearly 29,000. The town being
within the jurifdi&ion of the foreft, the former of
thefe pinders is town-woodward, and attends the
foreft courts. It has three neat churches, the chief
of which is St Mary’s; and an alms-houfe, endowed
with tool, a-year, for twelve poor people ; with a noble
townhoufe, furrounded with piazzas. A confiderable
trade is carried on in glafs and earthen wares, and frame
ftockings, befides the malt, and malt liquors, mentioned
above : MarfhaJ Tallard, when a prifoner in England,
was confined to this town and county. In the duke of
Newcaftle’s park there is a ledge of rocks hewn into a
church, houfes, chambers, dove-houfes, &c. The altar
of the church is natural rock; and between that and
the caftle there is a hermitage of the like workmanftiip.
Upon the fide of a hill there is a very extraordinary
fort of a houfe, where you enter at the garret, and afeend
to the cellar, which is at the top of the houfe. Here
is a noted hofpital founded by John Plumtree, Efq. in
the reign of Richard II. for thirteen poor old widows.
There are four handfome bridges over tha Trent and
Bind. To keep thefe. in repair, and for other public
purpofes, the corporation has good eftates. This town
and Winchelfea both give title of earl to the noble fa¬
mily of Finch. Here David king of Scots, when a
prjfoner m England, reftded; and under ground is a
Vault, called Mortimer's fro/e, becaufe Roger Mortimer,
earl of March is faid to have concealed himfelf in it’
when he was taken and hanged by order of Edw, III!
W. Long. j. 5. N. Lat. 53. o.
NOVA
Nova
Scotia
II.
Novatian.
NOV [74
NOVA Soot\a. See Nova Scotia.
Nova Zambia. See Nova ZEMBLA.
NOVALLE, a mi all, rich, and populous town of
Italy, between Padua and Trevifo. E. Long. 12. 5.
N. Lat. 45. 35.
NOVARA, an-ancient and flrong city of Italy,
in the duchy of Milan, and capital of the Novarefe.
Some pretend that this city was built by the Tro¬
jans, and fo called quuji Nova Ara, becaufe they had
erefted there a temple to Venus. Tacitus mentions
its being made a municipal city by the Romans,
and there are many inferiptions ftill extant, 'which luf-
ficiently prove its ancient fplendour. It is now a
fmall, but -well-built town, fituated on a little emi¬
nence, in a fine country, betwixt two rivers, very well
fortified, and is the fee of a bifhop fuffragan of Mi¬
lan. It is remarkable for the feveral fieges fuftained in
paft times, and for being the birthplace of Peter Lom¬
bard, mafter of the fentences. E. Long. 8. 35. N. Lat.
45- 25-
NOV ATI AN, who made fo much noife and fo
greatly difturbed the peace ol the church, was, we are
told, firft a Pagan philofopher. He was baptized in bed
when dangeroully ill : recovering, however, he was
afterwards ordained prieft of the church of Rome,
his bifiiop having obtained this favour for him, which
the clergy and people were far from being difpofed to
grant. He does not appear to have had the good of
the church much at heart j for with his uit, knowr-
ledge, and eloquence, he might have been peculiarly
ferviceable to her, had he not with cowardice Ihrunk
from his duty when he dreaded perfecution. His am¬
bition to be made a bilhop like wife milled him ; and
what occafioned the apoftafy of moft of the firft here-
fiarchs, alfo occafioned his. On the death of Fabian
bilhop of Rome, after writing a letter to St Cyprian, he
remained quiet whilft the fee was vacant *, but the
promotion of Cornelius to that dignity excited his
envy and jealoufy to no common pitch. The confc-
rjuence was a leparation from the new bilhop, and from
tbtffe who profelied to believe, what Novatian ftrenu-
oufly denied, that the church could receive thofe again
who had been guilty of idolatry. He foon got a num¬
ber of followers among the laity, and fome even among
the clergy. Novatus, a prieft of Carthage, was one
of his party, and having been a party-man himfelf
again!! St Cyprian, brought his adherents with him.
lie got himfelf confecrated bilhop of Rome in a moft
infamous and clandeftine manner, by three weak men
whom he had moft grofsly impofed upon, and one of
whom did penance for having been concerned in what
was fj contrary to order, decency, and the rules of the
church.
His defigns, however, in this difgraceful affair did
not fucceed, for he was not acknowledged as bifhop
of that diocefe •, Cornelius being confirmed in it, whilft
he v'as condemned and excommunicated. He ftill,
however, taught his doflrine, and at length became
the head of the party which bears his name. Belides
the letter mentioned above, St Jerome fays he wrote
on the Paffover, on the Sabbath, on Circumcijion, on the
High Prie/is, on Prayer, on Jewijh meals, and on Firm-
nefs of mind, &c. with a large treatife on the Trinity.
None of them appear under his own name, and fome are
•thought not to be his.
N ovel.
] NOV
NOVATIANS, Novation!, a fe61 of ancient here- Noratians
tics, that arofe towards the clofe of the third century, fo
called from Novatian, a prieft of Rome, (fee the pre¬
ceding article). They were called alfo Cathari, from
pure, q. d. Puritans.
Novatian firft feparated from the communion of Pope
Cornelius, on pretence of his being too eafy in admit¬
ting to repentance thofe who had fallen off' in times of
perfecution.
Novatus coming to Rome, joined himfelf to the
faction of Novatian j and both maintained, that there
was no other admiflion into the church but by the re¬
pentance in baptifm ; grounding their opinion on
that of St Paul : “ It is impoflible for thofe once
“ enlightened, and who have tailed the heavenly gift,
“ if they fall away, to renew themfelves by repent-
“ ance.”
Not that they denied but a perfon fallen into any
fin, how grievous foever, might obtain pardon by re¬
pentance j for they themfelves recommend repentance
in the ftrongeft terms : but their dodlrine wras, that
the church had it not in its power to receive linners
into its communion, as having no way of remitting
fins but by baptifm ; which once received could not be
repeated.
In procefs of time the Novations foftened and mo¬
derated the rigour of their m-'ler’s dodlrine, and only
refufed abfolution to very great finners.
The two leaders were proferibed, and declared here¬
tics, not for excluding penitents from communion, but
for denying that the church had a power of remitting
fins. See Novatus.
NOVATION, or Innovation, In the Civil Law^
denotes the change of one kind of obligation for an¬
other •, as when a promife is accepted inftcad of a writ¬
ten obligation.
NOVATUS, a prieft of Carthage, in the third cen¬
tury, who, to avoid being punilhed for a crime, join¬
ed with the deacon, named Felici/Jimus, again!! St Cy¬
prian. He went to Rome in 251 *, and there found No¬
vatian, who had acquired great reputation by his elo¬
quence, but who murmured at his not being raifed to
the fee of Rome in preference to Cornelius. Novatus
contracted a friendlhip with him ; and afterwards pro¬
moted the deteftable confecration of Novatian to the fee
of Rome. This irregular confecration produced a very
great fchifm. Novatus alfo maintained, that the church
had not the power to receive thofe to communion who
were fallen into idolatry.
NOVEL, a fictitious narrative in profe, which pro-
feffes to exhibit the natural workings of the human
heart, the happinefs and mifery of private life, and,
above all, the nature of the affeCtion called Love, and
the confequenee of indulging it in certain circum-
ftances.
The novel fprung out of the old romance, and has
been cenfured for infipidity, as its parent was for ex¬
travagance. (See Romance). That the greater part
of thofe abfurd things, which, under this title, are
daily iffuing from the prefs, deferve all the contempt
with which they can be treated, is a pofition which
we feel not ourfelves inclined to controvert •, but we
cannot admit that any fpecies of writing is in itfelf in-
fipid, merely becaufe numbers have attempted it with¬
out fuccefs. The heroic poems of Blackmore are uni-
verfidly
Novel
yohnfon-
NOV t 75 ] NOV
verfally known to be contemptible performances; and
if we had before us all the heroic poetry that has ever
been written, how many thoufands of volumes fhould
we have as mean as either Prince Arthur, King Arthur,
Eli%e, or Alfred? Yet no critic has hitherto dared to
maintain, that heroic poetry is an infipid fpecies of
writing.
But to the novel objections have been urged of
more importance than its infipidity. It has been often
affirmed, with learned folemnity, that the perufal of
novels tends to corrupt the youth of both fexes to
produce effeminacy in men and extravagant notions
of the happinefs of love in women ; that it diverts the
minds of the former from more ferious and ufeful ftu-
dies, and expoles the latter to the arts of feduction.
That there are too many novels to which this objec¬
tion is applicable in its full force, is a fuel which we
are afraid cannot be denied : but when it is admitted,
let not thefe performances be again accufed of infipi¬
dity : for were they infipid, they could have no fuch
confequences. It is by laying faff hold of the heart
that they lead it adray. That a novel might be writ¬
ten fo as to intereft the heart in behalf of virtue, as
much as any one has ever warped it to the fide of
vice, is a truth which no man will ever venture to call
in quefiion who has any knowledge of human nature ;
and therefore ive are decidedly of opinion, that there
may be novels worthy at once of the perufal of inexpe¬
rienced youth and hoary wifdnm. A critic by no
means too indulgent to works of fancy, and among whofe
failings laxity of morals has never been numbered, thus
expreffes himfelf on the fubject of novel-writing : —
“ Thefe familiar hiftories may perhaps be made of
greater ufe than the folemnities of profeffed morality,
and convey the knowledge of vice and virtue with more
efficacy than axioms and definitions. But if the power
of example is fo great, as to take pofieflion of the me¬
mory by a kind of violence, and produce effe&s almoft
without the intervention of the will, care ought to be
taken, that, when the choice is unreftrained, the bell
examples only thould be exhibited ; and that what is
likely to operate fo ftrongly, fhould not be mifehievous
or uncertain in its effe&s.”
We have find, that the novel profeffes above all
things to exhibit the nature of love and its confequen¬
ces. W hether this be effential to fuch performances
may perhaps be reafonably queftioned : but it has
been made an important part of the drama in moil
novels, and, we think, with great propriety. It is the
objedl of the novelift to give a true pidture of life, di-
verfified only by accidents that daily happen in the
world, and influenced by paffions and qualities which
are really to be found in converfing with mankind.
To accomplifli this objedl, he conceives a hero or he¬
roine, whom he places in a certain rank of life, en¬
dues with certain qualities of body and mind, and
condudls, through many viciflitudes of fortune, either
to the fummit of happinefs or to the abyfs of mifery,
according to the patfion which he withes to excite in
his readers. In the modern novel, this hero or he¬
roine is never placed on a throne, or buried in a cot-
tage; becaufe to the monarch and the cottager no dif¬
ficulties occur which can deeply intereft the majority of
readers. But among the virtuous part of the inter¬
mediate orders of fociety, that affea'ion which we call
love feldom fails, at fome period of life, to take pof-
feffion of the hearts of both iexes j and wherever it has
place, it mult be produdlive of happinefs or of mifery.
In the proper management of this paflion confifts much
of the difficulty of the novel writer. He muft exhibit
his hero as feeling all the pangs and pleafures of love,
as fometimes animated with hope, and fometimes ready
to fink into defpair, but always exerting himfelf to ob¬
tain the gratification of his withes. In doing this, care
thould be taken, either that he never tranfgrefs the
laws of virtue, or at leaft that he never tranfgrefs them
with impunity.
“ It is juftly confidered as the greateft excellency
of art to imitate nature •, but it is neceffary to diftin-
gnifti thofe parts of nature which are moft proper for
imitation : greater care is ftill required in reprelenting
life, which is fo often difcoloured by paflion or de¬
formed by wickednefs. If the world be promifeuoufly
deferibed, 1 cannot perceive (fays the great critic al¬
ready quoted) of what ufe it can be to read the ac¬
count; or why it may not be as fafe to turn the eye
immediately unon mankind, as upon a mirror which
thows all that prefents itielf without diferimination.
It is therefore not a fufficient vindication of a cha¬
racter, that it is drawn as it appears; for many cha¬
racters oupht never to be drawn : nor of a narrative,
that the train of events is agreeable to obfervation ;
for that obfervation which is called knowledge of the
world will be found much more frequently to make
men cunning than good. The purpofe of thefe writ¬
ings is furely not only to fliow mankind, but to pro¬
vide that they may be feen hereafter with lei's hazard ;
to teach the means of avoiding the fnares which are
laid by Treachery for Innocence, without enfuring
any wifh for that fuperiority with which the betrayer
flatters his vanity ; to give the power of counteracting
fraud, without the temptation to praCIife it ; to ini¬
tiate youth by mock encounters in the art of neceffary
defence; and to increafe prudence, without impairing
virtue.
“ Many writers, for the fake of following nature,, fo
mingle good and bad qualities in their principal perfo-
nages, that they are both equally confpicuous ; and as
we accompany them through their adventures with de¬
light, and are led by degrees to intereft ourfelves in
their favour, we lofe the abhorrence of their faults, be-
eaufe they do not hinder our pleafures, or perhaps re¬
gard them with fome kindnefs for being united with fo
much merit.—There have been men indeed fplendidly
wicked, whole endowments threw a brightnefs on their
crimes, and whom fcarce any villany made perfectly
deteftable, becaufe they never could be wholly diverted
of their excellencies: but fuch have been in all ages the
great corrupters of the world ; and their refemblance
ought no more to be preferved than the art of murder¬
ing without pain.
“ In narratives, where hiftorical veracity has no
place, there fhould be exhibited the raoft perfeft idea
of virtue; of virtue not angelical, nor above probability
(for what we cannot credit we thall never imitate), but
the higheft and pureft that humanity can reach, which,
exercifed in fuch trials as the various revolutions of
things (hall bring upon it, may, by conquering fome
calamities and enduring others, teach us what we may
hope, and what we can perform. Vice (for vice is ne-
K 2 ceffary
NOV [ 76 ] NOV
'Novel.
f The au¬
thor of
La jolie
femme, or
ta femme
dv jour.
ceiTary to be fnown) (hould always difguil \ nor fliould
the graces of gaiety, or the dignity of courage, be fo
united with it, as to reconcile it to the mind. Where-
ever it appears, it ihould raife hatred by the malignity
of its practices, and contempt by the meannefs of its
llratagems j for while it is fupported by either parts or
fpirit, it will feldom be heartily abhorred.”
If thefe obfervations be juft, and to us they appear
unanfwerable, Richardfon’s Lovelace is a charafter which
ought never to have been drawTn. In the graces of
gaiety and the dignity of courage, in liberality without
profufion, in perfeverance and addrefs, he everywhere
appears as the firft of men j and that honour Avith which
he protefts the virtue of his Rofebud, if any inftrudlion
is to be draAvn from it, can only lead the admirers of
Richardfon to believe that another Clariffa might be in
perfedl fafety were Are to throw herfelf upon the honour
of another Lovelace. Yet in the compofition of this
fplendid charafter there is not one principle upon which
confidence can fecurely reft } and Lovelace, Avhilft he
is admired by the youth of both fexes, and efcapes the
contempt of all mankind, muft excite in the breaft of the
cool moralift fentiments of abhorrence and deteftation.
A French critic f, fpeaking of this charafter, fays,
“ By turns I could embrace and fight Avith Lovelace.
His pride, his gaiety, his drollery, charm and amufe
me : his genius confounds me and makes me fmile j his
wickednefs aftonifties and enrages me 5 but at the fame
time I admire as much as I deteft him.” Surely this
is not the charafter Avhich ought to be prefented to the
inexperienced and ardent mind.
The moft perfedt charafters Avhich avc at prefent re-
collefl in any novel are Richardfon’s Grandifon and
Fielding’s Allworthy. The virtues of the former are
perhaps tinctured with moral pedantry, if Ave may ufe
the" expreflion : and the latter fuffered himfelf to be long
Impofed upon by the arts of the hypocrite and the phi-
lofophical coxcomb ; but Avithout fome defeats they
would not be human virtues, and therefore no objedls
of human imitation. ClarilTa is an excellent charafter :
(he has as much perfection as can be expefted in avo-
man, Avhilft fhe exhibits, at the fame time, fome obvious
defeCts.
As it is the objeCt of the novelift to intereft the
heart, and to communicate inftruCtion through the
medium of pleafure, his Avork, like a tragedy or comedy,
fhould be one, exhibiting a hero or heroine, Avhofe fuc-
cefs every incident ftiould contribute to forward or to
retard. In this refpeCt no work of fancy has ever fur-
paffed the Tom Jones of Fielding . It is conftruCted up¬
on principles of the foundeft criticifm, and contains not
a Angle event Avhich does not in fome Avay contribute
toAvards the Avinding up of the piece. A living author,
deeply read in Grecian literature, and far from being
prejudiced in behalf of any modern, has been heard to
fay, that had Ariftotle feen Tom Jones, he Avouid have
pronounced it a poem perfeCt in its kind.
Againft this fentence another critic of name has en¬
tered his proteft, and ftrenuoully maintained that nothing
can be a poem Avhich is not Avritten in verfe. We fhall
judge of the truth of this conclufion by comparing it
Avith the principles from Avhich it is deduced. Having
laid down as a maxim incontrovertible, that “ the end
of poetry is pleafure, to Avhich ufe itfelf muft be fubfer-
vientj” he very juftly infers from this idea, that
“ poetry lliould negleCt no advantage that fairly offers
itfelf, of appearing in fuch a drefs or mode of language
as is moft taking and agreeable to us. It follows (he
fays), from the fame idea of the end Avhicb poetry would
accomplifti, that not only rhythm, but numbers pro¬
perly fo called, is effential to it, and that it cannot ob¬
tain its own purpofe unlefs it be clothed in VERSE.”
He then proceeds to alk, “ What, from this conclufion,
are we to think of thofe novels or romances, as they are
called, which have been fo current of late through all
Europe ? As they propofe pleafure for their end, and
profecute it, befides, in the Avay of jiflion, though Avith¬
out metrical numbers, and generally indeed in harfh
and rugged profe, one eafily fees what their pretenfions
are, and under Avhat idea they are ambitious to be re¬
ceived. Yet as they are wholly deftitute of meafured
founds (to fay nothing of their other numberlefs defefts),
they can at moft be confidered but as hafty, imperfedi,
and abortive poems : whether fpaAvned from the drama¬
tic or narrative fpecies, it may be hard to fay.
Nevel.
Unfinilh’d things one knoAvs not what to call,
Their generation’s fo equivocal.
HoAvever, fuch as they are, thofe novelties have been
generally Avell received : Some for the real merit of
their execution ; others, for their amufing fubjefts \ all
of them for the gratification they afford, or at leaft
promife, to a vitiated, pallid, and fickly imagination,
that laft difeafe of learned minds, and hire prognoftic of
expiring letters. But Avhatever may be the temporary
fuccefs of thefe things (for they vanifti as fall as they
are produced), good fenfe Avill acknowledge no work of
art but fuch as is compofed according to the Iuav of its
kind.”
Of this fevere criticifm the author himfelf has given
us, Avhat amounts to a complete confutation. He tells
us, that the ancients looked for fo much force and fpirit
of expreflion in Avhatever they dignified with the name
of poem, as fometimes to make a queftion “ whether co¬
medy Avere rightly referred to this clafs, becaufe it dif¬
fered only in meafure from mere profe ? Their doubt
(he juftly adds) might have been fpared or at leaft re-
folved, if they had confidered that comedy adopts as
much of this force and fpirit of Avords as is confiftent
Avith the nature and dignity of that pleafure which it
pretends to give : For the name oipoem Avill belong to
every compofition Avhofe primary end is to pleafe, pro¬
vided it be fo conftrudled as to afford all the pleafure
which its kind or fort will permit.”
If this decifion be juft, and we readily admit it, a
Avell compofed novel is entitled to the appellation of a
poem, though it be Avritten in profe and in a ftyle not
remarkable for elevation. The bufinefs of the novelift
is to intereft the heart by a difplay of the incidents of
common life. In doing this, he muft exhibit fcenes
that are probable, and record fpeeches that are natural.
He is not at liberty to invent, but only to feleft, ob¬
jects, and to cull from the mafs of mankind thofe indi¬
viduals upon Avhich the attention ought moft to be em¬
ployed. The more elofely he adheres to this rule, the
more deeply does he intereft us in his narrative j becaufe
every reader fees at once that it is poflible he may at
fome time or other be in circumftances nearly refem-
bling thofe of the hero of the tale. But the bufinefs o£
life
NOV [ 77 ] NOV
Novel, life is not tranfafted in pompous language, nor the
Novelty, fpceches ef real lovers made in verfe either rhymed or
r blank. Were Tom Jones or Clariffa Harlowe to be
tranllated into verfe, we (hall venture to aflfert that they
would quickly lofe their hold of the public mind : be-
caufe the hero and heroine would then appear in a light
which every heart mult feel to be Unnatural.
It is well obferved by Johnfon, that the talk of the
novel writer “ requires, together with that learning
which is to be gained from books, that experience
which can never be attained by folitary diligence, but
mull arife from general converfe and accurate obferva-
tion of the living world. Their performances have, as
Horace exprelfes it, p/us oneris quantum varice ftiinus,
little indulgence, and therefore more difficulty. They
are engaged in portraits of which every one knows the
original, and can deteft any deviation from exaflnefs of
refemblance. Other writings are fafe, except from the
malice of learning, but thefe are in danger from every
common reader ; as the flipper ill executed was cenfured
by a ffioemaker who happened to flop in his way at the
Venus of Apelles.” It is in thus faithfully copying na¬
ture that the excellence of Fielding conliits. No man
was ever better acquainted with the ffiades which diver-
fify charafters, and none ever made his perfonages aft
and fpeak more like real men and women in the parti¬
cular circumltances which he defcribes.
“ But the fear of not being approved as a juft copier
of human manners, is not the moft important concern
that an author of this clafs ought to have before him.
Novels are written chiefly to the young, the ignorant,
and the idle, to whom they ferve as leftures of conduct
and introduction into life. In every fuch work, it
fhould therefore be carefully inculcated, that virtue is
the higheft proof of underftanding, and the only folid
bafis of greatnefs ; and that vice is the natural con-
fequence of narrow thoughts; that it begins in mif-
take and ends in ignominy : and fince love muft be
introduced, it Ihould be reprefented as leading to wrretch-
ednefs, whenever it is feparated from duty or from pru¬
dence.”
Novel, in the civil law, a term ufed for the confti-
tutions of feveral emperors, more particularly thofe of
Juftinian. They were called novels, either from their
producing a great alteration in the face of the ancient
law, or becaufe they were made on new cafes, and after
the revifal of the ancient code.
NOVELTY, or Newness. Of all the circumftan-
ces that raife emotions, not excepting beauty, nor even
Elmtntj greatnefs, fays Lord Kames *, novelty hath the moft
rCriti- powerful influence. A new object produces inftantane-
r'1, oufly an emotion termed wonder, which totally occu¬
pies the mind, and for a time excludes all other objefts.
Converfation among the vulgar never is more interefting
than when it turns upon ftrange objefts and extraordi¬
nary events. Men tear themfelves from their native
country in fearch of things rare and new ; and novelty
converts into a pleafure the fatigues and even perils of
travelling. To what caufe ftiall v'e aferibe thefe Angu¬
lar appearances ? To curiofity undoubtedly 5 a principle
implanted in human nature for a purpofe extremely be¬
neficial, that of acquiring knowledge 3 and the emotion
of wonder raifed by new and ftrange objedfs, inflames
our curiofity to know more of fuch objects. This emo¬
tion is different from admiration : novelty, wherever
4.
found, whether in a quality or adlion, is the caufe of
wonder ; admiration is diredted to the perfon who per¬
forms any thing Avonderful.
During infancy, every new objedt is probably the oc-
cafion of wonder, in fome degree 3 becaufe, during in¬
fancy, every objedt at firft fight is ftrange as well as
new : but as objedfs are rendered familiar by cuftom,
we ceafe by degrees to wonder at new appearances, if
they have any refemblance to what we are acquainted
with 3 for a thing muft be lingular as well as new, to
raife our wonder. To fave multiplying words, uTe
would be underftood to comprehend both circumftances
when vre hereafter talk of novelty.
In an ordinary train of perceptions, where one thing
introduces another, not a Angle objedi makes its appear¬
ance unexpedtedly : the mind thus prepared for the re¬
ception of its objedls, admits them one after another
without perturbation. But when a thing breaks in un-
expedtedly, and without the preparation of any connec¬
tion, it raifes an emotion, known by the name offur-
prife. That emotion may be produced by the moft fa¬
miliar objedi, as when one unexpedtedly meets a friend
who was reported to be dead 3 or a man in high life,
lately a beggar. On the other hand, a new objedl,
however ftrange, will not produce the emotion, if the
fpediator be prepared for the fight : an elephant in In¬
dia will not furprife a traveller who goes to fee one 3
and yet its novelty will raife his wonder : an Indian in
Britain would be much furprifed to Humble upon an ele¬
phant feeding at large in the open fields 3 but the crea¬
ture itfelf, to which he was accuftomed, would not raife
his wonder.
Surprife thus in feveral refpedls differs from wronder :
unexpedlednefs is the caufe of the former emotion ; no¬
velty is the caufe of the latter. Nor differ they lefs in
their nature and circumftances, as will be explained by
and by. With relation to one circumftance they per-
fedtly agree ; which is, the ftiortnefs of their duration :
the inftantaneous produdtion of thefe emotions in per-
fedfion, may contribute to that effedl, in conformity to
a general law, That things foon decay which foon come
to perfedtion : the violence of the emotions may alfo
contribute 3 for an ardent emotion, which is not fuff
ceptible of increafe, cannot have a long courfe. But
their ftiort duration is occafioned chiefly by that of
their caufes : we are foon reconciled to an objedl, how¬
ever unexpedled 3 and novelty foon degenerates into fa¬
miliarity.
Whether thefe emotions be pleafant or painful, is not
a clear point. It may appear ftrange, that our own
feelings and their capital qualities Ihould afford any
matter for a doubt : but when we are engroffed by any
emotion, there is no place for fpeculation 3 and wThen
fufficiently calm for Ipeculation, it is not eafy to reeal
the emotion with accuracy. New objedfs are fometimes
terrible, fometimes delightful: the terror which a tyger
infpires is greateft at firft, and wears off gradually by
familiarity : on the other hand, even women wflll ac¬
knowledge that it is novelty which pleafes the moft in a.
new faftnon. It would be rafh, however, to conclude,
that wonder is in itfelf neither pleafant nor painful, but
that it affumes either quality according to circumftances..
An objedl, it is true, that hath a threatening appear¬
ance, adds to our terror by its novelty : but from that
experiment it doth not follow, that novelty is in itfelf
difagreeable >
Novelty.
NOV [7!
Novelty, difagreeable ; for it is perfectly coniiflcnt, that we be
delighted with an objett in one view, and terrified with
it in another. A river in flood {welling over its banks,
is a grand and delightful objccft ; and yet it may pro¬
duce no fmall degree of fear when we attempt to crols
it : courage and magnanimity are agreeable ; and yet,
when we view thefe qualities in an enemy, they ferve to
increafe our terror. In the fame manner, novelty may
produce two effects clearly diAinguiArable from each
other : it may, diredtly and in itfelf, be agreeable ; and
it may have an oppolite effeft indirectly, which is, to
inlpire terror ; for when a new objedt appears in any
degree dangerous, our ignorance of its powers and fa¬
culties affords ample fcope for the imagination to drefs
it in the moft frightful colours. rIhe firft fight of a
lion, for example,, may at the fame inflant produce two
oppofite feelings, the pleafant emotion of wonder, and
the painful paflion of terror : the novelty of the object
produces the former diredlly, and contributes to the lat¬
ter indireclly. Thus, when the fubjedt is analyzed,
we find that the power which novelty hath indirectly to
inflame terror, is perfectly confiftent with its being in
every circumftance agreeable. The matter may be put
in the cleareft light, by adding the following circum-
Itance. If a lion be firft feen from a place of fafety,
the fpedtacle is altogether agreeable without the leait
mixture of terror. If, again, the firft fight puts us
within reach of that dangerous animal, our terror may
be fo great as quite to exclude any fenfe of novelty.
But this faCt proves hot that wonder is painful : it
proves only, that wonder may be excluded by a more
powerful paflion. Every man may be made certain
from his own experience, that rvonder raifed by a new
obfedt that is inoffenfive, is always pleafant; and with
refpedt to often five objedls, it appears, from the fore¬
going dedudlion, that the fame muff hold as long as the
fpedlator can attend to the novelty.
Whether farprife be in itfelf pleafant or painful, is^a
queftion not lefs intricate than the former. It is certain
that furprife inflames our joy when unexpedtedly we
meet with an old friend } and not lefs our terror when
w7c Humble upon any thing noxious. To clear that
queftion, the firft thing to be remarked is, that in fome
xnftances an unexpected object overpowers the mind, fo
as to produce a momentary ftupefadtion : where the ob-
jedt is dangerous, or appears fo, the fudden alarm it
gives, without preparation, is apt totally to unhinge the
mind, and for a moment to fufpend all its faculties, even
thought itfelf-, in which ftate a man is quite helplefs :
and if he move at all, is as like to run upon the danger
as from it. Surprife carried to fuch a height, cannot
i ] NOV
be either pleafant or painful becaufe the mind, during Novelty,
fuch momentary ftupefadlion, is in a good meafure, if v““
not totally, infenfihle.
If we then inquire for the charadler of this emotion,
it muft be where the unexpedted objedl or event produ-
ceth lefs violent effedls. And while the mind remains
fenfible of pleafure and pain, is it not natural to fuppofe,
that furprii'e, like wonder, fliould have an invariable
charadter ? It would appear, however, that furprife has
no invariable charadler, but afiumes that of the objedl
which raifes it. Wonder being an emotion invariably
raifed by novelty, and being diftinguifbable from all
other emotions, ought naturally to poffefs one conftant
charadler. The unexpedted appearance of an objedl,
feems not equally entitled to produce an emotion diftin-
guiftiable from the emotion, pleafant or painful, that is
produced by the objedl in its ordinary appearance : the
effedl it ought naturally to have, is only to fwell that
emotion, by making it more pleafant or more painful
than it commonly is. And that conjecture is confirmed
by experience, as well as by language which is built
upon experience : when a man meets a friend unexpect¬
edly, he is faid to be agreeably furprifed } and when he
meets an enemy unexpedtedly, he is faid to be difagree-
ably furprifed. It appears, then, that the foie effedl of
furprife is to fwell the emotion raifed by the objedl.
And that eft'edl can be clearly.explained : a tide of con-
nedled perceptions glide gently into the mind, and pro¬
duce no perturbation ^ but an object breaking in unex-
pedledly, founds an alarm, roufes the mind out of its
calm ftate, and diredls its whole attention to the objtdl,
which, if agreeable, becomes doubly fo. Several cir-
cumftances concur to produce that effedl : on the one
hand, the agitation of the mind and its keen attention
prepare it in the moft effedlual manner for receiving a
deep impreffion : on the other hand, the objedl, by its
fudden and unforefeen appearance, makes an impreflion,
not gradually as expedled objedls do, but as at one
ftroke with its whole force. The circumftances are
precifely fimilar where the objedl is in itfelf difagrec-
able (a).
The pleafure of novelty is eafily diflinguiflied from
that of variety : to produce the latter, a plurality of ob¬
jedls is neceffary ; the former arifes from a circumftance
found in a fingle objedl. Again, Where objedls, whe¬
ther co-exiftent or in fucceflion, arc fufiiciently diverfi-
fied, the pleafure of variety is complete, though every
fingle objedl of the train be familiar ; but the pleafure
of novelty, diredlly oppofite to familiarity, requires no
diver fification.
There are different degrees of novelty, and its effedls
are
(a) What Marefchal Saxe terms le coeur humain, is no other than fear occafioned by furprife. It is owing
to that caufe that an ambufh is generally fo deftruaive : intelligence of it beforehand renders it perfeaiy harmlefs.
The Marefchal gives from Cseflir’s Commentaries two examples of what he calls le coeur huniain. At the fiege of
Amiens by the Gauls, Cajfar came tip with his army, which did not exceed 7000 men ; and began to entrench
himfelf in fuch hurry, that the barbarians judging him to be airaid, attacked his entrenchments with great fpirit.
During the time they were filling up the ditch, he iffued out with his cohorts, and Dy attacking them unexpectedly
ftruck a panic that made them fly with precipitation, not a fingle naan offered to make a Hand. At the fiege^of
Alefia, the Gauls infinitely fuperior in number, attacked the Roman lines of circumvallation, in order to raife the
liege. Ciefar ordered a body of bis rnen to march out filently, and to attack tnem on the one flank, while he with
another body did the fame on the other flank. The furprile ot being attacked when they expected a defence oiuy,
put the Gauls into diforder, and gave an eafy victory to Caefar.
A
NOV [ 79 J NOV
Novelty, are In proportion. The loweft degree Is found in ob-
'V"—''je&s furveyed a fecond time after a long interval j and
that in this cafe an objedt takes on fome appearance of
novelty, is certain from experience : a large building of
many parts varioufly adorned, or an extenfive field em-
bellifhed with trees, lakes, temples, Itatues, and other
ornaments, will appear new oftener than once : the me¬
mory of an objedt fo complex is foon loft, of its parts at
leaft, or of their arrangement. But experience teaches,
that, even without any decay of remembrance, abfence
alone will give an air of novelty to a once familiar ob-
jedt $ wrhich is not furprifing, becaufe familiarity wears
off gradually by abfence : thus a perfon with whom we
have been intimate, returning after a long interval, ap¬
pears like a new acquaintance. And diftance of place
contributes to this appearance, not lefs than diftance of
time : a friend, for example, after a fhort abfence in a
remote country, has the fame air of novelty as if he had
returned after a longer interval from a place nearer
home : the mind forms a connexion between him and
the remote country, and bellows upon him the fingula
rity of the objedts he has feen. For the fame reafon,
when two things equally new and lingular are prefented,
the fpedlator balances between them ; but when told
that one of them is the produdf of a diftant quarter of
the world, he no longer hefitates, but clings to it as the
more fingular : hence the preference given to foreign
luxuries, and to foreign curiofities, which appear rare
in proportion to their original diftance.
I he next degree of novelty, mounting upward, is
found in objedfs of which we have fome information at
fecond hand 5 for defeription, though it contribute to
familiarity, cannot altogether remove the appearance
of novelty when the objedt itfelf is prefented : the firft
fight of a lion occafions fome wonder, after a thorough
acquaintance with the correcteft pi&ures and Itatues of
that animal.
A new objedf that bears fome diftant refemblance to
a known fpecies, is an inftance of a third degree of no¬
vel? y : a ftrong refemblance among individuals of the
fame fpecies, prevents almoft entirely the effedt of no-
V' lty, unlefs diftanee of place or fome other circum-
ftance concur ; but where the refemblance is faint, fome
degree of wonder is felt, and the emotion riles in pro¬
portion to the faintnefs of the refemblance.
'i'he higheft degree of wonder arifeth from unknown
objedts that have no analogy to any fpecies we are ac¬
quainted with. Shakefpuare in a limile introduces that
fpecies of novelty :
As glorious to the fight
As is a winged meflenger from heaven
Unto the white up-turned wond’ring eye
Of mortals, that fall back to gaze on him, Novelty.
When he beftrides the lazy pacing clouds, u-—y—.
And fails upon the bofom of the air.
Romeo and Juliet,
One example of that fpecies of novelty deferves pecu¬
liar attention •, and that is, when an objedt altogether
new is feen by one perfon only, and but once. Thefe
circumftances heighten remarkably the emotion : the
Angularity of the fpedlator concurs rtith the Angu¬
larity of the objedt, to inflame wonder to its higheft
pitch.
In explaining the effects of novelty, the place a be¬
ing occupies in the fcale of exiftence, is a circumftance
that mult not be omitted. Novelty in the individuals
of a low7 clafs is perceived with indifference, or with a
very flight emotion : thus a pebble, however lingular in
its appearance, fearcely moves our wonder. The emo¬
tion rifes with the rank of the objedt j and, other cir¬
cumftances being equal, is ftrongeft in the higheft order
of exiftence ; a Itrange infedt affedts us more than a
ftrange vegetable j and a ftrange quadruped more than
a ftrange iufedt.
However natural novelty may be, it is a matter of
experience, that thofe who relilh it the molt are careful
to conceal its influence. Love of novelty, it is true,
prevails in children, in idlers, and in men of lhallow
underftanding : and yet, after all, why Ihould one be
alhamed of indulging a natural propenfity ? A diftinc-
tion will afford a fatisfadtory anfwer. No man is alham¬
ed of curiofity when it is indulged to acquire knorv-
ledge. But to prefer any thing merely becaufe it is
new, Ibows a mean tafte which one ought to be aflia-
med of: vanity is commonly at the bottom, which
leads thofe who are deficient in tafte to prefer things
odd, rare, or fingular, in order to diftinguilh them-
felves from others. And in fadt, that appetite, as
above mentioned, reigns chiefly among perfons of a
mean tafte, who are ignorant of refined and elegant
pleafures.
Of this tafte we have fome memorable inftances in
men of the higheft and the belt education. Lucian
tells the following ftory of Ptolemy I. which is as dif-
graeeful to him, as honourable to his fubjedts. This
prince had ranfaeked the world for two curiofities j
one was a camel from Badtria all over black ; the other
a man, half black half white. Thefe he prefented to
the people in a public theatre, thinking they would
give them as much fatisfadtion as they did him ; but
the black monlter, inftead of delighting them, affright¬
ed them ; and the party-coloured man raifed the con¬
tempt of fome and the abhorrence of others. Ptolemy,
finding the Egyptians preferred fymmetry and beauty
to
A third may be added not lefs memorable. In the year 8q6, an obftinate battle was fought between Xamire
venfj ,Le°An T Ab,d()UlnIhm™ the Mooriai k'ms ^ Spain. After a very long conflidt the night only pre-
vented the Arabians from obtamtng a complete vidtory. The king of Leon, taking advantage of The darknefs
retreated to a neighbouring lull, leaving the Arabians matters of the field of battle.8 Next morning, perceiving
• ' U C0U ,nut maiIJlt?!n hls Placc f°r want °f provifions, nor be able to draw off his men in the face of a vidtoT
16 rangCd i'S T” m fd,e!.' of and, without lofing a moment, marched to attack the enemy,
fi.rr 1 1 all ^Onqfr-Or d'e* r,‘e Arabians, aftomfhed to be attacked by thofe who were conquered the night be-
out almoft drawing IT’ ‘ t0 aftoulfhment>lhe Pauic tmiverfal, and they all turned their backs with-
}
NOV [ 80 ] NOV
^vovjce to tlio vnoil ^ftonifhing productions of art or nature
^ it. without' them, wifely removed his two enormous trifles
BNnvl - out of fight j the neglected camel died in a little
■ ^ 1L time, and the man he gave for a fong to the mufician
Thefpis.
One final caufe of wonder, hinted above, is, that this
emotion is intended to flimulate our curiofity. An¬
other, fomewhat different, is, to prepare the mind for
receiving deep impreflions of new objeCts. An acquaint¬
ance with the various things that may affeCt us, and
with their properties, is eflential to our well-being nor
will a flight or fuperficial acquaintance be fufficient;
they ought to be fo deeply engraved on the mind, as to
be ready for ufe upon every occaflon. Now, in order
to a deep impreflion, it is wifely contrived, that things
fhould be introduced to our acquaintance with a certain
pomp and folemnity produClive of a vivid emotion.
When the impreflion is once fairly made, the emotion
of novelty being no longer neceflary, vanilheth almoft
inftantaneoufly j never to return, unlefs where the im¬
preflion happens to be obliterated by length of time or
other means ; in which cafe the fecond introduClion
hath nearly the fame folemnity with the firft.
Defigning wifdom is nowhere more legible than in
this part of the human frame. If new objefts did not
affedt us in a very peculiar manner, their impreflions
would be fo flight as fcarce to be of any ufe in life ;
on the other hand, did objeCts continue to affeft us
as deeply as at firft, the mind would be totally engrof-
fed with them, and have no room left either for a&ion
or refleClion.
The final caufe of furprife is ftill more evident than
of novelty. Self-love makes us vigilantly attentive
to felf-prefervation •, but felf-love, which operates by
means of reafon and refleClion, and impels not the
mind to any particular objeCf or from it, is a principle
too cool for a hidden emergency ; an objeCt breaking
in unexpectedly, affords no time for deliberation ; and
in that cafe, the agitation of furprife comes in feafon-
ably to roufe felf-love into aCtion ; furprife gives the
alarm *, and if there be any appearance of danger, our
whole forge is inftantly fummoned to flmn or to pre¬
vent it.
NOVELLARA, a handfome town of Italy, and
capital of a {mall diftriCl of the fame name, with a hand¬
fome caftle, where their fovereign refides. E. Long.
10. 37. N. Lat. 45. 50.
NOVEMVIRI, nine magiftrates of Athens, whofe
government lafted but for one year. The firft of whom
was called arc/ion, or prince j the fecond bq/tlius, or
king ; the third polemarckus, or general of the army :
the other fix were called thefmothetce, or lawgivers.
They took an oath to obferve the laws j and in cafe of
failure, obliged themfelves to beftow upon the common¬
wealth a ftatue of gold as big as themfelves. Thofe
who difeharged their office with honour, were received
into the number of the fenators of Areopagus.
NOVI, a town of Italy, in the territory of Genoa,
on the confines of the Milanefe. It was taken by the
Piedmontefe in 1746. E. Long. 8. 48. N. Lat. 44.
45.
Non Bazar, a confiderable town of Turkey in Eu¬
rope, and in Servia, near the river Orefco. E. Long.
20. 24. N. Lat. 43. 25.
NOVICE, a perfon not yet {killed or experienced Novic*
in an art or profeflion. _ - NovJL d
In the ancient Roman militia, novicn, or novitii, were \y click?'
the young raw foldiers, diftinguiftred by this appellation u
from the veterans.
In the ancient orders of knighthood, there were no¬
vices or clerks in arms, who went through a kind of
apprenticelhip ere they were admitted knights.—See
Knight.
Novice is more particularly ufed in monafteries for
a religious yet in his, or her, year of probation, and
who has not made the vows.
In fome convents, the fub-prior has the diredlion of
the novices. In nunneries, the novices wear a w hite
veil; the reft a black one.
NOVICIATE, a year of probation appointed for
the trial of religious, whether or no they have a voca¬
tion, and the neceflary qualities for living up to the
rule ; the obfervation w hereof they are to bind them¬
felves to by vow. The novitiate lafts a year at leaft j
in fome houfes more. It is efteemed the bed of the
civil death of a novice, who expires to the world by
profeflion.
NOVIGRAD, a fmall but ftrong town of Upper
Hungary, capital of a county of the fame name, with
a good caftle, feated on a mountain near the Danube.
E. Long. 18. 10. N. Lat. 40. 50.
Novigrad, a fmall but ftrong town of Dalmatia,
with a caftle, and fubjeft to the Turks *, feated on a
lake of the fame name, near the gulf of Venice. E.
Long. 16. 45. N. Lat. 44. 30. _
NOVIGRAD, a very ftrong place of Servia, fiibjeft to
the Turks 5 feated near the Danube. E. Longvib. 5.
N. Lat. 45. 5.
N0V10DUNUM (Cfefar), a town of the ^dui,
commodioufly feated on the Liguris : the Nivernum
of Antenine. Now Nevers in the Orleannois, on the
Loire.—A fecond Noviotlunum of the Aulerci Dia-
blintes, in Gallia C^ltica, (Antonine) j called Novio-
dunum (Ptolemy), and Noningentutn Rotrudum by the
moderns : Nogente le Rotrou, capital of the duchy of
Perche.—A third of the Eituriges, (Ciefarj : Now
Nueve fur Baranion; a village 15 miles to the north
of Bourges, towards Orleans.—A fourth, of Moefia
Inferior, (Ptolemy), fituated on the Ifter : now Nivorz,
in Beflarabia.—A fifth, of Pannonia Superior, (An¬
tonine) 5 now Gurhfeld in Carinthia.—A fixtb, Novio-
dunum SueJJionum, the fame with Augujla Sueffionutiu—
A feventh, Noviodunwn of the Veromandux in Gallia
Belgica, (Ccefar) : now Noyon in the Ifle of France, on
the borders of Picardy.
NOUN, fee Grammar, N° 7. j and Chapter L in
toto.
NOVOGOROD WELICKI, Great Novgorod, ac¬
cording to Mr Coxe, is one of the moft ancient cities
in Ruflia. It was formerly called Great Novogorod, to
diftinguifh it from other Ruffian towns of a fimilar ap¬
pellation ; and now prefents to the attentive and intel¬
ligent traveller a ftriking inftance of fallen grandeur.
According to Neftor, the earlieft of the Ruffian hi-
ftorians, it was built at the fame time with Kiof,
namely, in the middle of the 5th century, by a Sela-
vonian horde, who, according to Procopius, iflued
from the banks of the Volga, {ts antiquity is dearly
• proved
NOV [
Novogcrrod proved by a paffage in the Gothic hidorian Jornandes,
Welicki. }n YvrJjleh it is called Civitas Nova, or new town. We
f have little infight into its hiftory before the 9th cen¬
tury, when Ruric the firft great duke of Rufiia reduced
it, and made it the metropolis of his valt dominion.
The year fubfequent to his death, which happened in
£79, the feat of government was removed, under his
fon Igor, then an infant, to Kiof; and Novogorod con¬
tinued, for above a century, under the jurifdiction of
governors nominated by the great dukes, until 970,
when Svatoflaf, the fon of Igor, created his third fon
Vladimir duke of Novogorod: the latter, fucceeding his
father in the throne of Ruifia, ceded the town to his
fon Yarollaf, who in 1036 granted to the inhabitants
very confiderable privileges, that laid the foundation of
that extraordinary degree of liberty which they after¬
wards gradually obtained. From this period Novogorod
was for a long time governed by its own dukes : thefe
fovercigns were at firft fubordinate to the great dukes,
who refided at Kiof and Volodinlir ; but afterwards, as
Ithe town increafed in population and wealth, they gra¬
dually ufurped an abfolute independency. Its indepen¬
dency, however, was not perpetual. It continued, in¬
deed, in a flouriihing ftate until the middle of the 15th
century : but the great dukes of Rufiia, whofe anceftors
had reigned over this town, and who ftill retained the
title of dukes of Novogorod, having transferred their re-
fidence from Kiof to Volodimir, and afterwards to Mof-
cow, laid claim to its feudal fovereignty ; a demand
1 which the inhabitants fometimes put off by compofition,
fometimes by refiftance, but were fometimes compelled
to acknowledge. At length, however, the great duke
became abfolute fovereign of Novogorod, though the
-oftenfible forms of government were ftill preferved. It
even then, however, continued to be the largeft and
molt commercial city of Rufiia; a proof of which we
have as late as the year 1554, from the following de-
feription of Richard Chancellor, who paffed through it
in 1554 on bis way to Mofcow. “ Next unto Mofcow,
the city of Novogorod is reputed the chiefeft of Ruflia ;
for although it be in majefty inferior to it, yet in
greatnefs it goeth beyond it. It is the chiefeft and
greateft mart town of all Mufcovy ; and albeit the
emperor’s feat is not there, but at Mofcow, yet the
commodioufnefs of the river, falling into that gulf
which is called Sinus Finnicus, whereby it is well
frequented by merchants, makes it more famous than
Mofcow itfelf.” An idea of its population during
this period, when compared with its prefent declined
ftate, is manifeft from the fa£I, that in I508 above
15,000 perfons died of an epidemical difwder ; more
than double the number of its prefent inhabitants. In
its moft flouriihing condition it contained at leaft
400,000 fouls. Its ruin was brought on by Ivan Va-
lilievitch II. and completed by the foundation of Pe-
terlburgh. The prefent town is furrounded by a ram¬
part of earth, with a range of old towers at regular
diftances, forming a circumference of fcarcely a mile
and a half; and even this inconfiderable circle in¬
cludes much open fpace, and many houfes which are
not inhabited. As Novogorod was built after the
manner of the ancient towns in this country, in the
Afiatic ftyle, this rampart, like that of the Semlaino-
gorod at Mofcow, probably enclofed feveral interior
Vol. XV. Part I.
81 ] N O Y
circles. Without it was a vaft extenfive fuburb, which Novogorai
reached to the diftance of fix miles, and included with- ^e!lcki
in its circuit all the convents and churches, the ancient j^0y0n
ducal palace and other ftruffures, that now make a ■ -■ ^ ,
fplendid but lolitary appearance, as they lie Icattercd in
the adjacent plain.
Novogorod ftretches on both fides of the Volkof, a
beautiful river of confiderable depth and rapidity, and „
fomewhat broader than the Thames at Windfor. This
river feparates the town into two divifions, the trad¬
ing part, and the quarter of St Sophia, which are unit¬
ed by means of a bridge, partly wooden and partly brick.
NOVOGOROD Weiicki, a province of Mufcovy, bound¬
ed on the north by Ingria ; on the eaft by part of the
duchy of Belozero, and that of Tuera, which alfo
bounds it on the fouth, with the province of Rzeva ;
and on the weft by Plefcow. It is full of lakes and
forefts ; however, there are fome places which produce
corn, flax, hemp, honey, and wax.
NOVOGOROD Serpjhoi, a ftrong town of the Ruffian
empire, and capital of a province of Siberia of the
fame name, featedon the river Dubica, in E. Long. 33.
20. N. Lat. 52. 30.
NOVOGORODECK, a town of Lithuania, and
capital of a palatinate of the fame name. It is a large
place, and fituated in a vaft plain, in E. Long. 25. 30,
N. Lat. 53. 45.
NOURISHMENT. See Nutrition.
Nourishment of Vegetables. See Agriculture
. Index.
NO WED, in Heraldry, fignifies u knotted,” from
the Latin nodatus ; being applied to the tails of fuch
creatures as are very long, and fometimes reprefented in
coat armour as tied up in a knot.
NOX, in fabulous hiftory, one of the moft ancient
deities among the heathens, daughter of Chaos. From
her union with her brother Erebus, fhe gave birth to the
Day and the Light. She was alfo the mother of the
Parcae, Hefperides, Dreams, of Difcord, Death, Mo-
mus, Fraud, &c. She is called by fome of the poets
the mother of all things, of gods as well as of men ;
and fhe was worfhipped with great folemnity by the
ancients. She had a famous ftatue in Diana’s temple
at Ephefus. It was ufual to offer her a black fheep,
as fhe was the mother of the Furies. The cock was
alfo offered to her, as that bird proclaims the approach
of day during the darknefs of the night. She is re¬
prefented as mounted on a chariot, and covered with
a veil befpangled with ftars. The conftellations gene¬
rally Avent before her as her conftant meffengers. Some¬
times fhe is feen holding tAvo children under her arms;
one of which is black, reprefenting Death, and the other
white, reprefenting Sleep. Some of the moderns have
defcribed her as a woman veiled in mourning, and croAvn-
ed with poppies, and carried on a chariot draivn by oavIs
and bats.
NO YON, a toAvn of France, fituated on the decli¬
vity of a hill on the rivulet Vorfe, which at a quarter of
a league’s diftance falls into the Oyfe, in the department
of Oyfe, in E. Long. 3. o. N. Lat. 49. 38. about 66
miles north-eaft of Paris. It is an ancient place, being
the Noviodunum Belgarum oi the Latins. It is a pretty
large city, and is well fituated for inland trade, Avhich
confifts here in Avheat and oats, Avhich they fend to
L Parij.
Noyon
il
Nuba.
NUB [8
Paris. They have alfo manufaftories of linen cloths,
lawns, and tanned leather. There are eight pariflies in
, it, two abbeys, and feveral monafteries of both fexes.
It is the fee of a biihop, fuffragan to the metropolitan of
Rheims ; he has the title of count and peer of France,
and his income is faid to amount to about 15,000 livres
per annum. The principal buildings are the epifcopal
palace, a cloifter where the canons of the cathedral dwell,
and the town-houfe. The latter is regularly built in a
large fcjunre, in the middle of which there is a fountain,
where the water conveyed to it from a neighbouring
mountain runs continually through three conduits, and
is received in a large bafon built of very hard done.
They have alfo many other fountains, feveral market
places, and two public gardens. Noyon is particularly
remarkable for the birth of the famous John Calvin, who
was born here on the 10th of July 1502, and died at
Geneva the 27th of Pvlay 1564.
NUAYHAS, the Ague Tree 5 a name given by
the Indians to a fort of bamboe cane, the leaves of
which falling into the water, are faid to impregnate
it with fuch virtue, that the bathing in it afterwards
cures the ague. iL hey ufe alfo a decodlion of the
leaves to diffolve coagulated blood, giving it inter¬
nally, and at the fame time rubbing the bruifed part
externally with it. It is faid that this plant bears its
flowers only once in its life ; that it lives 60 years be¬
fore thofe make their appearance 5 but that when they
begin to (how themfelves, it withers away in about a
month afterwards ; that is, as foon as it has ripened
the feed. There feems to be fomething of fidlion m
the account of many other particulars relating to this
tree in the IIortus Ma/abaricus ,* but it feems certain,
that the length of the ftalks, or trunk, muft be very
great : for, in the gallery of Leyden, there is pre-
ferved a cane of it 28 feet l°ng 5 and another not
much Ihorter in the Afhmolean mufeum at Oxford, and
which is more than eight inches in diameter : yet both
' thefe appear to be only parts of the whole trunk, they
being nearly as large at one end as at the other.
NUBA, a race of black Pagans, in the neighbour¬
hood of Sennaar, of whom v^e know nothing but what
we have learned from Mr Bruce. That celebrated tra¬
veller paflfed a day or two among them, in his wray
from Abyflinia } and he tells us, that they are all fol-
diers of the Mek or king of Sennaar, cantoned in vil¬
lages, which to the diftance of four or five miles fur-
round the capital. They are not the aborigines of that
part of Africa } but “ are either purchafed or taken
by force from Fazuclo, and the provinces to the fouth
upon the mountains Dyre and Tegla.” Though the
flaves of a cruel and treacherous mafter, Mr Bruce re-
prefents them as a gentle, honeft, and hofpitable people ;
and he fays exprefsly, that on a journey he had feldom
palled a more comfortable night, than one in which he
took refuge from a llorm in a village of thofe Nuba.
He had a good (upper, and a clean neat hut to fleep in,
while fome of the Nuba watched for him all night,
and took care of his beads and his baggage. “ Having
fettlements and provifions given them by the govern¬
ment of Sennaar, as alfo arms put into their hands,
they never wifh to defert, but live a very domeftic
and fober life, and are a much gentler fort of negro
than their mafters.” (See Sennaar). Though the
2 ] NUB
eftablifhed religion of Sennaar is that of Mahomet, the
government has never attempted to convert the Nuba.
On the contrary, a certain number of Pagan prielts
is maintained for them in every village, who have fol-
diers in pay to aflift them in the affairs of their religion.
This is a very lingular inflance of toleration among
Mahometans, and what we fliould little have expedled
from fuch barbarous and fanguinary wretches as thofe
who have the fupreme power in Sennaar, had not our
obferving traveller informed us, that thefe men them¬
felves know almoft nothing of the religion which they
profefs, and are in their hearts rather Pagans than Ma¬
hometans.
The idolatry of the Nuba is defcribed as a mixture
of Sabiifm and flatue worfhip : but what is very un¬
common, their worfhip is chiefly paid to the moon,
while they pay no attention to the fun either rifmg or
Nuba,
fetting, advancing to the meridian or receding from it.
It is an old obfervation, that the worfhip of every
people is tinflured by their natural difpofitions ; and this
is verified in the Nuba. “ That their worfhip is per¬
formed with pleafure and fatisfaclion, is obvious (fays
our author) every night that the moon fbines. Coming
out from the darknefs of their huts, they fay a few
words upon feeing her brightnefs, and teftify great
joy, by motions of their feet and hands, at the firll
appearance of the new moon.” I his is juft what we
fliould have expe&ed from their gentlenefs and hofpk
tality. They worfhip likewife a tree and a ftone ; but
our author could never difcover what tree or ftone 5
only he learned that neither of them exifts in Sennaar.
but in the country where the Nuba are born. Such of
them as are natives of the villages where he faw them,
become, like their mafters, nominal Mahometans.—
The reft praftife the idolatrous worfhip of their ancef-
tors, and arp much under the influence of their priefts,
from fear rather than from affedfion. They are im¬
moderately fond of fwine’s flefli, and maintain great
herds of fmall hogs, marked with black and white fpots.
Few of the Nuba advance higher than to be foldiers
and officers in their own corps j and the Mek main¬
tains about 12,000 of them near Sennaar to keep the
Arabs in fubjedlion. In a climate fo violent as that
which tjiey inhabit, there is very little need of fuel 5
and it is happy for them that fuch is the cafe, for in
the whole country there is not a Angle tree, or turf,
or any thing refembling it. They do not, however,
“ eat their meat raw like the Abyflinians 5 but with
the ftalk of the dora or millet, and the dung of ca¬
mels, they make ovens under ground, in whicli they
roaft their hogs whole, in a very cleanly manner, keep¬
ing their fkins on till they are perfedlly baked. They
have neither flint nor fteel with which to light their
fire at firft ; but do it in a manner ftill more expedi¬
tious, by means of two flicks, brought, we are led to
think, from Sennaar, and there picked out of the river
when flooded. They make a fmall hole in one of thefe
flicks, and point the other : then laying the former in
a horizontal pofition, they apply the point of the latter
to the hole •, and, turning the perpendicular flick be¬
tween their hands, as we do a chocolate mill, both flicks
take fire and flame in a moment •, fo perfeflly dry and
prepared to take fire is every thing there on the furface
of the earth,”
NUBECULA,.
NUB
[ 83 ]
NUB
Nubecula,
Nubia.
NUBECULA, Little Cloud, in Medicine, a term
fometimes ufed for a difeafe in the eye, wherein objefts
^—v ' appear as through a cloud or mill.
The nubecula feems to arife from certain grofs par¬
ticles detained in the pores of the cornea, or fwimming
in the aqueous humour, and thus intercepting the rays
of light.
Nubecula, or Nubes, is alfo ufed for what is other-
wdfe called albugo. See Albugo.
Nubequla is ufed like wife for a matter in form of a
cloud, fufpended in urine.
NUBIA, a kingdom of Africa, bounded on the
north by Egypt, on the call by the Red fea and part
of Abydinia, on the weft by the kingdoms of Tagua,
Gaoga, and the defert of Gerharn. The river Nile
runs through it ; on the banks of which, and thofe of
the other rivers, it is pretty fruitful, but in other
places barren, fandy, and in want of water. To the
weft of the Nile is the defert of Bahouda, which is five
days journey over, being the ufual road from Egypt to
Abyffinia. Money is of no ufe in this country in the
way of trade, it being all carried on by way of ex¬
change. Their bread and drink is made of a fmall
round feed, called dor a or fej}\ which is very ill tailed.
Their houfes have mud walls,, being very low, and
covered with reeds. The habit of the better fort is a
veft without fleeves; and they have no coverings for
their heads, legs, and feet. The common people wrap
a piece of linen cloth about them, and the children go
quite naked. They are a ftupid debauched fort of
people, having neither modefty, civility, nor religion,
though they profefs to be Mahometans.—The produc¬
tions of this country are gold, elephants teeth, civet,
and fandal wood j and they fend a great many Haves in¬
to Egypt. The principal towns known to the Euro¬
peans are Dangola and Sennaar.
It is famous for a race of horfes the moft powerful
and docile in the world. Thefe animals are generally
about fixteen hands high 5 and by Mr Bruce, who has
given the moft fcientific account of them, they are
laid to be the breed which was introduced into Nubia
at the Saracen conqueft, and has been preferved un¬
mixed to this day. Our author reprelents this as a
much nobler animal than the Arabian horfe. “ What
* Travels, figure (fays he *) the Nubian horfe would make in
vol. iv. b. 8. p0int of fleetnefs is very doubtful, his make being fo
entirely different from that of the Arabian ; but if
beautiful fymmetry of parts, great fize and ftrength,
the moft agile, nervous, and elaftic movements, great
endurance of fatigue, docility of temper, and feeming
attachment to men beyond that of any other domef-
tic animal, can proniife any tiling for a ftallion, the
Nubian is above all companion the moft eligible in the
world.” He thinks, and juftly thinks, that an at¬
tempt fliould at leaft be made to import them into this
kingdom. “ The expence (he fays) would not be
great, though there might be fome trouble and appli¬
cation neceffary : but if adroitly managed, there would
not be much even of that. I he Nubians are very jea¬
lous in keeping Up the pedigree of their horfes, which
are black or white, but a vaft proportion of the former
to the latter.” Our author never faw the colour which
we call gray, i. e. dappled \ but he has feen fome bright
bays, and fome inclined to forrel. All noble horfes
in Nubia are faid to be defcended of one of the five
ch. 10.
upon which Mahomet and his four immediate fuccef-
fors, Abu Beer, Omar, Atmen, and Ali, fled from Mec¬
ca to Medina the night of the Hegira. No one will
pay much regard to this legendary tale, or believe that
the ftrength and beauty of this breed of horfes is owing
to any virtue communicated to the firft of them by the
prophet and his apoftles. Mr Bruce accounts for their
excellence upon rational principles. “ The beft horfes
of the Arabian breed are found (he fays) in the tribe
of Mowelli and Annecy, which is about 36° north la¬
titude. Dangola, which is in 20° latitude, feemed to
him to be the centre of excellence for this noble ani¬
mal.” Hence he infers, that the bounds in which the
borfe is in greateft perfection, are between the 20th and
36th degrees of latitude, and between 30 degrees of,
longitude ealt from Greenwich and the banks of the.
Euphrates. L to the effedts of climate we add the,
manner of feeding the Nubian horfes, ,we ftiall perhaps,
have the tru“ caule of their fuperiority over all others.
“ They are kept fat upon dora, and fuffered to eat no¬
thing green but the fhort roots of graft that art. to be
found by the fide of the Nile, after the fun has withered
it. Tlus is dug out where it is covered with earth, and
appears blanched, and laid in fmall heaps once a-day on
the ground before them.”
NUBIAN desert, a vaft trad! of barren rocks and
burning fands, extending from Syene in Upper Egypt
to Geon, the capital of Berber in Nubia. As Syene
is in latitude 240 o' 45" north, and Geon in latitude
I7° 57' 22,/? the length of this defert from north to
fouth is 6° 3' 23", or upwards of 420 Englifh miles.
Its breadth from eaft to weft has not, as far as we
know, been precifely afeertained. Through this hor-.
rid region, where nothing is to be feen which has the
breath of life, muft all travellers pafs from Sennaar to
Egypt ; in danger every moment of perilhing by thirft,
being overwhelmed by moving columns of fand, fuffo-
cated by a hot and poifonous wind, or cut in pieces
by troops of wandering Arabs. The laft European of
whom we have heard that made the journey and lived
to give an account of it, is Mr Bruce ; and the perfon
muft have neither tafte nor fenfibility who can read un¬
moved his manly narrative.
No fingle traveller, nor even a caravan, can enter with
fafety into this deleft, but under the protection of a Hy-
bear ; whofe title and office are thus explained by Mr
Bruce : “ A Hybear is a guide, from the Arabic word
Hubbar, which fignifies to inform, inftruCt, or direft,
becaufe they are ufed to do this office to the caravans
travelling through the defert in all directions. They
are men of great confideration, knowing perfectly the
fituation and properties of all kinds of water to be met
with on the route, the diftance of wells, whether oc¬
cupied by enemies or not j and if fo, the way to avoid
them with the leaft inconvenience. It is alfo necelfary
that they fliould know the places occupied by the Si¬
moom, and the feafons of its blowing (fee Simoom),
as well as thofe occupied by moving fands.”—Under
the conduCt of one of thefe men, Mr Bruce, with , in¬
finite fortitude and addrefs, paffed through the defert in
the year 1772, furmounting dangers at which one fliud-
ders in his clofet. Of thefe, the following, which we
fliall give in the nervous language of the author, may
ferve as an inftance.
“ We were here (at a place called Weadiul Halboub')
L 2 at
Nubia,
Nubian
Defert.
JJnbian
Deiert
* Bruce's
Tranels,
-rol. iv.
N U C [ ^4 ] N U M
at once furprifed and terrified by a fight furely one of
the moft magnificent in the world. In that vaft ex-
panfe of defert, from W. and to NW. of us, we faw a
number of prodigious pillars of fand at different di-
fiances, at times moving with great celerity, at others
Halting on with a majeilic llownefs. At intervals we
thought they were coming in a very few minutes to
overwhelm us 5 and fmall quantities of fand did actually
more than once reach us. Again they would retreat fo
as to be almoil out of fight -, their tops reaching to the
very clouds. There the tops often feparated from the
bodies ; and thefe once disjoined, difperfed in the air,
and did not appear more. Sometimes they were broken
in the middle as if ftruck with a large cannon fhot.
About noon they began to advance with confiderable
fwiftnefs upon us, the wind being very ftrong at north,
j&leven of them ranged alongfide of us about the di-
jftance of three miles. The greateft diameter of the
largeft appeared to me at that diitance as if it would
meafure 10 feet. They retired from us with a wind
at SE. leaving an impreffion upon my mind to which
I can give no name j though furely one ingredient in
it was fear, with a confiderable degree of wonder and
sdtonifhment.”
If it be true, as the author of A Philofophical In¬
quiry into the Origin of our Ideas of the Sublime and
Beautiful affirms, that “ the paffion raifed by the fublime
is aftoniffiment, and that aftonilhment is that ftate of the
foul in which all its motions are fufpended with fome
degree of horror,” furely a more fublime fpe&acle was
never prefented to mortal eyes, than that which was on
this occafion prefented to Mr Bruce. It mull have been
awfully majeftic *, but few', w'e believe, would choofe
the pleafure of contemplating fuch a feene of magnifi¬
cence at the hazard of that dreadful death with which
at every moment it threatened our traveller and his at¬
tendants. He, indeed, had firmnefs of mind to Hand
Hill and admire it 5 but his companions fhrieked out;
while fome of them exclaimed that it w'as the day of
judgment, and others that it was hell or the world fet
on fire. But for a more particular account of this phe¬
nomenon, as well as of the nature of the defert and the
proper way of paffing it, we mull refer to tile work from
which this ffiort fketch is taken*.
NUCLEUS, in general, denotes the kernel of a nut,
or even any feed enclofed within a hulk. The term
nucleus is alfo ufed for the body of a comet, otherwfife
called its head.
NUCTA, a dewr, which falling in Egypt about
St John’s day, is by the fuperliitious natives of the
country confidered as miraculous, and the peculiar gift
of that faint. Its effefts are indeed fo beneficial, that
this belief is little furprifing among a people fo totally
ignorant of natural caufes as the modern Egyptians, for
it is acknowdedged, by the moft enlightened travellers,
to flop the plague, and announce a fpeedy and plentiful
inundation of the country. Thefe effefts are thus ra¬
tionally accounted for by Mr Bruce.
“ In February and March, the fun is on its ap¬
proach to the zenith of one extremity of Egypt, and
of courfe has a very confiderable influence upon the
other. The Nile having now fallen low, the water in
certain old cifterns, which, though they ft ill exift, are
fuffered to accumulate all 'he filth of the river, be¬
comes putrid, and the river itfelf has loft, all its finer
2
and volatile parts by the continued adion of a vertical * NudU
fun } fo that inftead of being fubjed to evaporation, it II
grows daily more and more inclined to putrefadion. . uma^
About St John’s day it receives a plentiful mixture
of the freffi and fallen rain from Ethiopia, which di¬
lutes and refreffies the almoft corrupted river, and the
fun near at hand exerts its influence upon the water,
which is now become light enough to be exhaled, though
it has ftill with it a mixture of the corrupted fluid. It
is in February, March, or April only, that the plague
begins in Egypt.” Our philofopbical traveller does not
believe it an endemical difeafe ; but affigns very fuffi-
cient reafons for thinking that it comes from Conftan-
tinople with merchandife or with paffengers at the very
time of the year when the air, by the long abfence of
dews, has attained a degree of putridity proper to re¬
ceive it. In this ftate of the atmofphere, the infec¬
tion continues to rage till the period of St John’s day*
when it is fuddenly flopped by the dews oceafioned by
a refreffiing mixture of rain -water, which is poured
into the Nile at the beginning of the inundation.
The firft and moft remarkable fign of the change effeft-
ed in the air, is the hidden Hopping of the plague.
Every perfon, though ffiut up from fociety for months
before, buys, fells, and communicates with his neigh¬
bour without any fort of apprehenfion ; and as far as
our author could learn upon fair inquiry, it was never
known that one fell fick of the plague after the anni-
verfary of St John. He admits that fome have died
of it after that period ; but of them the difeafe had
got fuch hold, under the moft putrid influence of the
air, that they could not recover. To corroborate this
theory, which attributes fo much to the benign influ¬
ence of the falling dew, he obferves, that immediately
after St John’s day, the clothes of the many thoufands
who have died during the late continuance of the plague
are publicly expofed in the market place j and that all
thele, though confifting of furs, cotton, filk, and woollen
cloths, which are the fluffs moft retentive of infedtion,.
imbibing the moift air of the evening and the morning,
are handled, bought, put on and worn, without any ap-
prehonfion of danger, and without a Angle accident be¬
ing known to have happened to any one poflefied of this
happy confidence.
NUDITIES, in painting and Sculpture, tbofe parts
of -a-human figure which are not covered with any
drapery •, or thofe parts where the carnation appears.
NULLITY, in Zaxu, fignifies any thing that is null
or void : thus there is a nullity of marii ige, where per-
fons marry within the degrees, or where infants marry
without eonfent of iheir parents or guardians.
NUMA Pompilius, the fourth fon of Pompilius
Pompo, an illuftrious Sabine. He had married Tatia,
the daughter of King Tatius, and together with her
remained in his native country, preferring the tran¬
quillity of a private life to the fplendour of a court.
Upon the death of his wife, with whom he had lived
thirteen years, he gave himfelf up entirely to the ftudy
of wifdom; and, leaving the city of Cures, confined
himfelf to the country, wandering from fblitude to
folitude, in fearch only of thofe -woods and fountains
which religion Had made facred. His reclufe life gave'
rife to the fable, wh-ch w'as very early received among
the Sabines, that Numa lived in familiarity with the
nymph'Egeria. Upon the death of Romulus, both the-
fenata
N U M r 85 ] N U M
Noma, fenate and people ftrongly folicited him to be their king.
—y—i They defpatched Julius Proculus and Valerius Volefus,
two fenators of diftinftion, to acquaint Numa with
their refolution, and make him an offer of the king¬
dom. The Sabine philofopher rejefted at firft their
propofal j but being at lait prevailed upon by the ar¬
guments and entreaties of the deputies, joined with
thofe of his father and of Martius his near relation,
he yielded ; and having offered facrifices to the gods,
fet out for Rome, where he was received by all ranks
of people with loud fhoutsof joy. Spurius Vettius, the
interrex for the day, having affembled the curiae, he ^vas
ele&ed in due form, and the eleftion was unanimoufly
confirmed by the fenate.
The beginning of his reign was popular ; and he
difmiffed the 300 bodyguards which his predeceffor had
kept around his perfon, and obferved, that he did not
diltruft a people who had compelled him to reign over
them. He was not, like Romulus, fond of war and
military expeditions, but he applied himfelf to tame the
ferocity of his fubje&s, to inculcate in their minds a
reverence for the Deity, and to quell their diflenfions by
dividing all the citizens into different clafles. He efta-
blifhed different orders of priefts, and taught the Ro¬
mans not to worfhip the Deity by images $ and from
his example no graven or painted ftatues appeared in
the temples or fan&uaries of Rome for the fpace of 160
years. He encouraged the report that was fpread of
his paying regular vifits to the nymph Egeria, and
made ufe of her name to give fandlion to the laws and
inftitutions which he had introduced. He eftablifhed
the college of the veftals, and told the Ramans that
the fafety of the empire depended upon the prefervation
of the facred anajle or fhield, which, as was generally
believed, had dropped from heaven. He dedicated a
temple to Janus, which, during his whole reign, remain¬
ed (hut as a mark of peace and tranquillity at Rome.
After a reign of 42 years, in which lie had given every
oflible encouragement to the ufeful arts, and in which
e had cultivated peace, Numa died in the year of
Rome 82. Not only the Romans, but alfo the neigh¬
bouring nations, were eager to pay their laft offices to
a monarch whom they revered for his abilities, mode¬
ration, and humanity. He forbade his body to be burnt
according to the cuftom of the Romans j but he ordered
it to be buried near Mount Janiculum, with many of
the books which he had written. Thefe books were
accidentally found by one of the Romans, about 400
years after his death ; and as they contained nothing
new or interefting, but merely the reafons why he had
made innovations in the form of worfhip and in the re¬
ligion of the Romans, they were burnt by order of the
fenate. He left behind him one daughter called Pom-
pilia, who married Numa Marcius, and became the mo¬
ther of Ancus Marcius the fourth king of Rome.
Some fay that he had alfo four fons •, but this opinion is
ill founded. The principal laivs of King Numa, men¬
tioned by different authors, are, I. That the gods fhould
be worfhipped with corn and a falted cake. 2. That
whoever knowingly killed a free man, fhould be held,
as a parricide. 3. That no harlot fhould touch the
altar of Juno j and if (he did, that (he fhould facrifice
a ewe-lamb to that goddefs, with diffievelled hair.
4..That whoever removed a land-mark fhould be put to
death. 5. That wine fhould not be poured on a funeral Num*
pile, &c. II
NUMANTIA, a very noble city, the ornament of, "v,u™1)er-
the Hither Spain, (Florus) j celebrated for the long
war of 20 years which it maintained againfl the Ro¬
mans. The bafenefs and injuftice of the Romans during
this war were truly difgraceful to them, and altogether
unworthy of a great and powerful people. The inha¬
bitants obtained fome advantages over the Roman
forces, till Scipio Africanus was empowered to finifh
the war and to fee the deftrudtion of Numantia. He
began the fiege, with an army of 60,000 men, and was
bravely oppofed by the befieged, who were no more
than 4000 men able to bear arms. Both armies be¬
haved with uncommon valour, and the courage of the
Numantines was foon changed into defpair and fury.
Their provifions began to fail, and they fed upon the
flefh of their horfes, and afterwards on that of their
dead companions, and at laft they were obliged to draw
lots to kill and devour one another. The melancholy
fituation of their affairs obliged them to furrender to
the Roman general. Scipio demanded them to deliver
themfelves up on the morrow ; they refufed, and when
a longer time had been granted to their petitions, they
retired and fet fire to their houfes and deftroyed them¬
felves, fo that not even one remained to adorn the tri¬
umph of the conqueror. Some hiftorians, howeVer,
deny that; and affert, that a number of Numantines
delivered themfelves into Scipio’s hands, and that 50
of them were drawn in triumph at Rome, and the reft
fold as Haves. The fall of Numantia wras more glorious
than that of Carthage or Corinth, though the place
was much inferior to them. It was taken by the Ro¬
mans, A. U. C. 629 ; and the conqueror obtained the
furname of Numanticus.
NUMBER, an affemblage of feveral units, or things
of the fame kind. See Arithmetic, and Metaphy¬
sics, N° 205—208.
Number, fays Malcolm, is either abftraift or appli¬
cate : Abftradft, when referred to things in general,
without attending to their particular properties ; and
applicate, when confidered as the number of a particu¬
lar fort of things, as yards, trees, or the like.
When particular things are mentioned, there is al¬
ways fomething more confidered than barely their
numbers $ fo that what is true of numbers in the ab-
ftradl, or when nothing but the number of things is
confidered, will not be true when the queftion is li¬
mited to particular things : for inftance, the number
two is lefs than three ; yet two yards is a greater
quantity than three inches : and the reafon is, becaufe
regard muft be had to their different natures as well as
number, whenever things of a different fpecies are
confidered ; for though we can compare the number
of fuch things abftraftedly, yet we cannot compare
them in any applicate fenfe. And this difference is ne-
ceffary to be confidered, becaufe upon it the true fenfe,
and the poffibility or impoflibility, of fome queftions 1
depend.
Number is unlimited in refpeft of increafe; becaufe
we can never conceive a number fo great but ftill there
is a greater. However, in refpeft of decreafe, it is li¬
mited •, unity being the firft and leaft number, below
which therefore it cannot defeend.
Kinds
N U M
[ 86 ]
N U M
''fumber. Kinds anddijhndhonsofNuMBEBS. Mathematicians,
1 .  confidering number under a great many relations, have
, eftablifhed the following diftinaions.
Broken numbers are the fame with fraaions.
Cardinal numbers are thofe which exprefs the quan¬
tity of units, as i, 2, 3, 4, &c. whereas ordinal num¬
bers are thofe which exprefs order, as ift, 2d, 3d, &c.
Compound number, one divilible by fome other num¬
ber befides unity ; as 12, which is divifible by 2, 3, 4,
and 6. Numbers, as 12 and 15, which have lome com-
mofi meafure belides unity, are faid to be compound
numbers among themfelves.
Cubic number is the produa of a fquare number by
its root: fuch is 27, as being the produa of the
fquare number 9 by its root 3. All cubic numbers,
whofe root is lefs than 6, being divided by 6, the re¬
mainder is the root itfelf} thus 27 —-6 leaves the re¬
mainder 3, its root $ 215,_ the cube of 6, being di¬
vided by 6, leaves no remainder •, 343* ^ie. cuJDe 0
leaves a remainder 1, which added, to 6, is the cube
root; and 512, the cube of 8, divided by 6, leaves a
remainder 73 which added to 6,. is the cube root.
Hence the remainders of the divifions of the cubes
above 216, divided by 6, being added to 6, always
give the root of the cube fo divided till that remainder
be 5, and confequently 11, the cube root of the.number
divided. But the cubic numbers above this being
divided by 6, there remains nothing, the cube root be¬
ing 12. Thus the remainders of the higher cubes are
to be added to 12 and not to .6, till you come to 18,
when the remainder of the divilion mull be added to 18 j
and fo on ad vifimtwn.
Determinate number is that referred to fome given
unite, as a ternary or three : whereas an indeterminate
one is that referred to unity in general, and is called
Homogeneal numbers are thofe referred to the fame
unit ; as thofe referred to different units are termed
heterogeneal.
Whole numbers are otherwife called integers.
Rational number is one commenfurable with unity ;
as a number, incommenfurable with unity, is termed
irrational, or a furd. . . ,
In the fame manner, a rational whole number is that
whereof unity is an aliquot part; a rational broken
number, that equal to fome aliquot part of unity ; and a
rational mixed number, that confiding of a whole num¬
ber and a broken one. #
Even number, that which may be divided into two
equal parts without any fraclion, as 6, 12, &c* 1 “e
fum, difference, and produft, of any number of even
numbers, is alway an even number.
An evenly even number, is that which may be mea-
fured, or divided, without any remainder, by another
even number, as 4 by 2. ■
An unevenly even number, when a number may be
equally divided by an uneven numbei, as 20 by 5.
" Uneven number, that which exceeds an even number,
at lead; by unity, or which cannot be divided into two
equal parts, as 3, 5, &c.
The fum or difference of two uneven numbers makes
an even number 5 but the faaum of two uneven ones
makes an uneven number.
If an even number be added to an uneven one : or it
the one be fubtrafted from the other, in the former
3
cafe the fum, in the latter the difference, is an uneven Number,
number ■, but the fadtum of an even and uneven num- v~~—
ber is even.
The fum of any even number of uneven numbers is
an even number; and the fum of any uneven number
of uneven numbers is an uneven number.
Primitive or prime numbers are thofe divifible only
by unity, as 5, 7, &c. And prime numbers among
themielves, are thofe which have no common meafure
befides unity, as 12 and 19.
Perfeft number, that whofe aliquot parts added to¬
gether make the whole number, as 6, 28 5 the aliquot
parts of 6 being 3, 2, and 1, —6 5 and thofe of 28, be¬
ing 14, 7, 4, 2, 1, =28.
Imperfedt numbers, thofe whofe aliquot parts added
together make either more or lefs than the whole.
And thefe are diftinguilhed into abundant and defec¬
tive : an inftance in the former cafe is 12, whofe ali¬
quot parts 6, 4, 3, 2, I, make 16 *, and in the latter
cafe 16, whole aliquot parts 8, 4, 2, and 1, make
but 15. ...
Plane number, that arifing from the multiplication
of two numbers, as 6, which is the produdl of 3 by 2 j
and thefe numbers are. called thejides of the plane.
Square number is the produa of afiy number multi¬
plied by itfelf; thus 4, which is the fadum of 2 by 2,
is a fquare number.
Even fquare number added to its root makes an even
number.
Figurate numbers, are fuch as reprefent lome geo¬
metrical figure, in relation to ubich they aie always
confidered } as triangular, pentagonal, pyramidal, S^c.
numbers.
Figurate numbers are diflinguilhed into orders, ac¬
cording to their place in the fcale of their generation,
being all produced one from another, viz. by adding
continually the terms of any one, thc.fucceffive lums are
the terms of the next order, beginning from the firit
order which is that of equal units I, 1, I, I, &c. ; then
the 2d order confitts of the fucceffive fums of thofe of
the iff order, forming the arithmetical progreffion 1,
2, 3, 4, &c. j thofe of the third order are the fucceffive
fums of thofe of the 2d, and are the triangular num¬
bers 1, 3, 6, xo, 15, &c. ; thofe of the fourth order are
the fucceflive fums of thofe of the 3d, and are the py¬
ramidal numbers I, 4, 10, 20, 35, &c. j and fo on as
below :
Order.
1,
2
v 3
4
5
6
7
Humes.
Equals,
Arithmeticals,
Triangulars,
Pyramidals,
2d Pyramidals,
3d Pyramidals,
4th Pyramidals,
1,
2,
3>
4>
5*
6,
7>
Numbers.
U U
4>
xo,
20,
35>
56>
3>
6,
10,
21,
28,
5>
35?
7°?
126,
210,
&c.
&c.
&c.
&c.
&c.
&c.
&c.
The above are all confidered as different forts of tri¬
angular numbers, being formed from an arithmetical pro-
oreffion whofe common difference is 1. But if that
common difference be 2, the fucceflive fums will be
the feries of fquare numbers : if it be 3,. the feries will
be pentagonal numbers, or pentagons ; if it be 4, the
feries will be hexagonal numbers, or hexagons and fo
on. Thus: , ., . ,
Arithmeticals.
N U M
[
Number.
Arithmcticals.
I5 2, 3, 4>
I> 3> 5>
4> 7? I0>
i, 9> JS*
&c.
i ft Sums, or
Polygons.
Tri. I, 3, 6, 10
Sqrs. I, 4, 9, 16
Pent. I, 5, 12, 22
Hex. i, 6, 15, 28
2cl or
2d Polygons.
1, 4, 10, 20
1, 5> r4» 3°
1, 6, 18, .40
1, 7> 22» 5°
And the reafon of the names triangles, fquares, pen¬
tagons, hexagons, &c. is, that thofe numbers may be
placed in the form of thefe regular figures or polygons.
But the figurate numbers of any order may alfo be
found without computing thofe of the preceding orders ;
which is done by taking the fuccefixve products of as
many of the terms of the arithmeticals, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5,
&c. in their natural order, as there are units in the num¬
ber which denominates the order of figurates required,
and dividing thofe products always by the firft produff :
thus, the triangular numbers are found by dividing the
produffs 1X2, 2X3, 3X4, 4X5, &c. each by the
ift pr. 1 X 2 j the firft pyramids by dividing the pro-
duffs 1 X 2 X 3> 2 X 3 X 4? 3 X 4 X 5» &c- by the firft
1X2X3- And, in general, the figurate numbers
of any order n, are found by fubftituting fucceftively
I, 2, 3, 4, 5, &c. inftead of x in this general ex-
„ . tf-f-i . .r4-2 . ff-l-3 . &c.
preffion 5   ! J
’ 3-4
where the faftors
2 . 3 . 4 . . &c
in the numerator and denominator are fuppofed to be
multiplied together, and to be continued till the num¬
ber in each be lefs by 1 than that which exprefles the
order of the figurates required. See Maclaurin’s Flux¬
ions, art. 351, in the notes j alfo Simpfon’s Algebra,
p. 213 ; or Malcolm’s Arithmetic, p. 396, where the
fubjeft of figurates is treated in a very extenfive and
perfpicuous manner. Hutton's Mathematical Dill ion ary.
Polygonal or polygonous numbers, the fums of arith¬
metical progreftions beginning with unity : thefe, where
the common difference is 1, are called triangular nu?n-
hers; where 2, fquare numbers ; where 3, pentagonal
numbers ; where 4, hexagonal numbers ; where 5, hepta-
gonal numbers, &c.
Pyramidal numbers, the fums of polygonous numbers,
colleffed after the fame manner as the polygons them-
felves, and not gathered out of arithmetical progreffions,
are calledyfr^ pyramidal numbers ; the fums of the firft
pyramidals are called fecondpyramidals, &c.
If they arife out of triangular numbers, they are called
triangular pyramidal numbers ; if out of pentagons,/^?
pentagonal pyramidals.
From the manner of fumming up polygonal numbers,
it is eafy to conceive how the prime pyramidal numbers
r , . (tf—2)«34-3 ift—(a—z\n
aie found, viz. ^ —— expreffes all
the prime pyramidals.
The number nine has a very curious property, its pro¬
duffs always compofmg either 9 or fome leffer produff
of it. We have already given an account of this, with
the examples from Hume, under the article Nine 5
and we need not repeat them. Did our limits permit
us, we could inftance in a variety of other properties
numbers both curious and furprifing. Such fpecula-
tions are indeed by fome men confidered as trifling
Numbers.
87 ] N U M
and ufelefs : but perhaps they judge too haftily j for Number
few employments are more innocent, none more inge¬
nious, nor, to thofe who have a tafte for them, more
amufing.
Numbers were by the Jews, as well as the ancient
Greeks and Romans, expreffed by letters of the alpha¬
bet : hence wre may conceive how imperfeft and limit¬
ed their arithmetic was, becaufe the letters could not be
arranged in a feries, or in different lines, conveniently
enough for the purpofes of ready calculation. The in¬
vention of the cypher, or arithmetical figures, w’hich we
now make ufe of, has given us a very great advantage
over the ancients in this refpeff.
Mankind, we may reafonably fuppofe, firft reckoned
by their fingers, which they might indeed do in a va¬
riety of ways. From this digital arithmetic, very pro¬
bably, is owing the number 10, which conftitutes the
whole fet of arithmetical figures.
The letters chiefly employed by the Romans to ex-
prefs numbers were, M, for 1000 ; D, for 500 •, C,
for 100 ; L, for 50 ; V, for five 5 X, for 10 5 and I,
for one..—M, probably fignified 1000, becaufe it is the
initial of ?nille; D ftands for 500, becaufe it is dimi-
dium mille; C fignifies 100, as being the firft letter
of the word centum ; L ftands for 50, becaufe it is the
half of C, having formerly been wrote thus c. ; V fig¬
nifies 5, becaufe V is the fifth vowel; X ftands for
10, becaufe it contains twice or V in a double form j
I ftands for one, becaufe it is the firft letter of initium.
Thefe however are fanciful derivations. See Numeral.
Letters.
The Jewitli cabbalifts, the Grecian conjurors, and the
Roman augurs, had a great veneration for particular
numbers, and the refult of particular combinations of
them. Thus three, four, fix, feven, nine, ten, are full
of divine myfteries, and of great efficacy.
Golden Number. See Chronology, N° 27.
Numbers, in Poetry, Oratory, &c. are certain mea-
fures, proportions, or cadences, which render a verfe, pe¬
riod, or fong, agreeable to the ear.
Poetical numbers confift in a certain harmony in the
order, quantities, &c. of the feet and fyllables, which-
make the piece mufical to the ear, and fit for finging,
for which all the verfes of the ancients were intended..
See Poetry.—It is of thefe numbers Virgil fpeaks in
his ninth Eclogue, when he makes Lycidas fay, Nu-
meros mcmini, Ji verba tenerem; meaning, that al¬
though he had forgot the words of the verfes, yet he
remembered the feet and meafure of which they were
compofed.
Rhetorical or profaic numbers are a fort of Ample un¬
affected harmony, lefs glaring than that of verfe, but
fuch as is perceived and affefts the mind with pleafure.'
The numbers are that by which the ftyle is faid to be
eafy, free, round, flowing, &c. Numbers are things
abfolutely neceffary in all writing, and even in all fpeech-
Hence Ariilotle, Tully, Quintilian, &c. lay down abun¬
dance of rules as to the beft manner of intermixing dac-
tyles, fpondees, anapefts, &c. in order to have the num¬
bers perfect. The fubftance of what they have faid, is
reducible to what follows : 1. The ftyle becomes nu¬
merous by the alternate difpofition and temperature of.
long and ffiort fyllables, fo as that the multitude of ffiort
ones neither render it too hafty, nor that of long one&
too.-
N U M r 88 ] N U M
Number?, too flow and languid : fometimes, indeed, long and
Numeral.^ fyi]abtes are thrown together defignedly without
^ any fuch mixture,, to paint tlie flownefs or celerity of
any thing by that of the numbers j as in thefe verfes of
Virgil:
Uli inter fefe magna vi brachia toliunt;
and
Rad it iter Jiquidum, celeres neque cornmomet alas.
2. The flvle becomes numerous, by the intermixing
words of one, two, or more fyllables j whereas the too
frequent repetition of monofyllables renders the ftyle
pitiful and grating. 3. It contributes greatly to the
numeroufnefs of a period, to have it cl oft d by magnifi¬
cent and well-founding words. 4. The numbers depend
not only on the noblenefs of the words in the clofe, but
* of thofe in the whole tenor of the period. 5. To have
the period flow eafily and equally, the harfli concur¬
rence of letters and words is to be ftudioufly avoided,
particularly the frequent meeting of rough confonants ;
the beginning the fir ft fy liable of a word with the laft
of the preceding *, the frequent repetition of the fame
letter or fyllable •, and the frequent ufe of the like end¬
ing rvords. Laftly, The utmoft care is to be taken, left,
in aiming at oratorial numbers, you fhould fall into poe-
. tical ones 5 and inftead of profe, write verfe.
Book of Numbers, the fourth book of the Penta¬
teuch, taking its denomination from its numbering the
families of Ifrael.
A greater part of this book is hiftorical, relating to fe-
veral remarkable paffages in the Ifraelites march through
the wildernefs. It contains a diftinft relation of their
feveral movements from one place to another, or their
42 ftages through the wildernefs, and many other things,
■ whereby we are inftrutfted and confirmed in fome of the
weightieft truths that have immediate reference to God
and his providence in the world.-—But the greateft part
of this book is fpent in enumerating thofe laws and
ordinances, whether civil or ceremonial, which Were
given by God, but not mentioned before in the preced¬
ing books.
NUMERAL letters, thofe letters of the alphabet
which are generally ufed for figures ; as I, one ; V, five ;
X, ten ; L, fifty ; C, a hundred j D, five hundred j
M, a thoufand, &c.
It is not agreed how the Roman numerals originally
received their value. It has been fuppofed, as we have
obferved in the end of the article Number,. that the
Romans ufed M to denote 1000, becaufe it is the firft
letter of mille, which is Latin for 1000; and C to de¬
note 100, becaufe it is the firft letter of centum, which
is Latin for 100. It has alfo been fuppofed, that D,
being formed by dividing the old M in the middle, was
therefore appointed to ftand for JOO, that is, half as
much as the M flood for when it was whole ; and that
L being half a C, was, for the fame reafon, ufed to de¬
nominate 50. But what reafon is there to fuppofe, that
1000 and 100 zvere the numbers which letters were firft
ufed to exprefs ? And Avhat reafon can be afligned why
D, the firft letter in the Latin Avord decern, ten, ftiould
not rather have been chofen to ftand for that number,
than for 500, becaufe it had a rude refemblance to half
an M ?—But if thefe queftions could be fatisfaftorily
anfAvered, there are other numeral letters which have
never yet been accounted for at all. Thefe confidera-
tions render it probable that the Romans, did not, in Numeral,
their original intention, ufe letters to exprefs numbers
at all ; the moft natural account of the matter feems to
be this :
The Romans probably put down a fingle ftroke, I,
fur one, as is ftill the practice of thofe Avho fcore on a
flate or Avith chalk : this ftroke, I, they doubled, trebled,
and quadrupled, to exprefs 2, 3, and 4 : thus, II. ill.
IIII. So far they could eafily number the ftrokes Avith
a glance of the eye. But they prefently found, that if
more Avere added, it Avould foon be neceflary to tell
the ftrokes one by one : for this reafon, then, when they
came to 5, they expreffed it by joining tAvo ftrokes to¬
gether in an acute angle thus, V j which Avill ap¬
pear the more’probable, iT it be confidered that the
progreflion of the Roman numbers is from 5 to 5,
i. e. from the fingers on one hand to the fingers on the
other.—Ovid has touched upon the original of this in
his Faforum, lib. iii. and Vitruvius has made the fame
remark.
After they had made this acute angle V. for five,
they added the fingle ftrokes to it to the number of 4,
thus, VI. VII. VIII. VIIII. and then as the ftrokes
could not be further multiplied Avithout confufion, they
doubled their acute angle by prolonging the two lines
beyond their interfeftion thus, X, to denote tAvo fives,
or ten. After this they doubled, trebled, and quadru¬
pled, this double acute angle thus, XX. XXX. XXXX.
they then, for the fame reafon which induced them firft;
to make a fingle and then to double it, joined two tingle '
ftrokes in another form, and inftead of an acute angle,
made a right angle L, to denote fifty. When this 50
was doubled, they then doubled the right angle thus E,
to denote zoo, and having numbered this double right
angle four times, thus EE EEE EEEE j when they came
to the fifth number, as before, they reverted it, and put
a fingle ftroke before it thus it, to denote 500 ; and
when this 500 Avas doubled, then they alfo doubled their
double right angle, fetting two double right angles op-
polite to each other, Avith a fingle ftroke between them,
thus EI3 to denote 1000 : Avhen this note for 1000 had
been four times repeated, then they put doAvn 133 for
5000, EEI33 for 10,000, and 1333 for 50,000, and
EEEl333for 100,000,13333 forjOO,OOO and EEEEI3333
for one million.
That the Romans did not originally write M for
1000, and C for ZOO, but fquare charafters, as they are
written above, we are exprefsly informed by Paulus
Manutius} but the corners of the angles being cut off
by the tranfcribers for defpatch, thefe figures Avere gra¬
dually brought into Avhat are noAV numeral letters.—
When the corners of E13 were made round, it flood
thus cid, Avhich is fo near the Gothic on, that it foon
deviated into that letter ; fo 13 having the corner made
round, it flood thus 13, and then eafily deviated into D.
L alfo became a plain C by the fame means \ the fingle
re&angle Avhich denoted 50, was, without alteration, a
capital L the double acute angle Avas an X ; the fingle
acute angle a V confonant; and a plain fingle ftroke, the
letter I; and thus thefe feven letters, M, D, C, L, X,
V, I, became numerals.
Numeral CharaBers of the Arabs, are thofe figures
which are norv ufed in all the operations of arithmetic
in every nation in Europe. We have elfeAvhere ftiown
that the Arabs derived the ufe of them moft probably
from
' • N U M
Numeral from India, (See Arithmetic, N° 5.).
H . however, though very generally received, has been con-
Numencal. troverte(i with fome ingenuity. A writer in the Gentle¬
man’s Magazine, at a period when that mifcellany was
in its higheft reputation, thus endeavours to prove that
the Arabs derived their notations from the Greeks. “ I
maintain (fays he) that the Indians received their nu¬
meral chara£ters from the Arabians, and the Arabians
from the Greeks, as from them they derived all their
learning, which in fome things they improved, but for
the moft part have altered. The numerical figures which
they received from the Greeks are proofs of this altera¬
tion 5 which is fo great, that without particular atten¬
tion one can fcarce difeover in t hem the veftiges of their
origin. But when we compare them carefully and with¬
out prejudice, we find in them manifeft traces of the
Greek figures. The Greek numerical figures were no
other than the letters of their alphabet. A fmall Broke
was the mark of unity. The B, being abridged of its
two extremities, produced the 2. If you incline the y a
little on its left fide, and cut off its foot, and make the
left horn round towards the left fide, you will produce a
3 ; the A makes the 4, by railing the right leg perpen¬
dicularly, and lengthening it a little below the bale, and
lengthening the bafe on the left fide. The s forms the
5, by turning the loweft femicircle towards the right,
which before was turned towards the left fide. I he
number 5 forms the 6 by having is head taken off, and
its body rounded. Z, by taking away the bale, makes
the 7. If we make the top and bottom-of H round,
we lhall form an 8. The 9 is the 9 with very little al¬
teration. The cypher o was only a point, to which one
of the figures was added to make it Hand for ten times
as much. It was neceffary to mark this point very ftrong-
ly •, and in order to form it better, a circle was made,
which was filled up in the middle; but that cireum-
ftancc was afterwards negle&ed. Theophanes, an hifte-
rian of Conllantinople, who lived in the ninth century,
fays exprefsly, that the Arabians retained the Greek fi¬
gures, having no characters in their language to repre-
fent all the numbers. The Greeks obferved in thtjir
numbers the decuple progreffion, which the Arabians
have retained. Certain characters are found in the
Greek alphabet, which are not ufed in reading, but on¬
ly in calculation, and for this reafon they are iiyled
Epifemes, that is to fay, notes, marks, in order to diftin-
guilh them from letters. The number 6 derives its form
from one of thefe epifemes, which was called tmo-mpcv fiav.
This epifeme forms the letter F among the ZEohansand
among the Latins. This was called the Digamma, lb
llyled from its figure, which feems to have been one r
placed upon another.
That this reafoning is plaufible will hardly be que-
fiioned ; but whether it be conclufive our readers mull;
determine. It has not convinced ourfelves ; but through
the whole of this work we with to Hate candidly the dif¬
ferent opinions held on every fubjeCl of curiofity and
ufefu'nefi.
NUMERATION, or Notation, in Arithmetic, the
art of expretfing in characters any number propofed in
words, or of exprefling in words any number propofed
in characters. See Arithmetic, N° 7.
NUMERICAL, Numerous, or Numeral, fomething
belonging to numbers j as numerical algebra is that
which makes ufe of numbers, inltead of letters of the
Vol. XV. Part I.
If .
Nutnuiia.
[ 89 ] N U M
This opinion, alphabet.— Alfo numerical difference is that by which Numerical
one man is diftinguifhed from another. Hence a thing
is faid to be numerically the fame, when it is fo in the
ftriCtcft fenfe of the word.
NUMIDA, a genus of birds belonging to the order
of gallinse. See Ornithology Index.
NUMIDIA, an ancient kingdom of Africa, bound¬
ed on the north by the Mediterranean fea; on the fouth
by Gsetulia, or part of Libya Interior j on the weft by
the Mulucha, a river which feparated it from Maurita¬
nia ; and on the eaft by the Tufca, another river which -
bounded it in common with Africa Propria. Dr Shaw
lias rendered it probable, that the river which formerly
went under the denominations of Malva, Malvana, Mu-
lucha, and Molochath, is the fame with that now called
Mullooiah by the Algerines-, in which cafe, the king¬
dom of Numidia muft have extended upwards of 500
miles in length: its breadth, however, cannot be fo well
afeertainedj but fuppofing it to have been the fame with
that of the prefent kingdom of Algiers, in the narrow-
eft part it muft have been at leait 40 miles broad, and
in the widell upwards of 100. ‘ t
This-country included two diftriCls ; one inhabited Anaent di-
by the Majfj/li, and the other by the Mu/jaf/ii; the lat-
ter being alio called in after times, Mauritania Cm far i-
enjis, and the former Numidia Propria. The country
of the Maffyli, or, as fome call it, Terra Metagonitis,
was feparated from the proper territory of Carthage by
its eaftern boundary the river Tufca, and from the king¬
dom of the Mafllefyli, or Mauritania Ctefarienfis, by the
river Ampfaga. It feems to conefpond with that part
of the province of Conftantina lying between the Zaine
and the Wed al Kibeer, which is above 130 miles long,
and more ’^an 100 broad. The fea coaft of this pro¬
vince is for the moft part mountainous and rocky, an-
fwering to the appellation given to it by Abulfeda, viz.
El Edwaa, the high or lofty. It is far from being equal
in extent to the aqcient country of the Maffsefyli, which,
Strabo informs us, was yet inferior to the country of the
Maffyli. Its capital was Cirta, a place of very .confi-
derable note among the ancients. „
The moft celebrated antiquarians agree, that the tra'Ci, Peopled by
extending from the ifthmus of Suez to the lake Trito-tlie
nis, was chiefly peopled by the defeendants of Miz-pj^^ar!rs
raim, and that the pofterity of his brother Put, or
Phut, fpread themfelves all over the country between
that lake and the Atlantic ocean. To this notion He¬
rodotus gives great countenance: for he tells us, that
the Libyan Nomades, whofe territories to the well
were bounded by the Triton, agreed in their cuftoms
and manners with the Egyptians 5 but that the Afri¬
cans, from that river to the Atlantic ocean, differed
in almoft all points from them. Ptolemy mentions a
city called Putea near Adrametum •, and Pliny, a river
of Mauritania Tingitana, known by the name of Fut,
or Phut ; and the diftrifil adjacent to this river was cal¬
led Rcgio Phutenfis, which plainly alludes to the name
of Phut. That word fignifies fcattered, or difperfed,
which very well agrees with what Mela and Strabo re¬
late of the ancient Numidians ; fo that we may, without
any fcruple, admit the aborigines of this country to have
been the delcendants of Phut.
The hiftory of Numidia, during many of the early Grcrt pnrt
ages, is buried in oblivion. It is probable, however, of the hi-
that as the Phoenicians were mailers of a crcat part of !i0ry un~
-fi/r ° 1 .1 known.
M
the
N U M [’ 90 ] N U' M
N’umidiaf
Hiftory of
Syphax and
MafiniiTa.
the country, thefe'tranfadions had been recorded, and
generally known to the Carthaginians, King Jarbas
probably reigned here as well as in Africa Propria, if
not in Mauritania, and other parts of Libya, when Di¬
do began to build Byrfa. It appears from Juftin, that
about the age of Herodotus, the people of this country
were called both Africans or Libt/ans and Numidiuns.
Jurtin likewife intimates, that about this time the Car¬
thaginians vanquilhed both the Moors or Mauritanians
and the Numidians •, in confequence of which they were
excufed from paying the tribute which had hitherto been
demanded of them.
After the conclufion of the firft Punic war, the Afri¬
can troops carried on a bloody conteft againft their ma¬
ilers the Carthaginians *, and the moft active in this re¬
bellion, according to Diodorus Siculus, -were a part of
the Numidian nation named Micatamans. This fo in-
cenfed the Carthaginians, that after Hamilcar had either
killed or taken prifoners all the mercenaries, he font a
large detachment to ravage the country of thole Numi¬
dians. The commandant of that detachment executed
his orders with the utmolf cruelty, plundering the di-
ftrift in a terrible manner, and crucifying all the prifo¬
ners without diilinffion that fell into his hands. This
filled the reft with fuch indignation and refentment,
that both thev and their pofterity ever afterwards bore
an implacable hatred to the Carthaginians.
In the time of the fecond Punic -war, Syphax king
of the Mafthefyli entered into an alliance with the Ro¬
mans, and gave the Carthaginians a confiderable defeat.
This induced Gala, king of the Maffyli, to conclude a
treaty with the Carthaginians, in confequence of which
his fon Maliniffa marched at the head of a powerful
army to give Syphax battle. The conteft ended in fa¬
vour of Mafmiffa \ 30,000 of the MaiTaefyli were put
to the fword, and Syphax driven into Mauritania 5 and the
like bad fuccefs attended Syphax in another engagement,
where his troops w'ere entirely defeated and difperfed.
Gala dying whilft his fon Mafiniffa was afting at the
head of the Numidian troops fent to the afliftance of the
Carthaginians in Spain, his brother Defalces, according
to the eftablilhed rules of fucceflion in Numidia, took
pofleffion of the Maffylian throne. That prince dying
foon after his fucceflion, Capufa. his eldeft fon fucceeded.
him. But he did not long enjoy his high dignity •, for
one Mezetulus, a perfon of the royal blood, but an ene¬
my to the family of Gala, found means to excite a grea-t
part of his fubjefts to revolt. A battle foon took place
between him and Capufa •, in which the latte* was flain
with many of the nobility, and his army entirely de¬
feated. But though Mezetulus thus became poffefled
of the fovereignty, lie did not think -proper to aflume
the title of king, but ftyled himfelf guardian to Lacu-
maces, the furviving fon of Defalces, whom he graced
with the royal title. To fupport himfelf in his ufurpa-
tion, he married the dowager of Defalces, who was
Hannibal’s niece, and confequently of the moft power¬
ful family in Carthage. In order to attain the fame
end, he fent ambaffadors to Syphax, to conclude a treaty
of alliance with him. In the mean time Mafinifla, re¬
ceiving advice of his uncle’s death, of his coufin’s {laugh¬
ter, and of Mezetulus’s ufurpation, immediately pafled
over to Africa, and went to the court of Bocchar king
of Mauritania to folicit fuccours. Bocchar, fenfible of
the great injuftice done Mafiniffa, gave him a body of
4000 Moors to efeort him to his dominions. His fub-
jedts, having been apprifed of his approach, joined him Nemidia.
upon the frontiers with a party of 500 men. The v—
Moors, in purfuance of their orders, returned home, as
foon as Maiiniffa reached the confines of his kingdom.
Notwithhanding which, and the fmall body that decla¬
red for him having accidentally met Lacumaces at
Thapfus with an efcort going to implore Syphax’s alhit-
ance, he drove him into the town, which he carried by
affault after a faint refiftance. However, Lacumaces,.
with many of his men, found means to efcape to Sy¬
phax. The fame of this exploit gained Maiiniffa great
credit, infomuch that the Numidians flocked to him
from all parts, and amongft the reft, many of his father
Gala’s veterans, -who prelfed him to make a fpeedy and
vigorous pufh for his hereditary dominions. Lacuma¬
ces having joined Mezetulus with a reinforcement of
Maffaefylians, which he had prevailed upon Syphax to
fend to the afliftance of his ally, the ufurper advanced
at the head of a numerous army to offer Mafiniffa bat¬
tle *, which that prince, though much inferior in num¬
bers, did not decline. Hereupon an engagement en~
fued } -which notwithftanding the inequality of numbers
ended in the defeat of Lacumaces. The immediate
confequence of this vidlory of Mafiniffa was a quiet and
peaceable poffeflion of his kingdom 5 Mezetulus and
Lacumaces, with a few that attended them, flying into
the territories of Carthage. However, being apprehen-
five that he fliould be obliged to fuftain a war againft:
Syphax, he offered to treat Lacumaces with as many
marks of diftinftion as his father Gala had Defalces,
provided that prince would put himfelf under his pro-
tedlion. He alfo promifed Mezetulus pardon, and a re-
ftitution of all the effefts forfeited by his treafonable
conduff, if he would make his lubmiflion to him. Both
of them readily complied with the propofal, and imme¬
diately returned home ; fo that the tranquillity and re-
pofe of Numidia would have been fettled upon a folid
and lafting foundation, had not this been prevented by
Afdrubal, who was then at Syphax’s court. He infi-
nuated to that prince, who was difpofed to live amica¬
bly with his neighbours, “ That he was greatly mifta-
ken, if he imagined Mafiniffa would be fatisfied with hie
hereditary dominions. That he was a prince of much
greater capacity and ambition, than either his father
Gala, his uncle Defalces, or any of his family. That
he had difeovered in Spain marks of a moft rare and
uncommon merit. And that, in fine, unlefs his rifing
flame was extinguiftied before it came to too great a
head, both the Maffsefylian and Carthaginian ftates
would be infallibly con fumed by it.” Syphax, alarmed
by thefe fuggeftions, advanced with a numerous body
of forces into a diftridt which had long been in difpute
between him and Gala, but was then in poffeflion of
Mafinifla. This brought on a general aftion betw'een
thefe two princeswherein the latter was totally de¬
feated, his'army difperfed, and he himfelf obliged to fly
to the top of Mount Balbus, attended only by a few of
his horfe. Such a decifive battle at the prefent jundlure,
before Mafiniffa was fixed in his throne, could not but
put Syphax into poffeflion of the kingdom of the Maf¬
fyli. Mafinifla in the mean time made nodlurnal incur-
fions from his poft upon Mount Balbus, and plundered
all the adjacent country, particularly that part of the
Carthaginian territory contiguous to Numidia. This
diftridl he not only thoroughly pillaged, but likewife
laid wafte with fire and fword, carrying off from thence
an
N U M [ |
Kumidia. an immenfe booty, which was bought by Tome mer-
v chants, who had put into one of the Carthaginian ports
for that purpofe. In fine, he did the Carthaginians more
damage, not only by committing fuch dreadful devafta-
tions, but by maffacring and carrying into gaptivity vaft
numbers of their fubjects on this occafion, than they
could have fuftained in a pitched battle, or one cam¬
paign of a regular war. Syphax, at the prefiing and
reiterated infiances of the Carthaginians, fent Bocchar,
one of his molt aftive commanders, with a detachment
of 4000 foot, and 2000 horfe, to reduce this pefiilent
gang of robbers, promifing him a great reward if he
could bring Mafiniffa either alive or dead. Bocchar,
watching an opportunity, furprifed the Maffylians, as
they were draggling about the country without any or¬
der or difcipline ; fo that he took many prifoners, dif-
perfed the reft, and purfued Mafiniffa himfelf, with a
few of his men, to the top of the mountain Avhere he
had before taken poft. Confidering the expedition as
ended, he not only fent many head of cattle, and the
other booty that had fallen into his hands, to Syphax,
but likewife all the force, except 500 foot and 200
horfe. With this detachment he drove Mafiniffa from
the fummit of the hill, and purfued him through feveral
narrow paffes and defiles, as far as the plains of Clupea.
Here he fo furrounded him, that all the Maffylians, ex¬
cept four, were put to the fword, and Mafiniffa himfelf,
after having received a dangerous wound, efcaped with
the utmoft difficulty. As this was effe&ed by crofting
a rapid river, in which attempt two of his four attend¬
ants periftied in the fight of the detachment that pur¬
fued him, it was rumoured all over Africa, that Mafi¬
niffa alfo was drowned •, which gave inexpreflible plea-
fure to Syphax and the Carthaginians. For fome time
he lived undifcovered in a cave, where he was fupported
by the robberies of the two horfemen that had made
their efcape with him. But having cured his wound by
the application of fome medicinal herbs, he boldly be¬
gan to advance towards his own frontiers, giving out
publicly that he intended once more to take poffeftion
of his kingdom. In his march he was joined by about
40 horfe, and, foon after his arrival amongft the Maffyli,
fo many people flocked to him from all parts, that out
of them he formed an army of 6000 foot and 4000
horfe. With thefe forces, he not only reinftated him¬
felf in the poffeflion of his dominions, but likewife laid
warte the borders of the Maffaefyli. This fo irritated
Syphax, that he immediately affembled a body of troops,
and encamped very commodieufty upon a ridge of
mountains between Cirta and Hippo. His army he
commanded in perfon ; and detached his fon Vermina,
#with a confiderable force, to take a compafs, and attack
the enemy in the rear. In purfuance of his orders,
Vermina fet out in the beginning of the night, and
took poft in the place appointed him, without being dif-
covered by the enemy. In the mean time Syphax de¬
camped, and advanced towards the Maffyli, in. order
to give them battle. When he had poffeffed himfelf
of a rifing ground that led to their camp, and conclu¬
ded that his fon Vermina muft have formed the ambuf-
cade behind them, he began the fight. Mafiniffa being
advaiftageoufly ported, and his foldiers diftinguiffiing
themfelves in an extraordinary manner, the difpute was
long and bloody. But Vermina unexpectedly falling
upon their rear, and by this means obliging them to
)i ] N U M
divide their forces, which were fcarcely able before to Numidia.
oppofe the ihain body under Syphax, they were foonv~—“
thrown into confufion, and forced to betake themfelves
to a precipitate flight. Ail the avenues being blocked
up, partly by Syphax, and partly by his fon, fuch a
dreadful flaughtei? was made of the unhappy Maffyli,
that only Mafiniffa himfelf, with 60 horfe, efcaped to
the Leffer Syrtis. Here he remained, betwixt the con¬
fines of the Carthaginians and the Garamantes, till the
arrival of Laelius and the Roman fleet on the coaft of
Africa. What happened immediately after this junClion
with the Romans, belongs to the article Rome.
It will be fufficient, therefore, in this place to ob-
ferve, that, by the aftiftance of Ltelius, Mafiniffa at laft
reduced Syphax’s kingdom. According to Zonaras,
Mafiniffa and Scipio, before the memorable battle of
Zama, by a ftratagem, deprived Hannibal of fome ad¬
vantageous ports; which, with a folar eclipfe happening
during the heat of the aCtion, and not a little intimidat¬
ing the Carthaginian troops, greatly contributed to the
victory the Romans obtained. At the conclufion there¬
fore of the fecond Punic war, he was amply rewarded
by the Romans for the important fervices he had done
them. As for Syphax, after the lofs of his dominions,
he was kept in confinement for fome time at Alba ;
from whence being removed in order to grace Scipio’s
triumph, he died at Tibur in his way to Rome. Zo¬
naras adds, that his corpfe was decently interred ; that
all the Numidian prifoners were releafed ; and that
Vermina, by the aftiftance of the Romans, took peace¬
able poffeflion of his father’s throne. However, part
of the Maffaefylian kingdom had been before annexed
to Mafiniffa’s dominions, in order to reward that prince
for his Angular fidelity and elofe attachment to the
Romans.
This feems to be countenanced by the epitomizer of
Livy, who gives us fufficiently to underftand, that Sy¬
phax’s family, for a confiderable time after the conclu¬
fion of the fecond Punic war, reigned in one part of
Numidia. For he intimates, that Archobarzanes, Sy¬
phax’s grandfon, and probably Vermina’s fon, hovered
with a powerful army of Numidians upon the Cartha¬
ginian frontiers a few years before the beginning of
the third Punic Avar. This he feems to have done,
either in order to cover them, or to enable the Cartha¬
ginians to make an irruption into Mafiniffa’s territo¬
ries. Cato, hoAvever, pretended that thefe forces, in
conjundfion with thofe of Carthage, had a defign to in¬
vade the Roman dominions, which he urged as a reafon
to induce the confcript fathers to deftroy the African
republic.
Nothing is further requifite, in order to complete the
hiftory of this famous prince, than to exhibit to our
readers vieAV fome points of his condudl toAvards the de¬
cline, and at the elofe, of life ; the wife difpofitions
made after his death by AEmilianus, in order to the re¬
gulation of his domeftic affairs; and fome particulars
relating to his charadler, genius, and habit of body,
draAvn from the moft celebrated Greek and Roman au¬
thors.
By draAving a line of circumvallation around the
Carthaginian army under Afdrubal, ported upon an
eminence, Mafiniffa cut off all manner of fupplies from
them; which introduced both the plague and famine
into their camp. As the body of Numidian troops em-
M 2 ployed
N U M [9:
.Vumidia. ployed In tills blockade ^vas not near fo numerous as
1 'v " the Carthaginian forces, it is evident, that the line here
mentioned mull have been extremely llrong, and con-
fequently the effeft of great labour and art. The
Carthaginians, finding themfelves reduced to the lall
extremity, concluded a peace upon the following terms,
which Mafiniffa diftated to them : I. That they
ihould deliver up all deferters. 2. 1 hat they fhould
recal their exiles, who had taken refuge in his domi¬
nions. 3. That they fhould pay him 5000 talents of
filver within the fpace of 50 years. 4' ihat their
foldiers Ihould pafs under the jugum, each of them car-
rying off only a fingle garment. As Mafiniffa him-
felf, though between 80 and 90 years of age, conduc¬
ted the whole enterprife, he mull have been extremely
well verfed in fortification, and other branches of the
military art. His underilanding likewife he muff
have retained to the lall. I his happened a fhort time
before the beginning of the third Punic war. See
5 Carthage.
Mafiniffa Soon after, the confuls landed an army in Africa, in
difpleafed on]er to ’iay fiege to Carthage, without imparting to
TionKi-i® Mafiniffa their defign. This not a little chagrined
xomai.s, a? jt was contrary to the former practice of the
Romans 5 who, in the preceding war, had communicat¬
ed their intentions to him, and confulted him on all
occafions. When, therefore, the confuls applied to him
for a body of his troops to a<5t in concert with their
forces, he made anfwer, “ That they fiiould have a^ re¬
inforcement from him when they flood in need of it.”
It could not but be provoking to him to confider, that
after he had extremely weakened the Carthaginians,
and even brought them to the brink of ruin, his pre¬
tended imperious friends fhould come to reap the fruits
of his viftory, without giving him the leaft intelligence
of it.
However, his mind foon returned to its natural bias,
which was in favour of the Romans. Finding his end
approaching, he fent to ./Emilianus, then a tribune in
the Roman army, to defire a vifit from him. What he
propofed by this vifit, was to inveft him with full
powers to difpofe of his kingdom and eftate as he fliould
think proper, for the benefit of his children. The
high idea he had entertained of that young hero’s abi¬
lities and integrity, together with his gratitude and af-
feflion for the family into which he was adopted, in-
hnt le6aves duced him to take this ftep. But, believing that death
every thing would not permit him to have a perfonal conference
to the dif- with /Emilianus upon this fubjeft, he informed his wife
pofal of JE- an(j children in his laft moments, that he had empower-
jnihatius. e(j to difpofe in an abfolute manner of all his pof-
feffions, and divide his kingdom amongft his fons. To
which he fubjoined, “ I require, that whatever Almi-
lianus may decree, fliall be executed as pundually as if
I myfelf had appointed it by my will.” Having uttered
thefe words, he expired, at about 90 years of age.
This prince, during his youth, had met with ftrange
reverfes of fortune. However, fays Appian, being
fupported by the Divine proteftion, he enjoyed an un¬
interrupted courfe of profperity for a long feries of
years. His kingdom extended from Mauritania to
the weftern confines of Cyrenaica j from whence it ap¬
pears, that he was one of the mod powerful princes of
Africa. Many of the inhabitants of this vaft tra£l he
civilized in a wonderful manner, teaching them to cul-
t ] N U M
tivate their foil, and to reap, thofe natural advantages NumiJia.
which the fertility of fome parts of their country of-v—«
fered them. He was of a more robuft habit of body
than any of his cotemporaries, being bleffed with the
greateft health and vigour 5 which was doubtlefs owing
to his extreme temperance, and the toils he inceffantly
fuftained. We are informed by Polybius, that fome-
times he flood upon the fame fpot of ground from mor¬
ning till evening, without the leaft motion, and at others
continued as long in a fitting pofture. He would
remain on horfeback for feveral days and nights together,
without being fenfible of the leaft fatigue. Nothing
can better evince the ftrength of Iris conttitution, than
his youngeft fon, named Stembal, Sthemba, or Stembanusy
who was but four years old at his deceafe. 1 hough 90
years of age, he performed all the exercifes ufed by
young men, and always rode without a laddie. Pliny
tells us, that he reigned above 60 years. He was an
able commander, and much facilitated the redu&ion of
Carthage. Plutarch from Polybius obferves, that the
day after a great viftory won over the Carthaginians,
Mafiniffa was feen fitting at the door of his tent, eating
a piece of brown bread. Suidas relates, that to the
laft he could mount his horfe without any alfiftancc-
According to Appian he left a numerous w-ell difeiplined
army, and an immenie quantity of wealth, behind him.
Mafiniffa, before his death, gave his ring to his eldefi:
fon Micipfa 5 -but left the diftributicn of all his other
effe&s and poffeffions amongft his children entirely to
iEmilianus. Of 54 fons that furvived him, only three
were legitimate, to wit, Micipfa, Gulufla, and Mafia-
nabal. iEmilianus, arrived at Cirta after he had ex¬
pired, divided his kingdom, or rather the government
of it, amongft thefe three, though to the others he gave
confiderable poffeflions. To Micipfa, who was a prince
of a pacific difpofition, and the eldeft fon, he affigned
Cirta, the metropolis, for the place of his refidence,. in
exclufion of the others. Guluffa, the next to him,
being a prince of military genius, had the command of
the army, and the tranfadting of all affairs relating to
peace or war committed to his care. And Maftanabal,
the youngeft, bad the adminiftration of juftice, an
employment fuitable to his education, allotted him.
They enjoyed in common the immenfc treafures Mafiniffa
had amaffed, and were all of them dignified by iEmi-
lianus with the royal title. After he had made thefe
wife difpofitions, that young nobleman departed from
Cirta, taking with him a body of.Numidian troops,
under the conduft of Guluffa, to reinforce the Roman
army that was then a&ing againft the Carthaginians.
Maftanabal and Guluffa died foon after their father,
as appears from the exprefs teftimony of Salluft. W#
find nothing more remarkable of thefe princes, befides
what has been already related, than that the latter con¬
tinued to afiift the Romans in the third Punic v'ar, and
that the former was pretty well verfed in the Greek
language. Micipfa therefore became foie poffeffor of the
kingdom of Numidia. In his reign, and under the con-
fulate of M. Platius Hypfaeus and M. Fulvius Flaccus,
according to Orofius, a great part of Africa V'as co¬
vered with locufts, which deftroyed all the produce of
the earth, and even devoured dry wood. But at laft
they were all carried by the wind into the African fea,
out of which being thrown in vaft heaps upon the
Ihore, a plague enfued which fwept away an infinite
number
Hiftory of
Jugurtha.
N U M
Ntimklia. number of animals of all kinds. In
• V ' 800,000 men perilhed, and in Africa Propria 200,000 ;
amongft the reft, 30,000 Roman foldiers quartered in
and about Utica for the defence of the latter province.
At Utica, in particular, the mortality raged to fuch a
degree, that 1500 dead bodies were carried out of one
gate in a day. Micipfa had two fons, Adherbal and
Hiempfal, whom he educated in his palace, together
with his nephew Jugurtha. That young prince was
the fon of Maftanabal •, but his mother having been
only a concubine, Mafiniffa had taken no great notice
of him. However, Micipfa confidering him as a prince
of the blood, took as much care of him as he did of his
7 own children.
Jugurtha poffeffed feveral eminent qualities, which
gained him univerfal efteem. He was very handfome,
endued with great ftrength of body, and adorned with
the fineft intelleffual endowments. He did not devote
himfelf, as young men commonly do, to a life of luxury
and pleafure. He ufed to exercife himfelf, with perfons
of his age, in running, riding, hurling the javelin, and
other manly exercifes, fuited to the martial genius of
the Numidians *, and though he furpaffed all his fel¬
low fportfmen, there was not one of them but loved
him. The chafe was his only delight ; but it was that
of lions and other favage bealfs. Salluft, to finifh his
character, tells us, that he excelled in all things, and
fpoke very little of himfelf.
So confpicuous an affemblage of fine talents and per-
fe&ions, at firft charmed Micipfa, who thought them
an ornament to his kingdom. However, he foon be¬
gan to refledf, that he was contiderably advanced in
years, and his children in their infancy ; that mankind
naturally thirfted after power, and that nothing was
capable of making men run greater lengths than a vi¬
cious and unlimited ambition. Thefe reflexions foon
excited his jealoufy, and determined him to expofe Ju¬
gurtha to a variety of dangers, fome of which, he en¬
tertained hopes, might prove fatal to him. In order to
this, he gave him the command of a body of forces
which he fent to aflift the Romans, who wrere at that
time befieging Numantia in Spain. But Jugurtha, by
his admirable conduX, not only efcaped all thofe dan¬
gers, but likewife won the efteem of the whole army,
and the friendfhip of Scipio, who fent a high charac¬
ter of him to his uncle Micipfa. However, that ge¬
neral gave him fome prudent advice in relation to his
future conduX •, obferving, no doubt, in him certain
fparks of ambition, which, if lighted into a flame, he
apprehended might one day be produXive of the moft
fatal confequences.
Before this laft expedition, Micipfa had endeavour¬
ed to find out fome method of taking him off private¬
ly *, but his popularity amongft the Numidians obliged
that prince to lay afide all thoughts of this nature.
After his return from Spain the whole nation almoft
adored him. The heroic bravery he had fhown there,
his undaunted courage, joined to the utmoft calmnefs
of mind; which enabled him to preferve a juft medium
between a timorous forefight and an impetuous rafh-
nefs, a cireumftance rarely to be met with in perfons
of his age, and above all the advantageous teftimo-
nials of his conduX given by Scipio, attraXed an uni¬
verfal efteem. Nay, Micipfa himfelf, charmed with
the high opinion, the Roman general had entertained of
[ 93 ] N U M
Numidia only his merit, changed his behaviour towards him 5 refolv- NumiJia^
ing, if poflible, to win his affeXion by kindnefs. He *
therefore adopted him, and declared him joint heir
with his two fons to the crown. Finding, fome few
years afterwards, that his end approached, he fent for
all three to his bed fide j where, in the prefence of the
whole court, he defired Jugurtha to recolleX with what
extreme tendernefs he had treated him, and confequent-
ly to confider how well he had deferved at his hands. r>
He then entreated him to proteX his children on allwllo n^-
occafions ; who, being before related to him by the^^ ®®^
8
Is dreaded
by King
Micipfa,
ties of blood, were now by their father’s bounty be- with the
come his brethren. In order to fix him the more firmly Care of his
in their intereft, he likewife complimented him upon children;
his bravery, addrefs, and confummate prudence. He
further infinuated, that neither arms nor treafures con-
ftitute the ftrength of a kingdom ; but friends, who
are neither won by arms nor gold, but by real fervices
and an inviolable fidelity. “ Now, where (continued
he) can we find better friends than in brothers ? And
how can that man who becomes an enemy to his rela¬
tions, repofe any confidence in, or depend upon ftran-
gers ?” Then addrefling himfelf to Adherbal and Hi¬
empfal, “ And you (faid he) I enjoin always to pay
the higheft reverence to Jugurtha. Endeavour to imi¬
tate, and if poflible furpafs, his exalted merit, that the
world may not hereafter obferve Micipfa’s adopted fon
to have refleXed greater glory upon his memory than
his own children.” Soon after, Micipfa, who, accord¬
ing to Diodorus, was a prince of an amiable charaXer,
expired. Though Jugurtha did not believe the king
to fpeak his real fentiments with regard to him, yet
he feemed extremely pleafed with fo gracious a fpeech,
and made him an anfwer fuitable to the occafion.
However, that prince at the fame time was determined
within himfelf to put in execution the fcheme he had
formed at the fiege of Numantia, which was fuggefted
to him by fome faXious and abandoned Roman offi¬
cers, with whom he there contraXed an acquaintance.
The purport of this fcheme was, that he ftiould extort
the crown by force from his two coufins, as foon as
their father’s eyes were clofed *, which they infinuated
might cafily be effeXed by his own valour, and the
venality of the Romans. Accordingly, a ftiort time
after the old king’s death, he found means to aflaffi- 10
nate Hiempfal in the city of Thirmida where his trea- one of
fures were depofited, and drive Adherbal out of his^10™*16
dominions. That unhappy prince found himfelf obli- anc} ^r-Y’ .
ged to fly to Rome, where he endeavoured to engage out th«
the confcript fathers to efpoufe his quarrel ; but, not- other,
withftanding the juftice of his caufe, they had not vir¬
tue enough efteXually to fupport him. Jugurtha’s am-
baffadors, by diftributing vaft fums of money amongft:
the fenators, brought them fo far over, that a majority
palliated his inhuman proceedings. This encouraged
thofe minifters to declare, that Hiempfal had been
killed by the Numidians on account of his exceffive
cruelty; that Adherbal was the aggreffor in the late
troubles ; and that he was only chagrined becaufe he
could not make that havock among his countrymen he
would willingly have done. They therefore entreated
the fenate to form a judgment of Jugurtha’s behavour
in Africa from his conduX at Numantia, rather than
from the fuggeftions of his enemies. Upon which, by
far the greateft part of the fenate difeovered themfelves
prejudiced
N U M
C 94 ]
N U M
the Ro.
mans.
Numidta. prejudiced in his favour. A few, however, that were
 * " 1 not loft to honour, nor abandoned to corruption, infifted
upon bringing him to condign punifhment. But as they
could not prevail, he had the beft part of Numidia
allotted him, and Adherbal was forced to reft fatisfied
TI with the other.
Venality of Jugurtha finding now by experience that every thing
was venal at Rome, as his friends at Numantia had
before informed him, thought he might purfue his
towering projects without any obftrudtion from that
quarter. He therefore, immediately after the laft di-
vifion of Micipfa’s dominions, threw off the mafk, and
attacked his coufin by open force. As Adherbal was
a prince of a pacific difpofition, and almoft in all re-
fpe&s the reverfe of Jugurtha, he Was by no means a
match for him. The latter therefore pillaged the for¬
mer’s territories, ftormed feveral of his fortreffes, and
overran a good part of his kingdom without oppofitiop.
Adherbal, depending on the friendfhip of the Romans,
which his father in his laft moments affured him would
be a ftronger fupport to him than all the troops and
treafures in the univerfe, defpatched deputies to Rome
to complain of thefe hoftilities. But whilft he loft his
time in fending thither fruitlefs deputations, Jugur¬
tha overthrew him in a pitched battle, and foon after
ihut him up in Cirta. During the fiege of this city, a
Roman commiflion arrived there, in order to perfuade
both parties to an accommodation ; but finding Jugur¬
tha untraftable, the commiflioners returned home with¬
out fo much as conferring with Adherbal. A fecond
deputation, compofed of fenators of the higheft diftinc-
tion, with ALmilius Scaurus, prefident of the fenate, at
their head, landed fome time after at Utica, and fum-
moned Jugurtha to appear before them. That prince
at firft feemed to be under dreadful apprehenfions, efpe-
ckdly as Scaurus reproached him with his enormous
crimes, and threatened him with the refentment of the
Romans if he did not immediately raife the fiege of
Cirta. However, the Numidian, by his addrefs, and
the irrefiftible power of gold, as was afterwards fu-
fpefted at Rome, fo mollified Scaurus, that he left
Adherbal at his mercy. In fine, Jugurtha had at laft
Cirta furrendered to him, upon condition only that he
Ihould fpare the life of Adherbal. But the mercilels
tyrant, in violation of the laws of nature and humanity
as well as the capitulation, when he had got poffeflion
of the town, ordered him to be put to a moft cruel
deatli. The merchants likewife, and all the Numidians
in the place capable of bearing arms, he caufed without
diftindlion to be put to the fword.
Every perfon at Rome infpired with any fentiments
of humanity, was ftruck with horror at the news of
this tragical event. However, all the-venal fenators
ftill concurred with Jugurtha’s minifters in palliating
his enormous crimes. Notwithftanding which, the
people, excited thereto by Caius Memmius their tri¬
bune, who bitterly inveighed againft the venality of
the fenate, refolved not to let fo flagrant an inftance of
villany go unpunifhed. This difpofition in them in¬
duced the confcript fathers likevvife to declare their
intention to chaftife Jugurtha. In order to this, an
army, was levied to invade Numidia, and the command
of it given; to the conful Calpurnius Beftia, a perfon of
good abilities* but rendered unfit for the expedition he
was to go upon by his infatiable avarice. Jugurtha
being informed of the great preparations making at NumiJia.
Rome to attack his dominions, fent his fon thither to m
avert the impending ftorm. The young prince was
plentifully lupplied with money, which he had orders
to diftribute liberally amongft the leading men. But
Beftia, propofing to himfelf great advantages from an
invafion of Numidia, defeated all his intrigues, and
got a decree paffed, ordering him and his attendants
to depart Italy in ten days, unlefs they were come to
deliver up the king himfell, and all his territories, to
the republic by way of dedition. Which decree being
notified to them, they returned without fo much as
having entered the gates of Rome j and the conlul
foon after landed with a powerful army in Africa. For
fome time he carried on the war there very brifkly,
reduced feveral ftrong holds, and took many Numi¬
dians prifoners. But upon the arrival of Scaurus, a
peace was granted Jugurtha upon advantageous terms.
That prince coming from Vacca, the place of his refi-
dence, to the Roman camp, in order to confer with
Beftia and Scaurus, and the preliminaries of the trea¬
ty being immediately after fettled between them in
private conferences, every body at Rome was convin¬
ced that the prince of the fenate and the conful had to
their avarice facrificed the republic. The indigna¬
tion therefore of the people in general difplayed itlelf
in the ftrongeft manner. Memmius alfo fired them
with his fpeeches. It was therefore refolved to defpatch
the praetor Caflius, a perfon they could confide in, to
Numidia, to prevail upon Jugurtha to come to Rome,
that they might learn from the king himfelf which of
their generals and fenators had been feduced by the
peftilenl influence of corruption. Upon his arrival there,
he found means to bribe one Btebius Salca, a man of
great authority amongft the plebeians, but of infatiable
avarice, by whofe afliftance he efcaped with impunity.
Nay, by the efficacy of gold, he not only eluded all the
endeavours of the people of Rome to bring him to juftice,
but likewife enabled Bomilcar, one of his attendants, to
get Maffiva, an illegitimate fon of Micipfa, affaffinated
in the ftreets of Rome. That young prince was advifed
by many Romans of probity, wellwiftiers to the family
of Mafiniffa, to apply for the kingdom of Numidia j
which coming to Jugurtha’s ears, he prevented the ap¬
plication by this execrable ftep. However, he was ob¬
liged to leave Italy immediately.
Jugurtha had fcarce fet foot in Africa, when he re¬
ceived advice that the fenate had annulled the ftrame-
ful peace concluded with him by Beftia and Scaurus.
Soon after, the conful Albinus tranfported a Roman
army into Numidia, flattering himfelf with the hopes of
reducing Jugurtha to reafon before the expiration of his
confulate. In this, howrever, he found himfelf deceived;
for that crafty prince, by various artifices fo amufed and
impofed upon Albinus, that nothing of moment happen¬
ed that campaign. This rendered him ftrongly iufpeded
of having betrayed his country, after the example of his
predeceffors. His brother Aulus, who fucceeded him
in the command of the army, was ftill more unfuccefsful;
for after rifing from before. Suthul, where the king’s
treafures w7ere depofited, he marched his forces into a
defile, out of which he found it impoffible to extricate
himfelf. lie therefore was obliged to fubmit to the
ignominious ceremony of paffing under the jugum, with
all his men, and to quit Numidia entirely in ten days
time.
N U M
[ 9S ]
N U M
Metellus
Numidia. time, in order to deliver his troops from immediate de-
ItrufHon. The avaricious difpofition of the Roman
commander had prompted him to befiege Suthul, the
pofleflion of which place he imagined would make him
mailer of all the wealth of .Tugurtha, and confequently
paved the way to fuch a feandalous treaty. However,
this was declared void as fooh as known at Rome, as
being concluded without the authority of the people.
The Roman troops retired into Africa Propria, which
they had now reduced into the form of a Roman pro¬
vince, and there took up their winter quarters.
In the mean time Cains Mamillius Limetanus, tri¬
bune of the people, excited the plebeians to inquire
into the condufl of thofe perfons by whofe affiilance
Jugurtha had found means to elude all the decrees of
the fenate. This put the body of the people into a
great ferment ; which occafioned a profecution of the
guilty fenators, that was carried on, for fome time,
with the utmoft heat and violence. Lucius Metellus
the conful, during thefe tranfaclions, had Numidia
afligned him for his province, and confequently was
fentagainft appointed general of the army dellined to a£l againft
Jugurtha. Jugurtha. As he perfcflly difregarded wealth, the
Numidian found him fuperior to all his temptations j
which was a great mortification to him. To this he
joined all the other virtues which conftitute the great
captain ; fo that .Tugurtha found him in all refpedls in-
acceflible. That prince therefore was now forced to
regulate his conduft according to the motions of Me¬
tellus, with the greateft caution ; and to exert his ut¬
moft bravery, in order to compenfate for that hitherto
fo favourable expedient which now began to fail him.
Marius, Metellus’s lieutenant, being likewife a perfon
of uncommon merit, the Romans reduced Vacca, a
large opulent city, and the moft celebrated mart in
Numidia. They alfp defeated Jugurtha in a pitched
battle ; overthrew Bomilcar, one of his generals, up¬
on the banks of the Muthullus ; and, in fine, forced
the Numidian monarch to take fhelter in a place ren¬
dered almoft inacceffible bv the rocks and woods with
which it was covered. However, Jugurtha fignalized
himfelf in a furprifing manner, exhibiting all that could
be expefted from the courage, abilities, and attention
of a confummate general, to whom defpair adminifters
freflr ftrength, and fuggefts new lights. But his troops
could not make head againft the Romans } they rvere
again worfted by Marius, though they obliged Metel¬
lus to raife the liege of Zama. Jugurtha, therefore,
finding his country everywhere ravaged, his moft opu¬
lent cities plundered, his fortrefles reduced, his towns
burnt, vaft numbers of his fubje&s put to the fword
and taken prifoners, began to think ferioufiy of coming
^ to an accommodation with the Romans. JJis favourite
Who is be- Bomilcar, in whom he repofed the higheft confidence,
Eomilcw bllt 'vll° had been SaIned over t0 the enemy by Me¬
tellus, obferving this difpofition, found it no difficult
matter to perfuade him to deliver up his elephants,
money, arms, horles, and deferters, in whom the main
ftrength of his army confifted, into the hands of the
Romans. Some of thefe laft, in order to avoid the pu-
nifhment due to their crime, retired to Bocchus king
of Mauritania, and lifted in his fervice. But Metellus
ordering him to repair to Tifidium, a city of Numidia,
there to receive farther direftions, and he refufing a
compliance wi th that order, hoftilities were renewed
Numidia.
T3
*4
with greater fury than ever. Fortune now feemed to
declare in favour of Jugurtha : he retook Vacca, and
maflacred all the Roman garrifon, except Turpilius
the commandant. However, foon after,' a Roman le¬
gion feized again upon it, and treated the inhabitants
with the utmoft feverity. About this time, one of Maf-
tanabal’s fons, named Gauda, -whom Micipfa in his
will had appointed to fucceed to the crown in cafe
his two legitimate fons and Jugurtha died without
iffue, wrote to the fenate in favour of Marius, who
was then endeavouring to fupplant Metellus. That
prince having his underftanding impaired by a de¬
clining ftate of health, fell a more eafy prey to the
bafe and infamous adulation of Marius. The Roman,
foothing his vanity, allured him, that as he was the
next heir to the croWn, he might depend upon being
fixed upon the Numidian throne, as Toon as Jugurtha
was either killed or taken ; and that this mult in a ftrort.
time happen, -when once he appeared at the head of the
Roman army with an unlimited commiffion. Soon af- A ccmfpira-
ter, Bomilcar and Nabdalfa formed a defign to aflaffinate againft
Jugurtha, at the inftigatiqn of Metellus $ but this be- Im*
ing detected, Bomilcar and moft of his accomplices fuf-
fered death. The plot however had fuch an effe£t upon
Jugurtha, that he enjoyed afterwards no tranquillity or
repofe.' He fufpedled perfons of all denominations, Nu-
midians as well as foreigners, of fome black defigns
againft him. Perpetual terrors fat brooding over his
mind ; infomuch that he never got a wink of fleep but
by Health, and often changed his bed in a low plebeian
manner. Starting from his lleep, he •would frequently
fnatch his fword, and break out into the moft doleful
cries : So ftrongly was he haunted by a fpirit of fear,
jealoufy, and diftradlion !
Jugurtha having deftroyed great numbers of his
friends on fufpicion of their having been concerned in
the late confpiracy, and many more of them deferting
to the Romans and Bocchus king of Mauritania, he
found himfelf, in a manner, deftitute of counfellors, ge¬
nerals, and all perfons capable of affifting him in carry¬
ing on the war. This threw him into a deep melancho¬
ly, which rendered him diffatisfied with every thing, and
made him fatigue his troops with a variety of contradic¬
tory motions. Sometimes he would advance with great
celerity againft the enemy, and at others retreat with
no fmall fwiftnefs from them. Then he refumed his
former courage j but foon after defpaired either of the
valour or fidelity of the forces under his command. All
his movements therefore proved unfuceefsful, and at laft
he was forced by Metellus to a battle. That part of
the Numidian army which Jugurtha commanded, be¬
haved with fome refolution ; but the other fled at the
firft onfet. The Romans therefore entirely defeated ^e*
them, took all their ftandards, and made a few of them
prifoners. But few of them were flain in the adlion __
fince, as Salluft obferves, the Numidians trufted more
to their heels than to their arms for fafety in this en¬
gagement.
Metellus purfued Jugurtha and his fugitives to Tha-
la. His march to this place being through vaft de-
ferts, was extremely tedious and difficult. But be¬
ing fupplied with leathern bottles and wooden veflels
of all fizes taken from the huts of the Numidians,
which were filled with water brought by the natives,
who had fubmitted to him, he advanced towards the
city.
*5
Metellus,
N U M [ 96
■Ntxmidia. city. He had no fooner begun his march, than a moft
s_ v copious iliower of rain, a thing very uncommon in thofe
deferts, proved a great and feafonable refrelhment to his
troops. This fo animated them, that upon their arrival
before Thala, tliey attacked the town with fuch vigour,
that Jugurtha with his family, and treafures dcpofited
therein, thought proper to abandon it. Alter a brave
defence, it was reduced } the garrifon, conliftingof Ro¬
man deferters, fetting lire to the king’s palace, and con-
fuming themfelves, together with every thing valuable
to them, in the flames. Jugurtha, being now reduced
to great extremities, retired into Gsetulia, where he
formed a conliderable corps. From thence he advanced
to the confines of Mauritania •, and engaged Bocchus
king of that country, who had married his daughter, to.
enter into an alliance with him. In confequence of
which, having reinforced his Gfetulian troops with a
powerful body of Mauritanians, he turned the tables up¬
on Metellus, and obliged him to keep clofe within his
, entrenchments. Salluft informs us, that Jugurtha brib¬
ed Bocchus’s miniflers to influence that prince in his
favour } and that having obtained an audience, he
inlinuated, that, fliould Numidia be fubdued, Mauri¬
tania mull be involved in its ruin, efpecially as the Ro¬
mans feemed to have vowed the deftruftion of all the
thrones in the univerfe. In fupport of what he ad¬
vanced, he produced feveral inftances very appofite to
the point in view. However, the fame author feems
to intimate, that Bocchus was determined to aflift Ju¬
gurtha againit his enemies by the flight the Romans
had formerly ihown him. lhat prince, at the firfl
breaking out of the war, had lent ambalTadors to Rome,
to propofe an offenfive and defenflve alliance to the re¬
public •, which, though of the utmofl: confequence to it
at the junfture, a few of the moft yenal and infamous
fenators, who were abandoned to corruption, prevent¬
ed from taking effeft. This undoubtedly wrought
more powerfully upon Bocchus in favour of Jugurtha,
than the relation he flood in to him : For both the
Moors and Numidians adapted the number of their
wives to their circumftances, fo that fome had 10, 20,
&c. to their (hare •, their kings therefore w'ere unli¬
mited in this particular, and of cotirfe all degrees of af¬
finity refulting to them from marriage had little force.
It is obfervable, that the pofterity of thofe ancient na¬
tions have the fame cuftom prevailing amongft them at
this day.
Marius fuc- Such was the fituation of affairs in Numidia, when
ceeds Me- Metellus received advice of the promotion of Marius
tellus. the confulate. But, notwithftanding this injurious
treatment, he generoufly endeavoured to draw off Boc¬
chus from Jugurtha, though this would facilitate the re-
duftion of Numidia for his rival. T- o this end ambaffa-
dors were despatched to the Mauritanian court, who.in¬
timated to Bocchus, “ I nat it would be highly im¬
prudent to come to a rupture with the Romans without
any caufe at all; and that he had now a fine opportuni¬
ty of concluding a mofl advantageous treaty with them,
which was much preferable to a war. To which they
added, that whatever dependence he might place upon
his riches, he ought not to run the hazard of lofing his
dominions by embroiling hirnfclf with other ftates, when
he could eafily avoid this • that it was much eafier to
begin a war than to end it, which it was in the power
of the vi&or alone to do j that, in fine, he would by no
] N U M
means confult the intereft of his fubjefb if he followed Numidia.
the defperate fortunes of Jugurtha.” To which Boc-v—"Y*—"
chus replied. “ That for his part there was nothing he
wiflied for more than peace *, but that he could not help
pitying the deplorable condition of Jugurtha ; that if
the Romans, therefore, would grant that unfortunate
prince the fame terms they had offered him, he would
bring about an accommodation.” Metellus let the
Mauritanian monarch know, that it was not in his power
to comply with what he deflred. However, he took
care to keep up a private negotiation with him till the
new conful Marius’s arrival. By this conduct he ferved
two wife ends. Firft, He prevented Bocchus from
coming to a general adiion with his troops j which was
the vciy thing Jugurtha defired, as hoping that this,
whatever the event might be, would render a reconci¬
liation betwixt him and the Romans imprafticable. Se¬
condly, This in aft ion enabled him to difeover fomething
of the genius and difpofition cf the Moors •, a nation of
whom the Romans, till then, had fcarcely formed any
idea 5 which, he imagined, might be of no fmall fervice,
either to hirafelf or his fucceffors, in the future profe-
cution of the war.
Jugurtha, being informed that Marius, with a nu¬
merous army, was landed at Utica, advifed Bocchus
to retire, with part of the troops, to fome place of dif¬
ficult accefs, whilft he himfelf took port upon another
inacceflible fpot with the remaining corps. By this
meafure, he hoped the Romans would be obliged to di¬
vide their forces, and confequently be more expofed to
bis efforts and attacks. He likewife imagined, that fee¬
ing no formidable body appear, they would believe the.
enemy in no condition to make head againit them j
which might occafion a relaxation of difeipline, the ufu-
al attendant of a too great fecurity, and confequently
produce fome good effed. However, he was difappoint-
ed in both thefe views. For Marius, far from fuffering
a relaxation of difeipline to take place, trained up his
troops, which confifted chiefly of new levies, in fo per-
fed a manner, that they were foon equal in goodnefs to
any confular army that ever appeared in the field. He
alfo cut off great numbers of the Gcetulian marauders,
defeated many of Jugurtha’s parties, and had like to
have taken that prince himfelf near the city of Cirta.
Thefe advantages, though not of any great importance, He ^
intimidated Bocchus, who now made overtures for an a ad-
accommodation ; but the Romans, not being fufficiently vantage
fatisfied of his fincerity, paid no great attention to them. o''er Jutul
In the mean time Marius puflied on his conquefts, redu-' a‘
cing leveral places of lefs note, and at lall refolved to
befiege Capfa. That this enterprife might be conduded
with the greater fecrecy, he fuffered not the leafl hint
of his defign to tranfpire, even amongft any of his offi¬
cers. On the contrary, in order to blind them, he de¬
tached A. Manlius, one of his lieutenants, with feme
light-armed cohorts, to the city of Lares, where he had
fixed his principal magazine, and depofited the military
cheft. Before Manlius left the camp, that he might
the more effedually amufe him, he intimated, that him¬
felf with the army ftiould take the fame route in a few
days : but inftead of that, he bent his march towards
the Tanais, and in fix days time arrived upon the banks
of that river. Here he pitched his tents for a fhort
time, in order to refrefti his troops *, which having done,
he advanced to Capfa, and made himfelf mailer of it.
* As
N U M [
NumuTia. As tlie fituation of this city rendered it extremely com-
 modious to Jugurtha, 'whofe plan of operations, ever
fince the commencement of the war, it had exceedingly
favoured, he levelled it with the ground after it had
been delivered up to the foldiers to be plundered. The
citizens likewife, being more ftrongly attached to that
prince than any of the other Numidians, on account of
the extraordinary privileges he indulged them with,
and of courfe bearing a more implacable hatred to the
Romans, he put to the fvvord or fold for Haves. The
true motive of the conful’s conduct on this occafion
feems here to be afligned ; though we are told by Salluft,
in conformity to the Roman genius, that neither avarice
nor refentment prompted him to fo barbarous an ac¬
tion, but only a delire to Rrike a terror into the Numi¬
dians.
The Numidians, ever after this exploit, dreaded the
very name of Marius ; who now, in his own opinion,
had eclipfed the glory of all his predecefibr’s great a-
chievements, particularly the reduction of Thala, a city,
in ftrength and fituation, nearly refembling Capfa, Fol¬
lowing his blow, he gradually prefented himfelf before
moll of the places of ftrength in the enemy’s country j
many of which either opened their gates, or were aban¬
doned, at his approach, being terrified rvith what had
happened to the unfortunate citizens of Capfa. Others
taken by force, he laid in alhes; and in ftiort, filled the
greateft part of Numidia with blood, horror, and con-
fufion. Then, after an obftinate defence, he reduced a
caflle that feemed impregnable, feated not far from Mu-
lucha, where .lugurtha kept part of his treafures. In
the mean time, Jugurtha not being able to prevail upon
Bocchus, by his repeated felicitations, to advance into
Numidia, -where he found himfelf greatly prefled, Avas
obliged to have recourfe to his ufual method of bribing
the Mauritanian minifters, in order to put that prince in
motion. He alfo promifed him a third part of his king¬
dom, provided they could either drive the Romans out
of Africa, or get all the Numidian dominions confirmed
to him by treaty.
So confiderable a ceflion could not fail of engaging
Rocchus to fupport Jugurtha Avith his Avhole power.
The tAVo African monarchs, therefore, having joined
their forces, furprifed Marius near Cirta as he was go¬
ing into Avinter quarters. The Roman general was fo
pufhed on this occafion, that the barbarians thought
themfelves certain of viftory, and doubted not but they
5 8 fhould be able to extinguilh the Roman name in Nu-
igurtha midia. ]3ut their incaution and too great lecunty
itirely de-enabled Marius to gRe them a total defeat; Avhich
ated. -was folloAved four days after by fo complete an over¬
throw, that their numerous army, confifting of 90,000
men, by the acceflion bf a powerful corps of Moors,
commanded by Bocchus’s fon Volux, Avas entirely ruin¬
ed. Sylla, Marius’s lieutenant, moft eminently diftin-
guifhed himfelf in the laft aftion, which laid the founda¬
tion pf his future greatnefs. Bocchus, now looking
upon Jugurtha’s condition as defperate, and not being
Avilling to run the rilk of lofing his dominions, fhoAvcd
a diipofition to clap up a peace Avith Rome. However,
the republic gave him to underftand, that he muft not
expeft to be^ ranked amongft its friends, till he had
delivered up into the conful’s hands Jugurtha, the inve¬
terate enemy of the Roman name. The Mauritanian
monarch, having entertained a high idea of an alliance
Vol XV. Part I.
97 ] N U M
Avith that ftate, refolved to fatisfy it in this particular ; 'Numicfia.
and Avas confirmed in his refolution by one Dabar, a * ■' "
Numidian prince, the fon of Maflugrada, and defeended
by his mother’s fide from Mafinifla. Being clofely at¬
tached to the Romans, and extremely agreeable to Boc¬
chus, on account of his noble difpolition, he defeated all
the intrigues of Alpar, Jugurtha’s minifter. Upon Syl-
la’s arrival at the Mauritanian court, the affair there
feemed to be entirely fettled. HoAArever, Bocchus, who
Avas for ever projecting neiv defigns, and, like the reft of
his countrymen, in the higheft degree perfidious, de¬
bated Avithin himfelf, Avhether he fhould facrifice Sylla
or Jugurtha, Avho were both then in his poiver. He rvas
a long time fluctuating Avith uncertainty, and combated
by a contrariety of fentiments. The hidden changes
which difplayed themfelves in his countenance, bis air,
and his Avhole perfon, evidently (bowed Iioav ftrongly his
mind Avas agitated. But at laft he returned to his firft de-
fign, to Avhich the bias of his mind feemed naturally to
lead him. He therefore delivered up Jugurtha into the
hands of Sylla, to be conducted to Marius ; Avho, by that
fuccefsful event, happily terminated this dangerous war.
The kingdom of Numidia Avas ogav reduced to a new
form: Bocchus, for his important fervices, had the
country of the Maflaefyli, contiguous to Mauritania, af- v
figned him : Avhich, from this time, took the name of
New Mauritania. Numidia Propria, or the country of
the Maffyli, Avas divided into three parts ; one of Avhich
was given to Hiempfal, another to Mandreftal, both
defeendants of MafiniiTa ; and the third the Romans an¬
nexed to Africa Propria, or the Roman province adja¬
cent to it. What became of Jugurtha after he had
graced Marius’s triumph, at which ceremony he Avasled
in chains, together Avith his two fons, through the ftreets
of Rome, avc have already laid before our readers. See
Jugurtha.
jugurtha’s tA\m fons furvived him, but fpent their Tra. fac-
lives in captivity at Venufia. However, one of them,ftorisafter
named Oxyntas, Avas, for a ftiort time, releafed from neath o£
his confinement by Aponius, wlio befieged Acerrae jnJu§urtha’
the Avar betAveen the Romans and the Italian allies.
1 hat general brought this prince to his army, Avhere
he treated him as king, in order to draAv the Numidian
forces off from the Roman fervice. Accordingly thofe
Numidians no fooner heard that the fon of their old
king Avas fighting for the allies, than they began to
defert by companies; which obliged Julius Ctefar the
conful to part Avith all his Numidian cavalry, and fend
them back into Africa. Some fevv years after this
event, Pompey defeated Cneius Domitius Ahenobar-
bus, and Hiarbas one of the kings of Numidia, kill¬
ing 17,000 of their men upon the fpot. Not fatisfied
Avith this viftory, that general purfued the •fugitives to
their camp, Avhich he foon forced, put Domitius to the
fword, and took Hiarbas prifoner. He then reduced
that part of Numidia Avhich belonged to Hiarbas, who
feems to have fucceeded Mandreftal above-mentioned ;
and gave it to Hiempfal, a neighbouring Numidian
prince, defeended from Mafinifla, Avho had ahvays op-
pofed the Marian faction.
Suetonius informs us, that a difpute happened be-Csefar itt-
tween Hiempfal and one Mafintha, a noble NumidianrnuU Juba,
whom, it is probable, he had in fome tefpeff injured,
when Julius Cmlar firft began to make a figure in the
Avorld. The fame author adds, that CaTar Avarmly
N efpoufed
' 'umidia.
IT.
Juba de¬
feats one of
Csefar’s
lieutenants.
1%
Juba over¬
thrown by
Cadar.
N U M [ 98 ]
efpoufcd the caufe of Mafintha, and even grofsly infult- lxru£tion.
ed Juba, Hiempfal’a fon, when he attempted to vindi¬
cate his father’s condu£t on this occafion. He pulled
him by the beard, than which a more unpardonable af¬
front could not be oftered to an African. In Ihort, he
fcreened Mafintha from the infults and violence of his
enemies 5 from whence a reafon may be affigned for
Juba’s adhering fo clofely afterwards to the Pompeian
faction.
In confequence of the indignity Caefar had offered
Juba, and the difpofition it had occafioned, that prince
did Caefar great damage in the civil wars betwixt him
and Pompey. By a llratagem he drew Curio, one of
his lieutenants, into a general abfion, which it was his
interell at that time to have avoided. He caufed it to
be given out over all Africa Propria and Numidia, that
he was retired into fome remote country at a great di-
ftance from the Roman territories. This coming to
Curio’s ears, who was then befieging Utica, it hin¬
dered him from taking the necefl'ary precautions againft
a furprife. Soon after, the Roman general receiving in¬
telligence that a fmall body of Numidians was approach¬
ing his camp, he put himfelf at the head of his forces in
order to attack them, and, for fear they (hould efcape,
began his march in the night, looking upon himfelf as
fure of viflory. Some of their advanced polls he fur-
prifed alleep, and cut them to pieces •, which Hill farther
animated him. In Ihort, about daybreak he came up
with the Numidians, whom he attacked with great bra¬
very, though his men were then falling, and valfly fa¬
tigued by their forced and precipitate march. In the
mean time, Juba, who immediately after the propagation
of the rumour above mentioned, had taken care to march
privately, with the main body of the Numidian army,
to fupport the detachment fent before to decoy Curio,
advanced to the relief of his men. The Romans had
met with a great reliltance before he appeared ; fo that
he ealily broke them, killed Curio, with a great part of
his troops, upon the fpot, purfued the reft to their camp,
which he plundered, and took many of them prifoners.
Moll of the fugitives, who endeavoured to make their
efcape on board the {hips in the port of Utica, were
either llain by the purfuers, or drowned. The re¬
mainder fell into the hands of Varus, who would have
faved them •, but Juba, who arrogated to hitnfelf the
honour of this vidtory, ordered moll of them to be put
to the fword.
This vidlory infufed new life and vigour into the
Pompeian fadfion, who thereupon conferred great ho¬
nours upon Juba, and gave him the title of king of all
Numidia. But Csefar and his adherents declared him
an enemy to the Rate of Rome, adjudging to Bocchus
and Bogud, two African princes entirely in their in-
tereft, the fovereignty of his dominions. Juba after¬
wards, uniting his forces with thofe of Scipio, reduced
Caefar to great extremities, and would in all probabi¬
lity have totally ruined him, had he not been relieved
by Publius Sittius. That general, having formed a
confiderable corps, conlifting of Roman exiles, and Mau¬
ritanian troops fent him by Bocchus, according to Dio,
or, as Caefar will have it, Bogud, made an irruption into
Gaetulia and Numidia, while Juba was employed in
Africa Propria. As he ravaged thefe countries in a
dreadful manner, Juba immediately returned with the
heft part of his army, to preferve them from utter de-
*3
N U M
However, Caefar knowing his horfe to be Nutnidia,
afraid of the enemy’s elephants, did not think proper to Namifma.
attack Scipio in the abfence of the Numidian, till his
own elephants, and a frelh reinforcement of troops, v
hourly expefted, arrived from Italy. With this accef-
fion of ftrength, he imagined himfelf able to give a good
account, both of the Roman forces with which he was
to cope, and the barbarians. In the mean time Scipio
defpatched reiterated expreffes to Juba to haften to his
aftiitance *, but could not prevail upon him to move out
of Numidia, till he had promifed him the pofleflion of
all the Roman dominions in Africa, if they could from
thence expel Csefar. This immediately put him in mo¬
tion j fo that, having fent a large detachment to make
head againft Sittius, he marched with the reft of his
troops to aflift Scipio. However, Csefar at laft over-
threw Scipio, Juba, and Labienus, near the town of
Thapfus, and forced all their camps. As Scipio was
the ftrft furprifed and defeated, Juba fled into Numidia
without waiting for Csefar’s approach} but the body of
the Numidians detached againft Sittius, having been
broken and difperfed by that general, none of his fub-
jefls there would receive him. Abandoned therefore
to defpair he fought death in a Angle combat with Pe-
treius, and, having killed him, caufed himfelf to be def¬
patched by one of his Haves.
After this decifive aftion, and the reduction of A- Nnmldia
friea Propria, Caefar made himfelf mailer of Numidia, reduced to
which he reduced to a Roman province, appointing ^ form
Crifpus Salluftius to govern it in quality of proconful,a P10™1*’6*
with private inftru£lions to pillage and plunder the in¬
habitants, and, by that means, put it out of their power
ever to fliake off the Roman yoke. However, Bocchus
and Bogud ftill preferved a fort of fovereignty in the
country of the Maffaffyli and Mauritania, Ance the for¬
mer of thofe princes, having deferted Csefar, fent an ar¬
my into Spain to afliit the Pompeians y and the latter,
with his forces, determined victory to declare for Csefar
at the ever memorable battle of Munda. Bogud, after¬
wards Ading with Antony againft O&avius, fent a body
of forces to aflift him in Spain 5 at which time the Tingi-
tanians revolting from him, Bocchus, with an army com-
pofed of Romans in the intereft of Odlavius, who paffed
over from Spain into Africa, and his own fubje£ls, pof-
feffed himfelf of Mauritania Tingitana. Bogud fled to
Antony ; and Odftavius, after the conclufion of the war,
honoured the inhabitants of Tingi with all the privileges
of Roman citizens. He likewife confirmed Bocchus
king of Mauritania Csefarienlis, or the country of the
Maffsefyli, in the poffefiion of Tingitana, which he had
conquered, as a reward for his important fervices. In
this he imitated the example of his great predeceffor
Julius Csefar, who divided fome of the fruitful plains
of Numidia among the foldiers of P. Sittius, who had
conquered great part of that country, and appointed
Sittius himfelf fovereign of that diftrift. Sittius, as
has been intimated above, having taken Cirta, killed
Sabura, Juba’s general, entirely difperfed his forces,
and either cut off or taken prifoners moft of the Pom¬
peian fugitives that efcaped from the battle of Thap-
fus, highly deferved to be diftinguifhed in fo eminent a
manner. After Bocchus’s death, Mauritania and the
Maffsefylian Numidia were in all refpefts confidered as
Roman provinces.
NUMISMATOGRAPHIA, a term ufed for the
defcriptioQ
NUN [
Numifma- defcription and knowledge of ancient coins and medals,
tographia whether of gold, filver, or brafs. See Coins and Me-
,T II D AES.
. j ^‘n* , NUMITOR, the fon of Procas king of Alba, and
the brother of Amulius. Procas before his death made
him and Amulius joint heirs to the crown, on condition
of their reigning annually by turns : but Amulius, on
getting poffeffion of the throne, excluded Numitor,
whofe fon Laufus he ordered to be put to death, and
obliged Rhea Sylvia, Numitor’s only daughter, to be¬
come a veftal. This princefs becoming pregnant, de¬
clared that (he was with child by the god Mars j and
afterwards brought forth Remus and Romulus, who at
length killed Amulius, and reftored Numitor to the
throne, 754 B. C. See Remus and Romulus.
NUMMUS, a piece of money, otherwife called fejler-
tius.
NUN, the fon of Elifhamah, and father of Joflvja,
of the tribe of Ephraim. The Greeks gave him the
name of Nane inftead of Nun. This man is known in
facred hiftory only by being the father of Jofhua.
Nun, a woman, in feveral Chriftian countries, who
devotes herfelf, in a cloifter or nunnery, to a religious
life. See the article Monk.
There were women, in the ancient Chriftian church,
who made public profeftion of virginity, before the
monaftic life was known in the world, as appears from
the writings of Cyprian and Tertullian. Thefe, for dif-
timftion’s fake, are fometimes called ecclefictjlical virgins,
and w’ere commonly enrolled in the canon or matricula
of the church. They differed from the monaftic virgins
chiefly in this, that they lived privately in their fathers
houfes, whereas the others lived in communities : but
their profeilion of virginity was not fo ft rift as to make
it criminal for them to marry afterwards, if they thought
fit. As to the confecration of virgins, it had f . ne
things peculiar in it: it was ufually performed publicly
in the church by the bilhop. The virgin made a pub¬
lic profeffion of her refolution, and then the biftiop put
upon her the accuftomed habit of facred virgins. One
part of this habit was a veil, called the facrum vclamen ;
another was a kind of mitre or coronet worn upon the
head. At prefent, when a woman is to be made a nun,
the habit, veil, and ring of the candidate are carried to
the altar ; and the herfelf, accompanied by her neareft
relations, is condufted to the bilhop, who, after mafs
and an anthem, (the fubjeft of which is “ that Ihe
' ought to have her lamp lighted, becaufe the bridegroom
is coming to meet her),” pronounces the benediftion;
then Hie rifes up, and the bifliop confecrates the new
habit, fprinkling it with holy water. When tire candi¬
date has put on her religious habit, Ihe prefents herfelf
before the bilhop, and fings, on her knees, Ancilla Chrif-
ti fum, &c. j then Ihe receives the veil, and afterwards
the ring, by which Ihe is married to Chrift 5 and laftly,
the crown of virginity. When (lie is crowned, an ana¬
thema is denounced againft all who (hall attempt to
make her break her vows. In fome few inftances, per¬
haps, it may have happened that nunneries, monafteries,
Sec. may have been ufeful as well to morality and reli¬
gion as to literature : in the grofs, however, they have
been highly prejudicial', and however well they might
be fuppofed to do when viewed in theory, in faft they
are unnatural and impious. It was furely far from the
intention of Providence to feolude youth and beauty in
99 ] N U O
a cloiftered ruin, or to deny them the innocent en]'oy~ Nun
meat of their years and fex. li
NUNCIO, or Nuntio, an ambaffador from the pope k- '
to fome Catholic prince or ftate, or a perfon who at-
tends on the pope’s behalf at a congrefs, or an aliemoly
of leveral ambaffadors.
NUNCUPATIVE, in the fchools, fomething that
is only nominal, or has no exigence but in name.
NUNCUPATIVE Will or Tejlament, a will made ver¬
bally, and not put in writing. See the articles W ile
and Testament.
NUNDINA, a goddefs among the ancient hea¬
thens, luppoicd to have the care of the purification of
infants. And becaufe male infants were purified nine
days after their birth, her name is derived from nonus,
or the ninth, though female infants were purified the
eighth day; which purification was called lujlration by
the Romans.
NUNDINAL, Nundinalis, a name which the Ro¬
mans gave to the eight firft letters of the alphabet ufed
in their kalendar.
This feries of letters, A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, is
placed and repeated fucceflively from the firft to the
laft day of the year : one of thefe always exprefied the
market days, or the affemblies called nundince, quaji no~
vending, becaufe they returned every nine days. The
country people, aftef working eight days lucceflively,
came to town the ninth, to fell their feveral commodi¬
ties, and to inform themfelves of what related to reli¬
gion and government. Thus the nundinal day being
under A on the firft, ninth, feventeenth, and twenty-
fifth days of January, &c. the letter D will be the nun¬
dinal letter of the year following. Thefe nundinals
bear a very great refemblance to the dominical letters,
which return every eight days, as the nundinals did
every nine.
NUNDOCOMAR, a Rajah in Bengal, and head of
the Bramins, who, in 1775, was condemned to an ig¬
nominious death by Englilh laws newly introduced, in
an Englilh court of juftice newly eftablilhed, for a for¬
gery charged to have been committed by him many
years before. That he was guilty of the deed cannot
be queftioned ; but there was furely fomething hard in
condemning a man by an ex pojl fatto law. He bore
his fate with the utmoft fortitude, in the full confidence
that his foul would foon be reunited to the univerfal fpi-
rit whence it had fprung. See Metaphysics, Part III.
Chap. IV. Of the Immortality of the Soul.
Monte NUOVO, in the environs of Naples, blocks
up the valley of Averno. “ This mountain (Mr Swinburne
tells us) arofe in the year 1538 ; for after repeated
quakings, the earth burft afunder, and made way for a
deluge of hot allies and flames, which riling extremely
high, and darkening the atmofphere, fell down again
and formed a circular mound four miles in circumfe¬
rence, and 1000 feet high, with a large cup in the
middle. The wind riling afterwards, wafted the light¬
er particles oyer the country, blafted vegetation, and
killed the animals who grazed ; the confequence was,
that the place was deferted, till Don Pedro de Toledo,
viceroy of Naples, encouraged the inhabitants by ex¬
ample and otherwife to return,
“ Part of Monte Nuovo is cultivated, but the larger
portion of its declivity is wildly overgrown with prickly
broom, and rank weeds that emit a very fetid mlphu-
N 2 reous
N U R
Monte reous fmell. The crater is {hallow, its infide clad with
Nuoto jOhrubs, and the little area at the bottom planted with
Nurem- % anc^ mulberry trees •, a moll ftriking fpecimen of the
berg. amazing viciffitudes that take place in this extraordinay
**■—vr-—country. I faw no traces of lava or melted matter, and
few ftones within.
“ Near the foot of this mountain the fubterraneous
fires a6! with fuch immediate power, that even the fand
at the bottom of the fea is heated to an intolerable de¬
gree.”
NUPTIAL rites, the ceremonies attending the fo-
lemnization of marriage, which are different in different
ages and countries. We cannot omit here a cuftom
which was praftifed by the Romans on thefe occafions;
which was this : Immediately after the chief ceremonies
were over, the new married man threw nuts about the
room for the boys to fcramble for. Various reafons
have been afiigued for it j but that which moil gene¬
rally prevails, and feems to be the moil juft, is, that by
this aft the bridegroom fignified his relbluticn to aban¬
don trifles* and commence a ferious courfe of life ;
whence nucibus reliciis in this fenfe became a proverb.
They might alfo be an emblem of fertility.
The ancient Greeks had a perfon to conduft the
bride from her own to the bridegroom’s houfe \ and
hence he was called by the Greeks Nijmphagogus, which
term was afterwards ufed both by the Romans and the
Jews. ,
NUREMBERG, an imperial city of Germany, ca¬
pital of a territory of the fame name, fituated in E.
Long. II. N. Lat. 47. 30. It Hands on the Regnitz,
over which it has feveral bridges, both of wood and
Hone, at the bottom of a hill, 60 miles from Augf-
burg, 87 from Munich, 46 from Wurtzburg, and 50
from Ratifbon •, and is thought by fome to be the Sego-
dunum, and by others the Caftrum Noricum of the an¬
cients.
The city has derived its name from the hill, upon
which Hands this caftle, called, in Latin, Caftrum No¬
ricum, round which the city Avas begun to be built, and
where the emperors formerly lodged ; and here they
lodge ftill, when they pafs by that city. They there
preferve, as precious relicks, the crown, fceptre, clothes,
bufkins, and other ornaments of Charlemagne (a),
which ferved alfo the emperor Leopold, when he went
thither after his eleftion, to receive the homage of the
city. The fmall river Regnitz, which runs through it,
and thofe of Rednitz and Schivarzack, which pafs by
its walls, furnilh the inhabitants, befides other advan¬
tages, with the means of making all forts of fluffs, dyes,
and other manufaftures (b), and toys, which are car¬
ried and fold even in the Indies.
N U R
It is a large and ivell-built town, but not very popu- Nurem-
lous. Its fortifications are a double wall, flanked with ^erg.
torvers mounting cannon, and a deep ditch. The ma-
giftrates, and moft of the inhabitants, are Lutherans.
There are a great maiiy churches and chapels in it. In
that of St Sebald is a brafs monument of the faint ; and
a pifture, reprefenting the creation of the Avorld, by
the celebrated Albert Durer, Avho was a native of the
toAvn ; but the fineft church in the toAvn is that of St
Giles. In that of the Holy Ghoft are kept moft of the
jeAvels of the empire, together Avith the pretended fpear
Avith which our Saviour’s fide AAras pierced, a thorn of
his croAvn, and a piece of the manger wherein he ivas
laid. Here are alfo a great many hofpitals, one in par¬
ticular for foundlings, and another for pilgrims j Avith H
gymnafium, an anatomical theatre, a granary, a fine
public library, the old imperial fortrefs or caftle, fome
remains of the old citadel of the burgraves of Nurem¬
berg, feveral Latin Ichools, an academy of painting, a
Avell furnilhed arfenal, a Teutonic houfe in Avhich the
Roman Catholic fervice is tolerated, and a mint. Mr
Keyfler fays, there are upAvards of 500 ftreets in it,
about 140 fountains, 16 churches, 44 religious houfes,
12 bridges, 10 market places, and 25,000 inhabitants j
and that its territories, befides the capital and four other
towns, contain aboAre 500 villages, and about 160 mills
on the Regnitz. The trade of this city, though upon
the decline, is ftill very great, many of its manufaftures
being ftill exported to all parts of the Avorld 5 among '
which may be reckoned a great variety of curious toys .
in ivory, Avood, and metal, already mentioned. The
city has alfo diftinguilhed itfelf in the arts of painting
and engraA-ing. When the emperor Henry VI. aflifted
at a tournament in Nuremberg, he railed 38 burghers
to the degree of nobility, the defcendants of Avhom are
called patricians, and have the government of the city
entirely in their hands ; the Avhole council, except eight
mailers of companies, Avho are fummoned only on extra¬
ordinary occafions, confilling of them. Among the
fine brafs cannon in the arfenal, is one that is charged
at the breech, and may be fired eight times in a mi¬
nute ; and tAvo that carry balls of eighty pounds. The
city keeps, in conftant pay, feven companies, confifting
each, in time of peace, of 100 men, but, in time of
Avar, of 185 j tAvo troops of cuirafliers, each confifting
of 85 men ; and tAvo companies of invalids. There are
alfo 24 companies of burghers, Avell armed and difcip-
lined. On the new bridge, which is faid to have coft
1 oo,oco guilders, are tAvo pyramids, on the top of one
of which is a dove with an olive branch in her bill, and
on the other an imperial black eagle. Mufic alfo flou-
riflies greatly in Nuremberg ; and thofe Avho delight in
mechanic
[ 100 ]
(a) Thefe ornaments are, a mitred croAvn, enriched with rubies, emeralds, and pearls ; the dalmatic of Char¬
lemagne, richly embroidered •, the imperial mantle powdered with embroidered eagles, and its border thick fet
Avith large emeralds, fapphires, and topazes ; the bulkins covered with plates of gold ; the gloves embroidered j
the apple, the golden fceptre, and fAvord. The ancient cuftom of the empire is, that the emperor is bound to af-
femble in this city the firft diet that he holds after his eleftion and coronation.
(B) T here is in Nuremberg, and in the neighbouring villages depending upon it, an infinite number of Avork-
naen, very ingenious in making feveral kinds of toys of Avood, which are carried through all the fairs of Germany*,
and from thence through all Europe. Thefe toys are called Nurembergs ; and they have fo great a fale, that it
even exceeds defeription. This employment affords a livelihood to the greateft part of the inhabitants of the city y
and they make a very confiderable profit from this traffic.
3
■
Nurem¬
berg
II
Nurfing.
NUB. f i
mechanic arts and manufa&ures cannot anywhere bet¬
ter gratify their curiofity. As an imperial city, it has
a feat and voice at the diets of the empire and circle,
i paying to the chamber of Wetzlar 812 rixdollars each
term. The territory belonging to the city is pretty
large, containing, befides two confiderable forefts of
pine, called the Sibald and Laurence forejls, feveral
towns and villages.
We have mentioned already that certain families cal¬
led patricians, to the exclufion of the reft, poflefs the
offices of the fenate. They are compofed of 42 per-
fons (c), over which two caftellans, or perpetual fe-
nefchals, prefide, the firft of whom has his reftdence in
the cattle. Thefe caftellans affemble fometimes in the
cattle, with five or fix of the chief members, to hold a
feerpt council (d). And, as this city glories in being
one of the firft w'hich embraced Lutheranifm, it pre-
ferves the privilege of that in civil matters, not admit¬
ting any Catholics to the magiftracy or freedom of the
town *, the Catholics there having the liberty only of
remaining under the protedtion of the reft, and perform¬
ing their religious worfhip in a commandery of Malta,
and this but at certain hours, not to difturb the Luthe¬
rans, who likewife affemble there, although in poflef-
iion of al] the other churches.
This city is particularly noted for its antiquity,
grandeur, fortifications, its triple walls of hewn ftone,
its large and deep moat, its fine houfes, large churches,
its wide ftreets, always clean, and for its curious and
large library, and its magazine ftored with every thing
proper for its defence.
NURSERY, in Gardening, is a piece of land fet
apart for raifing and propagating all forts of trees and
plants to fupply the garden and other plantations.
NURSING of Children. See Lactatio.
The following obfervations and diredHons are faid to
^ An. Reg. be the refult of long experience f. The child ftiould
be laid (the firft month) upon a thin mattrefs, rather
longer than itfelf, which the nurfe will keep upon her
lap, that the child may always lie ftraight, and only fit
up as the nurfe flants the mattrefs. To fet a child quite
upright before the end of the firft month, hurts the
eyes, by making the white part of the eye appear be¬
low the upper eyelid. Afterwards the nurfe will begin
to fet it up and dance it by degrees. The child muft
be kept as dry as poflible.
The clothing Ihould be very light, and not much
longer than the child, that the legs may be got at with
cafe, in order to have them often rubbed in the day
with a warm hand or flannel, and in particular the in-
fide of them.
Rubbing a child all over takes off feurf, and makes
the blood circulate. The one breaft fliould be rubbed
with the hands one way, and the other the other way,
night and morning at leaft.
The ankle bones and infide of the knees fliould be
vol.
13*
01 ] N U R
rubbed twice a-day j this will {Lengthen thofe parts, Nurfing,
and make the child ftretch its knees and keep them
flat, which is the foundation of an dreft and graceful
perfon.
A nurfe ought to keep a child as little in her arms
as poflible, left the legs ftiould be cramped, and the
toes turned inwards. Let her always keep the child’s
legs loofe. The oftener the pofture is changed, the
better.
Tofling a child about, and exercifing it in the open
air in fine weather, is of the greateft fervice. In cities,
children are not to be kept in hot rooms, but to have
as much air as poflible.
Want of exercife is the caufe of large heads, weak
and knotted joints, a contrafted breaft, which occafions
coughs and fluffed lungs, an ill-ftiaped perfon, and wad¬
dling gait, befides a numerous train of other ills.
The child’s flefti is to be kept perfedlly clean, bv
conftantly waffling its limbs, and likewife its neck and
ears, beginning with warm water, till by degrees it
■will not only bear, but like to be walked with cold
water.
Riling early in the morning is good for all children,
provided they awake of themfelves, which they gene¬
rally do : but they are never to be waked out of their
lleep, and as foon as poflible to be brought to regular
lleeps in the day.
When laid in bed or cradle, their legs are always to
be laid ftraight.
Children, till they are two or three years old, muft
never be fuffered to walk long enough at a time to be
weary.
Girls might be trained to the proper management of
children, if a premium were given in free fchools, work-
houfes, &c. to thofe that brought up the fineft child to
one year old.
If the mother cannot fuckle the child, get a ivhole-
fome cheerful woman with young milk, who has been
ufed to tend young children, After the firft fix months,
fmall broths, and innocent foods of any kind, may do
as well as living wholly upon milk.
_ A principal thing to be always attended to is, to
give young children conftant exercife, and to keep
them in a proper pofture.
With regard to the child’s drefs in the day, let it bo
a fhirt 5 a petticoat of fine flannel, two or three inches
longer than the child’s feet, with a dimity top (com¬
monly called a bodice coat), to tie behind ; over that a
furcingle made of fine buckram, two inches broad, co¬
vered over with fatin or fine ticken, with a ribbon faft-
ened to it to tie it on, which anfwers every purpofe of
flays, and has none of their inconveniences. Over this
put a robe,, or a flip and frock, or whatever you like
beft ; provided it is faftened behind, and not much
longer than the child’s feet, that their motions may be
ftridtly obferved.
Tivo
(c) Of thefe 42 members, there are only 34 chofen from the patrician families j the other eight are taken from
among the.burghers, and make in a manner a fmall feparate body.
• ^ 1 his fecret.council is compofed of feven principal chiefs of the republic, and for that reafon is called feptem-
virate. It determines the moft important affairs 5 and is the depofitory of the precious ftones. of the empire, of the-
imperial crown, the enfigns, feals, and keys of the city. F ’
NUT [ 102 ] N U Y
Tfurfing Two caps are to be put on the head, till the child has
v A- teeth.
■J U ^-0n', The child’s drefs for the night may be a (hirt, a
blanket to tie on, and a thin gown to tie over the
blanket.
NUSANCE, or Nuisance, in Law, a thing done
to the annoyance of another.
Nuifances are either public or private.—A public
nuifance is an offence againfl: the public in general, ei¬
ther by doing what tends to the annoyance of all the
king’s fubje&s, or by neglefting to do what the com¬
mon good requires : in which cafe, all annoyances and
injuries to flreets, highways, bridges, and large rivers,
as alfo diforderly alehoufes, bawdy-houfes, gaming
houfes, ftages for rope-dancers, &c. are held to be com¬
mon nuifances.—A private nuifance is, when only one
perfon or family is annoyed by the doing of any thing j
as where a perfon flops up the light of another’s houfe,
or builds in fuch a manner that the rain falls from his
houfe upon his neighbour’s.
NUT, among botanifts, denotes a pericarpium of
an extraordinary hardnefs, enclofing a kernel or feed.
NUTATION, in AJlronomy, a kind of tremulous
motion of the axis of the earth, whereby, in each an¬
nual revolution, it is twice inclined to the ecliptic, and
as often returns to its former pofition.
NUTCRACKER. See Corvus, Ornithology
Index.
NUTHATCH. See Sitta, Ornithology Index.
NUTMEG, the fruit of a tree, and a well known
fpice. See Myristica.
NUTRITION, in the animal economy, is the re¬
pairing the continual lofs which the different parts of
the body undergo. The motion of the parts of the
body, the fridlion of thefe parts with each other, and
efpecially the aftion of the air, would deflroy the body
entirely, if the lofs w’as not repaired by a proper diet,
containing nutritive juices •, which being digeiled in the
ftomach, and afterwards converted into chyle, mix with
the blood, and are diflributed through the whole body
for its nutrition.
In young perfons, the nutritive juices not only ferve
to repair the parts that are damaged, but alfo to increafe
them which is called growth.
In grown perfons, the cuticle is everywhere conflant-
ly defquamating, and again renewing ; and in the fame
manner the parts rubbed off, or otherwife feparated from
the flelhy parts of the body, are foon fupplied with new
flefli; a wound heals, and an emaciated perfon grows
plump and fat.
Buffon, in order to account for nutrition, fuppofes
the body of an animal or vegetable to be a kind of
mould, in which the matter neceffary to its nutrition
is modelled and affimilated to the whole. But (con¬
tinues he) of what nature is this matter which an
animal or vegetable aflimilates to its own fubftance ?
What power is it that communicates to this matter
the aiRivity and motion neceffary to penetrate this
mould ? and, if fuch a force exift, would it not be by
a fimilar force that the internal mould itfelf might be
reproduced ?
As to the firft queffion, he fuppofes that there exifts
in nature an infinite number of living organical parts,
and that all organized bodies confift of fuch organical
parts $ that their production colls nature nothing, lince
their exiftence is conftant and invariable j fo that the Nutritiofi
matter which the animal or vegetable aflimilates to its II
fubffance, is an organical matter of the fame nature , ^'U)ts'
with that of the animal or vegetable, which confe-
quently may augment its volume without changing its
form or altering tire quality of the fubftance in the
mould.
As to the fecond queftion : There exift (fays he) in
nature certain powers, as that of gravity, that have no
affinity with the external qualities of the body, but aft
upon the moft intimate parts, and penetrate them
throughout, and which can never fall under the obfer-
vation of our fenfes.
And as to the third queftion, he anfwers, that the
internal mould itfelf is reproduced, not only by a fimi¬
lar power, but it is plain that it is the very fame power
that caufes the unfolding and reproduftion thereof: for
it is fufficient (proceeds he), that in an organized body
that unfolds itfelf, there be fome part fimilar to the
whole, in order that this part may one day become it¬
felf. an organized body, altogether like that of which it
is aftually a part.
NUX MOSCHATA. See MyRISTICA.
Nux Pijlachia. See Pistachia, Botany Index.
NuX Vomica, a flat, compreffed, round fruit, about
the breadth of a Ihilling, brought from the Eall Indies.
It is found to be a certain poifon for dogs, cats, &c.
and it is not to be doubted that it would alfo prove fatal
to mankind. Its furface is not much corrugated 5 and
its texture is firm like horn, and of a pale grayilh-brown.
colour. It is faid to be ufed as a fpecific againft the
bite of a fpecies of water-fnake. It is confiderably bit¬
ter and deleterious 5 but has been ufed in dofes from five
to ten grains twice a-day or fo, in intermittents, parti¬
cularly obftinate quartans, and in contagious dyfentery.
The Jinjchnus Ignatii is a tree of the fame kind, produ-
cing gourd-like fruit, the feeds of which are improperly
called St Ignatius’s beans. Thefe, as alfo the woods
or roots of fome fuch trees, called lignum coluhrinum,
or fnahewood, are very narcotic bitters, like the nux vo¬
mica.
NUYTS, Peter, a native of Holland, and a lead¬
ing charafter in that extraordinary tranfaftion which
happened between the Japanefe and the Dutch about
the year 1628. In 1627 Nuyts arrived in Batavia from
Holland, and was in the fame year appointed ambaffa-
dor to the emperor of Japan by the governor and coun¬
cil of Batavia.
He repaired to that empire in 1628 ; and being a
man of a haughty difpofition, and extremely vain, he
believed it prafticable to pafs upon the natives for an
ambaffador from the king of Holland, Upon his af-
fuming this title he was much more honourably received,
careffed, and refpefted, than former minifters had been.
But he was foon detefted, reprimanded, and reproach¬
ed in the fevereft manner, fent back to the port, and
ordered to return to Batavia with all the circumftances
of difgrace imaginable ; notwithftanding which, his iu-
tereft was fo great, that, inllead of being punithed as he
deferved, he was immediately afterwards promoted to
the government of the iffand of Formofa, of which ho
took poffeffion the year following.
He entered upon the adminiftration of affairs in that
ifland with the fame difpofition that he had fhown while
ambaffador, and with the moft implacable refentment
againft
Nuyts
II ,
Nychthe
meron.
NYC [ i
againfl; the Japanefe 5 neither was it long before an op
portunity offered, as he thought, of revenging bimfelf
to the full. Two large Japanefe fhips, with upwards of
500 men on board, came into the port; upon which he
took it into his head to difarm and unritj them, in the
lame manner as the Dutch veffels are treated at Japan.
The Japanefe did all they could to defend themfelves
from this ill ufage j but at lall, for want of water, they
were forced to fubmit. Governor Nuyts went ftill
farther. When they had finifhed their affairs at For-
mofa, and were defirous of proceeding, according to
their inttruffions, to China, he put them off with fair
words and fine promifes. till the monfoon was over.
They began then to be very impatient, and defired to
have their cannon and fails rcflored, that they might re¬
turn home 5 but the governor had recourfe to new arti¬
fices, and, by a feries of falfe promifes, endeavoured to
hinder them from making ufe of the feafon proper for
that voyage.
The Japanefe, however, foon perceived his defign;
and at length, by a bold attempt, accomplifhed what
by fair means and humble entreaty they could not
obtain ; for, by a daring and well concerted effort,
they took him prifoner, and made him and one of the
council fign a treaty for fecuring their liberty, free de¬
parture, and indemnity, which was afterwards ratified
by the whole council. Nuyts was firfl confined in Ba¬
tavia, and afterw-ards delivered up to the Japanefe, not-
withftanding the moft earneft entreaties on his part to
be tried, and even to fuffer any kind of death where he
was, rather than to be fent to Japan. He wras fent
there, however, in 1634. was fubmitted to the
mercy or difcretion of the emperor ; and the confe-
quence was, that, though imprifoned, he was well ufed,
and could go anywhere, provided his guards were with
him, which was more than he could poffibly have ex-
pefted. He now looked for nothing but the continu¬
ance of his confinement for life. On a particular occa-
fion, however, i. e. at the funeral of the emperor’s father,
at the requefl of the Dutch he was fet free, and returned
again to Batavia, to the furprife of that people, Avho,
however, adopted ever after a very different conduct
with refpeft to the Japanefe.
NUZZER,. or Nuzzeranah ; a prefent or offering
from an inferior to a fuperior. In Hindoltan no man
ever approaches Ids fuperior for the firft time on bufinefs
without an offering of at leaft a gold or filver rupee
in his right hand; which, if not taken, is a mark ofdif-
favour. Nuzzeranah is alfo ufed for the fum paid to
the government as an acknowledgement for a grant of
lands or any public office.
NYCHTHEMERON, among the ancients, figni-
fied the whole natural day, or day and night confiftino-
of 24 hours, or 24 equal parts. This way of confided
mg the day was particularly adopted by the Jews, and
feems to owe its origin to that expreffion of Mofes, in
the firft chapter of Genefis, “ the evening and the morn¬
ing were the firft day.”—Before the Jews had introdu-
ced the Greek hnguage into their difcourfe, they ufed
to figmfy this fpace of time by the fimple expreffion of
» night and a day.
It is proper here to obferve, that all the eaftern
countries reckoned any part of a day of 24 hours for
a whole day ; and fay a thing that was done on the
third or feventh day, &c. from that laft mentioned, was-
4
M
And the Hebrews, Nychthe.
Nymph.
03 ] NY
done after three or feven days.  ?
having no word which exaftly anfwers to the Greek meron
livyjmi^ov, fignifying “ a natural day of 24 hours,”
ufe night and day, or day and night, for it. So that to i
fay a thing happened after three days and three nights,
was, with them, the fame as to fay it happened after
three days, or on the third day. This, being remem¬
bered, will explain what is meant by “ the Son of
Man’s being three days and three nights in the heart of
the earth.”
NYCTALOPIA. See Medicine, N° 361.
NYC1 ANIHES, Arabian Jasmine, a genus of
plants, belonging to the diandria clafs, and in the natu¬
ral method ranking with the 44th order, Sepiarice. See
Botany Index.
NYCTASTRATEGI, among the ancients, wmre
officers appointed to prevent fires in the night, or to give
alarm and call affiftance when a fire broke out. At
Rome they had the command of the watch, and were
called noBurni triumviri, from their office and number.
NYCTICORAX, the night raven; a fpecies of
Ardea. See Ardea, Ornithology Index.
NYLAND, a province of Finland in Sweden, ly¬
ing on the gulf of Finland, to the weft of the province
of Carelia.
NYL-GHAU, a fp ecies of quadrupeds belonging to
the genus Bos, a native of the interior parts of India.
See Mammalia Index.
NYMPH, in Mythology, an appellation given to
certain inferior goddeffes, inhabiting the mountains,
wood, waters, &c. faid to be the daughters of Oce-
anus and lethys. All the univerfe was reprefented as
full of thefe nymphs, who are diftinguiffied into feve-
ral ranks or claffes. The general divifion of them
is into celeftial and terreftrial; the former of them
were called uranic?, and were fuppofed to be intelli¬
gences that governed the heavenly bodies or fpheres. ,
J he terreftrial nymphs, called epigeice, prefided over
the feveral parts of the inferior world ; and were divi¬
ded into thofe of the water, and thofe of the earth.
The nymphs of the water were the oceanitides, or nymphs-
of the ocean ; the nereids, the nymphs of the fea; the
naiads and ephydriades, the nymphs of the fountains;
and the limniades, the nymphs of the lakes. The nymphs
of the earth were the oreades, or nymphs of the moun¬
tains ; the napcece, nymphs of the meadows ; and the
dryads and hamadryads, who were nymphs of the forefts
and groves. Befides thefe, we meet with nymphs who
took their names from particular countries, rivers, &c.
as the eitheroniades, fo called from Mount Cithseron
in Boeotia: the dodonides, from Dodona ; tiberiades,
from the Tiber, &c.—Goats were fometimes facrifi-
ced to the nymphs ; but their conftant offerings were '•
milk, oil, honey, and wine.
We have the following account of nymphs in Chand¬
ler’s Greece. “ They were fuppofed to enjoy longevity,
but not to be immortal. They were believed to delight
in fprings and fountains. They are deferibed as fleep-
lefs, and as dreaded by the country people. They were-
fufccptible of paffion. The Argonauts, it is related;
landing on the fhore of the Propontis to dine m their
way to Colchbs, fent Hylas, a boy for water, who dif-'
covered a lonely fountain, in which the nymphs Eunica, .
Mahs, and Nycheia, were preparing to dance; and thefe-
feeing him were enamoured, .and, feizing him by th*
hand
N Y M [ 104 ] N Y M
Nymph, hand as lie was filling his vafe, pulled him in. The dei-
■“"""v ties, their copartners in the cave, are fuch as prefided
with them over rural and paftoral affairs.
“ The old Athenians were ever ready to cry out,
A god ! or a goddefs ! The tyrant Pififtratus entered
the city in a chariot with a tall woman dreffed in ar¬
mour to refemble Minerva, and regained the Acropolis,
which he had been forced to abandon, by this ftratagem ;
the people worlhipping, and believing her to be the dei¬
ty wrhom fire reprefented. The nymphs, it wras the po¬
pular perfuafion, occafionally appeared 5 and nympho-
lepfy is chara&erifed as a frenzy, which arofe from ha¬
ving beheld them. Superftition difpofed the mind to
adopt delufion for reality, and gave to a fancied vifion
the efficacy of full conviftion. The foundation was per¬
haps no more than an indire£f, partial, or obfcure view
of fome harmlefs girl, who had approached the foun¬
tain on a like errand with Hylas, or was retiring after file
had filled her earthen pitcher.
“ Among the facred caves-on record, one on Mount
Ida in Crete was the property of Jupiter, and one by
Lebadea in Boeotia of Trophonius. Both thefe were
oracular, and the latter bore fome refemblance to that
we have defcribed. It was formed by art, and the mouth
furrounded with a wall. 1 he defcent to the landing
place was by a light and narrow ladder, occafionally
applied and removed. It was fituated on a mountain
above a grove ; and they related, that a fwarm of bees
conduced the perfon by whom it was firfl: difcovered.
But the common owners of caves were the nymphs,
and thefe were fometimes local. On Cithseron in Boeo-
tia, many of the inhabitants were poffeffed by nymphs
called Sphragitides, whofe cave, once alfo oracular, was
on a fummit of the mountain. Their dwellings had ge¬
nerally a w'ell or fpring of water ; the former often a
colledlion of moifture condenfed or exuding from the roof
and fides; and this, in many inftances, being pregnant
with ffony particles, concreted, and marked its paffage
by incruftation, the groundwork in all ages and coun¬
tries of idle tales framed or adopted by fuperftitious and
credulous people. '
“ A cave in Paphlagonia was facred to the nymphs
who inhabited mountains about Heraclea. It wTas
long and wide, and pervaded by cold water, clear as
cryftal. There alfo were feen bowls of ftone, and
nymphs and their webs and diftaffs, and curious work,
exciting admiration. The poet who has defcribed this
grotto, deferves not to be regarded, as fervilely copying
Homer •, he may juftly lay claim to rank as an original
topographer.
“ The piety of Archidamus furnifiied a retreat for the
nymphs, where they might find Ihelter and provifion, if
diftreffed ; whether the fun parched up their trees, or
Jupiter enthroned in clouds upon the mountain top feared
them with his red lightning and terrible thunder, pour¬
ing down a deluge of rain, or brightening the fummits
with his fnow.”
Nymph, among naturalifts, that ftate of winged in-
fe£ls between their living in the form of a worm and their
appearing in the winged or more perfeft ftate.
The eggs of infers are firft hatched into a kind of
worms or" maggots j which afterwards pafs into the
nymph ftate, furrounded with ftiells or cafes of their
own fkins } fo that, in reality, thefe nymphs are only
the embryo infers, wrapt up in this covering •, from
v'hence they at laft get loofe, though not without great Nymph
difficulty. xr ^ 1
During this nymph ftate the creature lofes its motion. um
Swammerdam calls it nympha aurelia, or limply aureiia; < y—
and others give it the name of chrysalis, a term of the
like import. See the article Chrysalis.
Nymph-Band, fituated about 10 leagues off the
coaft of the county of Waterford, and province of Mun-
fter in Ireland, is a great filhing place, and 11 leagues
S. S. E. from the high head of Dungarvan. It
abounds with cod, ling, Ikate, bream, whiting, and.
other fifii; which was difcovered by Mr Doyle, who
on July 15. 1736 failed to it, in company with feven
men, on board the Nymph, a fmall veffel of about 12
tons. This place is well adapted for a filhing com¬
pany, the great public advantages of which mull be
very evident.
NYMPHAS, in Anatomy, two membranaceous parts,
fituated on each fide the rima. See Anatomy Index.
v NYM PHAE A, the Water-lily 5 a genus of plants
belonging to the polyandria clafs, and in the natural
method ranking under the 54th order, Mifce/lanece. See
Botany Index.
Nymph.^ea (amongft the ancients), doubtful what
ftrudlures they were ; fome take them to have been
grottoes, deriving their name from the ftatues of the
nymphs with which they were adorned ; but that they
were eonfiderable works appears from their being ex¬
ecuted by the emperors, (Ammian, Vi&or, Capitolinus)
or by the city prefers. In an infeription, the term
is written nytnjium. None of all thefe nymphgea has
lafted down to our time. Some years fince, indeed, a
fquare building of marble was difcovered between
Naples and Vefuvius, with only one entrance, and
fome fteps that went down to it. On the right hand as
you enter, towards the head, there is a fountain of the
pureft water ; along which, by way of guard, as it were,
is laid a naked Arethufa of the whiteft marble ; the bot¬
tom or ground is of variegated marble, and encompaffed
with a canal fed by the water from the fountain : the
■walls are fet round with fiiells and pebbles of various co¬
lours ; by the fetting of which, as by fo many firokes in
a picture, are expreffed the 12 months of the year, and
the four political virtues ; alfo the rape of Proferpine ;
Pan playing on his reed, and foothing his flock •, befides
the reprefentations of nymphs fwimming, failing, and
wantoning on fifties, &c.
It feems pretty evident that the hymphoea were public
baths \ for at the fame time that they were furnifiied
with pleafing grottoes, they were alfo fupplied with
cooling ft reams, by which they were rendered exceed¬
ingly delightful, and drew great numbers of people to
frequent them. Silence feems to have been a particu¬
lar requifite there, as appears by this infeription, Nymphis
loci, bibe, lava, tace. That building between Naples
and Vefuvius, mentioned above, was certainly one of
thefe nymphaea.
NYMPPIAiUM, (Plutarch) ; the name of a facred
place, near Apollonia in Ulyricum, fending forth con¬
tinually fire in detached ftreams from a green valley
and verdant meadows. Dio Caffius adds, that the fire
neither burns up nor parches the earth, but that herbs
and trees grow and thrive near it, and therefore the
place is called nymphccum : near which was an oracle of
fuch a nature, that the fire, to ftiow that the wifti was
granted
t
N Y M r 105 1 NYU
Nymph®- granted, confumed the frankincenfe thrown into it :
um- but repelled it, in cafe the defire was reje&ed. It was
Nymph'- tjiere tjiat a fleepjng fatyr Was once caught and brought
‘hus' ■ Sylla as he returned from the Mithridatic war.
This monfter had the fame features as the poets afcribe
to the fatyr. He was interrogated by Sylla and by
his interpreters*, but his articulations were unintelli¬
gible ; and the Roman fpurned from him a creature
which feemed to partake of the nature of a bead more
than that of a man.
NyMPH/EUM, in antiquity, a public hall magnificent¬
ly decorated, for entertainments, &c. and where thofe
who wanted convenience at home held their marriage
feafts *, whence the name.
NYMPH1DIUS, Sabinus, a perfon of mean de-
feent, but appointed by Nero colleague of Tigellinus
in the command of the praetorian guards. About the
time, however, that the German legions revolted from
this defpicable prince, he was alfo betrayed by Nymphi-
dius and abandoned by his guards.
Nymphidius began now to entertain thoughts of
feizing the fovereignty himfelf. However, he did not
immediately declare his ambitious views; but pretending
to efpoufe the caufe of Galba, affured the guards that
Nero was fled, and promifed them fuch firms as neither
Galba nor any other was able to difeharge. This
promife fecured for the prefent the empire to Galba,
occafioned afterwards the lofs of it, and, finally, pro¬
duced the deftruftion of Nymphidius and the guards
themfelves. After Nero’s death, however, and on the
acknowledgement of Galba as emperor, he renewed his
ambition ; and having, by his immenfe largeffes, gained
the affections of the praetorian guards, and perfuading
himfelf that Galba, by reafon of his infirmities and old
age, would never reach the capital, ufurped all the
authority at Rome. Prefuming upon his intereft, he
obliged Tigellinus, who commanded, jointly with him,
the praetorian guards, to refign his commiflion. He
made feveral magnificent and extenfive entertainments,
inviting fuch as had been confuls or had commanded
armies, diftributed large firms among the people, and
with Ihows and other diverfions, which he daily exhibit¬
ed, gained fo great an intereft: with all ranks, that he
already looked upon himfelf as fovereign. The fenate,
dreading his power, conferred extraordinary honours
upon him, ftyled him their proteflor, attended him when
he appeared in public, and had recourfe to him for the
confirmation of their decrees, as if he had been already
invefted with the fovereign power. This bafe com¬
pliance elated him to fuch a degree, that he ufurped Nymphfi
not leifurely, and by degrees, but all at once, an ab- ‘Hi13
folute authority He aCled as fovereign indeed, but jgyU!.che.
he had not as yet openly declared his defign of feizing ' .1—v—
the empire: his power, however, was great, and he
ufed it in undermining Galba’s power ; he was, how¬
ever, unfuccefsful, and the difclofure of his deiigns was
much againft him. Galba was again acknowledged
arid proclaimed, and he, notwithHanding his artifices,
detefted and flain by the foldiers who were proclaiming
Galba. See Nero. .
NYON, a confiderable town of Switzerland, in the
canton of Bern, and capital of a bailiwick of the fame
name, with a caftle. It ftands delightfully upon the
edge of the lake of Geneva, in the very point where
it begins to widen, and in a moft charming country
commonly called Pays de Vaud. It was formerly called
Colonia Equejlris Noiodunum ; and, as a proof of its an¬
tiquity, feveral Roman inferiptions, and other ancient
remains, have been frequently difeovered in the outikirts
of the town. E. Long. 5. 10. N. Lat. 46. 24.
NYSA, or Nyssa, in Ancient Geography, a torvn
of Ethiopia, at the fouth of Egypt. Some place it in
Arabia. This city, with another of the fame name in
India, was facred to the god Bacchus, who was edu¬
cated there by the nymphs of the place, and who re¬
ceived the name of Dionysus, which feems to be com¬
pounded of Ares and Nv<rx, the name of his father,
and that of the place of his education. The god made
this place the feat of his empire, and the capital of the
conquered nations of the eafl. According to fome geo¬
graphers, there were no lefs than ten places of this
name. One of thefe was famous on the coaft of Euboea
for its vines, which grew in fuch an uncommon manner,
that if a twig was planted in the ground in the morning,
it immediately produced grapes which were full ripe in
the evening. A city of Thrace : another feated on the
top of Mount Parnaffus, and facred to Bacchus.
NYSLOT, a flrongtown ofRuflia, in Livonia, with
a caftle; feated on the river Narva, among large marfties.
E. Long. 26. 55. N. Lat. 58. 46.
NYSSA, a genus of plants, belonging to the poly-
gamia clafs ; and in the natural method ranking under
the 12th order, Holoracece. See Botany Index.
NYU-CHE, or Kin, an empire which arofe in
Eaftern Tartary in the beginning of the 13th century.
From the founder of this empire the late Chinefe em¬
peror Kang-hi faid that his family was defeended. See
China and Tartary.
O.
THE 14th letter and fourth vowel of our alpha-
r 9 bet; pronounced as in the words nofe, rofe, &c.
I he found of this letter is often ft> foft as to require
it double, and that chiefly in the middle of words; as
•goofe, reproof, &c. And in fome words, this 00 is pro¬
nounced like u fhort, as in blood, flood, &c,
Vol. XV. Part I. ^
As a numeral, O was fometimes ufed for 11 among
the ancients ; and with a dafti over it thus, o, for
11,000.
In the notes of the ancients, O. CON is read opus
conduclum ; O. C. £). opera confllioque; O. D. M. ope¬
ra, donum munus; and O. LO. opus locatum.
O
The
OAK [ 106 ] OAK
o,
Oak.
The Greeks had two O’e *, 'viz. omicran, a, and
omega, m 4 the firft pronounced on the tip of the lips
with a {harper found ; the fecond in the middle of the
mouth, with a fuller found, equal to 00 in our lan¬
guage. The long and ihort pronunciation of our O
are equivalent to the two Greek ones $ the fixft, as in
fuppofe 5 the fecond, as in obey.
O is ufually denoted long by a fervile a fubjoined,
as moan ; or by e at the end of the fyllable, as bone;
when thole •vowels are not ufed, it is generally flioft.
Among the Irilh, the letter O, at the beginning of
the name of a family, is a charafter of dignity annexed
to great houfes. Thus, in the hiftory of Ireland, we
frequently meet with the 0 Neals, 0 Cuito/s, Sec. con-
fiderable houfes in that iiland.
Camden obferves, that it is the cuftom of the lords
ef Ireland to prefix an O to their names, to diliinguifli
them from the commonalty.
The ancients ufed O as a mark of triple time ; from
a notion that the ternary, or number 3, was the moft
perfect of numbers, and therefore properly expreffed by
a circle, the moft perfect of figures.
It is not, .itrhftly {peaking, the letter O, but the
figure of a circle Q, or double C3, by which the mo¬
dern ancients in mufic ufed to exprefs what they called
tcmiio perfeElo, or triple time. Hence the Italians call it
circalo.
The feven antiphones, or alternate hymns of feven
verfes, &c. fung by the choir in the time of Advent,
were formerly called 0, from their beginning with fuch
an exclamation.
O is an adverb of calling, or interjeclion of forrow
or wilhing.
OAK, in Botany. See Quercus.
The oak has been long known by the title of -mo¬
narch erf the woods, and very juftly. It was well
known, and often very elegantly deferibed, by the an¬
cient poets. The following defeription from Virgil is
exquifite :
Veluti annofo validam cum robore quercum
Alpini Boreas, nunc hinc, nunc flatibus illinc
Enuere inter fe certant: itjiridor, et alte
Conjiernunt ten'am concujpo Jlipite frondes :
Ipfa fucret fcopulis ; et quantum vertice ad auras
JEithet'ias, tanium radice in Tart am, tendit.
JEn. iv. 441.
As o’er th’ aerial Alps fublimely fpread,
Some aged oak uprears his reverend head ;
This way and that the furious tempefts blow,
To lay the monarch of the mountains low ;
Th’ imperial plant, though nodding at the found,
Though all his fcatter’d honours ftrew the ground j
Safe in his ftrength, and feated on the rock,
In naked majefty defies the (hock :
High as the head {hoots tow’ring to the Ikies,
So deep the root in hell’s foundation lies. Pitt.
I he ancient druids had a moft profound veneration Oak,
for oak trees. Pliny * fays, that “ the druids (as the —
Gauls call their magicians or wife men) held nothing * NaU
fo faered as the mifletoe, and the tree on which
grows, provided it be an oak. They make choice of
oak groves in preference to all others, and perform no
rites without oak leaves 5 fo that they feem to have the
name of druids from thence, if we derive their name from
the Greek,” &c. (See Druids, Definition, and N° 11.)
Maximus lyrius fays the Celtce or Gauls worftupped Ju¬
piter under the figure of a lofty oak (a).
This ufeful tree grows to fuch a furprifing magni¬
tude, that were there not many well authenticated in-
ftances of them in our own country, they would cer¬
tainly appear difficult of belief. In the 18th volume
of the Gentleman’s Magazine we have the dimenfions.
of a leaf twelve inches in length and feven in breadth,
and all the leaves of the fame tree were equally large.
On the eftate of Woodhall, purchafed in 1775 by Sir
Thomas Rumbold, Bart, late governor of Madras, an
oak was felled which fold for 43I. and meafured 24
feet round. We are alfo told of one in Millwood fo-
reft, near Chaddefley, which was in full verdure in
winter, getting its leaves again after the autumn ones
fell off. In Hunter’s Evelyn’s Sylva, we have an ac¬
count of a very remarkable oak at Greendale 5 which
Gough, in his edition of Camden, thus minutely de-
feribes : The Greendale oak, with a road cut through
it, ftill bears one green branch. Such branches as have
been cut or broken off are guarded from wet by lead.
The diameter of this tree at the top, whence the
branches iffue, is 14 feet 2 inches; at the furface of
the ground il.i4 feet 5 circumference there 35 feet 4
height of the trunk 53; height of the arch 10., width 6.
Mr Evelyn mentions feveral more oaks of extraordinary
fize.in Workfop park.”
In the Gentleman’s Magazine for 1773 >.we have an
account of one differing very effentially from the com¬
mon one; It is frequent about St Thomas in Devonfhire,
and is in that county called Lucombe oak, from one
William Lucombe who fuccelsfully cultivated it near
Exeter. It grows as ftraight and handfome as a fir 4
its leaves are evergreen, and its wood as hard as that
of the common oak. Its growth is fo quick, as to
exceed in 20 or 30 years the altitude and girth iff the
common one at iqo. It is cultivated in various (places 5
Cornwall, Somerfetihirc, &c.
M. du Hamel du Mon^eau, of the Boy-al Academy
of Sciences at Paris (who wrote a treatife on hulband-
ry), gave an account in the year 1749 of an oak which
he had kept in water eight years, and which yielded
fine leaves every fpring. The tree had, he fays, four
or five branches •, the largeft 19 or 20 lines round, and
more than 18 inches long. It throve more in the two firft
years than it would have done in the heft earth *, it af¬
terwards loft: its vigour, and rather decayed j which he
attributed to a defedl in the roots rather than to a want
of aliment.
(a) Camden informs us of a tradition (which, like moft other traditions of this nature, feems to be founded in
ignorance and foftertd by credulity) refpefting an oak near Malwood caftle, where Rufus was killed, viz. that it
budded on Chriftmas day, and withered before night. This tree, the fame tradition reports to have been that againft
which Tyrrel’s arrow glanced.
%
OAK f ^07 ] OAK
O- Mi d"e Euffon made feme experiments en oak tree&;
—» ~mmJ the rehdt of which is recorded in the G-entlcnian’s
Magazine, 1754. He had compared barked with un-
barked trees, and proves, we think with i'ucctfs, from
a variety of trials, that timber barked and dried fland-
ing, is always heavier and confiderably ftronger than
timber kept in its bark.
The baik of oak trees was formerly thought to be
extremely ufeful in vegetation. One load (Mr Mills in
his Treatife on Hufbandry informs us) of oak bark,
laid in a heap and rotted, after the tanners have ufed
it for drefhng of leather, will do more fervice to ftilF
cold land, and its effects will laft longer, than two
loads of the riched dung; but this has been ftrenu-
c,Lilly controverted. (See OJK Leaves).
Tlie baric, in medicine, is alfo a Huong aftxingent j
and hence Hands recommended in haemorrhagies, alt-
vine ftuxes, and other pxieternatiucal or immoderate
fccretions; and in thefe it is fometknes attended with
good effects. Some have alleged, that by the ufe of
this bark every purpofe can be anfwered which may be
obtained from Peruvian hark. But after 1'everal very
fair trials, we have by no means found this to be the
cale. Befides the bark, the buds, the acorns and their
cups are ufed ; as alfo the galls, which are excrefcences
eaufed by infects on the oaks of the eaftem countries,, of
which there are divers fonts ; fome pcrfedtly round and
fraoothr fome rougher with fmaJl protuberances, but all
generally having a round hole in them. All the parts
of the oak are Hypfcic,, binding, and ufeful in all kinds
of fluxes and bleedings, either inward or outward. The
bark is frequently ufed in- gargarifms, for the relaxation
of the uvula, and for fore mouths and throats: it is
alfo ufed in reftringent clyfters and injedtions, againft
the prolapfus uteri or ani. The acorns, beaten to pow¬
der, are frequently taken by the vulgar for pains in the
fide. The only officinal preparation is the aqua germinum
quereus.
Ojk Leaves. The ufe of oak bark in tanning, and
in hot-beds, is generally known For the latter of thefe
purpofes, however, oak leaves are now found to anfwer
equally well, or rather better. In the notes to Dr
Hunter’s edition of Evelyn’s Treatife on Foreft Trees,
we find the following diredlions for their ufe by W.
Speechly : The leaves are to be raked up as foon as
pofiible after they fall from the trees. When raked
into heaps, they fliould immediately be carried into fome
place near the bot-houfes, where they may lie to couch.
Mr Speechly fays, it was his cuftom to fence them round
with charcoal hurdles, or any thing to keep them from
being blown about the garden in windy weather. In
this place they tread them Well, and water them in cafe
they happen to have been brought in dry. The heap
is made fix or feven feet thick, and covered over with
old mats, or any thing elfe, to prevent the upper leaves
from being blown away. In a few days the heap will
come to a ftrong heat. For the firft year or two in
which he ufed thefe leaves, our author did not continue
them in the heap longer than ten days or a fortnight:
but by this method of management they fettle fo much
when brought to the hot-hodfe, that a fupply was very
foon required; and he afterwards found, that it was
proper to let them remain five or fix weeks in the heaps
before they ate brought to the hot-knife. In gettino-
them into the pine pots, if they appear dry, they are to
be watered, and again trodden down exceedingly well,
in layers, till the pits are quite full. The whole is then
covered with tan bark, to the thicknefs of. two inches,
and weh trodden down, till the furtace becomes fmooth
ana even. On this the pine pots are to be placed in the
manner they are to Hand, beginning with the middle
row firft, and filling up. the fpaces between the pots with
tan. In this manner we are to proceed to the next row,
till the whole be finilhed 'T and this operation is perform¬
ed in the fame manner as when tan only is ufed. The
leaves require no farther trouble through the whole fea-
fon.j as they, will retain a conftant and regular heat for
x 2 months without ftirring or turning 5 and our author
irrfoims us, that if he may judge from their appearance
when taken out (being always, entire and perfect), it is
probable they would continue their heat through a
fecond year ; but, as an annual fupply of leaves is eafily
obtained, the experiment is hardly worth making.
After tliis, the pines will have, no occafion to be moved
but at Hated times of their management, viz. at the
drifting them in their pots, &c. when at each time a
little frefh tan (hould be added to make up the deficiency
arifing from the fettling of the beds ; but this will be
inconfiderable, as the leaves do not fettle much after
their long couching. During the firft two years of our
author’s pradhee he did not ufe any tan, but plunged
the pine pots into the leaves, and juft covered the fur-
face of the beds, when finifhed, with a little faw-duft,
to give it a neatnefis. lifts method, however, was
attended with one inconvenience ; for, by the caking
of the leaves, they flirunk from the fides of the pots*
whereby they became expofed to the air, and at the fame
time the heat of the beds was permitted to efcape.
“ Many powerful reafons (fays Mr Speechly) may¬
be given why oak leaves are preferable to tanners
bark.
1. They always heat regularly ; for during the
whole time that I have ufed them, which is near feven
years, I never once knew of their heating with vio¬
lence ; and this is fo frequently the cafe with tan, that
I affirm, and indeed it is well known to every perfon
converfant in the management of the hot-houfe, that
pines fuffer more from this one circumftanee, than all
tne other, accidents put together, infedts excepted.—
When this accident happens near the time of their
fruiting, the effedl is foon feen in the fruit, which is
exceedingly Imall and ill-fhaped. Sometimes there will
be little or no fruit at all; therefore gardeners who make
ufe of tan only for their pines, fliould he moft particu¬
larly careful to avoid an over-heat at that critfealjundlure
—the time of ffiowing the fruit.
“ 2. The heat of Dak leaves is conftant ; xvhereas
tanner’s bark generally turns cold in a very ffiort time
after its furious heat is gone off. This obliges the gar¬
dener to give it frequent turnings in order to promote
its heatings. Thefe frequent turnings, not to mention
the expence, are attended with the worft confequences *
for by the continual moving of the pots backwards
and forwards, tile pines are expofed to the extremes of
heat and cold, whereby their growth is confiderably
retarded; whereas, when leaves are ufed, the pines
will have no oecafion to be moved but at the times of
■potting, &c. The pines have one peculiar advantage
in this undifturbed fituation ; their roots grow through
the bottoms of the pots, and mat among the leaves m
a
OAK
r ios ]
OAK
Oak. a furpnfing 'manner. From the vigour of the plants
—v 1 when in this fituation, it is highly probable that the
leaves, even in this Hate, afford them an uncommon
and agreeable nourifhment.
“ 3. There is a faving in point of expence ; which
is no inconfiderable objeft in places where tan cannot
be had but from a great diftance.
“ 4. The laft ground of preference is, that decayed
leaves make good manure j whereas rotten tan is ex¬
perimentally found to be of no value. I have often
tried it both on fand and clay, and pn wet and dry
land •, and never could difcover in any of my experi¬
ments, that it deferved the name of a manure ; whereas
decayed leaves are the richeft, and of all others the
moft proper manure for a garden. Leaves mixed with
dung make excellent hot-beds; and I find that beds
compounded in this manner, preferve their heat much
longer than when made entirely with dung-, and in
both cafes, the application of leaves will be a confider--
able faving .of dung, which is a circumftance on many
accounts agreeable.”
OAK-Leaf Galls. Thefe are of feveral kinds *, the
remarkable fpecies called the mu/hroom gall is never
found on any other vegetable fubftance but thefe
leaves: and befide this there are a great number of
other kinds.
.... The double gall of thefe leaves is very Singular, be-
caufe the generality of produftions of this kind affeft
only one fide of a leaf or branch, and grow all one
way : whereas this kind of gall extends itfelf both
ways, and is feen on each fide of the leaf, in form of
two protuberances, oppofite the one to the other. I hefe
are of differently irregular fhapes, but their natural
figure feems that of two cones, with broad bafes, and
very obtufe points, though fometimes they are round, or
^ very nearly lo. . .
Thefe make their firft appearance on the leal in
April, and remain on it till June or longer. They are
at firft green, but afterwards yellowilh, and are fofter
to the touch than many other of the produftions of this
kind: they are ufually about the fize of a large pea, but
fometimes they grow to the bignefs of a nut. When
opened, they are found to be of that kind which are in¬
habited each by one infeft only, and each contains one
cavity. The cavity in this is, however, larger than in
any other gall of the fize, or even in many others of
three times the fize the fides of it being very little
thicker than the fubftance of the leaf.
It is not eafy to afcertain the origin of the feveral
fpecies of flies which are at times feen in this manner
to come out of the fame fpecies of galls. It feems
the common courfe of nature, that only one ipecies ol
infea forms one kind of gall 5 yet it may be, that
two or three kinds may give origin to the fame kind.
There is, however, another occafion of our feeing dif¬
ferent fpecies come out of different galls of the fame
kind : and this is the effba of the enemies of the pro¬
per inhabitants.
It might appear that the parent fly, when (he. had
formed a gall for the habitation of her worm offspring,
had placed it in an impregnable fortrefs; but this is
not the cafe -, for it frequently happens, that a fly, as
fmall perhaps as that which gave origin to the gall,
produces a worm which is of the carnivorous kind, as
the other feeds on vegetable juices. This little fly,
well knowing that where there is one of thefe protu¬
berances on a leaf, there is a tender and defencelefs in-
fe£t within, pierces the fides of the gall, and depofites
her egg within it. This, when it hatches into a worm,
feeds upon the proper inhabitant ; and, finally, after
devouring it, paffes into the chryfalis ftate, and thence
appears in the form of its parent fly, and is feen mak¬
ing its way out of the gall, in the place of the proper
inhabitant.
On opening thefe leaf-galls, which are properly the
habitation only of one animal, it is common to find
two, the ftronger preying upon the body of the other,
and fucking its juices as it does thofe of the leaf:
often it is found w holly employed in devouring its un¬
offending neighbour at once: this is probably the cafe
when its time of eating is nearly over: and, in fine,
when we find the gall inhabited by only one infedf, *or
containing only one chryfalis^ as it ought in its natu¬
ral ftate to do, we are never certain that this is the
proper inhabitant, as it may be one of thefe deftroy-
ers who has eaten up the other, and fupplied its place.
See Aphis, Entomology Index.
0AK Saw-dujl is now found to anfwer the purpofes
of tanning, as well, at lead, as the bark. See Tan¬
ning.
0AKofJerufalem. See Chenopodium, Botany Index.-
OAKHUM, Ockham, or Oakum, in fea-language,
denotes the matter of old ropes untwifted and pulled
out into loofe hemp, in order to be uied in caulking
the feams, tree nails, and bends of a (hip, for flopping
or preventing leaks.
OAKHAMPTON, a town of Devonfhire, which
fends two members to parliament, has 1430 inhabitants,
and a manufafture of ferge j fituated in W. Long. 4. 5.
N. Lat. 50. 48.
CANNES, a being in Chaldean mythology, repre-
fented as half a man and half a fiih. According to Be-
rofus and other fabulous writers, this monfter was the ci¬
vilizer of the Chaldeans; to whom he taught a fyftem of
jurifprudence fo perfeft as to be incapable of improve¬
ment. In difcharging the duties of his office, he fpent
the day on dry land, but retired every night into the
ocean or the river. See Mythology, N° 25.
O AR, a long piece of timber, flat at one end and
round or fquare at the other; and which being applied
to the fide of a floating veffel, ferves to make it advance
upon the water.
That part of the oar which is out of the veffel, and
which enters into the water, is called the blade, or
wajh-plat; and that wffiich is within board is termed
the loom., whofe extremity being fmall enough to be
grafped by the rowers, or perfons managing the oars,
is called the handle.
To pufti the boat or veffel forwards by means of
this inftrument, the rowers turn their backs forward,
and, dipping the blade of the oar in the water, pull
the handle forward fo that the blade at the fame time
may move aft in the wTater : but fince the blade cannot
be fo moved, without ftriking the water, this impullion
is the fame as if the water were to ftrike the blade from
the ftern towards the head: the yeffel is therefore necef-
farily moved according to this direflion. Hence it fol¬
lows, that {he will advance with the greater rapidity,
by as much as the oar ftrikes the water more forcibly.
Thus it is evident, that an oar a&s upon the fide of a
boat
Oak
Oar.
Oak
H
Oath.
OAT [ 109 ] OAT
boat or veflfel like a lever of the fecond clafs, whofe ful¬
crum is the ftation upon which the oar refts on the boat’s
gunnel. In large veflels, this ftation is ufually called
the row port ; but in lighters and boats it is always term¬
ed the row lock.
OARI8TUS, or Oaristys, a term in the Greek
poetry, fignifying a dialogue between a hufband and his
wife ; fueh as that in the fixth book of the Iliad between
Hedtor and Andromache.
Scaliger obferves, that the oariftus is not properly any
particular little poem, or entire piece of poetry ; but al¬
ways a part of a great one. He adds, that the paflage
now cited in Homer is the only proper oariftus extant
in the ancient poets.
OASIS, the name of a fertile fpot in the midft of a
fandy defert. Many of thofe fpots, or oafes, in the
African deferts are remarkable for their fertility.
OAT. See Avena, Botany Index.
Mr Bruce gives the following account of the oats
which he found growing wild in Aroofti, a fmall terri¬
tory in Abyflinia, not far from the fource of the Nile :
“ Wild oats (fays he) grow up here fpontaneoufly to a
prodigious height and fize, capable often of concealing
both the horfe and his rider, and fome of the ftalks
being little elfe than an inch in circumference. They
have, when ripe, the appearance of fmall canes. The
inhabitants make no fort of ufe of this grain in any
period of its growth : the uppermoft thin hulk of it is
beautifully variegated with a changeable purple colour;
the tafte is perfeftly good. I often made the meal into
cakes in remembrance of Scotland.” Our author in¬
forms us, that the Abyflinians could never be brought
to relilh thefe cakes, which they faid were bitter, burnt
their ftomachs, and made them thirfty. He is, however,
decidedly of opinion, that the wdld oat of Aroofti is the
oat in its original ftate ; and that it has degenerated
everywhere in Europe.
OATH, an affirmation or promife, accompanied with
an invocation of God to witnefs what we fay; and with
an imprecation of his vengeance, ora renunciation of his
favour, if what sve affirm be falfe, or what we promife
be not performed (a).
The laws of all civilized itates have required the
fecurity of an oath for evidence given in a court of juf-
tice, and on other occafions of high importance (b) ;
and the Chriftian religion utterly prohibits fwearing,
except when oaths are required by legal authority.
Indeed no ferious and reflefting theift, whether he ad¬
mit the truth of revelation or not, can look upon
fwearing on trivial occafions as any thing elfe than a
fin of a very heinous nature. To call upon that in¬
finite and omniprefent Being, who created and fuf-
tains the univcrfe, to witnefs all the impertinence of
idle converfation, of which great part is commonly ut¬
tered at random, betrays a fpirit fo profane, that nothing
ftiort of experience could make us believe it poffible for
a creature endowed with reafon and refle61ion to be ha¬
bitually guilty of a praflice fo impious. No man can
plead in extenuation of this crime, that he is tempted to
fwear by the importunity of any appetite or paffion im¬
planted in the human breaft: for the utterance of a
profane oath communicates no pleafure and removes no
uneafinefs : it neither elevates the fpeaker nor depreffes
the hearer.
Quakers and Moravians, fwayed by thefe confidera-
tions, and by the fenfe which they put upon certain
texts of Scripture, refufe to fwear upon any occafion,
even at the requifition of a magiftrate, and in a court
of juftice. Thefe fcruples are groundlefs; and feem
to proceed from an incapacity to diftinguifti between
the proper ufe and abufe of fwearing. It is unque-
ftionably impious to call upon God to witnefs imper¬
tinences, or to ufe his tremendous name as a mere ex¬
pletive in converfation ; but it by no means follows,
that we may not pioufly call upon him to witnels
truths of importance, or invoke his name with reve¬
rence and folemnity. No individual could, without
grofs profanenefs, pray for a thoufand times more
wealth than he may ever have occafion to ufe ; but it
was never thought profane to pray “ day by day for
our daily bread, for rain from heaven, and fruitful fea-
fons.” If it be lawful to alk of God thefe earthly
bleffings, becaufe he alone can beftow them; it cannot
furely be unlawful, where the lives or properties of
our
Oath.
(a) The word oath is a corruption of the Saxon eoth. It is often in England called a corporal oath, becaule,
in the days of popery, ,the perfon was fworn over the hoft or corpus Chrifti.
(b) l he various oaths required by different nations at different times, and the various forms, &c. of impofing
them, is a fubjeft of very confiderable extent and curiofity : An account of them does not fall within the plan of
the prefent article ; it would indeed extend it to an undue length ; we cannot, however, omit obferving, what is
doubtlefs very remarkable, that the grand impoftor Mahomet taught the Modems, that their oaths might be diffol-
ved. I his wonderful dodftrine is contained in the 66th chapter of the Koran ; which, to free himfelf from his
promife and oath to Hafsa his fpoufe, he pretended was revealed. What the ufe of oaths is in fuch circumftances,
or Avhat fecurity they afford for performance, it is difficult to afcertain.
It is alfo very remarkable, that an oath refpedling marriages was the caufe of the firft divorce at Rome. The
circumftance happened about the year of the city 52^, Pofthumius Albinus and Spurius Carvilius being confuls.
1 he cenfors of this year obferving the population declining, and imagining it proceeded from interefted marriages
and promifcuous cohabitation, obliged all the citizens to fwear, that they wrould not marry wdth any other view1
than that of peopling the republic. It raifed, however, many fcruples, and occafioned many domeftic ruptures.
Among the reft, one Carvilius Ruga, a man of difthnftion, imagined that he was bound by his oath to divorce his
wife, whom he paffionately loved, becaufe fhe was barren, which was the firft inftance of a divorce at Rome from
its foundation, though the marriage laws of the kings allowed it; it afterwards, hoAvever, became fhamefully fre¬
quent. T his is alfo a ftriking inftance of the great attention paid to oaths among the Romans ; it is remarked in¬
deed by all writers, that they paid a moft profound refpedl to them; and on that we know they founded their hopes
of fuccefs in Avar.
O A T i h
Cfath. our neighbours, or the fecurity of government is con-
1J' v cerned, to invoke him with reverence to witnefs the
truth of our affertions, or the fincerity of our intentions ;
becaufe of our truth in many cafes, and of our iincerity
in all, none but he can be the witnefe.
The text of Scripture upon which the Quakers
chiefly reft their argument for the unlawfulnels of all
{wearing under the gofpel, is our Saviour’s prohibi-
- tion (Mat. v. 34.) : “ I fay unto you, fwear not at all.”
But whoever lhall take the trouble of turning over his
Bible, and looking at the context, will perceive, that
it is only in ordinary converfation, and by no means in
courts of juftice, that our Lord prohibits his followr-
ers from {wearing at all. There is no evidence what¬
ever, that fwearing by heaven, by the earth, by Jerufa-
lem, or by their own heads, was the form of a judicial
oath in ufe among the Jews. On the contrary, we are
w See Whit- told by Maimonides *, that “ if any man fwear by hea-
by on the ven or by earth, yet this is not an oath j” which fure-
*iaee- ly he could not have faid, had fuch been the forms of
judicial fwearing. Indeed they could not have ad¬
mitted fuch forms into their courts without exprefsly
violating the law of Mofes, who commands them to
“ Fear the Lord (Jehovah) their God, to ferve him,
and to fwear by his NAME.” But the JewTs, as every
one knows, had fuch a reverence for the name Jeho¬
vah, that they would not pronounce it on flight occa-
lions, and therefore could not fwear by that name in
common converfation. Hence, to gratify their pro-
penftty to eommon fwearing, they invented fuch oaths
as, by heaven, by earth, by Jerufalem, by the life of thy
head, &c. and by this contrivance they thought to
avoid the guilt of profaning the name Jehovah.
Thefe, however, being appeals to infenfible objefts,
either had no meaning, or were in faft, as our Sa-
^viour juftly argues, oaths by that God whofe crea¬
tures they were ; fo that the Jew who fwore them
was ftill guilty of profanenefs towards the very Jeho-
VAH whofe name his fuperftition would not permit him
to pronounce. But what puts it beyond all doubt
that the ufe of judicial oaths is not wholly prohibited
in the gofpel, is the conduct of our Saviour himfelf as
well as of his apoftle St Paul. When Jefus was
Amply afked by the high prieft, what it was which
certain falfe witnefles teftified againft him ? we are
told by the evangelifts, that “ he held his peace :”
but being adjured by the living God to declare whe¬
ther he was the Chrift, the Son of God, or not, he
immediately anfwered the high prieft, without objefting
to the oath (for fuch it was) upon, which he was ex-
f Palejs amined. “ St Paul, in his Epiftle to the Romansf,
Moral Phi- favs,. ‘ God is my vaitnefs, that, without ceafing, I make
Ifophy. mention of you in my prayers j and to the Corinthians,
ftill more ftrongly, ‘ I call God for a record upon my
foul, that, to fpare you, I came not as yet to Corinth.'
Both thefe expreflions are of the nature of oaths 5 and
the author of the Epiftle to the Hebrews fpeaks of the
cuftom of fwearing judicially without any mark of cen-
fure or difapprobation : ‘ Men verily fwear by the great¬
er ; and an oath, for confirmation, is to them an end of
all ftrife.”
But though a nation has an undoubted right to re¬
quire the fecurity of an oath upon occafions of real im¬
portance, we do not hefitate to fay, that, in our opinion,
it is fomething worfe than bad policy to multiply oaths,
o J 0 A T
and to hold out to the people temptations to perjure' Oatk
themielves. The fecurity which an oath affords, de-—v—u
pends entirely upon the reverence which attaches to it
in the mind of- him by whom it is given j but that re¬
verence is much weakened by the frequency of oaths,
and by the carelefs manner in which they are too often
adminiftered. An excellent moralift J oblerves, with { Mr Pa-
truth, that “ the levity and frequency with which oaths.
are adminiftered, has brought about a general inadver¬
tency to the obligation of them, which both in a re¬
ligious and political view is much to be lamented j and
it merits (continues he) public confideration, whether
the requiring of oaths on fo many frivolous oceafions,
efpecially in the cuftoms, and in the qualification for
petty offices, has any other effedl than to make them
cheap in the minds of the people. A pound of tea can¬
not travel regularly from the Ihip to the confumer with¬
out coiling half a doszen oaths at leaft ; and the fame fe¬
curity for the due difeharge of his office, namely that of
an oath, is required from a church warden and an arch-
bfhop, from a petty confable and the chief juJUce of
England. Let the law continue its owm functions, if
they be thought requifite ; but let it fpare the folemni-
ty of an oath: and where it is neceflary, from the want
of fomething better to depend upon, to accept a man’s
own word or own account, let it annex to prevarication
penalties proportioned to the public confequence of the
offence.”
That thefe pernicious confequences of frequent oaths
are not felt only in England, we have the evidence of
another refpeftable writer, whofe acutenefs well quali¬
fied him to obferve, whilft his ftation in fociety furuiffi-
ed him with the beft opportunities of obferving, the ef¬
fects of repeated fwearing upon the morals of Scotch¬
men. “ Cuftomhoufe oaths (fays Lord Karnes j) have § Sketches
become fo familiar among us, as to be fwallowed with- of the Hi/-
out a wry face; and is it certain that bribery and per- tory °f
jury in ele&ing parliament members are not approach-
ing to the fame cool ftate ? men creep on to vice by
degrees. Perjury, in order to fupport a friend, has be¬
come cuftonaary of late years ; witnefs fi&itious quali¬
fications in the eleftors of parliament-men, which are
made effeftual by perjury : yet fuch is the degeneracy
of the prefent times, that no man is the worfe thought
of upon that account. We nraft not flatter ourfelves,
that the poifon will reach no farther : a man who bog¬
gles not at perjury to ferve a friend, will in time be¬
come fuch an adept, as to commit perjury in order to
ruin a friend when he becomes an enemy.”
Befides the frequency of oaths, we have mentioned
the irreverent manner in which they are too often ad¬
miniftered as one of the caufes which make them cheap
in the eftimation of the people. In this view, the
form of the oath, and the ceremonies with which it is
required to be taken, are of confiderable importance.
“ The forms of oaths in Chriftian countries (fays Mr
Paley) are very different j but in none I believe Avorfe
contrived either to convey the meaning or to imprefe
the obligation of an oath, than in England. In that
country the juror, after repeating the promife or affirma¬
tion which the oath is intended to confirm, adds,. ‘ fo
help me God or more frequently the fubftance of the
oath is repeated to the juror by the officer or magiftrate
who adminifters it j adding in the conclufion, ‘ fo help
you God.’ The energy of the fentence refides in thq
particle
O A T [
Oath, particle fo ; fo, i. e. hac lege, ‘ upon condition of my
—' fpeaking the truth, or performing thispromife, may God
kelp me, and not other wife.’ The juror, whilft he hears
or repeats the words of the oath, holds his right hand
upon a Bible, or other book containing the four gofpels.
The conclufion of the oath fometimes runs, ‘ ita me
Deus ad]uvet, et lute faridla evangelia f or ‘ fo help me
God, and the contents of this book which lafl daufe
forms a connexion between the words and a&ion of the
juror, which before was wanting. The juror then kifles
the book.”
This obfeure and elliptical form, the excellent au¬
thor juftly obferves, is ill calculated to imprefs the
juror with reverence : and he feems to think great
preference due to the form of judicial oaths in Scot¬
land. In that country the juror holds up his right
hand towards heaven, and fw.ears by Almighty God,
and as he lhall anfwer to God at the great day of
judgment, “ that he will tell the truth, the whole
truth, and nothing but the truth, fo far as he knows, or
it ihall be aiked of him.” This, if adminiftered with
dignity and reverence, is an oath fuffieiently folemn
and well calculated to have the proper effect upon the
mind of the juror, as it brings immediately into his
view the Author of his beings and the awful day of final
retribution when every man (hall receive the tilings
done in his body according to that he hath done, whe¬
ther it be good or evil. But when the magiftrate, as
isptoo often the cafe, repeats this folemn invocation
without thing from his feat at the name of the Su¬
preme Being, and in a tone of carelelfnefs which may
convey to the ignorant juror an opinion that he lias
himfelf no fexious belief that there ever will be a great
day of judgment, the form, however excellent, .makes
not its full imprefiion.
But let us fuppofe the oath to be adminiflered with
the .greateft dignity and reverence, the words of the
promife itfelf appear to us by no means unexception¬
able. In a trial on life and death, we fliould be glad
to know what this oath binds the witnefs to declare.
Is he^ to tell all that he knows touching the matter in
quell ion or only all that (hall be ajked of him ? If
he be obliged, in virtue .of his oath, to tell ail that he
jvnxws, the claufe—“ or it fhall be afked of you” is
taperfluous, and calculated to miflead. If he be bound
to tell nothing more ,of the truth than what (hall be
.dked of him, tke word or Ikould be changed into and;
he fiiould fwear “ to tell the truth, &c. fo far as he
knows, and it {hall be ajked of him.” The court, we
believe, confiders the witnefs as bound to declare every
thing which he knows .touching the .matter in queilion.
The greater part of witnelfes, on the-other band, con-
fider themfelves as bound no farther by their oath than
to give true anfwers to fuch queftions as {hall be aiked
of them. I hey would do well, however, to remember
that as oaths are defigned for the fecurity of the public,
they muft be interpreted in the fenfe in which the pu-
bnc intends them, other,wife they afford no fecurity.
.out the fenfe of tlm r>ivhlio tc lour • j i. _
But tue fenfe of the public is the law ; and as it be¬
longs to the court to declare what the mind of the law
is, the witnefs, who has any doubt concerning the extent
ol the obligation impofed on him by the words of this
oath, fhould apply to the court for a folution of that
doubt, which will be a fafe guide to him refpedting the
evidence which he is to give. Should the court, in re-
5
m ] GAT'
folving the doubts of a witnefs, give an opinion concern- Oath,
ing the fenfe of any other part of the oath contrary to —y'—“
What he apprehends to be the defign of the law in im-
pofing it, he is bound to difregard filch opinion ; becaufe
it h only where he himfelf is doubtful that the court has
a right to interfere, and becaufe in all moral queftions
men muft be finally determined by their own judgment
and conference.
There is one cafe, and but one, in which, whatever
fenfe be put upon the words of the oath, no witnefs is
obliged to declare the whole truth. It is when fuch
declaration would tend to accufe himfelf of fome legal
crime 5 for as-the laws of Scotland and England con-
ftrain no man to become his own accufer, they muft
be confidered as impofing the oath of teftimony with
this tacit refervation. “ The exception, however *, * Paley's
muft be confined to legal crimes. A point of honour, Moral Phi*
of delicacy, or of reputation, may make a witnefs back- lof°l>hX'
ward to difclofe fome circumftance with which he is
acquainted j but is no excufe for concealment;, unlels
it could be fhown, that the law which impofes the
oath, intended to allow this indulgence to fuch mo¬
tives. The exception is alfo withdrawn by compact
between the magiftrate and the witnefs, when an ac¬
complice is admitted to give evidence agaiaft the part¬
ners of his crime.” But thefe are a fort of witnelfes to .
whom a fenfible jury will always liften with a very -
cautious ear.
Oaths are either affertory or promiffbrij. Afiertory*
oaths are required both to confirm our veracity in
evidence, and to give fecurity to the public that we
believe certain propofitioms conceived to be of public
importance. An oath in evidence binds the juror to
declare what he knows to be true, and nothing bus
what he knows to be true. An oatli required to af»
fare the .public of our belief in the truth of any propo¬
rtion, cannot, without the guilt of perjury, be taken
by any man, who, at the time of fwearing, has the
flighteft doubt whether the propofition be really true.
Such an oath, however, though it unqueftionably re¬
quires the fincerity of the juror’s belief at the time
when it .is given, cannot oblige him to continue in that
belief as long as he may live ; for belief , is not in any
man’s power : it is the ncceffary conlequence of evi¬
dence, which compels the affent of the mind according
as it appears to preponderate on the. one fide or on the
other. No man, therefore, can be juftly accufed of
perjury for holding opinions contrary to thofe which
he may formerly have fwqm to believe ; becaufe his
belief at the time of emitting his oath may have been
the neceffary refiilt of the evidence which then ap~-
peared befoie him j and his change of opinion may
have reiulted with the lame nectllity from fuperior
evidence which had been fince thrown into the oppofite
Icale, and made it preponderate. On this account, we
cannot help thinking, that all affertory oaths, except
fuch as are neceffary to confirm teftimony refpe&ing-
faBs, ought either to be aboliflied or expreffed with
great uaution. Of truths intuitively certain or capable
of rigid demonftration, no man of common fenfe can en¬
tertain a doubt 3 and therefore the public never requires
from individuals the folemnity of an oath as an affurance
of their believing fuch truths. But with refpeft to
the truth of propofitions which admit of nothing fupe¬
rior to moral evidence on either fide, a man of the moil
ftgady '
O B E [I!
Oath fleady virtue may think differently at different periods
II of his life •, and in fuch cafes, the effedt of an oath, if
Edom" ^ have any effedt, can only be either, to fhut the man’s
eyes againlt the light, or to make his integrity be caufe-
lefsly queftioned by thofe who (hall obferve his change of
belief.
Promiffory oaths cannot, without the guilt of pcrju-
ty, be given by him, who, at the time of fwearing,
knows that it will not be in his power to fulfil the pro-
mife, or who does not ferioufly intend to fulfil it. A
romiffory oath cannot, without great guilt, be given
y any man, who at the time of fwearing believes the
objedt of the promife to be in itfelf unlawful j for if he
ferioufly mean to fulfil his oath, he calls upon Almighty
God to witnefs his intention to commit a crime. Pro-
miffory oaths give to the public greater fecurity than a
fimple promife; becaufe the juror having the thoughts
of God and of religion more upon his mind at the one
time than at the other, offends with a higher hand, and
in more open contempt of the divine power, knowledge,
and juftice, when he violates an oath, than when he
breaks a promife. Yet it is certain that promiffory oaths,
though more folemn and facred, cannot be binding,
when the promife without an oath would not be fo in
an inferior degree ; for the feveral cafes of which, fee
Promise and Allegiance.
Coronation OATH. See King.
OATH LAW, the name of a parifh in Angus,
about two miles from Forfar, chiefly remarkable for
the remains of a Roman camp called Battle-dykes (vul¬
garly Black-dykes'), which is about a mile wreft of the
church.
OB ADI AH, or the Prophecy of Obadiah, a cano¬
nical book of the Old Teftament, which is contained in
one Angle chapter •, and is partly an invedlive againfl
the cruelty of the Edomites, who mocked and derided
the children of Ifrael as they paffed into captivity *, and
with other enemies, their confederates, invaded and op-
preffed thofe ftrangers, and divided the fpoil amongft
themfelves } and partly a predidlion of the deliverance
of Ifrael, and of the vidlory and triumph of the whole
church over her enemies.
Obadiah, the prophet, is believed to have been the
fame with the governor of Ahab’s houfe, mentioned in
the firft book of Kings, (xviii. 3, &c.) who hid and fed
the hundred prophets whom Jezebel would have deftroy-
-ed; and fome fay, that he w7as that Obadiah whom
Jofiah made overfeer of the works of the temple,
(2 Chron. xxxiv. 12.). The truth is, that when he
lived or prophefied is wholly uncertain : though moft
writers make him cotemporary with Hofea, Amos, and
Jodi.
Obadiah, a valiant man of David’s army, who came
to join him in the wildnernefs, with feveral others of the
tribe of Gad, (1 Chron. xii. 9.).
This was alfo the name of one of thofe whom King
Jehofhaphat fent into the cities of Judah to inftruft the
people in their religion, (2 Chron. xvii. 7.). It wras al¬
fo the name of one of the principal men of Judah, who
figned the covenant that Nehemiah renewed with the
Lord, (Nehem. x. 5.).
OBED-EDOM, fon of Jeduthun, a Levite, (1 Chr.
xvi. 38.) and father of Shemaiah, Jehozabad, Joah,
Bacar, Nathaneel, Ammiel, Iffachar, and Peulthai. He
had a numerous family, fays the Scripture, (1 Chron,
2 ] QBE
xxvi. 4.) becaufe the Lord blelfed him ; and this is the Obed-
occaflon of the blefling. When David transferred the
ark of the covenant to the city of Jerufalem, Uzzah ha- . '
ving ralhly laid hands on the ark, which he thought to
be in danger of falling, was fmitten of God, and died
upon the ipot. David terrified at this accident, durft
not remove the ark into the place he had provided for
it in his own houfe, but fet it up in the houfe of Obtd-
edom, which was near the place where Uzzah had been
ft ruck dead. But the prefence of the ark not only cre¬
ated no temporal misfortune to the family of this Levite*
but, on the contrary, the Lord heaped upon him all
forts of bleflings*, which encouraged David fome months
after to remove it to the place he had appointed for it.
Afterwards Obed-edom and his fons were afligned to be
keepers of the doors of the temple, (1 Chron xv. 18,
21.). In the fecond book of Samuel, (vi. 10.) Obed-
edom is called the Gittite, probably becaufe he was of
Gathrimmon, a city of the Levites beyond Jordan,
(Jofh. xxi. 24, 25.).
OBELISK, in Architecture, a truncated, quadran¬
gular, and {lender pyramid, raifed as an ornament, and
frequently charged either with infcriptions or hierogly¬
phics,
Obelifks appear to be of very great antiquity, and to
have been firft raifed to tranfmit to pofterity precepts of
philofophy, which were cut in hieroglyphical charac¬
ters : aftenvards they were ufed to immortalize the
<*reat adfions of heroes, and the memory of perfons be¬
loved. The firft obeliik mentioned in hiftory was that
of Ramafes kind of Egypt, in the time of the Trojan
war, w'hich was 40 cubits high. Phius, another king
of Egypt, raifed one of 55 cubits-, and Ptolemy Phila-
delphus, another of 88 cubits, in memory of Arfinoe.
Augufttis erefted one at Rome in the Campus Martius,
which ferved to mark the hours on a horizontal dial,
drawn on the pavement. They Were called by the E-
gyptian priefts the fingers of the fun, becaufe they were
made in Egypt alfo to ferve as ftyles or gnomons to
mark the hours on the ground. The Arabs ftill call
them Pharaoh's needles ; whence the Italians call them
aguglia, and the French aiguilles.
The famous obelilks called the devil's arrows, now
reduced to three, the fourth having been taken down
in the laft century, ftand about half a mile from the
town of Borough-Bridge to the fouth-weft, in three
fields, feparated by a lane, 200 feet afunder nearly, on
high ground floping every way. Mr Drake urges many
arguments for their Roman antiquity, and plainly proves
them to be natural and brought from Plumpton quar¬
ries about five miles off, or from Ickly 16 miles off.
The crofs in the town, 12 feet high, is of the fame
kind of ft one. The eaftermoft or higheft is 22 feet
and a half high by 4 broad, and 14^ in girth the fe¬
cond 21-g- by 55-j ; the third 164- by 84. Stukeley’s
meafures differ. 1 he flutings are cut in the ftone but
not through : the talleft ftands alone, and leans to the
fouth. Plot and Stukeley affirm them to be Britifti mo¬
numents, originally hewn fquare. Dr Gale fuppofed
that they were Mercuries, which have loft their heads
and infcriptions; but in a MS. note in his Antoninus,
he acknowledges that he was mifinformed, and that there
was no cavity to receive a buft.
On the north fide of Penrith, in the churchyard, are
two fquare obelilks, of a Angle ftone each, 11 or 12 feet
high,
0. B L [ I
Obelilk lilgli, about 12 inches diameter, and 12 by 8 at the
!l _ Tides, the higheft about 18 inches diameter, with fome-
Oblati. a tranfverfe piece to each, and mortifed into
round bafe. They are 14 feet afunder, and between
them is a grave enclofed between four femicircular ftones
of the unequal lengths of five, fix, and four and a half,
and two feet high, having on the outfides rude carving,
and the tops notched. This is called the Giant'’s grave,
and afcribed to Sir Ewan Caefarius, who is faid to have
been as tall as one of the columns, and capable of
ftretching his arms from one to the other $ to have de*
ftroyed robbers and wild boars in Englewood foreft ;
and to have had a hermitage hereabouts called Sir
Hugh's parlour; but the conje&ures refpedting them
are extremely various and contradiftory. A little to
the \yeft of thefe is a ftone called the Giant's Thumb,
fix feet high, 14 inches at the bafe contra£led to 10,
which is no more than a rude crofs, fuch as is at Long-
town in Cumberland, and elfewhere j the circle of the
crofs 18 inches diameter.
Near the town of Forres in the north of Scotland
there is a very fine obelilk, 22 feet in height, known
by the name of the Forres pillar, or Sweno'sJlone. See
Forres.
M. Pouchard, in the memoirs of the Academy of In-
fcriptions, gives a curious account of fome celebrated
Egyptian obelilks. See Gentleman’s Magazine for
June 1748.
OBJECT, in Philofophy, fomething apprehended or
prefented to the mind by fenfation or imagination. See
Metaphysics, Part I. Chap. I. Seft. II.
OBJECT-Glafs of a Te/efcope, or Microfcope, the glafs
placed at the end of the tube which is next the objedt.
See Optics and Microscope.
OBJECTION, fomething urged to overthrow a po-
fition, or a difficulty raifed againft an allegation or pro-
pofition of a perfon we are difputing with.
OBJECTIVE, is ufed in the fchools, in fpeaking
of a thing which exifts no otherwife than as an objedt
known. The exiltence of fuch a thing is faid to be ob-
jedtive.
OBIT, (Lat.) fignifies a funeral folemnity, or office
for the dead, moll commonly performed when the corpfe
lies in the church uninterred : Alfo the anniverfary of¬
fice, (2 Cro. 51 Dyer 313.). The anniverfary of any
perfori’s death was called the obit and to obferve fuch
day with prayers and alms, or other commemoration,
was the keeping of the obit. In religious houfes they
had a regifter, wherein they entered the obits or obitual
days of their founders and benefadtors j which was
thence termed the obituary. The tenure of obit or
chantry lands is taken away and extindt by I Edw. VI.
c. 14. and 15 Car. II. c. 9.
OBLATE, flattened or ffiortened j as an oblate fphe-
roid, having its axis Ihorter than its middle diameter j
being formed by the rotation of an ellipfe about the
(hofter axis. The earth, whofe polar diameter is Ihort¬
er than the equatorial, is an oblate fpheroid.
OBLATI, in church hiltory, were fecular perfons,
who devoted themfelves and their eftates to fome mo-
naftery, into which they were admitted as a kind of lay
brothers. The form of their admilfion was putting the
bell ropes of the church round their necks, as a mark
or fervitude. They wore a religious habit, but differ¬
ent from that of the monks.
Vol. XV. Part I.
13 ] O B O
OBLIGATION, in general, denotes any adt where* Obligatlbn
by a perfon becomes bound to another to do fome- II
thing j as to pay a fum of money, be furety, or the , Qboth> ,
like. ’
Obligations are of three kinds, viz. natural, civil,
and mixed. Natural obligations are entirely founded on
natural equity ; civil obligations on civil authority alone,
without any foundation in natural equity $ and mixed
obligations are thofe which, being founded on natural
equity, are farther enforced by civil authority.
In a legal fenfe, obligation fignifies a bond, wherein
i? contained a penalty, with a condition annexed, for
the payment of money, &c. The difference betiveen
it and a bill is, that the latter is generally without a
penalty or condition, though it may be made obliga¬
tory : and obligations are fometimes by matter of re¬
cord, as ftatutes and recognizances. See the article
Bond.
Moral Obligation. See Moral Philosophy,
N° 58, &e.
OBLIQUE, in Geometry, fomething allant, or that
deviates from the perpendicular. Thus an oblique angle
is either an acute or obtufe one, i. e. any angle except 4
a right one.
OBLIQUE Cafes, in Grammar, are all the cafes ex¬
cept the nominative.. See Grammar.
OBLIQUE Afcenfon, is that point of the equinoctial
which rifes with the centre of the fun, or liar, or any
other point of the heavens, in an oblique fphere.
OBLIQUE Circle, in the llereographic projection, is
any circle that is oblique to the plane of projection.
OBLIQUE Defcenfon, that point of the equinoCtial
which fets with the centre of the fun, or liar, or any
other point of the heavens, in an oblique fphere.
OBLIQUE Line, that which, falling on another line,
makes oblique angles with it, viz. one acute, and the
other obtufe.
OBLIQUE Planes, in Dialling, are thofe which de¬
cline from the zenith, or incline towards the horizon.
See Dial.
OBLIQUE Sailing, in Navigation, is when a Ihip fails
upon fome rhumb between the four cardinal points,
making an oblique angle with the meridian ; in which
cafe Ihe continually changes both latitude and longitude.
See Navigation, Chap. VIII.
OBLIQUUS, in Anatomy, a name given to feveral
mufcles, particularly in the head, eyes, and abdomen.
See Anatomy, Table of the Miifcles.
OBLONG, in general, denotes a figure that is long¬
er than broad ; fuch is a parallelogram.
OBOLARIA, a genus of plants belonging to the
didynamia clafs 5 and in the natural method ranking
under the 40th order, Perfon atm. See Botany Index.
OBOL US, an ancient filver money of Athens, the
fixth part of a drachma j worth fomewhat more than a
penny farthing fterling.—The word comes from the
Greek or “ fpit, or broach 5” either be-
caufe it bore fuch an impreffion j or becaufe, according
to Euftathius, it was in form thereof. But thofe now
in the cabinets of the antiquaries are round.
Obolus, in Medicine, is ufed for a weight of ten
grains, or half a fcruple.
OBOTH, an encampment of the Hebrews in the
wildernefs. From Punon they went to Oboth, and
from Oboth to Ije-abarim, {Numb. xxi. 10. xxxiii. 43).
P Ptolemy
Oboth
O B S -[ii
Ptolemy fpeaks of a city called Oboda, or Eboda, in
Arabia Petrrea, which is the fame as Oboth. Pliny
and the geographer Stephanus mention it alfo. Stepha¬
nas makes it belong to the Nabathaeans, and Pliny to
the Helmodeans, a people of Arabia. It was at Oboth
that they Avorfhipped the god Obodus, which lertul-
lian joins with Dufares, another god or king of this
country.
OBREPTITlOUS, an appellation given to letters
patent, or other inftruments, obtained of a fuperior by
furprife, or by concealing from him the truth.
OBSCURE, fomething that is dark and refle&s lit¬
tle light in material objects, or that is not clear and in¬
telligible in the objects of the intelledl.
OBSECRATION, in Rhetoric, a figure whereby
the orator implores the affiftance of God or man.
OBSEQUIES, the fame with funeral folemnities.
See Funeral.
OBSERVATION, among navigators, fignifies the
taking the fun’s or the liars meridian altitude, in order
thereby to find the latitude.
OBSERVATORY, a place deftined for obferving
the heavenly bodies; being generally a building erett-
ed on fome eminence, covered with a terrace for making
alironomical obfervations.
The more celebrated obfervatories are, I. The Green¬
wich obfervatory, built in 1676, by order of Charles II.
at the folicitation of Sir Jonas Moore and Sir Chrifto-
pher Wren j and furnilhed with the moll accurate in-
Rruments ^ particularly a noble fextant of feven feet ra¬
dius, with telefcopic fights.
2. The Paris obfervatory, built by the order of
Louis XIV. in the fauxbourg St Jacques.
It is a very fingular, and a very magnificent building,
the defign of Monfieur Perault: it is 80 feet high ; and
has a terrace at the top.
The difference in longitude between this and the
Greenwich obfervatory is 2° 2o'.
In it is a cave or cellar, of 170 feet defcent, for ex¬
periments that are to be made far from the fun, &c.
particularly fuch as relate to congelations, refrigerations,
indurations, confervations, &c.
3. Tycho Brahe’s obfervatory, which was in the little
iiland Ween, or Scarlet I Hand, between the coails of
Schonen and Zealand in the Baltic. It Avas ere&ed and
furnifhed Avith inftruments at his oAvn expence, and call¬
ed by him Uraniburg. Here he fpent twenty years in
obferving the ftars •, the refult is his catalogue.
4. Pekin obfervatory. Father Le Compte defcribes
a very magnificent obfervatory, erected and furniflied
by the late emperor of China, in his capital, at the in-
terceffion of fome Jefuit miffionaries, principally Father
Verbeift, Avhom he made his chief obferver. The in¬
ftruments are exceedingly large but the divifion lefs
accurate, and the contrivance in fome refpedls lefs com¬
modious, than that of the Europeans. The chief are,
An armillary zodiacal fphere of fix feet diameter ; an
equinoctial fphere of fix feet diameter •, an azimuthal ho¬
rizon of fix feet diameter ; a large quadrant fix feet ra¬
dius ; a fextant eight feet radius *, and a celeftial globe
fix feet diameter.
Obfervatories, as they are very ufeful, and indeed ab»
folutely neceflary for aftronomers, fo they have become
far more common than they w’ere. There is a very ex¬
cellent one now at Oxford, built by the Uuftees of Dr.
4 ] O B S
Radcliffe, at the expence of nearly 30,000!. At Cam- Obffivj,
bridge there is as yet no public obfervatory. Over the . 1
great gate of Trinity college, indeed, there is one
which is called Sir IJaac Newton's, becaufe this great
philofopher had ufed it *, but it is gone to decay. It
Avere Avell if the univerfity Avould repair and preferve it
in memory of that truly great man. In St John’s, too,
there is a fmall one. The late ingenious Mr Cotes had
ufed to give le&ures in Sir Ifaac Newton’s on experi¬
mental philofophy. In Scotland there is an obfervatory
at Glafgow belonging to the univerfity : there is one
erefted on the Calton hill at Edinburgh •, but it is in
very bad repair, (fee Edinburgh) } and there is an ex¬
cellent one at Dublin.
3. Bramins obfervatory at Benares. Of this Sir Ro- Plate
bert Barker gives the folloAving account, (Phil. Tranf. CCCLXX.
vol. Ixvii. p. 598.). “ Benares in the Eaft Indies, one
of the principal feminaries of the Bramins or priefts of
the original Gentoos of Hindoftan, continues ftill to be
the place of refort of that feft of people j and there are
many public charities, hofpitals, and pagodas, Avhere
fome thoufands of them iioav refide. Having frequently
heard that the ancient Bramins had a knoAvledge of
aftronomy, and being confirmed in this by their infor¬
mation of an approaching eclipfe both of the fun and
moon, I made inquiry, when at that place in the year
1772, among the principal Bramins, to endeavour to
get fome information relative to the manner in Avhich
they Avere acquainted Avith an approaching eclipfe. The
moft intelligent that I could meet with, hoAvever, gave
me but little fatisfadion. I was told that thefe mat¬
ters were confined to a few, Avho Avere in poffeflion of
certain books and records ; fome containing the myfte-
ries of their religion ; and others the tables of aftrono-
mical obfervations, Avritten in the Shanfcrit language,
Avhich few underftood but themfelves : that they Avould
take me to a place Avhich had been conftrufted for the
purpofe of making fuch obfervations as I Avas inquiring
after, and from avhence they fuppofed the learned Bra¬
mins made theirs. I Avas then conduded to an ancient
building of ftone, the lower part of which, in its pre->
fent fituation, Avas converted into a liable for horfes,
and a receptacle for lumber; but by the number of
court-yards and apartments^, it appeared that it mull
once have been an edifice for the ufe of fome public bo¬
dy of people. Me entered this building, and Avent up
a ft air cafe to the top of a part of it, near to the river
Ganges, that led to a large terrace, Avhere, to my fur¬
prife and fatisfadion, I faw a number of inftruments yet
remaining, in the greateft prefervation, ftupendoutly
large, immoveable from the fpot, and built of ftone,
fome of them being upwards of 20 feet in height} and
although they are faid to have been, ereded 200 years-
ago, the graduations and divifions on the feveral arcs
appeared as well cut, and as accurately divided, as ifi
they had been the performance of a modern artift. T he.
execution in the conftrudion of thefe inftruments exhi¬
bited a mathematical exadnefs ifl the fixing, bearing,
fitting of the feveral parts, in theneceffary and fufficient
fupports to the very large ftones that compofed them,
and in the joining and faftening each into the other by
means of lead and iron.
“ The fituation of the tAVO large quadrants of the
inftrument marked A in the plate, Avhofe radius is nine
feet tAVO inches, by their being at right angles with a
gnomon.
O B S
c
Qbfem- gnomon at twenty-five degrees elevation, are thrown
toiy. ;nt;0 fm-h ail oblique fituationas to render them themoft
v ~ difficult, not only to conftrudi of fuch a magnitude, but
to fecure in their pofition for fo long a period, and af¬
fords a ftriking inftance of the ability of the architect in
their conftru£tion : for by the Ihadow of the gnomon
thrown on the quadrants, they do not appear to have al¬
tered in the lead from their original pofition ; and fo
true is the line of the gnomon, that, by applying the
eye to a fmall iron ring of an inch diameter at one end,
the fight is carried through three others of the fame di-
menfion, to the extremity at the other end, diftant 38
feet 8 inches, without obllrudlion $ fuch is the firmnefs
and art with which this inftrument has been executed.
This performance is the more wonderful and extraordi¬
nary, when compared with the works of the artificers of
Hindoftan at this day, who are not under the immediate
dire&ion of an European mechanic ; but arts appear to
have declined equally with fcience in the call.
“ Lieutenant Colonel Archibald Campbell, at that
time chief engineer in the Lad India Company’s fervice
at Bengal, made a perfpeclive drawing of the whole of
the apparatus that could be brought within his eye at
one view ; but I lament he could not reprefent fome
Very large quadrants, whofe radii were about 20 feet,
they being on the fide from whence he took his draw¬
ing. Their defeription, however, is, that they are ex-
aft quarters of circles of different radii, the larged: of
which I judged to be 20 feet, condrufted very exaftly
on the fides of done walls, built perpendicular, and fi-
tuated, I fuppofe, in the meridian of the place : a brafs
pin is fixed at the centre or angle of the quadrant, from
whence, the Bramin informed me, they dretched a wire
to the circumference when an obfervation wras to be
made *, from which, it occurred to me, the obferver
mud have moved his eye up or down the circumference,
by means of a ladder or feme fuch contrivance, to raife
and lower himfelf, until he had difeovered the altitude
of any of the heavenly bodies in their paffage over the
meridian, fo expreffed on the arcs of thefe quadrants :
tbefe arcs were very exaftly divided into nine large fec-
tions ; each of which again into ten, making ninety lef-
fer divifions or degrees •, and thofe alfo into twenty, ex-
preffing three minutes each, of about two-tenths of an
inch afunder ; fo that it is probable they had fome me¬
thod of dividing even thefe into more minute divifions
at the time of obfervation.
“ My time would only permit me to take down the
particular dimenfions of the moft capital inftrument, or
the greater equinoftial fun-dial, reprefented by figure a,
which appears to be an inftrument to exprefs folar time
by the ftudow of a gnomon upon two quadrants, one fi-
tuated to the eaft, and the other to the weft of it 5 and
indeed the chief part of their inftruments at this place
appear to be conftrufted for the fame purpofe, except
the quadrants, and a brafs inftrument that will be de-
feribed hereafter.
“ Figure B is another inftrument for the purpofe of
determining the exaft hour of the day by the fhadow
of a gnomon, which ftands perpendicular to, and in the
centre of, a flat circular ftone, fupported in an oblique
fituation by means of four upright ftones and a crofs
piece ; fo that the ffiadow of the gnomon, which is a
perpendicular iron rod, is thrown upon the divifion of
15 ] OB T
the circle deferibed on the face of the flat circular
ftone.
“ Figure c is a brafs circle, about two feet diameter,
moving vertically upon two pivots between two ftone
pillars, having an index or hand turning round horizon¬
tally on the centre of this circle, whicli is divided into
360 parts; but there are no counter diviftons on the in¬
dex to fubdivide thofe on the circle. This inftrument
appears to be made for taking the angle of a ftar at fet-
ting or rifing, or for taking the azimuth or amplitude of
the fun at riling or fetting.
“ The ufe of the inftrument, figure D, I was at a lofs
to account for. It confifts of two circular walls ; the
outer of which is about forty feet diameter, and eight
feet high ; the rvall within about half that height, and
appears intended for a place to ftand on to obferve the
divifions on the upper circle of the outer wall, rather
than for any other purpofe ; and yet both circles are di¬
vided into 360 degrees, each degree being fubdivided
into twenty leffer divifions, the lame as the quadrants.
There is a door-way to pafs into the inner circle, and a
pillar in the centre, of the fame height with the lower
circle, having a hole in it, being the centre of both
circles, and feems to be a focket for an iron rod to be
placed perpendicular into it. The divifions on thefe, as
well as all the other inftruments, will bear a nice exami¬
nation with a pair of compaffes.
“ Figure E is a fmaller equinoftial fun dial, conftruft¬
ed upon the fame principle as the large one a.
“ I cannot quit this fubjeft without obferving, that
the Bramins, without the affiftance of optical glafies,
had neverthelefs an advantage unexperienced by the ob-
fervers of the more northern climates. The ferenity and
clearnefs of the atmofphere in the night-time in the Eaft:
Indies, except at the feafons of the monfoons or periodi¬
cal winds changing, is difficult to exprefs to thofe who
have not feen it, becaufe we have nothing in compari-
fon to form our ideas upon : it is clear to perfeftion, a
total quietude fubfifts, fcarcely a eloud to be feen, and
the light of the heavens, by the numerous appearance
of the ftars, affords a profpeft both of wonder and con¬
templation.
“ This obfervatory at Benares is faid to have been
built by the order of the emperor Ackbar : for as this
wife prince endeavoured to improve the arts, fo he
wiffied alfo to recover the fciences of Hindoftan, and
therefore direfted that three fuch places ftiould be eredt-
ed ; one at Delhi, another at Agra, and the third at
Benares.”
0BSID1ANUS lapis, or Obsidian, a mineral
fubftance. See Mineralogy Index.
OBSIDIONALIS, an epithet applied by the Ro¬
mans to a fort of crown. See the article Crown.
OBSTETRICS, or the Obstetric Art, the fame
with Midwifery.
OBS 1 RUC I ION, in Medicine, fuch an obturation
of the veffels as prevents the circulation of the fluids,
whether of the fqund and vital, or of the morbid and
peccant kind, through them.
OBTURATOR, See Anatomy, Table of the
Mufcles.
OBTUSE, fignifies blunt, dull, &c. in oppofition
to acute or ffiarp. Thus we lay, obtufe angle, obtufe-
angled triangle, &c.
P 3 OBY,
Obferva¬
tory
II
Obtufe.
O C C [II
Biack/1.
Comment.
OBY, or Ob, a large and famous river of Afiatic
Ruflia, which iflues from the Altin lake (called by the
Ruffians Telejkoi Ofero)y in latitude 52 degrees, and
longitude 103 degrees 30 minutes. Its name fignifies
Great; and accordingly in Ruffia it is often ftyled the
Great River. The Calmucks and Tartars call it Umar.
Its dream is very large and fmooth, its current being
ufually flow; and it is in general between two and three
hundred fathoms broad ; though in fome places it is
much wider. It affords plenty of fiffi, and is navigable
almofl: to the lake from which it fprings. After a long
winding courfe through a vaft tra£l of land, in which it
forms feveral iflands, it empties itfelf in latitude 67 de¬
grees, and longitude 86 degrees, into a bay, which, ex¬
tending near 400 miles farther, joins the Icy fea, in la¬
titude 73. 30. and longitude 90. The fprings from
which this river rifes, are not very copious : but it re¬
ceives in its courfe the waters of a great number of con-
fiderable ftreams. Of thefe, the Tom and the Irtis are
the moft confiderable : the Tom falls into it in latitude
58. and the Irtis in latitude 61. and longitude 86. The
exact courfe of this river was unknown till the country
was furveyed by the Ruffians: who have given us toler¬
able maps of it and of all Siberia. The Oby forms the
boundary between Europe and Afia, and its courfe is
upwards of 2000 miles in length.
OCCIDENT, in Geography, the wTeftward quarter
of the horizon \ or that part of the horizon where the
ecliptic, or the fun therein, defeends into the lower he-
mifphere ; in\:ontradifl.in£lion to orient. Hence we ufe
the word occidental for any thing belonging to the well 5
as occidental bezoar, occidental pearl, &c.
Occident EJlival, that point of the horizon where
the fun fets at midwinter, when entering the fign Ca¬
pricorn.
Occident Equina Rial, that point of the horizon
where the fun fets, when he crofles the equinoctial, or
enters the fign Aries or Libra.
OCCIPITAL, in Anatomy, a term applied to the
parts of the occiput, or back part of the Ikull.
OCCULT, fomething hidden, fecret, or invifible.
The occult fciences are magic, necromancy, cabbala,
&c. Occult qualities, in philofophy, were thofe qua¬
lities of body or fpirit which baffled the inveftigation
of philofophers, and for which they were unable to
give any reafonj unwilling, however, to acknowledge
their ignorance, they deceived themfelves and the vul¬
gar by an empty title, calling what they did not know
occult.
Occult, in Geofnetry, is ufed for a line that is fcarce
perceivable, drawn with the point of the compaffes or a-
leaden pencil. Thefe lines are ufed in feveral opera¬
tions, as the raifing of plans, defigns of building, p mes
of perfpeClive, &c. They are to be effaced when the
Work is finiffled.
OCCULTATION, mAjlronomy, the time a ftar or
planet is hid from our fight, by the interpofition of the
body of the moon or fome other planet.
OCCUPANCY, in Law, is the taking poffeffion of
thofe things which before belonged to nobody. This
is the true ground and foundation of all Property,
or of holding thofe things in feveralty, which by the
law of nature, unqualified by that of foeiety, were
common to all mankind. But, when once it was a-
grecd that every thing capable of ownerfliip ftiould
6 ] O C C
have an owner, natural reafon fuggefted, that he who Occupancy,
could firft declare his intention of appropriating any ' —1
thing to his ufe, and, in confequence of fuch his in¬
tention, aftually took it into poffeffion, fhould there¬
by gain the abfolute property of it j according to that
rule of the law of nations, recognized by the law’s of
Rome, ^uod nullius ejl, id ratione naturali occupanti
conceditur.
This right of occupancy, fo far as it concerns real
property, hath been confined by the laws of England
within a very narrow compafs j and was extended only
to a fingle inftance; namely, where a man was tenant
pour autre vie, or had an eflate granted to himfelf only
(without mentioning his heirs) for the life of another
man, and died during the life of cejluy que vie, or him
by whofe life it was holden : in this cafe he that could
firfi: enter on the land, might lawfully retain the pof¬
feffion fo long as cejluy que vie lived, by right of occu¬
pancy.
This feems to have been recurring to firft principles,
and calling in the law of nature to afeertain the pro¬
perty of the land, when left without a legal owner.
For it did not revert to the granter, who had parted
with all his intereft, fo long as cejluy que vie lived ; it
did not efeheat to the lord of the fee j for all efeheats
muft be of the abfolute entire fee, and not of any par¬
ticular eftate carved out of it, much lefs of fo minute
a remnant as this: it did not belong to the grantee j
for he was dead : it did not defeend to his heirs $ for
there were no words of inheritance in the grant : nor
could it veft in his executors ; for no executors could
fucceed to a freehold. Belonging therefore to nobody,
like the hcereditas jacens of the Romans, the law left it
open to be feized and appropriated by the firfl: perfon
that could enter upon it, during the life of cejluy que
vie, under the name of an occupant. But there was no
right of occupancy allowed, where the king had the re-
verfion of the lands : for the reverfioner hath an equal
right with any other man to enter upon the vacant pof¬
feffion 5 and where the king’s title and a fubje&’s inter¬
fere, the king’s fhall always be preferred. Againft the
king therefore there could be no prior occupant, becaufe
nullum tempus occurrit regi. And, even in the cafe of
a fubjeft, had the eftate pour autre vie granted to a man
and his heirs during the life of cejluy que vie, there the
heir might, and ftill may, enter and hold poffeffion, and
is called in law a fpecial occupant; as having a fpecial
exclufive right, by the terms of the original grant, to
enter upon and occupy this hcereditas jacens, during the
refidue of the eftate granted: though fome have thought
him fo called with no very great propriety 5 and that
fuch eftate is rather a defcendible freehold. But the
title of common occupancy is now reduced almoft to no¬
thing b‘y two ftatutes 5 the one, 29 Car. II. c. 3. which
enadls, that where there is no fpecial occupant, in whom
the eftate may veft, the tenant pour autre vie may devife
it by will, or it fhall go to the executors, and be affets
in their hands for payment of debts : the other that of
14 Geo. II. c. 20. which enadls, that it ftiall veft not
only in the executors, but, in cafe the tenant dies inte-
ftate, in the adminiftrators alfo ; and go in courfe of a
diftribution like a chattel intereft.
By thefe two ftatutes the title of common occupancy is
utterly extindl and aboliffled : .though that of fpecial oc¬
cupancy, by the heir at laiv, continues to this day } fuch
heir
O C C [i
Occupancy, heir being held to fucceed to the anceftor’s eftate, not
by defcent, for then he muft take an eftate of inheritance,
but as an occupant, fpecially marked out and appointed
by the original grant. The doftrine of common occu¬
pancy, may, however, be ufefully remembered on the
following account, amongft others : That, as by the
common law no occupancy could be of incorporeal he¬
reditaments, as of rents, tithes, advowfons, commons, or
the like, (becaufe, with refpedl to them, there could be
no aftual entry made, or corporeal feifin had ; and there¬
fore by the death of the grantee pour autre vie a grant
of fueh hereditaments was entirely determined) : fo now,
it is apprehended, notwithftanding thofe ftatutes, fuch
grant would be determined likewife 5 and the heredi¬
taments could not be devifeable, nor veft in the execu¬
tors, nor go in a courfe of diftribution. For the ftatutes
muft not be conftrued fo as to create any new eftate, or
to keep that alive which by the common law was deter¬
mined, and thereby to defeat the granter’s reverfion j
but merely to difpofe of an intereft in being, to which
by law there was no owner, and which therefore was left
open to die firft: occupant. When there is a refidue
left, the ftatutes give it to the executors, &c. inftead of
the firft occupant; but they will not create a refidue
on purpofe to give it to the executors. They only
mean to provide an appointed inftead of a cafual, a
certain inftead of an uncertain, owner, of lands which
before were nobody’s; and thereby to fupply this cafus
omijfus, and render the difpofition of the lawr in all re-
fpefts entirely uniform 5 this being the only inftance
wherein a title to a real eftate could ever be acquired by
occupancy.
For there can be no other cafe devifed, wherein there
is not fome owner of the land appointed by the law.
In the cafe of a foie corporation, as a parfon of a church,
when he dies dr refigns, though there be no a&ual
owner of the land till a fucceflbr be appointed, yet there
is a legal, potential, ownerftiip, fubfifting in contempla¬
tion of law ; and when the fucceflbr is appointed, his
appointment fhall have a retrofpeft and relation back¬
wards, fo as to entitle him to all the profits from the in-
ftant that the vacancy commenced. And, in all other
inftances, when the tenant dies inteftate, and no other
owner of the lands is to be found in the common courfe
of defcents, there the law vefts an ownerfhip in the king,
or in the fubordinate lord of the fee, by efcheat.
So alfo, in fome cafes, where the laws of other nations
give a right by occupancy, as in lands newly created,
by the rifing of an iftand in a river, or by the alluvion
or dereliftion of the fea ; in thefe inftances, the law of
England afligns them an immediate owner. For Brae-
ton tells us, that if an iftand arife in the middle oi a river,
it belongs in common to thofe who have lands on each
fide thereof; but if it be nearer to one bank than the
other, it belongs only to him who is proprietor of the
neareft fhore : which is agreeable to, and probably co¬
pied from, the civil law. Yet this feems only to be
reafonable, where the foil of the river is equally divided
between the owners of the oppofite fhores : for if the
whole foil is the freehold of any one man, as it muft be
whenever a feveral fiftiery is claimed, there it feems juft
{and fo is the ufual practice) that the iilets, or little
iilands, arifing in any part of the river, (hall be the pro¬
perty of him who owneth the pifcary and the foil.
However, in cafe a new iiland rife in the fea, though the
3
17 ] O C E
civil law gives it to the firft occupant, yet bur’s gives it Occupancy
to the king. And as to lands gained from the fea j H
either by alluvion, by the wafhing up of fand and earth, ■ c^an' ■
fo as in time to make terra firma ; or by derelidlion, as
when the fea {brinks back below the ufual water mark}
in thefe cafes the law is held to be, that if this gain
be by little and little, by fmall and imperceptible de¬
grees, it (hall go to the owner of the land adjoining.
For de minimis non curat lex : and, befides, thefe own¬
ers being often lofers by the breaking in of the fea, or
at charges to keep it out, this poffible gain is there¬
fore a reciprocal cdnfideration for fuch poflible charge
or lofs. But if the alluvion or dereliftion be fudden
and confiderable, in this cafe it belongs to the king :
for, as the king is lord of the fea, and fo owner of the
foil while it is covered with water, it is but reafonable
he fhould have the foil when the water has left it dry.
So that the quantity of ground gained, and the time dur¬
ing which it is gained, are what make it either the
king’s or the fubjedt’s property. In the fame manner,
if a river, running between two lordftiips, by degrees
gains upon the one, and thereby leaves the other dry,
the owner who lofes his ground thus imperceptibly has
no remedy : but if the courfe of the river be changed
by a fudden and violent flood, or other hafty means,
and thereby a man lofes his grounds, he {hall have what
the river has left in any other place as recompenfe
for this fudden lofs. And this law of alluvions and de-
reliftions, with regard to rivers, is nearly the fame in
the imperial law ; from whence indeed thofe our deter¬
minations feem to have been drawn and adopted : but
we ourfelves, as iflanders, have applied them to marine
increafes; and have given our fovereign the prerogative
he enjoys, as well upon the particular reafons before
mentioned, as upon this other general ground of prero¬
gative, which was formerly remarked, that whatever
hath no other owner is verted by law in the king. See
Prerogative.
OCCUPANT, in Law, the perfon that firft: feizes
or gets pofleflxon of a thing.
OCCUPATION, in a legal fenfe, is taken for ufe
or tenure : as in deeds it is frequently faid, that fucli
lands are, or were lately, in the tenure or occupation
of fuch a perfon.—It is likewife ufed for a trade or
myftery.
OCCUPIERS of Walling, a term ufed in the
fait-works for the perfons who are the fworn officers
that allot in particular places what quantity of fait is to
be made, that the markets may not be overftocked, and
fee that all is carried fairly and equally between the lord
and the tenant.
OCEAN, that huge mafs of fait waters which en-
compafles all parts of the globe, and by means of which,
in the prefent improved ftate of navigation, an eafy in-
tercourfe fubfifts between places the moft diftant.
The ocean is diftinguifhed into three grand divi-
fions. 1. The Atlantic ocean, which divides Europe
and Africa from America, which is generally about
3000 miles wide. 2. The Pacific ocean, or South fea,
which divides America from Afia, and is generally
about 10,000 miles over. And, 3. The Indian ocean,
which feparates the Eaft Indies from Africa, which is
3000 miles over. The other feas, which are called
oceans, are only parts or branches of thefe, and ufually
receive their names from the countries they border uporn
For
O C E [II
For the faltnefs, tides, &c. of the ix:can, fee the ar¬
ticles Sea, Tides, &c.
OCEANIDES, in fabulous hiftory, fea nymphs,
daughters of Oceanus, from whom they received their
names, and of the goddefs Tethys or Thetis. They
■were 3000 according to Apollodorus, who mentions the
names of feven of them j Alia, Styx, Eleftra, Donis,
Eiuynome, Amphitrite, and Metis. Hcfiod fpeaks of
the eldeit of them, which he reckons 41, Pitho, Adme-
te, Prynno, Ian the, Rhodia, Hippo, Callirhoe, Urania,
Clymene, Idyia, Palithoe, Clythia, Zeuxo, Galuxaure,
Plexaure, Perfeis, Pluto, Thoe, Polydora, Melobofis,
Dione, Cerceis, Xanthe, Acafta, Ianira,Teleftho, Euro-
pa, Menelfho, Petroea, Eudora, Calypfo, Tyche, Ocy-
roe, Crifia, Amphiro, with thofe mentioned by Apollo¬
dorus, except Amphitrite. Hyginus mentions 16, whofe
names are almoft all different from thofe of Apollodo¬
rus and Heiiod •, which difference proceeds from the mu¬
tilation of the original text. The Oceanides, like the
reft of the inferior deities, wrere honoured with libations
and facrifices. Prayers were offered to them, and they
were entreated to protect failors from ftorms and dange¬
rous tempefts. The Argonauts, before they proceeded
to their expedition, made an offering of flour, honey,
and oil, on the fea fhore, to all the deities of the fea,
and facrificed bulls to them, and entroated their protec¬
tion. When the faerifice was made on the fea fhore,
the blood of the victim was received in a veffel; but
when it was in open fea, they permitted the blood to
run down into the waters. When the fea was calm,
they generally offered a lamb or a young pig ; but if it
was agitated by the winds and rough, a black bull was
deemed the moft acceptable vidtim.
OCEANUS, in Pagan mythology, the fon of Coelus
and Terra, the hufband of Thetis, and the father of the
rivers and fountain1;, called Oceanides. The ancients
called him the father of all things, imagining that he
was produced by Humidity, which, according to Thales,
was the firft principle from which every thing was pro¬
duced. Homer reprefents Juno vifiting him at the re-
nioteft limits of the earth, and acknowledging him and
Thetis as the parents of the gods. He was reprefented
with a bull’s head, as an emblem of the rage and bel¬
lowing of the ocean when agitated by a ftorm.
According to Homer, he . was the father even of all
the gods, and on that account he received frequent vifits
from them. He is often, indeed almoft always, repre¬
fented as an old man with a long flowing beard, and fit¬
ting upon the waves of the fea. He often holds a pike
in his hand, while fhips under fail appear at a diftance,
or a fea monfter ftands near him. Oceanus prefided
over every part of the fea, and even the rivers were fub-
jeffed to his power. The ancients were fuperftitious in
their worfhip of him, and revered with great folemnity
a deity to whofe care they intrufted themfelves when
going on any voyage.
OCEIA, a woman who prefided over the facred rites
of Vefta for 57 years with the greateft fanffity. She
died in the reign of Tiberius, and the daughter of Ho-
mitius fucceeded her.
OCELLUS the LuCANIAN, an ancient Greek philo-
fopher of the fchool of Pythagoras, who lived before
Plato. His work vigi rev Hallos, or “ The Univerfe,”
is the only piece of his which is come down entire to
us j and was written originally in the Doric dial eft, but
4
8 ] OCT
was tranflated by another hand into the Attic. Wxl- Geelluv
liam Chriftian, and after him Lewis Nogarola, tranfla- il
ted this work into Latin ; and we have ieveral editions , a^on*
of it, both in Greek and Latin.
OCELOT, the Mexican cat. See Feus, Mamma¬
lia Index.
OCHLOCRACY, that form of government where¬
in the populace have the chief adminifl ration of af¬
fairs.
OCHNA, a genus of plants belonging to the poly-
andria clafs ; and in the natural method ranking with
thofe of which the order is doubtful. See Botany
Index.
OCHRE, in Natural Hijlory, a mineral fubftance
compofcd of oxide and carbonate of iron, and clay.
See Ores of Iron, Minf-Ralogy Index.
OCHROMA, a genus of plants belonging to the
monadelphia clais •, and in the natural method ranking
under the 37th order, Colwmiferce, See Botany In¬
dex.
OCHUS, a king of Perfia, fon of Artaxerxes. H«
was cruel and avaricious ; and in order to ftrengthen
himfelf on his throne, he murdered all his brothers
and lifters. His fubjefts revolted ; but he reduced
them to obedience, and added Egypt to his other do¬
minions.. Bagoas, his favourite eunuch, poifoned him
for the infults he had offered to Apis the god of the
Egyptians •, and he gave his flefh to be eaten by cats,
and made handles for knives with his bones. It feems
to be not a little remarkable, that all thofe monfters
who difgraced humanity by their crimes, and funk
themfelves below the level of brutes, have met with
condign puniftunent •, and this in general feems true,
whether we refer to ancient or modern times.—A man
of Cyzicus, who was killed by the Argonauts.—A
prince of Perfia, who refufed to vifit his native country
for fear of giving all the women each a piece of gold.—
A river of India or of Baftriana —A king of Perfia :
He exchanged this name for that of Darius Nothus.
See Persia.
OCRA, a vifeous vegetable fubftance well known in
the Weft Indies, where it is ufed to thicken foup, parti¬
cularly that kind called pepper pot, as well as for other
purpofes.
OCRISIA, in fabulous hiflory, the evife of Cornicu-
lus, was one of the attendants of Tanaquil the wife of
Tarquinius Prifcus. As (he was throwing into the
flames, for offerings, fome of the meats that were ferved
on the table of Tarquin, lire fuddenly faw, as is report¬
ed, in the fire, what Ovid calls obfeeeni forma virilis.
She informed the queen of it j and when by her com¬
mand Ihc had approached near it, fhe conceived a fon
who was named Servius Tullius, and was educated in
the king’s family. He afterwards fucceeded to the va¬
cant throne. Some fuppofe that Vulcan had affumed
that form which was prefented to the eyes of Ocrifia,
and that this god was the father of the fixth king of
Rome.
OCTAETERIS, a cycle or term of eight years,
in the Grecian chronology, at the conclufion of which
three entire lunar months were added. This cycle was
in ufe till Melon’s invention of the golden number or
cycle of 19 years.
OCTAGON, or Octogon, in Geometry, is a figure
of eight fides and angles j and this, when all the iides
and
OCT
[ i
Odtavia.
©dragon and angles are equal, is called a regular* o^iagon^ or one
11 that may be inferibed in a circle.
, Octagon, in Fortification, denotes a place that has
eight baftions. See Fortification.
OCTAHEDRON, or Octaedron, in Geometry,
one of the five regular bodies, confiding of eight equal
and equilateral triangles.
OCTANDRIA {hktu, 11 eight,” and a “ man
or hufband,”) the 8th clafs in Linnaeus’s fexual fyftem j
eonfifting of plants which are furniftied with eight fta-
mina. See Botany Index.
OCTANT, the eighth part of a circle.
Octant, or Octile, in AJlronomy, that afpeft of two
planets, Avherein they are diilant an eighth part of a
circle, or 450 from each other,
OCTAPLA, in matters of facred literature, denotes
a Polyglot Bible, confifting of eight columns, and as
many different vtrfions of the facred text; viz. the ori¬
ginal Hebrew both in Hebrew and Greek characters,
Greek verfions, &c.
OCTATEUCH, an appellation given to the eight
firft books of the Old Teftament.
OCTAVE, in Mufic. See Interval.
OCT AVI A, daughter of Caius Octavius and filter
to Augultus Caefar. See the following article. She
was one of the molt illuftrious ladies of ancient Rome ;
her virtues and her beauty were equally confpicuous. 
Prideaux fays Ihe was much handfomer than Cleopatra.
She married Claudius Marcellus, and after his death M.
Antony. Her marriage with Antony was a political
match, to reconcile her brother and him together. An¬
tony proved for fome time attentive to her: but when
he had feen Cleopatra, he negle&ed and defpifed her:
and when (lie attempted to withdraw him from this ille¬
gal amour by going to meet him at Athens, (lie was re¬
buked and totally banilhed from his prefence. This af¬
front was highly refented by her brother ; and though
Gdtavia endeavoured to pacify him by palliating Anto¬
ny’s behaviour, yet he refolved to revenge her caufe by
arms. After the battle of A&ium and the death of
Antony, 06tavia, forgetful of her own injuries, took
into her lioufe all the children of her hulband, and
treated them with extraordinary tendernefs. Marcellus,
her fon by her firft hufband, was married to a niece of
Auguftus, . and openly intended as a fucceffor to his
uncle. His fudden death plunged all the family into
the greateft grief. Virgil, whom Auguftus patronized,
undertook of himfelf to pay a melancholy tribute to the
memory of a young man whom Rome had looked upon
as her future father and patron. He was defired to re¬
peat his compofition in the prefence of the emperor and
his fifter. Oftavia burft into tears even when the poet
began j but when he mentioned Tu Marcellus eris, flie
Avooned away. This tender and pathetic encomium
upon the merit and the virtues of young Marcellos fhe
liberally rewarded 5 and Virgil received 10,000 fefterces,
according to fome 781. 2s. 6d. for every one of the ver-
fes.. Octavia* had two daughters by Antony, Antonia
Major and Antonia Minor.—The elder married L.
Domitius Ahenobarbus, by whom fire had Cn. Do-
imtius, who was the father of the emperor Nero by
Agrippina the daughter of Germanicus. Antonia Mi¬
nor, who was as virtuous and as beautiful as her mother,
married Drufus the fun of Tiberius, by whom ftie had
Germanicus,. anc^ Claudius who reigned before Nero.
19 ] OCT
I he death of Marcellus conftantly preyed upon the 0<ftavia,
mind of OGavia, who died of grief or melancholy,
about II years before the Chriftian era. Her brother ~"v ' '
paid great regard to her memory, and pronounced her
funeral oration himfelf. The Roman people alfo fhowed
their regard to her virtues, by wilhingto pay her divine
honours—A daughter of the emperor Claudius by
Meffalina. She was betrothed to Silanus, but by the
intrigues of Agrippina, the was married to the emperor
Nero in the 16th year of her age. She was foon after
divorced under pretence of barrennefs 5 and the emperor
married Poppaea, who exercifed her enmity upon 0<fta-
via by procuring her to be banilhed into Campania.
She was afterwards recalled by the people ; but Pop-
paea, who wras determined on her ruin, caufed her again
to be banilhed to an illand, where ftie w'as ordered to
kill herfelf by opening her veins. Her head was cut
off and carried to Poppaea.
OCT AVI ANUS, or Octavius Caesar, was ne¬
phew of Julius Caefar the didator, being the fon of
Aceia his fifter by O&avius a fenator, and afterwards
became the fecond emperor of Rome. He was born
in the year of the city 691, during the confullhip of
Cicero. His uncle Julius Caefar adopted him, and
left him the greateft part of his fortune. When he
was but 20 years of age, he was raifed to the conful-
ftiip. His youth and inexperience were ridiculed by
his enemies 5 notwfithftanding which obftacle, his pru¬
dence and valour raifed his confequence. He made
wrar againft his opponents on pretence of avenging the
affaftination of his uncle. He engaged in five civil
wars with great fuccefs, viz. The wars of Mutina,
Perufia, Philippi, Sicily, and Adium : the firft; and
laft. of which w'ere againft M. Antony 5 the fecond
againft L. Antony, brother of the triumvir ; the third
w'as againft Brutus and Caftius ; and the fourth againft
Sext. Pompey, fon of Porapey the Great. He united
his forces with Antony’s at the battle of Philippi -
and had he not been fupported by the adivity and
bravery of bis colleague, he would doubtlefs have been
totally ruined in that engagement. In his trium¬
virate with Antony and Lepidus, he obtained the
weftern parts of the Roman empire 5 and, like his other
colleagues, more firmly to eftablilh his power, he pro-
feribed his enemies and cut them off. The triumvirate
lafted for 10 years. He had given his fifter Odavia in
marriage to Antony, to make their alliance morelaftingj
but when Cleopatra had charmed this unfortunate man,
Odavia was repudiated. Auguftus immediately took
up arms to avenge the wrongs of his fifter } but perhaps
more eager to remove a man whofe power and ex-
iftence kept him in continual fear and conftant de¬
pendence. Both parties met at Adium to decide^
the fate of Rome. Antony was fupported by all the
power of the eaft, and Auguftus by Italy. Cleopa¬
tra fled from the battle with 60 ftiips ; and her flight
ruined the intereft of Antony, who followed her into
Egypt. The conqueror foon after went into Egypt
like wife, befieged Alexandria, and honoured with a mag¬
nificent funeral his unfortunate colleague and the cele¬
brated queen, whom the fear of being led in the vidor’s
triumph at Rome had driven to commit filicide. Af¬
ter he had eftabliflted peace all over the world, he ftiut
the gates of the temple of Janus, A. U. C. 753. He
was twice determined to lay down the fupreme power
immediately
o c u
O^lavianus immediately after the victory obtained over Antony,
il and on account of his ill health j but his two faithful
, 0™lus‘ , friends Mecsenas and Agrippa diffuaded him, and con-
y tended, that if he did he would leave it to be the
prey of the moft powerful, and expofe himfelf to the
greateft dangers. He died at Nola in the 76th year
of his age, after he had held the fovereign power for
57 years.—He was an aftive emperor, and confulted
the good of the Romans with the greateft anxiety and
care. He vifited all the provinces except Africa and
Sardinia, and his confummate prudence and experience
occafioned many falutary laws. He is, however, ac-
cufed of licentioufnefs and adultery ; but the good-
nefs of his heart, the fidelity of his friendlhip, and the
many good qualities which the poets whom he patro¬
nized have perhaps truly celebrated, made fome, though
in the eye of ftrift religion and true morality but little,
amends for his natural foibles. He was ambitious of be¬
ing efteemed handfome ; and as he was publicly report¬
ed to be the fon of Apollo according to his mother’s
declaration, he wiftied his flatterers to reprefent him
with the figure and attributes of that god. Like Apollo,
his eyes were clear, and he affefted to have it thought
that they poffeffed fome divine irradiation, and was well
pleafed if, when he fixed his eyes upon any body, they
held down their eyes, as if overcome by the glaring
brightnefs of the fun. He diftinguilhed himfelf by
his learning *, he was a complete mafter of the Greek
language, and wrote fome tragedies, befides memoirs
of his life and other works, which are now loft. He
married four times •, but he was unhappy in all thefe
connexions*, and his only daughter Julia difgraced her-
felf and her father by the debauchery and licentioufnefs
of her manners. He recommended at his death his
adopted fon Tiberius as his fucceffor. He left his for¬
tune partly to him and to Drufus, and made donations
to the army and Roman people. The title of Auguftus
was conferred upon him by the fcnate after the battle
of Aftium and the final deftru&ion of the Roman re¬
public. The title continued afterwards, being given
to his fucceflbrs in the empire. Virgil is faid to have
written hisVEneid at the defire of Auguftus, whom he
reprefents under the amiable, and perfeft character of
iEneas. The name of O&avius was very common at
Rome *, it was the name of a variety of men of very con-
fiderable rai)k.
OCTOBER, in Chronology, the eighth month of Ro¬
mulus’s year, which the name implies; but tenth in the
kalendar of Numa, Julius Caefar, &c. The fenate gave
this month the name Faujlinus, in compliment to Fau-
ftina, the wife of the emperor Antoninus j Commodus
would have it called InmElus ; and Domitian named it
Domitianus ; but in fpite of all thefe attempts it ftill re¬
tains its original name. This month wasfacred to Mars,
and under his protection.
OCTOBER Equlis, a horfe annually facrificed to Mars
in the month of October, either becaufe the horfe is a
warlike animal, or to punifti him for the taking of
Troy. A race was run with chariots, drawn by two
horfes, previous to the facrifices, and he that ran quick-
eft was adjudged to be the vidtim.
OCTOSTYLE, in the ancient architedture, is the
face of an edifice adorned with eight columns.
OCULUS, the Eye, in Anatomy. See there, N°
-45*
120 1 O D A
OCYMOPHYLLON, a name given by Buxbaum
to a new genus of plants, the charadlers of which are
thefe : The flower is of the ftamineous kind, having no
petals 5 this ftands upon the embryo fruit, which after- »_
wards becomes an oblong quadrangular feed-vcffel, di¬
vided into four cells, and containing roundifti and very
fmall feeds j its leaves are like thofe of the common ocy-
mum or bafil, whence its name *, and its place of growth
is in damp marfties. Boccone has defcribed it under the
improper name of glaux, calling it the great, green-
Jlowered, marjh glaux.
OCYMUM, Basil *, a genus of plants belonging to
the didynamia clafs 5 and in the natural method ranking
under the 42d order, Verticillatee. See Botany Index.
OCZAKOW, or Oczakoff, a town of Turkey in
Europe, and capital of a fangiack of the fame name,
inhabited by Tartars. During a late war, here was a
Turkifti garrifon of 20,000 men. However, it was
taken by the Ruffians in 1737, and all thofe that refift-
ed were put to the fword. The Ruffians themfelves loft
18,000 men in the affault. ffhe ffurks returned the
fame year with 70,000 men to retake it 5 but were ob¬
liged to retire, after the lofs of 20,000. In 173^’ ^ie
Ruffians withdrew their garrifon, and demoliftied the
fortifications. It is feated on the river Bog, to the
weft of the Nieper, or rather where they both unite
and fall into the Black fea. It is 42 miles foutli-weft
of Bialagrod, and 190 north by eaft of Conftantinople.
It has been lately a fubjed of great conteft between
the Ruffians and Turks. The affair is frefti in our
readers memories •, but the following more particular
account of the place, will not, we truft,^ be unaccep¬
table to our readers.—It is called by the lurks Dzain
Critnenda, is feated at the influx of the Nieper into the
Black fea, 1 20 miles from Bender, to the fouth eaft.
The river is here above a mile broad. Hither the
Turkifti galleys retire which guard the mouth of the
river, to prevent the Coffacks from pirating upon the
Black fea. Here is no port, but good anchorage. It
is defended by a caftle, furrounded with walls 25 feet
high 5 thofe of the town are much lower. There are
about 2boo people at Oczakow*. Below the caftle are
two towns or fuburbs, fituated on the declivity of a hill,
which on the other fide has nothing but precipices. To
the fouth of thefe towns is another fmall caftle, where
is fome artillery to prevent veffels from coming up the
fiver. Here is alfo a tower, in which are always fome
Turks upon the watch to difcover from afar any of the
Coffacks at fea, and give notice of them to the galleys
by a fignal. The city is inhabited by Tartars, though
garrifoned by Turks. E. Long. 30. 50. N. Lat.
46. 50.
ODA, in the Turkifti feraglio, fignifies a clafs, or¬
der, or chamber. The grand fignior’s pages are di¬
vided into five claffes or chambers. Ihe firft, which
is the loweft in dignity, is called the great oda, from
the greater number of perfons that compofe it •, thefe
are the juniors, who are taught to read, write, and
fpeak the languages. The fecond is called the little
oda, where from the age of 14 or 15 years, till about
20, they are trained up to arms, and. the ftudy of all
the polite learning the Turks are acquainted with. Ihe
third chamber, called hilar oda, confifts of 2CO pages,
who, befides their other exercifes, are under the com¬
mand of the kilardgi-bachi, and ferve in the pantry and
frmtery.
Ocytr.o.
phylion
II
Oda..
ODE fi
0<la fruitery. The fourth confifts only of 24, who are under
II the command of the khazineda-bachi, and have charge
Oden ee. ^ treafure jn tjie grand (Ignior’s apartment, which
they never enter with clothes that have pockets. The
fifth is called kas oda or privy-chamber; and is compo-
fed of only 40 pages, who attend in the prince’s cham¬
ber. Every night eight of thefe pages keep guard in
the grand fignior’s bedchamber while he deeps: they
take care that the light, which is conftantly kept in
the room, does not glare in his eyes, left it fhould
awake him : and if they find him difturbed with trou-
blefome dreams, they caufe him to be awakened by one
of their agas.
ODA-Bachi, or OddabaJJi, an officer in the Turkifti
foldiery, equivalent to a ferjeant or corporal among us.
The common foldiers and janizaries called oldachis, af¬
ter having ferved a certain number of years, are always
preferred, and made biquelairs $ and of biquelairs in
time become odobachis, i. e. corporals of companies, or
chiefs of certain divifions whofe number is not fixed j
being fometimes ten, and fometimes twenty.
Their pay is fix doubles per month ; and they are
diftinguiffred by a large felt, a foot broad, and above a
foot long, hanging on the back, with two long oftrich
feathers.
ODDLY-odd. A number is faid to be oddly-odd,
when an odd number meafures it by an odd number.
So 15 is a number oddly-odd, becaufe the odd number
3 meafures it by the odd number 5.
ODE, in Poetryy a fong or compofition proper to be
fung. See Poetry.
ODED, a prophet of the Lord, who being at Sa¬
maria when the Ifraelites of the ten tribes returned
from the war with their king Pekah, together with
200,000 of the people of Judah captives, he wrent out
to meet them, and laid, “ You have feen that the Lord
God of your fathers was in wrath againft Judah j he
has therefore delivered them into your hands, and you
have flain them inhumanly, fo that your cruelty has
afeended up into heaven j and more than this, you would
make flaves of the children of Judah, who are your bre¬
thren, and would add this fin to the many others you
have committed : therefore, hear the counfel that I
give you; fend back thefe captives, left the Lord fhould
pour out his fury upon you.” Oded having done fpeak-
mg, fome of the chiefs of Samaria feconded him, and
by their remonftrances prevailed with the Ifraelites
to fet the captives at liberty (2 Chron. xxviii.). See
Ahaz.
The enlargement of the captives being obtained, the
principal men of Samaria took care of them, gave them
clothes and food and other neceflary afliftanee. After
which they furnilhed them with horfes, becaufe the
greateft part of them were fo tired and exhaufted that
they were not able to w alk. Thus they conduced them
to Jericho, which was in the confines of the land of Ju¬
dah. This is all that is come to our knoAvledge con¬
cerning the prophet Oded.
ODENSEE, the capital of the ifle of Funen, a
place of fuch high antiquity, that feme Daniih writers
derive its foundation and name from Odin the god and
hero of the Gothic nations. “ Its name certainly occurs
(fays Mr Coxe) in the earlieft ages of the Danifti hif-
tory ; and it was a town of great note long before Co¬
penhagen exifted. Odenfee Hands upon a fmall river,
Vol. XV. Part L
!i ] ODE
not navigable, and about two miles from the bay of Odenfee
Stegeftrand. Many of the houfes are ancient, bearing I!
dates about the middle of the 16th century ; but part is °cier'
newly built : it contains about 5200 inhabitants, who
carry on fome commerce, exporting chiefly grain and
leather ; the latter is much efteemed, and its goodnefs
is fuppofed to arife from a certain property in the river
water, in which it is foaked for tanning. The Danifh
cavalry are fupplied from thence with the greateft part
of their leathern accoutrements.
“ Odenfee is the feat of a biihop, which was founded
by Harold Blaatand in 980, and is the richeft in Den¬
mark next to Copenhagen. It has a fchool, endowed
by the celebrated Margaret of Valdemar, in which a
certain number of fcholars, from fix to 16 years of age,
are inftru&ed gratis : they live and board in the town,
and each receives a yearly penfion ; other fcholarflnps
have been alfo founded by private perfons. The whole
number amounted to 70. There is alfo a gymnafium,
inftituted by Chriftian IV. for the admiflion of ftudents
at the age of 16. The feminary was ftill further im¬
proved by the liberality of Holberg the Danifti hifto-
rian, who protected letters with the fame zeal with
which he cultivated them. It is now greatly fallen from
its former flouriftung ftate, containing, when I palled
through the towm, only eight ftudents. The cathedral
is a large old brick building, which has nothing re¬
markable except fome coftly monuments of a private
Danifti family. The church, which formerly belonged
to the convent of Recolets, contains the fepulehre of
John king of Denmark, and of his fon Chriftian II.”
E. Long 10. 27. N. Lat. 55. 28.
ODENATUS, a celebrated prince of Palmyra, wha
very early inured himfelf to bear fatigues, and by hunt¬
ing leopards and wild beafts, accuftomed himfelf to the
labours of a military life. He was a faithful friend to
the Romans; and when Aurelian had been taken pri-
foner by Sapor king of Perfia, Odenatus warmly inte-
refted himfelf in his caufe, and folicited his releafe, by
writing to the conqueror, and by fending him prefents.
The king of Perfia was offended at this liberty of Oden¬
atus, he tore the letter, and ordered the prefents that
were offered to be thrown into a river, and in order to
punifti Odenatus, who had the impudence, as he called
it, to pay homage to fo great a monarch as himfelf, he
commanded him to appear before him, on pain of be¬
ing devoted to inftant deftruftion with all his family, if
he dared to refufe. Odenatus defpifed this haughty
fummons of Sapor, and oppofed force by force. He ob¬
tained fome confiderable advantages over the troops of
the Perfian king, and took his wife prifoner, with a
great and rich booty. Thefe fervices were obferved
with gratitude by the Romans; and Gallienus, the then
emperor, named Odenatus as his colleague on the
throne, and gave the title of Auyujhis to his children,
and to his wife the celebrated Zenobia. Odenatus in-
vefted with new power, refolved to fignalize himfelf
more confpicuoufly by conquering the barbarians of the
north : but his exulting was of ftiort duration : he pe-
riftied by the dagger of one of his own relations, whom
he had (lightly offended at a domeftic entertainment.—
He died at Emeffa about the 267th year of the Chri¬
ftian era. Zenobia fucceeded to his titles and ho¬
nours.
ODER, a river of Germany", which has its foufee
Q. near
O.Ior
O D I [i
near a town of- the fame name in Silefia, and on the
confines of Moravia. It runs north through that pro¬
vince, and then into the marche of Brandenburg and
Pomerania, where it forms a large lake, afterwards fall¬
ing into the Baltic fea by three mouths ; between which
lie the ifiands Ufedom and Wolin. It paffes by feveral
towns •, as Ratibor, Oppelen, Breflau, Glogau and Grof-
fen, in Siiefia ^ Francfort, Lebus, and Cuftrin, in Bran¬
denburg ; and Gartz, Stetin, Cammin, Wallin, Ufedom,
and Wolgaft, in Pomerania.
ODEUM, in Grecian antiquity, a mufic theatre
built by Pericles ; the infide of which w'as filled with
feats and ranges of pillars, and on the outfide the roof
defcended (helving downwards from a point in the cen¬
tre, with many bendings, in imitation of the king of
Perfia’s pavilion. Here the mulical prizes were con¬
tended for ■, and here alfo, according to Ariftophanes,
was a tribunal.
ODIN (fee Frea), in Mythology, called alfo in the
dialect of the Anglo-Saxons, IVoden or IVodan, a name
given by the ancient Scythians to their fupreme god,
and aflumed, about 70 years before the Chriftian era, by
Sigge, a Scythian prince, who conquered the northern
nations, made great changes in their government, man¬
ners, religion, and enjoyed great honours, and bad even
divine honours paid him. According to 'the account
given of this conqueror by Snorro, the ancient hiftorian
of Norway, and his commentator Torfseus, Odin was a
Scythian, who withdrew himfelf, with many others in
his train, by flight, from the vengeance of the Romans,
under the conduft of Pompey 5 and having officiated as
a prieft in his own country, he affumed the direction of
the religious worffiip, as well as the civil government,
of the nations which he conquered. Having fub* ued
Denmark, Sweden, and Norway, he retired to Sweden,
where he died. There is nothing certain in this ac¬
count •, but it is probable, that the god, whofe prophet
or priefl: this Scythian pretended to be, was named
Odin, and that the ignorance of fucceeding ages con¬
founded the deity with his prieft, compofing out of the
attributes of the ofie, and the hiftory of the other, the
charafter of the northern conqueror. He deluded the
people by his enchantments and {kilt in magic : having
cut off the head of one Mimer, who in his lifetime was
Ln great reputation for wifdom, he caufed it to be em¬
balmed,. and perfuaded the Scandinavians that he had
reftored it to the ufe of fpeecb ; and he caufed it to pro¬
nounce whatever oracles he wanted. The Icelandic
chronicles reprefent Odin as the moft eloquent and per-
* fuafive of men •, they afcribe to him the introduction of
the art of poetry among the Scandinavians, and likewife
the invention of the Runic characters. He had alfo the
addrefs to perfuade his followers, that he could run
over the world in the twinkling of an eye *, that he
had the direction of the air and tempefts j that he could
transform himfelf into all forts of ffiapes, could raife
the dead, could foretel things to come, deprive his
enemies, by enchantment, of health and vigour, and
difcover all the treafures concealed in the earth. They
add, that by his tender and melodious airs,, he could
make the plains and mountains open and expand with
delight •, and that the ghofts thus attraCled, would
leave their infernal caverns, and (land motionlefs about
him. Nor was he lefs dreadful and furious in battle ;
2 ] o D 1
changing himfelf into the ffiape of a bear, a wild bull, Odin
or a lion, and amidft ranks of enemies committing the II
moft horrid devaftation, without receiving any wound, 0l-!lnus- _
himfelf.
Dr Henry gives this account of him : “ Odin is be- jjenr^s
lieved to have been the name of the one true God Hi/l. of Bri.
among the firft colonies who came from the eaft and VQh “•
peopled Germany and ,Scandinavia, and among their
pofterity for feveral ages. But at length a mighty
conqueror, the leader of a new army of adventurers
from the eafl, overrun the north of Europe, erefled
a great empire, aflumed the name of Odin, and claim¬
ed the honours which had been formerly paid to that
deity. From thenceforward this deified mortal, un¬
der the name of Odin or IVodin, became the chief ob-
j< Ct of the idolatrous worftiip of the Saxons and Danes
in this ifland, as well as of many other nations. Hav¬
ing been a mighty and fuccefsful warrior, he was be¬
lieved to be the god of war, who gave viClory, and
revived courage in the conflict. Having civilized, in
fome meafure, the countries which hb conquered, and
introduced arts formerly unknown, he was alfo wor-
fhippi d as the god of arts and arlifts. In a word, to
this Odin his deluded worffiippers impioufly afcribed
all the attributes which belong only to the time God :
to him they built magnificent temples, offered many
facrifices, and confecrated the fourth day of the week,
which is {till called by his name in England and in all
the other countries where he was formerly worfliipped.
Not with {landing all this, the founders of all the king¬
doms of the Anglo-Saxon heptarchy pretended to be de¬
fcended from Wodin, and fome of them at the diflance
only of a few generations.”
ODIN'S Fire. We have this account of it in Gough’s
Camden. “ In Evie pariffi, in the Orkneys, near the
fea, are fome rocks, which frequently in the night ap¬
pear on fire ; and the church of St Michael there was
often feen full of lights, called fires fent by St Odin to
guard their tombs, but now ceafed. This may be a
meteor, or fome inflammable matter on the cliffs, as at
Charmouth, Dorfet.”
ODINUS, a celebrated hero of antiquity, who flou-
riffied about 70 years before the Chriftian era, in the
northern parts of ancient Germany, or in the modern
kingdom of Denmark. He was at the fame time a
prieft, a foldier, a poet, a monarch, and a viftor. He
impofed on the credulity of his fuperftitious country¬
men, and made them believe that he could raife the
dead, and that he was acquainted with futurity. When
he had extended his power, and increafed his fame by
conqueft and by artifice, he determined to die in a dif¬
ferent way from other men. He aflembled his friends,,
and with the {harp point of a lance he made in his body
nine different wounds in the form of a circle j and when
expiring he declared that he was going to Scythia, where
he ftiould become an immortal god. He added, that
he would prepare blifs and felicity for thofe of his
countrymen who lived a virtuous life, who fought with
bravery, and who died like heroes in the field of battle.
Thefe injundlions had the wiffied-for effect : his coun¬
trymen fuperftitioufly believed him, and conftantly re¬
commended themfelves to his protedlion when they en¬
gaged in battle 5 and they entreated him to receive the
fouls of fuch as fell in war..
De
O D O - [
Odio De OdIO et Atia. See Falfe IMPRISONMENT.
Odo icer ^'lie wr‘t oc^° et at^a was anciently ufed to be di-
■ ..^ < refled to the Iberiit, commanding him to inquire whe¬
ther a prifoner charged with murder was committed
upon juit caufe of fufpieion, or merely propter odium et
atiam, for hatred and ill will ; and if upon the inqui-
lition due caufe of fuipicion did not then appear, then
there iffued another writ for the fheriff to admit him
to bail. This writ, according to Brafton, ought not
to be denied to any man j it being exprefsly ordered
to be made out gratisy without any denial, by mavna
chart a, c. 2b. and flatute Weflm. 2. Edw. I. c. 2q.
But the flatute of Glocefler, 6 Edw. I. c. 9. reftrain-
ed it in the cafe of killing by mifadventure or felf-de-
fence, and the flatute 28 Edw. III. c. 9. aboliflhed it
in all cafes whatfoever : but as the flat. 42 Ed. III. c. 1.
repealed all flatutes then in being, contrary to the
great charter, Sir Edward Coke is of opinion that the
writ de odio et atia was thereby revived. See HABEAS
Corpus.
k ODO, St, fecond abbot of Cluny in France, wras
illuflrious for learning and piety in the 10th century.
A. he fanflity of his life contributed greatly to enlarge
the congregation of Cluny; and he was fo efleemed,
that popes, bifhops, and fecular princes, ufually chofe
him the arbiter of their difputes. He died about the
year 942, and his works are printed in the Bibliotheque
of Cluny.
Odo Cantianus, fo called as being a native of Kent
in England, was a Benedifline monk in the 12th cen¬
tury, in which order his learning and eloquence raifed
him to the dignity of prior and abbot. Archbifliop
Becket was his friend; and his panegyric was made by
John of Salifbury. He compofed Commentaries on the
Pentateuch, and the Second Book of Kings ; Moral Re-
fleaions on the Pfalms j treatifes entitled, De Onere Pin-
lijlim; De Moribus Ecclefiajlicis; De Vitiis et Virtuti-
bus /Inimcc, &c.
ODOACER, according to Ennodius, -was meanly
born, and only a private man in the guards of the
emperor Auguflulus, when (A. D. 476, under.the con-
iullhip of Bafihcus and Armatus) the barbarians chofe
him tor their leader. The barbarians thought, as they
often defended Italy, they had a right at leafl to part of
it; but upon demanding it they were refufed, and the
confequence was a revolt. Odoacer is faid to have been
a man of uncommon parts, capable alike of commanding
an army or governing a Rate. Having left his own
country when he was very young, to ferve in Italy, as
lie was of a flature remarkably tall, he was admitted
among the emperor’s guards, and continued in that lla-
tion till the above year 5 when, putting himfelf at the
r ‘.•ir the bari?anans in the Roman pay, who, though
ot different nations, had unanimoufly chofen him for
their leader, he marched againfl Orefles, and his fon
Auguflulus, who Hill refufed to {hare any of the lands
in Italy. The Romans were inferior both in numbers
and valour, and were eafily conquered : Oreftes was or-
dered to be flam ; but the emperor Auguflulus was {pa¬
red, and, though ftripped of his dignity, was treated with
humanity, and allowed a liberal fum for his own fupport
and tor that of his relations. Odoacer was proclaimed
king of Italy ; but affumed neither the purple nor any
ether mark of imperial confequence. He was afterwards
123 ]
O D Y
defeated and flam by Theodoric the OftrOgoth. See Odoacer
Ostrogoth. 11
ODO M E I ER, an inflrument for meafuring the dif-
tance pafled over in travelling. See Pedometer.
ODONIALGIA, the Toothach. See Medi¬
cine, N° 210.
ODONIOIDE, in Anatomy, an appellation given
to the procefs of the fecond vertebra of the neck, from
its refemblance to a tooth.
ODOROUS, or Odoriferous, appellations given
to whatever fmells ftrongly, whether they be fetid or
agreeable ; but chiefly to things whofe fmell is brifk
and pleafant.
OD i? SSEY, the name of an epic poem compofed by
Homer, which, when compared with the Iliad, exhibits
its author as the fetting fun, whofe grandeur remains
without the heat of his meridian beams.
.Jbe flat’s defign in the Odyffey was to paint the
mileries of a kingdom in^ the abfence of its fupreme
governor, and the evil confequences refulting from a dif-
regard ox law, and of that fubordination w’ithout which
fociety cannot exift. With this view he fets before his
countrymen the adventures of a prince who had been
obliged to forfake his native country, and to head an
army of his fubjefts in a foreign expedition j and he art¬
fully contrives, without interrupting the narrative, to
make the reader acquainted with the Rate of the coun¬
try m the abfence of its fovereign. The chief having
glonoufly finiftied the enterprife in which he was en¬
gaged, was returning with his army j but in fpite of all
his eagernefs to be at home, he wras detained on the way
by tempefts for feveral years, and caff upon feveral
countries differing from each other in manners and in
government^ In thefe dangers his companions, not
itrictly obeying his orders, periflx through their own
fault. In the mean time the grandees of his country
abule the freedom which his abfence gave them • cor-
fume his effate ; confpire to deftroy his fon 5 endeavour
to compel his queen to accept one of them for her huf-
band 5 and indulge themfelves in every fpecies of vio¬
lence, from a perfuafion that he would never return.
In this they were difappointed. He returns ; and dif-
covering himfelf only to his fon and fome others who
had maintained their allegiance, he is an eye witnefs of
the.mfolence of his enemies, puniflies them according to
their deferts, and reftores to his ifland that tranquillity
and repofe to which it had been a ftranger during the
many years of his abfence.
. Such is the fable of the Odyffey, in which there
is no opportunity of difplaying that vigour and fub-
limity which charadlerize the Iliad. “ It defeends
from the dignity of gods and Reroes *, and warlike * Mai, ’.
achievements ; but in recompenfe wc have more plea- Le£ivres
fing pidures of ancient manners. Inftead of that fe
rocky which reigns the other poem, this prefects us
with the moft amiable images of hofpitality and hu¬
manity ; entertains us with many a wonderful adven
ture; and inftru&s Us by fuch a conftant vein of mu'
rahty and virtue which runs through the poem ”
fometimes in precepts, and always in the con duel of
t»e hero, that we fliould not wonder if Greece which
gave the appellation of wife to men who uttere’d Angle
fentences of truth, had given to Homer the title of
the father of virtue, for introducing into his work fuch
Odyffey.
O E D
©dyfley a number of moral maxims. As a poem, however,
the OdyiTey has its faults, xhe laft twelve books aie
t 0ethpus- ^ tedious and languid j and we are difappointed by the
v ” ' calm behaviour of Penelope upon the difcovery of her
long loft hufband.
OECONOMICS, the art of managing the affairs
of a family or community j and hence the perfon who
takes care of the revenues and other affairs of churches,
monafteries, and the like, is termed ceconomus.
OECONOMISTS, a fed of French philofophers,
who obtained this name in confequence of directing their
attention and refearches to objeds of political economy,
and in particular to the improvement of the departments
of finance. The views oi thofe philofophers, among
whom are reckoned the celebrated names of Voltaire,
d’Alembert, Diderot, and Condorcet, have been vari-
oully reprefented 5 by fome as diredly hoftile to all regu¬
lar government, and by others as unfriendly to religion.
OECONOMY, denotes the prudent conduct, or dif-
creet and frugal management, whether of a man’s own
eftate or that of another.
Animal OECONOMT, comprehends the various opera¬
tions of nature in the generation, nutrition and prefer-
* See Ge- vation of animals*, ihe dodrine of the animal tco-
neration, nomy is nearly conneded with phyfiology, which ex-
Nutrition, lajns the 0peration and adion of the feveral parts of
the human body, their ufe, &c. See Anatomy and
Physiology.
OECUMENICAL, fignifies the fame with general
or univerfal; as, oecumenical council, bilhop, &c-
OEDEMA, or Phlegmatic Tumour, in Medi¬
cine and Surgery, a fort of tumour attended with pale-
nefs and cold, yielding little refiftance, retaining the
print of the finger when preffed with it, and accompa¬
nied with little or no pain.
This tumour obtains no certain fituation in any par¬
ticular part of the body, fince the head, eyelids, hands,
and fometimes part, fometimes the whole body, is afflid-
ed with it. When the laft mentioned is the cafe, the
patient is faid to be troubled with a cachexy, leuco-
phlegmatia, or dropfy. But if any particular part, is
more fubjed to this diforder than another, it is certain¬
ly the feet, which are at that time called/wf/W or cede-
matous feet.
OEDERA, in Botany, a genus of plants belonging
to the fyngenefia clafs. See Botany Index.
OEDIPUS, the unfortunate king of Thebes, whofe
hiftory is partly fabulous, flourilhed about 1266 B. C.
It is faid he was given by his father to a fliepherd,
who was ordered to put him to death, in order to
prevent the misfortunes with which he was threatened
by an oracle. But the Ihepherd, being unwilling to
kill him with his own hands, tied him by the feet
to a tree, that he might be devoured by wild.beafts.
The infant was however found in this fituation by
another fhepherd named Phorbas, who carried him. to
Polybus king of Corinth j where the queen, having
no children, educated him with as much care as if he
had been her own fon. When he was grown up, he
was informed that he was not the fon of Polybus j on
which, by order of the oracle, he went to fe.ek for
his father in Phocis; but fcarce was he arrived in that
country, when he met his father on the road, and
killed him without knowing him. A fliort time after,
having delivered the country from the monfter called
OEM
the Sphinx, he married Jocafta, without knowing that Oedipus
ihe was his mother, and had four children by her; but , ^11
afterwards, being informed of his ineeft, he quitted the ^
throne, and, thinking himfelf unworthy of the light, put
out his eyes. Eteocles and Polynices, who were cele¬
brated among the Greeks, wTere born of this inceftuous
marriage.
OEGWA, a town on the Gold coaft of Africa,
fituatcd, according to Artus, on the brow of an emi¬
nence, railing itfeif by a gentle afcent to a confiderable
height, and defended by rocks, againft which the waves
beat with the utmoft violence, the nolle of which is
heard at a great diftance.
Barbot affirms, that Oegwa contains above 500
houfes disjoined by narrow crooked ftreets j and that
from the fea it has the appearance of an amphitheatre.
Des Marchias reduces the number of houfes to 200,
in the centre of which ftands a large fquare building,
the repolitory of their gold dull and other commo¬
dities. The houfes are built of earth and clay, but
convenient, and well furnilhed with chairs, ftools, mats,
carpets, earthen pots, and even looking glaffes, which
laft they purchafe from the Europeans. No part of the
coalt is better provided with all kinds of eatables, which
are fent in from the adjacent cantons, and fold in public
markets. Every thing is bought and fold with gold
dull, which is the ftandard of all other commodities,
and brought hither in great abundance from all quar¬
ters of Fetu, Abrambo, Affiento, and Mandingo. The
gold is fold by weight, and the quantity determined by
nice fcales, made in the country before it was frequented
by the Europeans: a proof that thofe negroes are not
wholly ignorant of the more refined principles of me¬
chanics. Next to gold, the chief commerce of the
place confirts in the fale of fiffi, of which they catch
prodigious quantities on the coaft. Although the na¬
tives are brave and warlike, yet in time of peace no
people are more induftrious, their whole time being em¬
ployed in catching filh or cultivating the fruits of the
earth. They are extremely expert in throwing the line,
and filhing by the hook ; nor is their intrepidity in com¬
bating the elements, and purfuing their employments in
all kinds of weather, lefs aftoniffiing. Every day in the
week, except Wednefday, which is facred to the Fe¬
tiche, they employ in their feveral occupations, and no
feafon of the year is exempted from fiffiing. Their
danoes weather ftorms which would endanger the
largeft {hipping ; and the negroes have the dexterity
of' making their advantage of thofe feafons, which
oblige others to difcontinue their labours, by throwing
their lines with the fame fuccefs in tempeftuous as in
calm weather.
OELAND, an ifland of Sweden, feated in the Bal¬
tic fea, between the continent of Gothland and the
ifle of Gothland. It lies between 56° and 570 of north
latitude, and between 170 and J 8s of eaft longitude.
It is about 60 miles in length, and 15 in breadth J
having a wholefome air, and a fertile foil, with rifing
hills, and feveral caftles. It has no town of any great
note.
OENANTHE, Water Dropwort, a genus of
plants belonging to the pentandria clafs •, and in the
natural method ranking under the 45th order Umbellate.
See Botany Index.
OENOPTiE, in Grecian antiquity, a kind ofcen-
fors
[ 124 ]
O E T f i
Oennptre fors at Athens, who regulated entertainments, and took
II care that none drank too much, nor too little.
c‘l'n~ , OilNOS, xu Ornithology, the name ufed by authors
for the flock-dove, or wood-pigeon, called alio by fome
vinago, fomewhat larger than the common pigeon, but
of the fame lhape and general colour. Its neck is of a
fine changeable hue, as differently oppofed to the light j
and its bread, (boulders, and wings, are of a fine pur-
plilh hue, or red wine colour, from whence it has its
name vi'/a^o.
OENOTHERA, Tree-primrose, a genus of plants
belonging to the odtandria clafs ; and in the natural
method ranking under the 17th order, Calycanthenue.
See Botany Index.
OENOTRI A, an ancient name of Italy $ fo called
from the Oenotn, (Virgil) j inhabiting between Pseffum
and Tarentum, (Ovid). Originally Arcadians, (Dio-
nyfius Halicarnaffaeus), who came under the conduct of
Oenotrus fon of Lycaon, 17 generations before the war
of Troy, or 459 years, at 27 years each generation, and
gave name to the people. Cato derives the name from
Oenotrus, king of the Sabines and Etrufcans ; but Var-
ro from Oenotrus, king of the Latins ; and Servius from
the Greek name for wine, for which Italy was famous 5
of which opinion is Strabo.
OENO PRIDES (Strabo, Pliny), two fmall iflands
in the Tufcan fea, over againft Velia, a town of Lu-
cania, called Pontia and Ifcia ; now Penza and Ifchia,
on the coaft of the Principato Citra, or to the weft of
Naples. So called from the Oenotri, an ancient people
of Italy.
OESEL, an ifland of the Baltic fea, at the entrance
of the gulf of Livonia. It is about 70 miles in length,
and 50 in breadth, and contains 10 parifhes. It is de¬
fended by the fortreffes of Airenfhurg and Sonneburg.
It lies between 22° and 240 of eaft longitude, and be¬
tween 58° and 590 of north latitude.
OESOPHAGUS, in Anatomy, the Gula, or Gullet,
is a membranaceous canal, reaching from the fauces to
the ftomach, and conveying into it the food taken in
at the mouth. See Anatomy, N° 92.
OES PRUS, a genus of infefts belonging to the order
of diptera. See Entomology Index.
OETA, in Ancient Geography, a mountain of Thef-
faly, extending from Thermopylae weft ward to the Sinus
Ambracius, and in fome meafure cutting at right angles
the mountainous country ftretching out between Par-
nalius to the fouth, and Pindus to the north. At Ther¬
mopylae it is very rough and high, rifing and ending
in lharp and fteep rocks, affording a narrow paffage
between it and the fea from Theffaly to Locris (Strabo),
with two paths over it ; the one above Trachis, very
fteep and high ; the other through the country of the
iEmanes, much eafier and readier for travellers ; by
this it was that Leonidas was attacked in rear bv the
Perfians (Pauianias). Plere Hercules laid himfelf on
the funeral pile^Silius Italicus, Ovid) •, thefpot thence
called Pyra (Livy), who fays, that the extreme moun¬
tains to the call are called Oeta; and hence the
poets allege, that day, night, fun, and ftars, arofe from
Oeta (Seneca, Statius, Silius Italicus, Catullus, Virgil’s
G/Vv)—circumftances which fliow the height of this
mountain.
OE PING, a town of Germany, in Upper Bavaria,
under the jurifdi&ion of Buckhaufen. It is divided
1
5 ] OFF
into the upper and the loxver town, and feated on the Oetmg
river Inn, eight miles weft of Buckhaufen. E. Long. II.
12. 47. N. Lat. 48. o. There is a great refort of pil- / -inr&s.
grims to the old chapel. 'r"~
Oeting, or Oetingen, a town of Germany, in the
circle of Suabia, and capital of a county of the' fame
name, feated on the river Wirnitz. E. Long. 10. 4 c.
N. Lat. 48. 52.
_ Oeting, a county of Germany, in the circle of Sua¬
bia, bounded on the north and eaft by Franconia on
the fouth by the duchy of Neuburg •, and on the weft
by that of Wirtemberg. It is about 40 miles from.eaft
to -weft, and 20 from north to fouth.
OFFA’s Dyke, an intrenchment call up by Offa,
a Saxon king, to defend England againft the incur-
fions of the Wellh. It runs through Hertfordfiiire,
Shropfhire, Montgomery (hire, Denbighfhire, and Flint-
fhire.
OFFANTO, a river of Italy, in the kingdom of
Naples. It rifes in the Apennine mountains, in the
Farther Principato : and parting by Conza, and Monte
Verde, it afterwards feparates the Capitanata from the
Bafilicata and the Terra-di-Bari, and then it falls into
the gulf of Venice, near Salpe.
OFFENCE, in Law, an adl committed againft the
law, or omitted where the law requires it.
OFFERINGS. The Hebrews had feveral kinds
of offerings, which they prefented at the temple. Some
were free-will offerings, and others were of obligation.
The firft fruits, the tenths, the fin offerings, were of
obligation ; the peace offerings, vows, offerings of
wine, oil, bread, fait, and other things, which were
made to the temple or to the minifters of the Lord,
wrere offerings of devotion. The Hebrews called all
offerings in general corban. But the offerings of bread,
fait, fruits, and liquors, as wine and oil, which were pre¬
fented to the temple, they called mincha. The facrifice?
are not properly offerings, and are not commonly in¬
cluded under that name. See Corban and Sacrifice.
The offerings of grain, meal, bread, cakes, fruits,
wine, fait, and oil, were common in the temple. Some¬
times thefe offerings were alone, and fometimes they
accompanied the facrifices. Honey was never offered
with the facrifices ; but it might be offered alone in
the quality of firft fruits. Now thefe were the rules
that were obferved in the prefenting of thofe offerings,
called in Hebrew mincha, or kerbon mincha ; in the Sep-
tuagint, offerings of facrijice; and the fame by St Je¬
rome, oblationem facrifcii; but by our tranflators, meat
offerings (Lev. ii. 1, See.). There were five forts of
thefe offerings : 1. Fine flour or meal. 2. Cakes of fe--
veral forts, baked in an oven. 3. Cakes baked upon
a plate. 4. Another fort of cakes, baked upon a grid¬
iron, or plate with holes in it. 5. The firft fruits of
the new corn, which were offered either pure and with¬
out mixture, or roafted or parched in the ear or out of
the ear.
The cakes were kneaded with oil olive, or fried with
oil in a pan, or only dipped in oil after they were baked.
I he bread offered to be prefented upon the altar, was
to be without leaven •, for leaven was never offered up¬
on the altar, nor with the facrifices. But they might
make prefents of common bread to the pnefts and mi¬
nifters of the temple. See Cake, &c.
The offerings now mentioned were appointed on ac¬
count
OFF [ 126 ] OFF
UtYermg-, ^ count of the poorer fort, who could not go to the charge
" y ' of facrificing animals. And even thofe that offered
living victims were not excufed from giving meal, wine,
and ialt, which w7as to go along with the greater fa-
criiices. And alio thofe that offered only oblations of
bread or of meal, offered alfo oil, incenfe, fait, and wine,
which vrere in a manner the feafoning of it. The prieft
in waiting received the offerings from the hand of
him that offered them; laid a part of them upon the
altar, and referved the reft for his own fubfiftence : that
was his right as a minifter of the Lord. Nothing was
burnt quite up but the incenfe, of which the prieft kept
back nothing for his own Ihare.
When an Ifraelite offered a loaf to the prieft, or a
whole cake, the prieft broke the loaf or the cake into
two parts,, fetting that part afide that he referved to
himfelf, and broke the other into crumbs; poured oil
upon it, fait, wine, and incenfe ; and fpread the whole
upon the fire of the altar. If thefe offerings be ac¬
companied by an animal for a facrifice, it was all
thrown upon the viftim, to be confumed along with it.
If thefe offerings were the ears of new corn, either
of wheat or barley, thefe ears were parched at the fire
or in the flame, and rubbed in the hand, and then of¬
fered to the prieft in a veffel; over which he put oil,
incenfe, wine, and fait, and then burnt it upon the al¬
tar, firft having taken as much of it as of right belong¬
ed to himfelf.
The greateft part of thefe offerings were voluntary,
and of pure devotion. But when an animal was offered
in facrifice, they were not at liberty to omit thefe offer¬
ings. Every thing was to be fupplied that was to ac¬
company the facrifice, and which ferved as a feafoning
to the victim. There are fome cafes in which the law
requires only offerings of corn, or bread : for example,
when they offered the firft fruits of their harveft, whether
they were offered folemnly by the whole nation, or by
the devotion of private perfons.
As to the quantity of meal, oil, wine, or fait, which
was to go along with the facrifices, we cannot eafily
fee that the law had determined it. Generally the
prieft threw an handful of meal or crumbs upon the
fire of the altar, with wine, oil, and fait in proportion,
and all the incenfe. All the reft belonged to him, the
quarttity depended upon the liberality of the offerer.
We obferve in more places than one, that Mofes ap¬
points an affaron, Or the tenth part of an ephah of
• meal, for thole that had not wherewithal to offer the
appointed fin offerings (Lev. v. 11. xiv. 21.). In the
folemn offerings of the firft fruits for the whole nation,
they offered an entire ftieaf of corn, a lamb of a year
old, two tenths or two affarons of fine meal mixed with
oil, and a quarter of a hin of wine for the libation.
(Lev. xxiii. 10, II, 12, &c.).
In the facrifice of jealoufy (Numb. V. 15.), when a
jealous hufband accufed his wife of infidelity, the huf-
band offered the tenth part of a fatum of barley-meal,
without oil or incenfe, becaufe, it -was a facrifice of jea¬
loufy, to difeover whether his wife was guilty or not.
The offerings of the fruits of the earth, of bread,
of wine, oil, and fait, are the moft ancient of any that
have come to our knowledge. Cain offered to the
Lord of the fruits of the earth, the firft fruits of his
labour (Gen. iv. 3, 4.). Abel offered the firftlings of
2
his flocks, and of their fat. The heathen have no- Offerings
thing more ancient in their religion, than thefe forts U
of offerings made to their gods. They offered clean ' ‘"ers'
wheat, flour, and bread.
OFFICE, a particular charge or truft, or a dignity
attended with a public function. See Honour.—The
word is primarily uled in fpeakingof the offices of judi¬
cature and policy j as the office of fecretary of liate, the
office of a ffieriff, of a juftice of peace, &e.
Office alfo fignifies a place or apartment appointed
for officers to attend in, in order to difeharge their re-
fpe£Hve duties and employ 'entsj as the fecretary’s of¬
fice, ordnance office, excife office, fignet office, paper
office, pipe office, fix clerks office, &c.
Office, in /IrchiteBure, denotes all the apartments
appointed for the neceffary occalions of a palace or great
houfe •, as kitchen, pantries, confectionaries, &c.
Office, in the canon law, is ufual for a benefice,
that has no jurifdiftion annexed to it.
Duty upon OFFICES and Penjions, a branch of the
king’s extraordinary perpetual revenue, confifting in a
payment of is. in the pound (over and above all other
duties) out of all falaries, fees, and perquifites of of¬
fices and penfions payable by the crown. This highly
popular taxation was impofed by flat. 31 Geo. II. c. 22.
and is under the diredtion of the commiffioners of the
land tax.
OFFICER, a perfon poffeffed of a poll or office.
See the preceding article.
The great officers of the crown, or ftate, are, The
lord high fteward, the lord high chancellor, the lord
high treafurer, the lord prefident of the council, the
lord privy feal, the lord chamberlain, the lord high
conftable, and the earl marffial; each of which fee un¬
der its proper article.
, Non-cotnmi/JioTied OFFICERS, are ferjeant majors, quar-
termafter ferjeants, ferjeants, corporals, drum and fife
majors j wffio are nominated by their refpedlive cap¬
tains, and appointed by the commanding officers of
regiments, and by them reduced without a court-mar¬
tial.
Orderly non-commijjioned OFFICERS, are thofe who are
orderly, or on duty for that week ; who, on hearing
the drum beat for orders, are to repair to the place
appointed to receive them, and to take down in writ¬
ing, in the orderly-book, what is dilated by the ad¬
jutant, or ferjeant major : they are then immediately to
ffiow thefe orders to the officers of the company, and
afterwards warn the men for duty.
Flag OFFICERS. See Flag Officers, and Admirals.
Commiffion OFFICERS, are fuch as are appointed by
the king’s commiffion. Such are all from the general
to the cornet and enfign inclufive. They are thus called
in contradiitin&ion to non-commiffioiied officers. See
Non-commiffioned OFFICERS.
General OFFICERS, are thofe whofe command is not
limited to a Angle company, troop, or regiment •, but
extends to a body of forces compofed of feveral regi¬
ments : fuch are the general, lieutenant general, major
general, and brigadier.
Officers of the RoufehohL See the article House¬
hold.
Staff OFFICERS, are fuch as, in the king’s prefence,
bear a white ftaff or wand } and at other times, on
their
Officers
O G I [ 127 ] O
their going abroad, have it carried before them by a crofs with the other arches.
Opive.
footman bare-headed : fuch are the lord fteward, lord
 chamberlain, lord treafurer, &c.
I he white ftalF is taken for a commiflion ; and, at
the king’s death, each of thefe officers breaks his ftaff
over the herfe made for the king’s body, and by this
means lays down his commiffion, and difcharges all his
inferior officers.
Subaltern OFFICERS, are all who adminifter juftice in
the name of lubjefts 5 as thole who a£l under the earl
marffial, admiral, &c. In the army, the fubaltern of¬
ficers are the lieutenants, cornets, enfigns, ferjeants, and
corporals.
OFFICIAL, in the canon law, an ecclefiaflical
judge, appointed by a biffiop, chapter, abbot, &c. with
charge of the Ipiritual jurifdi&ion of the diocefe.
Official, is alfo a deputy appointed by an arch-dea¬
con as his affiftant, rvho fits as judge in the arch-deacon’s
court.
OFFICINAL, in Pharmacy, an appellation given
to fuch medicines, whether fimple or compound, as afe
required to be conllantly kept in the apothecaries ffiops.
ihe officinal Jimples are appointed, among us, by the
College of Phyficians ; and the manner of making the
compofitions directed in their pharmacopoeia. See Ma¬
teria Medica.
OIFING, or OFFIN, in the fea language, that part
of the fea a good diftance from Ihore, where there is
deep water,. and no need of a pilot to conduft the
Ihip : thus, if a fliip from ffiore be feen failing out to
fea ward, they fay, Jhe Jlands for the offing ; and if a
flip, having the ffiore near her, have another a good
way without her, or towards the fea, they fay, that flip
is in the ffng.
OFF-SETS, in Gardening, are the young ffioots
that fpring from the roots of plants ; which being care¬
fully feparated, and planted in a proper foil, ferve to pro¬
pagate the fpecies. 1
O* f-sets, in Surveying, are perpendiculars let fall,
and meafuring from the ftationary lines to the hedge,
fence, or extremity of an enclofure.
OGEE, or O. G. in Architetlure, a moulding con¬
fiding of two members, the one concave and the other
convex ; or of a round and hollow, like an S. See
Architecture.
OGHAMS, a particular kind of fteganography, or
writing in cypher, pratfifed by the Iriffi ; of which there
were three kinds : 1 he firfl was compofed of certain
lines and marks, Which derived their power from their
fixation and pofition, as they ftand in relation to one
principal line, over or under which they are placed, or
through which they are drawn ; the principal line is
horizontal, and fcrveth for a rule or guide, whofe upper
part is called the left, and the under fide the right :
above, under, and through which line, the char afters
or marks are drawn, which ftand in the place of vowels,
comonants, diphthongs, and triphthongs. Some authors
have doubted the exiftence of this fpecies of writing in
cypher, called Ogham among the Iriffi ; but thefe doubts
are perhaps ill founded : for feveral MSS. in this charac-
them 1 fr°m Which Mr Aftlehas given a plate of
OGIVE in ArchiteBure, an arch or branch of a
Gothic vault ; which, inftead of being circular, paffes
diagonally from one angle to another, and forms a
I L
The middle, where the
ogives crofs each other, is called the key ; being cut in
form of a rofe, or a cul de lampe. '1'he members or
mouldings of the ogives are called nerves, branches, or
reins ; and the arches which feparate the ogives, double
arches.
OGYGES, king of the Thebans, or, according to
others, of Ogygia and Aftae, afterwards called Bceotia
and Attica. He is recorded to have been the firft founder
of Fhebes and Eleufis. The famous deluge happened
in his time, in which fome fay he perifhed with all his
fubjefts, 1796 B. C.
OG-YG1A (Homer), the ifiand of Calypfo; placed
by Pliny in the Sinus Scylacefis, in the Ionian fea,
oppofite to the promontory Lacinium ; by Mela in the
ftrait of Sicily, calling it JEcea ; which others place
at the promontory Circeium, and call it the ifland of
Circe.
Qgygia, the ancient name of Thebes in Eceotia :
fo called from Ogyges, an ancient king, under whom
happened a great deluge, 1020 years before the firft;
Olympiad.
OHIO, a river of North America, having its fource
in the Alleghany mountains, and after them is called
Alleghany, till it joins the Monongahela at Fort Pitt,
where it receives the name of Ohio. It bounds the ftatc
°f Kentucky, and its only difad vantage is a rapid, one
mile and a half long, in N. Lat. 38. 3. about 400 miles
from its mouth. Ihe breadth of this river in no one
place exceeds 1200 yards, but its mean breadth may be
eitimated at 600 yards, and its length almoft 1200 miles,
according to the meafurement of Captain Hutchins!
I he inundations of the Ohio begin about the end of
March, and fubfide in July, although they have been
known to happen frequently in other months ; fo that
boats which are capable of carrying 300 barrels of flour
from the Monongahela above Pittffiurg, have feldom
very long to wait for water. It is thought that, during
the great floods, a firft rate man of war might fail from
Louifville to New Orleans, if the fudden turns of the
river, and the rapidity of its current, fliould be found to
admit of a.fafe fteerage. The bed of the Ohio is a folid
rock, and is divided by an ifland into two branches, he
fouthern of which is about 200 yards wide, but impaf-
fable in dry feafons. It is the branch that may be molt
ealily opened for a conftant navigation, as the bed of
the northern branch is worn into channels by the con¬
ftant courfe of the water, and the attrition of the pebble
ftones carried along with it.
^ Ohio is alfo the name of the north-weftermoft county
of the ftate of Virginia, bounded on the eaft by the
county of Waffiington in Pennfylvania. It contains
5212 inhabitants, of whom 281 are Haves.
OHEJEROA, one of the South fea iflands late¬
ly difcovered, is fituated in W. Long. 150.: 47. S.
Lat. 22. 27. It is neither fertile nor populous j nor
has it any harbour or anchorage fit for ffiipping, and
the difpofition of the people is holiile to fuch as vifit
them.
OIL, an unftuous inflammable fubftance, drawn from
feveral natural bodies, as animal and vegetable fubftan-
ces. See Chemistry and Materia Medica Index.
For an account of the conftruftion of an oil mill, fee
Gray’s Experienced Millwright ; and for an account of
a very fimple apparatus for expreffing oils from different
feeds
Ogive
u
Oil.
OLD T 12
feeds at Bangalore in the Ealt Indies, fee Phil. Mag.
vol. xxx. p. 329.
Rock Oil. See Petroleum, Mineralogy Index.
OINTMENT, in Pharmacy. See Unguent, Ma¬
teria Medica Index.
OK EH AM, the capital of Rutlandfhire, in Eng¬
land, feated in a rich and pleafant valley, called the
vale of Catmus. It is well built, contains 1613 inha¬
bitants, has a good church, a free-fchool, and an hofpi-
tal. W. Long. o. 45. N. Lat. 52. 40.
OKINGH AM, OcKiNGHAM,or a large
town of Berkfhire, in England, noted for the manufac¬
ture of filk. (lockings. W. Long. 0. 50. N. Lat. 51. 26.
OKRA, the fruit of a fpecies of hibifcus, which is
employed in the Weft Indies in making foups. See
Botany Index.
OLAUS magnus. See Magnus.
OL AX, a genus of plants, belonging to the triandria
clafs. See Botany Index.
OLD age. See Longevity. Many methods have
been propofed for lengthening life, and rendering old
age comfortable. Cornaro’s 1 reatife on this fubjeft is
known to every body, and needs not be quoted. To
fome of our readers the following fet of refolutions will
perhaps be new, and may certainly be ufeful.
The old men ihould refolve, except the reafons for a
change be invincible, to live and to die in the public
profeflion of the religion in which they were born and
bred. To avoid all profane talk and intricate debates
on facred topics. To endeavour to get the better of the
intrufions of indolence of mind and body, thofe certain
harbingers of enfeebling age. Rather to wear out, than
to ruft out. To rife early, and as often as poflible to go
to bed before midnight. Not to nod in company, nor
to indulge repofe too frequently on the couch in the day.
To wafte as little of life in deep as may be, for we ihall
have enough in the grave. Not to give up walking j
nor to ride on horfeback to fatigue. Experience, and
a late medical opinion, determine to ride five miles
every day : Nothing contributes more to the preferva-
tion of appetite, and the prolongation of life. Cheyne’s
diredlion to the valetudinary, “ to make exercife a part
of their religion,” to be religioufly obferved. To con¬
tinue the pradtice of reading, purfued for more than fifty
years, in books on all fubjedts •, for variety is the fait
of the mind as well as of life. Other people’s thoughts,
like the belt converfation of one’s companions, are ge¬
nerally better and more agreeable than one’s own.
Frequently to think over the virtues of one’s acquaint¬
ance, old and new. To admit every cheerful ray of
funthine on the imagination. To avoid retrofpedlion
on a pad friend (hip, which had much of We in it ;
for memory often comes when (he is not invited. To
try to think more of the living and lefs of the dead •,
for the dead belong to a world of their own. To live
-within one’s income, be it large or little. Not to. let
paffion of any fort run away with the underftanding.
Not to encourage romantic hopes nor fears. Not to
drive away hope, the fovereign balm of life, though
he is the greateft of all flatterers. Not to be under
the dominion of fuperftition or enthufiafm. Not wil¬
fully to undertake any thing for which the nerves of
the mind or the body are not ftrong enough. Not to
run the race of competition, or to be in another’s way.
To avoid being jollied too much in the ftreet, being
S] OLD
overcome by the noife of the carriages, and not to be *
carried even by curiofity itfelf into a large crowd. To
ftrive to embody that dignified fentiment, “ to write
injuries in dull, but kindnefles in marble.” Not to
give the reins to conftitutional impatience, for it is
apt to hurry on the firft expreflions into the indecen¬
cy of {wearing. To recoiled!, that he who can keep
his own temper may be mailer of another’s. If one
cannot be a ftoie, in bearing and forbearing, on every
trying occafion, yet it may not be impoflible to pull
the check-ftring againft the morofenefs of fpleen or
the impetuofity of peeviflmefs. Anger is a ihort mad-
nefs. Not to fall in love, now on the precipice of
threefcore, nor expedt to be fallen in love with. A
connexion between fummer and winter is an impro¬
per one. Love, like fire, is a good fervant, but a
bad mailer. Love is death, when the animal fpirits
are gone. To contrive to have as few vacant hours
upon one’s hands as poflible, that idlenefs, the mo¬
ther of crimes and vices, may not pay its vifit To
be always doing of fomething, and to have fomething
to do. To fill up one’s time, and to have a good deal
to fill up : for time is the materials that life is made
of. If one is not able by fituation, or through the
neceflity of raifing the fupplies within the year, or by
habit (for virtue itfelf is but habit), to do much often-
tatious good, yet do as little harm as polftble. To make
the bell and the rooft of every thing. Not to in¬
dulge too much in the luxury of the table, nor yet to
underlive the conftitution. The gout, rheumatifm,
and dropfy, in the language of the Spedlator, feem
to be hovering over the difties. Wine, the great pur¬
veyor of pleafure, and the fecond in rank among the
fenfes, oilers his fervice, when love takes his leave.
It is natural to catch hold of every help, when the
fpirits begin to droop. Love and wine are good cor¬
dials, but are not proper for the beverage of common
ufe. Refolve not to go to bed on a full meal. A
light fupper and a good confcience are the bell re¬
ceipts for a good night’s reft, and the parents of un-
difturbing dreams. Not to be enervated by the flatu¬
lency of tea. Let the fecond or third morning’s
thought be to confider of the employment for the day }
and one of the laft at night to inquire what has been
done in the courfe of it. Not to let one’s tongue run at
the expence of truth. Not to be too communicative
nor unreferved. A clofe tongue, with an open counte¬
nance, are the fafeft paffports through the journey of the
world. To correct the error of too much talking, and
reftrain the narrativenefs of the approaching elimafterie.
To take the good-natured fide in converfation. .How¬
ever, not to praife every body, for that is to praife no¬
body. Not to be inquifitive, and eager to know fecrets,
nor be thought to have a head full of other people’s
affairs. Not to make an enemy, nor to lofe a friend.
To aim at the efteem of the public, and to leave a good
name behind. Not to be lingular in drefs, in behaviour,
in notions, or expreflions of one’s thoughts. Never to
give bad advice, and to 11 rive not to fet a bad. example.
Seldom to give advice till alked, for it appears like giv¬
ing fomething that is fuperfluous to one’s felf. Not to
like or diflike too much at firft fight. Not to wonder,
for all wonder is ignorance that poffeflion falls Ihort o£
expedlation. The longing of twenty years may be dif-
appointed in the unanfwered gratification of a fingle
11 hour.
OLD [i
Old hour. Whilft we are wiftiing, we fee the beft fide j
after we have taken pofiefiion, the worft. Refolve to
, ^ c‘l e~, attend to the arguments on both fides, and to hear every
body againft every body. The mind ought not to be
made up, but upon the beft evidence. To be affe&ion-
ate to relations, which is a kind of felf-love, in pre¬
ference to all other acquaintance. But not to omit
paying the commanding refpedft to merit, which is fu-
perior to all the accidental chains of kindred. Not to
debilitate the mind by new and future compofitions.
Like the fpider, it may fpin itfelf to death. The mind,
like the field, muft have its fallow feafon. The leifure
of the pen has created honourable acquaintance, and
pleafed all it has wifhed to pleafe. To refolv.e not to be
too free of promifes, for performances are fometimes very
difficult things. Not to be too much alone, nor to read,
nor meditate, or talk too much on points.that may
awaken tender fenfations, and be too pathetic for the
foul. To enjoy the prefent, not to be made too unhappy
by reflexion on the part, not to be oppreffed by invin¬
cible gloom on the future. To give and receive com¬
fort, thofe necelfary alms to a diftreffed mind. To be
conllantly thankful to providence for the plenty hitherto
poflefled, which has preferved one from the dependence
on party, perfons, and opinions, and kept one out of
debt. The appearance of a happy fituation, and oppor¬
tunities of tailing many worldly felicities (for content
has feldom perverted itfelf into difcontent), has induced
many to conclude, that one muft be pleafed with one’s
lot in life; and it occafions many to look with the
eye of innocent envy. To refolve more than ever to
fimn every public ftation and refponfibility of conduft.
To be fatisfied with being mailer of one’s felf, one’s
habits, now a fecond nature, and one’s time. Deter¬
mined not to folicit, unlefs trampled upon by fortune,
to live and die in the harnefs of trade, or a profeffion.
• To take care that pity (humanity is not here meant)
does not find out one in the endurance of any calami¬
ty. When pity is within call, contempt is not far off.
Not to wilh to have a greater hold of life, nor to quit
that hold. I he poffible tenure of exiftence is of too
Ihort pofleflxon for the long night that is to fucceed :
therefore not a moment to be loft. Not to lofe fight
even for a fingle day, of thefe good and proverbial
do&ors—diet—merryman—and quiet. Refolved to
remember and to recommend, towards tranquillity and
longevity, the three oral maxims of Sir Hans Sloane
—“ Never to quarrel with one’s felf—one’s wife or
one’s prince.” Laftly, Not to put one’s felf too much
in the power of the elements, thofe great enemies to the
human frame *, namely, the fun—the wind—the rain 
and the night air.
Old Man of the Mountain. See Assassins.
OLDCASTLE, Sir John, called the Good Lord
Cobham, was born in the reign of Edward III. and
was the firft author as well as the firft martyr among
the Englilh nobility : he obtained his peerage by mar¬
rying the heirefs of that Lord Cobham who with fo
much virtue and patriotifm oppofed the tyranny of
Richard II. By his means the famous ftatute againft
provifors was revived, and guarded againft by feverer
penalties •, he was one of the leaders of the reforming
party; was at great expence in procuring and difperf-
ing copies of Wickliffe’s writings among the people,
as well as by maintaining a number of his difciples as
Vol. XV. Part I. • r
29 ] OLD
itinerant preachers. In the reign of Henry V. he was OlicalUe,
accufed of herefy j the growth of which was attributed Orenburg,
to his influence. Being a domeftic in the king’s court,
the king delayed his profecution that he might reafon
with him himfelf; but not being able to reclaim him
to the church of Rome, he in great difpleafure refigned
him to its cenfure. He was apprehended and condemned
for herefy 5 but efcaping from the Tower, lay concealed
for four years in Wales, until the rumour of a pretend¬
ed confpiracy was railed againft him, and a price fet
upon his head : he was at laft feized and executed in
St Giles’s Fields 5 being hung alive in chains upon a
gallows, and burned by a fire placed underneath. He
wrote “ Twelve Conclufions, addreffed to the Parlia¬
ment of England.”
OLDENBURG, a title of the royal houfe of Den¬
mark. 1 he origin of this illuftrious family, we are told,
is this:—
On the death of Chriftopher king of Denmark, &c.
in 1448, without iffue, there was a great conteft about
the fucceflion ; and a variety of factions were raifed,
particularly in Sweden and Norway, for the promotion
of different perfons ; and various animofities and numer¬
ous difcords Were excited by the feveral parties, in order
each to obtain their own ends.
As foon as thefe intrigues were known in Denmark,
the fenate refolved to proceed to the ele&ion of a
king; for it did not appear expedient to commit the
government of affairs to the queen dowager, at a time
when they had every thing to fear from thetivo neigh¬
bouring crowns.. At this time a lord of great weight,
property, and ambition, fought the queen in marriage,
the more ealily to pave his way to the throne. This
is a faft mentioned by Pontanus and Meurfius, though
neither takes notice of his name. But as for a great
number of years there was no precedent for elefting a
king out of the body of nobility, though agreeable to
law, the queen entered into the views of the fenate,
and declared flie would give her hand to no prince who
ftiould not be judged deferving of the crown by the fu-
preme council of the nation.
1 he advantages which would have accrued from an¬
nexing the duchy of Slefwick and Holftein to the
crown, made the fenate firft call their eyes on Adol¬
phus. This matter required no long deliberation ; all
faw the conveniences refulting from fuch an union,
and gave their aflent. Immediately an embafly was
defpatched with the offer to Adolphus ; but that prince
confulting the good of his fubjefts, whofe intereft
would have been abforbed in the fuperior weight of
Denmark, declined it, with a moderation and^difin-
tereftednefs, altogether uncommon among princes. How¬
ever, that he might not be wanting in refpeft to
the fenate, he propofed to them his nephew Chriftian,
fecond fon to Theodoric, count of Oldenburg, a prince
bred up at the court of Adolphus from his infancy.
I he propofition was fo agreeable to the fenate, that,
without lofs of time, the ambaffadors were fent to
Theodoric, to demand either of his fons he ftiould
pitch upon for their king. Theodoric’s anfwer to the
ambaffadors was remarkable : “ I have three fons,
fays he, of very oppofite qualities. One is paflion-
ately fond of pleafure and women ; another breathes
nothing but war, without regarding the juftice of the
caule} but the third is moderate in his dilpofition,
ft prefers
OLD [ 130 ] OLE
Oldenburg prefers peace to the din of arms, yet (lands unrivalled
O’dham va*our> generufity, and magnanimity.” He faid
. u “ . he painted thefe charafters for the fenate’s informa¬
tion, defiring they would choofe which of the young
princes they believed would render the kingdom hap-
pieft. It was a matter which would admit of no he-
lltation with one voice the fenate declared for that
prince whofe panegyric the father had To warmly
drawn j and under thefe happy aufpices commenced the
origin of the grandeur of the houfe ot Oldenburg, at
this day featcd on the throne of Denmark.
Oldenburg, Henry, a learned German of the 17th
century, was defcended from the noble family of his
name, who were earls of the county of Oldenburg, in
the north part of Weftphalia, for many generations.
He was born'in the duchy of Bremen in the Lower
Saxony *, and during the long Englifh parliament in
King Charles I.’s time, was appointed conful for his
countrymen,at London,after the ufurpationof Cromwell;
but. being difcharged of that enjploy, he was made tutor
to the lord Henry O’Bryan, an Iritb nobleman, whom
he attended to the univerfity of Oxford, where he was
admitted to ftudy in the Bodleian library in-the begin¬
ning of the year 1636. He was afterwards tutor to
William lord Cavendith, and was acquainted with Ptlil-
ton the poet. During his refidence at Oxford, he be¬
came alfo acquainted with the members of that body
there, wdiich gave birth to the Royal Society ; and upon
the foundation of this latter, he was elefted fellow ; and
when the fociety found it neceflary to have two fecre-
taries, he was chofen affiftant fecretary to Dr Wilkins.
He applied himfelf with extraordinary diligence to the
bufinefs of his office, and began the publication of the
Philofophical Tranfaftions with N° I. in 1664. In
order to difcharge this talk with greater credit to him¬
felf and the fociety, he held a correfpondence with more
than feventy learned perfons, and others, upon a vaft
variety of fubjefts, in different parts of the world.
This fatigue would have been infupportable, had not
he, as he told Dr Lifter, managed it fo as to make one
letter anfwer another ; and that to be always frefti, he
never read a letter before he had pen, ink, and paper,
ready to anfwer it forthwith ; fo that the multitude of
his letters cloyed him not, nor ever lay upon his hands.
Among others, he was a conftant correfpondent of Mr
Robert Boyle, with whom he had a very intimate
friendfhip ; and he tranllated feveral of that ingenious
gentleman’s works into Latin.
Mr Oldenburg continued to publiffi the Tranfaftions,
as before, to N° xxxvi. June 25. 1677. After
the publication was difcontinued till the January fol¬
lowing, when it was again refumed by his fucceffor in
the fecretary’s office, Mr Nehemiah Grew, who car¬
ried it on till the end of February 1678. Our author
dying at his houfe at Charleton, near Greenwich in
Kent, in the month of Auguft that year, was interred
there.
OLDENL ANDI A, a genus of plants belonging to
the tetrandria clafs. See Botany Index.
OLDHAM, John, an eminent Engliffi poet in the
17th century, fon of a Nonconformift minifter, w’as edu¬
cated under his father, and then fent to Edmund-hall in
Oxford. He became uffier to the free-fchoo! at Croy¬
don in Surry : where he received a vifit from the earls
ginous.
of Rocbeffer and Dorfet, Sir Charles Sedley, and other Oldham
perfons of dihinbtion, merely upon the reputation of^ >1
fome verfes of his which they had feen in manufoript.
He was tutor to feveral gentlemen’s fons fucceffively ;
and having faved a fmall turn of money, came to Lon¬
don, and became a perfect votary to the bottle, being
an agreeable companion. He was quickly found out
here by the noblemen who had viftted him at Croydon,
Avho brought him acquainted with Mr Dryden. He
lived moltly with the earl of Kingfton at Holme-Pier-
point in Nottinghamihire, where he died ot the fmall-
pox in 1683, in the 30th year of his age. His acquaint¬
ance with learned authors appears by his fatires againft
the Jefuits, in which there is as much learning as wit
difeovered. Mr Dryden efteemed him highly. His
works are printed in 2 vols i2mo. They chiefly conlift
of fatires, odes, tranflations, paraphrafos of Horace and
other authors, elegfoc verfes, imitations, parodies, fami¬
liar epiftles, &c.
OLD-HE AD, a promontory fituated in the county
of Cork, and province of Munlter, four miles foutb of
Kinfale, in the barony of Courcies, Ireland, which runs
far into the lea, and on wlfich is a lighthoufe lor the
convenience of Hupping. A mile from its extremity is
an ancient caftle of the lords of Kinfale, built from one
fide of the ifthmus to the other, which defended all the
lands torvards the head : this place Avas formerly called
Dunceanna, and Avas the old leat of the Irilh kings.
The ifthmus, by the working of the fea, Avas quite pe¬
netrated through, lo as to form a ftupendous arch, un-'
oer Avhich boats might pafs from one bay to the other.
Among the rocks of this coaft there are aviaries of good
hawks : alfo the lea eagles or ofpreys build their nefts
and breed there.
OLDMIXON, John, Avas defcended from an an¬
cient family in Somerfctlhire : he Avas a violent party-
Avriter and malevolent critic, Avho Avould learcely have
been remembered, if Pope, in refontment of his abufe,
had not condemned him to immortality in bis Dun-
ciad. His party-Avritings procured him a place in the
revenue at Liverpool, Avhere he died at an advanced
age in the year 1 745. Bolides his fugitive temporary
pieces, he wrote a Hiltory of the Stuarts, in folio; a
Critical Hiftory of England, 2 vols 8vo ; a volume of
Poems, fome dramatic pieces, &c. ; none of them wor¬
thy of notice, his principal talent being that of falffty-
ing hiftory.
Old-wife, or Wrajfe. See Labrus, ] Ichthyolo-
Old-WIFE Fifh. See Balistes, GY Index.
Old-woman’s island, a narroAV flip of land, about
two miles long, feparated from Bombay in the Eaft In¬
dies by an arm of the fea, Avhich, however, is paffable
at Ioav Avater. It terminates at one extremity in a final!
eminence, on Avhich a look-out houfe is kept for veffels.
Near the middle are three tombs kept conftantly Avhite
as land-marks into the harbour. From the end of the
illand a dangerous ledge of rocks Ihoots forth, Avhich
are not very eaffly cleared. It produces only pafture for
a few cattle.
OLE A, the olive-tree ; a genus of plants belonging
to the diandria clafs ; and in the natural method ranking
under the 44th order, Sepiarice. See Botany Index..
OLEAGINOUS, fomething that partakes of the
nature of oil, or out of Avhich oil may be expreffed.
OLEANDER,
O L I [ 131 ] O L I
Oleander OLEANDER, or Rose Bay, nerium ; a germs of
II plants belonging to the pentandria clafs. See Botany
, ^10' , Index.
v OLECRANUM, or Olecranon, in Antitimt/, the
protuberance of the ulna, which prevents the joint of
the elbow from being bent back beyond a certain length.
See Anatomy, N° 51.
OLENUS, a Greek poet, older than Orpheus, catnb
from Xanthe, a city of Lycia. He compofed feveral
hymns, which were fung in the ifland of Delos upon fe¬
lt ival days. Olenus is faid to have been one of the
founders of the oracle at Delphi; to have been the firfl
who filled at that place the office of pried of Apollo ;
and to have given refponfes in verfe : but the truth of
thefe aflertions is very doubtful.
OLERON, an ifland of France, on the coad of Au-
nis and Saintogne, about five miles from the continent.
It is 12 miles in length, and five in breadth j and is
very fertile, containing about 12,000 inhabitants, who
are excellent feamen. It is defended by a cadle, which
is well fortified j and there is a lighthoufe placed there
for the dire&ion of fhips. It is 14 miles fouth-ead of
Rochelle. W. Long. 1. 26. N. Lat. 46. 3.
Sea Laws of OLERON, certain laws relative to mari¬
time affairs, made in the time of Richard I. when he was
at the ifland of Oleron. Thefe laws, being accounted
the mod excellent fea laws in the World, are recorded
in the black book of the admiralty. See Selden’s Mare
Claufum.
OLEUM palm® CHRISTI, commonly called cajlor
oil, is extra&ed from the kernel of the fruit produced
by the Ricinus Americanus. See RlciNUS, Botany
and Materia Medic a Index.
OLFACTORY nerves. See Anatomy, N°i39
and 143.
OLGA, queen of Igor, the fecond monarch of Ruf-
fia, who flouriflied about the year 880, having fucceed-
ed his father Ruric, who died in 878. Olga was born
in Plefcow, and Was of the bed family in that city. She
bore him one fon, called Swetcflaxv. Igor being1 mur¬
dered by the Drewenfes, or Drewliani, Olga revenged
his death. She went afterwards, for what reafon we
know not, to Conflantinople, where (he was baptized,
and received the name of Helena.
The emperor John Zimifces w'as her godfather, and
fell in love with her as we are told ; but (he, alleging
their fpiritual alliance, refufed to marry him. Her ex¬
ample made fome impreflion upon her fubjedfls, a good
number of whom became converts to Chridianity ; but
none upon her fon, who reigned for a long time after
her death, which happened at Pereflaw, in the 80th
year of her age, 14 years after her baptifm. The Ruf¬
fians to this dav rank her among their faints, and com¬
memorate her fedival on the nth of July.
OLIBANUM, in Pharmacy, a gumipy refin, (the
product of dne juniperus lycia Lin.), brought from Tur¬
key and the Ead Indies, ufually in drops or tears. See
Materia Medica Index.
OLIGARCHY, a form of government wherein the
adminifiration of affairs is confined to a few hands.
OLIO, or Oglio, a favoury difh, or food, compofed
of a great variety of ingredients j chiefly found at Spa¬
in fh tables.
The forms of olios are various. To give a notion of
this drange affemblage, we (hall here add one from an
approved author.
r.-ike rump of beef, neats tongues boiled and dried,
and Bologna faufages ; boil them together, and, after
boiling two hours, add mutton, pork, venifon and ba¬
con, cut in bits 5 as alfo turnips, carrots, onions and
cabbage, borage, endive, marigolds, forrel, and fpi
nach ; then (pices, as faffron, cloves, mace, nutmeg,
&c. This done, in another pot put a turkey or goofe,
with capons, pheafants, wigeons and ducks, partridges,
teals, and dock-doves, fnipes, quails, and larks, and
boil them in water and fait. In a third veffel, prepare
a fauce of white wine, drong broth, butter, bottoms of
artichokes, and chefnuts, with cauliflowers, bread, mar¬
row', yolks of eggs, mace, and faffrort. Ladly, Di(h
the olio, by fird laying out the beef and veal, then the
venifon, mutton, tongues, and faufages, and the roots
over all ; then the larged fowls, then the fmalled, and
ladly pour on the fauce.
OLISIPO, (Pliny, Antonine, Infcriptions) j a town
of Lufitania, fituated on the north fide of the frith of
the Tagus ; of fuch antiquity, that Solinus thought it
was built by Ulyffes 5 and Mela, probably to favour
this opinion, writes, according to the common copies,
Vlyfipo ; both of them perhaps deceived by the fimila-
rity of found. It was a municipium, with the furname
Felicit as Julia, a privilege granted by the munificence
of Augudus, (Inferiptions, Pliny). Now Lifhon, ca¬
pital of Portugal, fituated on the north bank of the
Tagus, diflant about ten miles from its mouth. See
Lisbon.
OLIVAREZ, CouNt DE, by name Don Gafpar de
Guzman, favourite and minider to Don Philip IV. of
Spain, about 1620 j a man of great parts and boundlels
ambition. Philip no fooner became king, than he be¬
came the fubjeft of this his favourite. The king had
abilities, it is true, but they lay dormant; and wdiilft
he fpent his time in lidlefs inaflivity, the whole govern¬
ment was under the direclion of Olivarez. The count’s
management, indeed, Avas fufficiently dexterous in ac-
complifliing his oivn defigns^ for by the bed framed ex-
cufes, and on the mod plaufible pretexts, he removed
all fuch as he thought flood in his way ; nor did he flop
there, but fometimes perfecuted his rivals even to death,
of Avhich Don Rodrigo Calderona xvas a melancholy in¬
flame, an inflance ivliich at that time excited univerfd
compaflion. This minider, in (hurt, had a genius of
no common kind ; added to Avhich, he had a difpofition
Avhich fpurned all controul.
# He had perfecuted the late minidry for their pufilla-
mmity in the management of affairs ; he therefore
thought it neceffary, and it Avas certainly prudent, to
purfue new meafures. His felf-fufficiency, though un¬
bounded, Avas concealed under the veil of affumed mo-
defly, and he Avas careful to make it appear that he Avas
wholly taken up Avith the things of his oAvn province.
His politics were of a refined perhaps, but not of a very
ufeful, tendency ; for his imprudence, or his Avrong no¬
tions on the fubjeft, made him reneAV a Avar Avith HoF
land, contrary to the univerfal opinion of the council
and the people. By the fame imprudence, or by fome-
thing worfe, he provoked England, and obliged her to
endeavour to humble the pride and leffen the authority
of the houfe of Auffria. Thus far he had been of little
R 2 fervice
OKo
Olivarez.
O L I [ 132 ] O L I
Olivarez, fervice to Ms country, having only provoked the refent-
-y—' ment of the moft powerful Hates, particularly England,
France, Holland, &c. to conlpire for its ruin. It is re¬
markable that Olivarez, notvvithftanding this, never loft
his credit } and indeed things fo turned about in the
end, that though Spain for a whole year was put to the
fevered trials, it acquired a degree of fame which fuffi-
ciently, in the general opinion, overbalanced fome lit¬
tle lofs. Olivarez too was particularly fortunate in
making the peace } in which tranfaftion he gained a
very confiderable advantage over Richelieu, fo that
things appeared to be ftill in a very favourable train.
Fortune, however, was not always quite fo indulgent to
the fchemes of this minifter : he again drew Spain into
a war with Mantua, contrary to the fentiments of the
■vvifeft men ; from which is juftly dated its declenfion, if
not its ruin.
On the whole, Olivarez feems to have been always
averfe to peace ) and with fuch a reftlefs difpofitioii, it
is undoubtedly wonderful that he held his place fo long
and with fo few complaints as he did.
It was certainly owing to his ambition and obftinacy,
that an almoft general war was excited about the year
1627, and which, as we have faid, proved fo fatal to
Spain. So averfe, indeed, does he appear to have been
to peace, that he ufed every means in his power to pre¬
vent the reftoration of it in Italy ; and for this very pur-
pofe he fent Feria into Milan, whom he knew to be a
man of fuch a temper and abilities as fuited his purpofes;
for he was naturally averfe to quiet. He endeavoured
to break the alliances of the duke of Mantua by various
flratagems 5 but they did not fucceed :' the fchemes of
Olivarez and the intrigues of Feria being totally defeat¬
ed. Our minifter had foon after this another caufe of
mortification, on Richelieu’s being created a duke and
peer of France, and unanimoufty admitted among the
Venetian nobility j which could not fail to be a fevere
ftroke on Olivarez, who conlidered him as his implaca¬
ble enemy.
The people at length began to fee and be difpleafed
with his conduct j and with reafon, had they known it
all, for it was in many inftances cruel and deteftable.
Indeed the differences which at that time had fo long
fubfifted between France and Spain were the effeft of
the private animofity between him and Richelieu.
Things, however, fo turned about, and Spain was fo
unufually fuccefsful, that the faults of the minifter were
overlooked for the time ; but this unexpected good for¬
tune had no other effeCt than that of making him far
more infolent than ever. He was, in every inflance,
one of the moft -headlVong and obftinate men in the
world : he had fet his heart on the reduction of Cafal in
Italy, and he'was determined on it at whatever ha¬
zard •, this foolifh enterprife was, however, unaccount¬
ably defeated, and the Spanilh army experienced a total
defeat.
The revolt of the Catalans, whom he wilhed to de¬
prive of their privileges, was the next confequence of
his folly : he had privately employed the marquis de
los Velez to extinguilh this rebellion *, but the cruelty
of the meafures ufed for this purpofe only inflamed
it the more. The revolution of Portugal, another dif-
aftrous event, was alfo the refult of his obftinacy and
rigour. »
This feries of ill fortune, which ought to have opened
the eyes of the Catholic king and his minifters, feemed Olivarez
to infatuate both. The great fecret by which Olivarez li
had governed his mafter was being the companion, or at
leaf! the confidant, of his pleafures. W hile he affe&ed . ^
to deceive the world with a fpecious appearance of reli¬
gion and piety, he was not only immerfed in vice him-
lelf, but encouraged and promoted it in his prince, to
the fcandal of his lubjefls, and the prejudice of his af¬
fairs. At this time, of all others the moft improper,
Olivarez produced a baftard of his, hitherto called Ju¬
lian ; he had taken fo little care of this fon, that, not
able to fubfift in Spain, he had palled over to the Indies,
where, in very mean ilations, he had fcarcely got bread.
On him he now bellowed the name of Dun Henrico de
Guzman; and bringing him with great pomp and
fplendour to court, either flattered of forced the con-
ftable of Cauile to give him his daughter ; in confidera-
tion of which alliance he was to devolve upon him his
duchy of St Lucar. In the beginning of his adminillra-
tion, by fome accident or other, he prefen ted to the
king a memorial, in relation to an affair upon which his
majefty had already received one from Don Balthafar
de Zuniga : upon comparing them, they contradicted
each other flatly. The king ordered a perfon of great
quality to inquire thoroughly into this bufinefs 5 in con¬
fequence of which Don Balthafar’s memorial appeared
to be the truth, and that of Olivarez the reverfe of it.
The king was very angry j but the count regained his
favour, by procuring for him the fair aftrefs Calderona.
By this woman he had a fon, of whom no great notice
was taken j but now, to obfeure the folly of the count
duke, this youth, fcarce in the 14th year of his age,
was produced, with the title of Don Juan of Aujlria>
and declared generaliflimo of the army againft Portugal j
while the heir apparent to the crown, Don Balthalar,
was left under the tuition, or rather in the cuftody of
the countefs of Olivarez ; at which conduft the queen
was chagrined, the people enraged, and the world in
general aftoniftied.
His fchemes now began to be entirely broken and
defeated everywhere and in every kind ; he fell under
the difpleafure of the queen, the emperor, the grandees,
and the people all at once, and experienced the difgrace
he had long merited. His ill fortune, which came up¬
on him with the force of a torrent, did not, however,
wholly overpower him j he was indeed obliged to con¬
ceal himfelf, in order to avoid the rage of the populace :
but he had ftill confidence enough to offer an apology
for his conduCl, which poffeffed no inconfiderable Ihare
of wit and humour, well tempered with fpirit and ma-
fterly reafoning. It was not, however, of any confe-
quence to him } for he was baniftied to ’loro, where,
worn out by infirmities, or overcome by defpair, he end¬
ed his days about the year 1645.
OLIVE, the fruit of the olive tree. See Olea, Bo¬
tany Index.
Olive Prefs. In order to obtain the olive oil, the pIate
olives are firft bruifed in a rough trough, under a mill- CCCLXX
Hone, rolling perpendicularly over them ; and when
fufficientiy maftied, put into the maye or trough, m,
of an olive prefs, where a a are the upright beams, or
cheeks ; b, the female, and f, the male ferew j /, the
board on which the ferew paffes ; g, a cubical piece of
wood, called a block; //, the peel, a circular board, to
be put under the block. By turning the ferew, aft the
liquor
o L I [ 133 ] O L Y
Olive liquor is prefled out of the maflied olives, and is called
Prefs virgin oil; after which, hot water being poured upon
Olivet an t^ie remainder in the prefs, a coarfer oil is obtained.
> Olive oil keeps only about a year, after which it dege¬
nerates.
OLIVE Colour, a yellow mingled with black.
OLIVET, or Mount of OLIVES, in Ancient Geogra¬
phy, was fituated to the eait of the city of Jerufalem,
and parted from the city only by the brook Kidron, and
by the valley of Jehoihaphat, which It retches out from
the north to the fouth. It was upon this mount that
Solomon built temples to the gods of the Ammonites
(1 Kings xi. 7.) and of the Moabites, out of compiai-
fance to his wives, who were natives of thefe nations.
Hence it is that the mount of Olives is called the moun¬
tain of corruption (2 Kings xxiii. 13.). Jofephus fays,
that this mountain is at the diftance of five itadia, or
furlongs, from Jerufalem, which make 625 geometrical
paces, or the length of a Sabbath day’s journey, fays St
Luke (Adis i. 12.). The mount of Olives had three
fummits, or was compofed of three feveral mountains,
ranged one after another from north to fouth. The
middle fummit is that from whence our Saviour afcend-
ed into heaven. It was upon that towards the fouth
that Solomon built temples to his idols. The fummit
•which is moll to the north is dillant two furlongs from
the middlemoft. This is the higheft of the three, and
is commonly called Galilee.
In the time of King Uzziah, the mount of Olives
was fo fhattered by an earthquake, that half of the
earth that was on the weftern fide fell down, and rolled
four furlongs er 500 paces from thence, towards the
mountain which was oppofite to it on the eaft ; fo that
the earth blocked up the highways, and covered the
king’s gardens.
Mr Maundrell tells us that he and his company going
out of Jerufalem at St Stephen’s gate, and eroding the
valley of Jehoihaphat, began immediately to afeend the
mountain ; that being got above two-thirds of the way
up, they came to certain grottoes cut with intricate
windings and caverns under ground, which were called
the fepulchres of the prophets ; that a little higher up
were twelved arched vaults under ground, Handing fide
by fide, and built in memory of the apoliles, rvho are
faid to have compiled their creed in this place ; that 60
paces higher they came to the place where Chrift is
faid to have uttered his prophecy concerning the final
deltruftion of Jerufalem 5 and a little on the right hand,
to another, where he is faid to have dictated a fecond
time the Lord’s prayer to his difciples j that fomewhat
higher is the cave of a faint called Pelagia; a little
above that, a pillar denoting the place where an angel
gave the Bleffed Virgin three days warning of her
death •, and at the top of all, the place of our blefled
Lord’s afeenfion.
OLIVET AN, Robert, related to the famous Cal¬
vin, printed at Neufchatel in -I 535, in folio, a verfion of
the Bible into French, the firlt which had been iranlla-
ted from the original Hebrew and Greek. It is writ¬
ten in an uncouth and barbarous ftyle, and is far from
being faithful. The charadlers in which it is printed
are Gothic, and the language of it is no lefs fo. It is
valued only becaufe it is rare. Calvin is thought to
have had a very confiderable (hare in this tranllation.
Olivetan furvived his publication but a fiiort time j for
he was poifoned at Rome the year after, of which his Olivetan
tranllation is alleged to have been the caufe. Olivetan’s II
Bible, revifed by John Calvin and N. Malinger, was Oty^pia.
reprinted at Geneva, in 1540, in quarto. This edition V
is Hill rarer than the former. It is called the Bible de
I'Epee, becaufe the printer had a (word for his fign.
OLIVIER, Claude Matthieu, advocate of the
parliament of Aix, was born at Marfeilles in 1701, and
appeared at the bar with eclat. He had a chief hand
in the eftablilhment of the academy of Marfeilles, and
was one of its original members. He pofieffed a quick
and lively genius. A few hours retirement from fociety
and from his pleafures were frequently fufficient to en¬
able him to ipeak and write, even on important caufes;
but his works commonly bore marks of halle. Given
to excels in every thing, he would employ a fortnight
in lludying the Code and the Digelt, or in lloring his
mind with ihe beauties of Demolthenes, Homer, Cice¬
ro, or Boffuet : and then abandon himfelf for another
fortnight, frequently a whole month, to a life of frivo¬
lity and diffipation. He died in 1736, at the age of
3 5- He publilhed, 1. L’Hifotre de Philippe rot de Ma¬
cedoine, et pere d'1 Alexandre le Grand, 2 vols i2mo.
No writer has fo ably handled the hiltory of the age of
Philip, the interells of the different nations of Greece,
and their manners and culloms : but the condufl of the
work is extremely defedlive. The digreflions are too
frequent, and often tedious. The llyle is in no refpedl
fuitable to a hiltory. It is in general dry, unconnected,
and like the ityle of a differtation. Sometimes, how¬
ever, we find in it palfages full of fire and beauty, and
turns of expreffion truly original. A difeafe of the
brain, with which he was attacked, and under which
he laboured feveral years, prevented him from putting
his lalt hand to the work. 2. Me'moire fur les fecours
donnes aux Remains par les Marfeillois pendant la ide
Guerre P unique. 3. Me'moire fur les fecours donnes aux
Remains par les Marfeillois durant la Guerre centre les
Gau/uis.
OLMUTZ, a town of Germany, in Moravia, with
a bilhop’s fee, and a famous univerfity. The public
buildings are very handfome, particularly the Jefuits col¬
lege. It is a populous, trading, and very Itrong place }
and yet it was taken, with the whole garrifon, by the
king of Prulfia in 1741. In July 1758 he befieged it
again •, and when he had almolt taken the place he was
obliged to raife the fiege, to go and meet the Ruffian
army. It is feated on the river Morave. E. Long.
17. 35. N. Lat. 49. 30.
OLYMPIA, Maldachini Donna, a woman of a
very uncommon charaCter. She flouriffied about the
middle of the 17th century. She was filter-in-law to
Pope Innocent X. and had the addrefs to acquire an un¬
limited power over this vain, weak, and injudicious
ecclefialtic. Her fon Camillo was promoted to the cardi-
nalate, under the title of Pamphilio ; but falling in love
with the princefs Rofiana, a beautiful young widow, he
laid afide his hat, and married. The crime, if it was
one, was elteemed by the Romans in general at lealt ve¬
nial. The pope, however, was difpleafed ; and Olym¬
pia procured their banilhment, being afraid left her
daughter in-law fliould lelfen her authority in thefacred
court. This authority, equally unnatural and uncom¬
mon, reflected neither honour on her who held it, nor
on the man who allowed her to hold it. Such elevated
fituationsj
O L Y T 134 1 O L Y
Olymplfl. fituations, however, whether they are the reward of
merit, the etfeft of chance, or acquired by cunning,
are feldom very fecure. Olympia, who had procured
the difgrace of many who did not deferve it, and who
had herfelf long merited fueh a fate, at length experi¬
enced both difgrace and banilhment. This was obtain¬
ed by means of Cardinal Panzirollo, a great favourite of
the pope’s. The immediate caufe of it was this : The
pope had determined, in order to leffen his owrn trouble,
to adopt a nephew, and to make him a Cardinal Pa¬
tron, in order to give audience to ambaffadors and mi-
nifters, and in his abfence to prefide at the council. For
this purpofe, at the recommendation of his favourite,
his holinefs make choice of Aftalli, brother of the mar¬
quis Aftalli, who had married a niece of Olympia.
Olympia indeed was {lightly confulted on the affair, and
fhowed 'no difapprobation of the appointment. Tire
pope, however, no fooner got him fixed in his new of¬
fice, than he fhowed his own weaknefs by repenting of
it. Olympia too was difpleafed, and by her felicitations
procured the difgrace of Aftalli, before had enjoyed ei¬
ther the honours or emoluments of his office. Panzi¬
rollo, however, foon managed matters fo as to turn the
fcales : he prevailed on the pope again to countenance
3 , and honour Aftalli; and, what was more, had influence
fufficient to perfuade him to difgrace Olympia, and to
banifh her the court. She had indeed abufed her autho¬
rity in a moft fcandalous manner, and had gained fuch
an abfolute afeendant over the pope, that in every thing
his will had been fubfervient to her dictates.—Pier ava¬
rice and ambition were unbounded : fhe difpofed of all
benefices, which Avere kept vacant till fhe fully inform¬
ed herfelf of their value: fhe rated an office of 1000
crowns for three years, at one year’s revenue, and if for
life, at 1 2 years purchafe, one half of which fum fhe
required to be paid in advance : fhe gave audience upon
public affairs, enafted new laws, abrogated thofe of
former popes, and fat in council with Innocent, with
bundles of memorials in her hands. It was generally
laid that fhey lived together in a criminal correfpond-
tnee, and that fhe had charmed him by fome fecret in¬
cantation. In the Proteftant countries the loves and
intrigues of Innocent and Donna Olympia were repre-
fented upon the ftage •, and fevere farcafms Avere daily
put into the hands of Pafquin at Home.-—As fire had
ufurped fuch an abfolute authority, the neAV cardinal
nephew faw the neceffity of ruining her credit; he
therefore feconded the endeavours of Panzirollo.—He
infinuated to the pope, that his reputation had fuffered
greatly among the Catholics by her fcandalous proceed¬
ings, and that his nuncios were treated with difrefpeft
and contempt at the courts of the emperor, France, and
Spain. Upon thefe reprefentations, Innocent at length,
but Avith great reluftance, banifhed Olympia, and Avas
reconciled to Prince Camillo and the prittcefs Roffana;
though fome authors affirm that her banifhment was no
more than a political retreat, and that fhe ftill in pri¬
vate direfted the affairs of the pope. A Avoman of O-
lympia’s chara&er, hoAvever, Avith fueh unbounded am¬
bition, fuch an extravagant luft for power, and fuch an
* ambitious defire of Avealth, and who had once poffeffed
fo great an afcendcncy over fuch a man as Innocent,
Avas not to be fo eafily put off. She Avas banifhed in
1650 5 but in 1653, A16 again afiumed the fupreme di¬
rection of affairs juft as before her difgrace. She again Olympia,
accomplifhed the difgrace of Aftalli, and procured the
promotion of Azzolini to the office of fecretary of the
briefs. In 1654, his holinefs refigned himfelf entirely
into the hands of this affuming woman j Avho, obferving
his infirmities daily increafing, redoubled her rapacity",
difpofing of benefices to the higheft bidders in all parts
of Italv. She Avas again, however, in hazard of being
difplaced by a nevv fav’ourite, viz. the cardinal de Retz j
and had not the pope’s diffolution prevented it, it Avould
in all probability quickly have taken place. During
his laft illnefs he received nothing but from the hands
of Donna Olympia, who Avas at great pains to prolong
his life, Avatched continually at his bed fide, and pre¬
vented the ambafladors or others from difturbing him
Avith difeourfes upon bufinefs. She is faid, during the
laft ten days of his life, when he continued without the
ufe of reafon, to have amaffed about half a million of
crowns. She did not find the fuccecding pope (Alex¬
ander VII.) fo eafy to be played upon as his Aveak pre-
deceffor: a number of memorials were fent in againft
her, and his holinefs Avas Avell difpofed to attend to
them : he ordered her to retire from Rome, and at the
fame time began to examine Avitneffes refpefting her
conduft. She Avas cut off, hoAvever, before the trial
was finifhed, by the plague, Avhich, in 1636, affii£!ed
Rome and its neighbourhood. Her eftate was not con-
fifeated as Avas generally expefted j and the prince
Pamphilio Avas allowed to fucceed her. The pope
only referved for his own relations about a million of
croAvns.
Olympia, in Ancient Geography, Avith the furname
Pifatis (Strabo) \ fo called from the territory of Pifain
Elis j deferibed by Strabo', “ as the temple of Jupiter
Olympius, before which Hands a grove of wild olive
trees, in which is the ftadium, or foot-courfe, fo called
becaufe the eighth part of a mile •, and by Avhich the
Alpheus, coming doAvn from Arcadia, runs.” Olym¬
pia, however, was famous not merely for the temple
of Jupiter, but alfo for a temple of Juno, 63 feet long,
writh columns round it of the Doric order j and a
Metroum or temple of the mother of the gods, a large
Doric edifice ; with holy treafuries. Thefe, and the
porticoes, a gymnafium, prytancum, and many more
buildings, chiefly in the enclofure, Avith the houfes of
the priefts and other inhabitants, made Olympia no in-
confiderable place. The ftadium was in the grove of
Avild olive trees, before the great temple 5 and near it
was the hippodrome or courfe fi r the races of horfcS
and chariots. The Alpheus flowed by from Arcadia
with a copious and very pleafant ftream, which Avas re¬
ceived on the coaft by the Sicilian fea.
The temple of Jupiter Avas of the Doric order, 68
feet high to the pediment, 95 Avide, and 230 long-, the
cell encompaffed with columns. It Avas erefled Avith
the country ftone the roof not of earth baked, but of
Pentelic marble \ the flabs difpoftd as tiles ; the way
to it up a AVinding ftaircafe. The two pediments Averc
enriched with fculpture and one had over the centre
a flatue of Viclory gilded 5 and underneath a votive
buckler of gold. At each corner was a gilded srafe.
Above the columns Avere fixed 21 gilded bucklers, of¬
fered at the conclufion of the Achaean Avar by the Ro¬
man general Mummius. The gates in the tAvo fronts
O L Y [I
Olympia, ■yyere ofbrafs, and over them were carved the labours of
Olympiad. ££ertu]e9. Within the ceil were double colonnades, be-
y tween which -was the approach to the image.
The Jupiter of Olympia was accounted alone fuffi-
cient to immortalize its maker, Phidias. It was of
ivory and gold, the head crowned with olive. In the
right hand was a ftatue of Vidlory; in the left a
flowered fceptre, compofed of various metals, on which
■was an eagle. The fandals were of gold, as alio the
veilment, which was curioufly emboffed with lilies and
animals. The throne was gold inlaid with ebony and
ivory, and ftudded with jewels, intermixed with paint-
, ings and exquifite figures in relievo. The pillars be¬
tween the feet contributed to its fupport. Before it
were walls, ferving as a fence, decorated principally
with the exploits of Hercules; the portion oppolite to
the door of a blue colour. It was the office of a fa¬
mily defcended from Phidias, called phadruntce or the
poli/hersy to keep the work bright and clean. The
Veil or curtain was cloth rich with the purple dye of
Phoenicia and with AlTyrian embroidery, an offering
of King Antiochus, and was let down from above by
loofening the firings. The image impreffed on the fpec-
tator an opinion that it was higher and wider than it
meafured. Its magnitude is fuch, that though the tem¬
ple was very large, the artift feemed to have erred in the
proportions. The god, fitting, nearly touched the ceil¬
ing with his head 5 fuggefting an idea, that if he were
to rife up, he would deftroy the roof. A part of the
pavement before it was of black marble, enclofed in a
rim of Parian or white, where they poured oil to pre-
forve the ivory.
The altar of Jupiter Olympius was of great antiqui¬
ty, and compofed of allies from the thighs of the vic¬
tims, which were carried up and confumed on the top
with wood of the white poplar tree. The allies alfo of
the prytaneum, in which a perpetual fire was kept on
a hearth, were removed annually on a fixed day, and
ipread on it, being firff mingled with water from the
Alpheus. The cement, it was affirmed, could be made
with that fluid only j and therefore this river was much
refpe£led, and effeemed the moft friendly of any to the
god. On each fide of the altar were Hone fleps. I ts
height was 22 feet. Girls and women, when allowed
to be at Olympia, were fuffered to afeend the bale-
ment, which was 125 feet in circumference. The peo¬
ple of Elis facrificed daily, and private perfons as often
as they chofe.
Religion flouriffied at Olympia, and many deities were
worlhipped befides Jupiter. Paufanias has enumerated
above 60 altars of various ffiapes and kinds. One of
the unknown gods flood by the great altar. The people
of Elis offered on all thefe monthly ; laying on them
boughs of olive •, burning incenfe, and wheat mixed
with honey ; and pouring libations of fuch liquors as the
ritual preferibed. At the latter ceremony fometimes a
form of prayer was ufed, and they lung hymns compofed
in the Doric dialed;.
Olympia was fituated on an eminence, between twro
mountains called Oj/ii and Olympus. Though its ancient
Iplendour is gone, the place reminds the traveller of
w hat it once was. It is in the Morea, being npwr a fmall
place called Longinico, 50 miles fquth of Lepanto, in
E. Long. 22. o. N. Eat. 37. qo.
O-eA MPIAD, the fpace of four years, whereby
2
35 1 O L Y
the Greeks reckoned time.—1 he firft Olympiad fell, 'Olympiad
according to the accurate and learned computation of II
Erne of the moderns, exadly 776 years before the firff °,lyrapic
year of Chrift, or 775 before the year of his birth, in . ,
the year of the Julian period 3938, and 22 years before
the building of the city of Rome, he games were
exhibited at the time of the full moon next after the
fummer folftiee 5 therefore the Olympiads were of un¬
equal length, becauie the time of the full moon differs
11 days every year, and for that icalon they fometimes
began the next day after the folitice, and at other times
four weeks after. Tho computation by Olympiads
ceafed, as fome iuppole, alter the 304th, in the year 440
of the Chriffian era. It was univerfally adopted not
only by the Greeks, but by many of the neighbouring
countries j though ffill the Pythian games ferved as an
epoch to the people of Delphi and to the Boeotians; the
Nemaean games to the Argives and Arcadians ; and the
Ilihmian to the Corinthians and the inhabitants of the
Peloponnefian ifthmus. To the Olympiads hilfory is
much indebted, i hey htave ferved to fix the time of
many momentous events : and indeed before this method
of computing time was obierved, every page of hiiiory
is moftiy fabulous, and filled with obfeurity and contra¬
diction, and no true chronological account can be pro¬
perly eftabliffied and maintained with certainty.
OLYMPIAS, a celebrated woman, who was daugh¬
ter of a king of Epirus, and who married Philip king
of Macedonia, by whom the had Alexander the Great.
Her haughtinefs, and more probably her infidelity, obli¬
ged Philip to repudiate her, and to marry Cleopatra,
the niece of King At talus. Olympias was fenfible of
this injury, and Alexander fhowed his difapprobation of
his father’s meafures, by retiring from the court to his
mother. The murder of Philip, which foon followed
this difgrace, and w hich fome have attributed to the in¬
trigues of Olympias, was produdfive of the greater! ex¬
travagances. Ihe queen paid the greateft honour to
her hufband’s murderer. She gathered his mangled
limbs, placed a crown of gold on his head, and laid his
allies near thofe of Philip. The adminiftration of Alex¬
ander, who had fucceeded his father, was in fome infian¬
ces offenffve to Olympias ; but when the ambition of
her fon was concerned, fhe did not fcruple to declare
publicly that Alexander wras not the fon of Philip, but
that he was the offspring of an enormous ferpent who had
furpernaturally introduced himfelf into her bed W hen
Alexander was dead, Olympias feized the government
of Macedonia; and, to effablilh her ufurpation, fhe
cruelly put to death Aridmus, with his wife Eurydice,
as alfo Nicanor the brother of Caflander, with 100 lead¬
ing men of Macedon, w ho were inimical to her intereft.
Such barbarities did not long remain unpunifhed: Caf-
fander befieged her in Pydna, where fhe had retired with
the remains of her family, and flie was obliged to fur- *
render after an obftinate liege. The conqueror ordered
her to be accufed, and to be put to death. A body oi
200 fnldiers were ordered to put the bloody commands
into execution, but the Iplendour and majefly of the
queen difarmed their courage ; and flie was at laft maf-
facred by thofe whom ihe had cruelly deprived of tiieir
children, about 316 years before the Chriftian era.
GL\ MP1C games, were folemn games among the
ancient Greeks, fo called from Olympian Jupiter, to
whom they were dedicated; and by fome faid to be
fir it
Olympic
Games.
° L Y [136 ]
firfl; inftituted by him, after his vi&ory over the Ions of antiquity
. Titan ; others afcribe their inftitution to Hercules, not
O L Y
* Gillies's
Hijlory of
Greece*
the fon of Alcmena, but one of much greater antiqui
ty j others to Pelops; and others to Hercules the fon
of Alcmena. By whomfoever they were inilituted, we
know that, at a period rather early, they had fallen into
difufe. The wars which prevailed among the Greeks,
for a while, totally interrupted the religious ceremonies
and exhibitions with which they had been accuilomed to
honour the common gods and heroes; but the Olympic
games were reftored on the following occafion. Amidft
the calamities which affli£led or threatened Peloponnefus,
Iphitus, a defcendant of Oxylus, to whom the province
of Eleia * had fallen in the general partition of the pen-
infula, applied to the Delphic oracle. The priefls of
Apollo, ever difpofed to favour the views of kings and
legillators, anfwered agreeably to his wilh, that the fe-
ftivals anciently celebrated at Olympia, on the Alpheus,
muff be renewed, and an armitf ice proclaimed for all the
Hates willing to partake of them, and delirous to avert
the vengeance of heaven. Fortified by this authority,
and aflifted by the advice of Lycurgus, Iphitus took
meafures, not only for retioring the Olympic folemnity,
but for rendering it perpetual. The injunftion of the
oracle wras fpeedily diffufed through the remoteft parts
of Greece by the numerous votaries who frequented the
facred fhrine. The armilfice was proclaimed in Pelo¬
ponnefus, and preparations were made in Eleia for ex¬
hibiting (hows and performing facrifices. In the heroic
ages, feats of bodily ftrength and addrefs Were deftined
to the honour of deceafed warriors; hymns and facrifices
were referved for the gods : but the flexible texture of
Grecian fuperftition, eafily confounding the expreffions
of refpe&ful gratitude and pious veneration, enabled
Iphitus to unite both in his new inftitution.
The feftival, which lafted five days, began and end¬
ed with a facrifice to Olympian Jove. The intermediate
time was chiefly filled up by the gymnailic exercifes, in
which all freemen of Grecian extraftion were invited
to contend, provided they had been born in lawful wed¬
lock, and had lived untainted by any infamous irtimoral
ftain. The preparation for this part of the entertain¬
ment was made in the gymnafium of Elis, a fpacious
edifice, furrounded by a double range of pillars, with an
open area in the middle. Adjoining were various apart¬
ments, containing baths, and other conveniences for the
combatants. The neighbouring country was gradually
adorned with porticoes, fliady walks and groves, inter-
fperfed with feats and benches ; the whole originally
deftined to relieve the fatigues and anxiety of the can¬
didates for Olympic fame; and frequented in later
times, by fophifts and philofophers, who were fond to
contemplate wifdom, and communicate knowledge, in
thofe delightful retreats. The order of the athletic
exercifes, or combats, was eftabliihed by Lvcurgus, and
correfponded almoft exaftly to that defcribed by Ho¬
mer, in the 23d book of the Iliad, and eighth of the
Odyffey. Iphitus, we are told, appointed the other ce¬
remonies and entertainments ; fettled the regular return
of the feftival at the end of every fourth year, in the
month of July ; and gave to the whole folemnity that
form and arrangement, which it preferved with little va¬
riation above a thoufand years; a period exceeding the
duration of the moft famous kingdoms and republics of
Among the benefaflors of Olympia, at a
much later period, was reckoned Herod, who was after-
wards king of Judsea. Seeing, on his way to Rome,
the games neglefted or dwindling into inlignificance
from the poverty of the Eleans, he difplayed vaft muni¬
ficence as prefident, and provided an ample revenue for
their future fupport and dignity.
The care and management of the Olympics belong¬
ed for the moft part to the Eleans ; who on that account
enjoyed their pofieffisns without moleftation, or fear of
war or violence. They appointed a certain number of
judges, who were to take care that thofe who offered
themfelves as competitors fhould perform their prepara¬
tory exercifes ; and thefe judges, during the folemnity,
fat naked, having before them a crown of vitiory, form¬
ed of wild olive, which was prefented to whomloever
they adjudged it. Thofe who were conquerors w'ere
called Ohjmpionices, and were loaded with honours by
their countrymen. At thefe games women were not
allowed to be prefent; and if any woman was found,
during the folemnity, to have paffed the river Alpheus,
the was to be thrown headlong from a rock. This,
however, was fometimes neglected ; for we find not on¬
ly women prefent at the celebration, but alfo fome among
the combatants, and fome rewarded with the crown.
The preparations for thefe feftivals were great. No
perfon was permitted to enter the lifts, if he had not re¬
gularly exercifed himfelf ten months before the celebra¬
tion at the public gymnafium of Elis. No unfair deal¬
ings wTere allow'ed; whoever attempted to bribe his ad-
verfary wras fubjefled to a fevere fine ; and even the fa¬
ther and relations were obliged to fwear that they would
have recourfe to no artifice which might decide the vic¬
tory in favour of their friends. No criminals, norfuch
as were connefted with impious and guilty perfons, were
fuffered to prefent themfelves as combatants. The
wreftlers were appointed by lot. Some little balls fu-
perfcribed with a letter w'ere thrown into a filver urn,
and fuch as drew the fame letter were obliged to contend
one with the other. He who had an odd letter remain¬
ed the laft ; and he often had the advantage, as he was
to encounter the laft who had obtained the fuperiority
over his adverfary. In thefe games were exhibited run¬
ning, leaping, wreftling, boxing, and the throwing of
the quoit, which was called altogether mvTctShev, or qinn-
quertiunu Befides thefe, there were horfe and chariot
races, and alfo contentions in poetry, eloquence, and the
fine arts. The only reward that the conqueror obtained
was a crown of olive. This, as fome fuppofe, was in
memory of the labours of Hercules, which were accom-
plifhed for the univerfal good of mankind, and for which
the hero claimed no other reward but the confcioufnefs of
having been the friend of mankind. So fimall and trifling
a reward ftimulated courage and virtue,and wasthefource
of greater honours than the moft unbounded treafures.
The ftatues of the conquerors, called Ohjmpionicce, were
erefted at Olympia in the facred wood of Jupiter.
Their return home was that of a warlike conqueror ;
they were drawn in a chariot by four horles, and
every where received with the greateft acclamations.
Their entrance into their native city was not through
the gates : to make it more grand and more folemn, a
breach was made in the walls. Painters and poets were
employed in celebrating their names ; and indeed the
victories
Olympic
Games.
I
O L Y [ I
Olympic, victories feverally obtained at Olympia are tire fuhje&s
_ Olyopm- ^ of the molt beautiful odes of Pindar. The combatants
v "' were naked. A fcarf was origirtally tied round their
waiit; but when it had entangled one of the adverfa-
ries, and been the caufe that he loft the victory, it was
laid afide, and no regard was paid to decency. The
Olympic games were obferved every fifth year, or, to
fpeak with greater exaftnefs, after a revolution of four
years, and in the firft month of the fifth year, and they
continued for five fucceflive days. As they were the
moft ancient and moft folemn of all the feftivals of the
Greeks, it will not appear wonderful that they drew fo
many people, not only inhabitants of Greece, but of the
neighbouring iflands and countries.
Such is the account of Grecian writers, who have,
doubtlefs, often afcribed to pofitive inftitutian many in¬
ventions and ufages naturally refulting from the progref-
five manners of fociety. When we come to examine the
Elean games in. their more improved ftate, together
with the innumerable imitations of them in other pro¬
vinces of Greece, there will occur reafons for believing,
that many regulations, referred by an eafy folution to
the legillative wifdom of Iphitus or Lycurgus, were in¬
troduced by time or accident, continued through cuftom,
improved by repeated trials, and confirmed by a fenfe of
*H?!lore’'f t^K‘r utility *• an hrftitution as the Olympi-
Greece. ac'> even 'n *ts perfeft form, muft have been attend¬
ed with manifeft advantages to fociety. It is fufficient
barely to mention the fulpenfion of hoftilities which
took place, not only during the celebration of the fefti-
val, but a conuderable time both before and after it.
Confidered as a religious ceremony, at which the whole
Grecian name was invited, and even enjoined to aftift,
it was well adapted to facilitate intercourfe, to promote
knowledge, to (often prejudice, and to haften the pro-
grefs of civilization and humanity. Greece, and parti¬
cularly Peloponnefus, avas the centre from which the ad¬
venturous fpirit of its inhabitants had diffufed innumer¬
able colonies through the furrounding nations. To
thefe widely feparated communities, which, notwith-
ftanding their common origin, feemed to have loft all
connexion and correfpondence, the Olympiad ferved as
a common bond of alliance and point of re-union. The
celebrity of this feftival continually attracted to it the
characters moft diftinguilbed for genius and enterprife,
whofe fame would have otherwife been unknown and
loft in the boundlefs extent of Grecian territory. The
remote inhabitants, not only of European Greece, but
of Afia and Africa, being aflembled to the worfinp of
common gods, were formed to the fenfe of a general
intereft, and excited to the purfuit of national honour
and profperity. Strangers of fimilar difpofitions might
confirm in Elis the facred and indifloluble ties of hofpi-
tality. If their communities were endangered by any
barbarous power, they might here folicit afli lance from
their Grecian brethren. On other occafions they might
explain the benefits which, in peace or war, their refpec-
tives countries were beft qualified to communicate. And
the Olympic feftival might thus ferve the purpofe of
refident atnbafladors, and other inftitutions alike un¬
known to antiquity.
OLYMPUS, the name of feveral mountains.—One
bounding B’.thynia on the fouth.—Another in the
illami of Cyprus, on whofe top was a temple of Venus,
which women were not permitted either to enter or to
VOL. XV. Part I.
37 ] O M A
fee (Strabo).—A third, Olympus of Galatia (Livy). Olympus
—A fourth, of Lycia, with a noble cognominal town, il
near the fea coaft (Strabo, Cicero), extxnCt in Pliny’s 0mar~ ,
time, there remaining only a citadel \ the town was de- v
ftroyed by P. Servilius Ifauricus (Floras), having been
the retreat of pirates. From this mountain there was
an extenfive profpeCl of Lycia, Pamphilia, and Pifidia
(Strabo).-—A fifth, Olympus of Myfia (Ptolemy);
thence furnamed Olympena, anciently Minor; one of
the higheft mountains, and furnamed Mysius (Theo-
phraftus ;) (ituated on the Propontis, and thence extend¬
ing more inland.—A fixth,on the north of Theffaly, or
on the confines of Macedonia ; famous for the fable of
the giants (Virgil, Horace, Seneca); reckoned the
higheft in the whole world, and to exceed the (light of
birds (Apuleius), which is thereafon of its being called
heaven, than which nothing is higher : the ferenity and
calmnefs which reign there are celebrated by Homer, *
Lucan, and Claudian.
OLYRA, a genus of plants belonging to the mo-
ncecia clafs; and in the natural method ranking under
the 4th order, Gramina. See Botany Index.
OMAR Ebn Al Khattab, fucceffor of Abu Beer.
—The Mohammedan impofture, like every other falfe-
hood of its kind, copies after the truth as far as was
thought convenient or proper; and miracles being the
grand proof of revelation, it was to be expefted that
all pretences to that (hould aftume at leaft the ap¬
pearances of them. Few fyftems of faith are more
abfurd than Mohammed’s; yet, thouglx he difelaimed
miracles, it was fupported, as we are told by latter wri¬
ters, by a variety of them, which, however, unfortunate¬
ly for the creed they were contrived to fupport, are too
tritling, abfurd, and contradictory, to deferve the fmall-
eft attention.
They tell us, but upon grounds too vague and in¬
determinate to command belief, that Omar was mira-
euloufly converted to this faith : a man he is report¬
ed to. have been, before this event, truly relpedtable,
and in particular a violent oppofer of the Arabian
prophet. Mohammed, it feems, felt this oppofition,
and regretted it ; he therefore, with the fervour, and
as it happened, with the fuccefs of a true prophet, ac¬
cording to his followers account, prayed for the conver-
fion of this his dangerous antagonift. Omar, it is faid,
had no fooner read the 20th chapter of the Koran than
he was convinced : upon which he inftantly repaired *to
Mohammed and his followers, and declared his conver-
fion. It is (aid, that at one time he intended to
murder the prophet; and various caufes are afligned for
the prevention of this (hocking piece of facrilege. After
his wonderful converfion, the Mohammedan writers
inform us that he was furnamed Al Faruk, or the
“ divider;” beeaufe, fay they, when a certain Modem
was condemned by Mohammed for his iniquitous treat¬
ment of a Jew, and appealed afterwards from the fen-
tence of the prophet to Omar, he cut him in two
with his feimitar for not acquiefcing in the deciuon
of fo upright a judge: which circumftance when
Mohammed heard, he gave him the furname of Al
Faruk, or “ the dividerbecaufe, by this a&ion,
he had (hown himfelf capable of perfectly diftinguhh-
ing between truth and falfehood. Al Kodai affirms,
that 39 of Omar’s adherents followed his example the
fame day he profeffed himfelf a votary of Mohammed,
S The
O M A [ 13B ] O M B
The eonverfion of Hamza and Omar Ebn A1 Khattab
happened in the year preceding the firfl: flight of the
Modems into Ethiopia, or the fourth year of Moham¬
med’s midion, according to Abulfeda. Pie was un-
queftionably a great acquifltion to the prophet, and
enabled him to carry on his fchemes to far more pur-
pofe than lie could poflibly have done without him,
or if he had continued his enemy. Omar at length
found his fervices in the caufe he had undertaken luf-
ficiently honoured and amply rewarded ; for on the
death of Abu Beer, who had fucceeded the impoftor
himfelf, he wras promoted to the regal and pontifical
dignity. The title firft afligned him was the caliph of
the. caliph of the apoflle of God; or in other words the
fuccefl'or of the fucceffor of Mohammed: but the Arabs
coniidering that this title, by the addition to be an¬
nexed to it at the acceflion of every future caliph,
would be too long, they, by univerfal confent, fa-
luted him the emperor of the believers ; which illuftrious
title, at this junclure conferred on Omar, defeended
afterwards to all the fucceflbrs of that prince. Our
readers will not expeft us to follow the caliph with
minute exadlnefs through the tranfadlions of his reign.
This w’ould indeed fwell our article beyond all propor¬
tion. We {hall therefore confine ourfelves to forne of the
leading fads.
His arms appear to have been particularly fuccefs-
ful ; the Perfians he conquered, and Jerufalem fub-
mitted to his power •, nor does he appear to have been
checked in a Angle inftance. In confequence, however,
of his fuccefs, an attempt was made to affaflinate him.'
The fad is thus related : Wathek Ebn Mofafer, a re-
lolute young Arab, was procured by the king of Ghaf-
fan, and fent to Medina for this very purpofe. Some
time after his arrival, obferving Omar to fall afleep
under a tree on which he had placed himfelf, fo as
not to be difeovered by any perfon, he drew' his dag¬
ger, and was upon the point of ftabbing him, when,
lifting up his eyes, he faw a lion walking round about
him, and licking his feet. Nor did the lion ceafe to
guard the caliph till he awoke ; but then inftantly wrent
awray. This phenomenon {truck Wathek with a pro¬
found reverence for Omar, whom he now revered as the
peculiar care of heaven. He therefore came down from
the tree, on which the lion had forced him to remain,
kiffed the caliph’s hand, confelfed his crime, and em¬
braced the Mohammedan religion ; being fo ftrongly
affedted with the wTonderful deliverance he had been
an eye witnefs of. His life, however, was at length
ended by affaflination •, for about two years after the
conclulion of the Nohawandian war, in which the Arabs
probably {till farther extended their conquefts, though
no account of their military operations during that pe¬
riod has reached us, that is in the 23d year of the He¬
gira, according to Abu Jaafar A1 Tabari, the caliph
o mar Ebn A1 Khattab was affaflinated by a Perfian
flave ; of which horrid fadt the Arab writers have hand¬
ed down the following particulars : Abu Lulua, a Per-
lian of the Magian fedt, whofe name was Tiru%, one of
A1 Mogheira Ebn A1 Shaabah’s flaves, was obliged by
his mafter to pay daily two dirhems, in conformity to
the Mohammedan cuftom, for the free exercife of this
religion. Firuz relenting this treatment, complained of
it to the caliph, and defired that fome part at leail of
the tribute exadted of him might be remitted j but this
favour being refufed by Omar, the Perfian threatened Omar,
his deftrudlion j which he foon after effedfed, by itab- Ombi.
bing him thrice in the belly with a dagger, while he v”'"
was in the mofque at Medina performing his morning
devotions. The Arabs then prefent perceiving that the
villain had imbrued his hands in the blood of their fove-
reign, immediately rufhed upon him j but he made fo
defperate a defence, that he wounded 13 of the affailants,
and feven of them mortally. At laft one of the caliph’s
attendants threw his veil over him, and feized him ; up¬
on which he llabbed himfelf and foon after expired.
According to Theophanes, this Firuz was an apollate
or renegade, and confequently had before embraced the
Mohammedan religion : but this aflertion is by no means
probable j becaufe on his becoming a convert to Iflamifm,
he muft have been manumitted by his mafter, and on his
relapfinginto Magiifm, he would have been put to death
by the caliph’s order : neither of which particulars are
confident with what we find related by the Arab hifto-
rians, and even by our Greek chronographer himfelf.
Omar languished three days and then died, in the month
of Dhu’lhajja, and the 23d year of the Hegira, which
began in the year of our Lord 64,3. Authors are net
agreed with regard to the duration of his caliphate.
The Arab hiftorians, whom we are inclined to follow,
fay that he reigned between 10 and 11 years. Theo¬
phanes affirms, that he was murdered in the 1 2th year
of his caliphate, and Dionyfius Telmarenfis extends the
length of his reign to 12 complete years. Only one of
the wounds given him by Firuz was mortal, and that he
received under his navel. At his death he w as 63 years
old; which, as we are told by an Arab author, was the
age of Mohammed himfelf, Abu Beer, and Ayeftia,
one of the prophet’s waves, when they died. "When
Omar fell in the mofque, Abd’alrahman Ebn Awf,
one of Mohammed’s firft converts, fupplied his place
during the remainder of the ferviee j and three days be¬
fore his death, Sahib Ebn Tarfib, at his command, offi¬
ciated for him. His body was interred in Ayelha’s
apartment, near that of the prophet Mohammed. We
are informed by Eutychius, that during his caliphate he
performed the pilgrimage to Mecca nine times. His ex-
tenfive conquefts made the Moflem empire one of the
moft powerful and formidable monarchies in the wmrld.
His difpofition is reprefented to us, with evident par¬
tiality indeed, as one of the beft poflible, and his tempe¬
rance has always been highly extolled.
OMBI, a city of ancient Egypt, afterwards called
Arfvioe and Crocodilopo/is, was the capital of one of the
nomes into which that country was divided, and is re¬
markable, in the annals of idolatry, for the hatred of its
inhabitants to the religion of their neighbours the
citizens of Tentyra.
The genius of paganifm was fo complying with re-
fpedl to the objefts of religious worlhip, that although
each nation, each city, and almoft every family, had its
own tutelar god, we know not a fingle inftance, out of
Egypt, of one tribe of Pagans perfecuting another for
w'orftripping gods different from theirs. The Jews and
Chriftians w7ere indeed perfecuted by the Romans, not
however for worftripping the true God, but becaufe, to¬
gether with him, they would not vorfhip Jupiter, Juno,
and all the rabble of heathen divinities.
The reafon of the almoft univerlal tolerance of ido¬
laters to one another, and of the intolerance of all to
the
Ornl/i,
Ombre.
« Prep.
Lvan%.
p. 32.
Steph. ed.
O M B [I
the Jews and Chridians, is very obvious. Not a fingle
Pagan, a very few philofophers perhaps excepted, ever
thought of paying his adoration to the Supreme and
felf-exiftent Being, but to inferior divinities, to whom
it was fuppofed that the care of particular perfons, fami¬
lies, cities, and nations, was configned by the God of
the univerfe. The confequence was, that, as no perfon
denied the divinity of his neighbour’s objeft of wor-
fliip, an intercommunity of gods was everywhere ad¬
mitted, and all joined occafionally in adoring the gods
of the various nations. By the Jews and Chriftians
this communion was rejeftcd as in the higheit degree
impious ; and it could not well be maintained between
the citizens of Ombi and thofe of Tentyra.
That brutes were worthlpped in Egypt is univerfally
known (fee Polytheism) ; and Diodorus the Sicilian
informs us, in a paffage quoted by Eufebius*, that “the
cities and nomes of Egypt being at one time prone to
rebellion, and to enter into confpiracies againft monar¬
chical government, one of their moft politic kings con¬
trived to introduce into the neighbouring nomes the
worfhip of different animals-, fo that while each reve¬
renced the deity which itfelf held facred, and defpifed
that which its neighbours had eonfecrated, they could
hardly be brought to join cordially in one common de-
fign to the difturbance of the government.”
In this diftribution of gods he conferred upon Ombi
the crocodile, and upon Tentyra, the mortal enemy of
that monfter, the ichneumon. T he confequence of which
was, that while the Ombites worfhipped the crocodile,
the Tentyrites took every opportunity of flaughtering
him, infomuch that, according to Strabo, the very voice
of an inhabitant of Tentyra put the crocodile to flight.
Ehis, we confefs, is a very improbable fatt but it is
certain that the mutual hatred of thofe cities, on ac-
' count of their hoftile gods, rofe to fuch a height, that
whenever the inhabitants of the one were engaged in
the more folemn rites of their religion, thofe of* the o-
ther Avere fure to embrace the opportunity of fetting fire
to their houfes, and rendering them every injury in
their poAver to inflift. And Avhat may, to afuperficial
thinker, appear extraordinary, though it Avill excite no
wonder in the bread: of him Avho has ftudied mankind,
this animofity continued betAveen the inhabitants of the
tAvo cities long after the crocodile and ichneumon had
loft their divinity.
1 he conduct of the Egyptian monarch Avas admi¬
rably calculated for preventing the nation from com¬
bining againft the government; and it extended its
influence over the Avhole kingdom. Diodorus informs
us» that he affigned to each nome an animal to Avor-
fhip, which Avas hated, killed, and fometimes fed up¬
on by the inhabitants of the neighbouring nome and
we knoAV, upon higher authority than his, that the
Ifraelites could not offer facrifices in Egypt, becaufe
the bullock Avas deemed facred over the whole coun¬
try.
OMBRE, a celebrated game at cards, borrowed
from the Spaniards, and played by tivo, by three, or
by five perfons, but generally by three. When three
play at this game, nine cards are dealt to each party j
the whole ombre pack being only 40 : becaufe the
eights, nines, and tens, are throAvn out of the pack.
J here are two forts of counters for flakes, the greater
39 ] OMB
and the Idler j the laft having the fame proportion to Otnbrf.
the other as a penny to a ftiilling : of the greater coun- 1
tens each man flakes one for the game j and one of the
Idler for palling for the hand, when eldeft, and for
every card taken in. . As to the order and value of the
cards, tire ace of fpades, called fpadi/lo, is alrvays the
higheft trump, in Avhatfoever fuit the trump be ; the
manille, or black duce, is the fecond ; and the bajlo,
or ace of duos, is alrvays the third : the next in order
is the king, the queen, the knave, the hwen, the fix,
the five, four, and three. Of the black there are 11
trumps ; of the red, j 2. The leaft fmall cards of the
red are always the belt, and the moft of the black j
except the duce andredfeven, both of Avhich are called
the manilles, and are always fecond when the red is a
trump. The red ace, Avhen a trump, enters into the
fourth place, and is called puiito ; otherAvife it is only
called an ace. The three principal cards are called
mat adores ; Avhieh have this privilege, that they are not
obliged to attend an inferior trump Avhen it leads ; but
foi want of a fmall trump, the perfon may renounce
trumps, and play any other card j and Avhen thefe are
all in the fame hand, the others pay three of the great-
ei counters a-piece 5 and Avith tnefe three for a foun
dation, he may count as many matadores as he has
cards in an uninterrupted feries of trumps; for all Avhich
the others are to pay one counter a-piece. He who
hath the firft hand is called ombre, and has his choice
of playing the game, of naming the trump, and of ta-
king in as many and as few cards as he pleafes ; and
after him the fecond, &c. But if he does not name
the trump before he looks on the cards he has taken in,
any other may prevent him, by naming what trump
he pleafes. He that has the firft hand ftiould neither
take in, nor play, unlefs he has at leaft three fure tricks
in his hand : for, as he Avins the game who wins moft
tricks, he that can Avin five of the nine has a fure game r
Avhich is alfo the cafe if he Avins four, and can fo divide
the tricks as that one perfon may Avln twro, and the
other three.
If a perfon play without difearding or changing
any cards, this is called playing fans prendre ; and if
another Avin more tricks than he, he is faid to win co~
dille. The over-fights in the courfe of the game are
called bea/ls. And if the ombre Avins all the nine tricks,
it is called winning the vole.
In ombre by five, which many, on account of its not
requiring fo clofe an attention, prefer to that by three,
only eight cards a-piece are dealt; and five tricks muft
be won, otherwife the ombre is beafted. Here the per-
lon who undertakes the game, after naming the trump,
calls a king to his afliftance; upon which the perfon in
xvliofc hand the king is, without difeovering himfelf, is
to aflift him as a partner, and to fliare his fate. If,
between both, they can make five tricks, the ombre Avins
tivo counters, and the auxiliary king only one ; but
a. hen the counters are even, they divide them equally.
If the ombre venture the game without calling in any
king, this too is called playing fans prendre ; in Avhich
cafe the other four are all againft him, and he muft win
five trices alone, or be beafted. The reft is much the
fame as by three.
OMBRE defoleil, “ Shadow of the fun,” in Herald-
ry, is when the fun is borne in armory, fo as that the
S 2 eves.
O M E [ 140 ] O M E
Ombre eyes, nofe, and mouth, which at other times arc repre-
II fented, do not appear 5 and the colouring is thin, fo
0nieri‘ that the field can appear through it.
’“_v ^ OMBRI A, the ancient name of a province of Italy,
in the territory of the pope, now called Spoletto and
Perugia.
OMBRO, or Lombro, a town of Italy, in the duchy
of Tufcany, and territory of the Siennois, fituated near
the Tufcan fea, a little fouth of the lake of Cafliglione,
45 miles fouth-weft of Sienna.
OMBROMETER, an inftrument to meafure the
quantity of rain that falls. We have the defcription
and figure of one in Phil. 1 ranf. Is0 473; P‘ l2, ^
confifts of a tin funnel, whofe furface is an inch fquare,
with a flat board, and a glafs tube fet into the middle,
of it in a groove. 1 he rile of the water in the tube,
whofe capacity at different times muft be meafured and
marked, (hows the quantity of rain that has fallen.
OMELET, or Amlet, a kind of pancake or fri-
catlee of eggs, with other ingredients, very ufual in
Spain and France. It may be made as follows. 1 he
eggs being beaten, are to be feafoned with fait and
pepper, and then fried in butter made boiling hot-,
this done, gravy is to be poured on, and the whole
ftewed with chives and parfley Aired fmall : when one
fide is fried enough, it is to be turned on the other.
OMEN, is a word which, in its proper fenfe, figni-
fies a fign or indication of fome future event, taken from
the language of a perfon fpeaking without any intent
to prophecy. Hence Tully fays, “ Pythagorei non folum
voces deorum obfervarunt, fed etiam hominum, quae vo-
cent omina “ the Pythagoreans attend to the difeourfe
not only of gods, but alfo of men, which they call omens.”
This fort of omen was fuppofed to depend much upon the
will of the perfon concerned in the event 5 whence the
phrafes accepit omen, arripuit omen. Such were the ori¬
ginal omens ; but they wTere afterwards dei iv ed from
things as well as from words. 1 hus Paterculus, ipeaking
of the head of Sulpicius on the roftrum, fays it was vejut
omen imminentfs profcriptlonis, “ the omen of an im¬
pending profeription.” Suetonius fays of Auguftus, that
he believed implicitly in certain omens; and that, ft
mane fibi calceus perperam, acfinijler pro dextero mdu-
ceretur ut dirum, “ If his ftioes were improperly put on
in the morning, efpecially if the left flioe was put upon
his right foot, he held it for a bad omen.” Omen was
ufed in a ftill larger fenfe, to fignify an augury; as in
the following line of fully. “ Sic aquilm clarum fir-
mavit Jupiter omen “ thus Jove confirmed the bright Omen,
omen of the eagle.” It was lafily ufed, in the moft ''——v—
generic fenfe of all, for a portent or prodigy j as in
the third book of the TEneid, where a myrtle torn up
by Hineas dropped blood. Upon this appearance, fays
the herd,
 — Mihi frigidus horror
Membra quatit, gelidufque coit formidine fanguis.
And the fame thing being repeated upon his breaking
a branch from another tree, he prayed to the gods to
avert the omen.
Malta movens animo Nymphas venerabar agreftes,
Gradivumque patrem, Geticis qui pnefidet arvis,
Rite fecundarent vifus, owewque levarent (a).
The portentous or fupernatural omens were either
external or internal. Of the former fort were thole
fliowers of blood fo frequently occurring in the Roman
hiftory, which were much of the fame nature with this
adventure of Aineas, which he calls monstra drum.
Of the fecond fort were thofe fudden confternations,
which, feizing upon men without any vifible caufe,
were imputed to the agency of the god Pan, and hence
called panic fears. But indeed there w7as hardly any
thing, however trivial, from which the ancients did not
draw omens. That it fliould have been thought a
direful omen when any thing befel the temples, altars,
or ilatues of the GODS, need excite no wonder 5 but
that the meeting of a eunuch, a negro, a bitch with
whelps, or a fnake lying in the road, Ihould have been
looked upon as portending bad fortune, is a deplorable
infiance of human weaknefs, and of the pernicious in¬
fluence of fuperftitioH on the mind.
It is more than probable that this praflice of making
ordinary events ominous of good or bad fortune took its
rife in Egypt, the parent country of almsft every fuper-
ffition of paganifm j but wherever it may have arifen, it
fpread itfelf over the whole inhabited globe, and at this
day prevails in a greater or lefs degree among the vulgar
of all nations.
In England, it is reckoned a good omen, or a fign
of future happinefs, if the fun fliines on a couple com¬
ing out of the church after having been married. It
is alfo efteemed a good fign if it rains whilft a corpfe is
burying :
Happy is the bride that the fun {hines on;
Happy is the corpfe that the rain rains on.
To
f A-) Inftead of tranlkti™ thofe flwrt quotations, sve flail here give Dryden’s verfion of the whole of this
portentous adventure, as tve are perfuaded that the mere Englifl. reader who tdone. can w,(h for a tranflaUon,
will be glad to have the fulleft account of the bleeding myrtle, together with its effeas on the mind of
hero.
glad
It is as follows:
Not far, a rifing hillock flood in view $
Sharp myrtles on the Tides and corners grew.
There, while I went to crop the fylvan feenes,
And (hade our altar with their leafy greens,
I pull’d a plant (with horror I relate
A prodigy fo firange, and full of fate) :
The rooted fibres rofe 5 and from the wound
Black bloody drops diftill’d upon the ground.
Mute and amaz’d, my hair with terror flood ^
Fear fhrunk my finews, and congeal’d my blood.
Mann’d once again, another plant I try ;
That other gufli’d with the fame fanguine dye.
Then, fearing guilt for fome offence, unknown,
AFith prayers and vows the Dryads I atone,
With all the filters of the woods, and moft
The god of arms, who rules the Thracian craft:
That they, or he, thefe omens would avert,
Releafe our fears, and better ligns impart.
4
O M E [ i
Omen. To break a looking glafs is extremely unlucky ; the
party to whom it belongs will lofe his bell friend. ^
if, going a journey on bufinefs, a fow crofs the road,
you will probably meet with a difappointment, if not
a bodily accident, before you return home. To avert
this you mull endeavour to prevent her eroding you j
and if that cannot be done, you mull ride round on
frelh ground. If the fow is attended with her litter of
pigs, it is lucky, and denotes a fuccefsful journey.
It is unlucky to fee frit one magpye, and then more ;
but to fee two denotes marriage or merriment ; three,
a fuccefsful journey ; four, an unexpedled piece of good
news j five, you will Ihortly be in a great company.
To kill a magpye, will certainly be punilhed with fome
terrible misfortune.
If in a family, the youngell daughter Ihould be
married before her elder fillers, they mull all dance at
her wedding without fhoes : this will counteract their
ill luck, and procure them hulbands.
If you meet a funeral proctffion, or one paffes by
you, always take off your hat : this keeps all evil fpirits
attending the body in good humour.
If, in eating, you mifs your mouth, and the victuals
fall, it is very unlucky, and denotes approaching fiek-
nefs.
It is lucky to put on a Hocking the wrong fide out¬
wards : changing it alters the luck.
When a perfon goes out to tranfaCl any important
bufinefs, it is lucky to throw an old Ihoe after him.
It is unlucky to prefent a knife, feifiars, razor, or
any (harp or cutting inllrument, to one’s miltrefs or
friend, as they are apt to cut love and friendlhip. To
avoid the ill effeCts of this, a pin, a farthing, or fome
trifling reeompenfe, mull be taken. To find a knife
or razor, denotes ill luck and difappointment to the
party.
In the Highlands of Scotland, it is thought unlucky
if a perfon fetting out upon a journey Humble over the
threlhofd, or be obliged to return for any thing forgot¬
ten. If a fj iortfman fee any perfon Hopping over his
gun or filhing rod, he expeCls but little fuccefs in that
day’s diverfion. Sneezing is alfo deemed ominous. If
one fneeze when making a bed, a little of the flraw or
heath is taken out and thrown into the fire, that no¬
thing may diflurb the refl of the perfon who is to fleep
in the bed. Among the fame people, fuccefs in any
enterprife is believed to depend greatly upon the firH
creature that prefents itfelf after the enterprife is under¬
taken. Thus, upon going to fhoot, it is reckoned lucky
to meet a horfe, but very unfortunate to fee a hare, if
flic efcape ; and upon meeting any creature deemed un¬
lucky, the befl means of averting the omen is to roll a
Hone towards it. The Greeks attributed the fame ef¬
ficacy to the rolling of a Hone, though they greatly pre¬
ferred hilling the ominous animal, that the evil portend-
* See Pot- ed might fall on its own head *.
ter's Anti- The motions and appearances of the clouds were
^'^,6vo1-notlong ago confidered as certain figns by which the
' 04 )- Ikilful Highlander might attain to the knowledge of
futurity. On the evening before new year's day, if a
black cloud appeared in any part of the horizon, it was
thought to prognoflleate a plague, a famine, or the
death of fome great man in that part of the country
over which it flrould appear to fet ; and in order to
afeertain the place threatened by the omen, the mo-
i ] O M E
tions of this cloud were often watched through the whole
night, if it happened to continue fo long vifible above
the horizon.
By the believers in this fuperflition there are days*
as well as words and events, which are deemed ominous
of good or bad fortune. The firH day of every quar¬
ter, midfummer, and new year’s day, are reckoned the
mofl fortunate days in the year for aceomplifliing any
dehgn. In the ifle, of Mull, ploughing, lowing, and
reaping, are always begun on Tuefday, though the moH
favourable weather for thefe purpofes be in this way
frequently lofl. That day of the week on which the
third of May falls, is deemed unlucky throughout the
whole year. In Morven, none will upon any account
dig peat or turf for fuel on Friday ; and it is reckon¬
ed unlucky to number the people, or cattle belonging
to any family, and doubly fo it the number be taken
on Friday. The age of the moon is alio much at¬
tended to by the vulgar Hiuhlanders. It is aliened,
that during the mcreafe things have a tendency to
grow and Hick together : and hence, in the ifle of Sky,
fences, which are there made of turf, are built only at
that time ; whilfl turf or peat for fuel are never, even
in the mofl favourable weather, either made or flacked
up but while the moon is in its wane. An opinion
prevails in fome places, that if a houfe take fire during
the increafe of the moon, the family to which it be¬
longs will profper in the world : but that if the fire
happen while the moon is in the decreafe, the family
will from that time decline in its circumflances, and fink
into poverty.
In attributing fuch influence to the moon, the fuper-
ftitious Highlanders have the honour to agree with the
philofophic Virgil, who in his Georgies gives the follow¬
ing fage inflrudlions to the hufbandman t
Ipfa dies alios alio dedit ordine Luna-
Felices, operum. in turn fuge :
Septima pojl decimam fe/ix et ponere vitem,
Et prenfos domitare boves, et licia telce
xdddere ; nona fugee mehor, contraria furtis.
The lucky days in each revolving moon
For labour choofe : the fifth be lure to Ihun.
* * -* / *
The feventh is, next the tenth, the befl to join
Young oxen to the yoke, and plant the vine.
Then weavers flreteh your flays upon the weft :
The ninth is good for travel, bad for theft.
Dryden^
From this coincidencp of the fuperftition of the
Roman poet with that of the natives of Mull and Mor¬
ven, we are ftrongly inclined to adopt the hypothe-
fis of the gentlemen who favoured us with this accu¬
rate account of Highland omens. He juftly obferves,
that this fuperftitious pra&iee of auguring good or ill
from trifling events, and from the particular phafes of
the moon, has no connexion whatever with popifh
prieftcraft : he ftiows that the Romifh clergy, even in
the darkeft age, were at pains to eradicate it as idle
and impious 5 and he therefore infers, that it muft be
a relick of Hruidilm handed down by tradition from,
an era prior to the introduction of Chriflianity into
the Highlands and ifles of Scotland. That the Druids-
were
Omen.
Omen
II
Omoa.
O M O [ 142 ] O M O
were acquainted with the particular do£lrines of Pytha¬
goras has been thown elfewhere (fee Druids) j that
j Virgil was no ftranger to tlie Pythagorean philofophy
is known to every fcholar j that Pythagoras and his fol¬
lowers were addicted to the dotages of Magic has
been made apparent in that article ; and therefore it
appears to us probable at lead, that the attention paid
to pretended omens, not only in the Highlands, but
alfo in the low country of Scotland, and indeed among
the vulgar in every country of Europe, is a remnant of
one of the many fuperftitions which the Druids impofed
upon their deluded followers. That it is contrary to
every principle of found philofophy, all philofophers wall
readily acknowledge ; and whoever has ftudied the wri¬
tings of St Paul mud be convinced that it is inconddent
with the fpirit of genuine Chridiamty.
OMENTUM, or Epiploon, the Caw/, in Anatomy,
a membranaceous part, ulually furnidied with a large
quantity of fat ; being placed under the peritonaeum,
and immediately above the intedines. See Anatomy,
N° 90.
OMER, in Jewidi antiquity. See CoRUS.
St OMER’s, a drong, fortified, large, and populous
town of France, in the department of the draits of
Calais, with a cadle and a bifliop’s fee. It is a fortrefs
of condderable importance, and furrounded on one dde
with a large morafs •, and about it there are many duices,
which ferve to carry the water off when it is overflow¬
ed 5 and in the midfl of the morafs there is a fort of
floating iflands covered with verdure and trees. The
cathedral is a handfome drudture •, and there are other
fine buildings, with a rich Benedifline abbey. The
French became maders of this place in 1679. It is
feated on the river Aa, and on the fide of a hill, eight
miles north-ived of Aire, and 135 north of Paris. E.
Long. 2. 20. N. Lat. 54. 45.
OMOA, a Spanifh town and fortification on the
fouth fide of the bay of Honduras, N. Lat. 15. 50.
W. Long. 89. 50. from London. It is the key to the
bay ; and fuch is the depth of the ivater, that fhips of
any burden may ride in the harbour Avith fafety. It
is a place of the utmod importance to Spain, as the
regider {hips to and from Guatimala are fent to it in
the time of Avar. The toAvn was fird edabliflied in
1751, under the command of Don Jofeph Antonio
de Palmo. At that period the inhabitants Avere about
20 white men, 60 mulattoes and free negroes, and 200
flaves to the king of Spain •, and the military force con¬
fided of about 30 foldiers, befides officers. The fort
was originally compofed of fand confined in boarded
coffers, and faced Avith half-burnt bricks. It Avas de¬
fended by 12 fine brafs 24 pounders mounted, four or
five iron guns of different bores, and fome field-pieces.
The Spaniards, fenfible of the importance of the place,
afterAvards fortified it at an incredible expence, the done
of which the Avails are built having been raifed from
the fea, and brought from the didance of 20 leagues.
The outworks Avere not completely finiflied in the year
1779, though 1000 men had then been employed upon
them for 20 years.
Towards the end of that year an expedition was un¬
dertaken againd this fortrefs, in confequence of one
formed by the Spaniards againd the Britiffi logAVood
^cutters in the bay of Honduras and on the Mofquito
5
fliore. The latter, finding themfelves hard preffed by
their enemies, applied to General Dulling governor of
Jamaica for aflidance 5 Avho accordingly fent a detach¬
ment to their relief under Captain Dalrymple, Avith
neceffary fupplies of arms, ammunition, and artillery.
Before their arrival, hoAvever, the Spaniards had taken
poffeflion of St George’s Key, the chief fettlement of
the Britiffi in thefe parts, Avhich they plundered, and
took a number of prifoners ; but thofe Avho efcaped,
being joined by a body of their countrymen, retook
it, and forced the enemy to retire. In the mean time
Captain Dalrymple, who had been informed of the
lofs of the place, was hadening to the relief of the
inhabitants, and in his Avay fell in with Admiral Par¬
ker, Avho Avas in qued of fome regifler fliips \ but which,
retreating into the harbour of Omoa, were too drongly
protefted by the fort there to be attacked by fea. As
the Spaniards, hoAvever, had hoav been compelled to
abandon St George’s Key, it Avas propofed to unite the
Britifh forces by fea and land, and to attempt the con-
qued of this fortrefs. As the force under Captain Dal¬
rymple Avas too inconfiderable to attempt the fort by
land, it was augmented by the marines of the fquadron
and a flrong party of the fettlers; though, after all, it
did not exceed the number of the garriion who oppofed
them.
The troops Avere landed at about nine miles diftance
from the fort in the dufk of the evening, Avith a defign
to march diredlly fonvard, in order to furprife and carry
it by efcalade in the night time. No roads, hoAvever,
being found, they Avere obliged to explore their w ay
through narroAv foot-paths, moraffes, and over mountains
fo befet Avith precipices, that they Avere obliged, in or¬
der to avoid them, to make ufe of lights made of the
cabbage tree. In confequence of thefe impediments
they were yet at a confiderable didance from the fort,
when the approach of day difeovered them to the ene¬
my. An engagement enfued, in Avhich the Spaniards
were quickly routed and driven into the toAvn : from
whence as they continued to fire upon the Britilh, it
was found neceffary to fet fire to it, though very much
againd the inclination of the affailants.
In the mean time the fquadron took the opportu¬
nity, while the toAvn Avas in flames, to come into the
bay, and approach the fort with an intention to batter
it j but the garrifon returned the fire fo brifkly, that no
impreffion could be made by that of the fquadron,
which Avas detained by Avant of Avind from approach¬
ing fufficiently near. The troops then, being maders
of the ground adjacent to the fort, eredted feveral
batteries in fuch fituations as were mod proper for an¬
noying it •, but though they carried on their operations
with great vigour, it Avas dill found that heavier artil¬
lery than any they poffeffed Avould be requifite, the Avails
being no lefs than 18 feet in thicknefs; in confequence
of which they refolved dill to attempt the place by el-
calade.
The attempt was made on the 2id of Odlober, early
in the morning. The troops entered the ditch, which
fortunately for them happened to be dry, and fixed their
fealing ladders againd the Avails, which Avere near 30
feet high. Tavo feamen mounted fird ; and, with admi¬
rable courage and prefence of mind, dobd by the ladder
which they had mounted, to guard it till others afeend-
Omoa.
/
O M O [i
Omoa. ed ; and boldly prefented their pieces againft a large
" M party drawn up to receive them, though they prudently
retained their fire till their comrades came up.
1 he fquadron, now drawing near, kept up a heavy
and continual fire upon the fort, while the Spaniards
were ftruck with fucli furprife at the exceflive celerity
and boldnefs of the afiailants, that they remained mo-
tionlefs and unable to oppofe their enemies, notwith-
ftanding the exhortation and example of their officers.
From this panic they never recovered ; and while the
feamen and foldiers continued to fcale the walls with
amazing quicknefs, the Spaniards never made any ef¬
fort to defend themfelves. About 100 of them efcap-
ed over the walls on the oppofite fide of the fort 5 the
remainder furrendered at diferetion.
The whole of this tranfaffion reflecled the highefl
luftre both on the conduft and courage of the Britifh ;
and an inffance of heroifm is related in a Eritifh failor
to which hiftory affords nothing fuperior. This man,
having fealed the walls, had armed himfelf with a cut-
lafs in each hand. Thus armed, he met with a Spa-
nifh officer unarmed, and juft roufed from deep. The
generous tar fcorned to tkke advantage of his condition,
and therefore prefented him with one of his own cut-
laffes faying, “ You are now on a footing with me !”
The officer, however, was too much ftruck with ad¬
miration at his conduit to accept the offer, and took
care to make the circumftance fufficiently known. 
The value of the booty taken on this occafion amounted
to three millions of dollars ; but the lofs molt fenfibly
felt by the Spaniards was that of 250 quintals of quick-
filver, a commodity indifpenfably neceflary in ex trail¬
ing the precious metals from their ores. They offered
therefore to ranfom it at any price : but though the
retention of it was far from affording a profit equal to
t iiat offered by the Spaniards, the Britifh commanders
abfolutely refufed to part with it, on account of the ad¬
vantages the enemy would derive from having the metal
in their poffeffion. For the fame reafon they refufed to
accept of any ranfom for the fort, though the governor
offered to lay down 300,000 dollars for it. The Spa-
niih military and the inhabitants were treated with the
utmoft humanity ; their perfonal effects remaining un¬
touched : and this generofity muft have appeared to
greater advantage, when contrafted with die beha¬
viour^ of their own countrymen at Honduras, where
the Britifh were treated with remarkable feverity. The
church plate and ornaments were reftored, on condi¬
tion that the terms of capitulation fhould be faithfully
In a fliort time, however, it appeared that it would
have been better to have accepted of a ranfom for the
fort, as. from circumftanees at that time it could not
be retained in the poffeftion of Britain. A garrifon
■was indeed left for its defence on the departure of the
Biitilh fquadron ; but as it was very inconfiderable, on
account of the fmall number of men that could be fpa-
ied, the Spaniards quickly determined to make' an at¬
tempt to regain the fort. For this purpofe a bodv of
2000 men were coMed, who invefted it on the 2 cth
of November. 1 lie Britifh defended it with the ut¬
moft bravery keeping up a conftant fire on the ene¬
my, and obliging them to retire for fhelter, and take
up their quarters behind a hill. Here they made pre¬
parations for an affault, in which their numbers left
43 ] O M P
the fuccefs, as they fuppofed, by no means dubious.
T he garrifon was therefore fummoned to furrender,
with a promife of the honours of war and a fafe con¬
veyance to Great Britain, denouncing at the fame time
the utmoft vengeance in cafe of a refufal 5 which being
refufed, the neceffary preparations were made for an ef-
calade.
1 he condition of the garrifofi was now fuch as could
afford very little hope of being able to make any ef-
fedfual refiftance. 1 hey were but 85 in number, moft
of whom were become incapable of duty either from
illnefs or exceflive fatigue. I hey were now alfo ob¬
liged to make one centinel anfwer for five, by ftiifting
his place, and challenging as many times. There was
no furgeon to attend the fick and wounded 5 nor had
they even any water but what came from a floop of war
that lay abreaft of the fort. In this defperate fituation,
they. refolved, notwithftanding the menaces of the
Spanifh commander to render the place, as unferviceable
as they could. For this purpofe they fpiked up all the
guns ; deftroying the ftores and ammunition that could,
not be carried.off: they even locked the gates of the
fort, after which they embarked without the lofs of a
fingle man. All this was performed in defiance of the
large force that befieged them ; and the exploit,
when duly confidered, muft appear not lefs a matter
of aftoniftiment than the extraordinary manner in which,
the.fort had been taken. The officer who command¬
ed in this remarkable retreat was Captain Hulke of the
navy.
OMOPHAGIA, an ancient Greek feftival, in ho¬
nour of Bacchus, furnamed Omophagos, i. e. eater of
raw fleffi. 1 his feftival was obferved in the fame man¬
ner with the other feftivals of Bacchus, in which they
counterfeited madnefs. What was peculiar to it, was,
that the worffiippers ufed to eat the entrails of ’goats'
raw and bloody, in imitation of the god, who was fun-
pofed to do the fame thing. ^
OMPHACJNE oil-, a vifeous brown juice extraft-
ed from green olives. With this oil the ancient at/i-
let*, when going to wreftle, anointed themfelves ; and
when that gymnaftic exercife was over, they rolled
themfelves in the fand, which, mixing-with the oil and
fweat on their bodies, conftituted the Jlngmenta fo high¬
ly efteemed in the cure of feveral difeafes. This precious
medicine was. carefully feraped off the body of the ath-
leta with a kind of inftrument fomething like a comb
which was calledy^z'/fr; and fuch was the demand for
the ferapings, that they were a very.lucrative article of
trade.
OMPHALE, in fabulous hiftorv, a queen of Ey«
dia, daughter of Jardanus. She married Tmolus, who
at his death left her mifirefs of his kingdom. Qmphale
had been informed of the great exploits- of .Hercules,
and wiftied to fee fo illuftrious a hero. He? wifti was
foon gratified. After the murder of Eurytus, Hercules
fell fick, and was ordered to be fold as a flave, that he
might recover his health and the right ufe of his fen-
fes. Mercury was commiffioned to fell him, and Om-
phale bought him, and reftored him to liberty. The
hero became enamoured of his miftrefs, and the queen
favoured his paffion, and had a fon by him, whom fome
call Agelaus, and others Lamon. From tiffs fon were
defeended Gyges and Croefus ; but this opinion isf dif¬
ferent from the account which makes tbefe Lydian
monarch?
Omoa
Omphale.
ON [
Oiriphale rrumarelis fprlng from AIcceus, a fon of Hercule
II one of the female fervants of Ompliale.
On. _ . . . ^ .
Hercules is
reprefented by the poets as fo defperately enamoured
of the queen, that, to conciliate her efieem, he fpins by
her fide among her women, while the covers herfelf
with the lion’s ikin, and arms herfelf with the club of
the hero, and often tlrik.es him with her fandals, for
the uncouth manner with which he holds the diftaff,
&c. Their fondnefs was mutual. As they once tra¬
velled together, they came to a grotto on Mount J mo-
lus, where the queen drelfcd herfelf in the habit of her
lover, and obliged him to appear, in a female garment.
After they had tupped, they both retired to reft in
different rooms, as a facrifice on the morrow to Bac¬
chus required. In the night Faunus, or rather Pan,
who was enamoured of Omphale, introduced himfelf
into the cave. Pie went to the bed of the queen, but
the lion’s tkin perfiiaded him that it was the drefs of
Hercules •, and therefore he repaired to the bed of Her¬
cules, in hopes to find there the objefl of his affec¬
tions. The female drefs of Hercules deceived him, and
he laid himfelf down by his fide. The hero was awa¬
kened, and kicked the intruder into the middle of the
cave. The noife awoke Omphale, and Faunus wasdif-
covered lying on the gound, greatly difappointed and
alhamed.
OMPHALE A, a genus of plants belonging to the
monoecia clafs •, and in the natural method ranking with
thofe of which the order is doubtful. See Botany In¬
dex.
OMPHALO-mesentertc, in Anatomy. All fee-
tufes are wrapped up in at leaft two coats or mem¬
branes-, moft of them have a third, called allantoides,
or urinary.
Some,'as the dog, cat, hare, &c. have a fourth,
which has two blood-veffels, viz. a vein and an ar¬
tery, called omphalo-mefenterics, becaufe palling along
the ft ring to the navel, and terminating in the mefen-
terv.
OMRAH, a man of the firft rank in the Mogul
empire ; a nobleman. It is the plural of the Arabic
ameer.
ON, in Ancient Geography, a city of Egypt facred to
the fun, and by the Greeks, on that account, called He¬
liopolis. (See Heliopolis). It was remarkable for
the wifdom and learning of its priefthood, and for the
fpacious building in which they cultivated the ftudies
of philofophy and aftronomy. The priefts of On were
eftcemed more noble than all the other priefts of Egypt.
They were always privy counfellors and minifters of
ftate ; and therefore, when Pharaoh refolved to make
Jofeph prime minifter, he very wifely gave him in mar¬
riage a daughter of the prieft of On, thereby incorpo¬
rating him into the moft venerable call in Egypt. Bi-
ftiop Warburton thinks that the fuperior nobility of the
priefts of On was chiefly owing to their high antiquity
and great learning. That they were much given to the
ftudy of aftronomy, we know from the teftimony of
144 ] O N A
by very different opinion), it is certain they taught that the
Sun is in the centre of its fyftem, and that all the other
bodies move round it in perpetual revolutions. This
noble theory (he continues) came with the reft of the
Egyptian learning into Greece (being brought thither
by Pythagoras, who received it from Oenuphis *, a
prieft of On) j and after having given the moft diftin-
guithed luftre to his fchool, it funk into obfeurity, and
fuffered a total eclipfe throughout a long fucceflion of
learned and unlearned ages ) till thefe times reftored its
ancient fplendour, and immoveably fixed it on the uner¬
ring principles of fcience.”
If it be true, as fome philofophers allege, that
Mofes appears from the firft chapter of Genefis to
have been acquainted with the true lolar fyftem, this ac¬
count of the origin of that fyftem is extremely proba¬
ble. As it is of no importance to the civil or religious
conftitution of a ftate whether the fyftem of Ptolemy
or that of Copernicus be admitted by the people, we can¬
not reafonably fuppofe that the Jewifti lawgiver was
taught aftronomy by a revelation from Heaven. But
there can be no doubt of his knowing as much of that
fcience as the priefts of On ,■ for we know that he was
inftrutfed in all the wifdom of the Egyptians ■, and
therefore, if he held the fun to be in the centre of the
fyflem, it is morally certain that the fame thing was
held by that priefthood.
ONANIA, or Onanism, terms employed to denote
the crime of felf-pollution, mentioned in Scripture to
have been committed by Onan, and punilhed in him
with death.
This practice, however common, hath among all na¬
tions been reckoned a very great crime. In Scripture,
befides the inftance of Onan above mentioned, we find
felf-pollulers termed effeminate, unclean, ji/thy, and abo¬
minable. Even the heathens, who had not the advan¬
tage of revelation, were of the fame opinion, as appears
from the following lines of Martial.
* Tint, de
If. et Ofir,
p. 632.
Steph. ed.
Hoc nihil ejffe putes ! feel a'; ef, tnihi crede; fed ingens
Quantum vix animo concipis ipfe tuo.
You think ’tis nothing ! ’tis a crime, believe !
A crime fo great you fcarcely can conceive.
Dr Tiffot has publithed a treatife on the pernicious
effects of this Ihameful practice, which appears to be
no lefs baneful to the mind than to the body. He^ be¬
gins with obferving, that, by the continual wafte of the
human body, aliments are required for our fupport.
Thefe aliments, however, require certain preparations
in the body itfelf; and when by any means we become
fo altered that thefe preparations cannot be effected,
the beft aliments then prove infufficient for the fupport
of the body. Of all the caufes by which this morbid
alteration is brought on, none is more common than
too copious evacuations *, and of all evacuations, that
of the femen is the moft pernicious when carried to ex-
cefs. It is alfo to be obferved, that though excefs in
So0 ve^ is produftiye of very dangerous djfor-
oirauo, auu , ' /-.I . r-.n vnt an ennal evacuation bv felf-pollution, which
they fhould be attached to the ftudy of that fyftem over
which their god, the Sun, prefided, not onlv in his mo¬
ral, but alfo in his natural capacity. The learned prelate
affirms, that “ whether they received the do&rine from
original tradition, or invented it at hazard (which laft
fuppofition he thinks more probable, though we are of a
ders, yet an equal evacuation by felf pollution, which
is an unnatural way, is produftive of others ftill more to
be dreaded. The confequcnces enumerated by Dr Tiffot
are as follow’:
1. All the intelle&ual faculties are weakened j the
memory fails j the ideas are confufed, and the patient
fome times
Oniinia
Oneehoura.
ONE [i
fometiities even falls into a fliglit degree of infanity.
They are continually under a kind of inward reftleflhefs,
and feel a conftant anguifh. They are fubjeft to giddi-
nefs } all the fenfes, efpecially thofe of feeing and hear¬
ing, grow weaker and \Veakef, and they are fubject to
frightful dreams.
2. J he ftrefigth entirely fails, and the growth in
young perfons is confiderably checked. Some are af-
fli^led with almoft continual watching, and others dofe
almolt perpetually. Almoft all of them become hy¬
pochondriac or hyfteric, and are afflided with all
the evils which attend thefe diforders. Some have
been known to fpit calcareous matters 5 and others
are afflided with coughs, flow fevers, and confump-
tions.
3. The patients are -affeded with the moft acute pains
in different parts of the body, as the head, breaft, fto-
mach, and inteftines ; while fome complain of an ob~
tufe fenfation of pain all over the body on the flighteft
impreflion.
4. There are not only to be feen pimples on the face,
which are one of the mod common fymptoms ; but
even blotches, or fuppurative puftules, appear on the
face, nofe, breaft, and thighs 5 and fometimes fleftiy ex-
crefcenees arife on the forehead.
5. The organs of generation are alfo affeded 5 and
the femen is evacuated on the flighteft irritation, even
that of going to ftool. Numbers are afflided with an
habitual gonorrhoea, which entirely deftroys the vigour
of the conftitution, and the matter of it refembles a
fetid fanies. Others are affeded with painful pria-
pifms, dyfuries, ftranguries, and heat of urine, with
painful tumours in the tefticles, penis, bladder, and
fpermatic cord ; and impotence in a greater or lefs de¬
gree is the never-failing confequence of this deteftable
vice.
6. The fundions of the inteftines are fometimes total¬
ly deftroyed 5 and fome patients complain of coftivenefs,
others of diarrhoea, piles, and the running of a fetid
matter from the fundament.
With regard to the cure, the firft ftep is to leave
off thofe pradices which have occafioned the difeafe ;
which our author afferts is no eafy matter 5 as, accord¬
ing to him, the foul itfelf becomes polluted, and can
dwell on no other idea ; or if (he does, the irritability
of the parts of generation themfelves quickly recal ideas
of tlfe fame kind. This irritability is no doubt much
more to be dreaded than any pollution the foul can
have received ; and by removing it, there will be no oc-
cafion for exhortations to difcontinue the pradice. The
principal means for diminiflung this irritability are, in
the firft place, to avoid all ftimulating, acrid, and fpi-
ced meats. A low diet, however, is improper, becaufe
it would further reduce the body, already too much
emaciated. The food ftiould therefore be nutritive, but
plain, and fhould confift of flelh rather roafted than boil¬
ed, rich broths, &c.
ONC A and Once. See Felis, Mammalia Index.
ONEEHOURA and ONEEHOW, two fmall
iflands of that clufter which was difeovered by Captain
Cook, and by him called the Sandwich IJlands. (See
Sandwich Islands). Oneehoura is very fmall, and its
chief produce is yams. Oneehow is confiderably larger,
being about ten miles over. It is remarkable for the
great quantity of excellent yams which it produces,
Vol, XV. Part I.
45 1
O N E
and for a Iweet root called tee or tea, which is generally Oneehoura
about the thicknefs of a man’s wrift, though fometimes j!
much larger. This root, which the natives commonly ^n^”cn"
bake previous to their bringing it to market, is of a wet > - y -
clammy nature, and with proper management makes ex¬
cellent beer.
ONEGA, a river and lake of the Ruffian empire,
between Mufcovite Carelia, the territory of Cargapol,
and Swedifh Carelia. It is ioo miles in length and 40 in
breadth, having a communication with the lake Ladoga,
and confequently with Peterftmrgh. The river, which
has its fource in Cargapol, and gives its name to a
country full of woods, falls into the White fea.
ONEGLIA, a fea port town of Italy, in the terri¬
tory of Genoa, with the title of a principality j but it
belongs to the king of Sardinia, as well as the province,
which abounds in olive trees, fruit, and wine. It has
often been taken and retaken in the wars of Italy,
which is no wonder, as it is an open place. The French
and Spaniards had poffeffion of it in 1744, but were
driven out by the Piedmontefe ; however, they retook it
the following winter. It was laft taken by the French
in 1794. E. Long. 7. 51. N. Lat. 43. 58.
ONEIROCRITIC A, the art of interpreting dreams j
or a method of foretelling future events by means of
dreams. See Dream, Divination, &c.—The word
is formed from the Greek “ dream,” and
XglTlXY), of y-gicyius, judgment.” Some c^ll it andro¬
cratic a; and derive it from ovu^os and “ I poffefs,
I command.”
It appears from feveral paffages of Scripture, that
there was, under the Jewifti difpenfation, fuch a thing
as foretelling future events by dreams ; but then there
was a particular gift or revelation required for that
purpofe.
Hence it has been inferred, that dreams are really fig-
nificative, and do forbode fomething tt> come ; and all
that is wanting among us is the oneirocritica, or the art
of knowing what ; yet it is the opinion of many, that
dreams are mere chimeras ; bearing indeed fome rela¬
tion to what has paffed, but none to what is to come.
As to the cafe of Jofeph, it was poflible for God, who
knew all things, to difeover to him what was in the
womb of fate •, and to introduce that, he might take
the occafion of a dream.
ONEIROCRITICS, a title given to interpreters of
dreams, or thofe who judge of events from the circum-
fiances of dreams.
There is no great regard to be had to thofe Greek
books called oneirocritics ; nor do we know why the
patriarch of Conftantinople, and others, ftiould amufe
themfelves with writing on fo pitiful a fubjeH.
Rigault has given us a collection of the Greek and
Latin works of this kind •, one attributed to Aftramp-
fichus 5 another to Nicepliorus, patriarch of Conftanti¬
nople ; to which are added the treatifes of Artemidorus
and Achmet. But the books themfelves are little elfe
than reveries; a kind of waking dreams, to explain and
account for fleeping ones.
The fecret of oneirocriticifm, according to them all,
confifts in the relation fuppofed to be between the
dream and the thing fignified : but they are far from
keeping to the relations of agreement and fimilitude j
and frequently have recourfe to others of diflimilitude
and contrariety. Concerning oneirocritics and onei-
T rocritica,
O N K
[ 146 ]
O N T
Oneirocri- rocrllica, the unlearned reader will find much informa-
tl“ tion in Warburton’s Divine Legation of Mofes, and the
Onkelos b0°ks to which he refers.
> ' ■ ONESI^i, THERMJE, were, according to Strabo,
excellent baths, and falutary waters, at the foot of the
Pyrenees in Aquitania. Near the river Aturus Hands
at this day the town Bagneres, famous for its waters,
which appear to be the Onefice of Strabo : fituated in
the county of Bigorre in Gafcony, near the river
Adour.
ONI At, oppidum and Templum, fJofephus) 5 fo
called from Onias, the high-prieft of the Jews in
Egypt} who built a temple in imitation of that at Je-
rufalem, by permiffxon ot the king of Egypt, on the
fpot where Hood the temple of Diana Agreftis in Le-
ontopolis : it was encompaffed with a brick wall, and
had a large tower like that at Jerufalem (Jofephus) ;
it was the metropolis of the Nomos Heliopolites, (Pto¬
lemy) •, becaufe in Strabo’s time Heliopolis Avas fallen
to decay.
ONGLEE, in Heraldry, an appellation given to the
talons or claws of beafts or birds when borne of a dif¬
ferent colour from that of the body of the animal.
ONION. See Allium, Botany Index; and for
the mode of its cultivation, fee Gardening Index.
ONISCUS, a genus of infefts belonging to the or¬
der of aptera. See Entomology Index.
ONKELOS, furnamed the Profelyte, a famous rabbi
of the firfl. century, and the author of the Chaldee
Targum on the Pentateuch. He flourithed in the time
of Jefus Chrift, according to the Jewith writers ; Avho
all agree that he Avas, at leaft in fome part of his life,
contemporary with Jonathan Ben Uzziel, author of the
fecond Targum upon the prophets. Dean Prideaux
thinks he Avas the elder of the two, for feveral reafons :
the chief of Avhich is the purity of the ftyle in his Tar¬
gum, therein coming neareft to that part of Daniel
and Ezra Avhich is in the Chaldee, and is the trueft
ilandard of that language, and confequently is the moil
ancient •, fince that language, as Avell as others, Avas
in a conftant flux, and continued deviating in every age
from the original : nor does there feem to be any rea-
fon Avhy Jonathan Ben Uzziel, Avhen he undertook his
Targum, ftiould pafs over the law, and begin Avith the
prophets, but that he found Onkelos had done this
Avork before him, and Avith a fuccefs Avhich he could
not exceed.
Azarias, the author of a book entitled Meor Enaun,
or the light of the eyes, tells us, that Onkelos Avas a
profelyte in the time of Hillel and Samnai, and lived
to fee Jonathan Ben Uzziel one of the prime fcholars
of Hillel. Thefe three doftors flourilhed 12 years be¬
fore Chrift, according to the chronology of Gauz ;
Avho adds, that Onkelos Avas contemporary Avith Ga¬
maliel the elder, St Paul’s mafter, Avho Avas the grand-
fon of Hillel, Avho lived 28 years after Chrift, and did
not die till 18 years before the deftruftion of Jerufalem.
However, the fame Gauz, by his calculation, places
Onkelos 100 years after Chrift ; and to adjuft his opi¬
nion Avith that of Azarias, extends the life of Onkelos
to a great length. The Talmudifts tell us that he af-
fifted at the funeral of Gamaliel, and Avas at a prodi¬
gious expence to make it moft magnificent. Dean
Prideaux obferves, that the Targum of Onkelos is
rather a verfion than a paraphrafe ; fince it renders the
Ontario.
Hebrew text word for Avord, and for the moft part ac- Onkelos
curately and exaftly, and is by much the bell of all
this fort: and therefore it has always been held in __
efteem among the Jcavs much above all the other Tar-
gums: and being fet to the fame mufical notes Avith the
HebreAV text, is thereby made capable of being read
in the fame tone with it in their public affemblies.—
From the excellency and accuracy of Onkelos’s Tar¬
gum, the dean alfo concludes him to. have been a native
Jew, fince Avithout being bred up from his birth in the
Jewilh religion and learning, and long exercifed in all
the rites and doctrines thereof, and being alfo thorough ¬
ly Ikilled in both the HebreAV and Chaldee languages,
as far as a native Jcav could be, he can fcarce be thought
thoroughly adequate to that Avork Avhieh he performed)
and that the reprefentinghim as a profelyte feems to have
proceeded from the error of taking him to have been the
fame Avith Akilas, or Aquila, of Pontus, author of the.
Greek Targum or verfion of the prophets and Hagio-
graphia, Avho Avas indeed a Jewifli profelyte.
ONOCLEA, a genus of plants belonging to the
cryptogamia clals and order of Filices. See Botany'
Index.
ONOMANCIA, or rather Onomantia, a branch
of divination, which foretels the good or bad fortune
of a man, from the letters in his name. See the article
Divination and Name.
From much the fame principle the young Romans
toafted their miftreffes as often as there Avere letters in
their names : Hence Martial fays,
Ncevia fex cyathis,feptem Juf ina bibatur.
ONOMATOPOEIA, in grammar and rhetoric, a
figure Avhere words are formed to refemble the found
made by the things fignified •, as the buzz of bees, the
cackling of hens, &c. Refemblances of this kind are
often fancied Avhen they are not real, though, no doubt,,
there are in every language fome Avords of which the
found is very like to that which thofe Avords are em¬
ployed to exprefs. Yet, to the mortification of gram¬
marians and rhetoricians, conjunctions, Avhich have
been juftly pronounced no parts of fpeech, are the only
founds uttered by men that are wholly natural, and
thefe are fevver than is commonly fuppofed. See' Gram¬
mar and Language.
ONONIS, a genus of plants, belonging to the dia-
delphia clafs. See Botany Index.
ONOPORDUM, a genus of plants, belonging to
the fyngenefia clafs) and in the natural method ranking
under the 49th order, Compoftce. See Botany Index.
ONOSANDER, a Greek author and Platonic phi-
lofopher, Avho AVrote Commentaries on Plato’s Politics,
which are loft : but his name is particularly famous for
a treatife entitled Aeyoj 2rg!*T>iy<jc#f, “ Of the duty and
virtues of the general of an army }” Avhich has been
tranflated into Latin, Italian, Spanifti, and French.
The time Avhen he lived is not precifely knoAvn } but
is imagined to be in the reign of the emperor Clau¬
dius.
ONOSMA, a genus of plants, belonging to the
pentandria clafs ) and in the natural method ranking
under the 41ft order, Afperifolice. See Botany Index.
ONTARIO, a lake of North America, in the coun¬
try of the Iroquois, 150 miles in length, and from 21
to 44 in breadth. Many rivers run into this lake: and
from
O O N [I
Ontario from it tire great river St Lawrence proceeds. It
II communicates with lake Erie by a river 33 miles in
Oonclla. ^ on which is the remarkable cataraft of Nia-
Y GARA.
ONTOLOGY. See Metaphysics, N° 3.
ONYCOMANCY, or, as fome write it, OnymaN-
cy j a kind of divination by means of the nails of the
fingers. The word is formed from the Greek ovt;|,
“ nail,” and pavjax, “ divination.”
rJ’he ancient practice was to rub the nails of a youth
with oil and foot, or wax ; and to hold up the nails
thus fmeared againft the fun.—Upon them were fup-
pofed to appear figures or charadlers, which fliowed
the thing required.
ONYX, a mineral fubftance ranked among gems,
which derives its name from the colour refembling that
of the nail of the finger. See Carnelian, under Mi-
NERALOGY, p. 167.
OONAL ASHKA, one of the iflands of the Nor¬
thern Archipelago, vifited by Captain Cook in his lalt
voyage. The native inhabitants of this illand are, to all
appearances, a very peaceable people, having been much
poli(hed by the Ruffians, who now keep them in a Hate
of fubjedlion. As the iiland furniflies them with fub-
fillence, fo it does, in fome meafure, with clothing, which
is chiefly compofed of Ikins. The upper garment,
which is made like a waggoner’s frock, reaches down to
the knees. Befides this, they wear a waiftcoat or two,
a pair of breeches, a fur cap, and a pair of boots, the
legs of which are formed of fome kind of firong gut ;
but the foies and upper-leathers are of Ruffia leather.
Fifh and other fea animals, birds, roots, berries, and
even fea weed, compofe their food. They dry quantities
of fiffi during the fummer, which they lay up in fmall
huts for their ufe in winter. They did not appear to be'
very defirous of iron, nor to want any other inftrument,
except fewing needles, their own being formed of bone.
With thefe they few their canoes, and make their
clothes, and alfo work their curious embroidery. They
ufe, inftead of thread, the fibres of plants, which they
fplit to the thicknefs required. All fewing is per¬
formed by the females, who are ffiocmakers, tailors, and
boat-builders. They manufacture mats and balkets of
grafs, which are both ftrong and beautiful. There is
indeed a neatnefs and perfection in moft of their works,
that (hows they are deficient neither in ingenuity nor
pcrfeverancc.
Though the climate is fometimes fevere. Captain
Cook did not obferve a fire-place in any of their ha¬
bitations. They are lighted as well as heated by
lamps ; which, though fimple, effectually anfwer the
purpofe for which they are intended. They confift
of a fiat Hone, hollowed on one fide like a plate •, in
the hollow part they put the oil, mixed with fome
dry grafs, which ferves for a wick. Both fexes often
warm themfelves over one of thefe lamps, by placing
it between their legs, under their garments, and fit¬
ting thus over it for feveral minutes. E. Long. 139.
29. N. Lat. ^3. 5.
OONELL A, and OONEM AH, two ifiands of the
fame archipelago with Oonalafiika ; the former of
which lies to the north-eaft of that ifiand, being fe-
parated from it by a navigable ftrait; the other is more
to the weft ward, being in E. Long. 192. 30. and
N, Lat. 54. 30. The circumference of Oonella is
47 J OPE
about feven leagues, and the produce of both much the Oonalla
fame with that of Qonalaihka. II
OPACITY, in P ZiilofopZiy, a quality of bodies which . °P^ra-
renders them impervious to the rays of light.
OPAH, commonly called the kingjijh. See Zeus,
ICHTHYOLOGY Index.
OPAL, in Natural Hijlory, a fpecies of gems. See
Mineralogy, p. 169.
OP ALIA, in Antiquity, feafts celebrated at Rome
in honour of the goddels Ops. Varro fays they were
held on the 19th of December, which was one of the
days of the Saturnalia : thefe two feafts were celebrated
in the fame month, becaufe Saturn and Ops were huf-
band and wife : the vows offered to the goddefs were
made fitting on the ground.
OPARO, or Oparro, a fmall ifiand in S. Lat. 270
36', and in E. Long. 2150 49', which was difeovered by
Vancouver. This ifiand was fuppofed to be about fix
miles and a half long, and it was out of fight of any other
land. It is compofed of craggy mountains, forming in
feveral places perpendicular cliffs from their fummits to
the fea, having narrow valleys or chafms interpofed.
On fome of the higheft hills were obferved fome kind of
works, refembling fortified places j but as the difeoverers
did not land on the ifiand, they could not learn their
nature and ufe. In their language and appearance the
natives refembled thofe of the Friendly ifiands ; they
feemed acquainted with the ufe of iron, preferring it to
beads and other trinkets, and ftiowed a hofpitable difpo-
fition. There appeared to be anchoring ground near the
north-weft end of the ifland.
OPERA, a dramatic compofition fet to mufic, and
fung on the ftage, accompanied with mufical inftru-
ments, and enriched with magnificent dreffes, machines
and other decorations.—This fpecies of drama is' of
modern invention. In its prefent ftate it was not
known even in Italy before the beginning of the laft
century ; and at its introduction into England, a cen¬
tury afterwards, it divided the wits, literati, and mu-
ficians of the age. By thofe who were efteemed the
belt judges of the art, the Englifti language was con-
fidered as-too rough and inharmonious for the mufic
of the opera ; and, on the other hand, critics, whofe
tafte was built on the bafis of common fenfe, looked
upon a drama in a foreign and unknown tongue as the
greateft of all abfurdities. Many of them, however,
pleaded for operas in the Englifti language ; and it is
well known that Addifon, who was one of the oppof-
ers of the Italian opera on the London ftage, wrote in
Ins native tongue the opera of Rofamond. This is con-
feffedly a beautiful poem ; but, in the opinion of Dr
Burney, it adds nothing to Addifon’s fame, as it ffiows
his total ignorance of the firft principles of mufic,
and of courfe his unfitnefs for the talk he had under¬
taken.
In queftions refpeCling the fine arts there is no appeal
from the general tafte ; and therefore, as the French
opera, which is in the language of the country where it
is afted, has always been adifiired by perfons of liberal
education, it doubtlefs has merit confidered as a drama ;
but how the dramas of this kind which are compoled in.
Italian ftiould find admirers in England among perfons
who underftand not a word of the language, it is to us
a matter oi afionilhment. The mufic of them may
deferve and command the admiration of every one who
T 2 lias
OPE [ 148 ] O P H
has an ear $ and the a£lion of the fingers may be
perfeftly fuitable to the fubjeft reprefented ; but of
this fuitablenefs the majority of the audience can be no
judges.
Even when the language is thoroughly underflood,
we Ihould imagine, that, to make an opera agreeable
to good fenfe, much would depend upon the choice of
the fubjedf ; for it is furely abfurd to have perfons of all
ranks, and on every occafion, perpetually accompanied
with the regular refponfes of fymphony. To hear Ca'far,
Scipio, or Macbeth, when.forming plans to enfure vic¬
tory, or hatching plots of treafon and murder, talking
in recitative and keeping time with fiddles, would furely
difguit every perfon whole fenfe had not all evaporated
in found but when the fubject reprefented naturally
admits of mufic in real life, we can fuppofe an opera to
afford to perfons of tafte one of the mofl exquifite and Opera
refined entertainments of which human nature is ca- H
pable. For a further account of the opera, fee Music, W'
page 497, and Poetry, N° 133, &c. > t—,j
OPERATION, in general, the aft of exerting or
exereifing fome power or faculty, upon which an effeft
follows.
Operation, in Surgery and Medicine, denotes a me¬
thodical aftion of the hand on the human body, in order
to re-eflablifh health.
OPHID1UM, a genus of fifhes belonging to the or¬
der of apodes. See Ichthyology Index.
OPHIOGLOSSUM, Adder’s Tongue, a genus
of plants, belonging to the cryptogamia clafs, and to
the order Fi/ices. See Botany Index.
O P H I O L O G Y.
INTRODUCTION.
Hiftorical
notices of
.3
Ancient.
4
Modern.
Definition.. rT',HE term ophialogy is compofed of two Greek words,
* namely «£<;, a ferpetit, and heyo?, a difeourfe, and
confequently denotes that branch of zoology- which
■ treats of ferpents. The latter conftitute an order in the
clafs of amphibious animals. They are covered with
feales, breathe by means of lungs, and are deflitute of
„ feet and fins.
The hideous afpeft of fome of the fpecies, and the
poifonous properties of others, long contributed to pre-
©phioiogical venp any deliberate inveftigation of their ilrufture, con-
wnters. ftitution, and modes of exitlence. Hence the ancients,
who at belt had very imperfeft notions of claffification,
fometimes indicate different fpecies under the fame
name, or beftow different appellations on the fame fpe¬
cies, and moreover blend their vague deferiptions with
the embellifhments or abfurdities of fable.
Among the moderns, few naturahlls have direfted
their refearches to the hiftory of ferpents. “It mull be
acknowledged,” obferves Dr Ruffel, “ that it offers no
attraftive allurements •, and that thofe who, from other
avocations, can only fpare tranfient attention to fubjefts
of natural hillory, are more likely to prefer objefts lefs
difgufting, and experiments accompanied with lefs
cruelty and perfonal danger. Even the eager and re-
folute naturalift has to contend with many difficulties
in this path of refearch. He cannot at once divert
himfelf of the abhorrence, next to innate, of thefe rep¬
tiles •, nor can he foon acquire a dexterity in handling
them, with that calmnefs requifite tor his own fafety.
The fearch for plants, for birds, or even infefts, is com¬
paratively partime, or pleafurable occupation 5 but in
the aftual puriuit of the difgufting race of ferpents, he
ftands in need of affiftants, who are not at all times to
be procured *, and if he rely folely on the diligence of
fuch as he may employ, he will find himfelf expofed to
the chagrin of ineeffant difappointment.”
Seba has indeed prefented us with a numerous cata¬
logue ^ but his fpecies are too multiplied, and his de¬
feriptions too concife. Catelby was more felicitous to
defign and colour his ferpents, than to unfold their dif-
5
Seba.
6
Cateiby.
Gronovius. criminating charafters.
The defcriptions of Gronovius
2
ate for the moft part wrell and acurately detailed j but
they are unprovided with the fpecific names. §
Linnaeus, availing himfelf of the works to which wre LinnseuSo
have juft alluded, of the difeoveries of Garden, and of
his own difeernment, publifhed his method of diftin-
guiffiing the .fpecies by the number of fcaly plates on the
abdomen, and beneath the tail. Experience has indeed
proved, that thefe do not always conftitute an infallible
criterion, and that more obvious marks, fuch as the
relative fize of the head, the length of the body and tail,
&c. mull fometimes be reforted to : it muft, however,
be allowed, that the celebrated Swediffi naturalift paved
the way to a far more accurate nomenclature of ferpents
than had yet appeared, and that the value of his feien-
tific diftinftions is greatly enhanced by the interefting
notices on the fame fubjeft, which are inferted in his
Amcenitates Acadcmicce, and in the firft and fecond vo¬
lumes of his Adolphian Mufeum. 9
The count de la Cepede.has in fome refpefts improved La Cepedc.
the Linnaean arrangement, and exhibited a more corn"sl)a^°
plete catalogue than any of his predeceffors. Dr Shaw
has likewife difplayed his ufual fagacity in the fecond
part of the third volume of his General Zoology, which
is allotted to his expofition of the ferpent tribes. To 11
thefe we may add, Owen on the natural hiftory of Owen,
ferpents, Klein’sTentamen Herpetologiae, Blumenbach’s Kiein’ c“
Beytragzur Naturgefchichte der Schlangen, Schneider’s
Allgemeine Betrochtungen uber die Eintheilung und
Kennzeiehen der Schlangen, Merian’s Beytrage zur «
gefchichte der Amphibien, Lanrenti’s Specimen Medi-
cum, continens Synopfin Reptilium, Bonaterre’s Ophi-
ologie, in the Encyclopedic Methodique, Latreille’s
Hiftoire Naturelle des Reptiles, Ruffel’s Account of In¬
dian Serpents, See. &c.
Anatomy and Phyftology of Serpents.
The body of ferpents is very long when compared Bedy.
with its thkknefs ; and is femetirnes quite cylindrical,
or rounded, fometimes compreffed on the fides, fome¬
times flat on the under furface, and fometimes attenuated
towards the tail. It is ufually covered with feales •, but
fometimes naked, either rough, or flippery to the touch,
O P H I O L O G Y.
‘ Anatomy
of Serpent'
13
Head.
Mouth.
*5
Snout.
16
Jaws.
I?
Lips.
18
Teeth.
Fangs.
Tongue.
21
■Ej/ts.
22
Noltrils.
and banded, fpotted, or reticulated ; the Ikin exhibiting
■ great varieties in the tints and diiiribution of the co-
' lours.
The head is either diftindd from the trunk, or con¬
founded with it, and is convex, or flattened, oval, trian¬
gular, or heart-fhaped, and furnilhed with plates, or im¬
bricated fcales. It includes the mouth, fnout, jaws, lips,
teeth, tongue, eyes, and noftrils. There is no vilible
external ear ; though animals of this order doubtlefs
poflefs the faculty of hearing.
The mouth is that cavity which is fituated between
the jaws. It is very large in proportion to the lize of
the head, and is capable of being widely extended.
The fnout is the anterior part of the head: it is flanting,
elongated, obtufe, truncated, of"reflexed. The jaws,
which are either of equal or unequal length, are com-
pofed of two bones, which do not, as ours, open in the
manner of a pair of hinges, but are held together at the
roots, by a ftretching mufcular Ikin, fo as to open as
widely as the animal choofes to ftretch them. By this
contrivance ferpents are enabled to fwallow animals
thicker than themfelves. The lips ax-e entire, notched,
or reflexed. The teeth, in the jaws, are generally
fliarp-pointed, and, in ferpents not poifonous, are difpofed
in three rows in the upper jaw, one row exterior and two
interior. The under jaw is fometimes provided with a
Angle row. The noxious fpecies are furniflied with ca¬
nine teeth, or fangs, of a tubular Itrufture, Atuated in
the projecting part of the upper jaw, commonly of a
much larger Aze than the other teeth, and frequently
accompanied by, fmaller or fubfidiary fangs, apparently
deltined to fupply the principal ones, when loll either by
age or accident. The fangs are Atuated in a peculiar
bone, fo articulated with the reft of the jaw, as to ele¬
vate or deprefs them at the pleafure of the animal. In
a quiefeent ftate they are recumbent, with their points
direCted inwards or backwards; but, in the moment of
irritation, their pofltion is altered by the mechanifm of
the above-mentioned bone, in which they are rooted,
and they become almoft perpendicular. The tongue is
ufually ftraight and (lender, compofed of two long and
rounded flelhyfubfiances, which terminate in {harp points,
and are very pliable. They unite at about two thirds
length, and the root is connected to the neck by two
tendons, which give the whole organ a great variety and
facility of motion. In molt fpccies, the tongue is al¬
moft wholly inclofed in a fneath, or integument, from
which the animal can dart it out of its mouth, without
opening its jaws ; the upper mandible having a fmall
notch, through which it can pafs. Some of the viper
kinds have tongues a fifth part of the length of their
bodies, and, as they are conftantly darting them out,
terrify thofe who are ignorant of the real Atuation of
the poifon. The eyes are fmall, when compared with
the length of the body, and greatly vary in refpeCt of
livelinefs and colour. In fome fpecies the upper eyelid
is wanting, while others have a nictitating membrane,
or fkin, which keeps the organ clean, and preferves the
fight. In all, the fubftance of th? eye is hard and
horny, the crvftalline humour occupying a.great part of
the globe. The pupil is fufceptible of conflderable con¬
traction and dilatation, and the iris is often of a golden
or flne red colour. The noftrils are two openings at
the extremity of the fnout, for receiving the fenfation of
iinell. 6
149
Tl he trunk is that part of the body which reaches Anatomy
from the nape to the vent. It is fcaly, annulated, tu-°* Serpents,
berculated, or wrinkled ; and comprehends the back,
Ades, belly, anus, organs of generation, and fcales. The Trunk,
back is the upper part of the trunk, commencing at the 24'
nape and terminating immediately above the vent. In Bark,
molt Ipecies it is rounded, but in fome carinated or fur- . 25
rowed. 'The Ades are the lateral portions of the trunk,
from the extremity of the jaws to the vent. The belly, Belly,
or abdomen, is the loxver part of the body, from the
head to the tail, the want of a diaphragm precluding
a breaft. The anus is an opening, ufuaily tranfverfe, Anus7
placed at the extremity of tjie lower lurface of the
trunk, forming the line of demarcation between the lat¬
ter and the tail, and affording a paffage to the liquid
and folid excrements. The penis of the male, and the
ovary of the female, are alfo Atuated in this common
vent, from which they are extended only during the 28
feafon of pairing. The fcales, properly fo called, are Scales,
round, oval, oblong, and attenuated at the extremities,
rhomboidal, fmooth, or carinated. The broad undivid¬
ed plates on the belly and head, are termed 'cuta, and
the 1 mailer or divided plates beneath the tail, are cal-
led fquamcc fubcaudales or fcut ell a, fubcuudal fcales or
platelets.
The tail is attenuated, obtufe, fquare, in the form of Tail!9
a triangular pyramid, flattened or compreffed at the
Ades.
As ferpents have neither limbs nor breaft, the ftruc- Skeleton,
ture of their Ikeleton is much lefs complex than that of
quadrupeds. The bones of the head are from eight to
ten. The Ikull, which is fometimes flat and 1'ometimes
convex, is very hard and eompaCt, and exhibits four
principal futures, which are with difficulty feparated.
The bones of the trunk conftft of a feries of vertebra,
incafed in one another, and articulated with the ribs.
The caudal vertebrae are difpofed in the fame manner,
and provided with fimilar proceffes ; but they are un-
eonnedted with ribs, and gradually diminilh in fize as
they approach to the end of the tail. In molt quadru¬
peds, the joints m the back-bone feldom exceed thirty
or forty ; whereas in ferpents they often amount to 145,
from the head to the-vent, and 25 more from that to
the tail. The number of thefe joints mult give the
back-bone a furpriAng degree of pliancy, which is ftill
increafed by the manner in which one is locked into the
other. In man and quadrupeds, the flat fur faces of the
bones are laid one again u the other, and bound tight by
flnews ; but in ferpents the bones play one within the
other, like ball andfocket, fo that they have free motion
in every direction.
The remarkable ftrength and agility, manifclted by Mufcles.
ferpents, depend on the vigorous mufcles with which
they are provided. Several of thefe are inferted along
and beneath the Ikull, and about the upper and lower
jaws. Four, which are denominated lateral, have their
origin behind the head, and delcend, by each fide, to
the extremity of the tail. Each vertebra has alfo its
correfpohding intercoftal mufcle, which ferves the fame
purpofes as in other animals.
The internal organs, or vifeera of individuals of this viftera,
order of animals, nearly correfpond to thofe of others,
and, confequently, need not long detain us.
f he brain is divided into five fmall portions, which ^
are round, and fomewhat elongated. The two firlt are biain°
placed
*50
Anatomy
of Serpents.
34
Tracheal
artery.
35
Lungs.
3 <5
Ocfophagus,
37
Stomach.
35
Heart.
O P H I O L O G Y.
t9,
Inteftxnal
canal.
40
Kidneys.
41
External
fenfes.
44
Sexual u-
43
Oviparou:
placed between tbe eyes, and give origin to tire olfac¬
tory nerves ; other two are lituated in the middle region
of the tkull j and the laft, which is a little farther back,
appears to be the commencement of the fpinal marrow.
The tracheal artery, compofed of diftinft and cartilagi¬
nous rings, has its origin at the top of the gullet, and
communicates with the lungs, under the heart. The
lungs are not lobed, but conlift of a cellular and mem¬
branous fubftance, abundantly furnilhed with blood vel-
• fels. The oefophagus is formed of a fmgle membrane,
extends to the orifice of the ftomach, is of an equal di¬
ameter throughout, and fufceptible of an extraordinary
degree of dilatation. The ftomach, which is of a largei
capacity, is formed of two concentric tunics, which
clofely adhere, and which are internally covered with
folds or wrinkles. The heart has two ventricles, and is
fmall in proportion to the fize of the body. As the cir¬
culation of the blood is independent of the lungs, the
animal is enabled to remain for a conftderable time un-
xier water. It cannot, however, make this element its
conftant refidence ; becaufe occafional fupplies of fiefh
air are necefiary to preferve in its blood thofe qualities
which are neceffary to motion and vitality. In ferpents,
therefore, as Avell as in viviparous quadrupeds, refpira-
tion is eflential to life. I his function they do not pei-
form by a rapid fucceflion of alternate dilatations and
contractions of the lungs } but, having this vifeus lemaik-
ably large in proportion to their bodies, they are able to
fill it with a confiderable provifion of air ; and as they
expire very flowly, fome time will elapfe before they are
obli°-ed to infpire again. The inteftinal canal is nar¬
row^ finuous, and internally divided by many tranfverfe
partitions. The kidneys are particularly large, and
compofed of fmall continuous glands, blended with ex¬
cretory veftels. re
That animals of the ferpent kind poilels the ute ot
the five external fenfes, can fcarcely admit of diipute.
We have indeed remarked, that moft of the fpecies ap¬
pear to want an external auditory paffage 5 but.it is
certain that they are often direfted to birds, by liften-
ing to their notes 5 and many indicate a degree of fenfi-
bifity to the founds of mufical inftruments. Their fenfe
of fmell, with a few remarkable exceptions, is neither
very aftive nor acute •, but, in moft, that of fight is quick
and penetrating. The foft and nervous textuie of the
tongue and palate.would induce a fufpicion, that they
enioy the fenfe of tafte in a pre-eminent degree } yet, as
they generally fwallow their food in large portions, they
feldom avail themfelves of the delicacy of thefe organs.
Bein°r unprovided with feet, hands, or feelers, their fen e
of touch is probably very imperfea ; and even when
thev twine very clofely round an objeft, the mterpo 1-
tion of their feales will render their feeling of its furface
vague and obtufe. „ ,, 1 -
The fexual union of ferpents ufually takes place in the
funny days of fpring,is very clofe and ardent, and varies in
duration from an hour to feveral days, according to the
fpecies, but terminates w ithout any permanent attachment.
The females of fome are Oviparous, and of others vivi¬
parous. The eggs of the former vary in refpeCl of fize,
colour, and number, according to the fpecies and con-
ftitution of the individual •, and.they are depofited,. not
in continuous fucceflion, but at intervals, and fometimes
*vith the appearance of much fuffering on the part 01
the female. Sergerus relates, that he faw a female fnake, Plwfiology
after twitting herfelf, and rolling on the ground in an01 Serpents.
unufual manner, bring forth an egg. He immediately
took her up, and facilitated the extruiion of thirteen
more, the laying of all which confumed an hour and a
half; for, after depofiting each, the retted for fome time.
When he remitted his afliftance, the procefs w as more
flow and difficult 5 and the poor animal feemed to re¬
ceive his good offices with gratitude, which ftie exprefled'
by gently rubbing her head againft his hands. I he
mother never hatches thefe eggs, but leaves them expo-
fed in fome warm fituation, as in holes w ith a iouthern
afped, on dry fand, under mofs or foliage, on a dung¬
hill, near an oven, &c. The outer covering of the egg
is a thin compaa membrane, and the young ferpent is
fpirally rolled in its albuminous liquid. T he viviparous Viviparous,
fpeeies differ confiderably, both with refpea to their
periods of geftation, and' the number of their offspring.
Thus, vipers which go about three months with young,
generally breed twice a-year, and produce from twenty
to twenty-four, while the blind-worm, which is pregnant
about a month, brings forth fometimes feven, and fome¬
times ten at a birth. When young ferpents are hatched
or produced, they are abandoned to the refourees of their
own inftina, and often periffi before they have acquired
fufficient experience to ffmn the fnares which are laid
for them by quadrupeds, birds, and reptiles. . 45
In regard to the different Itages of growth of the dif- Growth,
ferentfpecies,little precife information feems to have been
obtained: and, though fome arrive at a very large fize,
their dimenfions have, no doubt, been much exaggera-
ted. The young of the viper, at the moment of partu- Size,
rition, meafures from twelve to fifteen lines ; and twm
or three years elapfe before they are capable of repro¬
ducing their kind. Adanfon how'ever concludes, from
ocular obfervation, that the largeft .ferpent in Senegal
may meafure from forty to fifty feet in length, and from
a foot to a foot and a half in breadth. Leguat affures
us, that he faw one in Java, that was fifty feet long.
Carli afferts, that they grow to upwards of forty feet.
Mr Wentworth, a gentleman who had large concerns in
the Berbices, informs us, that he one day lent out a fol-
dier, with an Indian, to kill wild fow l for the table ; and
they accordingly w'ent fome miles from the fort. In
puriuing their game, the Indian, who generally marched
before, beginning to tire, went to reft himfelf on the
fallen trunk of a tree, as he fuppofed it to be } but, when
he was juft going to fit down, the huge monfter began
to move, and the poor favage, perceiving that he had
approached a Boa, dropped down in an agony. The
foldier perceiving what had happened, levelled at the
ferpent’s head, and by a lucky aim {hot it dead. He
continued his fire, however, until he was affured that the
animal was killed ; and then going up to refeue his com¬
panion, he found him killed by the fright. The animal
wras brought to the fort, and was found to meaiuie
thirty-fix feet. Mr W. caufed the fkin to be fluffed,
and fent it as a prefent to the Prince of Orange. We
are told, that when Regulus led his army along the
banks of the Bagrada, in Africa, an enormous ferpent
difputed his paffage acrofs the river. If we can give
credit to Pliny, this reptile was 1 20 feet long, and had
deftroyed many of the foldiers, when it was overcome
in turn by the battering engines. Its fpoils were carried
OPHIOLOGY.
47
Voice.
4S
Maffes of
food.
49
jCapability
pf abfti-
phyfiology to Rome, and the general was decreed an ovation for his
of Serpents. fuccefs. The fkin was preferved for years after in the
1 capital, where Pliny fays that he faw it.
In regard to voice, fome ferpents are apparently
filent, and others have a peculiar cry ; but hiding
is the found which they moft commonly utter, either
as a call to their kind, or a threat to their enemies.
In countries where they abound, they are generally fi-
lent in the middle of the day ; but, in the cool of the
evening, they iffue from their retreats with continued
hidings.
The mafles of food which ferpents are enabled to
fwallow, would appear quite miraculous, did Ave not re¬
ded on the lax ftrudure of their jaws, their power of
crulhing their viftims, and the vifeid humour, or faliva,
which lubricates the crude morfel in its paffage down an
extenfile osfophagus. In fpite of all thefe circumdances,
the quantity of.aliment is fometimes fo voluminous, that
it flicks in the gullet, when only partly immevfed in the
ftomach, and the animal lies flretched and nearly mo-
tionlefs, in its retreat, till the fwallowed portion be di-
gefted, and the extruded half introduced, to undergo the
fame procefs. But, though ferpents thus occafionally
gorge themfelves with food, as their blood is colder than
that of moft other terreftrial animals, and circulates
flowly, their powers of digeltion are feeble and tardy,
fo that they can endure weeks, and even months of ab-
flinence. Nay, fo tenacious are they of the vital prin¬
ciple, that they exift and grow in mephitic marfties,
continue to breathe, for a confiderable time, in the ex-
haufted receiver of an air-pump, and frequently exhibit
fymptoms of life after one part of the body has been
fevered from the other. Vipers are often kept in boxes,
for fix or eight months, without any food whatever ; and
there are little ferpents fometimes fent to Europe from
Cairo, wrhich live for feveral years in glafles, and never
eat at all.
The natural term of the exiftence of ferpents, is not
accurately known ; but it has been conje&ured, that
fome of the larger kinds may complete a century. The
firft failure of their ftrength is the almoft immediate
forerunner of their diflblution ; for, when deprived of
the requifite elafticity of frame to fpring on their prey,
and of the requifite force to combat their enemies, they
flirink into their recefles, and die of hunger, or are eafily
devoured by the ichneumon, ftork, and other powerful
aflailants.
In the more northerly and temperate regions of the
globe, the ferpent tribes, towards the end of autumn,
fall into a ftate of torpor, more or lels profound,
according to the greater or lefs intenfity of the
cold ; and in this condition they remain, nearly life-
lefs, till the approach of fpring reanimates their flif-
fened frame.
Soon after its refufeitation, the ferpent Works itfelf
out of its old epidermis, by rubbing itfelf againft the
ground, or by wedging itfelf between any two fubftan-
ces that are fufficiently elofe to each other. The exu¬
viae come off entire, being loofened firft about the
head j and are always found turned infide out. It is
fome time before the feales acquire a fufficient degree
of hardnefs to defend the animal againftr external in-
jury; and, during this interval, it generally confines it¬
felf to its retreat.
\gi.
SO
5*
fyberna-
5*
| Renewal
ikin.
Generic and Specific Rxpofition of the Order*
Gen. i. Crotalus. Ratt/e-Snuke.
Scuta on the abdomen, feuta and fquamse beneath the
tail, rattle terminating the tail.
The animals of this genus inhabit America, where
they prey on the fmaller birds, lizards, and infe&s.
They are furnilhed with poifonous fangs, and have a
broad head, covered with large feales. " Their fnout is
obtufely rounded.
Banded Ratt/e-Snake, Common Rattle-Snake, or Boi-
quira.—The characters are, 167 abdominal, and 23 fub-
caudal feuta. The ordinary length of this fpeeies is
from three to four or five feet, and the greateft thiek-
nefs that of a man’s arm. The prevailing colour is a
yellowilh brown, marked with crofs and irregular bands
of a deeper (hade, and two or three longitudinal ftripes
from the head down the neck; the under parts are of
a dingy brown, with many dulky variegations and frec¬
kles. The mouth is capable of great diftenfion. The
tongue is black, (lender, bipartite, and inclofed in a kind
of (heath, from which the fnake darts forth the double
point, and vibrates it with great velocity. The rattle-
fnake is viviparous, producing in June about twelve
young, which, by September, acquire the length of
about twelve inches. Thefe, it is faid to preferve from
danger, like the viper in Europe, by receiving them in¬
to its mouth, and fwallowing them. In confirmation of
this affertion, we (hall quote the words of M. de Beau-
vois, who, during his refidence in America, bellowed
particular attention on the hiftory of amphibious rep¬
tiles.
“ Among the information which I endeavoured to
obtain in my travels with refpeCl to ferpents in general,
there was one point Avhich greatly excited my curiofity.
Several perfons, and one among the reft to whom I owe
a debt of gratitude for civilities and marks of friendlhip,
which will for ever reft engraven on my heart, had in¬
formed me, that the female rattle-fnake concealed its
young ones in its body ; that when they were alarmed
by any noife, or by the approach of man, they took re¬
fuge in the body of their mother, into which they en¬
tered by her mouth. This faCl had been already afeer-
tained with refpeCl to the viper of Europe ; but in con-
fequence of the unfavourable and repulftve difpofitions
infpired by this kind of reptile, and in order to render
it ftill more hideous, an abfurd interpretation was given
to this fad. It was pretended, that this ferpent eats
its little ones after having given them birth. Curious
to verify this fad related of the boiquira, I was conftant-
ly occupied with this idea, and began to defpair of ever
making the obfervation, when, at a moment in which
I thought the lead of it, accident furniftied me the
means. Having fallen Tick among the Indians, I found
myfelf obliged to remain a few days with one of them
in the neighbourhood of Pine-log. During my conva--
lefcence, I took a walk every morning, in the neigh¬
bourhood, and one day when I was following a pretty
broad path, I perceived, at a diftance, a ferpent lying
acrofs the road in the fun. I had a (tick in my hand,
and drew near to kill it; but what was my furprife,
when, in the moment that I was about to give the blow.,.
the
53
Crotalus,
54
Generic
characters*
55
Horriditt*
1^2
Crotalus.
O P II I O L O G Y.
tlie reptile perceived me, coiled up itfelf, and opened from various experiments reported in the Philofopliical Crotahs.
* its large mOiith, into which live ferpents, which I had Tranfaflions, and other publications. A rattle-lnake of v~
not till then obferved, becaufe they were lying along about four feet long, being faftened to a flake, bit three
its body,‘rulhed into the gulf which I had conceived dogs, the firll of which died in lefs than a quarter of a
opened for xnyfelf. I retired to one fide, and hid my- minute the fecond, which was bitten a ibort time
felf behind a tree. The reptile had crawled a few paces, afterwards, in about two hours, and the third, which
but hearing no further noife, and not perceiving me, was bitten about half an hour afterwards, Ihowed the yi-
flretched itfelf out afrelh. In a quarter of an hour the lible effcfts of the poifon in thre,e hours, and likewife
young ones came out again. Satisfied'with this obferva- died. Other experiments were indituted y and laifly,
tion, I advanced anew towards the animal, with intention in order to try it the fnake could poifon itlell, it was
to kill it and examine the interior of its itomach : but provoked to bite a part of its own body, and actually
it did not permit me to approach fo near as it did the expired in lefs than twelve minutes. Our limits "id
' fn-ft time, the young ones entered with dill greater pre- not permit us to enumerate various other indances of
cipitation into their retreat, and the boiquira ded into the almod indantaneous effecls of this poifon, w hich is
the grafs. My fatisfaftion and adonilhment were fo mod to be dreaded in hot weather, and when the animal
great, that I did not think of following it.” _ is much irritated. The rattle-fnake, however, is rather
^ The rattle confids of a number of pieces, inferted in- afraid of man, and will not venture to attack him un¬
to each other, all alike in diape and fize, hollow, and lefs provoked. It motes flowly, for the mod part with
of a thin, eladic, brittle fubdance, dmilar to the exte- its head on the ground, but if alarmed, it throws its
rior part of the feuta. Their form is nearly that of an body into a circle, coiling itfelf, with the head ered in
inverted quadrilateral pyramid, with the«porners round- the centre, and with its eyes darning in a terrific man¬
ed off. The fird piece, or that neared the body, may ner. In cafes of dight bites, the Indians ufually luck
be conddered as a kind of cafe, which contains the three the wound. They have likewife recourfe to the juices
lad vertebrae of the tail, on which it appeal’s to be of various herbs, and to the root at po/yga/afeneka ; b\\t
moulded, and has three convex, circular elevations cor- thefe applications produce little effeft, without fcaridca-
refponding with them ; the two lad of thefe elevations tion and ligatures. According to Dr Barton, the rude and
are fitted tnto the two fird of the next piece j fo that of fimple praftice of the wedern fettlers, is, fird, to throw
every piece except the lad, the fird only of the eleva- a tight ligature above the part into which the poilon
lions is expofed to view, the two others being inclofed has been introduced, at lead as often as the cncum¬
in thofe of the following, in which they have room to dances of the cafe admit of fuch an application. 1 he
play from fide to fide. Thefe feveral pieces have no wound is next fcarified, and a mixture of fait and. gun-
mufcles, nerves, nor ligaments, nor are they connefted, powder, or either of thefe articles, feparately, laid on
either with each other, or with the body of the ferpent the part. Over the whole is put a piece of the bark oi
any otherwife than by the mode of infertion already de- juglans alba, or white .walnut-tree, which .afts as a
feribed. Thus they derive no nouridiment from the blider. At the fame time, a deco.ftion or infufion.oi
animal, and are merely an appendage which can have one or more dimulant vegetables, with large quantities
no other motion than what is communicated to it by of milk, are adminidered internally : the doftor is,
that of the tail. Thefe feveral pieces of which the rat- neverthelefs, of opinion, that, the beneficial effects ^of
tie confids, appear to have been feparately formed, this mode of treatment are chiefly to be aferibed to tne
Dr Van Meurs imagines them to be no other than the external applications. If the fang has penetrated a vein
old epidermis of the tail, which, when its nouridiment is or artery, or attacked the region of the throat,, the bite
intercepted by the new ficin formed beneath it, grows commonly proves fatal, and the patient expires in
hard and brittle. Hence, he fuppofes, that whenever ful agony. “ Where a rattle-fnake, (lays Catefby),
this part acquires a new Ikin, a new piece of the rattle with full force, penetrates with his deadly fangs, an
is added to the former, which is thus detached from the pricks a vein, or artery, inevitable death enfues *, and
vertebrae, and dioved farther from the tail. The num- that, as I have often fee.n, in lefs than two minutes,
ber of thefe pieces, however, affords no certain criterion “ The Indians, (he continues), know their dediny the
of the animal’s age, becaufe thofe which are mod re- minute they are bit 5 and, when they perceive it mor-
mote from the tail, become fo dry and brittle, that they tal, apply no remedy, concluding all efforts in. vain.’
are very liable to be broken off and lod. Dr Barton, however, inclines to think, that this afler-
The two principal fangs are placed without the jaws, tion diould be received with cOnfiderable limitation, and
on a fe par ate bone, and the fmaller ones attached to that the application of ligatures, &c. even m cafes ap-
mufcles and tendons. Thefe fangs may be couched, or parently the mod defperate, fhould not be neglected,
raifed at the pleafure of the animal, and are furniflied According to Clavigero, the mod effectual method is
with an opening near the root, and a flit towards the thought to be, the holding of the wounded part fome time
point, fo that on prefling gently with the finger on the in the earth. But if the poifon be once received into
fide of the gum, the poifon, which is yellowith, is per- the general mafs of the blood, it is almod needlefs to
ceived to iffue from the hollow of the tooth, through the have recourfe to medicines. A confiderable degree of
flit. The veficle which contains the poifon, is external- naufea is ufually the firfl alarming fymptom ) the pulle
ly of a triangular form, and of a tendinous texture •, becomes full, flrong, and greatly agitated ; the whole
internally, it is cellular j and its interior part termi- body fwells •, the eyes are fuffufed with blood ; a he-
nates in a fmall du6l, communicating with the facculus morrhage frequently proceeds from the eyes, nofe, and
which covers the perforated teeth. It is furniftied wdth ears ; large quantities of blood are fometimes thrown out
a conflri&or mufcle, for the purpofe of exprefling its on the furfaee of the body, in the form of fweai ; the
-contents. The virulence of the latter may be inferred teeth vacillate in their fockets j and the pains and groans
OPHIOLOGY.
Crotalm. 0f the unhappy fufferer too plainly indicate, that the mo-
 * 11 ment of diflolution is near at hand.
The following remarkable cafe is related by Mr
Heflor St John. A farmer was one day mowing with
his negroes, when he accidentally trod on a rattle-fnake,
which immediately turned on him, and bit his boot. At
night, when he went to bed, he was attacked with fick-
nefs, his body fwelled, and before a phyfician could be
called in, he died. All his neighbours were furprifed
at his hidden death *, but the body was interred without
examination. A few' days after one of the fons put on
the father’s boots, and, at night, when he pulled them
off, he was feized with the fame fymptoms, and died on
the following morning. The phyhcian arrived, and,
unable to divine the caufe of fo lingular a diforder, fe-
riouOy pronounced both the father and fon to have been
bewitched. At the fale of the effects a neighbour
purchafed the boots, and on putting them on, experien¬
ced the like dreadful fymptoms with the father and fon.
A tkilful phyfician, however, being fent for, who had
heard of the foregoing accidents, fufpe&ed the caufe,
and by applying proper remedies, recovered the patient.
The fatal boots were now carefully examined, and the
two fangs of the fnake were difeovered to have been left
in the leather, with the poifon-bladders adhering to them.
They had penetrated entirely through, and both the fa¬
ther and fon had imperceptibly fcratched themfelves with
their point in pulling off the boots.
We are informed by Dr Barton, that a gentleman of
Philadelphia had a large rattle-fnake brought to him
alive, which he fo managed by a ftring, that he could
eaflly lead it into, or out of a clofe cage. On the firft
day, he fuffered this fnake to bite a chicken, w hich had
teen allured to the mouth of the cage by crumbs of
bread. In a few hours, the bird mortified, and died.
On the fecond day, another chicken was bitten in the
fame manner, and furvived the injury much longer than
the firft:. On the third day, the experiment was made
on a third chicken, which fwelled much, but, neverthe-
left, recovered. On the fourth day feveral chickens
were fuffered to be bitten, without receiving any injury.
Thefe fimple experiments enable us to affign a reafon,
why perfons who have aflually been bitten by the rat¬
tle-fnake, have fometimes experienced very inconfider-
able, or no bad confequences from the wound *, they
{hew in what manner many vegetables have acquired a
reputation for curing the bites of ferpents, without our
being obliged to impeach the veracity of thofe from
whom our information is derived *, and laftly, they teach
us the phyfiological fa<ft, that the poifon of this reptile
is fecreted very (lowly.
It has been obferved by M. Gauthier, that the poifon
ftains linen with a green hue, which is deeper in propor¬
tion as the linen has been impregnated with lixivium.
The pretended fafeinating power of the rattle-fnake
is now generally diferedited j and Dr Barton, profeffor
of natural hiftory in the univerfity of Pennfylvania, re¬
duces the whole to the fluttering of old birds in defence
of their young, and too near an approach to the formi¬
dable enemy. In confirmation of this opinion, he ob-
ferves, that he can trace no allufion to the alleged faf¬
einating faculty, in the ancient writers of Greece and
Borne ; that he doubts if it is credited by the American
Indians-, that Linnaeus was extremely credulous; that
the enchanting power of the rattle-fnake is queftioned
VoL. XV. Part I.
by fome eminent European naturalifts; that the breath
of this reptile is not remarkably infedtious or peftifer-
ous; that it often fails in catching birds; that the latter,
and fquirrels, are not its principal food ; and that it is
even devoured by fome of the larger kinds of birds.
Mr Peale, an intelligent and zealous naturalift, kept
a rattle-fnake alive for five years and a half. “■ Curious
to enquire, (fays M. Beauvois), how this animal feizes
his prey, he (Mr Peale) has confined feveral birds in
the fame cage Avith him, and the hungry reptile has
made many attempts to lake hold of the bird. This ex¬
periment has been repeated many times, and every time
with the fame effect. I have feen, myfelf, one of thefe.
birds in the cage; but whether the reptile Avas not
hungry, or was fenfible of its want of poiver, it remain¬
ed perfectly tranquil, Avhile the bird was perfectly at
eafe. It gave no indication Avhich could make it be
believed that it Avas either enchanted or affrighted; and
the air did not appear different, if avc might judge from
its behaviour from that ivhich is found in an ordinary
clofe cage. The bird remained two days in the fame
fituation, without the lead attention paid to it by the
reptile, Avho, in the mean time, ate a dead one which Avas
prefented to him.
“ Another living bird wus put into the cage Avith
the ferpent: far from being alarmed, it amufed iifelf
Avith pecking in the bottom, and picking up afeAV grains
Avhich it found there: often changing place in its ac-
cuftomed manner, and even refting itlelf on the back of
the boiquira, which made no extraordinary movements.
This experiment Avas made feveral times.
“ Mr Peale, his children, and myfelf, haAre often
examined the reptile. We never perceived it to fend
out the (lighteft fuffocating odour. It is in vain toob-
je<ft, that the living birds thus given it Avere not of the
kind fitted for itsnouriftiment; for it has eaten the fame
birds, when prefented to it dead, and it is not ufelefs to
remark, that it never refufed one of them.”
Catefby mentions an individual of this fpecies, Avhich
Avas about eight feet long, and Aveighed from eight to
nine pounds. It Avas feen gliding into a gentleman’s
houfe, and terrified all the domeftic animals.
Mr St John, Avhom we have quoted above, once fa#
a tamed rattle-fnake, as gentle as it is poftible to con¬
ceive a reptile to be. It Avent to the Avater, and fAvam
whereA^er it pleafed ; and Av-hen the boys to whom it be¬
longed called it back, their fummons Avas readily obey¬
ed. They often ftroked it Avith a foft brufti: and this
fri&ion feemed to caufe the mod pleafing fenfations ;
for it Avould turn on its back to enjoy it, as a cat does
before the fire. We need fcarcely add, that it had been
deprived of its fangs.
Rattle-fnakes abound in America, from Brazil to near
Lake Champlain: but they are gradually difappearing
in the more populous didrifts. According to Pen¬
nant, they affeft woods and lofty hills, efpecially where
the ftrata are rocky or chalky, as at the pafs near Nia¬
gara. They particularly frequent the fides of rills, to
prey on fuch (mail animals as refort thither to quench
their third. In dimmer, they are generally found in
pairs ; in Avinter, they colleft in multitudes, and retire
under ground, beyond the reach of froft. Tempted by
the warmth of a fpring day, they often creep out, Aveak
and languid. A perfon has feen a piece of ground
covered with them, and killed with a rod between fixty
U and
153
Crotalus.
15+
Crotalus.
OPHIOLOGY.
5«
DuriJJus.
57
■Dryinas.
58
JMiharis.
59
Atricaucla
tus.
60
Boa-
61
Characters.
and feventy, till, overpowered with the ftench, he was
obliged to retire. They are molt eafily difpatched by
a blow with a flick on the fpine.
The American Indians often regale on the rattle-
fnake. When they find it afieep, they put a fmall
forked flick over its neck, which they keep immove-
ably fixed to the ground, giving the fnake a piece of
leather to bite j and this they pull back feveral times
with great force, until they perceive that the poifon
fangs are torn out. They then cut off the head, fkin
the body, and cook it, as vre do eels. The fiefh is faid
to be white and excellent. Hogs alfo fometimes de¬
vour the rattle-fnake ; but horfes, dogs, and mofl other
animals, regard it with antipathy and horror.
Striped Rattle-fnake, or White Rattle fnake.—172 ab¬
dominal, and 21 fubcaudal fcuta. From a foot and a
half, to four feet and a half long. Diflinguifhed from
the preceding by a pattern of pale yellow flreaks, form¬
ing a feries of large rhombs, or lozenges, down the
back. Has often been confounded with the former,
on account of the fame general afpeft, conflitution, and
habits.
Wood Rattle fnake.—165 abdominal, and 30 fubcau¬
dal fcuta. Of a lighter tinge than the two preceding,
and marked with yellowifh variegations on the back.—
This fpecies has been hitherto very imperfe&ly de-
feribed ; and Seba erroneoufly quotes it as a native of
Ceylon.
Miliary, or Small Rattle fnake.—132 abdominal, and
32 fubcaudal fcuta. Gray, with a triple row of black
fpots, and a red fpot between each of the dorfal ones.
The fmalleft of the genus ; its ordinary length being
about eighteen inches. From this circumflance, and
the faint found of its rattle, it is more dangerous than
the larger fpecies. It is alfo alleged that its bite is
more aflive. Its poifon, according to Lebeau, is molt
fuccefsfully combated by the volatile alkali. It is con¬
fined to the temperate regions of North America, parti¬
cularly to Carolina, Louifiana, and Florida.
Blacktailed Rattle fnake.—170 abdominal, and 26
fubcaudal fcuta. The head greenifh-gray, vrith two
brown and oblong fpots on the hinder part. The body
of a reddifh gray, fpeckled with brown points, and
croffed by 24 lengthened patches, or bands, brown, and
irregular, and accompanied, on each fide, by two fpots
of a brighter colour. The back is marked by a longi¬
tudinal, fawn-coloured ftripe. Scales very numerous,
rhomboidal, and carinated.—From three to four feet
long •, a very venomous fpecies; difeovered bv Bofc,
in Carolina, and deferibed in Paudin’s Natural Hiftory
of Reptiles.
Gen. 2. Boa.
Scuta on the abdomen, and under the tail; but no rat¬
tle.
The boa tribe of ferpents is very numerous, and con¬
tains forne fpecies which are remarkable for their huge
dimenfions. Their head is covered, like that of the
crotali ; but their tail terminates in a point. Their im-
m< nfe fi?e has rendered them the objects of terror rather
than of obfervation to mankind ; while the quantity of
food requifite for their fuflenance, has precluded their
multiplication within a limited range of country. Hence
a confiderable degree of confufion attaches to their hi¬
ftory ; and a rational fufpicion arifes, that, with the pro- Boa.
grefs of culture and population, fome of the more for-
midable forts have either been exterminated, or driven
from the haunts of men. Some naturalifts have afferted,
that individuals belonging to this genus have been found
in Spain, Italy, and the fouth of France 5 but they ap¬
pear to have miftaken fome of the larger forts of colu¬
ber for the boa, which laft is a native of Alia, Africa,
and America. ' Ci
Great or ConfriSlor Boa.—240 abdominal, and 60 Conjlriclor.
fubcaudal fcuta. The more ordinary difpofition of its
colouring is yellowilh gray with a large, chefnut-colour-
ed, chain-like pattern down the back, and triangular
fpots on the fides. A confiderable degree of variety,
however, is occafioned by the circumfiances of age, fex,
and climate •, and even the number of fcuta is by no
means conftant. Nature has bellowed on this celebrat¬
ed reptile, uncommon ftrength and beauty, but has
wifely withholden from it the poifonous properties of
fome of the fmaller fpecies. It frequently attains to
twenty, or even thirty feet in length. Except, however,
when Stimulated by the calls of hunger, it is a fluggilh
and harmlefs animal, affefting moift and lhady fituations,
and, occafionally, devouring large animals, which it
crulhes in its contorted folds. In the German Ephe-
merides, we have an account of a combat between one
of thefe huge ferpents and a buffalo, by a perfon who
affures us, that he was himfelf a fpedtator. The ferpent
had for fome time, been waiting near the brink of a
pool, in expectation of prey, when a buffalo was the
firft animal that appeared. Having darted on the af¬
frighted beaft, it inftantly began to wrap him round in
its voluminous twiftings, and, at every twill, the bones
of the buffalo were heard to crack almoft as loud as the
report of a gun. It +vas in vain that the quadruped
ftruggled and bellowed ; its enormous enemy twined it
fo clofely, that at length all its bones were crulhed to
pieces, like thofe of a malefaftor on the wheel, and
the whole body reduced to one uniform mafs. The fer¬
pent then untwined its folds, to fwallow its prey at lei-
fure. To prepare for this, and alfo to make it flip down
more fmoothly, it licked the whole body over, and
fmeared it with a mucilaginous matter. It then began
to fwallow it at the end that offered the leaft refiftance,
the throat dilating to fuch an extraordinary degree, as
to admit a fubftance which was thrice its own thiek-
nefs.
In the Bombay Courier, of Auguft 31. 1799, it is
ftated, that as a Malay prow anchored for the night,
clofe under the ifland of Celebes, one of the crew went
on fhore, in queft of betel nut in the woods, and on his
return, lay down to deep, as it is fuppofed, on the
beach. In the courfe of the night, he was heard by his
comrades, to feream out for affiftance. They imme¬
diately went on fhore ; but an immenfe fnake of this
fpecies had already crufhed him to death. The attention
of the monfter being entirely occupied with his prey,
the people went boldly up to it, cut off its head, and
took both it and the body of the man on board their
boat. The fnake had feized the poor fellow by the
right wrift, where the marks of the teeth were very di-
ftinCt *, and the mangled corpfe bore evident figns of
being crufhed. The length of the fnake was about
thirty feet, its thicknefs equal to that of a moderately
fized man j and, on extending its jaws, the gape was -
found
Boa.
63
Scytalt.
64
Cenchris.
/> .5S
Camna.
66
Phrygia.
O P H I O
found wide enough to admit a body of the fize of a man’s
head.
The female depofits a confiderable number of eggs,
which feldom exceed three inches in their greateft dia¬
meter, on the fand, or under leaves expofed to the fun’s
rays.
In fome diftri&s of Africa, the great boa is regard¬
ed as an objedt of veneration, and on the coaft of Mo¬
zambique, is worlhipped as a god.
In a very interefting notice of this fpecies, communi¬
cated to us by John Corfe Scott, Efq. mention is made
of a live individual, which was difcovered in a field,
near the cattle, by fome labourers, in the province of
Tipperah in Bengal. This fnake, wrhich meafured
fifteen feet and three inches in length, and eighteen
inches in circumference, was ftunned by repeated blows,"
before it could be fecured, and tied with cords to a
long bamboo. It was pretty aftive after it wras untied,
and made frequent darts at any perfon coming near it.
On prefenting a long flick, it repeatedly feized and bit
it with great fiercenefs. On difledlion, the heart was
found to be of the fize of a flieep’s, with the communi¬
cation open between the two ventricles. The liver was
fmall in proportion, being about the fize of the human
pancreas, and, like it, divided into feveral lobes. The
oefiphagus, from the mouth to the pylorus, meafured
nine feet three inches, and its width was fufficient to
admit a man’s head with eafe. The head was fmall, in
proportion to the fize of the animal, the eyes w'ere dark
and heavy, and the noftrils large ; but there was no per¬
ceptible organ of hearing. From the mechanifm of
the jaws, they were capable of being diftended fo as
to admit a fubftance or animal much thicker than the
fnake itfelf. This mechanifm, and the abfence of grin¬
ders, obvioufly prove, that the food is fu-allowed entire,
without maftication. In a gorged individual of this
fpecies, Mr S. found an entire guana, and in another,
a fawn, of a year old ; but the bones of thefe quadru¬
peds were unbroken.
Spotted Boa.—250 abdominal, and 70 fubcaudal
fcuta. Cinereous, with large, round, black fpots
on the back, and fmaller ones, with white centres,
on the fides, and oblong markings, interfperfed with
fmaller variegations on the abdomen. Of a fize
fcarcely inferior to the preceding, and of fimilar man¬
ners. It is a native of feveral parts of Soutli America,
and, like other fnakes, occafionally eaten by the In¬
dians. ,
Ringed Boa.—265 abdominal, and 57 fubcaudal fcu¬
ta. General caft ferruginous, with large dark rings
on the back, and blackifh kidney-lhaped fpots, with
white centres on the fides. The aboma of feveral
writers. Grows to a large fize, and is a native of
South America, where it is treated with divine ho¬
nours.
Canine or Green Boa.—203 abdominal, and 77 fub¬
caudal fcuta. Green, with crofs, waving, and white
dorfal bands. It has its fpecific name from the form of
its head, which refembles that of a dog. Though def-
titute of poifon fangs, it inflitfls a fevere bite, when pro¬
voked. It meafures from four to twelve feet in lenoth
inhabits South America, and is celebrated for^ its
beautv.
67
LOGY,
native of the Eaft Indies, and omitted by Linnaeus.
White, with a cinereous tinge on the back, and the bo¬
dy marked with black lace-like variegations.
Garden Boa.—290 abdominal, and 123 fubcaudal Hortulana.
fcuta. Yellowifli gray, with brown variegations, re-
fembling in form the parterres of an old-fafliioned gar¬
den, the body fomewhat comprefled, and the tides
marked with cuneiform fpots. From two to three or
four feet long, and native of South America. ^
Fafaated Boa.—233 abdominal, and 36 fubcaudal TL,fciata.
fcuta. Yellosv, with dutky blue tranfverfe bands. The
body fomewhat triangular, upwards of five feet in
length, and five inches in the thickeft part. Native
of India, and very poifonous.
An individual of this fpecies was fent to Dr Ruffel,
in a very languid and extenuated ftate. Being fet at
liberty, it remained for fome time without moving, but
foon began to crawl llowly towards a dark corner. A
chicken being prefented, it feemed not to regard it,
though the bird fluttered about it, and even refted a
toe on its head. The chicken was then put on the
fnake’s back, and clung fo faft with its toes, that, when
attempted to be feparated, the fnake was dragged a lit¬
tle way, without offering to refent the infult. An hour
after, the chicken was again prefented ; but the fnake
ihe-wing no difpofition to bite, its jaws were forced afun-
der, and the naked thigh of the chicken fo placed, that
the jaws clofed on part of it. The chicken, when difen-
gaged, (hewed immediate fymptoms of poifon : it couch¬
ed, purged once or twice, and was not able to fland.
In the courfe of the firft ten minutes, after feveral inef-
fe&ual efforts to rife, it refted its beak on the ground ;
and the head was feized with paralyfis. After 15 mi¬
nutes, it Ihewed a frequent difpofition to lie down , but
remained couched fome minutes longer. In 20 minutes,
it lay down on one fide, and, convulfions fupervening
foon after, it expired within 26 minutes.
Viperme Boa.—209 abdominal, and 19 fubcaudal r7 69
fcuta. Gray, with a black waving dorfal band, edged ‘*erina‘
with white ; the fides fpotted with black. About a foot
and a half in length, including the tail, which is only
one inch and a half long. Native of India, where its
bite is faid to produce a flow Availing of the fingers and
toes. As, however, it has no fangs, and produces no
deleterious effedts on brute animals : the truth of the re¬
port feems to be very queftionable.
Lineated Boa.—209 abdominal, and 47 fubcaudal T.
fcuta. Blackifh line, rvith white dotted, tranfverfe, meata
arched lines, and Avhitifti abdomen. Slender, natNe of
India, and highly poifonous.
• Annulated Boa.—About tAvo feet in length, fome- ^nt^iata
what ferruginous, Avith black rounded fpots, included * n “ a a'
in rings, on the back, reniform ocellated fpots on the
fides, and Avaving dulky variegations on the abdomen.
Native of South America, figured by Madame Merian,
and preferved in the Hunterian Mufeum, at Glalgow.
I he other fpecies belonging to this genus are, eny-
dris, ophryas, regia, murina, horatta, hipnule, contor-
trix, and pa/pebrofa.
Gen. 3. Coluber, Snale (properly fo called).
Embroidered Boa.—A remarkably elegant
pecies,
72
Coluber.
Scuta, or undivided plates, under the abdomen j fquamae, pi,
or broad alternate feales, under the tail. The lat-Chara<aers-
U 2 ter
T> 74
aems.
7$
Cacodee-
O P H I O
ter, although alternate, are reckoned by pairs j but,
in many initances, the number is ftill undetermined,
and it fometimes varies in the fame fpecies.
This tribe contains about 200 fpecies, which greatly
differ from one another in fize and habit. The poifon-
ous forts, which conftitute about one-Hith of the whole,
are generally dillinguifhed from the reft by their large,
flattilh, fubeordate heads, and rather ihort bodies and
tails *, whereas moft of the harmlefs fpecies have fmall
heads, with longer bodies and tails in proportion. Lau-
renti and Latreille have ranged the former under the
genus Viper a, and the latter under that of Coluber: but
Linnaeus, Daubenton, La Cepede, &c. include both
forts under Coluber. This family of ferpents is widely
diffufed over various quarters of the world.
Common Viper.—146 abdominal fcuta, 39 fubcaudal
fcales. Attains to the length of two, or even of three
feet. The ground colour of the body is a dingy yellow,
deeper in the female than in the male. The back is
marked with rhomboidal, as the fides are with triangu¬
lar, black fpots. Its black belly, the greater thicknefs
of the head, and the more abrupt termination of the
tail, fufficiently diftinguifti it from the common fnake,
with which it has been often confounded.
The viper arrives at maturity in fix or feven years,
and produces 10 or 12 live young at the end of the fe-
cond or third. Mr White of Selborne killed and cut
up a pregnant female, and found in the abdomen 15
young ones, about the fize of full grown earth-worms.
No fooner were they freed from confinement, than they
twifted and wriggled about, fet themfelves up, and
gaped very wide when touched with a flick, exhibiting
manift ft tokens of menace and defiance, though as yet
no fangs were vifible, even with the help of glaffes,—
That the young, for fome time after birth, retreat,
when alarmed, into the mouth of the mother, feems to
be a fat! fatisfadlorily afcertained.
Vipers are capable of fupporting long abftinence, feed
on reptiles, worms, and young birds, and become tor¬
pid in winter. Their poifon rarely proves fatal to man,
and is moft fuccefTully counterafted by olive oil, tho¬
roughly rubbed on the wounded part. They are ufual-
ly caught by wooden tongs, at the end of the tail, as,
in that pofition, they cannot wind themfelves up to in¬
jure their enemy. Their flefh was formerly in high
efteem, as a remedy for various difeafes, particularly as
a reftorative. Of late years, however, it has loft much
of its ancient credit, and is rarely prefcribed by modern
practitioners.
The common viper inhabits Europe and Siberia, and
is by no means uncommon in Great Britain, being the
only poifonous animal in the ifland, frequenting dry
and ftony diftricts, and efpecially the chalky countries.
It abounds in fome of the Hebrides, and is called adder
by the Scots.
This fpecies is fubject to feveral varieties, which we
cannot flop to enumerate. The prefer, or black viper,
refembles the berus, in almoft every particular but co¬
lour •, though Linnaeus, and other eminent naturalifts,
rank it as a diftimt fpecies.
American Black Viper.—About the length of the
preceding, but much thicker, black, and remarkable
for the largenefs of its head, which it diftends, with a
horrid hifs, when irritated. Its bite is reckoned as dan-
L O G Y.
gerous as that of the rattlefnake. It is a native of Ca- Coluber,
rolina, chiefly frequenting higher grounds. —v-—*
Egyptian Viper.— 118 abdominal fcuta, and 22 fub- y "tl
caudal fcales.. Somewhat ferruginous, Ipotted with ll>eia'
brown $ whitifti beneath, with a ihort mucronated tail.
Rather fmaller than the common fpecies. Imported in
confiderable quantities to Venice, for the ufeofthe apo¬
thecaries in the compofition of theriaca, &c. Native
of Egypt, and fuppofed by fome to be the afp of Cleo¬
patra 5 but it is very difficult to alcertain the true afp of
the ancients. ^
Charajiun Viper.—Rufous, with the fnout acuminated CharaJU.
above, and the body marked with ihort, fubconfluent,
dufky, and tranfverfe ftreaks. Nearly allied to the
common fpecies, and defcribed by Charas, a celebrated
anatomift of ferpents in his day, but who contended,
in oppofition to Redi, that the fymptoms caufed by the
viperine bite, proceeded from what he termed the enra¬
ged fpirits of the creature, and not from the fuppofed
poifonous fluid.
Redi's Viper.—152 abdominal fcuta, and 32 fubcau-
dal fcales. Of an iron brown colour with a quadruple
tranfverfe feries of ihort, fubconfluent, brown ilreaks on
the back. In other refpefts nearly allied to the com¬
mon viper, but faid to be more poifonous. It occurs in
Auftria and Italy, and is the fort which Redi chiefly
employed in his experiments relative to animal poi¬
fon. . 79
Afp.—155 abdominal fcuta, and 37 fubcaudal fcales. Jfu,
Somewhat rufous, with roundiffi, alternate, duiky fpots
on the back, and fubconfluent ones near the tail. A-
bout three feet long, the head rather large, and cover¬
ed with fmall carinated fcales. Native of France, par¬
ticularly of the northern provinces of that country. It
is very doubtful if this be the genuine coluber afpis
(Lin.); and ftill more fo if it be the afp of the an¬
cients. go
Greek Viper.—155 abdominal fcuta, and 46 fubcau- Lcbetimu,
dal fcales. Gray, with a fourfold feries of tranfverfe
fpots, thofe on the middle yellowiffi, and thofe on the
fides dufky. Nearly a cubit in length, yery thick to¬
wards the middle, and the head large and deprefled.
Inhabits Greece and the Grecian iflands. According
to Forfkal, its bite proves fatal by inducing infuperable
fleep. _ 8t
Cerajles, or Horned Viper.*— 150 abdominal plates, Cerajles.
and 25 fubcaudal fcales. Pale yellowiffi, or reddiffi
brown, with a few round, diftant, or oblong fpots, of
a deeper tinge, fcattered along the upper parts of the
body, and the belly of a pale leaden hue. The two
curved proceffes, fituated above the eyes, give the ani¬
mal a more than ordinary appearance of malignity. Its
length varies from about 15 inches to two feet. It is
found in many parts of Africa, efpecially affe&ing dry
places, and fandy defects, and inflifting a dangerous
wound on thofe who happen to approach it. 8a
Horn-nofe Snake.— 127 abdominal plates, 3 2 fubcau- Nafieornit’
dal fcales. Olive brown, with blackiffi variegations, a
row of pale dorfal fpots, furrounded by black, and a
waving pale band on the fides. This fierce and forbid¬
ding fpecies, which has its denomination from two large
and pointed proceffes on the tip of the nofe, is fuppofed
to inhabit the interior parts of Africa. 83
Meg<cra, or Spear-headed Snake.—-22^ abdominal Mcgxra.
plates,
4
Naja
84
foluber. plates, and 68 fubcaudal fcales.
variegations, flat cordate head, and a large orifice on
each fide, between the eyes and noftrils. Native of
Martinico, whence it is frequently called yellow Marti-
nico fnake. Meafures, when full grown, five or fix
feet, has very large fangs, and inflicts a dangerous
W'ound.
Speflacle Snahe, or Cobra dc Capello.—193 abdominal
plates, 60 fubcaudal fcales. “ Its general length (fays
Dr Shaw), feems to be three or four feet, and the dia¬
meter of the body about an inch and a quarter : the
head is rather fmall than large, and is covered on the
fore part with large fmooth fcales j refembling, in this
refpedl, the majority of innoxious ferpents: the back
part, fides, and neck, with fmaller ovate fcales j and
the remainder of the animal, on the upper parts, with
fmall, diilinft, oval fcales, not ill refembling the gene¬
ral form of a grain of rice. At a fmall diftance beyond
the head is a lateral fwelling or dilatation of the Ikin,
which is continued to the diftance of about four inches
downwards, where the outline gradually finks, into the
cylindric form of the reft of the body. This part is ex-
tenfile at the pleafure of the animal; and, when viewr-
ed from above, while in its moft extended ftate, is of a
fomewhat cordated form, or wider at the upper than
at the lower part: it is marked above by a very large
and confpicuous patch or fpot, greatly refembling the
figure of a pair of fpe&acles ; the mark itfelf being
white, with black edges, and the middle of each of the
rounded parts black. This mark is more or lefs diftinCl
in different individuals, and alfo varies oceafionally in
fize and form, and in fome is even altogether wanting.
The ufual colour of the animal is a pale ferruginous
brown above, the under parts being of a bluifti white,
fometimes fiightly tinged with pale brown or yellow :
the tail, which is of a moderate length, tapers gra¬
dually, and terminates in a flender Iharp-polnted extre¬
mity.
“ This formidable reptile has obtained its Portuguefe
title of cobra de capello, or hooded fnakc, from the ap¬
pearance which it prefents when viewed in front in an
irritated ftate, or when prepared to bite 5 at which time
it bends the head rather downwards, and feems hooded,
as it were, in fome degree, by the expanded Ikin of
the neck. In India it is everywhere exhibited publicly
as a (how, and is, of courfe, more univerfally known in
that country than almoft any other of the race of rep¬
tiles. It is carried about in a covered ba&et, and fo
managed by its proprietors as to affume, when exhibit¬
ed, a kind of dancing motion $ raifing itfelf up on its
lower part, and alternately moving its head and body
from fide to fide for fome minutes, to the found of fome
mufical inftrument which is played during the time.
The Indian jugglers, who thus exhibit the animal, firft
deprive it of its fangs, by which means they are fecured
from the danger of its bite.”
The cfjbra de capello is one of the moft formidable
and dangerous of the ferpent tribe, though it is devour¬
ed with impunity by the viverra ichneumon. Dr Ruf-
fel deferibes ten varieties of this fpecies, and enters into
many curious details relative to the effc61s of its poifon
on dogs and other animals. He never knew it prove
mortal to a dog in lefs than 27 minutes, nor to a chick¬
en in lefs than half a minute. Hence its poifon, fatal
OPHIOLOGY. 157
Brown, with yellow as it is, feems to be lefs fpeedy in its operation than that Coluber.
~7r
of the rattlefnake.
RuJJellian Snake.—168 abdominal plates, 59 fubcau- „
dal fcales. Brownifti yellow j fpots on the back acutely
ovate, blackilh, and edged with white $ thofe on the
fides fmaller. About four feet long ; native of India,
and very poifonous. A chicken bitten in the pinion,
by an individual of this Ipecies, was inftantly infecled,
feized with convuliions, and expired in 38 feconds.
Immediately after the chicken, a (tout dog was bitten
in the thigh. Within lefs than five minutes he appear¬
ed ftupified *, the thigh was drawrn up, and he frequent¬
ly moved it, as if in pain. He remained, however,
(landing, and ate fome bread that was offered to him.
In about 10 minutes the thigh became paralytic } in 1 5
minutes he entirely loft the ufe of it, and lay down
howling in a difmal manner, frequently licking the
wound, and making, at intervals, ineffedlual attempts
to rife. In 19 minutes, after a (hart ceffation, he again
began to howl, moaned often, and breathed laborioufly,
till his jaws clofed. The few fucceeding minutes were
paffed, alternately, in agony and ftupor j and, in 26
minutes after the bite, he expired. A fecond dog, of
much fmaller fize, was next bitten, and expired in the
fpace of fix hours. A rabbit Avas next expofed to the
bite, and died in lefs than an hour. After this, another
chicken rvas bitten in the pinion, and expired in lefs
than fix minutes. Thefe experiments were all made .
with the fame fnake, in the courfe of the fame morn¬
ing. _ ’ ' $S
Crimfon-Jided Snake.—188 abdominal, and 7 anal P--rphy-
plates, 4 5 fubcaudal fcales. Violet black, with the ab-riacus'
domen and fides of a beautiful crimfon, the. plates mar¬
gined Avitb black. A fingular and elegant fpecies, with
the proportions nearly thofe of the common Englifti
fnake j poifonous ; and a native of New Holland. S7
Hcemachate Snake.—132 abdominal plates, 43 Cub-
caudal fcales. Red, clouded Avith Avhite aboAre, yellow- chatet. .
i(h Avbite beneath. Tavo feet or more in length 5 tail
extremely (hort, and tapering to a point. Native of
India 5 elegant, and poifoneus. gg
Water Viper.—BroAvn above, banded Avith black and Aquatieus.
yelloAv beneath. “ This ferpent (fays Catefljy) is call¬
ed, in Carolina, the waiter rattlefnake; not that it hath
a rattle, but is a large fnake, and coloured not much
unlike the rattlefnake, and the bite faid to be as mortal.
This .fnake frequents the Avater, and is never feen at any
great diftanee from it : the back and head are broAvn j
the belly tranfverfely marked Avith black and yelloav
alternately, as are the fides of the neck j the neck is
fmall, the head large, and armed Avith the like deftruc-
tive weapons as the rattlefnake. It Every nimble, and
particularly dexterous in catching fi(h. In fummer
great numbers are feCn lying on the branches of- trees
hanging over rivers, from which, at the approach of a
boat, they drop doAvn into the Avater, and often into
the boat, on the men’s heads. They lie in this manner
to furprife either birds or fifti, after Avhich laft they
plunge, and purfue them Avith great fAviftnefs, and catch
feme of a large fize, Avhich they carry on ftiore, and
fwalloAV whole. One of thefe I furprifed fwimming
afliore, Avith a large catfiih in its mouth. The tail , is
fmall towards the end, and terminates in a blunt horny
point, about half an inch in length, and which, though
harmlefs,
s9
FJega?itif-
Jimus-
t)0
Argus.
91.
Javanicus.
92
Natrix.
OPHIOLOGY.
harmlefs, is confidered as of dreadful efficacy by the
credulous vulgar, who believe, that the animal is able,
with this weapon, not only to kill men and other ani¬
mals, but even to deftroy a tree by wounding it with it j
the tree withering, turning black, and dying.”
Superb Snake'.—White, the head variegated with
black, and the body marked above by a quintuple feries
of ocellated red fpots. About two feet long, and poi-
fonous.
Argus Chefnut brown, yellow beneath, and
banded above, by tranfverfe rows of ocellated red fpots.
Above five feet in length •, native of Arabia and Brazil,
and very poifonous.
Java Snake.—312 abdominal plates, 93 fubcaudal
fcales. Gray, the head ftriped with blue, and the bo¬
dy croffed by blue ftripes, with gold-coloured edges.
Frequent in the rice fields of Java, where it grows to
the length of nine feet; but, in the more elevated and
wooded fituations, it attains to a Hill greater fize, and
is capable of devouring fome of the larger animals.
Splendid and innoxious.
Common, or Ringed Snake.—170 abdominal plates,
60 fubcaudal fcales. Olive brown, with a black patch,
accompanied by a yellow one, on each fide of the neck,
a row of narrow black fpots down each fide, and dulky
abdomen.
This fpecies is pretty generally diffufed over Europe,
and is not uncommon in our own ifland, affedting moift
and warm woods, balking or fleeping in the funlhine,
and becoming torpid in winter. The female depofits a
chain of from 12 to 20 eggs, about the fize of thofe of
the blackbird, conne&ed by bunches of a gluey matter,
in dunghills, or warm recefles, near ftagnant waters.
The young come forth in the following fpring. The
common fnake reappears in March or April, when it
calls its Ikin fo completely, that the fpoil exhibits even
the exterior pellicle of the eye. To adopt the language
of Mr White, in his Naturalift’s Calendar, “ It would
be a moft entertaining fight, could a perfon be an eye-
witnefs to fuch a feat, and fee the fnake in the a61 of
changing his garment. As the convexity of the eyes
in the Hough is now inward, that circumftance alone is
a proof that the Ikin has been turned •, not to mention
that now, the prefent infide is much darker than the
outer. If you look through the fcales of the fnake’s
eye from the concave fide, viz. as the reptile ufed them,
they leflen objedts much. Thus it appears, that fnakes
crawl out of the mouth of their own Houghs, and quit
the tail part laft, juft as eels are Ikinned by acookmaid.
While the fcales of the eyes are growing loofe, and a
new lkin is forming, the creature, in appearance, muft
be blind, and find itfelf in a very awkward and uneafy
fituation.”
This fpecies occafionally frequents the water, and
preys chiefly on frogs, mice, fmall birds, infedls, worms,
&c. It is not only perfedlly harmlefs, but even capa¬
ble of being domefticated. Mr White mentions, that
he knew a gentleman who had one in his houfe quite
tame. Though ufually as fweet as any other animal,
yet, whenever a ftranger, or a dog or cat entered, it
would begin to hifs, and foon filled the room wfith an
almoft infupportable odour. Mr Revett Shepphard of
Caius college, Cambridge, had a common fnake in his
rooms near three months. “ He kept it (fays Mr Bing-
iey) in a box of bran 3 and, during all that time, he
1
never could difcover that it ate any thing, although he Coluber,
frequently put both eggs and frogs, the favourite food
of this fpecies, into the box. Whenever he was in the
room he ufed to let the animal out of its prifon 3 it
would firft crawl feveral times round the floor, appa¬
rently with a defire to efcape 3 and when it found its at¬
tempts fruitlefs, it would climb up the tables and chairs,
and not unfrequently even up the chair of its owner as
he fat at his table. At length it became fo familiar as
to lie in a ferpentine form on the upper bar of his chair :
’it would crawl through his fingers, if held at a little di-
ftance before its head, or lie at full length upon his
table, while he was writing or reading, for an hour or
more at a time. When firft brought into the room, it
ufed to hifs and dart out its forked tongue 3 but in no
inftance emitted any unpleafant vapour. It was, in all
its actions, remarkably cleanly. Sometimes it was in¬
dulged with a run upon the grafs, in the court of the
college 3 and fometimes with a fwim in a large bafon of
water, which it feemed to enjoy very much. When
this gentleman left the univerfity, he gave his bed-
maker orders to turn it out into the fields, which, he
believes, was done.” ^
Black Snake.—186 abdominal plates, 92 fubcaudal Con/tricltr.
fcales. Glofly black, with a very long {lender body.
Five or fix feet long, and not venomous, though often
confounded by the ignorant and the timid with the rat-
tlefnake. Native of North America. Its fpeed and
adlivity, according to Brickell, are aftoniffiing. Some¬
times it will climb trees in queft of the tree-frog, or,
for other prey, glide at full length along the ground :
on other occafions it prefents itfelf half ereft, and ap¬
pears to great advantage. It is fo fond of milk, that
it has been feen eating it out of the fame difli with chil¬
dren, though they often gave it blows with their fpoons
on the head when it was too greedy. It perfecutes rats
with wonderful agility, purfuing them even to the roofs
of barns and outhoufes, and is therefore a great favour¬
ite among the Americans. ^
Fafciated or Wampum Snake.—Blue above, paler, FafciaW.
and variegated with brighter blue beneath. Its colours
referable thofe of the firings of Indian money, called
wampum, compofed of {hells cut into regular pieces,
and lining with a mixture of blue and white. Native
of Carolina and Virginia, fometimes growing to the
length of five feet, and perfedlly innocent. ^
Blue Green Snake.—217 abdominal plates, 122 fub- ViridiJJi.
caudal fcales. Bright blue green, wfith a purple tinges*-
on the back, and whitiffi abdomen. A very beauti¬
ful fpecies, about three feet long, harmlefs, and a native
of Surinam.
Coach-whip Snake.—Brown, with pale abdomen 3 Flagellum.
very long and flender, inoffenfive, and native of North
America. It runs with extreme fwiftnefs, in purfuit
of flies, &c. and is very eafily tamed. ^
Ornamented Snake.—Habit long, and very flender ; Ornatus.
colour jet black, with white flower-fliaped fpots, and
white abdomen. This very elegant fpecies inhabits
fome of the Weft India iflands, and, according to Seba,
is alfo found in Java and Ceylon. 9j
Domice/la Snake.—118 abdominal plates, 60 fubcau- Domicells
dal fcales. A very elegant and harmlefs fpecies, of a
Hender habit, with many jet-black crofs bands, and a
blackiftr line on the abdomen. It is alleged that the
Indian ladies fome times carry it in their bofomsf
Boaform
Coluber.
99
Bortformit
too
Domejlicus
tot
Fafciolatus
102
Lineatus-
103
Elegam.
T04
Mylileri-
l°S
Alnetulla.
106
H?DKUS.
107
Characters.
O P H I O
Boaform Snake.—252 abdominal plates, 62 fubcau-
dal fcales. Wlfitilh, with brown variegations ; white
beneath, with very Ihort fcuta, the under part of the
tail variegated with black and white. Native of India,
and fo ftrong, that it can numb the hand by wreathing
round the arm. Its bite, however, is not poifonous.
Domejlic Snake.—245 abdominal plates, 94 fubcaudal
fcales. Gray, fpotted with brown, and a double black
fpot between the eyes. Native of Barbary, where it is
domefticated for the purpofe of deftroying the fmaller
noxious animals.
Fafciolated Snake.—192 abdominal plates, 62 fubcau¬
dal fcales. Cinereous, with whitifh crofs bands, and
glaucous abdomen. Native of India, and not poifonous,
as vulgarly believed.
Lineated Snake.—169 abdominal plates, 84 fubcaudal
fcales. This beautiful and inoffeulive fpecies, though
fubjefl to conliderable variety of afpeft, may be gene¬
rally diitinguifhed by its bluilh-green ground, and three
or five brown linear ftripes, of which that in the middle
is broadeft. It inhabits feveral parts of India, and is
from two to three feet long.
Elegant Snake.—202 abdominal plates, 146 fubcau¬
dal fcales. Yellowifh gray, with three broad reticula¬
ted blackilh bands, a broad fillet on the abdomen, and
the head freckled with brown. Length about two feet}
tail very long and narrow. Native of South America.
Well figured by Seba.
Long-fnouted Snake.—192 abdominal plates, 167 fub¬
caudal fcales. Slender, with a (harp-pointed fnout •, co¬
lour grafs green, with a yellow line on each fide of the
abdomen. About three feet and a half in length, and
half an inch in diameter. Native of North America,
where it is often feen on trees, running very quickly in
purfuit of infedls.
Indefcent Snake.—163 abdominal plates, 150 fubcau¬
dal fcales. Tinge blue green, and gilded, accompanied
with iridefcent hues, with pale abdomen, and black
ftreak acrofs the eyes. From three to four feet long.
Native of India. One of the moil beautiful of the ferpent
tribe, and perfe&ly innocent.
To exhibit even fhort definitions of the other fpecies
included in the genus Coluber, would extend this article
to a difproportionate length. Of moil of the omitted
forts, however, we may obferve, that the hiftory is ei¬
ther not particularly interefting, or too little known.
10S
'olubrmus
109
''afciatus.
Tio
fn'ralis.
Gen. 4. Hydrus, Water-/nuke.
Body (lender in front, gradually thickening, fcaled ;
tail comprefled.—This is a genus, of recent inftitu-
tion, comprifing thofe fpecies of ferpents which natu¬
rally inhabit the water.
Colubrine Hi/drus.—Lead-coloured, with black fur¬
rounding bands. Ordinary length about two feet and a
half. The fangs are very fmall in proportion to the
fize of the animal. It is the coluber laticaudatus (Lin.),
and inhabits the A.meriean and Indian feas.
Fafciated Hydrus.—Long and (lender ; black, longi¬
tudinally marked by yellou idi white pointed bands j
upwards of two feet in length, poifonous, and native of
the Indian feas.
Sbiral Hydrus.—Yellow’lh, with brown bands 5 bo¬
dy fpirally twilled \ rare and elegaxjt fpecies, thus
defcribed by Dr Shaw. .
LOG Y.
“ Its length is about two feet, and its habit (lender ;
the body much compreifed throughout; the back riling
into a very (harp carina 5 the abdomen being alfo cari-
nated, but having a flattened edge of fcales fomewhat
wider than the reft, and meafuring about the fifteenth
of an inch in diameter 5 the head is fmall, and covered
with large fcales ; the mouth wide} the fcales on the
whole animal moderately fmall, ovate, and (lightly ca-
rinated; the ground colour is yellow, barred in a beau¬
tiful manner from head to tail with deep chefnut brown
or blackifh fafcise, each widening on the abdomen, and
thus forming a highly diftincft and handfome pattern
when viewed on each fide, feeming to conftitute (o ma¬
ny large, round, yellow fpots on a blackifti ground :
the back, at about the middle, is marked along its up¬
per part with a row of rather large, round, blackilh
fpots, fituated between the fafciae, and fo placed as to
be in fome parts on one fide, and in others on the oppo-
fite fide of the dorfal carina, while lome few are feated
on the middle of the ridge itfelf: this variegation is
continued to the tail, which is about an inch and three
quarters long, black or deep brown, with a few yellow
patches towards its beginning ; it is remarkably broad
for the fize of the animal, and very thin on the edges,
fo as to be femitranfparent on thofe parts. The moft
remarkable circumftance in this fnake is the fingular
obliquity of its form, the body in different parts being
alternately flatter on one fide than the other, and the
pattern completely expreffed on the flattened fide only j
the other, or more convex fide, being unmarked by the.
roundTpots, and lying' as it were beneath, thus confti-
tuting feveral alternately fpiral curves : this fnake feems
of an unufually (tiff and elaftic nature, and the carina
on the back is fo (harp as to furpafs in this refpeft every
other fpecies of ferpent. The fpecimen is in the Britifti
Mufeum ; but its particular hiftory feems to be un-
knbwn.”
Black-backed Hydrus.—Head oblong, body black a- Bicolor
bove, and yellowifli beneath ; tail fpotted. Anguis plat-
ma, Lin. Native of the Indian feas, and common
about the coafts of Otaheite, where it is ufed as an ar¬
ticle of food. 112
Great Hydrus.—Livid, with brown bands, and hexa- Major.
gonal fcales abruptly carinated. Upwards of three feet
long. Native of the Indian feas. Its habits little
known.
The other hydri are, cafpius, gracilis, ccerulefcens,
curtus, atrocceruleus, cinereus, pifcator, and palujiris.
Langaya.
hi
Gen.
113
Langaya.
JI4
Characters.
Abdominal plates, caudal rings, and terminal fcales.
There is only one fpecies known, viz.
. Snouted Langaya.—184 abdominal plates, 42 caudal
rings ; but thefe numbers are fubjeft to vary. Length
between two and three feet, and diameter about feven
lines, in the thickeft part of the body. Colour of the
upper parts reddilh, or violet, of the under parts pale or
whitifti. Teeth like thofe of the viper. Native of Ma-
dagafcar, where it is much dreaded.
116
Acko-
CHORDUS.
Gen. 6. Acrochordus.
Body completely covered with warts. Chira«fter
Javan Acrochordus.—This reptile was difcovered in jayanicys.
a
*1 Go O P H I O
Acrocl.or- a pepper field, in the ifland of Java, in 1784. It mea-
, fured eight feet in length, and 10 inches in diameter,
v^ " in the thickeft part of the body. It was blackifh above,
whitifti beneath, and marked by dulky fpots on the
Tides. Five young ones, full formed, and each nine
inches long, were found in the belly. The Chinefe
efteem it as a food.
The dubius and fafciatus are fo nearly allied to the
preceding, that they may be regarded only as vari¬
eties.
119
A-ngu13- Gen. 7. Anguis, Slow-wornn
■ Characters. Furni(hed with abdominal and fubcaudal fcales. Confor¬
mation refembling' that of feme of the lizard tribes,
the body being compofed of a feries of moveable rings,
which are eafily broken and eafily reproduced. A
very harmlels, and rather fiuggiib genus.
FragUis. Common Slow-worm, Blind-worm, or ILotig Cripple.
 abdominal, and the fame number of fubcaudal
leaks. Black, yellowifh alh, or rufous gray; belly
'black, Tides {treated with black and white, tail long
and obtufe, Teaks fmall, Toft, and -compaa. The co-
lodring is fubjea to confiderable variety. Length, from
I o to 12 inches, or more. Common in Europe and
Siberia, frequenting hollow ways, woods, paths, rubbifli,
&c. Viviparous, fubjea to hybernation, living on
worms and infeas, and perfeaiy innoxious. It is ob-
ferved of this fpecies, as well as of fome others, that, if
ftruck with any degree of violence, the body not only
breaks abruptly on the Itruck part, but even fometimes,
at different places, and that the fragments will live a
lone* while afterwards. Though of very gentle difpofi-
tions, the blind worm, like many of the family of ferr
pents’, refufes to eat in captivity, unkfs it is tamed. M.
Daudin mentions that he kept one two months and a
half, during all which time it conftantly refufed nourifh-
ment of every kind.—It is preyed on by various birds,
hedgehogs, fnakes, frogs and toads.
According to Dr Shaw, the Blue-bellied Snake, or
Aberdeen Slow-worm (A. Eryx Lin.) is only a variety
of the Fragilis. It occurs in Scotland and North
i»* America. , , . . , r ,
Scytale. Painted Slow-worm.—240 abdominal, and 13 lub-
caudal kales. Varies much in colour, but is generally
orange,with black blotches-, fometimes black and white,
fometimes pale rofe and black, paler beneath, and ele¬
gantly fafeiated with bars of deep black. Native of
South America, particularly of Cayenne and Surinam.
In preferved fpecimens, the orange hue is very apt to
123 fade into white. , . ,
CarciUitvis. Coral Ground colour pale red, wiih
coral red variegations. A very beautiful fpecies, native
124 of Brazil. . , , , , ,
tVentralis. Qlafs Slow-Worm.•~-l27 abdominal, 222 iubcaudai
fcales. Blackifh green, fpeckled with yellow, with ?
very fhort yellow abdomen, a deep furrow on each fide
of the body, from the corners of the mouth to the vent,
and a tail more than twice the length of the abdomen.
Native of North America, and not uncommon in Caro¬
lina, where it is called the Glufs Snake. ‘ A fmall
blow of a ftkk,’ fays Catefhy, ‘ caufes the body to fe-
marate, not only at the place ftruck, but at two or three
other places, the mufcles being articulated quite through
the vertebrae,*
LOGY.
Snouted Slow-worm,.—218 abdominal, and 12 fub- Angui!.
caudal kales. Greenifh black above, yellow beneath,
fnout elongated, tail terminating in a horny tip. Length Nar^a;
about a foot. Native of Surinam. i2<{
Jamaica Slow-worm, or Silver Snake.—Pale brown, Jamaiccn-
with a filvery glofs on the kales j the body, which rarely./m
exceeds lixteen inches in length, gradually thickening,
and the tail abruptly fubacuminate.
The other fpecies are, meleagris, ater, maculata,
Imcomelas, rufa, reticulata, and chvioca.
127
• Gen. 8. AMPHISB2ENA. Amphis.
Body nearly cylindrical, with annular divifions round X1g
the body and tail. The Ikin divided in a longitudi-charaften,
'rial dire&ion, by ftraight lines, forming with the
wings fo many fquare or paralklogrammic fcales. A
harmlefs and oviparous genus, native of the warmer
regions of the new world, and not of Ceylon, as Seba
has erroneoufly afferted.
White Amphijbeena.—223 abdominal, and 16 caudal, Alba.
kaly rings. Pale white, verging on yellowifh, and
unfpotted. Two feet or more in length, and of a con-
fiderable proportionate thicknefs. Is found in woods, in
Surinam, &.c. where it preys chiefly on infers and
worms. _ 139
Fuliginous Amphijbcena.— 200 abdominal, and 30 Fuliginofa,
caudal, fcaly rings. Differs from the preceding chiefly
by its black and white variegations. Common in
Cayenne, Surinam, and Brazil 5 but Linnceus, and other
naturalifts, milled by Seba, have falfely reprefented it
as a native of Libya, the ifland of Lemnos, &c.
Gen. 9. CjECILIA. Ctecilu.
Body cylindrical, wrinkles on the fides of the body Cha^ers,
and tail. <
G3
Eel-[hoped Ccecilia.—Anguilliform, with diftant Tentacu*
wrinkles, and a very fmall cirrhus beneath each noftril.lata'
The Ikin of the whole body, when clofely infpe&ed, is
found to be covered with very minute granules. About
18 inches long, native of South America, and deflitute
of poifon fangs. _ Vf4
White-Jided Ccecilia.—340 wrinkles on the body, 10 Glutinofa.
on the tail. Brown, with very clofe wrinkles, and a
whitiih lateral line. Native of South America. I35
Slender Ccecilia.—Brown, fhaped like an earth-worm, Gracilis.
nearly 14 inches long, and one fifth of an inch in dia¬
meter. The upper jaw is longer than the lower, and
the teeth are fo fmall, as not to be diftinftly vifibk.
We cannot clofe our dekriptive catalogue of the fer-
pent tribe, without remarking, that the iubjeft ftill
requires elucidation-, that the Linnsean chara&ers are not
always to.be. ftridtly interpreted -, and that feveral fpecies
appear to have been overlooked, merely becaufe the
^number of their fc^les could not be afeertained.
Mifcellaneous Obfervations.
y . I3"- j
The formidable afpect of fome ferpents, and the poifon- Worftup*
ous qualities of others, have probably infpired mankind, ferPents’
in every age, with fentiments of terror and awe. In the
rude periods of fociety, foar is akin to devotion, and
Bartram informs us, that the rattlefnake is worfhipped
by feveral of the favage tribes in North America. On
the
O P H I O
Mifcellane- the Gold and Slave coafts, a Granger, on entering -the
Tat?onSer" cottaM'fs t!,e natives, is often furprifed to fee the roof
■ —^ ' ■ fwarming with ferpents, that ding there without mo-
lefting,. and unmoiefted by, the natives. But his fur-
prife will inereafe as he advances farther fouthward, to
the kingdom of Widah, when he finds that a ferpent is
the god of the country. This animal, which travellers
defcribc as a huge overgrown creature, has its habita¬
tion, its temple, and its prieits. Thefe lait imprefs the
vulgar with an opinion of its virtues 5 and numbers are
daily feen to otter, not only their goods, provifions, and
prayers, but even their wives and daughters at the
thrine of their hideous deity. The priells readily ac¬
cept the proffered females, and after fome days of /;«?-
watfce, return them to their fuppliants, much benefited
13J by the ferpent’s fuppofed embraces.
Enchant- The ancients feem to have been aware, that certain
mentof fer-fpec;es of ferpents were attracted by mufical founds, and
?en s- have celebrated the P/j/Z/z' and Marjl^
Ad quorum canlus mites jucuere cera/ice.
At this day, there are jugglers in India, who train fnakes
to move and gefticulate to the found of the flute ; and
we have already .mentioned, that they tame the Cobra de
Capello, and exhibit it to the populace. When the fnake-
man firft provokes the creature to attack him, he covers
his hand with an earthen jar, which he ufes as a Ihield,
and thus hurts the animal’s mouth, and knocks it back¬
wards whenever it attempts to bite. He continues this
exercife for an hour, ctr longer, taking care, however,
not to fatigue the fnake too much, nor to hurt it fo as
to deter it from returning to the attack. Thus, the a-
nimal is gradually taught to raife itfelf, on prefenting a
jar, a flick, or even the bare hand, the motions of which
it follows with its head, without daring to bite, left it
fhould again wound its mouth. The juggler accompanies
this exercife with flinging, fo that what is really a defen-
five war on the part of the ferpent, has the appearance
of a dance. To render this exhibition lefs dangerous,
the fangs are fometimes removed ; but more frequently
the fnake is deprived of its poifon, by being daily irri¬
tated to bite on a piece of cloth, or any foft flpongy fub-
itance j nay, they have the addrefs and courage to prels
its head, and thus, provoke it, while biting, to make it
ieize the cloth with greater violence, and more effec¬
tually exprefs its poifon.
1 he Egyptian enchanters, however, appear to have
recourfe to more ingenious and myfterious artifices.
“ 1 hey take the molt poifonous vipers,” fays Haflel-
quift, “ with their bare hands, play with them, put
them in their bofoms, and ufe a great many more tricks
with them, as I have often feen. I have frequently
jeen them handle thofe that were three or four feet
long, and of the molt horrid fort. I inquired and exa-
mmed if they had cut out the viper’s poifopous teeth :
but I have with my own eyes feen they do not. We
inay therefore conclude, that there are to this day Pflylli
m Egypt; but what art they ufe is not eafily known,
borne people are very fuperftitious, and the generality
believe this to be.done by fome fupernatural art which
they obtain from invifible beings. I do not know whe¬
ther their power is to be aferibed to good or evil ; but
’uperffit^113^ that tll0^e 'v5l° undertake ^ ufe many
Vox. XV. Part Iv
log y.
161
various.
“ The circumftances relating to the fafeihation of fer- Mifcellane-
pents m Egypt, related to me,” he continues, “ were ous
principally, 1. I hat the art is only known to certain
families, who propagate it to their offspring. 2. The
perlon who knows how to fafeinate ferpents, never
meddles with other poifonous animals, fuch asfeorpions,
lizards, &c. I here are different perfons who know
how to faflemate thefe animals j and they again never
meddle with ferpents. 3. Thofe that fafeinate ferpents,
eat them both raw and boiled, and even make broth of
t icni, which they eat very commonly amor.gft them :
but in particular, they eat fuch a difli when they go out
to catch them. I have been told, that ferpents fried or
boiled are frequently eaten by the Arabians both in
ii.gypt and Arabia, though they know not how to faf¬
einate them, but catch them either alive or dead.
4* tliey hfve eaten their foup,. they procure a
blefling from their fcheik (prieft or lawyer), who ufes
fome lupemitious ceremonies, and amongft others, fpits
on them feveral times with certain geftures. This man¬
ner of getting a blefling from the prieft is pure fuperfti-
tmn, and certainly cannot in the leaft help to fafeinate
lerpents 5 but they believe, or at leaft perfuade others,
that the power of fafeinating ferpents depends upon this
On this fubjeft, the celebrated Mr Bruce,- in his Tra¬
vels to difeover the Source of the Nile, is alfo minute
and explicit. Among other paffages, we ftiall be con¬
tent to quote the following.
“ 1 wiIJ not hefitale to aver, that I have feen at
t-.airo (and this may be feen daily without trouble of
expence) a man who came from above the catacombs
where the pits of the mummy birds are kept, who has
taken a cerafles with his naked hand from a number of
others lying at the bottom of the tub, has put it upon
his bare head, covered it with the common red cap he
wears, then taken it out, put it in his breaft, and tied
it about his neck like a necklace ; after which it has
been applied to a lien, and bit it, which has died in a
lew minutes 5 and to complete the experiment, the man
has taken it by the neck and beginning at his tail, has
eaten it as one would do a carrot or a ftock of celery
without any feeming repugnance.” ' ’
“ I can myfelf vouch, that all the black people in the
kingdom of Sennaar, whether Funge or Nuba, are per-
leaiy armed againft the bite of either fcorpion or viper
1 hey take the ceraftes in their hands at all times put
them, in their bofoms, and throw them to one another
as children do apples or balls, without having irritated
them, by this ufage, fo much as to bite. The Arabs
have not this fecret naturally ; but from their infancy
they acquire an exemption from the mortal confequences
attending the bite of thefe animals, by chewing a certain
root, and waftnng themfelves (it is not anointing) with
an inrulion of certain plants in water.”
r S1*!1™11? °f SavaiT is not lefs precife. At the
feaff of Sid, Ibrahim, he faw a troop of people, feem-
ingly poffefled, With naked arms and fierce looks, hold¬
ing in their hands enormous ferpents, which twined
round their body, and endeavoured to efcape. But
thefe enchanters avoided the bite, by grafping the ani¬
mals ftrongly by the neck, then tore them with theif
teeth, and ate them alive, while the blood ftreamed
from their mouth.
^ The
X
lC)2
OPHIOLOGY.
Mifcellane- The clrcumdance of feizing them faft by the neck,
t/Ua 'bier- accorcjs vvith the concluding part of the enluing relation
vations. x-,
> or Uenon.
“ Having been always curious to obferve the means
by which fume men command the opinions of others, I
regretted that 1 was not at Rofetta, at the proceilion of
the feait of Ibrahim, in which the convulfions of the
Pfylli form the molt entertaining part, to the populace,
of this religious ceremony. To make up for my lofs, I
addrelTed myfelf to the chief of the left, who was keeper
of the Okel or tavern of the Franks j I Hattered him j
and he promifed to make me a fpectator of the exaltation
of one of the Pfylli, as foon as he ihould have infpired
him. From my curiofity he thought I was likely to
become a profelyte, and he propofed to initiate me,
which I accepted ; but when 1 learned that in the cere¬
mony of initiation, the grand mailer fpits in the mouth
of the neophyte, this circumllance cooled my ardour,
and I found that I could not prevail on myielf to fubmit
to fuch a point of probation. I therefore gave my
money to the chief, and the high prieft promifed to let
me fee one of the infpired.
“ They had brought with them feme ferpents, which
they let loofe from a large leather fack in which they
were kept, and by irritation made them eredl their
bodies, and hifs. I remarked that the light was the
principal caufe of their anger; for as loon as they were
returned into the fack, their paflion ceafed, and they no
longer endeavoured to bite. I hey had a particular
quality, which was that when angry, the neck for fix
inches below the head was dilated to the lize of one’s
hand. I foon faw, that I had no greater reafon to
dread the bite of thefe ferpents than their mailers had ;
for having well remarked that the Pfylli, while they
were threatening the animal with one hand, feized it
on the back of the head with the other, I did the lame
with one of the ferpents with equal fuccefs, though much
to the indignation of thefe myfterious quacks.”
We have likewife heard of people in Europe who
allowed themfelves to be bitten by vipers, with im¬
punity, to the great allonilhment of the Ipedlators.
They firll made the animal eat of a prepared palte,
which clofed the apertures in the fangs, and thus pre-
eluded the difeharge of the poifon.
Serpentine Various and contradi&ory opinions, conjeftures, and
poifon. fidlions, have been advanced relative to the nature,
adlion, and cure of ferpentine poifon. Among the vul¬
gar errors connefled with this fubjecl, we may reckon
the Jting, fixed in the ferpent’s tail, and the flowing of
venom from the black forked tongue, and from the teeth
in general.
Towards the end of the 17th century, Ferdinand II.
Grand Duke of Tufcany, invited Steno, Redi, and fome
other eminent men of fcience, to his court, with a view
to inveftigate the hiilory of this important phenomenon
in tire animal economy. Redi, in particular, inllituted
a great variety of experiments, and arrived at fome ufe-
ful difeoveries. When he either caufed a living viper
to bite a dog, or wounded the latter with the teeth of
one newly dead, the event was the fame. If the bite
was repeated, its effeft became weaker, and, at length
was loll, the poifon contained in the veficle being ex-
haufted. He obferved, that w hen the teeth of ferpents
■were extended to bite, they were moiflcned over with a
certain liquor, and that when the veficle at the bafe Mifcellanr.
was preifed, a drop of poifon flowed to the point of the ousObier-
fang. When the poifon thus flowing from the veficle , 'l>‘ltl^ons' ^
was received in fofl bread, or a fponge, an animal bitten
by the ferpent received no more harm from the wound
than from the pinch of a needle, till after a few days,
when the venom was fecreted afrelh but when an ani¬
mal was wounded with the point of a needle dipped in
the poifon, it was tormented with the fame pains as if
it had been bitten by the viper itlelf. Having preferved
fome of this poifon in a glafs, and totally evaporated the
moillure in the fun, when the refiduum was diluted
with water, Redi found, to his great furprife, that it had
the fame effedl as when recent. But the boldnefs of
Jacob Sozzi, a viper charmer, excited the aftonithment
of the learned. As they happened in the prince’s pre¬
fence to talk of the certain death which would attend
the fwallowing of viperine poifon, Sozzi, confiding in
his art, drank a confiderable portion of it without hefi-
tation, and with the fame fafety as if he had drunk fo
much water. This refult, which fo much llartled the grand
duke and his philofophic affociates, was not unknown to
the ancients, as may be inferredfrom thefe lines in Lucan.
Noxia ferpentum ejl admifo /anguine pef is:
Morfu virus habent et fatum dente minuntur,
Pocu/a morte carent.
The ingenious and indefatigable Fontana made no
fewer than 6oco experiments on this interefling fubjedl.
Of thefe, our limits will not permit us to enumerate the
refults. In confequence, however, of his multiplied and
perfevering refearches, wre are enabled to Hate, that this
poifon is not fatal to all animals •, that it kills neither vi¬
pers, fnakes, blind-worms, fnails, nor leeches 5 that it adls
very (lightly on tortoifes j that it is neither an acid nor an
alkali-, thatit has no determined favour, and that it leaves
in the mouth merely a fenfation of aftringency and ftu-
por. It long retains its virulence in the cavity of the
tooth, whether the latter be feparated or not from its
focket; but when dried and kept in an expofed fitua-
tion, it lofes its deleterious qualities in lefs than a year.
Hence the propriety of caution in examining vipers that
are fluffed or preferved in fpirits, and in making ufe of
clothes that have been bitten by them. Fontana has alfo*
proved that the poifon of the viper is not uniformly fa¬
tal except to very fmall animals, and that it is more dan¬
gerous to the larger forts, according to the quantity of
virus fecreted, the frequency of the bites, the different-
parts of the body on which they have been inflicted, and
probably alfo, the higher temperature of the atmofphere.
A fparrow dies in five or eight minutes, a pigeon in
eight or twelve, a cat fometimes recovers, and a flieep
very often j fo that a man has little reafon to dread the
confequences of a Angle bite in the climate of Italy,
and flill lefs fo in France or Great Britain. The hun¬
dredth part of a grain of poifon applied to a mufcle will
kill a fparrow, whereas fix times that quantity are re¬
quired to kill a pigeon. According to this eflimate,
about three grains fhould prove fatal to a man, and 12
to an ox. But the veficles of an ordinarily fized viper
feldom contain more than two grains of poifon, and
even that quantity is not exhaulled till after repeated
bites. The poifon is of a gummy confiflency, and feems
to aft by deftroying the irritability of the mufcular
fibre,
OPHIOLOGY.
163
Mlfcellane- fibre, and introducing into tlie fluids a principle of pu¬
pa* Obfer- trefadtion. It may be fwallowed with impunity, pro-
, vat‘ons- i vided there be no wound in the mouth $ but if intro¬
duced into the blood, the molt violent and convulfive
agonies enfue, the fanguiferous fyftem becoming coagu¬
lated, and the whole animal frame relaxed. Hence,
powerful fudorifics, as the flefh of the viper itfelf, of
fnakes and lizards, which contain a large proportion of
ammoniacal foap, the volatile alkali, and its various
preparations, with numerous plants which excite copious
perfpiration, have been recommended, and often fuc-
cefsfully ufed as antidotes, efpecially when their ex¬
hibition has been preceded by a tight ligature imme¬
diately above the wound, and by fcarification and cau-
Itics.
On the effects and cure of the poifon of fnakes, fome
valuable obfervations and reflections occur in Dr Ruflell’s
fplcndid work on Indian ferpents. The judicious au¬
thor remarks, that when the poifon is applied to brute
animals, its progrefs is often fo very rapid as hardly to
leave time for the operation of medicine, or the applica¬
tion of any means whatever, with a probability of fuc-
cefs. When the. progrefs is flower, fhould the remedy
be adminiflered before unequivocal fymptoms have re¬
moved all doubt of the poifon having taken cffeCt, re¬
covery may be afcribed to the medicine given, whilft,
in reality, no malady cxifted ; and if deferred till doubts
are removed, the remedy which, if applied in time
might have proved efficacious, may be unjuflly regarded
as ufelefs. Relides, it is well known that a bite of the
moft noxious fnake does not conftantly prove fatal, and
that even fome of the more tender animals, without the
ufe of any remedy, recover in cafes where the fymptoms
are apparently very formidable. Thefe fymptoms, in
the bodies of different animals, are very much alike, and
proceed nearly in the fame order of progreflion, though
with different degrees of rapidity.
The American Indians either fuck the wound, or ap¬
ply to it chewed tobacco, or make feveral incifions
around it, which they fill with gunpowder, and then
fire it off. During the progrefs of the cure they have
likewife recourfe to feveral pounded and bruifed plants,
as to fome of the fpecies of lachica, the root of prennn-
thes alba, the Items and leaves of a fpecies of helianthus,
and in defperate cafes the radical bark of the tulip-tree.
In general they are partial to the ufe of the fyngenefious
plants, and to the bark of the trunk and roots of va¬
rious trees.
The experiments of Bernard de Juffieu, Lebeau, Son-
nini, and Bofc, feem to have eftabliflied that, of all
known remedies for the bite of the viper and the rattle-
fnake, the moft efficacious are, the volatile alkali, or
eau tie luce, with fudftion and fcarification of the recent
wound,
In addition to thefe methods of cure, we {hall quote
the prefeription of Dr Mofeiey, who fpent 12 years in
the Weft Indies.
“ The bites and flings of all venomous animals are
cured by the fame local means, which are very Ample
if they were always at hand. The injured part muft be
inftantly deftroyed or cut out. Deflroying it is the
moil fafe, and equally certain ; and the beft application
for that purpofe is the lapis infernalis, or butter of an¬
timony. Thefe are preferable to a hot iron which the
ancients ufed, becaufe a hot iron forms a cruft, which
adds as a defence to the under parts inftead of deftroying Mifcenanc.
them. The lapis infernalis is much better than any
other, as it melts and penetrates during its application. ' .
The bitten part muft be deftroyed to the bottom, and
where there is any doubt that the bottom of the wound
is not fufficiently expbfed, butter of antimony fhould be
introduced to it on the following day, as deep as pof-
lible ; and inciflons ftiould be made to lay every part
open to the adtion of thefe applications. BeJides de¬
ftroying, burning, or cutting out the part, incifions
ffiould be made round the wound, to prevent the com¬
munication of the virus. The wound is to be drefl'ed
for lome time with poultices, to afluage the inflamma¬
tion caufed by the cauftics •, and afterwards with acrid
dreffings and hot digeftives to drain the injured parts.
“ Where the above-mentioned cauflics cannot be
procured, eorrofive fublimate, oil of vitriol, aquafortis,
fpirit of fait, common cauftic, or a plafter made of
quicklime and foap, may be applied to the wound.
Gunpowder laid on the part and fired, has been ufed
with fuccefs. When a perfon is bitten remote from
any affiftance, he fliould make a tight ligature above
the part until proper application can be made. The
Spaidfli writers fay, that the habilla de Carthagena, or
Carthagena bean, is a fpecific for poifonous bites taken
inwardly.
Dr Mofeiey then proceeds to ftate the ample tefti-
mony of Ulloa in favour of this bean, which is found in
great abundance in the Weft India iflands, under the
name of antidote or cocoon antidote. “ I have been in¬
formed (adds he) by fome intelligent Indians, that any
of the red peppers, fuch as bird pepper or bell pepper,
or what is called Cayenne pepper, powdered, and taken
in a glafs of rum, as much as the ftomach can pofiibly
bear, fo as to caufe and keep up for fome time great
heat and inflammation in the body, and a vigorous cir¬
culation, will flop the progrefs of the poifon of ferpents,
even after its effefts are vifible ; and that the bitten
part only afterwards mortifies and feparates, and that
the patient, with bark, wine, and cordials, foon reco-
vers-” . r3<)
The naturalift who collcfts ferpents for the purpofe Preferva-
of preferving them in his cabinet, fhould have recourfe t‘on ^er*
to various precautions, which, though feveral of thempent8‘
are fufficiently obvious, are, at the fame time, too often
neglefted. In general the hurtful forts are caught with
the greateft fafety and dexterity by natives of the coun¬
try in which they abound. The want of the head in
many of the larger fluffed fpecimens from Guiana, &c.
renders them of little value in a feientific point of view,
and is the refult of fuperfluous trouble to travellers who
fend them to Europe in this mutilated condition. Col-
leftors, therefore, ftumld carefully inftru£t their agents
to preferve this part of the animal. As thefe larger
fpecimens cannot eafily be prepared without an incifion
in the {kin, it will be of confequence to make this inci¬
fion on the fide, beginning at the termination of the
plates, and not cutting acrofs them, as is too often done*
to the great prejudice of diftinft claffification. When
the fkin is once ftripped, it may be carefully rolled
up, and fluffed in the preparation room in the ufual
manner.
The fmaller fpecies of ferpents may be kept in pre¬
pared fpirits. Pure alcohol and fpirituous liquors, efpe-
cialiy when not reduced by water, frequently afFeft the
X 2 moft
164 O P H I O
Mtfcellane- mofl; brilliant animal colours. Thus, in the ordinary
0tvatictiel ca^^net liquors, the fine red of the haemachate fnake
» ^—7, degenerates into a dark brown, fcales of a bright green
or blue become fomewhat pale, yellow always whitens,
and orange changes to red or pale. White, brown,
black, purple, mother of pearl, and metal-coloured
fcales are not liable to change. The following is an
approved recipe for preferving the various colours of
ferpents entire.
Take very pure fpring water, faturate it with alum,
then mix with it about one-fifth of its bulk of very lim¬
pid fpirit of wine, pafs the mixture through a paper
ftrainer, and keep the liquor well corked up in bottles,
in fome cool and lhady fituation. Immerfe the animal
which you wifh to preferve in a veffel filled with this
liquor, and allow it to remain in it 24 hours. The vef-
lei and its included liquor fhould be referved for this
preliminary procefs. Then remove the reptile into a
cylindrical veffel of fine glafs, filled to three-fourths of
its height with the liquor above defcribed, and clofed
LOG Y.
with a glafs cover. Lute the latter with maftic and Mifcellane-
hogs greafe } put the veffel on a ffielf that is Iheltered ous ?bf«-
from heat and the folar rays 5 and at the end of two vatl0ns-
months, if the maftic be dry, and you wilh the jar to 'r~J
remain clofed, paint the luting with an oil colour; but
if you intend to open it frequently, ufe only the hogs
greafe.
Reptiles may alfo be conveniently preferved accord¬
ing to the method indicated by Chauffer, in the Bulle¬
tin des Sciences, (for Prairial, year 10, N° 63.), without
the previous trouble of preparing the Ikin. All that is
required, is to {tuff the cavities with cotton, and to im¬
merfe the body in diftilled water, faturated with fuper-
oxygenated muriate of mercury j and when it has fuf-
ficiently imbibed the faline folution in all its parts, to
allow’ it to dry {lowly in a well aired fituation, fcreened
from the fun and duff. All the parts of the animal
harden, and are thus defended from the voracity of in¬
fers, and corruption of every kind.
EXPLANATION of PLATES CCCLXXI, CCCLXXII, CCCLXXIII, and CCCLXXIV.
Fig. 1. Carinated Scale.
— 2. Plain Scale.
— 3. Tail of Coluber Snake.
— 4. Tail of Boa.
— 5. Fang or Tooth through which the poifon is
conveyed.
Fig. 6. The head of poifonous fnake furniffed with
fangs, aa a a.
Fig. 7. The head of innoxious fnake without fangs.
— 8. Crotalus Horridus, Banded Rattle-Snake.
— 9. Boa Conjlriffor.
Fig. 10. Coluber Berus, Common Viper.
— 11. - Cerajles.
— 12.   Laticaudatus, Colubrine Hydrus.
— 13. Languya Nafuta, Snouted Langaya.
— 14. Acrochordus Javanicus, Javan Acruchor-
dus.
Fig. 15. Anguis Corallinus, Coral Slow-worm.
—* 16. Amphijbtzna Alba, White Amphilbaena.
— 17.   Fuliginous Amphif-
baena.
Fig. 18. Ceccilia Tentaculata, Eel-fliaped Csecilia.
t
INDEX.
jicROCHOKDUS, characters and
fpecies of, N° 116
Ana'omt/ of ferpents, 12—41
Anguis, characters and fpecies of, 119—126
Atnpliijhcena, characters, &c. 127—130
Asp, 79
B.
Banded rattle-fnake, hiftory of, 55
Boa, characters, Ipecies, and hiftory
of, 60—71
Black fnake, 93
Black-tailed rattle-fnake, 59
Blue and green fnake, 95
Canine boa, 65
Cerajles, 81
Crotalus, characters and fpecies of, 53—59
natural hiftory of, ib.
Cobra de Capello, 84
Coluber, characters, fpecies, and hiftory
of, 72—101
ConJlriBor boa, 61
Coach-whip fnake, N° 96
Cceciha, characters, &e. 132—135
D.
Domejlic fnake, 100
E.
Embroidered boa, 66
F.
Fafdated boa, 68
Garden boa, 67
H.
Horn-nofe fnake, 82
llydriis,characters and fpecies of, 106—112
I.
Iridefcent fnake 105
Langaya, characters and fpecies, 114, 115
Lineated fnake, 102
M.
Miliary rattle-fnake, 58
O.
Ophiology, introduction to, >
Ophiology, hiftory of, N° 2—-II
writers on, ib.
P.
Phyjiology of ferpents, 42—52
Poifon of ferpents, 138
experiments on by Redi, ib.
by Fontana, ib.
cure of, ib.
R.
Rattle-fnake, characters^ fpecies, and hi-
ftory of, 53-39
Kinged boa, 64
fnake, 92
Ruffellian fnake, 85
S.
Serpents, anatomy of, 12—41
phyfiology of, 42—j2
worftiip of, 136
enchantment of, 137
poifon of, 138
prefervation of, 139
Striped rattle-fnake, 56
SpeElach
r-v\7Vyivy
OPHIOIiOGY
FLATE CCCEXXZT.
■
ophiology:
PLATE CCCLA A ///.
^//-
OPHIOLOGY
/VsJYV'J CCCJsXXZV
» S'sy . / >0.
Spectacle fnake, N° 84
Spotted boa, __ _ 63
Slow-warm, charaders and fpecies of,
119—126
common, 121
painted, 122
coral, 123
glafs, 124
OPHIOLOGY.
Slow-xvorm, fnouted, N° 125
Jamaica, 126
V.
Viper, common, 74
American black, 75
Egyptian, 76
Charafian, 77
Redi’s, 78
Viper, Greek, N° 80
horned, 81
water, 88
W.
Water-fnahe, charaders and fpecies of,
106—112
Wood rattle-fnake, 37
O P H
Ophioman- OPHIOMANCY, in antiquity, the art of making
cy predidions from ferpents. Thus Calchas, on feeing
II a ferpent devour eight fparrows with their dam, fore-
°l)hir- , told the duration of the fiege of Troy : and the feven
’ coils of a ferpent that was feen on Anchifes’s tomb,
were interpreted to mean the feven years that ./Eneas
wandered from place to place before he arrived at
Latium.
OPHIORHIZA, a genus of plants belonging to the
pentandria clafs, and in the natural method ranking un¬
der the 47th order, Stellatce. See Botany Index.
OPHIOXYLON, a genus of plants belonging to
the polygamia clafs, and in the natural method ranking
with thofe of which the order is doubtful. See Botany
T Index.
Different OPHIR, a country mentioned in Scripture, from
hypothefes which Solomon had great quantities of gold brought
the fifing ^ome wh*ch he fent out for that purpofe ; but
tion of11" 'where t0 its lituation is the great difficulty, authors
Ophir. running into various opinions on that head. Some
^ have gone to the Weft, others to the Eaft Indies, and
Hypothefis the eaftern coaft of Africa, in fearch of it.—Mr Bruce,
of Mr the celebrated Abyffinian traveller, has difplayed much
Bruce. learning and ingenuity in fettling this queftion of Bi¬
blical hiftory. To the fatisfadHon of moft of his
readers, he has determined Ophir to be Sofala, a king¬
dom of Africa, on the coaft of Mofambique, near Zan-
guebar (fee Sofala). His reafons for this determi¬
nation are fo generally known, that it would be im¬
proper to repeat them here at length j becaufe fuch
as are not already acquainted with them may con-
fult his book, which has been long in the hands of the
public. He juftly obferves, that in order to come to
a certainty where this Ophir was, it will be neceflary
to examine what Scripture fays of it, and to keep
precifely to every thing like defcription which we
can find there, without indulging our fancy farther.
V?, Then, the trade to Ophir, was carried on from the
Elanitic gulf through the Indian ocean, id/y, The
returns were gold, filver, and ivory, but efpecially
f 1 Kings, ^ver f. ^d/y, The time of the going and coming of
J-22. the fleet was precifely three years J, at no period more
^ 1 ^gs, or lefs.
2 chron Now, if Solomon’s fleet failed from the Elanitic
ix. 2i, §UR to the Indian ocean, this voyage of neceffity
nrnft have been made by monfoons, for no other winds
reign in that ocean. And what certainly ftiows this
ivas the cafe, is the precife term of three years in
which the fleet went and came between Ophir and
Ezion-gaber.
Thefe mines of Ophir were probably what furniflied
3
O P H
the Eaft with gold in the earlieft times : great traces of Ophir.
excavation muft therefore have appeared. ' ^
But John dos Santos fays, that he landed at Sofala
in the year 1586; that he failed up the great river
Cuama as far as lete, where, always defirous to be in
the neighbourhood of gold, his order had placed their
convent. Thence he penetrated for about two hundred
leagues into the country, and faw the gold mines then 3
working at a mountain called Afura. At a confi-Arguments
derable diftance from thefe are the filver mines of Chi-in fuPPort
coua j at botli places there is a great appearance of0* lt;“
ancient excavations \ and at both places the houfes
of the kings are built with mud and ftraw, whilft
there, are large remains of maffy buildings of ftone
and lime.
Every thing then confpires to fix the Ophir of Solo¬
mon in the kingdom of Sofala, provided it would necef-
farily require neither more nor lefs than three years to
make a voyage from Ezion-gaber to that place and Tar-
ftiiflr and return. To eftabliffi this important fad, our
author obferves, that the fleet or ffiip for Sofala, part¬
ing in June from Ezion-gaber (fee Ezion-gaber),.
would run down before the northern monfoon to Mo¬
cha (fee Mocha). Here, not the monfoon, but the
direflion of the gulf, changes; and the violence of
the fouth-wefters, which then reign in the Indian ocean,
make themfelves at times felt even in Mocha roads.
The veflel therefore comes to an anchor in the harbour
of Mocha} and here fhe waits for moderate weather
and a fair wind, which carries her out of the ftraits of
Babelmandel, through the few leagues where the wind
is variable.
Her courfe from this is nearly louth-weft, and flie
meets at Cape Guardafui, a ftrong fouth-wefter that
blows dircftly in her teeth. Being obliged to return
into the gulf, ftie miftakes this for a trade-wind j be¬
caufe lire is not able to make her voyage to Mocha
but by the fummer monfoon, which carries her no far¬
ther than the ftraits of Babelmandel, and then leaves
her in the face of a contrary wind, a ftrong current to
the northward, and violent fwell.
The attempting this voyage with fails, in thefe cir-
cumftances, was abfolutely impoffible, as their veflels
went only before the wind : if it was performed at all,
it muft have been by oars; and great havock and lofs
of men muft have been the confequence of the feveral
trials.
At laft, philofophy and obfervation, together with
the unwearied perfeverance of man bent upon his own
viewTs and intereft, removed thefe difficulties, and (bowed
the mariners of the Arabian gulf, that thefe periodical
■winds.
V
O P H . [ 166 ] O P H
Ophir. -wincls, wlilch in the beginning they looked upon as in-
vjncjj3ie barriers to the trading to Sofala, when once
underftood, were the very means of performing this
voyage fafely and expeditioufly.
The veffel trading to Sofala failed from the bottom
of 'the Arabian gulf in fummer, with the monfoon at
north, which carried her to Mocha. There the mon¬
foon failed her by the change of the dire&ion of the
gulf. The fouth-well winds, whicli blow without Cape
Guardafui in the Indian ocean, forced themfelves round
the cape fo as to be felt in the road of Mocha, and
make it uneafy riding there. But thofe foon changed,
the Aveather became moderate, and the veffel, we fup-
pofe in the month of Auguft, was fafe at anchor un¬
der Cape Guardafui, where was the port whicli, many
years afterwards, was called Protnontorium Aroma-
tum. Here the fliip was obliged to flay all Novem-^
ber, becaufe all thefe fummer months the wind fouth
of the cape was a ftrong fouth-wefter, as hath been
before faid, direftly in the teeth of the voyage to So¬
fala. But this time was not loft •, part of the goods
bought to be ready for the return was ivory, frankin-
cenfe, and myrrh •, and the fliip Avas then at the princi¬
pal mart for thefe.
Our author fuppofes, that in November the veffel
failed Avith the Avind at north-eaft, Avith Avhich flie
would foon have made her voyage : but off the coaft
of P*Ielinda, in the beginning of December, fhe there
met an anomalous monfoon at fouth-weft, in our days
fir ft obferved by Dr Halley, Avhich cut off her voyage
to Sofala, and obliged her to put into the fmall har¬
bour of Mocha, near Melinda, but nearer ftill to
Tarftiifli, Avhich aa'C find here by accident, and which
we think a ftrong corroboration that avc are right as
to the reft of the voyage. In the annals of Abyflinia,
it is faid that Amda Sion, making Avar upon that
coaft in the 14th century, in a lift of the rebellious
Moorifli vaffals, mentions-the chief of Tarfliifli as one of
them, in the very fituation Avhere avc have noAV placed
him.
Solomon’s veffel, then, Avas obliged to ftay at Tar¬
fliifli till the month of April of the fecond year. In
May, the Avind fet in at north-eaft, and probably carried
her that fame month to Sofala. All the time flie
fpent at Tarfliifti Avas not loft, for part of her cargo
was to be brought from that place •, and flie probably
bought, befpoke, or left it there. From May of the
fecond year, to the end of that monfoon in October, the
veffel could not ftir •, the Avind Avas north-eaft. But that
time, far from being loft, Avas neceffary to the traders
for getting in their cargo, which we (hall fuppofe was
ready for them.
The ftlip fails on her return, in the month of Novem¬
ber of the fecond year, with the monfoon fouth-weft,
which in a very feAv weeks Avould have carried her into
the Arabian gulf. But off Mocha, near Melinda and
Tarfliifli, fhe met the north-eaft monfoon, and Avas obli¬
ged to go into that port, and ftay there till the end of
that monfoon 5 after which a fouth-wefter came to her
relief in May of the third year. With the May mon¬
foon flie ran to Mocha within the ftraits, and was there
confined by the fummer monfoon bloiving up the Ara¬
bian gulf from Suez, and meeting her. Here {he lay
till that monfoon which in fummer blows northerly
from Suez, changed to a fouth-eaft one in October or
4
November, and that very eafily brought her up into
the EJanitic gulf, the middle or end of December of
the third year. She had no need of more time to com¬
plete her voyage, and it was not poflible fhe could do
it in lefs.
Such is a very fliort and imperfeft abftraft of our
author’s reafons for placing Ophir in Sofala. If it
excite the curiofity of our readers to confult his work,
it w’ill anlwer the purpofe for which avc have made
it.
We are noAV to give another ingenious conjedture Another
concerning the fituation of Ophir and Tarftiilh, Avith hypothefis*
which we have been favoured by Dr Doig, the learn¬
ed author of Letters on the Savage State, addreffed to
Lord Karnes.
This refpedlable Avriter holds that Ophir was fome-
where on the Aveft coaft of Africa, and that Tarftiilh
was the ancient Bietica in Spain. His effay is not
yet publiftied; but he authorizes us to give the follow¬
ing abltradl of it: “ The firft lime that Ophir, or ra¬
ther Aufir, occurs in Scripture, is in Gen. x. 29. Avhere
the facred hiftorian, enumerating the fons of Joktan,
mentions Aulir as one of them.” According to his
account, the defeendants of thofe 13 brothers fettled
all in a contiguous fituation, from Melba (the Mocha
of the moderns) to Sepharah, a mountain of the eaft,
Mofes, as every one knoAVs, denominates countries, and
the inhabitants of countries, from the patriarch from
whom thofe inhabitants defeended. In delcribing the
courfe of one of the branches of the river of paradife,
the fame Mofts informs us that it encompaffed the
Avhole land of Havilah, &c. which abounded Avith fine
gold, bdellium, and the onyx fione and this land had
its name from Havilah, the 1 2th fon of the patriarch
Joktan. Ophir or Aiifir Avas Havilah’s immediate elder
brother ; and of courfe the defeendants of the former,
in all probability, fixed their habitation in the neigh¬
bourhood of thofe of the latter. If, then, the land
of Havilah abounded Avith gold and precious ftones,
the land of Ophir undoubtedly produced the very fame
articles.
Here then we have the original Ophir \ here was yj^
found the primary gold of Ophir 5 and here lay the nal Ophir
Ophir mentioned in Job xi. 24. But as navigation not the
Avas then in its infant ftate, the native land of gold
mentioned by Job muft have been much nearer home ,v]ut'u’
than that to which the fleets of Solomon and Hiram
made their triennial voyages. That feveral countries
on the fouth-eaft coaft of Africa abounded Avith gold
long after the era of Job, is evident from the teftimony
of Herodotus, Strabo, Diodorus Siculus, Ptolemy, Pom-
ponius Mela, &c. $ but that in thefe countries the Gphir
of Solomon could not be fituated, is plain, becaufe his
{hips in the fame voyage touched at Tarfliilh, which lay
in a very different quarter.
The Abyffinian traveller has placed this regia mrri-
fera in Sofala on the eaftern coaft of Africa, nearly-
oppolite to the ifland of Madagafcar, This hypotbelis
Avas current a hundred years before he Avas born $ but
I am perfuaded (fays our author) that it is not tenable.
The Ophir of Solomon, in Avbatever part of Africa it
lay, muft have been well knoAvn, prior to his reign, both
to the Phoenicians and the Edomites. Thefe people na¬
vigated that monarch’s fleet, and therefore could be no
ftrangers to the port whither they were bound. That
Ophir.
6
the fitua-
tion muft
be afcer-
tained by
difcovering
that of
Tarfliifli.
f Pf. xlviii.
7. Ixxii. 10.
$ Gen. ii.
26.
H If. xxiii.
pajjim.
Tlie origi¬
nal Tar-
Ihifli, where
fituated.
O P H [ 1
it was in Africa is certain ; and that it was on the
well: coad of that immenfe peninfula, will appear more
than probable, when we have afcertained the fituation
of Tarfhifh, and the ufual courfe of Phoenician naviga¬
tion. To thefe obje&s, therefore, we diall now direft
our inquiries.
“ Javan, tlie fourth fon of the patriarch Japhet,
had four fons, Elidia, Tarjhijh, Kittim, and Dodanim
or Rodanim •, among whofe ‘ defcendants were the ifles
of the Gentiles divided.’ The city of Tarfus on the
coad of Cilicia, at once afcertains the region colonized
by the defcendants of Tarfhifh. Rut as much depends
upon determining the pofition of this country, I fhall
endeavour (fays the Dodtor) to fix it with all poflible
precifion.
“In the fird place, I mud beg leave to obferve,
that there is not a fingle paffage in any ancient author,
facred or profane, that fo much as alludes to any city,
didrift, canton, or country, of the name of Tarfhifh in
the eadern parts of the world. The defcendants of
Javan, of whom Tarfhidi was one, are agreed on all
hands to have extended their fettlements towards the
north-wed, i. e. into Ada Minor, Italy, and Spain.
The inhabitants of Tarfhifh are everywhere in Scrip¬
ture faid to be addifted to navigation and commerce,
in which they feem to have been connefted with the
Tyrians and Phoenicians f, who were always faid by
the Jews to inhabit the ides of the fea. Indeed, in He¬
brew geography, all the countries towards the north and
wed, which were divided from Judea by the fea, were
called the ides of the fea J. Thus Ifaiah : ‘ The bur¬
den of Tyre. Howl ye fhips of Tarfhifh, for it is laid
wade, fo that there is no houfe, no entering in : from
the land of Chittim it is revealed unto them. Be dill
ye inhabitants of the ide, thou whom the merchants of
Zidon, that pals over the fea, have replenifhed.’ The
land of Chittim was Macedonia, and often Greece, from
which every one knows that the dedruftion of Tyre
came ; and that Tardiifh was not an unconcerned fpec-
tator of that dedruftion, is obvious from the fame pro¬
phet, who proceeds to fay ]| : ‘As at the report con¬
cerning Egypt, fo fhall they be forely pierced at the re¬
port concerning Tyre. Pafs over to Tarfhidi 5 howl
ye inhabitants of the ide. Is this your joyous city ?’
It appears likewife from Ezekiel xxvii. 12. that Tarfhifh
was the merchant with whom Tyre traded for filver,
iron, tin, and lead, and that this trade was carried on in
fairs.
“ From all thefe padages, it feems to be evident,
that the defcendants of Tarfhifh fettled on the wedern
coad of Afia Minor \ that thefe people were addifted
to navigation and commerce ; that in the courfe of
their traffic they were connefted with the Tyrians and
Phoenicians 5 that the commerce they carried on confid¬
ed of filver, iron, tin, and lead \ that the people of Tar-
fhidr were connefted with Kittim and the illes of the
Gentiles, which are confededly fituated toward the north
and wed of Judea.
“ But led, after all, a faft fo fully authenticated
fhould dill be called in quedion, I fhall add one proof
more, which will place the matter beyond the reach of
doubt and controverfy.
“ When the prophet Jonah intended to dee from the
prefence, of the Lord, in order to avoid preaching at,
Nineveh, let us fee where the peevifh deferter embark-
67 ]
O P H
ed (Jonah i. 3.). “ And Jonah rofe up to dee unto Ophir.
Tarfhidi, from the prefence of the Lord, and went down ' 1 v ■
to Joppa 5 and he found a fiiip going to Tarfhifh, and he
paid the fare thereof, and went down into it, to go with
them into Tardiifh, from the prefence of the Lord.’
Every body knows that Joppa or Japhah flood upon the
fliore of the Mediterranean j of courfe the fugitive pro¬
phet had determined to go to fome very diilant region
weftward, and by that means to get as far from Nineveh
as poffible.” g
Having thus proved to a demonftration, that the This not
original Tarfhidi was a region on the weftern coaft of the Tar-
Afia Minor, where either the patriarch of that name, 01 i0“
or fome of his immediate defcendants, planted a colo¬
ny, it remains to determine whether this w7as aftually
the country from which Solomon imported the vail
quantities of filver mentioned by the facred hiftorian.
That it was not, our author frankly acknowledges ; and
therefore, fays he, we muft look out for Solomon’s Tar-
diiffi in fome other quarter of the globe. ^
To pave the way for this difeovery, he very juftly The name
obferves, that it has at all times been a common prac-of one
tice to transfer the name of one country to another, in country
confequence of fome analogy or refemblance between
them. It has likewife often happened, that when a
commodity was brought from a very diftant country by
a very diftant people, the people to whom it was import¬
ed have taken it for granted that it was produced in the
region from which it was immediately brought to them.
Of the truth of this pofition no man acquainted -with
the Greek and Roman poets can for a moment entertain
a doubt. Hence the AJJyrium amomutn of Virgil, and
the AJfijrium malabathrum of Horace, though thefe ar¬
ticles were the produft not of Aflyria but of India.
The Jews, who were as little acquainted with foreign
countries as the Greeks and Romans, had very probably
the fame notions with them refpefting articles of com¬
merce y and if fo, they would undoubtedly fuppofe, that
the filver fold by the merchants of Tarffiifh was the
produft: of that country. When this miftake came to
be difeovered, they very naturally transferred the name
Tarjhijh from the country of the merchants to that
of the articles which they imported. Let us now, fays
our author, try if we cannot find out where that country
was.
It has been already ftiown, by quotations from Ifaiah
and Ezekiel, that the merchants of Tarlhiffi traded in
the markets of Tyre with filver, iron, lead, and tin.
To thefe authorities, xve ffiall add another from Jere¬
miah : “ Silver (fays that prophet) fpread into plates is
brought from Tarffiilh.” “ But in Spain (continues
our learned diflertator), all thofe commodities were found
in the greateft abundance. All the ancient authors who
deferibe that region dwell with rapture on its filver
mines. This faft is too generally known to need to be
fupported by authorities. Spain was then the region
which furniffied Solomon’s traders with the immenfe
mafs of filver he is faid to have imported. This was,
one might fay, the modern Tarffiiffi ; and indeed both
Jofephus and Eufebius are pofitive that the pofterity
of Tarlhiffi aftually peopled that country. If this was
an early opinion, as it certainly w'as, the Jews would
of courfe denominate Spain from the patriarch in que-
ftion.
I have ffiown above, that the inhabitants of Tar-
fhiffi
O P H [
Ophir. fliifli were ftri&ly connefled with the Kittim, or Gre-
cians : J {hall here produce an authority which will
prove to a demonftration that the Kittim had extend¬
ed their commerce into that part of Africa now called
Barbary.
“ The prophet Ezekiel, (xxvii. 6.) defcribing the
fplendour and magnificence of Tyre, tells us, ‘ that
the company of the Afhurites made her benches of ivo¬
ry, brought from the ifies of Kittim.’ In the firft place,
I muft obferve, that there is probably a fmall error in
the orthography of the word Aftiurim. This term is
everywhere in Scripture tranflated Aflyrians, which
tranilation is certainly juft. But how the Affyrians
could export ivory from the ifles of Kittim, and fa-
fliion it into benches for the Tyrian mariners, is, in
my opinion, a problem of no eafy folution. T-he fadft
is Aftiurim ftiould be Alherim, that is, the company
of the men of Aftier. The tribe of Aftier obtained
its inheritance in the neighbourhood of Tyre ; (fee
Jofli. xix. 28.). ‘ And Hebron, and Rehob, and Ham-
mon and Canah, unto Zidon the great.1 The compa¬
nies of the tribe of the Alherites then, and not the
Afhurim, were the people who manufactured the bench¬
es in queftion.
“ Be that as it may, the ivory of which the imple¬
ments were formed was imported from the ifies of
Kittim, that is, from Greece and its neighbourhood.
Thefe ifiands, it is certain, never produced ivory.
They muft therefore have imported it from fome other
■country •, but no other country, to which the Greeks
and their neighbours could have extended their com¬
merce, except the north of Africa, produced that com¬
modity. The conclufion then is, that the maritime
ftates of Afia Minor, Greece, and probably the He-
trufcans on the weft coaft of Italy, carried on a gain¬
ful commerce with Spain and Barbary at a very early
periods
“ We have now feen that the original Tarftiifli on the
coaft of Afia Minor did not produce the metals im¬
ported by Solomon’s fleet; that no Tarftiifti is to be
found in the eaftern parts of the globe j that the Tar-
ftiifh we are in queft of was undoubtedly fituated fome-
where towards the weft of Judea : we have ftiown that
the mercantile people of Afia Minor, Greece, and pro¬
bably of Italy, aftually imported fome of thofe articles
from the coaft of Africa •, we have hazarded a con-
jefture, that Spain was the modern Tarftiifti, and that
very country from which Solomon imported his filver,
and the Tyrians their filver, iron, tin, and lead. Let
us now make a trial whether we cannot exhibit fome
internal proofs in fupport of the hypothefis we have
above adopted.
“ The ancients divided Spain into three parts, Bae-
tica, Lufitania, and Tarraconenfis. Baetica is the mo¬
dern Andalufia. It ftretched along the Fretum Hercu-
leum, or Straits of Gibraltar, to the mouth of the Gua-
dalquiver. This region is thought by fome to have
been the Elyfian fields of the poets. The river Baetis,
which divides it, is called Tarte£us by Ariftotle, Stefi-
chorus, Strabo, Paufanias, Steph. Byzant. and Avianus.
Here too we have a city and a lake of the fame name.
But Tarteffus is pofitively the very fame with Tar- ram colledled their gold in the courfe of their voyage
ftiifli. The Phoenicians, by changing fchin into than, fomewhere on the coaft of Africa, beyond the Cape,
made it Tartifti. The Greeks manufactured the reft, for the following reafons: Had they found the golden
fleece
168 ] 0 P H
by changing Tavtifti into Tartis, and in procefs of time Oplar.
into TagTus-o-ej. That the Phoenicians actually changed
fchin into thuu is certain ; for Plutarch tells us, in the
life of Sylla, that in their language an ox was cal¬
led thor, which is, no doubt, the fame with the Hebrew
fhor. ... . 10
“ From this deduction, it appears highly probable atxarfliififi
leaft, that the Spanifti Baetica was originally called Tar-Spanith
Jhifh. Indeed this fimilarity of names has operated fo^setica.
powerfully on the learned Bochart, and on fome other
moderns of no mean figure, that they have pofitively
affirmed, as Jofephus had done before them, that the
patriarch Tarftiifti actually fettled in that country.
This I fliould think not altogether probable 5 but that
his defcendants who fettled on the coaft of Afia Mi¬
nor colonized Baetica, and carried on an uninterrupted
commerce to that country, along with the Phoenicians,
for many centuries after it was peopled, and that from
the circumftances above narrated, it was denominated
Tarjhijh, are fa&s too palpable to admit of contradic¬
tion.
“ Let us now fee whether this Bretica, where I have
endeavoured to fix the fituation of the Tarftiifti of the
Scriptures, was aftually furniftied with thofe articles of
commerce which are faid to have been imported from
that country. To enlarge on this topic would be alto¬
gether fuperfluous. Diodorus Siculus, Strabo, Polybiu^,
Pliny, Solinus, and, in one wrord, all the Greek and Ro¬
man hiftorians who have mentioned that region, have
unanimoufty exhibited it as the native land of filver, iron,
and tin : to thefe, contrary to the opinions of the cele¬
brated modern traveller, they likewife add gold in very
large quantities.”
Our author having thus afcertained the fituation of
Tarftiifh, proceeds to prove, by a mafs of evidence too
large for our infertion, that the Edomites and Ty¬
rians had doubled the Cape, and almoft encompafled
Africa, long before the era of Solomon. Then refer¬
ring to 1 Kings, chap. ix. and x. 2 Chron. viii. ix.
2 Kings xxii. and 2 Chron. xx. he obferves, that from
thefe authorities it appears indubitable, that the fleets
of Solomon and Hiram failed from Eloth and Ezion-
geber 5 that the voyages to Ophir and Tarftiifti were
exactly the fame, performed at one and the fame time,
by the very fame fleet •, which muft neceflarily have en-
compaffed the peninfiila of Africa before it could ar¬
rive at the country of Tarfliifti. This being the cafe,
the traders might eafily enough colleft the gold on th&
coaft of Guinea, or on what is now vulgarly called the
Gold Coajl. The ivory they might readily enough pro¬
cure on the Barbary coaft, oppoftte to Tarftiifti. In
Africa, too, they might hunt apes, monkeys, baboons,
&c. \ and peacocks, or rather parrots, and parroquets,
they might furprife in the forefts which abounded on the
coaft:. In Spain, filver, iron, lead, and tin, were, one
may fay, the native produce of the foil. Even at this
early period, the Phoenician navigators had difcovered
the Cafliterides or Scilly ifiands, and Cornwall 5 and
from that region, in company with the merchants, may
have fupplied them with that rare commodity.
“ I have fuppofed that the navy of Solomon and Hi-
O P H [ 169 ] O P H
Ophir. fleece at Sofala (a), or any part of tlie coaft of Afri-
 ca, they would have chofen to return and unlade at
Eloth or Ezion-geber, rather than purfue a long and
dangerous courfe, quite round Africa, to Tarlhifh j
to which laft country they might have fhaped their
courfe much more commonly from Zidon, Tyre, Jop¬
pa, &c. But being obliged to double the Cape in
quell: of fome of thofe articles which they were en¬
joined to import, they pulhed onward to Tarfhilh,
and returned by the Pillars of Hercules to Tyre, or
perhaps to Joppa, &c. Their next voyage commen¬
ced from one or other of thele ports, from which they
diredled their courfe to Tarlhifti: and having taken
m part of their lading there, they afterwards coafted
round Africa, and lo arrived once more at Eloth or
Ezion-geber.
“ Let us now attend to the fpace of time in which
thefe voyages were performed. We are told exprefs-
ly (2 Chron. ix. 21.) that once every three years
came the fhips of Tarfhith, &c. This is exadlly the
time one would naturally imagine neceflary to per¬
form fuch a dillant voyage, at a period when naviga¬
tion was Hill in its infancy, and mariners feldom ad¬
ventured to lofe light of the coaft. Of this we have
an irrefragable proof in the hillory of a voyage round
the very fame continent, undertaken and aecomplifh-
ed in the very fame fpace of time, about two centuries
after.
“ We learn from Herodotus, lib. ii. cap. 149. that
Nechus, one of the latter kings of Egypt, whom the
Scripture calls Pharaoh Necho, built a great number of
ftu’ps, both on the Red fea and the Mediterranean. The
fame hiftorian, lib. iv. cap. 42. informs us, that this en
terprifing monarch projected a voyage round the conti¬
nent of Africa, which was actually accompliflied in the
fpace of three years. In the condudt of this enterprile,
he employed Phoenician mariners, as Solomon had done
before him. Thefe, we may fuppofe, were aflifted in
the courfe of this navigation by charts or journals, or at
lead by traditional accounts derived from their ancef-
tors : ‘ Thefe navigators (fays the hiftorian) took their
departure from a port on the Red fea, and failing from
thence into the fouthern ocean, and, in the beginning
of autumn, landing on the coaft of Africa, there they
fowed fome grain which they had carried out with them
on board their veflels. In this place they waited till the
crop was ripened ; and, having cut it down, they pro¬
ceeded on their voyage. Having fpent two years in this
navigation, in the third they returned to Egypt, by the
Pillars of Hercules. Thefe mariners, adds the author,
reported a fa6t, which, for his part, he could by no
means believe to be true ; namely, that in one part of
their courfe their lhadows fell on their right; a circum-
ftance which gives confiderable weight to the truth of
the relation.’
“ Let it now be obferved that Phoenician mariners
navigated the fleet of Solomon : the fame people con¬
duced that of Necho : the fleet of Necho fpent three
years in the courfe of its voyage ; that of Solomon
did the fame in its courfe about two centuries before :
Vol. XV. Part I.
the fleet of Necho failed from a port on the Red lea ; Ophir.
that of Solomon took its departure from Eloth or *v'~—
Ezion-geber, fituated on the fame fea : the fleet of ihe
former returned by the Pillars of Hercules ; that of
the latter, according to the hypothelis, purfued the
very fame route. Such a coincidence of fimilar cir-
cumftances united with thofe adduced in the preced¬
ing part of this article, feem to prove almoft to a
demonftration, that the navy of Hiram and Solo¬
mon performed a voyage round Africa, in that age, in
the fame manner as that of Necho did two centuries
after.
“ Upon the whole, I conclude, that the original.
Ophir, which is really Aufir or Aufr, was fituated on
the fouth of Arabia Felix, between Sheba and Havilah,
which laft was enepmpaffed by one of the branches of
the river of Paradife : that the name Ophir, i. e. Aufr,
was, in confequence of its refemblance, in procefs of
time transferred to a region on the coaft of Africa ;
and that from it firft Afer and then Africa was deno¬
minated : that the primitive Tarfhilh was Cilicia, and
that the Jews applied this name to all the commercial
ftates on the coaft of Afia Minor, and perhaps of Italy,
there being ftrong prefumptions that the Tyrrhenians
were colonifts from Tarfhifti ; that Beetica, and per¬
haps fome other regions of Spain, being planted with
colonies from Tarlhifti, like wife acquired the name of
Tarlhifti; that the Tyrians were ftriclly connected with
the merchants of Tarlhifti in their commercial enter-
prifes •, that Tarlhifh was certainly fituated wertward
from Judea, Phoenicia, &c. •, that no other country in
the weftern quarters produced the commodities import¬
ed by the two kings, except Spain and the oppofite
coafts ; that this country, in thofe ages, produced not
only filver, iron, tin, and lead, but likewife gold in
great abundance ; that the merchants of Kittim import¬
ed ivory, of which the Alherites made benches for the
Tyrians •, which commodity they mull have purchafed
on the coaft of Barbalry, where the Jews and Phoenici¬
ans would find the fame article ; that Tarfhifti being fi¬
tuated in Spain, it was impoflible for a fleet failing from
Eloth, or Ezion-geber, to arrive at that country with- t£
out encompafling Africa j that of courfe the fleet in Ophir fitu-
queftion did adlually encompafs that continent ; that ated on the
the Ophir of Solomon mull have been fituated fome- coaft
where on the coaft of Africa, to the weft of the Cape,
becaufe from it the cqurfe to Tarlhifti was more eligible Cape,
than to return the fame way back to Ezion-geber.”
Our author fupports this conclufion by many other
arguments and authorities, which the limits preferibed
us will not permit us to detail ; but perhaps the ar¬
ticle might be deemed incomplete if we did not Ihow
how he obviates an objeftion that will readily occur
to his theory. “ If the original Ophir was feated on
the coaft of Arabia Felix, and the modern region of
the fame name on the weft coaft of Africa, it may be
made a queftion, how the latter country came to be
denominated from the former ? Nothing (fays our au¬
thor) can be more eafy than to anfwer this queftion. An objec-
The practice of adapting the name of an ancient country tion an-
Y to iwered.
(A^ ^at Sofala oppofite to the ifland of Madagafcar was Ophir, was an ancient conjeflure. See Bochart-
chan. 1. xi. cap. 27. p. 160. 4to,
O P I [ r
Ophir t0 a newly difcovered one, refenabling the other in ap-
Opillion Pearance? in fituation, in figure, in diftance, in the na-
—  ' ture of the climate, produflions, &e. has ever been fo
common, that to produce inftances would be altoge¬
ther fuperfluous. The newly difcovered region on the
eoaft of Africa abounded with the fame fpecies of com¬
modities by which the original one was diftinguifhed ;
and of courfe, the name of the latter was annexed to
the former.
Whether Mr Bruce’s hypothefis, or Dr Doig’s, re-
ipefling the long-difputed fituation of Solomon’s Ophir,
be the true one, it is not for us to decide. Both are
plaufible, both are fupported by much ingenuity and
uncommon erudition $ but we do not think that the
arguments of either writer furnifii a complete con¬
futation of thofe adduced by the other. Sub judice
lis ejl.
OPHIRA, a genus of plants belonging to the o£tan-
dria clafs. See Botany Index.
OPHITES, in Natural Hjldnj, an old term em¬
ployed to denote a mineral, of a dutkv green ground,
fprinkled with fpots of a lighter green, otherwife called
Jerpentine. See Mineralogy Index.
Ophttf.s, in church hiftory, Chritlian heretics, fo
called both from the veneration they had for the ferpent
that tempted Eve, and the worfhip they paid to a real
ferpent: they pretended that the ferpent was Jefus Chrift,
and that he taught men the knowledge of good and evil.
They diftinguithed between Jefus and Chrijl: Jefus, they
faid, was born of the Virgin, but Chritt came down
from heaven to be united with him ; Jefus was crucified,
but Chrift had left him to return to heaven. They di¬
ftinguithed the God of the Jews, Avhom they termed
Jaldabaoth, from the fupreme God : to the former they
afcribed the body, to the latter the foul of man. They
had a live ferpent, which they kept in a kind of cage ;
at certain times they opened the cage door, and called
the ferpent : the animal came out, and mounting upon
the table, twined itfelf about fume loaves of bread ; this
bread they broke and diftributed it to the company,
who all killed the ferpent : this they called their Eu-
charijl.
OPHRYS, Twyblade ; a genus of plants be’ong-
ing to the gynandria clafs ; and in the natural method
ranking under the 7th order, Orchidece. See Botany
Index.
OPHTHALMOSCOPY, a branch of phyfiogno-
my, which deduces the knowledge of a man’s temper
and chara&er from the appearance of his eyes.
OPHTHALMIA, in Medicine, an inflammation of
the eye or of the membranes which invert it; efpecial-
ly of the adnata, or albugineous coat. See Medicine
N° 174.
OPIATES, medicines which are adminiftered to
procure fleep, whether in the form of eleffuaries, drops,
or pills.
OPINION is that judgment which the mind forms
of any propofition for the truth or falfehood of which
there is not fufficient evidence to-produce faience or ab-
folute belief.
That the three angles of a plane triangle are equal to
two right angles, is not a matter of opinion, nor can it
with propriety be called an objeH of the mathemati¬
cian’s belief: he does more than believe it 5 he knows
it to be true. When two or three men, under no temp-
o ] O p o
tation to deceive, declare that they were witneffes of an Opinion
uncommon, though not preternatural event, their tefti- II
mony is complete evidence, and produces ablblute be- , 0Porto-
liefm the minds of thofe to whom it is given ; but it
does not produce fcience like rigid demonftration. The
faH is not doubted, but thofe who have it on report do
not know it to be true, as they know the truth of pro-
pofitions intuitively or demonitrably certain. When
one or two men relate a ftory including many circum-
ftances to a third perfon, and another comes who pofi-
tively eontradi&s it either in whole or in part, he to
whom thole jarring teftimonies are given, weighs all
the circumftances in his own mind, balances the one
againft the other, and lends an aflent, more or lefs wa¬
vering, to that fide on which the evidence appears to
preponderate. I his afient is his opinion refpefting
the facts of which he has received fuch different ac¬
counts.
Opinions are often formed of events not yet in being.
Were an officer from the combined armies, which are
juft now * befieging Valenciennes, to come into the ^Julyiypj.
room where we are writing, and tell us that thofe armies
are in good health and high fpirits 5 that every Ihot
which they fire upon the fortrefs produces feme effect;
and that they have plenty of excellent provifion-, whilft:
the befieged are perilhing by hunger ; we fliould abfo-
lutely believe every faff which he had told us upon the
evidence of his teftimony ; but we could only be of opi¬
nion that the garrifon muft foon furrender. In forming
opinions of this kind, upon which, in a great meafure
depends our fuccels in any purfuit, every circumitance
ffiould be carefully attended to, and our judgments
guided by former experience. Truth is a thing of fuch
importance to man, that he (liould always purfue the
belt methods for attaining it ; and when the objeH
eludes all his refearches, he fhould remedy the difap-
pointment, by attaching himfelf to that which has the
ftrongeft refemblance to it ; and that which moft re-
fembles truth is called probability, as the judgment
which is formed ol it is termed opinion. See Probabi¬
lity.
OPIUM, in the Materia,Medica, is an infpiffated
juice, obtained from the capfule of the white poppy,
partly of the refinous and partly of the gummy kind,
and poffeffing alfo a narcotic principle. See Materia
Medica, N° 612.
OPOB ALSAMUM, in the Materia Medica, Opo-
balfum, or balm of Gilead, a refinous fubftance obtained
from a fpecies of Amyris. See Chemistry, N° 2472,
and Materia Medica, N° $07.
OPOCALPASUM, Opocarbasum, or Apocal-
PASUM 5 a gummy refinous fubftance, which has a ftrong
refemblance to liquid myrrh, and which in the time of
Galen was mixed with myrrh. It was difficult, accord¬
ing to this writer, to diftinguifti the one from the other
unlefii by their effedrts, the former being of a poifonous
nature, which frequently produced lethargy.
OPOPONAX, in the Materia Medica, is a gummy
refinous fubftance brought from the Eaft Indies. See
Materia Medica, N° 455,
OPORTO, or Porto, a flourifhing city and fea-
port of Portugal, in the province of Entre-Douero-e-
Minho, with a bifhop’s fee. Nature has rendered it al-
moft impregnable ; and it is juftly celebrated for the
ftrength of its wines, large quantities of which are ex-
, ported
o p o i; i
Oporto ported to Britain, and on this account all red wines ei-
O un ther from Spain or Portugal are denominated pert wines.
j^Un' . After the earthquake at Lifbon in the year 1755, the
trade of this city increafed rapidly, before which memo¬
rable period its population did not exceed 20,000 5 but
it is now computed at upwards of 40,000. Oporto is
fituated on the declivity of a mountain, near the river
Douero, which forms an excellent and commodious har¬
bour ; and is about 147 miles north by eaft of Lifbon.
W. Long. 8. 21. N. Lat. 41. 10.
OPOSSUM, in Zoology, a fpecies of didelphis. See
Didelphis.
OPOUN, one of the Navigators Iflands, of which
there are ten in number, firft difeovered by Bougain¬
ville, and fo called by hirrij becaufe the inhabitants do
not pafs from one village to another but in canoes.
This and the other iflands lie in 140 fouth latitude, and
from 1710 to 1730 longitude weft from Paris, accord¬
ing to Peroufe. Here the fugar cane is to be met with
growing fpontaneoufly j but it is faid to contain lefs of
the faccharine fubftance than what is produced in the
Weft Indies. TL he men are poflefled of uncommon
ftrength, and tatow their bodies in fuch a manner, that,
although almoft naked, they have the appearance at a
little diftance of being clothed. Ferocity and treachery
are chara&eriftic marks of this people, of which the un¬
fortunate Peroufe had but too foon a melancholy proof,
11 out of 60 of his crew having been murdered by
them, although received at firft with an air of good
humour* T his ought to ferve as a caution to future na¬
vigators, not to place implicit confidence in the appa-
OPT
, PFICS, from oTcrcfioit, to fee, is that fcience which
f # confiders the nature, the compofition, and the
definition. mo^on 5—the changes .which it fuffers from the
adtion of bodies —the phenomena of vifion, and the in-
flruments in which light is the chief agent.
HISTORY.
Sect. I. Diftoveries concerning the Refra&ion of
Light.
TRefradtion THOUGH tfie ancients made few optical experiments,
theTn-t0 tllcy. heverthelefs knew, that when light paffed through
*ients; luedia of difterent denfities, it did not move in a ftraight
line, but was bent or refraEed out of its original di¬
rection. This was probably fuggefted to them by the
appearance ol a ftraight rod partly immerfed in water j
and accordingly we find manyqueftions concerning this
and other optical appearances in the works of Ariftotle.
Archimedes is faid to have written a treatife on the ap¬
pearance of a ring or circle under water, and therefore
could not have been ignorant of the common phenomena
of refradtion. The ancients, however, were not only ac¬
quainted with thefe more ordinary appearances, but alfo
with the production of colours by refraCtion. Seneca
fays, that if the light of the fun fliines through an an¬
gular piece of glafs, it will fhow all the colours of the
71 ] OP T
rent kindnefs of thefe favages, which is frequently the Opourt
difmal prelude of ruin and deftruCtion. Among thefe II.
fell the celebrated naturalift Lamanon} fee Lama- ,
NON. v’
OPPENHEIM, a town of Germany, in the lower
palatinate of the Rhine, and capital of a bailiwick of
the fame name j feated on the declivity of a hill near
the Rhine. E. Long. 8. 20. N. Lat. 49. 48.
OPPI ANUS, a poet and grammarian of Anazarba
in Cilicia, in the fecond century. He compofed a poem
of hunting, and another of fiftiing, for which Antoni¬
nus Caracalla gave him as many golden crowns as there
were verfes in his poems; they were hence called Op~
plait's golden verfes.. He died in the 30th year of his
age.
OPPIL ATION, in Medicine, the aft of obftrufting
or flopping up the pafiage of the body, by redundant or
peccant humours. This word is chiefly for obftruCtions
in the lower belly.
OP i ALIVE MOOD, in Grammar, that which ferves
to exprefs an ardent defire or wifh for fomething.
In moft languages, except the Greek, the optative is
only exprefled by prefixing to the fubjunClive an adverb
of wiihing ; as utinam, in Latin •, pint a Dieu, in
French ; and would to God, in Englifh.
OPTIC angle, the angle which the optic axes of
both eyes make with one another, as they tetid to meet
at feme diftance before the eyes.
Optic Axis, the axis of the eye, or a line going
through the middle of the pupil and the centre of the
eye.
I C S.
rainbow. Thefe colours, he fays, are falfe, fuch as are Hi (lory,
feen in a pigeon’s neck when it changes its pofition j —-v—^
and of the fame nature, he fays, is a fpeculum, which,
without having any colour of its own, aflumes that of
any other body. It Appears, alfo, that the ancients were
not ig-norant of the magnifying power of glafs globes
filled with water, though they do not feem to have 3
been acquainted wflth its caufe •, and the ancient engra- and the
vers are fuppofed to have uftd a glafs globe filled with »iagn'fying
water to magnify their figures. This indeed feems evi- of
dent, from their lenticular arid fpherical gems of rock8 * S ° ^
cryftal which are ftill preferved, the effeCl of which, in
magnifying at leaft, could fdarcely have efcaped the no¬
tice of thofe who had often occafion to handle them ;
if indeed, in the fpherical or lenticular form, they
were not folely intended for the purpofes of burning.
One of thefe, of the fpherical kind, of about an inch
and a half diameter, is preferved among the foflils pre- -
fented by Br Woodward to the univerfity of Cam¬
bridge.
The firft treatife of any confequence written on the Refraction
fubjeCt of optics, was by the celebrated Ptolemy. The firft treated
treatife is now loft ; but from the accounts of others, Wefcientifical"
find that he treated of aftronomical refraftions. Thejy by Pt0“
firft aftronomers were not aware that the intervals be-16™7*
tween ftars appear lefs near the horizon than near the
meridian j but it is evident that Ptolemy was atvare of
this circumftance, by the caution which he gives to allow
Y 2 fomething
His hypo-
fun and
moon.
OPT
fomething for it, upon every recourfe to ancient obfer-
vations.
Ptolemy alfo advances a very fenfible hypothefis to
thefis con- account for the greater apparent fize of the fun and
ceming the moon when feen near the horizon. The mind, he fays,
horizontal judges of the fize of obje&s by means of-a preconceived
idea of their diftance from us: and this diftance is fan¬
cied to be greater when a number of objects intervene j
which is the cafe when we fee the heavenly bodies near
the horizon. In his Almageft, however, he afcribes
this appearance to a refra&ion of the rays by vapours,
which adually enlarge the angle fubtended by the lu¬
minaries.
The nature of refra&ion was afterwards confider-
ed by Alhazen an Arabian writer; infomuch that,
having made experiments upon it at the common fur-
6 face between air and water, air and glafs, water and
Difcoveries glafs 5 and, being prepoffeffed with the ancient opinion
of Alhazen. 0f cryfinllme orbs in the regions above the atmofphere,
he even fufpeded a refradion there alfo, and fancied he
could prove it by aftronomical obfervations. Hence
this author concludes, that refradion increafes the alti¬
tudes of all objeds in the heavens ; and he firll; advan¬
ced, that the fiars are fometimes feen above the horizon
by means of refradion, when they are really below it.
This obfervation was confirmed by Vitellio, B. Walthe-
rus, and by the excellent obfervations of Tycho Brahe.
Alhazen obferved, that refradion contrads the vertical
diameters and diftances of the heavenly bodies, and that
it is the caufe of the twinkling of the liars. But we do
not find that either he, or his follower Vitellio, fub-
jeded it to menfuration. Indeed it is too fmall to be
determined except by very accurate inftruments, and
therefore we hear little more of it till about the year
1500, when great attention was paid to the fubjed by
Bernard Walther, Mseftlin, and Tycho Brahe.
Alhazen fuppofed that the refradion of the atmo¬
fphere did rot depend upon the vapours, but on the dif¬
ferent tranfparency 5 by which, as Montucla conjec¬
tures, he fneant the denfity of the grofs air contiguous
to the earth, and the ether or fubtile air that lies be¬
yond it. We judge of diftance, he fays, by comparing
the angle under which objeds appear, with their fup¬
pofed diftance ; fo that if thefe angles be nearly equal,
and the diftance of one objed be conceived greater than
that of the other, it will be imagined to be larger. He
alfo obferves, that the Iky near the horizon is always
imagined to be further from us than any other part of
the concave furface. Roger Bacon afcribes this account
of the horizontal moon to Ptolemy ; and as fuch it is
examined, and objeded to by B. Porta.
In the writings of Roger Bacon, we find the firft di-
Itind account of the magnifying power of glaffes ; and
it is not improbable, that what he wrote upon this fub¬
jed gave rife to the ufeful invention of fpedacles.
He fays, that if an objed be applied clofe to the bafe of
the larger fegment of a fphere of glafs, it will appear
magnified. He alfo treats of the appearance of an ob¬
jed through a globe, and fays that he was the firft who
obferved the refradion of rays into it.
Of Vitellio. Vitellio, a native of Poland, publilhed a treatife of
?i70. optics, containing all that was valuable in Alhazen.
He obferves, that light is always loft by refradion 5
but he does not pretend to eftimate the quantity of this
lofs. He reduced into a table the refult of his experk
I c s.
ments on the refradive powers of air, water, and glafs, Hiftory.
correfponding to different angles of incidence. In his '•’■’■"V’"-'
account of the horizontal moon he agrees exadly with
Alhazen. He afcribes the twinkling of the ftars to
the motion of the air m v'hich the light is refraded ;
and to illuftrate this hypothefis, he obferves, that they
twinkle ftill more when viewed in water put in motion.
He alfo Ihows, that refradion is neceflary as rvell as re-
fledion, to form the rainbow j becaufe the body which
the rays fall upon is a tranfparent fubftance, at the fur-
face of which one part of the light is always refleded
and another refraded. But he feems to confider re¬
fradion as ferving only to condenfe the light, thereby
enabling it to make a ftronger impreffion upon the eye.
This writer alfo makes many attempts to afeertain the
law of refradion. He likewife confiders the foci of glafs
fpheres, and the apparent fize of objeds feen through
them : though upon thefe fubjeds his obfervations are
inaccurate. It is fufficient indeed to fhow the ftate of
knowledge, at that time, to obferve, that both Vitellio,
and his mafter Alhazen, account for objeds appearing
larger when feen under water, by the circular figure of
its furface ; fince, being fluid, it conforms to the figure
of the earth. • g
•Contemporary with Vitellio was Roger Bacon, a man of Roge*
of extenfive genius, who wrote upon almoft every Bacon.
branch of fcience j yet in optics he does not feem to
have made any conliderable advances. Even fome of
the moil abfurd of the opinions of the ancients have had
the fandion of his authority. He believed that vifual
rays proceed from the eye *, becaufe every thing in na¬
ture is qualified to difeharge its proper fundions by its
own powers, in the fame manner as the fun and other
celeftial bodies. In his Specula Mathematical he added
fome obfervations of little importance on the refradion
of the light of the ftars 5 the apparent fize of objeds ^
the enlargement of the fun and moon in the horizon.
In his Opus Majus he demonftrates, what Alhazen had
done before, that if a tranfparent body interpofed be¬
tween the eye and an objed, be convex towards the
eye, the objed Avill appear magnified. ^
From this time, to that of the revival of learning inOfMaur*.
Europe, we have no treatife on optics. One of thelycus.
firll who diftinguilhed himfelf in this way was Mauro-I575-
lycus, teacher of mathematics at Meflina. In two
works, entitled Theoremata Lucis et U?nbrce, and Dia-
phanoTum Partes, &c. he demonftrates that the cryftal-
line humour of the eye is a lens that colleds the rays of
light iffuing from the objed, and throws them upon the
retina, where is the focus of each pencil. From this
principle he difeovered the reafon why fome people were
Ihort-fighted and others long-lighted } and why the for¬
mer are relieved by concave, and the others by convex,
glafles.
O # JQ
While Maurolycus made fuch advances towards the Difcoveries
d-fcovery of the nature of vifion, Baptiila Porta of Na- of B. Porta,
pies invented the camera obfeura, which throws ftill Bom 1445.
more light on the fame fubjed. His houfe was reforted I5I5*
to by all the ingenious perfons at Naples, whom he
formed into an academy offecrets ; each member being
obliged to contribute fomething ufeful and not generally
known. By this means he was furnilhed with materials
for his Magia Naturalis, which contains his account of
the camera obfeura, and which was publilhed, as he in¬
forms us, when he was not quite 15 years old. He alfo
gave ■
Hiftory
The law of
refradlion
difcovered.
16 $1-
iz
Opinions of
Bei'caites
and Leib¬
nitz on this
fubjedt.
OPT
gave the firfl: hint of the magic lantern ; which Kircher
; afterwards improved. His experiments with the camera
obftura convinced him, that vifion, as Ariftotle fuppo-
fed, is performed by the intromiffion of fomething into
the eye, and not by vifual rays proceeding from the eye,
as had been formerly imagined by Empedocles ; and he
was the firtt who fully fatisfied himfelf and others upon
this fubjeft. The refemblance indeed between experi¬
ments with the camera obfcura and the manner in which
vifion is performed in the eye, was too ftriking to
efeape the obfervation of a lefs ingenious perfon. But
when he fays that the eye is a camera obfcura, and the
pupil the hole in the window fhutter, he was fo far
mistaken as to fuppofe that it was the cryftalline hu¬
mour that correfponds to the wrall which receives the
images ; nor was it difcovered till the year 1604, that
this office is performed by the retina. He makes a va¬
riety of juft obfervations on vifion j and explains feveral
cafes in which we imagine things to be without the eye,
when the appearances are occafioned by fome affeftion
of the organ itfelf, or fome motion within it. He re¬
marks alfo, that, in certain circumftances, vifion will be
affifted by convex or concave glafles j and he feems al
fo to have made fome fmall advances towards the dif-
covery of telefcopes. He obferves, that a round and
flat furface plunged into water, will appear hollow as
well as magnified to an eye above it; and he explains
by a figure the manner in which this effedt is pro¬
duced,
The great problem concerning the meafure of re-
fraftions was ftill unfolved. Alhazen and Vitellio, in¬
deed, had attempted it •, but failed, by trying to meafure
the angle inftead of its fine. At laif it was difcovered
by Snellius, profeffor of mathematics at Leyden. This
philofopher, however, did not perfedfly underftand his
own difcovery, nor did he live to publiffi any account
of it. It was afterwards explained by Profeffor Hor-
tenfius before it appeared in the writings of Defcartes,
who publiffied it under a different form, without mak¬
ing any acknowledgement of his obligations to Snellius,
whole papers Huygens affures us, were feen by Def¬
cartes. Before this time Kepler had publifhed a New
Table of Angl es of Refraction, determined by his own
experiments, for every degree of incidence. Kircher
had done the fame, and 'attempted a theory of refrac¬
tion, on principles, which, if conduced with precifion,
would have led him to the law difcovered by Snel¬
lius.
Defcartes undertook to explain the caufe of refraCtion
by the refolution of forces. Hence he was obliged to
fuppofe that light paffes with more eafe through a denfe
medium, than through a rare one. The truth of this
explanation was firft queltioned by M. Fermat, w7ho af-
ferted, contrary to the opinion of Defcartes, that light
fuffers more refiftance in water than air, and more in
glafs than in water •, and maintained, that the refiftance
of different media with refpeCt to light is in proportion
to their denfities. M. Leibnitz adopted the fame gene¬
ral idea, upon the principle that nature accomplifties her
ends by the fhorteft methods, and that light therefore
ought to pafs from one point to another, either by the
fhorteft road, or that in which the leaft time is re¬
quired.
At a meeting of the Royal Society, Aug. 31. 1664,
it was found, with a new initrument prepared for that
I C S. I73
purpofe, that the angle of incidence being 40 degrees, Hiftory.
that of refraCtion is 30. About this time alfo we find  v—J
the firft; mention of media not refraCting the light in an Djfcoyeries
exaCt proportion to their denfities. For Mr Boyle, in concerning
a letter to Mr Oldenburgh, dated Nov. 3. 1664, ob-the refrac-
ferves, that in fpirit of wine, the proportion of the finestion of dif-
of the angles of incidence to the fines of the angles of
refraftion was nearly the fame as 4 to 3 *, and that, asUance ’
fpirit of wine occafions a greater refraftion than common
water, fo oil of turpentine, which is lighter than fpirit
of wine, produces not only a greater refraClion than
common water, but a much greater than fait water.
And at a meeting held November 9. the fame year, Dr
Hooke mentioned, that pure and clear falad oil produ¬
ced a much greater refraCtion than any liquor which he
had tried ; the angle of refraction that anfwered to an
angle of incidence of 30° being no lefs than 40° 30',
and the angle of refraCtion that anfwered to an angle of
incidence of 20° being 290 47'.—M. de la Hire alfo
made feveral experiments to alcertain the refraCtive
power of oil, and found the fine of the angle of inci¬
dence to that of refraCtion as 60 to 42; which, he ob¬
ferves, is a little nearer to that of glafs than to that of
water, though oil is much lighter than water, and glafs
much heavier.
The members of the Royal Society finding that the
refraCtion of fait water exceeded that of freffi, purfued
the experiment farther with aqueous folutions of vitriol,
faltpetre, and alum. They found the refraCtion of the
folulion of vitriol and faltpetre a little more, but that of
alum a little lefs, than common w’ater.
Dr Hooke made an experiment before the Royal So¬
ciety, Feb. 11. 1663, which clearly proves that ice re-
fraCts.the light lefs than water. M. de la Hire alfo
took a good deal of pains to determine whether the re¬
fraCtive power of ice and water were the fame ; and he
found, as Dr Hooke had done before, that ice refraCts
lefs than water.
By a moft accurate experiment made in 1698, in
which a ray of light was tranfmitted through a Torri¬
cellian vacuum, Mr Lowthorp found, that the refrac- /
tive power of air is to that of water as 36 to 34.400.
He obferves, that the refraCtive power of bodies is not
proportioned to the denfity, at leaft not to the fpecific
gravity, of the refraCting medium. For the refraCtive
power of glafs to that of water is as 55 to 34, whereas
its fpecific gravity is as 87 to 34 ; that is, the fquares
of their refraCtive powers are very nearly as their re-
fpeCtive gravities. And there are fome fluids, which,
though they are lighter than water, yet have a greater
power of refraCtion. Thus the refraCtive power of fpi¬
rit of wine, according to Dr Hooke’s experiment, is to'-
that of water as 36 to 33, and its gravity reciprocally
as 33 to 36, or 36^. But the refraCtive powers of air
and water feem to obferve the Ample direCt proportion
of their gravities.
The Royal Academy of Sciences at Paris endeavour¬
ed to repeat this experiment in 1700 ; but they did not
fucceed.—For, as they faid, beams of light paffed
through the vacuum without fuffering any refraCtion.
The Royal Society being informed of this, ordered Mr
Hawkflbee to make an inftrument fo]t the purpofe, under
the direction of Dr Halley, for the purpofe of repeating
the experiment. It confifted of a ftrong brafs prifm,
two fides of which had fockets to receive two plane
glaffes,.
174- . OPT
Hiitory. glafles, whereby the air in the prifm might either be
‘ exhaufted or condenfed. I he prifm had alfo a mercu¬
rial gage fixed to it, to difcover the deniity of the con¬
tained air ‘y and turned upon its axis, in order to make
the retractions equal on each fide when it was fixed to
the end of a telefcope. The refraCting angle was near
64° '■> and the length of the telefcope, having a fine hair
in its focus, was about 10 feet. The event of this ac¬
curate experiment was as follows :—Having chofen a
proper objeft, vvhofe diftance was 2588 feet, June 15.
O. S. 1708, in the morning, the barometer being then
at 29.74, and the thermometer at 60, they firft ex¬
haufted the prifm, and then applying it to the telefcope,
the horizontal hair in the focus covered a mark on the
objeCf diftinClly feen through the vacuum, the two
glaffes being equally inclined to the vifual ray. Then
admitting the air into the prifm, the objeft was feen to
rife above the hair gradually as the air entered, and
when the prifm Avas full, the hair Avas obferved to hide
a mark 10^ inches beloAv the former mark.
After this they applied the condenfing engine to the
prifm ; and having forced in another atmofphere, fo that
the denfity of the included air Avas double to that of
the outAvard, they again placed it before the telefcope,
and, letting out the air, the objeft, Avhich before feem-
ed to rife, appeared gradually to defcend, and the hair
at length refted on an objeCt higher than before by the
fame interval of ioI: inches. They then forced in
another atmofphere ; and upon difcharging the conden¬
fed air, the objedl was feen near 21 inches loAver than
before.
Noav the radius in this cafe being 2588 feet, I0-|
■ inches Avill fubtend an angle of i' 8", and the angle of
incidence of the vifual ray being 32 degrees (becaufe
the angle of the glafs planes Avas 64°), it folloAvs from
the knoAvn laAvs of refraftion, that as the fine of 390 is
to that of 310 59' 26", differing from 3 2° by 34" the
half of i' 8"; fo is the fine of any other angle of incidence,
to the fine of its angle of refl ation ; and fo is radius, or
1000000, to 999736 ; which, therefore, is the propor¬
tion between the fine of incidence in vacuo and the fine
I4 ©f refra&ion from thence into common air.
Refra&ive It appears, by thefe experiments, that the refra&ive
power of power of the air is proportional to its denfity. And
ttmiiiwcf" *'mcc t'ie denfity of the atmofphere is as its weight dired-
ly, and its temperature inverfely, the ratio of its denfi¬
ty, at any given time, may be had by comparing the
heights of the barometer and thermometer ; and thence
he concludes that this Will alfo be the ratio of the refrac¬
tion of the air. But Dr Smith obferves, that before
avc can depend upon the accuracy of this conclufion, we
ought to examine whether heat and cold alone may not
alter the refradive poAver of air, Avhile its denfity con¬
tinues the fame.
The French academicians, being informed of the re-
fult of the above-mentioned experiment, employed M.
De I’llle the younger to repeat the former experiment
Avith more care : He prefently found, that the opera-
’ tors had never made any vacuum at all, there being
. chinks in their inftrument, through Avhich the air had
infmuated itfelf. He therefore annexed a gage to his
inftrument, by which means he Avas fure of his vacuum 5
and then the refult of the experiment Avas the fame Avith
that of the Royal Society. Ihe refradion Avas aRvavs
i e s.
proportional to the denfity of the air, excepting when Hiftory.
the mercury was very low, and confequentiy the ah ""V11 ‘'J
very rare j in which cafe the Avhole quantity being very
fmall, he could not perceive much difftrenee in them.
Comparing, however, the refradive power of the at-
mofphere, obferved at Paris, with the refult of his
experiment, he found, that the celt vacuum he could
make Avas far ihort oi that of the regions above the at¬
mofphere.
Dr Hooke firft fuggefted the idea of making allow¬
ance for the effed of the refradion of light, in palling
from the tarer to the denier regions of the atinofphere,
in the computed height of mountains. To this he
aferibes the different, opinions of authors concerning the
height of leveral very high hills. He could not ac¬
count for the appearance of very high mountains, at fo
great a diftance as that at Avhich they are adually feen,
but upon the fuppofition of the curvature of the vifual
ray, that is made by its pafting obliquely through a me¬
dium of fuch different denhty, from the top of them to
the eye, very far diftant in the horizon. All calcula¬
tions of the height of mountains that are made upon
the fuppofition that the rays of light come from the tops
of them, to our eyes, in ftraight lines, he confiders very
erroneous.
Dr Hooke aferibes the tAvinkling of the ftars to tha
irregular and unequal refradion of the rays of light,
which is alfo the reafon Avhy the limbs of the fun, moon,
and planets, appear to wave or dance. That there is
fuch an unequal diftribution of the atmofphere, he fays,
Avill be evident by looking upon diftant objeds, over a
piece of hot glafs, Avhich cannot be fuppofed to throAV
out any kind of exhalation from itfelf, as avcII as through
afeending fteams of Avater.
About this time Grimaldi firft obferved that the co- Colours
loured image of the fun refraded through a prifm is al-difco\ erefl
ways oblong, and that colours proceed from refradion. to ariie
—The way in which he firft difeovered this Avas by Vi- |r0^-re"
tellio’s experiment already mentioned, in which a piece c
of white paper placed at the bottom of a glafs vefiel
filled Avith water, and expofed to the light of the fun,
appears coloured. However, he obferved, that in cafe
the two furfaces of the refraded medium Avere exadly
parallel to each other, no colours Avere produced. But
of the true caufe of thofe colours, he had not the leaft T(j
fufpicion. This difeovery Avas referved for Sir Ifaac New- Different
ton. Flaving procured a triangular glafs prifm to fa-refrangibi-
tisfy himfelf concerning the phenomena of colours j he the
was furprifed at the oblong figure of the coloured fpec- 'igiltOciifc0.
trum, and the great difproportion betwixt its length and vered by
breadth \ the former being about five times the meafure sir II;U!C
of the latter. After various conjedures refpeding the^ewtcn’
caufcs of thefe appearances, he fufpeded that the colours l06°'
might arife from the light being dilated by fome un-
evennefs in the glafs, or fome other accidental irregula¬
rity ; and to try this, he took another prifm like the for¬
mer, and placed in fuch a manner, that the light, paf-
fing through them both, might be refraded in oppofite
diredions, ahd thus be returned by the latter into the
fame courfe from Avhlch it had been diverted by the for¬
mer. In this manner he thought that the regular ef-
feds of the firft nrifm Avould be augmented by the mul¬
tiplicity of refradions. The event was, that the light,
diffufed bv the firft prifm into an oblong form, was
by
*7
Mr Dol-
land’s dif-
covery of
the method
of eorredl-
ing the
errors of re-
fradling te-
lefcopes.
Hiftorj'. by the fecond reduced into a circular one, with as much
—regularity as if it had not paffed through either of them.
He then hit upon what he calls the experwientum cru-
ci f, and found that light is not fimilar, or homogeneous j
but that it confilfs of rays, fome of which are more re¬
frangible than others: fo that, without any difference
in their incidence on the fame medium, iome of them
fhall be more refraded than others ; and therefore, that,
according to their particular degrees of refrangibility,
they will be tranfmitted through the prifm to different
parts of the oppofite wall.
Since it appears from thefe experiments that differ¬
ent rays of light have different degrees of refrangibili-
tf 7 it follows, that the rules laid down by preceding
philofophers concerning the refradive power of water,
glals, &c. mult be limited to the mean rays of the fpec-
trum. Sir Ifaac, however, proves, both geometrically
and by experiment, that the fine of the incidence of
every kind of light, confidered apart, is to its fine of
refradion in a given ratio.
1 he molt important difcovery concerning refradion
fince the time of Sir Ifaac Newton is that of Mr Dol-
lond, who found out a method of remedying the defeds
of refrading telefcopes arifing from the different re¬
frangibility of light. Sir Ifaac Newton imagined that
the different rays were refraded in the fame proportion
by every medium, fo that the refrangibility of the ex¬
treme rays might be determined if that of the mean
ones were given. From this it followed, as Mr Dollond
obferves, that equal and contrary refradion5 muft not
only deffroy each other, but that the divergency of the
colours from one refradion would likewife be correded
by the other, and that there could be no poffibility of
producing any fuch thing as refradion without colour.
Hence it was natural to infer, that all objed glaffes of
telefcopes muft be equally affeded by the different ry-
frarigibility of light, in proportion to their apertures, of
whatever materials they may be formed.
for this reafon, philofophers defpaired of bringing re-
frading telefcopes to perfedion. They therefore ap¬
plied them {elves chiefly to the improvement of the re-
fledmg telefcope ; dll 1747, when M. Euler, improv-
mg upon a hint of Sir Ifaae Newtond, propofed to make
objed glaffes of water and glafs; hoping, that by their
dirterence of refradive powers, the refradions would ba¬
lance one another, and thereby prevent the difperfion of
the rays that is occafioned by their difference of refran ■
gibility. This memoir of M. Euler excited the atten¬
tion of Mr Dollond. He went over all M. Euler’s cai
culations, fubttituting for his hypothetical laws of re¬
fradion thofe which had been afeertained by Newton •
and found, that, it followed from Euler’s own princip]es,
that there could be no union of the foci of all kinds of
colours, but in a lens infinitely large.
Euler did not mean to controvert the experiments of
Ne wton : but afl'erted, that, if they were admitted in all
their extent, it would be impoffible to corred the diffe¬
rence of refrangibility occafioned by the tranfmiflion of
the rays from one medium into another of different den-
hty •, a corredion which he thought was very uoflible
finee he fuppofed it to be effeded in the eye, which he
comidered as an achromatic inftrument. To this reafoniim
Mr Dollond made no reply, but by appealing to theex&
penments of Newton, and the circumfpedion with which
it was known that he comluded all his inquiries.
OPTICS.
This paper of Euler’s was particularly noticed by M.
Klingenftierna of Sweden, who found that, from New¬
ton s own piinciptes, the refult of his 8th experiment
could not anfwer his defcription of it. Newton found,
that when light paffes out of air through feveral media,
and thence goes out again into air, whether the refrad¬
ing fuifaces be parallel or inclined to one another, this
light, as often as by contrary refradions it is fo corred¬
ed as to emerge inclines parallel to thofe in which it
was incident, continues ever after to be white; but if
the emergent rays be inclined to the incident, the white-
nefs of the emerging light will; by degrees, become
tinged at its edges with colours. This he tried by re¬
frading light with prilins of glafs, placed within a
prifmatic veffel of water.
By theorms deduced from tins experiment he infers,
that the refradions of the rays of every fort, made out
of any medium into air, are known by havinc the re¬
fradion of the rays of amj one fort; and alfo that the
refiadion out of one medium into another is found as
often as we have the refradions out of them both into
any third medium.
On the contrary, the Swedifh philofopher obferves,
that, in this experiment, the rays of light, after paffing
tin ough the water and the glafs, though they come out
parallel to the incident rays, will be coloured ; but;
that the fmaller the glafs prifm is, the nearer will the
refult of it approach to Newton’s defcription.
i his paper of M. Klingenftierna being communica¬
ted to Dollond, made him entertain doubts concerning
Newton’s report, and induced him to have recourfe to
experiment.
He therefore cemented together two plates of glafs
at their edges, fo as to form a prifmatic veffel, when
flopped at the ends ; and the edge being turned down¬
wards, he placed in it a glafs prifm, with one of its
edges upwards, and filled up the vacancy with clear wa¬
ter ; fo that the icfraftion of the prifm was contrary to
that of the water, in order that a ray of light, tranfmit¬
ted through both thefe refrafting media, might be af-
fefted by the difference only between the two refrac¬
tions. As he found the water to refraO more or lefs
than the glafs prifm, he diminifhed or increafed the an¬
gle between the glafs plates, till he found t lie two con¬
trary refradlions to be equal; which he difeovered bv
viewing an objea through this double prifm. For when
it appeared neither raifed or depreffed, he was fatisfied
that the refraftions Were equal, and that the emergent
and incident rays were parallel.
But according to the prevailing opinion, the objea
fhould have appeared of its natural colour; for if the
difference of refrangibility had been equal in the two
equal refraaions, they would have reaified each other.
This experiment^ therefore, fully proved the fallacy of
the received opinion, by fhowing the divergency of the
light by the glafs prifm to be almoft double of'that by
the water ; for the image of the objea was as much in-
feaed with the prifmatic colours, as if it had been feen
through a glafs wedge only, whofe refraaing angle was
near 30 degrees.
Mr Dollond was convinced that if the refraaing an¬
gle of the water veffel could . have admitted of a fuffi-
cient increafe, the divergency of the coloured rays would
have been greatly diminifhed, or entirely reaificd ; and
that there would hav^bcen a very great refraction with¬
out
1/76 OPT
Hiftoiy. out colour j but tbe inconvenience of fo large an an-
^ vr—' gie as that 0£ the prifmatic veffel muft have been, to
bring the light to an equal divergency with that of the
glali, prifm whofe angle was about 60 degrees, made, it
neceflary to try fome experiments of the iamekind with
fmaller angles.
He, therefore, got a wedge of plate glafs, the angle
of which was only nine degrees ; and uling it in the
fame circumftances, he increafed the angle of the water
wedge, in which it was placed, till the divergency ot the
light by the water was equal to that by the glafs ; that
is, till the image of the object, though confiderably re-
frufted by the excefs of the refraction of the water, ap¬
peared quite free from any colours proceeding from the
different refrangibility of the light j and as near as he
could then mealure, the refraCfion by the water was
about ^ of that by the glafs.
As thefe experiments proved, that different fubftances
caufed the light to diverge very differently in proportion
to their general refraCtive power, Mr Dollond began to
fufpeCf that fuch a variety might poflibly be found in
different kinds of glafs.
His next objeCf, therefore, w^as to grind wedges of
different kinds of glafs, and apply them together j fo
that the refradfions might be made in contrary direc¬
tions, in order to difcover whether the refraCHon and the
divergency of the colours would vanifh together.
From thefe experiments, which were not made till
1757, he difcovered a difference far beyond his hopes in
the refraCfive qualities of different kinds of glafs, with
refpeft to the divergency of colours. The yellow or
ffraw coloured kind, commonly called Venice gtafs, and
the Englifh crown glafs, proved to be nearly alike in
that refpeft; though, in general, the crown glafs feemed
to make light diverge lefs than the other. 1 he com¬
mon Englilh plate glafs made the light diverge more ;
and the white cryftal, or Engliffi flint glafs, moll of
aU. _
He then examined the particular qualities of every
kind of glafs that he could obtain, to fix upon two kinds
in which the difference of their difperfive powers (hould
be the greateft •, and he foon found thefe to be the
crown glafs and the white flint glafs. He therefore
ground one wedge of white flint, of about 25 degrees j
and another of crown glafs, of about 29 degrees j
which refrafted very nearly alike, but their power of
making the colours diverge was very different. He
then ground feveral others of crown glafs to different
angles, till he got one which was equal, with refpeH to
the divergency of the light, to that in the white flint
glafs 5 for when they were put together fo as to refraft
in contrary diredlions. the refrafred light was entirely
free from colours. Then meafuring the refraflion of
each wedge with thefe different angles, he found that of
the white glafs to be to that of the crown glafs nearly
as two to three : fo that any two wedges made in this
proportion, and applied together, that they might refraft
in a contrary diredlion, would tranfmit the light without
any difperfion of the rays. He found alfo, that the fine
of incidence in crown glafs is to that of its general refrac¬
tion as 1 to 1.53, and in flint glafs as 1 to 1.583.
In order to apply thefe difcoveries to the conftru&ion
of telefcopes, Mr Dollond confidered, that, in order to
make two fpherical glaffes that Ihould refract the light
ICS*
in contrary directions, tne one muff be concave and tbe Hlftory,
other convex; and as the rays are to converge to a real
focus, the excefs of reffadlion mull be in the convex
lens. Alfo, as the convex glafs is to refraft the moll,
it appeared from his experiments, that it mull be made
of crown glafs, and the concave of white flint glafs.
Farther, As the refradlions of Ipherical glaffes are in the
inverfe ratio of their focal diffances, it Inflows, that the
focal diltances of the two glaffes Ihall be inverfely as
the ratios of the refractions of the wedges; for being
thus proportioned, every ray of light that paffes through
this combined glafs, at whatever diftanee it may pafs
from its axis, will conffantly be refra&ed, by the dif¬
ference between two contrary reflations, in the propor¬
tion required j and therefore the different refrangibility
of the light will be entirely removed.
The difficulties which occurred in the application of
this reafoning to pratice, arofe from the following cir¬
cumftances. In the firll place, The focal diftances, as
well as the particular furfaces, muft be very nicely pro¬
portioned to the denfities or refra&ing powers of the
glaffes, which are very apt to vary in the fame fort of
glafs made at different times. Secondly, '1 he centres
of the two glaffes muft be placed truly in the common
axis of the tekfeope, otherwife the defired tffedf will
be in a great meafure deftroyed. And, thirdly, 1 he
difficulty of forming the four furfaces of the lenfes ex-
aflly fpherical. At length, however, after numerous
trials, he was able to conftruft refradling telefcopes,
with fuch apertures and magnifying powers, under li¬
mited lengths, as far exceeded any thing that had been
produced before, reprefenting objects with great di-
ftindtnefs, and in their natural colours.
As Mr Dollond did not explain the method by which
he determined the curvatures of his lenfes, the celebrated
M. Clairaut, who had begun to inveftigate this fubjeft,
endeavoured to reduce it to a complete theory, from
which rules might be deduced, for the benefit of the
pra&ical optician.
With this view, therefore, he endeavoured to afeer-
tain the refraflive power of different kinds of glafs, and
alfo their property of difperfing the rays of light. For
this purpofe he made ufe of two prifms, as Mr Dollond
had done : but, inftead of looking through them, he
placed them in a dark room 5 and when the tranfmitted
image of the fun was perfedlly white, he concluded that
the different refrangibility of the rays was corrected.
In order to afeertain more eafily the true angles that
prifms ought to have in order to deftroy the effedl of the
difference of refrangibility, he conftrufted a prifm which
had one of its furfaces cylindrical, with feveral degrees
of amplitude. By this means, without changing his
prifms, he had the choice of an an infinity of angles}
among which, by examining the point of the curve
furface, which, receiving the folar ray, gave a white
image, he could eafily find the true one. He alfo afeer-
tained the proportion in which different kinds of glafs
feparated the rays of light, by meafuring, with proper
precautions, the oblong image of the fun made by tranf-
mitting through them a beam of light.
In thefe experiments M. Clairaut was aflifted by M,
de Tournieres, and the refults agreed with Mr Dol¬
lond’s in general} but whereas Mr Dollond had made
the difperfion of the rays in glafs and in water to be as
. five
OPT
Hiftory. five to four (acknowledging, however, that he did not
  ' pretend to do it with exadtnefs), thefe gentlemen, who
took more pains, found it to be as three to two. For
the theorems and problems deduced by M. Clairaut from
thefe new principles of optics, with a view to the per¬
fection of telefcopes, we muft refer the reader to Mem.
Acad. Par. 1756, 1757.
The fubjeCt of achromatic telefcopes wras alfo invefli-
gated by the illuitrious D’Alembert. This excellent
mathematician propofed a variety of new conftruCtions,
the advantages and difadvantages of which he diltinCtly
notes j at the fame time that he points out feveral
methods of correcting the errors to which thefe telefcopes
are liable : as by placing the object glaffes, in fome
cafes, at a fmall diitance from one another, and fome-
times by ufing eye glaffes of dift'erent refraCtive powers ;
which is an expedient that does not feem to have occur¬
red to any perfon before him. He even (hows, that
telefcopes may be made to advantage, confiding of only
one objcCt glafs, and an eye glafs of a different refraCtive
power. Some of his condruCtions have two or more
eye glaffes of different kinds of glafs. This fubjeCt be
confidered at large in one of the volumes of his Opufcu/es
Mnthematigues. We have alfo three memoirs of M.
D’Alembert upon this fubjeCt, among thofe of the
French Academy in the years 1764, 1765, and 1767.
The invedigations of Clairaut and D’Alembert do not
feem to have adided the exertions of foreign artids.
The lelefcopes made in England, according to no exaft
rule, as foreigners fuppofed, were greatly fuperior to
any that could be made elfewhere, though under the
immediate direction of thofe able calculators.
M. Euler who fird gave occadon to this inquiry,
having perfuaded himfelf, both by reafoning and calcula¬
tion, that Mr Dollond had difeovered no new principle
in optics, and yet not being able to controvert Mr
Short’s teilimony in favour of the achromatic telefcopes,
concluded that this extraordinary effeCt was partlv
■owing to the crown glafs not tranfmitting all the red
light, which would have otherwife come to a different
focus, and have didorted the image ; but principally to
bis giving a juft curvature to his glafs, which he dH not
doubt would have produced the fame effeCt if the lenfes
had all been made of the fame kind of glafs. At another
time he imagined that the goodnefs of Mr Dollond’s
telefcopes might be owing to the eye glafs. If my
theory, fays he, be true, this difagreeable confequence
follows, that Mr .Dollond’s objeft glaffes cannot be
exempt from the difperfion of colours : yet a regard to
■To refpeCtable a teftimony embarraffes me extremely, it
being as difficult to queftion fuch exprefs authority,’ as
to abandon a theory which appears to me well founded,
and to embrace an opinion which is as contrary to all
the eftabliftied laws of nature as it is'ftrange and feem-
ingly abfurd. He even appeals to experiments made in
a darkened room •, in which he fays, lie is confident that
Mr Dollond’s objeft-glaffes would appear to have the
fame defefls to which others are fubjeft.
Not doubting, however, but that Mr Dollond had
made fome improvement in the conftru&ion of tele¬
fcopes, by the combination of glaffes, he abandoned his
former projeft, in which he had recourfe to different
media, and confined his attention to the correftion of
the errors which arife from the curvature of lenfes. But
friule l)e was proceeding, as he imagined, upon the true
Vol. XV. Part I.
I c s.
principles of optics, he could not help expreffing his
furprife that Mr Dollond ffiould have been led to fo
important a difeovery by reafoning in a manner quite
contrary to the nature of things. At length, however,
M. Euler was convinced of the reality and importance
of Mr Dollond’s difeoveries ; and frankly acknowledges,
that perhaps he ffiould never have been brought to afient
to it, had he not been affured by his friend M. Clairaut
that the experiments of the Engliffi optician might be
depended upon. The experiments of M. Zeiber, how-
ever, gave him the moft complete fatisfaclion with re-
fpect to this fubject. This gentleman demonftrated, that
it is the lead in the compofition of glals which produces
the variation in its difperfive power ; and, by increafing
the quantity of lead in the mixture, he produced a kind
of glafs, which occafioned a much greater feparation of
the extreme rays than the flint glals which Mr Dollond
had made ufe of.
From thefe new principles M. Euler deduces theo¬
rems concerning the combination of the lenfes, and,
in.a manner fimilar to M. Clairaut and D’Alembert’
points out methods of conftrutfing achromatic tele¬
fcopes.
While he was employed upon this fubjeft, he informs
us, that he received a letter from M. Zeiher, dated
Peterfburgh, 30th of January 1764, in which he gives
him a particular account of the fuccefs of his experi¬
ments on the compofition of glafs; and that, having
mixed minium and fand in different proportions, the re-
fult of the mean refraaion and the difperfion of the rays
varied according to the following table.
18
Different
compoli-
tions of
glafs for the
purpofe of
correcting-
the imper-
fedtion of
telefcopes.
Proportion
of minium
to flint.
I.
II.
III.
IV.
V.
VI.
Ratio of the mean
refraaion from
air into glafs.
Difperlion of
the rays in
comparifon of
crown glafs.
2028
I^3°
t7&7
1732
1724
1664
1000
1000
1000
I coo
xcoo
IOOO
4800
3550
3259
2207
1800
I354
1000
1000
1000
1000
1000
1000
From this taole it is evident, that a greater quantity
of lead not only produces a greater difperfion of the
rays, but alfo increafts the mean refraaion. The firft
of thefe. kinds of .glafs, which contains three times as
much minium as flint, will appear very extraordinary •
fince, hitherto, no tranfparent fubftance has been known
" hole refraaive power exceeded the ratio of two to one’
and fince the difperfion occafioned by this glafs is almoft
five times as great as that of crown glafs, which could
fcarcely.be believed by thofe who entertained any doubt
concerning the fame property in flint glals, the effea of
which is three times as great as crown glafs.
Here, however, M. Euler announces to us another
difeovery of M. Zeiher, no lefs furprifing than the for-
me.r, and which difconcerted all his fchemesfor recon¬
ciling the above-mentioned phenomena. As the fix
kinds of glafs mentioned in the preceding table were com-
poled of nothing but.minium and flint, M. Zeiher hap¬
pened to think of mixing alkaline falts with them in
order to give the. glafs a confiftence more proper fur-
diontnc ufes: This mixture, however, greatly diminilh-
Z *
178
Hiftory.
19
Difcovery
of Dr Ro¬
bert Blair
for this
purpofe.
OPT
ed the mean refraftion, almoft without making any
change in the difperfion. After many trials, he is laid
to have obtained a kind of glafs, which occafioned three
times as great a difperfion of the rays as the common
glafs, at the fame time that the mean refraclion rvas only
as 1.61 to 1. } though we have not heard that this kind
of glafs was ever ufed in the conitrufrion of telefcopes.
Mr Dollond was not the only optician who had the
merit of difcovering the achromatic telefcope, as this
inftrument appears to have been conftru&ed by a private
gentleman—Mr Chefter More Hall. He obferved
that prifms of flint glafs gave larger fpecfra than prifms
of water, when the mean refra&ion was the fame in both.
He tried prifms of other glafs, and found fimilar differ¬
ences j, and he applied this difcovery to the fame pur-
pofes as Mr Dollond. Thefe fa«5ts came out in a procefs
raifed at the inftance of Watkins optician, as alfo in a
publication of Mr Ramfden. There is, however, no
evidence that Dollond ftole the idea from Mr Hall, or
that they had not both claims to the difcovery.
The bell refrafting telefcopes, conftrudled on the
principles of Mr Dollond, are flill defeftive, on account
of that colour which, by the aberration of the rays,
they give to objects viewed through them, unlels the
objedt glafs be of fmall diameter. This defedl philofo-
phers have endeavoured to remove by various contrivan¬
ces, and Bofcovich has, in his attempts for this purpofe,
difplayed much ingenuity •, but the philofopher w hole
exertions have been crowned with moll fuccefs, and
who has perhaps made the molt important difcovery in
this fcience, is Dr Robert Blair profeflbr of pradlical af-
tronomy in the college of Edinburgh. By a judicious fet
of experiments, he has proved, that the quality of difper-
fing the rays in a greater degree than crown glafs, is not
confined to a few media, but is poffeffed by a great variety
of fluids, and by fome of thefe in a moll extraordinary de¬
gree. He has Ihown, that though the greater refrangibili-
ty of the violet rays than of the red rays, when light paffes
from any medium whatever into a vacuum, may be con-
fidered as a law of nature •, yet in the paflage of light
from one medium into another, it depends entirely on
the qualities of the media which of thefe rays lhall be
the moll refrangible, or whether there lhall be any
differeirce in their refrangibility. In order to corredt
the aberration arifing from difference of refrangibility
among the rays of light, he inllituted a fet of experi¬
ments, by which be detedled a very lingular and im¬
portant quality in the muriatic- acid. In all the dif-
perfive media hitherto examined, the green rays, which
are the mean refrangible in crown glafs, were found
among the lefs refrangible ; but in the muriatic acid,
thefe fame rays were found to make a part of the more
refrangible. This difcovery led to complete fuccefs in
removing the great defedt of optical inltruments, viz.
that diflipation or aberration of the rays which arifes
from their unequal refrangibility, and has hitherto
rendered it impoflible to converge all of them to one
point either by fingle or oppofite refradtions. A fluid,
in which the particles of marine acid and metalline par¬
ticles hold a due proportion, at the fame time that it
feparates the extreme rays of the fpedtrum much more
than crown glafs, refradts all the orders of the rays in
the fame proportion that glafs does : and hence rays of
all colours made to diverge by the refradtion of the
ICS.
glafs, may either be rendered parallel by a fubfequent Hiitory.
refradtion in the confine of the glafs and .this fluid j or, *
by weakening the refradtive denfity of the fluid, the
refradtion which takes place in the confine of it and
glafs may be rendered as regular as refledtion, without
the lead colour whatever. The dodtor has a telefcope,
not exceeding 15 inches in length, with a compound
objedt glafs of this kind, which equals in all refpedts, if
it does not furpafs, the belt ©f Dollond’s 42 inches long.
See Phil. Tranf. Edin. vol. iii. _ 20
We fhall conclude the hiitory of the difeoveries con- Of the re-
cerning refradtion, with fome account of the refradtion
of the atmofphere.—Tables of refradtion have been cal-
eulated by Mr Lambert, with a view to corredt inac¬
curacies in determining the altitudes of mountains geo¬
metrically. The obfervations of Mr Lambert go upon
the fuppofition that the refradtive power of the atmo¬
fphere is invariable : But as this is by no means the
cafe, his rules inult be confidered as true only for the
mean ftate of the air.
VW XT,.fnkfprvpd
ts s o t- L' O r's 1"tro Y*1 f
refradtive power of the atmofphere, which demonltratcs
how little we can depend upon the calculated heights of
mountains, ■when the obfervations are made with an in¬
ftrument, and when the refradtive power of the air is to
be taken into the account. Being defirous to learn, by
obfervation, how far the mercury would defeend in the
barometer at any given elevation, be propofed to meafure
the height of fome of their higheft hills j but when he
attempted it, he found his obfervation fo much di-
fturbed by refradtion, that he could obtain no certain
refult. Having meafured one hill of a confiderable
height, in a clear day, and obferved the mercury at the
bottom and at the top, he” found, that about 19 feet or
more were required to make the mercury fall x-^th of
an inch ; but afterwards, repeating the experiment,
when the air was rather grofs and hazy, he found the
fmall angles fo much increafed by refradtion as to make
the hill much higher than before. He afterwards fre¬
quently made obfervations at his own houfe, by point¬
ing a quadrant to the tops of fome neighbouring hills,
and obferved that they would appear higher in the
morning before funrife, and alfo late in the evening,
than at noon in a clear day, by feveral minutes. In one
cafe the elevations of the fame hill differed more than
30 minutes.
M. Euler confidered the refradtive power of the
atmofphere, as affedted by different degrees of heat and
elafticity ; in which he (hows, that'its refradtive power,
to a confiderable diftance from the zenith, is fufficiently
near the proportion of the tangent of that diftance, and
that the law of refradtion follows the diredt ratio of the
difference marked by the thermometer j but when ftars
are in the horizon, the changes are in a ratio fomewhat
greater than this, more efpecially on account of the va¬
riation in the heat. _ 21
As the denfity of the atmofphere varies with its La Place
altitude, and as the irregular curvature of the earth ^
caufes a conftant change in the inclination of the drata
through which any ray of light paffes to the eye, the cai refrac-
refradtion cannot be obtained from the denfity of the tion.
atmofphere, and the angular diredtion of the refradted
ray. By comparing aftronomical with meteorological
obfervations, however, the celebrated M. La Place, has
given
OPT
ftiftory. given a complete folution of this very important pro-
blem.
phenomena known by the names of mirage,
ot ure'fiilai' looming, and fata morgana, have been traced to irre-
rcfratftions. gularities of refractions arifing from accidental changes
in the temperature of the atmofphere. From the rare-
fa6tion of the air near the furface of water, buildings, or
the earth itfelf, a diltant object feen through this rare¬
fied air fometimes appears deprefl'ed inftead of raifed by
refraction ) at other times it appears both elevated and
depreffed, f« that the object feems double, and fome¬
times triple, one of the images being in an inverted
pofition. This fubjeft is much indebted to the refear-
ches of the ingenious Dr Wollaflon, who has imitated
thefe natural phenomena by viewing obje&s through
the rarefied air contiguous to a red-hot poker, or through
a faline or faccharine folution with water and fpirit of
wine floating upon its furface. This branch of optics
has alfo been well illullrated by Mr Vince and Mr Hud-
dart.
Sect. II. Difcoveries concerning the Reflet! ion of Light.
Difcoveries The followers of Plato were acquainted with the
« the an- equality between the angles of incidence and reflexion ;
dents. antj jt probable that they difcovered this, by obferving
a ray of the fun reflected from Handing water, or fome
other polilhed body $ or from attending to the images of
objects reflected by fuch furfaces. If philofopbers paid
any attention to this phenomenon, they could not but
perceive, that, if the ray fell nearly perpendicular upon
fuch a furface, it was reflefted near the perpendicular •,
and if it fe” obliquely, it was reflected obliquely : and
obfervations upon thefe angles, the molt rude and imper¬
fect, could not fail to convince them of their equality,
and that the incident and reflected rays were in the fame
plane.
Ariftotle was fenfible that it is the reflection of light
from the atmofphere which prevents total darknefs after
the fun fets, and in places where he does not Ihine in the
day-time. He was alfo of opinion, that rainbows, halos,
and mock funs, were occafioned by the reflection of the
funbeams in different circumltances, by which arfimper-
feCt image of his body was produced, the colour only
being exhibited, and not his proper figure. The image,
he fays, is not Angle, as in a mirror •, for each drop of
rain is too fmall to refleCt a vifible image, but the con¬
junction of all the images is vifible.
Treatife of Without inquiring any farther into the nature of light
optics by or vifion, the ancient geometers contented themfelves
Euclid. with deducing a fyftem of optics from two faCts, the
reCtilineal progrefs of light, and the equality of the
angles of incidence and reflection. The treatife of optics
afcribed to Euclid is employed in determining the ap¬
parent fize and figure of objeCts, from the angle which
they fubtend at the eye, and the apparent place of the
image of an objeCt reflected from a polifhed miror. This
place he fixes at the point where the reflected ray meets
a perpendicular to the mirror drawn through the objeCt.
But this work is fo imperfeCt and inaccurate, that it
25 does not feem to be the production of Euclid.
Burning It appears from Pliny and LaCtantius, that burning
the an° gHA*65 were known to the ancients. In one of the plays
cients. of Arittophanes, indeed, a perfon is introduced who pro-
pofes to deltroy his adverfary’s papers by means of this
I c s.
inftrument 5 and there is reafon to believe that the
Romans had a method of lighting their facred fire by
means of a concave fpeculum. It feem indeed to have
been known A. C. 433, that there is an increafeof heat
in the place where the rays of light meet, after reflection
from a concave mirror. The burning power of concave
mirrors is noticed by the author of the work afcribed to
Euclid. If we give any credit to what fome ancient
hiltorians are faid to have written concerning the exploits
of Archimedes, we fhall be induced to think that he
conftruCted fome very powerful burning mirrors : but
nothing being faid of other perfons making ufe of h«
inventions, the whole account is very doubtful. It is
allowed, however, that this eminent geometer did write
a treatile on the fubjeCt of burning mirrors, which has
not defcended to our times.
B. Porta fuppofes that the burning mirrors of the
ancients were parabolic and made of metal. It follows
from the properties of this curve, that all the rays which
fall upon it, parallel to its axis, will meet in the fame
point at the focus. Confequently, if the vertex of the
parabola be cut off, as in fig. 1. it will make a con¬
venient burning mirror. In fome drawings of this in-
firument the fruftum is fo fmall, as to look like a ring.
With an inllrument of this kind, it is thought, that the
Romans lighted their facred fire, and that with a fimilar
mirror Archimedes burnt the Roman fleet; ufing a lens,
to throw the rays parallel, when they had been brought
to a focus; or applying a fmaller parabolic mirror for
this purpofe, as is reprefented fig. 2. 2-
The nature of reflection was, however, very far from of feelr-r
being underftood. Even Lord Bacon, who made much images in
greater advances in phyfics than his predeceffors, fup- the air.
pofed it poflible to fee the image reflected from a look-
ing glafs, without feeing the glafs itfelf; and to this
purpofe he quotes a ftory of Friar Bacon, who is re¬
ported to have apparently walked in the air between
two fteeplps, and which was thought to have been ef-
fefted by reflection from glaffes while he walked upon
the ground.
Vitellio had endeavoured to Ihow that it is noflible,
by means of a cylindrical convex fpeculum, to fee the
images of objeCts in the air, out of the fpeculum, when
the objeCts themfelves cannot be feen. But from his
defcription of the apparatus, it will be feen that the eye
was to be directed towards the fpeculum placed within
a room, while the objeCt and the fpeCtator were with¬
out it. But as no fuch effeCt Can be produced by a
convex mirror, Vitellio muft have been under fome de¬
ception with refpeCt to his experiment.
B. Porta fays, that this eff Ct may be produced by
a plain mirror only; and alfo by the combination of a
plain and a concave mitror.
Kirchef alfo fpeaks of the poffibility of exhibiting
thefe pendulous images, and fuppofes that they are re¬
flected from the denfe air: But the molt perfeCt and
pleafing deception, depending upon the images in the
air, is one of which this writer gives a particular ac¬
count in his Ars Magna Lucis et Umbrae, p. 783. In
this cafe the image is placed at the bottom of a hollow
polifhed cylinder, by which means it appears like a real
folid fubftance, fufpended within the mouth of the
veffel. ay
It was Kepler who firft difcovered, that the apparent Difcoveries
places of objeCts feen by reflecting mirrors depended u^eP^er*
Z 2 upon
179
Hiftorv-
Plate
CCCLXXV.
fig. 1.
j8o OPT
Hirtory. upon the angle which the rays of light, iflfuing from the
extreme part of an object, make with one another after
23 refleflion.
Difcoveries Mr Boyle made feme curious obfervations concern-
of Mr Jng refleftisig powers of differently coloured fub-
fiances. In order to fhew that fnow ihines by a bor¬
rowed and not by a native light, he placed a quantity
of it in a room, from which all foreign light was ex¬
cluded, and found that it was completely invifible. To
try whether white bodies refleft more light than others,
he held a fheet of white paper in a funbeam admit¬
ted into a darkened room *, and obferved that it reflect¬
ed much more light than a paper of any other colour,
a confiderable part of the room being enlightened by it.
To fhow that u'hite bodies refleCt the rays outwards, he
adds, that common burning glaffes require a long time
to burn or difcolour white paper ; that the image of the
fun was not fo well defined upon white paper as upon
black ; that when he put ink upon the paper, the
moifture would be quickly dried up, and the paper,
which he could not burn before, would prefently take
fire •,—and that by expofing his hand to the fun, with
a thin black glove upon it, it would be fuddenly
and more confiderably heated, than if he held his
naked hand to the rays, or put on a glove of thin white
leather.
To prove that black is the reverfe of white, with
refpedl to its property of reflefting the rays of the fun,
he procured a large piece of black marble, ground into
the form of a large concave fpeculum, and found that
the image of the fun reflefted from it was far from
offending or dazzling his eyes, as it would have done
from another fpeculum ; and though this was large, he
could not for a long time fet a piece of wood on fire
with it ; though a far lefs fpeculum, of the fame form,
and of a more refleCling fubilance, would prefently have
made it flame.
To fatisfy himfelf flill farther with refpefl to this
fubjeft, he took a tile •, and having made one half of
its furface white and the other black, he expofed it to
the fummer fun. Having let it lie there fome time,
he found, that while the whitened part remained cool,
the black part wras very hot. He fometimes left part
of the tile of its native red ; and, after expofing the
whole to the fun, obferved that this part grew hotter
than the white, but not fo hot as the black part.
Of the in- remarkable property of lignum nephriticum (a
fufion of fpecies of guilandina) was firft obferved by Kircher.
lignum ne- Mr Boyle has deferibed this lignum nephriticum as a
phriticum. kind of wood, which was brought from Mexi¬
co, and which had been thought to tinge water of
a green colour only ; but he ,fays that he found it to
communicate all kinds of colours. If an infufion of this
wood be put into a glafs globe, and expofed to a flrong
light, it will be as colourlefs as pure water \ but if it be
carried into a place a little (haded, it will be a beauti¬
ful green. In a place dill more (haded, it will incline
to red ; and in a very (hady place, or in an opaque veffel,
it will be green again.
Mr Boyle firft diftin&ly noted the two very different
colours which this remarkable timffure exhibits by tranf-
mitted and refledled light. If it be held dire&ly between
the light and the eye, it will appear tinged (excepting
the very top of it, where a fky-coloured circle fome¬
times appears) almoft of a golden colour, except the in-
I c s.
fufion be too llrong ; in which cafe it will be dark or Hiftory.
reddilh, and requires to be diluted with water. But if v—'
it be held from the light, fo that the eye be between
the light and the phial, it will appear of a deep lively
blue colour 5 as will alfo the drops, if any lie on the
outfide of the glafs.
When a little of this tinfture was poured upon a
(heet of white paper, and placed in a window where
the fun (hone upon it, he obferved, that if he turned his
back upon the fun, the ihadow of anybody projedled upon
the liquor would not be all dark, like other fhadows j
but that part of it would be curioufly coloured, the edge
of it next the body being almofl: of a lively golden
colour, and the more remote part blue.
Obferving that this tindlure, if it were too deep,
was not tinged in fo beautiful a manner, and that the
impregnating virtue of the wood did, by frequent in¬
fufion in frefh water, gradually decay, he conjeflured
that the tin&ure contained much of the effential fait of
the wood ; and to try whether the fubtle parts, on which
the colour depended, were volatile enough to be diftilled,
without diffolving their texture, he applied fome of it
to the gentle heat of a lamp furnace j but he found all
that came over was as limpid and colourlefs as rock
water, while that which remained behind was of fo
deep a blue, that it was only in a very ftrong light that
it appeared of any colour.
Having fometimes brought a round long-necked
phial, filled with this tinfiure, into a darkened room,
into which a beam of the fun was admitted by a fmall
aperture j and holding the phial fometimes near the
funbeams, and fometimes partly in them and partly
out of them, changing alfo the pofition of the glafs,.
and viewing it from feveral parts of the room, it exhi¬
bited a much greater variety of colours than it did in an
enlightened room. Befides the ufual colours, it was-
red in fome places and green in others, and within were
intermediate colours produced by the different mixtures
of light and (hade.
It was not only in this tinfture of lignum nephriti¬
cum that Mr Boyle perceived the difference between
refledled and tranfmitted light. He obferved it even
in gold, though no perfon explained the caufe of thefe
appearances before Sir Ifaac Newton. He took a piece
of leaf gold, and holding it betwixt his eye and the light,
obferved, that it did not appear of a golden colour, but
of a greenifh blue. He alfo obferved the fame change
of colour by candle light ; but the experiment did not
fucceed with a leaf of (liver.
The conftitution of the atmofphere and of the fea,
we (hall find, by more recent obfervations, to be fimilar
to that of this infufion ; for the blue rays, and others of
a faint colour, do not penetrate fo far into them as the
red, and others of a (Ironger colour.
The firfl: diftindt account of the colours exhibited by Mr jg® jef5
thin plates of various fubftances is to be found among account of
the obfervations of Mr Boyle. To (how that colours the colours
may be made to appear or vanifh, where there is no ac-of tllin
eeffion or change either of the fulphureous, the faline,lllates‘
or the mercurial principle of bodies, he obferves, that
all chemical effential oils, as alfo good fpirit of wine,
being (haken till they rife in bubbles, appear of various
colours ; which immediately vanifh when the bubbles
burft, fo that a colourlefs liquor may be immediately
made to exhibit a variety cf colours, and lofe them in a-
moment.
OPT
Hiftory. moment, without any change in its effential principles,
'"—nr™”' He then mentions the colours that appear in bubbles of
foap and water, and alfo in thofe of turpentine. He
fometimes got glafs blown fo thin as to exhibit fimilar
colours ; and obferves, that a feather, and alfo a black
ribbon, held at a proper diftance, between his eye and
the fun, (bowed a variety of little rainbows, with very
vivid colours, none of which were conftantly to be feen
t in the fame obje&s.
Dr Hooke’s This fubjeft was more carefully invelligated by Dr
account of Hooke, who promifed, at a meeting of the fociety on
thefe co- the 7th of March 1672, to exhibit, at their next meet-
lours. Jng^ fomething which had neither refledtion nor refrac¬
tion, and yet was diaphanous. Accordingly he produ¬
ced the famous coloured bubble of foap and water of
which fuch ufe was afterwards made by Sir Ifaac New¬
ton, but which Dr Hooke and his contemporaries feem
to have overlooked in Mr Boyle’s treatife on colours,
though it was publilhed nine years before. It is no
wonder that fo curious an appearance excited the at¬
tention of that inquifitive body, and that they fliould
defire him to bring an account of it in writing at their
next meeting.
By the help of a frnall glafs pipe, there were blown
feveral fmall bubbles, out of a mixture of foap and wa¬
ter. At firft, they appeared white and clear; but, after
fome time, the film of water growing thinner, there ap¬
peared upon it all the colours of the rainbow : Firft, a
pale yellow; then orange, red, purple, blue, green,
&c. with the fame feries of colours repeated ; in which
it was farther obfervable, that the firft and laft ferics
were very faint, and that the middlemoft feries was very
bright. After thefe colours had pafled through the
changes above mentioned, the film of the bubble began
to appear white again ; and prefently, in feveral parts
of this fecond white film, there were feen feveral holes,
which by degrees grew very large, feveral of them run¬
ning into one another.
Dr Hooke was the firft who obferved the beautiful
colours that appear in thin plates of Mufcovy glafs.
With a microfcope he could perceive that thefe colours
were ranged in rings furrounding the white fpecks or
flaws in this thin fubftance, that the order of the colours
was the very fame as in the rainbow, and that they were
often repeated ten times. But the colours were difpofed
as in the outer rainbow. Some of them alfo were much
brighter than others, and fome of them very much broader.
He alfo obferved, that if there was a part where the co¬
lours were very broad, and confpicuous to the naked eye,
they might be made, by prefling the part with the finger,
to change places, and move from one part to another.
Laftly, He obferved, that if great care be ufed, this
fubftance may fplit into plates of one-eighth or one-fixth
of an inch in diameter, each of which will appear through
a microfcope to be uniformly adorned with fome one vivid
colour, and that thefe plates will be found upon examina¬
tion to be of the fame thicknefs throughout.
A phenomenon fimilar to this was noticed' by Lord
Brereton, who at a meeting of the Royal Society in
1666, produced fome pieces of glafs taken out of a
church window, both on the north and on the fouth
fide of it ; they were all eaten in by the air, but the
piece taken from the fouth fide had fome colours like
thofe of the rainbow upon it, which the others on the
north .fide had not. It cannot be doubted, but that in
4
I C S. ,8i
all thefe cafes, the glafs is divided into thin plates, Hiftory.
which exhibit colours, upon the fame principle with ’ v
thofe which Dr Hooke obferved in the bubble of foap
and water, and in the thin plate of glafs, which we
(hall find more fully explained by Sir Ifaac Newton.
The enquiries of M. Bouguer concerning the reflec¬
tion of light are worthy of particular notice. They are
fully detailed in his Traite (POptique, apofthumous work
publilhed by La Caille in 1760. ^
In order to compare different degrees of light, he al- Difcoveries
ways contrived to place the radiant bodies or otherof M- Em¬
bodies illuminated by them, in fuch a manner that hesue^•
could view them diftinftly at the fame time; and he
either varied the diitances of thefe bodies, or modified
their light in fome other way, till he could perceive no
difference between them. Then, confidering their dif¬
ferent diftances, or the other circumftances by which
their light was affedted, he calculated the proportion which
they would have borne to each other at the fame diftance,
or in the fame circumftances.
To afeertain the quantity of light loft by refleftion, plate
he placed the mirror, or refledlirig lurface, B, on which ccclxxv.
the experiment was to be made, truly upright; and %• 3-
having taken two tablets, of precifely the fame colour,
or of an equal degree of whitenefs, he placed them ex-
adtly parallel to one another at L and D, and threw
light upon them loy means of a lamp or candle, P,
placed in a right line between them. He then placed
himfelf fo, that with his eye at A he could fee the
tablet E, and the image of the tablet D, refle&ed
from the mirror B, at the fame time ; making them
as it were, to touch one another. He then moved the
candle along the line ED, fo as to throw more or lefs
light upon either of them, till he could perceive no
difference in the ftrength of the two lights that came to
his eye. After this, he had nothing more to do than
to meafure the diftances EP and DP, and then the in-
tenfity of the lights was as EP* to DP*.
To find how much light is loft by oblique refledfion, Fig. 4,
he took two equally polilhed plates, D and E, and caufed °
them to be enlightened by the candle P. While one of
them, D, was feen at A, by refledtion from B, placed
in a pofition oblique to the eye, the other, E, was fo
placed, as to appear contiguous to it ; and removing the
plate E, till the light which it refledted was no ftronger
than that which came from the image D, feen by reflec¬
tion at B, he eftimated the quantity of light that was loft
by this oblique refledtion, by the fquares of the diftances
of the two objedts from the candle.
In order to afeertain the quantity of light loft by Fig. 5.
refledtion with the greateft exadtnefs, M. Bouguer in¬
troduced two beams of light into a darkened room, as
by the apertures P and Q; which he had fo contrived,
that he could place them higher and lower, and enlarge
or conlradt them at pleafure ; and the refledting fur-
face (as that of a fluid contained in a veflel) was
placed horizontally at O, from which the light com¬
ing through the hole P, was refledted to R, upon the
fereen GH, where it was compared with another beam
of light that fell upon S, through the hole £) ; which
he made fo much lefs than P, as that the fpaces S and
R were equally illuminated ; and by the proportion that
the apertures P and £) bore to each other, he calcu¬
lated what quantity of light was loft by the refledlion -
at O.
It
I 8 2
OPTICS.
Hiftorv.
33
Expei i-
raent of
M. BulFon.
It was neceflary, he obferves, that the two beams of
light PO and QS (which he ufually made 7 or 8 feet
long) fhould be exaftly parallel, that they might come
from two points of the Iky of the fame altitude, and
having precifely the fame intcnfity of light. It was
alfo neceffary that the hole thould be a little higher
than P, in order that the two images Ihould be at the
fame height, and near one another. It is no lefs necef¬
fary, he fays, that the fcreen GH be exactly vertical, in
order that the direct and refletted beams may fall upon
it, with the fame inclination ; lince, otherwife, though
the two lights were perfectly equal, they would not il¬
luminate the fcreen equally. This difpolhion, he fays,
ferves to anfwer another important condition in thefe
experiments 5 for the direct ray QS mull be of the fame
length with the fum of the incident and reflected rays,
PO and OR, in order that the quantity of light intro¬
duced into the room may be fenlibly proportional to the
lizes of the apertures.
Before we proceed to detail the other experiments of
Bouguer, we fhall notice fome which were made pre¬
vious to them by BulFon on the diminution of light by
refledion, and the tranfmiflion of it to conliderable di-
ftances through the air.
By receiving the light of the fun in a dark room, and
comparing it with the fame light of the fun refleded
by a mirror, he found that at fmall diftances, as four
or five feet, about one half was loft by refiedion.
When the diftances were 100, ^00, and 300 feet, he
could hardly perceive that it loft any of its intenfity by
being tranfmitted through fuch a fpace of air.
He afterwards made the fame experiments with
candles, in the following manner : He placed himfelf
nppofite to a looking glafs, Avith a book in his hand, in
a dark room-, and having one candle lighted in the next
room, at the diftance of about 40 feet, he had it brought
nearer to him by degrees, till he could juft diftinguilh
the letters of the book, which was then 24 feet from
the candle. He then received the light of the candle,
refleded by the looking glafs, upon his book, carefully
excluding all the light that rvas refleded from any thing
elfe ; and he found that the diftance of the book from
the candle, including the diftance from the book to the
looking glafs (which was only half a foot) Avas in all 15
feet. He repeated the experiment feveral times, with
nearly the fame refult; and therefore concluded, that
the quantity of dired is to that of refleded light as 376
to 225 *, fo that the light of five candles refleded from
a plain mirror is about equal to that of txvo candles.
From thefe experiments it appeared, that more light
Avas loft by refledion of the candles than of the fun,
Avhich M. Buffon thought Avas owing to this circum-
ftance, that the light iifuing from the candle diverges, and
therefore falls more obliquely upon the mirror than the
light of the fun, the rays of which are nearly parallel.
Thefe experiments and obfervations of M. Buffon,
though curious, are inferior to thofe of M. Bouguer,
both in extent and accuracy.
In order to afcertain the difference in the quantity of
light refleded by glafs and polilhed metal, he ufed a
fmooth piece of glafs one line in thicknefs, and found
the reflec- that Avhen it Avas placed at an angle of 15 degrees Avith
tion of glafs the incident rays, it refleded 628 parts of 1000 which
•edmeuf1" ^ uFon ^ \ at t^ie ^ame t™e t'iat a metallic mirror,
which he tried in the fame circumftances, refleded only
5
34
Mr Bou-
guer’s dif-
coveries
•concerning
961 of them. At a lefs angle of incidence much more Hiftory.
light Avas refleded : fo that at an angle of three degrees
the glafs refleded 700 parts, and the metal fomething
lefs, as in the former cafe.
In the cafe of unpolilhed bodies, be found that a piece
of Avhite plafter, placed at an angle of 750, with the
incident rays, refleded Part of the light that is re¬
ceived from a candle nine inches from it. White paper,
in the fame circuinftanees, refleded in the fame propor¬
tion ; but at the diftance of three inches, they both re¬
fleded 150 parts out of 1000.
Proceeding to make farther obfervations on the fub-
jed of refleded light, he premifes the two folloAving
theorems, Avhich he demonftratesgeometrically. j.When
the luminous body is at an infinite diftance, and its light
is received by a globe, the furface of Avhich has a per-
fed polilh, and abforbs no light, it refleds the light
equally in all diredions, provided it be received at a
confiderable diftance. He excepts the place Avhere the
ftiadoAv of the globe falls: becaufe this is no more than
a Angle point, with refped to the immenfity of the
fpherical furface Avhich receives the light.
2. The quantity of light refleded in one certain di-
redion Avill ahvays be exadly the fame, Avhether it be
refleded by a very great number of fmall polithed he-
mifpheres, by a lefs number of large hemifpheres, or by
a Angle hemifphere, provided they occupy the fame bafe,
or cover the fame ground plan.
The ufe he propofes to make of thefe theorems is to
afiift him in diftinguifhing Avhether the light refleded
from bodies be owing to the extindion of it Avithin
them, or Avhether the eminences Avhich coyer them haAre
not the fame effed as the ftnall polifhed hemifpheres
above mentioned.
He begins Avith obferving, that of the light refleded
from mercury, one fourth at leaft is loft, and that pro¬
bably no fubftances refled more than this. The rays
Avere received at an angle of ii-J degrees of incidence,
that is meafured from the furface of the refleding body,
and not from the perpendicular, Avhich, he fays, is Avhat
we are from this place to underfland whenever he men¬
tions the angle of incidence. ^5
With regard to the quantities of light refleded at Great dif-
different angles of incidence, M. Bouguer found in ge-ferences in
neral, that refledion is ftronger at fmall angles of-inci-^ere(^^
dence, and Aveaker at large ones. The difference is ex-0f fubftan-
ceffive Avhen the rays ftrike the furface of tranfparent ces accord-
fubftances, Avith different degrees of obliquity j but it is^'S t0 tlie
almoft as great in foroe opaque fubftances, and it 'vasc^nce ^
always more or lefs fo in every thing that he tried.
He found the greateft inequality in black marble, which,
though not perfedly poliftied, yet Avith an angle of 30
35' of incidence, it refleded almoft as Avell as quick-
filver. Of 1000 rays Avhich it received, it returned
600: but Avhen the angle of incidence Avas 140, it re-
51
fleded only 136; Avhen it was 30°, it refleded
and Avhen it Avas 8o°, it refleded only 23.
Similar experiments made with metallic mirrors al¬
ways gave the difterenecs much lefs confiderable. The
greateft was 'hardly ever an eighth or a ninth part of
it, but they were always in the fame Avav.
The great difference betAveen the quantity of light
refleded from the furface of Avater, at different angles
of incidence, is truly furprifing. M. Bouguer fome-
times fufpeded, that, when the angles of incidence were
very
OPT
very fmall, the reflexion from water was even greater
J than from quickfilver ; though he rather thought that
it was fcarcely fo great. In very fmall angles, he fays,
that water reflefts nearly ^ of the direft light.
The light refledled from a lake is fometimes j- or
or even a greater proportion, of the light that comes di¬
rectly from the fun, which is an addition to the direft
rays of the fun that cannot fail to be very fenfible. The
direCt light of the fun diminifhes gradually as it ap¬
proaches the horizon, while the reflected light at the
fame time grows ftronger: fo that there is a certain al¬
titude of the fun, in which the united force of the di-
reCt and reHeCted light will be the greateft poflible, and
this he fays is 12 or 13 degrees.
The light reflected from water at great angles of in¬
cidence is extremely fmall. M. Bouguer vras aflured,
that, when the light was perpendicular, it reflected no
more than the 37th part that quickfilver does in the
fame cir cum fiances ; for it did not appear that water re¬
flects more than the 60th, or rather the 55th, part of
perpendicular light. When the angle of incidence was
50°, the light reflected from the furface of water was
about the 3 2d part of that which mercury reflected ;
and as the reflection from water increafes as the angle of
incidence diminifhes, it was twice as ftrong in proportion
at 390 j for it was then the 16th part of the quantity re¬
flected from mercury.
In order to procure a common ftandard by which to
meafure the proportion of light reflected from various
fluid fubflances, he feleCted water as the moft commo¬
dious *, and partly by obfervation and calculation he
drew up the following table of the quantity of light re¬
flected from its furface at different angles of incidence.
In the fame manner, he conftruCted the following
table containing the quantity of light reflected from the
looking glafs not quickfilvered.
Angles of
incidence.
2i
5
74
10
20
25
„RT.r( A"gi*-of
fleCted of 8. P.
Binoidence.
IOOO.
584
543
474
412
356
299
222
157
30
40
5Q
60
70
80
90
Rays re¬
flected of
; 1000.
112
57
34
27
25
25
25
ICS.. *83
When water floats upon mercury there will be two Hiftory.
images of any objeCt feen by reflection from them, one * " " v
at the furface of the water, and the other at that of the
quickfilver. In the largeft angles of incidence, the
image at the furface of the water will difappear, which
will happen when it is about a 60th or an 80th part
lefs luminous than the image at the furface of the
quickfilver. Deprefling the eye, the image on, the wa¬
ter will grow ftronger, and that on the quickfilver
weaker in proportion ; till at laft, the latter will be in¬
comparably weaker than the former, and at an angle of
about 10 degrees they will be equally luminous. Ac¬
cording to the table, tVoV incident rays are re¬
flected from the water at this angle of 10 degrees. At
the furfaee of the mercury they w'ere reduced to 500 j
and of thefe, part being reflected back upon it from the
under furface of the water, only 333 remained, to make
the image from the mercury. ^
It has been frequently obferved, that there is a remark- Reflection *
ably flrong reflection into water, with refpeCt to rays of images
ifluing from the water j and perfons under water have^y tkea^
feen images of things in the air in a manner peculiarly
diftinCt and beautiful. In order to account for thefe
faCts, M. Bouguer obferves that from the fmalleft angles
of incidence, to a certain number of degrees, the greateft
part of the. rays are reflected, perhaps, in as great a pro¬
portion as at the furface of metallic mirrors, or of quick¬
filver •, while the other part, which does not efcape into
the air, is extinguifhed or abforbed ; fo that the furface
of the tranfparent body appears opaque on the infide. If
the angle of incidence be increafed only a few degtees,
the ftrong reflection ceafes altogether, a great number of
rays efcape into the air, and very few are abforbed. As
the angle of incidence is farther increafed, the quantity .
of the light reflected becomes lefs and Ids ; and when
it is near 90 degrees, almolt all the rays efcape out of
the tranfparent body* its furface lofing almoft all its
power of reflection, and becoming nearly as tranfparent
as when the light falls upon it from without.
This property belonging to the furfaces of tranfpa-Extinction
rent bodies, of abforbing the rays of light, is truly re-.of the rays
markable, and, as there is reafon to believe, had not0^'^ at
been noticed by any perfon before M. Bouguer. of tranf^
That all the light is reflected at certain angles of in-rentab0dies.
cidence from air into denfer fubftances, had frequently 38
been noticed, efpecially in glafs prifms ; fo that New-Stroi?g re‘
ton made’ufe of one of them, inftead of a mirror, in the^6^011 '>y
- - - -   - 7 * pnfm.
conftfuCtion of his reflecting telefcope. If a beam of'*
light fall upon the air from within thefe prifms, at an
angle of 10, 20, or 30 degrees, the die it will be nearly
the fame as at the furface of quickfilver, one-fourth or
one-third of the rays being extinguifhed, and two-thirds
or three-fourths reflected. This property retains its full
force as far as an angle of 490 49', (the proportion of
the fines of the refraCtion being 3 i and 20) ; but if the
angle of incidence be increafed but one degree, the
quantity of light reflected inwards fuddenly deereafes,
and a great part of the rays efcape out of the glafs, fo
that the furface becomes fuddenly tranfparent.
All tranfparent bodies have the fame property, with
this difference, that the angle of incidence at which the
ftrong reflection eeafes, and at which the light which
is not reflected is extinguifhed, is greater in fome than
in others. In water this angle is about 410 32''; and
in every medium it depends fo much on the invariable
proportion
c s.
184 OPT
Hiftory, proportion of the fine of the angle of refra£Hon to the
¥ ~ ' fine of the angle of incidence, that this law alone is
fufficient to determine all the phenomena of this new
circumfiance, at leaft as to this accidental opacity of
the furface.
When M. Bougner proceeded to meafure the quanti¬
ty of light reflefted by thefe internal furfaces at great
angles of incidence, he had to ftruggle with many dif¬
ficulties j but by ufing a plate of cryftal, he found, that
at an angle of 75 degrees, this internal refle&ion dimi-
nifhed the light 27 or 28 times j and as the external
refleftion at the fame angle diminilhed the light only 26
times, it follows that the internal reflection is a little
ftronger than the other.
Repeating thefe experiments with the fame and dif¬
ferent pieces of cryftal, he fometimes found the two re¬
flexions to be equally ftrong 5 but, in general, the in-
39 ternal was the ftronger.
O/the Refuming his obfervations on the diminution of light,
jT'hi^ref occafi°ned by the reflection of opaque bodies obliquely
fleCtad by fixated, he compared it with the appearances of fimilar
different ” fubftances which reflected the light perpendicularly,
fubftances. Ufing pieces of filver made very white, he found, that
when one of them was placed at an angle of 75 degrees
with refpeCt to the light, it reflected only 640 parts out
of 1000. He then varied the angle, and alfo ufed white
plafter and fine Dutch paper, and drew up the follow¬
ing table of the proportion of the light reflected from
each of thofe fubftances at certain angles.
Quantity of Light reflected from
Angles of
incidence.
90
75
60
45
30
*5
Silver.
1000
802
640
455
3T9
209
Plafter.
1000
762
640
529
352
194
Dutch
Paper.
971
743
5°7
332
203
Suppofing the afperities of opaque bodies to confift
of very fmall planes, it appears from thefe obferva¬
tions, that there are fewer of them in thofe bodies which
refleCt the light at fmall angles of incidence than at
greater. None of them had their roughnefs equivalent
to fmall hemifpheres, which would have difperfed the
light equally in all directions ♦, and, from the c/a/a in the
preceding table, he deduces mathematically the number
of the planes that compofe thofe furfaces, and that are
inclined to the general furface at the angles above men¬
tioned, fuppofing that the whole furface contains 1000
of them that are parallel to itfelf, fo as to refleCl the
light perpendicularly, when the luminous body is fituat-
ed at right angles with refpeCl to it. His conclufions
reduced to a table, correfponding to the preceding, are
as follow’:
I
Inclinations of
the fmall fur¬
faces with re-
fpeCl to the
large one.
o
!5
3°
45
60
75
The diftribution of the fmall
planes that conftitute the af¬
perities of the opaque furface
in the
Silver. Plafter.
1000
777
554
333
161
53
1000
736
554
374
176
50
Pape
IOOO
937
545
35S
166
52
Hiftory,
Thefe variations in the number of little planes, he ex-
preffes in the form of a curve ; and afterwards fhows,
geometrically, what would be the efteCt if the bodies
were enlightened in one direction, and viewed in ano¬
ther. Upon this fubjeCt he has feveral curious theorems
and problems; but for thefe we muft refer to the work
itfelf. 40
Since the planets are more luminous at their edges 91jl®rva'
that at their centres, he concludes, that the bodiestlons.con*
which form them are conftituted in a manner different
from ours •, particularly that their opaque furfaces confift &c.
of fmall planes, more of which are inclined to the ge¬
neral furface than they are in terreftrial fubftances j and
that there are in them an infinity of points, which have
exaftly the fame fplendour.
M. Bouguer next proceeds to afeertain the quantity
of furface occupied by the fmall planes of each particu¬
lar inclination, from confidering the quantity of light
reflected by each, allowing thofe that have a greater in¬
clination to the common furface to take up proportion-
ably lefs fpace than thofe which are parallel to it. And
comparing the quantity of light that would be reflected
by fmall planes thus difpofed, -with the quantity of light
that was actually reflected by the three fubftances above
mentioned, he found that plafter, notwithftanding its
extreme whitenefs, abforbs much light j for that, of
1000 rays falling upon it, of which 166 or 167 ought
to be reflected at an angle of 770, only 67 are in faCfc
returned ; fo that 100 out of 167 were extinguilhed, that
is, about three-fifths.
With refpeCt to the planets, Bouguer concludes, that
of 300,000 rays which the moon receives, 172,000, or
perhaps 204,100, are abforbed. 4I
Plaving confidered the furfaces of bodies as confiftingOf thefur-
of planes only, he obferves that each fmall furface, fe-face.sof
parately taken, is extremely irregular, fome of thembotlie**
really concave, and others convex 5 but, in reducing
them to a midale ftate, they are to be regarded as
planes. Neverthelefs he confiders them as planes only
with refpeCl to the reception of the rays; for as they
are almoft all curves, and as, befides this, many of thofe
whofe fituation is different from others contribute to
the fame effeCts, the rays always iffue from an aCtual or
imaginary focus, and after refleClion always diverge from
another.
The experiments of Lambert, related in his Photome-
tna, have laid open to us many curious obfervations
concerning the natural hiftory of light. He was the
firft who determined that a radiating furface emits its
light with nearly the fame intenfity in all directions, fo
that
OPT
Hiftory
42
Mr Mel¬
ville’s ob-
fervations
on the
manner in
which bo¬
dies are
heated by
light.
43
Abbe i\Tol-
•et’s experi-
ments with
burning
glafles.
tlrat every portion of it appears equally bright to an ob-
ferver placed in any direction. °
W e ate obliged to Mr Pi/Ielville for fume ingenious
obfervations on the manner in which bodies are heated
by light. He obferves, that, as each colorific particle
of an opaque body mull be fomewhat moved by the
refle&ion of the particles of light, when it is reflected
backwards and forwards between the fame particles,
it is manifeft that they muft likewife be agitated with
a vibratory motion, and the time of a vibration will
be equSl to that which light takes up in moving from
one particle of a body to another adjoining. This
dillance, in the molt folid opaque bodies, cannot be
fuppofed greater than TT^th of an inch, which fpace
drRfcrlbf3 5n the T^ToOOo4o000O00tb Of a fecond.
With lo rapid a motion, therefore, may the internal
parts of bodies be agitated by the influence of light, as
to perform 1 25,000,000,000,000 vibrations, or more, in
a fecond of time.
The arrival of different particles of light at the fur-
face of the fame colorific particle, in the fame or dif¬
ferent rays, may difturb the regularity of its vibrations,
but will evidently increafe their frequency, or raife
Hill fmaller vibrations among the parts which compofe
thofe particles ; whence the inteftine motion will be¬
come more fubtle, and more thoroughly diffufed. If the
quantity of light admitted into the body be increafed,
the vibrations of the particles muft likewife increafe in
magnitude and velocity, till at laft they may be fo
violent, as to make all the component particles dafh
one another to pieces by their mutual collifion ; in which
cafe, the colour and texture of the body muft be de-
ftroyed.
Since there is no refle&ion of light but at the fur-
face of a medium, the fame gentleman obferves, that
the greateft quantity of rays, though crowded into the
fmalleft fpace, will not of themfelves produce any heat.
Hence it follows, that the portion of air which lies in
the focus of the molt potent fpeculum, is not at all af¬
fected by the paffage of light through it, but continues
of the fame temperature with the ambient air ; though
any opaque body, or even any tranfparent body denfer
than air, when put in the fdme place, would, in an in-
ftant, be intenfely heated.
I he eafieft way to be fatisfied of this truth experi¬
mentally is, to hold a hair, or a piece of down, imme¬
diately above the focus of a lens or fpeculum, or to blow
a ftream of finoke from a pipe horizontally over it 5 for
if the air in the focus were hotter than the furrounding
fluid, it would continually afcend on account of its ra¬
refaction, and thereby fenfibly agitate thofe flender bo¬
dies.^ Or a lens may be fo placed as to form its focus
■within a body of water, or feme other tranfparent fub-
ftance, the heat of which may be examined from time
to time with a thermometer j but care muft be taken,
m this experiment, to hold the lens as near as poflible
to the tranfparent body, left the rays, by falling clofer
than ordinary on its fur face, fliould warm it more than
the common funbeams. See Prieftley on Vifion.
I he attempts of the Abbe Nollet to fire inflam¬
mable fubflances by the concentration of the folar rays
have a near relation to the prefent fubjeCf. He attempt¬
ed to fire liquid fubftances, but he was not able to do it
either with fpirit of wine, olive oil, oil of turpentine,
or ether yind though he could fire fulphur, yet he could
Vol. XV. Part I.
I C S.
not fucceed with Spanifli wax, rofin, black pitch, or fuet.
He both threw the focus of thefe mirrors upon the fub¬
ftances themfelves, and alfo upon the fumes that rofe
from them ; but the only effect was, that the liquor
boiled, and was difperfed in vapour or very fmall drops.
When linen rags, and other folid fubftances, were moift-
ened with any of thefe inflammable liquids, they would
not take fire till the liquid was difperfed in a copious
fume ; fo that the rags thus prepared were longer in
burning than thofe that were dry. 4i
M. Beaume, who aflifled M. Nollet in fome of thefe M. Beau-
experiments, obferved farther, that the fame fubftances me’s expe-
which were eafily fired by the flame of burning bodies,nments-
could not be fet on fire by the contaft of the hotteft bo¬
dies that did not a&ually flame. Neither ether nor fpi¬
rit of wine could be fired with a hot coal, or even red-
hot iron, unlefs they were of a white heat.
By the help of optical principles, and efpecially by Bodies
obfervations on the refle&ion of light, Mr Melville de- which feem
monftrated that bodies which feem to touch one anothert0 touch
are not always in a&ual contaft. Upon examining the therTre"
volubility and luftre of drops of rain that lie on the nothTac-
leaves of colewort, and fome other vegetables, he found tual con-
that the luftre of the drop is produced by a copious re-
flection of light from the flattened part of its furface
contiguous to the plant. He found alfo, that, when the
drop rolls along a part which has been wetted, it imme¬
diately lofes all its luftre, the green plant being then
feen clearly through it 5 whereas, in the other cafe, it
is hardly to be dilcerned.
From thefe two obfervations, he concluded, that the
drop does not really touch the plant, when it has the
mercurial appearance, but is fufpended in the air at fome
diftance from it by a repulfive force. For there could
not be any copious refle&ion of white light from its un¬
der furface, unlefs there were a real interval between it
and the furface of the plant.
If that furface were perfeftly fmooth, the under
furface of the drop would be fo likewife, and would
therefore fliow an image of the illuminating body by
reflexion, like a piece of poliflied filver ; but as it is
confiderably rough, the under furface becomes rough
likewife, and thus by reflecting the light copioully in
different directions, affumes the brilliant hue of unpo-
liflied filver.
It being thus proved by an optical argument, that the
drop is not really in contaft with the leaf, it may eafily
be conceived whence its volubility arifes, and why it
leaves no moifture where it rolls.
Before we conclude the hiltory of the obfervations
concerning the reflection of light, we muft not omit to,ious niif_
take notice of two Angular mifcellaneou? obfervations. cellaneouS
Baron Alexander Funk, vifiting fome filver mines in°Uerva-
Sweden, obferved, that, in a clear day, it was as dark as'10115,
pitch below ground, in the eye of a pit, at 60 or 70 fa¬
thoms deep •, whereas, in a cloudy or rainy day, he could
even fee to read at the depth of ic6 fathoms. He ima¬
gined that it arofe from this circumftance, that when
the atmofphere is full of clouds, light is reflefted from
them into the pit in all directions, and that thereby a con-
fiderable proportion of the rays is reflected perpendicular¬
ly upon the earth 5 whereas, when the atmofphere is clear,
there are no opaque bodies to refleCt the light in this man¬
ner, at leaft in a fufficient quantity ; and rays from the
fun itfelf can never fall perpendicularly in that country.
A a The
i86 ° P T
Hiftory. The other obfervation was that of the ingenious Mr
 ' Grey. He took a piece of ftiff brown paper, and prick¬
ing a fmall hole in it, he held it at a little diftance be¬
fore him ; when, applying a needle to his eye, he was
furprifed to fee the point of it inverted. The nearer
the needle was to the hole, the more it was magnified,
but the lefs diitindl ; and if it was fo held, that its image
was near the edge of the hole, its point feemed crooked.
From thefe appearances he concluded, that thefe fmall
holes, or fomething in them, produce the effedls of con¬
cave fpeculums ; and from this circumflance he took the
liberty to call them aerial fpeculums.
This method of accounting for the inverted image of
the pin is evidently erroneous j for the fame effedl is pro¬
duced, when the fmall aperture is formed of two femi-
apertures at different diilances from the eye, or when a
fmall opening is made in the pigment on a piece of
fmoked glafs. We have found indeed that the fame
phenomenon rvill appear, if, inflead of looking at a hole
in a piece of paper, we view a fmall luminous point fo
that it is expanded by indiftindl vifion into a circular
image of light. The pin always increafes in magnitude
in proportion to its diftance from the luminous point.
Sect. III. Difcoveries concerning the Injle Elion of Light.
This property of light was not difcovered till about
the middle of the 17th century. The perfon who firft
made the difcovery was Father Grimaldi } at leaft he
firft publifned an account of it in his treatife L)e lu-
tnine, coloribu?, et inde, printed in 1666. Dr Hooke,
however, laid claim to the fame difcovery, though he
did not make his obfervations public till fix years after
Grimaldi.
Dr Hooke’s Dr Hooke having darkened his room, admitted a
diicovexies. beam of the fun’s light through a very fmall hole in a
brafs plate. This beam fpreading itfelf, formed a cone,
the vertex of which was in the hole, and the bafe was
on a paper, fo placed as to receive it at fome diftance.
In the image of the fun, thus painted on the paper, he
obferved that the middle was much brighter than the
edges, and that there was a kind of dark penumbra
about it, of about a 16th part of the diameter of the
circle ; which he aferibed to a property of light, that
he promifed to explain.—Having obferved this, at the
diftance of about two inches from the former he let in
another cone of light ; and receiving the bafes of them,
at filch a diftance from the holes that the circles in-
Plate terfefled each other, he obferved that there was not on-
CCCLXXV. ly a darker ling, encompaffing the lighter circle, but a
Tig. 6. manifeft dark line, or circle, as in fig. 6. which appear¬
ed even where the limb of the one interfered with that
of tlie other.
In the light thus admitted, he held an opaque body
Fig. 7.. fig. 7. fo as to intercept the light that entered at a
hole in the window fhutter O, and was received on the
fcreen AP. In thefe circumftances, he obferved, that
the (hadow of the opaque body (which was a round
piece of wood, not bright or polifhed) was all over
fomewhat enlightened, but more efpecially towards the
edge. In order to (how that this light was not produ¬
ced by reflection, he admitted the light through a hole
burnt in a piece of pafteboard, and intercepted it with
a razor which had a very (harp edge ■, but ftill the ap¬
pearances were the very fame as before $ fo that he con-
3
I c s.
eluded that they were occafioned by fome new property Hiftory,
of light. u“—Y—-■<
Pie diverfified this experiment, by placing the razor
fo as to divide the cone of light into two parts, and
placing the paper fo that none of the enlightened part
of the circle fell upon it, but only the ftiadow of the
razor j and, to his great furprife, he obferved what he
calls a very brifk and vifible radiation ftriking down up¬
on the paper, of the fame breadth with the diameter of
the lucid circle. This radiation always ftruck perpen¬
dicularly from the line of ftiadow, and, like the tail of
a comet, extended more than 10 times the breadth of
the remaining part of the circle. He found, wherever
there was a part of the interpofed body higher than the
reft, that, oppoiite to it, the radiation of light into the
ftiadow was brighter, as in the figure ; and wherever
there was a notch or gap in it, there rvould be a dark
ftroke in the half-enlightened fliadow. From all thefe
appearances, he concluded, that there is a deflefrion
of light, differing both from reflection and refra&ion,
and feeming to depend on the unequal denfity of the
conftituent parts of the ray, whereby the light is dil-
perfed from the place of condenfation, and rarefied, or
gradually diverged into a quadrant •, that this defleftion
is made towards the fuperficies of the opaque body per¬
pendicularly •, that thofe parts of the diverged radiations
which are defleCted by the greateft angle from the
ftraight or diredt radiations are the fainteft, and thofe
that are defledled by the leaft angles are the ftrongeft y
that rays cutting each other in one common aperture do
not make the angles at the vertex equal 5 that colours
may be made without refradlion ; that the diameter of
the fun cannot be truly taken with common fights ; that
the fame rays of light, falling upon the fame point of
an object, will turn into all forts of colours, by the va¬
rious inclinations of the objedl; and that colours begin
to appear when two pulfes of light are blended fo
well, and fo near together, that the fenfe takes them for
one. . 4s .
We (hall now proceed to give an account of the dif- Grimaldi’s
coveries of Father Grimaldi. Having introduced a ray ^ftco',er'es‘
of light, through a very fmall hole, AE, fig. 8. into a 8-
darkened room, he obferved that the light wras diffufed in
the form of a cone, the bafe of which was CD •, and that
if any opaque body, FE, was placed in this cone of light,
at a confiderable diftance from the hole, and the ftia¬
dow received upon a piece of white paper, the boundaries
of it were not confined within GH, or the penumbra
IL, occafioned by the light proceeding from different
parts of the aperture, and of the dilk of the fun, but
extended to MN : At this he was very much furprifed,
as he found that it was broader than it ought to have
been made by rays palling in right lines by the edges
of the objeft.
But the moft remarkable circumftance in this ap¬
pearance was, that upon the lucid part of the bale,
CM and ND, ftreaks of coloured light were plainly
diftinguifhed, each being terminated by blue on the
fide next the ftiadow, and by red on the other j
and though thefe coloured ftreaks depended, in fome
meafure on the fize of the aperture AB, becaufe they
could not be made to appear if it was large, yet he
found that they were not limited either by it, or by the
diameter of the fun’s dilk.
He farther obferved, that thefe coloured ftreaks
were
Fig. p
Fig. 10.
OPT
Hiftory. were not all ot the fame breadth, but grew narrower as
““'"V—they receded from the fhadow, and were each of them
broader the farther the fhadow was received from the
opaque body, and alfo the more obliquely the paper
on which they were received was held with refpeft
to it. He never obferved more than three of thefe
flreaks.
To give a clearer idea of thefe coloured ftreaks, he
drew the reprefentation of them, exhibited in fig. 9. in
which NMO reprefents the largeft and moft luminous
flreak, next to the dark fiiadow X. In the fpace in
which M is placed there was no diftin&ion of colour,
but the fpace NN was blue, and the fpace OO on the
other fide of it was red. The fecond ftreak QPR was
narrower than the former ; and of the three parts of
which it confided, the fpace P had no particular colour,
but £)£) was a faint blue, and RR a faint red. The
third Itreak, TSV, was exatdly fimilar to the two others,
but narrower than either of them, and the colour dill
fainter.
Thefe coloured dreaks he obferved to lie parallel to
the fhadow of the opaque body ; but when it was of an
angular form, they did not make the fame acute an¬
gles, but were bent into a curve, the outermod being
rounder than thofe that were next the fhadow, as is re-
prefented in fig. 10. If it was an inward angle, as DCH,
the coloured dreaks, parallel to each other of the two
fides eroded without obliterating one another ; only
the colours were thus rendered either more intenfe or
mixed.
W ithin the diadow itfelf, Grimaldi fometimes per¬
ceived coloured dreaks, fimilar to thofe above mentioned
on the outfide of the diadow. Sometimes he faw more
of them, and fometimes fewer ; but for this purpofe it
was necedary to have drong light, and to make the
opaque body long and moderately broad. A hair, for
indance, or a fine needle, did not anfwer fo well as a
thin and narrow plate : and the dreaks were mod dif-
tingui(liable when the fhadow was taken at the greated
didance; though the light grew fainter in the fame pro¬
portion.
The numbers of thefe dreaks increafed with the
breadth of the plate. They were at lead two, and
fometimes four, if a thicker plate were made ufe of.
But, with the fame plate, more or fewer dreaks appear¬
ed, in proportion to the didance at which the diadow
was received 5 but they were broader when they were
few, and narrower when there were more of them; and
they were all much more didintt when the paper was
held obliquely.
Thefe coloured dreaks, like thofe on the outfide of
the diadow, were bent in an arch, round the acute an¬
gles of the diadow, as they are reprefented in fig. 11.
At this angle alfo, as at D, other fhorter lucid dreaks
were vifible, bent in the form of a plume, as they are
drawn betwixt D and C, each bending round and meet-
ing again in D. Thefe angular dreaks appeared, though
the plate or rod was not wholly immerfed in the beam
of light, but the angle of it only ; and they increafed
in number with the breadth of the plate. If the plate
was very thin, the coloured dreaks bent round from the
oppofite fides, and met one another as at B.
In order to obtain a more fatisfa£Iory proof, that
rays of light really bend, in pading by the edges of bo-
1 8-7
fig-11
I c s.
dies, he admitted a beam of light into a dark room, as Hiftory.
before j and, at a great didance from it, he fixed a plate v
(fig. 1 2.) with a fmall aperture GH, which admit-I2,
ted only a part of the beam of light, and found, that
when the light tranfmitted through this plate was re¬
ceived at fome diitance upon a white paper, the bafe IK
was confiderably larger than it could podibly have been
made by rays ilfuing in right lines through the two a-
pertures. Grimaldi generally made the aperture CD
tso or Part °fa foot, and the fecond aperture, GH,
tsV or Totr ? an<f the didances, DG and GN, were at
lead 12 feet. 1 he obfervation was made about mid¬
day in the dimmer time, when the atmofphere was free
from all vapours.
Grimaldi alfo made the fame experiment that has
been recited from Dr Hooke, in which two beams of
light, entering a dark room by two fmall apertures near
one another, projected cones of light, which, at a cer¬
tain didance, in part coincided j and he particularly ob¬
ferved, that the dark boundaiies of eaqh of them were
vifible within the lucid ground of the other.
To thefe difeoveries of Grimaldi, we ihall fubjoinObferva-
an additional obfervation of Dechales j who found, bon of De*
that if a piece of polilhed metal, with fmall fcratches inchales*
it, be expofed to the beams of the fun in a darkened
room, it will rededt the rays dreaked with colours in
the diredtion of the fcratches; as will appear, if the re-
fledted light be received upon a piece of white paper.
That thefe colours are not produced by refradtion, he
fays, is manifed ; for if the fcratches be made upon
glafs, the effedt will be the fame ; and in this cafe, if the
light had been refracted at the furface of the glafs, it
would have been tranfmitted through it. From thefe
and many other obfervations, he concluded, that colour
does not depend upon the refradtion of light only, nor
upon a variety of other circumdances, which he particu¬
larly enumerates, but upon the intenfity of the light
only.
. diall here give an account of a phenomenon of of v°de
vision obferved by M. de la Hire, as being connedtedHire.
with the fubjedt of this fedtion. When we look at a
candle, or any luminous body, with our eyes nearly {hut,
rays 0} light are extended from it, in feveral diredtions, to
a confiderable didance, like the tails of comets. This ap¬
pearance exercifed the fagacity of Defcartes and Rohault,
as well as of De la Hire j but all thefe philofophers feem.
to have been midaken with regard to its caufe. Defcartes
aferibed this effedt to certain wrinkles in the furface of
the humours of the eyes. Rohault fays, that when the
eye-lids are nearly clofed, the edges of them adt like
convex lenfes. But De la Hire obferves, that the moi-
dure on the furface of the eye, adhering partly to the
eye itfelf, and partly to the edge of the eye-lid, makes
a concave mirror, and fo difperfes the rays at their en¬
trance into the eye. The true account of the phenome¬
non, however, is this. There are three different kinds
of radiations didindfly vifible; the mod brilliant, which
diverge diredtly from the candle, are formed by the n?-
frcBion of the light of the candle through the moidure
that lubricates the eye, and which is brought oppofite
the pupil by one of the eye-lids. Another kind of ra¬
diation, which appears at a didance from the candle in
the form of fmall luminous fpecks, is produced by re-
jleft ion from the part of the eye-lid in which the ladies
A a 2
are
i88
OPT
Plate
CCCLXXVI.
fig. i.
Hiftory. are inferted. Tlie third kind of radiation is horizontal,
v and is caufed by the inflection of the light in palling
(.I between the eye-lalhes.
Sir Ifaac Tire experiments of Grimaldi and Hooke were re-
T'Jewton’s' peated and extended by Sir Ifaac Newton, and were in
difcoveries. pome meafure explained by that diftinguilhed philofo-
pher.
He made in a piece of lead a fmall hole the 42d
part of an inch in diameter. Through this hole he let
into his dark chamber a beam of the fun’s light ; and
found, that the fhadows of hairs, and other {lender fub-
ftaoees, placed in it, were contiderably broader than
they would have been it the rays of light had palled by
thofe bodies in right lines. He therefore concluded, that
they mult have palled as they are reprefented in tig. 1.
in which X reprelents a lection of the hair, and AL),
BE, &c. rays of light palling by at different diiiances,
and then falling upon the wall G(E Since, when the
paper which receives the rays is at a great diPiance
from the hair, the fhadow is broad, it muff follow, that
the hSir afts upon the rays at fome eorifiderable diflance
from it, the aftion being ffrongeft on thofe rays which
are at the leaft difiance, and growing weaker and weaker
on thofe which are farther off, as is reprefented in this
figure •, and hence it comes to pafs that the lhadow of the
hair is much broader in proportion to the diftance of the
paper from the hair when it is nearer than w her it is at
a greater diftance.
By wetting a polilhed plate of glafs, and laying the
hair in the water upon the glafs, and then laying an¬
other polifhed plate of glafs upon it, fo that the water
might fill up the fpace between the glaffes, he found
that the fhadow at the fame diftance was as big as be¬
fore, fo that this breadth of lhadow muft proceed from
fome other caufe than the refradfion of the air.
The fhadows of all bodies placed in this light wrere
bordered with three parallel fringes of coloured light,
of which that which was neareft to the fhadow was the
broadeft and moft luminous, while that which was fartheft
from it was the narroweft, and fo faint as to be fcarce-
]y vifible. It was difficult to diftinguiffi thefe colours,
unlefs when the light fell very obliquely upon fome
fmooth white body, fo as'to make them appear much
broader than they would otherwife have done ; but in
thefe circumftanees the colours were plainly vifible,
and in- the following order. The fir ! or innermoft
fringe was violet, and deep blue next the ftiadow, light
blue, green, and yellow in the middle, and red without.
The fecond fringe was almoft contiguous to the firft,
and the third to the fecond j and both were blue with¬
in, and yellow and red without \ but their colours were
very faint, efpecially thofe of the third. The colours,
therefore, proceeded in the following order from the
lhadow \ violet, indigo, pale blue, green, yellow, red j
blue, yellow, red ; pale blue,Npale yellow, and red. The
lhadows, made by feratches and bubbles in polifhed
plates of glafs, were bordered with the like fringes of
coloured light.
Meafuring thefe fringes and their intervals with the
greateft accuracy, he found the former to be in the pro-
greuion of the numbers 1, t/x* an(^ their inter¬
vals to be in the lame progreffion with them, that is, the
fringes and their intervals together to be nearly in con¬
tinual progreffion of the numbers, 1 \J\, \/y,
Having made the aperture ^ of an inch in diameter,
2
I G S.
and admitted the light as formerly, Sir Ifaac placed, at the
diftance of two or three feet from the hole, a fheet of
pafteboard, black on both fides; and in the middle of it
he made a hole about ^ of an inch fquare, and behind
the hole he faftened to the pafteboard the blade of a lharp
knife, to intercept fonie part of the light which pafi’ed
through the hole. The planes of the pafteboard and
blade of the knife were parallel to each other, and
perpendicular to the rays; and when they were fo
placed that none of the light fell on the pafteboard, but
ail of it paiTed through the hole to the knife, and there
part of it fell upon the blade of the knife, and part of it
palled by its edge, he let that part of the light which
palTed fall on a white paper, 2 or 3 feet beyond the
knife, and there he faw two ftreams of faint light ftioot
out both ways from the beam of light into the lhadow.
But becaufe the fun’s diredl light, by its brightnefs upon
the paper, oblctired thefe faint ftreams, fo that he could
fcarcely fee them, he made a little hole in the midft of
the paper for that light to pals through and tail on a
black cloth behind it; and then he farv the two ftreams
plainly. They were iimilar to one another, and pretty
nearly equal in length, breadth, and quantity of light.
Their light, at that end which was next to the fun’s di-
re£> light, was pretty ftrong for the fpace ol about ^ of
an inch, eir 4 of an inch, and gradually decreafed till it
became infenfible.
The whole length of either of thefe ftreams, mea-
fured upon the paper, at the diftance of 3 feet from
the knife, was about 6 or 8 inches •, fo that it lubtend¬
ed an angle, at the edge of the knife, of abend 10 or
12, or at moft 14, degrees. Yet fometimes he thought
he faw it ftioot 3 or 4 de grees farther ; but with a light
fo very faint, that he could hardly perceive it.' This
light he lufpedted might, in part as kail, arife fremi
fome other caufe than the two ftreams. For, placing
his eye in that light, beyond the end of that ftream
which was behind the knife, and looking towards the
knife, he could lee a line of light upon its edge ; and
that not only when his eye was in the line of the ftreams,
but alfo when it was out of that line, either towards
the point of the knife, or towards the handle. 1 his
line of light appeared contiguous to the edge of the
knife, and was narrower than the light of the inner-
moll fringe, and narrowelt when his eye was fartheft
from the diredil light ; and therefore feemed to pals be¬
tween the light of that fringe and the edge of the knife j
and that which pafled neareft; the edge feemed to be
moft bent.
He then placed another knife by the former, fo that
their edges might be parallel, and look towards one
another, and that the beam of light might fall upon
both the knives, and fome part of it pafs between their
edges. In this fituation he obferved, that when the
diftance of their edges was about the 400th of an
inch, the ftream divided in the middle, and left a
lhadow between the two parts. This ftiadow was fo
dark, that all the light which paffed between the knives
feemed to be bent to the one hand or the other 5 and as
the knives Hill approached each other, the ftiadow grew
broader and the ftreams Ihorter next to it, till, upon the
contafl of the knives, all the light.vaniftied.
Hence Sir Ifaac concluded, that the light which is
leaft bent, and which goes to the inward ends of the
ftreams, paffes by the edges of the knives at the greateft
.diftance j
OPT
Hiftory dhlance ; and this diftance, wlien the fliadow began to
1 appear between the itreams, was about the Sooth of an
inch; and the light which paifed by the edges of the
knives at didances ft ill lefs and lefs, was more and more
faint, and went to thofe parts cf the ftreams which were
farther from the direct light j becaufe, when the knives
approached one another till they touched, thofe parts of
the ftream vaniflied laft which were fartheft from the
direfl line.
In the experiment of one knife only, the coloured
fringes did not appear ; but, on account of the breadth
of the hole in the window, became fo broad as to run
into one another, and, by joining, to make one continual
light in the beginning of the ftreams ; but in the laft
experiment, as the knives approached one another, a
little before the ftiadow appeared between the two
ftreams, the fringes began to appear on the inner ends
of the ftreams, on either fide of the diredf light 5 three
on one fide, made by the edge of one knife, and three
on the other fide, made by the edge of the other knife.
They were the moft diftinct when the knives were
placed at the greateft diftanee from the hole in the win¬
dow, and became ftill more diftinct by making the hole
lefs •, fo that he Could fometiraes fee a faint trace of a
fourth fringe beyond the three above mentioned : and
as the knives approached one another the fringes grew
more diftinit and larger, till they vanished ^ the outer-
moft vanififing firft, and the innermoft laft. After they
avere all vanifhed, and the line of light in the middle
between them was grown very broad, extending itfelf
on both fides into the ftreams of light deferibed before,
the above-mentioned ftiadow began to appear in the
middle of this line, and to divide it along the middle
into two lines of light, and increafed till all the light
vanifhed. This enlargement of the fringes was fo great,
that the rays which went to the innermoft fringe feem-
ed to be bent about 20 times more when the fringe was
ready to vanifti, than when one of the knives was taken
away.
From both thefe experiments Newton concluded, that
_ the light of the firft fringe paffed by the edge of the
knife at a diftance greater than the 800th of an inch }
that the light of the fecond fringe pafted by the edge
of the knife at a greater diftance than the light of the
firft fringe, and that of the third at a greater diftance
than that of the fecond ; and that the light of which the
ftreams above mentioned confifted, palled by the edges
of the knives at lefs diftances than that of any of the
fringes.
He then got the edges of two knives ground ftraight,
and fixed their points into a board, fo that their edges
might contains rectilinear angle. The diftance of the
edges of the knives from one another, at four inches
from the angular point, was the 8th of an inch •, fo that
the angle contained by their edges was about i° 54'.
The knives being thus fixed, he placed them in a beam
of the fun’s light let into his darkened chamber, through
a hole the 4 2d of an inch wide, at the diftance of 10 or
13 feet from the hole ^ and he let the light which paf¬
fed between their edges fall very obliquely on a fmooth
white ruler, at the diftance of \ inch, or an inch, from
thij knives 5 and there he faw the fringes made by the
two edges of the knives run along the edges of the fha-
dows of the knives, in lines parallel to thofe edges, with-
I c s.
out growing fenfibly broader, till they met in angles Hiftory.
equal to the angle contained by the edges of the knives j y——
and where they met and joined, they ended, without
crofting one another. But if the ruler was held at a
much greater diftance from the knives, the fringes,
where they were farther from the place of their meet¬
ing, were a little narrower, and they became fomething
broader as they approached nearer to one another, and
after they met they crofted one another, and then be¬
came much broader than before.
From thefe obfervations he concluded, that the di¬
ftances at which the light compofing the fringes pafled
by the knives were not increafed, or altered by the ap¬
proach ; and that the knife which was neareft to any
ray determined which v7ay the ray ftiould be bent, but
that the other knife increafed the bending.
When the rays fell very obliquely upon the ruler, at
the diftance of \ of an inch from the knives, the dark
line between the firft and fecond fringes of the fhadow
of one knife, and the dark line between the firft and fe¬
cond fringe of the fhadow of the other knife, met one
another, at the diftance of ^ of an inch from the end of
the light which paiTed between the knives, where their
edges met; fo that the diftance of the edges of the
knives, at the meeting of the dark lines, rvas the 160th of
an inch ; and one half of that light pafled by the edge
of one knife, at a diftance not greater than the 320th
part of an inch, and, falling upon the paper, made the
fringes of the fhadow oi that knife; while the other
half pafled by the edge of the other knife, at a diftance
not greater than the 320th part of an inch, and, falling
upon the paper, made the fringes -of the fhadow of the
other kniie. But if the paper was held at a diftance
from the knives greater than ^ of an inch, the dark
lines above mentioned met at a greater diftance than -f
of an inch from the end of the fight which pafled be¬
tween the knives, at the meeting of their edges j fothat
the light which fell upon the paper where thofe dark
lines met pafled between the knives, where their edges
were farther diftant than the 160th of an inch. For at
another time, when the two knives were 8 feet 5 inches
from the little hole in the window, the light which fell
upon the paper where the above mentioned dark lines
met pafled between the knives, where the diftance be¬
tween their edges was, as in the following table, at the
diftances from the paper noted.
Diftance of the paper from
the knives in inches.
Diftance between the edges
of the knives in thoufandth
parrs of an inch.
3t
8f
32
96
I3r
0,0 r 2
0,020
0,054
0,057
0,081
0,087
From thefe obfervations he concluded, that the
light which forms the fringes upon the paper is not
the fame light at all diftances of the paper from the
knives; but that when the paper is held near the
knives, the fringes are made by light which pafles by
the
5 9°
Hiftory.
Plate
■CCCLXXVI
fig. 2.
OPT
the edges of the knives at a let's diftance, and is more
bent than when the paper is held at a greater diiiance
from the knives.
When the fringes of the tliadows of the knives fell
perpendicularly upon the paper, at a great dillance from
the knives, they were in the form of hyperbolas, of the
following dimentions. Let CA, CB, (fig. 2.) reprefent
lines drawn upon the paper, parallel to the edges of the
' knives j and between which all the light would fall if it
fuffered no inflection. DE is a right line drawn through
C, making the angles A CD, BCE, equal to one an¬
other, and terminating all the light which falls upon the
paper, from the point where the edges of the knives
meet. Then e z /, and g / v, will be three hy¬
perbolic lines, reprefenting the boundaries of the flia-
dow of one of the knives, the dark line between the firtl
and fecond fringes of that fhadow, and the dark line
between the fecond and third fringes of the fame tha-
dow. Alfo # z’p, y £ <7, and z/r, will be three other
hyperbolic lines, reprefenting the boundaries of the tha-
dow of the other knife, the dark line between the firtl
and fecond fringes of that fhadow, and the dark line
between the fecond and third fringes of the fame lhadow.
Thefe three hyperbolas which are fimilar, and equal to
the former, crofs them in the points z, k, and /; fo that
the fhadows of the knives are terminated, and diftin-
guifhed from the firfl: luminous fringes, by the lines
e is and x z p, till the meeting and eroding of the
fringes ; and then thofe lines crofs the fringes in the
form of dark lines terminating the firfl: luminous fringes
on the infide, and diflinguilhing them from another
light, which begins to appear at z", and illuminates all
the triangular fpace zp DE j1, comprehended by thefe
dark lines and the right line DE. Of thefe hyperbolas
one afymptote is the line DE, and the other afymptotes
are parallel to the lines CA and CB.
Before the fmall hole in the window Newton placed
a prifm, to form on the oppofite wall the coloured image
of the fun *, and he found that the fhadowrs of all bodies
held in the coloured light, were bordered with fringes
of the colour of the light in which they were held ; and
he found that thofe made in the red light were the lar-
geft, thofe made in the violet the leaft, and thofe made
in the green of a middle bignefs. The fringes with
which the fhadow of a man’s hair were furrounded, be¬
ing meafured acrofs the fhadow, at the didance of fix
inches from the hair, the diftance between the middle
and moft luminous part of the firft or innermoft fringe
on one fide of the fhadow, and that of the like fringe
on the other fide of the fhadow, wras, in the full red
—^— of an inch, and in the full violet -S-g. The
37*5
like diftance betwreen the middle and moft luminous
parts of the fecond fringes, on either fide of the fhadow,
was in the full red light -g-V, and in the violet ?tt of an
inch •, and thefe diftances of the fringes held the fame
proportion at all diftances from the hair, without any
fenfible variation.
From thefe obfervations it was evident, that the rays
which formed the fringes in the red light, pafled by the
hair at a greater diftance than thofe which made the like
fringes in the violet; fo that the hair, in caufing thefe
fringes, afted alike upon the red light or leaft refran¬
gible rays at a greater diftance, and upon the violet or
I c s.
moft refrangible rays at a lefs diftance ; ana thereby oc- t Hiftoiy,
cafloned fringes of different fizes, without any change
in the colour of any fort of light.
It may therefore be concluded, that when the hair
was held in the white beam of light, and caft a fhadow
bordered with three coloured fringes, thofe colours arofe
not from any new modifications impreffed upon the
rays of light by the hair, but only from the various
inflexions by which the feverai forts of rays were fepa-
rated from one another, which before feparation, by the
mixture of all their colours, compofed the white beam
of the fun’s light j but, when feparated, compofed lights
of the feverai colours which they are originally difpofed
to exhibit.
The perfon who firft made any experiments fimilar to Marakfi’s
thofe of NeWton on infleXed light is M. Maraldi. His Xfcoveries.
obfervations chiefly refpeX the infleXion of light to¬
wards other bodies, whereby their fhadows are partially
illuminated.
He expofed in the light of the fun a cylinder ofEsi:ie5rj_
Wood three feet long, and 6^ lines in diameter, when ments con¬
its fhadow was everywhere equally black and well de-cermng the
fined, even at the diftance of 23 inches from it. At a ^
greater diftance the fhadow appeared of two difterent y
denfities; for its two extremities, in the direXion of the
length of the cylinder, were terminated by two dark
ftrokes, a little more than a line in breadth. Within
thefe dark lines there was a faint light, equally difper-
fed through the fhadow, which formed an uniform pen¬
umbra, much lighter than the dark ftrokes at the ex¬
tremity, or than the ftiadow received near the cylinder.
This appearance is reprefented in Plate CCCLXXVI.
fig. 3. < _ 3-
As the cylinder was removed to a greater diftance
from the paper, the twm black lines continued to be
nearly of the fame breadth, and the fame degree of ob-
feurity ; but the penumbra in the middle grew lighter,
and its breadth diminifhed, fo that the tvro dark lines at
the extremity of the ftiadow approached one another,
till at the diftance of 60 inches, they coincided, and
the penumbra in the middle entirely vanifhed. At a
ftill greater diftance a faint penumbra was vifible ; but
it vras ill defined, and grew broader as the cylinder was
removed farther off, but was fcnfible at a very great di¬
ftance.
Befides the black and dark fhadow which the cylin¬
der formed near the opaque body, a narrow and faint
penumbra was feen on the outfide of the dark ftiadow.
And on the outfide of this there was a traX more ftrong-
ly illuminated than the reft of the paper.
The breadth of the external penumbra increafed with
the diftance of the ftiadow from the cylinder, and the
breadth of the traX of light on the outfide of it wTas
alfo enlarged ; but its fplendour diminifhed with the di¬
ftance,
He repeated thefe experiments with three other cy¬
linders of different dimenfions ; and from all of them he
inferred, that every opaque cylindrical body, expofed
to the light of the fun, makes a fhadoiv which is black
and dark to the diftance of 38 to 45 diameters of the
cylinder which forms it ; and that, at a greater di¬
ftance, the middle part begins to be illuminated in the
manner deferibed above.
In explaining thefe appearances, Maraldi fuppofes
that
OPT
Hiftory. that the light which diluted the middle part of the flia-
u—v ' dow was occafioncd by the inflexion of the rays, which,
bending inwards on their near approach to the body,
did at a certain diftance enlighten all the fhadow, ex¬
cept the edges, which were left undifturbed. At the
fame time other rays were deflefted from the body,
and formed a ftrong light on the outfide of the (liadow,
and which might at the fame time contribute to dilute
the outer fhadow, though he fuppofed that penumbra to
be occafloned principally by that part of the paper not
being enlightened, except by a part of the fun’s difk
only, according to the known principles of optics.
54 • ^ h® fame experiments he made with globes of feveral
thXrS diameters •, but he found, that the fhadows of the
globes. globes were not vifible beyond 15 of their diameters;
which he thought was owing to the light being infiedl-
ed on every fide of a globe, and confequently in fuch a
quantity as to difperfe the fhadows fooner than in the
cafe of the cylinders.
In repeating the experiments of Grimaldi and New¬
ton, he obferved that, befides the enlarged fhadow of a
hair, a fine needlg, &c. the bright gleam of light that
bordered it, and the three coloured fringes next to this
enlightened part, when the fhadow was at a confiderable
diftance from the hair, the dark central fhadow was di¬
vided in the middle by a mixture of light; and that it
was not of the fame denfity, except when if was very
near the hair,
A briftle, at the diftance of nine feet from the hole,
made a fhadow, which, being received at five or fix
feet from the objcdl, he obferved to confift of feveral
ftreaks of light and fhade. The middle part was a faint
fhadow7, or rather a kind of penumbra, bordered by a
darker fhadow7, and after that by a narrower penum¬
bra ; next to which was a light ftreak broader than the
dark part, and next to the ftreak of light, the red,
violet, and blue colours were feen as in the fhadow,of
the hair.
A plate, two inches long, and about half a line
cerningThe^0^’fixetl PerPendicularly to the rays, at the
lhadowsof diform6 of nine feet from the hole, a faint light was
feen uniformly difperfed over the fhadow, when it was
received perpendicularly to it, and very near. The
fhadow of the fame plate, received at the diftance of
two feet and a half, was divided into four narrow black
ftreaks, feparated by fmall lighter intervals equal to
them. The boundaries of this fhadow on each fide had
a penumbra, which was terminated by a very ftrong
light, next to which were the coloured ftreaks of red,
violet, and blue, as before. This is reprefented in
Plate CCLXXVI. fig. 4.
The fhadow7 of the fame plate, at 4^ feet diftance
from it, was divided into two black ftreaks only, the
two outermoft having difappeared, as in fig. 5. ; but
thefe two black ftreaks which remained were broader
than before, and feparated by a lighter fhade, twice as
broad as one of the former black ftreaks, when the fha¬
dow was taken at 2y feet. This penumbra in the
middle had a tinge of red. After the two black
ftreaks there appeared a pretty ftrong penumbra, ter¬
minated by the two ftreaks of light, which were now
broad and fplendid, after which followed the coloured
ftreaks.
A fecond plate, 2 inches long and a line broad, be-
55
Experi¬
ments con-
plates.
g-4-
% 5*
ICS.
ing placed, 14 feet from the hole, its fhadow v7as re¬
ceived perpendicularly very near the plate, and was
found to be illuminated by a faint light, equally difper¬
fed, as in the cafe of the preceding plate. But being
received at the diftance of 13 feet from the plate, fix
fmall black ftreaks began to be vifible, as in fig. 6. At Fig. 6,
17 feet the black ftreaks were broader, more diftinit,
and more feparated from the ftreaks that were lefs dark.
At 42 feet, only two black ftreaks were feen in the
middle of the penumbra, as in fig. 7. This middle pen-
umbra between the two black ftreaks wras tinged with
red. Next to the black ftreaks there always appeared
the ftreaks of light, which w7ere broad, and the coloured
ftreaks next to them. At the diftance of 72 feet, the
appearances were the fame as in the former fituation,
except that the two black ftreaks w7ere broader, and the
interval betw7een them, occupied by the penumbra, was
broader alfo, and tinged with a deeper red. With plates
from 4- line to 2 lines broad, he could not obferve any
of the ftreaks of light, though the fhadows were in fome
cafes 56 feet from them.
The extraordinary fize of the fhadow's of fmall fub-
ftances M. Maraldi thought to be occafioned by the
fhadow from the enlightened part of the fky, added to
that which was made by the light of the fun, and alfo
to a vortex occafioned by the circulation of the inflected
light behind the object.
Maraldi having made the preceding experiments upon
Angle long fubftances, placed two of them fo as to crofs
one another in a beam of the fun’s light. The fhadows
of two hairs placed in this manner, and received at fome
diftance from them, appeared to be painted reciprocally
one upon the other, fo that the obfcure part of one of
them was vifible upon the obfcure part of the other.
The ftreaks of light alfo crofted one another, and the
coloured ftreaks did the fame.
He alfo placed in the rays of the fun a briftle and a
plate of iron a line thick, fo that they crofted one an¬
other obliquely • and when their fhadows were received
at the fame diftance, the light and dark ftreaks of the
fhadow of the briftle were vifible fo far as the middle of
the fhadow of the plate on the fide of the acute angle,
but not on the fide of the obtufe angle, whether the
briftle or the plate were placed next to the rays. The
plate made a fhadow fufficiently dark, divided into fix
black ftreaks 5 and thefe w7ere again divided by as many
light ones equal to them ; and yet all the ftreaks be¬
longing to the fhadow of the bridle were vifible upon it,
as in fig. 8. To explain this appearance, he fuppofed Fig, g;
that the rays of the fun glided a little along the briftle,
fo as to enlighten part of that which was behind the
plate. But this feems to be an arbitrary and improbable
fuppofition.
M Maraldi alfo placed fmall globes in the folar
light, admitted through a fmall aperture, and compared
their fhadow7s wdth thofe of the long fubftances, as he had
done in the day light, and the appearances were ftill fi-
milar. It was evident, that there was much more light
in the fhadows of the globes than in thofe of the cylin¬
ders, not only when they were both of an equal diame¬
ter, but when that of the globe was larger than that of
the cylinder, and the fhadows of both the bodies were
received at the fame diftance. He alfo obferved, that
he could perceive no difference of light in the fhadows
of .
coloured
iTiadows.
57
M. Mai-
ran’s the¬
ory.
392 ' . OPT
Hiftory. Gf tlie p]ates wliich were a little more than one line
*"'' broad, though they wei'e received at the diftance of 72
feet j but he could obferve a difference of (hades in
thofe of the globes, taken at the fame diftance, though
they were 2^ lines in diameter.
In order to explain the colours at the edges of thefe
^5 fhadows, he threw fome 6f the fhadows upon others.
Experi- He threw the gleam of light, which always intervened
ments with between the colours and the darker part of the lhadow,
a mixture of on different parts of other fhadows j and obferved,
that, when it fell upon the exterior penumbra made by
another needle, it produced a beautiful fky blue colour,
almoft like that which was produced by two blue co¬
lours thrown together. When the fame gleam of light
fell upon the deeper fliadow in the middle, it produced
a red colour.
He placed two plates of iron, each three or four lines
broad, at a very fmall diftance : and having placed
them in the rays of the fun, and received their fhadows
at the diftance of 15 or 20 feet from them, he faw no
light between them but a continued fhadotv, in the mid¬
dle of which were fome parallel ftreaks of a lively pur¬
ple, feparafed by other black ftreaks j but between them
there were other ftreaks, both of a very faint green, and
alfd of a pale yellow.
The fubjedt of infleaion was next inveftigated by M.
Mairan : but he only endeavoured to explain the fadts
winch were known, by the hypothefis of an atmofphere
furrounding all bodies ; and confequently making two
refledlions and refradtions of the light that falls upon
them, one at the furface of the atmofphere, and the
other at that of the body. This atmofphere he fuppo-
fed to be of a variable denfity and refradtive power,
like the atmofphere.
M. Du Tour thought the variable atmofphere fuper-
fluous, and attempted to account for all the phenomena
by an atmofphere of an uniform denfity, and of a lefs
refradtive power than the air furrounding all bodies..
Only three fringes had been obferved by preceding
authors, but M. Du Tour was accidentally led to ob¬
ferve a greater number of them, and adopted from Gri¬
maldi the follow'ing ingenious method of making them
all appear very diftindt.
He took a circular board ABED, (fig. 9.) 13 inches
‘in diameter, the furface of which w^as black, except at
the edge, where there was a ring of white paper about
three lines broad, in order to trace the circumference of
a circle, divided into 36c degrees, beginning at the point
A, and reckoning 180 degrees on each hand to the
point E ; B and D being bach of them placed at 90 de-
orees. A flip of parchment 3 inches broad, and difpo-
fed in the form of a hoop, was faftened round the board,
and pierced at the point E with a fquare hole, each fide
being 4 or 5 lines, in order to introduce a ray of the
fun’s light 5 and in the centre of the board C, he fixed
a perpendicular pin about of a line in diameter.
This hoop being fo placed, that a ray of light enter¬
ing the chamber, through a Vertical cleft of 2^ lines.in
length, and about as wide as the diameter of the pin,
went through the hole at E, and palling parallel to the
plane of the board, projected the image of the fun and
the fhadow of the pin at A. In thefe circumftances he
obferved, 1. That quite round the concave furface of
this hoop, there were a multitude of coloured ftreaks •,
but that the fpace ?nAn, of about 18 degrees, the
58 .
Difcovenes
of M. Du
Tour.
Plate
cccrfcxvi
fig. 9.
I c s.
middle of which was occupied by the image of the fun, Hiftory.
was covered with a faint light only. 2. The order of
the colours in thefe ftreaks was generally fuch that the
moft refrangible rays were the neareft to the incident
ray EGA $ fo that, beginning from the point A, the
violet was the firft and the red the laft colour in each of
the ftreaks. In fome of them, however, the colours
were difpofed in a contrary order. -3. The image of the
fun, proje&ed on each fide of the point A, was divided
by the lhadow of the pin, which w'as bordered by two
luminous ftreaks. 4. The coloured ftreaks were nar-
roAver in fome parts of the hoop than others, and gene¬
rally decreafed in breadth in receding from the point A.
5. Among thefe coloured ftreaks, there were fometimes
others Avhich Avere white, 1 or ij lines in breadth,
which Avere generally bordered on both fides by a ftreak
of orange colour.
From this experiment he thought it evident, that the
rays which palled beyond the pin were not the only ones
that Avere decompofed, for that thofe which were re-
fiedled from the pin Avere decompofed alfo ; whence he
concluded that they muft have undergone fome refrac¬
tion. He alfo imagined that thofe Avhich Avent beyond
the pin fuffered a refte&ion, fo that they were all affeft-
ed in a fimilar manner. 59
In order to give fome idea of his'hypothefis, M. Du Account of
Tour (hows that the ray ab, fig. 10. after being refrabl-
ed at by reflected at r and u, and again refraded at J ie ’
and ty Avill be divided into its proper colours *, the leaft 1 I0*
refrangible or the red rays ifluing at x, and the moft re¬
frangible or violet at y. Thofe ftreaks in Avhich the co¬
lours appear in a contrary order he thinks are to be
aferibed to inequalities in the furface of the pin.
The coloured ftreaks neareft the ftiadoAV of the pin,
he fuppofes to be formed by thofe rays which, entering
the atmofphere, do not fall upon the pin 5 and, without
any refledion, are only refraded at their entering and
leaving the atmofphere, as at b and ru, fig. 11. In Fig. n
this cafe, the red or leaft fefrangible rays Avill iffue at r,
and the violet at u.
To diftinguifti the rays which fell upon the hoop in
any particular diredion, from thofe that came in any
other, he made an opening in the hoop, as at P, fig. 9.
by which means he could, with advantage, and at any
diftance from the centre, obferve thofe rays unmixed
with any other. 1
To account for the coloured ftreaks being larger next
the fhadoAv of the pin, and groAving narroAver to the
place where the light Avas admitted, he fhoAVS, by fig. 12. Fig. 12*
that the rays a b are farther feparated by both the re-
fradions than the rays c d.
Sometimes M. Du Tour obferved, that the broader
ftreaks were not difpofed in this regular order 5 but then
he found, that by turning the pin they changed their
places, fo that this circumftance muft have been an ac¬
cidental irregularity in the furface of the pin.
The white ftreaks mixed Avith the coloured ones he
aferibes to fmall cavities in the furface of the pin •, for
they alfo changed their places Avlien the pin Avas turned
upon its axis.
He alfo found, that bodies of various kinds, and of
different fizes, always produced fringes of the fame di-
menfions.
Expofing tAAro pieces of paper in the beam of light,
fo that part of it paffed betAveen two planes formed by
them*
Fig. 13-
60
This hypo-
thefis ufe-
lefs and ill-
founded.
Hiftory. them, M. da Tour obferved, that the edges of this
    light were bordered with two orange ftreaks. To ac¬
count for them, he fuppofes, that the more refrangible
of the rays which enter at b are fo refra£led, that they
do not reach the furface of the body at R : fo that the
red and orange light may be refledted from thence in
the direction d M, where the orange ftreaks will be
formed ; and, for the fame reafon, another ftreak of
orange will be formed at m, by the rays which enter
the atmofphere on the other fide of the chink. In a
fimilar manner he accounts for the orange fringes at the
borders of the white llreaks, in the experiment of the
hoop. He fuppofes, that the blue rays, which are not
refle&ed at R, pafs on to I ; and (hat thefe rays form
the blue tinge obfervable in the fhadows of fome bodies.
This, however, is mere trifling.
We may here make a general obfervation, applicable
to all the attempts of philofophers to explain thefe phe¬
nomena by atmofpheres, Thefe attempts give no expla¬
nation whatever of the phyfical caufe of the phenomena.
A phenomenon is fome individual fadl or event in na¬
ture. We are faid to explain it, when we point out the
general faft in which it is comprehended, and fhow the
manner in which it is fo comprehended, or the particu¬
lar modification of the general fad!. Philofophy re-
fembles natural hiltory, having for its fubjedt the events
of nature •, and its inveftigations are nothing but the
claflification of thefe events, or the arrangement of them
Under the general fadls of which they are individual in-
flances. In the prefent inftance there is no general fad!
referred to. The atmofphere is a mere gratuitous fup-
pofition *, and all that is done is to fhow a refemblance
between the phenomena of infledlion of light to what
would be the phenomena were bodies furrounded with
fuch atmofpheres ; and even in this point of view, the
difcuftions of Mairan and Du Tour are extremely defi¬
cient. They have been fatisfied with very vague refem-
blances to a fad! obferved in one Angle inftance, and not
fufficiently examined or defcribed in that inftance, name¬
ly, the refradlion of light through the atmofphere of
this globe.
The attempt is to explain how light is turned out
of its diredlion by pafling near the furface of bodies.
This indicates the adfion of forces in a diredlion tranf-
verfe to that of the light. Newton took the right road
of inveftigation, by taking the phenomenon in its origi¬
nal fimplicity, and attending merely to this, that the
rays are defledfed from their former courfe; and the foie
aim of his inveftigation was to difcover the laws, or the
more general fadls in this defledlion. He deduced from
the phenomena, that fome rays are more defledfed than
others, and endeavoured to determine in rvhat rays the
defied!ions are moft remarkable : and no experiment of
M. du Tour has ftiown that he Was miftaken in his mo¬
dified affertion, that thofe rays are moft infledfed which
pafs neareft to the body. We fay modified alfertion ;
for Newton points out with great fagacity many in-
ilahces of alternate fits of infledlion and defledlion ; and
takes it for granted, that the law of continuity is obfer¬
ved in thefe phenomena, and that the change of inflec¬
tion into defledlion is gradual.
But thefe analogical difcuflions are eminently deficient
in another refpedl : Phey are held out as mechanical ex¬
planations of the.changes of motion obferved in rays of
light. When it ftiall be ftiown, that thefe are precifely
Vol. XV. Part I. 1 '
OPTICS. i9?
fuch as are obferved in refracting atmofpheres, nothing Hiftory.
is done towards deciding the original queftion ; for the v“—~v~“—^
action of refradling atmofpheres prefents it in all its dif¬
ficulties, and we mull ftill alk how do thefe atmofpheres
produce this effedl ? No advance whatever is gained in
fcience by thrufting in this hypothetical atmofphere ;
and Newton did wifely in attaching himfelf to the fim-
ple fad! : and he thus gives us another ftep in fcience,, 61.
by fliowing us a fad! unknown before, viz. that the ac-^6^™'
tion of bodies on light is not confined to tranfparent bo-andlnfiec-
dies. He added another general fadt to our former tion pro-
ftock, that light as well as other matter is aEled on at a bal)iy pro-
diftdnce ; and thus he made a very important dedudlion,^10^1 by
that reflection, refraction, and inflection, are probably forces”'''
brought about by the fame forces. ^
M. Le Cat has well explained a phenomenon of vi-ObjecTs
lion depending upon the infledtion of light, which (hows, fometimes
that, in fome cafes objedts by this means appear magni-magnified
fied. Looking at a diftant fteeple, Avhen a wire, of ab-y lnflec*
lefs diameter than the pupil of his eye, was held near totl0n"
it, and drawing it feveral times betwixt his eye and that
objedl, he found, that, every time the wire paffed before
bis pupil, the fteeple feemed to change its place, and
fome hills beyond the fteeple appeared"to have the fame
motion, juft as if a lens had been drawn belwixt his eye
and them. He found alfo, that there was a polition of
the wire in which the fteeple feemed not to have any
motion, when the wire was paffed before his eye ; and
in this cafe the fteeple appeared lefs diftindt and magni¬
fied. He then placed his eye in fuch a manner with re-
fpedl to the fteeple, that the rays of light by which he
law it mull come very clofe to the edge of a window,
where he had placed himfelf to make his obfervations j
and pafling the wire before Ids eyes, he obferved, that,
when it was in the vifual axis, the fteeple appeared near¬
er to the window, on whichever fide the wire was made
to approach. He repeated this experiment, and always,
with the fame refult, the objedl being by this means mag¬
nified, and nearly doubled.
This phenomenon he explains by fig. 14. in which B ^ate
re prefents the eye, A the fteeple, and C a fedlion of the ccfiCLXixvr*
wire. The black lines exprefs the cone of light by *S" ^
which the natural image of the fteeple A is formed,
and which is much narrower than the diameter of the
wire C 5 but the dotted lines include not only that cone
of light, flopped and turned out of its courfe by the
wire, but alfo more diftant rays infledled by the wire,
and thereby thrown more converging into "the pupil ;
juft as would have been the effedl of the interpofttion
of a lens between the eye and the objedl.
Sect. IV. Diflcoveries concerning Vijion.
Maurolycus was the firft who demonftrated that the Difcoverie*
cryftalline humour of the eye is a lens which colledls the of Mauro-
light iffuing from external objedls, and converges them 1>rcus> KeP=
upon the retina. He did not, however, feem to beler’ &ct
aware that an image of every vifible objedl was thus c™cernin§
formed upon the retina, though this feems hardly to have V110n’
been a ftep beyond the dilcovery he had made. Mon-
tucla conjedlures, that lie was prevented from mention¬
ing this part of the difcovcry by the difficulty of ac¬
counting for the upright appearance of objedls. This
difcovery was made by Kepler; but he, too, was much
puzzled with the mverfion of the image upon the rcfti-
B b ns-
194-
ilW.ary.
OPTICS.
d4
Difcovertes
*>f Schemer
65 .
Difco varies
of Defcar-
tes.
na. The rechTcation of thefe images, he fays, is the
bufmefs of the mind ; which, when it perceives an im-
pfeffion on the lower part of the retina, confiders it as
made by rays proceeding from the higher parts of ob-
jefts ; tracing the rays back to the pupil, where they
or of. one another. This is the true explanation of the
difficulty, and is exactly the fame as that which was
lately given by Dr Reid.
Thefe difcoveries concerning'vifion were completed
by Schemer. For, in cutting away the coats of the
back part of the eyes of (Keep and oxen, and prefenting
feveral objefts before them, he faw their images diftindt-
ly painted upon the retina. He did the fame with the
human eye, and exhibited this experiment at Rome in
1625.
Scheiner took a good deal of pains to afcertam the
denfity and refradlive power of all the humours of the
eye, by comparing their magnifying power with that of
water or glafs in the fame form and circumffances. Ihe
refult of his inquiries was, that the aqueous humour does
not differ much from water in this refpedt, nor the cry-
Ralline from glafs ; and that the vitreous humour is a
medium between both. He alfo traces the progrefs of
the rays of light through all the humours , and after
difcuffing every poffible hypothefis concerning the feat
of vifion, he demonftrates that it is in the retina, and
ihows that this was the opinion of Alhazen, Vitellio,
Kepler, and all the moft eminent philofophers. He
advances many reafons for this hypothefis j anfwers ma¬
ny obiedlions "to it 5 and, by a variety of arguments, re¬
futes the opinion that the feat of vifion is in the cryftal-
line lens. _ . > -
The fubjedt of vifion occupied the attention of Def-
cartes. He explains the methods of judging of the
magnitudes, fituations, and diftances, of objedts, by the
diredlion of the optic axes ; comparing it to a. blind
man’s judging of the fize and diftance of an objedl, by
feeling it with two flicks of a known length, when the
hands in which he holds them are at a known diftance
from each other. He alfo remarks, that having been
accuftomed to judge of tbe fituation of objedls by their
images falling on a particular part of the eye ; if by
any diftortion of the eye they fall on a different place,
we are apt to miftake their fituation, or imagine one ob-
jedl to be two, in the fame way as we imagine one flick
to be two, when it is placed between two contiguous
fingers laid acrofs one another. R he diredlion of the
optic axes, he fays, will not ferve us beyond 15 or 20
feet, and the change of form of the cryftalline not more
than three or four feet. For he imagined that the eye
conforms itfelf to different diftances by a change in the
curvature of the cryftalline, which he fuppofed to be a
mufcle, the tendons of it being the ciliary proceffes. In
another place, he fays, that the change in the conforma¬
tion of the eye is of no ufe to us for the purpofe of
judging of diftances beyond four or five feet, and the
angle of the optic axes not more than 100 or 200 feet:
for this reafon, he fays, that the fun and moon are con¬
ceived to be much more nearly of the fame fize than
they are in reality. White and luminous objefls, he ob-
ferves, appear larger than others, and alfo the parts con¬
tiguous to thofe on which the rays aflually impinge *,
and for the fame reafon, if the objefrs be fmall, and
placed at a great diftance, they will always appear round,
the figure of the angles difappearing.
The celebrated Dr Berkeley, biftiop of Cloyne, pub- Hiftory.
liftied, in 1709, An Eflay towards a New Theory of
Vifion, in which he folves many difficulties. He does Eerkeley,s
not admit that it is by means of thofe lines and angles, theory of
which are ufeful in explaining the theory of optics, that vifion.
different diftances are eftimated by the fenfe of fight -,
neither does he think that the mere direftion of the op¬
tic axes or the greater or lefs divergency of the rays of
light are fufficient for this purpofe. “ I appeal (fays
he) to experience, whether any one computes its diftanc-e
by the bignefs of the angle made by the meeting of the
two optic axes ; or whether he ever thinks of the great¬
er or lefs divergency of the rays which arrive from any
point to his pupil: Nay, whether it be not perfectly
impoftible for him to perceive, by fenfe, the various
angles wherewith the rays according to their greater or
leffer divergency fell upon his eye.” That there is a
neceffary connexion between thefe various angles, &c.
and different degrees of diftance, and that this con¬
nexion is known to every perfon {killed in optics, he
readily acknowledges ; but “ in vain (he obferves) fliall
mathematicians tell me, that I perceive certain /ices and
ang/es, which introduce into my mind the various no¬
tions of dijiance, fo long as I am confeious of no fuch
thing.” He maintains that diftance, magnitude, and
even figure, are the objefts of immediate perception on¬
ly by the fenfe of touch ; and that when we judge of
them by fight, it is from different fenfations felt in the
eye, which experience has taught us to be the confe-
quence of viewing objefts of greater or lefs magnitude,
of different figures, and at different diftances. Thefe
fenfations, with the refpettive diftances, figures, and
magnitudes by which they are occafioned, become fo
clofely affociated in the mind long before the period. of
diftinft recolle£tion, that the prefence of the one in-
ftantly fuggefts the other 5 and we attribute to the fenfe
of fight thofe notions which are acquired by the fenfe of
touch, and of which certain vifual fenfations are merely
the figns or fymbols, juft as words are the fymbols of
ideas. Upon thefe principles he accounts for fingle and
ereft vifion. Subfequent writers have made conlidera-
ble difcoveries in the theory of vifion } and among them
there is hardly any one to whom this branch of fcience
is fo much indebted as to Dr Reid, and Dr Wells, whofe
reafonings we {hall afterwards have occafion to detail.
Sect. V. Of Optical Injlrutnents.
Glafs globes, and fpeeula, feem to have been the «n- Invetfjon
ly optical inftruments known to the ancients. Alhazen 0f fpedta-
gave the firft hint of the invention of fpeftacles. From cles.
the writings of this author, together with the obferva-
tions of Roger Bacon, it is not improbable that fome
monks gradually hit upon the conftruftion of fpeftacles ;.
to which Bacon’s leffer fegment was a nearer approach
than Alhazen’s larger one.
It is certain that fpeflacles were well known in the
13th century, and not long before. It is laid that
Alexander Spina, a native of Pifa, who died in 1313,
happened to fee a pair of fpcflacles in the hands of
a perfon who would not explain them to him ^ but
that he fucceeded in making a pair for himfelf, and im¬
mediately made the conftrudftion public. It is alfo in-
feribed on the tomb of Salvinus Armatus, a nobleman
of Florence, who died 13x7, that he was the inventor
of fpedlacles.
TVmnoJi
60
Other ac
counts.
OPT
Hlftory- Though both convex and concave lenfes were fuffi-
-v—ciently common, yet no attempt was made to combine
6S s,s them into a telefcope till the end of the 16th century.
^tof Defeartes confiders James Metius as the firft conftrubfor
the inven- of the telefcope : and fays, that as he was amufingJura¬
tion of tele-felf with mirrors and burning glaffes, lie thought of
fcopes. looking through two of his lenfes at a time) and that
happening to take one that was convex and another that
was concave, and happening aifo to hit upon a pret¬
ty good adjuitment of them, he found, that, by looking
through them, diltant objects appeared very large and
diifinft. In fad, without knowing it, he had made a
telefcope.
Other perfons fay, that this great difeovery was firft
made by John Lipperfheim, a fpedacle-maker at Mid-
dleburgh, or rather by his children ; who were diverting
themfelves with looking through two glades at a time,
and placing them at different dillances from one another.
But Borellus, the author of a book entitled De vero
telefcopn inventore, gives this honour to Zacharias Joan-
nides, i. e. Janlen, another fpedacle-maker at the fame
place, who made the firft telefcope in 1590.
This ingenious mechanic had no fooner found the ar¬
rangement of glaffes that magnified diftant objeds, than
he enclofed them in a tube, and ran with his inftrument
to Prince Maurice ; who, immediately conceiving that
it might be ufeful in his wars, defired the author to keep
it a fecret. But this was found impofiible ‘y and feveral
perfons in that city immediately applied themfelves to
the making and felling of telefcopes. One of the moft
diftinguillied of thefe was Hans Laprev, called Lipper-
Jheim by Sirturus. Some perfon in Holland being very
early fupplied by him with a telefeope, he paffed with
many for the inventor ; but both Metius above men¬
tioned, and Cornelius Drebell of Alcmaar, in Holland,
applied to the inventor himfelf in 1620 ; as alfo did
Galileo, and many others. The firft telefcope made
by Janfen did not exceed 15 or 16 inches in length ;
but Sirturus, who fays that he had feen it, and made
•ne/ ^°0 U^e it the beft that he had ever exami¬
ned.
Janfen dire&ing his telefcope to celeftial objeds, di-
ftin&ly viewed the fpots on the furface of the moon j
and difeovered many new ftars, particularly feven pretty
confiderable ones in the Great Bear. His fon, Joannes
Zacharias, obferved the lucid circle near the limb of the
moon, from whence feveral bright rays feem to dart in
different diredions : and he fays, that the full moon,
viewed through this inftrument, did not appear flat, but
was evidently globular. Jupiter appeared round, and
rather fpherical j and fometimes he perceived two, fome-
times three, and at other times even four fmall ftars, a
little above or below him; and, as far as he could ob-
ferve, they performed revolutions round him.
There are feme who fay that Galileo was the inven¬
tor of telefcopes ; but he himfelf acknowledges, that he
firft heard of the inftrument from a German; but, that
being informed of nothing more than the effeds of it,
firft by common report, and a few days after by a French
nobleman, J. Badovere, at Paris, he himfelf difeovered
the conftrudion, by confidering the nature of refradion:
and thus he had much more real merit than the inventor
himfelf.
About April or May, in 1609, it was reported at
Venice, where Galileo (who was profeffor of mathema-
70
The lirlt
telefcope
an exceed
A telefcope
fnade by
Galileo
without
feeing one.
account of
I c s.
tics in the univerfily of Padua) then happened to be,
that a Dutchman had prefented to Count Maurice oi
Naffau, a certain optical inttrument, by means of which,
diftant objeds appeared as if they were near; but no h:S difeo,
farther account of the difeovery had reached that place, veries,
though this was near 20 years after the firft dilcovtry of
the telefcope. Struck, however, with this account, Ga¬
lileo returned to Padua, confidering what kind oi an
inftrument this muft be. The night following, the con¬
ftrudion occurred to him; and the day after, putting
the parts of the inftrument together, as he had previous¬
ly conceived it; and notwithftanding the nnpertedion
of the glaffes that he could then procure, the effed an-
fwered his expedations, as he prekptly acquainted his
friends at Venice, where, from feveral eminences, he
fhowed to fome of the principal fenators of that repu¬
blic a variety of diftant objects, to their very great aito-
niihment. When he had made farther improvements in
the inftrument, he made a preient of one ot them to the
Doge, Leonardo Donati, and at the fame time to all the
fenate of Venice ; giving along with it a written paper,
in which he explained the ftrudure and wonderful ufes
that might be made of the inftrument both by land and
fea. In return for fo noble an entertainment, the re¬
public, on the 25th of xVuguft, in the fame year, more
than tripled his falary as profeffor.
Galileo having amufed himfelf for feme time with the
view of terreftrial objeds, at length diredeed his tube
towards the heavens ; and found, that the I'urface of the
moon was diverfified with hills and valleys, like the
earth. He found that the miky way and nebulce con¬
fided of a colledion of fixed ftars, which on account
either of their vaft diftance, or extreme fmallnefs, were
invifible to the naked eye. Pie alfo difc9Vered innume¬
rable fixed ftars difperfed over the face of the heavens,
which had been unknown to the ancients; and examin¬
ing Jupiter, he found him attended by four ftars, which,
at certain periods, performed revolutions round him.
This difeovery he made in January 1610, new ftyle;
and continuing his obfervations the whole of February
following, he publifhed, in the beginning of March, ait
account of all his difeoveries, in his Nuncius Sidertus,
printed at Venice.
The extraordinary difeoveries contained in the Nun¬
cius Sidereus, which was immediately reprinted both
in Germany and France, were the caufeof much debate
among the philofophers of that time ; many of whom
could not give any credit to Galileo-'s account, while
others endeavoured to decry his difeoveries as nothing
more than mere illufions.
In the beginning of July, 1610, Galieo being ftill
at Padua, and getting an imperfebt view of Saturn’s
ring, imagined that that planet confifted of three
parts ; and therefore, in the account which he gave of
this difeovery to his friends, he calls it planetarn ter-
geminam.
Whilft he was ftill at Padua, he obferved fome fpots
on the face of the fun : but he did not choofe, at that
time, to publifti his difeovery ; partly for fear of incur¬
ring more of the hatred of many obftinate Peripatetics;
and partly in order to make more exabf obfervations on
this remarkable phenomenon, as well as to form fome
conjecture concerning the probable caufe of it. He
therefore contented himfelf with communicating his ob¬
fervations to fome of his friends at Padua and Venice,
B b 2 among
196
Hiftory.
73
Account
of his te-
lefcepes.
74
l he ratio¬
nale of the
inftrument
firft difco-
vered by
Kepler.
General
reafon of
the effects
of tele¬
scopes.
OPT
among whom we find the name of Father Paul. This
delay, however, was the caufe of this difcovery being
contefted with him by the famous Scheiner, who like-
wife made the fame obfervation in Odtober 1611, and
we fuppofe had anticipated Galileo in the publication
of it.
In November following Galileo was fatisfied, that,
from the September preceding, Venus had been conti¬
nually increafing in bulk, and that file changed her pha-
fes like the moon. About the end of March 1611, he
went to Rome, where he gratified the cardinals, and all
the principal nobility, with a view of the new wonders
which he had difcovered in the heavens.
Twenty-nine years Galileo enjoyed the ufe of his te-
lefcope, continually enriching aftronomy with his obfer-
vations : but by too clofe an application to that inftru¬
ment, and the detriment he received from the nofturnal
air, his eyes grew gradually weaker, till in 1639 he be¬
came totally blind j a calamity which, however, nei¬
ther broke his fpirits, nor interrupted the courfe of his
ftudies.
The firft telefcope that Galileo conftrufted magni¬
fied only three times 5 but prefently after, he made
another which magnified 18 times } and afterwards
with great trouble and expence, he conftrudted one
that magnified 33 times j and with this it was that he
difcovered the fatellites of Jupiter and the fpots of the
fun.
The honour of explaining the rationale of the tele¬
fcope is due to the celebrated Kepler. He made feve-
ral difcoveries relating to the nature of vifion ; and not
only explained the theory of the telefcope which he
found in ufe, but alfo pointed out methods of conftrutt-
ing others of fuperior powers and more commodious ap¬
plication.
It was Kepler who firft gave a clear explication of the
effedfts of lenfes, in converging and diverging the rays
of a pencil of light. He fhorved, that a plano-convex
lens makes rays that were parallel to its axis, to meet at
the diftance of the diameter of the fphere of convexity 5
but that if both fides of the lens be equally convex, the
rays will have their focus at the diftance of the radius
of the circle, correfponding to that degree of convexity.
He did not, however, inveftigate any rule for the foci of
lenfes unequally convex. He only fays, in general, that
they will fall fomewhere in the middle, between the
foci belonging to the two different degrees of convexity.
We owe this inveftigation to Gavalieri, who laid down
the following rule : As the fum of both the diameters
is to one of them, fo is the other to the diftance of the
focus.
The principal effecls of telefcopes depend upon thefe
fimple principles, viz. That objefts appear larger in
proportion to the angles which they fubtcnd at the eye •,
and the effeft is the fame whether the pencils of rays,
by which objefts are vifible to us, come dire&ly from
the objedts themfelves, or from any place nearer to the
eye, where they may have been converged fo as to form
an image of the objedt 5 becaufe they iffue again from
thofe points where there is no real fubftance, in certain
dire&ions, in the fame manner as they did from the
correfponding points in the objedls themfelves.
In fadl, therefore, all that is effcdted by a telefcope
is, firft, to make fuch an image of a diftant obiedl, by
means of a lens or mirror j and then to give the eye
3
I c s.
fome afliftance for viewing that image as near as pof- Hiftory.
fible : fo that the angle which it ftiall fubtend at the » J
eye, may be very large, compared with the angle which
the objedl itfelf would fubtend in the fame fituation.
Thy, is done by means of an eye-glafs, which fo re-
fradb the pencils of rays, that they may afterwards be
brought to their feveral foci by the humours of the eye.
But if the eye was fo formed as to be able to fee the-
image with futficient diftindtnefs at the fame diftance
without any eye-glafs, it would appear to him as much
magnified as it does to another perfon who makes ufe of
a glafs for that purpofe, though he would not in all cafes
have fo large a field in view.
If, inftead of an eye-glafs, an object: be looked at
througli a fmall hole in a thin plate or piece of paper,
held clofe to the eye, it may be viewed very near to the
eye, and, at the fame diftance, the apparent magnitude
of the objedh will be the fame in both cafes. For if the
hole be fo fmall as to admit but a fingle ray from every
point of the objedl, thefe rays will fall upon the retina
in as many other points, and make a diftindt image.
They are only pencils of rays, which have a fenfible
bafe, as the breadth of the pupil, that are capable, by
their fpreading on the retina, of producing an indif-
tindl image. As very few rays, however, can be
admitted through a fmall hole, there will feldom be
light fufficient to view any objeft to advantage in this
manner.
If no image be formed by the foci of the pencils
without the eye, yet if, by the help of a concave eye-
glafs, the pencils of rays fliall enter the pupil, juft as
they would have done from any place without the eye,
the vifual angle will be the fame as if an image had
adfually been formed in that place. Objects will not
appear inverted through this telefcope, becaufe the pen¬
cils which form the images of them, only crofs one an¬
other once, viz. at the objedl glafs, as in natural vifion
they do in the pupil of the eye. ^
Such is the telefeope that was firft difcovered and Galilean
ufed by philofophers. The great inconvenience attend-telefeope
ing it is, that the field of view is exceedingly fmall.
For fince the pencils of rays enter the eye very much ftrufticm
diverging from one another, but few of them can be than others,
intercepted by the pupil. This inconvenience increafes
with the magnifying power of the teiefcope •, fo that it
is a matter of furprife how, with fuch an inftrument,
Galileo and others could have made fuch difcoveries.
No other telefcope, however, than this, was fo much as
thought of for many years after the difcovery. Defcar-
tes, who wrote 30 years after, mentions no others as ac¬
tually conftrudled. *7
It is to the celebrated Kepler that we are indebtedTelefcopej
for the, conftruction of what we now call the ajlronotm- nnpioved
cal telefcope. The rationale of this inftrument is ex-k>’er*
plained, and the advantages of it are clearly pointed out,
by this philofopher, in his Catoptrics ; but, what is very
furprifing, he never adfually reduced his theory into
pradlice. Montucla conjedtures, that the reafon why he
did not make trial of this new conftrudfion was, his not
being aware of the great increafe of the field of view 5 fo
that being engaged in other purfuits, he might not
think it of much confequence to take any pains about
the conftrudlion of an inftrument, which could do little
more than anfwer the fame purpofe with thofe which he
already poffeffed. He muft alfo have forefeen, that the
length
OPTICS.
Hiftory. length of this telefcope mull have been greater in pro-
‘ v ’ portion to its magnifying power, fo that it might ap¬
pear to him to be upon the whole not quite fo good a
78 conllruftion as the former.
His method f lie frit perfon who aftually made an inllrument of
^raclice'b KcPler’s conflrudion was Father Scheiner, who has
Stlieiner. Y S'*''011 a defcription of it in his Rofa Urjina, publifhed in
1630. If, fays he, you infert two limilar lenfes in a
tube, and place your eye at a convenient diftance, you
will fee all terreftrial objects, inverted, indeed, but
magnified, and very diltincit, with a confiderable extent
of view. He afterwards fubjoins an account of a tele¬
fcope. of a different conftruftion, with two convex eye-
glalfes, which again reverfes the images, and makes
them appear in their natural pofition. This difpofition
of the lenfes had alfo been pointed out by Kepler, but
had not been reduced to praftice. This conllrudion,
however, anfwered the end very imperfeftly 5 and Fa¬
ther Kheita prefently after difcovered a better conftruc-
tion, ufing three eye-glafles inftead of two.
The only difference between the Galilean and the
aftronomical telefcope is, that the pencils by which the
extremities of any object are feen in this cafe, enter the
eye diverging; whereas, in the other they enter it con¬
verging; but if the fphere of concavity in the eye-glafs
of the Galilean telefcope be equal to the fphere of con¬
vexity in the eye glafs of another telefcope, their mag¬
nifying power will be the fame. The concave eye-glafs,
however, being placed between the obje£t-glafs and its
focus, the Galilean telefcope will be Ihorter than the
other, by twice the focal length of the eye-glafs. Con-
fcquently, if the length of the telefcopes be the fame,
^ the Galilean will have the greater magnifying power.
Huygens Huygens was particularly eminent for his lyllematic
improves knowledge of optics, and is the author of the chief im-
fcojefof Provements which have been made on all the dioptrical
Scheiner 'lnftrurnents till the difcovery of the achromatic telefcope.
and Rheita. He was well acquainted with the theory of aberration
arifing from the fpherical figure of the glaffes, and has
ffiown feveral ingenious methods of diminilhing them
by proper conltruttions of the eye-pieces. Fie firlt
pointed out the advantages of two eye-glafles in the
aftronomical telefcope and double microfeope, and gave
rules for this conftrudtion, which both enlarges the field
and (hortens the inftrument. Mr Dollond adapted his
conftrudion to the terreftrial telefcope of De Kheita ;
and his five eye-glaflfes are nothing but the Huygenian
eye-piece doubled. This conftru£tion has been too haftily
given up by the artifts of the prefent day for another,
go alfo of Mr Dollond’s, of four glafles.
Binocular f he fame Father Rheita, to whom we are indebted
telefcope. for the conftru£lion of a telefcope for land objedls, in¬
vented a binocular telefcope, which Father Cherubin,
of Orleans, afterwards endeavoured to bring into ufe.
It confifts of two telefcopes faftened together, pointed
to the fame objecft. When this inftrument is well fixed,
the object appears larger, and nearer to the eye, when
it is feen through both the telefcopes, than through one
of them only, though they have the very fame magnify¬
ing power. But this is only an illufion, occafioned by
the ftronger impreflion made upon the eye, by two equal
images, equally illuminated. This advantage, however,
is counterbalanced by the inconvenience attending the
ufe of it.
'Ihe firft who diftinguilhed themfelves in grinding
telefcopic glafles were two Italians, Euftachio Divini Hiftory.
at Rome, and Campani at Bologna, whofe fame was ‘ v~~' ’
much fuperior to that of Divini, or that of any other T
perfon oi his time ; though Divini himfelf pretended, 0fecampani
that, in all the trials that were made with their glaffes, and Divini.
his, of a greater focal length, performed better than
thofe of Campani, and that his rival was not willing to
try them with equal eye-glafles. It is generally fuppo-
fed, however, that Campani really excelled Divini,
both in the goodnefs and the focal length of his objedt-
glafles. It was with telefcopes made by Campani that
Caflini difcovered the neareft fatellites of Saturn. They
were made by the exprefs order of Louis XIV. and were
of 86, 100, and 136 Paris feet in focal length.
Campani fold his lenfes for a great price, and took
every poflible method to keep his art of making them
fecret. His laboratory was inacceflible, till alter his
death ; when it was purchafed by Pope JBenedidl XIV.
who prefented it to the academy called the Injlitute,
eftablilhed in that city; and by the account which M„
Fougeroux has given of what he could difcover from it,
we learn, that (except a machine, which M. Campani
conftrudted, to work the bafons on which he ground his
glafles) the goodnefs of his lenfes depended upon the
clearnefs of his glafs, his Venetian tripoli, the paper
with which he polilhed them, and his great Ikill and
addrefs as a Avorkman. It was alfo the general opi¬
nion that he orved much of his reputation to the fecrecy.
and air of myftery which he affe&ed; and that he made
a great number of object-glafles which he reje&ed, Ihow-
ing only thofe that Avere very good. He made feAV
lenfes of a very great focal diftance; and having the
misfortune to break one of 141 feet in tAvo pieces, he
took incredible pains to join the tAvo parts together,
which he did at length fo effedlually, that it Avas ufed as
if it had been entire ; but it is not probable that he
Avould have taken fo much pains about it, if, as he pre¬
tended, he could very eafily have made another as good.
Sir Paul Neille, Dr Hooke fays, made telefcopes of
36 feet, pretty good, and one of 50, but not of pro¬
portional goodnefs. AfterAvards Mr Reive, and then
Mr Cox, Avho were the moll celebrated in England as
grinders of optic glaffes, made fome good inftruments of
50 and 60 feet focal length, and Mr Cox made one of
1°°. g
Thefe, and all other telefcopes, Avere far exceeded by ExtraoHv
an obje£t-glafs of 600 feet focus made by M. Auzout; nary object
but he Avas never able to manage it. Hartfocker is even glafs made
faid to have made fome of a ftill greater focal length • br M‘ Au“
but this ingenious mechanic, finding it impoffible to
make ufe of objed-glafles the focal diftance of Avhich
Avas much lefs than this, when they Avere enclofed in a
tube, contrived a method of ufing them Avithout a tube,
by fixing them at the top of a tree, a high wall, or the
roof of a houfe.
Mr Huygens, who Avas alfo an excellent mechanic, Telefcopes
maoe confiderable improvements on tins contrivance of ufed with—
Hartfocker’s. He placed the objed-glafs at the top of0jL tubes*
a long pole, having previoufly enclofed it in a fhort tube
Avbich Avas made to turn in all diredions by means of a
bail and focket. 1 he axis of this tube he could com¬
mand AAith a fine fifteen firing, lo as to bring it into a
line with the axis of another Ihort tube Avhich he held
in his uand, and Avhich contained the eye-glafs. In
this method he could make ufe of objed-glaifes of the
greatell
Plate
198 OPT
Hiitory. grvateft magnifying power, at whatever altitude his ob-
jeft ayas, and even in the zenitli, provided his pole was
as long as his telefcope j and to adapt it to the view of
objctts of different altitudes, he had a contrivance, by
which he could raife or deprels at pleafure, a ftage that
fupported his objedl-glafs.
M. de la Hire made fome improvements in this method
of managing the objeft-glafs, by fixing it in the centre of
a board, and not in a tube 5 but as it is not probable that
this method will ever be made ufe of, fince the difeovery
of both reflecting and achromatic telefcopes, which are
now brought to great perfeflion, and have even micro¬
meters adapted to them, we fhall not deferibe the ap¬
paratus minutely, but (hall only give a drawing of M.
Huygen’s pole, with a fhort explanation. In fig. 1. «
reprefents a pulley, by the help of which a ftage c, cl% e,
f, (that fupports the objeft-glafs k, and the apparatus
cc—vn belonging to it), may be railed higher or lower at plea-
lo ' fure, the whole being counterpoifed by the weight k,
.fattened to a ftring g. n, is a weight, by- means of
which the centre of gravity of the apparatus belonging
to the objeft-glais is kept in the ball and locket, fo that
it may be eafily managed by the ftring /u, and its axis
brought into a line with the eye-glafs at 0. When it
was very dark, M. Huygens was obliged to make his
objedt-glafs vifible by a lantern, 1/, lo conftrutfted as to
$4 throw up to it the rays of light in a parallel dire61ion.
Of the a- Before leaving this fubjeift, it mutt; be obferved,
refra^n°f t'iat Auzout, in a paper delivered to the Royal
telefcopes. Society, obferved, that the apertures which the objedd-
glaffes of refradting telefcopes can bear with diftindl-
nefs, are in the fubduplicate ratio of their lengths ; and
upon this fuppofition he drew up a table of the aper¬
tures of objedt-glaffes of a great variety of focal lengths,
from 4 inches to 400 feet. Upon this occafion, how¬
ever, Dr Hooke obferved, that the fame glafs will bear
a greater or lefs aperture, according to the lefs or greater
light, of the objedl.
But all thefe improvements were diminiftied in value
by the difeovery of the rt-fieSiing telefcope. For a refrac¬
ting telefcope, even of 1000 feet focus, fuppofing it
poftible to be made ufe of, could not be made to mag¬
nify with diftindlnefs more than IOOO times •, whereas a
reflecting telefcope, not exceeding 9 or 10 feet will
g magnify 1 200 times,
Hiftory of “ It mutt be acknowledged, fays Dr Smith, that Mr
the refledt- James Gregory of Aberdeen was the firft inventor of the
ing tele- refledling telefcope ; but his conftrudlioh is quite dif¬
ferent from Sir Ifaac Newton’s, and not nearly fo ad¬
vantageous.”
According to Dr Pringle, Merfennus was the man
who entertained the fi ft thought of a refle&or. He cer¬
tainly propofed a telefcope with fpecula to the celebrated
Defcartes many years before Gregory’s invention, though
indeed in a manner fo very unfatisfadlory, that Defcar¬
tes was fo far from approving the propofal, that he
endeavoured to convince Merfennus of its fallacy. Dr
Smith, it appears, had never perufed the two letters of
Defcartes to Merfennus which relate to that fubje£f.
Gregory, a young man of uncommon genius, was led
to the invention, in trving to correct two imperfections
of the common telefcope : the firft was its too great
length, which made it lefs manageable ; the fecund, the
jncorretnefs of the image. Mathematicians had de
monftrated, that a pencil of rays could not be colle&ed
4
fcop«.
ICS.
‘in a Angle point by a fpherical lens ; and alfo, that the Hifterr.
image tranfmitted by fuch a lens would be in fome de-
gree incurvated. Thefe inconveniences he believed
would be obviated by fubftituting for the obje£l-glafs a
metallic fpeculum, of a parabolic figure, to receive the
incident rays, and to refleH them towards a fmall fpecu¬
lum of the fame metal ; this again was to return the
image to an eye-glafs placed behind the great fpeculum,
which for that purpofe was to be perforated in its
centre. This conftru£Hon he publilhed in 1663, in his
Optica Pramcta. But as Gregory, by his own account,
was endowed with no mechanical dexterity, nor could
find any workman capable of conttru£ting his inftrument,
he was obliged to give up the purfuit: and probably,
had not fome new difeoveries been made in light and
colours, a reflefting telefcope would never more have
been thought of.
At an early period of life, Newton had applied him-
felf to the improvement of the telefcope; but imagin¬
ing that Gregory’s fpecula were neither very neceffary,
nor likely to be executed, he began with profecuting
the views of Defcartes, who aimed at making a more
perfeft image of an objeft, by grinding lenfes, not to
the figure of a fphere, but to that of one of the conic
fedlions. Whillt he was thus employed, three years
after Gregory’s publication, he happened to examine the
colours, formed by a prifm, and having by means of that
fimple inftrument difeovered the different refrangibility
of the rays of light, he then perceived that the errors
of telefcopes ariftng from that caufe alone, were
fome hundred times greater than thofe which were
occafioned by the fpherical figure of lenfes. This cir-
cumftance forced, as it were, Newton to fall into Gre¬
gory’s track, and to turn his thoughts to refie£lors.
“ The different refrangibility of the rays of light (fays
he in a letter to Mr Oldenburg, fecretary to the Royal
Society, dated Feb. 1672) made me take reflexions
into confideration *, and finding them regular, fo that
the angle of refleftion of all forts of rays vras equal to
the angle of incidence, I underflood that by their me- ;
diation optic inftruments might be brought to any de¬
gree of perfeXion imaginable, providing a refleXing
fubftance could be found which would polifli as finely as
glafs, and refleX as much light as glafs tranfmits, and
the art of communicating to it a parabolical figure he
alfo obtained. Amidft thefe thoughts 1 was forced
from Cambridge by the intervening plague, and it was
more than two years before I proceeded further.”
It was towards the end of 1668, or in the beginning
of the following year, when Newton being obliged to
have reeourfe to refleXors, and not relying on any arti¬
ficer for making his fpecula, fet about the work himfelf,
and early in the year 1672 completed two fmall refleX¬
ing telefcopes. In thefe he ground the great fpeculunt
into the concave portion of a fphere $ not but that he
approved of the parabolic form propofed by Gregory,
though he- found himfelf unable to accomplilh it. In the
letter that accompanied one of thefe inftruments which
he prefented to the Society, he writes, “ that though
he then defpaired of performing that work (to wit,
the parabolic figure of the great fpeculum) by geome¬
trical rules, yet he doubted not but that the thing
might in fome meafure be accoropliftied by mechanical
devices.”
Not lels did the difficulty appear to find a metallic
fubftance
OPT
Hiftory. fubftance that would be of a proper hardnefs, have the
' ‘ feweft pores, and receive the fmootheft polifh j a diffi¬
culty which he deemed almoft unffirmountable, when
he conlidered, that every irregularity in a ref!e£Hng fvir-
face would make the rays of light ftray five or fix times
more out'of their due courfe, than fimilar irregularities
in a refrafting one. In another letter, written foon af¬
ter, he informs the fecretary,-^ “ that he was very fenfi-
ble that metal reflefts lefs light than glafs tranfmits; but
as he had found fome metallic fubflances more Itrongly
refle£tive than others, to polifh better, and to be freer
from tarnifhing than others, fo he hoped that there might
in time be found out fome fubftances much freer from
thefe inconveniencies than any yet known.” New¬
ton therefore laboured till he found a com poll tion that
anfwered in fome degree, and left it to tllofe who
ffiould come after him to find a better. Huygens, one
of the grcatefi: geniufes of the age, and a diitinguiihed
improver of the refracting telefcope, no fooner was in¬
formed by Mr Oldenburg of the difcovery, than he
wrote in anfwer, “ that it was an admirable telefcope 5
and that Mr Newton had w’ell confidered the advantage
which a concave fpeculum had over convex glaffes in
collecting the parallel rays, which, according to his own
calculation, was very great: Hence that Mr Newton
could give a far greater aperture to that fpeculum
than to an objeCt glafs of the fame focal length, and
confequently produce a much greater magnifying power
than by an ordinary telefcope: Befides, that by the re-
fieCtor he avoided an inconvenience infeparable from
objeCt glaffes, which was the obliquity of both their fur-
faces, which vitiated the refraCtion of the rays that pafs
towards the fide of the glafs : Again, That by the mere
reflection of the metalline fpeculum there were not fo
many rays loft as in glaffes, which reflected a confider-
able quantity by each of their furfaces, and befides in¬
tercepted many of them by the obfeurity of their fub-
ftance : That the main bufinefs would be to find a fub-
ftance for this fpeculum that would bear as good a po¬
lifh as glafs. Laftly, He believed that Mr NewTon had
not omitted to confider the advantage which a para¬
bolic fpeculum would have over a fphcrical one in this
conftruCtion; but had defpaired, as he himfelf had done,
of working other furfaces than fpherical ones with ex-
aClnefs.” Huygens was not fatisfied with thus expref-
fing to the foeiety his high approbation of the inven¬
tion } but drew up a favourable account of the new te¬
lefcope, which he publifhed in the Journal des Spa-vans
for 1672, by which channel it was foon known over
Europe.
Excepting an unfuccefsful attempt which the fociety
made, by employing an artificer to imitate the Newto¬
nian conftruClion, but upon a larger fcale, and a dif-
guifed Gregorian telefcope, fet up by Caffegrain abroad
as a rival to Newton’s, no refleClor wTas heard of for
nearly half a century after. But when that period was
elapfed, a refleCHng telefcope of the Newtonian form
was at laft produced bv Mr Hadley, the inventor of the
refleCling quadrant. The two telefcopes which Newton
had made were but fix inches long *, they were held in
the hand for viewing objeCts, and in power were com¬
pared to a fix feet refra&or ; whereas Hadley’s was
about five feet long, was provided with a well-contrived
apparatus for managing it, and equalled in performance
the famous aerial telefcope of Huygens of 123 feet in
I c s.
199
length. Excepting the manner of making the fpecula, Hiftory.
we have, in the Philofophical Tranfa&ions of 1723, a " '»-r™
complete defeription, with a figure of this telefcope, to¬
gether with that of the machine for moving it 3 but, by
a ftrange omiffion, Newton’s name is not once mention¬
ed in that paper, fo that any perfon not acquainted
with the hiftory of the invention, and reading that ac¬
count only, might be apt to conclude that Hadley had
been the foie inventor.
The fame celebrated artift, after finifhing two tele¬
fcopes of the Newtonian conftrudtion, accomplilhed a
third of the Gregorian form 3 but, it would feem, lefs
fuccefsfully. Mr Hadley fpared no pains to inftruct Mr
Molyneux and the Reverend Dr Bradley 3 and when
thofe gentlemen had made a fufficient proficiency in the
art, being defirous that thefe telelcopes ftiould become
more public, they liberally communicated to fome of
the principal inftrument-makers of London the know¬
ledge they had acquired from him.
Mr James Short, as early as the year 1734, had
fignalized himfelf at Edinburgh by the excellence of
his telefcopes. Mr Maclaurin wrote that year to Dr
Jurin, “ that Mr Short, who had begun with making
glafs fpecula, was then applying himfelf to improve the
metallic 3 and that by taking care of the figure, he
was enabled to give them larger apertures that others
had done 3 and that upon the whole they furpaffed in
perfection all that he had feen of other workmen.”
He added, “ that Mr Short’s telefcopes wTere all of the
Gregorian conftruftion 3 and that he had much im¬
proved that excellent invention.” This character of
excellence Mr Short maintained to the laft 3 and v’ith
the more facility, as he was well acquainted with the
theory of optics. It was fuppofed that he had fallen
upon a method of giving the parabolic figure to his
great fpeculum 3 a point of perfection that Gregory
and Newton had defpaired of attaining 3 and that Had¬
ley had never, as far as wTe know, attempted. Mr Short
indeed affirmed, that he had acquired that faculty, but
never would tell by what peculiar means he effeCled it;
fo that the fecret of working that configuration, what¬
ever it was, died with that ingenious artift. Mr Mudge,
however, has lately realized the expeClation of Sir Ifaac
Newton, who, above 100 years ago, preiaged that the
public would one day poffefs a parabolic fpeculum, not.
aecompliihed by mathematical rules, but by mechanical
devices.
This Vas a defideratumy but it was not the only
want fupplied by this gentleman : he has taught us
likewife a better compofition of metals for the fpecu¬
la, how to grind them better, and how to give them a
finer polifh 3 and this laft part (namely, the polith),
he remarks, was the moft difficult and effential of the
whole operation. “ In a word (fays Sir John Pringle),
I am of opinion, there is no optician in this great city
(which hath been fo long and fo juftly renowned for
ingenious and dexterous makers of every kind of ma¬
thematical inftruments) fo partial to his own abilities
as not to acknowledge, that Mr Mudge has opened to
them all fome new and important lights, and has
greatly improved the art of making reflefting tele- M
c IVIf Ld-
COP5S* , j j • . , i ttj j j waids’sim-
1 he late reverend and ingenious John Edwards de-provements
voted much of his time to the improvement of re-of the re¬
flecting telefcopes, and brought them to fuch per- fieClmg te-
fecTion,lefcoPe-
200
Hiftory
OPTICS.
S?
Herfchel’
improve¬
ments.
S8
Account
Mr Dol-
lond’s im
prove-
ments.
• fe£Uon, that Dr Malkelyne, the aftronomer royal,
found telefeopes conftru£ted by him to furpafs in
brightnefs, and other refpefts, thofe of the fame fize
made by the beft artifts in London. The chief ex¬
cellence of his telefcopes arifes from the compofition,
which, from various trials on metals and femimetals,
he difcovered for the fpecula, and from the true pa¬
rabolic figure, which, by long pradlice, he had found
a method of giving them, preferable to any that was
known before him. His direflions for the compofition
of fpecula, and for calling, grinding, and polilhing
them, were publilhed, by order of the commiflloners
of longitude, at the end of the Nautical Almanack
for the year 1787. To the fame almanack is alfo an¬
nexed his account of the caufe and cure of the tremors
which particularly aflFedl refle£ling telefcopes more than
refradling ones, together with remarks on thefe tremors
by Dr Malkelyne.
s But in conltrufting refiefling telefcopes of extra¬
ordinary magnifying powers, Dr Herfchel has difplay-
ed Ikill and ingenuity furpafling all his predeceffors in
this department of mechanics. He has made them
from 7, 10, 20, to even 40 feet in length j and with
inllruments of thefe dimenfions he is now employed in
making difcoveries in aftronomy. Of the conllruftion,
magnifying powers, and the curious collection of ma¬
chinery by which his 40 feet telefcope is fupported and
moved from one part of the heavens to another, accounts
will be given under the word Telescope.
The greatelt improvement in refraRing telefcopes
hitherto made public is that of Mr Dollond, of which
an account has already been given in a preceding fec-
tion, in which his difcoveries in the fcience of Optics
were explained. But, befides the obligation -we are
under to him for correcting the aberration of the rays
of light in the focus of objeCt-glafies, he made another
confiderable improvement in telefcopes, viz. by correct¬
ing, in a great meafure, both this kind of aberration,
and alfo that which arifes from the fpherical form of
lenfes, by an expedient of a very different nature, viz.
increafing the number of eye glaffes.
0f If any perfon, fays he, would have the vifual angle
of a telefcope to contain 20 degrees, the extreme pen-
- cils of the field mull be bent or refraCled in an angle
of 10 degrees 5 which, if it be performed by one eye-
glafs, will caufe an aberration from the figure, in pro¬
portion to the cube of that angle ; but if two glaffes
be fo proportioned and fituated, as that the refraClion
may be equally divided between them, they -will each
of them produce a refraClion equal to half the required
angle ; and therefore, the aberration being proportion¬
al to the cube of half the angle taken twice over,
will be but a fourth part of that whicli is in propor¬
tion to the cube of the whole angle j becaufe twice
the cube of one is but of the cube of 2 •, fo the aber¬
ration from the figure, where two eye-glaffes are right¬
ly proportioned, is but a fourth of what it mull un¬
avoidably be, -where the whole is performed by a fingle
eye-glafs. By the fame way of reafoning, when the re¬
fraClion is divided between three glaffes, the aberra¬
tion will be found to be but the ninth part of what
would be produced from a fingle glafs} becaufe three
times the cube of 1 is but one-ninth of the cube of 3.
Whence it appears, that by increafing the number of
-ye-glaffcs, the indiltinClnefs which is obferved near the
borders of the field of a telefcope may be very much di- Hiftory.
minilhed. v iuJ
The method of correCling the errors arifing from
the different refrangibility of light is of a different con-
fideration from the former. For, whereas the errors
from the figure can only be diminilhed in a certain
proportion according to the number of glaffes, in this
they may be entirely corrected by the addition of only
one glafs. Alfo in the day-telefcope, where no more
than two eye-glaffes are abfolutely neceffary for ereCl-
ing the objeCl, we find, that by the addition of a third,
rightly fituated, the colours, which -would otherwife
make the image confufed, are entirely removed. This,
however, is to be underitood with fome limitation : for
though the different colours into which the extreme
pencils muff neceffarily be divided by the edges of the
eye-glaffes, may in this manner be brought to the eye in
a direction parallel to each other, fo as to be made to
converge to a point on the retina 5 yet, if the glaffes ex¬
ceed a certain length, the colours may be fpread too
wide to be capable of being admitted through the pu¬
pil or aperture of the eye ; which is the reafon, that in
long telefcopcs, conftruCled in the common manner,
with three eye-glaffes, the field is always very much con-
traCled. •«
Thefe confiderations firft fet Mr Dollond on contri¬
ving how to enlarge the field, by increafing the num¬
ber of eye-glaffes without affeCting the diftinCtnefs or
brightnefs of the image ; and though others had been
about the fame work before, yet, obferving that fome
five-glafs telefcopes which were then made would admit
of farther improvement, he endeavoured to conllruCl
one with the fame number of glaffes in a better manner ;
which fo far anfwered his expectations, as to be allowed
by the bell judges to be a confiderable improvement on
the former.
Encouraged by this fuccefs, he refolved to try if he
could not make fome farther enlargement of the field,
by the addition of another glafs, and by placing and
proportioning the glaffes in fuch a manner as to correCt
the aberrations as much as poffible, without injuring the
diftinClnefs 5 and at lafl he obtained as large a field as
is convenient or neceffary, and that even in the longeft
telefcopes that can be made.
Thefe telefcopes with fix glaffes having been well
received, and fome of them being carried into foreign
countries, it feemed a proper time to the author to fettle
the date of his invention ; on which account he drew up
a letter, which he addrefied to Mr Short, and which was
read at the Royal Society, March 1. 1753.
To Mr Short we are indebted for the excellent eon-^ • .
trivance ot an equatorial telelcope, or, as lie likewile teiefCOpe>
called it, a portable obfervatory ; for with it pretty ac-or portable
curate obfervations may be made with very little trouble, °hierva-
by thofe who have no building adapted to the purpofe.tor^'
The inftrument confifts of a piece of machinery, by
which a telefcope mounted upon it may be dire£led to
any degree of right afeenfion or declination, fo that the
place of any of the heavenly bodies being known, they
may be found without any trouble, even in the day-time.
As it is made to turn parallel to the equator, any object
is eafily kept in view, or recovered, without moving the
eye from its fituation. By this inilrument moll of the
ftars of the firft and fecond magnitude have been feen
even at mid-day, when the fun was ftiining bright; as
alfo
I-Mcry.
ftars in the
day-time.
9i
M. Epi-
tms’s pro-
pofal for
alfo Mercury, Venus, and Jupiter. Saturn and Mars
are not fo eafy to be feen, on account of the faintnefs of
their light, except when the fun is but a few hours above
the horizon. This particular effed depends upon the
telefcope excluding almolt all the light, except what
comes from the objed itfelf, and which might other-
wife efface the impreflion made by its weaker light upon
tlie eye. Any telefcope of the fame magnifying power
would have the fame effed, could we be fure of pointino-
it right. Mr Ramfden invented a portable or equatorial
telefcope, which may perhaps fuperiede the ufe of Mr
po Short’s
How to ob- In order to fee the fixed ftars In the day-time, it is
ierve the neceflary to exclude the extraneous light as much as
poflible. For this reafon the greater the magnifying
power of any telefcope is, the more eafily a fixed ftar
will be diftinguithed in the day-time ■ the light of the
ftar remaining the fame in all magnifying powers of the
lame telefcope, but the ground upon which it is feen
becoming darker by increafing the magnifying power j
and the vifibility of a ftar depends very much upon
the difference between its own light and that of the
ground upon which it is obferved. A fixed ftar will be
very nearly equally vifible with telefcopes of very dif¬
ferent apertures, provided the magnifying power remains
the fame.
M. -/Epinus propofes to bend the tubes of long te¬
lefcopes at right angles, fixing a plane mirror in the
b nli <rth an£u^ar point* in order to make them more commo¬
ns of te-d!OU3 for .Tiewin? obje,?s near the zenith 5 and he
leicopes. gives particular inftrudions how to make them in
this form, efpecially when they are furnithed with mi¬
crometers. We are alfo informed that a little plane
fpeculum is fometimes placed betwixt the laft eye-glafs
and the eye in the refk&ing telefcopes, at an aimle
of 450, for the fame purpofe.
Hiftory of The invention of Microscopes was not much later
“ t^an l^at telek°Pes ? anci> according to Borellus,
’ 've are indebted for them to the fame author, at leaft to
Zacharias Janfen, in conjunftion with his fon.
The Janfen*, however, have not always enjoyed,
undifturbed, that fhare of reputation to which they
feem to be entitled, with refpeft either to the telefcope
or the microfcope. The difeovery of the latter, in par¬
ticular, has generally been confidered as more uncer¬
tain than that of the former. All that many writers
fay we can depend upon is, that microfcopes were firft
ufed in Germany about the year 1621. Others fay
Positively, that this inftrument was the contrivance of
Cornelius Drebell, a man of ingenuity, who alfo invent¬
ed the thermometer.
According to Borellus, Zacharias Janfen and his fon
prefented the firft microfcopes they had conftrufted to
Prince Maurice, and Albert archduke of Auftria. Wil¬
liam Borell, who gives this account in a letter to his brother
eter, fays, that when he was ambaffador in England, in
1619, Cornelius Drebell, with whom he was intimately ac-
93 quainted, fliowed him a microfcope, which he faid was the
^ icrofcope fame that the archduke had given him, and had been made
by Janlen himfelf. This inftrument was not fo fiiort as
they are generally made at prefent, but was fix feet lono-
confifting of a tube of gilt copper, an inch in diameter*
lupported by three brafs pillars in the fliape of dolphins, on
a bate of ebony, on which the fmall objeds were placed.
Vox. XV. Part I. 1
OPTICS.
201
This microfcope was evidently a compound one, or Hiftory.
rather fomething betwixt a telefcope and a microfcope;
fo that it is pofiible that fingle microfcopes might have
been known, and in ufe, feme time before : but perhaps
nobody thought of giving that name to fingle lenfes;
though, from the firft ufe of lenfes, they could not
but have been ufed for the purpofe of magnifyino-
fmall objects. In this fenfe we have feen, that even
the ancients were in pofie/fion of microfcopes ; and it
appears from Jamblicus and Plutarch, quoted by Dr
Rogers, that they gave filch inftruments as they ufed
foi this purpofe the name of dioptra. At what time
lenfes were made fo fmall as we now generally ufe them
for magnifying in fingle microfcopes, we have not found.
But as this mult neceffarily have been done gradually,
the only proper objed of inquiry is the invention of the
double microfcope; and this is clearly given, by the
evidence of Borellus above mentioned, to Z. Janfen, or
his fon.
i he invention of compound microfcopes is claimed
by the fame Fontana who arrogated to himfelf the dif-
covery of telefcopes; and though he did not publifh
any account of this invention till the year 1646 (not-
withftanding he pretended to have made the difeovery
in 1618), Montucla, from not attending perhaps to the
teftimony of Borellus, is willing to allow his claim, as
he thought there was no other perfon who feemed to
have any better title to it.
Euftachio Divini made microfcopes with two com- -r , tv4-- •
mon objeft-glaffes, and two plano-convex eye-glaffes ^
joined together on their convex fides fo as to meet in
a point. The tube in which they were inclofed was
very large, and the eye-glaffes almoft as broad as the
palm of a man’s hand. Mr Oldenburg, fecretary to the
Royal Society, received an account of this inftrument
fiom Rome, and read it at one of their meetinp-s
A urrnfl- ^ *
| pnfen.
Auguft 6. 1668.
It was about this time that Hartfccker improved By H*rt-
iingle microfcopes, by ufing fmall globules of glafs looker,
made by melting them in the flame of a candle, in-
Itead Oi the lenfes which had before been made ufe of
for that purpofe. By this means he firft dilcovered the
ammalcula in femme mufculino, which gave xife to a
new fyftem of generation. A microfcope of this kind
confiding of a globule of ^ of an inch in diameter’
M. Huygens demonftrated to magnify 100 times ; and
fmee it is eafy to make them of left than half a line in
diameter, they may be made to magnify 300 times.
But no man diftinguiflied himfelf fo much by micro-By Leeu
fcopical difeoveries as the famous M. Leeuwenhoek wenhoek.
though he uled only fingle lenfes with fliort foci, pre¬
ferring diftinanefs of vifion to a large magnifying power.
M. Leeuwenhoek’s microfcopes were all fingle ones*
each of them confifting of a fmall double convex glafs’
fet in a focket between two filver plates rivetted tooe-
ther, and pierced with a fmall hole; and the objeft
was fixed on the point of a needle, which could be
placed at any diftance from the lens. If the objeas
-were foHd, he fattened them with glue; and if they
u ere fluid, or required to be fpread upon 'dais, he
-placed them on a fmall piece of Mufcovy talc, or thin
•glafs ; which he afterwards glued to his needle. He
had, however, a different apparatus for viewing the
circulation of the blood, which he could attach to the
fame microfcopes.
Cc M.
97
Wilfon’s
niieroicope
9S
Adams’s
method of
making glo.
bules for
large mag¬
nifiers.
OPT
M. Leeuwenhoek bequeathed the greatell part of his
microfcopes to the Royal Society. They were placed
in a fmall Indian cabinet in the drawers of which
were 13 little boxes, each of which contained twro mi-
crofcopes, neatly fitted up in filver.
The glafs of all thefe lenfes is exceedingly clear, but
none of them magnifies fo much as thofe globules
which are frequently ufed in other microfcopes. Air
Folkes, who examined them, thought that they {howed
objefts with much greater diftindlnefs, a circumftance
which AI. Leeuwenhoek principally valued. His difeo-
veries, however, are to be aferibed not fo much to the
goodnefs of his glaffes, as to his great experience in
ufing them.
Air Baker, who alfo examined thefe microfcopes, and
reported concerning them to the Royal Society, found
that the greatelt magnifier enlarged the diameter of an
object about 160 times, but that all the reft fell much
ftiort of that power. He therefore concluded that AI.
Leeuwenhoek muft have had other microfcopes of a much
greater magnifying power for many of his difeoveries.
It appears from AI. Leeuwenhoek’s writings, that
he was not unacquainted with the method of viewing
opaque objects by means of a fmall concave reflecting
mirror, which was afterwards improved by AI. Lie-
berkhun. For, after deferibing his apparatus for view¬
ing eels in glafs tubes, he adds, that he had an inftru-
ment to which he ferewed a microfcope fet in brafs,
upon which microfcope he faftened a little difii of brafs,
probably that his eye might be thereby affifted to fee
objects better j for he fays he had filed the brafs
which w'as round his microfcope as bright as he could,
that the light, while he was viewing objects, might
be refle&ed from it as much as poffible. This micro¬
fcope, with its diih, is conftrufted upon principles fo
fimilar to thofe which are the foundation of our fingle
microfcope by refleftion (fee AIicroscope,) that it may
well be fupppofed to have given the hint to the ingeni¬
ous inventor of it.
In 1702, Air Wilfon made feveral ingenious improve¬
ments in the method of ufing fingle magnifiers, for the
purpofe of viewing tranfparent objefts •, and his micro¬
fcope, which is alfo a neceffary part of the folar micro¬
fcope, is in very general ufe at this day, (See {Micro¬
scope, feci. 1.).
In 1710, Air Adams gave to the Royal Society the
following account of his method of making fmall glo¬
bules for large magnifiers. He took a piece of fine
•window-glafs, and cut it with a diamond into feveral
flips, not exceeding f of an inch in breadth ; then,
holding one of them between the fore-finger and thumb
of each hand over a very fine flame, till the glafs began
to foften, he drew it out till it was as fine as a hair,
and broke ; then putting each of the ends into the pureft
part of the flame, he had two globules, which he could
increafe or diminifli at pleafure. If they were held a
long time in the flame, they would have fpots on them,
fo that he drew them out immediately after they be¬
came round. He broke oft' the ftem as near to the
globule as he could, and lodging the remainder between
the plates, in which holes were drilled exa&ly round,
the microfcope, he fays, performed to admiration.
Through thefe magnifiers the fame thread of very fine
muflin appeared three or four times bigger than it did
in the largeft of Air Wilfon’s magnifiers.
I c s.
The ingenious Air Grey hit upon a very eafy expe- Hiftory,
dient to make very good temporary microfcopes, at a '
very little expence. They confift of nothing but fmall T ^
drops of water taken up with the point of a pin, and put microfCOp^
into a fmall hole made in a piece of metal. Thefe glo-by Mr
bules of wTater do not, indeed, magnify fo much as thofe Grey,
which are made of glafs of the fame fize, becaufe the
refradlive power of -water is not fo great j but the fame
purpofe will be anfwered nearly as well by making them
fomewhat fmaller.
The fame ingenious perfon, obferving that fmall he¬
terogeneous particles inclofed in the glafs of which mi¬
crofcopes are made, were much magnified W’hen thofe
glafles were looked through, thought of making his mi¬
crofcopes of water that contained living animalcula, to
fee how they would look in this new fituation •, and he
found his fcheme to anfwer beyond his expeftation, fo
that he could not even account for their being magnified
fo much as they wrere : for it was much more than they
would have been magnified if they had been placed be¬
yond the globule, in the proper place for viewing objefls.
But Alontucla obferves, that, when any objetft is inclofed
within this fmall tranfparent globule, the hinder part
of it a£ls like a concave mirror, provided they be fitu-
ated between that furface and the focus j and that, by
this means, they are magnified above 3-i- times more
than they would have been in the ufual way. Ioo
Temporary microfcopes of a difterent kind have been Microfcop«
conftrufted by Dr Brewfter. They were compofed of of t\ir pen-
turpentine varnifli, which was formed into a piano-con- t'ne varni^
vex lens, by laying a drop of it upon a piece of plain
glafs : the under furface of the glafs was then fmoked,
and the black pigment removed immediately below, the
fluid lens. Thefe lens lafted for a long time, and (hewed
objefts diftinflly, even when combined into a compound
microfcope. See Appendix to Fergufon's Lechtres, vol. ii.
and AIicroscope, p. 19- H
After the fuccefsful conftrudlion of the reflefting te- RefjC(<Hng
lefcope, it was natural to expert that attempts would microfcope,
alfo be made to render a fimilar fervice to microfcopes. by I>r
Accordingly we find two plans of this kind. The firft Barker.
W'as that of Dr Robert Barker. His inftrument differs
in nothing from the reflefting telefcope, excepting the
diftance of the two fpeculums, in order to adapt it to
thofe pencils of rays which enter the microfcope diverg¬
ing \ whereas they come to the telefcope from very di-
ftant objefls nearly parallel to each other.
This microfcope is not fo eafy to manage as thofe of
the common kind. For vifion by reflection, as it is
much more perfect, fo it is far more difficult than that
by refraClion. Nor is this microfcope fo ufeful for any
but very fmall or tranfparent objeCts. For the objeCt,
being between the fpeculum and image, would, if it
were large and opaque, prevent a due reflection. 1Q1
Dr Smith invented a double reflecting microfcope, j)r Smith's
of which a theoretical and practical account is given inrefledting
his remarks at the end of the fecond volume of his Sy-!P‘cr0/C0^
ftem of Optics. As it is conftruCted on principles dif-^J5^^^
ferent from all others, and in the opinion of fome, fu-
perior to them all, the reader will not be difpleafed
with the following practical defeription.
A feCtion of this microfcope is {hewn in fig. 2. -where p[ate
ABC and ab c are two fpecula, the former concave, and ccclxxv&
the latter convex, inclofed within the tube DEFG. fig ^
The fpeculum ABC is perforated, and the objeCt to be
viewed
OPT
Hiftory. viewed is fo placed between the centre and principal
   ' focus of that fpeculum, that the rays flowing from it to
ABC are reflefted towards an imagery. But before
that image is formed, they are intercepted by the con¬
vex fpeculum a b c, and thence refle&c^l through the
hole BC in the vertex of the concave to a fecond image
7r x, to be viewed through an eye-glafs /. The objedt
may either be fituated between the two fpecula, or,
which is perhaps better, between the principal focus
and vertex c of the convex fpeculum a b c, a fmall hole
being made in its vertex for the tranfmifTion of the in¬
cident rays. When the microfcope is ufed, let the ob¬
ject be included between two little round plates of
Mufcovy-glafs, fixed in a hole of an oblong brafs plate
u m, intended to Hide clofe to the back fide of the con¬
vex fpeculum : which mufl: therefore be ground flat on
that fide, and fo thin that the objefl may come pre-
cifcly to its computed diftance from the vertex of the
fpeculum. The Aider mufl be kept tight to the back
of the metal by a gentle fpring. The diflance of the
objeft being thus determined, diflinft vifion to different
eyes, and through different eye-glaffes, muff be pi-ocur-
ed by a gentle motion of the little tubes that contain
thefe glaffes. Thefe tubes mull be made in the ufual
form of thofe that belong to Sir Ifaac Newton’s refleft-
ing tclefcope, having a fmall hole in the middle of each
plate, at the ends of the tube, fituated exa'flly in each
focus of the glafs: The ufe of thefe holes and plates is to
limit the vifible area, and prevent any ftraggling rays
from entering the eye. To the tube of the eye-glafs is
faflened the arm g, on which the adjufling ferew turns.
A fimilar arm u is attached to the fixed tube X, in which
the neck of the ferew turns; and by turning the button
//, the eye-tube is moved farther from or nearer to the
objeft, by which means different forts of eyes obtain di-
ftin£l vifion.
The rays ivhich flow from the objefl direflly through
the hole in the concave fpeculum and through the
cye-glafs, by mixing with the refle£led rays, would
dilute the image on the retina, and therefore mufl be
intercepted. This is done by a very fimple contri¬
vance. 1 he little hole in the convex fpeculum is
ground conical as in the figure ; and a conical folid P,
of which the bafe is larger than the orifice in the back
of the convex fpeculum, fupported on the flender pil¬
lar P^), is fo placed as to intercept all the direB rays
from the eye-glafs. The’tubes are flrongly blacked on
their infides, and likewife the conical folid, to hin¬
der all refle&ion of ray* upon the convex fpeeulum.
The little bale, too, of the folid fhould be made concave,
that whatever light it may Hill reflect, may be thrown
back upon the objeeff ; and its back-fide being conical
and blacked all over, will either abforb or laterally
difperfe any flraggling rays which the concave fpeculum
may fcatter upon it, and fo prevent their coming to the
eye-glafs.
Notwithflanding the interpofition of this conical
folid, yet when the eye-glafs is taken out, diflant ob-
jeils may be dillinclly feen through the microfcope,
by rays reflefled from the metals, and diverging upon
the eye from an image behind the convex fpeculum.
But this mixture of foreign rays with thofe of the ob-
jefl, wjiich is common to all kinds of microfcopes in
viewing tranfparent objedls, is ufually prevented by
ICS.
203
placing before the objefl a thick double convex lens /, Hiftory.
to collefl the Iky-light exaflly upon the objedl. This "v " F
lens fhould be juft fo broad as to fubtend the oppoftte
angle to that which the concave fpeculum fubtends at
the objedl. The annular frame of the lens mull be
very narrow, and connedled with the microfcope by two
or three flender wires or blades, whofe planes produced ♦
may pafs through the objedl, and intercept from it as
little Iky-light as poflible.
This is not the place for explaining the principles of
this microfcope, or demonftrating its fuperiority over
moft others ; nor are fuch explanation and demonllra-
tion neceffary. Its excellence, as well as the principles
upon which it is conftrufted, will be perceived by the
reader, when he has made himfelf mailer of the laws of
refraction and reflection as laid down in the fequel of
this article.
M. Lieberkuhn, in 1738 or 1739, made two capi-Soj
tal improvements in microfcopes, by the invention oferofcope,
thefolar microfcope, and the microfcope for opaque objeBs. and that for
When he was in England in the winter of 1739, he?Pacluc0'3“
fliowed an apparatus for each of thefe purpofes, made by^c<^s‘
himfelf, to leveral gentlemen of the Royal Society, as
well as to fome opticians.
The microfcope for opaque objeCls remedies the in¬
convenience of having the dark fide of an objeCt next
the eye. For by means of a concave fpeculum of fil-
ver, highly poliflied, in the centre of which a magni¬
fying lens is placed, the objeCl is fo ftrongly illumi¬
nated tljat it may be examined with all imaginable eafe
and pleafure. A convenient apparatus of this kind,
with four different fpecula and magnifiers of different
powers, was brought to perfeClion by Mr Cuff in Fleet-
ftreet. M. Lieberkuhn made confiderable improvements
in his folar microfcope, particularly in adapting it to
the view of opaque objeCls ; but in what manner this
was effeCled, M. Atpinus, who was highly entertained
with the performance, and who mentions the faCl, was
not able to recolleCl; and the death of the ingenious
inventor prevented his publithing any account of it him¬
felf. M. Atpinus invites thofe who came into the pof-
feflion of M. Lieberkuhn’s apparatus to publiffi an ac¬
count of this inilrument; but it does not appear that his
method was ever publilhed.
This improvement of M. Lieberkuhn’s induced M.
iEpinus himfelf to attend to the fubjeCl ; and he thus
produced a very valuable improvement in this inilru-
mtnt. For by throwing the light upon the forefide of
any objeCl by means of a mirror, before it is tranfmit-
ted through the objeCl-lens, all kinds of objeCls are
equally well reprefented by it. 104
M. Euler propofed to introduce vifion by refle&ed Refle<^e(*
light into the magic lantern and folar microfcone, by \s“t1mtr0“
which many inconveniences to which thofe inllruments tll# mitro-
are fubjeCl might be avoided. For this purpofe, he fays,fcope and
that nothing is neceffary but a large concave mirror, maSlc lan"
perforated as for a telefcope ; and the light fliould befotern’
fituated, that none of it may pafs direCtly through the
perforation, fo as to fall on the images of the objeCls
upon the ftreen. He propofes to have four different
machines, for objeCls of different fixes; the firff for thofe
of fix feet long, the fecond for thofe of one foot, the
third for thofe of two inches, and the fourth for thofe of
two lines ; but it is needlefs to be particular in the de-
C c 2 feription
204
Iliftory.
505
Mr Mar¬
tin’s im¬
provement
in the iolar
niicrofcope
to5
Di Torre’s
extraordi¬
nary mag¬
nifying mi-
crofcope.
107
Tould not
he ufed by
Mr Baker.
DPT
feripttott of thtie, as ttlorc jjel'ife’61 Iinlrllnients are de¬
fer! bed under the article MltRoStoPEs.
Several irnproveihtiits were hiade in the apparatus
to the folar Oiicrofcbpe^ sis adapted to view opaque
objefh, by M. Zeilrer, who made one conftruction for
the larger kind of objedts, and another for the fmall
ones,
Mr Martin having conftrudled a folar microfcope of
a larger fize than common, for his own ufe, the illumi¬
nating lens being 4^ inches in diameter, and all the
other parts of the inilrument in proportion, found, that
by the help of an additional part, which he does not
deferibc, he could fee even opaque objedts very well.
If he had made the lens any larger, he was aware that
the heat produced at the focus w'ould have been too
great for moft objedts to bear. The expence of this in-
itrument, he fays, does not much exceed the price of the
common folar microfcope.
The fmalleft globules, and confequently the greateft
ntagnifiers, for microfcopes, that have yet been execu¬
ted, were made by T. Di Torre of Naples, who, in
1765, fent four of them to the Royal Society. The
largell: of them was only two Paris points in diameter,
and it was faid to magnify the diameter of an objedt
640 times. The fecond was the fize of one Paris point,
and the third w?as no more than half of a Paris point,
or the 144th part of an inch in diameter, and was faid
to magnify the diameter of an objedf 2560 times. One
of thefe globules was wanting when they came into the
hands of Mr Baker, to whofe examination tlaey were
fubmitted by the Royal Society. This gentleman, how*
1 c s.
ever, was not able to make any ufe of thefe. With
that which magnifies the lead, he was not able to fee
any objedt with fatisfaction ; and he concludes his ac¬
count with expreding his hopes only, that, as his eyes
had been much ufed to microfcopes, they were not in¬
jured by the attention he had given to them, though he
believed there were few' perfons who w’ould not have
been blinded by it.
The condrudfion of a telefcope with fix eye-glafles
led M. Euler to a fimilar confirudiion of microfcopes,
by introducing into them fix lenfes, one of which ad*
mits of fo fmall an aperture, as to ferve, indead of a
diaphragm, to exclude all foreign light, though, as he
fays, it neither lefiens the field of view, nor the bright-
nefs of objedts.
The improvement of all dioptric indruments is great¬
ly impeded by inequalities in the fubdance of the glafs
of which they are formed ; but though many attempts
have been made to make glafs without that imper¬
fection, none of them have been hitherto quite effec¬
tual. M. A. D. Merklein, having found fome glafs
which had been melted when a building was on fire,
and which proved to make excellent objedt-glafles for
telefcopes, concluded that its peculiar goodnefs arol’e
from its not having been difturbed when it was in a
fluid ftate ; and therefore he propofed to take the metal
out of the furnace in iron veffels, of the fame form
that was wanted for the glafs j and after it had been
perfedtly fluid in thofe veflels, to let it ftand to cool,
without any difturbance. This, however, is not always
found to anfwer.
Hiftcry.
10S
Difficultly
attending
the con¬
ftruction of
dioptric in-
ftruments.
PART I. THEORY OF OPTICS.
THE feienee of optics is commonly divided into
three parts, Dioptrics, which treats of the laws of re¬
fraction, and the phenomena depending upon them }
Catoptrics, which treats of the laws of reflection, and
the phenomena connected with them ; and, laftly,
Chromatics, which treats of the phenomena of colour.
But this divifion is of no ufe in a treatife of Optics, as
molt of the phenomena depend both on refraCtion and
reflection, colour itfelf not excepted. For this reafon,
though we have given detached articles under the words
.Dioptrics, Catoptrics, and Chromatics; we have
referved for this place the explanation of the law's of
reflection and refraCtion, by w'hich all optical phenome¬
na may be explained.
Chap. I. On Light.
Under the article Light we have given fome ac-
count of the controverfies concerning its nature. The
opinions of philofophers may, in general, be arranged
109 under thefe^ two : 1. That light is produced by the un-
Difftrent dulations of an elaltic fluid, nearly in the fame manner
epmions as found, is produced by the undulations of the air.
coneeinin- This opinion was firft offered to the public by Des
oflielit!1 Cartes, and afterwards by Mr Huygens. It was re¬
vived by Euler, and has lately found an able and inge¬
nious defender in Dr Thomas Young—2d, That the
phenomena of vifion are produced by the motion and
aCtion of matter emitted from the fliining body with
immenfe velocity, moving uniformly in ftraight lines,
and aCted on by other bodies; fo as to be reflected, re-
fraCted, or infleCted, in various ways, by means of forces
which aCt on it in the fame manner as on other inert
matter. Sir Ifaac Newton has ably ihown the diflimila-
rity between the phenomena of vifion and the legitimate
confequences of the undulations of an elaftic fluid. All
M. Euler’s ingenious and laborious difeuflions have not
removed Newton’s objections in the fmalleft degree.
Sir Ifaac adopts the vulgar opinion, therefore, becaufe
the difficulties attending this opinion are not ineonfiftent
with the eftabliflied principles of mechanics, and are
merely difficulties of conception to limited faculties like
ours. We need not defpair of being able to decide, by
experiment, which of thefe opinions is neareft to the
truth ; becaufe there are phenomena where the refult
fliould be fenfibly different in the two hypothefes. At
prefent, we ftiall content ourfelves with giving fome ac¬
count of the legitimate confequences of the vulgar opi¬
nion, as modified by Sir Ifaac Newton, viz. that light
confifts of fmall particles emitted with very great velo-
city, and attraCled or repelled by other bodies at very no
fmall diflances. Light iflues
Every vifible body emits or refleCls inconceivably !n ftrafight
fmall particles of matter, from each point of its furface, 5 point
which iffue from it continually., not unlike fparks from in a lumi-
a coal, in ftraight lines and in all directions. Thefe nous fur*
particles
Theory.
OPT
KefracTion. particles entering the eye, and ftriking upon the retina
(an expanfion of the optic nerve over the back part of
the eye to receive their impulfes), excite in our minds
the idea of light. And according as they differ in
iubftance, denflty, velocity, or magnitude, they produce
in us the ideas of different colours j as will be explained
in its proper place.
That the particles %hich conflitute light are exceed¬
ingly fmall, appears from this, that if a hole be made
through apiece of paper with a needle, rays of light
from every objeft on the farther fide of it are capable
of being tranfmitted through it at once without the leaf!
confufion *, for any one of thofe objefts may as clearly
be feen through it, as if no rays paffed through it from
any of the reft. Befides, if a candle is lighted, and
there be no obftacle in the way to obftru<ft the progrefs
of its rays, it will fill all the fpace within fome miles of
it every way with luminous particles, before it has-loft
the leaft fenfible part of its fubftance in confequence of
this copious emiflion.
It is evident that thefe particles proceed from every
point of the furface of a vifible body, and in all di-
redlions, becaufe wherever a fpeftator is placed with
regard to the body, every point of that part of the
furface which is turned towards him is vifible. That
they proceed from the body in right lines, we are af-
fured, becaufe juft fo many and no more will be inter¬
cepted in their paffage to any place by an interpofed ob-
jedl, as that objefl ought to intercept, fuppofing them
to come in fuch lines.
The velocity with which they proceed from the fur¬
face of the vifible body is no lefs furprifing than their
minutenefs: the method by which philofophers eftimate
their velocity, is by obfervations made on the eclipfes
of Jupiter’s fatellites; which eelipfes appear to us about
feven minutes fooner than they ought to do by calcula*
tion, when the e&rth is placed between the fun and him,
that is, when tve are neareft to him; and as much later,
•when the fun is between him and us, at which time we
are fartheft from him. Hence it is concluded, that they
require about feven minutes to pafs over, a fpace equal
to the diftance of the earth from the fun.
A ftream of thefe particles iffuing from the furface
of a vifible body in one and the fame direction, is called
a rai/ of light.
As rays proceed from a vifible body in all direflions,
they neceflarily become thinner and thinner, continually
fpreading themfelves as. they pafs along into a larger
fpace, and that in proportion to the iquares of their
diftances from the body ; that is, at the diftance of two
fpaces, they are four times thinner than they are atone;
at the diftanee of three fpaces, nine times thinner,, and
fo on.
Chap. II. On Refraction.
Refraction Ligkt, when proceeding from a luminous body, is
defined. invariably found to proceed in ftraight lines, without the
leaft deviation. But, if it happens to pafs obliquely from
one medium to another, it always leaves the dire£lion
it had before, and a flumes a new one j and this change
of courfe is called its refraBion. After having taken
this new direction, it then proceeds invariably in a
ftraight line till it meets with a different medium, when
it is again turned out of its courfe. It muft be obferved,
5
ICS. 205
however, that though by this means we may caufe the Caufe of
rays of light to make any number of angles in their
courfe, it is impollible to make them deferibe a curve, * *
except in one fingle cafe, namely, where they pafs
through a medium, the denlity of which uniformly either
increafes or decreafes. This is the cafe with the light of
the celeftial bodies, which paffes downwards through our
atmofphere, andlikewife with that which is reflected up¬
wards through it by terreftrial objects. In both thefo
cafes, it deferibes a curve of the hyperbolic.kind ; but at
all other times it proceeds in ftraight lines, or in what
may be taken for ftraight lines without any fenfible error*-
Sect. I. On the Caufe of RefraBion, and the Law by
which'it is performed.
The phenomena of refraction are explained by an at-qq^Jmena,
tradtive power, in the medium through which light paf-of refrac-
fes, in the following manner. All bodies being endow-d°n f°^ved
ed with an attractive force, which is extended to fome
diftance beyond their furfaces ; when a ray of light paf-p0awer itl
fes out of a rarer into a denfer medium (if this latter the me-
has a greater attractive force than the former, as is com- dium. _
monly the cafe), the ray, juft before its entrance, will
begin to be attracted towards the denfer medium ; and
this attraction will continue to aCt upon it, till fome
time after it has entered the medium ; and therefore, if
a ray approaches a denfer medium in a direction perpen*
dicular to its furface, its velocity will be continually ac->
celerated during its paflfage through the fpace in which
that attraction exerts itfelf; and therefore, after it has*
paffed that fpace, it will move on, till it arrive at the
oppofite fide of the medium, with a greater degree of
velocity, than it had before it entered. So that in this
cafe its velocity only will be altered. Whereas, if a
ray enters a denier medium obliquely, it will not only-
have its velocity augmented thereby, but its direction
will become lefs oblique to the furface. Juft as when
a ftone is thrown downwards obliquely from a precipice,
it falls to the furface of the ground in a direction near¬
er to a perpendicular one, than that with which it was
thrown from the hand. Hence we fee a ray of light,
in palling out of a rarer into a denfer medium, is
refraCled towards the perpendicular ; that is, fuppofing
a line drawn perpendicularly to the furface of the me¬
dium, through the point where the ray enters, and ex¬
tended both ways, the ray in paffmg through the fur?
face is refraCled or bent towards the perpendicular line ;
or, which is the fame thing,, the line which it deferibes
by its motion after it has paffed through the furface,
makes a lefs angle with the jjerpendicular, than the line
which it deferibed before. Thefe pofitions may be il-»
luftrated in the following manner.
Let us fuppofe firft,' that the ray palles out of a va- Plats
cuum into the denfer medium ABCD (fig. 3.), andCCCLXXVI3:
that the attractive force of each particle in the medium Flg‘
is extended from its refpeCtive centre to a diftance
equal to that which is between the lines AB and EF,
or AB and GH ; and let KL be the path deferibed by
a ray of light in its progrefs towards the denfer me?
dium. This ray, when it arrives at L, will enter the
fphere of attraClion of thofe particles which lie in AB
the furface of the denfer medium, and will therefore
ceafe to proceed any longer in the right line KLM, but
will be diverted from its courfe by being attraCled to?
wards
206 OPT
t'aufe of wards the line AB, and will begin todefcribe the curve
Refraction, palling through the furface AB in home new di-
region, as O^) j making a lefs angle with a line PH,
drawn perpendicularly through the point N, than it
would have done had it proceeded in its firfl: diredlion
KLM.
As w'e have fuppofed the attraftive force of each par¬
ticle to be extended through a fpace equal to the di-
* fiance between AB and EF, it is evident that the ray,
after it has entered the furface, will Hill be attradled
dowmvards, till it has arrived at the line EF ; for, till
then, there will not be fo many particles above it
which will attradl it upwards, as below, that will attradl
it downwards. So that after it has entered the furface
at N, in the diredlion ()£), it will not proceed in that
direction, but will continue to defcribe a curve, as NS ;
after which it Avill proceed flraight on towards the op-
polite fide of the medium, being attradled equally
every U'ay ; and therefore wfill at laft proceed in the
direction XST, Hill nearer the perpendicular PR than
before.
If we fuppofe ABZY not to be a vacuum, but a ra¬
rer medium than the other, the cafe will flill be the
fame ; but the ray will not be fo much refradted from
its redlilineal courfe, becaufe the attraftion of the par¬
ticles of the upper medium being in a contrary direc¬
tion to that of the attradlion of thofe in the lorver one,
the attradlion of the denfer medium wall in fome mea-
fure be deftroyed by that of the rarer.
When a ray, on the contrary, paffes out of a denfer
into a rarer medium, if its diredtion be perpendicular to
the furface of the medium, it will only lofe fome what
of its velocity, in palling through the fpaces of attrac¬
tion of that medium (that is, the fpace wherein it is at-
tradled more one way than it is another). If its direc¬
tion be oblique, it will continually recede from the per¬
pendicular during its paffage, and by that means have its
obliquity increafed, juft; as a ftone thrown up obliquely
from the furface of the earth increafes its obliquity all
the time it rifes. Thus, fuppofing the ray TS palling
out of the denfer medium ABCD into the rarer
ABZY, when it arrives at S it will begin to be attract¬
ed downwards, and fo will defcribe the curve SNL, and
then proceed in the right line LK *, making a larger
angle with the perpendicular PR, than the line TSX in
■which it proceeded during its palfage through the other
medium.
We may here make a general obfervation on the for¬
ces which produce this deviation of the rays of light
from their original path. They arife from the joint
aftion of all the particles of the body which are fuffi-
ciently near the particle of light", that is, whofe diftance
from it is not greater than the line AE or G A •, and
therefore the whole force which a£ls on a particle in its
different fituations between the planes GH and EF, fol¬
lows a very different law from the force exerted by one
particle of the medium.
T he fpaee through which the attraftion of cohefion
of the particles of matter is extended is fo very fmall,
that in confidering the progrefs of a ray of light out of
one medium into another, the curvature it deferibes in
paffmg through the fpace of attra&ion is generally
negletted ; and its path is fuppofed to be bent, or re-
ffadled, only in the point where it enters the denfer
medium.
x
I C S. Part I.
Now the line which a ray deferibes before it enters Law of
a denfer or a rarer medium, is called the incident ray; jfr'fraftion.
and that which it deferibes after it has entered, is the
ref rafted ray.
The angle comprehended between the incident ray
and the perpendicular, is the angle of incidence; and
that between the refradled ray and the perpendicular, is
the angle of refraftion.
There is a certain and immutable law, by which
refraftion is always performed; which is this : What¬
ever inclination a ray of light has to, the furface of
any medium before it enters it, the degree of refrac¬
tion will always be fuch, that the fine of the angle of
incidence and that of the angle of refraftion, will always
have a conftant ratio to one another in that medium. Plate
To illuftrate this : Let us fuppofe ABCD (fig. 4.) CCCLXxvir
to reprefent a rarer, and ABEF a denfer medium : let 4'
GH be a ray of light patting through the firft and en¬
tering the fecond at H, and let HI be the refrafted
ray: then fuppofing the perpendicular PR drawn through
the point H, on thexentre H, and with any radius, de¬
fcribe the circle ABPR; and from G and I, where the
incident and refrafted rays cut the circle, let fall the
lines GK and IL perpendicularly upon the line PR ;
the former of thefe will be the fine of the angle of in¬
cidence, the latter of refraftion. Now if in this cafe
the ray GH is fo refrafted at H, that GK is double or
triple, &c. of IL, then, whatever other inclination the
ray GH might have had, the fine of its angle of inci¬
dence would have been double or triple, &c. to that of
its angle of refraftion. For inftance, had the ray paf-
fed in the line MH before refraftion, it Avould have paf-
fed in fome line as HN afterwards, fo fituated that MO
thould have been double or triple &c. of N£).
The following table contains the refraftive denfities
of feveral bodies.
Diamond, - 2.500
Flint-glafs, - l‘S^5
Plate glafs, - - 1-502
Crown glafs, - I*525
Sulphuric acid, - I-435
Solution of potafti, I-39°
Olive oil, - 1.469
Alcohol, - 1.370
Atmofpheric air, 1.000276
Ice, - - 1.31
Water, - I>336
This relation of the fine of the angle of incidence to
that of refraftion, which is a propofition of the moft ex-
tenfive ufe in explaining the optical phenomena on phy-
fical or mechanical principles, may be demonftrated in
the following eafy and familiar manner.
Lemma I.
The augmentations or diminutions of the fquares
of the velocities produced by the uniform ac¬
tion of accelerating or retarding forces, are pro¬
portional to the forces, and to the fpaces along
which they aft, jointly *, or are proportional to
the produfts of the forces multiplied by the
fpaces.
Let two bodies be uniformly accelerated from a ftate
of reft in the points Ac, along the fpaces AB, ab, fig. 5. Fig. $.
by
Theory. OPT
Law of by the accelerating forces Fand let AC, a c, be
Refrartioru fpaces defcribed in equal times j it is evident, from what
^ Fas been faid under the articles Gravity and Acce-
Fig- 5. ITERATION, that becaufe thefe fpaces are defcribed with
motions uniformly accelerated, AC and a c are refpec-
tively the halves of the fpaces which would be uniform¬
ly defcribed during the fame time with the velocities
acquired at C and c, and a’re therefore meafures of thefe
velocities. And as thefe velocities are uniformly acquired
in equal times, they are meafures of the accelerating
forces. Therefore, AC : a crrrF : f. Alfo, from the
nature of uniformly accelerated motion, the fpaces are
proportional to the fquares of the acquired velocities.
Therefore, (ufing the fymbols \/"C, ^/*c, &c. to ex-
prefs the fquares of the velocities at C c, &c.) we
have
: X/*C=AB : AC
-y/1 C : c = AC1 : nc*
-y/* c : >yib—ac\ab
Therefore, by equality of compound ratios
V'* B : AB X AC : a^X«G=ABxF: ab^f
And in like manner y/1 D : ^id y/AD x F : ody^f;
and y/1^—: y/2 b—y/1 r/rzBD X F :bdyf
E. D.
Corollary. If the forces are as the fpaces inverfe-
ly, the augmentations or diminutions of the fquares of
the velocities are equal.
Remark. If DB, db, be taken extremely fmall, the
produfts BD X F and bdy /'may be called the momen¬
tary a&ions of the forces, or the momentary increments
of the fquares of the velocities. It is ufually exprelfed,
by the writers on the higher mechanics, by the fymbol
f s, or f ds, where f means the accelerating force, and
.r or ds means the indefinitely fmall fpace along which it
is uniformly exerted. And the propofition is exprefled
by the fluxionary equation= becaufe vv is half the
increment of v%, as is ivell known.
Lemma II.
Plate ^ a particle of matter, moving with any velocity
ccclxxvii along the line AC, be impelled by an accelerat-
ing or retarding force, a&ing in the fame or
in the oppofite direction, and if the intenfity
of the force in the different points B, F, H, C,
&c. be as the ordinates BD, FG, &c. to the
line DGE, the areas BFGD, BHKD, &c. will be
as the changes made on the fquare of the velo¬
city, at B, when the particle arrives at the points
F, H, &c.
For let BC be divided into innumerable fmall por¬
tions, of which let FH be one, and let the force be fup-
pofed to a£l uniformly, or to be of invariable intenfity
during the motion along FH *, draw GI perpendicular
to HK : It is evident that the redlangle FHIG will
be as the produff of the accelerating force by the fpace
along which it a£ts, and will therefore exprefs the mo¬
mentary increment of the fquare of the velocity. (Lem¬
ma 1.). The fame may be faid of every fuch reflangle.
And if the number of the portions, fuch as FH, be in-
creafed, and their magnitude diminifhed without end,
the reffangles will ultimately occupy the whole curvili-
neal area, and the force will therefore be as the finite
I C vS.
207
changes made on the fquare of the velocity, and the
propofition is demonftrated.
Corollary. The whole change made on the fquare
of the velocity, is equal to the fquare of that velocity
■which the accelerating force would communicate to the
particle by impelling it along BC from a Hate of reft in
B. For the area BCED will ftill exprefs the fquare of
this velocity, and it equally exprelfes the change made
on the fquare of any velocity wherewith the particle
may pafs through the point B, and is independent on the
magnitude of that velocity.
Remark. The figure is adapted to the cafe where
the forces all confpire with the initial motion of the
particle, or all oppofe it, and the area expreffes an aug¬
mentation or a diminution of the fquare of the initial
velocity. But the reafoning would have been the fame,
although, in fome parts of the line BC, the forces had
confpired with the initial motion, and in other parts had
oppofed it. In fuch a cafe, the ordinates which exprefs
the intenfity of the forces muft lie on different fides of
the abfeifla BC, and that part of the area which lies on
one fide muft be confidered as negative with refpeft to
the other, and be fubtrafted from it. Thus, if the for¬
ces be reprefented by the ordinates of the dotted curve
line DH e, which croffes the abfeiffa in H, the figure
will correfpond to the motion of a particle, which, after
moving uniformly along AB, is fubjeded to the a£Hon
of a variable accelerating force during its motion along
BH, and the fquare of its initial velocity is increafed
by the quantity BHD ; after which it is retarded during
its motion along HC, and the fquare of its velocity in
H is diminilhed by a quantity HC e. Therefore the
fquare of the initial velocity is changed by a quantity
BHB—HC f-, or HC e—BHD.
This propofition, which is the 39th of the ift book
of the Principia, is perhaps the molt important in the
whole fcience of mechanics, being the foundation of
every application of mechanical theory to the explana¬
tion of natural phenomena. No traces of it are to be
found in the writings of philofophers before the publi¬
cation of Newton’s Principia, though it is afiumed by
John Bernoulli and other foreign mathematicians, as an
elementary truth, without any acknowledgment of their
obligations to its author. It is ufually expreffed by the
equation f s~vv and ffs=v*, i. e. the fum of the mo¬
mentary actions is equal to the whole or finite increment
of the fquare of the velocity.
Law of
Refraction.
Proposition.
113
When light paffes obliquely into or out of a tranf- The ratio
parent fubftance, it is refracted fo that the fine
of the angle of incidence is to the fine of the t0 the fine
angle of refra&ion in the conftant ratio of theofrefrac-
velocity of the refracted light to that of thetl0n*
incident light.
Let ST, KR, reprefent two planes (parallel to, and Plate
equidiftant from, the refratting furface XY) whichCCfig^.VU
bound the fpace in which the light, during its paffage,
is afted on by the refracting forces.
The intenfity of the refraCting forces being fuppofed
equal at equal diftances from the bounding planes,
though anyhow different at different diftances from
them, may be reprefented by the ordinates T #, n q,p r,
c R, &c. of the curve a b np c, of which the form muft
be
.208 o p T
La.wof 'kg determined from dbfervatkm, and may remain for
, 'cha^‘on; ever unknown. The phenomena of infledted light fhow
v -us that it is attrafted by the refrafting fubftance at fome
•- -diftances, and repelled at others.
Let the light, moving uniformly in the diredtion
AB, enter the refrafting ftratum at B. It will not
" proceed in that diredtion, but its path will be incur-
vated upwards, while adted on by a repulfive force,
and downwards, while impelled by an attractive force.
It will defcribe fome curvilincal path B d a CDE,
which AB touches in B, and will finally emerge from
the refradting ftratum at E, and move uniformly in a
ftraight line EF, which touches the curve in E. If,
through b, the interfedtion of the curve of forces with
its abfciffa, we draw b o, cutting the path of the light
in o, it is evident that this path wrill be concave up¬
wards between B and o, and concave downward* be¬
tween o and E. Alfo, if the initial velocity of the light
has been fufficiently fmall, its path may be fo much
bent upwards, that in fome point d its diredlion may
be parallel to the bounding planes. In this cafe it is
evident, that being under the influence of a repulfive
force, it will be more bent upwards, and it will de¬
fcribe df equal and fimilar to d B, and emerge in an
angle gfs, equal to ABG. In this cafe it is refledted,
making the angle of refledlion equal to that of inci¬
dence. By which it appears how refledtion, refradlion,
and infledlion, are produced by the fame forces and
performed by the fame laws.
But let the velocity be fuppofed fufficiently great to
enable the light to penetrate through the refradling
ftratum, and emerge from it in the diredtion EF; let
AB and EF be fuppofed to be defcribed in equal times :
They will be proportional to the initial and final velo¬
cities of the light. Now, becaufe the refradting for¬
ces ?7iufl adt in a diredtion perpendicular to the refradt¬
ing furface (fince they arife from the joint adtion of
all the particles of a homogeneous fubftance which
are within the fphere of mutual adtion), they cannot af-
fcdt the motion of the light eftimated in the diredtion of
the refradting furface. If, therefore, AG be drawn per¬
pendicular to ST, and FK to KR, the lines GB, EK,
muft be equal, becaufe they are the motions AB, EF,
eftimated in the diredtion of the planes. Draw now EL
parallel to AB. It is alfo equal to it. Therefore, EL,
.EF, are as the initial and final velocities of the light.
But EF is to EL as the fine of the angle ELK to the
fine of the angle EFK 5 that is, as the fine of the angle
ABH to the fine of the angle FEI •, that is, as the fine
of the angle of incidence to the fine of the angle of re¬
fradlion.
By the fame reafoning it will appear that light, mov¬
ing in the diredlion and with the velocity FE, will de¬
fcribe the path EDB, and will emerge in the diredlion
and with the velocity BA.
. Let another ray enter the refradling ftratum perpen¬
dicularly at B, and emerge at Q. Take two points
N, P, in the line B£), extremely near to each other, fo
that the refradling forces may be fuppofed to adl uni¬
formly along the fpace NP : draw NC, PD, parallel to
ST, CM perpendicular to DP, and MO perpendicular
to CD, which may be taken for a ftraight line. Then,
becaufe the forces at C and N are equal, by fuppofition
they may be reprefented by the equal lines CM and NP.
The force NP is wholly employed in accelerating the
I c s.
Part I.
light along NP j but the force CM being tranfverfe to Law of
the motion BD, is but partly fo employed, and may be fttfta&ion.
conceived as arifing from the joint adtion of the forces ’ J
CO, OM, of which CO only is employed in accelerat¬
ing the motion of the light, while OM is employed in
incurvating its path. Now it is evident, from the fimi-
larity of the triangles DCM, MCO, that DC : CMrr
CM: CO, and that DC X CO—CM X CM—NP X NP.
But DC X CO and NP xNP are as the produdts of the
fpaces by the accelerating forces, and exprefs the mo¬
mentary increments of the fquares of the velocities at C
and N. (Lemma 1.). Thefe increments, therefore, are
equal. And as this muft be faid of every portion of the
paths BCE and BNQ, it follows that the whole incre¬
ment of the fquare of the initial velocity produced in
the motion along BCE, is equal to the increment pro¬
duced in the motion along BNO. And, becaufe the
initial velocities were equal in both paths, their fquares
were equal. Therefore the fquares of the final veloci¬
ties are alfo equal in both paths, and the final velocities
themfelves are equal. The initial and final velocities
are therefore in a conftant ratio, whatever are the di-
redtions 5 and the ratio of the fines of the angles of
incidence and refradlion being the ratio of the veloci¬
ties of the refradled and incident light, by the former
cafe of Prop. 1. is alfo conftant.
Remark. The augmentation of the fquare of the
initial velocity is equal to the fquare of the velocity
whieir a particle of light woufd have acquired, if im¬
pelled from a ftate of reft at B along the line BQ.
(Corol. of the Lemma 2.), and is therefore indepen¬
dent on the initial velocity. As this augmentation is
exprefled by the curvilineal area a T b np c R, it depends
both on the intenfity of the refradling forces, exprefled
by the ordinates, and on the fpace through which they
adl, viz. TR. Thefe circumftances arife from the na¬
ture of the tranfparent fubftance, and are charadleriftic
of that fubftance. Therefore, to abbreviate language,
we (hall call this the fpecific velocity.
This fpecific velocity is eafily determined for any
fubftance in which the refradlion is obferved, by draw¬
ing L i perpendicular to EL, meeting in /’the circle
defcribed with the radius EF. For E i being equal to
EF, will reprefent the velocity of the refradled light,
and EL reprefent the velocity of the incident light,
and L/rrEL1-}-L z1, and therefore Lz’l is the aug¬
mentation of the fquare of the initial velocity, and L i
is the fpecific velocity.
It will now be proper to deduce fome corollaries
from thefe propofitions, tending to explain the chief
phenomena of refradtion.
Cor. 1. When light is refradled towards the per pen-
dicular to the refradling furface, it is accelerated 5 and it 0f i*ght°ac.
is retarded when it is refradled from the perpendicular, ederated or
In the firft cafe, therefore, it muft be confidered asretart3e(i by
having been adled on by forces confpiring (in part at re^ra(^'0I!'
leaft) with its motion, and vice verfa. Therefore, be¬
caufe we fee that it is always refradled towards the per¬
pendicular, when paffing from a void into any tranfpa¬
rent fubftance, we mull conclude that it is, on the
whole, attradled by that fubftance. We muft draw
the fame conclufion from obferving, that it is refradled
from the perpendicular in its paflage out of any tranf¬
parent lubftance whatever into a void. It has been at¬
tradled backwards by that fubftance.
This
Theory.
OPTICS.
Law of
Reft idlion
Tins acceleration of liglit in refraction is contrary
to the opinion of tlioie philofophers who maintain,
that illumination is produced by the undulation of an
elaitic medium. Euler attempts to prove, by mecha¬
nical laws, that the velocities of the incident and re-
fiafted bght, are proportional to the fines of incidence
and refraction, while our principles make them in this
ratio inverfely. Bofeovich propofed a fine experiment
for deciding this queition. 1 he aberration of the fixed
flars arifes from the combination of the motion of light
with the motion of the teleicope by which it is obierv-
ed. Therefore this aberration thould be greater or lefs
when obferved by means of a teleicope filled with water,
according as light moves flower or fwifter through wa¬
ter than through air. He was miflaken in the manner
in which the conclufion fhould be drawn from the ob-
fervation made in the form preferibed by hirn : and the
experiment has not yet been made in a convincing man¬
ner } becaufe no fluid has been found of fuffieient tranf
parency to admit of the neceflary magnifying power. It
is an experiment of the greateft importance to optical
fcience.
Cor. 2. If the light be moving within the tranfparent
fubftance, and if its velocity (ertimated in a dire&ion
perpendicular to the furface) do not exceed the fpecific
velocity of that fubftance, it will not emerge from it,
but will be reflefted backwards in an angle equal to
that of its incidente. For it muft be obferved, that in
Plate ike figure of laft propofition, the' excefs of the fquare
ccLxxvn.of EF above the fquare of EL, is the fame with the
% s- excefs of the fquare of KF above the fquare of KL.
Therefore the (quare of the fpecific velocity is equal to
the augmentation or diminution of the fquare of the per¬
pendicular velocity. If therefore the initial perpendi¬
cular^ velocity ^ FK be precifely equal to the fpecific
velocity, the light will juft reach the farther fide of
the attra&ing ftratum, as at B, where its perpendicular
velocity will be completely extinguiftied, and its motion
will be in the dire&ion BT. But it is here under the
influence of forces tending towards the plane KR, and
its motion will therefore be ftill incurvated towards it ;
and it will deferibe a curve BD equal and fimilar to
EB, and finally emerge back from the refraining ftra¬
tum into the tranfparent fubftance in an angle RDA
equal to KEF. S
If ^ the direction of the light be ftill more oblique, fb
that its perpendicular velocity is lefs than the fpecific
velocity, it will not reach the plane ST, but be re-
fl^iRed as foon as it has penetrated fo far that the fpe¬
cific velocity of the part penetrated (eftimated by the
compounding part of the area of forces) is equal to its
perpendicular velocity. Thus the ray/E will deferibe
the path EdD a penetrating to b d, fo that the corre¬
sponding area of forces a bee is equal to the fquare of
jk, its perpendicular velocity.
The extreme brilliancy of dew drops and of jewels
had often excited the attention of philofophers, and it
always appeared a difficulty how light was refle&ed at
all from the pofterior furface of tranfparent bodies. It
afforded Sir Ifaac Newton his ftrongeft argument
agamft the ufual theory of refleftion, viz. that it was
produced by impadl on folid elaftic matter. He was
the firft.who took notice of the total refle&ion in great
obliquities ; and very properly afleed how it can be faid
Vol. XV. Part I.
209
that there is any impa& in this cafe, or that the refled- Law g
ing ini pad ftiould ceafe at a particular obliquity ? RefrarL
It muft be acknowledged that it is a very curious
circumftance, that a body which is pcrfe&ly tranlpa- HSyc ^ a
rent fhould eeafe to be. io at a certain obliquity } that certain 00-
a great obliquity ftiould not hinder light from paffing ’T* [y ve
from avoid into a piece of glafs ; but that the lame
obliquity Ihould prevent it from paffing from the giakirL! parerit
into a void. The fineft experiment for illuftrating the fubltances.
fad is, to take two pieces of mirror-glafs, not lilvered,
and put them together with a piece of paper between
them, forming a narrow margin all round to kvep them
apart. Plunge this apparatus into water. When it is
held nearly parallel to the furface of the water, every
thing at the bottom of the veffel will be feen clearly
through the glaffes j but when they are turned fo as to
be inclined about 50 degrees, they will intercept the
light as much as if they were plates of iron. It will be
proper to foak the paper in varnifti, to prevent water
from getting between the glaffes. IJ6-
What is called the brilliant cut in diamonds, is fuch The bri!~
a difpofition of the pofterior facets of the diamond, li.ant cut iu
that the light is made to fall upon them fo obliquely dla"i0nds
that none of it can go through, but all is refleded. tai reflecl°*
To produce this effed in the greateft poffible degree istion.
a matter of calculation, and merits the attention of the
lapidary. When diamonds are too thin to admit of this
form, they are cut in what is called the rofe faftiion.
This has a plain back, and the facets are all on the
front, and fo difpofed as to refrad the rays into fuffici-
ent obliquities, to be ftrongly refleded from the pofterior
plane. Doublets are made by cutting one thin diamond
rofe faftiion, and another fimilar one is put behind it,
with their plane furfaces joined. Or, more frequentlv,
the outfide diamond has the anterior facets of the bril¬
liant, and the inner has the form of the inner part of a
brilliant. If they be joined with very pure and ftrong*
ly refrading varniffi, little light is refleded from the
feparating plane, and their brilliancy is very confider-
able, though ftill inferior to a true and deep brilliant.
If no varnilh be ufed, much of the light is refleded
from the flat fide, and the efftd of the pofterior facets
is much diminifhed. But doublets might be conftrud-
ed, by making the touching furfaces of a fpherical
form (of which the curvature ftiould have a due pro¬
portion to the fize of the ftone), that would produce
an effed nearly equal to that of the moft perfed
brilliant. t f
Cor. 3. Since the change made on the fquare of the Refraftion
velocity of the incident light is a conftant quantity, it diminiflies
follows, that the refradion will diminifti as the velocity f the ijici:
of the incident light increafes. For if L fin fig. 7. ty mercafe*’
be a conftant quantity, and EL be increafed, it is evi- *
dent that the ratio of E 2, or its equal EF, to EL will
be diminiftied, and the angle LEF, which conftitutes
the refradion, will be diminiftied. The phyfical caufe
of this is eafily feen : When the velocity of the incident
light is increafed, it employs lefs time in paffing through
the refrading ftratum or fpace between the planes ST
and KR, and is therefore lefs influenced by the refrac¬
ting forces. A fimilar effed would follow if the tranf¬
parent body were moving with great velocity, towards’
the luminous body.
Some naturalifts have accounted for the different re*
D d frangibility
210
OPT
Law of frangibility of the differently coloured rays, by fuppo-
Refratftion. gng. t}iat t]ie rt,(i rayS move with the greateft rapidity,
and they have determined the difference of original ve¬
locity which would produce the obfervcd difference of
refradlion. But this difference would be obfeived in
118
The refrac¬
tion of a
fbar greater
in the even¬
ing than in
the morn¬
ing.
Jip
All light
fubjedl to
the fame
laws.
the eciipfes of Jupiter’s fatellites. They fbould be ruddy
at their immerfions, and be fome feconds before they at¬
tain their pure whiteriefs; and they Ihould become bluifh
immediately before they vanifh in emerfions. '1 his is
not obferved. Befides, the difference in refrangibility
is much greater in flint glafs than in crown glals, and
this would require a proportionally greater difference in
the original velocities. 1 he explanation therefore mult
be given up.
It fhould follow, that the refraction of a ftar which
is in our meridian at fix o’clock in the evening Ihould
be greater than that of a Itar which comes on the me¬
ridian at fix in the morning 5 becaufe we are moving
away from the firft, and approaching to the laft. But
the difference is but xo’Vo of the whole, and cannot be
obferved with fufficient accuracy in any way yet prae-
tifed. A form of obfervation lias been propofed by Dr
Blair, profeffor of practical aftronomy in the univerfity
of Edinburgh, which promifes a very fenfible difference
of refraCtion. It is alfo to be expeCted, that a differ¬
ence will be obferved in the refraCtion of the light from
the eaft and weflern ends of Saturn’s^ring. Its diame¬
ter is about 26 times that of the earth, and it revolves
in 1 oh. 32' } fo that the velocity of its edge is about
of the velocity of the fun’s light. If therefore
the light be reflected from it according to the laws of
perfeCl elailicity, or in the manner here explained, that
which comes to us from the weftern extremity will
move more {lowly than that which comes from theeaft-
ern extremity in the proportion of 2500 to 25OT. And
if Saturn can be feen diftinCtly after a refraCtion of 30°
through a prifm, the diameter of the ring will be in-
creafed one half in one pofition of the telefcope, and
will be as much diminithed by turning the telefcope
half round its axis •, and an intermediate pofition will
exhibit the ring of a diftorted fliape. This experiment
is one of the molt interefting to optical fcience, as its
refult will be a levere touch done of the theories which
have been attempted for explaining the phenomena on
mechanical principles.
If the tail of a comet be impelled by the rays of the
fun, as is fuppofed by Euler and others, the light by
which its extreme parts are feen by us muff have its ve¬
locity greatly diminiftied, being refiefted by particles
which are moving away from the fun with immenfe
rapidity. This may perhaps be difeovered by its great¬
er aberration and refrangibility.
As common day light is nothing but the fun’s light
refleded from terreftrial bodies, it is reafonable to ex-
peCt that it will fuffer the fame refraCtion. But no¬
thing but obfervation could affure us that this would
be the cafe with the light of the {tars 5 and it is rather
furprifing that the velocity of their light is the fame
with that of the fun’s light. It is a circumftanc.e of con¬
nexion between the folar fy'ftem and the reft of the uni-
verfe. It was as little to be looked for on the light of
terreftrial luminaries. If light be conceived as fmall
particles of matter emitted from bodies by the aCfion of
accelerating forces of any kind, the vaft diverfity which
we obferve in the conftitution of fublunary bodies fliould
ICS. Parti.
make us expect differences in this particular. Yet it is Law oi
found, that the light of a candle, of a glow worm, &c, Kefraftfon.
fuffers the fame refraCtion, and confiits of the fame co-
lours. This circumftance is adduced as an argument
againft the theory of emiftion. It is thought more
probable that this famenefs of velocity is owing to the
nature of the medium, which determines the frequen¬
cy of its undulations and the velocity of their propa¬
gation.
Cor. 4. When two tranfparent bodies are contiguous, Lawofre-
the light in its paffage out ot the one into the other will fraction
be refraCted towards or from the perpendicular, accord- when light
ing as the refraCting forces of the fecond are greater
or lefs than thofe of the firft, or rather according as the iparent bo-"
area exprefling the fquare of the fpecific velocity isdyintoan-
greater or lefs. And as the difference of thefe areas is other cen-
a determined quantity, the difference between the velo- 10
city in the medium of incidence and the velocity in the11’
medium of refraCtion, will alfo be a determined quantity.
Therefore the fine of the angle of incidence will be in
a conitant ratio to the fine of the angle of refraction j
and this ratio will be compounded of the ratio of the
fine of incidence in the firft medium to the fine of re¬
fraCtion in a void; and the ratio of the fine of incidence
in a void to the fine of refraCtion in the fecond medium.
If therefore a ray of light, moving through a void in
any direction, {hall pals through any number of media
bounded by parallel planes, its direction in the laft me¬
dium will be the fame as if it had come into it from a
void.
Cor 5. It alfo follows from thefe propofitions, that
if the obliquity of incidence on the pofterior furfaee of
a tranfparent body be fuch, that the light fliould be
reflected back again, the placing a mafs of the fame or
of another medium in eontaCl with this furface, will
caufe it to be tranfmitted, and this the more completely,
as the added medium is more denfe or more refraCtive ^
and the reflection from the feparating furface will be
the more vivid in proportion as the pofterior fubftance is
lefs denfe or of a fmaller refraCtive power. It is not
even neceffary that the other body be in contaCt; it is
enough if it be fo near, that thofe parts of the refraCting
ftrata which are beyond the bodies interfere with or co¬
incide with each other.
All thefe confequences are agreeable to experience.
The brilliant reflection from a dew-drop ceafes when
it touches the leaf on which it refts ; The brilliancy of
a diamond is greatly damaged by moifture getting be¬
hind it : The opacity of the combined mirror plates,,
mentioned in Cor. 2. is removed by letting water get
between them f A piece of glafs is diftinCtly or clearly
feen in air, more faintly when immerfed in water, {till
more faintly amidft oil of olives, and it is hardly per¬
ceived in fpirits of turpentine. Thefe phenomena are
incompatible with the notion that reflection is occafioned
by impaCt on folid matter, whether of the tranfparent
body, or of any ether Or other fancied fluid behind it;
and their perfeCt coincidence with the legitimate confe¬
quences of the affumed principles, is a ftrong argument
in favour of the truth of thofe principles.
It is worth while to mention here a faCt taken notice 0bjef-
of by Mr Beguelin, and propofed as a great difficulty in tionto the
the Newtonian theory 01 refraCtion. In order to get ^cwton|.aI1
the greateft p.offible refraCtion, and the fimpleft meafure
of the refraCting power at the anterior furface of any
tran{parent.
Theory. . ' OPT
Law of tranfparent fubflance, Sir Ifaac Newton enjoins us to
Rciradhon employ a ray of light falling on the flit face quam obli-
quiffimt. But Mr Beguelin found, that when the obli¬
quity of incidence in glafs was about 89° ^o', no light
was refra&ed, but that it was wholly rededed. He al-
fo observed, that when he gradually increafed the obli¬
quity of incidence on the polferior furface of the glafs,
the light which emerged laid of all did not fltmi a-
long the furface, making an angle of 9c0 with the per¬
pendicular, as it fliould do by the Newtonian theory,
but made an angle of more than ten minutes with the
pofterior furface. Alfo, when he began with very great
obliquities, fo that all the light was refle&ed back into
the glafs, and gradually diminiihed the obliquity of in¬
cidence, the firrt ray of light which emerged did not
fkim along the furface, but was raifed about 10 or 15
minutes.
Ill
Shown to But all thefe phenomena are neceffary confequences of
be the ne- our principles, combined with what obfervation teaches
I ceflary ion- us concerning the forces which bodies exert on the rays
oftlhtCe *s evident, from the experiments of Gri-
1 theory, and maldi and Newton, that light is both at traded and re-
of courfe a pelled by folid bodies. Newton’s fagacious analyfis of
con firm a- thefe experiments difeovered feveral alternations of ac¬
tion ot it. tuaj infection an(] defleftion 5 and he gives us the pre-
cife diftance from the body when feme of thefe attrac¬
tions end and repulfion commences 5 and the moll re¬
mote a&ion to be obferved in his experiments is repul-
fion. Let us fuppofe this to be the cafe, although it be
Plate n0t abfoIutely nectary- Let us fuppofe that the forces
cccLxxvii are represented by the ordinates of a curve a b npc
fig, 7. which croffes the abfcilfa in b. Draw b 0 parallel to
the refrading furface. When the obliquity of incidence
of the ray AB has become fo great, that its path in the
glafs, or in the refra&ing ilratum, does not cut, but on¬
ly touches the line 0 b, it can penetrate no further, but
is totally refleded ; and this muft happen in all greater
obliquities. On the other hand, when the ray LE,
moving within the glafs, has but a very fmall perpendi¬
cular velocity, it will penetrate the refrading ftrafum
no further than till this perpendicular velocity is extin-
guifhed, and its path becomes parallel to the furface,
and it will be refleded back. As the perpendicular ve¬
locity increafes by diminilhing the obliquity of incidence,
it will penetrate farther ; and the laft refiedion will
happen when it penetrates fo far that its path touches
the line 0 b. Now diminilh the obliquity by a frngle
fecond ; the light will get over the line 0 b, will de~
. feribe an arch 0 r/ B concave upwards, and will emerge
in a diredion BA, which does not Hum the furface, but
is fenfibly raifed above it. And thus the fads obferved
by M. Beguelin, inflead of being an objedion againft
this theory, afford an argument in its favour.
Euler’s Cor. 6. Thofe philof >phers who maintain the theory
lieory of of undulation, are under the neceflity of conneding the
*on difperfive powers of bodies with their mean refradive
^rary to poWerS iru]er has attempted to deduce a neceffary
difference in the velocity of the rays of different colours
from the different frequency of the undulations, which
he affigns as the caufe of their different colorific powers.
His reafoning on this fubjed is of the molt delicate na¬
ture, and unintelligible to fuch as are not completely
mailer of the infinitefimal calculus of partial differences,
and is unfatisladory to fuch as are able to go through
its intricacies. It is contradided by fad. He fays,
ICS. 2II
that mufical iounds which differ greatly in acutenefs are law of
propagated through the air with different velocities : but Refradhon,
one or the fmalieft bells in the chimes of St Giles’s v~“”—
church in Edinburgh was ftruck againft the rim or the
very deep-toned bell on which the hours are llruck.
When tire found was lifu ned to by a nice obierver at
the diftance of more than two miles, no interval what¬
ever could be obferved. A fimilar experiment was ex¬
hibited to M. Euler himfclf, by means of a curious in-
ftrument ufed at St Peterftmrg, and which may be
heard at three or four miles diftance. But the experi¬
ment with the bells is unexceptionable, as the two founds
were produced in the very fame inftant. This connec¬
tion between the refrangibiiity in general and the velo¬
city muft be admitted, in its full extent, in every at¬
tempt to explain refradion by undulation ; and Euler
was forced by it to adopt a certain confequence which
made a neceffary connedion between the mean refrac¬
tion and the dilperfion of heterogeneous rays. Confident
of his analyfis, he gave a deaf ear to all that was told
him of Mr Dollond’s improvements on telefcopes, and
afferted, that they could not be fuch as were related j
for an increafe of mean refradion muff always be ac¬
companied with a determined increafe of difperfion.
Newton had faid the fame thing, being milled by a li¬
mited view of his own principles \ but the difperfion af-
figned by him was different from that afligned by Eu¬
ler. I he difpute betw’een Euler and Dollond was con¬
fined to the decifion of this queftion only ; and when
fome glafies made by a German chemift at Peteifburg
convinced Euler that his determination was erroneous,
he did not give up the principle which had forced him
to this determination of the difperfion, but immediately
introduced a new theory of the achromatic telefcopes of
Dollond ; a theory which took the artifts out of the
track marked out by mathematicians, and in which
they had made confiderable advances, and led them in¬
to another path, propofing maxims of conftrudlion hi¬
therto untried, and inconfiftent with real improvements
which they had already made. The leading principle in and mil-
this theory is to arrange the different ultimate images o£leacls
a point which arife either from the errors of a fpherieal
figure or different refrangibiiity, in a ftraight line paf-
fing through the centre of the eye. The theory itfelf
is fpecious ; and it requires great mathematical {kill to
accomplifh this point, and hardly lefs to decide on the
propriety of the conftru£Hon which it recommends. It
is therefore but little known. But that it is a falfe
theory, is evident from one fimple confideration. In
the moft indiftinft vifion arifing from the worft con-
ftrutftion, this redfilineal arrangement of the images ob¬
tains completely in that pencil which is fituated'in the
axis, and yet the vifion is indiftimft. But, w hat is to
our prefent purpofe, this new theory is purely mathema¬
tical, fulling any obferved difperfive power, and has no
connedion with the phyfical theory of undulations, or
indeed with any mechanical principles whatever. But,
by admitting any difperfive power, whatever may be
the mean refradion, all the phyfical dodrines in his
Nova Theoria Lucis et Colorum are overlooked, and
therefore never once mentioned, although the effeds of
M. Zeiher’s glafs are taken notice of as inconfiftent with
that mechanical propofition of Newton’s which occa-
fioned the whole difpute between Euler and Dollond.
They are indeed inconfiftent with the univerfality of
D d 2 that
212
OPT
Law of that proportion. "Newton advances it in his Optics
Rein,(ftion. mereiy as a mathematical propofition highly probable,
but fays that it will be corredled if he [hallfind it falfe.
The ground on which he fieems (for he does not ex-
prefsly fay fo) to reft its probability, is a limited view
of his own principle, the aftion of bodies on light. He
(not knowing any caufe to the contrary) fuppofed that
the adlion of all bodies was fimilar on the different kinds
of light, that is, that the fpecific velocities of the dif¬
ferently coloured rays had a determined proportion to
each other. This was gratuitous; and it might have
been doubted by him who had obferved the analogy be¬
tween the chemical aftions of bodies by eledlive attrac¬
tions and repulfions, and the fimilar actions on light.
Not only have different menftrua unequal aflions on
their folids, but the order of their affinities is alfo dif¬
ferent. In like manner, we might expect not only that
fome bodies would attraft light in general more than
others, but alfo might differ in the proportion of their
aftions on the different kinds of light, and this fo much,
that fome might even attraft the red more than the vio¬
let. The late difeoveries in chemiftry ffiow us fome
very diftintl proofs, that light is not exempted from the
laws of chemical aftion, and that it is fufceptible of
chemical combination. The changes produced by the
fun’s light on vegetable colours, (how the neceffity of
illumination to produce the green fecula; and the aro¬
matic oils of plants, the irritability of their leaves by
the adlion of light, the curious effedls of it on the mi¬
neral acids, on manganefe, and the calces of bifmuth
and lead, and the imbibition and fubfequent emiffion of
it by phofphorefcent bodies, are ftrong proofs of its che¬
mical affinities, and are quite inexplicable on the theory
of undulations.
All thefe confiderations taken together, had they
been known to Sir Ifaac Newton, would have made
him expedt differences quite anomalous in the difperfive
powers of different tranfparent bodies •, at the fame time
that they would have afforded to his fagacious mind the
ftrongeft arguments for the actual emiffion of light from
the luminous body.
Having in this manner eftabliflied the obferved law
of refradtion on mechanical principles, fhoAving it to be
a neceffary confequence of the known adtion of bodies
on light, we proceed to trace its mathematical confe-
quences through the various cafes in which it may be
exhibited to our obfervation. Thefe conftitute that part
of the mathematical branch of optical fcience which is
called dioptrics.
The varia- We are quite unacquainted with the law of adtion of
tion of the bodies on light, that is, with the variation of the inten-
auradRonf ^ t^ie attra<^ons an^ repulfions exerted at different
ancTrepul- diftances. All that we can fay is, that from the expe-
fions un- riments and obfervations of Grimaldi, Newton, and
known. others, light is defledted towards a body, or is attradled
by it, at fome diftances, and repelled at others, and
this with a variable intenfity. The adlion may be ex¬
tremely different, both in extent and force, in different
bodies, and change by a very different law with the
fame change of diftance. But, amidft all this variety,
there is a certain fimilarity arifing from the joint adlion
of many particles, which ffiould be noticed, becaufe it
tends both to explain the fimilarity obferved in the re-
i
I c s.
Part I.
fradlions of light, and alfo its connexion with the phe- Law of
nomena of refledlion. I'o.n a6hUm
The law of variation in the joint adlion of many par- I20
tides adjoining to the furface of a refradting medium, is The law of
extremely different from that of a fingle particle j but variation in
when this laft is known, the other may be found out. ^ a<fflon
We (hall illuftrate this matter by a very Ample cafe.°a™“J8
Let DE be the furface of a medium, and let us fuppofe (iifferent
that the adlion of a particle of the medium on a particle from that
of light extends to the diftance EA, and that it is pro-done,
portional to the ordinates ED, F/, G^, H/q &c. °f
the line A h C^/D 5 that is, that the adfion of the fig
particle E of the medium on a particle of light in F, is
to its adlion on a particle in H as Fy' to H //, and that
it is attradled at F but repelled at H, as expreffed by
the fituation of the ordinates with refpedl to the abfeiffa.
In the line AE produced to B, make EB, E E *,
Ey, E <p, &c. refpedlively equal to EA, EH, EC,
EG, EF, &c.
It is evident that a particle of the medium at B will
exert no adlion on the particle of light in E, and that
the particles of the medium in x y <p E, will exert on it
adtions proportional to H/$, G^, Yfi ED. There¬
fore, fuppofing the matter of the medium continuous,
the whole adlion exerted by the row of particles EB
will be reprefented by the area A h CDE j and the ac¬
tion of the particles between B and <p will be reprefent¬
ed by the area A // C/F, and that of the particles be¬
tween E and ^ by the area FyDE.
Now let the particle of light be in F, and take F 0
—AE. It is no lefs evident that the particle of light
in F will be adled on by the particles in E 0 alone, and
that it will be adled on in the fame manner as a particle
in E is adled on by the particles in p B. Therefore
the adlion of the whole row of particles EB on a parti¬
cle in F will be reprefented by the area A// C/F.
And thus the adlion on a particle of light in any point
of AE will be reprefented by the area which lies be¬
yond it.
But let us fuppofe the particles of light to be within
the medium, as at <p, and make d—KY. It is again
evident that it is adled on by the particles of the me¬
dium between <p and d with a force reprefented by the
area A/zCDE, and in the oppofite diredlion by the
particles in E (p with a force reprefented by the area
F,/DE. This balances an equal quantity of adlion,
and there remains an adlion expreffed by the area
A /; C fY. Therefore, if an equal and fimilar line to
h.h CDE be deferibed on the abfeiffa EB, the adlion
of the medium on a particle of light in <p will be re¬
prefented by the area (pfiehYt, lying beyond it.
If we now draw a line AKLMRNPB, whofe ordi¬
nates CK, FQ, <p R, &c. are as the areas of the other
curve, eftimated from A and B j thefe ordinates will
reprefent the whole forces which are exerted by the par¬
ticles in EB, on a particle of light moving from A to
B. This curve will cut the axis in points L, N fuch,
that the ordinates drawn through them intercept areas
of the firft curve, which are equal on each fide of the
axis $ and in thefe points the particle of light fuftains no
adlion from the medium. Thefe points are very differ¬
ent from the fimilar points of the curve exprefling the
adlion of a fingle particle. Thefe laft are in the very
places where the light fuftains the greateft repulfive ac¬
tion
Theory.
O P T J C S.
213
Refmdtion tion of the 'whole row of particles. In the fame man-
by Plane ner may a curve pg conflrucled, Avhofe ordinates exprefs
, Surfaces, j.^e unjtecj a^ion Gf whole medium.
From thefe obfervations we learn in general, that a
particle of light within the fpace of action is a£led on
with equal forces, and in the fame direction, when at
equal diftances on each fide of the furface of the me¬
dium.
SECT. II. Of the focal dljlance of rays refra&ed by paf-
fing out of one medium into another of diff erent denfity
and through a plane furface.
Lemma.
The indefinitely fmall variation of the angle of in¬
cidence is to the fimultaneous variation of the
angle of refra£tion as the tangent of incidence
is to the tangent of refraction ; or, the cotem-
poraneous variations of the angles of incidence
and refraCtion are proportional to the tangents
of thefe angles.
Plate Let RVF, r'Vf (fig. 10.) be the progrefs of the
ccclxxvii rays refraCted at V (the angle r VR being confidered in
fig- I0, its nafcent or evanefeent Rate), and VC perpendicular
LawVof re *° refi'a(^ng furface VA. From C draw CD, CB
fradtian in perpendicular to the incident and refraCted rays RV,
plane fur- VF, cutting r V, Vy" in $ and /3, and let C (/, C £ be
faces. perpendicular to r V,
Becaufe the fines of incidence and refraCtion are in
a conftant ratio, their fimultaneous variations are in
the fame conftant ratio. Now the angle RV r is to the
, T,Try.. , . .B/S p BC
angle FVj in the ratio oi to 5 that is, ot
DC . . fin. incid. fin. refr.
to ; that is, of —tt-.—.— to —^—T- ; that is, ot
DV col. mcid. col. refr.
tan. incid. to tan. refr.
Corollary. The difference of thefe variations is to
the greateft or leaft of them as the difference of the tan¬
gents to the greateft or leaft tangent.
Problem.
Plate
ccclxxviii.
fig5- 1. 2, 3,
f
Let two rays RV, RP diverge from, or converge
to, a point R, and pafs through the plane fur¬
face PV, feparating two refraCting mediums
AB, of which let B be the moft refraCUng, and
let RV be perpendicular to the furface. It is
required to determine the point of difperfion
or convergence, F, of the refra&ed rays VD,
PE.
Make VR to VG as the fine of refraCHon to the fine
of incidence, and draw GIK parallel to the furface,
cutting the incident ray in I. About the centre P,
with the radius PI, defcribe an arch of a circle IF, cut¬
ting VR in F; draw PE tending- from or towards F. Uefraftion
We fay PE is the refradted ray. and F the point of dif- ^ paue
perfion or convergence of the rays RV, RP, or the con- ■
jugate focus to R.
For fince GI and PV are parallel, and PF equal to
PI, we have PF : PRrrPI : PR,=VG : VR,=fin.
incid. : fin. refr. But PF : PRzrfin. PRV : fin. PFV,
and RRV is equal to the angle of incidence at P j
therefore PFV is the correfponding angle of refradlion,
FPE is the refradted ray, and F the conjugate focus
to R.
Cor. 1. If diverging or converging rays fall on the
furface of a more refradting medium, they will diverge
or converge lefs after refradfion, F being farther from
the furface than R. The contrary muft happen when
the diverging or converging rays fall on the furface of
a lefs refradling medium, becaufe, in this cafe, F is
nearer to the furface than R.
Cor. 2. Let Rjs be another ray, more oblique than
RP, the refradfing point p being farther from V, and
let f pe be the refradfed ray, determined by the fame
conftrudlion. Becaufe the arches FI, fi, are perpendi¬
cular to their radii, it is evident that they will converge
to fome point within the angle RIK, and therefore will
not crofs each other between F and I j therefore Rf
will be greater than RF, as RF is greater than RG,
for fimilar reafons. Hence it follows, that all the rays
which tended from or towards R, and were incident on
the whole of VPyi, will not diverge from or converge
to F, but will be diffufed over the line GFf This
diffufion is called aberration from the focus, and is fo
much greater as the rays are more oblique. No rays flow¬
ing from or towards R will have the point of concourfe
Avith RV nearer to R than F is : But if the obliquity be
inconfiderable, fo that the ratio of RP to FP does not
differ fenfibly from that of RV, to FV, the point of con¬
courfe Avill not be fenfibly removed from G. G is there- -
fore ufually called the conjugate focus to R. It is the
conjugate focus of an indefinitely flender pencil of rays
falling perpendicularly on the furface. The conjugate
focus of an oblique pencil, or even of two oblique rays,
whofe difperfion on the furface is confiderable, is of
more difficult inveftigation. See Gravefande''s Natural
Philofophy for a very neat and elementary determina¬
tion (b).
In a work of this kind,, it is enough to have pointed
out, in an eafy and familiar manner, the nature of op¬
tical aberration. But as this is the chief caufe of the
imperfedtion of optical inftruments, and as the only me¬
thod of removing this imperfedlion is to diminiffi this
aberration, or corredl it by a fubfequent aberration in
the oppofite diredtion, we fiiall here give a fundamental
and very fimple propofition, which will (with obvious
alterations) apply to all important cafes. This is the
determination of the focus of an infinitely flender pencil
of oblique rays RP, R p.
“ Retaining the former conftrudlion for the ray PF,
(%• !•)
(b) We refer to Gravefande, becaufe we confider it of importance to make fuch a work as ours ferve as a ge¬
neral index to fcience and literature. At the fame time we take the liberty to obferve, that the focus in queftion
is virtually determined by the conftruftion Avhich we have given : for the points P, F of the line PF are deter¬
mined, and therefore its pofition is alfo determined. The fame is true of the pofition of p f and therefore the in*
terfedlion of the ttve lines is likewife determined.
214 OPT
Refraction (fag. x.') fuppofe the other ray ft infinitely near to RP.
by Splieri- Dra
w PS perpendicular to PV, and Rr perpendicular
Cface^r to RP, and make P r : PS~ VR : VF. On P r deferibe
T v— i the femicircle r RP, and on PS the. lemicircle S P,
cuttiilg the refradled ray PF in <p ; draw p r, p S, p <p.”
It follows from the lemma, that if (p be the focus of re¬
fracted rays, the variation P <p p of the angle of refrac¬
tion is to the correfponding variation PRp of the angle
of incidence as the tangent of the angle of refrac¬
tion VFP to the tangent of the angle of incidence
VRP. Now P p may be confidered as coinciding with
the arch of the femieircles. Therefore the angles PR p,
Y r p are equal, as alfo the angles P <p p, PS p. But
PS is to P t'p as P r to PS ; that is, as VR to VF *,
that is, as the cotangent of the angle of incidence to
the cotangent of the angle of refraCtion ; that is, as
the tangent of the angle of refraCHon to the tangent of
the angle of incidence. Therefore the point <p is the focus.
Sect. III. Of RefraElion by Spherical Surfaces.
Problem.
To find the focus of refra&ed rays, the focus of
incident rays being given.
Let PV w (figs. 5, 6, 7. 8, 9, 10, 1 r, 12, 13, 14,) be
a fpherxeal furface whofe centre is C, and let the incident
light diverge from or converge to R. Draw the ray RC
through the centre, cutting the furface in the point V,
which we (hall denominate the vertex, while RC is call¬
ed the axis. This ray paffes on without refraftion, be-
caufe it coincides with the perpendicular to the furface.
Let RP be another incident ray, which is refra£!ed at P ;
%draw the radius PC. In RP make RE to RP as the fine
of incidence wz to the fine of refradHon n; and about
the centre R, with the diftance RE, deferibe the circle
■ EK, cutting PC in K •, draw RK and RF parallel to
it, cutting the axis in F. PF is the refrafted ray, and
F is the focus.
For the triangles PCF, KCR are fimilar, and the
angles at P and K are equal. Alfo RK is equal to
RE, and RPD is the angle of incidence. Now
m : >?—RK : RP, =fin. DPR : fin. RKP, =rfin. DPR :
fin. CPF. Therefore CPF is the angle of refradlion
corre,ponding to the angle of incidence RPD, and PF
is the refradted ray, and F the focus. £L E. D.
Cor. 1. CK : CP=CR : CF, and CFr CPxC:R
Plate
ecclxxviii.
%s- 5. 6>
&.C.
1-8
The focus
of ray_ re
fracted by
fpherical
furlaces
afeertained
Now CP X CR is a confiant quantity ; and therefore CF
is reciprocally as CK, which evidently varies with a va¬
riation of the arch VP. Hence it follows, that all the
rays flowing from R are not colledled at the conjugate
focus F. The ultimate fituation of the point F, as the
point P gradually approaches to, and at laft coincides
with, V, is called the conjugate focus of central rays, and
the diflance between this focus and the focus of a lateral
ray is called the aberration of that ray, arifing from the
fpherieal figure.
There are, however, two fituations of the point R
fuch, that all the rays which flow from it are made to
diverge from one point. One of thofe is C (fig. 5.), be-
caufe they all pafs through without refradiion, and there¬
fore dill diverge from C ; the other is when rays in
the rare medium with a convex furface flow from a
point R, fo fituated beyond the centre that CV is to
T C S. Pprt X.
CR as the fine of incidence in the rare medium is to Pet on
the fine of refradtion in the denier, or when rays in ''v ' ^i.
the rare medium fall on the convex lurface of tht den-
fer, converging to F, fo fituated that CF : CV — . ~ ^" j
m : n. In this cafe they will all be difperft d trom F, fo
fituated that CV : CF—« : m, — CR : CV for fire RPC :
line PKC—« : m, — CR : CP, rriine RPC : fine PRC.
Therefore the angle PRC is equal to PKC, or to FPC
(by eonftrudtion of the problem), and the an^le C is
common to the triangles PRC, FPC j they are therefor®
fimdar and die angles PRC, FPC are equal, and n :
CP: CF, = CK: CR,rrCR: CP j therefore CP: CK-
CP1 : CR*: but CP and CR are confiant quantities,
and therefore CK is a conftant quantity, and (by the
corollary) CF is a conftant quantity, and. ail the rays
flowing from R are difperfed from F by refradlion. In
like manner rays converging to F will by refradlion con¬
verge to R. This was firft obferved by Huygens.
Cor. 2. If the incident ray R’P is parallel to the axis Fig. 5.
RC, we have PO to CO as the fine of incidence to the
fine of refradlion. For the triangles R’PK’PCO are fi¬
milar, and PO : COrrR’K’ : R’P, —m : n.
Cor. 3. In this cafe, too, we have the focal diftance
of central parallel rays reckoned from the vertex —
~—X VC. For fince PO is ultimately VO, we have
m—n J
m : zzmVO : CO, and m—n : m—\0—CO : VO, —
tn
VC : VO, and YOzz x VC. This is called the.
m—n
principal focal diftance, or focal diftance of parallel rays.
Alfo CO, the principal focal diliance reckoned from the
centre,
xVC.
m—n
N. B. When m is lefs than n, m—n is a negative
quantity.—Alfo obferve, that in applying fymbols to
this computation of the focal diftances, thofe lines are
to be acceunted pofitive which lie from their begin¬
nings, that is, from the vertex, or the centre, or the
radiant point, in the diredlion of the incident rays.
Thus when rays diverge from R on the convex fur¬
face of a medium, VR is accounted negative and VC
pofitive. If the light pafies out of air into glafs, m
is greater than n ; but if it paffes out of glafs into air,
m is lefs than n. If, therefore, parallel rays fall on
the convex furface of glafs out of air, in which cafe
m : «—3 : 2 very nearly, we have for the principal focal
CK * diftance—— VC, or -f-3 VC. But if it pa& out of glafs
into the convex furface of air, we have VO:
-VC,
or —2 VC ; that is, the focus O will be in the fame
fide of the furface with the incident light. In like
manner, we (hall have for thefe two cafes CO—4-2VC
and —3 VC.
Cor.4. Byconflrudlion we haveRK : RP—wz: n
by fimilarity of triangles PF : RKrrCF : CR
therefore PF: PR=rwCF:«CR
and m PR X CFrrzz CR X PF
therefore m PR : n CRrzPF : CF
and m PR—/zCR : /zzPR—PF—CF: PF
ultimately m VR—«CR : m VR=VC : VF
This is a very general optical theorem, arAaffords an
eafy method for computing the focal diftance of refraft*
ed ravs.
For
Theory. OPT
Retraction For this purpofe let VR, the diftance of the radiant
by IsiiT" be exPreffed the fymbol r, the diftance of the
Cfaces." focus of refrafted rays by the fymbol /, and the radius
i t ■ of the fpherical furface by a ; we have
m r-—« r—a : m r—a : f and
mar mar
-nrJ^n d
In its application due attention muft be paid to the
qualities of r and a, whether they be pofitive or nega¬
tive, according to the conditions of laft corollary.
Plate Cor. 5. If be the focus of parallel rays coming
ccclxxviii. from the oppofite fide, we (hall have RQ : £)C—RV :
fig. S. VF. For draw C q parallel to PF, cutting RP in q ;
then Vi. q \ q CrrRP : PF. Now q is the focus of the
parallel rays EP, C y. And when the point P ultimate¬
ly coincides with the point V, q mult coincide with Q,
and we have RQ^: Q^CrrRV : VF.
This is the molt general optical theorem, and is
equally applicable to lenfes, or even to a combination
of them, as to fimple furfaces. It is alio applicable to
refleiStions, with this difference, that is to be affumed
the focus of parallel rays coming the fame way with the
incident rays. It affords us the molt compendious me¬
thods of computing fymbolically and arithmetically the
focal diltances in all cafes.
Cor. 6. We have alfo Ry : RPrrRV : RF, and ulti¬
mately for central rays R£) : RVr=RV : RF, and RF=
RV*
This propofition is true in lenfes and mirrors, but
not in fingle refracting furfaces.
Cor. 7. AlfoRy: RC—RP : RF, and ultimately R£) :
RV=RC : RF, and RFzrRVD*RC. N. B. Thefe four
. . .
points £), V, C, F, either lie all one way from P, or two
of them forward and two backward.
Cor. 8. Alio making O the principal focus of rays
coming the fame way, we have R y : y C=rC 0 : oF, and
ultimately RQ, : O : OF, and OF=^^-~9>
and therefore reciprocally proportional to R£), becaufe
&cx™ is a conltant quantity.
Thefe corollaries or theorems give us a variety of
Uaethods for finding the focus of refraCted rays, or the
other points related to them ; and each formula contains
four points, of which any three being given, the fourth
' may be found. Perhaps the laft is the molt fimple, as
the quantity oc-f-c Q is always negative, becaufe 0 and
Q are on different lides.
Cor. 9. From this conltruCtion we may alfo derive a
Very eafy and expeditious method of drawing many re-
fraCted rays. Draw through the centre C (fig. 15. 16.)
a line to the point of incidence P, and a line CA pa¬
rallel to the incident ray RP. Take VO to VC as
the fine of incidence to the fine of refraCtion, and
about A, with the radius VO, deferibe an arch of a
circle cutting PC produced in B. Join AB : and PF
parallel to AB is the refrafted ray. When the in¬
cident light is parallel to RC, the point A coincides
with V, and a circle deferibed round V with the di-
ftance VO will cut the lines PC, p C, Stc. in the points
BZ». The demonftration is evident.
Having thus determined the focal diftanee of re-
fra&ed rays, it will be proper to point out a little
3
ICS. 215
more particularly its relation to its conjugate focus of Refmtftion
incident rays. We fhall confider the four cafes of light -pheri-
incident on the convex or concave furface of a denier Cf1 Sur'
or a rarer medium, «
1. Let light moving in air fall on the convex Fig. 5. to
furface of glafs. Let us fuppofe it tending to a point %•
beyond the glafs infinitely diftant. It tvill be collect¬
ed to its principal focus 0 beyond the vertex V. Now
let the incident light converge a little, fo that R is
at a great dillance beyond the furface. The focus
of refra&ed rays F will be a litJe within O or nearer
to V. As the incident rays are made to converge
more and more, the point R comes nearer to V, and
the point F alfo approaches it, but with a much flower
motion, being always fituated between O and C
till it is overtaken by R at the centre C, when
the incident light is perpendicular to the furface
in every point, and therefore fuffers no refradlion.
As R has overtaken F at C, it now paffes it, and is
again overtaken by it at V. Now the point R is on
the fide from which the light comes, that is, the rays
diverge from R. After refraclion they will diverge
from I a little without R j and as R recedes farther
from V, F recedes ftill farther, and with an accelerated
motion, till, when R comes to £), F has gone to an
infinite diftance, or the refrafted rays are parallel.
When R ftill recedes, F now appears on the other
fide, or beyond V ; and as R recedes back to an in¬
finite diftanee, F has come to O : and this completes
the feries of variations, the motion of F during the
whole changes of fituation being in the fame direction
with the motion of R.
2. Let the light moving in air fall on the concave
furface of glafs 5 and let us begin with parallel inci¬
dent rays, conceiving, as before, R to lie beyond the
glafs at an infinite diftance. The refradled rays will
move as if they came from the principal focus O, lying
on that fide of the glafs from which the light comes,,
As the incident rays are made gradually more conver¬
ging, and the point of convergence R comes toward
the glafs, the conjugate focus F moves backward
from O $ the refra£led rays growing lefs and lefs di¬
verging, till the point R comes to ^), the principal
focus on the other fide. The refrafted rays growing
parallel, or F has retreated to an infinite diftance. The
incident light converging ftill more, or R coming
between £) and V, F will appear on the other fide, or
beyond the furface, or within the glafs, and will ap¬
proach it with a retarded motion, and finally overtake
R at the furface of the glafs. Let R continue its mo¬
tion backwards (for it has all the while been moving
backwards, or in a direftion contrary to that of the
light) ; that is, let R now be a radiant point, moving
backwards from the furface of the glafs. F will at
firft be without it. but will be overtaken by it at the
centre C, when the rays will fuffer no refra£Hon. R
ftill receding will get without F 5 and while R recedes
to an infinite diftance, F will recede to O, and the feries
will be completed.
3. Let the light moving in glafs fall on the convex
furface of air ; that is, let it come out of the concave
furface of glals, and let the incident rays be parallel,
or tending to R, infinitely diftant: they will be dif-
perfed by refra&ion from '•he prinoipal focus O with¬
in the glafs. As they are made more converging, R
cornea-
2t6
OPT
On Lenfip*.
comes nearer, and F retreats backward, till R comes to
£), the principal focus without the glafs $ when F is
now at an infinite diftance within the glafs, and the re¬
fracted rays are parallel. R Rill coming nearer, F now
appears before the glafs, overtakes R at the centre C,
and is again overtaken by it at N. R now becoming a
radiant point within the glafs, F follows it backwards,
and arrives at O, when R has receded to an infinite
diftance, and the feries is completed.
4. Let the incident light, moving in glafs, fall on the
concave furface of air, or come out of the convex furface
of glafs. Let it tend to a point R at an infinite diftance
without the glafs. The refraCled rays will converge to
O, the principal focus without the glafs. As the inci¬
dent light is made more converging, R comes towards
the glafs, while F, fetting out from v, alfo approaches
the glafs, and R overtakes it at the furface V. R now
becomes a radiant point within the glafs, receding back¬
wards from the furface. F recedes flower at firft, but
overtakes R at the centre C, and paffes it with an ac¬
celerated motion to an infinite diftance 5 while R re¬
treats to £), the principal focus within the glafs. R ftill
retreating, F appears before the glafs ; and while R re¬
treats to an infinite diftance, F comes to V, and the fe¬
ries is completed.
Sect. IV. On Len/es*
I29
Xenfes, Lenfes for optical purpofes may be ground into nine
how many, different fhapes. Lenfes cut into five of thofe ftiapes,
together with their axes, are deferibed in vol. vi. page
Plate 33* (See Dioptics). The other four are,
ccclxxix. !• A plane gla/sy which is flat on both hides, and of
igs. i. 2. equal thicknefs in all its parts, as EF, fig. 1.
2. A J?ctt plano-convex, whofe convex fide is ground
into feveral little flat furfaces as A, fig. 2.
3. A prifm, which has three flat fides, and wrhen
viewed end wife appears like an equilateral triangle, as B.
4. A concavo-convex glafs, or tnenifeus, as C, which
Ylg r is feldom made ufe of in optical inftruments.
A ray of light Gh falling perpendicularly on a plane
glafs EF, will pafs through the glafs in the fame direc¬
tion hi, and go out of it into the air in the fame
ftraight line iH.
A ray of light AB falling obliquely on a plane
glafs, will go out of the glafs in the fame direction,
but not in the fame ftraight line: for in touching the
glafs, it will be refracted in the line BC ; and in leav¬
ing the glafs, it will be refracted in the Une CD.
Lemma.
Fig. 3. to 6. There is a certain point E within every double
convex or double concave lens, through which
every ray that pafies will have its incident and
emergent parts QA, a q parallel to each other :
but in a plano-convex or plano-concave lens, that
point E is removed to the vertex of the concave
or convex furface; and in a menifeus, and in
that other concavo-convex lens, it is removed a
little way out of them, and lies next to the fur¬
face which has the greateft curvature.
For let REr be the axis of the lens joining the cen¬
tres B, r of its furfaces A, a. Draw any two of their
ICS. Part ].
femidiameters R A, ra parallel to each other, and join Lenfe.
the point, A, a, and the line A a will cut the axis in ”
the point E above dtferihed. For the triangles REA,
rEr being equiangular, RE will be to Er in the given
ratio of the femidiameters RA, ra; and confequently
the point E is invariable in the fame lens. Now lup-
poiing a ray to pafs both ways along the line A a, it
being equally inclined to the perpendiculars to the
lurtaces, will be equally bent, and contrariwife in go¬
ing out of the lens 5 fo that its emergent part AQ^
aq will be parallel. Now any of thefe lenles will be¬
come plano-convex or plano-concave, by conceiving
one of the femidiameters RA, ra to become infinite,
and confequently to become parallel to the axis of the
lens, and then the other femidiameter will coincide
with the axis 5 and fo the points A, E or «, E will
coincide. E. D.
Corol. Hence when a pencil of rays falls almoft per¬
pendicularly upon any lens, whofe thicknefs is incon-
fiderable, the courfe of the ray which paffes through
E, above deferibed, may be taken for a ftraight line
paffing through the centre of the lens without fen-
fible error in fenfible things. For it is manifeft from
the length of A a, and from the quantity of the refrac¬
tions at its extremities, that the perpendicular diftance
of A£), aq, when produced, will be diminifhed both
as the thicknefs of the lens and the obliquity of the
ray is diminifhed.
Prop. I.
To find the focus of parallel rays falling almoft
perpendicularly upon any given lens.
Let E be the centre of the lens, and r the centres of Fig. 7. te
its furfaces, R r its axis, g EG a line parallel to the inci- I3*
dent rays Upon the furface B, whofe centre is R. Paral- Yheiocm
lei to^E draw a femidiameter BR, in which produced 0f paraiiej
let V be the focus of the rays after their firft refraftion rays falling
at the furface B, and joining Vr let it cut E produced perpendicuJ
in G, and G will be the focus of the rays that emerge J
from the lens. ^
For fince V is alfo the focus of the rays incident
upon the fecond furface A, the emergent rays imift
have their focus in fome point of that ray which paffes
ftraight through this furface j that is, in the line Vr,
drawn through its centre r .* and fince the whole courfe
of another ray is reckoned a ftraight line g EG f, its f Corol.
mterfeftion G with V r determines the focus of them *rom
all. 4- E- D* ma'
Corol. i. When the incident rays are parallel to the
axis rR, the focal diftance EF is equal to EG. For
let the incident rays that were parallel to ^ E be gra¬
dually more inclined to the axis till they become paral¬
lel to it j and their firft and fecond foci V and G will
deferibe circular arches NT and GF whofe centres are
R and E. For the line RV is invariable ; being in
proportion to RB in a given ratio of the leffer of the
fines of incidence and refraftion to their difference (by
a former propofition) •, confequently the line EG is alfo
invariable, being in proportion to the given line RV in
the given ratio of rE to rR, becaufe the triangles EGr,
RVr are equiangular.
Corol. 2. The laft proportion gives the following
rule for finding the focal diftance of any thin lens. As
Rr, the interval between the centres of the furfaces.
Theory. OPT
Of Lenfe-^ is to /•£, the feraldlaffieter of the fecond furface, fp is
y "J RV °r E 1, the continuation of the firlt iemidiameter
to the firlt focus, to EG or EF the focal diftance of
the lens ; which, according as the lens is thicker or
thinner in the middle than at its edges, muft lie on
the fame fide as the emergent rays, or on the oppofite
fide.
Corol. 3. Hence when rays fall parallel on both
fides of any lens, the focal difiances EF, E/are equal.
For let ri be the continuation of the femidiameter E r
to the firft focus t of rays falling parallel upon the
furface A ; and the fame rule that gave rR • rE=
RT : EF, gives alfo rR : REzrr/■ : Ef. Whence E/=:
EF, becaufe the re&angles/-Ex BT:=RE X rFor
r E is to r r and alfo RE to RT in the fame given
ratio,
Corol. 4, Hence in particular in a double convex
or double concave lens made of glafs, it is as the furii of
their femidiameters (or in a menifeus as their difference)
to either of them, fo is double the other, to the focal
diftance of the glafs. For the continuations RT, /• t
are feverally double their femidiameters : becaufe in
glafs ET : TR and alfo E/ : ^/~3 : 2.
Corol. 5. Hence if the femidiameters of the furfaces
of the glafs be equal, its focal diftance is equal to one of
them j and is equal to the focal diftance of a piano-con-
vex or plano-concave glafs whofe femidiameter is as fhort
again. For confidering the plane furface as having an
infinite femidiameter, the firft; ratio of the laft-mention-
cd proportion may be reckoned a ratio of equality.
Prop. II.
The foous The focus of incident rays upon a fingle furface,
raysTundf fPhefe» or lensi being given, it is required to
find the focus of the emergent rays.
Plate
ccclxxx.
fig. I. to 6
* By Co.
rol. from
former
Prep.
• Let any point be the focus of incident rays upon
a fpherical furface, lens, or fphere, whofe centre is E ;
and let other rays come parallel to the line QE q the
contrary way to the given rays, and after refra&ion let
them belong to a focus F; then taking E/equal to EF
the lens or fphere, but equal to FC in the fingle furface,
fay as QF to FE fo Ef tofq; and placing^ the con¬
trary way from f to that of E(f from F, the point q
will be the focus of the refra&ed rays, without fenfible
error j provided the point £) be not fo remote from the
axis, nor the furfaces fo broad, as to caufe any of the rays
to fall too obliquely upon them.
For with the centre E and femidiameters EF and
E/defcribe two arches FG,/g cutting any ray QA«y
in G and g, and dravv EG and E^. Then fuppofmg
G to be a focus of incident rays (as GA), the emer¬
gent rays (as ag y) will be parallel to GE * ; and on the
other hand fuppofing g another focus of incident rays
(as gn), the emergent rays (as AG^)) will be pa¬
rallel to^E. Therefore the triangles ()GE, Egq are
equiangular, and confequently QG : GErrE^- gq;
that is, when the ray QAtfy is the neareft to QeV
£VF -.EE—Ef-.fg. Now when £) accedes to F and'
coincides with it, the emergent rays become parallel,
that is, q recedes to an infinite diftance j and confe¬
quently when f) paffes to the other fide of F, the fo¬
cus q will alfo pafs through an infinite fpace from one
fide of/to the other fide of it. O. E. D
Vox, XV. Part I.
ics. 2r?
Corol. i. In a fphere or lens the focus q may be OfLenfes,
found by this rule: QF : QE=QE : Qy, to be" Y—*-?
placed the fame way from Q as QF lies" from Q.—.
For let the incident and emergent rays QA, y a bejiro-
duced till they meet in e; and the triangles QGE,
Qey being equiangular, we have QG : QE=Q<?:
Qyy and when the angles of thefe triangles are%a-
niftiing, the point e will coincide with E j becaufe in
the fphere the triangle A f> a is equiangular at the bafe
A a, and confequently A e and ae will at laft become
femdiameters of the fphere. In a lens the thicknefs
A a is inconfiderable.
The focus may alfo be found by this rule :  
QF ; FE=QE : Ey, for QG : GE=QA : A y!-
And then the rule formerly demonftrated for fingle fur¬
faces holds good for the lenfes.
Corol. 2. In all cafes the diftance^/y varies recipro¬
cally as FQ does 5 and they lie contrariwife from f and
F; becaufe the reftangle or the fquare under EF and
E^f the middle terms in the foregoing proportions, is
invariable.
The principal focal diftance of a lens may not only
be found by collefting the rays coming from the fun,
confidered as parallel, but alfo (by means of this pro-
pofition) it may be found by the light of a candle or
window. For, becaufe Qy : yA=QE : EG, w'e
have (when A coincides with E) p y : yErrGE :
EF 5 that is, the diftance obferved between thtTra¬
diant objedft and its pi£ture in the focus is to the di¬
ftance of the lens from the focus as the diftance of
the lens from the radiant is to its principal focal di¬
ftance. Multiply therefore the diftances of the lens
from the radiant and focus, and divide the produft by
their Him.
Corol. 3. Convex lenfes of different lhapes that have
equal focal diftance when put into each others places,
have equal powers upon any pencil of rays to refraft
them to the fame focus. Becaufe the rules above
mentioned depend only upon the focal diftance of the
lens, and not upon the proportion of the femidiameters
of its furfaces.
Corol. 4. The rule that was given for a fphere of
an uniform denfity, will ferve alfo for finding the focus
of a pencil of rays refra&ed through any number of con¬
centric furfaces, which feparate uniform mediums of any
different denfities. For when rays come parallel to any
line drawn through the common centre of thefe me¬
diums, and are refrafted through them all, the diftance
of their focus from that centre is invariable, as in an
uniform fphere.
Corol. 5. When the focufes Q, y lie on the fame
fide of the refra&ing furfaces, if the incident rays flow
from Q, the refracted rays will alfo flow from y; and if
the incident rays flow towards Q, the refracted will alfo
flow towards y; and the contrary will happen when Q
and y are on contrary fides of the refradting furfaces.
Becaufe the rays are continually going forwards.
From this propofition we alfo derive an eafy method
of drawing the progrefs of rays through any number of
lenfes ranged on a common axis.
Let A, B, C, be the lenfes, and R A a ray incident Fig. «,
on the firft of them. Let *, *, be their foci for pa-
rallel rays coming in the oppofite diredtion ; draw the
perpendicular a d, cutting the incident ray in d, and
draw d a through the centre of the lens : AB parallel
E e
2 I 8
Of Vi«on.
o p T I c S.
Part I,
to da Avill be the ray refrafted by the firft lens.
' v'  Through the focus of the fecund lens draw the perpen¬
dicular /3 e, cutting AB in e; and draw eb through the
centre of the fecund lens. BD parallel to b c will be
the next refracted ray. Through the focus x of the
third lens draw the perpendicular x.f cutting BD in f,
and draw f c through the centre of the third lens. CE
parallel to/c, will be the refradted ray *, and fo on.
Sect. V. On Vijion,
Having defcribed how the rays of light, flowing from
objedts, and paffing through convex glaffes, are colledl-
ed into points, and form the images of external objedts;
it will be eafy to underftand how the rays are refradted
by the humours of the eye, and are thereby colledled
into innumerable points on the retina, on which they
form the images of the objedls from which they flow.
For the different humours of the eye, and particularly
the cryftalline, are to be confidered as a convex glafs ;
and the rays in palling through them as aftedled in the
fame manner in the one as in the other. A defcription
of the coats and humours, &c. has been given in Ana¬
tomy •, but it will be proper to repeat as much of
the defcription as will be fufficient for our prefent pur-
pofe.
Plate The eye is nearly globular, and confiftsof three coats
CCCLXXX and three humours. The part DHHG of the outer
fig. 8.
coat, is called thefc/erotica; the reft, DEFG, the cornea.
Defcnption Next within this coat is that called the choroides, which
of the eye. ferves as it were for a lining to the other, and joins
with the iris, ?nn,7nn. The iris is compofed of two
fets of mufcular fibres j the one of a circular form, which
contracts the hole in the middle called the pupil, when
the light would other wife be too ftrongfor theeye; and
the other of radical fibres, tending everywhere from the
circumference of the iris towards the middle of the
pupil ; which fibres, by their contradlion, dilate and
enlarge the pupil when the light is weak, in order to
let in a greater quantity of it. The third coat is only a
fine expanfion of the optic nerve L, which fpreads like
net work all over the infide of the choroides, and is
therefore called the retina; upon which are thrown the
images of all vifible objects.
Under the cornea is a fine tranfparent fluid like water,
thence called the aqueous humour. It gives a protube¬
rant figure to the cornea, fills the two cavities m m and
n n, which communicate by the pupil P ; and has the
fame limpidity, fpecific gravity, and refrafting power,
as water. At the back of this lies the cryftalline hu¬
mour II, which is lhaped like a double convex glafs;
and is a little more convex on the back than the fore
part. It converges the rays, which pafs through it
from every vifible objeft to its focus at the bottom of the
eye. This humour is tranfparent like cryftal, is of the
confidence of hard icily, and is to the fpecific gravity
of water as 11 to 10. It is enclofed in a fine tranfparent
membrane, called the capfule of the cryftalline lens,
from which proceed radial fibres o o, called the ciliary
ligaments, all around its edge, and join to the circum¬
ference of the iris.
At the back of the cryftalline, lies the vitreous hu¬
mour KK, which is tranfparent like glafs, and is largeft
of all in quantity, filling the whole orb of the eye, and
giving it a globular fnape. It is much of a confiftence Of Vifion.
with the white of an egg, and very little exceeds the
fpecific gravity and refractive power of water. ^
As every point of an object ABC, fends out rays in The objefts
all directions, fume rays, from every point on the fide on the reti-
next the eye, will fall upon the cornea between E. andna °Dhe
F; and by paffing on through the pupil and humours of m'
the eye, they will be converged to as many points on
the retina or bottom of the eye, and will form upon it a
diltindt inverted picture c ba, of the object. Thus, the Fig. 8.
pencil of rays qrs that flows from the point A of the
objedt, will be converged to the point a on the retina;
thofe from the point B will be converged to the point
b; thofe from the point C will be converged to the point
c; and fo of all the intermediate points : by which
means the whole image a b c is formed, and the objedl
made vifible; though it muft be owned, that the me¬
thod by which this fenfation is conveyed by the optic
nerve from the eye to the brain, and there difeerned, is
above the reach of our comprehenfion.
That vifion is effedled in this manner, may be de-
monftrated experimentally. Take a bullock’s eye whilft
it is freflr; and having cut off the three coats from the
back part, quite to the vitreous humour, put a piece
of white paper over that part, and hold the eye to¬
wards any bright objedl, and you will fee an inverted
pidlure of the objedl upon the paper, or the fame thing >
may be better accompliffied by paring the fclerotic coat
fo thin that it becomes a little tranfparent, and retains
the vitreous humour. ^
Since the image is inverted, many have wondered whv they
why the objedl appears upright. But tve are to confider, are feen up-
l. That inverted is only a relative term: and, 2. Thaf'g^*
there is a very great difference between the real objedl
and the image by which we perceive it. When all
the parts of a diftant profpedl are painted upon the
retina, they are all right with refpedl to one another,
as well as the parts of the profpedl itfelf; and we can
only judge of an objedl’s being inverted, when it is
turned reverfe to its natural pofition with refpedl to other
objedls which we fee and compare it with.—If we lay
hold of an upright ftick in the dark, we can tell which
is the upper or lower part of it, by moving our hand
downward or upward; and know very well that we can¬
not feel the upper end by moving pur hand downward.
Tn the fame manner we find by experience, that upon
diredling our eyes towards a tall objedl, we cannot fee
its top by turning our eyes downward, nor its foot by
turning our eyes upward ; but muft trace the objedl the
fame way by the eye to fee it from head to foot, as we
do by the hand to feci it ; and as the judgment is in¬
formed by the motion of the hand in one cafe, fo it is
alfo by the motion of the eye in the other.
In fig. 9. is exhibited the manner of feeing the fame Fig. 9.
objedl ABC, by both the eyes D and E at once. ^
When any part of the image cb a falls upon the op-An objeft
tic nerve L, the correfponding part of the objedl be-when view-
comps invifible. On this account, the optic nerve
wifely placed, not in the middle of the bottom of the 'j^s
eye, but towards the fide next the nofe ; fo that what-peardouble,
ever part of the image falls upon the optic nerve of onebecaufe
eye, may not fall upon the optic nerve of the other, d16 °Pilc.
Thus the point a of the image cb a falls upon the optic 0;
nerve of the eye D, but not of the eye E; and the point
ment
Fig. 2
Theory. OPT
Of Vifion. c falls upon tlie optic nerve of tire eye E, but not of the
-v 1 eye D j and therefore to both eyes taken together, the
whole object ABC is vifible.
The nearer that any object is to the eye, the larger is
the angle under which it is feen, and the magnitude
of which it appears. Thus to the eye D, the" object
ABC is feen under the angle APC 5 and its image cba
Plate j3 Very large upon the retina : but to the eye E, at a
ccclxxxi. diftance, the fame objeft is feen under the angle
S‘ ' ApC, which is equal only to half the angle APC, as is
evident by the figure. The image c b a is like wife twice
as large in the eye D, as the other image c £ <7 is in the
eye E. In both thefe reprefentations, a part of the
image falls on the optic nerve, and the object in the
correfponding parts is invifible.
As the fenfe of feeing is allowed to be occafioned
by the impylfe of the rays from the vifible objeft upon
the retina, and thus forming the image of the objeft
upon it, and that the retina is only the expanfion of
the optic nerve all over the choroides •, it fiiould feem
furprifing, that the part of the image which falls on the
optic nerve Ihould render the like part of the object in¬
vifible ; efpecially as that nerve is allowed to be the
inftrument by which the impulfe and image are convey¬
ed to the common fenfory in the brain.
13$ That part of the image which falls upon the middle
Proved by of the optic nerve is loit, and confequently the corre-
expen- fponding part of the objeft is rendered invifible, is plain
by experiment. For if a perfon fixes three patches,
A, B, C, (fig. 2.) upon a white wall, at the height of
the eye, and at the diftance of about a foot from each
other, and places himfelf before them, ftmtting the right
eye, and direding the left towards the patch C, he will
fee the patches A and C, but the middle patch B will
difappear. Or, if he fhuts his left eye, and direds the
right towards A, he will fee both A and C, but B will
difappear ; and if he direds his eye towards B, he will fee
both B and A, but not C. For whatever patch is di-
redly oppofite to the optic nerve N, vanithes. This re¬
quires a little pradice 3 after which he will find it eafy
to dired his eye fo as to lofe the fight of whatever
patch he pleafes.
 r  This experiment, firft tried by M. Marriotte, occa-
conceming fioned a new hypothefis concerning the feat of vifion,
vifionat 0t fapp0^ not to be in the retina, but in the
choroides. An improvement on the experiment was af¬
terwards made by M. Picard, who contrived that an
objed ftiould difappear when both the eyes were kept
open. He faftened upop a wall a round white paper,
an inch or two in diameter *, and by the fide of it he fixed
two marks, one on the right hand, and the other on the
left, each at about two feet diftance from the paper, and
fomewhat higher. He then placed himfelf diredly be¬
fore the paper, at the diftance of nine or ten feet, and
putting the end of his finger over againft both his eyes,
fo that the left-hand mark might be hid from the right
eye, and the right-hand mark from the left eye. Re¬
maining firm in this pofture, and looking fteadily, with
both eyes, on the end of his finger, the paper which
was not at all covered by it would totally difappear.
1 his, he fays, is the more furprifing, becaufe, without
this particular encounter of the optic nerves, where no
vifion is made, the paper will appear double, as is the
cafe when the finger is not rightly placed.
I c
219
. 'V
Difpute
M. Marriotte obferves, that this improvement on his Of Vifion.
experiment, by M. Picard, is ingenious, but difficult to »r~““
execute, fince the eyes muft be confiderably ftrained in
looking at any objeeft fo near as four inches ; and pro-
pofes another not lefs furprifing, and more eafy. Place,
fays he, on a dark ground, two round pieces of white
paper, at the iame height, and three feet from one an¬
other 3 then Itand oppofite to them, at the diftance
of 1 2 or 13 feet, and hold your thumb before your
eyes; at the diftance of about eight inches, fo that it
may conceal from the right eye the paper that is to
the left hand, and from the left eye the paper to the
right hand. Then, if you look at your thumb fteadily
with both eyes, you will lofe fight of both the papers ;
the eyes being to diipofed, that each of them receives
the image of one of the papers upon the bafe of the optic
nerve, while the other is intercepted by the thumb.
M. Le Cat purfued this curious experiment a little
farther than M. Marriotte. In the place of the fccond
paper, he fixed a large white board, and obferved, that
at a proper diftance he loft fight of -a circular fpace
in the centre of it. He alfo obferved the fize of the
paper which is thus concealed from the fight, correfpond¬
ing to feveral diftances, which enabled him to aicertain
feveral circumftances relating to this part of the ftructure
of the eye more exactly than had been done before.
I he following is the manner in which this curious
experiment is now generally made. Let three pieces of
paper be faftened upon the fide of a room, about two
feet afunder ; and let a perfon place himfelf oppofite
to the middle paper, and, beginning near to it, retire
gradually backwards, all the while keeping one of his
eyes thut, and the other turned obliquely towards that
outfide paper which is towards the covered eye, and he
will find a fituation (which is generally at about five
times the diftance at which the papers are placed from
one another), when the middle paper Avill entirely dif¬
appear, while the two outermoft continue plainly vi¬
fible 3 becaufe the rays which come from the middle
paper will fall upon the retina where the optic nerve is
inferted.
It is not furprifing that M. Marriotte was led, by this
remarkable obfervation, to fufpedt that the retina was
the feat of vifion. He not only did fo ; but, in confe-
quence of attentively confidering the fubjefl, a variety
of other arguments in favour of the choroides occurred
to him, particularly his obfervation, that the retina is
tranfparent, as well as the cryftalline and other humours
of the eye, which he thought could onlyT enable it to
tranfmit the rays farther ; and he could not perfuade
himfelf that any fubftance could be confidered as being
the termination of the pencils and the proper feat of vi¬
fion, at which the rays are not flopped in their progrefs.
He was farther confirmed in his opinion of the fmall
degree of fenfibility in the retina, and of the greater
fenfibility of the choroides, by obferving that the pupil
dilates itfelf in the (hade, and contrafts itfelf in a great
light; which involuntary motion, he thought, was a
clear proof that the fibres of the iris are extremely
fenfible to the aftion of light; and this part of the eye
is only a continuation of the choroides. He alfo
thought that the dark colour of the choroid coat was '
intended to make it more fufceptible 6f the impreffion
of light.
Ee 2
M.-
220 OPT
OfVifion. M. Pecquet, in anfvver to M. Mamotte’s obfervation
' concerning the tranfparency of the retina, fays, that
it is very imperfectly fo, refembling only oiled paper, or
the horn that is ufed for lanterns ; and befides, that its
■\vhitenefs demonftrates it to be fufficiently opaque for
Hopping the rays of light, as much as is neceffary for
the purpofe of vilion ; whereas, if vifion be performed
by means of thofe rays which are tranfmitted through
fuch a fubftance as the retina, it muft be very indiftindt.
The retina refembles very much the thin white film which
intervenes between the white of an egg and its fhell.
As to the blacknefsof the choroides, which M. Mar-
riotte thought to be neceflary for the purpofe of vifion,
M. Pecquet obferves, that it is not the fame in all eyes,
and that there are very different Ibades of it among the
individuals of mankind, as alfo among birds, and fome
other animals, whofe choroides is generally black $ and
that in the eyes of lions, camels, bears, oxen, Hags,
fheep, dogs, cats, and many other animals, that part of
the choroides which is the moft expofed to light, very
often exhibits colours as vivid as thofe of mother-of-
pearl, or of the iris. He admits that there is a defedt
of vifion at the inferlion of the optic nerve ; but he
thought that it was owing to the blood-velfels of the
retina, the trunks of which are fo large in that place as
to obftrudt all vifion.
To M. Pecquet’s objedtion, founded on the opacity
of the retina, M. Marnotte replies, that there mull be
a great difference betwixt the Hate of that fubflance in
living and dead fubjedts j and as a further proof of
. the tranfparency of the retina, and the power of the
choroides beyond it to refiedt light, he fays, that if a
lighted candle be held near to a perfon’s eyes, and a
dog, at the diftance of eight or ten Heps, be made to
look at him, he would fee a bright light in the dog’s
eyes, which he thought to proceed from the refledtion
of the light of the candle from the choroides of the
dog, fince the fame appearance cannot be produced
in the eyes of men, or other animals, whofe choroides is
black.
M. Marriotte obferves, in oppofition to Pecquet’s re¬
mark concerning the blood-veffels of the retina, that
they are not large enough to prevent vifion in every part
of the bafe of the nerve, fince the diameter of each of
the two velfels occupies no more than ^th part of it.
Befides, if this were the caufe of this want of vifion, it
would vanilh gradually, and the fpace to which it is
confined would not be fo exadlly terminated as it appears
to be.
We muft add, that M. Pecquet alfo obferved, that
notwithftanding the infenfibility of the retina at the in-
fertion of the optic nerve when the light is only mode¬
rate j yet luminous objedls, fuch as a bright candle pla¬
ced at the diftance of four or five paces, do not abfo-
lutely difappear, in the fame circumftances in which a
white paper would •, for this ftrong light may be per¬
ceived though the pidture fall on the bafe of the nerve.
Hr Prieftley, however, found that a large candle made
no impreffion on that part of his eye, though by no
means able to bear a ftrong light.
The common opinion was alfo favoured by the ana¬
tomical defcription of feveral animals by the members
cf the French academy, and particularly their account
of the fea calf and porcupine j in both of which the
optic nerve is inferted in the very axis of the eye, ex-
I C S. Parti.
adlly oppofite to the pupil, which was thought to leave OfVifion.
no room to doubt, but that in thefe animals the retina ''“'"‘v——'
is perfedtly fenfible to the imprelfion of light at the in-
fertion of the nerve.
M. He la Hire took part with M. Pecquet, arguing
in favour of the retina from the analogy of the lenfes,
in all of which the nerves are the proper feat of fenfa-
tion. This philofopher, however, fuppofed that the cho¬
roid coat receives the imprelfions of images, in order to
tranfmit them to the retina.
M. Perrault alfo took the part of M. Pecquet againft
M. Marriotte, and in M. Perrault’s works we have fe¬
veral letters that pafl'ed between thefe two gentlemen
upon this fubjedt.
This difpute was revived by an experiment of M.
Mery, recorded in the memoirs of the French Acade¬
my for 1704. He plunged a cat in water, and expofing
her eye to the ftrong light of the fun, obferved that the
pupil was not at all contradted by it j whence he con¬
cluded, that the contradtion of the iris is not produced by
the adtion of the light. For he contended that the eye
receives more light in this lituation than in the open
air. At the fame time he thought he obferved that the
retina of the cat’s eye was tranfparent, and that he
could fee the opaque choroides beyond it: from which
he concludes, that the choroides is the fubftance intend¬
ed to receive the rays of light, and to be the chief in-
ftrument of vifion. But M. He la Hire, in oppofition
to this argument of M. Mery, endeavours to fliow that
fewer rays enter the eye under water, and that in
thofe circumfiances it is not fo liable to be affedled
by them. Befides, it is obvious, that the cat muft be in
great terror in this fituation ; and being an animal that
has a very great voluntary power over the mufcles of
the iris, and being now extremely attentive to every
thing about her, the might keep her eye open notwith¬
ftanding the adlion of the light upon it, and though it
might be very painful to her. We are informed, that
when a cat is placed in a window through which the
fun is thining, and confequently her iris nearly clofed,
if {he hear a ruftling, like that which is made by a
moufe, on the outfide of the window, ftie will immedi¬
ately open her eyes to their greateft extent, without in
the leaft turning her face from the light.
M. Le Cat took the fide of M. Marriotte in this con-
troverfy, it being peculiarly agreeable to his general hy-
pothefis, viz. that the pia mater, of which the choroides
is a produdtion, and not the nerves themfelves, is the
proper inftrument of fenfation. He thought that the
change which takes place in the eyes of old people (the
choroides growing lefs black with age) favoured his hy-
pothefis, as they do not fee with the fame diftindtnefs as
young perfons. M. Le Cat fuppofed that the retina
anfwers a purpofe fimilar to that of the fcarf-lkin, cover¬
ing the papillae pyramidales, which are the immediate
organs of feeling, or that of the porous membrane which
covers the glandulous papillae of the tongue. The re¬
tina, lie fays, receives the impreffion of light, moderates
it, and prepares it for its proper organ, but is not itfelf
fenfible of it.
It muft be obferved, that M. Le Cat had difeovered
that the pia mater, after clofely embracing the optic
nerve, at its entrance into the eye, divides into two-
branches, one of which clofely lines the cornea, and at
length is loft in it, while the fecond branch forms what.
is.
Theory. OPT
Of Vifion. is called the choroides, or uvea. He alfo fhowed that
v-^\ 1 the fclerotic coat is an expanfion of the dura mater:
and he fent diffeftions of the eye to the Royal Academy
of Sciences in 1739, to prove thefe affertions, and feve-
ral others contrary to the opinions of the celebrated
Window, which he had advanced in his Traitd de
Sens.
•To thefe arguments in favour of the choroides, we
may add the following given by Mr MicheJl.
In order that vifion be difi.in£t, the pencils of rays
which ifl'ue from the feveral points of any objeft, mu ft
be colleffed either accurately, or at leaft very nearly, to
correfponding points in the eye, which can only be done
upon feme uniform furface. But the retina being of a
confiderable thicknefs, and the whole of it being uni¬
formly nervous, and at leaft nearly, if not perfedlly,
tranfparent, prefents no particular furface 5 fo that, in
whatever part of it the pencils be fuppofed to have their
foci, the rays belonging to them will be feparated from
one another, either before or after they arrive there, and
confequently vifion would be confufed.
If we fuppoie the feat of vifion to be at the interior
furface of the retina, and the images of objects to be
formed by diretft rays, a confiderable degree of confu-
fion could not but arife from the light refie6!ed by the
choroides, in thofe animals in which it is white, or co¬
loured. On the other hand, it would be impoflible that
vifion ftiould be performed at this place by light refietft-
ed from the choroides, becaufe in many animals it is
perfe&ly black; and yet fuch animals fee even more di-
ftimftly than others.
If the feat of vifion be at the farther furface of the
retina, and if vifion be performed by direft rays, a
white choroid coat could be of no ufe ; and if it were
by reflefted rays, a black one could not anfwer the pur-
pofe.
It is likewife an argument in favour of the choroides
being the organ of vifion, that it is a fubftance which
receives a more diftinft impreflion from the rays of light
than any other membrane in any part of the animal fy-
ftem, excepting, perhaps, that white cuticle which lies
under the feales of fifties : whereas the retina is a fub¬
ftance on which the light makes an exceedingly faint
impreftion, and perhaps no impreffion at all; fince light
in pafling out of one tranfparent medium into another
immediately contiguous to it, fuffers no refraction or re¬
flexion, nor are any of the rays abforbed unlcfs there
is fome difference in the refraCting power of the two
media, which probably is not the cafe between the reti¬
na and the vitreous humour which is in contad with it:
And wherever the light is not afteCfed by the medium
on which it falls, we can hardly fuppofe the medium to
receive any impreffion from the light, the aCtion being
probably always mutual and reciprocal.
Befides, the retina is fo fituated, as to be expofed to
many rays befides thofe which terminate in it, and which,
therefore, cannot be fubfervient to vifion, if it be per¬
formed there. Now this is not the cafe with the cho¬
roides, which is in no fhape tranfparent, and has no re¬
flecting fubftanee beyond it.
It is, befides, peculiarly favourable to the opinion of
Marriotte, that we can then fee a fufficient reafon for the
diverfity of its colour in different animals, according as
they are circumftanced with refpeCt to vifion. In all
tcrreftrial animals, which ufe their eyes by night, the
4
ICS. 221
choroides is either of a bright white, or of fome very vivid Of Vifion-
colour, which refleCts the light very ftrongly. On this
account vifion may be performed with lefs light, but it
cannot be with great diftinClnefs, the reflection of the
rays doubling their effeCf, fince it muft extend over fome
fpace, all reflection being made at a diftance from the
reflecting body. Befides, the choroides in brutes is not
in general perfectly white, but inclined to blue ; and is
therefore, probably, better adapted to fee by the fainter
coloured light, which chiefly prevails in the night; and
we would add, is on the fame account more liable to be
ftrongly impreffed by the colours to which they are
chiefly expofed.
On the other hand, the choroides of birds in general,
efpecially eagles, hawks, and other birds of prey, is
black ; by which means they are able to fee with the
greateft diftinClnefs, but only in bright day light. The
owl, however, feeking her food by night, has the cho¬
roides white like that of a cat. In the eyes of man,
which are adapted to various ufes, the choroides is nei¬
ther fo black as that of birds, nor fo white as that of
thofe animals who make the greateft ufe of their eyes in
the night.
As to a third hypothefis, which is in effeCt that of
M. de la Hire, and which makes both the retina and
the choroides equally neceffary to vifion, and fuppofes it
to be performed by the impreffion of light on the cho¬
roides communicated to the retina ; Mr Michell ob-
ferves, that the perceptions can hardly be fuppofed to be
fo acute, when the nerves do not receive the impreffions
immediately, but only after they have been communi¬
cated to another fubftance. Befides, it muft be more
natural to fuppofe, that, when the principal impreffion
is made upon the choroides, it is communicated to the
brain by its own nerves, which are fufficient for the pur-
pofe. . # 138
The dimenfions and precife form of the fpot in the Dimenfions
eye in which there is no vifion, were more accurately the fPot
calculated by Daniel Bernouilli, in the following man-eye
ner. He placed a piece of money, O, upon the1 floor ; dbere^ no
and then (hutting one of his eyes, and making a pendu-vifion.
lum to fwfing, fo that the extremity of it might be near- Hate
ly in the line AO, he obferved at what place C it be- CC^LXXXI°-
gan to be invifible, and where it again emerged into S’
view at A. Raifing the pendulum higher and lower,
he found other points, as H, N, P, G, B, .at which it
began to be invifible.; and others, as M, L, E, A, at
which it began to be vifible again; and drawing a curve
through them, he found that it was elliptical; and, with
refpecl to his own eye, the dimenfions of it were as fol¬
low ; OC was 23, AC 10, BD 3, DH 13, and EG
14 ; fo that the centre being at F, the greater axis w'as
to the lefs as 8 to 7.
From thefe data the plane on which the- figure was
drawn being obliquely fituated with refpecl to the eye,
he found, that the place in the eye that correfponded to
it was a circle, the diamefter of which was a feventh
part of the diameter of the eye, the centre of it beino-
27 parts of the diameter from the point oppofite to the
pupil, a little above the middle. In order, therefore,
that this fpace in which there is no vifion may be as
fmall as poffible, it is necefljary that the nerve ffiould en¬
ter the eye perpendicularly, and that both this end, and
alfo its entering the eye at a diftance from its axis, are
gained by the particular manner in which the two optic
nerves
O P T
Of Vifion. nerves unite and become feparate again, by croffing
' v ‘ 0ne another.
In fupport of one of the obfervations of Mr Michel],
Dr Prieftley obferves, that Aquapendente mentions the
cafe of a perfon at Pifa, who could fee very well in the
night, but very little or none at all in the day time.
This is alfo faid to be the cafe with thofe white people
among the blacks of Africa, and the inhabitants of the
ifthmus of America, Avho, from this circumitance, are
called moon-eyed. Dr Prieftley thinks it probable that
their choroides is not of a dark colour, as it is in others
of the human fpecies ; but white or light-coloured, as
in thofe animals which have moft occafion for their eyes
139 in the night.
Arguments Dr Porterfield obferves, that the reafon why there is
for the re- , no vifion at the entrance of the optic nerve into the eye,
thefeat;61 fSmay be its want of that foftnefs and delicacy which it
vifion. has when it is expanded upon the choroides ; and that,
in thofe animals in which that nerve is inferted in the
axis of the eye, it is obferved to be equally delicate, and
therefore probably equally fenfible, in that place as in
any other part of the retina. In general, the nerves,
when embraced by their coats, have but little fenfibility
in comparifon of what they are endued with when they
are divefted of them, and unfolded in a foft and pulpy
fubftancc.
Haller obferves, that the choroides cannot be univer-
fally the feat of vifion, becaufe, fometimes in men and
birds, but efpecially in fifties, it is covered internally with
a black mucus, through which the rays cannot pene¬
trate. This ivriter fpeaks of a fibrous membrane in the
retina diftinft from its pulpy fubftance. On thefe fi¬
bres, he conje&ures, that the images of objects are
la Hire’s argument in favour of the retina,
from the analogy of the fenfes, is much ftrengthened
by confidering that the retina is a large nervous appa¬
ratus, immediately expofed to the impreflion of light ;
Avhereas the choroides receives but a flender fupply
of ner\res, in common A\Tith the fclerotica, the conjunc¬
tiva, and the eyelids, and that its nerves are much lefs
expofed to the light than the naked fibres of the optic
nerve.
That the optic nerve is of principal ufe in vifion, is
farther probable from feveral phenomena attending fome
of the difeafes of the eye. When an amaurofis has af-
fedted one eye only, the optic nerve of that eye has been
found manifeftly altered from its found ftate. Dr Prieft¬
ley Avas prefent xvhen Mr Hey examined the brain of a
young girl, Avho had been blind of one eye, and faw
that the optic nerve belonging to it Avas confiderably
fmaller than the other ; and he informed him, that up¬
on cutting into it it Avas much harder, and cineritious.
Morgagni mentions tsvo cafes, in one of Avhich he found
the optic nerves fmaller than ufual, and of a cineritious
colour, when, upon inquiry, he Avas informed that the
perfon had not been blind, though there might have
been fome defedt in the fight of one of the eyes. In
the other cafe, only one of the optic nerves Avas affedted
in that manner, and the eye itfelf Avas in other refpedts
very perfedt. Here, alfo, he Avas exprefsly told, that
the perfon Avas not blind of that eye.
Befides, as the optic nerve is folely fpent in forming
the retina, fo no fundlion of the eye not immediately
ifubfervient to vifion, is aftedted by an amaurofis. On
painted
M. I
5
I C S. Part I.
the contrary, thofe nerves which go to the choroides OfVifion.
are found to retain, in this difeafe, their natural in- v~--J
fluence. The iris Avill contract in a recent gutta ferena
of one eye, if the other remains found, and is fuddenly
expofed to a ftrong light. The fclerotica, conjundtiva,
and eyelids, which receive their nerves from the fame
branches as the choroides, retain their fenfibility in this
diforder. »
The manner in svhich perfons recover from an amau¬
rofis, favours the fuppofition of the feat of vifion being-
in the retina : fince thofe parts Avhich are the moft di .
ftant from the infertion of the nerve recover their fenft-
biiity the fooneft, being in thofe places the moft pulpy
and foft •, A\rhereas there is no reafon to think that
there is any difference in this refpedt in the different
parts of the choroides. Mr Hey has been repeatedly
informed, by perfon? labouring under an imperfedt amau¬
rofis, or gutta ferena, that they could not, when look¬
ing at any objedt Avith one eye, fee it fo diftindlly Avhen
it Av-as placed in the axis of the eye, as Avhen it Avas fi-
tuated out of the axis. And thofe perfons Avhom he had
knoAvn to recover from a perfedt amaurofis, firft difeo-
vered the objedts whofe images fell upon that part of
the retina which is at the greateft diftance from the op¬
tic nerv'e.
We fhall conclude thefe remarks Avith obferving, that
if the retina be as tranfparent as it is generally reprefent-
ed to be, fo that the termination of the pencils muft ne-
ceffarily be either upon the choroides, or fome other
opaque fubftance interpofed between it and the retina,
the adtion and readtion occafioned by the rays of light
being at the common furface of this body and the retina,
both thefe mediums (fuppofing them to be equally fenfi¬
ble to light) may be equally affedted ; but the retina,
being naturally much more fenfible to this kind of im-
preffion, may be the only inftrument by Avhich the fen-
fation is conA^eyed to the brain, though the choroides,
or the black fubftance Avith Avhich it is fometimes lined,
may alfo be abfolutely neceffary to vifion. This is not
far from the hypothefis of M. de la Hire, and Avill com¬
pletely account for the entire defedt of vifion at the in¬
fertion of the optic nerve. I^0
Vifion is diftinguiftied into bright and obfeure, dijlincl Of bright
and indijlinft.—It is faid to be bright, when a fufficient andobfeure,
number of rays enter the pupil at the fame time 5 ob- ai,<!
/cure, ay hen too few. It is diflinEl Avhen each pencil of^£^n<^
rays is colledted into a focus exadlly upon the retina j
indijlintrt, Avhen they meet before they come at it, or
Avhen they Avould pafs it before they meet ; for, in ei¬
ther of thefe laft cafes, the rays flowing from different
parts of the objedt Avill fall upon the fame part of the
retina, Avhich muft neeeffarily render the image indi-
ftindt.—Noav, that objedts may appear with a due
brightnefs, Avhether more or fevver rays proceed from
them, avc have a poAVer of contradting or dilating the
pupil, by means of the mufeular fibres of the iris, in or¬
der to take in a greater or fmaller number of rays. But
this power has its limits. In fome animals it is much
greater than in others ; particularly in fuch as are obli¬
ged to feek their food by night as well as by day, as in
cats, &c. v
In order that the rays be colledted into points exadtly ofddhndt
upon the retina, that is, in order that objedts may up-vifion at
pear dijlindi, whether they be nearer or farther off, i e. different
whether the rays proceeding from them diverge more or <hftar,ces’ !
lefs,
Theory. OPT
Of Vifion. lefs, fome change muft neceffarily take place In the eye.
The nature of this change has been a fubjeft of great
difpute among philofophers. While fome have main¬
tained, that the eye accommodates itfelf to different di-
ilances, by the mufcular poAver of the ciliary ligament,
•which makes the cryftalline lens approach to, or recede
from, the retina; others are of opinion, that the form
of the cryftalline is altered by the ciliary ligament, or
by the mufcular power of the lamince of which it is
compofed. M. de la Hire fuppofes, that the eye is
adapted to various diitances by the contradKon and di¬
latation of the pupil; and Dr Monro imagines, that its
effeft is produced by the preffure of the orbicular
mufeles upon the upper and under parts of the cornea,
or by the aftion of the refti mufcles, which elongate the
axis of the eye, by preding chiefly upon the fides of the
eyeballs.—This fubjedl has lately been accurately exa¬
mined by Mr Ratnfden, and Mr Everard Home, Avho
found, that the adjuftment of the eye is effefted by
three changes in the organ : i. By an increafe of cur¬
vature in the cornea,- occafioned by the a$ion of the
redli mufcles, which produces y of the effedh 2. By
an elongation of the eyeball; and, 3. By a motion of
141 the cryftalline lens.
Oifhort- ln thofe eyes where the cornea is very protuberant,
^ie rays 15ght ft1®'61' a confiderable refraftion at their
eel people, entrance into the aqueous humour, and are therefore
collefted into a focus before they fall upon the retina,
unlefs the objefl be placed very near, fo that the rays
Avhich enter the eye may have a confiderable degree of
divergency. People that have fuch eyes are laid to be
purblind. Noav, fince the nearer an objeft is to the
eye, the greater is its image, thefe people can fee much
fmaller objedls than others, as they fee much nearer ones
with the fame diftinflnefs; and their fight continues
good longer than that of other people, becaufe the cor¬
nea, as they groAV old, becomes lefs protuberant, from
the want of that redundancy of humours Avith which
they were filled before. On the contrary, old men
having the cornea of their eyes too flat, for Avant of a
fufficient quantity of the aqueous humour, if the rays
diverge too much before they enter the eye, they can¬
not be brought to a focus when they reach the retina :
on which account thofe poeple cannot fee diftin£tly, un-.
lefs the objeft be fituated at a greater diftancc from the
eye than is required for thofe whofe eyes are of a due
form. The latter require the afliftance of convex glaf-
Plate ^eS rna^e tl~lCrn ^ee objects diftinftly ; the former of
ccclxxxi concave ones. For 'f either the cornea a b c, (fig. 4). or
fig. 4. cryftalline humour e, or both of them, be too flat, as in
the eye A, their focus-will not be on the retina as at A,
where it ought to be, in order to render vifion diftinfl;
but beyond the eye, as at /I This is remedied by pla¬
cing a convex glafs gh before the eye, Avhich makes
the rays com'erge fooner, and forms the image exaftly
on the retina at d. Again, If either the cornea, or cry¬
ftalline humour, or both of them, be too convex, as in
the eye B, the rays that enter it from the obje6f C Avill
be converged to a focus in the vitreous humour, as aty-;
and by diverging from thence to the retina, will form a
very confufed image upon it; fo that the obferver Avill
have as confufed a vScav of the objeft as if his eye had
been too flat. This inconvenience is remedied by pla¬
cing a concave glafs g h before the eye; Avhich glafs,
by caufing the rays to di\Terge between it and the eye,
ICS. 223
lengthens the focal diftance, and makes the rays unite Of Vifion.
at the retina, and form a diftindt image of the ob- » 1
jedt. t
Such eyes as are of a proper convexity, cannot fee of the leall
any objedl diftindlly at lefs diftance than fix inches; and angle of
there are numbcrlefs objedts too fmall to be feen at that^fion.
diftance, becaufe they cannot appear under any fenfible
angle.—Concerning the lead angle under xvhich any
objedt is vilible, there Avas a debate betAveen Dr Hooke
and Hevelius. The former afferted that no objedt could
Avell be feen if it fubtended an angle lefs than one mi¬
nute ; and, if the objedt be round, as a black circular
fpot upon a Avhite ground, or a Avhite circle upon a black
ground, it follows, from an experiment made by Dr
Smith, that this is near the truth ; and from this he
calculates, that the diameter of the pidture of fuch leaft
vifible point upon the retina is the 8000th part of an
inch ; which he therefore calls a fenjible point of the re¬
tina. On the other hand, Mr Courtivron found, by.
experiment, that the fmallelt angle of vrfion Avas 40 fe-
conds. According to Dr Jurin, there are cafes in which
a much fmaller angle than one minute can be difeerned
by the eye; and he obferves, that in order to our per¬
ceiving any impreffion upon our fenfes, it muft either be '
oi a certain degree of force, or of a certain degree of
magnitude. For tliis reafon, a ftar, Avhich appears only
as a lucid point through a telefcope fubtending not fo
much as an angle of one fccond, is \dfible to the eye;
though a white or black fpot of 25. or feconds, is not Linesman
perceptible. Alfo a line of the fame breadthwith thebe feen un-
circular fpot Avill be vifible at fuch a diftance as the fpot^er fimader
is not to be perceived at; becaufe the quantity of im-
predion from the line is much greater than that from ^hy.
the fpot; and a longer line is vifible at a greater di¬
ftance than a. Hunter one of the fame breadth. He
found by experience, that a filver Avire could be feen
Avhen it fubtended an angle of three feconds and a half,
and that a filk thread could be feen when it fubtended
an angle of tAvo feconds and a half.
This greater vifibility of a line than of a fpot feems
to arife only from the greater quantity of the impreffion ;
but Avithout the limits of perfedl vifion, Dr Jurin ob¬
ferves, that another caufe concurs, Avhereby the differ¬
ence of vifibility betAveen the, fpot and the line is render¬
ed much more confiderable. For the impreffion upon
the retina made by the line is then not only much great¬
er, but alfo much ftronger, than that of the fpot; be¬
caufe the faint image, or penumbra, of any one point of
the line,,when the hole is placed beyond the limits of
diftindt vifion, will fall Avithin the.faint image of the
next point, and thereby much increafe the light that
comes from it.
In fome cafes Dr Jurin found the caufe of indiftindt
vifion to be the unfteadinefs of the eye; as our being-
able to fee a fingle. black line upon a white ground or
a fingle Avhite line upon a black ground, and not a Avhite
line betAA^een two black ones on a Avhite ground. In
viewing either of the former objedts, if the eye be im¬
perceptibly moved, all the effeft Avill be, that the ob¬
jedt Avill be painted upon a different part of the retina ;
but Avherever it is painted, there Avill be but one pidture, .
fingle and uncompounded Avith any other. But in vieAV-
iag the other, if the eye fludtuate ever fo little, the
image of one or other of the black lines Aviil be fo fhift-
ed to that part of the retina Avhich Avas before poffeffed
by-
224 OPT
Of Vifion. by the wlnte line j and this mufl: occafion fuch a daz-
v zling in the eye, that the white line cannot be diftindl-
ly perceived, and diflinguifhed from the black lines j
which by a continual Hu6hiation, Avill alternately oc¬
cupy the fpace of the white line, whence muft arife an
appearance of one broad dark line, without any manifeft
feparation.
By trying this experiment with two pins of known
diameters, let in a window againft the Iky light, with a
fpace between them equal in breadth to one of the pins,
he found that the diltance between the pins could hard¬
ly be diftinguilhed when it fubtended an angle of lefs
than 40 feconds, though one of the pins alone could be
diftinguilhed when it fubtended a much lefs angle. But
though a fpace between two pins cannot be diltinguilh-
ed by the eye when it fubtends an angle lefs than 40
feconds, it does not follow that the eye muft neceflarily
commit an error of 40 feconds in eftimating the diftance
between two pins when they are much farther from one
another. For if the fpace between them fubtend an
angle of one minute, and each of the pins fubtend an
angle of four feconds, which is greater than the leaft
angle the eye can diftinguilh, it is manifeft that the eye
may judge of the place of each pin within two feconds
at the moft ; and confequently the error committed in
taking the angle between them cannot at the moft ex¬
ceed four feconds, provided the inftrument be fuffi-
ciently exaft. And yet, fays he, upon the like mif-
take was founded the principal objedlion of Dr Hooke
againft the accuracy of the celeftial obfervations of He-
velius.
A black fpot upon a white ground, or a white fpot
upon a black ground, he fays, can hardly be perceived by
the generality of eyes when it fubtends a lei’s angle than
one minute. And if two black fpots be made upon
white paper, with a fpace between them equal in breadth
to one of their diameters, that fpace is not to be diftin-
guiftied, even within the limits of perfeft vifion, under
fo fmall an angle as a fingle fpot of the fame fize. To
fee the two fpots diftindlly, therefore, the breadth of
the fpace between them muft fubtend an angle of more
than a minute. It would be difficult, he fays, to make
-this experiment accurately, within the limits of perfeft
vifion 5 becaufe the objefts muft be extremely fmall :
but by a rude trial, made with fquare bits of white pa¬
per, placed upon a black ground, he judged, that the
leaft angle under which the interval of two objefts could
be perceived, was at leaft a fourth part greater than the
leaft angle under which a fingle objeft can be perceived.
So that an eye which cannot perceive a fingle objeft
under a fmaller angle than one minute, will not perceive
the interval between two fuch objects under a lefs angle
that '75 feconds.
Without the limits of perfect vifion, the diftance at
which a fingle objedl ceafes to be perceptible will be
much greater in proportion than the diftance at which
a fpace of equal breadth between two fuch objefls ceafes
to be perceptible. For, without thefe limits, the image
of each of the objects will be attended with a penumbra,
and the penumbra of the two near obje&s will take up
part of the fpace between them, and thus render it lefs
perceptible; but the peuumbra will add to the breadth of
the fingle objeft, and will thereby make it more percep¬
tible, unlefs its image be very faint. Upon the fame
I CS. Parti.
principles he likewife accounts for the radiation of the Of Vifion.
liars, whereby the light feems to project from them dif- ”v—"-f
ferent ways at the fame time.
Mr Mayer made many experiments in order to afeer-
tain the fmalleft angle of vifion in a variety of refpefts.
He began with obferving at what diftance a black fpot
was vifible on white paper j and found, that when it
could barely be diitinguiftied, it fubtended an angle of
about 34 feconds. When black lines were difpofed with
intervals broader than themfelves, they were diftinguifii-
ed at a greater diftance than they could be when the
objeiSls and the intervals were equal in breadth. In all
thefe cafes it made no difference whether the objcfls
were placed in the {hade or in the light of the fun ; but
when the degrees of light were fmall, their differences
had a confiderable eft’eft, though by no means in propof-
tion to the differences of the light. For if an objeft
w as illuminated to fuch a degree as to be juft vifible at
the diftance of nine feet, it would be vifible at the di¬
ftance of four feet, though the light was diminilhed above
160 times. It appeared in the courfe of thefe experi¬
ments, that common daylight is, at a medium, equal to
that of 25 candles placed at the diftance _of one foot
from the objeiff.
As an image of every vifible object is painted on the Of fingle
retina of each of our eyes, it thence becomes a natural with
queftion, Why we do not fee every thing double ? Ittwoe>'e**
was the opinion of Sir Ifaac Newton and others, that
objects appear fingle, becaufe the tvro optic nerves unite
before they reach the brain. But Dr Porterfield fliow's,
from the obfervation of feveral anatomifts, that the op¬
tic nerves do not mix, or confound their fubftance, be¬
ing only united by a clofe cohefion j and objefls have
appeared fingle where the optic nerves were found to
be disjoined.
Dr Briggs fuppofed that fingle vifion was owing to Solutions
the equal tenfion of the correfponding parts of the op- of this dif.
tic nerves, whereby they vibrated in a fynchronous man-ficulty.l)y
ner. But, befides feveral improbable circumftances in ^>r
this account, Dr Porterfield {hows that fads do by no
means favour it.
To account for this phenomenon, this ingenious writ¬
er fuppofes, that by an original law in our natures, wre
imagine objeds to be fituated fomewhere in a right line
drawn from the pidure of it upon the retina, through
the centre of the pupil. Confequently, the fame objed ^7
appearing to both eyes to be in the fame place, the Dr Porter-
mind cannot diftinguilh it into turn. In anfwer to an
objedion to this hypothefis, from objeds appearing
double when one eye is diftorted, he fays the mind mif-
takes the pofition of the eye, imagining that it had
moved in a manner correfponding to the other, in which
cafe the conclufion W'ould have been juft.
This principle, however, has been thought fufficient
to account for this appearance. Originally, every ob¬
jed, making two pidures, is imagined to be double j
but by degrees, we find, that when two correfponding
parts of the retina are impreffed, the objed is but one 5
but if thofe correfponding parts be changed, by the dif-
tortion of one of the eyes, the objed muft again appear
double as at the firft. This has been thought verified
by Mr Chefelden j who informs us, that a gentleman,
who from a blow on his head had one eye diftorted,
found every objed to appear double j but by degrees
the
Theory.
OPT
14S
Dr Held,
r.»d
149
Dr Wells.
Of Vifion. the moft familiar ones came to appear fingle again, and
— ' in time all objects did fo, without any amendment of
the diftortion.
On the other hand, Dr Reid is of opinion, that the
correfpondence of the centres of the two eyes, on which
fingle vifion depends, does not arife from euftom, but
from feme natural conftitution of the eye and of the
mind. He makes feveral juft objections to the cafe of
Mr Forfter, recited by Dr Smith and others; and thinks
that the cafe of the young man couched by Chefelden,
who faw fingly with both eyes immediately upon receiv¬
ing his fight, is nearly decifire in proof of his fuppofi-
tion. He alfo found that three young gentlemen, whom
he endeavoured to cure of fquinting, faw objects fingly,
as foon as ever they were brought to direft the centres
of both their eyes to the fame objedf, though they had
never been ufed to do fo from their infancy; and he ob-
ferves, that there are cafes, in which, notwithftanding
the fulleft convidlion of an objedi being fingle, no prac¬
tice of looking at it will ever make it appear fo, as when
it is feen through a multiplying glafs.
To all thefe folutions of the difficulty refpedling
fingle vifion by both eyes, objedlions have been lately
made which feem infurmountable. By judicious experi¬
ments, Dr Wells has fliown, that it is neither by cuftom
alone, nor by the original property of the eyes alone,
that objedls appear fingle ; and having demolifhed the
theories of others, he thus endeavours to account for the
phenomenon.
“ The vifible place of an objedt being compofed of
its vifible diftance and vifible diredlion, to Aioav how it
may appear the fame to both eyes, it will be neceflapy
* Etfay on (fays he *) to explain in what manner the diftance and
diredlion, which are perceived by one eye, may co-
1 ’ ’ incide with thofe which are perceived by the other.”
With refpedf to vifible diftance, the author’s opinion
feems not to differ from that which we haveftated elfe-
where (fee Metaphysics, N° 49, 50.); and therefore
we have to attend only to what he fays of vifible direc¬
tion.
When a fmall objedt is fo placed with refpedf to
either eye, as to be feen more diftindtly than in any
other fituation, our author fays that it is then in the
optic axis, or the axis of that eye. When the two
optic axes are diredted to a fmall objedl not very di-
ftant, they may be conceived to form two fides of a
triangle, of which the bafe is the interval between the
points of the corners where the axes enter the eyes.
This bafe he called the vifual bafe; and a line drawn
from the middle of it to the point of interfedlion of
the optic axis he calls the common axis. He then pro¬
ceeds to (how, that objedts really Jituated in the optic
axis do not appear to be in that line, but in the common
axis.
Every perfon (he obferves) knows, that if an objedl
be viewed through two fmall holes, one applied to each
eye, the two holes appear but as one. The theories
hitherto invented afford two explanations of this fadf.
According to Aguilonius, Dechales, Dr Porterfield, and
Dr Smith, the two holes, or rather their borders, will
be feen in the fame place as the objedl viewed through
them, and will confequently appear united, for the fame
reafon that the objedl itfelf is feen fingle. But whoever
makes the experiment will diftindlly perceive, that the
united hole is much nearer to him than the objedl; not
Vol. XV. Part I.
I c s.
22
r*
to mention, that any fallacy on this head might be cor-
redled by the information from the fenfe of touch, that
the card or other fubiiance in which the holes have been
made is within an inch or lefs of our face. The other
explanation is that furnithed by the theory of Dr Reid.
According to it, the centres of the retinas, which in
this experiment receive the pidlures of the holes, will,
by an original property, reprefent but one. This theory,
however, though it makes the two holes to appear one,
does not determine where this one is to be feen. It can¬
not be feen in only one of the perpendiculars to the
images upon the fetinas, for no realon can be given why
this law, of vifible diredtion, which Dr Reid thinks
eftablithed beyond difpute, if it operates at all, ffiould
not operate upon both eyes at the fame time ; and if it
be feen by both eyes in fuch lines, it muft appear where
thofe lines crofs each other, that is, in the fame place
with the objedl viewed through the holes, which, as I
have already mentioned, is contrary to experience. Nor
is it feen in any diredlion, the confequence of a law af-
fedling both eyes confidered as one organ, but fufpend-
ed when each eye is ufed feparately. For when the
two holes appear one, if we pay attention to its fitua¬
tion, atid then clofe one eye, the truly fingle hole will
be feen by the eye remaining open in exadlly the fame
diredlion as the apparently fingle hole was by both
eyes.
wi v moils
“ Hitherto I have fuppofed the holes almoft touching
the face. But they have the fame unity of appearance,
in whatever parts of the optic axes they are placed ;
whether both be at the fame diftance from the eyes, or
one be clofe to the eye in the axis of which it is, and
the other almoft contiguous to the objedl feen through
them. If a line, therefore, be drawn from the objedl
to one of the eyes, it will reprefent all the real or tan¬
gible pofitions of the hole, which allow the objedl to be
feen by that eye, and the whole of it will coincide with
the optic axis. Let a fimilar line be drawn to the other
eye, and the two muft appear but as one line ; for if
they do not, the two holes in the optic axes will not,
at every diftance, appear one, whereas experiments prove
that they do. This united line will therefore reprefent
the vifible diredlion of every objedl fituated in either of
the optic axes. But the end of it, which is toivards the
face, is feen by the right eye to the left, and by the left
eye as much to the right. It muft be feen then in the
middle between the two, and confequently in the com¬
mon axis. And as its other extremity coincides with
the point where the optic axes interfedl each other, the
whole of it muft lie in the common axis. Hence the
truth of the propofition is evident, that objedts fituated
in the optic axis, do not appear to be in that line, but
in the common axis.”
He then proves by experiments, that objedts fituated
in the common axis did not appear to be in that line,
but in the axis of the eye by which they are not feen:
that is, an objedl fituated in the common axis appears
to the right eye in the axis of the left, and vice verfa.
His next propofition, proved likewife by experiments, is,
that “ objedls, fituated in any line drawn through the
mutual interfedlion of the optic axes to the vifual bafe,
do not appear to be in that line, but in another drawn,
through the fame interfedlion, to a point in the vifual
bafe diftant half this bafe from the fimilar extremity
of the former line towards the left, if the objedls be
F f feen
226
OPT
Of Vifion.
150
Objeifls
feen with
both eyes
appear
brighter
than when
feen with
one.
feen by the right eye, but towards the right if feen by
the Jeft eye.”
From thefe propofitions he thus accounts for Angle
vifion by both eyes. “If the queftion be concerning
an objedl at the concourfe of the optic axes, it is feen
Angle, becaufe its two fimilar appearances, in regard to
fize, lhape, and colour, are feen by both eyes in one
and the fame direction, or if you will, in two diredlions,
which coincide with each other through the whole of
their extent. It therefore matters not whether the di¬
fiance be truly or falfely eftimated ; whether the object
be thought to touch our eyes, or to be infinitely remote.
And hence we have a reafon, which no other theory or
vifible direction affords, why objedls appeared fingle to
the young gentleman mentioned by Mr Chefelden, im¬
mediately after his being couched, and before he could
have learned to judge of diftance by fight.
“ When two fimilar objefts are placed in the optic
axes, one in each, at equal diftances from the eyes, they
will appear in the fame place, and therefore one, for the
fame reafon that a truly fingle objedl, in the concourfe
of the optic axes, is feen fingle.
“ To finifh this part of my fubjeft, it feems only
neceflary to determine, whether the dependence of vifi¬
ble dire&ion upon the adlions of the mufcles of the
eyes be eftablilhed by nature, or by cuftom. But fafts
are here wanting. As far as they go, however, they
ferve to prove that it arifes from an original principle of
our conftitution. For Mr Chefelden’s patient faw ob-
je£Is fingle, and confequently in the fame direftions with
both eyes, immediately after he was couched ; and per-
fons aftedted with fquinting from their earliell infancy
fee objedls in the fame diredlions with the eye they have
never been accuftomed to employ, as they do with the
other they have conftantly ufed.”
We are indebted to Dr .Turin for the following cu¬
rious experiments, to determine whether an objedl feen
by both eyes appears brighter than when feen with one
only.
He laid a flip of clean white paper diredtly before
him on a table, and applying the fide of a book clofe
to his right temple, fo that the book was advanced con-
fiderably farther forward than his face, he held it in
fuch a manner, as to hide from his right, eye that half
of the paper which lay to his left hand, while the left
half of the paper was feen by both eyes, without any
impediment.
Then looking at the paper with both eyes, he ob-
ferved it to be divided, from the top to the bottom, by
a dark line, and the part which was feen with one eye
only w:as manifeftly darker than that which w7as feen
with both eyes ; and, applying the book to his left
temple, he found, by the refult of the experiment, that
both his eyes were of equal goodnefs.
He then endeavoured to determine the excefs of this
brightnefs *, and comparing it with the appearance of an
objedt illuminated partly by one candle and partly by
two, he was furprifed to find that an objedt feen with
two eyes is by no means twice as luminous as when it is
feen with one *, and after a number of trials, he found,
that when one paper was illuminated by a candle placed
at the diftance of three feet, and another paper by the
fame candle at the fame diftance, and by another candle
at the diftance of 11 feet, the former feen by both eyes
apd the latter with one eye only, appeared to be of
I C S. Part I.
equal whitenefs 5 fo that an objedl feen with both eyes Of Vifion.
appears brighter than when it is feen with one only by v"—“v—
about a 13th part.
Fie then proceeded to inquire, whether an objedt feen
with both eyes appears larger than when feen with one ;
but he concluded that it did not, except on account of
fome particular circumftances, as in the cafe of the bi¬
nocular telefcope and the concave fpeculum.
M. du Tour maintains, that the mind attends to no
more than the image made in one eye at a time } and
produces feveral curious experiments in favour of this
hypothefis, which had alfo been maintained by Kepler
and almoft all the nrft opticians. But, as M. Buffon
obferves, it is a fufficient anfwer to this hypothefis, how¬
ever ingenioufly it may be fupported, that we fee more
diftindtly w'ith two eyes than with one ; and that when
a round objedt is near us, we fee more of the furface in.
one cafe than in the other.
With refpedl to fingle vifion with tw'o eyes, Dr
Hartley obferves, that it deferves particular attention,
that the optic nerves of men, and iiich other animals as
look the fame way with both eyes, unite in the ctlla
turcica in a ganglion, or little brain, as one may call it,
peculiar to themfelves ; and that the affociations betw een
fynchronous impreflions on the two retinas muft be made
fooner and cemented ftronger on this account: alfo that
they ought to have a much greater pow'er over one ano¬
ther’s images, than in any other part of the body. And
thus an impreflion made on the right eye alone, by a
fingle objedl, may propagate itfelf into the left, and
there raife up an image almoft equal in vividnefs to it¬
felf ; and confequently when we fee with one eye only,
we may, however, have pictures in both eyes.
A curious deception in vifion, arifing from the ufe
of both eyes, was obferved and accounted for by Dr
Smith. It is a common obfervation, he fays, that ob-
jedts feen w ith both eyes appear more vivid and ftrong¬
er than they do to a fingle eye 5 efpecially when both of
them are equally good. A perfon not fhort-fighted
may foon be convinced of this fadt, by looking at¬
tentively at objedts that are pretty remote, firft with
one eye, and then with both. This obfervation gave
occafion to the conftrudlion of the binocular telefcope,
in the ufe of which the phenomenon is ftill more ftrik-
in<j.
Befides this, Dr Smith obferves, that there is another
phenomenon obfervable with this inftrument, which is
very remarkable. In the foci of the two telefcopes there
are two equal rings, as ufual, which terminate the pic¬
tures of the objedts there formed, and coufequcntly the
vifible area of the objedts themfelves. Thefe equal
rings, by reafon of the equal eye-glaffes, appear equal
and equidiftant when feen feparatcly by each eye } but
when they are feen with both eyes, they appear much
larger, and more diftant alfo ; and the objedts feen
through them alfo appear much larger, though circum-
fcribed by their united rings, in the fame places as when
they wrere feen feparately.
He obferves that the phenomenon of the enlarged
circle of the vifible area in the binocular telefcope, may
be feen very plainly in looking at diftant objedts through
a pair of Ipedtacles, removed from the eyes about four
or five inches, and held fteady at that diftanc^. The
two innermoft of the four apparent rings, which hold
the glaffes, will then appear united in one larger and
more
Theory. O P T'
Of Vifion. more diftant ring than the two outermoft, which will
'"“—'v hardly be vilible unlefs the fpeftaclcs be farther re-
iS1
When one
eye is elof-
ed, the pu¬
pil of the
ether is en¬
larged.
'moved.
A curious circumftance relating to the effeft of one
eye upon the other, was noticed by M. iEpinus, who
obferved, that, when he was looking through a hole
made in a plate of metal, about the loth part of a
line in diameter, with his left eye, both the hole itfelf
appeared larger, and alfo the field of view feen through
it was more extended, whenever he Ihut his right eye 5
and both thefe effects were more remarkable when that
eye was covered with his hand. He found confider-
able difficulty in meafuring this augmentation of the
apparent diameter of the hole, and of the field of view ;
but at length he found, that, when the hole was half
an inch, and the tablet which he viewed through it was
three feet from his eye, if the diameter of the field when
both his eyes were open was i, it became when the
other eye was {hut, and nearly 2 when his hand tvas
laid upon it.
Upon examining this phenomenon, it prefently ap¬
peared to depend upon the enlargement of the pupil
of one eye when the. other is clofed, the phyfical caufe
of which he did not pretend to affign ; but he obferves,
that it is wifely appointed by Providence, in order that
when one eye fails, the field of view in the other may
be extended. That this effeft ffiould be more fenfible
when the eye is covered with the hand, is owing, he
obferves, to the eyelids not being impervious to the
light. But the augmentation of the pupil does not en¬
large the field of view, except in looking through a
hole, as in this particular cafe •, and therefore perfons
who are blind of one eye can derive no advantage from
this circumftance.
A great deal has been written by Gaflendi, Le Clerc,
Muffchenbroek, and Du Tour, concerning the place to
which we refer an objedt viewed by one or both eyes.
But the moft fatisfadlory account of this matter that we
have met with, will be found in Dr Wells’s Eflay above
quoted.
1S*
The va¬
rious ap¬
pearances
of objefts
feen thro’
media of
different
forms
dated and
inveftigat-
ed.
Sect. Vi. Of the Appearance, of ObjeBs feen through
Media of different Forms.
For the more eafy apprehenfion of what relates to
this fubjeft, we ffiall premife the five following particu¬
lars, which either have been already mentioned, or fol¬
low from what has been before laid down.
I. That as each point of an objedf, when viewed by
the naked eye, appears in its proper place, and as that
place is always to be found in the line in which the axis
of a pencil of rays flowing from it enters the eye, or elfe
in the line which Dr Wells calls the common axis; we
hence acquire a habit of confidering the point to be fi-
tuated in that line: and, becaufe the mind is unacquaint¬
ed with what refradlions the rays fuffer before they en¬
ter the eye, therefore, in cafes where they are diverted
from their natural courfe, by paffing through any me¬
dium, it judges the point to be in that line produced
back in which the axis of a pencil of rays flowing from
it is fituated the inftant they enter the eye, and not in
that it was in before refraftion. We {hall, therefore,
in what follows, fuppoi’e the apparent place of an ob-
je<!ft, when feen through a refradting medium, to be
iomewhere in that line produced back in which the axis
ICS, 227
of a pencil of rays flowing from it proceeds after they
have palled through the medium.
2. That we are able to judge, though imperfedlly, of
the diftance of an objedl by the degree of divergency,
wherein the rays flowing from the fame point of the
objedt enter the pupil of the eye, in cafes where that
divergency is confiderable ; but becaufe in what follows
it will be neceflary to fuppofe an objedt, when feen
through a medium whereby its apparent diftance is al¬
tered, to appear in fome determinate fituation, in thofe
cafes where the divergency of the rays at their entrance
into the eye is confiderable, we will fuppofe the objedt
to appear where thofe lines which they deferibe in en¬
tering, if produced back, would crofs each other :
though it mult not be aflerted, that this is the precife
diftance 5 becaufe the brightnefs, diftindtnefs, and ap¬
parent magnitude of the objedt, on which its apparent
diftance in fome meafure depends, will alfo fuffer an al¬
teration by the refradtion of the rays in palling through
that medium.
3. That we eftimate the magnitude of an objedt by
that of the optic angle.
4. That vifion is the brighter, the greater the num¬
ber of rays is which enter the pupil.
5. And that, in fome cafes, the apparent brightnefs,
diftindtnefs, and magnitude of an objedt, are the only
means by which our judgment is determined ineftimat-
ing the diftance of it.
Appear¬
ance of Ob¬
jects thro’
Media of
different
Forms.
Prop. I.
An objedt placed -Within a medium terminated by ,
a pdane furface on that fide which is next the
eye, if the medium be denfer than that in which
the eye is (as we {hall fuppofe it to be, un¬
lefs where the contrary is exprefled), appears
nearer to the furface of the medium than it
is.
Thus, if A (fig. 5 ) be a point of an objedt placed cccrxxxn
within the medium BCDE, and Ab Ac be two rays %• 5.
proceeding from thence, thefe rays paffing out of a den¬
fer into a rarer medium, will be refradted from their re-
fpedtive perpendiculars b d, c e, and will enter the eye
at H, fuppole in the diredtions bf eg: let then- thefe
lines be produced back till they meet in F 5 this -will
be the apparent place of the point A ; and becaufe the
refradted rays bf eg will diverge more than the inci¬
dent ones Ab, Ac, it will be nearer to the points £and
c than the point A; and as the fame is true of each
point in the objedt, the whole will appear to an eye at
H, nearer to the furface BC than it is.
Hence it is, that when one end of a ftraight flick
is put under water, and the flick is held in an oblique
polition, it appears bent at the furface of the wa¬
ter ; viz. becaufe each point that is under water ap¬
pears nearer the furface, and confequently higher than
it is.
From this likewife it happens, that an objedt at the
bottom of a veffel may be feen when the veffel is filled
with water, though it be fo placed with refpedt to the eye,
that it cannot be feen when the veffel is empty. To
explain this, let ABCD (fig. 6.) reprefent a veffel, and Fig. 6*.
let E be an objedt lying at the bottom of it. This ob¬
jedt, when the veffel is empty, will not be feen by an
1 F f 2 eye
I
228 OPT
Appear- eye at F, becauffe HB, the upper part o£ the veffel, will
a-n^> ot,01’"obftru6t the ray EH 5 but when it is filled with water
■Media of to the height GH, the ray at EK being refracted at the
different furface of the "water into the line KF, the eye at F lhall
Forms, fee the object by means of that.
' ^ In like manner, an object fituated in the horizon
AnobjeH app^^s above its true place, on account of the re-
fituated in fraction of the rays which proceed from it in their
the horizon paflage through the atmofphere. For, firft, If the ob-
appears je(cj, fjtuated beyond the limits of the atmofphere,
true place ^rays entering it will be refrafted towards the per¬
pendicular ; that is, towards a line drawn from the point
where they enter, to the centre of the earth, which is
the centre of the atmofphere : and as they pafs on, they
will be continually refradted the fame way’, beeanfe they
are all along entering a denfer part, the centre of whofe
convexity is ftill the fame point; upon which account
the line they defcribe will be a curve bending down¬
wards : and therefore none of the rays that come from
that object can enter an eye upon the furface of the
earth, except "what enter the atmofphere higher than
they need to do if they could come in a right line
from the objedt : confequently the objedt mult appear
above its proper place. Secondly, If the objedt be
placed within the atmofphere, the cafe is Itill the fame;
for the rays which flow from it mult continually enter
a denfer medium whofe centre is below the eye ; and
therefore being refradted towards, the centre, that is,
downwards as before, thofe which enter the eye fnuft
neceflarily proceed as from fome point above the ob¬
jedt ; whence the objedt will appear above its proper
place.
Hence it is, that the fun, moon, and ftars, appear
above the horizon, when they are juft below it; and
higher than they ought to do, when they are above it:
Likewife diftant hills, trees, &c. feem to be higher than
, they are.
Befides, The lower thefe objedts are in the horizon,
the greater is the obliquity with which the rays which
flow from them enter the atmofphere, or pafs from the
rarer into the denfer parts of it; and therefore they ap¬
pear to be the more elevated by refradHon : on which
account the lower parts of them are apparently more
elevated than the reft. This makes their upper and
under parts feem nearer than they are ; as is evident
from the fun and moon, w’hich appear of an oval form
when they are in the horizon, their horizontal diame¬
ters appearing of the fame length that they would do
if the rays fuffered no refradh’on, while their vertical
ones are thus fhortened.
Prop. II.
An object feen through a medium terminated by
plane and parallel furfaces, appears nearer^
1S4 brighter, and larger, than with the naked eye.
feen°tW ■F?r inftance»let (fig- 7-) be the objedt, CDEFthe
a plane me- medium, and GH the pupil of an eye, which is here
dium ap- drawn large to prevent confufion in the figure.—And,
pears nearer x. Let RK, RL, be two rays proceeding from the pointR,
trthan'Yeen anC* enter*ng ^ denfer medium at K and L; thefe rays
by the nak-fiere ^ refradtion be made to diverge lefs, and to
ed eye. proceed afterwards, fuppofe in the lines K a, L b ; at «
Plate and b, where they pafs out of the denfer medium, they
eccLxxxt. be as much refracted the contrary way, proceeding
I c s.
Part I.
in the lines a c, b d, parallel to their finft diredtions. Appear.
Produce thefe lines back till they meet in e: this will a.nc® °£ Ob-
be the apparent place of the point R ; and it is evident 'Media of
from the figure, that it muft be nearer the eye than that different
point; and becaufe the fame is true of all other pencils Forms,
flowing from the objedt AB, the whole will be feen in' y—
the fituation fg, nearer to the eye than the line AB.
2. As the rays RK, RL would not have entered the
eye, but have paffed by it in the diredtions Kr, L /, had
they not been refradted in pafling through the me¬
dium, the objedt appears brighter. 3. The rays A
B £, will be refradted at /i and i into the lefs conver¬
ging lines /i k, i /, and at the other furface into k M,
f M,. parallel to A h and B i produced ; fo that the ex¬
tremities of the objedt will appear in the lines M £, M /
produced, viz. in f and g, and under as large an angle
/Mg, as the angle B under which an eye at q
would have feen it had there been no medium inter-
pofed to refradt the rays 1 and therefore it appears
larger to the eye at GH, being feen through the in-
terpofed medium, than otherwife it, would have done.
But it is here to be obferved, that the nearer the point
e appears to the eye on account of the refradHon of
the rays RK, RL, the fticrter is the image fg, becaufe
it is terminated by the lines Mf and M^, upon which
account the objedt is made to appear lefs; and there¬
fore the apparent magnitude of an objedt is not much
augmented by being feen through a medium of this
form.
Farther, it is apparent from the figure, that the ef-
fedt of a medium of this form depends wholly upon its
thicknefs; for the diftance betw-een the lines R r and
e c, and confequently the diftance between the points e
and R, depends upon the length of the line K a :•—.
Again, The diftance betw'een the lines AM and
depends on the length of the line h k ; but both K n
and k h depend on the diftance between the furfaces
CE and DF, and therefore the effedt of this medium
depends upon its thicknefs.
Prop. III.
An objedft feen through a convex lens, appears
larger, brighter, and more diftant, than with the
naked eye.
To illuftrate this, let AB (fig. 8.) be the objedl, CD Seeruhro*
the lens, and EF the eye. I. From A and B, the extre- a convex
mities of the objedt, draw the lines AY r, BX r, crofting lens>
each other in the pupil of the eye; the angle A?-B com- brig^ter^
prehended between thefe lines, is the angle under which and more
the objedt would be feen with the naked eye. But by diftant.
the interpofition of a lens of this form, whofe property Gg- 8.
it is to render converging rays more fo, the rays AY
and BX will be made to crofs each other before they,
reach the pupil. There the eye at E will not perceive
the extremities of the objedt by means of thefe rays (for
they will pafs it without entering), but by fome others
which muft fall without the points Y and X, or be¬
tween them ; but if they fall between them, they will
be made to concur fooner than they themfelves would
have done : and therefore, if the extremities of the ob-
jedt could not be feen by them, it will much lefs be feen
by thefe. It remains therefore* that the rays which
will enter the eye from the points A and B after refrac¬
tion, muft fall upon the lens vfithout the points Y and
Theoi'y- OPT
Appear- X j let then the rays AO and BP be fuch. Thefeaf-
incf of Ob- ter refraction entering the eye at r, the extremities of
^jYIedia of t^e be feen in the lines r r T, produced,
different and under the optic angle Q^rT, which is larger than
Form'i. A r B, and therefore the apparent magnitude of the ob-
y "" ' ject will be increafed.—2. Let GHI be a pencil of rays
flowing from the point G ; as it is the property of this
lens to render diverging rays lefs diverging, parallel, or
converging, it is evident that fome of thofe rays, which
would proceed on to F and E, and mifs the eye were
they to fuffer no refraction in palling through the lens,
will now enter it j by which means the objeft will ap¬
pear brighter. 3. The apparent diftance of the objeCt
will vary according to the fituation of it with refpeCt to
the focus of parallel rays of the lens. 1. Then, let us
fuppofe the objeft placed fo much nearer the lens than
its focus of parallel rays, that the refraCted rays KE and
LF, though rendered lefs diverging by palling through
it, may yet have a confiderable degree of divergency,
fo that we may be able to form a judgment of the dif¬
tance of the objeCt thereby. In this cafe, the object
ought to appear where EK, FL produced back concur;
which, becaufe they diverge lefs than the rays GH, GI,
will be beyond G, that is, at a greater diftance from
the lens than the objeCt is. But becaufe both the
brightnefs and magnitude of the objeCt will at the fame
time be augmented, prejudice will not permit us to
reckon it quite fo far off as the point where thofe lines
meet, but fomewhere between that point and its proper
place. 2. Let the objeCl be placed in the focus of pa¬
rallel rays, then will the rays KE and LF become pa¬
rallel ; and though in this cafe the object would appear
at an immenfe diftance, if that diftance were to be
judged of by the direction of the rays KE and LF, yet
on account of its brightnefs and magnitude we lhall not
think it much farther from us than if it were feen by
plate the naked eye. 3. If the objeCt be fituated beyond the
cclxxxi. focus of parallel rays, as in BA, the rays flowing from
fig- 9. it, and falling upon the lens CD, will be collected into
their refpeCtive foci at a and b, and the intermediate
points /«, «, &c. and will there form an image of the
objeCt AB ; and after crofting each other in the feveral
points of it, as expreffed in the figure, will pafs on di¬
verging as from a real objeCt. Now if an eye be fitua-
ed at r, where Ac, B r, rays proceeding from the ex¬
treme points of the objeCt, make not a much larger
angle A c B, than they would do if no lens were inter-
pofed, and the rays belonging to the fame pencil do not
converge fo much as thofe which the eye would receive
if it were placed nearer to a or Z», the objeCt upon thele
accounts appearing very little larger or brighter than
with the naked eye, is feen nearly in its proper place :
but if the eye recede a little way towards a b, the objeCt
then appearing both brighter and larger feems to
approach the lens: which is an evident proof of what
has been fo often afferted, viz. that we judge of the
diftance of an objeCt in fome meafure by its bright¬
nefs and magnitude ; for the rays converge the more
the farther the eye recedes from the lens •, and there¬
fore if we judged of the diftanee of the objeCt by the
direction of the rays which flow from it, we ought in
this cafe to conceive it at a greater diftance, than when
the rays were parallel, or diverged at their entrance
into the eye
That the objeCt ftiould feem to approach the lens in.
1 ^ O. 229
this cafe, was a difficulty that puzzled Dr Barrow, and Appear-
which he pronounces infuperable, and not to be ac- a?ce ot Ob-
counted for by any theory we have of vifion. Mo- 'Ivi^dia of
lineux alfo leaves it to the folution of others, as that different
which will be inexplicable, till a more intimate know- Forms,
ledge of the vifive faculty, as he expreffes it, be obtain- v—
ed by mortals.
t hey imagined, that fince an objeCt appears farther
off, the lefs the rays diverge which fall upon the eye,
if they fhould proceed parallel to each other, it ought
to appear exceeding remote ; and if they fhould con¬
verge, ft fhould then appear more diftant ftill: the rea-
fon of this was, becaufe they looked upon the apparent
place of an objeCt, as owing only to the direction of the
rays whatever it was, and not at all to its apparent
magnitude or fplendour.
Perhaps it may proceed from our judging of the dif¬
tance of an objeCt in fome meafure by its magnitude,
that the deception of fight commonly obferved by tra¬
vellers may arife ; viz. that upon the firft appearance of
a budding larger than ufual, as a cathedral church, or
the like, it generally feems nearer to them, than they
afterwards find it to be.
Prop. IV.
If an obje£t be placed farther from a convex lens
than its focus of parallel rays, and the eye be
fituated farther from it on the other fide than
the pace where the rays of the feveral pencils
are collected into their proper foci, the objeCt
appears inverted, and pendulous in the air, be¬
tween the eye and the lens.
To explain this, let AB reprefent the objeCt, CD the In cerfain 1
lens ; and let the rays on the pencil ACD be collected circum-
in a, and thofe of BCD in b, forming there.an inverted ftances a« 1
image of the objeCt AB, and let the eye be placed in hT*
F : it is apparent from the figure, that fome of the re- convex lens
fraCted ray s which pafs through each point of the image appears in¬
fill enter the eye as from a real objeCt in that place • verted and
and therefore the objeCt AB will appear there, as the Pendulous
propofition yfferts. But we are fo little accuftomed to m 116 ^
fee objeCts in this manner, that it is very difficult to FlS‘9*
perceive the image with one eye; but if both eyes are
fituated in fuch a manner, that rays flowing from each
point of the image may enter both, as at G and H, and
we direCt our optic axes to the image, it is eafy to be
perceived.
If the eye be lituated in a or b, or very near them
on either fide, the objeCt appears exceedingly indiitinCt,
viz. if at r/, the rays which proceed from the fame
point of the objeCt converge fo very much, and if at e
they diverge fo much, that they cannot be collected
together upon the retina, but fall upon it as if they
were the axes of fo many diftinCt pencils coming through
every point of the lens; wherefore little more than
one Angle point of the objeCt is feen at a time, and that
appears all over the lens ; whence nothing but indiftinCL
nefs arifes.
If the lens be fo large that both eyes may be ap¬
plied to it,, as in h and £, the objeCt will appear double;
for it is evident from the figure, that the rays which
enter the eye at h from either extremity of the objeCt
A or B, do not proceed as from the fame point with
that
230
Appear¬
ance ot Ob
different
Forms.
I5?
An objedl
through a
OPT
tliat from tvlience thofe which enter the other at k feem
uilc ui ^u-to ^ow . t]ie mind therefore is here deceived, and looks
Ivbjdia^of uPon the object as fituated in two different places, and
therefore judges it to be double.
Prop. V.
An object feen through a concave lens appears
nearer, fmaller, and lefs bright, than with the
concave , ,
lens is feen naked eye.
fmaller and Thus, let AB (fig. 10.) be the objedt, CD the pupil
lefs bright of an eye, and EF the lens. Now, as it is the propelty of
a lens of this form to render diverging rays more fo, and
converging ones lefs fo, the diverging rays Gxi, GI,
proceeding from the point G, will be made to diverge
more, and fo to enter the eye as from fome nearer point
g; and the rays AH, BI, which converge, will be
made to converge lefs, and to enter the eye as from the
points a and b ; wherefore the objefts wUl appear in the
fituation ctgh, lefs and nearer than without the lens.
Further, As the rays which proceed from G are render¬
ed more diverging, fome of them will pais by the pu¬
pil of the eye, which otherwife would have entered it,
and therefore each point of the objedt will appear lefs
bright.
Prop. VI.
than with
the naked
eye.
Fig. 10.
An objedb feen through a polygonal glafs, that is,
one which is terminated by feveral plain furfa-
ces, is multiplied thereby.
Plate Let A be an objedl, and BC a polygonous glafs ter-
ccclxxxi. niJnated by the plane furfaces ED, DE, &c. and let
f's- 11, j.]ie fituation of the eye F be fuch, that the rays AB be¬
ing refradted in paffing through the glafs, may enter it
in the direction BF, and the rays AC in the diredion
CF. Then will the eye, by means of the former, fee
the objedt in G, and by the latter in H ; and by means
of the rays AI, the objedt will alfo appear in its proper
fituation A.
Sect. VII. On the RefleBion of Light.
158
Some por- When a ray of light falls upon any body, however
tion of light transparent, the whole of it never paffes through the
fi eft ed from body, but fome part is always refledted from it-, and
tranfparent it is by this refleded light that all bodies which have
bodies. no light of their own become vifible to us. Of that
part of the ray which enters, another part is alfo reflec¬
ted from the fecond furface, or tbat_ which is fartheft
from the luminous body. When this part arrives again
at the firft furface, part of it is refleded back from that
furface ; and thus it continues to be refleded between
the two furfaces, and to pafs backwards and forwards
within the fubftance of the medium, till fome part is
totally extinguiflied and loft. Belides this inconfider-
able quantity, however, which is loft in this manner,
(he fecond furface often refleds much more than the
firft ; fo that, in certain pofitions, fcarcely any rays will
f.afs through both fides of the medium. A very conft-
derable quantity is alfo unaccountably loft at each re-
fleding furface ; fo that no body, however tranfparent,
can tranfmit all the rays which fall upon it neither,
though it be ever fo well fitted for refledion, will it re¬
tied them all.
I c s.
Part I,
n , Caufe of
On the Caufe of RefeBion. Refleftion.
The refledion of light is not fo eafily accounted for as y ~ ' J
refradion. This lalt property may be accounted for
in a fatisfadory manner, by the fuppofition of an attrac-.
tive power diffufed throughout the medium, and extend¬
ing a very little way beyond it 5 but with regard to the
refledion of light, there feems to be no fatisfadory
hypothelis hitherto invented. Of the principal opinions
on this fubjed Mr Rowning has given us the following
account. i_9
I. It was the opinion of philofophers, before Sir Ifaac Light is
Newton difeovered the contrary, that light is refleded n°t reflect,
by impinging dpon the folid parts of bodies. But that1'1 b>’im-
this is not the cafe is evident from the following reafons.Ihe^iohd'1
Firft, It is net refleded at the firft furface of a body parts of
by impinging againft it. For in order that the light bodies at
may be regularly refleded, there fliould be no afperi-fur.
ties or unevennefs in the refleding furface large enough “ ’
to bear a fenflble proportion to the magnitude of a ray
of light ; becaufe if the furface abound with thefe, the
incident rays would be irregularly fcattered rather than
refleded with that regularity with which light is ob-
ferved to be from a well polilhed furface. Now thofe
furfaces, which to our fenfes appear perfedly fmooth
and well polilhed, are far from being fo ; for to pulifh,
is only to grind off the larger protuberances of the me¬
tal with the rough and fharp particles of emery, which
muft of neceflity leave behind them an infinity of alteri¬
ties and feratches, which, though inconfiderable with re¬
gard to the former roughneffes, and too minute to be
difeerned by us, muft neverthelefs bear a large propor¬
tion to, if not vaftly exceed, the magnitude of the par¬
ticles of light. j£0 .
Secondly, It is not refleded at the fecohd furface by nor at the
impinging againft any folid particles. That it is not fecond.
refleded by impinging upon the fulid particles which
conftitute this' fecond furface, is fufticiently obvious from
the foregoing argument; the fecond furfaces of bodies
being as incapable of a perfed polifh as the firft : and it
is farther confirmed from this, viz. that the quantity of
light refleded differs according to the different denfity
of the medium behind the body. It is likewife not re¬
fleded by impinging upon the particles which conftitute
the furface of the medium behind it, becaufe the ftrong-
eft refledion at the fecond furface of a body, is when
there is a vacuum behind it. ^
II. It has been the opinion of fome, that light is re-sUpp0fuion
fleded at the firft furface of a body, by a repulfive force of a repul-
equally diffufed over it : and at the fecond, by an at-five f°rce!
tradive force. i6z
X. If there be a repulfive force diffufed over the fur-objeftedto.
face of bodies that repels the rays of light, then, fince
by increafing the obliquity of a ray we diminifh its per¬
pendicular force (which is that only whereby it muft
make its way through this repulfive force), however
weakly that force may be fuppofed to ad, rays of light
may be made to fall with fo great a degree of obliquity
on the refleding furface, that there fhall be a total re¬
fledion of them there, and not one particle of light be
able to make its way through : which is contrary to;
obfervation the refledion of light at the firft furface
of a tranfparent body being never total in any obliquity - ^
whateViSr. _ ^ Attradiy,?
* 2. As to the refledion at the fecond furface by the force fup-
attradive pofed;
3
Theory. OPT
Caufe of attrafHve force of the body $ this may be confidered
Itefleiftion. jn two refpefts : firft, when the reflexion is total; fe-
condly, when it is partial.
Firft, In cafes where the refleflion is total, the caufe
of it is undoubtedly that fame attradlive force by which
light would be refradled in palling out of the fame
body. 1 his is manifeft from that analogy which is
obfervable between the reflection of light at the fecond
furface, and its refradtion there. For, otherwife, wjiat
can be the reafon that the total refledtion Ihould begin
juft when the obliquity of the incident ray, at its arrival
at the fecond furface, is fuch, that the refracted angle
ought to be a right one ; or when the ray, were it not
to return in refledtion, ought to pafs on parallel to the
furface, without going from it ? For in this cafe it is
evident, that it ought to be returned by this very power,
and in fuch a manner that the angle of refledtion fliall
be equal to the angle of incidence ; juft as a ftone
thrown obliquely from the earth, after it is fo far turn¬
ed out of its courfe by the attradtion of the earth, as to
begin to move horizontally, or parallel to the furface of
the earth, is then by the fame power made to return in
a curve ftmilar to that which is deferibed in its depar¬
ture from the earth, and fo falls with the fame degree of
obliquity that it was thrown with.
Objection. -^ut> fecondJy, As to the refledfion at the fecond fur¬
face, when it is partial; an attradlive force uniformly
fpread over it, as the abettors of this hypothefis
conceive it to be, can never be the caufe thereof.
Becaufe it is inconceivable, that the fame force, adiing
in the fame circumftances in every refpedl, can fome-
times refledl the violet-coloured rays, and tranfmit the
red, and at other times refledl the red and tranfmit the
violet.
This objedlion, however, is not well founded ; for
in each colour, the refledlion takes placQ at that angle,
and no other, where the refraction of that ray would
make it parallel to the pofterior furface.
This partial refledlion and refradiion is a great dif¬
ficulty in all the attempts which have been made to
give a mechanical explanation of the phenomena of
optics. It is equally a defideratum in that explana¬
tion which was propofed by Huygens, by means of the
undulations of an elaftic fluid, although a vague con-
fideration of undulatory motions feems to offer a very
fpecious analogy. But a rigid application of the know¬
ledge we have acquired of thefe motions, will convince
us that the phenomena of undulation are effentially
diflimilar to the phenomena of light. The infledlion
and refradiion of light, demon (Irate that light is aEled on
by moving forces in a diredlion perpendicular to the
furface; and it is equally demonftrable that fuch forces
muft, in proper circumftances, produce refledlions pre-
cifely fuch as we obferve. The only difficulty is to (how
how there can be forces which produce both reflec¬
tion and refradiion, in circumftances which are fimilar.
The fadl is, that fuch effedls are produced : the firft
logical inference is, that .with refpedl to the light
which is refledled and that which is refradled, the
circumftances are not fimilar 5 and our attention fliould
be diredled to the difeovery of that diflimilarity. All
the phenomena of combined refledlion and refradiion
fliould be examined and claffed according to their ge¬
nerality, not doubting but that thefe points of re-
femblance will lead to the difeovery of their caufes.
I C Sr 231
Now the experiments of M. Bouguer fhow that bodies Caufe of
differ in their powers of thus feparating light by reflee- f^Aedtion.
tion and refradtion. It is not therefore a general proper- v_" '
ty of light to be partly refledled and partly refradled,
but a difinEhve property of different bodies ; and fince
we fee that they poflefs it in different degrees, we are
authorized to conclude that fome bodies may want it al-
together. We may therefore expedt fome fuccefs, by
confidering how bodies are affedled by light, as well as
how light is affedled by bodies. Novr, in all the phe¬
nomena of the material world we find bodies connedled
by mutual forces. We know no cafe w here a body A
tends towards a body B, or, in common language, is at-
tradled by it, without, at the fame time, the body B
tending towards A. This is obferved in the phenomena
of magnetifm, eledlricity, gravitation, corpufcular at-
tradlion, impulfe, &c. We fliould therefore conclude
from analogy, that as bodies change the motion of
light, light alfo changes the motion of bodies ; and
that the particles near the furface are put into vibra¬
tion by the paflage of light through among them.
Suppofe a parcel of cork balls all hanging as pendu- xh^otfjec
lums in a fymmetrical order, and that an eledlrified tion obviat-
ball paffes through the midft of them j it is very eafyed.
to ihow that it may proceed through this affemblage
in various diredlions with a finuated motion, and with¬
out touching any of them, and that its ultimate direc¬
tion will have a certain inclination to its primary direc¬
tion, depending on the outline of the aflemblage, juft as
is obferved in the motion of light; and, in the mean
time, the cork balls will be varioufly agitated. Juft fo
muft it happen to the particles of a tranfparent body, if
we iuppofe that they a£l on the particles of light by
mutual attradlions and repulfions.
An attentive confideration of what happens here will
fliow us that the fuperficial particles will be much more
agitated than the reft j and thus a ftratum be produced,
which, in any inftant, will a£l on thofe particles of
light which are then approaching them in a manner
different from that in which they will a£l on fimilarly
fituated particles of light, which come into the place
of the firft in the following moment, when thefe aft-
ing particles of the body have (by their motion of
vibration) changed their own fituation. Now it is
clearly underftood, that, in all motions of vibration,
fuch as the motions of pendulums, there is* a moment
when the body is in its natural fituation, as when the
pendulum is in the vertical line. This may happen in
the fame inftant in each atom of the tranfparent body.
I he particles of light which then come within the fphere
of atlion may be wholly refle&ed ; in the next moment,
particles of light in the very fituation of the firft may be
refradled.
Then will arife a feparation of light ; and as this
will depend on the manner in which the particles of
bodies are agitated by it during its paflage, and as
this again will depend on the nature of the body, that
is, on the law of adlion of thole forces which connefl
the particles with each other, and with the particles of
light, it will be different in different bodies. But in all
bodies there will be this general refemblanee, that the
feparation will be molt copious in great obliquities of
incidence, which gives the repulfive forces more time for
adlion, while it diminilhes the perpendicular force of the
light.. Such a refemblance between the phenomena and
the
232 OPT
Caufe of the legitimate confequences of the afllimption (the agi-
■Iltffledion.^ ta^;on 0f parts of the body), gives us feme authority
for aligning this as the caufe ; nor can the affumption
be called gratuitous. To fuppofe that the particles of
the tranfparent body are not thus agitated, would be a
moft gratuitous contradiction of a law of nature to which
w7e know no other exception.
Thus the objection ftated in N° 164. is obviated, be-
caufe the refleCtion'and refraCtion are not here conceived
KJS as fimultaneous, but as fueceflivc.
Another III. Some have ftippofed, that, by the aCtion of light
-hypothefis. upon the furface of bodies, their parts are put into an
undulatory motion ; and that where the furface of it is
fubfiding light is tranfmitted, and in thofe places where
it is riling light is reflected.
But to overlook the objections which we have juft
made to this theory of undulation, we have only to ob-
ferve, that, were it admitted, it does not feem to ad¬
vance us a ftep farther *, for in thofe cafes, fuppofe
where red is reflected and violet tranfmitted, how comes
it to pafs that the red impinges only on thofe parts
when the waves are riling, and the violet when they
167 are fubfiding ?
Sir I New- jy. The next hypothefis is that remarkable one of
thefis •^°" Hhac Newton’s fits of eafy reflection and tranfmif-
! lion, which we lhall now explain and examine.
That author, as far as we can apprehend his mean¬
ing in this particular, is of opinion, that light in its
■paffage from the luminous body, is difpofed to be alter¬
nately reflected by, and tranfmitted through, any re-
fraCting furface it may meet with •, that thefe difpofi-
tions, which he calls fits of eafy refle&ion and eafy tranf-
mijjton, return fucceflively at equal intervals •, and that
they are communicated to it at its firft emiflion out of
the luminous body, from which it proceeds probably by
feme very fubtile and elaftic fubftance diffufed through
the univerfe, and that in the following manner. As
bodies falling into water, or palling through the air, pro¬
duce undulations in each, fo the rays of light may excite
vibrations in this elaftic fubftance. The quicknefs of
thefe vibrations depending on the elafticity of the me¬
dium (as the quieknefs of the vibrations in the air,
which propagate found, depend folely on the elafticity
of the air, and not upon the quicknefs of thofe in the
founding body), the motion of the particles of it may be
quicker than that of the rays, and therefore, when a ray
at the inftant it impinges upon any furface, is in that
part of a vibration of this elaftic fubftance which con-
fpires with its motion, it may be eafily tranfmitted 5 and
when it is in that part of a vibration which is contrary
to its motion, it may be reflected. He further fuppofes,
that when light falls upon the furface of a body, if it be
not in a fit of eafy tranfmiflion, every ray is there put
into one, fo that when they come at the other fide
(for this elaftic fubftance, pervading the pores of bodies,
is capable of the fame vibrations within the body as
without it), the rays of one colour lhall be in a fit of
eafy tranfmiflion, and thofe of another in a fit of eafy
refleClion, according to the thicknefs of the body, the
intervals of the fits being different in rays of a different
kind. Fhis feems to account for the different colours
of the bubble and thin plate of air and water ; and like-
wife for the reflection of light at the fecond furface of a
thicker body 5 for the light thence refleaed is alfo ob¬
served to be coloured, and to form rings according to
I C S. Part I.
the difterent thicknefs of the body, when not intermixed Caufe of
and confounded with other light, as will appear from Keflettion.
the following experiment. If a piece of glafs be
ground concave on one fide and convex on the other,
both its concavity and convexity having one common
centre j and if a ray of light be made to pafs through
a fmall hole in a piece of paper held in that common
centre, and be permitted to fall on the glafs ; befides
thofe rays which are regularly reflefted back to the
hole again, there will be others refleCled to the paper,
and form coloured rings furrounding the hole, not un¬
like thofe occafioned by the reflection of light from thin
Plates; . I(r,
It is ever with extreme reluctance that we venture This hypo,
to call in queftion the dodtrines of Newton; but to thefis un-
his theory of refledtion there is this infuperable ob-tenable'
jedtion, that it explains nothing, unlefs the caufe of the
fits of more eafy refledtion and tranfmiflion be held as
legitimate, namely, that they are produced by the undula¬
tions of another elaftic fluid, incomparably more fubtile
than light, adting upon it in the way of impulfe. The
fits themfelves are matters of faff, and no way different
from what we have endeavoured to account for ; but to
admit this theory of them would be to tranfgrefs every
rule of philofophizing.
Of the Laws of Refle&ion.
The fundamental law of the reflediion of light, is,Thefond*
that the angle of refledtion is always equal to the angle mental law
of incidence. This is found by experiment to be theofrefle<:'
cafe, and befides may be demonftrated mathematicallytl0n'
from the laws of impulfe in bodies perfedtly elaftic.
The axiom therefore holds good in every cafe of reflec¬
tion, whether it be from plane or fpherical furfaces j
and hence the feven following propofitions relating to
the refledtion of light from plane and fpherical furfaces
may be deduced.
I. Rays of light refle&ed from a plane furface have
the fame degree of inclination to one another that their
refpe&ive incident ones have.—For the angle of reflec¬
tion of each ray being equal to that of its refpedlive in¬
cident one, it is evident, that each refledled ray will
have the fame degree of inclination to that portion of
the furface from which it is refledled that its incident
one has; but it is here fuppofed, that all thofe portions
of furface from which the rays are refledled, are fituated
in the fame plane ; confequently the refledled rays will
have the fame degree of inclination to each other that
their incident ones have, from whatever part of the fur¬
face they are refledled. j^0
II. Parallel rays refle&ed from a concave furface are Laws of re-
rendered converging.—To illuftrate this, let AF, CD,EB, Aedtion
(fig. 1.) reprefent three parallel rays falling upon the con-from l con‘
cave furface FB, Avhofe centre is C. To the points F^J^
and B draw the lines CF, CB ; thefe being drawn from
the centre, will be perpendicular to the furface at thofe cf^*L
points. The incident ray CD alfo pafling through the C fig. 1.
centre, will be perpendicular to the furface, and there¬
fore will return after refledlion in the fame line ; but
the oblique rays AF and EB will be refledled into the
lines FM and BM, fituated on the contrary fide of
their refpedlive perpendiculars CF and CB. They will
therefore proceed converging after refledtion towards
fume point, as M, in the line CD.
III. Converging rays falling on a concave furface, are.
made
Theory. OPT
taws of made to converge more.—for, every thing remaining
Kefle.inon. as ab0ve, let GF, HB, be the incident rays. Now, be-
caufe thefe rays have greater angles of incidence than
the parallel ones AF and EB in the foregoing cafe,
their angles of reflection will alfo be larger than thofe
of the others ; they will therefore converge after reflec¬
tion, fuppofe in the lines FN and BN, having their
point of concourfe N farther from the point C than M,
that to which the parallel rays AF and EB converged
to in the foregoing cafe ; and their precife degree of
convergency will be greater than that wherein they con¬
verged before reflettion.
IV. Diverging rays fidling upon a concave furface,
are, after refection, parallel, diverging, or converging.
If they diverge from the focus of parallel rays, they
then become parallel ; if from a point nearer to the
furface than that, they will diverge, but in a lefs de¬
gree than before reflection ; if from a point between
that and the centre, they will converge after reflection,
to fome point on the contrary fide of the centre, but fi-
tuated farther from it than the radiant point. If the in-
cidentrays diverge from a point beyond the centre, the re-
flcdted ones will converge to one on the other fide of it,
but nearer to it than the radiant point; and if they di¬
verge from the centre, they will be refle&ed thither agan.
1. Let them diverge in the lines MF, MB, proceed¬
ing from the radiant point M, the focus of parallel rays j
then, as the parallel rays AF and EB were refle&ed in¬
to the lines FM and BM (by Prop, ii.), thefe rays will
now on the contrary be reflt ded into them.
2. Let them diverge from N, a point nearer to the
furface than the focus of parallel rays, they will then
be refle&ed into the diverging lines FG and BH, which
the incident rays GF and HB defcribed that were
ftiown to be reflected into them in the foregoing pro-
pofition j but the degree of their divergency will be lefs
than their divergency before reflection.
3. Let them diverge from X, a point between the
focus of parallel rays and the centre ; they then make
lefs angles of incidence than the rays MF and MB,
which became parallel by reflection : they will confe-
quently have lefs angles of reflection, and therefore pro¬
ceed converging towards fome point, as Y ; which point
will always fall on the contrary fide of the centre, be-
caufe a reflected ray always falls on the contrary fide of
the perpendicular with refpeCt to that on which its in¬
cident one falls ; and of confequence it will be farther
diftant from the centre than X.
4. If the incident rays diverge from Y, they will,
after refle&ion, converge to X $ thofe which were the
incident rays in the former cafe being the reflected ones
in this.
5. If the incident rays proceed from the centre, they
fall in with their refpeCtive perpendiculars j and for that
171 reaf°n are refle&ed thither again.
3ni a con- ^ • Parallel rays refeSied from convex furfaces are
* iurface. rendered diverging.—For, let AB, GD, EF, be three
Plate parallel rays falling upon the convex furface BF, whofe
:Lxxxn centre is C, and let one of them, viz. GD, be perpendi¬
ng- x. cular to the furface. Through B, D, and F, the points
of refle&xon, draw the lines CV, CG, and CT j which,
will be perpendicular to the furface at thefe points!
The incident ray GD being perpendicular to the fur¬
face, will return after refle&ion in the fame line, but
the oblique ones AB and EF will return in the lines
Vol. XY. Part L
BK and FL, fituated on the contrary fide of their re- Laws of
fpe&ive perpendiculars BV and FT. They will there- Lefledtion.
fore diverge, after refle&ion, as from fome point M in
the line GD produced ; and this point will be in the
middle between D and C.
\T. Diverging rays refelled from convex furfaces
are rendered more diverging.—For, things remaining as
above, let GB, GF, be the incident rays. Thefe ha-
ving greater angles of incidence than the parallel ones
AB and El in the preceding cafe, their angles of reflec¬
tion will alfo be greater; they will therefore diverge
after refle&ion, fuppofe in the lines BP and FQ, as
from fome point N, farther from C than the point M ;
and the degree of their divergency will exceed their
divergency before refle&ion.
VII. Converging rays refected from convex furfaces
are parallel, converging, or diverging.—If they tend to¬
wards the focus of parallel rays, they then become pa¬
rallel •, if to a point nearer the furface, they converge,
but in a lefs degree than before refle&ion 5 if to a point
between that and the centre, they will diverge after re¬
fle&ion, as from fome point on the contrary fide of the
centre, but fituated farther from it than the point to
which they converged ; if the incident rays converge
to a point beyond thejcentre, the refle&ed ones will di--
verge as from one on the contrary fide of it, but near¬
er to it than the point to which the incident ones con¬
verged ; and if the incident rays converge towards the
centre, the refle&ed ones will feem to proceed from it.
1. Let them converge in the lines KB and LF, tend¬
ing towards M, the focus of parallel rays ; then, as the
parallel rays AB, EF were refle&ed into the lines BK
and FL (by Prop, v.), thofe rays will nowr on the con¬
trary be refle&ed into them.
2. Let them converge in the lines PB, QF, tending
towards N a point nearer the furface than the focus of
parallel rays, they will then be refle&ed into the conver¬
ging lines BG and FG, in which the rays GB, GF pro¬
ceeded that were Ihown to be refle&ed into them by ther
laft propofition : but the deg ree of their convergency
will exceed their convergency before refle&ion.
3. Let them converge in the lines RB and SF pro¬
ceeding totvards X, a point between the focus of pa¬
rallel rays and the centre j their angles of incidence
will then be lefs than thofe of the rays KB and LF,
which became parallel after refle&ion : their angles of
refle&ion will therefore be lefs $ on which account
they mull neceffarily diverge, fuppofe in the lines BH
and FI, from fome point, as Y •, which point (by
Prop, iv.) will fall on the contrary fide of the centre
with refpe& to X, and will be farther from it than that.
4. If the incident rays tend towards Y, the refle&ed
ones will diverge as from X 5 thofe which were the in¬
cident ones in one cafe being the refle&ed ones in the
other.
5. If the incident rays converge towards the centre,
they coincide with their refpe&ive perpendiculars; and
will therefore proceed after refle&ion as from that
centre.
We have already obferved, that in fome cafes there
is a very great refle&ion from the fecond furface of a
tranfparent body. T he degree of inclination neceflary
to caufe a total refle&ion of a ray at this furface, is that
which requires that the refra&ed angle (fuppofing the
ray to pafs out there) fliould be equal to or greater than
G g a
234
Laws of
Reflection.
OPT
a right one ; and confequently it depends on the refrac¬
tive power of the medium through which the ray paffes,
and is therefore different in different media. When a
ray paffes through glafs furrounded with air, and is in¬
clined to its fecund furface under an angle of 4 2° or
more, it will be wholly refle&ed there. For, as 11 is
to 17 (the ratio of refraftion out of glafs into air), fo is
the fine of an angle of ^2° to a fourth number that will
exceed the fine of a right angle. Hence it follows, that
when a ray of light arrives at the fecond furface of a
tranfparent fubftance with as great or a greater degree
of obliquity than that which is neceffary to make a total
reflexion, it will there be all returned back to the firfl:
and if it proceeds towards that with as great an obli¬
quity as it did towards the other (which it will do if the
furfaces of the medium be parallel to each other), it will
there be all refieaed again, &c. and will therefore never
get out, but pafs from fide to fide, till it be wholly ex-
tinguifiied within the body.—krom this may arife an
obvibus inquiry, how it comes to pafs, that light falling
very obliquely upon a glafs window from without, (hould
be tranfmitted into the room. In anfwer to this it muff
be confidered, that however obliquely a ray falls upon
the furface of any medium whofe fides are parallel as
thofe of the glafs in a window, it will fuffer fuch a degree
of refra&ion in entering there, that it fhall fall upon the
fecond with a lefs obliquity than that which is neceffary
to caufe a total reflexion. For fince the medium be
glafs : then, as 17 is to 1 x, fo is the fine of the greateft
angle of incidence with which a ray can fall upon any
furface to the fine of a lefs angle than that of total re-
fie&ion. Therefore, if the fides of the glafs be parallel,
the obliquity with which a ray falls upon the firft fur¬
face cannot be fo great, that it fhall pafs the fecond
without fuffering a total refledlion there.
When light paffes out of a denfer into a rarer medium,
the nearer the fecond medium approaches the firft in its
refraftive power, the lefs of it will be refracted in paffing
from one to the other; and when their refracting powers
are equal, all of it will pafs into the fecond medium.
The above propofitions may be all mathematically
demonltrated in the following manner :
172
The pre¬
ceding pro¬
pofitions de-
monftratfed
xnathemati-
cally.
Plate
CCCLXXXII.
fig- 3-
Prop. I.
Of the refle£tion of rays from a plane furface.
When rays fall upon a plane furface, if they diverge,
the focus of the reflefted rays will be at the fame di-
' fiance behind the furface, that the radiant point is be¬
fore it: if they converge, it will be at the fame diftance
before the furface that the imaginary focus of the inci¬
dent rays is behind it.
This propofition admits of two cafes.
Case i. Of diverging renjs.
Let AB, AC be two diverging rays incident on the
plane furface DE, the one perpendicularly, the other
obliquely : the perpendicular one AB will be refle&ed
to A, proceeding as from fome point in the line AB
produced ; the oblique one AC will be reflefted into
fome line as CF, fo that the point G, where the line
FG produced interfefts the line AB produced alfo,
fiiall be at an equal diftance from the furface DE with
the radiant point A. For the perpendicular CH being
drawn, A CH and HCF will be the angles of.incidence
and refleftion ; which being equal, their complements
ACB and FCE are alfo equal; but the angle BCG is
ICS. - Part I.
equal to its vertical angle FCE: therefore in the tri- Laws of
angles ABC and GBC the angles at C are equal, the
fide BC is common, and the right angles at B are equal;
therefore AB=BG : and confequently the point Gr
the focus of the incident rays AB, AC, is at the fame
diftance behind the furface, that the point A is before it-
CasE 2. Of converging rays.
This is the converie of the former cafe. For fuppo-
fing FC and AB to be two converging incident rays,
CA and BA will be the refle&ed ones (the angles oi
incidence in the former cafe being now the angles of
refleffion, and vice verfa), having the point A for their
focus; but this is at an equal diftance from the re flee¬
ing furface with the point G, which in this cafe is the
imaginary focus of the incident rays FC and AB.
It is not here, as in the cafe of rays palling through
a plane furface, where fome of the refracted rays pro¬
ceed as from one point, and fome as from another: but
they all proceed after refledtion as from one and the
fame point, however obliquely they may fall upon the
furface ; for what is here demonftrated of the ray AC
holds equally of any other, as AI, AK, &c.
The cafe of parallel rays incident on a plane furface
is included in this propofition : for in that cafe we are
to fuppofe the radiant point infinitely diftant from the
furface, and then by the propofition the focus *){ the
refledled rays will be fo too : that is, the rays will be
parallel after refiedlion, as they were before it.
Prop. II.
Of the refle&ion of parallel rays from a fpherical
furface.
When parallel rays are incident upon a fpherical fur¬
face, the focus of the refiedled rays will be the middle
point between the centre of convexity and the lurface.
This propofition admits of two cafes.
Case i. Of parallel rays falling upon a convex'furface.
Let AB, DH, reprefent two parallel rays incident p;gt
on the convex furface BH, the one perpendicularly, the
other obliquely ; and let C be the centre of convexity.
Suppofe HE to be the refledled ray of the oblique one
DH, proceeding as from F, a point in the line AB pro¬
duced. Through the point H draw the line Cl, which
will be perpendicular to the furface at that point; and
the angles DHI and IHE, being the angles of inci¬
dence and refle6tion, will be equal. But HCFrzDHI,
the lines AC and DH being parallel; and CHFzrIHE,
wherefore the triangle CFH is ifofceles, and confequent¬
ly CFrrFH : but fuppofing BH to vanilb, FHzzFB ;
and therefore upoti this fuppofition FCzrFB ; that is,
the focus of the refle&ed rays is the middle point be¬
tween the centre of convexity and the furface.
Case 2. Of parallel rays falling upon a concave
furface.
Let AB, DH, be two parallel rays incident, the one Fig. 5.
perpendicularly, the other obliquely, on the concave
furface BH, whofe centre of concavity is C. Let BF
and HF be the reflefted rays meeting each other in F;
this will be the middle point between B and C. For
drawing through C the perpendicular CH, the angles
DHC=FHC, being the angles of incidence and reflec¬
tion ; but HCF=DHC its alternate angle, and there¬
fore the triangle CFH is ifofceles. Wherefore CF=
FH ; but if we fuppofe BH to vanilh, FB~FH, and
therefore
*73 ,
Refleifiecl
rays from
Theory. OPT
Laws of therefore CF=FB ; that is, the focal diftance of the
Reflection reflefted rays is the middle point between the centre
“ and the furface.
It is here obfervable, that the farther the line DH,
either in fig. 4. or 5. is taken from AB, the nearer the
■point F falls to the furface. For the farther the point
H recedes from B, the greater the triangle CFH will
become ; and confequently, fince it is always ifofceles
and the bafe CH, being the radius, is everywhere of
the fame length, the equal legs CF and FH will
lengthen ; but CF cannot grow longer unlefs the point
F approach towards the furface. And the farther H is
removed from B, the fafter F approaches to it.
This is the reafon, that whenever parallel rays are
confidered as refle&ed from a fpherical furface, the
diftance of the bblique ray from the perpendicular one
is taken fo fmall with refpeft to the focal diftance of
that furface, that without any phyfical error it may be
fuppofed to vanifti.
Hence it follows, that if a number of parallel rays,
as AB, CD, EG, &c. fall upon a convex furface, and
a fpherical jf BA, DK, the reflected rays of the incident ones AB,
ver proceed proceed as from the point F, thofe of the incident
from the ones CD, EG, viz. DK, GL, will proceed as from N,
fame point, thofe of the incident ones EG, HI, as from O, &c. be-
Fig. 6. caufe the farther the incident ones CD, EG, See. are
from AB, the nearer to the furface are the points ^iff,
in the line BF, from which they proceed after refleftion •,
fo that properly the foci of the reflefted rays BA, DK,
GL, &c. are not in the line AB produced, but in a
curve line palling through the points F, N, O, &c.
The fame is applicable to the cafe of parallel rays
reflefled from a concave furface, as expreffed by the
dotted lines on the other half of the figure, where
PQ, RS, TV, are the incident rays •, QF, Sj^
the reflefted ones, interfering each other in the points
X, Y, and F ; fo that the foci of thofe rays are not
in the line FB, but in a curve palling through thofe
points.
Had the furface BH in fig. 4. or 5. been formed by
the revolution of a parabola about its axis having its
focus in the point F, all the rays reflered from the
convex furface would have proceeded as from the point
F, and thofe reflefted from the concave furface would
have fallen upon it, however diftant their incident ones
an'reflected might have been from each other. For in
from one t^ie Parabola, all lines drawn parallel to the axis make
point. angles with the tangents to the points where they cut
the parabola (that is, with the furface of the parabo¬
la) equal to thofe which are made with the fame tan¬
gents by lines drawn from thence to the focus-, there¬
fore, if the incident rays deferibe thofe parallel lines,
the reflefted ones will neceflarily deferibe thefe other,
and fo will all proceed as from, or meet in, the fame
point.
Prop. III.
17S Of the refle&ion of diverging and converging rays
Propor- from a fpherical furface.
tional di¬
ftance of When rays fall upon any fpherical furface, if they
nyVSa^v^, t^e c^ance ^ie f°cus °f the refle&ed rays
«d from a ^rom the furface is to the diftance of the radiant point
fpherical frorn the fame (or, if they converge, to that of the
lurface. imaginary focus of the incident rays), as the diftance
x74
Rays pro¬
ceeding
from one
point, and
falling on a
parabolic
concave
furface
ICS. 235
of the focus of the reflected rays from the centre its to Laws of
the diftance of the radiant point (or imaginary focus of Refleftior.
the incident rays) from the fame. ^
This propofition admits of ten cafes.
Case i . Of diverging rays falling upon a convex fir-
face.
Let RB, RD, reprefent two diverging rays flowing Fig. 7.
from the point R as from a radiant, and falling the one
perpendicularly, the other obliquely,' on the convex fur¬
face BD, whofe centre is C. Let DE be the reflected
ray of the incident one RD ; produce ED to F, and
through R draw the line RH parallel to FE till it meets
CD produced in H. Then RHDzrrEDH the angle of
refleftion, and RHDzrRDH the angle of incidence *,
wherefore the triangle DRH is ifofceles, and DR—RH.
Now the lines FD and RH being parallel, the triangles
FDC and RHC are fimilar, or the fides are cut propor-
tionably, and therefore FD : RH or RD—CF : CR ;
but BD vaniftiing, FD and RD difter not from FB and
RB : wherefore FB : RB=rCF : CR ; that is, the di¬
ftance of the focus from the furface is to the diftance of
the radiant point from the fame, as the diftance of the
focus from the centre is to the diftance of the radiant
point from it.
Case 2. Of converging rays falling upon a concave
furface.
Let KD and CB be the converging incident rays,
having their imaginary focus in the point R, which was
the radiant point in the foregoing cafe. Then as RD
was in that cafe refle&ed into DE, KD will in this be
reflect'd into DF ; for, finee the angles of incidence in
both cafes are equal, the angles of reflexion rvill be
equal alfo \ fo that F will be the focus of the refledled
rays : but it was there demonftrated, that FB : RB=:
CF : CR ; that is, the diftance of the focus from the
furface is to the diftance (in this cafe) of the imaginary
focus of the incident rays, as the diftance of the focus
from the centre is to the dirtance of the imaginary focus
of the incident rays from the fame.
Case 3. Of converging rays falling upon a convexfur¬
face, and tending to a point between the focus of parallel
rays and the centre.
Let B reprefent a convex furface whofe centre is C, Fig. S.
and whofe focus of parallel rays is P ; and let AB, KD,
be two converging rays incident upon it, and having
their imaginary focus at R, a point between P and C.
Now becaufe KD tends to a point between the focus of *
parallel rays and the centre, the reflefted ray DE will
diverge from feme point on the other fide the centre,
fuppofe F 5 as explained above. Through D draw the
perpendicular CD, and produce it to H ; then will
KDH=HDE, being the angles of incidence and rer
fleftion, and confequently R DC — CD F too. Therefore
the triangle RDF is bifedled by the line DC : where¬
fore (3 El. 6.) FD and DR, or BD vaniftiing, FB :
BR—FC : CR ; that is, the diftance of the focus of
the reflefled rays is to that of the imaginary focus of
the incident ones, as the diftance of the former from
the centre is to the diftance of the latter from the
centre.
Case 4. Of diverging rays falling upon a concavefur¬
face, and proceeding from a point between the focus of
parallel rays and the centre.
Let RB, RD, be the diverging rays incident uponp;g. 3,
the concave furface BD, having their radiant point in
Gga R,
236 OPT
Laws of the imaginary focus of the incident rays in the pre-
^Rcfleltion. ceding cafe. Then as KD was in that cafe reflected
v into DE, RD will now be refledted into DF. But we
had FB : RBnrCF : CR ; that is, the diftance of the
focus is to that of the radiant as the diftance of the
former from the centre is to the diftance of the latter
from the centre.
The angles of incidence and refledlion being equal,
it is evident, that if, in any cafe, the refledted ray be
made the incident one, the incident will become the
refledted one ; and therefore the four following cafes
may be confidered refpedtively as the converfe of the
four preceding 5 for in each of them the incident rays
are fuppofed to coincide with the refledted ones in kthe
other. Or they may be thus demonftrated independently
of them.
Case 5. Of converging rai/s falling upon a convex
furface, and tending to a point nearer the furface than
the focus of parallel rays.
Fig. 7. Let ED, RB be the converging rays incident upon
the convex furface BD, whofe centre is C, and principal
focus P j let the imaginary focus of the incident rays be
at F, a point between P and B ; and let DR be the re¬
fledted ray. From C and R draw the lines CPI, RH,
the one palling through D, the other parallel to FE.
Then RHD—HDE the angle of incidence. But
RHD—HDR, the angle of refledtion : wherefore the
triangle HDR is ifofceles, and DRr^RH. Now the
lines FD and RH being parallel, the triangles FDC
and RHC are fimilar •, and therefore RH or RD:
FDrrCR : CF; but BD vanilhing, RD and FD coin¬
cide with RB and FB, wherefore RB : FB=CR : CFj
that is, the diftance of the focus from the furface is to
the diftance of the imaginary focus of the incident rays,
as the diftance of the focus from the centre is to the
diftance of the imaginary focus of the incident rays from
the centre.
Case 6. Of diverging rays falling upon a concave
furface, and proceeding from a point between the focus of
parallel rays and the furface.
Let FD and FB be two rays diverging from the
point F, which was the imaginary focus of the incident
rays in the preceding cafei Then as ED was in that
cafe refledted into DR, FD will be refledted into DK
(for the reafon mentioned in cafe 2.), fo that the re¬
fledted ray will proceed as from the point R: but it was
demonftrated in cafe 5. that RB : FBzrCR : CF; that
is, the diftance of the focus from the furface is to that
of the radiant from the furface, as the diftance of the
former from the centre is to that of the latter from the
centre.
Case 7. Of converging rays falling upon a convex
furface, and tending towards a point beyond the centre.
Hg. 8. Let AB, ED be the incident rays tending to F, a
point beyond the centre C, and let DK be the refledted
rav of the incident one ED. Thenbecaufe the incident
ray ED tends to a point beyond the centre, the refledted
ray DK will proceed as from one on the contrary fide,
fuppofe R *, fee Prop. vii. Through D draw the perpen¬
dicular CD, and produce it to PL Then will EDHrr
HDK, being the angles of incidence and refledtion •,
but CDF~( DR, being their verticals: confequently
the angle FDR is bifedted by the line CD : wherefore
RD : DF, or (3 Ekm. 6 ) BD vaniftiing, RB : BF=
RC : CF that is,, the diftance of the focus of the re*
I c s.
Part I,
fledted rays is to that of the imaginary focus of the Laws of
incident rays, as the diftance of the former from the ^iefle&iop,
centre is to the diftance of the latter from the centre. V~^J
Case 8. Of diverging rays falling upon a concave fur-
face, and proceeding from a point beyond the centre.
Let FB, FD be the incident rays radiating from F,
the imaginary focus of the incident rays in the cafe.
Then as ED was in that cafe refledted into DK, FD
will now be refledted into DR j fo that R will be the
focus of the refledted rays. But it was demonftrated in
the cafe 7. that RB : P’BzrRC : CF ; that is, the di¬
ftance of the focus of the refledted rays from the furface
is to the diftance of the radiant from the furface, as the
diftance of the focus of the refledted rays from the centre
is to the diftance of the radiant from the centre.
The two remaining cafes may be confidered as the
converfe of thofe under Prop. ii. (p. 234.), becaufe
the incident rays in thefe are the refledted ones in them •,
or they may be demonftrated in the fame manner with
the preceding, as follows.
Case 9. Converging raysfalling upon a convexfurface,
and tending to the focus of parallel rays, become parallel
after refletiion.
Let ED, RB reprefent two converging rays incident Pbte
on the convex furface BD, and tending towards F, eccfiLXXXn*
which we ftiall now fuppofe to be the focus of parallel r
rays; and let DR be the refledted ray, and C the centre
of convexity of the refledting furface. Through C draw
CD, and produce it to H, drawing RH parallel to ED
produced to F. Now it has been demonftrated (cafe 5.
where the incident rays are fuppofed to tend to the point
F), that RB : P’B=:RC : CF •, but F in this cafe being
fuppofed to be the focus of parallel rays, it is the
middle point between C and B (by Prop, ii.) and there¬
fore FB=FC, confequently RBzz:RC ; which can only
be upon the fuppofition that R is at an infinite diftance
from B } that is, that the refledted rays BR and DR be
parallel.
Case 10. Diverging rays falling upon a concave fur¬
face, and proceeding from the focus of parallel rays, be¬
come parallel after refleElion.
Let RD, RB be two diverging rays incident upon Fig. L
the concave furface BD, as fuppofed in cafe 4. where it
was demonftrated that FB : RBrrCF : CR. But in the
prefent cafe RB:=CR, becaufe R is fuppofed to be the
focus of parallel rays j therefore FBrrFC j which cannot
be unlefs F be taken at an infinite diftance from B; that
is, unlefs the refledted rays BF and DF be parallel.
It may here be obferved that in the cafe of diverging Fig. 9.
rays falling upon a convex furface, the farther the point
D is taken from B, the nearer the point F, the focus of
the refledted rays, approaches to B, while the radiant
point R remains the fame. For it is evident from the Fig. ie.
curvature of a circle, that the point D may be taken fo
far from B, that the refledted ray DE {hall proceed as
from F, G, H, or even from B, or from any point between
B and R ; and the farther it is taken from B, the fafter the
point from which it proceeds approaches towards R: as
will appear if we draw feveral incident rays with their re-
fpedtive refledted ones, in fuch a manner that the angles of
refledtu n may be equal to their refpt dtive angles of inci¬
dence, as is done in the figure. The like is applicable to
any of the other cafes of diverging and converging rays in¬
cident upon a fpherical furface. This is the reafon, that,
when rays are confidered as refledted from a fpherical
furfaccj
Theory.
O P T I
Laws of
Refledfion.
fig- 7-
Fig 8.
176
Method of
finding the
focal di-
ftance of
rays reflec¬
ted from a
convex fur-
face.
furface, the diftance of the oblique rays from the per-
| pendicular one is taken fo (mail, that it may be fuppofed
to vanifh.
From this it follows, that if a number of diverging
rays are incident upon the convex furface BD at the
feveral points B, D, D, &c. they will not proceed after
refle&ion as from any point in the line RB produced,
but as from a curve line palling through the feveral.
points F,/,/, &c.
Had the curve BD been a hyperbola, having its foci
in R and F, then R being the radiant (or the imaginary
focus of incident rays), F would have been the focus of
the reflefled ones, and vice verfa, however dill ant the
points B and D might be taken from each other. In
like manner, had the curve BD been an ellipfe having
its foci in F and R, the one of thefe being made the
radiant (or imaginary focus of incident rays), the other
would have been the focus of refledled ones, and vice
verfa. For both in the hyperbola and ellipfe, lines
drawn from each of their foci through any point make
equal angles with the tangent to that point. Therefore,
if the incident rays proceed to or from one of their foci,
the refledted ones will all proceed as from or to the
other focus. Therefore, in order that diverging or con¬
verging rays may be accurately reflected to or from a
point, the reflefting furface mull be formed by the revo¬
lution of an hyperbola about its longer axis, when the
incident rays are fuch, that their radiant or imaginary
focus of incident rays (ball fall on one fide of the fur¬
face, and the focus of the refle&ed ones on the other *,
when they are both to fall on the fame fide, it mull be
formed by the revolution of an ellipfe about its longer
axis. However, as fpherical furfaces are more ealily
formed, than thofe which are generated by the revolu¬
tion of any of the conic fe&ions about their axes, the
latter are very rarely ufed.
Now, becaufe the focal diftance of rays reflected from
a fpherical furface cannot be found by the analogy laid
down in the third propoiition, without making ufe of
the quantity fought •, wre (hall here give an example
whereby the method of doing it in all others will readily
appear.
Problem.
Let it be required to find the focal diftance of
diverging rays incident upon a convex furface,
whofe radius of convexity is five parts, and the
diftance of the radiant from the furface is 20.
Call x the focal diftance fought j then will the di¬
ftance of the focus from the centre be 5—x, and that of
the radiant from the fame 25, therefore by Prop. iii. we
have the following proportion, x : 20=5—x : 25; and
multiplying extremes together and means together, we
have 25 x=ioo—20#, or #=i4eja.
If it Ihould happen in any cafe that the value of x is
a negative quantity, the focal point mart then be taken
on the contrary fide of the furface to that on which it
was fuppofed it would fall in dating the problem.
Becaufe it was obferved in the preceding feftion, that
difterent incident rays, though tending to or from one
point, would after refra6lion proceed to or from different
points, a method was there given of determining the
diftinft point which each feparate ray entering a fpheri-
eal furface converges to, or diverges from, after reffac-
Plate
cccLxatxir,
S-e. a.
C S. 237
tion : the fame has been obferved here with regard to Appearanc®
rays reiledted from a fphericai lurface (ifee cafe 2. and °*
cafe 10.) But the method of determining the diftindl16^, ^^ e'
point to or from which any incident ray proceeds after . " ' ■
refledlion, is much more fimple. It is only neceffary to
draw the refledled ray fuch, that the angle of refiedtion
may be equal to the angle of incidence, which will
determine the point it proceeds to or from in any cafe
whatever.
Sect. VIII. Of the Appearance of Bodies feen by Light
rcfeciedfrom plane and fpherical Surfaces.
Whatever has been faid concerning the appearance
of bodies feen through lenfes, by refradted light, refpedls
alfo the appearance of bodies feen by reftedlion. But,
befides thefe, there is one thing peculiar to images by
refledtion, viz. that each point in the reprefentation of
an objedf made by refledtion appears fituated fomewhere
in a right line that paffes though its correfpondent
point in the objedl, and is perpendicular to the refledting
furface.
The truth of this appears fufficiently from the pro-
pofitions formerly laid down: in each of which, rays
flowing from any radiant point, are fliown to proceed
after refledlion to or from fome point in a line that
paffes through the radiant point, and is perpendicular to
the refledling furface. For inllance (fig. 1.) rays flow¬
ing from Y are colledled in X, a point in the perpendi¬
cular CD, which, being produced, paffes through Y 5
again (fig. 2.), rays flowing from G, proceed, after re¬
fledlion, as from N, a point in the perpendicular CD,
which being produced, paffes through G.
This obfervation, however, except where an objedt
is feen by refledlion from a plain furface, relates only
to thofe cafes where the reprefentation is made by
means of fuch rays as fall upon the refledling furface
with a very fmall degree of obliquity 5 becaufe fuch as
fall at a confiderable diftance from the perpendicular,
do not proceed after refledlion as from any point in that
perpendicular, but as from other points fituated in a cer¬
tain curve, on which account thefe rays are negledled,
as making an indiftindl and deformed reprefentation.
.And therefore it is to be remembered, that however the
fituation of the eye with refpedl to the objedl and refledl¬
ing furface may be reprefented in the following figures,
it is to be fuppofed as fituated in fuch a manner with re¬
fpedl to the objedl, that rays flowing from thence and
entering it after refledlion, may be fuch only as fall
with a very fmall degree of obliquity upon the furfaee ;
that is, the eye mull be fuppofed to be placed almoft
diredlly behind the objedt, or between it and the refledl¬
ing furface. The reafon why it is not always fo placed,
is only to avoid confufion in the figures.
I. When an objccl is feen by refledlion from a plane
furface, the image of it appears at the fame difance
behind the furface that the objedl is before it, of the fame
magnitude, and diredlly oppq/ite to it.
To explain this, let AB reprefent an objedl feen by The ap-
refledlion from the plane furface SV and let the rayspearance of
AF, AG, be fo inclined to the furface, that they lhallre"
enter an eye at H after xefledlion *, and let AE be Per~fromep;an#
pendicular to the furface : then, by the obfervation jufl furfaces<
mentioned, the point A will appear in fome part of the Fig. io»-
line AE produced, fuppofe I j that is, the oblique rays
AF
238
OPT
Appearance .Al? and AG will proceed after refle&ion as from that
fcvn^Ke lKI‘nt '? and further, becaufe the refle61ed rays FH, GK,
Lfledtion " liave the ^ame degree of inclination to one another
from differ-that their incident ones have, that point muft neceffarily
ent Sur- be at the fame diftance from the furfaee that the point
. faces- A is 5 the reprefentation therefore of the point A will
v be at the fame diftance from the furface that the point
itfelf is before it, and directly oppofite to it : confe-
quently, fince the like may be fliown of any other point
B, the whole image IM will appear at the fame diftance
behind the furface that the objedt is before it, and
diredtly oppofite to it and becaufe the lines AI, BM,
perpendicular to the plain furface, are parallel to each
other, the image will alfo be of the fame magnitude with
t„3 the objedt.
From/con- II. When an objeR is feen by reJleRionfrom a convex
vex fur- furface, its image appears nearer to the furface, and lefs
-facea. than the object.
Fig. 12. Let AB reprefent the objedt, SV a refledting furface
whofe centre of convexity is C : and let the rays AF,
AG, be fo inclined to the furface, that after reftedtion
from it, they fliall enter the eye at H : and let AE be
perpendicular to the furface ; then will the oblique rays
AF, AG, proceed after refledtion as from fome point in
the line AE produced, fuppofe from I $ which point,
becaufe the reftedted rays will diverge more than the in¬
cident ones, muft; be nearer to the furface than the point
A. And lince the fame is alfo true of the rays which
From con¬
cave fur-
faces.
Wig. 13.
flow from any other B, the reprefentation IM will be
nearer to the furface than the objedt ; and becaufe it is
terminated by the perpendiculars AE and BF, which
incline to each other, as concurring at the centre, it
will alfo appear lefs.
III. When an objeR is feen bij refeR ion from a con¬
cave furface, the reprefentation of it is various, both with
regard to its magnitude and fituation, according as the
difance of the objeR from the refleRing furface is greater
or lefs.
1. When the objedt is nearer to the furface than its
principal focus, the image falls on the oppofite fide of
the furface, is more diftant from it, and larger than the
objedt.
Thus let AB be the objedt, SV the reftedting fur¬
face, F the principal focus, and C its centre. Through
A and B, the extremities of the objedt, draw the lines
CE, Of, which will be perpendicular to the furface j
and let the rays AR, AG, be incident upon fuch points
of it that they {hall be refledted into an eye at H. Now,
becaufe the radiant points A and B are nearer the fur¬
face than the principal focus F, the refledted rays will
diverge, and therefore proceed as from fome points on
the oppofite fide of the furface •, which points, by the
obfervation laid down at the beginning of this fedtion,
will be in the perpendiculars AE, BE, produced, fup¬
pofe in I and M : but they will diverge in a lefs degree
than their incident ones $ and therefore the faid points
will be farther from the furface than the points A and
B. The image therefore will be on the oppofite fide of
the furface with refpedt to the objedl : it will be more
diftant than it *, and confequently, being terminated
by the perpendiculars Cl and CM, it will alfo be
larger.
2. When the objedl is placed in the principal focus,
the refledted rays enter the eye parallel; in which cafe
the image ought to appear at an infinite diftance behind
ICS. Part I.
the refledting furface : but the reprefentation of it, for Appearance
the reafons given in the foregoing cafe, being large and .ot bodies
diftindt, wre do not reckon it much farther from the fur- iLefln f
face than the image. e 10,1
horn differ.
3. When the objedt is placed between the principal ent Sur-
focus and the centre, the image falls on the oppofite fide ^ace».
of the centre, is larger than the objedt, and in an invert- J
ed pofition. P|at
Thus let ABbe the objedt, SV the refledting furface, ccclxsxii!
F its principal focus, and C its centre. Through A %■ 14.
and B, draw the lines CE and CN, which will be per¬
pendicular to the furface ; and let AR, AG, be a pen¬
cil of rays flowing from A. Thefe rays proceeding
from a point beyond the principal focus, will after re¬
fledtion converge towards fome point on the oppofite
fide the centre, which will fall upon the perpendicular
EC produced, but at a greater diftance from C than
the radiant A from which they diverged. For the
fame reafon, rays flowing from B will converge to a
point in the perpendicular NC produced, which fhall
be farther from C than the point B ; whence it is
evident, that the image IM is larger than the objedl;
AB, that it falls on the contrary fide of the centre, and
that their pofitions are inverted with refpedl to each
other.
4. If the objedt be placed beyond the centre of con¬
vexity, the image is then formed between the centre
and the focus of parallel rays, is lefs than the objedt,
and its pofition is inverted.
This propofition is the converfe of the preceding *,
for as in that cafe rays proceeding from A were refledted
to I, and from B to M 5 fo rays flowing from I and M
will be refledted to A and B : if therefore an objedt be
fuppofed to be fituated beyond the centre in IM, the
image of it will be formed in AB between that and the
focus of parallel rays, will be lefs than the objedt, and
inverted.
5. If the middle of the objedt be placed in the centre
of convexity of the refiedting furface, the objedt and
its image will be coincident ; but the image will be in¬
verted with refpedt to the objedt.
That the place of the image and the objedt Ihould
be the fame in this cafe requires little explication ; for
the middle of the objedt being in the centre, rays flow¬
ing from it will fall perpendicularly upon the furface,
and therefore neceflarily return thither again j fo that
the middle of the image will be coincident with the
middle of the objedt. But that the image fhould be in¬
verted is perhaps not fo clear. To explain this, let AB Fig. 15.
be the objedt, having its middle point C in the centre
of the retledling furface from SV ; through the centre
and the point R draw the line CR, which will be per¬
pendicular to the refledting furface ; join the points AR
and BR, and let AR reprefent a ray flowing from A ;
this will be refledted into RB : for C being the middle
point between A and B, the angle ARC—CRB ; and a
ray from B will likewife be reflected to A ; and there¬
fore the pofition of the image will be inverted with re¬
fpedt to that of the objedt.
In this propofition it is to be fuppofed, that the
objedt AB is fo fituated with refpedt to the refledting
furface, that the angle ACR may be right; for other-
wife the angles ARC and BRC will not be equal, and
part of the image only will therefore fall upon the ob-
jedt.
6. If
Theory. OPT
Appearance 6. If in any of the three laft cafes, in each of
Ot Bodies which th» image is formed on the fame fide of the re-
fleaL 'fle&ing furface w3th the objeft, the eye be fituated far-
from differ- ther from the furface than the place where the image
entSur- falls, the rays of each pencil, eroding each other m
<a(;es- , the feveral points of the image, will enter the eye as
^ from a real objeft fituated there ; fo that the image
will appear pendulous in the air between the eye and
the refle&ing furface, and in the pofition wherein it
is formed, viz. inverted with refpedl to the objeft, in
the fame manner that an image formed by refradled
light appears to an eye placed beyond it j which was
fully explained under Prop. iv. and therefore needs not
be repeated.
But as what relates to the appearance of the objeff
when the eye is placed nearer to the furface than the
image, was not there fully inquired into, that point
[hall now be more firiftly examined under the follow¬
ing cafe, which equally relates to refra&ed and reflefl-
ed light.
7. If the eye be fituated between the refle&ing fur¬
face and the place of the imago, the objeft is then
feen beyond the furface 5 and the farther the eye re¬
cedes from the furface towards the place of the imaae,
the more confufed, larger, and nearer, the objeft ap¬
pears.
Fig. 16. . To explain this, let AB reprefent the objefl; IM its
image, one of whofe points M is formed by the concur¬
rence of the reflefted rays DM, EM, &c. which before
reflexion came from B; the other, I, by the concur¬
rence of DI, El, &c. which came from A : and let
c £ be the pupil of an eye, fituated between the furface
DP and the image. This pupil will admit the rays
H«, YLb ; which, becaufe they are tending towards I,
' are fuch as came from A, and therefore the point A
will appear dift'ufed over the fpace RS. In like manner
the pupil will alfo receive into it the refle&ed rays K a
and L b, which, becaufe they are tending towards M,
by fuppofition came from B •, and therefore the point
B will be feen fpread as it were, over the fpace TV, and
the object will feem to fill the fpace RV ; but the re-
prefentation of it will be confufed, becaufe the interme¬
diate points of the object being equally enlarged in ap¬
pearance, there will not be room for them between the
points S and I, but they will coincide in part oue with
another : for inftance, the appearance of that point in
the object, whofe reprefentation falls upon- c in the
image, will fill the fpace tnn; and fo of the reft. Now,
if the fame pupil be removed into the fituation ef the
reflefted rays E <? and G/ will then enter the eye, and
therefore one extremity of the object will appear to co¬
ver the fpace XY j and becaufe the rays Of £nd L <? .
will alfo enter it in their progrefs towards M, the point
B, from which they came, will appear to cover ZV ;
the object therefore will appear larger and more confuf¬
ed than before. When the eye recedes quite to the
image, it fees but one fingle point of the object, and
that appears diffuied all over the ^eflcvKng* furface : for
inftance, if the eye recedes to the point M, then rays
flowing from the point B enter it upon whatever part
of the furface they fall. The objeft alfo appears nearer
to the furface the farther the eye recedes from it to¬
wards the place of the image ; probably becaufe, as the
appearance of the object becomes more and more con¬
fined, i^s place is not fo eafily diftinguilhed from that
ICS. 239
of the refle&ing iurlace itfelf, till at laft when it is Appearance
quite confufed (as it is when the eye is arrived at M) Bod'«s
they both appear as one, the furface afluming the colour fe<hn Re*
of the objed. 6 , fledJt,"n
a 4. j 1 t . ^ from differ-
As to the precxle apparent magnitude of an objea ent Sur-
feen after this manner, it is fuch that the angle it ap- faces,
pears under fliall be equal to that which the image of v J
the fame objea would appear under were we to fup- The appa-
pole it feen from the fame place : that is, the apparent rent mag-
objea (for fuch wre muft call it, to diftinguifti it from nitude of
the image of the fame objea) and the image fubtend!!n
equal angles at the eye. fledt'o5"1^"
Here we muft fuppofe the pupil of the eye to be a from a con*
point only, becaufe the magnitude of it caufes a fmall cave fur-
alteration in the apparent magnitude of the objea. Letfacei
the point a reprefent the pupil, then will the extreme
rays that can enter it be H a and K a ; the objea there¬
fore will appear under the angle H«K=M«I, the
angle under which the image IM would appear were it
to be feen from a. Again, if the eye be placed in f
the objea appears under the angle G f Orr I/M, which
the image fubtends at the fame place, and therefore the
apparent objea and image of it fubtend equal angles at
the eye.
Now if we fuppofe the pupil to have any fenfible mag¬
nitude a then the objea feen by the eye in that fitua¬
tion will appear under the angle EIXL, which is larger
than the angle H a K, under which it appeared before j
becaufe the angle at X is nearer than the angle at «, to
the line IM, which is a fubtenie common to them
both.
From tins propofition it follows; that, were the
eye clofe to the furface at K, the real and apparent
objea would be feen under equal angles (for the real
objea appears from that place under the fame angle
that the. image does, as will be Ihown at the end of
this feaion) ; therefore, when the eye is nearer to the
image than that point, the image will fubtend a larger
angle at it than the objea does; and confequently,
fince the image and apparent objea fubtend equal
angles at the eye, the apparent objea muft neceflarily
be feen under a larger angle than the objea itfelf,
wherever the eye be placed, between the lurface and
the image.
As each point in the reprefentation of an objea made
by refleaion is fituated fomewheie in a right line that
palfes through its correfpondent point in the objea,
and is perpendicular to the refleaing furface; we may
hence deduce the following eafy and expeditious method
of determining both the magnitude and fituation of the .
image in all cafes whatever.
Through the extremities of the objea AB and the Plate
centre G (fig. 17, 18, 19.) draw the lines AC EC, and ccci.sxxit.
produce them as the cafe requires; thefe lines will be Fig. 17, iS,
perpendicular to the refleaing furface, and therefore i9-
the extremities of the image will fall upon them.
Through F the middle point of the objea and the
centre, draw the line FC, and produce it till it palfes
through the refleaing furface ; this will alfo be per¬
pendicular to the furface. Through G, the point where
this line cuts the furface, draw the lines AG and BG,
and produce them this wray or that, till they crofs the
former perpendiculars; and where they crofs, there I
and M the extremities of the image will fall. For fup-
pofing AG to be a ray proceeding from the .point A
240
OPTICS.
Part I.
Appearance ancl filing upon G, it will be reflc&ed to B ; beeaufe
fee ^ Arc FB, and FG is perpendicular to the reflefting fur-
CflectionL face ■» and therefore the reprefentation of the point A
from differ- will be in BG produced as well as in AC ; conlequent-
exit Sur- ]y it will fall on the point I, where they crofs each
t taces‘ other. Likewife the ray BG will for the fame reafon
" v be 'refledled to A j and therefore the reprefentation of
the point B will be in AG produced, as well as in fome
part of BC, that is, in M where they crofs. Hence
the propofition is obvious.
If it happens that the lines will not crofs which
way foever they are produced, as in fig. 20. then is the
objeft in the focus of parallel rays of that furface, and
has no image formed in the place whatever. For in
this cafe the rays AH, AG, flowing from the point A,
become parallel after refledlion in the lines HC, GB,
and therefore do not flow as to or from any point: in
like manner, ravs flowing from B are reflefted into the
parallel lines KB and GA 5 fo that no reprefentation
can be formed by fueh reflefrion.
From this we learn another circUmftance relating to
the magnitude of the image made by refleftion ; viz.
that it fubtends the fame angle at the vertex of the re-
fledting furface that the object does. This appears by
infpeftion of the 17th, 18th, or 19th figure, in each of
which the angle IGM—AGB, the angles which the
image fubtends at G the vertex of the refledling furface,
and which the objedl fubtends at the fame place ; for in
the two firfl: of thofe figures they are vertical, in the
third they are the fame.
The angle iCM, which the image fubtends at the
centre, is alfo equal to the angle ACB which the ob-
je£t fubtends at the fame place ; for in the two firfl; fi¬
gures they are the fame, in the laft they are vertical to
each other.
Whence it is evident, that the objedl and its image
are to each other in diameter, either as their refpeftive
diftances from the vertex of the reflecKng furface, or as
their diftances from the centre of the fame.
IV. As objects are multiplied by being feen through
Iran [parent media, whofe furfaces are properly difpofed,
fo they may alfo by refleSling furfaces.
Plate 1. If two reflefting furfaces be difpofed at right
ccclxxxii angies> as the furfaces AB, BC, an obieft at D may be
21' feen by an eye at E, after one refleiElion at F, in the
line EF produced \ after two refleftions, the firft at
G, the fecond at H, in the line EH produced ; and,
alfo, after one reflection made at A, in the line EA
produced.
Fig. 2a. 2. If the furfaces be parallel, as AB, CD, (fig. 22.),
and the objeCt be placed at E and the eye at F, the ob~
jeCt will appear multiplied an infinite number of times :
thus it may be feen in the line FG produced, after one
reflection at G ; in the line FH produced, after two re¬
flexions, the firft at I, the fecond at H •, and alfo in
FP produced, after feveral fucceflive reflections of the
ray EL, at the points L, M, N, O, and P : and fo on
in infinitum. But the greater the number of reflections
are, the weaker their reprefentation will be.
SECT. IX. Of the apparent Place, Diflance, Magnitude,
_ and Motion of (JbjeSls.
It had in general been taken for granted, that the
place to which the eye refers any vifible objeCl feen
by reflection or refraClion, is that in which the vi- App.rer.t
fual rays meet a perpendicular from the objedt upon P|a'e>
the reflecting or refraCting plane. But this method 0L.itns.^
of judging of the place of objeCfs was called in quef-
tion by Dr Barrow, who contended that the argu¬
ments brought in favour of the opinion were not con- ^
clufive. Thefe arguments are, that the images of Dr Bar-
objeCts appeared ftraight in a plane mirror, but curved row’.s theo.
in a convex or concave one : that a ftraight thread,l") re‘pt'<fl:-
when partly immerfed perpendicularly in water, does aP'
not appear crooked as when it is obliquely plunged in-piaceof0^
to the fluid •, but that which is within the "water feemsjedts.
to be a continuation of that which is without. With
refpeCl to the retleCled image, however, of a perpen-
dicular right line from a convex to a concave mirror,
he fays, that it is not eafy for the eye to diftinguifh
the curve that it really makes ; and that if the ap¬
pearance of a perpendicular thread, part of which is
immerfed in water, be clofely attended to, it will not
favour the common hypothefis. If the thread is ef any
fliining metal, as filver, and viewed obliquely, the
image of the part immerfed will appear to detach it-
felf fenfibly from that part which is without the water,
fo that it cannot be true that every objedt appears to
be in the fame place where the refradled ray meets the
perpendicular 5 and the fame obfervation, he thinks,
may be extended to the cafe of refledtion. According
to Dr Barrow, we refer every point of an objedt to the
place from which the pencils of light, that give us the
image of it, iffue, or from which they would have
ifl’ued if no refledting or refradting lubftance intervened.
Purfuing this principle, he proceeds to inveftigate the
place in which the rays ifluing from each of the
points of an objedt, and which reach the eye after one
refledtion or refradtion, meet; and he found, that if the
refradting furface was plane, and the refradtion was made
from a denfer medium into a rarer, thofe rays would al¬
ways meet in a place between the eye and a perpendi¬
cular to the point of incidence. If a convex mirror be
ufed, the cafe ivill be the fame j but if the mirror be
plane, the rays will meet in the perpendicular, and be¬
yond it if it be concave. He alfo determined, accord¬
ing to thefe principles, what form the image of a right
line will take, when it is prefented in different manners
to a fpherical mirror, or when it is feen through a re-
fradling medium.
Though Dr Barrow reckoned the maxim which he
endeavoured to eftablifli, concerning the fuppofed place
of vifible objedls, highly probable, he has the candour to
mention an objedHon to it, of which he was not able to
give a fatisfadlory folution. It is this. Let an objedt
be placed beyond the focus of a convex lens ; and if the
eye be clofe to the lens, it will appear confufed, but
very near to its true place. If the eye be a little with¬
drawn, the confufion will increafe, and the objedt will
feem to come nearer; and when the eye is near the fo¬
cus, the confufion will be exceedingly great, and the
objedt will feem to be clofe to the eye. But in this ex¬
periment the eye receives no rays but thofe that are con¬
verging : and the point from which they iflue is fo far
from being nearer than the objedt, that it is beyond it j
notwithftanding which, the otfiedt is conceived to be
much nearer than it is, though no very diftindt idea can
be formed of its precife diflance. It may be obferved,
that in reality, the rays falling upon the eye in this cafe
Theory.
OPT
181
M. de la
Hire’s ob-
fervatiouSi
Apparent in a manner quite different from that in which they fall
place, &c. Up0n jt in other circumftances, we can form no judge-
1ofQb^e s‘. ment about the place from which they iffue. This fub-
je£t was afterwards taken up by Berkeley, Smith, Mon-
tucla, and others.
M. de la Hire made feveral obfervations concerning
the dillance of vifible objefts, and various other pheno¬
mena of vifion, which are worthy of notice. He alfo
took particular pains to afcertain the manner in which
the eye conforms itfelf to the view of objedls placed at
different diftances. He enumerates five circumftances,
which aflift us in judging of the diftanee of objects,
namely their apparent magnitude, the ftrength of the
colouring, the direftion of the two eyes, the parallax of
the obje&s, and the diftindlnefs of their fmall parts.
Painters, he fays, can only take advantage of the two
firft-mentioned eircumftances, and therefore pictures can
never perfedlly deceive the eye ; but in the decorations
of theatres, they, in fome meafure, make ufe of them
all. The fize of obje&s, and the ftrength of their co¬
louring, are diminiihed in proportion to the diftance at
which they are intended to appear. Parts of the fame
object which are to appear at different diftances, as co¬
lumns in an order of architedlure, are drawn upon dif¬
ferent planes a little removed from one another, that
the two eyes may be obliged to change their diredlion,
in order to diftinguilh the parts of the nearer plane
from thofe of the more remote. The fmall diftance
of the planes ferves to make a fmall parallax, by chan¬
ging the pofition of the eye j and as we do not preferve
a diftindft idea of the quantity of parallax, correfpond-
ing to the different diftances of objedls, it is fufficient
that we perceive there is a parallax, to be convinced
that thefe planes are diftant from one another, with¬
out determining what that diftance is ; and as to the
laft circumftance, viz. the diftindlnefs of the fmall parts
of objects, it is of no ufe in difcovering the deception,
on account of the falfe light that is thrown upon thefe
decorations.
To thefe obfervations concerning deception of fight,
 - we lhall add a fimilar one of M. le Cat, who took no-
che large- tjce t]ie reafon we imagine obie&s to be
npU of nh_ - . -
larger when they are ieen through a mift, is the dim-
nefs or oblcurity with which they are then feen ; this
circumftance being affociated with the idea of great di¬
ftance. This, he fays, is confirmed by our being fur-
prifed to find, upon approaching fuch objedts, that they
are fo much nearer to us, as well as fo much fmaller,
than we had imagined.
Among other cafes concerning vifion, which fell
under the confideration of M. de la Hire, he men¬
tions one which it is difficult to fblve. It is when a
candle, in a dark place, and fituated beyond the li¬
mits of diftindt vifion, is viewed through a very nar¬
row chink in a card ; in which cafe a confiderable num¬
ber of candles, fometimes fo many as fix, will be feen
along the chink. This appearance he afcribes to fmall
irregularities in the furface of the humours of the eye,
the effeft of which is not fenfible when rays are ad¬
mitted into the eye through the whole extent of the pu¬
pil, and confequently one principal image effaces a num¬
ber of finall ones j whereas, in this cafe, each of them
is formed feparately, and no one of them is fo confider¬
able as to prevent the others from being perceived at
the fame time.
Vol. XV. Part I.
183
M. le Cat’s
I account of
iefs of ob
ie6ls in
bid.
ICS.' ' 241
There are few perfons, M. de la Hire remarks, who Apparent
have both their eyes exadlly equal, not only with re- Pblt1e,; ^c*
fpedt to the limits of diftindt vifion, but alfo with re- °
gard to the colour with which objedts appear tinged
when they are viewed by them, efpecially if one of the
eyes has been expofed to the impreflion of a ftrong light.
To compare them together in this refpedt, he diredts us
to take two thin cards, and to make in each of them a
round hole of a third or a fourth of a line in diameter,
and, applying one of them to each of the eyes, to look
through the holes on a white paper, equally illuminated,
when a circle of the paper will appear to each of the
eyes, and, placing the cards properly, thefe two circles
may be made to touch one another, and thereby the
appearance of the fame objedt to each of the eyes may
be compared to the greateft advantage. To make this
experiment with exadtnefs, it is neceffary, he fays, that
the eyes be kept ftiut fome time before the cards be ap¬
plied to them.
By the following calculation, M. de la Hire gives
us an idea of the extreme fenfibiiity of the optic nerves.
One may fee very eafily, at the diftance of 4000 toifes,
the fail of a wind mill, 6 feet in diameter j and the eye
being fuppofed to be an inch in diameter, the pidture
of this fail, at the bottom of the eye, will be o °£
an inch, which is lefsthan the 666th part of a line, and
is about the 66th part of a common hair, or the 8th
part of a Angle thread of filk. So fmall, therefore,
muft one of the fibres of the optic nerve be, which, he
fays, is almoft inconceiveable, fince each of thefe fibres
is a tube that contains fpirits, . tg4
• The perfon who particularly noticed Dr Barrow’s Berkeley’s
hypothells was the ingenious Dr Berkeley, biihop ofacc'jUrt °*
Cloyne, who diftinguilhed himlelf fo much by the ob- ^n{
jediions which he ftarted to the reality of a material ^ concern-
world, and by his oppofition to the Newtonian doc-ing diftance
trine of fluxions. In his Eflay towards a new Theory by confuted
of Vifion, he obferves, that the circle formed upon the Vl^on’
retina, by the rays which do not come to a focus, pro¬
duce the fame confufion in the eye, whether they crofs
one another before they reach the retina, or tend to do
it afterwards j and therefore that the judgment con¬
cerning diftance will be the fame in both the cafes, with¬
out any regard to the place from which the rays origi¬
nally iffued ; fo that in this cafe, as; by receding from
the lens, the confufion, which always accompanies the
nearnefs of an objedt, increafes, the mind w ill judge that
the objedt comes nearer. 185
But, fays Dr Smith, if this be true, the objedt Smith’s ac*
ought always to appear at a lefs diftance from the eyecount'
than that at which objedts are feen diftindtly, which
is not the cafe : and to explain this appearance, as well
as every other in which a judgment is formed concern¬
ing diftance, he maintains, that wTe judge of it chiefly if
not only by the apparent magnitude of objedts, fo that,
fince the image grows larger as we recede from the lens
through which it is viewed, we conceive the objedt to
come nearer. He alfo endeavours to fhow, that in all
cafes in which glaffes are ufed, avc judge of diftance by
the fame rule 5 from which he concludes, that the ap¬
parent diftance of an objedt feen in a glafs is to its ap¬
parent diftance feen ,by the naked eye, as the apparent
magnitude in the naked eye is to its apparent magnitude
in the glafs.
But that we do not judge of diflance merely by the
H h angle
*4-
Apparent
place. Sic.
of obje&s.
i So
Objedled
to by Mr
Itobins.
OPT
angle under which objects are feen, is an obfervation
as old as Alhazen, who mentions feveral infiances, in
which, though the angles under whic^objefls appear
be different, the magnitudes are univerfally and in-
fiantaneoufly deemed not to be fo. Mr Robins clearly
fhows the hypothelis of Dr Smith to be contrary to
faft in the molt common and fimple cafes. In mi-
crofcopes, he fays, it is impoflible that the eye fliould
judge the objefl to be nearer than the diftance at
which it has viewed the objeft itfelf, in proportion to
the degree of magnifying. For when the mxcrofcope
magnifies much, this rule would place the image at a
diftance, of which the fight cannot poffibly form any
opinion, as being an interval from the eye at which
no object can be feen. In general, he fays, he believes,
that whoever looks at an objeft through a convex
glafs, and then at the objedft itfelf without the glafs,
will find it to appear nearer in the latter cafe, though
it be magnified in the glafs j and in the fame trial with
the concave glafs, though by the glafs the object be di-
minifhed, it will appear nearer through the glafs than
without it.
But the following experiment is the moft convincing
proof that the apparent diftance of the image is not de¬
termined by its apparent magnitude. If a double con¬
vex giafs be held upright before fome luminous object,
as a candle, there will be feen twro images, one ereft,
and the other inverted. The firft is made fimply by
re fie £r ion from the neareft furface, the fecond by reflec¬
tion from the farther furface, the rays undergoing a re-
fraclion from the firft furface both before and after the
refle&ion. If this glafs has not too fhort a focal diftance
when it is held near the objeft, the inverted image will
appear larger than the other, and alfo nearer •, but if the
glafs be carried off from the objeft, though the eye re¬
main as near to it as before, the inverted image will di-
minifh fo much fafter than the other, that, at length, it
will appear very much lefs than it, but ftill nearer.
Here, fays Mr Robins, two images of the fame objedl
are feen under one view, and their apparent diftances,
when immediately compared, feem to have no neceffary
connexion with the apparent magnitude. He alfo fhovrs
how this experiment may be made ftill more convincing,
by flicking a piece of paper on the middle of the lens,
and viewing it through a fhort tube.
M. Bouguer adopts the general maxim of Dr Bar-
guer adopts row, in fuppofing that we refer objefts to the place
Dr Bar- from which the pencils of rays feemingly converge at
their entrance into the pupil. But when rays iflue from
below the furface of a veffel of whaler, or any other re¬
fracting medium, he finds that there are always two dif¬
ferent places of this feeming convergence ; one of them
of the rays that ifi'ue from it in the fame vertical circle,
and therefore fall with different degrees of obliquity
upon the furface of the refrafting medium*, and another,
of thofe that fall upon the furface with the fame degree
of obliquity, entering the eye laterally with refpeCl to
one another. Sometimes, ]?e fays, one of thefe images
is attended to by the mi*d, and fometimes the other,
and different images may be obferved by different per-
fons. Aw obieff immerfed in water affords an example,
he fays, of this duplicity of images.
If B A £ be part of the furface of water, and the ob-
je£t be at O, there will be two images of it in two dif¬
ferent places} one at G, on the cauftic by refraClion,
187
M. Bou-
rows
maxim.
Plat*
CCCLXXXIV. •
fife I*
I C S. Parti.
and the other at E, in the perpendicular AO, which is Apparent
as much a cauftic as the other line. The former image pj.acc? ^c-
is vifible by the rays ODM, O o'tn, which are one i -
higher than the other, in their progrefs to the eye j
whereas the image at E is made by the rays ODM,
O ef, which enter the eye laterally. This, fays he,
may ferve to explain the difficulty of Father Tacquet,
Barrow, Smith, and many other authors.
G. W. Kraft has ably fupported the opinion of Dr
Barrow, that the place of any point, feen by reflec¬
tion from the furface of any medium, k that in which
rays iffuing from it, infinitely near to one another,
would meet *, and confidering the cafe of a diftant ob-
je£f, viewed in a concave mirror, by an eye very near
to it, when the image, according to Euclid and other
writers, would be between the eye and the objeft, and
the rule of Dr Barrow cannot be applied; he fays
that in this cafe the fpeculum may be confidered as a
plane, the effeft being the fame, only the image is more
obfeure. jgg
Dr Porterfield gives a diftinft view of the natural Dr Perter-
methods of judging concerning the diftance of objefls. field's view
The conformation of the eye, he obferves, can be ofof 'he
no ufe to us with refpedt to obje&s placed without theJ
limits of diftintft vifion. As the objeft, however, does
then appear more or lefs confufed, according as it is
more or lefs removed from thofe limits, this confufion
affifts the mind in judging of the diftance of the object}
it being always eftimated fo much the nearer, or the
farther off, as the confufion is greater. But this con¬
fufion hath its limits alfo; for when an obje<R is placed
at a certain diftance from the eye, to which the breadth
of the pupil bears no fenfible proportion, the rays of
light that come from a point in the obje61, and pafs the
pupil, are fo little diverging, that they may be confider¬
ed as parallel. For a picture on the retina will not be
fenfibly more confufed, though the objtft be removed to
a much greater diftance.
> The moft; general, and frequently the moft certain
means of judging of the diftance of objedls is, he fays,
by the angle made by the optic axis. For our two eyes
are like two different Rations, by the affiftance of which
diftances are taken *, and this is the reafon wffiy thofe
perfons who are blind of one eye, fo frequently mils
their marks in pouring liquor into a glafs, fnuffing a
candle, and fueh other aftions as require that the di¬
ftance be exaiftly diftinguiffied. To be convinced of
the utility of this method of judging of the diftance of
objefts, he dire61s us to fufpend a ring in a thread, fo
that its fide may be towards us, and the hole in it to the
right and left hand ; and taking a fmall rod, crooked
at the end, retire from the ring two or three paces
and having 'with one hand covered one of our eyes,
to endeavour with the other to pafs the crooked end of
the rod through the ring. This, fays he, appears very
eafy ; and yet, upon trial, perhaps once in 100 times
•we flrall not fucceed, efpecially if we move the rod a
little quickly.
The ufe of this fecond method of judging of diftances
Dechales limited to 120 feet; beyond which, be fays,
we are not fenfible of any difference in the angle of the
optic axis.
A third method of judging of the diftance of objefls^.
confifts in their apparent magnitudes, on which fo much
ftrefs was laid by Dr Smith. From this change in the
magnitude.
Theory. OPT
Apparent magnitude of the image upon the retina, we eafily
place, &c. judge of the diftance of objeds, as often as we are other-
of ohjerts.^ acquainted with their magnitude $ but as often as
¥ we are ignorant of the real magnitude of bodies, we can
never, from their apparent magnitude, form any judge¬
ment of their diftance.
Hence we may fee why we are fo frequently deceived
in our eftimates of diftance, by any extraordinary mag¬
nitudes of objeds fecn at the end of it ; as, in travelling
towards a large city, or a caftle, or a cathedral church,
or a mountain larger than common, we fancy them to
be nearer than they really are. This alfo is the reafon
why animals, and little objefts, feen in valleys, conti¬
guous to large mountains, .appear exceedingly fmall.
For we think the mountain nearer to us than if it were
fmaller 5 and we Humid not be furprifed at the fmall-
nefs of the neighbouring animals, if we thought them
farther oft'. For the fame reafon, we think them ex¬
ceedingly fmall, when they are placed upon the top of
a mountain, or a large building ; which appear nearer
to us than they really are, on account of their extraor¬
dinary fize.
Dr Jurin accounts for our imagining objeds, when
feen from a high building, to be fmaller than they are,
building
appear
fmalier
than they
are.
1S9
Why ob-
je.fts feen ^
from a highand fmalier than we fancy them to be when we view
them at the fame diftance on level ground. It is, fays
he, becaufe we have no diftind idea of diftance in that
diredion, and therefore judge of things by their pidures
upon the eye only ; but cuftom will enable us to judge
rightly even in this cafe.
Let a boy, fays he, who has never been upon any
high building, go to the top of a lofty fpire, and
look down into the ftreet ; the objeds feen there, as
men and horfes, will appear fo fmall as greatly to iur-
prife him. But 10 or 20 years after, if in the mean
time he has ufed himfelf now and then to look down
from that and other great heights, he will no longer
find the fame objeds to appear fo fmall. And if he
were to view the fame objeds from fueh heights as fre¬
quently as he fees them upon the fame level with
himfelf in the ftreets, he fuppofes that they would ap¬
pear to him juft of the fame magnitude from the
top of the fpire, as they do from a window one ftory
high. For this reafon it is, that ftatues placed upon
very high buildings ought to be made of a larger fize
than thofe which are feen at a nearer diftance j becaufe
all perfons, except architeds, are apt to imagine the
height of fuch buildings to be much lefs than it really
is.
The fourth method by which Dr Porterfield fays
that we judge of the diftance of objeds, is the force
with which their colour*ftrikcs upon our eyes. For if
we be affured that two objeds are of a fimilar and like
colour, and that one appears more bright and lively
than the other, we judge that the brighter objed is the
nearer of the two.
The fifth method confifts in the different appearance
of the fmall parts of objeds. When thefe parts appear
diftind, we judge that the objed is near-, but when
they appear confufed, or when they do not appear at
all, we reckon the objed to be at a greater diftance.
For the image of any objed, or part of an objed, dimi-
nilhes as its diftance increafes.
The fixth and laft method by wjiich we judge of
the diftance of .objeds is, that the eye does not repre-
I C S, 243
fent to our mind one objed alone, but at the fame Appaient
time all thofe that are placed betwixt us and the prin-
cipal objed, whofe diftance we are conftdering j and °
the more this diftance is divided into feparate and di¬
ftind parts, the greater it appears to be. For this
reafon, diftanees upon uneven furfaces appear lefs than
upon a plane : for the inequalities of the furfaces, fuch
as hills, and holes, and rivers, that lie low and out of
fight, either do not appear, or hinder the parts that
lie behind them from appearing j and fo the whole ap¬
parent diftance is diminithed by the parts that do not
appear in it. This is the reafon that the banks of a
river appear contiguous to a diftant eye, when the river
is low and not feen. jpo
Dr Porterfield very well explains feveral fallacies in Several fab
vifion which depend upon our miftaking the diftances of lacies V1"
objeds. Of this kind, he fays, is the appearance of^j -. ^j
parallel lines, and long villas confifting of parallel rows
of trees ; for they feem to converge more and more as
they are farther extended from the eye. The reafon
of this, he fays, is becaufe the apparent magnitudes of
their perpendicular intervals are perpetually diminifti-
ing> while, at the fame time, we miftake their diftance.
Hence we may fee why, when two parallel rows of
trees ftand upon an afeent, whereby the more remote
parts appear farther off than they really are, becaufe
the line that meafures the length of the viftas now ap¬
pears under a greater angle than when it was horizontal,
the trees, in fuch a cafe, will* feem to converge lefs,
and fometimes, inftead of converging, they will be
thought to diverge.
For the fame reafon that a long vifta appears to
converge more and more the farther it is extended
from the eye, the remoter parts of a horizontal walk
or a long floor will appear to afeend gradually ; and
objeds placed upon it, the more remote they are the
higher they will appear, till the laft be feen on a level
with the eye ; whereas the ceiling of a long gallery
appears to defeend towards a horizontal line, drawn
from the eye of the fpedator. For this reafon, alfo,
the furface of the fea, feen from an eminence, feems
to rife higher and higher the farther wre look ; and the
upper parts of high buildings feem to ftoop, or incline
forwards over the eye below, becaufe they feem to ap¬
proach towards a vertical line proceeding from the
fpedator’s eye ; fo that ftatues on the top of fuch build¬
ings, in order to appear upright, mult recline, or bend
backwards.
Dr Porterfield alfo ftiows the reafon why a windmill,
feen from a great diftance, is fometimes imagined to
move the contrary way from what it really does, by
our taking the nearer end of the fail for the more re¬
mote. The uncertainty we fometimes find in the
courfe of the motion of a branch of lighted candles,
turned round at a diftance, is owing, he fays, to the
fame caufe $ as alfo our fometimes miftaking a convex
for a concave furface, more efpecially in viewing leals
and imprelfions with a convex glafs or a double mi-
crofcope ; and laftly, that, upon coming in a dark
night into a ftreet, in which there is but one row
of lamps, tve often miftake the fide of the ftreet they
are on.
Far more light was thrown upon this curious fubject
by M. Bouguer.
The proper method of drawing the appearance of
H h 2 two
244 OPT
Apparent two rows of trees that {hall appear parallel to the eye,
place, &c. js a probiem vvhich has exercifed the ingenuity of fe-
ofobje s. veraj pbilofophers and mathematicians. That the ap-
rpt parent magnitude of objects decreafes with the angle
Great light under which they are feen, has always been acknow-
thrownup- lodged. It is alfo acknowledged, that it is only by
‘edHj' ^M* cuft°m an^ experience that we learn to form a judge-
£ouguer. ment both of magnitudes and diftances. But in the ap¬
plication of thefe maxims to the above-mentioned pro¬
blem, all perfons, before M. Bouguer, made ufe of the
real diftance inftead of the apparent one j by which
only the mind can form its judgment. And it is ma-
nifefl:, that, if any circumftances contribute to make the
diftance appear otherwife than it is in reality, the ap¬
parent magnitude of the objeft will be affected by it;
for the fame reafon, that, if the magnitude be mifap-
prehended, the idea of the diftance will vary.
For want of attending to this diftin&ion, Tacquet
pretended to demonftrate, that nothing can give the
idea of two parallel lines (rows of trees for inftance) to
an eye fituated at one of their extremities, but two hy¬
perbolical curves, turned the contrary way j and M. Va-
rignon maintained, that in order to make a vifta appear
of the fame width, it muft be made narrow, inftead of
wider, as it recedes from the eye.
M. Bouguer obferves, that very great diftances, and
thofe that are eonliderably lefs than they, make nearly
the fame impreflion upon the eye. We, therefore, al¬
ways imagine great diftances to be lefs than they are $
and for this reafon the ground plan of a long vifta al¬
ways appeass to rife. The vifual rays come in a deter¬
minate dire&ion j but as we imagine that they termi¬
nate fooner than they do, we neceffarily conceive that
the place from which they iffue is elevated. Every
Phte large plane, therefore, as AB, viewed by an eye at O,
ccclxxxiv feem t0 ije jn fucb a direction as A and confe-
2' quently lines, in order to appear truly parallel on the
plane AB, muft be drawn fo as that they would appear
parallel on the plane A d, and be from thence projected
to the plane AB.
To determine the inclination of the apparent ground-
plan Ad to the true ground-plan AB, our ingenious
author diredls us to draw upon a piece of level ground
two ftraight lines of a fufftcient length (for which pur-
• pofe lines fattened to fmall flicks are very convenient),
making an angle of 3 or 4 degrees with one another.
Then a perfon, placing himfelf within the angle, with
his back towards the angular point, muft walk back¬
wards and forwards till he can fancy the lines to be
parallel. In this fituation, a line drawn from the point
of the angle through the place of his eye, will contain
the fame angle with the true ground-plan which tins
does with the apparent one.
M. Bouguer then (hows other more geometrical
methods of determining this inclination; and fays j
that by thefe means he has often found it to be 4 or 5
degrees, though fometimes only 2 or 2| degrees. The
determination of this angle, he obferves, is variable;
depending upon the manner in which the ground is il¬
luminated and the intenfity of the light. The colour
of the foil is alfo not without its influence, as well as
the particular conformation of the eye, by which it is
more or lefs affefted by the fame degree of light, and
alfo the part of the eye on which the objeft is painted.
When, by a flight motion of his head, he contrived,
3
I C S. Part I.
that certain parts of the foil, the image of vvhich fell to- Apparent
wards the bottom of his eye, ftiould fall towards the top P^ace. &c.
of the retina, he always thought that this apparent in- ,of obj^3.
clination became a little greater. w
But what is very remarkable, is, that if he look to¬
wards a riling ground, the difference between the ap¬
parent ground-plan and the true one will be much more
confiderable, fo that they will fometimes make an angle
of 25 or 30 degrees. Of this he had made frequent ob-
fervations. Mountains, he fays, begin to be inacceflible
when their fides make an angle from 35 or 37 degrees
with the horizon, as then it is not poflible to climb them
but by means of ftones or ftirubs, to ferve as fteps to fix
the feet on. In thefe cafes, both he and his companions
always agreed that the apparent inclination of the fide
of the mountain was 60 or 70 degrees.
Thefe deceptions are reprefented in fig. 3. in which, CCCLXXXi,
when the ground-plan AM, or AN, is much inclined, fig. 3,
the apparent ground-plan A m, or A n, makes a very
large angle with it. On the contrary, if the ground
dips below the level, the inclination of the apparent to
the true ground plan diminifties, till, at a certain degree
of the flope, it becomes nothing at all; the two plans
AP and Ap being the fame, fo that parallel lines drawn
upon them would always appear fo. If the inclination
below the horizon is carried beyond the fituation AP,
the error will increafe ; and what is very remarkable,
it will be on the contrary fide j the apparent plan A r
being always below the true plan AR, fo that if a per¬
fon would draw upon the plan AR lines that {hall ap¬
pear parallel to the eye, they muft be drawn conver¬
ging, and not diverging, as is ufual on the level ground j
becaufe they muft be the projections of two lines ima¬
gined to be parallel, on the plan A r, which is more in¬
clined to the horizon than AR.
Thefe remarks, he obferves, are applicable to differ¬
ent planes expofed to the eye at the fame time. For if
BH, fig. 4. be the front of a building, at the diftance pjg. ^
of AB from the eye, it will be reduced in appearance to
the diftance A £ ; and the front of the building will be
b 7i, rather inclined towards the fpeClator, unlefs the di¬
ftance be inconfiderable.
After making a great number of obfervations upon
this fubjedt, our author concludes, that when a man
ftands upon a level plane, it does not feem to rife fenfibly
but at fome diftance from him. The apparent plane,
therefore, has a curvature in it, at that diftance, the
form of which is not very eafy to determine $ fo that a
man {landing upon a level plane, of infinite extent, will
imagine that he ftands in the centre of a bafon. This is
alfo, in fome meafure, the cafe with a perfon Handing
upon the level of the fea.
He concludes with obferving, that there is no diffi¬
culty in drawing lines according to thefe rules, fo as to
have any given effeCt upon the eye, except when fome
parts of the profpeft are very near the fpeftator, and
others very diftant from him, becaufe, in this cafe, re¬
gard muft be had to the conical or conoidal figure of a
furface. A right line pafling at a fmall diftance from
the obferver, and below the level of his eye, in that cafe
almoft always appears fenfibly curved at a certain di¬
ftance from the eye j and almoft all figures in this cafe
are fubje6t to fome complicated optical alteration to
which the rules of perfpedive have not as yet been ex¬
tended. If a circle be drawn near our feet, and within
that
Theory. OPT
Apparent that part of the ground which appears level to us, it
place, &c. always appear to be a circle, and at a very confi-
of objects, jjgj.abjg diftance it will appear an ellipfe j but between
thefe two fituations, it will not appear to be either the
one or the other, but will be like one of thofe ovals of
iDefcartes, which is more curved on one of its lides than
the other.
On thefe principles a parterre, which appears dif-
torted when it is feen in a low fituation, appears per¬
fectly regular when it is viewed from a balcony or
any other eminence. Still, however, the apparent ir¬
regularity takes place at a greater diitance, while the
part that is near the fpeCtator is exempt from it. If
fig-5‘ AB, fig. 5. be the ground-plan, and A a be a per¬
pendicular, under the eye, the higher it is fituated, at
O, to the greater diitance will T, the place at which
the plane begins to have an apparent afcent along T b,
IJ)2 be removed.
Vifible mo- All the varieties that can occur with refpeCt to the
tion of ob- vilible motion of objeCts, are thus fuccinCtly fummed
jeifts. Up ky. j)r porterfield under eleven heads.
1. An objeCt moving very fwiftly is not feen, unlefs
it be very luminous. Thus a cannon ball is not feen if
it is viewed tranfverfely : but if it be viewed according
to the line it defcribes, it may be feen, becaufe its pic¬
ture continues long on the fame place of the retina 5
which, therefore, receives a more fenfible impreflion
from the objeCt.
2. A live coal fwung brifkly round in a circle ap¬
pears a continued circle of fire, becaufe the impreflions
made on the retina by light, being of a vibrating, and
confequently of a lading nature, do not prefently perilh,
but continue till the coal performs its whole circuit,
and returns again to its former place.
3. If two objeCts, unequally diftant from the eye,
move with equal velocity, the more remote one will
appear the flower j or, if their celerities be proportion¬
al to their diftances, they will appear equally fwift.
4. If two objeCts, unequally diftant from the eye,
move with unequal velocities in the fame direction, their
apparent velocities are in a ratio compounded of the
direCt ratio of their true velocities, and the reciprocal
one of their diftances from the eye.
5. A vifible objeCt moving with any velocity appears
to be at reft, if the fpace defcribed in the interval of
one fecond be imperceptible at the diftance of the eye.
Hence it is that a near objeCt moving very flowly, as
the index of a clock, or a remote one very fwiftly, as a
planet, feems to be at reft.
6. An objeCt moving with any degree of velocity
will appear at reft, if the fpace it runs over in a fe¬
cond of time be to its diftance from the eye as 1 to
1400.
7. The eye proceeding ftraight from one place to
another, a lateral objeCt, not too far off, whether on the
right or left, will feem to move the contrary way.
8. The eye proceeding ftraight from one place to
another, and being fenfible of its motion, diftant objeCts
will feem to move the fame way, and with the fame ve¬
locity. Thus, to a perfon running eaftwards, the moon
on his right hand appears to move the fame way, and
with equal fwiftne.fs j for, on account of its diftance, its
image continues fixed upon the fame place of the retina,
from whence we imagine that the objeCt moves along
with the eye.
I C S. 24s
9. If the eye and the objeCt move both the fame way, Apparent
only the eye much fvvifter than the objeCt, the laft will p!30.6: ^c‘
appear to go backwards,. ‘
10. If two or more objeCts move with the fame velo¬
city, and a third remain at reft, the moveable ones will
appear fixed, and the quiefcent one in motion the con¬
trary way. Thus when clouds move very fwiftly, their
parts feem to preferve their fituation, and the moon to
move the contrary way.
11. If the eye be moved with great velocity, lateral
objeCts at reft appear to move the contrary way.
Thus to a perfon fitting in a coach, and riding brifldy
through a wood, the trees feem to retire the contrary
way ; and to people in a fliip, &c. the ftiores feem to
recede.
At the conclufion of thefe obfervations, Dr Porter- Dr Porter¬
field endeavours to explain another phenomenon of mo- field’s ac¬
tion, which, though common and well known, had not
been explained in a fatisfaftory manner. It is this : Ifpearingto
a perfon turns fwiftly round, without changing his move to a
place, all objeCls about will feem to move round in agid‘lyPer-
circle tlie contrary way 5 and this deception continues ^
not only while the perfon himfelf moves round, but, j^both at
which is more furprifing, it alfo continues for fome time reft,
after he ceafes to move, when the eye, as well as the
objeCt, is at abfolute reft.
The reafon why objeCts appear to move round the
contrary way, when the eye turns round, is not fo diffi¬
cult to explain : for though, properly fpeaking, motion
is not feen, as not being in itfelf the immediate objeCt
of fight; yet by the fight we eafily know when the
image changes its place on the retina, and thence con¬
clude that either the objeCt, the eye, or both, are moved.
But by the fight alone we can never determine howr far
this motion belongs to the objeCt, how far to the eye,
or how far to both. If we imagine the eye at reft, we
afcribe the whole motion to the objeCt, though it be tru¬
ly at reft. If we imagine the objeCt at reft, we afcribe
the whole motion to the eye, though it belongs entire¬
ly to the objeCt j and when the eye is in motion, though
we are fenfible of its motion, yet, if we do not imagine
that it moves fo fwiftly as it really does, we afcribe on¬
ly a part of the motion to the eye, and the reft of it
we afcribe to the objeCt, though it be aCtually at reft.
This laft, he fays, is what happens in the prefent cafe,
when the eye turns round $ for though we are fenfible
of the motion of the eye, yet we do not apprehend that
it moves fo faft as it really does *, and therefore the bo¬
dies about appear to move the contrary way, as is agree¬
able to experience.
But the great difficulty ftill remains, viz. Why, after
the eye ceafes to move, objeCts ffiould, for fome time,
ftill appear to continue in motion, though their pictures
on the retina be really at reft, and do not at all change
their place. This, he imagined, proceeds from a mif-
take we are in with refpeCt to the eye, which, though
it be abfolutely at reft, we neverthelefs conceive as mo¬
ving the contrary way to that in which it moved be¬
fore y from which miftake, with refpeCt to the motion
of the eye, the objeCts at reft will appear to move the
fame way which the eye is imagined to move; and,
confequently, will feem to continue their motion for 194
fome time after the eye is at reft. Wells
This is ingenious, but perhaps not juft. An ac* fur thls ptu;
count of this matter, which feems to us more fatisfac- nomen0n,
tory,
'2 4*5
Apparent
place, See.
of objedls.
*95
Upon what
data we
judge, vifi-
ble objects
to be in
motion or
at reft.
OPT
tory, has been lately given to the public by Dr Wells.
“ Some of the older writers upon optics (fays this inge¬
nious philofopher) imagined the vifive fpirits to be con¬
tained in the head, as water is in a veiTc) ; which, there¬
fore, when once put in motion by the rotation of our bo¬
dies, mint continue in it for fome time after this has
ceafed ; and to this real circular movement of the vifive
fpirits, while the body is at reft, they attributed the ap¬
parent motions of objefts in giddinefs. Dechales faw
the weaknefs of this hypothefis ; and conjectured, that
the phenomenon might be owing to a real movement of
the eyes ; but produced no fa£t in proof of his opinion.
Dr Porterfield, on the contrary, fuppofed the difficulty
of explaining it to confift in ffiowing, why objeCts at
reft appear in motion to an eye which is alfo at reft.
The folution he offered of this reprefentation of the
phenomenon, is not only extremely ingenious, but is, I
believe, the only probable one which can be given. It
does not apply, however, to the faCt which truly exifts •,
for I ffiall immediately (how, that the eye is not at reft,
as he imagined. The latt author I know of who has
touched upon this fubjecl is Dr Darwin. His words
are, ‘ When any one turns round rapidl} on one foot
till he becomes dizzy, and falls upon the ground, the
fpeCtra of the ambient objeCts continue to prefent them-
felves in rotation, or appear to librate, and he feems to
behold them for fofne time in motion.’ I do not in¬
deed pretend to underftand his opinion fullyy but this
much feems clear, that if fuch an apparent motion of
the furrounding objeCts depends in any w'ay upon their
fpeCtra, or the illufive reprefentations of thofe objeCts,
occaftoned by their former impreffions upon the retinas,
no fnnilar motion would be obferved, were we to (urn
ourfelves round with our eyes (hut, and not to open them
till we became giddy ; for in this cafe, as the furround¬
ing objeCts could not fend their pictures to the retinas,
there would confequently be no fpeCtra to prefent them-
felves afterward in rotation. But whoever will make
the experiment, will find, that objeCts about him appear
to be equally in motion, when he has become giddy by
turning himfelf round, whether this has been done with
his eyes open or (hut. I (hall now venture to propofe
my own opinion upon this fubjeCt.
“ If the eye be at reft, we judge an objeCt to be in
motion when its picture falls in fucceeding times upon
different parts of the retina ; and if the eye be in mo¬
tion, wre judge an objeCt to be at reft, as long as the
change in the place of its picture upon the retina holds
a certain correfpondenee with the change of the eye’s
pofition. Let us now fuppofe the eye to be in motion,
while, from fome diforder in the fyftem of fenfation, wre
are either without thofe feelings which indicate the va¬
rious pofitions of the eye, or are not able to attend to
them. It is evident, that in fuch a flate of things an
objeCt at relt muff; appear to be in motion, fince it fends
in fucceeding times its picture to different parts of the
retina. And this feems to be what happens in giddi¬
nefs. I was firft led to think fo from obferving, that,
during a flight fit of giddinefs I was accidentally feized
with, a coloured foot, occafioned by looking fteadily at
a luminous body, and upon which I happened at that
moment to be making an experiment, was moved in a
manner altogether independent of the pofitions I conceiv¬
ed my eyes to poffefs. To determine this point, I again
produced the fpot, by looking fome time at the flame of
4
I C S. Part I.
a candle : then turning rnyfelf round till I became gid- Apparent
dy, I fuddenly difeontinued this motion, and directed Pj.iU'h &c-
my eyes to the middle of a fheet of paper, fixed upon , ° ^
the wall of my chamber’. The fpot now appeared upon
the paper, but only for a moment 5 for it immediately
after feemed to move to one fide, and the paper to the
other, notwithftanding I conceived the polition of my
eyes to be in the mean while unchanged. To go on Curious ex.
with the experiment, when the paper and fpot had pro- Per>ments
ceeded to a certain diftance from each other, they fud- ^k^certa^
denly came together again j and this feparation and con¬
junction were alternately repeated a number of times,
the limits of the feparation gradually becoming lefs, till
at length the paper and fpot both appeared to be at reft,
and the latter to be projected upon the middle of the
former. I found alfo, upon repeating and varying the
experiment a little, that w7hen I had turned myfelf from
left to right, the paper moved from right to left, and
the fpot confequently the contrary way •, but that when
I had turned from right to left, the paper would then
move from left to right. Thefe were the appearances
obferved while I flood ereCt. When I inclined, how¬
ever, my head in fueh a manner as to bring the fide of
my face parallel to the horizon, the fpot and paper would
then move from each other, one upward and the other
downward. But all thefe phenomena demonftrate, that
there rvas areal motion in my eyes at the time 1 imagi¬
ned them to be at reft ; for the apparent fituation of
the fpot, with refpeCt to the paper, could not poffibly
have been altered, without a real change of the pofition
of thofe organs. To have the fame thing proved in
another way, I defired a perfon to turn quickly round,
till he became very giddy j then to flop himfelf, and
look ftedfaftly at me. He did fo, and I could plainly
fee, that although he thought his eyes were fixed, they
wrere in reality moving in their foekets, firft toward one
fide and then toward the other.” ^
M. Le Cat well explains a remarkable deception, by A remark-
which a perfon {hall imagine an objeCt to be on the op- a.We (’*eceP-
polite fide of a board, when it is not fo, and alfo invert-t on ex‘
ed and magnified. It is illuftrated by fig. 6. in which Cat
D reprefents the eye, and CB a large black board, Plate
pierced with a fmall hole. E is a large white board, ccclxxxiv.
placed beyond it, and ftrongly illuminated •, and </a pin,
or other fmall objeCt, held betwixt the ex e and the firlt
board. In thefe circum(lances, the pin (hall be imagi¬
ned to be at F, on the other fide of the board, where it
will appear inverted and magnified ; beeaufe what
is in faCt perceived, is the ftiadow of the pin upon the
retina j and the light that is flopped by the upper part
of the pin coming from the lower part of the enlighten¬
ed board, and that which is (topped by the lower part
Coming from the upper part of the board, the lhadow
muft neceffarily be inverted with refpeCt to the objeCt.
This is nothing more than Mr Grey’s experiment, in
which he faiv an inverted image of the pin, and which
we have already noticed.
There is a curious phenomenon relating to vifion,
which fome perfons have afertbed to the inflection of
light, but which Mr Melville explains in a very differ¬
ent and verv fimple manner.
When any opaque body is held at the diftance of \ curious
three or four inches from the eye, fo that a part of fome phenome-
more diftant luminous objeCt, fuch as the window, or the noncxplam-
flame of a candle, may be feen by rays palling near its
edge,
tig. 6.
T98
Theory. OPT
Apparent edge, if another Opaque body, nearer to the eye, be
PfaCfe?b brought acrofs from the oppofite. tide, the edge of the
P u tjec: fir ft body tvill feem to fwell outwards, and meet the lat¬
ter ; and in doing fo will intercept a portion of the lu¬
minous object that was feen before.
i his appearance he explains in the following manner :
Fig. 7- Let AB reprefent the luminous objeft to which the fight
is directed, CD the more diftant opaque body, GH the
nearer, and EF the diameter of the pupil. Join ED,
FD, EG, FG, and produce them till they meet AB in
K, N, M, and L. It is plain that the parts AN, MB,
of the luminous object cannot be feen. But taking any
point a between N and K, and drawing a 1) r/, lince the
portion d F of the pupil is filled with light flowing from
that point, it muft be vifible. Any point £, between a
and K, muft fill/F, a greater portion of the pupil, and
therefore muft appear brighter. Again, Any point c
between £.and K, muft appear brighter than />, becaufe
it fills a greater portion g F with light. The point K
itfelf, and every other point in the fpace KL, muft ap¬
pear very luminous, fince they fend entire pencils of
rays EKI, ELF, to the eye j and the viiible bright-
nefs of every point from L towards M, mull decreafe
gradually, as from K to N, that is, the fpaces KN, LM,
will appear as dim fhadowy borders, or fringes, adja¬
cent to the edges of the opaque bodies.
When the edge G is brought to touch the right line
KF, the penumbras unite \ and as foon as it reaches
NDF, the above phenomenon begins ; for it cannot pafs
that right line without meeting fame line « D d, drawn
from a point between N and K, and, by intercepting all
the rays that fall upon the pupil, render it invifible. In
advancing gradually to the line KDE, it will meet
other lines 6 Df, c D g, &c. and therefore render the
points b, c, &c. from N to K, fucceflively invifible ^ and
therefore the edge of the fixed opaque body CD muft
I'eem to fwell outwards, and cover the whole fpace NK ;
while GH, by its motion, covers MK. When GH is
placed at a greater diftance from the eye, CD continu¬
ing fixed, the fpace OP to be paffed over in order to in¬
tercept NK is lefs; and therefore, with an equal motion
of GH, the apparent fwelling of CD muft be quicker ;
which is found true by experience.
If ML reprefent a luminous objeft, and REFQ^any
plane expofed to its light, the fpace FQ will be entire¬
ly ftiaded from the rays, and the fpace FE will be oc¬
cupied by a penumbra, gradually darker, from E to F.
Let now GH continue fixed, and CD move parallel to
the plane EF; and as foon as it pafles the line LF, it
is evident that the fhadow QF will feem to fwell out¬
wards ; and when CD reaches ME, fo as to cover with
its fhadow the fpace RE, £)F, by its extenfion, will co¬
ver FE. T his is found to hold true likewife by experi¬
ment.
Sect. X. On Abler at ion of Figure or Sphericity.
199
Theory of _ The great praftical ufe of the fcience of optics is to
aberration, aid human fight; but it has been repeatedly obferved
during the progrefs of thjs article, that in conftru&ing
dioptrical inftruments for this purpofe, great difficulties
Plate arife the aberration of light. It has been fhown
ccclxxviii. how to determine the concourfe of any refradted ray
'it5- 5, <5, Ph’ with the ray RVCF’, which pafles through the
centre C, and therefore falls perpendicularly on the
'I C S. 247
fpherical furface at the vertex V, and fuffers no refrac-
lion. This is the conjugate focus to R for the two rays Wenation.
IIP, RV, and for another ray flowing from R and
falling on the furface at an equal diftance on the op¬
pofite fide to P. In fhort, it is the conjugate focus
for all the rays flowing from R, and falling on the fphe¬
rical furface in the circumference of a circle deferibed
by the revolution of the point P round the axis RVCF j
that is, of all the rays which occupy the conical fur-
face deferibed by the revolution of RP, and the re-
fradled rays occupy the Conical furface produced by the
revolution of PF’.
But no other rays flowing from R are colledled at F’ j
for it appeared in the demonftration of that propofition,
that rays incident at a greater diftance from the axis RC
were collefted at a point between C and F’ j and then
the rays which are incident on the whole arch PC, or
the fpherical furface generated by its revolution round
RC, although they all crofs the axis RC, are diflfufed
over a certain portion of it, by what has been called
the aberration of figure. It is called alfo (but impro¬
perly) the aberration from the geometrical focus, by
which is meant the focus of an infinitely {lender pencil
of rays, of which the middle ray (or axis of the pencil)
occupies the lens RC, and fuffers no refradfion. But
there is no luch focus. But if we make 7//RV—«RC :
«RV—VC : VF, the point F is called the geometrical
focus, and is the remoteft limit from C of all the foci
(equally geometrical) of rays flowing from R. The
other limit is eafily determined by conftrudfing the pro¬
blem for the extreme point of the given arch.
It is evident from the conftrudfion, that while the
point of incidence P is near to V, the line CK increafes
but very little, and therefore CF diminifties little, and
the refradfed rays are but little diffufed from F; and
therefore they are much denfer in its vicinity than any
other point of the axis. It will foon be evident that
they are incomparably denfer. It is on this account
that the point F has been called the conjugate focus to
R, and the geometrical focus, and the diffufion has been
called aberration. A geometrical point R is thus repre-
fented by a very fmall circle at F, and F has drawn the
chief attention. And as, in the performance of optical
inftruments, it is neceflary that this extended reprefen-
tation of a mathematical point R be very fmall, that it
may not fenfibly interfere with the reprefentations of
the points adjacent to R, and thus caufe indiftindf vifion,
a limit is thus fet to the extent of the refracting furface
which muft be employed to produce this reprefentatien.
But this evidently diminifties the quantity of light, and
renders the vifion obfeure though diflinCt. Artifts have
therefore endeavoured to execute refraCting furfaces of
forms not fpherical, which colleCt accurately to one
point the light ifluing from another, and the mathema¬
ticians have furnifhed them with forms having this pro¬
perty : but their attempts have been fruitlefs. Spheri¬
cal furfaccs are the only ones which can be executed
with accuracy. All are done by grinding the refraCHng
fubftance in a mould of proper materials. When this
is fpherical, the two work tbemfelves, with moderate at¬
tention, into an exaCl fphere ; becaufe if any part is
more prominent than another, it is ground away, and
the whole gets of neceffity one curvature. And it is
aftonifiiing to what degree of accuracy this is done. An
error of the millionth part of an inch would totally de-
ftroy
248
OPTICS.
Part ]
Of ftroy the figure of a mirror of an inch focal dillance.
Aberration. ^ ag ^ ma]^e jt \ifelefs for the coarfeft inftrument.
Therefore all attempts to make other figures are given
up. Indeed other reafons make them worfe than fphe-
rical, even when accurately executed. They would not
collect to accurate focufes the rays of oblique pencils.
It is evident from thefe obfervations, that the theory
of aberrations is abfolutely neceffary for the fuccefsful
conftruftion of optical inftruments j and it muft be ac¬
ceptable to the reader to have a fhort account of it in
this place. Enough fliall be faid here to fhow the
general nature and effedls of it in optical inftruments,
and in feme of the more curious phenomena of nature.
Under the article Telescope the fubjeft will be refum¬
ed, in fuch a manner as to enable the reader who pof-
feffes a very moderate fnare of mathematical knowledge,
not only to underftand how aberrations are increafed and
diminilhed, but alfo how, by a proper employment of
contrary aberrations, their hurtful effects may be almoji
entirely removed in all important cafes. And the man¬
ner in which the fubiefl ftiall be treated in the prefent
general Iketch, will have the advantage of pointing out
at the fame time the maxims of conftruftion of the
greateft part of optical inftruments, which generally
produce their effetfts by means of pencils of rays which
are either out of the axis altogether, or are oblique to
it 5 cafes which are feldom confidered in elementary
treatifes of optics.
Plate Let PV it be a fpherical furface of a refra&ing fub-
Ccclxxxiv. ftance (glafs for inftance), of which C is the centre, and
%•
200
How to re¬
medy the
evils of ab.
•erration.
let an indefinitely flender pencil of rays AP ap be inci¬
dent on it, in a dire£tion parallel to a ray CV pafling
through the centre. It is required to determine the
focusy*of this pencil.
Let AP be refradled into PF. Draw Cl, CR the
fines of incidence and refraftion, and CP the radius.
Draw RB perpendicular to CP, and parallel to
AP or CV. I fay, firft, f is the focus of the inde¬
finitely flender pencil, or, more accurately fpeaking, f
is the remoteft limit from P of the concourfe of rays
with PF’ refradled by points lying without the arch
VP, or the neareft limit for rays incident between V
and P.
Draw the radius C p c’’, the line p f; and draw pg
parallel to Pj^ and P 0 perpendicular to Pyi It is
evident, that if f be the focus, c' pf is the angle of
refradlion correfponding to the angle of incidence C,
as C’P/ is the angle correfponding to A PC. Alfo
VCp is the increment of the angle of incidence, and
the angle c1 pg is equal to the fum of the angle C’P f
and C’C c, and the angle ^ is equal to the angle
pf¥. Therefore c’/jyhrC’Py-j-P, Cy7,-f-Pyp. There¬
fore PCp-j-PfP is the correfponding increment of the
angle of refraftioA. Alfo, becaufe RP o=:CPp (being
right angles) the angle p P o“RPC, and P 0 : Pp~
PR : PC.
Therefore by a preceding Lemma in tins article,
we have PCjo-LI3 f p : PC/>rrtan. ref. : tan. incid.rt:
T, R : T, 13 and Yfp : PCp~T, R—T, I : T, I,
: T, I; but F/p : FCp=
— PR : Py,=:DR: DB (becaufe DP is parallel to By
by conftrudHon)=ztan.CPR—-tan.CPI: tan.CPI. Now
CPI is the angle of incidence $ and therefore CPR is
the angle properly correfponding to it as an angle of re- Of
fraction, and the pointy is properly determined. Aberrat'o
Hence the following rule. As the difference of the
tangents of incidence and refraftion is to the tangent of
incidence, fo is the radius of the furface multiplied by the
cofne of refraBion to the di/lance of the focus of an inf*
nitely fender pencil of parallel incident rays.
N. B. We here confider the cofine of refraction as a
number. This was firft done by the celebrated Euler,
and is one of the greateft improvements in mathematics
which this century can boaft of. The fines, tangents,
fecants, &.c. are confidered as fractional numbers, of
which the radius is unity. Thus, CP X fin. 30°, is the
1 CP
fame tiling with — CP, or And in like manner,
CB, drawn perpendicular to the axis Xftn. 190 28' 16"
1 CB
32"', is the fame thing with - of CB. Alfo —a
J ’ 3 cof. 60
is the fame thing with twice CB, &c.
In this manner, BEzrBCxfin. BCE, and alfo BE
=:CE X tan. BCE, and CB=CE X fee. BCE, &c. &c.
This manner of confidering the lines which occur in
geometrical conftruCtions is of immenfe ufe in all parts
of mixed mathematics ; and nowhere more remarkably
than in optics, the molt beautiful example of them. Of
this an important inftance lhall now be given.
Cor. 1. The diftance yG of this lateral focus from
the axis CV (that is, from the line drawn through the
centre parallel to the incident light) is proportional to
the cube of the femi-aperture PH of the fpherical fur¬
face.
For yG=BE. Now BE=CB xfm. BCE, =CB
X fin. CPA •, and CB=RCxcof. RCB, =RC x fin.
CPR, and RCrzCPxfin. CPR : Therefore BE=rPC
Xfin.1 CPR X fm. PC A, —PCxfin.*refr. xfm. incid.
but fin.* refr. =r ^-fin.* incid. Therefore, finally, BE,
n
772* J
or yG=PC X “7 X fin.3 incid,: But PC, fin. inerd. is
evidently PH the femi-aperture ; therefore the propofi-
tion is manifeft.
Cor. 2. Now let this flender pencil of rays be inci¬
dent at the vertex V. The focus will now be a point
F in the axis, determined by making CV : CFriw—
n : m. Let the incident pencil gradually recede from
the axis CF, ftill, however, keeping parallel to it. The
focusy will always be found in a curve line DC’F, fo
conltituted that the ordinate G will be as the cube of
the line PH, perpendicular to the axis intercepted be¬
tween the axis and that point of the furface which is cut
by a tangent to the curve in f
All the refracted rays will be tangents to this curve,
and the adjacent rays will crofs each other in thefe la¬
teral foci y,- and will therefore be incomparably more
denfe along the curve than anywhere within its area.
This is finely illuftrated by receiving on white paper
the light of the fun refracted through a globe or cylift^
der of glafs filled with water. If the paper is held pa¬
rallel to the axis of the cylinder, and clofe to it, the il¬
luminated part will be bounded by two very bright pa¬
rallel lines, where it is cut by the curve ; and thefe lines
will gradually approach each other as the paper is with¬
drawn from the veffel, till they coalefce into one very
bright
Theory. 'OPT
Oi bright line at F, or near it. If tlie paper be held with
Aberration. Jts encl touching the veffel, and its plane nearly perpen-
^ ’ dicular to the axis, the whole progrefs of the curve will
be diftinitly feen.
As fuch globes were ufed for burning glaffes, the
point of greateft condeniation (which is very near but
not exactly in F) was called the focus. W hen thefe
curves were obferved by Mr Tchirnhaufs, he called them
caufics; and thofe formed by refraftion he called dia-
cuufics, to diftinguifh them from the cutacaujhcs form¬
ed by refledtion.
It is fomewhat furprifing, that thefe curves have been
fo little ftudied lince the time of Tchirnhaufs. The doc¬
trine of aberrations has indeed been confidered in a man¬
ner independent on their properties. But whoever con-
fiders the progrefs of rays in the eye-piece of optical in-
Itruments, will fee that the knowledge of the properties
of diacaultic curves determines directly, and almoft ac¬
curately, the foci and images that are formed there.
For, let the obje£t-glafs of a telefcope or microfcope be
of any dimenlions, the pencils incident on the eye-glalfes
are almoft all of this evanefcent bulk. Thefe advan¬
tages will be fliown in their proper places: and we pro¬
ceed at prefent to extend our knowledge of aberrations
in general, firft confidering the aberrations of parallel
incident rays.
Abiding by the inftance reprefented by the figure,
it is evident that the cauftic wrill touch the furface in a
point <p, fo fituated that cQ : <p%—m : n. The refract¬
ed ray <p<I> will touch the furlace, and will crofs the
axis in <t>, the neareft limit of diffufion along the axis.
If the furface is of fmaller extent, as PV, the cauftic
begins at 7^ when the extreme refraCted ray Pf touches
the cauftic, and croffes the axis in F’, and the oppofite
branch of the cauftic in K. If there be drawn an ordi¬
nate KO k to the cauftic, it is evident that the whole
light incident on the furface PVn pafles through the
circle whofe diameter is K £, and that the circle is the
tot fmalleft fpace which receives all the refrafted light.
How light It is of great importance to confider the manner in
ted over11' ^ie %^t is diftributed over the furface of this
the fmalleft cjrc^e fmalleft diffufion : for this is the reprefenta-
jcircle of tion of one point of the infinitely diftant radiant objeCt.
‘liffufion. Each point of a planet, for inftance, is reprefented by
this little circle j and as the circles reprefenting the dif¬
ferent adjacent points muft interfere with each other, an
indirtindtnefs muft arife fimilar to what is obferved when
we view an object through a pair of fpeftacles which do
not fit the eye. The indiftin&nefs muft be in propor¬
tion to the number of points whofe circles of diftufion
interfere j that is, to the area of thefe circles, provided
that the light is uniformly diffufed over them : but if it
be very rare at the circumference, the impreflion made
by the circles belonging to the adjacent points muft be
lefs fenfible. Accordingly, Sir Ifaac Newton, fuppofing
it incomparably rarer at the circumference than towards
the centre, affirms that the indiftinftnefs of telefeopes,
arifing from the fpherical figure of the obje<ft-glafs, was
fome thoufand times lefs than that arifing from the un¬
equal refrangibility of light j and, therefore, that the at¬
tempts to improve them by diminiftiing or removing this
aberration were needlefs, while the indiftin&nefs from
unequal refrangibility remained. It is furprifing, that a
philofopher fo eminent for fagacity and for mathematical
knowledge ftiould have made fuch a miftake, and un-
Vol. XV. Part I.
I C S. 249
fortunate that the authority of his great name hindered
others trom examining the matter, tr fting to his affer- A^emitlQn;
tion that the light was fo rare at the border of this cir¬
cle. His miftake is furprifing, becaufe the very nature
of a cauftic Ihould have ihowed him that the light was
infinitely denfe at the borders of the circle of imalieft
diftufion. 1 he firlt perfon who detected this overfight
of the Britiih philofopher was the Abbe Bolcovich,
who, in a differtadon publifhed at Vienna in 1767,
ftiowed, by a very beautiful analyfis, that the dilfnbu-
tion was extremely ditferent from what Newton had
afferted, and that the fuperior indiftinftnefs arifing from
unequal refrangibility was incomparably lefs than he had
faid. We fhall attempt to make this delicate and in-
terefting matter conceived by thofe who have but fmall
mathematical preparation.
Let the curve DVZCIrisrn/be the cauftic (magni- Plate
fied), El its axis, I the focus of central rays, B the fo- ccc_ixx'xvb
cus of extreme rays, and IB the line containing the foci
of all the intermediate rays, and CO c the diameter of
the circle of fmalleft diffufion.
It is plain, that from the centre O there can be
drawn two rays OV, O v, touching the cauftic in V, v.
Therefore the point O will receive the ray EO, which
paffes through the vertex of the refradling furface, and
all the rays which are incident on the circumference of
a circle defcribed on the refrafting furface by the extre¬
mity of the ray OV, or O v. The denfity of the light
at O will therefore be indefinitely great.
From the point C there can be drawn two rays $ one
of them CX touching the cauftic in C, and the other
C, touching it at d on the oppofite fide. The rays
which touch the cauftic in the immediate vicinity of Cy,
both in the arch CV and the arch Cl will cut OC in
points indefinitely near to each other ; becaufe their dif-
tance from each other in the line OC will be to their
uniform diftance on the refrafting furface as the diftance
between their points of contact with the cauftic to the
diftance of thefe points from the refradling furface.
Here therefore at C the denfity of the light will alfo be
indefinitely great.
From any point H, lying between O and C, may¬
be drawn three rays. One of them LHT, P, touching
the arch CD of the cauftic in T, cutting the refrafting
furface in P, and the axis in L : another /Hy, touch¬
ing the arch Cl of the cauftic in t. The third is H r w,
touching the arch c d oi the oppofite branch of the cau¬
ftic in r.
It will greatly affift our conception of this fubje£l,Fig. 1.
if we confider a ray of light from the refrafling fur¬
face as a thread attached at I of this figure, or at F
of fig. I. and gradually unlapped from the cauftic
DVCI on one fide, and then lapped on the oppofite
branch 1 cv d; and attend to the point of its interfec-
tion with the diameter c OC of the circle of fmallefl:
diffufion.
Therefore, 1. Let the ray be firft fuppofed to pals
through the refracting furface at F, the right hand
extremity of the aperture. The thread is then folded
up on the whole right hand branch ICVD of the
cauftic j and if the ftraight part of it FD be produced,
it will cut the diameter of the circle of fmalleft diffu¬
fion in the oppofite extremity c. Or fuppofe a ruler
in place of the thread, applied to the cauftic at D and
to the refrafting furface at F, the part of it D cf
I i which
250 OPT
Of _ ■which is detached from the cauflic, cuts CO c in the
Aberration. p0;nj- c 2> ]SJ0VV fuppofe the ruler to revolve gra-
- y—jts extremity moving acrofs the arch FAy* of
the refra£Hng furface while the edge is applied to the
caultic j the point of contact with the cauitic will
fhift gradually down the branch DV of the cauftic,
while its edge pafles acrofs the line c C \ and when the
point of contact arrives at V, the extremity will be at
Y on the refrafting furface, and the interfedtion of the
edge will be at O. 3. Continuing the motion, the
point of contadl Ihifts from V to Z, the extremity
from Y to and the interfedlion from O to fo
oc*
that 00*=:-—, as will prefently appear. 4. After
this, the point of contafl will fhift from Z to C,
the extremity from O’ to X, half way from F to A,
as will foon be fliown, and the interfedlion from 0.to
C. 9. The point of contact will now drift from C
down to I-, the extremity w ill pafs, from X to A, and
the interfedlion will go back from C to O. 6. The
ruler mud now be applied to the other branch of the
caudic \ c %v d, and the point of contadl will afeend
from I to c, the extremity will pafs from A to x, half
way to f from A, and the interfedtion from O to c.
7. The point of contadl will afeend from C to 2;, the
extremity paffes from x to 7’, and the interfedlion from
* O c*
C to y, O 7* being =: 8. While the contadl of
the ruler and caudic drifts from % to v, the extremity
drifts from y’ to y, and the interfeflion from 7 to O.
9. The contaft rifes from v to d, the extremity paffes
from yto f, and the interfedlion from O to Cj and then
the motion acrofs the refradling furface is completed,
the point of contaft drifting down from D to I along
the branch DVZCI, and then afeending along the other
branch I c% v d, while the interfefrion paffes from c to
C, back again from C to c, and then back again from c
to C, where it ends, having thrice paffed through every
202 intermediate point of c C.
Denfity of We may form a notion of the dendty of the light
light. in any point H, by fuppodng the incident light of uni¬
form dendty at the refra£ling furface, and attending
to the condipation of the rays in the circle of Imalleft
diffudon. Their vicinity may be edimated both in the
dire&ion of the radii OH, and in the direction of the
circumference deferibed by its extremity H, during its
revolution round the axis ; and the denfity mud be con¬
ceived as proportional to the number of originally equidi-
flant rays, which are colle&ed into a fpot of given area.
Thefe have been collefred from a correfponding fpot or
area of the refrafring furface; and as the number of rays
is the fame in both, the denfify at H will be to the
denfity of the refrafring furface, as the area occupied
of the refrafring furface, to the correfponding area at H.
The vicinity of the rays in the diretlion of the radius
depends on the proportion betuTeen PT and TH.
For the ray adjacent to PTH may be fuppofed to crofs
it at the point of contact T ; and therefore the uniform
didance between them at the furface of that medium
is to the didance between the fame rays at H as the
didanee of T from the refrafting furface to its didance
from H. Therefore the number of rays which occupy
a tenth of an inch, for example, of the radius AP, is
to the number which would occupy a tenth of an inch
at H as TH to TP} and the radial denfity at P is to the
2
I C S. Parti.
radial dendty at H, aim as TH to TP. Inthenext place, Of
The circumferential dendty at P is to that at H as the ra- ^)erra ion,
dius AP to the radius OH. For fuppodng the figure to v "l~J
turn round its axis AI, the point P of the refrafring
furface will deferibe a circumference whofe radius is
AP, and H will deferibe a circumference whofe radius
is OH; and the whole rays which pafs through the firft
circumference pafs alfo through the lad, and therefore
their circumferential dendties will be in the inverfe
proportion of the fpaces into which they are collefted.
Now the radius AP is to the radius OH as AL to
OL •, and circumferences have the fame proportion
with their radii. Therefore the circumferential den¬
fity at P is to that in H as AL to OL inverfely ; and
it was found that the radial dendty was as AN to
ON inverfely, being as TH to TP, which are very
nearly in this ratio. Therefore the abfolute dendty
(or number of rays collefred in a given fpace) at P
will be to that at H, in the ratio compounded of thefe
ratios; that is, in the ratio of ON X OL to AN X AL.
But as NL bears but a very fmall ratio to AN or AL,
AN X AL may be taken as equal to AO* without any
feniible error. It never differs from it in telefcopes I ooth
part, and is generally incomparably fmaller. Therefore
the denfity at H may be confidered as proportional to
ON X OL inverfely. And it will afterwards appear
that NS is =: 3 oL. Therefore the denlity at H is in¬
verfely as ON xNS.
Now deferibe a circle on the diameter OS, and
draw NTcp catting the circumference N^rrON xNS,
and the denfity at H is as N<p* inverfely. This gives
us a very eafy edimation of the denfity, viz. draw aline
from the point of contafl of the ray which touches the
part VC of the caudic, and the dendty is in the inverfe
fubduplicate ratio of the part of this line intercepted
between the axis and the circumference S<pO. It
will afterwards appear that the denfity eorrefponding
to this ray is one half of the dendty correfponding
to all the three : or a better expredion will be had
for the denfityat H by drawing R/3 perpendicular to
R <p, and /2 0 perpendicular to <p /3, making R in 0 ;
then <po is as-^r-, or is proportional to the dendty, as
is evident.
When H is at O, N is at S, and <p 0 is infinite. As
H moves from O, N defeends, and <p 0 diminidies, till
H comes to C^, and T to z, and <p to and 0 to R.
When H moves from O towards C, T defeends below
'Z, (p 0 again increafes, till it is again infinite, when H
is at C, T at C, and N at O.
Thus it appears, without any minute condderation,
that the light has a dendty indefinitely great in the
centre O ; that the denfity deereafes to a minimum
in fome intermediate point £), and then increafes
again to infinity at the margin C. Hence it follows,
that the indidinflnefs arifing from the fpherical figure
of the refracting furfaces is incomparably greater than
Newton fuppofed ; and that the valuable difeovery of
Mr Dollond of achromatic lenfes, mud have failed of
anfwering his fond expectations, if his very method of
producing them had not, at the dime time, enabled
him to remove that other indidinftnefs by employing
contrary aberrations. And now, bn.ee the difeovery
by Dr Blair of fubdances which difpcrfe the different
colours in the fame proportions, but very different de¬
grees,
Theory. OPT
Of grees, lias enabled us to employ much larger portions
Aberration-0f the fphere than Mr Dollond could introduce into his
objeff-glafles, it becomes abfolutely neceffary to fludy
this matter completely, in order to difcover and afcertain
the amount of the errors which perhaps unavoidably re¬
main.
Contrary ’J’his flight {ketch of the moft Ample cafe of aber-
aberrations ration, namely, when the incident rays are parallel,
correct will ferve to give a general notion of the fubjeft j and
each other. ^ reac]er can now fee how contrary aberrations may
be employed in order to form an ultimate image which
(hall be as diltindt as poflible. For let it be propofed
Plate to converge parallel rays accurately to the focus F,
-ccci-xicsvi. by the refraction of fpherical furfaces of which V
3- is the vertex. Let PV be a convex lens of fuch a
form, that rays flowing from F, and pafling through it
immediately round the vertex V, are collefted to the
conjugate focus R, while the extreme ray FP, inci¬
dent on the margin of the lens P, is converged to r,
nearer to V, having the longitudinal aberration R r.
Let V be a plano-concave lens, of fuch fphericity
that a ray A parallel to the axis CV, and incident
on the point p, as far from its vertex V as P in the
other lens is from its vertex, is difperfed from r, the
diftance § V being equal to t V, while the central rays
are difperfed from P, as far from V as R is from V.
It is evident, that if thefe lenfes be joined as in fig. 4.
a ray A’/?, parallel to the common axis CV, will be
colleCled at the diftance VF equal to VF in the fig. 4.
and that rays pafling through both lenfes in the neigh¬
bourhood of the axis will be collected at the fame
point F.
This compound lens is faid to be without fpheri¬
cal aberration 5 and it is true that the central and the
extreme rays' are collefted in the fame point F : but
the rays which fall on the lens between the centre and
margin are a little diffufed from F, and it is not pof-
fible to coiled them all to one point. For in the rules
for computing the aberration, quantities are negle&ed
which do not preferve, in different apertures, the fame
ratio to the quantities retained. The diffufion is leaft
when the aberration is corrected, not for the very ex¬
tremity, but for a certain intermediate point (varying
■vvith the aperture, and having no known ratio to it) j
and when this is done, the compound lens is in its ftate
of greateft perfection, and the remaining aberration is
quite infenfible. See Telescope.
Sect. VI. On the different Refrangibilitij of Light.
As this property of light folves a great number of the
phenomena which could not be underftood by former
i opticians, we (hall give an account of it nearly in the
words of Sir Ifaac Newton, who firlt difcovered it j efpe-
cially as his account is more full and perfpicuous than
thofe of fucceeding writers.
Plate “ In a dark, chamber, at a round hole F, about one
pCLxxxut third of an inch broad, made in the fhutter of a window,
**£•I' I placed a glafs prifm ABC, whereby the beam of the
fun’s light, SF, which came in at that hole, might be
refra&ed upwards, toward the oppofite wall of the cham¬
ber, and there form a colbured image of the fun, repre-
fented at PT. The axis of the prifm was, in this and
the following experiments, perpendicular to the incident
fays. About this axis I turned the prifm flowly, and
ics. ' 25,
faw the refraCted or coloured image of the fun, firft to On the dif-
defeend, and then to alcend. Between the defcent and /eier;t ^.e~
afcent, when the image feemed ftationary, I flopped thetr0f LightT
prifm and fixed it in that pofture. . ‘--v — ^
“ Then 1 let the refraCted light fall perpendicularly
upon a flieet of white paper, MN, placed at the oppo¬
fite wall of the chamber, and obferved the figure and
dimenfions of the folar image, PT, formed on the pa¬
per by that light. This image was oblong, and not
oval, but terminated by two reCfilinear and parallel fides
and two femicircular ends. On its fides it was bounded
pretty diftindly j but on its ends very indiftinftly, the
light there vanifhing by degrees. At the diflance of
18,y teet from the prifm the breadth of the image was
about 2^- inches, but its length was about 10^ inches,
and the length of its reftilinear fides about 8 inches j
and ACB, the refraCling angle of the prifm, by which
fo great a length was made, was 64 degrees. With a
lefs angle the length of the image was lefs, the breadth
remaining the fame. It is farther to be obferved, that
the rays went on in ftraight lines from the prifm to the
image, and therefore at their going out of the prifm had
all that inclination to one another from which the length
of the image proceeded. This image PT was coloured,
and the more eminent colours lay in this order from
the bottom at T to the top at P ; red, orange, yellow,
green, blue, indigo, violet; together with all their in¬
termediate degrees in a continual fucceflion perpetually
varying.”
Our author concludes from this and other experi- Light con-
ments, “ that the light of the fun confifts of a mixture fifts of fe-
of feveral forts of coloured rays, fome of which at equalveral forts
incidences are more refracted than others, and therefore
are called more refrangible. The red at T, being near- rentlyrel
eft to the place Y, where the rays of the fun would go frangible.
direCtly if the prifm was taken away, is the leaft refraCt¬
ed pf all the range*, and the orange, yellow, green, blue,
indigo, and violet, are continually more and more re-
fraCied, as they are more and more diverted from the
courfe of the direCt light. For by mathematical rea-
foning he has proved, that when the prifm is fixed in
the pofture above mentioned, fo that the place of the
image (hall be the loweft poflible, or at the limit be¬
tween its defcent and afeent, the figure of the image
ought then to be round like the fpot at Y, if all the
rays that tended to it were equally refrafted. There¬
fore, fince it is found by experience that this image is
not round, but about five times longer than broad, it
follows, that all .the rays are not equally refra&ed.
This conclufion is farther confirmed by the following
experiments.
“ In the fimbeam SF, which was propagated into the pi„ ,
room through the hole in the window fliutter EG, at &
the diftance of fome feet from the hole, I held the prifm
ABC in fuch a pofture, that its axis might be perpendi¬
cular to that beam : then I looked through the prifm
upon the hole F, and turning the prilm to and fro about
its axis to make the image pt e>i the hole afcend and
defcend, when between its two contrary motions it
feemed ftationary, I flopped the prifm ; in this fituation
of the prifm, viewing through it the faid hole E, I ob¬
ferved the length of its refraCled image pt to be many
times greater than its breadth 5 and that the moft re-
fraCled part thereof appeared violet at p ; the leaft re-
fraCIed, at L; and the middle parts indigo, blue, green,
I i 2 » yellow.
252
OPT
% 3-
On the dif• yellow, ancf orange, in order. The fame thing happen-
ferent re- e(j wjien j removed the prifm out of the fun’s light, and
fToafn£jb^ty looked through it upon the hole ihining by the light of
i°'- /gn ' . the clouds beyond it. And yet if the refractions of all
the rays were' equal according to one certain proportion
of the lines of incidence and refraftion, as is vulgarly
fuppofed, the refracted image ought to have appeared
round, by the mathematical demonftration above men¬
tioned. So then by thefe two experiments it appears,
that in equal incidences there is a confiderable inequali¬
ty of refraCtions.”
For the difcovery of this fundamental property of
light, which has unfolded the whole myltery of colours,
avc fee our author was not only beholden to the experi¬
ments themfelves, which many others had made before
him, but alfo to his Ikiil in geometry j which was abfo-
lutely neceffary to determine what the figure of the re-
fraCted image ought to be upon the old principle of an
equal refraCtion of all the rays : but having thus made
the difcovery, he contrived the following experiment to
prove it at fight. _
Plate “In the middle of two thin boards, DE d c, I
ecclxxxiii. ma(je a round hole in each, at G and g, a third part
of an inch in diameter j and in the window-fhut a much
larger hole being made, at F, to let into my darkened
chamber a large beam of the fun’s light, I placed a
prifm, ABC, behind the Ihut in that beam, to. refraCt
it towards the oppofite wall *, and clofe behind this prifm
I fixed one of the boards DE, in fuch a manner that the
middle of the refraCted light might pafs through the
hole made in it at G, and the reft be intercepted by the
board. Then at the diftance of about 12 feet from the
firft board, I fixed the other board, d e, in fuch manner
that the middle of the refra&ed light, which eame
through the hole in the firft board, and fell upon the
oppofite wall, might pafs through the hole g in this
other board de, and the reft being intercepted by the
board, might paint upon it the coloured fpeCtrum of the
fun. And clofe behind this board I fixed another prifm
a be, to refraCI the light which came through the hole
g. Then I returned fpeedily to the firft prifm ABC,
and by turning it florvly to and fro about its axis, I
caufed the image which fell upon the fecond board d e,
to move up and down upon that board, that all its parts
might pafs fucceffively through the hole on that board,
and fall upon the prifm behind it. And in the mean
time I noted the places, M, N, on the oppofite Avail, to
which that light after its refraftion in the fecond prifm
did pafs ; and by the difference of the places at M and
N, I found that the light, Avhich being moft refra&ed
in the firft prifm ABC, did go to the blue end of the
image, was again more refra&ed by the fecond prifm
a b c, than the light Avhich went to the red end of that
image. For when the lower part of the light Avhich
fell upon the fecond board d e, Avas call through the
hole g, it went to a lower place M on the Avail •, and
when the higher part of that light was call through the
fame hole g, it went to a higher place N on the wall j
and when any intermediate part of the light Avas call
through that hole, it went to fome place in the Avail be¬
tween M and N. The unchanged pofition of the holes
in the boards made the incidence of the rays upon the
fecond prifm to be the fame in all cafes. And yet in
that common incidence fome of the rays were more re¬
fra&ed and others lei’s ; and thofe Avere more refra&ed
I C S. Part I.
in this prifm, which by a greater refra&ion in the firft On the dif.
prifm were more turned out oi their Avay ; and, there- ^erent r«-
fore, for their conftancy of being more refra&ed, are de-
fervedly called more refrangible” t ^ ^
Sir ifaac IhoAvs alfo, by experiments made with con- 205
vex glafs, that lights, refle&ed from natural bodies, hefledted
Avhich differ in colour, differ alfo in refrangibility j and^1 ^er-
that they differ in the fame manner as the rays of the franaib^.
fun do.
“ The fun’s light confifts of rays differing in reflexibi¬
lity, and thofe rays are more reflexible than others Avhich
are more refrangible. A prifm, ABC, whofe tAvoFig. 4.
angles, at its bafe BC, Avere equal to one another and
half right ones, and the third at A a right one, I pla¬
ced in a beam FM of the fun’s light, let into a dark
chamber through a hole F one third part of an inch
broad. And turning the prifm flowly about its axis un¬
til the light which Avent through one of its angles ACB,
and Avas refra&ed by it to G and H, began to be re¬
fle&ed into the line MN by its bafe BC, at Avhich till
then it Avent out of the glafs j I obferved that thofe rays,
as MH, which had fuffered the greateft refra&ion, Avere
fooner refle&ed than the reft. To make it evident that
the rays which vanifhed at H Avere refle&ed into the
beam MN, I made this beam pafs through another
prifm VXY, and being refra&ed by it to fall afterwards
upon a ftieet of white paper p t placed at fome diftance
behind it, and there by that refra&ion to paint the ufual
colours at p t. Then caufing the firft prifm to be turned
about its axis according to the order of the letters ABC,
I obferved, that Avhen thofe rays MH, which in this
prifm had fuffered the greateft refra&ion, and appeared
blue and violet, began to be totally refle&ed, the blue
and violet light on the paper which Avas moft refra&ed
in the fecond prifm received a fenfible increafe at p,
above that of the red and yellow at t: and afterwards,
when the reft of the light, which was green, yellow,
and red, began to be totally refle&ed and vaniftied at *
G, the light of thofe colours at /, on the paper p t, re¬
ceived as great an increafe as the violet and blue had
received before. Which puts it paft difpute, that thofe
rays became firft of all totally refle&ed at the bafe BC,
which before at equal incidences Avith the reft upon the
bafe BC had fuffered the greateft refra&ion. I do not
here take any notice of any refra&ions made in the
fides AC, AB, of the firft prifm, becaufe the light en¬
ters almoft perpendicularly at the firft fide, and goes
out almoft perpendicularly at the fecond ; and therefore
fuffers none, or fo little, that the angles of incidence
at the bafe BC are not fenfibly altered by it j efpecially
if the angles of the prifm at the bafe BC be each about
40 degrees. For the rays FM begin to be totally re¬
fle&ed when the angle CMF is about 50 degrees, and
therefore they will then make a right angle of 90 de¬
grees Avith AC.
“ It appears alfo from experiments, that the beam of
light MN, refle&ed by the bafe of the prifm, being
augmented firft by the more refrangible rays and after-
Avards by the lefs refrangible, is compoftd of rays dif¬
ferently refrangible.
“ The light whofe rays are all alike refrangible, I call
fmple, homogeneous, and fmilar ; ai d that whofe rays
are fome more refrangible than others, I call compound,
heterogeneous, and diffimilar. The former light I call
homogeneous, not becaufe I would afhrm it fo in all re*
fpe&s 3
Theory. OPT
On the dif- fpe£ts } but becaufe tbe rays wbicli agree in refrangibi-
ferent re- lity agree at lealt in all their other properties which I
^ y confider in the follotving difcourfe.
i “ 1 he colours of homogeneous lights I call j)rt/nan/f
homogeneous, and Jimple; and thole of heterogeneous
lights, heterogeneous and compound. lor thefe are always
•ompound. comPound?d of homogeneous lights, as will appear in
^ ' the following difcourfe.
“ I he homogeneous light and rays which appear red,
or rather make objeas appear fo, I call rubrijic or red-
making ; thofe which make objeas appear yellow, green,
blue, and violet, I call yellow-making, blue-making, vio¬
let-making-y and fo of the reft. And if at any time I
fpeak of light and rays as coloured or endowed with co¬
lours, I would be underftood to fpeak not philofophical-
ly and properly, but grofsly, and according to fuch
conceptions as vulgar people in feeing all thefe experi¬
ments would be apt to frame. For the rays, to fpeak
properly, are not coloured. In them there is nothing
elfe than a certain power and difpofition to ftir up a
fenfation of this or that colour. For as found, in a bell
or mufical ftring or other founding body, is nothing but
a trembling motion, and in the air nothing but that
motion propagated from the objeft, and in the fenforium
it is a fenfe of that motion under the form of found $ fo
colours in the objeft are nothing but a difpofition to re-
fleft this or that fort of rays more copioufly than the
reft : in rays they are nothing but their difpofitions to
propagate this or that motion into the fenforium ; and
in the fenforium they are fenfations of thofe motions un¬
der the forms of colours. See Chromatics.
“ By the mathematical propofition above mentioned,
it is certain that the rays which are equally refrangible
heteroge-7 uPon a cIrcle anfwering to the fun’s apparent diik,
neous rays w^ch will alfo be proved by experiment by and by.
Now let AG reprefent the circle which all the moft re¬
frangible rays, propagated from the whole dific of the
fun, will illuminate and paint upon the oppofite wall if
were alone •, EL the circle, which all the leaft re-
ccckxxiii. frangible rays would in like manner illuminate if they
% 5- were alone j BH, Cl, DK, the circles which fo many
intermediate forts would paint upon the wall, if they
were fingly propagated from the fun in fucceflive order,
the reft being intercepted \ and conceive that there are'
other circles without number, which innumerable other
intermediate forts of rays would fucceffively paint upon
the wall, if the fun ftiould fucceflively emit every fort
apart. And feeing the fun emits all thefe forts at once,
they muft all together illuminate and paint innumerable
equal circles ; of all which, being according to their
degrees of refrangibility placed in order in a continual
feries, that oblong fpe&rum PT is compofed, which was
defcribed in the firft experiment.
t “ Now if thefe circles, whilft their centres keep their
diftances and pofitions, could be made lefs in diameter,
their interfering one with another, and confequently the
mixture of the heterogeneous rays, would be propor-
tionably diminiftied. Let the circles AG, BH, Cl,
&c. remain as before ; and let ag, b h, c i, &c. be fo
many lefs circles lying in a like continual feries, be¬
tween two parallel right lines a e and g l, with the
fame diftance between their centres, and illuminated
with the fame forts of rays : that is, the circle a g with
the fame fort by which the correfponding circle AG was
illuminated j and the reft of the circles b k, c i} d k, e lf
I c s.
25.
refpe&ively with the fame forts of rays by which the On the dif-
correfponding circles LH, Cl, DK, EL, were illumi- j61,611.1 re
207
Why the
image of
pafling
through a
prifm, is
oblong.
Plate
nated In the figure P ±\ compofed of the great circles,
three of thofe, AG, iiH, Cl, are fo expanded into each
other, that three forts of rays, by which thofe circles
are illuminated, together with innumerable other forts
of intermediate rays, are mixed at (^R in the middle of
the circle BH. And the like mixture happens through¬
out almoft the whole length of the figure PT. But in
the figure p t, compofed of the lefs circles, the three
lefs circles a g, b h, c i, which anfwer to thofe three
greater, do not extend into one another j nor are there
any ivhere mingled fo much as any two of the three forts
of rays by which thofe circles are illuminated, and which
in the figure PT are all of them intermingled at QR.
So then, if we would diminifh the mixture of the rays,
wre are to diminilh the diameters-of the circles. Now
thefe would be diminifhed if the fun’s diameter, to which
they anfwer, could be made lefs than it is, or (which
comes to the fame purpofe) if without doors, at great 1
diftance from the prifm towards the fun fome opaque
body were placed with a round hole in the middle of it
to intercept all the fun’s light, except fo much as com¬
ing from the middle of his body could pafs through that
hole to the prifm. For fo the circles AG, BH, and
the reft, would not any longer anfwer to the whole difk
•of the fun, but only to that part of it which could be
feen from the prifm through that hole j that is, to the
apparent magnitude of that hole viewed from the prifm.
But that thefe circles may anfwer more diftinftly to
that hole, a lens is to be placed by the prifm to call the
image of the hole (that is, every one of the circles AG,
BH, &c.) diftinctly upon the paper at PT ; after fuch
a manner, as by a lens placed at a window the piflures
of objefls abroad are caft diftinttly upon the paper within
the room. If this be done, it will not be neceflary to
place that hole very far off, no not beyond the window.
And therefore, inftead of that hole, I ufed a hole in
the window-flint as follows.
“ In the fun’s light let into my darkened chamber
through a fmall round hole in my window ftiut, at about
10 or 12 feet from the window, I placed a lens MN, pi„ ^
by which the image of the hole F might be diftinftly
caft upon a flieet of white paper placed at I. Then im¬
mediately after the lens I placed a prifm ABC, by which
the trajefted light might be refrafted either upwards or
fidewife, and thereby the round image which the lens
alone did caft upon the paper at I, might be drawrn out
into a long one with parallel fides, as reprefented at p t.
This oblong image I let fall upon another at about the
fame diftance from the prifm as the image at I, moving
the paper either towards the prifm or from it, until I
found the juft diftance where the redlilinear fides of the
images p t become moft diftinft. For in this cafe the
circular images of the hole, which compofe that image,
after the manner that the circles a g, b h, c i, &c. do
the figure p t, were terminated moft diftinftly, and
therefore extended into one another the leaft that they
could, and by confequence the mixture of the heteroge¬
neous rays was now the leaft of all. The circles a g,
b h, c i, &c. which compofe the image p t, are each
equal to the circle at I ; and therefore, by diminiftiing
the hole F, or by removing the lens farther from it, may
be diminiftied at pleafure, whilft their centres keep the
fame diftances from each other. Thus, by diminifiiing
the.
frargibility
of Light.
2*54-
O P T
by Ample
and homo¬
geneous
light, cir¬
cular.
On the dif-hbe breadth of the imagejo/, tlie-circles of heterogeneal
ferent re- rayS tjiat comp0{'e it may be feparated from each other
of Li'dit as much as you pleafe. Yet inftead of the circular hole
C—..1 F, it is better to fubftitute a hole lhaped like a pa¬
rallelogram, with its length parallel to the length of
the prifm. For if this hole be an inch or two long, and
but a 10th or 20th part of an inch broad, or narrower,
the light of the image p t will be as Ample as before,
or Ampler; and the image being much broader, is
therefore fitter to have experiments tried in its light
than before.
“ Homogeneal light is refracted regularly without any
dilatation, fplitting, or fliattering of the rays ; and the
confufed vifion of objects feen through refrafting bodies
by heterogeneous light, arifes from the different refran-
208 gibility of feveral forts of rays. This will appear by the
The^age experiments which will follow. In the middle of a
bv fimul'e' black paper I made a round hole about a fifth or a fixth
part of an inch in diameter. Upon this part I caufed
the fpectrum of homogeneous light, deferibed in the for¬
mer article, fo to fall that fome part of the light might
pais through the hole in the paper. This tranfmitted
}>art of the light, I refra&ed with a prifm placed be-
lind the paper: and letting the refracted light fall per¬
pendicularly upon a white paper, two or three feet di-
ftant from the prifm, I found that the fpeftrum formed
on the paper by this light was not oblong, as when it
is made in the firft experiment, by refrafting the fun’s
compound light, but was, fo far as I could judge by
my eye, perfeftly circular, the length being nowhere
greater than the breadth ; which (hows that this light
is refra&ed regularly without any dilatation of the rays,
and is an ocular demonftration of the mathematical pro-
pofition mentioned above.
“ In the homogeneous light I placed a paper circle of
a quarter of an inch in diameter : and in the fun’s un-
refraUed, heterogeneous, white light, I placed another
paper circle of the fame bignefs; and going from thefe
papers to the diftance of fome feet, I viewed both cir¬
cles through a prifm. The circle illuminated by the
fun’s heterogeneous light appeared very oblong, as in the
fecond experiment, the length being many times greater
than the breadth. But the other circle, illuminated
with homogeneous light appeared circular, and diftin£lly
defined, as when it is viewed by the naked eye; which
proves the whole propofition mentioned in the begin¬
ning of this article.
“ In the homogeneous light I placed flies and fuch
like minute objects, and viewing them through a prifm
I faw their parts as diftinftly defined as if I had viewed
them with the naked eye. The fame objedls placed in
heterogene- the tun’s unrefrafted heterogeneous light, which was
©us light, white, I viewed alfo through a prifm, and faw them
moft confufedly defined, fo that I could not diftinguiih
their fmaller parts from one another. I placed alfo the
letters of a fmali print one while in the homogeneous
light, and then in the heterogeneous; and viewing them
through a prifm, they appeared in the latter cafe fo
confufed and indiitrnfl that I could not read them ; but
in the former, they appeared fo dillindh that I could read
readily, and thought I faw them as diftindl as when I
viewed them with my’naked eye: in both cafes, I view¬
ed the fame objects through the fame prifm, at the fame
•diftance from me, and in the fame fituation. There
was no difference but in the lights by which the objedls
2*!p
Vifion
more di¬
ll incl in
homogene
ou than ir
I C S. Parti.
wrere illuminated, and which in one cafe was Ample, in On the dif
the other compound ; and therefore the diftindt vifion ferent ,re-
in the former cafe, and confufed iu the latter, could
anfe from nothing elfe than from that difference in the ^ j
lights. Which proves the whole propofition.
“ In thefe three experiments, it is farther very re¬
markable, that the colour of homogeneous light was
never changed by the refradlion. And as thefe colours
were not changed by refradlions, fo neither were they
by refledlions. For all white, gray, red, yellow, green,
blue, violet bodies, as paper, allies, red lead, orpi-
ment, indigo, bice, gold, filver, copper, grafs, blue
flowers, violets, bubbles of water tinged with various
colours, peacock feathers, the tindlure of lignum ne-
phriticum, and fuch like, in red homogeneous light ap¬
peared totally red, in blue light totally blue, in green
light totally green, and fo of other colours. In the
homogeneous light of any colour they all appeared to¬
tally of that fame colour; with this only difference, that
fome of them refledted that light more ftrongly, others
more faintly. I never yet found any body which by
refledling homogeneous light could fenfibly change its
colour.
“ From all which it is manifeft, that if the fun’s light
confifted of but one fort of rays, there would be but one
colour in the world, nor would it be poflible to produce
any new1 colour by refledlions and refradtions ; and by
confequence, that the variety of colours depends upon
the compofition of light.
“ The folar image p /, formed by the feparated rays
in the 6th experiment, did in the progrefs from its end
p, on which the moft refrangible rays fell, unto its end
/, on which the leaft refrangible rays fell, appear tinged
with this feries of colours; violet, indigo, blue, green,
yellow, orange, red, together with all their intermedi¬
ate degrees in a continual fucceflion perpetually vary¬
ing ; fo that there appeared as many degrees of colours
as there were forts of rays differing in refrangibility.
And fince thefe colours could not be changed by re¬
fradlions nor by refledlions, it follows that all homoge¬
neal light has its proper colour anfwering to its degree
of refrangibility. 2IQ
“ Every homogeneous ray confidered apart is refradl- Every ho¬
ed, according to one and the fame rule ; fo that its mogeneous
fine of incidence is to its fine of refradlion in a given ray 15 je‘
ratio: that is, every different coloured ray has a dif-
ferent ratio belonging to it. This our author hasor,e an(i
proved by experiment, and by other experiments has the fame
determined by what numbers thofe given ratios are ex- rule-
prefied. For inftance, if an heterogeneous white ray of
the fun emerges out of glafs into air ; or, which is the
fame thing, if rays of all colours be fuppofed to fuccecd pjate
one another in the fame line AC, and AD their com-ccclx xiifi
mon fine of incidence in glafs be divided into 50 equal fig* im¬
parts, then EF and GH, the fines of refradlion into
air, of the leaft and moft refrangible rays, will be 7
and 78 fuch parts refpedlively. And fince every co¬
lour has feveral degrees, the fines of refradlion of all
the degrees of red will have all intermediate degrees
of magnitude from 77 to 77-g, of all the degrees of
orange from 77^ to 77^-, of yellow from 774- to 774»
of green from 77^ to 774 of blue from 774 to 77-f,
of indigo from 77-} to 77-J, and-of violet from 77-J
to 78.”
PART
OPTICS.
Part II.
Of the
Rainbow.
PART II. EXPLANATION OF OPTICAL PHENOMENA.
25J
Of the
Rainbow.
Sf.CT. I. Of the Rainbow.
The obfervations of the ancients, and the philofophers
of the middle ages, concerning the rainbow, were fuch
as could not have efcaped the notice of the meft illiterate
hufbandmen ; and their various hypothefes deferve no
KnowLdgc n°tice* ^ ^ a conliderable time, even after the dawn of
of the na-8 true philofophy, before we find any difeovery of impor-
tureofthe tance on this fubjeft, Maurolycus was the firft who
rambow a pretended to have meafured the diameters of the two
cover™ with much exa&nefs j and he found that of
C0Ver}’ the inner bow to be 450, and that of the outer bow 56°;
from which Defcartes takes occafion to obferve, how
little we can depend upon the obfervations of thofe
who were not acquainted with the caufe of the pheno¬
mena.
Clichtovaeus, who died in 1543, had maintained, that
the fecond bow is the image of the firft, which he thought
was evident from the inverted order of the colours. Forr
faid he, when we look into the water, all the images
that we fee refle&ed by it are inverted with refpeft to
the objefts themfelves •, the tops of the trees, for in-
fiance, that ftand near the brink, appearing lower than
the roots.
As the rainbow was oppofite to the fun, it was
natural to imagine, that its colours were produced by
feme kind of refie&ion of the rays of light from the
Approach ^roPs °f rain. No perfon feems to have thought of
towards it aferibing thefe colours to refraftion, till one Fletcher
made by of Breflaw, in a treatife publifhed in 1571, endeavoured
Ere flaw" ^ t0 accoimt ^or them by means of a double refradlion and
one reflexion. But he imagined that a ray of light,
after entering a drop of rain, and fuftering a refraftion
both at its entrance and exit, w^as afterwards reflefted
from another drop, before it reaches the eye of the fpec-
tator. He feems to have overlooked the refie&ion at
the pofterior furface of the drop, or to have imagined
that all the bendings of the light within the drop would
not make a fufficient curvature to bring the rays of the
fun to the eye of the fpeftator. That he Ihould think
of two refraflions, was the neceffary confequence of his
fuppofing that the ray entered the drop at all. This
fuppofition, therefore, was all that he inftituted to ex¬
plain the phenomena. B. Porta fuppofed that the rain¬
bow is produced by the refraction of light in the Avhole
2i- body of rain or vapour, but not in the feparate drops.
The difeo- ft to a man who had no pretenfions to philofophy,
wry made that we are indebted for the true explanation. This was
de Donfiidb J^nt0n^° ^ biftiop of Spalatro, whofe treatife
bifhop of Pe Ra(his Vifus et Lucis, was publifhed by J. Bartolus
Spalatro. 1611. He firft maintained, that the double refrac¬
tion of Fletcher, with an intervening reflection, was
fufficient to produce the colours of the bow, and alfo to
bring the rays that formed them to the eye of the fpec-
tator, without any fubfequent reflection. He diftinctly
deferibes the progrefs of a ray of light entering the up¬
per part of the drop, where it fuffers one refraction,
and after being thereby thrown upon the back part of
she inner furface, is thence reflected to the lower
part of the drop j at which place undergoing a fecond
refraction, it is thereby bent, lo as to come directly to
the eye. To verify this hypothefis, De Dominis pro¬
ceeded in a very fenfible and philofophical manner. He
procured a fmall globe of folid glafs, and viewing it
when it was expofed to the rays of the fun, in the fame
manner in which he had fuppofed that the drops of
rain were fituated with refpect to them, he actually
obferved the fame colours which he had feen in the true
rainbow, and in the fame order.
Thus the circumftances in which the colours of the
rainbow were formed, and the progrefs of a ray of light
through a drop of water, were clearly underftood j but
philofophers were a long time at a lofs when they endea-
voured to affign reafons for all the particular colours, and
for the order of them. Indeed nothing but the doctrine
of the different refrangibili'ty of the rays of light, could
furniffi a complete folution of this difficulty. De Dominis
fuppofed that the red rays were thofe which had traverfed
the leaft fpace in the infide of a drop of water, and there¬
fore retained more of their native force, and confequently,
ftriking the eye more brilkly, gave it a ftronger fenfa-
tion •, that the green and blue colours were produced by
thofe rays, the force of which had been, in fome meafure,
obtunded in palling through a greater body of water ;
and that all the intermediate colours were compofed (ac¬
cording to the hypothefis which generally prevailed at
that time) of a mixture of thefe three primary ones.
I hat the different colours were produced by fome differ¬
ence in the impulfe of light upon the eye, was an opi¬
nion which had been adopted by many perfons, who had
ventured to depart from the authority of Ariftotle.
Afterwards the fame De Dominis obferved, that all
the rays of the fame colour muft leave the drop of wa¬
ter in a part fimilarly fituated with refpeft to the eye,
in order that each of the colours may appear in a circle,
the centre of which is a point of the heavens, in a line
drawn from the fun through the eye of the fpeftator.
The red rays, he obferved, muff iffue from the drop
neareft to the bottom of it, in order that the circle of
red may be the outermoft, and the moft elevated in the
bow.
Though De Dominis conceived fo juftly the manner
in which the inner rainbow is formed, he was far from
having as juft an idea of the caufe of the exterior bow.
This he endeavoured to explain in the very fame manner
as the interior, viz. by one reflection of the light within
the drop, preceded and followed by a reflation ; fup¬
pofing only that the rays which formed the exterior bow
were returned to the eye by a part of the drop lower
than that which tranfmitted the red of the interior bow.
He alfo fuppofed that the rays which formed one of the
bows came from the upper limb of the fun, and thofe
which formed the other from the lower limb, without
confidering that the bows ought thus to have been con¬
tiguous ; or rather, that an indefinite number of bows
would have had their colours all intermixed.
When Sir liaac Newton difeovered the different re-
frangibility of the rays of light, he immediately applied
the difeovery to the phenomena of the rainbow, taking
UT>i
it.
256 OPT
Of the up the fubje& where De Dominis and Defcartes were
i ^ai,^ou'- obliged to leave their inveftigations imperfeft.
2I4 Let a be a drop of water, and S a pencil of light j
The true which, on its leaving the drop reaches the eye of the
caufeof the fpe&ator. This ray, at its entrance into the drop, be-
colours of gjns to be decompofed into its proper colours } and up-
b&tr1510" on ^eaving the drop, after one reflection and a fecond
Plate refraction, it is farther decompofed into as many fmall
ccclxxxiii. differently-coloured pencils as there are primitive co-
%• s- lours in the light. Three of them Only are drawn in
this figure, of which the blue is the moft, and the red
the lealt, refrafted.
The theory of the different refrangibility of light
enables us to aflign a reafon for the fize of a bow of each
particular colour. Newton, having found that the fines
of refra£tion of the moft refrangible and leaft refrangible
rays, in paflxng from rain water into air, are in the ratio
of 185 to 182, when the fine of incidence is 138, com¬
puted the fize of the bow 5 and found, that if the fun
was only a phyfical point, the breadth of the inner bow
would be 20 ; and if to this 30' were added for the ap¬
parent diameter of the fun, the whole breadth would be
24°. But as the outer moft colours, efpecially the
violet, are extremely faint, the breadth of the bow will
not appear to exceed two degrees* He found, by the
fame principles, that the breadth of the exterior bow, if
it was everywhere equally vivid, would be 40 2o\ But
in this cafe there is a greater dedudtion to be made, on
account of the faintnefs of the light of the exterior bow ;
fo that it will not appear to be more than 3 degrees
broad.
The principal phenomena of the rainbow are explain¬
ed on Sir Ifaac Newton’s principles in the following
.propofitions.
Prop. T.
When the rays of the fun fall upon a drop of rain
and enter into it, fome of them, after one re¬
flection and two refraCtions, may come to the
eye of a fpeCtator who has his back towards the
fun, and his face towards the drop.
Explan a- If XY be a drop of rain, and if the fun ftiine upon it in
tion of the any lines sf, s d, s a, &c. moft of the rays will enter
phenomena jnto ^ 3rop . fome Df them only will be reflected from
bow onthe furface » thofe rays which are thence reflected
principles of do not come under our prefent confideration, becaufe
Newton, they are never refraCted at all. The greateft part of the
Tig. p.
rays then enter the drop, and thofe palling on to the fe¬
cond furface, will moft of them be tranfmitted through
the drop. At the fecond furface or hinder part of the
drop, at p g, fome few rays will be reflected, whilft the
reft are tranfmitted *, thofe rays proceed in fome fuch
lines as 72 r, n q: and coming out of the drop in the
lines rv, q t, may fall upon the eye of the fpeCtator, who
is placed anywhere in thofe lines, with his face towards
the drop, and confequently with his back towards the
fun, which is fuppofed to fhine upon the drop in the
lines sf,sd, x o, &c. Thefe rays are twice refraCted
and once reflected ; they are refraCted when they pafs
out of the air into the drop j they are reflected from the
fecond furface, and are refraCted again when they pafs
out of the drop into the air.
Def. When rays of light reflected from a drop of
ICS. Part U.
rain come to the eye, thofe are called ejfe&ual which Of the
are able to excite a fenfation. i Rainbow^
Prop. II.
When rays of light come out of a drop of rain,
they will not be effectual, unlefs they are paral¬
lel and contiguous.
There are but few rays that can come to the eye at
all : for fince the greateft part of thofe rays which enter
the drop XY between X and a, pafs out of the drop >'
through the hinder furface pg ; only few are thence re¬
flected, and come out through the nearer furface between
a and Y. Now-, fuch rays as emerge, or come out of
the drop, between a and Y, will be ineffectual, unlefs
they are parallel to one another, as r and q t are j
becaufe fuch rays as come out diverging from one an¬
other will be fo far afunder when they come to the eye,
that all of them cannot enter the pupil ; and the very
few that can enter it will not be fufficient to excite any
fenfation. But even rays, which are parallel, as r
q t, will not be effectual, unlefs there are feveral of them
contiguous or very near to one another. The two rays
rv and qt alone will not be perceived, though both of
them enter the eye ; for fo very few rays are not fufficient
to excite a fenfation.
Prop. III.
When rays of light come out of a drop of rain
after one refle£tion, thofe will be effe£tual which
are refle£ted from the fame point, and which
entered the drop near to one another.
Any rays, as x £ and c d. when they have paffed out plate
of the air into a drop of water, will be refraCted towardsCCpLXXX1IJ’
the perpendiculars bl, dl; and as the ray sb falls far- ’ \
ther from the axis a v than the ray c d, s b will be more
refraCted than c d; fo that thefe rays, though parallel
to one another at their incidence, may defcribe the lines
b e and d e after refraCtion, and be reflected from the
fame point e. Now all rays, which are thus reflected
from the fame point, when they have defcribed the lines
e f eg, and after reflection emerge at f and g, will be
fo refraCted, when they pafs out of the drop into the
air, as to defcribe the parallel lines fh, g u If thefe
rays were to return from e in the lines e b, e d, and were
to emerge at b and d, they would be refraCted into the
lines of their incidence b s, d c. But if thefe rays, in-
ftead of being returned in the lines eb, e d, are reflected
from the fame point e in the lines eg, ef the lines of
reflection eg and e^/Tvill be inclined to one another and
to the furface of the drop, juft as much as the lines e b
and e d are. Firft, e b and e g make the fame angle
with the furfaoe of the drop : for the angle hex, which
eb makes with the furface of the drop, is the comple¬
ment of incidence, and the angle gev, which eg makes
with the furface, is the complement of reflection } and
thefe two are equal to one another. In the fame manner
it might be ffiown, that e d and c f mabe equal angles
with the furface of the drop. Secondly, The angle
b c dz=f eg ; or the reflected rays eg, ef, and the inci¬
dent rays b e, d e, are equally inclined to each other.
For the angle of incidence b el—g el, the angle of re¬
flection, and the angle of incidence d e I—f e l, the
angle
Part II. OPT
Of the angle of reflection: confequently, the difference between
,^{ainl>ovv', the angles of incidence is equal to the difference between
^ the angles of refleftion, vr l> e l—d e /—g e 1—fe /, or
be d—g ef. Since therefore either the lines eg, ef, or
the lines c b, e d, are equally inclined both to one an¬
other and to the furface of the drop ; the rays will be
refracted in the fame manner, whether they return in
the lines e b, e d, or are reflected in the lines eg, ef.
But if they return in the lines eh, ed, the refraction,
when they emerge at b and d, would make them parallel.
Therefore, if they are redeCted from one and the fame
point e in the lines eg, ef, the refraCtion, when they
emerge at ^ and/-, will likewife make them parallel.
But though fuch rays as are reflected from the fame
point in the hinder part of a drop of rain, are parallel
to one another when they emerge, and fo have one
condition that is requifite towards making them effec¬
tual, yet there is another condition neceffary ; for rays
that are elfeCtual mult be contiguous as well as paral¬
lel. And though rays, which enter the drop in different
places, may be parallel when they emerge, thole only will
be contiguous which enter it nearly at the fame place.
Fig. 9. Let XY be a drop of rain, ng the axis or diameter
of the drop, and s a 2l ray of light that enters the drop
at a. This ray s a, being perpendicular to both the fur-
faces, will pafs through the drop in the line ug b without
being refraCfed ; but any collateral rays, fuch as thofe
that fall about j b, will be made to converge to the
axis, and palling out at n will meet the axis at /i: Rays
which fall farther from the axis than j- b, fueh as thofe
which fall about s c, will likewife be made to converge ;
but their focus will be nearer to the drop than h.
Suppofe therefore 1 to be the focus of the rays that fall
about s c, any ray s c, when it has deferibed the line
co within the drop, and is tending to the focus i, will
pafs out of the drop at the point 0. The rays that fall
upon the drop about s d, will converge to a focus ftill
nearer than i, as at k. Thefe rays therefore go out of
the drop at p. The rays, that fall about s e, will con¬
verge to a focus nearer than h, as fuppofe at l; and the
ray r e, when it has deferibed the line e 0 •within the
drop, and is tending to /, will pafs out at the point 0.
The rays that fall ftill more remote from the axis will
converge to a focus ftill nearer. Thus the ray sf will
after refraction converge to a focus at m, which is
nearer than /; and having deferibed the line f n with¬
in the drop, it will pafs out to the point n. Now we
may here obferve, that as any rays s b vs s c, fall farther
above the axis r a, the points n, or 0, where they pafs out
behind the drop, will be fartlier above g; or that, as
the incident ray rifes from the axis s a, the arc g n 0
increafes, till we come to fome ray s d, which paffes out
of the drop at p •, and this is the higheft point where
any ray that falls upon the quadrant or quarter a x can
pafs out : for any rays f e, or sf, that fall higher than
f d, will not pafs out on any point above p, but at the
points 0, or n, which arc below it. Confequently,
though the arc g n 0 p increafes, whilft the diftance of
the incident ray from the axis s a increafes, till we come
to the ray s d; yet afterwards, the higher the ray falls
above the axis s a, this arc pong will decreafe.
We have hitherto fpoken of the points on the pof-
terior part of the drop, where the rays pafs aut of it ;
but this was for the fake of determining the points
from which thofe ravs are refle&ed, which do not pafs out
Vol. XV. Part'I.
I CS. 257
behind the drop. For, in explaining the rainbow, we Of the
have no further reafon to confider thofe rays which go Rainbow-
through the drop ; fince they can never come to the eye v_
of ^ fpedator placed anywhere in the lines r v or q t
with his face towards the drop. Now, as there are
many rays which pafs out of the. drop between g and p,
fo fome rays will be thence refle&ed: and conlequently
the feveral points between ^ and p, which are the points
where fome of the rays pafs out of the drop, are like¬
wife the points of refledlion for the reft which do not
pafs out. Therefore in refpcift of thofe rays which are
reflected, we may call^ p the arc of reflection 5 and may
fay, that this arc of reflection increafes, as t,he diftance
of the incident ray from the axis s a increafes, till we
come to the ray s d; the arc of reflection is ^ n for the
ray s b, it is ^ 0 for the ray s c, and g p for the ray s d.
But after this, as the diftance of the incident ray from
the axis s a increafes, the arc of reflection decreafes ; for
og lefs than pg is the arc of reflection for the ray s e, and
ng is the arc of reflection for the ray sf
Hence it is obvious, that fome ray, which falls above
s d, may be reflected from the fame point with fome
other ray which falls below s d. Thus, for inftance, the
ray s b will be reflected from the point n, and the rays
sf will be reflected from the fame point 5 and confe¬
quently, when the reflected rays n r, n q, are refraCted
as they pafs out of the drop at r and q, they will be pa¬
rallel. But fince the intermediate rays, which enter
the drop between r/ and sb, are not reflected from the
fame point n, thefe two rays alone will be parallel
to one another when they come out of the drop, and the
intermediate rays will not be parallel to them. And
confequently thefe rays rv,qt, though they are parallel
after they emerge at r and q, will not be contiguous,
and for that reafon will not be effectual; the ray r is
reflefted from p, which has been fhown to be the limit
of the arc of reflection •, fuch rays as fall juft above s d,
and juft below s d, will be reflected from nearly the
fame point p, as appears from what has been already
ftiown. Thefe rays therefore will be parallel, becaufe
they are reflected from the lame point p; and they will
likewife be contiguous, becaufe they all of them enter
the drop at the fame place very near to d. Confe¬
quently, fuch rays as enter the drop at d, and are re¬
flected from p the limit of the arc of reflection, will
be effectual fince, when they emerge at the part of
the drop between a and y, they will be both parallel
and contiguous.
If it can be fhown that the rainbow is produced by
the rays of the fun which are thus refitCted from drops
of rain as they fall while the fun fliines upon them, this
propofition may ferve to Ihow us, that this appearance
is not produced by cr/iy rays that fall upon any part, and
are refleCted from any part of thofe drops : finee this
appearance cannot be produced by any rays but thofe
which are effeChial 5 and effeClual rays mutt always en¬
ter each drop at one certain place in the anterior part of
it, and muft likewife be reflected from one certain place
in the pofterior furface.
Prop. IV. .
When rays that are effe£tual emerge from a drop
of rain after one vefle£tion and two refrac¬
tions, thofe which are moft refrangible will,
K k at
25« OPT
Of the at their emciTion, make a lefs angle with the
^Rainbow., incident rays than thofe which are leaft re-
^ frangible 5, and by this means the rays of dif¬
ferent colours will be feparated from one ano¬
ther.
ccci xxxin Letand ^ i be elfeaual violet rays emerging from
%. ia. the drop at fg; and /?/, g p, effeaual red rays emer¬
ging from the fame drop at the fame place. Now,
though all the violet rays are parallel to one another,
becaufe they are fuppofed effettual, and though all the
red rays are likewife parallel to one another for the fame
reafon } yet the violet rays will not be parallel to the
red rays. Thefe rays, as they have different degrees of
refrangibility, will diverge from one another *, any vio¬
let ray g i, which emerges at g, will diverge from any
red ray g p, which emerges at the fame place. Now,
both the violet ray g i, and the red ray g p, as they pafs
out of the drop of water into the air, will be refra6ted
from the perpendicular / 0. But the violet ray is more
refrangible than the red one } and for that reafon g z,
or the refracted violet ray, will make a greater angle
-with the perpendicular than g p the refraded red ray *,
or the angle ig 0 will be greater than the angle p_g 0.
Suppofe the incident ray j £ to be continued in The di-
red ion s k, and the violet ray tg t© be continued back¬
ward in the diredion tk, till it meets the incident ray at £.
Suppofe likewife the red raypg to be continued backwards
in the fame manner, till it meets the incident ray at w.
The angle iks is that which the violet ray, or moft re¬
frangible ray at its emerfion, makes with the incident
ray ; and the angle pw s is that which the red ray, or
leafl refrangible ray at its emerfion, makes with the in¬
cident ray. The angle t k s is lefs than the angle p w s.
For, in the triangle, g w k, gws, or p w s, is the exter¬
nal angle at the bafe, and g k w or t k s is one of the in¬
ternal oppofite angles. (Euc. B. I. Prop. xvi.). What
has been fhown to be true of the rays g i and gp might
be fhoivn in the fame manner of the rays fh and fti, or
of any other rays that emerge refpedively parallel to g 1
and g p. But all the effedual violet rays are parallel to
g i, and all the effedual red rays are parallel to g p.
Therefore the effedual violet rays at their emerfion
make a lefs angle with the incident ones than the effec¬
tual red ones. For the fame reafon, in all the other
forts of rays, thofe which are moft refrangible, at their
emerfion from a drop of rain after one refledion, will
make a lefs angle with the incident rays, than thofe do
which are lefs refrangible.
Otherwife: When the rays g i and g p emerge at
the fame point g, as they both come out of water into
air, and confequently are refraded from the perpen¬
dicular, iriftead of going ftraight forwards in the line
e g continued, they will both be turned round upon the
point g from the perpendicular g 0. Now it is eafy to
conceive, that either of thefe lines might be turned in
this manner upon the point g as upon a centre, till
they became parallel to s b the incident ray. But if
either of thefe lines or rays were refraded fo much
from 0 as to become parallel to j b, the ray thus re¬
fraded, would, after emerfion, make no angle with J-
becaufe it would be parallel to it. Confequently that
ray which is moft turned round upon the point g, or
that ray which is moft refrangible, will after emer¬
fion be neareft parallel to the incident ray, or will make
I C S. Part It.
the leaft angle with it. The fame may be proved of Of the
all other rays emerging parallel to g 1 and g p re • , Itiunbow.
fpedively, or of all effedual rays •, thofe which are moft 'r"'J
refrangible will after emerfion make a lefs angle with
the incident rays, than thofe do which are leaft refran¬
gible.
But fince the effedual rays of different colours make
different angles with jT at their emerfion, they will be
feparated from one another: fo that if the eye were
placed in the beam fgh i, it would receive only rays of
one colour from the drop x agv; and if it were placed
in the beam fg n p, it would receive only rays of feme
other colour.
The angle r wp, which the leaft refrangible or red
rays make with the incident ones when they emerge fo
as to be effedual, is found by calculation to be 420 2*.
And the angle s k /, which the moft refrangible rays
make with the incident ones when they emerge fo as to
be effedual, is found to be 40° 17'. The rays which
have the intermediate degrees of refrangibility, make
with the incident ones intermediate angles between 420
2', and 40° 17'.
Prop. V.
If a line is fuppofed to be drawn from the centre
of the fun through the eye of the fpe&ator, the
angle which any effeddual ray, after two refrac¬
tions and one refledlion, makes with the inci¬
dent ray, will be equal to the angle which it
makes with that line.
Plate
Let the eye of the fpedator be at i, and let <7 / be ccclxxxiii
the line fuppofed to be drawn from the centre of the fun fig-I0-
through the eye of the fpedator •, the angle g it, which
any effedual ray makes with this line, will be equal to
the angle ik s, which the fame ray makes with the in¬
cident ray s b or s k. If j- £ is a ray coming from the
centre of the fun, then fince ^ / is fuppofed to be drawn
from the fame, point, thefe two lines, upon account of
the remotenefs of the point from whence they are drawn,
may be looked upon as parallel to one another. But
the right line k i crofling thefe two parallel lines will
make the alternate angles equal. (Euc. B. I. Prop,
xxix.). Therefore k it er g i t~s li.
Prop. VI.
When the fun fhines upon the drops of rain as
they are falling, the rays that come from thofe
drops to the eye of a fpe&ator, after one re-
fledlion and two refractions, produce the pri¬
mary rainbow.
If the fun (bines upon the rain as it falls, there are rajn.
commonly feen two bows, as AFB, CHD j or if the feen
cloud and rain does not reach over that whole fide of at once,
the Iky where the bows appear, then only a part of one ^g'l1,
or of both bows is feen in that place where the rain
falls. Of thefe two bows, the innermoft AFB is the
more vivid of the two, and this is called the primary
bow. The outer part TFY of the primary bow is red,
the inner part VEX is violet $ the intermediate parts,
reckoning from the red to the violet, are orange, yel¬
low, green, blue, and indigo. Suppofe the fpedator’s
eye to be at O, and let LOP be an imaginary line
drawn
Part II, OPT
Of tbt? drawn from the centre of the fun through the eye of the
Rainbow, fpeftator: if a beam of light S coming from the fun
L..—„ fail upon any drop F j and the rays that emerge at F
in the line -FO, fo as to be effectual, make an angle
FOP of 42° l' with the line LP j then thefe effettua\
rays make an angle of 420 t! with the incident rays, >oy
the preceding propofition, and confequently thefe. rays
Will be red, fo that the drop F will appear red* All
the other rays, which emerge at F, and would be ef¬
fectual if they fell Upon the eye, are refracted more
than the red ones, and confcquently will paf, above the
eye. If a beam of light S fall upon the, drop E, and
the rajs that emerge at Ein the line F,0, fo as to be
effeChial, make an angle of 40° 17' with the line LP ;
■then thefe- effeClual rays make like wife an angle of
40° 17' with the incident rays, and the drop E will
appear of a violet colour. All the other rays, which
emerge at E, and would be effeClual if they came to
the eye, are refraCted Id’s than the violet ones, and
therefore pafs below the eye. The intermediate drops
between F and E will for the fame reafons be of the
intermediate colours. 1
Thus we have ihown why a fet of drops from F to
E, as they are falling, fhould appear of the feven pri¬
mary colours. It is not neceffary that the feveral drops,
which produce thefe colours, fhould all of them fall at
'exaCily the fame diftance from the eye. The angle
FOP, for example, is the fame whether the" diftance of
the drop from the eye is OF, or whether it is in any
other part of the line OF fomething nearer to the eye.
And whilft the angle FOP is the fame, the angle made
by the emerging and incident rays, and confequently
the colour of the drop, will be the fame. This is equal¬
ly true of any other drop. So that though in the figure
the drops F and E are reprefented as falling perpendicu¬
larly one under the other, yet this is not neeeffary in or¬
der to produce the bow.
Kut the coloured line FE, which we have already
accounted for, is only the breadth of the bow. It ftill
remains bo be fliewn, why not only the drop F fhould
appear red, but why all the other drops from A to B in
the arc ATFYB ftiould appear of the fame colour. Now
it is evident, that wherever a drop of rain is placed, if
the angle which the effeClual rays make with the line
LP is equal to the angle FOP, that is, if the angle which
the effeClual rays make with the incident rays is 420 2',
any of thofe drops will be red, for the fame reafon that
the drop F is of this colour.
If FOP were to turn round upon the line OP, fo that
one end of this line ihould always be at the eye, and
the other be at P oppofite to the fun ; fuch a motion
of this figure would be like that of a pair of compaffes
turning round upon one of the legs OP with the open¬
ing FOP. In this revolution the drop F would de-
fcribe a circle, P would be the centre, and ATFYB
would be an arc in this circle. Now lince, in this mo¬
tion of the line and drop OF, the angle made by FO
with OP, that is, the angle FOP, continues the fame;
if the fun were to fliine upon this drop as it revolves,
the effeClual rays ivould make the fame angle with the
incident rays, in whatever part of the arc ATFYB the
drop was to be. Therefore, whether the drop be at
A, or at T, or at Y, or at B, or wherever elfe it is in
this whole arc, it would appear red, as it does at F. 
The drops of rain, as they fall, are not indeed turned
I c s. -
r-i/und in this manner ; but then, as great numbers of
them are falling at once in right lines from the cloud,
whilft one drop is at F, there will be others at Y, at
1, at B, at A, and in every other part of the arc
A1 h\ B : and all thefe drops will be red for the fame
reafon that the drop F would have been red, if it had
been in the fame place. Therefore, when the fun ftiines
upon the rain as it falls, there will be a red arc ATFYB
oppofite to the fun. In the fame manner, becaufe the
drop E is violet, we might prove that any other drop,
which, whilft it is falling, is in any part of the are
AVEXB, will be violet; and confequentlv, at the fame
time that the red arc ATFYB appears, there will like-
wife be a violet arc AVEXB below or within it. FE
is the diftance between thefe two coloured arcs; and
from what has been laid, it follows, that the interme¬
diate fpace between thefe two arcs will be filled up
with arcs of the intermediate colours, orange, yellow,
blue, green, and indigo. All thefe coloured arcs to¬
gether make up the primary rainbow.
Prop. VII.
The primary rainbow is never a greater arc than a
femicircle.
2 5 9
Of the
Rainbow.
Since the line LOP is drawn from the fun through piate
the eye of the fpeClator, and fince P is the centre of the ccclxxxih.
rainbow ; it follows, that the centre of the rainbow is 9-
always oppofite to the fun. The angle FOP is an angle 2I7
of 420 2', as was obferved, or F the higheft part of the Why the
bow is 4 20 2' from P the centre of it.' If the fun is arc of the
more than 42° 2' high, P the centre of the rainbow,
which is oppofite to the fun, will be more than 420 2'never^' *
below the horizon ; and confequently F the top of the greater
bow, which is only 420 2' from P, will be below the'thai) a lemi-
horizon; that is, when the fun is more than 420 2' high,circle*
no primary rainbow will be feen. If the altitude of the
fun be fomething Ids than 420 2r, then P will be
fomething lefs than 42° 2r below the horizon ; and'
confequently F, which is only 4 2° 2' from P, will
be juft above the horizon ; that is, a fmall part of the
bow at this height of the fun will appear clofe to the
ground oppofite to the fun. If the lun be 20° high,
then P will be 20° below the horizon ; and F the top
of the bow, being 42° 2! from P, will be 22° 2! above
the horizon ; therefore, at this height of the fun, the
bow will be an arc of a circle whofe centre is below the
horizon ; and confequently that arc of the circle which
is above the horizon, or the bow, will be lefs than a
femicircle. If the fun be in the horizon, then P, the
centre of the bow, will be in the oppofite part of the
horizon ; F, the top of the bow, will be 420 2! above
the horizon ; and the bow itfelf, becaufe the horizon
paffes through the centre of it, will be a femicircle.
More than a femicircle can never appear ; becaufe if
the bow were more than a femicircle, P the centre of it
muft be above the horizon ; but P is always oppofite to
the fun, therefore P cannot be above the horizon, un-
lefs the fun is below it ; and when the fun is fet, or is
below the horizon, it cannot fliine upon the drops of
rain as they fall; and confequently, when the lun is
below the horizon, no bow at all can be feen.
Prop. VIII.
When the rays of the fun fall upon a drop df rain, '
fome of them, after turn reflections and two re-
K k 2 fractions,
OPT
fra£tions, may come to the eye of a fpe&ator,
who has his back towards the fun and his face
towards the drop.
If HGW is a drop of rain, and parallel rays coming
from the fun, as a “y, y w, fall upon the lower part of
it, they will be refracted towards the perpendiculars v/,
iu /, as they enter into it, and will defcribe fome fuch
lines as v h, w i. At h and i great part of thefe rays
will pafs out of the drop • but fome of them will be re¬
flected from thence in the lines hf, ig. At f and g
again, great part of the rays that were reflected thither
will pafs out of the drop. But thefe rays will not come
to the eye of a fpeClator at o. Here, however, all
the rays will not pafs out 5 but fome will be reflected
from y'and^1, in fome fuch lines as f d, g h; and thefe,
v'hen they emerge out of the drop of water into the air
at b and d, will be refraCted from the perpendiculars,
and, defcribing the lines d t, b 0, may come to the eye
df the fpeCtator who has his back towards the fun and
his face towards the drop.
Prop. IX.
Thofe rays, which are parallel to one another af¬
ter they have been oilce refracted and once re¬
flected in a drop of rain, will be effectual when
they emerge after two refractions and two re¬
flections.
No rays can be effectual, unlefs they arc contiguous
and parallel. It appears from what was faid, that when
rays come out of a drop of rain contiguous to one ano¬
ther, either after one or after two reflections, they mult
enter the drop nearly at the fame place. And if fuch
rays as are contiguous are alfo parallel after the firlt re¬
flection, they will emerge parallel, and therefore will
be effectual. Let ss v and y iv be contiguous rays which
come from the fun, and are parallel when they fall upon
the lower part of the drop •, fuppofe thefe rays to be re¬
fraCted at v and w, and to be reflected at b and /; if
they are parallel, as bf,g i, after this firft reflection,
then, after they are reflected a fecond time from f and
g, and refraCted a fecond time as they emerge at d and
Z>, they will go out of the drop in the parallel lines dt
and b 0, and will therefore be effectual.
■ The rays % v, y w, are refraCted towards the perpen¬
diculars v /, zv /, when they enter the drop, and will be
made to converge. As thefe rays are very oblique,
their focus will not be far from the furface vw. If this
focus be at £, the rays, after they have paffed the focus,
will diverge from thence in the directions b h, h i; and
if k i is the principal focal diftance of the concave
reflecting furface h 1, the reflected rays hf, ig, will be
parallel. Thefe rays ef ig, are reflected again from
the concave furface f g, and wull meet in a focus at e,
fo that g e will be the principal focal diflance of this
reflecting furface f g. And becaufe h i and f g are parts
of the fame Iphere, the principal focal diflances g e and
ki will be equal. When the rays have paffed the focus
<?, they will thence diverge in the line e d, e b: and
we are to (how, that when they emerge at d and b, and
iire refraCted there, they will become parallel.
Now if the rays v k, w k, when they have met at k,
were to be turned back again in the directions k v, k zv,
and were to emerge at v and w, they would be refraCt-
4
I c S. Part II.
ed into the lines of their incidence, v 2, w y, and there- Of the
fore would be parallel. But fince ^ as has al- Rainbo\v.
ready been fhowm, the rays ed,eb, that diverge from'
e, fall in the fame manner upon the drop at d and b, as
the rays kv,b zv, would fall upon it at v and w ; and
e d, e b, are juft as much inclined to the refraCting fur-
iace db, as k v, h zv wmuld be to the furface v zv.
Hence it follows, that the rays e d, eb, emerging at d
and b, will be refra&ed in the fame manner, and will
have the fame direftion in refpeCf of one another, as
b v, k zv -would have. But k v and k zv would be paral¬
lel after refraCHon. Therefore the rays e d and eb will
emerge in the lines dp,b 0, parallel to one another, and
confequently effeftual.
Prop. X.
When rays that are effe£!ual emerge from a drop
of rain after two reflections and two refra£tions,
thofe which are mod refrangible will at their
emerflon make a greater angle with the incident
rays than thofe do which are lead refrangible ;
and by this means the rays of different colours
will be feparated from one another.
If rays of different colours, which are differently re-
frangible, emerge at any point b, thefe rays will not be
all of them equally refraCted from the perpendicular.
Thus, if £ 0 is a red ray, which is of all others the leaft
refrangible, and b ?n is a violet ray, which is of all
others the molt refrangible •, when thefe two rays
emerge at b, the violet ray will be refraCted more from
the perpendicular b x than the red ray, and the refraCted
angle x b m will be greater than the refraCted angle
x b 0. Hence it follows, that thefe two rays, after
emerfton, will diverge from one another. In like man¬
ner, the rays that emerge at d will diverge from one
another ; a red ray will emerge in the line a violet
ray in the line dt. So that though all the effectual red
rays of the beam b dm t are parallel to one another, and
all the effectual red rays of the beam b d op are likewife
parallel, yet the violet rays will not be parallel to the red
beam. Thus the rays of different colours will be fepa¬
rated from one another.
This will appear farther, if we confider what the
propolition affirms, That any violet or moft refran¬
gible ray will make a greater angle with the incident
rays, than any red or leaft refrangible ray makes with
the fame incident rays. Tims if y zv be an incident ray,
b m violet ray emerging from the point b, and bon,
red ray emerging from the fame point ; the angle
which the violet ray makes with the incident one is
y r m, and that which the red ray makes with it is ?/ s 0.
Now y r//z is greater than y s 0. For in the triangle
b r J1, the internal angle ,r is lefs than b s 1/ the exter¬
nal angle at the bafe. (Fuel. B. I. Prop. xvi.). But
y r m is the complement b r s or b r y to two right
ones, and y ro is the complement of b s y to two right
ones. Therefore, fince b r y h lefs than b s y, the com¬
plement of £ ry to two right angles will be greater than
the complement of j 7/to two right angles j or yrm
Avill be greater than y s o.
Otherwife : Both the rays b 0 and b m, when they are
refraCted in paffmg out of the drop at b, are turned,
round upon the point b from the perpendicular b x.
Now either of thefe lines bo or bm might be turned'
round
200
Of the
liainbow.
Fig. 12.
Part II. OPT
Of the round in this manner, till it made a right angle with
Kainbow. ^ w. Confequently, that ray which is molt turned round
"" upon b, or which is mold refracted, will make an angle
with y w, that will be nearer to a right one than that
ray makes with it which is lead turned round upon b,
or which is lead refrafted. Therefore that ray which is
mod refracted will make a greater angle with the inci¬
dent ray than that which is lead refrafted.
But fince the emerging rays, being differently refran¬
gible, make different angles with the fame incident ray
y w, the refraction which they fuffer at emerlion will
feparate them from one another.
The angle y r m, which the mod refrangible or vio¬
let rays make with the incident ones, is found by cal¬
culation to be 540 7' $ and the angle y j-0, which the
lead refrangible or red rays make with the incident ones,
is found to be 50° 57' : the angles, which the rays of
the intermediate colours, indigo, blue, green, yellow,
and orange, make with the incident rays, are interme¬
diate angles between 540 7' and 50° 57k
Prop. XI.
If a line is fuppofed to be drawn from the centre
of the fun through the eye of the fpectator ;
the angle which, after two refradtions and two
- refle&ions, any effectual ray makes with the in¬
cident ray, will be equal to the angle which it
makes with that line.
Fig. ii. Ifyiois an incident ray, £ 0 an effectual ray, and
<7 « a line drawn from the centre of the fun through 0
the eye. of the fpedlator •, the angle y J 0, which the
effedlual ray makes with the incident ray, is equal to
son the angle which the fame effedlual ray makes with
the line q n. For y w and q «, confidered as drawn
from the centre of the fun, are parallel; bo croffes them,
and confequently makes the alternate angles y .r 0, j- 0 «,
equal to one another. Fuel. B. I. Prop. xxix.
Prop. XII.
When the fun fhines upon the drops of rain as
they are falling, the rays, that come from thefe
drops to the eye of a fpedbator, after two reflec¬
tions and two refractions, produce the fecondary
rainbow.
218
The i'econ- The fecondary rainbow is the outermott, CHD.
d;uy ram- When the fun tliines upon a drop of rain H ; and the
rays H()’ wllich emeFge at H fo as to be effbaual,
reflections ma^c an ang*c of 540 7' with LOP a line drawn
and two from the fun through the eye of the fpeftator •, the fame
refractions, effectual rays will make likewife an angle of 540 7' with
Fig. 11. the incident rays S, and the rays which emerge at this
angle are violet ones, by what was obferved above.
Therefore, if the fpedtator’s eye is at O, none but violet
rays will enter it; for as all the other rays make a lefs
angle with OP, they will fall above the fpedtator’s eye.
In like manner, if the effedtual rays that emerge from
the drop G make an angle of 50° 57' with the line OP,
they will likewife make the fame angle with the inci¬
dent rays S ; and confequently, from the drop G n?
rays will come to the fpeclator’s eye at O but red ones;
for all the other rays making a greater angle with the
ICS. 261
line OP, will fall below the eye at O. For the fame the
reafon, the rays emerging from the intermediate drops , an^ ow'.
between H and G, and coming to the fpe&ator’s eye
at O, will emerge at intermediate angles, and therefore
will have the intermediate colours. Thus if there are
feven drops from H to G inclufively, their colours
•will be violet, indigo, blue, green, yellow, orange, and
red. This coloured line is the breadth of the fecondary
rainbow.
Now, if HOP were to turn round upon the line OP,
like a pair of compaffes upon one of the legs OP w:itlx
the opening HOP, it is plain from the fuppofition,
that, in fuch a revolution of the drop H, the angle
HOP would be the fame, and confequently the emer¬
ging rays would make the fame angle with the inci¬
dent ones. But in fuch a revolution the. drop wmuld
deferibe a circle of which P would be the centre, and
CNHRD an arc. Confequently, fince, when the drop
is at N, or at R, or anywhere elfe in that arc, the
emerging rays make the fame angle with the incident
ones as when the drop is at H, the colour of the drop
xvill be the fame to an eye placed at O, whether the
drop is at N, or at H, or at R, or anywhere elfe in
that arc. Now, though the drop does not thus turn,
round as it falls, and does not pafs through the feveral
parts of this arc, yet, fince there are drops of rain fall¬
ing everywhere at the fame time, when one drop is at
H, there will be another at R, another at N, and others'
in all parts of the arc •, and thefe drops will all be vio¬
let-coloured, for the fame reafon that the drop H would
have been of this colour if it had been in any of thofe
places. In like manner, as the drop G is red when it
is at G, it would likewife be red in any part of the arc
CWGQD ; and fo will any other drop when, as it is
falling, it comes to any part of that arc. Thus as the
fun ihines upon the rain, whilft it falls, there will be
two arcs produced, a violet-coloured arc CNHRD, and
a red one CWGQD \ and for the fame reafons the in¬
termediate fpace between thefe two arcs will be filled
up with arcs of the intermediate colours. All thefe arcs
together make up the fecondary rainbow.
Prop. XIII.
The colours of the fecondary rainbow are fainter
than thofe of the primary rainbow ; and are
arranged in the contrary order.
219 -
The primary rainbow is produced by fuch rays as Why the
have been only once re fled ed ; the fecondary rainbow colours ot~
is produced by fuch rays as have been twice refle&ed. fec?n~
But at every refledion fnme rays pafs out of the drop bow are11"
of rain without being refleded ; fo that the oftener the fainter than
rays are refleded, the fewer of them are left. There-thofe of th«
fore the colours of the fecondary bow are produced by
fewer rays, and eonfequently will be fainter, than the ed in a cof-
colours of the primary bow. trary order*
In the primary bow, reckoning from the outfide of
it, the colours are arranged in this order • red, orange,
yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet. In the fecondary
bow, reckoning from the outfide, the colours are violet,
indigo, blue, green, yellow, orange, red. So that the
red, which is the outermoft or higheft colour in the
primary bow, is the innermoft or lowed; colour in the
fecondary one.
Now the violet rays, when they emerge fo as to be
effectual
■i6z OPT
Concavity effectual after one reflexion, make a lefs angle with
oi the Sky, inc}cJent rayS tlian the red ones j confequently the
piJltu violet rays make a lefs angle with the lines OP than
cccLxsxm, the red ones. But, in the primary rainbow, the rays
%. n.- are only once reflefled, and the angle which the effec¬
tual rays make with OP is the diftance of the colour¬
ed drop from P the centre of the bow. Therefore the
violet drops, or violet arc, in the primary bow, will be
nearer to the centre of the bow than the red drops or
red arc j that is, the innermoft colour in the primary
bow will be violet, and the outermoft colour will be red.
And, for the fame reafon, through the whole primary
bow, every colour will be nearer the centre P, as the
rays of that colour are more refrangible.
But the violet rays, when they emerge fo as to be
effectual after two reffe&ions, make a greater angle
with the incident rays than the red ones ; confequently
the violet rays will make a greater angle with the line
OP, than the red ones. But in the fecondary rainbow
the rays are twice reflefted, and the angle which the
effeftual rays make with OP is the diffance of the co¬
loured drop from P the centre of the bow. Therefore
the violet drops or violet arc in the fecondary bow will
be farther from the centre of the bow, than the red
drops or red arc ; that is, the outermoft colour in the
fecondary bow will be violet, and the in^iermoff: co¬
lour will be red. And, for the fame reafon, through
the whole fecondary bow, every colour will be farther
from the centre P, as the rays of that colour are more
•refrangible.
Sect. II. Of Coronas, Parhelia, ds'e.
Under the articles Corona and Parhelion, a pret¬
ty full account is given of the different hypothefes con¬
cerning thefe phenomena, and likewife of the method by
which thefe hypothefes are fupported, from the known
laws of refraction and refieftion. To thefe articles there¬
fore, in order to avoid repetition, we muff refer.
Sect. III. 0/ the Concave Figure of the Shg.
220
Extent of The apparent concavity of the fky is only an optical
the vilible deception founded on the incapacity of our organs of vi-
-horizon on £on j.aj.e jn very large diffances. Dr Smith has de-
:face.ane U " monffrated, that, if the furface of the earth were perfect¬
ly plane, the diftance of the viffble horizon from the eye
would fcarcely exceed the diftance of 5000 times the
height of the eye above the ground: beyond this di¬
ftance, all objects would appear in the viffble horizon.
For, let OP be the height of the eye above the line P A
drawn upon the ground ; and if an object ABzrPO,
be removed to a diftance PA equal to ^000 times that
height, it wffll hardly be viffble by reafon of the fmall-
nefs of the angle AOB. Confequently any diftance
- AC, however great, beyond A, will be invifible. For
ftnee AC and BO are parallel, the ray CO will always
Plate cut AB in fome point D between A and B ", and there-
ccclkxxiv. fore j.|ie angie AOC, or AOD, will always be lefs than
‘ 8‘ AOB, and therefore AD or AC will be inviiible. Conr-
fequently all objedfts and clouds, as CE and FG, placed
j2I at all diftances beyond A, if they be high enough to be
WTiy a long vifible, or to fubtend a bigger angle at the eye than
tow of ob- AOB, will appear at the horizon xkB ; becaufe the di-
^e^sef"-' ftance AC is invifible.
Ian13 CircU~ Hence, if we fuppofe a long row of objefts, or a long
Fig. g. wall ABZY, built upon this plane, and Its perpendicu-
I C S. Part IT.
lar diftance OA from the eye at O to be equal to or Concavity-
greater than the diftance O « of the vifible horizon, itoi Sky,
will not appear ftraight, but circular, as if it were built y——>
upon the circumference of the horizon acegy: and if
the ■wall be continued to an immenfe diftance, its ex-,
treme parts YZ will appear in the horizon at y z,
where it is cut by a line O y parallel to the wall. For,
fuppofing a ray YO, the angle YO y will become in-
fcnlibly fmall. Imagine this infinite plane OAY y,
with the wall upon it, to be turned about the horizontal
line O like the lid of a box, till it becomes perpendicu¬
lar to the other half of the horizontal plane LM y, and
the wall parallel to it, like a vaft ceiling overhead ;
and then the wall xvill appear like the concave figure
of the clouds overhead. But though the wall in the
horizon appear in the figure of a femicircle, yet the
ceiling will not, but much flatter. Becaufe the hori¬
zontal plane ivas a vifible furface, which fuggefted the
idea of the fame diffances quite round the eye : but in
the vertical plane extended between the eye and the
ceiling, there is nothing that affedfs the fenfe with an
idea of its parts but the common line O y ; confequently
the apparent diftances of the higher parts of the ceiling
will be gradually diminillied in afeending from that line.
Now when the Iky is overcaft with clouds of equal
gravities, they will all float in the air at equal heights
above the earth, and confequently will compofe a fur¬
face refembling a large ceiling, as fiat as the vifible
furface of the earth. Its concavity therefore is only
apparent : and when the heights of the clouds are un¬
equal, fince their real fhapes and magnitudes are all
unknown, the eye can felclom diftinguilh the unequal
diftances of thofe clouds that appear in the fame di-
reeftions, unlefs when they are very near us, or are
driven by contrary currents of the air. So that the
vifible ftiape of the whole furface remains alike in both
cafes. And when the fky is either partly overcaft or
partly free from clouds, it is matter of fadf that we re¬
tain much the fame idea of its concavity as when it was
<piite overcaft.
The concavity of the heavens appears to the cye>-\^q1y2tjie
which is the only judge of an apparent figure, to be aconcavjty
lefs portion of a fpherical furface than a hemifphere. of the fky
Dr Smith fays, that the centre of the concavity isaPPears^s
much below the eye : and by taking a medium among ^ftn,ar^e*
feveral obfervations, he found the apparent diftance of * 1
its parts at the horizon to be generally between three
and four times greater than the apparent diftance of
its parts overhead. For let the arch ABCD repre-Tig. 10.
fent the apparent concavity of the fky, O the place of
the eye, OA and OC the horizontal and vertical ap¬
parent diftances, whole proportion is required. Firft
obferve when the fun or the moon, or any cloud or
flar, is in fuch a fituation at B, that the apparent arches
BA, EC, extended on each fide of this object towards
the horizon and zenith, feem equal to the eye ; then
taking the altitude of the obje£f B with a quadrant,
or a ends ftaflf, or finding it by aftronomy from the
given time of obfervation, the angle AOB is known.
Drawing therefore the line OB in the pofition thus
determined, and taking in it any point B, in the ver¬
tical line CO produced downwards, find the centre E
gf a circle ABC, whofe arches BA, BC, intercepted
between B and the legs of the right angle AOC, fhall
be equal to each other; then will this arch ABCD re-
prefent
Part II. O P T
Pl»e colourprefent the apparent figure of the Iky. For by the eye
yf the Sky. we eftimate the diftance between any two obje&s in the
heavens by the quantity of fky that appears to lie be¬
tween them ; as upon each we eftimate it by the quan¬
tity of ground that lies between them. The centre E
may be found geometrically by conftru&ing a cubic
equation, or as quickly and fufficiently exadt by trying
whether the chords BA, BC, of the arch ABC drawn
by conjedture are equal, and by altering its radius BE
till they are fo. Now in making feveral obfervations
upon the fun, and fome others upon the moon and liars,
they feemed to our author to bifedt the vertical arch
ABC at B, when their apparent altitudes or the angle
AOB was about 23 degrees j which gives the propor¬
tion of OC to OA as 3 to 10 or as 1 to 3^ nearly.
When the altitude of the fun was 30°, the upper arch
feemed always lefs than the under one; and, in our au¬
thor’s opinion, always greater when the fun was about
18 or 20 degrees high.
Sect. IV. Of the Blue Colour of the Shj, and of Blue-
and Green Shadows.
Opinions of The opinions of ancient writers, concerning the colour
the ancients of the Iky merit no notice. The firlt who gave any ra,-
the^colour t^<)na* explanation was Fromondus. He fuppofed that the
efthefky. bluenefs of the Iky proceeded from a mixture of the
white light of the fun with the black fpace beyond the
atmofphere, where there is neither refradHon nor reflec¬
tion. This opinion very generally prevailed, and was
maintained by Otto Guerick and ab his contemporaries,
who afferted, that white and black may be mixed in
fuch a manner as to make a blue. M. Bouguer had rs-
courfe to the vapours diffufed through the atmofphere,
to account for the refledtion of the blue rays rather than
any other. He feems, however, to fuppofe, that it arifes
from the, con dilution of the air itfelf, from which the
fainter-coloured rays are incapable of making their wray
through any confiderable tradl of it. Hence he is of
opinion, that the colour of the air is properly blue; to
which opinion Dr Smith feems alfo to have inclined..
To this blue, colour of the fky is owing the appearance
of blue and green fliadows in the morning and even-
Grecn flia- —Thefe were firfl: obferved by M. Buffon in 1742,
dowsobfer-when he noticed that the fhadows of trees which fell
Buffon M’ UP0n a wb*te 'vab were green. He was at that time
Handing upon an eminence, and the fun was fetting in
the cleft of a mountain, fo that he appeared confiderably
lower than the horizon. The iky was clear, excepting
in the weft, which, though free from clouds, was light¬
ly (haded with vapour?, of a yellow colour, inclining to
red. Then the fun itfelf was exceedingly red, and wras
apparently at leaft four times as large as- he appears to
be at mid-day. In thefe circumftances he faw very di-
ftindily the fliadows of the trees, which were 30 or 40
feet from the white wall, coloured with a light green
inclining to blue. The fliadow of an arbour, which
was three feet from the wall, was exadllv drawn upon
it, and looked as if it had been newly painted with ver-
digrife. This appearance lafted near five minutes ;
after which it grew fainter, and vaniflied at the fame
saj time with the light of the fun.
Blue ilia- The next morning at funriie, he went to obferve
tedby him 0t^Cr upon another white wall; but inT-ad
im of finding them green as before, he obferved that they
I C S. 263.
were of the colour of lively indigo. The iky was fe-Blue colour
rene, except a flight covering of yellowifti vapours in ^ t'ie Skyy
the eaft ; and the fun rofe behind a hill, fo that it was ’
elevated above his horizon. In thefe circumftances, the
blue ihadows were only vifible three minutes ; after
which they appeared black, and in the evening of the
fame day he obferved the green ihadows exadtly as be¬
fore. On another day at funfet he obferved that the
ihadows were not green, but of a beautiful iky-blue.
He alfo obferved that the iky was in a great mea^
fure free from vapours at that time, and that the fun
fet behind a rock, fo that it difappeared before it came
to his horizon. Afterwards, he often obferved the
ihadows both at funrife and funfet; but always per¬
ceived them to be blue, though with a great variety of
(hades. 325
The firft perfon who attempted to explain this phe-Explana-
nomenon was the Abbe Mazeas. He obferved that1^011 thefs
when an opaque body was illuminated by the moon an<iattem"ted*
a candle at the fame time, and the- two fhadows were by ^bbe
caft upon the fame white wall, that w’hich was enlight-Mazeas.
ened by the candle was reddifh, and that which was en¬
lightened by the moon was blue. He fuppofed, how¬
ever, the change of colour to be occafioned by the dimi- 22y
nution of the light; but M. Melville and M. Bouguer, Melville’s
both independent of one another, feem to have hit up-anc^ Bou-
on the true eaufe of this curious appearance, and which ^|ier s .ex"
has been already hinted at. The former of thefe gentle-^
men, in his attempts to explain the blue colour of the
iky,, obferves, that fince it is certain that no body af-
fumes any particular colour, but becaufe it reflefts one
fort of rays more abundantly than the reft ; and fince it
cannot be fuppofed that the conftituent parts of pure air
are grofs enough to feparate any colours of themfelves;
we muft conclude with Sir Ifaac Newton, that the violet
and blue making rays are reflefted more copioufly than
the reft, by the finer vapours diffufed through tlje at¬
mofphere, wliofe parts are not big enough to give them
the appearance of vifible opaque clouds; And he (hows
that in proper circumftances, the bluifh colour of the
iky light may be actually feen on bodies illuminated by
it, as, he fays, it is objected ftiould always happen upon
this hypothefis. For that if, on a cloudlefs day, a flieet
of white paper be expofed to the fun’s beams, when any
opaque body is placed upon it, the fliadow which is il¬
luminated by the iky only will appear remarkably bluifti
compared with the reft .of the paper, which receives the-
fun’s direft rays. .
M. Bouguer, who has taken the moft pains with this
fubjeft, obferves, that as M. Buffon mentions the iha¬
dows appearing green only twice, and that at all other
times they were blue, this is the colour which they re¬
gularly have, and that the blue was changed into green
by fome accidental circumftance. Green, he fays, is
only a compofition of blue and yellow, fo that this ac¬
cidental change may have arifen from the mixture of
fome yellow rays in the blue fliadow ; and that perhaps
the walls might have had that tinge, fo that the blue
is the only colour for which a general reafon is required.
This, he fays, muft be derived from the colour of pure
air, which always appears blue, and which always re-
flefts that colour upon all obje&s without diftimftion ;
but which is too faint to be perceived when our eyes
are ftrongly affeaed by the light of the fun, reflefted
from other objeas around us.
To
OPTICS.
fervations
04 this fub-
jeft.
■26-J.
Blue colour To confirm tlm hypothefis, he adds fome interefting
of the Sky, ofofervations of his own, in which this appearance is
agreeably diverfified. Being at the village of Boucholtz
in July .1764, he obferved the fhadows projefted on the
228 white paper of his pocket-book when the Iky was clear.
Curious ob- At half an hour paft fix in the evening, when the fun
was about 40 high, he obferved that the fltadow of his
finger was of a dark gray, while he held the paper op-
pofite to the fun 5 but when he inclined it almoft hori¬
zontally, the paper had a bluifh call, and the ftiadow
upon it was of a beautiful bright blue.
When his eye was placed between the fun and the
paper laid horizontally, it always appeared of a bluiih
call ; but -when he held the paper thus inclined between
his eye and the fun, he could diftinguilh, upon every
little eminence occafioned by the inequality of the fur-
face of the paper, the chief prifmatic colours. This
multitude of coloured points, red, yellow, green, and
blue, almoft effaced the natural colour of the objefls.
At 6h 4 s' the fhadows began to be blue, even when
the rays of the fun fell perpendicularly. The colour
was the moft lively when the rays fell upon it at an
angle of 4^° ; but with a lefs inclination of the paper,
he could diftinflly perceive, that the blue fhadow had a
border of a ftronger blue on that fide which looked to¬
wards the fky, and a red border on that fide which was
turned towards the earth. To fee thefe borders, it was
neceffary to place the body that made the fhadow very
near the paper j and the nearer it "was, the more fenfible
was the red border. At the diftance of three inches,
the whole fhadow was blue. At every obfervation, af¬
ter having held the paper towards the fky, he turned it
towards the earth, which was covered with verdure ;
holding it in fuch a manner, that the fun might Ihine
upon it while it received the lhadows of various bodies ;
but in this pofition he could never perceive the fhadow
to be blue or green at any inclination with refpeft to
the fun’s rays.
At feven o’clock, the altitude of the fun being ftill
about twro degrees, the fhadows were of a bright blue,
even when the rays fell perpendicularly upon the paper,
but were brighteft when it was inclined 450. At this
time he vras furprifed to obferve, that a large traft of
fky was not favourable to the production of this blue
colomy and that the fhadovr falling upon the paper pla¬
ced horizontally W'as not coloured, or at leaft the blue
was very faint. This Angularity, he concluded, arofe
from the fmall difference between the light of that part
of the paper which received the rays of the fun and that
which was in the fhade in this fituation. In a fituation
precifely horizontal, the difference would vanifli, and
there could be no ftiadow. Thus too much or too little
of the fun’s light produced, but for different reafons, the
fame effeCl; for they both made the blue light reflected
from the fky become infenfible. This gentleman ne¬
ver faw any green fhadowrs *, but fuppofes that the caufe
of thofe feen by Buffon might be the mixture of yellow
rays, reflected from the vapours, which he obfervcs were
of that colour.
Thefe blue fhadow's, our author obferves, are not
confined to the times of the funrifing and funfetting ; on
confined to tjie j-Qth of July, when the fun has the greateft force,
he obferved them at three o’clock in the afternoon, but
evenings, the fun at that time flione through a mill.
the fky be clear the fhadows begin to be blue,
229
Blue lha¬
dows not
Part II.
when, if they be projected horizontally, they are eight Blue colour
times as long as the height of the body that produces ot Sk.y'
them, that is, when the altitude of the fun’s centre is
70 8'. This obfervation, he fays, was made in the be¬
ginning of Auguft.
Befides thefe coloured fliadows, which are produced,
by the interception of the direft rays of the fun, our
author obferved others fimilar to them at every hour of
the day, in rooms into which the light of the fun wras
reflected from fome white body, if any part of the clear
fky could be feen from the place, and all unneceffary
light was excluded as much as poflible. He remarks,
that the blue fliadows may be feen at any hour of the
day, even with the direft light of the fun 5 and that
this colour will difappear in all thofe places of the flia-
dow from which the blue fky cannot be feen.
- All the-obfervations that our author made upon the
yellow or reddilh borders of fliadows above mentioned,
led him to conclude, that they were occafioned by the
interception of the fky light, whereby part of the fha¬
dow was illuminated either by the red rays reflefted
from the clouds when the fun is near the horizon, or
from fome terrettrial bodies in the neighbourhood. This
eonjeffure is favoured by the neceflity he was under of
placing any body near the paper, in order to produce
this bordered fhadow, as lie favs it is eafily demonftrat-
ed, that the interception of the fky light can only take
place when the breadth of the opaque body is to its di-
llanee from the white ground on which the fhadow falls,
as twice the fine of half the amplitude of the fky to its
cofine. _ _ 230
At the eonclufion of his obfervations on thefe blue Another
fliadows, he gives a fhort account of another kind of kud of
them, which he fuppofes to have the fame origin. Thefe lka“ows*
he often fa'w early in the fpring when reading by the
light of a candle in the morning, and confequently with
the twilight mixed with that of his candle. In thefe
circumftances, the ftiadow made by intercepting the
light of his candle, at the diftance of about fix feet, was
of a beautiful and clear blue, which became deeper as
the opaque body which made the fhadow was brought
nearer to the wall, and was exceedingly deep at the di-
ftanee of a few inches only. But where the day light
did not come, the fliadows were all black without the
leaft mixture of blue. „
The explanations of the blue colour of the fky given Xewexpla-
by Newton and Bouguer are far from fatisfaftory, and nation of
we prefume that the following method of accounting tke^okmr
for that phenomenon affords the true explanation. The°
light which flows from any portion of the blue fky is
obvioufly refletfted light, which is thrown out into the
atmofphere in all dire61 ions by the earth, and the clouds
and vapours which furround it. The red or leail re¬
frangible rays of this light having a greater momentum
than the blue or moft refrangible rays, penetrate much
farther into the atmofphere, and though a few may be
reflefled, yet almoft all of them will be abforbed or loft
before they can return to the earth’s furfaee'. On the
contrary, the blue rays, having lefs momentum, are not
capable of penetrating fo far into a refilling medium,
and are therefore reflefled to the earth’s furface, and
give a blue colour to the expanfe of the heavens. The
blue colour of the Iky is exadtly the converfe of the red
colour which is perceived at great depths in the fea, and
of the red hue of the morning and evening clouds. Thefe
phenomena
Part IT.
OPTICS*
Irradiations phenomena being produced by tranfruitted or refra&ed
LithhtS&c.SIigllt ’ the red rayS make.their through the medium
 to the obfe'rver’s eye, Avhile the blue ones are reflected
or abforbed,
S ect. V. Of the Irradiations of the Sun's Light appear¬
ing through the in t erf ices of the Clouds.
T his is an appearance which every one mult have
obferved when the iky was pretty much overcaft, and
the clouds have many breaks or openings. At that
time feveral large beams of light, fomething like the
appearance of the light of the fun admitted into a
fmoky room, will be feen generally with a very confi-
derable degree of divergency, as if the radiant point
was lituated at no great diftance above the clouds. Dr
Smith obferves that this appearance is one of thofe
which ferve to demonftrate that very high and remote
objefts in the heavens do not appear to us in their real
lhapes and pofitions, but according to their perfpeftive
projections in the apparent concavity of the Iky. He
acquaints us, that though thefe beams are generally leen
diverging, as reprefented in fig. 11, it is not always the
’cafe. He himfelf, in particular, once faw them con¬
verging towards a point diametrically oppofite to the
fun : for, as near as he could conje&ure, the point to
which they converged was fituated as much below tire
• horizon as the fun was then elevated above the oppofite
part of it. This part is reprefented by the line ^D/, and
the point below it in oppofition to the fun is E ; towards
which all the beams vt, vt, &e. appeared to converge.
Perceiving that the point of convergency was oppo¬
fite to the fun, he fufpedfed that this unufual phenome¬
non was but a cafe of the ufual apparent divergence of
the beams of the fun from his apparent place among the
clouds, as reprefented in fig. Ii. j for though nothing is
more common than for rays to diverge from a luminous
body, yet the divergence of thefe beams in fuch large
angles is not real, but apparent. Becaufe it is impofii-
ble for the dirett rays of the fun to crofs one another at
any point of the apparent concavity of the Iky, in a
greater angle than about half a degree. For the dia¬
meter of the earth being fo very fmall, in comparifon to
the diftance of the fun, as to fubtend an angle at any
point of his body of about io feconds; and the diame¬
ter of our vifible horizon being extremely fmaller than
that of the earth ; it is evident, that all the rays which
fall upon the horizon from any given point of the fun,
muft be inclined to each other in the fmalleft angles
imaginable: the greateft of them being as much fmal¬
ler than that angle of id1 as the diameter of the vifible
horizon is fmaller than that of the earth. All the rays
that come to us from any given point of the fun may
therefore be confidered as parallel j as the rays e E g from
the point e, or f~&h from the oppofite point f; and
^confequently the rays of thefe two pencils that come
from oppofite points of the fun’s real diameter, ahd crofs
each other in the fun’s apparent place B among the
clouds, can form no greater an angle with each other
than about half a degree 5 this angle of their interfec-
tion e By being the fame as the fun ivould fubtend to an
eye placed among the clouds at B, or (which is much
the fame) to an eye at O upon the ground. Becaufe
the fun’s real diftance OS is inconceivably greater than
his apparent diftance OB. Therefore the rays of the
fun, as B^, B /*, do really diverge from his apparent
VOL. XV. Part I. U
26«?
Plate
CCCLXXXIV
fig. II.
232
Conver¬
ging irra¬
diations ob
ferved by
Dr Smith.
Fig. 21.
133
The pheno
menon ex¬
plained by
him.
F1S- 13-
place B in no greater angles than about half a de- Irradiations
gree. Neverthelefs they appear to diverge from the
place B in all poflible angles, and even ih oppofite di-
regions. Let us proceed then to an explanation of this
apparent divergence, which is by no means felf evident j
though at firft fight xve are apt to think it is, by not
diftingui thing the vaft difference between the true and
apparent diftances of the fun.
Suppofing all the rays of the fun to fall accurately
parallel to each other upon the vifible horizon, as they
do very nearly, yet in both cafes they muft appear to
diverge in all poflible angles. Let us imagine the hea¬
vens to be partly overcaft,with a fpacious ftratum of bro¬
ken clouds, v, V, v, &c. parallel to the plane of the vi-„.
fible horizon, reprefented by the line AOD 5 and when**®" ^
the fun’s rays fall upon thefe clouds in the parallel lines
s v, s &c. let fome of them pafs through their inter-
ftices in the lines v /, v t, &c. and fall upon the plane of
the horizon at the places t, t, &c. And fince the reft
of the incident rays s v, s v, are fuppofed to be inter¬
cepted from the place of the fpedtator at O by the
cloud x, and from the intervals between the tranfmitted
rays v t, v t, &c, by the clouds v, v, &c. a fmall part of
thefe latter rays v t, v t, when reflefted every -way from
fome certain kind of thin vapours floating in the air,
may undofibtedly be fufficient to affedt the eye with an
appearance of lights and fhades, in the form of bright
beams in the places vt,v t, &c. and of dark ones in the
intervals between them j juft as fimilar beams of light
and fhade appear in a room by refledtion* of the fun’s
raVs from fmoke or duft flying within it 5 the lights
and fhades being here occafioned by the tranfmiflion of
the rays through fome parts of the window, and by their
interruption at other parts.
Now, if the apparent concavity of this ftratum of
clouds v, v, to the eye at O, be reprefented by the arch
ABCD, and be cut in the point B by the line OB# pa¬
rallel to the beams tv; it will be evident by the rules
of perfpedlive, that thefe long beams will not appear in
their real places, but upon the concave AB CD diver¬
ging every way from the place B, where the fun himfelf
appears, or the cloud x that covers his body, as repre¬
fented feparately in full view in fig. 11.
And for the fame reafon, if the line BO be produced ^ ”
towards E, below the plane of the horizon AOD, and
the eye be diredled towards the region of the Iky di-
redfly above E, the lower ends of the fame real beams
v t, v t, will now appear upon the part DF of this con¬
cave j and will feem to converge towards the point E,
fituated juft as much below the horizon as the oppofite
point B is above it: which is fepatately reprefented in
full view in fig. 12. I2
For if the beams v t, vt, be fuppofed to be vifible
throughout their whole lengths, and the eye be direft-
ed in a plane perpendicular to them, here reprefented
by the line OF ; they and their intervals will appear
broadeft in and about this plane, becaufe thefe parts of
them are the neareft to the eye; and therefore their
remoter parts and intervals will appear gradually nar¬
rower towards the oppofite ends of the line BE. As
a farther illuftration of this fubjeft, we may conceive
the fpe&ator at O to be fituated upon the top of fo
large a defcent OH I towards a remote valley IK, and
the fun to be fo very low, that the point E, oppofite to
him, may be feen above the horizon of this fhady v.al-
E 1 ‘ ley.
266
OPT
Irradiations ley. In this cafe it is manifeft, that the fpedlators at O
c^.t^e S^n’s would now fee thefe beams converging fo far as to meet
, lg c c'. each other at the point E in the Iky itfelf.
This phenomenon is not feen in moonlight, probably
234
Notobferv-becaufe her light is too weak after refle&ions from any
ed by moon k}n(l 0f vapours, to caufe a fenfible appearance of lights
’ and (hades fo as to form thefe beams. And in the phe¬
nomenon of fig. 12. the converging funbeams towards
the point below the horizon were not quite fo bright
and ftrong as thofe ufually are that diverge from him ;
and the Iky beyond them appeared very black (feveral
showers having paffed that way), which certainly con¬
tributed to this appearance. Hence it is probable that
the thinnefs and weaknefs of the reflected rays from
the vapours oppofite the fun, is the chief caufe that this
appearance is fo very uncommon in comparifon to that
of diverging beams. For as the region of the iky
round about the fun is always brighter than the oppofite
one, fo the light of the diverging beams ought alfo to
be brighter than that of the converging ones. For,
though rays are reflected from rough unpoliihed bodies
in all direftions, yet more of them are reflefted for¬
wards obliquely, than are refledted more diredlly back¬
wards. Befides, in the prefent cafe, the incident rays
upon the oppofite region to the fun, are more diminilh-
ed by continual refledlions from a longer tradl of the
atmofphere, than the incident rays upon the region next
the fun.
The pheno- The common phenomenon of diverging beams is
naenon of more frequent in fummer than in winter, and alfo when
diverging
is lower than when higher up ; probably becaufe
than in
winter.
frequent'hf the lower vapours are denfer, and therefore more ftrong-
fummer ly refledlive than the higher ; becaufe the lower Iky
light is not fo bright as the upper 5 becaufe the air is
generally more quiet in the mornings and evenings than
about noon-day •, and laftly, becaufe many forts of va¬
pours are more plentifully exhaled in fummer than in
winter, from many kinds of volatile vegetables •, ’which
vapours, when the air is cooled and condepfed in the
mornings and evenings, may become denfe enough to
refledt a fenfible light.
Sect. VI. Of the Illumination of the Earth's Shadow
in Lunar Eclipfes.
ICS. Part II.
and meet each other at h. Then the two neareft rays Illumink
to thefe that flow within them, from the fame points a ^ ofthe
and b, being refradled inwards through the margin of
the atmofphere, will crofs each other at a point /, fome- 1  
what nearer to the earth than k; and in like manner,
two oppofite rays next within the two laft will crofs
each other at a point /«, fomewhat nearer to the earth
than /, having fuffered greater refradtions, by pafling
through longer and denfer tradls of air lying fomewhat
nearer to the earth. The like approach of the fuccef*
five*interfedtions h, /, m, is to be underfteod of innumer¬
able couples of rays, till you come to the interfedlion n
of the two innermoft \ which we may fuppofe juft to
touch the earth at the points 0 and p. It is plain then,
that the fpace bounded by thefe rays 0 «, 11 p, will bs
the only part of the earth’s ftiadow wholly unenlighten¬
ed. Let f mg be part of the moon’s orbit when it is
neareft the earth, at a time when the earth’s dark Ihadow
0 n p, is longeft : in this cafe, the ratio of tm to J/z is about
4 to 3 ; and confequently the moon, though centrally
eclipfed at tn, may yet be vifible by means of the fcattered
rays, firft tranfmitted to the moon by refradtion through
the atmofphere, and thence refledted to the earth.
For let the incident and emergent parts a q, rn, of Fig. 2.
the ray aq 0 r n, that juft touches the earth at 0, be
produced till they meet at u, and let aqu produced
meet the axis st produced in x ; and joining us and
um, fince the refradlions of a horizontal ray pafling
from 0 to r, or from 0 to q, would be alike and equal,
the external angle n u x is double the quantity of the
,ufual refradtion of a horizontal ray *, and the angle a u s
is the apparent meafure of the fun’s femidiameter feen
from the earth ; and the angle us Ixs that of the earth’s
femidiameter t u feen from the fun (called his horizontal
parallax') ; and laftly, the angle umt is that of the
earth’s femidiameter feen from the moon (called her /zo-
rizontal parallax) ; becaufe the elevation of the point
u above the earth is too fmall to make a fenfible erroi?
in the quantity of thefe angles 5 whofe meafures by aftro-
nomical tables ars as follow :
Sun’s leaf! app. femidiam.
Sun’s horizontal parallax
~aus~l^-
— u s t — 00-
-50
-10
The ancient philofophers, who knew nothing of the
refradlive power of the atmofphere, were much perplex¬
ed to account for the body of the moon being vifible
when totally eclipfed. At fuch times (he generally ap¬
pears of a dull red c6lour, like tarnithed copper. This,
236 they thought, was the moon’s native light, by which ike
Why the became vifible when hid from the brighter light of the
moon is vi- pun> Plvparch, indeed, attributes this appearance to the
totalis e611 °f the fixed ftars reflected to us by the moon 5 but
dipfed. " this is too weak to produce the effedl. The true caufe
of it is the fcattered beams of the fun bent into the
earth’s ftiadow by refractions through the atmofphere in
the following manner.
Plate Let the body of the fun be reprefented by the circle
ccclxxxv. a b, and that of the earth by c d; and let the lines ace
fig- 1. and b de touch them both, and meet in e beyond the
earth ; then the angular fpace c e d will reprefent the
conical figure of the earth’s ftiadow, which would be
totally dark, were none of them bent into it by the re-
fra&ion of the atmofphere. The rays a h and b z,
which touch its oppofite fides, will proceed unrcfracled.
Their difference * is
Twice, horizontal refradlion
— txu— 15—40 *Eucl 1
— nu x~ 67—30 Prop, xxxiu
= / « zz — 83—10 \ Ibid,
— tmu 62—JO
Their fum f is
Moon’s greateft horrz. parallax
Therefore (by a preceding prop.) we have tm : / z/=r
(ang. tnu \ ang. tmu—Shf—IC,, : 62'—io,|,~)4 : 3
in round numbers ; which was to be proved. It is eafy
to colled! from the moon’s greateft horizontal parallax
of 62'—10", that her leaf! diftance tm is about 55^ fe-
midiameters of the earth ; and therefore the greateft:
length t n of the dark fliadow, being three quarters of
tm, is about femidiameters.
The difference of the laft-mentioned angles / n z/,
tjnu is mun—21', that is, about two-thirds of 31'—
40", the angle which the whole diameter of the furr
fubtends at u. Whence it follows, that the middle
point m of the moon centrally eclipfed, is illuminated
by rays which come from two-thirds of every diameter
of the fun’s difk, and pafs by one fide of the earth ; and
alfo by rays that coins from the oppofite two-thirds of
every
r
Part II.
Ulumina- every one of the faid diameters, and pafs by the other
tion of the picje 0f ^]ie garth. This will appear by conceiving the
theEarth ra3r n ^ o r n to ^e inflexible, and its middle point a to
■ t ' Aide upon the earth, while the part r n is approaching
to touch the point m; for then the oppofite part y a
will trace over two thirds of the fun’s diameter. The
true proportion of the angles n u m, a a s, could not be
preferved in the fcheme, by reafon of the fun’s immenfe
diflance and magnitude with refpedl to the earth,
fig. 3. Having drawn the line at a, it may be obferved, that
all the incident rays, as «y, oik, flowing from any one
point of the fun to the circumference of the earth, will
be colle&ed to a focus oc, whofe diftance t a is lefs than
t m in the ratio of 62 to 67 nearly •, and thus an image
of the fun will be formed at c* /3, whofe rays will diverge
upon the moon. For the angle /« « is the difference
of the angles x u u, u ot, t found above ; and t a, : t ni—
ang. 1111 u : ang. t ot, a — 62'—\o" : 67—30".
The rays that flow next above a q and a k, by paf-
fmg through a rarer part of the atmofphere, Avill be
United at a point in the axis at a farther from the earth
than the laft focus « 5 and the fame may be faid of the
rays that pafs next above thefe, and fo on 5 whereby an
infinite feries of images of the fun will be formed, whofe
diameters and degrees of brightnefs will increafe with
their diftances from the earth.
Hence it is manifeft why the moon eclipfed in her pe¬
rigee appears always duller and darker than in her apo-
267
gee. The reafon why her colour is always of the cop- IHumina-
per kind, between a dull red and orange, feems to be t}l^
this : The blue colour of a clear iky (hows that the the'1 Earth,
blue rays are more copioufly refledled from pure air than u-—y—j
thofe of any other colour 5 confequently they are lefs 237
copioufly tranfmitted through it among the reft that^hyrhe
come from the fun, and fo much the lefs as the traft °f ^u's duiier
air through which they pafs is the longer. Hence the when eelip-
• common colour of the fun and moon is whiteft in the fed in her
meridian, and grows gradually more inclined to diluted Perig^e ^
yellow, orange, and red, as they defcend lovirer, that is,than in iet
as the rays are tranfmitted through a longer traft of ‘1 J
air ■, which tra£l being Hill lengthened in pafling to the
moon and back again, caufes a ftill greater lofs of the
blue rays in proportion to the reft ; and fo the refulting
colour of the tranfmitted rays muft lie between a dark
orange and red, according to Sir Ifaac Newton’s rule for
finding the refult of a mixture of colours. The circular
edge of the ftiadow in a partial eclipfe appears red 5 be-
caufe the red-making rays are the leaft refradted of all
others, and confequently are left alone in the conical
furface of the ftiadow, all the reft being refradled in¬
to it.
Dr Herfchel, who believes that the moon is phofpho-
refcent, and that fhe fliines by her native light, when to¬
tally eclipfed by the fun, has endeavoured to ftiew, by
calculation, that the light refracted by the atmofphere
cannot in fome cafes fall upon the moon.
O. P T I C S.
PART III. ON THE CONSTRUCTION OF OPTICAL INSTRUMENTS.
Chap. I. Defcription cf Optical Injlrutnents.
OF the mechanifm of optical inftruments, particular
accounts are given in this work under their refpective
names. Thefe it would be improper to repeat 5 but as
it belongs to the feience of optics to explain, by the
laws of refradlion and refledtion* the feveral phenomena
which thofe Inftruments exhibit, We muft here enume¬
rate the inftruments themfelves, omitting entirely, or
Hating very briefly, fuch fadts as are given at large in
other places.
Sect. I. The Multiplying Glafs.
The multiplying glafs is made by grinding down
Plate convex fide h zT of a plano-Convex glafs AB, into
ccclxxxvi feveral flat furfaces, as h h, b ld, dh. An objedt C will
fig. 1. not appear magnified when feen through this glafs by
238 the eye at H 5 but it will appear multiplied into as ma-
Multiply- hy different objedts as the glafs contains plane furfaces.
in6 For, fince rays will flow from the objedt C to all parts
of the glafs, and eacli plane furface will refradt thefe
rays to the eye, the fame objedt will appear to the eye
in the diredtion of the rays which enter it through each
furface. Thus, a ray g iH, falling perpendicularly on
the middle furface, will go through the glafs to the eye
without fuffering any refradtion 5 and will therefore
Ihow the objedt in its true place at C : whilft a ray a b
flowing from the fame objedt, and falling obliquely on
the plane furface b h, will be refradted in the diredtion
b e, by pafling through the glafs 5 and, upon leaving it,
will go on to the eye in the diredtion e H ; which will
make the fame objedt C appear alfo at E, in the direc¬
tion of the ray H <?, produced in the right line Hen.
And the ray cd, flowing from the objedt C, and falling
obliquely on the plane iurlace dk, will in the fame way*
be refradted to the eye at H ; which will caufe the
fame objedt to appear at D, in the diredtion 1ft f m.—
If the glafs be turned round the line ^ / H, as an axis,
the objedt C will keep its place, becaufe the furface bid
is not removed ; but all the other objedts will feem to go
round C, becaufe the oblique planes, on which the rays
a b c d fall, will turn round by the motion of the glafs.
Sect. II. Mirrors.
It has been already obferved, that there are three
kinds of mirrors principally ufed in optical experiments
(fee Catoptrics, Sedt. I.) ; the plane mirror, the fphe-
rical convex mirror, and the fpherical concave mirror**
Of thefe the plane mirror firft claims our attention,
as it is more common, and of greater antiquity, than
the other two. We have ftiewn that the image refledl-
ed by this mirror appears as far behind the furface as
the objedt is before it ; that the image will appear of
the fame fize and in the fame pofition with the objedt j
that every plane mirror will refledt an image of twice
its own length and breadth ; and that in certain cir-
cumftances it will refledt feveral images of the fame ob¬
jedt. Thefe phenomena we fhall now explain by the
laws of refledtion.
Let AB be an objedt placed before the refledting piat(?
furface g h i of the plane mirror CD ; and let the eye ccclxxxvii,
be at 0. Let A be a ray of light flowing from the %•
top A of the objedt, and falling upon the mirror at
and h m be a perpendicular to the furface of the mirror
at ^ ; the ray A h will be refledted from the mirror to
the eye at 0, making an angle mho equal to the angle
LI 2 Ahmi
268 OPT
Optical In- A /i m; then will the top of the image E appear to the
hrmnents. eye jn ^rg^ion of the retlefted ray o h produced to
E, where the right line Ay? E, from the top of the ob-
jefl, cuts the right line o i E, at E. Let B f be a ray
of light iiTuing from the foot of the objefl at B to the
mirror at i; and ni a perpendicular to the mirror from
the point i, where the ray B i falls upon it; this ray will
be reflefted in the line i o, making an angle n i o equal to
the angle B i n, with that perpendicular, and entering
the eye at o ; then will the foot F of the image appear
in the direction of the reflefted ray o i, produced to F,
where the right line BF cuts the reflefted ray produced
to F. All the other rays that flow from the intermedi¬
ate points of the objedt AB, and fall upon the mirror
between /i and i, will be refledted to the eye at o ; and
all the intermediate points of the image EF will appear
to the eye in the direftion of thefe reflected rays pro¬
duced. But all the rays that proceed from the objedt
and fall upon the mirror above /i, will be retledfed back
above the eye at o ; and all the rays that flow from the
object, and fall upon the mirror below i, will be refledt-
*d back below the eye at o ; fo that none of the rays
that fall above fi, or below can be refledled to the
eye at o ; and the diflance between /t and i is equal
to half the length of the objedt AB.
Size of a Hence it appears, that if a man fees his whole image
looking- in a plane looking-glafs, the part of the glafs that re-
fledts his image mult be juft half as long and half as
1“ 1 broad as himfelf, let him ftand at any diftance from it
Jijaii m o y i - _ _ . # •
fee his whatever *, and that his image muft appear juft as far
whole behind the glafs as he is before it. Thus, the man AB
image. viewing himfelf in the plane mirror CD, which is juft
Fig. 3. half as long as himfelf, fees his whole image as at EF,
behind the glafs, exadlly equal to his own ftze. For a
ray AC proceeding from his eye at A, and falling per¬
pendicularly upon the furface of the glafs at C, is re-
fledted back to his eye, in the fame line C A 5 and the
eye of his image will appear at E, in the fame line pro¬
duced to E, beyond the glafs. And a ray BD, flowing
from his foot, and falling obliquely on the glafs at D,
will be refledted as obliquely o« the other fide of the
perpendicular « £D, in the diredlion DA ; and the foot
of his image will appear at F, in the diredlion of the
refledled ray AD, produced to F, where it is cut by the
right line BGF, drawn parallel to the right line ACE j
juft the fame as if the glafs were taken away, and the
real man flood at F, equal in fize to the man Handing
at B : For to his eye at A, the eye of the other man
at E would be feen in the diredlion of the line ACE ;
and the foot of the man at F would be feen by the eye
A, in the diredlion of the line ADF.
If the glafs be brought nearer the man AB, fuppofe
to cb, he will fee his image at CDG : for the refledled
jay C A (being perpendicular to the glafs) will Ihow the
eye of the image at C j and the incident ray B by being
refledled in the line b A, will ftiow the foot of his image
at G ; the angle of refledtion a b A being always equal
to the angle of incidence Hba ; and fo of all the inter¬
mediate rays from A to B. Hence, if the man AB
advances towards the glafs CD, his image will approach
, towards it j and if he recedes from the glafs, his image
will alfo recede from it.
If the objedl be placed before a common looking-
glafs, and viewed obliquely, three, four, or more images
#f it, will appear behind the glafs.
ICS. „ Part III.
To explain this, let ABCD reprefent the glafs } and Optical In.
let EF be the axis of a pencil of rays flowing from E, fouroents.
a point in an objedl fituated there. The rays of this
pencil will in part be refledled at F, fuppofe into the line ccclkxxij
FG. What remains will (after refradlion at F, which fig. n, *
we do not confider here) pafs on to H ; from whence
(on account of the quiekfilver which is fpread over the
fecond furface of the glafs) they will be ftrongly re¬
fledled to K, where part of them will emerge and enter
an eye at L. By this means one reprelentation of the
point E will be formed in the line LK produced, fup¬
pofe in M : Again, Another pencil, whole axis is EN, Whythree
firft refledled at N, then at O, and afterwards at P, will or four
form a fecond reprefentation of the fame point at : images of
And, thirdly, Another pencil, whofe axis is ER, after °b-iec?s are
fucceflive refledlions at the feveral points R, S, H, T, V,p'jane mir
will exhibit a third reprefentation of the fame point atrors.
X *, and fo on ad infinitum. The fame being true of
each point in the objedl, the whole will be reprefented
in the like manner \ but the reprefentations will bo
faint, in proportion to the number of refledlions which
the rays fuffer, and the length of their progrefs within
the glafs We may add to thefe another reprefentation
of the fame objedl in the line LO produced, made by
fuch of the rays as fall upon O, and are thence refledled
to the eye at L. This experiment may be tried by
placing a candle before the glafs as at E, and viewing it
obliquely, as from L.
2. Of Concave Mirrors. "I he effedls of thefe in mag¬
nifying and diminiftiing objedls, have in general been
already explained 5 but in order to underftand the
nature of refledling telefcopes, it will ftili be proper to
fubjoin the following particular defcription of the effedls
of concave mirrors.
\\ hen parallel rays, as df a, C m b, e b c, fall upon a pjate
concave mirror A £ B, they will be refledled back from cccLxxxni.
that mirror, and meet in a point m, at half the diflance %• 4-
of the furfaee of the mirror from C the centre of its
concavity ; for they will be refledled at as great an angle
from a perpendicular to the furface of the mirror, as
they fell upon it with regard to that perpendicular, but
on the other fide thereof. Thus, let C be the centre of
concavity of the mirror A £ B j and let the parallel rays
df a, C m b, and c l c, fall upon it at the points u, by
and c. Draw the lines Ciay Cmb, and C h cy from
the centre C to thefe points : and all thefe lines will be
perpendicular to the furface of the mirror. Make the
angle C a h—d0 C, and draw the line a m hy which will
be the diredlion of the ray df ay after it is refledled
from the point a of the mirror ; fo that the angle of in¬
cidence d a CrrC a hy the angle of refledlion ; the rays
making equal angles with the perpendicular C / a on its
oppofite fides.
Draw alfo the perpendicular Ch c to the point ct
where the ray e lc touches the mirror ; and having
made the angle C c izz.C c ey draw the line cm z, which
will be the courfe of the ray e lcy after it is refledled
from the mirror. The ray Cmb palling through the
centre of concavity of the mirror, and falling upon it at
by is perpendicular to it ; and is therefore refledted back
from it in the fame line b m C. All thefe refledled rays
meet in the point m; and in that point the image of
the body which emits the parallel rays d ay C by and
e c, will be formed ; which point is diftant from the
mirror equal to half the radius b m C of its concavity.
As
PartlH. OPT
Optical In- As the rays which proceed from any celeftial object
ftruments. may be edeemed parallel, the image of that object will
^ be formed at m, when the reflecting furface of the con¬
cave mirror is turned diredtly to the objedt. Hence
the focus m of parallel rays is not in the centre of the
mirror’s concavity, but half way between the mirror
and that centre.
The rays which proceed from any remote terreftrial
objedt are not ftridtly parallel, but come diverging t®
it, in feparate pencils, from each point of the flde of
the objedt next the mirror ; and therefore they will not
be converged to a point at the diftance of half the ra¬
dius of the mirror’s concavity from it’s refledling furface,
24I but into feparate points at a little greater diitance from
Aerial the mirror. The nearer the objedt is to the mirror, the
images farther thefe points will be from it; and an inverted
formed image Gf the objedl will be formed in them, which will
mirrors. feem to hang in the air, and will be feen by an eye pla-
Fig. 5. ced beyond it (with regard to the mirror) in all refpedls
fimilar to the objedl, and as diftindl as the objedt itfelf.
Let Ac B be the refledling furface of a mirror, whofe
centre of concavity is at C } and let the upright objedl
DE be placed beyond the centre C, and fend out a co¬
nical pencil of diverging rays from its upper extremity
D, to every point of the concave furface of the mirror
AcB. But to avoid confufion, we only draw three
rays of that pencil, us DA, D c, DB.
From the centre of concavity C, draw the three
right lines C A, C c, CB, touching the mirror in the
fame points where the three rays touch it •, and all thefe
lines will be perpendicular to the furface of the mirror.
Make CAr/=DAC, and draw the right line Kd for
the courfe of the refledled ray DA : make C crfcrDcC,
and draw the right line c d for the courfe of the refledl¬
ed ray D d: make alfo CB r/rrDBC, and draw the
right line B for the courfe of the refledled ray DB.
All thefe refledled rays will meet in the point f/, where
they will form the extremity d of the inverted image e d
fimilar to the extremity D of the upright objedl DE.
If the pencil of rays Ey^ E^, E /i, be alfo continued
to the mirror, and their angles of refledlion from it be
made equal to their angles of incidence upon it, as in
the former pencil from D, they will all meet at the
point e by refledlion, and form the extremity e of the
image e d, fimilar to the. extremity E of the objedl DE.
And as each intermediate point of the objedl, between
D and E, fends out a pencil of rays in like manner to
every part of the mirror, the rays of each pencil will
be refledled back from it, and meet in all the interme¬
diate points between the extremities e and d of the
image j and fo the whole image will be formed in an
inverted polition not at i, half the dillance of the mirror
from its centre of concavity C, but at a greater diftance
between i and the objedl DE.
This being well underftood, the reader willeafily un¬
derhand how the image is formed by the large concave
mirror of the refledling telefcope, when he comes to the
defeription of that inftrument.
When the objedl is more remote from the mirror than
its centre of concavity C, the image will be lefs than
the objedl, and between the objedl and mirror : when
the objedl is nearer than the centre of concavity, the
image will be more remote and bigger than the objedl.
Thus, if ED be the objedl, de will be its image : For
as the objedl recedes from the mirror, the image an-
ICS. 269
proaehes nearer to it; and as the objedl approaches Optical l»-
nearer to the mirror, the image recedes farther from it j ftmments.
on account of the leffer or greater divergency of the ''"H *
pencil of rays which proceed from the objedl: for the
lefs they diverge, the fooner they are converged to
points by refledlion j and the more they diverge, the
farther they proceed before they meet.
If the radius of the mirror’s concavity, and the di¬
ftance of the objedl after refradtion, be known, the di¬
ftance of the image from the mirror is found by this
rule : Divide the produdt of the diftance and radius by
double the diftance made lefs by the radius, and the
quotient is the diftance required.
If the objedl be in the centre of the mirror’s concavity,
the image and objedt will be coincident, and equal in bulk.
If a man place himfelf diredtly before a large con¬
cave mirror, but farther from it than its centre of con¬
cavity, he will fee an inverted image'of himfelf in the
air, between him and the mirror, and of a lefs fize than
himfelf. If he holds out his hand towards the mirror,
the hand of the image will come out towards his hand,
and coincide with it, of an equal bulk, when his hand
is in the centre of concavity ; and he will imagine lie
may {hake hands with his image. If he reaches his
hand farther, the hand of the image Avill pafs by his
hand, and come betiveen his hand and his body : and if
he moves his hand towards either fide, the hand of the
image will move towards the other j fo that whatever
way the objeft moves, the image will move the con¬
trary. All the while a byftander will fee nothing of
the image, becaufe none of the refledted rays that form
it enter his eyes.
Sect. III. Camera Obfcura.
The camera obfcura having already been fully de-
feribed under the word Dioptrics, we ftiall at prefent
only diredl the readers attention to an improvement which
has lately been made upon this amufing inftrument.
“ The improvements (fays Dr Brew tier) which have
been made upon the camera obfcura fince its firft inven¬
tion, regard chiefly its external form •, and no attempts
have been made to increafe the brilliancy and diftindl-
nefs of the image. When we compare the pidlure of
external objedls, which is formed in a dark chamber by
the objedl-glafs of a common refradling telefcope, with
that which is formed with an achromatic objedt-glafs,
we fhall find the difference between their dillindtnefs
much lefs than we fliould have at firft expedled. Al¬
though the achromatic lens forms an image of the mi-
nuteil parts of the landfcape, yet when this image is re¬
ceived on paper, thefe minute parts are obliterated by
the fmall hairs and afperities on its furface, and the ef-
fedl of the picture is very much impaired. In the Royal
Obfervatory at Greenwich the image is received upon
a large concave piece of ftucco ; but this fubftance does
not ieem to be more favourable for the reception of
images than a paper ground. In order to obviate thefe
imperfedtions, I tried a number of white fubftances of
different degrees of fmoothnefs, and feveral metallic
furfaces with different degrees of polith, but did not
fucceed in finding any furface fuperior to paper. 1 hap¬
pened, however, to receive the image on the filvered
back of a looking-giafs, and was furpriled at the bril¬
liancy and diflinftnefs with which external objedls were
reprefented. The little fpherical protubeiances, how¬
ever,.. ;
270 • OPT
Optical In- ever, which arife from the roughnefs of the tinfoil, have
itruments.^ a tendency to detract from the precifion of the image,
v and certainly injure it confiderably when examined nar¬
rowly with the eye. In order to remove thefe fmall
eminences, I ground the furface carefully with a bed of
hones which I had ufed for working the plane fpecula
of Newtonian telefcopes. By this operation, which is
exceedingly delicate, and may be performed without in¬
juring the mirror, I obtained a furface finely adapted
for the reception of images. The minute parts of the
landfcape, when received on this fubftance, are formed
with fo much precifion, and the brilliance of the colour¬
ing is fo uncommonly fine, as to equal, if not furpafs
the images formed in the air by means of concave fpe-
eula. Notwithftanding the bluifh colour of the metal¬
lic ground, white objects are reprefented in their true
colour, and the verdure of the foliage is fo rich and vi¬
vid, that the image feems to furpafs in beauty even the
obje£t itfelf. On account of the metallic luftre of the
furface, the diftindlnefs of the image will always be
greateft when the eye of the obferver is placed in the
direction of the infledled rays.
“ The common portable camera obfeura, which has al¬
ready been defcribed (fee Dioptrics), is neceffarily on
a fmall fcale, and has many difadvantages. . Thefe dif-
advantages are completely remedied in the camera ob¬
feura, invented by the Rev. Mr Thomfon of Dudding-
piate Ron, which is reprefented in figures I. and 2. of Plate
ccclxxxix CCCLXXXIX. In fig. i. A is a metallic or wooden
figs, x, 2. ring, in which the four wooden bars AF, AI, AG,
AH, move by means of joints at A, and are kept afun-
der by the crofs pieces BC, DE, which move round B
and D as centres, and fold up along BA and DA,
when the inftrumeht is not ufed. The furface FIGH,
on which the image is received, confifts of a piece of
filk covered with paper. It is made to roll up at IH,
w'hich moves in a joint at I, fo that the whole furface
FIHG, when winded upon IH, can be folded upon the
bar I A. By this means the inftrument, which is cover¬
ed with green filk covered with a black fubftance, may
be put together and carried as an umbrella. It is
ftiewn more fully in fig. 2. where A is the aperture for
placing the lens, and BC a femicircular opening for
viewing the image. A black veil may be fixed to the cir¬
cumference of BC, and thrown over the head of the obfer¬
ver to prevent the admiflion of any extraneous light.”
Sect. IV. Micro/copes.
Under the article Microscope a full account has
been given of the external conftruftion of thole inftru-
ments as they are now made by the moft eminent artifts.
It did not fall within the plan of that article to
explain the way in which an enlarged picture of the ob-
jeft is formed upon the retina by means of the micro-
fcope, and the means of afeertainirfg its magnifying
power ^ but we (hall now direfl the readers attention to
this interefting fubjeft.
i. The Shig/e Micro/cope, the fimpleft of all micro-
fcopes, is nothing more than a fmall globule of glafs, or
1 a convex lens whofe focal diftance is extremely Ihort.
The magnifying power of this microfcope is thus afeer-
Piate^ Gained by X)r Smith, “ A minute obje<ft p q, feen di-
ftinctly through a fmall glafs AE by the eye put clofe
' to it, appears fo much greater than it would to the na¬
ked eye, placed at the leaf! diftance q L from whence
3 ' ,
ICS. Part III,
it appears fufficiently diftimR, as this latter diftance q L Optical in¬
is greater than the former q E. For having put your liniments,
eye clofe to the glafs EA, in order to fee as much ofv—
the objeft as poflible at one view, remove the objeftpy
to and fro till it appear more diftinftly, fuppofe at the
diftance E q. Then conceiving the glafs AE to be re¬
moved, and a thin plate, with a pin-hole in it, to be
put in its place, the object Avill appear diftimft and as
large as before, when feen through the glafs, only not
fo bright. And in this latter cafe it appears fo much
greater than it does to the naked eye at the diftance
q L, either with a pin-hole or without it, as the angle
y? E y is greater than the angle L y, or as the latter
diftance y L is greater than the former y E. Since the
interpofition of the glafs has no other effect than to ren¬
der the appearance diftimft, by helping the eye to in-
creale the refraction of the rays in each pencil, it is
plain that the greater apparent magnitude is entirely
owing to a nearer view than could be taken by the na¬
ked eye. As the human eye is fo conftruCled, as, for
reafons already afligned, to have diftinft vifion only
when the rays which fall upon it are parallel or
nearly fo \ it follows that if the eye be fo perfeft as
to fee diftinttly by pencils of parallel rays falling
upon it, the diftance E y, of the objeft from the
glafs, is then the focal diftance of the glafs. Now,
if the glafs be a fmall round globule, of about Vyth
of an inch diameter, its focal diftance E y, being
three quarters of its diameter, is of an inch j
and if y L be eight inches, the diftance at which we
ufually view minute objects, this globule will magnify
in the proportion of 8 to -5%-, or of 160 to 1.
Mr Gray’s Water Micro/cope is reprefented in Plate
CCCLXXXIX. fig. 4. The drop of water taken up
on the point of a pin is introduced into the fmall hole
D,TVof an inch in diameter, in the piece of brafs DE,
about XV of ah inch thick. The hole D is in the middle
of a fpherical cavity, about ^ of an inch in diameter, and
a little deeper than half the thicknefs of the brafs •, on
the oppofite fide of the brafs is another fpherical cavity,
half as broad as the former, and fo deep as to reduce the
circumference of the fmall hole to a fharp edge. The
water being placed in thefe cavities, will form a double
convex lens with unequal convexities. The object, if it
is folid, is fixed upon the point C of the fupporter AB,
and placed at its proper diftance from the water lens by
the ferew FG. When the objeft is fluid, it is placed
in the hole A, but in fuch a manner as not to be fphe¬
rical ; and this hole is brought oppofite the fluid lens by
moving the extremity G of the ferew into the flit GH.
2. The Double or Compound Micro/cope, confifts t>fp;g
an objeft-glafs c d, and an eye-glafs e/. The fmall
object a b is placed at a little greater diftance from the
glafs c d than its principal focus j fo that the pencils of
rays floAving from the different points of the oSje£t, and
pafling through the glafs, may be made to com^erge,
and unite in as many points betAveen^g and h, Avhere the
image of the objeft Avill be formed ; Avhich image is
viewed by the eye through the eye-glafs For the
eye-glafs being fo placed, that the image g h may be in
its focus, and the eye much about the fame diftance on
'the other fide, the rays of each pencil Avill be parallel
after going out of the eye-glafs, as at e andyj till they
come to the eye at k, Avhere they Avill begin to con¬
verge by the refractive power of the humours 5 and af¬
ter
Part HI. ■ OPT
Optical In- ter having croiTed each other in the pupil, they will be
ftruments. coiie£l:ed into points on the retina, and form upon it the
' v large inverted image AB.
Ufeoffeve- ^7 this combination of lenfes, the aberration of the
ral lenfes in light from the figure of the glafs, which in a globule of
a compound [he hind above mentioned is very confiderable, is in
oiicrofcope. fome meaful-e' corrected. This appeared fo fenfibly to
be the cafe, even to former opticians, that they very
foon began to make the addition of another lens. For,
fays Mr Martin, it is not only evident from the theory
of this aberration, that the image of any point is ren¬
dered lefs confufed by refraction through two lenfes than
by an equal refraCtion through one 5 but it alfo follows,
from the fame principle, that the fame point has its
image ftill lefs confufed when formed by rays refraCted
through three lenfes than by an equal refraftion through
two 5 and therefore a third lens added to the other will
contribute to make the image more diflinft, and confe-
quently the inftrumcnt more complete. At the fame
time the field of view is amplified, and the ufe of the
microfcope rendered more agreeable, by the addition of
the other lens. Thus alfo we may allow a fomewhat
larger aperture to the objeft lens, and thus increafe the
brightnefs of obje&s, and greatly heighten the pleafure
of viewing them. For the fame reafon, Mr Martin has
propofed a four-glafs microfcope, which anfwers the
purpofes of magnifying and of diftindt vilion ft ill more
perfectly.
Fig. p. The magnifying power ©f double microfcopes is ea-
fily underftood, thus: The glafs L next the objeCt PQ.
is very fmall, and very much convex, and confequently
its focal diftance LF is very fhort •, the diftance LQ
of the fmall objeCt PO is but a little greater than LF :
Greater it muft be, that the rays flowing from the ob¬
jeCt may converge after pafling through the giafs, and
crofling one another, form an image of thq objeCt;
and it muft: be but a little greater, that the image p q
may be at a great diftance from the glafs, and confe¬
quently may be much larger than the objeCt itfelf.
This picture p q being viewed through a convex glafs
AE, whofe focal diftance is q E, appears diftihCt as
in a telefcope. Now the objeCt appears magnified for
two reafons ; firft, becaufe, if we viewed its picture p q
with the naked eye, it would appear as much greater
than the objeCt, at the fame diftance, as it really is
greater than the objeCt, or as much as L y is greater
than LQ^ and fecondly, becaufe this picture appears
magnified through the eye-glafs as much as the leatl dif¬
tance at which it can be feen diftinCtly with the naked
eye, is greater than q E, the focal diftance of the eye-
glafs. If this latter ratio be five to one, and the former
ratio of L y to LQ be 20 to 1 ; then, upon both ac¬
counts, the objeft will appear 5 times 20, or 100 times
greater than to the naked eye.
The feClion of a compound microfcope with three
Fig. io. lenfes is reprefentcd in fig. to. By the middle one GK
the pencil of rays coming from the objeCl-glafs are re-
fraCted fo as to tend to a focus at () ; but being inter¬
cepted by the proper eye-glafs DF, they are- brought
together at I, which is nearer to that iens than its pro¬
per focus at L *, fo that the angle 13 IF, under which
the object now appears, is larger than DLF, under
which it would have appeared without this additional
glafs \ and confequently the objeCt is more magnified in
the fame proportion. Dr Hooke informs us, that, in
ICS.
271
moft of his obfervations, he made ufe of a double mi- Optical In-
crofcope with this broad middle glafs when he wanted i^nimcnts-|
to fee much of an objeCt at one view, and taking it out v
when he would examine the fmall parts of an objeCl
more accurately ; for the fewer refraClions there are,
the more bright and clear the objefl appears.
The following rule for finding the magnifying power
of compound microfcopes with three lenfes, has been
given by Dr Brewfter in his Appendix to Fergufon’s
Lectures, vol. ii. p. 468. “ Divide the difference between Magnifying
the diftance of the two firft lenfes, or thofe next the ob- power of
jedl, and the focal diftance of the fecond or amplifying comP<lur!^
glafs, by the focal diftance of the fecond glafs, and the with^lirt^
quotient will be a firft number. Square the diftance be- lenfes.
tween the two firft: lenfes, and divide it by the differ¬
ence between that diftance, and the focal diftance of the
fecond glafs, and divide this quotient by the focal di¬
ftance of the third glafs, or that next the eye, and a fe¬
cond number will be obtained. Multiply together the
JirJl and fecond numbers, and the magnifying power of
the obje<ft glafs, (as found by one of the following ta¬
bles), and the product will be the magnifying power of
the compound microfcope.”
Having in the hiftorical part of this article given Th^mag-
a fhort account of the conftruftion of Dr Smith’s double nifying
reflecting microfcope, it may not be improper in thisPower?f
place to point out the method of afeertaining its magni- Smith’s
fying power. This we fhall do from the author himfelf, micIolcoPe“
becaufe his fymbols, being general, are applicable to
fuch microfcopes of all dimenfions.
Between the centre E and principal focus T of aFlg. ir-
concave fpeculum ABC, whofe axis is EQTC, place
an object PQ^ ; and let the rays- flowing from it be
refleted from the fpeculum AB torvards an image
pq; but before they unite in it, let them be recei¬
ved by a convex fpeculum a b c, and thence be re¬
flected, through a hole BC in the vertex of the con¬
cave, to a fecond image tc k, to be viewed through an
eye-glafs /.
The object may be fituated between the fpecula C,
c ; or, which is better, between the principal focus t
and vertex c of the convex one, & fmall hole being made
in its vertex for the incident rays to pafs through.
In both cafes we have T£), TE, T <7, continual
proportionals in fome given ratio, fuppofe of 1 to n ;
and alfo t q, i c, t x, continual proportionals in fome
other given ratio, fuppofe of 1 to m. Then if d be the
ufual diftance at which we view minute objeefts diftinft-
ly with the naked eye, and * / the focal diftance of the
leaft eye-glafs, through which the objedl appears fuffi-
ciently bright and diftineft, it will be magnified in the
ratio of m n d to x /.
For the objeeft: P£), and its firft image p q, are termi¬
nated on one fide by the common axis of the fpecula,
and on the other by a line PE^a, drawn through the
centre E of the concave ABC. Likewife the images
p q and tt x are terminated by the common axis and by
the line drawn through the centre e of the con¬
vex ab c, (Euclid, v. 12.). Hence, by the fimilar tri¬
angles 7rxe,pqe, and alfo joyE, PQE, we have n x :
p q—x e : q e—m : 1, and'/? q : E : OErz« : 1 ;
and confequently n x : PQzt/jzw : 1, whence 71 x,—7n n
X PQy Now if /x be the focal diftance of the eye-glals
/, the points P, of the objedl, are feen through it by
the rays of two pencils emerging parallel to the lines
•717 l X i
/
27-2
OPT
Optical In-^ / refpecHvely ; that is, P£) appears under an
- mnPO
angle equal to vlx., which is as — —
K l
; and to the
naked eye at the diftance d from PQ^ it appears under
PQ
an angle P o which is as —^ and therefore is mag¬
nified in the ratio of thefe angles, that is, of m n A
to K /.
Cor. Having the numbers m, n, d, to find an eye-
glafs which (hall caufe the microfcope to magnify M
times in diameter, take x /— For the apparent
245 magnitude is to the true as M : i n d \ k l.
An eafy \Ve (hall conclude this part of our fubjeft with the
method of f0n0^vinrr eafy method of afcertainina: the magnifying
afcertainm? c r \ • r n-r
the mag- power or Inch microicopes as are molt in ule.
nifying The apparent magnitude of any objeft, as muft ap-
power of pear from wThat has been already faid, is meafured by
the moft angje uncler which it is feen ) and this angle is
rnkro°n greater or fmaller according as the objeft is nearer to or
fcopes. farther from the eye j and of confequenee the lefs the
diftance at which it can be viewed, the larger it will
appear. The naked eye is unable to diftinguilh any ob-
je£l brought exceedingly near it: but by looking through
a convex lens at an objeft placed in its focus, however
near the focus of that lens be, an objefl may bedillinft-
ly feen j and the fmaller the lens is, the nearer will be
its focus, and in the fame proportion the greater will
be its magnifying power. From thefe principles it is
eafy to find the rcafon why the firll or greateft mag¬
nifiers are fo extremely minute •, and alfo to calculate
the magnifying power of any convex lens employed in
a fingle microfcope : For as the focal diftance of the
lens is to the diftance at which we fee objedls diftimftly
with the naked eye, fo is I to the magnifying power.
If the focal length of a convex lens, for inftance, be one
inch, and the diftance at which we look at fmall ob¬
jects eight inches, which is the common ftandard, an
obje£l may be feen through that lens at one inch di¬
ftance from the eye, and will appear in its diameter
eight times larger than it does to the naked eye; but as
the objedl: is magnified every way, in length as well as
in breadth, we muft fquare this diameter to know how
much it really is enlarged; and we then find that its fu-
246 perficies is magnified 64 times.
Further. Again, Suppofe a convex lens whofe focal diftance is
on^he^'a115only one'tentT °f an inch; as in eight inches, the com-
nifying"130 mon diftance of diftinft vifion with the naked eye, there
power of are 80 tenths, an object may be feen through this glafs
micro. g0 times nearer than with the naked eye. It will, of
fcopes. eonfequence, appear 80 times longer, and as much
broader, than it does to common fight; and is therefore
magnified 6400 times. If a convex glafs be fo fmall
that its focus is only -/^th of an inch diftant, we find
that eight inches contain 160 of thefe twentieth parts ;
and confequently the length and breadth of any objedt
Teen through fuch a lens will be magnified 160 times,
and the whole furface 25,600 times. As it is eafy to
melt a drop or globule of a much fmaller diameter than
a lens can be ground, and as the focus of a globule is
no" farther off than one-fourth of its own diameter, it
muft therefore magnify to a prodigious degree. But
this exceftive magnifying power is much more than
counterbalanced by its admitting fo little light, want of
I C S. Part I1J.
diftindlnefs, and {bowing fuch a fmall portion of the ob- Optical In.
jedt to be examined ; for which reafon, thefe globules, ftruments.
though greatly valued fome time ago, are now almolt “ ^
-entirely rejedled. According to Mr Folkes’s deferip-
tion of the fingle microfcopes of convex lenfes which
Leeuwenhoek left to the Koyal Society, they were all
exceedingly clear, and {bowed the objedft very bright
and diftindt; which Mr Folkes confidered as owing to
to the great care this gentleman took in the choice of
his glafs, his exadlnefs in giving it the true figure, and
afterwards referving only fuch for his ufe as upon trial
he found to be moft excellent. Their powers of mag¬
nifying are different, as different objedls may require:
and as on the one hand, being all ground glaffes, none
of them are fo fmall, or confequently magnify to fo
great a degree, as fome of the globules frequently ufed
in other microfcopes ; yet the diftindlnefu of thefe very
much exceeds thofe which are commonly ufed.
In order to find the magnifying power of a fingle
microfcope, no more is neceffary than to bring it to its
true focus, the exadt place of which will be known by
an objedt’s appearing perfedtly diftindl and (harp when
placed there. Then, with a pair of fmall compaffes,
meafure, as nearly as poflible, the diftance from the
centre of the glafs to the objedl which is viewed, and
how many parts of an inch that diftance is. When this
is known, compute how many times thofe parts of an
inch are contained in eight inches, and the refult will
give the number of times the diameter is magnified :
fquaring the diameter will give the fuperficies; and if
the folid content is wanted, it will be Ihown by multi¬
plying the fuperficies by the diameter.
’ The fuperficies of one fide of an objedt only can be
feen at one view ; and to compute how much that is
magnified, is moft commonly fufheient: but fome-
times it is fatisfadlory to know how many minute ob-
jedts are contained in a larger ; as fuppo{e we defire
to know how many animalcules are contained in the
bulk of a grain of fand : and to anfwer this, the cube,
as well as the furface, muft be taken into the account.
For the fatisfadlion of thofe who are not much verfant
in thefe fubjedts, we ihall here fubjoin the following
tables taken from the Appendix to Fergufon’s Ledtures.
The firft column contains the focal length of tbeTa^0f
convex lens in hundredths of an inch. The fecond con- the magni-
tains the number of times which fuch a lens will magni- tying power
fy the diameter of objedts : The third {hews the number micro-
of times that the furface is magnified; and the fourth lc8^es“
the number of times that the cube of the objedt is mag¬
nified. A table of a fimilar kind, though upon a much
fmaller fcale, has already been publiftied; but the neareft
diftance at which the eye can fee diftindtly, is there fup-
pofed to be inches, which we are confident, from
experience, is too large an eftimate for the generality of
eyes. Table I. is therefore computed upon the fuppofi-
tion that the diftance alluded to is feven inches.
“ When we confider however (fays the editor of the
work now quoted) that the eye examines very minute
objedls at a lefs diftance than it does objects of a
greater magnitude, we {hall find that the magnifying
power of lenfes ought to be deduced from the diftance
at which the eye examines objects really mifcrofcopic.
This tircumftance has been overlooked by every writer
on optics, and merits our attentive confideration. We
have now before us two fpecimens of engraven char
radters.
Part HI.
optical In- rafters. The one is fo large that it can be cafily
ftrumcnts. ^ reacj at the diftance of ten inches; and the other is fo
v exceedingly minute that it cannot be read at a greater
diltance than five inches. Now we maintain that if
thefe two kinds of engraving are feen through the fame
microfcopc, the one will be twice as much magnified
as the other. J bis indeed is obvious j for as the magni-
fying power of a lens is equal to the diftance at which
the objedt is examined by the naked eye divided by the
focal length of the lens, we fliall have — for the number
x
of times which the minute engraving is magnified, and
10 r
~ for the number of times that the large engraving is
magnified, x being the focal length of the lens. It fol¬
lows, therefore, that the number of times that any lens
magnifies objedls really microfcopic fhould be determin¬
ed, by making the diftance at which they are examin¬
ed by the naked eye about five inches.
Upon this principle we have computed Table II.
which contains the magnifying power of convex lenfes
when employed to examine microfcopic ohjedis.
Table I.
A Ne IV TABLE of the magnifying power of fmall con¬
vex lenfes orfngle microfcopes, the difance at which
the eyefees diftinElly being feven inches.
OPTICS.
Table If.
Focal diftance of
the lens or micro-
i’cope.
the t
Number of
times that
diameter of
an objedt is
magnified.
Inches
and
parts of
an inch.
icodths
of an
inch.
I or too
i or 75
t or 50
x °r 40
xo or 30
tV °r 20
19
18
16
15
I4
13
- 12
11
tV °r 10
9
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
XX or
TiV °r
Dec.
Times, of a
time.
7.00
9-33
14.00
I7-50
23*33
35*0°
36.84
38.89
41.18
43*75
46.66
50.00
53*85
58.33
63.67
70.00
77.78
87.50
100.00
116.66
140.00
175.00
233*33
350.00
700.00
Number of
imes that the
surface of an
objedt is mag¬
nified.
Number of time-
that the cube of
an objedt is mag¬
nified
Times.
Times.
49
87
196
306
544
1225
!354
*Sl3
1697
1910
2181
2500
2894
3399
4045
4900
6053
7656
10000
13689
19600
30625
54289
122500
490000
343
810
2744
536o
12698
42875
49836
58864
69935
83453
101848
125000
I55721
I98i56
257259
343000
470911
669922
1000000
1601613
2744000
5359375
I2649337
42875000
343000000
A New Table of the magnifying power of fmall con¬
vex lenfes or fingle microfcopes, the diftance at which
the eye fees diftinElly being fve inches.
273
Optical In-
ftruments.
Focal diftance of
the lens or micro-
fcope
Inches
and
parts of
an inch.
loodths
of an
inch.
or IOO
75
50
40
30
20
J9
18
*7
16
15
14
J3
12
11
10
9
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
Number of
imes that the
diameter of
an objedt is
magnified.
Number of
times that the
surface of an
object is mag¬
nified.
Dec.
rimes of a
time.
Number of tiroes
that the cube of
an objedt is mag.
nified.
Times.
Times
5.00
6.67
10.00
12.50
16.67
25.00
26.32
27.78
29.41
3I*25
33*33
35-71
38.48
41.67
45*55
50.00
55*55
62.50
71*43
83*33
100.00
125.00
166.67
250.00
500.00
25
44
100
j56
278
62c
693
772
865
977
mi
I275
1481
x736
2075
2500
3086
3906
5 !02
6944
10000
15625
27779
62500
250000
125
297
1000
J953
4632
15625
18233
214S9
25438
3°5i8
37026
45538
56978
72355
94507
i25000
171416
244I4I
364453
578634
1000000
I953I25
4629907
15625000
125006000
The greateft magnifier in Mr Leeuwenhoek’s cabinet
of microfcopes, prefented to the Royal Society, has its
focus nearly at one-twentieth of an inch diftance from
its centre ; and confequently magnifies the diameter of
an objeft 160 times, and the fuperficies 25,600. But
the greateft magnifier in Mr Wilfon’s fingle microfcopes,
as they are now made, has ufually a focal length only
of the 50th part of an inch 5 whereby it has a power of
enlarging the diameter of an objedt 400, and its fuperfi¬
cies 160,000 times.
The magnifying power of the folar microfcope muft Th/mag-
be calculated in a different manner; for here the di-nifying
ftance of the fereen or fheet on which the image of thePower of
objeft is call, divided by the focal length of the lens, th-e foIar
gives its magnifying power. Suppofe, for inftance, the “kulated6
lens made ufe of has its focus at half an inch, and the differently
fereen is placed at the diftance of five feet, the objectfrom that
will then appear magnified 20 times, and the fuperficiesof others'
times; and, by putting the fereen at a greater
diftance, you may magnify the objeft almoft as much as
you pleafe : but the fereen Ihould be placed juft at
that diftance where the objedl is feen moft diftindl and
clear.
Vol. XV. Parti.
M m
With
Plate
CCCLXXXVII.
fig. 12.
274 OPT
Optical In- With regard to the double refle£Hng microfcope,
ftmments. ]^jr ;gaker obferves, that the power of the objeft-lens
y is indeed greatly increafed by the addition of two eye-
glaffes •, but as no obje6t-lens can be ufed with them
of fo minute a diameter, or which magnifies of itfelf
near fo much as thofe that can be ufed alone, the
glalfes of this microfcope, upon the whole, magnify
little or nothing more than thofe of Mr Wilfon’s Angle
one j the chief advantage arifing from a combination
of lenfes being the fight of a larger portion of the ob-
jeft.
Sect. V. Telefcopes.
I. The Refracting Telescope.
Of thlfa- I* T/jf’ AJlronomkcil Telefcope.—From what has been
ftronomical faid concerning the compound microfcope, the nature of
telefcope. the common aftronomical telefcope will eafily be under-
flood : for it differs from the microfcope only in this,
that the obje£l is placed at fo great a diftance from it,
that the rays of the fame pencil, flowing from the objeft,
may be confidered as falling parallel upon the objeft-
glafs; and therefore the image made by that lens is con¬
fidered as coincident with its focus of parallel rays.
1. This will appear very plain from fig. 4. in which
AB is the objeft emitting the feveral pencils of rays
Ac*/, Be*/, &c. but fuppofed to be at fo great a di¬
ftance from the objeft-glafs, c d, that the rays of the
fame pencil may be confidered as parallel to each other •,
they are therefore fuppofed to be collefted into their
refpeftive foci at the points m and p, fituated at the fo¬
cal diftance of the obje£l-glafs cd. Here they form an
image E, and crofling each other proceed diverging to
the eye-glafs hg; which being placed at its own focal
diftance from the points m and y>, the rays of each pen¬
cil, after pafling through that glafs, will become paral¬
lel among themfelves ; but the pencils themfelves will
converge confiderably with refpeft to one another, even
fo as to crofs at c, very little farther from the glafs g h
than its focus ; becaufe, when they entered the glafs,.
their axes were almoft parallel, as coming through the
obje£t-glafs at the point to whofe diftance the breadth
of the eye-glafs in a long telefcope bears very fmall pro¬
portion. So that the place of the eye will be nearly
at the focal diftance of the eye-glafs, and the rays of
each refpeftive pencil being parallel among themfelves,
and their axes crofling each other in a larger angle than
they would do if the objeft were to be feen by the na¬
ked eye, vifion will be diftindt, and the objedl will ap¬
pear magriified.
Its magni- The magnifying power in this telefcope is as the
iyingpower, focal length of the objedl-glafs to the focal length of the
eye-glafs.
In order to prove this, we may confider the angle
Ai B as that under which the objedt would be feen by
the naked eye 5 for in confidering the diftance of the
objedt, the length of the telefcope may be omitted, as
bearing no proportion to it. Now the angle under
which the objedt is feen by means of the telefcope is
g e h, which is to the other A/§B, or its equal gk as
the diftance from the centre of the objedt-glafs to that
of the eye-glafs. The angle, therefore, which an ob-
jedt fubtends to an eye aflifted by a telefcope of this
kind, is to that under which it fubtends to the naked
I C S. Part III.
eye, as the focal length of the objedt-glafs to the focal Optical In¬
length of the eye-glafs. ftruments.
It is evident from the figure, that the vifible area, v~'J
or fpace which can be feen at one view, when we look
through this telefcope, depends on the breadth of the
eye-glafs, and not of the objedt-glafs ; for if the eye-
glafs be too fmall to receive the rays g m, p h, the ex¬
tremities of the objedt could not have been feen at all:
a larger breadth of the objedt-glafs conduces only to the
rendering each point of the image more luminous, by
receiving a larger pencil of rays from each point of
the objedt. 2^t
It is in this telefcope as in the compound microfcope, Objedls
where we fee not the objedt itfelf, but only its imaged11 thro’
CED : now that image being inverted with refpedt to‘L !J1''ertecl'
the objedt, becaufe the axis of the pencils that flow
from the objedt crofs each other at k, objedts feen
through a telefcope of this kind neceflarily appear in¬
verted.
This is a circumftance not at all regarded by aftro-
nomers: but for viewing objedts upon the earth, it is
convenient that the inftrument Ihould reprefent them in
their natural pofture ; to which ufe the telefcope with CCCLmvm
three eye-glaffes, as reprefented fig. 13. is peculiarly fig. ^
adapted.
AB is the objedt fending out the feveral pencils
Acd, Be*/, &.c. which pafling through the objedt-
glafs cd, are colledted into their refpedtive foci in CD,
where they form an inverted image. From this they Common
proceed to the firft eye-glafs ef, whofe focus being atrej™(^;in£
/, the rays of each pencil are rendered parallel among
themfelves, and their axes, which were nearly paralleljeds ered.
before, are made to converge and crofs each other :
the fecond eye-glafs g Ji, being fo placed that its focus
fhall fall upon m, renders the axes of the pencils which
diverge from thence parallel, and caufes the rays of
each, which were parallel among themfelves, to meet
again at its focus EF on the other fide, where they
form a fecond image inverted with refpedt to the for¬
mer, but eredt with refpedt to the objedt. Now this
image being feen by the eye at a b through the eye-
glafs ik, affords a diredt reprefentation of the objedt,
and under the fame angle that the firft image CD
w'ould have appeared, had the eye been placed at /,
fuppofing the eye-glaffes to be of equal convexity j and
therefore the objedt is feen equally magnified in this
as in the former telefcope, that is, as the focal diftance
of the objedt glafs to that of any one of the eye-glaffes,
and appears eredt. 253
2. The Galilean Telefcope with the concave eye-glafs Galilean
is conftrudted as follows. Opiate" I
AB is an objedt fending forth the pencils of rays cccixxxviii.
g h i, kltn, &c. which, after pafling through the ob- fig. 1,
jedt-glafs c d, tend towards e Y. f (where we fliall fup-
pofe the focus of it to be), in order to form an inverted
image there as before j but in their way to it are made
to pafs through the concave glafs n 0, fo placed that its
focus may fall upon E, and confequently the rays of
the feveral pencils which were converging towards thofe
refpedlive focal points e, Y,f, will be rendered parallel,
but the axes of thofe pencils crofling each other at F,
and diverging from thence, will be rendered more di¬
verging, as reprefented in the figure. Now thefe rays
entering the pupil of an eye, will form a large and di-
flindl image a b upon the retina, which will be inverted
with
Part IIT. OPT
Optical In- with refpeft to the objeft, becaufe the axis of the pen-
ftruncnt". cj2s crofs in F. The objetl of courfe will be feen ereft,
l*—"“v an(l the angle under which it will appear will be equal
to that which the lines a¥,b F, produced back through
the eye-glafs, form at F.
It is evident, that the lefs the pupil of the eye is, the
lefs is the vilible area feen through a telefcope of this
kind ; for a lefs pupil would exclude fuch pencils as
proceed from the extremities of the objedf AB, as is
evident from the figure. This inconvenience renders
this telefcope unfit for many ufes ; and is only to be re¬
medied by the telefcope with the convex eye-glaffes,
where the rays which form the extreme parts of the
image are brought together in order to enter the pupil
of the eye, as explained above.
It is apparent alfo, that the nearer the eye is placed
to the eye-glafs of this telefcope, the larger is the area
feen through it *, for, being placed clofe to the glafs,
as in the figure, it admits rays that come from A and
B, the extremities of the objedl, which it could not if
s54 it was placed farther off.
Magnify- ' The degree of magnifying in this telefcope is in the
ing power. fame proportion with that in the other, viz. as the fo¬
cal diltance of the obje£t-glafs is to the focal diflance
of the eye-glafs.
For there is no other difference but this, viz. that as
the extreme pencils in that telefcope were made to con-
^'ate .. verge and form the angle g e h or ink (fig. 13.), thefe
ccclxxxvu. are now mac}e to diverge and form the angle a F b
xclxxxviii (%• 1 •) ’ which angles, if the concave glafs in one has
L * an equal refraftive power with the convex one in the
other, will be equal, and therefore each kind will exhi¬
bit the object magnified in the fame degree.
There is a deleft in all thefe kinds of telefcopes,
not to be remedied in a fingle lens by any means what¬
ever, which was thought only to arife from the fphe-
rical aberration of the objeA-glafs. But it was dif-
covered by Sir Ifaac Newton, that the imperfection of
this fort of telefcope, fo far as it arifes from the fpherical
form of the glafies, bears little proportion to that which
is owing to the different refrangibility of light. This
diverfity in the refra&ion of rays is about a 28th part
of the whole ; fo that the objeCt-glafs of a telefcope
cannot coiled the rays which flow from any one point
in the objeft into lefs fpace than a circle whofe diame¬
ter is about the 56th part of the breadth of the
glafs.
To (how this, let AB reprefent a convex lens, and
r ?Iate.. let CDF be a pencil of rays flowing from the point D ;
cccxxxvm. ^ ^ ^ tjie p0int at which the leaft refrangible rays
are colleCted to a focus ; and I, that where the moft
refrangible concur. Then, if IH be the 28th part of
EH, IK will be a proportionable part of EC (the tri¬
angles HIK and HEC being fimilar) : confequently
LK will be the 28th part of FC. But MN will be the
leaft fpace into which the rays will be colleded, as ap¬
pears by their progrefs reprefented in the figure. Now
MN is but about half of KL *, and therefore it is about
the 56th part of the breadth of that part of the glafs
through which the rays pafs ; which was to be ftiown.
Since therefore each point of the objeCl will be re¬
prefented in fo large a fpace, and the centres of thofe
fpaces will be contiguous, becaufe the points in the
objeCt the rays flow from are fo j it is evident, that
the image of an objeCt made by fuch a glafs mult be a
1 C 3. . _ 275
moft confufed reprefentation, though it does not appear Optical In¬
fo when viewed through an eye-glafs that magnifies in j-1’ p'f ‘A
a moderate degree conlequently the degree of magni¬
fying in the eye-glafs muft not be too great with re-
fpeCi to that of the objeCt-glafs, left the confulion be¬
come fenfible.
Notwithllanding this imperfeCtion, a dioptrical te¬
lefcope may be made to magnify in any given degree,
provided it be of fufficient length ; for the greater the
focal diftance of the objeCf-glafs is, the lefs may be
the proportion which the focal diftance of the eye-glafs
may bear to that of the objeCt-glafs, without render- 255
ing the image obfcure. Thus, an objeCt-glafs, whofe Refladting
focal diftance is about four feet, will admit of an eye- teict'x'' h5’
glafs whofe focal diftance {hall be little more than an
inch, and confequently will magnify almoll 48 times *, to their
but an objeCl-glafs of 40 feet focus will admit of an length,
eye-glafs of only four inches focus, and will therefore
magnify l ?o times; and an objeCt-glafs of 100 feet
focus will admit of an eye-glafs of little more than fix
inches focus, and will therefore magnify almoft 200
times*
The reafon of this difproportion in their feveral de¬
grees of magnifying may be explained thus : Since the
diameter of the fpaces, into which rays flowing from
the feveral points of an objeCt are collected, are as the
breadth of the objeCt-glafs, it is evident that the degree
of confufednefs in the image is as the breadth of that
glafs ; for the degree of confufednefs will only be as the
diameters or breadths of thofe fpaces, and not as the
fpaces themfelves. Now the focal length of the eye-
glafs, that is, its power of magnifying, muft be as that
degree ; for, if it exceeds it, it will render the confufed¬
nefs fenfible ; and therefore it muft be as the breadth or
diameter of the objeCl-glafs. The diameter of the ob-
jeft-glafs, which is as the fquare root of its aperture
or magnitude, muft be as the fquare root of the power
of magnifying in the telefcope ; for unlefs the aper¬
ture itfelf be as the power of magnifying, the image
will want light: the fquare root of the power of mag¬
nifying will be as the fquare root of the focal diftance
of the objeCl-glafs ; and therefore the focal diftanee
of the eye-glafs muft be only as the fquare root of
that of the objeCl-glafs. So that in making ufe of an
objeCl-glafs of a longer focus, fuppofe, than one that
is given, you are not obliged to apply an eye glafs of
a proportionably longer focus than what would fyit
the given objeCl-glafs, but fuch a one only whofe fo¬
cal diftance (hall be to the focal diftance of that wrhich
will fuit the given objeCl-glafs, as the fquare root of
the focal length of the objeCl glafs you make ufe of,
is to the fquare root of the focal length of the given
one. And this is the reafon that longer telefcopes
are capable of magnifying in a greater degree than
(horter ones, without rendering the objeCl confufed or
coloured.
Upon thefe principles the following new table, taken
from the Appendix to Fergufon’s LeClures, vol. ii.
p. 471. fecond edition, has been computed. It is founded
on a telefcope of Huygens, mentioned in his AJtrofcopia
Compendiaria, which had an objeCl-glafs 34 feet in fo¬
cal length, and which bore an eye-glafs of 24- inches fo¬
cal diflance, and therefore magnified 163 times. The
tabF for refraCling telefcopes, which has been given by
preceding optical writers, was copied from Smith’s Op-
M m 2 tics?
ftri.ments.
276 OPT
Optical In-tics, as the produ£Hon of the celebrated Huygens,
while it was calculated only by the editors of his Diop¬
trics, from a telefcope made by that celebrated optician •,
which, however, feems to have been inferior to that
which is the foundation of the following table. The
table is fuited to Rhinland meafure 5 but the fecond and
third columns may be converted into Englifh meafure
by dividing them by ,7, the focal diftances of the obje£t-
glaffes being fuppofed Englilb feet.
A NEW Table of the apertures, focal lengths, and
magnifying power of ref railing telefcopes.
Focal length
of the
object-glafs
Feet.
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
*3
15
20
25
3°
35
40
45
50
55
60
70
80
90
100
200
300
400
500
Sine or aper¬
ture of the
eve-t;l ;fs.
f h. Dec.
Focal diftance
of the
eye-glafs.
Inch. Dec.
Magnifying
power
Times
O.65
I-°3
1.3°
I,45
1.61
1.79
1.96
2.14
2.20
2.32
2.63
2.81
3-31
3- 73
4.01
4- 34
4.64
4.92
c.20
5- 48
5-71
6.16
6.58
7.02
7-39
10.41
12.89
14.72
16.52
0.50
0.62
o-75
0.87
1.00
1.07
1.21
1.30
1.38
1.58
а. 70
1- 95
2.15
2.40
2.58
2.76
2- 93
3.08
3.22
3- 36
3-64
3- 90
4.12
4- 35
б. 17
7-52
8.71
9-71
28
39
48
55
60
67
73
77
83
87
99
106
123
i39
150
163
174
184
195
205
214
231
246
262
276
389
479
55i
618
Sect. VI. On Achromatic Telefcopes.
256
Their im- The inconveniency of very long telefcopes is fo great,
perfect ons that different attempts have been made to remove it.
byTvikfd O'f thefe, the moft fuccefsful have been by Dollond and
and Blair. Blair; and the general principles upon which thefe emi¬
nent opticians proceeded have been mentioned in the hifto-
rieal part of (his article, and in the preceding feftion. A
fuller account of Dr Blair’s difeoverv will be feen in the
Tran factions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh ; and of
Dollond’s, it may be fufficient to obferve. in addition to
what has been already faid, that the objeft-glaffes of his
telefcopes are compofed of three diftinftlenfes, two convex
and one concave ; of which the concave one is placed in
3* the middle, as is reprefented in fig. 3. where a and c Ihow
I C s. Part III.
the two convex lenfes, and b b the concave one, which Optical in.
is by the Britifh artifts placed in the middle. The two ftruments.
convex ones are made of London crown glafs, and the ^ 1 -1
middle one of white flint glafs; and they are all ground
to fpheres of different radii, according to the relraftive'
powers of the different kinds of glafs and the intended
focal diftance of the objecl-glafs of the telefcope. Ac¬
cording to Bofcovich, the focal diftance of the parallel
rays for the concave lens is one-half, and for the convex
glafs one-third ol the combined focus. When put to¬
gether, they refradt the rays in the following manner.
Let ab, a b, be two red rays of the fun’s light falling .
parallel on the firft convex lens c. Suppofing there was 5'
no other lens prefent but that one, they would be con¬
verged into the lines be, be, and at laft meet in the fo¬
cus q. Let the lines g h, g h, reprefent two violet rays
falling on the furface of the lens. Thefe are alfo re-
fradled, and will meet in a focus ; but as they have a
greater degree of refrangibility than the red rays, they
muff of confequence converge more by the fame power
of refradtion in the glafs, and meet fooner in a focus,
fuppofe at r.—Let now the concave lens d d be placed
in fuch a manner as to intercept all the rays before they
come to their focus. Were this lens made of the fame
materials, and ground to the fame radius with the con¬
vex one, it would have the fame power to caufe the rays
diverge that the former had to make them converge. In
this cafe, the red rays would become parallel, and move
on in the line 00,00: But the concave lens, being made
of flint glafs, and upon a (hotter radius, has a greater
refradlive power, and therefore they diverge a little af¬
ter they come out of it; and if no third lens was inter-
pofed, they would proceed diverging in the lines opt,
opt; but, by the interpofition of the third lens ov 0,
they are again made to converge, and meet in a focus
fomewhat more diftant than the former, as at x. By
the concave lens the violet rays are alfo refrafted, and
made to diverge ; but having a greater degree of refran¬
gibility, the fame power of refra&ion makes them di¬
verge fomewhat more than the red ones ; and thus, if
no third lens was interpofed, they would proceed in fuch
lines as //« «, ///2 n. Now as the differently coloured
rays fall upon the third lens with different degrees of
divergence, it is plain, that the fame power of refra&ion
in that lens will operate upon them in fuch a manner as
to bring them all together to a focus very nearly at the
fame point. The red rays, it is true, require the great-
eft power of refra&ion to bring them to a focus ; but
they fall upon the lens with the leaft degree of diver¬
gence. The violet rays, though they require the leaft
power of refraction, yet have the greateft degree of di¬
vergence ; and thus all meet together in the point x,
or nearly fo.
But, though we have hitherto fupuofed the refraction
of 'he concave lens to be greater than that of the con¬
vex ones, it is eafy to fee how the errors occafioned by ccci^viii
the firft lens may be corrected by it, though it (hould fig. ^
have even a lefs power of refradtion than the convex
one. Thus, let a b, a b, be two rays of red light falling
upon the convex lens c, and refraCted into the focus q ;
let alfo g h, g h, be two violet rays converged into a fo¬
cus at r ; it is not neceffary, in order to their conver¬
gence into a common focus at x, that the concave lens
Ihould make them diverge; it is fufficient if the glafs
has
Part III. OPT
Optical In- has a power of dxfperfing the violet rays fomewhat more
■>trunieni5'. than the red ones; and many kinds have this power of
difperfing fome kinds of rays, without a very great
power of refraaion. It is better, however, to have the
objed-glafs compofed of three lenfes ; became there is
then another correaion of the aberration bv means of
the third lensj and it might be impoflible to find two
lenfes, the errors of which would exadly corred each
other. It is alfo eafy to fee, that the effed may be the
fame whether the concave glafs is a portion of the fame
fphere with the others or notj the effed depending upon
a combination of certain circumltances, of which there is
an infinite variety.
By means or this corredion of the errors arifing from
the different refrangibility of the rays of light, it is pof-
fible to fhorten refrading telefcopes confiderably, and
yet leave them equal magnifying powers. The reafon
of this is, that the errors arifing from the objed-glafs
being removed, thofe which are occafioned by the eye-
glafs are inconfiderable : for the error is always in pro¬
portion to the length of the focus in any glafs ; and in
very long telefcopes it becomes exceedingly great, bein°-
no lefs than -y-g-th of the whole j but in glafles of a few
Fig. 6. inches focus it becomes trifling. Refrading telefcopes,
which go by the name of Dol/otul'ls,. are therefore now
eonltruded in the following manner. Let AB repre-
fent an objed-glafs compofed of three lenfes as above
defcribed, and converging the rays i, 2, 3, 4, &c. to a
very diftant focus as at x. By means of the ’ interpofed
lens CD, however, they are converged to one much
nearer, as at y, where an image of the objed is formed.
The rays diverging from thence fall upon another lens
EF, where the pencils are rendered parallel, and an
eye placed near that lens would fee the objed magnified
and very difiind. To increafe the magnifying power
ftill more, however, the pencils thus become parallel are
made to fall upon another at GH; by which they are
again made to converge to a diftapt focus : but, being
intercepted by the lens IK, they are made to meet at the
nearer one ssy whence diverging to LM, they are again
rendered parallel, and the eye at N fees the obied very
diftindly.
From an infpedion of the figure it is evident, that
Dollond’s telelcope thus conftruded is two telefcopas
combined together •> the firft ending with the lens EF,
and the fecond with LM. In the firft we do not per¬
ceive the objed itfelf, but the image of it formed at y ;
and in the fecond we perceive only the image of that
image formed at 5$. Such telefcopes are neverthelefs
exceedingly diftind, and reprefent objeds fo clearly as
to be preferred, in viewing terreftrial things, even to
refledors. The latter indeed have greatly the advan¬
tage in their powers of magnifying, but they are much
deficient in point of light. Much more light is loft by
refledion than by refradion : and as in thefe telefcopes
the light muft unavoidably fuffer two refledions, a great
deal of it is loft •, nor is this lofs counterbalanced by the
greater aperture which thefe telefcopes will bear, which
enables them to receive a greater quantity of light than
the refrading ones. The metals of refleding telefcopes
alfo are very much fubjed to tarnifti, and require much
more dexterity to clean them than the glalfes of refrac-
tors j which makes them more troublefome and expen-
five, though for making difcoveries in the heavens they
5
are undoubtedly the only proper inftruments which have Optical In-
been hitherto conftruded. ftruments.
II. The Retlecting Telescope.
1 lie inconveniences arifing from the great length of Newumian
refrading telefcopes, before the difcovery of the achro- telefcepe,
matic telefcope, are fufhciently obvious j and thefe, to¬
gether with the difficulties occalioned by the different
refrangibility of light, induced Sir Ifaac Newton to turn
his attention to the fubjed of refledion, and endeavour
to icalize the ideas of himfelf and others concerning the
poffibility of conftruding telefcopes upon that princi¬
ple.—The inftrument which he contrived is reprefented,
fig. 7. where ABCD is a large tube, open at AD and Fig. 7^-
clofed at BC, and of a length at leaft equal to the di-
ftance of the focus from the metallic fpherical concave
fpeculum GH placed at the,end BC. The rays EG,
ELI, &c. proceeding from a remote objed PR, interfed
one another fomevvhere before they enter the tube, fo
that EG, eg, are thofe that come from the lower part
of the objed, and///, FH from its upper part : thefe
rays after falling on the fpeculum GH, will be refleded.
fo as to converge and meet in mn, where they will form
a perfed image of the objed.—But as this image can¬
not be feen by the fpedator, they are intercepted by a
fmall plane metallic fpeculum KK, interieding the axis -
at an angle of 450, by which the rays tending to m n
wiil be refleded towards a hole LI/in the fide of the
tube, and the image will be lefs diftind, becaufe fome
of the rays which would otherwife fall on the concave
fpeculum GH, are intercepted by the plane fpeculum :
neverthelefs it will appear in a confiderable degree di¬
ftind, becaufe the aperture AD of the tube, and the
fpeculum GH, are large. In the lateral hole LL is fix¬
ed a convex lens, whole focus is at S y ; and therefore -
this lens will refrad the rays that proceed from any point
of the image, fo as at their exit they will be parallel,
and thofe that proceed from the extreme points S q will
converge after refradion, and form an angle at O, where
the eye is placed ; which will fee the image S q, as if it
were an oojed through the lens LL 5 confequently
the objed will appear enlarged, inverted, bright, and
diftind. In LL lenfes of different convexities may
be placed, which by being moved nearer to the ima^e
or farther from it, would reprefent the objed more or
lefs magnified, provided that the furface of the fpeculum
GH be of a perfedly fpherical figure. If, in the room
of one lens LL, three lenfes be difpofed in the fame
manner with the three eye-glaffes of the refrading te¬
lefcope, the objed will appear ered, but lefs diftind
than when it is obferved wilh one lens.
. account of the pofition of the eye in this telefcope, it New5finder
is extremely difficult to dired the inftrument towards any for Newto.
objed. Huygens, therefore, firft thought of adding to itnian
a fmall refrading telefcope, the axis of which is parallel tofcope-
that of the refledor. This is called a Jnder or dire&or.
When the Newtonian telefcope is large, and placed upon
its lower end to view bodies in great altitudes, the com¬
mon finder can be of no ufe, from the difficulty of get¬
ting the eye to the eye-piece. On this account ^Dr
Brewfter propofes (Appendix to Fergufon’s Ledures,
vol. ii. p. 478.) to bend the tube of the finder to a right
angle, and place a plane mirror at the angular point, fo
as to throw the image above the upper part of the tube
that
278 OPT
Optical In- that the eye-piece of the tinder may be as near as pof-
itmments. tibig to the eye-piece of the telefcope. The angular
' ' ’ v" part where the plain mirror is to be fixed, (hould be
placed as near as pofTible to the focal image, in order
that only a fmall part of the finder may Hand above the
tube ; and in this way the eye $an be transferred with
the greateft facility from the one eye-piece to the other.
The advantages of this conftruftion will be underltood
Plate from fig. 3. Plate CCCLXXXIX. where I 1 is part
eccrxxxix. 0p a Newtonian telefcope, D the eye-piece, and ABC
3* t]ie finder. The image formed by the objedt-glafs A is
retlefted upwards by the plain mirror B, placed at an
angle of 450 with the axis of the tube, and the image
is viewed with the eye glafs AC* Thofe who have
been in the habit of ufing the Newtonian telefcope with
the common finder will be fenfible of the convenience
2I, refulting from this contrivance.
Magnifying In order to determine the magnifying power of this
power of telefcope, it is to be confidered that the plane fpeculum
Newtonian ££ fs Gf no ufe in this refpeft. Let us then fuppofe,
telefcopes. tjiat Qne ray proceeding from the object coincides with
Plate the axis GLIA of the lens and fpeculum j let bbbe.
ccclxxxviii another ray proceeding from the lower extreme of the
%• s- objett, and pafling through the focus I of the fpeculum
KH : this will be refle£ted in the dire&ion bid, paral¬
lel to the axis GL A, and falling on the lens dlud, will
be refra&ed to G; fo that GL will be equal to L /,
and dG~d I. To the naked eye the object would ap¬
pear under the angle I bi=:b IA ; but by means of the
telefcope it appears under the angle dGlA—dlL. — ldi:
and the angle Idi is to the angle l bi : : \b : Id; con-
fequently the apparent magnitude by the telefcope is to
that by the naked eye as the diftance of the focus of
the fpeculum from the fpeculum, to the diftance of the
focus of the lens from the lens.
The following new table of the apertures and magni-
fying power of Newtonian telefcopes is taken from the
Appendix to Fergufon’s Leftures, vol. ii. p* 480. It
is founded on a Newtonian telefcope conftru&ed by
Hadley, in which the focal length of the great fpeculum
was three feet three inches, and the magnifying power
226. Its aperture varied from three and a half to four
and a half inches, according to the want of brightnefs
in the obje&s to be examined. The firft column contains
the focal length of the great fpeculum in feet, and the
fecond its linear aperture in inches, and hundredths of
an inch. The third and fourth column* contain Sir
Ifaac NeAvton’s numbers, by means of which the aper¬
tures of any kind of reflefting telefcopes may be eafily
computed. The fifth column contains the focal length
of the eye-glaffes in thoufandths of an inch, and the fixth
contains the magnifying power of the inftrument.
I C S. Fait 111.
Optical in-
A New Table of the apertures and riiagnifying power Llhmi-em^
of Newtonian Telefcopes.
Focal
length of
the con¬
cave Ipe-
culum.
aperture
it the con¬
cave fpe¬
culum.
lir Ifaac Newton’s
numbers.
Focal
length of
the eye-
glafe.
Magnify¬
ing
power.
Feet.
Inch De
Aperture
of the
fpeculun
Focal
length
of the
eye-gl'fs
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
M
16
T7
18
20
21
22
23
24
J-34
2.23
3-79
i-M
6.36
7-51
8.64
9.67
10.44
11.69
12.6 c
14.50
I5-4I
16.25
17.11
17.98
18.82
19.63
20.45
21.24
22.06
22.85
23.62
24.41
j 68'
283
383
476
c62
645
800
946
1084
I345
IS91
1824
Inch. Dec
IO0
II9
141
I57
168
178
186
200
212
221
238
251
263
0.107
0.129
0.152
0.168
0.181
0.192
0.200
0.209
0.218
O.222
0.228
0-233
0.238
0.243
0.248
0.252
0.256
0.260
0.264
0.268
0.271
0.274
0.277
0.280
0.283
Times.
56
93
158
214
265
3I3
360
403
445
487
527
566
604
642
677
7I3
749
784
818
852
885
919
952
984
1017
Let TYYT be a brafs tube, in which L /</ D is a Gregorian
metallic concave fpeculum, perforated in the middle at telefcope.
X ; and EF a lefs concave mirror, fo fixed by the arm 1,1:116
or ftrong wire RT, which is moveable by means of a^g***^1
long ferew on the outfide of the tube, as to be moved
nearer to or farther from the larger fpeculum L/dDf
its axis being kept in the fame line with that of the
great one* Let AB reprefent a very remote object,
from each part of which iflue pencils of rays, e. g. c d,
CD, from A the upper extreme of the objeft, and IL,
*7, from the lower part B ; the rays IL, CD, from the
extremes crofting one another before they enter the
tube. Thefe rays falling upon the larger mirror LD,
are refle&ed from it into the focus KH, where they
form an inverted image of the objeft AB, as in the
Newtonian telefcope. From this image the rays, iffu-
ing as from an objeft, fall upon the fmall mirror EF,
the centre of which is at e ; fo that after refleftion they
would meet in their foci at Q£), and there form an ereft
image. But fince an eye at that place could fee but a
fmall part of an objeft, in order to bring rays from
more diftant parts of it into the pupil, they are inter¬
cepted by the plano-convex lens MN, by which means
a fmaller ereft image is formed at PV, which is viewed
from
Part III. OPT
Optica In-from the menxfcus SS by an eye at O. This menifcus
ftrumeats. makes the rays of each pencil parallel and mag-
nilies the image PV. At the place of this image all
the foreign rays are intercepted by the perforated parti¬
tion ZZ. For the fame reafon the hole near the eye
O is very narrow. When nearer obje&s are viewed by
this telefcope, the fmall fpeculum EF is removed to a
greater diftance from the larger LD, fo that the fecond
image may be always formed in PV 5 and this dilfance
is to be adjufted (by means of the fcrew on the outfide
of the great tube) according to the form of the eye of
the fpeftator. It is alfo neceffary, that the axis of the
telefcope Ihould pafs through the middle of the fpecu¬
lum EF, and its centre, the centre of the fpeculum
LL, and the middle of the hole X, the centres of the
lenfes MN, SS, and the hole near O. As the hole X
in the fpeculum LL can refleft none of the rays iffuing
from the object, that part of the image which corre-
fponds to the middle of the objeft muft appear to the
obferver more dark and confufed than the extreme
parts of it. Befides, the fpeculum EF will alfo inter¬
cept many rays proceeding from the objedl ; and there¬
fore unlefs the aperture TT be large, the object muft
appear in fome degree obfcure.
In the bell refledting telefcopes, the focus of the
fmall mirror is never coincident with the focus of the
great one, where the firft image KH is formed, but
a little beyond it (with refpedt to the eye), as at n ;
the confeqjience of which is, that the rays of the pen¬
cils will not be parallel after refledlion from the fmall
mirror, but converge fo as to meet in points about
where they would form a larger upright image
than PV, if the glafs R was not in their way j and
this image might be viewed by means of a lingle eye-
glafs properly placed between the image and the eye 5
but then the field of view would be lefs, and confe-
quently not fo pleafant •, for which reafon, the glafs
R is ftill retained, to enlarge the fcope or area of the
field.
To find the magnifying power of this telefcope,
multiply the focal diftance of the great mirror by the
diftance of the fmall mirror from the image next the
eye, and multiply the focal diftance of the fmall mirror
by the focal diftance of the eye-glafs •, then divide the
former produdl by the latter, and the quotient will ex-
prefs the magnifying power. For a table of the aper¬
tures and powers of Gregorian telefcopes, fee Appendix
to Fergufon’s Ledtures, vol. ii. p. 472, 473*
One great advantage of the refledling telefcope is,
that it will admit of an eye-glafs of a much ftiorter
focal diftance than a refradting telefcope ; and con-
fequently it will magnify fo much the more : for the
rays are not coloured by refledlion from a concave mir¬
ror, if it be ground to a true figure, as they are by
pafling through a convex glafs, let it be ground ever
fo true.
.The nearer an objedl is to the telefcope, the more
its pencils of rays will diverge before they fall upon
the great mirror, and therefore they will be the longer
of meeting in points after refledlion ; fo that the firft
image KH will be formed at a greater diftance from
the large mirror, when the objedl is near the tele¬
fcope, than when it is very remote. But as this image
muft be formed farther from the fmall mirror than its
principal focus this mirror muft be always fet at a
I c s.
279
261
Its magni¬
fying
power.
greater diftance from the larger on«, in viewing near Optical in-
objedts, than in viewing remote ones. And this is done i^ruments,i
by turning the fcrew on the outfide of the tube, until
the fmall mirror be fo adjufted, that the objedl (or
rather its image) appears perfedl.
In looking through any telefcope towards an objedl,
we never fee the objedl itfelf, but only that image of
it which is formed next the eye in the telefcope. For
if a man holds his finger or a flick between his bare
eye and an objedl, it will hide part (if not the whole)
of the objedl from his view : But if he ties a flick
acrofs the mouth of a telefcope before the objedl-glafs,
it will hide no part of the imaginary objedl he faw
through the telefcope before, unlefs it covers the whole
mouth of the tube : for all the effedt will be, to make
the objedl appear dimmer, becaufe it intercepts part
of the rays. Whereas, if he puts only a piece of wire
acrofs the infide of the tube, between the eye-glafs and
his eye, it will hide part of the objedl which he thinks
he fees •, which proves, that he fees not the real objedl,
but its image. This is alfo confirmed by means of the
fmall mirror EF, in the refledling telefcope, which
is made of opaque metal, and flands diredlly betw’een
the eye and the objedl towards which the telefcope
is turned ; and will hide the "whole objedl from the eye
at O, if the two glaffes ZZ and SS are taken out of the
tube. atfz
If the fmall mirror of the preceding inftrument be Caffegrai-
cOnvex inftead of concave, it is then called the Cajfe-™^ te^e*
grainian telefcope. As the fmall mirror is in this cafe 1
placed between the great fpeculum and its focus, a Caf-
fegrainian telefcope will be Ihorter than a Gregorian one
of the fame magnifying power by twice the real length
of the fmall mirror. For a table of the apertures, &c.
of this inftrument, fee Appendix to Fergufon’s Lec¬
tures, vol. ii. p. 474, 475.
Sect. VII. On the Merits of different Microfcopes and
Telefcopes.
263
The advantages arifing from the ufe of microfcopes Merits of
and telefcopes depend, in the firft place, upon their pro- microfcopes
perty of magnifying the minute parts of objedts, fo te'e"
that they can by that means be more diftindtly viewed p^j5 C0m"
by the eye •, and, fecondly, upon their throwing more^
light into the pupil of the eye than what is done with¬
out them. The advantages arifing from the magnify¬
ing power would be extremely limited, if they were not \
alfo accompanied by the latter : for if the fame quan¬
tity of light is fpread over a large portion of furface,
is becomes proportionably diminilhed in force ; and
therefore the objedls, though magnified, appear pro¬
portionably dim. Thus, though any magnifying glals
fhould enlarge the diameter of the objedl 10 times, and
confequently magnify the furface 100 times, yet if the '
focal diftance of the glafs was about eight inches (pro¬
vided this was poffible), and its diameter only about the
fize of the pupil of the eye, the objedl would appear
100 times more dim when we looked through the glafs,
than when we beheld it with our naked eyes •, and this,
even on a fuppofition that the glafs tranfmitted all the
light which fell upon it, which no glafs can do. But
if the focal diftance of the glafs was only four inches,
though its diameter remained as before, the ineonvenb
ence would be vaftly diminifhed, becaufe the glafs could
then
2 8© ' o P T
Ments °'f tnen be placed tu iee as near the objeft as before, and
M-Ktr<Te'.e€S con^eciuen^y would receive four times as many rays as
fcopes com- t^ie former cafe, and therefore we would fee it
pared, much brighter than before. Going on thus, .dill di-
minifhing the focal diftance of the glafs, and keeping
its diameter as large as poffible, we will perceive the
object more and more magnified, and at the fame time
very diltinft and bright. It is evident, however, that
with regard to optical inftruments of the microfcopic
kind, we muft fooner or later arrive at a limit which
cannot be pafied. This limit is formed by the follow¬
ing particulars. I. .The quantity of light loft in palling
through the glafs. 2. The diminution of the glafs itfelf,
by which it receives only a fmall quantity of rays.
3. The extreme fliortnefs of the focal diftance of great
magnifiers, whereby the free accefs of the light to the
objedt which we with to view is impeded, and confe-
quently the rededKon of the light from it is weakened.
4. The aberrations of the rays, occafioned by their dif¬
ferent refrangibility.
To underftand this more fully, as well as to fee how
far thefe obftacles can be removed, let us fuppofe the
lens made of fuch a dull kind of glafs that it tranfmits
only one half of the light which falls upon it. It is
evident that fuch a glafs, of four inches focal diftance,
and which magnifies the diameter of an objedt twice,
ftill fuppofing its own breadth equal to that of the
pupil of the eye, will fliow it four times magnified in
furface, but only half as bright as if it was feen by
the naked eye at the ufual diftance ; for the light
which falls upon the eye from the objedt at eight inches
diftance, and likewife the furface of the objedt in its
.natural fize, being both reprefented by I, the furface
of the magnified objedt will be 4, and the light which
makes that magnified objedt vifible only 2 : becaufe
though the glafs receives four times as much light as
the naked eye does at the ufual diftance of diftindt vifion,
yet one half is loft in palling through the glafs. The
inconvenience in this refpedt can therefore be removed
only as far as it is poffible to increafe the clearnefs of
the glafs, fo that it fhall tranfmit nearly all the rays
which fall upon it; and how far this can be done, hath
not yet been afcertained.
The fecond obftacle to the perfedtion of microfcopic
glaffes is the fmall fize of great magnifiers, by which,
notwithftanding their near approach to the objedt, they
receive a fmaller quantity of rays than might be ex-
jredted. Thus, fuppofe a glafs of only Toth of an
inch focal diftance j fuch a glafs would increafe the
vifible diameter 80 times, and the furface 6400 times.
If the breadth of the glafs could at the fame time be
preferved as great as that of the pupil of the eye,
which we lhall fuppofe T%ths of an inch, the objedt
would appear magnified 6400 times, at the fame time
that every part of it would be as bright as it appears
to the naked eye. But if we fuppofe that this mag¬
nifying glafs is only -^th of an inch in diameter, it
will then only receive -Jth of the light which otherwife
would have fallen upon it; and therefore, inftead of
communicating to the magnified objedt a quantity of
illumination equal to 6400, it would communicate on¬
ly one equal to 1600, and the magnified objedt would
appear four times as dim as it does to the naked eye.
This inconvenience, however, is ftill capable of being
removed, not indeed by increafing the diameter of the
I -C S. Part m.
lens, becaufe this muft be in proportion to its focal di- Merits of
ftance, but by throwing a greater quantity of light on MKroicopes
the obiedt. Thus, in the above-mentioned example,ran<1 i®le'
ft tour times the quantity ot light which naturally falls pare(j.
upon it could be thrown upon the objedt, it is plain *-
that the refledtion from it would be four times as great
as in the natural way j and confequently the magnified
image, at the fame time that it was as many times
magnified as before, would be as bright as when feen
by the naked eye. In tranfparent objedts this can be
done very effedtually by a concave fpeculum, as in the
rcfledting microfcope already defpribed : but in opaque
objedts the cafe is fomewhat more doubtful; neither do
the contrivances for viewing thefe objedts feem entirely
to make up for the deficiencies of the light from the
fmallnefs of the lens and ftiortnefs of the focus.—
When a microfcopic lens magnifies the diameter of an
objedt forty times, it hath then the utmoft poflible mag¬
nifying power, without diminifhing the natural bright-
nefs of the objedt.
The third obftacle arifes from the fhortnefs of the
focal diftance in large magnifiers : but in tranfparent
objedts, where a fufficient quantity of light is thrown
on the objedt from below, the inconvenience arifes at
laft from ftraining the eye, which muft be placed nearer
the glafs than it can well bear 5 and this entirely fuper-
fedes the ufe of magnifiers beyond a certain degree.
The fourth obftacle arifes from the different refran¬
gibility of the rays of light, and which frequently caufes
fuch a deviation from truth in the appearances of things
that many people have imagined themfelves to have
made furprifing difcoveries, and have even publiftied
them to the world : when in fadt they have been only
as many optical deceptions, owing to the unequal re-
fradtions of the rays. For this there feems to be no
remedy, except the introdudtion of achromatic glaffes
into microfcopes as well as telefcopes. How far this
is pradlicable, hath not yet been tried ; but when thefe
glaffes (hall be introduced (if fuch introdudtion is prac¬
ticable,) microlcopes will then undoubtedly have re¬
ceived their ultimate degree of perfedtion. 264
With regard to telefcopes, thofe of the refradting Dollond’j
kind have evidently the advantage of all others, where an^ Bla'rrs
the aperture is equal, and the aberrations of the rays ^]!'.fCOpej
are corredted according to Mr Hollond’s method •, be- faperior to
eaufe the image is not only more perfedt, but a much others,
greater quantity of light is tranfmitted than what can
be refledted from the belt materials hitherto known.
Unluckily, however, the imperfedtioris of the glafs fet
a limit to thefe telefcopes, as has been already ob-
ferved, fo that they cannot be made above three feet
and a half long. On the whole, therefore, the refledt-
ing telefcopes are preferable in this refpedt, that they
may be made of dimenfions greatly fuperior j by which
means they can both magnify to a greater degree,
and at the fame time throw much more light into the
eye.
With regard to the powers of telefcopes, however,
they are all of them exceedingly lefs than what we
would be apt to imagine from the number of times
which they magnify the objedt. Thus, when we
hear of a telefcope which magnifies 200 times, we
are apt to imagine, that, on looking at any diftant ob¬
jedt through it, we ftiould perceive it as diftindtly as
we would with our naked eye at the 200th part of
the
Part III. OPT
Merits of the dlftanee. But this is by no means the cafe j
Microfcopes neJther is there any theory capable of directing us in
femes1 com this matter : we muft therefore depend entirely on ex-
L pared, perience.
-y ■ J he belt method of trying the goodnefs of any tele-
fcope is to obferve how much farther off you are able to
read with it than with the naked eye." But that all
deception may be avoided, it is proper to choofe fome-
thing to be read where the imagination cannot give any
affiltance, fuch as a table of logarithms, or fomething
which confifts entirely of figures j and hence the
truly ufeful power of the telefcope is eafily known.
In this way Mr Short’s large telefcope, which magni¬
fies the diameter of obje&s 1200 times, is yet unable
to afford fufficient light for reading at more than 200
times the diftance at which we can read with our naked
265 eye.
The Grego-. With regard to the form of reflefring telefcopes, it
nan tele- ^ |s now pretty generally agreed, that when the Gre-
rior forUPe" goiaan ones are conftrufted, they have the advan-
common tage of thofe of the Newtonian form. One advantage
ufe to the evident at firft fight is, that with the Gregorian tele-
Newtonian. fcope an objeft is perceived by looking directly through
it, and confequently is found with much greater cafe
than in the Newtonian telefcope, where we mult look
into the fide. The unavoidable imperfeftion of the fpe-
cula common £0 both, alfo gives the Gregorian an ad¬
vantage over the Newtonian form. Notwithftanding
the utmoft care and labour of the workmen, it is found
impoffible to give the metals either a perfeaiy fphe-
rical or a perfectly parabolical form. Hence arifes fomd
indiftinftnefs of the image formed by the great fpeculum,
which is frequently corre6ted by the little one, provided
they are properly matched. But if this is not done, the
error will be made much worfe; and lienee many of the
Gregorian telefcopes are far inferior to the Newtonian
ones ; namely, when the fpecula have not been properly
adapted to each other. There is no method by which
the workman can know the fpecula which will fit one
another without a trial 5 and therefore it is neceffary
to have many fpecula ready made of each fort, that in
fitting up a telefcope thofe may be chofen which beft
fuit each other.
The brightnefs of any objeft feen through a tele¬
fcope, in comparifon with its brightnefs when feen by
the naked eye, may in all cales be eafily found by the
following formula. Let n reprefent the natural di-
itance at which an objedl can be diftinttly feen ; and
let d reprefent its diftance from the dbjeft-glafs of the
intlrument. Let tn be the magnifying power of the
inftrument; that is, let the vifual angle fubtended at
the eye by the objeft when at the diftance «, and
viewed without the inftrument, be to the vifual angle
produced by the inftrument as 1 to m. Let a Ibe
the diameter of the objeft-glafs, and jo that of the
pupil. Let the inftrument be fo conftru&ed, that no
parts of the pencils are intercepted for want of fufficient
apertures of the intermediate glafles. Laftly, Let the
light loft in reflexion or refraction be neglected.
I he brightnefs of vifion through the inftrument will
the brightnefs of na-
be expreffed by the fra&ion
mp d1
rural vifion being 1. But although this fraftion may
exceed unity, the vifion through the inftrument will not
1 c s. 28l
be brighter than natural vifion. For, when this is the Merits of
cafe, the pupil does not receive all the light tranfmitted Microfcopes
through the inftrument. J,anf 1 e e~
in microlcopes, « is the neareft limits of diftmft vi- pared,
fion, nearlyye-twz inches. But a difference in this cir- ' 11 -y',mmJ
cumftance, arifing from a difference in the eye, makes
no change in the formula, becaufe m changes in the
fame proportion with n.
In telefcopes « and d may be reckoned equal, and
the formula becomes ——.
m px
Sect. VIII. Apparatus for Meafuring the Intenfty of
Light.
lhat feme luminous bodies give a ftronger, and
others a weaker light, and that feme refleft more light
than others, was always known ; but no perfon, before
M. Bouguer hit upon a tolerable method of afeertain- M. Bon¬
ing the proportion that two or more lights bear to one guer’s con-
another. I he methods he moft commonly ufed were ^rwances
the following. for meafur-
He took two pieces of wood or pafteboard EC and Opiate
CD, in which he made two equal holes P and £), over ccclxxxv.
which he drew pieces of oiled or white paper. Upon fiS- 4*
> thefe holes he contrived that the light of the different
bodies he was comparing fhould fall; while he placed a
third piece of pafteboard t C, fe as to prevent the two
lights from mixing with one another. Then placing
himfelf fometimes on one fide, and femetimes’on the
other, but generally on the oppofite fide of this inftru-
ment, with refpedl to the light, he altered their pofition
till the papers in the two holes appeared to be equally
enlightened. This being done, he computed the pro-
portion of their light by the fquares of the diftances at
which the luminous bodies were placed from the obje&s.
If, for inftance, iLe diftances were as three and nine, he
concluded that the lights they gave were as nine and
eighty-one. Where any light was very faint, he fome¬
times made ufe of lenfes, in order to condenfe it 5 and
he enclofed them in tubes or not as his particular appli¬
cation of them required. ' rr
Tl o meafure the intenfity of light proceeding from
the heavenly bodies, or reflected from any part of the
Iky, he contrived an inftrument which refembles a kind
of portable camera obfeura. He had two tubes, of
which the inner was black, faftened at their loiver ex¬
tremities by a hinge C. At the bottom of thefe tubes F.
were two holes, R and S, three or four lines in diame- * £’
ter, covered with twm pieces of fine white paper. The
two other extremities had each of them a circular aper¬
ture, an inch in diameter j and one of the tubes confift-
ed of two, one of them Hiding into the other, which
produced the fame effeft as varying the aperture at the
end. men this inftrument is ufed, the obferver has
his head, and 'the end of the inftrument C, fe covered
that no light can fall upon his eye, befides that which
comes through the two holes S and R, while an affift-
ant manages the inftrument, and draws out or’ftiortens
the tube DE, as the obferver direfts. When the two
holes appear equally illuminated, the intenfity of the
lights is judged to be inverfely as the fquares of the
tubes.
In ufing this inftrument, it is neceffary that the ob-
je<ft ftiould fubtend an angle larger than the aperture A
Nn
282
Apparatus
for
Meafuring
Light.
Rg. 6.
7-
a<S‘j
Thefe dri¬
ft ruments
meafure on
ly the in-
tenfity of
light.
OPT
or feen from tire oilier end of the tube ; for, other-
rvife, the lengthening of the tube has no eft'eft. To
avoid, in this cafe, making the inftrument of an incon¬
venient length, or making the aperture D too narrow,
he has recourfe to another expedient. He conltrudls an
inftrument, reprefented (fig. 6.), confifting of two ob-
jeft-glafles, AE and DF, exadtly equal, fixed in tlie
ends of two tubes fix or leven feet, or, in fome cafes,
10 or 12 feet long, and having their foci at the other
ends. At the bottoms of thefe tubes B, are two holes,
three or four lines in diameter, covered with a piece of
white paper ; and this inftrument is ufed exactly like
the former.
If the two obiefts to be obferved by this inftrument
be not equally luminous, the light that iffues from them
muft be reduced to an equality, by diminiftiing the
aperture of one of the objedf-glafles ; and then the re¬
maining furface of the two glaffes will give the propor¬
tion of their lights. But for this purpofe, the central
parts of the glafs muft be covered in the fame propor¬
tion with the parts near the circumference, leaving the
aperture fuch as is reprefented (fig. y.), becaufe the
middle part of the glafs is thicker and lefs tranfparent
than the reft.
If all the objects to be obferved lie nearly in the fame
direflion, Bouguer remarks, that thefe two long tubes
may be reduced into one, the two objeft-glaffes being
placed clofe together, and one eye-glafs fufficing for
them both. The inftrument rvill then be the fame with
that of which he publiffied an account in 1748, and
which he called a heliometer, or ajlrometer.
It is not, however, the abfolute quantity, but only
the intenfity of the light, that is meafured by thefe two
-inftruments, or the number of rays, in proportion to the
furface of the luminous body *, and it is of great import¬
ance that thefe twTo things be diftinguiffied. The in¬
tenfity of light may be very great, when the quantity,
and its power of illuminating other bodies, may be
very fmall, on account of the fmallnefs of its furface •,
or the contrary may be the cafe, when the furface is
large. ,
Having explained thefe methods which M. Bouguer
took to meafure the different proportions of light, we
{hall fubjoin a few examples of his application of
them.
It is obfervable, that when a perfon ftands in a place
where there is a ftrong light, he cannot diftinguifh ob¬
jects that are placed in the fhade 5 nor can he fee any
thing upon going immediately into a place where there
is very little light. It is plain, therefore, that the ac¬
tion of a ftrong light upon the eye, and alfo the impref-
fion which it leaves upon it, makes it infenfible to the
effeft of a weaker light. M. Bouguer had the curiofity
to endeavour to afcertain the proportion between the in-
tenfities of the two lights in this cafe ; and by throwing
the light of two equal candles upon a board, he found
that the ftiadow made by intercepting the light of one
of them, could not be perceived by his eye, upon the
place enlighteoed by the other, at little more than eight
times the diftance *, from whence he concluded, that
when one light is eight times eight, or 64 times lefs
than another, its pi*efence or abfence will not be per¬
ceived. He allows, however, that the effeft may be
different on different eyes j and fuppofes that the boun-
I c s.
Part III,
daries in this cafe, with refpeft to different perfons, may Apparatus
lie between 60 and 80. for
Applying the two tubes of his inftrument, mentioned
above, to mealure the intenfity of the light reflected . ^ ‘ ,
from different parts of the Iky he found that when the
fun was 25 degrees high, the light was four times ftrong-
er at the diftance of eight or nine degrees from his bo¬
dy, than it was at 31 or 32 degrees. But what ftruck
him the moft was to find, that when the fun is 15 or
20 degrees high, the light decreafes on the fame pa¬
rallel to the horizon to 110 or 120 degrees, and then
incrcafes again to the place exadlly oppofite to the
fun.
The light of the fun, our author obferves, is too
ftrong, and that of the ftars too w'eak, to determine the
variation of their light at different altitudes; but as, in
both cafes, it muft be in the fame proportion with the
diminution of the light of the moon in the fame circum-
ftances, he made his obfervations on that luminary, and
found, that its light at 190 16', is to its light at 66° 11',
as 1681 to 2500 5 that is, the one is nearly two thirds ^
of the other. He chofe thofe particular altitudes, be- great va-
caufe they are thofe of the fun at the two folftices at nation of
Croific, where he then refided. When one limb of the the lijftit of
moon touched the horizon of the fea, its light was 2000 (he moon
times lefs than at the altitude of 66° 11'. But this pro- agitucks?*
portion he acknowledges muft be fubjedt to many vari¬
ations, the atmofphere near the earth varying fo much
in its denfity. From this obfervation he concludes,
that at a medium light is diminifhed in the proportion
of about 2500 to 1681, in traverfing 7469 toifes of
denfe air.
M. Bouguer alfo applied his inftrument to the differ- Variation
ent parts of the fun’s difk, and found that the centre is in different
confiderably more luminous than the extremities
it. As near as he could make the obfervation, it lun an(j
was more luminous than a part of the difk -^ths of phnets.
the femidiameter from it, in the proportion of 35 to
28 \ which, as he obferves, is more than in the pro¬
portion of the fines of the angles of obliquity. On the
other hand, he obferves, that both the primary and fe-
condary planets are more luminous at their edges than
near their centres.
The comparifon of the light of the fun and moon is
a fubjedt that has frequently exercifed the thoughts of
philofophers j but we find nothing but random conjec¬
tures, before Bouguer applied his accurate meafures in
this cafe. In general, the light of the moon is ima¬
gined to bear a much greater proportion to that of the
lun than it really ffoes 5 and not only are the imagina¬
tions of the vulgar, but thofe of philofophers alfo, im-
pofed upon with refpedt to it. It was a great furprife
to M. de la Hire to find that he could not, by the help
of any burning mirror, colledt the beams of the moon
in a fufficient quantity to produce the leaft fenfible heat.
Other philofophers have fince made the like attempts
with mirrors of greater power, though without any
greater fuccefs •, but this will not furprife us, when v'e
fee the refult of M. Bouguer’s obfervations on this fub-
jedl. _ 270
In order to folve this curious problem concerning the M. Bou-
comparifon of the light of the fun and moon, he com guer’scal-
pared each of them to that of a candle in a dark room,
one in the day-time, and the other in the night follow- theiight of
ing, the moon.
Part III.
OPT
Apparatus when the moon was at her mean diftance from the
for . earth ; and, after many trials, he concluded that the
~ light of the lun is about 300,000 times greater than that
■ of the moon ; which is fuel) a dlfproportion, that, as he
obferves, it can be no wonder that philofophers have
had fo little fuccefs in their attempts to coiled! the light
of the moon with burning glafles. For the largeft of
them will not increafe the light 1000 times J which will
Hill leave the light of the moon, in the focus of the mir¬
ror, 300 times lefs than the intenlity of the common
light of the fun.
To this account of the proportion of light which we
actually receive from the moon, it cannot be difpleafing
to the reader, if wre compare it with the quantity which
would have been tranfmitted to us from that opaque
body, if it refledted all the light it receives. Dr Smith
thought that he had proved, from two different confi-
derations; that the light of the full moon w'ould be to
our day-light as I to about 90,900, if no rays wrere loff
171 at the moon.
Dr Smith’s Jn jjie place> he fuppofes that the moon enlight-
calculation. enefj t]ie puri} js as lurninous as the clouds are at a
medium. He therefore fuppofed the light of the fun to
be equal to that of a whole hemifphere of clouds, or as
many moons as would cover the furface of the heavens.
But on this Dr Prieftley obferves, that it is true, the
light of the fun finning perpendicularly upon any fur-
face would be equal to the light rededted from the whole
hemifphere, if every part refledfed all the light that fell
upon it’, but the light that would in fad! be received
from the whole hemifphere (part of it being received
obliquely) wrould be only one-half as much as would
be received from the whole hemifphere, if every part
of it fhone direcfly upon the furface to be illumi¬
nated.
In his Remarks, par. 97. Dr Smith demonflrates his
method of calculation in the following manner.
Plate « the little circle cf dg reprefent the moon’s
ecclxxm ^0(jy enlightened by the fun, and the great circle
a e b) & fpherical fliell concentric to the moon, and
touching the earth ; a b, any diameter of that {hell per¬
pendicular to a great circle of the moon’s body, repre-
fented by its diameter c d ; e the place of the fliell re¬
ceiving full moon light from the bright hemifphere /'dg.
Now, becaufe the furface of the moon is rough like that
of the earth, we may allow that the fun’s rays, incident
upon any fmall part of it, with any obliquity, are re-
fledted from it every way alike, as if they rvere emitted.
And, therefore, if the fegment d f fhone alone, the
points a, e, would be equally illuminated by it; and
likewife if the remaining bright fegment dg {hone
alone, the points b e would be equally illuminated by
it. Confequently, if the light at the point a was in-
creafed bv the light at £, it would become equal to the
full moon light at e. And conceiving the fame transfer
to be made from every point of the hemifpherical fur¬
face hbik to their oppofite points in the hemifphere
k ae h, the former hemifphere w’ould be left quite dark,
and the latter would be uniformly illuminated with full
moon light ; anting from a quantity of the fun’s light,
which immediately before its incidence on the moon,
Would uniformly illuminate a circular plane equal to a
great circle of her bodv, called her difk. Therefore the
quantities of light being the fame upon both furfaces,
■the denfity of the fun’s incident light is to the denfity of
r c S. 2*3
full moon light, as that hemifpherical furface h e k is to Apparatus
the faid difk j that is, as any other hemifpherical furface .
whofe centre is at the eye, to that part of it which the Lwh"”5
moon’s difk appears to poffefs very nearly, becaufe it ■ -JL— »
fubtends but a fmall angle at the eye : that is, as ra¬
dius of the hemifphere to the verfed fine of the moon’s
apparent femidiameter, or as 10,000,000 to nob-f-or
as 90,400 to 1 taking the moon’s mean horizontal dia¬
meter to be 16' *1".
“ Stri&ly fpeaking, this rule compares moon light at
the earth with day light at the moon ; the medium of
which, at her quadratures, is the fame as our day light j
but is lefs at her full in the duplicate ratio of 365 to
366, or thereabout, that is, of the fun’s diflances from
the earth and full moon ; and therefore full moon light
would be to our day light as about 1 to 90,900, if no
rays were loft at the moon.
“ Secondly, I fay that full moon light is to any other
moon light as the whole difk of the moon to the part
that appears enlightened, confidered upon a plane fur-
face. For now let the earth be at b, and let dl be Fig. <7,
perpendicular to fg, and gm to c d: then it is plain,
that g l is equal to dm ; and that g l is equal to a
perpendicular fedfion of the fun’s rays incident upon the
arch dg which at b appears equal to dm; the eye
being unable to diftinguifh the unequal diftances of its
parts. In like manner, conceiving the moon’s furface
to confift of innumerable phyfical circles parallel toe/r/g,
as reprefented at A, the fame reafon holds for every one
of thefe circles as for cf dg. It follows then, that the
bright part of the furface viftble at b, when reduced to
a flat as reprefented at B, by the crefcent p y zw p,
will be equal and fimilar to a perpendicular fedtion of all
the rays incident on that part, reprefented at C by the
crefcent^ y/p. Now the whole difk being in pro¬
portion to this crcfcent, as the quantities of light inci¬
dent upon them ; and the light falling upon every rough
particle, being equally rarefied in diverging to the eye
at Z, confidered as equidiflant from them all; it follows,
that full moon light is to this moon light as the whole
difkp dq c \.o the crefcent p dqmp.
“ Therefore, by compounding this ratio with that
in the former remark, day light is to moon light as the
furface of an hemifphere whofe centre is at the eye, to
the part of that furface which appears to be poffeffed by
the enlightened part of the moon.” 2^2.
Mr Miehell made his computation in a much more Mr Mi-
fimple and eafy manner, and in which there is much chell’s ch¬
iefs danger of falling into any miftake. Confidering thecu*at*on‘
diftance of the moon from the fun, and that the denfity
of the light muft decrcafe in the proportion of the fquare
of that diftanee, he calculated the denfity of the fun’s
light, at that diftance, in proportion to its denfity at
the furface of the fun ; and in this manner he found,
that if the moon refleckd all the light it receives from
the fun, it would only be the 45,000th part of the light
we receive from the greater luminary. Admitting
therefore, that moon light is only a 300,000th part of
the light of the fun, Mr Michell concludes, that it re-
flefts no more than between the 6th and 7th part of
what falls upon it.
Count Rumford, has c on fir u fled a photometer, in Rurnford’s
which the fhadows, inflead of being thrown upon a photome-
paper fpread out upon the wainfeot, or fide of theter*
room, are projected upon the infide of the back part
N n 2 of
♦
284 O ,P T
Apparatus of a wooden box inches wide, io^ inches long,
M f°r . n and 3:j- inches deep, in the clear. The light is admitted
Light118 it through two horizontal tubes in the front, placed
u—fo as to form an angle of 6o° 5 their axes meeting at the
centre of the field of the inftrument. In the middle of
the front of the box, between thefe two tubes, is an
Plate opening through which is viewed the field of the pho-
ccclxxxix. tometer (fee fig. 5.). This field is formed of a piece of
fig’ 5* white paper, which is not faftened immediately upon the
infide of the back of the box, but is palled upon a fmall
pane of very fine ground glafs-, and this glafs, thus covered,
is let down into a groove, made to receive it, in the back
of the box. The whole infide of the box, except the field
of the inllrument, is painted of a deep black dead colour.
To the under part of the box is fitted a ball and focket,
by which it is attached to a Hand which fupports it }
and the top or lid of it is fitted with hinges, in order
that the box may be laid quite open, as often as it is
neceflary to alter any part of the machinery it contains.
The count had found it very inconvenient to com¬
pare two (hadows proje£led by the fame cylinder, as
thefe were either neeeflarily too far from each other to
be compared with certainty, or, when they were near¬
er, were in part hid from the eye by the cylinder. To
remedy this inconvenience, he now makes ufe of two
cylinders, which are placed perpendicularly in the bot¬
tom of the box juft defcribed, in a line parallel to the
back part of it, diftant from this back 2TV inches, and
from each other 3 inches, meafuring from the centres
of the cylinders ; when the two lights made ufe of in
the experiment are properly placed, thefe trvo cylinders
projedl four ftiadovs upon the white paper upon the in¬
fide of the back part of the box, or the field of the in¬
ftrument 5 two of which ftiadows are in conta£l, pre-
cifely in the middle of that field, and it is thefe two
alone that are to be attended to. To prevent the at¬
tention being diftrafled by the prefence of unneceffary
objects, the two outfide ftiadows are made to difappear j
which is done by rendering the field of the inftrument
fo narrow, that they fall without it, upon a blackened
furface, upon which they are not vifible. If the cy¬
linders be each of an inch in diameter, and inches
in height, it will be quite fufficient that the field be
2Tu- inches wide \ and as an unneceflary height of the
field is not only ufelefs, but difadvantageous, as a large
furface of white paper not covered by the ftiadows pro¬
duces too ftrong a glare of light, the field ought not to
be more than T?o- of an inch higher than the tops of
the cylinders. That its dimenfions, however, may be
occafionally augmented, the covered glafs fhould be
made 54- inches long, and as wide as the box is deep,
viz. 34:*inches j fince the field of the inftrument can be
reduced to its proper fize by a fcreen of black pafteboard,
interpofed before the anterfor furface of this covered
glafs, and refting immediately upon it. A hole in this
pafteboard, in the form of an oblong fquare, lTV inch
wide, and tivo inches high, determines the dimenfions,
and forms the boundaries of the field. This fcreen
fhould be large enough to cover the 'whole infide of the
back of the box, and it may be fixed in its place by
means of grooves in the fides of the box, into which it
may be made to enter. The pofition of the opening
above mentioned is determined by the height of the
cylinders j the top of it being ^ of an inch higher
tb,an the tops of the cylinders 3 and as the height of it
I C S. Part Ilf,
is only two inches, while the height of the cylinders is Apparatus
2-jV inches, it is evident that the ftiadows of the lower for
parts of the cylinders do not enter the field. No in- Mrafuring
convenience arifes from that circumftance 3 on the eon- .
trary, feveral advantages are derived from that arrange-
ment.
That the lights may be placed with facility and pre-
cifion, a fine black line is drawn through the middle of
the field, from the top to the bottom of it, and another
(horizontal) line at right angles to it, at the height of
the top of the cylinders. When the tops of the ftiadows
touch this laft-mentioned line, the lights are at a proper
height 3 and farther, when the two ftiadows are in con¬
tact with each other in the middle of the field, the.
lights are then in their proper directions.
We have faid that the cylinders, by which the ftia¬
dows are projefted, are placed perpendicularly in the
bottom of the box 3 but as the diameters of the ftiadows
of thefe cylinders vary in fome degree, in proportion as
the lights are broader or narrower, and as they are
brought nearer to or removed farther from the photo¬
meter, in order to be able in all cafes to bring thefe ftia¬
dows to be of the fame diameter, which is very advan¬
tageous, in order to judge with greater facility and cer*
tainty when they are of the fame denfity, the count
renders the cylinders moveable about their axes, and
adds to each a vertical wing of an inch wide, of •
an inch thick, and of equal height with the cylinder
itfelf, and firmly fixed to it from the top to the bot¬
tom. This wing commonly lies in the middle of the
fliadow of the cylinder, and as long as it remains in that
fituation it has no effeft whatever ; but when it is ne-
ceffary that the diameter of one of the ftiadows be in-
creafed, the correfponding cylinder is moved about its
axis, till the wing juft defcribed, emerging out of the
fhadow, and intercepting a portion of light, brings the
ftiadow projeCled upon the field of the inftrument to
be of the width or diameter required. In this opera¬
tion it is always neceflary to turn the cylinder outwards,
or in fuch a manner that the augmentation of the width
of the ftiadow may take place on that fide of it which
is oppofite to the ftiadow correfponding to the other
light. The neceftity for that precaution will appear
evident to any one who has a juft idea of the inftrument
in queftion, and of the manner of making ufe of it.
They are turned likewife without opening the box, by
taking hold of the ends of their axes, which projefl
below its bottom.
As it is abfolutely neceflary that the cylinders ftiould
conftantly remain precifely perpendicular to the bottom
of the box, or parallel to each other, it will be beft to
conftrufl them of brafs 3 and, inftead of fixing them im¬
mediately to the bottom of the box (which, being of
wood, may warp), to fix them to a ftrong thick piece
of well-hammered plate brafs 3 which plate of brafs may
be afterwards faftened to the bottom of the box by
means of one ftrong ferew. In this manner two of the
count’s beft inftruments are conftrufted; and, in order
to feeure the cylinders ftill more firmly in their vertical
pofitions, they are furniftied with broad flat rings, or
projeftions, where they reft upon the brafs plate 3 which
rings are ^ of an inch thick, and equal in diameter to
the projection of the wing of the cylinder, to the bot¬
tom of which they afford a firm fupport. Thefe cy¬
linders are likewife forcibly puftied, or rather pulled,
againfi
Part III. OPT
Apparatus agaiafl; the brafs plate upon which they reft, by means
for of comprefled fpiral fprings placed between the under
Measuring piate and the lower ends of the cylinders.
L ^1' i Of whatever material the cylinders be conftrufted, and
whatever be their forms or dimenfions, it is abfolutely
neceffary that they, as -well as every other part of the
photometer, except the field, ftiould be well painted of
a deep black dead colour.
In order to move the lights to and from the photo¬
meter with greater eafe and precifion, the obferver
ftrould provide twro long and narrow, but very ftrong
and fteady, tables ; in the middle of each of which
there is a ftraight groove, in which a Aiding carriage,
upon which the light is placed, is drawn along by
means of a cord which is fattened to it before and be¬
hind, and which, palling over pulleys at each end of
the table, goes round a cylinder ; which cylinder is fur-
nilhed with a winch, and is fo placed, near the end of
the table adjoining the photometer, that the obferver
can turn it about, without taking his eye from the field
of the inftrument.
Many advantages are derived from this arrangement:
Firft, the obferver can move the lights as he finds ne-
ceffary, without the help of an aftiftant, and even with¬
out removing his eye from the fhadows ; fecondly, each
light is always precifely in the line of direftion in which
it ought to be, in order that the ftiadows may be in con-
ta£l in the middle of the vertical plane of the photo¬
meter $ and, thirdly, the Hiding motion of the lights
being perfectly foft and gentle, that motion produces
little or no effect upon the lights themfelves, either to
increafe or diminilh their brilliancy.
Thefe tables muft be placed at an angle of 60 de¬
grees from each other, and in fuch a fituation, with re-
fpeft to the photometer, that lines drawn through their
middles, in the direffion of their lengths, meet in a
point exa&ly under the middle of the vertical plane or
field of the photometer, and from that point the diftan-
ces of the lights are meafured •, the fides of the tables
being divided into Engliflr inches, and a vernier, Ihew-
ing tenths of inches, being fixed to each of the Hiding
carriages upon which the lights are placed, and which
are fo contrived that they may be raifed or lowered at
pleafure ; fo that the lights may be always in a hori¬
zontal line with the tops of the cylinders of the photo¬
meter.
In order that the two long and narrow tables or plat¬
forms, juft defcribed, may remain immoveable in their
proper pofitions, they are both firmly fixed to the Hand
which fupports the photometer ", and, in order that the
motion of the carriages which carry the lights may be
as foft and gentle as poflible, they are made to Hide up¬
on parallel brafs wires, 9 inches afunder, about r— of an
inch in diameter, and well poliftied, which are ftretdi¬
ed out upon the tables from one end to the other.
Plate The ftruflure of the apparatus will be clearly under-
ccclxxxixflood by a bare infpeflion of Plate CCCLXXXIX.
%• 5- fig. 5. is a plan of the infide of the box, and the adjoin¬
ing parts of the photometer. Fig. 6. Plan of the two
tables belonging to the photometer. Fig. 7. The box
of the photometer on its ftand. Fig. 8. Elevation of
the photometer, with one of the .tables and carriages.
Having fufficiently explained all the effential parts
ef this photometer, it remains for us to give feme ac-
I C S. 285
count of the precautions ncceffary to be obferved in Apparatus
ufmg it. And, firft, with refped to the diftance at ^ .
which lights, whofe intenfities are to be compared, Light. S
fhould be placed from the field of the inftrument, the ■ ^ ‘
ingenious and accurate inventor found, that when the
weakeft of the lights in queftion is about as ftrong as a
common wax candle, that light may moft advantageoufly
be placed from 30 to 36 inches from the centre of the
field ; and when it is weaker or ftronger, proportionally
nearer or farther off. When the lights are too near,
the fhadows will not be well defined ; and when they
are too far off, they will be too wreak.
It will greatly facilitate the calculations neceffary in
drawing conclufions from experiments of this kind, if
fome fteady light, of a proper degree of ftrength for
that purpofe, be affumed as a ftandard by which all
others may be compared. Our author found a good
Argand’s lamp much preferable for this purpofe to any
other lamp or candle whatever. As it appears, he
fays, from a number of experiments, that the quantity
of light emitted by a lamp, which burns in the fame
manner with a clear flame, and without fmoke, is in all
cafes as the quantity of oil confumed, there is much
reafon to fuppofe, that, if the Argand’s lamp be fo ad-
jufted as always to confume a given quantity of oil in a
given time, it may then be depended on as a juft ftand¬
ard of light.
In order to abridge the calculation neceffary in thefe-
inquiries, it will always be advantageous to place the
ftandard-lamp at the diftance of 100 inches from the
photometer, and to affume the intenfity of its light at
its fource equal to unity ; in this cafe (calling this ftand¬
ard light A, the intenfity of the light at its fource
=zxzzi, and the diftance of the lamp from the field
of the photometer =ot=iioo), the intenfity of the il-
X
lumination at the field of the photometer (= —
be expreffed by the fra&ion -^i — toboo ? and there-
TTJo
lative intenfity of any other light which is compared
with it, may be found by the following proportion : Call¬
ing this light B, putting y=z its intenfity at its fource,
and n — its diftance from the field of the photometer,
expreffed in Engliftr inches, as it is or, in-
ftead of —j, writing its value it 'will be =r
To^oo '■> and confequently y is to I as «2 is to 10000 5
or the intenfity of the light B at its fource, is to the
intenfity of the ftandard light A at its fource, as the-
fquare of the diftance of the light B from the middle
of the field of the inftrument, expreffed in inches, is to
IOOOO ; and hence it is y— .
J 10000
Or, if the light of the fun, or that of the moon, be
compared with the light of a given lamp or candle C,. \
the refult of fuch comparifon may be beft expreffed in
words, by faying, that the light of the celeftial luminary
in queftion, at the furface of the earth, or, which is the
fame thing, at the field of the photometer, is equal to
the light of the given lamp or candle, at the dijiance
found by the experiment; or, putting a — the intenfity
of the light of this lamp C at its fource, and p — its
, diftance.
3
2 86
OPT
Apparatus
for
Meafuring
Light.
difiance, in inches, from the field, when the fhadows
correfponding to this li-^ht, and that correfponding to
the celeflial luminary in quellion, are found to be of
equal denfities, and putting ssrz the dntenfity of the
rays of the luminary at the furfaee of the earth, the re-
fult of the experiment may be exprefled thus, z-rr— j
or the real value of n being determined by a particular
experiment, made exprefsly for that purpofe with the
fiandard lamp, that value may be written inftead of it.
When the fiandard lamp itfelf is made ufe of, inftead of
the lamp C, then the value of A will be I.
The count’s firft attempts with his photometer were
to determine how far it might be poftible to afeertain,
by diredi experiments, the certainty of the affumed law
of the diminution of the intenfity of the light emitted
by lum’nous bodies j namely, that the intenfity of the
light is evervwhere as the Squares of the diftances from
the luminous body inverfely. As it is obvious that this
law can hold good only when the light is propagated
through perfedtly tranfparent fpaces, fo that its inten¬
fity is weakened merely by the divergency of its rays,
he inftituted a fet of experiments to afeertain the tranf-
parency of the air and other mediums.
With this view, two equal wax candles, well trim¬
med, and which were found, by a previous experiment,
to burn with exadlly the fame degree of brightnefs,
were placed together, on one fide, before the photome¬
ter, and their united light was counterbalanced by the
light of an Argand’s lamp, well trimmed, and burning
very equally, placed on the other fide over againft them.
The lamp was placed at the diftance of 100 inches from
the field of the photometer, and it was found that the
two burning candles (which were placed as near toge¬
ther as pofiible, without their flames affedling each
other by the currents of air they produced) were juft
able to counterbalance the light of the lamp at the
field of the photometer, when they were placed at the
diftance of 60.8 inches from that field. One of the
candles being now taken away and extinguifhed, the
other was brought nearer to the field of the inftru-
ment, till its light tvas found to be juft able, fingly, to
counterbalance the light of the lamp ; and this was
found to happen when it had arrived at the dillance of
43.4 inches. In this experiment, as the candles burnt
with equal brightnefs, it is evident that the intenfities
of their united and fingle lights were as 2 to x, and in
that proportion ought, according to the affumed theory,
the fquares of the diftances, 60.8 and 43.4, to be •, and,
in faft, 60.8*^=3696.64 is to 43.4*=!883.56 as 2 is to
I very nearly.
Again, in another experiment, the diftances were,
With two candles r= 54 inches. Square =2916
With one candle = 38.6 - =1489.96
Upon another trial,
With two candles = 54.6 inches. Square rr 2981.16
With one candle = 39.7 - =1576.09
And, in the fourth experiment,
With two candles =r 58.4 inches. Square = 3410 36
With one candle = 42.2 - - = 1780.84
And, taking the mean of the refults of thefe four
experiments,
1 c s.
Part in.
In the experiment N° 1. 3606.64.
N° 2. 2916
N° 3. 2981.16
N° 4. 3410.56
Squares of the d lit antes Apparatus
With two candles. With one candle. for
1883.56 Meafiiring
1489.96 Lisht-
I576.OQ
1780.84
4),3°04-36
4)673°-45
Means 3251.09 and 1682.61
which again are very nearly as 2 to 1.
With regard to thefe experiments, it may be ob-
ferved, that were the reliftance of the air to light, or
the diminution of the light from the imperfect tranf-
parency of air, fenfible within the limits of the incon-
iiderable diftances at -which the candles were placed
from the photometer, in that cafe the diftance of the
two equal lights united ought to be, to the diftance of
one of them fingle, in a ratio lei's than that of the fquare
root of 2 to the fquare root of I. For if the intenfity
of a light emitted by a luminous body, in a /pace void
of all reftflance, be diminifhed in the proportion of the
fquares of the diftances, it muft of neceflity be dimi-
niftied in a ftilt higher ratio when the light pafies through
a refifting medium, or one which is not perfectly tranf-
parent ; and from the difference of thofe ratios, name¬
ly, that of the fquares of the diftances, and that other
higher ratio found by the experiment, the refiftance of
the medium might be afeertained. This he took much
pains to do with refpeft to air, but did not fucceed ;
the tranfparency of air being fo great, that the dimi¬
nution which light fuffers in pafling through a few
inches, or even through feveral feet of it, is not fen¬
fible.
Having found, upon repeated trials, that the light
of a lamp, properly trimmed, is incomparably more equal
than that of a candle, whofe wick, continually growing
longer, renders its light extremely fluff uating, he fub-
ftituted lamps to candles in thefe experiments, and
made fuch other variations in the manner of conducting
them as he thought bid fair to lead to a difeovery of
the refiftance of the air to light, were it poflible to ren¬
der that refiftanee fenfible within the confined limits of
his machinery. But the refults of them, fo far from af¬
fording means for afeertaining the refiftance of the air
to light, do not even indicate any refiftanee at all ; on
the contrary, it might almoft be inferred, from fome of
them, that the. intenfity of the light emitted by a lu¬
minous body in air is diminilhed in a ratio lefs than that
of the fquares of the diftances •, but as fuch a conclu-
fion would involve an evident abfurdity, namely, that
light moving in air, its abfolute quantity, inftead of be¬
ing diminifhed, aftually goes on to increafe, that con-
clufion can by no means be admitted.
Why not ? Theories muft give place to fafts ; and
if this fad can be fairly afeertained, inftead of rejecting
the conclufion, we ought certainly to redify our no¬
tions of light, the nature of which we believe no man
fully comprehends. Who can take it upon him to
fay, that the fubftance of light is not latent in the at-
mofphere, as heat or caloric is now acknowledged to be
latent, and that the agency of the former is not called
forth by the paffage of a ray through a portion of air,
as the agency of the latter is known to be excited
by
PartlH. OPT
Apparatus by the combination of oxygen with any combuftible
f°r. fubftance ?
^Li ht"^ ‘noen^,us author’s experiments all cpnfpired to
.1^ i fhew that the refiftance of the air to light is too incon-
fiderable to be perceptible, and that the aiTumed law of
the diminution of the intenfity of light may be depend¬
ed upon with fafety. He admits, however, that means
may be found for rendering the air’s refinance to light
apparent •, and he feems to have thought of the very
means which occurred for this purpofe to M. de Sauf-
274 lure.
Contrivan- That eminent philofopher, wifiling to afcertain the
ces of Sauf-tranfparency of the atmofphere, by meafuring the di-
flire' fiances at which determined objedls ceafe to be vifible,
perceived at once that his end would be attained, if he
fhould find objects of which the difappearance might
be accurately determined. Accordingly, after many
trials, he found that the moment of diiappearance can
be obferved with much greater accuracy when a black
object is placed on a white ground, than when a white
objedl is placed on a black ground ; that the accuracy
was ftill greater when the obfervation was made in the
fun than in the (hade ; and that even a ftill greater de¬
gree of accuracy was obtained, when the white fpace
furrounding a black circle, was itfelf furrounded by a
circle or ground of a dark colour. This laft circum-
ftance was particularly remarkable, and an obfervation
quite new.
If a circle totally black, of about two lines in diame¬
ter, be fattened on the middle of a large ftieet of paper
or pafteboard, and if this paper or pafteboard be pla¬
ced in fuch a manner as to be expofed fully to the light
of the fun, if you then approach it at the diftance of
three or four feet, and afterwards gradually recede from
it, keeping your eye conftantly direded towards the
black circle, it will appear always to decreafe in fize
the farther you retire from it, and at the diftance of 33
or 34 feet will have the appearance of a point. If you
continue ftill to recede, you will fee it again enlarge it¬
felf; and it will feem to form a kind of cloud, thedark-
nefs of which decreafes more and more according as the
circumference becomes enlarged. The cloud will ap¬
pear ftill to increafe in fize the farther you remove from
it; but at length it will totally difappear. The mo¬
ment of the dilappearanee, however, cannot be accurate¬
ly afeertained; and the more experiments were repeated,
the more were the refults different.
M. de Sauffure, having refieded for a long time on
the means of remedying this inconveniency, faw clear¬
ly, that as long as this cloud took place, no accuracy
could be obtained ; awl be difeovered that it appeared
in confequence of the contrail formed by the white
parts which were at the greateft diftance from the black
circle. He thence concluded, that if the ground was
left white near this circle, and the parts of the pafte¬
board at the greateft diftance from it were covered with
a dark colour, the cloud would no longer be vifible, or
at leaft almoft totally difappear.
This conjedure was confirmed by experiment. M.
de Sauffure left a white fpace around the black circle
equal in breadth to its diameter, by placing a circle of
black paper a line in diameter, on the middle of a ivhite-
circle three lines in diameter, fo that the black circle
was only furroundeu by a white ring a line in breadth.
I he whole was patted upon a green ground. A green
4
ICS. 287
colour was chofen, becaufe it was dark enough to make Apparatus
the cloud difappear, and the eafieft to be procured. fot.
The black circle furrounded in this manner with
white on a green ground, difappeared at a much lefs' ' •
diftance than when it was on a white ground of a large
fize.
If a perfedly black circle, a line in diameter, be
patted on the middle of a white ground expofed to the
open light, it may be obferved at the diftance of from
44 t0 45 fee' i but T this circle be furrounded by a
white ring a line in breadth, while the reft of the ground
is green, ail fight of it is loft at the diftance of only 15T
feet.
According to thefe principles M. de Saufl'ure deline¬
ated feveral black circles, the diameters of which in-
creafed in a geometrical progreffion, the exponent of
which was His fmalleft circle was -j- or 0.2 of a
line in diameter ; the lecond, 0.3 ; the third, 0.45 ; and
fo on to the fixteenth, which was 87.527, or about 7
inches 34 lines. Each of thefe circles was fugrounded
by a white ring, the breadth of which was equal to the
diameter of the circle, and the whole was palled on a
, green ground.
M. de Sauffure, for his experiments, feledled a ftraight
road or plain of about 1200 or 1500 feet in circumfer¬
ence, which towards the north was bounded by trees or
an afeent. Thofe who repeat them, however, mutt pay
attention to the following remarks : When a perfon
retires backwards, keeping his eye conftantly fixed on
the pafteboard, the eye becomes fatigued, andioon ceafes
to perceive the circle ; as foon therefore as it ceafes to
be diftinguilhable, you muft fuffer your eyes to reft ; not,
hoAvever, by {hutting them, for they would when again
opened be dazzled by the light, but by turning them
gradually to fome lefs illuminated objedl in the horizon.
When you have done this for about half a minute, and
again diredled your eyes to the pafteboard, the circle
will be again vifible, and you muft continue to recede
till it difappear once more. You muft then let your
eyes reft a fecond time in order to look at the circle
again, and continue in this manner till the circle becomes
aflually invifible.
If you with to find an accurate exprefticn for the
want of tranfparency, you muft employ a number of
circles, the diameters of which increafe according to a
certain progreflion ; and a comparifon of the diftances
at which they difappear will give the law according to
which the tranfparency of the atmofphere decreafes at
different diftances. If you wifh to c mpare the tranf¬
parency of the atmofphere on two days, or in two dif¬
ferent places, two circles will be fufticient for the expe¬
riment.
According to thefe principles, M. de Sauffure caufed
to be prepared a piece of white linen doth eight feet
fquare. In the middle of this fquare he fewed a per-
fed circle, two feet in diameter, of beautiful black wool;
around this circle he left a white ring two feet in
breadth, and the reft of the fquare was covered with pale
green. In the like manner, and of the fame materials,
he prepared another fquare ; which was, however, equal
to only r- of the fize of the former, fo that each fide
of i» wa^ 8 inches ; the black circle in the middle was
two inches in diameter, and the white fpace around the
circle was 2 inches alfo.
If two fquares of this kind be fulpended vertically
and
288
Apparatus and parallel to each other, fo that they may be both il-
^ luminated In an equal degree by the fun ; and if the at-
Ligl]lt & mofphere, at the moment w^en the experiment is made,
v ii i» v—. .< be perfectly tranfparent, the circle of the large fquare,
which is twelve times the fize of the other, muft be feen
at twelve times the diltance. In M. de Sauflure’s ex¬
periments the fmall circle difappeared at the diftance of
314 feet, and the large one at the diftance of 3588
feet, whereas it ihould have difappeared at the diftance
of 3768. The atmofphere, therefore, was not perfeftly
tranfparent. This arofe from the thin vapours which
at that time were floating in it. M. de Saulfure, calls
his inflrument a diaphunometer; but it ferves one of
the purpofes of a photometer.
From a number of experiments made with the photo¬
meter, Count Rumford found, that, by pafling through
a pane of fine, clear, well polilhed glafs, fuch as is com¬
monly made ufe of in the conftruftion of looking-glaf-
fes, light lofes .1973 of its whole quantity, i. e. of the
quantity which impinged on the glafs •, that when light
is made to pafs through two panes of fuch glafs Hand¬
ing parallel, but not touching each other, the lofs is
.3184 of the whole ; and that in pafling through a very^
thin, clear, colourlefs pane of window-glafs, the lofs
is only .1263. Hence he infers, that this apparatus
might be very ufefully employed by the optician, to
determine the degree of tranfparency of glafs, and di-
refl his choice in the provifion of that important article
of his trade. The lofs of light when reflefted from the
very belt plain glafs mirror, the author afcertained, by
five experiments, to be ^d of the whole which fell upon
the mirror.
An ingenious photometer lias alfo been invented by
Profeffor Leflie, and fully defcribed in his celebrated
work on Heat, to which we muft refer the reader for a
complete defcription of this inftrument. It meafures the
calorific effedt of heat, and is founded upon this princi¬
ple, “ that if a body be expofed to the fun’s rays, it
will, in every poflible cafe, be found to indicate a mea-
fure of heat exadtly proportioned to the quantity of
light which it has abforbed.” See on Heat,
p. 103.
Chap. II. On the method of forming the Lenfes
and Specula, of RefraETing and Reflecting Tele-
fcopes.
Sect. I. On the Method of grinding and polifhing
Lenfes.
  Having fixed upon the proper aperture and focal
ing lenfes. diftance of the lens, take a piece of (beet copper, and
ftrike a fine arch upon its furface, with a radius equal to
OPTICS. Part III.
half that diftance, if it is to be plano-convex, and let the Method of
^75
Leflie’sphO'
tometer.
27 S
'On grind-
length of this arch be a little greater than the given Grinding
aperture. Remove with a file that part of the copper^ U
which is without the circular arch, and a convex gage^^^^j
will be formed. Strike another arch with the fame ra- 277
dius, and having removed that part of the copper which formation
is within it, a concave gage will be obtained. Prepare°[the
two circular plates of brafs, about T~ of an inch thick,^eS‘
and half an inch greater in diameter than the breadth
of the lens, and folder them upon a cylinder of lead of
the fame diameter, and about an inch high. Thefe Formation
tools are then to be fixed upon a turning lathe, and one of the tools,
of them turned into a portion of a concave fphere, fo as
to fuit the convex gage *, and the other into a portion
of a convex fphere, fo as to anfwer the concave gage.
After the furfaces of the brafs plates are turned as ac¬
curately as poflible, they muft be ground upon one ano¬
ther, alternately, with flour emery ; and when the two
furfaces exa6tly coincide, the grinding tools will be ready
for ufe‘ . . . *19
Procure a piece of glafs whofe difperfive power is as Formation
fmall as poflible, if the lens is not for achromatic inftru-of the glafs.
ments, and whofe furfaces are parallel; and by means of
a pair of large fciffars or pincers, cut it into a circular
ftiape, fo that its diameter may be a little greater than
the required aperture of the lens. When the rotighnefs
is removed from its edges by a common grindftone (a),
it is to be fixed with black pitch to a wooden handle of
a fmaller diameter than the glafs, and about an inch
high, fo that the centre of the handle may exaflly coin¬
cide with the centre of the glafs. 2g0
The glafs being thus prepared, it is then to be ground Mods of
with fine emery upon the concave tool, if it is to begda^g-
convex, and upon the convex tool, if it is to be concave.
To avoid circumlocution, we ftiall fuppofe that the lens
is to be convex. The concave tool, therefore, which is
to be ufed, muft be firmly fixed to a table or bench, and
the glafs wrought upon it with circular ftrokes, fo that
its centre may never go beyond the edges, of the tool.
For every 6 circular ftrokes, the glafs ftiould receive 2
or 3 crofs ones along the diameter of the tool, and in dif¬
ferent dire&ions. When the glafs has received its pro¬
per ihape, and touches the tool in every point of its fur-
face, which may be eafily known by infpeftion, the eme¬
ry is to be walked aivay, and finer kinds (b) fuccefiivcly
fubftituted in its room, till by the fame alternation of
circular and tranfverfe ftrokes, all the fcratchesand afpe-
rities are removed from its furface. After the fineft
emery has been ufed, the roughnefs which remains may
be taken away, and a flight polifti fpperinduced by grind¬
ing the glafs with pounded pumice-ftone, in the fame
manner as before. While the operation of grinding is
going on, the convex tool Ihould, at the end of every
five
(a) When the focal diftance of the lens is to be Ihort, the furface of the piece of glafs ihould be ground upon
a common grindftone, fo as to fuit the gage as nearly as poffible ; and the plates of brafs, before they are foldered
on the lead, Ihould be hammered as truly as they can be done into their proper form. By this means much labour
will be faved both in turning and grinding.
(b) Emery of different degrees of finenefs may be made in the following manner. Take five or fix clean vef-
fels, and having filled one of them with water, put into it a confiderable quantity of flour emery. Stir it well with
a piece of wood, and after Handing for 5 feconds pour the Avater into the fecond veffel. After it has flood about
12 feconds, pour it out of tins into a third veffel, and fo on with the reft j and at the bottom of each veffel will be
found emery of different degrees of finenefs, the coarfeft being in the firft veffel, and the fineft in the laft.
f’lf/ 1
OPTIC S
PL. 17/-J fYY'AXXV
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C) P TT C S . PLATUCCCLXXVH.
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OPTICS
PLATE CCCLXXX.
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OPTICS.
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OPTICS. PLATE CCCLXXXVI.
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OPTICS.
PLATE CCCLXXXVJL
ErujUby W&D.LizarsEdmL,
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■
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OPTICS
PLATE CCCLXXXIX.
jEruf^by TiT& DJraarsEdm V
1%l
Mode of
policing,
a8i
By means
uf pitch.
Part III. OPT
Method of five minutes, be wrought upon the concave one for a few
Grinding feconds, in order to preferve the fame curvature to the
amU ohia- ^00]s an(j the glafs. When one fide is finifiied off with
11111 ^ ‘ . the pumice-ftone, the lens muff be feparated from its
handle by inferting the point of a knife between it and
the pitch, and giving it a gentle ftroke. The pitch
which remains upon the glafs may be removed by rub¬
bing it with a little oil, or fpirits of wine' •, and after
the ground fide of the glafs is fixed upon the handle,
the other furface is to be wrought and finiflred in the
very fame manner.
When the glafs is thus brought into its proper form,
the next and the moft difficult part of the operation is
to give it a fine polifir. The belt, though not the fim-
pleit way of doing this, is to cover the concave tool
with a layer of pitch, hardened by the addition of a
little rofin, to the thicknefs of one-fifteenth of an inch.
Then having taken a piece of thin writing paper, prefs
it upon the furface of the pitch with the convex tool,
and pull the paper quickly from the pitch before it has
adhered to it; and if the furface of the pitch is marked
everywhere with the lines of the paper, it will be truly
fpherical, having coincided exadlly with the furface of
the convex tool. If any paper remains on the furface
of the pitch, it may be removed by foap and water •,
and if the marks of the paper ffiould not appear on every
part of it, the operation muff be repeated till the po-
liflier, or bed of pitch, is accurately fpherical. The
glafs is then to be wrought on the poliffier by circular
and crofs ftrokes, with the oxide of tin, called the
flowers of putty in the (hops, or "with the red oxide of
iron, otherwife called colcothar of vitriol, till it has re¬
ceived on both fides a complete polifli (c). The po-
lifhing will advance flowly at firft, but will proceed ra¬
pidly when the polifher becomes warm with the fridtion.
When it is nearly finiflied, no more putty or water
fhould be put upon the poliiher, which fliould be kept
warm by breathing upon it ; and if the glafs moves with
difficulty from its adhefion to the tool, it ftiould be
quickly removed, left it fpoil the furface of the pitch.
When any particles of duft or pitch infinuate themfelves
between the glafs and the polifher, which may be eafily
known from the very unpleafant manner of working,
they Ihould be carefully removed, by waffling both the
poliftier and the glafs, otherwife the lens will be
fcratched, and the bed of pitch materially injured.
The operation of polilhing may alfo be performed by
covering the layer of pitch with a piece of cloth, and
giving it a fpherical form by prefling it with the con¬
vex tool when the pitch is warm. The glafs is wrought
as formerly, upon tht? furface of the cloth, with putty
or colcothar of vitriol, till a fufficient poliih is induced.
By this mode the operation is flower, and the polifti lefs
perfeft; though it is beft fitted for thofe who have but
little experience, and would therefore be apt to injure
the figure of the lens by polifhing it on a bed of pitch.
Vol. XV. Part I.
**3
By means
W cloth.
ICS.' 289
In this manner the fmall lenfes of Ample and com- Method of
pound microfcopes, the eye-glaffes and the objedt-glaffes
of telefcopes, are to be ground. In grinding concave ing Lenfes.
lenfes, Mr Imifon * employs leaden wheels with the ■ ^
fame radius as the curvature of the lens, and with their * School of
circumferences of the fame convexity as the lens is tof,tj’Pan
be concave. Thefe fpherical zones are fixed upon a11,
turning lathe, and the lens, which is held fteadily in impropriety
the hand, is ground upon them with emery, while they of grinding,
are revolving on the Ipindle of the lathe. In the fame &-c- 011 a
way convex lenfes may be ground and polifned, by fix-^at^e'
ing the concave tool upon the lathe ; but thefe methods,
however Ample and expeditious they may be, Ihould
never be adopted for forming the lenfes of optical in-
ftruments, where an accurate fpherical figure is indii-
penfable. It is by the hand alone that we can perform
with accuracy thofe circular and tranfverfe ftrokes, the ■
proper union of which is effential to the produdtion of a
fpherical furface. Appendix to Fergufon’s Leftures,
vol. ii. p. 452.
Sect. II. Gci the Method of Cafing, Grinding, and
Po/ifhing the Specula of Refecting Telefcopes.
The metals of reflecting telefcopes are generally Compofnion
compofed of 32 parts of copper, and 15 of grain tin, 0f the me-
with the addition of two parts of arfenic, to render thetal.
compofition more white and compaft. The Reverend
Mr Edwards found, from a variety of experiments, that
if one part of brafs, and one of filver, be added to the
preceding compofition, and only one part of arfenic
ufed, a moft excellent metal will be obtained, which is
the whiteft, hardeft, and moft refledtive, that he^ ever
met with. The fuperiority of this compofition, indeed,
has been completely evinced by the excellence of Mr
Edwards1 telefcopes, which excel other refledtors in
brightnef-i and diftindtnefs, and fliow objedts in their na¬
tural colours. But as metals of this compofition are
extremely difficult to caft, as well as to grind and po¬
lifli, it will be better for thofe who are inexperienced
in the art, to employ the compofition firft mentioned. 2g£
After the flalksof fand (d) are prepared, and a mould Method of
made for the metal by means of a wooden or metallic rafting the
pattern, fo that its face may be downwards, and a fewmeta^
fmall holes left in the fand at its back, for the free egrefs
of the included air ;—melt the copper in a crucible by it-
felf, and when it is reduced to a fluid ftate, fufe the tin in.
a feparate crucible, and mix it with the melted copper,
by ftirring them together with a wooden fpatula. The
proper quantity of powdered arfenic, wrapt up in a piece
of paper, is then to be added, the operator retaining his
breath till its noxious fumes are completely diflipated j
and when the fcoria is removed from the fluid mafs, it
is to be poured out as quickly as poflible into the flalks.
As foon as the metal is become folid, remove it from
the fand into fome hot afhes or coals, for the purpofe of
O o annealing
(c) As colcothar of vitriol is obtained by the decompofition of martial vitriol, it fometimes retains a portion
of this fait. When this portion of martial vitriol is decompofed by diffolution in water, the yellow ochre which
reiults penetrates the glafs, forms an incruftation upon its furface, and gives it a dull and yellowifti tinge, which is
communicated to the image.which it forms.
(d) 'The fineft fand which we have met with in this country, is to be found at Roxburgh caftle, in the neigh¬
bourhood of Kelfo.
290 O P T
Method of annealing it, and let it remain among them till they
andnpoliflLare comPletely colc}- ingate is then to be taken
ing Lenfes. i"rorn ^ metal by means of a file ; and the furface of
s—  i the fpeculum muft be ground upon a common grind-
ftone, till all the iraperfe&ions and afperities are taken
away. When Mr Edwards’ compofition is employed,
the copper and tin fliould be melted according to the
preceding direflions, and, when mixed together, fhould
be poured into cold water, which will feparate the mafs
into a number of fmall particles. Thefe fmall pieces of
metal are then to be colledled and put into the crucible,
along with the filver and brafs, after they have-been
melted together in a feparate crucible ; the proper
quantity of arfenic is to be added, and a little powdered
rofin thrown into the fluid metal before it is poured into
2S^ the flalks.
Grinding When the metal is caft, and prepared by the corn-
tools, &c. mon grindftone for receiving its proper figure, the gages
and grinding tools are to be formed in the fame man¬
ner as for convex lenfes, with this difference only, that
the radius of the gages muff always be double the focal
length of the fpeculum. In addition to the convex and
concave brafs tools, which fiiould be only a little broad¬
er than the metal itfelf, a convex elliptical tool of lead
and tin ftiould alfo be formed with the fame radius, fo
that its tranfverfe may be to its conjugate diameter as
io to 9, the latter being exaclly equal to the diameter
of the metal. On this tool the fpeculum is to be ground
with flour emery, in the fame manner as lenfes, with
circular and crofs ftrokes alternately, till its furface is
freed from every imperfedffion, and ground to a fpheri-
cal figure. It is then to be wrought with great eir-
cumfpeiffion, on the convex brafs tool, with emery of
different degrees of finenefs, the concave tool being
fometimes ground upon the convex one, to keep them
all of the fame radius •, and when every fcratch and ap¬
pearance of roughnefs is removed from its furface, it
will be fit for receiving the final polifh. Before the
fpeculum is brought to the polifher, it has been the
praffice to fmooth it on a bed of bones, or a convex tool
made of common blue hones. This additional tool, in¬
deed, is abfolutely neceffary, when filver and brafs en¬
ter into the compofition of the metal, in order to re¬
move that roughnefs which will always remain after the
fineft emery has been ufed •, but when thefe metals are
not ingredients in the fpeculum, there is no occafion for
the bed of hones. Without the intervention of this tool
I have finifhed feveral fpecula, and given them as ex-
quifite a luftre as they could poffibly have received.
Mr Edwards does not ufe any brafs tools in his procefs,
but transfers the metal from the elliptical leaden tool to
the bed of hones. By this means the operation is fim-
I c s.
Part II},
plified, but we doubt much if it is, in the leaf! degree, Method 0j
improved. As a bed of hones is more apt to change its Grinding
form than a tool of brafs, it is certainly of great confe-and TPoliN
quence that the fpeculum ihould have as true a figure ‘ng e“^
as poffible before it is brought to the hones; and we are
perfuaded, from experience, that this figure may be
better communicated on a brals tool, which can always
be kept at the fame curvature by its correfponding tool,
than on an elliptical block of lead. We are certain,
however, that when the fpeculum is required to be of a
determinate focal length, this length will be obtained
more precifely with the brafs tools than without them.
But Mr Edwards has obferved, that thefe tools are not
only unneceffary, but ‘ really detrimental.’ That Mr
Edwards found them unnecefiary, we cannot doubt,
from die excellence of the fpecula which he formed
without their affiliance ; but it feems inconceivable how
the brafs tools can be in the lead degree detrimental.
If the mirror is ground upon 20 different tools before it
is brought to the bed of hones, it will receive from
the laft of thefe tools a certain figure, which it would
have received even if it had not been ground on any of
the reft ; and it cannot be queftioned, that a metal
wrought upon a pair of brafs tools, is equally, if not
more, fit for the bed of hones, than if it had been ground
merely on a tool of lead. 2SS
When the metal is ready for polilbing, the elliptical Method of
leaden tool is to be covered with black pitch, aboutPoliflun8.
one-twentieth of an inch thick, and the polifher formedlhe metl1'
in the fame way as in the cafe of lenfes, either with the
concave brafs tool, or with the metal itfelf. The col-
cothar of vitriol fliould then be triturated between two
furfaces of glafs, and a confiderable quantity of it ap¬
plied at firft to the furface of the polifher. The fpecu¬
lum is then to be wrought in the ufiml way upon the
polifliing tool till it has received a brilliant luftre, tak¬
ing care to ufe no more of the colcothar, if it can be
avoided, and only a fmall quantity of it, if it fhould be
found neceffary. When the metal moves ftiffly on the
polifher, and the colcothar affumes a dark muddy hue,
the polifli advances with great rapidity. The tool will
then grow warm, and would probably flick to the fpe¬
culum, if its motion were diiconanued for a moment.
At this ftage of the procefs, therefore, we muft proceed
with great caution, breathing continually on the polifher,
till the friftion is fo great as to retard the motion of the
fpeculum. When this happens, the metal is to be flip¬
ped off the tool at one fide, cleaned with foft leather,
and placed in a tube for the purpofe of trying its per¬
formance ; and if the polifhing has been conducted with
care, it will be found to have a true parabolic figure-.
Appendix to Fergufon’s Ltdlures, vol. ii. p. 457.
Aberration, theory of, N° 199,
Evils of—remedy, 200. Light diftri-
buted by, over the fmalleft circle of dif-
fufion, 201. Contrary aberrations cor-
redl each other, 203.
Adams's method of making globules for
large magnifiers, 98.
INDEX.
Aerial fpeculums mentioned by Mr Grey,
N° 46. Aerial images formed by con¬
cave mirrors, 241.
Aethers, fuppofed, do not folve the pheno¬
mena of inflexion, 60.
Air, refractive power of, 13, 14. Strong¬
ly refleds the rays proceeding from be¬
neath the furface of water, 36.
Alembert, M. d’, his difeoveries concerning
achromatic telefcopes, p. 177. col. I.
AJlw'zen's difeoveries concerning the re-
fraCtion of the atmofphere, N° 6. He
conjectures about the caufe of it, ib. He
gave the firft hint of the magnifying
power of glaffes, ib.
Alkaline fait diminifhes the mean refraftion
but
Index.
but not the difperfive power of glafs,
N° x8.
{ngles refrafted, tables of, publilhed by
Kepler and K ire her, n.
Antonio de Dotninis, bifhop of Spalatro,
difeovered the nature of the rainbow,
213.
apparatus for meafuring light, p. 281.
ipparent place of objects feen by reflcflion,
firft difeovered by Kepler, 27. Barrow’s
theory refpecling, x8i. M. de la Hire’s
oblervations, 182. Berkeley’s hypothe-
fis on diltance by confufed vifion, 184.
Objected to by Dr Smith, 185. The
objeftion obviated by Robins, 186. M.
Bouguer adopts Barrow’s maxim, 187.
Porterfield’s view of this fubje£t, 188.
[tmofphere varies in its refractive power at
different times, 20. Illumination of the
lhadow of the earth by the refradtlon of
the atmofphere, 236.
ttra&ive force fuppofed to be the caufe of
reflection, 163. The fuppofition objec¬
ted to, 164. Obviated, 165. Another
hypothefis, 166. Sir Ifaac Newton’s
hypothefis, 167. Untenable, 168.
faout, Mr, makes an objeCt-glafs of an
extraordinary focal length, 82. On the
apertures of refraCting telefcopes, 84.
B.
\acon, Roger, his difeoveries, 6, 8.
'aeon, Lord, his miltake concerning the
poflibility of making images appear in
the air, 26.
arker's. Dr, reflecting microfcope, 101.
'arrow's theory of the apparent place of
objeCts, 181. Adopted by Bouguer,
187.
earns of light, the phenomenon of diver¬
ging, more frequent in fummer than in
winter, 235.
eaume, Mr, cannot fire inflammable li¬
quids with hot iron or a burning coal,
unlefs thofe fubltances be of a white heat,
44.
Berkeley's theory of vifion, 72. His hypo¬
thefis concerning the apparent place of
objeCts, 166. ObjeCted toby Dr Smith,
185. The objection obviated by Mr
Robins, 186.
'inocular telefcope invented by Father
Rheila, 80.
j hek marble refleCts very powerfully, 35*
I loir, Dr Robert, makes an important dif-
covery, 19. Blair and Dollond’s refrac-
, ting telefcopes fuperior to others, 263.
odies which feem to touch one another
are not in aCtual contaCt, 4$.
ouguer's experiments on the quantity of
light lott by reflection, 43. His difeo¬
veries concerning the reflection of glafs,
34’ His obfervations on the. appa¬
rent place of objeCts, 187. Throws
hghi on the fallacies of vifion, 191*
Explains the green and blue ftiadows
OPTICS.
feen in the fky, N° 227. Contrivances
for meafuring light, 266. Calculations
concerning the light of the moon, 270.
Boyle's experiments on the light of colour¬
ed fubitances, 28.
Brewjler, Dr, his fluid microfcopes of var-
niih, 100. Improvement on the camera
obfeura, p. 269, col. 2. New finder for
Newtonian telefcopes, N° 258. Tables
for microfcopes, p. 273. Tables for tele¬
fcopes, 276, 279.
Briggs's theory of Angle vifion, N° 146.
Brilliant, the cut in diamonds, produces
total reflection, 116-
BriJUe, curious appearance of the ftiadow of
one, 55.
Buffbn's experiments on the reflection of
light, 33. Obferved green and blue Iha-
dows in the fky, 224, 225.
Burning glafies of the ancients deferibed,
25.
C.
Camera obfeura improved by Dr Brewfter,
p. 269. Portable one, ib.
Campani's telefcope, N° 81.
Candle, rays of light extended from, in fe-
veral directions, like the tails of comets,
5°-
CaJJegrainian telefcope, 262.
Cat, M. le, explains the magnifying of ob*-
jeCts by the inflection of light, 62. Ac¬
counts for the large appearance of ob¬
jeCts in mift, 183. Explains a remark¬
able deception of vifion, 197.
Clairaut's calculations refpeCting telefcopes,
17-
Colours difeovered to arife from refraCHon,
15. Suppofed by Dechales to arife from
the inflection of light, 49. Produced by
a mixture of ftiadows, 56. Colours Am¬
ple or compound, 206.
Concave glaffes : an objeCt feen through a
concave lens is feen nearer, fmaller, and
lefs bright than with the naked eye, 157.
Law of reflection from a concave furface,
170. Proved, 172. Concave mirrors, 241.
Convex lens, an objeCt feen through, ap¬
pears brighter, larger, and more dirtant,
than when feen by the naked eye, 155.
In certain circumftances it appears in¬
verted and pendulous in the air, 156.
Law of reflection from a convex furface,
171. Proved mathematically, 172. Me¬
thod of finding the focal diflance of rays
reflected from a convex furface, 176.
ContaB of bodies in many cafes apparent
. without being real, 45.
Coronas, p. 262.
Cylinders: experiments by Maraldi con¬
cerning their ftiadows, N° 53.
D.
Deception m vifion j a remarkable one ex¬
plained by M. le Cat, 197.
Decha/es's obfervations on ..the inflection of
light, 49.
2QI
Defcartes: his difeoveries concerning vifioni
N° 65. Account of the invention of te¬
lefcopes, 68.
Diamond, the brilliant cut in, produces to¬
tal reflection, 116.
Diaphanometer, Sauffure’s, p. 288.
Dioptric inltruments : difficulties attending
the conltruCtion of them, N° 108.
Diflance of objeCts, p. 240, &c. Berke¬
ley’s account of the judgment formed
concerning diftance by confufed vifion,
N°x84. Smith’s account, 185. ObjeCted
to by Robins, 186. Bouguer adopts
Barrow’s maxim, 187. Porterfield’s
view of it, 188.
Divini, a celebrated maker of telefcopes,
81. His microfcope, 94.
Diverging beams more frequent in fummer
than in winter, 235.
Dollond, Mr, difeovers a method of cor¬
recting the errors arifing from refraCtion,
17. He difeovers a miitake in one of
Newton’s experiments, ib. Difeovers
the different refraCtive and difperfive
power of glafs, ib. Difficulties in the
execution of his plan, p. 176. His im¬
provements in the refraCting telefcope,
N° 88. Dollond and Blair’s refraCting
telefcopes fuperior to all others, 263.
Dominis, De, difeovered the caufe of the
Edward's, Mr, improvements in the re¬
flecting telefcope, 86.
Emergent rays, the focus of, found, 131.
Equatorial telefcope, or portable obfervato-
ry, 89. New one invented by Ramfden,
ib.
Euler, Mr, firfi: fuggefted the thought
of improving refraCting telefcopes, 17.
His controverfy with Clairaut, &c. ib.
His fcheme for introducing vifion by re¬
flected light into the folar microfcope
and magic lantern, 104. His theory of
undulation contrary to faCt, 123 j and
therefore mifleads artifts, 1 24.
Eye: the denfity and 'refraCtive powers of
its humours firft; afeertained by Scheiner,
64. Defcription of it, 132. Dimen-
fions of the infenfible fpot of it, 138.
Seat of vifion in, difpute about, 137*
Arguments for the retina being the feat
of vifion in, 139.
Eyes, Angle vifion with two, 145. Various
hypothefis concerning it, 146, 147, 148,
&c. Brightnefs of objeCts greater when
feen with two eyes than only with one,
150. When one eye is clofed, the pupil
of the other is enlarged, 151.
F.
Fallacies, feveral, of vifion explained, 190.
Great light thrown on this fubjeCt by
M. Bouguer, 191.
Focus, the, of rays refraCted by fpherical
furfaces afeertained, 128. Focus of pa-
O o 2 rail el
292
rallel rays falling perpendicular upon any
lens, N° 130. Focus of emergent rays
found, 131. Proportional diftance of the
focus of rays refledled from a fpherical
furface, 17 5. Method of finding the fo¬
cal diftance of rays refle&ed from a con¬
vex furface, 176.
Force, repulfive, fuppofed to be the caufe of
refleftion, 161. The fuppofttion objedl-
ed to, 162. Attraaive, fuppofed, 163.
The fuppofition objeaed to, 164- ihe
objeaion obviated, 165.
Funk, Baron Alexander, his obfervation
concerning the light in mines, 46.
G.
Galilean telefcope, more difficult of con-
ftruaion than others, 76.
Galileo made a telefcope without a pat¬
tern, 71. An account of his difcoveries
with it, 72. Account of his telefcopes,
73. Was not acquainted with their ra¬
tionale,']^. His telefcope, 253* Mag¬
nifying power of, 254._
Glafs globe*, their magnifying powers known
to the ancients, 3. Different kinds of
them, ib. Table of the different com-
pofitions of glafs for correaing the er¬
rors in refraaing telefcopes, 18. Shows
various colours when fplit into thin la¬
mina;, 30. Table of the quantities of
light redeaed from glafs not quickfilver-
ed, at different angles of incidence, p.
183. Glafs, multiplying, phenomena of,
N° 238.
Glajfes, difference in their powers of refrac¬
tion and difperfion of the light, p._ 176.
Globes have ffiorter ftiadows than cylinders,
N° 53. And more light in their ftia¬
dows, 54.
Globules ufed for microfcopes by Hart-
focker, 95. Adams’s method of making
them, 98.
Gregory's invention of the refleaing tele¬
fcope, 85. Gregorian telefcope, 260.
Magnifying power of, 261. Gregorian
telefcope fuperior for common ufes to the
Newtonian, 265.
Grey, Mr, obfervation on aerialfpeculums,
46. Temporary microfcopes, 99.
Grimaldi firft obferves that colours arife
from refraaion, 15. Infleaion of light
firft difcovered by him, p. 186. His
difcoveries concerning infleaion, N°48.
H.
Hairs, remarkable appearance of their ftia¬
dows, 51.
Hall, Mr, difcovers the achromatic tele¬
fcope, 18.
Hartfockel's microfcope, 95.
Herfchel's improvements on refleaing tele¬
fcopes, 87.
Hire, M. de la, his reafon why rays of
light feem to proceed from luminous bo¬
dies when viewed with the eyes half ffiut,
1
OPTICS.
N° 50. Obfervations on the apparent
place of objeas, 182.
Hooke, Dr, his difcoveries concerning the
infleaion of light, 50.
Horizon, an object fituated in, appears a-
bove its true place, 153. Extent of the
vifible horizon on a plane furface, 220.
Horizontal moon. Ptolemy’s hypothefis
concerning it, 5.
Huygens greatly improves the telelcopes of
Scheiner and Rheita, 79. Improves the
Newtonian telefcope, 258.
I.
Janfen, Zacharias, the firft inventor of the
telefcope, 69. Made the firft microfcope,
92.
Images, Eord Bacon’s miftake concerning
the poffibility of making them appear in
the air, 26. Another miftake in the
fame fubjea by Vitellio, ib. B. Porta’s
method of producing this appearance, jb.
Kircher’s method, ib. Images, aerial,
formed by concave mirrors, 241 •
Incidence, ratio of the fine of, to that of re-
fraftion, 113.
Incident velocity, increafe of, diminiffies re¬
fraction, 117.
Inflexion of light, difcoveries concerning it,
p. 186. Dr Hooke’s difcoveries con¬
cerning it, N° 47. Grimaldi’s obferva¬
tions, 48. Dechales’s obfervations, 49.
Newton’s difcoveries, 51. Maraldi’s, 3 2.
Probably produced by the fame forces
with reflection and refraCtion, 61.
Inveijion, a curious inftance of it obferved
by Mr Grey, 46.
Irradiations of the fun’s light appearing
through the interftices of the clouds,
p. 263, &c. Converging obferved by
Dr Smith, N° 232. Explained by him,
233. Not obferved by moonlight, 234.
Jupiter's fatellites difcovered by .lanfen, 70.
By Galileo, and called him by Medicean
planets, 72.
K.
Kepler firft difcovered the true reafon of the
apparent place of objeCts feen by reflect¬
ing mirrors, 27. His difcoveries con¬
cerning vifion, 63. Improved the con.-
ftruCtion of telefcopes, 77* His method
firft put in pradtice by Scheiner, 78.
Kircher attempted a rational theory of re¬
fraCtion, II.
L.
Lambert on light, 41.
Lead increafes the difperfive power of glafs,
I?-
Leeuwenhoek's microfcope, 96.
Lenfcs, their effeCts firft difcovered by Kep¬
ler, 74. Lenfes,howr many, 129. The
focus of parallel rays falling perpendicu¬
lar upon any lens, I3C* Convex, an ob-
jeCt feen through, appears larger, bright-
Index.
er, and more d iff ant, than by the naked
eye, N° 155. In fome circumftances it
appears inverted, and pendulous in the air,
1 56. An ebjeCt feen through a concave
lens is feen nearer, fmaller, and lei's
bright, than with the naked eye, 137,
Method of grinding and polilhing them,
276.
Lejlie's photometer, p. 288.
Light diicovertd not to be homogeneous, N°
16. Quantity of, reflected by different
fubftances, 39. Quantity of it abiorbed
by platter of Paris, 40. By the moon, ib. '
Obiervations on the manner in which bo¬
dies are heated by it, 42. Noheatpro-
duced by it on a tranfparent medium, 1
unlefs it is reflected from the furface, ib.!
Newton’s experiments with refpeCt to its
inflection, 51. Reflected, refraCted, and
infleCted by the fame forces, 61. Dif.
ferent opinions concerning the nature of,
109. It iffues in ftraight lines from each
point of a luminous lurface, 110. Inj
what cafe the rays of light deferibe a
curve, in. Its motion accelerated or
retarded by refraCtion, 114. Light of
all kinds fubjeCt to the fame laws, 119,1
The law of refraCtion when light paffes
out of one tranfparent body into another!
contiguous to it, 120. Some portion of
light always reflected from tranfparent
bodies, 158. Light is not reflected by
impinging on the folid part of bodies at
the firft furface, 159. Nor at the fe¬
cund, 160. Light confifts of feveral
forts of coloured rays differently refran¬
gible, 204. Reflected light differently re-‘
frangible, 205. Bouguer’s contrivances
for meafuring light, 266. Ihefe inftru-
ments meafure only the intenfity of light,
267. Great variation of the light ol thel
moon at different altitudes, 268. Vari¬
ation in different parts of the difksofthe
fun and planets, ib. Bouguer’s calcula¬
tions concerning the light of the moon,
270. Dr Smith’s, 271- Mr Michell’s,
272. Denfity of, in different points ol
refraCHon, 2C22.
Lignum nephriticum, remarkable properties
of its infufion, 29.
Lines can be feen under fmaller angles thai
fpots, and why, 144.
Liquid fubftances cannot be fired by the lo
lar rays concentrated, 44.
Long-Jightednefs, 142.
M.
Magic lantern, Mr Euler’s attempt to in
troduce vifion by reflefted light into
I04: . „ c
Magnitudes of objtds, p. 240, oic. _
Mairan, M. his obfervations on the rnflec
tion of light, N° 57. . , ■ fled
Maraldi's difeoveries concerning i-he m
tioi
fnclex.
tion of light, N° 51, 52. Purfues Gri-
maldi’s and Sir Ifaac Newton’s experi¬
ments, 54, 55- His experiments with
a mixture of coloured Ihadows, 56.
Martin's, Mr, improvement of the folar
microfcope, 105.
Maurolycus, his difcoveries, 9, 63.
Mazeas, Abbe, attempts to explain the
phenomena of green and blue fhadows,
226.
Media, the various appearances of objects
through different, flated and inveftigated,
132. An objeft feen through a plane
medium, appears nearer and brighter
than feen by the naked eye, 154.
Melville, Mr, his obfervations on the heat¬
ing of bodies by light, 42. Difcovers
that bodies which feetn to touch are not
in aftual contact, 45. Explains a cu¬
rious phenomenon of vifion, .198. Ex¬
plains the phenomena of green and blue
fhadows in the fky, 227.
MichelPs, Mr, calculation of the light of
the moon, 272.
Microfcopes, their hiflory, 92. Made by
Janfen, 93. By Divini, 94. By Hart-
focker, 95. By Leeuwenhoek, 96. By
Wilfon, 97. Adams’s method of mak¬
ing globules for large magnifiers, 98.
Temporary microfcopes, by Mr Grey,
99. Varnifhones, by Dr Brewfter, ico.
Dr Barker’s reflecting microfcope, 101.
Smith’s reflecting microfcope fuperior to
all others, 102. Solar microfcopes and
that for opaque objeCts, 103. Mr Eu¬
ler’s fcheme of introducing vifion by re¬
flected light into the folar microfcope
and magic lantern, 104. Martin’s im¬
provement, 105. Di Torre’s extraordi¬
nary magnifying microfcope, 106. Could
not be ufed by Mr Baker, 107. Micro¬
fcope compound, ufe of feveral lenfes in,
242. Dr Smith’s magnifying power of,
244. Eafy method of afcertaining the
magnifying power of, 24 5. Further ob¬
fervations on the magnifying power of,
246. Table of the magnifying powers
ofglafles ufed in, ib. Solar, magnifying
power of, 248. Merits of, compared
with the telefcope, 263.
M'nes better illuminated in cloudy than in
clear weather, 46.
Mirrors, fize of, in which a man may fee
his whole image, 239. Why three or
four images of objeCts are feen in plane
mirrors, 140. Aerial images formed by
concave mirrors, 241.
Miji,
account of the largenefs of obiefts in,
by M. le Cat, 183.
Moon, why vifible when totally eclipfed,
236. Why the moon appears duller
when eclipfed in her perigee than in her
apogee, 237. Great variation of the
light of the moon at different altitudes,
OPTICS.
N°268. M. Bouguer’s calculations con¬
cerning the light of, 270. Dr Smith’s,
270. Mr Michell’s, 272.
Motion of light accelerated or retarded by
refrafilion, 114.
Multiplying glafs, 238.
N.
Newton, Sir Ifaac, his difcovery concern¬
ing colours, 16. Miftaken in one of his
experiments, 18. His difcoveries con¬
cerning the inflection of light, 51.
Theory of refraction objeCted to, 121.
Thefe objections are the neceffary confe-
quences ot the theory, and therefore con¬
firm it, 122. Reflecting telefcope, 257.
Magnifying power of, 259. Inferior to
Gregorian, 265.
Nollet, Abbe, cannot fire inflammable li¬
quids by burning-glalfes, 43.
O.
Objefls on the retina of the eye appear in¬
verted, 133. Why feen upright, 134.
An objeCt when viewed with both eyes
does not appear double, becaufe the op¬
tic nerve is infenfible of light, 135. Pro¬
ved by experiments, 136. Seen with
both eyes brighter than when feen only
with one, 150. The various appearan¬
ces of objeCts feen through different me¬
dia ftated and inveiligated, 152. An
objeCt fituated in the horizon appears
above its true plane, 153. An objeCt
feen through a plane medium appears
nearer and brighter than feen by the na¬
ked eye, 154. ObjeCt feen through a
convex lens appears larger, brighter, and
more diftant, 157. In feme circumftan-
ces an objeCt through a convex lens ap¬
pears inverted and pendulous in the air,
156. Barrow’s theory refpeCting the
apparent place of objeCts, 181. M. de
la Hire’s obfervations, 182. M. le Cat’s
account of the largenefs of objeCts in
miff, 183. Why objeCts feen from a
high building appear fmaller than they
are, 189. Dr Porterfield’s account of
objeCts appearing to move to a giddy
perfon when they are both at reft, 193.
Wells’s account, 194. Upon what data
we judge vifible cbjeCts to be in motion
or at reft, 195. Experiments to afeer-
tain it, 196.
Objeff-glajfes improved by Dollond, 17,
and by Blair, 19.
Obfervutory, portable. See Equatorial Te¬
lefcope.
Opaque objeCts, microfcope for, 103.
Optic nerve infenfible of light ; and there¬
fore an objeCt viewed by both eyes is not
feen double, 135. Proved by experi¬
ments, 136.
Optical inftruments, p. 267.
, 2?3
Optics, the firft treatife of, by Claudius
Ptolemy, N° 4. Vitellio’s treatife, 7.
Treatife attributed to Euclid, 24.
P.
Parallel rays falling perpendicularly upon
any lens, the focus of, found, 130.
Parhelion, p. 262.
Photometer, Rumford’s, N° 273. Sauf-
fure’s, p. 287. Leflie’s, p. 288.
Plane medium, an objeCt feen through ap¬
pears nearer and brighter than by the
naked eye, N° 154.
P/i77ze furfaces, laws of refraCtion in, 127.
Extent of the vifible horizon on, 220.
Planets more luminous at their edges than
in the middle of their dilks, 40, 269.
Plates. Maraldi’s experiments concerning
their fhadows, 55.
Porta, Joannes Baptifta, his difcoveries,
10.
Porterf eld's folution of Angle vifion with
two eyes, 147. Of the judging of the
diftanceof objeCts, 188. Fallacies of vi¬
fion explained, 190. Porterfield’s ac¬
count of objeCts appearing to move to a
giddy perfon when they are both at reft,
I.93-
Primary rainbow never greater than a fe-
micircle, and why, 217. Its colours
ftronger than thofe of the fecondary, and
ranged in contrary order, 2x9.
Prifms in fome cafes refleCt as itrongly as
quickfilver, 38. Why the image of the
fun by heterogeneous rays pafling through
a prifm is oblong, 207.
Ptolemy firft treated of refraCtion feientifi-
cally, 4.
R.
Rainbow, knowledge of the nature of, a
modern difcovery, 211. Approach to¬
wards it by Fletcher of Breflaw, 212.
The difcovery of, made by Antonio de
Dominis biflrop of Spalatro, 213. True
caufe of its colours, 214. Phenomena
of the rainbow explained on the princi¬
ples of Sir Ifaac Newton, 215. Two
rainbows feen at once, 216. Why the
arc of the primary rainbow is never
greater than a femicircle, 217. The
fecondary rainbow produced by two re¬
flections and two refraCtions, 218. Why
the colours of the fecondary rainbow are
fainter than thofe of the primary, and
ranged in a contrary order, 219.
Ramfilen's, Mr, new equatorial telefcope,
89-
Rays of light extinguiftied at the furface of
tranfparent bodies, 37. Why they feem
to proceed from any luminous objeCt
when viewed with the eyes half ftiut,
50. Rays at a certain obliquity are
wholly refleCled by tranfparent fubftan-
ces, 115. The focus of rays refraCted
by
2Q4
by fpherical furfaces afcertalned, N° I 'zS.
The focus of parallel rays falling perpen¬
dicularly upon any lens, 130. Emer¬
gent rays, the focus of, found, 131.
Rays proceeding from one point and fall¬
ing on a parabolic concave furface are all
reflected from one point, 174. Propor¬
tional diftance of the focus of rays re*
fledled from a fpherical furface, 173.
Several forts of coloured rays differently
refrangible, 204. Why the image of
the fun by heterogeneous rays paffing
through a prifm is oblong, 207. Every
homogeneous ray is refradled according
to one and the fame rule, 210.
ReJleBed light, table of its quantity from
different fubftances, 39.
RejleBing telefcope of Newton, 257. Mag¬
nifying poAver of, 259.
ReJIe&ion of light, opinions of the ancients
concerning it, 23. Bougtier’s experi¬
ments concerning the quantity of light
loft by it, 32. Method of afcertaining
the quantity loft in all the varieties of re¬
flexion, ib. Buffon’s experiments on the
fame fubjeX, 33. Bouguer’s difcoveries
concerning the refleXion of glafs and of
polifhed metal, 34. Great difference of
the quantity of light refleXed at differ¬
ent angles of incidence, 35. No reflec¬
tion but at the furface of a medium, 42.
Rays at a certain obliquity are wholly
refleXed by tranfparent fubftances, 115.
Total refleXion produced by the bril¬
liant cut in diamonds, 116. Some por¬
tion of light always refleXed from tranf¬
parent bodies, 158. Light is not re¬
fleXed by impinging on the folid parts
of bodies at the firft furface, 159 ; nor at
the fecond, 160. Fundamental law of
refleXion, 169. Laws of, from a con¬
cave furface, 170. From a convex, 171.
Thefe preceding propofitions proved ma¬
thematically, 172. RefleXed rays from
a fpherical furface never proceed from
the fame point, 173. Rays proceeding
from one point and falling on a parabo¬
lic concave furface are all refleXed from
one point, 174. Proportional diftance
of the focus of rays refleXed from a fphe¬
rical furface, 175. Method of finding
the focal diftance of rays refleXed from
a convex furface, 176. The appearance
of objeXs refleXed from plane furfaces,
177 from convex, 178 ; from concave,
179. The apparent magnitude of an ob-
jeX feen by refleXion from concave fur¬
face, 180. RefleXed light differently re¬
frangible, 205.
Refracting telefcopes improved by Mr Dol-
lond, 17. By Dr Blair. 19. Magnify
in proportion to their lengths,'255. Irii-
perfeXi ns. in, remedied, 236.
Rtfratfion, known to the ancients, 2. Its
OPTICS.
laws difeovered by Snellius, N° i ;. Ex¬
plained by Defcartes, 12—f allac) of
his hypothefis, 13. Experiments of the
Royal Society for determining the re-
fraXive porvers of different fubftances, ib.
—M. de la Hire’s experiments on the
fame fubjeX, ib. RefraXion of air ac¬
curately determined, 13, 14. Miftake
of the Academy of Sciences concerning
the refraXion of air, 13. AlloAvance
for refraXion in computing the height of
mountains, firft thought of by Dr Hooke,
14. Mr Dollond difeovers Iioav to cor-
reX the errors of telefcopes arifing from
refraXion, 17. The fame difeovery
made by Mr Hall, 18. Important dif¬
eovery of Dr Blair for this purpofe, 19.
RefraXion defined, ill. Phenomena
of refraXion folved by an attraXive
poAver in the medium, 112. RefraXion
explained and illuftrated, pages 206,
207, &c.—Ratio of the fine of inci¬
dence to the fine of refraXion, N° 113.
RefraXion accelerates or retards the mo¬
tion of light, 114. RefraXion dimi-
niihes as the incident velocity increafes,
117. RefraXion of a ftar greater in
the evening than in the morning, 118.
Lbavs of refraXion Avhen light paffes out
of one tranfparent body into another
contiguous to it, 120. The Neivtonian
theory of refraXion objeXed to, 121.
Which objeXions, as they are the necef-
fary confequences of that theory, con¬
firm it, 122. Laivs of refraXion in
plane furfaces, 127. The focus of rays
refraXed by fpherical furfaces afeertaih-
ed, 128. Light confifts of feveral forts
of coloured rays differently refrangible,
194.— RefleXed light differently refran¬
gible, 205. Every homogeneous ray is
refraXed according to one and the fame
rule, 210.
Reid's lolutioti of Angle vifion with tivo
eyes, 148.
Repufve force fuppofed to be the caufe of
refleXion, 161. ObjeXed to, 162. An¬
other hypothefis, 266. Sir Ifaac New¬
ton’s, 167. Untenable, 168.
Retina of the eye, objeXs on, inverted,
J33. Why feen upright, 134. When
viewed Avith both eyes, not feen double,
becaufe the optic nerve is infenfible of
light, 135. Arguments for the retina’s
being the feat of vifion, 139.
Rheita's telefcope improved by Huygens,
79 His binocular telefcope, 80.
Robins's, Mr, objection to Smith’s account
of the apparent place of objeXs, 186.
S.
Saturn's ring difeovered by Galileo, 72.
Secondary rainboAV produced by two reflec¬
tions and two refraXions, 218. Its
Index.
colours why fainter than thofe of the
pro raiy, and ranged m contrary order
N° 219. ’
Scheiner completes the difcoveries concern¬
ing vifion, 64. Puts the improvements
of the telelcope by Kepler in praftice
78. _ ’
S/iadows of bodies, obfervations concerning'
them, 47, 48, 49. Green fliadoAvs ob-
ferved by Buffon, 224. Blue ones, 225.
Explained by Abbe Mazeas, 226  
Explained by Melville and Bouguer
227. Curious obfervations relative to
this fubjeX, 228. Blue Jfjadows not
confined to the mornings and evenings,
229.—Another kind of lhadoAvs, 230.
Illumination of the fliadoAv of the earth
by the refraXion of the atmofphere, 236.
Short's, Mr, equatorial telefcope, 89.
Short-fightednefs, 142.
Sky, concave figure of, p. 262, &c. Why
the concavity of the Iky appears lefs
than a femicircle, N° 222. Opinions of
the ancients refpeXing the colour of the
fky, 223. Ncav explanation of its blue
colour, 23!.
Smith's, Dr, refleXing microfcope fuperior
to all others, 10 2. Account of the ap.
parent place of objeXs, 185. Objeffed
to, 186. Converging irradiation of the
fun obferved and explained by, 232, 233.
He never obferved them by moon light,
234. Diverging beams more frequent in
fummer than in Avinter, 23 5. Calculation
concerning the light of the moon, 271.
His microfcope, magnifying power of,
244. .
Solar microfcope, 103. Mr Euler’s at¬
tempt to introduce vifion by relieved
light into the folar microfcope, 104.
Martin’s improvement, 105. Magnify¬
ing poAver of, 248.
Spectacles, Avhen firfl invented, 67.
Specula for refleXing telefcopes, how U
grind and polilh them, 285.
Spots of the fun difeovered by Galileo, 72.
Not feen under fo imall an angle as lines.
144.
Stars, hoAv to be obferved in the daytime,
90. The refraXioh of a ftar greater in
the evening than in the morning, 118;
Sun, image of, by heterogeneous rays paf¬
fing through a prifm, Avhy oblong, 207.
The image of, by Ample and homogene¬
ous light, circular, 208. Variation of
light in different parts of the fun’s diik,
269.
Surfaces of tranfparent bodies have the pro¬
perty of eJctlnguifliing light, and Avhy,
37. Si.ppofed to confift of fmall tranf¬
parent plat es, ;9, 41. Lbavs of refrac¬
tion in plane furfaces, 127. The focus
of rays refraXed by fpherical furfaces
afeertained, 128. RefleXed rays from
a
Index.
a fphencal furface never proceed from
the fame point, N° r 73. 1'he appearance
of obje&s from plane furfaces, 177.
From convex, 178. From concave, 179.
The apparent magnitude of an objedl
feen by reflection from a concave fur-
face, 180.
T.
Telefcopes : different compofitions of glafs
for correcting the faults of the refraCting
ones, 18. Defcartes’s account of the in¬
vention of them, 68. Other accounts,
69. The firft one exceeding good, 70.
Galileo made one without a pattern, 71.
His difeoveries on this head, 72. Ac¬
count of his telefcopes, 73. Rationale
of the telefcope firft difcovered by Kep¬
ler, 74. Reafon of the eflfeCts of tele¬
fcopes, 75. Galilean telefcope difficult
of eonftruCtion, 76. Telefcopes im¬
proved by Kepler, 77. His method
firft praCtifed by Scheiner, 78.—Huy¬
gens improves the telefcopes of Scheiner
and Rheita, 79. Rheita’s binocular te¬
lefcope, 80. Telefcopes of Campani
and Divini, 81. Azout makes a tele¬
fcope of an extraordinary focal length,
82. Telefcopes ufed without tubes, 83.
On the apertures of refraCting telefcopes,
84. Hiltory of the reflecting telefcope,
85. Mr Edwards’s improvements in it,
86. Herfchel’s improvements, 87. Mr
Dollond’s improvements, 88. The equa-
j torial telefcope, 89. How to obferve
ftars in the daytime, 90. Mr Epinus’s
S propofal for bending the tubes of tele-
' fcopes, 91. Telefcope, aftronomical,
249. Magnifying power of, 250. In-
| verts objeCts, 251. Common refraCting,
fhows objeCts ereCt, 252. Galilean te-
OPTIC?.
lefcope, N° 253. Magnifying power of,
254. RefraCting, magnify in proportion
to their length, 295. Achromatic ones,
256. Reflecting telefcope of Newton,
257. Magnifying power of, 2 ^'9. Gre¬
gorian telefcope, 260. Magnifying
power of, 261. Cai&grainian telefcope,
262. Merits of, compared with the mi-
crofcope, 263. RefraCting telefcopes
improved by Uollond and Rlair, fuperi-
or to all others, 264. Gregorian tele¬
fcope fuperior for common ufes to the
Newtonian, 265.
T/n'n plates; Mr Boyle’s account of the
colours obfervable in them, 30. Dr
Hooke’s account, 31.
Thomfori's, Mr, portable camera obfeura.
Tot're's, F. di, extraordinary magnifying
microfcope, 106.
Tour, M. de, his obfervations on the in¬
flection of light, 58. The hypothefis
by which he accounted for the pheno¬
mena, 59. UnfatisfaCtory and ill-found¬
ed, 60.
Tranfparent bodies, a portion of light al¬
ways reflected from, 158.
V.
Variation of the intenfity of attraction and
repulfion unknown, 125. The law of
variation in the aCtion of many particles
different from that of one j but may be
known if it be known, 126. Varia¬
tion of the light of the moon at differ¬
ent altitudes, 268. In different parts
of the difks of the fun and planets,
269.
Vijible objeCts how judged to be in motion
or at reft, 195. Curious experiments to
295
afeertain it, N° 196. Vifible horizon on
a plane furface, extent of, 220.
Vijion : its nature firft difcovered by Man*
rolycus, 9. Difeoveries concerning it,
p. 193. Seat of, difpute about, N° 137.
Dimenfions of the fpot in the eye where
there is no vifion, 138. Arguments for
the retina’s being the feat of vifion, 139.
Vifion bright and obfeure, 14c. DiitinCt
at different diltances, 141. Leaft angle
of vifion, 156. Of Angle vifion with
two eyes, 143. Briggs’s folution, 146.
Porterfield’s, 147. Reid’s, 148. Wells’s,
149. Vifion more diftinCt in homoge¬
neous than heterogeneous light, 209.
Several fallacies of vifion explained, 190.
Great light thrown on this fubjeCt by
M. Bouguer, 191. A remarkable de¬
ception explained by M. le Cat, 197.
Curious phenomenon explained by Mr
Melville, 198.
Viteliio's difeoveries, 7.
U.
Undulation, Euler’s theory of, contrary to
fad, 123 ; and mifieads artifts, 124.
w.
Water in fome cafes refleCts more power¬
fully than quickfilver, 35. Table of the
quantity of light rtfleCfed from it at dif¬
ferent angles, ib. Remarkably ffrong
reflection into it from air, 36.
Wells's folution of Angle vifion with two
eyes, 149. Accounts for objects ap¬
pearing to move to a giddy perfon when
at reft, 194.
White bodies refleCt more light than others.
28. *
WHfon's microfcopc, 97.
OPT
^0'do'65’ OPTIMATES, one of the divifions of the Roman
— y0' ■ people, oppofed to populares. It is not eafy to afeer¬
tain the charaCteriftic differences betwixt thefe two
parties. Some fay the optimates were warm fupporters
of the dignity of the chief magiftrate, and promoters
of the grandeur of the ftate, who cared not if the in¬
ferior members fuffered, provided the commanding
powers were advanced : Whereas the populares boldly
flood up for the rights of the people, pleaded for larger
privileges, and laboured to bring matters nearer to a
level. In ffiort, they refembled, according to this ac¬
count, the court and country parties amongft the people
of this ifland. 1 F
lully fays, that the optimates were the beft citizens,
ivho wiilied to deferve the approbation of the better
lort; and that the populares courted the favour of the
populace, not fo much confidering what was right, as
what would pleafe the people and gratify their own
thirft of vain glory and empty applaufe.
OP IIO, an officer in the Roman army, being an
OPT
affiftant or lieutenant to every centurion. The optio Optio,
was lb called becaufe he was the choice or option of
the centurion in later times ; at firft, however, he had U'—
been chofen by the tribune, or chief commander of
the legion. Thefe optiones are alfo fometimes called
fuccenturiones and tergiduBores ; the laft name was given
them becaufe their port was in the rear of the company.
Some authors make mention of fub-optiones or fub-lieu-
tenants.
It is proper, however, to add, that optiones were not
peculiar to the camp, but were alfo ufed in a variety of
other offices of life.
OPTION, the power or faculty of wifhing, or choof-
ing ; or the choice a perfon makes of any thino-.
_ When a new fuffragan bifliop is confecrated, the arch-
biffiop of the province, by a cuftomary prerogative,
claims the collation of the firft vacant benefice, or digni¬
ty, in that fee, according as he fhall choofe ; which
choice is called the archbilhop’s option.
But in cafe the-bifliop dies, or is tranllated, before
tha
O 11 A [ 296 ] ORA
Option tlic prefent incumbent of the promotion chofen by the
0 II j archbifhop fhall die or be removed, it is generally
c ' . fuppofed that the option is void •, inafmuch as the grant-
er, fingly and by himfelf, could not convey any right
or title beyond the term of his continuance in that fee.
And if the archbithop dies before the avoidance fhall
happen, the right of filling up the vacancy fhall go to
his executors or adminiflrators.
O PUNT I A, a fpecies of cadhis. See Cactus,
Botany Index.
OR, the French word for gold, by which this metal
is expreffed in heraldry. In engraving it is denoted
by fmall points all over the field or bearing. It may
be fuppofed to fignify of itfelf, generojhy, fplendour, or
folidity; according to G. Leigh, if it is compounded
with
Gul. « f Courage.
Azu. I j-g | Truft.
Ver. Joy-
Pur. j ^ I Charity.
Sab. J ^Conflancy.
ORA, in antiquity, was a term equivalent to an
ounce : but it has been much debated among our an¬
tiquaries, whether the ora, the mention of which fo
often occurs, was a coin or only money of account.
Dr Hickes obferves, that the mode of reckoning
money by marks and oras was never known in Eng¬
land till after the Danifh fettlements ; and by ex¬
amining the old nummulary eflimates among the prin¬
cipal Gothic flates upon the Baltic, it appears, that
the ora and folidus were fynonymous terms, and that
the ora was the eighth, part of the mark. From feve-
ral of the Danifh laws, it likewife appears, that the
Danifh ora, derived by corruption from aureus, was
the fame as the Frank folidus of twelve pence. As a
weight, the ora was regarded as the uncia or unit,
by which the Danifh mark was divided •, and in
Doomfday book the ora is ufed for the ounce, or the
twelfth part of the nummulary Saxon pound, and the
fifteenth of the commercial : as a coin it was an au¬
reus, or the Frank folidus of twelve pence. And
from the accidental coincidence of the Frank aureus
with the eighth part of their mark, the Danes pro¬
bably took occafion to give it the new name of ora.
There was another ora mentioned in the rolls of the
27th of Henry III. the value of which was fixteen
pence; and this was probably derived from the half
mancus of the Saxons. Such, in all appearance, was
the original of thefe two oras •, as there were no aurei
of that period, to which thefe two denominations of
money of fixteen and twelve pence can poflibly be
afcribed. It is obferved farther, that the name ora
diflinguifhes the gold coins in feveral parts of Europe
to this day. The Portuguefe moidore is nothing elfe
but tnoeda d'oro, from the Latin moneta de auro; the
French Louis d'ors come from the fame ufe of the word,
and owe their appellation to the ora. See Clarke on
Coins.
. ORACH. See Atriplex, 7 Botany In-
Wild Orach. See Chenopodium, 3 dex.
ORACLE, among the heathens, was the anfvver
which the gods were fuppofed to give to thofe who con-
fulted them upon any affair of importance. It is alfo
ufed for the god who was thought to give the anfvver,
and for the place where it was given.
The credit of oracles was fo great that in all doubts Oracle,
and difputes their determinations were held facred and
inviolable : whence vaft numbers flocked to them for
advice about the management of their affairs j and no
bufinefs of any confequence was undertaken, fcarce
any peace concluded, any war waged, or any new form
of government inftituted, without the advice and ap¬
probation of fome oracle. The anfwers were ufually
given by the intervention of the prieft or prieftefs of the
god who was confulted •, and generally expreffed in fuch
dark and unintelligible phrafes, as might beeafily wreft-
ed to prove the truth of the oracle whatever was the
event. It is not, therefore, to be svondered at, that
the priefts who delivered them v'ere in the higheil cre¬
dit and efteem, and that they managed this reputation
fo as greatly to promote their own particular advan¬
tage. They accordingly allowed no man to confult
the gods, before he had offered coftly facrifices, and
made rich prefents to them. And to keep up the ve¬
neration for their oracles, and to prevent their being
taken unprepared, they admitted perfons to confult
the gods only at certain ftated times; and fometimes
they were fo cautious, that the greateft perfonages could
obtain no anfwer at all. Thus Alexander himfelf was
peremptorily denied by the Py thia, or prieftefs of Apollo,
till ftie was by doAvnright force obliged to afcend the
tripos ; when, being unable to refill any longer, fhe
cried out, Thou art invincible: and thefe words were
accepted inftead of a farther oracle.
Of the ambiguity of oracles, the follorving, out of
a great many examples, may be mentioned. Crcefus
having received from the Pythonefs this anfwer, That
by pafling the river Halys, he would deftroy a great
empire ; he underftood it to be the emipire of his ene¬
my, whereas he deftroyed his own.—The oracle con¬
fulted by Pyrrhus gave him an anfwer, which might
be equally underftood of the vidlory of Pyrrhus, and
the vidtory of the Romans his enemies :
Aio te, JEacida, Romanos vincere pojfe.
The equivocation lies in the conftrudlion of the Latin
tongue, wdiich cannot be rendered in Englifh.—The
Pythonefs advifed Croefus to guard againft the mule.
The king of Lydia underftood nothing of the oracle,
which denoted Cyrus defcended from two different na¬
tions -, from the Medes, by Mandana his mother, the
daughter of Aftyages ; and from the Perfians, by his
father Cambyfes, whofe race was by far lefs grand and
illuftrious.—Nero had for anfwer, from the oracle of
Delphos, that feventy-three might prove fatal to him.
He believed he was fafe from all danger till that age;
but, finding himfelf deferted by every one, and hear¬
ing Galba proclaimed emperor, who was 73 years of
age, he was fenfible of the deceit of the oracle.
When men began to be better inftrudled by the
lights philofophy had introduced into the world, the
falfe oracles infenfibly loft their credit. Chryfippus
filled an entire volume with falfe or doubtful oracles.
Oenomaus, to be revenged of fome oracle that had
deceived him, made a compilation of oracles, to fhow
their ridiculous vanity. Eufebius has preferved fome
fragments of this criticifm on oracles by Oenomaus.
“ I might (fays Origen) have recourfe to the autho¬
rity of Ariftotle and the Peripatetics, to make the
Pythonefs much fufpedled: I might extradt from the
ORA [ 297 ] ORA
Oracle, writings of Epicurus and his feftators an abundance of
—v—J things to difcredit oracles ; and I might fhovv that the
Greeks themfelves made no great account of them.”
The reputation of oracles was greatly leflened when
they became an artifice of politics. Themiftocles,
with a defign of engaging the Athenians to quit
Athens, and to embark, in order to be in a better
condition to refill Xerxes, made the Pythonefs deliver
an oracle, commanding them to take refuge in wooden
Avails. Demofthenes laid, that the Pythonefs P/ii/ip-
pi-zed; to fignify that Ihe was gained over by Philip’s
prefents.
The ceffation of oracles is atteiled by feveral pro¬
fane authors j as Strabo, Juvenal, Lucan, ,and others.
Plutarch accounts for it, by faying, that the benefits
of the gods are not eternal as themfelves are ; or that
the genii, who prefided over oracles, are fubjefl to
death ; or that the exhalations of the ^arth had been
exhausted. It appears that the.lalt reafon had been
alleged in the time of Cicero, who ridicules it in his
fecund book of Divination, as if the fpirit of prophecy,
fuppofed to be excited by fubterraneous effluvia, had
evaporated by length of time, as wine or pickle by be¬
ing long kept.
Suidas, Nicephorus, and Cedrenus, relate, that Au-
gullus, having confulted the oracle of Delphos, could
obtain no other anfwer but this : “ The Hebrew child,
whom all the gods obey, drives me hence, and fends me
back to hell: get out of this temple without fpeaking
one word.” Suidas adds, that Auguftus dedicated an
altar in the Capitol, with this infeription, “ To the
eldell Son oi God.” Notwithllanding thefe tellimonies,
the anfwer of the oracle of Delphos to Auguftus feems
very fufpicious. Cedrenus cites Eufebius for this oracle,
which is not now found in his works 5 and Auguftus’s
peregrination into Greece was 18 years before the birth
of Chrift.
Suidas and Cedrenus give an account alfo of an an¬
cient oracle delivered to Thulis, a king of Egypt, which
they fay Is well authenticated. The king having con¬
fulted the oracle of Serapis, to know if there ever was,
or Avould be, one fo great as himftlf, received this
anfwer : Firft, God, next the Word, and the Spirit
Avith them. They are equally eternal, and make but
one whofe power Avill never end. But thou, mortal,
go hence, and think that the end of the life of man is
uncertain.”
Van Dale, in his treatife of oracles, does not be¬
lieve that they ceafed at the coming of Chrift. He
relates fcAheral examples of oracles confultcd till the
death of Theodofius the Great. He quotes the lavvs
of the emperors Theodofius, Gratian, and Valentinian,
againft thofe Avho confulted oracles, as a certain proof
that the fuperftition of oracles ftill fubfifted in the time
of thofe emperors.
According to others, the opinion of thofe Avho be¬
lieve that demons had no fiiare in the oracles, and that
the coming of the Meffiah made no change in them,
and the contrary opinion of thofe Avho pretend that
the incarnation of the Word impofed a general filence
on all oracles, ftiould be equally rejefled. They allege,
that tAvo forts of oracles ought to be diftinguiftied:
the one di£latcd by the fpirits of darknefs, Avho de¬
ceived men by their obfeure and doubtful anlwers ; the
other, the pure artifice and cheat of the priefts of falfe
Vol. XV. Part I.
divinities. As to the oracles given out by demons, the
reign of Satan Avas deftroyed by the coming of the Sa¬
viour •, truth ftiut the mouth of lies j but Satan, con ti¬
nned his old craft among idolaters. All the devils Avere
not forced to lilence at the fame time by the coming of
the Meffiah 5 it was on particular occafions that the
truth of Chriftianity, and the virtue of Chriftians, im¬
pofed filence on the devils. St Athanalius tells the
Pagans, that they have been Avitneffes themfelves that
the fign of the erofs puts the devils to flight, filences
oracles, and diffipates enchantments. This power of
filencing oracles, and putting the devils to flight, is alfo
attefted by Arnobius, Laiftantius, Prudentius, Minutius
Felix and feveral others Their teftimony is a certain
proof that the coming of the Meffiah had not impofed a
general filence on oracles.
Plutarch relates, that the pilot Thamus heard a voice
in the air, crying out, “ The great Pan is dead where¬
upon Eufebius obferves, that the accounts of the death
of the demons Avere frequent in the reign of Tiberius,
Avhen Chrift drove out the Avicked fpirits.
The fame judgment, it is faid, may be palled on
oracles as on pojfejjions. It Avas on particular occafions,
by the divine permiffion, that the Chriftians call out
devils, or filenced oracles, in the prefence, and even
by the confeffion, of the Pagans themfelves. And thus
it is avc flrould, it feems, underftand the paffages of St
Jerome, Eufebius, Cyril, Theodoret, Prudentius, and
other authors, who faid that the coming of Chrift had
impofed filence on the oracles.
As to the fecund fort of oracles, which Avere pure
artifices and cheats of the priefts of falfe divinities,
and which probably exceeded the number of thofe
that immediately proceeded from demons, they did
not ceafe till idolatry Avas abolilhed, though they had
loft their credit for a confiderable time before the
coming of Chrift:. It Avas concerning this more com¬
mon and general fort of oracles that Minutius Felix
faid, they began to difeontinue their refponfes, according
as men began to be more polite. But, hoAvever oracles
w'ere decried, impoftors always found dupes, the grofleft
cheats having never failed.
Daniel difeovered the impofture of the priefts of
Bel, who had a private way of getting into the temple
to take arvay the offered meats, and who made the
king believe that the idol confumed them.— Mundus,
being in love Avith Paulina, the eldcft of the priefteffes
of Ifis, Avent and told her, that the god Anubis, be¬
ing paffionately fond of her, commanded her to give
him a meeting. She Avas afterwards fhut up in a dark
room, where her lover Mundus, whom fhe believed to
be the god Anubis, was concealed. This impofture
having been difeovered, Tiberius ordered thofe deteft-
able priefts and priefteffes to be crucified, and Avith them
Icbea, Mundus’s free woman, Avho had condudted the
Avhole intrigue. He alfo commanded the temple of Ifis
to be levelled with the ground, and her ftatue to be
thrown into the Tiber ; and, as to Mundus, he content¬
ed himfelf Avith fending him into baniihment.
Theophilus, bifflop of Alexandria, not only de¬
ftroyed the temples of the falfe gods, but difeovered
the cheats of the priefts, by fhoAving that the llatues,
fome of Avhieh were of brafs, and others of Avood, were
holloAV Avithin, and led into dark paffages made in the
wall.
PP
Oracle.
T.ucian,
ORA [ 298 ] ORA
Lucian, in difcovering the impollutes of the falfe
prophet Alexander, fays, that the oracles were chiefly
afraid of the fubtilties of the Epicureans and Chrifti-
ans. The falfe prophet Alexander foraetimcs feigned
hhnfelf feized with a divine fury, and by means of the
herb fopewort, which he chewed, frothed at the mouth
in fo extraordinary a manner, that the ignorant people
attributed it to the ftrenglh of the god he was pof-
feffed by. He had long before prepared a head of a
dragon made of linen, which opened and Ihut its
mouth by means of a horfe hair. He went by night
to a place where the foundations of a temple were dig¬
ging : and having found water, either of a fpring, or
rain that had fettled there, he hid in it a goofe egg,
in which he had enclofed a little ferpent that had been
juft hatched. The next day, very early in the morn¬
ing, he came quite naked into the ftreet, having only
a fcarf about his middle, holding in his hand a fcythe,
and tolling about his hair as the priefts of Cybele •, then
getting a-top of a high altar, he faid, that the place
was happy to be honoured by the birth of a god.—
Afterwards, running down to the place where he had
hid the goofe egg, and going into the water, he be¬
gan to ling the praifes of Apollo and Atfculapius, and
to invite the latter to come and Ihow himfelf to men.
With thefe words, he dips a bowl into the water,
and takes out the myfterious egg, which had a god en¬
clofed in it; and when he had it in his hand, he began
to fay that he held /Efculapius. Whilft all were eager
to have a fight of this fine myftery, he broke the egg,
and the little ferpent ftarting out, twilled itfelf about
his fingers. ,
Thefe examples Ihow clearly, that both Chriftians
and Pagans were fo far agreed as to treat the greater
number of oracles as purely human impoftures. That,
in fa£l, all of them were fo, will be concluded by
thofe who give equal credit to demoniacal infpiration,
and demoniacal poffejjlon. The moll ancient oracle
was that of Dodona (fee Dodona) j but the molt
famous was that of Delphi, to which article we alfo
refer for further particulars on this fubjedl, fo famous
in Pagan antiquity. Another celebrated one was the
oracle of Trophonius, in the neighbourhood of Leba-
dia, a city of Eoeotia, which was held in high eftima-
tion. It received its name from Trophonius, brother of
Agamedes, who lived in a fubterraneous dwelling near
Lebadia, and pretended to the faculty of foretelling
future events. He died in his cave, and was deified as
an oracular god. This oracle owed its reputation to
one Saon.
Thofe who repaired to this cave for information,
were required to offer certain facrifices, to anoint
themfelves with oil, and to bathe in a certain river :
They were then clothed in a linen robe, took a ho¬
neyed cake in their hands, and defcejided into the fub¬
terraneous chamber by a narrow paffage. Here it was
that futurity was unfolded to them, either by vilions
or extraordinary founds. The return from the cave
was by the fame paffage, but the perfons confulting
were obliged to walk backwards. They generally
came out aftonilhed, melancholy, and dejedted \ hence
the proverb £<5 Tgopaviov /u.iuctv'livjxi. The prielis on
their return placed them on an elevated feat, called t/ie
feat of Mnemofyne, where an account was taken of what
they had feen and heard.. They wrere then conducted to
5
the chapel of good Genius by their companions, where, Oracle,
by degrees, they recovered their ufual compoiui e and T--
cheerfulnefs.
Bcfides thefe three principal oracles of Greece, it is
proper to take notice of that of Amphiaraus at Gro¬
pius in Attica. It was fo called from Amphiaraus,
the fon of Oicleus, a man {killed in magic, the inter¬
pretation of dreams, &c. and who after his death was
deified and delivered oracles in a temple eredled to
his divinity. (See Amphiaraus). They who ap¬
plied to them for information, were to purify them¬
felves, offer facrifice, fait twenty-four hours, abitain
from wine two days, and make an oft'ering of a ram
to Amphiaraus ; on the fkin of which they were to
fleep, and fee their deftiny in a dream. Near the
temple was Amphiaraus’s fountain, which was facrcd,
and the waters of it forbidden to be ufed for ordinary
purpofes.
At Delos alfo there was an oracle of the Deliau
Apollo ; in Milefia was that of the Branchidse, with
others of lefs note, which require not a particular de-
feription, fuch as that of the camps at Lacedtemon,
that of Nabarcha, that of Chryfopolis, that of Clares
in Ionia, that of Mallos, that of Patarea, that of Pella,
that of Phafellides, that of Sinope, that of Orpheus’s
head, &c.
Though the Romans confulted the Grecian oracles
upon many occafions, and had few oracles in their own
country j yet we mull not omit mentioning the Cumsean
oracles, which wTere delivered by the Sibyl of Cumae.
For an account of the Sibyls, fee the article Sibyl. See
alfo Daemon and Dtemoniac.
We have hitherto only confidered the oracles of falfe
gods, of which there was a far greater number than
our limits permit us to obferve, and before either Greeks
or Romans had rifen to any dillindlion. Oracle is in
facred hiftory fometimes ufed for the mercy feat, or the
cover of the ark of the covenant 5 and oy others it is
taken for the fanfluary, ©r for the molt holy place,
wherein the ark was depofited.
Among the Jews we may diftinguifh feveral forts of
real oracles. They had firft oracles that were delivered
viva voce; as when God Ipake to iVlofes face to face,
and as one friend fpeaks to another, (Numb. xii. 8.).
Secondly, Prophetical dreams fent by God j as the
dreams which God fent to Jofeph, and which foretold
his future greatnefs, (Gen. xxxvii. 5,6.). Ihirdly,
Vifions; as when a prophet in an eeltafy, being nei¬
ther properly afleep nor awake, had fupernatural reve¬
lations, (Gen. xv. 1. xlvi. 2.). Fourthly, 1 he oracle
of Urim and Thummim, which was accompanied with
the ephod or the pefloral tvorn by the high prielt, and
which God had endued with the gift of foretelling
things to come, (Numb. xii. 6. Joel ii. 28.). 1 his man¬
ner of inquiring of the Lord was often made ufe of,
from Jolhua’s time to the erection of the temple at
Jerufalem Fifthly, After the building of the temple,
they generally confulted the prophets, who were fre¬
quent in the kingdoms of Judah and Ilrael. From Hag-
gai. Zechariah, and Malachi, who are the laft of the pro¬
phets that have any of their writings remaining, the Jews
pretend that God gave them what they call Bathcol, the
daughter of the voice, which was a fupernatural manifef-
tation of the will of God, which was performed either by
a ftrong infpiration or internal voice, or elfe by a lenfible
ORA [ 299 ] ORA
Oracle, and external voice, which was heard by a number of
.—’ perfons fufficient to bear teftimony of it. For example,
fuch was the voice that was heard at the baptifm of
Jefus Chrift, faying, This is my beloved Son, &c.
(Matth. iii. 17*)*
The Scripture affords us examples likewife of profane
oracles. Balaam, at the inftigation of his own fpirit,
and urged on by his avarice, fearing to lofe the recom-
penfe that he was promifed by Balak king of the Moa¬
bites, fuggefts a diabolical expedient to this prince, of
making the Ifraelites fall into idolatry and fornication
(Numb. xxiv. 14. xxxi. 16.), by which he affures him
of a certain viftory, or at lead of confxderable advantage
againft the people of God.
Mieaiah the ion of Imlah, a prophet of the Lord, fays
(l Kings xxii. 21, &c.),that he faw the Almighty fit¬
ting upon his throne, and all the holt of heaven round
about him ; and the Lord faid, who lhall tempi Ahab
king of Ifrael, that he may go to war with Ramoth-
gilead, and fall in the battle ? One anfwered after one
manner, and another in another. At the fame time an
evil fpirit prefented himfelf before the Lord, and faid, I
will feduce him. And the Lord alked him, How ? To
which Satan anfwered I will go and be a lying fpirit in
the mouth of his prophets. And the Lord faid, Go
and thou lhalt prevail. This dialogue clearly proves
thefe two things : Jhj}, that the devil could do nothing
by his own power •, and, fecondly, that with the per-
raiffion of God, he could infpire the falfe prophets,
forcerers, and magicians, and make them deliver falfe
oracles.
Refpefting the ceffation of profane oracles there have
been a variety of opinions; fome of which we have
already remarked. It has been generally held, indeed,
that oracles ceafed at the birth of Jefus Chrift : Yet
fome have endeavoured to maintain the contrary, by
fhowing that they were in being in the days of Julian,
commonly called the Apojlate, and that this emperor
himfelf confulted them j nay, farther, fay they, hiftory
makes mention of feveral laws publiflred by the Chriftian
emperors Theodofius, Gratian, and Valentinian, to
punifti perfons who interrogated them, even in their
days *, and that the Epicureans were the firft who made
a jeft of this fuperftition, and expofed the roguery of its
priefts to the people. As we fufpect moft of the fafts
here afferted Ihould be underftood in a qualified fenfe,
we {hall endeavour to difcufs this point of controverfy in
as few words as poflible, although it is undoubtedly a
matter of fome confequence.
1//, The queftion, properly ftated, is not. Whether
oracles became extinft immediately upon the birth of
Chrift, or from the very moment he was born j but, If
they fell gradually into difefteem and ceafed, as Chrift
and his gofpel became known to mankind. And that
they did fo, is moft certain from the concurrent tefti-
raonies of the fathers, which, whoever would endeavour
to invalidate, may equally give up the moft refpe&able
traditions and relations of every kind.
idly. But did not Julian the apoftate confult
thefe oracles ? We anfwer in the negative: he had
indeed recourfe to magical operations, but it was
becaufe oracles had already ceafed; for he bewailed
the lofs of them, and afligned pitiful reafons for
it; which St Cyril has vigoroufly refuted, adding,
that he never could have offered fuch, but from an un-
willingnefs to acknowledge, that when the world had re- Oracle
ceived the light of Chrift, the dominion of the devil was
at an end. >
dly, The Chriftian emperors do indeed feem to con¬
demn the fuperftition and idolatry of thofe o ho were
ftill for confulting oracles 5 but the edicts of thofe princes
do not prove that oracles actually exifted in their times,
any more than that they ceafed in conlequence of their
laws. It is certain that they were for the moft part
extinct before the converfion of Conftantine.
e\thli], Some Epicureans might make a jef of this fu-
p erf it ion : however the Epicurean philofopher Celfus,
in the fecond century of the church, was for crying up
the excellency of feveral oracles, as appears at large
from Origen’s feventh book againft him.
ORAiA, certain folemn facrifices of fruits which
were offered in the four feafons of the year, in order
to obtain mild and temperate weather. T hey were
offered to the goddeffes who prefided over the feafons,
%vho attended upon the fun, and who received divine
worfhip at Athens.
ORAL, fomething delivered by word of mouth,
without being committed to writing ; in which fenfe
we fay oral law, oral tradition, &c.
ORAN, a very ftrong and important towngf Africa,
in Barbary, and in the kingdom of Tremecen, with
feveral forts, and an excellent harbour. It is feated
partly on the fide of a hill, and partly on a plain,
about a ftonecaft from the fea, almoft oppofite to Car-
thagena in Spain. It is about a mile and a hall in
circumference, and well fortified, but commanded by
the adjacent hills. It was taken by the Spaniards in
1509, and retaken by the Algerines in 1708 •, but in
1732 the Spaniards became mailers of it, and have con¬
tinued fo ever fince. E. Long. o. 8. N. Lat. 36. 2.
ORANG outang. See Simia, Mammalia
ORANGE, a famous city, and capital of a province
of the fame name, united to Dauphiny, with a univerfity
and a biihop’s fee, fuffragan of Arles. It is feated in a
fine large plain, watered by a vaft number of little
rivulets on the eaft fide of the river Rhone. It is a
very large ancient place, and was confiderable in the
time of the Romans, who adorned it with feveral build¬
ings, of which there are ftill fome ruins left, particularly
of an amphitheatre, and a triumphal arch, which is
almoft entire, dedicated to Marius. This town was
formerly much larger than it is at prefent, as appears
from the traces of the ancient walls. 'Ihe wall was
in 1682 entirely demoliftied by order of Louis XIV.
and the inhabitants were expofed to the fury of the
foldiers. The town was reftored to King William by
the treaty of Ryfwiek *, but after his death the French
took it again, and expelled the Proteftant inhabitants.
By the the treaty of Utrecht it was confirmed to the
crown of France, though the title is ftill retained in the
houfe of Naffau. The title was firft introduced into the
family of Naffau, by the marriage of Claude de Chalons,
the prince of Orange’s fifter, with the count of Naifay,
1 530. The principality is a very fmall diftrifl, it being
only twelve miles in length and nine in breadth, and the
revenue amounts to about 5000I. a year. The country
is pleafant, and abounds with corn and fruit, but is ex¬
pofed to violent winds. E. Long. 4. 49. N. Lat. 44. 9.
Maurice Prince of ORANGE. See MAURICE.
0-RANGE River, alfo known by the name of the
P p 2 Great
ORA [ 300 ] ORA
Orange. Great river, is fituated in fouthern Africa, and is of
v confiderable extent. It feetns to take its rife about S.
Lat. 30°, and E. Long. 28° from Greenwich, and joins
the fea, after a weft by north courfe for a number of
leagues, between the great and little Namaquas, two
tribes fuppofed to be of the fame origin with the Hot¬
tentots. There are high cataradts in it, and it is fubjedt
to inundations like the Nile. Carnelians, calcedo-
nies, agates and variolites are found upon the (hores.
The rains in the great mountains along the foot of
which the Orange river runs, colledting their ftreams in
its paffage, commence in the month of November, and
caufe the inundations to take place towards the Namaqua
country in the month of December. The naufeous
cuftom of greafing the fkin, from the great fcarcity of
water in many parts of South Africa, is rendered un-
neceifary among the people who inhabit the banks of
this grand river 5 and of confequence they exhibit none
of that filthy appearance which is charadteriftic of the
Hottentots on the ikirts of the colony.
OfiANGE-Tree, in Botany. See Citrus, Botany
Index.-—Orange flowers are juftly efteemed one of the
fineft perfumes; and though little ufed in medicine, yet
the water diftilled from them is accounted ftomachic,
cordial, and carminative. The fruit is cooling, and
good in feverilh diforders, and particularly in diarrhoeas.
Orange-peel is an agreeable aromatic, proper to repair
and ftrengthen the ftomach, and gives a very grateful
flavour to any infufions or tindlures into whofe eom-
pofitions it enters. It is particularly ufeful in pre¬
parations of the bark : gives an agreeable warmth to
the infufion ; and, according to Dr Percival, confider-
ably increafes its virtue.
In the Philofophical Tranfadtions, N°il4. there is
a very remarkable account of a tree Handing in a grove
near Florence, having an orange flock, which had been
fo grafted upon, that it became in its branches, leaves,
fjowers, and fruit, three-formed : fome emulating the
orange, fome the lemon or citron, and fome partaking
of both forms in one; and what was very remarkable
was, that thefe mixed fruits never produced any perfedl
feeds: fometimes there were no feeds at all in them, and
fometimes only a few empty ones.
ORANGE-Dew, a kind of dew which falls in the
fpring time from the leaves of orange and lemon trees,
which is extremely fine and fubtile. M. de la Hire ob-
ferving this, placed fome flat pieces of glafs under the
leaves to receive it: and having procured fome large
drops of it, was defirous of difeovering what it was.
He foon found that it was not merely an aqueous fluid,
becaufe it did not evaporate in the air ; and that it was
not a refin, becaufe it readily and perfe&ly mixed with
water: it was natural then to fuppofe it a liquid gum ;
but neither did this, on examination, prove to be the
cafe ; for being laid on paper, it did not dry as the
other liquid gums do. Its anfwering to none of thefe
characters, and its being of the confiftence of honey,
and of a fweet fugar-like tafte, gave a fufpicion of its
being a kind of manna; and whatever in the other
trials had proved it not a refin, a gum, &c. all equally
tends to prove that it is this fubfianee.
ORANGE, Sea, in Natural Hijlory, a name given by
Count Marfigli to a very remarkable fpecies of marine
fubftance, which he denominates a plant. It is tough
and firm in its ftruCture, and in many things refembles
4
the common fucus ; but inftead of growing in the Orange
branched form which the generality of thole fubftan- Oration,
ces have, it is round and hollow, and in every refpeCt '“■'V'—'
refembles the fhape of an orange. It has, by ivay of
root, fome exceeding fine filamehts, which fallen them,
felves to the rocks, or to fhells, ft ones, or any thing elfe
that comes in the way. From thefe there grows no
pedicle ; but the body of the orange, as it is called,
is faftened by them to the rock, or other folid fub¬
ftance. The orange itfelf is ufually of about three or
four inches in diameter; and while in the fea, is full
of water, and even retains it when taken up. In this
ftate it frequently weighs a pound and a half; but
when the water is let out, and it is dried, it becomes
a mere membrane, weighing fcarce any thing. It is
beft preferved, by fluffing it with cotton as foon as
the water is let out of it, and then hanging it up to
dry. Its furface is irregular and rough, and its colour
a dulky green on the outfide, and a clearer but fome-
what bluifh green within ; and its thicknefs is about
an eighth part of an inch. When viewed by the mi-
crofcope, it is feen to be all over covered with fmall
glandules, or rather compofed of them ; for they Hand
fo thick one by another as to leave no fpace between,
and feem to make up the whole fubftance; fo that it
appears very like the rough lhagreen Ikin ufed to co¬
ver toys. Thefe are indeed fo many hollow duds,
through which the fea-water finds a palfage into the
globe formed by this Ikin, and by this means it is
kept always full and diftended ; on cutting it with a
pair of feiflars, the water immediately runs out, and
the fkins collapfe ; but there is fomething extremely re¬
markable in this, for the whole fubftance, near the
wounded place, is in motion, and feems as if alive, and
fenfible of the wound. The glandules are found full
of water, and refembling fmall tranfparent bottles; and
what goes to the ftrudure of the plant befide thefe, is
an affemblage of a vaft number of filaments, all which
are likewife hollow, and filled with a clear and tranfpa¬
rent fluid.
There is another fubftance of this kind, mentioned
and deferibed by Count Marfigli, Triumfetti, and
others, and called the ramofe .or branched orange.
This is very much of the nature of the former ; but
inftead of confifting of one round globule, it is formed
of feveral oblong ones all joined together, and repre-
fenting the branches of fome of the fucufes, only they
are fliorter; and thefe are all hollow and full of water, '
in the fame manner as the fingle globes of the com¬
mon kind. This has, by way of root, certain fine-
and flender filaments, which faften it to the ftones or
ftiells near which it is produced ; and it is of a dulky
greenilh colour on the furface, and of a fine bluiih
green within. The furface, viewed by the microfcope,
appears rough, as in the other, and the glandules are
of the fame kind, and are always found full of clear
water.
ORATION, in Rhetoric, a fpeech or harangue,
compofed according to the rules of oratory, but fpoken
in public. Orations may be reduced to three kinds,
viz. the demonftrative, deliberative, and judicial. To
the demonftrative kind belong panegyrics, genethliaca,
epithalamia, congratulations, &c. To the deliberative
kind belong perfuafion, exhortation, &c. And to the
judicial, kind belong accufation,. confutation, &c.
Funeral
ORA [ 301 ] O R . A
Oration, Funeral ORATION. See FUNERAL Oration.
Orator. ORATOR, among the Romans, differed from a
-'■'V"—”'patronus: The latter was allowed only to plead caufes
on behalf of his clients } whereas the former might
quit the forum and afcend the roftra or tribunal, to
harangue the fenate or the people. The orators had
rarely a profound knowledge of the law, but they
■were eloquent, and their ilyle was generally correct
and concife. They were employed in caufes of im¬
portance, inftead of the common patrons. Orators
in the violence of elocution ufed all the warmth of
gefture, and even walked back-wards and forwards with
great heat and emotion. This it was which occafion-
ed a witticifm of Flavius Virginius, who afked one of
thofe walking orators, ^uot millia pajjuum declamdjfet?
“ How many MILES he had declaimed ?” Similar to
the Roman orators were the Grecian Rhetores. See
Rhetores.
Public ORATOR, an office of very confiderable dig¬
nity, and of fome emolument, in the Englifh univerfi-
ties.
The public orator is the principal, and in many cafes
the only oflenfible, agent for the univerfity, in all thofe
matters or forms which are merely external. He carries
on or fuperintends all correfpondences which are calcu¬
lated to promote the dignity, or raife the utility, of
the feminary which conftitutes him. He has little to
do, indeed, with the internal government of the body,
for which a variety of officers in different departments
are appointed •, but in all public affairs he is, as it were,
the mouth of the whole 5 puttihg their deliberations
into proper form, and communicating or publithing
them, according to the intention of the univerfity.
Thus, if the whole univerfity, or a committee appoint¬
ed by them, or by ftatute, or by the will of any parti-
eular benefaftor, have, after a comparative trial, ad¬
judged a prize to any perfon or perfons, it is the bufi-
nefs of the public orator to inform the fuccefsful parties
of the iffue of the trial. Again, If for fingular learn¬
ing, or for any remarkable good will Ihown to the uni¬
verfity by any perfon or perfons, the fenate or convocation
are pleafed to declare their grateful fenfe of it either by
conferring degrees, or otherwife, as they think fit, the
public orator is to notify this intention to the perfon or
perfons concerned ", and fo in other cafes.
Another part of the public orator’s bufinefs is to
prefent young noblemen, or thofe who take honorary
degrees, tanqiuim nobiles, to the vice chancellor 5 this Orator,
he does in a Latin fpeech, which, according to cir- , Qratur^
cumftances, is either ffiort or long ", and of which the
fubjedt is generally a defence of that particular ftatute
which allows the fons of noblemen, and fome few others,
to proceed to degrees before what is called theJlatuta-
ble time* In doing this, encomiums, often ftronger than
juft, are made upon the learning and virtue of the no¬
ble candidate ; a view is taken of the dignity of his an¬
cient houfe j the honour is mentioned which has accru¬
ed to the univerfity from the acceflion of fuch a mem¬
ber ; and the oration concludes with promifing great
credit from his future condudl, as well as benefit from
the influence of his rank in the ftate. Thefe circum-
ftances are deemed fufficient grounds for exempting the
fons of noblemen from that tedious courfe of ftudy,
through which the duller fons of commoners muft all
pafs before they be thought worthy of academical
honours.
ORATORIO, in the Italian mulic, a fort of facred
drama of dialogues j containing recitatives, duettos,
trios, ritornelh>, chorufes, &c. The fubjefts of thofe
pieces are ufually taken from Scripture, or the life of
fome faint, &c. The mufic for the oratorios ftiould be
in the fineft tafte and beft chofen ftrains. Thefe ora¬
torios are greatly ufed at Rome in the time of Lent,
and of late in England.
Meneftrier attributes the origin of oratorios to the
crufades, and fays that the pilgrims returning from Je-
rufalem and the Holy Land, &c. compofed fongs recit¬
ing the life and death of the Son of God, and the myfte-
ries of the Chriftian faith, and celebrating the achieve¬
ments and conftancy of faints and martyrs. Others,
with more probability, obferve, that the oratorio was
an avowed imitation of the opera, with only this differ¬
ence, that the foundation of it was always fome religi¬
ous or at leaft fome moral fubject. Crefcimbeni aferibes
its origin to San Filippo Neri, who was born at Flo¬
rence in 1515, and who, in his chapel after fermons, and
other devotions, in order to allure young people to pi¬
ous offices, had hymns, pfalms, and fuch like prayers,
fung by one or more voices. Among the Ipiritual
fongs were dialogues } and thefe entertainments becom¬
ing more frequent, and improving every year, were the
occafion that in the feventeeth century oratorios were
firft inyented, fo called from the place of their origim „
See H(\whins')s Hijlory of Mujic,
ORATORY;
THE ART OF SPEAKING WELL UPON ANY SUBJECT, IN ORDER TO PERStJADE.
INTRODUCTION.
§ I. Of the Rife and Progrefs of Oratory.
1  
T1'e<ngin-rTTHE invention of orafbry is, by the Egyptians, and
of the art- X the fables of the poets, aferibed to Mercury. And
oratory. js Ayejj that the Greeks made their deities the
authors likewife of other arts, and fuppofed that they
prefided over them. Hence they gave Mercury the
titles of A«y(«s and both which names come from
words that fignify “ to fpeak.” And Ariftides calls
eloquence the gift of Mercury; and for the fame reafon
anciently the tongue was confecrated to him. He was
likewife faid to be the interpreter or meflenger of the
gods •, which office very well fuited him, as he excelled
in eloquence. Hence we read in the Sacred Writings,
that when the people of Lyftra took Barnabas and Paul
for gods in human ifiape, becaufe of that hidden and fur-
prifing cure which was wrought upon the lame man,
they
302
ORATORY.
tliey called Barnabas Jupiter, and Paul Mercury; for
this reafon, as the infpired writer tells us, ‘ becaufe he
was the chief fpeaker,’ that is (as the fpeclators then
thought), the interpreter or fpokefman of Barnabas.
But to pafs over thefe fidtions of the heathen deities,
‘let us hear what Quintilian fays of the origin of this art \
who feems to give a very probable account of it in the
following paffage. “ The faculty of fpeech (fays he)
we derive from nature (a) j but the art from obferva-
tion. For as in phyfic, men, by feeing that fome things
promote health, and others deftroy it, formed the art
upon thofe obfervations; in like manner, by perceiving
that fome things in difcourfe are faid to advantage, and
others not, they accordingly marked thofe things, in
order to imitate the one and avoid the other. They al-
fo added fome things from their own reafon and judge¬
ment, which, being confirmed - by ufe, they began to
teach others what they knew themfelves.” But no
certain account can be given when, or by whom, this
method of obfervation firft began to take place. And
Ariflotle fuppofes, not without reafon, that the firft li¬
neaments of the art "were very rude and imperfcdt.
Paufanias, indeed, in his Defcription of Greece, tells us,
that Pittheus, the uncle of Thefeus, taught it at Tree,
zene, a city of Peloponnefus, and wrote a book concern¬
ing it, which he read himfelf, as it was publifhed by one
of Epidaurus. But as Pittheus lived about 1000 years
before Paufanias, who flouriftied in the time of the em¬
peror Hadrian, fome are of opinion he might be im-
pofed upon by the Epidaurian, who publiflied this book
under the name of Pittheus. But be that as it will, it
is very reafonable to believe, that the Greeks had the
principles of this art fo early as the time of Pittheus.
For Thefeus his nephew lived not long before the ta¬
king of Troy, which, according to Sir Ifaac New'ton,
happened 904 years before the birth of Chrift j at which
time Cicero thought it was in much efteem among them.
“ Homer (fays he) would never have given Ulyfles and
Neftor in the Trojan war fo great commendations on
account of their fpeeches (to one of -whom he attributes
force, and to the other fweetnefs of expreflion), if elo¬
quence had not in thofe times been in great repute.”
And left any one fhould imagine, that in thofe days
they made ufe only of fuch helps as nature and praftice
could afford them, the fame poet informs us, that Pe-
leus fent Phoenix with his fon Achilles to the Trojan
war, to inftruft him not only in the art of rvar, but
likewife of eloquence. But who were the profeffors of
this art for fome ages following is not known. For
Quintilian fays, that afterwards Empedocles is the firft
upon record who attempted any thing concerning it.
And h#^ by Sir Ifaac Newton’s account, flourilhed
about 500 years after Troy was taken. At which time,
as Cicero obferves, men being now fenfible of the power¬
ful charms of oratory, and the influence it had upon the
mind, there immediately arofe feveral mafters of it; the
chief of whom are mentioned by Quintilian, who tells
us, that ‘ the oldeft writers -upon this art are Corax and
Tifias, both of Sicily. After them came Gorgias of
Introd,
Leontium in the fame ifland, who is faid tohiave been
the fcholar of Empedocles, and by reafon of his great
age (for he lived to be 109 years old) had many cotem- 2
poraries. Thrafymachus of Chalcedon, Prodicus of Cea, Orators of
Protagoras of Abdera, Hippias of Elis, and Alcidamus Greece.
of Elea, lived in his time ; as likewife Antiphon, who
firft wrote orations, and alfo upon the art, and is faid to
have fpoken admirably well in his own defence ; and
befides thefe, Polycrates, and Theodore of Byzantium.’
Thefe perfons contributed different ways towards the
improvement of the art. Corax and Tifias gave rules
for methodizing a difcourfe, and adjufting its particular
parts ; as may be conjectured from Cicero’s account of
them, who fays, “ Though fome had fpoke well before
their time, yet none with order and method.” But
■Gorgias feems to have excelled all the reft in fame and
reputation : for he was fo highly applauded by all
Greece, that a golden ftatue w’as erefted to him at Del-
phos, which wras a diftinguiftiing honour conferred upon
him only. And he is faid to have been fo great a ma¬
iler of oratory, that in a public affembly he would un¬
dertake to declaim immediately upon any fubjedf pro-
pofed to him. He wrote, as Cicero informs us, in the
demonftrative or laudatory way ; which requires moft
of the fublime, and makes what Diodorus Siculus favs
of him the more probable, that “ he firft introduced the
ftrongeft figures, members of periods oppofite in fenfe-,
of an equal length, or ending with a like found, and
other ornaments of that nature.” And hence thofe fi¬
gures, Avhich give the greateft force and luftre to a dif¬
courfe, were anciently called by his name. Cicero tells
us further, that Thrafymachus and Gorgias were the
firft who introduced numbers into profe, which Ifocrates
afterwards brought to perfection. Quintilian likewife
mentions Pratagoras, Gorgias, Prodicus, and Thrafy¬
machus, as the firft who treated of common places, and
ftiowed the ufe of them for the invention of arguments.
Nor muft wemmit Plato, whofe elegant dialogue upon
this fubjeft is ftill extant, which he entitles Gorgias.
For though he does not lay down the common rules of
the art; yet he very well explains the nature of it, and
maintains its true end and ufe againft the generality of
its profeffors, who had greatly perverted the original de-
fign of it. Thus by the ftudy and induftry of fo many
ingenious and great men, the art of oratory was then
carried to a confiderable height among the Grecians :
though many of thofe who profeffed it in thofe times
employed their Ikill rather to promote their own reputa¬
tion and applaufe, than to ferve the real interefts of
truth and virtue. “ For they propofed in an arrogant
manner (as Cicero fays) to teach how a bad caufe might
be fo managed, as to get the better of a good one.”
That is, they 'would undertake to charm the ears and
ftrike the pafllons of their hearers in fo powerful a man¬
ner, by fophiftical reafonings, turns of wit, and fine
language, as to impofe falfehood upon them for truth :
than which nothing could be either more difingenuous
in itfelf, or prejudicial to fociety.
But thofe who fucceeded them feem to-have confult-
ed
(a) If Quintilian meant that the human race fpeak an articulate language by nature or inftincl, he certainly
deceived himfelf (fee Language) ; but if his meaning was only that men have from nature a capability of
fpeech, the obfervation is true, but not of much value. Parrots and other birds have a capability of uttering ar¬
ticulate founds.
Introd.
3
Piife and
progrcfs of
oratory in
Home.
O R A T O R Y.
ed better, botb for their own honour and that of their
profeffion. Ifocrates was the moil; renowned of all Gor¬
dias’s fcholars, whom Cicero frequently extols with the
Jiigheft commendations, as the greateft mailer and
teacher of oratory 5 “ whofe fehool (as he fays) like the
Trojan horfe, fent forth abundance of great men.” A-
rillotle was chiefly induced to engage in this province
from an emulation of his glory j and would often fay
in a verfe of Sophocles, fomewhat varied to his pur-
pofe,
To be filent it is a fliame ;
While Ifocrates gets fuch fame.
Quintilian fays they both wrote upon the art, though
there is no fyllem of the former now extant. But that
of Arillotle is elteemed the bell and moll complete of
any in the Greek language. In this age the Grecian
eloquence appeared in its highelt perfe6tion. Demof-
thenes was a hearer both of Ifocrates and Plato, as alfo
of I feus (ten of whofe orations are yet extant) ; and by
the afliftance of a furprifing genius, joined with indefa¬
tigable indullry, made that advantage of their precepts,
that he has been always elteemed by the bell judges the
prince of Grecian orators. His great adverfary and ri¬
val ALfchines, after his banilhment, is faid to have gone
to Rhodes, and employed his time there in teaching of
rhetoric. Theodedles and Theophraltus, both of them
fcholars of Aritlotle, imitated their mailer in writing
upon the art. And from that time the philofophers,
efpecially the Stoics and Peripatetics, applied them-
felves to lay down the rules of oratory •, which Socrates
had before feparated from the province of a philofopher.
And there is yet preferved a treatife upon this fubjedl,
which fome have afcribed to Demetrius Phalereus the
Peripatetic, and fcholar of Theophrallus, though others
more probably to Dionyfius of Halicarnaffus. Quinti¬
lian mentions feveral other famous rhetoricians in the
following ages, who were like vile writers: As Plerma-
goras, Athenaeus, Apollonius Melon, Areus Caecrlius,
Dionyfius of Halicarnaffus, Apollonius of Pergamus,
and Theodore of Gadara. But of thefe nothing now
remains upon the fubjefl of oratory, except fome tradls
of Dionyfius, who flourilhed in the reign of Augullus
Ctefar. ' Nor have there been wanting fome eminent
writers of this kind among the Greeks finee the time of
Quintilian ; two of whom we cannot omit to mention,
Hermogeties, and Longinus the author of the incompa¬
rable treatife Of the Sublime, a book which can fierce¬
ly be too much commended or too often read.
It was long before Rome received this art, and not
without difficulty at firft. The reafon was, becaufe the
Romans were for feveral ages wholly addifled to milita¬
ry affairs, and to enlarge their territories •, fo that they
not only neglefted to cultivate learning, but thought
the purfuit of it a thing of ill tendency, by diverting
the minds of their youth from the cares and toils of war,
to a more fbft and indolent kind of life. Therefore fo
late as the year of their city 592, when by the indullry
of fome Grecians the liberal arts began to flourilh in
Italy, a decree paffed the fenate, by which all philofo¬
phers and rhetoricians were ordered to depart out of
Rome. But in a few years after, when Carneades, Cri-
tolaus, and Diogenes, who were not only philofophers
but orators, came ambaffadors from A.thens to Rome,
the Roman youth were fo charmed with the eloquence
of their harangues, that they could no longer be llopt
from purfuing the Itudy of oratory. And by a further
acquaintance with the Greeks, it foon gained fuch
eileem, that perfons of the firlt quality employed their
time and pains to acquire it. And a young gentleman,-
who. was ambitious to advance himfelf in the fervice of
his country, could have little hopes of fuccefe, unlefs he
had laid the foundation of his future profpedls in that
Itudy.
Seneca tells us, that Lucius Plotius, a Gaul, xvas the
firlt who taught the art of oratory at Rome in Latin ;
which, Cicero fays, was while he was a boy j and when
the moll Itudious perfons went to hear him, he lament¬
ed that he could not go with them; being prevented by
the regard he paid to the opinion of fome of his friends,
who thought that greater improvements were made by
exercifes in the Greek language under Grecian mailers.
Seneca adds, that this profeflion continued for fome time
in the hands of freedmen ; and that the firlt Roman
who engaged in it was Blandus of the equeltrian order,
"who was lucceeded by others y fome of whofe lives are
yet extant, written by Suetonius, as many of the Gre¬
cians are by Philoltratus and Eunapius. Quintilian like-
wife gives us the names of thofe among the Romans, who
wrote upon the art. “ The firlt (lays he) as far as I
can learn, who compofed any thing upon this argument,
was M. Cato the cenfor. After him Antony the ora¬
tor began upon the fubjeft, which is the only work he
has left, and that imperfedt. Then tallowed fome of
lefs note. But he who carried eloquence to its highelt
pitch among us, wTas Cicero ; who has likewife by his
rules given the belt plan both to praftife and teach the
art. After whom modelty would require us to mention
no more, had he not told us himfelf that his books of
rhetoric llipt out of his hands, while he was but a youth.
And thofe leffer things, which many perfons want, he
has purpofely omitted in his difeourfes of oratory. Cor-
nifieius wrote largely upon the fame fubjedl ; Stertinius
and Gallic the father, each of them fomething. But
Celfus and Lenas were more accurate than Gallio; and
in our times Virginius, Pliny, and Rutilius. And there
are at this day fome celebrated authors of the fame kind,
who, if they had taken in every thing, might have fa-
ved my pains.” Time has fince deprived us of moll of
the writers mentioned here by Quintilian. But we have
the lefs reafon to regret this lofs, fince it has preferved
to us Cicero’s treatifes upon this lubject ; which we may
well fuppofe to have been chiefly owing to their own
excellency, and the great elleem they have always had
in the world. Befides his Two books of Invention,
which Quintilian here calls his Books of Rhetoric, there
are extant of his, Three books of an Orator; one Of
famous Orators ; and another, which is called The Ora¬
tor ; as alfo his Topics, a preface Concerning the bell
fort of Orators, and a treatile Of the parts of Oratory.
Each of which treatifes, whether we regard thejullnefs
and delicacy of the thoughts, the ufefulnefs of the rules,
or the elegance and beauty of the llyle, deferves to be
frequently perufed by all who are lovers of eloquence.
For who can be thought fo w'ell qualified to give the
rules of any art, as he who excelled all mankind in the
practice of them ? But thofe Four Books to Herennius,
which are publilhed among Cicero’s works, feem with
good reafon to be attributed to Cornificius, whom Quin¬
tilian here mentions. And Celfus is by fome affirmed
to
3°3
3^4
to have taught oratory, whom he alfo places among the
rhetoricians, and whole Eight Books of Medicine are
yet extant, written in fo beautiful a ftyle as,plainly
thows him to be a mailer of eloquence. But Quintilian
himfelf outdid all who went before him in diligence and
accuracy as a writer. His Inllitutions are fo compre-
henlive, and written with fuch great exa£bnefs and
pudgment, that they are generally allowed to be the
moll perfe6l work of the kindi With this excellent
author we lhall finilh the account of the Latin rhetori¬
cians.
There were indeed fome others in the following ages,
whofe works are yet extant *, but as they contain nothing
of moment which is not to be found in thofe already
mentioned, we lhall forbear to name them. Much lefs
lhall we defcend to that numerous body of writers, who
fince the revival of learning have treated upon this fub-
* \ hi)) ic<^’ f°r ^1C **ame reaf°n- And a very good judge * has
Cambray, not long lince given it as his opinion, that the method
Lett,]). 213. o{ forming the bell fyltem of oratory, is to colleft it
from the finell precepts of Aridotle, Cicero, Quintilian,
Longinus, and other celebrated authors; with proper
examples taken from the choiceft parts of the purell an¬
tiquity. And this is the method attempted to be pur-
fued in the following treatife.
§ 2. Of the Nature of Oratory.
The terms rhetoric and oratory, having no other dif¬
ference but that one is taken from the Greek language
and the other from the Latin, may be ufed promifeu-
oufly ; but the cafe is not the fame with refpeft to the
words rhetorician and orator. For although the Gre¬
cians ufed the former, both to exprefs thofe who taught
the art, and thofe who pra£lifed it yet the Romans af¬
terward, when they took that word into their language,
confined it to the teachers of the art, and called the reft
orators. And there feems to have been a fufficient rea-
fon for this dillinftion, fmee the art was the fame in
both, and might therefore go by either name : but the
different province of rhetoricians and orators made it not
improper that they Ihould be called by different names.
Betides, anciently, before rhetoric was made a feparate
and diftimft art from philofophy, the fame perfons taught
both. And then they were called not only rhetoricians
but fophijls. But becaufe they often employed their art
rather to vindicate what was falfe and unjuft, than to
fupport truth and virtue; this difingenuous condmft,
by which they frequently impofed upon weak minds,
brought a diferedit both upon themfelves and their pro-
feftion. And therefore the name fophift or fophijier, has
been more generally ufed in an ill fenfe, to fignify one
{killed rather in the arts of cavilling, than qualified to
fpeak well and accurately upon any fubjedl.
Oratory an It is not neceffary to ufe many words, to prove that
art. oratory is an art. For it is comprifed under certain
rules, agreeable to reafon, delivered in a regular me¬
thod, and fuited to attain the end it propofes *, which
are chara&ers fufficient to denominate it an art. In¬
deed the cafe is the fame here as in mod other things,
that a good genius is of itfelf more ferviceable than
the moft exaft acquaintance with all the rules of art,
where that is wanting. But it is fufficient that art
help nature, and carry it farther than it can otherwife
advance without it. And he who is defirous to gain the
Introd
reputation of a good orator, will find the afliftance of
art very neceffary. Some perfons have thought, that
many of the common fyftems written upon the fubje£l
of oratory have been attended with this inconvenience,
that, by burdening the mind with too great a number of
rules about things of lefs importance, they have often¬
times rather difeouraged than promoted the ftudy of elo¬
quence. This undoubtedly is an extreme which Ihould
be always carefully avoided. But, however, an indif¬
ferent guide in a ftrange road is better than none at all.
It may be worth while to hear Quintilian’s opinion up¬
on this head. “ I would not (fays he) have young per¬
fons think they are fufficiently inftrufted, if they have
learned one of thofe compends which are commonly
handed about, and fancy themfelves fafe in the decrees,
as it w7ere, of thefe technical writers. The art of fpeak-
ing requires much labour, conftant ftudy, a variety of
exercife, many trials, the greateft prudence, and readi-
nefs of thought. However, thefe treatifes are ufeful,
when they fet you in a plain and open way, and do not
confine you to one narrow track, from which he who
thinks it a crime to depart mull move as flowly as one
that wplks upon a rope.” We fee he is not for having
us confine ourfelves too clofely to fyftems, though he
thinks they are of fervice at firft, till ufe and experience
render them lefs neceffary. ^
The bufinefs of oratory is to teach us to fpeak well yTheobje<!
which, as Cicero explains it, is to fpeak juJUy, methodi- of it.
ca//y, for idly, and copioufy.
Now, in order to fpeak jufly, or pertinently, a per-
fon mult be mailer of his fubje£t, that he may be able to
fay all that is proper, and avoid Avhatever may appear
foreign and trifling. And he mull clothe his thoughts
with fuch Avords and expreflions as are moft fuited to the
nature of the argument, and Avill give it the greateft
force and evidence.
And as it teaches to fpeak juftly, fo likeAvife metho¬
dically. This requires, that all the parts of a difeourfe
be placed in their proper order, and Avith fuch juii con¬
nexion, as to refie£l a light upon each other, and
thereby to render the Avhole both clear in itfelf, and
eafy to be retained. But the fame method is not pro¬
per for all difeourfes. And very frequently a different
manner is convenient in handling the fame fubjefl.
For it is plain, that art, as Avell as nature, loves variety *,
and it difeovers the fpeaker’s judgment, Avhen the dif-
pofition of his difeourfe is fo framed, as to appear eafy
and natural, rather than the effedl of induftry and la¬
bour.
To fpeak foridly, is fo peculiar a property of this art,
that fome have Avholly confined it to the pomp and or¬
naments of language. But that it extends farther, and
refpedls things as w ell as Avords, sve lhall have oceafion
to IhoAV hereafter. It contains indeed the whole fubjedl
of elocution, but does not wholly confift in it. True
and folid eloquence requires not only the beauties and
flowers of language, but likewife the bell fenfe and
cleared: reafoning. Befides, rhetoric gives rules for the
feveral forts of ftyle, and diredls the ufe of them agree¬
ably to the nature of the fubjedl.
But the force of oratory appears in nothing more than
a copioufnefs of expreflion, or a proper manner of en¬
largement, fuited to the nature of the fubje6l j which is
of great ufe in perfuafion, and forms the laft property,
required by Cicero, of fpeaking well. A Ihort and con-
ORATORY.
Introd. O R A r
cife account of things is often attended with obfcurity,
from an omiffion of fome neceflfary circumftances rela¬
ting to them. Or, however, where that is not the cafe,
yet for want of proper embellifhments to enliven the dif-
-courfe, and thereby to excite and fix the hearers atten¬
tion, it is apt to flip through their minds without lea¬
ving any impreffion. But where the images of things
are drawn in their full proportion, painted in their pro¬
per colours, fet in a clear light, and reprefented in dif¬
ferent views, with all the llrength and beauties of elo¬
quence, they captivate the minds of the audience with
the higheft pleafure, engage their attention, and by an
irrefiftible force move and bend them to the defign of
the fpeaker.
The principal end and defign of oratory is to per-
fuade : for which reafon it is frequently called the art
of perfnajion. Indeed the orator has often other fubor-
dinate views *, as when he endeavours either to delight
his hearers with what is pleafant and agreeable, or to
conciliate their good opinion by a fmooth and artful ad-
drefs : but ftill both thefe are in order to perfuade and
excite them to action.
An objedlion may, perhaps, hence be formed againft
eloquence, as an art which may be employed for per-
fuading to ill as well as to good. There is no doubt
that it may ; and fo reafoning may alfo be, and too of¬
ten is, employed for leading men into error. But who
would think of forming an argument from this againft
the cultivation of our reafoning powrers ? Reafon, elo¬
quence, and every art which ever has been ftudied
among mankind, may be abufed, and may prove dan¬
gerous in the hands of bad men : but it were perfedtly
childilh to contend, that upon this account they ought
to be abolifhed.
While the orator employs his art in purfuing only
thofe ends for which it was at firft defigned, the per-
fuading men to good and virtuous adtions, and diffua-
ding them from every thing that is ill and vicious 5 no¬
thing can be more commendable in itfelf, or ufeful to
•human focieties.
part 1: OF
Chap. I. Of Invention in general; and particularly
cf Common Places, and State of a Caufe.
7.
nvention INVENTION, confidered in general, is the difco-
very of fuch things as are proper to perfuade. And in
uch things order to attain this end, the orator propofes to himfelf
Is are fitted three things : To prove or illuftrate the fubjedt upon
'<J perfuade. which he treats 5 to conciliate the minds of his hearers;
and to engage their pttfiions in his favour. And as thefe
require different kinds of arguments or motives, inven¬
tion furniihes him with a fupply for each of them* as
will be fit own in their order.
An argument, as defined by Cicero, is a reafon
which induces us to believe what before we doubted
of.
And as different kinds of difcourfes require different
arguments, rhetoricians have confidered them two ways;
in general, under certain heads, as a common fund for
all fubjedts ; and, in a more particular manner, as they
VQL. XV. Part I.
' ° R Y. 30
§ 3* Of ^IC Divifon of Oratory.
8
Oratory confifts of four parts ; invention, difpoftion, Oratory
elocution, and pronunciation. This will appear by con- cotlfifts °f
fidering the nature of each of them, and what it contri-four parts'
butes in forming an orator. Every one who aims to
fpeak well and accurately upon any fubjedt, does natu¬
rally in the firft place inquire after and purfiie fuch
thoughts as may ftem moft proper to explain and illuf¬
trate the thing upon which lie deligns to difcourfe.
And if the nature of it requires that he Ihould bring
reafons to confirm what he fays, he not only feeks the
ftrongeft, and fuch as are like to be beft received ; but
alfo prepares to anfwer any tiling which may be offered
to the contrary. This is invention.—After this he de¬
liberates with himfelf in what method to difpofe of thofe
things which have occurred to his mind, that they may
appear in the plaineft light, and not lofe their force by
diforder and confufion.—This is the bufinefs of difpof¬
tion.—His next concern is to give his thoughts an
agreeable drefs ; by making choice of the fitteft words,
cleareft expreffions, fmooth and harmonious periods,
with other ornaments of ftyle, as may beft fuit the na¬
ture of his fubjedt, brighten his difcourfe, and render it
moft entertaining to his hearers. And this is called
elocution.—The laft thing he attends to, is to deliver
what he has thus compofed, with a juft and agreeable
pronunciation. And daily experience convinces us, how
much this contributes both to engage the attention and
imprefs what is fpoken upon the mind. This then is the
method of which nature diredts, in order to qualify our-
felves for difeourfing to the beft advantage : Though
by cuftom and habit thefe things become fo familiar to
us, that we do not always attend to them feparately in
their natural order. However, it is the bufinefs of art
to follow nature, and to treat of things in that manner
which ftie didtates.
INVENTION.
are fuited to demonf native, deliberative, or judicial dif-
courfes. At prefent xve (hall treat only upon the form¬
er of thefe. And now, that one thing may receive
proof and confirmation from another, it is neceffary that
there be feme relation between them ; for all things are
not equally adapted to prove one another. Thus, in
meafuring the quantity of two things which we would
fiiow to be either equal or unequal, if they are of fuch
a nature that one cannot be applied to the other, then
we take a third thing, which may be applied to them
both ; and that muft be equal at leaft to one of the twor
which if applied to the other, and found equal to that
alfo, we prefently conclude that thefe two things are
equal ; but if it be unequal to the other, we fay that
thefe two things are unequal. Becaufe it is the certain
and known property of all quantities, that whatfoever
two things are equal to a third, are equal to one afi-
other ; and where one of any two things is equal to a
third, and the other unequal, thofe two things are un¬
equal to one another. What has been faid of quantities,
Q, q will
3o5 ORATORY. Part I.
Invention, will hold true in all other cafes, that fo far as any two
v ; things or ideas agree to a third, fo far they agree to one
another. So likewife, on the contrary, as far as one
of any two things or ideas does agree to a third, and the
other does not, lo far they difagree with one another j
in -which refpeft, one of them cannot be truly affirmed
of the other. Since, therefore, in every propofition,
one thing is fpoken of another, if we would find out
whether the two ideas agree to each other or not, where
this is not evident of itfelf, we muft find out fome third
thing, the idea of which agrees to one of them ; and
then that being applied to the other, as it does agree or
difagree with it, fo we may conclude, that the two
things propofed do agree or difagree Avith one another.
This will be made more clear by an example or tA\ro.
Should it be inquired, Whether virtue is to he loved;
the argument between virtue and love might be found
by comparing them feparately with happinefs, as a com¬
mon meafure to both. For fince the idea of happinefs
agrees to that of love, and the idea of virtue to that of
happinefs •, it follows, that the ideas of virtue and love
agree to one another : and therefore it may be affirmed,
That virtue is to be loved. But, on the contrary, be-
caufe the idea of mifery difagrees Avith that of love, but
the idea of vice agrees to that of mifery, the tAvo ideas
of vice and love muft confequently difagree Avith one
8 another ; and therefore it Avould be falfe to affert, That
Thefe call- vice is to he loved. Noav, this third thing logicians call
ed argu- ^ me(lium, or middle term, becaufe it does as it Avere
conneft Iavo extremes; that is, both parts of a pro¬
pofition. But rhetoricians call it an argument, be¬
caufe it is fo applied to Avhat Avas before propofed, as
to become the inftrument of procuring our aflent to
it. Thus far as to the nature and ufe of arguments.
We lhall next explain by what methods they are to be
fought.
A lively imagination, and readinefs of thought, are
undoubtedly a very great help to invention. Some
perfons are naturally endued Avith that quicknefs of
fancy, and penetration of mind, that they are feldom
at a lofs for arguments either to defend their oavia opi¬
nions, or to attack their adverfaries. HoAvever, thefe
things being the gift of nature, and not to be gain¬
ed by art, do not properly fall under our prefent con-
^ fideration.
Learning It Avill be readily granted, that great learning and
necelTary to extenfive knoAvledge are a noble fund for invention,
an orator. therefore fhould be furniffied Avith a ftock of
important truths, folid maxims of reafon, and a variety
of knowledge, collefted and treafured up both from
obfervation and a large acquaintance Avith the liberal
arts, that he may not only be qualified to exprefs
himfelf in the moft agreeable manner, but likewife to
fupport Avhat he fays with the ftrongeft and cleareft
arguments.
But becaufe all are not born Avith a like happy
genius, and had not the fame opportunity to cultn'ate
their minds with learning and knowledge; and be¬
caufe nothing is more difficult than to dwell long
upon the confideration of one thing, in order to find
out the ftrongeft arguments Avhich may be offered for
and againft it} upon thele accounts, art has prefcribed
a method to leffen, in fome meafure, thefe difficulties,
and help every one to a fupply of arguments upon any
fubjeft. And this is done by the contrivance of com- Invention.
mon places, Avhich Cicero calls the feats or heads of ar-
gurnents, and by a Greek name topics. They are of two
forts, internal and external.
I. Internal topics. Though things, Avith regard toRdes^f ar!
their nature and properties, are exceedingly various, to fupply
yet they have certain common relations, by means the place o:i
avhereof the truth of what is either affirmed or denied^xten/lve
concerning them in any refpeft may be evinced. Thea^™n^or
ancient Greek rhetoricians therefore reduced thefe re-nius. ^
lations to fome general heads, Avhich are termed loci or
common places; becaufe the reafons or arguments fuited
to prove any propofition are repofited in them, as a
common fund or receptacle. And they are called in¬
ternal heads, becaufe they arife from the fubje6t upon
Avhich the orator treats *, and are therefore diftinguilh-
ed from others named external, which he fetches from
without, and applies to his prefent purpofe, as Avill be
ffioAvn hereafter. Cicero and Quintilian make them
16 ; three of Avhich comprehend the Avhole thing they
are brought to prove, namely, definition, enumeration,
and notation: of the remaining 13, fome contain a part
of it, and the reft its various properties and circumftan-
ces, Avith other confiderations relating to it 5 and thefe
are, genus,fpecies, antecedents, confequents, adjuncts, con¬
jugates, caufe, ejfeci, contraries, oppofites,jimilitude, dif-
fimilitude, and comparifon.
Definition explains the nature of the tiding defined,
and ffioAvs Avhat it is. And to A^hatfoever the defini¬
tion agrees, the thing defined does fo likeAvife. If
therefore Socrates be a rational creature, he is a man j
becaufe it is the definition of a man, that he is a rational
creature.
Enumeration takes in all the parts of a thing. And
from this Ave prove, that Avhat agrees to all the parts
agrees to the Avhole; and Avhat does not agree to any
one or more parts, does not agree to the whole : As
Avhen Cicero proves to Pifo that all the Roman ftate
hated him, by enumerating the feveral ranks and orders
of Roman citizens Avho all did fo.
Notation, or etymology, explains the meaning or fig-
nification of a Avord. From Avhich aac reafon thus : “If
he cannot pay his debts, he is infolvent j” for that is
the meaning of the word infolvent.
Genus is Avhat contains under it tAvo or more forts
of things, differing in nature. From this head logi¬
cians reafon thus: “ Becaufe every animal is mortal,
and man is an animal, therefore man is mortal.” But
orators make a further ufe of this argument, Avhich
they call afcending from the hypothefis to the thefis ; that
is, from a particular to a general: As ffiould a perfon,
when fpeaking in praife of juftice, take occafion from
thence to commend and (Iioav the excellency of virtue
in general, with a view to render that particular virtue
more amiable. For fince every fpecies contains in it the
Avhole nature of the genus to which it relates, befides
what is peculiar to itfelf, Avhereby it is diftinguiffiedfrom
it; what is affirmed of the genus, muft of neceffity be
applicable to the fpecies.
Species is that which comprehends under it all the
individuals of the fame nature. From hence Ave may
argue, “ He is a man, therefore he has a rational
foul.” And orators fometimes take occafion frcrn
this head to defcend from the thefis to- the hypothefis
that
Part I.
Invention, that is, in treating upon nliat is more general, to in-
troduce fome particular contained under it, for the
greater illuftration of the general.
Antecedents are fuch things, as, being once allowed,
others neceffarily, or very probably, follow. From this
head an infeparable property is proved from its fubjedt :
as, It is material, and therefore corruptible.
Confequcnts are fuch things as, being allowed, ne-
ceffarily or very probably infer their antecedents.
Hence the fubjedt is proved from an infeparable pro¬
perty, in this manner : It is corruptible, and therefore
material.
Adjun&s are feparable properties of things, or cir-
cumfiances that attend them. Thefe are very nume¬
rous, and afford a great variety of arguments, fome
of which ufually occur in every difcourfe. They do
not neceffarily infer their fubjedt *, but, if fitly chofen,
render a thing credible, and are a fafficient ground for
alfent. The way of reafoning from them we fhall fliow
prefently.
Conjugates are words deduced from the fame origin
with that of our fubjedt. By thefe the habit is proved
from its adts: as, He who does juftly is jufl. He does
not adt wifely, therefore he is not wife. But this infe¬
rence will not hold, unlefs the actions appear continued
and conftant.
A cauje is that, by the force of which a thing does
exift. There are four kinds of caufes, matter, form,
efficient, and end, which afford a great variety of argu¬
ments. The way of reafoning from them is to infer
the effedt from the caufe : as, Man is endued with rea-
fon, therefore he is capable of knowledge.
An ejfeB is that which arifes from a caufe, therefore
the caufe is proved by it: as, He is endued with know¬
ledge, therefore with reafon.
Contraries are things, which, under the fame genus,
are at the utmoft diflance from each other ; fo that
what we grant to the one, we utterly deny the other j
as, Virtue ought to be embraced, therefore vice fhould
be avoided.
Oppojites are fuch things, which, though repugnant
to each other, yet are not diredtly contradidlory ; as,
To love and to injure, to hate and to commend. They
differ from contraries in this, that they do not abfo-
lutely exclude one another. An argument is drawn from
things repugnant, thus : He will do a man a mifchief,
therefore he does not love him. He loves a man, there¬
fore he will not reproach him.
Similitude is an agreement of things in quality. Thus
Cicero proves, that pernicious citizens ought to be
taken out of the date, by the likenefs they bear to cor¬
rupted members, which are cut off to prevent further
damage to the body.
DiJJimilitude is a difagreement of things in quality.
From this head Cicero ihows the preference of his own
exile to Pifo’s government of Macedonia ; by the dif¬
ference between their conduft, and the people’s efteem
of them.
Cotnparifon is made three ways: for either a thing is
compared with a greater, with a lefs, or with its equal.
This place, therefore, differs from that of fimilitude
on this account, that the quality was confidered in that,
but here the quantity. An argument from the greater
is thus drawn : If five legions could not conquer the
enemy, much lefs will two.
ORATORY. 307
We fhall juft give one example of the manner of Invention.^
reafoning from thefe heads, whereby the ufe of them " '*
may farther appear. If any one, therefore, fliould mar,_
have endeavoured to perfuade Cicero not to accept ofnerofiea-
his life upon the condition offered him by Antony, toning from
That he would burn his Philippic orations which had t'ie^e
been fpoken againft him, he might be fuppofed to
ufe fuch arguments as thefe •, partly taken from the
'adjun&s' of Cicero, partly from thofe of Antony, and
partly from the thing itfelf. And firft, with regard to
Cicero, it might be faid, That fo great a man ought
not to purchafe his life at fo dear a price as the lofs of
that immortal honour which by fo great pains and
labour he had acquired. And this might be confirm¬
ed by another argument, That now he was grown
old, and could not expedt to live much longer. And
from the character of Antony he might argue thus j
That he was very crafty and deceitful; and only dc-
figned, by giving him hopes of life, to have the Phi¬
lippics firft burnt, which otherwife he knew would
tranfmit to poflerity an eternal brand of infamy upon
him, and then he would take off the author. And
this might be fhown by comparifon. For fince he
would not fpare others, who had not fo highly exaf-
perated him, and from whom he had not io much to
fear, certainly he would not forgive Cicero, fince he
knew well enough, that fo long as he lived, he him-
felf could never be in fafety. And, laftly, An argu¬
ment might alfo be fetched from the nature of the thing
itfelf in the following manner : That Cicero, by this ac¬
tion, would ffiamefuily betray the date, and the caufe of
liberty, which he had through his whole life mod cou-
rageoufly defended, with fo great honour to himfelf, and
advantage to the public. Upon fuch an account, a per-
fon might have ufed thefe or the like arguments with
Cicero, which arife from the fore-mentioned heads. I2
From this account of common places, it is eafy to They are
conceive what a large field of difcourfe they open to theof p0
mind upon every fubjeft. At the fame time, though we 'there"is
have mentioned them from our refped for the orators a prevjous
of Greece and Rome, we heartily fubfcribe to the opinion foundation
of a celebrated modern, who gives of them the follow-of learning
ing account.
and genius.
“ The Grecian fophids were the fird inventors of this
artificial fydem of oratory 5 and they fhowed a prodi¬
gious fubtility and fertility in the contrivance of thefe
loci. Succeeding rhetoricians, dazzled by the plan,
wrought them into fo regular a fydem, that one would
think they meant to teach how a perfon might mecha¬
nically become an orator, without any genius at all.
They gave him receipts for making fpeeches on all man¬
ner of fubjefts. At the fame time, it is evident, that Blair's
though this dudy of common places might produce very LtRuret*
diowy academical declamations, it could never produce
ufeful difeourfes on real bufinefs. The loci indeed fup-
plied a mod exuberant fecundity of matter. One who
had no other aim, but to talk copioudy and plaufibly,
by confulting them on every fubje<d, and laying hold of
all that they fuggeded, might difcourfe without end; and
that, too, though he had none but the mod fuperficial
knowledge of his fubjeU. But fuch difcourfe could be
no other than trivial. What is truly folid and per-
fuafive, mud be drawn ex vifeeribus caufee, from a
thorough knowledge of the fubjeft, and profound me¬
ditation on it. They who would direH dudents of ora-
0 q 2 torj‘
308 ORATOR Y. part
Invention, tory to any other fources of argumentation, only de-
jU(je . an{j jjy attempting to render rhetoric too
perfedl an art, they render it, in truth, a trifling and
T, childifli ftudy.”
Of external II- Of external topics. When the orator reafons from
topics, ge- fuch topics as do not anfc from his fubjedl, but from
”*ra'‘Jca^‘things of a different nature, thefe are called external.
r;gs tj iri°~ They are all taken from authorities, and are by one ge¬
neral name called tejhmonies.
Now a teftimony may be exprefled by writing,
fpeech, or any other fign proper to declare a perfon’s
mind. And all teftimonies may be diftinguifhed into
two forts, divine and human. A divine teftimony,
when certainly known to be fuch, is inconteflable, and
admits of no debate, but fhould be acquiefced in with¬
out hefltation. Indeed the ancient Greeks and Ro¬
mans efteemed the pretended oracles of their deities,
the anfvvers of their augurs, and the like fallacies, di¬
vine teftimonies : but with us no one can be ignorant of
their true notion, though they do not fo diredfly come
under our prefent confideration. Human teftimonies,
confidered as furnilhing the orator with arguments, may
be reduced to three heads ; writings, witncjfes, and con-
I4 traSls.
Pi educed I. By Writings, here, are to be underftood written
to three laws, wills, or other legal inftruments, expreffed and
heads, and conveyed in that manner. And it is not fo much the
explained ^orce ancI validity of fuch teftimonies, confidered in them-
felves, that is here intended, as the occafion of difpute
which may at any time arife concerning their true de-
fign and import, when produced in proof upon either
fide of a controverfy. And thefe are five 5 Ambiguity,
Difagreement between the words and intention, Con¬
trariety, Reafoning, and Interpretation.
A writing is then faid to be ambiguous, when it is
capable of two or more fenfes, which makes the wri¬
ter’s defign uncertain. Now ambiguity may arife ei¬
ther from fingle words, or the conftrudlion of fen fen¬
ces. From fingle words ; as wflien either the fenfe of
a word, or the application of it, is doubtful. As,
ihould it be queftioned, whether ready money ought
to be included under the appellation of chattels left by
a wall 5 or, if a teftator bequeath a certain legacy to
his nephew Thomas, and he has two nephews of that
name. But ambiguity is alfo fometimes occafioned
from the conftruftion of a fentence \ as when feveral
things or perfons having been already mentioned, it
is doubtful to which of them that which follows ought
to be referred. For example, a perfon writes thus in
his will : ‘ Let my heir give as a legacy to Titius a
horfe out of my liable, which he pleafes.’ Here it
may be queftioned, whether the word he refers to the
heir or to Titius *, and confequently, whether the heir
be allowred to give Titius which horfe he pleafes, or
Titius may choofe which he likes beft. Now as to
controverfies of this kind, in the firft cafe above men¬
tioned, the party who claims the chattels may plead,
that all moveable goods come under that name, and
therefore that he has a right to the money. This he
will endeavour to prove from fome inftances where
the word has been fo ufed. The bufinefs of the oppo-
fite party is to refute this, by Ihowing that money
is not here included. And if either fide produce pre¬
cedents in his favour, the other may endeavour to fhow
that the cafes are not parallel. As to the fecond cafe,
arifing from an ambiguity in the name, if any other Invention,
words or expreflions in the will feem to countenance—y-—j
either of the claimants, he will not fail to interpret
them to his advantage. So likewife, if any thing faid
by the teftator, in his lifetime, or any regard Ihown
to either of thefe nephews more than the other, may
help to determine which of them was intended, a pro¬
per ufe may be made of it. And the fame may be faid
with regard to the third cafe. In which the legatee
may reafon likewife from the common ufe of language,
and fhow that in fuch expreflions it is ufual to make
the reference to the laft or next antecedent; and from
thence plead, that it xvas the defign of the teftator to
give him the option. But in anfwer to this, it may be
faid, that allowing it to be very often fo, yet in this in-
ftance it feems more eafy and natural to repeat the verb
give after pleafes, and fo to fupply the fentence, which
he pleafes to give him, referring it to the heir, than
to bring in the verb choofe, which was not in the fen¬
tence before ; and fo, by fupplying the fenfe, which he
pleafes to choofe, to give the option to Titius. But
where controverfies of this kind arife from a law, re-
courfe may be had to other laws wfliere the fame thing
has been exprefled with greater clearnefs ; which may
help to determine the fenfe of the paflage in difpute.
A fecond controverfy from writings is, when one
party adheres to the words, and the other to what he
aflerts was the writer’s intention. Now he who op-
pofes the literal fenfe, either contends, that what he
himfelf offers is the Ample and plain meaning of the
writing, or that it muft be fo underftood in the parti¬
cular cafe in difpute. An inftance of the former is
this, as we find it in Cicero. A perfon who died
without children, but left a widow, had made this
provifion in his will : “ If I have a fon born to me, he
ftiall be my heir.” And a little after : “ If my fon
die before he comes of age, let Curius be my heir.”
There is no fon born : Curius therefore fues for the
eftate, and pleads the intention of the teftator, wlio
defigned him for his heir, if he flrould have no fon
who arrived at age *, and fays, there can be no reafon
to fuppofe he did not intend the fame perfon for his
heir if he had no fon, as if he fliould have one who af¬
terwards died in his minority. But the heir at law in¬
fills upon the words of the will; which, as he fays,
require, that firft a fon fliould be born, and afterwards
die under age, before Curius can fucceed to the inhe¬
ritance 5 and there being no fon, a fubftituted heir,
as Curius was, can have no claim where the firft heir
does not exift, from whom he derives his pretenfion,
and was to fucceed by the appointment of the will.—
Of the latter cafe, rhetoricians give this example :
“ It was forbidden by a law to open the city gates in
the night. A certain perfon notwithftanding, in time
of war, did open them in the night, and let in fome
auxiliary troops, to prevent their being cut off by the
enemy, who was polled near the town.” Afterwards,
when the war was over, this perfon is arraigned, and
tried for his life, on account of this adlion. Now, in
fuch a cafe, the profecutor founds his charge upon the
exprefs words of the law' ; and pleads, that no fuffi-
cient reafon can be afligned for going contrary to the
letter of it, which would be to make a new law, and
not to execute one already made. The defendant, on
the other hand, alleges, That the fa£t he is charged
with.
Teem to do To.
lowing inftance.
nues alone in a
Part I. ORATORY.
Invention, with cannot, however, come within the intention of writings happen
the law 5 fince he either could not, or ought not, to
have complied with the letter of it in that particular
cafe, which muft therefore neceffarily be fuppofed to
have been excepted in the defign of that law when it
was made. But to this the profecutor may reply,
That all fuch exceptions as are intended by any law,
are ufually expreffed in it: and inftances may be
brought of particular exceptions expreffed in fome
laws ; and if there be any fuch exception in the law
under debate, it fhould efpecially be mentioned. He
may further add, That to admit of exceptions not ex¬
preffed in the law itfelf, is to enervate the force of all
laws, by explaining them away, and in effeiEt to ren¬
der them ufelefs. And this he may further corroborate,
by comparing the law under debate with others, and
confidering its nature and importance, and how far the
public intereft of the ftate is concerned in the due and
regular execution of it; from whence he may infer,
that fhould exceptions be admitted in other laws of
lefs confequence, yet, however, they ought not in this.
Laftly, He may confider the reafon alleged by the de¬
fendant, on which he founds his plea, and fhow there
was not that neceflity of violating the law in the pre-
fent cafe, as is pretended. And this is often the more
requifite, becaufe the party who difputes againfi: the
words of the law, always endeavours to fupport his
allegations from the equity of the cafe. If, therefore,
this plea can be enervated, the main fupport of the
defendant’s caufe is removed. For as the former ar¬
guments are defigned to prevail with the judge, to de¬
termine the matter on this fide the queflion from the
nature of the cafe j fo the intention of this argument
is to induce him to it, from the w^eaknefs of the de¬
fence made by the oppofite party. But the defendant
will, on the contrary, ufe fuch arguments as may beft
demonftrate the equity of his caufe, and endeavour to
vindicate the fahl from his good defign and intention
in doing it. He will fay, That the laws have allotted
punilhments for the eommiffion of fuch fafts as are evil
in themfelves, or prejudicial to others ; neither of which
can be charged upon the a£Hon of which he is accufed:
That no law can be rightly executed, if more regard be
had to the words and fyllables of the writing, than to
the intention of the legiflator. To which purpofe, he
may allege that direftion of the law itfelf, which fays,
“ The law ought not to be to rigoroufly interpreted,
nor the words of it {trained} but the true intention and
defign of each part of it duly confidered.” As alfo that
faying of Cicero, “ What law may not be weakened
and dcftroyed, if we bend the fenfe to the words, and
do not regard the defign and view of the legiflator
Hence he may take occafion to complain of the hardfhip
of fuch a procedure, that no difference fhould be made
between an audacious and wilful crime, and an honeft
or neceffary action, which might happen to difagree
with the letter of the law, though not with the intent
of it. And as it was obferved before to be of confider-
able fervice to the accufer, if he could remove the de¬
fendant’s plea of equity, fo it will be of equal advantage
to the defendant, if he can fix upon any words in the
law, which may in the leaf! feem to countenance his
cafe, fince this will take off the main force of the
charge.
The third controverfy of this kind is, when two
309
to clafh with each other, or at leaf!: Invention.
Of this Hermogenes gives the fol- 'v*-—'
One law enjoins : “ He who eonti-
fliip during a tempefl, fliall have the
property of the fhip.” Another law fays, “ A difin-
herited fon fhall enjoy no part of his father’s eftate.”
Now a fon, who had been difinherited by his father,
happens to be in his father’s {hip in a tempeft, and
continues there alone, when every one elfe had de-
ferted it. He claims the {hip by the former of thefe
laws, and his brother tries his right with him by the
latter. In fuch cafes, therefore, it may firfl: be confi¬
dered, “ Whether the two laws can be reconciled.
And if that cannot be done, then, Which of them ap¬
pears more equitable. Alfo, Whether one be pofitive,
and the other negative: becaufe prohibitions are a fort
of exceptions to pofitive injunflions. Or, If one be a
general law, and the other more particular, and come
nearer to the matter in queflion. Likewife, Which
was laft made : fince former laws are often abrogated,
either wholly or in part, by fubfequent laws, or at
leaft were defigned to be fo. Laflly, It may be ob¬
ferved, Whether one of the laws be not plain and ex-
prefs ; and the other more dubious, or has any ambi¬
guity in it. All, or any of which things, that party
will not omit to improve for his advantage whofe inte-
rell is concerned in it.
The iourth controverfy is reafoning. As when
fomething, not exprefsly provided for by a law, is in¬
ferred by a fimilitude, or parity of reafon, from what
is contained in it. Quintilian mentions this inftance
of it. “ There was a law made at Tarentum, to pro¬
hibit the exportation of wool} but a certain perfon
exports ftieep.” In this cafe, the profecutor may firft
compare the thing which occafions the charge, with
the words of the law, and ftiow their agreement, and
how unneceffary it w'as that particular thing ftiould
have been exprefsly mentioned in the law, fince it is
plainly contained in it, or at leaft an evident confe¬
quence from it. He may then plead, that many
things of a like nature are omitted in other laws for
the {ame reafon. And, laftly, He may urge the rea-
fonablenefs and equity of the procedure. The de¬
fendant, on the other hand, will endeavour to ftiow
the deficiency of the reafoning, and the difference be¬
tween the two cafes. He will infift upon the plain
and exprefs words of the law, and fet forth the ill
tendency of fuch inferences and conclufions drawn
from fimilitudes and comparifons, fince there is fcarce
any-thing but in fome refpeft may bear a refemblance
to another.
The laft controverfy under this head is interprela-r-
lion, in which the difpute turns upon the true mean¬
ing and explication of the law in reference to that
particular cafe. We have the following inftance of
this in the Pandedls : “ A man who had two fons
both under age, fubftitutes Titius as heir to him who
Humid die laft, provided both of them died in their
minority. They both perifh together at fea before
they came to age. Here arifes a doubt, whether the
fubftitution can take place, or whether the inheritance
devolves to the heir at law.” The latter pleads, That
as neither of them can be faid to have died laft, the
fubftitution cannot take place j which was fufpended,
upon the canditiou that one died after the other.
But
3io • 0 H A T
Invention. t0 t'JjJg may Jt was t^e Jntentjon Gf the
’ teftator, that if both died in their nonage, Titius
(hould fucceed to the inheritance •, and therefore it
makes no difference whether they died together, or one
after the other : and fo the law determines it.
2. The fecond head of external arguments are IVit-
nejfes. Thefe may either give their evidence, when ab-
fent, in writing fubfcribed with their name ; or prefent,
ty word of mouth. And w;hat both of them tellify,
may either be from hearfay ; or what they faw them-
felves, and were prefent at the time it was done. As
the weight of the evidence may be thought greater or
lefs on each of thefe accounts, either party will make
fuch ufe of it as he finds for his advantage. The cha¬
racters of the wutneffes are alfo to be confidered } and
if any thing be found in their lives or behaviour that is
juftly exceptionable, to invalidate their evidence, it
ought not to be omitted. And how they are affefted to
the contending parties, or either of them, may deferve
confideration ; for fome allowances may be judged rea-
fonable in cafe of friendfinp, or enmity, where there is
no room for any other exception. But regard fhould
chiefly be had to what they teftify, and how far the
caufe is affefted by it. Cicero is very large upon mofl:
of thefe heads in his defence of Marcus Fonteius, with a
defign to weaken the evidence of the Gauls againfl: him.
And where wutneffes are produced on one fide only, as
orators fometimes attempt to leffen the credit of this
kind of proof, by pleading that witneffes are liable to be
corrupted, or biaffed by fome prevailing intereft or paf-
fion, to which arguments taken from the nature and cir-
cumftances of things are not fubjeft 5 it may be anfwer-
ed on the other hand, that fophiftical arguments and
falfe colourings are not expofed to infamy or punifh-
ment, whereas wutneffes are reftrained by fhame and
’ penalties, nor would the lawT require them .if they W'ere
not neceffary.
3. The third and laft head of external arguments are
ContrciRs ; which may be either public or private. By
public are meant the tranfaClions betw:een different Hates,
as leagues, alliances, and the like ; which depend on the
laws of nations, and come more properly under delibera¬
tive difcourfes, to which w7e fhall refer them. Thofe
arc called private, which relate to leffer bodies or focie-
ties of men, and Angle perfons ; and may be either
w'ritten or verbal. And it is not fo much the true
meaning and purport of them that is here confidered as
their force and obligation. And, as the Roman law
declares, “ Nothing can be more agreeable to human
faith, than that perfons fhould Hand to their agree¬
ments.” Therefore in controverfies of this kind, the
party whofe interefl: it is that the contrafl fhould be
maintained, will plead, that, fuch covenants have the
force of private laws, and ought religioufly to be obferv-
ed, fince the common affairs of mankind are tranfa&ed
in that manner} and therefore to violate them, is to
deftroy all commerce and fociety among men. On the
other fide it may be faid, that juflice and equity are
chiefly to be regarded, which are immutable ; and be¬
tides, that the public law’s are the common rule to de¬
termine all differences, which are defigned to redrefs
thofe who are aggrieved. And indeed, where a com*
paft has been obtained by force or fraud, it is in itfelf
void, and has noefteft either in law or reafon. But on
"he other hand, the Roman lawyers feem to have very
O R Y.- pgrt j
rightly determined, that all fuch obligations as are Invention,
founded on natural equity, though not binding by na- “v—'
tional laws, and are therefore called tiuda paRa, ought,
however, in honour and confidence, to be performed.
III. Of the State of a Controverfij. The ancients, of tljfate
obferving that the principal queftion or point of dif- of a contro-
pute in all controverfies might be referred to fome par- veify> or
ticular head, reduced thefe heads to a certain number, nianner
that both the nature of the queftion might by that th/prhri^
means be better known, and the arguments fuited to it pal queftion
be difcovered with greater eafe. And thefe heads theyin Mpute
cdSh ftates. t0 f™16
By the ftate of a controverfy, then, we are to under- iiead^bT
ftand the principal point in difpute betw'een contending greater
parties, upon the proof of which the whole caufe or con- eafe of ar-
troverfy depends. We find it expreffed by feveral other &ument*
names in ancient writers : as, the confitution of the caufe,
the general head, and the chief quefion. And as this is
the principal thing to be attended to in every fuch dif-
courfe 5 fo it is what firft requires the confideration of the
fpeaker, and fliould be w ell fixed and digefted in his
mind, before he proceeds to look for arguments proper
to fupport it. Thus Antony, the Roman orator, fpeak-
ing of his own method in his pleading, fays : “ When
I underftand the nature of the caufe, and begin to con-
fider it, the firft thing I endeavour to do is, to fettle
with myfelf what that is to which ail my difcourfe rela¬
ting to the matter in difpute ought to be referred : then
I diligently attend to thefe other twTo things, How to
recommend myfelf, or thofe for whom I plead, to the
good efteem of my hearers ; and how to influence their
minds, as may beft fuit my defign.” This wray of pro¬
ceeding appears very agreeable to reafon and prudence.
For what can be more abfurd, than for a perfon to at¬
tempt the proof of any thing, before he lias w’ell fettled
in his own mind a clear and diftindl notion what the
thing is which he would endeavour to prove ? Quinti¬
lian defcribes it to be, ‘ That kind of queftion which
arifes from the firft conflift of caufes.’ In judicial cafes,
it immediately follows upon the charge of the plaintiff,
and plea of the defendant. Our common law expreffes
it by one word, namely the iffue. Which interpreters
explain, by deferibing it to be, “ That point of matter
depending in fuit, whereupon the parties join, and put
their caufe to the trial.” Examples will further help
to illuftrate this, and render it more evident. In the
caufe of Milo, the charge of the Clodian party is,
Mt!o hilled Clodius, Milo’s plea or defence, I hilled him,
but jujlly. From hence arifes this grand queftion, or
ftate of the caufe. Whether it was lawful for Milo to
hill Clodius? And that Clodius was lawfully killed by
Milo, is what Cicero in his defence of Milo principally
endeavours to prove. This is the main fubjeft of that
fine and beautiful oration. The whole of his difcourfe
is to be confidered as centering at laft in this one point.
Whatever different matters are occafionally mentioned,
will, if clofely attended to, be found to have been intro¬
duced fome way or other the better to fupport and carry
on this defign. Now in fuch cafes, where the faft is
not denied, but fomething is offered in its defence, the
ftate of the eaufe is taken from the defendant’s plea,
who is obliged to make it good : As in the inftance here
given, the chief point in difpute rvas the lawfulnefs of
Milo’s adlion, which it was Cicero’s bufinefs to demon-
ftrate. But when the defendant denies the fact, the ftate
of
ORATORY.
Part I.
invention, of the caufe arifes from the accufation $ the proof of
which then lies upon the plaintiff, and not, as in the
former cafe, upon the defendant. So in the caufe of
Rofcius, the charge made againft him is, That he
killed his father. But he denies the faft. The grand
cjueftion therefore to be argued is, Whether or not he
killed hits father: The proof of this lay upon his ac-
cufers. And Cicero’s defign in his defence of him is
to fhow, tiiat they had not made good their charge.
But it fometimes happens, that the defendant neither
abfolutely denies the faff, nor attempts to juftify it j
but only endeavours to qualify it, by denying that it
is a crime of that nature, or deferves that name, by
which it is expreffed in the charge. We have an ex¬
ample of this propofed by Cicero : “ A perfon is ac-
cufed of facrilege, for taking a thing, that was facred,
out of a private houfe. He owns the faff, but denies
it to be facrilege ; fince it was committed in a private
houfe, and not in a temple.” Hence this queftion
arifes, Whether to take a facred thing out of a private
houfe, is to be deemed facrilege, or only fimple theft ? It
lies upon the accufer to prove what the other denies $
and therefore the Hate of the caufe is here alfo, as
well as in the preceding cafe, taken from the indict¬
ment.
But befides the principal queftion, there are other fub-
ordinate queftions, which follow upon it in the courfe
of a difpute, and Ihould be carefully diftinguiihed from
it. Particularly that which arifes from the reafon, or
argument, which is brought in proof of the principal
queftion. For the principal queftion itfelf proves no¬
thing, but is the thing to be proved, and becomes at
laft the conclufion of the difcourfe. Thus, in the caufe
of Milo, his argument is, / hihed Clodius jufly, becaufe
he af afinated me. Unlefs the Clodian party be fuppo-
fed to deny this, they give up their caufe. From hence
therefore this fubordinate queftion follows, Whether Clo¬
dius ajfafjinated Milo ? Now Cicero fpends much time
in the proof of this, as the hinge on which the firft
queftion, and confequently the whole caufe, depended.
For if this was once made to appear, the lawfulnefs of
Milo’s killing Clodius, which was the grand queftion or
thing to be proved, might be inferred as an allowed con-
fequence from it. This will be evident, by throwing
Milo’s argument, as ufed by Cicero, into the form of a
fytlogifm.
An ajfajjin is lawfully killed :
Clodius was an ajfajjin :
Therefore he was lawfully killed by Milo whom he
affaffiliated.
If the minor propofition of this fyllogifm was granted,
no one would deny the conclufion : for the Roman la#
allowed of felf-defence. But as Cicero was very fenfi-
ble this would not be admitted, fo he takes much pains
to bring the court into the belief of it. Now where
the argument brought in defence of the fecond queftion
is contefted, or the orator fuppofes that it may be fo,
and therefore fupports that with another argument, this
occafions a third queftion confequent upon the former ;
and in like manner he may proceed to a fourth.
But be they more or fewer, they are to be confidered
but as one chain of fubordinate queftions dependent
upon the firft. And though each of them has its
particular ftate, yet none of thefe is what rhetoricians
call The fate of the Caufe, which is to be underftood Invention.
only of the principal queftion. And if, as it frequently  1
happens, the firft or principal queftion is itfelf direftly
proved from more than one argument j this makes no
other difference, but that each of thefe arguments, fo
far as they are followed by others to fupport them, be¬
come a diftintt feries of fubordinate queftions, all depen¬
dent upon the firft. As when Cicero endeavours to
prove, that Rofcius did not kill his father, from two
reafons or arguments : Becaufe he had neither any caufe
to move him to fuch a barbarous action, nor any opportu¬
nity for it.
Moreover, befides thefe fubordinate queftions, there
are alfo incidental ones often introduced, which have
fome reference to the principal queftion, and contribute
towards the proof of it, though they are not neceffarily
conneded with it, or dependent upon it. And each of
thefe alfo has its ftate, though different from that of the
caufe. For every queftion, or point of controverfy,
muft be ftated, before it can be made the fubjed of dif-
putation. And it is for this reafon, that every neAV ar¬
gument advanced by an orator is called a quefion ; be¬
caufe it is confidered as a frefh matter of controverfy.
In Cicero’s defence of Milo, we meet with feveral of
this fort of queftions, occafioned by fome afperfions
which had been thrown out by the Clodian party to the
prejudice of Milo. As, “ That he was unworthy to
fee the light, who owned he had killed a man For
Milo before his trial had openly confeffed he killed Clo¬
dius. So likewife, “ That the fenate had declared the
killing of Clodius was an illegal adion.” And further,
“ That Pompey, by making a new law to fettle the
manner of Milo’s trial, had given his judgment againft
Milo.” Now to each of thefe Cicero replies, before he
proceeds to the principal queftion. And therefore,
though the queftion, in which the ftate of a controverfy
confifts, is laid by Quintilian to arife from “ the firft
conflid of caufes,” yet we find by this inftance of Cice¬
ro, that it is not always the firft queftion in order, upon
which the orator treats.
But it fometimes happens, that the fame caufe or con¬
troverfy contains in it more than one ftate. Thus in
judicial caufes, every diftind charge occafions a new
ftate. All Cicero’s orations againft Verres relate to
one caufe, founded upon a law of the Romans againft
unjuft exadions made by their governors of provinces
upon the inhabitants 5 but as that perfeeution is made
up of as many charges as there are orations, every
charge, or indidment, has its different ftate. So like¬
wife his oration in defence of Coelius has two ftates, in
anfwer to a double charge made againft him by his ad-
verfaries : one, “ for borrowing money of Clodia, in or¬
der to bribe certain Haves to kill a foreign ambaffador 3”
and the other, “ for an attempt afterwards to poifon
Clodia herfelf.” Befides which, there were feveral
other matters of a lefs heinous nature, which had been,
thrown upon him by his accufers, with a defign, very
likely, to render the two principal charges more credi¬
ble 3 to which Cicero firft replies, in the fame manner
as in his defence of Milo.
Though all the examples we have hitherto brought
to illuftrate this fubjed have been taken from judicial
cafes, yet not only thefe, but very frequently difeourfes
of the deliberative kind, and fometimes thofe of the
demonftrative, are managed in a controverfial way..
And
ORATORY.
Part I.
Invention. And all controverfies have their Hate. And therefore
Quintilian .very juftly obferves, that “ Hates belong both
to general and particular queHions j and to all forts of
caufes, demonflrative, deliberative, and judicial.” In
Cicero’s oration for the Manilian law, this is the main
point in difpute between him and thofe who oppofed
that law: “ Whether Pompey was the fitted perfon to
be intruded with the management of the war agamH
■Mithridates ?” This is a fubjeft of the deliberative
kind. And of the fame nature was that debate in the
fenate concerning the demolition of Carthage. For the
matter in difpute between Cato, who argued for it, and
thofe who were of the contrary opinion, feems to have
been this : “ Whether it was for the intered of the Ro¬
mans to demolifh Carthage ?” And fo likewife in thofe
two fine orations of Cato and Caefar, given us by Sal-
lud, relating to the confpirators with Catiline, who were
then in cudody, the controverfy turns upon this :
“ Whether thofe prifoners (hould be punilhed with
death, or perpetual imprifonment ?” Examples of the
demondrative kind are not fo common 5 but Cicero’s ora¬
tion concerning the ‘ Anfwers of the foothfayers,’ may
afford us an indance of it. Several prodigies had lately
happened at Rome ; upon which the foothfayers being
Confulted, affigned this as the reafon of them, Becaufe
fome places confecrated to the gods had been afterwards
converted to civil ufes. Clodius charged this upon Ci¬
cero j whofe houfe was rebuilt at the public expence, af¬
ter it had been demolilhed by Clodius, and the ground
confecrated to the goddefs Liberty. Cicero in this ora¬
tion retorts the charge 5 and diows that the prodigies did
not refpeft him, but Clodius. So that the quedion in
difpute was, “ To which of the two thofe prodigies re¬
lated ?” This oration does not appear to have been
fpoken in a judicial way, and mud therefore belong to
the demondrative kind. His inventive againd Pifo is
likewife much of the fame nature, wherein he compares
his own behaviour and conduft with that of Pifo.
As to the number of thefe dates, both Cicero and
Quintilian reduce them to three. “ We mud (fays
Quintilian) agree with thofe whofe authority Cicero fol¬
lows, who tells us, that three things may be inquired
into in all difputes : Whether a thing is ; what it is ;
and how it is. And this is the method which nature
preferibes. For, in the fird place, it is neceffary the
thing diould exid about which the difpute is: becaufe
no judgment can be made either of its nature or quality
till its exidence be manifed ; which is therefore the fird
quedion. But though it be manifed that a thing is, it
does not prefently appear what it is *, and when this is
knowm, the quality yet remains : and after thefe three
are fettled, no further inquiry is neceffary.” Now the
fird of thefe three dates is called the corjeBural Jlo.te ;
as if it be inquired, “ Whether one perfon killed ano¬
ther ?” This always follows upon the denial of a fadt
by one of the parties •, as was the cafe of Rofcius. And
it receives its name from hence, that the judge is left,
as it were, to conjecture, whether the fa£t was really
committed or not, from the evidence produced on the
other fide. The fecond is called the definitive fate,
when the fad is not denied j but the difpute turns upon
the nature of it, and what name it is proper to give it:
as in that example of Cicero, “ Whether to take a fa-
crcd thing out of a private houfe be theft or facrilege ?”
For in this cafe it is necefiary to fettle the didinct no¬
tion of thofe two crimes, and (how their difference. Invention.
The third is called the fate of quality ; when the con-
tending parties are agreed both as to the fa£t, and the
nature of it ; but the difpute is, “ Whether it be jud
or unjud, profitable or unprofitable, and the like j” as
in the caufe of Milo.
From what has been faid upon this fubjeft, the ufe
of it may in a good meafure appear. For whoever en¬
gages in a controverfy, ought in the fird place to confi-
der with himfelf the main quedion in difpute, to fix it
well in his mind, and keep it condantly in his view ;
without which he will be very liable to ramble from
the point, and bewilder both himfelf and his hearers.
And it is no lefs the bvffinefs of the hearers principally
to attend to this j by which means they will be helped
to didinguilh and feparate from the principal quedion
what is only incidental, and to obferve how far the prin¬
cipal quedion is affected by it *, to perceive what is of¬
fered in proof, and what is only brought in for illudra-
tion; not to be mifled by digreffions, but to difeern when
the fpeaker goes off from his fubjedt, and when he re¬
turns to it again ; and, in a wrord, to accompany him
through the whole difeourfe, and carry with them the
principal chain of reafoning upon which the caufe de¬
pends, fo as to judge upon the whole, whether he has
made out his point, and the conclufion follows from the
premifes.
Chap. II. Of Arguments fuited to Demonfrative
Difcourfes.
THESEconfid either in praife or difpraife 5 and, agree- Of argu¬
ably to the nature of all contraries, one of them will meats
ferve to illudrate the other. demon10
Now we either praife perfons or things. ftrative
I. In praifing or difpraifing perfons, rhetoricians difcourfes,
preferibe two methods. One is, to follow the order in
which every thing happened that is mentioned in the
difeourfe j the other is, to reduce what is faid under cer¬
tain general heads, without a drift regard to the order
of time.
1. In purfuing the former method, the difeourfe may
be very conveniently divided into three periods. Tire
fird of which will contain what preceded the perfon’s
birtli 5 the fecond, the whole courle of his life 5 and the
third what followed upon his death.
Under the fird of thefe may be comprehended what
is proper to be faid concerning his country or family.
And therefore, if thefe were honourable, it may be
faid to his advantage, that he nowife difgraced them,
but afted fuitably to fuch a defeent. But if they were
not fo, they may be either wholly omitted *, or it may
be faid, that, indead of deriving thence any advantage
to his charafter, he has conferred a lading honour up¬
on them \ and that it is not of fo much moment where,
or from whom, a perfon derives his birth, as how he
lives.
In the fecond period, which is that of his life, the
qualities both of his mind and body, with his circum-
dances in the world, may be feparately confidered.
Though, as Quintilian rightly obferves, “ All exter¬
nal advantages are not praifes for themfelves, but ac¬
cording to the ufe that is made of them. For riches,
and power, and intered, as they have great influence,
and may be applied cither to good or bad purpofes, are
*
Part I. ORA
Invention, a proof of the temper t)f our nnrvds *, and therefore we
c—'v—are either made better or worfe by them.” But thefe
things are a juft ground for commendation, when they
are the reward of virtue or induftry. Bodily endow¬
ments are health, ftrength, beauty, a&ivity, and the
like j which are more or lefs commendable, according
as they are employed. And where thefe, or any of
them, are wanting, it may be fliown, that they are
abundantly compenfated by the more valuable endow¬
ments of the mind. Nay, fomctimes a defeft in thefe
may give an advantageous turn to a perlon’s charac¬
ter } for any virtue appears greater, in proportion to
the difadvantages the perfon laboured under in exert¬
ing it. But the chief topics of praife are taken from
the virtues and qualifications of the mind. And here
the orator may confider the difpofition, education,
learning, and feveral virtues, which thone through the
whole courfe of the perfon’s life. In doing which,
the preference fliould always be given to virtue above
knowledge or any other accomplifhment. And in ac¬
tions, thofe are moft coniiderable, and will be heard
with greateft approbation, which a perfon either did
alone, or firft, or wherein he had feweft aflbciates as
likewife thofe which exceeded expectation, or were
done for the advantage of others rather than his own.
And further, as the laft fcene of a man’s life generally
commands the greateft regard, if any thing remark¬
able at that time wras either faid or done, it ought par¬
ticularly to be mentioned. Nor Ihould the manner of
his death, or caufe of it, if accompanied with any com¬
mendable circumftances, be omitted; as if he died in
the fervice of his country, or in the purfuit of any other
laudable defign.
1 he third and laft period relates to what followed
after the death of the perfon. And here the public
lofs, and public honours conferred upon the deceafed,
are proper to be mentioned. Sepulchres, ftatues, and
other monuments to perpetuate the memory of the
dead, at the expence of the public, were in common
ufe both among the Greeks and Romans. But in the
earlieft times, as thefe honours were more rare, fo they
were lefs coftly. For as in one age it was thought
a fufficient reward for him who died in the defence of
his country, to have his name cut in a marble infcrip-
tion, with the caufe of his death ; fo in others it vras
very common to fee the ftatues of gladiators, and per-
fons of the meaneft rank, ere&ed in public places.
And therefore a judgment is to be formed of thefe
things from the time, cuftom, and circumftances, of
different nations; fince the frequency of them renders
them lels honourable, and takes off from their evi¬
dence as the rewards of virtue. But, as Quintilian
lays, “ Children are an honour to their parents, cities
to their founders, laws to thofe who compiled them,
arts to their inventors, and ufeful cuftoms to the au¬
thors of them.”
And this may fuffice for the method of praifing
perfons, when we propofe to follow the order of time,
as Ifocrates has done in his funeral oration upon Eva-
goras king of Salamis, and Pliny in his panegyric
upon the emperor Trajan. But as this method is very
plain and obvious, fo it requires the more agreeable
drefs to render it delightful 5 left otherwife it feem
rather like a hiftory than an oration : For which reafon,
we find, that epic poets, as Homer, Virgil, and others.
Vox. XV. Part I. 6
TORY.; 3n
begin with the middle of their ftory, and afterwards Invention,
take a proper occafion to introduce what preceded, to
diverfify the fubject, and give the greater pleafure and
entertainment to their readers.
2. 1 he other method above hinted was, to reduce
the difeourfe to certain general heads, without regard-
ing the order of time. As if any one, in praifing the
elder Cato, Ihould propofe to do it, by {bowing that
he was a moft prudent fenator, an excellent orator,
and moft valiant general; all which commendations
are given him by Pliny. In like manner, the charac¬
ter of a good general may be comprifed under four
heads •, {kill in military affairs, courage, authority, and
fuccefs : from all which Cicero commends Pompey.
And agreeably to this method Suetonius has written the
lives of the firft twelve Caefars.
But in the praifing of perfons, care ftiould always be
taken to fay nothing that may feem fidlitious or out of
charadfer, which may call the orator’s judgment or in¬
tegrity in queftion. It was not without caufe, there¬
fore, that Lyfippus the ftatuary, as Plutarch tells us,
blamed Apelles for painting Alexander the Great with
thunder in his hand ; which could never fuit his cha¬
racter as a man, however he might boaft of his divine
defeent: for which reafon Lyfippus himfelf made an
image of him holding a fpear, as the fign of a warrior.
Light and trivial things in commendations are likewife
to be avoided, and nothing mentioned but what may
carry in it the idea of fomething truly valuable, and
which the hearers may be fuppofed to wifh for, and is
proper to excite their emulation. Thefe are the prin¬
cipal heads of praife with relation to men. In difpraife,
the heads contrary to thefe are requifite ; which being
fufficiently clear from what has been faid, need not
particularly be infifted on.
II. We proceed therefore to the other part of the
divifion, which refpefts things, as diftinguifhed from
perfons. By which we are to underftand all beings
inferior to man, whether animate or inanimate ; as
likewife the habits and difpofitions of men, either good
or bad, when confidered feparately, and apart from
their fubjedts, as arts and fciences, virtues and vices,
with whatever elfe may be a proper fubjedl for praife
or difpraife. Some writers, indeed, have, for their
own amufement and the diverfion of others, difplayed
their eloquence in a jocofe manner upon fubjedls of
this kind. So Lucian has written in praife of a fly,
and Synefius an elegant encomium upon baldnefs.
Others* on the contrary, have done the like in a fa-
tirical way. Such is Seneca’s apotheofis or confecra-
tion of the emperor Claudius ; and the Myfopogon
or beard-hater, written by Julian the emperor. Not
to mention feveral modern authors, who have imitated
them in fuch ludicrous compofitions. But as to thefe
things, and all of the like nature, the obfervation of
Antony in Cicero feems very juft : “ That it is not
neceffary to reduce every fubjedl wre difeourfe upon to
rules of art.” For many are fo trivial, as not to de-
ferve it; and others fo plain and evident of themfelves,
as not to require it. But fince it frequently comes in
the way both of orators and hiftorians to defcribe
countries, cities, and fadts, we fliall briefly mention the
principal heads of invention proper to illuftrate each
of thefe. i
Countries, then, may be celebrated from the plea-
R r fantnels
3H
ORATORY.
Invention. Tantnefs of their fituatiort, the clemency and wholefome-
~Y“ ' ‘ ' nefs of the air, and goodnefs of the foil j to which laft
may be referred the fprings, rivers, woods, plains, moun¬
tains, and minerals. And to all thefe may be added their
extent, cities, the number and antiquity of the inhabi¬
tants j their policy, laws, cuftoms, wealth, chara&er for
cultivating the arts both of peace and war j their princes,
and other eminent men they have produced. Thus
Pacatus has given us a very elegant defcription of Spain,
in his panegyric upon the emperor Theodoiius, who was
born there.
Cities are praifed from much the fame topics as
countries. And here, whatever contributes either to
their defence or ornament ought particularly to be
mentioned j as the ftrength of the walls and fortifica¬
tions, the beauty and fplendour of the buildings, whether
facred or civil, public or private. We have in Hero¬
dotus a very fine defcription of Babylon, which was
once the ftrongefl, largelf, and moft regular city in the
world. And Cicero has accurately defcribed the city
of Syracufe, in the ifland Sicily, in one of his orations
againft Verres.
But faffs come much oftener under the cognizance
of an orator. And thefe receive their commendation
from their honour, juftice, or advantage. But in de-
fcribing them, all the circumftances Ihould be related
in their proper order ; and that in the moft lively and
affeffing manner fuited to their different nature. Livy
has reprefented the demolition of Alba by the Roman
army, which was fent thither to deftroy it, through
the w^iole courfe of that melancholy fcene, in a ftyle
fo moving and pathetic, that one can hardly forbear
condoling with the inhabitants, upon reading his ac¬
count.
But in difcourfes of this kind, whether of praife or
difpraife, the orator ftiould (as he ought indeed upon
all occafions) well confider where, and to whom, he
fpeaks. For wife men often think very differently
both of perfons and things from the common people.
And we find that learned and judicious men are fre¬
quently divided in their fentiments, from the feveral
ways of thinking to which they have been accuftomed.
Befides, different opinions prevail, and gain the afcen-
dant, at different times. While the Romans continued
a free nation, love of their country, liberty, and public
fpirit, were principles in the higheft efteem among them.
And therefore, when Cato killed himfelf, that he might
not fall into the hands of Caefar, and furvive the li¬
berty of his country, it was thought an inftance of the
greateft heroic virtue ; but afterwards, when they had
been accuftomed to an arbitrary government, and the
fpirit of liberty was now loft, the poet Martial could
venture to fay,
Death to avoid ''tis tnadnefs fure to die.
A prudent orator therefore will be cautious of oppof-
ing any fettled and prevailing notions of thofe whom
he addreffes, unlefs it be neceffary j and then he will
do it in the fofteft and moft gentle manner.
Chap. III.
Of Arguments fuited
Difcourfes.
to Deliberative
This kind of difcourfes mufl certainly have been
very ancient j ffnce, doubtlefs, from the firft beginning
Part I.
of men’s converfing together, they deliberated upon Invention,
their common intereft, and offered their advice to each""'v—J
other. But neither thofe of the laudatory nor judi-Qf
cial kind could have been introduced, till mankind rative dif-
were fettled in communities, and found it neceffary to courfes, and
encourage virtue by public rewards, and bring vice ^ argu-
under the reftraint of laws. The early praftice
fuafory difcourfes appears from facred writ, where weqiem
find, that when Mofes was ordered upon an embaffy
into Egypt, he would have excufed himfelf for want
of eloquence. And Homer reprefents the Greeks at
the liege of Troy, as flocking like a fv. arm of bees to
hear their generals harangue them. Nor is this part
of oratory lefs confpicuous for its ufefulnefs to man¬
kind, than for its antiquity 5 being highly beneficial ei¬
ther in councils, camps, or any focieties of men. How
many inftances have we upon record, where the fury
of an enraged multitude has been checked and appeaf-
ed by the prudent and artful perfuafion of fome par¬
ticular perfon ? The ftory of Agrippa Menenius, when
the commons of Rome withdrew from the fenators,
and retired out of the city, is too wrell known to need
reciting. And how often have armies been animated
and fired to the moft dangerous exploits, or recalled to
their duty, when ready to mutiny, by a moving fpeech
of their general ? many inftances of which we find in
hiftory.
All deliberation refyefts fomething future, for it is
in vain to confult about what is already paft. The
fubjedft matter of it is, either things public or private,
facred or civil j indeed all the valuable concerns of
mankind, both prefent and future, come under its re¬
gard. And the end propofed by this kind of dif¬
courfes is chiefly profit or inlereft. But fince nothing
is truly profitable, but what is in fome refpedl good j
and every thing which is good in itfelf may not in
all circumftances be for our advantage ; properly fpeak-
ing, what is both good and profitable, or beneficial
good, is the end here defigned. And therefore, as it
fometimes happens, that what appears profitable may
feem to interfere with that which is ftridlly juft and
honourable ; in fuch cafes it is certainly moft advife-
able to determine on the fafer fide of honour and juL
tice, notwithftanding fome plaufible things may be of¬
fered to the contrary. But where the difpute lies ap¬
parently between what is truly honeft, and fome ex¬
ternal advantage propofed in oppofition to it, all good
men cannot but agree in favour of honefty. Such was
the cafe of Regulus, who, being taken prifoner by the
Carthaginians, was permitted to go to Rome upon giv¬
ing his oath, that unlefs he could perfuade the fenate
to fet at liberty fome young Carthaginian noblemen,
then prifoners at Rome, in exchange for him, he ftiould
return again to Carthage. But Regulus, when he
came to Rome, was fo far from endeavouring to pre¬
vail with the fenate to comply with the defire of the
Carthaginians, that he ufed all his intereft to diffuade
them from hearkening to the propofal. Nor could
the moft earneft entreaties of his neareft relations and
friends, nor any arguments they wTere able to offer,
engage him to continue at Rome, and not return again
to Carthage. He had then plainly in his view, on the
one fide, eafe, fecurity, affluence, honours, and the en¬
joyment of his friends ; and on the other, certain death,
attended with cruel torments. However, thinking the
former
Part I.
Invention, former not confident with truth and juftice, he chofe
the latter. And he certainly a£ted as became an ho¬
ned and brave man, in chooling death, rather than to
violate his oath. Though whether he did prudently
in perfuading the fenate not to make the exchange, or
they in complying with him, we lhall leave others to
determine. Now, when it proves to be a matter of de¬
bate, whether a thing upon the whole be really be¬
neficial or not •, as here arife two parts, advice and
diffualion, they will each require proper heads of argu¬
ment. But as they are contrary to each other, he who
is acquainted with one, cannot well be ignorant of the
other. We (hall therefore chiefly mention thofe pro¬
per for advice, from whence fuch as are fuited to dif-
fuade will eafily be perceived: Now the principal heads
of this kind are thefe following, which are taken from
the nature and properties of the thing itfelf under con-
lideration.
1. Pleafure often affords a very cogent argument m
difcourfes of this nature. Every one knows what an
influence this has upon the generality of mankind.
Though, as Quintilian remarks, plealure ought not
of itfelf to be^propofed as a fit motive for adion in
ferious difcourfes, but when it is defigned to recom¬
mend fomething ufeful, which is the cafe here. So,
would any one advife another to the purfuit of polite
literature, Cicero has furnifhed him with a very ftrong
inducement to it from the pleafure which attends that
ftudy, when he fays, “ If pleafure only was propofed
by thefe ftudies, you would think them an entertain¬
ment becoming a man of fenfe and a gentleman. For
other purfuits neither agree with all times, all ages,
nor all places-, but thefe ftudies improve youth, de¬
light old age, adorn profperity, afford a refuge and
comfort in adverfity, divert us at home,, are no.hinder-
ance abroad, fleep, travel, and retire with us into the
country.” 1
2. Profit, or advantage. This has no lefs influence
upon many perfons than the former j and when it re-
fpe&s things truly valuable, it is a very juft and lauda¬
ble motive. Thus Cicero, when he fends his Pook of
Offices to his fon, which he wrote in Latin for his ufe,
advifes him to make the belt advantage both of his tu¬
tor’s inftru&ions and the converfation at .Athens, where
he then was ; but withal to perufe his philofophical
treatifes, which would be doubly ufeful to him, not only
upon account of the fubjefts, but likewife of. the lan¬
guage, as they would enable him to exprefs himfelf up¬
on thofe arguments in Latin, which before had only
been treated of in Greek.
3. Honour; than which no argument will fooner
prevail with generous minds, or infpire them with great¬
er ardour. Virgil has very beautifully defcribed Hec¬
tor’s ghoft appearing to ./Eneas the night Troy was
taken, and advifing him to depart, from this motive of
honour:
O goddefs-born, efcape by timely flight
The flames and horrors of this fatal night.
The foes already have poffefs’d the wall;
Troy nods from high, and totters to her fall.
Enough is paid to Priam’s royal name *,
More than enough to duty and to fame.
If by a mortal hand my father’s throne
Cou’d be defended, ’twas by mine alone.
3 1 5
TIk: argument here made ufe of to perfuade /Eneas to Invention.
leave Troy immediately, is, that he had done all that v
could be expefted from him, either as a good fubjeft or
brave foldier, both for his king and country ; which
were fufficient to fecure his honour $ and now there was
nothing more to be expedled from him when the city
was falling, and impoflible to be faved -, which, could
it have been preferved by human puwer, he himfelf had
done it.
But although a thing confidered in itfelf appear be¬
neficial if it could be attained, yet the expediency of
undertaking it may ftill be queftionable : in which cafe
the following heads, taken from the circumftances
which attend it, will afford proper arguments to engage
in it.
(1.) The pojfibility of fucceeding may fometimes be
argued, as one motive to this end. So Hannibal en¬
deavoured to convince King Antiochus, that it w'as
poflible for him to conquer the Romans, if he made
Italy the feat of the war ; by obferving to him, not on¬
ly that the Gauls had formerly deftroyed their city,
but that he had himfelf defeated them in every battle
he fought with them in that country.
(2.) But an argument founded upon probability
will be much more likely to prevail. For in many affairs
of human life, men are determined either to profecute
them or not, as the profpeft of fuccefs appears more
or lefs probable. Hence Cicero, after the fatal battle
at Pharfalia, diffuades thofe of Pompey’s party, with
whom he was engaged, from continuing the wrar any
longer againft Caefar ; becaufe it was highly impro¬
bable, after fuch a defeat, by which their main ftrengt.h
was broken, that they ftiould be able to ftand their
ground, or meet with better fuccefs than they had be¬
fore.
(3.) But further, ftnce probability is not a motive
ftrong enough with many perfons to engage in the pro-
fecution of a thing which is attended with confiderable
difficulties, it is often neceffary to reprefent the facility
of doing it, as a further reafon to induce them to it.
And therefore Cicero makes ufe of this argument to en¬
courage the Roman citizens in oppofing Mark Antony
(who upon the death of Csefar had affumed an arbitrary
power), by reprefenting to them, that his circumftances
were then defperate, and that he might eafily be van-
quifhed.
(4.) Again, If the thing advifed can be ftiown to
be in any refpeel neceffary, this will render the mo¬
tive ftill much ftronger for undertaking it. And there¬
fore Cicero joins this argument with the former, to
prevail with the Roman citizens to oppofe Antony,
by telling them, that “ The confideration before them
was, not in what circumftances they, fliould live, but
whether they ftiould live at all, or die with ignominy
and difgrace.” This way of reafoning will fometimes
prevail when all others prove ineffeftual. For fome
perfons are not to be moved till things are brought to
an extremity, and they find themfelves reduced to the
utmoft danger.
(5.) To thefe heads may be added the confideration
of the event, which in fome cafes carries great weight
with it. As when we advife to the doing of a thing
from this motive, That whether it fucceed or not, it
will yet be of fervice to undertake it. So alter the great
vidlory gained by Themiftocles over the Perfian fleet at
Rr 2 the
ORATORY.
3'6
Invention, the ftraits of Salamis, Mai'donius advifed Xerxts to
^ return into Afia himfelf, led the report of his defeat
fhould occahon an infurreffion in his abfence : but to
leave behind him an army of 300,000 men under his
command j with whic;h, if he fhould conquer Greece,
the chief glory of the conqueft would redound to Xerxes ;
but if the defign mifcarried, the difgrace would fall upon
his generals.
1 hefe are the principal heads which furnilh the ora¬
tor with proper arguments in giving advice. Cicero,
in his oration for the Manilian law, wThere he endea¬
vours to perfuade the Roman people to choofe Pom-
pey for their general in the Mithridatic war, reafons
from three of thefe topics, into which he divides his
whole difeourfe j namely, the neceffity of the war, the
greatnefs of it, and the choice of a proper general.—
Under the firft of thefe he fhows, that the wTar was ne-
ceifary, from four confiderations j the honour of the
Roman date, the fafety of their allies, their own re¬
venues, and the fortunes of many of their fellow citi¬
zens, which rvere all highly concerned in it, and called
upon them to put a dop to the growing power of
King Mithridates, by which they were all greatly en¬
dangered. So that this argument is taken from the
head of necejjity. The fecond, in w'hich he treats of
the greatnefs of the war, is founded upon the topic of
pojjibility. For though he (hows the power of Mithri¬
dates to be very great, yet not fo formidable, but that
he might be fubdued; as was evident from the many
advantages JLucullus had gained over him and his af-
fociates. In the third head, he endeavours to prevail
"with them to intrud the management of the war in the
hands of Pompey, whom he deferibes as a confummate
general, for his (kill in military affairs, courage, au¬
thority, and fuccefs j in all which qualities he repre-
fents him as fuperior to any other of their generals
whom they could at that time make choice of. The
defign of all which was, to perfuade them, that they
had very good reafon to hope for fuccefs, and a happy
event of the war, under his conduft. So that the
whole force of his reafoning under this head is drawn
from probability. Thefe are the three general topics
which make up that fine difeourfe. Each of which
is indeed fupported by divers other arguments and con¬
fiderations, which will be obvious in perufing the ora¬
tion itfelf, and therefore need not be here enumerated.
On the contrary, in another oration he endeavours to
diffuade the fenate from confenting to a peace with
Mark Antony, becaufe it was bafe, dangerous, and
impra&icable.
But no fmall (kill and addrefs are required in giving
aaviee. For fince the tempers and fentiments of man¬
kind, as well as their circumfiances, are very different
and various} it is often neceffary to accommodate the
(lifeourfe to their inclinations and opinions of things.
And therefore the weightieft arguments are not al¬
ways the mod proper and fitted to be ufed on all occa-
fions. Cicero, who was an admirable mader of this
art, and knew perfedly well how to fuit what he faid
to. the tade and relifh of his hearers, in treating upon
this fubjeft, didinguithes mankind into two forts ; the
ignoiant and unpolifhed, who always prefer profit to
honour ; and fuch as are more civilized and polite, who
prefer honour and reputation to all other things.—
\ V herefore they are to be moved by thefe different
S
Part I.
views : Praife, glory, and virtue, influence the one : Invention,
while the other is only to be engaged by a profpeft of
gain and pleafure. Befides, it is plain, that the gene¬
rality are much more inclined to avoid evils than to
purfue what is good j and to keep clear of fcandal and
difgrace, tnan to pradtife what is truly generous and
noble. Perfons likewife of a different age a£l from dif¬
ferent principles j young men for the mod part view
things in a different light from thofe who are older and
have had more experience, and confequently are not to
be influenced by the fame motives.
Chap. IV. Of Arguments fuited to Judicial Dif-
courfes.
lyt judicial controverfies there are two parties; the of i,.,
plaintiff or^ profecutor, and the defendant or perfondifeourfes
charged. Ihe fubjedt of them is always fomething and the as.
pad. And the end propofed by them Cicero calls Suments
equity, or right and equity ; the former of which arifes teCJt0
from the laws of the country, and the latter from rea- iem'
fon and the nature of things. For at Rome the prae¬
tors had a court of equity, and were empowered, in
many cafes relating to property, to relax the rigour
of the written laws. But as this fubjeft is very copi¬
ous, and caufes may arife from a great variety of things,
writers have reduced them to three heads, which they
call Jlates, to fome one of which all judicial proceed¬
ings may be referred ; namely, whether a thing is, what
it is, or how it is. By the//W of a caufe, therefore, is
meant the principal quedion in difpute, upon which
the whole affair depends. Which, if it flops in the
firfl inquiry, and the defendant denies the faft, the
date is called conjeElural; but if the fad be acknow’-
ledged, and yet denied to be what the adverfary calls
it, it is termed definitive; but if there is no difpute
either about the fad or its name, but only the jultiee
of it, it is called the fate of quality : as was ihown
more largely before (fee N° 15.). But we there con-
fidered thefe dates only in a general view, and deferred
the particular heads of argument proper for each of
them to this judicial kind of difeourfes ; where they
mod frequently occur, and from which examples may
eafily be accommodated to other fubjeds.
All judicial caufes are either yjrzWc or public. Thofe
are called private, which relate to the right of parti¬
cular perfons; and they are likewife called civil caufes,
as they are converfant about matters of property. 
Public caufes are thofe which relate to public juflice
and the government of the date; which are alfo called
criminal, becaufe by them crimes are profecutcd, whe¬
ther capital, or thofe of a lefs heinous nature. We
fliall take the heads of the arguments only from this
latter kind, becaufe they are more copious, and eafy
to be illuflrated by examples ; from which fuch as
agree to the former, namely, civil caufes, will fufficient-
ly appear.
1. Ihe conjeclural date. When the accufed perfon
denies the fad, there are three things which the pro-
lecutor has to confider ; whether he would have done
it, whether he could, and whether he did it. And
hence arde three topics ; from the will, the power,
and the, fgns or circumflances which attended the
adion. The affedions of the mind difeover the wflll;
as paflion, an old grudge, a defire of revenge, a re-
fentment
ORATORY.
part I. 0 H A T
Invention, fentment of an injury, and the like. Therefore Ci-
nr”' cero argues from Clodius’s hatred of Milo, that he de-
figned his death j and from thence infers, that he was
the aggreflor in the combat between them, wherein
Clodius was killed. This is what he principally endea¬
vours to prove, and comes properly under this Hate :
for Milo owned that he killed him, but alleged that
he did it in his own defence. So that in regard to this
point, which of them aflaulted the other ? the charge
was mutual. The profpeft of advantage may alfo be
alleged to the fame purpofe. Hence it is faid of L.
Caffius, that whenever he fat as judge in a cafe of
murder, he ufed to advife and move the court to exa¬
mine to whom the advantage arofe from the death of
the deceafed. And Cicero puts this to Antony con¬
cerning the death of Caefar. “ If any one (fays he)
Ihould bring you upon trial, and ufe that faying of Caf-
lius, Cui botio ? ‘ Who got by it ?’ look to it, I befeech
you, that you are not confounded. To thefe argu¬
ments may be added, hope of impunity, taken either
from the circumftances of the accufed perfon, or of him
who fuffered the injury. For perfons, who have the
advantage of intereft, friends, power, or money, are
apt to think they may eafily efcape ; as likewife fuch
who have formerly committed other crimes with impu¬
nity. Thus Cicero reprefents Clodius as hardened in
vice, and above all the reftraint of laws, from having
fo often efcaped punifliment upon committing the
higheft crimes. On the contrary, fuch a confidence
is fometimes raifed from the condition of the injured
party, if he is indigent, obfcure, timorous, or defti-
tute of friends •, much more if he has an ill reputa¬
tion, or is loaded with popular hatred and refentment.
It was this prefumption of the obfcurity of Rofeius,
who lived in the country, c and his want of intereft at
Rome, which encouraged his accufers to charge him
with killing his father, as Cicero (hows in his defence
of him. Laftly, The temper of a perfon, his views,
and manner of life, are confiderations of great mo¬
ment in this matter. For perfons of bad morals, and
fuch as are addifted to vice, are eafily thought ca¬
pable of committing any wickednefs. Hence Salluft
argues from the evil difpofition and vicious life of Ca¬
tiline, that he affe<51ed to raife himfelf upon the ruins
of his country.—The fecond head is the power of do¬
ing a thing : and there are three things which relate
to this, the place, the time, and opportunity. As if a
crime is faid to have been committed in a private place,
where no other perfon was prefent j or in the night j
or when the injured perfon was unable to provide for
his defence. Under this head may likewife be brought
in the circumftances of the perfons 5 as if the accufed
perfon was ftronger, and fo able to overpower the
other 5 or more atlive, and fo could eafily make his
efcape. Cicero makes great ufe of this topic in the
cafe of Milo, and (hows, that Clodius had all the advan¬
tages of time, and opportunity, to execute his de-
fign of killing him. The third head comprehends the
Jigns and'circumftances which either preceded, accom¬
panied, or followed, the commiffion of the fa£I. So
threats, or the accufed perfon being feen at or near the
place before the fa£t was committed, are circumftances
that may probably precede murder ; fighting, crving
out, bloodfhed, are fuch as accompany it; palenefs,
trembling, inconfiftent anfvvers, heiitation, or faltering of
O R Y. 317
the fpeech, fomething found upon the perfon accufed Invention,
which belonged to the deceafed, are fuch as follow it.—’V-'—J
Thus Cicero proves, that Clodius had threatened the
death of Milo, and given out that he Ihould not live
above three days at the fartheft.—Thefe arguments,
taken from conjectures, are called prefutnptions, which,
though they do not direftly prove that the accufed per¬
fon committed the faft with which he is charged ; yet
when, laid together, they appeared very ftrong, fentence
by the Roman law might fometimes be given upon them,
to convuft him.
Thefe are the topics from which the profecutor takes
his arguments. Now the bufinefs of the defendant is to
invalidate thefe. Therefore fuch as are brought from
the will, he either endeavours to fhow are not true, or
fo weak as to merit very little regard. And lie refutes
thofe taken from the powei', by proving that he wanted
either opportunity or ability : as, if he can ftiow, that
neither the place nor time infifted on was at all proper j
or that he was then in another place. In like manner
he will endeavour to confute the civcumflances, if they
cannot be direftly denied, by (bowing that they are not
fuch as do neceffarily accompany the fa£t, but might
have proceeded from other caufes, though nothing of
what is alleged had been committed ; and it will be of
great fervice to affign fome other probable caufe. Rut
fometimes the defendant does not only deny that he did
the faft, but charges it upon another. Thus Cicero, in.
his oration for Rofeius, not only defends him from each
of thefe three heads, but likewife charges the faft upon
his accufers.
2. The definitive ftate, which is principally con-
cerned in defining and fixing the name proper to the
faff : though orators feldom make ufe of exaft de¬
finitions, but commonly choofe larger deferiptions, ta¬
ken from various properties of the fubjeft or thing de¬
fer ibed.
The heads of argument in this ftate are much the
fame to both parties. For each of them defines the
faft his own way, and endeavours to refute the other’s
definition. We may illuftrate this by an example from
Quintilian : “ A perfon is accufed of facrilege, for deal¬
ing money out of a temple, which belonged to a private
perfon.” The faeft is owned ; but the queftion is, Whe¬
ther it be properly fiacrilcge ? The profecutor calls it fo,
becaufe it was taken out of a temple. Rut fince the
money belonged to a private perfon, the defendant de¬
nies it to be facrilege, and fays it is only fimple theft.
Now the reafon why the defendant ufes this plea, and
infills upon the diftinflion, is, becaufe by the Roman
law the penalty of theft was only four times the value
of what was ftolen ; whereas facrilege was punifhed
with death. '1 he profecutor then forms his definition
agreeable to his charge, and fays, “ To (leal any thing
out of a facred place is facrilege.” Rut the defendant
excepts againft this definition, as defective • and urges,
that it does not amount to facrilege, unlefs the thing
ftolen was likewife facred. And this cafe might once,
perhaps, have been a matter of controverfy, fince we find
it exprefsly determined in the Pande&s, that “ An ac¬
tion of facrilege ftiould not lie, but only of theft, againft
any one who ihould fteal the goods of private perfons
depofited in a temple.”
The fecond thing is the proof brought by each
party to fupport his definition 3 as in the example
given
ORATORY.
Part I.
• given us by Cicero, of one £< who carried his caufe.
by bribery, and was afterwards profecuted again up¬
on an a£Hon of prevarication.” Now, if the defen¬
dant was caft upon this addion, he was, by the Ro¬
man law, fubjedfed to the penalty of the former pro-
fecution. Here the profecutor defines prevarication
to be, Any bribery or corruption in the defendant, with
a defign to pervert jujlice. The defendant, therefore,
on the other hand, retrains it to bribing only the profe¬
cutor.
And if this latter fenfe agrees better with the com¬
mon acceptation of the word, the profecutor in the
third place pleads the intention of the law, which
was to comprehend all bribery in judicial matters
under the term of prevarication. In anfwer to which
the defendant endeavours to (how, either from the
head of contraries, that a real profecutor and a pre¬
varicator are ufed as oppofite terms in the law; or
from the etymology of the word, that a prevaricator
denotes one who pretends to appear in the profecution
of a caufe, while in reality he favours the contrary
fide ; and confequently, that money given for this end
only can, in the fenfe of the law, be called prevarica¬
tion.
Laftly, The profecutor pleads, that it is unreafonable
that he who does not deny the faff fliould efcape by a
cavil about a word. But the defendant infills upon his
explication as agreeable to the law; and fays, the fadl
is mifreprefented and blackened, by affixing to it a wrong
name.
3. The third Hate is that of quality, in which the dif-
pute turns upon the jufiice of an a£tion. And here the
defendant does not deny he did the thing he is charged
with ; but alferts it to be right and equitable, from the
circumftances of the cafe, and the motives which indu¬
ced him to it.
And, firft, He fometimes alleges, the reafon of doing
it was in order to prevent fome other thing of worfe
confequence, which would otherwife have happened.
We have an inftance of this in the life of Epaminon-
das, who, with two other generals joined in the com¬
mand with him, inarched the Theban army into Pelo-
ponnefus againft the Lacedtemonians 5 but by the influ¬
ence of a contrary fadtion at home, their commiffions
were fuperfeded, and other generals fent to command
die army. But Epaminondas, being fenfible that, if
he obeyed this order at that time, it would be attended
with the lofs of the whole army, and confequently the
min of the ftate, refufed to do it j and having perfuad-
ed the other generals to do the like, they happily finiffi-
ed the war in which they were engaged; and upon their
return home, Epaminondas taking the whole matter
upon himfelf, on his trial was acquitted. The argu¬
ments proper in this cafe are taken from the juftice, ufe-
fulnefs, or neceflity, of the adlion. The accufer there¬
fore will plead, that the fadl was not juft, profitable,
nor neceffary, confidered either in itfelf or comparative¬
ly with that for the fake of which it is faid to have been
done: and he will endeavour to (how, that what the
defendant affigns for the reafon of what he did might
not have happened as he pretends. Befides, he will re-
prefent of what ill confequence it muft be, if fuch crimes
go unpunilhed. The defendant, on the other hand,
will argue from the fame heads, and endeavour to prove
the faft was juft, ufeful, or neceffary. And he will
l
further urge, that no juft eftimate can be made of Invention,
any adtion, but from the circumftances which attend
it ; as the defign, occafion, and motives for doing it,
which he will reprefent in the moft favourable light
to his own caufe, and endeavour to fet them in
fuch a view, as to induce others to think they could
not but have done the fame in the like circumftan¬
ces.
Again, The caufe of an adlion is fometimes charged
by the defendant upon the party who received the
damage, or fome other perfon, who either made it
neceffary, or enjoined him to do it. The firft of thefe
wras Milo’s plea for killing Clodius, becaufe he af-
faulted him with a defign to take away his life. Here
the fadl is not denied, as in the cafe of Rofcius above
mentioned, under the conjectural ftate ; but juftified .
from the reafon of doing it. For that an affaffin might
be juftly killed, Cicero ffiows both from law and rea¬
fon. 1'he accufer, therefore, in fuch a cafe, will, if
there be room for it, deny the truth of this allega¬
tion. So the friends of Clodius affirmed that Milo
was the aggreffor, and not Clodius; which Cicero, in
his defence of Milo, principally labours to refute. In
the fecond cafe, the profecutor will fay, No one ought
to offend becaufe another has offended firft ; wffiich de¬
feats the courfe of public juftice, renders the laws ufe-
lefs, and deftroys the authority of the magiftrate. The
defendant, on the other hand, will endeavour to repre¬
fent the danger and neceffity of the cafe, which required
an immediate remedy, and in that manner; and urges,
that it was vain and impradticable to wrait for redrefs in
the ordinary way, and therefore no ill confequence can
arife to the public. Thus Cicero, in defending Sextius,
who was profecuted for a riot in bringing armed men
into the forum, fhows that his defign was only to repel
force with force ; wffiich was then neceffary, there being
no other means left for the people to affemble, who
were excluded by a mob of the contrary party. Of the
third cafe we have alfo an example in Cicero, who tells
us, that, “ in making a league between the Romans and
Samnites, a certain young nobleman was ordered by the
Roman general to hold the fwine (defigned for a facri-
fice) ; but the fenate afterwards difapproving the terms,
and delivering up their general to the Samnites, it was
moved, Whether this young man ought not likewife to
be given up.” Thofe who were for it might fay, that,
to allege the command of another, is not a fufficient
plea for doing an ill adlion; and this is what the Ro¬
man law now exprefsly declares. But in anfwer to that,
it might be replied, that it was his duty to obey the
command of his general, who was anfwerable for his
own orders, and not thofe who were obliged to execute
them ; and therefore, to give up this young noble¬
man would be to puniffi one perfon for the fault of ano¬
ther.
Laftly, A fa6f is fometimes rather excufed than de¬
fended, by pleading that it was not done defignedly,
or with any ill intent. This is called concefjion ; and
confifts of two parts, apology and entreaty. The former
reprefents the matter as the effeft of inadvertency,
chance, or neceffity. Ariftotle gives us an example of
inadvertency or imprudence in a woman at Athens, who
gave a young man a love potion, which killed him ; for
which ffie was tried, but acquitted : though afterwards
this was made criminal by the Roman law. The cafe
Invention of Adraftus, as related by Herodotus, is an inftance of
*—chance j who being intruded by Croefus with the care
of his fon, as they were hunting, killed him accidental¬
ly with a javelin which he threw at a boar. It is ne-
ceffitv, when a per fon excufes his making a default,
from firefs of weather, licknefs, or the like. Thus Ci¬
cero pleaded his illnefs, contracted by the fatigue of a
long journey, as an excufe for not appearing in the fe-
nate upon the fummonsof Mark Antony, who threaten¬
ed to oblige him to it by pulling his houfe down. But
•what the defendant here attributes to inadvertency,
chance, or neceflity, the oppofite party will attribute to
defign, negligence, or fome other culpable reafon ; and
reprefent it as a matter injurious to the public to intro¬
duce fuch precedents ; and alfo produce inftances, if
that can be done, where the like excufes have not been
admitted. On the other hand, the defendant will infill
on his innocence, and Ihow the hardlhip and feverity of
judging men’s aClions rather by the event, than from
the intention : that fuch a procedure makes no difference
between the innocent and the guilty 5 but mull necef-
farily involve many honell men in ruin and dellruc-
tion, difcourage all virtuous and generous deligns, and
turn greatly to the prejudice of human fociety. He
will alfo conlider the inllances alleged by the accufer,
and Ihow the dilfei'ence between them and his own cafe.
And, lallly, He will have recourfe to entreaty, or a
fubmillive addrefs to the equity and clemency of the
court, or party offended, for pardon ; as Cicero has
done in his oration to Caefar, in favour of Liga-
rius. '
Chaf. V. Of the CharaEter and Addrefs of an Ora¬
tor.
Propriety Having confidered and explained the firll part of
ef manners Invention, which furnilhes the orator with fuch argu-
neceffary in ments as are neceffary for the- proof of his fubjedl, we
bothwith are nex^ ^1<)W what are the proper means to concili-
refpedl to at:c t^ie min^s his hearers •, to gain their affection j
character and to recommend both himfelf, and what he fays, to
and addrefs. their good opinion and elteem. For the parts of inven¬
tion are commonly thus diltinguilhed ; that the firll re-
fpefls the fuhjeB of the difcourfe, the fecond the fpeaker,
and the third the hearers. Now the fecond of thefe,
what we have at prefent to explain, is by Quintilian
called a propriety of manners. And in order to exprefs
this it is necelfary, as he tells us, “ that every thing ap-
per eafy and natural, and the difpolition of the fpeaker
be difcovered by his words.” We may form an eafy
conception of this from the conduft of fuch perfons as
are moll nearly concerned in each others welfare. As
when relations or friends converfe together upon any af¬
fairs of importance, the temper and difpofition of the
fpeaker plainly Ihows itfelf by his words and manner of
addrefs. And what nature here diredts to without co¬
louring or difguife, the orator is to endeavour to per¬
form by his art. Though indeed, if what a perfon fays
be inconfillent with his ufual condudl and behaviour at
other times, he cannot expeft it Ihould gain much credit,
or make any deep impredion upon his hearers; which
may be one reafon why the ancient rhetoricians make it
fo neceffary a qualification in an orator, that he be a
good man ; lince he Ihould always be confident with
himfelf, and, as we fay, talk in character. And there¬
fore it is highly requifite, that he fhould not only gain Invent
the fkill of affuming thofe qualities which the nature '■““'V
and circumllances of his difcourfe require him to ex¬
prefs; but likewife, that he lhould|.ufe his utmoll en¬
deavours to get the real habits implanted in his mind.
For as by this means they will be always expreffed with
greater cafe and facility ; fo, by appearing conllantly in
the courfe of his life, they will have more weight and
influence upon particular occafions.
Now there are four qualities, more efpecially fuited
to the character of an orator, which Ihould always ap¬
pear in his difcourfes, in order to render what he fays
acceptable to his hearers ; and thefe are wifdom, in¬
tegrity, benevolence, and madefy.
1. Wifdom is neceflary; becaufe we eafily give into
thofe whom we efteem wifer and more knowing than
ourfelves. Knowledge is very agreeable and pleafant
to all, but few make very great improvements in it ;
either by reafon they are employed in other neceflary
affairs, and the mind of man cannot attend to many
things at once ; or becaufe the way to knowledge at
firft is hard and difficult, fo that perfons either do not
care to enter upon the purfuit of it, or, if they do, they
are many times foon difcouraged, and drop it, for
want of fufficient refolution to furmount its difficulties.
Such, therefore, as either cannot, or do not care to give
themfelves the trouble of examining into things them-
felves, mull take up with the reprefentation of others;
and it is an eafe to them to hear the opinion of per¬
fons whom they efteem wifer than themfelves. No one
loves to be deceived ; and thofe - who are fearful of
being mifled, are pleafed to meet with a perfon in whofe
wifdom, as they think, they can fafely truft. The cha-
rafter of wifdom therefore is of great fervice to an ora¬
tor, fince the greater part of mankind are fwayed by au¬
thority rather than arguments.
2. But this of itfelf is not fufficient, unlefs the opi¬
nion of integrity be joined with it. Nay, fo far from
it, that the greater knowledge and underftanding a
man is fuppofed to have, unlefs he likewife have the
charafter of an honell man, he is often the more fuf-
pedled. For knowledge without honefty, is generally
thought to difpofe a perfon, as well as qualify him, to
deceive.
• 3. And to both thefe qualities the appearance of
kindnefs and benevolence fhould likewife be added. For
though a perfon have the reputation of wifdom and
honefty, yet if we apprehend he is either not well af¬
fected to us, or at leaft regardlefs of our intereft, we
are in many cafes apt to be jealous of him. Mankind
are naturally fwayed by their affeftions, and much in¬
fluenced through love or friendfliip ; and therefore no¬
thing has a greater tendency to induce perfons to cre¬
dit what is faid, than intimations of affeClion and kind¬
nefs. The belt orators have been always fenfible
what great influence the expreffions of kindnefs and
benevolence have upon the minds of others, to induce
them to believe the truth of what they fay ; and there¬
fore they frequently endeavour to imprefs thejn with
the opinion of it. Thus Demofthenes begins his cele¬
brated oration for Ctefiphon. “ It is my hearty prayer
(fays he) to all the deities, that this my defence may
be received by you with the fame affeClion which I
have always expreffed for you and your city.” And
it is a very fine image of it which we have in Cicero,.
where,.
320
Invention. ^Tljere, in order to influence the judges in favour of
v Milo, he introduces him fpeaking thus, as became a
brave man, and a patriot, even upon the fuppolition he
fhould be condemned by them : “ I bid my fellow ci¬
tizens adieu : may they continue flourifhing and prof-
perous $ may this famous city be preferved, my moil:
dear country, however it has treated me j may my fel¬
low citizens enjoy peace and tranquillity without me,
lince I am not to enjoy it with them, though I have
procured it for them : I will withdraw, I will be
gone.”
4. Modejly. It is certain, that what is modeftly
fpoken is generally better received than what carries
in it an air of boldnefs and confidence. Moft perfons,
though ignorant of a thing, do not care to be thought
fo \ and would have fome deference paid to their un-
derftanding. But he who delivers himfelf in an arro¬
gant and afluming wTay feems to upbraid his hearers
with ignorance, while lie does not leave them to
judge for themfelves, but dictates to them, and as it
were demand their affent to what he fays j which is
certainly a very improper method to win upon them.
For not a few, when convinced of an error in fuch a
way, will not own it $ but will rather adhere to their
former opinion, than feem forced to think right, when
it gives another the opportunity of a triumph. A pru¬
dent orator therefore will behave himfelf with modefty,
that he may not feem to infult his hearers j and wfill
fet things before them in fuch an engaging manner,
as may remove all prejudice either from his perfon
or what he aflerts. This is particularly neceffary in
the exordium of a difcourfe. If the orator fet out
with an air of arrogance and oftentation, the felf-love
and pride of the hearers will be prefently awakened, and
will follow him with a very fufpicious eye throughout
all his progrefs. His modefty fhould difcover itfelf not
only in his expreflions at the beginning, but in his whole
manner ; in his looks, in his geftures, in the tone of his
voice. Every auditory take in good part thofe marks of
refpeft and awe, which are paid to them by one who
addrefles them. Indeed the modefty of an introduftion
fhould never betray any thing mean or abjeft. It is
always of great ufe to an orator, that together with mo¬
defty and deference to his hearers, he fhould fhow a cer¬
tain fenfe of dignity, arifing from a perfuafion of the ju-
ftice or importance of the fubjeft of which he is to fpeak.
For to fpeak timoroufly, and with hefitation, deftroys
the credit of what is offered 5 and fo far as the fpeaker
feems to diftruft what he fays himfelf, he often induces
others to do the like.
But, as has been faid already, great care is to be
taken that thefe charafters do not appear feigned and
counterfeit. For what is fictitious can feldom be long
concealed. And if this be once difcovered, it makes all
that is faid fufpeCted, how fpecious foever it may other-
wife appear.
It is further neceffary, that the orator fhould know
the world, and be well acquainted with the different
tempers and difpofitions of mankind. Nor indeed can
any one reafonably hope to fucceed in this province, with¬
out well confidering the circumftances of time and place,
with the fentiments and difpofitions of thofe to whom
he fpeaks j which4 according to Ariftotle, may be di-
ftinguifhed four ways, as they difcover themfelves by the
feveral ajfe&ions^ habits, ages, and fortunes, of mankind.
Part T
And each of thefe requires a different eonduft and man* Invention
ner of addrefs.
The affections denote certain emotions of the mind,
which, during their continuance, give a great turn to the
difpofition. For love prompts to one thing, and hatred
to another. The like may be faid of anger, lenity, and
the reft ol them.
Perlons difter likewife according to the various habits
of their mind. So a juft man is inclined one way, and
an unjuft man another ; a temperate man to this, and
an intemperate man to the contrary.
And as to the feveral ages of men, Ariftotle has de-
fcribed them very accurately 5 and how perfons are
differently affe&ed in each of them. He divides the
lives of men, confidered as hearers, into three ftages j
youth, middle age, and old age.—Young men, he fays,
have generally ftrong paflions, and are very eager to
obtain what they defire, but are likewife very mutable,
fo that the fame thing does not pleafe them long.
They are ambitious of praife, and quick in their re-
fentments: lavifh of their money, as not having ex¬
perienced the want of it: frank and open, becaufe
they have not often been deceived ; and credulous for
the fame reafon. They readily hope the beft, becaufe
they have not fuffered much, and are therefore not fo
fenfible of the uncertainty of human affairs ; for which
reafon they are likewife more eafily deceived. They
are modeft, from their little acquaintance with the
world. They love company and cheerfulnefs, from
the brilknefs of their fpirits. In a word, they gene¬
rally exceed in what they do j love violently, hate
violently, and aft in the fame manner through the
reft of their conduft.—The difpofition of old men is
generally contrary to the former. They are cautious,
and enter upon nothing haftily ; having in the courfe
of many years been often impofed upon } having oft¬
en erred, and experienced the prevailing corruption of
human affairs j for which reafon they are likewife fufpi¬
cious, and moderate in their affeftions either of love or
hatred. They purfue nothing great and noble, and re¬
gard only the neceffaries of life. They love money ;
having learned by experience the difficulty of getting it,
and how eafily it is loft. They are fearful, which makes
them provident. Commonly full of complaints, from
bodily infirmities, and a deficiency of fpirits. They pleafe
themfelves rather with the memory of what is paft, than
with any future profpefl ; having fo fhort a view of life
before them, in comparifon of what is already gone :
for which reafon alfo, they love to talk of things paft j
and prefer them to what is prefent, of which they have
but little relifh, and know they muft fhortly leave
them. They are foon angry, but not to excefs. Laft-
ly, They are compaflionate, from a fenfe of their own
infirmities, which makes them think themfelves of all
perfons moft expofed.— Perfons of a middle age, be¬
twixt thefe two extremes, as they are freed from the
raftmefs and temerity of youth, fo they have not yet
fuffered the decays of old age. Hence in every thing
they generally obferve a better conduft. They are
neither fo hafty in their affent as the one, nor fo minute¬
ly Scrupulous as the other, but weigh the reafons of
things. They regard a decency in their actions 5 are
careful and induftrious j and as they undertake what
appears juft and laudable upon better and more deli¬
berate confideration than young perfons, fo they purfue
them
ORATORY.
part I. ' ORATOR Y.
Invention, them with more vigour and refolution than thofe who for their advantage ?
are older.
As to the different fortunes of mankind, they may
be confidered as noble, rich, or powerful 5 and the con¬
trary to thefe.—Thofe of high birth, and noble ex-
traftion, are generally very tender of their honour,
and ambitious to increafe it; it being natural for all
perfons to defire an addition to thole advantages of
which they find themfelves already polfelfed. And
they are apt to confider all others as much their in¬
feriors, and therefore expedl great regard and defer¬
ence (hould be ihown them.—Riches, when accom¬
panied with a generous temper, command refpeft,
from the opportunities they give of being ufeful to
others; but they ufually elate the mind, and occafion
pride. For as money is commonly faid to command
all things, thofe who are pblfcifed of a large fliare of it,
expe£t others {hould be at their beck : fince they enjoy
that which all defire, and which moft perfons make the
main purfuit of their lives to obtain.—But nothing is
more apt to fwell the mind than power. This is what
all men naturally covet, even when perhaps they would
not ufe it. But the views of fuch perfons are generally
more noble and generous than of thofe who only purfue
riches and the heaping up of money. A ftate contrary
to thefe gives a contrary turn of mind j and in lower
life, perfons difpofitions ufually differ according to their
llation and circumftances. A citizen and a courtier,
a merchant and a foldier, a fcholar and a peafant, as
their purfuits are different, fo is generally their turn and
difpofition of mind.
It is the orator’s bufinefr, therefore, to confider thefe
feveral ehara&ers and circumftances of life, with the
different bias and way of thinking they give to the
mind 5 that he may fo conduct himfelf in his behaviour
and manner of fpeaking, as will render him moft accept¬
able, and gain him the good efteem of thofe whom he
addreffes.
Chap. VI. Of the Pajftons.
10 . . * .
[t is necef- As it is often highly neceffary for the orator, fo it
ary, though requires his greateft Ikill, to engage the pafiions in his
'nga'e'the ”lt;ere^:- Quintilian calls this the foul andfririt of his
nterelt of art’ And> doubtlefs, nothing more difeovers its em-
jhe paffions. phe over the minds of men, than this power to excite,
appeafe, and fway their paffions, agreeably to the de-
fign of the fpeaker. Hence we meet with the charac¬
ters of admirable, divine, and other fplendid titles,
aferibed to eloquence by ancient writers. It has in¬
deed been obje&ed by fome, that whatever high enco¬
miums may be given of this art by the admirers of it,
it is however difingenuous to deceive and impofe upon
mankind, as thofe feem to do, who, by engaging
their pafiions, give a bias to their minds, and take
them off from the confideration of the truth ; whereas
every thing ftiould be judged of from the reafons brought
to fupport it, by the evidence of which it ought to ftand
or fall. But in anfwer to this, it may be confidered
that all fallacy is not culpable. We often deceive chil¬
dren for their good j and pbyficians fometimes impofe
on their patients, to come at a cure. And why, there-
tore, when perfons ivill not be prevailed with by reafon
and argument, may not an orator endeavour, by en-
gaging their paflions, to perfuade them to that which is
Vol. XV. Part I.
321
_ Befides, Quintilian makes it a Invention,
neceffary qualification of an orator, that he be an honeft » ^
man, and one who will not abufe his art. But fince thole
of a contrary charadler will leave no methods untried in
order to carry their point, it is requifite for thofe who
defign well to be acquainted with all their arts, with¬
out which they will not be a match for them j as in
military affairs it is highly advantageous for the gene¬
ral of an army to get himfelf informed of all the defigns
and ftratagems of the enemy, in order to counteract
them. Indeed this part of oratory is not neceffary at all
times, nor in all places. The better prepared perfons
are to confider truth, and a£t upon the evidence of it, the
lefs occafion there appears for it. But the greater part
of mankind either do not duly weigh the force of argu¬
ments, or refufe to aft agreeably to their evidence.
And where this is the cafe, that perfons will neither
be convinced by reafon, nor moved by the authority
of the fpeaker, the only way left to put them upon
aftion, is to engage their pafiions. For the pafiions are
to the mind, what the wind is to a {hip : they move,
and carry it forward ; and he who is without them, is
in a manner without aftion, dull and lifelefs. There
is nothing great or noble to be performed in life
wherein the paffions are not concerned. The Stoics,
therefore, who were for eradicating the pafiions, both
maintained a thing in itfelf impoffible, and which, if it
was poflible, would be of the greateft prejudice to man¬
kind. For while they appeared fuch zealous affertors
of the government of reafon, they fcarce left it any
thing to govern ; for the authority of reafon is prin¬
cipally exercifed in ruling and moderating the paflions,
which, when kept in a due regulation, are the fpringS
and motives to virtue. Thus hope produces patience,
and fear induftry j and the like might be fliown of the
reft. The pafiions therefore are not to be extirpated,
as the Stoics afferted, but put under the direftion and
conduft of reafon. Indeed where they are ungovern¬
able, and refift the controul of reafon, they are, as fome
have fitly called them, difeafes of the mind; and fre¬
quently hurry men to vice, and the greateft misfortunes
of life : juft as the wind, when it blows moderately,
carries on the {hip; but if it be too boifterous and vio- /
lent, may overfet her. The charge therefore brought
againft this art, for giving rules to influence the paf¬
fions, appears groundlels and unjuft ; fince the proper
ufe of the paflions is, not to hinder the exercife of rea¬
fon, but engage men to aft agreeably to reafon. And
if an ill ufe be fometimes made of this, it is not the fault
of the art but of The artift.
We {hall here confider the paflions, as they may be
feparately referred, either to de?nonJtnative, deliberative,
or judicial difeourfes though they are not wholly con¬
fined to any of them.
I. To the demonf native kind, we may reiev joy and Of the pat
forrow, love and hatred, emulation and contempt. f10ns which
Joy is an elation of the mind, arifing from a fenfe of may be re-
fome prefent good. Such a refleftion naturally creates ^enei^ t0
a pleafant and agreeable fenfation, which ends in a de- tivedif ^
lightful calm and ferenity. This is heightened by a de- courfes.
feription of former evils, and a comparifon between them
and the prefent felicity. Thus Cicero endeavours to
excite in the minds of his fellow citizens the higheft:
fenfe of joy and delight at Catiline’s departure from Rome,
by reprefenting to them the imminent danger which
S i threatened
3
ORATORY.
I;i0n,i threatened both them and the city while he continued
among them.
Sorrow, on the contrary, is an uneafmefs of mind
anting from a fenfe of feme prefent evil. This path on
has generally a place in funeral difeourfes. And it
may be heightened, like the former, by comparifon,
when any patt happinets is fet in oppotition to a pre¬
fent calamity. Hence Cicero aggravates the forrow
at Rome occalioned by the death of Metellus, from
his charafter, and great fcrvices to the public, while
living.
Love excites us to efteem any perfon for fome ex¬
cellency, and to do him all the good in our power. It
is diftinguifhed from friendjhip, which is mutual ; and
therefore love may continue where friendthip is loft j
that is, the affedlion may remain on one fide. And
when we affift a perfon from no other motive but to
do him a kindnefs, Ariftotle calls this good will. Love
takes its rife from a variety of caufes. Generofity, be¬
nevolence, integrity, gratitude, courtefy, and other
focial virtues, are great incitements to love any one
endued with fuch qualities. And perfons generally
love thofe who are of a like difpofition with them-
felves, and purfue the fame views. It is therefore the
ehief art of a flatterer to fuit himfelf in every thing to
the inclination of the perfon whofe good graces he
courts. When the orator would excite this affeftion
towards any perfon, it is proper to fhow, that he is
pofTefTed of at leaft fome, if not all, of thefe agreeable
qualities. When the confpirators with Catiline were
to be brought to juftice, Cicero was very fenfible of
the envy he fhould contraft on that acccount, and how
neceffary it was for him to fecure the love of the Ro¬
man fenate for his fupport and protection in that cri-
„ tical juncture. And this he endeavours to do in his
fourth oration againft Catiline, by reprefenting to them
in the molt pathetic manner, that all the labours he
underwent, the difficulties he conflicted with, and the
dangers to which he was expofed on that account,
were not for his own fake, but for their fafety, quiet,
and happinefs.
Hatred is oppofed to love, and produced by the
contrary difpofitions. And, therefore, perfons hate
thofe who never did them any injury, from the ill
opinion they have of their bafe and vicious inclina¬
tions. So that the way to excite this paffion is by
fliowing that any one has committed fome heinous
faCt with an ill intent. And the more nearly affeCted
perfons are by fueh aCtions, in what they account of
the greateft concern, the higher in proportion their ha¬
tred rifes. Since life, therefore, is efteemed the mod
valuable good, Cicero endeavours to render Mark An¬
tony odious to the citizens of Rome, by deferibing his
cruelty.
Emulation is a difquiet, occafioned by the felicity of
another, not becaufe he enjoys it, but becaufe we defire
the like for ourfelves. So that this paffion is in itfelf
good and laudable, as it engages men to purfue thofe
things which are fo. For the proper objeCts of emula¬
tion are any advantages of mind, body, or fortune, ac¬
quired by ftudy or labour.
Emulation therefore is excited by a lively reprefen-
tation of any defirable advantages which appear to be
attainable, from the example of others who are or have
been polfeiled of them. But where the felicity of ano-
Part I
ther occafions an uneafinefs, not from the want of it, Invention,
but, becaufe he enjoys it, this paffion is called envy, \r—
which the ancients deferibe as a hideous monfter, feed¬
ing upon itfelf, and being its own tormentor. Ariftotle
jultly obferves, that it moft ufually affefls fuch perfons
as were once upon a level with thofe they envy. For
moft men naturally think fo well of themfelves, that
they" are uneafy to fee thofe who were formerly their
equals advanced above them. But as this is a bafe and
vicious paffion, the orator is not to be informed how to
excite it, but how toleffen or remove it. And the me¬
thod preferibed by Cicero for this purpofe is, to fliow
that the things which occafioned it have not happened
to the envied perfon undefervedly, but are the juft re¬
ward of his induftry or virtue j that he does not fo much
convert them to his own profit or pleafure, as to the be¬
nefit of others; and that the fame pains and difficulties
are neceflary to preferve them with which they were at
firft acquired.
Contempt is oppofed to emulation, and arifes from
mifeondudt in things not of themfelves vicious: As
where a perfon either a6ts below his ftation and charac¬
ter, or affedts to do that for which he is not qualified.
Thus Cicero endeavours to expofe Caecilius, and bring
him into contempt of the court, for pretending to rival
him in the accufation of Verres, for which he was alto¬
gether unfit.
2. To deliberative difeourfes may be referred fear, Of the paf
hope, and Jhame. fions whicj
Fear arifes from the apprehenfion of fome great andmay bere
impending evil. For the greateft evils, while they
appear at a diftance, do not much affedl us. Such tive dif-*
perfons occafion fear, who are poffefied of power, courfes.
efpecially if they have been injured, or apprehend fo :
likewife thofe who are addidted to do injuries, or who
bear us an ill will. And the examples of others, who
have fuffered in a like cafe, or from the fame perfons,.
help to excite fear. From the circumftances therefore
either of the thing or perfon, it will not be difficult
for the orator to offer fuch arguments as may be pro¬
per to awaken this paffion. So Demofthenes, when
he would perfuade the ikthenians to put themfelves in
a condition of defence againft King Philip, enumerates
the feveral adts of hoftility already committed by him
againft the neighbouring ftates. And becaufe men’s
private concerns generally more affedl them than
what relates to the public, it is proper fometimes
to ffiow the neceffary connexion thefe have with each
other, and how the ruin of one draws the other after-
it.
The contrary paffion to fear is hope; which arifes
either from a profpedl of fome future good, or the ap¬
prehenfion of fafety from thofe things wffiich qccafion
our fear. Young perfons are eafily induced to hope
the beft, from the vigour of their fpirits. And thofe
Avho have efcapcd former dangers are encouraged to
hope for the like fuccefs for the future. The examples
of others alfo, efpecially of wife and confiderate men,
have often the fame good effedt. To find them calm
and fedate when expofed to the like dangers naturally
creates confidence and the hopes of fafety. But no¬
thing gives perfons fuch firmnefs and fteadinefs of mind,
under the apprehenfion of any difficulties, as a confci-
oufnefs of their own integrity and innocence. Let dan¬
gers come from what quarter they will, they are beft
prepared-;
0 R A T
Part I.
Invention, pj'e^ated to receive tliem. They can calmly view an
v—' impending tempcft, obfcrve the way of its approach,
and prepare themfelves in the bed manner to avoid it.
In Cicero’s oration for the Manilian law, he encou¬
rages the Roman citizens to hope for fuccefs againfl Mi-
thridates, if they chofe Pompey for their general, from
the many inftanccs of his former fuccefles which he
there enumerates.
Shame arifes from the apprehenfion of thole things
that hurt a perfon’s character. Modejly has been wife¬
ly implanted in mankind by the great Author of na¬
ture, as a guardian of virtue, which ought for this
reafon to be cheridied with the greateft care ; becaufe,
as Seneca has well obferved, “ if it be once loft, it is
fearce ever to be recovered.” Therefore the true caufe
or foundation of ihame is any thing bafe or vicious; for
this wounds the character, and will not bear reflection.
And he muft arrive at no fmall degree of infenflbility,
who can fland againfl; fuch a charge, if he be confcious
to himfelf that it is juft. Therefore, to deter perfons
from vicious actions, or to expofe them for the commif-
llon of them, the orator endeavours to let them in fuch
a light as may moft awaken this paflion, and give
them the greateft uneafinefs by the reflection. And be¬
caufe the bare reprefentation of the thing itfelf is not
always fufficient for this purpofe, he fometimes enforces
it by enlarging the view, and introducing thofe perfons
as witneffes of the faff for whom they are fuppofed to
have the greateft regard. Thus, when fome of the
Athenians, in an arbitration about certain lands which
had been referred to them by the contending parties,
propofed it as the ftiorteft way of deciding the contro-
verfy, to take the pofleffion of them in their own hands;
Cydias, a member of the affembly, to difluade them
from fuch an unjuft adlion, defired them to imagine
themfelves at that time in the general affembly of the
ftates of Greece (who would all hear of it fhortly), and
then confider how it was proper to a£l. But where per¬
fons labour under an excels of modefty which prevents
them from exerting themfelves in things fit and laudable,
it may fometimes he neceflary to fliew that it is faulty
and ill grounded. On the other hand, immodejly, or
impudence, which confifts in a contempt of fuch things
as affedl the reputation, can never bp too much difeou-
taged and expofed. And the way of doing this is to
make ufe of fucli arguments as are moft proper to excite
fhame. We have a very remarkable inftance of it in
Cicero’s fecond Philippic, wherein he affixes this cha¬
racter upon Mark Antony through every .feene of his
lite,
Wthepaf- 3. To judicial difeourfes, may be referred anger and
lions which leniti/, pity and indignation.
Anger is a refentment, oecalioncd by fomc affront or
injury, done without any juft reafon. Now men are
more inclined to refent fuch a condudl, as they think
they lefs deferve it. Therefore perfons of diflindlion
and figure, who expect a regard fliould be paid to their
character, can the lefs bear any indications of contempt.
And thofe who are eminent in any profeffion or faculty,
are apt to be offended if refle&ions are caff either upon
their reputation or art. Magiftrates alfo, and perfons
in public ftations, fometimes think it incumbent on
them to refent indignities for the fupport of their office.
But nothing fooner inflames this paffion, than if good
fervices are rewarded with flights and negle£h The
■’J 4
3*3
j may be re.
h ired to
{judicial
I difeourfes.
O R Y.
inftance of Narfes, the Roman general, is remarkable Invention
in this kind; who, after he had been fuccefsful in his
wars with the Goths, falling under the difpleafure of
the emperor juftin, was removed from the government
of Italy, and received by the emprefs with this taunt,
That he muji be fent to weave among the girls ; which
fo provoked him, that he faid he would weave fuch a
web as they would never be able to unravel. And
accordingly, he foon after brought down the Longo-
bards, a people of Germany into Italy ; where they
fettled themfelves in that part of the country, wnich
from them is now called Lombardy. (See Narses).
The time and place in which an injury was done, and
other circumfiances that attended it, may likewife con¬
tribute very much to heighten the faft. Hence De-
mofthenes, in his oration againft Midias, endeavours to
aggravate the injury of being ftruck by him, both as he
w7as then a magiftrate, and becaufe it was done at a pu¬
blic feftival. From hence it appears, that the perlbns
wTho moft ufually occafion this paffion are fuch as ne-
gledt the rules of decency, contemn and infult others,
or oppofe their inclinations; as likewife the ungrateful,
and thofe who violate the ties of friendihip, or requite
favours with injuries. But when the orator endeavours
to excite anger, he ftiould be careful not to exceed due
bounds in aggravating the charge, left what he fays ap¬
pear rather to proceed from prejudice, than a Uriel re¬
gard to the demerit of the action.
Lenity is the remiffion of anger. The defigns of
men’s actions are principally to be regarded; and there¬
fore what is done ignorantly, or through inadvertency,
is fooner forgiven. Alfo to acknowledge a fault, fub-
mit, and alk pardon, are the ready means to take off
refentment. For a generous mind is foon cooled by
fubmiffion. Befides, lie who repents of his fault, does
really give the injured party fome fatisfaction, by pt>-
niffing himfelf; as all repentance is attended with grief
and unealinefs of mind, and this is apt very much to
abate the delire of revenge. As, on the contrary, no¬
thing is more provoking, than when the offender either
audacroully juftifies the faft, or confidently denies it.
Men are likewife wont to lay afide their refentment,
when their adverfaries happen by fome other means to
fuffer what they think a fufficient falisfaflion Laftly,
Eafy circumftances, a lucky incident, or any thing
which gives the mind a turn to mirth and pleafure, has
a natural tendency to remove anger. For anger is
accompanied with pain and uneafinefs, which very ill
fuit joy and cheerfulnefs. The orator therefore, in or¬
der to affuage and pacify the minds of his auditors, will
endeavour to leffen their opinion of the fault, and by
that means to take oft' the edge of their refentment.
And to this purpofo, it will be proper either to repre-
fent that the thing was not defigned, or that the party
is forry for it; or to mention his former fervices ; as
alfo to fliow the credit and reputation which will be
gained by a generous forgivenefs. And this laft topic
is very artfully wrought up by Cicero, in his addrefs to
Ccefar in favour of Llgarius.
P/Vy arifos from the calamities of others, by refledfing,
that we ourfelves are liable to the like misfortunes. So
that evils, conlidered as the common lot of human na¬
ture, are principally the eaufe of pity. And this makes
the difference between pity and good willx which arifes
merely from a regard to the circumftanees of thofo who
• S f 2 • want
I
3H - O R A T
Invention. want our a{nftance. But confidering tlie uncertainty of
every thing about us, he muft feem in a manner divefted
of humanity, who has no compaffion for the calamities
of'others ; fince there is no affli&ion which happens to
any man, but either that, or fome other as great, may
fall upon himfelf. But thofe perfons are generally foon-
eft touched with this patfion, who have met with mif-
fortunes themfelves. And by how much greater the
diftrefs is, or by how much the perfon appears lefs de-
ferving it, the higher pity does it excite ; for which
reafon, perfons are generally moft moved at the misfor¬
tunes of their relations and friends, or thofe of the belt
figure and charafter. The orator, therefore, in order
to excite the greater pity, will endeavour to heighten
the idea of the calamity, from the feveral circumftances
both of the thing itfelf and the perfon who labours under
it. A fine example of this may be feen in Cicero’s de¬
fence of Muraena, Cap. 40, &c.
Indignation, as oppofed to pity, is an uneafinefs at the
felicity of another who does not feem to deferve it.
But this refpefts only external advantages, fuch as
riches, honours, and the like ; for virtues cannot be
the objeiSt of this pafiion. Ariftotle therefore fays,
“ that pity and indignation are generally to be found
in the fame perfons, and are both evidences of a good
difpofition.” Now the orator excites this paffion, by
fliowing the perfon to be unworthy of that felicity which
he enjoys. And as, in order to move compaflion, it is
fometimes of ufe to compare the former happy date of
the perfon with his prefent calamity ; fo here, the great¬
er indignation is raifed, by comparing his former mean
circumftances with his prefent advancement : as Cicero
does in the cafe of Vatinius.
Thefe are the paffions with which an orator is prin¬
cipally concerned. In addrefiing to which, not only the
greateil warmth and force of expreflion is often necefia-
O R Y.
Part I.
ry ; but he muft likewife firft endeavour to imprefs his Invention*
own mind with the fame paffion he would excite in
others.
A man may convince, and even perfuade others to
aft, by mere reafon and argument. But that degree of
eloquence which gains the admiration of mankind, and
properly denominates one an orator, is never found
without warmth or paffion. Paffion, when in fuch a
degree as to roufe and kindle the mind, without throw¬
ing it out of the poffeffion of itfelf, is univerfally found
to exalt all the human powers. It renders the mind
infinitely more enlightened, more penetrating, more
vigorous and mafterly, than it is in its calm moments.
A man, aftuated by a ftrong paffion, becomes much
greater than he is at other times. He is confeious of
more ftrength and force ; he utters greater fentiments,
conceives higher defigns, and executes them with a
boldnefs and a felicity of which on other occafions he
could not think himfelf capable. But chiefly, with re-
fpeft to perfuafion, is the power of paffion felt. Almoft
every man in paffion is eloquent. Then he is at no lofs
for words and arguments. He tranfmits to others, by
a fort of contagious fympathy, the warm fentiments
which he feels j his looks and gellures are all perfuafive -
and nature here ftiows herfelf infinitely more powerful
than art. This is the foundation of that juft; and noted
rule. Si vis me flere, dolendum eji primum ipji tibi.
The warmth, however, which we exprefs, muft be
fuited to the. occafion and the fubjeft •, for nothing can
be more prepofterous than an attempt to introduce great
vehemence into a fubjeft, which is either of flight im¬
portance, or which, by its nature, requires to be treated
of calmly. A temperate tone of fpeech is that for which
there is moft frequent occafion ^ and he who is on every
fubjeft paffionate and vehement, will be confidered as
a blufterer, and meet with little regard.
PART II. OF DISPOSITION.
AS Invention fupplies the orator with neceflary ma¬
terials, fo Difpojition direfts him how to place them in
the moft proper and fuitable order. Difpofition, there¬
fore, confidered as a part of oratory, naturally follows
invention. And what is here chiefly intended by it is,
the placing the feveral parts of a difeourfe in a juft me¬
thod and dependence upon one another.
Writers are not all agreed in determining the parts
of an oration ; though the difference is rather in the
manner of confidering them, than in the things them¬
felves. But Cicero, whom we (hall here follow, men¬
tions fix, namely, Introduffion, Narration, Propojition,
Confirmation, Confutation, and Conclufon.
Chap. I. Of the Introduction.
' 94 . .
Introduc- The defign of this is to prepare the minds of the
tion gains hearers for a fuitable reception of the remaining parts
and atten* ^at are to And for this end, three things are
xion of the requifite ; that the orator gain the good opinion of his
audience, hearers, that he fecure their attention, and give them
and gives a fome general notion of his fubjeft.
tioiTofthe0" J- G°0d opinion. When the orator introduces his
fubiedt, difeourfe with his own perfon, he will be' careful to do
it with modefty, and feem rather to extenuate his vir¬
tues and abilities, than to magnify them. And where
the nature of the fubjeft may feem to require it, he
will endeavour to ftiow, that fome juft and good reafon
induced him to engage in it. We have a very fine ex¬
ample of this in Cicero’s oration for the poet Aulus Li-
cinius Archias, which begins thus : “ If I have anv na¬
tural genius, which I am fenfible is very fmall, or any
anility m (peaking, "wherein I own I have been very
converfant 5 or any (kill acquired from the ftudy and
precepts of the beft arts, to which my whole life has
been devoted ’, this Aulus Licinius has, in a particular
manner, a right to demand of me the fruit of all thefe
things. For as far back as I can remember, and call
to mind what pafied in my youth to the prefent time,
he has been my chief advifer and encourager both to
undertake and purfue this courfe of ftudies.” When the
orator fets out with the perfons of thofe to whom the
difeourfe is made, it is not unufual to commend them
for their virtues, and thofe efpecially which have a
more immediate relation to the prefent fubjeft. Thus
Cicero begins his oration of thanks for the pardon of
Marcellus, with an encomium upon the mildnefs, cle¬
mency, and wifdom of Ctefar, to whom it was addreffed.
But
Part II. O R A T
Cifpofition. But fometimes the orator expreffes his gratitude for paft
-v ' favours j as Cicero has done in his orations, both to the
people and fenate of Rome, after his return from banilh-
xnent.—And at other times he declares his concern for
them and their intercft ; in which manner Cicero begins
his fourth oration againft Catiline, which was made in
the fenate.” “ I perceive (fays he) that all your coun¬
tenances and eyes are turned on me j I perceive that
you are felicitous, not only for your own danger, and
that of the ftate, but for mine likevvife, if that fliould
be removed. Your affection for me is pleafant in mif-
fortunes, and grateful in forrow but I adjure you to
lay it afide, and, forgetting my fafety, conlider your-
felves and your children.” But in judicial cafes, both
the chara&er of the perfon whofe caufe he efpoufes, and
that of the adverfe party likewife, furnifh the orator
with arguments for exciting the good will of his hear¬
ers: The former, by commemorating his virtues, dig¬
nity, or merits, and fometimes his misfortunes and cala¬
mities. So Cicero, in his defence of Flaccus, begins
his oration in commending him on the account of his
fervices done to the public, the dignity of his family,
and his love to his country. And Demofthenes, in his
oration againft Midias, fets out with a recital of his
vices, in order to recommend his own caufe to the fa¬
vourable opinion of the court.
2. Attention. On this head, Cicero fays, “ We
ftiall be heard attentively on one of thefe three things j
if we propofe what is great, neceflary, or for the in-
tereft of thofe to whom the difeourfe is addreffed.” So
that, according to him, the topics of attention are
much the fame with thofe of good opinion, when taken
* from the fubjedf. And indeed, people are naturally
led to attend either to thofe things or perfons of which
they have entertained a favourable opinion. But in or¬
der to gain this point, the orator fometimes thinks it
proper to requeft the attention of his audience. Thus
Cicero, in his defence of Cluentius, after having fhown
the heinoufnefs of the charge againft him, concludes his
introduction in the following manner, fpeaking to the
judges: “Wherefore I entreat, that while I briefly
and clearly reply to a charge of many years ftanding,
you will, according to your ufual cuftom, give me a
kind and attentive hearing.” And again, in his fe-
cond Philippic, addrefling himfelf to the fenate :
“ But as I muft fay fomething for myfelf, and many
things againft Mark Antony •, one of thefe I beg of
you, that you will hear me kindly, while I fpeak for
myfelf-, and the other I will undertake for, that when
I fpeak againft him, you fliall hear me with atten¬
tion.” But though the introdudlion be the moft
ufual and proper place for gaining attention, yet the
orator finds it convenient fometimes to quicken and
excite his hearers in other parts of his difeourfe, when
he obferves they flag, or has fomething of moment to
offer.
3. general account of the fubjeCl of the difeourfe.
This is always neceffary j which the two others are not.
And therefore it muft be left to the prudence of the
orator when to ufe or omit them as he fhall judge proper,
from the nature of his difeourfe, the circumftance of his
hearers, and how he ftands with them. But fome ac¬
count of the fubjeCt is what cannot be negleCled. For
every one expeCls to be foon informed of the defign of
the fpeaker, and what he propofes to treat of. Nor
3
O R Y.
325
when they are all made ufe of, is itneceflary they fhould Difpofition-
always ftand in the order we have here placed them. -w
Cicero fometimes enters immediately upon his fubjeCf,
and introduces the other heads afterwards. As in his
third oration againft Catiline, made to the body of the
Roman people, which begins thus : “ You fee that the
ftate, all your lives, eftates, fortunes, wives, and children,
and this feat of the greateft empire, the moft flourilh-
ing and beautiful city, having by the favour of heaven
towards you, and my labours, counfels, and dangers,
been this day refeued from fire and fvvord and the very
jaws of deftruftion, are pijeferved and reftored to you.”
And then he proceeds to recommend himfelf to their
efteem and benevolence, from the confideration of thefe
benefits.
Thefe are the heads which commonly furnilh matter Introduc-
for this part of a difeourfe. But orators often take d011 *s not
oceafion from the time, place, largenefs of the affembly, con^net^ ^
or fome other proper circumftance, to compliment their f^fcanTd-*
hearers, recommend themfelves, or introduce the fubjeft mit of other
upon which they are about to treat. Inftances of each matter, if
of thefe may be met with infeveralof Cicero’s orations.fumilhe<?
And fometimes they fet out with fome comparifon, fimi- elmftancos
tude, or other ornament, which they accommodate to of the cafe..
the occafion of their difeourfe. Thus Ifocrates enters
upon his celebrated panegyric in praife of his country¬
men the Athenians with the following comparifon : “ I
have often wondered what could be their defign who
brought together thefe affemblies, and inftituted the
gymnaftic fports, to propofe fo great rewards for bodily
ftrength; and to vouchfafe no honour to thofe who ap¬
plied their private labours to ferve the public, and fo
cultivated their minds as to be ferviceable to others, to
whom they ought to have fliown greater regard. For
although the ftrength of a champion was doubled, no
benefit would from thence accrue to others j but all
enjoy the prudence of one man, who will hearken to his
advice.” In fome cafes, orators have recourfe to a more
covert and artful way of opening their fubjedb, endea¬
vour to remove jealoufies, apologize for what they are
about to fay, and feem to refer it to the candour of the
hearers to judge of it as they pleafe. Cicero appears to
have been a perfedl mafter of this art, and ufed it with
great fuccefs. Thus in his feventh Philippic, where he
feems to exprefs the greateft concern, left what he was
about to fay fhould give any offence to the fenate to
whom he was fpeaking: “ I (fays he) who always de¬
clared for peace, and to whom peace among ourfelves, as
it is w'iflied for by all good men, was in a particular
manner defirable y who have employed all my induftry
in the forum, in the fenate, and in the defence of my
friends, whence I have arrived to the higheft honours,
a moderate fortune, and what reputation I enjoy 5 I
therefore, who owe what I am to peace, and without it
could not have been the perfon I am, be that what it
will, for I would arrogate nothing to myfelf j I fpeak
with concern and fear, how you will receive what I am
going to fay 5 but I beg and entreat you, from the great
regard I have always expreffed for the fupport and ad¬
vancement of your honour, that if any thing faid by me
ftiould at firft appear harfh or unfit to be received, you
will notwithftanding pleafe to hear it without offence,
and not reject it till I have explained myfelf: I then,
for I muft repeat it again, who have always approved of
peace; and promoted it, am againft a peace with Mark.
Antony.”
326 »
0 R A T O B Y,
Part II.
Dtfpofition, Antony,” Tins Is called infinuntion ; and may be ne-
'—V"—1' celi'ary, where a .caufe is in itfelf doubtful, or may be
thought fo from the received notions of the hearers, or
the impreffions already made upon them by the contrary
tide. An honeit man would not knowingly engage in
a bad caufe ; and yet, through prevailing prejudice, that
may be fo etleemed which is not fo in itfelf. In thefe
cafes, therefore, great caution and prudence are ntcef-
fary to give fueh a turn to things, and place them in
that view as may be lead liable to offence. And be-
caufc it femetimes happens that the hearers are not fo
much difpleafed at the obje£t as the perion, Quintilian’s
rule feems very proper, when he fays, “ It the iubjeft
qifpleafe, the character of the perfon fhould fupport it ;
and when the perfon gives offence, he fliould be helped
by the caufe.”
Chap. II. Of Narration.
Is arration
brings for
ward all
thofe cir-
cumftances
of a cafe,
&C. in their
proper ami
natural or¬
der, which
are calcu¬
lated to fet
it in a juft
or a ft rang
light.
The orator having prepared his hearers to receive
his difeourfes with candour and attention, and acquaint¬
ed them with his general defrgn in the introduction,
before he proceeds elireCtly to his fubjeft, often finds it
necefiary to give feme account of what preceded, ac¬
companied, or followed upon it. And this Ire does in
order to enlarge the view of the particular point in dif-
pute, and place it in a clearer light. This is called
narration ; which is a recital of fomething done, in
the order and manner in which it was done. Hence
it is eafy to perceive what thofe things are which pro¬
perly enter into a narration. And fuch are the caufe,
manner, time, place, and confequences of an aclion •,
with the temper, fortune, views, ability, affociates, and
other circumllances of thofe concerned in it. Not that
each of thefe particulars is neceffary in every narra¬
tion : but fo many of them at leaft as are requifite to
fet the matter in a juil light, and make it appear cre¬
dible. Befides, In relating a faft, the orator does not
content himfelf with fuch an account of it as is barely
fufficient to render what he fays intelligible to his
hearers ; but deferibes it in fo ftrong and lively a man¬
ner, as may give the greateft evidence to his relation,
and make the deepelt impreflion upon their minds.
And if any part of it appear at prefent lefs probable,
he promifes to clear up and remove any remaining
doubts in the progrefs of his difeourfe. For the foun¬
dation of his reafoning afterwards is laid in the narra¬
tion, from whence he takes his arguments for the con¬
firmation. And therefore it is a matter of no fmall im¬
portance that this part be well managed, fince the fuc-
cefs of the whole difeourfe fo much depends upon it.
See Narration.
There are four properties required in a good narra¬
tion 5 that it be fhort, clear, probable, and pleafant.
1. The brevity at a narration is not to be judged
of barely from its length : for that may be too long,
which contains but a little ; and that too fhort, which
comprehends a great deal. Wherefore this depends
upon the nature of the Tub]eft, fince feme things re¬
quire more words to give a juft reprefentation of them,
and others fewer. That may properly, therefore, be
called a fhort narration^ which contains nothing that
could well have been omitted, nor omits any thing
which was neceffary to be faid. Nowr, in order to
.avoid both thefe extremes, care Thould be taken not
4
to go farther back in the account of tilings, nor to l-TTpofition.
trace them dow n lower, than the fubjeft requires 5 to '■—•'v*—
fay that only in the general, which does not need a
more particular explication •, not to aflign the caufes
of things, when it is enough to ftiow they were done j
and to omit fuch things as are fufeciently underftood,
from what either preceded, or was confequent upon
them. But the orator ftiould be careful, left, while
he endeavours to avoid prolixity, he run into ohfeu-
rity. Horace was very fenfible of this danger, when
he faid,
By driving to be finort, I grow obfeure.
2. Verfpicuity. This may juftly be efteemed the
chief excellency of language. For as the defign of
fpeech is to communicate our thoughts to others, that
muft be its greateft excellence which contributes mod
to this end •, and that, doubtlefs, is perfpicuity. As
petfpicuity therefore is requifite in all difeourfe, fo it
is particularly ferviceable in a narration, which con¬
tains the fubftance of all that is to be faid afterwards.
Wherefore, if this be not fufficiently underftood, much
lefs can thofe things which receive their light from it.
Now the following things render a narration clear and
plain : Proper and fignificant words, w'hofe meaning
is -well known and determined •, ftiort fentences, though
full and explicit, whole parts are not perplexed, but
placed in their juft order •, proper particles to join the
fentences, and fhow their connexion and dependence on
each other ; a due regard to the order of time, and
other circumftances necefiary to be expreffed j and, laft-
ly, fuitable tranfitions.
3. Trobability. Things appear probable when the
caufes afligned for them appear natural 5 the manner hi
which they are deferibed is eafy to be conceived ; the
confequences are fuch as might be expefted •, the cha¬
racters of the perfons are juftly reprefented ; and the
whole account is well attefted, confiftent with itfelf, and
agreeable to the general opinion. Simplicity likewife
in the manner of relating a faft, as well as in the ftyle,
Avithout any referve or appearance of art, contributes
very much to its credibility. For truth loves to appear
naked and open, ftript of all colouring or diiguife.
The confpiracy of Catiline Avas fo daring and extrava¬
gant, that no one but fuch a defperado could ever have
undertaken it Avith any hopes of fuccefs. However,
Cicero’s account of it to the fenate Avas fo full and exaft,
and fo Avell fuited to the charafter of the perfon, that it
prefently gained credit. And therefore, Avhen upon the
conclufion of Cicero’s fpeech, Catiline, Avho Avas prefent,
immediately flood up, and defired they Avould not enter¬
tain fuch hard thoughts of him, but eonfider Iioav much
his family had always been attached to the public intcr-
eft, and the great fervices they had done the ftate ; their
refentment rofe fo high, that he could not be heard :
upon Avhich he immediately left the city, and went to
his affociates.
4. The laft thing required in a narration is, that it be
pleafant and entertaining. And this is- more difficult,
becaufe it does not admit of that accurate compofition
and pompous drefs Avhich delight the ear, and recom¬
mend feme other parts of a difeourfe. For it certain¬
ly requires no fmall fkill in the fpeaker, while he en¬
deavours to exprefs every thing in the molt natural,
plain, and eafy manner, not to grow flat and tirefome.
- For
narration.
Part IT. ORA
piipofition. for Quintilian’s remark is very-juft, tliat “ the moil
experienced orators find nothing in eloquence more
difficult, than what all who hear it fancy they could
have faid themfelves.” And the rcafon of this fee-ms
very obvious. For as all art is an imitation of nature,
the nearer it refembles that, the more perfeft it is in
its kind. Hence unexperienced perfons often ima¬
gine that to be eafieft which fuits bell with thofe na¬
tural ideas to which they have been accuftomed ; till,
upon trial, they are convinced of their miltake.
Wherefore, to render this part of a difcourfe pleafant
and agreeable, recourfe muft be had to variety both
in the choice of words and turns of the expreffion.
And therefore queflions, admirations, interlocutions,
imagery, and other familiar figures, help very much to
diverfify and enliven a narration, and prevent it from
becoming dull and tedious, efpecially when it is carried
27 on to any confiderable length.
The. ufcs of Having given a brief account of the nature and pro¬
perties of a narration, we (hall now proceed to confider
the ufes of it.
Laudatory orations are ufually as it were a fort of
continued narration, fet off and adorned with florid
language and fine images proper to grace the fubjedl,
which is naturally fo well fitted to afford pleafure and
entertainment. Wherefore a feparate narration is more
fuited to deliberative and judicial difcourfes. In Cicero’s
oration for the Manilian law (which is of the former
kind), the defign of the narration is to fhow the Roman
people the neceffity of giving Pompey the command of
the army againff King Mithridates, by reprefen ting the
nature of that war, which is done in the following man¬
ner : “ A great and dangerous war (fays he.) threatens
your revenues and allies from two very powerful kings,
Mithridates and Tigranes ; one of whom not being pur-
fued after his defeat, and the other provoked, they
think they have an opportunity to feize Alia. Letters
are daily brought from thofe parts to worthy gentlemen
of the equeftrian order, who have large concerns there
in farming your revenues : they acquaint me, as friends,
with the date of the public affairs, and danger of their
own *, that many villages in Bithynia, which is now
your province, are burnt down ; that the kingdom of
Ariobarzanes, which borders upon your revenues, is
entirely in the enemy’s power ; that Lucullus, after
feveral great victories, is withdrawn from the war ; that
he who fucceeds him is not able to manage it; that all
the allies and Roman citizens rviffi and defire the com¬
mand of that war may be given to one particular perfon;
and that he alone, and no other, is dreaded by the ene¬
mies. You fee the ftate of the cafe 5 now confider what
ought to be done.” Here is an unhappy fcene of affairs,
which feemed to call for immediate redrefs. The caufes
and reafons of it are affxgned in a very probable manner,
and the account well atteffed bv perfons of charafler
and figure. And what the confequences would be, if
not timely prevented, no one could well be ignorant.
The only probable remedy fugpefted in general is, the
committing that affair to one certain perfon, which
he afterwards (hows at large could be no other than
Pompey. But in Cicero’s defence of Milo (which is
of the judicial kind), the defign of the narration,
which is greatly commended by Ouintilian, is to prove
that, in the combat between Clodius and Milo, the
former- was the aggreffor. And in order to make this
TORY. 327
appear, he gives a fummary account of the conduct of Difpofition.
Clodius the preceding year •, and from the courfe of
his afiions and behaviour, (hows the inveterate hatred
he bore to Milo, who obftrufted him in his wicked
defigns. For which caufe he had often threatened to
kill him, and given out that he fliould not live be¬
yond fuch a time \ and accordingly he went from
Rome without any other apparent reafon, but that he
might have an opportunity to attack him in a convenient
place near his own houfe, by which he knew Milo was
then obliged to pafs. Milo was in the fenate that day,
where he ftaid till they broke up, then went home, and
afterwards fet forward on his journey. When he came
to the place in which he was to be affaulted, Clodius
appeared every way prepared for fuch a defign, being
on horfeback, and attended with a company of defperate
ruffians ready to execute his commands j whereas Milo
was with his wife in a chariot, wrapped up in his cloak,
and attended with fervants of both fexes. Thefe were
all circumftances which preceded the faft. And as to
the aftion itfelf, with the event of it, the attack, as
Cicero fays, was begun by the attendants of Clodius
from a higher ground, who killed Milo’s coachman j
upon which Milo, throwing off his cloak, leaped out,
and made a brave defence againft Clodius’s men, who
were got about the chariot. But Clodius, in the heat
of the Ikirmiffi, giving out that Milo was killed, wras
himfelf flain by the fervants of Milo, to avenge, as they
thought, the death of their mafter. Here feems to be
all the requifites proper to make this account credible.
Clodius’s open and avowed hatred of Milo, which pro¬
ceeded fo far as to threaten his life 5 the time of his
leaving Rome ; the convenience of Ihe place ; his habit'
and company fo different from thofe of Milo ; joined
with his known charaffer of a moll profligate and auda¬
cious wretch, could not but render it very probable that
he had formed that defign to kill Milo. And which of
them began the attack might very reafonably be credited
from the advanced ground on which Clodius and his men
were placed ; the death of Milo’s coachman at the be¬
ginning of the combat ; the Ikirmiffi afterwards at the
chariot •, and the reafon of Clodius’s own death at laft,
which does not appear to have been intended, till he had
given out that Milo was killed.
But a diflindt and feparate narration is not always-
neceffary in any kind of difcourfe. For if the matter
be well known before, a fet and formal narrative will
be tedious to the hearers. Or if one party has done
it already, it is needlefs for the other to repeat it.
But there are three occafions efpecially, in which it
may fcem very requifite : wffien it xvill bring light to
the fubjeft; when different accounts have already been
given out concerning it j or when it has been mifre-
prefented by the adverfe party. If the point in con-
troverfy be of a dubious nature, or not fufficiently
known to the hearers, a diffinft account of the matter,
with the particular circumftances attending it, muft:
b*' very ferviceable, in order to let them into a true
ftate of the cafe, and enable them to judge of it with
greater certainty.
Moreover, where the oppofite partv has fet the matter
in a falfe light by fome artful and invidious turn, or load¬
ed it with any odious circumftances, it feems no lefs ne-
ceffary that endeavours ftiould be ufed to remove any ill
impreflions, which otherwife might remain, upon the
minds.
328 ■ O R A T
.Difpofitiom minds of the hearers, by a different and more favourable
v" reprefentation. And if any thing can be fixed upon to
make the contrary account appear abfurd or incredible,
it ought particularly to be remarked. Thus Cicero, in
his defence of Sextus Rofcius, {hows that he was many
miles diftant from Rome at the time he was charged with
having killed his father there. “ Now (fays he), while
Sextus Rofcius was at Ameria, and this Titus Rofcius
\his accufer~\ at Rome, Sextus Rofcius [the father] was
killed at the baths on Mount Palatine, returning from
fupper. From whence I hope there can be no doubt
who ought to be fufpetded of the murder. And, were
not the thing plain of itfelf, there is this farther fufpicion
to fix it upon the profecutor j that, after the faft was
committed, one Manlius Glaucia, an obfcure fellow,
the freedman, client, and familiar, of this Titus Rof¬
cius, firft carried the account of it to Ameria, not to
the fon of the deceafed, but to the houfe of Titus
Capito his enemy $” with more to the fame purpofe.
But what we bring it for is, to (how the ufe which
Cicero makes of this narration for retorting the crime
upon the profecutors.
But the orator {hould be very careful, in condufting
this part, to avoid every thing which may prejudice the
caufe he efpoufes. Falfehood, and a mifreprefentation
of fafts, are not to be juftified ; but no one is obliged
to fay thofe things which may hurt himfelf. We fnall
juft mention one inftance of this from Cicero, where
he has ftiown great {kill in this refpedt, in pleading
before Caefar for the pardon of Ligarius, who had
joined with Pompey in the civil war. For Ligarius,
having been reprefented by the adverfe party as an
enemy to Caefar, and fo efteemed by Csefar himfelf;
Cicero very artfully endeavours in his narration to
take off the force of this charge, by fhowing, that, when
the war firft broke out, he refufed to engage in it;
which he would not have done, had he borne any per-
fonal hatred to Caefar. “ Quintus Ligarius (fays he),
before there was any fufpicion of a w'ar, went into Africa
as a legate to the proconful Caius Confidius; in which
he fo approved himfelf, both to the Roman citizens and
allies, that, when Confidius left the province, the inha¬
bitants wrould not be fatisfied he ftiould leave the govern¬
ment in the hands of any other perfon. Therefore
Quintus Ligarius having excufed himfelf In vain for
fome time, accepted of the government againft his will j
which he fo managed during the peace, that both the
citizens and allies were greatly pleafed with his integrity
and juftice. The war broke out on a hidden, which
thofe in Africa did not hear of till it was begun : but
upon the news of it, partly through inconfiderate hafte,
and partly from blind fear, they looked out for a leader,
firft for their own fafety, and then as they wereaffe&ed 5
wdien Ligarius, thinking of home, and defirous to return
to his friends, tvould not be prevailed on to engage in
any affairs. In the mean time, Publius Accius Varus,
the praetor, who was formerly governor of Africa, com¬
ing to Utica, recourfe was immediately had to him,
who very eagerly took upon himfelf the government •, if
that can be called a government, which wras conferred
on a private man by the clamour of the ignorant multi¬
tude, without any public authority. Ligarius, therefore,
who endeavoured to avoid every thing of that kind,
ceafed to a£t foon after the arrival of Varus.” Here
Cicero ends his narrative. For though Ligarius after-
O R Y. • Part II.
wards joined with Poffipey’s party, yet to have men-Difpofition.
tioned that, which was nothing more than what many
others had done, whom Caefar had already pardoned,
could have ferved only to increafe his difpleafure againft
him. And therefore he doubtlefs {bowed great {kill in
fo managing his account, as to take off the main force of
the accufation, and by that means make way for his par¬
don, which he accordingly obtained.
Chap. III. Of the Propofition,
28
In every juft and regular difcourfe, the fpeaker’s ^:
intention is to prove or illuftrate fomething. Andfition'isT"
when he lays down the fubjeft upon which he defignsdUtintfl and
to treat, in a diliindt and exprefs manner, this is called exPrefs
the propoftion. manner of
Orators ufe feveral ways in laying down the fubjedl dowrfthe
of their difcourfes. Sometimes they do it in one general ubjeAon
propofition. We have an inftance of this in Cicero’s which an
fpeech to the fenate, the day after Csefar was killed (asorator
it is given us by Dion Caflius), in which his defign was^u t0
to perfuade them to peace and unanimity. “ This (fays
he) being the ftate of our affairs,,I think it neceffary
that we lay afide all the difcord and enmity which have
been among us, and return again to our former peace
and agreement.” And then he proceeds to offer his
reafons for this advice.
At other times, to give a clearer and more diftinft;
view of their difcourfe, they fubjoin to the propofition
the general heads of argument by which they endea¬
vour to fupport it. This method Cicero ufes in his
feventh Philippic, where he fays, “ I who have always
commended and advifed to peace, am againft a peace
with Mark Antony. But why am I averfe to peace ?
Becaufe it is bafe, becaufe it is dangerous, and becaufe
it is impracticable. And I befeech you to hear me
with your ufual candour, while I make out thefe three
things.”
But when the fubjeCt relates to feveral different things, When die
which require each of them to be feparately laid down fubjeft re¬
in diftinft propofitions, it is called a partition; thoughferst.°/eve-
fome have made two kinds of partition, one of which
they call feparation, and the other enumeration. By the rCqu'ij.’(.s tt)
former of thefe, the orator {hows in wThat he agrees with be laid
his adverfary, and wherein he differs from him. So, in down in
the cafe formerly mentioned, of a perfon accufed of fa_diftindl pro-
crilege for ftealing private money out of a temple, he
who pleads for the defendant fays, “ Pie owns the fa615partition
but it being private money, the point in queftion is,
Whether this be facrilege ?” And in the caufe of Milo,
Cicero, fpeaking of Clodius, fays, “ The point which
now comes before the court, is not, Whether he was
killed or not; that ive confefs ; but, Whether juftly or
unjuftly.” Now in reality here is no partition, fince the
former branch of the propoiition is what is agreed upon,
and given up ; and confequently it is only the latter
that remains to be difputed. It is called enumeration,
when the orator acquaints his hearers with the feveral
parts of his difcourfe upon which he defigns to treat.
And this alone, properly fpeaking, is a partition. Thus
Cicero ftates his plea in his defence of Murcena : “ I
perceive the accufation confifts of three parts : the firft
refpefts the conduft of his life \ the fecond his dignity;
and the third contains a charge of bribery.”
There are three things requifite in a good parti¬
tion ;
part II. ORA
jjifpofition. tion • that it be Jhorty complete, and confift but of a few
  v 1 J members.
A partition is faid to be Jhort, when each propor¬
tion contains in it nothing more than what is neceffary.
So that the brevity here required is different from that
of a narration j for that confiffs chiefly in things, this
in words. And, as Quintilian jurtly obferves, brevity
feems very proper here, where the orator does not fhow
w'hat he is then fpeaking of, but what he defigns to
difcourfe upon.
Again, It ought to be complete and perfeft. And
for this end, care muff be taken to omit no neceffary
part in the enumeration.'
But, however, there fttould be as few heads as is
confiftent with the nature of the fubjedl. The ancient
rhetoricians prefcribe three or four at the moft. And
we do not remember that Cicero ever exceeds that
number. But it is certain, the fewer they are, the
better, provided nothing neceflary be omitted. For
too large a number is both difficult of retention, and
apt to introduce that confufion which partition is de-
flgned to prevent.
Hitherto we have been fpeaking only of thofe heads
into which the fubjeft or general argument of the dif¬
courfe is at firft divided. For it is fometimes conve¬
nient to divide thefe again, or at leaft fome of them,
into feveral parts or members. And when this hap¬
pens, it is belt done, as the fpeaker comes to each of
them in thd order at firfl: laid down; by which means
the memory of the hearers will be lefs burdened than
by a multitude of particulars at one and the fame timp.
Thus Cicero, in his oration for the Manilian law, com-
prifes what he defigns to fay under three general heads.
“ Firfl; (fays he) I fliall fpeak of the nature of the
war, then of its greatnefs, and laftly about the choice
of a general.” And when he comes to the firft of
thefe, he divides it again into four branches; and (hows,
“ how much the glory of the Romans, and fafety of their
allies, their greateft revenues, and the fortunes of many
of their citizens, were all concerned in that war.” The
fecond head, in which he confiders the greatnefs of the
war, has no divifion. But when he comes to the third
head, concerning the choice of a general, he divides that
likewife into four parts; and ffiows, that fo many virtues
are neceffary in a confummate general, fuch a one as was
proper to have the management of that war, namely,
fkill in militarij affairs, courage, authority, and fuccefs:
all which he attributes to Pompey. And this is the
fcheme of that celebrated oration.
This fubdividing, however, ffiould never have place
but when it is abfolutely neceffary. To fplit a fubjefl
into a great many minute parts, by divifions and fub-
divifions without end, has always a bad effedt in fpeak¬
ing. It may be proper in a logical treatife ; but it
makes an oration appear hard and dry, and unnecef-
farily fatigues the memory. In a fermon, there may be
from three to five, or fix heads, including fubdivifions ;
feldom ffiould there be more.
Further, Some divide their fubjedl into two parts,
and propofe to treat upon it negatively and pof livelyi
by Ihowing firft what it is not, and then what it is.'
But while they are employed to prove what it is not,
they are not properly treating upon that, but fomething
elfe; which feems as irregular as it is unneeffary. For
he who proves what a thing is, does at the fame time
VOL. XV. Part 'I.
329
1 30
Negative
pofi-
*ive divi¬
sions of a
pbjeft.
TORY.
ffiow what it is not. However, in fadl, there is a fort Dhpofition,
of divifion by affirmation and negation, which may
fometimes be conveniently ufed. As if a perfon, charged
with killing another, fliould thus ftate his defence : I
had done right if l had killed him, but I did not kill him.
Here indeed, it the latter can be plainly made to appear,
it may feem needlefs to infift upon the form. But if
that cannot be fo fully proved, but there may be room
left for fufpicion, it may be proper to make ufe of both :
for all perfons do not fee things in the fame light, and he
who believes the fact, may likewife think it juft ; while
he who thinks it unjuft, may not believe it, but rather
fuppofe, had it really been committed by the party, he
would not have denied it, fince he looked upon it as de-
fenfible. And this method of proceeding, Quintilian
compares to a cuftom often ufed in traffic, when perfons
make a large demand at firft, in order to gain a reafon-
able price. Cicero ufes this way of reafoning in his de¬
fence of Milo ; but in the contrary order; that is, he
firft anfwers the charge ; and then juftifies the fadf,
upon the fuppofition that the charge was true. For he
proves, firft, that Clodius was the aggreffor; and not
Milo, as the contrary party had afferted: and then, to
give the greater advantage to his caufe, he proceeds to
fliow, that if Milo had been the aggreffor, it tvould
however have been a glorious aclion to take off fuch an
abandoned wretch, who was not only a common enemy
to mankind, but had likewife often threatened his
life.
A good and juft partition is attended with confider-
able advantages. For it gives both light and ornament
to a difcourfe. And it is alfo a great relief to the hear¬
ers, who, by means of thefe flops and refts, are much
better enabled to keep pace with the fpeaker without
confufion, and by calling their thoughts either way,
from what has been faid, both know and are prepared
for what is to follow. And as perfons, in travelling a
road with which they are acquainted, go on with greater
pleafure and lefs fatigue, becaufe they know how far it
is to their journey’s end; fo to be apprifed of the fpeaker’s
defign, and the feveral parts of his difcourfe which he
propofes to treat on, contributes very much to relieve
the hearer, and keep up his attention. This mull ap¬
pear v^ry evident to all who confider how difficult it is
to attend long and clofely to one thing, efpecially when
we do not know how long it may be before we are like
to be releafed. Whereas, when we are beforehand ac¬
quainted with the fcheme, and the fpeaker proceeds re¬
gularly from one thing to another, opportunity is given
to eafe the mind, by relaxing the attention, and recall¬
ing it again when neceffary. In a fermon, or in a plead¬
ing at the bar, few things are of greater confequence
than a proper or happy divifion. It fliould be ftudied
with much accuracy and care; for if one take a wrong
method at firft fetting out, it wull lead him aftray in
all that follows. It will render the w’hole difcourfe
either perplexed or languid ; and though the hearers
may not be able to tell where the fault or diforder
lies, they will be fenfible there is a diforder fome-
where, and find themfelves little affedled by what is
fpoken. The French writers of fermons ftudy neat-
nefs and elegance in the divifion of their fubjedls
much more than the Engliffi do ; whofe diftributions,
though fenfible and juft, yet are often inartificial and
verbofe.
T t Chap,
ORATORY. Part II,
Difpofition.
Chap. IV. Of Confirmation.
31
Confirma- The orator having acquainted his hearers, in the pro-
tion b uled portion, with the fubjeft on which he defigns to difcourfe,
giuncnts1'" ul"uaiiy proceeds either to prove or illuftrate what he has
brought in there laid down. For fome difcourfes require nothing
defence of more than an enlargement or illuilration, to fet them
a fubject. jn a proper light, and recommend them to the hearers *,
for which reafon, likewife, they have often no diftinfl
propofition. But where arguments are brought in de¬
fence of the fubjecf, this is properly confirmation. For
as Cicero defines it, “ confirmation is that which gives
proof, authority, and fupport to a caufe, by reafoning.”
And for this end, if any thing in the propofition feems
obfcure, or liable to be mifunderftood, the orator firft
takes care to explain it, and then goes on to offer fuch
arguments for the proof of it, and reprefent them in fuch
a light, as may be moft proper to gain the affent of his
hearers.
But here it is proper to obferve, that there are
different ways of reafoning fuited to different arts.
The mathematician treats his fubjefl after another
manner than the logician, and the orator in a me¬
thod different from them both. Two methods of
reafoning are employed by orators, the fijnthetic and
analytic.
Synthetic I. Every piece of fynthetic reafoning may be re-
reafoning folved into a. fyllogifm or feries of fyllogifms, (fee Lo-
may always GIC), Thus we may reduce Cicero’s argument, by
be reiolved endeavours to prove that Clodius affaulted
gifm or fe- Milo, and not Milo Clodius, to a iyUogilm iu this
ries of fyllo. manner :
Be was the aggrejfor, whofie advantage it was to kill the
other.
But it was the advantage of Clodius to kill Milo, and not
Milo to kill him.
Therefore Clodius was the aggreffor, or he affaulted
Milo.
The thing to be proved was, that Clodius affaulted
Milo, which therefore comes in the conclufion : and the
argument, by which it is proved, is taken from the head
of profit or advantage. Thus the logician would treat
this argument} and if either of the premifes were que-
flioned, he would fupport it with another fyllogifm. But
this fhort and dry v’ay of reafoning does not at all fuit
the orator : who not only for variety changes the order
of the parts, beginning fometimes.with the minor, and at
other times with the conclulion, and ending with the
major *, but likewdfe clothes each part with fuch orna¬
ments of expreflion as are proper to enliven the fubjeft,
and render it more agreeable and entertaining. And lie
frequently fubjoins, either to the major propofition, or
minor, and fometimes to both, one or more arguments
to fupport them j and perhaps others to confirm or illu¬
ftrate them as he thinks it requifite. Therefore, as a
logical fyllogifm confilts of three parts or propofitions,
a rhetorical fyllogifm frequently contains four, and many
times five parts. And Cicero reckons this lalt the moft
complete. But all that is faid in confirmation of either
of the premifes is accounted but as one part. This w ill
appear more evident by examples : By a fhort fyllogifm
Cicero thus proves, that the Carthaginians were not to
be trufted : “ Thofe who have often deceived us, by
2
violating their engagements, ought not to be trufted. Ditpofition.
For if we receive any damage by their treachery, we
can blame nobody but ourfelves. But the Carthaginians
have often fo deceived us. Therefore it is madnefs to
truft them.” Here the major propofition is fupported
by a reafon. The minor needed none 5 becaule the
treachery of the Carthaginians vras well known. So that
this fyllogifm confifts of four parts. But by a iyllogifm
of five parts he proves fomewhat more largely and ele¬
gantly, that the world is under the direction of a wife
governor. The major is this : “ Thofe things are better
governed which are under the direction of wifdom, than
thofe which are not.” This he proves by feveral inflan-
ces : “ A houfe managed with prudence has every thing
in better order, and more convenient than that which
is under no regulation. An army commanded by a
wife and fkilful general is in all refpedls better governed
than one which has a fool or a madman at the head of
it. And the like is to be faid of a ftiip, which performs
her courfe beft under the direction of a fkilfui pilot.”
Then he proceeds to the minor thus : “ But nothing is
better governed than the univerfe.” Which he proves
in this manner : “ The riling and fetting of the heavenly
bodies keep a certain determined order \ and the feveral
feafons of the year do not only neceflarily return in the
fame manner, but are fuited to the advantage of the
whole ; nor did the viciflitudes of night and day ever
yet become prejudicial, by altering their courfe.” From
all which he concludes, “thatthe world muft be under
the direflion of a wife governor.” In both thefe ex¬
amples, the regular order of the parts is obferved. We
fhall therefore produce another, in which the order is
diredtly contrary •, for beginning with the conclufion, he
proceeds next to the minor pfopofition, and fo ends with
the major. In his defence of Coelius, his defign is to
prove that Coelius had not led a loofe and vicious life*,
wdth which his enemies had charged him. And this
he does, by fhowing he had clofely followed his ftudies,
and was a good orator. This may probably at firft fight
appear but a weak argument; though to him who con-
fiders what Cicero everywhere declares neceffary to gain
that charaffer, it may perhaps be thought other wife.
The fenfe of what he fays here may be reduced to this
fyllogifm.
Thofe who have purfued the fiudy of oratory, fo as
to excel in it, cannot have led a loofe and vicious
life.
But Ccelius has done this.
Therefore his enemies charge him wrongfully.
But let us hear Cicero himfelf. He begins with the con¬
clufion, thus : “ Coelius is not chargeable with profufe-
nefs, extravagancy, contradling of debts, or intemperance,,
a vice which age is fo far from abating, that it rather in-
creafes it. Nay, he never engaged in amours, and thofe
pleafures of youth, as they are called, which are foon
thrown off, as reafon prevails.” Then he proceeds to
the minor, and fhows from the effefls, that Coelius had
clofely applied himfelf to the beft arts, by which he
means thofe neceffary for an orator : “ You have now
heard him make his own defence, and you formerly
heard him engaged in a profecution (I fpeak this to vin¬
dicate, not to applaud him), you could not but perceive
his manner of fpeaking, his ability, his good fenfe, and
command of language. Nor did he only difeover a good
genius,
33
Orators do
not often
ife com¬
plete fyllo-
jilms, but
noft com¬
monly im-
rerfedl
mes, called
Part II. ORA
pifpofition. genius, wlilcli will oftentimes do mucli of itfelf when it
» J is not improved by induftry •, but what he faid (if my
affeftion for him did not bias my judgment) appeared to
be the effeft of learning, application, and ftudy.” And
then he comes to the major : “ But be affured, that thofe
vices charged upon Ccelius, and the ftudies upon which
I am now difcourling, cannot meet in the fame perfon.
For it is not poflible that a mind, difturbed by fuch ir¬
regular paflions, lliould be able to go through what we
orators do, I do not mean only in fpeaking, but even in
thinking.” And this he proves by an argument taken
from the fcarcity of good orators. “ Can any other
reafon be afligned, why fo few, both now, and at all
times, have engaged in this province, when the. rewards
of eloquence are fo magnificent, and it is attended with
fo great delight, applaufe, glory, and honour ? All plea-
fures mull be neglected ; diverfions, recreations, and en¬
tertainments omitted •, and even the converfation of all
our friends muft in a manner be laid afide. This it is
which deters perfons from the labour and ftudy of ora¬
tory 5 not their want of genius or education.”
2. By Enthymem. But orators do not often ufe com¬
plete fyllogifms, but moft commonly enthymems. An
enthymem, as is ftiown elfewhere, is an imperfect fyllo-
gifm, confifting of two parts *, the conclufion, and one of
the premifes. And in this kind of fyllogifm, that pro-
pofition is omitted, whether it be the major or minor,
which is fuffieiently manifeft of itfelf, and may eafily
^nth 'meins ^uPP^ed by the hearers. But the propolition that
^ is exprefled is ufually called the antecedent, and the
conclufion the confequent. So if the major of that fyl¬
logifm be omitted, by which Cicero endeavours to prove
that Clodius affaulted Milo, it will make this enthy-
mem :
The death of Milo would haDe been an advantage to
Clodius.
Therefore Clodius was the aggrejfor ; or, therefore, he
affaulted Milo.
In like manner, that other fyllogifm above mentioned,
by which'he (hows that the Carthaginians ought not to
be trufted, by omitting the minor, may be reduced to
the following enthymem :
Thofe who have often broke their faith ought not to be
trufed.
For which reafon the Carthaginians ought not to be
trufed.
Every one would readily fupply the minor, fince the
■perfidioufnefs of the Carthaginians was known to^a pro¬
verb. But it is reckoned a beauty in enthymems, when
they confift of contrary parts, becaufe the turn of them
is moft acute and pungent. Such is that of Micipfa in
Salluft : “ What ftranger will be faithful to you who
are an enemy to your friends ?” And fo likewife that of
Cicero for Milo, fpeaking of Clodius : “You fit as aven¬
gers of his death j whofe life you would notreftore, did
you think it in your power.” Orators manage enthy-
mems in the fame manner they do fyllogifms j that is,
they invert the order of the parts, and confirm the pro-
pofition by one or more reafons ; and therefore a rheto¬
rical enthymem frequently confifts of three parts, as a
fyllogifm does of five. Though, ftrhftly fpeaking, a
lyllogifm can confift of no more than three parts, and an
enthymem but of two: and the arguments brought to
T ° R Y. 33I
fupport either of the propofitions conftitute fo many new Difpofition.
enthymems, of which the part they are defigned to V" *
prove is the concluiion. To illuftrate this by an ex¬
ample :
An honef man thinks himfelf under the highef obliga¬
tion to his country.
Therefore he Jhouldfhun no danger to ferve it.
In tills enthymem the major is wanting, which would
run thus : “ He who is under the higheft obligations
to another, fhould fhun no danger in order to ferve
him.” This laft propolition is founded upon the com¬
mon principle of gratitude •, which requires that, to the
utmoft of our power, a return fhould be made in pro¬
portion to the kindnefs received. And this being a
maxim generally allowed, it is omitted by the orator.
But now this enthymem, conftfting of the minor and
conclufion, might be managed in fome fuch manner
as this, beginning with the conclufton : “ An honefl:
man ought to fhun no danger, but readily expofe his
life for the fafety and prefervation of hi§ country.”
Then the reafon of this conduft might be added,
which is the antecedent of the enthymem, or minor
of the fyllogifm : “ For he is fenfible that his obligations
to his country are fo many, and fo great, that he can
never fully requite them.” And this again might be
confirmed by an enumeration of particulars: “ He
looks upon himfelf as indebted to his country for every
thing he enjoys j for his friends, relations, all the plea-
fures of life, and even for life itfelf. Now the orator
calls this one enthymem, though in reality there are two :
For the fecond reafon, or argument, added to the firft,
becomes the antecedent of a new enthymem, of which
the firft reafon is the confequent. And if thefe .two en¬
thymems were exprefled feparately in the natural order
of the parts, the former would ftand thus : “ An honeft
man thinks himfelf under the higheft obligations to his
country j therefore he ought to ftiun no danger for its
prefervation.” The latter thus : “ An honeft man
efteems himfelf indebted to his country for every thing
he enjoys *, therefore he thinks he is under the higheft
obligations to it.” The fame thing might be proved in
the like way of reafoning, by arguments of a different
kind. From comparifon, thus: “As it would be
thought bafe and ungrateful in a fon not to hazard him¬
felf for the prefervation of his father j an honeft man
muft certainly efteem it fo when his country is in dan¬
ger.” Or from an example, in this manner : An ho¬
neft man in like circumftances would propofe to himfelf
the example of Decius, who freely gave up his life for
the fervice of his country. He gave up his life indeed,
but did not lofe it ; for he cannot be faid to have loft
his life, who lives in immortal honour.” Orators fre¬
quently intermix fuch arguments to adorn and illuftrate
their fubjedl with others taken from the nature and cir¬
cumftances of things. And now, if we confider a little
this method of reafoning, we {hall find it the moft plain
and eafy imaginable. For when any propofition is laid
down, and one or more reafons fubjoined to prove it,
each reafon joined with the propofition makes a diftindl
enthymem, of which the propofition is the concluiion.
Thus Cicero, in his feventh Philippic, lays down this as
the foundation of his difcourfe, “ That he is againft a
peace with Mark Antony j” for which he gives three
reafons : “ Becaufe it is bafe, becaufe it is dangerous,
T t ,2 anii
332
Difpofition,
34
The analy¬
tic method
of reafon-
ing nearly
the fame
with the
Socratic.
O R A T
and becaufe it is impra&icable. Thefe feverally join¬
ed with the propofition, form three enthymems 5 and
upon each of thefe he difcourfes feparately, which make
up that oration. And this method is vvhat perfons for
the moft part naturally fall into, who know nothing of
the terms fyllogifm or enthymem. They advance fome-
thing, and think of a reafon to prove it, and another
perhaps to fupport that 5 and, fo far as their invention
will alfift them, or they are mailers of language, they
endeavour to fet what they fay in the plained; light, give
it the belt drefs, embellifh it with proper figures and dif¬
ferent turns of expreffion ; and, as they think conveni¬
ent, illuftrate it with fimilitudes, companions, and the
like ornaments, to render it mod agreeable, till they
think what they have advanced diffidently proved. As
this method of arguing therefore is the moll plain, eafy,
and natural •, fo it is what is mod commonly ufed in
oratory. Whereas a drift fyllogidical way of difcour-
ling is dry and jejune, cramps the mind, and does not
admit of thofe embellithments of language which are a
great advantage to the orator : for which reafon he fel-
dom ufes complete fyllogifms ; and Avhen he does, it is
with great latitude. In every difcourfe care diould be
taken not to blend arguments confufedly together that
are of a feparate nature. “ All arguments (fays the
elegant Dr Blair) are direfted to prove one or other of
thefe three things ; that fomething is true ; that it is
morally right or fit \ or that it is profitable and good.
Thefe make the three great fubjefts of difcuffion among
mankind \ truth, duty, and intered. But the arguments
direfted towards any one of them are generally didinft ;
and he who blends them all under one topic, which he
calls his argument, as, in fermons efpecially, is too of¬
ten done, will render his reafoning indidinft and inele¬
gant. Suppofe, for indance, that I am recommending
to an audience benevolence, or the love of our neigh-
hour 5 and that I take my fird argument from the in¬
ward fatisfaftion which a benevolent temper affords *, my
fecond, from the obligation which the example of Chrid
l^ys upon us to this duty ; and third, from its tendency
to procure us the good will of all around us ; my argu¬
ments are good, but I have arranged them wrong : for
my fird and third arguments are taken from conlidera-
tions of intered, internal peace, and external advan¬
tages •, and between thefe, I have introduced one, which
reds wholly upon duty. I ffiould have kept thofe claf-
fes of arguments, which are addreffed to different prin¬
ciples in human nature, feparate and didinft.”
II. The other method of reafoning is the analytic,
in which the orator conceals his intention concerning
the point he is to prove, till he has gradually brought
his hearers to the defigned conclufion. They are led
on, Hep by dep, from one known truth to another, till
the conclufion be dolen from them, as the natural con-
fequence of a chain of propofitions. As, for indance,
when one intending to prove the being of a God, fets
out with obferving that every thing which W'e fee in the
world has had a beginning; that whatever has had a
beginning, mud have had a prior caufe 5 that in human
produftions, art ffiown in the effeft, neceffarily infers
defign in the caufe •, and proceeds leading you on from
one caufe to another, till you arrive at one fupreme fird
caufe, from whom is derived all the order and defign
vifible in his works. This is much the fame with the
o u Y.
Part II.
Socratic method, by which that philofopher fxlenced the Difpofition.,
fophids of his age.
He proceeded by fevefal quedions, which being fe¬
parately granted, the thing defigned to be inferred was
afterwards put, which, by reafon of its fimilitude with
feveral cafes allowed before, could not be denied. But
this is a captious way of reafoning ; for while the re-
fpondent is not aware of what is defigned to be inferred,
he is eafily induced to make thofe Conceffions, which
otherwife he would not. Befides, it is not fo well fuit-
ed to continued difcourfes, as to thofe w hich are inter¬
locutory j and therefore we meet with it oftenefi in the
Socratic dialogues both of Plato and Xenophon. How¬
ever, it may be made ufe of in oratory by a figure call¬
ed fubjettion, when the fame perfon fird puts the quef-
tion, and then makes the anfwer. So in the famous
caufe of Epaminondas, general of the Thebans, who
W'as accufed for refufing to furrender his command to
his fucceffor appointed by the date, till after he had en¬
gaged the enemy, and given them a total defeat, Cicero
thus reprefents his accufer pleading for the words of the
law againd Epaminondas, who alleged the intention of
it in his defence : “ Should Epaminondas add that ex¬
ception to the law, which, he fays, W’as the intention of
the writer, namely, Except ajiy one refnfe to give up his
command when it is for the interejl of the public he
fhould not; would you admit of it ? I believe not.
Should you yourfelves, which is a thing mod remote
from your judice and wifdom, in order to fcreen him,
order this exception to be added to the law, without the
command of the people j would the Thebans differ it to
be done ? No, certainly. Can it be right then to come
into that, as if it was written, which it would be a crime
to wmite ? I know it caqnot be agreeable to your wif¬
dom to think fo.”
35
Under the analytic method may be comprehended May som-
reafoning by example. Rhetoricians ufe this word in a Pre^ei^ f
different fenfe from the common acceptation. For that |clfomn®;J
is ufually called an example, which is brought either to |
prove or illudrate fome general .affertion : As if any one
diould fay, that human bodies may be brought to fufain
the greatef labours by ufe and exercife ; and in order to
prove this diould relate what is faid of Milo of Croton,
that “ by the condant praftice of carrying a, calf feveral
furlongs every day, he would carry it as far after it
had grown to its full fize.” But in oratory the rvord
example is ufed for any kind of fimilitude ; or, as Vof-
fius defines it, “ When one thing is inferred from an¬
other, by reafon of the likenefs which appears between
them.” Hence it is called an imperfeB induBion, which
infers fomething from feveral others of a like nature,
and has always the greateft force when the examples are
taken from fafts. Now fafts may be compared with re-
fpeft to fome agreement or fimilitude between them,
which in themfelves are either equal or unequal. Of
the former kind this is an indance : “ Cato afted as be¬
came a patriot and a lover of his country’s liberty, in
oppofing the arms of Caefar: and therefore fo did Ci¬
cero.” The reafon of the inference is founded in the
parity of the cafe, which equally concerned all good
fubjefts of the Roman government at that time. For
all were alike obliged to oppofe a common enemy, who
endeavoured to fubvert the conditution, and fubjeft
them to his own arbitrary power. But though an ex¬
ample
1
Part II.
O R A T
Difpofition. ample confifts in the companion of two fingle fafls, yet
^ "v”' feveral perfons may be concerned in each fatt. Of this
kind is that which follows: “ As Pompey, Caefar, and
Cralfus, afted illegally in the firlf triumvirate, by en-
groffing the foie power into their own hands, and by
that means violating the public liberty 5 fo likewife did
Augullus, Mark Antony, and Lepidus, in the fecond
triumvirate, by purfuing the fame meafures.,, But when
Cicero defends Milo for killing Clodius, from the like
inftances of Ahala Servilius, Scipio Nalica, Lucius
Opimius, and others ; that is not an example, but an
induction : becaufe one thing is there inferred from its
fimilitude to feveral others. But when a comparifon is
made between two fa£ts that are unequal, the inference
may be either from the greater to the lefs, or from the
lefs to the greater. From the greater to the lefs in this
manner: “ Caefar had nojult pretenfions to the Roman
government, and therefore much lefs had Antony.” The
reafon lies in the difference bctw'een the two perfons.
Caefar had very much enlarged the bounds of the Ro¬
man empire by his conquefts, and greatly obliged the
populace by his generofity 5 but as he had always a£ted
by an authority from the fenate and people of Rome,
thefe things gave him no claim to a powTer over them.
Much lefs then had Antony any fuch pretence, who al¬
ways afted under Caefar, and had never performed any
fignal fervices himfelf. Cicero has deferibed the differ¬
ence between them in a very beautiful manner in his fe¬
cond Philippic, thus fpeaking to Antony : “ Are you
in any thing to be compared to him ? He had a genius,
fagacity, memory, learning, care, thought, diligence j
he had performed great things in war, though detrimen¬
tal to the Rate j he had for many years defigned to get
the government into his hands, and obtained his end by
much labour and many dangers ; he gained over the
ignorant multitude by public fhorvs, buildings, congia-
ries, and feafts *, obliged his friends by rewards, and his
enemies by a (how' of clemency. In a word, he fubje£l-
ed a free ftate to flavery, partly through fear, and part¬
ly compliance. I can liken you to him for ambition of
power; but in other things you are in no refpedd to be
compared with him.” By a comparifon from the lefs
to the greater. Cicero thus argues againft Catiline :
“ Did the brave Scipio, when a private man, kill Ti¬
berius Gracchus, for attempting to weaken the ftate ;
and ftiall wre confuls bear with Catiline endeavouring to
deftroy the world by fire and fword ?” The circumftan-
ces of thefe two cafes were very different; and the com¬
parifon runs between a private man and a conful intruft-
ed with the higheft authority •, between a defign only
to raife a tumult, and a plot to deftroy the government:
whence the orator juftly infers, that what was efteemed
lawful in one cafe, was much more fo in the other.
The like rvay of reafoningis fometimes ufed from other
fimilitudes, which may be taken from things of all
kinds, whether animate or inanimate. Of the former
fort is that of Cicero fpeaking of Mursena, when candi¬
date for the confulftrip, after he had himfelf gone
through that office : “ If it is ufual (fays he) for fuch
perfons as are fafely arrived in port, to give thofe who
are going out the beft account they can with relation to
the weather, pirates, and coafts •, becaufe thus nature
direfts us to affift thofe who are entering upon the fame
dangers which we purfelves have efcaped : how ought I,
who now after a great ftorm am brought within a near
O R Y. . . 333
profpefl: of land, to be affeifled towards him, who, I Difpofition.
perceive, muft be expofed to the greateft tempefts of the V" *
ftate ?” He.alludes to the late difturbances and tumults
occafioned by the confpiracy of Catiline, which had
been fo happily fupprefled by him in the time of his
confulate. Of the latter kind is that of Quintilian :
“ As the ground is made better and more fruitful by
culture, fo is the mind by inftruftion.” There is both
a beauty and juftnefs in this fimile.
But comparifons are fometimes made between fa6ts
and other things, in order to infer fome difference or op-
pofition between them. In comparing two fafts, on ac¬
count of fome difagreement and unlikcnefs, the inference
is made from the difference between one and the other
in that, particular refpeft only. As thus : “ Though it
was not efteemed cruelty in Brutus to put his two fons
to death for endeavouring to betray their country ; it
might be fo in Manlius who put his fon to death, only
for engaging the enemy without orders, though he gain¬
ed the viflory.” The difference betw'een the two fads
lies in the different nature of the crime. The fons of
Brutus entered into a confpiracy to betray their coun¬
try ; and though they mifearried in it, yet the intention
and endeavours they ufed to accomplilh it were criminal
in the higheft degree. But young Manlius could only
be charged rvith ralhnefs. His defign was honourable,
and intended for the intereft of his country j only it was
irregular, and might have proved of ill confequence to
military difeipline. Now in all fuch cafes, the force of
the argument is the ftronger the greater the difference
appears. But the fame fads which differ in one refped
may agree in many others ; as in the example here men¬
tioned. Brutus and Manlius Avere both magiftrates as
Avell as fathers *, they both killed their fons, and that
for a capital crime by the Roman law. In any of Avhich
refpeds they may be compared in a Avay of fimilitude: -
as, “If Brutus might lawfully put his fon to death
for a capital crime, fo might Manlius.” But norv con¬
trary fads do not only differ in fome certain refped, but
are wholly oppofite to each other •, fo that Avhat is af¬
firmed of the one muft be denied of the other *, and if
one be a virtue, the other is a vice. Thus Cicero com¬
pares the condud of Marcellus and Verres in a Avay of
oppofition. “ Marcellus (fays he), Avho had engaged,
if he took Syracufe, to ered trvo temples at Rome,
Avould not beautify them Avith the fpoils he had taken :
Verres, Avho had made no voavs to Honour and Virtue,
but to Venus and Cupid, endeavoured to plunder the
temple of Minerva. The former would not adorn the
gods with the fpoils of other deities : the latter carried
the ornaments of Minerva, a virgin, into the houfe of
a ftrumpet.” If therefore the condud of Marcellus was
laudable and virtuous, that of Verres muft bear the con¬
trary charader. But this Avay of reafoning has like¬
wife place in other refpeds. Thus Cicero, in the quar¬
rel between Caefar and Pompey, advifed to peace from
the difference between a foreign and domeftic Avar :
“ That the former might prove beneficial to the ftate ;
but in the latter, Avhichever fide conquered, the public
muft fuffer.” And thus the ill effeds of intemperance
may be ftiown in a Avay of oppofition : “ That as tem¬
perance preferves the health of the body, keeps up the
vigour of the mind, and prolongs life ; fo excefs muft
neceffarily have the contrary effeds.
Thus we have given a brief account of the principal
ways-
334 ORA
lAfpofition ways of reafoning commonly made ufe of by orators.
" As to the difpofition of arguments, or the order of pla-
' cing them, fome advife to put the weaker, which can¬
not wholly be omitted, in the middle : and fuch as are
ftronger, partly in the beginning, to gain the efteem
of the hearers, and render them more attentive ; and
partly at the end, becaufe what is lafl heard is likely
to be retained longeft : But if there are but two argu¬
ments, to place the ftronger firft, and then the weaker ;
and after that to return again to the former, and infill
principally upon that. But this muft be left to the pru¬
dence of the fpeaker, and the nature of the fubjedt.
Though to begin with the ftrongeft, and fo gradually
defcend to the weakeft, can never be proper, for the
reafon laft mentioned. Nor ought arguments to be
- crowded too clofe upon one another ; for that takes off
from their force, as it breaks in upon the attention of
the hearers, and does not leave them fufficient time duly
to confider them. Nor indeed ftiould more be ufed
than are neceffary j becaufe the fewer they are, the
more eafily they are remembered. And the obfervation
of a great mafter of eloquence upon this fubjecl is cer¬
tainly very juft, that arguments ought rather to be
weighed than numbered.
Chap. V. Of Confutation.
36
Forms of The forms of reafoning here are the fame as have
confutation been already explained under confirmation. Confutation,
w'thftTf however, is often the more difficult talk j becaufe he
TJf confil._ ' who is to prove a thing comes ufually prepared ; but he
mation, but who is to confute it is frequently left to a fudden an-
more diffi- fwer. For which reafon, in judicial cafes, Quintilian
cult. fays, “ It is as much eafier to accufe than defend, as it
is to make a wound than to heal it.” Therefore, not
only a good judgment, but a readinefs of thought alfo,
feems neceffary for this province. But, in all difputes,
it is of the greateft confequence to obferve where the
ftrefs of the controverfy lies. For without attending
to this, perfons may cavil about different matters, with¬
out underftanding each other, or deciding any thing.
And in confutation, what the adverfary has advanced
ought carefully to be confidered, and in what manner he
has expreffed himfelf. As to the things themfelves,
whether they immediately relate to the matter indifpute,
or are foreign to it. Thofe things that are foreign to
the fubjeft may either be pall over in ftlence, or in a very
few words ffiown to be infignificant. And there ought
likewife to be a diftinftion made between fuch things as
relate to the fubjeift, according to their importance.
Thofe that appear to have no great weight Ihould be
llightly remarked. For to inlift largely upon fuch mat¬
ters is both tirefofne to the hearers, and apt to bring
the judgment of the fpeaker in queftion. And there¬
fore things of that nature are generally better turned
off with an air of negledl, a pungent queftion, or an
agreeable jeft, than confuted by a ferious and laboured
anfwer. But thofe things, which relate to the merits
of the caufe, may be confuted either by contradicting
them, or by (bowing fome mifiake in the reafoning, or
their invalidity when granted.
Things may be contradicted feveral ways. What is
•apparently falfe may be exprtfsly denied. Thus Cicero
in his defence of Cluentius : “ When the accufer had
faid, that the man fell down dead after he had drunk
TORY- Part II.
oft his cup, denies that he died that day.” And things Difpofition.
which the adv'eriary cannot prove, may likewife be de- '
nied. Of which we have alfo an inftance in Cicero,
who firft upbraids Mark Antony as guilty of a breach
not only of good breeding, but likewife of friendlhip,
for reading publicly a private letter he had lent him.
And then adds, “ But what will you fay now, if I
Ihould deny that ever I font you that letter ? How will
you prove it ? By the hand-writing ? In which I con-
fefs you have a peculiar fkill, ana have found the be¬
nefit of it. But how can you make it out > For it is
in my fecretary’s hand. I cannot but envy your mafter
who had fo great a reward for teaching you to un-
derftand juft nothing. For what can be more unbecom¬
ing not only an orator, but even a man, than for any
one to offer fuch things, which if the adverfary denies
he has nothing more to fay ?” It is a handfome way
of contradidling a thing, by ffiowing that the adverfary
himfelf maintained the contrary. So when Oppius was
charged with defrauding the foldiers of their provifions,
Cicero refutes it, by proving, that the fame perfons char¬
ged Oppius with a defign to corrupt the army by his
liberality. An adverfary is never more effedually
filenced than when you can faften contradidions upon
him ; for this is ftabbing him with his own weapon.
Sometimes a thing is not in exprefs terms denied, but
reprefented to be utterly incredible. And this method
expofes the adverfary more than a bare denial. So
when fome perfons reproached Cicero with cowardice,
and a ffiameful fear of death, he recites their reafons in
fuch a manner, that any one would be inclined to think
the charge entirely faHe. “ Was it becoming me (fays
he) to exped death with that compofednefs of mind as
fome have imagined ? Well, and did I then avoid it ?
Nay, was there any tiling in the world that I could
apprehend more defirable ? Or, when I had done the
greateft things in fuch a crowd of ill-minded perfons
about rne, do you think baniftiment and death were not
always in my view, and continually founding in my
ears as my certain fate, while I was fo employed ? Was
life defirable when all my friends were in fuch forrow,
and myfelf in fo great diftrefs, deprived of all the gifts
both of nature and fortune ? Was I fo unexperienced,
fo ignorant,' fo void of reafon and prudence ? Had I ne¬
ver feen or heard any thing in my whole life ? Did all I
had read and ftudied avail nothing ? What ! did not I
know that life is ffiort, but the glory of generous ac¬
tions permanent ? When death is appointed for all, does it
not feem eligible, that life, which muft be wrefted from
us, ftiould rather be freely devoted to the fervice of our
country, than referved to be worn out by the decays of
nature ? Was not I fenfible, there has been this contro¬
verfy among the wifeft men, that fome fay, the minds
of men and their confciences utterly periffi at death j
and others, that the minds of wife and brave men are
then in their greateft ftrength and vigour, when they
are fet free from the body ? The firft ftate is not greatly
to be dreaded, to be void of ferife : but t.je other, of
enjoying larger capacities, is greatly to be defired.
Therefore, fince I always aimed at dignity, and thought
nothing was worth living for without it; how fhould I,
who am paft the eonfulffiip, and did fo great things in
it, be afraid to die ?” Thus far Cicero. There is like¬
wife an ironical way of contradicting a thing, by re¬
torting that and other things of the like nature upon
the
Part II. ORA T
Difpofition. the adverfe party : Thus Cicero, in his oration againft
v Vatinius, fays : “You have objedled to me, that I de¬
fended Cornelius, my old friend, and your acquaintance.
But pray why Ihould I not have defended him ? Has
Cornelius carried any law contrary to the omens ? Has
he violated any law ? Has he affaulted the conful ? Did
he take poffeflion of a temple by force of arms ? Did
he drive away the tribune, who oppofed the paffmg a
law ? Has he thrown contempt upon religion ? Has he
plundered the treafury ? Has he pillaged the Bate ? No,
thefe, all thefe, are your doings.” Such an unexpefted
return is fometimes of great fervice to abate the confi¬
dence of an adverfary.
A fecond way of confutation is, by obferving fome
flaw in the reafoning of the adverfe party. We fhall
endeavour to illuftrate this from the feveral kinds of
reafoning treated of before under confirmation. And
firft, as to fyllogifms •, they may be refuted, either by
fhowing fome miftake in the premifes, or that the con-
clufion is not juftly deduced from them. So when the
Clodian party contended, that Milo ought to fuffer
death for this reafon, Becaufe he had confeffed that he
had killed Clodius ; that argument, reduced to a fyllo-
gifm, would Hand thus :
o R Y.
A flricl adherence to virtue has often proved detrimen
tal.
Therefore virtue ought not conjiantly to be embraced.
Here the antecedent may be denied. For virtue is
alway beneficial to thofe who flriftly adhere to it, both
in the prefent fatisfadfion it affords them, and the fu¬
ture rewards they may certainly expeft from it. And
as to the latter cafe, in this manner :
She is a mother.
Therefore Jhe loves her children.
Now as the certainty of that inference depends upon
this general affertion, That all mothers love their chil¬
dren, which is not true, the miftake of the reafoning
may be fhown from the inftance of Medea and others,
who deftroyed their own children. As to indudlion
and example, by which the truth or equity of a thing,
is proved from its likenefs to one or more other things $
the reafoning in either is invalid, if the things fo com¬
pared can be ftioivn not to have that fimilitude or
agreement on which the inference is founded. One in¬
ftance therefore may ferve for both. As when Cicero,
after the death of Caefar, pleaded for the continuance
of his laws, but not of thofe which were made after-
335
Difpofition.
He who confeffes he has hilled another, ought not to be
allowed to fee the light.
But Milo confejfes this.
Therefore he ought not to live.
Now the force of this argument lies in the major or
firft propofition ; which Cicero refutes, by proving, that
the Roman people had already determined contrary to
what is there aflerted : “ In what city (fays he) do
thefe men difpute after this weak manner ? In that
wherein the firft capital trial was in the cafe of the
brave Horatius, who, before the city enjoyed perfecl
freedom, was faved by the fuffrages of the Roman peo¬
ple, though he confeffed that he killed his fifter with
his own hand.” But when Cicero accufed Verres for
mal-adminiftration in his government of Sicily, Horten-
fius, who defended him, being fenfible the allegations
brought againfl him could not be denied, had no other
v^ay left to bring him off, but by pleading his military
virtues in abatement, whicli at that time were much
wanted, and very ferviceable to the ftate. The form of
the argument was this :
That the Romans then wanted good generals.
That Verres wasfich.
And confequently, that it was for the interefl of the
public that he fhould not be condemned.
But Cicero, ■who knew his defign, ftates the argument
for him in his charge •, and then anfwers it by denying
the confequence, fince the crimes of Verres were of fo
heinous a nature, that he ought by no means to be par¬
doned on the account of any other qualifications :
Though indeed he afterwards refutes the minor or fe-
cond propofition, and fliows that he had not merited the
charafter of a good general. Enthymems may be re¬
futed, either by ftiowing that the antecedent is falfe, or
the confequent not juftly inferred from it. As thus,
with refpeft to the former cafe :
wards by Mark Antony : Becaufe, though both were
in themfelves invalid, and impofitions upon the public
liberty 5 yet fome of Caefar’s were ufeful, and others
could not be fet afide without difturbance to the ftate,
and injuring particular perfons ; but thofe of Antony
were all detrimental to the public.
i he laft method of confutation before mentioned was,
when the orator does in fome fenfe grant the adverfary
his argument, and at the fame time Ihows its invalidity.
And this is done by a variety of ways, according to the
different nature of the fubjedt. Sometimes he allows
what was faid may be true j but pleads, that what he
contends for is neceffary. This was the method by
which Hortenfius 'propofed to bring off Verres, as we
have already fhown from Cicero, whofe words are thefe,
addrefling himfelf to the judges 5 “ What fhall I do ?
which way fhall I bring in my accufation ? where fhall
I turn myfelf; for the character of a brave general is
placed like a wrall againft all the attacks I can make.
I know the place, I perceive where Hortenfius intends
to difplay himfelf. He will recount the hazards of war,
the neceftities of the ftate, the fcarcity of commanders j
and then he will entreat you, and do his utmoft to per-
fuade you not to fuffer the Roman people to be deprived
of fuch a commander upon the teftimony of the Sicili¬
ans, nor the glory of his arms to be fullied by a charge
of avarice.” At other times the orator pleads, that al¬
though the contrary opinion may feem to be attended
with advantage, yet that his own is more juft, or ho¬
nourable. Such was the cafe of Regulus, when his.
friends endeavoured to prevail with him to continue at
Rome, and not return to Carthage, where he knew he
muft undergo a cruel death. But as this could not be
done without violating his oath, he refufed to hearken
to their perfuafions. Another way of confutation is,
by retorting upon the adverfary his own argument.
Thus Cicero, in his defence of Ligarius, fays : “ You
have, Tubero, that which is moft defirable to an accu-
fer, the confeflion of the accufed party ; but yet fuch a
confeftioh,
■33s
■ Dii'pofition.
O R A T OH Y.
Part It.
confeflTion, tliat lie was on the fame fide that you, Tube-
ro, chofe yourfelf, and your father too, a man worthy
of the higheft praife. Wherefore, if there was any
crime in this, you ought firlt to confefs your own be¬
fore you attempt to faften any upon Ligarius.” The
orator takes this advantage where an argument proves
too much, that is, more than the perfon defigned it for,
who made ufe of it. Not much unlike this is what they
call inverjion, by which the orator fliows, that the rea-
fons offered by the oppofite party make for him. So
when Caecilius urged, that the province of accufing
Verres ought to be granted to him, and not to Cicero,
becaufe he had been his treafurer in Sicily at the time
thofe crimes were committed with which he was char¬
ged, and confequently knew mod of that affair ; Cicero
turns the argument upon him, and fliows, for that very
reafon he was the molt unfit of any man to be intruded
with his profecution ; fince having been concerned with
him in his crimes, he would certainly do all in his powfer
to conceal or leffenthem. Again, fometimesthe charge
is acknowledged, but the crime drifted off to another.
Thus, when Sextius was accufed of fedition, becaufe he
had got together a body of gladiators, and brought them
into the forum, where a warm engagement happened
between them and Clodius’s fadtion ; Cicero owns- the
faft, but charges the crime of fedition upon Clodius’s
party in being the aggreffors. Another method made
ufe of for the fame purpofe is to alleviate the charge,
and take off the force of it, by diowing, that the thing
was not done ivith that intention which the adverfary
infinuates. Thus Cicero, in his defence of King Dejo-
tarus, owns he had raifed fome forces, though not to in¬
vade the Roman territories, as had been alleged, but
only to defend his own borders, and fend aid to the Ro¬
man generals.
We have hitherto been fpeaking of the methods of
confutation ufed by orators, in anfwering thofe argu¬
ments which are brought by the contrary party. But
fometimes they raife fuch objections themfelves to what
they have faid, as they imagine may be made by others j
which they afterwards anfwer, the better to induce their
hearers to think that nothing confiderable can be offer¬
ed againfl what they have advanced, but what will ad¬
mit of an eafy reply. Thus, when Cicero, at the re-
queft of the Sicilians, had undertaken the accufation of
Verres, it came under debate, whether he, or Caecilius,
who had been Verres’s quaslfor in Sicily, fliould be ad¬
mitted to that province. Cicero, therefore, in order to
fet him afide, among other arguments, fhows his incapa¬
city for fuch an undertaking, and for that end recounts
at large the qualifications neceffary for an orator.
Which he reprefents to be fo many and great, that he
thought it neceffary to ffart the following objeClion to
what he had himfelf faid upon that fubjedf. “ But you
will fay perhaps, Have you all thefe qualifications ?”
To which he thus replies : “ I wifh I had j but it has
been my conftant ftudy from my youth to gain them.
And if, from their greatnefs and difficulty, I have not
been able to attain them, who have done nothing elfe
through my whole life ; how far, do you imagine, you
muff be from it, who never thought of them before j
and even now, when you are entering upon them, have
no apprehenfion what, and how great, they are ?”
This is an effedual way of defeating an adverfary, when
.the obje&ion is well founded, and clearly anfwered. But
we fliall have occafion to confider this matter more Difpoi:t;uii,
largely hereafter, under the figure pro/epjis, to which it v——'
properly relates.
Chap. VI. Of the Conclufion.
Rhetoricians make the conclufion of a difcourfe to Thecondu.
confift of two parts : recapitulation, and an addrefs to tlte fion is a re.
pajfions. capitula-
I. Recapitulation is a fummary account of what the a^refeto
fpeaker has before offered in maintenance of his fubjeCl \ thepaffions
and is defigned both to refreih the memory of the hear¬
ers, and to bring the principal arguments together into
a narrow compafs, that they may appear in a ftronger
light. Now there are feveral things neceffary to a good
repetition.
And firff, it muff be fliort and concife j fince it is
defigned to refrefh the memory, and not to burden it.
For this "nd, therefore, the chief things only are to be
touched upon ; thofe on which the caufe principally de¬
pends, and w hich the orator is moft defirous ftiould be
regarded by his hearers. / Now thefe are, The general
heads of the difcourfe, with the main arguments brought
to fupport them. But either to infill particularly upon
every minute circumllance, or to enlarge upon thofe
heads which it may be thought proper to mention, car¬
ries in it not fo much the appearance of a repetition, as
of a new difcourfe.
Again, it is convenient in a repetition to recite
things in the fame order in which they were at firft
laid down. By this means the hearers will be enabled
much better to keep pace with the fpeaker as he goes
along •, and if they happen to have forgot any thing,
they will the more readily recal it. And belides, this
method appears moft fimple and open, when the fpeaker
reviews what he has faid in the fame manner it was be¬
fore delivered, and fets it in the cleareft light for others
to judge of it. But though a repetition contains only
the fame things which had been more largely treated of
before j yet it is not necefiary they Ihould be exprefl'ed
in the fame words. Nay, this wmuld many times be
tirefome and unpleafant to the hearers ; whereas a va¬
riety of expreffion is grateful, provided the fenfe be the
fame. Befides, every thing ought now to be reprefent-
ed in the ftrongeft terms, and in fo lively a manner, as
may at the fame time both entertain the audience, and
make the deepeft impreffion upon their minds. We
have a very exadl and accurate example of repetition in
Cicero’s oration for Quintius. Cicero was then a young
man, and feems to have kept more clofely to the rules
of art, than afterwards, when, by ufe and practice, he
had gained a greater freedom of fpeaking. We former¬
ly cited the partition of this fpeech, upon another occa¬
fion, which runs thus : “ We deny, Sextus Nevius, that
you were put into the poffeffion of the eftate of P.
Quintius, by the prtetor’s edift. This is the difpute be¬
tween us. I will therefore {how, firft, that you had no
juft caufe to apply to the praetor for the poffeffion of the
eftate of P. Quintius •, then that, you could not poffefs
it by the edidt ; and laftly, that you did not poffefs it.
When I have proved thefe three things, I will con¬
clude.” Now Cicero begins his conclufion with a repe¬
tition of thofe three heads, and a fummary account of
the feveral arguments he made ufe of under each of
them. But they are too long to be here exhibited. In
his
ORATORY.
Part II.
pjfpofition. his oration for the Manilian law, his repetition is very
--y—fliort. He propofed in the partition to fpeak to three
things : The nature of the war againft King Mithri-
dates, the greatnefs of it, and what fort of general was
proper to be intruded with it. And when he has gone
through each of thefe heads, and treated upon them
very largely, he reduces the fubftance of what he has
faid to this general and fhort account : “ Since there¬
fore the war is fo necelfary, that it cannot be neglected ;
and fo great, that it requires a very careful manage¬
ment ; and you can in trull it with a general of admi¬
rable Ikill in military affairs, of lingular courage, the
greateft authority, and eminent fuccefs ; do you doubt
to make ufe of this fo great a bleding, conferred and
bellowed upon you by heaven, for the prefervation and
enlargement of the Homan Hate ?” Indeed this repe¬
tition is made by Cicero, before he proceeds to the con¬
futation ; and not at the end of his difeourfe, where it
is ufually longer and more particular : however, this
may ferve to Ihow the nature of fuch a recital.
But fometimes a repetition is made, by running a
comparifon between .the fpeaker’s own arguments and
thofe of the adverfe party ; and placing them in oppo-
fition to each other. And this method Cicero takes in
the conclulion of his third oration upon the Agrarian
law. And here fometimes the orator takes occalion to
find fault with his adverfary’s management, in thefe and
fuch like exprefliofts : “ This part he has entirely dropt.
To that he has given an invidious turn, or a falfe colour¬
ing. He leaves arguments, and flies to intreaties j and
not without good reafon, if we confider the weaknefs of
liis caufe.”
But when the difeourfe is very long, and the argu¬
ments infilled on have been many, to prevent the hear¬
ers growing out of patience by a more particular reci¬
tal, the orator fometimes only juft mentions fuch things,
which he thinks of leaft confequenee, by faying, that he
omits or pafles over them, till he comes to what is of
greater moment, which he reprefents more fully. This
method Cicero has taken in his defence of Cluentiijs 5
where, having run over feveral leffer heads in the man¬
ner now deferibed, he then alters his expreflion, and in¬
troduces what was of more importance, by faying,
“ What I firft complain of, is that wickednefs, which is
now difeovered.” And fo he proceeds more particular¬
ly to recite thofe things which immediately related to
Cluentius. And this is what the writers upon this art
call preterition. But this much may ferve for repetition
or recapitulation.
2. We now proceed to the other part of the conclu-
fion, which confifts in an addrefs to the pajjions. Indeed
the orator fometimes endeavours occafionally to work
upon the paflions of his hearers in other parts of his
dilcourfe, but more efpecially in the conclufion, where
lie is warmeft himfelf, and labours to make them fo.
Tor the main defign of the introduflion is to conciliate
the hearers, and gain their attention 5 of the narration,
propofition, and confirmation, to inform them 5 and of
the conclufion, to move them. And therefore, to ufe
Quintilian’s words, “ Here all the fprings of eloquence
are to be opened. It is here we fecure the minds of the
hearers, if what went before was well managed. Now
we are paft the rocks and {hallows, all the fails may be
hoifted. And as the greateft part of the conclufion
confifts in illuftration, the moft pompous language and
Vol. XV. Part I.
ftrongeft figures have place here.” Notv the patfiohs,
to which the orator more particularly addreffes, differ
according to the nature of the difcourl’e. In demonftra-
tive orations, when laudatory,—love, admiration, and
emulation, are ufually excited } but in inveffives,—ha¬
tred, envy, and contempt. In deliberative fubjefts, ei¬
ther the hope of gratifying fome defire is fet in view,
or the fear of fome impending evil. And in judicial,
difeourfes, almoft all the paflions have place, but more
efpecially refentment and pity ; infomuch that moft of
the ancient rhetoricians mention only thefe two. But
having treated upon the nature of the paflions, and the
methods luited both to excite and allay them, in a for¬
mer chapter, avc fliall at prefent only add a few general
ebfervations, which may not be improper in this place,
where the Ikill of the orator in addrefling to them is
more elpecially required.
The orator will obferve what circumftances either
of things, or perfons, or both, will furnifti him with
motives proper to apply to thofe paflions he defires to
excite in the minds of his hearers. Thus Cicero, in
his orations for Plancus and Sylla, moves his hearers
from the circumftances of the men j but in his accufa-
tion of Verres, very frequently from the barbarity and
horrid nature of his crimes 5 and from both, in his de¬
fence of Quintius.
But the fame paflion may be excited by very differ¬
ent methods. This is plain from the writings of
thofe Roman fatirifts which are yet extant ; for they
have all the fame defign, and that is to engage men
to a love of virtue, and hatred of vice : but their
manner is very different, fuited to the genius of each
writer. Horace endeavours to recommend virtue, by
laughing vice out of countenance j Perfius moves us
to an abhorrence and deteftation of vice, with the
gravity and feverity of a philofopher 3 and Juvenal,
by open and vehement inVedlives. So orators make
ufe of all thefe methods in exciting the paflions ; as
may be feen by their difeourfes, and particularly thofe
of Cicero. But it is not convenient to dwell long
upon the fame paflion. For the image thus wrought
up in the minds of the hearers does not laft a great
while ; but they foon return to x-efledfion. When the
emotion, therefore, is once carried as high as it well
can be, they ihould be left under its influence, and
the fpeaker proceed to fome new matter, before it de¬
clines again.
Moreover, orators fometimes endeavour to x-aife con¬
trary paflions to each other, as they are concerned for
oppofite parties. So the accufer excites anger ami re¬
fentment, but the defendant pity and compaflion. At
other times, one thinks it fufficient to allay and take
off that paflion which the other has raifed, and. bring
the hearers to a calm and fedate confideration of the
matter before them.
But tills efpecially is to be regarded, that the
orator exprefs the fame paflion himfelf with which he
endeavours to affedl others.; and that not only in his
adtion and voice, but likewife in his language : and
therefore Ins words, and manner of expreflion, fhould
be fuited to that perturbation and diforder of mind
which he defigns to reprefent. However, a decency
and propriety of charadler is always carefully to be
obferved ; for, as Cicero very well remarks, “ A ne-
gledt of this is not only very culpable in life, but like-
0 Uu wife
317
Difpoiitioiv
338
pifpofition. ivife in difcourfe. Nor do the fame things equally be-
come every fpeaker, or every audience •, nor every
time, and every place.” And therefore he greatly
commends that painter, who, defigning to reprefen t
in a picture the facrifice of Iphigenia, Agamemnon’s
daughter, drew Calchas the prieft with a fad counte¬
nance •, Ulyfles, her father’s great friend, more de¬
jected j and her uncle Menelaus, molt difconfolate 5
but threw a veil over the face of Agamemnon himfelf,
as being unable to exprefs that excefs of forrow which
lie thought was proper to appear in his countenance.
And this jultnefs of character is admirably well obfer-
ved by Cicero himfelf, in his defence of Milo j for as
Milo was always known to be a man of the greateft
refolution, and molt undaunted courage, it was very
improper to introduce him (as the ufual method then
was in capital cafes) moving pity, and begging for
mercy. Cicero therefore takes this part upon himfelf •,
and what he could not do with any propriety in the
perfon of Milo, he performs in his own, and thus ad-
drefles the judges : “ What remains, but that I en¬
treat and befeech you, that you would (how that com¬
panion to this brave man, for which he himfelf does
not folicit, but I, againft his inclination, earneftly
implore and requeft. Do not be lefs inclined to acquit
him, if in this our common forrow, you fee no tear
fall from Milo’s eyes ; but perceive in him the fame
countenance, voice, and language, as at other times,
Heady and unmoved. Nay, I know not'whether for
this reafon, you ought not much fooner to favour him :
For if, in the contefts of gladiators (perfons of the
lowed condition and fortune in life), rve are wont to
be difpleafed with the timorous and fuppliant, and
thofe who beg for their life •, but interpofe in favour
of the brave and courageous, and fuch as expofe them-
felves to death ; and we fhow more compadion to
thofe who do not fue for it, than to thofe who do :
with how much greater reafon ought we to a<5l in the
fame manner towards the braved of our fellow citi¬
zens ?” And as thefe words were agreeable to his own
character, while foliciting in behalf of another ; fo,
immediately after, he introduces Milo fpeaking like
himfelf, with a generous and undaunted air : “ Thefe
words of Milo (fays he) quite fink and difpirit me,
which I daily hear from him. Farewell, farewell, my
fellow citizens, farewell ! may you be happy, flourifh,
and profper j may this renowned city be preferved,
my mod dear country, however it has treated me ;
may it continue in peace, though I cannot continue
in it, to whom it owes its peace. I will retire, I rvill
be gone.”
But as perfons are commonly more affe&ed with
what they fee than with what they hear, orators fome-
times call in the affidance of that fenfe in moving the
padions. For this reafon it w?as ufual among the Ro¬
mans, in judicial cafes, for accufed perfons to appear
with a dejefted air and a fordid garb, attended by
their parents, children, or other relations and friends,
with the like drefs and afpe£l; as likewife to drew their
fears, wounds, bloody garments, and other things of
the like nature, in open court. So when, upon the
death of Caefar, Mark Antony harangued the popu¬
lace, he at the fame time expofed to their view the
garment in which he was dabbed, fixed upon a pole j
at which dght they were fo enraged, that immediately
5
O R A T O R Y.
Part II,
they ran with lighted torches to fet fire to the houfesDifpofitioii.
of the confpirators. But this cudom at lad became ’-—‘v-J
fo common, and was fometimes fo ill conduced, that
the force of it was greatly abated, as rve learn from
Quintilian. However, if the Romans proceeded to
an excefs on the one hand, the driftnefs of the Areo-
pagites at Athens may perhaps be thought too rigid
on the other •, for in that court, if the orator began to
fay any thing which was moving, an officer immedi¬
ately dood up and bade him be filent. There is cer¬
tainly a medium between thefe two extremes, which
is fometimes not only ufeful, but even neceffary ; for,
as Quintilian very iudly fays, “ It is neceffary to ap¬
ply to the paffions, when thofe things which are true,
jud, and of common benefit, cannot be come at any
other way.”
Chap. VII. Of Digreffiony Tranjitiotiy and Ampli¬
fication.
35
The number, order, and nature of the parts which Digreffion,
conditute a complete and regular oration, we have en-tranfitior,
deavoured to explain in feveral preceding chapters. Butanc! ^P1'*
there are two or three things yet remaining, very necef-finfcT’and"
fary to be known by an orator, which feem mod pro- eipiaine(l.'
perly to come under the fecond branch of his art. And
thefe are. Dig ref ion, Tranftion, and Amplification.
I. Digrefion, as defined by Quintilian, is, “ A
going oft" from the fubjeft rve are upon to fome differ¬
ent thing, which may however be of fervice to it.”
We have a very beautiful indance of this in Cicero’s
defence of Coelius, who was accufed of having fird
borrowed money of Clodia, and then engaging her
fervants to poifon her. Now, as the proof of the faft
depended upon feveral circumdances, the orator ex¬
amines them feparately ; and (hows them to be all
highly improbable. “ How (fays he) was the de-
fign of this poifon laid ? Whence came it ? how did
they get it ? by whofe affidance, to whom, or where,
was it delivered ?” Now to the fird of thefe queries
he makes the accufer give this anfwer : “ They fay
Coelius had it at home, and tried the force of it upon
a Have provided on purpofe, whofe fudden death proved
the drength of the poifon.” Now as Cicero reprefents
the whole charge againd Coelius as a fiftion of Clodia,
invented out of revenge for fome flights he had put
upon her •, to make this the more probable, fie infinuates
that die had poifoned her hufband, and takes this op¬
portunity to hint it, that he might fhow how eafy it
was for her to charge another with poifoning a fervant,
who had done the fame to her own hufband. But not
contented with this, he deps out of his way, and intro¬
duces fome of the lad words of her hufband Metellus,
to render the faft more barbarous and fhocking, from
the admirable character of the man. “ O immortal
gods ! why do you fometimes wink at the greated crimes
of mankind, or delay the punifhment of them to futuri¬
ty ! For I faw, I myfelf faw (and it was the mod dole¬
ful feene of my whole life) when Q. Metellus was
taken from the bofom of his country $ and when he,
who thought himfelf born to be ferviceable to this date,
within three days after he had appeared with fuch ad¬
vantage in the fenate, in the forum, and everywhere in
public, was fnatched from us in the dower of his age,
and prime of his drength and vigour. At which time,
when
part H* ORA
Difpofition. when he was about to expire, and his mind had loft
— v-—' the fenfe of other things, ftill retaining a concern for
the public, he looked upon me, as I was all in tears,
and intimated in broken and dying words how great
a ftorm hung over the city and threatened the whole
ftate; often linking the wall which feparated his
houfe from that of Quintus Catulus, and frequently
calling both upon him and me, and feeming to grieve
not fo much at the approach of his own death, as that
both his country and I ftiould be deprived of his af-
fiftanee. Had he not been wickedly taken off- on a
hidden, how would he after his confulfhip have with-
ftood the fury of his kinfman Publius Clodius, who,
while in that office, threatened, in the hearing of the
fenate, to kill him with his own hand, when he firft
began to break out ? And will this ivoman dare to
come out of thofe doors, and talk of the force of poi-
fon ? will not (he fear, left the houfe ittelf ftiould
fpeak the villany ? will not ftie dread the confcious
walls, nor that fad and mournful night ? But 1 re¬
turn to the accufation.” And then he proceeds to
confider and refute the feveral circumftances of the
accufation. All this was no part of his argument;
but having mentioned the charge of poifon, he im¬
mediately takes oecafion to introduce it, in order to
excite the indignation of the hearers againft Clodia,
and invalidate the profecution as coming from a perfon
of her charafter. Digreffion cannot properly be faid
to be a neceflary part of a difcourfe but it may fome-
times be very convenient, and that upon feveral ac¬
counts.
As tirfl:, when a fubjeft is of itfelf flat and dry, or
requires clofe attention, it is of ufe to relieve and un¬
bend the mind by fomething agreeable and entertain¬
ing. For which reafon Quintilian obferves, that the
orators of his time generally made an excursion in their
harangues upon ibme pleafing topic, between the nar¬
ration and the proof. But he condemns the practice
as too general ; for while they feemed to think it ne¬
ceflary, it obliged them fometimes to bring in things
trifling and foreign to the purpofe. Befides, a digref¬
fion is confined to no one part of a difcourfe, but may
come in anywhere, as occafion offers ; provided it fall
in naturally with the fubjedft, and be made feme wTay
fubfervient to it. We never meet with it in Cicero,
without fome evident and good reafon. So in his pro¬
fecution of Verres for his barbarous and inhuman out¬
rages againft the Sicilians, he takes an occafion to
launch out in a beautiful defcription of the ifland, and
to recount the advantages which accrued from it to the
Romans. His fubjecft did not neceffarily lead him to
this, but his view in it was to heighten and aggravate
the charge againft Verres.
Again, as a digreffijti ought not to be made with¬
out fufticient reafon, fo neither fhould it be too fre¬
quent. And he who never does it but where it is
proper and ufeful, will not often fee occafion for it.
Frequently to leave the fubjett, and go off to other
things, breaks the thread of the difcourfe, and is apt
to introduce confufion. Indeed fome kinds of writing
admit of a more frequent ufe of digreflions than others.
In hiftory they are often very ferviceable. For as
that confifts of a feries of facts, and a long continued
narrative without variety is apt to grow dull and te¬
dious j it is neceflary at proper diftances to throw in
TORY
1* 339
fomething entertaining, in order to enliven it, and Difpofition.
keep up the attention. And accordingly we find the '"""“"V " - *
beft hiftorians often jgmbeiiilh their writings with de-
fcriptions of cities, rivers, and countries, as likewife
with the fpeeches of eminent perfons upon important
occafions, and other ornaments to render them the
more pleafing and delightful. Poets take a ftill greater
liberty in this refpedl j tor as their principal view
is moft commonly to pleafe, they do not attend fo
clofely to connection ; but as an image offers itfelf,
which may be agreeably wrought up, they bring it in,
and go off more frequently to different things, than
other writers.
Another property of a digrefion is, that it ought not
to be too long, left the hearers forget what preceded,
before the fpeaker returns again to bis fubjeft.
For a digreflion being no principal part of a dif¬
courfe, nor of any further ufe than as it ferves fome
way or other to enforce or illuftrate the main fubjeft ;
it cannot anfwer this end, if it be carried to fuch a
length, as to caufe that either to be forgotten or neglect¬
ed. And every one’s memory will not ferve him to
conned together two parts of a difcourfe, which lie at "
a wide diftance from each other. The better therefore
to guard againft this, it is not unufual with orators, be¬
fore they enter upon a digreflion of any confiderable
length, to prepare their hearers by giving them notice
of it, and fometimes defiring leave to divert a little,
from the fubjeft. And fo likewife at the conclufion
they introduce the fubjed again by a fliort tranfition.
Thus Cicero in the example cited above, when he has
finiftied his digreflion concerning the death of Metellus,
proceeds to his fubjed again with thefe words : “ But
I return to the accufation.”
Indeed we find orators fometimes, when fore pref-
fed, and the caufe will not bear a clofe ferutiny, art¬
fully run into digreflions with a defign to divert the
attention of the hearers from the fubied, and turn
them to a different view. And in fuch cafes, as they
endeavour to be unobferved, fo they do it tacitly
without any tranfition or intimation of their defign j
their bufinefs being only to get clear of a difficulty,
till they have an opportunity of entering upon feme
frefli topic.
II. Tranjitions are often ufed not only after a di-TranfnJons
greflion, but likewife upon other occafions. A tranfi-. ften ufed
tion is, “ A form of fpeech, by which the fpeaker0;! var'ous
in a few Avords tells his hearers both what he has fa0(caf10ns'
already, and what he next defigns to fay.” Where a
difcourfe confifts of feveral parts, this is oftem very
proper in paffing from one to another, efpecially when
the parts are of a confiderable length ; for it aflifts
the hearers to carry on the feries of the difcourfe in
their mind, which is a great advantage to the memo¬
ry. It is likewife a great relief to the attention, to
be told when an argument is finiftied, and what is to
be expeded next. And therefore we meet with it
very frequently in hiftory. But we confider it at pre-
fent only as made ufe of by orators. Cicero, in his fe-
cond oration againft Catiline, Avho had then left Rome,
having at large deferibed his condud and defigns, he
adds, “ But why do I talk fo long concerning one
enemy, and fuch an one ; Avho oAvns himfelf an ene¬
my, and Avhom I do not fear, fince Avhat I always de-
fired, there is noAv a wall between us j and fay nothing
U u 2 of
340
Difpofhion.
ORATORY.
4°
Amplifica¬
tion de-
iined and
explained.
of thofe, %vho conceal themfelves, who remain at Rome,
and among us ?” And then he proceeds to give an
account of the other confpirators.
But fometimes, in palling from one thing to an¬
other, a general hint of it is thought fufficient to pre¬
pare the hearers, without particularly fpeeifying what
has been faid, or is next to follow. Thus Cicero in
his fecond Philippic fays, “ But thofe things are old,
this is yet frefh.” And again : “ But I have infilled
too long upon tritles ; let us come to things of greater
moment.” And at other times, for greater brevity,
the tranfition is imperfect, and mention made only of
the following head, without any intimation of what
lias been faid already. As in Cicero’s defence of Mu-
raena, where he fays : “ I mull now proceed to the
third part of my oration concerning the charge of bri¬
bery.” And foon after : “ I come now to Cato, who
is the fupport and ftrength of this charge.”
III. The third and lail head is, Amplification. Now
by amplification is meant, not barely a method of en¬
larging upon a thing: but fo to reprefent it in the
fulleft and moll comprehenfive view, as that it may in
the livelielt manner llrike the mind and influence the
pafllons. Cicero, fpeaking of this, calls it the greatejl
commendation of eloquence ; and obferves, “ that it con-
fills not only in magnifying and heightening a thing,
but likewife in extenuating and lelfening it.” But
though it confitls of thefe twTo parts, and may be ap¬
plied either way ; yet to amplify, is not to fet things
in a falfe light, but to paint them in their juft pro¬
portion and proper colours, fuitable to their nature
and qualities. Rhetoricians have obferved feveral ways
of doing this.
One is to afcend from a particular thing to a gene¬
ral. Thus Cicero, in his defence of Archias, having
commended him as an excellent poet, and likewife ob¬
ferved, that all the liberal arts have a conneftion with
each other, and a mutual relation between them, in
order to raife a juft efteem of him in the minds of his
hearers, takes occafion to fay many things in praife
of polite literature in general, and the great advantages
that may be received from it. “ You will alk me
(fays he), why we are fo delighted with this man ?
Becaufe he fupplies us with thofe things which both
refrefh our minds after the noife of the forum, and
delight our ears when wearied with contention. Do
you think we could either be furnifhed with matter for
fuch a variety of fubjefts, if w’e did not cultivate our
minds with learning •, or bear fuch a conftant fatigue,
without affording them that refrefliment ? I own I
have always purfued thefe ftudies •, let thofe be afhamed,
who have fo given up themfelves to learning, as nei¬
ther to be able to convert it to any common benefit,
nor difcover it in public. But why fhould it lhame
me, who have fo lived for many years, that no ad¬
vantage or eafe has ever diverted me, no pleafure al¬
lured me, nor fleep retarded me from this purfuit.
Who then can blame me, or who can juftly be dif-
pleafed with me, if I have employed that time in re¬
viewing thefe ftudies, which has been fpent by others
in managing their affairs, in the celebration of fefti-
vals or other diverfions, in refreftnnents of mind and
body, in unfeafonable banquets, in dice, or tennis ? And
this ought the rather to be alloxved me, becaufe my abi¬
lity as an. orator has been improved by thofe purfuits,
4
Part II,
which, fuch as it is, was never wanting to afiift my Difpofitioa,
friends. And if it be efteemed but fmall, yet I am fen- '—"-v-—
fible from what fpring I muft draw thofe things which
are of the greateft importance.” With more to the
fame purpofe j from which he draws this inference:
“ Shall I not therefore love this man ? (hall I not ad¬
mire him ? Ihall I not by all means defend him ?”
A contrary method to the former is, to defcend
from a general to a particular. As if any one, while
fpeaking in commendation of eloquence, ftiould illu-
ftrate what he fays from the example of Cicero, and
fhow the great fervices he did his country, and the
honours he gained to himfelf, by his admirable (kill in
oratory. Our common way of judging of the nature
of things is from Avhat we obferve in particular in-
ftances, by which wre form general notions concerning
them. When therefore we confider the character of
Cicero, and the figure he made in the wmrld, it leads
us to conclude, there muft be fomething very admirable
in that art by which he became fo celebrated. And this
method he has taken himfelf in his oration for the Ma-
nilian law, where having firft intimated the fcarcity of
good generals at that time among the Romans, he then
defcribes the virtues of a complete commander as a proof
of it, and (hows how many and great qualifications are
neceffary to form fuch a charadter, as courage, prudence,
experience, and luccefs: all which he afterwards applies
to Pompey.
A third method is by an enumeration of parts. So
when Cicero, upon the defeat of Mark Antony before
Mutina, propofed that a funeral monument ftiould be
eredled in honour of the foldiers who were killed in
that battle, as a comfort to their furviving relations j
he does it in this way, to give it the greater weight:
“ Since (fays he) the tribute of glory is paid to the
bell and moft valiant citizens by the honour of a mo¬
nument, let us thus comfort their relations, who will
receive the greateft confolation in this manner; their
parents who produced fuch brave defenders of the
ftate ; their children who will enjoy thefe domeftic ex¬
amples of fortitude ; their wives, for the lofs of fuch
hufbands, whom it will be more fitting to extol than
lament *, their brethren, who will hope to refemble
them no lefs in their virtues than their afpedl. And
I wiflr wre may be able to remove the grief of all thefe
by our refolutions.” Such reprefentations greatly en¬
large the image of a thing, and afford the mind a much
clearer view of it than if it wrere contradled into one
fingle propofition.
Again, another method not much unlike the former
is, when any thing is illuftrated from a variety of
caufes. Thus Cicero juftifies his behaviour in retiring,
and not oppofing his enemies, when they ipirited up
the mob in order to banifh him, from the following
reafons, which at that time determined him to fuch a>
condudl : “ When (fays he) unlefs I was given up, fo
many armed fleets feemed ready to attack this fingle
Ihip of the ftate, tofied with the tempefts of feditions
and difcords, and the fenate was now removed from
the helm ; when banifhment, murder, and outrage,
were threatened •, when fome, from an apprehenfion of
their own danger, would not defend meothers were
incited by an inveterate hatred to all good men, others-
thought I flood in the way, others took this opportunity
to exprefs their refentment, others envied the peace and-
tranquillity
Part II. O R A T
Difpofition.tranquillity of the Hate ; and upon all thefe accounts I
-v—was particularly ftruck at: fhould 1 have chofen rather
to oppofe them (I will not fay to my own certain de-
ilrudion, but to the greateft danger both of you and
your children), than alone to fubmit to and undergo
what threatened us all in common ?” Such a number
of reafons brought together, mult fet a thing in a very
Itrong and clear light.
The like may be faid of a number and variety of
effefts. Thus Cicero defcribes the force and excel¬
lence of oratory from its great and furprifing effecls,
when he fays, “ Nothing feems to be more excellent,
than by difcourfe to draw the attention of a whole
aflembly, delight them, and fway their inclinations
different ways at pleafure. This, in every free date,
and efpecially in times of peace and tranquillity, has
been always in the higheft efteem and reputation.
For what is either fo admirable, as for one only, or a
very few, out of a vaft multitude, to be able to do
that which all have a natural power of doing ? or fo
delightful to hear, as a judicious and folid difcourfe in
florid and polite language ? or fo powerful and grand,
as to influence the populace, the judges, the fenate,
by the charms of eloquence ? Nay, what is fo noble,
fo generous, fo munificent, as to afford aid to fuppli-
cants, to fupport the affli&ed, give fafety, deliver
from dangers, and preferve from exile ? Or what is
fo neceffary as to be always furnilhed with arms to
guard yourfelf, affert your right, or repel injuries ?
And, not to confine our thoughts wholly to the courts
of jutlice or the fenate, what is there in the arts of
peace more agreeable and entertaining than good lan¬
guage and a fine way of fpeaking ? For it is in this ef¬
pecially wherein we excel ether animals, that we can
difcourfe together, and convey our thoughts to each
other by words. Who therefore would not efteem,
and in a particular manner endeavour to furpafs others
in that wherein mankind principally excels brute
bcafts ? But to proceed to its chief advantages : What
elfe would have drawn men into focieties, or taken them
off from a wiM and favage life, and foften them into
a polite and civilized behaviour ; or, when fettled in
communities, have reftrained them by laws ?” Who
but, after fuch a defcription, muft conceive the Ifrongeft
paflion for an art attended with fo many great and good
effedls f*
A thing may likewife be illuftrated by its oppofite.
So the bleflings and advantages of peace may be re¬
commended from the miferies and calamities of wrar ;
and thus Cicero endeavours to throw contempt upon
Catiline and his party, by comparing them with the
o R Y. 34,
contrary fide : “ But if, omitting all thefe things Difpotuion.
with which we abound, and they want, the fenate, the '" *
knights, the populace, the city, treafury, revenues, all
Italy, the provinces, and foreign nations j if, 1 fay,
omitting thefe things, we compare the caufes them-
felves in which each fide is engaged, we may learn
from thence how defipicable they are.—For on this
fide modefty is engaged, on that impudence j on this
chaftity, on that lewdnefs j on this integrity, on that
fraud ; on this piety, on that profanenefs; on this
conflaney, on that fury ; on this honour, on that bafe-
nefs •, on this moderation, on that unbridled paflion :
In a word, equity, temperance, fortitude, prudence, and
all virtues, contend with injuftice, luxury, cowardice,
rafhnefs, and all vices; plenty with wTant; reafon
with folly ; fobriety with madnefs} and, laftly, good
hope with defpair. In fuch a conteft, did men de-
fert us, would not heaven ordain that fo many and fo
great vices fliould be defeated by thefe moft excellent
virtues ?”
Gradation is another beautiful way of doing this.
So when Cicero would aggravate the cruelty and bar¬
barity of Verres for crucifying a Roman citizen, which
was a fort of punifhment only infli&ed upon flaves,
he choofes this way of doing it. “ It is a crime (fays
he) to bind a Roman citizen, wickednefs to whip him,
and a fort of parricide to kill him ; what then mufi: I
call it to crucify him ? No name can fufficiently ex-
prefs fuch a villany.” And the images of things may
be thus heightened, either by afcending, as in this in-
ftance j or defcending, as in that which follows, re¬
lating to the fame aftion of Verres: “Was I not to
complain of or bewail thefe things to Roman citizens,
nor the friends of our ftate, nor thofe who had heard
of the Roman name ; nay, if not to men, but beads j
or, to go yet further, if in the moft defert wildernefs,
to ftones and rocks; even all mute and inanimate -
creatures would be moved by fo great and heinous
cruelty.”
And, to name no more, fafts may be amplified from
their circumftances *, as time, place, manner, event, and
the like. But inftances of this would carry us too far j
and therefore we fhall only add, that as the defign of
amplification is not barely to prove or evince the truth
of things, but alfo to adorn and illuftrate them, it re¬
quires a florid and beautiful ftyle, confifting of ftrong
and emphatical words, flowing periods, harmonious
numbers, lively tropes, and bright figures. But the con-
fideration of thefe thiftgs comes under the Third Part of
Oratory, upon which we are now to enter.
PART III. OF ELOCUTION.
ELOCUTION direfts us to fuit both the words and
expreflions of a difcourfe to.the nature of the fubjeft, or
to fpeak with propriety and decency. This faculty is in
one word called eloquence ; and thofe perfons who are
poflefled of it are therefore ftyled eloquent.
Elociition is twofold, general and particular. The
former treats of the feveral properties and ornaments
of language in common ; the latter confiders them as
the^are made ufe of to form, different forts of ftyle*
I. GENERAL ELOCUTION.
41
This, according to rhetoricians, confifts of three General
parts ; Elegance, Compojition, and Dignity. A difcourfe elocution,
which has all thefe properties fuitably adjufted, muft^e^ne
with refpeft to the language, be perfect in its kind, and
delightful to the hearers.
Chap.
f
342
. -Elocution,
Chap. I, 0/' Elegance,
Elegance confifts In two things, Purity and Per-
fpicuity: And both thefe, as well with refpect to fingle
words, as their conftrudion in fentences. Thefe pro¬
perties in language, give it the name of elegant, for a
like reafon that we call other things fo which are clean
and neat in their kind. But in the common ufe of
our tongue, we are apt to confound elegance with elo¬
quence ; and fay, a difeourfe is elegant, when we mean
by the exprefiion, that it has all the properties of fine
language.
4* § !• Purity.
nla'ined^md ^ ^ we are to underftand the choice of fuch
iliuftrated. wor^s and phrafes as are fuited and agreeable to the .
ufe of the language in which we fpeak : And fo gram¬
marians reduce the faults they oppofe to it to two
forts, which they call burbarifm and folecifm ; the for¬
mer of which refpeds fingle words, and the latter their
conftrudion. But we ftiall confider them jointly, and
in a manner different from grammarians j for with them
all words are efteemed pure which are once adopted
into a language, and authorifed by ufe. And as to
phrafes, or forms of expreflion, they allow them all the
fame claim, which are agreeable to the analogy of the
tongue. But in oratory, neither all words nor all ex-
preffions are fo called which occur in language ; but
Inch only as come recommended by the authority of
thofe who fpeak or write with accuracy and politenefs.
Indeed it is a common faying that we Jhould think with
the learned, and fpeak with the vulgar. But the meaning
of that expreflion is no more than that we fhould fpeak
agreeably to the common ufage of the tongue, that
every one may underftand us ; and not choofe fuch
words or expreflions as are either difficult to be under-
ftood, or may carry in them an appearance of affeda-
tion and Angularity. But in order to fet this matter in
a clearer light, we fhall here recount the principal things
which vitiate the purity of language.
And firft, it often happens, that fuch -words and
forms of fpeaking as were introduced by the learned
are afterwards dropped by them as mean and fordid,
from a feeming bafenefs contraded by vulgar ufe.
For polite and elegant fpeakers diftinguifh themfelves
by their difeourfe, as perfons of figure do by their garb *,
one being the drefs of the mind, as the other is of the
body. And hence it comes to pafs, that both have their
different fafhions, which are often changed ; and as the
vulgar affed to imitate thofe above them in both, this
frequently occafions an alteration when either becomes
too trite and common. But befide thefe fordid words
and expreffions, which are rendered fo by the ufe of the
vulgar, there is another fort firft introduced by them,
which is carefully to be avoided by all thofe who are
defirous to fpeak well. For the vulgar have their pe¬
culiar words and phrafes, fuited to their circumfiances,
and taken from fuch things as ufually occur in their way
of life. Thus in the old comedians, many things are
fpoken by fervants, agreeable to their charader, which
would be very unbecoming from the mouth of a gentle¬
man. And we cannot but daily obferve the like in-
itances among ourfelves.
Again, this is common to language with all other
Part III,
human produdions, that it is in its own nature liable Elocution,
to a conftant change and alteration. For, as Horace v—H
has juftly obferved,
All human works fhall wafte j
Then how can feeble words pretend to laft.
Nothing could ever pleafe all perfons, or at leaf! for
any length of time. And there is nothing from which
this can lefs be expeded than language. For as the
thoughts of men are exceedingly various, and words
are the figns of their thoughts, they will be conftant-
ly inventing new figns to exprefs them by, in order to
convey their ideas with more clearnefs, or greater
beauty. If we look into the different ages of the La¬
tin writers, what great alterations and changes do we
find in their language ? How few now underftand the
remaining fragments of the twelve tables ? Nay, how
many words do we meet with even in Plautus, the
meaning of which has not yet been fixed with certain¬
ty by the fkill of the beft critics ? And if we confider
our own language, it will appear to have been in a
manner entirely changed from what it was a few ages
fince. To mention no others, our celebrated Chaucer
is to moft perfons now almoft unintelligible, and wants
an expofitor. And even fince our own memory, rve
cannot but have obferved, that many words and ex¬
preffions, which a few years ago were in common ufe,
are now in a manner laid afide and antiquated ; and
that others have conftantly fucceeded, and daily do fuc-
ceed in their room. So true is that obfervation of the
fame poet:
Some words that have or elfe will feel decay
Shall be reftor’d, and come again in play j
And words now fam’d fhall not be fancied long;
They fhall not pleafe the ear, nor move the tongue;
As ufe fhall thefe approve, and thofe condemn;
Ufe, the foie rule of fpeech, and judge fupreme.
We muft therefore no lefs abftain from antiquated or
obfolete words and phrafes, than from fordid ones.
Though all old words are not to be thought antiqua¬
ted. By the former we mean fuch as, though of an
ancient Handing, are not yet entirely difufed nor their
fignifieation loft. And from the ufe of thefe we are
not to be wholly debarred, efpecially when they appear
more fignificant than any others we can fix upon. But
as to phrafes or expreflions, greater caution feems ftill
neceffary : and fuch as are old fhould doubtlefs, if at
all, be ufed more fparingly. The Latin tongue was
brought to its greateft perfeflion in the reign of Au-
guftus, or fomewhat fooner ; and he himfelf ftudied it
very carefully. For, as Suetonius tells us, “ He ap¬
plied himfelf to eloquence, and the ftudy of the liberal
arts, from his childhood, with great diligence and la¬
bour. He chofe a manner of fpeaking which was
fmooth and elegant; he avoided the ill favour, as he
ufed to call it, of antiquated -words ; and he was wont
to blame Tiberius for his affedlation of them.” In
our own language, fuch wTords are to be efteemed an¬
tiquated, which the moft polite perfons have dropped,
both in their difeourfe and writings ; whofe example
we fhould follow, unlefs wre would be thought to con-
verfe rather with the dead than the living.
But further : As on the one hand we muft avoid ob-
folete words and phrafes; fo, on the other, we fhould
refrain
ORATORY,
ORATORY.
or fucli whofe ufe has not
Part III.
Elocution, refrain from new ones
'—'■v'—yet been fufficiently eftablilhed, at leaft among thofe
of the belt tafte. Words may be confidered as new in
two refpe&s ; either when they are firlt brought into a
language, or when they are ufed in a new fenfe. As
the former of thefe may fometimes leave us in the dark
by not being underftood, fo the latter are moft apt to
miflead us ; for when wTe hear a word that has been fa¬
miliar to us, we are prefently led to fix that idea to it
with which it has wfually been attended. And there¬
fore, in both cafes, fome previous intimation may be ne-
ceffary. Cicero, who perhaps enlarged the furniture of
the Roman tongue more than any one perfon befides,
appears always very cautious how he introduces any
thing new, and generally gives notice of it when he at¬
tempts it, as appears in many infiances fcattered through
his works. What bounds we are now to fix to the pu¬
rity of the Latin tongue, in the ufe of it, the learned are
not well agreed. It is certain, our furniture is much
lefs than when it was a living language, and therefore
the greater liberty muft of neceffity be fometimes taken.
So that their opinion feems not unadvifable, who direft
us to make choice principally of what we are furnifhed
with from the writers of the Auguflan age •, and where
we cannot be fupplied from them, to make ufe of fuch
authors as lived neared to them, either before or fince.
And as to our own tongue, it is certainly prudent to
be as careful how we admit any thing into it that is
uncouth or difagreeable to its genius, as the ancient
Romans were into theirs ; for the perfeftion of a lan¬
guage does in a great meafure confid in a certain ana¬
logy and harmony running through the whole, by
which it may be capable of being brought to a dan-
dard.
But befides thofe things already mentioned, any mi-
dake in the fenfe of words, or their condruftion, is op-
pofed to purity. For to fpeak purely, is to fpeak
correftly. And fuch is the nature of thefe faults in
elocution, that they are often not fo eafy to be obfer-
ved by hearing as by reading. Whence it is, that,
many perfons are thought to fpsak better than they
write •, for while they are fpeaking, many flips, and in¬
accuracies efcape difregarded, which in reading would
prefently appear. And this is more efpecially the cafe
of perfons unacquainted with arts and literature ; who,
by the adidance of a lively fancy and flow of words,
often fpeak with great eafe and freedom, and by that
means pleafe the ear ; when, at the fame time, what
they fay, would not fo well bear reading.
We lhall only add, that a didinflion ought likewife
to be made between a poetic diflion and that of profc
writers. For poets in all languages have a fort of pe¬
culiar dialefl, and take greater liberties, not only
their figures, but alfo in their choice and difpofition of
words •, fo that what is a beauty in them would often
appear unnatural and affefted in profe.
$ 2. Of Perfpicuity.
43
Perfpicuity Perfpicuity, as well as purity, confids partly in
■xplained fugle words, and partly in their conJlruElion.
Iratei* As to fugle words, thofe are generally cleared
^ and bed underdood which are ufed in their proper
As to finale Put it requires no fmall attention and fkill to
“’Wds. ° be well acquainted with the force and propriety of
343
words j which ought to be duly regarded, fince the per- Elocution,
fpicuity of a difeourfe depends fo much upon it. Caefar' *
feems plainly to have been of this mind, when he tells
us, “ The foundation of eloquence confids in the choice
of words.” It may not be amifs, therefore, to lay down
fome few obfervations, by which the didinfl notions of
words and their peculiar force may more eafily be per¬
ceived. All words may be divided into proper words
and tropes. Thofe are called proper words, which are
exprelfed in their proper and ufual fenfe. And tropes
are fuch words as are applied to fome other thing than
what they properly denote, by reafon of fome fimilitude,
relation, or contrariety between the two things. So,
■when a fubtle artful man is called a fox, the reafon of
the name is founded in a fimilitude of qualities. If we
fay, Cicero will always live, meaning his works, the
caufe is transferred to the efiect. And when we are
told, Cafar conquered the Gauls, we underdand that he
did it with the adidance of his army 5 where a part is
put for the whole, from the relation between them.
And when Cicero calls Antony a fine guardian of the
fate, every one perceives he means the contrary. But
the nature and ufe of tropes will be explained more fully
hereafter in their proper place. All words mud at fird
have had one original and primary fignification, which,
driftly fpeaking, may be called their proper fenfe. But
it fometimes happens, through length of time, that words
lofe their original fignification, and affume a new one,
which then becomes their proper fenfe. So hoj/is in the
Latin tongue at fird fignified ssf ranger ; but afterwards
that fenfe of the word was entirely laid afide, and it
was ufed to denote a public enemy. And in our lan¬
guage, it is well known, that the word knave anciently
fignified ss fervent. The reafon of the change feems to
be much the fame, as in that of the Latin word Intro ;
which fird fignified a foldier, but afterwards a robber.
Befides, in all languages, it has frequently happened,
that many words have gradually varied from their fird
fenfe to others fomewhat different; which may, not-
withdanding, all of them, when rightly applied, be
looked upon as proper. Nay, in procefs of time,
it is often difficult to fay which is the original, or
mod proper fenfe. Again, fometimes two or more
words may appear to have the fame fignification with
each other, and may therefore be ufed indifferently ;
unlefs the beauty of the period, or fome other parti¬
cular reafon, determine to the choice of one rather
than another. Of this kind are the words enfis and gla-
dius in the Latin tongue; and in ours, pity and com-
pafijion. And there are other words of fo near an affi¬
nity to each other, or at lead appear fo from vulgar
ufe, that they are commonly thought to be fynony-
Such are the words mercy and pity; though
in mous.
mercy in its drift fenfe is exercifed towards an offen¬
der, and pity refpefts one in didrefs. As this peculiar
force and didinftion of words is carefully to be attend¬
ed to, fo it may be known feveral ways. Thus the
proper fignification of fubdantives may be feen by
their application to other fubdantives. As in the in¬
dance jud now given, a perfon is faid to diow mercy
to a criminal, and pity to one in difrefs. And in the
like manner, verbs are didinguidied, by being joined
to fome certain nouns, and not to others. So a perfon
is faid to command an inferior, to in treat a fuperior, and
to def re an equal. Adjeftives alfo, which denote the
properties
344
Wocution. properties of'things, have their fignifieation determin-
v ed by thofe fubjecls to which they mod properly re¬
late. Thus we fay, an honcjl - ■ /W, and a healthful
bodt/; a wife man, and a fine hoifc. Another way of
diitinguifliing the propriety of words, is by their ule
in gradations. As if one flionld fay, Hatreds, grudges,
quarrels, tumults, feditions, wars, firing from unbridled
paJJljns. The proper hide of words may likewile be
known by obferving to what other words they are ei
ther oppofed, or ufed as equivalent. So in that paffage
of Cicero, where he fays, “ I cannot perceive why
you fliould be angry with me : if it be becaufe I de¬
fend him whom you aeeufe, why may not I be dii-
pleafed with you for accufing him whom I defend ?
You fay, I accufe my enemy j and I fay, I defend my
friend.” Here the words accufe and defend, friend and
enemy, are oppofed ; and to be angry and difpleafed, are
ufed as terms equivalent. Laftly, the derivation of
words contributes very much to determine their true
meaning. Thus becaufc the word manners comes from
the word man, it may" properly be applied either to
that or any other put for it. And therefore we fay,
the manners of men, and the manners of the age, becaufc
the word age is there ufed for the men of the age. But
if we apply the word manners to any other animal, it is
a trope. By thefe and fuch like obfervatioqs we may
perceive the proper fenfe and peculiar force of words,
either by their connexion with other wrords, diftinc-
tion from them, oppofition to them, equivalency with
them, or derivation. And by thus fixing their true
and genuine fignification, we fhall eafily fee when they
become tropes. But though words, when taken in
their proper fignification, generally convey the plain-
eft and cleared fenfe ; yet fome are more forcible, fo-
norous, or beautiful, than others. And by thefe con-
fiderations wre muft often be determined in our choice
of them. So whether eve fay, he got, or he obtained, the
viBory, the fenfe is the fame ; but the latter is more
full and fonorous. In Latin, timeo fignifies I fear $ per-
timeo is more full and fignificant; and pertimefco more
fonorous than either of the former. The Latin and
Greek languages have much the advantage of ours in
this refpeft, by reafon of their compefitions; by the
help of which they can often exprefs that in one
word for which we are obliged to put two wmrds, and
fometimes more. So pertimeo cannot be fully exprefied
in our language by one word } but we are forced to
join one or twm particles to the verb, to convey its jufl
idea, and fay, I greatly, or very much fear: and yet
even then we fcarce feem to reach its full force. As to
tropes, though generally fpeaking they are not to be
chofen where plainnefs and perfpicuity of ex predion
is only defigned, and proper words may be found ; yet
through the penury of all languages, the ufe of them
is often made neceffary. And fome of them, efpecially
metaphors, which are taken from the fimilitude of
things, may, when cuftom has rendered them familiar,
be confidered as proper words, and ufed in their Head.
Thus, whether we fay, I fee your meaning, or, I under-
Jl-and your meaning, the fenfe is equally clear, though
the latter exprefiion is proper, and the former meta-
As to5the phorical, by which the aftion of feeing is transferred
conftmc- from the eyes to the mind.
tionoffen- II. But perfpicuitij arifes not only from a choice of
fences. Jingle words, but like wife from the conf ruction of them
Part 111.
in fentences. For the meaning of all the words in a elocution,
fentence, confidered by therafelves, may be very plain ” v'~~'
and evident ; and yet, by reafon of a diforderly pla¬
cing them, or confufion of the parts, the fenfe of the
whole may be very dark and obicure. Now it is cer¬
tain that the moil natural order is the plaineft ; that
is, when both the words and parts of a lenience are
fo difpofed, as bed agrees with their mutual rela¬
tion and dependence upon each other. And where
this is changed, as is ufually done, efpecially in the
ancient languages, for the greater beauty and har¬
mony of the periods *, yet due regard is had by the
belt writers to the evidence and perfpicuity of the ex-
preffion.
But to fet this fubjefl in a clearer light, on which
the perfe&ion of language fo much depends, we ihall
mention fome few things which chiefly occafion obfeuri-
ty ; and this either with refpeCl to Angle words, or their
conftruClion.
And firil, all ambiguity of expreflion is one caufe
of obfeurity. This fometimes arifes from the different
fenfes in which a word is capable of being taken. So
we are told, that upon Cicero’s addreffing himfelf to
OClavius Caefar, when he thought himfelf in danger
from his refentment, and reminding him of the many
fervices he had done him, OCtavius replied, He came
the lajl of his friends. But there was a defigned ambi¬
guity in the word lajl, as it might either refpeCt the
time of his coming, or the opinion he had of his
friendfhip. And this ufe of ambiguous words we fome¬
times meet with, not only in poetry, where the turn
and wit of an epigram often reft upon it, but like-
wife in profe, either for pkafantry or ridicule. Thus
Cicero calls Sextus Clodius the light of the fenate, which
is a compliment he pays to feveral great men, who
had diftinguilhed themfelves by their public fervices to
their country. But Sextus, who had a contrary cha-
racler, was a relation of P. Clodius, whole dead body,
after he had been killed by Milo, he carried in a tu¬
multuous manner into the fenate houfe, and there
burnt it with the fenators benches, in order to inflame
the populace againft Milo, And it is in allulion to
that riotous aClion, that Cicero, ufmg this ambigu¬
ous expreffion, calls him the light of the fenate. In fuch
inftances, therefore, it is a beauty, and not the fault
we are cautioning againft : as the fame thing may be
either good or bad, as it is differently applied.—
Though even in luch defigned ambiguities, where one
fenfe is aimed • at, it ought to be fuffieiently plain,
otherwife they lofe their intention. And in all ferious
difeourfes they ought carefully to be avoided. But
obfeurity more frequently arifes from the ambiguous
conftrmftioh of words, which renders it difficult to de¬
termine in what fenfe they are to be taken. Quintilian
gives us this example of it : “A certain man ordered
in his will, that his heir fliould ereCt for him a ftatue
holding a fpear made of gold.” A queftion arifes here,
of great confequence to the heir from the ambiguity
of the expreflion, whether the words made of gold are
to be applied to the Jlatue or the fpear ; that is, whe¬
ther it was the defign of the teftator by this appoint¬
ment, that the whole ftatue, or only the fpear, fliould
be made of gold. A fmall note of diftin&ion, different¬
ly placed between the parts of this fentence, would
clear up the doubt, and determine the fenfe either
way.
ORATORY.
Part HI. O H A T
Elocution, way. For if one comma be put after the word Jlatue,
— v and another after /pear, the words made of gold muft
be referred to the ftatue, as if it had been faid, aflatue,
made of gold, holding afpear. But if there be only the
firft comma placed after ftatue, it will limit the words
made of gold to the fpear only •, in the fame fenfe as if
it had been faid, A Jlatue holding a golden fpear. And
either of thefe ways of expreffion would in this cafe
have been preferable, for avoiding the ambiguity,
according to the intention of the teftator. The an¬
cient heathen oracles were generally delivered in fuch
ambiguous terms. Which, without doubt, were fo
contrived on purpofe, that thofe who gave out the
anfwers might have room left for an evafion. See
Oracle.
Again, obfcurity is occafioned either by too fliort
and concife a manner of fpeaking, or by fentences too
long and prolix; either of thefe extremes have fome-
times this bad confequence. We find an inftance of
the former in Pliny the Elder, where fpeaking of hel¬
lebore, he fays, “ They forbid it to be given to aged
perfons and children, and lefs to women than men.”
The verb is wanting in the latter part of the fentence,
and lefs to women than men : which in fuch cafes being
ufually fupplied from what went before, would here
Hand thus j and they forbid it to be given lefs to women
than men. But this is dire&ly contrary to the fenfe of
the writer, whofe meaning is, either that it is order¬
ed to be given in a lefs quantity to women than men,
or not fo frequently to women as men. And therefore
the word order is here to be fupplied, which being of
a contrary fignification to forbid, expreffed in the for¬
mer part of the fentence, occafions the obfcurity.
That long periods are often attended with the fame ill
effect, mult be fo obvious to every one’s experience,
that it would be entirely needlefs to produce any ex¬
amples in order to evince the truth of it. And there¬
fore we {hall only obferve, that the belt way of prevent¬
ing this feems to be by dividing fuch fentences as ex¬
ceed a proper length into two or more 5 which may
generally be done without much trouble.
Another caufe of obfcurity, not inferior to any yet
mentioned, is parenthefs, when it is either too long
or too frequent. This of Cicero, in his oration for
Sylla, is longer than we ufually find in him r “ O im¬
mortal gods! (for I mult attribute to you what is your
own j nor indeed can I claim fo much to my own abi¬
lities, as to have been able of myfelf to go through fo
many, fo great, fuch different affairs, with that expe¬
dition, in that boilterous tempelt of the Itate), you
inflamed my mind with a defire to fave my country.”
But where any obfcurity arifes from fuch fentences,
they may frequently be remedied by much the fame
means as was juft now hinted concerning long and
prolix periods ; that is, by feparating the parenthefis
from the reft of the fentence, and placing it either be¬
fore or after. So in this fentence of Cicero, the pa¬
renthefis may Hand laft, in the following manner :—
“ O immortal gods ! you inflamed my mind with a de¬
fire to fave my country : for I muft attribute to you
what is your own 5 nor indeed can I claim fo much to
my own abilities, as to have been able of myfelf to go
through fo many, fo great, fuch different affairs, with
that expedition, in that boifterous tempeft of the ftate.”
Vol. XV. Part I.
345
Elocution.
O R Y.
1 his order of the fentence is very plain, and left invol¬
ved than the former.
Chap. II. Of Compojition.
Composition, in the fenfe it is here ufed, gives Compofi-
rules for the ftru&ure of fentences, with the feveral t'on tle~
members, words, and fyllables, of which they confift,
in fuch a manner as may belt contribute to tlje force, l%! C
beauty, and evidence of the whole.
Compolition confifts of four parts, which rhetoricians
call period, order, junBure, and number. The firft of
thefe treats of the ftrudture of fentences ; the fecond, of
the parts ol fentences, which are words and members j
and the two laft, of the parts of words, which are letters
and fyllables. For all articulate founds, and even the
moft minute parts of language, come under the cogni¬
zance of oratory.
§ I. Of Period.
In every fentence or propofition, fomething is faid Period de-
of fomething. That of which fomething is faid, logi-fined .and
cians call the fubjeB, and that which is faid of it, the eKplainec}-
predicate: but in grammatical terms, the former is a
noun fubftantive of the nominative cafe, and the latter a
fnite verb, denoting affirmation, and fome ftate of be-
ing, afting, or fuffering. Thefe two parts may ofthem-
felyes conftitute a fentence: As when we fay, The fun
Jhines, or the clock frikes, the words fun and clock are
the fubjedt in thefe expreffions, fhines and frikes imply
each the copula and predicate. Moft commonly, how¬
ever, the noun and the verb are accompanied with
other words, which in grammatical conftrudtion are
faid either to be connedted with or to depend upon
them •, but in a logical confideration they denote fome
property or circumftance relating to them. As in the
following fentence : a good man loves virtue for if elf.
The fubjedt of this fentence is a good man: and the
predicate, or thing affirmed of him, that he loves vir¬
tue for itfelf. But the two principal or neceffary words,
on which all the reft depend, are ?nan and loves. Now
a Ample fentence confifts of one fuch noun and verb,
with whatever elfe is joined to either or both of them.
And a compound fentence contains two or more of
them 5 and may be divided into fo many diftindt pro-
pofitions, as there are fuch nouns and verbs, either .ex¬
preffed or underftood. So in the following fentence.
Compliance gains friends, but truth procures hatred, there
are two members, each of which contains in it an en¬
tire propofition. For, Compliance gains friends is one
complete fentence, and Truth procures hatred is another;
which are connedled into one compound fentence by
the particle but. Moreover, it frequently happens, that
compound fentences are made up of fuch parts or
members, fome if not all of which are themfelves com¬
pounded, and contain in them two or more Ample
members. Such is that of Salluft : “ Ambition has
betrayed many perfons into deceit *, to fay one thing,
and to mean another; to found friendlhip and enmity,
not upon reafon, but intereft *, and to be more careful
to appear honeft, than really to be fo.” This fentence
confifts of four members •, the laft of which three, con¬
fining of oppofite parts, are all compounded, as will
X x appear
346
O B A T O R Y.
Bart III,
Elocution.
appear by expreffing them at length in the following
manner j Ambition has betrayed many perfons into deceit;
[that is, ambition] has betrayed them to fay one thing,
and to mean another; it has betrayed them to foundfriend-
fhip and enmity, not upon reafon, but interef ; audit has
betrayed them to be more careful to appear honef, than
really to be fo. The three lait of thefe members, begin¬
ning with the words it betrays, are all of them com¬
pounded, and conlifts of two oppolite members ; which
might each of them be exprefl'ed at length in the fame
manner, by fupplying the ellipfis. As, Ambition has
betrayed many perfons to fay one thing, and it has betray¬
ed them to mean another. And fo of the reft. From this
inftance we fee how much is left to be fupplied by the
mind in all difeourfe, which if expreffed would both
deftroy its harmony and render it exceedingly tedious.
But ftill regard muft be had to that which is omit¬
ted, fo as to render what is faid confident with it;
other wife there can be no propriety in what is fpoken.
Nor can the members of a fentence be diftinguiftied
and duly ranged in their proper order, without this.
But to proceed : Some fentences confift either wholly,
or in part, of fuch members as contain in them two
or more compound ones, Avhich may therefore, for di-
ftindtion’s fake, be called decompound members.—Of this
kind is that of Cicero, in his defence of Milo : “ Great
is the force of confcience, great either way : that
thofe perfons are not afraid who have committed no
offence 5 and thofe who have offended always think
puniftnnent prefent before their eyes.” The latter
member of this fentence, which begins with the word
that, contains in it two compound members, which re-
prefent the different ftate of mind between innocent
and guilty perfons. And it is in the proper diftindlion
and feparation of the members in fuch complex fen¬
tences that the art of pointing chiefly confifts. For the
principal ufe of a comma is to divide the Ample mem¬
bers, a femicolon the compound ones, a colon fuch as are
decompounded, and a period the whole from the folloAV-
ing fentence. We mention this the rather, to (how the
different acceptation of thefe terms by grammarians,
from that of the ancient writers upon oratory. For
thefe latter apply them to the fenfe, and not to any
points of diftimftion. A very ftiort member, whether
Ample or compound, with them is a comma, and a
longer a colon ; for they have no fuch term as a femico¬
lon. BeAdes, they call a very ftiort fentence, whether
Ample or compound, a comma, and one of fomewhat a
greater length, a colon. And therefore if a perfon ex¬
preffed himfelf either of thefe ways in any confiderable
number of fentences together, he was faid to fpeak by
commas or colons. But a fentence containing more
words than will confift wdth either of thefe terms,
they call a Ample period; the leaft compound pe¬
riod Avith them requiring the length of tAvo colons.
HoAvever, this Avay of denominating fentences, and the
parts of them, rather from their length than the na¬
ture of them, appearing not fo fuitable, avc have chofen
rather to make ufe of the terms fmple and compound
members ; and to call all thofe compound periods, Avhich
contain tAvo or more members, Avhether Ample or com¬
pounded.
But to proceed : Sentences, Avith refpeef to their
form or compoAtion, are diftinguiflied into tAvo forts.
called by Cicero trafta, “ ftraight or direct and Elocution.
contorta, “ bent or Avinding.” By the former are 11 y —
meant thofe Avhofe members folloAV each other in a di-
reft order, without any inflexion j and by the latter,
thofe Avhich ftriftly fpeaking are called periods. For
Tri^ioeios in Greek Agnifles a circuit or circle. And fo the
Latins call it circuitus and ambitus. By Avhich both of
them mean a fentence conAfting of correfpondent parts,
fo framed, that the voice in pronouncing them may
have a proper elevation and cadency, and diftinguilh
them by its inflexion j and as the latter part returns
back, and unites Avith the former, the period, like a
circle, furrounds and inclofes the Avhole fenfe. This
elevation of the voice in the former part of the pe¬
riod, is by the Greeks called and by the
Latins propoftio ; and the depreflion of it in the latter
part, by the one onrobora;, and by the other redditio.
Noav as Ample fentences have not thefe correfpondent
parts, Avhich require any inflexion of the voice j nor a
circular form, by reafon of their brevity j they are not
properly periods, in the ftrift fenfe of the Avord : though,
in common fpeech, the Avords fentence and period2.xt of¬
ten ufed as equivalent terms. Thus, if Ave fay, Generous-
minds are incited to the performance of noble exploits
from motives of glory ; here is no diftindtion of parts,
nor infledlion of the voice in this fentence. And in¬
deed there is not any thing Avhich relates to the ftruc-
ture of thefe fentences, but Avhat Avill more properly be
taken notice of in the fecond part of compoftion, Avhich
is order.
And as to thofe compound fentences, whofe mem¬
bers folloAV each other in a diredt order, Avithout any
infledtion, there is little art required in their compo¬
Ation. We lhall produce one example of this kind
from Cicero : “ Natural reafon inclines men to mutual
converfe and fociety ; and implants in them a ftrong af-
fedtion for thofe Avho fpring from them ; and excites
them to form communities, and join in public affemblies j
and, for thefe ends, to endeavour to procure both the
neceffaries and conveniencies of life : and that not for
themfelves only, but likeAvife for their Avives, children,
and others Avho are dear to them, and have a right to
their afliftance.” Here are Aa’c fhort members in this
fentenee, placed in a feries, without any infledtion of
the parts, or orbit of the Avhole. And as fuch fentences
have no other boundary but the concluflon of the fenfe,
fuited to the breath of the fpeaker, he may either
contradt or lengthen them at pleafure, Avithout offending
the ear. So, ftiould the fentence laft mentioned con¬
clude Avith the flrft member in this manner, Natural
reafon inclines men to mutual converfe and focietij ; the
fenfe Avould be perfedt, and the ear fatisfled. The cafe
would be the fame at the end of the fecond member,
thus : Natural reafon inclines men to mutual converfe and
fociety, and implants in them a frong aJfeBion for thofe
who fpring from them. And the like may be faid of
the reft. Since fuch fentences therefore may be thus li¬
mited at pleafure, it feems more convenient both for the
fpeaker and hearers to conflne them to a moderate
length.
But becaufe the principal art relating to this part of
compofltion lies in the frame and ftrudture of fuch com¬
pound fentences as are properly c&Wtdi periods, Ave (hall
treat upon thefe fomewhat more largely. In the forma¬
tion
3
’art Ilf. O R A T
Elocution, tion of thefe periods, two things are chiefly to be re-
'Y—garded ; their length and cadency. As the length ought
to be fuited to the breath of the fpeaker, the ancient
rhetoricians fcarce admit of more than four colons 5 by
which we may here underfland compound members of a
moderate fize, which will be generally found a fuitable
and proportionate length. For to extend them farther
than the voice can well manage, muft be painful to the
fpeaker, and of confequence unpleafant to the hearers. As
to the cadency, what Cicero has obferved, is found true
by experience, that the ears judge what is full and what
is deficient; and diredt us to fill up our periods, that
nothing be wanting of what they expedl. When the
voice is raifed at the beginning of a fentence, they are
in fufpenfe till it be finifhed ; and are pleafed with a
full and juft cadency, but are fenftble of any defedf, and
are difpleafed with redundancy. Therefore care muft
be taken that periods be neither deficient, and as it were
maimed, that is, that they do not drop before their time,
and defraud the ears of what feemed to be promifed
them •, nor, on the other hand, offend them by too
long and immoderate excurfions. This rife and caden¬
cy of the voice in pronunciation, depend on the na¬
ture and ‘fituation of the members, as we {hall endea¬
vour to fhow by particular inftances 5 in the explication
of which, by the word members, are to be underftood
fuch as are uncompounded. In a period of two members,
the turn of the voice begins with the latter member.
Of this kind is the following fentence of Cicero : “ If
impudence prevailed as much in the forum and courts
of juftice, as infolence does in the country and places
of lefs refort \ Aulus Ctecina would fubmit as much to
the impudence of Sextus Ebutius in this caufe, as he
did before to his infolence when aflaulted by him.”
Here the cadency begins at the words Aulus Ccecina.
If a fentence confifts of three members, the inflexion is
beft made at the end of the fecond member : for if it
begin immediately after the firft, the voice will be either
apt to fink too low, and not be heard, before it reach
the end •, or elfe be precipitated, in order to prevent it.
Cicero begins his oration for Milo with a fentence of
this form ’. “ Although I fear, it may be a fhame to be
difmayed at the entrance of my difcourfe in defence of
a molt valiant man j and that it nowife becomes me,
while Milo is more concerned for the fafety of the ftate
than for himfelf, not to ffiow the fame greatnefs of mind
in his behalf: yet this new form of profecution terrifies
my eyes, which, whatever way they turn, want the an¬
cient cuftom of the forum, and former manner of trials.”
Here the cadency, beginning at the third member tvith
the word yet, makes a proper divifion of the fentence,
and eafy for the fpeaker. But a period of four members
is reckoned the moft complete and perfefl, where the
inflexion begins at the middle, that is, with the third
member. Nor is it the fame cafe here, as if, in a fen¬
tence of three members, the cadency be made at the fe¬
cond. For in proportion to the time of railing the voice
may the fpace be allowed for its finking. The follow¬
ing fentence of Cicero gives us an inftance of this, where
he fpeaks to his fon : “ Although, fon Mark, having
now been a hearer of Cratippus for a year, and this at
Athens, you ought to abound in the precepts and doc¬
trines of philofophy, by reafim of the great charadler
both of your inftruftor and the city •, one of which can
furnilh you with knowledge, and the other with exam-
O R Y.
347
pies: yet, as I always to my advantage joined the La- Elocution-
tin tongue with the Greek, and have done it not only —v—J
in oratory,but likewife in philofophy 5 I think you ought
to do the fame, that you may be equally converfant in
both languages.” The turn in this period begins at the
■word yet; which Handing near the middle, the voice is
raifed to that pitch in pronouncing the former part, as
to admit of a gradual cadency, without being loft be¬
fore the conclufion of the fentence. But where the
fenfe does not fuit with this divifion at the entrance upon
the third member, it is beft made at the fourth. Such
is the following fentence of Cicero : “ If I have any
genius, which I am fenfible is very fmall; or any readi-
nefs in fpeakxng, wherein I do not deny but I have been
much converfant 5 or any {kill in oratory, from an ac¬
quaintance with the beft arts, to which I confefs I have
been always inclined ; no one has a better right to de¬
mand of me the fruit of all thefe things than this Au¬
lus Caecina.” The cadency of this fentence does not
begin till the words no one ; yet it ends handfomely,
and without difappointing the year. Though indeed the
three firft members having each of them an inflexion,
check the elevation of the voice, and by that variety in
the pronunciation add to the harmony of the fentence.
An equality of the members ftiould likewife be attend¬
ed to in the compofition of a period, the better to ad juft
their rife and cadency. And for this reafon, in fen-
tences of three members, where the cadency begins
with the third •, or in thofe of four members, where it
begins at the fourth 5 it promotes the harmony to make
the laft member longeft. This is properly the nature
of rhetorical periods, which when rightly formed have
both an equal beauty and dignity in their compofi¬
tion.
But as all difcourfe is made up of diftin£I fenten-
ces, and whenever wre exprefs our thoughts it is in
fome of the forms above mentioned 5 fo the ufe of
them is not promifcuous, but fuited to anfwer different
defigns in fpeaking. And in this view they are confi-
fidered and made ufe of by the orator, as will be ftiown
hereafter.
§ 2. Of Order.
4$
By order, rhetoricians mean the placing each word Order de-
and member of a fentenee in fuch a manner as will finecl and?
moft contribute to the force, beauty, or evidence of the11 uftrate '
whole.
Order is of two kinds, natural and artificial. And
each of thefe may be confidered with refpeft to the
parts either of fimple or compound fentences.
As to fimple fentences, we may call that order natu¬
ral, when all the words in a fentence are fo placed, as
they are con netted with or follow each other in a gram¬
matical conftruttion. And it may properly enough ad¬
mit of this name, as it is founded in the nature of a
propofition, and the relation of the feveral words of
which it confifts to each other. This wre explained in
the laft chapter, and illuftrated by proper examples ; and
fnall therefore only give one inftance of it here, to in¬
troduce the fubjett we are now upon. And it is this :
The fame of Ifocrates excited Arfiotle to the prqfefftott
of oratory. Here thefe words, the fame of Ifocrates,
contain the fubjett of this fentence, with what relates to
it j and all thofe which followr, exerted Arfiotle to the
profejfon of oratory, make up the predicate and its de~
X x 2 pendents.
34§ O R A T
Elocution, pendents. And in both parts each word grammatically
confidered Hands in its proper order of conftru&ion.
And this feems agreeable to the natural way of convey¬
ing our thoughts, which leads us. firft to exprefs the fub-
je£t or thing of which fome other thing is faid, before
the predicate or that which is faid concerning it •, and
with refpedt to both, as every idea fucceeds another in
the order of our conceptions, tp range it in the fame order
when we communicate them to others. Our language in
the general keeps pretty much to this method. But in
one thing particularly it recedes from it; and that is, in
placing adjeftives, which denote the properties of things,
before their fubftantives or fubjedls, whofe properties
they are : As when it is faid, Evil communication cor¬
rupts good manners. And this rve always do except
fomething follows which depends upon the adjective.
So we fay, He was a man eminent for his virtue: not an
eminent man.
Artificial order, as it refpedls fimple fentences, has lit¬
tle or no regard to the natural conltruction of words }
but difpofes them in fuch a manner as will be moft
agreeable to the ear, and beft anfw'er the defign of the
fpeaker. The Latins take a much greater liberty in
this refpeft than we do, or than the nature of our lan¬
guage will permit. Quintilian fays, it is bell for the
verb to Hand lad, when there is no particular reafon to
the contrary. And he gives this reafon for it, becaufe
the force of the fentcnce lies in the verb. So that, ac¬
cording to hitn, they feem to have had this view in put¬
ting the verb at the end ; that as the whole fentence is
imperfedt without the verb, the mind being thus held in
fufpenfe might receive the deeper impreffion from it at
laft. They likewife feparate fuch words as have an im¬
mediate relation between them or dependence one upon
another, and place any of them firft or laft as they
pleafe. In (hort their order feems in a manner arbitra¬
ry, if it dbes not break in upon perfpicuity, to which
they ulually attend. But moft of thefe things arp un-
fuitable to the genius of our language. One might fay
indeed, Convince him you cannot: inftead of faying,
“You cannot convince him : Or, With my own eyes I faw
it; for, I faw it with my own eyes. And again : in
proportion to the increafe of luxury the Roman fate de¬
clined: for, The Roman fate declined in proportion to
the increafe of luxury. But this inverfion of words is
proper in Englilh compofition only when it gives force
to the expreftion ; as in the higher ftyle it often does.
It ferves to imprefs known truths upon the mind, but is
unfit for communicating the firft principles of know¬
ledge.
As to compound fentences, that is, fuch as confift of
two or more members, either fimple or compounded ;
what relates to the words in each member feparately is
the fame as in fimple fentences. But with regard to the
difpofition of the feveral members, that may be called
the natural order, which fo places them as they mutual¬
ly depend on each other. Thus the antecedent member
naturally precedes the relative ; as in this expreflion,
Men are apt to forgive themfelves what they blame in
others. In hypothetical fentences the conditional mem¬
ber naturally Hands firft. Thus : If Socrates be a ra¬
tional creature, he is a man. That member which ex-
prefles the effedft of an adtion naturally comes laft •, as,
Though you offer ever fo good reafons, you will not pre¬
vail with him. The like may be faid of time, with re-
o R Y. Part III
gard to things done in it 5 as, The Roman eloquence foon Elocution
declined when Cicero was dead. And to name no more, <
the reafon of a thing naturally follows that of which it
is the reafon 5 as thus : HIl the pleafures of life mujl be
uncertain, Ji nee life if elf is not fecure.
When this order is inverted, it muft be ftyled artifi¬
cial. So to keep to the initances already given, the two
members in the firft fentence may be thus inverted :
What they blame in others,, men are apt to forgive them¬
felves. In the fecond, in this manner : Socrates is a
man, if he be a rational creature. In the third, thus :
You will not prevail with him, though you offer ever fo
good reafons. And lb on in the reft : As, When Cicero
was dead, the Roman eloquence foon declined; and, Since
life itjelf is not fecure, all the pleafures of life tnufi be
uncertain. The variety of inverlions in a fentence may
generally be greater or lefs in proportion to the num¬
ber of its members. In the following fentence of Ci¬
cero, the natural order feems to be this : If that great-
nefs of mind be void of jufiice, which fhows itfelf in
dangers and labours, it is blame able. Which may be
varied by changing the place of the firft and third mem¬
ber, in the following manner : That greatnefs of miml
is blameable which Jhows itfelf in dangers and labours,
if it want jufiice. Or by altering the place of all the
three members, thus : I hat greatnefs of mind is blame-
able, if it be void of jujlice, which Jhows itfelf in dan¬
gers and labours But oftentimes one member may be
included in another, as in the inftance here given : If
that gr'eatnefs of mind which Jhows ifief in dangers
and labours, be void of Jufiice, it is blameable. Here
the relative member is included in the conditional, which
is placed firft, and the antecedent member follows both.
But in Cicero it Hands thus : That greatnefs of mind,
which Jhows itfef in dangers and labours, if it want
jujhce, is blameable ; where the relative and conditional
members are both included in the antecedent member.
The Latin tongue commonly admits of a much greater
variety in the tranfpofition of members, as well as in that
of fingle words, than fuits with our idiom. In the fol¬
lowing fentence the natural order is much preferable, as
it beft fuits with the proper elevation and cadency of
the voice in its pronunciation : 1 am willing to remit all
that is pafi, provided it may be done with fafety. But
fhould we invert the members, and fay, Provided it may
be done with fafety, I am willing to remit all that is
pajl; the harmony of the cadency would be loft. And
if the latter member be included in the former, the al¬
teration will ftill be worfe j as, I am willing, provided
it may be dorte with fafety, to forgive all that is pajl.
Here the inflexion of the voice falls upon the fame
member as before, and deftroys the beauty of the pe¬
riod by its elevation afterwards. Some fentences admit
of no involution of their members. Such are thofe whofe
members are connedted by conjundlive or disjundtive
particles. As, Virtue furnifhes the mind with the truejl
pleafure in profperity, and affords it the greatejl comfort
in adverjity. And, H wife man is neither eluted by pro¬
fperity, nor depreffed by adverjity. And the like may be
faid of thofe where the latter member begins with fome
illative or redditive particle. As in thefe inftances : The
chief thing to be regarded in life is virtue, for all other
things are vain and uncertain. And, Though fortune
is always inconjlant, yet ffe has many votaries. Nei¬
ther of the members in any of thefe ways of expreflkm,
Partlll.
Elocution, and Tome others which might be named, can be inclu-
"“Y""—' ded one in the other. In all the examples hitherto gi¬
ven, the fentences confift only of fimple members j and
indeed compound members are not fo often inverted, nor
included one in another, by reafon of their length.
However, we (hall here produce one inftance of each :
Whoever conjiders the uncertainty of human affairs, and
how frequently the greatejl hopes are fruf rated; he
willfee juji reafon to be always on his guard, and not
place too mttcli dependence upon things fo precarious.
This fentence confifts of two compound members, which
here Hand in their natural order, but may be thus in¬
verted : He will fee jufl reafon to be always on his
guard, and not place too much dependence on things fo
precarious ; whoever confiders the uncertainty of human
affairs, and how often the great fl hopes are fruf rated.
In the following fentence one compound member is in¬
cluded in another: Let us not conclude while dangers
are at a di/lance, and do not immediately approach us,
that we are fecure ; unlefs we ufe all neceffary precau¬
tion to prevent them. Here the natural order would be :
While dangers are at a di/lance, and do not immediately
approach us ; let us not conclude that zee are fecure, un¬
lefs we ufe all neceffury precaution to prevent them.
But there are fome other confiderations relating to
order, which, being taken from the nature of things,
equally fuit all languages. So, in amplifying, there
fliould be a conftant gradation from a lefs to a greater •,
as when Cicero fays, Ambition creates hatred, fhynefs,
difeords, [editions, and wars. On the contrary, in ex¬
tenuating, we Ihould defeend from a greater to a lefs;
as if, fpeaking of the ancient laws of Rome, one Ihould
fay, 'IViey were fo far from fffering a Roman citizen
to be put to death, that they zvould not allow him to be
whipt, or even to be bound. In conllituting any whole,
we put the parts firlt; as, Invention, dfpoftion, elocution,
and'pronunciation, make up the art of oratory. But in
feparating any whole, the parts follow : as, The art of
oratory may be divided into thefe four parts ; invention,
difpofition, elocution, and pronunciation. In every enu¬
meration care muft be taken not to mix the whole with
the parts •, but if it be mentioned at all, it muft either
be put firft or laft. So it would be wrong to fay, He
was a man of the greatef prudence, virtue, juf ice, and
madefy : for the word virtue here contains in it the other
three, and therefore (hould not be inferted among them.
See Language, N° 17.
§ Of JunElure and Number.
Quintilian, fpeaking of compofition, reprefents a
difeourfe as very happy in that refpeet, when the order,
junBure, and number, are all juft and proper. The firft
of thefe, which gives rules for the due placing of the
words and members of a fentence, has been already
explained. We now proceed to the other two, which
relate to letters and fyllables; the former treating of
49 their connexion, and the latter of their quantity,
lure and ufe ^ t0 Jun^ure' ^ ^ue attention is to be paid to
°fjuttfture th® nature of the vowels, confonants, and fyllables in
e*plained the connexion of words, with regard to the found.
As to the fff, when a word ends with a vowel, and
the next begins either with a different vowel, or the
fame repeated, it ufually renders the pronunciation hol¬
low and unpleafant. For, as Quintilian has juftly ob-
ORATORY.
349
and illu-
ftrated.
ferved, “ This makes a chafm In the fentence, and flops Elocution,
the courfe of it.” For there muft be fome paufe, in or- v
der to pronounce them both, or otherwife the found of
one will be loft. So, for inftance, in pronouncing thefe
words, the other day, unlefs you flop a little after the
word the, the found of e will not be heard 5 and if it is
dropt, it will occafion a rougher found, from the afpira-
tion of th twice repeated fo near together, as th'other
day. Therefore to prevent both thefe inconveniences,
Are ufually fay, t'other day. But the different confo¬
nants, Avhich together Avith the vowels make up thofe
fyllables, often caufe a confiderable difference in the
pronunciation, fo as to render it more or lefs agreeable.
As, if Ave fay, he overdid it, the words he over have not
fo harlh a found as the other; though ftill they require
fome paufe to keep them diftindt. Befides, fome vowels
meet more amicably, and admit of a fofter pronuncia¬
tion than others. Thofe Avhich have the weakeft and
fmalleft found, folloAV beft 5 becaufe they occafion the
leaf! alteration of the organ in forming the trvo founds.
Such are e and i; and therefore, Avithout any chafm in
the found, or hefitation of the voice, Ave fay he is. But
Avhere the adtion of the organs is greater, and the found
ftronger, the pronunciation is more difficult: as Avhen
Ave fay, tho' all. For here is a contrary motion of the
lips, Avhich are firft put forAvard in founding the 0, and
then drawn backAvard to pronounce the a ; and there¬
fore the found is much fofter to fay, tho' every, where
their adtion is lefs. And the like ill effedl commonly
happens from the repetition of the fame voavcI : as if
Ave fay, go on, or, ufually aci thus. There is a eonfider-
able difference betrveen thefe tAVO expreflions, in repeat¬
ing the found of the vowel, and where either of them is
doubled in a fingle Avord. For then the fame found on¬
ly is protradted by one continued motion of the organ 5
as in the Avords good, and deem. But here the found is
repeated again by a nerv adtion of the organ ; which, if
precipitated, obfeures the found of one of the vowels j
and, if too much retarded, makes a chafm in the
pronunciation; either of which is unpleafant to the
ear.
But as the coalition of Iavo vorvels occafions an hol¬
low and obfeure found, fo the meeting of fome confo¬
nants renders it very harfti and rough. Thus the words
king Xerxes, and public good, Avhen fo placed have not
only a roughnefs, but likeAvife a difficulty in their pro¬
nunciation, from the contrary adtion of the lips; which
in the former are firft drawn back and then fonvards,
but in the latter the contrary Avay •, and in both of them
Avith fome confiderable force. But this may very eafily
be avoided, by faying, Avith a little alteration in the
words, Xerxes, the king, and the good of the public. So
likewife the words ill company, have a fofter found than
bad company, for the fame reafon. To multiply inftan-
ces of this kind feems unneccffary, Avhich fo frequently
occur in all difeourfes.
The repetition of the fame fyllable at the end and be¬
ginning of Avords, is the laft thing to be confidered.
And a little obfervation Avill convince us, that Avhere
this happens, it generally renders the found either con-
fufed or unpleafant. Cicero Avas often rallied on account
of this verfe;
0 fortunatam natam tne confide Romam.
Every one Avill eafily perceive a difagreeable found in
the
35o 0 R A T
Elocution, the following expreflion : “ A man many times does
»- i - - y—-»/ j.hat unadvisedly, of which he afterwards repents.”
The chime of the words man many both feems affedled,
and difpleafes the ear. But this will foon be remedied,
if we feparate thefe two words, and fay, “A man does
that many times unadvifedly.”
From the fliort account here given of this part of
compofition, it is eafy to perceive what things are ne-
ceflary to render it moft complete and accurate j which
are thefe following. If a word end with a vowel, the
next ought to begin with a confonant, or fuch a vowel
whofe found may agree well with the former. But if a
word conclude with a confonant, either a vowel Ihould
follow, or fuch a confonant whofe pronunciation will
fuit with it. And laftly, the fame Syllable ought not
to be repeated at the end of one word, and the begin¬
ning of the next. It has been obferved by fome critics,
that the following verfe at the beginning of Virgil’s
/Eneid has all thefe properties :
Armu virumque cano, Trojer qui primus ab oris.
Where any word in this verfe ends with a vowel, the
next begins with a confonant \ and where any one ends
with a confonant, the next begins with a vowel j and
there is no repetition of the fame found throughout the
whole. But this is what rarely happens, efpecially in
our language, which abounds ■with confonants. And
what Quintilian fays of the coalition of vowels, in
treating upon this fubjeft, feems applicable to the whole.
t< This (fays he) is a thing not much to be dreaded j
and I know not whether the negleft of it, or too great
a concern about it, be worfe. It neceffarily checks the
vigour of the mind, and diverts it from matters of great¬
er importance. And therefore as it (hows negligence
to permit it, fo to be in conftant fear of it difcovers a
low genius.” This was the opinion of that judicious
writer. And as thefe things cannot always be attended
to, it may be fufficient to avoid them, rvhere they prove
very offenfive to the ear, and it may be done without
fome greater inconvenience. So in this fentence, Ho-
nejly is the bejl policy, the coalition of t and p in the
two laft rvords bejl policy produces a roughnefs in their
pronunciation ; but as the expreffion is ftrong, and can¬
not perhaps be well altered for the better, the found
50 here ought to give way to the fenfe.
'j he na- II. Number. This refpefts the quantity of fyllables,
as JunBure does their quality. In the Greek and Ro-
mmber. man languages every fyliable has its diftindt quantity 5
and is either long, fhort, or common: two or more of
which joined together in a certain order make a foot,
and a determinate number of thefe in a different order
eonftitute their feveral forts of metre. This variety of
founds gives a much greater harmony to their poetry,
than what can arife only from the feat of the accent,
and the fimilitude of found at the end of two verfes,
which chiefly regulate our metre. And although their
profe was not fo confined with regard to feet, either as
to the kind or place of them, as their metrical compofi-
tions; yet it had a fort of meafure, more efpecially in
the rife and cadency of their periods. This they call
rhetorical number. And accordingly the ancient wri¬
ters upon this art acquaint us what feet are bell fuited
to the beginning, middle, or conclufion of a fentence.
Such rules are not applicable to our language, which has
not that accurate diftinftion of quantity in its fyllables.
O R Y. Part III.
For we are apt to confound accent with quantity, and Elocution,
pronounce thofe fyllables longeft on which we lay the <
accent, though in their nature they are not fo. As in
the word admirable, where none but the firll fyllable ad
is pronounced long; though that is only rendered fo by
pofition, and the two following are fo by nature. And
again, in the word avarice, we found the firft a long for
the fame reafon, and the fecond Ihort j contrary to the
nature of both thefe vowels. However, we fhall offer
a few things that may be of fome ufe to modulate our
periods and adjuft their cadency.
A great number of monofyllables do not ftand well
together. For as there ought to be a greater diitance
in the pronunciation between one word and another,
than between the fyllables of the fame word ; fuch
paufes, though Ihort, yet, when too frequent, make the
found rough and uneven, and by that means fpoil its
harmony. And this may feem more neceffary to be
attended to, becaufe the Englilh language abounds fo
much with monofyllables. On the contrary, a conti¬
nuation of many long rvords makes a fentence move
too flow and heavily. And therefore fuch periods
generally run beft, which have a proper mixture of
words of a different length. Befides, as every word
has its accent, which with us Hands for quantity, a
number either of monofyllables, or long words, coming
together, fo far abates the harmony, as it leffens the
variety.
Again, feveral words of the fame ending do not ftand
well together, efpecially where the accent falls upon the
fame fyllable in each of them. For this creates too
great a jingle by the fimilitude of found j and is apt to
difpleafe, from an appearance of affectation. Of this
kind is the following fentence : Nothing is more wel¬
come, delightfome, or wholefome, than rejl to a wearied
man. In fuch expreflions, therefore, if the order of the
words cannot well be altered, fome other word Ihould
be fubftituted in the room of one of them at leaft, to
diverfify the found. So in the example here given, the
found might be varied by faying, Nothing is more wel¬
come, p leaf ant, or wldlefome.
But to add no more, if a fentence end with a mono-
fyllable, it is apt to hurt the cadency, and difappoint
the ear : whereas words of a moderate length carry a
greater force with them by the fulnefs of their found,
and afford the ear what it expefted. And there is one
fort of monofyllables more efpecially, which never ftand
well at the conclufion of a period, though we frequent¬
ly find them there; and thefe are the figns of cafes.
Thus we fay, Avarice is a crime, which wife men are
too often guilty of. But the cadency would doubtlefs
be more agreeable if it was altered thus : Avarice is a
crime, of which wife men are too often guilty. Every
one muft perceive, when the accent falls upon the laft
fyllable in the fentence, as it does if it end with of the
found is not fo pleafant as when it refts upon the pre¬
ceding fyllable in the guilty. Nor are very long
words well fuited either to the beginning or conclufion
of a period ; for they retard the pronunciation at firft,
and fall too heavy at the end.
Chap. III. Of Dignity. .r
The necefJ
Dignity confifts in the right ufe of tropes and fi-fity of dig-
gures. It is not fufficient for an orator to exprefs him-ruty.in aB
pej£oratkm.
PartHI. ORA
Elocut on. felf with propriety and clearnefs, or in fmooth and har-
u— v ' xnonious periods j but his language mull likewife be
failed to the nature and importance of the fubjeft. And
therefore, as elegance gives rules for the firft of thefe,
and compofition for the fecond ; fo does dignity for the
lalt of them. It is very evident, that different fubjefts
require a different ftyle and manner of expreffion •, fmce,
as Quintilian fays, “ What is magnificent in one dif-
courfe Avould be turgid in another *, and thofe expref-
fions which appear low upon a fublime fubjefl, would
fuit lefler matters : and as in a florid harangue a mean
word is remarkable, and like a blemifh j fo any thing
lofty and bright upon a trivial argument is difpropor-
tionate, and like a tumour upon an even furface.”
Now this variety in the manner of expreflion arifes in a
great meafure from tropes and figures, which not only
enliven and beautify a difeourfe, but give it likewife
force and grandeur ; for which reafon this part of elo¬
cution feems to have been called dignity.
Trop es and figures are diftinguiflied from each other
in feveral refpefts. Tropes moftly affedl fingle words,
but figures whole, fentences. A trope conveys two ideas
to the mind by means of one word •, but a figure throws
the fentence into a different form from the common
and ufual manner of expreffion. Befides, tropes are
chiefly defigned to reprefent our thoughts, but figures
our paffions.
§ l. OfiTi'opes.
5*
Tro[>es, A trope, which is a figure of words, has been ufually
what. defined to be the change of a word from its properfigni-
fication to fame other with advantage, either as to beauty
orfirength. The words, with advantage, are added in
the definition, becaufe a trope ought not to be chofen,
unlefs there is fome good reafon for ufing it rather than
the proper word. But in what manner, or how far, it
can be faid of all tropes in general, that they change
the proper fignification of words, will bed appear by
confidering the nature of each kind of them feparately.
Now in every trope a reference is had to two things,
which occafions two ideas; one of the thing expreffed,
and another of that thing to which it has a refpeft, and
is fupplied by the mind. For all tropes are taken either
from things internally related, as the whole and a part;
or externally, as caufe and effeil, fubjeft and adjunil;
or from fome fimilitude that is found between them ; or
from a contrariety. The firff of thefe is called fiynec-
doche, the fecond metonymy, the third metaphor, and the
laft irony. We (hall endeavour to illuftrate this by ex¬
amples. When we fay, Hannibal beat the Romans;
the meaning is, that Hannibal and his army did this.
So that although in fome fi3nfe a part may here be faid
to Hand for the whole, which makes it a fynccdoche ;
yet, ftriftly fpeaking, the word Hannibal does not alter
its fenfe, but there is an ellipfis in the expreffion, Han¬
nibal being put for himfelf and his army. But if we
fay, Cicero fhould be read by all lovers of eloquence ;
here indeed the word Cicero appears to be changed from
its proper fenfe, and to fignify the books of Cicero ;
which is a metonymy, the author being put for his
works; and therefore fuch expreffions need not be
deemed elliptical. Again, if any one, fpeaking of a
iubtle and crafty man, ffiould fay he is a fox; the
TORY.
351
meaning is, he is like a fox; which is a metaphor; Eloc utio n.
where the word fox retains its proper fenfe, and de- » '
notes that animal, to which the man is compared on ac¬
count of his craft. Laftly, If a perfon fay to another,
Well done; meaning that the thing was ill done, the
word well keeps its own fenfe ; but from the manner of
its pronunciation, or fome other circumftance attending
the expreffion, it will be evident that the contrary is in¬
tended ; which is called an irony. From thefe inflances
it may appear in what latitude ive muft underftand the
common definition of a trope, which makes it to confilt
in the change of a word from its proper fenfe into fome
other. But though in reality there are but four kinds
of tropes, which are diftinguiflied by fo many different
refpefts which things bear one to another; yet as thefe
feveral refpedls are found in a variety of fubjedls, and
attended with different circumftances, the names of
tropes have from hence been greatly multiplied: which,
however, may all be referred to fome or other of thofe
already mentioned, as will be ftiown when we come to
treat of them in their order. And for diftineftion fake
we ftiall call the former primary, and the latter fecond-
ary, tropes.
We now proceed to confider the reafons which have
occafioned the introdudftion of tropes. And thefe, as
Quintilian obferves, are three; necejfity, emphafs, and
beauty. ^
1. Tropes were firft introduced from necefity, deriv- Why intro -
ing their origin unqueftionably in a confiderable degree duced.
from the barrennefs of language, becaufe no language
which we know contains a fufficient number of proper
words to exprefs all the different conceptions of our
minds : but the principal caufe of their introdudlion
feems to be that extenfive influence which imagination
poffeffes over every kind of fpeech. The mind confiders
the fame thing various ways; views it in different lights;
compares it with other things; and obferves their feve¬
ral relations and affedlions; wherein they agree, and in
what they differ. From all which refleftions it is fur-
niflied with almoft an infinite number of ideas ; which
cannot all of them be diftinguiftied and expreffed by
proper words, fince new ones occur daily. And were
this poffible, yet would it be imprafticable, becaufe the
multitude of words muft be fo vaftly great, that the me¬
mory could not retain them, nor be able to recal them
as occafion required. Tropes have in a good meafure
redreffed both thefe inconveniences ; for by means of
them the mind is not burdened with a numberlefs ftock
of different words, and yet nothing feems to w'ant a
name. Thus fometimes where a word is wanting to
exprefs any particular thing, it is clearly enough repre-
fented by the name of fome other thing, by reafon of
the fimilitude between them. At other times, the
caufe is fignified by the effcift, the fubjefl by the ad-
junft ; or the contrary. And the whole is often under-
ftood by a part, or a part by the whole. And thus by
the ufe of tropes the mind is helped to conceive of fome-
thing not expreffed, from that which is expreffed. It is
much the fame cafe, as when we have occafion to fpeak
of a perfon, whofe name we are either unacquainted
with, or have forgot; for by deferibing his perfon, a-
bode, or fome other circumftances relating to him, thofe
we converfe with as well underftand whom we mean, as
if we mentioned his name. So the Ihepherd in Virgil,
when
352
Elocution, whejj COuld not think of the name of Archimedes,
-'~"v defcribes him by his works :
And what’s his name who form’d the fphere,
And fliow’d the feafons of the Aiding year ?
Befides, it fometimes happens in a difcourfe, that thofe
things are neceflary to be faid, which, if expreffed in
their proper terms, would be offenfive ; but being clo¬
thed with metaphors, may be conveyed to the mind
with decency. Thus then the imagination never con¬
templates any one idea Angle and alone, but always
along with other ideas, which may be called its acce/Jb-
ries, and which often operate more forcibly upon the
mind than the principal idea itfelf does. In their nature
they are often more agreeable, and frequently alfo more
familiar, to our conceptions j or perhaps they remind us
of a greater variety of important circumftances. Hence
the name of the acceffory is often preferred, as, e. g.
when we want to point out the time in which a ftate en¬
joyed its chief reputation, &c. the proper words might
do, but the imagination fuggefts the flourilhing period
of a plant or tree ; and we fay “ the Roman empire
flourilhed moll under Auguftus:” Catiline, we fay, was
> the head inftead of the leader of his party, becaufe the
head is the principal part of the human figure.
2. A fecond reafon above mentioned for the ufe of
tropes was ejnphajis. Tropes do many times exprefs
things with greater force and evidence than can be done
by proper words. We receive much the greater part
of our knowledge by our fenfes. And fimilitudes taken
from fenfible things, as in metaphors, very much aflift
the mind in its refleftions upon thofe things which do
not come under the cognizance of the fenfes. For it is
certain, that we are fooner or more ftrongly affedted
with fenfible objefts, than with things of which we can
have no ideas but from the internal operations of our
own minds. Nay, fometimes one bright and lively
trope fhall convey a fuller and more juft idea of a thing
than a large periphrafis. So when Virgil calls the Sci-
pios two thunderbolts of war, he gives a more lively
image of the rapid force and fpeedy fuccefs of their
arms, than could have been conveyed by a long defcrip-
tion in plain words. And in many cafes the tropical
ufe of words is fo emphatical, and fuited to the idea we
defign to excite, that in this refpeft it may be juftly
efteemed the moft proper. So, incenfed with anger,
inflamed with deflre, fallen into an error, are all meta¬
phorical expreffions, ufed in a way of fimilitude } and
yet perhaps no proper words can be made ufe of, which
will convey a more lively image of the thing we defign
to reprefent by them.
But beauty and ornament, as was obferved before,
have been another caufe of the ufe of tropes. Some fub-
jefts require a more florid and elegant drefs than others.
When we defcribe or applaud, ornaments of fpeech and
a gaiety of exprefiion are requifite. And it is the bufi-
nefs of an orator to entertain his hearers at the fame
time that he inftrufts them. Now Cicero, who was an
admirable judge of the force and power of eloquence,
has obferved, that tropical expreffkms give the mind the
greateft delight and entertainment. “ I have often
wondered (fay1- he) why tropes ftiould give greater plea-
fure than proper words. I imagine the realbn muii be,
either that thtre is an appearance of wit in neglefting
what is at hand, and making choice of fomething at a
Part IIL
diftance ; or that the hearer is furnithed with a differ- Elocution,
ent thought, without being led into a miftake, which af- '
fords a very agreeable pleafure ; or that a whole fimili¬
tude is convened to the mind by a fingle word; or that,
particularly in the beft and moft lively metaphor, the
image is prefented to our fight, which is the quickeft of
our fenfes.” And therefore, he fuppofes, that “ as gar¬
ments were firft invented from neceflity, to fecure u»
from the injuries of the weather, but improved after¬
wards for ornament and diftinddon ; fo the poverty of
language firft introduced tropes, which were afterwards
increaled for delight.” Befides, a variety of expreflion
is pleafing in a difcourfe. It is many times neceffary
that the fame thing fhould be repeated ; and if this be
done in the fame words, it will grow tirefome to the
hearers, and fink their efteem of the fpeaker’s ability.
Therefore, to prevent this, it is proper the expreflion
ftiould be varied, that although the fenfe be the fame,
it may give the mind a new pleafure by its different
drefs.
We come now, in the laft place, to lay down fome
diredions proper to be obferved in the choice of
tropes.
And firft, as every trope gives us two ideas ; one, of
the word expreffed ; and another, which, by means of
that, the mind conneds with it 5 it is neceffary, that
the relation between thefe two appear very plain and.
evident. For an obfcure trope is always faulty, unlefs
where fome particular reafon makes it neceffary. And
therefore tropes ought not to be too far-fetched, left that
ftiould render them dark. For which reafon Cicero fays,
he ftiould not choofe to call any thing deftrudive to a
perfon’s fortune, the Syrtis of his patrimony, but rather
the roch of it; nor the Charybdis of his eflate, but the
gulf of it. For thofe who either did not know that
'the Syrtes were two quickfands upon the coaft of Afri¬
ca, or that Charybdis was a gulf in the ftrait of Sicily,
both of them very deftrudive to mariners, would be at
a lofs to underftand the meaning of the metaphor. Be¬
fides, metaphors taken from things we have feen, affed
the mind more forcibly than thofe which are taken from
fuch things as we have only heard of. Now there is
fcarcely any one who has not feen a rock or a gulf j but
there are very few perfons, comparatively, who have
been either at Charybdis or the Syrtes. It is neceffary
therefore in a good trope, not only that there be a near
affinity between the two ideas, but likewife that this af¬
finity be very obvious and generally known, fo that the
word be no fooner pronounced but both images do im¬
mediately prefent themfelves to the mind.
Again, as a trope ought to be very plain and evident,
fo likewife ffiould it bear a due proportion to the thing
it is defigned to reprefent, fo as neither to heighten nor
diminifli the juft idea of it. Indeed, fometimes when
we fpeak of things indefinitely, we fay too much, left
we ftiould feem to fay too little. And this .manner of
fpeaking is called an hyperbole; which is not uncom¬
mon in the facred writings. So, for inftance, Saul and
Jonathan are faid to be fwifter than eagles, andflronger
than lions. But even in this way of expreflion a pro¬
portion is to be obferved. For fome very confiderable
and unufual excefs of the thing in its kind is at leaf! de¬
figned by it •, which, perhaps, cannot, or however is not
neceffarv to be defined. And therefore Quintilian
blames Cato for calling the top of a hill a wart; be-
ORATORY.
Part lit O R A T
Elocution, caufe the proportion between the two ideas is nowife
1—'r—J adequate. And fo on the contrary Ariftotle cenfures
Euripides for calling rowing the empire of the oar.
Poets indeed are allowed a greater liberty in this re-
fpeft; but an orator fliould be modeft in his expreffions,
and take care that he neither fo heighten nor diminilh
-tlie natural ideas of things by tropes, as to lead his hear¬
ers into miftakes.
But further : as a moderate ufe of tropes, juftly ap¬
plied, beautifies and enlivens a difeourfe j fo an excefs
of them caufes obfeurity, by running it into abftrufe al¬
legories and riddles. Tropes are not the common and
ordinary drefs of our thoughts, but a foreign habit ;
and therefore he who fills his difeourfe with a continued
feries of them, feems to aft like one who appears in
public in a ftrange drefs : which no man of charafter
would choofe to do.
Moreover, as one ufe of tropes is pleafure and enter¬
tainment, we fliould endeavour to make choice of fuch
as are fmooth and eafy. But if at anytime we think it
neceflary to ufe a harfli trope, it is proper to foften it
by fome precaution. ' For, as Cicero very handfomely
fays, a trope Jhould he modcfl, f nee it funds in a place
ivhieh does not belong to it ; for which reafon it (houldi
feem to come thither hij permifion, and not by force.
And therefore when he thought it harfli to fay, The
death of Cato made the fen ate an orphan ; lie guards the
expreffioa by faying, The death of Cato has {if I may
be allowed to fay fo') rendered thefenate an orphan.
And, to add no more, care fliould be taken how w7e
transfer tropes from one language into another. For as
they are frequently taken not only from natural tilings,
or fuch notions as are common to the generality of man¬
kind, but likewife from the manners, cufloms, and oc¬
currences of particular nations \ fo they may be very
plain and obvious to thofe among whom they took their
rife, but altogether unintelligible to others who are un¬
acquainted with the reafon of them. It was cuftomary
for the Roman foldiers to carry their money in their
girdles : hence it was the fame thing with them to fay,
a perfon had loft his girdle, as that he had lof his money.
And becaufe the Romans wrore the toga, which was a
long gown, in time of peace, and a different garb when
engaged in war, their writers fometimes ufe the word
toga to fignify peace. But as neither of thefe cuftoms
is in ufe among us, fo neither avould the tropes fuit our
language, or be generally underftood by us. And even
in fuch tropes as are taken from the common nature of
things, languages very much differ. There is a very
beautiful trope in the account of St Paul’s fliipwreck,
where it isfaid, The /hip was caught, and could not bear
up into the wind. The original word, that we tranflate
bear up, is dviopixXfMi ; and properly fignifies, to look
or keep its eyes again ft it; which is a very ftrong and
lively image, taken from animate beings, and when ap¬
plied to men, often fignifies to withfand or rc/ift; as,
to refift an enemy; and Plutarch
fays of Demofthenes, that he could not ctflopSxXuetv t&>
Ht/vya, look againf or reftft the power of money.
Nothing is more common with Latin writers, than to
call men of a public fpirit and true patriots, lumina et
ornamenta reipuhlicce, that is, the lights and ornaments
of the fate. And we have borrowed from them the ufe
ot both thefe metaphors. But becaufe tropes and figures
iHuftrate and heighten the ftyle, they call them alfo
Vol. XV. Part L
O R Y. ...
.... 35
lumina oratioms, or the lights of a difeourfe. It fome- Elocution,
times happens, that only the tropical fenfe of a word is1 * 1 ,J
taken from one language into another, and not the pro¬
per fignification of the lame word. So fcrupulus in La¬
tin properly fignifies a little f one, which getting into the
fooe hurts a perfon as he walks ; hence it is applied to
the mind, and ufed to exprefs a doubt, or uneafy thought
that gives it pain. We have borrowed this latter fenfe
of the Word, but not the former.
Art. I. Primary Tropes.
I. Metaphor. A metaphor, as ufually defined, is, ^Metaphor,
ti ope, which changes words from their proper (ignfca- what.
twn to another different from it, by reafon of fome Jimili-
tude between them. But that a word, when ufed meta¬
phorically, does not alter its fignification, but retains
its proper fenfe, was ftiown above. However, it may
not be amiis to explain this matter more fully, and fet
it in a clearer light. Every metaphor, then, is nothing
elfe but a fliort iimilitude. Cicero calls it a frnilitude
reduced to afngle word. And (Quintilian to the fame
purpofe fays, that “ a metaphor is a fliort fimilitude,
and differs from it only in this, that the former is com¬
pared to the thing we defign to exprefs, and the latter
is put for it. It is a fimilitude, when I fay of a man,
he has afted like a lion ; and a metaphor, when I fay,
he is a lion.” I bus far Quintilian. Now in every fi¬
militude three things are requinte ; two things that are
compared together, and a third in which the" fimilitude
or likenefs between them confifls. And therefore, to
keep to this example, when Horace calls a Roman fol-
dier a lion, it the word lion did not retain its proper
fenfe, there could be no fimilitude j becaufe there would
not be two things to be compared together with refpeft
to a third, which is neceffary in every fimilitude, and
was defigned by this expreffion. The fenfe of which is
plainly this : That as a lion fei-zes his prey with the
greatef fercenefs, fo a Roman foldier with like rage and
fury attacked his enemies. In the fame manner, when
Cicero calls Pifo the vulture; of the province, his meaning
is, that he was like a vulture, or afted in fuch a man¬
ner as a vulture adls, that is, rapaeioufly. So that the
real difference between a metaphor and a fimilitude con¬
fifls in this ; that a metaphor lias not thofe figns of com-
parifon -which are expreffed in a fimilitude. But fome
perfons have run into miftakes in reafoning from tropes
of this kind. For they have lo argued from metaphori¬
cal words, as if all the affeftions and properties of the
things exprefled by them might be attributed to thofe
other things to which they are applied, and by that
means have drained the companion (which has ufually
but one particular view), in order to make it tally in
other refpefts, where there is not that fimilitude of
ideas. We will endeavour to make this evident by an¬
other example from Cicero, wFere he calls Mark An¬
tony the torch of the fate. The fimilitude between An¬
tony and a torch lay in this : That as a torch burns and
deffroys every thing within its reach, fo Antony brought
devafation and ruin wherever he came. Now a torch
has not only a property to burn, but alfo to give light;
but the fimilitude would not hold in this refpeft, nor
was it at all defigned. For Cicero never calls a wicked
profligate man, as Antony was, the light of the fate ;
though he often gives that charafter to good and vir-
Y y tuous
354
ORATORY.
Part Ilf
Elocution, tuous men, who by their examples do as it were en-
lighten others, and fhow them the way to be happy
themfelves and ufeful to others. But though metaphors
are ufually taken from a fimilitude between two things,
as in the inftances here mentioned ; yet fometimes they
are founded in the fimilitude which two things bear to
two others in fome particular refpedf, by means whereof
what properly belongs to one of them is transferred to
the other : the former of which are called Jitnple meta¬
phors, and the latter analogous. Hence the rudder of a
ihip may be called its reins ; for what the reins are to a
horfe, that the rudder is to a fliip in guiding and direct¬
ing it. So that here is a double fimilitude, one between
a fhip and a horfe, and another between the rudder of
the former and the reins of the latter ; and from the
analogy between the ufe of the rudder to the one and
reins to the other, the reins, which belong properly to
the horfe, are applied to the fhip. Again, fome meta¬
phors are reciprocal, in which the fimilitude holds either
way. Thus to fleer and to govern are ufed reciprocal¬
ly both of a fhip and a ftate: the proper expreffions be-
ing, to flcef a flip, and govern a flute ; and the contra¬
ry metaphorical. But though we fay, the foot of a
mountain, borrowing the fimilitude from animals ; yet
we do not fay, on the contrary, the bottom of an animal,
meaning his feet 5 and therefore that metaphor is not re¬
ciprocal. From this account therefore of the nature of
a metaphor, it may be faid to be, The application of a
word by way of flmilitude to fome other thing than what
it properly flgnifles. And the plainer this fimilitude ap¬
pears, the greater beauty there is in the trope.
The ufe of metaphors is very extenfive, as large as
univerfal nature. For there are fcarce any two things
which have not fome fimilitude between them. How¬
ever, they may all be reduced to four kinds 5 which was
the fecond thing propofed to be confidered.
The firfl kind of metaphors therefore may. be taken
from fimilitudes between animate beings. As where
thofe things, which properly relate to brutes, are ac¬
commodated to men j or thofe which belong to men
are applied to brutes. Of the former fort is that joke
of Cicero : My brother being afked by Philip, why he
barbed fo ? anfwered, Becaufe he faw a thief Here
barking, the property of a dog, is applied to a man :
And the reply does not feem to carry more feverity or
harfhnefs with it than the queftion. By the latter fort
we fay, a crafty fox, and a generous horfe; which are
afteflions that properly relate to men. And to this kind
of metaphors may thofe likewife be referred, when that
which properly belongs to the fenfes is applied to the
mind. Thus we often fay, that we fee a thing, when
we mean that we underfland or apprehend it. And in
the fame fenfe we fay, that we hear fuch a thing, or
perfon. And by the like manner of expreflion, a per-
fon is faid to fmell out a thing. And thofe who have a
genius or difpofition for any art or fcience, are faid to
have a tafle for it; and fuch as have entered upon the
fiudy of it, are faid to have a touch of it. Thefe are
common wrays of fpeaking in moft languages, and very
expreflive of what is intended by them. And we may
alfo bring thofe metaphors under this head, by which
the properties and affeftions of men are attributed to the
Deity : as, when God is faid to hear, fee, be angry, re¬
pent, and the like ; which are forms of expreflion very
frequent in the facred writings.
A fecond kind of metaphors lies between inanimate Elocution
things, whether natural or artificial, which bear fome '-’■“V"*.
fimilitude to each other. And this head is very exten¬
five. Thus we fay, floods of fire, and clouds of flrioke,
for large quantities. And fo likewife, to inflame an ac¬
count, that is, to heighten or increafe it j with innume¬
rable others of the like fort. In the two firft of thefe
inftances, the terms proper to one element are applied
to another j and as thofe elements of fire and water are
oppofite to each other, they ihow the extenfivenefs of
this trope, that there are no things in nature fo contra¬
ry, but may come within the limits of it, and be ac¬
commodated to each other in a w^ay of fimilitude. In
the laft example, a natural a&ion is applied to what is
artificial.
A third fort of metaphors is, when inanimate things
are applied to animals, on account of fome like proper¬
ties between them. Thus Homer calls Ajax, the bul¬
wark of the Greeks, on account of his valour, which
like a wall defended them from the Trojans. And
nothing is more common with Cicero, than to brand ill
men with the charafter of being the pefl of the flute, by
reafon of the mifehief which they bring to the public.
So likewife he calls Zeno the philofopher an acute man,
for his great difeernment and quick perception of things j
fetching the allufion from metals when brought to an
edge or a point. As, on the contrary, old Chremes in
Terence calls himfelf a flone, for want of apprehenfion.
And we fay, a gay perfon, and a bright genius, by this
kind of metaphor.
The fourth and laft kind of metaphors is that by
which the a£lions and other attributes of animals are acr
eommodated to inanimate things. Thus Cicero, fpeak¬
ing of Clodius, fays : “ The very altars, when they
faw that monfter fall, feemed to move themfelves and
affert their right againft him.” Here the words faw,
move, and affiert, are all metaphors taken from the pro¬
perties of animals. And Virgil, when he would repre-
ient the impetuous force and rapidity of the river A-
raxes, fays, it difdained a bridge. And it is a very ufual
epithet, which Homer gives to words, to call them
Triigoflvx, or winged, to intimate the fwiftnefs of
fpeech.
Laftly, as to the choice of metaphors, thofe are efteem-
ed the fineft and ftrongeft, which give life and aSiion to
inanimate things. The reafon of which is, becaufe they
do as it were invigorate all nature, introduce new forms
of beings, and reprefent their images to the fight, which
of all the fenfes is the quickeft, moft active, and yet
moft unwearied. What can be more moving, or in
ftronger terms exprefs the villany of Clodius, than when
Cicero fays, “ The very altars of the gods feemed to
exult at his death.” And the fame great orator parti¬
cularly commends thofe metaphors, for their fprigbtli-
nefs and vivacity, which are taken from the fenfe of
feeing \ as when we fay a bright thought, or a gay ex¬
preflion.
However, care muft be taken not to venture upon too
bold and daring metaphors. Poets indeed claim greater
liberty in this refpedl, whofe view is often to amufe, ter¬
rify, or delight, by heightening the juft and natural
images of things. But it is expedfed the orator Ihould
reafon coolly, though ftrongly and forcibly ; and not
by theatrical reprefentations fo tranfport the mind, as to
take it off from refledlion, unlefs perhaps on fome parti¬
cular
’art III. ORA’
•locution, cular occafion. And yet, on the other hand, meta-
— v 1 phors ought not to fink below the dignity of what they
are defigned to exprefs ; but the idea they convey thould
at lead be equal to the proper word in the place of which
they are fubftituted.
But there is a very great difference in the choice of
metaphors, as they are defigned either to praife or dif-
praife. One thing may be compared to another in a
great variety of refpedls. And the fame thing may be
made to appear either noble or bafe, virtuous or vicious,
by confidering it in a different light. Such metaphors,
therefore, as are chofen to commend, muff be taken
from great and laudable things ; and on the contrary,
thofe which are defigned to difcommend, from things
vile and contemptible. Ariflotle gives us a very plea-
fant example of this in the poet Simonides. A certain
perfon, who had carried the prize at a race of mules, of¬
fered him a reward to write a poem in honour of that
aftion. Simonides thought he did not bid high enough $
and therefore put him off with faying, the fubjedl was
too mean to write in praife of mules, which were the
offspring of affes. But upon his being offered a larger
fum, he undertook the talk ; and, as Ariflotle obferves,
when he has occafion to fpeak of the mules in that
poem, he does not mention them by that name, but
calls them the daughters of fleet and generous horfes,
though he might with as much propriety have called
them the daughters of dull ajfes. But it was the poet’s
bufinefs, in praifing, to take the moft advantageous part
of the charafter. Where things are capable of fuch
different turns, metaphorical expreffions are generally
moll beautiful. And fometimes the fame metaphor may
be applied contrary ways, both in praife-and difpraife,
as it will fuit different properties of the thing to which
it refers. So a dove, in a metaphorical fenfe, may re-
prefent either innocence or fear ; and an iron heart may
denote either courage or cruelty ; as a hard head, flrength
or weaknefs of thought. And this ambiguity in the ap¬
plication of metaphorical words often affords occafion
for jefls and concife wit. We obferved before, that Ci¬
cero never calls ill men, lights of the ft ate. But he
once in this manner calls Sextius Clodius the light of
the fenate. For when his kinfman Publius Clodius had
been killed by Milo, and his corpfe was brought to
Rome, Sextius raifed the mob, and in a tumultuous
manner carried it into the fenate-houfe, where they
burnt it, and by that means fet the building on fire :
For which feditious aft Cicero palfes that joke upon
him, under the metaphor of light, which elfewhere he
always ufes in a good fenfe.
But to proceed : All forced and harfh metaphors
fliould be avoided j the one being no lefs difagreeable
to the mind than the other to the ear. Nor fhould they
come too thick in a difeourfe. In a word, they ought
not to be ufed, but either where a proper word is want¬
ing, or they are more fignificant or beautiful than the
proper word.
Tetonymy Metonymy. This, as defined by Quintilian, is,
’fined and ^ putting one word for another. But Voffius deferibes
‘■plained, it more fully, when he calls it, “ A trope, which chan¬
ges the name of things that are naturally united, but in
fuch a manner as that the one is not of the effence of
the other.” That a metonymy is thus diltinguifhed
from the other tropes, has been fufhciently fhown al¬
ready in the two lafl: chapters. When it is faid, to put
" O R Y.
one word for another, or, to change the names of things,
the meaning is, that the word fo ufed changes its fenfe,
and denotes fomething different from its proper fignifi-
cation. Thus, when Mars is put for war, and Ceres
for corn, they lofe their perfonal fenfe, and ftand for the
effefts of which thofe deities were faid to be the caufe.
So likewife, wh^n Virgil fays,
He drank the frothing bowl,
the word howl muff neceffarily fignify the liquor in the
bowl. And when in another place, deferibing the tem¬
ple of Juno at Carthage, in which the aftions of the
Trojan war were reprefented, and the images of the he¬
roes, he makes /Eneas, upon difeovering that of Priam
among the reft, cry out,
Lo here is Priam j
it is plain the word Priam there muft ftand not for his
perfon, but his image or figure. And this property of
changing the fenfe of the word appears peculiar to
metonymy. In treating upon a metaphor, Ave obferved
the miftake of thofe who teach, that a word ufed meta¬
phorically lofes its proper fignification ; whereas it only
changes its place, but not its fenfe $ being applied to a
thing to which it does naturally belong, by way of fi-
militude. And as the not attending to this has run
fome perfons into very great abfurdities, in treating up¬
on metaphorical expreffions, and reafoning from them
in the tropical fenfe •, fo the like has happened to others
in fome inftances of a metonymy, where, by mifappre-
bending their true nature, they have reafoned from them
in the literal fenfe, as we ffiall ftiow prefently. A me¬
tonymy is not fo extenfive as a metaphor, nor altoge¬
ther fo necefiary : becaufe nothing is laid by a metony¬
my, which cannot be exprefled in proper words; where¬
as metaphors are often ufed for want of proper words to
exprefs fome ideas. However, metonymies are very ufe-
ful in language ; for they enrich a difeoupfe with an
agreeable variety, and give both force and beauty to an
expreffion. And what we obferved with relation to a
metaphor, is true alfo of this trope : that fome metony¬
mies, even in common difeourfe, are more frequently
made ufe of than the proper words in wdiofe room they
are put. So, pale death, a blind way, and a happy
flate, are very common expreffions with us. And it is
more ufual to fay, This is fuch a perfon'1 s hand, or I
know his hand, than his writing, when wre intend this
latter fenfe of the word.
We now proceed to the divifion of metonymies; which
are commonly diftinguiffied into four kinds, from the
different manner in which things are naturally, but ex¬
ternally, united to one another. Now things are thus
united, or one thing depends upon another, either with
refpeft to its produftion, or in the manner of its exiftence
when produced. In the former way the effeft depends
upon its caufe, and in the latter the adjunft upon its fub-
jefts. And hence arife four forts of metonymies, which
receive their names from the caufe and ejfeEl, the fubjeCl
and the adjunB.
It -is called a metonymy of the caufe, when the exter¬
nal caufe is put for the effeft. The external caufe is
twofold, the agent and end, which are ufually called
the efficient and flnal caufe. Of the former kind are
fuch metonymies, where the inventor or author is put
for what was invented or effefted by him. Thus, as
Y y 2 ' we
355
Elocu. or.
356 - O R A T
Jdocution.^ faid before, Ceres is fometimes put for corn, the ufe
v which die ivas faid firft to have introduced \ and
Mars for war, over which he was thought to prefide.
And by this way of fpeaking, any artiil or writer is
put for his work. So Juvenal, blaming the luxury and
profufenefs of the Romans, fays, There are few tables
without Mentor: that is, which were not made by him,
or after his manner. And our Saviour fays, in the pa¬
rable of the rich man and Lazarus, They have Mofes
and the Prophets, meaning the books of Mofes and the
prophets. But under this fort of metonymy is inclu¬
ded not only the agent, ftriilly fo called, but alfo any
means or initruments made ufc of in the doing of a
thing, when put for the thing done. Thus, polite li¬
terature, is called humanity, becaufe it cultivates and im¬
proves the human mind. And in that expreffion of
Cicero, Words move nobody but him who underjlands the
tongue; the word tongue, which is the inftrument of
fpeech, is put for fpeech or language. And in the like
fenfe, arms are fometimes put for war, and \\w/word
for Jlaughter. By the fame kind of metonymy likewife
any affe&ion or quality is put for its effe6t. As when
it is faid, the end of government is to maintain jufice ;
that is, fuch mutual offices among men as are the effects
of jufice. And fo likewife in that of Cicero, It is the
bufinefs of magif rates to check the levity of the multitude,
by which he means tumults occafioned by their levitv.
Moreover, as human affetdions are attributed to the
Deity in a metaphorical fenfe, fo feveral parts of the
human body are likewife aferibed to him by this kind of
metonymy. Thus, his hand and his arm are ufed to
exprefs his power, as his ear and eye, his care and pro¬
vidence, thefe being the inflruments of fuch effedb in
mankind. Metonymies of the final caufe are thofe by
which the end in doing a thing is put for the thing
done. As when we fay, The watch is fet, meaning the
watchmen, who are appointed for that purpofe. And
fo likewife that expreffion, to make an example, as it
fignifies, to punifh, in order to deter others from the
like crimes by fuch an example. As alfo that of
Virgil,
Phillis ffiould garlands crop :
by which are meant fowers to make garlands.
The fecond kind of metonymy puts the eftecl for the
efficient caufe, whether the agent, or only the means
and inftrument. So Virgil calls the two Scipios the de-
fruSiion of Libya, becaufe they were the agents who
effedbed it. And Horace compliments his patron Mge-
cenas with the titles of being his guard and honour;
that is, his guardian, and the author of his honour. But
when Cicero tells the citizens of Rome, that the death
of Clod ms was their fafety, he means the occafion only
of their fafety. And elfewhere he calls that a dark hope
and blind expectation, the effect of which was dubious
and uncertain to thofe who entertained it. And in like
manner, the fons of the prophets, when they were eat¬
ing the pottage which Eliftra had ordered to be fet be¬
fore them, cried out, There is death in the pot; that is,
fome deadly thing, as is prefently after explained. And
thus fweat, which is the effedt of labour, is fometimes
put for labour. As in the threat denounced againft
Adam, In the fweat of thy face fhalt thou eat bread,
that is, by labour in cultivating the ground. And, in
sdlufmn to this way of fpeaking, Antony the orator tells
® ^ ^ * Part III
Craflus, the improvement of the ftyle by conftant ex- Elocution,
ercife, as lie preferibed, was a thing of much fweat.” w
And virtue is faid to be gained by fweat, that is, con¬
tinued care and exereife in fubduing the paffions, and
bringing them to a proper regulation. But in thefe
two expreffions there is likewife a metaphor, the effedf
of bodily labour being applied to that of the mind.
In all thefe inftances, the effeft is put for the efficient
caufe.
1 he third kind of metonymy is, when the fubjedt is
put for the adjundt. By fubjedl here, in a large fenfe
of the word, may be underftood that wherein fome other-
thing is contained, or about w hich it is converfant; as
likewife the pofleffor with refpedt to the thing lie poffef-
fes 5 and the thing ffgnified, when put for the fign of it.
Now, by the firft of thefe ways of fpeaking, the feat of
any faculty or affedtion is ufed for the faculty or affedtion
itfelf. So it is ufual to fay, a man of a clear head, when
we mean a clear mind or underftanding; the feat of the
mind being fuppofed to be in the head. And a perfon
is faid to have a warm heart, becaufe the heart lias been
thought the feat of the affedtions. In like manner, the
place where any adtions are performed is put lor the
adtions done in it. As when Cicero fays, “ Do not al¬
ways think of the forum, the benches, the roitra, and
the fenate meaning the difeourfes which were ufually
made in thofe places. So likewife the country, or place
of refidence, is put for the inhabitants, as in that paffage
of Cicero : “ And to omit Greece, which always claim¬
ed the pre-eminence for eloquence, and Athens, the in-
yentrels of all fciences, where the art of fpeaking was
invented and perfedted ; in this city of ours, (meaning
Rome), no ftudies have prevailed more than that of elo¬
quence where the words Greece and Athens Hand to
denote the inhabitants of thofe places. And hither may
alfo be referred thofe expreffions in which the time is put
for the perfons living in it 5 as the degeneracy of the
prefent age, the virtue of former times. In the fecond
way abo\re mentioned, the objedt is ufed for the perfon
or tiling employed about it 1 As when Cicero fays,
“ In time of battle the laws* are filent ; where by laws
he intends the judges, who pronounce fentence accord¬
ing to law. By the third of thefe ways, in which the
pofieflbr is put for the thing he poflefles, we fay, to de¬
vour , defray, or ruin a man, meaning not his perfon but
his efate. And mythologifts explain the fable of Adla-on
by this trope, who is faid to have been devoured by his
dogs 5 for by dogs they underftand flatterers and para-
fites, who confumed his eftate and brought him to beg¬
gary. By the laft way before recited, which puts the
thing fignified for the fign, ftatues and pidlures are
called by the names of the perfons which they reprefent:
as in that jeft of Cicero upon his brother Quintus, when,
as Macrobius, relates, “ being in the province which his
brother had governed, and feeing a large portrait of part
of his body, holding a ftiield, though Quintus was but
a little man, he faid, My half brother is bigger than
my whole brother.” The Popiffi doftrine of tranfub-
ftantiation is founded upon an abufe of this trope. For
when our Saviour, fpeaking of the bread and wine at
that time before him, fays, “ This is my body, and this
is my blood,” his plain meaning is, they were the figns
of his body and blood, the thing fignified being put for
the fign by this fort of metonymy. But the Papifts take
the expreffion literally, which mull doubtlefs be very
abfurd;
ORATORY.
fince the words relate to the time then prefent, integral ’whole.
Part HI.
Elocution, abfurd
—*V—'while Chrift Avas yet living, and fpoke them*; Avhen
it Avas impoflible for the bread and Avine to be converted
into his body and blood, it being evident tb all who tvere
prefent, that thofe elements, and his body, exifted fe-
para^ely at the fame time. But if the Avords are ex¬
plained by this trope, the fenfe is plain and eafy, and
the way of fpeaking familiar to all Avriters. Whereas
they Avho plead for the literal fenfe might with equal
reafon afiert that thofe expreffions above mentioned are
to be taken literally, in Avhich feveral parts of the hu¬
man body, as the hand, the arm, the ear, and the eye,
are afcribed to the Deity •, or that, Avhen our Saviour
in a metaphorical fenfe calls himfelf a vine, and a door,
thefe Avords Avere defigned to be applied to him ftriftly
and properly, and not by way of limilitude only, as is
the cafe in all metaphors.
The fourth kind of metonymy is that Avherein the
adjunft is put for the fubjcft, which is done in the fame
variety of Avays as the former. It is therefore a metony¬
my of the adjunct, Avhen the thing contained is put for
that Avhich contains it. As when Virgil fays, “ They
lie down upon purple that is, upon couches dyed Avith
purple. And again, “ They croAvn the Avine mean¬
ing the boAvl which contained the Avine, it being the
cultom of the ancients to deck their borvls Avith garlands
at their entertainments. By thefe tropes likervife virtues
and vices are put for the perfons in Avhom they are found.
As in that beautiful pafiage of Cicero, where, compar¬
ing the profligate army of Catiline Avith the forces of the
ftate, he fays, “ On this fide modefty is engaged, on
that impudence •, on this ebaftity, on that leAvdnefs ; on
this integrity, on that deceit 5 on this piety, on that"
profanenefs •, on this conftancy, on that fury ; on this
honour, on that bafenefs 3 on this moderation, on that
unbridled pafiion 3 in a Avord, equity, temperance, for¬
titude, prudence, and all virtues, engage Avith injuftice,
luxury, coAvardiee, rafhnefs, and all vices.” And to this
trope thofe expreflions are to be referred, in AA’hich any
tiling is put for the objeft about Avhich it is converfant.
As in that faying of the wife man, “ Hope deferred
makes the heart fick 3” Avbere hope is put for the thing
hoped for. And thus Suetonius calls the emperor Titus
the love and delight of mankind, Avhofe mild and obliging
temper rendered him the objedl of thofe agreeable affec¬
tions to all perfons under his government. A third ufe
of this trope is putting a thing for the time in Avhich it
was done. Thus Ave fay of a perfon, he has ferved fo
many campaigns, meaning fo many fummers, that being
the ufual time in Avhich armies are draAvn out into the
field. Laitly, by this metonymy, the fign is put for the
thing it fignifies 3 as the feeptre for the regal dignity, and
the /word for the authority of the mag if rate.
III. Synecdoche. This is a trope by Avhich either the
Maiued. Avhole of a thing is put for a part of it, or a part for the
Avhole, fo that the tivo things, Avhofe ideas are prefented
to the mind in this trope, are internally related to each
other : by which, as has been fhown already, it is di-
ftinguifhed from all the other tropes. In a fynecdoche
the Avord retains its proper fenfe, and the expreflion is
elliptical, as avIH appear by the feveral Ipeeies of it,
Avherein the ellipfis in moft of the examples-is very obvi¬
ous, and may with no great difficulty be fupplied. Noav
a thing may be confidt red as a whole in three different
rcfpe&Sj which logicians call an univerfal, effential, and
357
56
ynecdoche
An univerfal Avhole is any genus Avith Elocution,
regard to its feveral fpecies : as, an animal Avith refpedt
to mankind and brutes, or philofophy Avith refpeft to the
feveral arts and fciences comprifed under it. An effential
whole confifts of matter and form 3 as, a man of body
and foul. And an integral Avhole is any body or quan-
tity, with refpedt to the feveral parts of Avhich the mat¬
ter of it is compofed, and into which it may be divided :
as, an human body Avith refpect to its feveral members ;
or a year, as divifible into months, weeks, and days.
And thus rhetoric is an integral Avhole in refpeft to the
four parts that eompofe it 3 namely, invention, difpofi-
tion, elocution, and pronunciation. So likeAvife any
aggregate body, as a civil community, Avhich is divifi¬
ble into thofe Avho govern and are governed 3 or any
army, confiiling of the general and his folders. As a
whole therefore, in each of thefe acceptations of the
Avord, is frequently put for a part, and a part for
the Avhole 3 hence arife fix fpecies or ferts of fynec¬
doche.
The firfl: of thefe puts the genus for the fpecies.—
Thus, virtue in general is fometimes ufed to denote
fome particular fort of virtue. As Avhen Cicero men¬
tions virtue as one of the four qualifications neceffary
in a general, he means greatnefs of mind. And fo per¬
fons are often commended for inftances of virtue fhoAvn
in their conduct, which refpeft only fome Angle vir¬
tue, as juftice, temperance, or the like : And in this
fenfe Cicero calls Clodius a deadly animal. So Avhen
our Saviour commiffions his apoftles to preach thegofpel
to every creature, the meaning is, every regional crea¬
ture. And thus likewife, to talk to a perfon fometimea
denotes the fame thing as to blame him, Avhich is one
Avay of talking.
The fecond kind of fynecdoche puts the fpecies for
the genus. Thus bread denotes any kind of food ; as
Avhen a perfon is faid to get his bread by his labour. In
the fame Avay of fpeaking, money is put for any kind
of Avealth in general. And it is an ufual expreffion to
fay, that wine defrays more than the fword; that is,
than any hofile arms. And the legal form of banifh-
ment among the Romans Avas, to prohibit perfons
the ufe of fire and water ; that is, the triof common and
ordinary necefdries of life, in which, all others were in¬
cluded.
The third fpecies of this trope Is, Avhen the effential '
whole is put for one of its parts 3 that is, cither for
the matter or form. Thus, in the evangelift, Mary
Magdalen fays, They have taken away my Lord, and I.
know not where they have laid him, meaning his body.—
So it is ufual to fay of a deceafed perfon, He was bu¬
ried at fuch a tnne. And in the iriferiptions of fepul-
chral monuments avc frequently meet Avitli this expref¬
fion, Here lies fuck a one ; that is, his corpfe. Nor are
inftances uncommon in Avhich the Avhole being is put
for the form. Thus when Cicero fays, Thofe perfons
live, who have fed from the confinement of the body, as
from a prifon; by peifons muft neceffarily be uuderflood
their fouls, Avhich are here dillinguiffied from and. fet
in oppofition to their bodies. And fo Virgil reprefents
AEneas as meeting with Dido and feme of his Trojan
friends in the infernal regions 3 by Avhich are meant
their ghofs.
The fourth kind of fyneedoche is, when either the
matter or form is put for the whole being. Thus fiver
and
358 O It A
Elocution, and gold are ufed to fignify money made of tliofe me-
v ' '' tals; as when avc fay, 1 have fo much Jilver, or fo much
gold. And the Avord foul, both in our oAvn and other
languages, is put for the whole perfon. So Avith us, a
tncrn/ foul, and a dull foul; in Cicero, dear fouls ; and
in Horace, candid fouls, are all ufed in this tropical
fenfe. But this Avay of fpeaking occurs noAvhere more
frequently than in the facred Avritings. Thus, for in-
ftance, it is faid, All the fouls which came with Jacob
into Egypt, meaning the perfons. And again, The foul
that fnneth it (hall die; from Avhich expreflion, and
others of the like import, fome perfons, by not at¬
tending to the nature of this trope, have been errone-
oufly led to infer that the foul is naturally mortal.
But fometimes only part of the matter Bands to ex-
prefs the Avhole effence or being. So \ve imitate the
Latins in ufing the Avord caput or head to denote either
a perfon or thing. For, as Avith them lepidum caput, fo
Avith us a witty head, fignifies the fame as a man of wit.
And in the fame fenfe, fo many head of cattle means fo
many entire cattle.
By the fifth fort of fynecdoche, the Avhole of any
material thing or quantity, Avhether continued or dif-
crete, is put for a part of it. So Avhen Cicero fays,
A war is kindled through the whole world, in compli¬
ment to his country, he calls the Roman empire the
world. And this expreflion is alfo ufed by hiftorians.
Thus Cornelius Nepos, fpeaking of the quarrel between
Mark Antony and Auguftus, tells us, that each of
them dejired to be lord of the world. And in like man¬
ner St Luke fays, There went out a decree from Cafar
Augufus, that all the world fhould be taxed. So in St
Paul’s fhipwreek, it is faid, They ran the Jhip a-
ground, that is, the head of her, for it is plain by what
folloAVS, that the Bern Aras loofe. And as to diferete
quantity, our Saviour, ufing this trope, faid he fliould
be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.
Though he did not continue three Avhole days and
nights in the grave, but only part of the firfi and third
day, and the Avhole fecond day, with the two whole
nights between the firB and third day, according to
our Avay of reckoning. For he was buried on Friday
in the afternoon, and refled in the grave that night,
Avith the following day, which was the Jewifti Sab¬
bath, and was rifen on the morning of the next day.
So that Ave mufl neceffarily have recourfe to this fy¬
necdoche, which puts the Avhole for the part, to clear
up that event.
By this kind of fynecdoche, alfo, the plural number
is fometimes put for the Angular. Thus St Matthew
fays, The thieves who were crucified with our Saviour
reviled him : though it is plain from St Luke, that
only one of them did fo. It may alfo be referred to
this trope, when a certain number is put for an un¬
certain one. So it is an ufual way of expreflion to
fay, I have feen or done fuch a thing an hundred or a
thoufand times: Avhen perhaps fo many are not really
intended, but only in general fome confiderable num¬
ber.
The fixth and lafl kind of fynecdoche puts a part of
any material thing or quantity for the whole of it. So
we fay of a man, He (belters himfelf under fuch an one's
roof; that is, in his houfe. And of a fleet, that it con-
(fis of fo many fail; meaning, _/o many (hips. And by
this trope, that is aferibed to a Angle perfon which Avas
TORY. Part HI.
done by the afliflance of others, and in conjun&ion with Elocution,
them : As Avhen it is faid, that Hannibal killed forty ’“""v—
thoufand Romans at the battle of Cannce ; For an army
is an aggregate body, of which the general is the head,
and confequently the chief part of it. And to this kind
of fynecdoche may alfo be referred fuch expreflions in
which the Angular number is put for the plural : as if
one fliould fay, A man is liable to be mifled by the in¬
fluence of irregular pafjions ; meaning all men, or man¬
kind in general. Or ay hen lefs than the real number is
put for any round number : Thus fome ancient writers,
when they fpeak of the Grecian armada that came againft
Troy, call it a fleet of a thoufand fbips ; though accord¬
ing to Homer’s lifl, it contained 1186. And fo like-
Avife the Greek interpreters of the Old Teftament are
ufually called the Seventy ; Avhereas, in reality, they Avere
feventy-two.
IV. Irony. This is a trope in which one contrary is Irony defi-
Jignfied by another: As if any one fliould fay, Well done ;11 ec' it-
Avhen at the fame time his defign is to intimate that the *u^rate(*\
thing Avas ill done. So that, by this manner of expref-
fion, the fpeaker appears to mean fomething contrary to
the fenfe of the word he makes ufe of. Not that the
Avord is changed from its ufual fignification 5 but by the
circumftances attending the expreflion, avc perceive the
contrary to Avhat is fpoken is intended. Quintilian ob-
fenres, that an irony may be knoAvn one of thefe three
Avays : “ By the manner of pronunciation, or from the
nature of the perfon or the thing. For (as he adds)
Avhere any of thefe does not fuit Avith the Avords, it is plain
the fpeaker intends the contrary. The irony is very
plain from the manner of pronunciation in that paflage
of Terence, where Simo fpeaking to his fervant by
Avay of reproof, fays, “ You have taken great care
indeed.” From the circumftances of the perfon, Avhen
Cicero, addrefling to Catiline, fays, “ He Avent to your
companion, that excellent man. Marcus Marcellus.”
When he calls him an excellent man, it is evident he
means the contrary : becaufe no good man Avould be
a companion of Catiline. And Avhen he begins his
oration for Ligarius Avith faying, “ Caefar, this is a
new crime, and never heard of till noAV,” the thing
he is fpeaking of Aioavs it to be an irony 5 for it
was not neAV, as all Avho were prefent very Avell under-
flood.
The fubje&s of irony are vices and follies of all
kinds. And this Avay of expofing them is often more
effeftual than ferious reafoning : For many perfons,
Avho, either from temper or Avant of refleftion, cannot
be moved by the force of an argument, are not proof
againft the poignancy of Avit and raillery. And there¬
fore Ave find the moft grave and ferious perfons have
not declined the ufe of this trope upon proper occa-
fions. Socrates, Avhom the oracle pronounced the
Avifeft man of his age, gave fo much into it, that he
got the name of u^av, that is, the droll. In the facred
writings we have a remarkable inftance of it in the
prophet Elijah, where he challenges the priefts of
Baal to prove the truth of their deity : For it is faid
exprefsly, “ He mocked them, and faid, Cry aloud,
for he is a god ; either he is talking, or he is purfuing,
or he is on a journey, or peradventure he fleepeth, and
muft be aAvaked.” And Solomon takes the like me¬
thod to expofe the follies of youth by this ironical apo
ftrophe, “ Rejoice, O young man, in thy youth,” Avith
what
part III. O 11 A T
Elocution, what follows, which is all ironical. Nay, our Savi-
our himfelf thought fit thus to reprove the Jewifh doc¬
tors, when he fays, “ Full tvell ye rejedt the command¬
ment of God, that ye may keep your otvn tradition
Where, by the words full well, or, as it is in the ori¬
ginal, y-xhas, it is very evident that a fevere reprimand
was intended.
An irony is ufed on a variety of occafions, as we
{hall ihow from fome inftances in Cicero. Sometimes
he applies it in a way of jeft and banter : As when he
fays, “ We have much reafon to believe the modefl:
man would not alk him for his debt, when he purfues
his life.” At other times by Avay of infult and deri-
fion : Thus when he would reprefent the forces of Ca¬
tiline as mean and contemptible, “ O terrible war,
(fays he), in which this band of rakes are to march
under Catiline ! Draw out all your garrifons againft
this formidable body.” Again, at other times, to
give the greater force to his argument, he would feem,
as it were, by this trope to recal and correct what he
had faid before $ as in his oration for Milo : “ But it
is foolifh in us to compare Drufus, Africanus, Pompey,
and ourfelves, with Clodius *, all our calamities were
tolerable, but no one can patiently bear the death of
Clodius.” Now the character of Clodius was fo well
known, that all who were prefent muft be fenfible he
meant the contrary. And, to name no more, an iro¬
ny is never ufed to greater advantage, than when it
is followed immediately by fomething very flinging.
Thus, fpeaking of Pifo, he lays, “ You have heard this
philofopher: he denies that he was ever defirous of a
triumph.” And then addredling himfelf to him, he im¬
mediately adds, “ O wretch ! when you deftroyed the
fenate, fold its authority, fubjedled your confulate to
the tribune, overturned the ftate, betrayed my life and
fafety for the reward of a province j if you did not de¬
fire a triumph, what can you pretend you did not de¬
lire ?” This mull eft'edtually confound the falfe gravity
at that time affumed by Pifo.
Art. II. Secondary Tropes.
Secondary Secondary tropes are fo called, becaufe they are all
tropes fi- of the fame nature with the former, and may be refer-
milarinna-j-ed to fome or other of them, though they have received
noteinh°Ugh different names.
name,to They are ehiefly eight in number-, Antonomafia,
the former Communication, Litotes, Euphemifm, Catachrefis, Hyper-
®ne,• bole, Metalepjis, and Allegory. The three firft of
thefe are Ample tropes, and may all be referred to a
Synecdoche. But the five lafl are of a mixed or com¬
plex nature, and not confined to any one of the pri¬
mary tropes as will appear in treating upon them in
order.
K common ** ^ common or general word is fometimes ufed for
word often the proper name of fome particular thing or perfon
ufed by way which upon any account is eminent and remarkable,
of eini- So we fay, He is gone to the city, or he came from the
anythin? that is, London. And by the Scriptures, we mean
remark/ the Bible. So likewife, in fpeaking of perfons, the
able. orator is ufed for Cicero, the poet for Homer or Virgil,
and the philofopher for Ariftotle : and it is not unufual
to fay the apof/e, tv hen we mean St Paul. On the
contrary, the proper names of things or perfons are
fometimes applied to any other of the fame charadler.
Thus Ave ufe the Avord gofpel for any certain and un-
359
O R Y.
doubted truth. And Carthaginian faith proverbially Elocution.
Hood for the greatell faliehood and deceit among the "" »1
Romans. With the Greeks, Hercules fignifitd aJlrong
man, Nflor a wife man, and Irus a beggar; and the
names of Samfon, Solomon, and Job, now anfwer the
like charadlers. Both thefe Avays of expreflicn are
often very emphatical, and heighten the idea more
than Avhere things are expreffed by their oAvn name.
To call a good orator Cicero, or an excellent poet a
fecond Virgil, includes not only an encomium upon the
arts themlelves, but leads the mind to Avhat is molt
perfedl in them, and Avas peculiar to thofe perfons.
Thefe forms of fpeech are called antonomafia, and
come properly under a fynecdoche ; for in the former
the Avhole is put for a part, and in the latter a part for
the Avhole.
II. Nothing is more common Avith orators than aA change
change of perfons. Sometimes, to avoid envy, and Per^ons.
prevent the imputation of pride, in affuming to them-c°^™on m
felves the praife of any laudable adtion, they aferibe
it to their hearers, and do not fay, we, but ye didfo
andfo. At other times, Avhen it is neceffary to remind
them of fomething which they have done amifs, or to
caution them againft fome Avrong ftep for the future ;
to prevent giving offence, they take it upon them-
felves, or at leaft join themfelves Avith them, and do
not fay, you have done this, or do not you do this ; but,
we have done it, or let us not do it. And again, at other
times, in compliment to their hearers, they join them as
partners in the commendable actions or virtues of other
perfons j as Avhen the whole body of the people is brought
in to {hare the praife arifing from the fuccefs of Avife
counfels or victorious arms. Such Avays of fpeaking of¬
ten occur both in Demofthenes and Cicero. They are
called communication, and come properly under a fy¬
necdoche of the Avhole.
III. On the contrary, there is a mode of fpeech,Litotes,
ia Avhich, by denying the contrary, more is intended where, by.
than the Avords exprefs. This Avay of fpeaking is call-^eny’nS t^<>
ed litotes ; and is often ufed for fake of modefty Avhere
a perfon is led to fay any thing in his OAvn praife, or meant than
to foften an expreffion Avhich in diredt terms might is expreffed.
found harfti or give offence. As if one fhould fay, /
do not commend you for that; meaning, 1 greatly difeom-
mend, or blame you for it: where more being under-
ftood than the Avords exprefsly denote, it is properly
a fynecdoche of the part. Not that this manner of
fpeaking is ahvays to be fo interpreted; but Avhere it
is not, there is no trope; Avhich muft be judged of by
the circumftances of the difeourfe. But that it fre¬
quently is fo ufed, might be eafily ftioAvn from many
inftances j though it will be fufficient to mention two
or three. Cicero fpeakmg of Cotta, calls him no mean
orator, Avhom he had juft called a very great orator.
And he fays of Varro that “ he purfued his ftudies
not Avithout induftry j and afterwards giv-es him the
charadler “ of a man of the greateft application.”
Which paffages, compared together, plainly ftioAV the
import of thofe negative expreffions. And a friend of
Cicero, Arriting to him, begins his letter thus : “ Al¬
though I am fenfible the news I fend you Avill not be
very pleafant.” This news Avas concerning the death
of another friend of Cicero’s ; and there by the Avords
not very pleafant, muft, to be fure, be meant very unplea-
fant and melancholy ; but he chofe that expreflion in the
beginning
3'6o
Elocution.
ORATORY.
62
"Ungrateful
things foft-
ened by a-
greeable
■ W'ords.
^3
^Catachrefis
or harfli
tropes.
beginning of Ins letter, as the fufteft and lead; fliocking,
the better to prepare him for the following account of
what that news was. And in this way interpreters ex¬
plain that pafiage in St Matthew : situ/ thou Bethlehem
in the land of Judah art not the leaf among the princes
of Judah; where, by not the leaf, they underftand the
greatef, or very great, upon account of the honour it
received by the birth of our Saviour, as the w'ords im¬
mediately following plainly intimate.
IV. When any difpleafing or ungrateful thing is
expreffed by a more foft and agreeable word, it is call¬
ed euphemifm. And as the word made ufe of is either
contrary to the proper word, or only different from
it, it may be referred to different tropes. The Latins
have a foft way of expreffmg their difregard to a per-
fon, by faying valeat ; which we have borrowed from
them, and fay, fare him %vell. When the contrary be¬
ing intended to what is expreffed, it corners properly
under an irony. And as the wTord death carries in it
an idea that is difagreeable to human nature, inflead
of faying a perfon is dead, we often fay he is deccafed,
or departed; which we have alio -.taken from the; La¬
tins, who ufe the words decefjit and ohnt in the fame
fenfe. So that in both languages it comes under a
fynecdoche of the •whole •, to depart out of life being
one fort of departure. But when the evangelift, fpeak-
ing of Stephen, who was ftoned to death, expreffes it
by faying, that he fell afeep ; this is a beautiful meta¬
phor, taken from the fimilitude between the death of a
good man and fleep.
V. Ctttaclrefs fignifies in general any harfli trope,
though it is moll commonly found in metaphors* It
is principally ufed by poets, who make choice of it for
novelty, or to enforce an expreflion, where the proper
word does not feem ftrong enough. As when Milton,
in deferibing the angel Raphael’s defeent from heaven,
fays, he
Sails between worlds and worlds ;
where the novelty of the word enlivens the image more
than if he had faid fies. But it is fometimes found in
the graved authors, and even in the facred writings.
So we read of the blood of the grape. And Solomon
fays, the horfe-leech hath two daughters. In all thefe in-
ftances the trope is a metaphor. But when St John
fays in the Revelations, I turned to fee the voice that
fpake to me, it is here a metonymy of the adjunfr ; the
word voice being put for the perfon who uttered it. In
St Matthew we read of Simon the leper ; not that he was
then a leper, but had been fo, and was cured •, which is
a fynecdoche of the part. jVnd when a criminal is faid
to have had his reward, that is, his punifliment, it is an
irony.
Hyperbole VI. Hyperbole is the boldeft of all tropes ; for it ex-
the boldeft ceeds the ftrift bounds of truth, and reprefents things
64
Part III,
perfon, he is nothing but fin and bones, or a mere fhele- Elocution
ton. It is principally metaphorical, but fometimes ta-1—v—
ken from other tropes. When Saul and Jonathan are
faid to have been fwifter than eagles, and f ranger than
lions, the expreflion is founded in limilitude, and is there¬
fore a metaphor. When, inflead of faying Cato was a
very virtuous man, the hiftorian calls him the image
of virtue ; it is an hyperbolical metonymy of the adjunct
for the fubjeft. And when we read in the Mofaic hi-
ftory of cities fenced up to heaven, there is a fynec¬
doche. But if a man of weak fight be faid to be eagle-
eyed, it is an irony. Thole hyperboles which are ex¬
preffed comparatively, are commonly molt emphatical,
becaufe they fliow a peculiarity in the excefs. To fay a
thing is as light as a feather, carries the idea very far j
but to fay it is lighter, not only carries it fiill farther,
but alfo heightens it, by leaving the mind at an uncer¬
tainty where to fix the limits.
VII. Sometimes two or more tropes and thofe ofMetalepft,
a different kind, are containe d under one word j fo where two
that feveral gradations, or intervening fenfes, comeorraore
between the word that is expreffed, ancf the thing jg. tl0lJes are
figned by it. And this is called a metalepfs. The der one
contefts between Sylla and Marius proved very fatal wor(f
to the Roman Rate. Julius Cacfar was then a young
man. But Sylla obferving bis afpiring genius, faid of
him, “ In one Ccefar there are many Mariufes.” Now
in this expreflion there is a metalepfis. For the word
Marius, by a fynecdoche, or antonomafa, is put for any
ambitious and turbulent perfon 5 and this again, by a
metonymy of the caufe, for the ill off efts of fucli a temper
to the public. So that SyHa’s meaning, diverted of thefe
tropes, was, that Caefar would prove the moft danger¬
ous perfon to the Roman ftate that ever was bred in
it : which afterwards proved true in the event. So when
Virgil, deferibing that part of the , African coaft where
Aim:as arrived with his fliips, fays, A dark wood hung
over it; the "word dark, by a metonymy of the effect,
is put for Jhady, and that again by the fame trope for
thick ; his meaning is, a thick wood. But the words of
Lido, in the fame poet, contain a larger gradation, when
fhe fays,
Happy, aii truly happy, had I been,
If Trojan flips our coafs had never feen.
of all
tropes
either greater or lefs, better or worle, than they really
are. But the reprefentation is made in fuel) a man¬
ner as not to impofe on the hearers. For an hyperbole
is not ufed to define or deferibe any thing accurately,
but only to magnify or deprefs it in a conrtderable de¬
gree, when v'e either cannot or do not choofe to re-
prefent it exaftly. The excefs in this trope is called
auxefs ; as when v'e fay of any thing that is very
high, it reaches to the Jkies. The defeft, or contrary
-extreme, is termed meiofs. So we fay of a very lean
In which expreflion, firft by a metonymy of the ad¬
junct, the fliips are put for the Trojans in the fliips:
and thefe, by a fynecdoche of the- whole, for Aineas,
•who was one of them ; and again his arriving on the
coart, by a metonymy of the caufe, for her feeing him 5
and lartly, her feeing him, by the fame trope, for the
paffion fhe had for him. So that her meaning is, fhe
had been happy, it Ihe had never entertained apaflion for
ALneas. This trope is more frequently to be met with
in poets than in orators, as they take greater liberty in
ufmg diftant allufions than is fuited to that petfpicuity
of exprefljon which is required in oratory. But as
Quintilian has rvell obferved, all the intermediate links
of the chain in this trope are of no further ufe than to
lead the. mind gradually from the firft to the laft, the
better to perceive their connection. As in the exam¬
ple laft mentioned, relating to Lido, if avc drop all the
intervening fteps, and conned the Avoids expreffed with
Avbat is diredtly intended, they Avill be found to contain
a very remote caufe jiut for the effect, Avhich comes un¬
der
Part ffl,
ORATORY.
Elocution, der a metonymy. On the contrary, in the fecond ex-
u-^ ' ample, where dark ftands for thick, the effect is put for
a remote caufe. And the firfl, which is founded in a
fimilitude of temper between Caefar and Marius, belono-s
£6 to a metaphor.
Allegory, a VIII. Allegory. As a metalepfis comprifes feveral
continua- tropes in one word, fo this is a continuation of feveral
lion of tropes in one or more fentences. Thus Cicero fays,
through fe- ** Fortune provided you no field, in which your vir-
veral fen- tue could run and difplay itfelfwhere the words
tencei. field and run are metaphors taken from corporeal
things, and applied to the mind. And in another
paffage, fpeaking of himfelf, he fays, “ Nor was I fo
timorous, that after I had fleered the fliip of the flate
through the greateft ftorms and waves, and brought
her fafe into port, I fhould fear the cloud of your fore¬
head, or your colleague’s peltilent breath. I faw other
winds, I perceived other ftorms, I did not withdraw
from other impending tempefts ; but expofed myfelf
fingly to them for the common fafety.” Here the ftate
is compared to a fhip, and all the things faid of it un¬
der that image are expreffed in metaphors made ufe of
to fignify the dangers with which it had been threat¬
ened. And indeed allegories generally confift of me¬
taphors ; which being the molt beautiful trope, a num¬
ber of them well chofen and put together is one of
the fineft and brighteft ornaments in language, and
exceeds a Angle metaphor in luftre, as a conflellation
does a feparate ftar. It is true, that allegories are
fometimes found in other tropes 5 but this is very rare.
In that known expreflion of Terence, the tropes are
all metonymies : Without Ceres and Bacchus, Venus
grows cold ; that is, divelted of the tropes, Without meat
and drink, love dies. And Samfon’s riddle is made up
of fynecdoches : “ Out of the eater came forth meat,
and out of the ftrong came forth fweetnefs.” But
there is no fmall fkill required in the right manage¬
ment of allegories. For care fhould be taken that
the fame kind of trope be carried through the whole,
fo as to compofe one uniform and confident fet of
ideas : otherwife they drefs up a chimera, a thing that
has no exiftence, and of which the mind can form no
perception. And, as Quintilian fays very juftly, to
begin with a tempeft and end with a fire, would be
very ridiculous and unnatural.” It is likewife very
neceffary that the allufions be all plain and evident,
efpecially where the name of the thing alluded to is
not expreffed. Thefe are called pure allegories. As
that of Cicero: “ So it happens, that I, whofe bufi-
nefs it is to repel the darts, and heal the Wounds, am
obliged to appear before the adverfaries have thrown
any dart; and they are allowed a time to attack us,
when it will not be in our power to avoid the affault ;
and if they throw a poifonous dart, which they feem
prepared to do, we fhall have no opportunity to apply
a remedy.” The tropes here are all taken from mili¬
tary affairs, without any intimation what they are ap¬
plied to. But that is plain from the context of the
difcourfe. For he is fpeaking of the difad vantages he
laboured under in defending his client againft thofe of
the oppofite fide, and fo applies to the bar thofe
terms which were proper to the field. But where the
reference is not evident, it becomes a riddle : which
is nothing elfe but an obfcure allegory. To avoid this,
therefore, the beft writers generally ufe what they call
Vol. XV, Part I. ' ^
mixed allegories ; that is, fuch wherein the proper name
of the thing is expreffed, which the whole fimili¬
tude refpefts. Of this kind is that in the fpeech of
King Philip of Macedon, given us by Juftin, where he
fays, “ I perceive that cloud of a dreadful and bloody
war arifing in Italy, and a thunder-ftorm from the weft,
which will fill all places with a large fhower of blood,
wherever the tempeft of victory {hall carry it.” The pro¬
per wrords war, blood, and viElory, being joined to the
tropes cloud, Jhoveer, and tempefi, in this fentence, render
the feveral parts of the fimiliiude plain and evident.
Quintilian thinks thole allegories molt beautiful, where
the whole fimilitude is expreffed, and thofe words, which
in their proper fenfe relate to one of the two things be¬
tween which the comparifon is made, are allegorically
applied to the other : As when Cornelius Nepos fays of
Atticus, “ If that pilot gain the greateft reputation who
preferves his fhip in a boilterous and rocky fea; ought
not he to be thought a man of fingular prudence, who
arrived in fafety through fo many and fo great civil tem¬
pefts ?” Fhefe are the allegories with which orators are
chiefly concerned.
§ 2. . Of Figures.
This term leems to have been borrowed from the The term
ftage, where the different habits and geftures of t\iefisure aP-
aftors, fuitable to the feveral characters they fuftained,Parent*y
were by the Greeks called <ryjiu.xret, and by the Latins
figures : And it is not unufual with us to fay of a per-ftage.
Ion, both with refpeCt to his drefs and aCtion, that he
makes a very bad, or a very graceful, figure. And as
language is the drefs, as it were of our thoughts, in
which they appear and are reprefented to others ; fo
any particular manner of fpeaking, may, in a large
fenfe of the word, be called its figure, in which lati¬
tude writers fometimes ufe it. But rhetoricians have
reftrained the fenfe of the word to fuch forms of fpeech
as differ from the more common and ordinary ways of
expreflion : as the theatrical habits of aCtors, and their
deportment on the ftage, are different from their ufual
garb and behaviour at other times. A figure therefore,
in the fenfe it is ufed by rhetoricians, is A ?node oj fpeak-
wg different from, and more beautiful mid emphatical
than, the ordinary and ufual way of exprefiiug the fame
fenfe ; or, in other words, That language which is fuggefi-
ed either by the imagination or the pqfjions. Now as the
habits and geftures of our bodies are in a manner in¬
finitely variable, fo it is plain that the different forms
of fpeech are almoft innumerable. But every altera¬
tion from the common manner ought not to be efteem-
ed a figure, nor deferves that charafter. It muft con¬
tain fome beauty, or exprefs fome paflion, to merit a
place among rhetorical figures, and be marked out for
imitation.
The fubjeCl of figure feems to have been one of the
laft things which was brought into the art of oratory,
in order to complete it. Ariftotle, who treats fo ac¬
curately upon other parts, fays very little of this.
But the Greek writers who came after him have abund¬
antly fupplied that deficiency. It is to them we owe v
the chief obfervations that have been made on this
fubjeCt. They took notice of the feveral modes and
turns of expreflion, obferved their force and beauty,
and gave them particular names by which they might
be known and diftinguifhed from each other. And
Z z indeed
I
co
362 ORATORY. Part III,
Elocution, indeed they have treated the matter with fuch minute-
 nefs and fubtility, that Quintilian feems, not without
reafon, to think they have multiplied figures to an ex-
cefs. But though it was fo late before they were taken
notice of, and introduced into the art of fpeaking, yet
the ufe of them in difcourfe was doubtlefs very ancient.
The author of Homer’s life, which fome have afcribed
to Plutarch, has Ihown, by examples taken out of him,
that there is fcarce a figure mentioned by rhetoricians,
but is to be met with in that moft ancient poet. And,
if we confider the nature of fpeech, we (hall eafily per¬
ceive that mankind muft have been under a neceflity
very early to introduce the ufe of tropes for fupplying
the want of proper words to exprefs their fimple ideas :
fo the like neceflity muft have put them upon the ufe of
figures to reprefent their different paflions ; though both
of them were afterwards increafed, and improved in
fuch a manner as to become the chief ornaments of
language. The paflions of men have been always the
fame j they are implanted in us by nature, and we are
all taught to difcover them by the fame ways. When
the mind is difturbed, we {how it by our countenance,
by our a&ions, and by our words. Fear, joy, anger,
alter the countenance, and occafion different emotions
and geftures of the whole body. And we know with
what paflion a man is affefted, by hearing his words,
though we do not fee him. He does not exprefs him-
felf as he ufually does at other times when cool and
fedate. Objefts appear to him in a different view,
and therefore he cannot but fpeak of them in a differ¬
ent w'ay. He interrogates, he exclaims, he admires,
he appeals, he invokes, he threatens, he recals his
words, repeats them, and by many other different turns
of expreflion varies his fpeech no lefs than his counte¬
nance, from his common and ordinary manner. Now
as nature feems to teach us by thefe figurative ex-
preflions how to reprefent the different commotions of
our minds, hence fome have thought fit to call figures
the language of the paffions. And as thefe are given us,
among other wife ends, to excite us the better to pro¬
vide for our prefervation and fafety, this is done fome-
times by force of arms, and at other times by difcourfe.
And therefore Cicero very handfomely compares the
conduct of an orator to the exercifes of the palaeftra :
in which, as each combatant endeavours not only to
defend himfelf, and attack his adverfary, but likewife
to do both with decency •, fo the principal weapons of
an orator, as he reprefents them, are figures, which
being no lefs the ornaments of language than images
of our paflions, anfwer all thefe purpofes. Befides,
figures chiefly diftinguiih the different kinds of ftyle,
furnifli it with an agreeable variety, and often ferve to
reprefent things in a clear and forcible manner.
From this (hort account of the nature of figures, the
advantage of them to an orator is very evident. They
are a fort of natural eloquence, which every one falls
into without attending to it, fuitably to that temper
of mind with which he is affefted himfelf, and is
defirous to affeft others. In a cool and fedate dif¬
courfe, fuch figures as convey our fentiments with the
greateft ftrength and evidence are moft proper. And
there are others, which are fuited to brighten and en¬
liven more gay and fprightly fubjefts. Others again
are more peculiarly adapted to exprefs the diforders
and perturbations of the mind. To repeat the fame
thing again would many times be deemed a tautology Elocution,
and impertinent *, but to do this when the mind is '■“"■'V'—J
ruffled, is not only allowable, but the repetition ren¬
ders it more ftrong and affe&ing. So likewife to in¬
terrogate, exclaim, or admire, under the influence of
a paffion, impreffes the hearers, and difpofes them to
attention ; whereas at another time perhaps fuch ways
of fpeaking would fcarce be confiftent with prudence.
There is a natural fympathy in men’s minds, which
difpofes them to receive impreflions from thofe with
whom they converfe. Thus one gay and pleafant
companion gives a cheerfulnefs and vivacity to a
whole company j whereas, on the contrary, one who
is dull and phlegmatic damps the fpirits of all about
him, and affefts them with the fame gloomy temper.
Figures are peculiarly ferviceable to an orator for an-
fwering thefe different intentions. And as he finds
them in life, from thence he muft copy them ; as a
painter does the features of the countenance, and the
fcveral parts of the body •, figures being to the one what
line.s and colours are to the other. The defign of
Catiline to deftroy the Roman ftate and burn the city,
is a ftory well known. There was an army drawn to¬
gether at a proper diflance to favour the undertaking \
and others were left in Rome, who had their parts
affigned them for burning the city, and deftroying
thofe who fliould efcape the flames. And, in a word,
every thing was ready for putting in execution this
horrid and barbarous fcheme. So that nothing re¬
tarded it but the taking off Cicero, who wras then
conful, which was thought neceffary to be done firft.
Cicero, upon information of the defign hgainft his
life, finds means to prevent it, and the fame day calls
together the fenatc. And Catiline, who Avas a man
of confummate boldnefs, had the confidence to appear
in that aflembly. Upon their meeting, Cicero opens
to them the whole affair of the confpiracy, and the
defign againft himfelf, in a moft Avarm and pathetic
harangue. In which he had two things in view ,
to raife the indignation of the fenate againft the con-
fpirators, and particularly againft Catiline ; and, either
by terrifying or exafperating him, to oblige him to
leave the city. Noav he does not begin his fpeech in
his ufual manner at other times, by addrefling to his
audience, befpeaking their favour and attention, or let¬
ting them gradually into the defign of what he Avas
about to fay, but as Catiline Avas prefent, he immediate¬
ly falls upon him Avith vehemence, in the fblloAving
manner : “ Hoav far, Catiline, Avill you abufe our pa¬
tience ? Hoav long Avill your fury infult us ? What
bounds will you fet to your unbridled rage ? Does
neither the night-guard of the palace, nor the city-
Avatch, nor the people’s fear, nor the agreement of all
good men, nor the meeting of the fenate in this forti¬
fied place, nor the countenances and looks of this af-
fembly, at all move you ? Do not you perceive your
defigns are difcovered, and that all Avho are prefent
knoAV 0^ your confpiracy ? Who of us, do you think, is
ignorant of what you did the laft night, and the night
before, Avhere you Avas, who Avas Avith you, and Avhat
you refolved on ? O times, O manners ! The fenate
knoAvs this, the conful fees it; and yet this man lives!
—lives ? nay, comes into the fenate, joins in the public
counfels, obferves and marks out each of us for deftruc-
tion 1” And in the fame impetuous ftrain he proceeds
through
Part IH. O R A T
Elocution. throUgli his whole fpeech, intei-fperfing a great variety
of the like ftrong and moving figures. And the dif-
courfe had its delired efteft: for when Catiline flood up
afterwards to make his defence, the whole fenate was
fo inflamed, and their refentments againft him rofe fo
high, from what Cicero had faid, that they had not
patience to hear him fpeak •, upon which he left both
ihem and the city. Plad Cicero, inftead of venting his
juft indignation againft the author of fo barbarous and
inhuman a defign, in the manner he did, by figures
fuited to ftrike the paffions of his hearers •, had he,
inftead of this, attempted to reafon with him, and told
the ftory in a cold and lifelefs manner, he would have
cxpofed himfelf to the contempt of Catiline} and by
leaving the fenate little or nothing moved at what
he faid, prevented perhaps their coming to thofe fpeedy
and vigorous refolutions which were neceflary at fo cri¬
tical a junfture. Let us fuppofe him to have expoflu-
lated with Catilirte in much the fame words as before,
but thrown into a different form, and diverted of thofe
pathetic figures. As thus : “ Catiline, you have really
abufed our patience to a great degree. You have in-
fulted us with your furious proceedings a long 'while.
You feem to have fixed no bounds to your unbridled
rage. Neither the night-guard of the palace, nor the
city-watch, nor the people’s fear, nor the agreement
among good men, nor the calling together of the fe-
natc in this fortified place, nor the countenances and
looks of this affembly, appear to move you in the leaft.
I affure you we are all of us apprifed of what you did
the laft night, and the night before, where you was,
and who were with you, and what refolutions you came
to. Thefe are fad times, the age is very degenerate j
that the fenate fliould know all this, the conful fee it;
and yet that this man fhould live, come into the fenate,
hear all our debates, and mark us out to deftroy us.”
You fee the fenfe is entirely the fame, and the words
too in a great meafure ; fo that there is little more
than an alteration in the form of them. And yet who
does not perceive how flat and languid fuch a way of
talking muft have appeared at that time ? and how
much it lofes of that fpirit and energy, which fhows it-
ielfin Cicero’s manner of expreffion ? Had he delivered
himfelf thus, it might indeed have made the fenate look
upon Catiline as an abandoned wretch, loft to all virtue
and goodnefef, and perhaps have moved feme to pity
him on that account; as we are eafily induced to com-
paflionale perfons in fuch circumftances, efpecially when
defeended from noble and virtuous anceftors, which
was his cafe. But fure it would have been ill fuited to
fire their minds with that generous regard for their coun¬
try, and the neceflfary precautions for its fecurity, which
the circumftances of the ftate then required. Nor would
Catiline have been at all deterred by it, but father en¬
couraged in the profecution of his defigns, from the
little effefl a fpeech fo managed muft probably have had
upon the minds of the fenators. But Cicero knew very
well that the paflions of mankind are the fprings of
atlion : that it is many times not fufficient for an orator
to convince their minds, by fetting the truth in a clear
fight*, but he muft; alfo raife their hopes, alarm their
fears, inflame their anger, or excite feme other fuitable
paffion, before they will be brought to aft with that
zeal and fervour which the cafe may require. And as
he was admirably well /killed in this art of touching the
ORY. 363
paflxons, he feldom fails to fix upon the proper me- Elocution,
thuds of doing it, and makes choice of fuch figures »
and modes of fpeakipg as in the ft rouge ft manner re-
prefent the emotions of his own mind. For every
paflion is not to be expreffed by the fame figures, any
more than it is drawn by the fame lines, or painted
with the fame colours. When Dido finds that Aineas
is about to leave her, the ufes all her arts to detain him.
And as perfons in great dirtrefs are feldom at a lofs
to exprefs their condition in the moft affefting way;
fhe difeovers her fear, anger, revenge, with the whole
crowd of diforders which then polfeffed her mind, in
a variety of moving figures, fuited to raife the coun¬
ter paflions in his breaft, as is finely reprefented by
Virgil in that artful fpeech he has made for her, which
we forbear to recite for no other reafon but the length
of it. But what particular figures are moft accom¬
modated to anfwer the feveral ends propofed by them,
will beft appear when we come to treat of them fepa-
rately.
We (hall therefore now* proceed to lay down a few
direftions for the proper ufe of figures. And firft
they fhould always be accommodated to the fenti-
ments, and rife in proportion to the images defigned to
be conveyed by them. So far as they are founded in
reafon, they are fuited to imprefs the mind *, but where
the language outftrips the thought, though it may pleafe
the ear, and feme weak perfons may be carried awav
with a pomp of words, yet an intelligent hearer will
foon fee through the thin and airy drefs. It is the
fenfe which gives weight to the figure, as that by flrik-
ing the imagination awakens the mind, and excites it
to aft in conformity to reafon. Again, in the ufe of
pathetic figures, it is generally better to be nervous
than copious, that the images, by their clofer union,
may imprefs the mind with greater force and energv ;
though in fuch figures as are defigned for ornament or
illuftration, a more diffufive way of painting is feme-
times agreeable. But farther, the too frequent ufe of
figures ought to be avoided. For what was obferved in
relation to tropes, is alfo true with refpeft to thefe; that
a great number of them is apt to darken and obfeure
the ftyle. And befides, Cicero’s refleftion in this cafe is
very juft, That “ it is hard to fay, what fhould be the
reafon, that thofe things, which moft aflfeft us with
a fenfible pleafure, and at firft fight fooneft move us,
do likewife fooneft cloy and fatiate us.” But that
it is fo, we find by common experience. Laftly, figures
ftlould be fo interwoven in a difeourfe, as not to render
the ftyle rough and uneven, fometimes high and at
other times low ; now dry and jejune, then pompous
and florid. In a word, they fhould rather feem to arife
from nature than art; to offer themfelves, than to be
the efft-ft of ftudy ; and to appear not like patches upon
a face, but the agreeable beauty of a found and health¬
ful complexion. But of tins we fliall have occafion to
fpeak more at large hereafter, in treating upon the dif¬
ferent kinds or charafters of ftyle.
As to the divifion of figures, which is what remains
to be confidered, they are ufually divided into two
forts, figures of words, and figures of fentenees. The
difference between them confifts in this ; that in the
former, if you alter the words, or fometimes only the
fituation of them, you deftroy the figure; but in the
latter the figure remains, whatever words are made ufe
Z z 2 of.
364 O R A T
Elocution, of, or in what manner foever the order of them is
v changed. Thus when the name of a perfon or thing is
repeated, to intimate feme known property or quality
belonging thereto, it is a verbal figure called place.
Cicero was a true patriot and hearty lover of his coun¬
try. And therefore we fhall ufe this figure in faying,
that at the time of Catiline''s confpiracy Cicero appeared
like Cicero. The fenfe would remain the fame, but the
figure would be loft, if we ftiould alter the words, and
fay, at that time Cicero appeared like himfelf. So when
two or more fentences, or members of a fentence, end
with the fame word, it is called epiftrophe ; as when we
fay, To lofe all relijh of life, is m effect to lofe life. But
if only the order of the words be changed in the latter
claufe thus, To lofe all relifh of Jife, is to lofe life in
effeB ; the figure vanilhes. And this is the nature of
the verbal figures. But it is not fo in figures of fen¬
tences : they continue the fame, whatever alterations are
made in the words. An orator fometimes thinks it pro¬
per to change the form of his difeourfe, and addrefs him¬
felf to his audience, or an abfent perfon, or elfe perhaps
to introduce fome other perfon as fpeaking to them
whofe w'ords may be fuppofed to carry greater weight
and authority with them than his own. The former
of thefe is called apofrophe, and the latter profopoda or
imagery; which require no certain words or order of
expreflion.
O R Y.
[67]
Verbal fi¬
gures di-
Itinguifhed
into three'
forts; with
their vari¬
ous fubdi-
vilions.
Art. I. Verbal Figures.
Thefe may be diftinguilhed into three forts, as they
confift in a deficiency of words, a redundancy, or a repe-
I. Of the firft fort are ellipfis and afyndeton.
Ellipfis, is when one or more words are wanting in
a fentence to complete the conftru&ion, and fully ex-
prefs the fenfe. This figure is often ufed in proverbial
fpeeches : as when we fay, Many men, many minds;
that is, have many minds ; and, The more danger, the
more honour ; that is, gains more honour. But where
more is intended by fuch expreflions than mere brevity,
and efpecially when they are the effeft of fome paflion,
the figure receives another name, and is called apofio-
pefis, which is placed among the figures of fentences,
where we (hall confider it.
Afyndeton, is when the particles that conneft the
members of a fentence one with another are left out,
to reprefent either the celerity of an aflion, or the
hafte and eagernefs of the fpeaker. Thus Caefar ex-
prefles his fpeedy conqueft of Pharnaces : I came, Ifaw,
I conquered. If he had inferted the copulatives, and
faid, / came, and Ifavo, and I conquered, it would have
retarded the expreffion, and not given fo full and juft an
idea of the fvviftnefs of the aftion. In the laft article
we took notice of the vehement and impetuous manner
in which Cicero attacked Catiline in his firft oration,
where his defign was to fire the minds of the fenate
againft him, and oblige him to leave the city, both
which points he gained by that fpeech. The next day,
.therefore, when Catiline was gone, he calls together the
body of the citizens, and, makes a fpeech to them, which
in a fort of rapture or tranfport of mind he thus begins,
by acquainting them with the departure of Catiline, He
is gone, departed, efcaped, broke out; intimating at the
fame time both the exceflive rage in which Catiline left
3
Part III
Rome, and the great pleafure with which he was himfelf Elocuti
affe&ed on that account. This concife way of fpeaking '"‘"“Y'1
adds likewife a conliderable emphafis to an expreflion,
and by bringing the feveral parts of a thing nearer to¬
gether affefls the mind with greater force. Thus Cice¬
ro fets Cato’s charafter in a very ftrong and beautiful
light by the ufe of this figure. “ Nature itfelf (fays he)
has made you a great and excellent man for integrity,
gravity, temperance, magnanimity, juftice, in a word,
for all virtues.”
II. The fecond fort-of verbal figures is contrary
to thefe, and confifts in a redundancy or multiplicity
of words $ which are likewife two, pleonafinus and poly-
fyndeton.
When we ufe more words than are neceffary to ex-
prefs a thing, it is called pleonafmus. This is done
fometimes for greater emphafis, as when we fay, Where
in the world is he? At other times it is defigned to af-
certain the truth of what is faid: So the fervant in
Terence, when the truth of what he had related was
called in queftion, replies, It is certainly fo i / faw it
with thefe very eyes.
When the feveral parts of a fentence are united by
proper particles, it is called po/yfyndeton. This adds a
weight and gravity to an expreflion, and makes what
is faid to appear with an air of folemnity ; and by re¬
tarding the eourfe of the fentence, gives the mind an
opportunity to confider and reflect upon every part di-
ftinftly. We often meet with this figure in Demofi
thenes, which very we]] fuits with the gravity of his
ftyle. So he encourages the Athenians to profecute
the war againft King Philip of Macedon, from this
confideration, that now “ they had (hips and men,
and money, and ftores, and all other things which
might contribute to the ftrength of the city, in greater
number and plenty than in former times.” Every ar¬
ticle here has its weight, and carries in it a proper mo¬
tive to animate them to the war. But if you remove
the copulatives, the fentence will lofe much of its
force.
III. The third kind of verbal figures confifts in a re¬
petition. And either the fame word in found or fenfe,
is repeated j or one of a like found, or fignification,
or both.
Of the former fort there are ten, called antanaclafisr
place, epvzeuxis, climax, anaphora, epifirophe, fymploce,
cpanalepfis, anadiplofis, and epanodos. The two firft of
thefe agree in found, but differ in fenfe j the eight fol¬
lowing agree in both.
When the fame word in found but not in fenfe is re¬
peated, it is called antanaclafis. This figure fome¬
times carries a poignancy in it; and w’hen it appears na¬
tural and eafy, difeovers a ready turn of thought. As
when a fon, to clear himfelf of fufpicion, allured his fa¬
ther he did not wait for his death ; his father replied.
But I defire you would wait for it. Here the word
wait is taken in two different fenfes. It is likewife
ufed on ferious occafions, as in grave and moral pre¬
cepts, which are apt to affeft the mind with greater
pleafure when delivered in an agreeable drefs. As
this : Care for thofe things in your youth, which in old
age may free you from care: Where the word care in
the former place fignifies to provide, and in the latter
anxiety of mind. And even our Saviour himfelf once
ufes this figure, when he fays to one of his difciples,
who.
PartlH. ORA’]
Elocution, who defired to be difmiffed from attending him, that he
*-—might go and bury his father ; Follow me, and let the
dead bury their dead: Where dead in one place denotes
a natural death, and in the other a moral or fpiritual
death.
Sometimes the name of fome perfon or thing is re¬
peated again, to denote fome particular charadler or
property defigned to be expreffed by it; and then
it is called place. Thus Cicero fays, Young Cato wants
experience, but yet he is Cato; meaning he had the
fteady temper of the family. And fo in the pro¬
verbial expreflion, An ape is an ape, drefs him ever fo
fine.
6$ When a word is repeated again with vehemence in
the fame fenfe, it is called epi%euxis. This figure (hows
the earneftnefs of the fpeaker, and his great concern
of mind about what he fays j and therefore has a ne-
tural tendency to excite the attention of the audience.
It is fuited to exprefs anger, furprife, forrow, and fe-
veral other paffions. As when Cicero would exprefs
his indignation againft Antony for having been the
chief inftrument in bringing on the civil vrar, he fays
to him : You, you, Antony piifbed Ccefiar upon the civil
war. And thus he tells Catiline in his firft inveftive
againft him : You live; and live, not to lay afide, but
to purfiue, your wicked defign. And when our Saviour
would exprefs his great concern and forrow for the
wickednefs of the Jews, he does it in this pathetic
manner : 0 Jerufalem, Jerufialem, who killejl the pro¬
phets.
Climax is a beautiful kind of repetition, when the
word, which ends the firft member of a period, be¬
gins the fecond, and fo through each member, till the
whole is finiflied. There is a great deal of ftrength as
well as beauty in this figure, where the feveral fteps
rife naturally, and are clofely connected with each
other. As in this example : There is no enjoyment of
property without government, no government without a
magiflrate, no magifirate without obedience, and no obe¬
dience where every one aBs as hepleafes. But as Quin¬
tilian obferves, this figure lies fo open, that it is apt to
look too much like art j for which reafon he advifes not
to ufe it often. To prevent this, therefore, orators
fometimes difguife it, by not repeating the fame wmrd
which ftood in the former member, but fome other equi¬
valent to it. As in the following inftance of Cicero for
Milo : “ Nor did he commit himfelf only to the people,
but alfo to the fenate ; nor to the fenate only, but
likewife to the public forces ; not to thefe only, but alfo
to his power Avith Avhom the fenate had entrufted the
whole commonAvealth.
50 When feveral fentences, or members of a fentence,
begin Avith the fame Avord, it is called anaphora. This
is a lively and elegant figure, and ferves very much to
engage the attention. For by the frequent return of
the fame Avord the mind of the hearer is held in an
agreeable fufpenfe, till the whole is finiftied. “ You
do nothing (fays Cicero to Catiline), you attempt
nothing, you think nothing, but Avhat I not only
hear, but alfo fee, and plainly perceive.” It is fre¬
quently ufed by Avay of queftion ; Avhich renders it not
only beautiful, but likewife ftrong and nervous. As
at the beginning of the fame fpeech : “ Does neither
the night-guard of the palace, nor the city-Avatch,
nor the people’s fear, nor the agreement of all good
• ° R Y. 365
men, nor the meeting of the fenate in this fortified Elocution,
place, nor the countenances and looks of this affembly, ^ '
at all move you ?” And in another of his orations :
“ What is fo popular as peace, which feems to afford
a pleafure, not only to beings endowed Avith fenfe, but
even to inanimate nature ? What is fo popular as li¬
berty, Avhich even beafts as well as men feem to covet
and prefer above all things ? What is fo popular as
eafe and leifure, for the enjoyment of Avhich you
and your anceftors have undergone the greateft la¬
bours ?”
Epifirophe is contrary to the former, and makes the 7 s
repetition at the end of each member or fentence. As
thus •, “ Since concord was lofi ; friendfhip was lofi,fide¬
lity was lofi, liberty was lojl; all was lofi. And Cicero,
in the charge Avhich he brings againft Mark Antony
before the fenate, makes ufe of this figure, when he
fays, “ Do you lament the deftruftion of three Ro¬
man armies ? the author of that deftruftion Avas Anto¬
ny. Do you bewrail the lofs of moft eminent citizens ?
They have been taken from you by Antony. Is the
authority of this order weakened ? It is Aveakened by
Antony.”
Symploce takes in both thefe laft figures. As in that 7*
of Cicero : “ You would pardon and acquit him, Avhom
the fenate hath condemned, Avhom the people of Rome
have condemned, whom all mankind have condemned.”
Here the feveral members both begin and end Avith the
fame wrord. We have a beautiful inftance of it in St
Paul, Avhen he fays, “ Are they HebreAvs ? fo am I.
Are they Ifraelites ? fo am I. Are they the feed of
Abraham ? fo am I.”
When a fentence concludes Avith the Avord Avith which 73
it began, it is called epanalepfis. As in that expreflion
of Plautus, “ Virtue contains all things ; he Avants no
good thing who has virtue.” The figure is the fame,
but the principle not fo honeft, in the advice which
we find given by the mifer in Horace, when he fays,
“ Get money, if you can, honeftly ; but hoAvever,
get money.” This figure adds a force to an expref-
fion, Avhen the principal thing defigned to be convey¬
ed is thus repeated, by leaving it laft upon the mind.
And it heightens the beauty of it, Avhen the fentence
has an agreeable turn arifing from two oppofite parts.
As in Cicero’s compliment to Caefar : “ We have feen
your viftory terminated by the Avar •, your drawn
fword in the city avc have not feen.” Hermogenes
calls this a circle, becaufe the fentence returns again
to the fame Avord, as that geometrical figure is form¬
ed by the orbicular motion of a line to the fame
point.
When the folloAving fentence begins Avith the fame 74
Avord with which the former concluded, it is termed
anadiplofis. As in the folloAving inftance : Let us
think no price too great for truth; truth cannot be
bought too dear. So in that paffage of St John : He
came to his own, and his own received him not. This
figure generally fuits beft Avith grave and folemn dif-
courfes.
Epanodos is the inverfion of a fentence, or repeat¬
ing it backAvards, fo that it takes in the two laft fi- J
gures 5 for it both begins and ends Avith the fame word,
and the fame Avord is likeAvife repeated in the middle.
This turn of expreflion has a beauty in it, and Aioavs a
readinefs of thought. We have the folloAving example
co W
v«
66 0 R A T
locution, of it in Minutius frelix; where lie is fexpofing the folly
'S~—J 0f tlie Egyptian fuperftition. “ Ms (fays he), with
Cynocephalus and her priefts, laments, bemoans, and
feeks her loft fon ; her attendants beat their breafts,
and imitate the grief of the unhappy mother 5 in a little
time the fon is found, upon which they all rejoice. Nor
do they ceafe every year to lofe what they find, or to
find what they lofe. And is it not ridiculous to lament
what you worlhip, or to worfhip what you lament ?” It
ferves like wife to illuftrate and enforce the fenfe, by fet-
ting it in two oppofite views. • As in that expreffiott of
the prophet : “ Wo unto them who call good evil, Und
evil good ; who put darknefs for light, and light for
darknefs !”
Thofe figures which confift in a repetition of wqrds
of a like found or fignification, or both, are four ; pnro-
notnajia, homoioptoton, fyn0nymand derivatio; the two
firft of which refpett words that are fimilar in found on¬
ly, the third in fenfe, and the laft in both.
When twm words very near in found, but different
in fenfe, refpeift each other in the fame fentence, it is
called paranomajia. As when we fay, After a fecijl
comes a fajl; and, A friend in need is a friend indeed.
We ufually call it a pun, which when new, and appo-
fitely ufed, paffes for wit, and ferves to enliven con-
verfation. Nor is it wholly to be excluded from grave
and ferious difeourfes : for a witty jeft has many times
had a better effeeft than a folid argument, and prevail¬
ed with thofe who could not be moved by clofe rea-
foning. And therefore Cicero and the beft fpeakers
have fometimes recourfe to it upon weighty and folemn
occafions, as will be ftiown hereafter in its proper
place.
When the feveral parts of a fentence end with the
fame cafe, or tenfe of a like found, this alfo is confi-
dered as a figure, and named homoioptoton. As thus :
No marvel though wifdorn complain that fhe is either
wilfully defpifed, or carelefsly neglected: either openly
[corned, or fecretly abhorred. This figure is efteemed
moft beautiful when the parts are all of the fame length,
or pretty near it ; as it adds to the harmony of the pe¬
riod, and renders the cadency of the feveral members
more mufical from the juft proportion between them.
The Greek rhetoricians w-ere much addi£ted to this fi¬
gure, and Ifocrates is particularly celebrated for it. But
fome of the beft orators feem to have induftrioufly
avoided it, as carrying in it too much the appearance of
art. And it is remarkable, that this figure appears no¬
where fo much in all the works of Demofthenes, as in
an oration which he did not fpeak himfelf, but wrote
for his friend Diodorus, a man of that tafte, who was to
pronounce it as his own.
The next figure above mentioned is fynom/mia. Now
ftriftly fpeaking, fynonymous words are thofe which
have exactly the fame fenfe. But there being few fuch,
the ufe of the term is fo far extended as to comprehend
words of a near affinity in their fignification, which in
difeourfe are frequently put for one another. So, to de-
fre, and intreat, are fometimes ufed as equivalent terms;
whereas to defre is no more than to wiffi for a thing,
and to vitreat is to exprefs that inclination in woi'ds. In
like manner, efeem and honour 2esr. often taken for fyno¬
nymous words, though they have not precifely the fame
fenfe, but one is the ufual confequence of the other •, for
efteem is the good opinion ive entertain of a perfon in
77
?3
o R Pkrt III,
our mind, and honour the outward expreffion of that Elocution,
opinion. When two or more fuch words come together,
they conftitute this figure. As when Cicero, fpeaking
of Pifo, fays, “ Plis whole countenance, which is the
tacit language of the mind, has drawn men into a mi-
ftake, and deceived, cheated, impofed on thofe who did
not know him.” This figure fometimes adds force to
an expreffion, by enlivening the idea ; and it often pro¬
motes the harmony and juft cadency of a fentence,
which othenvife would drop too foon, and difappoint
the ear.
When fuch words as fpring from the fame root, as
juf ice, juf, injnf ice, unjuf, and the like, come toge¬
ther in the fame fentence, they make the figure called
derivatio. Cicero, obferving the vanity of the philofo-
pliers w ho affe6ted praife at the fame time that they de¬
cried it, ufed this figure, when he fays of them, “ The
philofophers fet their names to thofe very books which
they write for the contempt of glory ; and are defirous
to be honoured and applauded, even for what they lay
in contempt of honour and applaufe.” This figure re¬
ceives an additional beauty when repeated, efpecially in
two oppofite members ; as, He wifked rather to die a
prefeni death, than to live a miferable life.
Art. II. Figures o/"Sentences.
79
Of thefe, fome are principally adapted for reafoning,
and others to move the paffions.
I. Thofe fiiited for proof. Which are fix : Prolepfis, ~r}f.
hypobole, anacoinofs, epitrope, parabole, and antithejis. 0f leEtcn-
Prolepfs, or anticipation, is fo called, when the ora-ces ; fome
tor firft ftarts an objeiftion, which he fort fees may be are for rea-
made either again ft his conduft or caufe, and then an-
fwers it. Its ufe is to foreftal an adverfary, and prevent n!ovirg ^
his exceptions, which cannot afterwards he introduced paffions.
with fo good a grace. Though it haslikewife a farther
advantage, as it ferves to conciliate the audience, while
the fpeaker appears defirous to reprefent matters fairly,
and not to conceal any obiedtion which may be made
againft him. The octafions of this figure are various;
and the manner of introducing it very different. Some¬
times the orator thinks it neeefiary to begin with it, in
order to juftify his condusft, and remove any exceptions
which may be made againft his defign. Cicero, for fe* '
veral years together, after he firft began to plead, had
always been for the defendant in criminal cafes. And
therefore, when he was prevailed with to undertake the
accufation of Verres, he begins his oration with this
apology for himfelf: “ If any one prefent (hould won¬
der, that when for feveral years paft I have fo conducted
royfelf as to defend many and accufe none, I now on a
fudden alter my cuftom, and undertake an accufation :
when he fliall have heard the occafion and reafon of my
defign, he will both approve of it, and think no perfon
fo proper to manage this affair as myfelf.” And then
he proceeds to give an account of the reafons which
moved him to engage in it. At other times the objec¬
tion is admitted as an exception to what has been laid,
but not fo as to affe£I it in general. Thus, when Cicero
has reprefented the advantages of literature and the po¬
lite arts, he ftarts this obje£Hon to what himfelf had
faid, “ But fome one will afk, whether thofe great men,
the memory of whofe glorious afh’ors is delivered down
to pofterity, were acquainted with that fort of learning
Part HI- ORA
Elocution. I fb applaud ?” To which he replies, “ Indeed this can
fcarce be faid of them all. However, the anfwer is
eafy. I have known feveral perfons of excellent abili-
. ties, who, without learning, by the force of an extraor¬
dinary genius have been men of great virtue and folidi-
ty. Nay, I will add, that nature without learning,
lias oftener produced thefe qualifications, than learning
without a genius. But yet it mull Hill be owned, that
where both thefe meet, they form fomething very excel¬
lent and Angular.” Again, at other times, the orator
artfully reprefents the objection as fomething confider-
able and important, to give the greater weight to his
anfwer when he has confuted it. Cicero, in his cele¬
brated oration for the Manilian law, could not omit to
take notice, that Lucullus had already gained feveral
very confiderable advantages over Mithridates. And
therefore, having before defcribed the war as very great
and dangerous, apprehending thefe two accounts might
appear fomewhat inconfiftent, and be liable to an objec¬
tion, he puts it thus artfully himfelf; “ But now, after
what I have faid of Lucullus, it may probably be alked,
How then can the war be fo great ? be pleafed to hear,
for there feems to be very juft reafon for this queftion.”
And then he proceeds to (how, from the power of King
Mithridates at that time, his great abilities, long expe¬
rience. in military affairs, and frefli alliances, that the
war was yet very great and dangerous. But fometimts,
when the orator is fenfible that what he has advanced
lies open to an obje&ion, he omits to make it in exprefs
terms *, and yet proceeds to vindicate what he had faid,
as if it had been made. Thus, when Cicero had charged
Verres with having plundered the inhabitants of Sicily
of all their plate, jewels, and other valuable moveables,
which he thought worth while to carry away ; as the
audience might imagine this to be fcarce credible, he
takes it for granted they thought fo, and therefore im¬
mediately adds, “ As ftrange as this is, I affirm it pofi-
tively, without any intention to aggravate the crime.”
And fo he goes on to the proof of his affertion. But
this figure is likewife made ufe of to guard againft fome
obje&ion, which the fpeaker apprehends may be made,
againft what he defigns to fay. And thus Cicero
ufes it in his oration for Sextius. “ My province (fays
he), as I fpeak laft, feems to call for affeclion to my
friend, rather than his defence •, complaint, rather than
eloquence ; expreffions of grief, rather than art. And
therefore, if I ffiall exprefs myfelf with more warmth, or
greater freedom, than thofe who have fpoke before me,
I hope'you will grant me all that liberty of fpeech
which you judge reafonable to be allowed to an affec¬
tionate forrow and juft refentment.” This figure re¬
quires great prudence and diferetion in the management
of it. The fpeaker muft confider well the temper, bias,
and other circumftances of his hearers, in order to form
a right judgment what parts of his difeourfe may be
moft liable to exception. For to objeft fuch things,
which the hearers would never have thought of tbem-
felves, is to give himfelf a needlefs trouble j and to ftart
fuch difficulties, which he cannot afterwards fairly re¬
move, will expofe both himfelf and his caufe. But as
nothing gives an audience greater pleafure and fatisfac-
tion, than to have their fcruples fully anfwered as they
rife in their thoughts j fo, on the contrary, be a dif¬
eourfe otherwife ever fo entertaining and agreeable, if
r O R Y. 367
there be any doubt left upon the minds of the hearers, Elocution,
it gives them a pain that continues with them till it be ^ 'f
removed.
The figure kijpobole or fubjeEtion, is not much un- 'Si
like the former j and is, when feveral things are men¬
tioned that feem to make for the contrary fide, and
each of them refuted in order. It confifts of three
parts, when complete ; a propofition, an enumeration
of particulars with their anfwers, and a conclufion.—
Tims Cicero, upon his return from banifhment, vin¬
dicates his conduct in withdrawing fo quietly, and not
oppofing the faftion that ejected him. “ My departure
(fays he) is objedled to me; which charge I cannot an¬
fwer without commending myfelf. For what muft X
fay ? That I fled from a confcioufnefs of guilt ? But
what is charged upon me as a crime, was fo far from
being a fault, that it is the moft glorious adlion fince the
memory of man, (lie means his punifhing the affociates
of Catiline). That I feared being called to an account
by the people ? That was never talked of; and if it had
been done, I fliould have come off with double honour.
That I wanted the fupport of good and honeft men ?
That is falfe. That I was afraid of death ? That is a
calumny. I muft therefore fay, what I would not, un-
lefs compelled to it, that I withdrew to preferve the
city.” When the objeefions are put by way of queftion,
as in the example here given, they add a brifknefs and
poignancy to the figure. All the parts of it are not
conftantly expreffed. For thus Cicero in his defence of
Piancius introduces his adverfary objecting, and himfelf
anfwering, “ The people judged ill, but they did judge ;
they ftiould not have done it, but they had a power ; I
cannot fubmit to it, but many very great and wife men
have.”—Both the propofition and conclufion are here
omitted.
The next figure in order is anacoinojis, or communi- 8s
cation; by which the fpeaker deliberates either with
the judges, the hearers, or the adverfary himfelf.
Thus Cicero addreffes the judges in his accufation of
Verres : “ Now7 I defire your opinion what you think
I ought to do. And I know your advice will be,
though you do not declare it, what appears to me ne-
ceffary to be done.” In another place we find him
reafoning in this manner with the adverfe party :
“ What could you have done in fuch a cafe, and at
fuch a time : when to have fat ftill, or withdrawn,
would have been cowardice ? When the wickednefs
and fury of Saturnius the tribune had called you into
the canitol; and the confuls, to defend the fafety and
liberty of your country ; whofe authority, whofe voice,
which party would you have followed, and whofe com¬
mand would you have chofen to obey ?” This figure
carries in it an air of modefty and condefcenfion, when
the fpeaker feems unwilling to determine in his owm
caufe, but refers it to the opinion of others. It like¬
wife fliows a perfuafion of the equity of his caufe, that
he can leave it to their arbitration ; and ferves very
much to conciliate their minds, while he joins them,
as it were with himfelf, and makes them of his party.
And when the appeal is made to the adverfe party, it
is of confiderable advantage, either to extort a con-
feffion, or at leaft to filence him. And therefore the
facred writers fometimes very beautifully introduce God
himfelf thus expoftulating with mankind; as the prophet
Malachi,
4-
368 O R A T
^Elocution.^ Malaclii, A fon honoufeth his father, and a fervant his
v tnajier. If then I be a father, where is mine honour ?
and if I be a majier, where is my fear ?
83 Another figure that comes under this head, is epi-
trope or concefjion ; which grants one thing, to obtain
another more advantageous. It is either real or feign¬
ed ; and either the whole of a thing, or a part only,
is granted. We (hall confidt-r each of thefe feparate-
ly, and illuftrate them with proper examples. No¬
thing more confounds an adverfary, than to grant him
his whole argument; and at the fame time either to
fhow that it is nothing to the purpofe, or to offer
fomething elfe which may invalidate it. / allow, fays
the claimant by will againft the heir at law, that no
body was more nearly related to tlie deceafed than you ;
that he Was wider fame obligations to you; that you
were in the army together; but what is all this to the
will? And thus Cicero in his defence of Ligarius,
who was accufed by Tubero for having joined with
Pompey in the civil war between him and Csefar :
“ You have, Tubero, what an accufer would moft
defire, the accufed perfon confeffmg the charge; but
fo as to affirm, that he was of the fame party with
you and your excellent father. Therefore own firft
that it was a crime in yourfelf, before you charge it
as fuch upon Ligarius.” Sometimes the orator gives
up fome particular point that would wTell admit of a
difpute, to gain fomething more confiderable, which
he thinks cannot fairly be denied him. In the affair
of Rofcius, where the proof depended upon circum-
flances, Cicero, who defended him, inquires what rea-
fon could be alleged for his committing fo black a
crime, as to kill bis father. And after he has ffiown
there was no probable reafon to be affigned for it, he
adds, “ Well, fince you can offer no reafon, although
this might be fufficient for me, yet I will recede from
my right; and upon the affurance I have of his inno¬
cence, I will grant you in this caufe what I would not
in another. I do not therefore infill upon your tell¬
ing me why he killed his father, but alk how he did
it ?” This appearance of candour and ingenuity in
fuch conceffions removes the fufpicion of art, and gives
greater credit to what is denied. We have an example
of a feigned or ironical conceffion in Cicero’s defence of
Flaccus: where, interceding for him on the account of
his former good fervices in the time of Catiline’s con-
fpiracy, he fays in a way of irony, If fuch tilings are to
be overlooked, “ let us appeafe the ghofts of Lentulus
and Cethegus; let us recal thofe who are in exile ; and
let us be puniffied for our too great affedlion and love
for our country.” By this artful infinuation, the ora¬
tor after he has ufed all his arguments to perfuade his
hearers, does as it wrere fet them at liberty, and leave
them to their own eledlion; it being the nature of man
to adhere more ftedfaftly to what is not violently im-
pofed, but referred to his otvn free and deliberative
choice. And to thefe feigned conceffions may be re¬
ferred fuch ways of reafoning, by which the orator both
juftifies a charge brought againft him upon the fuppofi-
tion of its being true, and alfo proves that the charge
itfelf is falfe. Thus Cicero, in his defence of Milo, re-
prefents the taking off Clodius, with which Milo was ac¬
cufed, as a glorious aclion; after he has ffiovm that Milo’s
fervants did it without the knowledge of their mafter.
Parabole or fmilitude, illuftrates a thing by com-
O I Y. Part m
paring it with fome other, to which it hears a refem- Elocution,
blance. Similitudes are indeed generally but Aveak
arguments, though often beautiful and fine ornaments.
And where the defign of them is not fo much to prove
what is doubtful, as to fet things in a clear and agree¬
able light, they come properly under the notion of fi¬
gures. They are of two forts ; Ample and compound.
Thofe are called f tuple, in which one thing only is
likened or compared to another, in this manner : As
fwallows appear in fummer, but in winter retreat; fo
falfe friends JhoW themfelves in profperity, but all fy
away when adverfity approaches. Compound fimilitudes
are fuch, wherein one thing is likened or compared to fe-
veral others ; as thus : What light is to the World, phy-
jic to the Jick, water to the thirjly, and rejl to the weary)
that is knowledge to the mind. The more exa£l the a-
greement is between the things thus compared, they
give the greater beauty and grace to the figure.
Antithefs, or oppoftion, by which things contrary 85
or different are compared, to render them more evi¬
dent. Thus Cicero fays, “ The Roman people hate
private luxury, but love public grandeur.” This is
a very florid figure ; and fuited no lefs for amplifica¬
tion than proof. As in the following inftance of Cicero,
where, fpeaking of Pompey, he fays, “ He waged more
wars than others had read ; conquered more provinces
than others had governed ; and had been trained
up from his youth to the art of war, not by the precepts
of others, but by his own commands ; not by mifear-
riages in the field, but by viftories ; not by campaigns,
but triumphs.” It is efteemed a beauty in this figure
when any of the members are inverted, which fome
call antimetathejis. As where Cicero, oppofing the con-
duft of Verres Avhen governor of Sicily, to that of Mar-
cellus who took Syracufe the capital city of that ifland,
fays, “ Compare this peace with that war, the arrival of
this governor with the viiftory of that general, his pro¬
fligate troops with the invincible army of the other, the
luxury of the former with the temperance of the latter 5
you Avill fay, that Syracufe w'as founded by him who
took it, and taken by him who held it when founded.”
To this figure may alfo be referred oxymoron, or feem-
ing contradiBion ; that is, "when the parts of a fentence
difagree in found, but are confiftent in fenfe. As when
Ovid fays of Althea, that Jhe was impioufly pious. And
fo Cato ufed to fay of Scipio Africanus, that “ he was
never lefs at leifure, than when he was at leifure ; nor
lefs alone, than when alone:” By which he meant, as
Cicero tells us, that “ Scipio was wmnt to think of bufi-
nefs in his retirement, and in his folitude to converfe
with himfelf.” This is a ftrong and bold figure, which
aW'akens the mind, and affords it an agreeable pleafure
to find upon refleflion, that what at firft feemed con-
tradi£lory, is not only confiftent with good fenfe, but
very beautiful.—The celebrated Dr Blair, whom we
have more than once quoted in this article, has thefe
obfervations on antithefis, or the contraft of two objefts.
“ Contraft has always this effeft, to make each of the
contrafted obje£ls appear in the ftronger light. White,
for inftance, never appears fo bright as when it is op-
pofed to black, and when both are viewed together.
Antithefis, therefore, may, on many occafions be em¬
ployed to advantage, in order to ftrengthen the im-
preffion which we intend that any objedft fliould make.
In order to render an antithefis more complete, it is
always
Part III. O II A T
Elocution, always of advantage that the words and members of the
fentence, expreffing the contrafted objects, be fimilarly
conftru&ed, and made to correfpond to each other. This
leads us to remark the contraft more, by fetting the
things which we oppofe more clearly over againft each
other 5 in the fame manner as when we contraft a
black and a white objedt, in order to perceive the full
difference of their colour, we would choofe to have
both objedts of the fame bulk, and placed in the fame
light. Their refemblance to each other, in certain
eircumftances, makes their difagreement in others more
palpable. At the fame time 1 muft obferve, that the
frequent ufe of antithefis, efpecially where the oppofition
in the words is nice and quaint, is apt to render the
ftyle difagreeable. A maxim, or moral faying, proper¬
ly enough receives this form •, both becaufe it is fuppo-
fed to be the fruit of meditation, and becaufe it is de-
figned to be engraven on the memory, which recals it
more eafily by the help of fuch contrafted expreflions.
But where a firing of fuch fentences fucceed each other,
where this becomes an author’s favourite and prevailing
manner of exprefling himfelf, his ftyle is faulty *, and it
is upon this account Seneca has been often and juftly
cenfured. Such a ftyle appears too ftudied and labour¬
ed •, it gives us the impreftion of an author attending
more to his manner of faying things, than to the things
themfelves rvhich he fays.” There is ftill another kind
of antithefis, which confifts in furprifing us by the un-
expedted contrafts of things which it brings together ;
but it is fuch as is wholly beneatli the dignity of an ora¬
tor, or of grave compofitions of any fort, and is fit only
for pieces of profeffed wit and humour, calculated only
to excite laughter or create ridicule.
II. Thofe failed to move the pajfions. Which are 13 ;
kind ot fi- namely, epanorthofs, paralepjis, parrhejia, aparithmefis,
fentences exergafai hypotijpofs, aporia, pofopefts, erotejis, ecphone-
f s, epiphonemn, upoflrophe, and profopopeia.
Epanorthojis, or correction, is a figure, by which the
fpeaker either recals or amends what he had laft faid.
It is ufed different ways. For fometimes one or more
words are recalled by him, and others fubjoined in their
room ; at other times, without recalling what has been
faid, fomething elfe is fubftituted as more fuitable. This
is a very extenfive figure, and made ufe of in addreffing
different paflions. We have an inftance of it in Te¬
rence’s Self-tormentor, where the old man, whofe extra¬
ordinary concern for the abfence of his fon gave occa-
fion to the name of the play, thus bewails his condition
to his neighbour. “ I have an only fon, Chremes. A-
las! did I fay that I have : I had indeed •, but it is now
uncertain whether I have or not.” Here, to aggravate
his misfortune, he recals a pleafing word, and fubftitutes
another more affefling in its place. And Cicero, in his
defence of Milo, fpeaking to the judges concerning
Clodius, favs, “ Are you only ignorant what law's, if
they may be called law's, and not rather torches and
plagues of the ftate, he wras about to impofe and force
upon us ?” Again, in his defence of Plancius, he fays,
“ What greater blow could thofe judges, if they are to
be called judges, and not parricides of their country,
have given to the ftate, than when they baniihed him,
who when praetor freed the republic from a neighbouring
war, and when conful from a civil one ?” He is fpeak¬
ing there of Opimius. But in commending the mode¬
ration of Lucius Mummius, who did not enrich himfelf,
Vox.. XV. Part I.
S5
The fecond
O R Y.
but his country, by demolifhing the wealthy city of Co¬
rinth, he thus recals his whole expreffion, and by giving
it a neAV turn, heightens the compliment he defigned
him : “ He chofe rather (fays he) to adorn Italy than
his own houfe $ though by adorning Italy his houfe
feems to have received the greatelt ornament.” And
fometimes the corredlion is made by fubftituting fome¬
thing contrary to what had been faid before j as in
the following paffage of Cicero : “ Caefar (meaning Au-
guftus), though but a youth, by an incredible and fur¬
prifing refolution and courage, when Antony was moft
enraged, and wre dreaded his cruel and pernicious return
from Brundufium, at a time when we neither alked, nor
expefted, nor defired it (becaufe it was thought impof-
fible), raifed a very powerful army of invincible vete¬
rans ; to effedl which he threw away his whole eftate :
Though I have ufed an improper word ; for he did not
throw it away, but employed it for the fafety ot the
government.” At other times, as has been faid, the
correftion is made by adding a more fuitable word, with¬
out any repetition of the former. Thus Cicero, after he
has inveighed agaiuft the crimes of Verres, breaks out
into this pathetic exclamation : 0 the clemency, or rather
wonderful and jingular patience, of the Roman people l
He did not think the word clemency ftrong enough, and
therefore adds patience, as better anfwering his defign.
The fudden and unexpected turn of this figure gives a
furprife to the mind, and by that means renders it the
more pathetic.
Paralepfs, or omifjion, is another of thefe figures*
when the fpeaker pretends to omit, or pafs by, what at
the fame time he declares. It is ufed either in praife or
difpraife. Thus Cicero, in his defence of Sextius, in¬
troduces his character in this manner, with a defign to
recommend him to the favour of the court: “ I might
fay many things of his liberality, kindnefs to his domef-
tics, his command in the army, and moderation during
his office in the province : but the honour of the ftate
prefents itfelf to my view ; and calling me to it, advifes
me to omit thefe leffer matters.” But in his oration to
the fenate againft Rullus the tribune, who had propofed
a law to fell the public lands, he makes ufe of this figure
to reprefent the pernicious effefts of fuch a law, parti¬
cularly with refpecEt to the lands in Italy. “ I do not
complain (fays he) of the diminution of our revenues,
and the woeful effects of this lofs and damage. I omit
what may give every one occafion for a very grievous
and juft complaint, that we could not preferve the prin¬
cipal eftate of the public, the fineft poffeffion of the Ro¬
man peeple, the fund of our provifions, the granary of
our wants, a revenue entrufted with the ftate ; but that
w'e mull give up thofe lands to Rullus, which, after the
power of Sylla, and the largeffes of the Gracchi, are
yet left us. • I do not fay, this is now the only revenue
of the ftate, which continues when others ceafe, is an or¬
nament in peace, fails us not in war, fupports the army,
and does not fear an enemy. I pafs over all thefe
things, and referve them for my difeourfe to the people,
and only fpeak at prefent of the danger of our peace
and liberties.” His view here w'as to raife the indigna¬
tion of the fenate againft Rullus, and excite them to op¬
pofe the law. There is a beautiful inftance of this fi¬
gure in St Paul’s eplllle to Philemon, Avhere, after he
has earneftly intreated him to receive again Onefimus
his fervant, Avho had run from him, and promifed that if
3 A he
369
Elocution.
S7
57o O IV A T
Elocution, he had wronged him, or owed him any thing, he would
' v repay it, he adds, That l may not fay, you owe even
yourfeif to ?ne. Nothing could be a llronger motive to
foften his difpleafure again it his llrvant, from a fenfe of
gratitude to the apoltle. Hermogenes has obferved,
that the defign of this figure is to poflefs the minds of
the audience with more than the words exprefs, and that
it is principally made ufe of on three occafions : either
when things are fmall, but yet neceffary to be mention¬
ed ; or well known, and need not be enlarged on j or
ungrateful, and therefore fhould be introduced with cau¬
tion, and not fet in too ifrong a light.
S8 The next figure above-mentioned was Parrhejta, or
reprehenfion : Not that whenever a perfon admonilhes
or reproves another it is to be eifeemed a figure ; but
when it is done with art and addrefs, and in fuch cir-
eumftances as render it difticult not to difpleafe.— I he
orator therefore fometimes prepares his hearers for this
by commending them firft, urging the neceffity of it,
reprefenting his great concern for them as his motive, or
joining himfelf with them. Thus Cicero charges the
fenate with the death of Servius Sulpicius, for fending
him to Mark Antony, under a very ill ftate of health.
And his defign in it was to bring them more readily in¬
to a motion he was about to make, that both a flatue
and a fepulchral monument might be credit'd to his me¬
mory at the public expence. “ You (fays he), it is a
very fevere expreffion, but I cannot help laying it •, you,
I fay, have deprived Servius Sulpicius of his life. It
was not from cruelty indeed (for what is there with
which this affembly is lefs chargeable ?), but when his
di(temper pleaded his excufe more than his words, from
the hopes you conceived that there was nothing which
his authority’ and wifdom might not be able to effedt,
you vehemently oppofed his excufe, and obliged him,
who always had the greateft regard for your commands,
to recede from his refolution.” Sometimes, indeed, the
orator afiumes an air of reproof, with a view only to pafs
a compliment with a better grace. As Cicero in his ad¬
drefs to Caefar, when he fays, “ I hear that excellent
and wife faying from you with concern, That you have
lived long enough, either for the purpofes of nature, or
glory : for nature, perhaps, if you think fo : and, if you
pleafe, for glory : but, what is principally to be regarded,
not for your country.” It'adds both a beauty and force
to this figure, when it is expreffed in a way of comparifon.
As in the following inllance of Cicero : “ But fince
my difcourfe leads me to this, confider how you ought
to be affedled for the dignity and glory of your empire.
Your anceftors often engaged in war to redrefs the inju¬
ries of their merchants or failors : how ought you then
to refent it, that fo many thoufand Roman citizens were
murdered by one meffage, and at one time ? \ our
forefathers deftroyed Corinth, the principal city in
Greece, for the haughty treatment of their ambaffadors ;
and will you fuffer that king to go unpunilhed, who has
put to death a Roman legate, of confular dignity, in the
moft ignominious as well as molt cruel manner ? See,
left, as it was their honour to leave you the glory of fo
great an empire, it fhould prove your difgrace not to be
able to maintain and defend what you have received
from them.” By this figure an addrefs is made to the
more tender paflions, modefty, flrame, and emulation, the
attendants of an ingenuous temper, which is foonefl:
touched, and moft: affe&ed, by a juft reproof.
O R Y. Part III
Another of thefe pathetic figures is Aparit/mefs, or Elocution,
enumeration, when that, which might be exprefied in '—“v—
general by a few words, is branched out into lever al par-
ticulars, to enlarge the idea, and render it the more af-
fefting. Cicero, in pleading for the Manilian law,
where his defign is to conciliate the love and efteem of
the people to Pompey, thus enlarges upon his cbara&er r
“ Now, what language can equal the virtue ot Cneius
Pompey ? What can be faid either worthy of him, or
new to you, or which every one has not heard i* For
thofe are not the only virtues of a general which are
commonly thought fo j labour in affairs, courage in dan¬
gers, induftry in acting, defpatch in performing, defign
in contriving} which are greater in him than in all
other generals we have ever feen or heard of.” And
fo likewife, when he endeavours to difpoffefs Pompey of
the apprehenfion that Milo defigned to affaflinate him :
“ If (fays he) you fear Milo ; if you imagine that either
formerly, or at prefent, any ill defign has been formed by
him againll your life j if the foldiers raifed through Italy
(as fome of your officers give out), if thefe arms, if thefe
cohorts in the Capitol, if the Gentries, if the watch, if the
guards which defend your perfon and houfe, are armed
to prevent any attempt of Milo, and all of them ap¬
pointed, prepared, and ftationed on his account; he muff
be thought a perfon of great power, and incredible re-
folution, above the reach and capacity of a fingle man,
that the moft confummate general, and the whole repu¬
blic, are in arms againft him only. But who does not
perceive, that all the difordered and finking parts of the
ftate are committed to you, to redtify and fupport them
by thefe forces ?” This might have been faid in a few
words, that fuch vaft preparations could never be intend¬
ed for fo low a purpofe. But the orator’s view was to
expofe that groundlefs report, and fhame it out of coun¬
tenance. And foon after he endeavours to raife com-
paflion for Milo under thofe prejudices by the fame fi¬
gure : “ See how various and changeable is the ftate
of human life, how unfteady and voluble is fortune,
what infidelity in friends, what difguifes fuited to the
times, what flights, what fears, even of the neareft ac¬
quaintance, at the approach of dangers.” Had no ad¬
drefs to the paflions been defigned here, fewer of thefe
refledlions might have been fufficient. The ufe of this
figure in amplification is very evident from the nature
of it, which confifts in unfolding of things, and by that
means enlarging the conception of them.
Exergafta, or expofition, has an affinity with the for- ^
mer figure : but it differs from it in this, that it confifts
of feveral equivalent expreflions or nearly fuch, in or¬
der to reprefent the fame thing in a ftronger manner;
whereas the other enlarges the idea by an enumeration
of different particulars. So that this figure has a near
relation to fynonymia, of which we have treated before
under Verbal Figures. We have an inftance of it in
Cicero’s defence of Sextius, where he fays, “ Thofe who
at any time have incited the populace to fedition, or
blinded the minds of the ignorant by corruption, or tra¬
duced brave and excellent men, and fuch as deferved
well of the public, have wdth us always been efteemed
vain, bold, bad, and pernicious citizens. But thofe who
repreffed the attempts and endeavours of fuch as, by
their authority, integrity, conftancy, refolution, and
prudence, withftood their infolence, have been always
accounted men of folidity, the chiefs, the leaders, and
fupporters
O U A T O ft Y.
fupnorters of eur dignity and government.” Nothing
m re is intended by this paffage, but to fet the oppofite
chara6ters of factious perfons and true patriots in the
ftrongeft light, with a view to recommend the one, and
create a iuft hatred and deteftation of the other. So
olfewhere he reprefents the juftiee of felf-defence in no
lefs different terms : “ If reafon (fays he) prescribes this
to the learned, and neceffity to barbarians, cultom to na¬
tions, and nature itfelf to brutes, always to ward off all
manner of violence, by all poflible ways, from their body,
from their head, from their life ; you cannot judge this to
be a criminal and wicked a&ion, without judging at the
fame time that all perfons who fall among robbers and
aflaflins rnnft either perifh by their weapons, or your fen-
tence.”—He is addreffing here to the judges in favour
of Milo. The warmth and vehemence of the fpeaker
often runs him into this figure, when he is affedfed with
his fubjedf, and thinks no words, no expreffions, forcible
enough to convey his fentiments *, and therefore repeats
one after another, as his fancy fuggefts them. This flow
of expreffion, under the condudf of a good judgment, is
often attended with advantage •, as it warms the hearers,
and impreffes their minds, excites their paflions, and
helps them to fee things in a ftronger light.
Hi/poti/pojts, or imagery, is a defeription of things
painted in fuch ftrong and bright colours, as may help
the imagination of the hearers to conceive of them ra¬
ther as prefent to their view, than deferibed in words.
It is peculiarly fuited for drawing charafters \ and often
affords the fined; ornaments in poetry and hiftory, as well
as oratory. Nor is it lefs moving, but fuited to ftrike
different pafllons, according to the nature of the fub-
jeft, and artful management of the fpeaker. Cicero has
thus drawn the pidlure of Catiline, confiding of an un¬
accountable mixture of contrary qualities. “ He had
(fays he) the appearance of the greated: virtues : he
made ufe of many ill men to carry on his defigns, and
pretended to be in the intered: of the bed; men ; he had
a very engaging behaviour, and did not want indudry
and application ; he gave into the greated: loofenefs, but
was a good foldier. Nor do I believe there was ever
the like rnonder in the world, made of fuch jarring and
repugnant qualities and inclinations. Who at one time
was more acceptable to the bed; men, and who more in¬
timate with the word: > Who was once a better patriot,
and who a greater enemy to this date ? Who more de¬
voted to pleafures, who more patient in labours ? Who
more rapacious, and yet more profufe ? He fuited him-
felf to the humours of all he converfed with : was feri-
ous with the referved, and pleafant with the jocofe 5
grave with the aged, and facetious with the young •, bold
with the daring, and extravagant with the prodigate.”
Such a charafler of a man, when accompanied with
power and intered, mud: render him no lefs the objeft of
fear than detedation, which was the dedgn of Cicero in
this defeription. And elfewhero, in order to prevail
with the fenate to direft the execution of thofe confpi-
rators with Catiline who were then in prifon, he paints
the mod difmal feene of that horrid defign in the fhong-
ed colours. “ Methinks (fays he) I fee this city, the
light of the world, and citadel of all nations, fuddenly
falling into one fire ; I perceive heaps of miferable ci¬
tizens buried in their ruined country ; the countenance
and fury of Cethegus raging in your daughter, prefents
itfelf to my view.” This figure is very ferviceable in
amplification, as we have formerly fhewn in treating up- F
on that fubject. But no fmali judgment is requited in
the management of deferiptions. Leffer circumftances
fhould either be wholly omitted, or but fiightly touch¬
ed ; and thofe which are more mate:ial drawn in their
due proportion. Nature is as much the rule of the ora¬
tor as ot the painter, and what they both propofe to imi¬
tate. And therefore, let a thought be ever fo pleafing
and beautiful in itfelf, it mult not be introduced w hen
foreign to the purpofe, or out of its place, any more
than a painter iliould attempt to alter nature when he
propofes to copy it. This figure requires likewife a vi¬
gorous and lively genius. For the images in defeription
can rife no higher than the conception of the fpeaker,
fince the idea mud fird be formed in his own mind be¬
fore he can convey it to others; and agreeably to the
clearnefs with which he conceives it himfelf, he will be
able to exprefs it in words.
Aporia, or doubt, exprefles the debate of the mind
with itfelf upon a preding difficulty. A perfon in inch,
a date is apt to hefitate, or dartfeveral things fuccedive-
Iv, without coming to any fixed refolution. The unea-
finefs arifing from fuch a diforder of thought is natural¬
ly very moving. Of this kind is that of Cicero for
Cluentius, when he fays, “ I know not which way to
turn myfelf. Shall I deny the fcandal thrown upon
him of bribing the judges ? Can I fay the people were
not told of it ? that it vras not talked of in the court'
mentioned in the fenate ? Can I remove an opinion fo
deeply and long rooted in the minds of men ? It is
not in my powrer. You, judges, muff fupport his in¬
nocence, and refeue him from this calamity.” Orators
fometimes choofe to begin their difeourfe with this fi¬
gure. A diffidence of mind at fird is not unbecoming,
hut graceful. It carries in it an air of modefty, and
tends very much to conciliate the affedfions of the hear¬
ers. Livy gives us a very elegant example of this in a
fpeech of Scipio Africanus to his foldiers, when, calling
them together after a fedition, he thus befpeaks them :
“ I never thought I fhould have been at a lofs in whaj
manner to addrefs my army. Not that I have applied
myfelf more to words than things •, but becaufe I have
been accuftomed to the genius of foldiers, having been
trained up in the camp almod from my childhood. But
I am in doubt what or how to fpeak to you, not know¬
ing what name to give you. Shall I call you citizens,
who have revolted from your country ? Soldiers, who
have difowned the authority of your general, and broke
your military oath ? Enemies ? I perceive the mien, the
afpedl, and habit of citizens *, but difeern the a&ions,
words, defigns, and difpofitions of enemies.”
Sometimes a paffion has that effect, not fo much to
render a perfon doubtful what to fay, as to flop him in
the midft of a fentence, and prevent his exprefling the
whole of what he defigned ; and then it is called Apojio-
pefis, or concealment. It denotes different paflions *, as
anger, which, by reafon of its heat and vehemence,
caufes perfons to break off abruntly in their difeourfe.
So the old man in Terence, when he was jealous that
his fervant obftrudfed his defigns, ufes this imperfect but
threatening expreflion, Whom, if I find. And Nep¬
tune, when deferibed by Virgil as very angry that the
winds fhould prefume to diflurb the fea without his per-
miflion, after he has called them to him to know the
reafon of it, threatens them in this abrupt manner :
3 A 2 “ Whom
372 ORA
Elocution.
—v   “ Whom I-—but firft I’ll lay the ftorm.”
But Cicero, in writing to Atticus, applies it to exprefs
grief, where he fays, “ I know nothing of Poinpey, and
believe he mult be taken, if he is not got on thipboard.
O incredible fwiftnefs ! But of our friend—Though I
cannot accufe him without grief, for whom I am in fo
much concern and trouble.” And in a letter to Caf-
fius he ufes it to exprefs fear, when he fays to him,
“ Brutus could fcarce fupport himfelf at Mutina j if he
is fafe, we have carried the day. But if—heaven avert
the omen ! all muft have reeourfe to you.” His mean¬
ing is, “ If Brutus fhould be defeated.”
J4 The next figure is erotejts, or interrogation. But
every interrogation or queftion is not figurative. When
we inquire about a thing that is doubtful, in order to be
informed, this is no figure, but the natural form of fuch
expreffions. As if I alk a perfon, Where he is going ?
or what he is doing ? But then it becomes figurative
when the fame thing may be expreifed in a dire£t man¬
ner ; but the putting it by way of queflion gives it a
much greater life and fpirit. As when Cicero fays,
“ Catiline, how long will you abufe our patience ? do
not you perceive your defigns are difeovered ?” He
might indeed have faid, TCoa abufe our patience a long
while. You muf be fenfible your defgns are difeovered.
But it is eafy to perceive how much this latter way of
expreflion falls fhort of the force and vehemence of the
former. And fo when Medea fays, I could fave ; and
do you afk if I can defray ? Had (lie faid, / could fave,
and I can defray, the fentence had been flat, and very
unfit to exprefs the rage and fury in which the poet there
reprefents her. This figure is fuited to exprefs mofl: paf-
fions and emotions of the mind, as anger, difdain, fear, de¬
fire, and others. It ferves alfo to prefs and bear down an
adverfary. Cicero frequently makes this ufe of it. As
in his defence of Plancius : “ I will make you this offer
(fays he), choofe any tribe you pleafe, and fliow, as you
ought, by whom it was bribed ; and if you cannot, as
I believe you will not undertake it, I will prove how he
gained it. Is this a fair conteft ? Will you engage on
this foot ? I cannot give you fairer play. Why do you
dilfemble ? Why do you hefitate ? I infift upon it, urge
you to it, prefs it, require, and even demand it of you.”
Such a way of pufhing an antagonift fhows the fpeaker
has great confidence in his caufe ; otherwife he would
never lay himfelf fo open, if he was not affured the other
party had nothing to reply. This figure likewife diver-
fifies a difeourfe, and gives it a beautiful variety, by
altering the form of expreffion, provided it be nei¬
ther too frequent, nor continued too long at once.
And befides, the warmth and eager manner in which
it is expreffed, enlivens the hearers, and quickens their
attention.
95 Ecphonefs, or exclamation, is a vehement extenfion
of the voice, occafioned by a commotion of mind, na¬
turally venting itfelf by this figure, which is ufed by
Cicero to exprefs a variety of paflions. It often denotes
refentment or indignation. Thus, after his return from
banifhment, reflefting on thofe who had occafioned it,
he breaks out into this moving exclamation : “ O
mournful day to the fenate, and all good men, calami¬
tous to the ftate, afflidtive to me and my family, but
glorious in the view of pofterity !” His defign was to
excite an odium againft the authors of his exile, when
4;.
r OR \. Part in.
recalled in fo honourable a manner. And again, in his Elocution,
defence of Caelius : “ O the great force of truth 5 which
eafily fupports itfelf againfl the wit, craft, fubtilty, and
artful defigns of men !” He had been juft ftiowingthe
abfurdity of the charge againft Caslius, and now endea¬
vours to expofe his accufers to the indignation of the
court. At other times it is ufed to exprefs difdain or
contempt. As when fpeaking of Pompey’s houfe
which was bought by Mark Antony, he fays: “ O con-
fummate impudence ! dare you go within that houfe !
dare you enter that venerable threlhold, and (how your
audacious countenance to the tutelar deities which refide
there.” Nor is it lefs fuited to indicate grief, as when
he fays of Milo : “ O that happy country, which lhall
receive this man ! ungrateful this, if it banifli him! mi-
ferable if it lofe him !” And fometimes it ferves
to exprefs admiration : as when, in compliment to Cae-
far, he fays, “ O admirable clemency ! worthy of the
greateft praife, the higheft encomiums, and moft lafting
monuments !” It has its ufe alfo in ridicule and irony..
As in his oration for Balbus, where he derides his accu-
fer, by faying, “ O excellent interpreter of the law !
mafter of antiquity ! corre&or and amender of our con-
ftitution 1” The facred writers fometimes ufe it by wjay
of intreaty or wilh. As the royal Pfalmift : “ O that
I had the wftngs of a dove, that I might fly away, and
be at reft !” And at other times in triumph and exul¬
tation, as in that of St Paul : “ O death, where is thy
fting ! O grave, wftiere is thy viftory !” It is frequent¬
ly joined with the preceding figure interrogation; as
appears in fome of the inftances here brought from Ci¬
cero. And it generally follows the reprefentation of
the thing which occafions it. Though fbmetimes it is
made ufe of to introduce it, and then it ferves to pre¬
pare the mind by exciting its attention. Thus Cicero,
in his defence of Caelius, to render the charadler of
Clodia more odious, at whofe inftigation he was accu-
fed, infinuates that ftie had before poifoned her hufband ;
and to heighten the barbarity of the fa£t, and make it
appear the more {hocking, he introduces the account of
it with this moving exclamation: “ O heavens, why do
you fometimes wink at the greateft crimes of mankind,
or delay the punithment of them to futurity !”
Epiphonema, or acclamation, has a great affinity with 96
the former figure. And it is fo called, w’ben the fpeak¬
er, at the conclufion of his argument, makes fome live¬
ly and juft remark upon what he has been faying, to
give it the greater force, and render it the more affefting
to his hearers. It is not fo vehement and impetuous as
exclamation, being ufually expreflive of the milder and
more gentle paflions. And the refleftion ought not on¬
ly to contain fome plain and obvious truth, but likewife
to arife naturally from the difeourfe which occafioned it,
otherwife it lofes its end. When Cicero has flrown, that
recourfe is never to be had to force and violence, but in
cafes of the utmoft neceflity, he concludes with the fol¬
lowing remark : “ Thus to think, is prudence; to a<ft,.
fortitude 5 both to think and a<ft, perfedl and confum-
mate virtue.” And elfewhere, after he has deferibed a.
fingular inftance of cruelty and breach of friendfliip:
“ Hence (fays he) we may learn, that no duties are fo
facred and folemn rvhich covetoufnefs will not violate.”
This figure is frequently exprefled in a way of admira¬
tion. As when Cicero has obferved, that all men are
defirous to live to an advanced age, but uncafy under it;
when
Part III* ORA.
Elocution, when attained, he makes this juft reflection upon fuch a
v—-y——' conduct: “ So great is their inconftancy, folly, and per-
verfenefs !”
The next figure in order is apoftrophe, or add refs,
when the fpeaker breaks oflF from the feries of his dif-
courfe, and addreffes himfelf to fome particular perfon
prefent or abfent, living or dead ; or to inanimate na¬
ture, as endowed with fenfe and realbn. By this means
he has an opportunity of faying many things with
greater freedom than perhaps would be confident with
decency if immediately directed to the perfons them-
felves. He can admonilh, chide, or cenfure, without
giving offence. Nor is there any paffion, but may be
very advantageoutly expreffed by this figure. When an
orator has been fpeaking of any particular perfon, on a
fudden to turn upon him, and apply the difcourfe to that
perfon himfelf, is very moving •, it is like attacking an
adverfary by furprife, when he is off his guard, and
where he leaft experts it. Thus Cicero : “ I defire, fe-
nators, to be merciful, but not to appear negligent in fo
great dangers of the ftate j though at prefent I cannot
but condemn myfelf of remiffnefs. There is a camp
formed in Itaty, at the entrance of Etruria, againft the
ftate 5 our enemies increafe daily •, but we fee the com¬
mander of the camp, and general of the enemies, within
our walls, in the very fenate, contriving fome inteftine
ruin to the ftate. If now, Catiline, I ftiould order you
to be feized and put to death, I have reafon to fear, that
all good men would rather think I had deferred it too
long, than charge me with cruelty. But I am prevail¬
ed with for a certain reafon not to do that yet, which
ought to have been done long fince.” This fudden turn
of the difcourfe to Catiline himfelf, and the addrefs to
him in that unexpefted manner, muft have touched him
very fenfibly. So, in his defence of Milo, exprefling
his concern if he fliould not fucceed in it, he fays,
“ And how fliall I anfwer it to you, my brother Quin¬
tus, the partner of my misfortunes, who are now ab¬
fent ?” And elfewhere addrefling to the foldiers of the
Martian legion, who had been killed in an engagement
with Mark Antony, he thus befpeaks them : “ O happy
death, which, due to nature, was paid to your country !
I may efteem you truly born for your country, who like-
wife received your name from Mars \ fo that the fame
deity feems to have produced this city for the world,
and you for this city.” And in his oration for Balbus,
he thus calls upon dumb nature to witnefs to Pompey’s
virtues : “ I invoke you, mute regions $ you, moft di-
ftant countries ; you feas, havens, iflands, and ftiores.
For what coaft, what land, what place is there, in which
the marks of his courage, humanity, wifdom, and pru¬
dence, are not extant ?” An appeal to heaven, or any
part of inanimate nature, has fomething very fublime
and folemn in it, which we often meet with in facred
writ. So the divine prophet: “ Hear, O heavens ! and
give ear, O earth ! for the Lord hath fpoken.” And
in like manner, the prophet Jeremiah: “ Be aftoniftied,
O ye heavens, at this.” See Apostrophe.
sS Profopopeia, or the fiRion of a perfon : by which ei¬
ther an abfent perfon is introduced fpeaking j or one
who is dead, as if he was alive and prefent; or fpeech
is attributed to fome inanimate being. There is no
figure, perhaps, which ferves more or better purpofes
to an orator than this. For by this means he is enabled
O R Y. 373
to call in all nature to his afliftance, and can aflign to Elocution.^
every thing fuch parts as he thinks convenient. There v ‘*
is fcarce any thing fit to be faid, but may be introduced
this way. When he thinks his own character is not of
fufficient w'eight to affeft his audience in the manner he
defires, he fubftitutes a perfon of greater authority than
himfelf to engage their attention. When he hasfevere
things to fay, and which may give offence as coming
from himfelf-, he avoids this, by putting them into the
mouth of fome other perfon from whom they will be
better taken; or makes inanimate nature bring a charge,
or exprefs a refentment, to render it the more affefting.
And by the fame method he fometimes choofes to fecure
himfelf from a fufpicion of flattery, in carrying a com¬
pliment too high. We meet with feveral very beauti¬
ful inftances of this figure in Cicero ; but an example
of each fort may here fuffice, beginning with that of an
abfent perfon, from his defence of Milo, whom he thus
introduces as fpeaking to the citizens of Rome: “ Should
he, holding the bloody fword, cry out, Attend, I pray,
hearken, O citizens, I have killed Publius Clodius ; by
this fword, and by this right hand, I have kept off his
rage from your necks, which no laws, no courts of judi¬
cature, could reftrain ; it is by my means, that juftice,
equity, laws, liberty, ftiame, and modefty, remain in
the city. Is it to be feared how the city would bear
this adlion ? Is there any one nowr, who -would not ap¬
prove and commend it ?” And in his oration for Balbus,
he introduces Marius, who was then dead, to plead in
his defence : “ Can Balbus (fays he) be condemned,
without condemning Marius for a like fa£t ? Let him be
prefent a little to your thoughts, fince he cannot be fo
in perfon; that you may view him in your minds, though
you cannot with your eyes. Let him tell you, he was
not unacquainted with leagues, void of examples, or
ignorant of war.” And again, in his firft invedftive
againft Catiline, he prefents his country as thus expoftu-
lating with himfelf, and upbraiding him for fuftering
fuch a criminal as Catiline to live. “ Should my coun¬
try (fays he), which is much dearer to me than my life,
fhould all Italy, all the ftate, thus addrefs me, Mark
Tully what do you do ? Do you fuffer him, wThom you
have found to be an enemy, who you fee is to be at the
head of the war, whom you perceive your enemies wait
for in their camp as their general, who has been the
contriver of this wickednefs, the chief of the confpiracy,
the exciter of flaves and profligate citizens, to leave the
city, -which is rather to bring him in, than let him out
Will not you order him to be imprifoned, condemned,
and executed ? What prevents you ? Thecuftom of our
anceftors. But private perfons have often puniflied per¬
nicious citizens in this ftate. The laws relating to the
punifhment of Roman citizens ? But traitors never had
the rights of citizens. Do you fear the cenfure of po-
fterity ? Truly you make a very handfome return to the
people of Rome, who have advanced you from an ob-
feure condition fo early to the higheft dignity ; if you
negledl their fafety to avoid envy, or from the appre-
henfion of any danger. And if you fear cenfure ; which
is raoft to be dreaded, that which may arife from juftice
and fortitude, or from cowardice and treachery ? When
Italy ftiall be wafted by a war, cities plundered, and
houfes burnt, do you think then to efcape the fevereft
cenfure ?” In the management of this figure, care fliould
be?
co
99
particular
elocution
treat: of
ftyle and
its vauo''S
charatfiors.
O Pi A T
be taken that what is faid be always confiftent with the
character introduced, in which both the force and
beauty of it conlilt.
In treating upon figures, we have hitherto confidered
them feparately ; but it may not. be amifs to obferve,
that fome expreffions conlift of a complication of them,
and may come under the denomination of feveral figures,
as well verbal as thofe of fenlences, differently confider¬
ed. Thus when Cicero fays, “ What, Tubero, did your
drawn fword do in the Pharfalian battle ? At whole fide
was its point diredfed ? what was the intention of your
arms ?” As he fpeaks to Tubero, it is an apoftrophe; as
the expreflion have much the fame import, and are de-
figned to heighten and aggravate the faff, it is exerga-
fia ; and a< they are put by queftion, it is interrogation.
So liken iie, in his fecond Philippic, where he fays,
“ What'can I think ? that I am contemned ? I fee no¬
thing in my life, intere't, adtions, or abilities, as mode¬
rate as they are, which Antony can defpife. Did he
think he could eafily leffen me in the fenate ? But they,
who have commended many famous citizens for their
good government of the ftate, never thanked any but
me for preferving.it. Would he contend with me for
eloquence ? This would be a favour indeed. For what
could be a larger and more copious fubject, than for me
to fpeak for myfelf againft Antony ? His defign was
really this : he thought he could not convince his affo-
ciates, that lie was truly an enemy to his country, im-
lefs he was fo firlf to me.” There are three figures in
this paflage ; doubt, interrogation, and fubjeBion. And
again, when he introduces Sicily thus addreffmg Verres
in a way of complaint: “ Whatever gold, whatever fil-
ver, whatever ornaments in my cities, dwellings, tem¬
ples, whatever right of any kind I pofTeffed by the fa¬
vour of the fenate and people of Rome j you, Verres,
have plundered and taken from me.” Here is zprofo-
popeia, joined with the verbal figure anaphora, as feve¬
ral members of the fentence begin with the fame word.
The like infiances of cmcnplex figures frequently occur,
and therefore we need not multiply examples of them
here.
PARTICULAR ELOCUTION,
Or that part of Elocution which confiders the fe¬
veral Properties and Ornaments of Language,
as they are made ufe of to form different forts
of Style.
Ch Ap. IV. Of Style, and its d'jferent Chara&ers.
'1 HE word Jlyle properly figrufies the infirument
which the ancients ufed in Writing. For as they com-
moniy wrote upon thin boards eov- red over with wax,
and fometirn s upon the barks of irees, they made ufe
of a long inftruir nt like a bodkin, pointed at one end,
with which they cut their letters-, and broad at the
other, to ersfe anv thi ig they ihofe to alter. And this
the La'ins called Jlylu:. Ru though thh be the firff
fenfe of the word, yet afterwards it came to denote the
manner of expreffion. In which fenfe welikewife ufe it,
bv the fame kind of trope that we tall any one’s writ¬
ing his hard. Style, then, in the common acceptation
of the word at prefeni, is the peculiar manner in which
a man expieues his conceptions by means of language.
It is a picture of the ideas which rife in his mind, and
o R Y. Part III,
of the order in which they are there produced. As to Elocution,
the reafons which occafion a variety of ftyle, they are '"“■“Y'—J
principally thefe.
Since both fpeech and writing are only fenfible expref¬
fions of our thoughts, by which we communicate them
to others 5 as all men think more or lefs differently, fo
confequently they in fome meafure ditfer in their liyle.
No two perfons who were to write upon one fubjedf,
would make uie of all the fame words. And were this
pofiible, yet they would as certainly differ in their order
and connexion, as two painters, who uied the lame co¬
lours in painting the fame picture, would necefi'arily vaiy
their mixtures and difpofition of them, in the feveral
gradations of lights and fhades. As every painter there¬
fore has fomething peculiar in his manner, fo has every
writer in his ftyle. it is from thefe internal chara&ers,
in a good meafure, that critics undertake to difcover the
true authors of anonymous writings, and to fhow that
others are fpurious, and not the genuine produflions of
thofe whofe names they bear ; as they judge of the age
of fuch writings from the words and manner of expref¬
fion which have been in ufe at different times. And
we may often obferve in perfons a fondnefs for fome
particular words or phrafes, and a peculiarity in the
turn or connexion of their fentences, or in their tranfi-
tions from one thing to another -, by which their ftyle
may be known, even when they defign to conceal it.
For thefe things, through cuftom and habit, will fome-
times drop from them, notwithftanding the greateft
caution to prevent it.
There is likewife very often a confiderable difference
in the ftyle of the fame perfon, in feveral parts of his
life. Young perfons, whofe invention is quick and live¬
ly, commonly run into a pompous and luxuriant ftyle.
Their fancy reprefents the images of things to their
mind in a gay and fprightly manner, clothed with a
variety of circumftances ; and while they endeavour to
fet off each of thefe in the brighteft and moft glittering
colours, this renders their ftyle verbofe and florid, but
weakens the force and ffrrngth of it. And therefore, as
their imagination gradually cools, and comes under the
condutt of a more mature judgment, they find it pro¬
per to cut off many fuperfluities; fo that by omitting
unneceffary words and circumftances, and by a clofer
connection of things placed in a ftronger light, if their
ftyle becomes lefs fwelling and pompous, it is, however,
more correft and nervous. But as old age finks the
powers of the mind, chills the imagination, and weakens
the judgment ; the ftyle, too, in proportion ufually
grows dry and languid. Critics have obferved fome-
thir.g of this difference in the writings even of Cicero
himfelf. To be mafter of a good ftyle, therefore, it
feems neceffary that a perfon ftiould be endowed with a
vigorous mind and lively fancy, a ftrong memory, and
a good judgment. It is by the imagination that the
mind conceives the images of things. If the impreffions
of thofe images be clear and diftinCt, the ftyle will be fo
too 5 fince language is nothing but a copy of thofe ima¬
ges firft conceived by the mind. But if the images are
faint and imperfeft, the ftyle will accordingly be flat
and languid. This is evident from the difference be¬
tween fuch objeCts as are reprefented to our fight, and
things of which we have only read or heard. For as
the former generally make a deeper impreflion upon our
minds, fo we can deferibe them in a more ftrong and
lively
f
Part HI.
Elocution, lively manner. And we commonly find, that according
as perfons are affe£ted themfelves when they fpeak, they
are able to affe£t others with what they fay. Now
perfons are more or lefs affe£led with tilings in propor¬
tion to the imprefiions which the images of thofe things
make upon the mind. For the fame reafon alfo, if the
imagination be dull, and indifpofed to receive the ideas
of things, the ftyle will be (tiff and heavy •, or if the
images are irregular and difordered, the ftyle will like-
wife be perplexed and confufed. When things lie
ftraight (as we fay) in the mind, we exprefs them with
eafe, and in their juft connexion and dependence \ but
when they are warpt or crooked, we deliver them with
pain and difficulty, as well as diforder. A good fancy
ihould likewife be accompanied with a happy memory.
This helps us to retain the names of thofe things the
ideas whereof are prefented to the mind by the imagina¬
tion, together with proper and fuitable phrafes to exprefs
them in their feveral connexions and relations to each
other. When the images of things offer themfelves to
the mind, unlefs the names of them prefent themfelves
at the fame time, we are at a lofs to exprefs them, or at
leaft are in danger of doing it by wrong and improper
terms. Befides, variety is neceffary in difcourfe to ren¬
der it agreeable; and, therefore, without a large furni¬
ture of words and phrafes, the ftyle will neceffarily be¬
come inffpid and jejune, by the frequent return of the
fam© terms and manner of expreffion. But to both thefe
a folid judgment is highly requilite to form a juft and
accurate ftyle. A fruitful imagination will furnilh the
mind with plenty of ideas, and a good memory will help
to clothe them in proper language j but unlefs they are
both under the conduX of reafon, they are apt to hurry
perfons into many inconveniences. Such are generally
great talkers, but far from good orators. Frefh images
continually crowd in upon them, fafter than the tongue
can well exprefs them. This runs them into long and
tedious difcourfes, abounding with w'ords, but void of
fenfe. Many impertinences, if not improprieties, necef¬
farily mix themfelves with what they fay ; and they are
frequently carried oft' from their point, by not having
their fancies under a proper regulation. So that fuch
difcourfes, though compofed perhaps of pretty expref-
fions, rhetorical dowers, and fprightly Tallies of wit, yet
fall very much fliort of a ftrong and manly eloquence.
But where reafon prefides and holds the reins, every
thing is weighed before it is fpoken. The propereft
words are made choice of, which beft fuit the ideas they,
are defigned to convey ; rather than the mod gay and
pompous. All things are not faid which offer themfelves
to the mind, and fancy diXates •, but fuch only as are
fit and proper, and the reft are dropped. Some things
are but flightly mentioned, and others difcqurfed on
more largely and fully, according to their different im¬
portance. And every thing is placed in that order, and
clothed in fuch a drefs, as may reprefent it to the greateft
advantage. So that, in a word, the foundation of a
good ftyle is chietly good fenfe. Where thefe qualities
all meet in a confiderable degree, fuch perfons have the
happinefs to excel, either in fpeaking or writing. But
this is not generally the cafe. Many perfons of a vigo¬
rous and fprightly imagination, have but a weak judge¬
ment ■, and others much more judicious can think but
llowlv. Amd it is this, in a great meafure, which makes
the difference between fpeaking and writing well, as one
375
or the other of thefe qualities is predominant. A per- Elocw on.
fon of a lively fancy, ready wit, and voluble tongue,
will deliver himfelf off hand much better and more ac¬
ceptably, than one who is capa. le, upon due premedita¬
tion, to difeern farther into the fubjeX, but cannot com¬
mand his thoughts with the fame eafe and freedom. And
this latter would have the fame advantage of the other,
were they both coolly to offer their fentiments in writing.
Many things appear well in fpeaking, which will not
bear a ftriX ferutiny. While the hearer’s attention is
obliged to keep pace with the fpeaker, he is not at lei- «
fare to obferve every impropriety or incoherence, but
many flips eafily efcape him, which in reading are pre-
fently difeovered. Hence it is often found, that difcour¬
fes, which were thought very fine when heard, appear
to have much lefs beauty, as well as ftrength, when
they come to be read. And therefore it is not without
reafon, that Cicero recommends to all thofe who are
candidates for eloquence, and defirous to become mafters
of a good ftyle, to write much. This affords them an
opportunity to digeft their thoughts, weigh their words
and expreffions, and give every thing its proper force
and evidence ; as likewife, by reviewing a difcourfe
when compofed, to correX its errors, or fupply its de-
feXs; till by praXice they gain a readinefs both to think
juftly, and to fpeak with propriety and eloquence. But
it is time to proceed to fome other caufes of the diverfity
of ftyle.
Different countries have not only a different language,
but likewife a peculiarity of ftyle fuited to their temper
and genius. The eaftern nations had a lofty and ma-
jeftic Avay of fpeaking. Their words are full and fonor-
ous, their expreffions ftrong and forcible, and warmed
with the moft lively and moving figures. This is very
evident from the Jewifli writings in the Old Teftament,
in which we find a moft agreeable mixture of fimplicity
and dignity. On the contrary, the ftyle of the more
northern languages generally partakes of the chillnefs of
their climate “ There is (fays Mr Addifon *) a certain *SpeB,
coldnefs and indifference in the phrafes of our European ° 4°£*
languages, when they are compared with the oriental
forms of fpeech. And it happens very luckily, that the
Hebrew idioms run into the Englifh tongue with a pe¬
culiar grace and beauty. Our language has received
innumerable elegancies and improvements from that in-
fufion of Hebraifms, which arc derived to it out of the
poetical paffages in holy writ. They give a force and
energy to our expreffions, warm and animate our lan¬
guage, and convey our thoughts in more ardent and in-
tenfe phrafes than any that are to be met with in our
own tongue. There is fomething fo pathetic in this
kind of diXion, that it often fets the. mind in a flame,
and makes our hearts burn within us.”
Again, people of different nations vary in their cu-
ftoms and manners, which occafions a diverfity in their
ftyle. This was very remarkable in the Attics, Afia-
tics, and Rhodians, and is often taken notice of by an¬
cient Avriters. The Athenians, while they continued
a free ftate, Avere an aXive, induftrious, and frugal
people : very polite indeed, and cultivated arts and
fciences beyond any other nation : but as thev had
poAverful enemies, and Avere exceedingly jealous of their
liberties, this prefdrved them from Avantonnefs and
luxury. And their Avay of fpeaking was agreeable to
-their conduX} accurate and dole, but very full and ex-
preffive.
ORATORY.
37<5 O R A T
Elocution, preflive. The Afiatics, on the other hand, were more
gay? anci ]00fe jn their manners, devoted to luxury and
pleafure ; and accordingly they affe&ed a florid and
fwelling ftyle, filled with redundancies and fuperfluities
of expreflion. Indeed fome of the ancients have attri¬
buted this loofenefs of ftyle to their way of purfuing elo¬
quence at firft. For as they were put upon it by conver-
ling with the Greek colonies who fettled among them,
they fuppofe, that, in imitating them, before they were
matters of the language, they were often obliged to
• make ufe of circumlocutions, which afterwards became
habitual, and very much weakened the force of their
expreflions, as it naturally would do. But one would
think, if they were put to this neceflity at firft, Avhen
they found its ill effetft, they might eafily have amended
it afterwards, as they grew better acquainted with the
Greek language, had they been inclined fo to do. The
Rhodian ftyle -was a medium between the other two ;
not fo concife and expreflive as the Attic, nor yet fo
loofe and redundant as the Afiatic. Quintilian fays,
it had a mixture of its author, and the humour of the
people -y and like plants fet in a foreign foil, degene¬
rated from the Attic purity, but not fo wholly as to
lofe it. They firft received it from Aifchines, who be¬
ing worfted in his famous conteft with Demofthenes,
retired thither, and taught rhetoric, which put them
upon the ftudy of eloquence.
The ftyle of the fame country likewife very much
alters in different ages. Cicero tells us, that the firft
Latin hiftorians aimed at nothing more than barely to
make themfelves intelligible, and that with as much
brevity as they could. Thofe who fucceeded them
advanced a ftep farther ; and gave fomewhat a better
turn and cadency to their fentences, though ftill with¬
out any drefs or ornament. But afterwards, when the
Greek language became fafluonable at Rome, by co¬
pying after their writers, fuch as Herodotus, Thucy¬
dides, Xenophon, and others, they endeavoured to in¬
troduce all their beauties into their own tongue, which
in Cicero’s time was brought to its higheft perfedtion.
But it did not long continue in that flate. A dege¬
neracy of manners foon altered their tafte, and cor¬
rupted their language, which Quintilian very much
complains of in his time. The cafe was the fame with
refpedt to the Greek tongue $ though that had the
good fortune to continue its purity much longer than
the Latin. Nor can any language be exempt from the
common fate of all human productions j which have their
beginning, perfection, and decay. Befides, there is a
fort of fafhion in language, as well as other things; and
the generality of people are always fond of running into
the mode. Perhaps fome one, or a few perfons, fall
into a manner, which happens to pleafe. This gives
them a reputation ; and others immediately copy after
them, till it generally prevail. Cicero tells us, that the
moft ancient Greek orators whofe writings were extant
in his time, fuch as Pericles, Alcibiades, and others,
were fubtle, acute, concife, and abounded in fenfe rather
than words. But another fet that followed them, of
which were Critias, Theramenes, and Lyfias, retained
the good fenfe of the former, and at the fame time took
more care of their ftyle ; not leaving it fo bare as the
former had done, but furnifliing it with a better drefs.
After thefe came Ifocrates, who added all the flowers
and beauties of eloquence. And as he had abundance
O R Y. Part HI,
of followers, they applied thefe ornaments and decora- Elocution,
tions according to their different genius: fome for pomp l>—■V’-
and fplendour •, and others to invigorate their ftyle, and
give it the greater force and energy. And in this latter
way Demofthenes principally excelled. Now as each of
thefe manners had its peculiar beauties, and generally
prevailed in different ages, Cicero thinks this could not
have happened otherwife than from imitation. And he
attributes it to the fame caufe, that afterwards they
funk into a fofter and fmoother manner, not lefs ex aft
and florid, but more ce>ld and lifelefs. If we take a
view of our own tongue, Chaucer feems to have been
the firft who made any confiderable attempts to cultivate
it. And whoever looks into his writings will perceive
the difference to be fo great from what it is at prefent,
that it fcarce appears to be the fame language. The
gradual improvements it has fince received, are very evi¬
dent in the writers almoft of every fucceeding age fince
that time j and how much farther it may ftill be carried,
time only can difcover. See Language, pajjim : For
the Englilh language in particular, fee N° 38 ; for the
other European languages, as well as the Greek and
Latin, fee N° 27, &c.
Another caufe of the variety of ftyle arifes from the
different nature and properties of language. A dif¬
ference in the letters, the make of the tvords, and the
order of them, do all affeft the ftyle. So Quintilian
obferves, that the Latin tongue cannot equal the
Greek in pronunciation, becaui'e it is harfher. The
Latins want two of the fofteft Greek letters, v and
and ufe others of a very hard found, which the Greeks
have not, as f and q. Again many Latin words end
in wz ,• a letter of a broad and hollow found, which
never terminates any Greek word 5 but » does fre¬
quently, whofe found is much fofter and fweeter. Be¬
fides, in the combination of fyllables the letters b and
d are often fo fituated, as to require too ftrong and
unequal a force to be laid upon them, as in the words
ob-verfus and adjungo. Another advantage of the Greek
tongue arifes from the variety and different feat of the
accents : for the Greeks often accent the laft fyllable,
which both enlivens the pronunciation, and renders it
more mufical j whereas the Latins never do this. But
the greateft advantage of the Greeks lies in their
plenty and variety of words ; for Avhich reafon they
have lefs occafion for tropes or circumlocutions, which,
when ufed from neceflity, have generally lefs force,
and weaken the ftyle. But under thefe difadvantages,
Quintilian feems to give his countrymen thebeft advice
the cafe will admit of: That what they cannot do in
words, they flrould make up in fenfe. If their expref-
fions are not fo foft and tender, they ftiould exceed in
ftrength; if they are lefs fubtile, they fhould be moro
fublime 5 and if they have fewer proper words, they
ftiould excel in the beauty as well as number of their
figures. If this account of Quintilian be juft, that the
Greek tongue does furpafs the Latin in all thefe inftan-
ces, it is certain that both of them have much greater
advantages over fome modern languages. The varying
all their declinable words, both nouns and verbs, by
terminations, and not by figns, contributes very much
to the fmoothnefs and harmony of their periods. Where¬
as in the modern languages, thofe fmall particles and
pronouns which diftinguiftr the cafes of nouns and the
tenfes and perfons of verbs, hinder the run of a period,
and
PartHI. OKA
Elocution, and render the found much more rough and uneven.
u—V—' Befides, the ancient languages ieem to have a better and
more equal mixture of vowels and uonfonants, which
makes their pronunciation more eafy and mufical.
But the chief diilin&ion of llyle arifes from the dif¬
ferent fubjects or matter of difcourfe. The fame way of
fpeaking no more fuits all fubjects, than the fame gar¬
ment would all perfons. A prince and a peafant ought
not to have the fame drefs •, and another different from
both becomes thofe ot a middle itation in life. The
ftyle therefore fhould always be adapted to the nature of
the fubjedt, which rhetoricians have reduced to three
ranks or degrees j the low or plain ftyle, the middle or
temperate, and the lofty or fublime: Which are likewife
called charaBers, becaufe they denote the quality of
the fubjedt upon which they treat. This divilion of
ftyle into three chara&ers, was taken notice of very
early by ancient writers. Some have obferved it even
in Homer, who feems to aflign the fublime or magnifi¬
cent to Ulyffes, when he reprefents him as fo copious and
vehement an orator, that his words came from him like
winterfnow. On the contrary, he defcribes Menelaus
as a polite fpeaker, but concife and moderate. And
when he mentions Neftor, he reprefents his manner as
between thefe two, not fo high and lofty as the one,
nor yet fo low and depreffed as the other ; but fmooth,
even, and pleafant, or, as he expreffes it, more fweet
than honey. Quintilian obferves, that although accu¬
racy and politenefs were general charadlers of the Attic
writers; yet among their orators, Ly'fias excelled in the
low and familiar way ; Ifocrates for his elegancy,
fmoothnefx, and the fine turn of his periods ; and De-
mofthenes for his flame and rapidity, by which he car¬
ried all before him. And Gellius tells us, that the like
difference was found in the three philofophers who were
fent from the Athenians to Rome (before the Romans
had any relilh for the polite arts) to folicit the remit¬
tance of a fine laid upon them for an injury done to a
neighbouring ftate. Carneades, one of thofe ambaffa-
dors, was vehement and rapid in his harangues ; Crito-
laus, neat and fmooth ; and Diogenes, modefi and fober.
The eloquence of tbefe orators, and the agreeable va¬
riety of their different manner, fo captivated the Roman
youth, and inflamed them with a love of the Grecian
arts, that old Cato, who did all he could to check it
by hurrying away the ambaffadors, could not prevent
their vigorous purfuit of them, till the ftudy became in
a manner univerfal. And the old gentleman afterwards
learned the Greek language himfelf, when it became
* Lord Ba- more falhionable. Which a noble writer of ours * re-
:on' prefents as a punifhment upon him for his former crime.
It feldom happens that the fame perfon excels in each
of thefe charafters. They feem to require a different
genius, and moft people are naturally led to one of them
more than another : though all of them are requifite for
an orator upon different occafions, as we lhall Ihow here¬
after.
Chap. V. Of the Low Style.
This we fhall confider under two heads, thoughts and
language; in each of which the feveral characters are
•W r difiinguifhed from one another.
and fan! I* And with refpeCt to the former, as the fubjeCts
piage. proper for this ftyle are either common things, or fuch
VOL. XV. Part I.
loo
the low
llyle con-
idered
both
TORY.
as ftiouid be treated in a plain and familiar way ; fo
plain thoughts are moft fuitable to it, and diitinguiih it
from the other characters.
Now, by plain thoughts, are meant fuch as are Ample
and obvious, and leem to rife naturally from the iubject,
when duly confidered ; fo that any one, upon fit It hear¬
ing them, would be apt to imagine they muft have oc¬
curred to himfelf. Not that this is really the cait, but
becaufe the more natural a thing is, the more eafy it
feems to be ; though in reality it is often otherwife ;
and the perfection of art lies in its neareit reftmblanee
to nature. And therefore, in order to fpeak plainly and
clearly upon any fubjeCt, it muft firft be. duly confider¬
ed, well underltood, and thoroughly digelted in the
mind ; which, though it require labour and fiudy, yet
the more a perfon is matter of what he fays, the lefs
that labour will appear in his difcourfe. This natural
plainnefs and fimplicity, without any difguife or affecta¬
tion, very much contributes to give credit to what is
faid. Nor is any thing more apt to impole on us, than
the appearance of this, when artfully aliumed. Cicero’s
account of the fight between Milo and Clodius, in
which Clodius was killed, is a remarkable inftance of
this. “ When Clodius knew (fays he) that Milo was
obliged to go to Lanuvium upon a foltmn and neceflary
occafion, he immediately haftened from Rome, the day
before, to affaffmate him before Clodius’s own houfe, as
appeared afterwards by the event. And this he did at
a time, when his turbulent mob in the city wanted his
afliftance; whom he would not have left but for the ad¬
vantage of that place and feafon to execute his w icked
defign. But the next day Milo was in the fenate, where
he continued till they broke up ; then went home ;
changed his drefs ; ftaid there fome time till his wife
was ready ; and afterwards fet forward io late, that if
Clodius had defigned to return to Rome that day, he
might have been here by that time. Clodius, prepared
for his defign, met him on horfeback, having no cha¬
riot, no equipage, no Greek attendants as ufual; and
without his wife, w hich was fcarcely ever known: where¬
as Milo was in a chariot with his wife, wrapt up in a
cloak, and attended by a large retinue of maid fervanty,
pages, and other perfons unfit for an engagement. He
met with Clodius before his houfe, about five o’clock ia
the evening ; and was prefently affaulted from a higher
ground by many armed men, who killed the coachman.
Upon which, Milo, throwing off his cloak, leaped out
of the chariot, and bravely defended himfelf: and thofe
who were with Clodius, having their fwords drawn,
fome made up to the chariot to attack Milo ; and others,
who now thought he had been killed, began to fall up¬
on his fervants who were behind. And of thefe, fuch
as had courage, and were faithfal to their mafter, fome
were killed ; and others when they law the fkirmifti at
the chariot, and could do their mafter no fervice (for
they heard Clodius himfelf fay that Milo was killed,
and really thought it was fo), did that, not by their
mailer’s order, nor with his knowledge, nor when he
was prefent, which every one would have his own fer¬
vants to do in the like circumftances. I do not fay this
to fix any crime upon them, but only to relate what
happened.” His meaning is, they killed Clodius;
which he avoids mentioning, to render what he fays lefs
offenfive. Can any thing be told in a more plain and
fimple manner than this ? Here is nothing faid, but
3 B what
377
Elocution.
378
O R A T
iilocuticjn. what in itfelf feems highly probable, and what one
' would imagine the fa£t might eafily haggeft to any ordi¬
nary fpeftator. But in this, both the art and Ikill of it
confift. For in the whole account, as, on the one hand,
Milo is fo defcribed as to render it highly improbable he
could have any defign at that time againft Clodius; fo
on the other, no or$ cireymfiance is omitted which
might feem proper to perfuade the hearers that Clodius
wTas tlie aggreffor in that engagement. And yet, if we
may believe Afconius, the quarrel was begun by lome
of Milo’s retinue, and Clodius was afterwards killed by
his exprefs order. But as things are fometimes beft il-
luftrated by their oppofites, we {hall here produce a
contrary inflance of a very affefted and unnatural way
of relating a faft. Val. Maximus tells us of a learned
man at Athens, who, by a blow which be received by
a ftone upon his head, entirely forgot all his learning,
though he continued to remember every thing elfe.
And therefore, as he fays, fmee t!*is misfortune depriv¬
ed him of the greatefl enjoyment of his life, it had been
happier for him never to have been learned, than after¬
wards to lofe that pleafure. This is the plain fenfe of
the ftory. But now let us hear him relate it, u A man
(fays he) of great learning at Athens, having received a
blow upon his head by a ftone, retained the memory of
all other things very perfectly, and only forgot his learn¬
ing, to which he had chiefly devoted himfelf. The
direful and malignant wound invading his mind, and as
it were defignedly furveying the knowledge repofited
there, cruelly feized on that part of it in particular from
which he received the greateft pleafure, and buried the
lingular learning of the man with an invidious funeral.
Who fince he was not permitted to enjoy his fludies, had
better never have obtained accefs to them, than after¬
wards to have been deprived of the delight they.afforded
him.” What an unnatural way is this of relating fuch
an accident, to talk of a wound invading the mind, and
furveuing the knowledge repofited there, and cruelly fax¬
ing a particular part of it, and burying it with an invidi¬
ous funeral? There is nothing in the ftory could lead
him to this, but an over-fondnefs to refine upon it in a
very affefted manner. But there are two properties of
plain thoughts, one of which ought conftantly to at¬
tend them in common with all thoughts, and the
other is often neceffary to animate and enliven this cha-
radfer. .
The former of thefe is juftnefs and propriety, which
is what reafon dictates in all calcs. What Cicero fays
of the death of Craffus the orator, feems very juft, as
well as natural. “ It was (fays he) an affliction to his
friends, a lofs to his country, and a concern to all good
men ; but fuch public calamities followed upon it, that
heaven feemed rather to have favoured him with death,
than to have deprived him of life.” This thought feems
very juft, and agreeable to the fentiments of a good
man, as Craffus was j to choofe death rather than to
outlive the happinefs of his country, to which he him¬
felf had fo much contributed. Quintilian has a reflec¬
tion upon a like occafion, which is not fo juft and be¬
coming. It is upon the death of his only fon, a youth
of very uncommon parts, as he reprefents him •, and for
whofe ufe he had defigned his Inftitutions of oratory;
but he died before they were finilhed. The paffage is
this : “ I have loft him of whom I had formed the great-
eft hope?, and in whom I had repofed the greateft com-
O R Y. Part in.
fort of my old age. What can I do now ? or of what Elocution,
farther ufe can 1 think myfelf to be, thus difappointed v—
by heaven ? What good parent will pardon me, if I can
any longer ftudy, and not condemn fuch refolution, if,
thus furviving ail my family, I can make any other ufe
of my voice, than to accufe the gods, and declare that
providence does not govern the world ? Allowance
may be made for the fallies of paflion, even in wife men,
upon fome {hocking occafions ; but when it proceeds to
fuch a degree as to become impious, it is very indecent,
as well as unjuft. And all indecency is unnatural, as
it is difagreeable to reafon, which alw’ays diredts to a
decorum.’ That feems to be a very natural as well as
juft thought of Pliny the Younger, when he fays,
“ The death of thofe perfons always appears to me too
hafty and unfeafonable, who are preparing fome lafting
work. For perfons wholly devoted to pleafures, live,
as it w’ere, from day to day, and daily finifh the end for
which they live j but thofe who have a view to pofteri-
ty, and preferve their memory by their labours, always
die untimely, becaufe they leave fomething unfinifhed.”
We (hall mention but one more inftanoe; and that in a
comparative vie.wT, to make it the more evident. I he
twTo fons of Junius Brutus, the firft Roman coniul, ha¬
ving been convidfed of treafon, in aflociating with lai-
quin’s party, were ordered, among others, to be put to
death; and their father not only pronounced the fen-
tence, but prefided at the execution. 1 his fadf is men¬
tioned by feveral of the Roman hiftorians ; and, as it
carries in it not only the appearance of rigorous juftice,
but likewife of cruelty in Brutus, to have been prefent
at the execution of his fons, they endeavour to vindicate
him different ways. What Florus lays feems rather an
affedfation of wit, than a juft defence of the fadf. “ He
beheaded them (fays he), that being a public parent,,
he might appear to have adopted the whole body of the
people.” Nor does Val. Maximus come up to the cafe,
who fays, 44 He put off the father to adt the conful;
and chofe rather to lofe the fons, than be wanting to
public juflice.” This might be a reafon for condemn¬
ing them ; and would have been equally true, had he
not been prefent at their execution. But Livy, whofe
thoughts are generally very juft and natural, afligns the
beft; reafon which perhaps can be given for his vindica¬
tion, when he fays, “ Fortune made him the execution¬
er of the fentenee, who ought not to have been a fpec-
tator.” By (ay ing fortune made him fo, he reprefents
it not as a matter of choice, like the other hiftorians,
but of neceflity, from the nature of his office, which
then obliged him to fee the execution of that fentence
he had himfelf before pronounced ; as is the cuftom at
prefent, in fome popular governments.
The other property, which fhould often accompany
plain and Ample thoughts, is, that they be gay and
fprightly. This, as has been faid, is neceffary to ani¬
mate and enliven fuch difeourfes as require the low
ftyle. The fewer ornaments it admits of, the greater
fpirit and vivacity is requiftte to prevent its being dry
and jejune. A thought may be very briik and lively,
and at the fame time appear very natural, as the effedt
of a ready and flowing wit. Such thoughts, attended
with agreeable turns, are very fuitable to this ftyle ; but
care fhould be taken, left, while fancy is too much in¬
dulged, the juftnefs of them be overlooked. We {hall
give cue rnftanoe, in which this feems to have been the
" cafe.
Part Ilf* O iv A
Elocution, cafe, from a celebrated Englifli work, where the inge-
nioas writer endeavours to fhow the difadvantages of
perfons not attending to their natural genius, but affeft-
ing to imitate others in thofe things for which they were
not formed. “ The great misfortune (fays he) of this
affe&ation is, that men mot only lofe a good quality, but
alfo contra# a bad one •, they not only are unfit for
what they are defigned, but they affign themfelves to
what they are unfit for ; and inltead of making a very
good figure one way, make a very ridiculous one an¬
other. Could the world be reformed to the obedience
of that famed dictate, Follow nature, which the oracle
of Delphos pronounced to Cicero when he confulted
what courfe of ftudies he fhould purfue, we ftiould fee
almoft every man as eminent in his proper fphere as
Tully was in his. For my part, I could never conli-
der this prepofterous repugnancy to nature any other-
wife, than not only as the greateft folly, but alfo one
of the molt heinous crimes; fince it is a dire# oppofition
to the difpofition of providence, and (as Tully expreffes
it) like the fin of the giants, an a#ual rebellion again It
heaven.” The advantages that arife from perfons at¬
tending to their own genius, and purfuing its di#ates,
are here reprefented in a very lively and agreeable man¬
ner. But there is one thing aflerted, which we fear
will not hold ; which is, that, Could the world be re¬
formed to that dittate, “ Follow Nature,” we fbould fee
altnojl every man as eminent in his proper fphere as 1 al¬
ly was in his. For though doubtlefs perfons would ge¬
nerally fucceed belt if they kept to this rule ; yet differ¬
ent degrees of ability are often found, where the bias
and inclination is the fame, and that accompanied with
equal labour and diligence. If this was not fo, how
happened it that no one came up to Tully in the art of
oratory; efpecially in his own age, when there were
the greateft opportunities for that ftudy, and the higheft
encouragements Avere given to it, as it paved the way
to riches, honours, and all the grand offices of the ftate >.
It cannot AVell be queftioned but that there Avere other
gentlemen, who had all the fame advantages, accom¬
panied Avith as ftrong a paffion for this art, as Tully
had, who yet fell much fliort of him in point of fuccefs.
And experience {hows, that the calc has been the lame
i0l in all other purfuits.
Thelan- III. But it is time to proceed to the other head,
guagepro- t]ie language proper for this ftyle. And here it may
Pe.rf°r. be obferved in general, that the drefs ought to be
y agreeable to the thoughts, plain, Ample, and unaf-
fe#ed. ., .
But the firft thing that comes under coniideration
is elegance, or a proper choice of words and expreffions;
which ought always to fuit the ideas they are defigned to
convey. And therefore when an ancient writer, fpeak-
ing of cruelty, calls it navus crmlelitatis, the hlemifh of
cruelty; and another, applying the fame Avord to ingra¬
titude^ fays mevus in%ratitudinis. the blemifh of ingrati¬
tude;^ term does not fufficiently convev to us the
odious nature of either of thofe vices, as indeed it uas
not their defign it ffiould. But otherwife, where the
fpeaker has not fome particular view m doing it, to
fink too low is as much a fault as to rife too high. So
to cad ancient Pome the mifrefs of Italy, Avould as
much leffen the juft nothin of the extent of her power,
as the Roman Avriters aggrandife it Avhen they ftyle her
mifrefs of the world. But purity, both in the choice
TORY. 379
of words and expreffions, is never more neceffary than Elocution*
it is here. This may be called neatnefs in language.
And to be plain and neat at the fame time, is not only
very confiftent, but the former can no other Avay recom¬
mend itfelf, than as joined Avith the latter. Befides,
the fewer advantages any thing has to fet it off, the more
carefully they ought to be obferved. Perfpicuity is al-
Avays to be regarded ; and ferAres very much to keep up
the attention, where other ornaments are wanting. E-
pithets ffiould be fparingly ufed, fince they enlarge the
images of things, and contribute very much to heighten
the ftyle. Indeed they are fometimes neceffary to fet a
thing in its juft light; and then they fliould not be
dropped. Thus, in fpeaking of Xerxes, it would be
too Ioav and flat to fay, He defeended with his army into
Greece. Here is no intimation given of their vaft and
unparalleled numbers, Avhich ought to be done. Hero¬
dotus fays, his whole army, of fea and land forces, a~
mounted to 2,317,000 and upwards. Therefore, unlefs
the number be mentioned, the leaft that can be faid is,
that he defeended with a vajl army.
The next thing to be regarded is compofitioh, Avhich
here does not require the greateft accuracy and exa#-
nefs. A feeming negligence is fometimes a beauty in
• this ftyle, as it appears more natural. Short fentences,
or thofe of a moderate length, are likewife upon the
whole beft fuited to this chara#er. Long and accurate
periods, finely Avrought up Avith a gradual rife, harmo¬
nious numbers, a due proportion of the feveral parts,
and a juft cadency, are therefore improper, as they are
plainly the effe# of art. But yet fome proportion ffiould
be obferved in the members, that neither the ears be
too much defrauded, nor the fenfe obfeured. Of this
kind is that expreffion of a Greek orator, blamed by
Demetrius : Ceres came readily to our affiance, but A-
rjiides not. The latter member of this fentence is too
fliort; and by dropping fo fuddenly, both difappoints
the ears, and is fome what obfeure. It would have been
plainer and more agreeable thus, but Arijlides did not
come. As to order, the plaineft and cleareft difpofition,
both of the Avords and members of fentences, and what
is moft agreeable to the natural conftru#ion, beft fidts
Avith this char after. For one of its principal beauties is
perfpicuity. And a proper conneftion likewife of fen¬
tences, Avith a regular order in the dependence of things
one upon another, A'ery much contributes to this^ end.
With regard to the collifion of fyllables in different
Avords, for preventing either a hollownefs or afperity of
found, greater liberty may be taken in this ftyle thvi
in the other charafters. Here it may be allowed to fey,
Virtue is amiable to all, though all do not purfue it. Lut
in a higher charafter, perhaps, in order to prevent the
hollow found of the words though all, a perfon Ayould
choofe to vary the expreflion a little, and fey, though
feiv purfue it. So, Xerxes' expedition, may be tolerable
here ; but in the florid ftyle, the expedition of Xerxes
would found much better. _ _ ,
The laft thing to be confidered, Avith relpett to the
language, is dignity, or the ufe of tropes and figures.
And as to tropes, they ought to be ufed cautxoufly; un- ,
lefs fuck as are very common, and by time have either
come into the place of proper words, or at leap are
equally plain and clear. So in the inftance mentioned
above, Diodorus Siculus, fpeaking of the forces of
Xerxes, calls them an innumerable company. V\ here,
3 B 2 by
3'do
Elocution, by a fynecdoche, lie lias chofen to make ufe of an uncer-
v tain number for a certain, as lefs liable perhaps to ex¬
ception. Other examples might be given if neceffary.
And with regard to figures, as moft of thofe which con-
fift in words, and are therefore called verbal figures,
ferve chiefly to enliven an expreffion, and give an
agreeable turn, they are often not improper for this
character. Nor are figures of fentences wholly to be
excluded, efpecially fueh as are chiefly ufed in reafoning
or demonftration. But thofe which are more peculiarly
adapted to totich the paflions, or paint things in the
Itrongeft colours, are the more proper ornaments of the
higher Ityles, as will be fhown hereafter.
Upon the whole, therefore, pure nature, without any
colouring, or appearance of art, is the diftinguifhing
mark of the low ftyle. The defign of it is to make
things plain and intelligible, and to fet them in an eafy
light. And therefore the proper fubjedls of it are
epiftles, dialogues, philofophical diflertations, or any
other difeourfes, that ought to be treated in a plain and
familiar manner, without much ornament, or addrefs to
the paflions. A freedom and eafe both of thought and
expreflion, attended with an agreeable humour and
pleafantry, are its peculiar beauties that engage us. As
we fee perfons of fafhion and good breeding, though in
the plaineft habit, have yet fomething in their air and
manner of behaviour that is very taking and amiable.
Somewhat of the like nature attends this ftyle. It has
its difticulties, which are not fo eafily difeerned but
from experience. For it requires no fmall {kill to treat
a common fubjedl in fuch a manner as to make it enter¬
taining. The fewer ornaments it admits of, the greater
art is neceflary to attain this end. Lofty fubjedts of¬
ten engage and captivate the mind by the fublimity of
the ideas. And the florid ftyle calls in all the afliftance
of language and eloquence. But the plain ftyle is in a
great meafure ftripped of thofe advantages ; and has lit¬
tle more to recommend it, than its own native beauty
and fimplicity.
Chap. VI. Of the Middle Style.
103 Ihis we fhall treat in the fame manner as we did the
former, by confidering firft the matter, and then the
104 language proper for it.
The middle J, ^ncj as fubje&s proper for this ftyle are things
dered as to °* weight anci importance, which require both a gravity
matter and and accuracy of expreflion ; fo fine thoughts are its di¬
language. iiinguiftfing mark, as plain thoughts are of the low cha-
ra&er, and lofty thoughts of the fublime. Now a fine
thought may deferve that chara&er from fome or other
of the following properties.
And the firft property we {hall mention is gravity
and dignity, rhus Cicero in a fpeech to Caefar, fays,
“ It has been often told me, that you have frequently
)aid, you have lived long enough foryourfelf. I believe
it, if you either lived, or was born for yourfelf only.”
Nothing could either be more fit and proper, than this
Was, when it was fpoken ^ or at the fame time a finer
compliment upon Csefar. For the civil war was now
over, and the whole power of the Roman government
in the hands of Caefar 5 fo that he might venture to fay
^ he had lived long enough for himfelf, there being no
higher pitch of glory to which his ambition could afpire.
But then there were many things in the Rate that
r
Part III.
wanted redrefling, after thofe times of diforder and con- Elocution,
fufion, which he had not yet been able to effe<ft, and of
which Cicero here takes an opportunity to remind him.
We {hall produce another example from Curtius. Phi-
lotas, one of Alexander’s captains, having formed a con-
fpiracy againft him, was convided of it, and put to
death. Amintas, who was fufpeded of the fame crime,
by reafon of his great intimacy with Philotas, when he
comes to make his defence, among other things fpeaks
thus: “ I am fo far from denying my intimacy with
Philotas, that I own I courted his friendlhip. Do you
wonder that we ihowed a regard to the fon of Parme-
mo, whom you would have to be next to yourfelf, giv¬
ing him the preference to all your other friends ? You,
Sir, if I may be allowed to fpeak the truth, have
brought me into this danger. For to whom elfe is it
owing, that thofe who endeavoured to pleafe you, ad-
drefled themfelves to Philotas ? By his recommendation
we have been raifed to this {hare of your friendfliip.
Such was his intereft with you, that we courted his fa¬
vour, and feared his difpleafure. Did we not all in a man¬
ner engage ourfelves by oath, to have the fame friends,
and the fame enemies, which you had ? Should we have
refufed to take this, which you, as it were, propofed to
us ? Therefore, if this be a crime, you have few inno¬
cent perfons about you 5 nay, indeed none. For all
defired to be the friends of Philotas ; though all could
not be fo who defired it. Therefore, if you make no
difference between his friends and accomplices, neither
ought you to make any between thofe who defire to be
his friends, and thofe who really were fo.” Could any
thing be finer fpoken, more proper, and becoming the
charadler of a foldier, than this defence 5 efpecially to a
prince of fo great and generous a fpirit as Alexander ?
There is fomething which appears like this in Tacitus
with relation to the emperor Tiberius, but falls vaftly
fliort of it in the juftnefs and dignity of the fentiment.
Sejanus, his great favourite, and partner in his crimes,
falling under his difpleafure, was, like Philotas, put to
death for a confpiracy. Now a Roman knight, who ap¬
prehended himfelf in danger on account of his friendfliip
with Sejanus, thus apologizes for himfelf to the emperor,
in the manner of Amintas: “ It is not for us to ex¬
mine the merit of a perfon whom you raife above others,
nor your reafons for doing it. The gods have given you
the fovereign power of all things, to us the glory of
obeying. Let confpiracies formed againft the ftate, or
the life of the emperor, be puniftied j but as to friend-
ftiips and private regards, the fame reafon that juftifies
you, Caefar, renders us innocent.” The turn of the ex-
preflions is not much different from that in the cafe of
Amintas ; but the beauty of the thought is fpoiled by
the flattery of complimenting Tiberius upon an ex-
cefs of power, which he employed to the deftrudlion of
many excellent men. There is not that impropriety
in the defence of Amintas, which is equally brave and
juft.
Another property of a fine thought is beauty and
elegance. It is a fine compliment which Pliny pays to
the emperor Trajan, when he fays, “ It has happened
to you alone, that you was father of your country, be¬
fore you was made fo.” Some of the Roman emperors
had been complimented with the title father of their
country, who little deferved it. But Trajan had a long
time refufed it, though he was really fo, both by his
good
ORATORY.
Part III.
Elocution, good government, and in tlie efteem of his fubje&s, be-
—\r~mJ fore he thought fit to accept of it. And Pliny, among
other inftances of the generofity of that prince, which
he mentions in the fame difcourfe, fpeaking of the li¬
berty that he gave the Romans to purchafe eltates wliich
had belonged to the emperors, and the peaceable poffef-
fion they had of them, does it by a turn of thought no
lefs beautiful than the former. “ Such (fays he) is the
prince’s bounty, fuch the fecurity, of the times, that he
thinks us'worthy to enjoy what has been pofleffed by
emperors; and we are not afraid to be thought fo.”
There is a fprightlinefs in this image, which gives it a
beauty ; as there is likewife in the following pafiage of
the fame difcourfe, where he fays to Trajan, “ Your
life is difpleafing to you, if it be not joined with the
public fafety ■, and you fuffer us to with you nothing
but what is for the good of thofe who wifh it.” And
of the fame kind is that of Cicero to Csefar, when he
fays, “ You, Caefar, are wont to forget nothing but in¬
juries.” It is a very handfome, as well as juft reflec¬
tion, made by Tacitus upon Galba’s government, that
“ He feemed too great for a private man, while he was
but a private man j and all would have thought him
worthy of the empire, had he never been emperor.”
The beauty of a thought may give us delight, though
the fubjeft be forrowful ; and the images of things in
themfelves unpleafant may be fo reprefented as to be¬
come agreeable. Sifigambis, the mother of Darius, af¬
ter the death of her fon, had been treated by Alexander
with the greateft regard and tendernefs, in whofe power
flie then was. So foon as (he heard therefore that he
was dead, (he grew weary of life, and could not bear to
outlive him. Upon which Q. Curtius makes this fine
refleftion : “ Though (he had courage to furvive Da¬
rius, yet (lie was afliamed to outlive Alexander.”
The next property of a fine thought, which we (hall
mention, is delicncij. As, in the objects of our fenfes,
thofe things are faid to be delicate which affedt us gra¬
dually in a foft and agreeable manner •, fo a delicate
thought is that which is not ■wholly difcovered at once,
but by degrees opening and unfolding itfelf to the mind,
difclofes more than was at firft perceived. Quintilian
feems to refer to this, when he fays, “ Thofe things are
grateful to the hearers, which, when they apprehend,
they are delighted with their own fagacity ; and pleafe
themfelves, as though they had not heard, but difcover¬
ed them.” Such thoughts are not unlike the (ketches
of fome pidlures, which let us into the defign of the ar-
tift, and help us to difcern more than the lines them¬
felves exprefs. Of this kind is that of Salluft : “ In the
greateft fortunes, there is the lead liberty.” This is
not often fo in faft, but ought to be j both to guard
againft an abufe of power, and to prevent the effedts of
a bad example to inferiors. Pliny, fpeaking of the em¬
peror Trajan’s entry into Rome, fays, “ Some declared,
. upon feeing you, they had lived long enough ; others,
that now they were more defirous to live.” The com-
liment is fine either way, fince both muft efteem the
ght of him the greateft happinefs in life ; and in that
confiftency lies the delicacy of the thought. It was a
fine fharadler given of Grotius, when very young, on
the account of his furprifing genius and uncommon pro¬
ficiency in learning, that he was born a man : As if na¬
ture,. at his coming into the world, had at once furnilh-
381
ed him with thofe endowments which others gradually Elocution,
acquire by ftudy and application. w—y—
The laft property of a fine thought, which we (hall
take notice of, is novelty. Mankind is naturally plea-
fed with new things ; and when at the fame time they
are fet in an agreeable light, this very much heightens
the pleafure. Indeed there are few fubjedts, but what
have been fo often conlidered, that it is not to be ex-
pedted they fhouid afford many thoughts entirely new j
but the fame thought fet in a different light, or applied
to a different occafion, has in fome degree a claim of
novelty. And even where a thing hath been fo well
faid already, that it cannot eafily be mended, the revi¬
val of a fine thought often affords a pleafure and enter¬
tainment to the mind, though it can have no longer the
claim of novelty. Cicero, in his treatife of an orator,
among feveral other encomiums which he there gives to
Craffus, fays of him, “ Craffus always excelled every
other perfon, but that day he excelled himfelf.” He
means as an orator. But elfewhere he applies the fame
thought to Caefar, upon another account ; and with
fome addition to it. “ You had (fays he) before con¬
quered all other conquerors by your equity and cle¬
mency, but to-day you have conquered yourfelf; you
feem to have vanquifhed even vidlory herfelf, therefore
you alone are truly invincible.” This thought, with a
little variation of the phrafe, has fince appeared in feve¬
ral later writers ; and it is now grown common to fay
of a perfon, who excels in any wTay, upon his doing
better than he did before, that he has outdone himfelf.
The like has happened to another thought, which, with
a little alteration, has been varioufly applied. It was
faid by Varro, That if the Mufes were to talk Latin,
they would talk like Plautus. The younger Plinv, ap¬
plying this compliment to a friend of his, fays, His let¬
ters are fo finely written, that you would think the Mufes
themfelves talked Latin. And Cicero tells us, It was
fa’d of Xenophon, that the Mufes themfelves feemed to
fpeak Greek with his voice. And elfe where, that Phi-
lofophers fay, if Jupiter fpeaks Greek, he mufi fpeak
like Plato. The thought is much the fame in all thefe
inftances, and has been fince revived by fome modern
writers.
II. We (hall now confider the language proper for the Th/kn-
middle ftyle. And in general it may be obferved, thatguage of
as the proper fubjefts of it are things of weight and im-the middle
portance, though not of that exalted nature as wholly to^e"
captivate the mind, and divert it from attending to the
diftion, fo all the ornaments of fpeech, and beauties of
eloquence, have place here.
And firft with regard to elegance, it is plain that a
different choice of words makes a very great difference
in the ftyle, where the fenfe is the fame. Sometimes
one fingle word adds a grace and weight to an expref-
fion, which, if removed, the fenfe becomes flat and
lifelefs. Now fuch words as are moft full and expreflive
fuit beft: with his charafter. Epithets alfo, which are
proper and well chofen, ferve very much to beautify,
and enliven it, as they enlarge the ideas of things, and
fet them in a fuller light.
The moft accurate compofition, in all the parts of it,
has place here. Periods, the moft beautiful and harmo¬
nious, of a due length, and wrought up with the moft
exaft order, juft cadency, eafy and fmooth connec¬
tion.
ORATORY.
382
Elocution, tion of the v/ords, and flowing numbers, are the genuine
» ornaments, which greatly contribute to form this cha-
rafter.
But the principal diftinftion of ftyle arifes from
tropes and figures. By thefe it is chiefly animated and
railed to its different degrees or charadlers, as it receives
a leffer or greater number of them j and thofe either
more mild, or flrong and powerful.
As to tropes, thofe which afford the moft lively and
pleafing ideas, efpecially metaphors, fuit the middle cha-
ra&er. It is a pretty remark, which has been made by
fome critics upon two verfes of Virgil j one in his
Eclogues, and the other in his Georgies. The former
of thefe works is for the moft part written in the low
ftyle, as the language of ftiepherds ought to be ; but the
latter in the middle ftyle, fuitable to the nature of the
fubjeft, and the perfons for whom it was defigned, the
greateft men in Rome not thinking it below them to
entertain themfelves with rural affairs. Now in the
Eclogue, as fome copies read the verfe, the fhepherd,
complaining of the barrennefs of his land, fays,
Infellx lolium et Jierilcs nafeuntur avence.
In Englifh thus :
Wild oats and darnel grow inftead of corn.
But in the Georgic, where the fame fenfe is intended,
inftead of the proper word nafeuntur, grow, the au¬
thor fubftitutes a metaphor, dominantur, command, and
fays,
Infelix lolium et Jleriles dominantur avence.
That is in Englifh j
Where corn is fown, darnel and oats command.
It was fit and natural for the fhepherd to exprefs his
fenfe in the plaineft terms j and it would have been
wrong to reprefent him going fo far out of his way, as
to fetch a metaphor from government, in talking upon
his own affairs. But in the Georgic, where the poet
fpeaks in his own perfon, the metaphor is much more
beautiful, and agreeable to the dignity of the work.
This inftance may fhow in fome meafure how the ftyle
is heightened by tropes, and the fame thought may be
accommodated to the feveral chara&ers of ftyle by the
different manner of expreffion.
The like may alfo be faid of figures either of words
or fentences, in reference to this character •, which ad¬
mits of the fineft deferiptions, moft lively images, and
brighteft figures, that ferve either for delight, or to in¬
fluence the paflions without tranfport or eeftafy, which
is the property of the fublime. This is indeed the pro¬
per feat of fuch embellifhments, which fupport and
make up a principal part of the middle or florid ftyle.
Having treated largely upon thefe in feveral preceding
chapters, we fhall here only briefly mention fome of the
I0tj moft confiderable.
Defenp- Deferiptions are not only a great ornament to a dif-
tions orna- courfe, but reprefent things in a very lively and agree-
mental and manner. In what a beautiful light has Cicero pla-
pleafant. ai.^s an(j feJences, when, deferibing them
from their effects, he thus reprefents to us the great ad¬
vantages, as well as pleafure, which they afford to the
mind ? “ Other ftudies neither fuit with all times, nor
all ages, nor all places: but thefe improve youth, de-
2
ORATORY. Partlll.
light old age, adorn profperity, afford a refuge and fo- Elocution.
lace in adverfity ; pleafe at home, are no hinderance
abroad •, fleep, travel, and retire, with us.” And they
often affect us very powerfully, when they are addreffed
to the fenfes. Quintilian has painted the calamities of
a city taken by itorm in the brighteft and ftrongeft co¬
lours, which he reprefents by “ Flames fpreading them¬
felves over the houfes and temples, the cracking of fall¬
ing buildings, and a confufed noife from a variety of
cries and fhouts j fome running they know not where,
others in the laft embraces of their friends j the fhrieks
of children, women, and old men unhappily referved to
fuch diftrefs j the plundering of all places civil and fa-
cred, the hurry and confufion in carrying off the booty,
captives driven before their viftors, mothers endeavour¬
ing to guard their infants, and quarrels among the con¬
querors where the plunder is largeft.” This feems to
be a very natural, as well as moving, image of fo dread¬
ful a calamity. 107
Profopopeia is another very ftrong and beautiful fi-Profopo-
gure, very proper for this character. Seneca has a fine
inftance of it in his “ Confolatory Letter to Marcia,” th;s cj,a.
upon the death of her fon. After many arguments he rafter,
had made ufe of to alleviate her grief, he at laft intro¬
duces her father, Cremutius Cordus, as thus addrefling
to her : “ Imagine your father (fays he) from the ce-
leftial regions, fpeaking to you in this manner : Daugh¬
ter, why do you fo long indulge your grief ? why are
you fo ignorant, as to think it unhappy for your fon,
that, weary of life, he has withdrawn himfelf to his an-
oeftors ? Arc you not fenfible what diforders fortune oc-
cafions everywhere ? and that fhe is kindeft to thofe
who have leaft concern with her ? Need I mention to
you princes who had been extremely happy, had a more
timely death fecured them from impending evils ? or
Roman generals, who wanted nothing to confummate
their glory but that they lived too long ? Why then is
he bewailed longeft in our family who died moft happi¬
ly ? There is nothing, as you imagine, defirable among
you, nothing great, nothing noble ; but, on the con¬
trary, all things are mean, full of trouble and anxiety,
and partake very little of the light which we enjoy.”
This advice was very fuitable for a philofopher •, and he
feems to have chofen this way of introducing it, to en¬
force the argument drawn from the happinefs of good
men in a future ftate, from the teftimony of a perfon
who was actually in the pofleflion of it. icS
Similitudes and comparifons are another great orna-Similitudes
ment of this ftyle, and ofteneft found here. Nothing
can be finer than the com pari Ion between thofe two ™,quent
great orators, Demofthenes and Cicero, made by Quin-here.
tilian, when he fays, “ Demofthenes and Cicero differ
in their elocution j one is more clofe, and the other
more copious ; the former concludes more concifely,
and the latter takes a larger compafs ; the one always
with pungency, and the other generally with weight }
one can have nothing taken from him, and the other no¬
thing added to him } the latter has more of art, and th«
former more of nature. But this muft be allowed to
Demofthenes, that he made Cicero in a great meafure
what he was. For as Tully gave himfelf wholly to an
imitation of the Greeks, he feems to me to have expref-
fed the force of Demofthenes, the fluency of Plato, and
the pleafantry of Ifocrates.” Similitude^, taken from
natural tilings, ferve very much to enliven the ftyle*
and
Part HI. O R A T
Elocution, and give it a cheerfulnefs; which is a thing fo common
and well known, that we "need not flay to give any in-
ftances of it.
Antithefu Antithejis, or oppofition, both in the words and
has alfo a fenfe, has often the like beautiful-effedt. There is an
fineeffedt. agreeable contraft in that paffage of Seneca : “ Ca:far
does not allow himfelf many things, becaufe he can
do all things : his watching defends all others lleep,
his labour their quiet, his induitry their pleafure, his
bulinefs their eafe; fince he has governed the world
he has deprived himfelf of it.” Had he faid no more
than only in general, that Ccefar does not allow himfelf
many things, becaufe he can do all things, it might have
paffed for a fine thought 5 but, by adding fo many par¬
ticulars, all in the fame form of expreflion, and begin¬
ning each member with the fame word, be has both
enlarged the idea, and beautified the antithefis, by a
bright verbal figure.
Thefe, and fuch like florid figures, are fometimes
found in hiftorians, but oftener in orators ; and indeed
this middle character, in the whole of it, is befi: accom¬
modated to the fubjeHs of hiftory and oratory.
Chap. VII. Of the Sublime Style.
no
The noblefl
and the
molt diffi-
The fublime is the molt noble, as Well as the moft
difficult, part of an orator’s province. It is this prin-
c It artofc*Pa^y wh*ch Cicero requires in his perfect orator,
an orator’s whom he could not deferibe in words, but only con-
province is ceive of in his mind. And indeed, the nobleft genius
the fubiime. an(j greateft art are both requifite to form this cha-
rafter. For where nature has been moft liberal in fur-
nifhing the mind writh lofty thoughts, bright images,
and ftrong exprefiions; yet without the afliftance of
art there will fometimes be found a mixture of what
is low, improper, or mifplaced. And a great genius,
like a too rich foil, mult produce flowers and weeds
promifcuoufly, without cultivation. But the jufteft pro¬
priety, joined with the greatest ftrength and highefi:
elevation of thought, are required to complete the true
fublime. Art, therefore, is neceflary to regulate and
perfect the tafte of thofe who are defirous to excel in
this character.
In explaining the nature and properties of this cha-
rafter, we (hall, as in the two former, confider firft the
thoughts, and then the language i in each ot which it is
diftinguiflied from them.
§ I. Sublime, as it relates to Thoughts.
Subhinity Lofty and grand fentiments are the bails and foun-
as it relates dation of the true fublime. Longinus therefore ad-
to thoughts, vifes thofe who afpire at this excellence, to accuftom
themfelves to think upon the noble!! !ubje6fs. A mind
that always dwells upon low and common iubjefts can
never raife itfelf fulficiently to reprefent things great
and magnificent in their full extent and proper light.
But he who inures himfelf to conceive the higheft and
moft exalted ideas, and renders them familiar to bis
thoughts, vdll not often be at a lofs how to exprefs
them ; for where proper words are wanting, by meta¬
phors and images taken from other things, he will be
able to convey them in a juft and adequate manner.
What is more common than for two perfons to con¬
ceive very differently of the fame thing from the diffe-
CRY. 383
rent manner of thinking to which they have been ac- Elocution,
cuftomed ? After the great battle in Cilicia, between 1 "" v
Alexander and Darius, in which the latter was routed,
he fent ambaffadors to Alexander with propofals of
peace, offering him half his kingdom with his daughter
in marriage. Parmenio, one of Alexander’s chief cap¬
tains, fays to him upon this occafion, “ For my part,
Avas I Alexander, I would accept of thefe conditions.”
“ And fo would I (replies that afpiring monarch), w’as
I Parmenio.” The half of fo vaft a kingdom at pre-
fent, and a right of fuceeflion to the Avhole by marriage,
was the higheft ambition to which the thoughts of Par¬
menio could rife. But Alexander had \Taftly higher
views; he aimed at nothing lefs than univerfal mo¬
narchy ; and therefore fuch a propofal feemed much
beneath his regard. Noble and lofty thoughts are
principally thofe which either relate to divine objects,
or fuch things as among men are generally efteemed
the greateft and moft illuftrious.
Of the former fort is that of Homer, Avhen defcribing1
the goddefs Difcord, he fays, that fhe
Walks on the ground, and hides her head in clouds.
This ftretch of thought, fays Longinus, as great as
the diftance betAveen heaAren and earth, does not more
reprefent the ftature of the goddefs, than the meafure
of the poet’s genius and capacity. But fuch images,
hoAvever beautiful in poetry, are not fo proper for an
orator, Avhofe bufinefs it is to make choice of thofe
which are fuited to the nature of things and the com¬
mon reafon of mankind. When Numa the fecond
king of Rome was fettled in his government, and at
peace with his neighbours, in order to foften the fierce
and martial temper of his fubjedts, who had been al-
Avays accuftomed to Avars during the reign of his pre-
deceflbr Romulus, he endeavoured to imprefs their
minds with an awe of the Deity ; and for that end in¬
troduced a number of religious ceremonies, which he
pretended to have received from the goddefs Egeria *. « see
This muft be efteemed an artful piece of policy atEGEHiA.
that time. But that fentiment is far more juft and
noble, with which Cicero endeavours to infpire the
members of a community, in his treatife Of Lsavs,
Avhen he fays, that “ Citizens ought firft to be per-
fuaded, that all things are under the rule and govern¬
ment of the gods j that every affair is directed by
their Avifdom and poAver *, that the higheft regard is
due to them from men, fince they obferve every one’s
eondudl, how he ads and behaves himfelf, and Avith
what temper and devotion he Avar fhips them j and
that they make a difference between the pious and im¬
pious.” Perfons under the influence of fuch a perfua-
fion, could not fail of behaving well in fociety. And
what he fays to Caefar is no lefs in this flyle, when, in¬
terceding for Ligarius, he tells him, that “ men in no¬
thing approach nearer to deity, than in giving life to
men.” And Velleius Paterculus, fpeaking of Cato,
gives him this fublime character, “ That he was more
like the gods than men ; who never did a good thing,
that he might feem to do it.”
Tire other kind of lofty thoughts mentioned above,
are thofe which relate to poAver, Avifdom, courage, be¬
neficence, and fuch other things as are of the higheft
efteem among mankind. “ Your fortune (fays Tully
to Csefar) has nothing greater than a power, nor your
nature
384
ORATORY.
Part III.
Elocution.
nature than a will, to fave many.” He fubjoins this
compliment to what we jult now cited from him ; and
applies that to Caefar, which was before only exprefled
in general, leaving him to draw the inference of his
limilitude to deity from the clemency of his nature.
And elfewhere, as in a fort of traniport for his fuccefs
in defeating the confpiracy of Catiline, he thus be-
fpeaks the Roman fenate : “ You have always decreed
public thanks to others for their good government of
the Rate, but to me alone for its prefervation. Let
that Scipio fhine, by whofe conduct and valour Hanni¬
bal was forced to leave Italy, and retire to Africa j
let the other Scipio be greatly honoured, who deitroy-
ed Carthage and Numantia, two cities the moft dan¬
gerous to this empire ; let Lucius Paulus be in high
efteem, whofe triumphal chariot was adorned with
Perfes, once a mod powerful and noble prince ; let
Marius be in eternal honour, who twice delivered Italy
from an invafiorv and the dread of fervitude ; let Pom-
pey’s name excel all thefe, whofe actions and virtues
are terminated by no other bounds but the courfe of
the fun ;—yet among all their praifes, there will Rill
fume place be left for my glory j unlefs indeed it be
a greater thing to open for us new provinces to which
we may refort, than to fecure a place for our victo¬
rious generals to return in triumph.” And Velleius
Paterculus, as if he thought no encomium too high
for this great orator, laments his unhappy fate in thefe
lofty drains, addrefled to M. Antony, by whofe order
he was put to death : “ You have taken from Cicero
old age, and a life more miferable than death under
your government ; but his fame, and the glory of his
aftions and words, you have been fo far from dedroy-
ing, that you have increafed them. He lives, and will
live in the memory of all ages •, and while this fydem
of nature, however eondituted, fhall remain (which
fcarce any Roman but himfelf conceived in his mind,
comprehended by his genius, and illudrated with his
eloquence), the praife of Cicero fhall accompany it; and
all poderity, while it admires his writings againd you,
will curfe your treatment of him j and fooner diall man¬
kind be lod to the world than his name.” It was a
noble reply of Porus the Indian king, when, after his
defeat by Alexander, being brought before him, and
alked How he expeBed to be treated? he anfwered, Like
a king. And Valerius Maximus, fpeaking of Pompey’s
treatment of Tigranes king of Armenia after he had
vanquilhed him, expreffes it in a manner fuited to the
dignity and beneficence of the aCtion, when he fays,
“ He redored him to his former fortune, edeeming it as
glorious to make kings as to conquer them.”
But the true fublime is confident with the greated
plainnefs and fimplieity of exprellion. And, gene¬
rally fpeaking, the more plain and natural the images
appear, the more they furprife us. How fuccinft,
and yet how majedic, is that expreflion of Caefar upon
his viClory over Pharnaces ? I came, I/aw, I conquered.
But there cannot be a greater or more beautiful ex¬
ample of this, than what Longinus has taken notice of
from Mofes. “ The legiflator of the Jews (fays he),
no ordinary perfon, having a jud notion of the power
and majedy of the Deity, has expreff d it in the be¬
ginning of his taws in the following words : And God
/aid—what ? Let there be light, and there was light.
Let the earth be macte, and it was made.'1' This in¬
dance from the divine Writer, and the character here oiocution.
given of him by that excellent critic, is the more re-
markable, as he was himfelf a Pagan. And certainly
no laboured defcription could raile in the mind a higher
conception of the infinite power of the Deity, than this
plain and (hort narration. To command nature itlelf
into being by a word, reprefents it at once altogether-
boundlefs and unlimited.
It fometimes very much contributes to heighten the
image of a thing, when it is expreifed in fo undeter¬
mined a manner, as to leave the mind in fufpenfe what
bounds to fix to the thought. Of this kind is that of
Cicero, when he fird raifes an objection againd the ne-
eeffity of an acquaintance with polite literature in order
to form a great man, and then anfwers it. The ob¬
jection is founded upon the examples of feveral great
and excellent perfons among the Romans, who had
raifed themfelves to the highed pitch of honour and
dignity, and been very fervieeable to their country, by
the help of a good genius, without the advantage of
much learning. In reply to which, he allows, that,
where thefe are not tauted, nature or genius is of itlelf
much preferable, and will carry a perlon further in the
purfuit of great and noble defigns, than learning with¬
out a genius j but that both are necefl'ary to complete
and perfeCt a truly great man. But we fiiall give what
he fays himfelf on this head, by which that property of
a fublime thought we are now endeavouring to explain,
will appear from his manner of exprefiion : “ 1 ac¬
knowledge (fays he) that many perfons of an exalted
mind and virtue have, from a divine temper, w ithout
indruCtion, become moderate and grave j and I add
likewife, that nature, without the alfutance of learning,
has frequently more contributed to honour and virtue,
than learning where a genius has been wanting : But
yet I mud fay, that where the direction and improve¬
ment of learning is added to a great and excellent ge¬
nius, it is wont to produce fomething admirable and
Angular which I know not how to defcribe.” He knew
very well, that by leaving the minds of his hearers thus
in fufpenfe, they would form to themfelves higher con¬
ceptions of what he intended, than from any idea he
could convey to them in words. We may add to this
another example from the fame great orator, where he
fays, “ Truly, if the mind had no views to poderity,
and all its thoughts were terminated by thofe bounds
in which the fpace of life is confined, it would neither
fatigue itfelf with fo great labours, nor be difquieted with
fo many cares and watchings, nor fo often expofe itfelf
to death. But there is a certain aCtive principle in
every good man, which condantly excites his mind by
motives of glory j and reminds him, that the remem¬
brance of his name is not to end with his life, but extend
itfelf to all poderity.” Of the like nature is that of
Milton, when he defcribes Satan as flying from hell in
qued of our earth, then newly formed. For having re¬
prefen ted that his wings failed him in the vad vacuity,
he thus defcribes his fall:
Down he drops
Ten thoufand fathom deep •, and to this hour
Down had been falling, had not by ill chance
The drong rebuff of fome tumultuous cloud,
InliinCt with fire and nitre, hurried him
As many miles aloft.
Thofe
PartHI. ORATORY.
Elocution. Thofe words, by which his fall is expreffed,
“3
And to this hour,
Down had been fallxncr,
leave the mind in fufpenfe, and unable to fix any bounds
to the vacuity ; and by that means raife a greater and
more furprifing idea of its fpace than any direft expref-
fion could have done. This image is very beautiful
where it Hands ; but fo much out of the common way
of thinking, as to fuit better with an epic poem than the
difeourfe of an orator.
§ 2. The Sublime, 'with regard to Language.
iubHmity What we have to offer upoti this fubject will come
is to lan- under the three heads of Elegance, Compojttion, and
juagB. Dignity; which comprehend all the properties of ftyle.
I. Elegance. Thofe words and expreflions chiefly
contribute to form the fublime, which are moft fono-
rous, and have the greatell fplendour, force, and dignity.
And they are principally fuch as thefe. Long words,
when equally expreflive, are rather to be chofen than
fhort ones, and efpecially monofyllables. So to con¬
quer or vanquifh an enemy, carries in it a fuller and
grander found, than to beat an enemy. For which
reafon, likewife, compound words are often preferable
to fimple ones. So if we fay, CeefaEs army, when he
was prefent, was always invincible ; this manner of ex-
jveflion has more of fublimity in it, than fhould we
fay, Cafar's army, when he was prefent, could never be
conquered. But the ancient languages have much the
advantage of ours in both thefe refpedts j for their
words are generally longer, and they are abundantly
more happy in their compofitions. The ufe of proper
epithets does alfo in a particular manner contribute to
this charadler. For as they denote, the qualities and
modes of things, they are as it were fi.ort deferiptions j
fo that being joined to their fubjedts, they often greatly
enlarge and heighten their image. Thus when the
charadler of divine poet is given to Homer or Virgil,
or prince of orators to Demofthenes or Cicero, it con¬
veys to the mind a more fublime idea of them, than the
bare mention of their name.
II. Compofition: The force of which, as Longinus
obferves, is fo great, that fometimes it creates a kind
of fublime where tiie thoughts themfelves are but
mean, and gives a certain appearance of grandeur to
that which otherwife would feem but common. But
compofition confilts of feveral parts ; the firft of which,
in the order we have hitherto confidered them, is period.
And here the cafe is much the fame as with animal
bodies, which owe their chief excellency to the union
and juft proportion of their parts. The feveral mem¬
bers, when feparated from each other, lofe both that
beauty and force, which they have when joined toge¬
ther in a complete body. In like manner, fublimity
arifes from the feveral parts of a period fo connected,
as to give force, as well as beauty, to the whole,
i he periods therefore in this character fhould be of a
proper length. If they are too fhort, they lofe their
Iuft weight and grandeur, and are gone almoft before
they reach the car *, as, on the contrary, when they
are too prolix, they become heavy and unwieldy, and
by that means lofe their force. But more efpccially,
notliing fuperfluous ought. to be admitted, w hich very
Vol. XV. Part I.
lI4
much enervates the force of a fentence. We fhall ex¬
emplify this in a palfage from Herodotus, where he
is giving an account of the famous battle at Ther¬
mopylae between the Perfians and Lacedaemonians.
“ Dieneces (fays he) the Spartan, being told by a
Trachinian, before the engagement with the Medes,
that when the barbarians came to fhoot their arrows,
they would fly fo thick as to obfeure the light of the
fun ; he was fo far from being terrified at this, that
defpifing their number, he replied, he “ was pleafed
with what his friend told him, fince if the fun was ob-
feured, they fhould fight in the fhade, and not in the
fun.” The fenfe here is great and noble, but the
fublimity of expreflion is fpoiled in a great meafure by
thofe laft words, and not in the fun, which are wholly
fuperfluous. Cicero wyas fenfible of this, and therefore
he omits that member in relating the fame llory, and
fays only: “ A Spartan, hearing that one of the
Perfians fhould fay in an infulting manner, that when
they came to engage, they fhould not be able to fee
the fun, for the multitude of their darts and arrows,
replies, 'l hen rve fhall fight in the fhade.” By flop¬
ping here, he gives the fentence much more life and
emphafis. The next thing to be confidered in compo¬
fition, is the order and difpofition of the feveral words
and members of a fentence. The different placing but
of one or two words will fometimes wholly deliroy
the grandeur of a fentence, and make it extremely
flat. “ This public aft (fays Demofthenes) difpelled
the danger which at that time, like a cloud, hung
over the city.” Let us vary the order a little, and
read it thus: “ This public aft difptlled the danger,
which like a cloud hung over the city at that time.”
What a different turn does the expreflion receive for
the worfe ! The fpirit and majefly of it are entirely
loft. And in placing the feveral parts or members,
they ought to be fo difpofed, that what is moft weigh¬
ty and important fhould Hand laft. So Tully fays of
Catiline, “ We ought to return thanks to heaven,
that we have fo often efeaped fo odious, fo frightful,
fo dangerous a plague of the ftate.” A thing may be
odious and frightful, and yet not. dangerous ; there¬
fore he puts this in the laft place, to give it the
greater force, and make the deeper impreflion. An¬
other thing to be attended to in compofition, is the
conneftion of the words with regard to the found j
that the pronunciation, in palling from one to another,
may be moft agreeable to the ear, and belt fuited to
the nature of the fubjedt. And as this is generally
fomething grand and magnificent, fuch a contexture
of them as will give the greateft force and energy to
the expreffion is moft proper for the fublime. Soft
and languid founds are very Unfuitable to this charadter.
They foothe and pleafe the ear ; but rather fink and de-
prefs the mind, than excite it to things great and noble.
In this refpedt, therefore, our tongue, by its multitude
of confonants, is more fuitable for fublime difeourfes
than fome other modern languages, which aboundwith
vowels.
III. The laft head to be confidered, is the proper
ufe of tropes and figures, which is here fo neceffary,
that the title of dignity feems to have been given to
this part of elocution, from the affiftance it more efpe-
cialiy affords to this charadter. For if, as has been ob-
ferved from Longinus, compofitions will fometimes create
4 C *
3^5
Elocution.
1x5
86
^locution. a for(_ 0f fuiiiimity •, this much oftener happens from
the force and efEcacy of fome lively tropes and ftrong
figures.
And as to tropes, bright metaphors are peculiarly
fuited to raife and animate the ftyle. This is manifeft
from the nature of them, as they confift of contra£ted
fimilies, reduced to a fingle word ; which, if taken
from things lofty and grand, muft of confequence
give a fublimity to the ityle. What can fuggeft to
us a greater idea of the valour of Ajax, than Ho¬
mer’s calling him the bulwark of the Greeks ; or of the
Scipios, than when they are liyled by Virgil, the two
thunderbolts of war. A number of thofe, well chofen,
contributes no lefs to the grandeur than to the beauty
of difcourfe. Hyperbole fometimes gives, the fame
force to an exprellion, if cautioufly ufed ; and fo as
not to exceed all appearance of truth. But the chief
ufe of it is, where proper words will notexprefs the juft
idea of the thing defigned to be conveyed } and it may
feem rather the offspring of neceflity than choice. Of
this nature is that of Herodotus, when fpeaking of the
Lacedremonians at Thermopylae, he fays, “ They de¬
fended themfelves with the fvvords they had left, and
even with their hands and teeth, till the barbarians
buried them under their arrows.” It cannot be fup-
pofed ftri&ly true, that fo many arrows were thrown
at them as to bury them ; but having in the former
part of the fentenee reprefented their refolute defence
in the ftrongeft terms, by faying, that naked and with¬
out arms, they engaged armed men with their hands and
teeth, the following hyperbole feems not unnatural, and
to intimate nothing more than what was neceffary to
quell fuch obftinate refolution and courage.
As to figures, wrhether verbal or thofe which con¬
fift in the fenfe, the nature of this charadter will eafily
direft to fuch as are moft proper. But with refpetft
to the latter, poets take greater liberties in the ufe of
them than would be allowed in an orator. As their
images are often formed for pleafure and delight, fo
they carry in them more of rapture and tranfport. But
the orator’s ufe of them being to fet things in a ftronger
and clearer light, they are more fedate and moderate.
Befides, an orator fcarce ever has occafion for fuch fi6li-
tious images as we often meet with in poetry 5 though
his ought to appear as natural, and its painting as ftrong
and lively. We (hall juft mention fome of the chief of
thofe figures which feem beft fuited for this purpofe 5
though they are no lefs fuited to the middle ftyle, as has
been fhown already, when taken from ffibjefts of an in¬
ferior nature.
1. Defeription. Of this Juftin gives us a fine in-
ftance, in a fpeech of King Philip of Macedon, where¬
in he reprefents the neceffity of falling upon the Ro¬
mans, who at that time were engaged in a war with
Hannibal. “ I behold (fays he) a cloud of a moft
dreadful and bloody war rifing in Italy. I fee a
ftorm of thunder and lightning from the weft, which
will overfpread all places with a vaft fhower of blood,
into' whatever country the tempeft of victory ftiall
drive it. Greece has undergone many violent ftiocks
in the Perfian, Gallic, and Macedonian wars; but
thefe would all be found unworthy of regard, if the
armies now engaged in Italy fhould march out of that
country. I view the terrible and cruel wars which
involve thofe nations through the courage of their
ORATORY. Part lit.
forces, and Ikill of their generals. This rage and fury Elocution,
116
cannot ceafe by the deftru&ion of one party, without1
the ruin of their neighbours. Indeed, Macedon has
lefs reafon to dread the favage conquerors than Greece j
becaufe more prepared, and better able to defend itfelf j
but I am fenfible, thofe who attack each other fo impe-
tuoufly will not confine their vkdories within thofe
bounds, and that it will be our lot to engage the con¬
querors.” So lively a picture of imminent and threat¬
ening danger muft needs alarm the moft timorous, and
excite them to a refolution to defend their country, and
all that was dear to them. Such images give life and
vigour to a difcourfe, and being artfully interwoven-
with proper arguments, influence the mind, and carry
it away by an irrefiftible force, fo that the hearer is not
barely left to conclude the certainty of the thing, but
moved by it, as it were, from ocular demonftration.
The images therefore of the orator ought to be drawn
from real things, or at leaf! fuch as are probable ; for
if they are wholly fiflitious and incredible, as many
poetical images are, they may give pleafure, but will
not convince the mind, nor fway the paftions.
2. Enumeration has fome affinity with the former
figure ; by which, if the feveral parts have each fome-
thing grand in them, the whole, when brought toge¬
ther, and difpofed in a juft order, very much contri¬
butes to the fublimity. We (hall produce an example
of this from an Engliih writer, containing a deferip-
tion of our globe, upon a furvey of it after the gene¬
ral conflagration, which he reprefents in this ftrong
light : “ Such is the vanity and tranfient glory of this
habitable -world ! By the force of one element break¬
ing loofe upon the reft, all the varieties of nature, all
the works of art, all the labours of man, are reduced
to nothing; all that we admired and loved before, as
great and magnificent, is obliterated and vanifhed, and
another form and face of things, plain, Ample, and
everwhere the fame, overfpreads the whole earth. Where
are now the great empires of the world, and their great
imperial cities ? their pillars, trophies, and monuments
of glory ? Show me where they flood, read the inferip-
tion, tell me the victor’s name. What remains, what
impreflions, what difference or diftin6lion, do you fee
in this mafs of fire? Rome itfelf, eternal Rome, the great
city, the emprefs of the world, whofe domination or
fuperftition, ancient or modern, make a great part of the
hiftory of the earth, what is become of her now ? She
laid her foundations deep, and her palaces were ftrong
and fumptuous ; Jhe glorified herfelf and lived' dehciouf-
lif, andfaid in her heart I Jit a queen, and fballfee no
forrow : but her hour is come, ffie is wiped away from
the face of the earth, and buried in everlafting oblivion.
But it is not cities only, and the works of men’s hands;
the everlafting hills, the mountains and rocks of the
earth, are melted as wax before the fun, and their place
is nowhere found. Here flood the Alps, the load of
the earth, that covered many countries, and reached
their arms from the ocean to the Black fea. This
huge mafs of ftone is foftened and diffolved, as a ten¬
der cloud into rain. Here flood the African moun¬
tains, and Atlas with his top above the clouds. There
was frozen Caucafus, and Taurus, and Imaus, and the
mountains of Afia j and yonder, towards the north,
flood the Riphean hills, clothed in ice and fnow $ all
thefe are vanifhed, dropped away as the fnow upon
their
!
Elocution.
■#- Burnet's
Theory.
uS
Part HI.
their heads *.n
' are all truly great and noble, and every way fuited to
the nature of the fubjeft •, but as they are here difpofed,
and rife in order, they both enlarge the idea, and
heighten the image, of that grand cataftrophe.
3. Similitude: which ferves very much for beauty
•and ornament 5 and, "when taken from great and fub-
lime objefts, adds a grandeur and magnificence to the
things illuftrated by it. We need go no farther for
an example of this, than to the great critic fo often
mentioned already, who has treated upon the fublime
in a ftyle every way equal to the fubjecl. He, then,
comparing thofe two great works of Homer, his Iliad
and Odyifey, thus defcribes-them : “ Homer compofed
his Iliad when his mind was in its full ftrength and
vigour ; the whole body of the poem is dramatic, and
full of aflion : whereas the belt part of the Odyffey is
taken up in narrations, which feem to be the genius
of old age. So that one may compare him in this
latter work to the fetting fun, which dill appears with
the fame magnificence, but has no longer the fame
heat and force.” And foon after, fpeaking of the
Odyifey, he fays, “ That piece may be called the re¬
flux ef his genius, which like the ocean ebbs, and
deferts its fhores.” What nobler idea could poffibly
have been given of that great poet,' than by thofe two
fimilitudes of the fun and the ocean ? And elfewhere,
comparing thofe two great orators Demofthenes and
Cicero, he fhows the like fublimity of thought. “ De¬
mofthenes (fays he) is fublime, in that he is clofe and
concife ; Cicero, in that he is diffufe and extenfive.
The former, by reafon of the violence, rapidity,
ftrength, and fury, with which he rages and bears all
before him, may be compared to a tempeft, and thun¬
der ; but the latter, like a great conflagration, de¬
vours and conlumes all lie meets, with a fire that is
never extinguilhed, but wherever it advances continu¬
ally gathers new ftrength.”
4. Antithefis, or a fentence confiding of oppofite
parts, has often the fame effeift; as in the following
where his view is to reprefent
confummate general. “ Who
or need be more knowing than
this man ? who from his childhood, and inftruftion at
fchool, went into the army of his father, and learned
the military art, in a very great war againft the fier-
ceft enemies : who, while yet a boy, became a foldier
under the greateft general •, and when but a youth
was himfelf commander of a very great army : who
has oftener engaged with the enemy in battle, than
any other perfon with his adverfary in private contefts :
has waged more wars than others have read, and con¬
quered more provinces than others have wiftied to go¬
vern : whofe youth has been fpent in acquiring the art
of war, not by the precepts of others, but his own com¬
mands; not by defeats, but vidlories ; not by campaigns
but triumphs.”
5. Aprjflrophe. Among the articles charged againft
Demofthenes by his great adverfary and rival TEfchi-
nes, one was, that he had advifed the Athenians to en¬
gage in a won* againft King Philip, wherein they had
received a very great defeat. When Demofthenes
comes to anfwer that part of the charge, he does not
fay, as he might, “ You have not been milled, my fel¬
low-citizens, in expofing your lives for the liberties and
np
MO
ORATORY. 387
Thete particulars conlidered feparately fafety of Greece ; you are not Without the moft illuf- Elocution.
trious examples of fuch conduft : for who can fay thefe ’“'“"'V 1 r
great men were milled, who fought for the fame caufe
in the plains of Marathon ?” But inftead of expref-
fing himfelf thus, he gives the matter quite a difterent
turn ; and in a fort of rapture, appealing to thofe
brave defenders of their country, fays, “ No, my fel¬
low-citizens, you have not done wrong, you have not;
1 proteft by the ghofts of thofe great men who fought
for the fame eaufe in the plains of Marathon.” By
this appeal to thofe ancient worthies whofe memories
were in the higheft efteem at Athens, that it was the
caufe, and not the fuecefs, w’hich rendered their actions
fo glorious, lie artfully corroborates his alfertion in a
way which he knew mult have the greateft weight with
his audience.
As the proper fubjects of this character are either
divine things, or fuch as are in the higheft efteem and
regard among mankind, which often require laudatory
difeourfes, or panegyric ; thefe naturally admit of all
the ornaments and aftiftance of eloquence. Which,
however mult be ufed with diferetion ; for when the
mind is wrapt up in thought, and ftretchcd to the
utmoft of its powers in the purfuit of fome noble and
fublime idea, it cannot attend to all the leffer fineries
"and niceties of language; but from its own vigour,
and lively conception of things, will be led to exprefs
them in terms the inoft emphatical, and bell fuited to
their nature. In fuch cales, therefore, the fublimity
muft appear rather from the elevation of the thought,
attended with a fimplicity of expreflion, than fropi the
ornaments and drefs of the language. Thefe things
feem more natural when the mind is relaxed, and em¬
ployed upon lower objefls. Though, upon the whole,
grandeur and majefiy of expreftion is the proper mark
of this charafter with relation to the language, as beauty
and fplendour is of the middle ftyle.
inftance of Cicero,
Pompey as a moft
(fays he) ever was,
Chap. VIII. Of the Style of an Orator.
The ftyle of an orator comprehends all the eba-
rafters already explained, of low, middle, and fublime, middle and
as they are applied by him in the different parts offubltme
his province. For that the language muff be fuited ftyle requi¬
te the nature of the fubjeft, rve have had occafion^^”1 an
often to obferve already ; and the different view of the
fpeaker or writer neceffarily occafions a variety in
the manner of expreflion. Now an orator has three
tilings in his view ; to prove what he afferts, to re¬
prefent it in an agreeable light, and to move the paf-
fions. Thefe are,all necefiary, we do not mean in the
order wherein we have now mentioned them, but that
the difeourfe may upon the whole have its defired
efteft upon the audience. For unlefs the mind be
convinced of the truth of what is offered by folid and
cogent arguments, neither will the moft eloquent dif¬
eourfe afford a lading pleafure, nor the moft pathetic
long influence the affeftions. Though, on the other
hand, the hearers expeft to be entertained at the
fame time they are informed ; and, therefore, unlefs
the language be agreeable to their tafte, they will foon
call off their attention, and think but meanly of the
fpeaker. And unlefs both thefe are warmed and ani¬
mated by a becoming pathos, the fpeaker may very
probably roifs of his end in bringing his audience
3 C a over
383 O R A T
Elocution, over to his fentittienls. For bare conviilion is not
v~ iufncient with many perfons to excite them to adion.
I'liey will acquiefce in the truth of a thing which
they cannot contradict, or will not give themfelves
the trouble to examine j and at the fame time remain
unconcerned to profecute it. And the pleafure of a
florid difcourfe will of itfelf foon vanilh, like the har¬
mony of mufic, or the charms of a fine poem. And
therefore to captivate his audience, fecure them in his
intereft, and pulh them upon action, it is neceflary
for the orator to engage their affections; thefe are,
as it were, the fprings of the foul, which, managed
by a fkilful hand, move and direct it at pleafure.
Now each of thefe parts of an orator’s province re¬
quires a different ftyle. The lowJhjle is moft proper
for proof and information \ beeaute he has no other
view here but to reprefent things to the mind in the
plaineft light, as they really are in themfelves, without
- colouring or ornament. The middleJh/le is moft fuited
for pleafure and entertainment, becaufe it confifts of
fmooth and well-turned periods, harmonious numbers,
with florid and bright figures. But the fublime is ne-
ceffary in order to fway and influence the paffions.
Here the orator calls in all the afliftance both of na¬
ture and art; the moft raifed and lofty thoughts,
clothed with the brighteft and ftrongeft colouring, enter
into this character.
But as an orator has frequently each of thefe views
in the fame difcourfe, we fhall firft give a fummary
defeription of the feveral characters of ftyle, which we
have formerly difeourfed on more at large; that, by
placing them together in one view, the difference be¬
tween them may be more plain and obvious : and then
we fhall proceed to fhow to what particular parts of a
difcourfe each of them is more efpecially to be applied.
I. Firft, then, as fliorter periods are proper in the
low Jhjle, fo lefs care is neceffary in their turn and ca¬
dency. If a fentence now and then drop unexpectedly
and difappoint the ear, or has fomething rough and
harfh in its compofition, it is no blemifh in this cha-
rater. For as it is fuited to the manner of common
difcourfe, an appearance of regard to the fubjet ra¬
ther than the form of expreflion, is more becoming
than any beauties of art. But the words fliould be
well chofen and proper, fuited to the ideas they are
defigned to convey the expreflions plain and clear,
and the artificial ornaments few and modeft. By ar-
tijicial ornaments, are here meant tropes and Jigures;
and they are called artificial, becaufe they vary from
the natural drefs of language, either in the words or
manner of exprefiion : though they are often ufed by
thofe who are wholly unacquainted with the rules of
art ; and particularly metaphors, which perfons who
have the leaft command of language frequently run
into through mere neceftity, for want of a fufficient
ftock of proper words to convey their ideas. The low
ftyle therefore admits of thefe : but care fliould be
taken to choofe fuch as have been rendered familiar
by ufe, or at leaft where the fimilitude is very plain and
evident. Bold or lofty metaphors, or where the allu-
lion is dark and remote, ought to be avoided. Nor is
the moderate ufe of the other tropes wholly difagreeable
to this ftyle. And the fame thing is to be faid with
refpeeft to verbal figures, or fuch as confift in the parti¬
cular difpofition of the fentence, fo that if the form of it
^ ^ Part III
be changed, the figure is loft. Of thefe, fuch as come Elocution,
neareit to the natural wray of expreflion are moft proper *T“-
for this ftyle; and therefore thofe which confift in a
jingle of words, arifing from the fame or a like found,
are to be avoided, as carrying in them too much the,
appearance of art. Thofe likewife which confift in a
repetition of the fame word have often too great a force
and vehemence for this mild and gentle character. And
as to figures of fentences, which do not depend on the
conftrudion of words, but lie in the fenfe, many of
them are too gay and fprightly, and others too rapid
and impetuous, for the ilmplieity of the low ftyle j fo
that only the mote moderate and fedate ones are to be
allowed a place here. It is therefore no wonder if per¬
fons are often miftaken in their notions of this charac¬
ter : the beauty of which confiding in a certain plain-
nefs and fimplicity, without any thing in it but what
feems natural and common, every one is apt to imagine
he can readily be matter of it, till by experience he finds
the contrary. For the cafe is much the fame here, as
in perfons of faftiion and good breeding, whole beha¬
viour and addrefs is attended with that agreeable free¬
dom and feeming negligence, which in appearance is
very eafy to exprefs, but in reality is fcarce imitable bv
others.
As the middleJltjle is more adapted for pleafure and
delight, it admits of all thofe beauties and ornaments
which foothe and entertain the mind. It has more force
and energy than the low ftyle, but lefs than the fublime.
Smooth and harmonious numbers, well turned periods,
of a juft length, delightful cadency, and accurate dif¬
pofition of the words, are fuited to this ftyle. The moft
beautiful and fhining tropes, which ftrike the fancy, and
all thofe verbal figures which, by a repetition, fimili¬
tude, or proportion of founds, pleafe and gratify the
ear, help to form this charafter. The like is to be faid
as to figures of fentences : The moft florid and beautiful,
fuch as enumeration, defeription, fimilitude, and the
like, are here the moft proper.
But it is the fublime Jlyle which perfecis the orator.
This requires the moft forcible and emphatical words,
the boldeft metaphors and ftrongeft figures. In verbal
figures, repetitions, fynonyms, gradations, contraries,
with others of a like force and energy, are chiefly
employed here. But figures of fentences are the moft
confiderable, and principally contribute to make up
this charafter. Among thefe are fimilies taken from
lofty fubjedts, profopopoeia, apoftrophe, exclamation,
epiphonema, apofiopefis, and others of a like nature.
But due care muft likewife be taken of the form, con-
ftruftion, and harmony of the periods ; which feem
beft difpofed, when long and fliort ones are inter¬
mixed. For though round and fwelling periods carry
in them fomething grand and majeftic, yet many
times they move too flow to ftrike the paflions ; where¬
as fliort ones are more acute and pungent, and by re¬
turning quick, awaken the mind, and raife the paflions.
But to render it complete, it muft be fupported with
ftrong reafon, grandeur of thought, and fentiments eve¬
ry way equal to the expreflion ; without which it will
be very liable to fivell into bombaft, and end barely in
amufement.
II. Having given a fliort fketch of this part of the
orator’s furniture, we fhall now go on to fliow where,,
and in what manner, he is to make ufe of it. This
will
Part 1IT. ORATORY.
Elocution, will bell appear by confidering his principal view in with the fedatenefs of a
"V*'—' each part of his difcourfe. Now the parts of a juft
oration (as we have formerly ftiown) are fix 5 Introduc¬
tion, Narration, Propojition, Confirmation, Confutation,
and Conc/ufon. Not that all thefe are neceffary in every
difcourfe, but it is proper they fhould all be mentioned,
that we may confider what ityle is fitted for them when
they are necefiary.
xiz In the Introduction, the orator has three things be¬
fore him ; to gain the efteem of his hearers, to fecure
their attention, and to give them feme general no¬
tion of his fubjeft. To fet out modeftly is undoubt¬
edly the moft likely way to recommend himfelf. For
to attempt to inflame an audience, before they are
prepared for it, or fee the realon of much warmth, is
highly improper. A prudent fpeaker will, like De-
mofthenes, begin with temper, and rife gradually, till
he has infenfibly warmed his hearers, and in fome
degree engaged their affeclions in his favour. So
that this part fcarcely rifes above the middle ftyle.
And if it carry in it an air of pleafantry and good-
humour, it is generally the more apt to engage the at¬
tention.
123 The introduflion is ufually followed by the narra¬
tion, m a recital of fuch things as either preceded, ac¬
companied, or followed upon the fubjeft under confi-
deration. Now, as the qualities that recommend a
narration are clearnefs, brevity, and probability ; thefe
Fifficiently point out the ftyle. Perfpicuity arifes from
the choice of proper words, and fuch tropes as have been
rendered moft familiar by ufe •, brevity requires mode¬
rate periods, whofe parts are but little tranfpofed ; and
a plain and fimple drefs, without ornament or colouring,
is beft fuited to reprefent things probable : all which
are the properties of the low ftyle. And therefore Ci¬
cero fays, narrations come pretty near to our ordinary dif¬
courfe. Indeed, fometimes it is neceffary not only to re¬
late the fadls themfelves, but likewife to deferibe the
manner in which they were performed. And then a
further degree of art may be requifite to reprefent them
with all their circumftances, and paint them to the
mind in their proper colours.
1*4 The next part in order is the propoftion, or fubjcift
of the difcourfe, in which there can be no room for
ornament. But as it is the bafts and foundation of the
orator’s whole defign, it ought to be laid down in the
plained and cleareft terms, fo as to leave no room for
doubt or uncertainty what it is which he intends to dif-
courfe upon.
115 The next thing is confirmation, wherein the orator
endeavours to maintain and defend his own caufe, and
to convince his hearers of the truth' of it by reafon
and argument. Now the low ftyle is certainly fitted
for cool reafoning and debate. But the orator’s me¬
thod of reafoning often very much differs from that of
the philofopher. The latter contents himfelf with the
moft plain and familiar manner of reprefenting the
truth, and thinks it fufficient if what he fays be clear¬
ly underftood. But the former, at the fame time that
he convinces the judgment, endeavours likewife to af-
fe<ft the paflions, and that in a great variety of ways.
So that in this part of the difcourfe the ftyle is very
different, according to the nature and circumftances
of the cafe. Sometimes, while he is dwelling upon
the proof of a thing, he talks coolly, and reafons
389
126
*27
philofopherand where any Elocution,
part of his argument appears doubtful or obfeure, he 1 v— ■l,f
endeavours with the fame even temper to explain and
clear it up. But frequently lie intermixes with his
proofs all the arts of perfuafion, and embellilhes his
reafons with the greatelt ornaments and beauties of elo¬
quence.
Confirmation is ufually followed by confutation, in
which the orator endeavours to enervate and overthrow
all that has been advanced in favour of the oppofite fide
of the queftion. But as the ftyle is much the fame here
as in the former part, what has been faid upon that may
be fufficient for this likewife.
The lait part above mentioned is the conclufon.
This confifts of two branches, recapitulation, and ad-
dr if s. Recapitulation is a ffiort recital of the feveral
, arguments, at the kail the chief of them, which were
before advanced in fupport of the caufe *, that, being
brought together into a narrow compafs, they may
appear in a ftronger light. Wherefore the language
here ought rather to be forcible and ftrong than flo¬
rid, becaufe brevity and concifenefs is a neceffary qua¬
lity. The other branch of the conclufion conlifts in
an addrefs to the paffions, and is wholly perfuafive •,
for which the fpeaker is now entirely at leifure. In¬
deed, this is often done occafionally in other parts of
the difcourfe, particularly in the introduftion and con¬
firmation : But, as in the former of thefe, his view is
principally to fecure the good opinion of the hearers,
and excite their attention *, and in the latter to defend
his own fide of the queftion by reafon and argument 3
when thefe two points are gained, he has nothing left
but to prevail with them to fall in with his defign, and
declare for him. And the beft way to attain this is,
by engaging their paffions in his intereft. Hence,
then, to ufe (Quintilian’s words, “ All the fprings of elo¬
quence are to be opened. Now we are paft the rocks
and fhallows, all the fails may be hoifted. And as the
greateft part of the conclufion confifts in illuftration,
the moft pompous language and ftrongeft figures have
place here.”
All the variety above mentioned, however, is not
always neceffary. Regard muff be had to the nature
of the fubje£l, the time, place, perfons, and other cir-
cumllances •, by all which the ftyle is to be regulated.
To difcourfe in a lofty and grand way upon a common
topic, or in a low and flat manner upon a fublime ar¬
gument, are both equally injudicious. Cicero refers
us to fome difeourfes of his own, as inftances of each
kind. His oration for Caecina, he fays, is written in
the low ftyle, that for the Manilian law in the middle
ftvle, and that for Rabirius in the fublime j and his
Adtions againft Verres, with fome others, are patterns
of the variety here mentioned. And he gives us a very
comprehenfive defeription of a perfedt orator in very-
few words, when he fays, “ He is one who can fpeak
upon a low fubjedt acutely, upon a lofty fubjedt with
fublimity, and upon a moderate fubjedt temperately.” By
which he means no more, than one who is mailer of the
three charadters here deferibed, and knows when and
how to ufe them. But although he mentions feveral a-
mong the Greeks, and fome few among the Romans,
who excelled in one or other of thefe different kinds 5
yet one who excelled in them all, he fuppofes never to
have exifted, except in the imagination. The reafon
perhaps
don.
390 O R A T
Pronunck- pefhaps may be, becaufe each of them feemsto require a
j very different genius, fo that it is fearce poflible for the
fame perfon to fucceed in them all. Since therefore-it
<is fo rare and difficult a matter to gain the command of
--each in any good degree, -it is better perhaps for every
o R Y. Part IV.
one to purfue that which nature feems mod inclined to, Pronuncia.
and to excel in it, than to ftrive againft their genius.
For every kind has its perfeftions; and it is more com¬
mendable to be mafter of one thing, than to do feveral
but indifferently^
tior>,
PART IV. OF PRONUNCIATION-
Chap. I. Of Pronunciation in general-.
128 -
Proriu- Pronunciation is alfo called A&ion by fome of
conformity ^ie ancients* Though, if vve attend to the proper
of the lignification of each of thefe words, the former refpecls
voice and the voice, and the latter the gedures and motions of the,
gefture to body. But if we confider them as fynonymous terms,
u ject. *n iarge fenfe pronunciation or aftion may be faid
to be a fuitable co?iformitij of the voice, and the feveral
motions of the body, in fpeaking, to the fubjecl matter of
the dfcourfe.
The bell judges among the ancients have reprefent-
ed this as the principal part of an orator’s province,
from whence he is chiefly to expedt fuecefs in the art
of perfuafion. When Cicero, in the perfon of Craffus,
has largely and elegantly difcourfed upon all the other
.parts of oratory, coming at lad to fpeak of this, he
fays : “ All the former have their effedl as they are
pronounced. It is the aftion alone that governs in
fpeaking; without which the bed orator is of no va¬
lue, and is often defeated by one in other refpedls
muOh his inferior.” And he lets us know, that De-
modhenes was of the fame opinion, who, when he was
afked what was the principal thing in oratory, re¬
plied, aftion ; and being alked again a fecond and a
third time, what was next confiderable, he dill made
the fame anfwer. By which lie feemed to intimate,
that he thought the whole art did in a manner confid
-in it. And indeed, if he had not judged this highly
neceffary for an orator, he would fcarce have taken fo
much pains in correCling thofe natural defedts, under
which he laboured at firlt, in order to acquire it. For
be had both a weak voice, and likewife an impedi¬
ment in his fpeech, fo that he could not pronounce di-
itindlly fome particular letters. The former of which
defedls he conquered, partly by fpeaking as loud as he
-could upon the fliore, when the fea roared and Avas
boifterous; and partly by pronouncing long periods
as he Avalked up hill; both of which methods contri¬
buted to the ftrengthening of his voice. And he found
means to render his pronunciation more clear and ar¬
ticulate, by the help of fome little Hones put under
his tongue. Nor was he lefs careful in endeavouring
to gain the habit of a becoming and decent gefture j
for which purpofe lie ufed to pronounce his difcourfes
alone before a large glafs. And becaufe he had got
an ill cuftom of drawing up his flioulders when he
fpoke 5 to amend that, he ufed to place them under a
fword, which hung over him with the point doivn-
ward. Such pains did this prince of the Grecian ora¬
tors take to remove thofe difficulties, Avhich would
have been fufficient to difcourage an inferior and lefs
afpiring genius. And to hoAV great a perfeftion lie
armed in his a&ion, under all thefe difadvantages, by
5
his indefatigable diligence and application, is evident
from the confeflion of his great adverfary and rival in
oratory, Atfcbines. Who, when he could not bear
the difgrace of being Avorfted by Demofthenes in the
•caufe of Ctefiphon, retired to Rhodes. And being
delired by the inhabitants to recite to them his oavu
oration upon that occafion, Avhich accordingly he did j
the next day they requefted of him to let them hear
that of Demofthenes ; Avhich having pronounced in a
moil graceful manner, to the admiration of all Avho
Avere prefent, “ How much more (fays he) Avould you
have Avondered if you had heard him fpeak it himfelf!”
By Avhich he plainly gave Demofthenes the preference
in that refpedt. We might add to thefe authorities
the judgment of Quintilian, Avho fays, that “ it is not
of fo much moment Avhat our compofitions are, as hoAV
they are pronounced ; fince it is the manner of the de¬
livery by Avhich the audience is moved.” And there¬
fore he ventures to aflert, that “ an indifferent difcourfe,
affifted by a lively and graceful a&ion, Avill have greater
efficacy than the fineft harangue which wants that ad¬
vantage.”
The truth of this fentiment of the ancients concern¬
ing the poAA'er and efficacy of pronunciation, might be
proved from many inftances; but one or tAvo may here
fuffice. Hortentius, a contemporary with Cicero, and
Avhile living next to him in reputation as an orator, Avas
highly applauded for his a&ion. But his orations after
his death, as Quintilian tells us (for avc have none of
them iioav remaining), did not appear anfwerable to his
chara&er ; from Avhence he juftly concludes, there muft
have been fomething pleafing Avhen he fpoke by Avhich
he gained his chara&er, Avhich Avas loft in reading them.
But perhaps there is fcarce a more confiderable inftance
of this than in Cicero himfelf. After the death of
Pompey, Avhen Caefar got the government into his own
hands, many of his acquaintance interceded Avith him in
behalf of their relations and friends, avIio had been of
the contrary party in the late Avars. Among others,
Cicero folicited for his friend Ligarius 5 Avhich Tubero
underftanding, who owed Ligarius a grudge, heoppofed
it, and undertook' to reprefent him to Caefar as umvor-
tby of his mercy. Caefar himfelf Avas prejudiced againft
Ligarjus j and therefore, when the caufe Avas to come
before him, he faid, “ We may venture to hear Cicero
difplay his eloquence j for I knoAV the perfon he pleads
for to be an ill man, and my enemy.” But, however,
in the courfe of his oration, Cicero fo Avorked upon his
paffions, that by the frequent alteration of his counte¬
nance, the emotions of his mind Avere very confpicuous.
And Avhen he came to touch upon the battle of Pharfa-
lia, Avhich had given Ciefar the empire of the Avorld, he
reprefented it in that moving and lively manner, that
Caefar could no longer contain himielf, but Avas throAvn
into fuch a fit of Ihivering, that he dropped the papers
which
Part IV.
Pronuncia- •which he held in his hand. This was the more remark-
tion. able, becaufe Coe Tar was himfelf one of the greateft
u" »1 "1' orators of that age, knew all the arts of addrefs, and
avenues to the paflions, and confequently was better pre¬
pared to guard againft them. But neither his Ikill, nor
refolution of mind, was of fufficient force againft the
power of oratory j but the conqueror of the world be¬
came a conqueft to the charms of Cicero’s eloquence $
fo that, contrary to his intention, he gave into his plea,
and pardoned Ligarius. Now that oration is ftill ex¬
tant, and appears exceedingly well calculated to touch
the foft and tender paflions and fprings of the foul •, but
we believe it can fcarce be difcernible to any in reading-
it, how it ftiould have had fo furprifing an effect 5 which
muft therefore have been chiefly owing to the wonderful
addrefs and conduft of the fpeaker.
The more natural the pronunciation is, it will of con-
fequence be the more moving, fince the perfection of art
confifts in its neareft refemblance to nature. And there¬
fore it is not without good reafon, that the ancients
make it one qualification of an orator, that he be a good
man ", becaufe a perfon of this charafter will make the
caufe he efpoufes his own, and the more fenfibly he is
touched with it himfelf, his aftion will be the more na¬
tural, and by that means the more eafily affeft others in
the fame manner. Cicero, fpeaking upon this fubjc ft,
fays, “ It it certain that truth (by which he means na¬
ture) in every thing excels imitation •, but if that wras
fufficient of itfelf in aft ion, we fliould have no occafion
for art.” In his opinion therefore (and who was ever
a better judge), art, in this cafe as well as in many
others, if well managed, will aflift and improve nature.
But that is not all ; for fometimes we find the force of
it fo great and powerful, that, where it is only counter¬
feit, it will for the time work the fame effeft as if it was
founded in truth. This is well known to thofe who
have been converfant with the reprefentations of the
theatre. In tragedies, though we are fenfible that every
thing we fee and hear is feigned and counterfeit, yet
fuch is the power of aftion, that we are oftentimes af-
fefted by it in the fame manner as if they were all reali¬
ties. Anger and refentment at the appearance of cruel¬
ty, concern and folicitude for diftreffed virtue, rife in our
breads; and tears are extorted from us for oppreffed in¬
nocence, though at the fame time, perhaps, we are
ready to laugh at ourfelves for being this decoyed. If-
art then has fo great an influence upon us, when fup-
ported only by fancy and imagination, how powerful
muft be the eflfeft of a juft and lively reprefentation of
what we know to be true and real ?
How agreeable it is both to nature and reafon, that
a warmth of expreflion and vehemency of .motion fliould
rife in proportion to the importance of the fubjeft and
concern of the fpeaker, will further appear, by looking
back a little into the more early and fimple ages of the
world. For the higher we go, the more we ffiall find
of both. We fhall give the obfervation of a very
b/ , great man upon this head, in his own wrords. “ I he
Eloquence ^°mans (fays he) had a very great talent this way, and
p. 93. ' the Greeks a greater. The eaftern nations excelled in
it, and particularly the Hebrews. Nothing can equal
the ftrength and vivacity of the figures they employed
in their difcourfe : and the vt-ry aft ions they ufed to ex-
prefs their fentiments, fuch as putting affies on the>r
heads, and tearing their garmentSj and covering them-
39 V
felves with fackcloth under any deep diftrefs and forrow Pronuncia..
of mind. I do not fpeak of what the prophets did to tlon• .
give a more lively reprefentalion of the things they v'
foretold, becaufe fuch figurative aftions were the effeft:
of divine infpiration. But even in other cafes we find
thofe people underftood much better than we do how to
expreis their grief, and fear, and other paflions. And
hence, no doubt, arofe thofe furprifing effefts of elo¬
quence, which we never experience now.” Thus far
this excellent -writer. And what he fays here with re-
fpeft to the aftions of the eaftern nations;, was in a good
raeafure cuftomary among the Greeks and Romans 5 if
not entirely of the fame kind, yet perhaps as vehement
and expreflive. They did not think language of itfelf
fufficient to exprefs the height of their paflions, unlefs en¬
forced by uncommon motions and geflures. Thus, when
Achilles had driven the Trojans into their city with the
greateft precipitation and terror, and only Heftor ven¬
tured to tarry without the gates to engage him ", Homer
reprofents both King Priam and his queen under the
higheft confternation for the danger of their ion. And
therefore, in order to prevail with him to come into the
city, and not fight with Achilles, they not only intreat
him from the wails in the moft tender and moving lan¬
guage imaginable 5 but he tears off his grey locks with his
hands-; and fli@, in a flood of tears, expofes her breafts, and
adjures him by thofe paps which fuckled him, to comply
with their requeft. The poet knew very well, that no
words of themfelves could reprefent thofe agonies of
mind he endeavoured to-convey, unlefs heightened by
the idea of fuch aftions as were expreflive of the deep-
eft forrow. And indeed this was anciently efteemed fo
requifite in an orator, that in matters of importance he
was fcarce thought to be in earneft who wanted it. In
one of Cicero’s orations, he does not flick to argue in
that manner with his adverfary. “ Would you talk
thus (fays he) if you was ferious ? Would you, who are
wont to difplay your eloquence fo warmly in the danger
of others, aft fo coldly in your own ? Where is that'
concern, that ardour, which ufed to extort pity even
from children ? Here is no-emotion either of mind or
body : neither the forehead ftruck, nor the thigh, nor
fo much as a ftamp of tire foot. Therefore, you have
been fo far from inflaming our minds, that you have -
fcarce kept us awake.”
As aftion therefore was judged ro neceffarily a quali¬
fication in an orator among the ancients, fo they made
ufe of feveral methods and expedients ior the better
attaining it. The principal of which we fliall briefly
mention.
Deceiicij of pronunciation is a habit.’ And as all
habits are gained by time, fo the fooner they are learn¬
ed, they are generally acquired with greater eafe. lor
while perfons are young, they are not only more flexi¬
ble and capable of any particular bent, but they are like-
wife free from the trouble of encountering and fubduing
contrary habits, which doubles the labour, and increafes
the difficulty of attaining any laudable quality. (Quin¬
tilian was very fenfible of this in the cafe here before
us ; and therefore, in order to have perfons trained up
to it, he begins with them in their childhood, and de-
feends fo low as even to give direftions how they fliould '
be taught to pronounce when they firft learn to read. <
And he advifes, that they fliould then be inftrufted
where tQ fufpend their voice, and make the proper pan-
ORATORY.
592 ORA
Pronuncia- f*eSj both in diftinguifhing the feveral parts of the fame
tl0n" fentence, and in leparating one fentence from another $
likewife when to raife or fink their voice, or give it a
proper inflexion ; to be flower or fafter, more vehement
or fedate, as the nature of the things may require } and
that the tone of their voice be always manly and grave,
but at the fame time mixed with an agreeable fweetnefs.
Thefe tilings may perhaps appear in themfelves fmall ;
but if duly attended to, they will be found of confider-
able fervice to bring us to a juft and proper pronun¬
ciation. For in every thing that is to be attained by
practice, it is a great advantage to fet out right at
fir ft.
The ancients likewife had perfons whom they called
photutfci, whofe proper bufinefs it was to teach them how
to regulate- and manage their voice •, and others, who in-*
drafted them in the whole art of pronunciation, both
as to their voice and geftures. Thefe latter were gene¬
rally taken from the theatre, being feme eminent expe¬
rienced aftors. So Quintilian, treating of the province
of thefe perfons, fays, “ The comedian ought to teach
them how to relate fafts, with what authority to ad*-
vife, with what vehemence to exprefs anger, and
with what foftnefs compaflion.” And fpeaking of gef¬
tures, he fays, “ Fie ftiould admonifh them to raife their
countenance, not diftort their lips, or ftretch their
mouths.” With feveral other direftions of the like
kind. And we are told concerning the emperor M.
Antoninus, ufually called the philofopher, that HisJtrJl
■mafters were Euphoria the grammarian^ and Geminus the
comedian.
But though they made ufe of aftors to inftruft their
youth in forming their fpeech and geftures, yet the ac¬
tion of an orator was much different from that of the
theatre. Cicero very plainly reprefents this diftinftion
in the words of Craffus, when, fpeaking of orators, he
fays, “ The motions of the body ought to be fluted to
the expreflions, not in a theatrical way, mimicking the
words by particular gefticulations, but in a manner ex-
preflive of the general fenfe, with a fedate and manly
infleftion of the fides •, not taken from the ftage and
aftors, but from the exercife of arms and the paleftra.”
And Quintilian fays to the fame purpofe, “ Every gef-
ture and motion of the comedians is not to be imitated,
nor to the fame degree.” They thought the aftion of
the theatre too light and extravagant for the imitation
of an orator •, and, therefore, though they employed ac¬
tors to inform young perfons in the firft rudiments, yet
they were afterwards fent to the paleftra, or fchools de-
figned on purpofe, to teach them a decent and graceful
management of their bodies. And fuch fchools, as
Quintilian informs us, were in ufe both among the
Greeks and Romans : Juft as of later ages children
learn to dance, in fome meafure with the fame inten¬
tion.
Being thus far prepared, they were afterwards fent
to the fchools of the rhetoricians. And here, as their
bufinefs was to cultivate their ftyle, and gain the whole
art of eloquence; fo particularly to acquire a juft and
accurate pronunciation by thofe exercifes, in which for
that end they were conftantly employed. And as the
Greeks were moft celebrated for their fkill in all the
polite arts, and efpecially oratory the Roman gentry.
and nobility generally fent their fons abroad, and placed
them under the tuition of fome Grecian mafter, to in-
4
TORY. Partly.
ftruft them in the art of fpeaking, and by that means Pronuncia.
to fit them for the fervice of their country, either in the t‘on-
courts of judicature or the fenate. Thus Cicero was
fent to Rhodes, to ftudy under the famous Molo, and
Brutus under Pammenes ; Caefar W'as going to the fame
place when taken by pirates j and Auguftus afterwards
ftudied there under Apollodorus.
Nor, after all this pains and induftry, did they yet
think themfelves fufficiently qualified to take upon them
the charafter of orators. But it was their conftant cuf-
tom to get together fome of their friends and acquaint¬
ance who were proper judges of fuch performances, and
declaim before them in private. The bufinefs of thefe
perfons w'as to make obfervations both on their language
and pronunciation. And they were allowed the great-
eft freedom to take notice of any thing they thought
amifs, either as to inaccuracy of method, impropriety of
ftyle, or indecency of their voice or aftions. This
gave them an opportunity to correft any fuch defefts at
firft, before they became habitual. What effefts might
not juftly be expefted from fuch an inftitution ! Per¬
fons trained up in this manner, with all thofe advantages,-
joined to a good natural genius, could not fail of ma¬
king very complete orators. Though even after they
came to appear in public, they did not lay afide the
cuftom of declaiming. For Quintilian tells us, that C.
Carbo ufed to praBife it daily in his tent. And Au¬
guftus is reported to have continued it during the war
of Mutina againft M. Antony. Nor is it to be fuppo-
fed, that fo conftant an attendance to this praftice was
only ferviceable to them in their public performances ;
but it muft neceffarily afftft their whole conduft, give
them a freedom of fpeech, eafinefs of addrefs and beha¬
viour, and render them in all refpefts fine gentlemen as
well as excellent orators. And from hence, perhaps,
w7e may fee lefs reafon to Wonder at the furprifing effefts
of fome of their difeourfes, when we confider what pains
they took to arrive at thofe abilities.
Flawing thus far treated on pronunciation in general,
we fhall now proceed to confider the jjarts of it fepa-
rately , which are voice and gejture.
Chap. II. Of the Voice.
Voice is one kind of founds. Now the influence of Voice,?a
founds, either to raife or allay our paflions, is evident kind of
from mufic. And certainly the harmony of a fine difA0™^
courfe, wrell and gracefully pronounced, is as capable towln,cs^'
move us, if not in a w'ay fo violent and ecftatic, yet not en«.\s the
lefs powerful, and more agreeable to our rational facul-paffions,
ties. As the bufinefs of this chapter is to offer fome euher by
confiderations for the juft and decent management of 01
the voice, it may not be improper in the firft place to ji.^
obferve in general what nature does w hen free and un-
conftrained. As perfons are differently affefted when
thry fpeak •, fo they naturally alter the tone of their
voice, though they do not attend to it. It rifes, finks,
and has various infleftions given it, according to tlio
prefent ftate and difpofition of the mind. When the
mind is calm and fedate, the voice is moderate and even j
when the former is dejefted with forrow, the latter is
languid ; and when that is inflamed by paflions, this is
raifed and elevated. It is the orator’s bufinefi, there¬
fore, to follow nature, and to endeavour that the tone
of his voice appear natural and unaffefted. And for
this
Part IV. ORA
>ronuncia- this end, he mtift take care to fuit it to the nature of
don. ^ the fubjeft j but ftill fo as to be always grave and (Je-
cent. Some perfons continue a difcourfe in fuch a
low and drawling manner, that they can fcarce be
heard by their audience. Others again hur>-y on in
fo loud and boifterous a manner as if they imagined
their hearers were deaf. But all the mufic and harmo¬
ny of fpeech lies in the proper temperament of the
Voice between thefe extremes. In order to fet this
matter in a juft light, it will be neeeffary to conftder
the prineipal affe&ions or properties of the voice, and
how they are to be regulated by an orator. Now thefe
may all be referred either to quantity vx quality.
The quantity of the voice confifts in its highnefs or
lownefs, fwiftnefs or JlaVunefs, and the intermediate de¬
grees between them.
Every perfon who fpeaks in public fhould endeavour,
if he can, to fill the place where he fpeaks. But ftiil
he ought to be careful not to exceed the natural key
of his voice. If he does, it will neither be foft nor
agreeable, but either harfti and rough, or too {brill and
fqueaking. Befides, he will not be able to give every
fyllable its full and diftindt found ; which will render
what he fays obfcure, and difficult to be underftood.
He ffiould therefore take care to keep his voice within
reach, fo as to have it under management, that he may
raife or fink it, or give it any inflexion he thinks
proper: which it will not be in his power to do if he
put a force upon it, and ftrain it beyond its natural tone.
The like caution is to be ufed againft the contrary
extreme, that the voice be not dropped, and fuffered to
fink too low. This will give the fpeaker pain in railing
it again to its proper pitch, and be no lefs offenfive to
the hearers. For though the mufic of fpeech confifts
in the variations of the voice, yet they muft be gradual
to render them pleafant. Such hidden and great chan¬
ges at once are rather to be efteemed chafms in fpeak-
ing than variations. Befides, as they often prevent
the hearers from taking in the fenfe of what is faid,
it gives them no fmall uneafinefs that they are obliged to
ftretch their attention. Many perfons are too apt to be
guilty of this, efpecially at the end of a fentence, by
dropping the laft word ; which ought, in a particular
manner, to be expreffed diftincHy, becaufe the meaning
of the whole fentence often depends upon it.
The medium between thefe two is a moderate and
even voice. But this is not the fame in all; that which
is moderate in one would be high in another. Every
perfon, therefore, mull regulate it by the natural key of
his own voice. A calm and fedate voice is generally
beft; as a moderate found is moft pleafing to the ear, if
it be clear and diftin£t. But this equality of the voice
muft alfo be accompanied with a variety, otherwife there
can be no harmony •, fince all harmony confifts in varie¬
ty. Nothing is lefs pleafing than a difcourfe pronoun¬
ced throughout in one continued tone of the voice,
without any change or alteration. Befides, a variation
of the voice is an eafe to the fpeaker j as the body is
relieved by ftiifting its pofture. The equality, there¬
fore, we are here fpeaking of admits a variety of inflec¬
tions and changes within the fame pitch. And when
that is altered, the gradations, whether higher or lower,
fliould be fo gentle and regular as to preferve a due pro¬
portion of the parts and harmony of the whole, which
v cannot be done when the voice is fuddenly varied with
Vol. XV. Bart I.
TORY.
too great a diftincHon. And therefore it fliould move Pronun
from one key to another, fo as rather to glide like a
gentle ftream, than pour down like a rapid torrent, '
as an ingenious writer has well exprefl'ed it. An
even voice is belt fitted to keep the mind to dole
attention. And therefore, in fubjects defigned only
for inftrudion, without any addrefs to the paffions,
there is little room for a variety of voice. For the
voice ought to agree with the ftyle ; and as upon fuch
lubjecls this ffiould be equal, moderate, and fmooth, fo
ffioukl the other. Every thing, as we fay, is beautiful
in its feafon ; and there is a certain propriety in things
which ought always to be regarded. And, therefore,
an affeded variety, ill-placed, is as difagreeable to a
judicious audience as the want of it, where the fubjeft
requires it. We may find fome perfons, in pronouncing
a grave and plain difcourfe, affeft as many different tones,
changes, and variations of their voice, as if they were
a£ting a comedy ; which is doubtlefs a very great im¬
propriety. But the orator’s province is not barely to
apply to the mind, but like wife to the paffions ; which /
require a great variety of the voice, high, or low, vehe¬
ment or languid, according to the nature of the paffions
he defigns to affe£E So that for an orator always to
ufe the fame tone or degree of his voice, and expert to
anfwer all his views by it, would be much the fame
thing as if a phyfician ffiould propofe to cure all diftem-
pers by one mediciue. From hence it is evident, that
although various inflexions and tones of the voice are
requifite to make it harmonious and pleafing to the ear j
yet the degree of it ffiould differ according to the nature
of the fubjeX, and defign of the fpeaker. And, as a
perfeX monotony is always unpleafant, fo it can never be
neceffary in any difcourfe.
The next property of the voice above mentioned was
fwiftnefs. That fome expreffions ought to be pronoun¬
ced falter and fwifter than others, is very manifeft.
Gay and fprightly ideas fliould not only be expreffed
louder, but alfo fafter, than fuch as are fad and melan¬
choly. And when we prefs an adverfary, the voice
fliould be brilk and quick. But to hurry on in a pre¬
cipitant manner, without paufing till ftopt for want of
breath, is certainly a very great fault. This deftroys,
not only the heceffary diftinXion between fentence ami
fentence, but liketvife between the feveral words of the
fame fentence ; nay, and often occafions us to exprefs
our words by halves, Vidiile one is thrown fo faft upon
another, that we are not able to give each its full and
juft found. By this means all the grace of fpeaking is
loft, and in a great meafure the advantage of hearing,
For when the ears of the hearers cannot keep pace with
the volubility of the fpeaker’s tongue, they will be lit¬
tle the better for what he fays. Befides, by not
commanding his voice, and eafing his breath at the
proper paufes and points of diftinXion, he is often obli¬
ged to ftop in the middle of a fentence j and fo di¬
vides what ftiould be centinued, and joins what fhould
be feparated; which muft neceffarily deftroy the fenfe,
and confound his difcourfe. Young perfons are very
liable to this, efpecially at firft fetting out. And it
often arifes from diffidence. They are jealous of their
performances, and the fuccefs they may have in fpeaking,
which gives them a pain till it is over j and this puts
them into a hurry of mind, which incapacitates them
from governing their voice, and keeping it under that
3 I) due
593
394
ORATORY.
Pronuncia- due regulation which perhaps they propofed to them-
t tIori- felves before they began to fpeak. And the greater
degree fuch perfons have of a native and ingenuous mo-
defty, accompanied with a laudable ambition to excel,
they are commonly more expofed to this. For while,
on the one hand, they are fired with an ardent defire to
recommend themfelves, and on the other are fearful of
the event, this dubious ftate of mind is very apt to
throw them off their guard, and run them into this
excefs. From which we may fee the great advantage
of having the voice well formed betimes 5 for when
once it is become habitual to fpeak with juftnefs and
propriety, perfons readily pra&ife it without much atten¬
tion or concern.
And as a precipitant and hafty pronunciation is cul¬
pable, fo like wife, on the other hand, it is a fault to
.fpeak too flow. This feems to argue a heavinefs in the
fpeaker. And as he appears cool himfelf, he can never
expeft to warm his hearers, and excite their afFe£Hons.
When not only every word, but every fyllable is drawTn
out to too great a length, the ideas do not come faft
enough to keep up the attention without much uneafi-
nefs. For till the fenfe is completed, the mind is in
fufpenfe : and, if it be held long in that fituation, it
will of courfe flag and grovr tired. Indeed, in fome
cafes, it is requifite the pronunciation fhould be flow'er
than in others 5 as in reprefenting things great and dif¬
ficult ; or in ex prefling fome particular paflions, as ad¬
miration or grief. But the extreme we are now fpeak-
ing of, is a flownefs equally continuing through a whole
difcourfe, which muft neceffarily render it flat and lifelefs.
Now, to avoid either of the two extremes laft men¬
tioned, the voice ought to be fedate and diftinfl. And
in order to render it diftinft, it is neceflary, not only
that each word and fyllable fhould have its juft and full
found, both as to time and accent ; but likewife that
every fentence, and part of a fentence, ftiould be fepa-
rated by its proper paufe and interval. This is more
eafy to be done in reading, from the afliftance of the
points ; but it is no lefs to be attended to in fpeaking,
if we would pronounce in a diftinft and graceful man¬
ner. For every one fhould fpeak in the fame man¬
ner as he ought to read, if he could arrive at- that
exadtnefs. Now the common rule given in paufing is,
that we flop our voice at a comma till we can tell one,
at a femieolon two, at a colon three, and at a full period
four. And as thefe points are either accommodated
to the feveral parts of the fame fehtence, as the firft
three ; or different fentences, as the laft 5 this occafions
the different length of the paufe, by which either the
dependence of what precedes upon that which follows,
or its diftinflion from it, is reprefented. And, there¬
fore, in the firft three flops, the voice is rather to be fu-
fpended in different degrees or meafures of time than
entirely dropt, to fliow that the fenfe is not yet comple¬
ted. But between fentence and fentence we refpire,
and begin anew. So that in long periods, the voice
fhould be favoured by beginning low and fedately, that
it may hold to the end without refpiration ; or if it will
not, the breath ought to be recovered without finking
the voice. For if once the voice drop for want of
breath before the period be finiflied, not only the beau¬
ty, but likewife the fenfe of it, will be loft. Quintilian
lays a great ftrefs upon a due attention to thefe paufes $
and fays, “ Though it may appear not fo confiderable
Part TV
in itfelf, yet all the other virtues of a good prommcia- Prommcia.
tion are deficient without it.” tion.
Hitherto we have confidered fuch properties of the l"" ' ~~
voice as refpett quantity, we come now to fpeak of its
qualities. And the chief of thefe are Jlrength or
’iveaknefs, clearnefs or obfcurenefs, fulnefs or fmallnefs,
fmoothnefs or roughtiefs. Now, one half of thefe is
what every one would willingly choofe, as he would
wifh to be free from the others. But it is not in our
power to give ourfelves what qualities of the voice we
pleafe 5 but only to make the beft ufe we can of what
nature has beftowed upon us. However, feveral defefts
of the voice are capable of being helped by care and
proper means j as, on the other hand the beft voice may
be greatly hurt by ill management and indifcretion.
Temperance is a great prefervative of the voice, and all
excefs is highly prejudicial to it. The voice muft ne-
ceflarily fuffer, if the organs of fpeech have not their
proper tone. And in order to their having this, they
muft be kept in a due temperature j that is, they muft
neither be too moift nor too dry. If they abound with
fluids, thefe will obftruft the clearnefs of the voice,
and render it obfcure and confufed j and if they
are parched with drought, the voice will be harfli and
rough. Now all exceffes, as well as fome bodily indif-
pofitions, are apt to affeft the organs one or other of
thefe wTays.
A ftrong voice is very ferviceable to an orator, be-
caufe if it want fome other advantages, he is, however,
capable to make himfelf heard. And if at any time
he is forced to ftrain it, he is in lefs danger of its failing
him before he has finiftied his difcourfe. But he who
has a Aveak voice, ftiould be very careful not to ftrain
it, efpecially at firft. He ought to begin Ioav, and rife
gradually to fuch a pitch as the key of his voice Avill
Avell carry him, without being obliged to fink again af¬
terwards. Frequent infleftions of the voice Avill like¬
wife be fome afliftance to him. But efpecially he ftiould
take care to fpeak deliberately, and eafe his voice, by
alloAving due time for refpiration at all the proper pau¬
fes. It is an extreme much lefs inconvenient for fuch
a perfon rather to fpeak too flow, than too faft. But
this defeft of a Aveak voice is fometimes capable, of
being helped by the ufe of proper methods ; as is evi¬
dent from the inftance of Demofthenes, before men¬
tioned.
A voice is faid to be clear, Avhen the organs of fpeech
are fuited to give every Angle letter, and all the combi¬
nations of them in fyllables and Avords, their proper and
difiin£t found. Such a voice is very pleafing and agree¬
able to the hearers j and no lefs an happinefs to the
fpeaker, as it faves him a great expence of fpirits. For
a moderate voice, if clear, Avill be as diflimftly heard, as
one much louder, if thick and obfcure. Which is a
great advantage to the fpeaker, becaufe he can better
keep his voice under command, and modulate it at plea-
fure, as the feveral parts and circumftances of his dif¬
courfe may require. On the contrary, an obfcure and’
confufed voice is not always occafioned from a deficien¬
cy in the organ ; but many times is the effe£l of cuftom
and a bad habit. Some perfons, either from Avant of
due care in their education at firft, or from inadverten¬
cy and negligence afterAvards, run into a very irregular
and confufed manner of exprefling their Avords ; either
by mifplacing the accent, confounding the found of tha
letters,
ORATORY
Part IV.
Jronuncia- letters, or huddling the fyllables one upon another, fo
tion- as to render what they fay often unintelligible. Indeed,
—’ v ‘ fometimes this arifes from a natural defeft, as in the cafe
of Demofthenes j who found a method to reftify that,
as well as the weaknefs of his voice. But in faults of
this kind, which proceed from habit, doubtlefs the moft
likely way to mend them is to fpeak deliberately.
A full voice is not the fame as a ftrong or a loud
Voice. It fills the ear, but it is often not pleafant.
And therefore to render it fo, as well as audible, it
(hould be frequently varied. However, this feems bet¬
ter fuited to the charader of an orator, than a fmall
and {brill voice *, becaufe it has fomething in it more
-rave and manly. And thofe who have the misfortune
of a very fmall voice, {hould be cautious of raifing it to
too high a pitch, efpecially at once *, becaufe the fudden
comprelfure of the organ is apt to occafion a fqueaking
and very difagreeable found.
A foft and fmooth voice is of all the molt mulical,
efpecially if it be flexible. And, on the contrary, no¬
thing is lefs harmonious than a voice that is harfo and
rough. For the one grates as difagreeably upon the ear,
as the other gives it pleafure and delight, . f
From the confideration of thefe feveral properties of
the voice, we may conclude that to be the beft, and fit¬
ted for an orator, which is moderate, diftinft, firm, clear,
and fmooth, and withal eafily flexible to the feveral de¬
grees and variations of found which every part of the-
difeourfe may require.
395
Chap. III. Of Gejlure.
t3° .
fkfture is
the confer
By this is meant, a fuitable conformity of the mo-
xhc Limivi- t*lons 0f the countenance, and feveral parts of the body,
rnity of the • foeaking to the fubjecf-matter of the difeourfe. 1 he
tZL “oV-” “ ^ laIgerF"r=ly
nance, Sec. narily done in common language. . f ^
to the na- ufe 0f that word to denote the motions of the counte-
ofrthe nance, or any parts of it *, but as thefe make a confider-
dlfC0Urfe' able part of our prefent fubjeft, they muft here be com¬
prehended under this term. , , ,
1 It is not agreed among the learned, whether voice
or gefture has the greater influence upon us. Bllt as
tile latter aSMs us by the eye, as the former does by
the ear, geftitre in the nature of it feems to have this
advantage, that it conveys the impreffion more fpeed.-
ly to the mind ; for the fight is the qu.ckeil of ail our
fenfes. Nor is its influence lefs upon our paflious ,
flay in fome inftances it appears to ad more powerfully.
A caft of the eye (hall exprefs defire in as moving a
manner as the fofteft language •, and a different motion
of it, refentment. To wring the hands, tear the hair,
or ftrike the breaft, are all ftrong indications of furrow.
And he who claps his hand to his fword, throws us in o
a greater panic than one who only threatens to kill us.
Nor is it in fome refpefts lefs various and extenfive than
lanauage. Cicero tells us, he often diverted himfelf
by trying this with Rofcius the comedian ; who could
exprefs a fentenee as many ways by his geftures, as he
himfelf by words. And fome dramas, called pavto-
inunes, have been carried on wholly by mutes, who have
performed every part by geftures only, without words,
in a way very intelligent, as well as entertaining to the
fpeftators. Well, therefore, might Cicero call atfion
(or gefture) the language of the body, fince it is capable
in fo lively a manner to convey both our ideas and paf- Pronuncia-
fions. But with refpe6t to oratory, gefture may very , tl(^n' ,
properly be called the fecond part of pronunciation ; in
which, as the voice fliould be fuited to the impreflions
it receives from the mind, fo the fevcral motions of the
body ought to be accommodated to the various tones
and inflexions of the voice. When the voice is even
and moderate, little gefture is required ; and nothing is
more unnatural than violent motion, in dilcourfmg upon
ordinary and familiar fubjeXs. The motions of the bo¬
dy thould rife therefore in proportion to the vehemence
and energy of the expreflion, as the natural and genuine
effeX of it.
But as gefture is very different and various as to the
manner of it, which depends upon the decent conduX
of feveral parts of the body ; it will not be amifs to con-
fider more particularly the proper management of each
of thofe parts. Now all gefture is either natural, or
from imitation. By natural gefture we mean fuch ac¬
tions and motions of the body, as naturally accompany
our words, as thefe do the impreflions of our minds. And
thefe either refpeX the whole body, or fome particular
part of it. But before we enter upon this, give us leave
juft to obferve, that it has been cuftomary in all ages
and countries, in making a fet difeourie before an affem-
bly, to do it Handing. Thus we read, that Abraham
food up, and fpahe unto the children of Heth. And it
foems as if he fat down when he had ended Ins fpeech ,
becaufe, immediately after the account of their anfwer,
it is faid again, that Abraham food up and bowed him¬
felf to the people of the land, the children of Heth. In
‘like manner Homer reprefents the Grecian princes, as
ftandirm up, when they made a fpeech, either to the
army, or in their councils. So when Achilles has
affembled the army, to inquire into the reafon of the
oreat plague which at that time raged among them,
he rifes up before he begins to fpeak, and fits dovn
again when he has done. After him the prophet
Caleb as rifes, and charges it upon Agamemnon ; who
rifing up in a paflion, does not tefule to comply with
what Calchas propofed, but expreffes his refentment
at him for faying it. And upon another occafion
both Agamemnon and Neftor do the fame in council.
And Cicero acquaints us, that when Lentulus had
been.charged in the fonate as an affociate with Catiline,
he flood up to make his defence. Nor does the advan¬
tage of being better heard, feem to have been the only
reafon for fo general an agreement in this pofture ; but
it appears likewife to have been chofen, as the moft de¬
cent and refpeXful. Sitting carries in it an air of au¬
thority, and is therefore a pofture fcarce ufed upon Inch
occafions, unlefs perhaps where that is defigned to be ex-
preffed by it. Wherefore it was a thing very much re-
fented, that when Caffar after he had got the power in¬
to his hands, once addreffed the fenate, either refufed to
rife, as fome fay, or as others, one of his friends held him
down by his gown.
But though Handing appears- to be. the m'oit proper
nofture for fpeaking .in public, yet it is very unbe¬
coming for the body to be entirely without any mo¬
tion like a ftatue. It foould not long continue in
the fame pofition, but be couftantly changing, though
the motion be very moderate. There ought to be no
appearance of ftiffnefs, but a certain cafe and pliable-
nefs, .naturally foiling itfolf to every exprdflion^by
3 D 2
396 ORA':
Pronuncia- whfch means, when a greater degree of motion is
t ^  ■ neceffary, it will appear lels fudden and vehement:
For as the raifing, finking, and various infle&ions of
the voice muft be gradual; fo likewife fhould the mo¬
tions of the body. It is only on lome particular oc-
cafions that an hafty vehemence and impetuofity is pro¬
per in either cafe.
As to the feveral parts of the body, the head is the
moft confiderable. To lift it up too high has the air
of arrogance and pride ; to ftretch it out too far, or
throw it back, looks clowmfli and unmannerly 5 to
hang it downwards on the breaft, (hows an unmanly
bafhfulnefs and want of fpirit : and to fuffer it to lean
on either fhoulder, argues both floth and indolence.
Wherefore in calm and fedate difcourfe it ought to
keep its natural ftate, an upright pofture. However,
it fliould not be long without motion, nor yet always
moving ; but gently turn fometimes on one fide, and
iometimes on the other, as occafion requires, that the
voice may be heard by all who are prefent ; and then
return again to its natural pofition. It flrould always
accompany the other actions of the body, and turn on
the fame fide with them j except when averlion to any
thing is exprefled, which is done by itretching out the
right hand, and turning the head to the left. The an¬
cients erefted a ftatue of Venus in this pofture, who was
called by the Greeks and by the Latins Ver-
ficorcha, and in Englifti may be termed the forbidding
Venus. But nothing is more indecent than violent mo¬
tions and agitations of the head. And therefore when a
witty writer, who is well known among us, would con¬
vey the moft ridiculous idea of a pretender to know¬
ledge, he expreffes it thus :
For having three times (hook his head
To ftir his wit up, thus he faid. HuDIBras.
But it is the countenance that chiefly reprefents both
the paflions and difpofition of the mind. By this we
exprefs love, hatred, joy, forrow, modefty, and con¬
fidence : by this we fupplicate, threaten, foothe, in¬
vite, forbid, confent, or refufe ; and all this without
(peaking. Nay, from hence we form, a judgment not
only of a perfon’s prefent temper, but of his capacity
and natural difpofition. And therefore it is common
to fay, fuch an one has a promifng countenance, or that
he promifes little by his countenance. It is true, this
is no certain rule of judging 5 nor is it in the power of
any one to alter the natural make of his countenance :
however, it may put us upon endeavouring to gain
the moft pleafing afpeft we can j fince it is fo natural
for mankind to draw fuch conclufions from it: and
fome perfons are fo unhappy, as to render their coun¬
tenance more difagreeable, than otherwife it would be
by ill habits.
But the feveral parts of the face bear their part,
and contribute to the proper and decent motion of the
whole. In a calm and fedate difcourfe, all the features
retain their natural ftate and fituation. In forrow, the
forehead and^ eyebrow* lower, and the cheeks hang
down. But in eXpreflions of joy and cheerfulnefs, the
forehead and eyebrows are expanded, the cheeks con-
frafted, and the corners of the mouth drawn upwards.
Anger and refentment contra# the forehead, dtaw the
brows together, and thruft out the lips. And terror
elevates both the brows and forehead. As thefe are the
di,
O R Y. p.
natural figns of fuch paffions, the orator fhould endea¬
vour to conform to them.
. But as .tlle eyes are moft a#ive and figuificant, it
is the advice of Cicero that the greateft care fhould
be taken m their management. And he gives this
reafon for it, “ Becaufe other parts of the countenance
have but few motions ; whereas all the paflions of the
foul are expreffed in the eyes, by fo many different
actions, w'hicli cannot poflibly be reprefanted by any
geftures of the body, if the eyes are kept in a fixed pof-
ture.” Common experience does in a great meafure
confirm the truth of this obfervation. We readily guels
at a perfon’s intention, or how he is affe#ed to us, by
his eyes. And any fudden change or emotion of the
mind is prefently followed by an alteration in the look.
In fpeaking therefore upon pleafant and delightful fub-
je#s, the eyes are brifk and cheerful j as on the contra-
ry, they fink and are languid in delivering any thing
melancholy and forrowful. This is fo agreeable to na¬
ture, that before a perfon fpeaks, we are prepared with
the expectation of one or the other from his different af-
pe#. So likewife in anger, a certain vehemence and
mtenfenefs appears in the eyes, which, for want of pro¬
per words to exprefs it by, we endeavour to reprefent by
metaphors taken from fire, the moft violent and rapid
element, and fay, in fuch cafes, the eyes fpark/e, burn,
or are inflamed. In expreflions of hatred or deteftation,
it is natural to alter the look, either by turning the eyes
afide, or downwards. Virgil has very juftly obferved
this : for when he deferibes Alneas meeting with Dido
in the Elyfian {hades, and addreffing her, he reprefents
her difregard of him, by faying,
Difdainfully fhe look’d ; then turning round.
Still fix’d her eyes unmov’d upon the" ground.
She fliowed her refentment for his former treatment of her
by not vouehfafing to look on him.. Indeed, the eyes
are fometimes turned downwards upon other oeeafions
as to exprefs modefty. And if at any time a particular
obje# be addreffed to, whatever it be, the eyes fliould -
be turned that way. And therefore Philoftratus very
delervedly ridicules a certain rhetorician as guilty of a
folecifm in gefture, who, upon faying, 0 Jupiter ! turned
his eyes downward ; and when he faid, O Earth ! looked
upward. A flaring look has the appearance of giddi-
nefs and want of thought; and to contra# the eyes,
gives fufpicion of craft and defign. A fixed look may
be occafioned from intenfenefs of thought, but at the
fame time ftiows a difregard to the audience ; and a too
quick and wandering motion of the eyes denotes levity
and wantonnefs. A gentle and moderate motion of the
eyes is therefore in common moft fuitable, always direc¬
ted to fome of the audience, and gradually turning from -
fide to fide with an air of refpe# and modefty, and
looking them decently in the face, as in common dif¬
courfe : Such a behaviour will of courfe draw an atten¬
tion. As in converfation, when a perfon addreffes us in
an handfome and becoming manner, wre prefently put
ourielves in a pofture to give what he fays a proper re¬
ception. Blit as all the paffions are in the moft lively.
manner expreffed in the eyes, their motions ought to
vary according to the different nature of thofe paffions
they are fuited both to difeover in the fpeaker, and con-
vey to his hearers ; fince, as the quiekeft accefs to the
Eimd is by the fight, a proper well-timed look will
fometimes
Part IV. ORA
Pronuncia- fometimes fooner effeft this than it can be done by
non. words ; as in difcharging a cannon we are ftruck with
L' ’ the light before we hear the found.
As to the other parts of the body diftinft from the
head, the fhoulders ought not to be elevated ; for this
is not only in itfelf indecent, but it likewife contrails
the neck, and hinders the proper motion of the head.
Nor, on the other hand, Ihould they be drawn down,
and depreffed *, becaufe this occalions a ftiffnefs both to
the neck and the whole body. Their natural pofture
therefore is bell, as being molt eafy and graceful. To
Ihrug the Ihoulders has an abjeit and fervile air j and
frequently to heave them upwards and downwards is a
very difagreeable fight.
A continued motion of the arms any way, is by all
means to be avoided. Their aition Ihould generally be
very moderate, and follow that of the hands, unlefs in
very pathetic expreflions, where it may be proper to
give them a more lively fpring.
The hands need never be idle. Quintilian feems to
think them as necefiary and powerful in action, as
Cicero docs the eyes. “ The hands (fays he), without
which all gelture is lame and weak, have a greater va¬
riety of motions than can well be exprelfed j for they
are almolt equal to our words. Do not we defire with
them, promife, call, difmifs, threaten, befeech, deteft,
fear, inquire, deny ? Do not they exprefs joy, for-
row, doubt, confeflion, penitence, meafure, plenty,
number, and time ? Do not they excite, reltrain, prove,
admire, and fhame ? that in fo great a variety of ipeech
among all nations and countries, this feems to me the
common language of all mankind.” Thus far Quinti¬
lian. Now, all bodily motion is either upward or down¬
ward, to the right or left, forward or backward, or elfe
circular. The hands are employed by the orator in all
thefe, excej>t,the laft. And as they ought to correfpond
with our exprefiions, fo they ought to begin and end
with them. In admiration, and addreffes to heaven,
they mult be elevated, but never raifed above the eyes ;
and in fpeaking of things below us, they are directed
downwards. Side motion fliould generally begin from
the left, and terminate gently on the right. In demon-
ftrating, addrefling, and on feveral other occafions, they
are moved forward 5 and in threatening, fometimes
thrown back. But when the orator fpeaks of himfelf,
his right hand fliould be gently laid on his breaft. When
no other motion is neceflary, the hands fliould be kept
about as high as the breaft, fo as to make near a right
angle with the arm. This is not only graceful, but like¬
wife the molt eafy pofture, and gives the leaft drain to
the mufcles. They fliould never be fuffered to hang down,
nor to loll upon the culhion or bar. The left hand
ftiould never move alone, but accommodate itfelf to the
motions of the right. In motions to the left fide, the
right hand fliould not be carried beyond the left fhoul-
der. In promifes and expreflions- of compliment, the
motion of the hands ftiould be gentle and flow ; but
in exhortations and applaufe more fwift. The hands
ihould generally be open ; but in expreflions of com¬
punction and anger they may be clofed. All finical
and trifling aftions of the fingers ought to be avoided ;
nor Ihould they be ftretched out and expanded in a fliff
and rigid pofture, but kept eafy and pliable.
Neither the breaft nor the belly ftiould be thruft out;
which in itfelf looks ungainly, and hinders the free mo-
397
TORY.
tion of the trunk ; which ought not to be kept too ft iff Prenuncia-
and upright, but eafy and flexible, always fulling itfelf, ~ '
to the motions of the head and hands. The feet ftiould ’
continue fteady, and not give the body a wavering and
giddy motion by frequently ftiifting; though feme per-
fons fall into that habit without moving their feet. Cu¬
rio, a Roman orator, as Cicero tells us, was addicted to
this; Avhich occafioned a friend of his once to pafs a
joke upon him, by alking, Who that was talking out of
a boat ? The jeft is too plain to need explication ; for
every one knows the waving of a boat will give the bo¬
dy fuch a motion.
The geftures we have hitherto difeourfed of, are
fuch as naturally accompany our expreflions. And we
believe thofe we have mentioned, if duly attended to,
Avill be found fufficient to anfiver all the purpofes of
our modern pronunciation. The ancients, indeed, ufed
feveral more vehement actions and geftures than Ave
are accuftomed to ; as Ave have formerly ftioAvn. Philip
the Roman orator, as Cicero informs us, did not ule
to prepare his difeourfes ; but fpoke, as avc fay, off¬
hand. And be Avas wont to tell his friends, “ he Avas
never fit to talk till he had warmed his arm.” He
doubtlefs, therefore, ufed a more violent motion Avith
his arms and hands than is common with us. And
Cicero calls the arm projected the orator's weapon. In¬
deed, to extend or brandilh the arm, carries in it an air
of command and authority, which was not unbecoming
the character of Philip, who Avas a perfon of the higheft
rank and quality. And therefore young orators, both
among the Greeks and Romans, for a time ufed no mo¬
tion of the arm, but kept it confined in their garment,
as an argument of modefty, till age and experience al-
loAved them to ufe greater freedom. Nor was it uncom¬
mon for the ancient orators to exprefs the excels of their
paffions by tears. They thought nothing unbecoming
that Avas natural: and judged it agreeable to the cha¬
racters even of the braveft men, to be touched Avith a
fenfe of humanity in great calamities : And therefore
we find both Homer and Virgil make their greateft he¬
roes Ihed tears on fome occafions.
The other fort of geftures above mentioned are fuch
as arile from* imitation ; as where the orator deferibes
fome aCtion, or perfonates another fpeaking. But here
great care is to be taken not to over-a£t his part, by
running into any ludicrous or theatrical mimicry. It is
fufficient for him fo to reprefent things of this nature, as
may belt convey the image of them in a lively manner
to the minds of the hearers ; without any fuch change
either of his actions or voice as are not fuitable to his
own character.
Ghap. IV. Some particular Rules for the Voice and
Gejlure.
i3i
The fubjeCt of pronunciation is of fo great impor- Rules for
tance to an orator, that it can neither be too clearly ^ voice
laid down, nor too ftrongly inculcated. If Ave inquire
into the caufes of that furprifing poAver it has over :us,
and by Avhat means it fo ftrongly affeCts us, this may
in fbme meafure appear by reflecting on the frame
and conftitution of human nature. For our infinitely
Avife and great Maker has fo formed us, that not only
the aCtions of the body are fubjeCt to the direction of
the mind, but Ave are likeAvife endoAved Avith various
pafiions 1
39 8
ORATORY.
Pronuncia- paflions and affeftions, that excite us to purfue thofe
, tlon• things which make for our happinefs, and avoid others
which are hurtful to us. And as we are made for fo-
ciety, we are alfo furnifhed with fpeech, which enables
us to converfe with one another. And fuch is the con¬
trivance of our make, and influence of our minds upon
the mechanifm of our bodies, that we can not only
communicate our thoughts to each other, but likewife
our paflions. For, as Cicero well obferves, <4 Every
motion of the mind has naturally its peculiar counte¬
nance, voice, and gellure 5 and the whole body, every
pofition of the face, and found of the voice, like the
firings of an inllrument, act agreeably to the impreflion
they receive from the mind.” Nor is this all : but as
every one is differently affected himfelf, he is capable to
make the like impreflions upon others, and excite them
to the fame motions which he feels in himfelf. As when
two inftruments are fet to the fame pitch, the firings of
the one being touched, produce in the other the like
found. This common fympathy in the human frame
fliows how neceflary it is that an orator fliould not only
in general be well acquainted with the rules of pronun¬
ciation, but likewife know how to ufe them as occafion
requires ; for a general knowledge of the rules of art is
not of itfelf fufficient to perfedl an artift, without a fur¬
ther acquaintance with the particular application of them
to their feveral cafes and circumftanccs. Thus, for in-
flance, it is not enough for an -orator to underltand
all the beauties and ornaments of language, and which
of them are fuited to form the feveral kinds of ftyle,
unlefs he can likewife accommodate each of thofe cha-
rafters to their proper fubjeft. And fo likewife in
pronunciation, he ought not only to know the feveral
qualities of the voice, and proper geftures of the body,
but alfo when and where to make ufe of them. For
not only different fubjefts, but alfo different parts of
the fame difeourfe, and even particular expreflions,
often require a difference in the manner of pronuncia¬
tion, both as to the voice and gefture. Having there¬
fore treated on both thefe parts of pronunciation in
general, it may not be amifs now to confider how
they are to be applied in each of the two refpedds laff
mentioned.
We fhall begin with the parts of a difeourfe, and
treat of them in their natural order. And here the
view and defign of the fpeaker in each of them will
eafily help us to fee the proper manner of pronuncia¬
tion.
Let us fuppofe then a perfon prefenting himfelf be¬
fore an affembly, in order to make a difeourfe to them.
It cannot be decent immediately to begin to fpeak fo
foon as ever he makes his appearance. He will firlt
fettle himfelf, compofe his countenance, and take a
refpeclful view of his audience. This prepares them
for filence and attention. To begin prefently, and
hurry on, without firft allowing either himfelf or his
hearers time to compofe themfelves, looks as if he was
rather performing a talk than had any defign to pleafe
them ; which will be very apt to make them as uneafy
till he has done, as he feems to be himfelf. Perfons
commonly form fome opinion of a fpeaker from theif
firft view of him, which prejudices them either in his
favour, or otherwife, as to what he fays afterwards.
A grave and fedate afpefl inclines them to think him
ferious; that he has confidered his fubjeft, and may
3
Part IV.
have fomething to offer worth their attention. A haugh- lJromineia»
ty and forbidding air occafions diftafte, as it looks like tion.
difrefpeft. A wandering giddy countenance argues le- » —'
vity. A dejedled drooping appearance is apt to raife
contempt, unlefs where the fubjeft is melancholy. And
a cheerful afpedl is a proper prelude to a pleafant and
agreeable argument.
To fpeak low at firll has the appearance of mo-
defty, and is beft for the voice ; which, by rifing gra¬
dually, will with more eafe be carried to any pitch
that may be afterwards neceffary, without {training it.
However, fome variation of the voice is always proper
to give it an harmony. Nay, and fometimes it is not
improper for an orator to fet out with a confiderable
degree of warmth, expreffed by fuch an elevation of
the voice, and geftures of the body, as are fuited to
reprefent the emotions of his mind. But this is not
ordinarily the cafe. We have fome few inftances of
this in Cicero 5 as in his oration for Rofcius Amerinus,
where the heinoufnefs of the charge could not but ex¬
cite his indignation againft the accufers. And fo
likewife in that againft Pifo, and the two firft againft
Catiline, which begin in the fame manner, from the
refentment he had conceived againft; their perfons and
conduil.
In the narration, the voice ought to be raifed to
fomewhat an higher pitch. Matters of fa6t fliould be
related in a very plain and diftinft manner, with a pro¬
per ftrefs and emphafis laid upon each circumftance, ac¬
companied with a fuitable addrefs and motions of the
body, to engage the attention of the hearers. For there
is a certain grace in telling a ftory, by which thofe who
are mafters of it feldom fail to recommend themfelves in
converfation. The beauty of it confifts in an eafy and
familiar manner of expreflion, attended with fuch ac¬
tions and geftures as are fuited to the nature of the
things related, and help to enliven each particular cir¬
cumftance and part of the difeourfe. .
The propofition, or fubje£l of the difeourfe, fliould be
delivered with a very clear and audible voice. For if
this be not plainly heard, all that follows in proof of it
cannot well be underftood. And for the fame reafon,
if it be divided into feveral parts or branches, they
fhould each be expreffed very deliberately and diftiruft-
ly. But as the defign here is only information, there
can be little room for gefture.
The confirmation admits of great variety both of the
voice and geftures. In reafoning, the voice is quick
and pungent, and fliould be enforced with fuitable ac¬
tions. And as deferiptions likewife have often a place
here, in painting out the images of things, the orator
fliould fo endeavour to adapt both his voice, and the mo¬
tions of his body, particularly the turn of his eyes, and
a6lion of his hands, as may beft help the imagination of
his hearers. Where he introduces another perfon fpeak-
ing, or addreffes to an abfent perfon, it fliould be with
fome degree of imitation. And in dialogue the voice
fliould alter with the parts. When he diverts from his
fubjeft by any digreflion, his voice fliould be lively and
cheerful; fince that is rather defigned for entertainment
than inftruftion.
In confutation, the arguments of the adverfe party
'ought firft to be repeated in a plain and diflindl man¬
ner, that the fpeaker may not feem to conceal, or
avoid the force of them, unlefs they appear trifling
and
Part IV. ORATORY.
Pronuncia- and untvortliy of a ferious anfvver j and then a face-
lion. tjous xnanner, both of expreffion and gefture, may be
u » the propereft way to confute them. For to attempt
to anfvver in a grave and ferious manner, what is in it-
felf empty and ludicrous, is apt to create a fufpicion
of its having more in it than it really has. So when
Tubero, in his accufation of Ligarius before Csefar,
had made it part of his charge, that Ligarius was in
Africa during fome part of the civil war between Cae-
far and Pompey *, Cicero, in his anfwer, not thinking
it deferved a ferious reply, contents himfelf with bare¬
ly mentioning it ironically. For thus he begins his
defence of Ligarius : “ Casfar, my kinfman Tubero
has laid before you a new crime, and till this day un¬
heard of, that £). Ligarius was in Africa.” Every
one mull eafily perceive, by the manner in which thefe
words were pronounced, that the defign of them was
to make the charge appear ridiculous. But caution
fhould be ufed not to reprefent any argument of weight
in a ludicrous way, left by fo doing the fpeaker fhould
more expofe himfelf than his adverfary.
In the conclufion, both the voice and gofture ftiould
be brilk and fprightly, which may feem to arife from
a fenfe of the fpeaker’s opinion of the goodnefs of his
caufe, and that he has offered nothing but what is agree¬
able to reafon and truth ; as likewife from his affurance
that the audience agree with him in the fame fentiments.
In every undertaking that requires care and thought, per-
fons are apt at firft to be fedate and moderate j but when
it is drawing to an end, and is near finifhed, it is very
natural to appear more gay. If an enumeration of the
principal arguments of the difcourfe be convenient, as it
fometimes is, where they are pretty numerous, or the
difcourfe is long, they ought to be expreffed in the moft
clear and forcible manner. And if.there be an addrefs
to the paffions, both the voice and gefture muft befuited
to the nature of them, of which more will be faid pre-
fently.
We proceed now to the confideration of particular
expreffions. And what we (hall offer here, will be firft
in relation to fingle words, then fentences, and laftly
the paffxons.
132 I. Even in thofe fentences which are expreffed in
the moft even and fedate manner, there is often one
or more words which require an emphafis and diftinc-
tion of the voice. Pronouns are often of this kind j
as, This is the man. And fuch are many words that
denote the circumftances and qualities of things. Such
as heighten or magnify the idea of the thing to which
they are joined, elevate the voice ; as noble, admirable,
majejlic, greatly, and the like. On the contrary, thofe
which leffen the idea, or debafe it, deprefs the voice,
or at leaft protraft the tone j of which fort are the
words little, mean,poorly, contemptible, with many others.
Some tropes likewife, as metaphors and verbal figures,
which confift in the repetition of a fingle word, ftiould
have a particular emphafis. As when Virgil fays of
the river Araxes, It difdained a bridge. And Nifus of
himfelf in the fame poet, I, 1 am the man ; where the
repeated word is loudeft. This diftin&ion of words,
and giving them their proper emphafis, does not only
render the expreflion more clear and intelligible, but
very much contributes to the variation of the voice, and
the preventing a monotony. And the different pronun-
399
ciation of thefe words will alio require a peculiar gef- Pronuncia-
In fentences, regard fliould be had to their
ture.
n;
length, and the number of their parts, in order to di-
ftinguifh them by proper paufes. The frame and ftruc-
ture of the period ought likewife to be confidered, that
the voice may be fo managed as to give it the moft
mufical accent. Unlefs there be fome fpecial reafon for
the contrary, it ftiould end louder than it begins. And
this difference of tone between the end of the former
fentence and the beginning of the next, not only helps to
diftinguifti the fenfe, but adds to the harmony of the
voice. And that the laft fyllables of a fentence might
become more audible and diftindf, ivas doubtlefs one
reafon why the ancient rhetoricians dillike ftiort feet at
the end of a period. In an antithefis, or a fentence
confifting of oppofite parts, one contrary muft be louder
than the other. As, “ He is gone, but by a gainful
remove, from painful labour to quiet reft j from un¬
quiet defires to happy contentment ; from forrow to
joy 5 and from tranfitory time to immortality.” In a
climax or gradation, the voice ftiould rife with it. So,
“ There is no enjoyment of property without govern¬
ment ; no government without a magiftrate j no magif-
trate without obedience j no obedience where every one
a&s as he pleafes.” And fo in other gradations of a
different form. As, “ Since concord was lof, friendftiip
was lof, fidelity was lof, liberty was lof, all was lof.'1'1
And again, “ You would pardon him whom the fenate
hath condemned, whom the people of Rome have con~
demned, whom all mankind have condemned^ We
might mention feveral other figurative expreflions,
which require a particular conformation and manage¬
ment of the voice ; but thefe, we prefume, with fome
others we fhall have occafion to name prefently when
we come to the paflions, may be fuffieient to guide us-
in the reft. But that it may appear more evidently
how neceffary a different inflexion and variation of the
voice is in moft fentences, give us leave to fhow how
Quintilian illuftrates it, by a paffage which he takes
from Cicero. The place is the beginning of Cicero’s
defence for Milo, and the w7ords are thefe : “ Although
1 am apprehenfve it may feem bafe to difcover fear
when 1 enter upon the defence of a moft courageous man,
and it may appear very indecent, when Milo difcovers
more concern for the public fafety than for his own,
not to foow a greatnefs of mind equal to his caufe, yet
this new form of the court terrifies my eyes, which can¬
not difcern the ancient manner of the forum, and for¬
mer cuftom of trials, whatever way they look: your
bench is not furrounded with its ufual attendants.”
This fentence confifts of four members. And Quin¬
tilian fuppofes, that though thefe words are the be¬
ginning of a fpeech, and wrere accordingly expreffed
in a calm and fubmiflive manner, yet that the orator
ufed a great deal of variety in the pronunciation of
their feveral parts. In the firft member (as he ima¬
gines) his voice was more elevated in exprefling the
words, a mof courageous man, than in thofe other parts
of it / am apprehenfve it may feem bafe, and, to difcover
fear. In the fecond member he rofe higher, in faying,
when Milo dfcovers more concern for the public fafety
than for his own ; and then again, as it were, checked
himfelf in what follows, not to fhow a greatnefs of mind
equal
133
‘34
4°° O H A T O
^1<”'[™ci'a" equal to his cauje. The beginning of the third member him
. . ‘<”K . carrying a reflexion in it, was fpoke with a different
tone of the voice, this new form of the court terrifies
my eyes; and the other part of it more loud and di-
fhn&Iy, which cannot difeern the ancient manner of the
, forum, and former cufiom of trials. And the laft
•member was dill more raifed and audible, your bench is
'■not furrounded with its ufual attendants. And it muft
be fuppofed, that while he was faying this, he caff his
eyes round the affembly, and viewed the foldiers whom
Pompey had placed there, which renders the expreflion
flill more grave and folemn. If this was the manner of
•the ancient orators, and they were fo exaf! and accurate
in exprefling their periods, and the feveral parts of them,
as we have reafon to believe they were, it muff have
given a very great force, as well as beauty, to their
pronunciation.
III. That the paflions have each of them both a
different voice and aftion, is evident from hence; that
we know in what manner a perfon is affedted, by the
tone of his voice, though ire do not underftand the
fenfe of what he fays, or many times fo much as fee
him : and we can often make the fame judgment from
his countenance and geftures. Love and efteem are
expreffed in a fmooth and cheerful tone : but anger and
refentment, with a rough, harfli, and interrupted voice j
for when the fpirits are difturbed and ruffled, the organs
are moved unequally. Joy raifes and dilates the voice,
as forrow links and contra&s it. Cicero takes notice
of a paffage in an oration of Gracchus, wherein he be¬
wails the death of his brother, who was killed by Sci-
pio, which in his time was thought very moving : “ Un¬
happy man (fays he), whither fhall l betake myself?
where fhall I go ? Into the capitol ? that flows with
my brother's blood. Shall I go home *, and behold my
unhappy mother all -in tears and defpair /” Though
Gracchus had a very ill defign in that fpeech, ^nd his
view was to excite the populace againft their governors,
yet (as Cicero tells us) when he came to this paffage,
he expreffed himfelf in fuch moving accents and geftures,
that he extorted tears even from his enemies. Fear
occafions a tremor and helitation of the voice, and af-
furance gives it ftrength and firmnefs. Admiration
elevates the voice, and fhould be expreffed with pomp
and magnificence : 0 furpriflng clemency, worthy of
the highefl praife and greatefl encomiums, and ft to he
perpetuated in lafling monuments ! This is Cicero’s com¬
pliment to Caefar when he thought it for his purpofe.
And oftentimes this paffion is accompanied with an ele¬
vation both of the eyes and hands. On the contrary,
contempt finks and protrafts the voice. In the difpute
between Cicero and Cecilius, which of them Ihould
accufe Verres, Cicero puts this contemptuous queftion to
R Y. Part TV.
: “ How are you qualified, Cecilius, for fuch an un- FronuncU.
dertaking ? I will not alk, when you ever gave a proof
of it ; but when you fo much as attempted ? Do you
confider the difficulty of managing a public caufj ?”
with much more to the fame purpofe. Though fuch
kind of - expreflions require little gefture, yet fometimes
a motion of the hand may not be improper, to fignify
difdain or averfion. We may fuppofe Cicero to have
afled thus in his defence of Kabirius. For to Ihow his
affurance of his client’s caufe, having ufed this expref-
fion in a very audible manner, “ I willi I had it to fay,
that Rabirius had with his own hand killed Saturninus
who was an enemy to the Roman ftate,” fome perfons
in the crowd began to raife a clamour, juft as of later
times hiding has been pra&ifed on the like occafions.
Upon which Cicero immediately replies, “ This noife
does not difturb me, but pleafe me, fince it ihows,
though there are fome weak perfons, yet they are but
few.” Then prefently after follows the expreflion we
refer to : w Why do not you ceafe your clamour, fince
it only dsfeovers your folly, and the fmallnefs of your
number ?” All exclamations ftiould be violent. When
we addrefs to inanimate things, the voice ihould be
higher than when to animated beings j and appeals
‘to heaven mutt be made in a loftier tone than thofe to
men.
Thefe few hints for exprefling the principal paflions
may, if duly attended to, fuffice to direft our praflice
in others. Though, after all, it is impoflible to gain
a juft and decent pronunciation of voice and gefture
merely from rules without praflice and an imitation
•of the beft examples. Which (hows the wifdom of
the ancients, in training up their youth to it, by the
afliftance of mafters, to form both their fpeech and ac¬
tions.
But there is one thing which ought always to be at¬
tended to ; namely, that perfons (hould well confider
their own make and genius, efpecially with refpeft to
the paflions. We feldom find, that any aflor can excel
in all characters ; but if he performs one well, he is de¬
ficient in another : And therefore they are commonly
fo prudent as to confine themfelves to fuch as beft fuit
them. The cafe is the fame in an orator 5 who (hould
therefore keep within thofe bounds which nature feems
to have preferibed for him. Some are better fitted for
action than others, and moft for fome particular a£tions
rather than others ; and what fits well upon one -would
appear very awkward in another. Every one, there¬
fore, Ihould firft endeavour to know himfelf, and ma¬
nage accordingly. Though in moft cafes, nature may
be much aflifted and improved by art and exercife. See
Profeffor Ward’s System of Oratory.
O R B
Oratory, ORATORY, among the Romanifts, a clofet of like
Orb. apartment near a bed-chamber, furnifhed with an altar,
““—V crucifix, &c. for private devotions.
ORB, in Astronomy, denotes a hollow globe or
fphere.
Orb, in taflics, is the difpofing of a number of fol-
O R B
diers in circular form of defence. The orb hasTeen Orb.
thought of confequence enough to employ the attention '“•’•'V-
of the famous Marftial de Puyfegur in his Art of War,
who prefers this pofition to throw a body of infantry in
an open country, to refill cavalry, or even a fuperior
force of infantry ; becaufe it is regular, and equally
ftrong,
O R C [ 401 ] G R C
Orbit ftrong, imd gives an enemy no reafon to expeft better
II fuccefs by attacking one place than another. Csefar
0rchar drew his whole army in this form, when he fought a-
gainft Labienus. The whole army of the Gauls were
formed into an orb, under the command of Sabinus and
Cotta, when fighting againft the Romans. The orb
was generally formed fix deep.
ORBIT, in Afironomy, the path of a planet or co¬
met, or the curve that it defcribes in its revolution
round its central body \ thus, the earth’s orbit is the
curve which it defcribes in its annual courfe round the
fun, and ufually called the ecliptic. See Astronomy,
puffhn.
ORCADES, the Orkney Ijlnnds. See Orkney.
ORCHARD, a garden-department, configned en¬
tirely to the growth of llandard fruit-trees, for furnifh-
ing a large fupply of the molt ufeful kinds of fruit. For
the particular management of the orchard, fee Garden¬
ing.
In the orchard you may have, as flandards, all forts
(of apple-trees, moll forts of pears and plums, and all
forts of cherries : which four fpecies are the capital or¬
chard fruits ; each of them comprifing numerous valu¬
able varieties. But to have a complete orchard, you
may alfo have quinces, medlars, mulberries, fervice-
t'rees, filberts, Spanifh nuts, berberries 5 likewife wal¬
nuts and chefnuts $ which two latter are particularly ap¬
plicable for the boundaries of orchards, to fcreen the
other trees from the infults of impetuous winds and cold
blalts. All the trees ought to be arranged in rows from
20 to 30 feet dillance, as hereafter diredled.
But fometimes orchards confill entirely of apple-trees,
particularly in the Cyder-making counties, where they
are cultivated in very great quantities in large fields,
and in hedge rows, for the fruit to make cyder for pub¬
lic fupply.
And fometimes whole orchards of very confiderable
extent are entirely of cherry-trees. But in this cafe, it
is when the fruit is defigned for fstle in fome great city,
as London, &c. for the fupply of which city, great
numbers of large cherry orchards' are in fome of the ad¬
jacent counties, but more particularly in Kent, which
is famous for very extenfive cherry^ orchards j many of
which are entirely of that fort called Kentijh cherry, as
being generally a great bearer ; others are ftored with
all the principal forts of cultivated cherries, from the
earlieil to the lateft kinds.
A general orchard, however, compofed of all the be¬
fore-mentioned fruit-trees, fhould confift of a double
portion of apple-trees or more, becaufe they are confi-
derably the moft ufeful fruit, and may be continued for
ufe the year round.
The utility of a general orchard, both for private ufe
and profit, ftored with the various forts of fruit-trees,
muft be very great, as well as afford infinite pleafure
from the delightful appearance it makes from early
fpring till late in autumn : In fpring the various trees
in blofibm are highly ornamental; in fummer, the plea¬
fure is heightened by obferving the various fruits advan¬
cing to perfeftion •, and as the feafon advances, the ma¬
ture growth of the different fpecies arriving to perfec¬
tion, in regular fucceflion, from May or June, until the
end of October, muft afford exceeding delight, as well
as great profit.
Of the Extent, Situation, and Soil for the Orchard.-—
' Yol. XV. Part II.
As to the proper extent of ground for an orchard, this Orchard,
muft be proportioned, in fome meafure, to the extent
of land you have to work on, and the quantity of fruit
required either for private ufe or for public fupply j fo
that an orchard may be from half an acre to 20 or more
in extent.
With refpect to the fituation and afpeft for an orch¬
ard, we may obferve very thriving orchards both in low
and high fituations, and on declivities and plains, in va¬
rious afpefts or expofures, provided the natural foil is
good : we ftiould, however, avoid very low damp fitu¬
ations as much as the nature of the place will admit;
for in very wet foils no fruit trees will profper, nor the
fruit be fine : but a moderately low fituation, free from
copious wet, may be more eligible than an elevated
ground, as being lefs expofed to tempeftuous winds j
though a fituation having a fmall declivity is very de-
firable, efpecially if its alpecl incline towards the eaft,
fouth-eaft, or foutherly, which are rather more eligible
than a wefterly afpeft $ but a north afpect is the worft
of all for an orchard, unlefs particularly compenfated by
the peculiar temperament or good quality of the foil.
And as for foil, any common field or pafture that
produces good crops of corn, grafs, or kitchen-garden
vegetables, is fuitable for an orchard ; if it ftiould prove
of a loamy nature, it will be a particular advantage :
any foil, however, of a good quality, not too light and
dry, or too heavy, ftubborn, or wet, but of a medium
nature, of a foft, pliant temperature, not lefs than one
fpade deep of good ftaple, will be proper for this pur-
pofe.
Preparation of the ground.—The preparation of the
ground for the reception of trees, is by trenching ; or,
if for very confiderable orchards, by deep ploughing ;
but trench-digging, one or two fpades, as the foil will
admit, is the moft eligible, either wholly, or only for
the prefent in the places where the lines of trees are to
Hand, a fpace of fix or eight feet wide, all the way ih
each rowr, efpecially if it be grafs ground, and intended
to be kept in the fward ; or if any under-crops are de¬
figned to be raifed, the ground may be wholly trench¬
ed at firft : in either cafe trench the ground in the ufual
way to the depth of the natural foil, and if in grafs,
turn the fward clean to the bottom of each trench*
which, when rotted, will prove an excellent manure.
In planting orchards, however, on grafs-grounds,
Pome only dig pits for each tree, capacious enough for
the reception of the roots, loofening the bottom well,
without the labour of digging any other part of the
ground.
The ground muft be fenced fecurely againft cattle,
&c. either wtth a good ditch and hedge, or with a pal¬
ing-fence, as may be moft convenient.
Method of planting the 7Vwj\—The beft feafon fot
planting all the forts of fruit-trees is autumn, foon af¬
ter the fall of the leaf, from about the latter end of
Odlober until December ; or indeed it might be per¬
formed any time in open weather from Odober until
March.
Choofe principally full ftandards, with ftraight clean
ftems, fix feet high ; each with a branchy well-formed
head, or from two or three to four or five years growth j
and let feveral varieties of each particular fpecies be
chofen, that ripen their fruit at different times, from the
earlieft to the lateft, according to the nature of the dif-
3 E ferent -
O R C
Orchard.
fercnt forts, that there may be a proper fupply of every
fort regularly during their proper feafon. Of apples and
pears in particular, choofe a much greater quantity of
the autumnal and late ripening kinds than of the early
jorts, but moft of all of apples ; for the fummer-ripen-
ing fruit is but of fhort duration, only proper for tem¬
porary ferviee ; but the later ripening kinds keep found
fome conliderable time for autumnal ufe j and the lateft
lorts that ripen in October, continue in perfedlion for
various ufes all winter, and feveral forts until the feafon
of apples come again.
Having made choice of the proper forts, and marked
them, let them be taken up with the utmoft care, fo as
to preferve all their roots as entire as poflible ■, and when
taken up, prune off any broken or bruifed parts of the
roots, and juft tip the ends of thp principal roots, in ge¬
neral, with the knife on the under fide with a kind of
flope outward.
If the trees have been already headed, or fo trained
as to have branched out into regular flioots to form each
a proper head, they muft be planted with the faid heads
entire, only retrenching or Ihortening any irregular or
ill-placed fhoot that takes an awkward direction, or
'grows acrofs its neighbours, or fuch as may run confi-
derably longer than all the reft, &c.
The arrangement of the trees in the orchard muft be
in rows, each kind feparate, at diftanees according to
the Mature of the growth of the different forts j but for
the larger growing kinds, fuch as apples, pears, plums,
cherries, Sec. they Ihould ftand from 25 to 30 or 40
feet every Avay afunder, though 25 or 30 feet at moft is
a reafonable diftance for all thefe kinds.
Each fpecies and its varieties fhould generally be in
rows by themfelves, the better to fuit their refpeftive
modes of growth : though for variety there may be fome
rows of apples and pears arranged alternately, as alfo of
plumbs and cherries; and towards the boftndaries there
may be ranges of leffer growth, as quinces, medlars, fil¬
berts, &c. and the outer row of all may be walnut-
trees, and fome chefnuts, fet pretty clofe to defend the
other trees from violent winds.
According to the above diffances, proceed to ftake
out the ground for making the holes for the reception
of the trees, which if made to range every way, will
have a very agreeable effecl, and admit the currency of
air, and the fun’s influence more effe&ually.
But in planting very extenfivp orchards, fome divide
the ground into large fquares or quarters, of different
dimenfions, with intervals of 50 feet wride between j
ferving both as walks, and for admitting a greater cur¬
rency of air; in different quarters planting different
forts of fruit, as apples in one, pears in another,
plums and cherries in others, &c. and thus it may be
repeated to as many quarters for each fpecies and its va¬
rieties as may be convenient.
As to the mode of planting the trees : A wide hole
muft be dug for each tree, capacious enough to receive
all the roots freely every way without touching the
Tides. When the holes are all ready, proceed to plant¬
ing, one tree in each hole, a perfon holding the flem
erefl, whilft another trims in the earth, previoufly
breaking it fmall, and calling it in equally all about the
roots, frequently lhaking the tree to caufe the mould to
fettle in clofe about all the fmaller roots and fibres, and
fo as to raife the tree gradually up, that the crown of
[.402 ]
O R C
the roots may be but two or three inches below the ge¬
neral furface ; and when the hole is filled up, tread it
gently, firft round the outfide, then near the Item of
the tree, forming the furface a little hollow; and then,
if on the top of all be laid fome inverted turf to the
width of the hole, forming it with a fort of circular
bank, three or four inches high, it will fupport the
tree, and guard the roots from drying winds and the
fummer’s drought : obferving that each tree ftand per-
feftly upright, and that they range exaftly in their pro¬
per rows.
Method of improving the Fruit.—The following me¬
thod is faid to have been fuccefsfully employed, by a
German clergyman, in promoting the growth of young
trees, and increafing the fize and flavour of the fruit in
orchards. Having planted feveral young plum trees in
an orchard, he covered the ground, for fome yt!ars,
around the trunks, as far as the roots extended, with
flax-ftiows, or the refufe of flax when it is fcutched or
heckled ; by which means t hefe trees, though in a grafs-
field, increafed in a wronderful manner, and far excelled
others planted in cultivated ground. As far as the
ftiows readied, the graft and weeds were choked ; and
the foil under them was fo tender and foft, that no bet¬
ter mould could have been wilhed for by a florift.
When he obferved this, he covered the ground with
the fame fubflance, as far a* the roots extended, around
an old plum-tree, which appeared to be in alanguiihing
ftate, and which flood in a graft-field. The eonlequen-
ces were, that it acquired a ftrong new bark, produced
larger and better tafted fruit, and that thofe young
fhoots, which before grew up around the ftem, and
which it was every year neceffary to deftroy, were pre¬
vented from fprouting forth, as the covering of flax-
fhows impeded the free acceft of air at the bottom of the
trunk.
In the year 1793,116 tranfplanted, from feed-beds,
into the nurfery, feveral fruit-trees; the ground around
. fome of which he covered, as above, with flax-lhows.
Notwithftanding the great heat of the fummer, none of
thofe trees where the earth was covered with ftiows died
or decayed, becaufe the ftiows prevented the earth un¬
der them from being dried by the fun. Of thofe trees,
around which the ground was not covered as before
mentioned, the fourth part mifearried ; and thofe that
continued alive were far weaker than the former.
The leaves which fall from trees in autumn may alfo
be employed for covering the ground in like manner ;
but ftones, or logs of wood mult be laid on them, to
prevent their being difperfed by the wind. In grafs-
land, a fmall trench may be made around the roots of
the tree, when planted, in order to receive the leaves.
If flax-ftiows are ufed, this is not neceffary ; they lie
on the furface of the ground lo fall as to refill the force
of the moft violent ftorm. The leaves which our author
found moft effedlual in promoting the growth and ferti¬
lity of fruit trees, are, thofe of the walnut-tree. Whe¬
ther it is, that, on account of their containing a greater
abundance of faline particles, they communicate manure
to the ground, which thereby becomes tender under
them ; or that they attradl nitrous particles from the at-
mofphere; or that, by both thefe means, they tend to
nourifti the tree both above and below.
i hofe who are defirous of, railing tender exotic trees
from the feed, in ordef to accuftom them to our climate,
may7,,„
Orchard.
ORB [ 4°3 1 ORB
OrcV.rd may, when they tranfplant them, employ flax-fliows
II with great advantage. This covering will prevent the
Ordeal^ £ro(|. from making its way to the roots ; and rats and
* mice, on account of the fharp prickly points of the
flax-fhows, will not be able to /belter themfelves under
them.
ORCHESTRA, in the Grecian theatres, wras that
part of the prof cerium or Rage where the chorus ufed to
dance. In the middle of it wras placed the Acyuov or
pulpit. The oreheftra was femicircular, and furround-
ed with feats. In the Rotyian theatres it made no part
of the feena, but anfwered pretty nearly to the pit in
our playhoufes, being taken up with feats for fenators,
magiftrates, veftals, and other perfons of diftinftion.
The actors never went down into it. See Theatre.
ORCHIA lex, inftituted by Orchius the tribune in
the year of Rome 566. Its intention tvas to limit the
number of guefts that were to be admitted at an enter¬
tainment 5 and it alfo enforced, that during fupper,
which was the chief meal among the Romans, the doors
of every houfe fhould be left open.
ORCHIS, Foolstones 5 a genus of plants belong¬
ing to the gynandria clafs, and in the natural method
giving name to the feventh order, Orchidece. See Bo¬
tany Index.
ORCUS, god of the infernal regions, the fame with
Pluto, fo called from the Greek word fignifying
a “ tomb or fepulchre,” or from “ an oath by the
river Styx.” The ancients gave this name to all the
divinities of the infernal regions, even to Cerberus.
There was a river of the fame name in Theffaly, which
took its rife from the marfhes of the Styx, and the wa¬
ters of which were fo thick, that they floated like oil
upon the furface of the river Peneus, into which they
difeharged themfelves. This river probably fuggefted
to the poets the idea of the infernal abodes, which they
denominated Orcus. This deity has been confounded
with Charon. He had a temple at Rome..
ORDEAL, an ancient form of trial. See Trial.
—It was an appeal to the immediate interpofition of
divine pow'er, and was particularly diftinguifhed by the
appellation of judicium Dei; and fometimes vulgaris
purgatio, to diftinguifli it from the canonical purgation,
which was by the oath of the party. There were two
forts of it more common than the reft, at lead in Eu¬
rope •, fire-ordeal, and water-ordeal. The former u'as
confined to perfons of higher rank, the latter to the
common people. Both thefe might be performed by
deputy ; but the principal was to anfvver for the fuccefs Ordsal.
of. the trial j the deputy only venturing fome corporal v~"
pain, for hire or perhaps for friendfhip.
That the purgation by ordeal, of fome kind or other,
is very ancient, admits not of a doubt 5 and that it was
very univerfal in the times of fuperititious barbarity, is
equally certairi. It feems even to have been known to
the ancient Greeks j for in the Antigone of Sophocles,
a perfon fufpedled by Creon of a mifdemeanour, de¬
clares himfelf ready “ to handle hot iron and to walk
over fire” in order to manifeft his innocence; which the
feholiaft tells us was then a very ufual purgation. And
Grotius gives us many inftances of water-ordeal in Bi-
thynia, Sardinia, and other places. It feems, however,
to be carried to a greater height among the Hindoos,
than ever it has been in any nation or among any peo¬
ple, however rude or barbarous ; for in a paper of the
Afiatic Refearches communicated by Warren Haftings,
Eiq. Ave find that the trial bp ordeal among them is
conduced in nine different ways : firft by the balance ;
fecondly, by fire; thirdly, by water; fourthly, by poi-
fon ; fifthly, by the Cofha, or water in which an idol
has been wafhed ; fixthly, by rice ; feventhly, by boil¬
ing oil; eighthly, by red-hot iron; ninthly, by images.
I. Ordeal by the balance is thus performed. The
beam having been previoufly adjufted, the cord fixed,
and both feales made perfeftly even, the perfon accufed
and a Pandit faff a whole day ; then, after the accufed
has been bathed in facred water, the homa, or oblation,
prefented to fire, and the deities worfliipped, he is care¬
fully weighed ; and when he is taken out of the fcale,
the Pandits proftrate themfelves before it, pronounce a
certain mentra or incantation, agreeably to the Saftras,
and, having written the fubftance of the accufation on a
piece of paper, bind it on his head. Six minutes after,
they place him again in the fcale; and, if he weigh
more than before, he is held guilty ; if lefs, innocent;
if exaidly the fame, he muff be weighed a third time ;
when, as it is written in the Mitacjhera, there will cer¬
tainly be a difference in his weight. Should the ba¬
lance, though well fixed, break down, this wmuld be*
confidered as a proof of his guilt.
II. For the fire-ordeal, an excavation, nine hands
long, two fpans broad, and one fpan deep, is made in
the ground, and filled with a fire of pippal wood : into
this the perfon accufed muff Avalk bare-footed ; and, if
his foot be unhurt, they hold him blamelefs; if burned,
guilty (a).
3 E 2 III.
• (a) In Europe fire-ordeal wras performed either by taking up in the hand, unhurt, a piece of red-hot iron, of
one, two, or three pounds Aveight; or elfe by Avalking, barefoot, and blindfold, over nine red-hot plough-(hares,
laid lengthwife at unequal diftances ; and if the party efcaped being hurt, he Avas adjudged innocent ; but if it hap¬
pened otherAvife, as Avithout collufion it ufually did, he Avas then condemned as guilty. HoAvever, by this latter
method Queen Emma, the mother of Edward the Confeffor, is mentioned to have cleared her charadler, Avhen fu-
fpefled of familiarity Avith Alwyn biffiop of Winchefter. The firff account Ave have of Chriftians appealing to the
fire-ordeal, as a proof of their innocence, is that of Simplicius,’bifliop of Autun, Avho lived in the fourth century.
This prelate, as the (lory is related, before his promotion to the epifcopal order, had married a Avife, Avho loved
him tenderly, and Avho, unAvilling to quit him after his advancement, continued to fleep in the fame chamber Avith
him. The famRity of Simplicius fuffered, at lead in the voice of fame, by the conftancy of his wife’s affeftion ;
and it Avas rumoured about, that the holy man, though a biffiop, perfifted, in oppofition to the ecclefiaftical canons,
to tafte the fweets of matrimony: upon Avhich Ids Avife, in the prefence of a great concourfe of people, took up a
confiderable quantity of burning coals, which (lie held in her clothes, and applied to her breads, without the lead
hurt to her perfon or her garments as the legend fays; and her example being followed by het hufband V, ith the
like
Ordeal.
O R D X 404 ] O R D
III. Water-ordeal is performed by caufing the perfon
accufed to ftand in a fufficient depth of water, either
flowing or ftagnant, to reach his navel j but care fhould
be taken that no ravenous animal be in it, and that it
be not moved by much air j a brahman is then directed
to go into the water, holding a ftaff in his hand ; and a
foldier fhoots three arrows on dry ground from a bow
of cane •, a man is next defpatched to bring the arrow
which has been fliot fartheft} and, after he has taken it
up, another is ordered to run from the edge of the wa¬
ter 5 at which inftant the perfon accufed is told to grafp
the foot or the flaff of the brahman, who ftands near
him in the water, and immediately to dive into it. He
muft remain under Avater, till the two men who went to
fetch the arrows are returned ; for, if he raife his head
or body above the furface before the arrows are brought
back, his guilt is confidered as fully proved. In the
villages near Benares, it is the practice for the perfon
•who is to be tried by this kind of ordeal, to ftand in
water up to his navel, and then, holding the foot of a
brahman, to dive under it as long as a man can walk
50 paces very gently *, if, before the man has walked
thus far, the accufed rife above the water, he is con¬
demned 5 if not, acquitted (b).
IV. There are two forts of trial by poifon ; firft, the
pandits having performed their homa, and the perfon
accufed his ablution, two rettis and a half, or feven bar¬
ley-corns of vifhanaga, a poifonous root, or offauc'/iyay
that is, white arfenic, are mixed in eight mafias, or 64
rettis, of clarified butter, which the acculed muft eat
from the hand of a brahman : if the poifon produce no
vifible effect, he is abfolved $ otherwife condemned.
Secondly, the hooded fnake, called nagga, is thrown in¬
to a deep earthen pot, into which is dropped a ring, a
feal, or a coin j this the perfon accufed is ordered to
take out with his hand 'y and, if the ferpent bite him,
he is pronounced guilty j if not, innocent.
V. Trial by the coflia is as follows : the accufed is
made to drink three draughts of the water, in which
the images of the fun, of Devi, and other deities, have
been walhed for that purpofe j and if, within 14 days,,
he has any ficknefs or indifpofition, his crime is confi¬
dered as proved.
VI. When feveral perfons are fufpe&ed of theft,
fome dry rice is weighed with the facred ftone called
fa/gram, or certain Jlocas are read over it 5 after which
the fufpected perfons are feverally ordered to chew a
quantity of it: as fbon as they have chewed it, they are
to throw it on fome leaves of pippal, or, if none be at
hand, on fome tfhurja patra, or bark of a tree, from
Nepal or Caflimir. The man, from whofe mouth the
rice comes dry or ftained with blood, is holden guilty -r
the reft is acquitted.
VII. The ordeal by hot oil is very Ample : when it
is heated fufficiently, the accufed thrufts his hand into
it j and, if he be not burned, is held innocent (c).
Ordeal.
VIII.
like fuccefs, the filly multitude admired the miracle, and proclaimed the innocence of the loving pair. A fimilar
trick was played by St Brice, in the fifth century. Mojh. Eccl. HiJ}. vol. ii.
(b) A very peculiar fpecies of water-ordeal is faid to prevail among the Indians on the coaft of Malabar. A
perfon accufed of an enormous crime is obliged to fwim over a large river abounding with crocodiles ; and if he
efcapes unhurt, he is efteemed innocent. - r
At Siam, befides the ufual methods of fire and water-ordeal, both parties are fometimes expofed to the fury of
a tiger let loole for that purpofe ; and if the beaft fpares either, that perfon is accounted innocent j if neither*
both are held to be guilty ; but if he fpares both, the trial is incomplete, and they proceed to a more certain cri¬
terion.
In Europe water-ordeal was performed, either by plunging the bare arm up to the elbow in boiling-water, and
efcaping unhurt thereby, or by calling the perfon fufpefted into a river or pond of cold water 5 and if he floated
therein without any a£iion of fwimming, it was deemed an evidence of his guilt *, but if he funk, he was ac¬
quitted. It is eafy to trace out the traditional relics of this water-ordeal, in the ignorant barbarity ftill praftifed
in many countries to difeover witches, by calling them into a pool of water, and drowning them to prove their
innocence. And in the eaftern empire the fire-ordeal was ufed for the fame purpofe by the emperor Theodore
Lafcaris ; who, attributing his ficknefs to magic, caufed all thofe whom he fufpetted to handle the hot iron :
thus joining (as has been well remarked) to the moll dubious crime in the world, the moll dubious proof of in¬
nocence.
(c) This fpecies of trial by ordeal is thus performed : The ground appointed for the trial is cleared and rubbed
with coiv-dung, and’ the next day at funrife the Pandit worlhips Ganefa or the Hindoo Janus, prefents his oblations,
and pays adoration to other deities, conformably to the Sdjira: then having read the incantation preferibed, he
places a round pan of gold, filver, copper, iron, or clay, with a diameter of fixteen fingers, and four fingers deep,
and throws into it one fer, or eighty Jicca Aveight, of clarified butter or oil offefamum. After this a ring of gold,
or filver, or iron, is cleaned and walhed with Avater, and call into the oil; which they proceed to heat, and Avhen
it is very hot put into it a frelh leaf of pippala, or of bilwa : Avhen the leaf is burned, the oil is known to be fuffi¬
ciently hot. Then, having pronounced a mentra over the oil, they order the party accufed to take the ring out of
the pan *, and if he take it out rvithout being burned, or without a blifter in his hand, his innocence is confidered
as proved ; if not, his guilt. It is reported that this cuftom, with fome flight variations, ftill prevails among the
Indians on the coaft of Malabar. The procefs there is faid to begin after the accufed perfon has been thoroughly
walhed in the prefence of the prince of the country, the priefts, &c. :—the pot is filled Avith boiling lead 5 and the
accufed muft take the ring out three times fucceflively. On the Malabar coaft, this ordeal feems only to be ufed.
when the perfon is accufed of a capital crime 5 for after the procefs the arm is bound Avith cloth and fealed ; and
after feveral days, being brought out publicly, and the arm infpedted, if it is found burnt he is inftantly put to
death y if not, his accufer undergoes the fame trial, and being burnt, forfeits his life,
. 3
O R D [ 405
Ordeal. VIII. In the fame manner they make an iron ball,
head of a lance, red hot, and place it in the
hands of the perfon accufed j who, if it burn him not,
15 judged guiltlefs.
IX. To perform the ordeal by dharmdch, which is
the name of the Jldca appropriated to this mode of trial,
either an image, named Dharma, or the genius of juf-
tice, is made of lilver, and another, called Adharma, of
clay or iron, both of which are thrown into a large
earthen jar j and thd accufed having thruft his hand in¬
to it, is acquitted if he bring out the filver image, but
condemned if he draw forth the iron 5 or, the figure of
a deity is painted on white cloth, and another on black \
the firft of which they name dharma, and the fecond
adharma : thefe are feverally rolled up in cow-dung, and
thrown into a large jar without having ever been fhown
to the accufed ; who muft put his hand into the jar, and
is acquitted or convi&ed as he draws out the figure on
white or on black cloth.
Though we have proceeded thus far, we have not ex-
haufted Mr Haftings’s communication. He goes on to
(how (to greater extent than our limits permit us to fol¬
low him) the manner in which each ordeal above men¬
tioned was executed, giving examples, and unfolding
other particulars of fome importance in developing the
nature of thefe barbarous cuftoms. For thefe particu¬
lars, however, we muft refer to the book itfelf. But
as this fubjeft unqueftionably occupies an important de¬
partment in the hiftory of human fuperftition, we (hall
give the Indian law of ordeal from the fame paper ;
when we (hall introduce fome further particulars con¬
cerning this extraordinary cuftom, which are not to be
found in the above account, but which deferve to be
noticed.
“ 1. The balance, fire, water, poifon, the idol—thefe
are the ordeals ufed here below for the proof of inno¬
cence, when the accufations are heavy, and when the
accufer offers to hazard a mulft, (if he ftiould fail) :
2. Or one party may be tried, if he pleafe, by or¬
deal, and the other muft then ri(k an amercement; but
the trial may take place even without any wager, if the
crime committed be injurious to the prince.
3. The fovereign having fummoned the accufed while
his clothes are yet moift from bathing, at funrife, before
he has broken his faft, (hall caufe all trials by ordeal to
be conducted in the prefence of Brahmans.
4. The balance is for women, children, old men, the
blind, the lame, Brahmans, and the fick ; for the Sa¬
dr a, fire or water, or feven barley-corns of poifon.
5. Unlefs the lofs of the accufer amount to a thou-
fand pieces of (liver, the accufed muft not be tried by
the red-hot ball, nor by poifon, nor by the fcales; but
if the offence be againft the king, or if the crime be
heinous, he muft acquit himfelf by one of thofe trials in
all cafes.
6. He who has recourfe to the balance muft be at¬
tended by perfons experienced in weighing, and go
down into one fcale, with an equal weight placed on the
other, and a groove (with water in it) marked on the
beam.
] O R D
7. ‘ Thou, O balance, art the manfion of truth ;
thou waft anciently contrived by deities : declare the
truth, therefore, O giver of fuccefs, and clear me from
all fufpicion.
8. ‘ If I am guilty, O venerable as my own mother,
then fink me down, but if innocent raife me aloft.*
Thus (hall he addrefs the balance.
9. If he fink he is convicted, or if the fcales be bro¬
ken : but if the ftring be not broken, and be rife aloft,
he muft be acquitted.
10. On the trial by fire, let both hands of the accu¬
fed be rubbed with rice in the hulk, and well examined :
then let feven leaves of the Afwatdha (the religious
fig-tree) be placed on them, and bound with feven
threads.
11. ‘ Thou, O fire, pervaded all beings : O caufe
of purity, who giveft evidence of virtue and of fin, de¬
clare the truth in this my hand.’
12. When he has pronounced this, the prieft (hall
place in both his hands an iron ball, red-hot, and
weighing fifty palas (d).
13. Having taken it, he (hall ftep gradually into fe¬
ven circles, each with a diameter of fixteen fingers, and
feparated from the next by the fame fpaee.
14. If, having caft away the hot ball, he (hall again
have his hands rubbed with rice in the hulk, and (hall
(how them unburned, he will prove his innocence^
Should the iron fall during the trial, or (hould a doubt
arife (on the regularity of the proceedings), he muft be
tried again.
15. ‘ Preferve me, O Varuna, by declaring the
truth.’ Thus having invoked the god of waters, the
accufed (hall plunge his head into the river or pool,
and hold both thighs of a man, who (hall (land in it up
to his navel:
16. A fwift runner (hall then haften to fetch an ar¬
row (hot at the moment of his plunging •, and if, while
the runner is gone, the prieft (hall lee the head of the
accufed under water, he muft be difcharged as inno¬
cent.
17. ‘ Thou, O poifon, art the child of BrahmS, fted-
faft in juftice and in truth : clear me then from this
heavy charge, and if I have fpoken truly, become nec¬
tar to me.’
18. Saying this, he (hall fwallow the poifon Sdrnga,
from the tree which grows on the mountain Hima¬
laya ; and if he digefts it without any inflammation, the
prince (hall pronounce him guiltlefs.
19. Or the prieft (hall perform rites to the image of
fome tremendous deity j and, having bathed the idol,
(hall make the accufed to drink three handfuls of the
water that has dropped from it.
20. If in fourteen days after he fuffcrs no dreadful
calamity from the aft of the deity or of the king, he
muft indubitably be acquitted.”
The fuperftitious weaknefs of mankind, when left
to themfelves, is aftonifhing. There is indeed no¬
thing fo abfurd but they may be made mod firmly to
believe, nor fo impious but they will do. Nor can a
more notorious inftance of the truth of this affertion
be
Ordeal-
(d) A pala is four carjhas, and a carjha eighty raBicas, or feeds of the gunga creeper, each weighing abo\e
a grain and a quarter, or correclly, gr-
Ordeal.
^ ^ [ 4c6 j
bir^rly^V'en tlia,? that °? tlie hial b7 ordeal. The of gigantic ftature
O R D
grofs abfurdity as well as impiety of pronouncing a man
guilty unlefs he was cleared by a miracle, and of ex-
pe&ing that all the powers of nature Ihould be fufpend-
ed by an immediate interpolition of Providence to fave
tl e innocent, whenever it was prefumptuoufly required
is felf-evident. Yet the origin of it may be traced as
well to neceffity as to fuperftition. At the time in
which it originated in England, as well as in other
countries of Europe, it ivas no eafy matter for an inno¬
cent perfon, when accufed of guilt, to get himfelf clear¬
ed by the then ellabliflied mode of trial. (See Trial).
It was therefore natural for fuperftition to fly to Hea¬
ven for thofe teftimonies of innocence which the abfur¬
dity of human laws often prevented men from obtain¬
ing in the ordinary way ; and in this way doubtlefs did
the trial by ordeal commence : and thus begun by ne-
ceflitous fuperftition, it was foftered by impious prieft-
craft and unjuft power. There was during all the pro-
cefles great room for collufion and deceit ; and there
can be no queftion but it was often praftifed : it could
not therefore on any account, or in any cafe, be a ficm
of innocence or of guilt.
Befides thofe particular methods of trial which we
have already mentioned, there were fome few more
common in European countries; as the judicial combat
-—the ordeal of the crofs—the ordeal of the corfned.
The judicial combat was well fuited to the genius
and fpirit of fierce and warlike nations, and was, as we
may reafonably expeA, one of the moft ancient and uni-
verfal modes of trial. We know that it was exceedingly
common in Germany in very remote ages. It was alfo
ufed in fome countries on the continent at pretty early
periods: it is not, however, mentioned in any of the
Anglo-Saxon laws j and it does not appear to have
been much ufed in England till after the Conquert.
There are, however, two remarkable inftances of it
upon record, which we fhall give in the words of Dr
Henry : “ Henry de Eflex, hereditary ftandard-bearcr
of England, fled from a battle in Wales, A. D. n58,
threw from him the royal ftandard, and cried out’
with others, that the king was flain. Some time af¬
ter, he was. accufed of having done this with a treafon-
able intention, by Robert de Montfort, another great
baron, who offered to prove the truth of his accufation
by combat. Henry de Effex denied the charge, and
accepted the challenge. When all preliminaries were
adjufted, this combat was accordingly fought, in the
prefence of Henry II. and all his court. Effex was de¬
feated, and expeAed to be carried out to immediate ex¬
ecution. But the king, who was no friend to this kind
of trial, fpared his life, and contented himfelf with con-
fifcating his.eftate, and making him a monk in the ab¬
bey of Reading.
“ The priory of Tinmouth, in Northumberland,
was a cell of the abbey of St Alban’s. One Simon
of 1 mmouth claimed a right to two corrodies, or the
maintenance of two perfons in the priory, which the
prior and monks denied. This caufe was brought be¬
fore the abbot of St Alban’s and his court-baron, who-
appointed it to be tried by combat on a certain day,
before him and his barons. Ralf Gubion, prior of
.1 inmouth, appeared at the time and place appointed,
attended by his champion, one William Begun, a man
~ r The combat was fought, Begun
was defeated, and the prior loft his caufe ; at which he '
was 10 much chagrined, that he immediately refigned
his office. . J his judicial combat is the more remark¬
able, that it was fought in the court of a fpiritual baron
and that one of the parties was a prieft.”
\Ve need fcarcely add, that this deteftable form of
trial was the foundation of the no lefs deteftable crime
or duelling, which io much difgraces our age and na¬
tion ; which is defended only by ignorance, falfe honour
and injuftice; which is a relick of barbarous fuperfti¬
tion ; and which was abfolutely unknown to thofe brave
and generous nations, the Greeks and Romans, which it
is 10 much the fafhion to admire, and who in this parti-
cuitii lo well merit our imitation. See Duel.
!t was. fo much the cuftom in the middle ages of
Chriftianity, to refpedl the crofs even to fuperftition,
that it would have been indeed wonderful if the fame
ignorant bigotry had not converted it into an ordeal •
accordingly we find it ufed for this purpofe, in fo
many different ways as almoft to preclude defeription.
We fhall, however, tranferibe, for the fatisfaAion of
our readers. Dr Henry’s account of it, and of the
corined : “ In criminal trials, the judgment of the
crofs was commonly thus conduced. When the pri-
foner had declared his innocence upon oath, and ap¬
pealed to the judgment of the crofs, two flicks were
prepared exaAly like one another : the figure of the
crofs w as cut on one of tnefe flicks, and nothing on
the other : each of them was then wrapped up in a
quantity of fine white wool, and laid on the altar, or
on the relicks of the faints j after which afolemn prayer
"as P11*- UP to God, that he would be pleafed to dif-
cover, by evident figns, whether the prifoner was in¬
nocent or guilty. Thefe folemnities being finifhed, a
prieft approached the altar, and took up one of the
flicks, which Was uncovered with much anxiety. If
it was the flick marked with the crofs, the prifoner
was pronounced innocent : if it was the other, he was
declared guilty. When the judgment of the crofs was
appealed to in civil caufes, the trial was condu&ed in
this manner : The judges, parties, and all concerned,
being affembled in a church, each of the parties chofe
a prieft, the youngeft and ftouteft that he could find,
to be his reprefentative in the trial. Thefe reprefenta-
tives.-were then placed one on each fide of fome famous
crucifix ; and, at a fignal given, they both at once
ft retched their arms at full length, fo as to form a
crofs with their body. In this painful pofture they
continued to ftand while divine fcrvice was performing-;
and the party whofe reprefentative dropped his arms firfl:
loft his caufe.
I he corfned, or the confecrated bread and cheefe,
was the ordeal to which the clergy commonly appealed
when they were accufed of any crimes ; in which they
aAed a very prudent part, as it was attended with no
danger or inconveniency. This ordeal was performed
m this manner : A piece of barley bread, and a piece
of cheefe, were laid upon the altar, over which a priefl:
pronounced certain conjurations, and prayed with great
fervency, that if the perfon accufed was guilty, God
would fend his angel Gabriel to flop his throat, that
he might not be able to fwallow that bread and cheefe.
I hefe prayers being ended, the culprit approached the
altar,
Ordeal.
1 ~
o R D [ 407 ] O R D
Ordeal, altar, took up the bread arid cheefe, and began to eat
v'—-' It. If he Avallowed freely, he was declared innocent ;
])ut if it ftuck in his throat, and he could not fwallow
(which we may prefume feldom or never happened), he
was pronounced guilty.”
There were belidcs thefe a variety of other ordeals
practifed in Chrillian countries, many of which retain
the fame names as among Pagans, and differ only in
the mode of execution. In all nations of Chriflians
where thofe trials were ufed, ’we find the clergy enga¬
ged in them. Indeed, in England, fo late as King
John’s time, u’e find grants to the bifhops and clergy
to ufe the judicium ferri, aqiue, et ignis. And, both in
England and Sweden, the clergy prefided at this trial,
and it was only performed in the churches or in other
confecrated ground : for which Stiernhook gives the
reafon, Non defat ill is opens et labor is pretium ; femper
cnini ah ejufmodi judicio aliquid lucrifacerdotibus obvenie-
bat. But, to give it its due praife, we find the canon
law very early declaring againft trial by ordeal, or
•vulgaris purgatio, as being the fabric of the devil, cum
ft contra preeceptum Domini, Non ten tab is Dominum
Dcum tuum. Upon this authority, though the canons
themfelves were of no validity in England, it was
thought proper (as had been done in Denmark above a
century before) to difufe and abolith this trial entirely
in our courts of juilice, by an a£t of Parliament in
3 Hen. III. according to Sir Edward Coke, or rather
by an order of the king in council.
It may Hill perhaps be a pofulatwn with fome of our
readers how the effedls of thefe trials were evaded, and
how it was poffible to appear to do, what vre know
could not be really done, without material injury to
the perlons concerned : on this fubjeft the learned hi-
llorian whom we have already quoted, obferves with
regard to the ordeals in ancient Britain, which, mutatis
mutandis, yii\\ anfwer for others, that, “ If we fuppofe
few or none efcaped conviflion who expofed themfelves
to thofe fiery trials, we thall be very much miftaken.
For the hiftories of thofe times contain innumerable ex¬
amples of perfons plunging their naked arms into boil¬
ing water, handling redrhot balls of iron, and walking
upon burning ploughfhares, without receiving the leaft
injury. Many learned men have been much puzzled
to account for this, and difpofed to think that Provi¬
dence gracioufly interpofed, in a miraculous manner, for
the prefervation of injured innocence. But if we ex¬
amine every circumfiance of thofe fiery ordeals with
due attention, we Ihall fee fufficient reafon to fufpedl
that the whole was a grofs impofition on the credulity
of mankind. The accufed perfon was committed whol¬
ly to the pried, who was to perform the ceremony three
days before the trial, in which he had time enough to
bargain with him for his deliverance, and give him in-
ftruflions how to aft his part. On the day of trial,
no perfon was permitted to enter the church but the
prieft and the accufed till after the iron was heated,
when twelve friends of the accufer, and twelve of the
accufed, and no more, were admitted, and ranged
along the wall on each fide of the church, at a refpeft-
ful difiance. After the iron was taken out of the fire,
feveral prayers were faid ; the accufed drank a cup of
holy water, and fprinkled his hand with it, which
aught take a confiderable time if the pried was indul¬
gent. The ipace of nine feet was njeafured by the Ordeal,
accufed himfelf with his own feet, and he would pro- v—
bably give but fcanty meafure. He was obliged only
to touch one of the marks with the toe of his right
foot, and allowed to firetch the other foot as far to¬
wards the other mark as he could, io that the convey¬
ance was almofi inftantaneous. His hand was not im¬
mediately examined, but wrapped in a cloth prepared
for that purpofe three days. May we not then, from
all thefe precautions, fufpeft that thefe priefts were in
poffeffion of fome fecret that fecured the hand from
the impreffions of fuch a momentary touch of hot
iron, or removed all appearance of thefe impreflions
in three days ; and that they made ufe of this fecret
when they faw reafon ? Such readers as are curious in
matters of this kind may find two different dire£Hons
for making ointments that will have this effect, in the
work here quoted *. What greatly ftrengthens thefe * Du Cange,
fufpicions is, that we meet with no example of any ff/*#tom-
champion of the church who fuffered the leaft injuryU1'
from the touch of hot iron in this ordeal : but when
any one was fo fool-hardy as to appeal to it, or to that
of hot water, with a view to deprive the church of any
of her poffeflions, he never failed to burn his fingers,
and lofe his caufe.”
To this we {hall add what the learned Beckmann
has laid concerning the impofition that was probably
pracffifed in the ordeal by fire. “ I am not acquaint¬
ed with every thing that concerns the trial by ordeal,
when perfons accufed were obliged to prove their inno¬
cence by holding in their hands red-hot iron ; but I am
almoft convinced that this alfo was a juggling trick of
the popes, which they employed as might beft fuit their
views. It is well known that this mode of exculpation
was allowed only to weak perfons, who were unfit to
wield arms, and particulaidy to monks and ecclefiaftics,
to whom, for the fake of their fecurity, that by fingle
combat was forbidden. The trial itfelf took place in
the church, entirely under the infpeftion of the clergy ;
mafs was celebrated at the fame time ; the defendant
and the iron were confecrated by being fprinkled with
holy water ; the clergy made the iron hot themfelves ;
and they ufed all thefe preparatives, as jugglers do many
motions, only to divert the attention of the fpedlators.
It was necefiary that the accufed perfon fiiould remain at
leaft three days and three nights under their immediate
care, and continue as long after. They covered his hands
both before and after the proof; fealed and unfealed the
covering : The former, as they pretended, to prevent the
hands from being prepared any how by art ; the latter,
to fee if they were burnt.
Some artificial preparation was therefore known, elfe
no precautions would have been neceffary. It is high¬
ly probable, that during the three firft days the preven¬
tive was applied to thofe perfons whom they wifhed to
appear innocent ; and that the three days after the trial
were requifite to let the hands refume their natural ftate.
The facred fealing fecured tliem from the examination
of prefumptuous unbelievers ; for to determine whether
the hands were burnt, the three laft days were certain¬
ly not wanted. When the ordeal was abolilhed, and
this art rendered ufelefs, the clergy no longer kept
it a fecret. In the 13th. century, an account of it
was publifhed by Albertus Magnus, a Dominican
monk
O R D
OrJeal, monk (a). I£ his receipt be genuine, it feems to have
t Ul^‘er- , confifted rather in covering the hands with a kind of
pafte than in hardening them. The fap of the althcea
(marfhmallow), the flimy feeds of the flea-bane, which
is ftill ufed for ftiffening by the hat-makers and filk-
weavers, together with the white of an egg, were em¬
ployed to make the pafte adhere. And by thefe means
the hands were as fafe as if they had been fecured by
gloves.
“ The ufe of this juggling trick is very old, and may
be traced back to a Pagan origin. In the Antigone of
Sophocles, the guards placed over the body of Polynices,
which had been buried contrary to the orders of Creon,
offered, in order to prove their innocence, to fubmit to
any trial. We will, faid they, take up red-hot iron in
* Vol. iii. our hands, or walk through fire
297. ORDER, in ArchiteBure, is a fyftem of the feveral
members, ornaments, and proportions of columns and
pilafters j or a regular arrangement of the proje&ing
parts of a building, efpecially the column, fo as to form
one beautiful whole. See Architecture.
Order is alfo ufed for a divifion or clafs of any
thing: thus the tribe of animals called birds is fubdi-
vided into fix orders. See Ornithology.
Order, in Rhetoric, is the placing of each word and
member of a fentence in fuch a manner, as will moft con¬
tribute to the force, beauty, or evidence of the whole j
according to the genius and cuftom of different languages.
With regard to order, we may obferve in general, that,
in Englilh, the nearer we keep to the natural or gram¬
matical order, it is generally the beft *, but in Latin,
■we are to follow the ufe of the beft writers j a joint re¬
gard being always had to the judgment of the ear, and
the perfpicuity of the fenfe, in both languages.
Order is alfo ufed for a clafs or divifion of the mem¬
bers of the body of a ftate } with regard to aficmblies,
precedency, &c.
In this fenfe, order is a kind of dignity, which, un¬
der the fame name, is common to feveral perfons *, and
which, of itfelf, does not give them any particular pub¬
lic authority, but only rank, and a capacity of arriving
at honours and employments.
To abridge this definition, order may be faid to be
a dignity attended with an aptitude for public employ.
By which it is diftinguiftied from an office, which is the
-exercife of a public truft.
In this fenfe, nobility is an order, &c. The cleri-
eate is alfo an order, &c.
Order is alfo the title of certain ancient books, con¬
taining the divine office, with the order and manner of
Its performance.
Roman order is that wherein are laid down the ce¬
remonies which obtain in the Romifii church. See Ri¬
tual.
Order, in Botany, is a name given to a fubdivifion
of plants in the Linnaean fyftem. See Botany.
O R D
Orders, by way of eminency, or Holy Orders, de- Order,
note a character peculiar to ecclefiaftics, whereby they
are fet apart for the miniftry. See Ordination.
This the Romanifts make their fixth facrament.
In no reformed church are there more than three or¬
ders j viz. biffiops, priefts, and deacons. In the Romiffi
church there are feven, exclufive of the epifcopate, all
which the council of Trent enjoins to be received, and
believed, on pain of anathema.
They are diftinguiffied into petty, or fecular orders j
and major, or facred orders.
Orders, the petty, or minor, are four j viz. thofe of
doorkeeper, exorcift, reader, and acolyth.
Thofe in petty orders may marry without any difpen-
fation: In effe£t, the petty orders are looked on as little
other than formalities, and as degrees neceffary to arrive
at the higher orders. Yet the council of Trent is very
ferious about them •, enjoins that none be admitted into
them without underftanding Latin*, and recommends it
to the bithops, to obferve the intervals of conferring
them, that the perfons may have a fufficient time to ex-
ercife the function of each order *, but it leaves the bi¬
ffiops a power of difpenfing with thofe rules j fo that the
four orders are ufually conferred the fame day, and only
make the firft part of the ceremony of ordination.
The Greeks difavow thefe petty orders, and pafs im¬
mediately to the fubdeaconate $ and the reformed to
the deaconate.
Their firft rife Fleury dates in the time of the em¬
peror Juftinian. There is no call nor benefice required
for the four petty orders *, and even a baftard may en¬
joy them without any difpenfation j nor does a fecond
marriage difqualify.
Orders, facred, or major, we have already obferved,
are three : viz. thofe of deacon, prieft, and bifliop.
The council of Trent, retrieving the ancient difci-
pline, forbids any perfon being admitted to the major
orders, unlefs he be in peaceable poffeffion of a benefice
fufficient for a decent fubfiftence *, allowing no ordina¬
tions on patrimonies or penfions, except where the bi-
ftiop judges it for the fervice of the church.
A perfon is faid to be promoted to orders per faU
turn, when he has net before paffed the inferior or¬
ders. The council of Conftantinople forbids any bi-
ffiop being ordained without palling all the degrees;
yet church-hiftory furniffies us with inftances of bi-
Ihops confecrated, without having paffed the order of
priefthood; and Panormus ftill thinks fuch an ordina¬
tion valid.
Military ORDERS, are companies of knights, infti-
tuted by kings and princes, either for defence of the
faith, or to confer marks of honour, and make diftinc-
tions among their fubjefls.
Religious ORDERS, are congregations or focieties of
monaftics, living under the fame fuperior, in the fame
manner, and wearing the fame habit. Religious or¬
ders
[ 408 ]
(a) In his wTork De Mirabilibits Mundi, at the end of his book De Secretis Muherum, Amftelod. i*]C2, i2mo,
p. 100. Experimentum mirabile quod facit hominem ire in ignem fine laefione, vel portare ignem vel ferrum ig-
nitum fine Isefione in manu. Recipe fuccum bifmalvae, et albumen ovi, et femen pfylli et ealeem, et pulveriza, et
confice cum illo albumine ovi fuccum raphani ; commifee; ex hac confeftione illineas corpus tuum vel manum,
jet dimitte ficcari, et poftea iterum illineas, et poll hoc poteris audadter fuftincre ignem fine nocumento.
ORB C 460 ] ORB
Order ders may be reduced to five kinds j viz. monks, canons,
II knights, mendicants, and regular clerks. See Monk,
Qrdiiunee., Canon? &c,
^ T' Father Mabilloh proves, that till the ninth century,
almoft all the monalteries in Europe followed the rule
of St Benedidl ; and that the diftinftion of orders did
not commence till upon the reunion of feveral mona-
fteries into one congregation : that St Odo, abbot of
Cluny, fir 11 began this reunion, bringing feveral houfes
under the dependence of Cluny : that, a little after¬
wards, in the nth century, the Camaldulians arofe ;
then, by degrees, the congregation of Vallombrofa 5
the Ciftercians, Carthufians, Auguftines •, and at laft,
in the 13th century, the Mendicants. He adds, that
Lupus Servatus, abbot of Ferrieres, in the ninth cen¬
tury, is the firft that feems to diltinguilh the order of
St Benedi£l from the reft, and to fpeak of it as a parti¬
cular order.
White ORDER denotes the order of regular canons of
St Auguftine. See Augustines.
Black Order denoted the order of BeNeihctines.
Thefe names were firft; given thefe two orders from
the colour of their habit •, but are difufed fince the
inftitution of feveral other orders, who wear the fame
colours.
Gray ORDER was the ancient name of the Cisterci¬
ans 5 but fince the change of the habit, the name fuits
them no more.
Orders, religious military, are thofe inftituted In de¬
fence of the faith, and privileged to fay mafs ) and who
are prohibited marriage, &c.
Of this kind are the knights of Malta, or of St John
of Jerufalem. Such alfo were the knights Templars,
the knights of Calatrava, knights of St Lazarus, Teu¬
tonic knights, &c. See Malta, Templar, &c.
Father Putignani accounts thofe military orders where
marriage is not allowed, real religious orders. Pape-
broch lays, it is in vain to fearch for military orders be¬
fore the 12th century.
Orders, in a military fenfe, all that is lawfully
commanded by fuperior officers. Orders are given out
every day, whether in camp, garrifon, or on a march,
by the commanding officer •, which orders are afterwards
given to every officer in writing by their refpedlive fer-
jeants.
ORDINAL, a book containing the order or manner
of performing divine fervice. See Ritual.
ORDINAL Numbers, thofe which exprefs order, as
«* I ft, 2d, 3d, &c.
ORDINANCE or Ordonnance, alaw, ftatute, or
command of a fovereign or fuperior ; thus the afts of
parliament are fometimes termed ordinances of parlia¬
ment, as in the parliament-rolls. Though in fome cafes
we find a difference made between the two ; ordinances
being only temporary things, by way of prohibition j
and capable of being altered by the commons alone :
whereas an aft is a perpetual law, and cannot be altered
but by king, lords, and commons.
Coke afferts, that an ordinance of parliament dif¬
fers from an aft, as the latter can only be made by
the king, and the threefold confent of the eftates •,
whereas the former may be made by one or two of
them.
ORDINANCE of the Foref, is a ftatute made in the
34th year of Henry I. relating to foreft-matters.
' Vol. XV. Part II.
In the French jurifprudence, ordinances are fuch Ordinance
laws as are eftablilhed by the king’s authority alone. II .
All ordonnances begin with, d tons prefens, et a venir rramatlOTh
falut.
ORDINARY, in general, fignifies common, ufual j
thus, an ambaffador, or envoy in ordinary, is one fent
to refide ftatedly, and for a number of years, in the
court of fome foreign prince or ftate, in order to keep
up a good underftanding, and watch over the intereft
of his own nation.—This term is alfo applied to feve¬
ral officers in the king’s houlhold, who attend on com¬
mon occafions. Thus we fay, phyfician in ordinary,
&c.
Ordinary, in naval language, denotes the eftablifli-
ment of the perfons employed by government to take
charge of the ftiips of war, which are laid up in the
feveral harbours adjacent to the royal dock-yards.
Thefe are principally compofed of the warrant-officers
of the faid fhips, as the gunner, boatfwain, carpenter,
deputy-purfer, and cook, and three fervants. There is
befides a crew of labourers inrolled in the lift of the or¬
dinary, who pafs from fnip to fhip occafionally, to pump,
moor, remove, or clean them, whenever it is necef-
fary.
The term ordinary is alfo applied fometimes to the
ftiips themfelves ; it is likewife ufed to diftinguilh the
inferior failors from the moft expert and diligent. The
latter, are rated able on the navy books, and have
higher pay than thofe who are rated ordinary.
Ordinary, in common or canon law, means one
who has ordinary or immediate jurifdiftion in matters
ecclefiaftical, in any place. In this fenfe archdeacons
are ordinaries, but the appellation is moft frequently
applied to the bifhop of the diocefe, who has of courfe
the ordinary ecclefiaftical jurifdiftion, and the colla¬
tion to benefices within fuch diocefe. There are fome
chapels, chapters, abbeys, &c. exempted from the ju¬
rifdiftion of the ordinary. The archbiftiop is ordinary
of the Avhole province, to vifit, and receive appeals
from the inferior judicatures. The Romifh writers on
canon Jaw call the pope by way of eminence ordinary
of ordinaries, fince by the Lateran council he has ufurp-
ed the right of collating, by probation, to all benefices j
in exclufion of the common collators.
ORDINARY of Affixes and SeJJions, was a deputy of
the bifhop of the diocefe, anciently appointed to give
malefaftors their neck-verfes, and judge whether they
read or not: alfo to perform divine fervice for them,
and affift in preparing them for death. So the
ORDINAR Y of Newgate, is one who is attendant in
ordinary upon the condemned malefaftors in that prifbn
to prepare them for death 5 and he records the behavi¬
our of fuch perfons.
Ordinary, or Honourable ORDINARY, in Heraldry,
a denomination given to certain charges properly be¬
longing to that axT. See Heraldry, Chap. III. feft. i.
ORDINATES, in Geometry and Conics, are lines
drawn from any point of the circumference of an ellipfis,
or other conic feftion, perpendicularly acrofs the axis,
to the other fide. See CONIC-SeSlions.
ORDINATION, the aft of conferring holy orders,
or of initiating a perfon into the priefthood by prayer
and the laying on of hands.
Ordination has always been efteemed a principal pre¬
rogative of bifliops, and they ftill retain the funftioii
3 F as
O R D [ 410 ] O R D
Ordjniition, as a mark of fpiritual fovereignty in their diocefe.
, Without ordination, no perfon can receive any benefice,
parlonage, vicarage, &c. A perfon mud be 23 years
of age, or near it, before he can be ordained deacon, or
have any fhare in the miniftry j and full 24 before he
can be ordained prieft, and by that means be permitted
to adminifter the holy communion. A bifhop, on the
ordination of clergymen, is to examine them in the pre¬
fence of the miniiters, v/ho, in the ordination of prielts,
but not of deacons, affift him at the impofition of hands }
but this is only done as a mark of affent, not becaufe it
is thought neceffary. In cafe any crime, as drunken-
nefs, perjury, forgery, &c. be alleged againft any one
that is to be ordained, either prieft or deacon, the bifhop
ought to defift from ordaining him. The perfon to be
ordained is to bring a teftimonial of his life and dodtrine
to the bifhop, and to give account of his faith in Latin j
and both priefts and deacons are obliged to fubfcribe the
39 articles.
The ordination of bifhops is more properly and more
commonly called confecration.
In the ancient difcipline there was no fuch thing as
a vague and abfolute ordination ; but every one was to
have a church, whereof he was to be ordained clerk, or
prieft. In the twelfth century they grew more remifs,
and ordained without any title or benefice.
The Council of Trent reftored the ancient difcipline,
and appointed that none fhould be ordained but thofe
who were provided of a benefice fufftcient to fubfift them.
Which pradlice ftill obtains in England.
The council of Rome, in 944, ordered, that no ordi¬
nations (hall be held, except on the firft, fourth, feventh,
and ten months. In England, by can. 31. ordination
days are the four Sundays immediately following the
Ember-weeks j being the fecond Sunday in Lent, Tri-
nity-Sunday, and the Sundays following the firft Wed-
nefday after September the 14th, and December the
13th. Thefe are the ftated times j but ordinations may
take place at any other time, according to the difcrelion
of the bifhop or circmnftances of the cafe.
Pope Alexander II. condemns ordination per faltum,
as they call it *, i. e. the leaping to a fuperior order
without pafling through the inferior.
Ordination is one of the facraments of the church of
Rome.
In the eftablifhment of Scotland, where there are no
bifhops, the power of ordination is lodged in the pref-
bytery, and by the Independents in the fuffrage of the
people. See Episcopacy, Presbyterians, and In¬
dependents.
ORDN ANCE, a general name for all forts of great
guns ufed in war. See Gunnery.
Boring of ORDNANCE. Till within thefe 20 years,
iron ordnance were caft with a cylindrical cavity, near¬
ly of the dimenfion of the caliber of the piece, which
was afterwards enlarged to the proper caliber by means
of fteel-cutters fixed into the dog-head of a boring-
bar-iron. Three fide cutters equidiftant were requifite
to preferve the caliber ftraight and cylindrical; and a
fingle cutter was ufed at tire end of the bar to fmooth
the breech of the piece. In boring ordnance caft hol¬
low, the piece was fixed upon a carriage that could be
moved backwards and forwards in a direct line with the
centre of a water-wheel j in this centre was fixed the
boring-bar, of a fufficient length to reach up to tli,e
ureeeu ui mo piece, ~
of the caliber. The carriage with the piece being
drawn backwards from the centre of the water-wheel to
' ‘BV*  c
introduce the boring and finifhing bars and cutters, it is
then preffed forwards upon this bar by means of levers,
weights, &c. and the water-wheel being fet a-going, the
bar and cutters are turned round, and clean out and
fmooth the caliber to its proper dimenfions.
Experience at laft pointed out many inconveniences
arifing from the method of calling guns holiovo, and
widening the calibers by thefe boring bars. For the
body of iron of the hollow-gun, being, at calling, in
contadl with the core that made the caliber within-fide,
and with the mould without-fide, began to confolidate
towards thefe fides in the firft place, fooner than in the
intermediate fpace, where of courfe the contraction of
the iron takes place ; by which means, all guns caft
hollow become more or lefs fpongy where they ought
to have been moft compaft ; and numberlefs cavities
alfo wrere created round the cores, from ftagnated air
generated in them, which were too deep to be cut out
by the boring.
To remedy thefe defefts, iron ordnance is now uni-
verfally caft folid, by which means the column of iron
is greatly enlarged, and the grain more compreffed j
and the contraction of the iron becomes in the heart of
the column, and confequently is cut out by the perfora¬
tion for the caliber.
Guns are bored out of the folid reverfely from the piate
hollow method. The piece A is placed upon two ftan- CCCXC.
dards BB, by means of twro journeys, turned round by
the water-wheel C, the breech D being introduced
into the centre of the wheel, with the muzzle towards
the Aiding carriage E, which is preffed forwards by
a ratch F, and weights, in the fame way as the gun-car¬
riage was in the hollow-boring. Upon this Aiding car¬
riage is fixed, truly horizontal and centrical to the gun,
the drill-bar G, to the end of which is fixed a carp’s
tongue drill or cutter H ; which, being preffed forward
upon the piece whilft it is turning round, perforates the
bore, which is afterwards finifhed with borers and cut¬
ters as the hollow guns were. The principal difficulty
of perforating folid guns truly centrical, arifes from the
contra&ion of the iron above mentioned ; which, refift-
ing the drill unequally, tends to throw it out of the
centrical line.
Office of ORDNANCE, an office kept within the Tower
of London, which fuperintends and difpofes of all the
arms, inftruments, and utenfils of war, both by fea
and land, in all the magazines, garrifons, and forts, in
Great Britain. We have the following copious ac¬
count of this eftabliftunent in Beatfon’s Political Index.
In ancient times, before the invention of guns, this
office was fupplied by officers under the following
names : the lawyer, the crofs bowyer, the ga/eator or
purveyor of helmets, the armourer, and the keeper of the
tents ;Sand in this ftate it continued till Henry VIII.
placed it under the management of a mafter, a lieute¬
nant, furveyor, &c. &c.
Some improvements have been fines made 5 and this
very important branch is now under the direction of
the mafter general of the ordnance, having under him
a lieutenant general, a furveyor general, a clerk, a
ftorekeeper, a clerk of the deliveries, and a treafurer,
with a very great number of inferior officers, employed
HOKI xc; of ORDNANCE
PLATE CCCAT
O R D [41
enhance, in tlie Tower of London, at Woolwicli, and in almoft
all the forts, garrifons, and principal ports in his ma-
jelly’s dominions. The office of ordnance is divided in¬
to two diftinft branches, the civil and the military •, the
latter being fubordinate, and under the authority of the
former. For the better underllanding the bufinefs of
the different officers, they (hall be diflinftly treated of,
beginning with the principal one, viz.
Mafter General of the ORDNANCE is deemed the prin¬
cipal officer in the civil branch of the ordnance 5 yet he
is always chofen from amongft the firft generals in his
inajefty’s fervice. His trull is very great, as in him is
veiled the foie power of Itoring all the military magazines
in the king’s dominions with proper munitions of war,
and likewife to fupply the royal navy with what they
may need in his department, the parliament granting
money in the moll liberal manner for this purpofe. He
is colonel in chief of the royal regiment of artillery, at
prefent confiding of four battalions ; and he is inveiled
with a peculiar jurifdiclion over all his majelly’s engi¬
neers employed in the feveral fortifications in his ma-
jefty’s dominions ; and to him they are all accountable
for their proceedings, and from him they receive their
particular orders and initru&ions, according to the di-
re&ions and commands given by his majefty in council.
As mailer general of the ordnance he has the appoint¬
ment of almoft all the inferior officers and fervants. He
has a fecretary, and an under-fecretary •, and befides
there is a fecretary and a counfel to the board of ord¬
nance.
Lieutenant General of the ORDNANCE receives all or¬
ders and warrants figned by the mailer-general, and from
the other principal officers, and fees them duly executed,
iffues orders as the occafions of the Hate require, and
gives directions for difeharging the artillery when re¬
quired at coronations, birth-days, fignal viftories, and
other folemn occafions. It is alfo his peculiar office to
fee the train of artillery, and all its equipage, fitted for
motion, when ordered to be drawn into the field, or fent
upon any particular fervice. Fie is colonel enfccond of
the royal regiment of artillery, and has a fecretary and
ieveral inferior officers and clerks under him.
Surveyor General of the ORDNANCE infpe&s the {lores
and provifions of war in the cuftody of the ftorekeeper,
and fees that they are ranged and placed in fuch order
as is moll proper for their prefervation. He allows all
bills of debt, and keeps a check upon all labourers and
artificers work j fees that the ilores received be good
and ferviceable, duly proved and marked, as they ought
to be, with the king’s mark, taking to his affiftance the
reft of the officers and proof-mafters. To affift him in the
bufinefs of his office, he has under him the proof-mafter
of England, and clerks, and other inferior officers.
Clerk of the ORDNANCE, an officer whofe function is
to record all orders and inftrubtions given for the govern^
went of the office ; all patents and grants ; the names
of all officers, clerks, artificers, gunners, labourers, &c,
who enjoy thufe grants, or any other fee for the fame ;
to draw all eftimates for provifions and fupplies to be
made, and all letters, inftrudtions, commiffions, deputa¬
tions, and contrails for his majefty’s fervice j to make
all bills of impreft and debentures, for the payment and
fatisfa&ion of work done and provifions received in the
fiud office ; and all quarter books for the falaries and
allowance# of all officers, clerks, &c. belonging to the
i ] O R D
office ; and to keep journals and ledgers of the receipts
and returns of his majefty’s ftores, to ferve as a check
between the two accountants of the office, the one for
money, and the other for ftores.
Storekeeper of the ORDNANCE takes into his cuftody
all his majefty’s ordnance, munitions and ftores belong¬
ing thereto, and indents and puts them in legal fecurity,
after they have been furveyed by the furveyor-general,
any part of which he muft not deliver without a wrar-
rant figned by the proper officers : nor muft he receive,
back any ftores formerly iffued till they have been re¬
viewed by the furveyor, and regiftered by the clerk of
the ordnance in the book of remains ; and he muft take
care that whatever is under his cuftody be kept fafe,
and in fuch readinefs as to be fit for fervice upon the
moft peremptory demand.
Clerk of the Deliveries of the ORDNANCE draws all
orders for delivery of any ftores, and fees them duly exe¬
cuted ; charges by indenture the particular receiver of
the ftores delivered j and, in order to difeharge the
ft ore-kCeper, regifters the copies of all -warrants for th«
deliveries, as well as the proportions delivered.
Treafurer and Paymafer of the ORDNANCE receives
and pays all moneys, both falaries and debentures in and
belonging to this office. In his office are feveral clerks,
ordinary and extraordinary, for the difpatch of bufinefs.
Office of ORDNANCE. Befides the principal officers
already mentioned, there belong to this office two proof-
mafters; a clerk of the works; a purveyor for the land,
and a purveyor for the fea ; an architeft ; an aftronomi-
cal obferver ; and other officers. The other part of this
office, which is termed the military branch of the ord¬
nance, is a chief engineer, who has under him two di-
reftors, four fub-directors, with an unlimited number
of engineers in ordinary, engineers extraordinary, fub-
engineers, and practitioner engineers.
ORDNANCE Bills, commonly called ordnance deben¬
tures, are bills iffued by the board of ordnance on the
treafurer of that office, for the payment of ftores, &c.
Thefe are not payable at any certain time, and do not
bear any intereft, fo that the difeount upon them is
often very high ; but they are feldom much above two
years in arrears.
ORDONNANCE, in architecture, is the compo-
fition of a building, and the difpofition of its parts,
both with regard to the whole and to one another ; or,
as Mr Evelyn expreffes it, determining the meafure of
what is affigned to the feveral apartments. T hus ordon-
nance is the judicious contrivance of the plan or mould;
as when the court, hall, lodgings, Sic. are neither too
large nor too fmall, but the court affords convenient
light to the apartments about it; the hall is of fit capa¬
city to receive company ; and the bed-chambers, &e. of
a proper fizq. When thefe divifions are either too great
or too fmall, with refpeCl to the whole, as where there
is a large court to a little houfe, or a fmall hall to a
magnificent palace, the fault is in the ordonnance. See
Architecture.
Ordonnance, in Painting, isufed for the difpofition
of the parts of a piClure, either with regard to the whole
piece, or to the feveral parts, as the groups, raaffes, con-
trafts, &c. See Painting.
ORDOVICES, ancient Britons, of whom we have
the following account in Henry’s Fliftory of Great Bri¬
tain, They lived “ in that country which is now called
3 F 2 North
Ordnance
11.
Ordovices.
ORE [41
Ordovices, North Wales, and contains the counties of Montgomery,
1 ^re‘ Merioneth, Caernarvon, Denbigh, and Flint. Thefe
Ordovices, or (as they are called by Tacitus) Ordeuices,
are fuppofed to have been originally of the fame tribe or
nation with the Fiuicii of Warwickthire, who were under
fome kind of fubjedtion to the Cornavii; but the Huicii
of North Wales, being a free and independent people,
were called Ordh Huici, or the free Huici. When they
were invaded by the Romans, they fhowed a fpirit wor¬
thy of their name, and fought with great bravery in de¬
fence of their freedom and independency. Though they
received a great defeat from the Roman general Ofto-
rius, in conjundtion w-ith the Silures, they maintained the
war for a confiderable time, until they were finally fub-
dued, with great daughter, by the renowned Agricola.
It wTas probably owing to the nature of the country, and
to the vicinity of Diva, now Chefter, where a whole
legion wTas quartered, that the Romans had fo few towns
or Nations in the territories of the Ordovices. Medio¬
lanum, which is mentioned by Ptolemy, was the capital
of the nation, and wras probably fituated at Maywood,
in Montgomeryfliire. It was a place of fome confidera-
tion in the Roman times, but was afterwards quite de-
molifhed by Edwin, king of Northumberland. Befides
this, the Romans had a few other towns in this country 5
as Segontium, now Caernarvon 5 Conovium, now Con¬
way ; and \ arae, now Bodvary, which are all mentioned
in the eleventh journey of Antoninus. The country of
the Ordovices was comprehended in the Roman province
which was called Britannia Secunda.’1'1
ORE, a mineral body, partly or entirely compofed
2 ] ORE
of metallic fubllances, in the natural Hate in which it
exilts in the earth. Metallic fubfiances are found, either
native, that is, pure, and uncombined with other fub-
ftances, or alloyed with other metals, or combined with
oxygen, or fulphur, or wkh acids ; and thus it appears,
that metals exit! in ores, in four different flates. 1. In
the metallic Hate, when they are either pure, or com¬
bined with each other, as in the Hate of alloy. 2. In the
Rate of an oxide. 3. Combined with fulphur in the ftate
of fulphuret. And, 4. with acids, forming falls. For the
particular defcription of ores, fee Mineralogy j and
for the mode of their diftribution in the earth, fee Geo¬
logy.
_ But ores are rarely found exactly in the Rate of com¬
bination now mentioned. It feldom indeed happens,
that they are not mixed with various earthy minerals!
A_s all metals are extracted from ores, it is of great im¬
portance to be acquainted, in the firft place, with the
materials of which they are compofed, as they are ob¬
tained from the earth, with the view of afcertaining the
nature and proportions of the various ingredients which
enter into the compofition j and in the fecond place, to
know the fimpleft and eafieft proceffes by which the
metals may be feparated, for the purpofes of economy
and manufadlures. Hence, in the treatment of ores,
two objects are in view. The firft is their analyfis^
which is the province of the chemical philofopher; and
the fecond is their redudtion in the large way, which is
the bufinefs of the metallurgift. The moft improved
methods for accompliihing each of thefe objedts, will be
detailed in the following treatife.
ORES, Reduction and Analysis of.
TN the treatment of metallic ores, it has been already
A hinted, that two objedts are in view : the one is to ob¬
tain a knowledge of the nature and proportions of their
component parts 5 and the other is to be acquainted with
the belt methods of feparating the metals which they
contain, that they may be applied in their pure or un¬
combined ftate to ufeful purpofes. In the following trea¬
tife, therefore, wje fhall keep in view the fame objedts :
and under each of the metals we fliall firft detail the moft
improved methods of analyfing its different ores j and,
fecondly, give a fhort account of the beft and moft ap¬
proved proceffes that are employed in their redudtion.
The laft objedt, however, refers only to fome of the me¬
tals, others not being found in fufticient quantity, or not
being applicable to ufeful purpofes.
In this treatife we ftiall confider the metals in the
■ame order in wdiich they have been defcribed under
Mineralogy, and to each metal ive fhall devote a
particular chapter.
Chap. I. Of the Ores of Platina.
Platina, on account of its infufibility, denfity, and
uideftrudlibility, is cue of the moft important and ufe-
iiil of the metals yet known, and particularly for differ¬
ent chemical inftruments and utenfils, becaufe there are
few chemical agents whofe effedts it cannot refift. Pla¬
tina is only found in the ftate of alloy, with rhodium
and palladium, two of the newly difcovered metals ; and
3
it is accompanied alfo with another alloy, iridium and
ofmium, alfo newly difcovered metals, as well as with
particles of iron, gold, and fome other fubftances. The
difcovery of thefe metals, and the importance of platina
itfelf, have rendered the ores of this metal peculiarly in-
terefting. We fhall therefore in the prefent chapter,
give a pretty full detail of the methods of analyfing the
ore, and of ivorking it for the purpofes of manufadture5
Thefe fubjedls will occupy the two following fedlions.
Sect. 1. Of the Analyfs of the Ores of Plaiina.
The whole of the platina which is brought to Europe,
lias been previoufly fubjedted to the procefs of amalga¬
mation in South America 5 and hence it happens, that
a fmall quantity of mercury remains in it, fometimes in
very fmall diftindt particles, but more commonly in a
ftate of combination with gold, in the form of an amal¬
gam. In treating the ores of platina, therefore, the firft
objedt is to feparate the mercury, and the eafieft procefs
is to drive it off by means of heat, either in an open
ladle, if it be not intended to colledt the mercury, or in
an earthen retort, if the objedt of the operator be to re¬
tain that metal. The platina remaining after the mer¬
cury is thus driven off, appears much yellower, becaufe
the particles of gold difperfed through it exhibit their
peculiar colour. The ore is next to be fpread out thin
on a fmooth table, and by means of a pair of common
bellows, the lighter particles may be feparated with to¬
lerable-
Chap. I- ORE
I'lanna. liable accuracy from flie Iieavier ones. The lighter
i  ^ ‘ particles in the ore are found, on examination, to be
minute cryftals and fragments of quartz, and two kinds
of iron ore, which are alfo in fragments, or in the form
of fmall octahedrons. Some of the particles of iron are
attra&ed by the magnet, forming the ore of iron called
magnetic iron-fand; but others, which are not attracted
by the magnet, give out, when roafted, a (light fulphu-
reous odour.
The lighter particles being feparated by mechanical
action, the heavier particles are to be treated with a
fmall quantity of (lightly diluted nitro-muriatic acid,
and by this means the whole of the gold is taken up,
with a portion of iron, and a fmall quantity of platina
and other ingredients. The gold may be thrown
down from this folution by adding green fulphate of
iron, and it may be purified by mixing it with nitre and
borax. If the quantity of platina to be purified be con-
liderable, it is an objeft worth the attention of the
chemift, to feparate and colled the gold, becaufe the
proportion of the latter contained in crude platina is not
fmall. Proud obtained (even ounces of gold from a
quantity of platina confiding of 100 ounces j and from
another quantity of the fame weight lie feparated not
* A n He kk ''ban 13 ounces of gold *. It may be obferved that
* the platina which is whited, is found to be the riched
ttxviii.146. in gold, and that the black varieties fcarcely contain
any at all.
The gold being feparated, the platina is next to be
digeited in nitro-muriatic acid, and excepting a black
matter, the whole is diflblved. This black matter,
when fird obferved, was fuppofed to be plumbago j but
it appears from the difcovery of Mr Tennant, to be a
compound of two new metals, to which he has given
the names of ofmium and iridium. By adding muriate
of ammonia to the nitro-muriatic folution, almod the
whole of the platina is precipitated in the form of a
yellow powder. This powder is a muriate of ammonia
and platina, and it is nearly infoluble. The folution
being next treated with zinc, the whole of its metallic
contents, excepting the iron, are thrown down. The
precipitate thus obtained is to be wadied and digeded in
nitric acid much diluted. By this means the copper
and lead with which crude platina is ufually contami¬
nated, are feparated. The remainder is to be diiTolved
in nitro-muriatic acid : to the latter folution add com¬
mon fait, and evaporate the whole to drynefs •, the fait
remaining contains the muriates of foda and of platina,
palladium and rhodium j and as the fait of rhodium is
found to be infoluble in alcohol, it may, by means of it,
be feparated from the former. The platina and palla¬
dium now remain in the alcoholic folution, and from,
this the greater part of the platina may be feparated by
means of muriate of ammonia j and after diluting the
folution by adding pruffiate of potato, a deep orange
precipitate is obtained, which is palladium. By con¬
centrating the remaining liquor, the platina may be
precipitated by means of muriate of ammonia.
Sect. II. Of tJte Methods of working Platina.
Platina, on account of its peculiar properties in refift-
iug great degrees of heat and the aftion of many of the
mod powerful chemical agents, is by far the mod impor¬
tant and valuable of the metals yet known for the pur-
S, Sec.
4X3
pofe of condrucling various indruments and utenfils Platma.
which are found highly ufeful in chemical analyfis. But v
the refractory nature of this metal has prefented many
difficulties, and has greatly exercifed the ingenuity and
(kill of chemids and artids to render it malleable and
capable of afluming the requifite forms. It has been
obferved that the larged and whited grains picked out
from crude platina have a confiderable degree of mallea¬
bility even when cold ; but when they are heated, this
property appears in greater perfedtion : and if two of
thele grains be brought into contaft, and fubjedfed to
the highed degree of white heat, the droke of a hammer
will make them adhere more or lefs perfedlly. In this
way, a fmall mafs of metal may be obtained by the union
of a few grains. But it is obvious that the patience and
dexterity required in this flow' and tedious procefs will-
prevent it from being pradtically ufeful.
In the progrefs of experiments made on platina it was
difeovered that arfenic combined readily with that metal,
and formed an alloy of eafy fufibility. The great volai
tility of the arfenic, particularly Avhen in contadl with
charcoal, gave reafon to hope that the whole of it, by
proper management, might be driven oft', leaving the
platina behind in a mafs, and retaining its peculiar and
charadferiftic properties. In this way different chemifts
fucceeded in forming, of this alloy, crucibles and other
chemical utenfils, which were found to be lefs fufible
than filver, and were capable of refilling many of the
common chemical agents. The mod fuccefsful me¬
thod of rendering platina malleable, and working it by
means of this alloy, was difeovered by Jeanety, a Parifian
filverfmith, who long diredled his attention to this
objedf. An account of his method has been given by
Berthollet and Pelletier, of which the following is an
abftradt *. _ _ _ * Ann. dec
The crude platina being firft ground in water, and Chim. xiv.
walked for the purpofe of feparating the earthy matters, 20,
three half pounds of the metal, three pounds of white
arfenic, and one pound of pearl atoes, are to be Avell
mixed together. A crucible, capable of holding 20
pounds of this mixture, is then to be placed in a furnace
of any convenient conftrudlion. When the crucible is
thoroughly red hot, introduce one-third of the mixture,
and continue ftirring it with a rod of platina till it comes
to a (late of quiet fufion; then add another one-third,
ftirring it in the fame manner till the fufion is comple¬
ted, and afterwards add the remaining one-third, and
apply a ftrong heat, fo that the whole may become very
fluid. Then Avithdraw the crucible, and when it
has cooled gradually, break it up j a well formed me¬
tallic button will be found in it, covered by blackifli
brown fcoriae, Avhich has a confiderable aftion on the
magnetic needle. The button, which is very brittle,
being broken to pieces, is to be fufed again with Avhite
arfenic and pearl atoes as before, and the metallic mafs
obtained from this fecond fufion is generally found to
have no effeft on the magnetic needle 5 but if this
toould not be the cafe, a third fufion in the fame xvay
becomes neceffary.
The firft ftep of the procefs is now completed. A
fiat-bottomed cylindrical crucible, about three inches and
a half in diameter, is to be made thoroughly hot in a
furnace, and charged with one pound and a half of the
arfenicated platina, mixed Avith an equal Aveight of Avhite
arfenic, and one half pound of pot-ato; and when this
mixture
j
414
Platina.
ORE
mixture lias been completely fluid, the crucible is to be
J removed from the fire, and allowed to cool in a horizon¬
tal pofition, that the thicknefs of the cake of metal may
be uniform. When the crucible is cold, it is to be care¬
fully broken, and the fcoriae being removed, a cake of
metaL is obtained, well-formed and fonorous, weighing
three ounces more than the arfenicated platina employed.
The metal is now quite faturated with arfenic. It has
been obferved, that there is no inconvenience from in¬
corporating too much arfenic, for it would appear that
the full fuccefs and rapidity of the purification of the
platina, are exactly in proportion to the quantity of ar-
lenic with which it has previoully combined.
'1 he mafs ol metal thus obtained, is placed in a muffle,
and the heat is gradually increafed, till the evaporation
of the arfenic commence j after which the temperature
is to be kept up as nearly as potTible at the fame degree,
for the fpace of fix hours, carefully., watching not to in-
creafe it, left the cake fhould be brought to a ft ate of fu-
lion. At the end of the fix hours, the cake has ufually
become confiderably porous ; it is then to be withdrawn,
and extinguifhed in common oil ; after which it is re¬
turned to the muffle, by which means a further quan¬
tity of arfenic is drawn off-, and this alternate heating
and application of oil are to be continued till the arfenic
no longer makes its appearance. In proportion as the
arfenic is driven off, the fufibility of the mafs dimimfhes,
ib that a greater degree of heat may be applied in the
latter ftage of the procefs. After having carefully burnt
off at a high degree of heat the whole of the charcoal
which is produced by the decompofition of the oil, the
fpongy cake of metal is to be digeffed in nitrous acid,
and then edulcorated by repeated boiling in water.
Three or more of the cakes are then to be placed in a
crucible, and expofed to the higheft degree of heat in a
powerful furnace, and while they are thus rendered foft,
an iron peftle let down upon them, will make them co¬
here ; and being withdrawn from the crucible, they are
to be heated to the utmoft in a fmith’s fire, and careful¬
ly forged like iron on the anvil, into compaift bars.
The cheapnefs of the procefs now detailed is the only
advantage which it holds out, for the platina does not
require to be previoufly diffolved in nitromuriatic acid ;
but it is to be obferved, that the metal by this treatment
is by no means perfectly pure ; a fmall portion of arfe¬
nic and iron ft ill adhering to it, and probably fome lead
and copper, which may have been accidentally mixed
with the ore, while it contains the whole of the palla¬
dium, ofmium, iridium, and rhodium ; and thus con¬
taminated, it is obvious, that it muft be lefs capable
of refilling the a£tion of alkalies, and high degrees of
heat without injury, than when it is brought to a ftate
of greater purity. Accordingly, other proceffes for the
purification of this valuable metal, have been contrived
and praflifed.
The following is the procefs propofed by Count Mouf-
fin Poulblkin, to render platina malleable. I. Precipi¬
tate the platina from its folution by muriate of ammonia,
and walh the precipitate with a little cold water.
2. “ Reduce it in a convenient crucible to the well-
known. fpongy metallic texture, which walh two or
three times with boiling water to carry off any portion
of faline matter which may have efcaped the action of
the fire.
3, Boff it for about half an hour in as much water,
;? ^c* Chap. J,
mixed with ona-tenth part of muriatic acid, as will co- Platina.'
ver the mafs to the depth of about half an inch, in a
convenient glafs veffel. This will carry off any quan¬
tity of iron that might Hill exift in the metal.
4. “ Decant the acid water, and edulcorate or ftrong-
ly ignite the platina.
5. “ To one part of this metal take two parts of mer¬
cury, and amalgamate in a glafs or porphyry mortar.
1 his amalgamation takes place very readily. The pro¬
per method of conducing it is to take about two drams
of mercury to three drams of platina, and amalgamate
them together and to this amalgam may be added al¬
ternate Imall quantities of platina and mercury till the
whole of the two metals are combined. Several pounds
may be thus amalgamated in a few hours, and in the
large way a proper mill might fhorten the operation.
6. “ After the amalgam is completely produced, it
muft be quickly moulded in bars or plates, or any other
forms that may be preferred ; taking care that thefe
moulded pieces fliould at leal! be half an inch in thick¬
nefs, and of a proper length to manage them afterwards
in the fire ; it is alfo requifite that the mould ftiould be
perfe&ly even and fmooth. Half an hour after the
pieces are formed they begin to harden by the oxida¬
tion of the mercury, and change their brilliant metallic
colour for a dull leaden ore.
7. “ As foon as the pieces have acquired a proper de¬
gree of hardnefs to be handled without danger of break¬
ing, which commonly takes place in a little more than
an hour, place them in a proper furnace, and keep them
ignited under a muffle or in a fmall reverberatory. No
other precaution is neccffary in this operation, but that
of not breaking the pieces during their tranfport. The
mercury files off during the heat, and the platina re¬
mains perfectly folid ; fo that, after being ftrongly ig¬
nited two or three times before the bellows, it may be
forged, or laminated in the fame manner as gold or fil-
ver ; care being taken, at the commencement of the
forging, or of paffing it between rollers, not to apply too
great a force till the metal has acquired all its denfity.
It is almoft fuperfluous to add, that in evaporating the
mercury from large quantities of amalgam, a proper ap¬
paratus, fuch as in the filver amalgamation, mufi be em¬
ployed to receive the volatilized mercury j but for fmall
quantities, where the lofs of this metal is of no confe-
quence, the furnace muft have a proper chimney to car¬
ry off the metallic vapours. Wiien the platina comes
out of the firft fire, its dimenfions are about two thir¬
teenth parts fmaller every way than the original amal¬
gam from the mould. I he whole of this operation
feems to be governed by the preffure of the atmofphere
and the laws of cohefive attra&ion : for the air is driven
out from between the molecules of the platina, which
by their folution in mercury are moft probably in their
primitive and confequently uniform figure. It is very
vifible, and at the fame time a very amufing phenome¬
non to obferve, (during the procefs of ignition, which
is performed in four or five minutes), how the platina
contradls every way into itfelf, as if prefied by fome ex¬
ternal force.”
The count then adds, “ that, as foon as my amalgam
of mercury is made, I comprefs the fame in tubes of
wood, by the preffure of an iron ferew upon a cylinder
of wood, adapted to the bore of the tube. This forces
out the fuperabundant mercury from the amalgam, and
renders
Chap. I- ORE
phtina. renders it folid. After two or three hours I burn upon
—the coals, or in a crucible lined with charcoal, the fheath
in which the amalgam is contained, and urge the fire to
a white heat 5 after which I take out the platina in a
very folid date, fit to be forged*.”
/ A fimpler method for rendering platina malleable, and
at the fame time not lefs eftedtual, has been propofed by-
Mr Knight. The following is an account of this me¬
thod in the words of the author.
“ To a given quantity of crude platina, I add fifteen
times its weight of nitro-muriatic acid (compofed of
equal parts of nitric and muriatic acid) in a tubulated
glafs retort, with a tubulated receiver adapted to it.
It is then boiled, by means of an Argand’s lamp, till
the acid has affumed a deep faffron colour ; it is then
poured off; and if any platina remain undiffolved,
more acid is added, and it is again boiled until the
whole is taken up. The liquor, being fuffered to reft
till quite clear, is again decanted : a folution of fal-am-
moniac is then added, by little and little, till it no longer
gives a cloudinefs. By this means the platina is thrown
down in the form of a lemon-coloured precipitate, which
having fubfided, the liquor is poured off, and the preci¬
pitate repeatedly walked with diftilled water till it ceafes
to give an acid tafte ; (too much water is injurious, the
precipitate being in a certain degree foluble in that li¬
quid) : the water is then poured off, and the precipitate
evaporated to drynefs.
“ So far my procefs is in a great meafure finfflar to that
which fome others have alfo folkuved } but my method
of managing the fubfequent, and which are indeed the
principal manipulations, will be found to poffefs many
advantages over any that has yet been made public. The
beft procefs hitherto followed has been, to give the pre¬
cipitate a white heat in a crucible, which in fome mea¬
fure agglutinates the particles 5 and then to throw the
mafs into a red-hot mortar, or any fimilar implement,
and endeavour to unite them by ufing a peftle or Ham¬
per. But the mafs is fo fpongy that it is hardly poffible
to get a fingle ftroke applied to it before the welding
heat is gone; and though by peculiar dexterity and
addrefs fome have in this way fucceeded, it has been
found to require fuch innumerable heatings and ham¬
merings, that moft of tbofe who have attempted it, have
either failed entirely, or given it up as being too labori¬
ous and expenfive. I have fucceeded in obviating all
thefe difficulties by adopting the following fimple, eafy,
and expeditious method :—
“ A ftrong, hollow, inverted cone of crucible earth
being procured, with a correfponding ftopper to fit it,
made of the fame materials, the point of the, latter is
ut off' about three-fourths from the bale. The platina,
now in the ftate of a light yellow powder, is preffed
tight into the cone, and a cover being fixed flightly on,
it is placed in an air furnace, and the fire raifed gra¬
dually to a ftrong white heat. In the mean time the
conical ftopper, fixed in a pair of iron tongs fuitable for
the purpofe, is brought to a red or to a bright red heat.
The cover being, then removed from the cone, the tongs
with the heated ftopper is introduced through a hole
In. the cover of the furnace, and preffed at firft gently on
the platina, at this time in a ftate nearly as foft as dough,
till it at length acquires a more folid confiftence. It is
then repeatedly ftruck with the ftopper, as hard as the
nature of the materials will admit, till it appears to re*
S, &c.
ceive no farther impreffion. The cone is then removed
from the furnace, and being ftruck lightly with a ham¬
mer, the platina falls out in a metallic button, from
which ftate it may be drawn, bv repeatedly heating and
gently hammering, into a bar fit for flatting, drawing
into wire, planiflung, &c.
“ Befides the comparative facility of this procefs, it
has the farther advantage of rendering the platina much
purer than when red-hot iron is obliged to be had recourfe
to ; for platina, when of a white heat, has a ftrong af¬
finity for iron, and, with -whatever care it may have
been previoufly feparated from that metal, will be found
to have taken up a portion of it, when it is employed of
a red heat, to ferve to unite the particles of the platina.
To the fuperior purity of platina, rendered malleable by
the procefs before deferibed, I attribute the greater fpe-
cific gravity which 1 find it to poffefs, than that prepared
by other methods. Having taken the fpecific gravity
of about ten pennyweights of it, which I had previoufly
paffed repeatedly through a flatting mill, I found it to
be 22.26 f.” t Phil.
Another method, which has been fuecefsfully pra£li-v*-2*
led, was contrived by Mr Cock. The following is an
account of his procefs. After the folution of the platina
in nitro-muriatic acid, the liquor is filtered through clean
fund, for the purpofe of feparating the black pow'der
which floats in it. The clear folution is then decom-
pofed by means of fal ammoniac ; the yellow precipitate
being colle&ed, is to be moderately well walked in warm
water and dried; and being diftributed intofaucersplaced
in a fmall oven, conftru&ed for the purpofe, in which
they are to be expofed for a Ihort time to a low red
heat, that the platina may be brought to the metallic
ftate, and the greater part of the fal ammoniac may be
fublimed. When the platina, after this treatment, is
withdrawn, it is in the form of a gray coloured, fpongy
mafs ; and in this ftate half an ounce of it is to be put
into a ftrong iron mould, one inch and a half wide, and
two and a half long. It is then to be compreffed as
ftrongly as poffible, by ftriking with a mallet upon a
wooden peftle accurately cut to fit the mould ; another
half ounce is then added, and. treated in the fame man¬
ner, till fix ounces have been forced into the mould ; a
loofe iron cover, juft capable of Aiding.down the mould,
is then laid upon the platina. This part of the procefs
requires particular pare ; for if any material quantity of
air be left in the mafs, the bar into which it is formed is
extremely apt to fcale and be full of flaws in the Tub-,
fequent operations. The preflure being properly made, .
the mould is to be taken to pieces, and the platina will
be found in the form of a denfe compact parallelepiped. .
It is next to be placed in a forge fire of charcoal, and
heated to the moil, intenfe white heat, in order to drive
off the muriate of ammonia which remains : this being
done, it is to be quickly placed on a clear bright anvil,
and gently hammered in every direction by a clean
hammer. This is feveral times to be repeated, at the
end of which the mafs will be perfectly compadt, and "
fit to be laminated or wrought in any other manner at
the. pleafure of the artifl. It is to be obferved, that
while the platina is heating, it muff be loofe in the fire, .
for if it were held by the tongs, they would infallibly
become welded to the platina, and by this means greatly
damage it. When the platina is thus drawn down to
a.compadt bar, it will be covered by a femivitreous cruft,
fome what e
416 ' ORE
Gold, fomewhat reddifli, chiefly proceeding from particles of
’ the aihes melted down upon it, and extended by the
hammer over its furface. To remove this, the bar, af¬
ter being made red hot, is to be fprinkled over with glafs
of borax reduced to powder, and then kept at a white
heat for a few minutes 5 it is to be plunged into diluted
muriatic acid when moderately cool, by which the
borax and other vitreous matters will be diflblved, and
the platina with a perfectly clean white furface left be-
* dikin's hind *.
DiElion. of
4T ?33&e* Chap. II. Of the Ores of Go/d,
Gold exifts in nature only in the metallic Hate j but
it is fcarcely ever found perfectly pure, for it is alloyed
in different proportions with filver, copper, tellurium,
and fome other metals. When it is alloyed with filver
or copper, or even with both, the gold retains it* dufti-
lity 5 but when combined with tellurium, its diflindlive
•charadfers entirely difappear.
Sect. I. Of the Analysis of the Ores of Gold.
The method of analyfing gold ores is very fimpie.
The principal difficulty with Avhich it is attended arifes
from the fmall proportion of this metal contained in the
greater part, even of thofe ores which are confidered as
very rich. Native gold contains invariably, but generally
in fmall proportion, filver or copper, and fometimes
both, and the gangue is often a very hard quartz. In
this cafe the following is an approved mode of proceed¬
ing. Reduce the ore to fine powder, mix it with fix
times its weight of carbonate of foda, or, what anfwers
better, with four parts of carbonate of foda, and one of
glafs of borax : put the mixture into an earthen crucible,
and melt it. Pour out the fufed mafs on a flone flab,
and detach the fmall portion remaining in the crucible
by means of a little diluted muriatic acid. Reduce the
mafs to coarfe powder 5 put it into a flafk with the muria¬
tic folution 5 add ftrong muriatic acid, and apply a gentle
heat. Continue the digeflion, adding from time to time
a little nitrous acid, till no farther adion is produced,
and the undiffolved refidue becomes of a pure white co¬
lour. Then pour off the liquor, wafh the refidue, and
add the walkings to the liquor.
1. After the infoluble refidue is dried, eXpofe it to
the fun, and if it contain any muriate of filver, it will
aflume a purplifh colour. When this is the cafe, let it
be mixed with three times its weight of pearl-afh, and
fufed in an earthen crucible for five minutes. The filver
■will thus be reduced to metallic globules, and will be
obtained pure by digefting it in muriatic acid, which
combines with the earth and alkali, but does not aft on
the filver.
2. The nitro-muriatic folution is now to be carefully
neutralized by means of foda or of potafh; and a folution
of green fulphate of iron is to be added, as long as any
precipitate is formed. I he precipitate thus obtained is
gold, and this being carefully collefted, is to be fufed in
a fmall crucible with nitre juft in fufficient quantity to
cover its furface.
3. The refidual liquor, after being decompofed by the
carbonate ox an alkali, and the precipitate being well
wafhed, is to be digefted in liquid ammonia, to diffolve the
copper. I he ammoniacal folution being flightly fuper-
^ , Chap. Ilt
faturated with muriatic acid, a rod of zinc being intro- Gold
duced, will precipitate the copper in the metallic ftate.
Auriferous pyrites. It appear* that iron pyrites of a
bronze yellow colour in mafles, or in ftriated cubes, and
hepatic pyrites, which are found in veins in primitive
mountains, contain a quantity of pure gold, or of gold
alloyed with filver, which is worth the trouble and ex¬
pence of extrafting it. A confiderable proportion, not
only of the American, but alfo of the Hungarian gold,
is obtained from ore of this kind. The produce of the
latter fometimes does not exceed a few grains of gold in
the quintal, but occafionally the auriferous pyrites of the
Hungarian mines yield not lefs than 450 ounces of gold
in the quintal of the ore.
The following is the method of analyfis to be fol¬
lowed in ores of this kind. The pyrites being reduced
to powder, is digefted in muriatic acid, occafionally
adding a fmall portion of nitric acid, till every thing
foluble is taken up. The refidue, after being well walk¬
ed and dried, is to be weighed, and expofed to a heat
which is juft fufficient to burn off the fulphur, the quan¬
tity of which is indicated by the lofs of weight. The
refidue is again to be digefted in nitro-muriatic acid,
and this folution is to be added to the firft. The earthy
refidue, which contains the filver in the ftate of muriate*
is then to be fufed with an equal weight of glafs of bo¬
rax, and three times the quantity of pearl aihes. By
this procefs the filver is reduced and may be feparated
from the alkali and the earth by means of muriatic acid
very much diluted. The nitro-muriatic folution is to be
neutralized by a fixed alkali, and if it be afterwards
treated with nitrate of mercury prepared in the cold, the
gold will be thrown down in the ftate of a brown powder.
It may be reduced to the metallic ftate by fqfing it with
nitre. The oxide of iron which remains in folution, may¬
be obtained in the ufual way in the ftate of magnetic
oxide.
Auriferous galena..—Galena, or the native fulphuret
of lead, almoft always contains a fmall portion of filver,
and very often it is in fuch quantity as to be worth the
trouble of extrafting it. Galena fometimes has alfo
combined with it a little gold as well as filver, and it is
worked as one of the ores of gold. This is the cafe rvith
fome of the galena of Hungary, as that of Boicza yields
i4-oz. of alloy in the quintal, of which 31 parts are filver*
and one of gold.
The analyfis of auriferous galena is to be condufted
nearly in the fame way as the auriferous pyrites. The
pulverifed ore being digefted in nitro-muriatic acid, the
gold and the lead, and, if any are prefent, the iron and
antimony, are taken up ; leaving behind the earthy
matters, as well as the fulphur and filver, which may be
feparated according to the method employed in the for¬
mer proeefs. By gradually evaporating the nitro-muria¬
tic folution, a cryftallized muriate of lead is obtained i;
and by again diluting the folution with water, the gold
may be feparated by adding nitrate of mercury.
The analyfis of the ores of gold containing tellurium,
wj^be given under the head of that metal.
Sect. II. ReduEUon of the Ores of Gold.
Many of the moft profitable veins of gold are of
trifling magnitude, but at the fame time yield ample
returns to the miner, although they are mixed with fo
large
Chap. It. ORE
Gold- large a proportion of ftorty matter and other impurities
—Y—""'' as would render the working of any other metal alto¬
gether unprofitable. This obvioufiy arifes from the great
commercial importance of gold compared with other me¬
tals, which no doubt is owing as well to its rarity as to
its peculiar properties. In the Hungarian gold mines,
which are the richeft yet known in the old continent,
the attention of the miner is not merely limited to the
firings of ore, but to the wrhole contents of the vein,
which are ufually extracted and railed to the furface in
large mafles. Thefe maffes are diftributed to the work¬
men, who break them down, firlt with large hammers,
and afterwards with fmaller ones, till they are reduced
to pieces of the fize of a walnut. In the courfe of this
procefs, every piece is carefully examined, and arranged
according to its value. The fmalleil vifible grain of
native gold is feparated from the quartz in which it is
chiefly imbedded, and put by itfelf. The auriferous
pyrites and galena are alfo put into feparate heaps 5 even
the fmall fplinters that are detached in breaking down
the mafles, and the fand and mud of the mine, are all
colle&ed, walhed, and lifted, and arranged according
to their apparent richnefs. What has been rejected in
the firtl examination, is re-examined by boys, whofe
labour is not of great value, and who pick out almofi;
the whole that has been overlooked by the men, and ar¬
range it in the fame manner.
The native gold with the matrix attached to it, is
ngain to be broken by hand into Hill fmaller pieces, by
which means other impurities and ftony matters are fe¬
parated. The ore is then introduced into a wooden box
floored with call-iron plates j and by the aflion of two
or more heavy fpars of oak, which are (hod with iron,
and alternately worked like the common Itamping mill,
it is reduced to a fine powder. This powder, which is
called flour, is then removed into a veflel like a large
bafon, and is mixed with fuch a quantity of fait and wa¬
ter as will render it damp. The workman then takes a
thin porous leather bag, introduces a quantity of mer¬
cury into it, and by a regular and continued preffure forces
the mercury in very minute drops through the leather. In
this divided Hate It falls upon the pulverized ore, and is im¬
mediately kneaded up with it, till the requifite quantity,
which depends on the proportion of gold, has been added.
After completing this part of the procefs, the next obje£f
is to incorporate the mercury and the gold. This is ef¬
fected by rubbing the mixture together for fome time by
means of a wooden peftle. The mixture is then heated
in a proper veflfel, and fubje£ted for three or four days, to
the temperature of boiling water ; and, laftly, the mix¬
ture is to be carefully walhed by fmall parcels at a time,
fo that the earthy particles may be carried off by the wa¬
ter. The mercury combined with the gold, only remains
behind, in the form of amalgam. A portion of this
mercury is then feparated by preffure in a leathern bag,
and the remainder is driven off by diftillation, leaving
behind the gold and lilver with which it may be alloyed.
But a more complicated procefs is requifite in feparat-
ing that portion of the gold which is invifibly difperfed
in the pyrites, in galena, and other metallic fubftances,
as well as the (tony parts of the matrix. In the treat¬
ment and forting already defcribed, thofe ores are fepa¬
rated, not only according to their apparent richnefs, but
they are arranged alfo according to the degrees of hard-
nefs. They are then carried to the ftamping mill, of
VOL. XV. Part II.
Sj Sec. 4i7
which the principal parts are, I. The coffers or cifterns, Gold,
in which the ore is reduced to powder, and through which
a ftream of water continually paffes, and fo managed as to
be increafed or diminiftied at pleafure : 2. The Hampers,
or vertical beams, which are fhod with iron; and, 3. The
axle, which is fixed horizontally, and one end of which
works in a pivot, while the other is rivetted into the
centre of a large water wheel. The mode of adlion of
this apparatus is obvious. A flream of water falls upon
the wheel, and turns it round, as well as the axle to
which it is attached. The cogs, which are faHened to
the axle, alternately raife the Hampers to a given height,
and then let them fall upon the ore placed in the coffers^
And as the ore is fufticiently broken, it is carried by the
flream of water continually palling through, out at the
fides of the coffer into the labyrinths, where the flony and
metallic contents of the ore are depolited, according to
their fpecifie gravity, nearer to or at a greater diflance
from the aperture. The coffer is a redlangular hole
funk below the level of the ground, and it is about five
feet in length, two feet and fometimes lefs in width,
and four feet deep. Five Hampers are employed : they
are ftrong oaken beams fliod with iron, and weighing
about 200 pounds each. They are placed fide by fide,
at the diflance of about 2^ inches from each other.
When the ore is to be pounded, the firfl thing is to
cover the bottom of the coffer with a flooring or pave¬
ment, compofed of large pieces of the hardefl and pooreff
part of the vein. Thefe pieces are to be clofe fet toge¬
ther, and a floor of this kind is found to anfwer better
than an iron floor. The thicknefs of the floor is to be
proportioned according to the degree of hardnefs of the
ore to be pounded ; for it is obvious that the higher it
is, the fmaller will be the fpace through which the Ham¬
pers fall; and their momentum will therefore be propor¬
tionally diminilhed. One precaution mufl be invariably
obferved, that the part of the floor immediately Under
the middle Hamper be about two inches lower than that
below the Hamper on each fide, and that this again be an
inch lower than that beneath the two outermofl Hampers.
After the coffer is thus prepared, the machinery is fet
in motion, a fmall flream of water being allowed to flow
into the coffer. The ore is to be carefully thrown in,
jufl below the middle Hamper, or the proper quantity is
fupplied by means of a hopper. The ore being thus
broken down by the middle Hamper, is gradually deli¬
vered to the Hampers on each fide, where it is Hill far¬
ther reduced to powder, and from them it paffes on to
the two outermofl Hampers, where it is reduced to fuch
a degree of finenefs as to be for a time fufpended in the
water, and carried along with the flream through the
openings at the ends of the coffer.
In flam ping the ores of gold and filver, great atten¬
tion is neceffary, that no pieces of ore be fubjcdled to
the procefs that can be conveniently feparated from the
gangue by the hand ; and that the ore be reduced to a
coarfe or fine powder, according to its nature. When na¬
tive gi ld is difperfed in minute particles, in a hard fili-
ceous matrix, it is found impoffible to feparate the whole
of the metal, unlefs it be very finely pulverized ; and in
this cafe the ore may be reduced to fine powder, both.on
account of the great difference of the fpecific gravity of
the two ingredients of the ore, and alfo becaufe the fili-
ceous particles, however minute, acquire no degree of
tenacity, fo as to adhere to the particles of gold. In
3 G flamning
4i 8 O R E
Gold. {lamping ores of this kind, therefore, the coffers may be
' fet very low, that the hampers may have the greater
power, and a fmall ilream of water only may be let in,
that the current which paffes out may carry with it only
the fmaiier particles. But when the gold is difperfed in
an indurated and oehrey clay, or in calcareous fpar ; if
the ore in this cafe be not finely pulverized, a great pro¬
portion of the metal will be retained in the earthy ma¬
trix; and if the ft am ping be continued too long, the
whole will be brought to a fluid mud, which will pre¬
vent the fubfidence of the particles of gold. In the
management of this part of (he procefs, no fmall degree
of lk:ll and experience is requiiite, to obtain thegreateft
produce of gold.
The redaction of the ore to grains of a uniform fize,
greatly facilitates the wafifing which follows the {lamp¬
ing, and yields a greater product of metal. This is ef¬
fected by taking care that the ore, when firfl introduced
into .the coffer, (hall fall under the middle Hamper, and
alfo by the velocity of the water wheel being properly
regulated. When the motion of the Hampers is too
How, lofs-of time is the only confequence ; but when
the motion is greatly accelerated, the water is violently
thrown about, carrying with it to the apertures at the
end of the coffer, pieces of the ore that are not fufficient-
ly comminuted.
The ore being reduced to particles of a fuffieient de¬
gree of finenefs to be carried by the force el the water
out of the coffer, paffes into {hallow channels of different
dimenfions. Thefe channels or troughs, the whole feries
of which is called a labyrinth, are confirufted of wood
or Hone, and communicate with each other at the extremi¬
ties. The various parts of the ore are depofited in thefe
channels, according to their fpecific gravities; the hea-
vieft particles are detained in the firft, and the lighteft
are carried along, and fubfide in the lalt and lowed.
Each of the channels has a groove at its lowed extremity,
and thus admits of being clofed at pleafure by pieces
of rvood about an inch in height, which Hide down upon
each other. By varying the rapidity of the current
through the channels, the heavy particles can be more
accurately feparated from the lighter ones, which is done
by diminifiiing the Hope, and inereafing the width and
length of the channels.
But with whatever care the fird operation of the
wadiing may be conducted, it is by no means fufficient
to feparate the whole of the fand from the ore. A
fecond waihing on tables, as they are called, is requifite.
Thefe tables are long wooden planes, which are conli-
derably inclined, and are eroded at regular didances by
narrow (hallow grooves. A long wicker bafket, or
perforated wooden trough, filled with the wadied ore,
is fixed to the upper extremity of the tabte, and a fmall
dream of water is admitted, which pading between the
twigs of the baiket, carries with it particles of the ore.
Thefe particles are either carried by the current off the
table, or are depofited, according to their fpecific
gravity, in the grooves, the heavied particles fubfiding
fird. In this way the auriferous ores of iron and copper
pyrites, galena, &c. are fudiciently feparated from the
quartz and other dony matter, to be fit for the furnace ;
but for the ores of native gold, a third wadiing is necef-
fary. This is performed in fmall quantities at a time, in
a wooden veffel refembling in diape a common fire-diovel
Without a handle, but having the fides more elevated,, and
2
&c. Chap. II,
being furnifhed with two ears, by which it is held during Gold.
the operation. The ore is put into this veffel, which is   
gently immerfed in water, and a circular motion is com¬
municated to it by a peculiar dexterity, which can only
be acquired by practice. By this motion in the water
the lighter particles are gradually thrown out of the vef-
fel, and fcareely any thing remains behind but the gold,
which is either amalgamated or fufed with the addition
of a little nitre, in an earthen crucible. Here it may
be added, that the feparation of the gold which is found
in alluvial foil, or in the fands of rivers, is condudlcd
precifely in the fame way, only that it is not neceffary
to be fubjedled to the procefs of ftaniping previous to
wafhing.
The produce of the proper auriferous ores is feldom
of fufficient value to admit of the fame attention in
wafliing as native gold ; and therefore it is always
found, after this operation, mixed with a confiderable
proportion of earthy matters. When the metallic part
is compofed of pyrites, which is frequently the cafe, it
may be ufeful, previous to the fufion of the ore, to give
it a moderate mailing, for the purpofe of expelling the
greater part of the fulphur ; but it muft be obferved,
that this procefs is to be regulated by the quantity, and
refraflory nature of the flony part of the ore ; becaufe
the fulphur in the fubfequent fufion a6Is the part of a
flux, and therefore the cleaner the ore, the more perfeft-
ly it may be roafted. This part of the procefs being
completed, a little quicklime, as a flux, is added, and
carefully mixed with the ore, and a portion of galena,
according to the proportion of gold and filver contained
in the pyrites, previoufly difeovered by affaying it.
This mixture is next to be introduced into a reverbera¬
tory furnace, which is to be railed to a red heat ; and
when the mixture begins to clot together, it is to be
Hirred from time to time, and kept at a temperature in¬
ferior to that of fufion, till part of the fulphur is ex¬
pelled ; and Avhen this is accomplilhed, the fire is to bw
inereafed, fo that the whole may be brought to a Hate
of thin fufion, alter which it is let out in the ufual way,
and received in a mould of fand. During the procefs
of fufion, the iron having a very firong affinity for ful¬
phur, recombines with that portion of which it had been
deprived by the roafling, in confequence of the decom-
pofition of the fulphurets of lead and copper with which
it is mixed ; and thefe metals, by their fpecific gravity,
fall in drops through the vitreous ferruginous feoriie,.
and carry with them the gold and filver, with which
they unite at the bottom into a denfe mafs of metal.
Thus it happens that the pig formed in the mould con-
fiits of two parts, which adhere to each other, but may
be eafily feparated by the hammer. The fu peri or and
the larger portion, is a cellular mafs of fcoria, and the
lower B a black, heavy, compaft mafs, containing the
gold and filver, along with lead, copper, and a portion
of fulphur and iron. It is again broken into pieces,
and roafled and fufed once or twice, till the whole of
the fulphur and other impurities are feparated, and no¬
thing remains but the metallic fubftances.
In the farther treatment of the ores of gold, the ob-
jedl of the refiner is to feparate it from the metallic fub¬
ftances with which it is alloyed. We Hiall now men¬
tion the different methods which are followed in fepa-
rating the metals from gold with which it is ufually al¬
loyed.
I. Separation
Chap. IT. ' O R E
Gold. i. Separation of gold from platina.—As platina, like
J gold itfelf, is not fufceptible of oxidation by expofure to
beat and air, it cannot be feparated by the procefs of
cupellation j and platina having as little affinity for ful-
phur as gold ilfeif, that fubilance, or the fulphurated
metals, cannot be fuccefsfully employed for this purpofe.
It has been found that mercury combines more readily
with gold than with platina, and from the knowledge
of this circumltanee a method has been devifed of fepa*-
rating thefe metals. When the proportion of platina is
fo large, that the mafs is brittle, it mult be reduced to
powder in a mortar but if it be duftile, it may be re¬
duced to fmall pieces by granulation. A quantity of
mercury equal to feven or eight times the weight of the
alloy, is then to be heated in an iron crucible, and railed
to the boiling point. The alloy being firlt made red
hot, is to be dropt in, and the whole kept for half an
"hour nearly at the fame temperature. The mixture is
then emptied into an iron mortar, and being covered
with hot water, is to be carefully triturated for fome
hours, the water being renewed from time to time. In
this way the gold combines with the mercury, and a
conliderable proportion of the platina will rife to the
furface of the amalgam in the date of a black powder,
which may be ealily fcraped off. In this way the alloy
is to be purified as much as poffible, and the fuperfluous
mercury may be feparated by draining through leather*
and. the amalgam is deprived of the remaining mercury'
by the procefs of did illation. The gold, which dill
holds a fmall quantity of platina, is now to be melted
tvith three times its weight of filver *, and the mixture
being granulated, is to be parted by means of nitrous
acid. It has been found (although it be a fingular cir-
cumdance) that pure platina, or even when mixed with
gold, is perfedlly infoluble in this acid •, but, when com¬
bined with a large proportion of filver, it is readily dif-
folved, and the folution is of a dark yellowifh brAwn
colour •, and, therefore, by digeding this triple alloy of
gold, platina, and filver, in nitrou* acid, the .filver and
platina are diffolved, and the gold remains behind. But
it may be neceffary to afcertain whether the whole of
the platina be feparated. This is done by melting a
few grains of the gold, after careful wafhing, with
three times their weight of filver, and treating it as be¬
fore with nitrous acid. If it contain one half per cent,
or even a fraaller proportion of p’latina, the acid will
be perceptibly coloured, and this being the cafe, the
procefs mud be repeated again on the whole mafs. But
this is rarely neceffary when the previous trituration with
mercury has been carefully performed. By adding to
the remaining nitrous folution, a folution of common
fait, the filver will be precipitated, leaving the platina
in the folution.
By the following method, which is dill more compen¬
dious, gold may be feparated from platina. The alloy
is diffolved in nitro-muriatic acid, and the gold is preci¬
pitated by means of carbonate of foda, or a large quan¬
tity of green fulphate of iron, neither of which has the
cffeft of decompofing the folution of platina. The pre¬
cipitated gold beint,r dried, and mixed with a little bo¬
rax and nitre, is fubjetffed to fufion, after which it will
be found in a date of perfect purity.
2. Srparat on of gotll from filver.—In ores in which
the proportion of gold is fmall, the filver may be con¬
veniently feparated by means of fulphur. The alloy is
S, &c. 41 $
fird melted, and granulated, by pouring it into cold wa- Gold,
ter, which is kept in condant agitation with a rod or u"“n/
wicker bruth. Fi-orn an eighth to a fifth of the. granu¬
lated metal is referved, and the remainder is carefully
mixed with about one-eighth of its weight of powdered
fulphur, which adheres readily to the moid grains. The
mixture is introduced into a covered crucible, and kept for
fome time at a gentle heat, that the metal may be com¬
pletely penetrated by the fulphur, after which the heat
is increafed till the whole mafs is brought into ftifion. ,
This fulphuret of diver becomes a tough vifcous fluid,
which retains the particles of gold, and prevents them
from fubfiding. The mafs being kept in fufion for
about an hour, that the union of the fulphur and filvef
mJiy be completed, and any excefs may be burnt off, a
third part of the referved filver in grains is to be added,
and when it is melted, is to be dirred with a wooden
rod, that it may be accurately mixed with the other
materials, and brought into contaft with the gold, with
which it immediately enters into combination. The fu¬
fion being continued another hour, a fimilar quantity of
grained filver is to be added, and after a third hour has
elapfed, the remaining third is introduced, and treated
in the fame manner. The crucible, which is now to be
kept carefully covered, is to be expofed to a high tem¬
perature for three hours, Avhile the melted'mafs is ftirred
from the bottom every half hour. At the end of this
time the furface of the mafs, indead of being dark
brown, becomes whitifh as the fulphur efcapes, and fome
bright white drops of melted filver, about the fize of
peafe, make their appearance. The fufed mafs is now
to be poured into a greafed cone-, and when it is cold, it.
will be found to be com poked of a mafs of fulphuret of
filver, reding upon a white metallic button, which is
nearly equal in weight to the added filver, and contains
the whole of the gold that originally exided in the en¬
tire mafs. If it appears that any of the gold remains
among the fulphuret of filver, it may be feparated by
fufion in an open crucible. By this procefs part of the
fulphur is burnt off, and a correfponding quantity of
lilver is reduced to the metallic date, which being care¬
fully mixed with the remainder, and repeatedly dirred
with a piece of dick, the whole of the gold remaining
in the filver, which is dill fulphurated, will be attrafted;
and by being poured into a cone, will be collefted at
the bottom in a mafs.
The filver containing the gold, which is collefted in
thefe two operations, being melted and granulated, i<
fubjefted to one or more repetitions of the fame procefs,
till the filver that remains is found to contain a fufficier.t
proportion of gold, to render it worth while to proceed
to the procefs of parting by means of aquafortis. The
whole of the filver may be feparated bv means of ful¬
phur ; but when the proportion-of gold is confiderable,
the fulphuret of filver always takes up a part of it,
which cannot again be entirely feparated without re¬
peated fufions 5 and therefore, when the gold is equal
to -iA-th of the filver, a further purification by means of
fulphur, will fcarcely be found advantageous.
An ingenious and economical method of feparating
the gold from old gilt filver lace or wire, has been ex-
tenfively praftifed in Saxony. This method proceeds
on the principle, that the affinity of gold for copper,
and of filver for lead, is much greater than the affinity
which fubfifts between gold and filver; and it is con-
3 G 2 drifted.
I
420 ORE
Gold, duftcd in the following manner. The alloyed metal is
1'”T" v firit granulated, and Tx7 of it is mixed with 4 its weight
of litharge, and 4 of fandiver. This is called the precipx-
, tating mixture. The next is mixed with 4 of powder¬
ed fulphur, and is brought into fufion, which being com -
plete, as will appear from the Hafhing at the furface, 4
the precipitating mixture is added at three different times,
allowing an interval of five minutes between each time j
and the lufion is then continued for ten minutes longer.
Part of the fulphuratedfilver is taken out with a fmall cru¬
cible made red hot, and the remainder being poured in¬
to the melting cone, a quantity of metallic filver com¬
bined with the greateft part of the gold, fubfides to the
bottom. The fulphuret of filver is again melted, and
the remaining part of the precipitating mixture is added
as at firil, and thus a fecond portion of gold alloyed with
fil ver is obtained. But as the fulphuret Hill retains a
fmall portion of gold, it is to be fufed a third time j
and a precipitating mixture, equal in weight to the for¬
mer, but confining of an alloy of equal parts of copper
and lead, is to be added, and thus a third precipitate of
gold holding filver is obtained, and the fulphuret is now
deprived of the whole of its gold.
'i'he different metallic maffes thus obtained, are melted
with 4 of lead, then granulated, and treated in the fame
wray as at firft, with fulphur and the precipitating mix¬
tures. The filver thus obtained being rich in gold, is
firft to be granulated, then mixed with -/-j of fulphur,
and kept in fufion for about half an hour without any
addition ; and being poured into a cone, the fulphuret
is feparated from the metal, and this laft is treated two
or three times more with fulphur, in a fimilar manner.
The metallic button obtained, which now appears of a
yellow colour, is to be melted with one fixteenth of
copper, then granulated, and mixed with one fixteenth
of fulphur ; and the mixture being firft gently heated in
a covered crucible, and kept in fufion for about a quarter
of an hour, is poured into a cone, at the bottom of
which the gold is collefted of a brafs colour, and about
eighteen carats fine. The purification is afterwards
completed by means of fulphuret of antimony, a pro-
cefs which will be afterwards deferibed.
3. Parting operation.—When the proportion of the
gold and filver, alloyed together, is fueh, that the former
is not much lefs than one fixteenth, or greater than one
fourth of the whole mafs, the operation of parting may
be followed. In this method the gold is feparated from
the filver by means of diluted nitric acid, or, as it is
termed by manufacturers, aquafortis, w hich diflblves the
filver, and leaves the gold untouched. The button of
gold and filver is prepared for this procefs by flattening
with the hammer, again heating it red hot, and flowly
cooling to anneal it for the purpofe of increafing its mal¬
leability. It is then to be extended into a imall plate as
thin as a wafer, by palling it between rollers of polilhed
Heel, again heated, but only to rednefs, and laft of all
rolled up in the form of a fmall loofe coil or fpiral, called
a cornet. The annealing is ufeful in allowing the metal
to be rolled up without cracking, and at the fame time
the freer action of the acid, in confequence of the tex¬
ture of the metal being fomewhat opened.
il he cornet thus prepared is introduced into a pear-
formed matrafs, called a parting-glafs, and three or
four times its weight of pure nitric acid of 1.25 fpecific
gravity are added *, the mouth being flightly covered to
etc.
keep out the dull, the glafs is fet on a fandbath, or over
charcoal, to boil. As foon as it becomes w arm, the acid
begins to aft on the filver, and diffolves it with the evo¬
lution of nitrous fumes. During the whole aftion of
the acid, the cornet appears all over ftudded with mi¬
nute bubbles, and when thefe difeontinue, or run into
one another, forming a few large ones, the aftion of the
acid is nearly over. The procefs is ufually completed
in about fifteen or twenty minutes from the time that
the acid begins to boil. The cornet now appears cor¬
roded throughout, and has loft during the folution the
whole of the filver; and the remaining gold which is
flender and brittle, retains the fame fpiral form. Indeed
it is of confiderable importance that it fliould not be
broken, for much of the accuracy of the operation depends
on having the gold in one piece and not in fragments.
The acid folution of filver, while yet hot, is next to be
carefully, poured off, and a portion of frefli acid, fomewhat
itronger, is to be added, to feparate all the remains of
filver ; the boiling is to be repeated as before, but only
for five or fix minutes ; it is then poured off and added
to the former folution, and the pai ting-glafs is filled with-
hot diftilled water, to wafh off the remains of the folution.
Chap. Ifi
Gold.
The cornet, which is now of a brown colour and fpongy
texture, and has little of the metallic appearance, is
taken out in the following manner. A fmall crucible is
inverted over the mouth of the parting-glafs, while it is
yet filled with the diftilled water, and the latter being
rapidly inverted upon the crucible, the cornet falls foftly
through the water down the neck of the glafs into the
crucible, where it is depofited, and the water is carefully
poured off. The crucible after being dried is next
heated to rednefs under a muffle. The cornet ccntrafts ■
greatly in all direftions, becomes of a firm texture, and
refumes its metallic luftre ; and after being brought to
a red heat and cooled, it exhibits the appearance of a
cornet of pure gold, having all the fplendour, foftnefs,
and flexibility of this precious metal. By accurate
weighing, the amount of the produft is precifely afeer-
tained, and thus the operation of parting is completed.
But if the proportion of gold amount to one third of
the mafs, it combines with part of the filver, and pro-
tefts the latter by its infolubility from being afted on
by the acid, fo that in the procefs of parting, too great
a proportion of gold in the alloy muft be avoided ; and
farther, as the acid is expenfive, unlefs the filver be rich
in gold, this procefs, which is in many refpefts conve¬
nient, will not be found economical. In reducing the
finenefs of the alloy which is too rich in gold to be ad-
vantageoufly parted by itfelf, it will be the objeft of the
refiner not to employ pure filver, but fuch as contains a
fmall portion of gold ; and at the fame time it will be
his ftudy to fave the quantity of acid.
1 he following is the ufual method of condufting the
procefs of parting. After felefting a proper quantity
of rich and poor ingots of mixed metal, the whole is to
be fufed in an iron crucible ; and being well mixed by
frequent ftirring, it is to be removed by a clean iron la¬
dle, and granulated in cold water. The parting glaffes,
which are nearly of the form of a truncated cone with
a rounded bottom, are about twelve inches high and fe-
ven inches wide at the lower extremity, and they Ihould
be of equal thicknefs, well annealed, and free from any
kind of flaws. About forty ounces of metal are intro¬
duced into each glafs, and the nitrous acid, half fatura*
Chap. II. ' ORE
Gold, ted with fiiver, is added tili it ftand two or three fingers
breadth above the filrface of the metal. Twenty or
even more of thefe glaflfes are placed in a fand bath,
and the heat, which fhould at firit be moderate, is gra¬
dually increafed till it nearly reach the boiling point
about the time that the acid is faturated. The nitrate
of fiiver is poured off, a new portion of llronger acid is
added, and boiled as before till it is nearly faturated,
when almoft the whole of the fiiver is taken up, and
what remains undifl'olved has the appearance of a brown
mud, and confifts of the gold finely divided with a fmall
portion of fiiver. The acid again faturated is poured
off, and a third portion of Hill llronger acid is added,
which is kept at the boiling temperature till the evolu¬
tion of nitrous gas ceafi s, and the bubbles are enlarged,
which thews that all the fiiver is taken up. The acid
is then decanted oft", and referved for the firft part of a
future procefs of the fame kind •, and the gold is repeat¬
edly walked with frelh portions of, hot water till the
walkings dropped on a poll fired copper plate produce no
ftain -j and tke powder, being dried and mixed with a
little nitre and borax, is fufed, and is then in a ftate of
purity.
To decompofe the nitrate of fiiver with the view of
procuring the pure metal, the folution is poured into a
wooden veffel lined with copper, and in which are pla¬
ced plates of copper that the fiiver may be precipitated
from its folution in confequence of the greater affinity
of the nitrous acid for the copper. The furface of the
plates is to be cleared from time to time of the fiiver
cruft, that a frelh furface of copper may be expofed to
the adtion of the acid, and the decompofition of the ni¬
trate of fiiver may be promoted •, after which the ni¬
trate of copper formed in the folution is decanted off,
the plates are feraped, and the fiiver being w’alhed is
fufed with nitre, and is alfo obtained in a ftate of pu¬
rity.
4. Separation of gold from fiver or other metals by
fulphuret of antimony.—All the common metals, ex¬
cepting zinc, which come under the denomination of
imperfedt metals, may be feparated from gold by this
procefs •, for as gold is incapable of combining with ful-
phur, and as the affinity of almoft all the other metals
for fulphur is ftronger than that of antimony, it is fuffi-
eiently obvious, that an alloy of gold with any of thefe
metals, as for inftance gold and copper, being added to
fulphuret of antimony, the fulphur will combine with
the copper, and the antimony will form an alloy with
the gold. When common crucibles are employed for
this procefs, fome previous preparation is neceffary. A
well burned crucible is feledted, and foaked for two or
three days in linfeed oil, which is then to be cleared
away from the inner furface till fome finer pow'dered
glafs of borax dufted upon it {hall juft adhere, when it
is to be put into a dry place for two or three weeks, af¬
ter which it is fit for ufe.
The gold alloy is firft melted in the crucible, and then
about twice its weight of coarfely-powdered fulphuret
of antimony is thrown in at two or three different times.
At each addition the mixture froths and fwells up, fo
that the crucible muft be larger than the quantity con¬
tained, and great caution muft be obferved to prevent
any bits of charcoal dropping into the crucible ; for
then the mafs of melted matter would certainly flow
over. When the mixture begins to fparkle on the furface,
S, &C. 421
and appears to be perfectly fluid, it is to be poured into Gold-
a melting cone which has been previoufly heated and _ ^
greafed, and the fettling of the gold at the bottom is
promoted by communicating a tremulous motion to the
cone by means of flight blows. When the matter has
become cold, it is removed from the cone by giving it
a fewr blows in an inverted polition. The mafs is com-
pofed of an alloy of gold and antimony, covered with
fcoriae confiding of the metal formerly alloyed wfith the,
gold now in combination with the fulphur or the anti¬
mony. But the gold ftill retains a little of its alloy,
and from this it is to be freed } the fame procefs is to be
repeated not only a fecond, but even a third and fourth
time, with a fimilar quantity of fulphuret of antimopy.
The metals from which gold may be advantageoufiy
purified by this procefs are iron, copper, tin, lead, and
lilver.
5. Separation of gold from antimony.—When the pro¬
portion of antimony exceeds' that of the gold, the alloy
is brittle. It muft be reduced to fmall pieces, mixed
with one-fourth its weight of fulphur, melted in a cover¬
ed earthen crucible, and after the fufion is completed,
poured into a melting cone previoufly heated and greaf¬
ed. When examined after being cooled, it -will be
found to confift of two parts, ■which may be eafily fe¬
parated by melting the alloy, expofing it to a high tem¬
perature, and at the fame time dire£ting a ftream of air
from a pair of bellows into the crucible which contains
it. By this means the antimony is oxidated, and driven
off in the form of white vapour. The gold having ac¬
quired a clear bright green colour, it is to be poured
out and melted again in a fmall crucible with a little *
nitre. The remaining portions of antimony will bd oxi¬
dated, and driven off from the gold as before. The >
fmail proportion of gold which remains attached to the
fulphuret of antimony, may be feparated by bringing the
whole mafs into thin fufion, and precipitating part of
the antimony by adding about one-fifth of its weight of
iron filings. In this way the gold falls down in the-
form of alloy with the antimony, and it may be feparat¬
ed by means of the procefs deferibed above.
Separation of gold from lead by cupellation.—This is
the moil economical method of feparating gold from
lead. The nature of the procefs of cupellation, and the
method of conducting it, have been already deferibed
under CHEMISTRY, N° 2026. p. 682. But befides lead,
other metals may be feparated from gold, by employing
that metal as a flux, the effefts of which in fcorifying
and carrying down moft of the imperfect metals, are
fuch, that by the procefs of cupellation -with lead, which
is to be repeated according to the proportion of the
alloy, and its affinity for the gold, almoft every particle
of the metals combined with it, maybe feparated. This
method is ufually followed where the proportion of alloy
is but fmall ; but when it is more confiderable, fome of
the other methods are preferable. It is found, however,
that in the cupellation of pure gold with lead, it always
retains a fmall portion of this metal, which affefts its
colour and ductility. But if the alloy to be purified,
contain, befide lead, to the amount of one-twenty-fourth
of the gold of copper, the whole of the lead may be
feparated, but fcarcely any of the copper ; and if it
contain fiiver in a greater proportion than that of cop¬
per, the latter may be feparated by the procefs of cupel¬
lation, and a little of the lead remains. But if the fiiver
exceed "
422 ORE
, Go^* exceed the gold, or be equal to it, the copper and lead
may be entirely feparated, while the gold and filver re¬
main behind. From :• knowledge of thefe fa&s, the
refiners, in feparating the bafe metals from gold, by the
procefs of cupellation, add to the mixture a confiderable
proportion of filver. When the gold is alloyed with
tin, cupellation with lead alone will not fucceed, be-
caufe the tin, with part of the lead, forms a fpongy
and refradlory oxide, and floats on the furface of the
fluid metal, and at the fame time retains part of the gold.
But as iron is found to combine with tin into an alloy
that may be fcorified by lead, the addition of iron filings
during the procefs removes the difficulty.
The following table thews the quantity of gold which
is got from the different countries of the old and new
world, taken on an average, between the years 1790
-and 1802.
' Br ongni-
art, ii. 351.
Old Continent. Kilogrammes.
Siberia, 1700
Africa, 1500
Hungary, 650
Saltzburg, 75
Norway, 75
Total of the Old Continent, ——- 40QO
New Continent.
North America,
South America—
Spaniffi poffeffions, JOOO
Portuguese pofleffions, 7500
Total of the New Continent, ——— 13800
* 17800
The kilogramme being equal to 2lbs. 302. 5drs»
avoirdupois, the whole amount is equal to about 39,285
pounds avoirdupois.
Chap. III. Of the Ores of Mercury.
The ores of mercury prefent lefs variety than thofe
of many other metals ; and on account of its peculiar
properties, the management of its ores, whether for the
purpofes of analyfis or reduction, is lefs complicated and
difficult.
Sect. I. Of the Anahjfis of the Ores of Mercury.
To analyze the ore of native mercury, or native
amalgam, it is to be digefted in nitric acid of moderate
ftrength •, the mfcrcury and filver, and bifmuth, will be
diffolved, and if the ore ffiould contain a ririnute portion
of gold, it will remain untouched in the form of a
brown powder at the bottom of the folution. The ni¬
trous folution is next to be gently evaporated till it is
fo far concentrated as to be on the point of cryftallizing.
It is then to be poured into a large quantity of pure wa¬
fer, by which means the moll part of the bifmuth will
be feparated, and a folution of common fait, or any
other neuiral muriate, being added to the filtered liquor,
the diver and mercury will he precipitated in the form
of muriate. Afu - ,1 is fepa,'H(e, ?, add to the clear
H '' 'C.nv caib- ■ T-V:., nhik any precipitation
s, &C. Chap. Hi;
takes place ; then boil the liquor, and feparate the pre- Mercury,
cipitate by filtration. The muriatic precipitate is next
to be digeiied in nitro-muriatic acid moderately diluted,
which takes up every thing excepting the muriate of
filver, from which, after being waffied and dried, the
proportion of fiiver in the ore may be eafily afcertained.
The nitro-muriatic folution is now to be decompofed at
a boiling heat, by a carbonated alkali, and the white
precipitate thus obtained being added to the former car¬
bonated precipitate, mix them with a little oil, or what
anfwers better, fugar, and diftil in a fmall coated glafs
retort. Raife it gradually to a red heat, and continue
at that temperature while any mercury comes over.
The refidue in the retort confifts of a little metallic
bifmuth and charcoal.
Native amalgam.*—With the view of afeertaining the
proportion of mercury and filver in this ore, Klaproth
examined feme of the garnet-like cryftals from the
quickfilver mines of Deux Fonts. Some pure cryftals
weighing 33^ grains were introduced into a barometer
tube of a larger diameter than ufual, and clofed at the
lower end. This end was placed in fand, within a fmall
crucible ; heat wras applied, and its intenfity gradually
increafed to the degree of ignition. After cooling, he
cut off the lower end of the tube, and found that it
contained the filver, which had undergone ignition in
its former cryftalline form, and weighing 12 grains.
On collefling the mercury which had been fubiimed in
the tube, he obtained 21 grains. Therefore fince the
deficiency of one third of a grain may be reckoned as a
lofs ot quickfilver, the following will be the proportion
of the parts in ico of this cryftallized amalgam of
filver.
Silver, 36
Mercury, 64
IOO
Cinnabar.—The analyfis of cinnabar may be conduc¬
ed in the follow'ing manner. The ore being reduced
to a fine powder, is repeatedly digefted in a mixture of
1 part of nitric acid, and 3 of muriatic, moderately di¬
luted, by which every thing in the ore is diffolved ex¬
cepting the filiceous earth and the fulphur. The re¬
fidue being walked, dried, and weighed, is fubjeCed to
a red heat, and the remaining filex being deduCed, the
difference of weight fhews the amount of the fulphur.
The nitro muriatic folution is next to be decompofed at
a boiling heat, by carbonated alkali, and the precipi¬
tate obtained being mixed with a little lamp-black, and
diftilled, the mercury paffes over in the metallic form.
The refidue in the retort confifts of magnetic oxide of
iron, and any accidental earth excepting filex that is
contained in the ore, together with a little charcoal,
which may be feparated in the ufual way.
Hepatic ores—The hepatic ores of mercury, and fucli
as contain bituminous fubftances, may be treated in the
fame way 5 but thefe ores are fometimes combined with *
a lii tie filver, and therefore the matter which remains
undiffolved in nitro-muriatic acid, may be muriate of
filver, as w^ell as fulphur and filex. When the fulphut
is burnt eff, the refidue is to be mixed with twice its
weight of pearl-affi, and being ftrongly ignited in an
earthen crucible, diluted muriatic acid is added, by
which the alkali and the earth will be taken up, and
Cliap.lH. ORE
Mercury, the filver will remain behind in the form of finall me-
\ tallic grains.
Corneous ore of mercury.—To analyze this fpecies of
mercurial ore, let it be digefted in a little diftilled vi¬
negar, by which the native mercury which is difperfed
though the ore will be left behind. Add to the clear
folution nitrate of barytes, by which the fulphuric acid
will be feparated in the date of fulphate of barytes •,
and this being removed, drop in nitrate of filver, by
which the muriatic acid will be feparated in the form of
muriate of filver. The mercury now remains in folution
in the ftate of nitrate, and being precipitated by means
of iron, it is afterwards walhed in muriatic acid, and
thus appears in the metallic Hate. It may alfo be re¬
duced to the metallic ftate by precipitating by carbon¬
ated alkali, and diftilling the precipitate with a little
lamp black.
A fimple and eafy procefs is followed in aflaying the
ore of mercury in the dry way. The ore to be examin¬
ed is firft to be reduced to powder, and carefully mixed
with one-fourth of its weight of quicklime, and an equal
portion of iron filings. It is then to be expofed to a
red heat in an iron or earthen retort, as long as any mer¬
cury palTcs over into the receiver.
Sect. II. Of the ReduElion of the Ores of Mercury.
A very fimple procefs is followed for reducing the
ores of mercury. The following is the method prac-
tifed at the celebrated mines of Almaden in Spain.
The pieces of pure cinnabar are firft fele£fed and fepa¬
rated from the ore, to be fold to painters and manufac¬
turers of fealing-wax. The reft is forted into three
parts, of which the firft is the richeft, and is broken in¬
to pieces of a moderate fize ; the fecond, containing a
fmaller proportion of metal, is broken into fmaller
pieces ; and the third confifts of the duft and fmaller
fragments of the other two. Thefe are kneaded up
with clay, and being formed into bricks, are carefully
dried in the fun. The furnace which is ufed for ex-
tracling the mercury is built in an oblong form, and is
divided horizontally by an iron grate, into an upper
and lower compartment, and near its top it communi¬
cates with a feries of aludels. In charging the furnace,
a ftratum of flat rough ftones is placed on the grate,
intervals between each of the ftones being left for the
paflage of the fire. A bed of ore of the fecond quality
is laid on the ftratum of ftones, and then a ftratum of
the ore of the firft quality, after which another of the
fecond kind, and laft of all a ftratum of the third kind,
which has been made up into bricks. A. few faggots
are then thrown into the lower cavity of the furnace,
and lighted up ; and a gentle fire is to be kept up by oc-
calionally adding faggots for eight or twelve hours, ac¬
cording to the previous ftate of the ore with regard to
moifture. After the moifture is feparated, which is
known by the vapour ceafing to be exhaled, the fire¬
place is filled again with faggnts, and by the time thev
are confumed, a fufHcient heat will be communicated
to the ore, to allow the combuftion to go oh, by
means of the fulphur which it contains, without re¬
quiring any more fuel. In the courfe of the next two
days, while the fulphur burns flowly away, the mercury
rifes in the ftate of vapour, and pafies into the aludels,
where it is eondenfed. When the whole of the metal
&c. • 423
is extradled, the fcoria is taken out of the furnace, and the Mercury,
aludels are emptied of their contents. But befides the '“““"'v '
mercury, they are found to contain a quantity of black
matter like foot. This matter is eafily feparated by
Spreading the whole about on an inclined table, fo that
the mercury may run to the lower extremity, where it
is collected in a channel, and the impure footy matter
remains behind.
1 he method of extrafting mercury from its ores now
deferibed, is advantageous, on account of-the fimplicity
of the apparatus, and the fmaller expence of fuel •, but
it would appear that a portion of the mercury remaining
in the ore is loft. There is befides a confiderable lofs
in throwing away the foot, after feparating the running
mercury on the tables, not only becaufe many of the
globules of the metal itfelf are thrown away, but alfo
the calomel, and cinnabar, which are found to be in
eonfiderable proportion, are wafted. Hence it has been
recommended as a more profitable method, 1. To fe-
parate the fulphate of ammonia, which, according to the
examination of Prouft, forms part of the matter depo-
fited in the aludels, and then by mixing what remains,
with X 2 or 15 per cent, of quicklime, diftil it in an iron
retort, by which means the whole of the running mer¬
cury would be obtained, as well as that which is pro¬
duced by the decompofition of the calomel and cinna¬
bar.
A more improved procefs is praflifed at the mines of
Deux Fonts, and Idria. The ore, as it is brought out
of the mine, is carefully forted by the hand, and thefe
parts that feem deftitute of metal, are rejefted. This
procefs, although tedious and expenfive, is found to be
more advantageous than the older method of feparating
the cinnabar by Avafhing, in which there is a great Ids
of metal. The ore being thus 1'orted, it is reduced -to
potvder, and accurately mixed with one-fifth of quick¬
lime, which has fallen to powder by expofing it to the
air j but it ought to be obferved that the quantity of
quick lime is to be regulated by the proportion of cinnabar
contained in the ore. The mixture being thus prepared,
is introduced into iron retorts, which are capable of
holding about 6olbs. weight. The retorts, to the num¬
ber of 40 or 50, are fixed in a long furnace, and a glafs
receiver is attached to each, but it is not luted. A
moderate heat is then applied for the purpofe of driving
off the whole of the moifture 5 and when this is done,
the joinings of the veffels are to be clofely ftopt with
tempered clay, and a full red heat is to be applied, and
continued for feven or eight hours, at the end of which
time the whole of the mercury will be volatilized, and
eondenfed in the receiver. By this procefs it is found,
that xoolbs. of the ore yield from 6 oz. to 10 oz. of
metal.
Chap. IV. Of the Ores of Silver.
The ores of filver prefent a confiderable variety..
Sometimes it is found in the metallic ftate in maffes of
from 3C-lbs. to 4olbs. weight, but it is oftener combined
with fulphur in the ftate of fulphuret; with other me¬
tals, efpecially antimony, arfenic, iron, copper, lead, and
bifmuth ; or with acids, as the carbemic and the muria¬
tic, forming the carbonate and muriate of filver. The
analyfis and reduftion of thefe different ores, it is foarce-
ly neceffary to ohferve, muff be conduced according to-
the?
424
ORE
Silver.
the hature and proportion of the ingredients which en¬
ter into the competition of the ore to be examined or re¬
duced.
Sect. I. Of the Analysis of the Ores of Silver.
When a filver ore is to be examined, and the only
objeft in view is to afeertain the proportion of filver it
contains, the operation is ufually conduced in the dry
way. The ore is firfl: roafied and reduced to powder ;
it is then mixed with litharge in proportion to the earthy
matter combined with the ore, and quickly vitrified.
.The mafs thus obtained is again reduced to powder, and
being mixed with black flux, is to be fufed in a cruci¬
ble, with a fufficient degree of heat. By this procefs
the lead of the litharge is revived, and collected at the
bottom of the crucible, carrying with it the whole of
the filver, as well as fome of the other metals which
may be combined with the ore. The button thus ob¬
tained is to be fubjefted to the procefs of cupellation,
with the requifite quantity of pure lead, and in this way
the bafe metals are fcorified, and the filver remains be¬
hind in a ftate of purity, or combined only with the
gold, which many of the ores of filver contain in fmall
proportion. The gold is to be feparated by fome of the
.methods which we have already deferibed, in treating
of the ores of gold. This operation, in which the ob-
je£l only is to afeertain, as in this cafe, the quantity of
filver, is called nffaying. In the examination of ores in
this view, more allays than one fhould always be per¬
formed, that an accurate and nearly invariable refult
.may be obtained.
But in examining metallic ores, it is always more
fatisfa&ory to afeertain the whole of the ingredients of
which they are compofed. We (hall therefore proceed
to give an account of the bell conduced analyfis of the
ores of filver.
Corneous fiver ore.—The following is the analyfis of
-this ore by Klaproth.
“ Upon 200 grains of the corneous filver ore I poured
three times their weight of pure nitric acid ; but no
aftion took place, either in the cold or in the heat of
boiling ; only a fubtle brown red iron-ochre was fepa¬
rated, which, being walked off from the remaining ore,
and dried, amounted to four grains. Caultic ammonia,
added to the nitric acid employed, precipitated five
grains more of iron. When it was afterwards mixed
with muriatic acid, only a pale milky colour was pro¬
duced, but no real corneous filver ore depofited. It
followed from this, that neither any free native filver,
nor any portion of it mineralized by fulphur, had been
contained in that ore. The horn-filver, after treat¬
ment with nitric acid, was reduced by twice its weight
of fait of tartar, and yielded 133 grains of reguline
filver.
“ I. For the purpofe of finding out, more accurately,
its conftituent parts, I mixed 200 grains w'ith 6co grains
of the pureft alkali prepared from tartar, and brought
the mixture into the ftate of fufion in a glafs retort, ap¬
plying the neceffary degree of heat. After refrigera¬
tion, I broke off the upper half of the retort, foftened
the fufed mafs, which was of a light-brown colour, with
hot diHilled water, filtered the whole, and edulcorated
-the refidue.
1 2.1 his refidue was then diffolved in nitric acid. The
s, &c. r Chap. IV
folution acquired a brown tinge, and the fcutil floating Silver,
upon the liquor affumed the colour of bricks. When u—y—u
the argenteous parts were completely diffolved, there
remained 84- grains of a-brown-red powder, which im¬
parted a golden yellow colour to the aqua regia, with
which it was digefted, and left a white refidue behind.
This laft confifted of horn-filver, mingled with a flight
portion of the gangue, or matrix of the ore, and afford¬
ed, on reduction, two grains more of filver. Cauftic
ammonia precipitated from the yellow folution feven
grains of oxyded iron.
“ 3. The nitric folution of the filver was precipitated
by common fait ; and the muriate of filver thus obtained
weighed, after reduftion by means of foda, iqui grains
of reguline filver. 6
“ 4. The fluid, left after the feparation of the horn-
filver, had a pale-yellow colour,, owing to a portion of
iron ; which, precipitated by pure ammonia, weighed
five grains.
“ 5. After this, I proceeded to examine the faline
mafs, diffolved in diftilled wrater, and feparated from the
filver, after the corneous ore had been fufed with pure
alkali. On faturating this mafs with diftilled vinegar,
the folution was rendered turbid, and a loofe white earth
depofited, which, collefted and dried, amounted to three
grains and a half of argillaceous earth.
“ 6. The alumina being feparated, the folution was
reduced to a dry fait by evaporation, and the alcohol,
affufed upon it, took up the acetite of pot afti. The
neutral fait, which was left behind by this procefs, and
which confifted of the mineralizing muriatic acid and
the alkali employed, I diffolved in w^ater, and obtained
from it, by repeated evaporation and cryftallization,
1x74- grains' of muriate of potalh.
“ 7. In order to learn whether and in what proportion
fulphuric acid, which by fome writers has been mention¬
ed as one of the conftituent parts of the corneous filver
ore, were really prefent in it, I again diffolved that fait
in diftilled water, and dropped into it liquid muriate of
barytes. The mixture became turbid, exhibiting that
appearance which indicates the prefence of only a flight
quantity of fulphuric acid. I continued to add the
barytes, until no more turbidnefs appeared. The weight
of the precipitate thus obtained was three grains : but,
as in thefe three grains of fulphated barytes the acid
cannot properly be eftimated to be more than half a
grain, I think this quantity is too trifling to be confider-
ed as one of the effential conftituent parts of the corne¬
ous filver ore. But if that half grain of fulphuric acid
be eftimated equal to 14 grain of fulphur of potafli, and
be fubtrafted from the above 11 74 grains of digeftive
fait, or muriate of potafti. there will remain of the latter
only 116 grains, in which the concentrated muriatic
acid amounts to 42 grains. Therefore,
“ One hundred parts of this corneous ore contain
Silver, _ _ 67.75
Muriatic acid, 21
Oxide of iron, 6
Alumina, I-75
Sulphuric acid 0.25
96.75.”
Red fiver ore.—The following is the analyfis of this
ore, alfo by Klaproth.
“ Upon
. IV. ORE
“ Upon 500 grains of bright, cryftalline, red lilver-ore,
moft finely pulverized, I poured fix times their quantity
of a mixture of equal parts of nitric acid of 1.350 fpe-
cific gravity and diftilled water. The phial was kept
for feveral hours in a low digefting heat, fo that the
agency of the acid could be but moderate. I then di^
luted the folution with water ; caufed it to boil ; and,
after the refiduum had fubfided to the bottom, I decant¬
ed the clear folution. Upon the remaining pulverulent
ore, a quantity of nitric acid and Avater, equal to the
preceding, Avas again affufed ; and, in the fame manner,
proceeded with as at firft. The ore appeared now to
have been eflfedlually decompofed •, and for this reafon
the folutions, together with the refiduum, Avere put on
the filter, and the latter properly wafhed.
“ The filtered nitric folution had no colour at all, hav¬
ing been very much diluted by the Avater by Avhich the
refidue had been edulcorated. I fubjedled it to evapo¬
ration to -g-th part, and found the bottom of the evapo¬
rating glais veflfel, after cooling, covered with copious,
finely grained, refplendept, and heavy cryflals of a
gray white. To afeertain their nature, I procured, by
a feparate procefs, a quantity of a folution of the fame
red filver-ore, fufficient for this enquiry, and found that
they Avere fulphate of filver. Being allured of this, I
dilfolved that fulphate by a proportionate quantity of
Avater, aflifted by heat, added it again to the nitric fo¬
lution, and combined thislaft with muriatic acid, as long
as any muriate of filver would precipitate ; which, when
colledfed, edulcorated, and dried, Avas found to weigh
39li grains.
“ The fluid, from which the horn-fitver had been thus
feparated, was then reduced to a fmaller bulk, by dif-
tillation from a retort. This concentrated fluid became
turbid, and left another grain of muriated filver on the
filter. At this time it contained no other foreign fub-
ftance, except a confiderable portion of fulphuric acid.
“ What remained undiflblved by the nitric acid, con-
fifted of an afh-gray, pretty loofe, or flocculent poAvder, of
202 grains in weight. When this had been gently di-
gelled for half an hour, Avith a mixture of five parts of
muriatic acid, mixed with one part of the nitric, and
then diluted Avith half its quantity of water, there re¬
mained, after filtering, careful edulcoration, and drying,
65 grains • which Avere the fulphureous contents of the
ore. When this refidue had been gently heated, the
fulphur deflagrated, leaving 6-^ grains of muriated filver
behind. This fulphur, therefore, confiited of 58^ grains,
“ After the filtered folution had been evaporated in
part, it Avas poured into a large quantity of water. By
management, a Avhite precipitate immediately enfued,
which being feparated by the filter, edulcorated, and
dried, and laftly heated in a porcelain cup, gave 133
grains in Aveight. But I could not find the leaft trace
of arfenie in it, though I had fubje&ed it to all the trials
deemed proper for difeovering its prefence. On the
contrary, it Avas manifeft, that this precipitate wholly
confifted of oxide of antimony, quite of the fame nature
with that Avhich is produced Avhen muriatic folutions of
art mony are precipitated by water. On expofing it to
heat, a fmall portion of moiflure Hill evaporated, attend¬
ed with a muriatic fmell, which was hardly perceptible.
When again put on a tell, and mingled Avith a third
part of charcoal dull, the coaly poAvder was floAvly con-
fumed, by burning, Avithout any arfenical fmell, and left
Vol. XV. Part II.
S, Sec.
behind it the metallic oxide, pofieffed of a gray colour,
and partly blended, partly covered, with a quantity of
fine, gray-Avhite, fiiining, acicular cryftals, or the flowers
of antimony, as they are called. But Avhen it was fufed
in a covered crucible with tartar and powdered charcoal,
it Avas completely revived into reguline antimony, Avhich
being blown off Avith the bellows, a bead of filver was
left, Aveighing half a grain.
“ The liquor alfo, from which the antlmonial oxide Avas
feparated, contained free fulphuric acid. On this-ac¬
count, I put it into a retort, together Avith the nitric
acid, from AA’hich the filver had been precipitated in the
Hate of horn-filver, by means of muriatic acid, and con¬
tinued the diifillation until, at this temperature, nothing
more Avould pafs over ; but, on raifing the heat, thick
Avhite vapours had begun to rife. The fluid left behind
in the retort Avas found, upon trial, to be concentrated
fulphuric acid. Upon diluting this lafl; with Avater, and
fubfequent aifufion of muriated barytes, the fulphate of
barytes from thence produced, amounted, after edulco¬
ration and deficcation, to 194 grains.
“ Confequently, the conftituent parts difcoA'ered by
thefe refearches, are, filver, antimony, fulphur, and ful¬
phuric acid
VitreousJilver ore.—This has been alfo analyzed by
Klaproth, according to the folloAving method.
“ I. If duftile vitreous filver ore be fufed upon a piece
of charcoal, by the afliftance of the bloAv-pipe, its ful¬
phur is quickly volatilized, and a button of pure filver
remains. But it is other wife with the brittle ore : for
the bead left after the evaporation of the fulphur is
brittle, and cannot be purified by the addition of borax.
However, if a little nitrate of potafli be added to the red-
hot bead, it will deftroy the portion of bafer metal which
it contains, and then the borate of foda caufes it to yield
a pure button of filver.
“ 2. One hundred grains of ore, previoufly levigated,
Avere gently boiled in a fufficient quantity of nitric acid,
diluted with an equal quantity of Avater. This opera¬
tion Avas repeatedly performed, till the black colour of
the poAvdered ore difappeared, and the infoluble portion
had become of a loofe texture, and had acquired a gray-
yelloAV colour. When filtered and dried, this refidue
Aveighed 26 grains.
“ 3. On adding a folution of common fait to the
above filtered folution, which had aflumed a pale-
greenifh colour, a copious precipitate of horn-filver en¬
fued, which, edulcorated and dried, gave 881; grains.
Four parts of this afforded three of filver, by fufion
Avith foda.
“ 4, The remaining folution Avas next combined Avith
fulphate of foda *, but neither any turbidnefs, nor any in¬
dication of the prefence of lead, appeared. Upon this,
cauftic ammonia Avas aflufed to excefs; and the gray
precipitate, which then fell doAvn, and Avhich the vola¬
tile alkali could not again render foluble, Aveighed five
grains. Urged by heat, it melted into a confiftence
like pap, at the fame time that a Aveak arfenical fmell
was perceived. After this precipitate had been once
more difiblved in nitric acid, the addition of foda caufed
it to yield a whitifh yellow, alkaline fulphuret a dirty
broAvn, and Pruflian alkali a deep blue precipitate,
liable to the attraction of the loadftone, after ignition.
Therefore, it confifted of iron, with a flight trace of ar-
fenic.
3 H 5. The
426 ORE
Silver. “ The proportion of copper, indicated by a blue
u v ' colour, in confequence of the addition of ammonia, and
Avhich ftill remained in the folufioh, was but flight. For,
after the folution had been faturated with fulphuric acid,
polifhed iron immerfed in it, was inverted with fo flight
a coppery cruft, that no copper to any amount could be
collected.
“ 6. Thofe 26 grains, which continued infoluble in the
nitric acid (2.), were digefted in aitro-muriatic acid,
till nothing appeared to remain but the mere lulphur.
Its weight amounted to 13 grains ; but after deflagra¬
tion, it left behind it about one grain ofquartzofe matter
of the mine.
“ y. From this it is obvious, that 13 grains, or one-half
of the above 26 grains, were held in folution by the ni-
tro-muriatic acid 5 and thefe were precipitated entirely
in the form of a white powder, upon the affufton of 20
parts of water. When ignited, this precipitate aflumed
a yellowilh colour ; but there was nothing either of
arfenic, or any other volatile fubftance, perceivable. By
combination with foda, it became reduced to pure regu-
line antimony; which, as fueh, admitted of being blown
off, without leaving any refldue, in its uiual form of a
thick white fmoke, adhering to the contiguous bodies
in the form of needle-fhaped flowers (oxide) of anti¬
mony. Thofe 13 grains of oxided antimony are equi¬
valent to ten grains of that matter in the reguline
* Ffays. ftate
For the analyfis of fome of the other ores of filver,
we muft refer our readers to the ingenious and elaborate
Effays of the fagacious Klaproth, from which we have
extrafted what is given above on this fubjeft.
Sect. II. Reduction of the Ores of Silver.
Although the ores of filver contain a larger pro¬
portion of extraneous matters than the ores of fome other
metals, the value of that metal being greater than that of
many others, admits of greater expence in the proceffes
employed for their reduction. The ores of filver are
reduced, either by fufion, or amalgamation.
ReduEiion of fiver ores by fufion.—Native fulphuret
of lead, or galena, commonly contains a portion of fil¬
ver, and often in fuch quantity, as to make its repara¬
tion from the lead a profitable undertaking. The pro¬
portion of filver contained in lead is very variable. The
greateft produce of filver which we have heard of, was
got from the lead ore of Craven in Yorkfhire, which
amounted to 230 ounces of filver in the ton of lead.
The mines of Cardiganfhire yielded formerly 80 ounces
per ton ; the Durham and Weftmoreland mines afford
lead, from which \y ounces of filver are obtained upon
an average per ton. The lead procured from the mines
of Iflay, one of the Weftern iflands of Scotland, yielded,
we have been informed, 40 ounces per ton; and the a-
verage produce of lead at the refinery at Poullaouen, in
Brittany in France, is above 39 ounces of filver per
ton. The following is the procefs carried on at the
latter eftablithment, for feparating the filver from the
lead.
After the lead has been extracted from the ore, the
objeft of the refiner is to obtain the filver in a feparate
ftate, which is difperfed through the mafs of lead. This
is performed by the procefs of cupellation on a large
fcale, or refining, as it is ufually termed. The floor of
5
S, &c. Ciiap. iv,
the reverberatory furnace, in which the procefs is con- Silver,
dueled, is horizontal, and it is lined with wood afhes J
and fand mixed together, and well beaten, and formed
into a fhallow bafon, which is the cupel. There is an
aperture at one fide of the cupel, which forms a right
angle with the flue by which the flame from the fire¬
place paffes into the cavity of the furnace. Through
this aperture the lead, brought to the ftate of litharge,
runs ; and oppofite to it there is another aperture by
which a blaft of air is admitted. The top of the fur¬
nace has a circular aperture direftly above, and corre-
fponds in extent with the cupel, which may be flint up
with a frame work of iron filled with bricks. When
the furnace is ready, the cupel is lined with hay, and is
then charged with about 177 quintals of lead, in bars
or pigs, through the circular aperture, and the cover
being put on, the fire is lighted up. In the courfe of
fix hours, the -whole of the lead being melted, and •
brought to a red heat, a blaft of air is directed upon the
furface of the lead, and the allies of the hay, and other
impurities are removed with a wooden rake. The blaft
being continued for half an hour and more, the furface
of the lead begins to be covered with a thick cruft of
oxide, which is feraped off, and is foon fucceeded by
another, but it is not till the furface has been cleared five
or fix times that the true litharge appears. When this is
the cafe, the temperature is raifed to a cherry red, and
by the action of the blaft, with the occafional aid of the
workman, the litharge flows out through the aperture
mentioned above. The intenfe heat volatilizes a con-
fiderable portion of lead, and fo fills the interior of the
furnace with vapour, that a perfon of experience only
can difeover what is going on in the cupel. At the
end of 38 or 40 hours from the time that the fire is
lighted, the contents of the cupel are reduced to about
fix quintals, and the litharge which comes over at this
time is kept feparate, becaufe it contains a fmall portion
of filver. At laft the litharge ceafes to flow, and the
furface of the melted metal appears covered only by a
thin pellicle. It then becomes gradually convex at the
edges; the pellicle breaks up, and the furface of the
metal appears quite bright. The blaft is now to be
turned off, the fire damped, and an aperture in the fur¬
nace, previoufly flopped with clay, is opened to admit
a tin plate tube, through which a ftream of water is
poured into the cupel, in order to cool the metal rapid¬
ly, that it may be prevented from fpirting, which would
be the cafe, if this precaution were not obferved at the
moment of congelation. But the filver thus obtained
is ftill contaminated with a portion of lead from which
it is freed by a fecond cupellation, which is performed
in a moveable cupel containing about 700 or 800 ounces,
and is placed in a fmall reverberatory furnace, which
being heated about three hours, is charged with filver
of the fir ft cupellation. After the fufion of the filver,
a proper working heat is kept up for four or five hours,
when the refining is ufually completed. The lofs of
lead by volatilization during the refining procefs is efti-
mated at about eight per cent. When the quantity of
litharge produced is large, it is reconverted into lead,
by being returned into the reverberatory furnace, and
treated in the fame manner as the ore. This forms lead
of the beft and fofteft quality, becaufe it is in a ftate of
the greateft purity. . And befides, the fcoriae that re¬
main after the reduction of the ore, and the litharge,
along
Chap. IV. ORE
Silver, along with the old cupels, and the metallic foot which
u—-Y—' is depofited in the chimney of the furnace, are treated
in a common blaft furnace, and a confiderable portion
of lead is thus obtained.
A different praftice is followed in the Englifh re¬
fineries. A common reverberatory furnace, having the
area perforated with a large oval hole to receive the
cupel, is employed. The cupel is formed of fix parts
of well burnt bone allies, and one of good fern allies,
mixed together, and moilfened to a proper confidence.
A quantity of this mixture is ftrewed to the depth of
about two inches in an iron frame, which confifts of a
raifed elliptical rim, with five broad bars rivetted to its
bottom, fo as to occupy nearly one-half of its area. The
allies are rammed down very clofe with a wooden beat¬
er, and particularly within the bars of the frame, as it
is laid on a flat floor. More allies are then added, and
beaten carefully in, till the frame is quite full. By
means of a (harp-edged fpade, five inches fquare, a ca¬
vity is formed in the ted for containing the melted me¬
tal, and at one end of the frame a femi-elliptical hole is
cut through the bread, which latter is to be left of dif¬
fident folidity and thicknefs. The ted is now to be
turned on its fide, and dreffed from all fuperfluous aides
adhering to the bottom, taking care that none fliall be
left fluid with the bottom of the frame or crofs bars,
otherwife the ted might be bulged, by fixing it at the
bottom of the furnace. The rim being piadered with
clay or moidened aides, the ted is placed upon the fup-
porting crofs bars, and fixed firmly with wedges againd
the bottom of the furnace, the bread being next to the
feeding hole. A moderate heat is now applied, and
gradually increafed till the ted be red hot} and when it
ceafes to emit deam from the under fide, it is fufficient-
ly dry. This previous preparation being completed,
the following is the method of operation as it is defcri-
* Nichol. betl by Mr Sadler *.
Journ. “ Lead previoufly melted in an iron pot is ladled
*xv- 3* into the ted until the hollow part be nearly filled, the
operator clofes the feeding aperture, and increafes the
heat of the furnace until the furface of the lead is well
covered with litharge •, he then removes the door from
the feeding hole, and with an iron rod, which has one
end bent down at right angles about three inches, and
made flat or chiffel-lhaped, fcrapes the fmall gutter or
channel until the litharge jud flows into it', the blad
from a pair of double bellows is then direfted from the
back part over the furface of the ted, the litharge is
urged forward, and flows from the gutter upon the
floor of the refinery ; the operation now goes forward,
gradually adding lead as the efcape of litharge makes
it neceffarv, until the gutter is fo worn down that the ted
does not contain more than an inch in depth of lead,
the blad is then taken off, the gutter filled up with
moidened aflres, and a frelh one made on the other fide
the bread •, the ted is again filled, though not fo full as
at fird, and the operation carried on until this gutter
alfo is worn down and the ted contain from about 50 to
70 pounds of alloy. This quantity is run into an iron
pot, and fet by until a fufficient number of pieces have
been collefted to make it worth while to take off a plate
of pure filver from them.
“ The quantity of alloy left in the working off each
ted mud depend in a great meafure upon the quan¬
tity of filver which by edimation it is fuppofed to contain.
S, &c.
A fufficient quantity of lead Ihould always be left in the
alloy to make it fufe eafily in the iron pot.
“ When the ted is removed from the turnace and
broken up, the litharge will be found to have penetra¬
ted to an inconfiderable but an equal depth in the allies ;
that part not impregnated with litharge may be pul¬
verized, mixed with frelh allies, and again ufed for an¬
other ted.
“ The operation of taking off the filver pure differs
in no refpe£l from the foregoing, only more care is ob-
ferved in the working, not to differ the efcape of any
metallic particles with the litharge, as that would oc-
cafion confiderable wade of filver. As the proctfs ad¬
vances, and the proportion of filver to lead increafes,
the litharge affumes a darker colour, a greater heat be¬
comes neceffary, and at lad the brightning takes place ;
the interior of the furnace, which during the whole of
the procefs had been very obfcure and midy, clears up.
When the operator obferves the furface of the filver to
be free from litharge, he removes the biad of the bel¬
lows, and fuffers the furnace to cool gradually ; as the
filver cools many protuberances arife on the furface, and
fluid filver is ejefted from them with confiderable force,
which falling again on the plate, fpots it very fantadi-
cally with fmall globules.
“ The latter portions of litharge bring over a confi¬
derable quantity of filver with them ; this is generally
reduced by itfelf and again refined.
“ The litharge as it falls upon the floor of the refinery
is occafionally removed ; it is in clots at fird, but after
a fhort time as it cools it falls for the mod part like
flaked lime, and appears in the brilliant feales it is
met with in commerce : if it is intended as an article
for fale, nothing more is neceffary than to fift it from
the clots which have not fallen, and pack it in
barrels.
“ If, on the contrary, it is intended to be manfaflu-
red into pure lead, it is placed in a reverberatory furnace,
mixed with clean fmall-eoal, and expofed to a heat jud
fudicient to fufe the litharge. The metal as it is reduced
Hows through an aperture into an iron pot, and is ead
into pigs for fale. During the reducing, care is taken
to keep the whole furface of the litharge in the furnace
covered with fmall-coal.
“ In dune fmelt works, indead of a reverberatory fur¬
nace for reducing, a blad furnace is made ufe of, on ac¬
count of the greater produce, but the lead fo reduced is
never fo pure as that made in the wind furnace. The
oxides of the metals, which require a greater heat to re¬
duce than the lead, are in the blad furnace generally re¬
duced with it.
“ The volatile oxides, as zinc, antimony, and arfenic,
are modly carried off by evaporation during refining 5 a
confiderable portion of the oxide of lead itfrlf is carried
off by evaporation, making the interior of the furnace
fo midy and obfcure that a perfon unufed to refining
cannot fee more than a few inches into it.
“ A confiderable portion of thefe oxides is driven by
the blad of the bellows through the feeding aperture,
and would be diffipated in the refining-houfe, to the
great injury of the workmen’s healths ; to prevent
their ill effects, the arch or dome over the feeding hole
is erefted to carry the fume into the dack of the fur-
nace.”
We diall now deferibe the method of treating the
3 H 2 proper
O II E
proper ores of filver, as it is condu&ed by Schreiber at
Allemont in France. Thefe ores are native Silver, and
the fulphuret of filver mixed with arfenical cobalt, py¬
rites, iron ochre, clay, calcareous fpar, and fome other
earthy minerals, i he filver-being difperfed in very mi¬
nute grains through the gangue, cannot be feparated from
the ftony parts by wafiiing. After the ore is picked by
the hand, it is pounded dry in the {lamping mill, and is
reduced to the confilltnce of eoarfe fand. Roalling,
previous to fufion, is not required ; but the ore being re¬
fractory, it is found neceflary to employ a flux compo-
fed of quicklime, fcorise from a preceding fufion, and
flag from the iron forges. To fupply the proper quan¬
tity ol lead, powdered galena, with the litharge and
fcorlae furnifhed by the refinery, and with old cupels
ground to powder, is added to the ore in fuch propor¬
tions that the lead, which is obtained by the fufion,
may contain two per cent, of filver, allowing 20 per
cent, of the lead at leaf! to be loft by evaporation, or
combining with the fcoriae. After being properly mix¬
ed, the materials are fubjeefed to the heat of a powerful
blaft-furnace, with alternate charges of charcoal. The
produfts of the fufion are lead combined with filver, a
black, compa6t, fulphureous, femi-metallic fubftance
which is called mutt, and fome fcoriae. The fcoriee
thus obtained is negleffed, excepting a certain propor¬
tion, which is referved as a flux for the next parcel of
ore. But the. matt, which is tolerably rich in filver, is
again melted with litharge, and the lead carries with it
almoft the whole of the filver; and although this fecond
matt contain a portion of filver, it is not found worth
while to fubjeft it to a fecond fufion. After refining the
lead procured by thefe operations, it is found to yield
about two per cent, of filver. 1 he procefs of cupella-
tion is performed at a higher hetft than ufual, which it
is fuppofed is neceflary by the prefence of a fmall por¬
tion of iron; but the confequence of employing this high
temperature is to increafe the wafte of the metal by eva¬
poration ; for inftead of feven or eight per cent, it a-
mounts to no lefs than 20 per cent. And as every pound
avoirdupois of the lead thus volatilized, contains from
fix to ten grains of filver, the lofs in this procefs is very
great. Perhaps it might be diminiftied by mixing a
larger proportion of lead with the filver ore.
But other filver ores afford both lead and copper, and
in this cafe a more complicated operation becomes re-
quifite. In the firft part of the procefs the pooreft kinds
of filver ore, or fuch as contain but a fmall proportion
of copper and lead, and a great deal of ftony matter,
are to be mixed with the poorer pyritical ores, or fuch
as contain little filver and copper, and a great deal of
fulphur and iron. A portion of fcorise obtained from a
former procefs, and containing the oxides of lead and
copper, with fome filver, is added to this mixture by
way of flux. I he materials thus prepared being ex-
pofed to heat in a blaft-furnace, re-a£t on each other,
and enter into fufion. The ftony matter is diffolved,
and tne melted mafs feparates into two diftinft parts, of
which the heavieft occupying the bottom of the furnace
forms about one-fourth of the whole mafs. This is
called matt, and contains all the filver, with the greater
part of the copper, moft of the lead, iron, and fulphur,
and generally zinc and arfenic. The flag which fwims
on the furface, as being the lighter portion, confiits of
the greater part of the fulphur, oxide of iron, and earthy
4,
s> &c' Chap. iv.
matters; the fmall proportion of lead and copper is not Silver
worth the trouble of extra&ion. •' ‘J
To drive off part of the fulphur and other volatile
impurities, the crude malt obtained in the preceding
operation is.roalled, and being mixed with one and a
halt times its weight ot a richer kind of filver ore, and
twice its weight of lead Icorise, by way of flux, it is
again fufed, and thus a rich matt is procured, which
may contain from nine to ten pounds of lead, from three
to four pounds of copper, and from fix to feven ounces
of filver in the quintal, befides a quantity of Icorise
which holds a little lilver, and which may therefore be
fuccefsfully employed as a flux in fubfequent futions.
This rich matt being roafted, is mixed with half its
weight of litharge and fcorise in equal proportions, and
again fubjedfted to tuiion. The produft of this fufion is
a quantity ot metallic lead, contairiing from fix to eight
ounces of filver in the quintal; a fimilar quantity" of
copper matt, which contains from 30 to 40 pounds of
copper, and about four ounces of filver in the quintal ;
and laftly a quantity of fcorise, which contains from fix
to 10 pounds of lead, and about 40 grains of filver in
the quintal.
The copper matt of the above operation is rext roaft¬
ed, and fufed with a quantity of lead and copper fco¬
rise, and the produft obtained is black copper, which
contains from 60 to 80 pounds of copper, and from five
to ten ounces of filver in the quintal. This black cop¬
per being melted with litharge and fcoriae, the moft
part of the filver combines with the lead, and after one
or two fufions, the copper is entirely freed, not only
from the lead and filver, but alfo from the fulphur, iron,
and other impurities.
Liquation.— T he affinity between lead and filver is
much ftronger than the affinity between lead and cop¬
per. In confequence of this affinity, lead.and filver are
eafily feparated from copper, by being expofed to a mo¬
derate heat. This procefs is called liquation or eliqua-
tion. When the black unrefined copper, or copper matt,
contains the proper proportion of filver for this opera¬
tion, it is firft fufed with lead or litharge, or with a
mixture of the two, and an alloy confiding of copper,
lead, and filver, is thus obtained. This is caft into
moulds, fo that the metallic product fhall be in the
form of round maffes or loaves, which being fet in a
furnace on an inclined plane of iron, with a fmall chan¬
nel grooved out, are expofed to a moderate red heat.
By this procefs the lead melts, or, as it were, fweats
out of the loaf, and carrying the filver along with it,
on account of its ftronger affinity for this metal, runs
down the groove, while the copper remains behind as a
oark red ipongy mafs. d he lead containing the filver
being fubjedled to the procefs of cupellation, the latter
is obtained feparate. But, in adopting this procefs, the
proportion of the three metals muft be attended to. The
lead ftiould not be more than four times the weight of
the copper, otherwife the alloy becomes fo fufible, that
part of the copper will be melted and carried along
with the lead and filver ; or, if too great a degree of
heat is applied, the whole loaf of liquation will be fufed,
and the procefs muft again be repeated. The pro¬
portion of lead fhould at leaft be 2^- times the quantity
of copper, otherwife a confiderable proportion of it, and
alfo part of the filver, will remain in the loaf after heat¬
ing. But as this procefs is now more rarely followed,
we a
Chap. IV. - ORE
Silver, we (hall not enter into any farther detail of the particu-
^—-v 1 lars conne&ed with it.
Reduction of ftiver ores by amalgamation,—This pro-
ccfs, by which lilver ores are reduced, and which is
now pretty generally followed in different parts of Eu¬
rope, was hrflf praftifed by the Spaniards in South
America. The ores which are fubjedled to amalgama¬
tion, are fuch as contain only a fmall quantity of lead
or copper 5 but it is of fome importance that there
tliould be a certain proportion of iron pyrites, and if
this proportion be not naturally mixed with the ore, it
is a good pradlice to fupply the deficiency, by adding
what is wanting to the dreffed ore, fo that the pyritical
contents may, as nearly as poffible, be in a certain pro¬
portion to the quantity of filver, which is to be afeer-
tained by previoufly affaying a portion of the ore.
The ore being reduced to the confidence of coarfe
fand, is carefully mixed with common fait, in the
proportion of eight or nine per cent, when the filver in
the ore amounts to eight ounces per quintal ; and when
the latter amounts to 32 ounces, or even a greater pro¬
portion, from 10 to 12 per cent, of fait is to be added.
The next procefs is roafting the ore, in which about
three quintals are fpread on the door of a reverberatory
furnace, and fubjefted to a moderate red heat. During
the roafting the ore is to be turned twice or thrice, that
every part of it may be equally expofed to the heat.
The firft charge being withdrawn, an experienced
workman knows by its appearance whether the propor¬
tion of fait be too little or too much, and, as may be
required, more fait or ore is added to the unroafted par¬
cel. When the whole of the ore is roafted, it is ground
in a mill, pafl’ed through fieves, by which it is made as
fine as meal, and is then prepared for the proper procefs
of amalgamation. This is performed in the following
manner. A number of fmail barrels, which are made
to revolve rapidly on their axes by means of machinery,
or fixed tubs, either open or covered, having in the ,
centre of each an inftrument refembling a chocolate
mill, which may be turned rapidly by fimilar machi¬
nery. The tubs or barrels are filled about one-third
with water, and afterwards a fufiicient quantity of roaft¬
ed ore and mercury, in nearly equal proportions, is in¬
troduced, fo that the whole may be of the confiftence
of thin mud. The machinery is put in motion, and
continued without interruption for 30 or 48 hours, ac¬
cording to the nature of the ore, when the amalgama¬
tion is completed. About a quarter of~15n hour after
the agitation of the matter in the barrels has cealed, the
greater part of it falls to the bottom, and is withdrawn
by opening a hole made for the purpofe. . The earthy
refidue is carefully walhed by fmall portions at a time,
and thus a good deal of the amalgam which, from be¬
ing very minutely divided, could not fink through and
mix with the reft, is recovered. The earth, however, .
if originally rich in filver, ftill retains a fmall propor¬
tion. It is therefore dried, and being mixed with about
3 per cent, of fait, is again roafted, but at a higher
temperature than at firft ; and tjie procefs of amalgama¬
tion being again repeated, the whole of the filver is ex-
trafled. The fluid amalgam is {trained through a clofe-
ly woven bag, and is thus feparated into nearly pure
mercury and a ftiff amalgam ; and the latter being fub-
je<fted to diftillatiun, the mercury is driven over, and.
S, See.
the filver remains behind. The copper, which is com¬
bined with the filver, is feparated by cupellation.
The procefs of amalgamation is thus explained. The
greater part of the fulphur of the filver and pyrites is,
by roafting, burnt off, and converted into iulphurous
acid, which latter, as foon as it is formed, and affifted
alfo by the affinity of the filver for muriatic acid, de-
compofes the common fait, forming a fulphate or ful-
phite of foda, while the muriatic acid combining with
the filver, forms muriate of filver. In the amalgama¬
tion which follows, the mercury, being in great propor¬
tion, decompofes tfie muriate of filver, and is partly
converted into calomel. Hence it appears, that the
lofs of mercury, which is fometimes very confiderable in
this procefs, arifes, firft, from the converfion of part of
it into calomel ; and, fecondly, from the extremely mi¬
nute divifion of another part, fo that it is carried oft' in
wafliing the earthy refidue 5 but the proportion of the
latter depends much on management.
By the following method filver may be feparated
from copper, according to Napione, without the expen-
five and complicated procefs of liquation. The mixed
metal is melted ; a quantity of fulphur is fprinkled over
its furface, while the whole is ftirred about with a ftick
by an affiftant, fo that the fulphur may combine with
the copper into a matt, which floats above the metal,
and is to be removed with a pair of tongs, previoufly
moiftening its furface. with water, to make it folid.
Another portion of fulphur is next to be ftirrod in, and
the fecond matt produced is to be removed in the fame
manner. This procefs being repeated a fufficient num¬
ber of times, the greater part of the copper is converted
into matt, holding a fmall proportion of filver, while
the remaining copper, which retains the moft of the fil¬
ver, originally diffufed through the whole mafs, be¬
comes rich enough to be fent immediately to the re¬
finery. In treating the matt, it is firft to be reduced
to powder, mixed with common fait.and quicklime, in
the proportion of 1 2 per cent, of each, roafted for 10
hours, amalgamated as before ; and after three fuccef-
five roaftings and amalgamations, the whole of the filver
may be cxtra&ed.
Table of the quantity of Silver introduced into Com¬
merce, taken at an average between the years 1790
and 1802.
Old Continent.
Siberia,
Hungary,
Auftrian Stale-s,
Hartz and Heffe,
Saxony,
Norway, .
France,
New Continent.
North America,
Spanifih poffeflions in
South America,
Kilogrammes.
17,50°
20,000
5000
5o°o
10,000
10,000
5000
  72,500
600,000
275,000
  875,000
Kilogrammes,
or about 2,091,162 lbs. avoirdupois.
947>500>
Chap.
429
Silver.
O R E
Chap. V. Of the Ores of Copper.
The ores of copper are very various. This metal is
found native, in the itate of oxide, in the ftate of ful-
phuret, and in that of fait, combined with carbonic,
muriatic, phofphoric, and arfenic acids.
Sect. I. Of the Analysis of the Ores of Copper.
The analylis of the ores of copper, it is obvious, muft
vary, according to the nature of the fubftances with
which they are combined •, but as a great proportion of
the ores of that metal are combined with fulphur or
arfenic, when they are to be treated in the dry way,
they are firft roafted, for the purpofe of expelling thofe
iubftances. To effed; this, the ore is mixed with about
one half its bulk of charcoal powder, or fine faw-duft,
and then fubjeded to a low red heat, on a flat tile or
muffle, on which it fliould be thinly fbread. The ful¬
phur or the arfenic riles in fumes *, and to accelerate the
Reparation of thefe fubftances, the mixture ftiould be
frequently ftirred, obferving at the fame time not to in-
creafe the heat to fuch a degree as to make the ore clot
together, which is one of the objeds in the ufe of the
faw-duft or charcoal. When it appears that the fumes
ceafe to rife, and the whole of the charcoal is burnt off,
the part of the ore remaining is now in the ftate of
oxide, but mixed with a quantity of fulphur or arfenic,
which cannot be entirely feparated by roafting, and
with the earthy matters with which the ore was origi¬
nally combined.
The next objed is to reduce the oxides, thus obtain¬
ed, to the metallic ftate ; and in this procefs of reduc¬
tion the oxide is expofed to a high temperature, in con-
tad with fome carbonaceous matter, and fecluded from
the air. It has been a common pradice to add fome al¬
kaline matters by way of flux, to promote the fufion of
the extraneous matters combined with the ore 5 but the
experience and obfervation of more enlightened chemifts
have proved, that a portion of the metallic oxide is al¬
ways dilfolved by faline fluxes, fo that by affays in the
dry way with faline fluxes, a lefs proportion of metal than
the ore really contains, is obtained from it. The lofs,
according to Klaproth, between the treatment of a cop¬
per ore in the dry way, and the fame ore, in the moift
way, amounted to no lefs than 9 per cent. To obviate this
inconvenience, a flux is employed by fome, compofed of
fuftble glafs, into which a large proportion of alkali and
filica enters, without any metallic matter $ or fluor fpar,
lime, and particularly borax. By the latter, a thinner
fufion of the vitrifying mixture, than by an equal quan¬
tity of any other fubftance, is produced, fo that a fmall-
er proportion of borax than of the alkaline matters an-
fwers all the purpofes of a flux ; and thus the lofs of the
metallic oxide, by folution, is lefs.
But in reducing the pure oxides, or the carbonated
oxides of copper, the method which is attended with
fcarcely any lofs, is by fubjefting them in contact with
charcoal, in a covered crucible, to an intenfe heat. It
is indeed in this way that the reduction of roafted cop¬
per ores is condufted on a large fcale ; but as thefe lat¬
ter contain fulphur, arfenic, iron, and other impurities,
the procefs muft be many times repeated before the cop¬
per is brought to a malleable ftate.
S, &C. Cl
In reducing the fulphurated ores of copper, a button
of metal, of confiderable purity, may be fometimes ob¬
tained by means of a Angle operation. The tedious
procefs of roafting. is avoided by adding to the ore two
or three times its weight of nitre, and prejedtingit into
a hot crucible. When thrown into the crucible, a defla¬
gration takes place, in which the fulphur is burnt, and
converted into fulphuric acid, which unites with the
potafh of the decompofed nitre. The metal being now
freed from the fulphur, is in a ftate of complete oxida¬
tion by the nitric acid, and may be reduced by adding
a flux of tartar and pitch, or other fimilar matters, and
applying a ftrong heat for a fufficient length of time.
But it deems to be more advifable to feparate the metal¬
lic oxide after deflagration. This may be done by wafti-
ing the mixture, alter which the oxide is to be reduced
by the proper flux.
In the analyfis of copper ores in the moift way, the
metal is obtained feparate in three ftates ; either in the
metallic ftate, in the ftate of black oxide, or in that of
green carbonate. If a polilhcd piece of iron be intro¬
duced into an acid folution of copper, it is immediately
covered with a coating of flrining metallic copper, which
is owing to a part of the iron being diffolved by the
acid, and a correfponding portion of copper being fepa¬
rated from the folution. The whole of the copper may
be precipitated in this way, and at laft the folution con¬
tains only iron. The precipitate, which is in the form
of ragged filaments, may be walked, dried, and weigh¬
ed, fo that the proportion of the metal in the ore exa¬
mined may be afeertained. It may be added, that the
precipitation is greatly promoted, by boiling for a Ihort
time, especially towards the end of the procefs, which
produces the feparation of the laft portions of the cop¬
per j and it ftiould be farther obferved, that a perfect
feparation of copper from iron is obtained only when the
folution is made in fidphuric or muriatic acid, and
not in nitric acid. The method of feparating copper
from filver has been already mentioned. It may be fe¬
parated from lead, by adding fulphate of foda to the fo¬
lution, by which an infoluble fulphate of lead is obtain¬
ed, and the copper remains behind. To feparate cop¬
per from antimony, the oxides of copper and antimony
are digefted with nitric acid ; the copper is diflblved,
and the antimony is left. By immerfing a piece of me¬
tallic tin in the folution, copper may be feparated from
tin •, for by this means the copper only is precipitated.
Arfenic is feparated from copper by diflblving in nitrous
acid, and adding acetate or nitrate of lead, which pro¬
duces an infoluble arfeniate of lead, and leaves the cop¬
per behind. In cafe there ftiould be an excefs of lead,
the addition of fulphate of foda will t/irow it down in
the form of infoluble fulphate. When nickel is com¬
bined with copper, it is ufually conjoined with iron.
Ammonia precipitates all the three metals ; but, when
added in excefs, redilfolves the nickel and copper. To
obtain the latter feparate, fuperfaturate with muriatic
acid, and introduce a poliftted piece of iron, by which
the copper is precipitated, and the nickel remains in the
folution.
To afeertain the quantity of precipitated copper ob¬
tained from the examination of an ore, it is to be walk¬
ed and dried, put into a fmall crucible, moiftened with
a drop or two of oil, and covered with borax. Thus
prepared, it is fubjefted to ftrong heat for a few mi¬
nutes,
Chap. V. ORE
Copper, nutes, and a folid button of malleable copper is produ-
ced, which may be accurately weighed. But if the^
produft of the analyfis be in the fiate of green carbo¬
nate, which is obtained by adding carbonate of potafli
or foda to a folution of copper, the green precipitate,
thus formed, is to be wafhed and dried at the tempera¬
ture of boiling water. An hundred and eighty parts of
this carbonate are equivalent to 100 of metallic copper.
The quantity of copper obtained by analyfis may be
eftimated alfo in the ftate of black oxide. If the green
carbonate be boiled for a few moments in cauftic pot-
alh, it {brinks and becomes a deep brownith black fine
powder, which is a pure oxide of copper in its higheft
ftate of oxidation. One hundred parts of this oxide,
after being well wafhed, and dried in a low red heat,
for a minute or two, are conftantly found to contain 80
parts of pure metallic copper.
We {hall now give a few examples of the analyfes of
particular ores of copper.
Vitreous copper ore, or fulphuret of copper from Sibe¬
ria. The following is the mode of analyfis of vitreous
copper ore by Klaproth.
“ i. Upon 200 grains of the ore, coarfely powdered,
moderately ftrong nitric acid was affufed, which attack¬
ed and diffolved them with frothing and extrication of
red vapours. The folution was clear, and the fulphur
alone in the ore was left behind, floating in the fluid,
in gray, loofe flocculi, without any other refidue *,
which indicated that no antimony was prefent. The
fulphur colledted on the filter was* heated in a fmall cru¬
cible to inflammation, and it burned with its peculiar
odour, without any trace of arfenic ; yet leaving a flight
portion of oxidated iron and filiceous earth.
“ 2. The folution, which had a pure blue colour, -was
treated firft with muriate, and then with fulphate of
foda. But none of thefe, nor any other fait, rendered
it turbid, or produced any other alteration ; by which
it appears, that this ore contains neither filver nor
lead.
u 3. To determine, with proper accuracy, the propor¬
tion of the conftituent parts, I repeated the examination
in the following manner. Two hundred grains of the
powdered ore were combined and heated with muriatic
acid, to the degree of boiling. But as this alone ma-
nifefted no action on it, I added nitric acid gradually,
by drops, which exerted a ftrong attack in each in-
ftance. When the folution of the ore had been accom-
plilhed, I feparated the fluid from the fulphur floating
on the fur face j and digefted this laft once more with a
frefti quantity of muriatic acid, dropping into it fotne
nitric acid, after which I collected it upon the filter.
This fulphur, wafhed and deficcated, weighed 384-grs.
out of which, after its combuftion, i4 grain of filiceous
earth remained ; fo that the true amount of fulphur was
37 grains.
“ 4. The folution exhibited a glafs-green colour. I di¬
vided it into two parts. Into one half poliftied iron was
immerfed, upon which the copper precipitated of a den-
dritical form, and pure metallic brilliance. It weighed
784 grains, when walhed, and immediately deficcated
in a moderate temperature.
“ if. In order to afcertain the proportion of iron con¬
tained in the ore, I combined the other half of the fo¬
lution with cauftic ammonia added to excefs of fatura-
S, &cv
43i
tion. The precipitated iron remained behind, in the Copper,
form of a fubtle brown mud, which, collected on the —-'V"”
filter, deficcated and ignited, weighed three grains.
But as the iron is contained in the mixture of the ore,
not in this calciform ftate, but in the reguline, which
laft is to the firft in the proportion of 3 to 4, thefe three
grains of oxidated iron give 2^ of metallic iron to be
added in the computation.
“ Therefore, an hundred parts of the Siberian vitreous -
copper ore confift of,
Copper, 78 50
Iron, 2.25
Sulphur, jS.jO
Silex, 0.75
3 00.00
*EJaySr~
1. 541,
Variegated copper ore.—This ore was analyfed by
Klaproth, in the following manner.
“ 1. One hundred grains of the pulverized ore were
fubjedted to gentle digeftion with nitric acid, whofe ac¬
tion upon it was but moderate. From the refidue, the
fulphur was driven out by combuftion. This refidue,
when a fecond time digefted with nitric acid, diflblved
in it, leaving only a flight portion of a red oxide- of
iron. On examining the folution, firft by common
fait, and then by Glauber fait, it continued limpid and
unchanged.
“ 2. Upon 200 grains of the porvdered ore, muriatic
acid was affufed, the mixture heated, and then com¬
bined in fmall portions with nitric acid. The folution,
which was thus performed, had, a brown colour -while
concentrated ; but as foon as it rvas diluted with water,
it acquired a green. The remaining fulphur wras gray,
tenacious, and fpongy, and weighed 72 grains when
dry. By flow combuftion it left 35 grains, of which,
after extraction by muriatic acid, five grains ftill re¬
mained behind. Thefe loft one grain more of fulphur
by burning, and the remaining four grains diflblved en¬
tirely in muriatic acid. Whence the quantity of ful¬
phur amounted to 38 grains.
“ 3. The muriatic folution was divided into two equal
parts ; and the copper w'as precipitated from one of
them by means of iron. It amounted to 694 grains.
“ 4. The other half was fuperfaturated with cauftic
ammonia, and the oxide of iron which fell down was
collected. This, when moiftened with linfeed oil, and
expofed to a low red heat, weighed lo grains ; which
are equal to 74 grains of metallic or reguline iron.
« Thus, in 100 parts of this variegated copper ore
from Norway were found,
Copper, 69.50
Sulphur, 19.
Iron, 7.50
Oxygen, 4.
100.00
“ In fupplying the deficiency in the fum of weights
of the copper, iron, and fulphur, from the hundred, by¬
putting oxygen in the account, I mean to characterize
this laft as a conftant conftituent part of variegated cop¬
per ore, producing in it thofe variegated colours : in
the fame manner, as in ft eel, in copper pyrites, and
©they
432
ORE
Copper, oilier metallic fubftances, tlie beginning of their osida-
v tion is indicated by a limilar diverfity of colours.
“ In the laft^mentioned fubftances, however, the
changeable colours are only owing to external caufes ;
for which reafon they prefent themfelves only on the
furface, when long expofed to air. On the contrary,
the variegated copper ore is penetrated throughout its
■whole mafs by the oxidating principle. This corre-
fponds with the deficiency of weight to make up the
fum of the fixed conftituent parts of the ore here ana-
lyfed 5 whereas no fuch lofs is obfervable in the vitreous
copper ore, treated and decompofed by the fame me¬
thod. It is on this account alfo, that the aftion of the
nitric acid is lefs ftrong, and the difengagement of ni¬
trous gas is lefs copious, in the variegated than in the
* Ibid. i. vitreous copper ore
Malachite, or carbonate of copper.—Klaproth analy-
fed a Siberian ore of this fpecies, according to the fol¬
lowing procefs.
“ i. One thoufand grains of compadl reniform mala¬
chite, from the Turjin mines, on the Ural, were redu¬
ced to powder, and heated to complete rednefs in a fmall
glafs retort, connected with the pneumatic apparatus.
Much carbonic acid gas was difengaged in this procefs,
to the amount of 252 cubic inches, without reckoning
that part which was abforbed by the water of the appa¬
ratus. This gas was entirely ablbrbed by lime w-ater,
at the fame time that a proportionate quantity of car¬
bonated or crude calcareous earth was 1 produced. In
the intermediate fmall receiver a moifture colleifted,
weighing 78 grains, which, upon trial, proved to be
pure water. *
2. The pulverulent refidue taken out of the retort ap¬
peared of a black colour, and weighed 716 grains. To
ferve for the following experiments, it was divided into
four parts, at 179 grains each ; and hence correfpond-
ing to 250 grains of rough malachite.
3. One hundred and feventy-nine grains of ignited
malachite, combined with three times its quantity of
black flux, were put into an aflay crucible, without lin¬
ing it, and covered u'ith muriated foda. In this fitua-
tion it was committed to the fire of the blaft furnace,
and when the coals had become red hot without the ac¬
tion of the bellows, it was kept melting for the fpace
of 20 minutes. After cooling, it was obferved that,
in the broken retort, the whole mixture, under the co¬
vering of common fait, had run into an uniform, com-
paft, and opaque mafs, of the bright red colour of or¬
dinary fealing-wax, and that no metallic button had
been formed.
“ It follows from this, that there was not carbone
enough prefent to take up entirely the oxygen of the
metallic oxide. Therefore the copper has, by means of
this fmall remainder of oxygen ftill united with it, been
brought into the ftate of red oxide of copper $ and, as
fuch, it has diffufed itfelf uniformly through the alka¬
line fait.
“ 4. One hundred and feventy-nine grains of ignited
malachite were mingled with three times their quantity
of black flux, and one-tenth of powdered charcoal.
When fufed in this ftate, during 20 minutes, under a
ftratum of common fait, in an alfay crucible not lined
in the infide, they afforded a button of reguline cop¬
per, which had run well together, and weighed 136^
grains.
S, &c. Chap. V
“ 5. Another 179 grains of ignited malachite, mixed Copper,
with thrice as many grains of black flux, and one-fifth '—■V’—
part of their weight of colophony, and likewife fufed
for 20 minutes, under a cover of muriate of foda, in a
crucible not fecured by lining, yielded a well-melted
button of reguline copper, weighing 138 grains.
“ 6. The remaining 179 grains of ignited malachite
were, like the preceding, melted during the time of 20
minutes, under a cover of common fait. But the affay
crucible had previoufly been lined with powdered char¬
coal, and the malachite mingled with an equal weight
of calcined borax, with half its quantity of white glafs,
and one-fourth part of colophony, or boiled turpentine.
By this procefs I obtained, indeed, a well-fufed button
of reguline copper •, but w ith a confiderable lofs, as it
weighed only 1054- grains.
“ In order to difeover more accurately the conftituent
parts of the malachite, I performed the following experi¬
ments.
“ 7. One hundred grains of malachite, reduced to
powder by trituration, were diffolved in nitric acid ;
which was effected without leaving any refidue. The
folution had a bright-blue colour, and was faturated to
excefs with cauftic of ammonia •, but the precipitate
produced was entirely, and without turbidnefs, redif-
folvtd by the excefs of the alkali. This fhewed that
the malachite here examined was perfectly free from
iron, and fimilar admixtures.
“ 8. I combined 100 grains of triturated malachite
with a fufficient quantity of fulphuric acid, previoufly
diluted with five parts of water, and accurately weighed
together with the veffel. After the malachite had
been wholly dilfolved, which was effedted gradually,
and with a moderately ftrong effervefcence, the lofs of
weight, oeeafioned by the carbonic' acid gas that was
extricated, was found to confift of 18 grains.
“ 9. One hundred grains of the fame powdered ma¬
lachite were ignited, at a moderate heat, in a covered
crucible. The black refidue had loft 29f grains in
weight. If from thefe be fubtrafted 18 grains for the
carbonic adid, the remaining 114 grains of lofs will
confift of wrater.
“ 10. And laftly, 100 grains, which had been diflbl-
ved in diluted fulphuric acid, and precipitated by zinc,
yielded 58 grains of pure copper.
“ In confequence of thefe experiments, the Siberian
malachite confifts, in the 100, of,
Copper, 38.
Carbonic acid, 18.
Oxygen, I2-50
Water, 11-50
IOO.OO*.” * Ibid. I
Muriate of copper.—This ore, when expofed upon ^
charcoal to the adftion of the blow-pipe, gave to the
flame a blue and green colour ; the muriatic acid was
foon driven off, and a metallic button of pure copper
remained.
This ore of copper w^as examined and analyzed by
Klaproth in the following manner. A portion of the
ore being reduced to powder, and boiled with water,
communicated no colour to the folution ; and, with the
addition of a folution of nitrate of filver, afforded a
fmall quantity of a white precipitate which blackened
in
Chap. H: ORE
Copper, in the day light. ^ This experiment {hews, that the pro-
-v—portion of muriatic acid is too fmall to give a compound
foluble in water.
“ l. One hundred grains of theelutriated mineral dif-
folved readily and quietly in nitric acrid affufed in
the cold. The folution poffelTed a pure blue colour,
and depofited a little of a brown iron ochre, which, (e-
parated by filtering, weighed a grain and a half. It
was then diluted with water, and treated with a nitric
folution of filver. The precipitated muriate of filver,
when edulcorated, dried, and melted at a moderate de¬
gree of heat, in a filver pan, weighed 644- grains.
“ One hundred parts of metallic filver yield by fuch
combination 133 parts of muriated filver„ But as this
metal, to be rendered foluble in acids, takes up 12 per
cent, of oxygen, thefe mud be fubtrafted j fo that of
this increafe of weight by 33 parts, there remain 20f
for the muriatic acid.
“ Thefe principles being laid down, the above 64f-
grains of muriated filver will fix the proportion of the
muriatic acid, contained in 100 parts of the ore, very
nearly to 10 grains,
“ 2. That I might be fure of having completely fe-
parated the muriatic acid from the nitric folution of
this copper ore, I added the nitrated filvdr in a fmall
degree of excefs $ and this filver I afterwards threw
down with muriatic acid, and filtered it off. Which
done, the copper was precipitated in the metallic ftate,
by means of a piece of poliflied iron immerfed in the fo¬
lution. It amounted to 57^- grains when collected and
carefully dried.
“ The copper, however, is contained in the ore as an
sixide. In this ftate its weight is increafed 23 per cent,
by the oxygen; which, for thofe 57.50 grains of me¬
tallic copper, juft now mentioned, gives, by calculation,
14.38 grains.
“ Now, fince what is yet deficient from the firft weight
of the ore employed is to be confidered for the greateft
part as its water of cryftallization, and fince thofe In¬
grains of ferruginous ochre do not belong to the com-
pofition of the ore, the conftituent parts of the muriat¬
ed ore of copper may be faid to be in the 100 as fol¬
lows :
Oxide of copper,
Muriatic acid,
Water of cryftallization,
73-
10.1
16.9
* E/ayr,
ii. 158.
' XOO.O.’
PhofpJinte of copper.—The following is the method of
analyfis adopted by Klaproth, in the examination of this
ore.
“ I- Becaufe this ore is very much intermixed with
its quartzofe matrix, I pulverized a portion of it, previ-
bufly freed as much as poflible from the ftony matter,
and afeertained the weight of quartz ftill united with it,
by folution in nitric acid. The quartz amounted to 16
parts in 100 of the purified ore.
“ On this confideration, I weighed 116 grains of the
powdered ore, and poured nitric acid upon it. The
mixture became of itfelf moderately warm. When the
iolution, affifted by a little heat, was thoroughly brought
about, and by means of filtration freed from the undif-
folved quartzy matrix, it {hewed by its pure fky-blue
colour, that it contained no iron.
Vbr. XV. Part II.
S, Sec.
“ 2. After the fmall portion of the predominant acid
had been faturated with potafti, I added to the folution
diffolved acetate of lead, until no farther precipitation
took place. The precipitate was at firft drenched for a
while with weak acetic acid, then elixiviated with wa¬
ter, and at laft perfedtly dried in a low heat. It
weighed 138 grains.
“ That this precipitate was a combination of lead with
phofphorie acid, of this I had myfelf affured by a pre¬
vious experiment, made with another portion of the
fame foffil. It exhibited the phenomenon, w’hich is pe¬
culiar to phofphated lead ; namely, that under the
blow-pipe it runs into a pearl, which in the very mo¬
ment of fixation, rapidly affumes a garnet-like form with
ftiining furfaces.
“ Upon another portion of that precipitate, half its
weight of fulphuric acid, fufficiently weakened with
Water, was poured and digefted with it. The clear
fluid, which had been filtered off from the generated,
fulphate of lead, and contained free phofphoric acid,
was firft half faturated with foda, and upon this per¬
fectly neutralized with ammonia. By cryftallization,
it yielded microcofmic fait, or phofphate of foda and
ammonia.
“ 3. In order to difeover the proportion of the phof¬
phoric acid combined with thofe 138 grains of the pre¬
cipitate mentioned before, I proceeded to the following
experiment.
“ I burned pure phofphorus under a large glafs-bell,
diffolved the obtained dry phofphoric acid in water, paf-
fed it through the filter, and reduced it by evaporation,
in a fand heat, to a fmaller volume. When towards
the end of this procefs, flames of phofphorated hydro¬
gen gas appeared, I added nitric acid by drops till no
longer any red vapours were difengaged.
“ Of this perfectly oxygenated unCtuous liquid phef*
phoric acid, I diluted 100 grains with water,and neutra¬
lized the liquor with finely powdered white marble ; of
which 324 grains were employed. The mixture was
evaporated to drynefs, and the dry mafs kept in a mo¬
derate red heat for half an hour. This ignited phof¬
phate of lime weighed 256^ grains. Jn the 324 grains
of marble employed in this experiment, the portion of
lime, or pure calcareous earth, amounts to 178.20.
grains, which if fubtraCted from the above 256.50
grains, determine the quantity of the phofphoric acid
ingredient in that calcareous phofphate to be 78.30
grains.
“ From thefe data, taken together, it now was render¬
ed evident, that in thofe 138 grains of phofphated lead,
which have been produced by the combination of lead
with the phofphoric acid, conftituting a component prin¬
ciple of the portion of the ore examined,—the concrete
phofphoric acid amounts to 30.95 grains.
“ 4. The remaining part of the folution, which yet
contained the cupreous part of the ore, was firft treated
■with fulphate of foda, to feparate the fmall portion of
lead it ftill held diflolved from a flight excefs of acetat-
ed lead added in the procefs (2.). Which done, it -was
mixed with a little of uncombined fulphuific acid, and a
piece of poliflied iron put into it to precipitate the cop¬
per, which I found to weigh 54.50 grains. But as this
metal is contained in the ore in an oxidated ftate, which
requires 25 per cent, of oxygen ; there muft 68.13
grains be reckoned for the oxide of copper.
433
Copper.
“ One
434 . . 0 R E
Copper. « One hundred grains of this phofphated ore of cop-
' 1 v per, therefore, con hit of,
Oxide of copper, 68.13
Phofphoric acid, 3°*9J
*Ibid- * qq.oS.”
il. 162.
Arfeniate of copper, or needle-Jhapcd copper ore.-—
This ore was examined by Klaproth, according to the
following procefs.
“ i. Under the blow-pipe, upon charcoal, this ore de¬
tonates, emits a white arlenical fmoke, and runs into
fmall reddifli-gray globules, which, when again fluxed
with borax, yield a pure regulus of copper.
“ 2. A pure, maflive fpecimen of this ore, weighing
. 50 grains, was kept in a porcelain crucible, during 15
minutes, in a moderate red heat. Its figure was not
altered by the fire 5 but its dark olive colour was chan¬
ged into a bright grals green, inclining to that of the
filkin. Its weight was diminiftied by grain.
“ 3. Nitric acid diffolves it quietly in the cold, and
the folution poffefles an undefiled blue colour. By the
addition of nitrated filver, the mixture is not in the
leaft rendered turbid. Acetate of barytes produces a
precipitate which entirely difappears upon dilution with
water. The affufion of diffolved acetate of lead, forms
with this folution a white precipitate, which upon the
charcoal emits arfenical vapours, and is reduced to me¬
tallic lead, -when combined with an excefs of ammonia,
the precipitate falling down at firft, is direflly rediffol-
-ved, no cloudinefs left behind, and the deep-blue colour
is reitored to the liquor.
“ 4. Alfo by the acetic acid this ore is gradually dif¬
folved. Upon the evaporation of the folvent, a dark-
green fait of a dendritical form remains behind.
“ 5. One hundred grains of the acicular olive copper
ore, which had previoufly been freed, by means of elu-
triation, from .the admixed reddilh iron ochre, foon dif¬
folved in nitric acid, and without the application of
heat. The folution, being accurately neutralized with
carbonated potafh, was combined with diflblved acetate
of lead, until all precipitation ceafed. The obtained
precipitate, when edulcorated and dried in a raifed tem¬
perature, weighed 1334 grains.
“ 6. To be more convinced that this precipitate was
an arfeniated lead, I drenched it with water, and digefted
it with half its weight of fulphuric acid. The liquor,
feparated by filtration, contained uncombined arfenic
acid. I neutralized it with foda, and treated one part
of it with a folution of nitrated filver. This produced
a copious precipitate of arfeniated filver, which peflef-
fed the brick-red colour peculiar to it, emitted arfenical
vapours upon the charcoal, and was readily reduced to
pure filver. The remaining part of the folution, when
mixed with liquid nitrate of iron, afforded the common
whitilh precipitate of arfeniated iron.
“ Now in order to afeertain, by means of a compara¬
tive experiment, the proportion of the acid of arfenic
combined with the 1334 grains of the above precipi¬
tate (1.), I diffolved in water 100 grains of folid arfe¬
nical acid, and added to it a folution of acetated lead in
fmall portions fo long as any precipitate wmuld appear.
The arfeniated lead then obtained weighed 297 grains
after, edulcoration and drying in a warm place. Hence
it followed, that the quantity of concreted acid of arfenic,.
s, &C. Chap. V.
combined with thofe I33§- grains of the precipitate, Copper,
which the acid of arfenic contained in the ore had pro- -v—J
duced, muff be eftimated at 45 grains.
“ And to be more affured that all the arfenical acid
had been feparated from the nitric folution of the ore, I
added a little more of acetated lead than would have
been abfolutely requifite. This wras afterwards again
precipitated as fulphate of lead, by adding fulphated
foda, and filtered off. To the folution, thus freed
from the laft precipitate, I added uncombined fulphuric
acid, and precipitated the copper, now difengaged from
its mineralizing acid, by means of a poliflied piece of
iron, in the metallic date. Thus I obtained of it 404-
grains.
“ But fince in the compofition of the olive copper ore
the copper is contained in the date of an oxide, it yet
remained to difeover the proportion of oxygen. To at¬
tain this end, I diffolved 200 grains of pure copper in
nitric acid, diluted the folution with a fufficient quan¬
tity of water, and again precipitated the metal with a
lixivium of caudic potafh. The precipitate had a light-
blue colour j but after the mixture had dood a couple
of days in a moderately w'arm place, that blue colour
wras changed into a brown. When feparated by filtra¬
tion, wafhed with a large quantity of water, and de-
ficcated in a low heat, this precipitate amounted to 269,
grains. Upon ignition it weighed only 250 grains,
and appeared in the form of a very fubtle, fully-black
powder.
“ Therefore, becaufe according to this experiment,
copper acquires an increafe of 25 per cent, of weight by
combining with oxygen, it is obvious, that for the
above 404 grains of metallic copper, wTe mud put in.
the account 50.62 grains of oxidated copper.
“ In confequence of this decompofition, 100 parts of.
the olive copper ore contain,
Oxid of copper, - 50.62
Acid of arfenic, - 45.
Water of crydallization, 3.50
*99.12.” * Hid.-
ii. 150.
SitCT. II. Of the Redu&ion of the Ores of Copper.
The proceffes employed for the redudlion of cop¬
per ores in the large way are extremely fimple. It
fcarcely ever happens, it has been remarked, that the
fame order in conducing the different reducing procef¬
fes, even in cafes where the quality of the ore is found
to be the fame, is obferved at two works. The fame
remark, however, might probably be made with regard
to other manufactories, where the fame praCtical ma¬
nagement being long edablilhed, and attended with or¬
dinary fuccefs, its inconveniences or advantages are rare¬
ly invedigated, with regard to the abridgement of la¬
bour, or the diminution of expence. We fliall now de-
feribe the proceffes for the reduction of copper ores,,
which are followed in different places, by which our
readers, who are intereded in the fubjeCt, will be en¬
abled to appreciate the advantages of each, or to fug¬
ged improvements of which they are fufceptible 5 and.
with this view, wre lhall deferibe the operations for re¬
ducing copper ores which are followed in Cornwall, and
in Anglefea.
Method
Chap- V. ORE
Copper. Method of reducing copper ores In Cor?rdHt/I.-^-1'\\v ore
Y~—' is firft broken to pieces, of the fize of a hazel nut. This
operation is known by the name of cobbing. The rich¬
er pieces of ore are then picked out by the hand. The
next operation is roafting, which is performed in large
reverberatory furnaces, 16 feet long, and 14 feet broad.
The bottom of the furnace is compofed of fire bricks,
covered with fand, two feet thick. This fand becomes
a femivitrified mafs by the intenfe heat. The height
of the chimney is from 40 to 50 feet, the draught of
■which is fo ftrong, that the fulphur and arfenic, fepa-
rated during the roafting, are carried almoft entirely
through it. The ore is introduced through a kind of
funnel, and fpread to the thicknefs of a foot over the
bottom of the furnace. The fuel is placed at the anterior
part of the furnace, fo that the flame muft pafs over
the furface of the ore as it is diredled by the current of
air towards the chimney. The ore is roafted in this
furnace with a dull red heat for 12 hours, and is fre¬
quently ftirred with an iron rake, to expofe frelh furfaces
to the flame.
The ore being fufficiently roafled, is carried to an¬
other furnace, nine feet long by fix wide, where it is ex-
pofed to a fufing heat, without addition, except that of
a little calcareous fand, when the flag does not rife
freely. It is raked out at the end of every four hours,
when it is of the confiftence of foft dough, and is intro¬
duced into oblong moulds, a little water being fprink-
led upon it, to make it fink down. The flag being ra¬
ked off, a frdh quantity of calcined ore is introduced
into the furnace, and the copper is tapped off by a hole
in its fide, which had been flopped up with wet clay
mixed with one-fourth part of new coal, which prevents
the clay from becoming fo hard as to render it difficult
to open the hole by means of an iron pick. As the
rough copper flows from the furnace, it is conducted by
a gutter into a large bucket, fufpended by chains in a
well, through which a ftream of water is paffing. The
metal, as it falls into the water, is granulated, without
explofion or danger, and is afterwards taken out by rai¬
ling the bucket.
But in this ftate the copper is very impure, being
quite brittle, and mixed with arfenic and fulphur, which
can only be feparated by other procefles. For this pur-
pofe it is again melted, -and granulated two or three
times. Each time a flag is thrown up in the furnace ;
but as it contains fome copper, it is not, like the firft
flag, rejefted, but worked over and over again with
new charges of calcined ore. The nature of the ore
muft determine the number of fufions and granulations.
After the granulation, the mafs is melted and caft into
j)igs, which have a bliftered appearance on the furface.
Fhefe are again broken up, and melted and roafted fe-
veral times, by which the metal becomes purer, and is
then caft into iron moulds, after which it is carried to
the refining furnace ; and being again melted with the
addition of fome charcoal, it is brought to fuch a de¬
gree of purity as to bear the hammer, and be fit for the
market. In this way, by repeated calcination and fu-
iion, the common ores of copper are freed from arfenic,
fulphur, and earthy matters, and brought to the metal¬
lic ftate. Here it is proper to add, that where there is
variety of ores, no fmall degree of judgment is requi-
fite in forting and diftributing them for the furnace,
that the more fufible ores being mixed with fuch as are
s, &e. 455
more refractory, will render the poorer ores, by the Copper,
addition of a portion of the richer, worth the rvork-
Method of reducing copper ores in Anglefea.—The ore,
which is the fulphuret of copper, is broken into fmall
pieces, and expofed to heat in a kiln, which is clofe co¬
vered. A little fire is applied to the mafs of ore lit
different places, by which the whole is gradually kind¬
led. The kiln is furnifhed with flues, which open into
a long, clofe, pent-houle gallery, for the purpofe of col¬
lecting the fulphur, which rifes in the ftate of vapour
to the top of the kiln, paffes through the flues into the
long gallery, where it is flowly condenfed, is afterwards
taken out, and farther prepared for fale. The mafs of
ore, after it is once kindled, burns of itfelf for about fix
months, and in this time the fulphur chamber is four
times cleared out. The improved fulphur chambers arc
conftruCted in the form of lime kilns, having the ore at
the bottom, and the fulphur fubliming at the top. The
richer part of the roafted ore is exported without being
fubjefted to any other preparation, but the pooreft part
is melted on the fpot, and contains, beftdes a great deal
of fulphur, many other impurities. The fmelting houfes
confift of a range of large reverberatory furnaces, hav¬
ing chimneys above 40 feet high, thus producing a very
ftrong current of air. Thirty-one of thefe furnaces are
arranged fide by fide under the fame roof. The fuel,
which is coal, is burnt on a grate at the anterior part of
the furnace, and the flame is carried over the ore pla¬
ced on the bottom of it, by the draught of air. Twelve
hundred weight of roafted ore is introduced into the
furnace, mixed with a fmall portion of coal duft. Here
the ore is melted, and brought to an impure regulus,
and when it is fufficiently fufed, it is drawn off into
earthen moulds. Each charge of the furnace is worked
oft' in about five hours, and yields about half a hundred
weight of rough copper, which after being farther puri¬
fied, affords about 50 per cent, of pure metal.
In reducing copper ores at Neufol in Hungary, lead
is employed in the refining part of the procefs. The
rough copper is fpread out on the rough bed of a fur¬
nace, and after being fix hours in fufion, a quantity of
lead, in the propdrtion of from fix to eight per cent, of
the copper, is thrown in. This immediately begins to
vitrify, and form a thick fcoria, along with the impuri¬
ties of the copper. The fcoriae are filcceffively remo¬
ved, tHl the whole is feparated, and the copper is puri¬
fied. The fcoriae retain a portion of the copper, and
are employed in a future operation. The procefs con¬
tinues from ten to twelve hours, with fifty quintals of
raw copper.
Some of the finer copper ores contain fuch a propor¬
tion of filver, as to render it worth while to ext raft the
metal. In the different roaftings and fufions which are
employed to bring the copper to a ftate of-purity, the
filver always remains combined with it, fo that it muft
be feparated by another procefs. The method of fepa -
rating filver from copper has been already deferibed, in
treating of the reduftion of the ores of filver.
The fprings which are found in copper mines, or flow
from rocks which afford copper ores, are often fo ftrong-
ly impregnated with blue vitriol or native fulphate of
copper, as to yield a confiderable quantity of this nte-
tal. It is obtained by the following procefs. Large,
fquare open pits, are formed of rammed clay, two or
' 3 I 2 three
643 ORE
, Iron- three feet deep. Into thefe pits the vitriol water is
' pumped ; a quantity of refufe iron is thrown in, which
being allowed to remain for a confiderable time, the
iron is diffolved by its ftronger affinity for the acid, and
the copper being feparated, is precipitated in the form
of brown mud. After the water appears to be exhauft-
ed of the copper, the oxide of copper collefted at the
bottom is raked out, and being dried in the fun, may be
reduced in the ufual way. This material, which is the
richeft employed in obtaining metallic copper, yielding
fifty per cent, although contaminated with fome iron
and clay, is rarely fmeJted, excepting along ’with the
poorer ores, fome of which do not afford more than five
per cent, of pure metal.
The plates of copper of a fine red colour, ufually
known by the name of rofette copper, are made by a
particular management. When the metal is found to be
in a ffate of fufficient purity, the furface while in fufion
is well fcummed, and allowed to cool till it is juft ready
to fix. At this time the workman brufhes it over with
a wet broom, by which the furface is immediately fixed,
and a thin plate is feparated from the metal below,
which is ftill in a fluid ftate» The plate thus produced
is taken off and thrown into water, where it becomes of
a high red colour. The fame operation is repeated and
continued fucceffively till the whole of the fluid metal
is converted into thin irregular plates of the above
defcription.
Chap. VI. Of the Ores of Iron.
The ores of iron, which prefent a confiderable varie¬
ty, are reduced, on account of the refraiftory nature of
this metal, with no fmall difficulty. The moft power¬
ful agents mull be employed for this purpofe. And as
the conftruflion of furnaces is a matter of the greateft:
importance in the fmelting of iron ores, we were Jed,
when treating of that fubjecft, to enter into a pretty
full account of the proceffes themfelves 5 to this account
the reader is referred for information on the methods
followed in the redmftion of thefe ores. The prefent
chapter therefore will be only occupied in giving an
abridged view of their analyfis.
SECT. I. Of the Analysis of Iron Ores.
Native Iron.—In analyfing tWs ore, it may be dif¬
folved in diluted nitric acid j the lead may be feparated
by adding fulphate of foda, thus forming an infoluble
fulphate of lead } the oxides of iron and copper may
be precipitated by means of cauftic fixed alkali at a
boiling heat •, the addition of cauftic ammonia will dif-
folve the copper, and the iron will remain behind.
Pyrites.—Iron pyrites is either magnetical, or is de-
flitute of this property. When the ore is magnetical,
it may be either proper magnetical pyrites, or common
pyrites with a mixture of magnetic iron, either in the
metallic ftate, or in that of black oxide. If the mag-
netifm be owing to black oxide mixed with common
pyrites, no hydrogen gas will be produced by digefting
it in muriatic acid ; and if metallic iron and pyrites
be combined together, the gas obtained will be hydro-
gen gas: but if the ore examined be magnetic pyrites,
the gas evolved by muriatic acid will be fulphurated
hydrogen. The following analyfis is applicable to both
Sr &c. Chap. VI
fpecies of pyrites, 1. After reducing the pyrites to a Iron,
very fine powder, let it be digefted in nitric acid of mo-v—-y—'
derate ftrength, and boiled almoft to drynefs j then add a
frefh portion of acid, and repeat this procefs till the
whole fulphur is converted into fulphuric acid. 2. Pour
off the liquor, edulcorate the undiffolved refidue, and
add the wafhings to the liquor. 3. Add to this carbo¬
nate of foda to a flight excefs, and feparate the precipi¬
tate, if any take place. 4. After neutralifing the refi-
dual liquor by a little nitrous acid, it may be decompo-
fed by muriate of barytes, which is to be added while
any precipitate takes place. A hundred parts of this
precipitate indicate 14.5 of fulphur in the ore. 5. The
infoluble refidue (2.) is next to be digefted with cauftic
foda, and being evaporated to drynefs and flightly igni¬
ted, the precipitate (3.) is to be added, and the whole
diffolved in muriatic acid, and boiled nearly to drynefs.
By the affufion of water the filica will be left in the
ftate of a white infoluble powder. 6. Mix the muriatic
folution with ammonia in flight excefs, and the alumina
and oxide of iron will be precipitated together, leaving
the lime, if there Ihould be any, in the folution, from
which it may be obtained in the ftate of carbonate, by
a mild alkali. 7. The iron and alumina may be fepa¬
rated by boiling in nitric acid, which leaves the metal¬
lic oxide untouched, or by digeftion in cauftic potafh or
foda, which produces a fimilar effedl.
Magnetic Iron Ore, Specular Iron Ore, and Red Iron
Ore,—are compofed chiefly of oxide of iron, with an
accidental quantity of filica and alumina. Thefe ores
are with difficulty atfted on by acids alone. In conduc¬
ing the analyfis, therefore, 1. The ore is to be reduced
to a fine powder, and heated in a filver crucible, with
cauftic foda in folution. When the whole moifture is
evaporated, the remaining matter is to be ignited to a
low degree for a few minutes ; next diffolve the whole
contents of the crucible in diluted muriatic acid ; eva¬
porate the folution nearly to drynefs, and boil the refi¬
due in diftilled water, acidulated with a little muriatic;
acid, and the filica will remain behind undiffolved. 2..
The folution being confiderably reduced by evaporation,
add cauftic foda to a flight excefs, and boil it upon the
precipitate which is thus obtained. This precipitate,
after being edulcorated, is pure oxide of iron, and being
heated with a little wax, it may be brought to the ftate
of magnetic oxide, one hundred parts of which indicate
feventy-three of metallic iron. In this way the quanti¬
ty of iron in the ore may be eflimated. 3. The alka¬
line folution contains the alumina, which may be fepa¬
rated by muriate of ammonia, and after being wafhed
and ignited, its quantity may be afeertained.
Black Iron Ore, and Brown Iron Ore.—Befides the
ingredients contained in the former fpecies, thefe ores are
combined with a portion of manganefe 5 the precipitate
obtained, therefore, is a mixture of the oxides of iron
and manganefe. Thefe oxides may be feparated by dif-
folving them in muriatic acid, and adding to the hot fo¬
lution cauft ic foda, drop by drop, till the liquor becomes
colourlefs, or till the precipitate thrown down at each
addition of the alkali begins to be white. In this way
the oxide of iron is precipitate^ while that of the man¬
ganefe remains in folution. The iron being removed,
the oxide of manganefe may be obtained, by continuing
the addition of foda till no farther precipitate is produ¬
ced. The two oxides may alfo be feparated by adding
fuceinate
Chap. VI. ORE
Iron, fuccinate of foda to the muriatic folution, by which
—■ v *“/ means the iron is precipitated, and the manganefe re¬
mains in folution.
Sparry Iron Ore.—This ore of iron, which is fuppo-
fed to contain carbonic acid, the oxides of iron and
manganefe, lime, magnefia and barytes, in the ftate of
carbonate, with a fmall portion of filica and alumina,
may be examined according to the following analyfis.
I. Digeft the ore reduced to very fine powder, in muri¬
atic acid, with a little nitric acid : a flight effervefcence
takes place, and the lofs of weight indicates the quan¬
tity of carbonic acid driven off. 2. The infoluble por¬
tion of the ore, after being twice or thrice digefted in
muriatic acid, is filica. 3. The muriatic lolutions and
■wafhings, being mixed together, are to be concentrated
by evaporation, and decompofed at a boiling heat, by
adding caultic foda in excefs. 4. Boil the precipitate
and fupernatant fluid together for a Ihort time, the alu¬
mina only will be diffolved. 5. The infoluble portion
is next to be well walked and ignited, and being once
abftra&ed with nitric acid, the lane, barytes, and mag¬
nefia, will be diffolved, leaving behind the oxides of iron
and manganefe. 6. To feparate the oxides, digeff the
mixture with a gentle heat in diluted nitric acid, with
the addition of a fmall bit of fugar ; the manganefe is
diffolved, and the remaining oxide of irdn may be
brought to the magnetic ftate, by heating it with wax.
7. The nitrate of manganefe may be precipitated by
carbonate of foda, and after walking and drying it at a
heat below rednefs, pure carbonate of manganele is ob¬
tained, one hundred parts of which indicate fifty-five of
metallic manganefe. 8. To the nitric folution (5.), a
good deal diluted with water, add fulphuric acid as
long as any precipitate is formed. The fulphate of
barytes thus obtained being removed, the other earths
may be thrown down by means of the carbonate of an
alkali-, they are again diffolved in diluted fulphuric acid,
and the fulphates of lime and magnefia thus produced,
being precipitated by alcohol, may be feparated from
each other by cold water. In this way the fulphate of
magnefia is diffolved, with only a very inconfiderable
quantity of the fulphate of lime.
Argillaceous iron ore, bog iron ore, blue earthy and
green earthy iron ores,—are chiefly compofed of the
oxides of iron and manganefe, phofpbate of iron, filica,
alumina, and lime. The analyfis of thefe ores may be
conduced according to the following procefs. 1. After
the ore is reduced to powder, and ignited, abftraft it
two or three times with nitric acid ; pour oft' the acid,
and wafti the refidue with a fmall portion of ftrong ni-
trid acid. 2. Add the acids together, evaporate nearly
to drynefs, walk the refidue with cold water ; the phof-
phate of iron remains behind. 3. Ignite the infoluble
refidue (1.) with cauftic foda, and feparate the filica as
in a former analyfis, by muriatic acid. 4. Mix the ni¬
tric and muriatic liquors, boil them with an excefs of
eaullic foda, and the alumina will be diffolved, while the
metallic oxides and lime are precipitated. 5. After ig¬
nition, abftradb the compound precipitate with nitric
acid ; the lime is now diffolved, and nothing remains
but the oxides of iron and manganefe, which may be
feparated according to the preceding analyfis.
Arfeniate of Iron.—This ore is found to contain
oxides of iron and copper, with arfenic acid, befides a
portion of filica, and fometimes lime. It was ana-
2
S, &c. 437
lyfed by Mr Chenevix, according to the following Jron>
procefs. Being reduced to powder, and fubjedted to v"
lefs than a red heat, the water of cryftallization is dri¬
ven off; the refidue is next boiled ivith cauftic potalh,
and the alkaline folution being feparated by filtration, is
to be neutralized with nitric acid. The addition of ni¬
trate of lead affords a precipitate of arfeniate of lead,
one hundred parts of which indicate thirty-three of
arftnic acid. Muriatic acid is next to be added to the
refidue, which is infoluble in potalh ; the iron and cop¬
per are thus diffolved, and the filica remains behind.
By fuperfaturating the muriatic folution with ammonia,
the oxide of iron will be precipitated, and the oxide of
copper will remain in folution by the alkali.
But, for pradlical purpofes, we lhall give a ftiort view
of the Ampler methods of affaying the ores of iron,
which are chiefly employed in manufacture, with tho
view of afeertaining the quantity of metal to be ob¬
tained from them, when treated in the large way.
Among the older metallurgifts it was ulual to employ
aCtive faline fluxes in affaying the ores of iron ; but as
the metallic part of the ore can only be brought into
fulion at a very high temperature, the fame degree of
heat effecls the vitrification of the earthy matters, when
aided by lime and bottle glafs, lo that the uft ot borax,
or alkaline falls, which are more expenfive, may be dif-
penfed with.
To affay the richer varieties of magnetic iron ore,
particularly iron fand, reduce them to a fine powder,
add one-twelfth of charcoal, or double the quantity of
fine faw dull, and expofe the mixture in a covered cru¬
cible for an hour to the heat of a powerful wind fur¬
nace. Afrer this the iron will be found at the bottom
of the crucible, in the form of an irregular button, and
covered with a fmall portion of cellular fcori&e. This
procefs will be fufficient where the quantity of earthy
matter is fmall ; but as the common magnetic iron ore
contains a confiderable proportion of filica, a flux of the
following materials may be neceflary. For every eight
parts of ore take eight of bottle glals, fix of limeltone
or chalk, and one of charcoal ; mix the whole carefully
together with the ore, and expofe the mixture to heat as
in the former cafe. If the operation have fucceeded,
a button of iron will be found at the bottom of the
crucible, covered by a compacl, vitreous, greenift\
flag.
As the fpecular iron ore generally contains a portion
of fulphur, from the admixture of pyrites, it mult be
roafted at a moderate red heat, till the fulphureous odour
is no longer perceptible ; then to eight parts of the ore,
add eight of bottle glafs, fix of chalk, and one twelfth
of charcoal, and treat the mixture as before. The
red, brown, and black iron ores, may be allayed in the
fame way.
Sparry iron ore may be affayed without roafting, by
reducing it to powder, and placing it in a crucible
lined with a mixture of charcoal and clay, and then
covering it with about one-fourth of its weight of cal¬
cined borax.
In affaying argillaceous and bog ores of iron, they
are firft to be roafted, and then mixed with eight part:- of
bottle glafs, feven of chalk, and one and a half of char¬
coal, to eight parts of ore, and fubjefted to fufion in an
unlined crucible. It is fcarcely necellary to oblerve,
that the proportion of chalk may be diminiftied in tr< at-
*
ORE
ing thofe varieties of ore which contain calcareous earth
in confiderable quantities.
Sect. II. Of the Reduciion of the Ores of Iron.
In treating of the conftruftion of furnaces, the pro¬
per form and management of which are of the utmoft
importance in extracling the metal from the ores of
iron, w7e were led to enter pretty fully into the nature
and effe&s of the fmelting procefs, or the method of re¬
ducing iron ores. We (hall not, therefore, refume the
fubjeft in this place. See Furnace.
Chap. VII. Of Lead.
In the prefent chapter we (hall firft give an account
-of the molt improved methods of analyling the ores of
lead ; and fecondly, treat of the belt methods of redu-
oing or fmelting thefe ores.
Sect. I. Of the Analyfs of Lead Ores.
The analyfis of the ores of lead is lefs difficult than
that of the other metals of which we have juft now
treated \ and when accuracy is wanted, the humid way
of analyfis is to be preferred. The method of fepara-
ting lead from filver has been already noticed, as well
as that by which it is feparated from iron and copper.
The fame procefs as that employed for feparating iron
and copper from lead, may be follou'ed with regard to
the feparation of lead from tin, cobalt, and zinc. We
ihall now give an account of the analyfis of particular
lead ores.
Galena, or fulphuret of lead.—This fpecies, which is
the moft common ore of lead, was analyfed by Vau-
'* Jour. de> finelin, by the following procefs *. i. Three hundred
parts of the ore, reduced to powder, were roafted ; and
loft, during the procefs, twelve per cent. 2. Three
hundred parts of the fame ore were heated with nitric
acid very much diluted j a ftrong odour of fulphurated
hydrogen was perceived, and the folution of the lead
being completed and filtered, there remained on the fil¬
ter pure filica, which being heated to rednefs and cool¬
ed, weighed fifty grains, or 16.67 parts per cent. 3.
The folution of lead in nitric acid being decompofed by
means of fulphate of foda, and the fulphate of lead pre¬
cipitated being waffied and dried, weighed 250 grains,
or 63.1 of metallic lead per cent. 4. After the ful¬
phate of lead w'as feparated, ammonia was added, and a
precipitate of oxide of iron was obtained, which being
fubje&ed to a red heat, weighed ten grains, or was equal
to 3-33 Per cent* 5* Carbonate of potafti being added
to the refidual liquor, threw down nine grains of carbo¬
nate of lime, which is equal to three per cent. The
fulphuret of lead thus analyzed, afforded" in one hundred
,parts,
Mines,
N° Ixviii.
T- 157-
Sulphur,
Silica,
Metallic lead,
Oxide of iron,
Carbonate of lime,
Lofs,
12.
16.67
63.1
3-33
3-
1.9
100.00
S) 8tc. Chap
To affay galena in the dry way, it is to be mixed af¬
ter roafting with three times its weight of black flux,
covered with fait, and melted. A button of lead will
be found at the bottom of the, crucible, but the filver
and other metals which exifted in the ore, are ftill com¬
bined with the metallic lead.
Su/phuret of lead, antimony and copper.—Ax\ ore of
this kind was analyfed by Mr Hatchett, by the follow¬
ing procefs. Two hundred grains of the ore were heat¬
ed in a matrafs, with two ounces of muriatic acid, and
nitric acid was very flowly added, til), the whole exhibi¬
ted a moderate effervefcence. Being gently heated for
an hour, the folution affumed a green colour, and a
quantity of fulphur which floated on the furface, being
collefted, digefted feparately with a little muriatic acid,
and waffied and dried, weighed thirty-four grains $ and
as it burnt entirely axvay without any refiduum, in a red
earthen cup, it was perfeftly pure. The folution with
the muriatic acid, in which the fulphur had been walk¬
ed, w as firft boiled, and afterwards mixed with fix pints
of boiling diftilled water, to which it communicated a
milky appearance. It was filtered while hot, and the
filter W'allied with another portion of boiling water.
The white precipitate, which was oxide of antimony,
was dried in a fand bath, and weighed fixty-three grains.
When the liquor with the walhings cooled, fome cryftals
of muriate of lead were depofited. The liquor w as af¬
terwards evaporated nearly to drynefs, and a few drops
of fulphuric acid Avere added, to feparate the lead which
remained in folution. The refidue being again diffolved
in boiling water, was entirely decompofed by fulphate
of foda, and the fulphate of lead thus obtained being
added to the former portion, was waftied and dried on a
fand bath. It weighed 120 grains.
The liquor, w hich w7as now bluilh green, affumed a
deep blue colour by the addition of ammonia ; a fmall
portion of the oxide of iron w7as feparated, which, when
dried and heated with wax, became magnetic, and
amounted to 2.4 grains. The liquor, after being eva¬
porated nearly to drynefs, was boiled with a ftrong fo¬
lution of potalh, till it was nearly dry, and the refidue
being walked with water, a black oxide of copper re¬
mained } which, after being dried, weighed thirty-two
grains.
White lead ore, or carbonate of lead.—The white
tabular lead ore, from Lead hills in Scotland, was ana¬
lyfed by Klaproth, according to the following pro¬
cefs.
“ 1. One hundred grains of it, in pure fpecimens, and
previoufiy triturated to a powder, were by fmall portions
introduced into a mixture of 200 of nitric acid with
300 grains of water, and put in equilibrium upon the
balance. The ore diffolved readily, and with a ftrong
eftervefcence, without leaving any refidue. By the car¬
bonic acid that efcaped, there wras a lofs of 16 grains of
Weight.
“ 2. The folution, which was clear and colourlefs, was
diluted with water, and a cylinder of zinc put into it.
After 24 hours, the whole of the lead had ftiot into
beautiful metallic laminae, which colledled, waffied, and
both quickly and carefully dried, to the end that no
oxidation might take place, afforded 77 grains of lead
in the reguline ftate, which correfpond with 82 grains
of oxidated lead.
“ Confequently, the conftituent parts of this tabular
aucl
Chap. VII.
Lead, and carbonated white lead ore,
v following proportion :
ORE
bear to each other the
Oxide of lead,
Carbonic acid,
Water,
82.
16.
2.
* EJfays, * IOO.”
ii. 132.
Green lead ore, or phofphate of lead.—The following
is an example of the method of analyfing this fpecies of
ore, adopted by Klaproth.
“ 1. An hundred grains of this ore, in very pure fpeci-
mens, left on folution in dilute nitric acid one half grein
of the quartzofe matrix behind ; which I feparated and
replaced by an equal quantity of pure ore. The colour-
lefs folution, treated with nitrate of filver, yielded 10
grains of muriated filver : which indicates 1.54 of con¬
crete muriatic acid, contained in 100 of the ore.
“ 2. In the next inftance, the ingredient lead was fe¬
parated by means of fulphuric acid. The collefted ful-
phate of lead, after gentle ignition, weighed 1044
grains; for which 77.10 grains of oxidated lead mult
be put in the account.
“ 3. When after this the nitric folution had been freed,
by nitrated barytes, from the portion of fulphuric acid
added to excefs, and fubfequently treated with ammonia
fo far, that the acid Hill predominated, I continued
adding a folution of acetated lead, till no more turbid-
nefs was effected. The generated phofphate of lead,
when collefted and expofed to a gentle red heat, pro¬
ved to weigh 85 grains ; and confequently, the pro¬
portion of the phofphoric acid mult have been 19
grains.
“ 4. The remaining fluid was mixed with muriatic
acid, the mixture evaporated to drynefs, and extrafted
with ardent fpirit. The refidue, after completely eva¬
porating the fpirit, was again diHelved in water, and
treated with Pruflian alkali. A precipitation of prufli-
ated iron enfued, which indicated the amount of oxide
of iron 10 grains.
“ From the refults of this decompofition it follows,
that the conftituent parts of green lead ore, and their
proportion to each other, are :
Oxide of lead, - - 77*10
Phofphoric acid, - 19.
Muriatic acid, - - I*54
Oxide of iron, - - 0.10
\Jb\i. f 97.74.”
*• 125.
Red lead ore, or chromate of lead.—In analyfing this
ore, Vauquelin adopted the following Ample procefs.
Equal weights of the ore reduced to Ane powder,
flrong muriatic acid, and diltilled water, were digefted
together at a moderate temperature, and flirred from
time to time. The chromate of lead is thus decompo-
fed, and converted, for the molt part, to muriate of lead,
which is of a white colour. When the acid has ceafed
to aft, pour oflF the liquor, add frelh muriatic acid, dilu¬
ted as before with an equal weight of water, and to the
amount of about one fourth of the former quantity,
and digeft till the whole of the orange-coloured par¬
ticles among the white muriate difappear. This liquor
is to be added to the former, along with the walhings \
3
- S, &c.
439
the whole is to be heated, and placed in a cool place for
a few days, that the fmall portion of muriate of lead
which it holds in folution,, may be depoAted ; and this
being removed, add very gradually oxide of Alver, preci¬
pitated from its folution in nitric acid by cauftic potalh,
till the laft portions aflume a red purple colour. In
this way the whole of the muriatic acid is feparated,
and the liquors contain only chromic acid, which is de¬
poAted by flow evaporation in the form of fmall, prif-
matic, ruby red cryltals. The quantity of muriate of
lead obtained by this procefs being afeertained, will
Ihew the quantity of metallic lead contained in the
ore.
Yellow lead ore, or molybdate of lead.—Klaproth ana-
lyfed this ore in the following manner.
“ 1. A hundred grains of the cry Hals were carefully-
freed from the adhering calcareous earth and ochre of
iron, and then flnely pulverized. They were then dif-
folved in muriatic acid, alAlled by heat, alternately
affuflng upon them the acid, and a large quantity of
w-ater. In this inftance a trace of Aliceous earth, though
fcarcely difcernible, appeared.
“ 2. The greateft part of muriate of lead, generated
in the procefs, wras depoAted in ftne needles, even before
the folution had completely grown cold. The fuper-
natant clear fluid was then poured off, reduced to a
fmaller volume by evaporation, and freed from the mu¬
riated lead, which ftill feparated. The muriated me¬
tal, collected with care, and brilkly deflccated, weighed
744 grains. By diffolving it in hot water, and fteeping
into the folution a polilhed piece of iron, the lead pre¬
cipitated upon this laft in flne lamelhe, and in the me¬
tallic ftate.
“ 3. But in order to And more accurately what pro¬
portion this muriated lead might bear to pure oxide of
lead, I made the following experiment.
“ Two hundred grains of lead, cut into fhreds, were
diffolved in 300 grains of nitric acid, diluted wTith 10
ounces of wrater, and, with the afliftance of digeftion, in,
a boiling heat. The folution was then divided into two
parts.
“ a. Into one half I dropped muriatic acid, as long
as it produced any turbidnefs; evaporating afterwards
the mixture to the moft perfeft drynefs of the reAdue,
The muriate of lead here produced weighed 133
grains.
“ b. From the fecond half of the nitric folution I
precipitated the oxide of lead by diffolved cauftic pot¬
alh. This oxide, when edulcorated and brilkly dried
till it began to turn yellowilh, amounted to 115 grains.
“ From this it followed that thofe 744 grains of mu¬
riated lead, obtained from 100 grains of the yellow mo¬
lybdate of lead (2.), are equal to 64.42 grains of pure
oxide of lead.
“ 4. The concentrated’ muriatic folution of molyb-
dena, which had a blue colour, was mixed with nitric
acid, and lodged in a fand-bath for farther evaporation.
Being thus circumftaneed, it was again divefted of its
blue colour, and a yellow oxide of molybdena fepara¬
ted. But when the evaporation bad been carried on
to complete drynefs, I collefted and weighed the re¬
maining lemon-yellow oxide of molybdena ; and found
it amount to 344 grains.
“ Wherefore, one hundred parts of the pureft cryftab
of the yellotv lead ore, from Carinthia, contain,
Oxide'
Lead.
440
Lead.
<  
* Ibid.
538*
i Jbid.
■ii. 13c*
ORE
j Oxide of lead, 64-42
Oxide of molybdena, 34.25
* 98.67.”
Sulphate of lead.—This ore of lead was analyfed by
Klaproth according to the following procefs.
“ 1. One hundred grains of tabular fulphate of lead
from Wanlockhead, in feleft pure fpecimens, loft 2^
grains, by being heated in a covered crucible. When
finely pulverized and ignited in a platina crucible with
400 grains of carbonate of potafti, they yielded a brown-
ith yellow, moderately concrete mafs. Upon this fub-
ftance, previoufly triturated, water wras affufed and heat
applied to promote the folution of the foluble parts. As
in the cafe of the preceding foflil, fo in this, an oxide
of lead depofited from the liquor, which, when walhed,
dried, and moderately ignited, weighed 7o|- grains.
Diluted nitric acid took the whole of it up, without
the afliftance of heat, and afforded a clear folution,
from which the lead has been precipitated in the regu-
line ftate, by means of zinc. The metallic lead, thus
obtained,- when collected, w'aftied, and quickly dried,
amounted to 65^ grains.
“ 2. In order to afcertain the quantity of fulphurie
acid contained in the alkaline folution, it was combined
with nitric acid added to fuper-faturation in fome de¬
gree, and, in the next inftance, treated with acetate of
barytes. By this management fulphate of barytes was
formed and precipitated, to the amount of 76 grains,
after being heated to rednefs, which indicates 25^
grains of concrete fulphuric acid.
“ According to this decompofition, an hundred parts
of this tabular fulphate of lead confift of,
Oxide of lead, 7°*50
Sulphuric acid, 25.75
Water of cryftallization, 2.25
498.50.”
Sect. II. Of the ReduBion of the Ores of Lead.
Galena is by far the moft abundant ore of lead, and
indeed almoft the only ore which is fubje&ed to the pro¬
cefs of reduction. The treatment of this ore of lead
in this way is very limple. The firft obje£l in dreffing
the ore, is to feparate the extraneous matters or im¬
purities, fuch as iron pyrites, blende, calcareous fpar,
quartz, &c. The purer part of the ore is broken to
pieces about the fize of a hazel nut, and waftied from
any earthy matters which adhere to it, and then it is
ready to be fmelted. A ton, or a greater quantity, of
the ore, is fpread on the floor of a common reverberatory
furnace with a low arch, and with the flame of pit coal
it b mickly brought to a red heat 5 being, during this
time, occafionally ftirred with iron rakes, to expofe frefh
furfaces to the action of the heat. When it begins to
affume the confiftence of pafte, tire heat is lowered, and
kept at a dull red, till the whole of the fulphur is near¬
ly driven off; when the heat is increafed, and the ore
brought to perfedt fufion. The mafs conlifts of two
fluids, the upper being a vitreous flag, and the lower me¬
tallic lead. The fi e is now damped, and a few fpadefuls
?©f quicklime thrown in, by which the fcorise become fud-
s, &C. Chap. Vir
denly folid, and are removed to the fide of the furnace. Tin.
The tap hole is now opened, and the lead runs into u-“v-
moulds, in which oblong maffes or pigs, about 60 pounds
each, are formed. After the lead has run out of the .
furnace, the hole is again clofed, the fcoriae are replaced
in the bed; and the heat being raifed to a glowing red,
they are foon melted. The greater part of the lead fe-
parates from the flag, and collefts in a mafs at the bot¬
tom. The fcorree become folid with the addition of a
little lime, and the lead is let off into the mould. The
fecond fcorise ftill contain a portion of lead, from fix to
eight per cent, j but as it is not worth the expence of
extrading, it is thrown away. It is found that the
firft running of lead is the beft ; the fecond, which is ob¬
tained from thefcoriae, being confiderably harder, on ac¬
count of a greater proportion of iron combined with it.
The procefs which is followed, at leaft in moft parts
of Scotland, is fomewhat different from that now de-
fcribed, particularly in the previous preparation of the ore.
The maffes of ore, as it is brought from the mine, being'
ftparated from any adhering impurities, are reduced to
fmall pieces, well walhed, and then pulverifed. In this
ftate it is ready for the fmelting procefs, which till of
late *was ufually performed in an open furnace.
In fome mining countries there is a confiderable pro¬
portion of white lead ore mixed wdth the galena-, doubts
have been entertained whether it be profitable to retain
this ore, even although it contain a large proportion of
metal, becaufe in the reverberatory furnace it is vitrified
immediately on the application of the heat, and ading
as a powerful flux, the whole rs brought into fufion be¬
fore the fulphur be entirely feparated ; fo that the pro¬
portion of fcoria; in this cafe is greatly augmented, with
very little increafe in the produce of lead.
Chap. VIII. Of the Ores of Tin.
There is no great variety of the ores of tin. It is
ufually found in the ftate of oxide, or in that of fulphu-
ret, when it is alfo combined with copper, and a fmall
proportion of iron.
Sect. I. Analysis of the Ores of Tin.
Before treating of the analyfis of the ore of tin, we
lhall firft deferibe a very fimple procefs for affaying it.
The ore is firft reduced to the confiHence of coarfe land,
and feparated from the ftony matters by walking. If it
appear, by fubjeding a grain or tw'o to the adion of the
blow-pipe, that it contains arfenic, £00 grains of the
ore mixed with a little charcoal, are to be roafted in a
calcining teft at a low red heat, till the Avhole of the
arfenic is driven off. The refidue is withdrawn, mixed
with a little pitch and fine faw-duft, introduced into a
crucible lined with charcoal, and after a cover is luted
on, placed in a large furnace, whofe heat is to be raifed
to a bright red. In about 20 minutes the redudion is
•completed, the crucible is removed, and a button of
metallic tin is found at the bottom, covered with a little
fcoriee. But if the ore Ihould contain no arfenic, the
previous procefs of mailing is unneceffary.
Tin-Jlone.—The beft method of analyling the ores of
tin, is that contrived by Klaproth, by means of the
fixed alkalies, which was conduded according to the
following procefs*
“ I.
Chap. VIII. O Iv E
Tin. “ r. One hundred grains of tin-ftone from Alternon,
c—'T—' in Cornwall, previoufly ground to a fubtle powder, were
mixed in a filver veffe] with a lixivium containing 600
grains of cauftic potafh. This mixture was evaporated
to drynefs in a fand heat, and then moderately ignited
for half an hour. When the gray-white mafs, thus ob¬
tained, had been foftened while yet warm, with boiling
water, it left, on the filter 11 grains of an undifiblved
refidue.
“ 2. Thefe 11 grains, again ignited with fix times
•their weight of cauftic potafh, and diflolved in boiling
water, left now only grain of a fine yellowilh-gray
'powder behind.
“ 3. The alkaline folution (1. and 2.), which was
in fome degree colourlefs, was faturated with muriatic
acid. A brilliant white, tender oxide of tin was thrown
down, giving to the mixture a milky appearance. This
precipitate, re-diflblved by an additional quantity of mu¬
riatic acid, was precipitated afrefh by means of carbona¬
ted foda. When lixiviated and dried in a gentle heat,
it acquired the form of bright yellowifti tranfparent
lumps, having in their frafture a vitreous luftre.
“ 4. This precipitate, being finely powdered, foon
and entirely diflblved in muriatic acid, affifted by a
gentle heat. Into the colourlefs folution, previoufly di¬
luted with from two to three parts of water, I put a
ftick of zinc and the oxide of tin, thus reduced, ga¬
thered around it in delicate dendritic laminae of a me¬
tallic luftre. Thefe, when colledfted, walked, and fufed,
under a cover of tallow, in a capfule placed upon char¬
coal, yielded a button of pure metallic tin, weighing
77 grains.
“ 5. The above-mentioned refidue of if grain, left
by the treatment with cauftic potafti (2.), afforded with
muriatic acid a yellowifh folution ; from which, by
means of a little piece of zinc introduced into it, one
half grain of tin was ftill depofited. Pruflian alkali,
added to the remainder of the folution, produced a fmall
portion of a light-blue precipitate $ of which, after fub-
trafting the oxide of tin now combined with it, hardly
one-fourth of a grain remained, to be put to the ac¬
count of the iron contained in the tin-ftone, here exa¬
mined.
“ In thefe experiments, (excepting only a flight indi¬
cation of filex, amounting to about three-fourths of a
grain), no trace has appeared, either of tungftenic oxide,
which fome mineralogifts have fuppofed to be one of the,
conftituent parts of tin-ftone, or of any other fixed fub-
ftance. Therefore, what is deficient in the fum, to
make up the original weight of the foflil analyfed, muft
be afcribed to the lofs of oxygen ; and thus the confti¬
tuent parts of pure tin-ftone from Alternon are to each
other in the following proportion :
i*
513-
Tin, 77.50
Iron, 0-25
Silex, 0.75
Oxygen, 21.50
100.00
The analyfis of grained tin ore, or wood tin, may be
conduced in the fame way as the former.
Tin pyrites.—The following is the procefs which
Klaproth adopted in the analyfis of this fpecies of tin
ore.
Vol. XV. Part II.
S, &C. 441
“ I- Two drams of finely triturated tin pyrites were • in-
treated with an aqua regia, compoled of one ounce of'1"""
muriatic and a half ounce of nitric acid. Within 24
hours the greateft part of the metallic portion was dil-
folved in it, without application of heat ) while the ful-
phur rofe up, and floated on the furface of the menftru-
um. After the mixture had been digefted upon it for
fome time in a low fand heat, I diluted it with water,
and filtered it. It left 43 grains of fulphur on the pa¬
per, ftill, however, mixed with metallic particles.
When the fulphur had been gently burnt oft' on a teft,
there ftill remained i3 grains 5 of which eight weredif-
folved by nitro-muriatic acid. The remaining part was
then ignited with a little wax j upon which the magnet
attracted one grain of it.—What remained was part of
the filiceous matrix, and weighed three grains.
“ 2. The folution of the metallic portion (1.) was
combined with carbonate of potafh ) and the dirty green
precipitate, thus obtained, was re-diffolved in muriatic
acid, diluted with three parts of water. Into this fluid
a cylinder of pure metallic tin, weighing 217 grains,
was immerfed. The refult was, that the portion of cop¬
per contained in the folution, depofited itfelf on the
cylinder of tin ; at the fame time that the fluid began
to lofe its green colour, from the bottom upwards *, un¬
til, after the complete precipitation of the copper in the
reguline fiate, it became quite colourlefs.
“ 3. The copper thus obtained weighed 44 grains.
By brilk digeftion in nitric acid, it diffolved, forming
a blue tincture, and leit one grain of tin behind, in toe
character of a white oxide. Thus the portion of pure
copper confifted of 43 grains.
“ 4. The cylinder of tin, employed to precipitate
the copper, now weighed I 28 grains ; fo that 89 grains
of it had entered into the muriatic folution. From this,
by means of a cylinder of zinc, I re-produced the whole
of its diffolved tin, which was loofely depofited on the
zinc in a tender dentritical form. Upon being affured,
that all the tin had been precipitated, I collefted it care¬
fully, lixiviated it cleanly, and fuffered it to dry. It
weighed 130 grains. I made it to melt into grains,
having it previoufly mixed with tallow, and under a co¬
ver of charcoal dull, in a fmall crucible ; which done, I
feparated the powder of the coal by elutriation. A-
mong the walked grains of tin, I obferved fome b ack
particles of iron, which were attrafted by the magnet,
and weighed one grain. Deducting this, there remain
129 grains for the weight of the tin. By fubtradting
again from thefe laft, thofe 89 grains, which proceeded
from the cylinder of tin employed for the precipitation
of the copper (2.) there remained 40 grains for the por¬
tion of tin contained in the tin pyrites examined.
Hence, including that one grain of tin, which had been
feparated from the folution of the copper (3.), the por¬
tion of pure tin contained in this ore amounts to 41
grains. An hundred parts yielded,
Sulphur, 25
Tin, 34
Copper, 36
Iron, 2
Earthy matters, 13
100
3K
* Wd. i.
Su¬
bject.
442
ORE
Sect. II. Of the ReduBion of the Ores of Tin.
Tin ftone/or vein tin, as it is called in Cornwall, con¬
tains a large proportion of llony matters. It is firft
broken by hammers into pieces of the fize of a hen’s
egg, when it is ready for the operation of ftamping,
which is performed in the way already defcribed for the
ores of gold, excepting that there are only three Hamp¬
ers. A tin plate about a foot fquare, and pierced with
holes to admit a moderate fized knitting-needle, is in-
ferted in front of the trough, and that furface of the
plate with the rough extremities of the holes is on the
infide, by which the holes are prevented from being
plugged up with the ore. As the ore is reduced to the
proper finenefs, it paffes with the water through the
holes into the labyrinth, where it is collefted, and after
being walked on a wooden table, when it is ready for
roafting. In this Hate it has a confiderable proportion
of copper and iron pyrites, and is called black tin. Af¬
ter being calcined at a low red heat for fevcral hours, in
a large reverberatory furnace, the ore comes out of a
bright ochrey red colour, owing to the decompofition
and oxidation of lome of the metallic fubfUnces ; but
the oxide of tin, when the operation is properly con-
dufted, remains unaltered. The ore is walked a fecond
time, to feparate the remaining impurities; and the wa¬
ter which is impregnated with fulphate of copper, is re¬
tained and decompofed by means of old iron.
The redudtion of the ore is the next Hep in the pro-
eefs. Seven cwt. of roaHed ore, with one fifth of its
bulk of fmall coal, are introduced into a reverberatory
furnace, which is about feven feet long, and 3-*- wide.
No lime, or indeed flux of any kind is required. A
brilk heat is kept up for about fix hours; the tin finking
down as it is reduced, and covered with black fcoriae.
The furnace is now tapt, and the metal flows into a
fliallow pit. When the whole of the metal has run
out, the fcoriae are removed from the furnace, and a
frelh charge is made. The metal in the pit throws up
a flag, rich in metal, which is immediately returned into
the furnace; and after the melted tin hals cooled a little,
it is taken out with iron ladles, and poured into granite
moulds. Each charge affords on an average from four
to five cwt. of metal ; but as the firff fcoriae are not en¬
tirely free from metal, they are again ftamped and walk¬
ed, and mixed with a new parcel of roaHed ore. The
pigs of tin are next put into a fmall reverberatory fur¬
nace ; where, without any addition, they are fubjedled
to a very gentle heat; the pureff part of the tin melts
flrff, and is drawn off, forming what is called common
grained tin ; the other part contains fome copper, arfe-
nic and iron, which is brought to a Hate of fufion, and
caff into pigs, forming common tin.
Stream tin ore, which is peculiar to Cornwall, is
prepared for the furnace by reducing it to powder, and
palling it through wire fieves, which have 16 mefhes in
the fquare inch. A blaH furnace is employed, which is
about feven feet high, and is fupplied with air from two
cylinders walked by an overffiot water wheel. The me¬
thod of managing the furnace, after being fully heated,
is the following. 1 hree or four (hovels full of ore, and
two or three half buftiels of charcoal, without any kind
of flux, form a charge with which the furnace is fed
at fliort intervals. 'There is a fmall channel at the bot-
s, &c> Chap. IX.
tom of the furnace, through which the reduced tin is Bifmuth.
conflantly flowing into a pit below, and the flag which '"’“Y'**-'
accompanies it is removed from time to'time, and re¬
turned into the furnace. When the pit is full, the melt¬
ed metal is'removed into an iron boiler three feet in
diameter, having a fmall fire under it, to keep the me¬
tal in fufion. Two or three large pieces ot charcoal
are then placed upon the tin, and forced to the bottom by
means of an iron inflrument refembling a wheel, with a
long handle fixed in the axle. This produces a violent
ebullition, and a little flag, before mixed with the metal,
rifes to the (urface, arid is removed. In a minute or
two the metal is tried, as it is called, by taking up a la-
dleful, and returning it again into the mais; when, if it
afl'ume a bright filver-like appearance, and a uniform
confiflence, the purification is complete. When cool to
the proper degree, it is removed into the moulds, where
it is formed into pigs of two or three cvvt. Stream tin
ore yields from 65 to 75 per cent, of the befl and pu-
reff tin*. * Atkin':
Chap. IX. Of the Ores of Bifmuth.
Diclion. of
Chern, &.c.
ii.
Bismuth is found in the metallic Hate, accompanied
by native filver, blende, and galena, fome other metals,
and earthy fubffances. It is alfo met with in the Hate
of oxide, and alfo in the Hate of fulphuret.
Sect. I. Of the Anahjfs of the Ores of Bifmuth.
In conducing the analyfis of the ores of bifmuth,
previous roafling is not requifite. The native bifmuth,
or oxide of bifmuth, diffolves readily in nitrous acid,
diluted with about one third of water, and either in the
cold, or with a moderate heat ; but boiling is neceffary
for the fulphuret, to precipitate the fulphur, and diffolve
the bifmuth. The greater part of the nitrate of bifmuth
may be precipitated from the folution, and feparated
from the metals with which it is ufually alloyed, by ad¬
ding a large quantity of water. But to feparate the
bifmuth totally, evaporate the clear liquor which remains
over the precipitated oxide to a fmall bulk, fo as to re¬
tain in folution the nitrates of the other metals. Add
muriatic acid by drops, as long as any white cloud is
formed. This laff precipitate confifls of the remaining
portion of the oxide of bifmuth, mixed with muriate of
filver, if the ore examined contain any of that metal.
Then add a few drops of ffrong nitric acid, which dif¬
folves the bifmuth, and leaves the filver ; and to this
portion of the nitrate of bifmuth add water, which fe-
parates the whole by precipitation. To afcertain whe¬
ther the folution contains any filver, expofe the precipi¬
tate by muriatic acid to the light, which will become of
a bluifh or flatey colour, if any filver has been diffolv-
ed ; but if not, the pure white colour remains unalter¬
ed. As the oxide of bifmuth is compofed of 81.3 per
cent, of metal, and 18.7 of oxygen, the proportion of
metal in the ore may be precifely afcertained by weigh¬
ing it. The other metals held in folution by the nitrous-
acid, which are chiefly lead, iron, copper and cobalt,
may be feparated in the ufual way.
Sect. II. Of the ReduEhon of the Ores of Bifmuth.
The low degree of heat at which biffnuth is fufible,
renders
Chap. X. O K E
Bifmuth. renders tlie Veduftion of the oi*es of this metal a very
u—-y——' fimple procefs. In the treatment of the native metal,
and the oxide, the weight of the ore of black flux is
put into a crucible along with it, covered with fait, to
about a finger’s breadth, and melted for 5 minutes with
a brilk fire : when it is cold, the bifmuth is found in a
clean button. The flux employed by others is one part
of borax, and the fame quantity of powdered glafs, to
two of the ore, and the fufion is eftedled in a crucible
lined with pharcoal. With the oxide, a little oil, roiin,
or charcoal, (hould alfo be mixed. Previous roafling is
neceffary in the treatment of the fulphuret of bifmuth,
to feparate the fulphur •, the other part of the treatment
is the fame with that notv defcribed.
But in the large way, the ores of bifmuth are redu¬
ced merely by heating them along with burning fuel.
Sometimes a (hallow hole is made in the ground, and
filled loofely with pieces of wood and bufhes, and after
the fire is kindled, the ore reduced to fmall pieces is
thrown in ; and fometimes the flump of a hollow pine
tree is filled with wood and ore alternately, and fet on
fire •, the bifmuth feparates from its matrix, and colk£ls
in a mafs at the bottom.
Chap. X. Of the Ores of Zinc.
The ores of zinc are, the native carbonate, or com¬
mon calamine, the oxide of zinc, and the fulphuret.
Sect. I. Anahjfis of the Ores of Zinc.
On account of the great volatility of zinc, it cannot
be examined in the dry way, or fubje&ed to affay, with¬
out particular precaution. In affaying blende, or the
fulphuret of zinc, the ore, after being bruifed, is to be
carefully feparated from particles of galena, or other
impurities. It is then to be roafted, and the fulphur be¬
ing driven off, to be reduced to fine powder, mixed with
half its weight of charcoal, introduced into an earthen
retort, to which a tube is fitted. The retort being
expofed to a ftrong heat in a wind furnace, for three
quarters of an hour, is to be gradually cooled, and on
breaking it, the zinc is found in the neck, in metallic
drops. The objedl may be accompliflied in another
way. Prepare the ore as before, and having mixed it
with charcoal, let it be ftratified in a crucible, with its
own weight of copper clippings j and having luted on
a perforated cover, fubjeft it for nearly an hour to a low
white heat. Allow it to cool, and examine and waffi
the contents. The globules of brafs formed are thus
eafily feparated from the other impurities, and theexcefs
of weight of the brafs above the copper, indicates the
quantity of zinc given out by the ore.
Blende, or fulphuret of mine.—This ore is found to
contain not only zinc and fulphur, but fometimes iron,
lead, copper, and arfenic, with filica, alumina, and a
portion of water. It may be analyfed by the following
procefs :
x. Introduce into a fmall coated glafs retort, 200
grains of ore reduced to powder, and let it be gently
ignited for a quarter of an hour. The fluid colledled
in the receiver will be found to be water.
2. Digeft another portion of ore in repeated quanti¬
ties of diluted nitric acid, till every thing foluble is ta-
S, 8tc.
ken up ; wafli the' refidue ; weigh and ignite it; the ^
lofs of weight indicates the quantity of fulphur which
is burnt off.
3. Digeft the refidue in a little nitro-muriatic acid,
till the infoluble portion becomes quite white, which is
pure filica.
4. Add to the nitric folution (2.) a few drops of ful-
phate of foda •, evaporate gentlyq and continue to add
fulphate of foda while a precipitate is formed, and after
being evaporated nearly to drynefs, digeft in diluted
muriatic acid ; the fulphate of lead remains behind.
5. Add together the nitro-muriatic folutions (3, 4.) •,
decompofe by carbonate of foda, and digeft the precipi¬
tate in cauftic ammonia j the zinc and copper are thus
diffolved.
6. Let the ammoniacal folution (5.) be faturated with
muriatic acid •, boil it, and add cauftic ioda, while a
precipitate takes place : this is the brown oxide of
copper.
7. Oxide of zinc now only remains in the foda folu¬
tion, which is to be faturated with muriatic acid, and
decompofed by carbonate of foda. The precipitate ob¬
tained after ignition is oxide of zinc.
8. The refidue which was infoluble in ammonia (5.),
is to be treated repeatedly with nitric acid, and digefted
in cauftic foda. Oxide of iron, contaminated (lightly
with arfenic, remains infoluble.
9. Having faturated the foda folution (8.) with nitric
acid, add nitrate of lead, till no farther precipitate is
formed 5 the precipitate is arfeniate of lead.
10. And to the refidual liquor, add firft, fulphate
of foda, to feparate any nitrate of lead that may re¬
main } filter the liquor, decompofe it by carbonate of
ammonia-, the precipitate, waftied and ignited, is pure
alumina.
Calamine, or carbonate of •zinc.—The ores of this
fpecies contain, befides the carbonate of zinc, the car¬
bonates of lead, iron, and lime. The following is the
mode of analyfis.
X. The ore reduced to powder is to be diffblved in
diluted nitric acid ; the lofs of weight during the folu¬
tion indicates the quantity of carbonic acid. Neutralize
the folution with cauftic foda, evaporate gently, and
add from time to time a few drops of fulphate of foda
while any precipitate is formed.
2. Having thus cautioufly brought it nearly to dry¬
nefs, digeft it in highly rectified alcohol, and afterward*
in a little cold water, which will take up every thing
but the fulphates of lead and lime. ,
3. Thefe may then be feparated by digeftion in ful-
phuric acid very much diluted, which will take up the
fulphate of lime, leaving the fulphate of lead pure.
4. Neutralize the muriatic folution by foda, and eva¬
porate nearly to drynefs -, then add alcohol to the re¬
fidue, which will throw down the fulphate of lime with
a little fulphate of foda, which latter may then be wafti¬
ed away by a little cold water.
5. The alcoholic folution (2.) after evaporation to
drynefs, may be digefted in cauftic ammonia, which
will take up the oxide of zinc, and leave behind the
oxide of iron.
6. The alkaline folution, after being (lightly fuperfa-
turated with muriatic acid, is to be decompofed by a
perfedlly carbonated alkali, by which the zinc is pro-
3 K 2 cured
C3
ORES
cured in the date of carbonate ; and this, after edulcora-
tion, being- diffolved by fulphuric acid, and the folution
ignited in a platina crucible, affords dry fulphate of
zinc, containing 50 per cent, of oxide of zinc.
7. Thus, all the conftituent parts are afeertained ex¬
cept the water : to determine the proportion of this,
take a frefli parcel of the ore, weigh it, and then ignite
it for half an hour, note the lofs of weight, and transfer
the refidue into muriatic acid ; if while it diffolves in
this fluid it gives out any gas, let the lofs of weight be
noted 5 then add together the Ioffes by ignition and fo¬
lution ; dedudt from the fum the known weight of the
carbonic acid, and the reffdue is water.
Sect. II. Of the ReduBion of the Ores of Thine.
The ore being reduced to fmall pieces, and the dif¬
ferent impurities being feparated, it is next calcined in
a reverberatory furnace at a moderate red heat, and if
the ore be calamine, the carbonic acid is driven off, and
if blende, it is deprived of its fulphur. After this it is
waflied, and the metallic oxide being feparated from the
earthy parts, it is dried, and carefully mixed with about
one-eighth of its weight of charcoal, by grinding the
ingredients together in a mill, and is now ready for the
fmelting pracefs. This is performed in a circular fur¬
nace, in which are fixed fix large earthen pots, about
four feet high and nearly of the ftiape of oil jafs. An
iron tube is inferted into the bottom of each pot, and,
pafling through the arched floor of the furnace, ter¬
minates in a veffel of water placed beneath, while the
other end of the tube rifes within the crucible to a few
inches of the top. The crucibles are then filled with
the mixture of the ore and charcoal, to the level of the
tube, the cover of each is carefully luted on, and an in-
tenfe heat is to be kept up for feveral boui's. The zinc,
as the procefs of reduction goes on, rifes in the form of
vapour to the top of the pot, but as it cannot efcape, it
defeends through the iron tube, paffes into the water,
•and is condenfed in fmall drops. The globules are after¬
wards fufed, and caff into the form of ingots, when it is
fit for the market.
But as common zinc contains a little of other metals,
as copper, lead, arfenic, iron, and manganefe, which
impair its quality, thefe impurities are partially feparated
by melting the zinc in a crucible, and ftirring into it,
with a flick or earthen rod, a mixture of fulphur and
fat ; by the latter the zinc is preferved fx-om oxidation,
and the fulphur combines with all the other metals ex¬
cept the zinc, and converting them into fulphurets, they
rife to the top in the form of fcoriae, w7hich may be re¬
moved. This procefs is to be repeated as long as any
fcoriae appear. The method of purifying zinc prppoftd
by Proud, is Ample diftillation in an earthen retort.
The zinc paffes over, and the oxides of the other metals
remain behind. But it is fuppofed that the arfenic or
lead cannot be feparated in this way.
Chap. XI. Of the Ores of Antimony.
Native antimony is a very rare produdlion j the
moft common ore of antimony is the fulphuret; but it is
alfo fometimes found in the date of oxide.
Chap. XI.
Antimony,
Sect. I. Of the Analysis of the Ores of Antimony. ' 
Gray ore of antimony, or fulphuret of antimony.—As
the fulphurets of antimony are the principal ores of this
metal, we fhall only deferibe the procefs by which the
analyfis of thefe ores may be conduced.
1. Five hundred grains being reduced to fine powder,
are to be digefted with 1500 grains of pure nitric acid
of fpecific gravity J.25, and ioco grains of water, for
half an hour, at 150° Fahrenheit j then add a quantity
of pure w'ater, equal to the reft of the fluid 5 mix the
whole well together, and pour off the liquor as foon as
it becomes clear. This confxfts of the nitrates of filver,
lead, and copper, and perhaps a little iron diffolved in an
excefs of acid. By Ample boiling and filtration, the
iron is feparated in the ftate of red oxide.
2. Add to the folution muriate of foda, while any
precipitate takes place, and let the whole Hand till the
fupernatant liquor becomes clear j the precipitate is pure
muriate of filver.
3. The folution (2.) is next to be faturated with pot-
aflx or foda, and concentrated by evaporation to one-
third of its bulk. The addition of cauftic ammonia in
excefs throws down the lead in the ftate of oxide, and
the copper remains in folution.
4. Acidulate {lightly the folution (3.") with nitrous
acid 5 add carbonate ofpotafh, by which the green oxide
of copper will be precipitated, and being fubje&ed to a
low red heat, is reduced to the ftate of browrn oxide, of
which 100 parts indicate 85 of metal.
5. The portion of ore (1.) which was infoluble, is
next to be digefted at a degree of heat below boiling,
with fucceffive portions of nitromuriatic acid, corapofed
of nitric acid, as long as any thing is taken up. The
different folutions are then mixed, concentrated by eva¬
poration, and poured into a large portion of pure water j
a precipitate immediately takes place, which is the
white oxide of antimony, which, after being feparated
and wafhed, is to be mixed wdth twice its weight of
crude tartar and a little nitre, and then expofed to a full
red heat, which in a few minutes reduces it to the me¬
tallic ftate.
6. The folution (4.) contains now a little fulphuric
acid and iron, with fame earthy matters. By adding
nitrate of barytes while any precipitate is produced, the
quantity of acid may be afeertained, and then adding
cauftic potafh in excefs, which, aflifted by a boiling heat,
will precipitate the iron, and retain the alumina and fi-
lica.
7. The infoluble refidue (6.) contains fulphur and
earth ; it is decompofed by a red heat, the fulphur be¬
ing diflipated, and the earth remains.
Sect. II. Of the ReduBion of the Ores of Antimony. #
The ore of antimony, which is found in fufficient
quantity to be employed in the procefs of redu&ion in
the large way, is the fulphuret, the analyfis of which has
new been detailed. The ore being feparated from the
greater part of the ftony matters which adhere to it, is
placed on the bed of a reverberatory furnace, and cover¬
ed with charcoal powder 5 and being brought to a low
red heat, the fulphuret enters into fufion, and the
earthy
Chap. XI. O R E
Antimony, earthy parts floating on the furface, are removed with a
‘"'■'v rake. The melted part is call into the form of large
cakes, and is the crude antimony of the (hops.
The metal is obtained in a llate of purity from the
crude antimony, or fulphuret, by different proceffes.
The following is recommended as one^of the beft, and
moft frequently praftifed. The fulphuret being redu¬
ced to fmall pieces, is ftrewed thinly on the floor of a
reverberatory furnace, to drive off the fulphur. The
heat at firft muff not exceed that of the melting point of
tin, otherwife the antimony will melt. A lambent blue
flame is obferved over the furface of the ore, which pro¬
ceeds from the combuftion of the fulphur j the metal is
deprived of its luftre, and is converted into a grayitb
oxide. In the courfe of fome hours, by carefully llirring
the ore, and cautioufly increaflng the temperature, as
the fufibility diminifties, it at lafl: ceafes to give out ful-
phureous vapours, and can bear a moderate red heat
without melting. After the roafting, the ore is rer
moved from the fire, and is found changed into an afli-
gray oxide, weighing from 30 to 36 per cent, lefs than,
the fulphuret, but it is not yet entirely free from ful¬
phur. To reduce the oxide, mix it with half its weight
of crude tartar, and fubjeft to a full red heat in a cover¬
ed crucible. The oxide is decompofed by the carbona¬
ceous part of the tartar, and the antimony, reduced to.
the metallic form, is colletled at tire bottom of the cru¬
cible. A fmall proportion, however, ftill remains, dif-
iolved by the fulphuret of potalh, formed by the alkaline
bafe of the tartar and the fulphur of the oxide. The
quantity of metal which is thus obtained in the large
way, amounts to 66 or 70 p£r cent, of the oxide em¬
ployed. The lofs, however, would be greater, if the
ore has not been properly roaffed.
The reduction is effe£ted alfo by another procefs,
which is fuppofed to be more economical. The roafted
oxide is mixed with oil or fat, and a little powdered
charcoal, and then introduced into a crucible j and as the
metal begins to appear, powdered nitre, in the propor¬
tion of an ounce to a pound of oxide, is gradually in-
je£fed, after which the whole mafs is brought to thin
fufion, affording a pure metal, and in greater proportion
than in the ufual wray.
The only other procefs which we fhall mention, for
reducing fulphuret of antimony, is that by means of
fome of the other metals, for which the fulphur has a
greater affinity than for the antimony. Proceeding on
this principle, iron, copper, lead, filver, and tin, may be
employed in the. procefs ; but as iron is not only more
effeilual, but alfo cheaper, it is preferred. The anti¬
mony obtained by this procefs, was formerly called
martial regulus, not only on account of the iron being
ufed in the preparation, but, not improperly, on account
of a fmall portion of that metal which itill adheres to it.
The proportions recommended are the following: Eight
ounces of fmall iron nails are heated in a crucible
almoft to whitenefs; 16 ounces of crude or roafted
fulphuret of antimony, coarfely pounded, are then added:
the crucible is covered, and the fire kept up; and in a
few minutes, when the whole is melted, three ounces
of nitre are to be added : after a flight detonation has
taken place, the whole is brought to perfeft fufion. It
is then put into an iron cone previoufly heated and
greafed, and as the mafs becomes folid, the fides of
the cone are ftruck, to promote the precipitation of
Sy SiO* 4^45
the metal. When cold and weighed, a mafs of an- Cobalt,
timony is obtained, equal to about 20 ounces of the ful- 1 y——
phuret employed, covered with alkaline ferruginous
fcoriae, from which it is eafily feparated by a blow of
the hammer.
But the metal is not yet entirely free from iron and
fulphur j to purify it ftill farther, therefore, it is to be.
remelted. Two ounces of crude antimony, and three of
nitre being added, and when the detonation has ceafed,
it is poured into a cone, and the metal is feparated as
before, from the fcoriae. Fufe the metal again 5 proje£t
upon it three ounces of nitre *, feparate the purified
metal from the fcoriae j remelt with a ftrong heat, pro-
jetffing gradually three ounces of nitre, and immediately
pour it into a cone. About eight ounces of a beautiful
ftellated regulus, covered with yellowilh white fcorue,
are thus obtained.
Chap. XII. Of the Ores of Cobalt.
Cobalt exifts ufually in a ftate of combination with
arfenic and fulphur, or in the ftate of oxide. Scarcely
any of its ores are free from arfenic and iron. Nickel
is alfo fometimes abundantly mixed with the ores of co¬
balt, and occafionally a little iqanganefe and copper.
Sect. I. Of the Analyfs of the Ores of Cobalt.
White and gray cobalt ores, confifting chiefly of ar¬
fenic and cobalt, may be examined in the dry way, ac-.
cording to the following procefs, which, however, is not
to be confidered as very perfect. The ore is to be mix¬
ed with charcoal or faw-duft, and roafted to drive off->
the arfenic. The oxide after calcination is mixed with
four times its weight of an equal mixture of carbonate-
of potafti and tartar, and heated intenfely, at the tem¬
perature which is required for melting caft-iron. A
button of metallic cobalt is found beneath the fcorite,
which are always of & deep blue, or nearly black colour,
owing to the combination of part of the oxide of cobalt.
A hundred grains of this ore* treated by Klaproth ac¬
cording to this procefs, yielded 44 grains of metallic,
cobalt j but if the ore contained iron, copper, or nickel, ,
it muft have been alloyed with thefe metals,, and perhaps
not entirely free from arfenic..
But the analyfis may be condufled with more, accu¬
racy according to the following procefs by Taffaert *. * Ann. de
1. With a view to afeertain the quantity of arlenic,Chirn. xxviii»»
he digefted 100 parts of cobalt ore with diluted nitric?' 9'
acid. The whole was diffolved in a few hours, and de-
pofited, on cooling, white cryftalline grains. By eva¬
poration more cryftals were depofited ; the whole col-
lefted and dried, weighed 56 parts, and, excepting three
parts, the whole was fublimed. Thefe 53 parts are
oxide of arfenic, and indicate 49 per cent, of metal in
the ore.
2. Three hundred parts of the ore digefted with four
times as much nitric acid, afforded a rofe-coloured folu-
tion. After partial evaporation, and with the addition
of water and heat, a pale-red precipitate (l.) was
formed, leaving.a rofe-coloured folution. The folution
being boiled with an excefs of potafli, afforded an oxide
of cobalt, which was rofe-coloured, and then green,
and when dried in a red heat, black. The amount was
$ C p3XtSd
3. Thefe
446 ORE
Cobalt. 3. Thefe 85 parts, diiTolved in nitro-muriatio acid,
' gave, with the addition of pure ammonia, a black pre¬
cipitate, which, excepting a fmall portion, was again
diffolved by an excefs of alkali. The undiffolved por¬
tion treated again with nitro-muriatic acid and ammo¬
nia, was reduced to four parts, and appeared to be oxide
of iron.
4. The rofe-coloured precipitate (2.), which was a
mixture of arfeniate of cobalt and iron, being decom-
pofed by cauftic potafh in excefs, afforded a precipitate,
which weighed, after being dried, 100 parts.
5. The 100 parts (4.') being again diffolved in nitric
acid, and the folution being partially evaporated, and
then diluted with water, gave a precipitate of 2~ parts
of oxide of iron, and left a clear folution of cobalt.
6. The nitrate of cobalt.(5.) was decompofed by am¬
monia ; and the precipitate rediffolved by an excefs of
the alkali, excepting an infcluble oxide of iron, amount¬
ing to 15 parts, The folution was then added to the
ammoniated cobalt (3.).
7. The infoluble precipitates of oxide of iron (3.
5. and 6.) were then mixed and examined. With
borax they gave a blue glafs, indicating a portion of co¬
balt ffill combined. They were then diffolved in ni¬
tro-muriatic acid, precipitated by ammonia, and the
wet precipitate was introduced into acetic acid, which at
fir If diffolved the whole, but bv boiling and evaporation
nearly to drvnefs, four times fueceffively, the oxide of
iron became infoluble, while the cobalt remained in fo¬
lution, and as it was more freed from iron, it affirmed
more of a fine rofe colour. The folution of acetate of
cobalt was fuperfaturated rvitb ammonia, and the folu¬
tion of ammoniated cobalt was added to the different
portions of the fame, obtained in former experiments.
To expel the ammonia, the whole folution was boiled,
and, by adding potafh, the whole oxide of cobalt was
precipitated, which being wafhed and dried, amounted
to 133 parts. The oxide being reduced in a crucible
lined with charcoal, afforded pure metallic cobalt, of
fpecific gravity 8.538.
8. To determine the quantity of fulphur, xoo parts of
the ore were feparately boiled with 500 of nitric acid,
and diluted with water, to feparate the whole of the
oxide of arfenic that depofited fpontaneoufiy. The ful¬
phur was now converted into fulphuric acid •, nitrate of
barytes was added, and a precipitate of fulphate of
barytes was formed, the quantity of which being alcer-
tained, the proportion of fulphur might in this way be
eftimated.
Sect. II. Of the ReduBian of the Ores of Cohalt.
As cobalt in the metallic (late is not applied to any
ufeful purpofe, the reduftion of its ores in this view is
not an ob]e6l of manufa&ure. P.ut as it is extenfively
emploved in the {fate of oxide, to give a fine blue colour
to glafs, porcelain, &c. we fhall here give a fhort account
of the method of preparing the ores for this purpofe.
When the oxide of cobalt is fimplv mixed, after calci¬
nation, with a quantity of vitrifiable earth, it is then
known by the name of %«ffre, and it is in the form of
a brown, gritty powder ; but if it be melted with a
quantity of vitrifiable matters, h yields a glafs of a very
deep blue colour, which being reduced to a fine powder,
conftitutes the fmalt of commerce.
I
S, &c. Chap. XIII.
Preparation of xaffre.—This fubfianee is chiefly pre- Nickel.
pared in the large way, in different parts of Germany, 1 v~-*J
but particularly in Saxony, and the following is the me¬
thod of its preparation. The furnace employed is fome-
what like a baker’s oven, and is fo conftru&ed, that the
flame of wood may be reverberated on all fides. The
cobalt ore is placed on the hearth of the furnace, and
by the aft ion of the flame foon becomes red hot ; a
denfe arienical vapour arifes, which is conduffed through
a horizontal wooden fquare trough or chimney, fome-
times 100 fathoms long. In this chimney the arfenic is
chiefly condenfed, yet it is faid, that feme of the va¬
pours, on account of their great volatility, efcape. The
calcination is continued till the exhalation of vapours
nearly ceafes : the ore is then reduced to powder, cal¬
cined a feeond time, again ground, and paffed through
a fine fieve. The powder is then mixed with two parts
of powdered flint or quartz, after which it is moiftened,
and packed into barrels, where it acquires a great degree
of hardnefs. This is the zaffre of commerce, in the Hate
in which it is exported ; the exportation of the Ample
coloured oxide being prohibited under heavy penalties,
it is faid that the flints are added with a view to conceal
the real nature of the fubflance.
Preparation of Smalt.—This is alfo fometimes called
zaffre, and when reduced to a very fine powder, it is
called a%ure blue. It is prepared with about equal parts
of calcined cobalt ore, potafh, and ground flints. This
mixture is firft fritted, and afterwards made into glafs,
in pots like thofe of the glafs-houfe. Eight or ten hours
are required for its fufion. When the blue colour is
perfeft, the fufed matter is taken out with iron ladles,
and dropt into cold water, which makes it crack in all
direflions, fo that it is eafily reduced to fine powder.
This operation is performed in a mill of very hard flone,
inclofed in a wooden cafe. In the preparation of the
fmalt by the above procefs, a portion of bifmuth, which
ufually accompanies the ores of cobalt, is found. Above
it there is alfo a mixed alloy of iron, copper, and ar¬
fenic.
Chap. XIII. Of the Ores of Nickel.
Nickel, as it is found in the ftatc of ore, is ufually
combined with arfenie and fulphur, copper and iron, or
with oxygen, in the form of oxide.
Sect. I. Of the Analysis of the Ores of Nickel.
Wben the ore contains, befide nickel, arfenic, ful¬
phur, copper, and iron, with which it is ufually ac¬
companied, cobalt, filver, and bifmuth, with fome earthy
matters, the analyfis may be conducted, according to the
following procefs.
1. The ore being reduced to an impalpable powder,
is to be two or three times digefted in nitric acid, con-
fiderably diluted, after which every thing foluble will
be taken up. During the procefs, nitrous gas is given
out.
2. The infoluble part confifts moftly of fulphur and
filica, which after being dried, weighed and heated, the
fulphur burns off, and the difference of weight before
and after ignition, indicates its amount. 1 he refidue,
after boiling in a little nitrous acid, is pure filica.
3. Saturate the two nitrous folutions (1. and 2.) with
pure
Chap.
XIV. o R E
Manganefa. pure foda, evaporate confiderably, and pour the folution
'—   jnto Cold diftilled water ; the oxide of bifmuth is preci¬
pitated.
4. Add muriate of foda by drops to the filtered folu¬
tion, while any precipitate is formed, which is the muri¬
ate of filver.
5. Evaporate the folution nearly to drynefs, boil it
with ftrong nitric acid while nitrous gas is given out ;
red oxide of iron is precipitated during the procefs.
6. Remove the oxide of iron, faturate the liquor with
foda, and add nitrate of lead while any precipitate takes
place. This is the arfeniate of lead, which may be fe-
parated by filtration.
7. Decompofe the nitrous folution by carbonate of
foda : digeft the walked precipitate in liquid ammonia •,
the oxide of iron mixed with alumina, is left behind,
and may be feparated by cauftic fixed alkali.
8. Let the ammoniacal folution be {lightly fuperfa-
turated with nitric acid, and a polidied bar of iron in¬
troduced ; in this way the copper will be feparated :
then decompofe the liquid by carbonate of foda, and di¬
geft the precipitate in ammonia, and the iron employed
in feparating the copper will be removed.
9. The folution now contains only nickel and cobalt.
Let it be evaporated till the excefs of ammonia be ex¬
pelled. This is the cafe when the vapour ceafes to dif-
colour moift turmeric paper. Then add pure potafh or
foda to the folution largely diluted, while any preci¬
pitation takes place. The precipitate is the oxide of
nickel. The cobalt now only remaining in the folu¬
tion, may be feparated in the ufual way. To reduce the
oxide of nickel, mix it with glafs of borax and a {mail
quantity- of carbonaceous matter, and then fubjeft it in
a crucible to the moft powerful furnace heat. A but¬
ton of pure nickel is thus produced.
As the ores of nickel are not very abundant, and as
this metal is little employed for purpofes of manufacture,
the reduClion of its ores does not extend beyond chemi¬
cal analyfis, which we have now detailed.
Chap. XIV. Of the Ores of Manganefe.
Manganese ufually exifts in the ftate of oxide, com¬
bined with a fmall proportion of iron, or in the ftate of
carbonate, and fometimes in that of fulphuret.
Sect. I. Of the Analysis of the Ores of Manganefe.
Radiated gray ore of manganefe.-~-rY\\\s ore was ana-
lyfed by Klaproth according to the following procefs.
“ Two hundred grains of the ore, in grofsly broken
cryftals, were heated to a thorough rednefs in a {mall
coated glafs retort, conneded with the pneumatic appa¬
ratus. The gas collefted amounted only to nine grains,
upon deducting the common air of the apparatus ; but
{hewed by the lively combuftion of an iron wire confined
in it, that it wfas pure oxygen gas.
“ 2. In the. fmall intermediate hollow glafs-fphere of
the apparatus, a confiderable quantity of moifture has
condenfed, which weighed 14 grains, and was pure wa¬
ter.
“ 3. The manganefe, having fuftained that ignition,
Weighed 181 grains. The external luflre of the cryftals
was verv much diminiftied, and their gray colour turned
blackifli.
S, &C. 447
“ One hundred parts of this ore have, confequently, Manganeic.
been decompofed into, —y—
Black oxide of manganefe, 90,5°
Water, 7.
Oxygen gas, 2.25
99-75 *•” * Efays*
As manganefe is chiefly employed for economical pur- ^
pofes, in the ftate of oxide, the reduction of its ores forms
no objeCt of manufacture.
Chap. XV. Of the Ores of Molybdena.
For an account of the treatment of the ores of molyb¬
dena, which exifts in the ftate of fulphuret and in that of
oxide only, fee CHEMISTRY fee alfo the analyfis of the
molybdate of lead, in the chapter on lead, in this article.
Chap. XVI. Of the Ores of Arfenic.
Arsenic is found native, when it is alloyed with a
fmall portion of iron, and fometimes alfo with a little
gold or filver j in the ftate of fulphuret, or in the ftate
of oxide.
Sect. I. Of the Analyfis of the Ores of Arfenic.
The method of analyfing the ores of arfenic by Berg¬
man, has been already given under Arsenic, in the article
Chemistry, as well as the method of lubliming the
metal in clofe veflels, to obtain it in a ftate of purity.
The following is recommended as a fuccefsful procefs
for preparing this metal for nice chemical purpofes.
Mix a quantity of arleniate of potafh with about part
of charcoal, and let it be fublimed in a clofe glafs vef-
fel, flowly heated to rednefs. The metallic arfenic thus
obtained is in the form of beautiful brilliant cryftals.
Sect. II. Preparation of White Arfenic and Orpinient.
White arfenic.—In the large way, this is prepared,
by roafting the arfenical ores, previoufly ground to
powder, and mixed with charcoal or law dull, at a
Ioav red heat for feveral hours. The roafted ore is then
fubjefted to a fecond fublimation, according to the fol¬
lowing method 5 which is praftifed in Bohemia. 1 he
vefiels in which the fublimation is performed, are ftrong
fquare boxes of caft iron furnilhed with conical heads,
which are clofely luted with clay. I hefe boxes are ar¬
ranged in a fpacious brick area, which is heated by
flues proceeding from two furnaces, placed a little be¬
low them. When the impure arfenic has become red
hot, it is removed into the boxes by 15 pounds at a time,
where it is brought into fufion, and about an hour after
begins to fublime into the conical head. When the ar¬
fenic ceafes to rife, another quantity is introduced into
the veffel, and treated in the fame way. Thefe additions
are continmd till about 150 pounds of arfenic have been
thus treated in each veffel -, a period of about 12 hours
is requifite for the fublimation of the whole quantity.
When the veffels are cold, the conical head is taken
off, and the fublimed arfenic is broken oft with hammers,
at the fame time any impurities that adhere to it are fe¬
parated, for a fecond operation.
Orjphnent
443
ORE
Arfenic.
Orpiment.—Tins fubftance is prepared in the fame
manner, and with the fame apparatus, but the arfenic
is previoufly mixed with half its weight of fulphur. In
both cafes a uniform red heat fliould be kept up during
the operation, fo that the materials in the lower veffel
may be always in fufion y and when thefe materials are
of any tolerable degree of purity, almoil the whole is
fublimed.
&c* Chap. XVI,
As the remaining metals have yet been found only in ^ Wienie,
very fmall quantity, the redudion of their ores is not an
object of much importance. A fhort account of the
method of analyfing them will be found under Che¬
mistry, and the charadters of the ores, with their con-
llituent parts, will be found under Mineralogy.
For the account of an elaborate analyfis of the ores of
tellurium, fee Klaproth’s Effays, ii. i.
O 11 E
Orellana ORELLANA, Francis, the firfl European, as is
Oreltes ccaimonIy thought, who difeovered the river of the
i ■ Amazons. In 1539, he embarked near Quito, upon the
river Coca, which farther down takes the name of Napo.
From this he fell into another large river; and, leaving
himfelf entirely to the direction of the current, he arrived
at Cape North, on the coalt of Guiana, after failing near¬
ly 1800 leagues. Orellana peritbed 10 years after, with
three veflels w’hieh had been intrufted to him in Spain,
without being able to find again the mouth of this river.
In failing down the river, he met with fome armed wo¬
men, againft whom an Indian cacique had told him to
be on his guard} and he thence named it the river
the Ama%ons.
ORENSE, an ancient town of Spain, in the king¬
dom of Galicia, with a bifhop’s fee, famous for its hot
baths, is feated at the foot of a mountain, on the riyer
Minho, over which there is a bandfome bridge of one
arch. W. Long. 7. 27. N. Lat. 42. 16.
ORES FES, in Ancient Hi/lory, a fon of Agamem¬
non and Clytemneftra. When his father Was cruelly
murdered by Glytemneftraand yEgiftbus, young Orefles
was favfcd from his mother’s dagger by means of his
filler Eleftra, called by Homer Loadicea, having been
privately conveyed to the houfe of Strophius, who was
king of Phocis, and who had married a filler of Aga¬
memnon. He was tenderly treated by Strophius, who
• carefully educated him with his fon Pylades. The two
young princes foon became acquainted, and from their
familiarity arofe the moll inviolable attachment and
friendlhip. When Orefles came to years of diferefcion,
he vifited Mycense, and avenged his father’s death by
affaflinating his mother Clytemnellra and her adulterer
Atgillhus. Various accounts are given of the way in
which thefe murders were committed. After their
com million, however, he was acknowledged king of
Mycenae •, but being tormented by the Furies, a punilh-
ment which the ancients always thought followed parri¬
cide, he exiled himfelf to Argos, where he was Hill pur-
fued by the vengeful goddeffes. Apollo, however, puri¬
fied him, and he was.acquitted by the unanimous opinion
of the Areopagites, whom Minerva herfelf inftituted on
this occafion, according to the narration of the poet
iEfchylus, who flatters the Athenians in his tragical
flory, by reprefenting them as palling judgment even
upon the gods themfelves. According to Paufanias,
Oreftes was purified of the murder, not at Delphi, but
at Troezene, where llill was feen a large Hone at the.
entrance of Diana’s temple, upon which the ceremonies
of purification had been performed by nine of the prin¬
cipal citizens of the place. There was alfo at Megalo-
O R E
polis, in Arcadia, a temple dedicated to the Furies, near Oreftes,
which Orelles cut oft' one of his fingers with his teeth ' y —
in a fit of infanity. Thefe different traditions are con¬
futed by Euripides, who fays that Orelles, after the
murder of his mother, confulted the oracle of Apollo at
Delphi, where he was informed that nothing could de¬
liver him from the perfecutions of the Furies, if he did
not bring into Greece Diana’s ifatue, which was in the
Taurica Cherfonefus, and which, as it is reported by
fome, had fallen down from heaven. This was an ar¬
duous enterprife. The king of Cherfonefus always fa-
crificed on the altars of the goddefs all fuch as entered
the borders of bis country. Oreltes and his friend Avere
therefore both carried before Thoas the king of the
place, and they were doomed to be faerificed. Iphige-
nia, Oreltes’s filler, was then prieftefs of Diana’s temple,
and it was her office to immolate thefe ftrangers. The
intelligence that they were Grecians delayed the prepa¬
rations, and Iphigenia uras anxious to learn fomething
about a country which had given her birth. She even
interefted herfelf in their misfortunes, and offered to
fpare the life of one of them, provided he would convey
letters to Greece from her hand. This was a difficult
trial : never was friendffiip more truly difplayed, ac¬
cording to the words of Ovid, ex Pont. 3. el. 2.
Irejubet Pylades carum moriturus Orejlem.
Hie negat; inque vicem pugnat uterque mori.
At lad, however, Pylades gave way to the preffing in-
treaties of his friend, and confented to carry the letters
of Iphigenia to Greece. Thefe were addreffed to Oreftes
hi mfelf j and therefore thefe circumftances foon led to a
difeovery of the connexions of the prieftefs with the man
whom fne was going to immolate. Iphigenia was con¬
vinced that he Was her brother Oreftes j and when the
caufe of their journey had been explained, Ihe herfelf re-
folved with the tw'o friends to fly from Cherfonefus, and
to carry away the ftatue of Diana. Their flight was
difeovered, and Thoas prepared to purfue them ; but
Minerva interfered, and told him that all had been done
by the will and with the approbation of the gods. Some
imagine that Oreftes came to Cappadocia from Cher¬
fonefus, and that there he left the ftatue of Diana at
Comana. Others contradifl this tradition y and Pau¬
fanias thinks that the Ifatue of Diana Orthia was the
fame as that which had been carried away from the
Cherfonefus. Some again fuppofe that Oreftes brought
it to Aricia in Italy, where Diana’s worfhip was eftab-
liffied. It was after this that Oreftes afeended the throne
of Argos, where he reigned in perfeX fecurity, married
Hermione the daughter of Menelaus, and gave his After
to
O R F [ 449 ] O R G
Oreftss to Kis friend Pylades. The marriage of Oreftes with
■1! Hermione is alfo a matter of dxfpute among the ancients.
Orfrj-s.All are agreed that die had been promifed to the fon of
\ ‘ Agamemnon ; but Menelaus had married her to Neo-
ptolemus the fon of Achilles, who had fliown himfelf fo
truly interefted in his eaule during the Trojan war. The
marriage of Hermione with Neoptolemus difpleafed Oref¬
tes; he remembered that (he had been early promifed to
him; he was therefore determined to recover her by force
or artifice. This he did by procuring the aiTafiination
of Neoptolemus. According to Ovid’s epiftle of Her¬
mione to Oreftes, Hermione had always been faithful to
her firft lover, and even it wras by her perfuafions that
Oreftes removed her from the houfe of Neoptolemus,
for flie was dilfatisfied with the partiality of Neoptolemus
for Andromache, and her attachment for Oreftes was
increafed. There are, indeed, various opinions likewife
about this : he, however, certainly managed to feeure
her affeftions, and retired to his kingdom of Argos.
His old age was crowned with peace and fecurity, and
he died in the 90th year of his age, leaving his throne
to his fon Tifamanes by Hermione. Three years after,
the Heraclidae recovered the Peloponnefus, and banifh-
ed the defcendants of Menelaus from the throne of
• Arg os. Oreftes died in Arcadia, as fome fay, by the
bite of a ferpent: and the Lacedaemonions, who had
become his fubjefts at the death of Menelaus, were di-
redled by an oracle to bring his bones to Sparta. They
were fome time after difcovered at Tegea, and his ftaiure
appeared to be feven cubits, according to the traditions
mentioned by Herodotus and others. The friendihip of
Oreftes and of Pylades became proverbial: and the two
friends received divine honours among the Scythians, and
were worlhipped in temples.
ORFA, a confiderable town of Diarbeck (anciently
Mefopotamia) in Afia, very pleafantly fituated, and well
fortified. It formerly belonged to Perfia; but is now in
the Turkifh dominions, and is a place of very good
trade. It has a ftately caftle Handing on a hill, which
makes a great ftiow at a diftance. They pretend to ftiow
the well where Rachel watered her father’s camels when
Jacob met her, and they call it Abraham's well. E. Long.
37. 45. N. Lat. 36. 20.
OliFFYREUS’s Wheel, m Mechanics, is a machine
fo called from its inventor, which he afferted to be a
perpetual motion. This machine, according to the ac¬
count given-of it by Gravefande, in his Oeuvres Philofo-
phiques, publiihed by Allemand, Amft. 1774, con-
lifted externally of a large circular wheel, or rather drum,
12 feet in diameter, and 14 inches deep; being very
light, as it was formed of an affemblage of deals, having
the intervals between them covered with waxed cloth, to
conceal the interior parts of it. The two extremities of
an iron axis, on which it turned, refted on two fupports.
On giving a flight impulfe to the wheel, in either direc¬
tion, its motion was gradually accelerated ; fo that after
two or three revolutions it acquired fo great a velocity as
to make 25 or 26 turns in a minute. This rapid motion
it actually preferved during the fpace of two months, in
a chamber of the landgrave of Heffe, the door of which
was kept locked, and fealed with the landgrave’s own
feal. At the end of that time it was flopped, to prevent
the wear of the materials. The profeflor, who had been
an eye-witnefs to thefe eircumftances, examined all the
external parts of it, and was convinced that there could
Vol. XV. Part II.
Organ.
not be any communication between it and any neigh- Orffyreus’s
bouring room. Orffyreus however was fo incenfed, or
pretended to be fo, that he broke the machine in
pieces, and wrote on the wall, that it was the impertinent
curiofity of Profeffor Gravefande, which made him take
this ftep. The prince of Heffe, who had feen the inte¬
rior parts of this wheel, but fworn to fecre’cy, being
afked by Gravefande, whether, after it had been in mo¬
tion for fome time, there was any change obfervable in
it, and whether it contained any pieces that indicated
fraud or deception, anfwered both queftions in the ne¬
gative, and declared that the machine was of a very
Ample conftruflion.
ORFORD, a town of Suffolk in England, 88 miles
from London, fituated between two channels, where the
river Ore, after haying joined the Aid, falls into the
fea. It was once a populous town, with a caftle; of
which, and of a nunnery near the quay, there are ftill
fome ruins. The towers of the caftle and its church
are a fea-mark for colliers, coafters, and (hips that come
from Holland. There is a light-houfe at Orford-Neffe,
which is alfo of great ufe to feamen, and is a {belter for
them when a north-eaft tvind blows hard upon t\ie fhore.
The town was incorporated by Henry III. has a mayor,
18 portmen, 12 chief burgeifes, a recorder, a town-
clerk, and two ferjeants at mace. Though it fent mem¬
bers to parliament, in the 26th of Edward I. yet it had
no more elections till the reign of Edward IV. It ftill
fends two members to parliament, and has the title of an
earldom. There are ftill remaining the ruins of an holy
houfe, where the feamen’s wives ufed to pray for thefafety
of their hufbands. By the withdrawing of the fea, it has
been deprived of its chief advantage, for it now delerves
not the name of a harbour. It had the honour to give
title of earl to the brave admiral Ruflel, which, after
being many years extin&, was revived in the perfon of
Sir Robert Walpole. The population in 1801 amount¬
ed only to 339. E. Long. x. 40. N. Lat. 52. 15.
ORG AL, among dyers, denotes the lees of wine dried.
ORGAN, in general, is an inftrument or machine
defigned for the production of fome certain aCtion or
operation ; in which fenfe the mechanic powers, ma¬
chines, and even the veins, arteries, nerves, mufcles, and
bones of the human body, may be called organs.
Organ, in Mujic, denotes the largeft and moft har¬
monious of all wind-inftruments ; on which account it
is called the organ, ogyavav, the inftrument, by way of
excellence ; chiefly ufed for playing a thorough bafs,
with all its accompaniments.
That organs are the invention of remote antiquity
has been argued, and feems now to be generally al¬
lowed ; but the particular time and country in which
the difcovery wTas made appears to be loft -amidft the
ruins of time. In ancient authors there are a variety
of paflages where mention is made of the organ, but
it is at leaft poflible that an inftrument is meant very
different from that which now goes by the fame name.
From St Auguftin’s commentary on the 4th verfe of
the 150th Pfalm we learn, that the Greeks had ano¬
ther name for thofe inftruments in which bellows wrere
employed; that the name organ was appropriated to
this particular inftrument merely from the ufage of
the Latin tongue ; and that it was indifferently given
to all inftruments ufed to accompany the Voice in con¬
cert. We mention this, not becaufe we doubt of the
3 L antiquity
O 11 G
Organ, antiquity of tlie organ, but merely to fliow that the
* time of its invention cannot be determined by the era
of the authors where its name occurs. As the fol-
lowing obfervation, extra&ed from a periodical work
which has long been in deferved efteem with the pub¬
lic, are intended to afcertain its early ufe, we fubmit
them, without commentary, to the judgment of our
readers. CafTiodorus has defcribed our organ in a few
words, lib. x. Epif. 45. Praifing that art, which makes
Organa extranets vocibns infonare, et peregrinis Jlatibus
complet, nt mujica pojjit arte cantare. And the emperor
Julian has given an exaft defcription of it in an epigram,
which may be found in the Anthologia, b. i. ch. 86. In
Iris time thefe inftruments were in fuch requeft, that
Ammianus Marcellinus, b. xiv. ch. 6. complains that
they occafioned the lludy of th6 fciences to be abandoned.
However, thofe mufical inifruments whofe melody is
produced by wind, had been knorvn at Rome long before.
Witnefs that agreeable poem of Capa, which for its ele¬
gance has been aferibed to Virgil ; where we find that
the mufician introduces the wind into her pipes by means
of a pair of bellows, which fhe holds under her arms and
blows. In the hydraulic organ, the water moves the air,
inftead of bellows. Cornelius Severus, in his JKtmt, has
given an exaft defcription of it (a). And though there
were two kinds of hydraulic and pneumatic inftruments,
the firft: of which played by the infpiration and aftion of
bellows, and the other by the a61ion of water, it is cer¬
tain, neverthelefs, that both of them were pneumatic,
being infpired by the wind. And Heron of Alexandria,
in his Pneumatics, has treated of hydraulics as belonging
to pneumatics. This Heron lived in the time of Ptolemy
Euergetes, king of Egypt. When Suetonius fays, that
Nero Organa hydraulica noin et ignoti generis circum-
duxit, he did not mean that they were unknown at Rome
before Nero, but that thofe of Nero -were of a new con-
itrudion. Thofe were the hydraulics of a new fabric,
which he exhibited to the people at the public games,
as Suetonius relates a little after. Heliogabalus, one
of the worthy fuccelfors of Nero, like him xvas fond
of thefe hydraulics) and Alexander Severus, his coufin
O R G
and fucceflbr, had the fame inclination. Claudian, who Organ,
lived fome time after, has left us this elegant defcriptionv-—
of them :
Et qut magna levi detrudens murmura taRu
Innumeras voces fegetis moderatur aence ;
Intonet erranti digito, penitufque trabali
VeRe laborantes in cartnina concitat undas.
This very conllrudion which is obferved in the pipes of
an organ, gradually decreafing in magnitude, has been
reprefented in an epigram of Optatianus Porphyrius, who
lived in the time of Conftantine. This epigram, which
is quoted in Pithon’s colledion of ancient epigrams, is
compofed of verfes of an unequal length, fuccelfively in-
creafing. This correfponds with thofe words of the old
fcholiait on Juvenal, fat. 8. ver. 270. Tunica Gulli
utuntur in facris in rnodum organi utrinque decrefcentibus
virgulis purpureis.
On the whole, then, the antiquity of organs, or of
inftruments of a very fimilar nature, can fcarcely be
difputed ) but nothing very particular refpe&ing the
time, place, or manner, of the invention can poffibly be
determined from thofe incidental obfervations which oc¬
cur in the writings of the ancients (b). It appears indeed
to have been borrowed by the Latins from the Greeks,
but not to have been in general ufe till the eighth cen¬
tury ) and it has been affirmed, that, in France, it was
not known till the time of Louis le Debonair i. .e*
A. D. 8x5, when an Italian prieft taught the ufe and
conftruction of it, which he himfelf had learned at Con-
ftantinople. Ry fome, however, it has been carried as
far back as Charlemagne, and by others as far as Pepin.
Bellarmine fays that the organ began to be ufed in the
fervice of the church about the year 660, as Platina re¬
lates out of the Pontifical : for when Pope Vitalian re¬
formed the finging of the Roman church, he added to it
organs in order to fupport and embelliffi it. Ammonius
thinks, however, that this happened after the year 820,
in the time of Loins the Pious. Perhaps the learned
Bingham is our fureft guide in determining this point.
He pofitively aflerts f that there were no fuch things asf Origikes
organs ^acrce'
[ 45° ]
(a) Which is thus tranflated by Mr Jabez Hughes
As in an organ *, firft: the rufiling air
A mafs of waters does before it bear ) * Organm
And then the waters, in their turn, we find Hydrau-
Hrive through the hollow pipes the vanquilh’d wind T Ikon.
Which ftrongly from its ftrait confinement fent,
Comes loudly rattling through the narrow vent:
Still as the waters prefs, the fpirits found,
And fpread the bubbling fymphony around.
So air and water meet, &c.
It is by no means certain that Cornelius Severus ivas the author of this poem, though it is publiffied under his
name by Le Clerc. Seneca’s authority, on which the Younger Scaliger founds his opinion, enforces no fuch con-
clufion. He only fays, that “ Severits was not difeouraged from writing on this fubjeft, by its having been already
treated by Ovid and Virgil.” Barthius, in his notes on Claudian, refers it to Manilius, and in his Adverfaria to
fome Chriftian writer. By others it has been aferibed to Virgil, and by Scaliger, the father, to Quintilius Varus.
But though it is lefs clear and methodical than Virgil, and though it has been much mutilated by time, it certainly
was penned by a mafterly and truly poetical hand.
(b) Vitruvius deferibes an organ in his xeth book) and St Jerome mentions one with 12 pair of bellows,
which might be heard a thoufand paces, or a mile: and another at Jerufalem which might be heard at the
Mount of Olives,
O R G [45
Organ, organs in ufe in the ancient church ; and that though
church mufic was as old as the apoitles, inftrumental
mufic was not fo. He alfo fays that it was the general
opinion of the learned in his days, that organs were not
introduced into churches till after the time of Thomas
Aquinas, A. D. I 250 and for this opinion, as far as
the authority of Aquinas will go, we have a pofitive
proof; for in his fermons we find thefe words : “ Our
church does not ufe mufical inftruments, as harps and
pfaltries, to praife God withal, that (he may not feem
to Judaize (c).” From hence it has reafonably been
* Bingham concluded, particularly by the learned Gregory *, that
tulifupra. they were not ufed in churches in his time, Mr Whar¬
ton has alfo obfervcd that Marinas Sanutus (who flou-
riflied A. D, 1290) firft introduced wind organs into
churches j from this circumftance he derived the name
Torccllus, the name for organ in the Italian language.
About this fame time Durandus in his Rationale fpeaks
of them as generally received in the church $ and he,
in Mr Gregory’s opinion, is the firlt author who
takes notice of it. Thefe authorities arc llrong, and
the opinions founded on them by the learned render
them Hill more convincing : it appears, however, from
the teftimony of Gervas the monk of Canterbury, -who
flourifiied A. D. 1200, that organs were introduced
upwards of 100 years even before that time ; for in
his defeription of Lanfranc’s church, as it was 'before
the; fire in IJ 74, he has thefe words, “ Crux ait]}ra¬
ils fupra fornicem organa gejiare folebui.'n We do not
fay that this invalidates the reafoning of the learned
Bingham ; of that our readers are to judge, and in form¬
ing their judgments they will be determined by the
credit of the teftimonies which are here oppofed to each
other. If we fuppofe that of Gervas the ftrongeft, and
in oppofition to the other conclude from it, that organs
•were introduced into England long before the 13th cen¬
tury, it will give fome countenance to. an opinion which
prevails pretty generally, viz. that in Italy, Germany,
and England, they became frequent about the 10th
century. See Music, p. 493- But however we are dif-
pofed to determine this matter (which is in itfelf but of
little confequence), it is certain that the ufe of the organ
Was very common in the latter ages of the church, and
the propriety of it was undifputed. In the lait century,
however, during the civil wars, organs were remo¬
ved from the churches in England ; and fo gene¬
rally reprobated, that, at the Reftoration, there could
fcarce be found either organifts, organ builders, or
lingers (d).
The organs in Germany (fays Dr Burney) in mag-
1 ] o R G
nitude, and the organiils in abilities, feem unrivalled
in any other part of Europe, particularly in the ufe of
pedals. In Marpurg’s Effays, vol. iii. there is a mi¬
nute account of a variety of organs in Germany ; of
all which the longelt pipe of the manuals is 16 feet
long, and of the pedals 32. One of the largelt or¬
gans in Germany, but which Marpurg has omitted
in his lift, is at Gorlitz in Upper Lufatia. It would
be to no purpofe to enlarge our article with a more
minute account of the ftate of organic mufic in dif¬
ferent parts of the world •, in various parts of the ar¬
ticle Music, obfervations connected with this fubjeft
will be found, and to that we muft refer. We may
particularly notice, for the perufal of thofe who with
for further information on this fubje<ft, the obferva¬
tions which have been made on organs in the Hif-
tonj of Music, at p. 493. We need fcarcely refer
to the life of Handel, which all our readers w ho are
fond of mufic of any kind, particularly facred, have un¬
doubtedly perufed.
The church-organ confifts of two parts j the main
body, called the great organ ; and the pofitive or little
organ, which forms a fmall cafe or buffet, commonly
placed before the great organ. The fize of an organ
is generally expreffed by the length of its largeft pipe :
thus they fay, an organ of 8, 16, 3 2 feet, &c. The
organ in the cathedral church at Ulm in Germany is
■93 feet high and 28 broad : its largeft pipe is 13 inches
diameter, and it has 16 pair of belloWs.
The feveral parts of the church-organ are as follows:
HIH is the found-board •, which is compofed of two
parts, the upper board or cover HHH, and the under
board HI, which is much thicker than the other 5
each of thefe confifts of feveral planks laid with their
edges to each other, and joined very clofe together.
In the under fide of the lower board there are made
feveral channels, which run in the direction LL, MM,
&c. and are-continued as far as there are Hops in the
organ, and come almoft to the edge HK. Thefe
channels are covered over very clofe with parchment
or leather all the way, except a hole that is commonly
at the fore-end next HK, upon which a valve or puff
is placed. Thefe channels are called partitions. When
this valve or flap is fhut, it keeps out the air, and ad¬
mits it when open. On the upper fide of the lower
board there are likewife cut feveral broad fquar'e chan¬
nels, lying crofs the former, but not fo deep as to
reach them ; thefe lie in the diredtion LN, PO, &c.
To fit thefe channels, there are the fame number of
wooden Aiders or regifters f f f &c. running the
3 L 2 whole
Organ.
Plate
cccxtr
fig. 1.
(T) The lawfulnefs of ufing organs in churches, has, however, been ably defended by an appeal to the ufe which
the Jews made of inftruments of mufic in divine fervice j and with much reafon j for were the ufe criminal in us,
as was afferted by many well-meaning men of the laft century, and as it is ftill thought by fome in this, it would
unqueftionably have been equally unlawful for the Jews. The Chriftians in Aquinas’s time, however, adled wifely
in avoiding the ufe of them, if by fo doing they would have given offence to their weaker brethren. For though
they are highly ornamental, and in fome churches may be produdlive of good effedfs, yet the ufe of them is far
Irom being enential, and may be eafily difpenfed with.
(d) Organs have never yet been ufed in the eftabliftiment of Scotland, fince that became Prelbyterian ; but they
are ufed in Holland, where that form of church-government alfo obtains. Biftiop Horne, in a fermon which he
preached at the opening of the new organ at Canterbury in 1784, fays that he believes fome Prelbyterian diffen-
ters in England have adopted it in their places of worlhip. Sec his Sermon, page 8,
O R G E 452 3 O R G
whole Tength j and thefe maybe drawn out or tliruft
in at plealure. The number of thefe is the fame as that
of the hops in the organ.
IKKK is the wind-cheft, which is a fquare box fit¬
ted clofe to the under fide of the lower board, and
made air -tight, fo that'no air can get out but what goes
through the valves along the partitions.
VV are the valves or puffs which open into the wind-
cheft j they are all inclofed in it, and may be placed in
any part of it, as oeeafion {hall require. One of thefe
valves, with the fpring that {huts it, and the wire that
opens it, is reprelented by fig. 2.
C, D, E, F, &c. are the keys on which the fingers
are placed when the organ is played : thefe keys lie
over the horizontal bar of wood W, in which are ftuck
an equal number of wire-pins z-, z, on which keys are
fixed ; and the keys move up and dorvn on the bar,
as on a centre. There is another bar, againft which
the keys fall when put down, and which is here mark¬
ed 3 : on this alfo are feveral wires, which go through
the keys, to guide them ; and on this bar a lift is fa-
ftened to hinder the keys from knocking againft the
wood.
The keys are made to communicate with the valves
feveral ways, as we lhall now deferibe. Firft, 4, r, s,
are the key-rollers, moving on the pivots t, t : thefe
rollers lie horizontally, one above another, and are of
fuch a length as to reach from the valve to the key :
a, a, a, are arms or levers fixed to the key-rollers j
w, w, the valve-wires fixed to the arms a, c, and to
the valves V,. and go through the holes 7i, /i, in the bot¬
tom of the wind-cheft : b, b, b, are likewife arms fixed
to the key-rollers : d, d, d, the key-wires, fixed to the
arms b, b, and to the keys C, D, E. Now, when the
end of any one of the keys C, D, E, is put down, it
pulls down the arm b, by the wire d, which turns about
the roller s with the arm a, that pulls down the wire
iv, which opens the valve that is Unit by the fpring as
foon as the preffure is taken off the key. In this con-
ftrudlion there muft be a worm fpring fattened to the
key, and to the bar W on the further fide, to keep
down the end 5 of the key.
Another method t>f opening the valves is thus \ x y,
xy, are {lender levers, moveable on the centres r, 1 j
5 x, 5 x, are wires going from the further ends of the
keys to the ends x of the levers 5 y V, y V, are other
wires, reaching from the ends y of the levers, through
the holes//, to the valves-V. So that putting down
the key C, D, &ci raifes the end 5, which thrufts up
the end x of the lever, by the wire 5 x this depreffes
the end y of the lever, which pulls down the wire y V,
and opens the valve V.
A third way of opening the valve is this : At the
end of the key b, is a lever, 8, 9, moving in the centre
7. This makes, with the key, a compound lever.
From the end 9, a wire, goes to the valve. Now the
putting down the end 6 of the key, raifes the end 8,
which depreffes the end 9, of the lever 8, 9, pulls down
the wire, and opens the valve. There is only one of
thefe drawn in the fcheme, and but a few of the others,
to avoid c'onfufion.
R, R, are the rollers, to move the Aiders, by help
of the •A.xvas c f, c f which are fixed horizontally in
thefe rollers: k e,k e, are alfo levers fixed in the rollers ;
le,le, are the handles, which lie horizontally, and pafs
through the holes /1; they are faftened to the lever
k e, being moveable about a joint at e.
Now, any handle /p, being drawn out, pulls the end
e towards /, which turns about R^, along with the
arm cf; and the end f pulls out the Aider f g ; and
when p is thruft in, the arm c/likewife thrufts in the
Aider f g.
Upon the feveral rows of holes which appear on the
top of the upper board, there are fet up an equal num¬
ber of rows of pipes. The pipes of an organ are of
two kinds $ the one has a mouth like a Aute, the other
with reeds. The firft, called pipes of mutation, confift,
(1.) of a foot AABB (fig. 3.), which is a hollow
cone, that receives the wind that is to found the pipe :
(2.) To this foot is faftened the body of the pipe
BBED. Between the loot and the body of the pipe
is a diaphragm or partition FEE, that has a long but
narrow aperture, by which the wind comes out ; over
this aperture is the mouth BBC, whofe upper lip C,
being level, cuts the wind as it comes out.
The pipes are of pewter, of lead mixed with a
twelfth part of tin, and of wood. Thofe of pewter
are always open at their extremities : their diameter
is very fmall, and their found very clear and Amll.
Thofe of lead mixed with tin are larger; the fhorteft
are open, the longeft quite Hopped ; thofe of a mean
fize are partly Hopped, and have befide a little ear on
each.fide the mouth, to be drawn clofer or fet further
afunder, in order to raife or lower the found. The
wooden pipes are fquare, and their extremity is flop¬
ped with a valve or tampion of leather. The found
of the wooden and leaden pipes is very foft 5 the large
ones flopped are commonly of wood, the fmall ones
of lead. The longeft pipes give the graveft found,
and the Arorteft the molt acute : their lengths and
widths are determined by a fixed proportion to their
founds ; and their divifions are regulated by a rule,
which is called the diapafon. The longeft has common¬
ly 16 feet) but in very large organs it has 32 feet. The
pedal tubes are always open, though made of wood and
of lead. Whatever note any open pipe founds, when
its mouth is flopped, it will found an oftave lower j and
a pipe of twice its capacity will likewife found an odtave
lower.
A reed-pipe confifts of a foot AABB (fig. 4.), that
carries the wind into the Aiallot or reed Cl), which is a
hollow demi-cylinder, fitted at its extremity D, into a
fort of mould, by a wooden tampion G. The lhallot is
covered with a plate of copper KKLL, fitted at its ex¬
tremity II, into the mould, by the lame wTooden tam¬
pion. Its other extremity KK is at liberty : fo that the
air entering the fliallot makes it tremble or lhake againft
the reed 5 and the longer that part of the tongue 1L,
which is at liberty, is made, the deeper is the found.
The mould II, that ferves to fix the lhallot or reed, the
tongue, tampion, &c. ferves alfo to flop the foot of the
pipe, and make the wind go out wholly at the reed.
Laftly, in the mould is foldered the tube H-H, whofe
inward opening is a continuation of that of the reed :
the form of this tube is different in different ranks of
pipes. The degree of acutenefs or gravity in the found
of a reed pipe, depends on the length of the tongue, and
that of the pipe CK, taken from the extremity of the
lhallot to the extremity of the tube. The quantity or
intention of the found depends on the width of the reed,
the
F‘g- 3*
Fig. 4.
ORGAN
PLATE CCCXCI
. r /
Organ.
Plate
CCXCL
'O R G r 453 ]
the tongue, and the tube ; as alfo on the thicknefs of o&aves.
the tongue, the figure of the tube, and the quantity of
wind. To diverfify the founds of the pipes, a valve is
added to the port-vent, which makes the wind go out
in fits or {hakes. In fig. I. X reprefents' a flute-pipe
ef wood, Z a flute-pipe of metal, Y a trumpet-pipe
of metal. The pipes, to prevent them from falling, pafs
through holes made in boards, placed upon the upper
board.
The pipes are made to communicate with the wind-
cheft in the following manner. There are holes bored
that go through the upper and lower boards, and through
the Aider (when it is drawn out), into the partition be¬
low y fo that any pipes placed upon thofe holes will then
communi.cate with the partition, which by its valve,'
communicates with the wind-cheft. But when the Aider
is thrufi: in, its holes do not anfwer to thofe in the up¬
per and lower boards ; therefore, the communication is
flopped, fo that no wind can get to the pipe.
To every large organ there mull be at lead two pair
of bellows, which are marked in fig. i. by TU, TU.
0, O, are the handles,, moving upon the axis n n, n n.
Each of thefe bellows confifts of two boards, the low-
eft of which is immoveable j and in this there is a valve
r, opening inwards, and a tube leading to it, called
the conveying tube. There is alfo a hole in this under
board, from which a tube leads to the port-vent, which
is a fquare tube marked 4, rifing upward, and inferted
into the under fide of the wind-cheft at 2. In the tube
leading to the port-vent, there is a valve that opens to¬
wards the port vent, and fuffers the air to go up the
port vent, but not to return. Now the handle O being
pulled down, raifes the upper board T, and the air en¬
ters through the valve r ; and when the handle is let
go, the weight of the upper board, which carries three
or four pounds to every fquare foot, continually defeen-
ding, drives the air through the port-vent to the found-
board : and as the bellows work alternately, one pair is
conftantly defeending, which occafions a continual blaft
through the port vent. In chamber-organs there is but
one pair of bellows •, but they are formed of three boards,
in the manner of a fmith’s bellows, and fo have a conti¬
nual blaft:. All the internal ftru&ure of the organ it
concealed from the fight by the front of the inftrument,
which ftands upon the part between the numbers 3 and
6 (fig. 1.).
In every organ, the number of partitions LL, MM,
&c. there are in the found-board (fig. 1.), that of the
valves VV, that of the rollers rx, or of the levers
Ary or 8 9 and their' wires, and that of the keys ABC,
Sic. muft be always equal. Large organs have com¬
monly four or five fets of keys, befide thofe that be¬
long to the pedals or large pipes, the flops to which
are played by the feet 5 faid to be the invention of
Bernard, a German, about the year 1400. J hefe
command certain pipes, which, to increafe the harmony,
are tuned below the diapafon. 1 he keys of an organ
are ufually divided into four o&aves 5 which are, the firft
fiib-o£tave, fecond fub-o£fave, middle oftave, and firft
oflave. Each oftave is divided into 12 flops or frets,
of which'feven are black and five white ; the former
mark the natural notes, and the latter the artificial notes,
that is, flats and {harps. The number of keys, therefore,
when there are four oflaves, muft be 48. Some orga-
nifts add one or more flops to the firft and fecond fub-
O R G
The pedals have two or three o61aves, at the ^Orgafw
option of the organift j fo that the number of flops is in- "
determinate. The keys are placed between GG (fig. 1.),
but the fcheme could not contain them all. ft here are
alfo as many handles /, /, &c. rollers RR, &c. Aiders
f,f, &c. as there are flops upon the organ ; and it muft
be obferved, that between the Aiders f,f, &c. there are
as many Aiders on the right hand, and the fame number
of handles and rollers, and other rows of pipes placed
between LN, which could not be expreATed in the
figure.
'The leaft pipes and partitions are placed toward the
middle of the organ, and the greateft on the outfide.
'The flops of an organ have various denominations, ac¬
cording to the founds they are to produce •, fome of
which are diapafon, principal, fifteenth, twelfth, tearce,
cornet, trumpet, French horn, vox humana, flute, baf-
foon, cremona, &c. The foreign organs, efpecially thofe
of Germany, have many more : particularly that in the
abbey church of Weingarten, a town in the Upper Pa¬
latinate, which has 66 flops, and contains no fewer than
6666 pipes. 'The organ at Haerlem is faid to have 60
flops, many of them but little known to the Englilh
workmen, and diftinguiftred by names that exprefs the
found which they produce.
When this magnificent inftrument is played, the
handle O of the bellows is firft put down, which raifes
the upper board ft', and gives room for the air to en¬
ter by the valve r. ft'hen the other handle O is put
down : In the mean time the board ft', belonging to
the firft handle, defeending, and {hutting the valve r,
drives the air through the other valve,- up the port-
vent, and into the wind-cheft. Then drawing out any
handle, as that of the flute-flop p /, which draws out
the Aider f g, all the pipes in the fet LN are ready to
play, as foon as the keys C, D, E, &c. are put down :
therefore if the key D be put down, it opens the cor-
refponding valve m V, through which the air enters
into the pipe X, and makes it found. In the fame
manner any other pipe in the fet LN, will lound when
its key is put down : but no pipe, i» any other let, will
found till the Aider be drawn out by its correfponding
handle.
Among the modern improvements of the organ, the
moft remarkable are the fwell and the tremblant: the
former, invented by an Englifti artift, confifts in a
number of pipes placed in a remote part of the inftru¬
ment, and inclofed in a kind of box, which being
gradually opened by the preffure of the foot, increafes
the found as the wind does the found of a peal of
bells, or fuppreffes it in like manner by the contrary
a£1 ion. The tremblant is a contrivance by means of
a valve in the port-vent, or paflage from the wind-
cheft, to check the wind, and admit it only by ftarts j
fo that the notes feein to ftammer, and the whole in¬
ftrument to fob, in a manner very offenfive to the ear.
There is a tremblant in the organ at the German cha¬
pel in the Savoy. See Hawkins’s Hijlori) of Mufc, and
Burney.
Hydraulic ORGAN, denotes a mufical machine that
plays by water inttead of wind. Of thefe there are fe-
veral in Italy, in the grottoes of vineyards. Ctefebcs of
Alexandria, who lived in the time of Ptolemy Euerge-
tes, is faid to have invented organs that played by com¬
prefling the air with water, as is ftill pra&ifed. Archi-
1 medes
O R I
metles and Vitruvius have left us defcriptions of the
hydraulic organ. '
In the cabinet of Queen Chriftina is a beautiful and
large medallion of Valentinian, on the reverfe whereof
is leen one of thefe hydraulic organs •, with two men,
one on the right, the other on the left, feeming to pump
the water which plays it, and to liften to its found. It
has only eight pipes, placed on a round pedeftal. The
infeription is placea spetri, if it be not wrong copied,
which we fufpect to be the cafe.
ORGASM, egyete-pos, denoting violence or turgefeen-
cy } formed from o^yotu, turgeo, “ I fwcll,” an ecilafy or
impetuous defire of coition, occafioned by a turgefcency
of the feminal veflels, which are no longer able to re-
ilrain their contents. The ancients alfo extend orgafm
to the other humours, and even excrements, which be¬
ing accumulated, and coming to ferment, demand ex¬
cretion. Quincy ufes orgafm for an impetuous or too
<juick motion of the blood or fpirits ; whereby the muf-
cles are diftended with an uncommon force.
ORGIA, feafts and facrifices in honour of Bacchus,
held every third year, and chiefly celebrated by wild
•diftra&ed women, called Bacchce. The chief folem-
nities -were performed in the night, to conceal, per¬
haps, their {Locking impurities; and a mountain was
generally chofen as the place of celebration. They were
inftituted by Orpheus j and from him are fometimes
called Orphica. Authors are not agreed as to the deri¬
vation of the word ; but if we confider the frantic pro¬
ceedings of the Bacchanalians, o^yn^ furory bids fair for
the true etymology. See Bacchanalia.
Orgia, according to Servius, was a common name for
all kinds of facrifices among the Greeks, as ceremonies
was among!!: the Romans.
ORGUES, in the military art, are thick long pieces
of wood, pointed at one end, and fliod with iron,
clear one of another j hanging each by a particular
rope or cord, over the gateway of a ftrong place, per¬
pendicularly, to be let fall in cafe of the approach of aik
enemy.
Orgues are preferable to herfes, or portcullices, be-
caufe thefe may be cither broke by a petard, or they
may be flopped in their falling down : but a petard is
ufelefs again A an orgue ; for if it break one or two of
the pieces, they immediately fall down again and fill up
the vacancy •, or if they flop one or two of the pieces
from falling, it is no hinderance to the reft ; for be¬
ing all feparate, they have no dependence upon one
another.
Orgues, is alfo ufed for a machine compofed of fe-
veral harquebufs or mufket barrels bound together, by
means whereof feveral explofions are made at the fame
time. It is ufed to defend breaches and other places
attacked.
.ORGYA, c^yvict, an ancient Grecian meafure con¬
taining fix feet.
ORIBASIA, a genus of plants belonging to the
pentandria clafs, and in the natural method ranking
under the 47*L order, Stellatce. See Botany Index.
0 R I
ORIBASUS, a celebrated phyfician, greatly efttem- Oribafu,,
cd by the emperor Julian, in whofe reign he flouriihed. ^nchal.
He abridged the works of Galen, and of all the moft cum-
refpe&able writers on phyfic. This was dune at the re-
queft of the emperor. He accompanied Julian into the
eaft, but his {kill proved ineffeftual in attempting to
cure the fatal wound which his benefa&or had received.
After Julian’s death he fell into the “hands of the bar¬
barians.
ORICHALCUM, or Aurichalcum, a metallic
fubftance refembling gold in colour, but very inferior
in value. It was well known to the old Romans, who
often took advantage of its refemblance to gold : for
fome facrilegious charadfers, who could not refift the
temptation of taking gold from temples and other pub¬
lic places, chofe to conceal their guilt by replaeino- it
with orichalcum. It was thus that Julius Ctefar adted
when he robbed the capitol of 3000 pounds weight of
gold 5 in which he was followed by Vitellius, who de-
fpoiled the temples of their gifts and ornaments, and
replaced them with this inferior metal. It has been a
matter of difpute with philofophers and others, what
this metal could be, or how it was procured or made ;
it is probable at leaft that it was greatly analogous to .
our brafs, if not wholly the fame with it (See Brass).
The value of our brafs is much lefs than that of gold,
and the refemblance of brafs to gold, in colour, is ob¬
vious at firft fight. Both brafs and gold, indeed, are
fufeeptible of a variety of {hades of yellow 5 and, if
very pale brafs be compared with gold, mixed with
much copper, fuch as the foreign goldfmiths, efpecial-
ly, ufe in their toys, a difparity may be feen 5 but the
nearnefs of the refemblance is fufliciently afeertained
in general, from obferving that fubftances gilded wfith
brafs, or as it is commonly called Dutch leaf are not
eafily diftinguiflied from fuch as are gilded ufith gold
leaf.
The Romans were not only in poffeflion of a metallic
fubftance, called by them orichalcum, and refembling
gold in colour, but they knew alfo the manner of making
it, and the materials from which they’made it were the
very fame from which we make brafs. There are, in¬
deed, authors of great repute who think very different¬
ly j and who confider the art of making brafs as an in¬
vention wholly modern. Thus M. Cronftedt does not
think it juft to conclude from old coins and other anti¬
quities, that it is evidently proved that the making of
brafs was known in the moft ancient times * ; and the * Miner.
authors of the French Encyclopedic allure us, that ourp. aiS.
brafs is a very recent invention (a). It appears, how¬
ever, from Pliny’s Nat. Hift. lib. xxxiv. § 2. and from
the concurring teftimony of other writers, that orichal¬
cum was not a pure or original metal; but that its bafis
was copper, which the Romans changed into orichalcum
by means of cadmia, a fpecies of earth which they threw
upon the copper, and which it abforbed. It has indeed
•been contended, that the cadmia of Pliny was native
arfenic ; an opinion which fcarcely merits confutation,
but which muft appear extremely groundlefs, when we
refleft
I 454 ]
(a) Art. Orichalque.—“ The veflels here called brazen, after ancient authors, cannot have been of the ma-
-8 13 C0IIli>0fed °f ’ tlie art of niaking [t is a modern difeovery.” See Laughton's Hijlory of
o R 1 [ 455 1 OKI
Orichal- refleft that it is impoffible to make either brafs or cop-
cum. per from arfenic, and that Pliny exprefsly calls it aJione
—"Y—^ from which brafs was made. The teftimony of Am-
brofe bifhop of Milan, in the 4th century, and of Pri-
mafius biihop of Adrumetum, in Africa, in the 6th, and
of Ifidorus biihop of Seville in the 7th, all feem to con¬
firm Pliny’s account. We may therefore fafely con¬
clude that the Romans knew the method of making
brafs by mixing cadmia or calamine with copper ; yet it
is probable they were not the inventors of this art; but
that they borrowed it from fome other country. It ap¬
pears from a variety of teftimonies that brafs wras made
in Alia, in a manner very fimilar to that at Rome 5 and
a variety of places are mentioned in that extenfive coun¬
try where it was commonly made ; and it is fuppofed by
fome that in India, as well as in other parts of Alia, it
wras made in the remoteft ages.
With refpeft to orichalcum, it is generally fuppofed
that there were two forts of it, one faftitious, the
other natural. The faftitious, whether we confider its
qualities or compolition, appears to have been the
fame with our brafs. As to the natural orichalcum,
there is no impoflibility in fuppoling, that copper
ore may be fo intimately blended with an ore of zinc,
or of fome other metallic fubftance, that the com¬
pound, when fmelted, may yield a mixed metal of a
paler hue than copper, and refembling the colour of
either gold or filver. In Du Halde’s hiftory of China,
we meet with the following account of the Chinefe
white copper. “ The moll extraordinary copper is
called de-tong, or white copper : it is white when dug
out of the mine, and Hill more white within than with¬
out. It appears by a vaft number of experiments made
at Pekin, that its colour is oAving to no mixture •, on
the contrary all mixtures diminilh its beauty j for,, when
it is rightly managed, it looks exa&ly like filver : and
were there not a neceflity of mixing a little tutenag, or
fome fuch metal with it, to foftcn it and prevent its
brittlenefs, it would be fo much the more extraordinary,
as this fort of copper is perhaps to be met with no¬
where but in China, and that only in the province of
*Tol. 'Tun-nan Notw'ithftanding what is here faid, of the
Tranf. colour of this copper being owing to no mixture, it is
f°l-i‘P*certain that the Chinefe white copper, as brought to
us, is a mixed metal ; fo that the ore from which
it is extrafled mull confift of various metallic fubftan-
ces, and from fome fuch ore it is poffible that the natu¬
ral orichalcum, if ever it exifted, may have been made.
But, notwithftanding that the exigence of natural ori¬
chalcum cannot be fhown to be impoffible,. yet there is
fomc reafon to doubt whether it ever had a real exift-
ence or not.
We know of no country in which it is found at
prefent 5 nor was it anywhere found in the age of
Pliny 5 nor does he feem to have known the country
where it ever had been found. He admits, indeed,
its having been formerly dug out of the earth ;" but it
is remarkable, that in the very paffage where he is
mentioning by name the countries moft celebrated for
the produftion of different kinds of copper, he only
fays in general concerning orichalcum, that it had
been found in other countries, without fpecifying any
particular country. Plato acknowdedges, that ori¬
chalcum was a thing only talked of even in his time ;
it was nowhere then to be met with, though in the
3
ifland of Atlantis it had been formerly extracted from its Orichal-
mine. The Greeks were in poffeflion of a metallic fub- cum
fiance, called orichalcum, before the foundation of Rome •, .U
for it is mentioned by Homer and by Hefiod ; and by , ^rigcr1,
both of them in fuch a manner as fhows that it was then
held in great eflcem. Other ancient writers have ex-
preffed themfelves in fimilar terms of commendation j
and it is principally from the circumfiance of the high
reputed value of orichalcum that authors are induced to
fuppofe the ancient orichalcum to have been a natural
fubftance, and very different from the factitious one in
ufe at Rome, and probably in Alia, and which it has
been fhown was nothing different from our brafs.
But this conclufion cannot be validly drawn from their
encomiums upon it j for at whatever time the method
of making it was firft difeovered, both its novelty and
fcarcenefs, joined to its utility, would enhance its value,
at lealt there can be no abfurdrty in fuppofing, that when
firft introduced it was greatly prized, even though it be
granted that it poffeffed no other properties than fuch as
appertain to brafs.
Refpedting the etymology of the word there is great
diverfity of opinions. Thofe who write it aurichalcum
think it is compofed of the Latin word aurmn, “ gold.”
and the Greek “ brafs or copper.” The moll ge¬
neral opinion is, however, that it is compofed of’egu?, “ a
mountain”, and ytu\x.o<;, alluding perhaps to its being
found in mountains or mountainous countries. The
above account is chiefly extradled from a paper in the
fecond volume of Memoirs of the Literary and Philo-
fophical Society of Manchefter, written by the prefent
bifhop of Landaff, Dr Wa tfon, and communicated by
Dr Percival. To this paper then we refer our readers
who defire a more copious account of it. To the above
two etymological meanings of the word Ave fhall fubjoin
the folloAving, mentioned by the learned bifhop, and.
which, in our opinion, is equally Avell founded, and cer¬
tainly as ingenious, as the other Iavo.
The Hebrew Avord Or, Aur, fignifies light, fire, flame 4
the Latin terms uro, “ to burn,” and aururn, “ gold,”
are derived from it, inafmuch as gold refembles the
colour of flame : and hence it is not improbable, that
orichalcum may be compofed of an HebreAv and Greek
term, and that it is rightly rendered, Jlame-coloured
copper. In confirmation of this, it may be obferved,
that tire Latin epithet lucidum, and the Greek one <p«-
iwov, are both applied to orichalcum by the ancients.
See alfo Beckmann, Hijl. of Invent, iii. 71.
ORIFICE, the mouth or aperture of a tube, pipe, or
other cavity.
ORIGANUM, ORIGANY, or Marjoram, a genus
of plants belonging to the didynamia clafs, and in the
natural method ranking under the 42d order, Verticil-
latce. See Botany Index.
ORIENT, a toAvn and harbour of France, in the
department of Morbihan, in the bottom of the bay of
St Louis. Since the year 1720, a handfome toAvn has
been built here, Avliere the French Eaft India Company
had large magazines. The number of inhabitants is
eflimated at 15,000. The Englifh attempted to be¬
come mailers of it in 1746, but mifearried. W. Long.
3. 16. N. Lat. 47. 45.
ORIENTAL Philosophy. See Philosophy.
ORIGEN, one of the mofl celebrated ecclefiaflical
Avriters, greatefl geniufes, and mofl learned men of
the
O R I [45
Orjgcn. tlje primitive church, during the third century, was
torn at Alexandria in the year 185: and was fur-
named Adamantus, either from his indefatigable applica¬
tion to ftudy, or from the firmnefs he difcovered amidft
the torments-he fuffered for the faith. Leonidas, his
father, trained him at home with great care, and made
him apply to the ftudy of the Holy Scriptures from
his infancy, in which he made furprifing progrefs.
The fon’s inclination and turn fuited exactly with the
father’s defign ; for he purfued his ftudies with a moft
extraordinary zeal and ardour: and, being endued
with a quick apprehenfion and a ftrong imagination,
did not content himfelf with that fenfe which at firft
prefented itfelf, but farther endeavoured to dive into
myfterious and allegorical explications of the facred
books. He would fometimes even puzzle his father,
by too much foliciting him for recondite meanings j
which obliged the good man to reprehend him a little,
and withal to advife him not to attempt to penetrate
too far in the ftudy of the Holy Scriptures, but to
content himfelf with their moft clear, obvious, and
natural fenfe. Hence it appears, how early he was
feized with that furor allegoricus, as a learned modern
calls it, that rage of expounding the Scriptures alle¬
gorically, which grew afterwards to be even a diftem-
per, and carried him to excefles which can never be
excufed (a). He had afterwards in philofophy Am-
monius the celebrated Chriftian philofopher, and St
Clement of Alexandria for his mafter in divinity. At 18
years of age he fucceeded that great man in the office
of catechiftj an important employment, which confifted
in teaching divinity, and expounding the Scriptures.
Leonidas his father had fuffered martyrdom the year
before, during the perfecution of Severus in 202 } and
Origen had fhown fuch eagernefs to follow his father
to martyrdom, that his mother was obliged to hide
his clothes to prevent his going abroad. Origen had
a great concourfe of auditors who attended his fchool,
fome of whom were of the faithful, and the others pa¬
gans. He confirmed and ftrengthened the firft in their
faith, and converted moft of the others; and there were
fuch a number of martyrs amongft his difciples, that it
might be faid, that he kept rather a fchool of martyr¬
dom than of divinity. He taught the dodlrines of Chri-
ftianity to the girls and women as well as to the men ;
and taking in a too literal fenfe what Chrift fays of be¬
coming voluntary eunuchs, caftrated himfelf to prevent
his deferving or fuffering fcandal. He took a voyage
to Rome in 211, in the beginning of Caraealla’s reign,
under the pontificate of Zepherinus. At his return he
publilhed many v'orks, by w'hich he acquired an extra¬
ordinary reputation, that drew to him a great number of
53 OKI
auditors. But Demetrius, bilhop of Alexandria, con¬
ceiving a jealoufy of him, endeavoured by various pre¬
tences to injure him. At length Origen went to An¬
tioch, whether the emprefs Mammsea had lent for him
to hear him difcourfe on the Chriftian religion. He did
not however*ftay long there, but returned to Alexandria,
where-he continued to teach till the year 228, when
he left that city, and travelled into Achaia. In that
journey he went into Paleftine, and was ordained by
the bilhops of that province at 42 years of age. His
being ordained by foreign bilhops, without the per-
miflion of Demetrius, renewed that prelate’s refent-
ment againft him ; on which Origen haftily returned
to Alexandria, to endeavour to mollify him: but De¬
metrius drove him from thence in 231, and caufed
him to be excommunicated, and even depofed in a
council held in Egypt. Origen then retired to Caffa-
rea in Paleftine, where he raifed a celebrated fchool,
and had St Gregory Thaumaturgus, and a great
number of other perfons who were illuftrious for their
virtue and learning, for his difciples. He afterwards
travelled to Athens; and then, at the defire of Firmi-
lianus, ftaid fome time at Caefarea in Cappadoeia ;
whence he was invited into Arabia, to convince and
bring back to the truth Beryllus bilhop of Boftra ; who
maintained that the Word had no exiftence before his
incarnation. Origen had the happinefs to make him
fenfible of his miftake; and fome years after was fent
for into Arabia by an affembly of bilhops, to difpute
againft the Arabians, wTho maintained that the fouls
of the dead remained in a ftate of infenfibility till the
general refurredlion. At length the feven perfecu-
tions of the Chriftians began in the reign of Decius,
and none were ufed with greater feverity than Origen.
He fupported wuth incredible conftancy the dreadful
torments which the perfecutors of the Chriftians in¬
vented againft them; torments that were the more
infupportable, as they were made to continue a long
time, and as they took the greateft care to prevent his
expiring in the midft of his tortures : but in the midft
of the moft excruciating torments, he difcovered an
heroic courage, and fuffered nothing to efcape him
that was unworthy a difciple of Jefus Chrift. He
died at Tyre in 254, aged 69. He was the author of
a great number of eicelknt works. The principal of
thofe which have been handed down to us are, 1. A
Treatife againft Celfus, of which Spencer has given a
good edition in Greek and Latin, with notes: this
learned treatife lias been tranllated into Frencli by Elias
Bouhereau, a proteftant minifter, born at Rochelle.
2. A great number of Homilies, with Commentaries
on the Holy Scriptures. 3. Philocalia, and feveral
other
(a) He is the firft Chriftian (whofe notions on this fubjeft have come down to us) who believed in the re-
ftitution of all things. This is his fixth diftinguilhing tenet; to which is added this lingular notion, that as
Chrift had been crucified in this world to fave mankind, he is to be crucified in the next to fave the devils.
'I he other obnoxious tenets of Origen are thefe five : wiz. 1. That in the Trinity the Father is greater than
the Son, and the Son than the Holy Ghoft. 2. The pre-exiftence of 4ouls, which Origen confidered as fent
into mortal bodies for the punilhment of fins committed in a former ftate of being. 3. That the foul of Chrift was
united to the world before the incarnation. 4. That the fun, moon, and ftars, &c. were animated and en¬
dowed with rational fouls. 5. That after the refurreclion, all bodies will be of a round figure. It is probable
that the myftic theology of the modern Quakers and other fe6ts is derived from Origen. See Mofheim. EccL
Hi/1, vol. ift. "
*
OKI t 457 1 O R I
Origen- otlier treatifes. 4. Fragments of his Hexaples, col-
u-—y——lefted by Father Montfaucon, in two volumes folio.
Of all Origen’s books, the lofs of the Hexaples is moft
to be regretted. This work was thus named from its
containing fix columns", in the firft of which was the
Hebrew text of the Bible ; in the fecond, the fame
text in Greek characters ; in the third, the Greek
Verfion of the Septuagint ; in the fourth, that of A-
quila ; in the fifth, that of Symmachus •, and in the
fixth Theodofian’s Greek verfion. This admirable
work gave the firft hint for our Polyglot Bibles.
5. The book of Principles *, of which we have only an
incorreCt Latin verfion. In all his waitings he difco-
vers a furprifing degree of modefty, candour, and humi¬
lity ; a noble and fublime genius, profound learning,
and vaft erudition. His manners rvere extremely pure,
and he had a warm zeal for fpreading the truths and
morals of the Gofpel.
Much has been written both for and againfl this
celebrated father, both by his contemporaries and
others : he has indeed fuffered great abufe, which he
did not deferve, and which we fhall not retail *, con-
Bibl Aut. tenting ourfelves with the following account of his
Ecclef. character by Dupin, and fome remarks on it by Dr
tom. 1. Jortin. “ Origen (fays Dupin) had very quick parts,
a very ftrong and enlarged imagination j but he relied
too much on the vivacity of his genius, and often loft
himfelf, out of too great earneftnefs to fathom and
fubtilife every thing. He had a very happy inven¬
tion, and a more happy delivery of what he invented :
but he had not that exaCtnefs in his inventions, nor
that gracefulnefs of delivery as might be wifired. He
carried on his works with fo great eafe, that he is faid
to have dictated to feven or eight perfons at a time *,
and he was fo ready in expreffing himfelf, that he
made the greateft part of his homilies extempore : upon
which account his ftyle was not very correCt or coherent.
He had a vaft memory, but often trufted too much to it.
He was a perfon of moft profound learning : he parti¬
cularly ftudied Plato’s philofophy, and wras indeed too
much addicted to it for a Chriftian. He underftood
likewife the doCtrines of other philofophers. He ap¬
plied himfelf mightily to the ftudy of human learning.
He was neither ignorant of hiftory nor mythology $ and
he had as great "a knowledge in all the profane fciences,
as thofe who ftudied nothing elfe. But he particularly
excelled in the knowledge of the Holy Scriptures,
which he learned all by heart; and that he might
negleCl nothing for attaining a right uiiderftanding of
the letter thereof, he carefully examined all the verfions
of the Bible, and compared them all together with the
Hebrew text, fubjoining a literal commentary upon the
moft difficult places. He vTas not very well fkilled in
the Hebrew 5 yet he knew enough of it to underftand
it, and to obferve the difference of the text and the
tranflations. Neverthelefs, he did not adhere to the li¬
teral explication of the Bible, but thought it neceffary,
for the fake of gaining it credit with the heathens, who
defpifed its plainnefs and fimplicity, and of rendering it
more ufeful to the world, to give myftical and allegori¬
cal interpretations of every thing in it.”
portin's Dr Jortin tells us, “ That Origen was very learned
Remarks, and ingenious, and indefatigably induftrious. His whole
p 2-1* g fe°m early years was fpent in examining, teach-
J ’ 0 ing, and explaining the Scriptures j to which he joined
> Vol, XV. Part II.
the ftudy of philofophy and of all polite literature. He On^ci*
was humble, modeft, and patient, under great injuries Qr;Jjna|
and cruel treatment, which he received from Chriftians . .f 
and Pagans : for though he ever had a contiderable
number of friends and admirers, on account of his ami¬
able qualities and ufeful accompliftunents, be was per¬
fected and calumniated by men, who had neither his
learning nor his virtue, degraded from the order of
prefbyters, driven from his home, and excommunicated
by one Demetrius biftrop of Alexandria, who envied
him, fays Eufebius, for the reputation which he had
gained. His inquifitive genius, and his mixing philo¬
fophy with Chriftianity, led him perhaps into fome
learned Angularities and ingenious reveries j but he was
by temper far from dogmatizing in fuch points, from
fomenting fchifms, and fetting up himfelf for the head
of a party. He lived in times when Chriftians were
not fo (hackled with fyftems and determinations as they
Were afterwards, nor fo much expofed to difingenuous
and illiberal objections ; and had more liberty to purfue
their inquiries and to fpeak their mind.—He was ever
extremely fober and exemplary, praclifing what he
preached to others •, and he lived and died poor, and dc-
ftitute even of common conveniences.”-—The moft com¬
plete edition of his works is that of Father Delarue, a
Benedictine, in Greek and Latin. ’I he celebrated
Montfaucon like wife publiftied, in 2 vols folio, fome re¬
mains and fragments of his Hexctpla.
He ought not to be confounded with another Ori¬
gen, a Platonic philofopher, and the difciple and friend
of Porphyry, who ftudied philofophy under Ammo-
nius : perhaps this Origen was the founder of the Ori-
GENIANS.
OUIGENIANS ancient heretics, who
even furpaffed the abominations of the Gnoftics.
Epiphanius fpeaks of theta as fubfifting in his time,;
but their numbers, he fays, were inconfiderable. He
feems to fix their rife about the time of the great Ori¬
gen ; but does not fay that they derived their name from
him. On the contrary, he diftinguiflies them from the
Origenifis, whom he derives from Origen Adamantius ;
adding, indeed, that they firft took their name from one
Origen ; by which he intimates, that it was not the great
Origen. And St Auguftine exprefsly afferts, that it wTas
another. Their doctrines were (hameful: they reject¬
ed marriage ; they ufed feveral apocryphal books, as the
a£ts of St Andreiv, &c. and endeavoured to excufe their
open crimes, by faying, that the Catholics did the fame
in private.
ORIGENISTS, in chureh-hiftor^, a Chriftian fed.
in the fourth century, fo called from their drawing their
opinions from the writings of Origen. -The Origenifts
maintained, that the fouls of men had a pre-exiftent
ftate : that they were holy intelligences, and had fin-
fied in heaven before the body was created : that Chrift
is only the Son of God by adoption ; that he has been
fucceffively united with all the angelical natures, and
has been a cherub, a feraph, and all the celeftial vir¬
tues one after another ; .that, in future ages, he will be
crucified for the falvation of the devils, as he has al¬
ready been for that of men ; and that their puniftiment*
and that of the damned, will continue only for a certain
limited time.
ORIGINAL, a firft draught or defign of any thing,
which ferves as a model to be imitated or copied.
3 M Original,
O R I [ 458 3 o R I
Original ORIGINAL Sin, the crime of eating the forbidden
k‘n fruit, of which, it is faid, all mankind are guilty at
Orion, their conception, by the imputation of Adam’s tranf-
y——< greffion 5 which is accounted for by fuppofing, that
Adam, as he was to be the father, was alfo the federal
head and reprefentative, of the whole human race \ and
that, on his finning, all that were to fpring from him
partook of his crimes. See Theology, &c.
ORIGUELA, a town of Valentia in Spain. It is
feated between the mountains on the banks of the river
Segura, in a place fortified by nature, and in a fertile
plain, abounding in all things, efpecially corn. It is
furrounded with pie a fan t gardens, and has a univerfity
and a bilhop’s fee. It is defended by an old callle } and
is the capital of a government independent of Valentia,
whofe jurifdidlion extends 30 miles in length and 15 in
breadth. W. Long. o. 56. N. Lat. 38. 22.
ORILLON, in Fortification, is a fmall rounding of
earth, faced with a wall ; raifed on the (boulder of thofe
baftions that have cafemates, to cover the cannon in the
retired flank, and prevent their being difmounted by the
enemy. See Fortification.
ORIOLUS, or Oriole, a genus of birds belonging
to the order of picae. See ORNITHOLOGY Index.
ORION, in fabulous hiflory, was the fon of Jupi¬
ter, Neptune, and Mercury. For as thefe gods were
vifiting the earth, they entered the houfe of Hyrieus,
a native of Tanagra, in Boeotia, under the charadler ef
benighted travellers, on account of his being famed
for hofpitality to flrangers. Hyrieus treated them in
the beft manner in his power 5 and even killed an ox,
the only one he had, for their entertainment. At
which the gods were fb pleafed, that they offered the
old man whatever he would afk •, who letting them
know that he defired nothing fo much as a fon, they,
to gratify his wifli, caufed the ex’s hide to be brought
before them, in which, having depofited their urine,
they bade him keep it under ground for nine months.
He then dug for the fkin, and found in it a beautiful
child, Avliom he called Union, ab urina. The name was
afterwards changed into Orion by the corruption of
one letter, as Ovid obferves : Perdidit antiquam hi era
prima fonum. Orion fopn became confpicuous ; and
Diana took him among her attendants, and even be¬
came deeply enamoured of him. His gigantic flature,
however, difpleafed Oenopion king of Chios, whofe
daughter Hero or Merope he requefted in marriage.
The king, not willing to deny him openly, promifed
lo make him his fon-in-law as foon as he delivered his
i'fland from wild beads. This talk, which Oenopion
fuppofed to be impracticable, was foon performed by
Orion, who eagerly demanded his reward. Oenopion,
on pretence of complying, intoxicated his illuflrious
gueft, and put out his eyes on the fea-fhore, where he
had laid himfelf down to deep. Orion found himfelf
blind when he awoke. He went, directed by the found,
to a neighbouring forge, where he placed one of the
workmen on his back, and by his direftions went to a
place where the ridng fun was feen with the greated
advantage. Here he turned his face towards the lumi¬
nary •, and, according to report, he immediately recover¬
ed his eye-fight, and hadened to punidi the perfidious
cruelty of Oenopion. • Orion was reported lo lie an ex¬
cellent workman in iron, and to have fabricated a fub-
terraneous palace for Vulcan.
Aurora, whom Venus had infpired with love, car- Oiiar;
ried him away into the iiland of Delos, that die might Oriftagni
enjoy his company with greater fecurity 5 but Diana, y 1
who was jealous of this, dedroyed him with her ar¬
rows. Some fay, that Orion had provoked Diana’s
refentment, by offering violence to Opis, one of her
female attendants j or, as others fay, becaufe he had
attempted the virtue of the goddefs herfelf. Accord¬
ing to Ovid, Orion died of the biLe of a fcorpion,
which the earth produced to punifli his vanity, in
boading that no animal on earth could conquer him.
Some fay that Orion was fon of Neptune and Euryale,
and that he had received from his father the privilege
and power of walking over the fea without wetting his
feet. Others affert, that he was a fon of Terra, like
the red of the giants. He had married a nymph call¬
ed Sida, before his connexion with the family of Oeno¬
pion ; but Sida was the caufe of her own death, by
boading herfelf fairer than Juno. Diodorus fays, that
Orion was a celebrated hunter, fuperior to the red of
mankind, by his drength and uncommon dature. Fie
built the port of Zancle, and fortified the coad of Sicilv
againd the frequent inundations of the fea, by heaping
a mound of''earth called Pelorwn, on which he built a
temple to the gods of the fea. After death Orion was
placed in heaven, where one of the condellations dill
bears his name. The condellation of Orion was placed
near the feet of the Bull. It was compofed of 17 dars
in the form of a man, holding a fword ; for which rea-
fon the poets often fpeak of Orion’s fword. As the
condellation of Orion, which rifes about the 9th day of
March, and fets about the 2ld of June, is generally
fuppofed to be accompanied at its ridng with great rains
and dorms, it has acquired the epithet of aquojus, given
it by Virgil. Orion was buried in the ifland of Delos
and the monument which the people of Tanagra in Boe¬
otia fhowed, as containing his remains, was nothing but
a cenotaph. The daughters of Orion didinguidied them-
felves as much as their father ; and when the oracle hi d
declared that Boeotia fhould not be delivered from a
dreadful pedilence before two of Jupiter’s children were
immolated on the altars, they joyfully accepted the of¬
fer, and voluntarily facrificed themfelves for the good
of their country. Their names were Menippe and Me-
tioche. They had been carefully educated by Diana \
and Venus and Minerva had made them very rich and
valuable prefents. The deities of hell were druck at
the patriotifm of thefe two females 5 and indantly two
dars were obferved to arife frojn the earth, which dill
fmoked with their blood, and they were placed in the
heavens in the form of a crown. According to Ovid,
their bodies were burned by the Thebans, and from
their adies arofe two perfons, whom the gods focn after
changed into condellations.
Orion, in AJironomi/, one of the eondellations of
the fouthern hemifphere. The word is formed from
the Greek veer), “ to make water the ancients fup¬
pofing that it raifed tempeds at its rifing and fetting.
The dars in the condellation Orion, in Ptolemy’s ca¬
talogue are 37, in Tycho’s 62, in the Britannic cata¬
logue 80.
ORISTAGNI, an ancient town of the ifland of
Sardinia, with an archbifhop’s fee. It is pretty large
and well fortified but thinly inhabited, on account
of the unhealthy air : it is feated on the weflern coad,
' if
4-
O K K l 459
in a bay of the fame name, in E. Long. 8. 58. N. Lat.
39. 55.
ORIX A, a kingdom of Indoftan, lying on the gulf
of Bengal. It is divided from the ancient kingdom of
Golconda by a ridge of mountains, the end of which
runs a little way into the fea. It is fertile in corn and
cattle, and they have feveral good towns and harbours
on the coaft •, there are alfo manufactures of different
kinds carried on throughout the kingdom. The prince
is a Gentoo, who pays to the Great Mogul a tribute to
the amount of about ! 2,oool. yearly.
ORIXA, a genus of plants belonging to the tetrandria
clafs ; and in the natural method ranking with thofe
that are doubtful. See Botany Index.
ORKNEY islands, called Orcades by the ancients,
certain iilands on the north of Scotland (a), from which
1
O ft K
they are feparated by a frith 20 miles in length and 10 Orkney
in breadth.
As writing feems to have been unknown in the
northern iflands, during thofe periods which the an¬
tiquarian would call the moil curious and important,
the chief part of our information refpefhng the an¬
cient Hate of the Orkneys muff be derived from tradi¬
tion and conjediure. Their mountainous fitualion, and
natural jealoufy of ftrangers, obftiirfted the progrefs
both of knowledge and religion : for inttead of receiving
either from their fouthern neighbours, we are certain
that they derived their knowledge of Chriftianity from,
Norway, during the expeditions undertaken by that na¬
tion (in the end of the 10th or beginning of the 11th.
century) to make fettlements in the Orkneys and on the
coaft of Caithnefs (b). The beft (becaufe it is in all
3 M 2 probability
(a) The northern ifles of Scotland have been often mentioned by ancient authors, and called by different
names from thofe they now go by ; fo that it is fometimes difficult to know which of them are meant. ^ I he
ancient name, however, of the iflands which are the fubjeft of this article, has never been difputed. The Ebudce,
it is agreed, are the modern Hebrides *, and there is no doubt of the ancient Orcades being the fame with the
Orkneys. Of Thule, however, we are not fo certain j and whether it means the Shetland ifles, or Iceland,
remains undetermined. Pythias, a Maffiiian, pretends to have vifited thefe iflands, and particularly Thule ;
but he does not mention the Orcades. The geographer Mela, who was contemporary with the emperor Clau¬
dius, is the next writer who deferibes the northern iilands. Of the Orkneys he gives a remarkably juft account,
and f.ivs they were thirty in number, with narrow channels between them ; but he is lefs accurate with refpeft
to the" reft." Pliny the Elder is the third who mentions the northern iflands. He makes the number of the
Orkneys to be forty, and of the Hebrides to be thirty. Solinus, the fuppofed contemporary with Agricola,
is the next after Pliny. In his time, and according to his account, thefe iilands had not a lingle inhabitant, and
were overgrown with rufliy grafs. It feems on the whole to be pretty generally allowed, that Julius Agricola,
who firft failed round Britain, difeovered the Orcades, till then unknown, and fubdued them *. Claudius .was
fo far from reducing them (as is aflerted by Jerome in his Chronicle), that Juvenal has thefe lines in Hadrian’s
time:
Anna quid ultra
Littora Juvernee promovimus et modo capias
Orcades, et minima contentos no die Britatmos. Sat. II. 160.
In vain, O Rome, thou doft this conqueft boaft
Beyond the Orcadts’ fhort-nighted coaft. DrydEN.
Tacitus informs us, that before the completion of the firft century, the Roman fleets failed round Scotland, and
landed in the Oreades to refrelh. . , . . .. , ,r
(B) It has been afferted, that the Orkneys, as well as the ifles of Shetland, were originally peopled from
Norway in the ninth, tenth, or eleventh century. Others again imagine, with as much probability, that the
Pifts were the original inhabitants, and call Orkney the ancient kingdom of the Pie%. Ceftain fingular hmftes,
now overorown with earth, are called Pith houfes ; and the Pentland frith (formerly Pightland or Pidicnd) is lup-
pofed to retain their name. Claudian’s lines, cited by Mr Camden, prove, that the Pi6Ls, with fome other Ger¬
man colony, particularly the Saxons, were at that time in poffeflion of thefe ifles •, and fo Ninmus exprefsly lays.
Many of the prefent inhabitants ufe the Norfe language, which diffbrs but little from the 1 eutoinc or Pidi h lan¬
guage, and Was in general ufe to the laft century •, but except in Foula, where, a few words are ft ill known by the
a<red people it is quite loft. The Englilh tongue, with a Norwegian accent, is that of thefe idands. •, but the ap¬
pearance of the people, in their manners and genius, evidently {hows their northern origin.. Ninmus, c. 5. puts
their arrival at Orkney not lefs than 900 years after the coming of Brutus into Britain, which he lays was m the
time of Eli the Jewilh high prieft. The ancient furnames are of German original. Some date the nni. Settlement
of the Pifts here A. M. 4867 ; when, emigrating from their native country, they planted a colony m Orkney,
and thence crofting Pi ft land frith, and traverfing Caithnefs, Rofs, Murray, Marr and Angus fettled m Fife and
Lothian : thence called by our writers PiBlandia. Others think they did not fettle here tnl the time of .1 cut her
king of Scotland, when the Pifts, joining with a party of the Scots, were repulfud, with the lo.s of. their king
Gethus, and many of the Pifts and' Scottilh nobility, with great {laughter ; but the mvafions of the Britons, at the
fame time, conftrained the Pifts to fly to Orkney, where they ehofe for king Goflnls their aeceafed lovereign s
’ brother.
* The Romans, never that we know, vifited thefe iflands again but onco,
Saxons in the. teas of Orkney.
which was
probably after Honofius had defeated the
O R K
[
Orkney, probability the matt authentic) account that we have
0f this early part of the hiftory of the Orkneys, feems
to be in Torfaeus. See TorFjEUS. His hiftory rouft,
doubtlefs, have been compiled chiefly from tradition,
which is far from being the fureft mode of information.
During the time of Gregory the Great, when by his
policy the Pi<fts were driven from other parts of Scot¬
land, they came to the Orcades as an afylum ; but it
does not appear, and is far from being probable, that
they received a favourable reception, for many of them
migrated to Shetland, and from thence to the oppofite
coafts of Norway. ■ A particular hiftory of thefe iflands,
during thole early ages, would afford little entertain¬
ment, becaufe its authenticity is at leaft doubtful.
Thefe iflands were at various times haraffed and plun¬
dered by adventurers from Scandinavia ; and the Nor¬
wegian princes frequently laid the inhabitants under tri¬
bute.
We have faid that the Chriftian religion was tranf-
ported to the Orkneys from Norway, and that this
happened in the beginning of the nth century. A-
bout which time Sigurdis poffeffed the entire dominion
of thofe ifles, and for many years exercifed all the
powers of a monarch in the north. At the fame time
Chriftianity had dawned on Scandinavia, and had be¬
come the eftablilhed religion in the feat of government
in Norway. Its doftrines interwove themfelves with
the policy of the nation ; its principles, fo nearly in-
terefting to human happinefs, made their farther publi¬
cation an object of much moment to the adventurous
princes, and gave a nerv law to their enterprifes.
While the power of thefe principles was acting with
original force upon the minds of the people, and their
zeal rendered them ambitious of any exploit, whereby
they could diffufe their influence ; Olaus prince of
Norway equipped a fquadron deftined to carry the
■ knowledge of the gofpel to other Ihores. On this
pious adventure he was accompanied not only by num¬
bers of all ranks, whom, as ufual, a love of enterprife
invited ; but by many perfons of diftinguiff.ed know¬
ledge and abilities, men of fincere piety, who had be¬
come particularly well acquainted with the Chriftian
dod'trines, and entertained a deep fenfe of their infi¬
nite importance. Thefe entered into the fleet, joyful
in the profpt ft of fpreading the truths which they re¬
vered through yet unenlightened countries; and the
fquadrou fopn appeared off the Orcades. Olaus got
Sigurdis on board of his fleet, with his fon, and but
a lev, attendants, and, as the heir of Harold, he claim¬
ed all the provinces over which Sigurdis reigned ; and
at the fame time he ordered him to renounce and abjure
the religion of his fathers, and to embrace Chriftianity.
460 ] O II K
Delay was not permitted ; Chriflianity was forced Upon Orkney,
him and his fubjefts ; and on the departure of Olaus, he
carried the fon of Sigurdis as an hoftage for what he had
engaged ; which was to give honourable proteftion to all
thofe holy men who might choofe to relide in thofe parts
for the purpofe of inftrufting the people in the nature of
the Chriftian doftrines ; for many of the more intelli¬
gent and religious men who had come from Norway
with Olaus, remained in the Orcades and in the north
of Scotland, to fulfil their pious refolution of fpread¬
ing the light of the gofpel there. Olaus, with the reft
of his followers, failed on another expedition towards
the frith of Moray. Tire death of Kindius his fon,
which happened foon after Olaus’s return to Norway,
releafed Sigurdis from his engagements with him ;
and he entered into one with Malcolm II. one of whofe
daughters he had in marriage, and by whom he had a
fon, Torphinus. Torphinus’s bravery, magnificence,
generofity, and hofpitality, endeared him to the inha¬
bitants ; and he ruled without controul for many years,
till Ronald, a grandfon of Sigurdis, who had lived
in Norway, and who was efteemed the rightful heir of
the earldom of Orkney, made a fuccefsful defeent up¬
on it. Torphinus wiftied to give him battle 5 and in
a fea-fight, with the affiftance of forae fliips from Ar-
ninus, a man who had filled fome of the firft places in
Norway, he totally defeated him. By courting the
friendftnp of that court, his dominions remained quiet
for the greater part of his life 5 the latter part of which
was no lefs eminent for eftabliftnng falutary laws, and
encouraging the arts of induftry, than the former
had been diftinguilhed for military fame and fuccefs in
the exploits of war. He lived to an advanced age,,
until after Malcom III. had afeended the throne of
Scotland. Torphinus had built a fumptuous churcbr
in Byrfa, where the firft biftiops of Orkney refided.
In the decline of life he retired to that ifland, and,
finilhing his days with exemplary piety, was with much
folemnity interred in the temple which he had raifed.
His country long lamented the lofs of fo celebrated a
ruler, who had eftabliflied fecurity in it, through the
influence of his laws, and had taught it to enjoy the
arts and bleflings of peace. He left two fons, Paul
and Erland, who through the whole of their lives
amicably (hared both in the honours and adminiftra-
tion of their father’s extenfive domain. During this
period, the northern counties are faid to have arrived
at a very fuperior degree of cultivation and improve¬
ment, which became equally eonfpicuous in the rich-
nefs of their lands, and in the mildfiefs of their difpo-
fitions. Their fons, however, did not both inherit their
father’s virtues. Magnus, the fon of Erland, was pious
and
brother, till they were able to return to Lothian, and drive out the Britons. After this they flouriflied here, and
were governed by kings of their own. There ftill remains a place called Cunningfga, the dwelling place of the
minifter of Sandwick, whofe name and form befpeak it the refidence of fome of them. But no traces of their hi¬
ftory remain, except the name of Belus, in ancient charafters, on a ftone in the church of Birfa, where ftill is to
be feen one of the principal palaces. This government probably fubfifted till the fubverfion of the Piftifti king¬
dom in Scotland, A. D. 839, by Kenneth II. king of Scotland. On the whole, however, the time of the difeovery
and population of the Orkneys is certainly unknown. Probably it was very early } for we are told that they owe
their name to the Greeks.
Orcades has mentor ant ditlas d nomine Grceco.
Claudian.
O 11 K [ 401 ] ' O R K
Oikney. and peaceable; a great promoter of religion, and an-
xious in patronifing the Romith miffionaries, and in
protefting the eftablifhments of Chriltianity : but Ha-
con, the heir of Paul, was vehement, wild, and im¬
patient of reftraint. He faw how Magnus was revered,
and envy drove him to revenge $ for, by the moft de¬
liberate and deceitful villany, he got Magnus into his
power, and murdered him without mercy. The latter
part of his life was fpent in penance, and in improving
his dominions.
Magnus’s lingular piety, and the manner of his un¬
fortunate death, were fo well reprefented at the court
of Rome, that he was canonized. Placon left two
fons, Paul the Silent, and Plarold the Orator. Caith-
nefs came to Harold, and the Orkneys wrere governed
by Paul.
Ronald, a defeendant of St Magnus, an elegant and
accomplilhed youth, appeared at the court of Norway,
and was fupported in a claim upon the Orkneys, as the
heir of the canonized martyr. He fent meffengers to
Paul, and offered to Ilia re the government with him 5
but this propofal was refufed, and the ambalfadors were
treated with great contempt. They, however, found
perfons of power difpofed to fecond their mailer’s views j
who foon after their return fet put, and vowed, if he
fucceeded, to build a magnificent church, and to de¬
dicate it to St Magnus. All feemed fatisfied with the
enterprife •, and, full of hope, the fleet fet fail. Paul
in the mean time put himfelf in a Hate of defence. By
very artful manoeuvres, however, Ronald obtained his
purpofe, and willingly (hared his fovereignty with Ha¬
rold, the legal heir of Paul. They lived amicably to¬
gether 5 and on the affafimation of Ronald, which was
accomplilhed by a proud chieftain, who thought himfelf
infulted, he was buried with great pomp. Harold now
fully polfelfed the unrivalled lovereignty of the north,
and lived long to enjoy it. We find that in 1196 he
was able to bring 7000 men to the field, and a body of
cavalry, againft the army of William king of Scotland,
but w'as immediately defeated. In the next year, the
Caithnefians rebelled again, headed by one Roderick,
and Torphinus, fon to Harold. The king met and
defeated them near Invernefs. Roderick was (lain •,
and William feizing on Harold in the extremity of
Caithnefs, detained him till Torphinus furrendered
himfelf as an hoftage 5 but on fome new treafons of the
father, the king, according to the barbarity of the times,
caufed the eyes of the unhappy youth to be put out;
and had him emafculated, of which he foon perilhed
in prifon. Harold died in the 73d year of his age j
and with him ended, in its earls, the independent fo¬
vereignty of the north of Scotland. The Norwegians
feem to have been in pofleflion of thefe iiles as late as
1266; for then Magnus IV. king of Norway, being
worfted in war with the Scots, yielded them to Alex¬
ander III. king of Scotland by treaty, and Haquin
king of Norway confirmed the pofl’eflion ol them to
King Robert Bruce in the year 1312. Laftly, in 1464,
Chriftian I. king of Norway and Denmark, when he
gave his daughter in marriage to James III. king of
Scotland, transferred all his right to them to his fon-
in-law and his fucceflors ; to make which more binding
the Pope’s confirmation was obtained. We are told
by fome, that Magnus fold them to Alexander for the
fum of 4000 merks flerling, and a yearly acknowledge- Orkney,
ment of 100 merks. ' "
They are about 30 in number •, but many of them
are uninhabited, the greater part being fmall, and pro¬
ducing only pafturage for cattle. The principal iflands
are denominated by the names of Mainland, South
Ronu/djha, Swiiina, Flotta, Copinjha, Strupenjha, Stron-
fa, San da, Ffc. the terminations in a, or ha, being ge¬
nerally given in the Teutonic to fuch places as are fur-
rounded by water. The currents and tides flowing be¬
tween the iflands are extremely rapid and dangerous.
Near an ifland called Swinna, are two great whirlpool;,
called the wells of Swinna, which are counted dangerous
by mariners, efpecially in a calm. When failors find
themfelves fucked into the vortex, it is faid they throw
out a barrel, or fome bulky fubftance, which fmooths
the water till it is fucked down and thrown up at acon-
fiderable diftance, during which time the (hip paiTes over
in fafety. But when there is a breeze of wind, thefe
whirlpools may be croffed without any danger. The
largelt of thefe iflands is called Ramona, in length 33,
and in breadth 9 miles, containing 9 parifh-churchee,
and 4 excellent harbours.
The air of thefe iflands is moift, on account of the
neighbourhood of the fea 3 and froft and fnow do not
continue long. In fome places the foil is bare and
mountainous, and in others fandy and barren 3 howr-
ever, many of the iflands produce large crops of barley
and oats, but no wheat or other grain excepting what
is inclofed in gardens. Thefe, when duly cultivated,
produce all kinds of kitchen herbs and roots, bring¬
ing even fruit-trees to maturity 3 but out of them, in
the open country, there is fcarce a tree or flirub to be
feen, except juniper, wild myrtle, heath, and the cy-
ur-hodon : yet this deficiency cannot be imputed to
the poverty of the foil, or the nature of the climate :
for the trunks of large oaks are frequently dug up in
the marlhes. This is likewife the cafe in the molt
barren parts of the Highlands of Scotland, where not
a flirub is to be.feen above the furface of the earth :
nay, the inhabitants frequently find, deep in the earth,
the roots of large trees, evidently exhibiting marks of
the axe by which they were felled 3 fo that thefe north¬
ern parts muft have undergone fome llrange revolu¬
tions. The Orkneys produce great variety of herbs
and berries, grafs and corn, which laft is exported as
far as Edinburgh. In fome of the iflands, the natives
have difeovered mines of tin, lead, and filver, though
none of them are wrought to any advantage 3 in others,
we find abundance of marl, gray and red flate, quar¬
ries of freeftone, and even of marble and alabafler.
When the wind rages to any violence, the fea throws
in plenty of timber, torn from other countries ; and,
not unfrequently, the people find large pieces of am-
bergreafe. The freih water in thefe iflands is very
pure and limpid 3 and, though there are no large ri¬
vers in the Orkneys, the ground is well watered with'
lakes and pleafant rivulets, that not only ferve to
turn their mills, but alfo abound with trout of the molt
delicate flavour.
Befides the abundance of little horfes, black cattle,
ftieep, fwine, and rabbits, the inhabitants of the Ork¬
neys rear all forts of domellic animals and tame poul¬
try. Their heaths and commons yield plenty of red
deer,
3
Orkney.
O R K [ 462 ] O R K
deer, and all forts of game ; partridges, groufe, heath-
cocks, plover, duck, teal, and widgeon : the fea-eoafts
teem with feals and otters j and are villted by whales,
cod, ling, tulk, herrings, and all manner of filh : on
the there they find ipermaceli, os fepise, and a great
variety of (hells and corallines, with a multitude of
oyfters, remarkably large mufcles, crabs, and cockles.
The rocks are covered with fea-fowl, wild geefe, fiolan
geefe, barnacles, eagles, hawks, and kites. With re-
fpedf to the barnacles, or, as the natives call them, the
deck geefe, they are faid to be found, in (hells (ticking
by the bills to trees, in feveral illands. Martin affirms
he has feen them in this (ituation, but could not per¬
ceive them alive 5 and indeed the whole account of
their generation and production, exhibited by the
■ northern naturalift, is abfurd and unphilofophical.
The'Orkney eagles are fo (trong, that according to the
reports of the country, they have been known to carry
away young children in their talons. Certain it is,
they make fuch havock among the lambs, that he who
kills an eagle is entitled by law to a hen from every
houfe in the parifli where it was killed. The king’s
falconer vifits tbefe ifiands every year, in order to fetch
away the young hawks and falcons from their noils
among the precipices : he enjoys a yearly falary of 2©1.
and may claim a hen ot a dog from every houfe in the
country, except thofe that are exprefsly exempted from
this impolition.
The gentry of the Orkneys are civilized, polite,
and hofpitable 5 and live like thofe of Scotland, from
whom they are chieily defeended. They live com¬
fortably, are remarkably courteous to (trangers, and
drink a great quantity of wine, with which their cel¬
lars are generally well ftored. Indeed the inhabitants
of the Orkneys may be now juftly deemed a Scotch
colony. They (peak the language, profefs the religion,
follow the falhions, and are fubjefl to the laws, of that
people. They are frugal, fagacidus, circumfpeft, reli¬
gious, and hoipitable. Their mariners are remarkably
bold, aftive, dexterous, and hardy. Many furpriiing
inftances of longevity occur here, as well as in Shetland,
of perfons living to the age of 140. The Orkney wo¬
men are generally handfome, and well draped, and bring
forth children at a very advanced age. In the Orkneys,
fume particular lands are held by a tenure called Udal
Flight, from Uleius, or Olaus, king of Norway, who
farmed the lands, on condition of receiving one-third of
the produce •, and this right devolved in fucceffion, with¬
out any charter granted by the fovereign. The inhabi¬
tants of Orkney, inftead of meafuring their corn, weigh
it in pifnrores or pundlers. Their lead: denomination
is a mark, condding of 18 ounces, and 24 marks make
a lifpound, which is a Danilh quantity. The poorer
fort of people in the Orkneys appear very meanly ha¬
bited, with a piece of feal-(kin, indead of (hoes j and
living chiedy on fait fift, are fubject to the feurvy.
They are much addifled to fuperditious rites; in parti¬
cular, interpreting dreams and omens, and believing in
the force of idle charms. The idands of Orkney, we
have already obferved, produce very bold, able, and
hardy mariners. The common people, in general, are
inured to fatigue, and remarkably adventurous, both in
fidring during rough weather, and in climbing the rocks
for the deffi, eggs, and down of fea-fowl. Formerly,
while they were expofed to the invafions of the Nor¬
wegians, or weftern idanders, every village was obliged
to equip a large boat well manned ; and all the ftnei-
ble men appeared in arms, when the alarm was given
by the beacons lighted on the tops of the rocks and
highelt mountains. Thefe beacons, known by the name
of ward-hills, are (till to be feen in every idand. Their
corn land they indole with mud or (lone walls, to pre-
ferve it from the ravages of their dreep, fwine, and cat¬
tle, which wander about at random, without being at¬
tended by herdfmen : their ordinary manure, efpecial-
ly near the fea-coaft, is fea-weed, which they care¬
fully gather and divide into equal portions. 1 heir
(keep are marked on the ears and nofe ; but fo wild*
that when they have occadon to diear them in the
month of May, they are obliged to hunt every indi¬
vidual, with dogs trained for thd purpofe. Their
manner of catching fea-fowl is curious and particular.
Under the rock where thefe fowls build they row
their boat, provided with a large net, to the upper
corners of which are fattened two ropes, lowered down
from the top of tiro mountain by men placed in that
(lation. Thefe holding up the net, until it be fpread
oppofite to the cliffs in which the fowls are fitting, the
boatmen below make a noife with a rattle, by which
the fowls being frightened, fiy forwards into the bo.
fotn of the net, in which they are immediately en-
clofed and lowered down into the boat •, others prac-
tife the method ufed in Iceland and Norway, and are
lowered down by a fingle rope from the fummit of the
mountain ; this is the conttant way of robbing the
hawk’s nett. See BlRD-Catclnng. In thefe illands
feme ftrange tffestts are produced by thunder and light¬
ning. In tire year 1680, the lightning entered a cow-
houfe, in which 12 cows flood in a row, and killed
every fecond bead as (he flood, and left the red un¬
touched. The didempers that prevail modly in the
Orkneys are agues, confumptions, feurvy, and itch.
The agues, which abound in the fpring, the natives
cure with a diet drink of bitters and antifcorbutics in-
fufed in ale : for phtlrifical complaints they ule the plant
arby, and the caryophyllus marinus boiled with fweet
milk.
The ifles of Orkney and Shetland compofe one dew-
artry, and fend one member to the imperial parliament.
The right of fuperiority to the Orkneys was difmember-
ed from the crown by the union parliament, and grant¬
ed for a certain yearly condderation to the earl of
Morton, by Queen Anne, who appointed him heredi¬
tary deward and judiciary. This nobleman poffeffes
the power of creating certain judges, called bailiffs.
There is one of thefe edablidied in every ifiand and pa-
rid!, with power to fuperintend the manners of the in¬
habitants, to hold courts, and determine civil caufes, ac¬
cording to the laws of Scotland, to the value of ten
pounds Scots money, amounting to 16s. 8d.: but all
conteds of higher import are referred to the decifion of
the deward or his deputy, who refides at Kirkwall,
which is the feat of juttice. Subfervient to the bailiffs
are fix or feven of the mod reputable and intelligent
inhabitants, who overfee the conduct of their fellows,
ailing as condables, and make report of all enormities
to the bailiff 5 who caufes the delinquent to be appre¬
hended and puniffied, if the crime be within the extent
of his judicial power ; otherwife he tranfmits him to
Kirkwall, where he is tried by the dewardr The Pro-
ieilant
o H K [ 463 ] O R K
Orkney, teftant religion prevails in the ifles of Orkney, accord-
—' ing to the rites and difeipline of the kirk ; thefe, and
the ifles of Shetland, conftituting one preflbytery, which
aflembles at Kirkwall. The country is divided into
j8 parifhes, containing 31 churches, and above xco
chapels.
The trade of the Orkneys is not very confiderable,
though it might be extended to great advantage. They
fupply with frefii provifions, for ready money, the fliips
and veflels that touch upon the coaft in the courfe of
northern voyages, or in their pafiage from the Eafl. In¬
dies, when they go north about Ireland and Scotland,
in time of war, to avoid the privateers of the enemy.
They are alfo vifited by thofe engaged in the herring-
fithery, though there is not fuch a refort on this account
to thefe iilands as to the ifles of Shetland. Neverthe-
lefs a good number of boats from the weftern parts of
Scotland, as well as from Londonderry, Belfaft, and
other parts of Ireland, fiih for herring as far north as
the Leuze, and fupply the Orkneys with tobacco, wine,
brandy, and other fpirituous liquors, cloths, and divers
manufactures. Thefe they exchange for fith, and oil
extracted from porpoifes, feals, and other fea-animals.
The people of Orkney export annually great numbers
of black cattle, fwine, and fheep ; together with large
quantities of corn, butter, tallow, fait, and ItufFs made
in the country, over and above the {kins of feals, ot¬
ters, lambs, and rabbits, down, feathers, writing-quills,
hams, and wool 5 yet all thefe articles would, in point
of profit, fall infinitely fhort of their herring fifhery,
were it profecuted with induftry, economy, and vi¬
gour.
The mod valuable of their manufactures is kelp, and
indeed the ftaple commodity was firft introduced in
1722, by a Mr James Fea, of Whitehall, in Stronfay,
fince which period it has been gradually on the increafe.
From 1763 to 1778, there were manufactured, on an
average, 1800 tons annually at four guineas per ton $
from 1778 to 1792, the annual average produce was
3000 at 61. per ton ; from 1792 to 1794, above 4000
tons. Thus, from 1722 to 1794, a period of 72 years,
the produce of the kelp was 291,9761. fterling, or more
than the value of all the Orkney iflands, even at the
rate of 36 years purchafe ; the annual rent, exelufive of
the kelp and fiflieries, not exceeding 8000I. fterling.
As there are no merchants in the Orkneys at prefent
who export fifli on their own account, what herrings are
taken they ufed to fell to the Dutch or Scotch dealers
in and about Invcrnefs. They generally nfh for herring
on the weft fide of the Orkneys ; and are therefore more
remote from markets than thofe who are employed in
the fame manner on the coaft of Shetland. In the Ork¬
ney iflands they fee to read at midnight in June and Ju¬
ly ; and during four of the fummer months they have
frequent communications, both for bufinefs and curio-
fity, with each other, and with the continent : the reft
of the year, however, they are almoft inacceftible,
through fogs, darknefs, and ftorms. It is a certain fad,
that a Scotch fifherman was imprifnned.in May for pu-
blifliing the account of the prince and princefs of O-
range being raifed to the throne of England the prece¬
ding November ; and be would probably have been
hanged, had not the news been confirmed by the arrival
of a fiiip.
We may reckon-among the curiofities of the Ork¬
neys, the Phnjeoh, commonly known by the name of Orkney.
Molucca beans, and fometimes they are called Orkney 'J~~~
beans. They are a fort of fruit found on the fhorc of
the Orkney iflands, being thrown on them by ftorms of
wefterly wind. They are of feveral diftinCI fpecies, and
are none of them the produce of thofe iflands, nor of
any places thereabout, but are probably of American
origin, many of them being plainly natives of Jamaica,
and other iflands of the Indies.
They arc found principally on thofe coafls which are
moft expofi d to the waves of the great ocean, and are
on thefe fo plentiful, that they might be gathered in
large quantities, if of any value ; but the only ufe they
are put to is the making of fnuff-boxes out of them.
Sir Robert Sibbald, and Mr Wallace, in their accounts
of Scotland, have both named them Molucca. BEANS.
Many ftrange fifties and curious fliells are alfo frequent¬
ly call up by the otean ; of thefe laft a vaft variety are
preferved for adorning the cabinets of modern natural-
ifts. Sometimes exotic fowls are driven upon the Ork¬
neys by tempeftuous weather : fifli, as large as whitings,
have been thrown afhore to a confiderable diftanee ivith-
in the land. At Cawtick-head, in the ifland M aes, and
fome other places, huge ftones are often heaved up by
the violence of the fea and wind, and caft over high
rocks upon the land. A fingle Laplander has been ften
more than once upon this coaft, in hi", {lender canoe, co¬
vered with {kins, being driven hither by adi’erfe winds
and ftorms. The Orkneys are not altogether deflitute
of ancient monuments and curiofities of art. In Hoy
we find an entire fione, 36 feet long, 18 in breadth, and
9 in thicknefs, lying between two hills, and known by
the name of dwarf e Jlone. It is hollowed within by
the tools of a mafon, the marks of which are {till appa¬
rent. The entrance is a fquare hole about two feet
high, with a ftone, by way of door, {landing before it.
Within we find a bed with a pillow cut out of the ftone ;
at the other end is a couch of the fame kind ; and in
the middle a hearth, above which there is a hole or
vent for the exit of the frjioke. I his curiofity is found
in the midft of a defolate heath, and is fuppofed to have
been the refidence of a hermit. In the very neighbour¬
hood of this ftone there is a very high and fteep moun¬
tain, called the ward-hill of Hoy, near the fummit of
which, in the months of May, June, and July, fome-
thing at noon-day is feen to fhine and fparkle with re¬
markable luftre, fuppofed by the common people to be¬
an enchanted carbuncle *, many perfons have clambered
up the hill in queft of it, but found nothing. ^ Perhaps
this fplendour is produced by the reflexion of the fun
on a frnall ftream of water Aiding over the face of a
fmooth rock. At Stennis, in Mainland, there is a
caufeway of ftones over a loch or lake, at the fouth end
of which we obferve a circle of ftones rifing about 20
feet above ground, each being fix feet in breadth, and
from one or two feet in thicknefs : between this circle
and the caufeway two ftones of the fame dimenfions
Hand by themfelves, and one of them is perforated in
the middle. At the diflance of half a mile from the
other end of the caufewav appear*- a larger circle of the
fame kind of ftones, the diameter of which may amount
to HO paces*, fome of thefe ftones are fallen ; and to-
the eaft and weft of the larger circle are two artificial
oreen mounts. Both rounds are fnrrounded with a
ditch 3 and one cannot view them without admiration,
confidering
O R K [ 464 ]
Orkney, eoniiclering the art that muft have been ufed to bring where
fueh unwieldy mafles together in this order. They
were probably temples and places of facrifice ufed in
times of pagan fuperftition j and feem to bear a great
affinity with the celebrated monument called Stonehenge,
on Saliffiury Plain in England. In one of the mounts,
at the north end of the caufeway, the natives found nine
Jibuhe, or clafps of filver, formed into a circle, and re-
fembling a horfe ffioe. In many different places of the
Orkneys we find rude obelilks or Angle ftones of a great
height, fet up either as memorials of battles, treaties, or
the deceafe of remarkable perfonages. In Roufay, be¬
tween two high mountains, there is a place which the
natives diftinguiffi by the appellation of the camp of
Jupiter Fring : but the meaning of this name, handed
down by tradition, is not known. At the weft end of
the Mainland, near Skeal, we find a furprifing caufe¬
way, above a quarter of a mile in length, on the fummit
of high hills, compofed of reddilh ftones of different
magnitudes, impreffed with various figures both on the
upper and under furface. Some gentlemen in the neigh¬
bourhood have carried oft’ the moft beautiful of thefe
ftones, to be fet in their chimneys by wray of ornament,
like the painted tiles of Holland, This country pro¬
duces many fepulchres of different nations. In the plains
or links of Skeal, the fand being blowm away from the
furface of the ground, feveral fquare catacombs appear,
built of ftones well cemented together, containing ibme
parcels of black earth, and each fecured by a large ftene
at the mouth. Sepulchres of the fame kind are found
at Roufum in Stronfa; which is likewife remarkable for
a different kind of monument, confifting of one entire
ftone cylinder hollowed, with a bottom like that of a
barrel, and a round ftone to fill up the entrance j above,
the ftone was fharpened into an edge-, within were found
fome burned bones and red clay, and over it was placed
a large flat ftone for the prefervation of the whole.
Thefe, in all probability, w’ere Roman catacombs. In
Weftra divers Daniffi graves have been difcovered: in
one of thefe appeared the Ikeleton of a man, with a
fword on one fide and a Danifli axe on the other. Some
have been found buried with dogs, combs, knives, and
other utenfils. In many places of the country we find
round hillocks or barrows, hefe known by the name
of brogh, fignifying, in the Teutonic language, burying
place, fuppofed to have been the cemeteries of the an¬
cient Saxons. In different parts of thefe iflands we fee
the remains of great buildings, believed to have been
fortreffes erefted by the Danes or Norwegians when
they poffeffed the country. One of thefe, in the ifle of
Wyre, called the cafle of Coppi-row, fignifying a town
of fecurity, is furrounded by a foffe, and the firft floor
ftill remains above ground, a perfect fquare of ftone
wall, very thick, ftrongly built, and cemented with lime,
the area within not exceeding ten feet in length. Of
this Coppi-row the common people relate many idle
fables. In the chapel of Clet, in the ifle of Sanda, there
is a grave 19 feet long, in which was found part of a
man’s back bone larger than that of a horfe. Human
bones of nearly the fame fize, have been dug up in
Weftra } and indeed this country is remarkable for pro¬
ducing men of a gigantic ftature. Within the ancient
fabric of Lady Kirk in South Ranalftmv, there is a
ftone four feet long and two feet broad, on Which the
prints of two feet are engraven, fuppofed to be the place
O R K
in times of popery, penitents ftood to do public
penance. The cathedral of Kirkwall, the capital of the ^
Orkneys, is a fine Gothic building, dedicated to St
Magnus, but now- converted into a parilh church. Its
roof is fupported by 14 pillars on each fide j and its
fteeple, in which is a good ring of bells, by four large
pillars. The three gates of the church are chequered
with red and white polilhed ftones, emboffed and ele¬
gantly flowered.
Campbell, in his Political Survey, fuggefts two im¬
provements in the Orkneys : 1. The eredting an uni-
verfity ; of wffiich he recapitulates the probable advan¬
tages arifing from their centrical fituation : And, 2.
Allow-ing the Eaft India Company to ere£t a fpacious
magazine in one of thefe iflands j where alfo a colleft-
or, and a fufficient number of king’s officers, ftiould re-
fide, to receive the duties of fuch Eaft India commodi¬
ties as might be taken off by Britilh fubjetls. Thefe
he propofes for the Orkneys in particular, and in addi¬
tion to improvements propofed for the v'hole iflands in
general.
The following table exhibits a view- of the population
of the parifties of Orkney and Shetland, at two periods.
Orkney.
10
15
Parifhes.
Orkney.
Crofs, Burnefs, &c,
Dearnefs and St Andrews
Evie and Rendall
Firth and Stennefs
Harray and Birfay
Holm
Hoy and Graemfay
Kirkwall
Ladykirk
Orphir
Roufay and Eglilhay
Shapinffiay
South Ronaldffiay, &c.
Stromnefs and Sandwuck
Stronfay and Eday
Walls and Flota
Weftray and Papa Weftray
Total, Orkney
Shetland.
Breffay and Burray
Delting
Dunroffnefs
Fitlar and North Yell
Lerwick
Nefting
Northmaving
Sandfting
South and Mid Yell
Tingwall
Unft
29 Walls and Sandnefs
Total, Shetland
Orkney
Total
Population in
I7SS-
Population in
I7J>°—DS8,
125O
1650
i798
I108
2200
1185
520
1089
75°
855
_978
642
1996
2677
M93
1000
1290
23>381
1389
J335
i564
1186
2013
702
410
2550
803
826
1072
730
J954
3012
887
991
1629
23>°53
20
25
1098
I 221
2295
IO98
JI93
1169
1009
911
986
1412
1368
1450
1225
I5C4
3327
1346
1259
I535
1786
1.285
1422
1786
1988
1723
15,210
23.381
20,186
23.053
38.591
43.239
37.591
Increafe
4648
But
O Tt L [ 465 ] O R L
Orkney But in 1801, according to the returns made to Par-
11 liament, the population of Orkney was 24,445, andthat
Orleans. Shetland-was 22,379. For a fuller account of Ork-
11 ney, fee Barry’s Hiftory of the, Orkney Iflands, 410.
1805.
ORLE, Orlet, or Orlo, in ArchiteBure, a fillet un¬
der the ovolo, or quarter round of a capital. When
it is at the top or bottom of a ihatt, it is called cinBure.
Palladio ufes the word orlo for the plenith of the bafis
of the columns.
Ori.e, in Heraldry. See Heraldry.
ORLEANOIS, a province of France, now forming
the department of Loiret, and including the feveral di-
ftridts of Orleanois Proper, Beauce-Proper or Char-
train, Dunois, Vendomois, Blaifois, the greateft part of
Gatinois, and Perche-Gouet. The principal rivers of
it are the Loire, the Loiret, the Cher, the Laconic, the
Aigle, the Hyere, the Yonne, and the Eyre. There
are alfo fome remarkable canals, particularly thofe of
Briare and Orleans. The river Loire, and the canals
drawn from thence, greatly facilitate and promote the
inland trade of the kingdom, and particularly of this
department.
Orleanois, in Latin Aurelianenfis Hger, is bounded on
the fouth by Sologne, on the north by Upper-Beauce,
on the eaft by Gatinois, and on the weft by Dunois and
Vendemois. The Loire divides it into Upper and
Lower; the former lying to the north, and the latter
to the fouth of that river. It yields plenty of grain, wine,
wood, and fruit, and abounds in cattle, game, and fifii.
ORLEANS, the capital of the government of Or¬
leanois, now the department of Loiret. It was ancient¬
ly called Genabum, or Cenabum; and afterwards deno¬
minated Aurelia, Aureluc, and Aurelianum, by the em¬
peror Aurelian, who confiderably enlarged it. In Ju¬
lius Caefar’s time it was the capital of the Carnutes. It
ftands about 20 leagues fouth of Paris, on the northern
bank of the Loire; acrofs which Mr Wraxall fays there
is an elegant bridge of nine arches, the entrance by
which is exceedingly noble and ftriking, the ftreet
which leads from it being compofed of moft elegant
modern buildings. In general, however, excepting this
ftreet, it is very meanly built; the ftreets are narrow,
and the inhabitants in general poor. It is furrounded
with walls, and fortified with 40 towers. The ftreets
almoft all terminate at the quay for the convenience of
trade. It is a place of confiderable magnitude; and
before the revolution had feveral inferior courts of
juftice, and an univerfity of no great repute. It was
alfo a bifhop’s fee ; and the cathedral is a moft fuperb
Gothic ftrufture, and had the fineft fteeple in France
till it was damaged in the time of the civil wars. There
were 22 parilhps in it, and a great number of churches,
fome of which were collegiate, and religious houfes.
There is alfo a public walk, planted with feveral rows
of trees ; and there ufed to be fome fugar bakers ; a
manufacture of ftockings and Iheep Ikins; a feminary
in which divinity was taught; a great trade in bran¬
dy, Wine, fpices, and feveral manufactures, which,
with many other commodities, ufed to be conveyed to
Paris by means of the Loire, and the canal which takes
its name from the city. The canal begins about two
miles above the city ; is near 1 8 leagues in length ; and
terminates on the Loin 04 which falls into the Seine.
VOL. XV. Part II. .
The environs of Orleans, more efpecially in the pro¬
vince of Sologne, to the fouth of the Loire, are very
agreeable, it is in general a level country, covered
wdth corn and vines. To the north of the city is a
foreft, the largeft in the whole kingdom. Before the
revolution it belonged to the duke of Orleans : to
whom the timber felled in it, one year with another,
brought about 100,000 livres. Ever fince the year
1344 this city has beep a dukedom and peerage, and
ufuaily an appendage of fome prince of the blood.
The late duke, who took the name of Egahle, and who
was afterwards guillotined, feems to have been one of
the moft deteftable monfters which ever difgraced hu¬
manity. Louis XIV. gave the dukedom to his own
brother Philip, who began and finiflied the canal ;
which, by the duties paid by veffels going up and down,
brought in, one year with another, 1 50,000 livres. I he
biftiop was fuffragan to the archbifhop of Paris, and had
a revenue of 24,000 livres, out of which his tax to Rome
was 2000 florins. A new bifhop, it is faid, on the firft
day of his entering, had the privilege of releafing all the
prifoners in it, except thofe committed for treafon. In
the ftreet leading from the bridge ftands the celebrated
monument where Charles VII. and Joan of Arc the
Maid of Orleans, are reprefented on their knees before
the body of our Saviour, who lies extended on the lap
of the Virgin. It was erefted by order of that mo¬
narch in 1458, to perpetuate his vi£tories over the
Englifh, and their expulfion from his dominions. All
the figures are in iron. The king appears bareheaded,
and by him lies his helmet furmounted with a crown.
Oppofite to him is the Maid herfelf, in the fame atti¬
tude of grateful devotion to Heaven. It is a moft
precious and invaluable hiftorical monument.
“ In the Hotel de Ville (fays Wraxall) is a portrait
of the fame immortal woman, which I ftudied long and
attentively. Though it was not done till 1581, which
was near 130 years after her deceafe, it is yet the
oldeft and beft pi&ure of her now exifting. The
painter feems undoubtedly to have drawn a flattering
refemblance of her, and to have given his heroine
imaginary charms. Her face, though long, is of ex¬
ceeding beauty, heightened by an expreflion of intel¬
ligence and grandeur rarely united. Her hair falls
loofely down her back, and ftie wears on her head a
fort of bonnet enriched with pearls, and ftiaded with
white plumes, tied under her chin with a firing. About
her neck is a little collar, and lower down, upon her bo-
fom, a necklace compofed of fmall links. Her drels,
which is that of a woman, I find it difficult exactly to
deferibe. It fits clofe to the body, and is cut or flaflied
at the arms and elbows. Round her waift is an embroi¬
dered girdle, and in her right hand (lie holds the fword
with which ffie expelled the enemies of her fovereign
and her country. I am not furprifed at the animated
and enthufiaftic attachment which the French ftill che-
rifti for her memory. The critical and defperate emer¬
gency in which ffie appeared ; her lex, youth, and even
the obfeurity of her birth ; the unparalleled fuceefs
which crowned her enterprife; the cruel and deteftable
fentence by which ffie was put to death ; the air of the
marvellous fpread over the whole narration, increafed
and ftrengthened by that veneration which time affixes
to every great event—all thefe united caufes confpired
3 N
Orleans.
O Tt M [ 466 1 O R N
Orleans to place tier above mortality. Rome and Athens would
Ormlkirk undoubtedly have ranked her among their tutelary dei-
< . ‘ ties, and have erefted temples to her honour j nor can I
help being amazed, that amidft the almoft infinite
number of modern faints who crowd and difgrace their
churches, no altar has yet been dedicated to the Maid
of Orleans.” See France, N° ioi.
The bridge was new built in the 18th century, and
opened in 1760 ; and the French efteem it the fineft in
the world. E. Long. 1. 59. N. Lat. 47. 54.
Orleans, Peter Jofeph, a French Jefuit, and author
of HiJIoire dev Revolutions d'Angleterre, was born at
Bourges in 1641. He taught belles lettres for fome
time in his foeiety, but afterwards devoted himfelf to
the writing of hiftory. This purfuit he continued till
his death, which happened in 1698. He wrote alfo a
hiftory of the Revolutions of Spain ; A Hiftory of Two
conquering Tartars, Chunchi and Camhi •, The Life of
Father Colon, &c. His Hiftory of the Revolutions in
England, under the family of the Stuarts, from the
year 1603 to 169a, was tranflated into Englifh, and
publilhed at London, 17x1, in one vol. 8vo. : to which
is prefixed an Introduction, by Laurence Echard, M. A.
who fays, that “ the great varieties and wonde rful
changes in thefe reigns are here judiciouily comprifed in
a moderate volume with no lefs perfpicuity than ftriCl-
nefs ; and Avith a beautiful mixture of ftiort characters,
nice reflections, and'noble fentences, which render the
whole agreeable and inftruCtive. But while the reader
is entertained with fo much Ikill and finenefs, we ought
to caution him with relation to the education and reli¬
gion of the author ; for though he has great marks of a
generous candour, and a laudable deference to all fupe-
riors •, yet he is to be confidered, in all places, as one in
favour with the Fre nch king, and not only a true papift,
but a complete Jefuit.”
ORLOPE, in the fea language, the upparmoft fpace
or deck in a great ftxip, reaching from the main to the
mizen maft. In three-deck fhips, the fecond and loweft
decks are fometimes called orlopes.
ORMOND, the northern divifion of the county of
Tipperary, in the province of Munfter in Ireland. For
a long time it gave the title of earl, and afterwards of
marquis and duke, to the noble family of Butler, de-
feended from a filler of Thomas ^ Becket arehbithop of
Canterbury ; till, at the acceflion of George I. the laft
duke was attainted of high treafon, and died abroad.
In that part of the country the family had great prero¬
gatives and privileges granted by Edward III.
ORMSIDE, a fmall town of England, near Apple¬
by, in Weftmoreland. A great number of veflels of
brafs, fome of which feemed to have been gilt, were
difeovered near the manor-houfe' by the water waftxing
away the foil.
ORMSKIRK, in Lancafhire, in England, is a hand-
fome town, with a good inland trade. By the late in¬
land navigation, it has communication with the rivers
Merfey, Dee, Ribble, Oufer Trent, Danvent, Severn, Ormfkirk
Humber, J hames, Avon, &c.y which navigation, inclu- II
ding its xvindings, extends above 500 miles, in the^jthogal.
counties of Lincoln, Nottingham, York, Lancafter, > Um'
Weftmoreland, Stafford, Warwick, Leicefter, Oxford,
Worcefter, &c. There is a bituminous earth about this
place, from which oil of amber is extracted, that pre*
ferves raw flefh, and ferves the poor people inftead of
candles.
There is nothing remarkable at Ormfkirk, but the
monuments of fome of the ancient family of the Stan¬
leys before they -were ennobled. Not far from it is
Latham Houfe, to which belongs a large eftate, and
a fine park. It is remarkable only becaufe it was gal¬
lantly defended in the civil wars by Lady Charlotte
countefs of Derby, who held it to the laft extremity
againft the parliament forces, who could never oblige
her to capitulate. She held out glorioufly till the was
relieved by Prince Rupert. It was, however, ruined
in a fecond liege ; and fold by the family to Sir
Thomas Bootle, who built a very magnificent houfe
upon it.
ORMUS, a fmall ifland of Alia, at the bottom of
the gulf of the fame name, at the entrance of the
gulf of Perfia. It is about two leagues from the
main land, and about fix leagues in circuit. They
catch excellent oyfters about the ifland 5 and it yields
plenty of fine white fait 5 alfo a kind of fliining black
fand, which is ufed for dulling writings, and is tranf-
ported in confiderable quantity to Europe. There is
neither fweet water nor grafs upon it, the foil being
of a fait fulphureous nature. It was taken by the Por-
tuguefe in 1507, who fortified it ; and it was after¬
wards frequented by a vail number of merchants, who
were extremely rich. In 1622 the Perfians, by the
afliltance of the Englilh, conquered this place, and
demolilhed the houfes, which were 4COO in number,
containing 40,000 inhabitants. Some time after, the
Perfians rebuilt the fort, and placed a garrifon in it •,
but they could never bring it to be a place of trade
as before : however, it is the key of the Perfian gulf,
as well ©n account of the importance of the place, as
the commodioufnefs of the harbour. It is now almoft
deferted, for it produces nothing but fait, which fome¬
times is two inches deep upon the furface of the earth;
E. Long. 56. 2 ij. N. Lat. 27. 20.
ORNITHIAa, a name given by the ancients to
certain winds, which ufually blew in the fpring, at the
time -when the birds of paffage came over to them.
Pliny fays, that thefe winds blew from the weft, and
that by fome the Etefian wirds were called by this
name. Others fuppofe that they blew from the north,
or north-weft.
ORNITHOGALLUM, Star of Bethlehem ; a
genus of plants belonging to the hexandria clafs ; and in
the natural method ranking under the I Oth order, Co~
ronarice. See Botany Index.
ORNITHOLOGY.
[ 4^7 ]
Introduc¬
tion.
Introduc¬
tion.
ORNITHOLOGY.
INTRODUCTION.
1
Definition. r|"'HE term Ornithology is derived from the Greek
-*• ejvi?, a bird, and Aoyaj, difcourfe, and denotes that
part of Zoology which treats of birds.
Birds are two-footed animals, covered with feathers,
and furnithed with wings. Like quadrupeds and the
cetaceous tribe, they have warm blood, a heart with two
ventricles, and two auricles, and lungs for the purpofe
of refpiration j but they are diftinguilhed from both by
their feet, feathers, wings, and horny bill, as well
as by the circumftance of their females being ovipa-
2 rous.
Omitholo- The elegant and beautiful colouring of -many of the
gical wri- feathered race, the graceful cafe of their flight, their
various mufic, their tender folicitude for their offspring,
their engaging inftindls, their fufeeptibility of domefti-
cation, and their fubfervience to the fuflenance of man,
have, in all ages, contributed to intereft the latter in
2 the ftudy of their hiftory.
Ariftotle Of the naturalifts, however, whofe writings have de-
and Pliny, feended to us from antiquity, Ariftotle and Pliny are
the only two who appear to have entered into any de¬
tails on a fubjeft fo inviting and important. Though
the former compofed no particular treatife on birds, he
brings them under review in different parts of his Hi¬
ftory of Animals. In the third chapter of the eighth
book, for example, he enumerates the different forts of
nourifhment adapted to different fpecies, and their va¬
rious modes of feeding. The ninth book contains his
very imperfeft nomenclature, his remarks on the diverfi-
fied modes of nidification, and fome valuable obferva-
tions on the family of eagles. His notion of the orga¬
nization and habitudes of birds are interfperfed in the
body of the work, and introduced in the way of com¬
parative reference to the ftrufture and manners of other
animals. Pliny’s enumeration of the feathered fpecies,
is extended over moft part of his tenth book, but is de-
ftitute of precife defeription, and encumbered with ab-
furdity and fable.
Of the numerous ornithologifts of more modern date,
fome have chiefly directed their labours to method and
claffification, others have been more felicitous to deferibe
and delineate ; fome have treated of the whole clafs,
others of particular portions of it •, while, laftly, fome
have been contented to define and deferibe, and others
have illuftrated and enhanced their text by more or lefs
accurate defigns from living or prepared fpecimens.
This combination of the pen and the pencil, which has
fo eminently contributed, in our day, to the acquifition
and diffufion of knowledge, feems to have been unknown
to the ancients.
Although the unavoidable liriiitation of our plan pre¬
cludes a minute and critical report of the works to
which we have juft alluded, we thall briefly advert to a
few of the moft confpicuous. Among the firft who ex¬
cited, on the continent, a tafte for the ftudy of ornitho-
'Icgy, and for a methodical diftribution of that portion
4
of fcience, we may mention Belon. Aware that nature Belon.
is moft fuccefsfully contemplated in her own works, he
travelled from the laudable defire of colledling informa¬
tion, and communicated to the world the refults of his
enquiries. His Hiftory of Birds, a thin folio volume,
divided into feven books, or parts, and illuftrated by
wooden cuts, was publiftied at Paris, in 1555. His
principle of claflification being chiefly founded on The
circumftances of habitation and food, and only occafion-
ally on external forms and characters, is obvioufly very
defective ; his deferiptions, though tolerably accurate,
are, for the moft part, too concife ; and many of his
plates are very inadequate reprefentations of their origi¬
nals. It muft, at the fame time, be allowed, that lie
frequently fuggefts judicious views of his fubjedt 5 that
he notes with ingenuity, the points of refemblance be¬
tween the human flceleton and that of birds 5 that he has
penned feveral paflages which may ftill be perufed with
intereft and inftrudtion j that the naivete of his manner
is always pleafing, and that when we refledt on the pe¬
riod in which he flouriftied, he is entitled to no ordinary
praife. 5
The celebrated Conrad Gefner, phyfician and profef- Gefner.
for at Zurich, and contemporary with Belon, has devo¬
ted the third volume of his Hiftory of Animals to the
department of ornithology. It is an erudite, but pon¬
derous tome, exhibiting alphabetical tables of. the names
of birds, in Hebrew, Chaldee, Arabic, Greek, Latin,
and moft of the fpoken languages of Europe. His de-
feriptions are compiled abridgements ; but his referen¬
ces, at the clofe of each article, are very numerous j for
if any author of his acquaintance happen to mention a
bird, his name and the paffage are duly commemorated.
Gefner’s arrangement differs in no refpedl from that of
any common didlionary ; and few of his engravings are
executed with corredinefs. The curious reader will
probably be gratified with the perufal of his account of
the art of rearing birds for falconry, the difeafes to
which they are liable, and the remedies which the learn¬
ed doftor preferibes. 6
The fame topics are difeuffed by Aldrovandus, a phy- Aldrova*-
fician of Bologna, who availing himfelf of the writings^'
of the two preceding naturalifts, added to their indi-
gefted ftores, and compiled three folios, divided into 20
books, and illuftrated by wooden plates. His catalogue,
however, fcarcely comprifes any birds but fuch as are
natives of Europe, and by no means all even of thefe.
He too implicitly adopts the vague diftindtions of Belon j
and on various,occafions, not only copies Ariftotle with
fervility, but overlays his borrowed materials with a
mafs of dark commentary. The motley complexion of
the whole production, in fact, betrays the defire of ac¬
cumulation rather than the exercife of tafte and judge¬
ment. 7
Johnfton, who'publiftied in 1657 a folio volume of Johnftoa.
160 pages, did little elfe than greatly condenfe the hea¬
vy compilements of Gefner and Aldrovandus. He di¬
vides the whole clafs into land and water birds, and de¬
duces his fubordinate divifions from the nature of their
3 N 2 aliments.
468 O R N 1 T H
Introduc- aliments. His defcriptions are generally correft, but
, tl0n- feanty j and even his figures, though traced with more
v charadler than thofe of his predecelfors, befpeak a parfi-
S mony of engraving.
Willough- The next writer of eminence in this department, who
ky* merits particular quotation, is Francis Willoughby,
Efq. an Englitli gentleman, who laid the foundation of
a more accurate arrangement. His work, which ap¬
peared in 1676, was revifed and edited by his friend
the celebrated Ray. It is divided into three books, of
which the firff is allotted to general views of the fubjedf,
and an explanation of the author’s method. The firft
chapter treats of tire form and external flruffure of
birds, the fecond of their organization and internal
ftrufture. The fixth includes 24 queries, the anfwers to
which, if founded on faff, would greatly contribute to
the advancement of ornithology. Mr Willoughby for¬
mally recognizes the grand divifion of terrejlrial and
aquatic, comprifmg under the former thofe who live
at a diflance from water, and under the fecond, thofe
which live on the margin or furface of'that element.
He then inftitutes his leading diftinffions from the form
of the bill and feet, and would doubtlefs have accom-
plifhed a more complete arrangement, had he uniformly
adhered to the fame principle ; but in compliance with
the prejudices of his time, he affumes the different kinds
of food, the varieties of fize, the nature of the flelh, and
even moral qualities, as the grounds of fubdivifions.
At all events, however, he has the credit of having
opened a career, which others have fuccefsfully purfued.
H is fecond and third books contain the defeription and
hiftory of the fpecies, diftributed according to the rules
laid down in the firft. To the expofition of each genus
are prefixed two chapters of general obfervations; the
firft including the vague or fabulous accounts of the
ancients, and the fecond fuch common properties as ap¬
pertain to the genus. The author then proceeds to the
fpecific details, ftating the moft important particulars
with precifion and neatnefs, and concluding with an ac-
^ count of peculiar habits.
Itay. Ray» in his SijnopJts Avium, follows, with a few ex¬
ceptions, the method of his friend, referring at the fame
time to the tail feathers, and fome parts of the internal
.conformation. The latter, we need fcarcely remark,
cannot with any propriety be adopted as generic or fpe-
I0 cific characters.
Barrere. The new method of clafTmg birds propofed by Mon-
fieur Barrere in 1745, implies either a total ignorance
or blameable negleft of the writings of Willoughby and
Ray. As its only tendency was to confufe and perplex,
we forbear noticing its details. Suffice it to remark,
that it includes the peacock and man-of-war bird in
the fame family, and ranks the yellow hammer between
the buftard and the oftrich. In his Effay on the Natu¬
ral Hiftory of Guiana, the fame author enumerates the
birds in alphabetical order ; but his catalogue has been
more than doubled by fubfequent travellers.
Klein. Jacob Theodore Klein, member of feveral learned
academies, publiffied at Lubeck in 1750 a quarto vo¬
lume, entitled, Hiflorice Avium Prodromus, cum preefa-
tione de or dine animalium in genere. In this work he
divides birds into families, orders, and tribes. His
eight families are diftinguiffied by the conformation of
the feet, his orders by the form of the bill, and his
tribes, fometimes by the form and proportions of the
3
O L O G Y.
head, fometimes by accidental differences of the bill, Imroduc.
and fometimes by the author’s own fanciful ideas. From tion.
too great an anxiety to Amplify, this naturalift is gene- -v-—
rally too brief, and adds to his obfeurity by an aftcCta-
tion of learned phrafeology*
This laft-mentioned quality likewife disfigures the Maehring.
fcientific catalogue of Mcehring, phyfician to the prince
of Anhalt, which appeared in 1752. His claffes, or¬
ders, and genera, are founded on the formation of the
feet and bill 3 and his defc riptions of birds examined by
himfelf, are ufually accurate 3 but he is often milled by
the errors of others, and the method which he propofes
is complex and incommodious.
In this fummary of celebrated fyHematic ornitholo- Linr.Lus
gifts, we may affign to Linnaeus the date of 1766,
when he publiffied the 12th edition of his SijJiema Na¬
ture. In fo far as that afteniffiing body of arrange¬
ment refpedts the feathered tribes, it certainly manifefts
at once the extent and minutenefs of the author’s dif-
criminating powers. As the fame nomenclature and
divifions are ftill the moft familiar to Britilh haturalifts,
we purpofe to be chiefly regulated by them in the fe-
quel, and confequently ffiall, for the prefent, wave any
explanation of the Linnaean arrangement.
M. Salerne phyfician at Orleans, left behind him asaiernt
MS. treatife on Ornithology, which was publiffied by
his friends in 1767. His method is that of Ray. The
hiftorical part is from the pen of Salerne himfelf 3 but
the body of the text is a promifeuous and elumfy com¬
pilation. The typography is executed with neatnefs
and elegance, and the plates, which are 31 in number,
are engraved with uncommon Ikill 3 though the larger
birds are for the moft part reprefented on too fmall a
feale.
M. Briffon of the Royal Academy of Sciences, pub-Griffon.-
liflied, in 1760, A Syftem of Ornithology, in Latin and
French, in fix quarto volumes. He diftributes birds in¬
to 26 orders, inftituted from the form of the feet, bill,
&c. 115 genera, which are determined by the peculia¬
rities of the bill or mandibles, and about 1300 fpecies.
Each article is preceded by a numerous and accurate
lift of references and figures 3 many fpecies, till then
undeferibed, are particularized 3 and the work is illuf-
trated by upwards of 220 excellent engravings. The
principal merit of Briffon’s plan confifts in the adoption
of external and permanent characters, which enable the
ftudent to affign the name and ftation of a bird which
he fees for the firft time. The defcriptions are equal¬
ly accurate with thofe of Willoughby, and more co¬
pious. Though not exempt from errors and defeCts, this
work ftill holds a refpeCtable rank in the library of the
ornithologift. ^
The Natural Hiftory of Birds, by the Comte de Buf- Buffon.
fon and his learned affociates, is too generally known to
require our analyfis or criticifm. Its great defeft is want
of fcientific arrangement, a wTant which is fcarcely re¬
deemed even by the popular, luminous, and elegant ftyle
of the defcriptions, combined with the highly finiffied
execution of the coloured plates. With the exception,
however, to which we have juft alluded, we feel no he-
fitation in adopting the language of the Englifli tranfla-
tor. “ The hiftory of birds poffeffes every quality that
could recommend it to the public : it exhibits a clear and
comprehenfive view of the knowledge acquired in orni¬
thology, fcattered through a multiplicity of volumes, and
ORNITHOLOGY.
469
Introduc¬
tion.
I?
Mauduyt
in various languages, it difcufles and elucidates with cri¬
tical accuracy, the numerous controverted points •, it re¬
duces the whole to fimplicity, order, and elegance ; and,
by large additions of valuable matter, it greatly extends
the bounds of the fcience.”—“ M. de Buffon was not to
be deterred by the ditliculty and extent of the undertak¬
ing. The correfpondents of the king’s cabinet continued
to tranfmit numerous communications, and fpecimens
from all parts of the wmrld. Above eighty artifts were,
under the direction of the younger M. Daubenton, em¬
ployed five years in the drawing, engraving, and colour¬
ing, of upwards of a thoufand birds. But the com¬
mencement of the work which thele vrere intended to
iilulfrate was delayed two years, by reafon of a fevere
and tedious indifpofition, which during that fpace afflitt-
ed the excellent naturalift. And after he had recovered
his health, he reflefted that at his advanced period of
life he could not reafonably expeft to be able to accom-
pli(h the hifiory °f birds, and alfo that of minerals, in
which he had already made fome advances. He judged
it expedient therefore to have recourfe to the adiftance
of his friends •, and he was peculiarly fortunate in the
choice of the learned and eloquent M. Gueneau de
Montbeillard, who cheerfully undertook the laborious
talk, and compofed the greatetf part of the two firft vo¬
lumes of the Hiltory of Birds, which appeared in 1 771,
under the name however of M. de Buflfon. In his com¬
plexion of thought and mode of expreffion, M. de Mont-
beillard followed fo clofely his illuftrious affociate, that
the public could not perceive any change. It was now
proper to throw off the malk $ and in the publication of
the four fubfequent volumes, each author prefixed his
name to his own articles. The third volume was nearly
printed when new affillance was received from the com¬
munications of James Bruce, Efq. of Kinnaird. lhat
accomplilhed and adventurous traveller, in his return
from Abyffmia, paffed fome days with M. de Buffon at
Paris. The count was filled with admiration on feeing
the numerous and elegant drawings which Mr Bruce had
made of natural objefts ; and on feveral occafions he
mentions the explorer of the fource of the Nile in terms
the moll flattering and refpedlful. After the publication
of the fixth volume in 1781, M. de Montbeillard was
defirous of devoting the whole of his leifure in compofipg
the Hiftory of Infefts, which had become his favourite
lludy. The three remaining volumes were therefore
written by M. de Buffon himfelf; though he acknow¬
ledges that the Abbe Bexon had collefted the nomen¬
clature, formed moll of the deferiptions, and communi¬
cated feveral important hints. The work was completed
in 1783 ; and as only a few copies of the illumined
plates were on fale, and thefe extremely collly, a fmall
let of engravings were made, to accommodate ordinary
purchafers.”
Sonnini’s recent edition of Buffon’s Natural Hillory
contain* many valuable additions j and forms, perhaps,
one of the moll complete works of the kind that has yet
appeared. In the department of ornithology, it prefents
us with deferiptions and figures of every bird to which
the editors could have accefs, either in the living.or
preferved (late, or of which they could be favoured with
drawings.
Mauduyt’s Diflionary of Ornithology, which makes
part of the Encyclop&Ve Me'thodique, deferves to be par¬
ticularly quoted, on account of the preliminary difeour-
fes, the accuracy of the deferiptions and references, and Introduc-
the correft execution of the plates. The whole forms , tlor“
an excellent colledtion of the moll important particulars 'r'"
which lay within the author’s reach 5 and we have oc-
cafionally availed ourfelves of his labours in the compile-
ment of the prefent article. jg
A feries of fplendid plates was executed at Florence, Gerini.
in illullration of Gerini’s Ornithology ^ but they betray,
in general, a difregard of nature, and are, in many in-
dances, merely copied from imperfett drawings or in¬
accurate engravings. Gerini’s nomenclature is, like-
wife, very faulty, and too frequently confounds fpecies
and varieties. /
In 1773, the ingenious and indefatigable Mr Pennant Pennant,
publilhed a fmall volume, entitled, Genera of Birds.
In his preface, he enters into a minute account of the
external parts of birds, their feathers, flight, nidifica-
tion, &c. In his feledliori of fyHematic arrangement,
he gives the preference to that of Ray, whofe plan ap¬
pears to him to be fo judicious, that it is fcarcely pof-
fible to make any change in it for the better. At the
fame time, he admits, that later difeoveries had made a
few improvements on his labours. “ My candid friend,
Linnaeus,” adds Mr Pennant, “ will not take it amifs,
that I in part, negle6l his example 5 for I permit the
land-fowl to follow one another, undivided by the
water fowl with pinnated feet, placing them between
the waders or cloven footed water-fowl, and the web¬
footed. The of rich, and land-birds with wings ufeltfs
for flight, I place as a dillinft order. The trumpeter
(Pfophia Linncei) and the bufards, I place at the end
of the gallinaceous tribe. All are land-birds The firll
multiparous, like the generality of the gallinaceous
tribe *, the lad granivornus, fwift runners, avoiders of
wet places ; and both have bills fomewhat arched. It
mull be confeffed, that both have legs naked above the
knees, and the lall, like the waders, lay but few eggs.
They feem ambiguous birds, that have affinity with each
order ; and it is hoped, that each naturalill may be in¬
dulged the toleration of placing them as fuits his own
opinion.” Mr Pennant’s grand divilions, then, are
into land birds and water fowl. The firll he dillributes
into the fix following orders. 1. Rapacious, 2. Pies,
3. Gallinaceous, 4. Columbine, 5. Pafferine, and 6. Stru-
thious. The fecond comprehends, 7. Cloven footed, or
Waders, 8. thofe with Pinnated feet, and 9. the Web-
footed. 20
In 1781, Dr Latham commenced his General Latham.
(is of Birds, a work of much accurate detail, and ex¬
tending to three double quarto volumes, with two of
fupplement. Admitting the primary divifion of Ray, he
adheres, with a few exceptions, to the Linnaean genera,
which, as well as the fpecies, his opportunities of re-
fearch enabled him to multiply to a very confiderable
amount. Each genus is illuftrated by one coloured cop¬
perplate at lead, ufually of fome rare fpecies. Of thefe
plates, however, the execution is fometimes coarfe or
meagre ; and candour will not permit us to compliment
the author on the purity or correflnefs of his llyle.
His volumes, neverthelefs, conllitute a precious repofi-
tory of deferiptions and fa6ls, and mult always hold a
dillinguilhed place in the library of the ornithologift.
Dr Latham is likewife the author of an Index Ornitholo-
gicus, which forms a convenient compend of his larger
work, being comprifed in two quarto volumes.
About
47°
Introduc-
tion.
O R N I T H O L O G Y.
22
Hernandez.
23
Nierem-
berg.
*4
JVlarcgrave.
*5
Sloane.
26
Cateflby.
About two years ago, Sebaftian Gerardin de Mire-
court publilbed an “ Elementary View of Ornithology,
or the Natural Hiltory of thofe Birds which ufually occur
in France,” &c. I his gentleman appears to have been
born and bred in the department of the Voges, in which
he difcharged the duties of profeflbr of natural hiftory,
and which is known to contain a greater diverfity of the
feathered race than almofl any province in Europe. His
preliminary difcourfe explains the general topics of or¬
nithology in language at once fuccinfl and perfpicuous.
I he live chapters of which it confilts were fubmitted to
the revifion of the eltimable Daudin, whofe premature
death his friends and fcience wdll long deplore. The ar¬
rangement of the work, which is limited to two oftavo
volumes, and a thin quarto volume of plates, has been
chiefly regulated by that of Cuvier, in his Sketch of the
Natural Hiltory of Animals ; but M. Gerardin has ven¬
tured to introduce a few occafional alterations, which
were fuggelted in the courfe of his teaching in the cen¬
tral fchool, and which he conceived would facilitate the
progrefs of his pupils. His fynonymy is that of Linnaeus
and Briffon } and his defcriptions are generally minute,
diftinft, and accurate. On the whole, however, the
reader is entitled to expeft more copious information re¬
lative to the manners and habits of many of the fpecies,
than will be found in thefe refults of thirty years appli¬
cation to the fubjeft, combined with many favourable
opportunities. We have alfo remarked a want of uni¬
formity and precilion in fome of the author’s ftatements.
The engravings are chiefly valuable on account of the
correftnefs of their outlines.
Of the numerous writers who have treated of the birds
of particular countries, we may obferve, that Hernan¬
dez, a Spanifli phyfician, has defcribed thofe of Mexico.
His work conlifts of 229 chapters, each of which,
generally, treats of a Angle fpecies. As they are, how¬
ever, deligned only by their Mexican names, and de¬
fcribed with too much brevity, their pfecife ftations in
the Linnsean arrangement are with difficulty afcertained.
Similar objections apply to the work of Nieremberg,
who has defcribed the birds of the fame country. From
both we may infer, that the feathered tribes in Mexico
are numerous, and diverfified with the molt brilliant co¬
louring ; and that the natives had made confiderable
progrefs in the ftudy of their hiftory. -
Brazil prefents a ftill more rich and fplendid field to
the refearches of the ornithologift 5 but Marcgrave, who
profeffes to delineate its natural hiftory, and allots his
fifth book to the birds, is not lefs defective than the two
writers whom w’e have juft mentioned. His plates are
not only wretchedly executed ; but frequently do not
correfpond with the defcriptions.
Sir Hans Sloane, in his Hiftory of Jamaica, has re-
prefented 44 fpecies of birds, in 18 plates, annexed to
the fecond volume $ but it is feldom that the reader can
rely on the accuracy of his delineations.
To Mr Catefby of the Royal Society, we are indebt¬
ed for an excellent account of the birds of Carolina,
Florida, and the Bahama iflands, in two volumes impe¬
rial folio, in French and Englifh. The firft volume, and
part of the appendix in the fecond, are devoted to the
birds, i he defcriptions are concife and perfpicuous, and
accompanied with fome interefting notices relative to the
manners and habits of the fpecies defcribed. The plates,
which are numerous, are generally faithful reprefenta-
2
lions of the originals, and admirably well coloured. The Introd«c.
method followed in thefe fplendid volumes, approaches ^on<
fomewhat to that of Willoughby. .
Schwenckfel a phyfician, who publifhed in 1603 as^yj
natural hiftory of Siberia, in two quarto volumes, in-fel.
eludes the birds in his fourth book. His enumeration
and defeription of the parts which belong to birds in
common with other animals, and of the appropriate parts
of the organization of the former, are neat and accurate.
His diflerences, founded on habitation, food, &c. are
lefs valuable. The introduction is folloived by the enu¬
meration of birds, in alphabetical order, according to
their Latin names. The defcriptions, though accurate,
are, for the moft part, too ftiort; and though adequate
to recall a bird already known, are not fufficient to con¬
vey a precife notion of thofe which are defcribed for the
firft time. The hiftorieal portion is too much con-
denfed ; and with faCts which are calculated to excite
intcreft, the author often blends fuch as are fuperfluous,
or improbable. ^
_ M. Brunnich publilbed in 1764, an account of the Brunnicb.
birds of Denmark, and the neighbouring iflands and
provinces. In moft inftanees he follows the Linnaean
nomenclature, and fometimes the fynonymy of Briflbn.
He chiefly dwells on the rare and non-defeript fpecies,
but even then feldom enters fufficiently into detail, to
enable the ftudent to afeertain the fpecies in queftion. 29
M. Sonnerat, correfponding member of the Royal Sonneratt
Academy of Sciences of Paris, publiflied, in 1776, an
account of his voyage to New Guinea, the Molucca and
Philippine iflands, the ifle of France, and fome other
xflands, in the Indian ocean*, and in 1783, he favoured
the world with a relation of his fecond voyage, to feveral
parts of the Eaft Indies and China. Though this zeal¬
ous and learned naturalift was prevented by want of
time, from forming very extenfive colleflions, his de¬
fcriptions and defigns manifeft both accuracy and tafte.
Befides corredting the errors of former travellers and
voyagers, he has noticed a confiderable number of birds
for the firft time, and moft of them remarkable either
for their Angularity or beauty. His account of the wild
cock and hen, the origin of our common domeftic fowl,
will be perufed with peculiar intereft. ^
T he fplendid work of Frifch, a German naturalift, Frifch.
chiefly confifts of coloured plates of the birds of Europe,
arranged in I2clafles according to diftindlions which are
fometimes vague and incommodious. The figures are,
for the moft part, accurate and lively reprefentations from
nature, though, in fome inftances, they are larger than
the life. The author has beftowed particular attention
on the different colourings of the two fexes of the fame
fpecies. 3I
M. le Vaillant, author of a voyage to the Cape ofLeVaillant
Good Hope, and of the natural hiftory of the birds of
Africa, is eminently diftinguiftied by the ardour and
acutenefs with which he has profecuted his ornithologi¬
cal refearches, and has availed hlmfelf with laudable di¬
ligence of his rare opportunities of colledling accurate
details relative to every fpecies which he undertakes to
illuftrate. His natural hiftory of the birds of paradife,
rollers, promeropes, toucans, and barbets, is perhaps
the moft highly finilhed and fumptiious publication that
has appeared in any of the departments gf ornithology.
1 he figures, about one hundred in number, are engraved
by Peree, from the drawings of Barraband, coloured by
Langlois,
ORNITHOLOGY.
Introduc- Langlois, and retouched by the pencil of the original
tion. defigner } while the elder Didot has executed the typo-
graphy, in his belt ftyle, on vellum paper. Each figure
is as large as life, and is ufually drawn from a fpecimen
in the higheft ftate of prefervation ; and in many cafes,
an exaft reprefentation of the female bird has alfo been
obtained. Though the pre-eminent merit of the work
confifts in the figures and defcriptions, it is in a few
inftances agreeably diverfified by traits of chara&er,
which the author remarked in the living bird, and by
fome interefting hints of a more general complexion,
which his accurate and extenlive obfervation enabled
him to colleft. We cannot, however, refrain from ex-
preffing a wilh, that he had been more liberal of his fy-
nonyms and references, and that he had treated fyfte-
matic writers with a little more refpeft. We fhould
not forget, that methodical nomenclature, though the
refult of art, and liable to many errors, is entitled at
leaft to fubordinate regard, and as an unfpeakable aid
to the memory. Even if we fhould concede to our in¬
novating author the propriety of thofe more fanciful ar¬
rangements to which he manifefts a predilection, it
would Hill admit of doubt, whether, on the whole, they
would more accord with gradations unequivocally indi¬
cated by nature. Are we certain that, amid her count-
lefs productions, nature recognizes a Angle line of de¬
marcation ? or, that the ftudy of ornithology would be
effentially promoted by claffing the fifilet with the jays,
or every individual furnifhed with parade feathers a-
^ mong birds of paradife P
Defmareft. The natural hiltory of tanagers, todies, and mana-
kins by Anfeline Gaetan Defmareft, with coloured en
gravings, from drawings by Paulina de Courcelles, pu¬
pil of Earraband, is another of thofe recent and fplendid
produClions of the Parifian prefs, which relleCt fo much
honour on the zeal, induftry, and tafte of the French
naturalifts. The paper, type, and figures, all befpeak
the excellence of the refpeCtive artills who have produ¬
ced them, as well as the love of chafte and elegant em-
bellifhment which has prefided over the undertaking.
The ornamental ftyle of the work, however, is not its
foie paffport to our favourable notice. The expofition
of the three genera mentioned in the title, is a fubjeft
which calls for much critical refearch and laborious in-
veftigation. M. Defmareft, without prefuming to ex¬
tricate the whole nomenclature, lays down many impor¬
tant diftinftions, and proceeds with circumfpeCtion, lo
far as his opportunities have enabled him to advance.
“ Before we enter,” fays he, “ on the details of the
fpecies, it may be proper to mention, that we lhall li¬
mit our defcriptions to thofe which we have feen, and
of which we have been enabled to exhibit figures. We
fliall, moreover, endeavour to analyfe, and, if poflible,
to unravel the references of authors. Should fuccefs
thus far attend us, we conceive that we (hall have duly
performed the part of zealous naturalifts.” Befides de¬
fcriptions and plates of the male, the author has alfo,
not unfrequently, reprefented the female, or young of
the fame fpecies, or an individual as it appears in the
moulting ftate. His pages will afford leaft entertain¬
ment to thofe, who delight to obferve the inftintts and
economy of the feathered race ; and who (brink from
the minute adjuftment of claflification and fynonymy.
It ought, however, to be remembered that few authentic
fads have been colle&ed relative to the hiftory^of thefe
foreign birds •, and that though future travellers may Introduc-
increafe the fcanty ftock of interefting notices, the ex- , Uon~ ,
ertions of the prefent author may7 not a little contribute
to fyftematize and facilitate their obfervations. 33
The Natural Hiftory of Birds, by George Edwards,Edwards,
in four quarto volumes, without any reference to coun¬
try or method, contains many excellent coloured deligns
and correct defcriptions ; and the fame remark applies
to his Gleanings of Natural Hiftory, the moft conlider-
able portion of which relates to birds. 3^
Several of his countrymen have expounded or deli- Britifh or-
neated the birds of our own illand with more or lefs fe-nitholugifts.
lieity of manner. The ornithological part of Pennant’s
Britifti Zoology, Hayes’s Natural Hiftory of Britifh
Birds, with their portraits accurately drawn, and beau¬
tifully coloured from nature’, Lord’s Natural Hiftory of
Britifh Birds, Lewin’s Birds of Great Britain, with
their eggs, in three volumes quarto, Walcott’s Synopfis
of Britiih Birds, two volumes 410, Bewick’s Hiftory of
Britith Birds, with figures engraved on wood, &c. &c.
are all entitled to critical notice *, but the limitation of
our plan forbids us to dwell on them. We (hall, there¬
fore, clofe this portion of our introdudftion by pointing
to a wmrk which feems not yet to have procured its due „ -
(hare of the public favour ; we mean the Ornithological Montagn,
Dittionary, or Alphabetical Synopfis of Britiih Birds,
by George Montagu, F. L. S. &c. in two fmall o£!avo
volumes. We are acquainted with few publications of
the kind that contain a larger quantity of accurate and
important information within fuch a narrow' compafs.
As a book of reference and confultation, it is well cal¬
culated to (hit the occafions of ordinary readers, and
even to convey inftruftion to the learned ftudent. The
fynopfis and fpecific defcriptions evince much diligence
and accuracy ; and various articles are enriched by the
refult of perfonal obfervation and extenfive travel.
Sufficiently aware of the fallible indications of plumage,
the writer is more folicitous to reduce than to multiply
diftindfions j and in doubtful cafes, has fometimes had re-
courfe to the unequivocal teft of diffedlion. A few of the
articles, however, are difmiffed with too much brevity,
and the ftyle is very deficient in polifh and corredlnefs.
If any of our readers are defirous of procuring a more
complete catalogue of works publifhed on ornithology
prior to the year 1760, they will find it in Gronovius’s
Bibliotheca rcgni animalis atque lapidei, uc reccnfio auc-
torum et librorum qui de regno anima/i et lapideo, mctho-
dice, p/u/sice, &c. traBant. ^
The ilrudture of the feathered tribes, and their ha-General ob=
bits of life, are wonderfully adapted to the various Nervations
fundlions which they are deltined to perform. Xheonbirds’
pointed beak, the long and pliant neck, the gently fwel- St,itifb7le
ling (boulder, the expanfive wings, the tapering tail, conforma_
the light and bony feet, are all w ifely calculated to af-tion.
fift and accelerate their motion through the yielding air.
Every part of their frame is formed for lightnefs and
buoyancy; their bodies are covered with a foft and de¬
licate plumage, fo difpofed as to proteft theta from the
intenfe cold of the atmofphere through which they pafsj
their w'ings are made of the lighteft materials, and yet
the force with which they ftrike the air is fo great, as
to impel their bodies forward with aftonilhing rapidity,
while the tail ferves the purpofe of a rudder to diredt
them to the different objects of their purfuit. The in¬
ternal ftxu&ure of birds is no lefs wifely adapted to the
fame
472 ORNITHOLOG Y.
Introduc- fame purpofesj; all tlie bones are light and thin, and all
, Uon' the mufcles, except thofe which are appropriated to the
movements of the wings, are extremely light and deli¬
cate. The lungs are placed clofe to the backbone and
ribs. The air, entering into them by a communication
from the windpipe, paffes through, and is conveyed in¬
to a number of membranous cells which lie on the fides
of the pericardium, and communicate with thofe of the
fternum. In fome birds, thefe cells are continued dawn
the wings, and extended even to the pinions, thigh
bones, and other parts of the body, which can be filled
and diftended with air at the pleafure of the animal.
The feathers, too, and particularly thofe of the wings,
contain a great quantity of air. The almoft univerfal
dirfufion of this fluid in the bodies of birds is of infinite
ufe to them, not only in their long and laborious flights,
but likewife in preventing their refpiration from being
flopped or interrupted by the rapidity of their motion
through a refilling medium. Were it poflible for man
to move with the fwiftnefs of a fwallow, the a£tual re¬
finance of the air, as he is not provided with internal
refervoirs fimilar to thofe of birds, would foon fuflfocate
38
Nutrition. Birds, like quadrupeds, may be divided into granivo-
rous and carnivorous. The former are furnilhed with
larger inteilines than thofe of the latter. Their food,
which confifts of grain of various forts, is conveyed en¬
tirely into the firft ftomacb, or craw, where it undergoes
a partial dilution by a liquor fecreted from the glands,
and foread over its furface. It is then received into an¬
other fpecies of ftomach, where it is farther diluted, af¬
ter which it is tranfmitted into the gizzard, or true fto¬
mach, confifting of two very nrong mufcles, externally
covered with a tendinous fubftance, and lined with a
thick membrane of prodigious power and ftrength, in
which organ the food is completely triturated, and pre¬
pared for the operation of the gadric juices. In order
to afcertain the ftrength of thefe ftomachs, Spallanzani
had recourfe to a great variety of ingenious experiments.
Tin tubes, full of grain, were forced into the ftomachs
of turkeys, and, after remaining 20 hours, were found
to be broken, compreffed, and diftorted in the moft ir¬
regular manner. In the fpace of 24 hours, the ftomach
of a cock broke off the angles of a piece of rough jag¬
ged glafs, though, on examining the gizzard, no
wound or laceration appeared. In a ball of lead, were
fixed 12 ftrong needles, with the points projefting about
a quarter of an inch from the furface. Thus armed,
the ball was covered with a cafe of paper, and forced
down the throat of a turkey. The bird retained it a
day and a half without manifefting any fymptoms of
uneafinefs, ,and the points of all the needles were bro¬
ken off clofe to the furface of the ball, except two or
three, of which the flumps projedted a little. The
fame interefting obferver relates, that he fixed 1 2 fmall
and very {harp lancets, in a fimilar ball of lead, which
was given in the fame manner to a turkey cock, and
left eight hours in the ftomach, at the expiration of
which the organ was opened ; but nothing appeared ex¬
cept the naked ball, the lancets having been broken to
pieces, and the ftomach remaining found and entire.
Hence we may infer, that the ftones fo often found in
the ftomachs of many of the feathered tribes, may
powerfully contribute to the comminution of grain and
other hard fubftances which conftitute their food.
Granivorous birds partake much of the nature and Introduc.
difpofition of herbivorous quadrupeds, agreeing with hon.
them in the number of their ftomachs, the comparative
length and capacity of their inteftines, the quality of
their food, and the gentlenefs of their manners. Con¬
tented with the feeds of plants, with fruits, infe£ls, and
worms, their principal attention is directed to procuring
food, hatching and rearing their offspring, and eluding
the fnares of men, and the attacks of predaceous ani¬
mals. As they are generally tra6lable and eafily do-
mefticated, man has felecled for his own advantage
thofe which are moft prolific and profitable. Of thefe
the hen, goofe, turkey, and duck, are the moft confi-
derable, and form a valuable llore of rich, wholefome,
and nutritious food.
Carnivorous birds are provided with wings of great
length, the mufcles which move them being proportion¬
ally large and ftrong, fo that they are enabled to keep
long on the wing, in fearch of their prey. They are,
befides, armed with ftrong hooked bills, and fliarp and
formidable claws. They have large heads, fliort necks,
ftrong and brawny thighs, and a fight fo aeute and
piercing, as to enable them to view their prey from the
greateft heights in the air, and to dart down on it with
incredible fwiftnefs and undevia'ting aim. Their fto¬
machs are fmaller than thofe of the granivorous kinds,
and their inteftines are much fhorter. The analogy
between carnivorous birds and quadrupeds, is too ob¬
vious to efcape the notice of even the fuperfieial obfer-
vor. Both of them are provided with weapons which
indicate deftrudlion and rapine, their manners are fierce
and unfocial, and they feldom congregate, like the in-
offenfive granivorous tribes ; but, when not on the
■wing, retire to the tops of fequeftered rocks, or to the
depths of extenfive forefts, 'where they conceal them-
felves in fullen and gloomy folitude. Such of them as
feed on carrion, have the fenfe of fmelling fo acute,
that they can fcent carcafes at aftoniftiing diftances. ^
Without the means of conveying themfelves with Flight ati
great fwiftnefs from one place to another, birds could migration,
not eafily fubfift, the food which nature has provided
for them being fo irregularly diftributed, that they are
obliged to take long journeys to diftant parts in order
to procure tire neceffary fupplies. Hence one caufe of
thofe migrations which are fo peculiar to the feathered
race. Befides the want of food, however, two other
caufes may be afligned, namely, the wTant of a proper
temperature of air, and of a convenient fituation lor the
important work of breeding and rearing their young.
Such birds as migrate to great diftances, are alone de¬
nominated birds of pajfage; but moft fpecies are more
or lefs fo, although they do not move to places remote
from their former habitations. At particular periods of
the year, moft: birds remove from one country to an¬
other, or from the more inland diftri6ls towards the
ftiores, or vice vcrfa. The feafons of thefe migrations
are obferved with the moft aftoniftiing order and punc¬
tuality •, but the fecrecy with which immenfe flocks
take their departure, and the fuddennefs with which
they reappear, are not eafily explained. We are alfo
apt to fuppofe, that, during long flights over immenfe
trails of water, the means of fubfiftence would inevita¬
bly fail, without reflecting on the fuperior velocity with
which birds are carried forward in the air, and the eafe
with wfyich they continue their exertions for a much
longer
I
O R N I T H
Introduc- longer time tlian can be done by the ftrongeft quadru-
tion. ped. Our fwifteft horfes are fuppofed to go at the rate
0£ a mde in fomewhat lefs than two minutes j and there
is one inttance on record of a horfe that went at the rate
of nearly a mile in one minute, but only for one fecond
of time. In fuch cafes an uncommon degree of exertion
has been attended with its ufual confequences, debility,
and a total want of power to continue that exertion ;
. but the motions of birds are not impeded by fimilar
caufes, and they not only glide through the air with a
quicknefs fuperior to that of the fwifteft quadrupeds,
but can continue on the wing with equal fpeed for a
confiderable length of time. Now, if we can fuppofe
a bird to go at the rate of only half a mile in a minute,
for the fpace of 24 hours, it will, in that time, have
gone over an extent of more than 700 miles •, which is
fufficient to account for almolt the longeit migration •,
and, if aided by a favourable current of air, there is
reafon to believe, that it will perform the fame journey
in a much Ihorter fpaee of time.
The wings of birds are fo conftrufted, that, in flri-
king downward6, they expand very confiderably, and,
except that they are fomewhat hollow on the under fide,
they form, in this ad, almoft two planes. The mufcles
that move the wings downwards are very large, and
have been eftimated, in fome inftances, at not lefs than
the fixth part of the weight of the whole body. When
a bird is on the ground, and intends to fly, it takes a
leap, ftretehes its wings from the body, and ftrikes them
downwards with great force. By this ftroke, they are
put into an oblique diredion, partly upwards, and part¬
ly horizontally forwards. That part of the force which
tends upwards is deftroyed by the weight of the bird,
while the horizontal impulfe ferves to carry it forwards.
The flroke being completed, it moves its wings } and
they, being contraded, and having their edges turned
upwards, meet with very little refiflance from the air.
When they are fufficiently elevated, it makes a fecond
ftroke downwards, and the impulfe of the air again
moves it forward. Thefe fucceffive ftrokes ad as fo
many leaps taken in the air. When the bird wants to
turn to the right or left, it ftrikes ftrongly with the op-
pofite wing, fo as to impel the body to the proper fide.
If it wants to rife, it raifes its tail, and if to fall, de-
preffes it. When in a horizontal pofition, the tail
keeps the body fteady. A bird, by fpreading its
■wings, can continue to move horizontally in the air for
fome time, without ftriking, becaufe it has acquired a
fufficient velocity ; and the wings, being parallel to the
horizon, meet with but fmall refiftance. On alighting,
it expands its wings and tail full againft the air, that
they may meet with all poffible refiftance. The centre
of gravity in birds is fomewhat behind the wings 5 and,
to counterbalance it, moft of them may be obferved to
thruft out their head and neck in flying. This is very
apparent in the flight of ducks, geefe, and feveral fpe-
cies of water-fowl, whofe centre of gravity is farther
backwards than in the land birds. In the heron, on the
-contrary, whofe long head and neck, although folded
up in flight, overbalance the reft of the body, the long
legs arc extended, in order to give the proper counter-
poife, and to fupply what is wanting in the fhortnefs of
lubricationthe tail* . .
of the fea- The feathers of birds would conftantly imbibe the
then. moifture of the atmofphere j and, during rain, abforb
Vol. XV. Part II.
O L O G Y. 473
fo much wret, as would almoft, if not wholly, impede Introduo-
their flight, had not the wife economy ot nature obvi tl°11'
ated this by a moft effe&ual expedient. They are fur-
nifficd on the rump with two glands, in which a quan¬
tity of undtuous matter is conftantly fecreting. I his is
occafionally prefled out by means of the bill, and ufed
for the lubrication of the feathers. The birds which
fhare, as it were, the habitations of man, and live prin¬
cipally under cover, do not require fo large a fupply of
this fluid, and, confequently, are not provided with fuch
a large flock of it as thofe that rove abroad, and refide
in the open element. Hence poultry, when wet, affume
a ruffled and uncomfortable appearance. 41
As birds are continually paffing among hedges and Nidlitating
thickets, their eyes are protefted from external injuries,membrane,
as well as from too much light, when Hying in oppofition
to the fun’s rays, by a nictitating or winking mem¬
brane, which can at pleafure be drawn over the whole
eye like a curtain. This covering is neither opaque,
nor wholly pellucid, but fomewhat tranfparent. By-
means of it the eagle is faid to gaze at the fun. 4*
It appears from obfervations, founded on numerous''ong'
experiments, that the peculiar notes, or fong, of the
different fpecies of birds, are altogether acquired, and
are no more innate than language is in man. T he at¬
tempt of a neftling to ling, may be compared with the
imperfeCl endeavour of a child to talk. I he firft eflay
feems not to poffefs the flighteft rudiments of the future
fong ; but, as the bird grows older and ftronger, it is
not difficult to perceive its aim. While the fcholar is
thus endeavouring to form his fong, when he is once
fure of a palfage, he commonly raifes his tone, which
he drops again when he is not equal to what he is at¬
tempting. A common fparrow, taken from the neft
when very young, and placed near a linnet and gold¬
finch, though in a wild ftate it would only have chirp¬
ed, adopted a fong that was a mixture of thefe two.
Three neftling linnets wrere educated, one under a fky-
lark, another under a wood-lark, and a third under a
tit-lark 5 and, inftead of the fong peculiar to their own
fpecies, they adhered entirely to that of their refpe&ive
inftruCtors. A linnet, taken from the neft, when but
two or three days old, and brought up in the houfe of
an apothecary at Kenfington, from want of other founds
to imitate, almoft articulated the words “ pretty boy,”
as wTell as fome other ftiort fentences. "I hefe and other
well-authenticated fads feem to prove, that birds have
no innate notes, but that the language of thofe to whofe
care they are committed at birth, will be the language
which they adopt in after life. It may, however, ap¬
pear fomewhat unaccountable why, in a wild ftate, they
adhere fo fteadily to the fong of their own fpecies only,
when fo many others are to be heard around them.
This arifes from the attention paid by the neftling bird
to the inftru&ions of its own parent only, generally dif-
regarding the notes of all the reft. Perfons, however,
who have an accurate ear, and have ftudied the notes of
different birds, can very often diftinguifti fome that have
a fong mixed with thofe of another fpecies 5 but thefe
are in general fo trifling as fcarcely to be reckoned any
thing more than mere varieties of provincial dialedts. 43
All birds are oviparous, or produce eggs, from Eggs,
which, after the procefs of incubation, the young are
extruded. Thefe eggs differ in different fpecies, in re-
fpetl of number, figure, and colour. They contain the
3 O rudiments
44
N'efts.
Age.
45
474 O R N I T H
Introduc- rudiments of the future young, for the maturation of
, t!0r1, which a bubble of air is always placed at the large end,
betwixt the {hell and the infide fldn. It is fuppofed,
that, from the warmth communicated by the fitting
bird to this confined air, its fpring is increafed beyond
its natural tenor, and at the fame time its parts are put
into motion by the gentle rarefaction. Hence preflure
and motion are communicated to the parts of the egg,
and feem, in fome unknown way, gradually to promote
the growth of the young till the appointed time of ex-
elufion. Houfewives, when they fufpeft an egg is not
good, put their tongue to the great end, to feel if it be
warm. If that is not the cafe, it is confidered a certain
proof, that the air, having by degrees effeCled its
efcape, the egg is at length become putrid or ad¬
dled.
The nefts of birds are, in general, conftrufted with
aftonifhing art, and with a degree of {kill and neatnefs
that often defies the efforts of the human hands. Both
the male and female generally affift in this interefting
concern. They each bring materials te the place, as
{licks, mofs, ttraws, &c. for the foundation and exte¬
rior } and hair, wool, or the down of animals or plants,
to form a foft and commodious bed for their eggs, and
for the tender bodies of their young when hatched.
The eutfide of the neit ufually bears fo great a refem-
blance in colour to the furrounding foliage or branches,
as not eafily to be difcovered even by perfons who are
in fearch of them.
The term of life varies greatly in birds, and does not
feem to bear the fame proportion to the time of acquir¬
ing their growth as has been remarked with regard to
quadrupeds. Moil birds acquire their full dimenfions
in a few months, and are capable of propagation the
firft fummer after they are hatched. In proportion to
the fize of their bodies, they poffefs more vitality, and
live longer, than either man or quadrupeds. Notwith-
llanding the difficulties which arife in afcertaining the
ages of birds, there are inftances of great longevity in
many of them, particularly geefe, fwans, ravens, and
eagles, which have been known to attain the age of
feventy, fourfcore, or even a century. Pigeons ufually
live more than 20 years, and even linnets and other
fmall birds have been kept in cages for nearly the fame
period.
The difeafes to which birds, in their natural {late, are
incident, are probably neither numerous nor formidable j
at leaft we feldom meet with individuals of the feather¬
ed race which feem to labour under ficknefs or infirmi¬
ty. In our northern latitudes they are indeed frequent¬
ly fubjedted to the preffure of cold and hunger ; but
the debility and other fymptoms attendant on thefe ex¬
ternal accidents, hardly deferve to be noticed in a nofo-
logical point of view. Seclufion from the open air, and
a total change of habits, induced by confinement and
domeftication, are ufually accompanied by appropriate
diforders, fuch as the pip, or fwelling on the extremity
of the tongue, a foftening of the bill, a gradual decay
of the feet, eonvulfions, and general pining. The
moulting procefs, from which none of the fpecies are
exempted, may alfo be regarded, in fome meafure, as a
difeafed ftate of the animal. All birds moult, or caff
their feathers once, and fome twice, in the courfe of a
year. This change takes place in autumn, or in the
feafon which coirefponds to it in different climates, and
4*
Difeates.
O L O G Y.
uniformly after the breeding feafon. Thofe which Introduc.
moult twice a year, alfo change their feathers in fpring. tion-
Moll of the young males, which bear originally the ’ "
plumage of the mother, affume, at their firll moulting,
the colouring which they afterwards retain ; but fome
fpecies do not put on their charafteriftic garb till the
fend of the fecond, or even of the third year. Among
thofe which moult twice a-year, both males and females
change their plumage j but the latter retain the fame
markings, while the former exhibit a more gaudy co¬
vering in the feafon which precedes their pairing, and a
more fober one, often fimilar to that of the female, af¬
ter the period of breeding. In moll cafes, the feathers
fall oft in gradual fucceffion ; but in fome fpecies nearly
the whole plumage comes off at once, and is fpeedily
replaced. This periodical affeflion is always attended
with more or lefs languor and depreffion. ^
For the anatomy of birds, we beg leave to refer to Anatomy,
the article Comparative Anato'MT; and ffiall clofe this
introduction by a brief explanation of fome of the moft 4g
important technical terms in ornithology, employed by Technical
Pennant and Linnaeus. terms.
Fig. i. Cere (Cera, Lin.),—the naked {kin which ctxxciL
covers the bafe of the bill in the hawk kind. fig.,, ’
2. Capiftrum,—a word ufed by Linnaeus to exprefs
the {liort feathers on the forehead juft above the bill.
In fome birds, thefe feathers fall forward over the no-
ftrils : they quite cover thofe of the crotv.
3. Lore {Lorum, Lin.),—the fpace between the bill
and the eye, generally covered with feathers 5 but, in
fome birds, as in the black and white grebe, naked.
4. Orbits (Orbita, Lin.),—the Ikin that furrounds
the eye, which is generally bare, particularly in the he¬
ron and parrot.
5. Emarginated (Emarginatum),—faid of a bill which
has a fmall notch near the end, as that of the butcher
bird, thrufti, &c.
6. Vibrijfx peBinatce,—ftiff hairs which grow on each
fide of the mouth, formed like a double comb, as in the
goatfucker, flycatcher, &.c.
7. A/ula fpuria, Spurious or bnjlard wing,— a fmall
joint riling at the end of the middle part of the wing,
or the cubitus, on which there are three or five fea¬
thers.
8. 1'eel rices primer, Lejfer wing-coverts,—the fmall
feathers which lie in feveral rows on the bones of the
wings. The under coverts are thofe that line the in¬
fide of the wings.
9. Te Brices fe cun dec. Greater coverts,—the feathers
which lie immediately over the quill-feathers and the
fecondaries.
1 o. Primores, ^jii/l-feathers or Primaries,—the lar-
geft feathers of the wings, or thofe that rife from the
firft bone.
11. Secundarice, Secondary feathers or Secondaries,—
thofe that rife from the fecond bone.
12. Tail-coverts (Uropygiumf—thofe which cover
the bafe of the tail on the upper fide.
13. Vent-feathers (Criffum'),—thofe which lie from
the vent to the tail underneath.
14. ReBrices, Tail-feathers.
15. Scapulares, or Scapular feathers,—thofe which
take their rife from the {boulders, and cover the lides
of the back.
16. 2V«ivfo,—the hind part of the head.
IT
Introduc¬
tion.
O R N I T H
I <7. Subulatum, tubulated or aw/-Jhaped,—applied to
a bill that is ftraight and flender, in the form of an awl.
18. Pcs ambutatorius,—all the toes divided to the
bottom.
19. Pes grejjbrius,—the outer toe more or lefs united
to the middle one, particularly confpicuous in the feet
of the king’s fiiher.
20. Pes fcanforius,—formed for climbing, like the
foot of the woodpecker.
21. Pes lobatus,—finned, or lobed, like thofe of the
grebes.
22. Pes pinnatus,—pinnated, or fcolloped. The webs
indented in the fides, as in coots and fandpipers.
23. Pes tridaEhjlus, ox curforius,—wanting the back
toe.
24. Pes didaBylus,—compofed of only two toes, as
in the oflrich.
25. Pes femi-palmatus, Semi-palmated,—when the
tvebs reach only half the length of the toes.
26. Ungue pq/Hco fejjili,—when the hind claw ad¬
heres to the leg without any toe, as in the petrels.
27. Digitis quatuor omnibus palmatis,—all the four
toes conne£led by webs, as in the corvorant.
Rojlrum cultratum,—when the edges of the bill are
very (harp, as in that of the crow.
28. Unguiculatum,—faid of a bill furnifhed with a
nail at the end, as thofe of ducks and goofanders.
O L O G Y. 475
29. Lingua ciliata,—a tongue edged with fine briftles, Introduc-
like that of the duck. t‘8U'
30. Integra,—plain, or even.
31. Lumbriciformis,—when the tongue is long,
round, and flender, like a worm, as that of the wood¬
pecker.
Pedes compedes,—when the legs are placed fo far be¬
hind as to make the bird walk with difficulty, or as if
in fetters, of which we have examples in the auks,
grebes, and divers.
32. Nares lineares,—when the noftrils are very nar¬
row, as in fea gulls.
33. Emarginata,—with a rim round the noftrils, as
in the flare.
Iris, is that part which furrounds the pupil of the
eye.
Mandibles, denote the upper and under parts of the
bill.
Compreffed,—vertically flattened at the fides.
Deprejfed,—horizontally flattened.
Caruncula,—a ftefhy excrefcenee on the head.
Hypochondria,—the hinder fides of the breaft and ab¬
domen.
Ocellated,—with roundifh concentric fpots, of differ¬
ent colours.
Phalanges,—articulations of the toes.
4ft
SYSTEMATIC EXPOSITION OF THE CLASS.
Orders. ACCORDING to the Linnaean method, the clafs of
Aves, or Birds, is diftributed into fix Orders, denomi¬
nated Accipitrcs, Piece, Anferes, Grallce, Gallince, and
Pajferes.
Aeon- Order I. ACCIPITRES.
TKES.
This natural order includes birds of prey, that have
the bill fomewhat hooked downwards, the upper man¬
dible dilated near the point, or armed with a tooth, the
noftrils wide, the feet ffiort and ftrong, with four toes,
three of which are placed forwards, and one behind j
toes warty under the joints } claws hooked and fharp-
pointed. They live on other animals alive or dead, and
are themfelves not eatable. I hey are monogamous, or
live in pairs. The females are larger and more beauti¬
ful than the males, and generally lay about four eggs.
This order includes vultur, falco, Jlrix, and lanius.
51 r
Vulture. Gen. I. Vultur, Vulture.
S*
Chandlers, bju ftraight, hooked at the point 5 head bare of feathers.
Birds of this genus are diftinguiffied from eagles and
hawks, by being gregarious, by the comparative heavi-
nefs of their flight, and by their living on carrion. The
females, too, are hardly larger than the males. Unlefs
preffed by hunger, they feldom attack living animals ;
they fly flowly, unlefs when very high in the air, and
have an exquifite fenfe of fmell. The tongue is large
and flefliy; the legs and feet are ftrong, and moftly co¬
vered with feales ; and the wings are lined, on the in-
53 fide, with down.
Cryfrut. Condor, condur, or cuntur.—Very large, with a ca¬
runcle on the crown of the head, the whole of its length j
the throat naked. Quills of the wings two feet and a
half long, and an inch and a half thick 4 body black,
back white •, neck ruffed with long white feathers *,
throat red head brown, and woolly j eyes black, irides
chefnut 5 bill black, but tipt with white ; feet black 5
claws ftraightifh •, tail fmall.—The female differs from
the male, in having a tuft on the neck, in its brown co¬
lour, and in having no ruff. Brilfon, however, has pro¬
perly remarked, that the plumage of this fpecies varies
in colour, a circumftance which will, in fome meafure,
account for the difeordant deferiptions of different au¬
thors. At the fame time, we muft regret, that the hi-
ftory of this enormous bird is fo imperfeftly known. Its
extent of wing is varioufly ftated, from nine to eighteen
feet 5 and, while Frefier aferibes to it fufficient ftrength
to carry off ffieep, and boys of ten years old, Marco
Paolo fturdily affirms, that it can lift an elephant from
the ground high enough to kill it by the fall. Though
very rare, Buffon fufpefls that it is not confined to
South America, and that it does not effentially differ
from the roc of the eaftern nations, fo famous in the A-
rabian tales \ nor from the laemmer geyer of the Ger¬
man Alps. A preferved fpecimen in the Leverian M-
feum meafured ten feet, from the tip of one wing to that
of the other. It is deferibed and figured in the fecond
fupplement to Latham’s Synopfis. In Chili, the con¬
dors make their nefts among the moft inacceffible rocks,
and lay two white eggs bigger than thofe of a turkey.
They feed on dead carcafes,and fometimes prey on ffieep,
goats, or even young calves, when they ftray far from
their dams, falling on them in flocks, plucking out their
eyes, and tearing them in pieces. The country people
3 O 2
47 6
ORNITHOLOGY.
Papa.
54
Aura.
55
Accipitres. ufe every means to deftroy fuch formidable invaders of
11 v-—- their property, and feem to have fucceeded in expelling
them from the populous diftriits of both continents.
King vulture, or king of the vultures.—Caruncles on
the noitrils j crown of the head and neck bare of fea¬
thers. The extreme length of the body does not ex¬
ceed two feet three inches, and it is not thicker than
the hen turkey. Its wings are Ihort in proportion to
the other vultures. The bill is thick and fhort, and be¬
gins its curvature only at the point; in fome individuals
it is entirely red, in others only red at the extremity,
and black in the middle. In the cere, which is broad
and orange-coloured, are placed the noftrils ; and be¬
tween them the fkin projedts like a loofe jagged comb,
falling indifferently on either fide, according as the bird
moves its head. Under the naked part of the neck is a
collar, or ruff, compofed of pretty long foft feathers of
a deep afh colour, and fo broad, that when the bird
contradls itfelf, it can conceal the neck and part of the
head like a cowl, whence fome naturalifts have given it
the name of monk. The feathers on the breaft, belly,
thighs, legs, and the under furface of the tail, are
while, flightly tinged with yellow ; thofe of the rump
and upper furface of the tail, are black in fome indivi¬
duals, and white in others. The other feathers of the
tail are always black, and fo are the great feathers of
the wings, which are commonly edged with grey. The
king of the vultures is a native of South America and
the Weft Indies, and lives on carrion, rats, lizards,
fnakes, and excrements of all kinds, from which circum-
ftance it has a moft offenfive odour.
Carrion vulture, or iurkeij buzzard (carrion crow of
Jamaica).—Body gray brown’, quill feathers black j bill
white the fides of the head warted ; legs flefti-coloured.
—Common in the W. Indies, and in N. and S. America.
Somewhat larger than the black eagle. Is protefted in
America for its ufe in devouring dead carcafes and fer-
pents, which it does, along with dogs, in the greateft
harmony. It will feize meat from the ftiambles, breathes
a moft fetid odour, and, "when taken, vomits up an in¬
tolerably ftinking matter. Roofts by night, in flocks,
on the higheft branches of trees. They are generally
very tame in their wild ftate, probably owing to their
being more carefled than molefted by man.
White, ajb-coloured, or Angola vulture.—Body fnowy j
quill and tail feathers black •, collar white ; head and
lower part of the neck covered with white down •, middle
toe covered with 11 diftin£l fcales ; claws black. About
the fize of a female turkey. The female exceeds the
male in fize, and differs chiefly in being lefs tinged with
reddifti. The young have the whole of the naked parts
about the head covered with a grayilh down.—This fpe-
cies is ufually feen in pairs, and not in large flocks, like
many of the genus •, or, if lo or 12 alight on one car-
cafe, they are accidentally allured by the fmell, which
afts on their delicate organs at inconceivable diftances.
They feed on all manner of carrion, and on lizards,
fnakes, frogs, and even excrements. They build among
the rocks, and lay four eggs. In fome parts of Africa
they are very common, and in others more rare. The
natives tame and refpeft them, as they contribute to rid
their grounds of nuifances. They likewife occur in
Norway and Sardinia. Mr Latham fuppofes that this
fpecies is the vautour de Norvege of Buffon ; the /acre
d'Egijpte of the fame author, perhaps the Angola vul-
S6
l.encoce-
pkalus.
hire of Pennant, and the rachamah of Bruce. “ When, Accipitres.
however, (adds this celebrated ornithologift), the divi-v—^
fion of the vulture genus into real fpecies may take
place, is not for us to determine ; the variety among in¬
dividuals, from different periods of life, as well as the
different appearances of thofe in a ftate of confinement,
to what the plumage has, when at large, cannot fail to
create no fmall difficulty 5 added to that, very few tra¬
vellers are naturalifts in a fufficient degree to difcrimi-
nate one part of nature from another ; befides, the fub-
jefts in queftion being moftly extra European, we can¬
not wonder at being fo long in the dark.”
Aquiline or Alpine vulture.—The male of this fpecies Percnopte.
is almoft wholly white} quill feathers black, with hoary rus.
edges, except the two outermoft, which are wholly ;Plate
black. The female is all over brown, with the four^C^X^^‘
outer quills black. In both the bill is black j cere yel- S
low ; noftrils conftantly dripping moifture ; feet naked.
Inhabits Egypt, Paleitine, Syria, and Perfia. They
fly in large troops, and are extremely ufeful in deftroy-
ing mice, with which fome countries, of which they are
natives, are infefted, fuch as Paleftine. The fame fpe¬
cies, it is faid, inhabits the Swifs Alps, where they are
of an immenfe fize. Some have been meafured exceed¬
ing twelve feet from tip to tip of the wings.
58
Falco.
Gen. 2. Falco, Falcon.
Bill hooked, and furniffied with a cere at the bafe j
head covered with clofe-fet feathers 5 tongue bifid.
Though the birds of this genus are all carnivorous, charafter
they feldom feed on carrion, except when preffed by
hunger, which they can endure for a long time. They
have a very acute fight, and pounce down on their prey
with aftonifhing fwiftnefs and force. From their great
ftrength, they are capable of carrying birds nearly as
heavy as themfelves, to a great diftance, for provifion
to their young. Their middle toe is flightly connefted
with the outermoft.
A. Bill hooked only at the point, bearded at the bafe with
extended brijlles.
Snake-eater, or fecretary vulture.—Body black 5 hind- Serpentari
head crefted ; tail feathers white at the tips, the two a/,
middle ones longeft *, legs very long. Bill black, cere
white ; orbits orange, and naked ; irides pale cinereous;
tail rounded 5 legs browniffi j claws ffiort, black, hook¬
ed, not very ffiarp ; creft capable of being ere&ed or
depreffed.—In feizing its prey, this bird makes ufe of
its wings, with which it inflidls violent blows by means
of a bony protuberance at the bend of the wing. It is
alfo by its wings that it defends itfelf againft the bites of
venomous fnakes, until the latter, tired with their ef¬
forts, or nearly bruifed to death, are eafily difpatched.
This fpecies likewife preys on turtles, lizards, and even
graffioppers and other infedfls. When in a domefticated
ftate fcarcely any kind of food comes amifs to it 5 and,
if young birds are prefented to it, it will take them by
the bill foremoft, and fwallow them whole. One of
thofe which Le Vaillant killed, had 21 young turtles,
11 fmall lizards, and three fnakes, in his ftomach. Like
other birds of prey, it is obferved to bring up the undi-
gefted parts of its food, in the form of round pellets.
In pairing time, two males will often be found engaged
in a violent conteft for a female. The fecretary vulture
is
ORNITHOLOGY.
477
Accipitres. is three feet high, remarkable for the length of its legs,
’ and inhabits interior Africa and the Philippine iflands.
Thefe birds make a flat neft, like that of the eagle, full
three feet in diameter, lined with wool and feathers, in
fome high tuft of trees, and ufually concealed from ob-
fervation.
Crejled or Oronooko eagle.—Head crefled with long
feathers ; body beneatli variegated ; eyes with a nidti-
tant membrane. Under the crop, white feathers, which,
when the bird is irritated, fall to the ground. Eredls
the creft in the form of a coronet, is faid to be able to
cleave a man’s fkull at a ftroke. Inhabits Mexico, Bra¬
zil, and other parts of South America, and is as large
as a fheep.
Cinereous or white-tailed eagle : erne of the Scots.—
Cere and feet yellow ; tail feathers white, the middle
ones tipt with black •, head and neck pale cinereous;
irides and bill pale yellow ; noftrils, and the fpace be¬
tween the eyes, bluifh, with a few briflles •, body and
wings cinereous, mixed with brown •, tail white ; legs,
below the knees, downy, gloffy yellow ; claws black.
 Size of a turkey, feeds on birds and fifh. Inhabits
Europe, and frequently occurs in Scotland and the Ork¬
ney iflands.
B. Feet generally feathered, of a large frze.
Black eagle.—Cere yellow ; feet yellow, and fome-
what downy 5 body rufty black, with yellow flreaksy
bill horn colour, verging on blue } irides chefnut j exte-
CCCXCIII. rior part of the tail white, with blackifh fpots, tipt whit-
fig- 2- ifh ; legs dirty white ; toes yellow, claws black. Two
6l feet ten inches long. Inhabits Europe and America.
O/Jifragus. ^fpreiJ or fea eagle.—Cere and legs yellow;, feet
half covered with down ; body of a. rufty colour ; inner
vanes of the tail feathers white.—It is diftinguifhed by
the colour and figure of its nails, which are of a fliining
black, and form an entire femicircle ; by its legs, which
are naked below, and covered with fmall yellow feales;
and by the beard of feathers which hangs from the chin,
and which has occafioned its receiving the name of the
bearded eagle. It meafures, from the end of the bill to the
point of the nails, three feet and a half, and its wings ex¬
pand to between fix and feven feet. It loves to haunt the
lea fhore, and often frequents inland trafts, near lakes,
marfhes, or rivers that are flocked with fifh ; but,
though'it preys on the finny tribe, it alfo attacks game,
and, being large and ftrong, feizes and carries off geefe
and hares, and fometimes even lambs and kids. It
catches fifh even during the night, w'hen the noife of its
plunging into the water is heard at a great diftance. In
attempting to lay hold of overgrown fith, it is fometimes
dragged under water, being unable to difengage its ta*
Ions. It inhabits Europe and North America, and was
found by Captain Cook, in Botany ifiand. It is not un¬
common in Scotland and Ireland. “ From the aftoniih-
ing height (fays Mr Montagu), thefe and fome other
birds fly, we are led to believe they are capable of liv¬
ing in a much lighter air than other animals. From the
top of fome of the higheft mountains in Scotland we
have feen feveral foaring together at fo great a diltance
as to appear fcarcely larger than a fwallow.”—The fe¬
male fea eagle feldom lays more than two eggs, and
fig fometimes produces only a fingle young one.
Mrvjcttos. Golden eagle.—Cere yellow ; feet downy, and rufty-
coloured; body dark brown, irregularly barred > tail
5
6i
Harpeyia.
62
Jlbidlla.
63
Melanx-
tos.
Plate
black, and covered with afh-coloured bars. It greatly Acnpitres.
refembles the preceding, but is diftinguifhed from it ' 1 " ^
chiefly by its legs, which are yellow, ftiort, ftrong, and
covered with feathers to the feet. The general length
of this fpecies is about three feet and a half; the breadth
eight feet; and it ufually weighs about twelve pounds.
It breeds in the moft inaccelhble rocks, and lays three
or four w-hite eggs. It inhabits Europe and Siberia,
and is faid to be not unfrequent in the mountainous parts
of Scotland, Ireland, and Wales, though it has been fre¬
quently confounded with the fea eagle. It feeds on
lambs, kids, and all kinds of game, and has been known
to carry off infants to its neft. It is remarkable for its
longevity and abftinence from food ; fome having been
kept in menageries for upwards of a century; and Pen¬
nant records an inftance of one which lived twenty-one
days without any fuftenance whatever. It Hies high,
during ferene weather, and defeends nearer the earth
in ftorms. qq
Ring-tailed, white-tailed, black, or common eagle.— Tul'uvs.
Cere yellow ; feet downy, and of a rufty browm colour ;
back brown ; tail with a white tranfverfe band. In the
bill, cere, irides, and legs, it refembles the preceding,
to which it is alfo nearly equal in fize ; but the plu¬
mage is rather darker, and the tail is white for two-
thirds of its length. It inhabits Europe, Alia, and A-
merica ; and is trained by the Tartars to hunt hares, an¬
telopes, and foxes. In Scotland, it is very deftruffive to
deer, which it will feize between the horns; and, by
inceffantly beating it with its wings, foon makes a prey
of the haraffed animal. It likewife makes great havock
among the white hares and ptarmigans. It builds in
high precipices and cliffs; and the neft of a pair has
been obferved in the fame fpot, in the Orkney iflands,
beyond the memory of man. Willoughby deferibes a
neft of this fpecies found in the Peak of Derbyfhire, as
compofed of large flicks, lined with two layers of rufhes,
between which was one of heath. It contained one
young, and an addle egg, and by them a lamb, a hare,
and three heath pouts.—There is a variety, with a white
tail, tipt with brown. <sy
White eagle.—Entirely white. Inhabits the Alps; of Alius.
the fize of the golden eagle. ,53
Fierce eagle.—Cere green ; body brown above; back, Yerox.
belly, and tail coverts fnowy, variegated with chefnut
fpots ; tail feathers equal, brown, with four paler bands;
bill leaden black ; eyelids blue ; irides yellow ; head
and neck ferruginous, mixed rvith whitifh ; quill feathers
twenty-fix, black above, white beneath* tipt with gray ;
tail feathers twelve, white beneath; claws fharp ; up¬
wards of two feet long ; very rapacious ; inhabits Ruftia,
was found frequent near Aftracan in the winter of
1769 ; will not touch dead animls.
Kite. Cere yellow ; tail forked ; body browm; head Milvus.
whitifh or grey ; back and wing coverts dufky, edged
with ferruginous, the under parts more or lefs ferrugi¬
nous, ftreaked with dulky, and lighteft on the breaft ;
quill feathers dufky black, wit h bars more or lefs-obfcure;
tail bright ferruginous; legs yellow ; claws black. But
there are feveral varieties. The female is fomewhat
larger than the male, meafuringin length two feet four
inches, and five feet fix inches of outftrttehed wing.
It is readily diftinguifhed from its congeners by the re¬
markable forking of its tail, and by its fmooth and even
flight, which refcmbles a failing or gliding through tha
478 ■ ORNITHOLOGY.
Acciptrei. aJr> without any apparent motion of its wings. It fre-
' quently, however, foars very high, and, though beyond
the reach of human vifion, will diftin&ly perceive its
prey, and dart down on it with irrefiftible force. Its
attacks are confined to fuch animals as are found on the
ground, luch as young rabbits, hares, game of all kinds,
poultry, and young birds incapable of flying. It will
alfo dcftroy young lambs, and feed greedily on carrion j
but, in default of thefe, will readily devour mice, rats,
worms, and even fnakes.—The kite occurs a§ far north as
Greenland, and as far fouth as Guinea and Senegal. It is
common in England, where it continues the whole year j
but from the more northerly latitudes, it retires to E-
gypt before winter, and is faid to breed there, and re¬
turns in April to Europe, where it breed a feeond time,
contrary to the nature of rapacious birds in general.
The neft is compofed of Hicks, and lined with wool, the
inner bark of a tree, hair, and other foft materials, and
is ufually made in the fork of fome large tree. The
eggs are generally three, rarely four, fomewhat larger
than thofe of a hen, of a dirty white, with a few rufly
fpots at the larger end.
Haliattos. Bald-bu%'zard, ofprey, fifhing hawk, &c.—Cere and
feet blue \ body brownifli above, white below 5 head
whitifli ; a brown bar defcends from each eye by the
fides of the neck to the wings ; legs naked, fhort,
ftrong; claws remarkable long, hooked, and black.
Inhabits Europe, Siberia, and America, frequenting
marfliy places, and the neighbourhood of large rivers
and lakes, pouncing on filh with great rapidity and dex¬
terity, and carrying them off in its talons to a fmall di-
ftance to feed on them. It builds its nefl: on the ground
among reeds, and lays three or four eggs of an elliptical
form, rather lefs than thofe of a hen. Mr Montagu
found the neft of this bird on the top of a chimney of a
ruin in one of the iflands of Loch Lomond. The iffual
length of the bald buzzard is two feet, and its extent of
wing five. The fpecies is now rarely met with in Eng¬
land, but may be frequently feen near the lake of Kil-
larney in Ireland. There are feveral varieties, among
which may be included thofe of Carolina and Cayenne.
Some of the ancient writers, and even Linnaeus, have
very erroneoully alleged, that the left, foot of the bald-
buzzard is fubpalmated.
7*
Buteo. C. Legs naked, of a fmaller f%e.
Bwzxard, or Buttock.—cere and feet yellow ; body
brown ; belly pale, with brown fpots. Scarcely any
twro individuals of this well-known fpecies are precifely
alike. The ordinary length of the body is twenty
inches, and the extent of wing four feet and a half. The
buzzard is one of our moft common fpecies of falcon.
It is remarkable for its fluggilh, inadlive difpofition, fel-
dom remaining long on wing, except in the breeding fea-
fon, when it afeends fpirally to a great height. It makes
its neft in the fork of a tree, of large flicks, and lines
it with wool, hair, and other fubftances, and fometimes
takes poffeffion of a deferted crow’s neft, which it ac¬
commodates to its purpofes. The eggs are two or three,
rather larger than a hen’s, of a dirty white, and, for the
moft part, with ruft-coloured fpots at the larger end.
It feeds and tends its young with great affiduity \ and
Ray affirms, that, if the female be killed, the male takes
charge of them, and patiently rears them till they are
able to provide for themfelves. This bird will con¬
tinue for many hours perched on a tree or eminence, Acdpitres
whence it darts on fuch birds, fmall quadrupeds, rep-' v—^
tiles, or infedts, as come within its reach. -j
Honey hux-zacd.—Cere black , feet half naked, and dpivorus,
yellow j head a(h coloured j tail with cinereous bands,
and tipt with white ; of nearly the fame fize as the pre¬
ceding, and, like it, fubjedl to confiderable varieties in
its markings. Its neft, in refpedt of form and materials,
is fimilar to that of the buzzard, and it fometimes oc¬
cupies that of other birds. Its eggs are of an afti-co-
lour, with fmall brown fpots. Mr White of Selborne
found only one egg in the neft, fmaller, and not fo
round as that of the buzzard. The name feems to
have been given it from its feeding on the larvae of wafpsj
but it is alfo fond of various other infe&s and of field
mice, frogs, and lizards. It occurs in all the northern
parts of Europe, and in the open trafts of Ruflia and
Siberia, but is far from common in England. Buffon
obferves, that it is frequently caught in the winter, when
it is fat and delicious eating.
]\tloor buzzard, duck hawk, or white-headed harpy.——JE.rvginQ*
Cere green ; body brownith ; crown of the head, throat/"-
axillae, and feet, yellow. I he colouring, however, is
fubjeft to confiderable variety. Length twenty-one
inches ; weight twenty ounces. Preys on rabbits, young
wild ducks, and other water fowl; and likewife feeds
on fifh, frogs, reptiles, and even inle^fs j making its
haunts in hedges and bullies near pools, marflies, and
rivers. 'I he neft is moft frequently made on the ground,
among ffiort wood, furze, or fern, and fometimes, though
rarely, in the fork of a tree. It is compofed of flicks and
rulhes, or coarfe grafs. The moor buzzard is not a
bird of rapid flight, but pounces its prey on the ground,
and is generally feen Ikimming over the furface; but, in
the breeding feafon, the male will fometimes foar to a
confiderable height, and remain fufpended on wing for
a great length of time. Inhabits Europe.
Gojhawk.—Cere black ; feet yellow; body brown ;
tail feathers barred with pale bands, a white line o\erritis.
the eye; bill blue, black at the tip ; irides yellow j
head brown ; body beneath white, waved with black;
tail long, cinereous, and white at the tip; claws black.
The wing, when clofed, does not reach near the end
of the tail j of an elegant flender fliape, twenty-two
inches long. Inhabits Europe, Tartary, and America j
is rarely found in England, but is not uncommon in the
more woody diftridls of Scotland, where it breeds, and
is a great deftroyer of game. It feeds on fmall birds
and mice, and eagerly devours raw fleffi It tears birds
to pieces before it eats them, but fwallows the pieces en¬
tire, and frequently difgorges the hair and feathers, rolled
up in fmall pellets. T his fpecies was formerly much
prized in the fports of falconry, being ufed not only for
partridge and pheafant, but alfo larger fowl, as geefe and
cranes, and fometimes for rabbits.
Genti/falcon.—Cere and feet yellow ; body afh-co- Gentilis.
loured, with brown fpots j tail w ith four blackilh bands j
fomewhat larger than the preceding, though fome or-
nithologifts reckon it only a variety. It inhabits the
Alps of Europe and North America. “ In the days
of falconry,” obferves the author of Elements of Natu¬
ral Hiftory, “ this fpecies w-as in high efteem as a bold
and fpirited bird. It inhabits the north of Scotland.
The king’s falconer w^as anciently obliged to fupply the
court with hawks j and to this day the office is kept up
in
Accipitres,
76
Pcregnnus.
77
Verficolor.
73
Crifeus.
79
Candicant.
to
Cachinnans,
Si
Lunariut.
82
Vyaneus.
in Scotland ; a neft of young birds being annually pre-
fented by th’e falconer to the barons of exchequer, who
generally give them away in prefents.”
Peregrine falcon. — Cere and feet yellow •, body alh-
coloured above with brownifh bands, reddifli white be¬
neath, with blackifh bands ; tail fpotted with white.
Weighs between two and three pounds, is a bold and
powerful bird, and inhabits Europe, and the north*of
Alia and America. It is not uncommon on moft of our
rocky coafls, ufually frequenting fuch high cliffs as the
guillemot and razorbill refort to for breeding. One
that eloped from its maffer in the county of Forfar, on
the 24th September 1772, vvith four heavy bells on its
feet, was killed on the morning of the 26th of the fame
month, at Moftyn in Flintfhire. 1
Spotted falcon.—Cere yellow *, head and body above,
white, with pale reddilh ipots, white beneath \ bread: a
little fpotted with ferruginous. Size of the buzzard.
Inhabits England ; but its hiftory is little known.
Gray falcon.—Cere and legs yellow *, body dulky
gray above, white with oblong black fpots beneath ;
tail feathers long, the two middle ones uniform, the reft
fpotted. Bill blueifh j irides red ; head dulky brown
before, white behind-, fides and chin buff-, quill-feathers
fpotted with white. Inhabits England; but is very
rare, and by fome efteemed only a variety.
Jer falcon, gyr falcon, Iceland falcon, ’whitejer falcon,
&c.—Cere and feet of a greenilh afh-colour; body white,
fpotted with brown. Bill blueilh-aih, black at the tip-,
claws lead colour. Larger than the golhawk, and fubjeft
to variety, from age, fex, and climate, fome in the nor¬
thern latitudes being found quite white, others brown
above, white beneath, fpotted with brown, and the tail
gray, with tranfverfe brown lines. Inhabits Iceland and
the north of Scotland, is a very bold bird, and in the
days of falconry, was ufed for the larger fpecies of game,
as cranes and herons.
Laughing falcon.—Cere and legs yellow ; eyebrows
white \ body varied with brown and whitifh; crown
white, with a black ring. Back, wings, and rump
brown 5 neck, chin, breaft, belly, and under parts
of the wings white ; tail with yellow and black bands.
Inhabits South America, and is faid to laugh, when
looked at.
Lanner.—Cere dull yellow -, bill and feet blue; body
marked with black longitudinal fpots underneath. A
white ftripe over each eye-, breaft yellowifh white, with
brown fpots-, legs {hurt; primary quill-feathers and tail
dulky, with rufty oval fpots: but there are two or three
varieties. Rather lefs than the buzzard, has its name
from tearing its prey into fmall pieces with its bill.
The lanner is very bold, and was formerly ufed in fal¬
conry. It is found in many parts of Europe ; inhabits
Iceland and the Ferroe illes, Denmark, Sweden, and
the Tartarian deferts. It is rare in England, but is faid
to breed in Ireland, and among the low trees and fhrubs
in the deferts about Aftracan.
Hen-harrier.—Cere white ; legs tawny, body hoary
blue ; edges of the eye-lids yellow, with an arched line
furrounding the throat ; bill black ; irides yellow j
hind part of the head white, with pale brown fpots 5
breaft and belly white, the former (freaked with dufky;
two middle tail-feathers gray on both fides, the reft gray
above, white beneath, and all (freaked with dufky.
Thefe characters, however, are far from conftant.
ORNITHOLOGY. 479
ft his fpecies, in its moft perfect (fate, weighs about Accipitres.
thirteen ounces, and is eighteen inches and a half in
length. It feeds on birds, lizards, and other reptiles,
and is particularly deftruftive to poultry. It flies low,
fkimming along the furface in queft of prey. The
female neftles on the ground, and lays four eggs of a
reddifli colour, with a few w-hite fpots. Inhabits Europe
and Africa. Wallis, in his Natural Hiftory of Northum¬
berland, remarks, that it breeds annually on the Cheviot
hills, and on the (liady precipices under the Roman wall,
near Craglake. Dr Latham and other eminent ornitho-
logifts have fuppofed that this and the following are
male and female -, but the repeated inftances of hen-har¬
riers of both fexes having been feen, leave it beyond all
doubt that they conftitute two diftindt fpecies.
Ring-tail, ring-tail lurwh, whiitc-rumped bay falcon, Pygar gut.
&c.— Cere and legs yellow; body cinereous; belly
pale, with oblong rufous fpots ; orbits of the eyes white.
Bill pale ; irides yellow ; tail longifh, banded with
dufky, and dotted with white, the male marked with
tranfverfe, and the female with longitudinal, fpots
beneath. Length 18 or 20 inches. Inhabits Europe,
and the temperate parts of Siberia. Flies higher than
the preceding, and fometimes perches on trees. Its eggs
are white, much freckled with red. 84
Kejlril, kefral, Jlonegall, &c.—Cere and legs yel- Tmnuncu-
low ; back purplifti-red, with black fpots ; breaft with lus‘
brown ftreaks ; tail rounded. Crown of the head of a
fine cinereous gray ; greater quill-feathers black, very
(lightly tipped with whitifti. Bill lead colour, irides
dufky and large, ftffie male weighs about feven ounces,
and meafures 13 inches in length. The female is con-
fiderably larger, and diftinguifhed from the other fex by
the head and tail being of the fame colour as the back,
which is not fo bright a red brown as the male. Feeds
principally on mice, in fearch of which it is frequently
feen hovering in the air and ftationary for a great length
of time. Preys alfo on fmall birds and infefts, and wras
formerly ufed for catching game. Inhabits Europe,
Siberia, and the more temperate parts of North America.
One of our moft common birds of prey, efpecially among
the rocks and cliffs of the coaft, which favour its breed¬
ing. ft'he neft is of flicks, and lined with ivool and
other foft materials; but it fometimes builds on trees, or
is contented with the deferted neft of a magpie or crow.
The eggs are ufually four or five, of a dirty white, blot¬
ched with ruft colour, of various (hades.—It is a hand-
fome bird, whofe fight is acute, and whofe flight is eafy
and graceful. It includes two or three varieties. $5
Fifing falcon.—Legs brown ; head ferruginous, with Pifcator.
long feathers; body cinereous above, pale yellowifti
white beneath ; tail pale brown above, blueifh-afh be¬
neath. Bill and irides yellow ; margin of the upper fea¬
thers rufty brown, the under fpotted in the middle with
brown. Inhabits Senegal, where it is called tanas,
preying chiefly on fiih, which it takes out of the water,
and retires to a convenient place to eat them piecemeal. g,j
Sparrow-hawk.—Cere green ; feet yellow ; belly Nifus.
white, waved wfith grey ; tail with black bands. The
weight of the male of this fpecies is about five ounces,
that of the female nine : the former meafures in length
about 12 inches, the later 15. ft'he male is inclined
to ruft colour on the breaft, the female to whitifti. On
the back of the head, in both fexes, is an obfcure bro¬
ken patch of white. The quill feathers are dulky, bar¬
red
480
ORNITHOLOGY.
„ *7
Subbuteo,
Accipitres. red with black on the outer webs, and fpotted with
white at the bafe of the inner. The legs are long, dea¬
der, and yellow. In feme the back is fpotted with
white, and others have the body entirely of that colour.
The fparrow-hawk is very common in our wooded and
inclofed diftri&s, but is lefs frequent in the more chain
paign parts. The female fometimes builds her nett in
hollow trees, high rocks, or lofty ruins, but more fre¬
quently takes poiTeffion of that which has been deferted
by a crow, laying four or five eggs, of a dirty white or
blueith tinge, blotched at one of the ends with ruft co¬
lour. it is very widely diffufed over the world, from
Ruffia to the Cape of Good Hope. It is bold and fpi-
rited, making great deftruCcion among pigeons, young
poultry, and fmall birds of all kinds, which it will at¬
tack and carry off in the molt daring manner ; at the
fame time, that it is obedient and docile, and can be
eafily trained to hunt partridges, quails, larks, &c.
Hobby.—Cere and feet yellow ; back brown ; neck
white $ belly pale, with oblong brown fpots. Bill blue j
orbits yellow ; irides generally chefnut 5 lateral tail-fea¬
thers with blackilh bars j primary quill-feathers with
oval reddifh fpots; claws black. The male weighs
about feven ounces, and the female nine, or more. In¬
habits Europe and Siberia, breeds in Britain, but leaves
us the latter end of October. It builds in trees, and
fometimes takes poiTeflion of a deferted crow’s neft, lay¬
ing three or four eggs, which are faid to be white.
Though fmall, it is inferior to none of the falcon tribe
in courage, and will frequently pounce a partridge ; but
its favourite prey is the lark, which it terrifies to fuch a
degree, that it fometimes flies to man for protection, and
Avill allow a net to be thrown over it.
Merlin.—-Cere and feet yellow •, head nifty 5 body
above, of a blueifh afh, with fpots and rufty ftreaks j
beneath, yellowiih-white, with oblong fpots. Bill blue¬
ifh •, xrides dulky j tail alternately ftreaked with dufky
and reddith •, claws black yeggs brown red. There are
feveral varieties. The merlin is a fmall fpecies of fal¬
con, being fcarcely larger than the blackbird, but is
very rapid on wing, and was efteemed for its courage in
hawking. It flies low, and is generally feen Ikimming
along the fide of a hedge, or over the furface of the
ground, in purfuit of fmall birds. Inhabits Europe. 5
vifits the fouth of England in October, about the time
the hobby retires, but has never been obferved to breed
farther fouth than Cumberland, where it has been found
more than once, with four young ones, placed on the ground.
Minute fa/con.—Cart brown ; legs yellow ; body
white beneath j tail-feathers brown, banded with black.
About 11 inches long. Inhabits Malta ; and occurs,
though rarely, in England.
Tiny falcon.—Legs yellow j body brown-afh; beneath
whitifh, with blackifh bars; crown whitifh. Hardly
fix inches long. Inhabits Cayenne.
Strix! Gen. 3. Strix, Ovol.
Characters hooked ; no cere ; noftrils oblong, covered with
1 ‘ briftly recumbent feathers; head, eyes, and ears large;
tongue bifid.
Thefe are noCturnal birds, with the organs of vifion
fo conrtru&ed as to fee in the dark. Their fenfe of
hearing is very acute, by means of a particular mem¬
brane at the opening of the external ear. They can
jEfalon.
89
Mmutus,
90
Pumilus.
move the outermoft toe either backwards or forwards. Accipitrei,
They feed on carrion, living fmall birds, hares, mice, ““Y'-—'
field-mice, lizards, &c. When they venture abroad in
day light, they are chaced, and infulted by fmaller birds,
efpecially by the crow. In their maimer of life, round
head, &c. they have fume affinity to cats. During the
winter, they live retired, faffing, or fleeping in towers
and old Avails.
A. Eared.
Great owl, great eared owl, great horned ovol, &c.—- g^l(P
Body of a reddifh or tawney colour ; irides yellow ;
head and body variegated with black, brown, affi, and
rufty fpots and lines ; claAvs large, much hooked, and
duiky. Liable to confiderable varieties. Nearly the
fize of an eagle, and very ftrong, preying on hares, rab¬
bits, moles, rals, mice, and fometimes bats and reptiles.
It inhabits Europe, Calmuc Tartary, and South Ameri¬
ca, haunting mountainous rocks and caverns. Its neft
is nearly three feet in diameter, and composed of flicks
bound together by fibrous roots, and lined Avith leaves.
It generally lays tAvo eggs, fomewhat larger than thofe
of a hen, and variegated, like the bird itfelf. The
young are very voracious, and are plentifully fupplied
Avith food by the parents. This bird is by no means
common in Great Britain, though it has been occafion-
ally fhot both in England and Scotland. It endures
day light better than moft of the genus, flies low in
the day, but fometimes foars very high during the night.
Virginian eagle owl.—Size of the common eagle owl ; Virginiavo.
ear feathers large, rife above the bafe of the bill Avhich Plate
is black ; irides golden yellow ; upper part of the body CCXCIIL
broAvn, variegated Avith flender rufous and cinereous ^ 4-
lines ; under part pale-afh, tranfverfely ftripped Avith
broAvn ; throat Avhite ; lower part of the neck and fides
of the breaft orange broAvn, fpotted with darker brown ;
quills and tail banded Avith brown ; legs and half the
toes covered with cinereous feathers ; claAvs horn co¬
lour. Inhabits America, Kamtfchatka, and Aftracan.
Is a little fmaller than the great horned owl, and is fup-
pofed by fome to be only a variety.
Ceylonefe eagle owl.—Bill horn colour; irides yelloAV; Zeylonen-
upper part of the body pale reddifh brown, under partyfo-
yellowifh Avhite ; ears fliort, pointed ; firft quills and tail rf,pytr?TTT
barred with black, white, and pale red ; legs naked to ^ ^
the knees. Length 23 inches ; Aveight two pounds and
near 10 ounces. NatNe of Ceylon. ^
Long eared or horn owl.—Ears Avitb fix feathers. Ears Qtus.
black and yelloAv; irides yelloAv; back and Aving coverts
dufky brown, gray, and yellowifh-rufty; breaft and belly
pale yellow, with broAvn longitudinal lines ; tail barred
with afh-colour, and dufky ; legs and feet feathered to
the claws. About 14 inches long ; but there is a variety
that is much fmaller, and another which is diftinguiflied
by the greater darknefs of the body. Diffufed over the
four quarters of the globe, frequenting forefts and Avood-
ed trafts, and manifefting a partiality to fir, box, or
bolly plantations, Avhere it more readily conceals itfelf
by day among the eArer-green foliage. Its principal food
is mice, and fometimes fmall birds taken at rooft. It
remains Avith us the Avhole year, and is frequently taken;
yet little is knoAvn of its habits. 97
Short-eared owl, hawk owl, moufe hawk, &c.—Bracbyotus
Ears fliort; body above broAvn, feathers-edged with
yelloAv ; beneath pale yelloAv, Avith longitudinal dufky
ftreaks.
I
ORNITHOLOGY.
481
A.ecipitres-
?S
Scops.
99
Nyclca.
103
Nebulf/fi-
101
I'.anwicd.
ilreaks ; head fmall and hawk like j bill dufky ; irides
yellow. Length 14 inches, ftretch of wing three feet.
Inhabits Europe, Siberia, and America, chiefly in moun¬
tainous or wooded countries, and feeds principally on
field-mice. Vifits England in the latter part of the
year, and difappears in fpring. It flies by day, and is
fometimes obferved in companies. It is fuppofed to breed
in the Orkneys, and probably in Norway, making its
nett of dry grafs, on the ground, and laying three or
four white eggs.
Little horned ou'/.—Ears of one feather each. Gray,
rufous, brown or blackith, according to age-, legs fpot-
ted with brown ; toes and claws brown. Between feven
and eight inches long. Inhabits Europe, and preys on
field mice.
B. Earlefs.
Snowy or great white owl.—Body whitifh, with a
few brown lunated fpots. Bill black, and almott hid
in the feathers -, irides yellow ; legs covered with white
feathers to the toes ; claws black. This fpecies is fome¬
times quite white, and fometimes varies with very nu¬
merous fpots. About two feet long ; flies abroad by day j
preys on herons, hares, mice, and fometimes carrion,
but is particularly fond of ptarmigans. Makes a howl¬
ing noife. Inhabits the northern parts of Europe and
America, particularly Sweden, Iceland, and Hudfon’s
Bay, and fometimes, though rarely, Pennfylvania.
Gray or barred owl.—Head, neck, breaft, back,
and wing-coverts brown,'(potted with white ; belly and
vent dirty white, ftrenked with brown -, tail with brown
and whitifh bands, tipt with whitifli. Weighs about
three pounds, is two feet long, and four in extent of
wing. Feeds on hares, mice, and cranes. Inhabits
Hudfon’s Bay and New York, and rarely occurs in
England.
IVlii/e or common owl.—Body pale yellow, with white
fpots } beneath whitith, with black fpots. Bill white ;
irides dufky ; tail feathers white within, with dulky
lines on the outfide ; 14 inches long, and weighs about
11 ounces. J?his fpecies is fo well known, that we need
not more minutely delcrioe it. It inhabits Europe,
America, and Northern Ana, and is by far the mod
common of Britifli owls, being diftinguitlied by various
provincial appellations, as barn owl, gillihowlet, howlet,
madge-howlet, church owl, hiflmg owl, lereech owl,
&c.° It is partial to the habitations of man, and is
rarely found m woods. Its ordinary haunts are barns,
churches, old houfes, and other uninhabited buildings,
in which it continues during the day, but which it leaves
in the evening, in queft of prey.. Its flight is accom¬
panied with loud and frightful cries, and its icpofe with
a blowing noife, like the flooring of a man 5 when
alarmed, it fnaps its bill with great force. It makes
fcarcely any neft, but depofits five or fix whitifli eggs in
the holes of walls. It feeds on mice, and fmall birds,
which it fwallows whole, and afterwards difebarges the
bones, feathers, and other indigeflible parts at its mouth,
in the form of fmall round cakes, which are called cttjl-
tngr, and fo me bufliejs of which are fo natimes found in
the hollows of decayed trees, near farm-boufes or villages,
in barns, out-houfes, Sic. When a pair have young
ones, fhev Tally out alternately in queil of food for
them, and generally return every five minutes, with a
live raoufe. " Dr Latham mentions, that he received a
Vol. XV. Part II.
fpecimen from Jamaica, which differed ill no refpctf Accipitre
from our common owl.—The white owl is very lufeep- ' '
tible of domeilication, when taken young. I03
Taw net/ or brown owl, common brown or ivy owl, Striditla.
black owl, howlet, wood owl, &c.—*-Body alh coloured,
the third flag-feather the longeft ; plumage marked above
with dulky fpots and" points ; breail aqd belly yellowilh,
mixed with white } beneath with dulky Breaks ; irides
dulky 5 tail with pale brown and black fpots and lines.
Fourteen inches long ; firetch of wing two feet eight
inches j weight of the female 19 ounces. Inhabits Eu¬
rope and Tartary. This is another very common fpecies.
It refides chiefly in woods and plantations of fir ; con¬
cealing itfelf in the tbickefi recefl.es ; fometimes it fettles ' x
on the ground, but if molefled, takes Ihelter in a neigh¬
bouring tree. It is rarely feen on wing by day, except
forced from its haunts, the light dazzling it to luch a
degree that boys hunt it down with flicks and Bones. It
breeds in the hollows of trees, and fometimes in barns,
where it is protected by the farmer, as it is an excellent
moufer. It lays two or three eggs of a roundilh form, .
and dull white colour. It is the only fpecies known to
hoot, befides which, it makes a difagreeable fereaming
noife. It is a great enemy to young pigeons, leverets,
young rats, &c. but chiefly fubfifts on mice.—“ We
have taken this bird,” fays Mr Montagu, “ in its ma¬
ture ftate, as well as young, and found no difficulty ift
either cafe of preferving them alive. They were never
obferved to drink ; and indeed for many months together
had no water offered them.”—The alula of Linnaeus is
now efleemed only a fmaller variety of the Jlridula. l03
Little owl.—With white fpots arranged in five rowsFojjerina.
on the flag-feathers ; bill whitifli brown ; irides pale
yellow ; head, back, and wing coverts pale brown, with
-white fpots ; breaft whitifh, variegated with rufty.
Scarcely larger than a blackbird, but varies confider-
ablv both in refpedt of fize and markings. Inhabits
Europe, North America, and the Weft Indies. Is very-
rare in England, though it has fometimes been found
in Yorkthire, Flintffiire, and the neighbourhood of Lon¬
don. It is faid to frequent ruined edifices in France,
and to build in chimneys, in Carniola : but it frequently
neftles in the holes of rocks and walls, and lays five or
fix eggs, fpotted with yellowiffi and white. It can fly¬
by day, and give chace to fwallows and other fmall birds
on wing, but mice are its principal food. 104
White-Fronted owl.—Body rufty brown, paler be-Albifrons.
neath ; forehead white -, quill feathers barred with black
and white. Only five inches long. Native of North
America.
■ ■ . 10S
Gen. 4. LaniUS, Shrike. Lanius.
xo(5
Bill nearly ftraight, with a dent on each nfandible, near Chara&ers.
the end, naked at the bale; tongue jagged at the
point. ■ v .
The birds of this genus form a connefting link be¬
tween the falcons and pies, and have been differently
claffed by different ornithologifts. Though compara¬
tively fmall, they are very courageous, will attack birds
much larger than themfelves, and are called butcher
birds, becaufe they frequently kill feveral, before they
begin to feed. They fix on their viftims with their
talons, fplit the Ikull with their bill, and then feed on
them at leifure
3?
Collared
ORNITHOLOG Y.
482
Accipitres. CollaredJhrike, canary biter, or Jifcal.—Tail wedged j
' body black, white beneath \ firft quill feathers white at
Cdlaris. t^ie bafe; bill and head blacki(h ; tail feathers, except
the four middle ones, white at the tips. Very common
‘ at the Cape of Good Hope, alfo found in Senegal, and
in the interior parts of Africa. Twelve inches long.
Feeds on beetles, gralhoppers, and other infefts, which
it not only catches with great dexterity •, but when it
cannot confume them all, will hick them on the pales
of farm yards, till it has occafion for them. It alfo
feizes on fparrows and canary birds, of which it devours
icS only the brains.
Excubitor. Cinereous Jhrike, great cinereous Jhrike, greater but¬
cher bird, mattagefs, night jar, &c.—Tail fomewhat
cuneiform, white on the edges •, back gray •, wings
black, with a white fpot ; bill black, with bridles at
the bafe j upper parts of the plumage of a pale blue afh,
the under parts white ; legs black. The female differs
chiefly in the under parts, which are of a dirty white,
marked with numerous femicircular brown lines. There
is a variety, with the body white, legs yellowiih, and
bill and claws blackifh •, and another with leffer wing
coverts and reddifli Ihoulders. Inhabits Europe and
North America. Is rather a fcarce bird in England,
but is faid to breed among fome of our mountainous fi-
tuations ; coming in May, and departing in September.
It makes a nefl of heath and mofs, lined with wool and
goflamer, and lays fix eggs, of a dull olive green, fpot-
ted with black at the larger end. According to Buf-
fon, it is common in France, where it continues all the
year ; it kills rats, mice, and fmall birds, affixing its
prey to a (harp thorn, and tearing it in pieces with its
bill it is alfo faid to imitate the notes of fome other
birds, by way of decoying them to their deftrudlion.
Mr Pennant obferves, that when kept in a cage, it flicks
j09 its food againfl the wires before it will eat it.
Collurio. Red-backed fhrike, lejjer butcher-bird, or jiufher.—
Tail fomewhat wedged; back hoary ; four innermoft
tail-feathers of one colour ; bill of a leaden hue. Irides
hazel ; head and lower part of the back of a light gray,
upper part of the back and wing-coverts of a bright
rufty red ; breaft, belly, and fides of a fine pale rofe, or
bloom colour ; a black ftreak paffes from the bill through
the eyes; legs black. Length about feven inches j
weight eight drams The female weighs two drams
more, and has all the upper parts of a ferruginous
brown. The manners of this fpecies are fimilar to thofe
of the laft. It kills fmall birds by piercing the ikull
with its bill, and infefts by transfixing them on the
thorn of the floe-bufli. It tears oft' the body of the
chaffer, and leaves the elytra, wings, and head behind.
It imitates the fong of many of the fparrow tribe, and
thus entices them within its reach. It chiefly haunts
inclofed moift fituations, makes its nefl in fome thick
hedge, cpmpofing it very Ikilfully of mofs and fibrous
roots put together with wool and lined with hair, and
lays five or fix eggs of a bluifli-white colour, with a
circle of brown near the broad end. It inhabits Europe
and Africa, vifits Britain in May, and departs to fome
■warmer climate in September. Among its varieties
Gmelin includes lanius rutilus of Latham, or woodchat,
1 to which is very rare in this country.
Tyrannus. Tyrant Jhrike.—Body cinereous, white beneath ;
crown of the head black, with a longitudinal tawney
ftreak. Eight inches long. There are feveral varie¬
ties, all natives of America and the Weft Indies, and Fke.
all of a fierce and audacious difpofition, fixing on the“v—^
backs of other predaceous birds, and making a continual
chattering noife, till they force them to retire.
Order II. PICAt. 111
Pica;.
The diftinguifhing marks of this order are, a bill Charade;*
fome what compreffcd, more or lefs crooked, and always
convex ; toes divided, and adapted either for climbing
{fcanforial) or, for flopping, {grefforial). Some feed
on infefts, worms, and the flefli and offal of other ani¬
mals, and fome. on the feeds and juices of plants. Du¬
ring the breeding feafon, they are monogamous, and
make their neffs on trees j and during incubation, the
female is often fed by the male. There are a few ge¬
nera, however, which do not exadtly correfpond with
thefe charafters.
Gen. c. Psittacus, Parrot. ^ II3
PsiTTA-
Bill hooked j upper mandible moveable, and, for thecus‘
moft part, covered with a cafe 5 noffrils rounded, and charaders
placed in the bafe of the bill; tongue flethy, obtufe,
entire ; feet fcanforial.
This very numerous genus, which contains upwards
of 140 fpecies, is peculiar to the warmer regions of both
worlds. The birds which belong to it, referable the
accipitres in the form of the bill, but in their manners
coincide with the other genera of this order. They feed
on the feeds and fruits of various plants ; are very do¬
cile, and by means of their obtufe tongue, may be
taught to imitate human fpeech. They climb eafily,
affifting themfelves with their bill. They affociate in
pairs, and attain to a great age. Some fpecies equal
the domeftic fowl in fize, while others are no larger
than a fparrow. In Europe, they fometimes 'lay eggs,
but feldom fit on them. In their native climates, the
male and female fit on them alternately.
A. Tail long, and wedge-Jlmped.
Red and blue maccaw.—Quill-feathers blue above,
rufous beneath, fcapulars varied with blue and green ;
cheek naked, wrinkled. Body fearlet; upper mandible
white, lower black ; temples white ; wing-coverts ge¬
nerally yellow ; tail long and red ; feathers blue at the
fides. Two feet feven inches in length, fize of a capon.
Inhabits Brafil, Guiana, and other regions of South
America, affefting moift palm woods, and living on the
fruit of the trees. When driven by hunger to feed on
the manchineel apple, its flefh is poifonous, though the
bird itfelf receives no injury. Makes its neft in decayed
trees, enlarging the hole, if neceffary, with its bill,
and lining the infide with feathers. The female lays
two eggs at a time, about the fize of thofe of a pigeon,
and fpotted like thofe of a partridge. Breeds twice a
year, the male and female fitting on the neft alternately,
and reciprocally nurfing and feeding the young birds.
The latter are tamed with great cafe, and may even be
taught to fpeak, but the old birds are clamorous and
unmanageable. Though the flefli is hard, black, and
unfavoury, it makes good foup, and furnifhes a great
part of the food of the inhabitants of Cayenne, as well
as other parts of South America. Like other parrots
it is fubjeift; to fits when kept tame. The ftrength of
ORNITHOLOGY.
Pic*.
116
Aracavga.
117
Tabuenfu-
118
Elegans.
119
Ptnnantii.
Gloriofus.
m
Ornatus.
122
Murinus.
”3
Cornutw.
r II4.
Eormofui
Its bill is fufficient to break a peach-ftone with great
; eafe.
Red and ye/low tnaccaw.—Pale fcarlet ; fcapulars
yellow, tipt with green; quill-feathers blue above, ru¬
fous beneath ; cheeks naked and wrinkled. Size of the
preceding. Inhabits Guiana, Brafil, and Jamaica.
Tabuan parrot.—Plead, neck, breaft, and belly, pur¬
ple ; back and wing-coverts green ; crown terminated
by a lunular blue mark ; firfl quill-feathers and greater
part of the tail blue. Length, 19 inches. A beautiful
fpecies, found at Tonga Taboo, and the other Friendly
iiles in the South feas. The green variety, with the
head, neck, breaft, and belly, fcarlet, occurs in New
South Wales.
Beautiful parrot.—Head, neck, and body, red be¬
neath, brown above ; interfeapulars pale blue, mixed
with red; tail greenilh-brown, tipt with white. Varies,
with the wings, tail, and body green above. From 12
to 15 inches long. Inhabits the Molucca iflands.
Pennantian parrot.—Scarlet ; fore part of the back
black, waved with fcarlet; fides and throat blue; quill-
feathers each with a white fpot. There is a variety
with a pale band in the middle of each wing. The fe¬
male has the upper parts of the neck and body greenifti,
top of the head red, and a patch of the fame colour un¬
der each eye ; chin and throat blue ; lower part of the
neck and breaft, as alfo the rump and vent, red; middle
of the belly dulkv green ; tail dark blue, fringed with
chefnut ; fhoulders blue, and the reft of the wing the
fame, but darker. Fifteen inches long. Inhabits New
South Wales.
Splendid parrot.—Bright blood-red ; back feathers
edged with black ; chin, wings, and tail blue. Sixteen
inches long. Inhabits New Holland.
Orange-billed parrot, or long parr aheet.—Of a yellow-
i(h green colour ; the hind part of the head, the throat,
and breaft red ; crown of the head and ears blue, with
afh-coloured orbits. Eight inches long. Inhabits In¬
dia. Like other fmall fpecies with long tails, is not
eafily taught to fpeak.
Gray-breajled parrakeet.—Olive ; face, chin, and
breaft moufe-colour, quill-feathers green. Bill and legs
gray; tail five inches long. About the fixe of a thrulh.
Tame and gentle, and eafily taught to articulate. Com¬
mon at Monte Video.
Horned parrot.—Green; head fcarlet, with two long
feathers Handing out like horns ; collar and rump ftraw-
colour ; outer edge of the quill and tail feathers blue.
Bill and legs black blue ; temples orange ; irides gol¬
den ; wing-coverts at the tips and within dulky ; tail
black beneath. Length it inches, fize of a fmall
dove. Inhabits New Caledonia. Figured in Latham’s
Synopfis.
Ground parrot, New Wales parrot, or black-fpotted
parrakeet of Van Diemen's Land. Green ; four middle
tail-feathers barred with green and black, the reft with
black and yellow ; bill and legs black; tail much
wedged. This is a moft elegant and beautiful fpecies,
about 12 inches long, inhabiting New South Wales,
and other parts of New Holland, where it is known by
the name of goolingnang. It is rarely feen, except on
the ground, particularly in moift places. It is not
known to perch on trees like other parrots, but rifes
from among the grafs, and immediately alights in it
483
Picse
again. The legs and toes are more fiender than ufual
in this genus, and the claws more ftraight. l#
Otaheite parrakeet.—Blue ; feathers of the head long; xaitU^nus
chin and throat white ; bill and legs red. Tongue
fringed at the end; only five inches long; inhabits
Otaheite, and feeds on the fruit of the banana.
B. Tails fhort, and even at the ends. ^
Bankfian cockatoo.—^Splendid black; creftfmall; headBankf.i.
and wing coverts dotted with buff; outer tail-feathers
fcarlet in the middle, barred and tipt with black. Near¬
ly three feet long, but varies both in fize and markings.
Inhabits New Holland, and was brought to England
by Sir Jofeph Banks. Figured in Latham’s firft Sup¬
plement. I2^
Great white cockatoo, or yellow-crejled cockatoo.— Crijlatust
White ; creft folding, and yellow. Bill, cere, irides,
legs and claws black ; orbits naked and white ; quill
and lateral tail feathers, from the bafe to the middle,
fulphureous on the infide ; feathers of the neck loofely
flowing ; creft five inches long, and eredtable. Length
1 8 inches; fize of a domeftic ordinary fowl. This, and
feveral other fpecies, frequently repeat the word cockatoo.
Inhabits the Molucca iflands. i2s
Afh-coloured or hoary parrot.—Bluilh-gray; temples Erytbacus.
naked and white ; tail fcarlet. Bill black; cere white;
irides yellowifh white ; legs cinereous ; claws black.
SubjeH to feveral varieties. About 20 inches long.
Loquacious, and eafily taught to fpeak. Inhabits Africa,
and is fometimes called Jaco from the found which it
commonly utters. ' l2^
Ceram or purple parrot, Ceram lory, &c.—Red ; or- Garrulus.
bits afh-coloured; cheeks and wings green; hinder parts
of the tail-feathers blue. There are three or four va¬
rieties. Size of a dove. Inhabits Ceram, and the other
Molucca iflands. 13®
Purple or blue-cap Arz/.—Red ; cap violet; wingsBomicella
green; flioulders and cheeks blue; orbits browm. There
is a variety with a blue cap, black orbits, and yellow
collar. According to fome writers, thefe are male and
female. They inhabit the Eaft Indies, and are remark¬
able for fpeaking diftindlly, and quickly learning their
leffon. They are in general fcarce, and fetch a high
Price; . I3i
Violet cap, or black-capped Ary.—-Purple; cap violet; Lory-
wings green; breaft, cheeks, and tail blue ; orbits pale
flefh-colour. Upwards of 10 inches long; inhabits the
Philippine ifles, particiflarly Yolo. It is fo familiar
and playful, that it is much to be regretted that its
duration of life proves fo fhort in thefe colder re¬
gions. _ tgt
Yellow-winged parrot, or yellow-headed creatine.—Ochro-
Green ; front and orbits whitifh ; crown, cheeks, chiw,Pterus'
throat, and remoter wing-coverts, yellow. Thirteen
inches long. Inhabits South America. A friend of
the count de Buffon had one of this fpecies alive, which
feemed much attached to its mafter, and yet of a very-
capricious temper, expecting a return for every demon-
ftration of civility. In its wantonnefs, it would fome¬
times bite a little too hard, and laugh heartily, as if
pleafed with the aft ; but if chaftifed for the offence, it
became the more refraftory, and could be reclaimed on¬
ly by gentle treatment. It took great delight in tear¬
ing every thing to pieces, was dull and fflent if confined
3 P 2 in
ORNITHOLOGY.
Picas.
133
Petfferinus.
'34
Cyanoly-
feos.
*15
Melanoce-
$halus.
136
Senegalus.
*51
Pullamis.
"in its cage ; but when at large, chattered almoft incef-
' fantiy, and repeated every thing that was faid to it. It
was alfo, contrary to the difpofition of many parrots,
very fond of children. During the moulting feafon, it
appeared dejefted and unealy for nearly three fucccifive
months. It was for the moft part fed on hemp feed,
nuts, fruits of all kinds, and bread foaked in wine, but
preferred meat, if it could get it. It was obferved, that
it it led on this lalt, it became dull and heavy, andfoon
loft its feathers. It was alfo remarked, that it kept its
food for fome time in its cheeks, whence it was gra¬
dually protruded by a fort of rumination.
Paffenne parrot, or blue and green parraheet.—Yel-
lowilh-green, with a blue fpot on the wings, which are
blue below. Bill, cere, orbits, legs and claws, orange ;
primary wing-coverts blue. Inhabits Brafil and Gui¬
ana, and is the fmalleft of the genus, being only four
inches in length, and of the fize of the houfe fparrow.
Blue-collared parrot.—Yellowilh-green, collar blue,
rump red. Larger than a pigeon. Inhabits Chili,
where it is called thecau, and where it often does much
injury to the corn, flying in great flocks. When the
troop fettles, one of them acts as fentinel on a tree, and
gives the alarm if any perfon approaches, from which
circumftance it is difficult to fhoot them. This fpecies
breeds in the holes of rocks, laying two white eggs in
the moft inacceflible and craggy parts. From the tops
of the cliff, the inhabitants let themfelves down by
ropes to take the eggs and young birds, which are
reckoned delicate eating. If robbed of its young, this
parrot will lay a fecond, and even a third, but rarely
a fourth time. It is eafily tamed, and learns to fpeak
well.
White-brea/ledparrot.—Green, yellow beneath, cap
black, breaft white, orbits flefh colour. Length nine
inches and a half. Inhabits Mexico, Guiana, and the
Caraccas in South America. Frequents woods, and
feldom approaches inhabited diftri&s. Its call is a ftirill
whiffle, which it often repeats in its flight, nor does it
learn to talk. “ Thefe birds, fays Dr Latham, fly in
fmall numbers together, but are perpetually quarrelling
with one another 5 and, if any one is taken, it refufes
all food, till at lait it is ftarved to death. Parrots of
the moft ftubborn nature are often fubdued by means of
the fmoke of tobacco ; but this bird is only put into bad
humour by the attempt. Whoever, therefore, would
have thefe parrots mult train them up young ; and this
would fcarce be worth while, were it not for the fake
of variety.” Buffon has obferved, that it is thicker
and( fhorter-necked than moft parrots, that its feathers
are more ftiffly fet on, and that it is of a more dull and
fluggifh difpofition.
Senegal parrot.— Green, yellow beneath, head cine¬
reous, orbits black and naked. Bill cinereous, cere
black:fh, irides yellow, legs reddilh-alh. Size of a
blackbird y length eight inches and a quarter. Plen¬
tiful in Senegal, where it flies in companies of five or
fix, and perches on the tops of the trees which are
fcattered in the fandy plains. Its cry is fharp and
diiTonant.
Ethiopian parrot, or red-headed Guinea parraheet.—
Green •, front red’, tail tawney, with a black band, or¬
bits cinereous. Size of a lark •, length five inches and
a hair. Very common in Guinea, and alfo occurs in
Ethiopia, the Eaft Indies, and the ifland of Java.
4
Sapphire parrot, or fapphirc-crowned parrahect.— Pic*-.
Green ; rump and breaft fcarlet, crown (of the male) —-
blue. It fometimes occurs with the head yellowiih blue 158
a tranfverfe orange bar behind, and the front and under Ga,guluu
part of the throat and tail-coverts red. Five incites lonm
Inhabits the Philippine illands. Sleeps fufpended by
one loot, and is very fond of the freftr juice of the co-
<soa-nut tree. “ If this is put in a cage (fays Olheck),
it whiftles very feldom, and commonly grows quite ful-
len ; it hangs itfelf with its feet lb, that the back is tur¬
ned towards the earth, and feldom changes this fitua-
tion : it is fed with boiled rice; in which manner in the
year 1752, one was brought to Gottenburg. We
obferved that their nefts were remarkable for their ex¬
ceeding fine texture ; but we did not fee the birds. If
they had a different conftruftion, the monkeys would
be very mifehievous to them; but now, before they can
get to the opening, the lowefl part, as the weakeft,
breaks in pieces, and the vifitor fails to the ground,
without any danger to the birds.”
Gen. 6. Ramphastos, Toucan. P. JrLs.
Bill large, hollow, convex, and ferrated at the margins ^ °"i4»
both mandibles incurvated at the tips j noftrils be- Charadler$»
hind the bafe of the bill long and narrow ; tongue
feathered at the edges ; feet moftly fcanforial.
_ The birds of this genus feem to be limited to the tro¬
pical regions of South America, and are very impatient
of cold. They feed on fruit, efpecially that of the
palm trees. They are generally met with in fmall
flocks of eight or ten, moving from place to place in
queft of food, and advancing northward or fouthward
as the fruits ripen, though they are not properly migra¬
tory. They make their nefts in the hollows of trees
abanooned by the woodpeckers, and not formed by
themfelves, the ftru&ure of their bill not allowing of
the efforts neceffary to make, or even enlarge a hole in
the moft tender wood, as it yields to the leaft pref-
fure of the finger. They lay two eggs, and probably
breed more than once in the year, as they are pretty
numerous. If brought up young they are eafily tamed,
and become very familiar. I4I
Green toucan.—Green, belly yellow, lump red. Up- Vitidis.
per mandible yellow, with red fides and a black line in
the middle, the lower black 5 the bafe and fpace round
the noftrils red, the teeth in both white, irides and orbits
yellow, legs lead colour, claws black, tail wedged and
inclining to afh beneath 5 head, chin, and throat in the
male, black, in the female, bay, terminated by a black,
narrow, tranfverfe band. Fourteen inches long. Inha¬
bits Cayenne. Its extraordinary large bill gives it a
very Angular appearance. - I42
Pavonine toucan.—Green, feathers fprinkled with red Pavoninvi.
fpots. Bill variegated with yellow and black, legs and
claws black. Seventeen inches .long. Inhabits the fea-
coafts of New Spain, and is laid to feed on filh. This
laft circumftance, however, may admit of doubt. Moft
of the fpecies will eat filh, and even flefh, in a ftate of
confinement; but their frequent proximity to the water
in their natural ftate, is probably occafioned by the fir
tuation of their favourite fruit. 743
Brajil toucan, or Brajilian pie.—Blackifh, abdominal Pifcivtrus-
band and vent red, rump white. Twenty-one inches
long.
Pick.
14S
Albus.
145
Momotus.
i47
Characters.
ORNITHOLOGY.
long. Inhabits South America. The propriety of its
Linnsean defignation is fomewhat doubtful.
Tellow-brcajlcd to/ca/2.—Blackith ; abdominal band,
vent, and rump yellow. Nineteen inches long. Inha¬
bits South America.
White toucan.—Entirely white. No other particu¬
lars are known of this fpecies.
Gen. 9. BucEROS, ’Horn-bill.
ferrated at the
hrajilienfis.
Plate
CtTXCV.
fig. 4.
149
SCYTHKOPS
•5°
jCharaders.
I *51
ffittaceus.
Gen. 7. Momotus, Motmot.
Bill ftrong, llightly curved, ferrated at the edges ; nof-
trils feathered, tongue feathered, tail wedged, feet
grefforial.
BraJUian motmot, or Brajilian faw-billed roller.—
Green, front bluilh-green, hind part of the head violet,
crown black. Variegated with green, tawney, blue and
cinereous. Body olive-green above, rufty beneath ; head
large, bill black, legs black, claws hooked. About a
foot and a half in length, and nearly equal to a magpie
in fize. Inhabits Brafil, Cayenne, Mexico, and other
parts of South America. It is a folitary bird, frequent¬
ing thick forefls ; chiefly feen on the ground, or on
fome low branch of a tree, taking Ihort flights w hen di-
ilurbed, and pronouncing the word hontou. It makes a
nefl of dry grafs and ftalks on the ground, frequently in
fome hole deferted by an armadillo or other quadruped,
and laying for the moft part two eggs. It feeds on in-
feds and raw fiefli, the fragments of which it macerates
in water. When taken, it ftrikes violently with its
bill. Its voice is extremely harfti, weak, and tremu¬
lous.
Gen. 8. Scythrops, Channel-bill.
Bill large, convex, cultrated, furrowed or channel¬
led on the fides, with the tip bent 5 noftrils round,
naked, placed at the bafe of the bill ; tongue
cartilaginous and bifid at the end ; toes placed two
before and two behind ; tail confiding of ten fea¬
thers.
Veto Holland channel-bill, pftttaceous or anomalous
horn-bill.—Bill pale brown, tipt with yellowifli, convex,
keeled ; noftrils furrounded with a red wminkled lkin ;
orbits naked ; head, rteek, and under parts of the body
pale bluilh-gray •, back, wings, and tail cinereous, the
feathers moftly with dulky blaekifh tips •, tail long,
wedged, its feathers barred with black near the end,
and tipt with white 5 legs fhort, fealy, and with the
hooked claws black. Size nearly that of a crow, and
the total length 27 inches. Inhabits New Holland,
though not plentifully, and is feldom feen unlefs in the
morning and evening, fometimes in fmall groups of eight
or ten, but frequently in pairs, appearing about Port
Jackfon in October, and departing in January, but to
what country is not known. Both on the wing, and
when perched, they make a ftrange, loud, fcreaming
noife, not unlike that of the common cock and hen
when they perceive a hawk or other bird of prey ho¬
vering over them. They are fuppofed to feed princi¬
pally on the feeds of the red gum and peppermint trees,
which they fwallow whole. The tail is fometimes dif-
played like a fan, which gives the bird a majeftic ap¬
pearance.
Bill convex, curved, fharp-edged, large, ^ Ig3
margins, with a horny protuberance on the upper Charadlers.
mandible near the bafe ; noftrils behind the bale of
the bill } tongue fhort, fharp-pointed} feet greflo-
rial.
The birds of this genus are all inhabitants of the
warmer regions of Afia and Africa, and feem to corre-
fpond to the toucans of the New World. According
to Latham, the circumftance of their feeding on fifh re¬
quires confirmation. t
Philippine horn-bill.—Front bony, flat, and two- Bicornis-
horned at the fore part. Varies with a vermilion bill,
black belly, and the back and rump brown afli. Body
black above, white beneath ; quill feathers with a white
fpot; tail longifh and black ; legs greenifh. Size of a
common fowl 5 inhabits the Philippine iflands, and has
a cry like the grunting of a hog. It lives in the woods,
and feeds on fruits, fuel) as the Indian fig, piftachio, &c.
which it fwallows entire ; and alter digefting the pulp,
brings up the Hones whole, and ftill fit for vegetation.
The Gentoos rank it among their gods. x $
AhijJfinian horn-bill.—Black ; bony protuberance fe- Absjjiniciit.
mieircular on the fore part •, orbits, chin, and part of the
throat naked, and irides brown. Greater quill feathers
white. Total length, three feet ten inches j extent of
wing, fix feet. On the neck are feveral protuberances,
as in the turkey cock, of a light blue colour, changing
to red on various occafions. Occurs in Abyfiinia, ge¬
nerally among the fields of taff, feeding on green beetles,
which frequent that plant. It has a putrid fmell, which
has occafioned a fuppofition of its feeding on carrion.
It has been feen with eighteen young ones, and ufually
runs on the ground ; but when raifed, flies both ftrong
and far. It builds in large thick trees, and when it
can, near churches ; has a covered neft, like that of a
magpie, but four times as large as an eagle’s, placed
firm on the trunk, at no great height from the ground,
and the entry always on the eaft fide. ;
Indian horn-bill.—Protuberance flattened forwards, Hydroco*
belly tawney, neck with a white collar. Two feet four rax.
inches long, rather bigger than a cock. Inhabits the
Moluccas, and feeds chiefly on nutmegs, from which
circumftance its flefh is very delicate, and has a fine
aromatic flavour. In its native places, it is frequently
tamed for the purpofes of deftroying rats and mice. 157
Rhinoceros horn-bill, rhinoceros-bird, or horned Indian Rhinoceros,
raven.—The horny proeefs on the upper mandible re¬
curved. Ihbabits India. Three feet long, and nearly
as big as a turkey. Feeds on flefti and carrion, and fol¬
lows the hunters for the purpofe of feeding on the en¬
trails of the beafts which they kill. It is alfo faid to
feed on rats and mice, and after prefling them flat with
its bill, to tofs them up in the air, and fwallow them
whole, immediately on their defeent.
Panayan horn-bill—Greeniflr black ; under part of Panayenfis.
the body dulky red ; the prominence of the upper man¬
dible acute above and plane at the fides ; bill very long,
arched, duiky, having the fides marked tranfverfely
with orange-coloured furrows. Size of the raven. Na¬
tive of the ifle of Panav.
Plate
CCC'XCV,
fig. 2.
G»n.
4S6
ORNITHOLOGY.
Pica?.
159
Buphaga.
160
Characters.
161
Africana.
16a
Crotopha-
GA.
163
Characters.
Ani.
164
Gen. 10. Buphaga, Beef-eater.
Bill ftraig-ht, fquarifh ; mandibles-gibbous, entire, more
gibbous at the margins j feet grefforial.
African beefeater.—Upper parts of the body gray-
brown, under parts and rump yellowifh ; bill hardly an
inch long, fomtimes yellowilh, tipt with red, fome-
times black j tail wedged j legs and claws black. Eight
inches and a half long. Inhabits Senegal, and other
diftri&s of Africa. Refembles the darling, in its man¬
ners, appearing in fmall troops of a dozen or more.
Alights on the backs of oxen, antelopes, and other qua¬
drupeds, and by preding the elevated part of the animal’s
hide, which contains the larva of the ceftrus, forces it out,
and regales on it. Is alto faid to feed on various kinds
of infefts. It has a fharp kind of cry, in no refpeft ap¬
proaching to a fong.
Gen. 11. Crotophaga, Ani.
Bill compreffed, femi-oval, arched, carinated on the
back; upper mandible angular at each edge ; noftrils
pervious, or going from one fide of the bill to the
other.
i<>5
Musopha-
GA.
i<J6
Characters.
167
Violacea.
LeJJer ani.—Blaekifli-violet; feet fcanforial. Body
black ; tail long, and wedged; upper mandible incurved
at the tip ; noftrils oval; tongue flethy, and entire ; legs
black. Length thirteen inches and a half 5 fize of a
blackbird ; and fqmetimes known by the names of the
ra^or-billed blackbird, or great blackbird. Inhabits
South America and feveral of the Weft India iftands.
This fpecies is gregarious to fuch a degree, that many
females lay their eggs in the fame neft, to make which
they all unite in concert, and after depofiting their eggs,
lit on them clofe to each other, in order to hatch them,
each ftriving to do the moft for the general good.
When the young are hatched, the parents exert them-
felves to feed the whole flock. It is ftill more remark¬
able, that as foon as the female has laid her eggs, flie
covers them with leaves, and repeats this operation as
often as (he is obliged to leave the neft for food. It
generally breeds twice a year ; and the eggs are about
the fize of thofe of a pigeon, of a fea-green colour, and
fpotted at the ends. The leffer ani feeds an worms, in¬
fers, fruits, and grain, according to the feafon. The
other fpecies referable this in appearance and manners,
but vary fomewhat in fize and colouring.
Gen. 12. Musophaga, Plantain-eater.
Bill ftrong, triangular, the upper mandible at the bafe
elevated above the crown, both mandibles dentatedon
edges ; noftrils in the middle of the bill; tongue en¬
tire and ftout; toes placed three before and one de¬
hind.
Violet plantain-eater.—Bill one inch and a half; the
upper mandible nearly triangular, lofing its attachment
at the back part, and hanging over the crown ; colour
of the bill yellow, and reddifh towards the end ; irides
brown; top of the head purple ; neck, breaft, body
and wings violet; legs dulky-black, and very ftrong.
This beautiful and rare bird is found on plains near the
borders of rivers, in the province of Acra, in Guinea,
and is faid to live principally on the fruit of the plantain.
5
Its total length is nineteen inches, of which the tail is Pic*.
fix inches and one-third. It is defcribed and figured' v—
in Latham’s fecond fupplement.
Gen. 13. Glaucopis, Wattle-bird. Gi^uco.
Bill incurvated, arched, the lower mandible fhorteft/15^
with a caruncle below at the bale ; noftrils deprefied, t'hara&ers
and half covered with a metabrane nearly cartilagin¬
ous, cut at the point, and fringed ; feet grefiorial.
Cinereous wattle-bird.—Body, bill, and legs black ; Cinerca,
caruncle firft blue, then orange ; irides blue, and very
large ; tail long and wedged ; legs long; hind claws
longer than the reft. Fifteen inches long ; about the
fize of a jay. Inhabits New Zealand, where it is often
feen walking on the groud, and fometimes, though
more rarely, perching on trees. It feeds on various
kinds of berries and infefls, and even, according to
fome, on fmall birds. Its note approaches to whiftling,
and fometimes to a fort of murmuring that is not un-
pleafant. Its fleftr is eatable, and by fome efteemed
favoury.
171
Gen. 14. CoRVUS, Crow. Cokvus.
17
Bill ftrong, upper mandible a little convex, edges cul- Charaden.
trated, and in meft fpecies, (lightly notched near the
tip; noftrils covered with briftles refletted over them ;
tongue divided at the end ; toes, three forward, one
backward, the middle one joined to the outer as far as
the firft joint.
The greater number of this tribe are found in every
climate. They are prolific, focial, and clamorous ;
building on trees ; laying fix eggs ; and living on grain,
feeds, infedts, &c. Some of them are apparently hurt¬
ful to agriculture ; but their ufe in diminifhing noxious
vermin more than counterbalances the wafte which they
occafion,
is!Black ; back of a blueilh-black ; tail near-cor
ly rounded. Two feet two inches long. Varies with a
few fcattered white feathers, or is black and white, or
entirely white. A well-known bird, a native of Eu¬
rope, Afia, and America. Is hardy, cunning, voraci¬
ous, and yet patient of hunger. Preys on young ducks
and chickens, and even deftroys young lambs and (ick-
ly (beep, by firft picking out their eyes. Smells carrion
at a great diftance ; gluts itfelf when an opportunity
offers, retires to digeft, and returns again to feed.
Though eafily domefticated, and taught to fpeak, it has
a mifchievous trick of purloining any thing glittering,
and concealing it. “ We have been allured (fays Mr
Montagu), by a gentleman of veracity, that his butler
having miffed a great many filver fpoons and other ar¬
ticles, without being able to deleft the thief for fome
time, at laft obferved a tame raven with one in his
mouth, and watched him to his hiding-place, where he
found more than a.dozen.” The raven ufually makes
choice of the forks of the largeft trees to build in ; but
many of them likewife breed on rocky coafts, and neftle
in the moft inacceffible parts of them. At this time
they are very bold, and will not allow even the falcon
to approach their neft with impunity. The male
and female pair for life, and drive their young from
their haunt, as foon as they are able to provide for
themfelves. The female lays five or fix eggs of a blu-
ifh-green
U3
Ficx.
174
Corone.
I7S
Fn/gilcgus.
O R N I T H
ifli-green colour, blotclied and fpotted with brown and
1 afh-colour, and fomewhat larger than thofe of a crow.
Carrion crow—Bluifli-black ; tail rounded j tail
feathers acute. Varied with fpottings 'of white, or en¬
tirely white ; bill black, irides dulky,. legs black. Di-
ftinguinied from the rook by the bill, which is rather
more convex towards the end, and by the refledfed
bridles at the bafe being always per fed!. Thefe marks,
however, are obvious only in adults, and in young birds,
the note is the only criterion, which in this is much
more hoarfe than that of the rook. This fpecies weighs
about nineteen ounces, and is eighteen inches long.
It feeds on flefh, infedls, and grain, but is particularly
fond of carrion. It frequently attacks the eyes of dy¬
ing animals, deftroys weakly lambs, and when preifed
with hunger, will even purfue birds on wing. It like-
wife makes havock among young game and poultry. It
will irequently hide its food till hunger becomes more
urgent. With the lefler fpecies of hawks it wrages con-
ftant war 5 nor will it fuller the kite, the buzsard, or
the raven, to approach its neft with impunity. Carrion
crows keep in pairs all the year, and feldom congregate
but to regale on fome carcafe, or to rooft in winter.
I hey build in woods, on the branches of trees, making
a neft of flicks, plaliered with earth, and lined with
fome foft materials, as wool and hair. The eggs are
four or five in number, of a greenilh colour, fpotted with
dulky and alh.
Rook,—Black ; fore part of the head cinereous ; tail
fomewhat rounded. Very like the preceding ; but dif¬
fers in its manners, being content with feeding on the
infe£l tribe and grain. It is particularly fond of what
is commonly called the grub-worm, which is the larva
of the chaffer. The rook is gregarious at all feafons,
reforting every fpring to breed on the fame trees, where
th eir nefts may be feen crowded one over another, on
the upper branches. It lays four or five eggs, much
like thofe of the crow. After their voting have taken
wing, they all f'rfake their neft-trees, but return to them
again in Oflober, to rooft. On the approach of winter,
they utually feek fome more Iheltered fituation at night,
but generally aftemble firft in the ufual place, and then
fly off together. Rookeries are fometimes the fcene of
violent contefts between the old and new inhabitants.
An unfortunate couple of ftrangers will fometimes have
their half-built nefts torn in pieces, and be compelled
to begin their work anew in fome more undifturbed fitu¬
ation. “ Of this (fays Mr Bewick) we had a re¬
markable inftance in Newcaftle. In the year 1783, a
pair of rooks, after an unfuccefsful attempt to eftablilb
themfelves in a rookery at no great diftance from the
exchange, were compelled to abandon the attempt.
They took refuge on the fpire of that building, and al¬
though conftantly interrupted by other rooks, built their
neft on the top of the vane, and brought forth their
young, undifturbed by the noife of the populace below
them •, the neft and its inhabitants turning about with
every change of the wind. They returned and built
their neft every year on the fame place till 1793, foon
after which the fpire was taken down.” In England,
rooks remain during the whole year ; but both in
France and Silefia, they migrate. It is a lingular cir-
cumftance, that the iftand of Jerfey fhould be entirely
without rooks *, particularly when we know that they
frequently fty over from Britain to France. The young
O L O G Y.
birds, when Ikinned, and made into pyes, are much in
requeft at fome tables, but are neverthelefs coarfe eat-
in£* ~ •
Hooded crow, or royston crow.—Alb-coloured; head, Cornix,
throat, wings, and tail black. Length twenty-one
inches. Vifits the fouth of England in Odlober, and
retires north to breed, in the beginning of April. In
the Hebrides, and fome parts of Scotland and Ireland,
it is refident throughout the year. In open champaign
diftricts, it feeds on grain, worms, and carrion 5 but it
often reforts to the neighbourhood of the fea coaft,
Avhere the various animal matters thrown up by the tide,
afford a conftant fupply of food. It not only picks out
the eyes of lambs and difeafed Iheep, but of horfes,
when entangled in bogs. The neft and eggs are fimi-
lar to thofe of the common crow. It is not uncommon
in many parts of Europe and Siberia. * 177
Jackdaw. — Brownilh black hind part of the \w2i&Monedula>
hoary front, wings, and tail, black. Its varieties are,
a white collar round the neck j white, with a yellowifti
bill; bright black,. and eyes furrounded with white
dots ; black, with bill and legs red ; wings white, bill
fomewhat curved ; brownilh, with white Ihoulders, &c.
Weighs about nine ounces ; length near thirteen inches.
This very crfmraon bird frequents old towers, ruined
buildings, and high cliffs, where it builds, as well as in
holes ot trees. The neft is made of Hicks, and lined
with wool and other foft materials j the eggs are five or
fix, and bluilh, fpotted with black. The jackdaw is-
gregarious, frequently Hocks with rooks, and like the.
latter, feeds on grain and infedls, is fond of cherries, and
will devour carrion in fevere weather. It is frequently
feen to perch on the back of fheep, not only to rob that
animal of its wool as a lining to its neft, but alfo to
pick out the ticks with which it is infefted. Though
ealily made tame, and taught to fpeak, it is mifchievous,
and full of tricks.
Jay.—Wing-coverts blue, with white and black tranf- Glandarun*
verfe lines; body variegated with purple and gray. This
beautiful bird is very common in Great Britain, and in
various parts of Europe and Siberia ; frequenting wood¬
ed tradls, but not in flocks. It weighs feven ounces,
and meafures nearly thirteen inches in length. The
neft, which is commonly built in high coppice .wood, or
hedges, and fometimes againft the fide of a fcrubby tree,
is formed of fticks, lined with fibrous roots, and contains
five or fix eggs, of a light brown colour, not very un¬
like thofe of the partridge, but fmaller, and obfcurely
marked with a darker ftiade of brown. The jay is a
great devourer of fruit and grain, particularly acorns,
peas, and cherries ; will frequently plunder the nefts of
fmaller birds of their eggs and young, and fometimes
pounce on the old birds, on which it preys, as well as on
mice. Its common notes are various, but harfh, and
manifeft a lingular propenfity to imitation and mimicry,
counterfeiting the bleating of a lamb,* the mewing of a
cat, the cry of a kite or buzzard, the hooting of an owl,
the neighing of a horfe, &c. It has even been known
to imitate very exadlly the found made by the adlion of
a faw. ^ ,7i?
Blue jay.—Blue j collar black ; wing-coverts with Crijlatus,
tranfverfe black lines ; creft blue ; cheeks, chin, and
belly, white ; breaft pale red ; back pale purple ; tail
long, wredged, with black and blue lines, and tipt
with white 5 legs black. Eleven inches long; inhabits
North
488
ORNITHOLOG Y.
Pk'fe.
iSo
North America ; is gregarious ; builds in marfliy
places j has a pleafant note ; feeds on worms, ferpents,
chefnuts, &c. and is particularly deftrudlive to the maize
fields.
Caryoca- Nut-cracker.—-Brown, dotted with white •, wings and
taites. taJi ljlack • tail feathers black at the tip, the middle ones
as if worn. Body with triangular white fpots ; vent
white /, crown and tail feathers without fpots •, feathers
of the noftrils fometimes wanting ; tongue bicufpidate.
Length thirteen inches } fize of a magpie. Inhabits
Europe and Siberia, but is very rare in England. Its
favourite food feems to be the kernels of nuts, which it
hacks or fplits with its bill.
"Pica. Magpie.—Variegated black and white \ tail wedged.
Subject to confiderable varieties. About eighteen inches
long, and weighs between eight and nine-ounces. Too
well known to require particular defeription, being a
common inhabitant of many parts of Europe, Afia, and
America. Generally continues in pairs through the
year ; is miichievous and clamorous, and has a very in-
diferiminate appetite, rejecting hardly any fpecies of ani¬
mal food, or fruits, and devouring grain, when nothing
eife can be got. Is crafty and familiar ; may be taught
to pronounce words, and even fhort fentences, and will
imitate any particular noife which it hears. Like other
birds of its kind, is addidled to pilfering, and will hoard
its provifions. The female builds her net! with great
art, leaving a hole in the fide.for her admittance, and
covering all the upper part with thorny branches, clofe-
ly entangled, fo as to fecure her retreat from the rude
attacks of other birds. The infide is furnifhed with a
fort of mattrefs compofed of wool, and other foft mate¬
rials. She lays leven or eight eggs, of a pale green
colour, fpotted with black. During winter nights,
magpies affemble in great numbers in fome coppice or
thicket, to rooit, but.feparate again in the day.
Mexicanus. Mexican crow.—Entirely bluiih black. Bill, legs,
and claws black. Size of the jackdaw. Inhabits New
Spain, frequenting the neighbourhood of towns, and
perpetually chattering with a ftrong and founding voice.
Alpine crow.—Blackith ; bill pale yellow, legs black.
Size of the jackdaw ; length fifteen inches. Inhabits
me Alps and Pyrenees j has a lharp, difagreeable voice ;
lives on feeds and grain, and is injurious to corn fields.
Its tleth is reckoned good eating.
Red-legged crow, or Cornijh chough.—Violet blackith ;
bill and legs red. Weighs about fourteen ounces j
length nearly feventeen inches. Inhabits the Alps,
Norway, England, Egypt, and Perfia. In this ifiand,
it feems to be chiefiy confined to Devonthire, Cornwall,
and Wales. Mr Pennant obferves, that it is alfo found
in fome parts of Scotland and the Hebrides. It is fel-
dom feen at any great diftance from the fea coaft, where
it breeds in the rocks and caverns, and not unfrequently
in ruined towers. The neft is compofed of flicks, and
lined with a great quantity of wool and hair. The
eggs are generally five, of a dull white, fprinkled with
light-brown and ath-coloured fpots, moftly at the larger
end. 1 he note of the Cornith chough is fomewhat like
that of the jackdaw, but more thrill. Its food is grain
and infefts, though, in a ft ate of confinement, it will
greedily feed on tlefti. It is eafily tamed, but crafty,
and will hide not only part of its food, but things of
value. It is even alleged, that houfes have been fet on
fire by its carrying off lighted flicks in its bill.
183
Pyrrbo-
corax.
1S4
Graculus.
Gen. 15. Ccracias, Roller.
Bill ftiarp edged, bent in at the point, bafe naked ofcoiucus.
feathers ; tongue cartilaginous, and bifid j legs ihort ; 186
leet grefforial; toes three before, and one behind, fii-
vided to their origin.
1 his genus is not confined to any particular region of
the globe, as one or other of the different fpecies may
be met with in each of the four quarters of the world. l8
Common or garrulous roller Blue •, back red ; flag- Garrula.
feathers black.— 1 he only fpecies that has ever been met
with in England, and that very rarely. Length twelve
inches and a half 5 fize of a jay. Vies with fome of the
parrots, in its thades of blue and green, mixed with
white, heightened by the contrail of graver colours. It
is wilder than the jay ; frequents the thickeft woods,
and builds it»s neft chiefly on birch trees. It is plenti¬
ful in Germany, Sicily, and Malta, where they are fold
in the markets and poulterers (hops. It feeds on frogs,
beetles, acorns, grain, and fruit, and in cafes of necetfity
will even eat carrion. It is remarkable for making a
chattering kind of noife. Its fleth tafles like that of a
turtle.
Long-tailed roller.—Bill blackith, one inch and a half Cavdata.
long j hind parts of the head green ; upper parts of the Plate
back and fcapulars fulvous gloflcd with green ; lower CCCXt'IV,
part of the back, rump, and wing coverts, fine blue j 2‘
upper tail coverts blue green ; two middle feathers of
the tail deep green, reft blue green 5 outer ones on each
fide twice the length of the others, and the projefting
part deep blue ; the drafts of ail black ; legs gray j
claws blackith. Inhabits Angola. ^
Docile or tame roller.—-White, interfperfed with red-Pcalis.
dith, bay beneath 5 legs yellow ; tail feathers black, tipt
with white j bill yellow •, claws fleth-colour. Size of
a jackdaw. Inhabits Perfia ; and has obtained its
name from imitating the words and adliens of thofe a-
round it.
Noiyi/ ro./er.—Black ; patch on the wings*, vent,^ 190
bafe, and tip of the tail white. This fpecies is very
numerous at Norfolk ifiand ; and is very clamorous,
efpecially at night. It is a very fooliftr bird ; running
after any perfon, and allowing itfelf to be knocked
down with a flick. It is about nineteen inches long,
and rather bigger than a jackdaw.
191
Gen. 16. Oriolus, Oriole. Oiuou'i
192
Bill conical, convex, very acute and ftraight; upper Charatfeft
manible fomewhat longer than the under, and {light¬
ly emarginated 5 tongue bifid and acute ; feet greffo¬
rial.
The birds of this genus are gregarious, noify, numer¬
ous, voracious, and great devourers of corn. They
chiefly inhabit America, and often build pendulous
nefts. The only European fpecies, which alfo inhabits
Afia and Africa, is the ^
Golden oriole, ox golden thnifh.—Pale yellow j lores Galbula-
and limbs black ; outer tail feathers yellow on the hind
part*, bill and irides yellow; legs plumbeous. Nine inches
and a half long. Inhabits Europe, Afia, and Africa ; and
is incident to feveral varieties. It is by no means un¬
common in France, where it fummers and breeds. Its
neft is in the thape of a purfe, fattened to the extreme
divarications
ORNITHOLOGY.
pic*.
194
Picus.
IPS
Itlcrus.
196
Phctnicceus.
197
America-
nut.
198
Perficus.
*99
Paltmorus.
divarications of the outmoft twigs of tall trees, and com-
pofed of fibres of hemp, or ftraw^ mixed with fine dry
ftalks of grafs, and lined within with mofs and lichens.
The female lays four or five eggs of a dirty white,
marked with fmall brown fpots. She fits three weeks,
and will not unfrequently fulfer herfelf to be taken with
the eggs and neft, and continue to fit on them in a cage,
till (he dies. The golden oriole is partial to grapes, figs,
cherries, berries, and infefts. It has a loud cry. Its
fiefli is reckoned good eating.
Climbing oriole.—Tawney 5 head, neck, and breaft
fpotted with white j tail rounded ; bill yellowiih gray j
legs blackiih. Seven inches long. Inhabits Guiana,
among trees, which it climbs like a pie, and picks out
infedfs from under the bark.
IB eric oriole.—Tawney; head, throat, back, quill and
tail feathers, black ; wings with a white fpot; bill moll*
ly black, with a brown bafe ; irides yellowifh ; legs
fometimes black and fometimes lead coloured, or gray
white. Nine inches and a half long. Inhabits the
warmer parts of America and the Carribee iflands.
Domefticated for the purpofe of killing infedls. In its
wild llate it is very agile and bold. It builds a large
cylindrical neft, fufpended to the end of a twig of a tree,
with a view to defend its young from the attacks of
fnakes and other animals. Of thefe nefts feveral may
fometimes be feen near to one another, and not far from
houfes.
Red-winged oriole.—Black; wing coverts tawney. Size
of a darling ; length from eight to nine inches. Occurs
in Mexico, the Carolinas, Virginia, and as far as New
York. Builds a thick penfile ned among reeds, or be¬
tween the forks of trees, three or four feet from the
ground, along with other birds, in the fwamps, which
are feldom acceflible by man. In Louifiana thefe birds
appear only in winter, and fometimes in fuch immenfe
flocks, that three hundred or more are taken at one
draught of the net. Thefe nets are fpread on feme bare
fmooth path, at the fide of a wood, with rice drewed to
decoy the birds. To fecure the multitudes that are
caught, it is often necefiary to knock mod of them on
the head upon the fpot. Their common name in Ame¬
rica is maiKe-thief, which they have acquired from the
circumilance of their pecking a hole in the plant when
green, and fo dedroying it.
Red-brenjled oriole, or mocking-bird of Guiana.—
Black ; chin, throat, bread, and upper corner of the
wings red. Seven inches long, lefs than a blackbird.
Inhabits Guiana and Cayenne ; fings pleafantly, and
imitates the notes of many other birds. The ned, which
is built of hay, &c. is long, cylindrical, twelve or fif¬
teen inches in circumference, and hangs from the high
branches of the tailed trees.
Black and yellow on'o/e.—Black ; hind part of the
back, fpot on the wing-coverts and bafe of the tail
feathers, yellow. There are, however, feveral 'Varieties.
Bigger than a blackbird. Inhabits South America}
forms a pendent ned, (haped like an alembic : four
hundred of which may fometimes be feen together, hang¬
ing from the extreme branches of trees. The eggs are
dirty white, with fmall pale brown fpots.
Baltimore oriole, or Baltimore bird.—Blackifh ; the
under parts of the body, and the band on the wings
tawney ; bill lead colour ; greater wing coverts black,
Vol. XV. Part II.
Picae.
tipt with white ; firfl quill feathers dirty white, edged
with white; two middle tail feathers black, the red' * “ *
black on the lower part, and orange above. Thefe
birds are found in many parts of America, the northern
regions of which they occupy in fummer, advancing
even to Montreal in May, and returning fouthward in
winter, which accounts for their appearance in Mary¬
land and Virginia at that time. They make their nell
of a foft downy matter, in the (hape of a purfe, tying it
with threads to the extreme forks of the twigs of the
tulip, plane, and hiccory trees. The country people
call them fire-birds ; and indeed, when in high plumage,
their motions from branch to branch not unaptly re-
femble a flafli of fire. 200
Weaver oriole.—Yellow; head brown, with a (hade Text or.
of golden ; quill and tail feathers blackifli, edged with
oraUge. Inhabits near the Senegal; fize of the golden
oriole. “ In the cage where thefe birds Mere kept
(fays Dr Latham), it u'as obferved, that they entwined
fome of the ftalks of the pimpernel, with which they
were fed, ih the wires ; as this feemed to (hew a difpo-
fition of making a neft, fome rufh-ftalks were put into
the cage ; on which they prefently made a neft large
enough to hide one of them at lead ; but it was as often
deranged as made, the Mrork of one day being fpoiled
the next ; ferving to (hew that the fabrication of the
neft in a (late of nature was the work of both male and
female, and in all probability is finiftied by the laft.
They bad a (harp but lively note-.
“ A friend of mine deferibed a bird to me, which
he faw at the houfe of an acquaintance, which feemed
to be this very bird. By accident having got a bit of
fewing filk, it M'ove it among the wires of the cage,
on which, more being put to it, it interlaced the whole
very confufedly, fo as to hinder mod part of that fide
of the cage from being feen through. It was found to
prefer green and yellow to any other coloured filk.” 2Qt
Banana on'o/e.—-Tawney ; head and bread; chefnut; Banana.
back, quill, and tail feathers, black. Seven inches long.
Inhabits South America and the Weft India iflands.
Makes a neft of a curious conftruftion, compofed of
fibres and leaves, exactly in the fliape of the fourth part
of a globe, fenred with great art under a leaf of a bana¬
na tree, in fuch a manner that the leaf forms one fide of
the neft. _ _ , t i&l
Hang-nefi oriole, American hang-nefi, Spanifij night- Nidipen-
ingale, &c.—Frontlet and wreath black ; crown, neck, dulits.
back, and tail, reddifh-broWn ; breaft and belly tawney
yellow. Inhabits the woods in Jamaica ; fings fweetly ;
and builds a pendulous neft of ftalks or thready mofs, on
the extreme branch of a high tree.
Gen. 17. GracUla, Grakle. Gracula
Bill convex, (harp-edged, fomewhat naked at the bale; Characters
tongue entire, fomewhat (harp, flefhy ; feet formed
for walking.
All the fpecies afe extra-European ; have a thick bill,
comprefled at the fides, with fmall noflrils at the bafe,
and (harp-hooked claws ; the middle toe of the fore-feet
connedled at the bafe to the outer.
Minor, or religious grakle.—Violet black ; fpot on Rtltgiof*.
the wings white ; hind-head with a yellow naked band.
Size of a blackbird ; length ten inches and a half. In-
.3 Q habits
49°
ORNITHOLOGY.
Picae.
206
Bar it a.
207
Qrrifcctla.
2QS
Paradi-
SRA.
20p
Characters
210
Apoda.
habits various parts of the Ihaft Indies 5 is very fond of
cherries and grapes j and can be eafily trained to whittle,
ting, or fpeak.
Boat-tailedgrakle.—Grayith 5 fhoulders blue •, quill
feathers green on the outtide. Size of a cuckoo, nearly
thirteen inches long. The folding up of the tail feathers,
inftead of forming a plane furface at top, finks into a
hollow, like a deep gutter, w'hich Angularity is manifetl
only when the bird is flying, or perched, for when on
the ground, it always carries its tail expanded. It in¬
habits .famaica and North America, keeping company
with the maize thief and red-winged oriole. It feeds
on maize, the fruit of the banana, &c. as well as on
beetles and other infefts.
Purple grakle.—Violet black ; tail rounded. Up¬
wards of thirteen inches long, though the female mea-
fures only eleven and a half. Inhabits Mexico, the
warm parts of America, and Jamaica ; fings fweetly 3
feeds on all kinds of grain, and makes great havock in
the maize plantations. It lays five or fix bluilh eggs,
with black flripes and fpots.
Gen. 18. Paradisea, Bird of Paradife.
Bill covered with a belt of downy feathers at the bafe ;
feathers of the fides very long ; two of the tail
feathers naked. Legs and feet very large and llrong j
three toes forward, one backward, the middle con-
nefted to the outer one as far as the firfl: joint.
The birds of this genus, till lately, were very imper-
fedly known, and had given rife to various idle tales,
fuch as their never alighting on the ground from their
birth to their death 3 their living entirely on dew 3 their
being produced without legs, &c. The circumftance
w hich led to the laft-mentioned error, was merely acci¬
dental 3 the legs and coarfer parts of the wings having
been pulled off in the courfe of preparing the birds for
an ornamental article of drefs. Though the birds of
paradife occur in Japan, China, Perfia, and various parts
of India, they are believed to be properly natives of
New Guinea, where they breed. The Dutch get them
chiefly from Banda, where the ftory of their want of
legs has been propagated, in order to enhance their va¬
lue.
Great bird of Paradife.—Feathers of the hypochondria
longer than the body 3 the tAvo intermediate tail feathers
long and fetaceous 3 the fize of the body fcarcely ex¬
ceeds that of a thrufti, though the plumage would in¬
dicate a^bird as large as a pigeon 3 the length from the
end of the bill to that of the tail is twelve inches and a
half 3 the bill is greenilh yellow, and an inch and a half
long 3 the eyes are very fmall 3 the head, which is alfo
Imali in proportion to the bird, as well as the throat and
neck are covered with very Ihort, denfe, ffiff feathers,
of which thofe on the head and hind part of the neck
are of a pale gold colour 3 the bafe of the bill is fur-
rounded with black feathers, appearing like velvet, and
changing in diflerent lights to green 3 the fore part of
the neck is golden green 3 the lower part of the neck
behind the back, wings, and tail, are chefnut 3 the breafl:
is of a deep chefnut, verging to purple 3 from under the
wings proceeds a great quantity of feathers, wuth the
webs fo loofe, as to appear like a herring-bone, fome
of theta nearly eighteen inches long, fome chefnut and
purplifh, others yellowilh, and a few almoft white ; from,
3
the rump arife two feathers without webs, except for Prk,
four inches next the bafe, and the fame at the tips 31 v—
the legs are ffout and of a brown colour. Thefe birds
are found in the Molucca iflands, and thofe furround¬
ing New Guinea, particularly in Aroo, where they ar¬
rive with the wefterly or dry monfoon, and whence
they return to New Guinea, when the eafterly or wet
monfoon fets in. They are feen going and returning
in flights of thirty or forty, conduded by a leader,
which flies higher than the reft. During this flight they
cry like ftarlings. By a hidden Ihifting of the wind,
their long fcapular feathers are fometimes fo dilhevelled
as to preclude flying, when they fall to the ground, or
are loft in the water. In the former cafe they cannot
rife again into the air, without gaining an eminence,
and are fecured by the natives, and killed on the fpot’
as they cannot be preferved alive by art. They are
likewife caught with bird-lime, or fliot with blunt ar¬
rows, or intoxicated with the berries of menifpermum
cocculus put into the water which they are accuftomed
to drink. 'Iheir real food is not known with certain¬
ty. According to fome, they feed on the red berries of
the waring a tree (feus benjaminaf according to others,
they are particularly fond of nutmegs 3 fome affert that
they live on large butterflies, and others, that they chafe
and devour fmall birds. It is only for ornament that
they are coveted by fuch of the inhabitants of the eaft
as are able to purchafe them, the chiefs of the country
wearing them conftantly in their turbans. The gran¬
dees of Perfia, Surat, and the Eaft Indies, ufe them as
aigrettes, and even adorn their horfes with them. There
is a leffer variety of this fpecies, found in the Papua
illands.
King's bird of Paradife, or king's bird.—Chefnut p'ia
purple, whitifh beneath 3 two middle tail-feathers fili- *
form, feathered, and femilunar at the tips; breaft blu-
ifh ; cirri of the tail very long 3 feathers under the
Avings longer than the reft 3 tail Ihort, truncate 3 from
five to feven inches long, and about the fize of a lark.
It is laid not to affociate Avilh any other of the birds of
paiadife, but ftnfts lolitary from bufh to bulh in quert
of red berries, and never gets on tall trees. It occurs
in the iflands of the Indian ocean, and returns to Ncav
Guinea in the rainy feafon, but is much more fcarce than
the preceding.
Magnificent bird of Paradife.—Chefnut broAvn above; Magnifies*
chin green, with golden lunules ; croAvn Avith a tuft of
yelloAV feathers 5 firft quill-feathers brown, fccondary
deep yellow ; middle tail-feathers very long, with a very
fliort fringe 3 legs and bill yellow, and the latter black
at the tip and bafe. A Angular and beautiful fpecies,
figured in Latham’s Synopfis. u-
Gorget bird of Paradife.—Black, flight green be-Nigra,
neath 3 hind head, nape, croAvn, and band on the mid¬
dle of the belly fine green, a fplendid gold-coloured
crefeent under the chin 3 tail feathers 12, unequal, the
outer ones five inches long, and the Iavo in the middle
22. I Aventy-eight inches long. Figured in Latham’s
Synopfis.
Superb bird of Paradife.—Cruixed 3 head, crown, and Superba,
belly green 3 chin violet, filky 3 wings black 3 tail Avith
a fliade of green ; bill black 3 legs broAvn 3 under the
Avings a tuft of loofe, black, filky feathers, as long as
the Avings Ayhen folded. Eight inches and eight lines
long. Native of the northern parts of New Guinea.
White
ORNITHOLOGY.
Plcae. White bird of Tar a (life.—Entirely white. Inhabits
the Papuan ifland?, and is very rare.
man-
body
iiS
Curucuu
Gen. 19. Trogon, Curucuu
Bill fhorter than the head, (harp-edged, hooked
dibles ferrated at the edge ; feet fcanforial ; ooay
long ; noftrils covered with briftles 5 feet fliort, wool¬
ly j tail very long, confiding of 12 feathers.
The birds of this genus are all inhabitants of the tro¬
pical regions, and moftly inhabit South America. They
live folitary, in the thickeft receffes of moifi woods, fit¬
ting and building on the lower branches of trees. They
take but a fhort flight, and feed on infe£ts and fruit. As
they differ much in appearance, in different flages of
life, a confiderable degree of confufion has prevailed in
the illuftration of the fpecies. They have the name of
curucui from their note.
Red-bellied curucui.—Of a greenifli-gold colour, taw-
ney beneath ; throat black j lateral tail feathers, with
white and black bars, the middle ones tipt with black.
Somewhat lefs than a magpie ; length 10 inches and a
half. Inhabits Mexico, Brazil, and Peru. There are
two or three varieties. At pairing time, only two or
three are found together ; and the male has a kind of
melancholy note, by which their haunts are difeovered.
They begin to pair in April, and build in the hole of a
rotten tree, laying three or four white eggs, about as
big as thofe of a pigeon, on the bare rotten dull. Du¬
ring the incubation of the female, the male takes care to
provide food for her, and to beguile the time by his
fong. The parents feed the young with fmall worms,
caterpillars, and infers ; and, when their nurflings are
able to Ihift for themfelves, they forfake them, and re¬
turn to their folitary haunts, till nature prompts them
to produce their fecond brood in Auguff or September.
Various attempts have been made, but without effeft,
to domefticate this fpecies, as it obftinately refufes food,
when in confinement.
Gen. 20. Bucco, Barbel.
220
’Characters. Bill cultrated, compreffed laterally ; apex emarginated
on both fides, and incurved, gape reaching below the
eyes ; noftrils covered with recumbent feathers; feet
fcanforial j bill ftrong, fomewhat ftraight, almoft co¬
vered with briffles j tail feathers ufually ten.
The birds of this genus are all inhabitants of Africa,
and the warmer parts of Afia and America, and are a
dull and ftupid race.
Spotted-belliedbarbet.—T awney brown, tawney white,
fpotted with black beneath; chin tawney •, neck with a
tawney lunule varied with black, a black fpot behind
the eyes ; head very large 5 bill black ; crown and
front tawneyifh ; legs black. This bird occurs both at
Cayenne and Brazil. It is clumfy, folitary, filent, and
penfive, affefting only fuch places as are fartheft from
habitations, generally in the woods, where it choofes
fume low branch, well covered wdth twigs and foliage,
on which it perches, with its large head refling betiveen
its fhoulders for a long time together, allowing itfelf to
be fliot at feveral times before it makes its efcape. It
feeds on infedls, particularly large beetles.
419
^ucco.
221
Tamatia.
223
Cuculus.
224
222
!'-!egans.
low, the latter fpotted with red j belly yellow, fpotted
with green 5 bill, legs, and claws cinereous, the latter
tipt with yellow ; a blue ftreak on each fide of the
mouth ; tail wedged ; quill feathers edged with green.
Size of a fparrow, nearly fix inches long. Inhabits the
country of Maynas, on the borders of the Amazons, and
is the moil beautiful and a&ive of the tribe.
Gen. 21. Cuculus, Cuchoo.
Bill fmooth, weak, a little curved ; noftrils bounded by Charaders.
a fmall rim ; tongue arrowed, fhort, and pointed;
feet fcanforial. 1
Of upwards of 50 fpecies belonging to this genus, the
firfl: mentioned only is a native of Great Britain ; and
very few of the others are natives of Europe.
Common cuckoo.—Cinereous, whitifh beneath, tranf- Canotus,
Verfely ftreaked with brown ; tail rpunded, blackifh,
dotted with white j edges of the eyelids, opening of the
mouth and palate faffron j when young, the whole body
is brownifh, the feathers edged with white j the upper
part of the body is fometimes varied with reddifh. It
likewdfe occurs with wavings of gray 5 a double row of
white dots on the middle tail feathers, and the bill, or¬
bits, and legs of a fulphur colour. Size of the turtle
dove 5 14 inches long, and weighs about four ounces and
a half. The female is rather lefs, and, in general, dif¬
fers from the other fex, in the neck and bread being of
a tawneyifti brown, barred with dulky, and the wing-
coverts marked with light ferruginous fpots. Inhabits
Europe, Afia, and Africa.—This well-known bird
comes to us early in the fpring, and almoft: invariably
leaves us by the firft of July, though the females mayr
fometimes remain a little later, till they have depofited
all their eggs. Such as are feen about the latter end of
September or beginning of O&ober, are the young of
that year, or ftragglers which have been wounded.
The Angular note of the male has given rife to the name
of this bird, in mod: languages ; the female is either fi¬
lent, or makes only a chattering noife. Cuckoos build
no neft, and what is more extraordinary, the female de-
pofits her folitary egg in the neft of another bird, by
which it is hatched. The neft: which die fele&s for this
purpofe is ufually that of the hedge fparrow, though
fometimes alfo that of the water-wagtail, tit-lark, yel¬
low hammer, green linnet, &c. Dr Tenner, in his va¬
luable communication to the Royal Society, publiftied
in the fecond part of the 78th volume of their Tranfac-
tions, obferves, that w'hile the hedge fparrow is laying
her eggs, which generally takes up four or five days,
the cuckoo contrives to depofit her egg among the reft,
leaving the future care of it entirely to the hedge fpar-
roWr. This intrufion often occafions fome difeompofure,
for the old hedge fparrow at intervals, while (he is fit¬
ting, not only throws out fome of her own eggs, but
fometimes injures them in fuch a way, that they become
addle; fo that it frequently happens that not more than
two or three of the parent bird’s eggs are hatched with
that of the cuckoo : and, what is very remarkable, it
has never been obferved, that the hedge fparrow has ei¬
ther thrown out or injured the egg of the cuckoo. When
the hedge fparrow has fat her ufual time, and has difen-
gaged the young cuckoo and fome of her own offspring
Beautiful barbel.—Green j head and chin red, edged from the (hell, her own young ones, and any of her
with blue; quill feathers brown, throat and breaft yel- eggs that remain unhatched, are foon turned out; tire
3 Q,2 * y^g
ORNITHOLOGY.
226
Vetula.
*27 _
Plwoialis.
228
Rtdibun-
Aus.
229
Melanoleu-
cos.
Plate
cc^xciv.
fig. 4.
22,0
Pifanus.
531
Indicator.
young cuckoo then remains in full poflcffion of the neft,
and is the foie objeft of the future care of its folter-pa-
rent. “ The mode of accomplilhing this (fays the in¬
genious and interefting inquirer, in reporting his obfer-
vations on a particular cafe), tvas curious; the little ani¬
mal, with the adiftance of its rump and wings, contrived
to get the bird upon its back, and making a lodgement
for its burden, by elevating its elbows, clambered back¬
wards with it up the fide of the neft till it reached the
top, where, refting for a moment, it threw off its load
with a jerk, and quite difengaged it from the neft.
After remaining a fhort time in this fituation, and feel¬
ing about with the extremities of its wings, as if to be
convinced that the bufinefs Was properly executed, it
dropped into the neft again.” Dr Jenner made feveral
experiments in different nefts, by repeatedly putting in
an egg to the young cuckoo, which he always found to
be difpofed of in the fame manner. But we are reluct¬
antly compelled to withhold various other interefting
details relative to this fubjeCl, and to refer our readers
to the original communication. The young birds are
obferved to be helplefs and foolifti for a great length of
time, but are capable of being tamed, and, when in
confinement, will eat bread and milk, fruits, inlefts,
eggs, and flefti, either cooked or raw ; but, in a ftate
of nature, they live chiefly on caterpillars and infefls.
Long-billed rain cuckoo.—Tail wedged; bodybrown-
ifh, teftaceous beneath ; eyelids red. Rather bigger
than a blackbird. Inhabits woods and Ihrubberies in
Jamaica, fis eafily tamed, flies Ihort, fings before rain,
and feeds on grains, infefts, worms, fmall ferpents, frogs,
lizards, and fmall birds.
Rain cuckoo.—Olive afh, rufous beneath ; chin and
throat white ; outer tail-feathers edged with white.
From 16 to 17 inches long, like the preceding. Inha¬
bits Jamaica, and fings before rain. Both fpecies are
familiarly known by the names of old man, and rain
bird.
Laughing cuckoo.—Tawney; chin, throat, and breaft
cinereous ; belly, thighs, and lower tail-coverts black ;
bill bluilh black; irides white; tail half as long as the
body. Sixteen inches long. Inhabits New Spain ; has
a voice like a man laughing, on which account it is
dreaded by the Indians as ominous.
Coromandel crejled cuckoo.—Upper parts of the body
black; under part white; a white fpot on the edge of
the wing; tail wedge-fliaped and tipped with white ;
head crefted ; bill black ; legs brown. Length eleven
inches. Inhabits the coaft of Coromandel.
Pifan cuckoo.—Tail wedged; body above varied with
white and black, white beneath ; head black and croft¬
ed ; chin and breaft rufous. Rather larger than the
common fpecies, and has its name from having been
once caught in Pifa.
Bee cuckoo, honey-guide, inoroc, &c.—Rufty gray,
white beneath ; eyelids naked, black ; fhoulders with a
yellow fpot; tail wedged, rufty ; bill brown at the bafe,
and furrounded with briftles, yellow at the tip ; feathers
of the thighs white, with a longitudinal black ftreak ;
quill-feathers brown above, gray brown beneath ; firft
tail-feathers very narrow, rufty ; the next footy, the in¬
ner edge whitifh ; the reft brown at the tip on the inner
web. Somewhat larger than the common fparrow.
Native of the interior parts of Africa. This bird is
very fond of honey and bee maggots; but being unable,
by its own efforts, to proem* them from the hollow of
trees, it points out to man and to the animal called ra- '
tel, the nefts of wild bees. The morning and the even¬
ing are its principal meal times ; at leaft it is then that it
{hews the greateit inclination to come forth, and with a
grating cry of cherr, cherr, cherr, to excite the atten¬
tion of the ratel, as well as of the Hottentots and colo-
nifts. Somebody then generally repairs to the place
whence the found proceeds, when the bird, continually
repeating its cry, flies on flowly and by degrees to the
quarter where the bees have taken up their abode. The
perfons thus invited, follow accordingly, taking great
care, at the fame time, not to frighten their guide by
any unufual noife ; but rather to anfwer it now and then
wfith a very foft and gentle whiffle, by way of letting
the bird know, that its call is attended to. When the
bee’s neft is at fome diftance, the bird often makes long
ftages, or flights, waiting for its fporting companions
between each flight, and calling to them again to come
on ; but it flies to fliorter diftances, and repeats its cry
more frequently, and with greater earneftnefs, in pro¬
portion as they approach nearer the neft. When the
bird has fometimes, in confequence of its impatience,
got too far a-head of its companions, but particularly
when, on account of the unevennefs of the ground, they
have not been able to keep pace with it, it will fly
back to meet them, and, with redoubled cries, denoting
ft ill greater impatience, upbraid them, as it were, for
being fo tardy. When it arrives at the neft, whether
the latter is built in the cleft of a rock, or in a hollow
tree, or in fome cavity of the earth, it hovers over the
fpot for a few feconds, then fits in filence, and for the
moft part concealed, in fome neighbouring tree or buih,
in expe.6lation of the refult, and with a view of receiv¬
ing its (hare of the booty. Nor is it difappointed ; the
hunters, by way of acknowdedgement, leaving it a con-
fiderable portion of that part of the comb in which the
bees are hatching. Mr Barrow corroborates thefe de¬
tails, and adds, that the moroc intimates to the inhabi¬
tants, with equal certainty, the dens of lions, tigers, hy¬
aenas, and other beafts of prey, and noxious animab.
Le Vaillant mentions that the Hottentots are very par¬
tial to this bird on account of its fervices, and that once
when he was on the point of ftiooting one, they intreat-
ed him to fpare its life. Mr Bruce, by confounding
this fpecies with another peculiar to Abyffinia, has in¬
dulged in fome very mifplaced ftri&ureson the accounts
of Sparrman and Lobo.
Pica?.
Gen. 22. Yunx.
22%
Yunx.
233
Bill fmoothifh, cylindrical, pointed, a little curved,.c^der:
weak ; noftrils concave, naked ; tongue very long,
fmooth, worm-lhaped, armed at the point; tail fea¬
thers 10, flexible; feet fcanforial.
1 his genus confifts of only one fpecies, and has, by
moft authors, been held diftind ; for, though allied to
fome other genera, it perfetftly coincides with none.
I he tongue and difpofition of the toes correfpond to
thofe of the woodpecker 5 but the weaknefs of the bill
diftinguilhes it from that family. It feems alfo to be
nearly related to the cuckoo, did not its length of
tongue form a marked diftimftion.
Wryneck.—Gray, varied with brown, and blackilh ;Toniudld.
belly reddilh, with blackifh fpots ; tail-feathers wTaved
with
O R N I T H
Pic». with black fpots, ftreaks, and bars. Defcription, how-
ever, is very inadequate to convey an accurate idea of
the elegant markings of this little bird. Its name feems
to have been given it from the lingular manner of turn¬
ing its head over its. fhoulder and perpetually looking
about, when the black lilt on the back of the neck gives
it a twilled appearance. The weight of this beautiful
bird is about ten drams, and its length feven inches. It
inhabits Europe, Alia, and Africa, appearing in Britain
about the fame time with the cuckoo, and chiefly fre¬
quenting woods, or thickly inclofed countries, where
trees or orchards abound. Its food principally conlifts
of ants and other infedls, of which it finds great abun¬
dance lodged in the bark and crevices of trees, and
which it lecures by a horny fubllance at the end of its
long tongue. It likewife frequents ant hills, into which
it darts its tongue, and draws out its prey. It is never
feen with any other fociety than that of its female, and
as foon as the domellic union is difiblved, which is in
September, they retire and migrate by themfelves. It
makes an artlefs neft of dry grafs, on dully rotten wood,
in holes of trees, and lays nine or ten eggs, which are
white and tranfparent. If furprifed in its nell, it
llretches itfelf at full length ; and eretting the feathers
on the crown of its head, fuddenly rifes, making, at the
fame time, a fhort hilling noife, like that of a turkey
cock. In the beginning of fpring, it very frequently
repeats a noife like that of the fmalier fpecies of hawks.
*35
Picus.
236
*37
Martius.
339
Gen. 23. Picus, Woodpecker.
Characters. angular, llraight, wedged at the tip j noflrils co¬
vered with recumbent fetaceous feathers •, tongue
round, worm-lhaped, very long, bony, mi Tile, dag¬
gered, befet at the point with reflexed briltles; tail
feathers ten, hard, rigid, pointed ; feet fcanforial.
The birds of this genus climb trees, particularly thofe
that are decaying or dead, in fearch of infefls and their
larvae. The bone of their tongue terminates in two
long llender cartilages, which proceed from below up¬
wards, and from behind forwards, over the whole Ikull,
under the Ikin, and are attached to the forehead near
the bafe of the bill. By means of thofe elallic cartila¬
ges, the woodpeckers thruft out their filiform tongue to
catch infefls. The feet are formed for climbing, their
tail is fitted for refiftance and fupport, and their Iharp-
pointed and barbed tongue enables them to extract in¬
fers from their lurking places in trees. They are there¬
fore unjuftly perfecuted and driven from plantations.
They make their nefts in hollows of trees. They have
a membranous ftomach and want the caecum.
Great black woodpecker.—Black, cap vermilion. In
the female the hind head only is red ; length 17 inches
and a half. Size of a jackdaw *, bill nearly two inches
and a half long, of a dark alb colour, and whitilh on the
fides j irides pale yellow. Has all the habits of the
green woodpecker, and is a great deftroyer of bees.
Makes its net! deep in fome tree, which it has excavat¬
ed for the purpofe, and lays two or three white eggs; a
circumllance which feems peculiar to moft of the genus.
, Occurs in Europe, Siberia, and Chili; but rarely vifits
P'g _ England. '
j>batus,°fe' Red-beaded woodpecker.—Head wholly red ; wings
and tail black j belly white. Eight inches and three
quarters long, and weighs two or three ounces. This
o L o G Y.
fpecies inhabits Virginia, Carolina, Canada, &c. j but,
on the approach of winter, migrates more or lefs to the
fouthward, according to the feverity of the feafon, from
which circumltance the North Americans foretel the
rigour or clemency of the enfuing winter. The red¬
headed woodpeckers are very deftruflive to maize fields
and orchards, and are fond of acorns. During the win¬
ter they are very tame, and fometimes come into houfes,
as the redbreafl: with us. They are found chiefly in old
trees $ and the noife that they make with their bills may
fometimes be heard at a mile’s diftance.
Gold-winged woodpecker.—Striated tranfverfely with Auratus.
black and gray; chin and bread: black; nape red \
rump white. Chin of the female cinereous j length 11
inches ; weight five ounces. Inhabits North America $
is almoft continually on the ground ; feeds on worms
and infedts j and, in default of thefe, on berries and
grafs. When fat, is efteemed good eating.
Green woodpecker.—Green ; crown of the head crim- Viridis.
fon j bill dulky, two inches long j inner circle of the
irides reddifli; outer white j temples blackilh 3 quill
feathers dulky, with whitilh fpots 3 tail blackilh, ob-
fcurely barred ivith green, and tipt with white 3 legs
greenilh alh. Weighs about fix ounces, and is thirteen
inches long. Inhabits Europe, and is by no means un¬
common in the wooded parts of England. It feeds on in-
fedts, and is particularly fond of bees. It is frequently
feen climbing up a tree, or on the ground, in the neigh¬
bourhood of an ant hill. The hole which they make is
as perfedl a circle as if it had been defcribed by a pair
of compafies. It is curious to obferve them try every
part of a dead limb of a tree, till they have difcovered
the moft fonorous, and then the ftrokes are reiterated
with fuch velocity, that the head is fcareely perceived
to move. The fofter wood, fuch as the elm, alh, and
afp, are, for the moft part, attacked, for the purpofe
of nidification, and are perforated only where they ex¬
hibit fymptoms of decay. The excavations are often
deep, to give fecurity to the eggs, which are generally
four or five, and placed on the rotten wood, without any
nert. . _ 241
Downy woodpecker.—Back longitudinally downy 3 Pubefcens,
outer tail feathers white, with four black fpots. Weighs
an ounce and a half, and meafures only five inches and
a half in length. Inhabits Carolina, Virginia, New
Jerfey, &c. and is a daring bird, and dangerous to orch¬
ards. As foon as it has pecked one hole in a tree, it
makes another clofe to the firft, in a horizontal direc¬
tion, proceeding till it has made a circle of holes
quite round the trunk, fo that the tree frequently dries
up and decays. 242
Hairy woodpecker.-—Back fomewhat downy, in a Vilhjus.
longitudinal direction 3 outer tail feathers entirely white.
From nine to twelve inches long. Like the former, is
the pelt of orchards. Inhabits North America, from
Hudfonls Bay to Carolina; and likewife occurs in the
north of England. _
Greater /potted woodpecker.—Variegated with black Maior-
and white 3 hind head and vent red. Female, without
red on the hind head. The weight of this fpecies is
about two ounces and three quarters, and the length
nine inches. The bill is dulky, and an inch and quar¬
ter long 3 the irides are reddith brown. Inhabits Eu¬
rope, North America, and Siberia. Is lefs frequent in
England than the green fpecieSj to which it is nearly
allied
\
Picse.
244
Medius.
245
Minor.
246
Minutus.
247
Cardinalis.
Plate
CCCXCIV,
flS- 3-
O R N I T H
, in itianners 'and habits, except that it rarely def-
cends to the ground in fearch of food. Lays four or five
white and glofly eggs on the decayed wood, without any
formal preparation of a neft.
Middle/potted woodpecker.—Variegated with white
and black ; vent and cap red 5 cheeks white 5 three la¬
teral tail feathers, tipt with white. Suppofed by fome
to be only the young of the preceding fpecies.
Le/fer/potted woodpecker.—Variegated with white
and black ; crown red j vent teftaceoUs or brick-colour¬
ed. There are two or three varieties. The weight of
this fmall fpecies is not quite five drams } and the length
is about five inches and a half. Inhabits Europe and
Afia, and has the habits of the major ; but is of more
rare occurrence.
Minute woodpecker.—Chefnut gray ; whitifh, waved
with brown beneath j crown red 5 hind head \black,
fpotted with white. Only three inches and a half long,
the lead of its tribe. Inhabits Cayenne.
Cardinal woodpecker.—Black 5 under part of the bo¬
dy white, fpotted with black 5 crown and back part of
the head red 5 wings fpotted with white 5 legs and bill
blackilh. Inhabits the ifle of Luzonia.
O L O G Y.
ken nut {hells, the wTork of this bird, which repeatedlv Picaf.
returns to the fame fpot for this purpofe. When it has 1 v—
fixed the nut firm in a chink, it turns on all Tides, to
{trike it with mod advantage. This, with the common
hazel-nut, is a work of fome labour; but it breaks a fil¬
bert with cafe. In default of nuts, this bird fearches
for infe&s and their larvae among the mofs on trees and
old thatched buildings. It is commonly met with amoncr
orchards, and is fometimes feen, in the cyder feafon
picking the feeds from the refufe of the prefled apples.
In fpring it has a remarkably loud, dirill whidle, which
ceafes after incubation, and gives place, in autumn, to
a double reiterated cry. It deferves to be remarked,
that the Angular jarring noife produced by fome fpecies
of woodpeckers, by repeated drokes of the bill againd
the decayed limb of a tree, has been erroneoufly afcribed
to the nuthatch.
Surinam nuthatcZ.-rleddifh chefnut, dirty white be- SiJlL,,
neath ; middle of the back white ; wings and tail black ijs.
wing and tail coverts tipt, and fecondary quill feathers
edged, with white. Only three inches and a half long-.
Inhabits Surinam. 6
24S
Sitta. Gen. 24. Sitta, Nuthatch.
249
Characters. Bill fubulated, roundilh, unbent, projefHng draight for¬
wards, and entire ; the upper mandible fomewhat
longer than the under, comprefled at the point;
tongue notched, flrort, and horny at the apex ; no-
drils fmall, covered with bridles ; feet grefiorial.
The general manners of the whole of this genus are
fuppofed to correfpond with thofe of the enfuing fpecies,
250 which is the only one that is found in Britain.
Suropiea. European nuthatch.—Cinereous, reddifli beneath ; tail
feathers black, the four lateral ones beneath tipt with
white. A black line through the eyes and ears ; rump
white, varied with rudy ; the fird tail feather with a
white bar, two with a white fpot, three or four tipt
with wfiite, five colour of the back. Inhabits Europe
and Afia. Remains in England the whole year ; but is
local, and chiefly affeds wooded and inclofed fituations,
leleding the deierted habitation of a woodpecker for its
ned. The hole is fird contraded by a plader of clay,
leaving only diffident room for the bird to pafs in and
out. The ned is made of dead leaves, efpecially of
thofe of the oak, which are heaped together without
much order. The number of eggs is fix or feven, and
they are fcarceiy to be didinguifhed from thofe of the
great titmoule, in fize and markings. If the plader at
the entrance be dedroyed when there are eggs in the
ned, it is fpeedily replaced, to prevent the intrufion of
the woodpecker and other birds of fuperior fize which
build in the fame fituation. No perfecution will force
this little'bird from its habitation when fitting. It de¬
fends its ned to the lad extremity, drikes the invader
with its bill and wings, makes a hiding noife ; and, af¬
ter every effort of defence has been pradifed in vain,
will juffer itfelf to be taken in the hand rather than de-
fert its charge. The nuthatch is more expert in climb¬
ing than the woodpecker ; for it runs in all diredions
up and down a tree. When employed in breaking a
nut, its favourite pofition is with the head downwards.
In the autumn it is no uncommon thing to find, in the
©revices of the bark of an old tree, a great many bro-
Gen. 25. Todus, Tody. Tod’s*
Bill fubnlate, fomewhat depreffed, obtufe, ftraiglt, co-ChmiL.
vered at the bafe with brjfties . nodrils fmall, oval ;
feet grefforial.
Ihefe modly inhabit the warmer regions of America,
and are nearly related to the family of fly-catchers ; but
are didinguidied from them by having the middle and
outer toe much conneded, which, in the fly-catchers
are divided to the bafe.
Green tody.—Green ; yellowifh rofy beneath ; breaft Viridh.
red ; upper mandible brown, lower orange ; irides chef¬
nut ; cheeks with a red fpot; legs and claws gray. The
male, according to Buffon, has the upper part of the
body of a pale blue, the belly white, the breaft and
fides rofe colour. This pretty fpecies, which is about
the fize of a wren, and four inches long, occurs not on¬
ly in the warmer parts of the American continent, but
alfo in St Domingo, Jamaica, and other illands of the
Weft Indies. The females are not uncommon in Ja¬
maicaIt is. fuppofed to feed on foft infeds, and is of a
fliy folitary difpofition, frequenting the lonely parts of
moift trads of country, where it is obferved to fit all of
a heap, its head drawn in between its {boulders, and fo
ftupid as almoft to allow itfelf to be taken by the
hand. J
White-headed tody.—Black ; fuberefted head and chin LclcL*
wlnte ; bill blackiih ; the lower mandible white, tmlphalus.
with blackifh ; .wings ftiort ; tail even. Lefs than the
redftart. Inhabits America. Figured in Latham’s Sy-
nopfis. J
Oh/cure tody.—Olive brown, yellowiftr-white beneath ; Olfcui us.
crown, quill, and tail feathers blackilh. Size of the
hedge fparrow. Inhabits North America, where it feeds
on infeds. Frequents the decayed parts of trees, and
has all the adions of the fly-catcher. It has an agree¬
able note, two or three times repeated, but not what can
be called a fong.
King tody.—Blackifli brown, reddifti beneath ; creft^’^
ehe.lnut, fpotted with white at the tip ; chin and eyelids
white ; bill dulky brown ; breaft with tranfverfe black¬
iih lines ; legs flefti colour. This fingular and beautiful
fpecies
?1C!B.
jfS
Fiatyrbyn-
cot.
25»
Crijlcitm.
Plate
cccxcv.
tig- 3-
260
Alcedo.
idx
Characters.
o R N I T H O
fpecies meafures fcven inches in length. Inhabits Cay¬
enne, and is very rare.
Broad-billed tody.—Yellovvifli-brown, yellow be¬
neath , chin and fpot on the crown white j wings and
tail brown ; bill very large and broad. Size of the
nightingale. Figured by Latham.
Crejled/ot/y.—Creft fcarletj body brown, fpotted with
white; wing coverts fpotted with white ; feathers of
the crefl tipped with black. Native of Guinea.
LOGY.
262
^riflata.
Plate
CCCXCV.
tig- S-
'ormofa.
264
(pida.
Gen. 26. Alcedo, King*x-fifher.
Bill triangular, thick, flraight, long, and acuminated 5
the tongue flelliy, very Ihort, flat, and acute j feet,
for the moll part, grellbrial.
The birds of this genus are difperfed over the whole
globe; though it is fuppofed that only one fpecies inha¬
bits Europe. Moll of them frequent rivers and the vi¬
cinity of waters, and live on fiih, which they catch with
fingulai art and dexterity. Sometimes they hover over
the water, where a llioal of fmall filhes is feen playing
near the furface j at other times, they wait with atten¬
tion on fome low branch, hanging over the water, for
the approach of a Angle one, which is fo unlucky as to
fvvim that way. In either cafe they drop like a llone,
or rather dart with rapidity on their prey. They feize
the latter ,crofs-ways in their bill, retire to a reftino-
place to feed on it, devour it piecemeal, bones and all^
and afterwards bring up the indigeftible parts in pellets.
The wings of moll of this genus are very fhort j yet the
birds fly rapidly, and with great ftrengtb. In their co-.
lours, blue of different fliades predominates. Their
noftrils are fmall, and generally covered.
Crejled king's jijher.—Bill black j an inch and a half
long ; crown feathers long, forming a creft, of a green-
ilh colour, and barred with black; a Ane blue ftripe on
each Ade of the neck j upper part of the body bright
blue j upper wing coverts violet, and each feather tip¬
ped with a bright blue fpot 5 legs and claws reddifli 5
length nearly Ave inches. Inhabits Amboyna and the
Philippine iflands.
Splendid king's JiJJjer.—Tail fhort j body yellowifli-
green j fhoulders, throat, and rump yellow j wings and
crown of the head blue j bill yellowifli-horn colour j
head with a bright yellow ftripe on each Ade ; fmaller
wing coverts edged with yellow 5 legs reddifli-brown.
A beautiful fpecies, which inhabits South America.
Common king's-jjher.—Tail Ihort 5 body blue above,
orange-coloured beneath j lores red; bill black; crown
and wing coverts green, with blue fpots; tail of a beau¬
tiful. blue ; irides and legs red. In the female the
bill is not fo long as in the other fex. Frequents run¬
ning ftreams and rivers, in the banks of which it gene¬
rally takes poffeflion of a rat’s hole to depoAt its eggs-.
'i. his hole is afcending, and generally tivo or three feet
in the bank ; at the end is fcooped a hollow, at the bot¬
tom of which is a quantity of fmall Afti-bones, nearly
half an inch thick, mixed with the earth, and which
are probably the callings of the parent birds, as they
are found even before they have eggs. On this difgor-
ged matter the female lays to the number of feven eggs,
which are perfedlly white and tranfparent, and of a Ihort
oval form. Before the young are able to fly, the hole
becomes extremely fetid by the faeces of the brood,
265
which cannot be carried away by the parent birds as is
common with moft of the fmaller fpecies. As the old
birds have nothing in their bill, when they go in to
feed their young, it has been inferred, that they eiedl
from the ftomach for that purpofe. When the youno-
arc nearly full feathered, they are extremely voracious,
and .may be difcovered by their conftant chirpino-. This
fpecies is . reckoned the moft beautiful of all the^Britifli
birds, weighs one ounce and a quarter, and meafures
leven inches m length. It inhabits Europe, Afla, and
Africa. It was formerly believed, that if the body of
this bird was fufpended by a thread, fome magnetic in¬
fluence always turned its breaft to the north. This
however, is as fabulous as the tradition, that its fluffed
fkm will preferve woollen cloth from the depredations
of moths. There is a variety found in Senegal, about
Ax inches and a half long, blue green varied with brown
above, tawney beneath, and chin yellowifh.
Belted^king's-jijher.—Tail long, crefted, bluifh; belly Alcyon.
white; breaft ferruginous ; a white fpot before and be¬
hind the eyes ; bill black ; chin white ; breaft with a
ferruginous band on the fore part; thighs rully ; thanks
very fhort; legs brown ; outer toe connected with the
middle toe. Eleven inches long. Inhabits Carolina
and feeds on lizards and flfh. It is fubjed to feveral
permanent varieties, which occur in different parts of
America. x
Amazonian king's JiJher.—Gloffy green ; under parts dma%onaJ
of the body and lunule on the neck white; Aides varie¬
gated with green; tail fpotted with white; bill and leo-s
black. Thirteen inches long. Inhabits Cayenne. * 2^7
Refpe&ed king's-f.Jher.—Tail long ; body olive above, Tut a.
white beneath ; eyebrows white ; collar greenifh black.
Bill black ; lower mandible white. Legs black. Eight
inches and a half long. Native of the Society iflands,
where it is held facred by the inhabitants, as are the’
fpecies denominated venerata and fa era.
Great brown Crefted, olive above, whit- Tufca
ifh and obfeurely ftriated beneath ; temples and hind
head dirty white; tail rounded with rufty and fteel-blue
lines, and tipt with white. The female has no creft.
Eighteen inches long. Inhabits New Guinea,
Crab-eating king's-JiJher.—Tail long; body blue-green, r
yellowifh-tawney beneath; band through the eyes; wingaw™*
coverts and tips of the quill-feathers black. Twelve ^ ’
inches long. Inhabits Senegal, and feeds on crabs.
Egyptian king'sJiJher.with rufty fpots ; E^pUa.
whrtifh, with cinereous fpots beneath. Size of the Roy-
fton crow. Inhabits Lower Egypt, about Cairo; builds
in fycamore and date trees, and feeds on froo-s, infe£ts
and fmall Afh, which laft it meets with in^the flelds
when they are flooded. Its cry approaches to that of
the common crow.
27 r
GALBUta.
Gen. 27. Galbula, Jacamar:
Bill ftraight, very long, quadrangular, pointed ; noftrils ™
oval, at the bafe of the bill ; tongue Ihort, fharp-Chara,flers>
pointed ; thighs downy on the fore part; feet fcan-
forial.
. This is much allied to4the preceding; but the toes are
differently placed, namely, two before and two behind.
The food of the jacamar is likewife different, as it feeds
on mfefls.alone ; and, for that purpofe, frequents molft
woods..
49 5
Pic*.
273
Grandis.
274
Faradifea-
O R N I T H
woods. Only four fpecies have been defcribed, and
fcarcely any information has hitherto been obtained re¬
lative to their economy and manners.
Great jacamar.—Copper gold above, ferruginous be¬
neath head and limbs green gold ; tail wedged, and
longer than the body. Size of the green woodpecker.
Native country unknown.
Faradife jacamar.—Two middle tail feathers very
long body golden green j throat and wings white be¬
neath j bill and legs black; head violet brown; tail
much wedged. Inhabits Cayenne and Surinam ; is 11
inches and a half long; flies in pairs ; is lefs folitary
than its congeners, and feeds on infedts.
O L O G Y.
Pic*.
275
Mekops.
Gen. 28. Merops, Bee eater.
276 • •
Charaders. Bill curved, quadrangular, eompreffed, carmated, point¬
ed ; noftrils fmall, at the bafe of the bill; tongue
llender, the tip generally jagged ; feet grefforiaL
279
Saperbus.
with a membrane ; crown blackiih ; a filvery ftripe at
the angle of the mouth ; a long, orange, pendent ca- * J
runcle behind the bafe of the lower mandible ; legs
brownilh, the outer toe connected at the bafe to the
middle one. Fourteen inches asad a half long. Inha¬
bits New Holland ; is pretty numerous on the lea fliores
of that country.; chatters inceffantly ; is very bold ;
feeds on infefts, and fucks the honey from the difterent
forts of Banfkia. 281
Horned or knob-fronted bee eater.—Brown ; head ^omiculn-
fomewhat naked ; under parts of the body and tips oftus’
the tail feathers whitifli; a blunt fhort eminence, like the
The birds of this genus, with a few exceptions, inha¬
bit the old continent. Their general food is infefts,
and they are particularly fond of bees and wafps. They
have no note beyond a whiftle, and that far from agree¬
able. Like the kingVfifher, they breed in holes in the
banks of rivers.
Jlpiajlcr. Common bee-eater.—Back ferruginous ; belly and tail
bluifh-green ; two of the tail feathers longer than the
others ; chin pale yellow ; bill black ; irides red ; front
blue green ; crown, hind head, and neck, bay ; a black
ftreak from the bill to the hind head ; tail wedged, the
feathers edged inwTardly with cinereous ; legs chefnut;
claws reddifh-black. A variety fometimes occurs with
the bill convex and uncarinated, and the toes uncon-
nefted at the laft joint. The common bee-eater mea-
fures 10 inches from bill to tail. It inhabits various
parts of Europe, Alia, and Africa ; and is very plenti¬
ful in the fouthern parts of Ruflia, particularly about the
rivers Don and Wolga. In the third volume of the
Linnaean Tranfaftions an account is given of one of this
fpecies having been (hot, for the firft time, in Britain,
near Mattifhall, in Norfolk, in July 1794. A flight of
about 20 was feen in June ; and the fame flight, as was
fuppofed, much diminiflied in number, was obferved
pafling over the fame fpot in Odlober following. They
feed, on the wing, upon bees, gnats, flies, and other
infefls ; or, in defect of thefe, upon feeds. Their net!
is compofed of mofs, and the eggs, from five to feven,
are perfectly white, and about the fize -of thole of a
flare. They are gregarious and migratory, quitting the
colder latitudes, in great flocks, in autumn. When the
fun fliines on them, in their flight, they are a pleafing
objeft, as they appear gilded. Kolben remarks, that
they guide the Hottentots to the honey, which the bees
lay up in the clefts of the rocks.
Viridis. Indian bee-eater.—Green ; band on the breaft black ;
chin and tail blue ; twro of the tail feathers longer than
the others ; bill and band aerofs the eyes black ; legs
brown. There are feveral varieties. Eight inches and
a half long. Inhabits India.
Superb bee-eater.—Red ; front, throat, and rump,
blue ; two middle tail feathers longer than the others.
28o Nine inches long.
Caruncnla- Wattled^ or Arm Holland bee-eater.—Brown ; belly
•tus. yellow ; wTattles earunculated ; tail wedged, tipt with
white ; bill black ; noftrils pervious, and half covered
rudiment of a horn, on the fore head. Size of a miflel
thrufti. This Angular fpecies alfo inhabits New Hol¬
land, and is well figured in White’s Journal. 2|2
Red-winged bee-eater.—Under part of the body of an Erytkro-
olive or dirty-white colour ; throat yellow ; wings and-^™-1-
tail red, tipt with black ; bill one inch long, black; cccxcV
legs black. Six inches long. Inhabits Senegal. ^ j
283
Gen. 29. Upupa, Hoop, or Hoopoe. Upupa.
Bill arched, long, (lender, convex, a little compreffed, Charadiers,
fomewhat obtufe ; noftrils fmall, at the bafe of the
bill; tongue obtufe, entire, triangular, very ftiort; feet
greflorial.
Of the fpecies included under this genus, the firft on¬
ly is found in Britain. They feed on infefts, haunt
dunghills, and are, in general, uncleanly in their man-
ners. # . 28S
Common hoop.—Variegated with blackilh and rufous .E^/,
white, beneath ; creft pale orange, tipt with black ; tail
black, with a white band ; bill and legs black ; irides
hazel; back and wings with black and white lines ;
neck reddifti-brown ; creft of a double row of feathers ;
tail feathers 10. The weight of this beautiful bird is
about three ounces, and the length 12 inches. Inhabits
Lturope, Afia, and Africa ; but only vifits this country,
occafionally, in autumn, and is very feldom known to
breed with us. The female is faid to have two or three
broods in the year. Seldom makes a neft ; but lays her
eggs, which are generally four or five, bluifh-white,
and marked with pale brown fpots, in the hollow of a
tree, and fometimes in a hole of a wall, or even on the
ground. Its food confifts chiefly of infecls of the beetle
tribe. It is a folitary bird, two of them being feldom
feen together. In Egypt, 'where they abound, they are
feen only in fmall flocks. Its creft ufually falls behind
on its neck, except when it is furprifed or irritated, and
then it Hands ere£l ; the tail, too, being, in that cafe,
ufually eredled, and fpread like a fan.
Grand hoop}, ox grandpromerops.—Black; head,neck, Magna.
and breaft, glofly green ; fcapular and lateral tail fea¬
thers falcated ; tail very long. “ This moft extraordi¬
nary and beautiful bird (obferves Dr Latham), is near
four feet in length, from the top of the bill to the end
of the tail; the body is the fize only of a middling pi¬
geon, though much elongated in Ihape. The bill is
three inches long, pretty much curved, and black ; the
head, hind part of the neck, and upper part of the bel¬
ly, are of a {Inning green ; the fore part of the neck,
and loAver part of the belly, without glofs ; the fcapu¬
lar feathers are of a lingular conftrudlion ; the webs on
one fide of the {haft being exceeding fliort, and oh the
other of a great length ; the ftiape of them falciform :
iliey
Erytbro-
rbynchoi.
i«8
Cekthia.
*89
Charadlers.
190
Fami Haris.
* 191
Locci/ita.
O R N I T H
they are of a purplifli black colour, with the ends, for
1 three quarters of an inch, of a moft brilliant gilded glof-
fy green, though fome of them, in a different light, re-
deft a blue glofs j beneath each wing arifes a thick tuft
of feathers, eight inches and a half in length, and of
a texture refemblhig the herring-bone ones inthejr^-
*er bird of Paradife >• and, befides thefe, on each tide of
the tail are five or fix falciform feathers, with unequal
webs, as the fcapulars, though not half fo much curved j
the colour half dufky, half greenifh brown ; the laft di¬
vided from the other colour, on each feather, in an ob¬
lique manner •, the tail con fills of 11 feathers, and is of
an enormous length, the middle ones meafuriug no lefs
than 28 inches 5 but each of the others Ihortens as it
proceeds outwards, to the outer one of all, which is on¬
ly five inches in length •, the colour of all of them is
blue black, with a polilhed Heel glofs in fome lights j
the legs are black.” Dr Latham has annexed a colour¬
ed figure. Little elfe is known of this remarkable fpe-
cies, except that it inhabits New Guinea.
Red billed hoop.—Black green *, belly black 5 tail
wedged •, fix firft quill and lateral tail feathers fpotted
with white j bill and legs red *, feathers of the head and
neck filky, and fome what downy. Fifteen inches long.
Inhabits Afia and Africa. Figured by Latham.
Gen. 30. Certhia, Creeper.
Bill arched, llender, fomewhat triangular, pointed;
tongue various, though generally pointed j feet form¬
ed for walking.
The birds of this genus are fpread over the globe.
They live chiefly on infefts; their noftrils are fmall j
their tail is compofed of 1 2 feathers 5 their feet are large,
with a large back toe } their claws are long and hooked.
Molt of them have an acute tongue j though in fome it
is flattened at the point, in others ciliated, in a few tu¬
bular. There are a confiderable number of fpecies, of
which only one is a native of Britain.
Common creeper.—Gray ; white beneath j quill fea¬
thers brown, ten of them with a white fpotj head and
neck brown, with black ftreaks; rump taumey •, wfng
coverts varied brown and black ; quill feathers dulky,
tipt with white, edged and barred with tawney *, breall
and belly filvery •, tail long, tawney, the feathers Hoping
off to a point. Weighs about two drams j length five
inches. Inhabits Europe, Afia, and America. Runs
with great facility on all fides of fmall brandies of trees,
in fearch of infefts and their eggs, which conftitute its
food. Except the crefled wren, it is the fmalleft of
Britilh birds $ and though pretty common, is not feen
without difficulty, from the eafe with which on the ap¬
pearance of any one, it efcapes to the oppofite fide of
the tree. Its nefl is compofed of dry grafs and the in¬
ner bark of wood, loofely put together, and lined with
fmall feathers ; and it is ufually conftrufted in fome
hole, or behind the bark of a decayed tree. The eggs
are from fix to eight, white, and minutely fpeckled with
bright ruff colour. During incubation, the female is
fed by the other fex. The note of the common creeper
is weak, monotonous, and deliberately uttered, but rare¬
ly heard in winter.—In North America, is found a va¬
riety of a confiderably larger fize.
Hook-billed red creeper.—Scarlet *, wings and tail
black -, bill longer than the head, bent like a feimitar,
Vol. XV. Bart II.
O L O G Y.
legs and long claws blackifii j tail feathers fliort, point¬
ed ; edges of the wings, and roots of the throat feathers,
white. This beautiful fpecies inhabits the Sandwich
illands, and is much ufed by the natives in their feather¬
ed dreffes.
Mocking creeper.—Olive •, crown inclining to violet-, Santm.
fpot on the cheeks white-, wings and fubforked tail
brown. Seven inches long. Inhabits New Zealand;
has a very imitative voice, and fips the fweet moiiture
from the neftaries of flowers. 29;
Cardinal creeper.—Black; head, neck, breaft, and Cardmalis.
line down the middle of the back, red; tail even. Size
of the common ipecies. Inhabits the iilaml of 1 anna,
and lucks the neftaries of flowers.
Wall creeper^ or fptder catcher.—Cinereous ; wings jyiu^ja,
with a tawney fpot; bill fubulate, fharp edged, longer
than the head; neck whitifh beneath ; quill feathers
black; w ings with a rofy fpot; tail feathers whxtifh;
claxvs ftrong, particularly the hind one. The chin and
throat of the female are white. Size of a fparrow,
length fix inches eight lines. Inhabits fouthern Europe
and Alia. Is folitary ; feeds on infefts, and has the
fame manners as the common creeper, except that it
haunts ruined edifices, old walls, arches, &c. and is par¬
ticularly fond of fpiders. According to Scopoli, it
migrates fingly towards the end of autumn. Its flight
is vague and uncertain, and it climbs by leaps. Builds
frequently in holes of walls.
Little brown and white creeper.—Brown ; white be- Pufilla.
neath ; eyebrows white ; tail feathers brown, the outer
ones white at the tip ; a black lireak from the bill to
the eyes ; quill feathers edged with a braffy hue. Three
inches and a half long. Inhabits India. Feeds on
flies, and is fond of honey.
Blue creeper, or certhia of Guiana.—Blue ; band Ccerulea.
acrofs the eyes, chin, wings, and tail, black. Four
inches long, and fomewhat bigger than the common
creeper. Makes its neft of dried llalks or grafs, in the
form of a retort, and open beneath, fufpending it from
the flender and extreme branches of trees, and thus
fecuring it againft the attacks of the monkey, fnake,
and lizard.—-Varies, in having the bill and legs fome-
times red. _ ^
Collared creepere—Gloffy green ; breaft red, with a Cbalybea.
fteeFblue bar on the fore-part. Four inches and a half
long. Inhabits the Cape of Good Hope ; feeds on in¬
fefts and the neftar of flowers, and fings fweetly. ^
Black and yelloyi) creeper, yellow-bellied creeper, &c. Flaveota,
— Black; pale yellow beneath; eyebrows whitilh;
outer tail feathers tipt with white. The markings,
however, vary confiderably. From four to five inches
long. Inhabits the \Veft Indies, and feeds principally
on the juice of the fugar cane, which it draws out by
infinuating its bill into any crevice or crack of the
ftalk. ^ 299
Braceletted creepet.—Green ; wings, when folded, ArmUtata.
black above ; beneath yellow; ffioulders, bracelets on Plate
the thighs, and fpots on the rump, fappbire blue ; bill *
black} legs yellowiffi; body beneath whitiffi-green ; I*
vent yellowilh; quill feathers black, inner edge yel¬
low. Length five inches. Native of Surinam. ^00
Orange backed craye/-.—Bluifh-gray ; fpot on the Cantittanu
back, and under parts of the body yellow; bill and legs
black ; irides red. ’I'hree inches long. Inhabits China,
and is remakable for the fweetnefs of its fong.
3 R, Beautiful
4S'8
Pics;.
301
Vulcbella.
301
Famnfa.
303
Lote/iia.
O R N IT H
Beautiful creeper.—Two middle tail feathers very-
long 5 body glofly green 5 bread: red ; bill, legs, and
tail leathers, blaekilh, the latter edged with gold ; belly
whitilh j wings and greater coverts broAvn. Seven
inches long. Inhabits Senegal.
Famous creeper.—Two middle tail feathers very
long ; body glofly green ; armpits yellow ; lores black 5
bill, legs, claAvs, and tail black ; a black line betAveen
the bill and eyes. Female green broAvn j yelloAvilh be¬
neath ; bread green $ trvo middle tail feathers diorter
than in the male. Nine inches long. Inhabits the
Cape of Good Hope.
Loten's creeper.—Blue j bar on the bread gold-red ;
lores black ; bill tubulate, black, tAvice as long as the
head 5 tongue comprefled at the tip ; head, neck, back,
rump, and upper tail coverts, fometimes blue, fometimes
gold-green ; bread, belly, and vent glofly black •, in
the female dirty Avhite, fpotted Avith black ", wings
black ; lefler coverts violet ; middle green ; greater
black ", tail even. Uprvards of five inches long. In¬
habits Madagafcar and Ceylon. Makes a cup-thaped
ned, like that of a chafiinch, of the down of plants.
The female generally lays five or fix eggs. This fpe-
cies is fometimes chafed by a very voracious fpider, as
large as itfelf, which feizes on the Avhole brood, and
fucks the blood of the young birds.
Gen. 31. Trochilus, Humming bird.
Bill fubulate, filiform, tubular at the tip, longer than the
[.traders. head *, upper mandible flieathing the lower ; tongue
filiform, the tAvo threads coalcfcing, and tubular j feet
grefforial.
3°4
Trochi-
LU S.
305
The birds of this fpecies are very fmall, and, Avith a
very feAv exceptions, inhabit South America. Their
bill and feet are Aveak, their nodrils minute, and their
tongue is capable of being darted far out. They fly
very rapidly, take their food on the Aving, fucking the
honey juice of flowers, and fometimes alfo fwallorving
infers, the fragments of Avhich have been found in their
domachs. They are bold, pugnacious, and gregarious,
and make a louder noife by the motion of their Avings
than by their voice. They conftruft an elegant hemi-
fpherical neft of the doAvn of a fpecies of thapfus, and
fufpend it from the branches of trees, Avhere it is hid
by the leaves, the female laying tAvo white eggs of the
fize of peas, which are hatched by the alternate incu¬
bation of the male and female. Thefe minute birds are
taken by afperfing them Avith Avater from a fyphon, as
the fineft (hot Avould bloAV them to pieces. They are
laid to hybernate. The brilliancy of their colouring
greatly exceeds the powers of painting and defcription.
The green, red, and blue of their diminutive plumage
is like beaten gold, and refle6ts the molt beautiful fplen-
dour in funthine.
, A. Bill curved.
3°.5. ' , _ . . .
Paradijeus. Parad'fe humming bird.—Red 5 Avings blue } head
crefted 5 middle tail feathers very long ; bill and legs
black ; Aving coverts blue. Eight inches and a half
long. Inhabits Mexico.
Exitis. Little humming bird. — Greenifli-brown, with a fcarlet
glofs ; Avings and tail black ; creft green at the bafe,
lipt with gold 5 bill black. One inch and a half long.
Inhabits Guiana.
O L O G Y.
Topa* humming bird.—Red j middle tail feathers Pic*,
very long 5 head brotvn ; chin gold-green ", rump green j
bill, head, and neck black ; breaft roly ; back and wing p 3°S
coverts orange red ; quill and middle tail feathers pur- Fel'a'
pie ", the rett orange. Female almoft entirely green
gold. Six inches long. Inhabits Surinam.
Mango humming bird.—Glofly green ; tail nearly
equal, and ferruginous j belly black 5 bill and legs black 5" ^
a blue line dividing the colours of the back and belly 3
vent Avhite 3 tAvo middle tail feathers black. Four inches
long. Inhabits Mexico, Brazil, and St Domingo. Ac¬
cording to Albinus, it is alfo found in Jamaica, build¬
ing its nett of cotton in the phyfic-nut-tree, and laying
tAvo Avhite eggs as big as peas. There are feveral varie¬
ties. Under this fpecies, Dr Latham relates the folloAV-
ing interefting particulars.
“We have before related a circumftance of the pofli-
bility of keeping humming birds alive for fome time,
by means of fugar and Avater 3 but this Avas in their own
country and climate.. In addition to this, we have been
informed, on undoubted veracity, of the following faft : Mk-
A young gentleman, a ferv days before he fet fail from
Jamaica to England, Avas fortunate enough to meet Avith
a female humming bird, fitting on the neft and eggs 3
when, cutting off the tAvig, he brought all together on
board the Ihip 3 the female became fufficiently tame, fo
as to fuffer itfelf to be fed with honey, and during the
paffage hatched tAvo young ones 3 however, the mother
did not furvive long, but the young Avere brought to
England, and continued alive for fome time in the pof-
feffion of Lady Hammond. Sir H. Englefield, Baronet,
and Colonel Sloane, both Avitneffes of the circumftance,
informed me that thefe little creatures readily took ho¬
ney from the lips of Lady Hammond, Avith their bills :
one of them did not live long, but the other furvived at
leaft tAvo months from the time of its arrival.”
B. BillJlrnight.
Red-throated humming bird.—Green gold 3 tall fea-
thers black, the three lateral ones ferruginous, tipt Avith
Avhite 3 chin flame colour 5 bill black 3 chin fcarlet, Avith
a beautiful gold glofs. The female brown above, whit-
ifh beneath 3 tail fubequal, rufty at the bafe, and tipt
Avith Avhite. Three inches and one fourth long. In¬
habits America, as far north as Canada. This beauti¬
ful little creature flies fo fAviftly, that the eye is incapable
of purfuing it, and the motion of its wings is fo rapid
as to be imperceptible to the niceft obferver. It never
feeds but on the wing, fufpended over the flower from
Avhich it extracts its nourilhment. Like the bee, having
exhaufted the. honeyed juice of one floAver, it wanders
to the next, in fearch of neAv Tweets. It is inpft partial
to thofe flowers which have the deepeft neftaries: and,
in the countries which thefe birds inhabit, whoever fets
plants of this defcription before his AvindoAv, may depend
on being vifited by multitudes of them. It is very en¬
tertaining to fee them fAvarming-around the floAvers, and
trying every tube by thrufting in their bills. If they
find that their companions havre anticipated them, and
robbed the flower of its honey, they Avill frequently, in
a fit of rage, pluck it off, and throAv it on the ground,
or even tear it in pieces. Numbers Avill fometimes con- *
tend very fiercely for the poffeflion of the fame floAver.
During the conflidt, they frequently purfue the fugitives
into the apartments of thofe houfes whofe AvindoAva are
left
pica;.
311
Mofchitus.
j 312
'Melliw-
rus.
.,,313
Minimus*
0 R N I T H
left open, take a turn round the room as flies do with
us, and then fuddenly regain the open air. When feed¬
ing, they will allow perfons to oome within two yards
of them ; but, on a nearer approach, they dart off with
wonderful fwiftnefs 'The red-throated humming bird
mofl; frequently builds on the middle of a branch of a
ti-ee, and the nefl: is fo fmall, that it cannot be feen by
a perfon who ftands on the ground. It is quite round,
the outhde, for the mofl: part, compofed of the green
mofs common on old pales and trees, and the infide of
the fofteft vegetable down which the birds can colleft.
Sometimes, however, they vary the texture, ufing flax,
hemp, hairs, and other fimilar materials. I hey are
fometimes, likewife, known to fix it on fome low bufh,
on a ftalk of the tobacco plant, or even on the fide of a
pod of ocra (Hibifcus efculentus, Lin.). The female lays
two eggs, which are white, and equal in thicknefs at
both ends. When thefe birds obferve any one climbing
the tree in which they have their nefts, they attack him
in the face, attempting to ftrike him in the eyes, and
coming, going, and returning, with fuch fwiftnefs, that
one would fcarcely credit it who had not feen it him-
felf. This fpecies, like the others of its genus, is feldom
caught alive. A friend of Monfieur du Pratz had,
however, this pleafure. He had obferved one of them
enter into the bell of a convolvulus \ and, as it had quite
buried itfelf to get at the bottom, he ran immediately
to the fpot, (but the flower, cut it from the ftalk, and
carried off the bird a prifoner. He could not, however,
prevail on it to eat •, and it died in the courfe of two or
three days. Charlevoix informs us, that he had one of
them in Canada, for about twenty-four hours. It fuffer-
ed itfelf to be handled, and even counterfeited death,
that it might efcape ; but it fell a real facrifice to a
flight'froft during the night. “ My friend Captain
Davies informs me (fays Dr Latham), thdt he kept
thefe birds alive for four months by the following me¬
thod :—He made an exa6t reprefentation of fome of the
tubular flowers, with paper faftened round a tobacco
pipe, and painted them of a proper colour. Thefe were
placed in the order of nature, in the cage in which the
little creatures were confined : the bottoms of the tubes
were filled with a mixture of brown fugar and water as
often as emptied •, and he had the pleafure of feeing them
perform every adtion ; for they foon grew familiar, and
took their nourifhment in the fame manner as when
ranging at large, though clofe under the eye.”
Rubij-necked humming bird.—Green-gold •, tail even
and ferruginous, the two outer feathers tipt with brown
wings black •, bill and legs blackifti; crown, hind head,
and neck ruby; body brown beneath. Female whitifh
gray beneath, with a gold fpot on the breaft and throat.
Upwards of three inches long. Inhabits Guiana, Bra¬
zil, and Surinam. Reputed the moft beautiful of the
tribe.
IVhite-bel/ied humming bird.—Tail feathers black, the
lateral ones white •, head blue; back green ; belly white.
Above four inches long. Inhabits Surinam. Edwards
remarks, that the whole of the plumage, in the fun,
feems as if mixed with threads of gold.
Leaf} humming bird.—Green ; whitifh beneath *, late¬
ral tail feathers white on the outer edge ; bill and legs
blackifli *, wings violet brown ; tail feathers bluifli-black,
the primary totally gray ; fecondarv grav from the mid-
'dle to the tip. Female dirty greenifh-brown, whitifh
O L O G Y.
beneath. Inhabits South America, and fome of the Weft
India iflands. The leaf! of all known birds ; being hard¬
ly an inch and a quarter in length, and weighing from
twenty to forty-five grains ; thus being furpaifed in
weight and dimenfions by more than one fpecies of bee.
The female is even lefs than the male.
3T4
Order III. ANSERES. Anseiies.
315
Bill fomewhat obtufe, covered with a fkin, gibbous atCmuaften,
the bafe ; mouth toothed; tongue flefhy ; feet pal-
mated, and formed for fwimming.
Moft of the birds belonging to this order dwell much
in the water. Their feet and legs are fliort, concealed
under the feathers, and placed more behind than in other
birds. Their toes are fhort, and generally comprefled,
fo that thev eafily cleave the water, and bv means of
their membranes or webs, form, as it were, broad oars.
Their plumage is thicker, clofer, and better furnifhed
with down than that of other birds. The gland which
all birds have at the rump, and from which they txprefs
an oily matter to preferve their feathers moift, is moft
confiderable in the anferes, and contributes to make
their plumage impermeable to Water. They feed on
fifh, aquatic animals, and plants. In general they are
polygamous, and make their nefts among reeds, or in
moift places. The young are foon able to feek their
own food ; yet the mother leads and protefts them* for
fome time, and the male frequently kills them. For the
moft part they lay many eggs ; and the flefh of many
is eatable, though it frequently favours of oil, or of
fifti.
315
Anas.
* 31?
Bill convex, obtufe, the edges divided into lamellated C haracters,
teeth ; tongue fringed and obtufe ; the three fore toes
connected, the hind one folitary.
This is a very numerous genus, and includes fwans,
geefe, and ducks.
A. Bill gibbous at the bafe.
Gen. 32. Anas.
31S
Wild fwan, hooper, elk, whirling /wan, See.—Bill Cygnus.
femicylindrical, and black ; cere vellow ; body white ;
eyelids naked, yellow ; legs black ; ribs eleven. This
is obviouflv a diftindl fpecies from the common or mute
fwan, being of a fmaller fize, and having the windpipe
differently conftrufted. It weighs from fifteen to twen¬
ty-five pounds, and meafures nearly five feet in length.
It inhabits Europe, Afia, and America, affefting chiefly
the northern regions of the globe, and feldom appearing-
in England, except in hard winters. On the approach
of fpring, thev quit their fouthern ftations, and again
retire northward to breed. A few indeed drop fhort,
and perform that office by the way, hailing in fome of
the Hebrides, Orkneys, Shetland, or fome folitary ifland.
But the great bodies of this fpecies occur on the large
rivers and lakes near Hudfon’s bay, and thofe of Kam-
tfehatka, Lapland, and Iceland. They are faid to re¬
turn to the latter place in flocks of about a hundred at
a time, in fpring ; and alfo to pour in on that ifland
from the north, in nearly the fame manner, on their way
fouthward, toward the elofe of autumn, flying very high
in the air, and in fuch a compadl body, that the bill of
one touches the tail of another. The young, which
3 R 3 are
5°o
Anfercs.
319
Olor-
O R N 1 T H
are bred there, remain throughout the firft year j and
' in Auguft, Avhen they lofe their feathers, and are unable
to fly, the natives kill them with clubs, (hoot, and hunt
them down with dogs, by which they are eafily caught.
The flefh is highly efteemed, as are the eggs, which are
gathered in the fpring. The Icelanders, Kamtfchatka-
dales, and other inhabitants of the northern world, drefs
their fliins with the down on them, few them together,
and convert them into various forts of garments. The
northern American Indians have recourfe to the fame
expedient for clothing themfelves, and fometimes weave
the down as barbers do the cawls for wigs, and then
manufa&ure it into ornamental drefles for the women of
rank, while the larger feathers are formed into caps and
plumes, to decorate the heads of their chieftains and wTar-
riors. They likewife gather the feathers and down in large
quantities, and barter or fell them to the inhabitants of
more civilized nations. Notwithftanding the fabulous
accounts and poetical defcriptions of the fong of the
dying fwan, its voice is thrill, harfh, and piercing, not
unlike the found of a clarionet, when blown by a novice
in mufic. It is aflerted, however, by thofe who have
heard the united and varied voices of a numerous affem-
blage of them, that they produce a more harmonious
effeft, particularly when foftened by the murmur of the
waters. At the fetting in of frofly weather, wild fwans
are faid to aflociate in prodigious multitudes, and, thus
united, to ufe every effort to prevent the water from
freezing *, which they are enabled to accomplifli for a
confiderable length of time, by conftantly ftirring and
dafhing it with their extended wings. The wild fwan
has been ftyled “ the peaceful monarch of the lake,”
becaufe, confcious of his fuperior ftrength, he fears no
enemy, nor fuffers any bird, however powerful, to mo-
leil him, at the fame time that he preys on none of the
feathered tribe. His vigorous wing fhields him againft
the attacks even of the eagle, and his blows from it are
fo powerful, as to ftun or kill the fierceft of his foes.
His food confifts of the graffes and weeds, and the feeds
and roots of plants which grow on the margins of the
water, and of the myriad infers which fkim over or
float on its furface ; occafionally, too, of the flimy inha¬
bitants within its bofom. The female makes her neft
of the withered leaves and ftalks of reeds and ruflies,
and commonly lays fix or feven thick {helled, white
eggs. The incubation is faid tolaft fix weeks. Both male
and female are very attentive to their young, and will
fuffer no enemy to approach them.
Tamefwan.—Bill femicylindrical, black ; cere black j
body white. The plumage of this fpecies is of the fame
fnowy whitenefs as that of the preceding, and the bird is
covered next the body with the fame kind of fine foft down •,
but it is of alargerfize, andis furniflied with a projecting,
callous, black tubercle, or knob, at the bafe of the upper
mandible. But the moft remarkable diftinClion confifls
in the conformation of the windpipe, which, in the pre-
fent fpecies, enters at once into the lungs, fo that the ut-
moft noife the bird can utter, is a mere bifs : whereas, in
the wild fpecies, the windpipe firft enters the cheft a
little way, is then reflefted in the form of a trumpet;
after which it enters a feeond time, when, dividing into
two branches, it goes on to join the lungs. The man¬
ners and habits of both fpecies in the wild ftate are very
ftmilar. I he beauty, graceful motion, and majefty of
this bird, when it is wafted along a piece of water, at-
5
O L O G Y.
traCl the admiration of every beholder: but, out of the Anferts,
liquid element, the elegance of its form in a great mea- —v—■<
fure difappears. While the male and female are em¬
ployed with the cares of the young brood, it is not fafe
to approach them ; for they will fly on a ftranger, and
fometimes beat him to the ground by repeated blows. Not¬
withftanding, however, their great ftrength of wing, a
flight blow on the head Avill dii'patch them. Multitudes
of tills fpecies are found in Ruftia and Siberia, as well
as farther fouthward, in a wild ftate. They occur, with¬
out an owner, on the Trent, on the inlet of the fea near
Abbotfbury in Dorfetftiire, and on fome other rivers
and lakes, in different parts of the Britifli illes. Thofe
on the Thames have, for ages, been protefted as royal
property; and it is ftill reckoned felony to fteal their
eggs. In former times great numbers were reared for
the table : but they are now reckoned by moft a coarfe
kind of food. A fattened cygnet, however, is ft ill ac¬
counted a great delicacy, and ufually fetches upwards of
a guinea in the poultry market. It is generally belie¬
ved that the fwan lives to a great age, though the term
of three centuries, afligned to it by fome authors, is cer¬
tainly much exaggerated. The female neftles among
the rough herbage near the water’s edge, lays from fix
to eight large white eggs, and fits on them about as ma¬
ny weeks before they are hatched. The young do not
acquire their full plumage till the fecond year. If kept
out of the water, and confined to a court-yard, the fwan
foon becomes dirty, dull, and fpiritlefs. Its ufual food
confifts of fifti and water plants. ^
Black fvoav.—Black ; wings edged with white ; h\\\ Atrata.
red ; upper mandible blackifti at the tip, a yellow fpot
near the lip ; legs black ; feet paler. Extent of wing
four feet eight inches. Inhabits^ various parts of New
Holland; but little is known* refpe<?ting its man-
ners.
Snow goofe.—Body fnow-white; front yellowifh; ten Hyirrie-
firft quill feathers, black ; bill and legs red. Size of a,fa<
goofe ; length two feet eight inches; extent of wing three
feet and a half; weight between five and fix pounds.
Great numbers of this fpeeies occur about Hudfon’s bay;
vifit Severn river in May, and ftay a fortnight, but go
farther north to breed. They return to Severn Fort
about the beginning of September, and ftay till the mid¬
dle of Oftober, when they depart for the fouth, and
are obferved in immenfe flocks attended by their young.
At this time many thoufands are killed by the inhabi¬
tants, who pluck and evifeerate them, and put them in¬
to holes in the earth, Avhere they are preferved quite
fweet by froft, throughout the fevere feafon. Thefe
birds feem alfo to occupy the weft fide of America and
Kamtfchatka. In the fummer months they are plenti¬
ful on the ar&ic coaft of Siberia ; but never migrate be¬
yond 130° of longitude. They are fuppofed to pafs the
winter in more moderate climes, as they have been feen
flying over Silefia; probably on their paffage to fome
other country, as it does not appear that they continue
there. Thofe of America, in like manner, winter in
Carolina. The Siberians decoy them by a perfon cover¬
ed with a white Ikin, and crawling on all fours, whom
they are ftupid enough to miftake for their leader,
and whom they follow, when driven by men in their
rear, till he entangles them in nets, or leads them into
a fort of pond prepared for the purpofe.
dntarftic f 00/^,—-Snowy j bill black ; legs yellow. AntarftU*\
The
ORNITHOLOG Y,
3*3
Uucop-
taa>
3*4
Cinerea.
Anfrres. The female lias tHe tail flefh-coloured, and the body
■v"—,J brown, with tranfverfe white lines. From twenty four
to twenty-fix inches long. Inhabits Falkland iflands.
Bujlard ^oo/e.—-Wliite ; two middle tail feathers, pri¬
mary quill feathers, and greater wing coverts, black j
nape, and upper part of the back, with numerous black
lines j wings with a blunt fpine at the flexure, and a
dufky green fpot \ greater wing coverts tipt with white \
fecondary quill feathers half black, half white j legs
black. This is the fea-goofe of Clayton, and the white-
winged antarBic goofe of Brown. It meafures from
thirty-two to forty inches in length, (lands pretty high
on its legs, walks and flies with great eafe, and has not
that difagreeable cackling cry peculiar to the reft of its
kind. It generally lays fix eggs 5 and its flefh is rec¬
koned vvholefome, nourifhing, and palatable. Inhabits
the Falkland iflands.
Loggerhead goofe, or racehorfe duck.—Cinereous ;
dufky beneath ; vent white j wings and tail fhort and
black •, bill, irides, and tubercle on the wings and legs
yellow. Length thirty-two inches ; weighs from twen¬
ty to thirty pounds. Obferved on Falkland iflands,
Staaten Land, &c. j moftly in pairs, though fometimes
in large flocks. From the fhortnefs of their wings, they
were unable to fly, but they ufed them in the water as
oars, and fwam fo rapidly, that it was very difficult to
fhoot them when on that element.. In order to, catch
them, the failors would furround a flock with boats and
drive them on fhore, where, unable to raife themfelves
from the ground, they ran very faft j but foon growing
tired, and fquatting down to reft, were eafily overtaken
and knocked on the head. Their flefli, however, was
not much relifhed, being rank and fifhy.
Sheldrake, or burrow duck.—Bill turning up at the
point *, forehead comprefled •, head greeniflvblack •, body
white and variegated •, bill and legs red ; head and neck
violet ; collar white •, back white •, bread brown ; belly
white, with a black line ; firft quill feathers black, the
next violet, inner ones ferruginous, the laft white ; tail
white, tipt with black. The female has lefs'vivid colours.
This elegant fpecies of duck weighs about two pounds and
a half, and meafures about two feet three inches. It in¬
habits Europe and Afia, and is not uncommon on many
parts of our coafts, remaining all the year. The female
makes choice of a rabbit burrow, wherein toddpofit her
eggs, which are numerous, amounting fometinies to fix-
teen, and which Ore covers with down from her own
body. The neft is generally near the water, whither
the female leads her young foon after they are hatched.
This fpecies is rarely met with remote from fait water
but if the eggs are taken and hatched under a hen, the
young become tame, and may be kept in ponds. They
very feldom breed when in a flute of confinement.
Their principal food confifts of fea-weeds, fmall fhtll-
fifli. and marine infe£ls. The flefh is rancid.
Velvet duck.—Blackifh ; lower eyelid, and fpot on the
wings, white ) bill yellow, black in the middle, gibbous
at the bafe •, legs red. Female without the gibbofity on
the bill, and body blackifh. From 20 to 22 inches
long. Inhabits Europe and South America. It is
fometimes, though not often, feen on our coafls in win¬
ter. Frequents Hudfon’s bay, where it breeds in fum-
mer: and is not uncommon in Ruffia and Siberia. Lives
on fuel and fhell-fifh. The female makes its neft of
grafs, and lays from four to 10 white eggs. The catch-
3*5
Tadorna,
316
Fu/ca.
ing of this fpecies is a favourite diverfion of the Tun-
gufi, who dwell on the river Ochota, and who chafe
great numbers of thefe birds, during the moulting fea-
fon, into fhallow water, and then knock them down
with clubs. They take many of them alive, and, thruft-
ing a needle through their eyes, carry fifty or more on
a firing. It is alleged that the birds, thus treated, will
live for two or even three days. ' 327
Scoter, or black diver.—Body quite black ; bill gib- Nigra'
bous at the bafe •, head and neck fprinkled with purple 3 .
tail fomewhat wedged. Female of a browner hue, and
without the protuberance at the bafe of the bill. Length
22 inches j feeds on grafs and fliell-fifh, and tafles
rancid. Thefe birds inhabit Europe and North Ame¬
rica, and moftly refide at fea, diftant from the fhore.
With us they are feen only in the winter feafon, when
they are plentiful on fome parts of the coaft of France.
They are great divers, and-abound in moft of the north¬
ern regions of the world. They want the horny nail
at the end of the bill, which is common to the reft of
the genus. As they tafte ftrongly of fifh, thfcyare al¬
lowed by the Ilomilh church to be eaten in Lent.
White fronted or laughing goofe.-—Brown } w\\i\.e, Albifions.
fpotted with black beneath ; front and rump white \ bill
and legs flame colour^ Bread cinereous 3 tail dufky,
edged with white. Two feet four inches long. Inha¬
bits Europe, Afia, and America, and vifits the fenny
parts of England, in fmall flocks, in winter. . During
fevere weather it is killed on the coaft as well as on ri¬
vers, and not uncommonly brought to market and fold ’
for the common wild goofe. It leaves us in the earlieft
fpring, none being feen after the middle of March. .
B. Bill equal at the bafe.
7 J 3*9
Scaup duck.—Black ; (boulders waved with afh co- Marita.
lour; belly and fpot on the wings white; bill broad,
blui(h-afli; irides yellow ; head and neck greenifli black;
back and wing coverts waved with black, and cinereous ;
legs and primary quill-feathers dulky ; fecondary white,
tipt with black ; tail coverts, and vent, black. Female
brown; bill bliack, furrounded with a circle of white
feathers ; neck rufiy ; belly, and bar on the wings,
white; legs black. From 18 to 20 inches long ; feeds
on (hell-fifh, and inhabits Europe, northern Afia, and
America. It is found in Iceland, Lapland, Sweden,
Norway, RufiTa, and Siberia, and as high as. Hudfon’s
bay in America. In England, it appears in the winter
feafon, in fnfiall flocks, and is frequently obferved in frefli
waters. In O&ober it begins to emigrate fouthward in
flocks. It alfo frequently lives.in holes under ground. 330
Gray lag goofe, or wild goofe.—Bill fenrucylindrical; Anftr.
body cinereous above, paler beneath ; neck ftriated ;-
bill fleffi-coloured and tipt with white ; rump and vent *
white ; legs flefh-coloured ; claws black, wants the
wing fpot. Weighs eight or nine popnds, and is about
33 inches long. Varies much in colour by domeftica-
tion, in which ftate it is our common tame goofe. In¬
habits in flocks the northern parts of Europe, Afia, and
America ; refides the whole year in the Lincolnffiire
fens, where it breeds, laying eight or nine eggs which
are hatched in 28 or 30 days. Frequents lakes and ri¬
vers, and lives to a great age. The domeftic goofe is
well known. It is bred in great multitudes in the fens
of LinCotnfhire, both on account of its flefli and fea¬
thers. The geefe are there attended by a perfon called
502
Anferes.
33T
Rujicollis.
332
Segetum.
333
Borealis.
334
Erytb re-
pus.
335
■Bernicla.
a go&&ard, who drives them to feed and water. They
^ are plucked five times a year, once for quills and fea¬
thers, and four times for feathers only. If the feafoh
prove cold, many of them die by this cruel operation.
Tame geefe have been known to live for 8o years.
They generally retain the white rump and vent feathers
of their original mck. They feed on water infe&s,
worms, and plants } and bv means of two rows of ftrong
fharp teeth within their bills, they crop the herbage in
meadows, and do much injury to young corn.
Red-breq/fed goofe Black; white beneath'; bill.
fmall, conical ; neck rufous ; fpot between the bill and
eyes white. Length 21 inches ; weight about three
pounds. Inhabits Ruflia and the northern parts of Si¬
beria, but is very rarely found in England. In winter
it migrates towards Perfia. It is a beautiful fpecies, and
its flefh is in high requeft.
Bean goofe.—Cinereous; dirty -white beneath; bill
comprcffed at the bafe ; tail-coverts white ; legs faffron ;
bill reddifh in the middle, black at the bafe and tip ;
head and neck inclining to ferruginous ; quill-feathers
edged with black ; tail with white ; claws white. Mea-
fures from two feet and a half to three feet in length,
and weighs from five to feven pounds. Inhabits Hud-
fon’s bay and the Hebrides, particularly the Hie of
Lewis, where it remains all fummer and breeds. Thefe
birds migrate to England in autumn, and leave it again
,n ^ay> lighting, on their paffage, on corn fields, and
feeding on the g^een wheat. In their migration they
fiy at a great height, fometimes in a ftraight line, and
fometimes in the form of a wedge, cackling as they ad¬
vance. This fpecies is often killed, and fold for the
common wild goofe, with which it has been long con¬
founded.
Garland duck.—Bill narrow ; head green ; bread and
belly white. Inhabits the fens of Iceland, but is very
rare.
Bernacle goofe.—Afh-coloured ; front w-hite ; body
waved with black and white above ; neck black ; belly
white ; bill {hurt, black, with a flefh-coloured fpot on
each fide, a black fpot between the bill and eye ; tail
white beneath ; legs blaekifh. Twenty-five inches
long. Inhabits the north of Europe and Hudfon’s bay,
and appears in Jarge flocks on the north-weft coafts of
Britain during winter. They are then very wild and
fhy ; but, on being taken, become quite familiar in a
few days. In February they quit our ftiores, and retire
as far as Lapland, Greenland, and even Spitzbergen, to
breed. In the darker ages this fpecies was ferioufly be¬
lieved to be produced from the lepas anatifera, a fhell
which is often found adhering by a pedicle to logs of
wood that have lain long in the fea, from which cir- •
cnmftance it ©btained the name of tree-goofe and
clakis.
Brent or* brand goofe.—Brown ; head, neck, and
bieaft, black ; collar white ; bill, wings, tail and legs,
black ; broad fpot on each fide of the neck ; tail-coverts
and vent w-hite ; belly and fhoulders cinereous ; flanks
ftreaked with white ; confiderably fmaller than the pre-
cedirtg. _ Inhabits Europe, Afia, and North America.
Thefe birds appear on our coafts, particularly in the
Weft of England, during winter, and in Shetland are
called horra geefe. But they are njoft plentiful in Ire¬
land, where they are taken in nets placed acrofs the ri-
V'crs, efpecially in thofe which empty themfelves into
Ornithology,
the northern parts of the Irifh channel. Sometimes they Anferes.
appear in vaft flocks on the coaft of Picardy, deftroyino v—
ail the corn near the fea. Ihey migiate northward in ;
fummer, and return fouth in autumn, flying high in
wedge-ihaped flocks. I hey feed on polygonum vivipa-
nlm. empeirum nigrum, and other plants, but chiefly on
aquatic plants and marine vermes. They are eafily ta¬
med, and reckoned good for the table.
Eider, edder, or Cuthbert duck.—¥>\\\ cylindrical ;
cere wrinkled, and bifid on the hind part ; bill, legs, Plate
front, ocular band, breaft, lower part of the back and(YCX V]'
belly black ; middle of the head, tipper part of the fis' h
back, fhoulders, and wing coverts w-hite; a green blotch
beneath the hind head. The female almoit wholly ob-
fcurely ferruginous, with black lines; tail and primary
quill-feathers dufky. I he young are not mature in
plumage till the third, or perhaps the fourth year. This
fpecies is nearly double the fize of the common duck,
and about 22 inches long. It inhabits the high lati¬
tudes of Europe, Afia, and America, and feeds chiefly
on teftaceous animals. It is rarely, if ever, feen in the
fouth of England, but breeds in the north of Scotland,
particularly on the Weftern ifles, as alfo on the Earn
ihands, on the coaft of Northumberland, in June and
Julv. The heft is made on the ground, compofed of
marine plants, and lined with down of exquifite finenefs
winch the female plucks from her own body. I he eggs
are ufually five, and of a greenifh colour. In Iceland
the eider ducks generally build their nefts on fmall
iflands not far from the fttore, and fometimes even near
the dwellings of the natives, who treat them with fo
much attention and kindnefs as to render them nearly
tame. Two females will fometimes lay their eggs in
the fame neft, in which cafe they always agree remark¬
ably^ well. As long as the female is fitting, the male
continues on watch near the ftiore, but as foon as the
young are hatched, he leaves them. The mother, how¬
ever, remains with them a confiderable time afterwards;
and it is curious to obferve her attention in leading them
out of the neft almoft as foon as they creep from the
eggs. Having conduced them to the water’s edge, fhe
takes them on her back and fwims a few yards with
them, wdien fhe dives, and leaves them on the furface
to take care of themfelves. They are feldom after-
terwards feen on land. When the natives come to the
neft, they carefully remove the female, and take away
the fuperfluous down and eggs. They then replace the
mother, and fhe begins to lay afrefh, covering the eggs
with new down ; and when ihe can afford no more, the
male comes to her aftiftance, and covers the eggs with
his down, which is white. When the young ones leave
the neft, which is about an hour after they are hatched,
it is once more plundered. The beft down, and moll
are during the firft three weeks of their laying;
and it has generally been obferved that they lay the
greateft number of eggs in rainy weather. One female,
during the time of laying, ufually yields half a pound
of down, which, however, is reduced one half after it
is cleaned. When pure, it is fold in Lapland at the
rate of two rixdollars a pound. It is extremely foft
and warm, and fo light and elaftic, that a couple of
handfuls, fqueezed together, are fufficient to fill a co¬
vering like a feather bed, which is ufed in thofe cold
countries inftead of a common quilt or blanket. The
Iceland company at Copenhagen, generally export every
- year
/
ORNITHOLOGY.
Anfere;
537
Mofcata.
338
Clxpcata.
„ 339
Rubens.
j. 34°
ilerja.
year from 1506 £0 2000 pounds iveigiit of down, clean-
J ed and uncleaned, excluiiv'e of what is privately expor¬
ted by foreigners. The Greenlanders kill thefe birds
with darts, purfuing them in their little boats, watching
their courfe by the air-bubbles when they dive, and al-
ways finking at them when they rife wearied to the fur-
face. Their defh is valued as food, and their fkins are
made into warm and comfortable under garments.
Mufcovy duck.—Face naked, with red caruncles; legs
and orbits naked, and with the bill red •, tip of the bill
and fpace round the noftrils black 5 crown black j tem¬
ples, chin, and throat white, varied with black 5 brealt
and lower part of the belly brown, mixed with white j
back and rump brown, with a green gold glofsj upper
part of the belly white; three nrtt quill feathers white,
the reft brown; tail feathers twenty, the outer white,
the reft green gold. Two feet long: native of Brazil,
and is domefticated in Europe. Has its name, not’as
vulgarly alleged, from the country of Mufcovy, but
from the circumftances of its fmelling of mujkf which
arifes from the liquor fecreted in the gland of the rump.
Like other dometticated fowls they are fubjedt to great
varieties. They are a thriving and prolific fpecies, and
not only aflociate, but fometimes breed with the com¬
mon duck. Their fleth are much efteemed. Mr Pen¬
nant fays they are met with wild about Lake Baikal in
Afia; Ray, that they are natives of Louifiana; Marc-
grave, that they refide in Brazil; and Butfon, that they
occur in the overflowed favannas of Guiana, where they
feed in the day time on the wild rice, and return in the
evening to the fea. He adds, that they neftle on the
trunks of rotten trees, and that after the young are
hatched, the mother takes them, one after another, by
the bill, and throws them into the water. Great num¬
bers of the young brood are faid to be deftroyed by the
alligators.
Shoveler.—Extremity of the bill dilated, rounded,
with an incurved nail; bill black ; irides yellow; head
and neck violet green; breait white, and lunulated;
back, wings, and wedged tail brown ; belly chefnut ;
vent white ; firft and fecond wing coverts pale blue,
greater brown, tipt with white, the reft edged with
white ; legs tawney. The female has a confiderable re-
femblance to the common duck, but both fexes are very
apt to vary in their colourings. This fpecies inhabits
Europe, Afia, apd North America, but is by no means
common in Britain. A few remain in France during
the breeding feafon, making a neft of ruflies, in which
they lay 1 o or 12 rufous-coloured eggs.
Red-breaJIedJhove/er.—Brown; chin and breaft chef-
nut ; wings tipt with gray, wing-fpot purple, edged
with white; tail ftiort, white; bill broad, brownith yel¬
low; head large; eyes fmall; irides yellow; legs fmall,
flender, and bay. Size of a tame duck. Sometimes
found in the fens of Lincolnthire, but is rare, and little
known.
Ural duck.—Waved with cinereous and yellowifli, and
fpotted with brown ; brown, fpeekled with gray be¬
neath ; throat brown-yellow, waved with black ; tail
long, black, wedged. Rather bigger than tlie common
teal. Is not unfrequent in the greater lakes of the
Ural mountains, and the rivers Oby and Irtifch. Is not
feen on the ground, being, from the fituation of its legs,
unable to walk; but it fwims well and quickly, with the
tail immerfed in the water as far as the rump, and fer-
5°3
vmg as a rudder, contrary to the common method of a Anferes.
duck’s fwimming. The neft is formed of reeds.
Gudwall, or gray.—Wing-ipot rufous, black, and strepcra.
white; bill flat, black; legs tawney; rump black; back
brown, waved with paler; breaft and belly gray, varied
with white. Nineteen inches long. Inhabits Europe
and Northern Afia. Vifits Britain in winter, but not
in great numbers. Suppofed to breed in Sweden, and
probably in Ruflia and Siberia. It is faid to be a great
diver, and to feed chiefly by night, concealing itfelf
among the reeds and ruflies during the day. It makes
a noile not unlike that of the mallard, but louder. Its
flefli is favoury. 341
Golden eye.—Black and white; head turned; violet;
a large white fpot at each corner of the mouth ; bill
black; irides golden ; lower part of the neck, breaft,
and belly, white; back and rump black; legs red. The
markings of the female are, head red brown; neck gray ;
breaft and belly white; wing coverts varied with bulky
and cinereous ; middle quill-feathers white ; the reft
and tail black; legs dulky. About 19 inches in length.
Inhabits Europe, Afia, and North America.
Birds of this Ipecies do not aflemble in large flocks,
nor are they numerous on the Brililh fliores or on the
lakes in the interior. They are late in taking their de¬
parture northward in the fpring, and in their flight they
make the air whittle with the vigorous quick Itrokes of
their wings. They are excellent divers, and feldom fet
foot on fhore; on which, it is faid, they walk with great
apparent difficulty, and, except in the breeding feaiqn,
only repair to it for the purpofe of taking their repofe.
They build in the hollows of trees, and prey on thell-
filh, mice, fiffi, and frogs.
The anas glaucion, or mojillon, feems to be only a
variety of the golden eye in one ftage of its plumage,
before it arrives at maturity. 343
Bimaculated or clucking duck.—Subcrefted ; brown, G/or/raaj.
waved with black ; head green; a ferruginous fpot be¬
fore and behind the eyes; breaft with black fpots; wing-
fpot green, edged with white. Length 20 inches; oc¬
curs along the Lena, and about Lake Baikal, and has
been taken in a decoy in England. Has a Angular
note, fomewhat like clucking;. 344
JVigeon, whewer, or whim.—Tail pointed; vent fea- Penelope.
thers black; head bay ; front white; batik waved with
black and white ; bill plumbeous, with a black nail;
head and upper part of the neck red, with blackifli fpots;
breaft claret; body above waved with cinereous and
blackifti; wing-fpot blue green ; black before and be¬
hind ; wing-coverts varied brown and white ; belly
white; legs lead colour. Female.waved with brown ;
breaft paler. Twenty inches long. Inhabits Europe,
Afia, and Africa. Vifits England in autumn, when
great numbers are taken in decoys, being efteemed an
excellent food. It likewife frequents our wvers and
falt-water inlets in fmall flocks. Its is rem$kable for
uttering a whittling or piping noife, which is frequently
heard as it flies during the night. It lives on frogs,
worms, infedts, and water plants, and is fometimes do¬
mefticated. There is a variety with a lilvery wing fpot,
and the throat waved with affi-colour. 345
Pin-tail duck.—Tail pointed, long, black beneath; hind Acuta.
head with a white line on each fide; back waved with
cinereous; bill black, bluifli at the fides; head ferrugi¬
nous ; throat white, a little fpotted ; body white be¬
neath ;
-5^
Anferes,
ORNITHOLOGY.
34«
' Terrugi-
nea.
- M.
' Glacialis.
S48
Verina.
ncath } ’WingsTkoWn *, wing fpot violet, ferruginous on
the fore part, black and white on the hind part; tail
brown, edgdd with white, two middle feathers longer.
Female lefs •, wing-fpot ftraw-coloured, and edged with
white. Inhabits Europe, Alia, and America. Thefe
birds are feklom numerous in England, but flocks of
' them are fometimes abundantly fpread along the ifles
and fhores nf Scotland and Ireland, and on the interior
lakes of■ both thefe countries. This fpecies meafures
twenty-eight inches in lengthy and is elteemed excellent
eating.
Ferruginous duch.—Reddifli-brown ; bill dilated and
rounded at the bafe j feet pale blue. Weight 20 ounces.
Inhabits Denmark and Sweden, but very rarely occurs
in this country.
Long-tailed duck.—Tail pointed, long ; body black,
white beneath ; bill black, orange in the middle ; head
on the fore part and lides reddiflvgray j hind part, bread,
and belly, white ; fcapulars long and white •, lidesof the
neck with a black fpot j lower part of the bread, back,
wings, and tail, chocolate 5 four middle tail-feathers
black, two middle ones longer, the red white •, legs
dulky-red, or bfackifli. The female has the tail Ihorter
and wedged} the body varied with blackilh, rufous,
and gray; the back black ; collar and lower part of the
belly while. Of the flze of a wigeon. Inhabits Eu¬
rope, Ada, and America, frequenting both the interior
lakes and the fea fliores of thefe quarters of the world.
The birds of this fpecies do not, in the winter, like
many of the other tribes, entirely quit their northern
haunts, but confiderable numbers remain there, endu¬
ring the rigours of the feafon, and enjoying, in fummer,
the perpetual day of an unfetting fun. Numerous
flocks, however, fpread themfelves Southward in the
winter, from Greenland and Hudfon’s bay, as far as
New York in America, and from Iceland and Spitz-
bergen over Lapland, the Ruffian dominions, Sweden,
Norway, and the northern parts of the Britifti ifles in
Europe.- The flocks which vifit the Orkney ifles ap¬
pear in O&ober, and Continue there till April. About
funfet they are feen in large companies going to and re¬
turning from the bays, in which they frequently pafs
the night, making fuch a noife, as in frofly weather
may be heard fome miles. They are rather fcarce in
England, to which they refort only in very hard win¬
ters, and even then in fmail draggling parties. They
fly fwiftly, but feldom to a great diftance, making a
loud and lingular cry. They are expert divers, and
fuppofed to five chiefly on fhell-fifh. The female makes
her neft among the grafs near the water, and, like the,
eider duck, lines it with the fine down of her own body.
According to Latham, fhe lays five eggs, which are of
a bluifh white colour, and about the fize of thofe of a
pullet.
Pochard, or red-headed zvigeon.—Waved with afh-
colour; head brown ; pecioral band ; vent and rump
black ; bill broad, blue, tipt with black ; irides tawney;
head and neck baV; breaft and upper part of the back
black ; fcapulars and inner wing-coverts undulated with
black and white ; belly whitifh, with dufky lines at the
fides ; legs plumbeous. Female darker; head pale red-
difh-brown ; wing-coverts and belly cinereous. Nine¬
teen inches long; weight 28 ounces. Inhabits Europe,
Afia, and America. This fpecies is frequently caught
in the decoys in England, though it is not kipnvn to
breed there. In fome counties it is ealled/wLr, dunbird, Anferf*,
or great-headed wigeon. It is of a plump round fliape,' 
walks with a waddling and ungraceful ftep, but flies ra¬
pidly, and in flocks of from 20 to 40, commonly in a
compact body. It is much in requeft for the table, but
is not eafily domelticated. The male has a labyrinth,
or enlargement of the trachea, near the junction with
the lungs, a Angular conformation peculiar to the male
of feveral fpecies of the duck tribe, but the ufe of
which is ftill unknown. In winter the pochard migrates
fouthuard, as far, it is fatd, as Egypt. ^4*
Garganey.—Wing-fpot green ; a white line aboveQnciqvt*
the eyes ; bill lead colour ; crown dulky, with oblong^4’
ftreaks; cheeks and neck purple, with white ttreaks ;
breaft light brown, with femrcireular black bars; belly
white, lower part and vent fpeckled; firft quill-feathers
cinereous, outer webs of the middle ones green ; fcapu¬
lars long, narrow, ftripped with white, alh colour and
black ; tails dulky ; legs lead-colour. Female, with an
obfeure white mark over the eye ; plumage brownilh-
alh ; wings without the green fpot. Length 17 inches.
Inhabits Europe and Afia. By fome called pied wi¬
geon, or fummer teal. Frequents only the frefti waters,
feeding on feeds and aquatic plants. Is not common in
Britain, and is faid to be impatient of cold. 453
Teal.—Wing-fpot green ; a white line above and Cteacs
beneath the eyes ; bill black ; irides hazel; head and
neck bright bay ; a broad green band behind the eyes
to the nape, and terminating beneath in a white line ;
body whitilli, with tranfverfe blackifh lines above ; fore
part of the neck and breaft with round black fpots;
wing-fpot green, edged beneath with white, obliquely
black above; vent black in the middle. The female
is diftinguiftied by the head and neck varied with whit-
ilh and brown, and the vent totally white. There are
two permanent varieties, of which the firft is the wing-
fpot varying in colour ; the body brown-alb above, ru¬
fous-white beneath, and black fpots on the belly. The
fecond has the cheek, chin, and under parts of the body
white-rufous, and the wing-fpot without black. Weight
about 12 ounces; length 14 inches and a half. The
fmalleft of the duck tribe, and in high requeft at the
table. Inhabits Europe and Afia ; vifits us in winter,
and frequents our frefti waters in fmall flocks. Many
are caught in the decoys, and a few breed in Wolmer
Fnreft, in the morafles about Carlifle, &c. The female
makes a largeHieft compofed of foft dried grafles lined
with feathers, knd cunningly concealed in a hole among
the roots of reeds and bulrulhes, near the edge of the
water. The eggs are of the fize of thofe of a pigeon,
from fix to ten in number, and of a dull white colour
marked with fniall brownifli fpots. The male has a
bony labyrinth in the lower part of the windpipe. 351
Mallard, or wild duck-—Cinereous; middle tail fea- Bofchas*
thers (of the male) recurved ; bill ftraight ; collar
white; bill grecnifh-yellow; head and neck gloffy-green;
fcapulars white, with waved brown lines ; back brown ;
Vent black-green ; breaft cbefnut; belly gray; wing-
fpot violet-green, edged above with a black and white
line ; two middle tail feathers dark green, and recurved.
Female reddifli-brown, fpotted with black. Very fub-
je£l to vary, efpecially by domeftication, when it is our
common tame duck. About 23 inches long. Weight
about two pounds and a half. Inhabits Europe, Afia,
and America; is very common in marfliy places in ma-
ny
O Tt N I T H
Anferes. ny parts of this kingdom, but no where occurs in great-
— v ■■"■■■ > er plenty than in Lincolnfhire, where prodigious num¬
bers are annually taken in the decoys. In only ten de¬
coys in the neighbourhood of Wainfleet, as many as
31,200 have been taken in onefeafon. There is a pro¬
hibition, by aft of parliament, againft taking them be¬
tween the firft of June and the firft of Oftober. They
do not always build their neft clofe to the water, but of¬
ten at a good diftance from it, in which cafe the female
will take the young in her beak, or between her legs to
the water. They have fometimes been known to lay
their eggs in 51 high tree, in the deferted neft of a mag¬
pie or crow 5 and an inftance has likewife been recorded
of one found at Etchingham in Suffex, fitting on nine
eggs in an oak, at the height of 25 feet from the ground,
the eggs being fupported by fome fmall twigs laid crofs-
ways. Like many of the tribe, the mallards, in vaft
numbers quit the north at the end of autumn, and mi¬
grating fouthward, arrive in the beginning of wdntef in
large flocks, and fpread themfelves over the lakes and
marfliy waftes of the Britifti ifles. They pair in the
fpring, when the greater number of them again retire
northward to breed, but many draggling pairs day with
us ; and they, as well as preceding colonids, remain to
rear their young, which become natives, and remain
with us throughout the year. The common domedic
variety of this fpecies affumes very different markings;
but the male, even in its tame date, retains the curling
of the feathers at the tail. Habits of domedication,
however, have deprived the tame duck of that fprightly
look and fliape which didinguifli the mallard, and have
fubdituted a more dull and lefs elegant form and ap¬
pearance in their dead. It is alfo deferving of remark,
that ducks pair, and are monogamous in the wild date,
but become polygamous when tame. The Chinefe
make great ufe of ducks, but prefer the tame to the
wild. We are told that mod of them in that country
are hatched by artificial heat. The eggs being laid m
boxes of fand, are placed on a brick hearth, to which is
communicated a proper degree of heat during the time
required for hatching. The ducklings are fed with
cray-fifli and crabs, boiled and cut fmall, and afterwards
mixed with boiled rice j and in about a fortnight they
are able to drift for themfelves. The proprietors then
provide them with an old ftep-mother, who leads them
where they are to find provender •, being fird put on
board a boat, which is dedined for their habitation, and
from which the whole flock, amounting often to 300
or 400, go out to feed, and return at command. This
method is commonly pra&ifed during the nine warmed
months of the year, and efpecially during rice harved,
when the maders of the duck boats row up and down
according to the opportunity of procuring food, which
is found in plenty at the tide of ebb, as the rice planta¬
tions are overflowed at high Avater. It is curious to ob-
ferve how thefe birds obey their maders ; for fome
thoufands belonging to different boats Avid feed at large
on the fame fpot, and on a fignal given will folloAV their
leader to their refpeftive boats without a Angle dranger
being found among them. No fewer than 40,000 fuch
boats are fuppofed to ply on the Tigris. When confined
to dry fituations, ducks degenerate in drength, beauty,
and flavour. They feed on various animal and \regeta-
ble fubdances, for Avhich they unceafingly fearch Avith
their curioufly condrmffed bills, fifting and feparating
VOL. XV. Part II. . •
O L O G Y. 505
every alimentary particle from the mud. When older, Anferes.
they alfo devour worms, fpaAvn, Avater-infedls, and fome- 1 '
times frogs and fmall fidies, together Avith the various
feeds of bog and wrater plants. ,,,
Black-billed wlii/Hing duck.—BroAvn j head fomewhat Arborea.
creded j belly fpotted with Avhite and black. Smaller
than the preceding. Inhabits Guiana and Jamaica j
winters in Carolina, and builds and fits on trees. ^
Red-crejled duck.—Black j head and upper part of Rufina*
the neck tedaceous *, croAvn reddilh, that of the male
creded j wings beneath, and at the edges Avhite } tail
broAvn. Female broAvn, and Avants the cred. Inhabits
the Cafpian fea, and the lakes of the Tartarian de-
ferts •, is fometimes alfo found in Italy and Barbary.
Tufted duck.—Cred pendent 5 body black 5 belly and Yidigula.
wing-fpot white 5 bill broad, livid, tipt with black 5
irides golden j head greenifh; flroulders blackifli-broAvn,
Avith pale draAV-eoloured dots ; legs dulky-blue. Fe¬
male SroAvnifh, Avants the cred. Sixteen inches long.
Inhabits Europe and Northern Afia. There are feveral
varieties. It is not uncommon Avith us in Avinter, and is
frequently feen in our frefh Avaters as late as near the end
of March. It is often brought to market, and fold for
wigeon. It lives not only in fredi water, but in the fea}
dives well, and feeds on fmall fidies, crabs and fliellfifli,
and likewife on the feeds of aquatic plants, particularly
thofe of the common rufh.
355
Gen. 33. Mergus. Mergus.
356
BilFtoothed, flender, cylindrical, hooked at the point; Charadters.
nodrib fmall, oval, in the middle of the bill j feet
four-toed, outer toe longed.
The birds of this genus live on fifli, and are very de-
drudlive in ponds.
Crejled merganfer.—Cred globular, Avhite oft each Cucullatus.
fide ; body brown above, Avliite beneath ; bill and legs
black ; irides golden 5 cred larger than the head, edged
Avith black. Female brown ; cred lefs and ferruginous.
Length feventeen inches and a half; Aveight nearly 23
ounces. An elegant fpecies, w'hich inhabits North A-
merica, appearing at Hudfon’s bay about the end of
May, and building, clofe to the lakes, a ned compofed
of grafs, lined Avith feathers from its own bread.
Goofander.—A longitudinal cred, fomewhat erecl 5 Merganfer.
the bread Avhite, without fpots; the tail feathers alh-co-
loured ; draft black 5 bill, legs, and irides red ; greater
quill-feathers black ; leffer Avhite. Weight about four
pounds ; length two feet four inches. Inhabits Europe,
Afia, and America. Sometimes vrfits our rivers and
lakes in fevqre winters, but retires to the more northern
latitudes to breed. It has been known to build on trees,
but more frequently among rocks or dones, and lays 14
eggs, Avhich, Avith the bird itfelf, are eagerly devoured
by the Aveafel. It fwims Avith only the head above the
furface of the Avater ; dives deep^ remains a long time
beloAv, and rifes at a confiderable didance. Its flefli is
rancid and fearcely eatable. In qued of fifh, it dives
Avith great celerity, and holds its flippery prey Avith
great fecurity by means of its toothed bill, fo admirably
adapted to the purpofe.
Dun diver, orfparklingfowl.—Creded j cinereous;
head and upper parts of the neck bay ; chin, middle Cafior.
quill feathers, and belly Avhite ; bill and irides. red ;
belly fometimes flefli colour. Weighs about 38 ounces ;
3 S meafures
506
ORNITHOLOGY.
Anferes.
360
Serrator.
Plate
eccxcvi,
%• 2.
35i
Albellus.
362
JMTinutus.
3*3
AtCA.
364
Characters.
meafures 55 inches in length. Inhabits the fame coun¬
tries with the preceding, and by feme naturalifts is rec¬
koned the female 5 but the labyrinth, or enlargement at
the bottom of the windpipe, feems to prove it to be a
male, and confequently a diftinft fpecies.
Red-hreajied merg(infer.—Crelt pendent ; breafl red-
dilh and variegated ; collar white 5 tail-feathers brown,
varied with cinereous ; under part of the bill and legs
red ; feathers of the fides of the bread; large, white,
edged with black, covering the fore part of the folded
wings. Female with fcarcely any creft •, head and be¬
ginning of the neck rufous. Twenty-one inches long.
Inhabits the northern parts of Europe, Alia, and Ame¬
rica. Breeds in Greenland, Hudfon’s bay, Newfound¬
land, Siberia, the north of Scotland, &c. Makes its
neft of withered grafs, and down torn from its own
bread, on dry land, and lays from eight to 13 white
eggs, equal in fize to thofe of a duck.
Smew, or white nern.—Crefl pendent ; hind head
black •, body white ; back and temples black ; wings
variegated; bill and legs black; wing-fpot white; nape,
®val fpot from the bill furrounding the eyes, back, and
two arched lines on each fide, near the beginning of
the wings, black. Female has the head fmooth and
gray ; band acrofs the eyes black, and under the eyes
a white fpot; body blackifh- brown above j white be¬
neath ; upper part of the head bay *, chin white. From
15 to 17 inches long. Inhabits Europe and America.
Breeds in the Andie regions, and is driven to the fouth
only by fevere weather.
Minute fmew, or /ough diver.—Brown-alh ; under
parts of the body and chin w'hite ; head and upper part
of the neck ferruginous ; wing-fpot white before and be¬
hind. Very much refembles the female of the preced¬
ing, but wants the black oval eye-fpot. About 14 inches
and a half long. Is rarely met with in the fouth of Eng¬
land, and only in winter when the weather is fevere. It
dives with great eafe in purfuit of fifh, and remains long
under water.
Gen. 34. Alca, Auk.
Bill toothlefs, fhort, comprefled, convex, often tranf-
verfely furrowed ; lower mandible gibbous near the
bafe j noftrils linear j legs (in moft cafes) three-toed.
The birds of this genus are moftly inhabitants of the
Ardic feas; are accounted ftupid, breed in holes, which
they themfelves often dig, and in the caverns and fif-
fures of rock, where they reft during the night. In re-
fped of colour, they are generally uniform, being black
above, and white beneath. They are Ihaped like a
duck, with their feet placed behind the centre of gra¬
vity •, their bills are large, having the furfaces crofted
with furrows, and ending in an acute point. They lay
but one egg, which is very large, confidering the fize
26- t>f the bird.
irttica. P'fffl'1’—Bill comprefled, two-edged with two grooves 5
orbits and temples white ; upper eyelid daggered or fur-
niffied with a pointed callus j body black ; cheeks,
breaft, and belly white ; bill red, with a black bafe;
legs red. Weighs between 12 and 13 ounces j length
upwards of 12 inches. Inhabits the northern feas of
Europe, Afia, and America, in vaft flocks. Appears
on many parts of our rocky coaft about the middle of
April* and begins to breed about the middle of May.
On the Dover cliffs, and other fuch places, they depofit Anferes.
their fingle egg in the holes and crevices : in other places '-““V"-—
they burrow like rabbits, if the foil is light, but more
frequently take pofleflion of rabbit burrows, and lay
their egg fome feet under ground. On St Margaret’s
ifland, off St David’s, the fifliermen put their hands into
the holes, and the puffins feize them fo obftinately, that
they allow themfelves to be drawn out. In other places
they are caught with ferrets, and the young are taken
apd pickled. About the latter end of Auguft they re¬
tire from our coafts, and have all migrated by the be¬
ginning of September. Their principal food is fmall
fiffi, particularly fprats, with which they feed their
young.
Great auk, or penguin.—Bill compreffed, edged ; an Impennis.
oval fpot on each fide before the eyes. Bill black, with ^
eight or ten grooves j wings fliort and imperfect j fecon-
dary quill feathers tipt with white ; legs black. Three
feet long. Inhabits Europe and America ; occurs in
the moft northern parts of Britain, and breeds in the
ifle of St Kilda, appearing about the beginning of May,
and retiring about the middle of June. The ffiortnefs
of its wings renders them ufelefs for flight, but of Angu¬
lar fervice in diving under water, where they aft as fins,
and thus enable it to purfue its prey with great velocity.
It lays an egg fix inches long, white and marked with
purple fpots, clofe to the fea mark, being incapable of
flying, and almoft of walking.
Razorbill.—Bill with four grooves, and a white line T ^
on each fide as far as the eyes. Bill black j the largelt
groove white ; body black above, the under parts,
from the middle of the throat, white ; feeondary quill
feathers tipt with white ; legs black. In the young bird
the bill has but one groove, and, in the ftill younger,
there is no line from the bill to the eyes. Eighteen
inches long. Inhabits Europe and North America.
The birds of this fpecies affociate with the guillemots,
and alfo breed in the fame places. About the begin¬
ning of May they take poffeffion of the higheft impend¬
ing rocks, for the purpofe of incubation, and on the
ledges of thefe rocks they affemble in great numbers,
fitting clofely together, and often in a feries of notes one
above another. There they depofit their fingle large
egg on the bare rock, and notwithftanding the mul¬
titudes of them which are thus mixed together, yet
no confufion takes plaee ; for each bird knows her own
egg, and hatches it in that fituation. The razorbill is
provincially called auk, murre,falk, marrot, and fcout.
Dufki/ auk.— Size of the miffel thruffi ; the length 11 Tetracula,
inches. Upper mandible of the bill bent at the point j Plate
colour yellow brown ; the ridge white ; irides white, and cccxcvn.
furrounded with a black circle ; forehead covered with 2*
downy feathers, which are reflexed, half one way, and
half the other : behind the eyes a ftripe of white j head
and neck black ; upper parts of the body black ; legs
livid } webs black. Inhabits Japan and Kamtfcbatka.
Is fometimes feen at a great diftance from land, when it
is folitary, but on land is gregarious..
Pcrroquet auk.—Bill compreffed, with a fingle groove pett/cula.
in each mandible ; a white fpot on the upper eyelid, be¬
tween and under the eyes. Inhabits the fea between
Japan and Kamtfehatka, and often intimates approach- 370
ing land to mariners. Cirrata.
Tufted auk.—Entirely black j bill with three tranf- plate
verfe grooves, ij; inch in length, fcarlet j fides of the CC|^C^11*
head,;
371
Alee.
O R NIT H
Anferes. head, fpace round the eyes, and the angle of the throat
■—* ' white j a yellow tuft of feathers rifes from the upper
eyebrow and flretches to the neck j legs brownilh
orange ; claws black j length 19 inches j female lefs-j
the tufts fmaller, and the bill eroded only with two
grooves. Inhabits Kamtfchatka and the neighbouring
illands.
Little auk, little black and white diver, Greenland
dove, fea turtle, &c.—Bill without furrows and coni¬
cal ; the whole abdomen and tips of the flag feathers
white } feet black. There is a variety that is totally
white, and another with a rufous breaft. Nine inches
long. Inhabits Europe and America, particularly Spitz-
bergen, Greenland, and Newfoundland, wrhere they are
called ice birds; but they are rare vifitants of the Bri-
tifli ifles.
Pigmy auk.—Bill carinated, deprefled at the bafe ;
body black above, cinereous beneath. Seven inches
long. Inhabits the iflands between Alia and America.
O L O G Y.
507
Anferes.
372
Pygmxa,
373
Apteno-
DYTES.
374
Characters,
3?s
Cbryfo-
come.
376
ratcichoff
*0.
Gen. 35. Aptenodytes, Penguin.
Bill flraight, a little comprelfed and lharp-edgedj upper
mandible longitudinally and obliquely grooved, the
lower truncated at the tip 5 tongue with reflected
prickles; wings fin-lhaped, without quill feathers;
feet placed behind, four-toed, and palmated.
The birds of this genus referable thofe of the preced¬
ing in colour, food, habit, and apparent ftupidity, as alfo
in the fituation of their feet, in their ere£t walk, in their
nefts, and in their eggs. They differ from them, how¬
ever, in this, that they are all inhabitants of the South
feas, from the equator to the Antar6lic circle. They
are quite incapable of flying, the feathers on their wings
being fo fliort as to referable feales. They are fortified
againlt cold by an abundance of fat; they fwim very
fwiftly; on land they lit ereft, in a lingular manner and
in valt multitudes, and they cackle like geefe, only in a
hoarfer tone. Their noftriis are linear, and hidden in a
furrow of the bill; their wings are covered with a ftrong
dilated membrane, and their tail-feathers very rigid.
Crejled penguin.—Bill reddilli brown ; legs reddifh ;
frontal creft black, ere£t, auricular, fulphur colour, and
Hied on each fide ; body bluilh black, white beneath ;
wings white beneath. Female with a yellowilh ftripe
on the eyebrow. Twenty-three inches long. Inhabits
the Falkland illands, and the fouthern parts of New
Holland. Called hopping penguin and jumping jack,
from its a&ion of leaping quite out of the water, for
three or four feet at leaft, on meeting with the leaft
«bftacle. Though more lively than its congeners, it is
fo foolilh as to allow itfelf to be knocked on the head
with a flick, or even to be taken by the hand. When
irritated, it ere£ts its creft in a beautiful manner. Thefe
birds make their nefts among thofe of the pelican tribe,
with which they live in tolerable harmony, and feldom
lay more than one egg, which is white, and larger than
that of a duck.
Patagonian penguin.—Bill and legs black; ears with
a golden fpot; lower mandible fawney at the bafe; irides
hazel; head and hind part of the neck brown; back
dark blue ; breaft, belly, and vent white. Four feet
three inches long. Inhabits Falkland iflands and New
Guinea. M. Bougainville caught one, which foon be¬
came fo tame as to follow and know the perfon who had
377.
the care of it; at firft it fed on flefti, fifli, and bread,
but after fome time, grew lean, pined and died. This
fpccies is not only the largeft, but the fatteft of its
genus ; and its flelh, though not very unpalatable, is
black.
Cape penguin.—Bill and legs black ; eyebrows and
peftoral band white. Size of a large duck ; length 21
inches. Inhabits the Atlantic and AntardHc feas,
chiefly round the Cape of Good Hope. Lays two
white eggs, which are reckoned delicious eating. Like
all of the genus, fwims and dives well, but hops and
flutters in a ftrange awkward manner on land, and if
hurried ftumbles perpetually, or makes ufe of its wings
inftead of legs, till it can recover its upright polture,
crying at the fame time like a goofe, but with a hoarfer
voice. There are two or three varieties.
Little penguin.—Bill black ; legs white. Fifteen Minor.
inches long. Inhabits New Zealand. Digs deep holes
in the earth, in which it lays its eggs.
379
Procella-
RIA.
Gen. 36. Procellaria, Petrel.
Bill toothlefs, a little comprelfed, hooked at the point; 380
mandibles equal; noftriis cylindrical, tubular, trun- Charadters
cated, lying on the bafe of the bill; feet palmated,
hind claw feflile, and without a toe.
The birds of this genus all frequent the deep, where
they endure the greateft ftorms, being hardly ever feen
on Ihore, except at breeding time. They are, however,
capable of walking, and their legs are bare of feathers
a little above the knee. They feed on the fat of dead
whales and fifti, and have the faculty of fpouting oil
from their noftriis. ^gr
Pacific petrel.—Black, dufky beneath ; legs fpotted Pacifica.
with black ; bill plumbeous and much hooked; noftriis
elevated, oval, diftinft, obliquely placed ; legs pale.'
Twenty-two inches long. Inhabits, in vaft flocks, the
iflands of the Pacific ocean. Thefe flocks difappear at
once, dipping under water altogether, and then rife as
fuddenly. 7 ^
Diving petrel.—Blackifh brown; white beneath; bill Unnatrix,
and chin black ; legs blue green, without the fpur be¬
hind. Eight inches and a half long. Inhabits New
Zealand in numerous flocks, and dives remarkably well,
often rifing at confiderable diftances, with furprifing
agility. They croak like frogs, and fometimes make a
noife like the cackling of a hen.
Stormy petrel, fiormfinch. Mother Canfs chicken, &c. Pclagica.
—Black, with a white rump. This fpecies is about the Plate
fize of a fwallow, and in its general appearance and ccjrxcvir’
flight, not unlike that bird. Length about fix inches. ^ ^
The ftormy petrel is rarely feen on our ftiores, except in
fome of the northern iflands, where it breeds in the holes
of rocks, or under loofe ftones, in the months of June
and July. At all other feafons it keeps far out at fea.
Multitudes of them are feen all over the vaft Atlantic
ocean, efpecially before ftormy weather. They often
fldm with incredible velocity along the hollows of the
waves, and fometimes on the fummits, braving the ut~
moft fury of the tempeft. As they appear to run on
the furface of the fea, they have their name from an
allufion to Peter's walking on the water. The inhabi¬
tants of the Faroe ifles draw a wick through the body
of this bird, which is fo fat as to burn when lighted, and
ferve the purpofe of a candle.—There is a variety with
3 S 2 the
5°8
Anferes.
_ 3S4
Nivea.
38S
Giacialis.
3S6
Qigantea.
3S7
Gelida.
3SS
Capenfa.
O R N I T H
the body black ; head and fides bluidi j fcrag green,
and wing coverts and rump fpotted with green. Both
forts are excellent divers, feed on fmall filhes, are mute
during the day, and clamorous in the night.
Snowy petrel.—Snow white j {hafts of the feathers
and bill black j legs dulky blue. One foot long. In¬
habits tire colder parts of the Southern fea, efpecially in
the neighbourhood of ice, the mafles of which they often
haunt in confiderable flocks.
Fulmar petrel, or fulmar.—Whitifli ; back hoary j
bill and legs yellowifh •, noftrils compofed of two tubes,
lodged in one {heath. About the fize of the common
gull, and 17 inches long. Inhabits the Northern and
Southern feas ; breeds in Greenland, Spitzbergen, St
Kilda, &c. laying one large white egg. It is a bold
and ftupid bird, and very fat, living on fiflh, dead whales,
and other carcafes and filth, in quefl: of which it often
follows {hips for a great wTay. Its flelh, though rancid,
is eaten raw, dried or boiled, by the Kurile iflanders, the
Greenlanders and St Kildians, and the oil when expref-
fed is ufed both for food and lamps. The young are in
feafon about the beginning of Auguft, when the inha¬
bitants of St Kilda endeavour to furprife them in their
nefts, to prevent them from fpouting out their oil, which
they do by way of defence. This oil is there valued as
a catholicon 5 and every young bird yields nearly an
Englifli pint of it, which is carefully preferved. When
the thermometer is above 52 degrees, it is very pure,
but at a lower temperature becomes turbid.
Giant petrel, ofprey petrel, or break bones.—Brownifli,
fpotted with white •, white beneath ; {boulders, wings,
and tail brown ; bill and legs yellow ■, a naked, wrink¬
led, yellow membrane at the angles of the mouth.
Bigger than a goofe ; length 40 inches 5 expanfion of
the wings feven feet. Common in the high fouthern
latitudes, and fometimes found, though more rare, in
the Northern feas. Is often feen failing with the wings
expanded, clofe to the furface of the water, but without
appearing to move them. At Chriftmas harbour, Ker¬
guelen’s land, &c. they were fo tame, that they fuffered
ihemfelves to be knocked on the head with a flick, by
our failors, on the beach. Though their chief food is
fifli, they alfo feed on the carcafes of feals and birds.
Many of the failors confound them with the albatrofs,
though fuch of them as are better informed, call them
Mother Cary's geefe. They are reckoned to be very
good food. An individual of this fpecies is figured in
Latham’s Synopfis.
Glacial petrel —Bluifli-afli 5 back blackifli chin,
throat, and breaft, white •, bill yellow ; legs blue. Nine¬
teen inches long. Inhabits the icy feas.
Pintado, or pintado petrel.—Variegated with white
and brown, and fometimes with yellowifti and brown ;
bill and legs black ; temples white and black. Size of
the kittiwake ; length 14 inches. This is the pintado
bird of Dampier, the white and black fpotted peteril of
Edwards, and the Cape pigeon of our failors. It is fel-
dom feen much to the north of 33 degrees, and is moft
frequent about the Cape of Good Hope, and the neigh¬
bouring regions. It flies in very numerous flocks, which
almoft fweep the furface of the water. Our voyagers
have traced them to New Zealand, Falkland illands, and
various regions of the fouthern hemifpherc. The failors
often catch them with fome tarred firing, or a bit of
lard on a filhing rod. Sometimes they appear in fuch
3
O L O G Y.
immenfe numbers, that 700 have been taken in one Anferes.
night. They feed on filh, but more frequently on the
carcafes of whales, &c. 389
Shearwater petrel, or floearwater.—PA^oSs. above *, Pvjfinm.
white beneath 5 legs rufous j bill yellow, tipt with
black •, hind head whitilh-afli; fpurious wings fpotted
with black j firft; quill and tail feathers broAvn without
and white within. Weight 17 ounces j is 15 inches
long, and nearly the fize of a pigeon. Inhabits the
Southern and Ajrdtic feas. Breeds in the ifle of Man,
and in the Orkneys, in the former of which it is called
manks puffin, and in the latter lyre. It takes pofleflion
of a rabbit burrow or other hole, and lays one wdiite
egg, blunt at each end, which is hatched in Auguft.
Though the flefh is rank and fiftiy, it is much relilhed
by fome. Great numbers are killed and barrelled with
fait. Thefe the inhabitants boil, and eat with potatoes.
There is a varietythat is cinereous above, white beneath,
and with a clear white tail.
390
Gen. 37. Diomedea, Albatrofs. Diomede*.
t,. . . . 391
Bill ftraight, upper mandible hooked at the point, lower Charaders.
truncated ; noftrils oval, wide, prominent, lateral j
tongue very fmall} toes three, all placed forwards.
Only four fpecies are known to belong to this genus. Exulans.
Wandering albatrofs, or tnan of war bird.—White 5
back and wings with white lines; bill pale yellow j
legs flefh-colour ; quill feathers black 5 tail rounded, pjate
and lead coloured 5 bill grooved, dirty yellow ; noftrils cccxcvn
remote from the bafe, and riling out of the furrow ; tail fig- s-
feathers fourteen 5 thighs naked. From three feet and
a half to four feet long j bigger than a fwan ; weighs
from twelve to twenty-eight pounds : and extends its
wings from tei* to thirteen feet. Inhabits moft feas,
but chiefly occurs within the tropics. It is frequent
about the Cape of Good Hope, and towards the end of
July appears in great numbers in Kamtfchatka, and the
feas which feparate that part of Alia from America,
It is very voracious, feeding on the falmon, which are
found in ftioals in the mouths of rivers, on the flying-
fifh, when forced out of the water by the coryphoena,
and on other fifties, which it devours whole, and in fuch
quantities, as to be prevented by their weight from
riling, though in general it foars very high. It likewife
preys on mollufca, and is itfelf attacked by the fea-
eagle, and the larus catara£!es. On the ftiore of South
America, it builds about the end of September, a nefl:
of earth on the ground, from one to three feet high, and
lays a number of eggs, which are four inches and a half
long, and eatable, though the white of them does not
coagulate with heat. Its voice refembles the braying of
an afs, and its flelh is dry and hard. ^
Chocolate albatrofs.—Bill whitifti } body deep chef- Spadicea.
nut-brown ; belly pale ; face and wings whitilh beneath.
Three feet long. Inhabits the Pacific ocean. 394
Pellow-nofed albatrofs.—White } bill black ; keel of Ci/croo!’}'•
the upper mandible and bafe of the lowTer yellow } body chos‘
above black-blue, white beneath. Three feet long.
Occurs in the Southern hemifphere, from 30° to 6o°,
all round the pole. Flies five or fix feet above the
water.
Sooty albatrofs.—Brown •, head, bill,tail, quill feathers YuUginof.
and claws footy brown j area of the eyes white. Three
feet long. Inhabits the Southern ocean withiij the ant-.
arctic
Anferes.
O R N I T H
ar£Hc circle. Called quaker by the failors, on ac¬
count of its brown plumage.
Gen. 38. Pelecanus, Pelican.
Bill ftraight, bent at the point, and furnifhed. with a
nail : the noftrils form an almoft obliterated flit 5 face
fomewhat naked ; legs balancing the body equally j
the four toes conne&ed by a membrane.
The pelicans are gregarious, fond of fifh, and in gene¬
ral remarkable for their extreme voracity. For the
mod part they keep out at fea, but fome. of them^ are
likewife found in the interior parts of continents. T hey
have all a long bill, in a lateral furrow of which lie the
noftrils. Several of the tribe are rendered ufeful to
mankind by being taught to fifti.
A. Bill without teeth.
39s White or common pelican.—White 5 gullet pouched 5
JWota- b.n from fifteen tQ fixteen inches long, red 5 upper man¬
dible deprefi'ed and broad, the lower forked ; bag at the
throat flaccid, membranaceous, capable of great diften-
flon 5 irides hazel*, gape, of the mouth wide; head
naked at the fides, covered with a flefti-coloured fkin ;
hind-head fomewhat crefted ; body faintly tinged with
flefli colour ; fpurious wings and firft quill feathers
black;'legs lead colour. Larger than a fwan, and
about five feet long. Inhabits Afia, Africa, and South
America. In fiftiing, this bird does not immediately
fwallow its prey, but fills its bag, and returns to the
ftiore to devour at leifure the fruits of its induftry. As
it quickly digefts its food, it ,has generally to fifli more
than once in the courfe of the flay. _ At mght it retires
a little way on the (bore to reft, with its head refting
ao-ainft its breaft. In this attitude it remains almoft
motionlefs, till hunger calls it to break off its repofe.
It then flies from its refting-plaee, and raifing itfelf
thirty or forty feet above the furfaee of the fea, turns its
head, with one eye downwards, and continues to fly in
that pofture till it fees a fifti fufficiently near the furface,
when it darts down with aftoniftiing fwiftnefs, feizes it
with unerring certainty, and ftores it up in its pouch.
It then rifes again, and continues the fame manoeuvres,
till it has procured a competent flock. Clavigero in¬
forms us, that fome of the Americans, to procure a
fupply of filh without any trouble, cruelly break the
wing of a live pelican, and after tying the bird to a tree,
conceal themfelves near the place. The fcreams of the
wounded and confined bird attradl others of its kind,
which ejefl for it a portion of provifions from their
pouches. As foon as the men obferve this, they ndh to
the fpot, and after leaving a fmall quantity for the bird,
carry off the remainder. I he female teeds her young
with fifti macerated for lome time in her bag. The pe¬
lican is fufceptible of domeftication, and may even be
trained to fith for its matter. Faber mentions an indi¬
vidual of this fpecies which was kept in the couit of the
duke of Bavaria above forty years, and which feemed
to be fond of the company of mankind, and of vocal
and inftrumental mufic. When a number of pelicans
and corvorants are together, they are faid to pradliee a
Angular method of taking fifli. They fpread into a
large circle, at fome diftance from land ; the pelicans
flapping on the furface of the water with their extenfive
wings, and the coryorants diving beneath, till the fifli
O L O G Y. 509
contained within the circle, are driven before thetn to-, Ariferes‘,
wards the land ; and as the circle contradls by the birds ~ *
drawing clofer together, the filh at laft are brought into
a fmall compafs, when their purfuers find no difficulty in
filling their bellies. In this exefeife they are often at¬
tended by various fpecies of gulls, which likewife ob¬
tain a fliare of the fpoil. The pelican generally builds
in marftiy and uncultivated places, particularly in iflands
and lakes, making its neft, which is deep, and a foot
and a half in diameter, of carices, and lining it with
grafs of a fofter texture. It lays two or more white
eggs, which, when perfecuted, it fometimes hides in the
water. When it builds in dry and defert places, it
brings water to its young in its bag. It walks flowly,
flies in flocks, and lives in fociety with other birds. . 399
Rofe-coloured pelican.—Rofy ; gullet pouched; billRofev^.
and legs black ; area of the eyes naked ; pouch yellow.
Size of a goofe. Inhabits Manilla. 4co
Frigate pelican, or frigate bird.—Tail forked ; body Aquilus.
and orbits black ; bill red ; belly of the female white.
Three feet long ; extent of the wings fourteen feet. In¬
habits within the tropics. This is the. frigate bird of
Dampier and other navigators. From its great expanfe
of wing, it is capable of flying very fmoothly, and fo
high as to be fcarcely vifible, remaining much in the
air, and remote from land. It feeds on fifties, particu¬
larly flying fifli, on which it darts with the greateft ve¬
locity. It not unfrequently likewife preys on other pif-
civorous animals. It builds in trees or on rocks, and
lays one or two eggs of a flefti colour, and fpotted with
red. # 401’
Lejfer frigate pelican.—Tail forked ; body ferrugi- Minor.
nous; bill and orbits red. Refembles the laft, butlefs. 402"
Corvorant.—Tail rounded ; body black ; head fome- Carbo.
what crefted ; bill blackifti; the bafe of the lower man¬
dible covered with a yellowifh fldn, extending under the
chin, and forming a pouch ; irides green ; chin white,
furrounded with a yellowiftv arch ; tail long and lax,
confifting of fourteen feathers ; thighs with a white fpot,
dotted with black ; legs black. Three feet long ; fize
of a goofe, but more llender, and weighs about feven
pounds. Inhabits Europe, Afia, and America. Com¬
mon on many of our fea-coafts, building its neft on the
higheft parts of cliffs that hang over the fea, and lay¬
ing three or more pale green eggs, about the fize of
thofe of a goofe. In winter thefe birds difperfe along
the fliores, and vifit the frefli waters, where they com¬
mit great depredations among the fifti. They are re¬
markably voracious, and have a very quick digeftion.
Though naturally extremely Ihy and wary, they are ftupid
and eafily taken when glutted with food. Their fmell,
when alive, is more rank and offenfive than that of any
other bird, and their flefli is fo difgufting, that even the
Greenlanders will hardly tafte it. It is not uncommon to
fee twenty of thefe birds together, on the rocks of the
fea coaft, with extended wings, drying themfelves in the
wind. In this attitude they fometimes remain for near¬
ly an hour, without once clofing their wings ; and as
loon as the latter are fufficiently dry to enable the
feathers to imbibe the oil, they prefs this liquor from
the receptacle on their rumps, and drefs the feathers
with it. It is only in one. particular flate that the oily
matter can be fpread on them, namely, when they are
fomewhat damp"; and the inftincl of the birds teaches
them the proper moment. Corvorants were formerly
fometimes
„ 403
Graculus.
404
Pygniceus,
405
Crijlatus.
jbmeUmes trained in this country, as they ftlll are in
Chma forthe purpofe of catching fifh for the table.
With tins view they wore kept with great care in the
houte, and when taken out for fifhing, they had a lea¬
thern thong tied round their neck, to prevent them from
i wall owing their prey.
Shag.—Tail rounded 5 body black, brown beneath 1
tail feathers twelve ; head and nedk black, with a green
glofs j back and wing-coverts purple black, gloffy at the
edges ; middle of the belly dufky ; legs black. Weighs
about four pounds. Length twenty-nine inches. The
female weighs about three pounds and a quarter ; and
is only twenty-feven inches long. Inhabits the northern
leas of Turope. Swims with its head ereft, and the body
under water. On perceiving the flalh of a gun, dives
inltantaneoufly, and rifes at a confiderable diftance. Has
the manners and habit of the preceding, and devours a
prodigious quantity of filh. Near the Cape of Good
Hope, a variety occurs with a yellow chin, and wedged
tail. Another, which frequents the coafts of Cayenne
and the Carribbee iflands, is blackifli above, brown be¬
neath ; and has the feathers above edged with black.
Dwarf Jhag. I ail wedged ; feathers twelve ; body
black, with a few fcattered white fpots. Female brown
without fpots. Size of the garganey. Inhabits the Caf-
pian fea.
Crejled Jhag.—Shining green, duflcy beneath : bill
and legs dulky j head crefted. From two to three feet
long. Inhabits the northern feas of Europe, occurs on
our own coafts, and both in appearance and manners,
refembles the gracu/us.
ORNITHOLOGY,
405
Tbagus.
B. Billfcrrated.
407
Bajlinus,
Saw-billed pelican.—-Brown ; tail rounded; gullet
pouched, and covered with fliort cinereous feathers 1 bill
one foot long ; each mandible hooked ; pouch very
large ; legs black. Size of a turkey; extent of wings
nine feet. Inhabits Chili.
Gannet, or folandgoofe.—Tail wedged ; body white ;
bill and quill feathers black ; face blue ; irides yellow-
ilh ; tail feathers twelve ; eyes furrounded with a naked
ikm of fine blue ; legs black, and greenilh on the fore
,^ree ^eet l°n£* Weighs feven pounds ; and
inhabits Europe and America. This fpecies of pelican
haunts the Bafs ifland in the frith of Edinburgh, Ailfa
on the coaft of Ayrfliire, the ifland of St Kilda, and
hardly any where elfe in Europe. It arrives at thefe
ipots in March, and continues till September. As it
mult let itfelf fall before it takes wing, it requires a
fteep and precipitous breeding ftation. It makes a rude
,krS’ graf"’ fea-Plants, &c. and lays one egg.
While the female is.occupied with incubation, the male
brings her tood, which confifts almoft entirely of her¬
rings and fprats. In the bag under their bill they are
able to fetch four or five herrings at a time, and a great
number of fprats, which the young bird extracts from
the mouth of the old one, with its bill, as with pincers.
The young begin to be taken in Auguft, and by fome
are reliflied as an exquifite morfel; but the old ones are
tough and rancid. The fowler who feizes the young,
is let down by a rope from the top of a cliff, and is
fometimes ftationed on the flippery proje&ion of a rock,
with the perpendicular precipice of four hundred feet or
more beneath him. The young are of a dark-gray
colour, and continue fo for a year or more, when they
gradually become white, except the tips of their wings, Anfere
which are always black. In September and October ' r-
the old birds leave their breeding places, and migrate
fouthward, following, as is alleged, the fhoals of her¬
rings. _ In December they are often feen off Lifhon
plunging for fardime ; but after that period, it is not
well known what becomes of them till March. They
are common on the coarts of Norway and Iceland, and
are faid to be met with in great numbers about New
Holland and New Zealand. They alfo breed on the
coaft of Newfoundland, and migrate fouthward alono-
the American ihores as far as South Carolina. Of this
fpecies there are two varieties. The firft is brown
fpotted with white, and white beneath, with naked and
blackifh. . The fecond is brown, with triangular white
Ipots, whitifti, and fpotted with brown beneath ; the
bill, wings, tail, and legs brown.
Lefer gunnel.—.'i ail wedged ; body whitifh ; all the Pijcator.
quill leathers, black ; face red. Two feet and a half
ong. Inhabits the Chinefe, Indian, and American
leas.
Booby. Tail wedged ; body whitifli; primary quill Sul*a.&
feathers tipt with blackifli; face red ; bill gray, brown-
ifh at the bafe ; irides pale afli ; chin bald, yellowifh ;
body white beneath ; tail brownifh at the tip ; legs
yellowifli. Has its name from being fo foolifli as to
alight on one’s hand, if held out to it, when tired.
.builds ia places bare of trees, making its neft on the
ground. Its flefh is black and rancid. IQ
FiJhwg corvorant^TzM rounded; body brown, Sine,!.
wnitiih, and fpotted with brown beneath ; throat white •
bill yellow ; irides blue. Inhabits China, where it is
tamed for the purpofe of catching fifli.
Leffer boohij. Black, white beneath; face downy.PatlL.
Eighteen inches long. Inhabits Cayenne.
Gen. 39. Plotus, Darter.
r, 411
a LOTUS#
Bill ftraight, pointed, toothed; noftrils an oblong flitCharadj!
near the bafe ; face and chin naked ; legs ftiort; all
the toes conneaed. ’
The birds of this genus have a fmall head, and long
flender neck. They inhabit the fouthern and warmer
latitudes, and live chiefly on fifti, which they take by
darting the head forwards, while the neck is contraded
like the body of a ferpent.
r Head fmooth; belly white.
nhabits Brazil. I wo feet ten inches long. Builds
on trees, and is fcarcely ever feen on the ground.
icn at reft, it fits with the neck drawn in between
the moulders. The flefti is oily and rancid. i.*41^
Black-bellied darter—Head fmooth; belly black,
About three feet long.. Inhabits Ceylon, Java, &c. Date
1 here are feveral varieties. cccxcvi.
Surinam darter.—Rezd. crefted ; belly white. Thir- 4‘
lndnfeedheS l0fiT IJb.abrit^ Surj.nan?- *s domefticated, Surinamt)
and feeds on fifti and mfefts, efpecially flies, which itJis.
catches with great dexterity.
Gen. 40. Phaeton, Tropic Bird.
4*7
Phaetw
418
Bill lharp-edged, ftraight, pointed, the gape extending ChaVadh
fonvards1^6 ^ * noftriIs oblong > hind-toe turned
The
O R N I T H
Anfere'.
419
UEthereus.
\ Plate
cccxcvi.
fig- 3*
410
Melano-
h)iichos.
421
Phitnicu-
422
’OLYMBUSi
423
ihanders.
. 4H
'“illemot.
I 4*5
426
mile.
The fpecifes of tins genus inhabit the South fea, efpe-
' cially between the tropics. Their bill is compreffed,
and bent a little downwards j the lower mandible angu-
lated. The feet have four toes, which are palmated.
The tail is cuneiform, and diftinguilhed by the great
length of the two intermediate feathers.
Common tropic bird.—White ; back, rump, and leffer
wing-coverts ftreaked with white ; two middle tail
feathers black at the bafe •, bill red. Two feet ten inches
long $ fize of a vvigeon. Flies very high, and at a great
diftance from land •, feeds on young {harks, dolphins,
and albicores. On land, where it is rarely feen except
in the breeding feafon, it fits on trees, and builds on the
ground, in woods. It is well known to navigators, to
whom it generally announces their approach to the tro¬
pic, though this indication is by no means infallible, as
the bird fometimes wanders to the latitude of 474°. It
is fubjeft to varieties. Its flefh is indifferent.
}ilack-billed tropic bird.—Streaked black and white,
white beneath ; bill black ; quill feathers tipt with
white •, tail feathers with black. Nineteen inches and
a half long. Inhabits Palmerrton and Turtle ifiands.
Red-tailed tropic bird.—Rofy llefii colour ; bill and
two middle tail feathers red. Two feet ten inches long,
of which the two middle tail feathers meafure one foot
nine inches. Builds in hollows in the ground, under
trees, and lays two yellowifii-white eggs, with rufous
fpots. Inhabits the Mauritius.
Gen. 41. Colymbus.
Bill toothlefs, Tubulate, ftraight, and pointed ; throat
toothed 3 noftrils linear, at the bafe of the bill j feet
placed far behind.
The birds of this family walk on land with awkward-
nefs and difficulty, but fwim and dive with great dexte¬
rity. The guillemots chiefly inhabit the fea ; have a
{lender tongue, of the fize of the bill. The latter is
compreffed, and covered with fiiort feathers at the bafe j
the upper mandible a little bent flefii tough, and, like
the eggs, naufeous. The divers frequent alfo the
northern lakes, have a ftrong bill, lefs pointed, cylindri¬
cal, the edge of the mandible turned in, and the upper
longer than the under; the noftrils divided in the mid¬
dle by a membrane ; the tongue long, {harp, ferrated at
the bafe on each fide ; legs {lender, a black band be¬
tween the thighs ; tail feathers twenty. Thefe birds are
monogamous, fly with difficulty, and frequent freffi
water in the breeding feafon. The grebes have no tail,
a ftrong bill, lores naked, tongue a little cleft at the tip,
body depreffed, thickly covered with fliort fliining
plumage, wings fhort, and legs comprcffed. They are
frequently found about the frefti waters of fouthern Eu¬
rope.
A. Feet three-toed,. Guillemot.
White guillemot.—Snowy ; bill and legs brownifli
and fleffi-coloured. Size of the garganey. Inhabits the
Netherlands.
Black guillemot, fpotted guillemot, Greenland dove, fea
turtle, &c.-—Body black ; wing-coverts white. But
thefe general markings are incident to great variety.
The more fpecial charafteriftics are ; bill black, infide
of the mouth and legs red ; upper wing-coverts in the
middle, and lower part of the belly, white. Weighs
O L O G Y. 5II
fourteen ounces, and meafures nearly the fame number Anferes.
of inenes in length. Inhabits Europe and America.' 1 » *
Frequents the Faroe iflands, the Bafs, St Kilda, &c.
viuting thefe places in March, making its neft far un¬
der ground, and laying one egg of a dirty white, blotch¬
ed with pale ruft colour. Except at breeding time, it
keeps always at fea, lives on fifti, flies low, and generally
in pairs. It cannot, without much difficulty, rife from
the ground. In the Orkney iflands, it is called tyfe.
The Greenlanders eat its flefti, and ufe its fldn for cloth-
Rud its legs as a bait to their fifhing lines. ,
Leffer guillemot.—Black, with a narrow ftripe acrofs Minor.
the wings, cheeks and under parts white. Weight
eighteen or nineteen ounces; length about fixteen inches.
Inhabits the northern feas of Europe, and in winter fre¬
quents the frith of Forth in vaft flocks; where it feeds
on fprats, and is called marrot, or morrot. IMany doubts
have been entertained with regard to this bird, Dr
Latham and other ormthologifts having confidered it as
the young of the fucceeding fpecies. It is to be ob-
ferved, however, that befides the difference in fize and
plumage, this bird is rarely met with in the fouth till
the month of November, whence it has been called the
’tvintcr guillemot, whereas the other fpecies always leaves
us before September, and does not again appear till the
enfuing fpring ; and that its young, when they depart,
are exa&ly like the old ones. 4jS
Foolip guillemot, or fcout.—Body black; breaft and Troite.
belly fnowy; fecondary quill feathers tipt with white ;
bill black ; infide of the mouth yellow ; legs and tail
blackilh. Seventeen inches long. Inhabits the northern
'feas of Europe, Alia, and America. This {pecies is
likewife called marrot in Scotland, and lavie in St Kil¬
da. In that ifland it appears about the beginning of
February, and is hailed by the inhabitants as the har¬
binger of plenty. A St Kilda man defeends in the
night, by the help of a rope, to the ledge of a precipice,
where he fixes himfelf, and tying round him a piece of
white linen, awaits the arrival of the bird, which, mif-
taking the cloth for a piece of the rock, alights on it,
and is immediately difpatched. In this way 400 are
fometimes taken in one night, and at dawn the fowler
is drawn up. The foolifli guillemot lays but one egg,
which is very large, unproteded by any neft, and has
fuch a {lender hold of the rock, that when the birds are
furprifed, and fly oft fuddenly, many of them tumble down
into the fea. Thefe birds feldom quit their eggs unlefs
difturbed, but are fed with fprats and other fmall fifti by
the male,. In places where they are feldom raolefted, it
is with difficulty they are put to flight, and may fome¬
times be taken with the hand ; others flutter into the
water, appearing not to have much ufe of their wings.
B. Four-toed, and palmated. Diver.
Red-throated diver or loon.—A ferruginous fliield-like Septfntrio*
fpot beneath the neck ; body brown, with minute whitenatiu
fpots above, white beneath ; bill black ; head and chin
cinereous, fpotted with brown; neck with fmall white
and brown lines above ; legs dulky. Weighs about
three pounds. Length near tivo feet and a half. In¬
habits the north of Europe, Afia, and America, and is
feldom feen far fouthward, except in very fevere winters.
In the breeding feafon it frequents the lakes, making a
neft among the reeds and flags, and lays two eggs of ian
afli colour, marked with a few black fpots. In Iceland
it
. 4*9
Diver.
5*2
Anferes.
431
ArElicus*
432
Stellatus.
433
Glacialis.
434
immer.
435
Grebe.
436
•Crijlatus.
O R N I T
it is faid to make its nefl: of mofs and grafs, lined with
down, among the grafs of the fliores contiguous to the
waters. It breeds in the north of Scotland, but is fel-
dbm obferved in the fouth of England. It lives on
marine vermes, crabs, and the fmaller fiflies, with which
it is fometimes taken in nets. It fwims and flies fwiftly ;
and when it fcreams in its flight is faid to prefage a
Ilorm.
Black-throated diver.—Head hoary \ neck violet
black beneath, with an interrupted white band ; bill
black j body black above, white beneath \ fides of the
neck white, fpotted with black ; fhoulders and wing-
coverts with white fpots, the former fquare, the latter
round j quill feathers dufky. Two feet long. Inhabits
the northern parts of Europe, Alia, and America, fre¬
quenting both the fea and lakes. Before rain, it is reft-
lefs and clamorous j occurs in Scotland, but is not com¬
mon in England.
Speckled diver or loon.—White beneath j hind-head
and quill feathers dufky ; throat pale a(h j back, flanks,
rump, and tail fpotted with white ; bill horn colour \
legs brown. The weight of this fpecies is about four
pounds, and the length 27 inches. It inhabits the
north of Europe and America, and is among the mofl:
common of the diver tribe found in this country, being
frequently feen in winter, in our bays and inlets, and
fometimes in frefh-water rivers and lakes. From its at¬
tending the fprats in the Thames, it is called fprat loon
by the filhermen. In the northern regions it lays twTo
eggs, the fize of thofe of a goofe, dufky, and with a few
black fpots, in the grafs, on the borders of lakes.
Northern diver, or greatejl fpeckled diver.—Head and
neck purplifh-black 5 chin and upper part of the neck
with a white interrupted band ; upper part of the body,
bill, legs, and tail black ; back with fquare white fpots
difpofed in rows ; wing-coverts with white dots. The
largefl: of the genus; fometimes weighing fifteen or fix-
teen pounds, and meafuring nearly three feet and a half
in length. Inhabits the north feas, and breeds in the
frefli waters, in Iceland, Greenland, &c. Frequents
the feas about the Orkneys, all the year round, without
breeding there. The fkin, which is tough, and well
covered with foft down, is dreffed in fome parts of Ruf-
fia, &c. and ufed as cloathing.
Immer, imber, or ember goofe, or diver.—Body black-
ifli and waved with white above, white beneath 5 fea¬
thers of the back, wings, and tail edged with white.
Two feet long. Inhabits the Arctic ocean, and alfo, -it
is faid, the lake of Conflance, where it is called finder.
Unlefs in fevere winters, it is rare in England, but is
more common on the Scottiih and Orkney coafts. It
makes its ncfl on the water, among reeds and flags. It
feeds on fifli, after which it dives with great celerity,
and is fometimes taken under water, by a baited hook.
C. Feet four-toed, lobed. Grebe.
Crefied grebe, gray or afh-coloured loon, b'c.—Head
rufous ; collar black •, fecondary quill feathers white 5
bill flefh-coloured, brown at the tip ; lores and irides
red ; body brown above, white beneath ; head tumid,
and varies in colour by age. During the firft year,
this bird has a fmooth head, and a white fpot on the
wings •, and during the fecond, a long downy tuft on
each fide of the throat. This is the largefl: of the
grebes, weighing about two pounds and a half, and mea-
H O L O G Y.
furing twenty-one inches in length. It occurs in al- Anferes,
moft every lake in the northern parts of Europe, as far '■“■"v'—-■
as Iceland, and fouthward to the Mediterranean, and is
alfo found in various parts of America and Siberia. It
is common in the fens and lakes in various parts of Eng¬
land, w'here it breeds. The female makes her neft of
various kinds of dried fibres, ftalks and leaves of water
plants, as of the nymphaea, potamogeton, hottonia, &c.
and the roots of menyanthes trifoliata, and conceals it
among the flags and reeds which grow in the water, and
where it is erroneoufly faid to float. The young are fed
on fmall eels. In fome countries, ladies muffs and other
ornamental articles of drefs are made of the fkin of the
belly of this fpecies, which has a fine down of a dazzling
whitenefs. It requires five fkins to make a muff, which
fells at four or five guineas. The tippet grebe is the
female or young of this fpecies.
Eared grebe, or dobchick.—Blackifh-brown above, ju^t1s
white beneath ; head black 5 ears crefted, and ferrugi- Plate
nous; bill and legs black ; irides and lores red ; pri- cccxcvn.
mary quill feathers dufky, fecondary white. There is ^ 4*
a fmaller variety, with a double creft, and the neck
fpotted with chefnut. This fpecies is about twelve
inches long, and inhabits the northern lakes of Europe
and Siberia. It is alfo met with in fouthern climates,
but is not numerous in England. According to Pen¬
nant, it breeds in the fens near Spalding in Lincoln-
ftiire, and the female makes a neft not unlike that of
the preceding, laying four or five fmall white eggs. 43S
Horned grebe.—Head gloffy green •, a yellow tufted Cornutm.
band through the eyes j neck and breaft tawney. Size
of the pi-eceding. Inhabits North America. 439
Little grebe, or fmall dipper.—Of a reddifh brown Minor.
above, white, with fpots beneath; head fmooth ; fea¬
thers ^pf the body edged with reddifh ; lower part of the
belly gray ; upper wing-coverts, and firft and laft quill
feathers blackifh, reft of the quill feathers white ; bill
blackifh ; bafe of the lower mandible reddifh ; legs
blackifh-green. Inhabits Eufope, North America, the
Philippine ifles, and the Delta in Egypt. The leaf! of
the grebe tribe, weighing only between fix and feven
ounces, and meafuring from the tip of the bill to the
rump, ten inches. It feldom quits the water, and is a
remarkable diver, feeding on fifn, infefts, and aquatic
plants ; conftrudling a large neft, a foot thick, of grafs
and the ftalks of aquatic plants, in the midft of the wa¬
ters which pervade it, and laying five or fix whitifh eggs,
which it covers when it leaves the neft. In feveral parts
of this country it is called didapper.
Red-necked grebe.—Subcrefted, brown ; chin, cheeks, Rubnctit-
and region of the ears cinereous; under part of the Us.
neck and breaft rufty-red ; belly, and fecondary quill
feathers white; bill black, the fides tawney at the bafe ;
irides tawney ; legs dufky. Seventeen inches long ; and
weighs nearly nineteen ounces. Inhabits Europe, but
is very rare in Britain. 441
Dufy grebe, or black and white dobchick.—Head Obfcurus-
fmooth ; body dark brown above ; front, under parts of
the body, and tips of the fecondary quill feathers, white.
Eleven inches long. Inhabits Europe and America.
Breeds in the fens of Lincolnfhire, and is found, in the
winter, in our inlets on the coaft, particularly in De-
vonfhire, where it is by no means uncommon. 442
Black-chin grebe.—Head fmooth; body blackifh ; ^
chin black ; throat ferruginous ; belly cinereous, mixed
with
A nfe res.
443
Larus.
444
Charaders.
O It N I T H
with filvery. Somewhat larger than the little grebe.
Inhabits Tiree, one of the Hebrides.
Gen. 42. Larus, Gull.
Bill ftraight, fharp-edged, a little hooked at the tip,
lower mandible gibbous below
O L O G Y.
vorms, &c. Some perfons who live near the fea, com¬
monly eat this, as well as various other kinds of gulls,
513
Anferes.
44S
TridaSly-
lus-
446
MimtUis.
447
Cams.
and without teeth
the point; noftrils linear, broadeft on the fore part,
and placed in the middle of the bill.
The birds of this genus have a light fmooth body j
long wings j a ftrong bill •, the tongue fomewhat cleft 5
the feet fhort; bare of feathers above the kneej with a
fmall back toe. They inhabit the north 5 feed chiefly on
fifties, and even on thofe that are dead. When harafled,
they throw up or difeharge their food. As the young-
are fometimes fpottedto their third year, the extrication
of this fpecies is attended with doubt and difficulty.
A. Nq/lrils without a cere.
Tarrock, or kittiwake.—Whitifh j the back grayifh j
tips of the tail feathers, except the outermoft, black 5
three toes. In maturer age, the characters are ; back
whitifh hoary $ quill feathers white j hind toe unarmed.
Ornithologiffs, in fa£t, feem now to be agreed, that
L. tridaBylus and L. rijfa, are only varieties of the fame
Ipecies. A third variety occurs, diftinguiftied by an
oblique black band on the wings, and white chin.
About the fize of a pigeon j about fourteen inches long.
Inhabits Europe, Afia, and America. Breeds on the
cliffs about Flamborough-head, the Bafs, ifle of May,
the rocks near Slains Caftle, &c. j lays two eggs; feeds
on fifties, and feeks its food in company of feals and
whales. It fwims and flies rapidly, and is often clamo¬
rous. Its flefh is much relifhed by the Greenlanders,
who alfo make clothing of its fkin. One that was
kept and tamed, knew its mafter’s voice at a diftance,
and anfwered him with its hoarfe piping note. It had
a voracious appetite, and, though plentifully fed on
bread, would rob the poultry of their ftiare.
Little gull.—-Snowy, head and beginning of the neck
black j back and wings ruffet; bill brown red *, legs
fcarlet. Size of a thrufh. Inhabits Ruflia and Siberia.
Common gull.—White ", back hoary; primary quill
feathers black at the ends, the fourth and fifth with a
black fpot at the tip, the outer one black without; bill
yellow *, irides hazel *, legs greenifli white. A variety
is met with that has the head fpotted with brown; neck
brown above, and tail feathers white, with a black band.
This is generally fuppofed to be the younger bird. In¬
habits Europe and America. Seventeen inches long 5
of the fize of a pigeon ; and is feen in numerous flocks,
continually fereaming. Lives on fifties, vermes, and the
larvae of infe&s $ builds among rocks and ftones, and is
a foolifh bird. The moft: common and numerous of all
the Britifh gulls, breeding on rocky cliffs, and laying twro
eggs, nearly the fize of thofe of a common hen, of an
olive brown colour, marked with dark-reddifti blotches.
At the mouths of the larger rivers they are feen in num¬
bers, picking up the animal fubftances which are call on
fliore, or come floating down with the ebbing tide. For
this kind of food they ivatch with a quick eye, and it
is curious to obferve how fuch as are near the breakers
will mount up the furface of the water, and run fplafliing
towards the fummit of the wave to catch the object of
their purfuit. At particular feafons, this fpecies alfo re¬
forts to the inland parts of the country, to feed on
Vol, XV. Part II,
which they deferibe as being good food, when they have
undergone a certain fweetening procefs before cooking;
fuch as burying them in frefti mould for a day, or waih-
ing them in vinegar. This fpecies breeds on the ledges
of rocks, clofe to the fea fliore, fometimes not far above
the water. This bird is frequently feen in winter, at a
confiderable diftance from the coaft. It flocks with
rocks in fevere weather, and will follow the plough for
the fake of the larvae of the chaffer. 448
Black-backed gull, or great black and white gull.— ^sarmus.
White; back black; bill yellow; lower mandible with a
red fpot near the tip and black in the middle; irides yel¬
low; lower part of the back white; quill feathers black,
tipt with white; legsflefti-coloured. The markings,how¬
ever, vary eonfiderably with the age of the bird. The
weight of this fpecics is four pounds and three quarters;
and the length near thirty inches. It inhabits Europe
and America. Though not very plentiful on our eoafts,
it is occafionally feen in fmall flocks of eight or ten,
fometimes in pairs, but never affociating with the other
gulls. It cackles like a goofe, lives chiefly on fifh, but
alfo infefts the eider duck, and even lambs. It has been
known to tear and devour the largeft fifh on the hooks,
when left dry by the ebbing tide. It breeds on the
fteep holmes, and Lundy illand, in the Briftol channel,
makes a neft in the clefts of the higheft rocks, and lays
three eggs of a blackifh gray colour, with dark purple
fpots, and eatable. Its fkin is ufed for clothing by the
Efkimaux and Greenlanders; and the young not only
affords a fine down, but an article of food. 449
Herring gull.—White ; back brown ; legs yellow ; k'ufcus.
bill yellow ; irides ftraw-coloured ; five firft quill fea¬
thers black above. Weight about thirty-three ounces.
Length twenty-three inches. Inhabits Europe, Afia,
and North America, proceeding fouthward in winter
as far as the Black and Cafpian feas, Jamaica, and the
iflands on the ftiore of South Carolina. It lives on fifh,
efpecially herrings, which it feizes with great boldnefs,
and the flioals of which it accompanies in flocks. It is
fometimes obferved to trample the foft fand, by moving
its feet alternately in the fame place, for the purpofe, it
is fuppofed, of forcing up fand eels, or fome hidden prey.
This fpecies is very common on the Britifh fhores ;
makes its neft of dry grafs on the proje&ing ledges of
the rocks, and lays three eggs of a dull whitifh colour,
fpotted with black. Fifhermen deferibe it as the con-
ftant, bold, and intruding attendant on their nets, from
which they find it difficult to drive it away. 455
Black-headed Whitifh ; head blackifli; bill Atricilla.
red ; legs black. Eighteen inches long. Inhabits, Eu¬
rope and America. Flies about the fhores in flocks,
with a continual clamour ; and builds in pine trees.
Laughing or black-headed gull.—Whitiffi; head black- Ridibun-
iffi ; bill and legs pale red. Eyelids red ; irides hazel ydus.
head and chin dufky browm ; and in the full-growrn
bird black ; firft ten quill-feathers white-edged, and
tipt with black, the reft cinereous, tipt with white;
claws black. This fpecies has its name from its Angular
cry, which refembles a horfe laugh. It is fifteen inch¬
es long; inhabits Europe, America, and the Bahama
iflands ; and breeds in the pools and fens of England,
making its neft on the ground, with rufhes, dried grafs,
See. and laying three greenifh brown eggs, fpotted with
3 T tawneW.
5U
, An^rcs- , tawaey. “ In former times (fays Mr Bewick), thefe
birds were looked upon as valuable property by the
owners of fome of the fens and marflies in this kingdom,
who every autumn' caufed the little iilets or hafts in thofe
waftes, to be cleared of the reeds and rufhes, in order
properly to prepare the fpots for the reception of the old
birds in the fpring, to which places at that feafon they
regularly returned in great flocks to breed. The young
ones were then highly effeemed as excellent eating.; and
on that account were caught in great numbers before
they were able to fly. Six or feven men, equipped for
this bufinefs, waded through the pools, and with long
ftaves drove them to the land, againft nets placed upon
the fhores of thefe hafts, where they w:ere eafily caught
by the hand, and put into pens ready prepared for their
reception. The gentry affembled from all parts to fee
the fport.”——“ 1 hefe were the fee-guiles of which we
read as being fo plentifully provided at the great feafts
©f the ancient nobility and bifhops of this realm. Al¬
though the flefh of thefe birds is not now efteemed a
dainty, and they are feldom fought after as an article
of food, yet in the breeding feafon, where accommoda¬
tion and prote&ion are afforded them, they ftill regular¬
ly refort to the fame old Haunts, which have been occu¬
pied by their kind for a long time paft.”
ORNITHOLOGY.
4$t
B. Nq/lrils covered with a cere.
Parajiticut. Arche gull.—Two middle-tail feathers very long;
bill and legs dufky ; body black above ; temples, front,
and under parts of the body white ; bread with a dulky
band. Female brown beneath ; twenty-one inches long.
< Inhabits Europe, Alia, and America. Breeds in the
Hebrides and Orkneys, among the heath, making its
neft of grafs and mofs, in fome marfhy place, and laying
two eggs, the fize of thofe of a hen, alh-coloured and
fpotted with black. It is very rapacious, and purfues
the leffer gulls, not for their dung, as fome have alferted,
but to make them difgorge what they have lately eaten,
which it dexteroufly catches and devours before it reaches
the water. It is to be remarked, that all this tribe are
voracious, and if chafed by a hawk, or other bird that
creates alarm, readily difgorge, in order to lighten them-
felves, and thus efcape by flight. It is no uncommon
thing to fee them bring up a large quantity of half di-
gefted food, when flightly wounded by (hot; and tam¬
ed gulls will do the fame, if driven by a dog. It may
alfo be obferved,'•that gulls float highly on the furface
of the water by reafon of the quantity of feathers in pro¬
portion to their weight, and feem to be incapable of
diving. If they fhould be wounded ever fo flightly, and
fall into the water, they never attempt to dive like other
453 aquatic birds.
€repidatus. Black-toed gull.—Varied with dirty white and brown,
paler beneath ; two middle tail feathers a little longer ;
bill black ; breaft and belly white, with numerous
dulky and yellowilh lines ; flanks and vent tranfverfely
black and white ; wing coverts and tail black edged
with white or brownifh ; legs bluilh ; toes and conneft-
ing membrane black. Weight about eleven ounces ;
length fifteen or fixteen inches. Inhabits Europe and
America, but is not common on the Britilh fliores. Its
habits nearly coincide with thofe of the preceding fpecies.
Its excrement is faid to be red, from the circumftance of
454 its feeding on the helix janthina.
Skua gull.—GrayiHi; quill and tail feathers white
A
at the bafe ; tail nearly equal ; bill dulky, much hook- Anfe*s.
ed, upper mandible covered half way with a black cere ;
body brown above, ru'fly-alh beneath ; legs blackifli,
rough, warty ; claws hooked, black ; hind-toe Ihort’
with a lharp-hooked claw ; two feet long. Inhabits
Europe and America. I'hefe fierce birds are met with
by navigators in the high latitudes of both hemifpheres,
where they are much more common than in the warm
or temperate parts of the globe. They are often men¬
tioned in Captain Cook’s Voyages, and, from their being
numerous about Falkland iflands, the feamen call them
Port Egmont hens. 1 hey are alio common in Norway,
Iceland, the Shetland and Faroe ifles, &c. 1 hey prey
not only on fifti, but alfo on the leffer forts of water fowl,
and are fo courageous in defence of their own young,
that they attack either man or beaft, that dares to dif-
turb their neft. They make their nefts among the dry
grafs, and, when the young are reared, they difperfe
themfelves commonly in pairs over the ocean. In the
iftand of Foula, in Shetland, the ikua gull is called
bonxie, and is a privileged bird, there being a fine of
lol. Scotch for deftroying its eggs, becaufe it keeps off
the eagle during the whole breeding feafon.
Gen. 43. Sterna, Tern.
Ctitarrac-
ies.
455
Stekna.
Bill fubulate, fomewhat ftraight, pointed, a little com- Charadten,
preffed, without teeth ; noftrils linear; tongue point¬
ed ; wings very long ; tail generally forked.
The birds of this genus are moftly inhabitants of the
ocean, and feed on fifties. They are feldom afraid of
man.
Sooty tern.—Black above ; upper parts of the body, FuUgbiofa,
cheeks, front and (hafts of the quill and tail feathers J
white ; fixteen inches long. Inhabits the Atlantic and
Antarctic feas.
_ Noddy.—Body black ; front whitifh; eye-brows black; StoUda.
bill and legs black ; hind-head cinereous; fifteen inches
long ; found chiefly within the tropics ; is clamorous,
feldom goes far from fliore, and always refts there du¬
ring the night. It builds on the rocks, and its eggs are
reckoned excellent food.
Sandwich tern.—White ; back and wings hoary ; Cantiace.
cap black ; front with white fpots ; quill feathers black-
iff, with a white (haft; bill black, yellowiff at the tip ;
legs black ; wings longer than the tail ; egg olive-
brown, with purpliff and crowded fpots ; eighteen
inches long. Inhabits the Kentifh coaft, generally ap¬
pearing about Romney, in the middle of April, and de¬
parting in the beginning of September. It is not un¬
common about Sandwich, where it was firft particularly
noticed by Mr Boys. The circumftance of its breed¬
ing in England has not been perfectly afeertained. The
hcevia of fome authors, or the Kamtfchatkan tern of
Pennant, appears to be only a variety, which is black,
with paler colours above ; white beneath ; and bill and
legs black.
Common or greater tern.—Two outer tail feathers Eirtnio^
half black, and half white ; bill and legs crimfon ; the
former tipt with black ; crown and area of the eyes
black ; reft of the head, neck, tail, and body, white be¬
neath ; back and wings cinereous ; outer tail feathers
black on the outer edge. There is a variety with black
legs, and the outer tail feathers entirely white. The
weight of this fpecies is about four ounces and a quarter ;
and
ORNITHOLOGY.
Aftferes. and its length fourteen inches. Inhabits Europe, Afia,
—'Y""”"' and America. It frequents our flat, fandy, or flnngly
fhores, and lays three or four eggs, of the fize of a pi¬
geon’s, of an olivacious brown, and fpotted and blotch¬
ed with dulky, among Hones, without making any neft.
It is noify and reftlefs, conftantly on wing, in fearch of
infefts and fmall fifli *, in purfuit of ivliich it darts into
the water with great force, feizes its prey, and inftantly
returns j for, though web-footed, it is not obferved to
fwim or dive. It is commonly known by the name of
the fea-fwallow, and, in fome parts, by that of the gull
teafer, from its perfecuting the fmaller gulls, and obli¬
ging them to difgorge. In New England it is called
mackarel gull, and at Hudfon’s bay it is known by
the name of black-head. The young birds are mottled
with brown and white, and are, molt probably,the
tern defcribed by Ray and other ornithologifts.
White ATVfi—-White \ bill and legs black ; length
between two and three inches. Inhabits the Cape of
Good Hope.
Black-headed tern.—Body hoary; head and bill black j
legs red *, fize of the preceding. Inhabits Europe,
Lejfer tern.—Body white*, back hoary; front and
eye-brows white; bill yellow, tipt with black ; irides
brown; cap black ; a black band through the eyes;
legs yellow ; eight inches and a half long. Inhabits
Europe and America. It has the habits of the com¬
mon fpecies, but is far lefs numerous. It lays two eggs,
of a very pale brown, fpotted all over with cinereous
and dulky, and placed in a fmall depreflxon among the
fliingle, without any neft.
Black tern.—Body black ; back afh-coloured ; belly
white ; feet red ; bill black ; male with a white fpot
on the chin ; wings and tail cinereous ; vent and lower
tail coverts white; length ten inches. Inhabits Europe
and America, and has all the actions and manners of
the other fpecies, but feemsto prefer frelh-water infedls
and fith to marine. It feeds on the verge of pools, in
fwampy places, and often remote from the fea. In the
fenny parts of Lincolnlhire and Cambridgelhire it is
called car-fwallow. Though very plentiful about the
reedy pools of the Romney marflies, it keeps to the
edges of the ftagnant w'ater, and is rarely feen on the ad¬
joining fea fliore, till after the breeding feafon, and even
then not very commonly. It lays three or four eggs
about the fize of thofe of a magpie, of an olive brown
colour, blotched and fpotted with brown and black.
. 4«S
Rynchops.
461
Alba.
45*
Nigra.
463
Mi'iuta.
Plate
ICCCXCVIl
fig- S’
464
FtfiJ*.'
Gen. 44. Rynchops, Skimmer.
Characters. Bill ftraight ; upper mandible fliorter than the under,
the latter truncated at the apex ; tail forked and
fliorter than the wings; noftrils linear, and the back
toe fmall.
467
Nigra.
Black fkimmer, or cut-water.—Blackifli ; white be¬
neath ; bill red at the bafe ; the lower mandible groov¬
ed ; front and chin white ; wings with a tranfverfe
white band; two middle tail feathers black, the next
edged with white ; legs red ; twenty inches long. In¬
habits Afia and America. This bird is ever on the
wing, fweeping the furface of the water, dipping in its
bill, or at lead the under mandible, to fcoop out the
fmaller fiflies on which it feeds. In ftormy weather
it frequents the (bores, and is contented with oyftcrs and
other flicll-fifli.
Order IV. GRALLAi. •
Grallje.
Bill fubcylindrical, and fomewhat obtufe; tongue 46 *
entire and flefliy ; legs naked above the knees; the Chara&ers,
feet are commonly furniflied with four toes, of which
three (land fonvards, and one backwards, fometimes
■wholly unconnedfed, and at other times half connec¬
ted by a web. Some fpecies, too, have only three
toes; their legs are long, that they may feek their
food in marfliy and fwampy places, for which reafon
they have alfo a long neck, and, for the moil part,
a long bill. Their bodies are oval, and fomewhat
comprefled, and their tail is generally (hort. They
build chiefly on the ground and in marfliy places, and
feed principally on filhes and water infedls. They are
all more or lefs migratory, and fuch as inhabit the more
northern countries of Europe, univerfally leave them at
the approach of winter.
470
Gen. 45. PHiENlCOPTEROS, Flamingo. Pha.ni-
Bill bare, toothed and bent as if broken ; noftrils li- co^^RoS’
near ; the feet four-toed and palmated, the mem- Chara&ers.
branes femicircular on the fore part; hind toe not
conne&ed.
The birds of this genus combine the anferes with the
grallte. They have the neck and legs long; the bill
ftrong and thick, the upper mandible carir ated above,
and denticulated at the margin, the under one compreried
and tranfverfely fulcated ; the noftrils above covered
with a thin membrane, and communicating with each
other; the back-toe very fmall, and the Web which con-
nefts the fore-toes, reaching to the nails. ■
Red flamingo.—Flag feather black. This Angular R her.
bird is fcareely fo big as a goofe, but has the neck and ^ate
legs in a greater difproportion to the body than any ctgRC^m*
other bird ; the length from the end of the bill to that
of the tail being four feet, and two or three inches; but
to the end of the claws, fometimes more than fix i< et;
the bill is four inches and a quarter long, and of a Itruc-
ture different from that of any other bird, the upper
mandible being very thin and flat, and fomeu hat move¬
able, the under thick, and both bending downwards
from the middle ; the end, as far as the curvature, is
black, and the reft reddifti-yellow; a flefti-coloured cere
extends round the bafe of the bill to the eye ; the neck
is (lender and of an immoderate length ; the tongue,
which is large and flefhy, fills the cavity of the bill, has
a (harp cartilaginous tip, and is furnilhed with twelve
or more hooked papillae on each fide, which bend back¬
wards. The bird, when in full pluijiage, which it does
not acquire till the third year, is of a mod beautiful deep
fcarlet, except the quills, which are black. The fla¬
mingo affects the warmer latitudes ; and, in the old con¬
tinent, is not often met with beyond the qcth degree
north or fouth. It is met with every where on the A-
frican coaft and adjacent ifles to the Cape of Good
Hope, and fometimes on the coafts of Spain and Italy,
and even on thofe of France that lie on the Mediterra¬
nean, having been found at Marfeilles and for fome way
up the Rhone. It h feen alfo on the Perfian fide of the
Cafpian fea, and from thence along the weftern coaft;
as far as the Wolga. They breed in the Cape de
Verd ifles, particularly in that of Sal, conflruding a neft
3 T 2 of
473
Chilenfis.
474
Platalea.
475
Characters.
476
Leitcoro-
sUa,
O It N I T H
of mud in the ftiape of a hillock, with a cavity at top,
m which the female generally lays two white eggs, of
the fize of thofe of a goofe, but more elongated. The
hillock is of a fufficient height to admit the bird’s fitting
on it conveniently, or rather Handing, as the legs are
placed one on each fide at full length. Sometimes the
female will depofit her eggs on the projecting part of
a low rock, if otherwife adapted to the above-mentioned
attitude. The young are not able to fly till they are
grown, but they can previoufly run with amazing
fwiftnefs. In this immature ftate, they are fometimes
caught and eafily tamed. In five or fix days, they be¬
come familiar, and even eat out of the hand, and drink
a great quantity of fea water. It is, however, difficult
to rear them, as they are very liable to pine from want
of their natural fubfiltence, which chiefly confifts of fmall
fifli and water infects. Thefe they take by plunging
the bill and part of the head into the water, and from
time to time trampling the bottom with their feet, to
difturb the mud, and raife up their prey. In feeding
they are faid to twift the neck in fuch a manner, that
the upper part of their bill is applied to the ground.
Except in the breeding feafon, flamingos are generally
obferved in great flocks, and at a diftance appear like a
regiment of foldiers, being often ranged alongfide of one
another on the borders of rivers. When the Europeans
firlt vifited America, they found thefe birds on the ffiores
tame and gentle, and no way difiruftful of mankind.
We learn from Catefby, that when the fowler had kill¬
ed one, the reft of the flock, inftead of attempting to
fly, only regarded the fall of their companion in a kind
of fixed aftoniffiment j fo that the whole flock were fome¬
times killed in detail, without one of them attempting
to make its efcape. They are now, however, extreme¬
ly ffiy, and one of their number ads as fentinel, while
the reft are feeding. The moment that this guard per¬
ceives the leaft danger, he gives a loud fcream, like
the found of a trumpet, and inftantly all are on the wing,
and fill the air with their fcreams. The flamingo,
when at reft, Hands on one leg, the other being drawn
up to the body, with the head placed under the wing
on that fide of the body on which it Hands. Its fleflr
is-efteemed tolerable eating, and that of the young has
been compared to partridge. Pliny, Martial, and other
writers of antiquity, have celebrated the tongue as a
morfel of exquifite reliffi.
Chili flamingo.—Quill feathers white ; bill covered
with a reddiffi Ikin; head fubcrefted; meafures five
feet from the bill to the claws. Inhabits Chili $ fre¬
quents only freffi waters, and is extremely ffiy.
Gen. 46. Platalea, Spoonbill.
Bill long and thin, the tip dilated, orbicular and flat;
noftrils fmall at the bafe of the bill; tongue Ihort and
pointed \ feet four-toed and femipalmated.
White [poonbill.—Body white; chin black; hind head
fomewhat crefted. Bill black, brown or fpotted; tongue
heart-ffiaped; irides gray; lores, orbits, and naked dilat¬
able chin, black ; quill feathers fometimes tipt with
black ; legs black. This fpecies admits of two varieties,
of which the firft has the wings varied with black and
white, and the legs yellowilh; and the fecond has the
body all white, and the legs flefli coloured. The white
er common fpoonbill weighs about three pounds and a
3
Gralle.
A'u
477
Vaja.
478
Pygmxa,
479
Palame-
DEA.
O L O G Y.
half, and meafures two feet eight inches in length. It
inhabits from the Feroe ifles to the Cape of Good Hope;
but rarely occurs in England. It lives on grafs, carices,
the roots of reeds, ferpents, frogs, mufcles, and other
ffiell-fiffi, but efpecially on fiffies, which it often feizes
from other birds. It makes its neft in high trees, near
t° the fea, and lays three or four white eggs, fprinkled
with a few pale red fpots. The flelh, efpecially of the
young bird, taftes like that of goofe.
Rojeate fpoonbill.—Body rofe-coloured ; tail coverts
fcarlet; bill cinereous white, with a furrow parallel with
the.edges ; face and chin naked and whitilh; legs gray.
This fpecies alfo frequently appears of a blood red hue;
the neck white ; collar black ; and tail feathers fcarlet.
Two feet three inches long. Inhabits South America
and Jamaica, figured in Latham’s Synopfis,
Dwarf fpoonbill.—Body brown above ; white be¬
neath. Size of a fparrow. Inhabits Guiana and Suri¬
nam.
Gen. 47. Palamedea, Screamer.
Bill conical, the upper mandible-hooked ; noftrils oval;
feet four-toed, cleft, a very fmall membrane connedt- Charadtsrs.
ing the toes at the root.
• . 4Sr
Hornedfcreatner.—Wings with two fpines at the cur- Cornuta,
vature, front horned ; bill and legs black; irides golden ;
body blackfill above, white beneath ; wings reddifli be¬
neath ; fpine ftrong, ffiarp, horny, triangular, yellow ;
horn on the front recurved, round, whitilh, three inches
long ; hind toe ftraight. Three feet four inches long.
Inhabits the fenny parts of South America; making a
large neft of mud, in the ffiape of an oven, on the
ground, and laying two eggs the fize of thofe of a goofe.
It is remarked, that they are always met with in pairs,
and if one dies, the other mourns to death for the lofs.
On hearing the leaft noife, or feeing any one, even at a
diftance, they rife from the ground and make a loud
fcreaming noife. They feed principally on herbs, feeds,
and reptiles. The flelh of the old bird is tough and ill
tailed ; but that of the young, though very dark, is fre¬
quently eaten by the natives. g2
. Crefled fcreamer.—Wings unarmed ; front crefted. Crijlata.
Size of a heron. Inhabits Brazil.
483
Mycteria.
Bill a little bending upwards and ffiarp-pointed ; upper Charaders.
mandible triangular ; front bald; noftrils linear;
tongue fmall or wanting ; feet four-toed and cleft.
4^5
American jabiru.—White ; quill and tail feathers American^'
purplilh-black ; bill long, ftout and black ; head and
neck bald, two-thirds of the neck blackiffi, the reft red;
hind head cinereous ; legs long, ftout and blackiftn
Nearly fix feet long. Inhabits the favannas of South
America ; is migratory and gregarious, makes its neft
in large trees, lays two eggs, and tends the young till
they can defcend to the ground. The colour of the
young birds is gray; the fecond year it changes to rofe
colour, and the third to pure white. They are very wild
and voracious, and deftroy great quantities of fifli. The
flefli of the young birds is faid to be good eating, but
that of the old is hard and oily. 0 gjj
Indian jabiru—White; band over the eyes, lower Ajiatica*
part of the back, quill and tail feathers, black; bill
blackilh;
Gen. 48. Mycteria, Jabiru.
Grallse-
487
Uovx Hoi-
hinHix-
O R N I T H
blacklfli j upper mandible gibbous at the bafe •, lower
tumid beneath •, legs flefli-coloured. Inhabits India, and
feeds on (hell-fifli.
JVfW Holland jabiru.—Body purplilh-green above,
under parts, neck and fhoulders white 5 head purplifh,
fpotted with white 5 neck feathered; irides yellow; firft
quill feathers white ; tail black and white. Full fix
feet long ; is fuppofed to live chiefly on filh. Inhabits
New Holland. Figured in Latham’s Supplement.
Gen. 49. Cancroma, Boatbill.
4*8
Cancro-
MA* Bill gibbous, and (haped like an inverted boat; noftrils
Charadters. fmall, and placed in a furrow ; tongue fmall; toes
divided.
Cochlearia. Crejled boatbill.—Crefted ; cinereous; belly rufous;
crown and lunule on the neck black ; bill brown ; lores
naked and blackifli; creft long, pendulous and pointed ;
leys yellowilh-brown ; toes connedled at the bafe. The
body is fometimes fpotted with brown. Twenty-two
inches long. Inhabits South America; perches on trees
which overhang the water, and darts down on the fifli
as they fwim underneath. It likewife feeds on crabs.
491
Scopus.
Gen. 50. Scopus, Umbre.
Characters Bill thick, compreffed, long and ftraight; noftrils linear
and oblique ; feet with four unconnefted toes.
Umbfetta. Tufted umbre.—With a creft ; bill brown, with a
Plate longitudinal furrow on each fide, in which are placed
cccxcvm. ^ noftrils; lower mandible narrower tosvards the end,
^ 4' and a little truncated; creft thick, tufted and lax ; body
brown ; tail obfcurely barred ; legs longilh and brown.
Female not crefted. Twenty inches long. Inhabits Africa.
• 494 Gen. Cl. ArdEA.
Ardea.
49S Bill ftraight, pointed, long, fomewhat comprefled, with
Characters. a furrow from the noftrils towards the tip ; noftrils
linear ; tongue (harp ; feet four-toed, cleft; toes con¬
nected at the bafe.
The birds of this numerous genus have long feet and
necks, and live on amphibious animals and fifties.
A. Crejled, and billfcarce/y longer than the head.
favonia. Crowned heron, or crown bird.—Creft briftly and
ereCt ; temples with two naked wattles ; bill brownifti;
irides gray ; crown covered with ftiort filky feathers ;
creft circular, yellowi(h, tipt with black ; temples and
wattles red ; body bluifti alh ; wing coverts white, the
greater ones reddiih, thofe next the body blackifti; tail
and greater quill feathers black, the fecondary bay ; legs
dufky. The female is black, where the male is bluifh-
afti, has no wattles on the throat, and the long feathers
on the breaft lefs confpicuous. This beautiful fpecies,
the balearic crane of Ray, and the crowned African
crane of Edwards, is two feet nine inches long ; and
inhabits Africa, particularly the coaft of Guinea, as far
as the Cape de Verd iflands. At the latter it is faid to be
very tame, and fo familiar as to come into the court-yards
to feed with the poultry. It is fuppofed to feed chiefly on
worms and vegetables, often fleeps on one leg, runs very
fall, and not only flies well, but continues on wing for a
long time together. The flefh is faid to be very tough.
Virgo. Demoifelle heron, demoifelle of Numidia, or Numidian
O L O G Y.
crane.—A tuft of long, white, pendant feathers behind
each eye ; bill yellowilh ; the bafe greenifti, tip red ;
irides red ; head and tips of the primary quill feathers
black ; feathers of the breaft long and pendulous ; creft
over the eyes turned back, and pendulous ; body bluilh-
alh ; crown cinereous ; head, neck, throat, breaft and
legs black. The wind-pipe does not, as in the genera¬
lity of birds, go ftraight forwards into the lungs, but
firft enters a cavity in the keel of the breaft bone, for
about three inches, when it returns, after making a bend
forwards, and then paffes into the cheft. This elegant
fpecies is about the fize of the common crane; and three
feet three inches long. It is found in many parts of
Africa and Afia, but moft plentifully about Bildulgerid,
the ancient Numidia, and Tripoli. It alfo occurs at
Aleppo, and in the fouthern plain, about the Black and
Cafpian feas, and not unfrequently beyond Lake Baikal,
about the rivers Selenga and Argun, but never ventures
to the northward. It affefts marfties and rivers, fubfift-
ing chiefly on fifh. In the Crimea it builds its neft in
open plains, generally in the vicinity of the fait lakes.
The young birds are brought to market by the Tartars,
and are fo fufceptible of domeftication, that they even
afterwards breed in the farm yards. From the gentle-
nefs of its manners and the elegance of its form, it is
often kept in menageries. In confinement, it often af-
fumes ftrange and uncouth attitudes, and feems occa-
fionally to imitate dancing ; and Keyfler mentions one
in the gallery at Florence, which had been taught to
dance to a certain tune, when played or fung to it.
B. Cranes ; head bald. „ 49 s’
Cranes.
Common crane.—Hind head naked and papillous ; cap 4991
and quill feathers black ; body cinereous; innermoft tailG'"w,f'
feathers jagged ; bill greenifh-black ; front covered with
black down; hind head red, with a few fcattered hairs,
and a cinereous area beneath ; temples and upper neck
white ; legs black. There is a variety with the body
white ; and the lower part of the neck and quill feathers
black ; bill greenifti black ; front covered with black
down ; hind head red, with a few fcattered hairs, and a
cinereous area beneath ; temples and upper neck white;
legs black. Weighs near 10 pounds; length five feet.
Inhabits Europe and Afia, and annually migrates in flocks
to the fouthern parts of Afia and Africa, in autumn.
The courfe of their flight is difcovered by the loud noife
which they make ; for they foar to fuch a height as to
be fcarcely vifible to the naked eye. Like the wild
geefe, they form themfelves into different figures, de-
Icribing a wedge, a triangle, or a circle. It is faid that
formerly they vifited the fens and marfties of England,
in great numbers ; but they feem now, in a great mea-
fure, to have forfaken our ifland. They are feen in
France in the fpring and autumn; but generally only as
paffengers. They make their nefts in marfties, and lay
two bluifti eggs. They feed on reptiles of all kinds, and
on feveral forts of vegetables, particularly green corn ;
among which, if a flock alights, it makes great havock.
Like other large birds, the crane has much difficulty in
commencing its flight.
Siberian crane.—White ; temples and front naked, Qjgfintea
red, wrinkled ; ten firft quill feathers ftiining black ;
bill and legs red. Stands four feet and a half high. In¬
habits the marftiy flats of Siberia, and feeds on reptiles,
worms, and fmall fiffi.
C, Storks ;
518
Gralla?.
i v 
401
Storks.
502
Giconia.
O R'N'I T H O L O G Y.
.503
Nigra.
S04
Herons-
5°S
"Dubia.
J C. Storks ; orbits naked.
White Jlnrk.—White; orbits and quill feathers black $
bill, legs and Ikin red ; greater wing coverts black. In¬
habits Europe, Afia, and Africa. Is about the fize of
a turkey j and meafures three feet three inches in length.
Feeds on filh and reptiles, and in feveral countries is
protected for its ufe in dellroying ferpents. Vaft num¬
bers annually refort to fotne parts of Holland, and even
as far north as Ruffia, to breed, but rarely vilit England.
They obferve great exaftnefs in the time of their autum¬
nal departure from Europe to more favoured climes.
They pafs a fecond fummer in Egypt, and the marlhes
of Barbary ; pairing in the former country, and rearing
a fecond brood. Before each of their migrations, they
rendezvous in amazing numbers, and are for a while
much in motion among themfelves, till, after making
feveral fhort excurfions, as if to try their wings, they
all on a fudden take flight with great filence, and with
iuch fpeed, as in a moment to be out of fight. At Bag¬
dad, hundreds of their nefts are to be feen about the
houfes, walls, and trees *, and at Perfepolis, the remains
of the pillars ferve them to build on, every pillar having
a nelt on it. Shaw mentions flights of them leaving
Egypt, and pafling over Mount Carmel, each half a
mile in breadth. 'The good-natured Hollanders provide
boxes for them to build their nefts in, on the tops of
their houfes, and refent any injury done to the birds as
an offence committed againft themfelves. The ftork is
of a mild and affeftionate difpofition ; and though it has
a grave air, yet, when roufed by example, is not averfe
from gaiety. “ I faw”, fays Dr Hermann, “ in a garden
where children were playing at hide and feek, a tame
ftork join the party, run its turn when touched, and di-
ftinguilh the child whofe turn it was to purfue the reft,
fo well, as, along with the others, to be on its guard.”—
To this bird the ancients afcribed many of the moral
virtues, as temperance, vigilance, conjugal fidelity, and
filial and parental piety.
BlackJlork.—Brown *, breaft and belly white. Two
feet nine inches long. Inhabits Europe and A fia. Feeds
on fifli and reptiles •, is timid, and retires into thick
woods and inacceflihle fens.
D. Herons ; middle claw inwardly ferrated.
Gigantic heron.—Glaucous above ; dirty white be¬
neath ; bill a little triangular. This is a large fpecies,
meafuring from tip to tip of the wings, nearly 15 feet.
The bill is of an enormous fize, and 16 inches round at
the bafe. The head and neck are naked, except a few
ftraggling curled hairs. The feathers of the back and
wings are of a bluilh afti colour, and very flout ; thofe
of the breaft long. The craw hangs down the forepart
of the neck, like a pouch, thinlv covered with down.
The belly is covered with a dirty white down, and the
upper part of the back and flioulders furrounded with
the fame. The legs and about half of the thighs are
naked, and the naked parts are full three feet in length.
The gigantic heron inhabits Bengal, and is fometimes
found on the coaft of Guinea. It arrives in the interior
parts of Bengal before the period of the rains, and retires
as foon as the dry feafon commences. Though its afpeft
is far from inviting, it is one of the moft ufeful birds of
thefe count-ies in clearing them of fnakes and noxious
reptiles and infe&s. They fometimes feed on filh j and
one of them will generally devour as much as would Gralla
ferve four men. On opening the body of an individual ‘ r—^
of this fpecies, a land tortoife, 1 o inches long, and a
large black cat, were found entire within it, the former
in the pouch and the latter in its ftomacb. Being un¬
daunted at the fight of mankind, they are foon rendered
familiar ; and when filh or other food is thrown to them
they catch it very nimbly, and immediately fwallow it
entire. A young bird of this kind, about five feet in
height, was brought up tame, and prefented to the
chief of the Bananas, where Mr Smeathman lived. It
regularly attended the hall at dinner time, placing itfelf
behind its mafter’s chair, frequently before any of the
guefts entered. "The fervants were obliged to watch it
carefully, and to defend the provifions by beating it off
with flicks; yet hotwithftanding every precaution, it
Would frequently fnatch off fomething from the table,
and one day purloined a whole boiled fowl, which it
fwallowed in an inftant. It ufed to fly about the ifland,
and roolt very high among the filk cotton trees; from
this ftation, at the diftance of two or three miles, it
could fee when the dinner was carried acrofs the court j
when darting down, it would arrive early enough to
enter with fome of thofe who carried in the dilhes.
When fitting, it was obferved always to reft itfelf on
the whole length of the hind part of the leg. Some¬
times it would ftand in the room for half an hour after
dinner, turning its head alternately as if liftening to the
converfation. Thefe birds are found in companies, and
when feen at a diftance, near the mouths of rivers, ad¬
vancing towards an obferver, it is fajd that they may be
eafily miftaken for canoes on the furface of a fmooth
fea, and when on the fand banks, for men and women
picking up fhell-fifh on the beach.—From their immenfe
gape, they have obtained the name of large throats, and
from their (wallowing bones, that of bone eaters or bone
takers.
Night heron.— Creft on the hind head white, horizon- .T
tal, of three feathers; back black ; belly yellowifh. ^ lC0r***
The female has the head fmooth and brown ; belly
brownifti and white beneath ; and the firft quill feathers
with a white fpot at the tip. About 20 inches long.
Inhabits Europe, Afia, and America. Only one in-
ftance occurs of its having been met with in England.
It is pretty common in Ruflia, particularly on the Don,
where it builds in trees, and isalfo met with at Aftracan
during fummer. It is faid to lay three or four white
eggs, and fometimes to build among the rocks. It has
a very uncouth and rough voice, like that of a perfon
(training to vomit.
, Crejfed purple heron Hind head black; creft pcn~ pUrpurt&
dent, and compofed of two long feathers; body olive
above, purplifh beneath. Two feet 10 inches long.
Inhabits Afia.
dean heron.—Crefted; body cinereous; neck, breaft Cafpica.
and belly, ferruginous; chin white; neck with three
black lines; bill and legs yellow ; creft of three long
feathers ; feathers of the breaft and rump mixed with
ferruginous; a broad black line from the nape to the back,
and another on each of the fides. About three feet
long; and fmaller than the common heron. Inhabits
Afia and Africa, and has been twice found in England.
Common heron.—Hind head with a pendent creft ; Major.
body alb coloured ; line on the neck beneath and pec¬
toral bar black. The female has the hind head fmooth
and
O R N I T H
Orallac. and black ; back blvn'fti and whltifk beneath j and the
bread with oblong black fpots. Bill dulky ; bafe yel-
lovvilh beneath •, area of the eyes naked and greenilh ;
irides yellow ; temples black front, crown, and neck,
white above •, fpurious wings and greater cjuill feathers
black; fcapQlars and feathers of the throat long, lax,
5*o
Capita.
I 5**
Egretta.
[ Plate
fCcxcvni
L 52
fkioj;.
°dias.
and narrow j body white beneath j legs dirty green. reous
The weight of this fpecies is about three pounds and a
half; and the length about three feet four inches. In¬
habits almoft every where in fenny place's, and is com¬
mon in England. It is a great deftroyer both of fea
and frefh water tifli, being enabled, by the great length
of its legs, to wade into feme depth of Water, where
it Hands motionlefs, till fome of the finny tribe approach,
when it darts its bill into them in an inftant. Its digeition
being as quick as its appetite is voracious, it commits
great devafi.ation in ponds and {hallow waters. It will
likewife eat frogs and vegetables. They are frequently
obferved to feed by moon light, when the fifh come into
the Ihoaler waters. In the breeding feafon, herons are
gregarious, and make their nefts very near one another.
Pennant mentions having feen eighty neils on one tree,
and Mr Montagu once faw a heronry on a fmall ifland
in a lake, in the north of Scotland, on which there was
but a fingle ferubby oak, which not being fufficient to
contain all the nells, many were placed on the ground.
The neft is large and fiat, made of Hicks lined with
wool and other foft materials. The eggs are four or
five in number, of a greeniih-blue, and about the fizc of
thofe of a duck. Heronries "were much prized in the
days of falconry, and fome are yet to be feen in feveral
parts of the kingdom. In flying, this fpecies hides its
head between its Hioulders and itslegs hang down. When
it fiies very high it prefages a florin. If taken young,
thefe birds may be tamed : but when the old birds are
captured, they foon pine away, refufing every kind of
nouriftiment. The body is very fmall and always lean,
and the {kin is fcarcely thicker than membrane ufed
by the gold beaters. Linnaeus had made the two fexes
diftinfl fpecies^ and others were long of the fame opi¬
nion : but later obfervations have corrected the miftake.
Egret, or little egret.—Hind head crefted body white -,
bill black ; lores and legs greenifh 5 irides yellowifh j
creft confifting of fome fhort, and two long feathers j
face naked and green ; claws black. Nearly a foot
long, and weighs one pound. Inhabits marfhy places,
ih temperate regions, in the four quarters of the world.
If we may judge from the bill of fare of the famous feaft
given by the archbifiiop Nevil, thefe birds were formerly
plentiful in England; for no fewer than 1000 were in
that lift. It is, however, now become a very rare bird
ih this kingdom. Its plumes were formerly ufed to de¬
corate the helmets of warriors, but are now applied to
ornament the head drefles of European ladies, and the
turbans of the Perfians and Turks. Its habits are ana¬
logous to thofe of the common heron.
Great egret.—Somewhat crefted, white ; legs black ;
feathers of the back and breaft lax, narrow and very
long. About two feet long. Inhabits South America.
Is fhy and folitary, lying hid among the tall reeds, and
feeding by night.
Great heron.—Hind head crefted ; body browm; thighs
rufous ; breaft with oblong black fpots. Above five feet
long. Inhabits the lakes and rivers of Virginia, and
feeds on lizards, frogs, and fifti.
O L G G Y. 519
Blue heron Hind head cfefted ; body blue ; bill G-allse.
and lores blue ; legs green. In the female, the head v
and neck are dulky purple ; the chin and middle of the Ccenika
throat white, and the back lead colour. There is a
fuberefted variety blue green, with the chin and throat
Another is varied with brown, yellow, and cine-
fteel black above ; white beneath ; and wings
and tail greenifti From 16 to 18 inches long. Inhabits
America. Found in Carolina in fpring, and in Jamaica,
and other iflands of the Weft Indies, in winter. It has
alfo been met with at Otaheite, and other ifiands of the
South feas, where it is much refpected. SI4
Squacco kei-on.—Ferruginous ; white beneath ; hind Comata
bead with a long white pendent creft, edged with black.
About 15 inches long. Inhabits Europe and Alia. A
white variety, with a fmooth head, the upper part,
crown, breaft and back reddifti, and which inhabits
Coromandel. Has been once {hot in England. ^
Bittern ; in provincial Englilh, hittour, bumpy cofs, Stcllark-.
butter bu??ip, and mired ram.—Head fmoothifii ; body
teftaceous above, with tranfverfe fpots ; paler beneath,
with oblong brown fpots. About two feet and a half
long. Inhabits Europe, Afia, and America, affediing
the more temperate regions in winter, and migrating
northwards in fummer. Though not a plentiful fpecies
in Britain, it is occafionally found in the breeding feafon,
in the lefs frequented reedy marfties, and fwampy moors,
well clothed with rulhes, where it forms a neft on fome
flump, by colle61:ing fedges or other coarfe plants toge¬
ther. It lays four or five eggs of a light olive green
colour, inclining to cinereous. At this feafon the male
makes a Angular bellowing noife, vulgarly fuppofed to
be produced by the bird putting his bill into a reed. It
is with difficulty roufed from its lurking place, flies
heavily, and frequently lights again at a fmall diftance,
fo that it becomes an eafy prey to the fportfman. About
funfet, it fometimes foars to a great height in the air,
with a fpiral afeent, making at the fame time a loud and
Angular noife. Its fleffi is accounted a delicacy.
Greater bittern.—Head fmoothifii, black ; body cme- Botaurus.
reous brown above ; rufous beneath ; lores and naked
orbits yellow ; throat white, frreaked with black and
reddifli. Three feet nine inches long. Inhabits Italv. 517
Great white heron.—Head fmooth ; body white ; bill Alia.
tawney ; legs black ; bill fix inches long ; iridcs yellow’-
ifii ; lores green. Three feet fix inches long. Inhabits
Europe, Afia, and America. Is rare in England. ig
Wattled heron.—Back, wings, legs and crown black-Carlncula-
blue; fmooth head and neck white ; body black be-ta.
neath ; bill and chin carunculated. Five feet long.
Inhabits Africa.
Minute bittern.—Smooth head and upper part of the Kxilis.
body reddilh-bay ; white beneath ; fides of the neck ru¬
fous ; wings and tail black. Twelve inches and a half
long. Inhabits Jamaica.
Little bittern.—(Male). Head fmooth ■; body brown; Minute.
reddifti beneath ; tail feathers greeniffi black ; lores vel-
lowiffi. (Female). Body brown ; edges of the feathers
reddilh ; reddifti beneath ; crown, back, wings and tail
black ; bill yellow-green ; naked part of the face yel¬
low ; irides faffron ; legs green brown. This beautiful
fpecies is fcarcely larger than a fieldfare, and about
15 inches long, from the tip of the bill to the end of the
tail. The female lays four or five white eggs, of the
fize of thofe of the blackbird, and which are placed on
a few dried flags on tlie ground.
Afia, but is rare in England.
O R N I T H
Inhabits Europe and
liana.
E. Bill gaping in the middle.
Sai
Pondiceri- Pondicherry heron.—Gray-afli \ quill feathers long
a,ia' and black ; middle claw not ferrated j bill yellow, thick
at the bafe, pointed at the tip, and a little bent in, gap¬
ing in the middle j fpace between the bill and eyes fea¬
thered ; legs yellow. Fourteen inches and a half long.
523 Inhabits India. ’
Coromande- Coromandel heron.—White j back, wings and tail
black ; upper mandible ferrated from the middle to the
tip \ billtyellow, thick at the bafe, and pointed at the
tip 5 legs reddilh-yellow ; upper part of the head with
black lines ; lores and chin naked and black ; irides
red j toes conne&ed at the bafe. Inhabits Coromandel,
523 and feeds on fifli and reptiles.
Scolopacea. Scolopaccous heron.—Brown •, throat and breaft ftreak-
ed with white *, chin and legs white $ wings and tail
copper-colour. Twenty five inches long. Inhabits
Cayenne.
5*4
Tantalus.
, 525
Characters.
52S
Loculator.
527
Igneus.
t 52S
Niger.
r 52p
Ibis.
Gen 52. Tantalus, Ibis.
Bill long, fubulated, roundifh, fomewhat arched ; face
naked; tongue ftiort and broad; jugular pouch naked;
noftrils oval; feet four- toed and palmated at the
bafe.
IVood ibis.—Face bluifli ; bill reddifh ; legs, quill
and tail feathers black ; body white ; bill nine inches
long, yellowifli-brown ; irides reddifh. The male has
the head and neck naked, wrinkled and black-blue ; and
the female has the neck gray and downy. Three feet
long. Inhabits New Holland and the warmer parts of
America. Is ftupid and flow in flight, fitting on trees,
and feeding on herbs, feeds, fruits, filh, and reptiles.
The flefh is good. Of this fpecies there are two varieties,
the firfl having the head and neck white, blended with
yellow, the body black, and belly cinereous ; and the
iecond diftinguiftied by white w ing coverts, with a black
blotch in the middle.
Glojfy ibis.—Head and neck black ; legs green ; body
varied with glofly-blue, blackifh, green and claret; dark
rufous beneath ; quill and tail feathers green-gold ; bill
green. Thirteen inches and a half long. Inhabits Ruf-
fia, and was once fliot in Cornwall.
Black ibis.—Face, bill, and legs red ; body black.
From 30 to 40 inches long. Inhabits Egypt.
Egyptian ibis.—Face red ; bill pale yellow ; quill fea¬
thers black ; body reddifh-white. This is a large bird,
fomewhat exceeding the ftork, and meafures from 30 to
40 inches in length. The bill is feven inches long, the
colour yellow, growing reddifli towards the tip, (lightly
curved, and .ending in a blunt point. The fore part of
the head, all round as far as the eyes, is naked and red¬
difli. The (kin under the throat, is alfo bare and dila¬
table ; the plumage reddifli white, mod inclining to red
on the back and wings; quills and tail black ; the legs
long; and the thighs bare for three parts of their
length. Haflelquift adds, that the irides are whitifli,
and the end of the bill and the legs black ; and that it
is found in Lower Egypt, in great plenty, in places juft
freed from the inundations of the Nile. It lives on frogs
and infedts, and is feen in gardens morning and evening,
and fometimes fo abundantly, that whole palm trees are
O L O G Y.
covered with them. When at reft they fit quite ereft, Grallse,
their tail touching their legs. The fame author believes
it to be the ibis of the ancients ; firft, becaufe it is com¬
mon in, and peculiar to Egypt; fecondly, as it eats fer-
pents ; and, thirdly, becaufe the urns which contain the
remains of embalmed birds, found in the fepulchres along
with the mummies, feem to contain birds of this fize.
Its figure reprefented Egypt, in the hieroglyphic writ¬
ing of its inhabitants. In that country it is (till called
Pharaoh's bird, and builds in the palm trees. 530
Scarlet ibis.—Face, bill and legs red ; body fcarlet; Paler,
wings tipt with black. Twenty-one inches long. In¬
habits South America. Sits on trees, but lays its
greenifh eggs on the ground. The young are at firft
black, then gray, whitifli juft before they fly, and after¬
wards grow gradually red.
White ibis.—This fpecies is 22 inches long, and about Alha.
the fize of the whimbrel; the face, bill and feet reddifli; Phte
body white ; tips of the wings green ; the male and fe-ccjixcviu'
male nearly alike. Native of Brazil, but towards the
end of fummer migrates to the north, and is found in
great numbers in the marfliy lands of Carolina, feeding
on fifli and aquatic infedts. Here they remain for about
fix weeks : the fat and flefti of the w hite ibis are faid to
be of a faffron colour, but though not much efteemed,
is fometimes eaten.
Gen. 53. Corrira, Courier.
_ 532
CORRIRAt
533
Bill ftiort, ftraight, toothlefs ; thighs longer than the Charaders.
body ; feet four-toed, palmated ; hind toe uncon-
nedted.
■ 534
Italian courier.—Ferruginous above ; white beneath ; Italica.
two middle tail feathers white, tipt with black ; bill
pale yellow, black at the end, with a large gap ; irides
a double circle of bay and white. Lefs than the cur¬
lew. Inhabits Italy, and runs fwiftly.
533
Gen. 54" Scolopax. Scolopax.
Bill roundifli, obtufe, and longer than the head ; no- ci,J^en,
ftrils linear ; face covered with feathers ; feet four-
toed ; hind toe confiding of many joints.
The birds of this and of the fucceeding genus are with
difficulty afeertained, being fubjedt to differ in appearance
from fex and age, and their colours (hading into one an¬
other. The markings of their feet, however, are pret¬
ty conftant, and therefore afford one of the bed cri¬
teria. 537
Pigmy curlew.—Arched bill, and legs black ; body Pygmaa.
varied with ferruginous, browTn, and white; white be¬
neath ; rump white ; quill and outer tail feathers edged
with white. Size of a lark. Inhabits Europe, and is
very rare in England.
Common curlew.—Bill arched, blackifli ; legs bluiftt; jrquata
wings blackifti, with fnowy fpots ; low’er mandible red-
difti at the bafe ; body above, and breaft, ftreaked with
du(ky brown ; chin, rump, belly, and vent, white;
quill feathers black, fpotted with white within ; legs
bluifti; toes flat and broad. This fpecies is fubjedt to
vary confiderably in fize, weighing from 20 to upwards
of 30 ounces ; the length of the largeft being about 25
inches. Inhabits the moift and fenny places of Europe,
Afia, and Africa. A rufous and black variety, with a
fmaller body, and longer bill, occurs in America. 'I he
curlew
ORNITHOLOGY.
52i
539
fhceopuS'
54°
Nigra.
54i
Nutans.
54*
Rujlicola.
Grail®, curlew is common on mod: of our coafts, in winter, when
—v—it is gregari jus, and feeds on f nail crabs, and other ma¬
rine iniecls and worms. In the fpring it retires inland,
and commonly to the more northern parts of the king
dom, to breed, reforting to the molt retired fituations
on the heath-covered mountains, or in extenfive and
unfrequented marlhes. It makes no neft ; but dcpolits
among the heath, rulhe% or long grais, four eggs, of a
pale olive colour, marked with brownilh fpors. The
young make ufe of thei: legs as foon as they are hatch¬
ed, hut cannot fly for a conliderable time. The fl< fh
of this fpecies is eatable, but is belt in fummer, when
the bird feeds on frogs, worms, and water inf. £ts. In
winter it is rank and fifhy.
IVhimbrel.—Bill arched, and black •, legs bluifh j
back with rhomboid brown fpots *, rump white ; lower
mandible reddifli at the bafe •, body above, and breait
brownilh, with dulky brown ftreaks j chin, rump, bel¬
ly, and vent, white •, tail brown, with dulky bars •,
quill feathers black, fpotted with white on the infide.
About half the fize of the preceding; but agreeing with
it in appearance and habits. It is alfo more fcarce in
this country.
B/ack fnipe.—Bill and legs red ; body black. Inha¬
bits the illands between Northern Alia and America.
Nodding fnipe.—Bill black ; legs greenifh ; body ci¬
nereous ; crown and upper part of the back dulky red,
and ftreaked; the lower white, fpotted with black. Size
of the common fnipe. Inhabits Labrador, and is con-
ftantly nodding the head.
Woodcock.—Bill ftraight, reddilh at the bafe ; legs
cinereous; thighs covered ; head, with a black band on
each fide; upper mandible longer, reddifli at the bafe ;
front cinereous; lower eyelid white; crowm, neck above,
back, and wing-coverts, ferruginous, mixed with black
and gray ; chin pale alh ; throat yellowilh, with fmall
dulky fpots; body whitilh beneath, with dulky lines ;
quill feathers dulky, with triangular rufous fpots ; tail
rounded, cinereous at the tip ; legs brownilh. Length
15 inches ; weight from 12 to 15 ounces. This well-
known fpecies is fubjeft to great variety, and inhabits
the northern countries of Europe, Afia, and Africa,
migrating in winter to the more temperate regions. In
Britain it feldom appears in numbers till about the mid¬
dle of November ; but fome oceafionally appear as
earlv as the latter end of September, or beginning of
O&ober. They generally come to us with northerly or
eafterly winds, when the more northern countries be¬
come frozen ; and if the froft in thofe parts where
they breed is fuddenly fevere, large flights are fometimes
met with on our coafts, where they remain for a day, to
.recruit their ftrength, and then difperfe. In England
they are not fo plentiful as formerly, when the art of
Ihooting flying was lefs praftifed. A great many, how¬
ever, are vet to be found in the more uncultivated parts
of Devonshire, Cornwall, and Wales, as well as in the
north of Scotland ; but they are nowhere fo abundant
as in the large trafts of woods in Ireland. In fevere
•weather, they accumulate, from the moors and inland
counties, to the Woods in the weft of England. It is
one of the few winter birds that occafionally breed with
us. It builds a neft of a few fibres, or dry leaves, on
the ground, generally at the root of a tree, and lays
four eggs, fomev'hat larger than thofe of a pigeon, of
a yellowifh-white, fpotted and blotched with rufous
VOL. XV. Part II.
brown and afti colour. Its ufual food is infers and Grallae.
worms, tor which it bores with its bill into moilt places, V*—"
feeding principally at night, when its call refembies that
of the (nipe. In fome countries the woodcock remains
the whole year, only moving, in the breeding feafon,
from the plains to the mountains. In this country, it
ulually prepares for its departure about the middle of
March, when flocks come down to the fea coaft, and,
if the wind is favourable, are fion out of fight ; but if
it be contrary, they linger till it change.
Little woodcock —Bill ftraight; legs brownifh; front Minor.
cinereous ; hind head black, with four tranfverfe yel¬
lowilh lines ; chin white ; body aiaove black, waved
with flight tawney; yellow beneath. Eleven inches
and a half long. Inhabits America. Its flefti is rec¬
koned exquifite. 544
Great fnipe.—Legs and crown black, the latter with Major.
a pale divided line down the middle, a pale ilnak above
and beneath the eyes ; body varied above, white be¬
neath ; bill like that of the woodcock ; lower feathers
of the body, except the middle of the belly, edged with
black; quill feathers dulky; tail feathers reddifli, and,
except the two middle ones, with black lines. Weighs
about eight ounces ; length 16 inches. Inhabits Sibe¬
ria, and very rarely England. 545
Common fnipe.—Bill ftraight, tuberculated ; legs Gallin ago.
brown ; body varied with blackifh and tawney, white
beneath ; front with four brown lines ; crown, bill,
ocular band, and wings, black ; chin pale rufty ; tail-
feathers black at the bafe; rump variegated. The
weight of this fpecies is about four ounces, and the
length nearly 1 2 inches. It is met with in marfhy fi¬
tuations, in almoft every part of the world, and is very
plentiful in our own ifland. In very wet times it re¬
forts to the hills ; but more generally frequents the
marfhes of the plains, where it can penetrate the earth
with its bill, in queft of worms. Some few remain with
us the whole year, and breed in the more extenfive,
marthes and mountainous bogs. The neft is made of
the materials around it, as coarfe grafs or heath, and
placed on a dry fpot, near a fplaih or fwampy place, the
eggs, like that of the lapwing, being much pointed, and
invariably placed with their fmaller ends inwards. In
the breeding feafon the fnipe changes its note entirely.
The male will keep on the wing for an hour together,
mounting like a lark, uttering a (brill piping noife, and
then .descend with great velocity, making a bleating
found, like that of an old goat, which is alternately re¬
peated round the fpot poffeffed by the female, efpecially
while (he is fitting on her neft. The young ones run off
foon after they are freed from the (hell; but they are
attended by the parent birds, until their bills have ac¬
quired a fufficient firmnefs to enable them to provide for
themfelves. When undifturbed in its retreats, the fnipe
walks leifurely, with its head ereft, and keeps moving
the tail at (hort intervals. But it is rarely obferved in
this (late of tranquillity, being extremely watchful,
and perceiving the fportfman, or his dog, at a great di-
ftance, and either concealing itfelf among the varie¬
gated withered herbage, fo fimilar in appearanc e to its
own plumage, that it is almoft impoflible to difeover it,
or, as happens more frequently, fpringing and taking
flight beyond the reach of the gun. When firft difturb-
ed it utters a kind of feeble whittle, and generally flies
againft the wind, turning nimbly in a zig-zag direction,
3 U and
ORNITHOLOGY.
S4«
Gallinula.
547
Glottis.
548
Calidris.
549
Tat anus.
and fometimes foaring almoft out of fight. From its vi¬
gilance and manner of flying, it is very difficult to fhoot;
but fome fportfraen can draw it withih range of their
fowling-piece, by imitating its cries, and others are con¬
tented to catch it in the night by fpringes. The fnipe is
much efteemed as a deliciou- and well flavoured diffi j
and though it is very fat, it rarely difagrees even with
the weakeft ftomach.
Jach-fnipe^judcoch^QX gid.~^&\\\ liraight, tubercula-
ted \ body variegated \ legs greenifli; lores brown j
rump varied with violet; bill black ; body variegated
with teftaceous, black, violet, and gloffy green ; head
with pale yellow and black lines, reaching from the bill
to the hind head \ breait fpotted ; belly and vent white.
Eight inches and a half long. Inhabits Europe, Afia,
and America. Is found in the fame places with the pre¬
ceding, but is more folitary and rare. It will lie among
ruffies, or other thick covert, till in danger of being
trampled on, and, when roofed, feldom flies far. It
comes to us later than the common fnipe, and is never
known to remain in this country during the breeding fea-
fon. It is as much efleemed as the fnipe, and is cook¬
ed in the fame manner.
Gt'eenjhank.—Bill ftraight, the lower bafe red •, body
beneath fnowy ; legs greenifli ; bill black j the lower
mandible bending a little upwards ; eyebrows and lower
part of the back white ; head, neck, and back, pale ci¬
nereous 5 fhafts of the feathers fpotted with brown ; quill
feathers dufkv, fpotted with white on the infide •, tail
white, with duikv lines-, legs very long. Weight about
fix ounces; length 14 inches. Inhabits Europe, Afia,
and America. Is fometimes feen, in fmall flocks, on
our coafts, in winter ; as alfo in the marfhes and fens
contiguous to the fea. Some few are fuppofed to remain
with us all the funrmer, and to breed in our fens. The
greater part, however, retire northward to breed, and
are found in Sweden, Ruflia, and Siberia. Their flefli,
like all the reft of this genius, is well-flavoured, and
reckoned good eating.
Red/hank, or poof-fnipe.—Bill ftraight, red ; legs fear-
let ; fecondary quill feathers white 5 bill black towards
the tip •, irides roddifh-hazel 5 head and neck cinereous
above ; back and ftioulders greenilh-brown ; wing co¬
verts cinereous, mixed with dufky and brown, and fpot¬
ted with whitilh •, fecondary quill feathers, except the
two inner ones, white towards the. tip } primary dufky,
the four or five inner ones tipt with white ; line over the
eyes white ; a dufky fpot between the bill and eyes ;
fhort dufky ftreaks on the chin and throat ; under part
of the body and rump white, with fmall dufky fpots ;
each of the tail feathers with 1 2 or 13 tranfverfe black
lines. \ Weighs about five ounces, and is 1 2 inches long.
Inhabits Europe and America. Is not uncommon in
fome parts of England, refiding the greater part of the
year in the fen countries, where it breeds and rears its
young. It lays four eggs, which are whitifh, tinged
with olive, and marked with irregular fpots of black,
chiefly on the thicker end. When difturbed it' flies
round its neft, making a noife like a lapwing. It is not
fo common on the fea fhores as feveral of its congeners,
and is of a folitary difpofition, being moftly feen alone,
or onlv in pairs.
Spotted fn/pe, red lep^cd qodzvit, or fpotted redfisunh.—
Blackiffi, with white fpots ; white beneath } lines on
Gratia;,
the breaft and bands on the lateral tail feathers black-
ifh ; legs red. Size of the greeriftiank. Inhabits Eu¬
rope, frequenting the banks of rivers, and feeding on
the fmaller fhell-fifh and other vermes. Seldom vifits
Britain.
Le/fer godwit,jadreha fnipc, or Jlone plover.—Bill in- Limofa.
clining a little upwards at the point, red at the bale ;
body gray brown, varied with rufous ; white beneath ;
quill feathers white at the bale, the four firft without
fpots 5 tail white at the bafe ; irides whitilh ; cheeks
reddifli; back brown 5 quill feathers blackilh ; feathers
round the bill reddifli white. Seventeen inches long,
and weighs nine ounces. Inhabits the north of Europe,
and is gregarious ; but feldom occurs in Britain.
Red godwit, or red-breajledgodvnit.—Bill a little re- Lapponica.
curved, yeliowifti legs black; body reddilh-rufty be¬
neath ; bill blackiih at the tip ; head, neck,breaft and
body, ferruginous above, and, except the neck, ftreak-
ed with black ; lower part of the back and rump rufous
white ; greater quill feathers black without, the bafe
white within ; fecondary and tail feathers half black and
half white. Weight about 1 2 ounces ; length 18 inches.
There is a varitty with the head and neck cinereous,
and the chin and*belly white. Inhabits Europe and
America, and is gregarious, but rarely feen with us.
Common or gray godwit.—Bill ftraight, reddifli ye\- Jt.goufba-
low; kgs gret niffi ; head and neck reddifli; three of'«•
the quill feathers black, with a white bafe; a broad
white; ftreak from the bill to the eye ; body reddifli-
brown above ; feathers with a dufky fpot in the middle.
Subjedl to very confiderable variety both in fize and
plumage. In general, it weighs from feven to twelve
ounces, and mealures from 15 to 16 inches. It inhabits
Europe, Alia, and Africa ; continues with us the whole
year, and reforts to the fens in fpring for breeding. In
the winter it is found on our ftiorcs, particularly at the
mouths of large rivers and inlets, where the mud and
fand become bare at low water, and where it feeds on
inftfls. It is much efteemed by epicures as a great de¬
licacy, and fells very high. It is caught in nets, to
which it is allured by aJdale, or fluffed bird, in the
fame manner, and at the fame fe^fon as the ruffs and
reeves. _ ... .553
Godwit.—Brown, edged with whitilh ; neck whitilh, Leucophcetu
with Imall brown fpots ; chin and belly white ; quill
feathers with black bands ; bill a little turned up, brown,
with a purple bafe ; tail feathers white ; the two middle
ones wholly, the reff barred with brown on the outer
fide. Sixteen inches long. Inhabits Europe. Regard¬
ed by lome ornithologifts as only a variety of the wgo-
cephala. ^ _ , 554^
Cinereous godwit.—Legs long, cinereous ; head, neck, Canefcens.
and back varied with cinereous and white ; chin and
breaft white, fpotted with alh ; bill thicker than in the
greenlhank ; tail with cinereous lines. Size of the
greenfhank. Inhabits Lincolnfhire; but is very rare,
and feems to be imperfedlly known. ^
Cambridge godwit.—Legs orange ; bill red ; body Cantabrif-
brown alh above, white beneath ; wing coverts and tail aifis-
feathers barred with black ; leffer wing coverts brown,
edged with white and barred with black ; quill feathers
blackilh, white within ; the fecondary barred with
white. Larger than the redlhank. Was Ihot near Cam¬
bridge, and ftrft deferibed by Pennant.
Gen. 55.
ORNITHOLOGY.
Oalte-
55()
Tringa.
557
Chara&ers.
55S
rugnax.
r
anellus.
r Gen. 55. TriNGA, Sandpiper. /
Bill roundilh, as long as the head j noftrils fmall, li¬
near ; tongue {lender •, feet four-toed ; hind toe of
one joint, and raifed from the ground.
The birds of this genus frequent the plains and fhores,
and hardly touch the ground with their back toe.
Ruff and reeve.—Bill and legs rufous •, three lateral
tail feathers without fpots ; face with fleili-coloured gra¬
nulations ; bill fometimes black or yellowilh; irides ha¬
zel •, back of the neck with a large tuft of feathers,
which fall off in moulting feafon. Female pale brown ;
back fpotted with black $ tail brown : the middle fea¬
thers {'potted with black ; bread and belly white. The
ruffs, or males, are fo very variable in their markings,
that two are feldom found alike. Buftbn mentions that
Klein compared above too ruffs together, and found on¬
ly two that were fimilar. About one foot long. Inha¬
bits Europe and Siberia. The male does not acquire
the ornament of his neck till the fecond feafon, and, be¬
fore that time, is not eafily diftinguiihed from the fe¬
male, except by being larger. After moulting, at the
end of June, he lofes his ruff and the red tubercles of
his face 5 and from that time, till the fpring of the year,
he again, in plumage, looks like his mate. Thefe birds
leave our illand in the winter, and are then fuppofed to
affociate with other congenerous fpecies. In the fpring,
as foon as they arrive again in England, and take up
their abode in the fens where they were bred, each of
the males (of which there appears to be a much greater
number than of females) immediately fixes on a particu¬
lar dry or graffy fpot in the marfii, about which he runs
round and round, until it is trodden bare, wilhing, appa¬
rently, to invite the female to take joint poffeffion, and
become an inmate. As foon as a fingle female arrives,
and is heard or obferved by the males, her feeble cry
feems to roufc them all to war j for they inilantly be¬
gin to fight ; and their combats are deferibed as being
both defperate and of long continuance, the female, at
the end of the battle, remaining the prize of the viftor.
It is at the time of thefe battles, that they are caught
in the greatell numbers in the nets of the fowlers. They
are alfo at other times caught by day nets, and are
drawn together by means of a Huffed reeve, which is
placed in fome fuitable fpot for that purpofe. The ruff
is much prized as a delicious difh, and is fought after
with great eagernefs by the fowlers who live by catch¬
ing them and other fen birds, for the markets of the me¬
tropolis, &c. Before they are offered for fale, they are
commonly put up to feed, for about a fortnight, on boil¬
ed wheat, and bread and milk, mixed with hemp-feed,
to which fugar is fometimes added $ in confequence of
which mode of treatment they foon get very fat. In
the beginning of May the female makes her neft in a
dry tuft of grafq in the fens, and lays four white eggs,
marked with rufty fpots.
Lapwing, pewit, bajlard plover, &c.—-Legs red )
creft pendent; breaft black ; bill black 5 irides hazel ;
crown mining black ; creft on the hind head four inches
long; cheeks and tides of the neck white ; a black line
beneath each eye ; throat black ; hind part of the neck
mixed with white, aih colour, and red ; back and fca-
pulars gloffy green ; fome of the feathers with ferrugi¬
nous tips ; lefler wing coverts ftxining black, blue, and
green ; greater quill feathers black, the four firft with
a white fpot at the end ; leffe'r black on the upper half,
white on the lower; belly white; vent and tail cove.ts
orange ; outer tail feathers white ; the reft on the lower
hall black, tipt with dirty white ; upper white. Weighs
between leven and eight ounces. Is found in moil parts
of Europe, as lar north as Iceland ; and in the winter is
met with in Perfia and Egypt. The chief food of the
lapwings is worms ; and fometimes they may be feen in
flocks nearly covering the low marfhy grounds in fearch
of thefe, which they draw with great dexterity from
their holes. When the bird meets with one of thofe
rolls of earth that are thrown out by the perforations of
the worm, it firft gently removes the mould from the
mouth of the hole, then ftrikes the ground at the fide
with its foot, and fteadily and attentively waits the if-
fue ; while the reptile, alarmed by the {hock, emerges
from its retreat, and is inftantly feized. In the evening,
the lapwings purfue a different plan, running along the
grafs, and feeling under their feet the worms, which
now come forth, invited by the coolnefs of the air.
Thus they obtain a plentiful meal, and afterwards wafh
their bill and feet in the fmall pools or rivulets. They
remain in this country the whole year. The female lays
four olive-coloured eggs, fpotted with black, on the dry
ground, near fome marfti, on a little bed of dry grafs
which ftie prepares. She fits about three weeks, and
the young are able to run within two or three days after
they are hatched. The parent exhibits the greateft at¬
tachment to them, and has recourfe to very amufing ar¬
tifices to allure boys and dogs from approaching them.
In place of waiting the arrival of the enemies at the
neft, {he boldly pufhes out to meet them. When as
near as {he dare venture, {he rifes from the ground with
a loud fereaming voice, as if juft flufhed from hatching,
though, probably, at the fame time, not within 100
yards of her neft. She then flies with great clamour
and apparent anxiety, whining and fereaming round the
invaders, ftriking at them with her wings, and fome¬
times fluttering as if {he was wounded. To complete
the deception, fhe becomes ftillmiore clamorous as ftie
retires from the neft. If very nbar, fhe appears altoge¬
ther unconcerned ; and her cries ceafe in proportion as
her fears are increafed. When approached by dogs, {he
flies heavily, at a little diftance before them as if maim¬
ed, ftill clamorous and bold, but never offering to move
towards the quarter where her young are ftationed. The
dogs purfue, in expeftation every moment of feizing the
parent, and by this means aftually lofe the young ;
for the cunning bird, having thus drawn them off to
a proper diftance, exerts her poxvers, and leaves her
aftonilhed purfuers to gaze at the rapidity of her flight.
Thefe birds, when tamed, clear gardens of worms and
fnails. Their flefti and eggs are both reckoned delica¬
cies for the table. In winter they join in large flocks,
but are then very fhy.
Gambet, gambet fandpiper, or red-legged horfemdn.— GambettsL.
Bill and legs red ; body variegated with pale yellow,
and cinereous; white beneath; bill tipt with black;
irides yellowilh green ; wing-coverts and fcapulars cine¬
reous, and edged with yellow ; firft quill and tail fea¬
thers dufky, the latter edged with yellow. About the
fize of the greenftiank. Inhabits the northern parts of
Europe and America, but feldom occurs in France or
England.
Welfb
560
3 U 2
524
Grallse.
5<5i
Nigricans.
$62
Interpret.
Ss3
Striata.
S64
JMac alaria
Cinerea.
566
Tnfca.
. S67
Lincoioni-
enfis.
568
7-iobata.
O R N 1 T H
Welf}} fandpiper.—BlackHh-afh ; chin and middle of
' the belly white j bafe of the bill and legs red. Eight
inches and a half long. Inhabits Glamorganfhire and
Caermarthenlhire.
Turrjtone, Hebridtilfandpiper, or fen-dotterel.—Legs
red ; body black, varied with white, and ferruginous \
bread and belly white j bill black, a little turned up at
the tip ; cheeks and neck black above ; tail black in
the middle, and white at the ends. Female more dulky ;
head varied with brown and whitilh ; neck blackilh
above. Though thefe are the ufual charadferiftics, the
fpecies is very fubjeft to varieties. About the fize of a
throftle j length nine inches and a half, and weight ra¬
ther more than four ounces. Inhabits the fea coafts of
Europe and America. Though not known to breed
with us, it vifits fome of our (bores in Augutt, and de¬
parts in Ipring. The name has been given it from its
manner of turning up the ftones in fearch of worms and
marine infedts. It makes a flight nelt on the dry ground
or land, and lays four olive-coloured eggs, fpotted with
black. This fpecies is not uncommon in the north of
Scotland.
Striated fandpiper.—Bafe of the bill and legs yellow 5
tail feathers white, barred with brown ; molt of the
quill feathers white. Nearly 11 inches long. Inhabits
Europe and North America. Feeds on Ihell-filh and
mollufca, which it fearches for at the ebb of the tides,
and on. infects which it catches, hanging over the wa¬
ter like a fwallow.
Spotted fandpiper.—Bafe of the bill and legs flefli co¬
lour •, all the body fpotted •, eye brows and double band
on the wings white j bill dulky •, body above greenifh-
brown, white, wdth dulky fpots beneath *, two middle
tail feathers greenilb-brown, the reft white, with dulky
lines. Female without fpots beneath. About the fize
of a thrulh, and eight inches long. Inhabits Europe
and North America ; is migratory, and is fometimes,
though rarely, found in Britain.
Ajh-colouredfandpiper.—Cinereous above, white be¬
neath ; legs dulky green ; head fpotted -with black ;
neck with dulky ftreaks ; back and wing coverts with
concentric black femicircles, varied with cinereous and
white ; tail coverts black and white ; tail cinereous,
edged with white; breaft fpotted with black; membrane
furrounding the toes narrow and toothed. Length about
IO inches ; weight from four ounces and a quarter to
five and three quarters. This fpecies, like moft of the
tribe, is fubjeft to confiderable variety. It inhabits Eu¬
rope and America ; vifits fome parts of our coafts, in
large flocks, in winter, and departs about the latter end
of March or beginning of April.
Brovon fandpiper.—Pale brown, fpotted with black
above, white beneath ; fore part of the neck ftreaked
with black •, tail cinereous •, wing-coverts edged with
whitiih ; bill and legs black. Size of a jack-fnipe. In¬
habits England, but is very fcarce.
Black fandpiper.—White, varied with grav and brown
fpots above, with oblong browm and black fpots be¬
neath ; two middle tail feathers all black. Size of a
thrufli. Inhabits England, chiefly in Lincolnlhire.
Gray pJialarope, or great coot-footed tringa.— Bill fu-
bulate, and bent in at the tip 5 feet pinnate 5 breaft wa¬
ved with white*, bill black; front white; crown dulky;
neck pale afh above ; back, rump, and Ihoulders dove-
colour, with dulky fpots; wing-coverts and quill fea-
O L O G Y.
thers brown ; breaft and belly white ; tail dulky, edged Grail*,
with cinereous ; legs black ; membrane round the toes
indented. Size of the common purre ; weight one
ounce. Inhabits Europe, Afia, and America. Con¬
gregates about the borders of the Cafpian lea, and is not
common in Britain. In ftormy weather, it fwims in
number^ on lakes ; but in fine weather, is folitary among
the fens.
Red phalarope, or cock coot-footed tringa.—Bill fubu- Hypabo-
lated, bent in at the tip ; feet pinnate ; breaft civere-,ea-
ous ; fides of the neck ferruginous ; bill black ; band
through the eyes blackilh ; bar on the wings white ;
rump with blackifh bands. The female is gray above,
rufous beneath, with the eyebrows and bafe of the tail
reddilh, and the rump white ; bill yellowilh ; band a-
bove the eyes reddilh ; bar on the wings white, and the
rump fpotted with blackilh. Eight inches long. Inha¬
bits northern Europe and America ; but is rarely met
with in our own country. Thefe birds go in pairs, and
catch infedts in the water with their bill. They do not
dive, and are but bad fwimmers. The female makes
her neft on dry ground, and lays four eggs.
Alpine fandpiper, or dunlin.—Brown teftaceous; breaft Alpma.
blackilh ; tail feathers whitilh-alh ; legs brownilh ; bel¬
ly w'hite ; two middle tail-feathers a little longer.
Weighs from nine to eleven drams ; length of the lar-
geft eight inches. Inhabits Europe, Afia, and Ame¬
rica, and is not uncommon on our own coafts during
great part of the year. The female lays four eggs, of a
dirty -white, blotched with brown round the thicker end,
and marked with a few fmall fpots of the fame colour on
the fmaller end.
Green or wood fandpiper.—Bill dotted at the tip ; Ochropus.
legs greenilh ; back brown green ; belly and outer tail
feathers white ; bill greenilh ; crown and hind head
dulky alh ; rump variegated ; eyebrows white. Inha¬
bits Europe, North America, and Siberia. This ele¬
gant fpecies w-eighs about three ounces and a quarter ;
length full 10 inches. It is by no means plentiful in
Brit: ’in, and, except in pairing time, lives folitary. It
is never feen near the fea ; but frequents rivers, lakes,
and other frelh wraters. It runs on the Ihores, or Ikims
the furface of the water. It utters a cry as it rifes, and
fometimes dives when purfued by the buzzard. It feeds
on the fry of fmall fifties and worms. rl hough its flefli
taftes fomewhat of mulk, it is confidered as a great deli¬
cacy. It comes to us about the middle of September,
and leaves us as late as the end of April, when it de¬
parts northward to breed.
Shore fandpiper.— Smooth bill, and legs cinereous ; p\ti^ea,
quill feathers brown, the fhaft of the firft fnowy. Near
11 inches long. Inhabits Europe; and is ranked by
fome ornithologifts among Britilh birds. ^
Greenwich fandpiper.—Body varied above ; neck ci- Grenvvi-
nereous beneath ; belly, vent, and fides of the rumpefw/Jr.
white ; bill black ; legs greenift: ; crown brown, fticak¬
ed with black ; neck alh-coloun d beneath ; back and
wing-coverts brown ferruginous, edged with whitith ;
hind part of the back, rump, and lefler wing-coverts ci¬
nereous ; tail cinereous, the feathers waved tourardsthe
tip, which is pale nifty. Size of the preceding, but
very rare. The circumftanee of one having been Ihot
near Greenwich, has given rife to the trivial name. ^
Sea or fe/ninger fandpiper.— Varied above v'ith gray piarititntc
and black, wliite beneath ; legs yellow ; middle of the
bac^,
ORNITHOLOGY.
Grail* back violet *, tbroat and tail dulky ) four outer tail fea-
thers very fhort, and edged with white. Size of a Hare.
Inhabits Norway and Iceland. A fmall dock of this
fpecies, confiding of IO or j 2, was once obferved, fome
years ago, near Bexhill, on the 8th of December.
fypoleucos. Common fandpiper.—Bill fmooth ; legs livid j body
cinereous, with black liripes, white beneath; bill brown j
irides hazel 5 head brown, with black dreaksj eyebrows
white 5 neck cinereous above-, back and wings greenifli-
brown, with numerous, narrow, dufky lines; quill fea¬
thers brown, and, except the firlt, with a white fpot
within ; tail rounded, and gloffy-green brown. Weight
about two ounces; length feven inches and a half. In¬
habits Europe and America. Vilits this country in the
fpring, ehiedy frequenting our lakes and rivers, on the
borders of which it makes a ned compofed of mofs and
dried leaves, and mod commonly placed in a hofe in the
bank. It lays four or five eggs of a dirty white, mark¬
ed with dufky and cinereous fpots, modly at the larger
end. When difturbed, it makes a piping noife as it
flies; and, when running on the ground, the tail is con-
dantly in motion. In autumn it is liable to be much in-
feded with the hippobofca hirundinis.
Canutus. Knot.—Bill fmooth ; legs afh-coloured ; primary quill
feathers ferrated ; outermod tail feather white, without
fpots ; bill dufky afh ; irides hazel; lores dufky ; eye¬
brows and band on the wings white ; body cinereous
above, white beneath ; lower wing-coverts tipt with
white; chin and bread with minute fpots ; belly and
vent with dufky lines ; rump with brown femicircles.
Nine inches long, and weighs four ounces and a half.
Inhabits Europe and America. In Lincolnfhire, and
the other fenny didrifts of England, it is caught, in
great numbers, by nets, into which it is decoyed by
carved wooden figures to reprefent itfelf. It is alfo fat¬
tened for fale, and edeemed by many equal to the ruff
in the delicacy of its flavour. The feafon for taking it
is from Augud to November, after which the frod com¬
pels it to difapoear. This bird is faid to have been a fa¬
vourite difh with Canute king of England ; and Cam¬
den remarks that its name is derived from his.
Giaclls. Stint, purre, or /underling. —Bill and legs black ;
lores white ; body and rump gray and brown ; head and
neck pale cinereous above, with brown dreaks ; back
and wing-coverts brownifh-afh, the greater tipt with
white ; throat white, mixed with browm ; bread and
belly white ; two middle tail feathers more dufky, the
red edged with white : the legs are fometimes brown.
The country people frequently call it ox-bird, ox eye,
leajl fnipe,fea-/ark, or wagtail. It is nearly eight inches
in length, and weighs about an ounce and three quar¬
ters. Inhabits Europe, Afia, and America. During
winter it is found on all our coafls, appearing in vad
flocks, and efpecially affefting the flat Tandy fliores and
inlets. They leave us in April, though it is fufpefted
that fome remain with us all the year. Thefe birds run
nimbly near the edges of the flowing and retiring waves,
and are almoff perpetually wagging their tails, while
the y are, at the fame time, bufily employed in picking
up their food, which confitls chiefly of fmall worms and
inf-fts. On taking flight, they give a kind of feream,
and fkim along the furface of the water with great rapi¬
dity. as well as with great regularity, not flying direftly
forward, but performing their evolutions in large femi¬
circles, alternately approaching the flrore and the fea in
their fweep, the curvature of*--their courfe being indi- Grail®,
cated by the flocks appearing fuHdenly and alternately in s'
a dark or in a fnowy-white colour, as their backs or
their bellies are turned to or from the fpeftator. 57®
Little fandpiper.—Bill and legs brown; body reddifh Pufilla'
beneath ; outer tail feathers with a white draft; rump
variegated; bill tipt with black ; greater wing-coverts
and quill feathers brown, tipt with white ; tail dufky ;
bread and belly white. About the fize of a hedge-fpar-
rour, and betureen five and fix inches long. Inhabits
Northern Europe and Nootka Sound ; and has been
once or twice killed in England^ 579
Gray fandpiper.—Bill black ; legs greenifh ; body Squatarola.
gray, white beneath ; head, back, and wing-coverts,
edged with greenifh-afh ; cheeks and chin with oblong
dufky fpots, and with the belly and rump white ; tail
barred with black and white. Weight about 7 ounces;
length 12 inches. Inhabits Europe and America. Is
not plentiful on our fliores, feldom more than fix or feven
being feen in a flock, and all of them retiring north¬
ward to breed. In Siberia and Carolina, it is faid to be
found in large flocks. g
Red or Aberdeen fandpiper.—Bill and legs brown ; ijiancHca,
body ferruginous beneath; fecondary quill feathers edged
with white; body thickly fprinkled with black, and fer¬
ruginous above; wing-coverts white on the outer edge ;
rump and vent whitifh, the former waved with black,
the latter with a few black dreaks ; quill feathers black,
with white fhafts ; tail feathers cinereous, ivith white
fliafts. From eight to ten inches long. Inhabits the
north of Europe and America. Sometimes appears in
great flocks on the coads of Effex and the north of Scot¬
land. In dimmer it frequents the neighbourhood of the
Cafpian fea, and alfo the river Don. It is perpetually
running up and down on the Tandy banks, picking up
infefts and fmall worms, on which it feeds.
581
Gen. 56. Charadrius, Plover. Charadri-
. • r us.
Bill roundifh, obtufe, ftraight; noftrils linear ; feet
formed for running, three-toed. Characters.
The birds of this genus frequent the mouths of ri¬
vers, and the neighbourhood of torrents, and feem to
enjoy rainy weather. From this lad circumdance is
derived their French name pluvier, and the Engliih
plover. _ 585
Ring plover, ring dotterel, or fea lark.—Bread black; Hiaticula.
front blackifh, with a white band ; crown brown ; legs
yellow ; upper half of the bill orange, lower black; iri¬
des hazel; body gray-brown above, white beneath;
eggs bluifh-white, with fmall round purplifh fpots. Of
this fpecies there is alfo a gray variety, with the collar
and belly white;, and another gray-aflr, with the front
and collar white, and the lower half of the tail black,
tipt with rufly ; the former inhabiting Spain, and the
latter America. The more common fort is a native of
both Europe and America, and is a well known vifitant
of our fhores in fummer ; ufually arriving in fpring, and
migrating in autumn, or at lead retiring to the more in¬
land parts of the country. It weighs about two ounces,
and is between feven and eight inches long. It pairs
early in May, and makes no ned, but lays four eggs in
a fmall cavity in the fand, jud above high-water mark.
They are of a cinereous brown, marked all over with
fmall black and afh-coloured fpots. It is to be remark-
526
OUNITHOLOGY.
Grallas.
584
Vocifents.
S8S
JVIoriuel-
lus.
586
Himanto-
pris.
. 5S7
Pileatus.
Plate
CCCXCIX
%. 2.
ed, that thefe and other birds which lay invariably only
four eggs on the ground, place them fo as to occupy the
leaft poflible fpace, that is, with the fmall ends touch¬
ing each other as a centre. The ringed plover is great¬
ly atached to its young, and will pra&ife various ^de¬
ceptions to fave them from men and dogs; fometimes
fluttering along the ground as if crippled, and fome¬
times feeming to tumble head over heels repeatedly, till
it has enticed its enemy to a diftance from its young,
and then it flies off.
Noify />/owr.—Bands on the bread:, neck, front, and
cheeks white ; tail pale yellow, with a black bar ; legs
yellow. Between nine and ten inches long. Inhabits
America. Is very reftlefs and clamorous.
Dotterel.—Bread: ferruginous j band over the eyes,
and line on the bread white 5 legs black ; bill black,
depreffed in the middle j front mixed with dulky and
gray ; hind head black, temples and chin white ; upper
part of the neck, back and wings, gray-brown ; line
acrofs the bread white middle of the belly black, red-
difli-wbite below ; greater quill feathers brown, and
fome of them edged with white ; tail olive brown, with
a dulky band near the end, and tipt with white. The
female is didinguiflred by a dulky band over the eyes,
and brown crown. The crown of this fpecies is fome¬
times varied with white, gray-brown, and yellowilh ;
the body beneath yellowidi, mixed with white 5 the two
middle tail feathers brown, and the lateral ones white.
Weight between four and five ounces; length nearly 10
inches. Inhabits Europe, and makes this iiland a reding
dation in its migratory flights to and from its breeding
place. It is feen on fome of our downs, heaths, and
moors, from April to the beginning of June ; returns
again in September, and remains till November. On
the Wiltdiire downs, it reforts to the new fown corn or
fallow-ground, for the fake of worms and beetles, its
principal food. In the autumn it flies in flocks of five,
fix, or more. It is a dupid bird, and eafily Ihot, but
much edeemed for the delicacy of its flelb.
Long-legged plover, or long /hanks.—White ; back
and wings black ; bill black, longer than the head ; legs
red, and very long ; bill black, {lender, tapering to a
lharp point, the upper mandible a little longer than, and
bent oyer, the lower ; irides red ; neck dulky fpots
above. There is a variety with white and black wings,
and the tail feathers white. This extraordinary fpecies
is certainly the longed legged bird, in proportion to its
bulk, hitherto kno wn ; the length from the apex of the
bill to the end of the tail being thirteen inches, and
from that to the end of the toes, five inches more. It
is rare in Britain, and in many parts of Europe, fo that
its manners are very imperfedlly known. According
t-o Latham, it is common in Egypt, being found there
in the mardies in Oflober. Its food is faid to confid
principally of flies. It is likewife plentiful about the
fait lakes, and often feen on the fhores of the Cafpian
fea, as well as by the rivers which empty themfelves
into it, and in the fouthern deferts of Independent Tar¬
tary. It is alfo often met with in the warmer parts of
America, and fometimes in Jamaica.
Hooded plover.—Bill and feet red ; face naked, ha-
ving a yellowifli carunculated membrane ; head and
part of the neck black ; hind head furnilhed with a few
Ihort pointed feathers hanging like a cred ; beneath
white ; body above rufous gray ; under part white. Grail*.
Ten and a naif inches long. Native of Senegal. '—-v-—»
58s
Gen. 57. Recurvirostr.a, Avocet. Recurvi-
Bill deprefied, Tubulated, recurved, pointed, flexible at 589
the tip; feet palmated, four-toed, hind toe not con-^haradera,
netted, very Ihort, and placed high up nodrils nar¬
row, pervious ; tongue Ihort.
Of this lingular genus there are only three fpecies, of.
which the firlt inhabits Europe.
Scooping avocet.—In provincial Englifli, buttcr-Jlip,
/cooper, yelper, picarini, crooked bill, cobler's awl, &c.
Variegated with white and black.; bill three inches and'
a half long ; irides hazel ; crown black, a white Ipot
behind and beneath the eyes ; red of the head, neck,
back, exterior part of the wings, leffer quill feathers,
tail, and under part of the body white ; inner fcapulars
and greater quill feathers without and at the tips black $
legs bluilh, and very long membranexonneding the toes
indented. Refides in the temperate parts of Europe ;
weighing thirteen ounces, and meafuring, from the tip
of the bill to the end of the tail, eighteen inches. It
breeds in the fens of Lincolnfliire, and on Romney
Marfli, in Kent. The female lays tv.ro white eggs,
tinged with green, and marked with large black fpots.
In winter thefe birds aflemble in fmall flocks of fix or
feven, and frequent the fliores, particularly the mouths
of large rivers in fearch of worms and marine infe&s,
which they fcoop out of the mud or fand. They feem
to be particularly fond of the cancer pulex, or locuflu.
By means of their long legs, they run over fliores that
are covered five or fix inches with water. In their
movements they are lively, alert, volatile, and difficult
to catch. When the female is frightened off her ned,
die counterfeits lamenefs ; and, when a flock is diflurb-
ed, they fly with their necks flretched out, and their
legs extended behind, over the head of the fpedlator,
making a Ihrillnoife, and uttering a yelping cry of twit,
twit, all the time.
American avocet.—Head and neck reddifli
black, white beneath- Fourteen inches long. Inhabits plate
North America and New Holland. CCCXCIX
White avocet.—White; loxver wing coverts browniHi; fi&-I-
bill orange ; legs brown. Fourteen inches and a half
long. Inhabits Hudfon’s bay.
l c 59r
oacK A.mericanii,
59*
1 Alba.
Gen. c8. HffiMATOPus. 593
Ha:mato-
Bill compreffed, the tip an equal wedge ; noflrils linear; pus-
tongue a third part as long as the bill ; feet formed r, 59i
for running, three toed, cleft.
595
Sea pie, or pied oy/er-catcher.—Bill, eyelids, and legs Oftrclegus.
red, the former fometimes tipt with black ; irides fear- ,pl^®
let; body fometimes totally black ; frequently the head, ^
neck, and body above, black ; white beneath ; a fmall *
white fpot under the eyes ; bread with a white femicir-
cular band ; middle wing coverts at the tips, and great¬
er, entirely white ; quill feathers fpotted with white on
the infide ; tail from the middle tb the bafe white, low¬
er hall black ; claws black. Weight feventeen ounces,
length fixteen inches. Inhabits almoft every fea Ihore,
but feems never to quii the toad. Congregates in
fmall flocks in winter, and chiefly fubfifls on marine in-
fe<ds
O R N I T H O
Gral’se. fefts and fliell-fifli, efpecially on oyfters, which it feizes
u—V”"' wdth great adroitnefs. It makes no neft, but depofits
its eggs on the bare ground, above high-water mark.
The eggs are generally four, of an olivaceous brown,
blotched with black, and fomewhat larger than thofe
of the lapwing. The male is very watchful at the time
of incubation, and on the leaft alarm, flies off ‘with a
loud fcream, and the female inftantly runs from her
eggs to fome diffance, and then takes wing. It is a
Ihy bird, but becomes bolder when the young are hatch¬
ed. The latter are capable of running as foon as they
quit the eggs, and are led by their parents to their pro¬
per food. The young are eafily tamed.
t96
Glareola
597
Characters jjjj] ftrong? fhort, ftraight, and hooked at the tip ; no-
ftrils at the bafe of the bill, linear and oblique j gap
of the mouth large •, feet four-toed, toes long, (len¬
der, connefted at the bafe by a membrane ) tail fork¬
ed, conliiling of twelve feathers.
Gen. 59. Glareola, Pratinco/e.
598
Auflnaca. Aujlrian pratincole.—Gray brown above; collar
black,; chin and throat white, bread and belly reddifli-
gray. Very fubjedt to vary in its plumage. Inhabits
the heaths of fouthern Europe. About nine inches,
long. Feeds on worms and aquatic in feels ; is very
epp refllefs and clamorous, and lays about feven eggs.
Senegal- Senegal pratincole.—Bill, legs, and whole body brown.
enfis. Nine inches and a halt long. Inhabits near the Sene-
600 gal, and alfo Siberia.
'Novia. Spotted pratincole.—Brown,fpotted with white; lower
part of the belly and vent reddilh-white, with black
fpots ; bill and legs black. Size of the uujlriaca. In¬
habits Germany.
601
Fulica. Gen. 60. FuLlCA.
6°l
Characters. Bill convex ; upper mandible arched over the lower at
the edge ; lower gibbous nqar the tip ; noflrils ob¬
long ; front bald ; feet four-toed and fub-pinnated.
Birds of this tribe frequent wraters, and feed on worms,
infedls, and fmall filli. They have a compreffed body;
the bill thick, and bent in towards the tip ; the upper
mandible reaching far up the forehead, and the wings
and tail fliort. They are divided into gallinules or wa¬
ter hens, and coots. The former have the feet cleft;
the upper mandible membranaceous at the bafe, and the
wings concave; while the latter have the toes furround-
ed by a fcalloped membrane ; the mandibles equal; no-
ftrils oval, narrow and fliort.
603
'Salhnule.
604
hlorofus.
A. Feet cleft.
Common gal Unit le,
Gallinule.
or moor hen.—Front tawney ;
bracelets red ; body blackifli; bill red, with a greenifh
tip ; irides red ; body footy above, mixed with olive ;
cinereous beneath ; outer edge of the wings and lower
tail-coverts white ; legs greenifh ; toes flat and broadifh.
Weighs from 14 to J 6 ounces ; length 14 inches. In¬
habits Europe and America, and is a very common fpe-
cies, being found in moil fedgy and flow rivers, or
ftreams of water, and frequently in ponds abounding in
tveeds, where it can lie concealed. It feeds principally
on infers, feeds, and vegetable productions of various
forts, in quefl of which it frequently qui^s the water. It
runs fall, and is equally expert in fwimming and diving,
LOGY.
but flies heavily, and with its legs hanging down. As
it runs or fwims, it is continually flirting up the tail,
when the white underneath is very confpicuous. The
nelt is made of flags or rufhes, and placed near the fur-
face of the water, on fome branch of a tree or bufh, and
fometimes on the flump of an old willow. The eggs are
commonly five or fix, but fometimes nine or ten, of a
light yellowifh brown, marked with raft-coloured fpots.
The young are hatched in about three weeks, and in¬
ftantly take the water. This fpecies breeds twice or
thrice in the courfe of a feafon. Its flefli is reckoned
delicious.
Purple gallinule.—Front red ; bracelets many ; body
green ; violet beneath. Fifteen inches long. Common
in moft temperate and warm countries. Is docile and
eafily tamed. -Stands on one leg, and lifts the food to
its mouth with the other. Feeds on fifli, roots, fruits,
and feeds.
B. Feet pinnated. Coot.
60s
Porphyria-
Common, black, or bald coot.—Front flefh-coloured ;
bracelets greenifh-yellow, body blackifli; bill yellowifh-
white ; front, except in pairing time, white ; legs yel-
lowifh-green ; outer edge of the wings white. There
are feveral varieties. Length 18 inches ; weight from
20 to 30 ounces. Inhabits Europe, Afia, and Ameri¬
ca. It occurs in Great Britain at all feafons of the
year, and is not fuppofed to migrate to other countries,
but changes its flations, and to remove from the pools,
where the young have been reared to the larger lakes,
where flocks afiVmble in the winter. The female com¬
monly builds her neft of a great quantity of coarfe dried
weeds, well matted together, and lined within with loft-
ter and finer graffes, in a bufh of rufhes furrounded by
the water. She lays from 1 2 to 15 eggs at a time, and.
commonly hatches twice in a feafon, Her eggs are
about the fize of thofe of a pullet, and of a pale brownifti-
white colour, fprinkled with numerous fmall dark fpots,
w hich, at the thicker end, feem a,s if they had run into
each other, and formed bigger blotches. As foon as
the young quit the fhell, they plunge into the water,
dive, and fwim about with great eafe, but they (till ga¬
ther about the mother, and take fhelter under her
wdngs, and do not entirely leave her for fome time.
They are firfl covered with a footy-coloured down, and
are of a fhapelefs appearance ; and, while in this ftate,
before they have learned by experience to fhun their
enemies, they are often facrificed to the rapacity of the
pike, the kite, moor-buzzard, &c. A female of this
fpecies built her nell in Sir William'Middleton’s lake
at Belfay, in Northamberland, among the rufhes, which
were afterwards loofened by the wind, fo that the neft
was driven about, and floated on the fuiface of the wa¬
ter ; notwithflanding which, {he continued to fit as
ufual, and brought out her young on her moveable
habitation. The common coot fwims and dives with
great eafe, but is a bad traveller, and may be faid not
to walk, but to fplafh and waddle between one pool
and another, with a laboured, ill balanced, and awk¬
ward gait. During the day it ufually (kulks among the
rufhes or other water plants, rarely venturing abroad,
except in the dufk, or at night, in quell of herbage,
feeds, infedls, and fifties. The . fportfman and his dog
can feldom force it to fpring from its retreat, as it
will rather bury itfelf in the mud than take wing, or,
if
606 ■
Coot. \
607
Atra.
Plate
CCCKCIX.
fig. 4,
528
ORNITHOLOGY.
Grail*.
608
Attcrima.
609
Cri/lata.
610
Vagina¬
lis.
611
Characters.
612
AM*.
613
Parra.
614
Characters.
6rS
Chilenjis.
616
jfaoana-
617
Ghavaria
if it be very clofely purfued, and compelled to rife, it
gets up with much fluttering and apparent difficulty.
Greater coot.—Front white 5 bracelets red •, body
blackifh. Has much the appearance, and manners of
the lalt, but is larger and blacker. It is found both in
England and Scotland. The French eat it on meagre
days.
Crejied coot.—Blue black ; naked front and crown
red ; caruncle red ; bifid ; erefl •, bracelets red, green,
and yellow •, bill whitilh, with a red bafe ; legs duf-
ky. Eighteen inches long. Inhabits China and Mada-
gafcar.
Gen. 61. Vaginalis, Sheath-bi/L
Bill ftrong, thick, conical, convex, and compreffed j
upper mandible covered above with a moveable horny
fheath ; noftrils fmall, placed before the {heath $
tongue round above, flattened beneath, and pointed
at the tip; face naked and papillous ; wings with an
obtufe excrefcence under the flexure; legs ftrong ;
four-toed ; naked a little above the knees j toes rough
beneath ; claws grooved.
Waite [heath bill.—Bill black at the bafe ; {heath a
horny yellow or black plate, nearly covering the no¬
ftrils ; face naked and in the adult bird, befet with
white, or pale orange warts ; a brown or blackifli wart
.above the eyes, larger than the reft ; feathers white ;
excrefcence on the wings blackifh 3 legs two inches
long, and generally reddifh. The only fpecies of the
genus j about the fize of a pigeon. From 15 to 18
inches long ; inhabits New Zealand and the South feas,
and feeds on ftiell-fifh and carcafes.
Gen. 62. Parra, Jacana.
Bill tapering, fomewhat obtufe j noftrils oval, in the
middle of the bill front covered with lobated ca¬
runcles } wings fpinous.
Chilefe jacana.—Claws moderate 5 legs brown *, hind
head fubcrefted. Inhabits Chili. Size of a jay, but
has longer legs ; feeds on worms and infefts ; is noify,
and defends itfelf by the fpurs on the wings. Builds in
the grafs, and lays four tawney eggs, fpeckled with
black.
Chef nut jacana.—Hind claws very long j legs green-
ifti. Fen inches long ; inhabits watery places in South
America, and utters, almoft unceafingly, a Ihrill difagree-
able cry.
Faithfuljacana.—Toes long legs tawney hind head
crefted bill dirty white j upper mandible like that of
the dunghill cock j a red membrane on both fides at
the bafe of the bill extending to the temples, in the
middle of which are the eyes ; hides brown } hind head
with about 12 blackiih feathers $ three inches long,
forming a pendent creft \ reft of the neck covered with
thick black dowrn ; body brown j wings and tail
blackifti 5 wing-fpurs two or three, and half an inch
long belly light black ; thighs half bare ; toes fo
long as to entangle each other in walking. About the
fize of a cock, and Hands a foot and a half from the
ground. Inhabits the rivers and inundated places near
Carthagena in America feeds on herbs; has a clear
and loud voice, a flow gait, and eafy flight. The na¬
tives keep one of thefe birds tame to wander with the
poultry, and dctend them againft birds of prey, which trails,
it does by means of the fpurs on its wings. It never 'r^md
deferts the charge committed to its care, and brings
them home at night. It will readily fuffer itielf to
be handled by grown up perfons, but not by chil¬
dren.
618
Gen. 63. Rallus, Rail. Rai.uis.
619
Bill thickifh at the bafe -, attenuated on the back to- Fharacltn,
ward.-, the tip compreffed ; a little incurved and
pointed tongue rough at the tip ; body compreffed 5
tail thort ; feet four-toed and cleft.
The birds of this genus have the bill a little in-
fledled ; fmall noftrils ; tongue rough 5 and the tail very
fhort. '
Land rail, crake, corn-crake, daker hen, &e.—Wings Crf*.
reddifli-rutlybill and legs brown afli j irides hazel j
feathers of the body reddifti-brown j the upper ones
black in the middle chin very pale belly whitifh-
yellow. About nine inches and a half long. Inhabits
the fedgy parts of Europe and Alia. From its appearing
at the fame time with the quail, and frequenting the
fame places, it is fometimes called king of the quails. Its
well known cry is firft heard as foon as the grafs be¬
comes long enough to ftielter it, and continues till the
grafs is cut $ but the bird is feldom feen, as it Ikulks in
the thickeft parts of the herbage, and runs fo nimbly
through it, winding and doubling in every direffion,
that it is difficult to come near it. When hard puflied
by the dog, it fometimes flops fliort and fquats down,
by which means its too eager purfuer overfnoots the
fpot, and lofes the trace. It feldom fprings but when
driven to extremity, and generally flies with its legs
hanging down, but never to a great diftance. As foon
as it alights, it runs off, and before the fowler has reach¬
ed the fpot, the bird is at a confiderable diftance. It
is a migrative fpecies, appearing with us about the lat¬
ter end of April, and departing in 0<ftober. On its
firft appearance, and till the female begins to fit, the
male is frequently heard to make a Angular kind of
noife, much refembling that of a comb when the finger
is drawn along the teeth of it, and which has been ufed
as a decoy. When they firft arrive, they are very lean,
but before their departure, become exceflively fat, and
are much fought after for the delicacy of their flelh. 611
Water rail, brook owzel, bilcock, velvet runner, &c.— Aquaticns-
Wings gray, fpotted with brown ; flanks fpotted with
white ; bill orange beneath j bill black, reddifh at the
bafe ; irides red ; feathers of the upper part of the body
olive-brown, and black in the middle j the lower ones
cinereous ; thofe of the lower part of the belly and vent
edged with rufous 5 quill feathers dulky ; lower tail-co¬
verts w’hite j tail feathers ftiort, black ; the two middle
ones at the tip, the reft edged with ferruginous j legs
dufky red. Length about 12 inches; weight four
ounces. Inhabits watery places in Europe and Alia.
Though not very plentiful, it is fometimes found in va¬
rious parts of Great Britain, in low fituations, about
water courfes and rivulets, where it feeks {belter among
fedge-ruflies, and reeds, and is feldom put to flight, de¬
pending chiefly on its legs for fafety. When roufed, it
flies only a fmall diftance, and that in a heavy and
awkwrard manner, with its legs hanging down. It runs
nimbly, and frequently flirts up its tail. The neft is
made
O R N I T H
Oral!®, made of fedge and coarfe grafs among the thickeft aqua-
tic plants, or in willow beds. The female lays lix or
more eggs, rather larger than thofe of a blackbird, very
fmooth, and of a pure white. This bird continues with
us all the year, and by many is erroneoufiy believed to
be the land rail metatnorphofed in the autumn, without
knowing perhaps that the latter leaves this country at
that feafon, and that the difference of the bills alone
fiza conilitutes an tffential diftinflion.
Porzana. Spotted gal/inu/e, or fpotted water-hen.—Two middle
tail feathers edged with white j bill and legs pale olive j
bill greenilh-yellow 5 irides hazel j head brown, fpot-
ted with black •, line over the eyes pale gray ; neck
above, and flanks brown-afh, with fmall white fpots $
back and wing-coverts olive, with black itripes, and
near the edges of the feathers with white fpnts ; the
greater with white flripes and lines j cheeks, chin, and
throat, pale gray, with brown fpots *, bread: brown, with
white, fpots 5 belly varied with cinereous and white ;
vent ochre-yellow. The weight of this elegant fpecies
is about four ounces', length nine inches. Inhabits
Europe and North America 5 is migrative and fcarce in
England, and feefns to have the manners and habits of
623 the preceding.
Niger. Black fail.—Black ; bill red at the bafe, brown at
the tip •, legs brown, or red. Nine inches long. In-
624 habits Africa,
TufU.us. Dwarf rail.—Striped with ferruginous and black 5
body black beneath, with narrow white bands $ throat-
and bread bluith. Size of a lark. Inhabits near the
fait lakes of Dunria.
62s
PsormA.
626
CharadUrs.
6i’j
Crepitans.
6iS
Wiidut/ta-
629
Calun.-e.
^ 530
MuracKn,
O L O G Y.
innermod joint $ claws broad j tofts fcabrous below,
and formed for feratching up the ground. In mod
fpecies the males have ipurs on the legs. They live
chiefly on the feeds of plants, but like wife eat infedts,
grubs, and worms, which are macerated in their crop.
They are polygamous, and build rude nefls, for the
mod part, on the bare ground, the female laying many
eggs at a time. They collet! their young about them
by a particular cry when they feed them, and lead
and protetl them till they moult. They are eafily tam¬
ed, and are ufeful on account of their flelh, their eggs,
and their feathers.
529
Gallinse.
Gen. 65. Otis, Buford.
Gen. 64. PsopHIA, Trumpeter.
Bill cylindrical, conical, convex, fomewhat pointed j
the upper mandible longfcfl ', nodrils oval and pervi¬
ous; tongue cartilaginous, flat, and fringed at tile
tip ; feet four-toed and cleft.
Gold-breafted trumpeter.—^-Black-; back gray ; bread
gloffy-green ; orbits naked, red ; bill yellowifli-green ;
legs flrong, tall, brownith alh or green ; the back toe
a round protuberance beneath, at a little diftance from
the ground; tail verV fliort; feathers of the head downy ;
of the lower part of the neck fquamiform ; of the fbud¬
ders ferruginous, lax, pendulous, and fdky ; fcapulars
long and hanging. The agami of voyagers and others.
Nearlv 2 2 inches long, and about the fize of the Com¬
mon domellic fowl. Inhabits South America, particu¬
larly the interior of Guiana, in conflderable troops. In
its native haunts is not didruftful of man, and is fufeep-
tible of do medication in an eminent degree, acquiring
many of the focial habitudes of the dog. It emits from
the lungs a harfh and uncommon noife, not unlike that
of a child’s trumpet. It Hands on one leg, and fleeps
with its neck drawn in between the fhoulders.
Undub ted or African trumpeter.—Cred of the hind
head thort, whitith; that of the bread long, black, and
pendent. Size of a goofe. Inhabits Africa.
Order V. GALLINTE.
Bir.L convex; the upper mandible arched and di¬
lated at the edge over the lower; nodrils half co¬
vered with a convex cartilaginous membrane ; tail fea¬
thers more than 12; feet cleftj but connedled at the
VOL. XV. Part II.
63*
Otis.
632
Bill fomewhat convex ; nodrils oval and pervious ; Characters,
tongue bifid, pointed; feet formed for running; three-
toed ; tall; naked above the thighs.
633
Great bufard.-^-W&ve fpotted, with black and ru- Turda
foas ; whitifh beneath ; head (of the male) and each
fide of the throat creded ; head and neck cinereous ;
quill feathers black ; tail wiih rufous and black lines,
and from 18 to 20 feathers ; pouch beginning under
the tongue, and reaching to the bread ; long, capa¬
cious, and fit to hold near feven quarts of water ; legs
duiky. The male weighs from 20 to 30 pounds, and.
the female about 10 or 12; length about four feet.
Inhabits the open plains of Europe, Alia, and Africa.
It is the larged of Britifh birds, and is now almod ex>-
timff in our ifland. It makes no ned, but the female
lays her eggs in fume hole in the ground, in a dry corn
field. The eggs are two in number, as big as thofe of a
goofe, and of a pale olive-brown, marked with fpots of a
deeper colour. If during her abfence from the ned,
any one handles, or even breathes on the eggs, flic im¬
mediately abandons them. Budards feed on green
corn, the tops of turnips, and various other vegetables,
as well as on worms; and they have alfo been known to
eat frogs, mice, and Voung birds of the fmaller kind,
which they fwallow whole. They are remarkably fhy
and timid, carefully avoiding mankind, and being ea¬
fily driven away in whole herds by the {mailed dog.
They are flow in taking wing, but run with great ra¬
pidity ; and the young are even fometimes courfed and
taken by greheunds. Though not properly migratory,
they leave their ufual haunts in very fevere winters,
when the downs are covered for any length of time
with fnow, and repair to the more inclofed and flicker¬
ed fituations in fmall flocks, and even dray to a great
didance. In the Crimea the?y are fecn in large flights,
efpecially during winter, when the wings and crop fea¬
thers are fometimes fo encumbered with ice, that the
bird is unable, in the fnow, to take the run previous to
flying, inconfiquejiCe of which many are’caught by thei
Band, or by means of dogs, and brought to market a-
live. The flefh, particularly of the young, when kept
a little time, is excellent. ^
Arabian buftard.— Ears with erect crefls. Size oiArabs.
the preceding. Inhabits Afia and Afr'ica. (
Little bafard, or field duck.—Head and throat fmooth ; Tetru*.
bill gray-brown; crown black, with rufous bands;
temples and chin reddifh white, with ftnall daik fpets ;
neck (of the male) black, with a while collar; body-
above varied with black, rufous, and white ; beneath
3 X and
636
■Afra.
Plate
CCCC.
%• i-
^37
Houbara.
63S
Oedicnc-
mus.
O Pv N I T PI
and outer edge of the wings white. About the fize of
a pheafant ; length 17 inches. Inhabits Southern Eu¬
rope and Alia. A few inilanees are on record of its
having been found in England. In France, it is fre¬
quently ferved at table as a delicacy, though the fielh
be blackilh. in June it lays from three to five eggs,
of a gloffy green, and the young are able to fly in Au-
guft.
White-eared bujlard.—Black \ back cinereous } ears
white 5 m the male the bill and legs are yellow 5 the
crown is cinereous, and the wings are marked with a
large white blotch ; the neck behind, and thighs above
the knees, have a white collar \ the tail feathers
14 ; the female is cinereous, and the thighs and belly
black. Length 22 inches. Native of the Cape of Good
Hope.
Ruffed bujlard.—Yellowifli, fpotted with brown ;
feathers of the neck long, whitifh, with black fliafts j
quill feathers black, with a white fpot in the middle.
Size of a capon. Inhabits Africa and Arabia.
Thick- kneed bujlard, Jlane curlew, or Norfolk plo¬
ver.—Gray; two firft quill feathers black, white in the
middle : bill fliarp pointed •, legs cinereous } bill black ;
legs greenilh-yellow ; lower eyelid naked, pale yellow j
a yellow line above and beneath the eyes \ a brown line
from the bill, under the eyes to the ears ; knees thick,
as if fwollen \ belly and thighs white. Weighs about
17 ounces ; length 18 inches. Inhabits Europe, Afla,
and Africa. With us it is a migrative fpecies, making
its firft appearance the latter end of April, or beginning
of May, when the male is heard to make a very loud
fhrill noife, particularly in the dulk of the evening. It
chiefly frequents lafge corn fields, heaths, or warrens,
in open hilly fituations ; makes no neft, but lays twm
light-brorvn coloured eggs, blotched and ftreaked with
dufky, on the ground. Its food chiefly confifts of in¬
fers and worms, and fometimes alfo of mice, frogs, and
toads. In the autumn, thefe birds afiemble in fmall
flocks preparatory to their departure, and are feldom
feem after the beginning of Odfober. When flying,
they ftretch out their feet ftraight behind, like the
heron. The young are hardly to be diftinguifhed from
the ftones in which they generally harbour.
Struthto.
640
Characters.
641
Cameius.
Plate
CCCC.
fig- 2-
Gen. 66. Struthio.
Bill fubconical ; noftrils oval ; wings fliort, unfit for
flight ^ feet formed for running.
Black of rich.—Feet with two toes : head fmall; bill
horn-colour : vrides hazel eyelids fringed, head and
greater part of the neck bald, flefh-coloured, with a few
fcattered hairs feathers of the body lax, black,, and de-
compofite 5 the webs on each fide equal •, quill and tail
feathers fnowy, waved, and long, with a fprinkling of
black on the edge or tip ; chef! callous ; wing fpurs
two, one at the end of the wing, and one on the fpuri-
ous wing } thighs and flanks naked ; feet ftrong, gray-
brown •, toes connefted at the bafe, the outer very thort,
and unarmed. 1 he oftrich ftands fo very high as to
meafure from feven to nine feet, from the top of the
head to the ground ; from the back, however, it is
feldom more than three or four 'feet, the reft of its
height being made up by its extremely long neck. In the
fandy and burning deferts of Africa and Afia, the black
©ftriches are feen in fuch large flocks, as fometimes to
O L O G Y.
have been miflaken for diftant cavalry. Their ftrong Galtinse.
jointed legs, and cloven hoofs, if w'e may ufe the ex-
preflion, are well adapted both for fpeed and defence.
Their wings and all their feathers are infufficient toraife
them from the ground. Their voice is a kind of hollow
mournful lowing; and they graze on the plain with the
quacha and the zebra. In the inteiior parts of fouthern
Africa they frequently make great havock in the corn
fields, deftroying the ears of wheat fo effeftually, that
in a large tradt of land, it often happens that nothing
but the bare ftraw is left behind. In running, thev
have a proud and haughty look, and even when clofel'y
purfued, never appear to be in great hafte, efpeeially
when the wind is with them, and they can ealily acce¬
lerate their progrefs by flapping their wings, fo as to out-
ftrip the fwifteft horfe. But if the weather be hot and
calm, or if the birds have by any accident loll a wing, the
difficulty of outrunning them is not fo great. The oftrich
is one of the few polygamous birds found in a flate of
nature, one male being generally feerj with two or three,
and frequently with five females. It has been common¬
ly believed that the female, after depofiting her eggs in
the fand, and covering them up, allows them to be
hatched by the heat of the climate, and leaves the young
to flflft for themfelves. Recent travellers have, how¬
ever, affured us, that no bird whatever has a ftronger
affedlion for her offspring, and that none watches her
eggs with greater afliduity. It is true, that during the
intenfe heat of the day, when incubation is lefs necef-
fary, ftie fometimes forfakes them, but fhe always care¬
fully broods over them by night. Kolben affirms that
this fpecies fit. on their eggs like other birds, and that
the males and females take this office by turns, as he had
frequent opportunities of obferving. Nor is it more
true, that they forfake their young as foon as excluded
from the'{hell. On the contrary, the old ones are very
afliduous in fupplying them with grafs and water, are
careful to defend them from harm, and will even them¬
felves encounter every danger in their defence. All
the females which are attached to one male, dcpolit their
eggs in the fame place, to the number of ten or twelve
each, about the lize of a child’s head. Thefe they
hatch all together, the male alfo taking his turn of fit¬
ting on them. Thus from fixty to feventy eggs have
fometimes been found in one neft, and Linnaeus errone-
oufiy affigned them to one female. The term of in¬
cubation is fix weeks. The neft appears to be merely
a hole in the ground, formed by the birds trampling the
earth for feme time with their feet. If the eggs are
touched by any perfon in the abfence of the parents,
they immediately difeover it by the feent, at their return,
and not only deiifl from laying any more in the fame
place, but trample to pieces with their feet all thofethat
have been left. On this account the Africans are very
careful in taking part of the eggs away not to touch
any of them with their hands, but always fetch them
out of the neft with a long flick. Within the eggs are
frequently difeovered a number of fmall oval-fhaped
pebbles, of the fize of a marrow fat pea, of a pale yellow
colour, and exceedingly hard. Thefe eggs are reckon¬
ed a great delicacy, and are prepared in various ways.
From their large lize, one of them is fufficient to ferve
two or three perfons at a meal. The oftrich itfelf is
chiefly valuable for its plumage •, and the Arabs have
reduced the chafe of it to a kind of fcience. They hunt
it,
ORNITHOLOGY.
Gallin*. it, v?t are told, on liorfeback, and begin their purfuit at
a gentle gallop ; for Ihould they, at the outfet, ufe the
lead rartinefs, the matchlefs fpeed of the game would
immediately carry it out of their fight, and in a very
Ibort time, beyond their reach. But when they pro¬
ceed gradually^ it makes no particular effort to efcape.
As it does not go in a direft line, but runs firit on one
fide, and then on the other, its purfuers fave much
ground by rufhing direflly onward. In a few days at
moil, the ftrength of the animal is exhaufted, and it
then either turns on the hunters, and fights with the
fury of defpair, or hides its head, and tamely receives its
fate. Frequently, alfo, the natives conceal themfelves
in offri'ch fkins, and thus are enabled to approach near
enough to furprife them. Some perfons breed up thefe
birds in flocks, for they are tamed with very little
trouble, and may be rendered very ufeful in a domeftic
ftate. Befides the valuable feathers which they cart,
the eggs which they lay, their fkins, which are ufed by
the Arabians as a fubftitute for leather, and their flefh,
which many efteem excellent food, they are fometimes
, tnade to ferve in place of horfes. It is pleafant to ob-
ferve with what dexterity they play and frifk about in
a tame flate, particularly in the heat of the day, when
they will ilrut along the funny fide of a houfe, with
great majefty, perpetually fanning themfelves with their
expanded wings, and feeming, at every turn, to admire
and be enamoured of their own flradows. They are
very traflable and familiar towards perfons who are ac¬
quainted with them, but are often fierce towards
ftrangers, whom they frequently attempt to .pufh down
by running furioufly on them, and when they fucceed.
thus far, they not only peck at their fallen foe with their
bill, but flrike at him violently with their feet. While
thus engaged, they fometimes make a fierce hiffing noife,
and have their throat intlated, and mouth open ; and
at other times, make a kind of cackling noife. During
the night they often utter a doleful or hideous cry,
fomewhat refembling the diffant roaring of a lion, or the
hoarfe tone of a bear or an ox, as if they were in great
agony. They will fwallow with the utmoft voracity
rags, leather, wood, iron, or Hone, indiferiminately. “ I
faw one at Oran (fays Dr Shaw), that fwallowed, with¬
out any feeming uneafmefs or inconvenience, feveral
leaden bullets, as they were thrown upon the floor,
fcorching hot from the mould.” Mr Adanfon mentions
two oftriches which afforded him a fight of a very ex¬
traordinary nature. They were fo tame, that two little
blacks mounted both together on the back of the largeft.
No fooner did he feel their weight, than he began to
run as faft as poflible, and carried them feveral times
round the village, as it was impoflible to flop him other-
wife than by obftrufting the paffage. To try their
ftrength, he diredled a full-grown negro to mount the
fmalleft, and two others the largeft.' This burthen did
not feem at all difproportioned to their ftrength. At
firft they went at a pretty (harp trot, but when they be¬
came heated a little, they expanded their wings, as if to
catch the wind, and moved with fuch fleetnefs that they
fcarcely feemed to touch the ground. “ Moft people
(obferves M. Adanfon) have, one time or other, feen a
partridge run, and confequently muft know that there
is no man whatever able to keep up with it : and it is
«afy to imagine, that if this bird had a longer ftep, its
53t
fpeed would be confiderably augmented. The oftrich Gallinas.
moves like the partridge, with this advantage ; and I ”
am fatisfied that thofe I am fpeaking of would have dif-
taneed the fleeteft race-horfes that were ever bred in
England. It is true, they would not hold out fo long
as a horfe, but they would undoubtedly be able to go
over the ipace in lefs time. I have frequently beheld
this fight, which is capable of giving one an idea of the
prodigious ftrength of an oftrich, and of (hewing what
ufe it might be of, had we but the method of breaking
and managing it as wTe do a horfe.” 642
Emeu, or cajfoxvanj.—Feet three-toed 5 helmet and Cajfuarius*
dewlaps naked $ bill and legs black ; gape very large .j
irides topaz 5 eyelids fringed j noftrils nearly at the tip
of the bill j eyes large ; helmet horny, reaching from
the bafe of the bilhto the middle of the crown, three
inches high, the fore part blackifit, the,hind part yel¬
low j temples and neck bald, wrinkled, and reddifh, with
a blue or purple tinge, and covered with a few featter-
ed hairs ; two pendent caruncles, partly red and partly
blue, on each fide of the neck ; cheft on which it reft*
callous $ feathers brownifh-black, iax, generally two
front one Graft ; no tail ; wings confiding of about five-
naked dufky fhafts 5 claws ftraight. Five feet and a
half long. Inhabits within the torrid zone in Ana •, is
a fierce and bold bird 5 kicks with its feet like a horfe,
grunts like a hog, feeds on vegetables, which it fwallows
whole ; lays greenifh eggs, more oblong than thofe of
the black oftrich j runs very fwiftly, and is incaoable of
flying- ' <543
Holland cajfbwarij.—Feet three-toed j crown Novce Hol~
flat j flranks ferrated behind. Seven feet two inches landice.
long. Inhabits New Holland.
American q/lrich.—Feet three-toed, and a round cal- Rhea.
lus behind. Nearly the height of a man. Inhabits
South America-, feeds on fruits, flefh, and flies, defends
itfelf with its feet, and calls its young by a kind of hifs. ^
Gen. 67. Didus, E)odo. Didus.
Bill narrowed in the middle, with two tranfverfe characters,
wrinkles •, each mandible bent in at the tip ; noflrils
oblique, near the edge of the middle of the bill; face
naked beyond the eyes ; legs ftrort and thick feet
cleft'-, wings unfit for flight ; no tail. .
Hooded aWc?.—-Black, waved with whitiflr ; head Ineptus.
hooded ; feet four-toed •, bill ftrong, large, bluifh, with
a red fpot ; the upper mandible yellowifh at the tip, the
lower bulging near the tip ; gape very large 5 irides
whitiflr plumage foft; belly whitiflr; head large, black,
as if covered with a cap ; feathers of the rump curled,
inclining to yellow •, legs yellowifh ; claws wanting.
This uncouth fpecies is rather bigger than a Avan, and
nearly three feet in length. It inhabits the iflands of
Mauritius and Bourbon in the Indian ocean. Accord¬
ing to Helbert, it feldom weighs lefs than i^o pounds ;
has a flow pace ; the body round and fat 5 and the
ftomach fo ftrong as to digeft ftones. It is, however, fo
feldonr met with that its true hiftory is little known. 64S
Solitary dndo.—Varied with gray and brown j feet Solitaries,
four-toed eyes black ; fpurious wings, terminating in a
round protuberance. The female with a white protu¬
berance, refembling a teat on each fide of the breaft.
Size of a turkey. Inhabits the ifland of Rodrigue,
where it is not uncommon, though feldom more than
3X2 two
532 O R N I T H
t Galling. two are found together. It makes its neft in by-places,
l“' * of leaves of the palm, a toot and a half in thicknefs, and
lays one egg, bigger than that of a gooie. The male
fits in his turn, and does not luftbr any bird to approach
within two hundred yards of the fpot when the hen is
fitting. The incubation lalts feven weeks. Some months
elapfe before the young can ihift for itfelf. The old
ones in the mean time treat it with affe&ion and tender-
nefs, and are faithful to each other afterwards, though
they may occafionally mix with others of their kind.
The yoang bird, though timid, is fiupid enough to
allow a perfon to approach it ; but when grown up, it
is more thy, and will not be tamed. They are chafed
in the winter feafon, viz. from March to September,
being then fat, and the young birds are much eiteemed
for the table.
Gen. 68. Pavo, Peacock.
649
Savo.
fharadters. Bill convex and ftrong •, head with a creft of feathers
turning forwards5 noftrils large; rump feathers long,
broad, expanfile, and covered with eye-like fpots.
651
€rijiatus. Crejledpeacock.—Head with a compreffed crefl:; fpurs
folitary. It is impoffible to deferibe the beauties of this
well-known fpecies in adequate terms. Its matchlefs
plumage, as Buffon obferves, feems to combine all that
delights the eye in the foft and delicate tints of the
fineft flowers, all that dazzles it in the fparking luftre
of the gems, and all that aftoniflies it in the grand dif-
play of the rainbow. Its head is adorned with a tuft,
confiding of 24 feathers, whofe flender (hafts are furnifh-
ed with webs only at the ends, painted with the mod
cxquifite green, mixed with gold. The head, throat,
neck, and bread, are of a deep blue, gloded with green
and gold ; the back of the fame, tinged with bronze;
the fcapulars and leflfer wing-coverts are of a reddifh
cream colour, variegated with black; the middle coverts
deep blue, gloffed with green and gold ; the greater
coverts and fpurious wing are of a reddilh-brown, as are
•alfo the quills, fome of which are variegated with
black and green ; the belly and vent are black, with a
greenifli line. But the diflinguiihing character of this
bird is its train, which rifes jud above the tail, and
when erected, forms a fan of the mod refplendeht hues.
The two middle feathers are fometimes four feet and a
half long, the others gradually diminiflring on each fide.
The (hafts, which are white, are furnidied from their
origin nearly to the end with parted filaments of vary¬
ing colours, ending in a flat valve, which is decorated
with what is called the eye. This is a brilliant fpot, en¬
amelled with the mod enchanting colours, yellow, gild¬
ed with various (hades, green, running into blue and
bright violet, varying according to its different pofitions,
the whole receiving additional ludre from the centre,
which is a fine velvet black. When pleafed or de¬
lighted, and in fight of his females, the peacock eredts
his tail, and difplays all the majedy of his beauty, and
he frequently turns (lowly round, as if to catch the fun-
beams in every direction, accompanied with a hollow
murmuring voice. His cry at other times is very dif-
agreeable, and often repeated. The peahen is foroe-
what lefs than the cock, and though furnidied both
with a train and cred, is deditute of thofe dazzling
beauties which didinguidi the male. She lays five or
fix eggs of a w'hitidi colour, in fome fecret fpot, where
4
O L O G Y.
die can conceal them from the male, who is apt to Galling,
break them ; and (lie fits from 25 to 30 days, according v^>
to the temperature of the climate and the warmth of the
feafom. Peacocks were originally brought from the
didant provinces of India, and thence have been diffufed
over every part of the world. They are fometimes
found in a wild date in many parts of Afia and Africa.
The larged and fined are (aid to be met with in the
neighbourhood of the Ganges, and on the fertile plains
of India, where they grow to a great fize. In colder
climates, they require care in rearing ; and do not ac¬
quire their full plumage till their third year. In former
times they were conlidered as a delicacy, and made a
part of the luxurious entertainment of the Roman volup¬
tuaries. The females of this fpecies, like the pheafant,
have been known to affume the appearance of the male,
by a total change of colour, which is faid to take place
after they have done laying. A white variety of pea¬
cock occurs not unfrequently, in which the eyes of the
train are barely vilible, and may be traced by a differ¬
ent undulation of (hade on the pure white of the tail.
Iris peacock.—Browm ; head fubereded ; fpurs two ; Bicnlcaro*
bill blackilh ; the upper mandible, from the nodrils iotas.
the tip, red ; irides yellow ; crown black; face naked;
temples white; neck diining brown, with black lines ^
upper part of the back, (houlders, and wing-coverts
brown, with yellowilh dripes ; the feathers near the tip
with a large purple gold fpot; lower part of the back
and rump fpotted with white ; body brown beneath,
with tranfverfe black dreaks; quill feathers dufky; legs
brown. Larger than a pheafant. Inhabits China.
Gen. 69. MelEAGRIS, Turkey. Melea-
Bill conical, and incurved ; head covered with fpongy
caruncles ; chin with a longitudinal membranaceous
caruncle ; tail broad, and expanfile; legs fpurred.
American or common turkey.—Front and chin ca- Qaiupa^
runculated; bread of the male tufted. Female with¬
out a fpur. Upwards of three feet and a half long. In¬
habits America; and is very generally domedicated. In
a wild date it lives in woods, and feeds on nuts, acorns,
and infefts. It roods on the highed trees; is very iraf-
cible, and impatient of any thing red. The cock druts
with an inflated bread, expanded tail, red face, and re¬
laxed frontal caruncle, making a Angular inward noife,
which when it is uttered (hakes the whole body. The
eggs are numerous and white, with reddifh or yellow
fpots. The females lay them in fpring, generally in
fome retired or obfeure place ; for the cock, enraged
at the lofs of his mate while (lie is employed in hatching,
is otherwife apt to break them. They fit on their eggs
with fo much perfeverance, that if not taken away, they
will almolt perifh with hunger before they will entirely
leave the ned. In a wild date, turkeys are gregarious,
and affociate in flocks, fometimes of about five hundred-
They are very fwift runners, but fly awkwardly ; and
about the month of March they become fo fat, that-
they cannot fly beyond three or four hundred yards, and
are then eafily run down by a horfeman. The hunting
of thefe birds forms one of the principal diverfions of
the Canadians. When the latter have difeovered the
retreats of the turkey, which in general are near fields
of nettles, or where there is plenty of any kind of grain,
they fend a well-trained dog into the midd of the flock,
Thar
ORNITHOLOGY.
Gitliin®. The birds no fooner perceive their enemy than they run
—-v " 1 off at full fpeed, and with fuch fwiftnefs that they leave
the dog far behind •, he, however, follows, and as they
cannot go at this rate for any length of time, at lalt
forces them to take fhelter in a tree, where they fit,
fpent and fatigued, till the hunters come up, and with
long poles, knock them down one after another. Turkey
cocks, among themfelves, are very fierce and pugna¬
cious, and yet, againft other animals, are ufually weak
and cowardly. The difpofition of the female is in ge¬
neral much more mild and gentle than that of the male $
and when leading out her young family to colleft their
food, though fo large and apparently fo powerful a bird,
fire gives them very little protection againft any rapaci¬
ous animal that comes in her way, but rather warns
them to drift for themfelves. It deferves to be remark¬
ed, that though this fpecies is reared with fome difficul¬
ty, yet in its wild ftate it is found in great plenty in the
forefts of Canada, that are covered with fnow for more
than three-fourths of the year. It is eafily hurt by
hunger or rain. They are bred in great numbers in
Norfolk, Suffolk, and fome other counties, from whence
they are driven to the London markets in flocks of fe-
veral hundreds. The drivers manage them with great
facility, by means of a bit of red rag tied to the end of
a long ftick, which, from the antipathy that thefe birds
bear to that colour, effedually anfwers the purpofes of a
fcourge. We need fcarcely notice, that the flelh of the
turkey is reckoned a delicate food. The Indians make
an elegant clothing of the feathers, by twilling the in¬
ner webs into a ftrong double firing with hemp, or the
inner bark of the mulberry-tree, and working it like
matting, fo that the whole appears rich and glofiy, and
as fine as filk ftiag. The natives of Louifiana make
fans of the tail ; and of four tails joined together the
French ufed formerly to form a parafol.
Horned turkey.—Head with two horns 5 body red,
with eye-like fpots; bill brown \ noftrils, front, and
area of the eyes covered with black hair-like feathers j
crown red ; horns callous, blue, bent back ; caruncle
of the chin dilatable, blue, varied with rufous 5 legs
whitilh, fpurred •, tail feathers twenty. The female has
the head covered with feathers, Avithout horns or gular
caruncle *, feathers of the head and upper part of the
neck black-blue, long, and decumbent *, reft of the body,
as in the male, red with eye-like fpots j fpurs more ob-
tufe. Rather lefs than the preceding. Inhabits India.
535
5SS
Satyra.
656
Penelope.
657
Cnaraiiters,
658
Crijlatu.
659
e umanen.
fu.
660
Marail.
Gen. 70. Penelope.
Bill naked at the bafe; head covered with feathers j
chin naked j tail with tivelve feathers 5 legs without
fpurs.
Guan.—Head with an ere6t creft ; temples violet.
Two feet fix inches long. Inhabits Brazil and Guiana,
Avhere it is frequently tamed, its flefh being reckoned
very delicate. It frequently utters a found like the word
jacu.
Jacu or yacou.—Blackiffi ; creft and firft quill feathers
white. Size of a hen turkey. Inhabits Cayenne and
Guiana. It erefts its creft, expands its tail, and cries
in a mournful tone, like a young turkey. It builds on
the ground, is eafily tamed, and is often domefticated.
Marail turkey.—Greeniffi-black 5 naked orbits ; and
legs red 3 throat fometvhat naked, fpeckled with white.
Size of a common fowl, and not diffimilar in fliape. Galling.
Though not much known to naturalifts, it is common in Y '
the Avoods of Guiana, at a diftance from the fea. It is
generally feen in fmall flocks, excepting at breeding¬
time, when it is only met with in pairs, and then fre¬
quently ©n the ground, or on Ioav ihrubs, at other times
on high trees, on which it roofts during the night. The
female makes her neft on fome low bufliy tree, as near
the trunk as poffible, and lays three or four eggs. When
the young have been hatched for ten or twelve days,
they defeend Avith the mother, Avhich feratches on the
ground like a hen, and broods them, till they can Ihift
for themfelves. They breed twice a year. The young
birds are eafily tamed, and feldom forfake the places
Avhere they have been brought up. Their cry is not
unharmonious, unlefs they be irritated or Avounded,
when it is harfli and loud. Their flefti is much efteem-
ed.
Gen. 71. Crax, Curajfow. Crajc.1
Bill ftrong and thick 3 the bafe of each mandible cover- Qia^adters
ed Avith a cere 3 noftrils in the middle of the cere 3
feathers covering the head, turned fpirally fonvard 3
tail large, ftraight, and expanfile.
66$
Crofted curajjbw.—(Male). Cere yellow 5 body Ale&or.
black 3 belly white 3 bill black or horny 3 cere reaching plate
from the middle of the bill behind the eyes 3 creft ere6t, CCCC,
black, and three inches long 3 tail black and roundiffi, fig* 4*
eleven inches long, feathers fourteen 3 fpurs none. Fe¬
male). Red 3 head bluiffi 3 creft Avhite, tipt Avith black 3
bill cinereous 3 irides red ; legs broAvn. Subjedt to
much variety. Three feet long. Inhabits the moun¬
tainous Avoods of South America. Lives on fruits, roots
or trees, and is often domefticated on account of its
Avhite and delicate fleftu They are frequently kept
tame in our menageries, and readily mix Avith other
poultry, feeding on bread and grain, but they are unable
to bear the dampnefs of the grafs of our meadows, which
renders their toes fubjedt to rot off. Dr Latham men¬
tions an intlance in Avhich the whole of one foot Avas
gone, and but part ef one toe left on the other, before
the creature died.
Globofe curaffow, or cura/fow bird.—YcIIoav 3 gibbe- Globiierfu
fity of the noftrils globular 3 body blackiffi-blue, loiver
part of the belly Avhite 3 bill yelloAv, tipt with cinere¬
ous 3 gibbofity yellow, and very hard 3 irides red 3 or¬
bits Avhite 3 creft black, tipt Avith white 3 legs pale ru-
fty. (Female). Bill and legs cinereous 3 head and crown
black 3 creft black, with a white band 3 fome of the
feathers of the neck tipt Avith Avkite 3 throat, breaft,.
back, and Avings broAvn ; upper part of the belly Avhite,
and fome of the feathers tipt Avith black 3 vent yellow-
iffi-broAvn 3 tail black, Avith four tranfverfe white bands.
Size of the preceding. Inhabits Guiana.
Gen. 72. Phasianus, Pheafant.
66s
Bill fhort and ftrong 3 cheeks covered Avith a fmooth Phasia"
naked Ikin 3 legs generally with fpurs. . NUS^(i.
The females produce many young ones at a brood, Giaradters.
and take care of them for fome time, leading them
abroad, and pointing out food for them. The young
are at firft clad Avith a thick foft down. The nefts of
the Avhole tribe are formed on the ground.
Common
534*
66"]
Callus.
O R N I T H
e- Common cock, or wild coch.—Comb on the crown, and
two wattles on the chin comprefled $ ears naked ; tail
comprefled and erected; feathers of the neck linear, long,
and membranaceous at the tips ; body, when wild, lefs
than the common cock; comb large, indented, fhining-
red ; temples and line from the creft to the eyes naked
and fledi-coloured, a clay-coloured fpot of the O’.ape of
a man’s nail, and covered with fliort feathers, behind
the eyes; feathers of the reft of the head and neck long,
narrow, gray at the bafe, black in the middle, and tipt
with white ; feathers of the upper part of the body
grayifh, with a white and a black ftreak; bread red-
dilh ; greater wing-coverts reddilh-chefnut, tvith tranf-
verfe black and white (freaks; tail coverts glolfy-violet;
middle tail feathers long and falcated; fpurs large and
curved. The female without comb and wattles ; head
and neck gray; cheeks and chin whitilh; body more
dufley, and varied with brown gray and rufous; and
wants the fpurs. Inhabits India in a wild date, is every
where domedicated, and fubjedl to innumerable varieties
in fize and colour. His beautiful plumage and undaunt¬
ed fpirit, as well as his great utility, have rendered him
a favourite in all countries into which he has been in¬
troduced. The cock is very attentive to his females,
hardly ever lofing fight of them. He leads, defends,
' and cherilhes them, colledts them together when they
draggle, and feems to eat unwillingly till he fees them
feeding around him. Whenever a drange cock ap¬
pears within his domain, he immediately attacks the in¬
truder, and, if pofiible, drives him away. The patience
and perfeverance of the hen in the hatching, are truly
extraordinary, but are too familiar to mod of our readers
to require to be detailed. Though by nature timid, and
apt to dy from the meaned afiailant, yet, when march¬
ing at the head of her brood, die is fearlefs of danger,
and will fiy in the face of the fierced animal that offers
to annoy her. As the chickens reared by the hen bear
no proportion to the number of eggs which die produces,
many artificial fchemes of rearing have been attempted.
Chickens have long been hatched in Egypt by means of
artificial heat. This is now chiedy praflifed by the in¬
habitants of a village called Berme, and by thofe who
live at a little didance from it. Towards the beginning
of autumn, thefe perfons fpread themfelves all over the
country, and each of them is ready to undertake the
management of an oven. Thefe ovens are of different
fizes, each capable of containing from forty to eighty
thoufand eggs ; and the number of ovens in different
parts is about three hundred and eighty-fix. They are
ufually kept in exercife for about fix months ; and as
each brood takes up twenty-one days in hatching, it is
eafy in every one of them to produce eight different
broods of chickens in the year. The ovens confid only
of a low arched apartment of clay. Two rows of (helves
are formed; and the eggs are placed on them in fuch a
manner as not to touch each other. They are dightly
moved five or fix times in the courfe of twenty-four
hours. All podible care is taken to diffufe the heat
equally throughout, and there is but one aperture, jud
large enough to admit a man dooping. During the
fird eight days, the heat is rendered great, but during
the lad eight it is gradually diminifhed, till at length,
when the young brood are ready to come forth, it is re¬
duced almod to the date of the natural atmofphere.
Every keeper of an oven obliges himfelf to deliver to
O L O G Y.
his employer only two thirds of as many chickens as Gallin*.
there have been eggs entrulled to him ; and he is a ' 
gainer by this bargain, as it always happens, except
from fome unlucky accident, that many more than that
proportion of the eggs are productive. In this way it
has been calculated that the Egyptian ovens give life
annually to near a hundred millions of chickens. This
ufeful and advantageous mode of hatching eggs was in¬
troduced into France by the ingenious and indefatigable
Monfieur de Reaumur, who, by a number of experi-
ments, reduced the art to certain principles, and applied
it to the production of all kinds of domedic fowls. The
young brood are generally hatched a whole day before
they tade food, and then a few crumbs of bread are
given for a day or two, after -which time they begin to
pick up grain and infefts for themfelves. In order to
fave the trouble of attending them, capons are taught
to watch them in the fame manner as hens. M. de
Reaumur informs us, that he lias feen above two hundred
chickens at once, all led about and defended by only
three or four capons. It is afferted that even cocks
may be taught to perform this office, which they will
continue to do all their lives afterwards. Among the
endlefs varieties of this fpecies, the Englifii game cock
dands unrivalled by thofe of any other nation for its in¬
vincible courage, and on that account is made ufe of as
the indrument of the inhuman fport of cock-fighting.
The Athenians allotted one day in the year to this bar¬
barous padime ; and the Romans are faid to have learn¬
ed it from them, and to have introduced it into tins
ifland. Henry VIII. was fo fond of the fport, that he
caufed a commodious houfe to be erected for that pur-
pofe, which, though now applied to a very different
ufe, dill retains the name of the cock-pit. The Chinefe,
the Sumatrians, and others in the eadern parts of the
world, are fo addidted to this favage diverfion, that, in
the paroxyfms of their frenzy, they will fometimes rilk
not only the whole of their property, but their wives
and children, on the iffue of a battle. The cock, it is
well known, is a watchful bird, and crows clapping his
wings. The hen will lay eggs the whole year, provid¬
ed (he has plenty of food and cold water, gravel, and a
warm place. After laying (he has a peculiar note of
triumph and exultation. Her heat is increafed while
hatching, but if put into cold water, (he ceafes to fit.
Courierpheafant.—Tawney white; tail long, and (hin- Mexicans
ing green ; a few white fpots at the bafe of the tail.
Eighteen inches long. Inhabits New Spain; is (low in
flight, but fo fwift on foot as to outrun the fleeted horfes. ^
Common pheafant.—Rufous, head blue; tail wedged; Colchicut.
cheeks papillous ; bill pale, horn colour; irides yellow;
cheeks red, fpeckled with black; in the old birds wrink¬
led and pendulous; a greenifli-blaek feathered line from
the nodrils to beneath the eyes; red of the head and neck
green-gold, with a glofs of violet and blue ; lower part
of the neck, bread, back, and rump, fliining tawney; quill
feathers brown, with ochreous fpots ; belly and vent
white; tail feathers eighteen, with tranfverfeblack bars;
legs dufky, armed with fpurs. Female lefs, varied with
brown, gray, rufous, and blackifh : cheeks feathered;
and, after (he has done breeding, puts on the appearance
of the'male. There are feveral varieties. This beauti¬
ful bird is about nineteen inches long, and weighs from
two pounds twelve ounces to three pounds four ounces.
It is faid to have been brought from the ifland of Col¬
chis
ORNITHOLOGY. .
Callinx. oliis by the Argonauts ; is a native of Africa, and very luflre of gold, copper, and green
670
drfitt.
671
lmi'yanus.
“* common in almoft all the fouthern parts of the old con¬
tinent, whence it was originally imported into Great
Britain. Pheafants are much attached to the (belter of
thickets and woods, wdiere the grafs is very long j but
they alfo often breed in clover fields. They form their
nefts on the ground, and the females lay from twelve to
fifteen eggs, which are fmaller than thofe of the dome-
ftic hen. The neft is ufually compofed of a few dry ve¬
getables put carelefsly together, and the young follow
the mother like chickens, as foon as they break the (hell.
The parents and their brood remain in the ftubble and
hedge rows, if undifiurbed, for fome time after the corn
is ripe. If difturbed, they feek the woods, and only
come forth in the mornings and evenings to feed in the
ftubble. Though very fond of corn, they are often obli¬
ged to content themfelves with wild berries and acorns.
In confinement, the female neither lays fo many eggs,
nor hatches and rears her brood with fo much care and
vigilance as in the fields. In a mew (he will very rare¬
ly difpofe her eggs in a neft, or fit on them at ail ; and
the domeftic hen is ufually entrufted with the charge of
incubation and rearing the young. The wings of the
pheafant are very fnort, and ill adapted for confiderable
flights. As the cold weather approaches, thefe birds be¬
gin to fly at funfet among the branches of oak trees
for roofting during the night ; and this they do more
frequently as the winter advances, and the trees lofe
their foliage. The male birds at thefe times make a
noife, which they repeat three or four times, and which
the fportfmen call coheting. The hens on flying up ut¬
ter one fhrill whiftle, and then are filent. Poachers avail
themfelves of thefe notes, and, unlefs the woods are ftrift-
ly watched, fecure the birds with the greateft certainty.
The crowing of the males, which begins in the firft
week of March, may be hard at a confiderable diftance.
During the breeding feafon, the cocks will fometimes
intermix with the common hen, and produce a hybrid
breed. The pheafant does not appear to pair, for the
female carefully hides her neft from the male 5 and where
they are in plenty, and food provided for them, the two
fexes are faid in general not to feed together. In a do¬
meftic ftate, they are fometimes more or lefs mixed with
white, and fometimes wholly fo. A variety with a white
ring round the neck, and thence called the ring pheafant,
is not uncommon in fome parts of England. This fpecies
rarely occurs in Scotland.
Argus pheafant.—Pale yellow, fpotted with black ;
face red ; hind head crefted, blue; bill yellowifh; orbits
and whifkers black ; front, chin, and throat red ; hind-
head and nape blue ; wings gray, with eye-like fpots ;
tail wedged, the colour of the wings; two middle
feathers three feet long, with large eye-fpots at the
(haft; feet armed ; fize of a turkey. Inhabits Chinefe
Tartary and Sumatra. This is a moft beautiful bird,
though its colours are not brilliant. It is with great
difficulty kept alive for any time after it has been caught
in the woods. It feems to have an antipathy to the
light, being quite inanimate in the open day ; but when
kept in a dark place, it appears to be perfectly at eafe,
and fometimes makes its call, which is rather plaintive,
and not harffi like that of the peacock. The flefti re-
fembles that of the common pheafant.
Impei/ati pheafant.—Crefted, purple, glofly green,
black beneath ; feathers of the neck with a changeable
535
tail entire, rufous ; Gallir.se.
larger than a common fowl. Inhabits India, but not v ,"r*
plentifully, being brought from the hills in the northern
parts of Hindoftan to Calcutta, as curiofities. Lady
Impey attempted, with great probability of fuccefs, to
bring over with her fome of them to England ; but af¬
ter living in health on board the ftfip for two months,
they caught a diforder from the relt of the poultry,
fimilar to the linallpox, and died in -confequence. They
bear cold, but are impatient of heat. The cock was
rtever obferved to crow, but had a firong hoarfe cackle,
not unlike that of a pheafant.—Defcribed and figured
by Latham. ^
Crefed pheafant.—Brown above; beneath redciitli- Criflatus*
Plate
cccc.
%• 3V
white ; vent rufous; head erefted ; orbits red, naked^
tail wedge-ffiaped, and tipt with yellow ; bill and un¬
armed legs black; feathers of the ereft whitifh-brown ;
beneath black; feathers from the hind head to the lower
part of the neck have a white ftreak down the middle;
coverts of the wings at the tip and edge white ; quill
feathers rufous ; tail ten inches long ; length of the bo¬
dy 22 inches. Native of New Spain. Frequents trees
in the neighbourhood of water, and feeds on worms, in-
fesfts, and ferpents.
Fainted pheafant.—Creft yellow ; breaft fcarlet; fe-
condary quill feathers blue ; tail wedged ; bill, irides,
and armed legs, yellow ; feathers of the creft filky, and
hanging backwards ; cheeks naked and flefh coloured ;
feathers of the hind head tawney, with black lines, and
beneath thefe green ones ; back and rump yellow ; up¬
per tail coverts long, narrow, and fearlet; wing coverts
varied with bay and brown ; fcapulars blue ; quill fea¬
thers brown, with yellowifti fpots ; tail feathers varied
bay and black, and 23 inches long. Female reddith
brown ; yellowiffi brown beneath ; legs unarmed ; lefs
than the common pheafants; length two feet nine inches
and a half. The native country of this beautiful fpecies
is China, where it is called Kin-hi. It bears confine¬
ment well, and will breed readily in that ftate. The
eggs are redder than thofe of the common pheafant, and
fomewhat referable thofe of the Guinea fowl. An in-
ftarsce of their breeding with the common pheafant is
mentioned by Buffon. Edwards informs us, that fome
females of this fpecics, kept by Lady Effex, in the fpace
of fix years gradually gained the male feathers; and
we are told, that it is not unufual for the hen birds,
when about four or five years old, to be negletled by
the cocks, and gradually to gain the plumage of the
males. _ , <?74
Superb pheafant.—Unarmed ; rufous, varied with Superbun.
green and blue ; caruncles of the front rounded ; wat¬
tles awl-ftiaped ; bill and body red; each fide of the
neck with long feathers turned back ; crown green ;
the hind part with a folding blue creft; IhCulders green,
fpotted with white ; primary quill feathers blue ; tail
long, wedged, the feathers varied with blue and red;
coverts declined, and of various mixed colours; legs yel¬
low. Inhabits China.
Gen. 73. Numidia, Pintado, or Guinea Fowl.
67S
Numldia-
676
Bill ftrong and fliort ; the bafe covered with a carun- Characters.,
culated cere, receiving the noftrils ; head horned,
with a comprefied coloured callus; taillhort, bending
down; body fpeckled.
Common
536
Gallinae.
Meleagris.
67S
Tetrao.
679
Charadlers.
6S0
Groufe.
681
Urogallus,
O R N I T H
Common Guinea /;<?/?.-—Caruncles at the gape double,
and no gular fold ; bill of a reddish horn colour ; head
blue ; the crown with a conical, compreffed, bluilh red
protuberance j upper part of the neck bluilh alh, almoft
naked ; lower feathered, verging to violet j body black,
with round white fpots *, legs gray brown 5 gular ca¬
runcle of the male bluilh •, of the female red. There is
a variety with the brealf white, and another with the
body entirely white ; fomewhat larger than the com¬
mon hen. Inhabits Africa, and is domefticated in molt
parts of Europe, the Weft Indies, and America. It
formed a part of the Roman banquets, and is now
much efteemed as a delicacy, efpecially when young.
The female lays a great number of eggs, which the
frequently fecretes till {he has produced her young
brood. The eggs arc fmaller than thofe of a common
hen, and of a rounder lhape, and are delicious eating.
The Guinea hen is a reillefs and very clamorous bird,
and has a harlh creaking note, which is peculiarly gra¬
ting and unpleafant. Like the common domeftic fowl
it ferapes the ground, and rolls in the dull to free itfelf
from inlcfts. During the night it perches on high
places, and, if difturbed, alarms the neighbourhood by
its unceafing cry. In its natural ftate of freedom, it is
laid to prefer marlliy places. It is eafily tamed, but of¬
ten abandons its vourm.
Gen. 74. Tetrao. n
Near the eyes, a fpot which is either naked, or papillous,
or rarely covered with feathers.
I he birds of this genus have a ftrong convex bill j
groufe, partridges, and quails, agree in'having a Ihort
convex bill. The groufe chiefly inhabits the colder re¬
gions, and is diftinguilhed by i'mall noltrils, hid under
the feathers •, an acute tongue •, ftrong feet; and a pret¬
ty long tail. Partridges and quails are lefs in lize ; have
a fliort tail; and their, noftrils covered above w ith a cal¬
lous prominent margin. They inhabit the temperate
and even tne warmer climates. I he. tinamous are a
tribe peculiar to Guiana, and approach the pheafant in
manners.. Their bill is longer and obtufe at the apex •,
the noftrils are placed in the miodle j their gape is verv
wide ; the throat thinly covered with feathers ; the tail
very fhort •, the back-toe Ihort, and ufelefs for running.
The female is larger than the male.
A. Spot over the eyes nuked; legs downy. Groufe.
Wood groufe, cock of the wood, or capercailzie.—Tail
rounded ; arm-pits white ; bill horn colour ; fpot above
the eyes fearlet ; irides hazel ; noftrils covered with
Ihort feathers ; feathers of the chin black, longer 5 head
and neck cinereous, with fine tranfverfe black lines; body
bay, with blackifli lines above; breaft blackilh green j
belly and vent black, varied with white •, tail feathers
18, each fide fpotted with white •, legs robuft and
brown ; toes peainated at the edge. Of the female
the bill is dulky ; chin red j bodyr with alternate red
and black, traniverfe lines above 5 brealt with a few
"white fpots, the lower part orange ; belly fpotted -with
pale orange and black, the feathers tipt with white;
fhoulders black, the feathers edged with black and pale
tawney, and tipt with white ; tail rufty, barred with
black, ana. tipt with white. In lize, this fpecies is little
inferior to a turkey, and fometimes weighs 12 or 13,
O L 0 G Y.
but more frequently feven or eight pounds. The male Csdlm*.
is two feet nine inches, and the female two feet two ^v""""*
inches long. Inhabits the mountainous and woody parts
of Europe and northern Alia. It is not uncommon in
the pine-forefts of Normandy, in Ruffia and Siberia, in
Italy, and feveral parts of the Alps. In Scotland and
Ireland it is nearly extinft. It feeds on the berries of
the juniper and vaccinium, and on the feeds of the pine
tribe and other trees. It is a folitary bird, except in the
feafon of love, when, in the beginning of February,
perched on the top of a tree, it calls the females about
it with a loud voice, its tail expanded, its wings hang¬
ing down to its feet, its neck ftretched out, and the fea¬
thers of its head eredted. The female builds on the
ground among mofies, and lays from eight to lixteen
eggs. The He fit of this fpecies is much efteemed, and
e£8's are accounted preferable to thofe of every other
bird. I hey are white, fpotted with yellow, and larger
than thofe of the common hen. The young follow the
hen as foon as they are hatched, and fometimes with part
of the thell attached to them.
Black game, black groufe, or black cock.—Violet Tetrix.
black ; tail forked ; fecondary quill feathers white to¬
wards the bafe ; bill black ; body tinning glaucous-
black ; wing-coverts black brown ; four Aril quill fea¬
thers black, the reft white at the bafe ; tail feathers
from 16 to 18, black; legs black brown ^ toes pedlina-
ted. Female lefs ; the weight of an old cock is nearly
four pounds, but that of the female is not often more
than two. Length about 23 inches : there are feveral
varieties. Inhabits mountainous and woody parts of
Europe. In Britain it is chiefly confined to the north¬
ern parts of the kingdom, and efpecially to the High¬
lands of Scotland ; population and culture having driven
them from the fouth, except in a few of the more wild
uncultivated parts, as in the New Foreft in Hamplhire,
Dartmoor and Sedgemoor in Devonlhire, and the heathy
hills in Somerfetlhire contiguous to the latter. It alfo
occurs in Staffordlhire, North Wales, and the north of
England. It feeds principally on the tops of heath and
birch, except when the mountain berries are ripe, at
which time it devours bilberries and craneberries with
the greateft voracity. In' the month of April the male
places himfelf on an eminence, at morning dawn, and
invites the females by crowing and clapping his wings.
The males are polygamous, and fight defperately for the
females. They afterwards afiociate peaceably in fmall
packs, are lond of woody, heathy, and mountainous fitu-
ations; but occafionally vifit the corn fields in autumn,
retiring wholly to woods in the winter, and perching on
trees. It is fomewhat remarkable that they are killed
by eating cherries or pears. The female forms an art-
lefs neft on the ground, and lays fix or eight eggs, of a
dull yellovvilh white colour, marked with numerous very
fmall ferruginous fpeeks, and with blotches of the fame
towards the fmaller end. The young are hatched very
late in fummer. The young males quit their parent in
the beginning of winter, and keep together in flocks of
feven or eight till the fpring. They do not acquire
their male garb till towards the end of autumn, when
the plumage gradually changes to a deeper colour, and
affumes that of a bluilh-black, which it afterwards
retains. ggj
^Ptarmigan, white groufe, or white game.—Cinereous ; Lagopus-
toes downy ; quill feathers white j tail feathers black,
tipt
O R N I T H O
Gall'nee. tipt with tlic middles ones white ; body, in fum-
—* ' mer, cinereous, varied with white and brown, in winter
nearly all white ; but in all feafons the lateral tail fea¬
thers are black, tipt with white ; legs and toes covered
with a thick wool like a hare’s. From 14 to ij inch¬
es long. Inhabits the Alpine parts of Europe and Si¬
beria. In this country it is met with only on the fum-
mits of our higheft hills, chiefly in the Highlands of
Scotland, and fometimes, but rarely, on the lofty hills of
Cumberland and Wales. As the fnow melts on the fides
of the mountains, it conftantly afeends till it gains the
funimit, ufliere it forms holes, and burrows in the fnow.
Thefe birds pair at the fame time with the red groufe •,
the female lays eight or ten white eggs, fpotted with
brown, not in any regular nett but on the ground. In
w inter they fly in flocks, and are fo little accudomed to
the fight of man, that they are eafily ihot, or taken in
a fnare. They feed on the wild productions of the hills,
as the buds of trees, tire young flioots of pines, the heath,
crow-berry, rhododendron, &c. They run iwiftly, fly
heavily, are impatient of the fun and wind, and are un-
fuieeptible of domeftication. The flefli of the young
is accounted a great delicacy. That of the full-grown
birds has fometimes a bitter, but not unpalatable talte :
it is alio dark coloured, and, according to Buffon, ap¬
proaches in flavour to that of the hare.
White groufe.—Orange, varied with black bands and
white blotches j toes downy ; tail feathers black, tipt
with white •, the middle ones entirely white j bill black ;
belly and legs white ; claws broad and flat. Upwards
of 16 inches long. Inhabits the Woods of Europe and
Alia, and, like the preceding, grows w'hite in winter.
Pinnated groufe.—Back of the neck with fupplemen-
tal wings, which are wanting in the female. The male
is fmaller than a partridge. Inhabits North America ;
feeds chiefly on acorns ; and at funrife crefls his neck
wdngs, and lings for the fpace of half an hour.
thvzelgroufe.—Tail feathers cinereous, with black
fpots and a black band, except the two middle ones.
Fourteen inches long. Inhabits the hazel wroods of
Europe •, feeds on catkins j when terrified, eretls the
feathers of the crown.
Redgroufe, or nioorcoch.—Tranfverfely llreaked with
rufous and blackifh *, fix outer tail feathers blackifli on
each fide ; caruncle on the eyebrows lunated and fear-
let ; greater quill-feathers brown ; tail feathers fixteen,
the four middle ones the colour of the back, the rell
blaekilh. Length fifteen inches ; weight about nine¬
teen ounces. This fpecies is only to be met with in the
extenlive uncultivated Waftes that are covered with
heath, particularly the moll mountainous fituations, ha¬
ving been driven from the fouth by cultivation. It
ftill occurs in the mountains of Wales, and in the moor¬
lands of Yorkfhire and the north of England, but is
no where fo plentiful as in the Highlands of Scotland,
and in the walfe moors of North Britain, in general.
It is alfo found in the Weftern iflands, and in the moun¬
tains and bogs of Ireland ; but feems to be unknown on
the continent of Europe, thofe mentioned by Buffon as
natives of France, Spain, Italy, &c. either forming a
diflinft fpecies, or at leaf! a variety. Linnaeus did not
feem to be acquainted with it, and Gmelin gave it as a
variety of the ptarmagan. The red groufe never re¬
fort to woods, but confine themfelves wholly to the open
moors, feeding on the mountain and bog berries; and,
Vol. XV. Part II.
6S4
/lb us.
6S5
Cupido.
686
Bonajia.
6S7
Attagen or
Zajtuus.
LOGY.
in defect of thefe, on the tops of the heath. They pair
in the fpring j and the female lays from 8 to 14 eggs,
much like thofe of the black groufe, but fmaller, on
the ground. The young keep with the parent birds till
towards winter, and are called a pack, or brood. In
November they flock together in greater numbers, fome¬
times to the amount of thirty or forty*, and are then ex¬
tremely fliy and difficult to be (hot.
B. Orbits granulated; legs naked.
a. Legs of the male armed with a fpur. Partridge.
Greek or red partridge.—Bill and legs blood-red ;
chin white, furrounded with a black band, and fpotted
with white) feathers of the fides with a double black
ftripe ; tail feathers fourteen, cinereous, the five outer ru¬
fous for the laft half. Rather larger than the next fpe¬
cies. Inhabits various parts of tout hern Europe, Afia,
Africa, and the Gxeek iflands. A variety, called the
Guernfey or red-legged partridge^ has fometimes been
found on the Suffolk or Norfolk coaits. It is diflin-
guifiled by a Angle black ftripe on the feathers of the
fide-, and fixteen tail feathers, of which the five outer
are rufous on each fide. The red partridge frequently
perches on a tree, and will breed in confinement, which
the common one is never known to do.
Common partridge.—A naked fcarlet fpot under the
eyes ) tail ferruginous ) b re a ft brown ) legs white ; face
yellowifh ) cap and neck waved afli ) quill, feathers
brown, with ferruginous bands ) tail feathers eighteen,
lower part of the bread: with two chefnut fpots. Seve¬
ral varieties of this fpecies are enumerated by ornitbolo-
gifts, but moft of them appear to be accidental. Length
about 13 inches; weight 15 ounces. Inhabits Europe
and Alia, though chiefly in temperate regions, the ex¬
tremes of heat and cold being equally unfavourable to
it. They are nowhere in greater plenty than in this
ifland, where, in their feafon, they contribute to our moll
elegant entertainments. They haunt corn fields, and
are never found at any diftance from arable land. They
pair early in the fpring ; and the female is very proli¬
fic, laying from 12 to 20 eggs. It makes no neft, but
ferapes a fmall hole in the ground, and throws into it a
few contiguous fibres, on which to depofit the eggs. The
old birds fit very clofe on the latter when near hatching.
The incubation lafts three weeks, and the young birds
learn to run as foon as hatched, frequently with part of
tire fhell flicking to them. It is no uncommon thing
to introduce partridges eggs under the common hen,
who hatches and rears them as her own : but, in this
cafe, the young birds require to be fed with the larvae
of ants, which are their favourite food, and without
which it is almoft impoflible to rear them. They like-
vfife eat infeUs, and, when full grown, feed on all kinds
of grain and young plants. “ TbeaffeUfon of the par¬
tridge for her young (fays Mr Bewick), is peculiarly
ftrong and lively ; ihe is greatly affifted in the care of
rearing them by her mate : they lead them out in com¬
mon, call them together, point out to them their proper
food, and affift them in finding it by feratching the
ground with their feet ; they frequently fit clofe by each
other, covering the chickens with their wings like the
hen. In this fituation they are not eafily flufhed ; the
fportfman, who is attentive to the prefervation of his
game, will carefully avoid giving any dilturbance to a
3 Y ' feene
537
Gallina:.
6RS
Partridge.
689
Rufus.
69c
Perditx.
»
533
ORNITHOLOGY.
Gallinss.
^91
Quail.
6gz
Viridis.
693.
€nliforni-
*94
Sufcilator.
695
Sinenfis.
696
Goturnix.
fcene To truly interefting ; but Ihould the pointer come
“ too near, or unfortunately run in upon them, there are
few who are ignorant of the confufion that follows : the
male firft gives the lignal of alarm by a peculiar cry of
ditlrefs, throwing himfelf at the fame moment more im¬
mediately into the way of -danger, in order to deceive
or miflead the enemy ; he flies, or rather runs along the
ground, hanging his wings, and exhibiting every fymp-
tom of debility, whereby the dog is decoyed, in the too
eager expeftation of an eafy prey, to a diftance from the
covey } the female flies off in a contrary direftion, and
to a greater diftance, but returning foon after by fecret
ways, Hie finds her fcattered brood clofely fquatted a-
mong the grafs, and, collefting them with hafte, (lie
leads them from the danger, before the dog has had
time to return from his purfuit.”
b. Legs without a fpur. Quail.
Green quail.—-Green 5 bill and legs reddifti •, wings
chefnut, fpeckled with black ; bill a little bent at the
tip 5 hind toe unarmed j tail and vent black. Between
11 and 12 inches long.
Californian quail.—Lead colour •, crown with an up¬
right creft 5 throat black, edged with white ; belly yel-
lowifti brown, with black crefcents. The female wants
the black throat and whitifti margin. Larger than the
common quail. Inhabits California.
Naif/ quail.—Varied with yellowifti, rufous, black,
and gray ; bill longer than in others of the genus.
A very clamorous bird, which inhabits the woods in
Java.
Chinefe quail.—Body fpotted with gray j throat
black, with a white arch. From four to fix inches
long. Inhabits China and the Philippine iflts, and is
carried alive by the Chinefe, in the winter, between
their hands, <for the purpofe of warming them.
Common quail—Body fpotted with gray ; eyebrow's
white ; tail feathers with a ferruginous edge and cre-
fcent -, bill black ; head black, varied with rufous a
yellowifti ftreak down the middle of the crown and
neck \ feathers of the neck rufty brown, varied with
gray ; the fhafts with a longitudinal yellowifti ftreak ;
body beneath dirty ochreous throat and bread reddifh j
quill feathers gray browm, with rufous bars on the out-
fide tail feathers tw'elve, with reddifti and black lines j
legs brownifh. Seven inches and a half long. Inha¬
bits Europe, Afia, and Africa. When thefe birds mi¬
grate to and from the north, they are found in prodi¬
gious quantities in all the iflands of the Archipelago,
o ne hundred thoufand, it is faid, have been taken in one
day on the weft coaft of the kingdom of Naples. A
fmall portion only extend their flight to this country.
With us they appear about the beginning of May, in
our cultivated champaign diftrifls, though not in fuch
numbers as formerly. On their firft arrival, the males
are conftantly uttering a whiftling note, thrice fucceflive-
ly repeated, which being imitated by a whiftle or quail-
call, they are eafily enticed into a net. Before the re¬
volution, great quantities ufed to be fent alive from
France to the London market. In confinement they
fatten, and feem to lofe much of their fierce and pug¬
nacious difpofition. The female depofits eight or ten
yellowifti eggs, blotched, or fpotted with dufky, on the
bare ground, and ufually with us among green w'heat.
The young birds follow the mother as foou as hatched,
but do not continue long together ; for they'are fcarce- Callma,
ly grown up when they feparate, or, if kept together, 1—J
they fight obftinately, and frequently deftroy one ano¬
ther. From this quarrelfome difpofition it was, that the
Greeks and Romans ufed them as game cocks and
that the Chihefe, and feme of the Italians are, at this
day, addi&ed to the diverfion of quail-fighting. After
feeding two quails very highly, they place them oppofite
to each other, and throw in a few grains of feed be¬
tween them, when the birds rufti on each other with the
utmoft fury, ftriking with their bills and heels till one
of them yields.
C. Orbits with a few feathers ; legs naked, four-toed, 697
and unarmed. Tinamous. Timmons.
Cayenne tinamous.—Bill and legs brown ; back alhy- Guiantnjis,
brown, varied with blaekifti ftripes j chin cinereous 5 bel¬
ly pale orange. Eleven inches long. Inhabits Cayenne
and Guiana.
Great tinamous.—Legs yellowilh-brown $ bill black ; Major.
crown rufous ; body#olivej back and tail with black
fpots. Eighteen inches long. Inhabits the woods of
South America ; roofts on the lower branches of trees 5
feeds on worms, infedls, feeds and fruits builds twice a-
year, at the root of a large tree, and lays from twelve
to fifteen green eggs. ^00
Little tinamous.—Bill and legs yellow ; head and SovL
neck black ; body brow-n above, rufous beneath j chin
mixed with white ; quill feathers brown. Nine inches
long. Inhabits Guiana. Builds an hemifpherical neft
in the branches of trees.
Order VI. PASSERES. „ ?01
Pas seres;
• • . . 702
Bill conical, pointed j noftrils oval, pervious, and na- Character^
ked.
The birds of this order have the feet formed for walk¬
ing or hopping. They live, fome at the time of breed¬
ing, and others constantly, in monogamy. Some which
feed on the feeds of plants have a Ihort bill, others that
live on infers and worms are generally furniflied with
a longer bill. They neftle on trees, in bullies, in houfes,
and on the ground. They often build very artificial
nefts, and feed their young with their bill. This order
includes all the finging birds ; the males are the fong-
fters. They are for the moft part eatable.
Gen. 75. Columba, Pigeon. Columba.
Bill ftraight, defeending towards the tip ; noftrils ob- ^haraclerv
long, and half covered with a foft tumid membrane...
The birds of this genus have a weak and flender bill,
ftiort feet, and many of them red toes, divided to their
origin. They extend their refidence even to the ar£lic
regions. They drink much, and not at intervals like
other birds, but by continuous draughts like quadrupeds.
Their note is plaintive or mournful. They form the
connecting link between this and the preceding order j
but are more nearly related to the pafferine tribes, in
being monogamous, in carefling each other by their bills,
in the male and female alternately hatching, in both
joining to feed the young, in laying but few eggs, and
in their nidification. Of upwards of feventy fpecies
which belong to this genus, only five or fix are natives
» 'of
7°5
Oenas.
706
Dumcjl'na.
Paflefes. 0f Great Britain, The eggs of all the fpecies are
   ' rvhite.
A. Tail even arid moderate.
Common or Jlock pigeon, or Jlock dove.—Bluilh; neck
above gloffy green ; double band on the wings, and tip
of the tail blackilh ; throat and bread claret colour j
claws black. Length 13 or 14 inches; weight 11
ounces. Inhabits Europe and Siberia ; is wild in many
places, but is kept in pigeon-houfes every where, and
is the parent dock whence all the varieties of the do-
raedic pigeon are derived, and is on that account called
the Jfoch-dove. It builds in towers, in caverns of rocks,
and in cliffs in unfrequented idands. On the approach
of winter, it migrates fouthward. It is gregarious ; lays
two eggs, and breeds feveral times in the year.
Domejlicpigeon.—Cinereous ; rump white ; band on
the wings, and tip of the tail blackilh. The varieties
are, however, very numerous, and not eafily reducible to
didinil deferiptions'. Some of the more remarkable are,
the roch, Roman, Durban/, jacobine, Jhaker, tumbler,
carrier, horfeman, and turner pigeons. From 14 to 15
inches long. Inhabits, and is domedicated in almolt
every part of Europe and Ada, and lays from nine to
1 1 times a year. Though only two eggs are laid at a
lime, at the expiration of four years, the produce and
defeendants of a fingle pair may amount to nearly
15,000. A compofition of loam, old rubbilh and lalt,
will not only entice birds of this fpecies to remain in a
required fpot, but will even decoy thofe belonging to
other places, and is therefore prohibited by law. The
carrier pigeon is eafily diftinguiflied from the other va¬
rieties, by a broad circle of naked white Ikin round the
eyes, and by its dark blue or blackilh colour. The bird
is conveyed from its home to the place whence the in¬
formation is intended to be fent; the letter is tied under
its wing, and it is let loofe. From the inflant of its
liberation, its flight is directed through the clouds, at
an amazing height, to its home, and it darts onward in
a ftraight line to the very fpot from which it was taken,
by virtue of fome faculty or inllinff which it is very
difficult to explain. To meafure their fpeed with fome
degree of ex act nek, a gentleman fome years ago, on a
trifling wager, font a carrier pigeon from London, by
the coach, to a friend at St Edmund’s-bury, and along
with it a note, requefting that the pigeon, two days after
its arrival there, might be thrown up precifely when the
town-clock (truck nine in the morning. This was ac¬
cordingly done, and the pigeon arrive d in London, and
flew into the Bull Inn in Biffiop’s-Gate Street, at half
an hour paff eleven o’clock of the fame morning, hav¬
ing flown 72 miles in two hours and a half.
Great crowned Indian pigeon.—Bluifh ; cinereous
above ; orbits black ; creft
of a turkey. Inhabits New Guinea.
Lejfer crowned pigeon—Eyelids white ; hind head
with a red gold creft ; breaft and belly violet ; back,
rump, and tail green ; legs yellow ; hind toe unarmed.
Size of the common pigeon. Inhabits Malacca.
Ring dove.—Cinereous; tail feathers black on the hind
part ; primary quill feathers whitiffi on the outer edge ;
neck white on each fide ; bill yellowiffi ; cere red and
feurfv ; irides yellowfilh ; head, back, and wing coverts
blulffi ; rump and throat pale afti; breaft claret colour ;
belly and vent whitilh ; neck above and at the fidcs
ORNITHOLOGY. - 531
green gold, with a white crefcent on each fide ; feet PalTeres.
„ 7°7
'■oronata.
708
Crijluta.
n 709
‘“lumbus.
ffioulders ferruginous. Size
rough as far as the toes. Weighs about 20 ounces ; '
length eight inches. Inhabits Europe, and rarely Sibe¬
ria. From its living in woods, and building in trees, it
is not uncommonly called wood pigeon. It i'eems to be
originally a native of this ifland, and probably migrates
no farther than from the northern to the fouthern parts
of it. Early in fpring it begins to pair, at which time
the male is obferved to fly in a Angular manner, alter¬
nately riling and falling in the air. It forms a neft of
a few fmall flicks loofely put together. Its common
food is grain and feeds of all kinds, acorns and beech¬
nuts, and in default of thefe, turnip-greens, and young
clover, or even green corn, and ivy berries. Various at¬
tempts to domefticate this fpecies have proved unfuc-
cefsful. '
Green turtle.—Brafs green above, purple-violet be- Viridis.
neath. Near eight inches long. Inhabits Amboina. ^It
-Turtledove.—'fail feathers tipt with white; back Turtur,
gray ; breaft flelh coloured ; a fpot of black feathers,
tipt with white, on each fide of the neck ; bill brown ;
irides yellow ; crown olive-affi ; front and chin nearly
white; fcapulars and coverts reddifh-hrown, fpotted with
black ; throat and breaft claret-coloured ; belly and vent
white ; two middle tail feathers dulky brown, the end
and exterior fide of the outermoft feathers white. Sub-
ject to feveral varieties. About 12 inches long. Inha¬
bits Europe, China, and India. Vilits the fouthern
parts of England in the fpring, and leaves^hem in the
beginning of September. Is very fhy and retired,
breeding in thick woods, and neftling on high trees.
Is very deftruftive to fields of peas.
B. Tail long and wedged.
71*
Pajfenger pigeon.—Orbits naked and fanguine; breaft Migrate*
rufous. From 15 to 16 inches long. Inhabits Northr7a*
America, migrating fouthward in December in queft of
food. The multitudes which pafs in hard winters are
truly aftoniffiing, as they fly by millions in a flock, and
literally intercept the light of the fun. As foon as one
flock has paffed, another fucceeds; and thefe movements
fometimes continue for three days without intermiffion.
Their favourite food is acorns; but they not only eat the
fruit of various kinds of trees, but alfo corn end rice,
of which they are very unfparing in the courfe of their
paffage, 713
Black-winged pigeon.-—Body livid ; wings black. In- Metanop-
habits Chili. tera
Marginated turtle.—Breaft red ; tail feathers Margtna-
with black, and edged with white; bill horny ; iridesta.
rufous ; front and chin reddifti brown ; lores white ; Plate
hind head bluiffi-affi colour; a black fpot under the
ears ; body above brown ; (boulders fpotted with black ; I*
rump cinereous ; throat and breaft rofy ; two middle
tail feathers blackifti; the reft alh colour. Ten inches
long. Native of America. ^
Bantam pigeon.—Orbits naked and flefli coloured ; Rantamen-
neck, breaft, and flanks, waved with black and w;hite..Ar>
Size of the wry-neck. Inhabits Java.
Gen. 76. Alauda, Lark.
715
Alauda.
71?
Bill cylindrical, fubulated, ftraight; the mandibles Character*,
equal, and a little gaping at the bale ; tongue bifid ;
hind claw ftraight, and longer than the toe.
.3 2 Field
J4°
Pafleres.
7i§
Arvenjis.
V9
Fratenjis.
720
Minor.
Field or fey Outer webs of the two middle
tail feathers white, middle ones ferruginous on the inner
fide 5 body above varied with blacfcifh, reddiih-gray,
and vvhitith j reddifti-white beneath ; bill and legs black;
throat fpotted with black. A variety fometimes occurs
that is wholly white, another which is black-brown, and
a third, which is found in Ruflia, and diflinguilhed by
its very long legs. This well-known fpecies is about
feven inches long, and inhabits Europe, Afia, and Afri¬
ca. It is moft common in the open and upland cultiva¬
ted diftridts in which corn abounds, and is rarely feen
on extended moors at a diftanc.e from arable land. The
neft is placed on the ground, among grafs or corn, and
is formed of dry grafs and other vegetable fialks, and
lined with fine dry grafs. The eggs are generally four,
rather larger than thofe of a tit-lark, and of a dirty
white, blotched and fpotted with brown. The fky lark
begins to breed in May, and will lay as late as Septem¬
ber, if its firft nefts are deftroyed. The incubation lads
a fortnight, and two broods are ufualiy produced in the
courfe of the year. When hatched, the mother watches
over them with the moft tender folicitude and affeftion.
They are firft fed with worms and infedfs 5 but after
they are grown up, they live chiefly on feeds, herbage,
and moft other vegetable fubftances. They are eafily
tamed, and become fo familiar as to eat off the table,
and even alight on the hand. The lark becomes tune¬
ful early in fpring, and continues fo during the fummer.
His fong is chiefly heard in the morning and evening •,
and he is one of thofe few birds that chaunt their mel¬
low notes on the wing. We need fcarcely remark, that
he mounts almoft perpendicularly, and by fucceflive
fprings into the air, where he hovers at a great height,
and whence he defcends in an oblique direftion, unlefs
threatened by fome ravenous bird of prey, or attracted
by his mate, when he drops down to the ground like a
ftone. When he firft leaves the earth, his notes are
feeble and interrupted, but, as he rifes, they gradually
fwell to their full tone. Thefe birds ceafe their ftrains
in winter, when they afferoble in flocks, grow fat, and
are taken in multitudes by the bird-catchers. Four
thoufand dozen have been taken in the neighbourhood
of Dunftable, between September and February ; and
Kepler informs us, that the excife on larks alone pro¬
duces about pool, a year to the city of Leipfic, whofe
neighbourhood is celebrated for larks of a peculiarly de¬
licate flavour.
Tit lurk.—Greenifti-brown, outer webs of the two
outermoft tail feathers white j eyebrows with a white
line ; bill black ; body white beneath breaft ochreous
yellow, with oblong black fpots ; legs yellowifh.
Length nearly five inches and three quarters. Inhabits
Europe, and is very common in moft parts of this
ifland, though it fee ms partial to barren fituations, and
occurs both in mountainous and low fwTampy places. In
Scotland, it is almoft the only bird which frequents the
extenfive heath tradls on which it breeds. It has a
fine note, and fings either fitting in trees, or on the
ground.
Lejfer field lark.—Reddifti-browm, fpotted beneath ;
chin and belly white5 throat and breaft obfeure yellow;
legs brownifh ; wing coverts edged with wrbite ; quill
feathers dulky, the outer web of the firft edged with
white, the others with yellowiftr-green; hind claw ftiort,
and fometimes hooked. Sopewhat larger than the pre-
ORNlTHOLOGt.
ceding, with which it has been often confounded. It
P;tffcr@(k
721
vifits this country in fpring, but is rarely feen till the be¬
ginning of May ; is not plentiful, and chiefly affefts en-
clofed fituations. From the beginning of May till Ju¬
ly, it may be feen mounting in the air in a fluttering
manner, at the fame time uttering a twittering note, and
then defeending to fome neighbouring tree with motion-
lefs wing and the tail thrown up. It then fings fweetly,
but never when rifing. It generally neftles in the high
grafs or green wheat, and lays four eggs of a dirty blu-
ifh white, thickly blotched and fpotted with purplifti
brown.
Wood lark.—Head furrounded by a white annular A,Lu...
fillet; body varied like the arvenfis ; legs flelh colour¬
ed. Weighs about eight drams; length fix inches.
Inhabits Europe and Siberia, and is met with, though
fparingly, in various parts of Britain. It fings delight¬
fully on wing, but rarely when fitting on the ground,
though fometimes when perched on a tree. Its fong is
much more melodious than that of the Iky lark, but
does not confift of fo great a variety of notes; but then
it frequently fings in the night, and through moft of
the year, except in the months of June and July. It
does not afeend in the air perpendicularly, and continue
hovering and finging in the fame fpot, like the fky lark,
but will fometimes foar to a great height, and keep fly¬
ing in large irregular circles, finging with little inter-
miflion ; and will thus continue in the air tor an hour
together. It is an early breeder, the eggs being fome¬
times found in the neft in the beginning of April.
Red lark.—Brown ; orbits blackifh ; two outermoft Rubra.
tail feathers white. About the fize of the fky lark.
Inhabits North America, and is fometimes found near
London.
Malabar lark.—Wings and tail dirty brown colour, Malabari-
with reddifti edges; bill black; creft long, brown and<7-/.
tipt with Avhite; chin and belly reddifh white; feathers pkte
of the back, and coverts of the wings, brown ; the edge
reddifh towards the tip, and marked with a white fpot;
legs reddifti. Five inches and a half long. Native of
Malabar.
Grafs hopper lark, nr grafs hopper warbler.—Tail fea- Trivia lit.
thers brown, the outer one half w hite, the fecond with
a white wedged tip; wings with two whitifh lines; bill
dufky ; legs whitifti; lores white; body greenifli-bnnvn
above, feathers dufky in the middle, yellowifh-white
beneath; breaft dirty white; taillongifti, and fomewhat
ivedged. Length five inches and a half; Aveight about
three drams and a quarter. Inhabits Europe. Though
not plentiful in Britain, it perhaps appears to be much
lefs fo from its extreme fliynefs, and its habit of conceal¬
ing itfelf among furze and thick hedges. Its fingular
note refembles the chirping of the larger fpecies of
crickets.
Rock lark—Olive broAvn, varied Avith blackifti; yel- Obfcura.
loAvifti beneath; fides of the neck and breaft with brown-
ifh fpots ; outermoft tail feathers obliquely half whitifti,
fecond Avhitifh at the tip. Upivards of feven inches
long. In its fong, manner of flying, and general habits,
is much allied to the tit lark. Inhabits fome of the
rocky Chores of England, and feems to fubfift chiefly on
marine infefts. ,
Leffer crefedlark.—Tail feathers black, the two outer- Ne‘mortfa>
moft: white on the outer edge ; head crefted ; legs red ;
body pale brown. Inhabits Europe and Siberia, and
is
Out CL
f‘g- 3-
Pafieres.
VI
Calandra.
728
Sturnus.
729
Characters.
730
Vulgaris.
. 11'
Cinclus.
O R N I T H
Is common In Yorkfhlre. It is a folitary bird, and
1 builds in woods and thickets.
Calamine lark.—Outermoft tail feathers totally white
without, lecond and third tipt with white ; peftoral band
brown. Seven inches and a quarter long. Inhabits
Italy and Huflia. Builds on the ground. Sings fweet
ly, and imitates the notes of other birds.
Gen. 77. Sturnus, Stare, or Starling.
Bill Tubulate, angular, deprefled, fomewhat blunt ; the
upper mandible entire, and fomewhat open at the
edges •, noftrils furrounded with a prominent rim 5
tongue notched and pointed.
Common flare, or flarling.—Bill yellow!ill j body
black, with white dots ; quill feathers and tail dulky ;
the former edged with yellow on the outer fide, the lat¬
ter with dirty green ; lefter coverts edged with yellow,
and (lightly glofled with green ; legs reddiih-brown.
Male (hining with purple, green, and gold. There are
feveral varieties. Weight about three ounces ; length
eight inches and three quarters. Found in almofl every
part of the old continent. It breeds in the hollows of
trees or rocks, among rubbiih, or in old towers, and
fometimes appropriates the nell of another bird. My¬
riads of this fpecies breed among the rocks in the Ork¬
ney iflands, and in winter feed on the cancer pulex.
Their general food is infedfs, earth-worms, feeds, berries,
&c. They migrate in Hocks, and are very noify. In
confinement it may be taught to mimic various founds,
and even to fpeak. So attached are they to fociety,
that they not only join thofe of their own fpecies, but
alfo birds of a different kind 5 and are frequently feen
in company with redwings, fieldfares, and even with
pigeons, jackdaws, and owls. They chatter much in
the evening and morning, both when they affembie and
difperfe.
IVater-ou’zel, or crake.—Black •, bread white ; chin
white j tail black ; belly ferruginous j legs pale blue
before, black behind. Length feven inches and a half.
Inhabits Europe and northern Perfia. Is div and foli¬
tary, and rarely to be feen, except on the banks of ri¬
vers and dreams of water. It is not unfrequent in the
mountainous parts of Scotland and Wales, and in feme
didrifts in DevordhJre. In thefe places it bi-eeds, and
continues the whole year. The ned is very large, formed
externally of mots and water plants, and lined with dry oak
leaves, refembling that of the wren, with a dome or co¬
vering. It is ufually placed in feme moffy bank, im¬
pending on the water, and contains five or fix eggs of
a tranfparent white. “ A pair of thefe birds, fays Mr
Montagu, which had for many years built under a fmall
wooden bridge in Caermarthenfhire, we found had made
a ned early in May. It wTas taken, but had no eggs,
although the bird dew out of it at the time. In a fort¬
night after they had completed another ned in the fame
place, containing five eggs, which was taken ; and in a
month after we took a third ned under the fame bridge
■with four eggs ; undoubtedly the work of the fame
birds, as no others were feen about that part. At the
time the lad was taken, the female Avas fitting, and the
indant (Ire quitted her ned. plunged into thewater, and
difappeared for a confiderable time ; at lad (he emerged
at a great didance down the dream. At another time
o L o G y.
541
we found a ned of this bird in a deep projecting bank Paflvres.
Over a rivulet clothed with mofs. The ned was fo well ' v
adapted to the furrounding materials, that nothing but
the old bird flying in with a fi(h in its bill would have
led to a difeovery. The young were nearly full fea¬
thered, but incapable of flight, and the moment the ned
was didurbed, they fluttered out and dropt into the wa¬
ter, and to our aflonifhment, indantly vaniflied 5 but in
a little time made their appearance at fome didance
down the dream ; and it was with difficulty two out of
five were taken, as they dived on being approached.-—
The aquatic habits of this bird have not efcaped the no¬
tice of ornithologids, fome of whom fpeak of their
dying under water. If, indeed, the wings being in
motion can be called dying, it certainly does ; but
this is no more than is common to all diving birds,
which, in purfuit of fifli, or to efcape danger, always
ufe their wings to accelerate their motion. In this cafe,
however, the wings are not extended, for that would
retard their progrefs \ but it is affected by' fliort jerks
from the (houlder joint. Whether thefe birds can run
at the bottom of the water, as fome have afferted, is
much to be doubted, as it is requidte all birds diould
ufe a confiderable exertion to keep them under water,
by reafon of their fpecific gravity being fo much lefs.
It is certainly a mod curious and lingular circumdance,
that a bird, not apparently in the lead formed for di¬
ving, diould purfue its prey under water, living chiefly
on (mall fifli and aquatic infedls. It cannot, however,
fwim on the furface.” 732
Green flare.—Green above; bluifli beneath ; a tuft Viridis.
of black and white feathers on the front and chin. In.
habits China.
Wattled flare.—Bill and legs black ; a pendent Carvncula-
orange wattle at each angle of the mouth. Male black, fax.
with the back and wing-coverts ferruginous. Female
rufly-brown, with very fmall wattles. Ten inches long.
Inhabits New Zealand.
Collared flare. — Biackifli-brown, fpotted with brown; Collaris.
flanks rufous ; chin white, fpotted with brown. Size
of the fieldfare. Inhabits Switzerland and Italy. Is
folitary, wags its tail, feeds on feeds, fings with a very
weak voice, and builds in the ground, or in clefts of
rocks.
Gen. 78. Turdus, Tlirujh.
735
Tokdus.
736
Bill fomewhat ftraight; upper mandible a little bending characters.-
and notched near the point ; nodrils naked or half
covered with a fmall membrane; mouth ciliated,
with a few bridles at the corners ; tongue jagged.
Mod of the numerous fpecies of this genus feed on :
berries, efpecially thofe of the juniper ; and many of
them are excellent fongders.
Mijfel thrufh.— Back brown ; neck fpotted with VifliVoniu
white ; bill yellowidi ; body whitifh-yellow beneath,
with fpots brown on the chin and w'hite beneath ; quill
and tail feathers brown, with paler edges ; the three
outermod tipt w'ith white ; legs yellow ; claw's black.
Weight near five ounces ; length 11 inches. Inhabits
the woods of Europe. It is by no means plentiful in ■
Britain, and appears to be lefs fo in winter. It begins
to fing in January if the weather is mild, but ceafes as
foon as the thermometer finks below 40 degrees. A-
Uqu's. <
542
PaiTere?.
. 73s
Pilaris.
. . 739
liiacus.
O H N I T H
bout the middle of March it makes a nett in the fork
of feme tree, efpecially if covered with lichen, and
fee ms partial to the apple tree, frequenting orchard’s
more than other fituations in fpring, and never build¬
ing in a bulk. The nefl is made of modes, lichens,
and dry leaves, lined with withered grafs, and forti¬
fied on the outfide with fmail flicks. The eggs are
four or five, rarely fix ; of a tlelh colour, and marked
with deep and light ruft-coloured fpots. The fong of
this bird is louder than that of the throttle, and fuperior
to it. Perching on the uppermoft branch of a tall tree,
the miifel thrufli fings when its mate is making the
nett, and during incubation ; but becomes filent as foon
as the young are hatched, and is no more heard till the
beginning of the new year. If the young are taken, its
fong continues as before, and if the female is deftroyed,
it continues in fong the whole fummer. The miffel is
very bold during the breeding feafon, driving other
birds from the neighbourhood of its neft, and even at¬
tacking the magpie and jay. Its food is infects and ber¬
ries, particularly thofe of the mifletoe, which are fre¬
quently propagated after palling through the digefiive
organs of this bird.
Fieldfare.—Tail feathers black, the outermoft at
the inner edge tipt with white ; head and rump hoarv •,
bill yellowifh, tipt with black ; crown and neck olive afh
above ; body bay above •, quill feathers cinereous ; throat
and breaft yellovvifh-rufous j belly and vent whitifh ; legs
blackifh. Subject to three or four varieties. Length xo
inches ; wreight four ounces. Inhabits Europe, Syria, and
Siberia. Arrives in Britain, in large flocks, about Michael¬
mas, and leaves us in March. It feeds on the berries of
the holly, thorn, juniper, empetnun nigrum, arbutus a!-
pin a, &c. as well as on worms and infedfs. In very fe-
vere weather they migrate farther fouth, if not prevented
by a fndden fail of fnow. In 1798, when a very heavy
i'now fell on the northern and eaflern parts of England,
prodigious flocks of fieldfares appeared in the wTefl ; but
as that part of the ifland alfo was foon coveted with
fnow, which lay on the ground for a confiderable time,
they became too weak to advance farther fouth, and
thoufands were picked up, ftarved to death. Though it
builds in trees, and fits on them in the day time, it al¬
ways roofts on the ground. When a perfon approaches a
tree that is covered with them, they continue fearlefs,
till one at the extremity of the bufh, rifingon its wings,
utters a loud and peculiar note of alarm, when they all
immediately fly, except one other, which remains till
the perfon approaches ftill nearer, and then it alfo flies
off, repeating the note of alarm. Fieldfares vrere high¬
ly efleemed by the Roman epicures, who kept them in
their aviaries, and fattened them with crumbs of bread,
mixed with minced figs. According to Varro and
Plutarch, the flefh was fometimes bitter.
Red iving, qx wind thru/h.—Wings ferruginous un¬
derneath ; eyebrows whitifh j bill blackiih ; legs pale
gray •, body gray-brown, whitifh beneath, with brown
fpots ; tides and inner coverts ferruginous; vent white.
Weight nearly two ounces and a half 5 length eight
inches and a half. Inhabits Europe, and is a winter
gueft with us, appearing a few days before the prece¬
ding, migrating in vaft flocks. It breeds in Sweden,
Norway, &c. where it inhabits the maple woods, and
fings delightfully from their highefi: tops. It builds in
hedges or thickets, and lays fix bluifb-green eggs, fpot-
74®
MtlfKUS.
741
O L O G Y.
ted with black. In the fouthern countries of Europe, it Pafferes,
does great injury to the vineyards.
Thrqjlle, or fong thrujh ; mavis of the Scotch.—Quill
feathers ferruginous at the inner bale. Refembles the
miffel in colour, but the inner wing coverts are yellow,
irides hazel, bill brown, and the mouth yellow within.
Inhabits the woods in Europe. Weight about three
ounces ; length nine inches. This well-known fpecies
is generally admired for its fong. Every wood and
grove re-echoes with its notes, which fometimes vie
with thofe of the miffel. The throttle frequently fings
as early as February, if the weather is mild, and in
March the female makes its neft, compofed of dried
grafs and green mofs externally, and plaftered within
with rotten wood, mixed with cow dung or clay, and
fo compaclly as to hold water, a circumftance which,
in a rainy feafon, fometimes proves fatal to the eggs,
i he latter are four or five, of a blue colour, and fpot-
ted with black at the larger end. The neft is fome¬
times placed on the flump of a tree, very near the
ground, or againft the fide of a tree, and frequently in a
hedge, or folitary bufh. Though the throttle feeds on
berries and infecls in general, it is particularly fond of
fhelled fnails, efpecially of the helix nemoralis, whofe
flaell it breaks by repeated ftrokes againft a ftone. It is
not uncommon to find a great many fragments of fhells
together, as if a number had been conveyed to one par¬
ticular ftone for the purpofe. This fpecies breeds twice,
and fometimes thrice in the year, and confequently con¬
tinues long in fong. Like the preceding, it is very hurt¬
ful to vineyards.
Mocking bird, or mimic thrujh.—Dufky-afh above 5 Polyglot-
pale afin beneath primary quill feathers white on the tus.
outer half; bill black *, irides yellow ; tail four inches
long •, legs cinereous. Nine inches and a half long. In¬
habits the moitt woods of Virginia, Carolina, Jamaica,
&c. In the fummer is feen much more to the north¬
ward than in winter. This lingular fpecies not only
poffeffes mufical and folemn notes of its own, but can at
pleafure affume the tone of every other animal in the
foreft, from the humming bird to the eagle, and de-
feending even to the wolf or the raven. One of them,
confined in a cage, has been heard to mimic the mew¬
ing of a cat, the chattering of a magpie, and the creak¬
ing of the hinges of a fign-poft in high winds. It is
faid to take a pleafure in archly deceiving other birds,
alluring the fmaller kinds, for example, with the call
of their mates, and then terrifying them with the feream
of an eagle. In the warmer parts of America, it
fings inceffantly from March to Auguft, both day and
night, beginning with its own compofitions, and fre¬
quently finifhing by borrowing from the whole feather¬
ed quire, repeating its tunes with fuel) artful fweetnefs
as to excite both pleafure and furprife. The female
frequently builds her neft: in the bufhes or fruit trees
about houfes, but is fo very fhy, that if a perfon only
looks at the neft, {he immediately forfakes it. It feeds
on gralhoppers, different kinds of berries, &c. and is it-
felf eaten by the Americans, who account it very deli¬
cate food.
Mocking thrufh.—Back brown •, breaft and lateral Qrpf^ut.
tail feathers whitifh •, eyebrows white. Eight inches
and a half long ; inhabits South America, and re¬
fembles the laft in its fine fong and imitative notes. ^
Pagoda thrujh.—Black $ back and rump gray 5 vent Pagoda-
white ; rum.
Pa (Teres
744
Cu'rxus.
74S
Rofeus.
746
Cantaus.
. 747
Tintmna-
bulatus.
748
Tinmens.
749
Rex.
75°
Mcrula.
. 75 *
•orquatus.
O R N I T H
white ; head creiled. Siz« of a finch. Inhabits Ma¬
labar and Coromandel, chiefly about the temples and
pagodas.
Chili thrufh.—Glofly black ; bill fomewhat ftriated ;
tail wedged ; bill, eyes, legs, and flefli black 5 tail five
inches long. About the fize of the iniflel ; is common
in Chili, where it fings fweetly j imitates the notes of
other birds, and, when tamed, the voice of man. Feeds
on worms, feeds, and even on fmaller birds, which it
kills by perforating the Ikull with its bill. Congregates
with ftarlings, and makes a nefl of twigs and fibres,
mixed with mud, and lined with hair. Lays three
bluilh-white eggs,
Rofe-coloured thrujh.—Pale rofy ; head, wings, and
tail black} hind head crefted. About eight inches
long. Inhabits Europe and Afia, and has been found,
though very rarely, in England. As it feeds chiefly on
locufts, it is held facred by the Turks.
Mujician thrujh.—Reddifh-brown, varied with tranf-
verfe dark ftreaks j whitiflr beneath ; chin, cheeks, and
throat reddilh-orange ; a black blotch fpotted with white
on each fide of the neck. Four inches long. Inhabits
the woods of Cayenne. Is folitary ; feeds on ants and
other infefts, and is celebrated for its fvveet and variable
note.
Chiming thrufh.—Brown above •, under parts and
rump reddifli-tawney ; chin white ; cap and cheeks
white, fpotted with black *, eyebrows and ftreaks behind
the eyes black. Four inches long. Inhabits the woods
of Cayenne and Guiana. Its note refembles the chiming
of bells.
Alarum t hr up.). —^ B r o w n above ; white beneath ; breaft
fpotted with black 5 tail even 5 bill black above, white
beneath ; legs pale plumbeous. Six inches and a half
long. Inhabits Cayenne. Every morning and evening,
for the fpace of an hour, cries with a harfli loud voice,
like an alarum bell.
King thrufh.—Reddifh-'brown above, paler beneath ;
hind head lead-coloured ; front varied with white and
brown. Seven inches and a half long. Inhabits South
America, near the hillocks raifed by the white ants, on
which it feeds.
Blackbird.—Black; bill and eyelids yellow. Female,
and the young male rufty black, and bill dark. There
is a variety with the head white, another with the body
white and black, and a third entirely white. Inhabits
Europe and Afia. A well-known fpecies, admired for
its fong, which is a ftirillkind of whiftle'of various notes,
enlivening the. early days of fpring. The neft is exter¬
nally compofed of green mofs, fibrous roots,,&c. having
the infide plaftered with earth, and then lined with fine
dry grafs. The female lays four or five blue eggs, thickly
Covered with pale ferruginous brown fpots. The blackbird
feeds principally on worms and (helled fnails, but is alfo
fond of infers and fruit in general. It breaks the (hell of
the fnail with great dexterity on a ftone. In confine¬
ment it readily eats crumbs of bread, and flefli either
raw or prepared for the table. With us it is never ob-
ferved to migrate or to congregate, but lives folitary in
woods and inclofed fituations. It is eafily tamed, and
imitates other founds, even that of the human voice.
Ring ou%el.—Blackith ; bill yellowifli; collar white.
Rather larger than the blackbird. Inhabits Europe,
Afia, and Africa. Is migratory in feme countries, but
is known to remain and breed in the mountains of
OLOGY. 543
Scotland and Wales. When fattened, its flefti is much Pafleres.
efteemed. In its habits it is nearly allied to the black- -—v—
bird. _ 7S*
Reed thrujh.—Rufty brown ; white teftaceous ht- Arundina-
neath ; quill feathers brown, tipt with reddifii. Fie-r'raj’'
quently varies in its markings. Inhabits the reedy
marfties of Europe, builds a hanging neft among the
reeds, and lays from five to fix yellowiih-white eggs
fpotted with brown. The male fings while the female
is fitting. _ 1 . . . 753
Rongjier thrujh.—Greenifti-black, ftiining with blue Cantor.
or violet ; wings and tail black. Inhabits the Philip¬
pine ifles in numerous flocks } fings very fweetly, and
often lays in pigeon houfes.
754
Gen. 79. Ampelis, Chatterer. Ampelis.
755- .
Bill ftraight, convex, fomewhat incurved ; each mandi- Characters,
ble notched ; noftrils covered with briftles ; tongue
fliarp, cartilaginous, and bifid ; middle toe connected
at the bale to the outermoft.
. . - 75<5
Waxen or Bohemian chatterer.—Hind head crefted ; Garrulus,
fecondary quill feathers tipt with red horny appendages $
bill and legs black ; irides bright ruby ; cheeks tawney j
throat black, with a fmall briitly tuit in the middle j
head and body reddifh-afti above ; ocular line and chin
black ; breaft and belly pale purplifh bay ; leifer wing-
coverts brown ; greater remoteft from the body black,
tipt with white j quill feathers black, three firft tipt
with white ; fix next with half an inch of the exterior
edge yellow ; inner white ; tail black, tipt with yel¬
low. Length about eight inches ; fize nearly that of
a darling. Inhabits Europe, Northern Afia, and A-
merica. Occafionally vifits this country, migrating in
flocks. In the month of February, it frequents the
neighbourhood of Edinburgh, where it feeds on the-
berries of the mountain afh It is fuppofed to breed
farther north, and to build in the holes of rocks. Its
flefti is excellent.
The other fpecies of this genus are all inhabitants of.
the warmer parts of America.
757
Gen. 80. CoLIUS, Coly. Conus.
Bill (hort, thick, convex above, and flat beneath ; upper
mandible bent down at the tip ; noftrils fmall at
the bafe of the bill, and nearly covered with fea¬
thers j tongue jagged at the tip j tail long and wed-
ged.
75S
Characters.
Cape coly.—Outermoft tail feathers white on the out-
fide ; body cinereous j whitifh beneath. Ten inches
and a quarter long. Inhabits the Cape of Good
Hone. . ^
Ranayan coly.—Above yellowifh-afli colour; beneath Pana ^nfis.
rufous ; breaft (freaked with black ; bead crefted ; bill
black ; legs pale flefti colour ; tail very long, the fea¬
thers of which are of different lengths. Native of Pa-
nay, one of the Philippine iftands.
Green coly.—Shining green ; hind head and evefids Viridis.
filky black ; wings and tail blackifti. Twelve inches
long. Inhabits New Holland. 767
Indian coly.— Cinereous above; rufous beneath ; hind Indian.
head and chin yellow ; lores and naked orbits yellow.
Fourteen inches long, inhabits India.
Plate
CCv.CH
fig. 2.
Gen.
ORNITHOLOGY.
Gen. Si. Loxia, Grofsbeak.
*j6(>
Corco-
tkraujles*
7^7
Enuclea-
tcr.
768
Pyrrbula.
Bill ftrong, thick, convex, and rounded at the bafe ;
lower mandible bent in at the edge ; noftrils fmall,
round at the bale of the bill j tongue truncated.
Crofsbii/, or /held apple.—Mandibles eroding each
other ) body varying in colour •, wings and forked tail
brown ; varies, with a reddifh head and fcarlet body.
Male red, varied with brown and green. Female olive
green, mixed with brown. Weighs about an ounce
and a half-, length near fix inches and a half. Inhabits
Europe, Alia, and America. Is not known to breed
with us, but is more or lefs found among fir plantations
from June to the latter end of the year, feeding on the
feed by dexteroufiy dividing the feales of the cones, for
which purpofe the bill is admirably adapted. It is
fometimes found in orchards in autumn, and will readily
divide an apple to get at the kernels. Many are taken
with a bird-call and birdlime ; and others by a horfe-
hair noofe fixed to a long fifhing rod } for fo intent are
thefe birds on picking out the feeds of the cone, that
they will fuller themfelves to be taken by the noofe be¬
ing put over their head. The crofsbill breeds in the
northern countries early in the month of March, on the
tops of the pine trees, making its hemifpherical neft of
twigs, and of the fphagnum arhoream, two inches and
a half thick, lining it with the lichen jloridus, and Hop¬
ping up the chinks with rofin. It is capable of being
tamed, and in confinement climbs up the wires of a cage
by the claws and beak.
Grofsbeak, or hawfinch.—Chefnut a fir 5 wings with a
white line : middle quill feathers rhombic at the tips j
tail feathers black at the bafe of the thinner web •, or¬
bits and chin black ; tail fpotted with white within.
The length of this fpecies is fix inches •, weight about
two ounces. The plumage is fubjeff to great variety.
It inhabits Europe, and ufually appears in Britain in
the autumn, continuing till April, and appearing in
fmall Hocks of four or five, but not commonly. It is
more plentiful in France, and breeds in Burgundy in
April. The nefi is compofed of dried fibres intermixed
with liverwort, and lined with finer materials. The
eggs are of a bluith green fpotted with olive brown,
with a few irregular black markings. This bird lives
on the kernel of the almond, walnut, and cherry, break¬
ing with the greateft eafe their hard Hones with its
bifl.
Pine grofsbeak.—Wings with a double white line-,
tail feathers all black 5 head, neck, bread, and rump in
the young bird, red j in the old yellow •, female olive.
Nine inches long. Inhabits Europe, Afia, and Ameri¬
ca, but is limited to the northern regions of thefe quar¬
ters of the globe, and efpecially to the pine forefts. In
this ifiand it is only found in the north of Scotland,
where it is alfo fuppofed to breed. It fings excellently,
and during the night, but foon ceafes. It builds in
trees pretty near the ground a neft of fmall flicks, and
lines it with feathers, laying four eggs. Its food is the
feed of the pine.
Bullfinch.—Cinereous •, head, wings, and tail black ■,
coverts of the tail, and hindermoft quill feathers white }
crown black •, bread cinereous •, belly of the male red, of
the female chefnut. Scarcely fix inches long, and liable
to vary in its marking*. Inhabits Europe and Siberia.
In fummer it frequents woods, and in winter haunts or- P-ifTere?
chards and gardens, where it preys on the young buds ~~~~v
of the trees. It is not gregarious, but is ufually obfer-
ved in pairs, or in broods, and remains with us all the
year, making a neft of fmall dry twigs, lined with fi¬
brous roots, in fame thick bulh, either in woods or
hedges, about the latter end of April or beginning of
May, and laying four or five eggs of a bluifti-white,
fpeckled and ftreaked with purple, and rather larger
than thofe of a linnet. The native notes of the bull¬
finch are few, but remarkably foft, and uttered in fo
low a tone as to efcape a common obferver ; the call
notes are fimple, but more audible. In confinement it
becomes very docile, and may be taught a great varie¬
ty of tunes, and even to imitate human fpeech. But it
alfo acquires harfii drains with equal facility. A friend
of the Comte de Butfon faw one of this fpecies that had
never heard any perfon whiftle but carters 5 and it
whillled with their ftrength and coarfenefs. Thefe
birds are alfo fufceptible of ftrong and durable attach¬
ments. Some have been known, after efcaping and
living a whole year in the woods, to rtcognife the voice
of their miftrefs, and return to forfake her no more,
and others have died of melancholy on being removed
from the firrt objedt of their attachment. 769
Cardinal grofsbeak.— Crefted ; red; frontlet black ; Cardmaltt,
bill and legs blood red ; creft, when eredl, pointed.
Nearly eight inches long. Inhabits North America.
From the melody of its long, feme of the Americans
call it nightingale. In fpring, and during great part of
fummer, it fits on the tops of the higheft trees, and
makes the forefts echo with its fong. During fummer,
it lays up its winter provifion of maize and buck-wheat.
Nearly a bufhel of the former grain has been found in
the retreat of one of thefe birds, artfully covered with
leaves and fmall branches of trees, and only a fmall hole
left at which the bird enters. In cages it will fing
with a very ftiort interval of filence, through the whole
year. 770
Molucca grofsbeak.—Colour brownifh ; the head, Molucca
throat, and tail feathers are black; beneath waved./'*'
white and black ; bill black ; hindhead, wings and legs (j.
brown ; rump waved white and black. Four inches fig. 2.
long. Inhabits the Molucca iftands.
Hamburgh grofsbeak.—Head and neck chefnut above; Hambur-
chin, band in the middle of the white throat and round-
ed tail brown ; back, bread, and rump yellowifli-brown,
fpotted with black ; belly, vent, and two bands on the
wing-coverts white. Nearly fix inches long. Inhabits
the neighbourhood of Hamburgh. Feeds on infedls,
and climbs trees like the creeper.
Greenfinch, or green grofsbeak ; provincially green chloric
linnet.—Yellowifiv green ; primary quill feathers edged
with yellow ; four lateral tail feathers pale yellow at
the bafe ; bill browniih ; legs flefh coloured ; female
browner. Rather larger than the houfe fparrow ; weight
nearly eight drams ; length fix inches and a halt. In¬
habits Europe and Kamtfcbatka ; is very common in
moft parts of this country in fummer ; becomes gregari¬
ous in winter, and affheiates with chaffinches and yel¬
low hammers ; but in fevere weather migrates from par¬
ticular diftrhfts. It is rather a late breeder. The neft
is compofed of fmall dry twigs, bents, and mofs, inter¬
woven with wool, and lined with hair and feathers. It
is commonly placed among ivy furrounding a tree, or in
fome
O R N 1 T H
PuiTores. ftme thick bufli. The eggs are four or five j white,
fpeckled with rufty red at the larger end, and much
like thofe of the linnet, but larger. The principal food
of this bird is feed and grain. It is eahly tamed if held
on one’s fingers in the dark, and heated gently. Though
its native fong is trilling, in confinement it will catch
773 the notes of other birds.
Sulpburata. Eri-nftone grojheak.—Olive brown *, throat and belly
pale yellow •, eyebrows yellow. Nearly fix inches long.
Inhabits in Hocks near the Cape of Good Hope, fre¬
quents the banks of rivers, and builds a pendulous nefl,
774 with a long neck beneatii, in trees and fhrubs.
Bengalen- Bengal grojbeak.—Gray •, crown yellow } temples
whitifh ; belly whitifh, fpotted with brown. “ This bird
(fays Sir William Jones) is exceedingly common in Hin-
dofian : he is ailonilhingly fenfible, faithful and docile j
never voluntarily deferting the place where his young are
hatched, but not averfe, like moft other birds, to the
fociety of mankind, and eafily taught to perch on the
hand of his mailer. In a tlate of nature he generally
builds his netl on the higheft tree that he can find, ef-
necially on the palmyra, or on the Indian fig tree, and
he prefers that which happens to overhang a well or a
rivulet; he makes it of grafs, which he weaves like
cloth, and Ihapes like a large bottle, fufpending it firm¬
ly on the branches ; but fo as to rock with the wind,
and placing it with its entrance downward to fecure it
from birds of prey. Its neil ufually confifts of two or
three chambers •, and it is popularly believed that he
lights them with fire flies, which he is faid to catch alive
at night, and confine with moift clay or with cow dung.
That fuch flies are often found in his neil, where pieces
of cow dung are alfo {luck, is indubitable j but as
their light could be of little ufe to him, it feems pro¬
bable that he only feeds on them. He may be taught
with eafe to fetch a piece of paper, or any fmall thing
that his mailer points out to him. It is an attefted fa£l,
that if a ring be dropped into a deep well, and a fignal
given to him, he will fly down with amazing celerity,
catch the ring before it touches the water, and bring it
up to his mailer with apparent exultation •, and it is
confidently afferted, that if a houfe or any other place
be fhown to him once or twice, he will carry a note
thither immediately on a proper fignal being made. One
inflance of his docility I can myfelf mention with con¬
fidence, having often been an eye witnefs of it. The
young Hindoo women at Benares, and in other places,
wear very thin plates of gold called tic as, ilightly fixed,
by way of ornament, between their eyebrows ; and
when they pais through the ilreets, it is not uncommon
for the youthful libertines who amufe themfelves with
training thefe birds, to give them a fignal which they
underiland, and fend them to pluck the pieces of gold
from the foreheads of their miftreffes, which they bring
775 in triumph to their lovers.”
Canoru. Brown-cheeked grojbeak.—Dirty greenitb ; cinere¬
ous beneath ; cheeks brown, furrounded with a yellow
776 fringe. Inhabits Mexico, and fings delightfully.
Philippina. Philippine grojbeak.—Brown *, yellowith-white be¬
neath 5 crown and bread: pale yellow •, chin brown. In¬
habits the Philippine iilands. A variety found in Abyf-
finia, has the tail and quill feathers greeniib brown, and
edged with yellow. Conilrudls a neit like the bevga-
777 lenjis.
•AhJjmica. Aby ffiniun grojbeak.—Yellowiih j crown, temples,
VOL. XV. Part II.
778
O L O G Y.
throat, and bread, black ; (boulders hlackitb v quill and
tail feather^ brown, and edged with yellow j irides red j
wing-coverts brown, edged with gray legs reddflh-
gray. Size of the hawfinch. Inhabits Abyillnia. This
bird forms a curious neit of a pyramidal ihape, which is
fufpended from the ends of branches like the neils of
fome others ot this tribe. The opening is on one fide,
facing the ead •, the cavity is feparated in the middle by
a partition of half its height } up this the bird afeends
perpendicularly, and then defeending on the other fide,
forms its neit in the further chamber. By this means
the brood is defended from fnakes, fquirrels, monkeys,
and other mifehievous animals, befides being fecured
from the rains, which in that country lad fometimes for
five or fix months together.
Benjile grojbeak.—Green ; head and throat yellow •, Penfuis.
ocular band green 5 belly gray ; vent rufous red ; bill,
legs, tail and quill feathers, black •, the lad edged with
green. Size of a houfe fjiarrow. Inhabits Madagafcar.
Conttrufts a hanging neit of draw and reeds, ihaped
like a bag with an opening beneath, on one fide of
which is the true ned. The bird does not choofe a new
fituation every year, but fadens a new neit to the end
of the lalt, fo that five may fometimes be feen hanging
from one another. Builds in large focieties, and pro¬
duces three at each incubation. • 779
Sociable grojbeak.—Rufous brown j yellow I th be- Soda.
neath ; frontlet black •, tail diort •, bill black •, region
of the ears yellowifii ; legs brown. Inhabits the inte¬
rior parts of the Cape of Goud Hope, where they were
fird difeovered by Mr Paterfon. They build their neds
in a fpecies of mimofa, which grows to an uncommon
fize; and which, from its ample head and drong wide
fpreading branches, is well calculated to admit and fup-
port their dwellings. The tallnefs and fmoothnefs of
its trunk are alfo a perfeft defence againd the invafions
of the ferpent and monkey tribes. In one tree deferibed
by Mr Paterfon, there could not be fewer than from
eight hundred to a thoufand neds under one general
roof. Mr Paterfon calls it a roof, becaufe it refembles
that of a thatched houfe, and proje6ls over the entrance
of the ned below in a very Angular manner. “ The in-
dudry of thefe birds (fays this traveller) feems almoll
equal to that of the bee. Throughout the day they
feem to be bufily employed in carrying a fine fpecies of
grafs, which is the principal material they ufe for the
purpofe of erecting this extraordinary work, as well
as for additions and repairs. Though my diort day in
the country was not fufficient to fatisfyme by ocular proof,
that they added to their ned as they annually increaf-
ed in numbers 5 dill, from the many trees which I have
feen borne down by the weight, and others which I
have obferved with their boughs completely covered
over, it would appear that this is really the cafe. When
the tree, which is the fupport of this aerial city, is obliged
to give way to the increafe of weight, it is obvious that
they are no longer protected, and are under the neceflity
of building in other trees. One of thefi^deferted nefts
I had the curiofity to break down, to inform myfelf of
the internal drufture of it, and found it equally inge¬
nious with that of the external. There are many en¬
trances, each of which forms a regular dreet with neds
on both tides, at about two inches didance from each
other. The grafs with which they build is called the
Bo/hmatPs grafs ; and I believe the feed of it to be
3 Z their
54^
PafTeres.
ORNITHOLOGY.
7S0
Orix.
781
Emberiza.
782
Charaifbers.
. 7S3
Nivalis.
7*4
Alujlelina.
785
Montana.
7S6
Miliaria.
their principal food ; though, on examining their nefts,
I found the wings and legs of different iniefts. From
every appearance, the neft which I differed had been
.inhabited for many years; and fume parts of it were much
more complete than others. This, therefore, I conceive
to amount nearly to a proof, that the animals added to
it at different times, as they found neceffary from the
increafe of the family, or rather of the nation or com¬
munity.”
Grenadiergrojbeai.—Gray; bill, front, and belly,
black ; neck and rump tawney ; Ibmetimes the ivings
are Avhite, and the tail is broAvn. Size of a fparroAv ;
inhabits Africa, and is found chiefly in marfhy and
reedy grounds. The nefl: is formed among the reeds
Avith fmall twigs, fo clofely intenvoven Avitb cotton, as
not to be penetrated by any Aveather. It is alfo dmded
into tivo compartments, of Avhich the upper is for the
male, and the lower for the female and the young.
Among various other fpecies which Ave have not room
to defcribe, there are two or three of a very fmall fize,
Avhich inhabit Surinam.
Gen. 82. Emberiza, hunting.
Bill conical ; mandibles receding from each other from
the bafe doAvnwards, the loiver Avith the fides con-
tra&ed, the upper Avith a hard knob Avithin.
Snow bunting, /now bird, or /now flake.—Quill fea¬
thers Avhite, the primaries black on the outer edge ; tail
feathers black, the three lateral ones white ; bill and
legs broAvn. Befides the varieties induced by age, fex,
and climate, there are others Avhich feem to be more
permanent. In Avinter, the Avhole body, except the back
and middle coverts, often becomes nearly Avhite. Some¬
what larger than the chaffinch. In fummer, inhabits in
\rafl flocks, the north of Europe, Alia, and America.
In Avinter, migrates to fome Avarmer climate. Breeds in
fome of the mountains of Scotland, Avhere it is fometimes
miffaken for the ortolan. It builds in the fiffures of
rocks, conrtruiling a neft of grafs and feathers, lined
with the hair and avooI of the arftic fox or other qua¬
druped, and lays five eggs. It lings Avell, fitting on the
ground, feeds on grain, and is Avakeful during the night.
It is taken in great numbers in Avinter, when it is fat,
and its flelh efteemed delicate.
Tawney bunting.—Quill feathers dulky, Avhite at the
bafe, the laft wholly black ; tail feathers black, the
middle ones at the edge, and three lateral ones, Avhite on
each fide, with a dulky fpot without. Nearly feven
inches long. Inhabits Avith the laft ; but is more rare.
In fome places it is called fea-lark and brambling.
Mountain bunting, lejfer tnountain flinch or brambling.
—Five firft quill feathers blackilh-brown, the reft white,
fpotted Avith broAvn at the tips ; tail feathers broAvn,
three lateral ones all white on each fide ; bill yelloAV,
tipt Avith black ; head chefnut ; chin Avhite ; upper part
of the neck and back cinereous ; breaft and belly Avith
longitudinal flame-coloured fpots. Found in Yorklhire,
Lincolnlhire, and Northamptonlhire, but is not common.
Common bunting.—Brown ; fpotted with black be¬
neath ; orbits rufous ; bill and legs broAvnilh ; quill fea¬
thers dufky ; outer edges pale yelloAV ; tail a little fork¬
ed, edged with Avhite ; legs yelloAvifh. Weight nearly
two ounces ; length feven inches and a half. Inhabits
Europe in large flocks during the autumn and Avinter.
3.
Seems partial to champaign countries, abounding with Paffcrej.
corn, and is rarely found in uncultivated parts, or in v,~"» —1
grafs fields remote from arable land. While the female
is employed in incubation, the male fits on the branch
of a neighbouring tree, and cheers her Avith his rude
fong. 1 he neft is placed on the ground, formed exter¬
nally of ft raw, lined with fibrous roots or dry grafs, and
fometimes finilhed with long hairs. The eggs are from
four to fix, of a dirty Avhite, fpotted and veined Avith
reddiftt-brown and afli colour. Thefe birds are fome¬
times brought to market, and fold for larks, to which
they are little or nothing inferior, but are eafily diftin-
guilhed by the form of the bill, and the tooth-like
knob in the roof of the mouth, by the moft common
obferver. ^
Ortolan.—Quill feathers broAvn, the firft three whitifli Hortulana.
at the edges; tail feathers broivn, the two lateral ones
black on the outer fide ; bill, naked eyelids and legs
yellowifti; head and neck olive-afh ; chin yelloAvilh,
furrounded Avith a cinereous line ; feathers of the back
and fcapulars broAvnifli-bay, black in the middle ; body
reddiih beneath. The female is diflinguilhed by the
head and neck being cinereous, and each feather Avith
a narroAV bkickilh line. Somewhat lefs than the yelloAV
hammer ; length fix inches and a quarter. Inhabits fe-
veral parts of Europe, but is not found in Britain. Orto¬
lans are common in France, Italy, fome parts of Germany,
Sweden, &c. migrating in fpring and autumn, when
they are caught in great quantities, and fattened for the
table. For this purpofe, they are confined in a dark
room, and fed plentifully Avith oats and millet. They
are then killed for fale, and reckoned the moft delicate
of food. The ortolan Avill fometimes fing very prettily,
its note being not unlike that of the yellow hammer, but
finer and fweeter. In fome parts, it makes its neft on a
low hedge, in others on the ground, and conftrufts it
carelefsly, like that of the lark. The female lays four
or five grayilh eggs, and in general has tAVo broods in
the year.—There are five or fix varieties.
Tellow hammer, or yellow bunting.—Tail feathers Citrinella.
blackilh, the tAvo outer ones on the inner edge, Avith a
pointed white fpot ; bill black ; croAvn, cheeks and body
beneath yelloAV ; eyebroAvs brownifh ; nape greenifli;
feathers of the neck and back blackifh down the middle,
rufous at the fides, and edged Avith gray ; rump pale
taAvney ; wings chefnut, olive or black, moftly edged
with gray ; lateral ones olive without ; the tip edged
Avith Avhite; legs yelloAvifli-brown. The weight of this
fpecies is about feven drams : length fix inches. Inhabits
Europe, and is one of the moft common indigenous
birds of this country. Its fong is as little attraftive as
that of the common bunting, poffefling only a repetition
of the fame note, five or fix times fucceflively, and ter¬
minating in one more lengthened and flirill. It congre¬
gates in Avinter, approaching houfes, and picking up
fcattered grains. It does not breed till late in the fpring.
The neft is generally placed near the ground, in fome
Ioav buffi or hedge, and is compofed of ftraAv and various
dried ftalks, lined with fine dry grafs, and finiffied w'ith
long hair. The eggs differ fomewhat in colour and
fize, fome being nearly white, and others having a purp-
lifti h ue, but all more or lefs marked Avith hair-like
ftreaks. The number is ufually three, four, or five.
Foo/iflh bunting, or foolifh fparrow.—Reddifh ; head A
with a few7 blackifh lines ; eyebroAvs white. Size of the
yellow
7S9.
790
Cirlus.
G R N I T H 0
Palferes. yellow hammer. Inhabits Europe and Siberia. Is fo
—tame as to be caught in any fnare. Has a trifling note,
like that of a yellow hammer.
Ctrl bunting.—Brown-, bread: fpotted*, eyebrows pale
yellow j two outmoft tail-feathers with a white wedged
fpot -, bill brown afh ; head olive ; temples yellow ; a
black fpot between the bill and eyes j throat black,
with a yellow band 5 body yellow beneath; tail (lightly
forked, the feathers edged with gray. Female ftreaked
with brown beneath; chin and vent white. Length fix
inches and a half j weight about feven drams. Inhabits
France and Italy. “ We firft difcevered this fpecies,”
fays Mr Montagu, near Kingfbridge in the winter of
1800, not uncommon amongft flocks of yellow buntings
and chaffinches, and procured feveral fpecimens of both
fexes, killed in different places fix or feven miles from
that place. They are indigenous to Devonfliire, but
feem to be confined to the fouthern parts of that county
contiguous to the coaft, having found them extending as
far as Teignmouth, at both of which places we found
LOG Y.
547
Pafleres.
_ 7 .91
.‘miliar is.
792
Vrytivora.
their nefts 5 but have never obferved them far inland.
It generally builds in furze or fome low bufli 5 the neft
is compofed of dry ftalks, roots, and a little mofs, and
lined with long hair and fibrous roots. The eggs are
four or five in number, cinereous white, with irregular
long and fliort curved lines, terminating frequently with
a fpot at one end ; fize rather inferior to thofe of the
yellow bunting, to which it bears great refemblance.
Thefe birds pair in April, and begin laying early in
May.—The female might readily be miftaken for that
fex of the yellow bunting at a little diftancc, but is ma¬
terially different when compared, efpecially in the chef-
nut colour of the upper parts of this bird. The note is
alfo fimilar to that of the yellow bunting, but fliorter,
not fo fhrill, and the latter part not drawn out to fuch a
length.—It is remarkable, that fo common a bird as the
cirl bunting feems to be in the weft of England, ftiould
have fo long efcaped the notice of Britifli naturaliftsy
but in all probability this has been occafioned by their
locality. It is faid to be only found on the continent
in the warmer parts of France and Italy ; fo with us it
feems confined to the mildeft part of England ; but the
winter of 1800, which was fevere in Devonfhire, did
not force them to feek a warmer climate, but, on the
contrary, they continued gregarious with other fmall
birds, fearching their food among the ploughed lands.”
Fami/iar bunting.—Cinereous, fpotted with brown ;
tail feathers tipt with white-, hind part of the back yel¬
low. Size of a fifkin. Was found at Java by Ofbeck,
and was fo familiar, that if the cage door was opened,
it would leap on the firft perfon’s hand that was offered 5
if any one whittled to it, it fang very fweetly in return,
and if it faw a difli of water, it went immediately and
bathed in it. It was fed with rice.
Rice bunting, or rice bird.—Black j crown reddifh ;
belly black ; tail feathers daggered. Six inches and
three quarters long. Inhabits Cuba. Thefe birds feed
on the early crops of rice in the ifland of Cuba ; but
when the rice in Carolina begins to ripen, they quit
the ifland, and proceed to Carolina, in amazing and
deftrudfive multitudes. They arrive there in September,
while the rice is yet milky ; and when it grows hard
they return. The birds which thus migrate are all fe¬
males; but both fexes make a^tranfient vifit to Carolina
in the fpring.
Reed bunting, or reed'fparrew.—Head black ; body
gray and black; outmoft tail feathers with a white
wedged fpot ; bill brown; throat and breaft black ;
belly white, ftreaked with black at the fides ; wing
coverts and quill feathers brownifli red, black down the
middle ; tail feathers pointed, the eight middle ones
black, two middle ones rufous on each edge, the reft on
the outer only; legs brownifti. Weight near five drams
and a half; length fix inches. Inhabits the marftiy and
reedy diftridfs of Europe and Southern Siberia. Abrow'rr
variety occurs at the Cape of Good Hope, and a white
one about Aftracan. “ It is fome what extraordinary,”
obferves the intelligent ornithologift quoted above, “ that
the manners and habits of fo common a bird fliould re¬
main fo long in obfeurity; even modern authors tell us
it is a fong bird, that it fings after funfet ; and deferibe
its neft to be fufpended over the water fattened between
three or four reeds. There can be no doubt, however,
that the neft, as well as the fong, of the fedge warbler,
have been taken and confounded for thofe of this bird ;
for as they both frequent the fame places in the breed¬
ing feafon, that elegant little warbler is pouring forth
its varied notes concealed in the thickeft part of a bulb;
while this is confpicuoufly perched above, whofe tune is
not deferving the name of fong, confifling only of two
notes, the firft repeated three or four times, the laft fingle
and more fharp. This inharmonious tune it continues
to deliver with fmall intervals from the fame fpray, for
a great while together when the female is fitting. The
neft is moft commonly placed on the ground near wa¬
ter; fometimes it builds in a buffi fome diftance from the
ground; at other times in high grafs, reeds, fedge, or
the like, and even in furze at a confiderable diftance
from any w’ater; in all thefe fituations we have met with
it, but never faftened or fufpended as authors have rela¬
ted. The neft is compofed of ftalks of grafs, or other
dry vegetable fubftances, fometimes partly mofs, and
lined with fine grafs ; frequently finiflied with long hair.
The eggs, which are four or five in number, weigh about
36 grains, and are of a dirty bluifh-wbite or purpliffi-
brown, with numerous dark-coloured fpots and veins,
much refembling thofe of the chaffinch. 7'^
Window bunting.—Black ; breaft red ; four middle Paradifea.
tail feathers long and pointed, twro very long; . bill
black. The two middle tail feathers are four inches in
length, very broad, and ending in a long thread ; the
two next are 13 inches or more in length, very broad
in the middle, narrower at the end, and rather pointed ;
from the middle of the fhaft of this laft arifes another
long thread ; the reft of the tail feathers are only tw-o
inches and a quarter long; the two middle long ones
are placed fomewhat vertically, appear undulated acrofs,
and are more gloffy than the others; the legs are flefli-
coloured. The female is wholly of a deep brown, ap¬
proaching to black, but does not acquire its full plu¬
mage till the third year. This fpecies inhabits Africa,
particularly Angola. It moults in November, and alfo
late in fpring. 7^
Shaft-tailed bunting.—Your middle tail feathers black, Regia*
from nine to ten inches long, equal and feathered only plate
at the tip; bill and legs red ; body above, and vent,
black; body beneath, and throat, temples, and orbits,
rufous ; neck above fpotted with black. Native of A-
frica. Lefs than the linnet.
Green-headed bunting.—Brow-n; head and neck olive; Chlorate*
3 Z 2 back^
CCCCII,
fig. I.
796
5+8
Pafleres.
797
Tanagra.
798
Charr.cters.
799
yacupa-
8qo
Bpifcopus.
8oi
yacarina.
802
Sib erica.
Plate
CCGCII.
fig. 5-
803
Fringil-
O R N I T H
back and wing roverts varied with brown and black •,
tail forked. Only two inftances are recorded of this
fpecits having been found in England.
Gen. 83. Tanagra, Tanager.
Bill conical, pointed, notched, aim oft triangular at the
bafe, and a little inclining at the tip.
Red-breitjlt'dtanager.—Black 5 front, throat,and breaft,
fcarlet; bill black 5 lower mandible lilvery, and convex
on the iiind part 5 front Co me times black ; legs brown.
Female purplilh-brovvn ; reddifh beneath; wings and
tail brotvn. Six inches and a half long, Inhabits
South America, frequenting inhabited places, building
a pendulous cylindrical neft, and feeding on fruits.
Bijhop tanager.—Cinereous \ wings and tail blue
without. Six inches and a half long. Inhabits Cayenne,
efpecially about the fkirts of the forefts, and feeds on
the lefl'er kinds of fruits. During night it roofts on th«
palm leaves.
Jacanari tanager.—Black violet 5 wings whitifh be¬
neath 5 tail divaricated and forked j bill and legs cine¬
reous. Inhabits Brazil and Guiana. Is fond of newly
cultivated land ; haunts fmall trees, particularly coffee
trees. The male frequently hops upwards from a branch,
alighting again, firft on one foot, and then on the other,
accompanying each leap by a note, and fpreading out
the tail at the fame time. The neft is hemifpherical,
about two inches in diameter, and compofed of dried
herbs of a gray colour. The eggs are two in number,
of a greeniflirwhite, marked with fmall numerous red
fpots, deepeft and moft in number at the large end.
Siberian tanager.—Black ; tips of the interfcapular
and rump feathers fringed with white; bill ftiort, pale,
tipt with brown j tail notched at the tip ; legs black.
Native of Siberia j fize of a thrufh.
The other fpecies, which are numerous, and not very
diftinSfly afeertained by authors, feem to differ from one
another more in their markings than their habits.
Gen. 84. Fringilla, Finch.
LA.
804
Characters.
805
Lapponica.
8o5
Ctelebs.
Bill copical, ftraight, and pointed.
This is a numerous and active tribe of birds, very ge¬
nerally difperfed over the world, and feeding principally
on infects and grain.
Laplandfinch.—Head black ; body gray and black 5
eyebrows white; outmoft tail feathers with a white
wedged fpot. Six inches and a half long. Inhabits
Europe, Alia, and America. Runs along the ground
like a lark, and fings on the wing.
Chaffinch ; provincially, beech fnch, horfe fnch, pink,
and twink.—Limbs black ; quill feathers white on both
fides, the three firft without fpots ; two of the tail fea¬
thers obliquely white j bilf white, but in fpring and
i’ummer bluifti, tipt with black j crown, nape, and fides
of the neck hoary ; temples and throat reddifti; belly
and vent reddifh-white 5 wing coverts with a white
blotch, the greater with a white band befides 5 quill fea¬
thers yellowifh at the edge, and white at the bafe ; tail
a little forked ; legs brown. The female wants the red
on the breaft and other parts. Rather lefs than the
fparrow. Inhabits Europe and Africa. Continues with
us the whole year-, but the females migrate from Sweden
to. Holland in the autumn, leaving their mates behind,
and return io the fpring. This bird makes a moft ele-
%
O L O G Y.
gant neft of green mofs, curioufly ftudded with lichen, Paflhres.
interwoven with wool, and lined with feathers and hair. J
It builds againft the fide of a tree, particularly in ivy,
or in fome forked branch of a bufh ; but particularly in
apple trees overgrown with mofs and lichen, and, like
many other birds, adapts the materials of its neft to the
furrounding colour. The eggs are four or five, larger
than thofe of the goldfinch, of a dirty white, tinged
with purple, marked with ftreaks and fpots of dark
purple. Its notes are few, and fcarcely deferve the
name of fong. Both fexes have a monotonous call-note,
which feems to exprefs the word twink. This fpecies is
fubje£l to feveral varieties.
Mountain finch, bratnbling, or bramble.—■Bate of the Mcntifrin-
wings fine yellow beneath ; bill yellowifh, tipt witb^V/fl-
black j head, neck, and back black 5 in the female
brown 5 the feathers edge d with reddilh-brown ; rump
lower part of the breaft and belly white ; throat and
upper part of the breaft reddifh-tawney ; in the female
reddifh-gray 5 lefier wing coverts reddifti j middle ones
reddifh-white 5 greater black, tipt with white j thofe
next the body reddilh at the tip ; quill feathers black,
edged with yellowifti 5 tail a little forked j legs gray.
Rather larger than the preceding length about fix
inches. Inhabits Europe and Alia, breeding in the
northern regions. Is frequently feen in large flocks in
the winter, on the coafts of Kent and Suftex, when the
weather is fevere, when it is fometimes fo exhaufted as
to fuffer itfelf to be taken up. They are alfo found in
the interior parts of the kingdom at that feafon, flying
in company with chaffinches and yellow hammers. In
hard winters, they are alfo frequently feen in the neigh¬
bourhood of Edinburgh. They are partial to the pine
forefts in the Highlands, and live on beech maft and the
feeds of other trees. They build in trees a neft formed
of hypnums without, and of wool and feathers within,
the female laying four or five yellowilh fpotfed eggs.
Their flefh is eatable, though fometimes bitter. g03
Goldfinch, or thifiltfinch Quill feathers black ; and Canludu.
except the outmoft marked with fine yellow in the mid¬
dletwo outmoft tail feathers in the middle, and the
reft at the tips white; bill white, tipt with black; front¬
let fcarlet, in the female brown ; cheeks, hind head,
and bcHy white ; top of the head black ; wing coverts
black, iiLthe female brown ; back, rump, and breaft,
chefnut-brown. This beautiful fpecies, which is fubjeft
to great variety, is rather lefs than the chaffinch, and
inhabits Europe, Alia, and Africa. It is gregarious in
winter, lives to a great age, fubfifts chiefly on the feeds
of the thiftle, hemp, and capitated plants ; is docile and
eafily tamed, and fings delightfully, even in confine¬
ment. It fometimes builds in hedges, but moft com¬
monly in trees, efpecially thofe that are evergreen. The
neft is neatly conftrudkd of bents, mofs, and lichen,
woven together with wool, and fometimes lined with
wool, or hair covered with thifile down, or the pap¬
pus of the willow'. The eggs are four or five, of a
bluifh white, with a few' fmall fpots, chiefly at the larger
end. The goldfinch readily breeds with the canary and
other congenerous birds. So;?
Lepidfinch.—Greenifh-brown ; band above and be- pepida.
neath the eyes and chin orange ; breaft black. Only
half the fize of the canary bird. Inhabits the woods of
Cuba, and fings with a weak, but very fweet note. Sio
Ethiopian finch.—Deep black; hides rufous. In- JEtkiop-
habits
pafiere'.
812
Elegant.
813
Canaria.
814
tyintu.
O R N I T H
habits the woods of America, feeds on fruits and feeds,
is eafily tamed, and fmgs with the feathers of the head
erefted.
Cafpa finch.—Reddidi-gray j front and chin white ;
wings and tail black. Inhabits Barbery and Abyffinia,
frequents granaries in large flocks, and excels the canary
bird in its fong.
Beautiful finch.—Green above j neck cinereous j breaft
yellow 5 frontlet, chin, rump, and tail red ; belly with
curved white fpots } bill and legs red \ rump and tail
chefnut red. Five inches long. Inhabits Africa.
Canary bird, or canary finch.—Bill and body draw
colour \ quill and tail feathers greenifti. Is now well
known over Europe, into which it was brought from
the Canary iflands, about the beginning of the 16th
century. It is fomewhat longer than the flfldn, and
about five inches and a half in length. With us they
are kept in a ftate of captivity, and partake of all the
differences and varieties incident to that condition.
Buffon enumerates 29 varieties, and more might proba¬
bly be added to his lift. “ The breeding and rearing of
thefe charming birds,” fays Mr Bewick, “ form an a-
mufement of the moft pleafing kind, and afford a variety
of fcenes highly interefting and gratifying to innocent
minds. In the places fitted up and accommodated to
the ufe of the little captives, rve are delighted to fee the
workings of nature exemplified in the choice of their
mates, building their nefts, hatching and rearing their
young, and in the impaflionate ardour exhibited by the
male, whether he is engaged in aflifting his faithful mate
in collecting materials for her neft, in arranging them
for her accommodation, in providing food for her off-
fpring, or in chaunting his lively and amorous longs
during every part of the important bufinefs. The canary
will breed freely with the filkin and goldfinch, particu¬
larly the former ; it likewife proves prolific with the lin¬
net, but not fo readily, and admits alfo the chaffinch, yel¬
low bunting, and even the fparrow, though with ftill
more difficulty. In all thefe inftances, excepting the
firft, the pairing fucceeds belt when the female canary is
introduced to the male of the oppofite fpecies. Accord¬
ing to Buffon, the filkin is the only bird of which the
male and female propagate equally with thofe of the
male or female canaries.” Great numbers of thefe birds
are reared in the Tyrol. Four lyrolefe ufually brought
over to England about 1600 of them annually, and
though they carried them on their backs 1000 miles,
and paid 20I. for fueh a number, they were enabled to
fell them at five {hillings a-piece. It is not generally
known, that the fong of the canary bird is ufually com-
pofed of the notes of the tit-lark or of the nightingale.
Mr Barrington faw two of the fpecies which were im¬
ported from the Canary iflands, neither of which had
any fong and he was afterwards informed, that a llnp
brought over a great many of them with the fame de¬
left. Moft of thofe from the Tyrol have been edu¬
cated under parents whofe progenitors were inftrufted
by a nightingale. Our Englifli canary birds, however,
have more of the tit-lark’s than of the nightingale’s
notes. The canary bird lives chiefly on the feeds of
ph a laris canarienfis, canabis myagrum, brajfica napus,
avena, &c.
Si/kin, or aberdevine.—Quill feathers yellow' in the
middle ; the firft four without fpots ; tail feathers yel¬
low at the bafe, and tipt with black ; crown black j
O L O G Y. S49
body yelk>with ; greeniflr above, breaft greeniffi ; wings Pafieres..
green 4 throat brown, of the female white 4 head and
back, in the female, greeniffi afh, fpotted with brov'n.
Four inches and three-fourths long. Inhabits Europe,
and is liable to feveral varieties. Though migratory in
moft places, it does not feem to obferve any regular
periods, as it is fometames feen in large, and at other
times in very ftnall numbers. Buffon remarks, that the
great flights happen only once in the courfe of three or
four years. It conceals its neft with fo much art, that
it is extremely difficult to difeover it. Kramer informs
us, that in the forefts bordering on the Danube, thoufands
of young filkins are frequently found, which have not
dropt their firft feathers, and yet it is rare to meet with
a neft. It is not known to breed in this ifland 4 nor is
it known whence they come over to us. In fome parts
it is called the barley bird, from its appearing when
that grain is fown. Its fong, though not fo loud as that
of the canary, is pleafing and various. It is docile and
familiar in captivity, and will imitate the note* of other
birds, even to the chirping of a fpamnv. Like the
goldfinch, it may eafily be taught to draw up its little
bucket with water and food. It drinks frequently, and
feems fond of throwing water over its feathers. The male
breeds freely with the hen canary, and is affiduous in
his attention to her, carrying materials for the neft, and
arranging them, and, during the time of incubation, re¬
gularly fupplying her with food. 815
Bearded finch.—Pale yellow *, wings green, fpotted Barbata.
with black and red 5 chin bearded. Size of the canary
bird. Inhabits the mountains of Chili, except in winter,
when it defeends into the plains. It is eafiiy tamed,
fings charmingly, and imitates the notes of other birds. §I(j
Greater redpole, or red-headed linnet.— Chefnut brown 4 Canabina.
reddiftr-white beneath 4 wings with a longitudinal white
band 4 tail feathers edged with white on each fide 4 bill
black 4 head and neck cinereous 4 fides yellow 4 middle
of the belly white 4 tail forked, dulky, both fides edged
with white. Head of the female aflr-colour, fpotted with
black 4 crown and breaft without the red 4 breaft dirty
yellow with black lines. Subjeft to confiderable variety
in the markings. Five inches and a half long. Inhabits
Europe and America. Thefe birds fly in flocks during
winter, at which time the males have little or none of
the red markings, which in the return of fpring they
put forth. In many parts they haunt the fea fliorer
and, in the breeding feafon, often refort to furzy com¬
mons. The neft is compofed of mofs and bents interwoven
with wool, and lined with wool and hair. The eggs are
four or five, of a bluifti-white, with purplifh fpecks and
fliort lines. The redpole fings nearly the whole year, is
very familiar, and lo eafily tamed, as to be cheerful in
five minutes after it is taken. ^ _ SU7
Common or brown linnet.— Chefnut brown; whitifli Lmota.
beneath 4 wings with a longitudinal white band 4 tail
feathers edged with white on each fide. Though this
is ufually deferibed as a diftinft fpecies, it feems to be
only a variety of the preceding. 8x8
Lefferrcdpoleox lefrer red-headed linnet.—Brown, varied Lina rice.
with gray 4 reddilh-white beneath ; wings with a double
white band 4 crown and breaft red ; bill and legs brown 4
back black, the feathers edged with chefnut 4 fides
with narrow dufky lines 4 quill feathers dufky, edged
with dirty white 4 legs dulky. Female with a faffron
fpot on the front. Weight about two drams and a half 4
length
55°
PafTeres.
S19
Alontium.
S20
Caccinea.
821
Dome/tica.
O R N I T H
lengtli five Indies. Inhabits Europe, Afia, and Ame-
rica. It is gregarious in winter, when many are taken
by the bird-catchers near London, &c. under the name
oijlone redpole. It breeds in Scotland and the north of
England; building in the trunk of the alder a neft of
dry itieks and wool, lined with hair and feathers, or wil¬
low down. Lays four eggs of a light bluifh-green,
thickly fprinkled with reddifh fpots, efpecially at the
larger end.
_ Mountain linnet, or twite.—Black, varied with red¬
difh; whitith beneath; feathers of the lower part of the
neck black in the middle; wings with a white band;
rump red; feathers of the throat and bread; black, edged
with white; middle quill feathers edged; fecondary tipt
with white. Rather larger than the greater redpole;
length about fix inches and a half. Inhabits Europe.
Is gregarious, and has much the habits of the other
linnets, with which it aflbciates.
Scarlet finch.—Bright orange ; wings and even tail
black; quill feathers orange at the outer edge, the pri¬
maries tipt with black ; bill brownifh ; legs black.
Four inches and a half long. Inhabits the Sandwdch
iflands.
Houfefparrow.—Quill and tail feathers brown; body
gray and black ; wings with a fingle white band; bill
black ; crown gray ; a black fpot under each eye ; a
broad bay mark furrounding the hind part of the head ;
cheeks wrhite ; chin and under fide of the neck black,
the latter edged with white; leffer wdng coverts bright
bay ; the laft row black, tipt with white. The low7er
mandible of the female white, and a white line beyond
each eye. The moft remarkable varieties are, 1. white,
2. yellow7, clouded with chefnut above, and 3. blackifh.
Weighs nearly feven drams; length about fix inches.
Inhabits Europe, Afia, and Africa. This w'ell know'n
fpecies inhabits the dwellings of the rich and the poor,
and is rarely feen far from the habitation of man. It
lives on feeds and fruits, and often cunningly avoids the
fnares that are laid for it. In autumn it is often gre¬
garious, but more frequently fo in winter. It does not
ling, except when tamed, and then the male wdll imitate
the fong of a linnet, or other bird within hearing. It
makes a neft conformable to the place which it choofes
for incubation, whether in a hole of a wall, in thatch,
under the tiles of a houfe, or in the neft of a martin, or
other bird; but when it builds in a tree, the neft is of
a large fize, and covered at the top, compofed of hay
and ftraw, lined warmly with feathers and fragments of
thread or w'orfted, bits of cloth, or any refufe material
of that fort found about houfes. The female lays fix
eggs of a whitifh colour, fpotted with dulky and cine¬
reous, and ufually breeds thrice in the year. Mr Smellie
relates a pleafing anecdote of the affection of thefe birds
towards their young. “ When I was a boy,” lays he,
“ I carried off a neft of young fparrows, about a mile
from my place of refidence. After the neft wras com¬
pletely removed, and while I was marching home with
them in triumph, I perceived, with fome degree of afto-
nilhment, both parents following me at fome diftance,
and obferving my motions in perfefl filence. A thought
then ftruck me, that they might follow me home, and
feed their young accordingto their ufual manner. When
juft entering the door, I held up the neft, and made the
young utter the cry which is expreflive of the defire of
food. I immediately put the neft and the young in the
O L O G Y.
corner of a wire cage, and placed it on the outfide of a Pafferes.
window. I chofe a fituation in the room where I could ^ « —
perceive all that ftiould happen, without being myfelf
Teen. The young animals foon cried for food. In a
ftiort time both parents, having their bills filled with
fmall caterpillars, came to the cage ; and after chatting
a little, as we would do with a friend through the lat¬
tice of a prifon, gave a fmall worm to each. This
parental intercourfe continued' regularly for fome time,
till the young were completely fledged, and had acquired
a confiderable degree of ftrength. I then took one of
the ftrongeft of them, and placed him on the outfide of
the cage, in order to obferve the conduft of the parents
after one of their offspring was emancipated. In a few
minutes both parents arrived, loaded as ufual with food.
They no fooner perceived that one of their children had
efcaped from prifon, than they fluttered about, and made
a thoufand noify demonftrations of joy both with their
wings and their voices. Thefe tumultuous expreflions
of unexpected happinefs at laft gave place to a more
calm and foothing converfation. By their voices and
their movement^ it was evident that they earneftly en¬
treated him to follow them, and to fly from his prefent
dangerous ftate. He feemed to be impatient to obey
their mandates ; but, by bis geftures, and the feeble
founds he uttered, he plainly expreffed that he was afraid
to try an exertion he had never before attempted. They,
however, inceffantly repeated their felicitations ; by fly¬
ing alternately from the cage to a neighbouring chimney
top, they endeavoured to (how him how eafily the journey
was to be accompliftied. He at laft committed himfelf
to the air, and alighted in fafety. Upon his arrival,
another feene of clamorous and aftive joy was exhibited.
Next day I repeated the fame experiment, by expofing
another of the young on the top of the cage. I obferved
the fame conduil with the remainder of the brood, which
confifted of four. I need hardly add, that not one either
of the parents or children ever afterwards revifited the
execrated cage.”—Few birds are more perfecuted by
the farmers, and, perhaps, more unjuftly fo, than fpar¬
rows ; as it has been proved, that they are more ufeful
than noxious. Mr Bradley, in hisTreatife on Hulbandry
and Gardening, flrows, that a pair of fparrows, during
the time that they have their young to feed, deftroy, on
an average, every week 3360 caterpillars. He difeovered
that the two parents carried to the neft 40 caterpillars
in an hour. He fuppofed the fparrows to enter the neft
only during 12 hours each day, which would caufe a
daily confumption of 480 caterpillars. This fum gives
3360 caterpillars extirpated weekly from a garden. But
the utility of thefe birds is not limited to this circum-
ftance alone; for they likewife feed their young with
butterflies and other winged infedls, each of which, if
not deftroyed in this manner, would be the parent of
hundreds of caterpillars. S22
Tree or mountain fparrow, Hamburgh grofeak of Montana^
Latham, &c.—Quill and tail feathers brown; body
gray and black; wings with a double white band; bill,
chin, and fpot on the ears black; head and nape bay ;
body above reddiftr brown, fpotted with black; whitifh
beneath; wing coverts black, edged with rufous; tail
feathers blackifti, edged with rufous ; legs yellowilh.
Female without the black fpots. Five inches and a half
long, and rather fmaller than the preceding. Inhabits
Europe and North America, and is faid to be very plen¬
tiful
O R N I
pafleres. ti/ul in LincolnfKire, Yorkshire, and Lancafliire.
local, and very gregarious.
Ultramarine finch.—Blue ; bill white j legs red
of a canary bird. Inhabits Abyflinia, and lings well.
Gen. 85. Phytotoma.
Bill conical, ftraight, ferrated \ noftrils oval; tongue
fliort, and obtufe 5 feet four-toed.
Kara phjtotoma, or four-toed plant-cutter.—Bill thick,
half an inch long,, and toothed on each fide like a faw ;
irides brown ; body alb above ; paler beneath \ quill
and tail feathers fpotted with black ; tail rounded ;
hind toe Ihorter than the fore ones. Inhabits Chili,
where it is not uncommon. Has a rough voice, and
utters at intervals, the fyllable r«, r«, very diftinftly.
Feeds on vegetables, digging and cutting about their
roots with its bill as with a faw, and thus making great
havock in gardens. Builds in lofty trees, in retired li-
tuations.
Gen. 86. Muscicapa, Fly-catcher.
Bill nearly triangular, notched on each fide, bent in at
the tip, and befet with briftles at the root ; toes in
moft cafes divided to their origin.
551
Pafferes.
827
Muscica¬
pa.
S28
Chara&ers.
829
Paradifu
830
Tyrannus.
83i
Malachu-
The birds of this genus live on infefts, particularly
flies. Of 92 fpecies, two only inhabit Britain.
Paradifefiy-catcher, ox pied birdofParadife.— Crefted j
head black ; body white ; tail wedged ; two middle
feathers very long; head, neck, and chin greenifh-
black ; back, rump, throat, and body white beneath •,
wing coverts and quill feathers black, edged with
white; two middle tail feathers 15 inches long; legs
lead-coloured. Eight inches and a quarter long. Of
this fpecies there are feveral varieties. Inhabits Alia and
Africa.
Forked-tailed fly-catcher.—Tail very long and forked;
body black ; white beneath. Fourteen inches long. In¬
habits Canada and Surinam.
Soft-tailed fly-catcher.—Brown; ferruginous beneath ;
throat of the male blue ; tail long, wedged, with loofe
webbed feathers. Inhabits New Holland, being found
about Sidney and Botany Bay, in marlhy places, abound¬
ing with long grafs and rulhes, which afford it a hiding
place, and where, like the bearded titmoufe, it is fup-
pofed to make its neft. When difturbed, its flight is
very fliort ; but it runs on the ground with great fwift-
nefs. This lingular bird, which is but three inches long,
is well reprefented in the fourth volume of the Linmean
Tranfaftions.
Dwarf fly-catcher.—Straw-coloured beneath ; head
and neck rufous, fpotted with black ; feathers of the
back and wing coverts cinereous ; edged with greenilh ;
quill feathers black, edged with gray ; tail black and
833 Hardly three inches long. Inhabits Cayenne.
fh-icollis. Purple-throated fly-catcher,—Black ; chin and throat
with a large purple red fpot. Twelve inches long.
Inhabits woods in South America, is gregarious, feeds
on fruits and infers, and often affociates with the tou-
834 can.
^I'lcnpiiia. Pied fly-catcher.—Black above ; under parts, fpot on
the front, and Ihield on the wings, white; lateral tail
feathers white without; bill and legs black ; tail coverts
Pyym^a.
Plate
CCuCI.
%-4.
T H O L O G Y.
It is fpotted with white. Female brown ; white beneath, and
wants the frontal fpot. About the fize of a linnet, and * "
Size nearly five inches long. There are three or four varie¬
ties, and the young birds at firft referable the female.
It is local, and by no means plentiful in this illand,
affedling wild and uncultivated trails of furze. Accord¬
ing to F)r Latham, it builds in fome hole of a tree, not
very near the ground, making a neft of a few fibres,
mixed with mofs, and laying fix eggs. 83s
Chattering fly-catcher.—Green; yellow beneath ; belly Viridis.
and vent whitifh; eyebrorvs and fpot under the eyes
whitilh ; tail brown. Seven inches and three quarters
long. Haunts unfrequented places in Carolina ; is very
fhy, and flies with its legs extended. S36
Azure fly-catcher.—Blue ; hind head and breaft with ^^rulea.
a black fpot ; belly and vent bluilh-white ; quill and
tail feathers bulky-blue. Five inches long. Inhabits
the Philippine Blands.
Fan-tailed fly-catcher.—Olive above, ferruginous be- Flabellife
neath ; eyebrows, chin, throat, fides of the neck, and™-
lateral tail feathers white ; middle tail feathers, head,
and collar black. Six inches and a half long. Inhabits
New Zealand. Flies with its tail expanded like a fan ;
and is eafily tamed. s^c,
Black fly-catcher.—Totally black; bill, head, and Nigra.
legs dulky black. Inhabits Society illands. S39
ABivefly-catcher.—Olive-brown ; whitilh beneath ; Agilii.
quill and tail feathers black, and edged with olive-
browm. Four inches and a half long. Inhabits Ca¬
yenne. Is continually hunting after infers, which It
picks out from under the bark of trees. 840
Spotted fly-catcher.—Brownilh, whitilh beneath ; neck Grifla,
longitudinally fpotted ; vent pale-rufous ; bill black,
whitilh at the bafe ; infide of the mouth yellow ; head
large, brownilh, and fpotted with black ; back moufe-
coloured ; wings and tail black ; the former edged Avith
white ; chin fpotted Avith red ; legs black. About the
fize of the tit-lark ; length five inches and a half. In¬
habits Europe. This bird vifits us in fpring, and de¬
parts in September. It frequents orchards and groves,
and Avill make its neft on the limb of fome fruit-tree
nailed againft the Avail, or in a hole, fometimes in out¬
buildings, on the end of a beam or rafter, and at other
times againft the body of a large tree, on the ftump of
a decayed branch. The neft is formed of bents, mofs,
and fuch materials, intenvoven Avith fpiders webs, and
lined with feathers. The female lays four or five eggs,
not much unlike thofe of the redbreaft, but rather lefs,
and the ruft-coloured fpots more diftinft, and not fo
much confined to the larger end. Its food feems to be
entirely rvinged infects, though it is faid to be particu¬
larly fond of cherries, probably from the circumftance
of its frequenting the cherry tree for the fake of flies
that are attrafted by the fruit. As foon as the young-
birds leave the neft, they are led by the old ones to
fome neighbouring wood or grove Avhere infects abound,
and AvherC they may be feen darting in every direction
in purfuit of flies, and frequently returning to the fame
ftation. The note of this fpeeies is a Ample Aveak
chirp, not frequently ufed till after the young are fled,
fo that the bird, though not uncommon, is not readily
difeovered. gir
Defert fly-catcher.—Body ferruginous and footy ; Deferti,
Avings and tail blackilh ; bill yelloAvifti, Inhabits the
deferts of Arabia.
Gen..
552
Pafl'eres.
542
Motacil-
LA.
543
Characters.
844
Luftinia.
ORNITHOLOGY.
Gen. 87. Motacilla.
Bill Tubulated, ftraight 5 the mandibles nearly equal j
noltrils obovate j tongue lacerated at the end.
Moft of this genus feed on infe&s *, a few are grega¬
rious \ and on the approach of winter, migrate to warm¬
er climates.
’Nightingale.—Rufous afh, white afh beneath 5 tail
feathers rufous-brown; bracelets cinereous ; bill brown ;
head and back pale moufe-colour, with olive fpots ; tail
red-moufe colour ; legs and quill feathers brown-afh, the
latter chefnut on the outer edge. About the fize of the
fky-lark, but of a more {lender and elegant form.
Weighs fix drams; and meafures betwen fix and feven
inches in length. There is a variety with the body
fomewhat larger, and another that is entirely white.
Inhabits Europe, Afia, and Africa. Appears in Eng¬
land fometimes in April, but moft commonly not till
the beginning of May. The females do not arrive till a
w7eek or ten days after the males ; To that on the firft
arrival of thefe birds none but males are caught, a cir-
cumftance which has given rife to the fuppofition, that
the proportion of males exceeds that of iemales. The
nightingale is faid to be found as far north as Yorkftiire,
and certainly not farther weft than the eaftern borders
of Devonftnre ; it is plentiful both in Somerfetfinre and
Dorfetfiiire. This bird refides wholly in woods and
thickets, and is feldcun feen. About the latter end of
May it prepares a neft of dry leaves, generally of the
oak, and lined with dry grafs, ufually placed on the
ground, among the fame materials of which it is compo-
fed, fo that it is not readily difcovered. The eggs are
four or five, of an uniform browm colour, and rather
larger than thofe of the hedge-fparrow. As foon as the
young are hatched, the fong of the nightingale ceafes ;
and it is a mifiaken notion that this, or any of the later
breeding birds, have a feeond brood in the fame feafon,
except when Tome accident has befallen the firft. The
young are not eafily reared in confinement. At firft
they are fed with meal-worms, and afterwards with
boiled ftieep’s heart. The winter refidence of this bird
is faid to be in Afia. The fweetnefs and variety of its
notes have been univerfaily admired, and the more fo,
perhaps, becaufe they are uttered in the filence of night.
In a wild ftate, it does not fing above ten weeks in the
year, while thofe confined in a cage continue their fong
for nine or ten months. The honourable Daines Bar¬
rington once kept a very fine nightingale- for three
years, during which time he paid particular attention to
its fong. Its tone wTas infinitely more mellow than that
of any other bird, though at the fame time, by a proper
exertion, it could be very brilliant. When it fang its
fonq round, in its whole compafs, he obferved fixteen dif¬
ferent beginnings and clofes ■, at the fame time that the
intermediate notes were commonly varied in their fuc-
ceflion with fo much judgment as to produce the moft
plea fing variety. Sometimes it would continue its fong
twenty feconds without a paufe ; whenever refpiration,
however, became necefiary, it was taken as fkilfully as
by an opera finger. Nightingales will alfo adopt the
notes of other birds, may be inftrufled to fing by turns,
with a chorus, and even to articulate words. The
London bird-catchers take them by net traps, baited
with meal-worms from the bakers (hops. It is with
great difficulty that the old birds are induced to fing Pafferes.
after being taken ; for a conliderable time they refufe '"“■“v-—■
to eat ; but by great attention to their treatment, and
avoiding every thing that might agitate them, they at
length refume their fong, and continue it during the
greater part of the year.
Hang-neft warbler.—Greenitli-brown above, tawney Calidns.
beneath; ocular line, and one beneath, black. Size of
a robin-redbreaft. Inhabits Jamaica, and builds a hang-
' ing nett. 84<>
Hedge-fparrow, or hedge-warZ'/er.—Gray-brown a- Modulam
bove ; wdng-coverts tipt with white ; breaft bluilh-afli;
bill blackilh ; cheeks ftriped with white; feathers of
the back and wing-coverts edged with chefnut ; wings
and tail dulky ; rump greenifti-bnnvn ; chin and breaft
cinereous ; belly whitifti ; vent yellowith ; legs ffefh-
colcured. Length five inches and three quarters ;
weight nearly fix drams. Inhabits Europe ; and is one
of the few of the warbler tribe that remains with us the
whole year. It has a pleafing plaintive fong, which it
begins with the new year, if the weather is mild, breeds
early, making, in March, a neft compofed of green mofs
andtvool,and lined with hair, which is placed in fome low
evergreen ftmib, thick bulb, or cut hedge, and fome¬
times in fagget piles. The female lays four or five blue
eggs. In default of infefts and worms, the hedge fpar-
row will pick up crumbs of bread, and feems to prefer
fituations ftear the habitation of man. The cuckoo fre¬
quently makes choice of this bird’s neft for the purpofe
of depofiting its-egg. _ 847 ,
Leffer petty-chaps.— Greenifh-afh above, yellowifti be- Hippolaisl
neath ; belly whitifti; limbs brotvn ; eyebrows whitifti;
upper mandible black, lower bluifli; infide of the mouth
red ; a yellowifti line above and beneath the eyes ; quill
and tail feathers moufe-coloured, and edged with green-
ifti; the fhafts black ; lower wing-coverts yellow ; belly
filvery. Weight about two drams; length rather more
than four inches and a half; fize inferior to that of the
yellow wren, which it much refembles in plumage, and
with which, and the wood-wren, it has been often con¬
founded. It is the firft of the warblers that vifits us in
the fpring, being generally heard on or before the firft
of April, repeating its fong, if fo it may be called ; for
it confifts only of two notes, which feem to exprefs the
words chop, four or five times fuccefiively. It is
a bufy, reftlefs bird, always adlive among the trees and
bufhes, .in fearch of infcdls. The neft is oval, with a
fmall hole near the top, compofed externally of dry
leaves and eoarfe- dry grafs, and lined with feathers.
Eor the moft part, it is placed on, or near the ground,
frequently on a ditch-bank, or in a tuft of grafs or low
buffi. The eggs are five or fix, white, fpeckled with
purplith-red at the larger end only, with here and there
a fingle fpeek on the fide?. This fpecies is-found in al-
moft every part of the country where wood, or hedges
can (belter it. Its note is heard long after the yellow
wren is filent; and it remains rvith us, not unfrequent-
ly, till the latter end of Odlober. j
Wood-wren.—Olive-green above ; throat and cheeks ft,
yellow ; belly and vent fine filvery ; tail feathers brown,
and, except the firft, green on the outer webs, and
white on the inner; bill horn-colour ; irides hazel;
breaft pale-yellow ; a yellow line through the eye ; tail
fomewhat forked, and brown ; under part of the (boulder
bright yellow ; legs horn-colour. Weight about two
drains
849
Hortenfts.
O R n I T
Palferes. drams and forty grains; length five inches and a quar-
-Y—' ter. The female is rather larger. This is a migrative
fpecies, appearing about the end of April, and depart¬
ing in September. The females arrive ten days or a
fortnight after the males. From its great fimilitude to
the yellow wren, it has been little noticed as a diftindf
fpecies, but is far from uncommon in fome parts of Eng¬
land. It feems partial to oak and beech woods, where
it may be found by its Angular note, expreffive o£;>the
word twee, drawn out to fome length, and repeatHa five
or fix times in fucceflion, terminating with the fame
notes, delivered in a hurried manner, and accompanied
by a fhaking of the wings. The nefl, which is oval,
with a fmall hole near the top, is conitrufted of dry
grafs, a few dead leaves, and a little mofs, and is inva¬
riably lined with finer grafs and a few long hairs. It
is placed on the ground, and contains fix white eggs,
fprinkled all over with purpliih fpots.
Petty-chaps, or greater petty-chaps.—Gray-brown
above, white beneath 5 eyebrows whitilh; quill feathers
brown-alh, edged with gray, the outmoit on the outer
web, and near the tip on the inner, whitilh *, bill black-
ilh $ lateral tail feathers edged with gray-brown j legs
brown. Length fix inches ; weight about five drams.
Inhabits Europe •, and occurs during fummer in Lan-
cafhire, and in fome of the fouthern counties of Eng¬
land. It chiefly frequents thick hedges, where it makes
a nell compofed of goofe-grafs, and other fibrous plants,
flimfily put together, with fometimes an addition of a
little green mofs externally. It ufually contains four
eggs, about the fize of the hedge-fparrow’s, of a dirty
white, blotched all over with light brown, efpecially at
the larger end, where fpots of alh-colour alfo appear.
The fong of this fpecies is little inferior to that of the
nightingale. Some of the notes are fweetly and foftly
drawn, others quick, lively, loud, and piercing, reaching
the diftant ear with pleafing harmony, not unlike the
blackbird’s whiftle, but in a more hurried cadence. It
frequently lings after funfet.
Sedge warbler.—Cinereous above, white beneath ;
eyebrows white *, bill black ; head brown, with dulky
ftreaks; hind part of the neck and back reddilh-brown j
back fpotted with black ; tail coverts tawney ; wing-
coverts dulky, edged with pale brown j tail brown and
wedged ; legs dufky. Weight about three drams ;
length five inches and a half. Inhabits fedgy lituations
in Europe. It comes to us about the middle of April,
and leaves us again in September. It has a variety of
notes, which it utters in a hurried manner, and which
partake of thofe of the Iky-lark and fwallow, as well as
of the chatter of the houfe-fparrow. It is frequent by
the fides of rivers and watery places, where fedges and
reeds grow, anjong which it makes a neft, compofed of
a little mofs, intermixed with dry ftalks, and lined with
dried grafs, and occafionally a few hairs, fometimes
fattened between two or three reeds, fometimes placed
on a tuft of rulhes, and fattened round the bottom of
them, and at other times, in a low bulb, or on the trunk
of a willow. The eggs are five or fix, of a light-brown
colour, mottled with darker fhades of the fame. Vari¬
ous authors have erroneoully afcribed the fong of this
warbler to the reed-bunting, which has no notes that
deferve the name of fong, a miftake which has origina¬
ted from both fpecies breeding in the fame places, and
the reed-bunting being confpicuous on the upper
VOL. XV. Part II.
553
Pafferes.
*50
Salican'x..
H O L O G Y.
branches of a tree, while the little warbler, concealed
in the thickeft part, is heard aloud. It has been re- v~~“
marked, that if it be filent, a ftone thrown into the bulb,
will make it begin finging inftantly, and that it will
alfo fing during a moon-light night. 851
White-throat.—Cinereous above, white beneath •, firft Sylvia.
tail feathers longitudinally half-while, the fecond tipt
with white j bill black, white at the bafe j head brown-
ifli-afli } back reddifti. Female, with the breaft and
belly fnoWy. There is a variety that is reddilh-afh
above, and reddilh-white beneath, with the throat
white ; the outmoft tail feathers on tfie upper part of
the inner fide, and whole of the outer fide white.
Weight about four drams j length five inches and three
quarters. Inhabits Europe, and is very common in our
inclofed countries. It arrives about the middle of April,
and enlivens our hedges with its fong, when it erefts the
feathers on the crown of the head. The neft is made of
goofe-grafs, lined with fibres, and fometimes a few long
hairs, but is of fo flimfy a texture that it can afford little
warmth to the eggs of young. It is generally placed in
fome low bufh, among nettles or other luxuriant plants.
The eggs are four or five, of a greenith-vvhite, and
fpeckled all over with light brown or afti-colour. The
white-throat feeds on infedfs and berries, and frequents
our gardens in the fummer, for the fake of cherries and
currants. g _ ^
Lejfer white-throat.—Brown-afh, dirty-white beneath j SylvieUa.
two middle tail feathers Ihorter and fubulated ; bill
dulky, the bafe beneath yellowilh •, irides dulky •, crown
deeper than the body ; legs brown. Scarcely five
inches long. Though not fo common as the preceding,
it occurs in many of the hedges of Gloucefterlhire and
Wiltlhire j builds in low Ihrubs, and has a Ihrill whitt¬
ling note. S53
Epicurean warbler.—Brownilh, white beneath 5 breaft FiceUida.
fpotted with cinereous. About five inches long. In¬
habits Europe. Its flelh is reckoned delicious. g54
Dartford warbler.—Chefnut above, ferruginous be- Provincial
neath ; middle of the belly, edge of the quill feathers, Id.
fpurious wings, and outfide of the outmoft tail feather
white j eyebrows red j bill black, the bafe beneath
white ; irides fcarlet; tail black, and as long as the
body ; legs yellow. Inhabits Provence, and rarely
England. A pair were Ihot on a common near Dart-
ford in 1773, and others have fince been obferved about
Falmouth, Waadfivorth, &c. As yet the neft and eggs
are unknown. It is rather larger than the common
wren, and five inches and a half in length. It is a thy
bird, concealing itfelf among the thickeft furze, on the
leaft alarm, and creeping from bufli to buffi. The ftiort-
nefs of the wing and length of tail give it a lingular
manner of flying, which is in ftiort jerks, with the tail
thrown up. Its note is a weak but ffirill piping noife,
feveral times repeated.
Penjile warbler.—Gray, yellow beneath ; belly and Pen/lis.
eyebrows white ; lores fpotted with yellow ; wing-co¬
verts with alternate white and black bards. Nearly
five inches long. Inhabits St Domingo, and fome of
the Weft India ittands, where it feeds chiefly on infefts
and fruits ; and has a very delicate fong, which is con¬
tinued throughout the year. “ The fagacity difplayed
by this bird (fays Mr Bingley), in building and placing
its neft, is truly remarkable. She does not fix it at the
forking of the branches, as is ufual with moft other
^ A birds.
855
554
Pafieres.
8c5
Alba.
857
flava.
O R N I T H
birds, but fufpends it to binders hanging from the net¬
ting, which ftie forms from tree to tree, efpecially thofe
which fall from branches that hang over the rivers and
deep ravines. The neft confifts of dry blades of grafs,
the ribs of leaves, and exceedingly fmall roots, inter¬
woven with the greateft art •, it is fattened on, or rather
it is worked into, the pendent firings. It is in fact a
fmall bed rolled into a ball, fo thick and compact as
to exclude the rain ; and it rocks in the wind without
receiving any harm. But the elements are not the on¬
ly enemies againtt which this bird has to ttruggle ; with
wonderful fagacity it provides for the protection of its
neft from other accidents. The opening is not made on
the top nor fide of the nefl, but at the bottom. Nor is
the entrance direCt. After the bird has made its way
into the veitibule, it mult pafs over a kind of partition,
and through another aperture before it defcends into the
abode of its family. This lodgment is round and loft,
being lined with a fpecies of lichen, whit h grows on the
trees, or with the fiiky down of plants.”
White or water wagtail; provincially, dijhwajher, or
washerwoman.—Bread black •, two lateral tail feathers
obliquely half white •, bill, hind head, nape, throat, and
legs black ; front, orbits, fides of the neck, and belly
white ; body cinereous above ; greater quill feathers
blackifh •, fecondary, and wing coverts dufky, and edged
with gray ; middle tail feathers black, and edged with
gray. Female with the crown brown. Weight nearly
fix drams *, length feven inches and a half. This fpecies
inhabits almoft every where •, is a very aClive bird, and
continually in motion, running after flies. In this coun¬
try, as the weather becomes fevere, it is apt to haunt
marfhes that are fubjeft to the flow of the tide. Early
in fpring they return to their ufual fummer fituation •,
and from the number which are fometimes feen together
at this time attending fheepfolds and newly ploughed
fields, we may prefume that they are gregarious in their
flights. In the breeding feafon they Item to prefer
pleaf^re grounds that are conflantly mowed, on which
they run unencumbered, and where the infeCfs have not
fufficient cover to evade their figltt. The neft is found
in various places, fometimes on. the ground, in a heap
of ftones, the hole of a wall, or on the lop of a pollard
tree. It is compofed of mofs, dried grafs, and fibres,
put together with wool, and lined with feathers or hair.
The eggs are four or five, w!' ite, and fpotted all over
with light brown and afh-colour j weighing about forty
grains, and much refembling that of the cuckoo, which
bird frequently makes choice of the wagtail’s neft, in
which to depofit her egg. It fings very prettily early in
fpring, and frequently gives the alarm on the appearance
of a hawk, which it purfues in company with the fwal-
lows. The young birds have no black on the throat
till the returning fpring, and the old ones lofe it in
winter. In this ftate they have been erroneoufty de-
feribed as a variety.
Yellow wagtail.—Bread: and belly yellow ; two la¬
teral tail feathers obliquely half white ) bill and legs
black •, hind claw very long ; body olive above ; band
through, and one beneath the eyes, black } throat, with
a few black fpots ; middle and greater w ing-coverts
black, edged with yellowifh •, tail black. Female with
whitifh eyebrow's. Length fix inches and a half. In¬
habits Europe and Afia. Vifits thn country in April,
and departs in September. It frequents arable land.
O L O G Y.
efpecially in the more champaign parts, and fometim.es Pafferes
uncultivated ground, interfperfed with furze. It is alfo v
partial to bean fields j and breeds in all fuch fituations,
being more negligent of water than the white or gray
wagtail. The neft is always placed on the ground,
compofed of dried ftalks and fibres, and lined with hair.
The eggs are four or five j not very unlike thofe of the
fedge warbler. Its note is more fhrill than that of the
white, and lefs fo than that,of the gray wagtail.
Wleatear.—Back hoary ; front, line above the eyes, Oenanthe.
rump, and bafe of the tail white j a black band through
the eyes ; crown, neck, and back reddifh-gray j eye¬
brows, rump, upper tail coverts, and upper half of the
tail white ; lower half, legs, and quill feathers black, the
latter edged with reddifh-brown ; body yellowifh-w'hite
beneath. The female W'ants the line over the eyes.
There are, however, feveral varieties. Weighs about
fix drams and a half j length near fix inches and a half.
Inhabits Europe, Alia, and Africa. This bird vifits
England annually in the middle of March, and leaves
it again in September. In f me parts they are found
in great plenty, and are much efteemed. About Eaft-
bourne in Suflex, they are taken in fnares made of horfe-
hair, placed beneath a long turf. Being naturally very
timid, the motion even of a cloud, or the appearance of
a hawk, will immediately drive them into the traps.
Thefe laft are firft fet, every year on St James’s day,
the 25th of July ; foon after which they are caught in
aftonifhing numbers, confidering that they are not gre-
garious, and that more than two or three are fcarcely
ever feen flying together. The number annually en-
fnared in the diftrift of Eaftbourne alone, is faid to
amount to nearly two thoufand dozen. Ihe birds
caught are chiefly young ones 5 and they are invariably
found in the greateft number when an eafterly wind pre¬
vails. They are very fat in autumn, and efteemed a
great delicacy, little inferior to the ortolan. 1 hey live
chiefly on inleils and earth worms, frequent open ftony
places, warrens, downs, &o. and breed in ftone wralls,
old rabbit holes, or under ftones, making a large neft
of dry grafs, rabbit’s down, feathers, and horfe-hair.
The female lays five or fix eggs, of a uniform pale blue
colour. The wheatear fings prettily, and not unfre-
quently on wing, hovering over the female.
Whinchat.—Blackifh j eyebrows white; wings with j^u^ctra%
two white fpots ; chin and breaft yellowifh ; bill and
legs black ; chin white ; tail white ; the lower third
part blackifh ; twro middle feathers all blackifh. Weighs
about four drams and a half; length full five inches.
Inhabits Europe, and appears in this ifland about tire
middle of April, frequenting the fame places with the
ftonechat, and correfponding with it in xnoft of its ha-
Stonechat, ox moor titling.—Gray, pale rufous beneath ;
throat with a white band ; lores black ; bill and legs
blackifh; head and neck nearly black ; body above
blackifh, varied with pale rufous ; brtaft and belly rtd-
difh-yellow ; vent and rump white ; tail feathers black,
the two outmoft, on the outer edge and .tip, pale ferru¬
ginous ; quill feathers black, edged with ferruginous ;
thofe next the body at the bafe, and wing-coverts, with
a white fpot. Female varied with blackifh and reddifh.
W eight about five drams ; length five inches and a
quarter. Inhabits hedges and dry moors in Europe
and Siberia, feeds on infers and yvorms, and frequent-
Paiferes.
861
Africa*
filla.
862
Spinicauda.
863
Minima.
S64
Phoenica*
rus. '
1
Suecica.
866
fyanea.
867
Arundi-
weu.
ORNITHOLOGY.
ly fits on the uppermoft fprays, darting at every fly that
paffes. The nefl: is placed on, or very near the ground,
at the bottom of a furze bu(h, or fome fimilar fituation,
is compofed of itiofs and bents, lined with hair, and
fometimes mixed with fmall feathers. The eggs are
five, of a blue colour, with fmali rufous fpots at the
larger end. When the young leave the nefl:, the old
birds are extremely bold and clamorous, and are as art¬
ful in enticing any one from their young as they are in
concealing their neft. In the early part of the fpring,
the ftonechat fings very prettily, fpringing into the air,
and fufpending itfelf for fome time on wing. But as
it breeds fo early, its fong is of fliort duration.
B/achcnp.—Brick-colour above, cinereous beneath j
cap dulky-black ; bill brown ; crown black, in the fe¬
male chefnut ■, body greenilh-afli above, gray beneath,
gradually growing white •, temples gray j quill and tail
feathers brown-alh, edged with greeniih-afti, the middle
ones very fliort ; legs lead-colour. Of this fpecies there
are at leaft three or four varieties. Length full fix
inches. Inhabits Europe. It is a migrative bird, vifit-
ing us early in the fpring and retiring in September. It
frequents woods and thick hedges, and feems very par¬
tial to orchards and gardens, where it delights us with
its charming melodious fong, which is very little infer-
rior to that of the nightingale, except in variety of notes.
It makes a neft in fome low bufh or fhrub, compofed of
dried ftalks, generally of goofe-grafs, put together with
a little wool, and fometimes a little green mofs on the
outfide, and lined with fibrous roots, on which are fre¬
quently placed a few long hairs. The eggs are four or
five, of a pale reddifli-brown, mottled with a deeper
colour, and fometimes fprinkled with a few aflr-coloured
fpots. On the firft arrival of this bird it feeds greedily
on ivy berries, but forfakes that food as foon as the ver¬
nal fun has roufed the infeft tribe.
Thorn-tailed warbler. — Chefnut, white beneath;
crown fpotted with yellow ; face and eyebrows yellow;
wing-coverts rufous, varied with brown ; the greater
and quill feathers brown ; tail wedged, the feathers
daggered. Four inches and a half long. Inhabits Terra
del Fuego.
Leajl warbler.—Pale brown, whitilh beneath ; bill
and very fliort tail yellowifli. Three inches long. In¬
habits New Holland.
Red-Jlart.—Throat black ; belly and tail rufous ;
head and back hoary ; front white ; bill, cheeks, and
legs, black ; belly white ; rump, breaft, and lateral tail
feathers rufous ; the middle ones brown ; wings brown.
Female with the crown and back gray-afli ; and chin
white. Five inches and a quarter long. Inhabits Eu¬
rope. It is feen in this country only in fpring and fum-
mer. It builds in holes of walls, or even of houfes, or
in hollow trees ; and lays four or five eggs. It lings
prettily, and imitates the notes of other birds. It islefs
than the redbreaft, and moves its tail horizontally.
Blue-throated warbler.—Breaft ferruginous, with a
blue band ; tail feathers brown, ferruginous towards the
tip. Size of the redbreaft. Inhabits Europe and Sibe •
ria. Sings fweetly, and does not migrate.
Superb warbler.—Black blue above, white beneath ;
feathers of the head long, lax, and turgid ; front, cheeks,
and lunule on the neck fine blue. Five inches and a
half long. Inhabits New Holland.
Reed wren.—Olive-brown above, whitifli beneath ;
lores and orbits whitith-brown ; band in the middle of Pafleres.
the wings tawney-yellow beneath ; tail brown, flightly ~ v~~“
wedged ; under part of the toes greenifti-yellow. Up¬
per mandible horn-colour, lower flelh-colour ; mouth
orange ; irides brown ; chin white ; legs pale-olive.
Length fcarcely five inches and a half; weight nearly
three drams. Has often been confounded with the
fedge warbler, to which it is nearly allied in form, fize,
and habits ; but it may at once be diftinguiftted by the
greater broadnefs of the bafe of the bill, by the want of
a light ftroke over the eye, and having the upper parts
of one plain colour. The neft and eggs are alfo differ¬
ent. The former is compofed of long grafs, and the
feed-branches of reeds, and lined with the finer parts of
the latter. It is very deep, and is generally fattened by
long grafs to feveral reeds, which are drawn together
for that purpofe. The eggs are four or five, rather
larger than thofe of the fedge-warbler, of a greenifti-
white, blotched all over with dulky brown. This fpecies
inhabits near Uxbridge, in the fens of Lincolnlhire, and
in many parts of the fouth of England and Wales ; ar¬
riving about the end of April, or beginning of May, and
departing again in September. ggg
Redbreajl, or robin redbreajl.—Gray ; throat and Rube cola-.
breaft ferruginous ; bill and legs dufky ; tail feathers
terminating in an acute angle ; belly white ; edges of
the quill feathers inclining to yellow. There is a varie¬
ty with a white chin; wing coverts varied with white,
black, and rufous ; quill and tail feathers black, and
edged with rufous ; and another that is entirely white.
This well-known fpecies is a conftant inhabitant of
moft parts of the European continent, and appears about
our dwellings in winter, when the woods and fields are
deftitute of infedls. “ When the cold grows more fe-
vere (fays Buffon), and thick fnow covers the ground,
it approaches our houfes, and taps on the window Avith
its bill, as if to entreat an afylum, which is cheerfully
granted ; and it repays the favour by the moft amiable
familiarity, gathering the crumbs from the table, di-
ftinguiftiing affedtionately the people of the houfe, and
affuming a warble, not indeed fo rich as that of the
fpring, but more delicate. This it retains through all
the rigours of the feafon ; to hail each day the kindnefs
of its hoft, and the fweetnefs of its retreat. There it
remains tranquil till the returning fpring aAvakens neAV
defires, and invites to other pleafures : it now becomes
uneafy, and impatient to recover its liberty.” The red¬
breaft generally builds its neft by the ropts of trees, in
fome concealed fpot near the ground, compofing it of
dried leaves mixed with hair and mofs, and lined Avith
feathers. The female lays from five to feven eggs,
Avhich are Avhitifti, and fpotted with ruft-colour, and
cinereous. In order the more fuccefsfully to conceal its
neft, avc are told, that it covers it Avith leaves, fuffering
only a narroAv Avinding entrance under the heap to be
left. This bird feeds principally on infedts and Avorms :
and its delicacy in preparing the latter is fomewhat re¬
markable. It takes a Avorm by one extremity, in its
beak, and beats it on the ground, till the inner part
comes aAvay ; then taking it in the fame manner by the
other end, it cleanfes the outer part, Avhich alone it eats.
Befides infedts, it is fond of the feeds of the fpindle tree.
It is a folitarv and quarrelfome fpecies, infomuch that
two are never feen on the fame tree. 869
Wren.—Gray ; eyebroAVs Avhite ; Avings Avaved with
4 A 2 blacktes'
ORNITHOLOGY.
T a (Teres, black and cinereous 5 bill dark green ; head and body
(]eep reddilb-broivn above j quill feathers alternately
barred with black and red ; throat yellowilh-Avhite j
belly and fides croffed with narrow, dulky, and pale
reddifti brown lines ; tail with dufky bars j legs brown-
Ifh. Length nearly four inches and a quarter •, weight
about two drams and three quarters Inhabits Europe
and Alia. Its neft is curioufly conftru&ed, and not be¬
gun at the bottom, as is the cafe in molt inllances, but
firlt traced, as it were, in oval frame-work, and equally
faflened in all its parts to a tree, or other fupport, and
afterwards inclofed on the fides and top, a fmall hole
only being left near the latter, for entrance. If the neft
is placed under a bank, the top is firit begun, and well
fecured in fome fmall cavity by which the fabric is
fufpended. The materials are generally adapted to the
place 5 it built againft the fide of a hay-rick, for ex¬
ample, the neft is compofed of hay, if againft the fide of
a tree covered with lichen, it is made of that fpectes of
mofs, &c. The lining is invariably feathers. The eggs
are feven or eight, and fometimes more, white, and
fparingly marked with fmall reddifti fpots. The fong of
the wren is much admired, being, though ftiort, a very
pleating warble, and louder than could be expelled
from the fize of the bird. This it continues throughout
the year *, and it has been heard to fmg, with apparent
unconcern, even during a fall of fnow. It alfo fings
very late in the evening, though not like the nightin¬
gale, after dark. The wren feeds on infedts, which it
finds in fufficient abundance to fupport life, even in the
gyQ fevereft winters.
Regums. Golden-crejled wren.—Greenifti ; fecondary quill
feathers yellow on the outer edge, and white in the mid¬
dle ; crown orange ; bill black 5 creft orange (of the
female yellow), each fide edged with black j body
yellowfifti-green above, reddifli-white beneath j wing-
coverts dark brown, with two tranfverfe white bars; legs
yellow. Inhabits every quarter of the globe. This
is the fmalleft Britifh bird ; its weight feldom ex¬
ceeding eighty grains, and its length three inches
and three quarters. It migrates from the Shetland
iflands in winter, but continues in the Orkneys the
whole year. Its fong is like that of the common wren,
but its voice is weaker. It builds a neft nearly of a
round form, with a hole in the fide ; and lays from fix
to eight eggs. It eredts or deprefles the creft at pleafure.
Though not uncommon, it often efcapes obfervation,
from the fmallnefs of its fize. It has alfo been remark¬
ed, that the female, from fome caufe w’hich has not yet
been difcovered, is frequently deftroyed during the time
of incubation ; and the neft, with the eggs, left to de¬
cay. Mr Montagu communicates the following inter-
efting details relative to a young family of this beautiful
fpecies. “ When firft I difcovered the neft I thought it
a favourable opportunity to become acquainted with
fome of the manners of this minute fpecies, and to en¬
deavour to difcover whether the male ever fung by way
of inftrudling the young ones. Accordingly I took the
neft when the young were about fix days old, placed it
in a fmall baflcet, and by degrees enticed the old ones
to my ftudy window ; and after they became familiar
with that fituation, the balket was placed within the
window ; then at the oppofite fide of the room. It is
remarkable, that although the female feemed regardlefs
e£ danger from her affeftion to her young, yet the male
never once ventured within the room ; and yet would Pafferes.
conftantly feed them while they remained at the outfide
of the window ; on the contrary, the female -would feed
them at the table at which 1 fat, and even when I held
the neft in my hand, provided I remained motionlefs.
But on moving my head one day, while (he was on the
edge of the neft, which I held in my hand, (he made a
precipitate retreat, miftook the open part of the window,
knocked herfelf againft the glafs, and laid breathlefs on
the floor for fome time. However, recovering a little.
Are made her efcape, and in about an hour after I was
agreeably furprifed by her return, and would afterwards
frequently feed the young while I held the neft in my
hand. The male bird conftantly attended the female
in her flight to and fro, but never ventured beyond the
window-frame ; nor did he latterly ever appear with
food in his bill. He never uttered any note but when
the female was out of fight, and then only a fmall chirp.
At firft there were ten young in the neft, but probably
for want of the male’s afliftance in providing food two
died. The vifits of the female were generally repeated
in the fpace of a minute and a half or two minutes, or
upon an average, thirty-fix times in an hour ; and this
continued full fixteen hours in a day, which, if equally
divided between the eight young ones, each would re¬
ceive 72 feeds in the day; the whole amounting to $76.
From examination of the food, which by accident now
and then dropt into the neft, I judged from thofe weigh¬
ed that each feed was a quarter of a grain upon a me¬
dium ; fo that each young one was fupplied with 18
grain weights in a day; and as the young birds weighed
about 77 grains at the time they began to perch, they
confumed nearly their weight of food in four days, at
that time. I could always perceive by the animation
of the young brood when the old one was coming ; pro¬
bably fome low note indicated her near approach, and
in an inftant every mouth was open to receive the infeft
morfel. But there appeared no regularity in the fupply
given by the parent bird ; fometimes the fame v'as fed
two or three times fucceflively ; and I generally ob-
ferved that the ftrongeft got moft, being able to reach
fartheft, the old one delivering it to the mouth neareft
to her, and after each feed flie waited a while to fee if
any muted.'''*
Yellow wren.—Dufky green above, yellowifh white Trochiluu
beneath; wings and tail browm, and edged with green ;
eyebrows yellow. Four inches and a half long. Inha¬
bits Europe and America. Frequents wooded and in¬
clofed fituations, efpecially where willows abound. Vi¬
fits us early in' April, and foon begins its ufual fong,
wdiich is fhort, with little variety. Makes an oval neft,
with a fmall opening near the top, compofed of mofs
and dried grafs, and lined with feathers, either in the
hollow of a ditch, or in a low bulb, clofe to the ground.
The eggs are fix or feven, white, and fpotted with light
ruft colour. Has often been confounded with the lefier
pettychaps, and the wood wren.
Tailor warbler, or tailor bird.—Entirely yellow, and Sutoritu
very fmall, fcarcely exceeding three inches in length.
Inhabits India. Its neft is compofed of two leaves, the
one generally dead, which it fixes, at the end of fome
branch, to the fide of a living one, by fewing both to¬
gether with little filaments (its bill ferving as a needle),
in the manner of a pouch or putfe, and open at the top.
Sometimes, inftead o£.a dead and a living leaf, two liv¬
ing
873
Boarula.
pafleres. Jnor ones are fewed togetlier, and, when thus conne&ed,
—v feem rather the work of human art than of an uninftrudl-
ed animal. After the operation of fewing is finifhed,
the cavity is lined with feathers and foft vegetable down.
The neft and birds are together fo very light, that the
leaves of the exterior and more Hinder twigs of the trees
are chofen for the purpofe ; and, thus fituated, the brood
is completely fecured from the depredations of every in¬
vader.
Gray wagtail.—Cinereous above, yellow beneath j
firft tail feathers entirely ; fecond, on the inner fid&,
white •, bill and legs brown ; chin and throat black ;
wing-coverts brown, and edged with alh ; quill feathers
brown, the fecondaries white at the bafe \ middle tail
feathers black, and edged with greenilh. Weighs about
five drams; and meafures feven inches and three quar¬
ters in length. This elegant fpecies inhabits Europe;
vilits us about the latter end of September, and departs
in April. It is much in motion, conftantly flirts the
tail, feldom perches, frequents waters, makes its nefl: on
the ground, and fometimes on the banks of rivulets, and
lays from fix to eight eggs, of a dirty white, marked
with yellow fpots.
ORNITHOLOGY. 557
white. Nearly five inches long. Inhabits Europe, Paffleres.
chiefly in fir woods. Is folitary, and not eafily tamed.
temples^-
*74
PlPRA.
*75
Charafters,
876
Rupicola.
Plate
CCCCII.
fig-4-
*77
Manana.
Minuta.
,/79
Mufica.
889
^ARUS.
88l
Cfiaradters.
SSi
Vrijlatus.
Plate
CCCCI.
fig- 5-
Gen. 88. PlPRA, Manaliin.
Bill fliorter than the head, hard, nearly triangular at
the bafe, and (lightly incurved at the tip ; noftrils
naked ; feet grefforial; tail Ihort.
Crejled or rock manakin.—Creft eredt, edged with
purple ; body fafFron; tail coverts truncated.—Size of a
fmall pigeon; from 10 to 12 inches long; is fliy, but
may be tamed, if taken young; feeds on fmall wild
fruits, and builds in the clefts of the mofi: remote rocks,
laying two white eggs. Inhabits the rocky parts of
South America.
Black-capped manakin.—Black above, white beneath;
fpot on the neck above, and on the wings, white ; bill
black ; legs yellow. Inhabits the wood* of Guiana. Is
reltlefs and gregarious.
Little manakin.—Gray ; head black, fpeckled with
white. Size of a fmall wren. Inhabits India.
Tuneful manakin.—Black above, orange beneath ;
front and rump yellow ; crown and nape blue; chin and
throat black. Four inches long. Inhabits St Domingo.
Is very fliy, and eafily eludes the vigilance of fuch as
attempt to take it. Its note is mufical, and forms a
complete odlave, one note fucceeding another.
Gen. 89. Parus, Titmoufe.
Bill very entire, narrow, fomewhat comprefled, ftrong,
hard, pointed, and covered at the bafe with bridles ;
tongue truncated, and briftly at the end ; toes divid¬
ed at the origin, the hind one large and ftrong.
This is a numerous and prolific tribe, fome of the
fpecies laying from 18 to 20 eggs at a time. Moft of
them feed on feeds, fruits, and infects, and fome on flefti.
They are particularly fond of the brains of other birds,
which they get at by cleaving the Ikulls of fuch as they
find dead. They are reftlefs, bold, cruel to birds lefs
than themfelves, and will attack fuch as are three times
their own fize. Their note is generally unpleafant.
Crejled titmoufe.—Head crefted ; collar black; belly
Great titmoufe, or ox-eye.—Head black
white ; nape yellow ; bill, chin, and tail black; back
and wings olive ; rump blue gray ; belly greenilh-yel-
low, divided in the middle by a band of black, extend¬
ing to the vent; quill feathers dulky, edged partly with
blue, partly with white ; exterior lides of the outmoft
tail feathers white, of the others bluifti; inner fides
dulky ; legs lead-coloured. This fpecies weighs about
10 drams ; length five inches and three quarters. It in¬
habits Europe, Alia, and Africa ; and is common in
many parts of Britain, frequenting gardens and orchards,
where it does much mifchief by picking off the tender
buds of trees. The neft is made of mofs, lined with
hair, and placed in the hole of a wall, or of a tree.
The female fometimes lays eight or ten eggs, but more
commonly fix, which are white, fpotted with ruft-co-
lour, and fo exaftly like thofe of the nuthatch, as not
to be diftinguilhed from them. The common note of
the great titmoufe is a fort of chatter; but in the fpring
it aflumes a greater variety, a fhrill whiftle, and a very
Angular noife, fomething like the whetting of a faw :
but thefe ceafe with incubation. A variety was once
killed near Feverlham in Kent, that had the bill crofled,
as in loxia curvirofra. Its characters were olive brown,
above, dirty yellowifh beneath; head black ; temples
cinereous, and bill forked.
8S3
8S4
Creeping titmoufe.—Bluifti; temples, breaft, and back America*
yellowifti; flanks purplifti. Four inches and three quar- nus.
ters long. Inhabits Carolina and Canada. Is conftant¬
ly running up and down trees in fearch of infeCts.
Blue titmoufe, or tomtit.— Quill feathers- bluifti, the Cceruleus.
primaries white on the outer edge ; front white ; crown
blue ; bill blackifti ; line from the bill to the eyes, and
one furrounding the temples black; back yellowifti-
green ; wing-coverts blue ; quill feathers black, with
dulky edges ; tail blue, the middle feathers longer ;
body whitifti-yellow beneath ; legs and claws black.
Length about four inches and a half; weight three
drams. Inhabits Europe. This fpecies would proba¬
bly be more admired for its beauty, if it was lefs com¬
mon. In winter it frequents houfes for the fake of plun¬
der, and will devour flefti greedily, whether frefli or pu¬
trid. It is alfo a conftant attendant where horfe-flefh is
kept for hounds, and in the farm-yard, being partial to-
oats, which it plucks out, and retiring to a neighbour¬
ing bufti fixes the grain between its claws, and hammers
it Avith the bill, to break the hulk. In fummer, it feeds
chiefly on infeCls, in fearch of which it plucks off a num¬
ber of young buds from the trees. The neft is ahvays
made in fome hole, either of a tree or wall, compofed
of mofs, and lined with feathers and hair. The eggs
are white, and fpeckled Avith ruft-colour at the larger
end. The female is fo tenacious of her neft, that flie
will often fuffer herfelf to be taken rather than quit it,
and Avill frequently return again after being taken out.
It menaces every intruder in a Angular manner, hilling
like a fnake, erefting all its feathers, and uttering a
noife like the (pitting of a cat, biting at the fame time,
feverely, if handled. It has no fong, but utters a Ihrill
not quickly repeated. 88<*
Colemoufe, or cole titmoufe.—Head black ; back cine- Ater.
reous ; hind head and breaft Avhite ; bill and chin black;
558
ORNITHOLOGY.
Pafleres.
887
Palujlris.
SS8
Cautlatus.
890
Biarmicus.
891
Penduli-
nus.
a broad black ftripe beneath the eyes, from the bill to
the neck 5 belly and vent reddifh white ; wing coverts
gray, tipt with white 5 quill and tail feathers brownifh-
afli, edged with gray ; legs and claws lead coloured.
Weight about two drams and a quarter ; length four
inches and a quarter. Has frequently been confounded
with the palujlris ; but it is not fo plentiful a fpecies •,
keeps more to woods j feems to live entirely on infedls,
and has alfo a different note.
Marjh titmoufe.-—Head black *, back cinereous j
temples white. The markings are, however, very fub-
jeft to vary •, the length is about four inches and a
half *, and the weight two drams and a half. Inhabits
Europe. With the blue fpecies it partakes of tletli, and
haunts the oat-ricks. It feems to be partial to low wet
ground, where old willow trees abound, in the holes of
which it frequently neftles.
Long-tailed titmoufe.—Crown white j tail longer than
the body 5 weighs only two drams, and meafures five
inches and a quarter in length. This very elegant and
fingular fpecies is confined chiefly to the woods and
thickets of Europe and Siberia, where it makes a cu¬
rious oval nefl of lichens, firmly woven together with
wool; and having only a fmall hole on the fide, placed
in the fork of fome bufli or branch of a tree. The fe¬
male lays from nine to feventeen eggs, which are white,
and fparingly marked with fmall ruft-coloured fpots to¬
wards the larger end.
Cape titmoufe.—Gray afh; quill feathers black, edged
with white; tail black above; bill and legs black. In¬
habits the Cape of Good Hope. Conftrudts a luxurious
neft of the down of a fpecies of afclepias; near the upper
end projects a fmall tube, about an inch in length, with
an orifice about three-fourths of an inch in diameter.
Immediately under the tube is a fmall hole in the fide,
that has no communication with the interior of the neft.
In this hole the male fits at night; and thus both male
and female are fcreened from the Weather.
Bearded tit-moufe.—Rufous; crown hoary; talllonger
than the body ; head bearded ; vent black ; bill pale
orange; hides yellow; legs black; tail wedged ;
whifkers compofed of long black feathers ; three outer
tail feathers black at the bafe, and whitifh at the tips;
middle -of the breaft flelh-coloured ; fides and thighs
pale orange; fix inches and a quarter long. Inhabits
marftiy fituations dn Europe. Though it breeds with
us, and continues the rvhole year, its hiftory is little
known ; and authors differ not only with refpefl to the
Ihape and compofition of the neft, but even with refpe£t
to the place of nidification.
Penduline titmoufe, or remix.—Head ferruginous ;
ocular band black ; quill and tail feathers brown, and
edged on each fide with ferruginous ; four inches and a
half long. Inhabits Europe and Siberia, frequenting
watery places for the fake of aquatic infefts, on which
it feeds. The moft curious faff in the hiftory of thefe
birds is the exquifite art difplayed in the conftru£tion of
their neft. They employ the light down found on the
buds of the willow, the poplar, and the afper, on
thirties, dandelion, &c. With their bill they entwine
this filamentous fubftance, and form a thick clofe web,
almoft like cloth. This they fortify externallv with fi¬
bres and fmall roots, which penetrate into the texture,
and, in fome meafure, compefe the bafis of the neft-.
They line the infide with the fame down, but not wo-
2 ' .
ven, that their young may lie foft; they (hut it above Paflerw.
to confine the warmth, and they fufpend it with hemp, l,““ v —
nettles, Stc. from the cleft of a fmall pliant branch over
fome ft ream, that it may rock more gently, aflifted by
the fpring of the branch. In this fituation, the brood
are well fupplied with infefts, which conftitute their
chief food, and are at the fame time protected from
their enemies. The neft fometimes refembles a bag,
and fometimes a ftiort purfe/ The aperture is made in
the fide, and is almoft always turned towards the vrater.
It is nearly round, and only an inch and a half in dia¬
meter, or even lefs, and is often, though not always,
furrounded by a brim. Thefe nefts are found in the
fens of Bologna, Tufcany, Lithuania, Poland, and Ger¬
many. The peafants regard them with fuperftitious ve¬
neration, one of them being ufuaHy fufpended near the
door of each cottage, as a charm againft lightning. gp2
Languedoc titmoufe.—Rufous gray ; - crown hoary ; Narbtnen-
wings and tail blackiih, edged with rufous ; primary/^
quill feathers edged with white ; four inches long. In¬
habits France. Builds a ftrong pendulous neft on the
forked branch of a tree.
Amorous tit-moufe.-—Blackilh blue; longitudinal Amatorm
on the middle of the wings, half yellow and ru¬
fous ; five inches and a half long. Inhabits Northern
Alia, and is remarkable for the mutual affedlion of the
fexes.
Gen. 90. Hirundo, Swallow. Hirundo.
Bill fmall, weak, curved, fubulated, depreffed at thecharadersi
bafe; gape larger than the head; tongue Ihort, broad,
cleft ; wings long ; tail moftly forked.
The birds of this genus .are readily diftinguilhed, not
only by their flrufture, but by their twittering voice, and
their manner of life. They fly with great rapidity, fel-
dom walk, and perform all their funftions either on the
wing or fitting. By means of their wide mouth they
eafily catch infefts (their principal food) in the air, or
oii the furface of the water. Naturalifts have been
much divided in their opinions refpefting the migration
of the fwallow tribe. The Hon. Daines Barrington and
others have fuppofed that they do not leave this country,
but that they lie concealed and torpid, during winter,
under water, in crevices of rocks, holes in fand banks,
&c. In confirmation of this opinion they quote in-
ftances which appear to be fuffieiently well authentica¬
ted. But a migration of the greater part of the birds
is not to be contradi£led, by what feems to be rather the
effeft of chance than defign. Thofe that have been
hatched late, and have not acquired fufficient ftrength to
accompany their companions in their journey, may alone
have fupplied the above-mentioned inftances. Were all
to remain, we ftiould undoubtedly befurnilhed with more
numerous and more generally known examples than
have hitherto been recorded. The ingenious Mr John
Hunter, on differing feveral fwallows, obferved in them
nothing different from other birds in the organs of re-
fpiration, and hence inferred, perhaps too haftily, that
none of them can remain, for any length of time, under
■Water. That the migration of fwallows does, however,
really take place, appears to have been fully proved by
a variety of well-attefted fadls, moft of which have been
obferved by navigators, who were eye-witneffes of the -
flights of thefe birds, and whole fliips have fometimes af¬
forded
ORNITHOLOGY.
fair*re;. forded to them refliug places In the courfe of their
>■—v toilfome progrefs.
A. Three toes before, and one behind.
895
Rujlica-
897
Efculcnta.
Chimney or commonfwallow.—Yront and chin chefnut;
tail feathers, except the two middle ones, wjth a white
fpot; bill black *, body blackiih blue above, whitilh be¬
neath j tail very much forked •, legs Ihort and black-
ilh } weight between five and fix drams ; length fix
inches and a half. Inhabits all the quarters of the world j
vifits us early in April, if the weather be mild, and re¬
tires about the end of September or beginning of Oc¬
tober. It is fuppofed to winter in Senegal, and other
warm countries. It has got the name of chimney /wal¬
low, from the circumllance of breeding in chimneys. It
alfo nellies on the beams or rafters of out-houfes, and
fometimes on rocks. The nell is made of mud, pla-
llered together, and lined with feathers, and is open at
top. The eggs are four or five, white, and fpeckled
with rully red. Its velocity of wing and quicknefs of
fight are. truly aftonifhing, and enable it to purfue its prey
with precifion and effedt. When a fly is taken, a fmart
fnap from the bill is to be heard, not unlike the noife of
the (hutting of a watch cafe ; but the motion of the man¬
dibles is too quick for the eye. Wonderful is the ad-
drefs with which this bird afcends and defcends through
the paffages of a chimney. When hovering over the
roof of the funnel, the vibrations of its wings adling on
the confined air, occafion a rumbling like diftant thun¬
der. It is not improbable that the female fubmits to the
inconvenience of having her nell low down in the {haft,
in order to fecure her offspring from the bird-, of prey,
particularly from owls, which are frequently found to
fall down chimneys, probably in their attempts to get at
the neltlings. The progreflive method by which the
young are introduced to their proper habits, deferves to
be noted. They firll, though not without difficulty,
emerge from the lhaft, and, for a day or two, are fed on
the chimney top •, thence they are condudled to the
dead leaflefs bough of fome neighbouring tree, where,
fitting in a row, they are attended by the parents with
great affiduity. In a day or two after this they are
ftrong enough to fly, but continue Hill unable to take
their own food j they therefore play about near the
place where the females are watching for flies ; and,
when a mouthful is colle£led, on a certain fignal, the
dam and the neftling advance, riling towards each other,
and meeting at an angle, the young all the while, utter¬
ing a fhort quick note of gratitude and complacency.
As foon as the mother has difengaged herfelf from the
firll brood, (he immediately commences her operations for
a fecond, which is produced about the middle or latter
end of Augult.
Efculent/wallow.—Blackiffi, whitilh beneath ; all the
tail feathers with a white fpot 5 bill black j tail tipt with
white ; legs brown. Two inches and a quarter in
length •, in fize rather lefs than the wren. Inhabits China
and the iflands of the Indian ocean. Many of our read¬
ers mull have heard of the curious eatable nells of this
fpecies. The following is the account given of them by
Sir George Staunton. “ In the Cafs, a fmall illand
-near Sumatra, were found two caverns, running hori¬
zontally into the fide of the rock ; and in thefe were a
number of thofe birds nells fo much prized by the Chi-
uefe epicures. They feem to be compofed of fine fila¬
ments, cemented together by a tranfparent vilcous mat*
ter, not unlike what is left by the foam of the fea upon ^
Hones alternately covered by the tide, or thofe gelati¬
nous animal fubllances found floating on every coafh
The nells adhere to each other, and to the fides of the
caverns; mollly in rows, without any break or interrup¬
tion. The birds that build thefe nells are fmall gray
fwallows, with bellies of a dirty white. They were fly¬
ing about in confiderable numbers j but were fo fmall,
and their flight was fo quick, that they efcaped the (hot
fired at them. The fame forts of nells are faid to be al¬
fo found in deep caverns at the foot of the highell moun¬
tains in the middle of Java, at a dillance from the fea :
from which fource it is thought that the birds derive no
materials, either for their food, or the conllruftion of
their nelts j as it does not appear probable they Ihould
fly in fearch of either, over the intermediate mountains,
which are very high, or againft the boillerous winds pre¬
vailing thereabout. They feed on infedts, which they
find hovering over llagnated pools between the moun¬
tains, and for the catching of which their wide -opening
beaks are particularly adapted. They prepare their nells
from the bell remnants of their food. Their greateft
enemy is the kite, who often intercepts them in their
paffage to and from the caverns, which are generally
furrounded with rocks of gray limeilone, or white mar¬
ble. The nells are placed in horizontal rows, at differ¬
ent depths, from 50 to 500 feet. The colour and va¬
lue of the nells depend on the quantity and quality of
the infedls caught, and perhaps alfo on the fituation
where they are built. Their value is chiefly afcertained
by the uniform finenefs and delicacy of their texture j
thofe that are white and tranfparcnt being moll elleem-
ed, and fetching often in China their weight in filver.—
Thefe nefis are a confiderable objedl of traffic among
the Javanefe, many of whom are employed in it from
their infancy. The birds, after having fpent nearly two
months in preparing their nells, lay each two eggs,
which are hatched in about 15 days. When the young
birds become fledged, it is thought the proper time to
leize upon their neils, which is done regularly three
times a-year, and is effedled by means of ladders of
bamboo and reeds, by which the people defcend into
the caverns: but when thefe are vei-y deep, rope-ladders
are preferred. This operation is attended with much
danger, and feveral peri Hi in the attempt. The inhabi¬
tants of the mountains, generally employed in this bufi-
nefs, begin always by facrificing a buffalo; which cuf-
tom is obferved by the Javanefe, on the eve of every ex¬
traordinary enterprife. They alfo pronounce fome pray¬
ers, anoint themfelves with fweet-fcented oil, and fmoke
the entrance of the cavern- with gum-benjamin. Near
fome of the caverns a tutelar goddefs is worlhipped,
whofe pried burns incenfe, and lays his prote&ing hands
on every perfon preparing to defcend. A flambeau is
carefully prepared at the fame time, with a gum which
exudes from a tree growing in the vicinity, and which
is not eafily extinguilhed by fixed air or fubterraneous
vapours.”—The nell of this fpecies gene- ally w eighs a-
bout half an ounce; and is in fliape fomejthing like a half
lemon. The confiilency of the feveral layers of com¬
ponent matter approaches to that of ifinglafs, or of fine
gum-dragon. Such of thefe neds as are perfeclly free
from dirt, are diffolved in broth to thicken it, and are
faid to give it an exquifite flavour j or they are foaked
iu
559.
Pafferes.
56o
PafTerej.
893
Urbica.
899
"Ripariu.
900
■Purpurea.
901
Subis.
Plate
CCCCII.
%• 3*
902
Atnbrofi-
903
Erythroce-
phala.
904
Nigra.
90S
Apus.
O It N I T H
in water to (often them, tlien pulled in pieces, and, af¬
ter being mixed itli ginfeng, are put into the body of
a fowl. The whole is then ftewed in a pot, with afuf-
ficient quantity of water, and left on the coals all night.
On the following morning it is ready to be eaten.
Martin, martlet, martinet, or houfe martin.—Bluifh-
black above, white beneath j tail feathers without fpotsj
bill black ; mouth yellow; rump white; legs covered
with a fhort white down. There is a variety that has
the quill and tail feathers tipt with white. About five
inches and a half, and rather inferior in fize to the chim¬
ney fwallow. Inhabits Europe, Afia, and North Ame¬
rica. Vifits Britain in fpring, rather later than the
common fwallow, making its firft appearance in low,
warm fituations, and if the weather is fine, beginning
to build early in May. It builds a clofe neft, made of
ftraw and clay, and lined with feathers, with a hole at
top for admiflion, in windows, under the eaves of houfes,
the proje&ing ornaments of lleeples and churches, &c.
and fometimes againft rocks or cliffs, contiguous to the
Tea. The eggs are four or five, and pure white. The
manners and habits of this well-known fpecies nearly re-
femble thofe of the common fwallow.
Sand martin, bank martin, or Jhore bird.—Cinereous;
chin and belly white ; bill blackifh ; throat encircled
with a moufe-coloured ring; legs black, and downy be¬
hind. Four inches and three quarters long. Inhabits
Europe and America, in which laft country it is called
ground fwallow. In this country it is not To plentiful
as the preceding, with which it affociates, and which
in its manners it much refembles, except that it neftles
in the banks of rivers or fand pits, and makes a neft of
Itraw and dried fibres, lined with feathers.
Purple fwallow.—Entirely violet; tail forked ; bill
black; legs blackilh. Female brown. Seven inches
and three quarters long. Inhabits Carolina and Vir¬
ginia, during fummer. Is much valued by the inhabi¬
tants for its ufe in alarming poultry on the approach of
birds of prey, Avhich it does not only by fhrieking, but
attacking them with the greateft fury.
Canada fwallow.—Bluilh black ; beneath and mouth
whitilh-alh; belly white,clouded with brown; quill and
tail feathers blackifh, edged with brown; legs and claws
dufky. Eight or nine inches long. Native of Hudfon’s
bay.
Ambergrifefwallow.—Grayifh-brown; bill blackifh;
legs brown. Five inches and a half long. Inhabits
Senegal. Smells ftrongly of ambergrife.
Red-headed fwallow.— Dufky-blatk, the feathers ed¬
ged with white; under part of the body white ; head
red. Size of the leaf! humming bird. Inhabits India.
Black fwa/low:—Entirely black. Six inches long,
Inhabits the interior parts of South America, and builds
in a deep hole in the ground, with a long entrance.
Swift, black martin, &c.—Blackifh ; chin white.
Weight nearly an ounce ; length about eight inches.
Inhabits almofl every where. The fwift makes its ap¬
pearance with us later than any of the other fpecies,
being feldom feen till May. It frequents fteeples, towers,
and other lofty buildings, in the holes of which, or under
the tiles of houfes and barns, it makes a neff of dried grafs,
lined with feathers, which it colle&s on wing, fweeping
them off the ground in a dexterous manner. Like the
fwallow, it fips the water, and at the fame time, picks
up flies as it fkim$ over the furface. The female lays
o L 0 G Y. '
only two white eggs of an oblong fhape, larger than Pafferes.
that of the fwallow ; and while file is fitting, the n ale ‘-“v—
is continually Hying to and from the fpot, making a
fcretching noife, which is its only note. At night, both
fit on the neft, or at leaf! rooft in the fame hole. In
very warm Weather, thefe birds foar to a great height;
but in cold or moift weather, fly low in fearch of flies
and other winged infefts, which at that time cannot *
afcend. This fpecies difappears about the middle of
Auguft, remaining here no longer than is neceffary for
its breeding. It is remarkable that it difappears fooneft
in the belt and warmeft weather ; and that in the very
inclement feafon of I’ySs, numbers of them were feen in
the neighbourhood of Edinburgh, fo late as the 25th of
Auguft, flying about with their ufual fpirit a id vivacity,
when the thermometer flood at 36°. It is neither cold,
therefore, nor the Avant of food, which difpofes them to
quit us fo early. They have the procefs of moulting to
undergo, Avhich cannot be performed in a ftate of torpor.
Their place of retirement, hoAvever, has not been afcer-
tained.
White-collaredfwift.—Blackifh-violet ; head black \Cayenmru
collar bifid; ocular band and thighs Avhite. Five inches^,
and one quarter long. Inhabits Cayenne. Builds along
conical neft, Avith a divifion in the middle.
Gen. 91. Caprimulgus, Goatfucker.
Bill flightly curved, very fmall, Tubulated and depreffed
at the bafe ; mouth extremely wide, and furnifhed at
the Tides Avith a Teries of briftles ; ears very large ;
tongue pointed and entire; tail unforked, with 10
feathers ; legs fhort, middle claAv with a broad fer-
rated edge.
907
Caprimui.
cus.
908
CharadUts.
The birds of this family feldom appear in the day
time, except they are difturbed, or in dark cloudy Avea-
ther, but Avander about in the evening, in fearch of in-
fefts. They lay two eggs on the naked ground. The
lateral toes are connected to the middle one by a fmall
membrane.
European or noEiurnalgoatfucker; provihcially night £u9rlpaus,
or dorrhawk, churn or goatowl, whee/bird, nightjarr,
&c.—Black, varied with cinereous, brown, ferruginous
and Avhite ; beneath reddifh-white, Avith broAvn bands ;
irides hazel; legs fhort, fcaly, and feathered beloAV the
knees. The male is diftinguifhed from the female by a
large oval Avhite fpot near the end of the three firft quill
feathers, and another on the outmoft tail feathers. In¬
habits Europe, Afia, and America. With us this bird
is only a fummer vifitant, appearing about the middle of
May, and departing again the latter end of September,
or beginning of Oftober. It makes no neft, but lays
tAvo eggs on the bare ground, among fern, heath, or
long grafs, fometimes in woods or furze, but at all times
contiguous to Avoods, in which it chiefly conceals itfelf
by day. The eggs are larger than thofe of a blackbird,
oblong oval, Avhitifh, and elegantly marbled with light
brown and afh-colour. It generally fits on the ground,
but if molefted, frequently perches on the limb of a tree,
moft commonly lengthwife, and not acrofs, as is com¬
mon Avith moft; birds. In the dufk of the evening, it
begins its flight in purfuit of the larger infefts, particu¬
larly fcarabceus melolontha, and folfitialis, Avhich rife
from their earthy abode about that time. It is alfo
fond of the large-bodied moths, and indeed alloAvs feAV
Avinged
Oio
Irandis.
91*
Nov# fiol-
/{indite.
912
Longipen
9*3
Menura.
0 U N 1 T H
Pi-iTeres. winged infers to efeape its wide extended gape. _ It
makes a fingular noife, like the found of a large fpinning
wheel, and which it is obferved to utter perched, with
the head lowermoft ■, befides which, it utters a (harp
fqueak, as it flies. It has its name from the ancient,
but erroneous belief, that it fucked the teats of goats.
Great goatsucker.—Black!th, with fmall brown fpots
and ftreaks •, area of the eyes yellowifh ; legs white 5
middle claw not ferrated. Nearly two feet long. In¬
habits Cayenne. The gape of its mouth can readily ad
mit a man’s f>ft.
Crejledgoatfucker.—Waved with brown, black, and
whitifh ; whitifh beneath-, neck and bread with dufky
bands j cred on the front ereft, and letaceous. Nine inches
and a halfjlong. Inhabits New Holland. No account
has hitherto been procured of its manners, except that it
appears about our fettlement at Port Jackfon in March.
Leone goatfucker.—V2ir\cga.tedi gray; wings fpotted
with rufous and black ; a very long naked-lhafted fea¬
ther on each (boulder. “ This fingular fpecies,” fays
Dr Latham, “ is about the fize of the European one,
and not far ditferent from it in the general markings :
the length from the bill to the end of the tail is eight
inches and a quarter ; but the remarkable circumdance
belonging to it, is the having a dngle feather fptinging
out of the middle part of the coverts of each wing, full
29 inches in length : this continues as a plain un webbed
fliaft for 14 inches and three quarters, having a few fo-
litary hairs, on the infide only ; from thence it expands
into a broad web for the remaining five inches and a
quarter of its length. This part is mottled, not unlike
the darker part of the red of the plumage, and crofled
with five dufky bars; the web or blade has almod the
whole of its breadth on the inner fide, being there more
than one inch broad, but very narrow on the outer part
of the fhaft; the legs are fmall. Inhabits Sierra Leona
in Africa; feveral of them have been brought into Eng¬
land,” &c.—The fame bird is defcribed by Dr Shaw in
his Natura/ijls Mifcel/any.
We have jaurpofely referved for an Appendix, the fol¬
lowing defcription of menura fuperba, a bird of New
South Wales, by Major general Thomas Davies, F. R.
and L. S.
“ Menura*
Char. gen. validiufculum, convexo-conicum.
Nares ovatae in medio rodri.
ifo^r/ce-relongatsfe, pinnulis decompofitis;
intermedias duae longiores anguftae, ex-
teriores ad apicem patulae, revolutae.
Pedes validi ambulatorii.
Menura Superba.
“ The total length of this fingular bird, from the point
of the bill to the end of the broad tail feathers, is 43 in¬
ches ; 25 of which are in the tail alone. The bill rather
exceeds an inch in length, is drong, formed much like
that of a peacock, and black, with the nodrils, which
are long open flits, rather large, placed near the mid¬
dle of its length ; the head, which is fomewhat creded
at the hind part, neck, (boulders, back, upper tail co¬
verts, and upper furface of the tail-feathers, of a dark
hrownidi-black; throat rufous, reaching fome way down
Vol. XV. Part 11.
O L O G Y. 56 [
the middle of the neck ; bread, belly, and vent gray ; Appendix.^
the feathers of the latter are long, very foft, and of a
filky texture; thighs nearly of the fame colour, rather
long, and feathered down to the knee ; fcapulars of a
brownifti tinge; ujjper tail coverts and prime quill feathers,
which are fomewhat curved at the ends, brown black ;
edges of the quills gray ; the legs long and very drong,
covered with large fcales, efpecially in front; the feet,
which are likewife large, and the nails, are black ; the
latt fomewhat crooked, convex above and flat beneath 3
the hind nail near three quarters of an inch long.
“ The tail confilts in the whole of 16 feathers; all of
which, except the two upper or middle ones, and the
two exterior on each fide, have long (lender (hafts fur-
nilhed on each fide with delicate long filaments, lour
inches or more in length, placed pretty clofe towards
the rump, but more diflant from each other as they ap¬
proach the extremity, and referable much thofe of the
greater Paradife bird. The two middle or upper ones
are longer than the red, (lender, narrow at the bale,
growing wider as they approach the ends, which are
pointed; webbed on the inner edge all the way, and
furniflied with fome diflant hair-like threads near the
end on the outer fide, of a pale gray colour beneath,
and browrt black above, as is the red of the tail. The
two exterior feathers on each fide are of an extraordinary
conflru£tion, rather more than an inch wide at the bafe,
and growing wider as they proceed to the ends, where
they are full two inches broad and curve outwardly ; the
curved part is black with a narrow white border; the
quills of thefe feathers are double for two-thirds down
from the rump. The general colour of the under fides
of thefe two feathers is of a pearly hue, elegantly marked
on the inner web with bright rufous coloured crefcent-
(haped fpots, which from the extraordinary conflruftion
of the parts, appear wonderfully tranfparent, although
at firfl fight feemingly the darkefl ; they are alfo elon¬
gated into (lender filaments of an inch or more, efpe¬
cially towards the extremities.
“ The figure of the male, which accompanies this de¬
fcription, was taken from a fpecimen fent from New
South Wales as a prefent to Lady Mary Howe. I have
alfo fee two other fpecimens in the pofieflion of the
right hon. Sir Jofeph Banks, which I believe have
lince been depofited in the Britilh Mufeum.
“ Since I had the honour of communicating to the
Linnaean Society the foregoing defcription of {he menura,
I have beep favoured with both male and female of that
extraordinary bird from my friend Governor King, by
the Buffalo flore (hip ; and I am thereby enabled to lay
before the fociety a defcription of the different fexes. I
find, indeed, that, with a little deviation, the fame cha-
ratters and colours will ferve for both of them. The
female, however, is fomewhat fmaller, being in length,
from the crown of the head to the end of the tail, only
31 inches. The general plumage of the whole bird is
of a dull blackifh colour, a little rufous under the chin
and throat, and of a brownifli call on the fcapulars, as
in the male. The plumage of the whole bodv, from
the bread to the vent, and from the (boulders to the
rump, is eompofed of long, (lender, thread-like, filky
feathers, refembling fringe, of a dull grayifli-black ;
lighter on the bread, belly, and vent. The bill and
legs, which are ftrong and furniflied with large fcales,
as in the cock, are black. From the head to the rump
4 B 14
ORNITHOLOGY.
Appendix, inches ; the tail 18 inches, alfo of a dull brown black
"v“ ' colour above and gray beneath ; the two upper tail fea¬
thers are fharp-pointed at the ends j the reft are rounded
and darker in colour, and ftiorter by degrees, as they ap¬
proach the rump, fo as to appear cuneated 5 the two
outer feathers are ftiorter than the reft , but in form like
thofe of the male, brown black above, of a pearly gray
beneath } and the crefeents, which are of a deeper rufous
colour, are not fo viftble nor fo large, but more tranf-
parent, if poflible, than thofe of the cock. They are
about an inch and a half broad, and not black or longer Appendix,
at the ends as in the other fex.
“ From thefe birds being found in the hilly parts of
the country, they are called by the inhabitants the
mountain pheafant. With refpedt to their food or man¬
ners, I have not as yet obtained any particular account.
In my fpecimens, there is a nakednefs ^ound the eyes,
but whether this is from the feathers having fallen oft' I
know not. I rather think otherwife, and that it may be
brightly coloured as in many other birds.”
EXPLANATION of the PLATES.
Plate CCCXCIII. Accipitres.
914 .
Explatia- Fig. I. Vultur Percnopterus, Aquiline Vulture,
plates^ 2’ ^'a^c0 Melancetos, Black Eagle.
3. Strix 'Zeijlonetijh, Ceylon Owl.
4.  Virginiana, Virginian Owl.
Plate CCCXCIV. Pica:.
Fig. 1. Cert inn Armii/ata, Braceletted Creeper.
2. Coracias Caudata, Long-tailed Roller.
3. Picus Cardina/is, Cardinal Woodpecker.
4. Cuculus Melanoleucos, Coromandel Crefted
Cuckoo.
Plate CCCXCV. PlCJE.
Fig. I. Merops Erythropterus, Red-winged Bee-eater.
2. Buceros Punaycn/is, Panay Hornbill.
3. Todus Crijiatus, Crefted Tody.
4. Momotus Braji/ienjis, Brafilian Motmot.
5. Alcedo Cri/iata, Crefted King’s-fiflier.
Plate CCCXCVI. Anseres.
Fig. 1. Anas Mol/iJJima, Eider Duck.
2. Mergus Serrator, Red-breafted Merganfer.
3. Phaeton JEthereus, Common Tropic Bird.
4. Plotus Melanogajter, Black-bellied Darter.
5. Diotnedea Exu/ans, Wandering Albatrofs, or
Man of War Bird.
Plate CCCXCVII. Anseres.
Fig. I. Alca Cirrata, Tufted Auk.
2.  Tetracula, Dulky Auk.
3. Procellaria Pelagica, Stormy Petrel.
4. Colymbus Auritus, Eared Grebe.
5. Sterna Minuta, Leffer Tern..
Plate CCCXCVI 11. Gralla.
Fig. 1. Pheenicopteros Ruber, Red Flamingo.
2. Tantalus A/bus, White Ibis.
3. Ardea Egretta, Great Egret.
4. Scopus Umbrella, Tufted Umbre.
Plate CCCXCIX. Gralue.
Fig. 1. Recurvirojlra Americana, American Avocet.
2. Charadrius Pileatus, Hooded Plover.
3. Hcematopus OJlralegus, Sea-pie, or Pied Oyfter
catcher.
4.. Fu/ica Atra, Common Coot.
Plate CCCC. Gallinje.
Fig. 1. Otis Afra, White-eared Buftard.
2. Struthio Camelus, Black Oftrich.
3. Phajianus Crijiatus, Crefted Pheafant.
4. Crax Ale&or, Female Crefted Curaftbw, Var.
from Peru, Lath. Synop. 693.
Plate CCCCI. Passeres.
Fig. 1. Columba Marginata, Marginated Turtle.
2. Loxia Moluccenjis, Molucca Grofbeak.
3. Alauda Malabarica, Malabar Lark.
4. Mufcicapa Ry^mcea, Dwarf Fly-catcher.
5. Parus Crijiatus, Crefted Titmoufe.
Plate CCCCII. Passeres.,
Fig. 1. Emberi%a Regia, Shaft-tailed Bunting.
2. Colius Panayenfis, Panayan Coly.
3. H/n/rcefoCanada Swallow'.
4. Pipra Rupicola, Rock Manakin.
5. Tanagra Siberica, Siberian Tanager.
INDEX.
rLuh, characters and fpecies of,
Avocet,
B.
A. Anas, characters and fpecies of, N° 316
Aberdevine, n° 8i4 , r . ”354
Accipitres, 50 characters and fpecies of, 162—164
Age of birds, 45 ^nfercs, order of, 314
A/auda, charaaers and fpecies of, 716—7 27 charaaers, 315
Albatrofs, 39°—395 Jpiajler, 277
Alca, charaaers and fpecies of, 363—372 Aptenodytes, charaaers and fpecies of, 373
Alcedo, charaaers and fpecies of, 260—270 —37^ .
Ampelis, charaaers and fpecies of, 254 Ardea, charaaers and fpecies of, 494—J23 Birds, general obfervations on,
N9363
—37z
588—592
Barbel, charaaers and fpecies of, 219—222
Bee-eater, 275—282
Beefeater, charaaers and fpecies of, H9
—161
36
Birds,
^ Ilf lie/? e// scU'lfis*'
ORNITHOLOGY R
~'t?k
ORNITHOLOGY . Picas
PLATE CCCXCV.
jSctm.r
J. LHZron
;
OI ini Tir oi, o gy; Ai.s,.« s . I*LATE C CCXCV7.
/->/!*S'cv*fy»Te
ORNTTHOLO GY.
AJSTSEJLES.
PLATE CCCJCCVU.
-AJVi&sovv Scu.C[i
Fig. 5.
ornithology:
c ft/t
PLATE CC( XL MIL
jfy-i-
/>;/., y.
V
••
%
ORNITHOLOGY.
a it .1 /; z a
PLATE CCCXCIX.
/>i,. 3.
/it/ . 7.
ORNITHOLOGY.
VASSEHliS.
PLATE ( < ( ( [.
■
". >. ' • '
x
Index.
Birds, nutrition of, _ N° 38
flight and migration, 39
lubrication of the feathers, 40
militating membrane,. 41
fong, 42
eggs, 43
nefts, 44
age, 45
difeafes, 46
Bittern, 5l5—S10
Blackbird, 75°
Blackcap,
Boatbill, 488—490
Booby, _ 4°9
Bucco, charailers and fpecies of, 219—222
Buceros, 152
characters, 153
fpecies, 154—158
Bunting, _ 7^r
Buphaga, charafters and fpecies of, 1 59
— 161
Bujlard, 631 —6 3 8
fh/Zctar bird, 105—no
Buzzard, 7°—73
' c.
Canary bird, 813
Cancroma, chara&ers and fpecies of, 488
—490
Capercailzie, 681
Caprimulgus, 9° 7
Carrion crow, 174
of Jamaica, 55
CaJJbwary, 642, 643
Certhia, characters and fpecies of, 288
—303
Chaffinch, 806
Channelbill, 149—15?
Charadrius, characters and fpecies of, 581
—587
Chatterer, 754
Cockatoo, x 26, I 27
Colemoafe, 886
Colins, ' 757
Columba, characters and fpecies of, 7°3
—7J5
Qoly, ^ _ 757
Colymbus, characters and fpecies of, 422
, ; —454
Condor, 53
Coot, 6c6—609
Coracias, characters and fpecies of, 185
—190
Corrira, characters and fpecies of, 532
—534
Corvorant, 4°2
Corvus, characters and fpecies of, 171
— 184
Courier, S3 2—534
Cranes, 498—5°°
Cmx, characters and fpecies of, 661—664
Creeper, characters and fpecies of, 288
—3°3
Crofsbill, 765
Crolophaga, characters and fpecies of, 162
—164
ORNITHOLOG
Crow, characters and fpecies of, N° 171
—184
Crown bird, 496
Cuckoo, characters and fpecies of, 223—23 1
Cue ulus, characters and fpecies ot, ib.—ib.
CuraJJbw, 661—664
Curlew,. ' 537, 538
Curucui, characters and fpecies of, 2x6
—218
D.
Darter, characters and fpecies of, 41 2—416
Didus, characters and fpecies of, 645—648
Diomedea, characters and fpecies of, 390
—395
Difeafes of birds, 46
Diver, 43c—434
Dodo, 645—648
Dotterel, 585
Duck, velvet, 326
fcaup, 3 29
eider, 336
Mufcovy, 337
wild, 351
red-crefted, 353
tufted, 354
E.
Eagle, different fpecies of, 61—68
Eggs of birds, 43
Egret, 510, 511
Ember goofe, 434
Emberiza, characters and fpecies of, 781
—796
F.
Ealco, 58
characters of, 59
fpecies of, 60—90
Falcon, 75—80
Finch, 803
Flamingo, characters and fpecies of, 47O
—473
Flight of birds, remarkable, 39
Ely Catcher, 827
Frigate pelican, 400
Fringilla, 803
Fulica, characters and fpecies of, 601—609
Fulmar, \ 385
G.
Galbula, characters and fpecies of, 271
—274
Gallince, order and characters of, 629, 630
Ga/linule, 603—605
Gannet, 4°7
Garganey, 3 49
Glareo/a, characters and fpecies of, 596
—600
Glaucopis, characters and fpecies of, 168
> —170
Godwit, 549—555
Goldfinch, 808
Goofe, fnow, 3 21
antarCHc, 322
buftard, 323
loggerhead, 3 24
gray or wild, N * 33°
domeftic, ib*
Y.
Goofe, bean,
bernacle,
brent, or brand,
Goatfucker,
Gojhdwk,
563
N0 33 2
334
335
9°7
74
Gracula, characters and fpecies of, 203
—207
Grakle, characters and fpecies of, 203
—207
Grallce, order and characters of, 468, 469
Grebe, 435—442
Groiife, 680—687
Grojbeak, 7^3
Angular nefts of, 779
Guillemot, characters and fpecies of, 424
—428
Guinea fowl, 675—677
Gull, characters and fpecies of, 443—454
H.
Hcematopus, characters and fpecies of, 593
—595
Hedge fparrow, 846
Hen-harrier, 82
Herons, 504—523
Hirundo, 894
Hobby, 87
Honey-guide, 23 r
Hoopoe, characters and fpecies of, 283
—287
Horn-bill, 152—158
Humming bird, characters and fpecies of,
3°4—3r3
I.
Jabiru, 483—487
Jacamar, characters and fpecies of, 271
—274
Jacana, 613—617
Jackdaw, 177
Jay, , 178
blue, 179
Ibis, 524—531
K.
Kefril, ( 84
Kitig',s-fjher, characters and fpeoies of, 260
-j-270
Kite, 69
Kittiwake, 445
Knot, 576
L.
Lanins, 105
characters of, 106
fpecies of, IO7— HO
Lanner, 8r
Lapwing, y 559
Lark, 716—727
Larus, characters and fpecies of, 443—454
Linnet, 816—819
Lory, 129—131
Loxia, 763
M.
Macao, 115, 116
Magpie, ^ 181
Mallard, 351
Manakin, 874
4 B 2 Man
564
Man of war bird, N° 392
Martin, or houfe martin, 898
Mavis, 74°
Meleagris, chara&ers and fpecies of,
653~6J5
Menura, 913
Merganfer, 3 5 &
red-breafted, 360
M^rg-^j-jcharafters and fpecies of, 356—362
Merops, characters and fpecies of,
276—282
Migration of birds, 39
Momotus, 146
charafters, 147
fpecies, 148
Motacil/a, 842
Motmot, 146—148
Mufcicapa, 8 27
Mufophaga, characters and fpecies of,
165—167
MuEieria, characters and fpecies of,
483-487
N.
Nejis of birds, 44
Nightingale, 844
Noddy, 458
Numidia, characters and fpecies of, 675
—677
Nuthatch, characters and fpecies of, 248
—25r
Nutrition of birds, 38
O.
Orders of birds, 49
Oriole, characters and fpecies of, 191—202
Oriolus, characters and fpecies of, ib.—ib.
Ornithology, definition of, I
writers on, 2—35
Ortolan, 787
OJlrich, black, 641
American, 644
Otis, characters and fpecies of, 631—638
Owl, 91
eared, 93—9^
earlefs, 99—104
Ox-eye, 883
P.
Palamedea, characters and fpecies of, 479
—482
Panw/z/e, birds of, 208—215
Paradifea, characters and fpecies of, 208
—215
Parra, characters and fpecies of, 613—61 7
Parrot, 113—1 ^
Partridge, 688
Parus, 880
PaJJeres, order and characters of, 701
Pavo, 649—652
Peacock, ib.
Pelican, 3 96—411
Pelecanus, characters and fpecies of, ib.
Penelope, characters and fpecies of, 656
—660
Penguin, characters and fpecies of, 373
—378
or great auk, 366
ORNITHOLOGY.
Petrel, characters and fpecies of, N° 379
—389
fnowy, 384
ftormy, 383
Petty-chaps, 847—849
Pheenicopteros, characters and fpecies
of, . 470—473
Phaeton, characters and fpecies of, 4x7
—421
Pha/arope, 568, 569
Phajianus, characters and fpecies of, 665
—674
Pheafant, 665—674
Phytotoma, 824
Piece, ill
characters of, 112
Picas, characters and fpecies of, 235—247
Pied oyfter-catcher, 595
Pigeon, 7°3—7°5
Pipra, 874
Plantain-eater, characters and fpecies
of, _ 165—167
Platalea, characters and fpecies of, 474
-478
Plates, explanation of, 914
Plotus, characters and fpecies of, 4x 2—416
Plover, 581—587
Pratincole, 596—600
Procellaria, characters and fpecies of, 379
-389
PJittacus, 113
characters of, 114
fpecies, 115—138
Pfophia, characters and fpecies of, 625
—628
Ptarmigan, 683
Puff™, 365
Quail,
&•
R.
691
Rail, 618—624
Raltus, characters and fpecies of, ib.—ib.
Ramphujlos, 139
characters of, 140
fpecies, 141—145
Raven, 173
Razor-bill, 367
Recurvirojlra, characters and fpecies of, 588
—592
Redbreajl, 868
Red-legged crow, 184
Reed wren, 867
Reeve, 558
Rice bird, 792
Robin redbreaft, 868
Roller, characters and fpecies of, 185—190
Rook, _ 175
fingular hiftory of, ib.
Royjlon, or hooded crow, 176
Ruff, . ji8
Rynchops, characters and fpecies of, 465
—467
S.
Sandpiper, 556—580
Index,
Scolopax, characters and fpecies of, N° 535
■—C r r
Screamer, characters and fpecies of, ^
—482
Scopus, characters and fpecies of, 491 4g,
Scythrops,
characters of, jj0
\ fpecies of,
Sea fwallow,
„ krk' fs
SIlag, . 403—dor
Sheath-bill 6x0—612
Sheldrake, ^2r
338,339
Shrike, 105—110
Si/kin, 8j4
Sitta, characters and fpecies of, 248 251
Skimmer, characters and fpecies of, 465
Smew, 361, 36^
Snipe, 540—549
Soland goofe, 407
method of taking, ib.
Song of birds, 42
Sparrow, houfe, 821
curious anecdote of, ib.
mountain, 822
hawk, 86
Spoonbill, characters and fpecies of, 474
—478
Starling, 728
Sterna, characters and fpecies of, 455—464
Stonechat, 860
Storks, 501—503
Stormjinch, 383
Strix, 91
characters of, 92
fpecies of, 93—104
Struthio, characters and fpecies of, 639
—644
Sturnus,characters and fpecies of, 728—734
Swallow, 894
migration of, 895
common, 896
efculent, 897
nefts, ufes of, ib.
fwift, 905
Swan, wild, 318
tame, 319
black, 320
T.
Tailor bird, 872
Tonager, 79)
Tanagra, ib.
Tantalus, characters and fpecies of, 524
—531
Tarrock, 445
Teal, 350
Terms, technical, explanation of, 4^
Tern, characters and fpecies of, 455”“4^4
Tetrao, characters and fpecies of, 678—697
Thrujh, 735
Throjlle, 74°
Tinamous, 697
Titmoufe,
Index.
Titmoufe, 4
Todus, charafters and fpecies of, 25 2—
Tody, charade rs and fpecies of,
Tomtit,
Toucan,
charaflers of,
fpecies of, 141—
Tnnftf,characters and fpecies of, 556—
Trochilus, characters and fpecies of,
Trogon, characters and fpecies of, 2 x 6—
\Tropic bird, characters and fpecies of,
Trumpeter,
Turdus,
Turkey,
U.
625—
653
880
259
ib.
885
139
140
M5
580
3°4
218
417
421
628
735
655
(fakre, characters and fpecies of, 491—493
ORNITHOLOGY.
Upupa, characters and fpecies of, N° 283
1 —287
V.
Vaginalis, characters and fpecies of, 610
—6x2
Vulture, fee Vultur, 51
king, 54
carrion, 55
w.
Warbler, 850—855
Water oufel, 731
wagtail, 856
yellow, 837
Wattle bird, characters and fpecies of, 168
—170
Wheat-ear, 858
Whimbrel, 539
565
N° 859
683
851
344
348
39
543
681
542
Whinchat,
White groufe,
throat,
Wigeon,
red-headed,
Wings of birds, aCtion of,
Woodcock,
Wood groufe,
Woodpecker, characters and fpecies of, 235
—247
Wood wren, 848
Wren, 869
golden crefted, 870
yellow, 871
Y.
Yellow hammer, 788
Yunx, characters and fpecies of, 232—234
0 rn i tho¬
rn an cy
11.
Orobio.
O R O
ORNITHOMANCY, a fpecies of divination per¬
formed by means of birds ; being the fame with augury.
See Divination and Augury.
ORNITHOPUS, a genus of plants belonging to the
diadelphia clafsj andinthe natural method rankingunder
the 32d order, Papihonacece. See Botany Index.
ORNITHORYNCHUS paradoxus, one of the
molt extraordinary animals of the mammalia clafs yet
known, particularly for the Angular conformation of
its head, which is the perfeCt refemblance of the beak of
a duck ingrafted on the head of a quadruped. See
Mammalia Index.
ORNUS fraxinus, is that fpecies of the alb tree, in
the Linnoean fyftem, which, according to Dr Cirillo of
Naples, produces the manna. See Materia Medica
Index.
OROB ANCHE, a genus of plants belonging to the
didynamia clafs •, and in the natural method ranking
under the 4Cth order, Perfonatce. See Botany Index.
OROBIO, Don Balthasar, a celebrated Jew of
Spain. He was carefully educated in Judaifm by his
parents, who were Jews, though they outwardly profef-
fed themfelves Roman Catholics; abftaining from the
praClice of their religion in every thing, except only the
obfervation of the fall of expiation, in the month Tifis
or September. Orobio (ludied the fcholatlic pbilofophy
ufual in Spain, and became fo (killed in it, that he was
made profeffor of metaphyfics in the univerfity of Sala¬
manca. Afterwards, however, applying himfelf to the
Rudy of phyfic, he praClifed that art at Seville with fuc-
cefs, till, accufed of Judaifm, he was thrown into the
inquifition, and fuffered the moft dreadful cruelties, in
order to force a confeffion. He himfelf tells us, that he
was put into a dark dungeon, fo (trait that he could
fcarce turn himfelf in it; and fuffered fo many hardfhips,
that his brain began to be didurbed. He talked to him¬
felf often in this way : “Ami indeed that Don Baltha-
far Orobio, who walked freely about in Seville, who was
entirely at eafe, and had the bleffings of a wife and child¬
ren ?” Sometimes, fuppofing that his pad life was but
a dream, and that the dungeon where he then lay was
his true birth-place, and which to all appearance would
alfo prove the place of his death. At other times, as he
O R O
had a very metaphyfical head, he firft formed arguments Orobio.
of that kind, and then refolved them \ performing thus —y—
the three different parts of opponent, refpondent, and
moderator, at the fame time. In this whimfical way he
amufed himfelf from time to time, and conftantly denied
that he was a Jew. After having appeared twice or
thrice before the inquifitors, he was ufed as follows: At
the bottom of a fubterraneous vault, lighted by two or
three fmall torches, he appeared before two perfons, one
of whom was judge of the inquifition, and the other fe-
cretary 5 who, alking him whether he would confefs the
truth ? protefted, that in cafe of a criminal’s denial, the
holy office would not be deemed the caufe of his death
if he (hould expire under the torments, but that it
muff be imputed entirely to his own obftinacy. Then
the executioner ftript off his clothes, tied his feet and
hands with a ftrong cord, and fet him upon a little (fool,
while he paffed the cord through fome iron buckles
which were fixed in the wall; then drawing away the
(fool, he remained hanging by the cord, which the exe¬
cutioner (fill drew harder and harder, to make him con¬
fefs, till a furgeon affured the court of examinants, that
he could not poffibly bear more without expiring. Thefe
cords put him to exquifite tortures, by cutting into the
fleffi, and making the blood buril from under his nails.
As there was certainly danger that the cords would tear
off his fleffi, to prevent the word, care was taken to gird
him with fome bands about the bread, which however
were drawn fo very tight, that he would have run the
ri(k of not being able to breathe, if he had not held his
breath in while the executioner put the bands round
him ; by which device his lungs had room enough to
perform their functions. In the fevered extremity of his
fufferings, he was told that this was but the beginning
of his torments, and that he would better confefs before
they proceeded to extremities. Orobio added further,
that the executioner, being on a fmall ladder, in order
to frighten him, frequently let it fall againd the ffiin-
bones of his legs; fo that the (laves being (harp, crea¬
ted exquifite pain. At lad, after three years confine¬
ment, finding themfelves baffled by his perfeverance in
denying his religion, they ordered his wounds to be
cured, and difcharged him. As foon as he had got
liberty, ,
O R P
Orobio liberty, be rerolved to quit the Spanifh dominions; and,
It i going to France, was made profeffor of phyfie at Thou-
t ^ US‘ loufe. The thefes which he made as candidate for this
place Were upon putrefaction ; and he maintained them
with fo much metaphyfical fubtlety, as embarrafled all
liis competitors. He continued in this city for fome
time, ftill outwardly profeffing popery ; but at laft,
Aveary of dilTembling, he repaired to Amfterdam, where
he was circumciied, took the name of Ifaac, and profef-
fed Judaifm ; Hill continuing, however, to praCtife phyfic,
in which he was much efteemed. Upon the publication
of Spinoza’s book, he defpifed a fyftem the falfenefs of
which he quickly difcovered ; and when Bredenbourg’s
anfwer to it came to his hands, 'Orobio, being perfuaded
that the writer in refuting Spinoza, had alio admitted
fome principles which tended to Atheifm, took up his
pen againit them both, and publiihed apiece to that pur-
pofe, intitled, Certamen phi/ofophicum adverfus J. B.
Principia. But the difpute wThich he held with the ce¬
lebrated Philip Limborch againft the Chri-ftian religion
made the greateft noife. Here he exerted the utmoft
force of his metaphyfical genius, and carried himfelf
with great temper. The three papers which he wrote
on the occafion were afterwards printed by his antago-
nift, in'an account which he publiihed of the contro-
verfy, under the - title of Arnica Coliatio cum Judcto,
Orobio died in 1687.
OROBUS, Bitter Vetch, a genus of plants be¬
longing to the diadelphia clafs ; and in the natural me-
: thod ranking under the 3 2d order, Papilionacece. See
Botany Index. -
OROIDES, a prince of Parthia, who murdered his
brother Mithridates, and afcended his throne. He de-
, feated Cra'flus the Roman triumvir, and poured melted
gold down the throat of his fallen enemy, to reproach
him for his avarice and ambition. He followed the in-
tereft of Caflius and Bri/ois at Philippi. Itisfaid, that
when Orodes became old and infirm, his 30 children
applied to him, and difputed in his prefence the right to
the fucceflion. Phraates, the eldeft of them, obtained
the crown from his father ; and, to haften him out of
the world, he attempted to poifon him. The poifon
. had no effect; and Phraates, ftill determined on his
father’s death, ftrangled him with his own hands, about
36 years before the Chriftian era. Orodes had then
reigned about 50 years.
ORONOKO, a large river of South America, which
rifes in Popayan, and enters the Atlantic ocean after a
courfe of 7 55 leagues, in N. Lat. 90. So great is its
impetuofity that it Items the moft powerful tides, and
prefervcs the\freflmefs of its waters to the diftance of
36 miles out at fea.
ORONSA, a fmall fertile ifiand of Scotland, one of
the Plebrides, feven miles weft of Jura. Here are the
ruins of an abbey, with many fepulchral ftatues, and fome
curious ancient fculpture.
ORONTIUM, a genus of plants belonging to the
hexandria clafs ; and in the natural method ranking
under the fecund order, Piperitce. See BotaNY Index.
ORPHAN, a fatherlefs child or minor; or one that
is deprived both of father and mother.
ORPHEUS, a celebrated poet and mufician of anti¬
quity. His reputation was eftabliflied as early as the
time of the. Argonautic expedition, in which he was
himfelf an adventurer ; and is faid by Apollonius Rho-
(V R P
dius not only to have-excited the Argonauts to row by Orpheus,
the found of his lyre, but to have vanquiftied and put to  v—-
filence the Sirens by the fuperiority of his ftrains. Yet,
notwithftanding the great celebrity he had lo long en¬
joyed, there is a paffage in Cicero, which fays, that Ari-
ftotle, in the third book of his Poetics, which is now
loft, doubted if fuck a perfon as Orpheus ever ex fed.
But as the work of Cicero, in which this paffage occurs,
is in dialogue, it is not eafy to difcover what was his own
opinion upon the fubject, the words cited being put into
the mouth of Caius Cotta. And Cicero, in other parts
of his writings, mentions Orpheus as a perfon of whofe
exiftence he had no doubts. There are feveral ancient
authors, among whom is Suidas, who enumerate five
perfons of the name of Orpheus, and relate fome par¬
ticulars of each. And it is very probable that it has
fared with Orpheus as with Hercules, and that writers
have attributed to one the actions of many. But, how¬
ever that may have been, we ftiall not attempt to col-
left all the fables that poets and mythologifts have in¬
vented concerning him ; they are too well known to
need infertion here. We fhall, therefore, in fpeaking
of him, make ufe only (ft fuch materials as the belt an¬
cient hiftorians, and the moft refpedtable writers among
the moderns, have furnifiied towards his hiflory.
Dr Cud worth, in his IntelleBual System *, after exa- * Booki.
mining and confuting the obj eft ions that have been feet. 17.
made to the being of an Orpheus, and with his ufual
learning and abilities clearly eftabliftung his exiftence,
proceeds, in a very ample manner, to fpeak of the opi¬
nions and writings of our bard, whom he regards not
only as the firft mufician and poet of antiquity, but as
a great mythologift, from whom the Greeks derived the
Thracian religious rites and myfteries.
“ It is the opinion (fays he) of fome eminent philo-
logers of later times, that there never was any fuch per¬
fon as Orpheus, except in Fairy land ; and that his
whole hiftory was nothing but a mere romantic allego¬
ry, utterly devoid of truth and reality. But there is
nothing alleged for this opinion from antiquity, except
the one paftage of Cicero concerning Ariftotle ; who
feems to have meant no more than this, that there was
no fuch poet as Orpheus anterior to Homer, or that the
verfes vulgarly called Orphical, were not written by Or¬
pheus. However, if it Ihould be granted that Ariftotle
had denied the exiftence of fuch a man, there feems to
' be no reafon why his fingle teftimony ftiould preponde¬
rate againft the univerfal confent of all antiquity; which
agrees that Orpheus was the fon of Oegar, by birth a
Thracian, the father or chief founder of the mythologi¬
cal and allegorical theology amongft the Greeks, and of
all their moft facred religious rites and myfteries; who
is commonly fuppofed to have lived before the Trojan
war, that is, in the time of the Ifraelitifti judges, or at
leaft to have been fenior both to Flefiod and Homer ;
and to have died a violent death, moft affirming that he
was torn in pieces by women, becaufe their hufbands de-
ferted them in order to follow him. For which reafon,
in the vifion of Herus Pamphilius, in Plato, Orpheus’s
foul paffing into another body, is faid to have chofen
that of a fwan, a reputed mufical animal, on account of
the great hatred he had conceived for all women, from
the death which they had inflicted on him. And the
biftorie truth of Orpheus was not only acknowledged
by Plato, but alfo by Ifocrates, who lived before Ari-
ftotie.
I ^ ]
Orpheus.
* Warbur-
ton.
Srirney's
Hifl o f
Mufic.
O R P [ 5^7 ] O R P
ftotle, in Iiis oration in praife of Buiiris; and confirmed
by the grave hiftorian Diodorus Siculus, who fays, that
Orpheus diligently applied himfelf to literature, and
when lie had learned p.vQa'Xoyxu.wa., or the mythologi¬
cal part of theology, he travelled into Egypt, where he
foon became the greateft proficient among the Greeks
in the myfteries of religion, theology, and poetry. Nei¬
ther was his hiftory of Orpheus contradicted by Origen,
when fo jultly provoked by Celfus, who had preferred
him to our Saviour : and, according to Suidas, Or¬
pheus the Thracian was the firft inventor of the reli¬
gious myfteries of the Greeks, and that religion was
thence called ©^ijs-xsise, Threfkeia, as if a Thracian in¬
vention. On account of the great antiquity of Or¬
pheus, there have been numberlefs fables intermingled
with his hiltory •, yet there appears no reafon that we
fhould dilhelieve the exiftenee of fuch a man.”
Cud worth is alfo of opinion, that the poems afcribed
to Orpheus were either written by him, or that they
were very ancient, and contained his doctrines. He
farther argues, that though Orpheus was a polytheift,
and aflerted a multiplicity of gods, he neverthelefs ac¬
knowledged one fupreme unmade deity, as the original
of all things *, and that the Pythagoreans and Platonifts
not only had Orpheus in great efteem, being commonly
called by them the Theologer, but were alfo thought in
great meafure to have owed their theology and philofo-
phy to him, deriving it from his principles and tradi¬
tions.
The bifhop of Gloucefter* fpeaks no more doubtful¬
ly of the exiftence of Orpheus than of Homer and He-
fiod, with whom he ranks him, not only as, a poet, but
alfo as a theologian, and founder of religion.
The family of Orpheus is traced by Sir Ifaac New¬
ton for feveral generations : “ Sefac palling over the
Hellefpont, conquers Thrace ; kills Lycurgus king of
that country ; and gives his kingdom and one of his
finging women to Oeagrus, the fon of Tharops, and fa¬
ther of Orpheus •, hence Orpheus is faid to have had
the mufe Calliope for his mother.
He is allowed by molt ancient authors to have ex¬
celled in poetry and mufic, particularly the latter ; and
that to fuch a degree, that he is reprefented as taming
the molt ferocious animals, changing the courfe of the
winds by his melody, and as caufing the trees of the fo-
reft to dance in concert with his lyre. This account,
though we mult fuppofe it fabulous, yet proves his ex¬
cellence to have been great before he could have given
rife to fuch fictions. He is faid to have early cultiva¬
ted the Ivre, in preference to every other inftrument :
fo that all thofe wbo came after him were contented to
be his imitators; whereas, according to P utarch, he
adopted no model ; for before his time no other mufic
was known, except a few airs for the flute. Mufic was
fo clofely conne&ed in ancient times with the moft fu-
blime fciences, that Orpheus united it not onlv with
philofophy, but with theology and legiflation. He ab-
ftained from eating animal food ; and held eggs in ab¬
horrence as abment, being perfuaded that the egg fnb-
fifted before the chicken, and was the principle of all
exiftenee : both his knowledge and prejudices, it is pro¬
bable, were acquired in Egypt,,as well as thofe of Py¬
thagoras many ages after. '
With refpeft to his abftaining from the flefli of oxen,
Gefner funpofes it may have proceeded irom the venera¬
tion fliown to that animal fo ufeful in tillage, in the Orpheus.
Eleufinian myfteries inftituted in honour oi Ceres, the
goddefs of agriculture. He might have added, that, as
thofe mvfteries were inftituted in imitatiosi of thoie tfta-
blifhed in Egypt in honour of Ofiris and Ifis, this abili-
nence from animal food was of the like origin, and a
particular compliment to Apis. But Abbe Fragnir, in
an ingenious diflertation upon the Orphic Life, gives ftill
more importance to the prohibition \ for as Orpheus was
the legiftator and humanizer of the wild and favage
Thracians, Avho were cannibals, a total abolition of cat¬
ting human flelh could only be eftablifhed by obliging
his countrymen to abftain from every thing that had
life.
With refpeft to theology, Diodorus Siculus tells us, Biod- Sf-
that his father Oeagrus gave him his fivft inftru&ions in cuius, lib.
religion, imparting to him the myfteries of Bacchus, aslv" caP- 2$‘
they were then praftifed in Thrace. He became after¬
wards a difciple of the Idaei Dadlyli in Crete, and there
acquired new ideas concerning religious ceremonies.
But nothing contributed fo much to his Ikill in theolo¬
gical matters, as his journey into Egypt; where being
initiated into the myfteries of Ifis and Ofiris, or of Ce¬
res and Bacchus, he acquired a knowledge concerning
initiations, expiations, funeral rites, and other points of
religious worlhip, far fuperior to any one of his age and
country. And being much connedled with the defcen-
danfs of Cadmus, the founder of Thebes in Boeotia,
he refolved, in order to honour their origin, to tranfport
into Greece the whole fable of Ofiris, and apply it to
the family of Cadmus. The credulous people eafily re¬
ceived this tale, and were much flattered by the inftitu-
tion of the ceremonies in honour of Ofiris. Thus Or¬
pheus, who rvas held in great veneration at the Grecian
Thebes, of Avhicb he was become a citizen, admirably
adapted this fable, and rendered it refpeftable, not only
by his beautiful A'erfes and manner of finging them, but
by the reputation he had acquired of being profoundly
{killed in all religious concerns. Diodorus Siculus alfo
fays that he Avas a moft attentive ftudent in all kinds of
literature, whether facred or profane.
At his return into Greece, according to Paufanias,
he Avas held in the higheft veneration by the people, as
they imagined he had difcovered the fecret of expia¬
ting crimes, purifying criminals, curing difeafes, and
appealing the angry gods. He formed and promul¬
gated an idea of a hell, from the funeral ceremonies
of the Egyptians, Avhich Avas received throughout
all Greece. He inftituted the myfteries and Avorfhip •
of Hecate among the Eginetes, and that of Ceres at
Sparta.
Juftin Martyr fays, that he introduced among the
Greeks near 360 gods •, Hefiod and Homer purfued
his labours, and followed the fame clue, agreeing in
the like do&rines, having all drank at the fame Egyp¬
tian fountain.
Profane authors look upon Orpheus as the inventor
of that fpecies of magic called evocation of the manes, •
or raifing ghofts : and indeed the hymns which are at¬
tributed to him are moftly pieces of incantation, and
real conjuration. By all accounts he Avas an admirable
mufician : he is faid to haAre received a lyre from Apol¬
lo, or according to feme from Mercury, upon which he
played Avith fuch a mafteriy hand, that even the mod
rapid rivers ceafed to Aoav, the favage beafts of the fo-
o it p r 56
Orpheus. re{^ forgot their tvildftefs, and the mountains came to li-
ften to his fong. All nature feemed charmed and ani¬
mated, and the nymphs were his conftant companions.
Eurydice was the only one who made a deep impreflion
on the melodious mufu ian, and their nuptials were cele¬
brated. Their happinefs, however, was but (hort •, tor
Ariftseus became enamoured of her ; and as ihe tied
from her purfuer, a ferpent that was lurking in the grafs
bit her foot, and (he died -of the poifoned wound. Her
lofs was feverely felt by Orpheus, and he refolved to re¬
cover her or perifh in the attempt. With his lyre in his
hand, he entered the infernal regions, and gained an e^-
fy admiiTion to the palace of Pluto. The king of hell
was charmed with the melody of his drains *, and ac¬
cording to the beautiful expreffions of the poets, the
wheel of Ixion flopped*, the done of Sifyphus dood dill*,
Tan ' £brgot his perpetual third, and even the furies
relent and Proferpine were moved with his
forro\ „ ~oi. ’ redore him Eurydice, provid¬
ed he forbore looking behind him till he had come to
the extremed borders of hell. The conditions were
.gladly accepted, and Orpheus was already in dght of
the upper regl s of the air, when he forgot his
promife, and tur: ed back to look at his long lod Eu¬
rydice.
All dangers pad...at length the lovely bride
In fafety goes, with her melodious guide j
Longing the common light again to (hare,
And draw the vital breath of upper *air :
He fird, and.clofe behind him followed fhe j
For fuch was Proferpine’s fevere decree.
When drong defines th’ impatient youth invade j
By little caution, and much love betrayed :
A fault which eafy pardon might receive,
Were lovers judges, or could hell forgive.
For near the confines of etherial light,
.And longing for the glimm’ring of a fight,
Th’ unwary lover cad a look behind,
Forgetful of the law, nor mader of his mind.
Straight all his hopes exhal’d in empty fmoke $
And his long toils were forfeit for a look.
Dryden’s Virgil.
He faw her, but (he indantly vanilhed from his eyes:
He attempted to follow her, but he was refufed admif-
fion ; and the only comfort he could find was to foothe
his grief at the found of his mufical indrument in grot¬
toes or on the mountains. He totally fvparated himfelf
from the fociety of mankind*, and the Thracian women,
whom he had offended by his coldnefs to their amorous
padion, or, according to others, by his unnatural gratifi¬
cations and impure indulgencies, attacked him while
they celebrated the orgies of Bacchus *, and after they
had torn his body to pieces, they threw his head into the
Hebrus, which dill articulated the words Eurydice !
Eurydice ! as it was carried down the dream into the
iEgean fea. Others think, that, as he attempted to con-
* jure his w-ife from the dead, which they underdand by
the dory of his going down to hell, he thought he faw
her *, and when afterwards, on looking back, he miffed
her, he died of grief. There is certainly fome reafon
for fuppofing this to be the cafe: for there wTere perfons
and temples publicly appointed for the purpofe *, and
Paufanias really fpeaks of that temple which was in
Thefprotia, and where Orpheus went to call up the ghod
8 ] O R F
of Eurydice. Poets often mention this fubjeft j and in- Orpheus,
dances of it occur in hillory both facred and profane. '■“■’“V**'
The witch of Endor is wTell known to thofe who read
the hidorical part of the Bible. But to particularife
indances, whether facred or profane, would be endlefs.
Some maintain that he was killed by a thunderbolt.
He was buried at Pieria in Macedonia, according to
Apollodorus. 1 he inhabitants of Dion beaded that
his tomb wras in their city, and the people of Mount
Libethrus in Thrace claimed the fame honour; and far¬
ther obferved that the nightingales which built their
neds near his tomb, fang with greater melody than all
other birds. Orpheus, as fome report, after death re¬
ceived divine honours ; the mufes gave an honourable
burial to his remains, and his lyre became one of the
condellations in the heavens.
Tzetzes explains the fable of his drawing his wife
Eurydice from hell, by his great fkill in medicine, with
which he prolonged her life, or, in other words,
fnatched her from the grave. ALfculapius, and other
phyficians, have been faid to have raifed from the
dead thofe whom they had recovered from dangerous
difeafes.
The bilhop of Glouceder, in his learned, ample, and
admirable account of the Eleufinian myderies, fays,
While thefe myderies were confined to Egypt their
native country, and while the Grecian lawgivers w7ent
thither to be initiated, as a kind of defignation to their
office, the ceremony would be naturally defcribed in
terms highly allegorical. This way of fpeaking was
ufed by Orpheus, Bacchus, and others : and continued
even after the myderies were introduced into Greece,
as appears by the fables of Hercules, Cador, Pollux,
and Thefeus’s defcent into hell; but the allegory was
fo circumdanced, as to difcover the truth concealed un¬
der it. So Orpheus is faid to get to hell by the power
of his harp :
Threicia fretus cithara, fidibufque canoris.
VlRG. JEn. vi. ver. 119.
That is, in quality of lawgiver ; the harp being the
known fymbol of his laws, by which he humanized a
rude and barbarous people.—Had an old poem, under
the name of Orpheus, intitled A defccnt into Hell, been
now extant, it would perhaps have ffiown us, that no
more was meant than Orpheus’s initiation.'1'1 See My¬
steries.
Many ancient, writers, in fpeaking of his death, re¬
late, that the Thracian women, as hinted at above, en¬
raged at being abandoned by their hulbands, who were
difciples of Orpheus, concealed themfelves in the woods,
in order to fatiate their vengeance ; and, notwithdand-
ing they podponed the perpetration of their defign
fome time through fear, at length, by drinking to a de¬
gree of intoxication, they fo far fortified their courage
as to put him to death. And Plutarch Jffures us, that
the Thracians digmatized their women, even in his time,
for the barbarity of this aflion.
Our venerable bard is defended by the author * of * Warbur-j
the Divine Legation, from fome infinuations to his dif-ton*
advantage in Diogenes Laertius. “It is true (fays
he), if uncertain report was to be believed, the myderies
were corrupted very early ; for Orpheus himfelf is faid
to have abufed them. But this was an art the debauch¬
ed mydae of later times employed to varnidi their enor¬
mities;
Orpheus.
O R P ' f 569 1 O R P
mities; as the detefted psederafts of after ages fcandali-
zed the blamelefs Socrates. Befides, the ftory is fo ill
laid, that it is detefted by the fureft records of antiqui¬
ty •, for in confequence of what they fabled of Orpheus
in the myfteries, they pretended he was torn in pieces
by the women ; whereas it appeared from the infcrip-
tion on his monument at Dium, in Macedonia, that he
was {truck dead with lightning, the envied death of the
reputed favourites of the gods.”
This monument at Dium, confiding of a marble urn
on a pillar, was {till to be feen in the time of Paufani-
as. It is faid, however, that his fepulchre was removed
from Libethra, upon Mount Olympus, where Orpheus
was born, and from whence it was transferred to Dium
by the Macedonians, after the ruin of Libethra by a
fudden inundation which a dreadful itorm had occa-
fioned. This event is very minutely related by Pau-
fanias.
Virgil beftows the firft place in his Elyfium upon the
legiflators, and thofe who brought mankind-from a fate
of nature into focictij :
Magnanimi heroes, nati tnehonbus annis.
At the head of thcfe is Orpheus, the moft renowned of
the European lawgivers, but better known under the
charafter of a poet : for the firft laws being written in
meafure, to allure men to learn them, and, when learnt,
to retain them, the fable would have it, that by the
force of harmony Orpheus foftened the favage inhabi¬
tants of Thrace :
  -Threicius longa cum vefe facerdos
Obloquitur numeris feptem difcrimina vocum :
Jamque eadem digitis jam pefline pufat eburno.
TEn. lib. vi. ver. 645.
The feven firings given by the poet in this pafiage to
the lyre of Orpheus, is a eircumftance fomewhat hifto-
rical. The firft Mercurian lyre had, at moft, but four
firings. Others were afterwards added to it by the fe¬
cund Mercury, or Amphion : but, according to feveral
traditions preferved by Greek hiftorians, it was Orpheus
who completed the fecond tetrachord, which extended
the fcale to a heptachord, ox feven y&w/n/r implied by
the feptem dfcrimina vocum. For the affertion of ma¬
ny writers, that Orpheus added two new firings to the
lyre, which before had feven, clafhes with the claim's of
Pythagoras to the invention of the oftachord, or addi¬
tion of the found proflambanomenos to the heptachord,
of which almoft all antiquity allows him to have been
the inventor. And it is not eafy to fuppofe, that the
lyre ftiould have been reprefented in ancient fculpture
with four or five firings only, if it had had nine fo
early as the time of Orpheus, who flourifhed long be¬
fore feujpture tvas known in Greece. See the article
Lyre.
With refpeft to the writings of Orpheus, he is men¬
tioned by Pindar as author of the Argonautics, and
Herodotus fpeaks of his Orphics. His hymns, fays
Paufanias, were very fhort, and but few in number :
the Lycomides, an Athenian family, knew them by
heart, and had an exclufive privilege of fmging them,
and thofe of their old poets, Mufteus, Onomacritus,
Pamphus, and pien, at the celebration of the Eleufi-
nian myfteries \ that is, the priefthood was hereditary
in this family.
Voi.. XV. Part II.
Jamblicus tells us, that the poems under the name of
Orpheus were written in the Doric dialeft, but have
fince been tranfdialefted, or modernifed. It was the
common opinion in antiquity that they were genuine 5
but even thofe who doubted of it, gave them to the ear-
lieft Pythagoreans, and fome of them to Pythagoras
himfelf, who has frequently been called the follower of
Orpheus, and has been fuppofed to have adopted many
of his opinions.
Of the poems that are ftill fubfifting under the name
of Orpheus, which were collefted and publifhed at Nu¬
remberg 1702, by Andr. Chrift. Efehenbach, and which
have been reprinted at Leipfic 1764, under the title of
OFfPEftS AIIANTA, feveral have been attributed to
Onomacritus, an Athenian, who flourifhed under the
Pififtratidae, about 500 years before Chrift. Their
titles are, 1. The Argonautics, an epic poem. a^Eigh-
ty-fix hymns *, which arc fo full of incantations apd ma¬
gical evocation, that Daniel Heinfius has caltf cl them
ver am Satance liturgiam, “ the true liturgy of 'ine de¬
ciphers
li
Orpine.
vil.” Paufanias, who made no doubt that the hymns
fubfifting in bis time were compofed b. Orpheus, tells
us, that though lefs elegant, they had been preferred for
religious purpofes to thofe of Homer' 3. De lapidibus,
a poem on precious ftones. 4. Fragments, collefted by
Henry Stevens. Orpheus has been called the inventor,
or at leaft the propagator, of many arts and doftrines
among the Greeks. I. The combination of letters, or
the art of writing. 2. Mu/icp the lyre, or cithara, of
feven firings, adding three to that of Mercury. 3.
Hexameter verfe. 4. Mijf cries find theology. 5. Me¬
dicine. 6. Magic and divination. 7. Afrology. Servius
upon the fixth Almeid, p. 450. fays, Orpheus firft infti-
tuted the harmony of the fpheres. 8. He is faid like wife
to have been the firft who imagined a plurality of
worlds, or that the moon and planets were inhabited.
Orpheus, in Ichthyology, the name of a fifh caught
in the Archipelago. It is of a broad and flat figure, and
of a fine purple colour •, its eyes are large and promi¬
nent, and its teeth ferrated ; it has only one fin on the
back, and the anterior rays of that are prickly, the 0-
thers foft to the touch 5 its anus is fmall, and is faid to
have no palTage for the femen.
This was the fifh called orpheus by the ancients, but
the modern Greeks call another fifh by that name.
It is a fpecies of the fparus, of a flat figure, but very
thick, lias a fmall mouth, and is covered with fmall
but very rough fcales, which adhere very firmly to
the flefli ; the tail is not forked ”, it has flefhy lips, and
very fmall teeth ; its back and fides are black ; its
belly white : it has a large black fpot at the root of
the tail; its head is reddifh, and its fins are very
elegantly diverfified with various colours 5 it has only
one back-fin, and that has the anterior ray prickly,
the hinder ones not at all fo. It grows fomctimes to 20
pounds weight, and is much efteemed among the modem
Greeks.
ORPIMENT (auripigmentuni), in Natural Hifo-.
ry, a mineral which is compofed of fulphur and arfe-
nie, found native in the earth, and conftituting one of
the ores of arfenic, but fome times artificially prepared.
It is of two kinds, red and yellow. See Arsenic, Ml-
NERAI.O’GY Index, and Arsenic under Ores, Reduc¬
tion of.
ORPINE. See Sebum, Botany Index.
4 G ORRERY,
OUT [ 570 ] O R V
ORRERY, a curious machine for roprefenting the
motions or phafes of the heavenly bodies. See Astro¬
nomy, p. 171.
The reafon of its being called an Orrery was this :
Mr Rowley, a mathematical inftrument maker, having
•got one from Mr George Graham, the original inventor,
to be font abroad with fome of his own inftruments, he
copied it, and made the firfl for the earl of Orrery. Sir
Richard Steele, who knew nothing of Mr Graham’s
machines, thinking to do juftice to the firfl encourager,
as well as to the inventor of fuch a curious inftrument,
called it an Orrery, and gave Mr Rowley the praife due
to Mr Graham.
Orrery, Earls of. See Boyle.
ORRICE. See Iris, Botany Index.
ORTEGAL, Cape, the moil northern promontory
of Spain, where there is alfo a caflle of the fame name.
W. Long. 8. 20. N. Lat. 44. o.
ORTELIUS, Abraham, a celebrated geographer,
born at Antwerp, in 1527, was well fkilled in the lan¬
guages and the mathematics, and acquired fueh reputa¬
tion by his fkill in geography, that he was furnamed the
Ptolemy of his time. Julius Liplius, and moll of the
great men of the 16th centurv, were Ortelius’s friends.
He refided at Oxford in the reign of Edward VI. and
came a fecond time into England in 1577. His Thea-
trum Orbis was the completed: work of the kind that
had ever been publilhed, and gained him a reputation
equal to his immenfe labour in compiling it. He alfo
wrote feveral other excellent geographical works •, the
principal of which are his Thefaurus, and his Synom/ma
Geographica. The world is likewife obliged to him for
the Britannia, which he perfuaded Camden to undertake.
He died at Antwerp in 1598.
ORTHEZ, a city in the province of Bearn, and
before the Revolution, a bilhop’s fee. The cathedral is
a wretched edifice, very ancient, built in a barbarous
flyle, and almoll in ruins. The remains of the callle
of Grthez are very noble, and its lituation is fine, on
a hill which commands the town and a great extent of
country. The people call it Le Chateau de la Reine
Jeanne, becaufe that queen relided in it during many
years, in preference to the callle of Pau. Some of the
apartments, though in ruins, may yet be entered. The
princefs Blanche, daughter to John king of Arragon
and Navarre, wras Ihut up, and died here, in 1464.
Her brother being dead, Ihe became heirefs to the
crown of Navarre ; but her father having delivered her
into the hands of her younger filler Leonora countefs
of Foix, Ihe confined the unhappy Blanche in the callle
of Orthez, and, after an imprifonment of two years, cau-
fed her to be poifoned.
ORTHODOX, in church hillory, an appellation
given to thofe who are found in all the articles of the
Chrillian faith/
ORTHOGRAPHIC projection of the Sphere,
that wherein the eye is fuppofed to be at an infinite di-
Ilance *, fo caked, becaufe the perpendiculars, from any
point of the fphere, will all fall in the common interfec-
tion of the fphere with the plane of the projection. See
Geography and Projection.
ORTHOGR A PHY, that part of grammar which
teaches the nature and affeftions of letters, and the
juft method of fpelling or writing words, with all the
proper and neceffary letters, making one of the four
grcateil divifions or branches of grammar. See Gram- Orftwgra.
mar. Phy
Orthography, in Geometry, the art of drawing or Orvilto
delineating the fore-right plan of any objeCt, and of ex- . '.
prefling the heights or elevations of each part. It is cal¬
led Orthography, for its determining things by perpen¬
dicular lines falling on the geometrical plane.
Orthography, in ArchiteElure, the elevation of a
building.
Orthography, in PerfpeClive, is the fore-right fide
of any plane, i. e. the fide or plane that lies parallel to
a ftraight line, that may be imagined to pais through
the outward convex points of the eyes, continued to a
convenient length.
ORTHOPNOEA, a fpecies or degree of afthma,
where there is fuch a difficulty of refpiration that the
patient is obliged to fit or Hand upright in order to be
able to breathe. See Medicine Index,
ORTIVE, in dflronorny, the fame with eaftern. The
ortive or eaftern amplitude, is an arch of the horizon
intercepted between the place where a ftar riles, and the
eait point of the horizon, or point where the horizon and
equator interfeCl.
ORTNAU, a county of Germany, in the circle of
Suabia, lying along the Rhine, and feparating it from
Alface. It is bounded on the fouth by Breflau, on
the north by the margravate of Baden, and on the eaft
by the duchy of Wirtemberg. It contains three im¬
perial towns; namely, Oflenburg, Gegenbach, and
Zell. It belongs partly to the houfe of Auftria, partly
to the biihopric of Spire, and partly to the county of
Hannau.
ORTOLAN. See Emberiza, Ornithology In¬
dex.
ORTYGIA, the birthplace of Diana, was a beauti¬
ful grove of trees of various kinds, chiefly cyprefles,
near Ephefus ; on the coaft, a little up from the fea.
This place was filled with fihrines and images. The
priefts of the goddefs'were eunuchs, and exceedingly
refpedled by the people. A general afiembly was held
there yearly, and fplendid entertainments were provid¬
ed, and myftic facrifices folemnized. The Cenchrius,
probably a crooked river, ran through it j and above
it was the mountain Solmiflus, on which, it was fa¬
bled, the Curetes flood, and rattled on their (hields, to
divert the attention of Juno. The improved face of a
country is periffiable like human beauty. Not only the
birthplace of Diana and its fanftity are forgotten, but
the grove and buildings which adorned it appear no
more ; and perhaps, fays Dr Chandler, the land has
encroached on the fea, and the valley, in which Ar-
vifia is, was once Ortygia. See Ephesus, and Diana,
&c.
ORVIETO, a town of Italy, in the patrimony of
St Peter, with a biffiop’s fee, and a magnificent palace.
It is the capital of the province of Orvietano, in the ec-
clefiaftic ftate, in E. Long. 13. Lat. 43. It is a large
ftrong town, fituated at the conflux of the 'Fiber and
the Chiane, on a fteep hill, furrounded on every fide
with rocks and precipices. To this fituation it is owing
that it has no fprings ; but there is a very furprifing well
cut into the rock, to fupply it with freffi water. The
mules, which bring up the water on their backs, go
down by a ftaircafe of 150 fteps, and 60 windows, and
come up by another, without meeting. The architeft
DRY [ 5?i ] O S C
Orvieto, of this Angular building was the famous Antonio de San
Oryza. Gallo, employed by Clement VII. At the entrance is
V'"’--' this infcription, ^uod natura muhimento inviderat, in-
dujlria adjecit. This city, called Herbanum by Pliny,
- and Urbecetanmn by Procopius, is the fee of a biihop
fuffragan of Rome. The cathedral, which is of Got hic
archite&ure, is a handfome building, which was begun
in 1260 by Nicolo Pifano. The front is adorned with
fine ftatues, among the reft the Virgin Mary and the
four Evangelifts, with a baffo-relievo of the laft judge¬
ment, by the faid Nicolo Pifano, and others reprefenting
fome hiftories of the Old Teftament. The other half
of the front is a furprifing work in moiaic, by Scalzi,
expreffing the hiftory of the New Teftament. In the
church there is a very fine organ, and a baffo-relievo of
Raphael da Monte Lupo. Here is alfo a chapel, which
was begun to be painted by F. Angelo, a dominican,
and finilhed by Luke Signorelli, where you fee a very
beautiful reprefentation of the laft judgment. Orvieto
was once a potent and populous city, but is now much
upon the decline.
ORYZA, Rice, a genus of plants belonging to the
hexandria clafs, and in the natural method ranking un¬
der the 4th order, Gramina. See Botany Index.
There is but one fpecies, namely the fativa,- or com¬
mon rice. This plant is greatly cultivated in moft of
the eaftern countries, where it is the chief fupport of the
inhabitants 5 and great quantities of it are brought into
England and other European countries every year,
where it is much efteemed for puddings, &c. it being
too tender to be produced in thefe northern countries
without the aftiftance of artificial heat; but from fome
feeds which were formerly fent to Carolina there have
been great quantities produced, and it is found to fucceed
as well there as in the eaft.
This plant grows upon moift foils, where the ground
can be flowed over with water after it is come up. So
that whoever would cultivate it in this country ftiould
fow the feeds upon a hot-bed *, and when the plants
are come up, they ftiould be removed into pots filled
with light rich earth, and placed in pans of water, which
(hould be plunged into a hot-bed ; and, as the water
waftes, it muft from time to time be renewed again. In
July thefe plants may be fet abroad in a warm fituation,
ftill preferving the water in the pans, otherwife they
will not thrive •, and, toward the latter end of Auguft,
they will produce their grain, which will ripen tolerably
well, provided the autumn proves favourable. The
leaves of rice are long, like the reed, and fleftiy ; the
flowers blow on the top like barley; but the feed which
follows is difpofed in clufters, each of which is inclofed
in a yellow hulk, ending in a fpiral thread. The feed
is oblong, or rather oval, and white.
Rice is the chief commodity and riches of Damietta
in Egypt. Dr Haffelquift gives the following defcrip-
tion of the manner in which they drefs and feparate it
from the hulks. “ It is pounded by hollow iron peftles
of a cylindrical form, lifted up by a wheel worked by
oxen. A perfon fitting between the two peftles, pufhes
forward the rice when the peftles are rifmg ; another
lifts, winnows, and lays it under the peftles. In this
manner they continue working it until it is entirely free
from chaif and hulks. When clean, they add a 30th
part of fait, and pound them together; by which the
rice, formerly gray, becomes white. After this purifi¬
cation, it is palled through a fine fieve to part the fait On za
from the rice ; and then it is ready for fale.” Damietta ^ 1]^
fells every year 60,800 lacks of rice, the greateft part; '‘L' “'
of which goes to Turkey, fome to Leghorn, Marleilles,
and Venice.
ORYZIVORA, called the rice-bird of Catelby, a
fpecies of emberiza, which fee, Ornithology Index.
OSCHOPHORIA, a feftival celebrated by the A-
thenians, which receives its name aswe tom
“ from carrying boughs hung up with grapes,” called
ecr-fcat. The original inftitution is thus mentioned by
Plul. in Thejf. Thefeus, on returning from Crete, for¬
got to hang out the white fail, by which his father was
to be apprized oi his fuccefs. This neglect proved fatal
to ALgeus, for he threw himfelf into the lea, and pe-
rilhed. Thefeus no looner reached the land, than he
fent a herald to inform his father of his fafe return, and
in the mean time he began to make the facrifices which
he had vowed to make when he firft fet fail from Crete.
The herald, on his entrance into the city, found the
people in great agitation. Some lamented the king’s
death, while others, elated at the fudden news of the
victory of Thefeus, crowned the herald with garlands
in token of their joy. The herald carried back the
garlands on his ftaff to the fea Ihore ; and, after waiting-
till Thefeus had finilhed his facrifice, he related the-
melancholy account of the king’s death. Upon this the
people ran in crowds to the city, fhowing their grief by
cries and lamentations. From this circumftance, there¬
fore, at the ftaft of Ofchophoria, not the herald but his
ftaff is crowned with garlands, and all the people that
are prefent always exclaim eNeAsv, <8, <8, the firft of which
expreffes hafte, and the others a coulter nation or depref-
fion of fpirits. The hiftorian further mentions, that
Thefeus, when he went to Crete, did not take with him
the ufual number of virgins, but that in the place of
two of them, he took two youths of his acquaintance,
whom he caufed to pafs for women, by difguifing their
drefs, and by accuftoming them to the ointments and
perfumes of women, as well as by a long and fuccefs-
ful imitation of their voice. The impofition fucceeded ;
their fex was not difeovered in Crete ; and when The¬
feus had triumphed over the Minotaur, he with thefe
two young men led a proceffion, with branches in their
hands in the fame habit, which is ftill ufed at the cele¬
bration of the feftival. The branches which were car¬
ried were in honour of Bacchus or Ariadne, or becaufe
they returned in autumn, when the grapes were ripe.
Befides this proceflion, there was alfo a race, in which
young men only whofe parents were both alive were
permitted to engage. It was cuftomary for them to
run from the temple of Bacchus to that of Minerva,
which w'as on the fea Ihore. The place where they
flopped was called o£r^e<pe§<o», becaufe the boughs which
they carried in their hands were depofited there. The
reward of the conqueror w'as a cup called mvvxTiXoxy
“ five-fold,” becaufe it contained a mixture of five dif¬
ferent things, wine, honey, cheefe, meal, and oil.
OSCILLA, fmall images of wax or clay made in.
the fhape of men or women, and confecrated to Saturn,
to render him propitious. The word is fometimes ufed
to fignify a kind of malks fcooped from the bark of
trees, and worn by the performers of comedy in the
ruder ages of Rome. In this fenfe wfc find it in Virg.
Georg, ii. 386. It alfo fignifies little heads or images of
4 C 2 Bacchus,
O S I
Ofcilla Bacclms, 'ivhicli the country men of old hung upon trees,
that the face might turn every way, out of a notion
. . “1S- that the countenance of this god gave felicity to them-
felves, and fertility to their vineyards. An allufion to
this opinion and cuftom is alfo found in Virgil, Georg.
11. 388.
OSENEY-island, in England, is formed by the
river Ills, in the meadows near Oxford, where a mag¬
nificent abbey was erefted, at the inlligation of a con¬
cubine of King Henry I. to atone for her fins j and
the faid king built a palace there, wherein King Ri¬
chard I. was born, which Edward II. converted into a
monaftery.
OSIRIS, in Mythology, one of the gods of ancient
Egypt, and very generally believed to have been the
fun, or at lead the mind actuating that luminary.
The Egyptians derived all things from two principles,
an aftive and a pqflive. Their aftive principle, accord-
* Panth- ing to the learned Jablonfki*, was an infinite and eter-
Miypt. nal fpirit; and their pafhve principle was night. This
fpirit they confidered fometimes as a male, fometimes as
& female, divinity, and occafionally they attributed it to
both fexes ; but it does not appear to have been the ob-
je£I of their worfhip. It lhall be Ihown elfewhere (fee
Polytheism), that the earlieft objeffs of pagan adora¬
tion were the fun, moon, and planets ; and that the phi-
lofophers and priefts of ancient Egypt worfhipped the
fun by the name of Ofris, may be proved by number-
lefs teftimonies from the mod authentic records of anti¬
quity. Diogenes Laertius adirms, that they held the
fun and moon for divinities, and that they called the
latter Ifs ; and Macrobius fays exprefsly, “ Nec in oc-
culto ed, neque aliud effe OJirin quam folem, nec Ifim
aliud effe quam terramy The fame writer informs us,
that in the hieroglyphic writings of ancient Egypt,
“ Ofiris was reprefented by a fceptre and an eye,” to de¬
note that this god was the fun looking down from hea¬
ven on all things upon earth.
It mud not, however, be concealed, that fome of the
ancients, and a few of the mod learned moderns, have
contended, that by Ofiris the Egyptians underdood the
Nile or fpirit of the Nile, whild others have confound¬
ed him with the Grecian Bacchus. Scaliger and Selden
have adopted the former of thefe opinions, and Servius
on Virgil has given his countenance to the latter. But
that they are all midaken, has been evinced by Jablon¬
fki in fuch a manner as to enforce the fulled conviftion :
« When the Egyptians, in their facred books, fometimes
gave the name of Ofiris to the Nile and its wonderful
increafe during the heat of dimmer, they mean nothing-
more (fays he) but to attribute to their god Ofiris the
gift which fertilizes their country.” This they would
the more readily do that they believed the Nile to have
\ Prepar. its fource in heaven. Hence Eufebius tells us-f, 0<r<gfs
Evangel. t^jlv • evgxnov xetTcepigtricti oiovltci. Ofiris is
the Nile, becaufe they think it is fent down from heaven.
In one fenfe Ofiris might be Bacchus, becaufe the origi¬
nal Bacchus was himfelf the fun (fee MYSTERIES, N°
12. ); but that the Egyptian god could not be wordiip-
O S I
ped as the inventor of wine is indeed undeniable, if, as Ofiris.
Jablonfki labours to prove, the primitive religion of that
country inculcated upon its votaries, that wine was the
gift, not of a benevolent good, but of an evil genius,
the enemy of the human race. In fupport of this opi¬
nion our learned author quotes a paffage from Plutarch,
from which it appears, that, before the era of Pfamme-
tichus, the Egyptians neither drank wine themfelves,
nor offered it in libations to the gods, becaufe they be¬
lieved that the fird vine Iprung from the earth was im¬
pregnated by the blood of thole giants who perifhed in
the war with the gods. It is indeed true, that the
Greeks, who borrowed their religion as well as the firlt
principles of fcience from Egypt, attributed to their
Bacchus many of the adlionsof Oliris; but it is likewife
true, that they gave him other attributes, which the
Egyptian god could not poffefs, confidently with the
known fuperftitions of that country. Salmafius, how¬
ever, attempts to prove, from the import of the name,
that the Ofiris of Egypt mult have been the Bacchus of
Greece. 2»ig or he fays, fignifies a fan in the
Egyptian language ; and hence he concludes that the
god was by that people called Ofris, for the fame rea-
fon that by the Greeks he was called Kev^og, and by the
Romans Liber. But this feems all to be a midake.
Siris makes a part of many Egyptian proper names, as
Bu-fris, Tcrmo-fris, Tapofris, &c. and is in all pro¬
bability derived from the Hebrew word Sar, Sur, ox Sir,
which fignifiea a prince, potentate, or grandee. As the
name of the god was in Egypt not Ofiris, but IJiris or
Yfiris, it was probably made up of Sir or Siris, and the
Hebrew prefix I or ijh, denoting firength ; fo that the
whole word will fignify the frong or mighty prince. If
fo, we cannot doubt, as Diodorus Siculus, Eufebius,
Sextus Empiricus, See. all affirm, that the Egyptians '
worfhipped the fun by the name of OJiris, but that by
this name they meant the power or governing mind of
the fun, as the Greeks and Romans feem to have done
by their Bhcebus and Apollo.
But though the original Ofiris w7as undoubtedly the
fun, or the intelligence afluating the fun, yet there is
reafon to believe that there was afecondary Ofris, who
at a very early period reigned in Egypt, and was dei¬
fied after his death for the benefits he had rendered to .
his country (fee Polytheism). This is indeed fo gene¬
rally admitted, as to have occafioned great controverfies
among the learned refpefting the time when he flourifh-
ed, and whether he was the civilizer of rude barbarians
or the victorious fovereign of a polifhed nation. The
illuftrious Newton, it is well known, has adopted the
latter opinion; and wuth much plaufibility endeavoured
to prove, that Ofris was the fame with Sefofris or Se-
fac : but it muff be confeffed, that his conclufion is con¬
trary to all the molt authentic records of antiquity; and
that it would be eafy, by the fame mode of arguing, to
give a fhow of identity to tw-o perfons univerfally known
to have fiourifhed in very diflant ages (a). The annals
of Egypt, as may be feen in the writings of Herodotus,
Diodorus Siculus,. Strabo, Plutarch, and others, who co¬
pied
[ 572 1
(a) This has been in fad done by Warburton ; who employs Newton’s mode of reafoning with equal plaufibi*
lity, a.nd perhaps fuperior force, to prove the identity of King Arthur and William the Conqueror. See Divine
legation of Mofes, vol. iii. book iv. fed. J.
O S N
[ 573 ]
O S M
Ofuis
I!
Ofn.iburg.
pled from thofe annals, exprefsly aflerted the ditlinil
perfonality of Ofiri# and Sefollris, and placed them in
seras vallly diftant from each other. Oliris, if any cre¬
dit be due to thofe hiftorians, was the founder of the E-
gvptian monarchy, and, as was cuftomary in thofe days,
having either received the name of the fun, or commu¬
nicated his own to that luminary, was after his death
deified for the benefits which he had rendered to his
country : and being at firft worftiipped only as a demi¬
god, was in procefs of time advanced to full divinity,
and confounded with his heavenly godfather. The
Greeks, who, though original in nothing, avere always
prompted by their vanity to hold themfelves out as the
firft of the nations, claimed this Ofiris as their own, and
pretended that he was the fon of Jupiter and Niobe.
He reigned, fay they, over the Argives 5 but after-
W'ards delivered his kingdom to his brother Algialeus,
and took a voyage into Egypt, of which he made him-
felf matter, and married lo or Ifis. He eftablifhed good
laws there j and they were both after their deaths
•worlhipped as gods. That this is a ridiculous fi&ioU
needs no proof; fince every one knows, that good
laws were eftablifhed in Egypt long before the Argives
had any king, or indeed exifted either as a tribe or na¬
tion.
OSMUNDA, Moonwort ; a genus of plants be-
longing to the cryptogamia clafs. See Botany In¬
dex. '
OSNABURG, a bifhopric of Germany, fituated in
the centre of the circle of Weftphalia, between the We-
fer and the Ems, having Minden on the eaft, Munfter
on the weft, Diepholt on the north-eaft, and Ravenfburg
on the fouth-weft. It is about 45 miles long and 25
broad, producing forae rye, feveral forts of turf, coals,
marble, and good pafturage. Hie inhabitants, who are
a mixture of Proteftants and Roman Catholics, breed a
eonfiderable number of cattle, especially hogs, of which
they make excellent bacon and hams ; but a great part
of the country confifts of heaths. By the treaty con¬
cluded here in 1648, the bifhopric was to be an alterna¬
tive between the Roman Catholics and Lutherans; and
the Lutheran bifhop was to be a younger prince of the
houfe of Brunfwick Lunenburg, or in failure thereof,
of Brunfwick Wolfenbuttle. In confequence of this
fettlement, it has been twice held by a Britifh prince
fince the acceflion of the family of Hanover. The bilhop
is able to raife 2500 men, his revenue being between
20,000 and 30,000!. The chief manufaclures of the
country are a coarfe kind of linen cloth and yarn, which
are faid to bring into it annually about 1,000,000 of
rixdollars. There are alfo fome woollen manufaflures
in Ofnaburg and Bramfche. The land eftates of the
bifliopric are, the chapter, the knights, and the four
towns. The diets are held at Ofnaburg, when called
together by the biftiop. The count of Bar is heredi¬
tary fenefchal or fteward, and prefident of the college
of knights. The biftiop is a prince of the empire; and
in the matricula is rated at fix horfe and 36 foot, or 216
florins monthly, in lieu of them. To the chamber
c£ the empire he contributes each term 81 rixdollars,
14 kruitzers and a half. The capital of this biftiop-
rie is
Osnaburg, or Ofnabruck. It wras formerly an im¬
perial city, and one of the Hanfe towns; but it is now
!Ubje£t to the bifhop, though it ftill enjoys many pri-
4;
vileges, and a revenue of about 8000 or 9000 rixdol- Ofnabufg-
lars. It has its name from a bridge over the river ■ "v
Haf^e, or Ofe, which divides it into the Old and New
Town, and Hands 75 miles weft of Hanover, and 30
north-eaft of Munfter, being furrounded with walls and
ditches, but commanded by a mountain within cannon
fhot. It Hands in a fine plain, and is adorned with
feveral good buildings, and on the mountain there is
an abbey. The magiftracy of this city, which is re-
chofen yearly on the 2d of January, is Lutheran ; and
the churches belong, fome to the Lutherans, and fome
to the Papifts. Both parties have the full and free1
exercife of their religion, whether the biftiop be Pro-
teftant or Papift. The bifhop’s palace, called Peterf-
bu’gh, was built by Biftiop Erneft Auguftus, brother to
King George I. It is well fortified and feparated from
the town by a bridge. It is a hexagon with a court
in the middle, and at each corner a turret. In the
town-houfe are ftill preferved the pi£lures of the ple¬
nipotentiaries that aftifted at the conferences there for
the famous treaty of Weftphalia. In the treafure of
the cathedral are ftill to be feen fome ornaments given
by Charlemagne, as alfo his crown, which is only of
fiiver gilt, and his comb and batoon, fix feet in length,
both of ivory; together w'ith other curiofities. Char¬
lemagne is faid to have erefted here a fchool for Latin
and Greek, which the Jefuits in 1625 converted into
an academy. They have the belt bread and beer that
is to be met with in all Weftphalia, and have a pretty
good trade in bacon and linen ; as alfo by brewing a
palatable thick fort of beer called bufe. This city is
noted for a treaty betwixt the emperor and the king
of Sweden in 1648, wherein the affairs of the Protef¬
tants were regulated, which was a branch of the treaty
of Weftphalia. The town, with the reft of the prin¬
cipality, is fubjeft to its bilhop, who is a count of the
empire, and by the treaty of Weftphalia muft be al¬
ternately a Proteftant and Papift. The Popilh bilhop
is fuffragan to the archbilhop of Cologne ; but the
Proteftant bilhop is indeed a temporal prince, and al¬
ways of the houfe of Brunfwie, in confideration of the
principality of Halberftat, w'hich was taken from this
houfe, and conferred upon the ele£lor of Brandenburg.
Frederic duke of York, fecond fon of his majefty
George III. is the prefent biftiop. The cathedral is
in the hands of the Roman Catholics, with the church
and monaftery of the Dominicans in the old city, and
the collegiate church of St John in the new. The
Proteftants are mailers of the great parochial church
of St Mary in the old city ; and both religions have
a voice in the eledlion of the magiftrates. Of 25 ca¬
nons belonging to the cathedral, 18 are Roman Ca¬
tholics, and the revenues of 4 more are enjoyed by the
Jefuits for the fupport of their college ; fo that there
are but 3 Proteftant canons, who have no voice in the
ele£lion of the Roman Catholic bilhop, when it is his
turn to iucceed. The biftiop’s palace is fortified like
a caftle: here it was that George I. was born on the
28th of May 1660, his- father Erneft Auguftus being
then bilhop and prince of the place ; and here alfo he
died in the night of the icth of June 1727, and, as
fome fay, in the very room in which he was born. The
bilhopric is fituated in the centre of the circle; the north
part of it is marlhy, and at the fouth extremity it
is mountainous. The inhabitants have confiderable
manufactures
O S O [ 574
Oinaburg manufaflures of linen and a good breed of cattle •> and
Oforius t^e’r ^°SS» ^or which they are remarkable, is made
1 1— the belt Weftphalia bacon. Not far from this city are
to be feen the ruins of an old church and cattle called
Bee/em, which fome fay was built, by King Witekind
upon his convertion ; and about two miles from it lies
the monaitery of Rulle, on the bank of a lake fo deep,
that report fays it could never yet be fathomed. This
was the firtt town in Wettphaiia which received the
Lutheran doctrine.
OSNABURG IJland, one of the iflands in the South fea,
difcovered by Captain Wallis in 1767. It is a high,
round iiland, not above a league in eircuit ; in fome
parts covered with trees, in others a naked rock. S. Lat.
22. 48 W. Long. 14. 34.
OSORIUS, Jerome, a Portuguefe ecclefiaftic, wras
born of a noble family at Lifbon, in 1500. He was
educated at the univerlity of Salamanca, and afterwards
ftudied at Paris and Bologna. On his return to Portu¬
gal he gradually rofe to the bilhopric of Sylves, to which
he was appointed by Catharine of Auftria, regent of the
kingdom in the minority of Sebaftian. At the requeft
of Cardinal Henry of Portugal, he wrote his hiftory of
King Emanuel, and the Expedition of Gama j which
his great contemporary Camoens made at the fame time
the fubjefl of his immortal Luliad 5 a poem which has
at length appeared with due luftre in our language,
being tranllated with great fpirit and elegance by Mr
Mickle. It is remarkable that the hiftory of Oforius,
and the epic poem of Camoens, were publiftied in the
fame year, 1572 : but the fate of thefe two great au¬
thors were very different ; the poet was fuffered to
perilh in poverty, under the reign of that Henry who
patronifed the hiftorian : yet allowing for the differ¬
ence of their profefiions, they poffeffed a fimilarity of
mind. There appear many traces of that high heroic
fpirit even in the prieft Oforius, which animated the
foldier Camoens ; particularly in the pleafure with
which he feems to deferibe the martial manners of his
countrymen under the reign of Emanuel. “ In that
age (fays the hiftorian in the clofe of his manly work),
poverty and fadnefs were banilhed from Portugal. Com¬
plaints were never heard *, but every place, from the
court to the cottage, refounded with mirth and mufic.
Illicit love was unknown j nor would the ladies liften
to the moft honourable addreffes of fuch youths as had
not fignalized themfelves in war. No young man about
court, however noble by birth, was permitted to wear
the drefs of manhood till he had paffed over into A-
frica, and thenoe brought back with him fome animal
efteemed for its rarity ; and fuch was the hardy edu¬
cation of the nobility in that age, that many of them
travelled everywhere in queft of adventures.” This
is a ftriking picture of the manners of chivalry, to
which Portugal owed much of its glory in that fplen-
did period. There is one particular in the character
' of Oforius, which, conlidering his age and country,
deferves the higheft encomium } and that is his tole¬
rating fpirit. In the firft book of his hiftory, he
fpeaks of Emanuel’s cruel perfecution of the Jews in
the following generous and exalted language : “ This
(fays he) was authorized neither by law nor by reli¬
gion. Can men be compelled to believe what they re-
je£I with abhorrence ? Do you take upon you to re¬
train the liberty of the will, or to fetter the under-
] OSS
ftanding ? Such an attempt muft be unfuccefsful; and
is not acceptable to Chrift, who expefts from man
devotion of the heart, and not that formal worlhip,
which is the offspring of pains and penalties. He
wiihes them to ftudy his religion, and accept it from
conviction, not from terror : for who does not fee that
forced belief is mere hypocrify ?” Oforius is laid to
have ufed many arguments to diffuade Sebaftian from
his unfortunate expedition into Africa, and to have
felt fo deeply the miferies which betel the Portuguefe
after that fatal event, that his grief was fuppofed to
accelerate his death. He expired in 1580, happy,
fays De I hou (who celebrates him as a model of Cbri-
flian virtue), that he died ju before the Spanith army
entered Portugal, and thus efcaped being a witnefs to
the defolation of his country.—His various works were
publiftied at Rome in 1592, by his nephew Oforius,
in four volumes folio, with a life of their author. A-
mong thefe are two remarkable productions ; the firft,
An Admonition to our Queen Elizabeth, exhorting her
to return into the Church of Rome } the lecond, An
Effay on Glory, written with fuch claffical purity, as
to give birth to a report, that it was not the compo-
fition of Oforius, but the laft work of Cicero on that
fubjeCf.
OSPREY. See Falco, Ornithology Index.
OSSA, a lofty mountain of Theffaly, near the Pe-
neus, which runs between this mountain and Olympus 5
famous in the fabulous ftory of the giants (Homer,
Virgil, Horace, Seneca, Ovid). The bending and un¬
bending of its pines, on the blowing of a ftrong north
wind, formed a claftiing found like thunder (Lucan),
It was once the refidence of the Centaurs, and w’as for¬
merly joined to Mount Olympus j but Hercules, as
fome report, feparated them, and made betw'een them
the celebrated valley of Tempe. This feparation of
the two mountains was more probably effected by an
earthquake which happened about 1885 years before
the Chriftian era. Its greateft celebrity arifes from its
being one of thofe mountains wbich the giants in their
wars againft the gods heaped up one on the other to
fcale the heavens with more facility. A towm of Mace¬
donia.
OSSAT, ArnaulI) DE, a learned French ecclefi¬
aftic, was born in the diocefe of Audi in 1 ^6, of
mean parentage, and was taken notice of by a gentle¬
man in the diocefe, who made him ftudy with his ward
the Lord of Caftlenan de Magnoac. He ftudied the
law at Dijon under Cujace, and applied himfelf to the
bar at Paris. He was fecretary at Rome to M. de
Foix, archbifhop of Thouloufe j to Cardinal Efte ; and
afterwards to Cardinal de Joyeufe, by the French king’s
exprefs command. After rifing to the higheft dignities
both in church and ftate, in 1599 he was created a car¬
dinal by Pope Clement VIII. He died in 1604. An
eminent French writer gives him the following charac¬
ter : “ He was a man of prodigious penetration •, ap¬
plied himfelf fo clofely to affairs, and efpecially was fo
judicious in forming his refolutions, that it is almoft im-
poftible to find out one falfe ftep in the many negocia-
tions in which he was concerned.” His works, a'nd
efpecially his letters, have been much efteemed in the
learned world.
OS SIAN, the fon of Fingal, a celebrated Celtic
poet, who ftourilhed about the end of the fecond and
beginning
OSS [ 575 ] OSS
©flian.
* OJfian's
Poems,
vol. i.
P VS-
beginning of the third century. Several incidents in
his poems point out this as his sera: particularly the
engagement of Fingal with Caracul, or Caracalla, £he
fon of the emperor Severus, flyled by Oflian, T/ie Son
of the King of the World. M. Tillemont fixes the ele¬
vation of Caracalla to a (hare in the government* to the
year 198, and the affociation of his brother Geta to
208. About which time Gibbon fixes the Caledonian
war, and fpeaks thus upon the fubjeft : “ This Ca¬
ledonian war, neither marked by decifive events, nor
attended with any important confequences, would ill
deferve our attention ; but it is fuppofed, not without
a confiderable degree of probability, that the invafion
of Severus is connefted with the moll Ihining period
of the Britilh hiftory or fable. Fingal, whole fame,
with that of his heroes and bards, has been revived in
our language by a recent publication, is faid to have
commanded the Caledonians in that memorable junc¬
ture, to have eluded the. power of Severus, and to
have obtained a fignal victory on the banks of the Ca-
run, in which the fon of the King of the World, Cara¬
cul, fled from his arms along the fields of his pride*.
Something of a doubtful mill ftill hangs over thefe
Highland traditions; nor can it be entirely difpelled
by the mofi: ingenious refearches pf modern criti-
cifm (a) ; but if we could with fafety indulge, the pleaf-
ing fuppofition that Fingal lived, and that Oflian
fung, the ftriking contrail: of the fituation and manners
of the contending nations might amufe a philofophic
mind. The parallel would be little to the advantage
of the more civilized people, if ive compared the un¬
relenting revenge of Severus with the generous cle¬
mency of Fingal; the timid and brutal cruelty of Ca¬
racalla, with the bravery, the tendernefs, the elegant
genius of Oflian *, the mercenary chiefs who, from mo¬
tives of fear or interelf, ferved under the Imperial
llandard, with the free-born Avarriors A\?ho llarted to
arms at the voice of the king of Morven : if, in a
Avord, Ave contemplated the untutored Caledonians
glowing with the Avarm virtues of nature, and the dege¬
nerate Romans polluted Avith the mean vices of wealth
and flavery.”
The date of this aftion, if the poems be true, is
rather confounding ; for the next expedition, Avhich is
produced to fix the time in which Oflian flourilhed,
was conduced by Ofcar (again!! the ufurped Carau-
fius, the Caros of Oflian), who did not aflume the
purple till fo late as the year 287. This account in¬
deed correfponds pretty well Avith the account gi¬
ven by Irifh hiftories, AA’hich place the death of Fin¬
gal in the year 283, and that of Ofcar (who died
many years before his father Oflian) in the year 296.
Thefe hints are not thrown out becaufe Ave think they
militate againft the authenticity of the poems •, for
ditlant though thefe dates be, it is yet poflible to re¬
concile them. Old age Avas and is very common in Olllan,
thofe'regions; and Oflian himfelf, we are told, was an ——v—”
inftance of great longevity. Indeed at fuch a diftance of
time, it cannot be expefted that Ave Ihould give either
a very particular or a very exaft account of Oflian and
his heroes. Were there no doubts remaining of the
truth of the fa£ts, it is ftill natural to fuppofe that
they mull have fuffered obfcurity through the ruft of
time, and above all through the negledl of the poems,
AA'hich till lately Avere unknown.
The firft expedition on which Oflian’s father fent
him Avas, to raife a ftone on the banks of Crona, to
perpetuate the memory of a victory Avhich the king of
Morven had obtained at that place. The Highlanders
talk of this as being emblematical of that immortality
which heroes Avere to receive from his future eompofi-
tions. In this expedition he Avas accompanied by-
Tofcar, father of the beautiful Malvina, the amiable
companion of his grief, after the death of her beloved
Ofcar, his fon. It appears from his poems, that in
one of his early expeditions to Ireland, he had fallen
in love Avith and married Evirallin, daughter to Bran-
no, petty king of Lego. “ I Avent in fuit of the maid
of Lego’s fable furge 5 twelve of my people were
there, the fons of itreamy Morven. We came to
Branno, friend of ftrangers ; Branno of the founding
mail.—‘ From Avhence (he faid) are the arms of fteel ?
Not eafy to Avin is the maid that has denied the blue¬
eyed fons of Erin. But bleft be thou, O fon of Fin¬
gal ! happy is the maid that Avails thee. Though
twelve daughters Avere mine, thine were the choice,
thou fon of fame.’—Then he opened the hall of the
maid *, the dark-haired Evirallin*.” This Evirallin # -pingal
Avas the mother of his fon Ofcar, Avhofe exploits he B. iv,
celebrates in many of his poems, and whofe death he
laments in the firft book of Temora. Evirallin died
fome time before Ofcar (Fingal, B. iv.), Avho feems
to have been her only child •, and Oflian did not marry
afterAvards j fo that his pofterity ended in the death
of Ofcar j Avho feems to have died as he was about to
be married to Malvina, the daughter of Tofcar. Se¬
veral of her lamentations for her lover are recorded by
Oflian, Avhich paint her grief in the ftrongeft and moft
beautiful colours. “It is the voice of my love ! few
are his vifits to my dreams.— But thou dAvelleft in the
foul of Malvina, fon of mighty Oflian. My fighs arife
with the beams of the eaft;. my tears defcend Avith
the drops of night. I Avas a lovely tree in thy pre¬
fence, Ofcar, with all my branches round me : but
thy death came like a blafl from thedefert, and laid my
green head low; the fpring returned Avith its (hoAvers,
but no green leaf of mine arofe.” Poem of Croma.
The principal refidence of Oflian Avas in the vale of
Cona, now Glenco, in Argylefliire. See Fingal.
His poems relate many of his expeditions to Ire¬
land,
(a) “ That the Caracul of Oflian is the Caracalla of the Roman hiftory, is perhaps the only point of Britifh
antiquity in which Mr Macpherfon and Mr Whitaker are of the fame opinion ; and yet the opinion is not with¬
out difficulty. In the Caledonian Avar, the fon of Severus was knoAvn only by the appellation of Antoninus ; and
it mav feem ilrange that the Highland bard fhould defcribe him by a nickname, invented four years aftenvards,
fcarcely ufed by the Romans till after the death of that emperor, and feldom employed by the moft ancient hifto-
rians. See Dion. lib. Ixxvii. p. 1317* Hill. Auguft. p. 89. Aurel. Vittor. Eufeb. iu Chron. ad ann. 214.
o s s
Antiqui¬
ties.
Offian. land, Scandinavia, Clyde, and Tw'eed or Tcutha. His
' v exploits on thefe occafions, after making a large al¬
lowance for poetical exaggeration, (how him to have
been no lefs a warrior than a poet : (See Ossian’s
Works, in the poems Cult horn and Colmal, Lath man,
Berrathon, &c.). By thefe expeditions, which were al¬
ways undertaken for the relief of the diftrelfed, the
, mind of OiTian feems to have been cultivated and en¬
larged beyond what is ufually to be met with in fo
rude a period of fociety as that in which he lived. His
poems breathe, throughout, fuch a fpirit of generofity
and tendernefs, efpeeially towards the fair fex, as is
feldom or never to be met with in the compofitions of
other poets who lived in a more advanced ftate of civi¬
lization. He lived to an extreme old age ; having fur-
vived all his family and friends, many of whom perifh*
ed by a fatal accident, recorded in one of Ins poems
*See Gaelic caned the fall of Turn*. Malvina alone, the love of
his fon Ofcar, remained with him till within a few
years of his death, and paid him every attention that
could be expected from the tender relation in which
x the flood to him. To her he addreffes many of his
poems, which feem to have been compofed for the raoft
part in his old age. Her death is pathetically la¬
mented by him in the poem of Berrathon : towards the
clofe of which, he gives the prefages of his own de¬
parture •, an event which he often withes for, under the
blindnefs and other calamities of his declining years.
“ Roll on, ye dark brown years, for ye bring no joy
on your courfe. Let the tomb open to Oflian, for
his flrength has failed. The fons of the fong are gone
to reft : my voice remains, like a blaft, that roars
lonely, on the fea furrounded rock, after the winds
are laid. The dark mofs whittles there, and the di-
f Poem of ftant mariner fees the waving trees f.”—“ But Ofiian
Berrathon. is a tree that is withered. Its branches are blafted
and bare ; no green leaf covers its boughs. From its
trunk no young fhoot is feen to fpring. The breeze
whiftles in its gray mofs : the blaft (hakes its head of
ages.—The ftorm will foon overturn it, and drew all its
dry branches with thee, O Dermid ! and with all the
reft of the mighty dead, in the green winding vale of
$ Gaelic Cona J.”
Antiqui- it is not certain at what age Oftian died ; but from
cfDet’mid ^av*nS been long blind with years, and from the
many contrails between his prefent and paft fituations,
in poems compofed, as it would appear, at a confiderable
diftance of time from each other, it is mod likely he
lived to an extreme old age. The current tradition is,
that he died in the houfe of a Culdee, called the Son of
Alpin, with whom he is faid to have held feveral con¬
ferences about the dodtrines of Chriftaanity. One of
thefe dialogues is (till preferved, and bears the genuine
marks of a very remote antiquity •, (Dijfertation pre¬
fixed to 0/fan's Works/). Several of Oflian’s poems are
addrefled to this fon of Alpin, -who was probably one of
thofe Chriftians whom the perfecution under Dioclefian
had driven beyond the pale of the Roman empire.
The poems of Offian, though always held in the
higheft efteem by thofe who knew them, were allowed
to remain in the obfcurity of their original Gaelic, till
Mr Macpherfon, above 40 years ago, tranfiated a col¬
legium of them into Englifh, which immediately at-
tradled the attention of every perfon who had a true
tafte for poetry. Dr Blair, in particular, introduced
r 576 1
OSS
thefe poems into the world with thofe critical remarks Offiasf.
which do no lefs honour to bimfelf than to the poet. v—
According to that eminent critic, the two great cha-
racleriftics of Oftian’s poetry are tendernefs and fub-
limity. Oflian is, perhaps, the only poet who never
relaxes, or lets himlelf down into the light and amu-
fing drain. He moves perpetually in the high region
of the grand and pathetic. The events which he re¬
cords are all ferious and grave ; the feenery wild and
romantic. We find not in him an imagination that
fports itfelf, and dreffes out gay trifles to pleafe the
fancy. His poetry, more perhaps than that of any
other, deferves to be ftyled the poetry of the heart. It
is a heart penetrated with noble fentiments, with fub-
lime and tender paflions 5 a heart that glows and kindles
the fancy $ a heart that is full, and pours itfelf forth.
Of all the great poets, Homer is the one whofe manner
and whofe times come the nearefl to OiTian’s. Homer’s
ideas were more enlarged, and his charadlers more di-
verfified. Oftian’s ideas fewer, but of the kind fitted
for poetry j the bravery and generofity of heroes, the
tendernefs of lovers, and the attachment of friends.
Homer is diffufc •, Oftian abrupt and concife. His
images are a blaze of lightning, which flafh and
vaniih. , Homer has more of impetuofity and fire $
Oftian of a folemn and awful grandeur. In the pathe¬
tic, Homer has a great power ; but Oflian exerts that
power much oftener, and has the charaffer of ten¬
dernefs more deeply imprinted on his works. No
poet knew better how to feize and melt the heart.
With regard to dignity of fentimenf, we mutt be fur-
prifed to find that the pre-eminence muft clearly be
given to the Celtic bard. This appears nowhere more
remarkable than in the fentiments which he exprefles
towards his enemies. “ Uthal fell beneath my fword,
and the fons of Berrathon fled.—It was then I faw
him in his beauty, and the tear hung in my eye.
Thou art fallen, young tree, I faid, with all thy beau¬
ty round thee. Thou art fallen on thy plains, and
the field is bare. The winds come from the defert,
and there is no found in thy leaves ! Lovely art thou
in death, fon of car-borne Larthmore His fup- * OJJiadt
pofition, that all the little feuds and differences ol^rks,
this life fhould be forgotten in a future ftate, and thatPoem ,
thofe who had once been foes would ftretch their ^e'rat &
arms to the fame (hell in Loda,” gives us the higheft
idea of the man as well as of the poet. “ Daughter
of beauty, thou art low ! A ftrange fhore receives thy
corfe. But the ghofts of Morven will open their halls
when they fee thee coming. Heroes around the feaft
of dim (hells, in the midft of clouds (hall admire thee ;
and virgins (hall touch the harp of mift f.” “ The f Gaelic
feuds of other years by the mighty dead are forgotten.
The warriors now meet in peace, and ride together*"’ P0®11^
on the tempeft’s wing. No clang of the fhield, no0 *ruta'
noife of the fpear, is heard in their peaceful dwellings.
Side by fide they fit, who once mixed in battle their
fteel. There, Lochlin and Morven meet at the mutual
feaft, and liften together to the fong of their bards J.” j ^ p0enJ
But the fublimity of moral fentiments, if they want-of Dargo.
ed the foftening of the tender, would be in hazard of
giving a ftiff air to poetry. It is not enough that we
admire. Admiration is a cold feeling in comparifon
of that deep intereft the heart takes *in tender and pa¬
thetic feenes. With feenes of this kind Oflian abounds ;
and
OSS [ 577 1 OSS
OiTian. and his high merit in thefe is inconteflable. He may
■—'Tm—J be blamed for drawing tears too often from our eyes ;
but that he has the power of commanding them no man
who has the lead: fenlibility can queilion. His poems
awake the tendered fympathies, and infpire the mod ge*
nerous emotions. No reader can rife from him without
being warmed by the fentiments of humanity, virtue,
and honour.
But the excellency of thefe poems occafioned in many
perfons a doubt of their authenticity. Their genuine-
nefs, however, has been very ably defended by Dr Blair
and Lord Karnes, and warmly fupported by the author
of the Gaelic Antiquities, who has given the public fome
more remains of Gilian’s poetry.
As the nature of our work will not allow us to
treat this matter at full length, we drall only give a
brief view of the arguments offered in fupport of the
authenticity of thefe poems, referring our readers to
the authors jud now mentioned and others, for fuller
fatisfadfion.
“ In every period of fociety (fays Dr Blair), human
manners are a curious fpedtacle •, and the mod natural
pidtures of ancient manners are exhibited in the ancient
poems of nations. Thefe make us acquainted with the
notions and feelings of our fellow-creatures in the mod
artlefs ages •, difcovering what objedds they admired,
and what pleafures they purfued, before thofe refine¬
ments of fociety had taken place, which enlarge indeed,
and diverfify the tranfadtions, but difguife the manners
of mankind.
“ Befides this, ancient poems have another merit with
perfons of tade. They promife fome of the highed
beauties of poetical writing. That date, in which hu¬
man nature (hoots wild and free, though unfit for other
improvements, certainly encourages the high exertions
of fancy and padion.
“ In the infancy of focieties the paffions of men have
nothing to redrain them ; their imagination has no¬
thing to check it. And as their feelings are drong,
fo their language of itfelf aflumes a poetical turn.
Men never have ufed fo many figures of dyle, as in
thofe rude ages, when, befides a warm imagination
to fugged lively images, the want of proper and pre-
cife terms for the ideas they would exprefs, obliged
them to have recourfe to circumlocution, metaphor,
comparifon, and all thofe fubdituted forms of expref-
fion, which give a poetical air to language. An A-
merican chief, at this day, harangues at the head of
his tribe in a more bold metaphorical dyle than a
modern European would adventure to ufc in an epic
poem.
“ Poetry has been faid to be more ancient than profe,
which, in a qualified fenfe, is true. Mufic or fong
has been found coeval with fociety among the mod
barbarous nations •, and the only fubjedts which could
prompt men, in their fird rude date, to utter their
thoughts in compofitions of any length, were fuch as
naturally aflumed the tone of poetry ; praifes of their
gods, or of their anceffors •, commemorations of their
own warlike exploits •, or lamentations over their mif-
fortunes. And before writing was invented, no other
compofitions, except fongs or poems, could take fuch
hold of the imagination and memory, as to be preferved
by oral tradition, and handed down from one race to
another.
Vol. XV. Part II.
“ Hence we may expedt to find poems among the an- ( Oflian.
tiquities of all nations. It is probable, too, than an ex- 'r~~‘
tenfive fearch would difcover a certain degree of refem-
blance among all the mod ancient poetical produdKons,
from whatever country they have proceeded. In a fi-
milar date of manners, fimilar objedts and paffions ope¬
rating upon the imaginations of men, will damp their
produdtions with the fame general charadter. Some di-
verfity will, no doubt, be occafioned by climate and
genius. But mankind never bear fuch refembling fea¬
tures as they do in the beginnings of fociety. What wTe
call the oriental vein of poetry, becaufe the earlied poe¬
tical produdKons have come to us from the ead, is pro¬
bably no more oriental than occidental; it is charadter-
idical of an age rather than a country ; and belongs, in
fome meafure, to all nations at a certain period. Of
this the works of Offian feem to furniffi a remarkable
proof.
“ He appears clearly to have lived in a period which
enjoyed all the benefit I have jud now mentioned of
traditionary poetry. The exploits of Trathal, Trenmor-,
and the other ancedors of Fingal, are fpoken of as fami¬
liarly known. Ancient bards are frequently alluded'to.
In one remarkable paflage, Oflian deferibes himfelf as
living in a fort of claflical age, enlightened by the me¬
morials of former times, conveyed in the fongs of bards,
and points at a period of ignorance which lay beyond
the reach of tradition. Oflian himfelf appears to have
been endowed by nature with exquifite fenfibility; prone
to that tender melancholy which is fo often an attendant
on great genius j and fufceptible equally of flrong and
of foft emotions. He was not only a profefled bard, but
a warrior alfo, and the fon of the mod renowned hero
and prince of his age. This formed a conjunflion of
circumdances, uncommonly favourable towards exalting
the imagination of a poet.
“ The manners of Oflian’s age w^ere favourable to a
poetical genius. Covetoufnefs and effeminacy were un¬
known. The cares of men were few. The great object
purfaed by heroic fpirits, was, ‘ to receive their fame,’
that is, to become worthy of being celebrated in the
fongs of bards *, and ‘ to have their names on the four
gray flones.’ To die unlamented by a bard was deemed
fo great a misfortune as even to didurb their ghofls in
another date. In fuch times as thefe, in a country
where poetry had been fo long cultivated, and fo highly
honoured, is it any wonder that, among the race and
fucceflion of bards, one Homer flrould arife : a man who,
endowed with a natural, happy genius, favoured by pe¬
culiar advantages of birth and condition, and meeting,
in the courfe of his life, with a variety of incidents pro¬
per to fire his imagination, and to touch his heart, fhould
attain a degree of eminence in poetry, worthy to draw
the admiration of more refined ages i1”
Befides, his compofitions, when viewed in themfelves,
have, we are told, all the internal marks of antiquity fo
ftrongly impreffed upon them, that no reader of tafte
and judgment can deny their claim to it. They exhi¬
bit fo lively a picture of cuffoms which have difappeared
for ages, as could be drawn only from nature and real
life. The features are fo diffin£t, that few portraits of
the life continually paffing before us are found to be
drawn with fo much likenefs. The manners uniformly
relate to a very early ftage of fociety ; and no hint, no
allufion to the arts, cuffoms, or manners, of a more ad-
4 D vanced
OSS
Offian.
vanced period, appears throughout the poems. To that
diflindion of ranks, which is always found in adult fo-
cieties, the poet appears to have been a perfedt ftranger.
The firft heroes prepare their own repafts, and indifcri-
minately condefcend to the molt menial fervices. Their
quarrels arife from caufes generally flight, but in fuch a
period extremely natural. A rivalfhip in love, an omif-
lion at a feaft, or an affront at a tournament, are often
the foundation of a quarrel among Angle heroes. And
the wars in which whole tribes are engaged, are carried
on with a view, not to enlarge their territory, but to
revenge perhaps the killing of a few deer on their moun¬
tains, or the taking forcibly array one of their women.
Their occupation was war and hunting ; and their chief
ambition was to have their fame in the fongs of the
bards.
The notions of a future ftate, exhibited in thefe poems,
are likewife ftrongly marked with the charafter of an¬
tiquity. A creed fo uncommon, that the imagination
of a modern could not be fuppofed to grafp fo ftrong an
idea of it from mere fancy, is uniformly fupported
throughout. This creed is extremely Ample, but admi¬
rably fuited to the times.
The language, too, and the ftrufture, of thefe poems,
bear the mofl: linking charadters of antiquity. The lan¬
guage is bold, animated, and metaphorical, fuch as it is
found to be in all infant ftates ; where the words, as
well as the ideas and objedls, muft be few ; and where
the language, like the imagination, is ftrong and undif-
ciplined. No abftracl, and few general, terms appear
in the poems of Oflian. If objedls are but introduced
in a Amile, they are always particularized. It is “ the
young pine of Inilhuna it is “ the bow of the fhowery
Lena.” This charadler, fo confpicuous in the poems of
Oflian, is a ftriking feature in the language of all early
ftates; whofe objedls and ideas are few and particular,
and whofe ordinary converfation is of courfe highly A-
gurative and poetical. A piclure, therefore, marked
with fuch ftriking features, could not be drawn without
an original.
The whole texture of the compoAtion is alfo, like the
language, bold, nervous, and concife 5 yet always plain
and artlefs •, without any thing of that modern reflne-
ment, or elaborate decoration, which attend the ad¬
vancement of literature. No foreign ornaments are
hunted after. The wild and grand nature which lay
within the poet’s view, is the only fource from which
he draws his ornaments. Beyond this circle, his ima¬
gination, though quick and rapid, feldom made any ex-
curfton. We perceive his language always to be that
of a perfon who faw and felt what he defcribes j who
bore a part in the expeditions which he celebrates, and
who fought in the battles which he flngs. Such is the
nature of the internal proof adduced in the prefent cafe,
which unqueftionably has weight, and that not inconfl-
derable ; but unfupported by external proof, or contrary
to fafts, however forcible it may be in itfelf, when con-
Adered in this connection, and found wanting, it will
neither Alence the querulous fceptic, nor, in all probabi¬
lity, will it ever convince thofe who have truth for their
obje£l, and who wi{h to inveftigate, and, if poflible, dif-
cpver it on furer grounds. Internal proof is of the
greateft fervice in a variety of excellent caufes ; but it
comes in rather as a fuccedaneum than as direCt evi
dence j and without fomething more to the purpofe, it
3
[ 578 ]
OSS
may excite admiration, but will feldom enforce belief. Offian.
Of the cuftoms and manners of ancient times we know v——'
but little, and of that little we have often but a confu-
fed notion. There is therefore room for genius and abi¬
lity to exert itfelf in deceiving *, and in proportion to the
darknefs in which the fubjeCl is involved, the deception
will generally be the more complete, and the fecret
windings of error lefs eafy to be developed.
Deftitute of external proof, authenticity may appear
to be probable, but cannot be certain 5 and in fuch cir-
cumftances, on many occaAons, and efpecially with re-
fpeft to ancient writings, we may, without any offence
to truth or to found reafoning, give them up as fpurious.
In the prefent inftance, therefore, it is juft and proper
to add to what has been already laid, the more external,
and.pofttive proofs of the authenticity of the poems in
queftion, by the ftrength or weaknefs of which the fub-
jefl muft be Anally determined. It is obferved, there¬
fore, That there have been in the Highlands of Scot¬
land, for fome ages back, a vaft many poems aferibed
to Oflian : That thefe poems have been held in the
higheft veneration, repeated by almoft all perfons, and
on all occaAons. Thefe are fafts fo well known, that no¬
body as yet has been hardy enough to deny them.
There is not an old man in the Highlands, v;ho will
not declare, that he heard fuch poems repeated by his
father and grandfather rs pieces of the moft remote an¬
tiquity. There is not a diftridft in the Highlands where
there are not many places, waters, ifles, caves, and
mountains, which from time immemorial are called af¬
ter the names of Oflian’s heroes.—There is not a lover
of ancient tale or poetry, however illiterate, who is not
well acquainted with almoft every Angle name, charac¬
ter, and incident, mentioned in thofe tranflations of Of-
Aan’s poems, which he may have' never heard of.—-
Bards, who are themfclve? feveral centuries old, quote
thofe poems, imitate them, and refer to them.—The or¬
dinary converfation and comparifons of the Highlanders
frequently allude to the cuftoms and charadlers mention¬
ed in them •,—and many of their molt common proverbs,
eftablithed by the moft/ancient ufe, are lines borrowed
from the poems of Oflian *.—The moft ancient of the * See ex¬
clans boaft of deriving their pedigree, each from fome amples un-
one of Oflian’s heroes j—and many of the ftgns armo-^er/.eac^1 ok
* rial affumed by them, are drawn from the feats aferibed^
to their predeceffors in thofe poems f. Manufcripts are uv Antiqui-
mentioned, in which fome of thofe have been preferved ties, p. 93,
for feveral centuries |; and a lift of living names, in 94* 95-
different parts of the Highlands, is appealed to, as per- ^ ■
fons who ftill repeat a part of thefe poems [j. Whilft 4'm
Mr Macpherfon was engaged in the tranflation, many t Karnes's
refpedtable perfons, gentlemen and clergymen, avowed Sketches,
to the public, that thefe were Oflian’s poems, with \
which they had long been acquainted, and that the^^^^
tranflation was literal §. This appears alfo from thep. 95, 12’s.
large fpecimens of the originals publilhed and compared § See lift of
by proper judges. The originals lay a confiderablenames’^
time in the hands of the bookfeller, for the infpeftion of jjr"
the curious ; they have been afterwards ftiown frequent- Dificrta-
ly to many of the bell judges, and offered for publica-tion, Op¬
tion if the editor had been favoured with fubferiptions.fl7Z J Works,
1 he editor of the pamphlet, in which their authenticity 2d
is altefted by many refpedlable names of undoubted ve¬
racity, obferves, by way of concluftcn, “ that more tef-
timonics might have been produced by a more enlarged
correfpondence
OSS [ 579 ] OSS.
Offian. correfpondence with the Highland counties: But I ap-
prehend, if any apology is neceffary, it is for producing
fo many names in a queftion where the confenting filence
of a whole country was, to every unprejudiced perfon,
the ftrongelt proof that fpurious compofitions, in the
name of that country, had not been obtruded upon the
world.” It is like wife argued in fupport of the authen¬
ticity of thefe poems, that candid fceptics, on hearing
fome of them repeated by illiterate perfons, who had ne¬
ver feen the tranflation, caufed them to give the mean¬
ing of what they repeated, by an extempore translation
into Englifh, and by this means had all their doubts of
* Pref. to the authenticity of Offian removed *. They urge fur-
Dr Percy’s _ther, that fuch paffages of Offian’s works as are Hill re-
f)nlV‘eS-°hPeated by fome old men, are among the molt beautiful
Poetryf 'J ^ parts of Offian’s poems ; fuch as the battle of Lora, the
lit edit. moft affefting parts of Carthon, Berrathon, the death
of Ofear, and Darthula, or the children of Ufnoth, &c.;
which gives a credibility to his being equal to the other
parts of the colledlion, none of it being fuperior to thefe
in merit.
To thefe'and the like arguments advanced in fupport
of the authenticity of the poems aferibed to Offian, ma¬
ny objedlions have been urged. Thofe of Johnfon and
Pinkerton.h'3 frien<l Shaw are universally known. A later writer
objects to them in the following manner : No fragments
of Britiffi poetry in Scotland are to be found. Many
fpecimens of Irifh poetry in Scotland have been publiffi-
ed ; but none older than a century or two. Tranfla-
tions have alfo appeared ; but, in general, of no fidelity.
Thofe of the poems aferibed to Offian, in particular,
have defervedly drawn much of the public attention $
but they will only mifiead any reader who wiffies to form
an idea of Celtic poetry. He that believes Offian to
have flourifhed about the year 300, and his writings pre-
ferved by oral tradition for 1460 years, large is his faith,
and he might move mountains! Gentlemen of the High¬
lands of Scotland, with whom our author converfed on
the fubjedl, affured him, that they looked upon nine-
tenths of Mr Macpherfon’s work as his own ; and up¬
on the other tenth, asfo much changed by him, that all
might be regarded as his own compofition. There are
pofitive evidences, he fays, which convince him that not
one of the poems given to Offian, and probably not one
paffage of them, is older than the 1 5th century. The
very firfi: author we know who mentions Fingal, is Bar¬
bour, a Scotch poet, who wrote in 1375. Fingal was
an Irifh hero : and one Good, a fchoolmafier of Lime¬
rick, fent fome account of Ireland to Camden, in 1566,
in which mention is made of fome flrange fables, that
the people amufe themfelves with, about the “ giants
Fin Mac Hmj/e, and Other Mac Ofljin,'1' of which we
ffiall fpeak more largely prefently. In the moan time,
to thefe and fuch like obje&ions, it has been anfwxred,
That poetry has been cultivated with moft fuccefs in the
earlieft ages of fociety •, that in Greece, Orpheus, Li¬
nus, Hefiod, and Homer, wrote their admirable poems
fome ages before any thing had been written in profe in
the Greek language •, that the book of Job, written in
a very early period of fociety, is highly poetical 5 that
among the tribes of Lapland and America, there have
been found, in the earlieft ftate, fome excellent pieces
of poetry. That the Caledonians, in particular, had
fome peculiar inftitutions, which tended to improve their
poetry: their druids were among the moft learned phi-
lofophers which perhaps any age or country produced j Offian.
their bards or poets were the difciples of thofe druids,
and were always a {landing order, to which none but
the moft promifing geniufes were admitted. This Hand¬
ing college of poets was furniftied, not only w ith the
fruits of their own long ftudy and obfervation, but alfo
with as much as merited to be preferved of the compofi¬
tions of their predeceffors in office, fince the “ light of
the fong” firit dawmed. They had the advantage of one
another’s converfation ; which would excite their emu¬
lation, and make them alpire to eminence : They wTere
always prefent, and generally engaged, in every grand
operation that v'as tranfadled *, which could not fail to
infpire their mufe with the trueft poetic fire.
The cafe of Offian was particularly favourable. He
lived in an age when manners came to a confiderable
degree of refinement under the care of the bards and
druids. Poetry in his day was confiderably advanced ;
and the language, though llrong and figurative, had
undergone fome degree of cultivation, and learned to
flow in regular numbers, adapted to the harp, ^he fa¬
vourite inftrument of the times. As a prince and a war¬
rior, his mind muft have been expanded and much en¬
larged by his excurfions to other countries. At home
he had Ullin, Alpin, Carril, and Ryno, to converfe with j
all of them poets of eminence, who would have advan¬
ced him greatly by their example and converfation. All
thefe advantages, meeting with a native fire and enthu-
fiafm of genius, as in the cafe of Offian, may well be
fuppofed to have produced poems that might challenge
the veneration of ages.
But it is not to their merit alone that we owe the
prefervation of thefe poems fo long by oral tradition.
Other circumftances concurred ; of which, the infti-
tution of the Bards deferves particular notice. In a
country, the only one perhaps in the world in which
there was always, from the earlieft period almoft to
the prefent age, a Handing order of poets, vTe can¬
not reafonably be furprifed, either at finding excellent
poems compofed, or, after being compofed, carefully
preferved from oblivion. A great part of the bufi-
nefs of this order was to watch over the poems of
Offian. In every family of diftinftion there was al¬
ways one principal bard, and a number of difciples,
who vied with each other in having thefe poems in
the greateft perfe61ion. Should the inftitution of the
bards laft for ever, the poems of Offian could never
periffi.
Nor were they only the bards of great families who
took an intereft in thefe poems •, the vaffal, equally
fond of the fong with his fuperior, entertained him-
felf in the fame manner. This, with a life free from
care, a fpirit unbroken by labour, and a fpace of time
unoccupied by any other employment or diverfion, con¬
tributed to render the Highlanders a nation of fingers
and poets. From fuch a people, the fuperior merit of
Offian’s poems would naturally procure every encourage¬
ment, which they always retained as long as the manners
of the people remained unchanged.
Many other reafons confpired to preferve the poems
of Offian. The martial and intrepid fpirit which they
breathed, made it the intereft of the chieftains to pre¬
ferve them : the ftrain of juftice, generofity, and hu¬
manity, which runs through them, recommended them
to the fuperintendants of religion, who well knew how
4 D 2 much
OSS [ 580 ] OSS
Offian. much the morals of a people muft he tin&ured with
thofe fongs which they are continually repeating, and
which have all the advantages of poetry and of mufic.
In fuperflitious ages, the people revered thefe poems,
from their being addreffed generally to fome “ fon of
the rock,” fuppofed to be the tutelar faint of the
place, or the great-Irilh apoflle St Patrick. Beiides,
every hill and dale which the natives of the Highlands
walked over, was claffic ground. Every mountain,
rock, and river, was immortalized in the fong. This
fong would naturally be fuggelled by the fight of thefe
objects, and every body would hum it as he walked
along. All the proverbs and cuftoms to which thefe
poems gave rife, would operate in the fame manner.
The fon would aik what they meant, and the father
would repeat the fong from which they were taken.
The diftindt and unfubdued ftate in which the High¬
landers remained for fo long a courfe of ages, every
clan, one generation after another, inhabiting the fame
valley, till towards the prefeut century, contributed
much to prcferve their traditions and their poems •, and
the conftant and general cuftom of repeating thefe in
the winter nights, kept them always alive in their re¬
membrance.
To thefe caufes and cuftoms the prefervation of
Oftian’s poems, for fo many ages, has been afcribed.
But thefe caufes and cuftom'- have ceafed to exift ; and
the poems of Offian, of courfe, have ceaftd to be re¬
peated.—Within a century back, the Highlands of
Scotland have undergone a greater revolution than it
had done for ten before that period. With a quicker
pace the feudal fyftem vaniHied •, property ftudluated •,
new laws and new cuiioms ftept in, and fupplantcd
the old : and all this, with fuch fudden and luch vio¬
lent convulfions, as may well account for the Ihaking
of a fabric which had flood fo many ages, that it
feemed to have bidden defiance to all the injuries of
time. Even fince Mr Macpherfon gathered the poems
in his collection, the amufements, employments, and
tafte of the Highlanders are much altered. A greater
attention to commerce, agriculture, and pafturage, has
quite engrofled that partial attention which was paid,
even then, to the fong of the bard. In twenty years
hence, if manners continue to change fo fall as they
do at prefent, the fainteft traces will fcarce be found
of thofe tales and poems. “ Oftian himfelf is the laft
of his race 5 and he too ftiall foon be no more, for
his gray branches are already itrewed on all the
winds.”
' Among the eaufes w7hich make thefe poems vanifti
fo rapidly, poverty and the iron rod fhould come in
for a large (hare. From the baneful fhade of thofe
murderers of the nwfe, the light of the fong muft fall
retire. No other reafon needs be given why the pre¬
fent Highlanders negleCt fo much the fongs of their
fathers.—Once, the humble, but happy vaflal, fat at
his cafe, at the foot of his grey rock or green tree.
Few -were his wants, and fewer ftill his cares ; for he
beheld his herds fporting around him, on his then un-
meafured mountain. He hummed the carelefs fong,
and tuned his harp with joy, while his foul in filence
blelfed his children.—Now, we were going to draw’ the
comparifon :
 fed Cynthius aurem
Velht et admonuit.
It is more agreeable to remark, as another caufe for OflW.'
the negleft of ancient poems and traditions, the growth t---y—
of induftry, which fills up all the blanks of time to
more advantage, and efpecially the increafe of more
ufeful knowledge.— But above all, the extinction of
the order of the bards haftened the cataftrophe of Of-
fian’s poems. By a happy coincidence Maepherfon
overtook the lait that remained of this order, (Mac-
vaurich, bard to Clanronald), and got his treafure. This
faCt (with the red book furniihed by Mr Macdonald of
Croidart, and fome other MSS.) accounts for Mr Mac-
pherfon’s having found thefe poems in greater number
and perfection, than they could ever fince be met with.
The fragments, however, which have lince been gather¬
ed, give a credibility to every thing that has been faid
of the original grandeur of the building.
Although this difquifition has already extended to
a length which readers not partial to Scottiftr antiqui¬
ties will perhaps think too great, we cannot difniiis
it without obferving, that Fingal and Oflian have been
claimed by the Irilh as well as by the Caledonians.
On this double claim, as well as on the eontroverfy
concerning the authenticity of the poems, there is
fo much candour and good fenfe in the following re¬
marks of T F. Hill, publilhed in the 53d volume of
the Gentleman’s Magazine, that we cannot deny our-
felves the pleafure of making them conclude the ar-
iielt*.
Mr Hill travelled through the Highlands of Scot¬
land during the fummer months of 1780. He feems
to have been very ardent in his inquiries concern¬
ing Oftian, and to have conducted thofe inquiries
with great judgment. The confequence was, that he
received different accounts in different places, and
picked up various fongs relating to Fingal and his
heroes.
“ From this colleflion, it is evident (fays he) that
there are many traditional fongs preierved in the High¬
lands relating to Fingal and his heroes, as well as to
feveral other fubji £ls. It is aifo evident, that thefe
fongs contain portions of the very poems publifhed by
Mr Macpherfon and Mr Smith, under the name of
Ofjian. We may therefore juflly conclude, that thefe
poems are not wholly the forgery of their editors, but
compiled at leaf! from original longs. I by no means
think it worth ray while to notice ihe various concef-
fions in favour of this conclufion, which the minor anta-
gonifts of Offian have of late been forced to make. I
myfelf have given proofs of it, which need I hope no ex¬
ternal confirmation. To thele proofs might be added,
that I met with many traditional preft rvers of thefe
fongs, in every different part of the Highlands : feme
of whom, efpecially in Argylelhire, Locbaber, and on
the reft of the weftern eoaft, were faid to poffefs various
poems attributed to Oflian, although 1 had neithtr iei-
fure nor opportunity to collect copies from them.—But
enough has already been faid on this fubjeft, if my teiii-
mony delerves regard.
“ Thefe principles being eftabbfhed, it remains to be
eonfidered how far the poems publifhtd by Macpher¬
fon and Smith deferve to be confidered as the works of
Offian.
“ The fongs attributed to that bard, which contain
paffages of the Offian of Macpherfon and Smith, are by
no means uniformly confiftent with the poems in which
the
2
OSS [58
Offian. the parallel palTages are found, but frequently relate to
—v ' different events, and even contain different circumftances.
From hence it feems molt probable, that Mr Macpher-
fon and Mr Smith compiled their publications from thofe
parts of the Highland fongs which they molt approved,
combining them into fuch forms as according to their
ideas were molt excellent, and preferving the old names
and the leading events. In this procefs they were fup-
ported and encouraged by the variety of fongs preferved
in the Highlands upon the fame fubjeft, and by the
various modes in which the fame event is related. Mr
Macpherfon may indeed have MSS. of all the poems he
has publilhed ; which MSS. may either have been com¬
piled by himfelf, or by fome former colleflor ; or they
may poffibly contain entire poems really ancient. But
Mr Smith has honeftly acknotvledged, that he himfelf
compiled his Oflian in the manner above deferibed.
‘ After the materials w'ere colledled (fays he), the next
labour was to compare the different editions ; to ftrike
off feveral parts that were manifeflly fpurious • to bring
together fome epifodes that appeared to have a relation
to one another, though repeated feparately •, and reffore
to their proper places fome incidents that feemed to have
run from one poem to another:—and hence it was una¬
voidably neceffary to throw in fometimes a few lines or
fentences to join fome of the epifodes together.—I am
fenfible that the form of thefe poems is confiderably al¬
tered from what is found in any one of the editions from
which they are compiled. They have affumed fomewhat
more of the appearance of regularity and art—than that
bold and irregular manner in which they are originally
delivered.1
" “ Mr Smith alfo fpeaks of the Offian of Mr Macpher¬
fon in a fomewhat fimilar manner ; ‘ That we have
not the whole of the poems of Offian, or even of the
collefHon tranflated by Mr Macpherfon, we allow :
yet ftill we have many of them, and.of almoft all a
part. The building is not entire, but we have ftill the
grand ruins of it.1
“ What portion, therefore, of the Offian of Macpher¬
fon and Smith is original, no man can determine except
themfelves. Smith indeed fays, that he has mentioned
all his material alterations, tranfpofitions, and additions,
in his notes; and that,yor the mqft part, he was guided
in them by the Sgeulachds, or traditionary tales accom¬
panying the fongs ; but there are few fuch notes in his
book, and perhaps as few fuch Sgeulachds in the mouths
of the Highlanders. In Macpherfon and Smith alfo we
fee thefe poems diverted of their idiomatic peculiarities
and fabulous ornaments; which renders it impoflible to
difeover what manners and opinions are really ancient,
and what are of modern invention. Yet it is remarkable,
that in fpite of all the objections to their authenticity,
neceflarily produced by fuch a treatment of them, they
ftill poffefs an internal evidence of originality which has
enabled them hitherto to withftand all the torrent of op-
pofition.
“ The Oflian of Macpherfon and Smith appears there-
r ] oss
fore to be a mutilated work, even though we fhould fup-
pofe that the fongs they originally compiled from were
the undoubted works of that celebrated bard. But this
is far from being the cafe ; for even allowing that an
Oflian ever exifted and wrote, yet time mull have intro¬
duced fuch material changes in his works if preferved
merely by tradition during fo long a period, that their
own author would hardly know them again. I think it
however doubtful, whether fuch a being as Offian ever
appeared in the world.
“ All the fongs which I met with in the Highlands
relative to the Feinne or Fingalians were attributed to
Offian : his name feems merely a common title, which
is aferibed to all the poetic annals of his race.
“ From thefeconfiderations, we feem authorized finally
to conclude, that the Offian of Macpherfon and Smith
is a mutilated compilation from Highland fongs, aferibed
indeed to that bard, yet very little likely to be his com-
pofition. Out of thefe they feleCled the bell parts, and
rejefted fuch as they thought might diferedit the cha¬
racter of Highland antiquity ; attributing them to later
times, and the ignorant bards of the fifteenth century.
Perhaps even the works of Homer himfelf, which had fo
many different editions, very confiderably varying from
each other, were compiled by a fomewhat fimilar procefs
from the ancient Greek fongs.
“ Another queftion remains to be confidered : Whe¬
ther thefe fongs are the compofilions of the Highlands
or of Ireland ; and, whether Oflian was an Irilh or a
Caledonian Scot ? It is my opinion, that the fongs in
this collection evidently manifeft a connection with
Ireland, though their traditional prefervation in Scot¬
land has fometimes introduced the name of Scotland
in its ftead. One of their principal perfonages is St
Patrick, the peculiar apoftle of Ireland, which alone
feems fufficient to mark their origin (a). If therefore
we may reafon from a part to the whole, it is juft to
conclude, that all the other fongs preferved in the
Highlands relative to the Fingalians are alfo Irifh.
They are wholly confined to the weftern coaft of the
Highlands, oppofite Ireland ; and the very traditions
of the country themfelves acknowledge the Fingalians
to be originally Irifti. The genealogy of Fingal was
there given me as follows: Fion Mac Coul, Mac
Trathal, Mac Arftit Riogh Erin, or king of Ireland ;
thus attributing the origin of his race to the Irilh. I
am inclined to believe that thefe notions about Fingal
were common to the Scots in the molt ancient times,
and brought by them from Ireland to Scotland, the
hereditary fuperftition of both races ; for, notwithftand-
ing it may appear molt probable that Ireland Ihould
receive colonies from*»Scotland than the contrary, we
have direCt hiltoric evidences that Scotland received
them from Ireland ; and no bare theoretic probabi¬
lity deferves to be oppofed to the pofitive affertions of
hiftory.
“ With regard to the Erfe manuferipts, about which
fo much has been faid, it becomes me to acknowledge,
that
Offian.
(a) “ The Scots indeed lay claim to the birth of St Patrick, and boaft alfo his burial-place. Camden, edit.
Gibfon, 1695, pp. 921. 1014.’ And fo alfo do the Britons, ib. p. 631, 1014 but his life and miracles all
agree to attribute it to Ireland. In Gough’s edition of Camden, the account of St Patrick is in vol, iii. p. 612,
618. See Patrick, St.
OSS [ 582 J OSS
'■ that I have never feen enough of them to give any
decided opinion : thofe which I have feen induced me
to think they principally owe their exiftence to Ire¬
land.
“ I (hall not repeat what others have faid to prove the
Fingalians Iriih j though the connexion of Fingal with
Ireland has been already warmly afferted.
“ But an unnoticed though curious, paffage in Cam¬
den affords us the molt remarkable, and perhaps the molt
convincing proof, that Fingal is an Irifli hero, which de-
monftrates at lead that he was indifputably claimed by
the Irifli 200 years ago. It is contained in an extract
(already mentioned) made by Camden, from an account
of the manners of the native Irifli, written by one Good,
a fchoolmafter at Limerick, in 1566. ‘ They think,’
fays he, fpeaking of Ireland and its inhabitants, ‘ the
fouls of the deceafed are in communion with famous men
of thofe places, of whom they retain many (lories and
fonnets; as of the giants Fin-Mac-Huyle, Olkir-Mac-
Ofshin, or Ofshin-Mac-Owim ; and they fay, through
illufion, that they often fee them.’
“ The very material importance of this curious paf¬
fage, with relation to the prefent fubjeifl, it is unnecef-
fary to urge 5 for every eye muft fee it. We alfo obtain
from it new information in refpeft to the laft part of the
hiftory of Fingal and his heroes j as it enables us to de¬
termine who they were with a precifion which muft
otherwife have been wanting, to complete thefe remarks
on the Highland fongs.
“ The Angular agreement of this paffage with the ac¬
counts of Oflian which were taught me in Scotland is
worthy particular remark ; it confirms them even in the
moft novel and peculiar inftances. The Fingalians were
generally reprefented as giants : but the moft remarkable
occurrence is in the mythologic charader attributed by
both to Fingal, Ofcar, and Oflian. In proof of this, I
have to obferve, that Mac Nab defcribed Fingal as the
' Odin of the Scots, and that a fong called Urnigh OJJtan
evidently fpeaks of him as fuch. This curious palfage
reprefents him exa&ly in the fame charader j a hero
with whom the fpirits of the deceafed are in communion,
who is their chieftain, and the lord of their feafts. The
gods of all the northern nations feem to have been of
this clafs j mighty heroes, efteemed once to have been
invincible on earth, though perhaps not ever ftridly
men, nor yet conftantly regarded as giants. Such are
Odin, Thor, and the other Teutonic gods ; fuch are Fin¬
gal, Ofcar, and the reft of the Fingalians among the an¬
cient Scots; fuch are Hercules, Bacchus, and even Ju¬
piter himfelf, with all his fons and daughters, among the
original Greeks, a people who agreed in many particu¬
lars with our own anceftors in imrthern Europe. The
notions entertained about ghofts, as an intermediate or¬
der of beings between men and divinities, endowed with
fome flrafe of power to do evil, is alfo remarkably con¬
gruous with this mythology.
“ As Fingal was a divine hero, fo Oflian feems to
have been a divine bard. Some of the gods of the
Teutons rvere bards in like manner j the god Niord
and his wife Skada quarrelled in elegant verfe of
their own compofition ; and Odin is the relator of his
own Edda. Apollo, the poetic deity of Greece, like-
wife fung the hiftory of his fellow-deities to men on
•earth, as rvell as Orpheus his fon. The bards and tradi¬
tional prefervers of fongs in Scotland and Ireland have
ever been fond of afcribing all ancient poems to this Oflian.
Oflian, and efpeciafly thofe relating to his own race 5 ' 
and from this caufe the poems afcribed to Offian are be¬
come fo voluminous. The ancient Egyptians had a
fimilar cuftom of afcribing their works to Hermes : U
hfAiliQOi 7r^o[ovoi TX eevluv Tr,g tropicts Wf>yftx]ct ctv\u ccvi\i<r6iG-uv
egfiev Trotvla Tct otrMct ovfogxftftxlx iTrovof^x^oflig, lays Jam-
blichus, S. I. c. 1. which rendered the Hermetic writ¬
ings equally voluminous. The Egyptians, who poffefled
the art of writing, depofited their wmrks in the adyta of
their temples ; as the Arabians depofited their poems of
old in the temple of Mecca : but becauie the Egyptians
affixed to them no author’s name, except that of Hermes,
to him, as to the Scottiih Offian, almoft all the national
literature was attributed by religious flattery.
“ I fincerely wiffi, that fome gentleman poffefled of
adequate abilities and acquaintance with the Erie lan¬
guage, would undertake to collecl thefe Ollianic fongs
in their Ample original ftate ; as they undoubtedly
contain much curious knowledge, • accumulated in the
various ages through which they have defcended to
us, and would probably afford much new information
on fubje&s at prefent very ill underftood. I own, howr-
ever, that I Ihould rather choofe to feek for them in
Ireland than in Scotland ; but neither country Ihould
be unexplored.
“ After having thus freely, though I hope not un-
candidly, delivered my fentiments on the Offian of
Mr Macpherfon, it becomes me to acknowledge my-
felf deeply indebted to it for the pleafure in perufal it
has frequently afforded me. I am rvilling, and indeed
happy, thus publicly to declare myfelf a warm admi¬
rer of it as a literary compoAtion. The novelty of its
manner, of its ideas, and of the objefts it defcribes,
added to the ftrength and brilliancy of genius which
frequently appears in it, have enabled me to read it
with more delight, and to return to it more frequently,
than almoft any other work of modern times. And let
it be regarded in what light it may, the praife of ele¬
gant feledlion and compoAtion certainly belongs to
its editon If I had not entertained thefe opinions of
its merit, I (hould never have taken fo much pains to
inveftigate its authenticity ; nor indeed can I believe,
if the general opinion had not concurred with mine,
that the world would ever have wafted fo much time
in difputJng about it.”
Since what has now been faid concerning the authen¬
ticity of the poems of Oflian was written,-the fame fub-
je<ft has been again brought under difeuffion, and more
keenly and ably agitated than at any former period of
the controverfy. Among thofe wdro have entered the
lifts in this controverfy, Mr Laing the hiftorian appears
by far the moft powerful opponent of the authenticity of
thefe celebrated poems. In a hiftorical and critical dif-
fertation* on this fubjeef, Mr Laing roundly afferts, that* Hi/l. of
the poems, as afcribed to Oflian, a bard of the third cen- Scotland.
tury, are forgeries, and charges Macpherfon, as well as
Smith, (in our opinion too hailily and raflily) with direft
fraud in impoflng on the world their owm produdlions as
the genuine tranflations of ancient Gaelic poems. The
arguments for the detection of thefe forgeries are ar¬
ranged under eight different heads : 1. The Roman
Hiftory of Britain with which Macpherfon has conncifted
the poems by falfe and in cor reft allufions\ 2. The tra¬
ditionary poems in the Highlands refer to the middle
ages.
OSS [ 583 ] O S T
O-ffian, ages, that is, about the pth and loth centuries. 3. The
Dflirication. di^cu]ty or impoffibility of preferving poems by oral
^ * tradition for a period of 1500 years. 4. The remarkable
diverfity in the manners of the Highlanders at the period
in which Fingal lived, as defcribed by hiftorians, and as
they are reprefented by Oflian ; and the contradiction of
great refinement at an early age and extreme barbarifm in
a future age, are confidered by Mr Laing as ftrong and
decifive proofs of forgery. 5. From tracing the origin
of the poems to other works of Macpherfon, particularly
to an epic poem entitled the Highlander, publilhed at
Edinburgh in 1758, which, being unfuccefsful, appeared
afterwards as fragments of ancient poetry, Mr Laing
thinks another proof of detection is derived. 6. A fixth
fource of detection, in his opinion, may be traced to the
imitation of the clafiics, fcripture, and other writings.
7. Mr Laing aflferts that the fpecimcns of the ori¬
ginal produced by Macpherfon were either written or
tranflated into Erfe from the Englilh original, by the
fuppofed tranflator himfelf. 8. From the ambiguous
language which Macpherfon feems to have employed at
different times during the progrefs of the numerous edi¬
tions of the poems, Mr Laing infers a diftinCt avowal of
fraud. But for the illuftration of the arguments now
noticed we muft refer the reader to the dilfertation
itfelf.
It Avas not to be expeCled that charges fo formally ad¬
duced, and fo keenly fupported, would pafs altogether
unnoticed by the admirers of the poems of Offian, or
the believers in their authenticity. Accordingly, we
find that Mr Laing’s arguments have been combated by
different writers with various fuccefs. Among the works
on this fide of the quell ion which have fallen in our way,
the Effay on the Authenticity of the Poems of Olfian by
the Rev. Dr Graham, holds the moil refpeCtable place.
But our limits abfolutely preclude us even from Hating
his arguments. We refer therefore to the work itfelf
which, the reader will not diflike to find, is written with
fome degree of elegance, and, what is not ufual in con-
troverfy, with a great degree of temper and moderation.
The reader who willies to purfue this inveftigation, may
confult alfo a Treatife on the fame fubjeCl by Mr Mac¬
donald, the Report on Oflian by a Committee of the
Highland Society of Scotland ; and the Gaelic fcholar
has now an opportunity of perufing the Originals, which
have been publifhed by Sir John Sinclair.
OSSIFICATION, in the animal economy, the for¬
mation of the bones, but more particularly theconverfion
of parts naturally foft to the hardnefs and confiftency of
bones. Bones, Dr Drake contends, are formed out of
the moll comminute or broken parts of the blood ; fince
we fee that the blood of old men, which by a long courfe
of circulation becomes in a manner unfit for the common
office of nutrition, will however oflify, and convert into
bones, many of the tendons and ligaments, and even the
coats of the veflels themfelves, whofe fubftance being
next to the bones the moll compaft, admits only of the
fmalleft particles of the blood, which therefore foonefl:
become ofleous, as they are frequently found. Dr Nif-
bet’s opinion of offification is, that in the blood, or a fluid
i'ecreted from it, there is an offifying juice, having par¬
ticles which are not apparent: that whenever nature de-
figns an offification between membranes, or within a car¬
tilage, the occafions a more than ufual afflux of this
fluid j which fo much diftends the veffels which were
before invifible, as to mak»-them capable of receiving Offification
the red globules of blood, which is always to be feen ^
near to the place where offification is begun. In this . ua ’.
blood gritty bony particles may be felt by the point of
a knife, which have been formed by the attradlion and
cohefion of the particles of the oflifying juice obftrufted,
along with the other grofler fluids, in the beginning of
the veflels prepared to receive refluent juices. The
blood being capable of forming fine membranes, the
membranous parts of a bone, which a£b as a gluten to
keep thefe particles and fibres together, if there be any
fuch, that do not arife from the coats of its veflels, are
produced by a cohefion round the cretaceous particles of
a part of the fluid, in which they were generated and
contained. Thus the membranes of cartilages ferve as
a bed, between or within which the bony particles are
depofited, or flioot; but without any intermixture of the
particles of the bone and cartilage, or continuation of the
fibres of the one fubftance to thofe of the other, as is
evident in cartilages containing bones kept long enough
in water, and then flit; for the bone will, as foon as
the large veflels that enter its fubftance are divided, flip
as eafily, and perhaps eafier, from it than an acorn does
out of its cup : and there is a fmoothnefs and polifh of
the parts of both cartilage and bone, which (how there
is no conjundlion of the fibres of the two fubftances.
While the bones are increafing within cartilages, the
cartilages are extended and fpread out; by which, with
the preflure which they fuffer, and the great influx of
various fluids, and the nutritious matter being hindered
to flow freely into them, they decreafe continually, and
at laft may truly be faid to be entirely deftroyed. Dr
Buddeus endeavours to prove, that the preternatural
oflifications, which are commonly faid to be formed in
different parts of the body, do not deferve that name ;
for that thefe hard fubftances have fcarcely any other
properties of bone except whitenefs and hardnefs.
OSSORY, the weft divifion of (JueenVcounty in
Ireland.
Ossory, Bale, bijhop of. See Bale.
OSSUNA, an ancient and confiderable town of An-
dalufia in Spain, with an univerfity, an hofpital, and the
title of a duchy. N. Lat. 37. 8. W. Long. 4. 18.
OSTADE, Adrian Van, an eminent Dutch jainter
born at Lubec in i6ip. He was a difciple of Francis
Hals, in whofe fchool Brouwer was cotemporary with
him, where they contrafted an intimate friendffiip. The
fubjefts of his pencil were always of a low kind, he hav¬
ing nearly the fame ideas as Teniers ; diverting himfelf
with clowns and drunkards in liables, ale-houfes, and
kitchens. His pidtures are fo tranfparent and highly
finilhed, that they have tjie poliffl and luftre of enamel :
they have frequently a force fuperior to Teniers ; yet it
were to be wiflied that he had not defigned his figures lo
fliort. He is perhaps one of the Dutch mafters who beft
underftood the chiaro obfcuro ; and he was often employ¬
ed to paint figures for the beft landfcape painters of Ids
countrymen. Fie died in 1685. His works, efpeciallv
thofe of his beft time and manner, are very fcaree ; fo
that when they are to be purchafed, no price is thought
too much for them. His prints etched by himfelf, large
and fmall, confift of 54 pieces.
OSTALRIC, a town of Catalonia, in Spain, hav¬
ing a ftrong caftle, and feated on the river Tordera, in
E. Long. 2. 45. N. Lat. 24. 44.
OSTENDj
O S T [ 584 ] O S T
Offend, OSTEND, a very ftrong fea-port town of the Ne-
Oiteocolla. therlands, in Auftrian Flanders, with a good harbour
and a magnificent town-houfe. It is not very large, but
it is well fortified. It was much more confiderable be¬
fore the long fiege of the Spaniards, which continued
from i6ox to 1604, when it was almoft entirely reduced
to alhes. The Dutch loft 50,000 men, and the Spa¬
niards 80,000. Ifabella Eugenia, governante of the
Netherlands, made a vow Hie would not (hift her fmock
before Oftend furrendered ; but before the town was
taken it had greatly changed its colour. However, the
ladies of the court, to keep her in countenance, had theirs
dyed, that they might be like that of their miftrefs. This
place was taken by the Dutch in 1706, but reftored to
the emperor ia 1724, when an Eaft India company
was eftablilhed here, but entirely fuppreffed by treaty
in 1731. It was taken by the French in Auguft
1745, after 10 days fiege, but reftored by the treaty of
Aix-la-Chapelle. It was overrun by the French Re¬
publicans, with Dumourier at their head, but was
quickly recovered by the jun£Hon of the allies. It wras
evacuated by the French in 1 793, and they repoffeffed it
in 1 794. Here the Eritith landed a body of troops in
May 1798, who blew up and deftroyed the wrorks of
the Bruges canal ; but the wind Ihifting before they
could re-embark, they were under the neceflity of fur¬
rendering to the French. It is 10 miles W. of Bruges,
eight N. E. of Newport, 22 N. E. of Dunkirk, and
60 N. W. of Bruftels. E. Long. 2. 56. N. Lat. 51.
I4-
OS FEOCOLLA, efiox.tX^ec, \x\ Natural Hijlory, a
white or alh-coloured fparry fubftance, in fhape like a
bone, and by fome fuppofed to have the quality of
uniting broken bones, on which account it is ordered
in fome plafters *, a fuppofition, we fear, which is not
warranted by experience. It is found in long, thick,
and irregularly cylindric pieces, which are in general
hollow, but are fometimes filled up with a marly earth,
and fometimes contain within them the remains of a
ftick, round which the ofteocolla had been formed 5
but though it is plain from thence that many pieces of
ofteocolla have been formed by incruftations round
flicks, yet the greater number are not fo, but are ir¬
regularly tubular, and appear to be formed of a flat
cake, rolled up in a cylindric fhape. The crufts of
which thefe are compofed do not form regular concen¬
tric circles round the internal cavity, as mull have been
the cafe had they been formed by incruftation. On
the other hand, they plainly fhow that they were once
fo many thin ftrata, compofing a flat furface, which has
afterwards been rolled up, as one might do a paper three
or four times doubled, into tw.o, three, or more fpiral
lines •, in which cafe, each Angle edge of the paper
would be everywhere a regular point of a continued
fpiral line drawn from a given point j but they would by
no means be fo manv detached concentric circles. The
ofteocolla is found of different fizes, from that of a crow-
quill to the thicknefs of a man’s arm. It is compofed of
fand and earth, which may be feparated by walking the
powdered ofteocolla with water, and is found both in
digging and in feveral brooks, in many parts of Ger¬
many, and elfewhere. It is called hammofteus in many
parts of Germany. It has this name in thefe places from
its always growing in fand, never in clay, or any folid
foil, nor even in gravel. Where a piece of it any where
appears on the furface, they dig down for it, and find the Oftecocollt
branches run ten or twelve feet deep. They uiually run 11
ftcaight down, but lometimes they are found fpreading- [(J^erval(l-
into many parts near the furface, as if it were a fub- , J
terraneous tree, whofe main Item began at 12 feet
depth, and thence grew up in a branched manner till
met by the open air. The main trunk is ulually as
thick as a man’s leg, and the branches that grow out
from it are thickeft near the trunk, and thinner as
they feparate-from it. The thinneft are about the fize
of a man’s finger. The people employed to colledl it,
when they cannot find any mark of it on the furface,
fearch alter the fpecks of white or little lumps of whitilh
foft matter, which they find lying in various parts on the
top of the fand. Thefe always lead them either to a bed
of perfedl ofteocolla, or to fome in the formation. If they
mifs of it, they Hill find a fubftance like rotten wood j
which, when traced in its courfe, is found to proceed
from a main trunk, at the depth of that of the ofteocolla,
and to fpread itfelf into branches in the fame manner.
The diggers call this fubftance the flower of ofteocolla,
or hammofteus.
The ofteocolla found in the earth is at firft foft and
duftile, but in half an hour’s time, if expofed to the
air, it becomes as hard as we find it in the ftiops. The
method to take up a perfect piece for a fpecimen is to
open the ground, clear awray the fand, and leave it fo
for an hour or thereabouts: in this time it will harden,
and may be taken out whole. It is certain, that the
ofteocolla is produced at this time ; for if a pit be clear¬
ed of it, there will more grow there in a year or two,
only it will be fofter, and will not harden fo eafily in
the air as the other. What the rotten fubftance refemb-
ling the decayed branches of trees is, we cannot deter¬
mine, unlefs it really be fuch ; but the opinion of the
common people, that it is the root of fomething, is abfurd,
becaufe its thickeft part always lies at the grcateft depth,
and the branches all run upwards. The ofteocolla is a
marly fpar, whicli concretes round this matter1, but what
it is that determines it to concrete no where on the fame
ground but about thefe branches, it is difficult to fay.
The rottennefs of this fubftance, which forms the bafis
of the ofteocolla, renders it very liable to moulder and
fall away ; and hence it is that we ufually fee the ofteo¬
colla hollow. Sometimes it is found folid \ but in this
cafe there will be found to have been a vegetable matter
ferving as its bafis, and inftead of one branch, it will be
found in this cafe to have concreted about a number of
fibres, the remains of which will be found in it on a
clofe examination. See Phil. Tranf. N° 39.
OSTEOLOGY, that part of anatomy which treats
of the bones. See Anatomy, Part I.
OSTERVALD, John Frederic, a famous Prote-
ftant divine, was born at Neufchattel in 1663 i an(^
made fuch rapid progrefs in his ftudies, that he became
mailer of arts at Saumur before he was 16 years of age.
He afterwards ftudied at Orleans and at Paris. At his
return to Neufchattel in 1699, he became pallor of the
church there ; and contradled a ftridl friendfliip with the
celebrated John Alphonlus Turretin of Geneva, and the
illuftrious Samuel Werenfels of Bafil. The union of
thefe three divines, which was called the Triumvirate of
the divines of Swt/Jerland, lafted till his death. Mr
Oilervald acquired the higheft reputation, by his virtues,
his zeal in inftrudling his difciples, and reftored eccle-
fiafticat
O S T [ 585 ] O S T
Oflervald fiafUcal difcipline. He wrote many books in French;
Oftia ks ^ie Pr‘nc^Pa^ wbich are, I. A Treatife concerning the
Sources of Corruption, which is a good moral piece.
2. A Catechifm, or Inftru£Hon in the Chriltian Reli¬
gion ; which has been tranflated into German, Dutch,
and Englilb ; and the Abridgement of the Sacred Hi-
ftory, which he prefixed to it, was tranflated and print¬
ed in Arabic, in order to be fent to the Eafl Indies,
by the care of the Society for the Propagation of the
Oofpel; and that Society etlabliihed in London, paid
him a high compliment, by admitting him an honorary
member. 3. A treatife againft Impurity. 4. An edi¬
tion of the Freneli Bible of Geneva, with Arguments
and Reflexions, in folio. 5. Ethica Chrijliana. 6. Tkco-
logice Compendium, &e. He died in 1747, regretted by
all who knew him.
OSTIA, a town filpated at the mouth of the Tiber,
about 12 miles to the well ward of Rome. It was built
by Aneus Martins, the fourth king of Rome, and was
called OJlia Ttberina, in the plural number, i. e. the two
mouths of the Tiber, which were feparated by the Ho¬
ly Ifland, an equilateral triangle, whofe lides were each
of them computed at about two miles. The colony of
Oftia was founded immediately beyond the left or fouth-
ern, and the port immediately beyond the right or
northern branch of the river; and thediftance between
their remains meafures fomething more than two miles
on Cingolani’s map. In the time of Strabo, the fand
and mud depolited by the Fiber had choked the har¬
bour of Oftia ; the progrefs of the fame caufe has ad¬
ded much to the fizc of the Holy Illand, and gradually
left both Oftia and the port at a confiderable diftance
from the fliore. The dry channels (fiumi morti'), and
the large eftuaries (Jtagno di Ponente, de Lev ante'),
mark the changes of the river, and the efforts of the
fea. Its port was one of the molt ftupendous works of
Roman magnificence, and it was a long time one of the
belt towns on the coaft ; but having been deftroyed by
the Saracens, and the harbour choked up, as mention¬
ed above, it has not been able fince to recover itfelf.
Though it be an inconfiderable place, and but poorly
inhabited by reafon of the badnefs of the air, yet it is
the fee of a biftiop, who is always deacon of the cardi¬
nals, and crowns the Pope. The old Oftia, where are
feen the ruins of the ancient harbour, is beyond New
Oftia, towards the fea ; the latter is but a little clufter
of houfes, with a fmall caftle. It is 12 miles S. W. of
Rome. E. Long. 12. 24. N. Lat 4r. 44. There
were faltworks in Oftia, called Salma Oft lends, as early
as the times of Ancus Martins (Livy) ; from which the
Via Sa/aria, which led to the Sabines, took its name,
(Varro), It gave name to one of the gates of Rome,
which was called O/lienfts (Ammian).
OSTIACKS, a people of Siberia in Afia. They
live upon the banks of the rivers Oby and Yenifey, and
on thofe of fome other rivers which fall into thefe.
Vol. XV. Part II.
Thefe people are very poor, and very lazy, and in the
fummer time live moftly upon fifh. They are of a mid¬
dle fize, with broad faces and nofes, and yellowilh or
red hair. All their garments from top to toe are made
of fifti Ikins, for they have neither linen nor woollen :
and indeed they might almoft as well go naked. Their
greateft diverfion is hunting; and they go together in
crowds, with a weapon like a large knife faftened iiv
a ftick. In fummer they take and dry the fifh which
ferves them in winter ; and when that i'eafon begins,
they go into the woods with their bows and arrows,
their dogs and nets, to kill fables, ermines, bears, rein¬
deer, elks, martens, and foxes. Part of the furs of thefe
is paid as a tax to the emprefs of Ruflia, and the reft are:
fold at a ftated price to the Ruffian governors, but fmne-
timesthey are allowed todifpoleoflhem toprivateperfons.
They chiefly live upon venifon, wild fowl, fith, and
roots, for they have neither rice nor bread. They drink
for the moft part water, and it is laid they can very-
well relilh a draught of train oil. They are immode¬
rately fond of tobacco, and of fwallowing the (moke,
which foon intoxicates them. In the winter they build
their huts in woods and forefts, where they find the
greateft plenty of game, and dig deep in the earth to
feeure themfelves from the cold, laying a roof of bark
or rufhes over their huts, which are toon covered with
fnow. In fummer they build above ground on the
banks of the rivers, to enjoy the convenience of fithing,
and make no difficulty of forfaking their habitations.
They have a fort of princes among them, in’one of
whofe houfes fome European travellers found four wives
(a). One of ihefe had a red cloth coat on, and was
fet oft' with all forts of glafs beads. There was no other
furniture than cradles and chefts, made of the bark of
trees fewed together. Their beds confifted of wood
{havings, almotl as foft as feathers, and their children
lie naked upon them in cradles. They can neither read
nor write, nor do they cultivate the land; and feem to¬
tally ignorant of times paft. They have neither tem¬
ples nor priefts; and their boats are only made of the
bark of trees fewed together. Their religion is Pagan;
and they have fome little brazen idols, tolerably well
caff, reprefenting men and animals, made of wood and
earth, all of which are dreffed in filks in the manner of
Ruffian ladies. In general, however, they are ill made,
every man being his own carver. They place them on
the tops of hills, in groves, and in the pleafanteft places
their country affords, and fometimes before their huts;
yet they have no fet time for performing religious wor-
ftiip, but apply to their gods for fuccefs in all their un¬
dertakings. As they have no regular priefts, every old
man may devote himfelf to that fervice, and the office
is frequently performed by the mafters and heads of
families. Strahlenberg fays, that when he was among
them he faw one of their temples, which was built of
wood in an oblong form, like a great barn, covered at
4 E the
0 {Racks-.
(a) They may have as many wives as they pleafe, and make no fcruple of marrying their neareft relations.
They purchafe a wife of her relations for tlwee or four rein-deer, and take as many as they pleafe, returning them
again if they do not like them, only lofing what they gave for the purchafe. Upon the birth of their children,
fome give them the name of the firft creature they happen to fee afterward, f hus the child' has frequently the
name of an animal, and you hear a man call his fon perhaps Sabatjki, or my little dog ; others c^ll their children
according to the order of their birth, as Firft, Second, Third, &c.
o S T [ 586 3 O S T
O(hacks the top with birch bark. At the end of the wall fup-
Oftracifm. Porting tlie gable was a kind of altar, made of timber,
1--— t 1 on which were placed two idols, reprefenting a man
and woman, dreffed in all forts of rags ; and round thefe
were other imall figures, as deer, foxes, and hares, all
which were roughly carved in wood, and alfo clothed
in rags. J hey did not appear to have much devotion,
nor any great reverence for their idols. When they oft'er
facrifices, they prefent the bealt to the idol; and having
bound it, an old man puts up the petitions of thofe who
brought .the offering ; he then lets fly an arrow at the
beatt, and the people aflilt in killing it. It is then drawn
three times round the idol ; and the blood being recei¬
ved into a velfel, they fprinkle it on their houfes j they
afterwards drefs the fleth and eat it, rejoicing and fing-
ing their country fongs : they alfo befmear the idol with
the blood of the facrifice, and greafe their mouths with
the fat. W hat they ca.nnot eat they carry home to
their families, and make prefents of it to. their neigh¬
bours : they as often facrifice a filh as a beaft. At the
conclufion of the feaft they fliout, to fhow their gratitude
to the idol for his attending and accepting their devo¬
tions •, for they are perfuaded that the faint or hero re-
prefented by the image always attends their facrifices,
which when over he returns to his abode in the air.
T here is nothing more furprifing, nor, if properly im¬
proved, is there any thing more inftrufting, than the hi-
flory of fuperftition. It is with this view that we have
giv en fo enlarged a view of the Oftiacks, longer, fome
may imagine, than their importance demands. It
would, however, in our opinion, be improper to let fuch
an opportunity Hip of exhibiting the extreme weaknefs
of unaffiiled reafon, and the confequent neceffity of a
divine revelation. That the religion of thefe ignorant
and mifguided Pagans is the corruption of a primitive
revelation, we think at lead probable ; nor do we fee
any way of fo fatistaftorily accounting for the univerfal
life of facrifices. The Oltiacks are obliged to take an
oath of fidelity to the Ruffian government ; and .on
thefe occafions they ufe the following ceremony. Af¬
ter laying down a bear fkin and an axe, and holding
over it a piece of bread and a knife, they fay, “ In cafe
I do not to my life’s end prove true and faithful to the
fupreme government of the country, or if I knowingly
and willingly break through my allegiance, or be want¬
ing in the. duty I owe to the faid fupreme government,
may the bear tear me to pieces in the wood •, may the
bread I eat flick in my throat and choke me ; may the
knife ftab me, and the axe cut oft'my head.” The like
ceremony is ufed among them in the depofition of a
witnefs.
OSTRACION, a genus of fifties belonging to the
order Cartilaginei. See ICHTHYOLOGY, p. 103.
OSTRACISM, in Grecian antiquity, denotes the
baniftiment of fuch perfons whofe merit and influence
gave umbrage to the people of Athens, left they fhould
attempt any thing againft the public liberty. This
puniftiment was called q/fracifm, from the Greek word.
which properly fignifies a “ fliell but when ap¬
plied to this object, it is ufed for the billet on which the
Athenians wrote the names of the citizens whom they
Intended to banifti. The learned are divided with re¬
gard to th fubftance of which this billet was formed :
fome infill that it was a fmall ftone, or a piece of brick }
fome that it was a piece of bark ; and others affert, that
it was a {hell. T he word admits moft of thefe interpre- Oftracifm.
tations. Rut what determines its true fenle, is the epi- v——^
thet given it by ancient authors, of ceramite vwjhx;
which words lignify, “ The puniftiment of potter’s
clay j” and this expreffion feems to us a proof, that the
word arg<**ov, when applied on this occafion, lignities a
“ piece ot baked earth, in the form of a ihell j” and un¬
doubtedly the Latin authors had this idea of the word
here, for they tranllated it by tejlula.
Ihe ancients are likewife divided with regard to the
time when oflracifm was inftituted. But they all agree,
that the perfon who moved the law was its hrft vic¬
tim. But as to the name of its patron, and the time of
its eftablithment, they differ extremely. Many are of opi¬
nion, that ofiracifm owes its origin to very remote times.
However that be, the punilhment of oftracifm was in-
flidled by the Athenians when their liberty was in dan¬
ger. If, for inilance, jealoufy or ambition had fowed
dilcord among the chiefs of the republic j and if differ¬
ent parties were formed, which threatened fome revolu¬
tion in the ftate ; the people affembled to propofe mea-
fures proper to be taken in order to prevent the confe-
quences of a divilion which in the end might be fatal
to freedom. Oftracifm was the remedy to which they
ufually had recourfe on thefe oecafions ; and the conful-
tations of the people generally terminated with a decree,
in which a day was fixed for a particular affembly, when
they were to proceed to the fentence of oftracifm. Then
they who were threatened with baniftiment, omitted no
aftiduity or art which might gain them the favour of the
people. They made harangues to evince their inno¬
cence, and the great injuftiee that would be done them
if they were banilhed. They folicited, in perfon, the
intereft of every citizen •, all their party exerted them-
felves in their behalf : they procured informers to vilify
the chiefs of the oppofite faction. Some time before
the meeting of the affembly, a wooden inclofure was
raifed in the forum, with ten doors, i. e. with as many
as there were tribes in the republic ; and when the ap¬
pointed day was come, the citizens of each tribe enter¬
ed at their refpeflive door, and threw into the middle of
■ the inclofure the fmall brick on which the citizen’s
name was written whofe banilhment they voted. The
archons and the fenate prttfided at this affembly, and
counted the billets. He who was condemned by 6000
of his fellow citizens, was obliged to quit the city with¬
in ten days 5 for 6000 voices, at leaft, were requifite to
banilh an Athenian by the oftracifm.
1 he Athenians, without doubt, forefaw the inconve¬
niences to which this law was fubjeft •, but they chofe
rather, as Cornelius Nepos hath remarked, fometimes to
expofe the innocent to an unjuft cenfure, than to live in
continual alarms. Yet as they were fenfible that the
injuftice of confounding virtue and vice would have
been too flagrant, they foftened, as much as they could,
the rigour of oflracifm. It was not aggravated with
the cireumftances which were moft dilhonourable and
{hocking in the ordinary mode of exile. They did not
'confifcate the-goods of thofe who were banifhed by
oftracifm. They enjoyed the produce of their effetls
in the places into which they were baniftied ; and thty
were banifhed only for a certain time. But in the com¬
mon baniftiment, the goods of the exiles were always
confifeated, and no hopes were given them of ever re¬
turning to Athens.
Ths
O S T r 587 1 O S W
Oftracifm. The fcholiaft of Ariftophanes informs us of a third
'’—"V difference betwixt oftracifm and the common banitlr-
ment. He fays, that a particular place of retirement
was affigned to thofe who were banifhed by oftracifm,
which was not appointed to the other exiles. We fuf-
peft, however, the truth of this obfervation j for The-
miftocles was certainly not limited in his banifhment.
That great man, as we are told by Thucydides, though
Jus chief refidence was at Argi, travelled over all the
Peloponnefus.
This punifhment, far from conveying the idea of in¬
famy, became, at Athens, a proof of merit, by the ob
jefts on which it was inflifted ; as Ariftides the fophift
juftlv obferves, in his fecond declamation againft the
Gorgias of Plato, where he fays, that oftracifm was not
an effeft of the vindiftive fpirit of the people againft
thofe whom it condemned ; that the law, whether good
or bad, (for he enters not into an examination of the
queftion), was only meant to prune the luxuriant growth
of tranfcendent merit 5 that it condemned to an exile of
ten years, only thofe illuftrious men who were accufed
of being exalted far above other citizens by their con-
fpicuous virtue ; and that none of that public indigna¬
tion was fhown to the exiles by oftracifm, which com¬
monly breaks out againft criminals.
Such were the mitigations with which this law was in¬
troduced among the Athenians: and by them we fee that
they were fenftble of all the inconveniences to which it
was fubjedl. They were indeed too enlightened a people,
not to forefee the many inftances of injuftice which it
might produce ; that if in fome refpefls it would be fa¬
vourable to liberty, in others it would be its enemy, by
condemning citizens without allowing them a previous
defence, and by making a capricious and envious people
arbiters of the fate of great men \ that it might even
become pernicious to the ftate, by depriving it of its beft
fubje&s, and by rendering the adminiftration of public
affairs an odious employment to men of capital talents
and virtue.
However great the inconveniences of oftracifm were,
it would not have been impoflible to avoid them •, and
we may add, that this law would have been of fervice
to the ftate, if the people by whom it was inftituted had
always had difcernment enough only to give it force on
fuch occafions as endangered liberty. But its fate was
like that of almoft all other laws which the wifeft legi-
flators have planned for the good of communities. De-
ftined by their inftitution to maintain order, to reprefs
injuftice, and to protedf innocence, men have found ways
to pervert their application, and have made them inftru-
ments to gratify their private paflions. Thus oftracifm was
eftablilhed to prevent the dangerous enterprifes of the
great, and to preferve the vigour of the democracy; but the
people of Athens, naturally jealous and envious, exerted
that law, to remove men of eminent merit from the ftate,
by whofe prefence they were reproved and intimidated.
The fear of tyranny was commonly but a fpecious pre¬
text with which they veiled their malignity. The re¬
peated victories which they had gained over the Per-
fians, had rendered them, fays Plutarch, proud and info-
lent. Intoxicated with their profperity, they arrogated
all its glory to themfelves 5 they were jealous of thofe
citizens whofe political and military talents were the
fubje&s of public eulogium. They thought the glory
acquired by great mejr diminifhed their own reputation.
An Athenian no fooner diftinguifhed himfelf by a fplen- Oftracifm
did aftion, than he was marked out as a vidvim by pub- ( _
lie envy. His reputation was a fufficient reafon for his , L J
banilhment.
OSTRACITES, in Natural Hijlory, a name ufed for
the foflile oyfters, common in many parts of England*
They are of various {Rapes and kinds 5 and the name is
bv fome authors made to lignify the {hell itfelf, when
preferved in its native ftate and condition •, as is the
cafe with thofe about Woolwich and Blackheath j and
bv others, the ftones caft or formed in thofe fhells, or in
cavities from whence they have been waftied away.
OSTREA, the Oyster, a genus of fliell fifh belong¬
ing to the order of vermes teftacea. See Ostrea, Con-
CHOLOGY Index.
OSTRICH. See Struthio, Ornithology In¬
dex.
OSTROVIZZA, in Dalmatia (fee Dalmatia),
fuppofed by fome to be the Arauzona, and by others the
Stlupi of the ancients, though probably it has no con-
nedlion with either the one or the other. It was pur-
chafed in 1410 by the republic of Venice, for 5000
ducats, and fome pieces of land befides. Its fortrefs,
which was feated on a rock, perpendicularly cut all
round, and defervedly reckoned impregnable before the
ufe of artillery, was taken by Soliman in 1524, but foon
after reftored to the dominion of Venice. At prefent,
no traces of its fortification remain, and it is only a bare
and ifolated mafs.
OSTUNI, a town of Italy, in the kingdom of Na¬
ples, and in the Terra di Otranto, with a bifhop’s fee.
Its territory is well cultivated, and abounds with olives
and almonds. It is feated on a mountain near the gulf
of Venice, in E. Long. 17. 49. N. Lat. 49. 59.
OSWEGO, a fort of North America, feated on the
eaft fide of a river of the fame name, and on the fouth
fide of the lake Ontario, in W. Long. 76. 30. N. Lat.
43- lS- . .
OSWEIZEN, a town of Poland, in the palatinate
of Cracovia, formerly having the title of a duchy. It
carries on a great trade in fait, and is feated on the ri¬
ver Viftula. E. Long. 19. 47. N. Lat. 50. 1.
OSWESTRY, an old town of Shropfhire, in Eng¬
land, 172 miles from London, with a caftle, a wall, and
a ditch, and was anciently a borough. It is a place ce¬
lebrated in Saxon hiftory and legendary piety. On this
fpot, Auguft 5. 642, was fought the battle between the
Chriftian Ofwald, king of the Northumbrians, and the
pagan Penda, king of the Mercians, in which Ofwald
was defeated, and loft his life. The barbarian vidlor
cut the body of the flain prince in pieces, and ftuck
them on flakes difperfed over the field as fo many tro¬
phies ; but, according to others, his head and hands on¬
ly were thus expofed. A prince fo dear to the church
as Ofwald, and fo attached to the profeffors of the mo-
naftic life, received every pofthumous honour they could
beftow. He was raifed to the rank of a faint, and his
fan£lity confirmed by numberlefs miracles, which are too
numerous and too trifling to admit of particular deferip-
tion. Its church, which is of no great antiquity, was
formerly a monaftery, and was called Blancminfter. It
is, however, fpacious, and has a handfome plain tower.
In the years 1542 and 1567, this town fuffered much
by fire. It is governed bv two bailiffs, burgeffes, &c.
and once had a great trade in Welch cottons and flan-
4 E 2 nels }
OfwePtry.
Ofymandes
Bromleys
Rijt, of the
Fine Arts,
veil. i.
*Diod. Sic.
lib. i. p. 45.
edit, Hho-
do:n.
O S Y [
nels; but tbis is now much decayed. There is now
‘ fcarcely a tolerable houfe for travellers. But befides a
good grammar fehool, it is noted for an excellent cha-
vity-fehool for 40 boys, befides girls, which has the belt
methods for exciting the emulation of the children in
their learning ; for 20 of the boys are fet to ftrive
againft 20 others for fhoes, and the 20 who perform
their talk bell have Ihoes firll j then 10 of the boys are
fet againft 10 others for the like premium, and fo on till
they are all ftiod : fo in the girls fehool a Ihift is put up
for the bell fpinner, a head-drefs for the bell fempftrefs,
a pair of ftockings for the bell knitter, a Bible for the
belt reader, and a copy-book for the belt Avriter. In
the wall with which the totvn tvas fortified there Airere
four gates. That called the Block-gate is demolilhed ;
the New-gate, WilloAV-gate, and the Beatrice-gate, ftill
remain. Thelaft is a handfome building, Avith a guard-
room on both fides. There are only ttvo fragments of
the caftie remaining. It Hood on an artificial mount,
furrounded by a fofle, extending to the WilloAv-gate.
OSYM ANDES, a famous king of Egypt, Avas, ac¬
cording to fome authors, the firft monarch who colledl-
ed a great number of books for the purpofe of forming
a library. To this curious collection he gave the title
of Pharmacy of the Sou/. Of all the monuments of
the kings of Thebes, that of Ofymandes is one of the
moll magnificent. “ He appears (fays an elegant au¬
thor) to have been a prince of great elegance and tafte
in his day. Diodorus Siculus deferibes many fumptuous
edifices eredted by him ; among thofe edifices his palace
or maufoleum, whichfoever it was, has been eminently
diftinguifhed for the paintings and fculplures Avith Avhich
it was adorned. When avc look to the fubjedls of thofe
works, we fhall have reafon to think that no roan in
any age could difeover a fairer and more enlightened
judgment than he did in the employment of the genius
around him, Avhich Avas not tamely devoted to dull or
contradled objedls, nor lavilhed on feenes of favage life,
nor Avholly engroffed in allufions to bimfelf, but fenfibly
enlarged to a variety of contemplation Avhich might be¬
come a great fovereign ; and in each of thofe parts the
fubiedl was charadleriftically great.
“ * In one place Avas reprefented, in a multitude of
fculptures, his expedition againft the Badlrians, a people
of Alia, Avhom he had invaded with 400,000 foot, and
20,000 horfe, and Avhom he conquered. In another
part Avas difplayed the variety of fruits and productions,
with which Pan, the great fource of all things, had en¬
riched the fertile land over Avhich Ofymandes reigned.
A third group of figures reprefented the monarch him-
felf, as the high prieft of the country, offering to the
god> the gold and filver Avhich he dreAv every year from
the mines of Egypt. In another part of the edifice was
exhibited, in an infinite number of figures, an affembly
of judges, in the midft of a great audience attentive to
their decifions ; the prefident or chief of thofe judges,
furrounded by many books, Avore on his breaft a picture
of Truth with her eyes thut—-thofe emphatic emblems,
beyond which no age could go for the impreftion of that
wifdom and impartiality which ought to prevail in ad-
nainiftrative juftice.”
In fhort, Ave cannot Avithout aftonithment read the ac¬
count which Diodorus Siculus gives of tht almoft incredi¬
ble magnificence of this prince, and of the immenfe
fiuns which he fpent upon thofe grand Avorks. Amongft
5
588 ] OTA
a variety of other furprifing curiofities, Avas to be feen Ofymandes
a ftatue in the attitude of fitting, which Avas the largeft 11
in all Egypt, the length of one of the feet being feven
cubits. Not only the art of the fculptor, but alfo the ' J
beauty of the ftone, Avhich Avas perfeCl in its kind, con¬
tributed to render this a mafterpiece of fculpture. It
bore the folloAving infeription : / am OSYMAbiDES>
king of kings ; whoever will difpute with me this titley
let him furpufs me in any of my works.
Indeed (to ufe the works of the fame elegant author
quoted above) “ the palace or maufoleum of this ac-
compliftied prince muft give us a ftriking affurance of
the progrefs Avhich had been made in the arts at that
time j Avhether he lived, as fome have thought *, the*gee^
immediate fucceffor of the firft Bufiris, which Avas fome-/7«'j-
Avhat later than the period of Semiramis j or, as others
have conceived f, fubfequent to Sefoftris, which would \ Marjham
be 400 years later. Diodorus Siculus, who deferibesp- 403. ’
that edifice, fays nothing of the age in which Ofyman-
des lived ; every opinion, therefore, on that point muftvo1' n‘
be conjecture. We fliall only remark, that there is no-15 I^t'
thing in the Avorks of art in that edifice which Ihould
appear too much for the earlieit age in Avhich that mo¬
narch has been placed, when we look back to what was
done of thofe A\*orks in a period full as early by Semira¬
mis in Aflyria.”'
OTACOUSTIC INSTRUMENT, or Auricular Tube,
an inftrument to facilitate the hearing. See Acou¬
stics.
OTAHEITE, a celebrated ifiand of the South
fea, fituated in W. Long. 149. 13. S. Eat. 17. 46.
It was difeovered by Captain Wallis in 1767 j after¬
wards Mr Bougainville touched here; and it was vifited
by Captain Cook in 1773 and 1774, Avho had in 1769
failed round the ifland in a boat to obferve the tranfit
of Venus.
Ihe ifiand confifts of tAvo diftincl kingdoms, which
are united by a narrow neck of land ; the larger be¬
ing called by the natives Tiarrabou, or O-Taheitee Nuc ;
the fmaller one Opoureonou, or O-Taheitee-Ete. The
circumference of both iflands is about 40 leagues ; the r
larger kingdom being divided into 43 diftrids. The Appear-
country has a delightful romantic appearance. Theance ofthe
coaft, viewed from the fea, prefents a moft beautifulcountry'
profped, being elevated like an amphitheatre. The
ifiand is fkirted with a reef of rocks, and towards the
fea is level, being covered with fruit trees of various
kinds, particularly the cocoa-nut. At the diftar.ee of
about three miles from the fliore, the country rifes in¬
to lofty hills that are covered Avith wood, and termi¬
nate in peaks, from Avhich large rivers are precipitated
into the fea. J he ftones everywhere appear to have
been burnt, not one being found Avhich did not give
manifeli figns of fire; fo that there is great reafon for
fuppofing that this and the neighbouring illands are ei¬
ther the {battered remains of a continent, or were torn
from rocks, Avhich from the creation of the world have
been the bed of the fea, and throAvn up in heaps to a
height which the waters never reach. What is further
extraordinary, the water does not gradually grow {hal¬
low as we approach the fiiore, but is of immenfe depth
clofe by the land ; and the iflands in this neighbourhood
are almoft everywhere furrounded by reefs which appear
to be rude and broken in the manner that fome violent
concuflion Avould naturally leave the folid fubftance of
the
OTA
[ 5*9 3
OTA
Climate.
High
mountains.
fKaheite. the earth ; and Mr Forfter faw a rock with projefting
—longitudinal angles of black compact bafaltes. The ex¬
terior ranges of hills are fometimes entirely barren, and
contain a great quantity of yellowilh clay, mixed with
iron ochre j but others are covered with mould and
wood like the mountains in the internal parts of the
country. Pieces of quartz are fometimes met with
here j but no indications of precious minerals or me¬
tals of any kind have been obferved, iron only ex-
2 cepted.
The air is extremely healthy and pleafant 5 the heat
is not troublefome and frelh meat will keep very well
for two days, and fifh one day. The winds do not
blow conftanlly from the eaft, but generally a little
breeze from eaft to fouth-fouth-eaft. The tide rifes
very little •, and, being governed by the winds, is very
uncertain. “ The climate,” fays M. Bougainville, “ is
fo healthy, that notwithftanding the hard labour of the
fhips companies while on thore, though the men were
continually in the water, and expofed to the meridian
fun, though they flept upon the bare foil, and in the
open air, none of them fell fick *, thole who were af-
flidled with the feurvy, and were fent on ftiore, regain¬
ed their ftrength although they were obliged to aftift
in the eredling of a fort, and had fcarce one uninter¬
rupted night, yet they were fo far recovered in the Ihort
fpace of time they continued there, that they were af¬
terwards perfedlly cured on board.”
Notwithftanding the great height of the inland moun¬
tains of Otaheite, none of their rocks have the appear¬
ance of barrennefs, every one of them being covered
with woods. “ We hardly believed our eyes,” fays M.
de Bougainville, “ when we faw a peak covered with
woods up to its higheft fummit, which rifes above the
level of t he mountains in the interior parts of the fauth-
ern quarter of this bland. Its apparent fize feemed to
be more than 30 toifes in diameter, and grew lefs in
breadth as it rofe higher. At a diftance it might have
been taken for a pyramid of immenfe height, which the
hand of an able fculptor had adorned with garlands and
foliage.” One of the mates of the Dolphin, with a
party of marines and feamen, penetrated into the inte¬
rior parts of the bland ; and having afeended, with great
difficulty, a mountain which they fuppofed.to be a mile
high, they difeovered mountains before them fo much
higher, that with refpedt to them they feemed to be in
a valley: towards the fea the view was enchanting, the
fides of the hills were beautifully clothed with wood,
villages were everywhere interfperfed, and the valleys
between them afforded a-ftill richer profpedly the hnufes
flood thicker, and the verdure was more luxuriant j and
Mr Forfter* with other gentlemen, afeended to the fum¬
mit of one of the higheft mountains in the ifland, from
whence they had a profpedl of the illaud of Huahine,
and fome others lying at the diftance of 40 leagues;
from which we may form fome judgment of the prodi¬
gious height of that mountain. The view of the fertile
plain below them, and of a river making innumerable
meanders, was delightful in the higheft degree. The
vegetation on the upper part of the mountains was luxu¬
riant, and the woods confifted of many unknorvn forts of
trees and plants.
The foil of thisilland is a rich fat earth, of ablackiffi
colour. It produces fpontaneoufly, or with the flighteft
culture imaginable, a great variety of the moft excellent
Soil and
froduce.
fruits; fuch as bread-fruit, cocoa nuts, bananas of 13 Otaheitat
forts, plantains, potatoes, yams, a fruit known here by 1 ~
the name of jambu, and reckoned moft delicious; fugar-
canes, which the inhabitants eat raw; ginger; turmeric;
a root of the falep kind, called by the inhabitants pea;
a plant called ethee, of which the root only is eaten ; a
fruit that grows in a pod like that of a large kidney
bean, by the natives called uhee ; a tree called wharra,
which produces fruit fomething like the pine-apple, and
which is known in the Eaft Indies by the name of pan-
danes ; a fhrub called nono ; the morinda, which alfo
produces fruit; a fpecies of fern ; a plant called tSteve ;
and the Ghinefe paper-mulberry, of the bark of which
they make their cloth ; an herb which the inhabitants
eat raw, its flavour fomewhat refembling that of the
Weft India fpinage called calletoon, but its leaf very
different; a plant which the natives call ava or eava,
from the root of which they exprefs a liquor, which, if
drank to excefs, intoxicates like wine or diftilled fpirits.
Here are a fort of ftiady trees covered with a dark green
foliage, bearing golden-coloured apples, which, in juici-
nefs and flavour, referable the ananas or pine-apple. One
of the moft beautiful trees in the world received here
the name of Barringtonia ; it had a great abundance of
flowers larger than lilies, and perfectly white, excepting
the tips of their numerous chives, which were of a deep
crimfon. Such a quantity of thefe flowers were feen
dropped off, that the ground underneath the tree was
entirely covered with them. The natives called the
tree buddov; and faid, that the fruit, which is a large
nut, when bruifed and mixed up with fome ftiell-fifti,
and thrown into the fea, intoxicates the fifh for feme
time, fo that they come to the furface of the water, and
fufftr themfelves to be taken with people’s hands. Se¬
veral other maritime plants in tropical climates are
found to have the fame quality. Mr Dalrymple de-
feribes the method of catching fifh with thefe plants as
follows: the plant is thruft under the coral rocks or hol¬
lows where the fifh haunt; the effe£t is moft fenfible in
ftill water, though it is effeftual in the open fea ; for
the fame gentleman fays, he has feen fii'h foon after
float on the furface of the water half dead, and fome
totally without life; and where the effedl is lefs vio¬
lent, the fifli will be feen under the water to have
loft their poife, without coming up to the furface. Fiftr
caught in this manner are not in the leaft noxious or ill.
tafted.. t 5
In this ifland they "have domeftic poultry exactly re-Animals**.
fembling thofe of Europe: befides which there are
wild ducks; alfo beautiful green turtle doves; large
pigeons of a deep blue plumage and excellent tafte ;
a fmall fort of paroquets, very.Angular on account of
the various mixture of*red and blue in their feathers ;
alfo another fort of a greeniih colour, with a few red
fpots ; t!ie latter are frequently tamed, and are valued
on account of their red feathers. Here is a king-
fifher of a dark green, with a collar of the fame hue
round his white throat ; a large cuckoo, and a blue
heron. Small birds of various kinds dwell in the Ihady
trees; and, contrary to the generally received opinion
that birds in warm climates are not remarkable for
their fong, have a very agreeable note. There were
no quadrupeds but dogs, hogs* and rats : and for thefe
laft the natives were faid to have a fcrupulous regard,
inlomuch that they would by no means kill them
however^,
OTA r 59° J OTA
Otaheite. however, Captain Cook, in 1773, turned about 14 cats
1 on the iiland, which have probably reduced the num¬
ber of thefe vermin. No frogs, toads, fcorpions, cen¬
tipedes, or any kind of ferpent, have been found here $
the ants, however, are troublefome, but not very nu¬
merous. When the Endeavour firit arrived here in
1769, the flies were found exceflively troublefome ; but
mufqueto nets and fly flaps in feme meafure removed the
inconvenience. Sydney Parkinfon, in his journal, fays,
that notwithstanding thefe flies are fo great a nuifance,
the natives, from a religious principle, will not kill
them. But there is a itrange difagreement in the ac¬
counts of different voyagers concerning this matter.
For M. Bougainville fays, “ this ifland is not infefted
with thofe myriads of troublefome infeits that are the
plague of other tropical countries.” • And Mr Forffer
fays, “ not a gnat or mufqueto hummed unpleafantly
about us, or made us apprehenfive of its bite.” This
inconvenience muff therefore be felt at certain feafons
of the year, and in certain diitruffs of the country, more
fenfibly than at other times and places. There is great
variety of excellent fiflr ; and according to Aitourou, a
native who embarked with M. de Bougainville, there
are fea-fnakes on the fliore of Otaheite, whofe bite is
g mortal.
Defcription The inhabitants of Otaheite are a flout, well-made,
of the inha-aftive, and comely people. The flature of the men, in
bitants, &c.genera^ js from five feej feven to five feet ten inches •,
the talleft man feen by Captain Wallis meafured fix
feet three inches and a half', and Captain Cook, in his
fecond voyage, defcribes O-Too, the king of Otaheite,
to be of that height. “ In order to paint a Hercules or
a Mars,” fays M. de Bougainville, “ one could nowhere
find fuch beautiful models.” They are of a pale brown
complexion •, in general their hair is black, and finely
frizzled j they have black eyes, flat nofes, large mouths,
and fine white teeth ; the men wear their beards in
many fafhions, all of them plucking out a great part,
and have prominent bellies. Moll of them fmell ftrong
of the cocoa-nut oil. The women in general are much
fmaller, efpecially thofe of the lower rank or tawtows,
which is attributed to their early and promifcuous inter-
courfe with the men •, whilft the better fort who do not
gratify their paflions in the fame unbridled manner, are
above the middle ftature of Europeans. Their fkin is
moll delicately fmooth and foft : they have no colour
in their cheeks ; their nofe is generally fomewhat flat,
but their eyes are full of expreflion, and their teeth
beautifully even and white. “ The women,” fays M.
de Bougainville, “ have features not lefs agreeable than
the generality of Europeans, and a fymmetry of body
and beautiful proportion of limbs which might vie with
any of them. The complexion of the men is tawney j
but thofe who go upon the water are much more red
than thofe who live on {bore. Some have their hair
brown, red, or flaxen, in which they are exceptions to
all the natives of Afia, Africa, and America, who have
their hair black univerfally *, here, in the children of
both fexes, it is generally flr.xen. The ftrongelt expref-
fion is painted in the countenances of thefe people ;
their walk is graceful, and all their motions are per¬
formed with great vigour and eafe.” “ I never beheld
ftateher men, (fays Sydney Parkinfon). The men of
confequence on the ifland wear the nails of their fingers
long, which they confider as a very honourable badge
* I
of diftinffion, fince only fuch people as have no occafion Otaheite.
to work can fuffer them to grow to that length. This  v—-
cuftom they have in common with the Chinefe ; but the
nail ot the middle finger on the right hand is always
kept fliort, the meaning for which peculiarity could not
be learned. Only one Angle cripple was met with
among them, and he appeared to have been maimed by
a fall. The women always cut their hair fliort round
their heads. Both fexes have a cuftom of ftaining their
bodies, which they call tattowing; both men and wo¬
men have the hinder part of their thighs and loins
marked very thick with black lines in various forms j
thefe marks are made by ftriking the teeth of an initru-
ment fomewhat like a comb juft through the Ikin, and
rubbing into the pumffures a kind of pafte made of foot
and oil, which leaves an indelible ftain. The boys and
girls under twelve years of age are not marked 5 a few
of the men, whofe legs were marked in chequers by the
fame method, appeared to be perfons of fuperior rank
and authority. Mr Banks faw the operation of tattow¬
ing performed upon the backfide of a girl about thirteen
years old. The inftrument ufed upon this occafion had
thirty teeth ; and every ftroke, of which at leaft a hun¬
dred were made in a minute, drew an ichor or ferum a
little tinged with blood. The girl bore it with moft
ftoical refolution for about a quarter of an hour ; but
the pain of fo many hundred pumffures as flie had re¬
ceived in that time, then became intolerable. She firfl:
complained in murmurs, then wept, and at laft burft
into loud lamentations, earneflly imploring the operator
to defift. He was, however, inexorable •, and when (he
began to ftruggle, Are was held down by two women,
who fometimes foothed and fometimes chid her •, and
now and then, when ftie was moft unruly, gave her a
fmart blow. Mr Banks ftaid in a neighbouring houfe
an hour, and the operation was not over when he went
away ; yet it was performed but upon one fide, the other
having been done fome time before •, and the arches up¬
on the loins, in which they moft pride themfelves, and
which gave more pain than all the reft, were ftill to be
done. Both men and women are not only decently but
gracefully clothed, in a kind of white cloth that is made
of the bark of a fhrub, and very much refembles coarfe
China paper. Their drefs confifts of two pieces of this
cloth ; one of them, having a hole made in the middle
to put the head through, hangs from the fhoulders to
the mid-leg before and behind ; another piece, which is
between four and five yards long, and about one yard
broad, they wrap round the body in a very eafy man¬
ner : This cloth is not woven •, but is made like paper,
of the macerated fibres of the inner bark fpread out and
beaten together. Their ornaments are feathers, flowers,
pieces of (hell, and pearls ; the pearls are worn chiefly
by the women. In wet weather they wear matting of
different kinds, as their cloth will not bear wetting.
The drefs of the better fort of women confifts of three
or four pieces: one piece, about two yards wide and
eleven long, they wrap feveral times round their waift,
fo as to hang down like a petticoat as low as the middle
of the leg ; and this they call parou. This Ample
drapery affords the fex an opportunity of difplaying
an elegant figure to the greateft advantage, according
to the talents and tafte of the wearer : no general
falhions force them to disfigure inftead of adorning them¬
felves, but an innate gracefulnefs is the companion of
fimplicity.
Otalieite.
7
Of their
houfes.
S
Food, me¬
thod of
cookery.
OTA [ 591 1 OTA
fimplicity. To this cloth they give a very ftrong per¬
fume.
The chief ufe which they make of their houfes is to
ileep in them ; for unlefs it rains, they eat in the open
air under the thade of a tree. Thefe houfes are no other
than iheds, all built in the wood between the fea and
the mountains j they are eredled on an oblong fquare 5
their width is nearly half of their length 5 they are
nothing more than a roof, not quite four feet from the
ground, raifed on three rows of pillars, one row on
each iide, and one in the middle. The roof refembles
our thatched houfes in England, and confifts of two
flat fides inclining to each other. Their thatch con¬
fifts of palm-leaves. The floor of their dwelling is
covered with hay, over which they fpread mats. Some
of thefe ereflions are furniftred with a ftaol, which is
appropriated folely to the ufe of the mafter of the fami¬
ly : they confift of no other furniture except a few
blocks of wood, which being fquare, one fide is hol¬
lowed into a curve •, and thefe they ufe as pillows, and
with their apparel they cover themfelves. In thefe open
dwellings the whole family repofe themfelves at night.
The fize of the houfe is proportioned to the number that
conftitutes the family. The eftablilhed order in thefe
dormitories is, for the mafter and his wife to fleep in the
middle •, round them the married people j in the next
circle the unfnarried women ; and in the next, at the
fame diftance, the unmarried men j and the fervants at
the extremity of the fhed; but in fair weather the lat¬
ter fleep in the open air. Some few dwellings, how¬
ever, conftrufted for greater privacy, are entirely in-
clofed with walls of reeds, connefted together with
tranfverfe pieces of wood, fo as to appear fomewhat like
large bird cages clofely lined •, in thefe houfes there is
commonly a hole left for the entrance, which can be
clofed up with a board.
Their candles are made of the kernels of a kind of
oily nut, which they flick one above another on a
fkewer that is thruft through the middle of them 5 the
upper one being lighted burns to the fecond, at the
fame time confuming that part of the Ikewer that goes
through it ; the fecond taking fire burns in the fame
manner down to the third, and fo to the laft } they
burn a confiderable time, and afford a pretty good
light. The natives generally retire to reft about an hour
after it is dark.
The food of the common people entirely confifts of
vegetables. Thefe are, the bread-fruit, with bananas,
plantains, yams, apples, and a four fruit, which, though
not pleafant bv itfelf, gives an agreeable relifti to roafted
bread fruit, with which it is frequently beaten up. The
fit fh, which is referved for the tables of the great, is ei¬
ther poultrv, hogs, or dogs •, the flefh of their fowls is
not wTell-tafted, but that of dogs is efteemed by the na¬
tives beyond pork. The fmaller fiflr are generally eaten
raw, as w'e eat oyfters : every thing that can be procur¬
ed from the fea is made an article of their food •, for
they will eat not only fea-infe£ts, but what the feamen
call blubbers, though fame of them are fo tough that
they are obliged to fuffer them to become putrid before
they can be chewed. A very large (hark being caught
by the Dolphin’s people was given to the natives j who
foon cut it to pieces, and carried it aw'ay with great
fatisfa&ion.
' They kill the animals they intend for food by fuffo-
cating them, which is done by flopping the mouth and Otaheite.
nofe with their hands j they then tinge off the hair, by 11 " y
holding the animal over a fire, and fcraping him with a
ftiell : with this inttrument they cut him up, and take
out the entrails •, which are w'alhed, and put into cocoa-
nut ftrells, together with the blood. Dogs are eaten
that are fed wholly upon bread-fruit, cocoa-nuts, yams,
and other vegetables, and are never luftered to tafte any
animal food j and thofe who have tailed the flelh of a
dog thus fed, have declared it to be little inferior to
Englilh lamb. In order to drefs their food, they kindle
a fire, by rubbing the end of one piece of dry wood upon
the fide of another, in the fame maimer as a carpenter
with us whets a chifel. They then dig a pit about half
a foot deep, and two or three yards in circumference $
they pave the bottom with large pebble ftones, which,
they lay down very fmooth and even, and then kindle
a fire in it with dry wood, leaves, and the hulks of co¬
coa-nuts. When the ftones are fufficiently heated, they
take out the embers, and rake up the allies on every
fide ; they then cover the ftones with a. layer of green
cocoa-nut leaves, and wTrap up the animal that is to be
dreffed in the leaves of the plantain. If it is a fmall
hog, they wrap it up whole ; if a large one, they fplit
it. When it is placed in the pit, they cover it with the
hot embers, and lay upon them bread-fruit and yams,
which are alfo wrapped up in the leaves of plantain.
Over thefe they fpread the remainder of the embers,
mixing among them feme of the hot ftones, with more
cocoa-nut tree leaves upon them, and then clofe up all
with earth, fo that the heat is kept in ; the oven is kept
thus clofed a longer or Ihorter time according to the
fize of the meat that is drefled. The meat, when taken
out, is faid to be better drefled than any other way.
They ufe Ihells for knives •, and carve very dexteroufly
with them, always cutting from themfelves. One of
the principal attendants on Oberea, attempting the ufe
of the knife and fork, could not feed himfelf therewith ;
but by the mere force of habit, his hand came to his
mouth, and the victuals at the end of his fork went
away to his ear.
They are quite unacquainted w’ith the method of
boiling water, as they have no veffels among them that
will bear the fire. Whilft the noble Oberea was one
morning at breakfaft with Captain Wallis on board
the Dolphin, the furgeon filled the tea-pot by turning
the cock of a vafe that flood upon the table. One of
the lady’s attendants obferved this pra&ice very atten¬
tively, and foon after turning the cock himfelf, received
the water upon his hand ■, he no fooner felt himfelf
fcalded, than he roared and danced about in an extrava¬
gant manner. The other Indians, unapprifed of the
caufe of thefe emotions, flood gazing at him in amaze¬
ment, and not wdthout feme mixture of terror : but the
gentlemen in company, who foon perceived the caufe of
the outcry, difpelled the apprehenfions of their vifitants ;
and fome ointment being applied to the fcald, good hu¬
mour and confidence were again reftored. The gunner
of the {hip, who xvas appointed comptroller of the mar¬
ket which was eftablifhed on ihore with the natives,
ufed to dine on the fpot ; the aftonifhment of thefe peo¬
ple xvas very great to fee him drefs his pork and poul¬
try in a pot ; at length an old man, who was extremely
ferviceable in bringing down provifions to be exchanged,
was put into pofleflion of an iron pot, and from that
time
OTA t 592 ] OTA
■-CHairiitc. time he and his friends ate boiled meat every day. Se-
>v veral iron pots were likewife given to Oberea and fome
’ of the chiefs : which were in conftant ufe, and drew
every body to fee them j but although the particulars
of two fuccedive voyages of Captain Cook to this ifland
are circumftantially related, we hear no more of this
improvement in the culinary art, or of the further af-
filtance which has been rendered thofe people in fupply-
ing them with pots for boiling; but however defirous
the natives might be to eat boiled meat, it was not ad-
vifeable to have fuch an article for barter as iron kettles,
when a few fpike nails, or a common hatchet, would
procure one of their largeft hogs.
Salt water is the ufual fauce to their food ; thole
who live near the lea have it furnilhed as it is wanted,
others at a diftance keep it in large bamboos. The
kernels of the. cocoa-nuts hirniih them with another
fauce ; thefe, made into a palte fomething of the cen-
liltence of butter, are beat up with fait water, which
has a very ilrong flavour ; but though at firlt it feemed
very naufeous, yet when the tatle became familiar, it
was much relithed.
Their general drink is water, or the milk of the co¬
coa-nut. They Ihowed in general an averfion to Itrong
liquors; and whenever any one of them happened to
drink fo freely with any of the Ihip’s company as to be
intoxicated, he refolutely refufed to tafte any thing that
was likely to produce the fame effect again ; but they
have a plant which they call ava ava, from the root of
which they procure a liquor which has an inebriating
quality. Their manner of preparing this Ilrong drink
is as dimple as it is difgufting to an European. Several
of the people take fame of the root, and chew it. till it
is foft and pulpy ; they then fpit it out into a platter or
other veflel, every one into the fame: into this general
receptacle water is poured according to the quantity
prepared. The juice thus diluted is (trained through
fome fibrous fluff like fine (havings, after which it is
fit for drinking, and it is always prepared for prefent
ufe : it has a pepperiih tafle ; drinks flat, and rather
infipid ; and though it intoxicates, yet Captain Cook
faw but one inftance where it had that effedt, as the
natives generally drink it with great moderation, and
but little at a time. Sometimes they chew this root
as Europeans do tobacco, and fometiraes they will eat
, it wholly.
They eat alone, or at lead only in company with a
gueft that happens to call in ; and the men and women
never fit down together to a meal: the (hade of a (pread-
ing tree ferves them for a parlour; broad leaves fpread
in great abundance ferve for a table-cloth ; and if a
^perfon of rank, he is attended by a number of fervants
who feat themfelves round him: before be begins his
meal, he vvafhes his mouth and hands very clean, and
repeats this feveral times whilff he is eating. The quan¬
tity of food which thefe people eat at a meal is prodi¬
gious. Captain Cook fays, he has feen one man devour
two or three fiffies as big as a perch ; three bread¬
fruits, each bigger than two fids ; 14 or 15 plantains,
or bananas, each fix or (even inches long and four or
five round, and near a quart of the pounded bread-fruit.
Men of rank are conftantly fed by their women ; and
one of the chiefs who dined on board the (hips in 1769,
fhowed fuch reluflance to feed himfelf, that one of the
Servants was obliged to feed him to prevent his returning
without his ‘meal. In one of the excurfions which the Otalr
gentlemen of the (hips made into the country in 1779,
they arrived at a neat houfe, where a very fat man,
who feemed to be a chief of the diftrift, rvas lolling on
his wooden pillow ; before him two fervants were pre¬
paring his deflert, by beating up with water fome bread¬
fruit and bananas in a large wooden bowl, and mixing
with it a quantity of fermented four pafte called ma/rie.
While this was doing, a woman, who fat down near
him, crammed down his throat by handfuls the remains
of a large baked fiih, and leveral bread-fruits, which
he fwallowed with a voracious appetite : his countenance
was the piclute of phlegmatic infenfibility, and feemed
to teftiiy that all his thoughts centered in the gratifica¬
tion of his appetite. He fcarce deigned to.look at
the ((rangers ; and a few monofyllables which lie utter¬
ed, were extorted from him to remind his feeders of
their duty, when by gazing at them they grew lefs at¬
tentive to him.
That thefe people, who are remarkably fond of fo-
ciety, and particularly that of their women, ihould ex¬
clude its pleafures from the table, where, among all
other nations, whether civil or favage, they have been
principally enjoyed, is truly inexplicable. How a meal,
which everywhere elfe brings families and friends to¬
gether, comes to feparate them here, was a fingula-
rity much inquired about, but never accounted for,
“ They ate alone (they laid), becaufe it was right
but why it was right to eat alone, they never attempt¬
ed to explain. Such, however, was the force of habit
in this inftance, as it is in every other, that they ex-
prefled the ftrongeft diflike, and even difguft, at their
vifitants eating in fociety, especially with women, and
of the fame victuals. “ At firft (fays Captain Cook)
we thought this ((range Angularity arofe from fome
fuperftitious opinion ; but they conftantly affirmed the
contrary. We obferved alfo fome caprices in the cu-
(lom, for which we could as little account as the
-cuftom itfelf. We could never prevail with any of the
women to partake of the viifluals at our table, when
we were dining in company ; yet they would go five
or fix together into the fervants apartments, and there
eat very heartily of whatever they could find : nor were
they in the lead difconcerted if we came in while they
were doing it. When any of us have been alone with
a woman, (be has fometimes eaten in our company ;
but then (he has expreffed the greateft unwillingnefs that
it fhould be known, and always extorted the (Irongelt
promifes of Secrecy. Among themfelves, even two
brothers and two fifters have each their feparate ba-
(kets of provifions, and the apparatus of their meal,
\\ hen they firft: viiited us at our tents, each brought
his baiket with him ; and when we fat down to table,
they would go out, lit down upon the ground, at two
or three yards diftance from each other, and turning
their faces different ways take their repaft without
exchanging a (ingle word. The women not only ab -
ftain from eating with the men, and of the fame vic¬
tuals, but evqn have their vi&uals feparately prepared
by boys kept for that purpofe, who depofit it in a fe¬
parate (bed, and attend them with it at their meals.
But though they would not eat with us, or with each
other, they have often alked us to eat with them, when
we have vifited thofe with whom we were particularly
acquainted at their houfes ; and we have often upon
fuck
*
Difeiifes
OTA [ 593 ]
Otaheite. fucli occafions eaten out of the fame baflcet, and drank
out of the fame cup. The elder women, however, al¬
ways appeared offended at this liberty ; and if we hap¬
pened to touch their victuals, or even the balket that
contained it, they would throw it away.”
After meals, and in the heat of the day, the middle-
aged people of the better fort generally lleep. They are
indeed extremely indolent •, and deeping and eating are
almoft all that they do. Thofe that are older are lefs
drowfy, and the boys and girls are kept awake by the
natural activity and fprightlinefs of their age.
Thefe idanders, who inhabit huts expofed to all the
winds, and hardly cover the earth, which ferves them
for a bed, with a layer of leaves, are remarkably healthy
and vigorous, and live to an old age without enduring
any of its infirmities ; their fenfes are acute, and they
retain their beautiful teeth to the lad. M. de Bougain¬
ville defcribes an old man, whom they^ faw on their
landing, who had no other charadler of old age, than
that reipeftable one which is imprinted on a fine figure.
H is head was adorned with white hair, and a long
white beard ; all his body was nervous and dediy ; he
had neither wrinkles, nor Ihowed any other tokens of
decrepitude. This venerable man feemed difpleafed at
the arrival of thefe ftrangers ; he even retired without
making any returns to the courtefies they paid to him ;
but he gave no figns either of fear, aftonithment, or
curiofity: very far from taking any part in the rap¬
tures which the multitude expreffed, his thoughtful and
fufpicious air feemed to indicate, that he feared the ar¬
rival of a new race of men would interrupt the happi-
nefs he had fo long enjoyed. From whence it may be
inferred, that his mind was not a whit more impaired
than his body. There are, however, feveral forts of
leprous complaints on this ifland, which appear in cu¬
taneous eruptions of the fcaly kind ; fome were feen
that had ulcers upon different parts of their bodies •,
yet they feemed little regarded by thofe who were af-
flifted with them, and no application whatever was
ufed to them, not fo much as to keep off the flies.
But inftances of them are rare, as the excellency of
their climate, and the fimplicity of their vegetable food,
prevent almoft all dangerous and deadly diforders.
They are fometimes affli&ed with the cholic, and
coughs are not unknown among them •, and the chiefs,
who fare more fumptuoufty, as a punithment for their
voluptuoufnefs are fometimes attacked with a diforder
fimilar to the gout, in which the legs are fwelled and
exceflively painful. M. de Bougainville’s furgeon af-
furcd him, that he had feen many with marks of the
fmallpox.
The ufual method employed here to reftore the fick
to health, is by pronouncing a fet form of words 5 after
which the exorcift applies the leaves of the cocoa-tree
plaited to the fingers and toes of the fick; fo that na¬
ture is left to conflict with the difeafe, without being
aftifted with any falutary application of art. But
though they feem utterly deftitute of medical know¬
ledge, they appear to be no inconfiderable proficients in
furgery, which they had an opportunity of proving
while the Dolphin lay here. One of thefeamen, when
on fhore run a large f pi in ter into his foot; and the fur¬
geon not being at hand, one of his comrades endeavour¬
ed to take it out with a pen-knife : but after putting the
poor fellow to a great deal of pain, he was obliged to give
“ VOL. XV. Part II.
OTA
it over : an old native, who had been very aflivc and Otnfieite.
fuccefsful in eftablilhing a good underftanding between v
the {hip’s company and his countrymen, happening to
be prefent, called a man from the other fide of the
river, who having examined the lacerated foot, fetched
a ihell from the beach, which he broke to a point with
his teeth ; with which inftrument he laid open the
wound, and extrafted the fplinter. Whilft this opera¬
tion was performing, the old man went a little way into
the wood, and returned with fome gum, which he ap¬
plied to the wound upon a piece of the cloth that was
wrapped round him, and in two days time it was per-
feftly healed. 'This gum rvas produced by the apple-
tree ; the furgeon of the {hip procured fome of it, and
ufed it as a vulnerary balfam with great fuccefs. Cap¬
tain Cook, in t 769, faw many of th6 natives with dread¬
ful fears ; one man, in particular, whofe face was almoft
entirely deftroyed 5 his nofe, including bone, was perfedb-
ly flat j and one cheek and one eye were fo beaten in,
that the hollow would ahnoft receive a man’s lift ; yet
no one ulcer remained.
The venereal difeafe is {aid to have been entailed up¬
on thefe people by the crew of M. de Bougainville’s
{hips, who vifited this ifland a Ihort time after Cap¬
tain Wallis had left it. In 1769, more than one-half
of the crew in Captain Cook’s {hip had coniratfted it,
during a month’s ftay here. The natives diftinguiftied
it by a name of the fame import with rottennefs, but
of a more extenfive fignification. 'They deferibed, in
the moft pathetic terms, the fufferings which the firft
victims to its rage endured j and told him that it cau-
fed the hair and the nails to fall off, and the flefli to
rot from the bones; that it fpread univerfal terror
and confternation among the inhabitants, fo that the
fick were abandoned by their neareft relations, left the
calamity Ihould fpread by contagion, and were left to
perilh alone in fuch mifery as till then had never been
known among them. But there feems to be fome rea-
fon to hope that they had found out a fpecific cure for
it, as none were feen on whom it had made a great
progrefs ; and one who -went from the {hip infefted,
returned, after a {hort time, in perfeft health. Both
Captain Cook and Mr Forfter, in their relations of
their voyage in the Befolution, endeavour to eftablifti
the opinion, that this fcourge of licentioufnefs was felt
in the South fea iflands previous to any of the mo¬
dern voyages that have been made thither, and that it
was an indigenous difeafe there. But if that conclufion
be well founded, how comes it, that at all the places
where the Refolution touched in 1773, which had be¬
fore been vifited by the Endeavour in 1769, fuch as
New Zealand, for inftance, the crew, more or lefs, be¬
came infefted by their commerce with the women,
and not at all fo at places which they vifited, for the
firft time, in the Refolution ? _ 10
The principal manufacture among the Otahekeans Manufac-
is their cloth. This is made of the bark of trees,tures-
-which are of three kinds, viz. the Chinefe mulberry-
tree, or aouta ; the bread-fruit tree, or ooroo; and one
that is deferibed by Dr Hawkefvvorth as refembling
the wild fig tree of the Weft Indies. Of all thefe the
paper mulberry affords the belt cloth \ what is made
from that being both finer, fofter, whiter, and better
fuited to take a colour \ the ooroo produces cloth much
inferior in contexture j and the laft is very coarfe, in
a F colour
Otaheite.
OTA
ii
Working
tools.
colour refembling the darkeft brown paper ; but this
laft is the only kind that withftands water : (See the
article Bark).—They likevvife prepare a red dye ;
which is made by mixing the yellow juice of a fmall
fpecies of fig, which the natives call ?nattee, with the
greenilh juice of a fort of fern or bindweed, or of fe-
veral other plants, which produce a bright crimfon :
and this the women rub with their hands, if the piece
is to be uniformly of a colour 5 or they make ufe of a
bamboo reed if the piece is to be marked or fprinkled
into different patterns. The colour fades very foon,
and becomes of a dirty red j but notwithstanding this
defedl, and its being liable to be fpoiled by rain, the
cloth thus ftained is highly valued, and is worn only
by the principal inhabitants of the country. The in¬
habitants perfume their clothes with certain plants ;
concerning which, Mr Forfter made all poffible in¬
quiry. Tahea, a friendly native, {bowed him feveral
plants which are fometimes ufed as fubftitutes ; but the
moft precious fort, he either could not, or would not,
point out : and from the account of Omai it appears
that there are no lefs than 14 different forts of plants
employed for this purpofe.
Matting is another Otaheitean manufaflure : and in
this they are fo dexterous, that they produce finer mats
than any made in Europe. Rudies, grafs, the bark of
trees, and the leaves of a plant called wharrou, are the
materials which they work up for this purpofe. Their
matting is applied to various ufes : the coarfer kind is
employed for deeping on in the night, or fitting on
through the day ; the finer fort is converted into gar¬
ments in rainy weather, their cloth being foon pene¬
trated by wet. They are very dexterous in making
baflcet and wicker-work : their balkets are of a vad:
number of different patterns, many of them exceedingly
neat; and the making them is an art praftifed by every
one, both men and women.
Inftead of hemp, they make ropes and lines of the
bark of a tree ; and thus they are provided with {idl¬
ing nets ; the fibres of the cocoa-nut furnidi them with
thread, with which they fallen the different parts of
their canoes, &c. The bark of a nettle which grows
in the mountains, and is called orawa, fuppiies them
with excellent fidiing lines, capable of holding any
kind of fidi ; and their hooks are made of mother-of-
pearl, to which they fix a tuft of hair, made to re¬
ferable the tail of a fidi. Inftead of making them
bearded, the point is turned inwards. They make alfo
a kind of feine of a coarfe broad grafs, the blades of
which are like dags. Thefe they twill and tie toge¬
ther in a loofe manner, till the net, which is about as
wide as a large, fack, is from 60 to 80 fathoms long.
This they haul in fmooth dioal water ; and its own
■weight keeps it fo clofe to the ground, that fcarcely a
fingle fidi can efcape. They make harpoons of cane,
and point them with hard wood ; with which they can
ftrike fidi more efteftually than an European can with
one headed with iron.
The tools ufed by the Otaheiteans for all their pur-
pofes are, an adze made of ftone j a chifel or gouge
made of bone, generally the bone of a man’s arm be¬
tween the wrift and elbow j a rafp of coral, and the
{kin of a fting-ray *, alfo coral and fand, as a file or po-
lifher : and with thefe they fell timber, cleave and po-
lilh it, and hew ftone. The ftone which makes the
3.
[ 594 ]
OTA
blade of their adzes is a kind of bafaltes, of a gray or Otaheite.
blackidi colour, not very hard, but of confiderable ''““v
toughnefs; -they are formed ot different fizes j fome
that are intended for felling, weigh from fix to eight
pounds } others that are ufed for carving, not more
than as many ounces : but it is neceffary to fliarpen
thefe rude tools almoft every minute j for which pur¬
pofe a cocoa-nut fliell full of water and a ftone are
always at hand. With fuch tools they generally take
up feveral days in felling a tree ; but after it is down,
and fplit into planks, they fmooth them very dexter-
oufly and expeditioufly with their adzes, and can take
off a thin coat from a whole plank without miffing: a
ftroke.
Their weapons are flings, which they ufe with great Weapons,
dexterity j pikes headed with the Ikins of fting-rays ;
and clubs of about fix or feven feet long, made of a
very hard wood. Thus armed, they are laid to fight
■with great obllinacy •, and to give no quarter to man,
woman, or child, who happens to fall into their hands
during the battle, nor for fome time afterwards, till
their paffion fubfides. They have likewife bows and
arrows ; but the arrows are good for nothing except to
bring down a bird, being headed only with ftone, and
none of them pointed. They have targets of a femicir-
cular form, made of wicker-work, and plaited firings
of the cocoa-nut fibres, covered with gloffy, bluifh-
green feathers belonging to a kind of pigeon, and orna¬
mented with many {bark’s teeth, arranged in three con¬
centric circles.
Their boats or canoes are of three different forts. canoTe^
Some are made out of a fingle tree, and hold from
two to fix men. Thefe are principally employed
in fifhing : the others are conftru6led of planks very
dexteroufly fewed together ; they are of different fizes,
and will hold from 10 to 40 men : they generally lafli '
two of thefe together, and fet up two mails between
them ; or if they are fingle, they have an out-rigger on
one fide, and only one mail in the middle ; and in thefe
veffels they will fail far beyond the fight of land.
The third fort feems to be principally defigned for
pleafure or flieiv. Thefe are very large, but have n»
fail ; and in lhape referable the gondolas of Venice.
The middle is covered with a large awning ; and fome
of the people fit upon it, and fome under it. The
plank of which thefe veffels are conftrutted, is made
by fplitting a tree, with the grain, into as many thin
pieces as poffible. The boards are brought to the
thicknefs of about an inch, and are afterwards fitted
to the boat with the fame exadlnefs that might be ex¬
pelled from an expert joiner. To fallen thefe planks
together, holes are bored with a piece of bone, fixed
into a flick for that purpofe. Through thefe holes a
kind of plaited cordage is paffed, fo as to hold the
planks ftrongly together. The feams are caulked with
dry ruffies j and the whole outfide of the veffel is painted
over with a kind of gummy juice, which fuppiies the
place of pitch.
The Otaheiteans are a very induftrious people, and characters
friendly in their difpofitions ; but like all other nations manners, *
not fully civilized, their paffions are extremely vio-8cc.
lent, and they are very fickle. The manner of Tingling
out a man here for a chofen friend is by taking off a
part of your clothing and putting it upon him. Their
ufual manner of expreffing their refped to ftrangers, or
their
OTA
Otahelte. their fuperiors, at a firft meeting, is by uncovering them-
felves to the middle. They have a cuftom of laluting
thofe who fneeze, by faying evaroeia-t-eatoua, “ May
the good eatoua awaken you,” or “ May not the evil
eatoua lull you afleep !”
Their propenfity to theft is very great, infomuch,
that M. Bougainville fays, “ even in Europe itfelf one
cannot fee more expert filchers than the people of this
country and indeed, in all the voyages made by
Captain Cook and others, they had abundant expe¬
rience of this difpolition of the natives, which often
produced quarrels, and fometimes even fatal effe6!s. In
their behaviour they are extremely lafcivious, almoft
beyond credibility. A woman of diftindtion who vi-
fited Mr Banks, ufed the following ceremony on her
firft approach to the ftranger. After laying down fe-
veral young plantain leaves, a man brought a large
bundle of cloth 5 which having opened, he fpread it
piece by piece on the ground, in the fpace between
Mr Banks and his vifitants. There were in all nine
pieces : having fpread three piece* one upon ano¬
ther, the lady came forward, and, ftepping upon
them, took up her garments all around her to her
waift ; fhe then turned three times round, after which
{lie dropped the veil : when other three pieces were
fpread, fhe praftifed the fame ceremony 5 and fo the
third time, w'hen the laft three pieces were laid out j
after which the cloth was again rolled up, and deliver¬
ed to Mr Banks as a prefent from the lady, who with
her attending friend came up and faluted him. From
the unbridled licentioufnefs of thefe people, the French
gave this ifland the name of the Nexv Ci/thera. Nay,
to fuch a degree do they carry their libidinous exceffes,
that a number of the principal people, it is related, have
formed themfelves into a fociety, in which every woman
is common to every man. This fociety is diftinguifhed
by the name of Arreoy, the members of which have
meetings from which all others are excluded. At thefe
meetings the paflions are excited by a ftudied courfe
of fenfuality, and the coarfeft and moft' brutal plea-
fures are enjoyed by the whole company. If, however,
notwithftanding thefe exceffes, any of the female mem¬
bers of this community fliould prove with child, unlefs
ihe can procure fome man to adopt the child as his
own, not all the ftrong affections of a mother, if fuch
are not entirely eradicated by a courfe of life fubver-
five of the feelings as well as the modefty of nature,
can fave the life of the precondemned innocent; but
the child as foon as born is fmothered, and the mo¬
ther is left at liberty to renew her former courfe of ex¬
ecrable proftitution. Should any man be found to co¬
operate with a woman in faving the life of a child, they
are both excluded for ever from the arreoy, and are
confidered as man and wife. The woman from that
time is diftinguiftied by the term whannow-now, “ the
bearer of children j” which in this part of the world
only is confidered as a term of reproach 5 and fo de¬
praved are thofe people, that being a member of fuch
a fociety is boafted of as being a privilege, inftead of
being ftigmatizcd as the fouleft crime. The arreoys
enjoy feveral privileges, and are greatly refpeCIed
throughout the Society iflands, as well as at Ota-
heite ; nay, they claim a great fliare of honour from
the circumftance of being childlefs. Tupia, one of the
moft intelligent natives, when he heard that the king
[ 595 1
OTA
of England had a numerous offspring, declared that Otaheite.
he thought himfelf much greater, becaufe he belonged
to the arreoys. That this fociety indulge themfelves
in promifcuous embraces, and that every woman is
common to every man, is contradicted by Mr Forfter.
He fays, that thefe arreoys choofe their wives and
miftreffes from among the proftitutes j and from this
circumftance, as well as their extreme voluptuoufnefs,
they have feldom any reafon to dread the intrufion of
children. He had the following circumftances related
to him by Omi or Omiah, one of the natives, who
was brought to England. He faid, that the pre-emi¬
nence and advantages which a man enjoyed as arreoy
were fo valuable as to urge him againft his own feel¬
ings to deftroy his child ; that the mother was never
willing to confent to the murder ; but that her hulband
and other arreoys perfuaded her to yield up the child j
and that where entreaties were not fufficient, force was
fometimes made ufe of. But, above all, he added, that
this aCtion Avas always perpetrated in fecret ■, infomuch,
that not even the Mows or attendants of the houfe Avere
prefent ; becaufe, if it Avere feen, the murderers Avould
be put to death.
Both men and Avomen conftantly Avaffi their whole
bodies three times a-day in running Avater, and are re¬
markably cleanly in their clothes. They are moft ex¬
pert fwimmers, being accuftomed to the Avater from
their infancy. Captain Cook relates the folloAving re¬
markable inftance of their expertnefs. On a part of
the (bore Avhcre a tremendoully high furf broke, info¬
much that no European boat could li\7e in it, and the
beft European fwimmer, he Avas perfuaded, Avould have
been drowned, as the ftrore Avas covered with pebbles
and large ftones, yet here xvere to or 12 Indians fwim-
ming for their amufement. Whenever a furf broke
near them, they dived under it, and rofe again on the
other fide. The ftern of an old canoe added much to
their fport. This they took out before them, and
fwam with it as far as the outermoft breach 5 Avhen Iavo
or three getting into it, and turning the fquare end to
the breaking xvave, Avere driven in toAvards the fhore
Avith incredible rapidity, fometimes almoft to the beach j
but generally the AvaA^e broke over them before they
got half Avay ; in Avhich cafe they dived, and rofe to
the other fide Avith the canoe in their hands, and fwim-
ming out Avith it again were again driven back. This
amazing expertnefs dreAV the Captain’s attention for
more than half an hour ; during which time none of
the fAvimmers attempted to come aftiore, but feemed to
enjoy the fport in the higheft degree. At another
time, one of the officers of the quarter-deck intending
to drop a bead into a canoe for a little boy of fix years
of age, it accidentally miffed the boat, and fell into
the fea ^ but the child immediately leaped overboard,
dived after it, and recovered it. To rervard him for
this feat, fome more beads Avere dropped to him ; Avbich
excited a number of men and AA'omen to amufe the of¬
ficers with their amazing feats of agility in the Avrater,
and not only fetched up feveral beads fcattered at once,
but likeAvife large nails, which, from their weight, de-
fcended quickly to a confiderable depth. Some of thefe
people continued a confiderable time under Avater ; and
the velocity Avith Avhich they Avere feen to go doAvn, the
Avater being extremely clear, Avas very furprifing. Here
a green branch of a tree is ufed as an emblem of peace,
4 E 2 in
OTA
Otaheite. jn exaft conformity to the cuftom of the ancient nations.
v' 1 ' * We (hall add an extradl here from Captain Cook’s laft
voyage to the Pacific ocean.
“ Nothing could make a flronger impreflion at firft
fight, on our arrival here, than the remarkable con¬
trail between the robuft make'and dark colour of the
* One of people of Tongataboo *, and a fort of delicacy and
the Friend-which diltinguifh the inhabitants of Ota-
Ij iilandb. yvas even fome time before that difference
could preponderate in favour of the Otaheiteans; and
then only, perhaps, becaufe as we became accuftomed to
them, the marks which had recommended the others
began to be forgotten. Their women, however, {truck
us as fuperior in every refpecl ; and as poffeffing all
thofe delicate character!dies which diftinguilh them
from the other fex in many countries. The beard
which the men here wear long, and the hair, which
is not cut lo Ihort as is the fafhion at Tongataboo,
made alfo a great difference; and we cannot help
thinking, that on every occaiion they fhowed a greater
degree of timidity and ficklenefs. The mufeular ap¬
pearance, fo common amongft the Friendly iltanders,
and which fee ms a confequence of their being accuf¬
tomed to much aft ion, is loft here, where the fuperior
fertility of their country enables the inhabitants to
lead a more indolent life ; and its place is fupplied by
a plumpnefs and fmoothnefs of the Ikin •, which, though
perhaps more confonant with our ideas of beauty, is
no real advantage, as it feems attended with a kind
cf languor in all their motions, not obfervable in the
others. This obfervation is fully verified in their box¬
ing and wreftling, which may be" called little better
than the feeble eftorts of children, if compared to the
vigour with which thefe exercifes are performed at the
Friendly iflands.
“ Perfonal endowments being in great efteem amongft
them, they have recourfe to feveral methods of im¬
proving them, according to their notions of beauty.
In particular, it is a practice, efpecially amongft the
arreoy, or unmarried men of lome confequence, to un¬
dergo a kind of phyfical operation, to render them
fair. This is done by remaining a month or two in the
houfe ; during which time they wear a great quantity
of clothes, eat nothing but bread-fruit, to which they
aferibe a remarkable property in whitening them. They
alfo fpeak, as if their corpulence and colour, at other
times, depended upon their food : as they are obliged,
from the change of feafons, to ufe different forts at dif¬
ferent times.
“ The graceful air and firm ffep with which thefe
people walk are not the lead obvious proof of their per¬
fonal accomplifliments. They confider this as a thing
fo natural, or fo neceffary to be acquired, that nothing
ufed to excite their laughter fooner, than to fee us fre¬
quently Humbling upon the roots of trees, or other ine¬
qualities of the ground.
“ Their countenances very remarkably exprefs the
abundant mildnefs or good nature which they poffefs,
and are entirely free from that favage keennefs which
marks nations in a barbarous Hate. One would, in¬
deed, be apt to fancy that they had been bred up under
the fevereft reftridiions to acquire an afpedl fo fettled,
and fuch a command of their paftions, as well as fteadi-
nefs in eondudl. But they are at the fame time frank,
cheerful, and good-humoured, though fometimes, in the
f 596 J
OTA
prefence of their chiefs, they put on a degree of gravity, Otaheite.
and fuch a ferious air, as becomes ftiff and awkward, ’ v——
and has an appearance of referve.
“ Their peaceable difpofition is fufficiently evinced
from the friendly reception all ftrangers have met with
who have vifited them. Inftead of offering to attack
them openly or clandeftinely, as has been the cafe with
moll of the inhabitants of thefe feas, they have never
appeared in the fmallell degree hoftile, but on the con¬
trary, like the moft civilized people, have courted an
intereourfe with their vifitors by bartering, which is the
only medium that unites all nations in a lort of friend-
fliip. They underhand barter (which they call fukka-
tou) fo perftdlly, that at firfl we imagined they might
have acquired the knowledge of it by commercial inter-
courfe with the neighbouring illands; but we were af¬
terwards affured, that they had little or no traffic except
with Feejee, from which they get the red feathers, and
fome few other articles which they efteem. Perhaps no
nation in the world traffic with more honefty, and le£»
diilruft. We could always fafely permit them to exa¬
mine our goods, and to hand them about one to an¬
other ) and they put the fame confidence in us. If ei¬
ther party repented of the bargain, the goods were re-
exchanged with mutual conlent and good humour. Up¬
on the whole, they Item pofftffed of many of the moft
excellent qualities that adorn the human mind, fuch as
induftry, ingenuity, perfeverance, affability, and per¬
haps other virtues which our Ihort flay with them might
prevent our obferving.
“ The only defedl fullying their charaTer that we
know of is their propenfity to thieving, to which we
found thofe of all ages and both fexes addi&ed, and
to an uncommon degree. It ftiould, however, be con-
fidered, that this exceptionable part of their conduft
feemed to exit! merely with rcfpedl to us ; for in their
general intercourfe with one another, I had reafon to
be of opinion, that thefts do not happen more frequent¬
ly (perhaps lefs fo) than in other countries, the dilhoneft
pr ail ices of whofe worthlefs individuals are notfuppofed
to authorize any indilcriminate cenfure on the whole bo¬
dy of the people. Great allowances Ihould be made for
the foibles of thefe poor natives of the Pacific ocean,
whofe minds vre overpowered with the glare of objeds,
equally new to them as they were captivating. Steal¬
ing, amongft the civilized and enlightened nations of
the world., mav vTell be confidered as denoting a charac¬
ter deeply ftained with moral turpitude, with avarice
unreftrained by the known rules of right, and with pro¬
fligacy producing extreme indigence, and negleding the
means of relieving it. But at the Friendly and other
iflands which we vifited, the thefts fo frequently com¬
mitted by the natives, of what we had brought along
with us, may be fairly traced to lefs culpable motives.
They feemed to arife folely from an intenfe curio-
fity or defire to poffefs f mething which they had not
been accuftomed to before, and belonging to a fort of
people fo different from themfelves. And, perhaps, if
it were poflible that a fet of beings feemingly as fupe¬
rior in our judgment as wre are in theirs ffiould appear
amongft us, it might be doubted, whether our natural
regard to juftice would be able to reftrain many from
falling into the fame error. That I have affigned the
true motive for their propenfity to this prafl'ce, appears-
from their Healing every thing indiferiminately at firft
', %ht>-
OTA [ 597 1 OTA
Otaheire. fight, before they could have the leaft conception of
—"'V*""”' converting their prize to any one ufeful purpofe. But I
believe, with us, no perfon would forfeit his reputation,
or expofe himfelf to punilhment, without knowing be¬
fore-hand how to employ the ftolen goods. Upon the
whole, the pilfering difpofition of thefe ifianders, though
certainly difagreeable and troublefome toftrangers, was
the means of affording us fome information as to the
quicknefs of their intellects. For their fmall thefts were
committed with much dexterity ; and thofe of greater
confequence with a plan or fcheme failed to the import¬
ance of the objects. An extraordinary inflance of the
lalt fort was, in their attempts to carry away one of the
Difcovery’s anchors at mid-day.
Their common diet is made up of at lead nine-tenths
of vegetable food $ and I believe more particularly the
mahee, or fermented bread-fruit, which makes part ai¬
med of every meal, has a remarkable effeft upon them,
preventing a codive habit, and producing a very fenfi-
ble coolnefs about them, which could not be perceived
in us who fed on animal food. And it is, perhaps,
owing to this temperate courfe of life that they have fo
few difeafes among them. See N0 8.
“ They only reckon five or fix which might be call¬
ed chronic or national diforders ; amongtl which are the
dropfy, and thefefai, or indolent fvvellings, before men¬
tioned as frequent at Tongataboo. But this was be¬
fore the arrival of the Europeans ; for we have added
to this diort catalogue a difcafe which abundantly fup-
plies the place of all the others, and is now almod uni-
verfal. For this they feem to have no effedlual remedy.
The prieils, indeed, fometimes give them a medley of
fimples, but they own that it never cures them. And
vet they allow that in a few cafes nature, without the
adidance of a phyfician, exterminates the poifon of this
fatal difeafe, and a perfect recovery is produced. They
lay, that if a man is infedled with it he will often com¬
municate it to others in the fame houfe, by feeding out
of the fame utenfils, or handling them, and that, in this
cafe, they frequently die, while he recovers ; though
we fee no reafon why this drould happen. See N° 9.
“ Their behaviour on all occafions feems to indicate a
great opennefs and generofity of difpofition. Omai, in¬
deed, who, as their countryman, fhould be fuppofed ra¬
ther willing to conceal any of their defect6, has often
faid that they are fometimes cruel in punidling their
enemies. According to his reprefentation, they tor¬
ment them very deliberately } at one time tearing out
fmall pieces of Hedi from different parts •, at another tak¬
ing out the eyes j then cutting off the nofe •, and laffly,
killing them by opening the belly. But this only hap¬
pens on particular occafions. If cheerfulnefs argues a
confcious innocence, one would fuppofe that their life is
feldom fullied bv crimes. This, however, I rather im¬
pute to their feelings, which, though lively, feem in no
cafe permanent *, for I never faw them in any misfortune
labour under the appearance .of anxiety after the critical
moment was pad. Neither does care ever feem to
wrinkle their brow. On the contrary, even the ap¬
proach of death does not appear to alter their ufual vi¬
vacity. I have feen them when brought to the brink of
the grave bv difeafe, and when preparing to go to bat¬
tle ; but in neither cafe ever obferved their countenances
overclouded with melancholy or ferious refleffion. Such
a. difpofition leads them to direct all their aims only to
what can give them pleafure and cafe. Their amufe- Otaheite.
ments all tend to excite and continue their amorous paf-
fions 5 and their fongs, of which they are immoderately
fond, anfwer the fame purpofe. But as a condant fuc-
cedion of fenfual enjoyments mud cloy, we found that
they frequently varied them to more refined fubjedls, and
had much pleafure in chanting their triumphs in war,
and their occupations in peace •, their travels to other
iHands and adventures there •, and the peculiar beauties,
and fuperior advantages of their own ifland over the red,
or of different parts of it over other lefs favourite di-
dricls. This marks that they receive great delight from
mufic ^ and though they rather expreffed a diflike to
our complicated compofitions, yet were they always de¬
lighted with the more melodious lounds produced fingly
on our indrUments, as approaching nearer to the limpli-
city of their own. Neither are they drangers to the
foothing effefts produced by particular forts of motion,
which in fome cafes teem to allay any perturbation of
mindWith as much fuccefs as mufic. Of this 1 met
with a remarkable indance. For, on walking one day
about Matavai Point, where our tents were ere&ed, I
faw a man paddling in a fmall canoe fo quickly, and
looking about with filch eagernefs on each fide, as to
command all my attention. At fird 1 imagined that
he had dolen fometbing from one of the dups, and was
purfued •, but on waiting patiently faw him repeat his
amufement. He went out from the diore till he was
near the place where the fwell begins to take its rife ;
and, watching its fird motion very attentively, paddled
before it with great quicknefs till he found that it over¬
took him, and had acquired fudicient force to carry his
canoe before it, without palling underneath. He then
fat motionlefs, and was carried along at the fame fwift
rate as the wave, till it landed him upon the beach.
Then he darted out, emptied his canoe, and went in
fearch of another fwell. I could not help concluding,
that this man felt the mod fupreme pleafure, while he
was driven on fo fad and fo fmootbly by the fea ; efpe-
cially as, though the tents and dups were fo near, he
did not feem in the lead to envy, or even to take any
notice of the crowds of his countrymen eolledted to
view them as objects which were rare and curious. Du¬
ring my dav, two or three of the natives came up, who
feemed to fliare his felicity, and always called out when
there rvas an appearance of a favourable fwell, as he
fometimes miffed it, by his back being turned, and
looking about for it. By them I underdood that this
exercife, which is called chorooe, was frequent amongft
them ; and they have probably more amufements of this
fort, which afford them at leaft as much pleafure as
Ikaiting, which is the only one of ours with whofe ef-
fefts I could compare it.” I5
The language of thefe iflanders is foftand melodious ; Language,
it abounds with vowels, and the pronunciation of it is See.
ealilv acquired : but it was found exceffively difficult to
teach the natives to pronounce a fingle Englith word ;
probably not only from its abounding with confqnants,
but from fome peculiarity in its ftrufture •, for Spaniili
and Italian words, if ending in a vowel, they pronoun¬
ced with the greateft eafe. A fufficient acquaintance
has not been formed with it to determine whether it is
Copious or not ; but it is certainly very imperfect, being
totally without inflexion either of nouns or verbs. Few
of the nouns have more than one cafe, and few of the
verbs
OTA
^Ota'be.tc. ^ verbs more than one tenfe. It was hnpoffible to
v"" teach the iflanders to pronounce the names of their
guefts. They called Captain Cook Toote ; Mr Hicks,
the firlt lieutenant, Hete, &c. and in this manner they
formed names for almoft every man in the Ihip. In fome,
however, it was not eafy to find any traces of the origi¬
nal } and they were perhaps not mere arbitrary founds
formed upon the occafion, but fignified words in their
own language j and it feems that they could perfedlly
remember thefe appellations at the diftance of four years,
by their inquiries after fuch gentlemen as were abfent on
the fecond voyage by name. Mr Monkhoufe, a midlhip-
rnan, they called Matte, which in their language figni-
fies dead ; becaufe he commanded a party that killed a
man for Healing a mulket. The neareft imitation they
could reach of King George, was by calling him Ki~
Margo. We have the following obfervations on this fub-
jeft, in vol. ii. of Cook’s lalt voyage to the Pacific
ocean : “ The language of Otaheite,*' though doubtlefs
radically the fame with that of New Zealand and the
Friendly iflands, is deftitute of that guttural pronuncia¬
tion, and of fome confonants, with which thofe latter
dialefts abound. The fpecimens we have already given
are fufficient to mark wherein the variation chiefly con-
fifts, and to fhow, that, like the manners of the inhabi¬
tants, it has become foft and foothing. During the for¬
mer voyage, I had collefted a copious vocabulary, which
enabled me the better to compare this dialeft with that
of the other iflands j and during this voyage I took
every opportunity of improving my acquaintance with it,
by converfing with Omai before we arrived, and by my
daily intercourfe with the natives while we now remained
there (a). It abounds with beautiful and figurative ex-
prefiions, which, were it perfeftly known, would, I have
no doubt, put it upon a level with many of the languages
that are moft in elfeem for their warm and bold images.
For inftance, the Otaheiteans exprefs their notions of
death very emphatically, by faying, “ that the foul goes
into darknefs ; or rather into night.” And, if you feem
to entertain any doubt, in afking the queflion, “ if fuch
a perfon is their mother ?” they immediately reply with
furprife, “ Yes, the mother that bore me.” They have
one expreflion that correfponds exaftly with the phrafeo-
logy of the fcriptures, where we read of the “ yearning
of the bowels.”—ft hey ufe it on all occafions, when the
paffions give them uneafinefs, as they conftantly refer
pain from grief, anxious defire, and other a fife ft ions, to
the bowels, as its feat; where they likewife fuppofe all
operations of the mind are performed. Their language
admits of that inverted arrangement of words which fo
much diftinguifhes the Latin and Greek from moft of
our modern European tongues, whofe imperfeftions re¬
quire a more orderly conflruftion, to prevent ambiguities.
It is fo copious, that for the bread-fruit alone, in its dif¬
ferent Hates, they have above 20 names j as many for
the taro root 5 and about 10 for the cocoa-nut. Add to
this, that, befides the common dialeft, they often expo-
Hulate in a kind of flanza or recitative, which is anfwer-
ed in the fame manner.”
A map of Otaheite, engraved for Captain Cook’s firfi
[ 598 ]
OTA
voyage, was taken out, and laid before Tuahow the high Otaheite.
admiral, without informing him of what it was; however '—■""Y—-
he immediately found it out, and was overjoyed to fee a
reprefentation of his own country. He pointed out all the
diflrifts of it, naming every one of them in their order.
ft hefe people have a remarkable fagacity in foretel¬
ling the weather, particularly the quarter from whence
the wind will blow. In their long voyages they fleer
by the fun in the day, and in the night by the flars;
all of which they diflinguifli by feparate names, and
know in what part of the heaven they will appear in
any of the months during which they are viiible in
their horizon, i hey alfo know the times of their an¬
nual appearing and difappearing, with more precifion
than would eafily be believed by an European aflrono-
mer. I heir time they feem to reckon by moons, ig
of which make a year. 'The day they divide into fix
parts, and the night into an equal number. They
judge of the time of the day by the height of the fun,
but they cannot afcertain the time of the night by the
flars. In numeration, the greateft length they can go
is 200 ; that is, when they have counted each of their
fingers and toes ten times over. When they take the
diftance from one place to another, they exprefs it by
the time which is required to pafs it. i(.
^Fhe government of the Otaheiteans feems greatly to Goveris-
refemble the early ftate of the European nations underwent,
the feudal fyftem. Their orders of dignity are earee-rahie,
which anfwers to king ; earee, baron : manahouni, vaf-
fal ; and towtow, villein. There are two kings in the
iiland, one being the fovereign of each of the peninfulas
of which it confifts. Each of them is treated with great
refpeft by all ranks, but does not appear to be invefted
with fo much power as is exercifed by the earees in their
own diftrifts. When the king, w’hom they called O-Too,
made a vifit to Captain Cook, the chiefs, who happened
to be there before him, immediately ftripped themfelves
in great hafte. Captain Cook took notice of it ; upon
which they faid etn-ee, earee, fignifying, that it was on
account of O-ft'o® being prefent; but this was the on¬
ly outward token of refpeft they paid him, for they
never rofe from their feats, or made any other obei-
fanee.
ft'he earees are lords of one or more of the diftrifts
into which each of the peninfulas is divided, and of
which there are 43 in the larger one. Thefe parcel
out their territories to the mahuliounis, who fuperin-
tend the cultivation of the ground, ft’he low’d! clafs,
called towtows, feem to be nearly under the fame cir-
cumftances with the villeins in feudal governments.
They do all the laborious work, cultivate the land,
catch filh, fetch wood and water, &c. Each of the
earees keeps a kind of court, and has a great number
of attendants, chiefly the younger brothers of their
own tribe, and among thefe fome hold particular of¬
fices, but of which little more is known than fome of
their names.
In this country a child fucceeds to his father’s titles
and authority as foon as he is born : and thus the king
no fooner has a fon born, than his fovereignty ceafes.
A
(a) See this vocabulary at the end of the fecond volume of Captain Cook’s fecond voyage. Many correftions
and additions to it w^ere now made by this indefatigable inquirer ; but the fpecimens of the language of Otaheite,
already in the hands of the public, feem fufficient for every ufeful purpofe.
OTA [ 599 ] OTA
Ouheite. A regent is then chofen ; and the father generally re-
tains his power under that title, until his child be¬
comes of age. The child of the baron fucceeds to the
titles and honours of its father, as foon as it is born, as
well as the fon of the king ; fo that a baron who was
yefterday called earee, and was approached with the ce¬
remony of lowering their garments, fo as to uncover the
upper part of the body, is to-day, if his wife happens to
be delivered of a child, reduced to the rank of a private
man; all marks of refpeft being transferred to the child,
if it is fuffered to live, though the father ftill continues
poffeffor and adminiilrator of his eftate. But the acquief-
cence which the lower clafs of people, or towtows, yield
to the command of their chiefs, is very remarkable. They
are not fullered to tafle any animal food, although they
are employed in feeding it for their lords. They en¬
dure patiently very fevere blows, if, when collected in¬
to a large body, they in any manner prefs upon or an¬
noy the king or a chief in his progrefs ; and all this
paflive fpiritis preferved without any power beinglodged
in the hands of the king to exadl it; for he ufes no mili¬
tary force, nor is even attended with body guards.
There are but few aftions which are reckoned crimes
among the Otaheiteans. Adultery, however, is fome-
times punilhed with death : but in general, the woman
efeapes with a fevere beating, and the gallant paffes un¬
noticed. The regulation of public jultice is not confined
to the magiftrate; for the injured party redrefies his own
wrong by infli&ing whatever punifhment he can upon
the offender : but in matters of notorious wrong the
chiefs fometimes interpofe. The nobility have livery for
their fervants ; and in proportion as the mailer’s rank is
more or lefs elevated, thefe falhes are worn higher or
lower, being fallened clofe under the arms of the fervants
belonging to the chiefs, and going round the loins of
thofe belonging to the loweft clafs of nobility. Several
parts of the ifland feem to be private property, which
defcend to the heir of the pofleffor on his death, and the
defcent feems to fall indifferently on man or woman.
Captain Cook was of opinion that the number of inhabi¬
tants on the whole ifland amounted to 204,000 including
■women and children.
The religious language of the Otaheiteans, like that
of the Gentoo Bramins, is different from what is ufed in
common difcourfe ; but, according to the accounts we
t have of their notions concerning the origin of the world,
Beligion. nothing can be more ridiculous. They imagine that the
Supreme Deity, befides a great many femaledefcendants,
has one fon named Tone ; and to him they direct their
worlhip, though they do not believe that the good or
bad condudt of mankind here on earth makes them
more or lefs acceptable to this divinity. They believe
the exiftence of the foul after death, and of a greater or
leffer degree of happinefs to be then enjoyed : but they
feem to have no conception of a ftate of punifhment or
of fuffering hereafter. The (hare of happinefs which
they imagine every individual will enjoy in this future
ftate, will be afligned to him according to the rank he
holds on earth. We are not, however, told wherein
they fuppofe the happinefs of this future ftate to confift;
but it is moft probably a pretty exadt imitation of a
Mohammedan paradife, for thefe voluptuaries can hard¬
ly be fuppofed capable of imagining any pleafure inde¬
pendent of the intercourfe of the fexes.
The priefthood feems to be hereditary in one family
or tribe; and as it is faid to be numerous, probably thofe Otaheite.
of that order are reftrained from becoming members of -T"""”
the arreoy : but whether or not any peculiar decorum
is neceflary to be obferved, hath not yet appeared. Thefe
priefts are profeffedly the men of fcience; but their
knowledge is altogether frivolous and ufelefs; for it con-
fifts in being converfant 'with the names of their dif¬
ferent divinities, and fuch abfurd traditions as have been
handed down among them from one generation to ano¬
ther. Their religious notions being depofited in an un¬
known tongue, they are refpedled becaufe they are not
underftood; and as the cure of the foul is no objedl of
regard, the moft important concern to thefe people, the
cure of their bodies, is committed to the priefts, and
much parade is ufed in their attempts to recover the
fick, though their remedies confift of ridiculous cere¬
monies and enchantments rather than any thing elfe.
The marriages of thefe people are merely fecular con¬
trails ; but no one has a right to perform the operation
of tattowing except the priefts; and this being a cuftom
univerfally adopted by the natives, it may be fuppofed
that performing it is a very lucrative employment. The
males in general undergo a kind of circumcifion, which
it is difgraceful not to comply with, and which is like-
wife the exclufive privilege of the priefts to perform. But
what moft eftabliftres the credit of this order of men is
their {kill in aftronomy and navigation.
Captain Cook, who had fome reafon to believe that
among the religious cuftoms of this people, human facri-
fices were fometimes offered up to their deities, went to
a morai, or place of wror(hip, accompanied by Captain
Furneaux, having with them a failor who fpoke the lan¬
guage tolerable well, and feveral of the natives. In the
morai was a tupapow, a kind of bier, with a flied ereil-
ed over it, on which lay a corpfe and fome provifions.
Captain Cook then alked if the plantain were for the
Eatua ? If they facrificed to the Eatua hogs, dogs, fowls,
&c. ? To all of which an intelligent native anfwered in
the affirmative. He then alked if they facrificed men to
the Eatua ? He was anfwered, taato eno, “ bad men they
did ; firft tiparra/nj, beating them till they were dead.”
He then alked if good men were put to death in this man¬
ner ? His anfwer wTas no, only taato eno. The Captain
then alked if any earees were? The native replied, they
had hogs to give the Eatua, and again repeated taato eno.
He was then alked if towtows, who had no hogs, dogs,
or fowls, but yet were good men, u'ere ever facrificed to
the Eatua ? The anfwer ftill was no, only bad men.
Many other queftions were put to him ; all his anfwers
to which feemed to confirm the ideas that men for cer¬
tain crimes were condemned to be facrificed to the gods,
provided they did not poffefs any property which they
might give for their redemption. However, in purfuing
fuch inquiries as thefe, no certain information could be
obtained, on account of the flight knowledge which had
been acquired of the language of the country : but ac¬
cording to farther accounts which Captain Cook receiv¬
ed from Omai, it feems to reft with the high-prieft to
fingle out the vi&ims for facrifice ; who, when the peo¬
ple are affembled on any folemn occafion, retires alone
into the houfe of God, and flays there for fome time ;
when he comes out, he informs the affembly that he has
feen and converfed with the great god (the high prieft
alone having that privilege), and that he has alked for a
human facrifice j and tells them he has delired fuch a
perfon.
OTA [ 600 1 OTA
Otaheite. perfon, naming a man prefent, who has moft probably,
v on fome account or other, rendered himfelf obnoxious to
this ghoftly father. I he words are no fooner gone out
of his mouth, than the devoted wretch is put to death j
for his guilt cannot be doubted, after the oracle has pro¬
nounced his doom.
On this ifland was feen the figure of a man conftrufled
of balket work, rudely made, but not ill defigned : it was
fomething more thanfeven feet high,and rather too bulky
in proportion to its height. This wicker Ikeleton was
completely covered with feathers, which were white
where the Ikin was to appear, and black in the parts
which it is their cuftom to paint or flain, as well as upon
the head, which wras defigned to reprefent hair. Upon
the head alfo were four protuberances, three in front,
and one behind, which the Indians called tate ete, little
men. The image was called Monioe ; it was a repre-
fentation of Muuwe, one of their Eatuas, or gods of the
fecond clafs, and was faid to be the only one of the kind
on Otaheite.
Thefe people pray at funrife and funfet. They have
alfo a number of fuperllitious practices, in order to con¬
ciliate the influence of evil genii. E-Tee, a chief, who
feemed to be the king’s jrrime miniiter in 1774, very
ferioully afked Mr Fortier whether they had a god
(Eatua) in their country, and whether they prayed to
him {epore /) When he told them that they acknow¬
ledged a divinity who had made every thing, and was
invifible, and that they were accuilomed to addrefs their
petitions to him, he feemed to be highly pleafed, and
repeated his words with comments of his own, to feveral
perfons who fat round him j feeming thereby to intimate,
that the ideas of his countrymen correfponded with theirs
in this refpeft.
Their morais are ufed both as burying-grounds and
places of worfhip ; they are approached with the moft
wonderful expreflions of reverence and humility ; and
this, it fhould feem, not becaufe any thing there is
elteemed facred, but becaufe they there wmrlhip an in¬
vifible being, for whom they entertain the moft reve*
rential refpedl, although not excited by the hope of
reward or the dread of punithment. Though they do
not appear to have any vifible objedl of worlhip, yet,
fays Captain Cook., this ifland, and indeed the reft that
lie near it, have a particular bird, fome a heron, and
others a king’s-fiftier, to which they pay a particular
regard, and concerning which they have fome fuper-
ftitious notions, refpefting good or bad fortune, as wTe
have of the fwallow and robin redbreaft, and will on
no account moleft or kill them. One of thefe ceme¬
teries, or places of worfhip, was known to Captain
Cook, on his firft voyage, by the name of Tootahah’s
morai, then the regent •, but when, on his fecond voy¬
age, after the death of that chief, he called it by that
name, Maratata, a chief that accompanied the party,
interrupted him, intimating, that it was no longer
Tootahah’s after his death, but was then known as
O-Too’s morai, the then reigning prince. A fine mo¬
ral for princes ! daily reminding them of mortality
whilft they live, and teaching them, that after death
they cannot call even that ground their own which their
dead corpfe occupies ! The chief and his wife, on palling
by it, took their upper garments from their (boulders.
From hence it would feem, that the royal family have a
particular morai, and that it always bears the name of Otaheite.
the reigning prince. 1 y—
An Indian who had fnatched away a mulket from aF 18
fentry whilft on duty, was, by the inhumanity of a mid-
fhipman who commanded the guard, purfued and Ihot.
Ihe unhappy fate of this poor fellow gave an opportu¬
nity for feeing the manner in which thefe people treat
their dead. 1 hey placed the corpfe in the open air till
the bones became quite dry : a Hied was eroded clofe
by the houfe where the deceafed had refided 5 it was
about 15 feet long, and 11 broad; one end was left
quite open ; the other end, and the two ftdes, were
partly inelofed with a fort of wicker-work. The bier
was a frame of wmod, like that on which the fea-beds,
called cots, are placed, with a matted bottom, and fup-
ported by four polls, at the height of about four feet
from the ground. The body was covered firft with a
mat, and then with white cloth ; by the fide of it lay a
wooden mace, one of their weapons of w ar ; and near
the head of it, which lay next to the clofe end of
the Hied, lay turn cocoa-nut Ihells ; at the other end a
bunch of green leaves, with fome dried twigs, all tied
together, were ftuek in the ground, by which lay a Hone
about as big as a cocoa-nut. Near thefe lay one of the
young plantain-leaves that are ufed for emblems of peace,
and clofe by it a ftone axe. At the open end of the Ihed
alfo hung, in feveral firings, a great number of palm
nuts; and without the filed was ituck up in the ground
a Item of a plantain tree, about fix feet high, upon the
top of which ivas placed a cocoa-nut Ihell full of frefli
water ; againft the fide of one of the polls hung a fmall
bag, containing a few pieces of bread-fruit ready roafted,
which had not been put in all at one time, fome being frefti
and others Hale. This minute examination of their man¬
ner of treating their dead, feemed to be very unwelcome
to the natives. The food fo placed by the corpfe is de¬
figned as an offering to their gods. They call in, near
the body, fmall pieces of cloth, on which the tears and
blood of the mourners have been Ihed ; for in their pa-
roxyims of grief it is an univerfal cuftom, to wound them-
felves with a lhark’s tooth. The mourner is always a
man ; and he is dreffed in a very lingular habit. When
the bones are ftripped of their flefh, and become dry, they
are buried. Thisregard to their dead is very remarkable ;
one of the Ihip’s company happening to pull a flower from
a tree which grew on one of their fepulchral inclofures,
an Indian came fuddenly behind him and ftruck him ;
and a party of failors, who were fent to get fome Hones
for ballaft for the Ihip, had like to have been embroiled
by the natives, by pulling down fome part of an inclofure
of this kind. This Hied under which their dead are laid
is called tupapow ; the inclofure in which their bones are
depofited is called morais thefe latter, as has been already
related, are alfo placea of worlhip. As foon as a native
of Otaheite is known to be dead, the houfe is filled with
relations, who deplore their lofs; fome by loud lamenta¬
tions, and fome by lefs clamorous, but more genuine ex¬
preflions of grief. Thofe who are in the neareft degree
of kindred, and are really affe6led by the event, are
filent ; the reft are one moment uttering paflionate
exclamations in a chorus, and the next laughing and
talking without the leaft appearance of concern. In
this manner the remainder of the day on which they
afiemble is fpent, and all the fuccecding night. On the
next
OTA [ 601 ] OTA
Otaheite. next morning the body is flrrouded in their cloth, and
Y'——' conveyed to the fea lide on a bier, which the bearers
fupport upon their (boulders, attended by the prieft, who
having prayed over the body repeats his fentences during
the procedion. When it arrives at the water’s edge, it
is fet down upon the beach •, the prieft renews his prayers,
and taking up fome of the water in his hands, fprinkles
it towards the body, but not upon it. It is then carried
back 40 or 50 yards •, and foon after brought again to
the oeach, where the prayers and fprinkling are re¬
peated. It is thus removed backwards and forwards
feveral times ; and while thefe ceremonies have been
performing, a houfe has been built, and a fmaU fpace of
ground railed in. In the centre of this houfe, or tupa-
pow, as they term it, pofts are fet up to fupport the bier,
which is at length conveyed thither, and placedunon it*,
and here the body remains to putrefy, till the fleth is
wholly wafted from the. bones. Thefe houfes of corrup¬
tion are of a fize proportioned to the rank of the per fun
whofe body they are to contain. Thofe allotted to the
lower clafsare juft fufticient to cover the bier, and have
no railing round them. I'he largeft that was feen was
11 yards long *, and fuch are ornamented according to
the abilities and inclination of the furvivingkindred, who
never fail to lay a profufion of good cloth about the
body, and fometimes almoft cover the outfide of the
houfe. Garlands of the fruit of the palm nut, or pan-
danu> and cocoa-leaves, twifted by the priefts in myfte-
rious knots, with a plant called by them ethee no viorai,
which is particularly confecrated to funeral lolemnities,
are depofited about the place ; provifion and water are
alfo left at a little diftance. As foon as the body is de
polited in the tupapow, the mourning is renewed. The
women afl'emble and are led to the door by the neareft
relation, who ftrikes a (bark’s tooth feveral times into
the crown of her head *, the blood copioufly follows, and
is carefully received upon pieces of linen, which are
thrown under the bier. The reft of the women follow this
example j and the ceremony is repeated at the interval
of two or three days, as long as the zeal and forrow of
the parties hold out. The tears alfo which are (bed
upon thefe occafions are received upon pieces of cloth,
and offered as oblations to the dead. Some of' the
younger people cut off their hair, and that is thrown
under the bier with the other offerings. This cuftom
is founded on a notion, that the foul of the deceafed,
which they believe to exift in a feparate ftate, is hover¬
ing about the place where the body is depofited j that it
obferves the aflions of the furvivors, and is gratified by
fuch teftimonies of their affeflionate grief. Whilft thefe
ceremonies are carrying on by the women, the men feem
to be wholly infenfible of their lofs j but two or three days
after, they alfo begin to perform a part. The neared
relations take it in turn to aflume the drefs, and perform
the offices.
The chief mourner carries in his hand a long flat (lick,
the edge of which is fet with (harks teeth ; and in a
frenzy, which his grief is fuppofed to have infpired, he
runs at all he fees, and if any of them happen to be
overtaken, he ftrikes them mod unmercifully with his
indented cudgel, which cannot fail to wound them in a
dangerous manner. The proceffions continue at certain
intervals for five moons j but are lefs and lefs frequent,
by a gradual diminution, as the end of that time ap¬
proaches. When it is expired, what remains of thebody
Vol. XV. Part II.
is taken down from the bier*, and the bones, having been Otahcite.
feraped and waftied very clean, are buried, according to '
the rank of the perfon, either within or without a morai.
It the deceafed was an earee, or chief, his (kull is net
buried with the reft of his bones, but is wrapped up in
fine cloth, and put in a kind of box made for that pur-
pofe, which is alio placed in the moral. Ibis coffin is
called ewharre no te oremetua, 4 the houfe of a teacher,
or mailer.’ Alter this the mourning ceafes, except (ome
of the women continue to be really aiftidled at the lofs,
and in that cafe they will fuddenly wound themlelves
with the (bark’s tooth wherever they happen to be. The
ceremonies, however, do not ceaie with the mourning *,
(or prayers are ftiil (aid by the prieft, and offerings made
at the morai. Some of the things, which roui time to
time are depofited there are emblematical } a young
plantain is (aid to reprefent the deceafed, and a bunch
of feathers the Deity who is invoked. The pried places
himfelf overagainit the fymbol of the god, accompanied
by fome of the relations, who are (urnithcd with a (mall
offering: lie icpeats his orifon in a fet form, confiding of
feparate fentences: at the fame time weaving the leaves
of the cocoa nut into different forms, which he afterwards
depofits upon the ground where the hones have been in¬
terred : The Deity is then addreffed by a ftiriil fcreech,
which is u(ed only upon that occalion. When the prieft ,
retire s, the tuft of feathers is removed, and the provifions
are left to putrefy, or be devoured by the rats.
'Ibis ceremony of mourning, as deieribed above, was
performed by Tirope, one of the wives of Tubourai
Tamaidej who, when the bleeding from the wounds
which (be had thus given herfelf ceaicd, looked un
with a fmile on the company round her, and who had
before inquired of her, very earneftly, the eaufe of her
behaviour, without receiving any anfwer, or having been
at all noticed by her. She then began to pick up fome
fmall pieces of cloth which (lie had fpread to catch the
blood ; and having got them all together, (lie went to
the (liore, and threw them into the fea. She then plunged
into the river 5 and having walked her whole body, re¬
turned to the company as cheerful as ever. To add to
the Angularity of this conduift, the Indians who ftood
round her all the time that this frantic diftrefs was
performing, converfed with great indifference and jocu¬
larity.
There is not a more ancient cuftom handed down to ,
us than that of cutting the body to exprefs grief and
diffrefs of mind. In the code of laws delivered by
Mofes to the Ifraelites, 1400 years before the Chriftian.
era, this practice is exprefsly forbidden to that people:
“ Ye (hall not cut youfelves, or make any baldnefs be¬
tween the eyes for the dead,” Deut. xiv. i. Hence ifc
may be fuppofed that this rite prevailed in Egypt, from
whence the Jews derived moft of thofe propenfities which
were inhibited by their great legiflator. We are told
likewife in the book of Kings, of the priefts of Baal
wounding themfelves, after they had long waited in vain
for the fupernatural intervention of their idol. D’Arvieux
informs us, that the modern Arabsretain thefame cuftom,
and that the part they chiefly wound is their arms. The
difference in the practice as now prevailing in Otaheite
and Arabia feems to be, that in the firfl: none but the
women make ufe of it, and in the latter it is confined to
the men, and generally ufed to exprefs their defperate paf-
fion for fome favourite miftrefs.
4 G Thq
Qtaheite.
OTA [602
The mourning which is worn here is a head drefs of
feathers, the colour of which is confecrated to death, and
a veil over the face. This drefs is called eeva. The
whole nation is faid to appear thus on the death of their
king. 1 he mourning fur fathers is very long. The wo¬
men mourn for their hufbands, but not the hufbands for
their wives.
We {hall conclude this account of Otaheite with the
hiftory of Omai, or, as he is improperly called Omiah,
who was brought over to England. He was a native of
Ulietea, or Raietea ; and embarked at Huaheine with
Captain Furneaux, on board the Adventure, in Septem-
ber 1773 } an£l the two (hips feparating in a ftorm on
the coaft of New Zealand a few months afterwards, the
voyage of the Adventure was brought to a much earlier
conclufion than that of the Refolution, for {he arrived at
Spithead the 14th of July following. This youth is faid
to have had fome property in his native foil, of which he
wras difpoffeffed by the people of Bolabola : but he was
not one'of the earees, or gentry of that country, but of
the middling clafs of people. He was eminent neither
for figure, fhape, nor complexion ; his colour being of a
deep hue, refembling a towtow, or one of the common
people ; and both Captain Cook and Mr Forfter agree
in thinking him no proper fample of the inhabitants of
thofe illands, in refpe£l of perfonal beauty. However,
they are both of opinion, that the qifalities of his heart
and head refembled thofe of his countrymen in general,
and that no one of the natives would have given more
general fatisfaftion by his behaviour whilft he remained
in England. He is defcribed as poffefling a good under-
ilanding, quick parts, and honeft principles : not an ex¬
traordinary genius like Tupia'; yet not at all deficient in
intelligence, which appears from his knowledge of the
game of chefs, in which he made an amazing proficiency.
His principal patrons, whilft in England, were, the earl
of Sandwich, Mr Banks, and Doftor Solander. His
noble patron introduced him to his majefty at Kew; and,
during his ftay in England, he was careffed by many of
the principal nobility. He naturally imitated that eafy
and elegant politenefs which is prevalent among the great,
and which is one of the ornaments of civilized fociety.
Indeed he adopted the manners, the occupations, and
amufements of his companions in general, and gave
many proofs of a quick perception and a lively fancy.
He appears, however, to have been treated, whilft he
refided here, rather as a faftiionable exhibition, than
as a rational being. No attention feems to have been
paid to the enriching his mind with ufeful knowledge,
fuch as might have rendered him a valuable acquifition
to his country on his return thither \ no means were
ufed to inftruft him in agriculture, or any mechanical
art or ufeful manufafture •, and, above all, to poffefs
him with a moral fenfe 5 to teach him the exalted ideas
of virtue, and the fublime principles of revealed reli-
After a ftay of two years in England, and ha¬
ving been inoculated for the fmallpox, he embarked
with Captain Cook, on board the Refolution, on his
return home, loaded with a profufion of prefents. At
parting with his friends here, his tears flowed plenti¬
fully, and his whole behaviour befpoke him to be fin-
cerely affedled at the feparation : but though he lived
in the midft of amufements during his refidence in
England, his return to his native country was always
in his thoughts j and though he was not impatient to
] o T H
go, he exprefled a fatisfaclion as the time of his return
approached.
Such is the account of this people which our limits
permit us to give. In the hiftory of mankind it is not
without importance j and in the hands of the philofo-
pher, the moralift, or the divine, it may be ufeful. 1 he
lubjeft, becaufe but new, has been much agitated, and
is pretty generally known. Such of our readers as make
men and manners their peculiar ftucly, will be anxious
for further information j we muft refer them, however,
to thofe authors who have written particularly and co-
pioufly on the fubjeft. Cook and other voyagers of emi¬
nence will at leaft command attention. We may juft
remark, that there muft lurely be fomething extremely
fafeinating in the perlbns, manners, or cuftoms of the
inhabitants, or in the loil and appearance of the country,
that could tempt the greater part of a {hip’s crew to re-
fift authority, and forcibly to return to Otaheite j yet
fueh we know was the cafe ; and the fufferings of the
commander, and thole who refufed to join in this vile
confpiracy, and who were therefore expofed in an open
boat, were indeed {hocking. An account of it has been
publifhed.
OTALGIA, the Ear-ach. See Medicine Index.
OTELANDS, or Oatlands, in England, in the
county of Surrey, near Weybridge, was formerly a royal
palace, wherein Henry duke of Gloucefter, third fon to
King Charles I. was born ; and had a deer park, which
in the civil wars was by the parliament laid open, and
the houfe demolilhed. In 1673 there was a brick wall
remaining, which encompaffed ten acres j but there were
then fmall traces of the chief pile, befides the gardener’s
lodge, wherein was the filk-wArm room raifed by King
James I.’s queen. It is now a moft magnificent building,
and commands a moft extenfive and beautiful profpeift.
In the park there was a paddock, where (jftieen Eliza¬
beth ufed to {hoot with a crofs-bow. It is now the pro¬
perty of his royal highnefs the duke of York, who
purchafed it for 43,000!. of the duke of Newcaftle,
'I**
OR! FORD, a village in England, in the county of
Kent, which ftands at the bottom of a hill. In 793
there was a battle at this place, between the two,Saxon
kings, Offa of Mercia, and Alrick of Kent, Avho was
killed by Offa j and another in 1016, wherein the
Danifti king Canute was routed by King Edmund Iron-
fide. The faid Offa, to atone for the blood he had fticd
in that battle, firft gave this place to Chrift-church,
Canterbury (as the deed fays) in pafcua porcorum, “for
the fupport of the archbiftiop’s hogs j” and fo it remain¬
ed in the archbiftiop’s liberty, till exchanged with King
Henry VIII. for other lands. There was a chantry found¬
ed at the Ryehoufe in this parifli. The church was once
a chapel to Shoreham.
OTHNIEL, in facred hiftory, the fon of Kenaz, of
the tribe of Judah. We are told (Jofti. xv. 17.), that
Othniel was brother to Caleb \ and (Judges i. 13.) it is
exprefsly faid, that he was Caleb’s younger brother.
There are, however, fome difficulties in this : for if
Caleb and Othniel had been brothers, the latter could
not have married his niece Achfah the daughter of
Caleb. Secondly, the feripture never affigns to Caleb
and Othniel the fame father : it always names Kenaz as
father to Othniel, and Jephunneh as the father of Caleb.
Laftly, Caleb muft be much older than Othniel, fince
he
Otaheite
II
Othniel.
Othniel,
Otho.
O T H [ ^03 ] O T H
he gave Otlinxel his daughter Achfah in marriage. Thus
it feems much better to fuppofe Kenaz and Jephunneh to
be two brothers, and that Othniel and Caleb were cou-
fin-germans, and in this fenfe to be nearly related, or
brothers, according to the language of fcripture. Thus
Achfah being but fecond couhn in refpeft of Othniel,
he might marry her without doing any thing contrary
to the letter of the law.
Caleb having received his portion in the mountains
of Judah, in the mid ft of a country that was poffeffed
by giants of the race of Anak, after he had taken the
city of Hebron, be advances towards Debir, otherwife
called Kirjuth-fepher, and declares that he would give
his daughter Achfah in marriage to him that Ihould
take Kirjath-fepher. Othniel took it, and had Achfah
to wife.
After the death of Jofliua, the Ifraelites not giving
themfelves the trouble to exterminate the Canaanites
that were then in the land, and not having continued
in their fidelity to the Lord, he delivered them over to
Chuftian rulhathaim king of Mefopotamia (Judges iii.
4, &c.) to whom-they continued in fubjeftion for eight
years. Then they cried to the Lord, who raifed them
up a deliverer in the perfon of Othniel the fon of Ke¬
naz, who was filled with the fpirit of God, and judged
Ifrael. He came into the field, and gave battle to
Chuftian-ruftiathaim, beat him, and delivered Ifrael, in
the year of the world 2599 > an<^ ^ie country was at
reft for 40 years. After this Othniel died ; but the
precife year of his death is not known.
OTHO, M. Salvius, a Roman emperor, born A.D.
32, of a family defcended from the ancient kings of
Etruria. He was among the number of Nero’s favou¬
rites, and accordingly was raifed to the higheft offices
of the ftate, and made governor of Pannonia by the in-
tereft of Seneca, who wifhed to remove him from Rome,
left Nero’s love for Poppaea fhould prove his ruin. Af¬
ter Nero’s death, Otho conciliated the favour of Galba
the new emperor ; but when he did not gain his point,
and when Galba refufed to adopt him as his fucceffor,
he refolved to make himfelf abfolute, without any regard
to the age or dignity of his friend. The great debts
which he had contraifted encouraged his avarice ; and
he procured the affaffination of Galba, and made him¬
felf emperor. He was acknowledged by the fenate and
the Roman people; but the fudden revolt of Vitellius in
Germany rendered his fituation very precarious, and it
was mutually refolved that their refpe&ive right to the
empire fliould be decided by arms. Otho obtained three
vi(Rories, but in a general engagement near Brixellum,
his forces were defeated, and he ftabbed himfelf when
all hopes of fuccefs had vaniffied. This happened about
the 37th year of his age, after a reign of about three
months. It has been juftly obferved, that the laft mo¬
ments of Otho’s life were thofe of a philofopher. He
comforted his foldiers who lamented his fortune, and he
expreffed his concern for their fafety when they earneft-
]y folicited to pay him the laft friendly offices before he
ftabbed himfelf; and he obferved, that it was better
that one man ftiould die than that all ftiould be involved
in ruin on account of his obftinacy. His nephew was
much affefted, and feared exceedingly the anger and
haughtinefs of the conqueror; but Otho comforted him,
and obferved, that Vitellius would be kind and affec¬
tionate to the friends and relations of Otho, fince Otho
was not afhamed to fay, that in the time of their great-
eft enmity the mother of Vitellius had received every
friendly treatment from his hands. He alfo burnt the
letters which, by falling into the hands of Vitellius,
might provoke his refentment againft thofe who had fa¬
voured the caufe of an unfortunate general. Thefc
noble and humane fentiments in a man who was the af-
fociate of Nero’s ftiameful pleafures, and who had ftain-
ed his hand in the blood of his mafter, have appeared
to fome wonderful, and have paffed for the features of
policy, and not of a naturally virtuous and benevolent
heart. His father was a favourite of Claudius.
Otho, a tribune of the people, who, in Cicero’s con-
fulfhip, made a regulation to permit the Roman knights
at public fpedtacles to have the 14 firft rows atter the
feats of the fenators. This was oppofed with virulence
by fome, but Cicero ably defended it, &c.
Otho, Venius, a very celebrated Dutch painter. Pie
was defcended of a confiderable family in Leyden, and
was born in 1556. He was carefully educated by his
parents in the belles lettres, and at the fame time learn¬
ed to defign of Ifaac Nicholas. He was but 15 when
the civil wars obliged him to leave his country. Pie
retired to Liege, finifhed his ftudies, and there gave the
firft; proofs of the excellence of his mind. He was well
known to Cardinal Groofbeck, who gave him letters of
recommendation when he went to Rome, where he was
entertained by Cardinal Maduccio. His genius was fo
aiftive, that he applied himfelf to philofophy, poetry,
mathematics, and painting, all at once. Pie became a
great proficient in defigning under Frederico Zuchero.
He acquired an excellence in all the parts of painting,
efpecially in the knowledge of the claro-obfcuro ; by
which means he came to be accounted one of the moft
ingenious men of his age. He lived at Rome feven
years, during which time he performed feveral rare
pieces ; and then palling into Germany, was received
into the fervice of the emperor. After this the duke of
Bavaria and the eletftor of Cologne employed him ; but
all the advantages he got from the courts of foreign
princes could not detain him there. He had a defire
to return into the Low Countries, of which Alexander
Farnefe, prince of Parma was then governor. He drew
the prince’s pifture, armed cap-a-pee, which confirmed
his reputation in the Netherlands. After the death of
that prince, Venius returned to Antwerp, where he a-
dorned the principal chmches with his paintings. The
archduke Albert, who fucceeded the prince of Parma
in the government of the Low Countries, fent for him
to Bruffels, and made him mafter of the mint, a place
which occupied much of his time, yet he found fome
time for the exercife of his profeffion. He drew the
archduke and the infanta Ifabella’s portraits at large,
which were fent to James I. of Great Britain : and, to
fhow his knowledge of polite learning likewife, he pub-
lifhed feveral treatifes, which he embellifhed with cuts
of his own defigning. Louis III made him very great
offers to tempt him into his fervice; but he would never
leave his own country, fatisfying himfelf 'with the cha-
ra£ter and employments he held there. He was the
firft, after Polydore Caravaggio, who reduced the claro-
obfcuro to ^principle of the art of painting. Rubens
perfected what he began, and the whole Flemilh fchool
4 G 2 learned
Otho.
O T O
Henry's
Hi ft. 'Gr.
Brit. vol. i.
p. 185, &c.
learned it of him. Venius died at Bruffehs, 1634,
in his y8ili year, fie liad two brothers, Gilbert,
who was a graver, ar.d Peter a painter. He had al-
fo tlie honour cf breeding up the famous Rubens in his
art.
Q1HONNA, a genus of plants belonging to the
fyngem lia elafs 5 and in the natural method ranking
under the 49th order, Compojitcc. See Botany Index.
O I HKA ADES, one oi the 300 Spartans who fought
again ft 300 Argives, when thofe two nations difputed
their relpeftive right to Thyreata. Two Argives, AT
einor and Cronius, and Othryades, furvived the battle.
The Argives went home to carry the news of their vic¬
tory 5 but Othryades, who had been reckoned among
the number of the iiain on account of his wounds, re¬
covered himfelf, and carried fome of the fpoils of which
he had ftripped the Argives into the camp of his coun¬
trymen •, and after he had raifed a trophy, and had writ¬
ten with his own blood the word vtci on his (field, he
killed imnfelf, unable or unwilling to furvive the death
of his countrymen.
O i lo, a genus of birds belonging to the order of
gallince. See Ornithology Index.
O i LEA, a town of England, in the weft riding
of Yorkthire, under a cliff called Chevin, on the fouth
fide of the river Wherfe. I he adjacent parts are rec¬
koned the moft delightful in England. Its church has
lately been elegantly fitted up, in which are feveral
good old monuments. The adjacent country is much
improved, and from the Chevin is a moft beautiful view
of an extenfive fcope of undeferibed manfions. This
manor was given by Athelftan to the fee of York,
whofe archbilhop had a palace here, with feveral exten¬
five privileges. There is a free grammar fchool in this
place, founded by Mr Cave, 1611, called Prince Henry's
School, i he inhabitants amount to 2332. In 1673, it
buffered much by an inundation 5 which carried away
feveral bridges, mills, &e. as well as much corn, &c.
w. Long. 1. 50. N. Lat. 53. 54.
O 1 OiJINI, ancient Britons, feated, as fome fuppofe,
to the north call of the Brigantes, in the countries now
called Northumberland, Merfe, and the Lothians. As
the Otodini are not mentioned by any of the Roman hif-
torians, but only by Ptolemy, it is uncertain whether
they formed a diftinft independent date, or were united
with the Brigantes. They were however, a confider-
able people, and pofielfed a long trad! of the fea-coaft,
from the river Fine to the frith of Forth. Their name
is derived bv Baxter from the old Britilh words Ot 0
dineu, which fignify “ a high and rocky (here de-
feriptive enough of their country. They were probably
reduced by Agricola at the fame time with their more
powerful neighbours the Rriganles ; but as they lived
without the wall of Severus, they were, like the reft of
the Mceatce, engaged in frequent revolts. In the moft
perfeft ftate of the Roman government in this ifland,
the country of the Otodini made a part of the Roman
province called Valentia ; which comprehended all that
large traft between the two walls. As thR province
was never long together in the peaceable poffeflion of
the Romans, they had but few ftations in the country of
[ 604 1
O T O
the Otodini, except thofe on the line of the wall of Se-
Otcdini,
Otranto.
Various authors have derived the name of this people ' 
in various ways, and it is very differently fpelled ; and
various opinions (till feem to be entertained among the
learned refpe&ing their real fituation : and it is even
doubtful whether their country was in England or in
Scotland. The celebrated Drummond of Hawthornden-
contends for the latter.
OTRANTO, or Terra h’Otranto, a province of
Italy in the kingdom of Naples ; bounded on the north
by the Terra di Bari and by the gulf of Venice, on the
eaft by the fame gulf, and on the fouth and weft by a
great bay which is between that and the Bafilicata." It
is a mountainous country, abounding in figs, olives, and
wine. It is often vifited by locufts, and by Algerine
pirates, who carry off all the people they can catch into
flavery. But to keep them off", there are a great many
forts on the coafts.
Otranto, a city of Italy, in the kingdom of Naples,
and capital of the province of the fame name, with a
commodious harbour, an archbifhop’s fee, and a ftrong
citadel, where the archbifnop refides. Mr Swinburne * * Travels
gives this account of it: “ It is (fays lie) fmall, (landsin the t!U'°
on a hill, and contains only 3000 inhabitants. Its little
harbour is not fo bad but it might induce more people'01'
to fettle here, as no port on the coaft lies fo convenient
for traffic with Greece. The Adriatic gulf is here but .
60 miles wide. I climbed to the top of a tower to get
a fight of the Acroceraunian mountains; but a vapour
hanging over the fea, along the horizon, hid them from
my view : in a clear morning, their fnowy tops are faid
to be very vifible. The cathedral of Otranto is Gothic,
and, according to the Puglian fafhion, has its fubterra-
neous famStuary. The columns are of beautiful marble
and granite ; the pavement, a rude fpecies of moiaic,
commonly called Saracenic: As it is to be met with in
all churches founded by the Norman kings of Sicily,
the artifts who laid it were probably Saracens, or at
lead Greeks, their fcholars. Thefe mofaics are com-
pofed of pieces of porphyry, ferpentine, and cubes of
gilt glafi,—difpofed in ftars, circles, or chequers. The
compartments of the flails are bordered with them ; and
the fmall twilled columns, which fupport the pulpits and
canopies, are ornamented with a fpiral ftripe of the fame
work. It is a pity fo much durability, compa&nefs, and
beauty of materials, fhould have been lavilhed on fuch
barbarous defigns. Otranto ivas a Roman colony, as is
certified by an infeription, almoft the only monument of
antiquity left there (a). In the icth century it was
made an arehbiftiop’s fee. In 1480, Laurence de Me¬
dici, to deliver himfelf from the attacks of the king of
Naples, perfuaded Mahomet II. to invade the realm j
and Otranto was the unfortunate place where the Turks
landed. It was inverted, ftormed, and pillaged. Its
prelate was (lain at the door of his church ; 800 prin-
ci; al citizens dragged out of the gates and butchered ;
their bodies left l 2 months unburied, till the duke of
Calabria retook the city, and committed them to hal¬
lowed earth. About 100 years after, a devout perfon
affirmed, that thefe bones had appeared to him in a
dream ;
(a) “ Num. Hydr.—J£R Caput barb, et laureat. YArONTINBN, — Tridens, cum duobus delphinibus.”
O T W [ 605 ] OVA
Otranto dream ; and, upon the ftrength of his vifion, they be¬
ll came, for the vulgar, obje£ts of almoft equal veneration
0tway' with the relicks of the primitive martyrs.”
OTRICOLI, a fmall town of Italy, in the ecclefia-
ftical date, and in the duchy of Spoletto, in E. Long. 1 2.
23. N. Lat. 42. 26. fituatcd on a rifmg ground on the
frontiers of the patrimony of St Peter. From this town
is feen a fine plain, and feme of the windings of the fa¬
mous river Tiber. The ruins that are fcattered here
and there at the entrance of the plain, defcending from
Gtricoli, are thought to be the remains of the ancient
Otricolum •, they confift of fome fhapelefs fragments of
columns, cornices, and other pieces of marble. In the
middle of the great ilreet of Otricoli, there is a marble
pedeftal, 'u"pon which you fee an infcription, Flowing
they had erefted a ilatue to Julia Lucilla, who had
built public baths at Otricoli at her own expence.
OTTER. See Mustkla, Mammalia Index.
Otter of Rofes. See Roses.
OTTERBURN, in England, near Ellefdon, in the
county of Northumberland, was the field of battle be¬
tween the Englifh and Scots in 1388, wherein Henry
Percy, called Hotfpur, was taken prifoner, and Dou¬
glas the Scotch general was killed. On this batUe was
founded the delightful old ballad of Chevy chafe ; the
village being fituated by the river Rhead, on the fouth
fide of the Cheviot hills. The entrenchments are IK 11
vifible ; and a number of tumuli fcattered over the ad¬
jacent ground mark to future ages the {laughter made
there.
OTTERY, St Mary’s, a market town in Devon-
fhire, fituated 159 miles weft of London, and 10 miles
eaft of Exeter. The church is very ancient, and fome-
what refembles a cathedral. A very extenfive woollen
manufactory was lately eftablilhed here by Sir George
Yonge, and Sir John Duntze, Barts. It has no corpo¬
ration. It derived its name, as fome fuppofe, from the
river Otter, and that from the otters formerly found in
it. This town was given by King Edward the Confef-
for to the church of St Mary at Rouen in Normandy ;
but was afterwards bought by Grandifon bifhop of Exe¬
ter*, who made of it a quarter college in 10 Edward
III. and therein placed fecular priefts, with other mini-
flers, to whom he gave the whole manor, parifh, tythes,
fines, fpiritual profits, &c. which amounted to 304I. 2s.
lod. yearly.
OTWAY, Thomas, an eminent tragic poet, was
the fon of Mr Humphry Otway, re61or of Wolbeding
in SulTex ; and was born at Trottin in that county
on the 3d of March 1651. He was educated at Ox¬
ford *, when, leaving the univqrfity without a degree,
he retired to London, where he commenced player,
but with indifferent fuccefs. However, the fprightli-
nefs of his converfation gained him the favour of Charles
Fitz-Charles earl of Plymouth, wdio procured him a
cornet’s commiffion in one of the new-raifed regiments
fent into Flanders ; but he returned from thence in very
neceflitous eircumftances, and applied himfelf again to
writing for the ftage. In comedy he has been deemed
too licentious ; which, however, was no great objedtkm
to his pieces in the profligate days of Charles II. But,
in tragedy,-few Englifli poets have ever equalled him 5
and perhaps none ever excelled him in touching the
paflions, particularly the tender paflion. There is ge¬
nerally fomething familiar and domeftic in the fable of
S
his tragedies, and there is amazing energy in his expref- Otway
fion.—The heart that doth not melt at the ditfreffes of ^ l|. ^
his Orphan mull be hard indeed ! But though Otway , ^ ~ ‘
poffeffed in fo eminent a degree the rare talent of writ¬
ing to the heart, yet he was not very favourably re¬
garded by fome of his cotemporary poets, nor was he
always fuccefsful in his dramatic compofitions. After
experiencing many reverfes of fortune in regard to his
circumftances, but generally changing for the wrorfe, he
at laft died wretchedly in a public houfe on Tower-hill j
whither, it is fuppofed, he had retired, in order to avoid
the preffure of his creditors. Some have faid, that down¬
right hunger compelling him to fall too eagerly on a
piece of bread, of which he had been for fome time in
wrant, the firfl mouthful choked him, and inffantly put
a period to his days. Dr Johnfon gives this account of
the matter : “ He died in a manner which I am unwil¬
ling to mention. Having been compelled by his ne-
ceffitjes to contradl debts, and hunted, as is fuppofed by
the terriers of the law, he retired to a public houfe on
Tower-hill, where he died of want j or, as it is related by
one of his biographers, by fwallowing, after a long faff,
a piece of bread which charity had fupplied. Fie went
out, as is reported, almoft naked, in the rage of hunger,
and finding a gentleman in a neighbouring coffee-houfe,
alkcd him for a (hilling-. The gentleman gave him a
guinea 5 and Otway going away bought a roll, and was
choked with the firlt mouthful. All this, I hope, is
not true 5 but that indigence, and its concomitants, fur¬
row and defpondcncy, brought, him to the grave, has
never been denied.”
Johnfon fpeaks of him in nearly thefe terms : Otway
had not much cultivated verfification, nor much reple-
niftied his mind with general knowledge. His principal
power was in moving the paffions, to which Dryden in
his latter year's left an illuftrious teftimony. He appears,
by fome of his verfes, to have been a zealous royalift j
and had what was in thofe times the common reward of
loyalty 3 he lived and died negledfed.—Flis dramatic
writings are nine in number; the moft admired of
which are, The Orphan, and Venire Vreferred. He had
alfo made fome tranflations, and wrote feveral mifcel-
laneous poems. Flis whole works are printed in two
pocket volumes. He wrote , four acts of a play which
are loft.
OVAL, an oblong curvilinear figure, otherwife called
ellipjis. (See Ellipsis). However, the proper oval,
or egg fhape, differs confiderably from that of the ellip-
fis, being an irregular figure, narrower at one end than
at another : whereas the ellipfis or mathematical oval,
is equally broad at each end : th&ugh it muft be owned,
thefe two are commonly confounded together ; even
geometricians calling the oval a falfe ellipjis.
OVARY, in Anatomy, that part of a female animal
w’herein the ova or eggs are formed or lodged. See
Anatomy, N° hi.
OVARIUM, in Botany, a name by which botanifts
who are fond of aftimilating the animal and vegetable
kingdoms have diftinguiftied the germen or feed bud,
as containing the rudiments of the future feed.
OVATION, in the Roman antiquity, a Idler tri¬
umph, allowed to commanders for vidlories won with¬
out the drufion of blood ; or for defeating a mean and
inconfidcrable enemy. The {how generally began at
the Alban mountain, whence the general with his
retinue-
Ovation
Overall.
O V E [606
retinue made his entry into the city on foot, with
many flutes or pipes founding in concert as he pafled
, along, and wearing a garland or myrtle as a token of
peace. The term ovation, according to Servius, is
derived from ovis, a “ fheep becaufe on this occafion
the conqueror facrificed a flieep, as in a triumph he fa-
crificed a bull. The fenate, knights, and principal ple¬
beians, aflifted at the proceflion ; which concluded at
the Capitol, where rams were facrificed to Jupiter. The
firft ovation was granted to Publius Pofthumius the con-
ful, for his victory over the Sabines in the 253d year of
Rome.
OUDE, a province of Hindoftan Proper, fubjeft to
a nabob, whofe dominions lie on both fidesof the Ganges,
occupying the flat country between that river and the
northern mountains, as well as the principal part of
that fertile tract, lying between the Ganges and Jumna,
known by the name of Dooab, to within 40 miles of the
city Delhi. Oude and its dependencies are computed
at about 360 miles long from eaft to weft, and 180
broad. A brigade of the Bengal army is conftantly
Rationed on the weftern frontier, anfwering the double
purpofe of covering both Oude and Bengal; in confide-
ration of which the nabob pays an annual fubfidy of
420,000!. fterling. The capital of the province is
Lucknow. Oude is alfo the name of a city in the above
province, faid to have been the principal city of Hin¬
doftan about I 200 years before the Chriftian era.
OUDENARDE, a rich and ftrong town of the
A.uftrian Netherlands, in the province of Flanders, in
E. Long. 3 30. N. Lat. 50. 54. fifteen miles fouth of
Ghent, and eighteen from Tournay. It is a large wrell
fortified town, having a very confiderable fort in the
middle of it, fituated on the river Scheldt, -which di¬
vides it into two parts. It is almoft encompafled by
meadows, only there is a hill wThich commands it on
the fouth fide. The buildings are pretty good, and the
ftreets wide and handfome. The market-place is adorned
with a beautiful town houfe, and a fine large fountain.
There are feveral good churches and monafteries well
worthy of the notice of travellers. The town has a
very flourifhing trade in fine linen and tapeftry, and is
the capital of a caftellany, w'hich contains 33 villages.
]
O V E
The French laid fiege to it in 1708, which brought on
an obftinate engagement, wherein they were defeated
by the allies under the command of the duke of Marl¬
borough. It was befieged by the French again in 1744,
and taken in a few days; but it was reftored at the ge¬
neral peace.
OVEN, a kind of domeftic furnace, ufed for baking
bread, pies, tarts, &c. of a circular ftrufture, with a
very low roof, well lined, both on the top, bottom,
and fides, with ftone \ it has a fmall entrance in the
front, which is exaftly fitted by a kind of door, which
being clapped to the mouth of the oven confines the
heat, while bread, pies, or puddings, are baking Over
this, paftry cooks, &c. have another oven built much
in the fame manner, which is ufed for fuch things as
require a lefs degree of heat. Ovens are heated by
burning dry wood, faggots, &c. in them, till all the
parts are equally hot.
OVERALL, John, a celebrated Englifh bifhop,
was born in and, after a proper foundation in
grammar learning. wa« fent to St John’s college, Cam¬
bridge, and was defied a fcholar of that fociety : but
afterwards removing to Trinity, was chofen fellow of Overall,
that college. In 1596 he was made regius profefibr
of divinity, when hfe took the degree of D. D. and
about the fame time was defied mafter of Catherine-
hall. In 1601 he was raifed to the deanery of St
Paul’s, London, by the recommendation of his patron
Sir Fulk Greville, and £>ueen Elizabeth ; and in the
beginning of King James’s reign, he was chofen pro¬
locutor of the lower houfe of convocation. In 1612
he was appointed one of the firft governors of the
Charter-houfe hofpital, then juft founded by Thomas
Sutton, Efq. In April 1614 he was made bifliop of
Litchfield and Coventry ; and in 1618 he was tranf-
lated to Norwich, where he died in May 1619, aged,
as it is reported, 60 years. Fie was buried in that
cathedral, where he lay unnoticed and forgotten till
fome time after the reftoration of Charles II. when
Cofin, bifhop of Durham, who had been his fecretary,
erefted a monument in 1669, with a Latin infcription,
in which he is faid to be, “ Vir undequaque dofliffimus,
et omni incomio major.”
Wood obferves, that he had the charafler of being
the beft fcholaltic divine in England } and Cofin, who
perhaps may be thought to rival him in that fort of
learning, calls himfelf his fcholar, and abfolutely fays
that he derived all his knowledge from him. Fie
is alfo celebrated by Smith for his diftinguifhed wif-
dom, erudition, and piety. In the controverfy which
in his time divided the reformed churches about pre-
deftination and grace, he held a middle opinion, in¬
clining perhaps to Arminianifm. He feems indeed to
have paved the way for the reception of that doctrine
in England, where it was generally embraced a few
years afterwards, chiefly by the authority and influ¬
ence of Archbifhop Laud. Overall cultivated a parti¬
cular friendfhip with Gerard Voflius and Grotius 5 and
Was much grieved to fee the love of peace, and the
projects of this laft great man to obtain it, fo ill repaid.
He laboured heartily himfelf to fettle the differences
in Holland, upon what is known by the name of the
$>uinqiiarticular controverfij; as appears in part by his
letters to the two learned correfpondents juft mentioned,
fome of which are printed in the Epiftolce prcejiantium
virorum, &c.
The bifhop is known in England chiefly by his Con¬
vocation Book, of which Bifhop Burnet gives the fol¬
lowing account: “ This book was wrote on the fubjefl
of government, the divine inftitution of which was very
pofitively afferted. It was read in convocation, and
paffed bv that body, in order to the publifhing of it; in
oppofition to the principles laid down in the famous
book of Parfons the Jefuit, publifhed under the name of
Doleman. But King James did not like a convocation
entering into fuch a theory of politics; fo he difenuraged
the printing of it, efpecially fince, in order to juftify the
owning of the United Provinces, who had lately thrown
off the Spanifh yoke, to be a lawful government, it was
laid down, that when a change of government was
brought to a thorough fettlement, it was then to be own¬
ed and fubmitted to as a work of the providence of God.
Here it flept, till Archbifhop Sancroft, who had got
the book into his own hands, and not obferving the laft-
mentioned paffage in it, refolved to publifh it in the
beginning of King William’s reign, as an authentic
declaration the church of England had made in the
point
k
O V E [ 607 ] O V I
Overall, point of non refiftance. Accordingly it was publifli-
Overbury. e(l ;n ^to, as well as licenfed, by him, a very few days
» ’ before he was under fufpenfion for not taking the
oaths.”
OVERBURY, Sir Thomas, a learned Englifhman,
Was born in 1581 5 and itudied at Queen’s college,
Oxford, after which he removed to the Middle-Temple,
London. He afterwards travelled for fome time, and
returned a moft accomplifhed perfon ; when he contraft-
ed an intimate acquaintance with Sir Robert Carr,
knight of the Bath, who being foon after taken into
his majefty’s favour, had Mr Overbury knighted at
Greenwich. Sir Thomas perceiving the familiarity
which fubfifted between his patron Carr, now made
Vifcount Rochefter, and the lady Frances, the wife of
Robert earl of Effex, was fo much difpleafed at it, that
lie endeavoured to difluade him from keeping her com¬
pany, and from proceeding in the bafe defign he had
formed of having her firlt divorced from her hufband,
and then marrying her. The vifcount, refenting this
honeft advice, told what he had faid to the lady, who
Was as remarkable for her wickednefs as for her beauty 5
on which they immediately refolved on his deftru6fion.
About this time, the king wanting to fend an ambafla-
dor abroad, the vifcount recommended Sir Thomas
Overbury. His majefty approving the choice, the vif¬
count imparted the king’s intentions to Sir Thomas ;
but, under a treacherous fhow of friendfhip, diffuaded
him from accepting of that employment, as it might
hinder him from a better way of advancement; promi-
fing that he would prevent his majefty from being dif¬
pleafed at his refufal. The vifcount then went to the
king, and artfully incenfing his majefty againft Sir
Thomas for refufing to obey his commands, that gen¬
tleman was committed to the Tower for his contempt,
on the 2lft of April 1613, where he continued till he
was defpatched by poifon on the 15th of September
following, and his body was interred in the Tower-
chapel the fame day. About two years after, the
whole contrivance of his death was difeovered. On
this feveral perfons were condemned and executed j
but though Carr, earl of Somerfet, and the lady
France^ his countefs, were condemned to death for
contriving the murder, and hiring the perfons who
Avere concerned in it, the king only banilhed them
from court, and afterivards pardoned them. Sir Tho¬
mas Overbury wrote feveral poems, &c. and an account
of his travels.
His character is reprefented by a hiftorian of thofe
times 5 who, after relating the occafion and circum-
ftances of his death, proceeds in the following terms :
“ In this manner fell Sir Thomas Overburv, worthy
of a longer life and a better fate ; and, if I may com¬
pare private men with princes, like Germanicus Cre-
far, both by poifon procured by the malice of a avo-
man, both about the 33d year of their age, and both
celebrated for their {kill and judgment in poetry, their
learning, and their Avifdom. Overbury Avas a gentle¬
man of an ancient family, but had fome blemifties
charged upon his character, either through a too great
ambition, or thef infolence of a haughty temper 
After the return from his tra\Hs, the vifcount Ro-
* chefter embraced him with fo entire a friendfhip, that
exercifing by his majefty’s fpecial favour the office of
fecretary provisionally, he not only communicated to
Sir Thomas the fecrets, but many times gave him the Overbury
packets and letters unopened, before they had been ^ ^
perufed by the king himfelf: Avhich as it prevailed . .
too much upon his early years, fo as to make him, in
the opinion of fome, thought high and ambitious j
yet he was fo far from violating his truft and confidence,
that he remains now one example among others Avho
have fuffered in their perfons or their fortunes for a free¬
dom of advice, which none but fincere friends will give,
and which many are fuch ill friends to themfelves as not
to receive.”
OVER-hauling, the aft of opening and extending
the feveral parts of a tackle, or other aflemblage of <
ropes, communicating with blocks or dead eyes. It is
ufed to remove thofe blocks to a fufficient diftance from
each other, that they may be again placed in a ftate of
aftion, fo as to produce the effeft required.
0 VER-Hauling 1 is alfo vulgarly exprefled of an exa¬
mination or infpeftion into the condition of a perfon or
thing.
OvER-Rake, among feamen : When a fhip riding at
anchor fo overbeats herfelf into a high fea, that (he is
Avalhed by the Avaves breaking in upon her, they fay
the Avaves over-rake her.
OVERSMAN, in Scots Law, a perfon appointed
by arbiters, or by the parties fubmitters, to determine
the matter fubmitted, in cafe the arbiters difagree in
their opinion.
OVERT, the fame Avith Open : Thus an overt aft
fignifies an aft Avhich, in Iuav, muft be clearly proved 5
and fuch is to be alleged in every indiftment for high
treafon.
OVERTURE, or Ou\7erture, opening or pre¬
luding : a term ufed for the folemnities at the begin¬
ning of a public aft or ceremony 5 an opera, trhgedy,
comedy, concert of mufic, &c. The overture of the
theatre or feene, is a piece of mufic ufually ending
Avith a fugue : the overture of a jubilee is a general
proceffion, &c.
OVERYSSEL, fo named from its fituation beyond
the river Yffel, one of the Seven United Provinces j
bounded on the eaft by the bilhopric of Munfter, on
the north by Friefland and the territory of Gronin¬
gen, on the Aveft by the river Yffel, and on the fouth
by the county of Zutphen and the bifhopric of Mun¬
fter. It is divided into three diftinft parts ; which are
the territories of Drenfe, Twente, and Salland. There
are many moraffes in this province, and but few inha¬
bitants, in comparifon of the reft. Its greateft riches
confift in turfs j Avhich are dug up here, and fent to
the neighbouring provinces, particularly Holland. It
extends near 60 miles in length from north to fouth,
and 40 in breadth from eaft to weft. The Avhole
country is Ioav and marfhy, but it produces a tolerable
quantity of corn. It Avas formerly a dependence of the
biftiopric of Utrecht, before Henry of Bavaria, bifhop
of that fee, transferred the fovereignty of it to the em¬
peror Charles V.
OVIEDA, a genus of the angiofpermia order, be¬
longing to the didynamia clafs of plants •, and in the na¬
tural method ranking under the 40th order, Perfonatce.
See Botany Index.
OVIEDO, a toAvn of Spain, and capital of Aftu-
rias d’Oviedo, Avith a bifhop’s fee, and an univerfity j
feated at the confluence of the rivers Ove and Deva,
which
\
O V I [ 608 ] O V I
Oviedo which form the Afta, 50 miles north-weft of Leon, and
, 2c8 north weft of Madrid. W. Long. 5. 47. N. Lat.
43- 23-
OUGHTRED, William, an eminent mathema¬
tician, was born at Eton in 1573, and educated in the
fchool there, whence he was elected to King’s-college
in Cambridge, of which he afterwards became fellow.
Reing admitted to holy orders, he left the univerfity
about the year 1603, and was prefented to the redtory
of Aldbury, near Guildford in Surry ^ and about the
year i6?8 was appointed by the earl of Arundel to
inftrudt his fon in the mathematics. He kept a corre-
fpondence by letters with fome of the molt eminent
fcholars of his time upon mathematical fubjedts 5 and
the molt celebrated mathematicians of that age owed
molt of their Ikill to him, whofe houfe wras full of
young gentlemen that came from all parts to receive
his inltrudtion. It is faid that, upon hearing the news
of the vote at Weltminlter for the reiteration of King
Charles II. he expired in a hidden tranfport of joy,
aged 88. He wrote, 1. Clavis Mathematic a ; which
was afterwards publilhed in England. 2. A defeription
of the double horizontal dial. 3. Opufcula Mathcma-
tica ; and feveral other works. He left alfo behind him
a great number of papers upon mathematical (ubjedts,
which are now in the mufeum of William Jones, Efq.
E. R. S.
David Lloyd, in his Memoirs, has given the follow¬
ing Ihort charadter of him : “ That he was as facetious
in Greek and Latin, as folid in arithmetic, geometry,
and the fphere of all meafures, mulic, &c. exadt in his
Ityle as in his judgment; handling his tube and other
inftruments at 80 as Readily as others did at 30; ow¬
ing this, as he faid, to temperance and archery •, prin-
cipling his people with plain and folid truths, as he did
the world with great and ufeful arts $ advancing new
inventions in all things but religion, which, in its old
order and decency, he maintained fecure in his privacy,
prudence, meeknels, fimplicity, refolution, patience, and
contentment.” He had one fon ; whom he put an
apprentice to a watchmaker, and ivrote a book of in-
ftrudlions in that art for his ufe.
OVID, or Publius 0VIDIUS Nafo, a celebrated
Latin poet of the Auguftan age, wras a Roman knight,
born at Sulmo, in the 43d year before the Chriftian
era. He ftudied rhetoric under Aurelius Fufcus, and
for fome time frequented the bar. His progrefs in
the ftudy of eloquence was great, but the father’s ex-
pe&ations were fruftrated ; his fon was born a poet,
and nothing could deter him from purfuing his natural
inclination to write poetry, though he was often re¬
minded that Homer lived and died in the greateft po-
* verty. Every thing he wrote was exprefled in poeti¬
cal numbers, as he himfelf fays, Et quod tentabam feri-
bere verfus erat. A lively genius and a fertile imagina¬
tion foon gained him admirers \ the learned became
his friends : Virgil, Propertius, Tibullus, and Horace,
honoured him with their correfpondence, and Auguftus
patronized him with the moft unbounded liberality.
Thefe favours, however, were but momentary } for
after having obtained the efteeun of Auguftus, he incur¬
red his difpleafure, and was banilhed to Tomos, a city
on the Pontus Euxinus, near the mouth of the Danube,
when he was 50 years of age. The true caufe of
this fudden exile is unknown. Some attribute it to
a fhameful amour with Livia the wife of Auguftus, Ovid,
while others fuppofe that it arofe from the knowledge v*‘—Y—
which Ovid had of the unpardonable inceft of the
emperor with his daughter Julia. Thefe reafons are in¬
deed merely conjectural the caufe was of a very pri¬
vate and very fecret nature, of which Ovid himfelf is
afraid to fpeak. It was, however, fomething improper
in the family and court of Auguftus, as thefe lines feem
to indicate :
Cur ahquid vuli? Cur noxw /utninn feci?
Cur imprudent! cognita culpa miln ef ?
Infcius A dice on vuht fine vejle Dianam,
Fra da fuit cunibus non minus ille fms.
Again,
Infcia quod crimen suiderunt lumina pleclor,
Pecalumque ocu/os ejl habuijje meum.
And in another place, .
Perdiderunt cum me duo crimina, carmen et error,
Akerius fucti culpa jilenda nuhi eJL
In his baniftiment, Ovid betrayed bis pufillanimity
in a great degree •, and however aft'e&ing and diftrefl'ed
his fituation was, yet the flattery and impatience which
he Ihowed in his writings are a diigrace to his pen, and
lay him more open to ridicule than to pity. Though
he proftituted his pen and his time to adulation, yet
the emperor proved deaf to all entreaties, and refufed
to liften to his moft ardent friends at Rome who v ifh-
ed for his return. Ovid, who really wiihed for a Bru¬
tus to deliver Rome of her tyrannical Auguftus, ftill
continued his flattery even to meannefs •, and when the
emperor died, he was fo mercenary as to confecrate a
fmall temple to the departed tyrant on the fliore of the
Euxine, where he regularly offered frankincenfe every
morning. Tiberius proved as regardlefs as his predeeet-
for to the entreaties which were made for the poet, and
he died'in the feventh or eighth year of his banifhment,
in the 57th year of his age. He was buried at Tomos.
In the year 1508 of the Chriftian era, the following
epitaph was discovered at Sdfcin, in the modern kingdom
of Auftria.
Hie fitus ejl votes quern Divi Ccefaris ira,
AuguJH patria cedere jujjit humo.
Scepe mifer voluit palriis occumbere t err is,
Sed frufra ! hunc illi fata dedere locum.
This, however, is an impofition to render celebrated
an obfeure corner of the world, which never contained
the bones of Ovid. The greateft part of his poems
are remaining. His Met amorphofes, in 15 books, are
extremely curious, on account of the great variety of
mythological fadls and traditions which they relate,
but they can have no claim to epic honours. In com-
pofing this the poet was more indebted to the ex-
ifting traditions, and to the theogony of the ancients,
than The powers of his own imagination. His Fajli
were divided into 12 books, like the conftellations in
the zodiac, but of thefe fix are loft •, and the learned
world have reafon to lament the lofs of a poem which
muff have thrown fo much light upon the religious
rites and ceremonies, feftivals and facrifices, of the an¬
cient Romans, as we may judge from the fix that have
furvived the ravages of time and barbarity. His Trj-
tia,
o V I [ ftx) ] O U P
Ovn!, tia, ^bich are divided into five books, contain much
Oviedo, elegance and foftnefs of expreflion ", as alfo his Elegies
*”’'v on different fubjedts. The Heroides are nervous, fpirit-
ed, and diifufe 5 the poetry is excellent, the language
varied, but the expreflions are often too wanton and
indelicate ; a fault which is very common with him.
His three books Amorutn, and the fame number de
Arte Amundi, with the other de Remedio Amoris, are
written with peculiar elegance, and contain many flow¬
ery defcriptions •, but the doctrine which they hold
forth is dangerous, and they are to be read with cau¬
tion, as they feem to be calculated to corrupt the
heart, and to fap the very foundations of virtue and
morality. His Ibis, which is written in imitation of a
poem of Callimachus of the fame name, is a fatirieal
performance. Befides thefe, there are extant fome frag¬
ments of other poems, and among thefe part of a tra¬
gedy called Medea. The talents of Ovid as a dramatic
writer have been difputed, and fome have remarked
that he who is fo often void of fentiment was not born
to Urine as a tragedian. He has attempted, perhaps,
too many forts of poetry at once. On whatever he
has written, he has totally exhaufled the fubjedt. He
everywhere paints nature with a mafterly hand, and
adds firength even to vulgar expreffions. It has been
judicioufly obferved, that Ids poetry after his banith-
ment from Rome was dellitute of that fpirit and viva¬
city which we admire in thofe which w'ere written be¬
fore. His Fafii are perlraps the belt written of all his
poems ; and after them we may fairly rank Ids love
verfes, his Heroides, and after all his Met amorphofes,
which were not totally finilhed when Auguftus banifli-
ed him. His Epiji/es from Pontus are the language
of a weak and fordid flatterer. However critics may
have caufe to cenfure the indelicacy and the inac¬
curacies of Ovid, it is to be acknowledged that his
poetry contains great fweetnefs and elegance, and, like
that of Tibullus, charms the ear and captivates the
mind.— Another perfon of the name of Ovid accom¬
panied Ids friend Caefonius when banifhed from Rome
by Nero.
OVIEDO, John Gonsaxvez he, bom at Madrid
about the year 1478, was educated among the pages of
Ferdinand king of Arragon and Ifabella queen of Ca-
ilile ; and happened to be at Barcelona in 1493, when
Chriftopher Columbus returned from his firit voyage to
the iiland Haiti, which he called Hifpaniola, and which
now goes by the name of St Domingo. He formed an
intimate acquaintance with Columbus and Ids compa¬
nions, and was at pains to inform himfelf of every thing
relating to the new difeoveries. He rendered fuch ef-
fential fervice to Spain during the war of Naples, that
Ferdinand determined to fend him to the ifland of Hai¬
ti, as intendant and infpe&or general of the trade of
the New World. The ravages which the venereal dif-
eafe had made during that war, induced him to inquire
into what were the mod efficacious remedies for this
malady, which was fuppofed to have come from the
Weft Indies. His inquiries were extended to every tiling
which regards the natural hiftory of thefe regions ; and,
on his return to Spain, lie publifhed Summario de la Hi-
Jloria general y natural de las Indins Qceidentalcs,
which he dedicated to Charles V. He afterwards
made fome additions to this work, which he publifhed
under the title of La Hifhria general y natural de las
Vol. XV. Part If.
Indias Gccidentales; Salamanca, 1535, folio. It was OvbcTo
tranflated into Italian, and afterwards into French ", Pa¬
ris, 1556, folio. In this work, Oviedo fays that the
French pox is endemical in the iiland of Haiti, and that
it has paffed from thence into Europe. Pie greatly ex¬
tols the ufe of the wood of guaiacum for the cure of
this difeafe ; but whether the difeafe is now become
more obftinate, or the remedy does not poffefs that effi¬
cacy which is aferibed to it, it is at prelent in little ef-
timation.
OVILIA, or Septa, in ancient Rome, a place in
the Campus Martius, at firll railed in like a fheep-pen,
whence its name. Afterwards it was mounted with
marble, and beautified with walks and galleries, as alfo
with a tribunal or feat of juftice. Within this pre¬
cinct or inclofure the people were called to give their
fuffrages for the ele6lion of magiilrates. The afeent
into the ovilia was not by flairs, but by pontes, or nar¬
row boards, laid there for the occafion ; on which ac¬
count, de ponte dejici fignified “ to be deprived of the
privilege of voting j” and perfons thus dealt with were
called depontani.
OVIPAROUS, a term applied to fuch animals as
bring forth their young from eggs j as birds, infetts,
&c.
GVIS, the Sheep, a genus of the mammalia clafs,
and of the order of Pecora. See Mammalia Index.
OUNCE, a weight, the 1.6th part of a pound avoir¬
dupois, and the 12th.part of a pound troy. The word
is derived from the Latin, uncia, “ the twelfth part of
any whole,” called as ; particularly in geometrical mea-
fures, an inch, or 12th part of a foot. See Inch and
As.
Ounce. See Felis, Mammalia Index.
OVOLO, or Ovum, in ArchiteBure, a round mould¬
ing, whole profile or iweep, in the Ionic and Compofite
capitals, is ufually a quadrant of a circle : whence it is
alfo commonly called the quarter-round. It is ufually
cut with reprefentations of eggs and arrow-heads or an¬
chors placed alternately.
OU-POEY TSE, a name given by the Chinefe to a
kind of nefts made by certain infects upon the leaves
and branches of the tree called ym-fou-tfe. Thefe nefts
are much lift'd in dyeing, and the phyficians employ
them for curing many difteinpers. Some of thele nefts
were brought to Europe, and put into the hands of the
celebrated Mr Geoffrey. After having examined them
with the utmoft attention, this learned academician
thought he perceived fome conformity in them to thofe
exi efcences which grow*on the leaves of the elm, and
which the vulgar call elm-bladders: he‘found thefe nefts
fo fbarp and aftringent to the lafte, that he confidered
them as far fuperior to every other fpecics of galls lift'd
by the dyers. According to him, they are the Itrongcft
aftringents exifting in the vegetable kingdom.
It is certain that there is a great affinity between the
ou-poey-tfe and the elm biadders. The form of both is
unequal and irregular ; they are covered on the outfide
with affiort down, which n nders them foft to the touch ;
within they are full of a whitiih-gray dull, in which may
be obferved the dried remains of fmall infects, without
difeovering any aperture through which they might have
paffed. Thefe nefts or bladders harden as they grow
old ; and their fubftance, which appears refinous, be¬
comes brittle and tranfparent ; however, the Chinefe do
4 H not
o U S [ 610 ] OUT
not confidcr the ou-poey-tfe, notwithftanding their re-
femblance to elm-bladders, as excrefcences of the tree
yen-fou-tfe, upon which they are found. They are per-
luaded, that infefts produce a kind of wax, and conftrudl
for themfelves on the branches and leaves of this tree
(the fap of which is proper for their nourifhment) little
retreats, where they may wait for the time of their me-
tamorphofis, or at leaf! depolit in fafety their eggs, which
compofe that fine duft with which the ou-poey-tfe are
filled. Some of the ou-poey-tfe are as large as one’s
fill j but thefe are rare, and are generally produced by
a worm of extraordinary ftrength, or which has afibcia-
ted with another, as two filk worms are fometimes feen
ihut up in the fame ball. The fmalleft ou-poey-tfe are
of the fize of a chefnut •, the greater part of them are
round and oblong; but they feldom referable one ano¬
ther entirely in their exterior configuration. At firft,
they are of a dark green colour, which afterwards
changes to yellow 5 and the hulk, though pretty firm,
becomes then very brittle.
The Chinefe peafants colled! thefe ou-poey-tfe before
the firft hoar-frofts. They take care to kill the worm
inclofed in the hulks, and to expofe them for fome time
to the fteam of boiling water. Without this precaution,
the worm might foon break through its weak prifon,
which would immediately burft and be ufelefs. The
ou-poey-tfe are ufed at Pekin for giving paper a dura¬
ble and deep-black colour ; in the provinces of Kiang-
nan and Tche-kiang, where a great deal of beautiful
fatin is made, they are employed for dyeing the filk
before it is put on the loom. The Chinefe literati
alfo blacken their beards with them when they become
white.
The medicinal properties of the ou-poey-tfe are very
numerous. The Chinefe phyficians introduce them into
the compofition of many of their remedies. They re¬
commend them for Hopping bloodings of every kind 5
they confider them as an excellent fpecific for curing in¬
flammations and ulcers, and for countera&ing the effefts
of poifon •, and they employ them with fuccefs in the
dropfy, phthifis, epilepfy, catarrhs, ficknefs, fluxions of
the eyes and ears, and in many other diforders.
Greater OUSE, a river which rifes near Fitwell in
Oxfordlhire, and proceeds to Buckingham, Stony-Strat-
ford, and Newport-Pagnel, in Buckinghamlhire ; from
thence it proceeds to Bedford, and turning north-eaft it
palfes on to Huntingdon and Ely, till at length it arrives
at Lynn-Regis in Norfolk, and falls into the fea. It is
navigable to fome diftance above Downham, where there
is a good harbour for barges ; and a confiderable trade
is carried on by it to Lynn and other towns.
.S/na/ler OuSE, rifes in Suffolk, and, feparating that
county from Norfolk on the fouth-weft, difcharges itfelf
into the great Oufe near Downham. There is ftill ano¬
ther of the fame name, which rifes in the weft-north-
wcft fide of Yorklhire •, and chiefly running to the fouth-
eaft, at length falls into the Humber.
OUSTER, or Dispossession, in Law, an injury
w hich carries with it the amotion of poffeflion ; for
by means of it the wrong doer gets into the aftual pof¬
feflion of the land or hereditament, and obliges him that
hath a right to feck a legal remedy, in order to gain
poffeflion, together with damages. This oufter may ei¬
ther be of the freehold by abatement, intrufion, diffeifin,
difcontinuance, and deforcement 5 or of chattels real,
3
as an ellate by ftatute-merchant, ftatute-ftaple, orelegit,
or an eftate for years.
OUSTER le Mam, amovere manum, in Law, denotes
a livery of lands out of the king’s hands ; or a judge¬
ment given for him that traverfed, or fued, a monjiruns
le droit. When it appeared, upon the matter being dif-
cuffed, that the king had no right or title to the land
feized, judgment was given in chancery, that the king’s
hand be amoved j and oujler le main, or arnoveas ma¬
num, was therefore aw-arded to the efcheator, to reft ore
the land, &c. All wardftiips, liveries, oujler le mains,
&c. are now taken away and difcharged by ftatute 12
Car. II.
OUSTIOUG, a town of the Ruffian empire, and
capital of a province of the fame name, with an arch-
bilhop’s fee and a caftle ; feated on the river Suchana,
over-againft the mouth of the Jug, in E. Long. 43. 25.
N. Lat. 6r. 48.
Oustioug, a province of the Ruffian empire, bound¬
ed on the north by Dwina, on the eaft by the foreft of
Zirani, on the fouth by Wologda, and on the weft by
Cargapol and Waga. It is divided into two parts by
the river Suchana ; is full of forefts j and the rivers
yield plenty of fiflh, which the inhabitants dry in the
fun, and which make their principal nourifliment.
OUT-posts, in a military fenfe, a body of men poll¬
ed beyond the grand guard, called out-pojls, as being the
rounds or limits of the camp.
OUTLAW, fignifies one that is deprived of the be¬
nefit of the law, and therefore held to be out of the
king’s protection.
BraCton afferts, that an outlaw forfeits all he lias j
and that, from the time of his outlawry, he wears a
wolf’s head ; and any body may kill him rvith impuni¬
ty, efpecially if he defend himfelf or fly. But in Ed¬
ward III.’s time it was refolved by the judges, that it
fliould not be lawful for any man, but the ftieriff alone
(having fufficient warrant for it), to put to death a man
that was outlarved.
OUTLAWRY, the punilhment of a perfon who be¬
ing called into law, and lawfully, according to the ufual
forms, fought, does contemptuoufly refufe to appear.
The effeCt of being outlawed at the fuit of another,
in a civil caufe, is the forfeiture of all the perfon’s goods
and chattels to the king, and the profits of his land,
while the outlawry remains in force. If in treafon or
felony, all the lands and tenements which he has in fee,
or for life, and all his goods and chattels, are alfo for¬
feited ; and befides, the law interprets his abfence as a
fufficient evidence of guilt; and without requiring far¬
ther proof, accounts the perfon guilty of the fa6t, on
which enfues corruption of blood, &c. And then, ac¬
cording to BraCton, he may perifh without law, &c.
However, to avoid inhumanity, no man is intitled to
kill him wantonly or wilfully ; but in fo doing he is
guilty of murder, unlefs it happens in endeavouring to
apprehend him ; for any body may arreft an outlaw, ei¬
ther of his own head, or by writ or warrant of capias
atlagatum, in order to bring him to execution.
If after outlawry, in civil cafes, the defendant pub¬
licly appear, he is to be arrefted by a writ of capias ut-
lagatum, and committed till the outlawry be reverfed :
which reverfal may be had by the defendant’s appearing
in court (and in the king’s-bench, by fending an attor¬
ney, according to ftatute 4 and 5 W. and M. cap. 18.)
Oufter
Outlawry,
OWE
Outlawry and any plaufible circumftance, however trifling, is in
II general fuffieient to reverfe it; it being conlidered only
0wen' . as a procefs to force appearance. The defendant mult,
* however, pay full cofts, and muft put the plaintiff in the
fame condition as if he had appeared before the writ of
exigifacias was awarded. It is appointed by magna
charta, that no freeman fliall be outlawed, but according
to the law of the land. A minor or a woman cannot be
outlawed.
In Scotland outlawry anciently took place in the cafe
of refufal to fulfil a civil obligation, as well as in crimi¬
nal cafes. At prefent, however, it only takesplace in the
two cafes of flying from a criminal profecution, and of
appearing in court attended by too great a number of
followers. But the defender, upon appearing at any di-
ftance of time and offering to lland trial, is entitled de
jure to have the outlawry reverfed, and to be admitted
to trial accordingly, and even to bail if the offence be
bailable. See Waive.
OVUM anguinum. See Anguinum.
OUTWORKS, mFortification,works made
without-fide the ditch of a fortified place, to cover and
defend it. See Fortification.
OUSEL, a fpecies of Motacilla. See Ornitho-
XOGY Index.'
OWEN, Thomas, a judge of the common-pleas,
fon of Richard Owen, Efq. of Condover in Shroplhire,
was educated at Oxford. Having taken a degree in
arts, he left the univerfity, and entered himfelf of Lin¬
coln’s inn in London, where in procefs of time he be¬
came an eminent counfellor. In 1583 he was eledted
Lent-reader to that fociety. In 1590 he was made fer-
geant at law, and queen’s fergeant foon after. He arri¬
ved at length at the dignity of judge of the common
pleas; which office he is faid to have executed, during
five years, with great abilities and integrity. He died
in 1 ^98 ; and was buried on the fouth fide of the choir
in Wettminfter abbey, where a monument was erected
to his memory. He had the reputation of a learned
man, and a patron of literature. He was the author of
“ Reports in the common pleas, wherein are many
choice cafes, molt of them thoroughly argued by the
learned fergeants, and after argued and refolved by the
grave judges of thofe times, with many cafes wherein
the difference of the year-books are reconciled and ex¬
plained.” Lond. 1656, folio.
OWEN, Dr John, an eminent and learned diffenting
minifter, was born in 1616, at Hadham, in Oxfordihire,
of which place his father was vicar. He made fuch
furprifing proficiency in learning, that at twelve years of
age he was admitted into Queen’s-college, Oxford, and
in 1635 was made mailer of arts: but foon after, difap-
proving the new regulations made by Archbilhop Laud
their chancellor, with which he refufed to comply, he
was obliged, in 1637, to leave the univerfity : when ta¬
king orders, he became chaplain to Sir Robert Dormer
of Afcot in Oxfordflure, and was at the fame time tutor
to his eldeft fon. He was afterwards chaplain to John
Lord Lovelace of Hurley in Berkfliire. When the civil
war broke out, he openly avowed the caufe of the par¬
liament; which was fo refented by an uncle who had
intended to leave him his ellate, that he difcarded him,
and left it to another. Yet though Lord Lovelace joined
the king, he treated his chaplain with great civility: but
on his taking the field with the royal army, Mr Owen
O W H
1
went to London, and foon after joined the non-confor- Owen,
mills. In 1642 he publillied his book, intilled, ADi/play Owhyhee.^
of Arminianifm, which laid the foundation of his future v
advancement: for the committee for purging the church
of feandalous minilters were lo pleafed with it, that Mr
White their chairman let him a prefentation of the li¬
ving of Fordham in Effex: but when he had been there
about a year and a half, the patron hearing that the fe-
queltered incumbent was dead, prefented another to the
living ; upon which the earl of Warwick gave Mr
Owen the living of Coggelhal. Fie had not, however,
been long at that town before he left the Prelbyterians;
and, joining the Independents, formed a church there.
He was now lent for feveral times to preach before the
parliament; and among the rell on the 28th of Febru¬
ary 1648-9, the day of humiliation for the intended ex¬
pedition to Ireland. Cromwell, who was prefent at this
lalt difcourfe, and had never heard him before, was ex¬
tremely pleafed with it, and defired his company into
Ireland, and that he 'would refide in the college of
Dublin. This he did ; but returned in about half a
year. Soon after Cromwell fent him into Scotland;
but he alfo returned from thence after about half a
year’s Hay at Edinburgh. Fie was then promoted to
the deanery of Chrill-church, Oxford, whither he went
in 1651; and Cromwell, being now chancellor of the
univerfity, nominated him his vice-chancellor. * The
next year he was created doctor of divinity by diploma.
Dr Owen enjoyed the poll of vice-chancellor five years;
during which he behaved with the greatell moderation ;
for, though often folicited, he never molefted the meet¬
ing of the royalifts at the houfe of Dr Willis the phy-
fician, where divine fervice was performed according to
the liturgy of the church of England : and though he
was a commiffioner for ejecting fcandalous minilters, he
frequently overruled his brethren in favour of thofe
royalills who were diltinguiffied by their merit. At the
death of Cromwell, he was removed from the vice-chan-
cellorlhip; and at the Reiteration was ejedled from
his deanery of Chriit-chureh. But he had provided
himfelf a comfortable retreat at an ellate he had pur-
chafed at Hadliam. He now employed himfelf in
preaching as often as he had an opportunity, and in
writing books; one of which, intitled Fiat Lux, falling
into the hands of Lord Clarendon, he was fo pleafed
with it, or (as is faid) from policy pretended to be fo>
that he fent for Dr Owen, and acknowledging the fer¬
vice he had done by it to the Protellant religion, offer¬
ed to prefer him in the church if he would conform ;
but he defired to be excufed.—His moderation drew
him refpeft from perfons of oppofite principles ; and in
the number of his friends were Dr Wilkins bilhop of
Chelter, and Dr Barlow bilhop of London. He died
at Ealing in 1683. His works are printed in feven vo¬
lumes folio.
Wood, after cenfuring him in many refpedls, fays ne-
verthelefs, that, “ to fpeak impartially, he was a per-
fon well Ikilled in the tongues, Rabbinical learning, and
Jewifh rites and cufloms; that he ham a great command
of his Englilh pen, and was one of the genteeleft and
fairelt writers who have appeared againll the church of
England.”
OWHYHEE, the eallernmolt, and by far the lar-
gelt, of the Sandwich iflands. Its greaiell length from
north to fouth is 28£ leagues, its breadth 24, and its
4 H £ circumference
[ 6n ]
own [ t
»)>vliyhec. circumference nearly 300 Englifh miles. It is divided
“ into fix large diftrifts j two of which on the north-eaft
fide are feparated by a mountain, that rifes in three
peaks, which is perpetually covered with fnow, and may
be feen clearly at 40 leagues diftance. To the north of
this mountain, the coaft confifis of high and deep cliffs,
down which fall many beautiful cafcades of water. The
whole country is covered with cocoa-nut and bread-fruit
trees. The peaks of the mountain on the north-eaft
fide appear to be about half a mile in height, and en¬
tirely covered with fnorv. To the fouth of this moun¬
tain, the coafl prefents a profpeft of the mod dreary
kind, the whole country appearing to have undergone
a total change by means of fome dreadful convulfion.
The ground is everywhere covered with cinders, and
interfered in many places with black dreaks, which
feem to mark the courfe of a lava that has dowed not
many ages fince from the mountain to the fhore. The
fouthern promontory looks like the mere dregs of a vol¬
cano. The projecting headland is compofed of broken
and craggy rocks, piled irregularly one upon another,
and terminating in drarp points; yet amidtt thefe ruins,
there are many pieces of rich foil, which are carefully
laid out in plantations, and the neighbouring fea affords
a vad variety of excellent fifh : fo that this quarter is
much better inhabited than thofe which are more ver¬
dant. The fields are irrclofed with done fences, and are
interfperfed with groves of cocoa nut trees. We are
told indeed by fome of Cook’s people who walked
through a confiderable part of it, that they did not ob-
ferve a fpot of ground, that was fufceptible of improve¬
ment left unplanted ; and indeed the country, from
their account, could fcarcely be cultivated to greater ad¬
vantage for the purpofes of the natives. They wrere fur-
prifed at feeing feveral fields of hay *, and upon their in¬
quiry, to what particular ufe it was applied, they were
informed, that it wras intended to cover the grounds
where the young taro grew, in order to preferve them
from being fcorched by the rays of the fun. They ob-
ferved among the plantations a few huts fcattered about,
which afforded occafional fhelter to the labourers ; but
they did not fee any villages at a greater diftance from
she fea than four or five miles. Near one of them,
which was fituated about four miles from the bay, they
difeovered a cave forty fathoms in length, three in
breadth, and of the fame height. It was open at each
end ; its fides urere fluted as if wrought with a chifel ;
and the furface was glazed over, perhaps by the aflion
of fire. There are fuppofed to be on this ifland about
150,000 inhabitants. So long as the name of Captain
Cook fhall be remembered, this ifland will not be for¬
gotten ; for he here fell a viflim to a ftrange concatena¬
tion of events. See Cook.
We have the following account of the inhabitants of
this ifland in Ellis’s Authentic Narrative, &c. “ The
men are above the middle fize, ftout, well made, and
flefhy, but not fat. Corpulency is not altogether fo
great a mark of diftimftion in thefe as in the Society
iiles •, and tallnefs, for which the Otaheiteans have great
partiality, is alfo overlooked. Their colour is in gene¬
ral brown olive. The women are in general mafeuline,
though there are fome delicately made, and the voice
of them all is foft and feminine. The hair both of the
head and beard is black ; that of the head the men wear
12 ] o w H
in the form of a helmet, that is, a long frizzled ridge Owhyhee.
from the forehead to the neck, the fides being much
thorter. I his fafhion feems to prevail only among the
principal people, that of the inferior fort being of an
equal length in every part. Moft of them were very
defirous of parting with their beards, which, they faid,
were difagreeable and troublefome, and were fond of
being ftiaved by our people. Some of the priefis wore
their beards long, and would not on any account part
with them. The women wear their hair long before,
but very fhort behind, which is not the moft becoming
mode 5 and, like thofe of the Friendly illes, they have
a way of rendering it of different colours, red, yellow,
and brown. The features of both fexes are good, and
we faw fome of the females who might really be called
fine women. Their teeth are even, and perfectly white.
In general, they ftem to be very healthy, and we obfer-
ved feveral who appeared to be of great age. As to
difeafes we faw none who laboured under any during
our flay, except the venereal complaint j coughs and
colds indeed were pretty general, and one man died.
From what we could learn of his diforder from the na¬
tives, it was a violent griping or colic.
“ Both men and women appeared to be of a good
difpofition, and behaved to each other with the tendereft
regard : when they did fall out, which fometimes was
the cafe, occafioned by the upfetting of a canoe, or fome
fitch trifling accident, they only fcolded a little, and this
was foon over and forgotten. We never faw them
ftrike each other upon any occafion. They are all
thieves, from the aree to the towto, but not quite fi>
expert at it as our Otaheite friends.
“ The cuftom of tattowing prevails greatly among
thefe people, but the men have a much larger fhare of
it than the women ; many (particularly fome of the na¬
tives of Mow’whee) have one half their body, from head'
to foot, marked in this manner, which gives them a moft;
ftriking appearance. It is done with great regularity,
and looks remarkably neat: fome have only an arm'
marked in this manner, others a leg 5 fome again have
both arm and leg, and others only the hand. The wo¬
men are for the moft part marked upon the tip of their
tongue ; but of thefe we faw but few. Both fexes have
a particular mark according to the diftridtin which they
live ; or it is rather the mark of the aree, or principal
man, under wbofe jurifdidlion they more immediately
are. We never faw the operation of tattowing perform¬
ed, nor could we procure a fight of the inftruments ufed
upon this oecafiwn ; but it is likely they are much the-
fame as thofe of the Friendly and Society ifles.
“ Both men and women are very cleanly in their
perfons \ the latter wath their whole bodies in frefli wa¬
ter twice and fometimes three times a-day ; but the wo¬
men of Otaheite have the advantage of them in one
point of eleanlinefs, which is eradicating the hairs from
under the arm pits. This is a euftom we obferved no¬
where but at the Society ifles.
“ There are no people in the world who indulge
tbemfelves more in their fenfual appetite than thefe : in
fadt, they carry it to a moft fcandalous and fttameful de¬
gree, and in a manner not proper to be mentioned. The
ladies are very lavilh of their favours ; but are far from
being fo mercenary as thofe of the Friendlv or Society
ifles, and fome of their attachments feemed purely the-
4
O W H [ f
Ovvhylice. effect of affection. They are initiated into this way of
* v life at a very early period } we faw fome who could not
be more than ten years old.
“ Their clothing confifts of cloth of different kinds :
that worn by the men, which is called marro, is abodt
half a yard wide, and four yards long ; that of the wo¬
men three quarters of a yard wide, and of the fame
length as the men’s : this they call pah-obuwa ; they
both wear it round their middle, but the men pafs it
between their legs. This is the general drefs of both
fexes $ but the. better fort fometimes throw a large
piece loofely over their fhoulders. Befides the marro,
they have feveral other kinds of cloth, which derive
their names either from the different ufes they are ap¬
plied to, or their different texture and pattern ; all,
however, as far as we could learn, are made from the
Chinefe paper mulberry tree. The principal of thefe
is the cappa, which is about 10 or 12 feet long, and
nearly as many wide, and is thick and warm ; they
wrap themfelves up in this when they retire to deep.
They have another kind, which is white, and much
thinner; this, as has been before obferved, they throw
loofely over their (boulder ; it is fometimes 20 or 30
yards long, and wide in proportion. The marro and
pah bjuwra are curioufly painted of various patterns,
but the others are generally white, or dyed red, black,
and yellow.
“ The principal ornaments of the men are the
feather caps and cloaks ; fome of the latter reach down
to their heels, and have a mod; magnificent appear¬
ance. They are made for the mod part of red and
yellow feathers, which are tied upon fine net-work.
The caps are compofed of the fame kind of feathers,
which are fometimes intermixed with black; they are
fecured upon a kind of ba(ket-work, made in the form
of a helmet. Both caps and clocks are made of va¬
rious patterns and fizes. The cloaks are not all com¬
pofed of the fame kind of feathers, but are fometimes
varied with the long tail feathers of the cock, xvith a
border of yellow or red, and fometimes with thofe of
the tropic bird. Both caps and cloaks, however, are
only to be feen in the poffeffion of the principal people.
They have alfo a kind of fly-flap, made of a bunch of
feathers fixed to the end of a thin piece of fmooth
and polifhed wood : they are generally made of the
tail feathers of the cock, but the better fort of people
have them of the tropic bird’s feathers, or thofe belong¬
ing to a black and yellow bird called moho. The
handle is very frequently made of one of the bones of
the arms or leg of thofe whom they have killed in bat¬
tle, curioufly inlaid with tortoife-fhell : thefe they deem
very valuable, and will not part with them under a great
price. This ornament is common to the fuperiors of
both fexes.
“ The women too have their (hare, in the ornamen¬
tal way: that which they value mod is the orai. This
is a kind of ruff or necklace, made of red, green, black,
and yellow feathers, curioufly put together, and in
mod elegant patterns, which really do honour to the
fanev of the ladies, whofe bufinefs it is to make them.
They never think themfelves dreffed without one or
two of thefe round their necks, and thofe who can
afford it wear many. Others again are compofed of
fmall variegated (hells, difpofed in a very neat manner ;
and fome confid of feveral ryws of twilled hair, with
13 ] O X F
a piece of carved wood or bone, highly poliflied, the Owliyhee
bottom part forming a curve. The higher the qua- il
lity of the wearer, the greater is the (ize of the wood , * xlH1 ' ,
or bone, and the quandty of the twilled hair. The
next thing is the poo-remah or bracelet; the mod va¬
luable are made of boar’s tufks fattened together fide
by fide with a piece of llring, by means of a hole drill¬
ed through the middle ; the larger the talks, the great¬
er the value. Sometimes two (hells tied round the wrids
with twided or braided hair, ferve the purpofe of
bracelets; but even in this cafe they (how great nice¬
ty, being particularly careful to match them as near as
poffible. They were prodigioufly fond of thofe we
gave them, which were only a few beads, fecured by
thread upon a drip of fearlet cloth, and made to but¬
ton round the writl. So much did they at fird value
them, that a fmall hatchet and one of thefe would pur-
chafe a hog, which without it could not have been
bought for three large hatchets. The women were
perpetually tcazing the men to difpofe of (heir various
articles for thefe bracelets ; at lead one of them was al¬
ways to make a part of the price.” W. Long. 156. o,
N. Lat. 19. 28.
OWL. See Strix, Ornithology Index. r
OWLING, fo called from its being ufually carried
on in the night, is the offence of tranfporting wool or
(heep out of this kingdom, to the detriment of its da-
ple manufaflure. This was forbidden at common law,
and more particularly by datute 11 Edw. III. c. x.
when the importance of our woollen manufacture was
fird attended to ; and there are now many later da-
tutes relating to this offence, the mod ufeful and prin¬
cipal of which are thofe enafted in the reign of Queen
Elizabeth and fince. The datute 8 Eliz. c. 3. makes
the tranfportation of live (heep, or embarking them on
board any (hip, for the fird offence forfeiture of goods,
and imprifonment for a year, -and that at the end of
the year the left hand (hall be cut off in fome public
market, and (hall be there nailed up in the opened
place ; and the fecond offence is felony. The datutes
1 2 Car. II. Ci 32. and 7 and 8 Will. III. c. 28. make
the exportation of wool, dieep, or fullers earth, liable
to pecuniary penalties, and the forfeiture of the inte-
rell of the diip and cargo by the owners, if privy ; and
confifcation of goods, and three years imprifonment to
the mader and all the mariners. And the datute 4
Geo. I. c. II. (amended and farther enforced by 12
Geo. II. c. 21. and 19 Geo. II. c. 34O, makes it
tranfportation for feven years, if the penalties be not
paid.
OXALIS, Woodsorrel, a genus of plants belong¬
ing to the decandria elafs, and in the natural method
ranking under the 14th order, Gruinales. See Bo¬
tany Index*.
OXFORD, the capital of a county of the fame name
in England, celebrated for its univerfily, and pleaiant-
ly fituated in a plain, in the middle of a fine fruitful
country. The compofition of the name is obvious. In
the Rritifh times it feems to have been a place of dudy.
“ The wifdom of our aneedors (fays Camden) as ap¬
pears in our hidory, confecrated even in the Britifn
times this city to the mules, t'anflating themfromGreek-
lade (now a fmall town in WiltQ hither, as to a more
fruitful nurfery. For AlexanderNecham * writes, “Italy#
claims fuperior knowledge of civil law ; but the dudy tttra Re-
(ifrum, lib. ii.
Oxford.
O X F [ 6
of divinity and the liberal arts proves, that the univerfity
v of Paris deferves the preference to all others. Agree¬
able alfo to Merlin’s prophecy, Wifdom has flourilhed at
the Ford of Oxen, and will in its due time pafs over alio
into Ireland.” But in the following Saxon age, when
- fo many cities were deftroyed, it underwent the com¬
mon fate, and for a long while was famous only for the
relicks of Fridefwide, who was ranked among the faints
for her holy life, merely becaufe Ihe had folemnly de¬
voted herfelf to God j and Prince Algar, foliciting her
in marrage, was miraculoully, as they fay, deprived of
his eye-light.”
Perhaps the following additional extradf from Cam¬
den will be more to the purpofe in developing the
ancient Hate of learning in this city, than any thing
which we could bring forward of our own. “ When
the ftorm of the Danilh w'ar wras over, the moll reli-
f A. D.856. gious Prince Alfred-f rellored their retreats to the
long-exiled mufes, by founding three colleges, one for
grammarians, another for philofophy, and a third for
divinity.. This will be more fully explained by the fol¬
lowing paflage in the old annals of the New Monaftery
at Winchefter. ‘ In the year of our Lord 806, the
fecond year of the arrival of St Grimbald in England,
the univerlity of Oxford was begun ; the firft who
prelided and read divinity ledlures in it being St Neoth,
an abbot and able divine, and St Grimbald, a moft
eminent profefibr of the incomparable fweetnefs of the
facred pages $ Affer the monk, an excellent fcholar,
profefling grammar and rhetoric j John monk of the
church of St David giving ledtures in logic, mafic,
and arithmetic and John the monk, colleague of St
Grimbald, a man of great parts, and an univerfal fcho¬
lar, teaching geometry and aftronomy before the moft
glorious and invincible King Alfred, whofe memory
will dwell like honey in the mouths of all.’ Soon af¬
ter, as we find in an excellent MS. of the faid After,
who was at that time profeffor here, ‘ broke out a
fharp and fatal quarrel between Grymbold and thofe
very learned men whom he had brought thither with
him, and the old fcholars whom he found there 5 who,
on his coming, unanimoufly refufed to receive the
rules, methods, and forms of lefturing, that Grymbold
introduced. Three years had paffed without any great
difference between them ; but the fecret averfion after-
avards broke out with the utmoft violence. In order
to quell it, the invincible King Alfred, as foon as he
heard of it by the meftages and complaints from Grym¬
bold, went in perfon to Oxford to put an end to the
difpute, and he took the greateft pains to hear the
caufes and complaints on both fides. 'The foundation
of the difference was this : The old fcholars maintain¬
ed, that before Grymbold came to Oxford, learning
had flourilhed there, though the fcholars at that time
were fewrer than in more ancient times, the greater
part being driven out by the cruelty and oppreftion of
the Pagans. They alfo proved and fhowed, and that
by the undoubted teftimony of ancient chronicles, that
the ordinances and regulations of the place were efta-
blifhed by certain religious and learned men, fuch as
Gildas, Melkinnus, Ninnius, Kentigern, and others,
who had all lived to a good old age in thefe ftudies,
having fettled matters there in peace and harmony }
and alio that St Germanus came to Oxford, and ftaid
there half a year in his journey over Britain to preach
14 ] O X F
againft the Pelagian herefies, and wonderfully approved Oxford,
their plan and inftitution. The king, with unheard- ''““V'-
of condefcenfion, gave both parties attentive hearing,
and repeated his pious and feafonable advice, to main¬
tain mutual union and concord, and left them with the
profpedt that both parties would follow his advice and
embrace his inftitutions. But Grymbold, offended at
this proceeding, immediately retired to the monaftery
at Winchefter lately founded by King Alfred. He al¬
fo caufed his tomb to be removed to Winchefter, in
which he had intended to lay his bones when his courfe
of life was ended, in the vault under the chancel of St
Peter’s church at Oxford, which church himfelf had
built from the ground, of ftone polilhed in the moft eoft-
ly manner.’
“ This happy reftoration of learning was followed
in a few years by various calamities. The Danes in
the reign of Edward plundered and burnt the place j
and foon after Harold Harefoot pradlifed the moft in¬
human barbarities here in revenge for feme of his men
v who were killed in an affray j lo that the moft melan¬
choly remove of the ftudents enfued, and the univer¬
fity remained almoft extinft, a lamentable fpe&acle, till
the time of William the Norman. Some have falfely
fuppofed this prince took the city, mifled by a wrong
reading in fome copies of Oxonia for Exonia. At that
time, however, it was the feat of an univerfity, as we
learn from thefe words of Ingulphus, who lived at that
time. ‘ \ Ingulphus fettled firft at Weftminfter, was
afterwards fent to ftudy at Oxford, having made greater
proficiency than many of my own age in Ariftotle,
&c.’ What w'e call an univerjiti/, they in that age
called a Jfudij.” Many are of opinion that it was de-
ferted till about the year 1129, and that this defertion
was in confequence of its having been befieged and
taken by William the Conqueror. About this year,
howTever, Robert Pulen began to read leftures in divi¬
nity, or (as it is expreffed in the chronicle of Oieney
abbey) the Holy Scriptures, which had fallen into ne-
gleft in England ; and fuch was the refort of ftudents
to it, that in the reign of King John there were not
fewer than 3000. Robert d’Oily, a Norman, to whom
William the Conqueror had given the greateft part of
it, built a caftle on the weft fide, in J071 j and he is
alfo fuppofed to have furrounded it with walls. In a
palace built by Henry I. was born Richard I. com¬
monly called Cceur de Lion. About the tenth of King
John, there happened a quarrel between the citizens
and ftudents ■, in confequence of which many of the
latter quitted it, but returned again a few years after¬
wards. Here^Henry III. held a parliament to fettle
the differences between him and his barons; when he
confirmed the privileges granted to the univerfity by
his predecefi'ors, and added others of his own. In this
reign the ftudents are faid to have been 30,000, who
were all excommunicated by the pope for feme rude-
nefs to his legate. ' In the time of Duns Scotus, we
are told that 30,000 fcholars attended his ledlures.
Matthew Paris ftyles the univerfity of Oxford, 1 the
fecond fchool of the church after Paris, and the very
foundation of the church.’ The popes had before
this honoured it with the title of Univerfity, which
they had conferred by their decrees on no other but
that of Paris, this of Oxford, and thofe of Bologna
and Salamanca. It was decreed in the council of Vi¬
enne,
O X F [ 6i
Oxford, enne, that 1 fchools for the ftudy of the Hebrew, A-
—rabic, and Chaldee languages, ftiould be eredted in the
fludies of Paris, Oxford, Bologna, and Salamanca (as
the moft confiderable), that the knowledge of thefe
languages might prevail by their being thus taught ;
and that Catholic perfons be chofen, fufficiently verfed
therein, two in each language. For thofe in Oxford,
the bifhops, monafteries, chapters, convents, colleges,
exempt and not exempt, and the reftors of churches
throughout England, Scotland, Ireland, and Wales, were
to provide a competent maintenance.” In Edw. III.’s
time, the fcholars were fplit into two faftions, called the
northern and fouthern men ; a divifion which was attend¬
ed with many diforders and much violence, but in a fhort
time concord and harmony again prevailed.
As colleges began about this time to be founded and
endowed, xve fhall here prefent our readers with a lift of
them, together Avith the time Avhen, and the perfons by
Avhom, they were founded.
Founders. Kings reigns.
King Alfred. Alfred.
C Sir Mm BaM, father to the > H IL
( king or Scots. 3 J
C Walter Merton lord chancellor y^ L
£ and bilhop of Kochelter. 3
Edward II. Edw. II.
Walter Stapleton, hilhop. Edw. II.
Robert Eglesfield, IS. D. Edw. III.
C William of Wickham, bilhop ofT^pi^. ttt
/ Winchefter, lord chancellor. 3
5 Richard Fleming, bifliop of Lin-
Henry
Colleges.
Univerfity.
Baliol.
Merton.
Oriel.
Exeter.
Queen’s.
New College.
Lincoln.
All-Souls.
Magdalen.
Brazen-Nofe. and Richard Sutton, Efq.
^ riu '/i- C Richard Fox, bilhop of Winche-7 „ vm
Corpus Chnfti. | fter> and lord privy feal. £ Hen. VIII.
Chrift-Chlirch. VIU' a"d Car<U"a' Wo'
Trinity. Sir Thomas Pope.
VI.
7 coin.
C Hugh Chicheley, archbilhop of? Henr VI>
7 Canterbury. 3 1 J
C William Wainfleet, billipp of? ^ VT
? Winchefter, lord chancellor. c ^
C William Smith, bilhop of Lincoln 7 j_jen yjjj
St John Baptift. London>
Sir Thomas White, merchant of
^ Hen. VIII.
Mary.
^ Mary.
Jefus.
Wadham.
Pembroke.
Queen Elizabeth. Elizabeth.
Nicolas and Dorothy Wadham. James I.
^ Thomas Tifdale, Efq. and Dr7TarnesT
7 Richard Whitwick. £ J antes ±.
Worccfter was called Gloucejler-hall till lately, that it was en¬
dowed by Sir Thomas Coke, and made collegiate.
Hartford was Hart-hall till 1740, that it was erected into a col¬
lege by Dr Richard Newton. s
All thefe are richly endoAved, and have fine gardens,
libraries, chapels, &c. The halls in which the Un¬
dents maintain themfelves, except a few that have ex¬
hibitions, are thefe: St Edmund’s, belonging to Queen’s
college ; Magdalen, to Magdalen college ; St Al¬
ban’s, to Merton ; St Mary’s, to Oriel ; NeAV-Inn, to
NeAV-college. Several perfons have been great bene-
fa&ors to particular colleges, as Dr Ratcliffe to Uni¬
verfity college *, Colonel Codrington and Dr Clarke,
to All-Souls-, Queen Caroline, to Queen’s ; the before-
mentioned Dr Clarke and Mrs Eaton, to Worcefter ;
Dr Wake, archbiftiop of Canterbury, to Chrift-church.
The moft confiderable of thefe colleges are Magdalen’s
and Chrift-church, which are as noble foundations as
any in the xvorld. The church of the latter is the ca¬
thedral, and has a dean, eight canons, eight chaplains,
eight finging men, eight chorifters, a teacher of mu-
5 ] O X F
fic, and an organift. Each of the colleges has its vi- Oxford,
fitor appointed by its ftatutes, except Chrift-church, Oxfcrd-
which is fubjedl to the vifitation of the Sovereign alone. ^ire'
The other remarkable buildings belonging to the uni-
verfity are, firft, the public fchools j fecondly, the Bod¬
leian or public library j thirdly, Ratcliffe’s library, a
moft elegant ftrudlure, for building and furniftiing
Avhich, Dr Ratcliffe left 40,000!.; fourthly, the theatre,
built by Sheldon, archbithop of Canterbury ; fifthly,
the mufeum, in Avhich is an elaboratory and a repofi-
tory for natural and artificial rarities and antiquities;
fixthly, the Clarendon printing-houfe, fo called, be-
caufe it was built partly with the money ariiing to
the univerfity by the fale of Lord Clarendon’s hiftory.
To the fouth of Magdalen college lies the phyfic gar¬
den, inftituted by the earl of Danby, and much im¬
proved by Dr Sherrard. It contains five acres, in
Avhich is a complete feries of fuch plants as grow natu¬
rally, difpofed in their refpeflive claffes; together Avith
two neat and convenient green-houfes, ftocked Avith a
valuable colleftion of exotics, and a hot-houfe, at here
various plants brought from the Avarmer climates are
raifed. The Avhole body of the univerfity, including
profeffors, fellows, and Undents of all forts, exceeds
3000. Each college has its particular ftatutes and
rules for government. There are four terms in the
year for public exercifes, &c. and particular days and
hours for public leftures by the feveral profeffors. The
univerfity is governed by a chancellor, high-fteward,
vice-chancellor, Iavo proftors, a public orator (fee Pu¬
blic ORATOR) ; a keeper of the archives, a regifter,
three efquire beadles, and three yeomen-beadles. As
to the city, it has had the fame privileges granted to
it as London, particularly an exemption from toll all
over England. It Avas made an epifcopal fee in 1541,
Avhen Robert King, the laft abbot of Ofeney, Avas
elefted biftiop. It is governed by a mayor, high-ftew¬
ard, recorder, four aldermen, eight afliftants, Iavcv
bailiffs, a toxvn-clerk, tAvo chamberlains, all that have
borne the office of bailiff and chamberlain, and 24 com-
man-council men; but thefe are fubjeft to the chancel¬
lor or vice-chancellor of the univerfity in all affairs of
moment ; and the mayor, the principal citizens, and
ffieriff of the county, take an oath to maintain the pri¬
vileges of the univerfity. The city, including the col¬
leges, is a place of confiderable magnitude, having i£
parifti-churches, befides the cathedral, well built, clean,
and regular. The number of inhabitants in 1801 is efti-
mated at 11,694. A1 ^ entrance of the toAvn from
the Woodftock and Banbury roads, a neat hofpital Avas
erefted by the truftees of Dr Ratcliffe’s benefaction, out
of the furplus money remaining after defraying the ex¬
pence of his library. The male line of the family of
Vere, to whom the city had given the title of earl for
500 years, failing in Aubrey de Vefe, Avho Avas tAven-
tieth earl, Queen Anne conferred the title upon Robert
Harley, a defcendant of the Veres, in Avhofc family it
ftill continues. The chief trade of the city is in malt,
conveyed in barges to London. It is impoffible, in the
narroAV bounds neceffarily prefcribed to this article, to
give fo particular an account of this celebrated place zs
its importance demands : but A\?e ffiall refer our readers
to the article University, Avhen this feminary, amongft
others, fhall be more particularly defcribed.
OXFORDSHIRE, Avhich made part of the ter¬
ritory
OxfercMiire
!l
Oxygen.
0 X Y [6
riiory of the ancient Dobuni, a county of England,
bounded on the weft by Gloueefterfhire j on the fouth,
where it is broadeft, the river Ifis divides it from Berk-
ftiire j on the eaft, it is bounded by Buckinghamfliire ;
and on the north, where it terminates in a narrow
point, it has on the one tide Northamptonftnre, and
on the other Warwickfture. It extends 50 miles from
north to fouth, and 35 from eaft to weft, making
about 130 in circumference: within which are con¬
tained one city, 15 market towns, 280 parilhes, 14
hundreds, 534,000 acres, and about 109,620 fouls.
The air is fweet and pleafant, and the foil rich and
fertile. The lower parts confift of meadows and corn¬
fields, and the higher were covered with woods till the
civil wars $ in which they were fo entirely deftroyed,
that wood is now extremely fcarce and dear, except in
what is called the Chiltern, and fo is coal ; of confe-
quence fuel bears an exorbitant price. The county is
extremely well watered*, for befides the Ifis, Tame,
Cherwell, Evenlode, and Windrufti, there is a great
number of lelfer rivers and brooks. One of the four
great Roman ways pafles quite through this county, en¬
tering at the parifh of Chinner, and going out at that of
Goring. There is another leffer one, that extends be¬
tween Colnbrook and Waliinford, called Gremefdike.
The county fends nine members to parliament, viz.
two for the ftiire, two for the city, two for the univer-
fity, two for New Woodftock, and one for Banbury.
OXG ANG, or OxGATE, is generally taken, in our
old law-books, for 15 acres, or as much ground as a
fingle ox can plough in a year.
OX US, or JiHUN, a large river of Afia, much
taken notice of in ancient hiftories, but does not rife
in the north of India, as moft writers affirm ; for,
according to the bell; and lateft maps made by thofe'
who have been upon the fpot, it ran a courfe of about
i6o miles from the Cafpian fea to the lake Aral,
whofe dimeniions have lately been difeovered, and is
but very lately known to the Europeans *, but, as it
paffes through a defert country abounding w ith fands,
the inhabitants fo diverted its courfe, that the old chan¬
nel can hardly be difeovered.
OXYCRATE, an old term, in Pharmacy, denot¬
ing a mixture of vinegar and water, proper to affuage,
cool, and refrelh. The ufual proportion is one fpoon-
ful of vinegar to five or fix fpoonfuls of water.
OXYDE, or OxiDE, in ChemiJlnj, is the term ufed
to denote a very numerous clafs of bodies formed by the
union of certain bafes with a fmaller proportion of oxy¬
gen than what is neceffary for their converfion into
acids. The moft remarkable of thefe bodies are what
were formerly called metallic calces, and have for their
bale fome metallic fubftance. It is in this ftate that
metals are often contained in the ores, from which
they are extrafted, and converted into the metallic form,
by the procefs called reduBion. Metals are converted
into oxides by combuftion, and by folution in acids ;
and many of them affume this form from the aftion of
the atmofphere alone, but more readily when this is af-
fifted by moifture. See the hiftory of the metals under
Chemistry.
OXYD AT ION, or Oxidation, is a term employed
to exprefs the procefs by which bodies are converted in¬
to oxides. See Metals under Chemistry.
OXYGEN, a term adopted in the new chemical
I
6 ] O Z A
nomenclature, to exprefs the acidifying prinqiplej from Oxyger,
ofuj, “acid,’' and “ to generate.” It is not ^ 11
found naturally in a Leparate ftate, but always combined 0z:1Iiaxn'
with fome other fubftance. In its aeriform or elaftic '
ftate, it is called oxygenous gas, and is the fame as the
dcph/ogijlicatcd air of Prieftley and Cavendhh, the em¬
pyreal air of Scheele, the vital and pure air of other
chemills. See Oxygen, Chemistry Index.
OXYGLYCU, a fpecies of drink prepared of the
fweeteft honey combs macerated and boiled. The combs,
from which all the honey has been exprefled, are put
into a pot with pure water, and boiled till they feem
to have depofited all their contained honey in the wa¬
ter. This liquor is to be kept ; and, when diluted
with cold water, is to be drank in the lummer time,
in order to remove tliirft.
OXYMEL, in Pharmacy, a compofition of vinegar
and honey.
OYER, in law-books, feems to have been anciently
ufed for what is now called ajjifes. See Assise.
OYES, a corruption of the French Oyez, Hear
ye ; a term or formula frequently ufed by the criers
in our courts on making proclamations, or to enjoin
file nee.
OYSTER, a fhell-filh. See Ostrea, Conchology
Index.
OrSTER-Catcher. See Hyematopus, Ornithology
Index.
0ESTERS, FoJJi/e. The largeft bed that is known of
foffile oyfters is that near Riding in Berkffiire. Their
Ihape is entire, and they confift of the fame fubftance
with recent oyfter-ftiells 5 and yet fince the oldeft hi¬
ftories that mention the place give an account of them,
we muft fuppofe they have lain there for a long time.
They extend over no lefs than fix acres of ground *, and
juft above them is a large ftratum of a greenifh loam,
which fome writers call a green earth, and others a
green fand. It is compofed of a crumbly marie, and PhiloJ.
a large portion of fand. Under them is a thick lira- Tianf^
turn of chalk. They all lie in a level bed 5 and the ^ s20 t'
ftrata above the Ihells are natural, and appear never ^ ^ '
to have been dug through till the time of finding the
(hells.
OZ7ENA, a foul and malignant ulcer of the noffi,
diftinguiihed by its feetor, and often accompanied with
a caries of the bones of the nofe.
OZANAM, James, an eminent French mathe¬
matician, born at Boligntux in BreiTe, in 1640, of a
wealthy family. His father gave him a good educa¬
tion, and defigned him for the church : but fome ma¬
thematical books falling into his hands, infpired him
with a love for that fcience j and though he had no
mailer to inftrudl him, he made fucli progrefs in it,
that, at 1 if years of age, he wrote a piece in mathe¬
matics, which he thought proper to infert in the works
he afterwards publiffied. He at length taught that
fcience at Lyons $ and his mathematical leflons brought
him in a confiderable revenue, till the year 1701: at
which period, a war breaking out on the fucceffion to
the crown of Spain, he loft almoft all his fcholars, and
was reduced to a very melancholy fituation ; and his
wife dying the fame year, he was fo aftlidled, that he
never perfectly recovered it. In 1702 he was admit¬
ted into the Royal Academy of Sciences ; and died
of-an apoplexy in 1717.—He was of a mild and fe-
rene
O 2 I [6
Ozanara rene temper, of Angular generality, and of a cheerful
II difpofition.—He would not allow himfelf to know
0/11 , more of religion than the common people. He ufed
to fay, that “ it was the bufinefs of the doctors of the
Sorbonne to difpute, of the pope to decide, and of a
mathematician to go to heaven in a perpendicular line.”
His works are very numerous, and have met with the
approbation of the learned. The principal are, i. Prac¬
tical Geometry, i 2mo1. 2. A mathematical dictionary.*
3. A courfe of mathematics, 5 vols. 8vo. 4. Mathe¬
matical and philofophical recreations, the molt complete
edition of which is that which was improved by Mon-
tucla, and afterwards enlarged by Dr Charles Hutton,
publilhed in 1803, in four vols. 8vo. 5. An eafy me¬
thod of furveying. 6. New elements of algebra, a work
much commended by Monf. Leibnitz. 7. Theoretical
and practical perfpeCtive, &c.
OZELL, John, a well-known tranllator, educated
in Chrilt’s Hofpital, was pofleffed of a competent for¬
tune, and always enjoyed good places, being auditor-
general of the city and bridge accounts, of St Paul’s
cathedral, and of St Thomas’s hofpital. Notwithltand-
ing his attention to bufinefs, he Hill retained a love for
polite literature : and though he did not appear as an
original author, yet having made himfelf malter of molt
of the living languages, he favoured the world with
many tranflations from thefe, as well as from the Latin
and Greek •, which, if they are not the molt elegant,
are generally faithful and true to the originals. He
died in the year 1743.
OZ'IAS, in facred hiltory, the fon of Micha, of
the tribe of Simeon, one of the governors of Bethu-
lia when it was befieged by Holofcrnes. He vigo-
roully fupported the fiege againlt this general, and
received Achior into his houfe, when he had been
driven from the Aflyrian camp. Finding hoAvever at
7 ] o z o
length that the city was reduced to great neceility Ozias,
for water, and that the people mutinied againlt him,,
he promifed to furrender the place in five days, il in
that time God did not fend them relief. Judith (vi.
vii. viii. ix. and x.) being informed of this refolution,
fent to fpeak with Ozias and the other leading men
of the city ; made a prudent remonftrance upon thtir
feeming to prefcribe a time to the Lord, in which he
muft fuccour them ; encouraged them to patience 5
and without difcovering her delign, told them that
fire would go out in the night. Ozias being at the .
gate of the city when Judith departed, opened it to
her, and waited in the city for the fuccefs of her un¬
dertaking, praying with her people to God that he
would be pleafed to deliver them. See the article
Judith.
OZOLAi, or Ozoli, a people who inhabited, the
eaftern parts of Attolia which were called Ozo/ea. This
trad of territory lay at the north of the bay of Co¬
rinth, and extended about j 2 miles. They received
their name from the bad ftench («£») of their bo¬
dies and clothes, which were the raw hides of wild
beafts. Some derive it from the flench of the flag-
nated water in the neighbouring lakes and marlhes.
According to a fabulous tradition, they received their
name from a very different circumftance : During the
reign of a fon of Deucalion, a bitch brought into the
world a flick infiead of whelps. The flick was planted
into the ground by the king, and it grew up to a large
vine, and produced grapes, from which the inhabitants
of the country wTere called 0%o/ce, not from «£s<v, “ to
fmell bad,” but from “ a branch or fprout.” The
name O'zolce, on account of its indelicate fignification,
was highly difagreeable to the inhabitants ; they there¬
fore exchanged it foon for that of iEtolians.
P.
T> the 15th letter and nth confonant of the al-
*- 9 phabet; the found of which is formed by ex¬
prefling the breath fomewhat more fuddenly than in
forming the found of b ; in other refpe£ls thefe two
founds are pretty much alike, and are often confound¬
ed one with another. When p Hands before t or f
its found is loft; as in the words pfalms, pfychology, pto •
/emaic, ptifan, &c. When placed before h, they
both together have the found f; as in philofophy, phy-
Jtc, &c.
P and B are fo like each other, that Quintilian de¬
clares, that in the rvord obtinuit, his reafon required
him to put a b, but that his ears could hear nothing but
a p, optinuit: hence in ancient infcriptions, and old
gloffaries, it appears that thefe two letters have often
been confounded. Several nations Hill pronounce one
for the other, the Welch and Germans particularly,
Vol. XV. Part II.
who fay, ponutn vinum, for bonum vinum. Plutarch
obferves, it was ufual for thofe of Delphi to fay /Zulu')
for irctltw, for ; and among the Latins, as
often as an J1 followed, the b was changed into a p, as
fcribo,fcripfi.
As an abbreviation, P Hands for Publius, Pondo, &c.
PA. DIG. for Patricia Dignitus; P. C. for Patres
Confcripti; P. F. for Publn Filius; P. P. for Propoji-
tum, or Propojbtum publice; P. R. for Populus Rumanus;
P. R. S. for Praftoris fentcntia, P. R. S. P. for Prccfcs
pr ovine ice.
P. M. among Ajironomers, is frequently ufed for
pojl meridiem, or “ afternoon j” and fometimes for pojt
mane, “ after the morning,” i. e. after midnight. P was
alfo ufed among the ancients as a numeral letter, figni-
fying the fame with the G, viz. a hundred j according
to the verfe of Ugutio.
4l
P
tJ A C ' [ 6i
P JhtiUem cum (4 numerum monjlratur habere.
/Though Baronins thinks it rather flood for feven.
When a dafli was added a-top of T7, it flood for four
hundred thoufnnd.
St Jerome ob'ferves on Daniel, that the Hebrews had
no P ; but that the ph ferved them inftead thereof; ad¬
ding that there is but one word in the whole Bible read
with a P, viz. apadno. The Greek tt fignified 80. On
the French coins, P denotes thofe that were (truck at
Dijon.
In the Italian mufic, P Hands for piano, or “ foftly
and P. P. P. for pianifjimo, or “ very foftly
Among phyficians, P Hands for pugil, or the eighth
part of an handful ; P. PE. partes cequales, or equal
parts of the ingredients •, P. P. fignifies pu/vis patrum,
or Jefuit’s bark in powder j and ppt. preparatus or pre¬
pared.
PABULUM, among natural philofophers, the fame
with Fuel.
Paca, fee Mus, Mammalia Index.
PACE, a meafure taken from the fpace between the
two feet of a man in walking ; ufually reckoned two
feet and a half, and in fome men a yard or three feet.
The geometrical pace is five feet •, and 60,OOO fuch
paces make one -degree on the equator.
Pace, in the manege,. is of three kinds, viz. walk,
trot, and gallop ; to which may be added an amble, be-
caufe fome horfes have it naturally.
Horfes which go fhuffling, or with mixed paces be¬
tween the walk and amble, are for the moH part of no
value ; which commonly proceeds from their fiery tem¬
per, but fometimes from a weaknefs in their reins or
legs.
PACK AM AC, a valley of Peru, in South America,
ten miles fouth of Lima ; celebrated for its pleafantnefs
and fertility, but more on account of a magnificent tem¬
ple built by the Incas of Peru, to the honour of their
god. When the Spaniards conquered Peru, they found
immenfe riches therein.
PACHSU, a fmall ifland in the Mediterranean fea;
near the coafl of Epirus, and in European Turkey. It
lies fouth of Corfu, and is fubjedt to Venice.
PACIFIC OCEAN, that vafi ocean which feparates
Afia from America. It is called Pacific, from the mo¬
derate weather the firfl mariners who failed in it met
with between the tropics 5 and it was.called South fea,
becaufe the Spaniards croffed the iflhmus of Darien from
north to fouth when they firfi difeovered it •, though
it is properly the Weflern ocean with regard to Ame¬
rica.
Geographers call the South fea Mare Pacifcum, “ the
Pacific ocean,” as being lefs infefied with Horms than
the Atlantic •, but M. Frezier affirms it does not deferve
that appellation, and that he has feen as violent florms
therein as in any other fea ; but Magellan happening
to have a very favourable wind, and not meeting with
anv thing to ruffle him when he firfi traverfed this vafl
ocean in 1520, gave it the name which it has retained
ever fince. Maty, however, adds, that the wind is fo
regular there, that the veflels would frequently go from
Acapulco to the Philippine iflands without fhifting a
fail.
PACK, in commerce, denotes a quantity of goods
8 ] P A 15
made up in loads or bales for carriage. A pack of rvool
is 17 Hone and 2 pounds, or a horfe’s load.
PACKAGE, is a fmall duty of one penny in the
pound, paid for all goods not particularly rated.
P ACKET, or PACKET Boat, a vefl’el appointed by
the government to carry the mail of letters, packets,
and expreffes from one kingdom to another by fea in
the mofl expeditious manner. Thus, the packet-
boats, under the direction of the poflmafier-general
of Great Britain, carry the mails from Dover to
Calais, from Falmouth to Lifbon, from Harwich to
Helvoetfluys, and from Parkgate to Dublin. See
Post.
PACOS, or Paco, in 'Zoology, a fpecies of camel,
commonly, though improperly, reckoned a fpecies of
fhcep *, and known among many by the name of the In¬
dian Jheep, or Peruvian Jheep. See Camelus, Mam¬
malia Index.
This creature has been accounted a fheep, becaufe its
hair is fo long as to refemble wool, and it is prodigioufiy
thick, its head and neck alone having more wool on
them than the whole body of our largeft flreep. Its body
is clothed in the fame proportion with a woolly hair
equally fine.
PACTOLUS, in /UndentGeography, a river of Ly¬
dia, called Chryfort'hoas, from its rolling down golden
fand, according to Herodotus, Plutarch, Pliny, and
Strabo; riling in Mount Tmolus (Strabo). From this
river Crcefus is thought to have had all his riches. In
Strabo’s time it ceafed to roll down any. It ran through
Saudis ; after which it fell into the Hermus, and both
together into the Aigean fea at Phocsea in Ionia. A
river celebrated by Virgil, Ovid, Lucan, Ljcophron,
Horace, Appollonius.
PACUVIUS, Marcus, of Brundufium in Calabria,
a tragic poet in high reputation about the year of Rome
600. He was nephew of Ennius ; publilhed feveral
theatrical pieces, though we have only fome fragments
of his poetry remaining; and died at Tarentum at above
90 years of age.
PADAN-ARAM (Bible), literally the plains of
Aram, or Syria ; tranfiated by the Seventy limply Mefo-
potamia, or Mefopotamiar of Syria ; by the Vulgate, <51/-
rice; the Syrians on this and on the other fide of the
Euphrates, not differing remarkably from each other in
language and manners, as Jofephus allows.
PADDOC, or PADBOC-Courfe, a piece of ground
encompaffed with pales or a wall, and taken out of a
park, for exhibiting races with greyhounds, for plates,
wagers, or the like.
A paddoc is generally a mile long, and a quarter of
a mile broad : at the one end is a little houfe where the
dogs are to be entered, and 'whence they are flipped ;
near which are pens to inclofe two or three deer for the
fport. Along the courfe are feveral pofls, viz. the low
pofi, which is 160 yards from the dog-houfe and pens ;
the quarter of a mile poff, half-mile pofl, and pinching
pofi ; befides the ditch, which is a place made to receive
the deer, and preferve them from farther purfuit. And
near this place are feats for the judges chofen to decide
the wager.
The keepers, in order to flip the dogs fairly, put ,a
falling collar upon each, flipped round a ring ; and the
deer being turned loofe, and put forward by a teazer,
as
PAD [ 619 ] PAD
Pa<Moc, as foon as lie is arrived at the low poll, the dog-houfe
Paderborn. jjoor is thrown open, and the dogs flipped. If now the
' deer fwerve fo much, as that his head is judged nearer
the dog-houfe than the ditch before he arrive at the
pinching-poft, it is no match, and mud be run over
again three days after : but if the deer runs ftraight
beyond the pinching poll, then that dog which is
neared when he fwerves, or is blanched by any acci¬
dent, wins tiie match but if no fueh fwerve happens,
then the match is won by the dog who firtl leaps the
ditch.
PADERBORN, a duchy of Germany in the circle
of Weilphalia, ha^ the county of Lippe on the north
and weft:; HefTe-Caffeland Waldeck, on the fouth ; and
Muniter, with the duchy of Weftphalia on the weft. Its
'greateil length from eaft to weft is about 40 miles, ar.d
its breadth where wideft 30. Some parts of it yield
good pafture, and breed abundance of cattle ; but it is
wot very fruitful in corn. There is a heath called the
Se.’ine or Senile, of great extent, but very barren and de-
folate. There are, however, good iron mines in the
country, with fait and medicinal fprings, plenty of deer
and other game ; and it is watered with feveral rivers
abounding with fifh, as the Wefer, the Dimer, the Bi-
ver, the Nette, the great Emmer, the Lippe, the Alme,
and the Pader. It contains 54 parifhes, in which are
25 market towns and 16 monafteries. The Roman Ca¬
tholic is the predominant religion of the country, yet
there are alfo many Proteftants in it. The bifhopric
was erected by Charlemagne, toward'' the clofe of the
eighth century, and the cathedral was confecrated by
Pope Leo in perfon, anno 796. The bilhop is fovereign
of the country, a prince of the empire, and fuffragan of
the archbifhop of Mentz. His revenue is about 30,000
pounds a-year, and he is able, to raife 3000 men. In
the matricula his afleffment is 18 horfe and 34 foot, or
352 florins monthly in lieu of them. Towards the
charges of the fovereign courts of the empire, he pays
for each term 162 rix-dollars and 29 kruitzers. The
chapter confifts of 24 capitular canons, who muft prove
their noble extraftion by four defeents. The arms of
the bifliopric are a crofs or, in a field gules. For the
government of it, and the adminiftration of juftice,
there are feveral councils and colleges under the bifhop.
Here are alfo a hereditary marfhal, fewer, cup-bearer,
chamberlain, fteward, and purveyor. It was in this
bilhopric that Quintilius Varus, with the Roman army
under his command, was routed by the Germans under
Arminius.
Paderborn, the capital of the above bifhopric. It
Hands 40 miles north-weft of Caffel, 50 fouth-eaft of
Munfter, and 60 fouth-weft of Hanover ; being a large,
populous, well built, and well fortified city. Its name
is compounded of pader, a rivulet, which rifes juft under
the high altar of the cathedral, and born, i. e. a fpring.
It was one of the Hanfe-towns ; and, till 1604, an im¬
perial city. The cathedral is a grand fabric, inferior
to few in the empire. There is a gold crucifix in it of
60 pounds weight, prefented by Otho II. The univer-
fity, of which the Jefuits have the diredlion, was found¬
ed in r ^92, and the walls were built in the beginning
of the 1 ith century. In 1530 an attempt was made to
introduce Lutheranifm ; but 16 of the principal citi¬
zens who had embraced it were executed, and the reft
obliged to abjure it. Duke Chriftian of Brunfwick car¬
ried off from hence, in 1692, the filver images of the Paderborn
twelve apoftles, and the liiver coffin of St Lotharius ; p
and had them coined into money, with this infeription, ‘ ~ 1
God's Friend, the PncJPs Enemy. The trade of this
town, though formerly great, is nowT inconfiderable; and
the inhabitants fubfiit moftly by agriculture and breed¬
ing of cattle. Though the bifhop has a palace in the
city, he relides (when he vouchfafes to vifit this coun¬
try, which is isldom, having other and more valuable
benefices) at Neuhaus, feven miles off, where he has a
magnificent caftle. Charlemagne and other emperors
fometimes refided here, and held diets of the empire.
PADOG1, a punifhment ufed in Ruffia. The body
of the criminal is dripped to the wald", and then laid
upon the. ground ; one have holds the head Of the perfon
to be punifhed between his knees, and another the lower
part of the body ; then rods are applied to the back till
fome perfon gives notice to defift, by crying out, enough.
This pumthment is con idered in Ruflia merely as a cor-
reftion of the police, exercifi d on the m’dier by military
difeipline, by the nobility on their fervants, and by per-
fons in authority over all fuch as are under their com¬
mand. After the acceffion of Elizabeth to the throne
of Ruflia, the punifhments were reduced to two kinds,
viz. the padogi and Knout.
PADUA, an ancient, large, and celebrated city of
Italy, with a univeriity and a bifhop’s fee. It is alfo
capital of the Paduano ; but is much lei's confiderable
than it was formerly : for it now contains no more than
30,000 inhabitants, whereas it formerly had ICO,00c,
and many of the houfes are gone to ruin : however, the
hall where juftice is adminiffered is a f’uperb ftruflure.
The cathedral church, and the college of the univerfity,
are in that part called the Old Tovcn ; and there are
piazzas under all the houfes, where perfons may walk
without being expofed to the weather. The garden of
the univerfity is curious, on account of the number of
plants. Plere a ftudent may take his degrees, let him
be of what fedl of Chriftianity he will; nay, though he
fhould be a Jew or a Turk. The patron of this city is
St Anthony, who lies in the cathedral ; they have fuch
a veneration for him, that the beggars do not afk chari¬
ty in the name of God, but for the love of St Anthony.
The Jews live in a diftinft part of the city ; and the
neighbouring mountains produce excellent wune and oil,
with delicious fruit. It was taken by the Venetians in
1706. It is feated on the rivers Brentac and Bachig-
lione, in a fine plain, and is about feven miles in cir¬
cumference. E. Long. 11. 55. N. Lat. 45. 24.
PADUAN, among medalifts, a modern medal ftruck
in imitation of the antique, or a new medal ftiuck with
all the marks and characters of antiquity. This name
is properly applicable to thofe medals only that were
ftruck in the feventh century by an Italian painter born
at Padua ; who fucceeded fo wudl in the impofture, that
the beft judges are at a lofs to diftinguifh his medals
from the genuine ones. Though it is frequently ufed in
general for all medals of this kind.
PADUANO, a fmall province of Italy, in the ter¬
ritory of Venice, bounded on the eaft by the Dogado,
on the fouth by the Polefino di Rovigo, on the weft by
the Veronefe, and on the north by the Vicentino. Its foil
is well watered, and is one of the moft fertile in Italy.
The province is about 40 miles in length, and 35 in
breadth. Padua is the capital town.
4 I 2
PADUS,
PAG f 620 ] PAG
Padus PADUS, anciently called Erulanus, efpecially by the
p Greeks 5 a river famous for the fable of Phaeton (Ovid).
^ ' ■ It riles in Mount Vefulus, in the Alpes Cothiae, from
three fprings, dividing the Cifalpine Gaul into the
Tranfpadana and Cifpadana, (Strabo) j and fwelled by
other rivers falling into it on each lide from the Alps
and Apennines, it difeharges itfelf with a courfe from
wefl to eaft, at feven mouths, into the Adriatic (Mela).
The lake through which it difeharges itfelf into the
fea, is called by the natives the Seven Seas. Now
the Po.
Padus, a fpecies of cherry. See Prunus, Botany
Index.
P7EAN, among the ancient pagans, was a fong of
rejoicing fung in honour of Apollo, chiefly ufed on oc-
cafions of victory and triumph. See AroiXO.
PxAN, in the ancient poetry, a foot confiding of four
fyllables ; of which there are four kinds, the paean pri¬
mus, fecundus, &c.
The paean primus confids of one long fyllable and
three fhori ones, or a trochmus and pyrrhichius, as tem-
poribus ; the paean fecundus confids of a fliort fyllable,
a long, and two Ihort, or an iambus and a pyrrhichius,
as potentia ; the paean tertius confids of two Ihort fyl-
lables, a long and a Ihort one, or a pyrrhichius and a
trochaeus, as animatus; the paean quartus confids of
three fliort fyllables and a long one, or a pyrrhichius
and iambus, as celentas.
P/EDEROTA, a genus of plants belonging to the
pentandria clafs, and in the natural method ranking
under the 30th order, Contortce. See Botany Index.
PiEDO BAPTISM 5 infant baptifm, or that conferred
on children : from kxh, infant, and {ta.7P1to-p.aq, baptifm.
This has been the fubjebf of great conlroverfy in the
church. See Anabaptists, Baptists, &c.
PiEONI A, PlONY, a genus of plants belonging to
the polyandria clafs, and in the natural method rank¬
ing under the 26th order, Multifiliquce. See Botany
Index.
PiESTUM, called Pofduniaby the Greeks, a town
of Lucania, on the Sinus Paeflinus ; an ancient colony
prior to the firfl Punic war, according to Livy ; but
later, according to Velleius. Pcefatice rofee were in
great efleem, and produced twice a-year (Virgil,
Ovid.)
PAGAN, Blaise Francois Comte de, an emi¬
nent French mathematician, was born at Avignon in
Provence, March 3. 1604; and took to the profeflion
of a foldier at fourteen, having been bred to it with the
greated care. In 1620 he was engaged at the fiege
of Caen, in the battle of Pont de Ce, and the reduftion
of the Navareins, and the red of Bearn *, where he fig-
nalized himfelf, and acquired a reputation far furpafling
his years. He wras prefent, in 1621, at the fiege of St
John d’Angeli, as alfo that of Clarac and Montauban,
where he lod his left eye by a mufket-fluit. At this
liege he had another lofs, which equally afdifted him,
viz. that of the condable of Luynes, who died there of
a fcarlet fever. The condable was a near relation, and
had been his patron at court. He did not, however,
fink under the misfortune, but on the contrary took
frefh fpirits from the neeeflity he was now in of trufling
folely to himfelf. Accordingly there happened after
this time neither fiege, battle, nor any other occafion,
in which he did not fignalize himfelf by fome effort of
2
courage and conduft. At the phffage of the Alps, and Pagan,
the barricade of Suza, he put himfelf at the head of the v~—
forlorn hope, confiding of the braved youths among ths
guards \ and undertook to arrive the firfl at the attack,
by a private way which was extremely dangerous \ when,
having gained the top of a very deep mountain, he
cried out to his followers, “ See the w7ay to glory !”
He dipt along this mountain j and, his companions fol¬
lowing him, they came firfl to the attack, as they wiflied
to do. They immediately began a furious affault; and,
the army coming to aflid, they forced the barricades.
He had afterwards the pleafure of flanding on the left
hand of the king, when his majefly related this heroic '
aftion to the duke of Savoy with the deferved com¬
mendations, in the prefence of a very full court. When
the king laid fiege to Nancy in 1633, our hero had the
honour to attend his fovereign, in drawing the lines and
forts of circumvallation. In 1642 his majefly fent him
to the fervice in Portugal, in the pod of field mardial.
In this fame year he unfortunately lod his eye fight by
a diflemper. But though he -was thus difabled from
ferving his country with his conduft and courage, he
reaffumed, with greater vigour than ever, the Audy of
the mathematics and fortification j and, in 1645, gave
the public a treatife on this latter fubjeft. It was al¬
lowed by all who underflood the fcience, that nothing
had then appeared that was preferable to it ; and, in¬
deed, whatever improvements have been made fince,
they have perhaps been derived chiefly from this trea¬
tife, as conclufions from their principles. In 1651 he
publilhed his Geometrical Theorems, which (how a per¬
fect knowledge of all the parts of the mathematics. In
1655 he printed A Paraphrafe, in French, of the Ac¬
count, in Spanifli, of the River of the Amazons, by Fa¬
ther de Rennes, a Jefuit; and we are affured, that
though blind, he drew the chart of that river and the
parts adjacent which is feen in this work. In 1657 be
publilhed The Theory of the Planets, cleared from that
multiplicity of eccentric circles and epicycles, which
the adronomers had invented to explain their motions.
This work diflinguidied him among aflronomers as much
as that of fortifications did among engineers ; and he
printed, in 1658, his Aflronomical Tables, which are
very fuccinft and plain. Few great men are without
fome foible : Pagan’s was that of a prejudice in favour
of judicial aflrology ; and though he is more referved
than mod others, yet wre cannot put what he did on that
fubjeft among thofe productions vTich do honour to his
underflanding. He was beloved and refpeded by all
perfons illudrious for rank as well as fcience : and his
houfe was the rendezvous of all the polite and worthy
both in city and court. He died at Paris, Nov. 18.
1665 and was never married. The king ordered his
firfl phyfician to attend him in his illnefs, and gave fe-
veral marks of the extraordinary efleem which he had
for his merit.
He had an univerfal genius ; and, having turned him¬
felf entirely to the art of war, and particularly to the
branch of fortification, he made extraordinary progrefs
in it. He underflood mathematics not only better than
is ufual for a gentleman whofe view is to pufh his for¬
tune in the army, but even to a degree of perfection fu-
perior to that of the ordinary maflfirs who teach that
fcience. He had fo particular a genius for this kind of
learning, that he obtained it more readily by meditation
than
PAG [ 621 ] PAG
Pagan than by reading authors upon it; and accordingly fpent
il lefs time in fuch books than he did in thofe of hiilory
Pagninus. geograp]iy> He had alfo made morality and poli-
y tics his particular fludy j fo that he may be faid to have
drawn his own eharadlcr in his Homme Heroiqite, and
to have been one of the completeft gentlemen of his
time. Louis XIII. was heard to fay feveral times,
that the count de Pagan was one of the moll wor¬
thy, bell turned, moft adroit, and molt valiant men, in
his kingdom,—That branch of his family, which re¬
moved from Naples to France in 1552, became extindl
in his perfon.
Pagan, a heathen, gentile, or idolater ; one who
adores falfe gods. See Mythology.
PAG AN ALIA, certain feftivals obferved by the an¬
cient Romans in the month of January. They were in-
Ilituted by Servius Tullius, who appointed a certain
number of villages (pagi),-in each of which an altar
was to be railed for annual facrifices to their tutelar
gods •, at which all the inhabitants were to aflift, and
give prefents in money, according to their fex and age,
by which means the number of country-people was
known. The fervants upon this occafion offered cakes
to Ceres and Tellus, to obtain plentiful harvefts.
PAGANELLUS, a fpecies of fifh. See Gobius,
Ichthyology Index.
PAGANISM, the religious worflrip and difeipline
of pagans : or, the adoration of idols and falfe gods.
See Idolatry, Mythology, and Polytheism.
PAGEANT, a triumphal car, chariot, arch, or
other like pompous decoration, varioufly adorned with
colours, dags, &c. carried about in public fhows, pro-
ceflions, &c.
PAGI, ANTONY, a very famous Cordelier, and one
of the ablefl critics of his time, was born at Rogne in
Provence in 1624. He took the habit in the convent
at Arles in 1641, and was at length four times provin¬
cial of his order •, but his religious duties did not prevent
his vigorous application to the fludy of chronology and
ecclefiaflical hillory, in which he excelled. His mofl
confiderable work is, A Critique upon the Annals of
Baronius; where, following the learned cardinal year
by year, he has re£lified an infinite number of miflakes
both in chronology and in the reprefentation of fadls.
He publifhed the firfl volume in 1689, dedicated to the
clergy of France, who allowed him a penfion : the
whole was printed after his death, in 4 vols folio, at
Geneva, in 1705, by the care of his nephew Francis
Pagi, of the fame order. He wrote fome other things
before his death, which happened in 1699 •, and had the
character of an able hiflorian as well as of a learned and
candid critic. His nephew Francis, above mentioned,
wrote a Chronological Abridgement of the Hiflory of
the Popes, in Latin, 3 vols 4to. Francis had alfo a
nephew, Anthony Pagi, who added three more volumes
to the Hiflory of the Popes ; of which two more were
intended, if not executed.
PAGNINUS, Sanctes, an Italiandominican, emi¬
nent for his fkill in oriental languages and biblical learn¬
ing, was born at Lucca in 1466, and became afterwards
an ecclefiaflic of the order of St Dominic. He was Pagnmu*.
deeply and accurately fkilled in Latin, Greek, Hebrew, , *J“g0’
Chaldee, and Arabic j but he was particularly excellent
in the Hebrew. He applied himielf to examine the
vulgar tranflation of the Scriptures ; and believing it to
be either not of Jerome, or greatly corrupted, he under¬
took to make a new one from the prefent Hebrew text ;
in which he meant to imitate St Jerome, who fet about
making a new tranflation at a time when the church
would admit no other but the Septuagint. This defign
of Pagninus, fo early after the refloration of letters,
feemed a bold one \ yet fuch was the reputation of the
man, that it was approved by Pope Leo X. who promi-
fed to furnifh him with all neceffary expences for carry¬
ing on the work : and, befides, we find at the beginning
of this tranflation, which was printed at Lyons in 1527,
two letters of the fucceeding popes, Hadrian \ I. and
Clement VII. which licenfed the piintingof it. Pag¬
ninus, in his Letters to Pope Clement, for the printing
of this tranflation, openly declares, that the Vulgar edi¬
tion, as it is at prefent, is not St Jerome’s j yet adds,
that he has retained in his tranflation as much of it as he
could. It appears by a letter of Picus Mirandula to
Pagninus, that he had fpent 25 years upon this tranfla¬
tion. It is the firfl: modern tranflation of the Bible from
the Hebrew text •, and the Jews who read it affirmed,
that it agreed exadlly with the Hebrew, and Was in
fome refpefls fuperior to the ancient tranflations. The
great fault of Pagninus was, that he adhered with too
great fervility to the original text ; and this fcrupulous
attachment made his tranflation, fays Father Simon,
“ obfeure, barbarous, and full of folecifms. He imagi¬
ned, that to make a faithful tranflation of the Scriptures,
it was neceffary to follow exafily the letter according to
the ftri6lnefs of grammar. This, however, is quite con¬
trary to his pretended exaclnefs, becaufe two languages
feldom agree in their ways of fpeaking ; and therefore,
inftead of expreffing the original in its proper purity, he
defaces and robs it of all its ornaments.” Father Simon
neverthelefs allows the great abilities and learning of
Pagninus ; and all the later commentators and tranfla-
tors of the Scriptures have agreed in giving him his jult
praife. Huetius, though he thinks Father Simon’s criti-
cifm of him juft and well grounded, yet propofes his
manner as a model for all tranflators of the facred books :
Scriptures interpretandee rationis utile nobis exemplar pro-
pofuit San&us Pagninus. He alfo tranflated the New
Teftament from the Greek, as he had done the Old from
the Hebrew, laying the Vulgar all the while before
him •, and dedicated it to Pope Clement VII. He was
author of a Hebrew Lexicon, and a Hebrew Grammar :
which Buxtorf, who calls him vir hnguarum Orienta-
Hum perilijjitnus, made great ufe of in compiling his.
He died in 1536, aged 70. Luther fpoke of him and
his tranflations in terms of the higheft applaufe.
PAGO, an illand in the gulf of Venice, feparated
from the continent of Morlachia by a narrow channel.
The ancient geographers have left us no defeription of
it : though (as Fortis obferves) its form (a), extent,
and rich produce, unqueft ion ably deferved it.” And
this
(a) Its figure is indeed remarkably irregular, its breadth being in no proportion to its length 5 for one of the
extremities, called Punta di Loni, is above ten miles long, and lefs than one broad. Almoft all the circumference
b
PAG [ 6-2
l'^0’ / tliis is the more unaccountable, as we know the Romans
were well acquainted with it and on the other illands
adjoining to it are many veftiges of buildings, infcrip-
tions, tiles, and hewn llones, ail fure figns of Roman
habitations. Its ancient name was in all probability
Portunata. “ This iiland (fays Mr Fortis *) is extend¬
ed from north to fouth over againit maritime Croatia,
or the mountain Morlacca. It is about 50 miles long;
its breadth is unequal. One particular circumitance di-
ftinguiihes it from all the other illands of the Adriatic,
and is a large internal falt-water lake 15 miles long from
fouth to north, into which the fea enters by a canal not
above a quarter of a mile broad in fome places. This
lake is frequented by the tunny fith, which, when once
in, cannot return again to the fea. There are alfo two
fmaller lakes on the bland ; one near Vladich, abound¬
ing in filh, particularly eels ; and one near the hamlet
of Slabine.
“ In this bland the winter is dreadfully cold, and the
fummer fcorchingly hot. Thofe who have been there
in the winter time fpeak of it as a Siberia quite covered
with fnow and ice, and always expofed to the cold north
wind ; I, who was there in the hot feafon, thought it
equal to the mold fcorehing parts of the world. The na¬
ked rocks, which not only form the organization, but
alfo the fuperficies of almoll all the bland ; the narrow-
nefs of the valleys ; the reverberation of the water of
the lake, generally quite calm in fummer ; multiply the
heat fo prodigiouby among thofe hones, that the vines,
w'hich are planted all round the lake, ripen their grapes
by the beginning of Augufl; and the other produdls
that grow there anticipate the ufual time of maturity in
the fame manner. The meteors are exceedingly irre¬
gular in the fummer time ; hidden whirlwinds are fre¬
quent, and heavy (bowers of rain : the lafl: are hurtful
to the inhabitants of one part of the ifland, and are fa¬
vourable to the cultivation of the oppofite end.
“ They cultivate neither corn nor oil on this bland ;
but it produces plenty of wine, and an immenfe quan¬
tity of fait. The other produfts are wool, honey, and
a little fait fbh. The quantity of wine amounts annual¬
ly, on a medium, to 40,000 Venetian barrels ; and from
the hulks, they diftil 2000 barrels of rabia, or brandy.
The fait, in 1663, amounted to 800,000 Venetian Jiare.
The falt-works are well contrived and well kept: they
extend alon|; a (hallow pool, which forms the eaftern
extremity of the lake within for four miles in length and
about half a mile in breadth. On the (ides of this fen
the bed part of the vines lie ; but the upper part of the
hills on each fide is altogether naked and barren ; there
is not even a fufficiency of fire-wood, and the inhabi¬
tants are obliged to provide themfelves elfewhere. The
foil at the foot of the hills, where the vines are planted,
* Travels
Sato Dal-
■matia.
2 ] PAG
is full of gravel and fmall (lones : and hence the wine
is of good quality. The air is not unhealthful, notwith-
(tanding the vicinity of the fait pits ; but the frequent
high winds carry off the noxious exhalations. The molt
confiderable product of the bland is the fait. The great-
eft part of the people of Pago live by working in the
fait pits, and have a comfortable fubfiftence regularly
paid by the government: it is therefore a very import¬
ant circumitance for the inhabitants of the city to have
a dry fummer; and hence the ignorant vulgar look up¬
on rain as a mifchief brought upon the country by the
force of witchcraft. In confequence of this idea, they
ele£t a friar to exorcife the meteors, and keep the rain
off the ifland. it, notw-ithftanding the poor friar’s en¬
deavours, the fummer happens to be rainy, he lofes his
reputation and his bread ; but if two or three dry fea-
fons follow fueceflively, he meets with great reverence
and advantage. Part of the (alt works belongs to the
government, and the reft to private proprietors; they
are meliorated every year; and for that end the public
lends money to thofe proprietors who want it, and who
without that afliftance could not make the requifite im¬
provements.
“ Many veftiges of ancient habitations ftill remain on
the ifland of Pago, as well as of walled places, which
either have been deftroyed by the incurfions of enemies
or by time. Hiftorians fay that the ifland was often
abandoned by its inhabitants; and indeed it is rather to
be wondered at how men ever could refolve to fettle in
fo wretched a country. The fmall number of inhabi¬
tants, after fo many years of peace and tranquillity un¬
der the Venetian government, evidently proves how
little the ifland is really habitable. The town of Pago
was built by the Venetians about 300 years ago ; and
contains upwards of 2coo inhabitants, and all the reft of
the ifland fcarcely 900. The difficulty of accefs to the
city of Pago, and the ill accommodation that ftrangers
meet with, make it very little frequented. Hence the
inhabitants are as wild and unpoliflied as if they lay at
the greateft diftance from the fea and the commerce of
polite people. The gentry, who pretend to (how their
manners different from thofe of the vulgar, are truly
grotefque figures, both in their drefs, behaviour, and
infolent pretenfions. The ignorance of their clergy is
incredible; a prieft of the greateft confequence there,
and who was thought a man of learning, did not know
how Pago was called in Latin. There are two convents
of friars in Pago and one of nuns ; and feveral churches,
all in very bad order, and ill ferved. At Terra Vecchia
alfo there is a convent of Francifcan monks ; a race of
men who, under various names and difguifes, infeft eve¬
ry place where credulous ignorance can be perfuaded to
maintain the idle and fuperftitious. One fuperftitious
cuftom*
is difmal, without trees or any kind of vifible plants or grafs, deep, craggy, and uninhabited. On entering the
lake through the channel that communicates with the fea, nothing is to be feen either on the right or left but bare
hanging rocks, fo disfigured on the outfide by the violent percuffion of the wraves, that the ((ratification is hardly
diftinguiffiable. In general, the ftone of the ifland is of the fame kind as the Iftrian, ot breccia ; and, befides,
there are large ftrata of blue and yellowilh fandftone. The channel, or inward bay of Pago, is not a harbour ; on
the contrary, it is a very dangerous ftation, and even inacceffible in winter, when the north wind blows with fuch
fury, that the inhabitants of the town dare not ftir out of their houfes, and much lefs the few' that are fcattered
over the country. The (ky appears always cloudy in that feafon, by the thick mift that arifes from the repercuf-
iion of the waves on that long chain of rough and hollow rocks.
P A Cx [ 623 ] PA Cx
ffgod. cuftom, amongft a variety of others, exifts among their
1—> ' women, and particularly among thofe who have been
married but a fliort time : if their hulband happens to
die, they tear their hair out in good earned, and fcatter
it on the coffin •, and this ceremony is fo much eonfecra-
ted by cuftom, that no woman, even though ftie had
notorioufty hated her huffiand, would fail in perform¬
ing it.”
PAGOD, or Pagoda, a name given by the Eaft
Indians to the temples where they worftiip their gods.
We ihall not in this place enter into a full detail of the
feveral pagodas of different nations, and their peculiar
circumfiances. Thefe matters feem to come in more
properlv under the religion, or, as others will call it, the
fuperftition, of the people to whom they belong. We
‘{hall therefore content ourfelves in the prefent article
with an account of a paper in the Afudic Refearches,
concerning the fculptures, &c. at Mavalipuram, a few
miles north of Sadras, and known to feamen by the
name of the /even pagodas.
The monuments which Mr Chambers (who commu¬
nicated the paper) defcribes, appear, he fays, to be the
ruins of fome great city decayed many centuries ago.
“ They are fituated clofe to the fea, between Covelong
and Sadras, fomewhat remote from the high road that
leads to the different European fettlements. And when
viftted in 1776, there was ftill a native village adjoining
to them which retained the ancient name, and in which
a number of bramins refided that feemed perfe&ly well
acquainted with the fubjefts of moft of the fculptures to
be feen there.—The rock, or rather hill of ftone, on
which great part of thefe works are executed, is one of
the principal marks for mariners as they approach the
eoaft, and to them the place is known by the name of
the Seven Pagodas, poflibly becaufe the fummits of the
rock have prefented them with that idea as they paffed :
but it muft be confeffed that no afpect which the hill
affumes as viewed on the ftiore, feems at all to authorize
this notion : and there are circumftances, which will be
mentioned in the fequel, that would lead one to fufpedl
that this name has arifen from fome fuch number of pa¬
godas that formerly flood here, and in time have been
buried in the waves.” The rock here mentioned, as it
rifes abruptly out of a level plain of great extent, natu¬
rally engroffes the attention of the eye. It conftfts
chiefly of a Angle ftone ; and in its fhape (which isfin-
gular and romantic), in a diftant view, it has tlm ap¬
pearance of an antique and lofty edifice. Works of ima¬
gery and fculpture crowd thicker upon the eye on a
nearer approach, and at firft fight at leaft favours the
idea of a petrified town, which, through tlm credulity
See of travellers*, has been foppofed to exift in various
Maui's parts of the world. “ Proceeding on by the foot of the
paw//, pm on tffie fide facing the fea, there is a pagoda rifing
ii1 'fi. &c- out 0f the ground, of one folid ftone, about 16 or (8
feet high, which feems to have been cut upon the fpot
out of a detached rock that has been found of a proper
fize for that purpofe. The top is arched, and the ftyle
of architefture according to which it is formed, different
from any now ufed in thofe parts.” Beyond this a nu¬
merous group of human figures in bafs relief, confider-
ably larger than life, attradl attention. They reprefent
confiderable perfons, and their exploits, many of which
are now very indiftinct through the injuries of time, af-
filted by the corroding nature of the fea air ; others,
while protected from that element, are as frefh as when
recently finilhed.
The hill, which is at firft of eafy afcent, “ is in other
parts rendered more fo, by very excellent fteps cut out
in feveral places, where the communication would be
difficult or impradlicable without them. A winding
flair of this fort leads to a kind of temple cut out of the
folid rock, with fome figures of idols in high relief upon
its walls, very well finilhed and perfeftiy freffi, as it
faces the weft, and is therefore fheltered from the fea
air.” This temple our author conjectures to have been
a place of wnrlhip appertaining to a palace ; fome re¬
mains of which ftill exift, and to which there is a paf-
fage from .the temple by another flight of fteps. This
conjecture (for it is brought forward as merely fuch) is
in fome meafure favoured by feveral ruins ftill remaining,,
and by the tradition of the bramins who inhabit the
place. This finifties the objeCts “ on that part of the
upper furface of the hill, the afcent to which is on the
north ; but on deiCending from thence, you are led
round the hill to the oppofite fide, in which there are
fteps cut from the bottom to a place near the fummit,
where is an excavation that feems to have been intended
for a place of worfhip, and contains various fculptures
of Hindoo deities. The moft remarkable of thefe is a
gigantic figure of Vijhnou (a), atle.ep on a kind of bed,
with a huge fnake wound about in many coils by way
of pillow for his head \ and thefe figures, according to
the manner of this place, are all of one piece hewn from
the body of the rock.” Thefe works, however, al¬
though they are unqueftionably ftupendous, are, in our
author’s opinion, furpaffed by others about a mile and
a half to the fouthward of the hill. “ They confift of
two pagodas of about 30 feet long by 20 feet wide, and
about as many in height, cut out of the folid rock, and
each confiding originally of one fingle ftone. Near
thefe’alfo ftand an elephant full ap big as life, and a lion
much larger than the natural fize, but very well execu¬
ted, each hewn alfo out of one ftone. None of the
pieces that have fallen off in cutting thefe extraordinary
fculptures are now to be found near or any Xvhere in the
neighbourhood of them, fo that there is no means of af-
certaining the degree of labour and time that his been
fpent upon them, nor the fize of the rock or rocks from
wffiich they have been hewn ; a circumftance which ren¬
ders their appearance the more ftriking and Angular.
And though their fituation is very near the fea beach,
they have not fuffered at all by the corrofive air of that
element, which has provided them with a defence again ft
itfelf, bv throwing up before them a high bank that
completely {belters them. There is alfo a great fymme-
try in their form, though that of the pagodas is differ¬
ent from the ftyle of architedfure according to which
idol temples are now built in that country. The latter
refembles the Egyptian for the towers are always py-
ramidical, and the gates and roofs flat and without
arches 5 but thefe fculptures approach nearer to the Go¬
thic
(a) See a figure of Vijhnou in the plate of Indian gods, with its defeription, under the article Polytheism.
PAG
PaSod- tliic tafte, being furmounted by arclicd roofs or domes
tjiat are not {'emicircularj compofed of two fegments
of circles meeting in a point at top.” Our author ob-
ferves, that the lion in this group, as well as one on a
Hone couch in what he took to be a royal palace, are
perfectly juft reprefentations of the true lion, and the na¬
tives there give them the name which is always under-
Hood to mean a lion in the Hindoo language, to wit,
fuig; but the figure which they have made to reprefent
that animal in their idol temples for centuries paft,
though it bears the fame appellation, is a dillorted mon-
fter, totally unlike the original ; infomuch that it has
from hence been fuppofed, that the lion was not ancient¬
ly known in this country, and that fi7ig was a name gi¬
ven to a monfter that exifted only in Hindoo romance.
But it is plain that that animal was well known to the
authors of thefe works, who, in manners as well as
arts, feem to have differed much from the modern Hin¬
doos.
“ There are two circumftances attending thefe monu¬
ments which cannot but excite great curiohty, and on
which future inquiries may poflibly throw fome light.
One is, that on one of the pagados laft mentioned, there
is an infcription of a fingle line, in a character at pre-
fent unknown to the Hindoos. It refembles neither
the Deyva-nagre, nor any of the various chara&ers
conne&ed with or derived from it, which have come
to the writer’s knowledge from any part of Hindo-
Han. Nor did it, at the time he viewed it, appear to
correfpond with any chara&er, Afiatic or European,
that is commonly known. He had not then, however,
feen the alphabet of the Balic, the learned language of
the Siamefe, a fight of which has fince raifed in his
mind a fufpicion that there is a near affinity between
them, if the charafter be not identically the fame. But
as thefe conjeftures, after fuch a lapfe of time, are fome-
what vague, and the fubjeft of them is perhaps yet with¬
in the reach of our refearches, it is to be hoped that
fome method may be fallen upon of procuring an exa<H
copy of this infcription.
“ The other circumftance is, that though the out-
-ward form of the pagodas is complete, the ultimate
defign of them has manifeftly not been accomplilhed,
but feerns to have been defeated by fome extraordi¬
nary convulfion of nature. For the wHfern fide of the
molt northerly one is excavated to the depth of four
or five feet, and a row of pillars left on the outfide to
lupport the roof j but here the work has been Hop¬
ped, and an uniform rent of about four inches breadth
has been made throughout the folid rock, and appears
to extend to its foundations, which are probably at a
prodigious depth below the furface of the ground.
That this rent has happened lince the work began, or
while it was carrying on, cannot be doubted } for the
marks of the mafons tools are perfectly vifible on the
excavated part on both fides of the rent, in fuch a
manner as to (how plairdy that they have been divided
by it. Nor is it reafonable to fuppofe, that fuch a
Avork Avould ever have been defigned or begun upon a
rock that had previoufly been rent in two. Nothing
lefs than an earthquake, and that a violent one, could
apparently have produced fuch a fiffure in the folid
rock : and that this has been the cafe in point of faft,
may be gathered from other circumftances, which it is
neceffary to mention in an account of this curious
PAG
place. The great rock above defcribed is at fome fmall Paged,
diftance from the fea, perhaps 50 or zoo yards, and'“""'v—
in that Ipace the Hindoo village before mentioned
Hood in 1776. But dole to the fea are the remains
of a pagoda built of brick, and dedicated to Sib, the
greatell part of which has etddently been 1 wallowed up
by that element j for the door ol the innermoft apart¬
ment, in which the idol is placed, and before which
there are always two or three Ipacious courts lur-
rounded with walls, is uoav waihed by the waves, and
the pillar ufed to difeover the meridian at the time
of founding the pagoda is feen Handing at fome di¬
ftance in the fea. In the neighbourhood of this build¬
ing there are fome detached rocks, avallied alfo by the
Avaves, on Avhich there appear fculptures, though noAV
much Avorn and detaced. And the natives of the place
declared to the Avriter of this account, that the more
aged people among them remembered to have feen the
tops of feveral pagodas far out in the fea, which being
covered Avith copper, (probably gilt) were particularly
vifible at lunrile, as their Ihining furface uled then to
refleH the fun’s rays, but that notv that effedt Avas no
longer produced, as the copper had fince become in-
crulted Avith the mould and verdegrile.”
From thefe circumitances our author conje&ures,
and Ave think reafonably, that the magnificent city
of which thefe appear to be part of the ruins, has
been deltroyed partly by an earthquake, by which
the rock Avas rent, and partly by a fudden inunda¬
tion of the fea, occalioned by this commotion of the
earth. The bramins give an account of this matter
peculiar to themfelves, tilled with extravagance, table,
and folly ; from Avhich, however, with the affillance
of ancient monuments, coins, and inferiptions, fome
probable -conjedfures at leaft, if not important dif-
coveries, may, it is hoped, be made on thele fubjedts,
Avhich are far from being uninterefting to us either as
men, philofophers, or Chriftians. Our author thinks,
therefore, that the infcription on the pagoda mentioned
above is an objedt Avhich merits conliderable attention j
and he defends, by very reputable authorities, the con-
jedlure which places it among the languages of ;
but which it is unneceffary for us either to abridge or to
tranferibe. In the eourfe of this inquiry, our author re¬
marks a very near refemblance between Sommonacodofn,
the idol of the Siamefe, and the great idol Buddou, held
facred by the Chinge lays ; and this refemblance extends
alfo to their priefts. But from the detail of circum¬
ftances which our author brings fonvard, and to which
Ave refer, he thinks this a fyltem of religion different
from that of the Veds, and fome of them totally incon-
fiftent with the principles and pradlice of the bramins;
none of whom, as far as we can colled! from Mr Knox f, f Hift. of
exift among the Chingelays, Avhofe religion is totally Ceylon.
different from that of the prefent Hindoos, The only
part in Avhich there feems to be any agreement is in
the Avorffiip of the Hebtahs, which has probably crept
in among them from their Tamulian neighbours, but
that is carried on in a manner very different from
the braminical fyftem, and appears to be held by the
nation at large in very great contempt, if not abhor¬
rence. Knox’s account of it is this : “ Their temples
(i. e. thofe of the Bebtahs) are called cove/s f Avhich is
the Tamulic word for pagoda. He then goes on to fay,
“ a man pioufly difpofed builds a fmall houfe at his oavh
charge,
[ 624 ]
PAG [ 625 ] P A I
Pagod. cliarge, which is the temple, and himfelf becomes prieft
—v thereof. This houfe is feldom called God's houfe, but
xnoft ufually Jacco the devil's.But of the prevailing
religion he {peaks in very different terms, and defcribes
it as carried on with much parade and 1’plendour, and
attended with marks of great antiquity. “ The pago¬
das or temples of their gods (fays he) are fo many, that
I cannot number them. Many of them are of rare and
exquifite work, built of hewn ftone, engraven with images
and figures, but by whom and when I could not at¬
tain to know, the inhabitants themfelves being ig¬
norant therein. But fure I am they were built by
far more ingenious artificers than the Chingelays that
now are on the land. For the Portuguefe in their in-
vafions have defaced fome of them, which there is
none found that hath (kill enough to repair to this
day.” In another place, he fays, “ here are fome an¬
cient writings engraven upon rocks, which puzzle all
that fee them. There are divers great rocks in divers
parts in Cande Uda, and in the northern parts. Thefe
rocks are cut deep with great letters for thefpace of fome
yards, fb deep that they may laft to the world’s end.
No body can read them or make any thing of them.
I have alked Malabars and Gentoos, as well as Chin¬
gelays and Moors, but none of them underftood them.
There is an ancient temple, Goddiladenni in Yatta-
nour. Hands by a place where there are of thefe let¬
ters.” From all which the antiquity of the nation
and their religion is fulficiently evident, and from
other paffages it is plain, that the worfhip of Bud-
dou, in particular, has been from remote times a very
eminent part of their religion 5 for the fame author,
fpeaking of the tree at Anurodgburro, in the north¬
ern part of the iiland, which is facred to Buddou,
fays, “ the due performance of this worlhip they rec¬
kon not a little meritorious: infomuch that, as they
report, 90 kings have reigned there fucceflively, where,
by the ruins that Hill remain, it appears they fpared
not for pains and labour, to build temples and high
monuments to the honour of this god, as if they had
been born to hew rocks and great ftones, and lay them
up in heaps. Thefe kings ax-e now happy fpirits, having
merited it by thefe labours.” And again he fays, “ For
this god, above all others, they feem to have a high re-
fpe£I and devotion,” &c.
Such is the nature of Mr Chamber’s communica¬
tion, as far as it refpeets pagodas j a fubjebl to which
the Aftatic Society will doubtlefs again diredl: their at¬
tention; and from the penetration and afliduity of its
members we have much to expeft. Other parts of
this paper {hall be brought forwards under other ar¬
ticles, to which we refer. Few refearches ai'e of more
fervice to true religion, than thofe which give us a
correfl vietv of the falfe and fuperflitious modes of
•worfhip praftifed by men who have had no light but rea-
fon, or weak and corrupted traditions. They are ufe-
ful likew'ife to the philofopher, as they always tend to
give us a minuter view of the real nature of man as he
is in himfelf, and (how' with fufficient ftrength the im¬
becility of the. human intellect without iome fupernatu-
ral aid. The external pomp of all pagan religions feems
to have been their eflence; u circururtance which alone
{hows the necefiity of that, the intention of which is
to reform the heart. See SIAM, SOMMONACODON,
Temple, §tc.
Vol. XV. Part II.
Pagod, or Pagoda, is alfo the name of a geld and Pagod,
filver coin, current in feveral parts of the Eaft Indies. , t>ain*
PAIN, an uneafyfenfation, aiufing from a fudden and
violent folution of continuity, or other accident in the
nerves, membranes, veffels, mufcles, &c. of the body.
Pain, according to fome, confills in a motion of the or¬
gans of fenfe; and, according to others, it is an emotion
of the foul occafioned by thofe organs.
As the brain is the feat of fenfation, fo it is of pain*
Boerhaave, and moil other authors on this fubjefl, affign
a ftretching of the nerVes as the only immediate caufe
of pain: but as the nerves do not appear to confift of
fibres, this caufe of pain does not feem to be w'ell-
founded; nor indeed will it be eafy to treat this fubjeft
clearly, but in proportion as the means of fenfation are
underftood.
Many kinds of pain are met xvith in authors: fuch as,
A gravitative pain ; in which there is a fenfe of weight
on the part affected, which is always fome fleftxy part,
as the liver, &e. A pulfative pain; which, Galen fays,
always fucceeds fome remarkable inflammation in the
containing parts, and is obferved in abfceffes while fup-
purating. A tenfive pain, which is alfo called a diflend-
ing pain; it is excited by the diftenfion of fome nervous,
mufcular, or membranous part, either from fome humour,
or from flatulence. An acute pain is, when great pain
is attended with quick and lively fenfations: A dull
pain is, when a kind of numbnefs is as much complained
of as the pain is.
The mediate and more remote caufes of pain are ge¬
nerally obvious; and when this is the cafe, the cure will
confift for the moft part in removing them: for though
in many inftances the chief complaint is very diftant
from the feat of thofe caufes, yet their removal is the
proper method of relief. See Medicine, pctflim.
Perhaps all pains may be included, with irritation, in
thofe that have fpafm or inflammation for their fource.
When pain is owing to inflammation, the pulfe is quicker
than in a natural rtate; it i.s alfo generally full, hard,
and tenfe; the pain is equal, throbbing, and unremit¬
ting. If a fpafm be the caufe, the pulfe is rarely affeft-
ed; at intervals the pain abates, and then returns with
fome degree of aggravation; gentle motion fometimes
abates, or even cures, in fome inftances; but in inflamma¬
tory cafes no fuch effetfts are ever experienced. See Dr
Lobb’s Treatife on Painful Dijlenipers.
The pain fo frequently attendant on women in child¬
bed, called after-pains (from their happening only
after being delivered of a child), are often occafioned'
by attempts to bring away coagulated blood, which is
a needlefs endeavour. When no improper treatment
in delivering the fecundinesman be fufpexfted, the irri¬
tability of the uterus alone is to be confidered as the
caufe. Care ftxould be taken not to confound thefe
aflerqxains with, or miftake the pains attending puer¬
peral fevers for the colic. After-pains come by fits, and
foon go off; but return at different intervals, which are
longer each day, and after two or three days are ufu¬
ally at an end, though fometivnes they continue feven
or eight: notwithftanding thefe pains, the lochia flow
properly, and generally more abundantly after the celTa-
tion of each fit; this does not happen in colicky com¬
plaints, nor is the belly fo free from tumefaction when
the puerperal fever is attendant.
As thefe pains are of the fpafmodic kind, anodynes
4 K anti
P A I
and gentle opiates, with frequent draughts of warm cau¬
dle, chamomile tea, &c. with external fomentation, are
all that are required in order to their relief.
Among the various caufes of pain, a lingular one is
related in the third vol. of the Land Med. Obf. and Inq.
p. 241, &c. Some perfons who had taken cold during
their being falivated, were affli&ed with pains which
P A I
refitted all the ufual methods of relief. At length the Pain,
author of the narrative referred to fuggetted the caufe ; v—
and by exciting a freth falivation the pains abated ;
the fpitting was kept up a little while, and permitted
to abate with fome caution ; and thus the cures were
completed.
[ 626 ]
PAINTING.
O AINTING is the art of reprefenting to the eye, by
■*- means of figures and colours, every objeft in nature
that is difcernible by the fight: and of fometimes ex¬
prefling, according to the principles of phyfiognomy,
and by the attitudes of the body, the various emotions
of the mind. A fmooth furface, by means of lines and
colours, reprefents objefts in a ftate of projection j and
may reprefent them in the mofl: pleafant drefs, and
in a manner mofl; capable of enchanting the fenfes.
Still farther, the objefts which delight us by their ani¬
mation and lively colours, fpeak to the foul, by giving
us the image of what we hold moft dear, or by indica¬
ting an aftion which infpires us with a tafte for innocent
pleal’ures, with courage, and with elevated fentiments.
Such is the definition, and fuch are the effeCts of paint-
ing.
By an admirable effort of human genius, painting of¬
fers to the eye every thing which is moft valuable in
the univerfe. Its empire extends over every age and
country. It prefents to us the heroic deeds of ancient
times as well as the faCts in which we are more conver-
fant, and diftant objeCts as well as thofe which we daily
fee. In this refpeCt it may be confidered as a fupple-
ment to nature, which gives us only a view of prefent
objefts.
The art of painting is extremely difficult in the exe¬
cution •, and its merit can only be appreciated by thofe
who profefs the art.
The painter who invents, compofes, and colours con¬
ceptions which are only agreeable, and which fpeak
merely to the eye of the fpeCtator, may be reckoned to
poffefs the firft merit in the ftyle of embelliffiment and
decoration.
The painter who is diflinguiffied for noble and pro¬
found conceptions ; vTho, by means of a perfeCt delinea¬
tion, and colours more capable of fixing the attention
than dazzling the eye, conveys to the fpe&ators the fen¬
timents with which he himfelf was infpired \ who ani¬
mates them with his genius, and makes a lafting impref-
fion on their minds 5 this artift is a poet, and worthy to
thare even in the glories of Homer.
It is in forming this great idea of his art that the
painter becomes himfelf great.
But if he feek only to pleafe or aftoniffi by the illu-
fion of colours, he muft reft contented with the fecond-
ary merit of flattering the eye with the variety and op-
pofition of tints, or of making an induftrious affemblage
of a great multiplicity of objeCts. It is in painting as
it is in poetry. The man who clothes trivial or com¬
mon ideas in verfe, e.xercifes the profeffion of twifting
fyllables into a certain meafure. The poet who clothes
m good verfe, ideas and fentiments that are merely agree¬
able, profeffes an agreeable art. But he who by the
magic of verfe, of ideas, of imagery, or of colours, adds
fublimity to the fublime objefts of nature, is a great
poet and a great painter. He deferves the crown which
the nations have decreed to Homer, Virgil, Milton, Ra¬
phael, and the rtatuary who modelled the ancient Apol¬
lo. It is reafonable to place in the fame clafs thofe who
have expreffed the fame ideas, whether it be in verfe or
in colours, on brafs or on marble. The painter and fta-
tuary, who excel in their profeffions, deferve all the re-
fpedt due to genius: they are of the number of thofe
men whom nature, fparing of her beft gifts, grants but
occafionally to the inhabitants of the earth. If they
are fublime, they elevate the human race ; if they are
agreeable only, they excite thofe fweet fenfations necef-
fary to our happinefs.
In laying before our readers a fuccinft account cf
this noble art, we ftiall, firft, give the hiftory of paint¬
ing, including its rife, progrefs, and decline, in ancient
and modern times 5 an account of the fehools, and of
the different merits of painters $ and a comparifon be¬
tween the ancient and modern painting. Secondly, we
ffiall lay down the principles of the art, and the order
in which the artift conduits his ftudies. Thirdly, vre
{hall enumerate the different claffes of painting, with
obfervations on each. And, Fourthly, we ffiall treat of
economical or houfe painting.
HISTORY.
SECT. I. Rife, Progrefs, and Decline of Painting in
Ancient and Modern Titnes.
It is to be imagined that men muft naturally, and
very early, have conceived an idea of the firft principles
of the art of painting ; the fhadow of each plant and
animal, and of every objeit in nature, muft have afford¬
ed them the means of conceiving, and pointed out the
poflibility of imitating, the figures of all bodies. Thus
the favage nations, an emblem of wffiat men were in the
infancy of fociety, poffefs the firft rudiments of this art,
even before thofe which are ufeful and almoft neceflary
to exiftence ; their naked bodies are covered with punc¬
tures of various forms, into which they infufe indelible
colours. The next demand for this art, is to preferve
the memory of warlike exploits. It is more natural to
form fome reprefentation of an action, than to give an
account of it by means of arbitrary chara&ers. Hence
the pidture-vTiting of the Mexicans, and the more com¬
plex hieroglyphics of Egypt.
Painting confifted of fimple outlines long before the
expreflion of relievo, or the application of coldur. It
was
Hiftory. P A I S
Rife, Pro- was fimply drawing •, and tlie mafter-pxeces of painting
grefs, and jn that rude period were not fuperior to the fports of
Decline. Although occupied about a fingle point, it
^ ' was not brought to perfe&ion j for conftant experience
inftrufts us that men never excel in the inferior parts of
an art till they are capable of carrying the whole to
perfection.
After employing for a long time thofe fimple out¬
lines, the next ftep in the art of painting wTas to make
the imitation more complete by applying colours: this
was firft acoomplilhed by covering the different parts of
the figure with different colours, in the fame way that
we colour maps 5 and feveral nations, as the Egyptians,
the Chinefe, and the different nations of India, have
never painted in a better manner. Other nations, more
ingenious and more attentive to the arts, obferving that
the objects of nature have relievo, have invented what is
called claro-obfcuro. The Greeks, the molt ingenious,
penetrating, and delicate of all, invented this part ante¬
cedent to colours ; than which there cannot be a greater-
proof of their exquifite tafte, as the glare of colours
without judgment excites more admiration in the minds
of the vulgar and ignorant, than the camaieu or draw¬
ings of one colour executed by the molt Ikilful artift.
Thefe general obfervations concerning the gradual
improvement of this art, will be bell illuftrated by a
more particular attention to the ancient nations in which
it flouriflied.
^ * Plato, who lived 400 years before the Chriftian era,
among the informs us that painting had been praftifed in Egypt for
Egyptians, ten thoufand years ; that fome of the produCHons of that
high antiquity were in exiftence ; and that they bore
an exaCt refemblance to thofe which the Egyptians exe¬
cuted in his time. Without regarding the period of ten
thoufand years mentioned by Plato, it is reafonable to
confider it as an indeterminate period, which carries us
back to very remote antiquity.
The figures either in the painting or fculpture of
Egypt were extremely ftiff j . the legs wrere drawn toge¬
ther, and their arms were palled to their fides. It ap¬
pears that their only model was their mummies, and that
their Ikill in anatomy was derived from embalming
them. They were extremely incorreCt in every part of
the head; they placed the ears much higher than the
nofe. Befides, they gave the face the form of a circle
inftead of an oval ■, the chin was fhort and rounded; the
cheeks exceffxvely fo j and they turned upwards the cor¬
ners of the mouth and eyes. Many of thefe faults may
be aferibed to the formation of the human face in E-
gypt) but the placing of the ears could only be found¬
ed in caprice or ignorance.
The exaflnefs of the Egyptian proportion Is much
celebrated $ but although we grant that they obferved
the proper length of the different parts of the human
body, they were ftill defe&ive artifts, fince they did not
obferve the breadth, and were moreover ignorant alto¬
gether of the Ihape and fize of the mufcles. Works
converted to religious purpofes chiefly occupied the E-
gyptian paintex-s. They liad figures for imitation from
which they would not depart, and thofe figures weremon-
Ilrous 5 the bodies of animals with the heads of men;
the bodies of men with the heads of animals : or if the
figure was more agreeable to nature in its parts, yet it
was fo deformed and imaginary, as to have nothing fimi-
lar to it as a whole in the creation of God.
TING. 627
The monuments of Egyptian painting with which we
are bell acquainted (fays Winklemann) are the chefts
of mummies. Thefe works have refilled the injuries of    *
time, and are Hill fubmitted to the examination of the
curious. The white, made of white lead, is fpread over
the ground of the piece 5 the outlines of the figure are
traced with black llrokes, and the colours are four in
number; namely, blue, red, yellow, and green, laid on
without any mixture or lhading. The red and blue
prevail moft 5 and thofe colours feem to have been pre¬
pared in the coarfelt manner. The light is formed by
leaving thofe parts of the ground, where it is neceffary,
covered with the white lead, as it is formed by the white
paper in fome of our drawings. This defeription is fuf-
ficient to convince us that the w'hole art of painting in
Egypt confifted in colouring : but every perfon knows,
that without tints and the mixture of colours painting
can never arrive at great perfedion.
In Upper Egypt there feems to have exilted a kind
of coloffean painting, which has never been examined,
except by travellers who were no great critics in the
art. Winklemann had fome reafon to exprefs a defire
that thofe remains of antiquity, with regard to the man¬
ner of working, the llyle, and the charader, had been
accurately explored. Walls of 24 feet in height, and
pillars of 32 feet in circumference, are wholly covered
with thofe coloflean figures. According to Norden they
are coloured in the fame manner with the mummies ;
the colours are applied to a ground prepared in manner
of frefco; and they have retained their frelhnefs for
many thoufand years. Winklemann adds, that all the
eflbrts of human Ikill and induftry could make as little
impreflion on them as the injuries of time. His enthu-
fiafm for antiquity has perhaps led him into this extra¬
vagant exaggeration.
It appears that the great employment of the Egyp¬
tian painters wras on earthen veffels, on drinking cups,
in ornamenting barges, and in covering with figures the
chefts of mummies. They painted alfo on cloth4 but
painting, as an induftrious occupation, fuppofes a work¬
man, not an artift : the decoration of temples, houfe
painting, and that of the figures relative to religion,
are to be confidered only in this point of view. The
workmen in Ruflia who paint our Saviour holding the
globe in one hand, and blefling the people with the other,
are not members of the imperial academy of fine arts.
Pliny informs us that the Egyptian artifts painted al¬
fo the precious metals that is to fay, they varniihed or
enamelled them. It is doubtful Avhat this art was, but
moft probably it confifted in covering gold or filver with
a fingle colour.
The Egyptians are fuppofed to have continued this
coarfe ftyle till the reign of the Ptolemies. ?
The Perfians were fo far from excelling in the arts, jn pei.fla,
that the paintings of Egypt were highly efteemed among
them after they had conquered that country.
The carpets of Perfia were of great value in Greece,
even in the time of Alexander the Great, and thefe
were adorned with various figures j but this is no proof
that they were well executed, any more than a demand
for feveral of the Chinefe productions is at prefent a
proof of the tafte of that people in the arts. It was the
fabrication of the filk, and not the truth of the repre-
fentation, which made the Greeks admire the carpets of
the Perfians.
4 K 2
The
628, PAIN
Per flans, as well as the Arabians, had feme
Decline, knowledge of mofaie work. Ihis is only valuable
s—Y—w when it copies, in a manner that cannot be deftroyed,
t he works of a great mailer 5 but if the Periians had
no good pi&ures to copy into mofaie, it was of no con-
lequence to be able to arrange, in a folid manner, pieces
of dint one befide another.
1 here is only one Perfian painter whofe name has de¬
pended to pofterity ; and he is prelerved, not becaufe
he was a painter, but becaufe he accommodated the an¬
cient dodlrine of the two principles to the Chriftian re¬
ligion. Befides, it is doubted whether Manes was a
Perfian or a Greek, and it is itilllefs known whether he
was a painter. He is praifed in Afia for drawing llraight
lines without a ruler.
The modern Perfians have made no kind of progrefs
in the arts. 1 he emperor Schah Abbas, wilhing from
caprice to be inllrudled in drawing, was obliged to have
recourfe to a Dutch painter who happened to be in his
^ dominions.
In India _ The modern Perfians paint on cloth, and the artifts
and Thi- in India are their rivals in this branch of induftry •, but
bet< their paintings are purely capricious. They reprefent
plants and flowers which have no exiftence in nature 5
and their only merit coniifts in the brightnefs and the
ftrength of their colowrs.
Befides this, the art in India, as it was in the moll
remote antiquity, is confined to monllrous figures con-
nefted with their religion, animals not to be found in
the world, and idols with a multitude of arms and heads,
which have neither exadlnefs in their forms nor propor¬
tions. See Polytheism.
The paintings of Thibet difeover great patience in
the artill, and are remarkable for the finenefs of their
ftrokes. Their painters might difpute with Apelles and
Protogenes for extreme tenuity of pencil; but it is in
this alone, without any regard to the art, in which their
merits confifts.
Some of the idols in Thibet are executed in a cer¬
tain ifyle of relievo; but thofe productions are not only
imperfeCt, they are alio fo deftitute of beauty as to for¬
bid every hope of excellence in the art. The fame
thing may be obferved with regard to many of the eall-
ern nations ; they feem to have that want of flyle
which would for ever condemn them to mediocrity, even
4 if they fhould happen to arrive at it.
China. An obfeure Italian painter named Giovanni Ghirardi-
ni, who travelled into China, whofe judgment is more
to be depended on in an art which he praCHfed than
that of other travellers, declares that the Chinefe have
not the lead idea of the fine arts ; and this opinion is
confirmed by every thing which we know of that peo¬
ple.
The Chinefe feem not to have the fmalleft conyep-
tion of perfpedive. Their landfcapes have no plan, no
variety in the appearance of the clouds, and no di-
minifhing of the objeCls in proportion to their di-
Sance.
The great objeCI of their painting feems to confift in
making their figures as unlike nature as pofiible ; it is a
ferious caricature of the human figure.
To make the art flourifh, it is neeeflary that the artift
be elleemed and rewarded. In China, there is no artift
fo poorly paid as the painter.
The ignorant admire the brightnefs and purity of
TING. Hiftory.
their colours ; but Ample colours appear always bright Rife, Pro-
and pure : The difficulty of the art confifts in melting grefs, and
them into one another in fucli a manner that the mixture Decline-
ihall not be perceived. It rnufi at the fame time be
confeffed, that their natural colours are more brilliant
than ours; but if there be any merit in this, it is to be
aferibed to their climate, not to their ability.
A Jefuit miffionary, who in his youth had been a
grinder of colours, was raifed to the greateft eminence
as a painter in the Imperial court of China, and Raphael
himfelf was never fo much refpected. The Chinefe
battles fent from that country to Paris to be engraved,
are the work of the Jefuits ; and except they were done
by the Chintfe themfelves, it is impoffible to conceive
that they could be worfe executed.
The Chinefe, like other eaftern nations, have a few
fimple ftrokes which they repeat in all their variety of
figures. In the figures on the earthen ware, they dif¬
eover no knowledge of forms, no expreffion of the moft
confpicuous mufcles, and no idea of proportion. And
in all the paintings of China, anatomy feems to bear no
relation to the art. Some heads done by a Chinefe
painter have a fort of refemblance to nature, but they
are in a low and vicious tafte : The fulnefs of the dra¬
pery conceals the parts in 1’uch a manner that they do
not feem to exift under it. Sculpture in China is in a
ftate of no great perfetflion, but at the fame time it is
better executed than their paintings.
The ancient inhabitants of Etruria, now called Tuf-h Etruria.
cany, were the firft who connected the arts with the
ftudy of nature. In fome of their monuments which Hill
remain, there is to be obferved a firft ftyle, which fliows
the art in its infancy; and a fecond, which, like the
works of the Florentine artifts, fliows more of great-
nefs and exaggeration in the character than preeifton
or beauty.
Pliny fays that painting was carried to great perfec¬
tion in Italy before the foundation of Rome ; perhaps
he means in comparifon with the infancy of the art in
Greece at that period ; but it appears that even in his
time the painters of Etruria were held in great reputa¬
tion.
The only Etrurian paintings which remain, have
been found in the tombs of the Tarquins. They confift:
of long painted frizes, and pilafters adorned with huge
figures, which occupied the whole fpace from the bale to
the cornice. Thefe paintings are executed on a ground
of thick mortar, and many of them are in a ftate of
high prefervation. 5
Winklemann is of opinion, that the Greek colonies In Campa*
eftabliffied at Naples and Nola, had at a very early pe-n‘a*
riod cultivated the imitative arts, and taught them to
the Campanians eftabliihed in the middle of the country.
This learned antiquarian confiders as works purely Cam¬
panian, certain medals of Capua and Teanum, cities of
Campania into which the Greek colonies never pene¬
trated. The head of a young Hercules, and the head
of a Jupiter, according to Winklemann, are executed
in the flneft manner. It is ftill a queftion, however,
in the learned world, whether thefe medals owe their
exiftence to Carthage or to Campania.
“ But there has been difeovered (adds Winklemann)
a great number of Campanian vafes covered with paint¬
ing. The defign of the greateft part of thefe vafes
(fays he) is fuch, that the figures might occupy a diftin-
guiftied-
Hiftory. PAIN
Uil'e, Pro- ruiflied place in a work of Raphael. Thofe vales, Avhen
grel's, and W(i confider that this kind of Work admits of no cmrec-
Declme. ^jon> anJ that the Itroke which forms the outline muft
L " remain as it is originally traced, are wonderful proofs
of the perfe&ion of the art among the ancients.”
Winkle maun had an opportunity of examining a very
fine Campanian vafe, on which was painted a bur-
lefque reprefentation of the loves of Jupiter and Alc-
mena. But as this muft have been derived from
foine fragments of a Grecian comedy, the Count de
Caylus is perfuaded that the Campanian vafes are of
7 Greek origin.
Among the Although the hiftory of Greek painting be more
Greeks. £u|jy ]-nown tlian that of the fame art among the bar¬
barous nations, it is neverthelefs involved in much ob-
feurity. Pliny is almoft the only author who has pre-
lerved the materials of its hiftory ; and he complains,
that on this occafion the Greek writers have not difeo-
vered their ufual precifion. They place, fays he, the
firft painter, of whom they fpeak, in the 90th Olympiad,
424 years before the Chriftian era. It is certain that
painting in dry colours exifted at the time of the liege
of Troy, or at leaft when Homer wrote the account of
it. The buckler of Achilles is a fulficient proof that
the Greeks were then acquainted with the baflb relie¬
vo, a kind of fculpture which bears a near affinity to
painting.
In the Iliad, Helen is reprefented as working at a
tapeftry, whereon flic figured the numerous combats of
which (lie was the caufe. When Andromache was in¬
formed of her hulband’s death, flie was occupied in re-
prefenting on tapeftry flowers of various colours. From
thefe fa6ls, it is certain that painting was not confined
to Ample ftrokes, nor even to the camaieu ; and hence
it is reafonable to conclude, that what is called linearij
painting was practifed long before the time of Homer.
Polygnote of Thafos, who lived about 420 years before
the Chriftian era, was the firft painter of any eminence
in Greece. Pliny informs us that he was the firft who
clothed his female figures, who varied the colours of the
different parts of their drefs, or who opened their mouths
in fuch a manner as to (how their teeth. Ariftotle, who
flourilhed in a fubfequent period, allows this painter to
have excelled in expreffion. But the art of painting
may be ftill confidered in its infancy in Greece, till
about 400 years before the Chriftian era, when Zeuxis
and Parrhalius flouriffied. In the conteft between thefe
eminent painters, Zeuxis declared himfelf to be over¬
come, becaufe in a clufter of grapes which he painted
he had deceived the birds; whereas Parrhalius in a cur¬
tain which he executed deceived his rival. The princi¬
pal works of ZeuxR are his Penelope, in which, accord¬
ing to Pliny, he appears to have exprefl'ed the manners
of that princefs •, a Jupiter furrounded by the gods j a
Hercules ftrangling the ferpents in the prefence of Am-
phitrion and Alcmena •, an Helen, and a Marfyas bound.
From this enumeration of thefe works, and from the
fame which they have acquired, it is evident that the
difficult parts of the art, and thofe which in the execu¬
tion render it ertimable, were now begun to be ftudied.
By Apelles, Protogenes, and Euphranor, it was carried
to the greateft height of perfe£tion. Grace, and
fymmetrv, and proportion, and illulion, were now ad¬
ded by the greateft mailers to the nobleft objects of
nature.
TING.
629
VVe have already feen, that before the foundation of lufe, Pro-
Rome the arts were cultivated in Etruria. They were
alfo early introduced into Latium *, but whether that < — t
country employed its oWn artifts or thofe of Etruria, 8
remains altogether uncertain. One need not be afto-Among the
nifiled, that at a period when the arts were in their infan- Roman8-
cy in Greece, they were railing ftatues to their kings in
Rome : but at that period all their artifts were Etruri¬
ans or Latins ; and when they conquered Italy, they
made, all the nations of it as barbarous as they were
themfelves.
In the year 259 mom the building of the city of
Rome, and" 494 years before the Chriftian era, Appius
Claudius confecrated a number of fhields in the temple
of Bellona, which contained in baffo relievo the por¬
traits of his family. This example was followed ; and
in procefs of time it was common among the Romans
to place thofe images in private houfes. The execution
in baffo relievo is a proof that they had an idea of paint¬
ing, at leaft with one colour. As long as the Romans
employed artifts of other nations, they had little defire
to cultivate the arts ; but towards the year of Rome
450, and 303 years before Chrift, one of the Fabii
thought it no diferedit to a noble family to employ
himfelf in painting. He painted the temple of Safety ;
and his works remained till that temple rvas deftroyed
by fire, in the reign of Claudius. It is worthy of re¬
mark, that the fame man was the firft painter and the
firft hiftorian in his country.
The example of Fabius, furnamed Piciur from his
profeffion, did not excite his fellowr citizens to imitation.
A century and a half elapfed before, the tragic poet
Pacuvius, nephew of Ennius, painted the temple of
Hercules in the forum boanum. The glory which he
had acquired by his dramatic works fired fome luftre on
the art, which he condefcended to exercife ; but did not
confer on it that refpeht which could recommend it to
general pradtice. The paintings of Fabius were the
works, or rather the recreations of his youth ; thofe of
Faeuvius, the amufements of his old age : but paint¬
ing is a difficult art, which requires the whole atten¬
tion, and which can never be profecuted wfith fuceefs,
except thole who love it are folely devoted to the per¬
formance.
It appears that there were no eminent painters at
Rome till the time of the emperors ; but as the national.
fpirit was changed, the profeffion of the fine arts acqui¬
red more refpedtability. The Romans, during the time
of the republic, were animated with the fpirit of liberty
and the defire for conqueft. When thefe two paflions..
were weakened, the love of the arts obtained among
them. As a proof of this it is fufficient to fay, that
Nero himfelf gloried in being an artift. A coloffean
picture of 120 feet was painted at Rome by the com¬
mand of this emperor, which was afterward deftroyed
by lightning. The name of the painter is not recorded,
and there are various opinions concerning the merit of
the performance ; but the thing chiefly worthy of ob-
fervation is, that this is the only painting on cloth men- -
tioned by ancient authors.
The paintings of the ancient artifts w’ere either move-of the
able, or on the ceilings or compartments of buildings, modes of
According to Pliny, the moft eminent were thofe who Pa‘nting
painted moveable pictures. The latter were either on am"n tll!
fir wood, larch, boxwood, or canvas, as in the coloflean
picture
4
630 PAIN
nife, Pro- pifture mentioned above, and fometxmes on marble.
Ijedim”1 ^^ien the7 employed wood, they laid on in the firft in-
■ - t ‘' ■ dance a white ground. Among the antiquities of Her-
oulaneum are four paintings on white marble.
Their immoveable paintings on walls were either in
frefco or on the dry ftucco in diftemper. Indeed all the
ancient paintings may be reduced frefco paint¬
ing ; fecondly, water colour, or diftemper painting on
a dry ground j and, thirdly, encauftic painting.
The ancient frefco paintings appear to have been al-
wrays on a white ftucco ground, the colours inlaid very
deep, and the drawing much more bold and free than
any fimilar performance of modern art. The outlines
of the ancient paintings on frefco were probably done
at once, as appears from the depth of the incifion and
the boldnefs and freedom of the defign, equal to the
care and fpirit of a pencilled outline.
In general the ancients painted on a dry ground even
in their buildings, as appears from the Herculaneum an¬
tiquities, moft of which are executed in this manner.
At Rome and Naples, the firft (deepeft) coat is of true
puzzolana, of the fame nature with the tarras now ufed
in mortar required to keep out wet, about one finger
thick j the next of ground marble or alabafter, and
fometimes of pure lime or ftucco, in thicknefs about
one third of the former. Upon this they appear to have
laid a coat of black, and then another of red paint; on
which laft the fubjeft itfelf was executed. Such feems
to have been their method of painting on walls 5 but in
their moveable pidlures, and in the performance of their
firft artifts, and where effeft of (hade and light were ne-
ceffary, they doubtlefs ufed white.
The colours employed they feem to have mixed up
with fize, of which they preferred that made by boil¬
ing the ears and genitals of bulls. This appears to have
made the colours fo durable and adhefive, that the an¬
cient paintings lately found bear walking with a foft
cloth and water j and fometimes even diluted aquafortis
is employed to clean their paintings on frefco. Pliny
fays that glue dilfolved in vinegar and then dried, is
not again foluble.
What the encauftic painting of the ancients was, has
been much difputed. From the works of Vitruvius
and Pliny, it appears evidently that it was of three
kinds.
Firjl, Where a pi£lure painted in the common way,
was covered with a varnilh of wrax melted, diluted with
a little oil, and laid on warm with a brulh.
Secondly, Where the colours themfelves were mixed
up with melted wax, and the mixture ufed while
warm. And,
Thirdly, Where a painting was executed on ivory by
means of the cejlrum or viriculum.
Some experiments on this laft method by Mr Cole-
brook may be found in the Phil. Tranf. vol. li. and
more particular direftions in Muntz’s Treatife on En¬
cauftic Painting.
It appears from ancient writings of the beft authori¬
ty, that in the earlieft and pureft times of this art, the
painters ufed few colours, perhaps not more than four.
“ The paintings of the ancients (fays Dionyfius Hali-
carnafleus) were fimple and unvaried in their colouring,
but correct in their drawing, and diftinguifhed by their
elegance. Thofe which fucceeded, lefs correft in their
drawing, were more finiftied, more varied in their light
3
T I N G. _ _• Hiftory.
and lhades, trufting their effeft to the multitude of their Rife, Pro.'
colours.” But no certain conclufion can be drawn, that grefe, and
the more early among the great painters of the ancients, iJecUnt'-
fuch as Apollodorus, Zeuxis, Timanthes, &c. had on-
ly four different colours, merely becaufe they did not
ufe them. On the contrary, it may be conjedlured
with fome degree of probability, from their chaftenefs
in defign, and from the complaints Pliny makes of the
gaudy tafte of the Roman painters, that the Greeks in
general were dejignedly chafte in their colouring, and
not fo merely from neceflity, at leaft about the time of
Zeuxis and Apelles j for the former could not have
painted grapes fo naturally as he is faid to have done
with four colours only j and the rebuke given by the
latter to one of his fcholars who had painted an Helen
very gaudily, is a confirmation of thefe obfervations.
“ Young man (fays Apelles), not being able to make
her beautiful, you have made her rich.”
Of white colouring fubftances, the ancients had white The coloun!
lead varioufly prepared, a white from calcined egg-ftiells,ufed by the
and preparations from cretaceous and argillaceous earths. ancients-
The moderns, in addition, have magiftery of bifmuth,
little ufed 5 and ought to have the calces of tin and
zinc.
Of blacks, the ancients had preparations fimilar to
lamp, ivory, blue, and Francfort black ; alfo to Indian
ink, and common writing ink*, and they ufed, what we
do not, the precipitate of the black dyers vats.
The ancients poffeffed a fpecies of vermilion or fine
cinnabar, a coarfer cinnabar, red lead, various earths
burnt and unburnt, apparently fimilar to our red ochre,
Venetian red, Indian red, Spaniih brown, burnt ter¬
ra de Sienna, and fcarlet ochre j they had alfo a fub-
ftance alike in colour and in name to our dragon’s
blood.
The yellow pigments of the ancients were generical-
ly the fame with our orpiments, king’s-yellow, Naples
yellow, &c. They did not poffefs turpeth-mineral,
mineral yellow, or gamboge j nor do they appear to
have known of gall-ftone as a pigment.
Of blue paints they had preparations from the lapis
cyanus and lapis armenius. Indigo they had, and per¬
haps bice and fmalt $ for they made blue glafs, but whe¬
ther from fome ore of cobalt or of wolfram muft be
uncertain : they had not Pruflifin blue, verditer, or lit¬
mus, which we have. We do not ufe the blue precipi¬
tate of the dyers vats, or mountain blue, which they
certainly employed.
Of green colours they had verdegrife, terre verte, and
malachite or mountain green. The latter is not in ufe
among us. Sap green, green verditer, and Scheele’s
green, appear to have been unknown to them : like us,
they procured as many tints as they pleafed from blue
and yellow vegetables.
We have no original purple in ufe: that from gold
by means of tin, though very good when well prepared,
is too dear perhaps, and unneceffary. Their purple was
a tinged earth. Their orange or fandarac (red orpi-
ment) we alfo poffefs. Hence there does not appear to
have been any great want of pigments, or any very ma¬
terial difference between the colours they ufed and fuch
as wre generally employ. Perhaps the full effe£! of co¬
louring may be obtained without the ufe of exceeding
brilliant pigments, depending chiefly on the proportion
and oppofition of tints.
The
Hiftory. PAIN
Rife, Pro- The ancients could not know any thing about the fpi-
grefs, and rJt varnifhes, diftillation being a modern invention ; but
Decline, were undoubtedly acquainted with the ufe of the
L ^ better oil varnilhes, that is, with the ufe and effect of
Whether refmous gums diffolved in boiling infpiflated oils,
the ancients One of the belt preferved mummies in the Britilh
painted in Mufeum has an aftonilhing brightnefs of colours on the
°‘t' outfide of the coffin. Thoufands of years have not im¬
paired them ; they are as freffi as if they had been laid
on yefterday.
The chalk ground, and the excellency of the colours,
fome of which imply a good deal of chemical and metal¬
lurgical knowledge, do not fufficiently account for their
fplendour and freffinefs : it muft be owing to other cir-
cumftances 5 either to the mixture of ihining colours,
or to a hard glolfy Ikin, which vifibly covers them all
over.
From an accurate examination of one of thofe mum¬
mies belonging to the univerfity of Cambridge, it ap¬
peared, that the varniffi which covered the colours could
not be diflblved,or in the leaft affedted by common water j
and that it equally refilled the diffolving power of the
ftrongefl fpirits : hence it is reafonable to conclude that
the coffins of the mummies were not covered with fize,
white of eggs, fimple gums, or any preparation of wax,
but with a fine tranfparent oil varnilh. It -was difcovered
at the fame time, that the colours themfelves were not
prepared or mixed with oil 5 for where the external
gloffy fkin was damaged, broken, or rubbed off, even
common water would wafli the colours away, and affect
the chalk ground under them.
Pliny has defcribed the general and particular effedts
of the varnifh of Apelles, under the name of atramentwn,
fo indiftindtly, that nobody can diflinguiffi the thing or
the mixture he is fpeaking of. He has mentioned the
ihining glofly fkin of the varnifh which excites the bright¬
nefs of the colours, and preferves them againfl duff j he
©bferved, that this fkin was laid on fo thin, that it could
not be difcerned at any diftance : nor was he lefs accurate
in reporting the particular effedts of that mixture which
Apelles made ufe of; it harmonized and lowered the
tone of the brightefl florid colours in an imperceptible
manner, and the whole appeared as if it had been feen
through ifinglafs. The chemifts and connoiffeurs are
fully of opinion, that no liquid fubftance or mixture of
any kind is fit to produce thefe effedts befides the oil
varnifhes : and if there are not, Apelles and the Greeks
were certainly acquainted with thofe varnifhes : a fadt
which might be ftrongly urged in behalf of their know¬
ledge of oil colours.
The black outlines of the figures on the moft ancient
Greek paintings yet extant, that is, on Etrufcan vafes,
are fo lharp, fo thick, and drawn in foeafy and mafterly
a manner, that one cannot help looking upon them as
having been drawn in oil colours. Had they been in
diftemper or water colours on the red clay ground on
which they are applied, they would have been imbibed
and foaked into it. Our china and enamel painters pre¬
pare and apply their colours with fpike or other liquid
oils ; and the Greek mafters feem to have done the fame,
unlefs they fhould appear to have burnt their vafes be¬
fore they painted them, or to have ufed a mixture of
diffolved wax or gum for giving a body to their colours,
which might have anfwered the fame ends as oils. And
tills is the more probable, as there is fome reafon to be-
TING. 651
lieve that thefe vafes went through two different fires, Rhe, Pro-
that of baking them, and that of fmelting or burning in
their colours. t   ^ . . ,■
The Greek and Roman paintings that have been pre¬
ferved or difcovered at Rome and Herculaneum do not
countenance the fuppofidon of oil colours ; at leaft Turn-
bull and the academifts at Naples, who have defcribed
the royal collettion at Portici, Cochin, and many other
authors who have feen and defcribed them, do not hint
any thing of that nature. On the other hand, Vitruvius,
who has left us fo many valuable notices of the ancient
arts, acquaints us, that there wras a kind of painting which
abfolutely required a mixture of oil: And Pliny, to the
fame purpofe, exprefsly fays, “ Sun and moon fliine are
inimical and obnoxious to red lead. The remedy is to
apply the red wax when hot and melted with fu7ne
oil on the wrell dried walls, which is to be done with
brulhes.”
From thefe obfervations, the evidence which the an¬
cients have given us in behalf of themfelves, and of their
knowledge of oil painting, may be fummed up in few
words.
Their having been acquainted with the white chalk
ground, which many modern mafters have ufed for oil
painting on boards, proves no more than that the an¬
cients might have done the fame.
The oil varnifhes ufed by the Egyptians and by A-
pelles might have brought them to the difeovery of oil
painting j but as it appears both from mummies and
from the works of Pliny, that their colours were not
prepared and mixed with that varnifh, and as it is plain
rather that this varnifh was externally laid over the
finiflied pictures j no other conclufion can be drawn, ex¬
cept that they w7ere wflthin fight of the difeovery, and
that it is a matter of wonder that they fhould not have
laid hold of it.
The outlines of the old Greek or Etrufcan vafes are
merely fallacious appearances.
The old Greek and Roman paintings on walls and
ftones are either painted in diftemper and frefco, or they
have not been fufficiently examined.
The oil ufed in the coarfer wax and wall paintings
proves at moft that experiments had been tried wTith
oils : but avc have no direft proofs of oil painting ha¬
ving been underftood or ufed by the Egyptians, Greeks,,
or Romans j and that, however great their fkill or in¬
genuity, they might very well have been within fight
and reach of the difeovery, and neverthelefs have milled
it* ,
The art of painting wus revived in Europe about the R;fe p"0_
end of the 13th or beginning of the 14th century. Thcgrefs, ami
human mind, however, plunged in profound ignorance, decline, of
wasdeftitute of every principle of found philofophy which in°dern
might enable it to determine on the objects of the arts . Paintin£*
and of confequence the painters contented themfeves with
works adapted to the general tafte, without beauty and
without proportion. In Italy, where the firft attempts
■were made, they -were employed in reprefenting the my-
fteries of the pa/fion, and fubjedts of a fimilar nature, on
the walls of chapels and churches. Their labours Avere
diredted to a vaft number of figures, rather than to the
beauty and perfedtion of each ; and the art in more mo¬
dern times has always preferved fomeAvhat of thisabfurd
fault Avhich it contradled at that early period. The artift
in our times is not, like thofe in Greece, at liberty to
devote
632
PAIN
Rife, Pro- devote his talents only io men of knowledge and difcern-
'^Decline^ men^ > ^ie ls conftrained to pleafe thofe who are rich, and
, . ' . very frequently thofe who are ignorant. Inilead of pro-
pofing to himfelf the perfection of the art as the great ob¬
ject of his purfuit, he mult reft his fuccefs and character
on the facility of his operation and the abundance of his
works.
Painting did not long continue in the impcrfeCt con¬
dition in which it was left by thofe who firit cultivated
it among the moderns. It vras natural that their fuccef-
fors fhould endeavour tofurpafs them, byjoining fome de¬
gree of theory to the barbarous praCtice they had adop¬
ted. The firft thing which they difcovered, or rather
which they revived after the manner of the ancients, was
perfpeCtive. This made the artifts capable of exprefling
what is called forejhortcni>/j, and of giving more effect
and more truth to their works.
Dominique Ghirlandaios, a Florentine, was the firft
who enriched the ftyle of his compofition by grouping
his figures, and who gave depth to his pictures, by di-
ftinguiftiing, by exaCt gradations, the fpaces which his
figures occupied ; but his fucceffors have far furpafled
him in boldnefs of compofition.
Leonardo da Vinci, Michael Angelo, Giorgian, Ti¬
tian, Bartholomew' de St Marc, and Raphael, flourilhed
about the end of the 14th century. Leonardo da Vinci
was the inventor of a great many details in the art:
Michael Angelo, by ftudying the ancients, and by his
knowledge of anatomy, arrived at great elegance in
drawing the outlines of his figures : Giorgian enriched
the art in general, and gave greater brilliancy to his
colours than his predeceffors: Titian, by a careful imi¬
tation of nature, made great proficiency in the truth and
perfection of his tones: Bartholomew de St Marc ftudied
particularly the part of drapery, and difcovered the claro
ebfeuro, the belt manner of giving drapery to his figures,
and of making the naked to be felt even where they were
covered: Raphael, endowed with a fuperior genius, began
with ftudying carefully all his predeceffors and all his
contemporaries. He united in himfelf all the excellen¬
cies which they poffeffed •, and formed a ftyle more per-
feCt and more univerfal than any painter who went before
or who has fucceeded him. But while he excelled in
every part of the art, he was chiefly fuperior in thofe of
invention and of compofition. It is probable that the
Greeks themfelves would have been filled with admira¬
tion if they had beheld his chief pieces in the Vatican,
where to the greateft abundance of paintings is joined
fo much perfection, and purity, and eafe.
After painting had arrived at the greateft perfection
■among the Greeks by the exertions of Zeuxis and Par-
rhafius, Apelles found nothing to add to the art except
grace j in the fame manner among the moderns, after
Raphael had appeared, grace was the only thing wanting
to the art, and Corregio became the Apelles of Europe.
Painting was by him carried to the higheft degree among
the moderns ; the tafte of the belt critics and the eye of
the vulgar were equally gratified.
After thefe great mafters a confiderable interval elap-
fed till the time of the Caracci. Thofe artifts, born at
Bologna, by ftudying the works of their predeceffors
with great care, and particularly thofe of Corregio, be¬
came the firft and the moft celebrated of their imitators.
Hannibal poffeffed a very correCt defign, and united
I I N G. Hiilory,
fomewhat of the ancient ftyle to that of Lewis his bro- Hite, Hm.
ther ; but he negieCIedto inquire into the intricate prin- fire^» a»d
ciples and philofophy of the art. The pupils of the Ca-, Uec|llie-j
race! formed a fchool after their manner •, but Guido, a * J
painter of an eafy and happy talent, formed a ftyle alto¬
gether graceful, and rich, and eafy. Guerftien formed
after Caravagio, or invented himfelf, a particular ftyle
of the claro-obfeuro, compofed of ftrong (hades and vivid
oppofitions.
Peter de Cortona fucceeded thofe great imitators of
their predeceffors and of nature 5 who finding it difficult
to fucceed in that kind of painting, and having befides
great natural abilities, applied himfelf chiefly to compo-
iition or arrangement, and to what the artifts call tafte.
He diftinguilhed invention from compofition *, appeared
not to have attended to the former, but chiefly to thofe
parts which are moft prominent in the pidture, and to the
contrafting of groups. It was then that the practice was
introduced of loading pictures with a great number of
figures, without examining w hether or not they agreed
to the fubjedt of the hiftory. The ancient Greeks em¬
ployed a very fmall number of figures in their works, in
order to make the perfection of thofe w hich they admit¬
ted more evident. The difciples or imitators of Cortona,
on the other hand, have fought to conceal their imper-
fedtions by multiplying their figures. This fchool of
Cortona is divided into many branches, and has changed
the character of the art. The multiplication of figures,
without a judicious and proper choice, carried back the
art of painting to that point where the firft reftorers of
it among the moderns had left it", while at the fame time
the difciples of Cortona were enabled to give to this firft
condition of the art a greater degree of perfection than
the firft artifts.
About the middle of the lyth century flourilhed at
Rome Carlo Maratti, who, aiming at the greateft per-f
fedtion, carefully ftudied the works of the firft painters,
and particularly thofe of the fchool of the Caracci.
Although he had already ftudied nature, he difcovered
by the w orks of thefe artifts that it is not always proper
to imitate her with a fcrupulous exadtnefs. This prin¬
ciple, which he extended to every part of the art, gave
to his fchool a certain ftyle of carefulnefs, which however
is confiderably degenerated.
France has alfo produced great mafters, particularly
in the part of compofition *, in which Pouffin, after Ra¬
phael, is the beft imitator of the ftyle of the ancient
Greeks. Charles le Brun and many others diftinguilh¬
ed themfelves for great fertility of genius : and as long
as the French fchool departed not from the principles of
the Italian fchool, it produced mafters of great merit in
the different, branches of the art.
Mengs, from whom this account is taken, is not de¬
ceived when he declares the art of painting to have de¬
generated in France after Le Brun; but he feems to be
miftaken in giving the imitation of the works of Rubens
found at Paris as the caufe of this decay. It appears from
this opinion, that the recent French fchool was not well
known to him. The French, indeed, if we may believe
their own authors, were never muelvoceupied in the imi¬
tation of Rubens ; and they have for a long time defpifed
him. But the perfeftion of the dramatic art in France,
the drefs of their aftors, the magnificence and manners
of the court, have contributed very much to the decay of
painting.
Hiftory. PAIN
Eife, lJr°- painting. Inllead of forming tljeir tafte on the beautiful
grefs, and fimpijexty of nature, their painters ftudied the geftures
DyclHie. {.he attitudes of comedians, the fopperies of women
of fafhion, the affe£led airs of courtiers, the pageantry of
Verfailles, and the magnificence of the opera. Mengs
fays, “ that the French have formed a national ftyle, of
which ingenuity and what they call efprit are the dif-
criminating qualities; that they have ceafed to introduce
Greek, Egyptian, Roman, or barbarian perfonages into
their paintings ; and that after the example of Pouflin,
they content themfelves with figures altogether French,
as if it were their intention to hand down to pofterity
that fuch a nation once exiited.
Since, according to the confeffion of Mengs, their
figures are altogether French, there is no reafon to be¬
lieve that the French painters have imitated Rubens,
whofe works are marked much more itrongly than thofe
of his mafter ^Eneus with the Flemifli character. The
truth is, that their painters, like Cortona and Maratti,
have crowded their pitlures with a great number of
figures *, have grouped them in a manner moft calcula¬
ted to ftrike the fenfes \ have been more intent on agree¬
able artifices than expreffion and beauty j and, finally,
that they have borrowed the manners of the court and
theatre.
The firft mafters of the great fchools of painting, with
the-ancients and nature for their guides, and their genius
for their fupport, carried every part of the art to the
greatett height of perfection. Thofe who followed them,
and who had the example of their predeceffors in addi¬
tion to the firfi: fources of truth and beauty, did by no
means arrive at the fame excellence. The Caracci in
their fchool, Paul Veronefe, and all the painters of his
time, Vandyke, and all thofe who exercifed the art in
Italy, in Flanders, and in France, fupported it with great
brilliancy. But foon after the number of artifts was
multiplied ; and flavilhly copying men of inferior talents,
they produced works of an inferior nature. Some want¬
ing to be colourifts, theirpieces were exaggerated; others
affeCHng fimplicity, became cold and infipid. At this
period of the art, men of real abilities, and covetous of
fame, who wiflied to rife fuperior to the mediocrity of
the times, feem not to have taken the road of truth and
nature. They affefted a ftyle of pompous preparation,
and annexed a kind of merit to the expert management
of the pencil. The affeCled forms of Cortona and of his
pupils, the fantaftical attitudes and the poignant effeCls
of Piazetta, and in ftiort the ingenious contrivances of the
laft mafters of the French fchool, are decided proofs of
this increafing bad tafte.
It appears, that for fome time paft greater pains have
been taken to form men for the art than to encourage
thofe wdro poflefs the talent. In confequence of this
ruinous praflice, fchools for drawing, very different from
thofe formed by able painters, have been exceedingly
multiplied j and thefe give the elements according to an
uniform fyftem, by which the mind is laid under a re¬
gular reftraint at the very threfhold of the profeffion.
This evil is productive of two inconveniences 5 it gives
middling painters, and it multiplies them to that degree,
as to haften the downfal and bring into contempt the
art itfelf.
The particular reputation of the Italian painters fur-
niihes another reafon for the decline of the art. The
firft painters of that country were fewr in number : they
VOX- XV. Part II.
TING. . 63.5
were honoured, and they deferved to he honoured. Their Rife, Pro-
diftinguifhed reputation has conferred a value on the ge- glels>
neral paintings of their countrymen. The defire of pof- , .
fefting tafte, or of being thought to poflefs it, had led the
rich and the ignorant of all nations to give a preference
to the Italian market. Neceflity, in this cafe, would
multiply the painters ; and their abilities muft bear a
pretty exaCt proportion to the diferimination of thofe
who give the price.
The decline of painting has alfo arifen from the defpo-
tifm which for fome time reigned in the academic focie-
ties. In faCt, thefe have often been ruled by men who
would force every exertion of genius into their peculiar
traCt of operation. If they required fuch or luch merit
of execution, the firft principles of the art -were neglect¬
ed for that peculiar excellency. In this manner the
fehools were abfplute in behalf of defign as long as fta-
tuary was held in chief eftimation.. The artift, whofe
abilities and inclination led him to colouring, was ob¬
liged to abandon a purfuit which could be of no fervice
to him, and devote himfelf to that for which he was not
qualified by nature. On the other hand, if the infrac¬
tions of the fchools be confined to colouring, a mind dif-
pofed to the choice and exactnefs of forms will find no
encouragement, and be for ever loft to the art. In this
manner the ignorance of thofe who wifli to be connoif-
feurs, and the narrow views of thofe who pretend to direft
the general tafte, have equally contributed to the decline
of the arts.
Sect. II. Of the Schools.
A School, in the fine arts, denominates a clafs of
artifts who have learned their art from a certain mafter,
either by receiving his inftru£Hons, or by ftudying his
works; and who of confequence difeover more or lefs
of his manner, from the defire of imitation, or from the
habit of adopting his principles.
All the painters wdiich Europe has produced fince
the renovation of the arts are clafled under the following-
fchools : the fchool of Florence, the fchool of Rome, the
fchool of Venice, the Lombard fchool, the French fchool,
the German fchool,the Flemiih fchool, the Dutch fchool,
and the Englifti fchcol.
This fchool is remarkable for greatnefs ; for attitudes School of
feemingly in motion ; for a certain dark feverity 5 for an Florence,
expreffion of ftrength, by which grace perhaps is exclud¬
ed ; and for a chara&er of defign approaching to the
gigantic. The produ&ions of this fchool may be con-
fidered as overcharged ; but it cannot be denied that they
poflefs an ideal majefty, which elevates human nature
above mortality. The Tufcan artifts, fatisfied with com¬
manding the admiration, feem to have confidered the art
of pleafing as beneath their notice.
This fchool has an indifputable title to the veneration
of all the lovers of the arts, as the firft in Italy which
cultivated them.
Painting, which had languiflied from the deftru&ion
of the Roman empire, was revived by Cimabue, born of
a noble family in Florence in the year 1240. This painter
tranflated the poor remains of the art from a Greek artift
or two into his own country. His works, as may eafily
be imagined, were in a very ordinary ftyle, but they re¬
ceived the applaufe and admiration of his fellow-citizens;
and if Cimabue had not found admirers, Florence in all
4 ^ probability
PAIN
probability would not have been honoured with Michael
Angelo. The number of painters became foon fo con-
fiderable in Florence, that in the year 13 50 they eftab-
lilhed a fociety under the protection of St Luke.
Maffolino, towards the beginning of the 15th century,
gave more grandeur to his figures, adjufted their drefs
better, and ihed^over them a kind of life and expreffion.
He was furpaffed by Maffacio his pupil •, who firft gave
force, animation, and relievo, to his works.
Andrew Caftagna was the firft Florentine who painted
in oil. But Leonardo da Vinci and Michael Angelo,
contemporary painters, were the glory of the fchool of
Florence. Michael Angelo was fuperior to Leonardo
in grandeur, in boldnefs of conception, and in knowledge
of defign ; but Leonardo was fuperior to him in all the
amiable parts of the art. Leonardo, pofleffed of a fine
imagination, and full of fenfibility, devoted himfelf in
painting to exprefs the afteCtions of the foul; and if, in
this fublime branch- of the art, he was afterwards fur-
pafied by Raphael, he had at leaft the glory not only of
exceeding all ! he painters who went before him, but of
purfuing a path which none of them had attempted.
His defign was pure and neat, and not wholly deltitute
of greatnefs. He never went beyond nature, and he
made a good choice of objeCts for imitation.
Michael Angelo, lefs formed to experience fweet af-
fe&ions than vehement paflrons, fought in nature what
the (Length of man might accompliih, not that which
conilituteiT beauty. He delighted in being great and
terrible, more than in graceful and pleafant attitudes.
Well acquainted with anatomy, he knew more exaCtly
than any other artH! in what manner to exprefs the join¬
ing of the bones of the body, and the office and infertion
of the mufcles : but too eager to difplay his knowledge
of anatomy, he feems to have forgotten that the mufcles
are foftened by the (kin which covers them ; and that
they are lefs vifible in children, in women, and in young
men, than in confirmed and vigorous manhood. “ In
his figures (fays Mengs) the articulations of the mufeles
are fo eafy and free, that they appear to be made for the
attitude in which he reprefents them. The fleffiy parts
are too much rounded, and the mufcles are in general
too large, and of too equal (Length. You never perceive
in his figures a mufcle at reft ; and although he knew
admirably well how to place them, their .acftion is very
frequently inconfiftent with their fituation.”
“ He did not poffefs (fays Sir Jofhua Reynolds) fo
many delightful parts of the art as Raphael but thofe
which he had acquired were of a more fublime nature.
He faw in painting little more than what might be at¬
tained in fculpture \ and he confined it to exadlnefs of
form and the expreffion of paffions.”
He informs us, in one of his letters, that he modelled
in earth or wax all the figures which he intended to
paint. This method was familiar to the great painters
of his time, and ought never to be abandoned. It ap¬
pears, that in reprefenting them in this manner in re¬
lievo, the painter can imitate them much more exadlly
than when they are drawn with a crayon or pencil on a
plain furface.
“ Michael Angelo (continues Sir Joftiua Reynolds)
never attempted the lefier elegancies and graces in the
art. Vafari fays, he never painted but one pifture in
oil j and refolved never to paint another, faying it was
an employment only fit for women and children.
TING. ; Hiftory.
“ If any man had a right to look down uptmThe Schools,
lower accomplilhments as beneath his attention, it was l"~ » -o
certainly Michael Angelo 5 nor can it be thought
ftrange. that fuch a mind (hould have flighted, or have-
been withheld from paying due attention to all tbofe
graces and embellifhments of art which have diffufed
fuch luftre over the works of other painters.”
Ancient Rome, rich with the works brought from (>on^r
Greece, or finjftied in its own bofom by Grecian artifts, fchool
handed down in its ruins the remains of that glory
to which it had been elevated. It was by the Itudy
of thefe remains that the modern artifts were formed j.
they derived from them the knowledge of defign, the
beauty of exquifite forms, greatnefs of (tyle, and juftnefs
of expreffion, carried to that length only which did
not affeft the beauty of the figure. From them alfo
they derived the principles of the art of drapery ; and
they followed thefe principles even while they made the
drapery of modern paintings more large and flowing
than what was pradlifed by the ancient fculptors. The
Roman fchool was altogether devoted to the principal
parts of the art, to thofe which require genius and vaft:
conceptions ; and was no farther occupied with colours
than what was necelfary to eftablith a difference be¬
tween painting and (culpture, or rather between paint¬
ing varied with colours and in claro-obfcuro.
Raphael Sanzio, born at Urbino in 1433,. and fcholar
to Pietro Perugeno, was the undoubted founder of this
fchool. His firft manner was that of Perugeno his
xnafter j but he travelled twice to Florence to itudy the
great artifts who flourifhed in that city.
It was fortunate for Raphael, fays Mengs, that he
■was born, in what he terms the infancy of the art,
and that he formed himfelf by copying nature before
he had accefs to fee the works of any great mafter.
He began by ftudying, with great exaflnefs, the firuple
truth in his figures. He was then ignorant that any
choice was necoffary ; but he faw the works of Leonar¬
do da Vinci, of Maffacio, and of Michael Angelo,
which gave his genius a new dire£tion. After this he
perceived that there was fomething more in the art of
painting than a fimple imitation of truth. But the
•works of thofe mafters were not fufficiently perfedl
to point out the beft choice to make ; and he conti¬
nued in uncertainty till he faw at Rome the works
of the ancients. Then he perceived that he had found
the true models which he wanted ; and in imitating
them he had only to follow the natural inipulfe of his
genius.
Habituated by his firft manner to imitate nature
with precifion, it was not difficult to carry the fanTe
exa£tnefs into the imitation of the ancients ; and it
was a great advantage to him that he flouriftied' in an
age wherein the artifts were not arrived at iacility of
execution at the expence of rigorous exa&iefs. Pie
never loft fight of nature ; but he was inftrubU d by
the ancients in -what manner (lie {hould be ftudied.
He perceived, that the Greeks had not entered into
minute details, that they had felecfed what was great
or beautiful, and that one of the chief caufts of the
beauty of their works was the regularity of their pro¬
portions j he began, therefore, by carefully ftudying
this part of the art. He faw alfo that the joinings of
the bones, and the free play of their articulations,
are the caufes of all graceful movement: he there-
Hiftory. PAIN
Schools, fore, after the example of the ancients, gave the great-
v—eft attention to this part, and was led by thefe obi'erva-
tions not to be contented with the limple imitation of
nature.
His defign is excellent, but neither fo'perfect nor
fo finiihed as that of the Greeks. He excelled in re-
prefenting the character of philofophers, apoftles, and
other iigures of that kind j but he did not equal the
Greeks in ideal figures, which ought to carry the im-
preflion of divinity. His tafte for defign was more
Koman than Greek, becaufe he formed it chiefly on
the baflb-relievos which he found at Rome. On this
account he had the habit of marking ftroagly the bones
and the articulations, and labouring the fleftiy parts
lefs *, but as thefe baffo-relievos are very exaft with re¬
gard to the reciprocal proportions of every member, he
excelled in this part, while at the fame time he did not
give to his figures all the elegance of the Greek artifts,
nor the flexibility of articulation which is admired in
the Laocoon, in the Apollo of Belvidere, and in the
Gladiator.
The manners and fpirit of his age, and the fubjecls
which he moft commonly treated, prevented him from
reaching the ideal of the ancients. Having feldom oc-
csfion to reprefent figures altogether ideal, he devoted
himfelf to purity of exprelfion. He knew that the
expreflion of the paftions of the foul is abfolutely ne-
ceffary in an art which reprefents the a&ions of men,
fince from thofe affeaions the adfions may be faid
truly to originate. To make figures adf, and yet ne-
gledt the interior fprings of adtion, is nothing more
than a reprefentation of automata. The attitudes and
adtion are evident •, but they appear not to adl of
themfelves, becaufe they are void of thofe principles
from which alone men are fuppofed to adt. An artift
who negledts expreffion gives no juft reprefentation of
charadter, even though he Ihould take nature for his
model.
Raphael’s firft care, when he wanted to compofe a
piece, was to weigh the exprelfion *, that is to fay, to
eftablifti, according to the nature of the fubjedf, the
pafiions which were to animate the charadters. All
the figures, all the rcceflories, all the parts of the com-
pofition, were moulded to the general expreflion.
As he had not found examples in the ancient fta-
tues of the claro-obfcuro, he was comparatively weak
in this part; and if there was any thing remarkable in
his diftribution of light and fliade, he owed it to the
works of the Florentine painters. It cannot be faid,
however, even with regard to the claro-obfcuro, that
he imitated nature without tafte. He delighted in
what are called ma[fes of light; and difjwfed the great
lights in the moft confpicuous places of his figures,
whether naked or in drapery. If this method did not
produce effedls highly illufive, it gives his works that
diftindtnefs which makes his figures confpicuous at a
diftance ; and this muft be allowed to be an efiential
part of the art of painting. He did not proceed be¬
yond this ; and content with that kind of claro-ob-
feuro which comprehends imitation, he never attempted
that which is ideal.
The compofition and the enfemble of his figures were
the chief excellencies of Raphael. His philofophical
mind could not be affe&ed with objefts which had not
expreflion. He had too high ’an idea of painting to
T I N & 6j5
conflder it as a mute art ; he made it fpeak to the, Schools*,
heart and foul i and he could only* do rms in iunjects
which required expreflion. If Raphael did not reach
the Greek excellence, if he did not pofleis the art ol
embellilhing nature in the fame high degree, he faw at
leaft, and imitated her in whatever was expreflive and
beautiful. “ The Greeks failed with majefty (fays
Mengs) between earth and heaven : Raphael walked
with propriety on the earth.”
“ Compofition is in general (fays the fame author)
of tw’o kinds : Raphael’s is the expreflive kind ; the
other is the theatrical or pi&urefque, which confifts of
an agreeable ditpolition of the figures. Lanfranc was
the inventor of this laft, and after him Pietro de Cor¬
tona. I give the preference to Raphael ; becaufe rea-
fon prefides over all his works, or at leaft the greateft
part of them. He never allowed himfelf in fcommon
ideas, and was never •llured to give any thing in his
acceflory figures which might turn the attention fiom
the principal objedl of the piece.”
A hiftory of the fchools is nothing more than a hi-
ftory of the painters who founded them. In thole
two which we have already given, Michael Angelo and
Raphael come readily forward to claim our attention ;
and therefore we cannot do better than conclude the
account by the mafterly contrail of thefe eminent
painters given by Sir Jolhua Reynolds. “ If we put
thofe great artifts {fays he) in a light of comparifon
with each other, Raphael had more tafte and fancy,
Michael Angelo more genius and imagination. . The
one excelled in beauty, the other in energy. Michael
Angelo has more of the poetical in operation ; his
ideas are vaft and lublime ; his people are a fuperior
order of beings ; there is nothing about them, no¬
thing in the air of their aftions or their attitudes, or
the ftyle and call of their limbs or features, that puts
one in mind of their belonging to our Ipecies. Ra¬
phael’s imagination is not fo elevated ; his figures are
not fo much disjointed from our own diminutive race
of beings, though his ideas are chafte, noble, and ot
great conformity to their fubjeas. Michael Angelo’s
works have a ftrong, peculiar, and marked charader ;
they feem to proceed from his own mind entirely; and
that mind fo rich and abundant, that he never needed,
or feemed to dildain, to look abroad for foreign help.
Raphael’s materials are generally borrowed, though
the noble ftruaure is his own. The excellency of this
extraordinary man lay in the propnety, beauty, and
majefty of his char afters ; his judicious contrivance of
compofition, corre&nefs of drawing, purity of tafte,
and the fkilful accommodation of other men’s concep¬
tions to his own purpofe.” _ 2$
This fchool is the child of nature. The Venetian Venetia*
painters not having under their eyes like the RomanlchuQl*
the remains of antiquity, W'ere deftitute of the means
of forming a juft idea of the beauty of forms and of
expreflion. They copied without choice the forms of
nature; but they were chiefly delighted with the
beauties which prefented themfelves in the mixture
and the variety of natural colours. Their attention
not being detached from this part by any thing of
greater importance, colouring was their chief object,
and they fucceeded in it. They did not reft content¬
ed with characterizing the objects by comparifon, in
making the colour proper for one of more value by the
4 L 2 colour
PAIN
f Colour more proper for another ; but they endeavoured
ftill farther, by the agreement and oppofition of the
coloured objefts, and by the contrail of light and
fhade, to produce a vigorous effe£t, to demand and fix
the attention. Dominic, who was faid to have pe¬
riled at Florence by the jealoufy of Andre Caftagna,
and who was the fecond Italian artift who painted in oil,
had educated, before he quitted Venice, his native coun-
try, Jacques Beilin, who wras remarkable for nothing
but the pi£lurefque education which he gave to Gentel
and John his two fons.
Gentel, who was the eldeft, painted chiefly in water
colours. John contributed much to the progrefs of his
art in painting conftantly in oil, and after nature. Al¬
though he always retained great ftilFnefs in his manner,
he had lefs than his father or brother. Great neatnels
of colouring, and an approach to harmony, are evi¬
dent in his works. His tafte in defign is Gothic, the
air of his heads is fufficiently noble, his attitudes are
without judgment, and his figures without expreflion.
He had for fcholars Giorgion and Titian, who de-
lerve to be confidered as the founders of the Venetian
fchool.
Giorgion diftinguiflied himfelf by a defign of a bet¬
ter tafte than that of his mailer j but he chiefly fur-
pafled him in colouring. He died in his 32d year;
and excited the emulation of Titian, who foon greatly
excelled him.
l iziano Veeelli, known bell by the name of Titian,
was inftru&ed to copy nature in the moll fervile man¬
ner in the fchool of John Beilin ; but when he had
feen the works of Giorgion, he began to ftudy the ideal
in colouring.
The truth of hiftory is not to be expe&ed in his hi-
11 orical paintings, or in thofe of the artifts of the fame
fchool. He feems to have paid little attention to the
confiftence of fcene, to the coftume, to expreflion adapt¬
ed to the fubje61, or, finally, to the accommodation of
parts which chara£lerife the works of thofe who have
uudied the ancients. He was in ftiort a great painter
and nothing more.
But although he deferves not to be placed among
the moft diftinguifhed artifts in point of judgment,
yet he is by no means deftitute of great and noble con-
ceptiojis. There is often to be found among his male
figures a confiderable degree of grandeur: but if he has
iometimes, like Michael Angelo, overcharged his de¬
fign, it was more difcovered in the fwelling of the foft
and fleftiy parts than in vigour and mufcular ftrength.
Almoft entirely devoted to Ample imitation, he had
fcarcely greater choice in the claro-obfcuro than in de-
fign. He cannot be juftly reproached at the fame
time for w'eaknefs in this particular; becaufe in endea¬
vouring to imitate the colours of nature, he was obliged
to deferve the degrees of light. And in proportion
as he fucceeded in the imitation of natural colours he
muft be lefs defe&ive in the -claro-obfcuro; but it is
not in the knowledge of this part of the art that we
are to feek for the beauties of his works. Thefe are
to be found in the happy difpolitions of colours both
proper and local, and he carries this to the higheft point
of perfedlion.
The artifts in the Florentine and Roman fchools
painted moft commonly in water colours or in frefco ;
T }■ N, G' v Hiftor>'
and in the exercife of their profeffion, inftead of na- Schools
ture, they fimlhed their works from their firft {ketches. ' v -
J itian painted in oil, and finilhed from the objects in
nature ; and this praftice, joined to his exquifife ta¬
lents, gave the greateft truth to his colours. His be¬
ing a portrait painter was alfo of advantage to him as
a colourift. In this department he was accuftomed
to the colours of nature in carnations and draperies.
He was a landfcape-painter, and here alfo he took the
colours from nature.
. “ As Titian perceived (fays Mengs) that the ob¬
jects.which are beautiful in nature have often a bad ef-
feft in painting, he found it neceflary to make a choice
in the objects of imitation ; and he obferved, that
thefe were objeas of which the local colours were ex¬
tremely beautiful, which neverthelefs were in a oreat
meafure deftroyed by the refledion of light, by the
porofity of the body, and by different luminous tints,
&c. He perceived alfo, that in every objed there
was an infinite number of half tints, which conduded
to the knowledge of harmony. In fliort, he obferved
m the objeds of nature, a particular agreement of
tranfparency, of opacity, of rudenefs, and of poliftf, and
that all objeds differed in the degrees of their tints
and their lhades. It was in this diverfity he fought
the perfedion of his art; and in the execution he mo¬
derated the effed of natural colours. For example, in
a carnation which had many demi-tints, he confined
himfelf to one ; and he employed even lefs than a dcmi-
tint, where there were few in the natural objed. By
this means he obtained a colouring exquifitely fine ; and
in this part he was a great mafter, and deferves to be
carefully {ludied.”
Titian has in general little expreflion in his pidures,
and he fometimes introduces figures which augment the
coldnefs of the piece ; for if it be true that the heads,
even in hiftorical painting, ought to be ftudied after na¬
ture, it is true alfo that an individual nature ought not
to be prefented, but one general and ideal. It is ne-
ceffary that they fhould be men, while they referable not
men we are accuftomed to fee. The painter fails in the
effed which he ought to produce, if, when he reprefents
Achilles, Hedor, and Caefar, his perfonages are familiar
to our obfervation.
I he colours of his paintings are fo mingled toge¬
ther, as to. give no idea of the colours on his pallet;
which diftinguifties him from Rubens, who placed his
colours one at the fide of another. It is impoflible to
fay, on the narroweft infpedion, with what colours
he produced his tints. This pradice, which enabled
him to imitate fo exadly the colours of nature, gives
a marked diftindion to his manner of painting. In
the examination of his works, the critics lofe an ordi¬
nary fource of pleafure, which arifes from marking
the freedom of hand ; but they may confole them-
felves with the natural and exquilite touches of this
artift.
He is of hiftorical painters one of thofe who have
fucceeded in landfcape. His fituations are well chofen ;
his trees are varied in their forms, and their foliage well
conceived. He had a cuftom of reprefenting fome re¬
markable appearance in his landfcapes to render them
more ftriking.
The diftinguifhing charaderiftics of this fchool are, Lombard
grace, fchool.
fliftory. P A I N
Schoo s. grace, an agreeable tafte for defign, without groat cor-
-—v ' reftion, a mellownefs of pencil, and a beautiful mix¬
ture of colours.
Antonio Allegri, called Corregio, was the father and
greateft ornament of this fchool. He began like the
painters of his time to imitate nature alone •, but, as he
•was chiefly delighted with the graceful, he was care¬
ful to purify his defign from all ftiort turnings and un-
neceffary angles. He perceived that largenefs contri¬
buted to grace •, and therefore he not only rejefted all
fmall figures, but enlarged as much as poflible the out¬
lines, avoided acute angles and ftraight lines, and by
thefe means give an eafy grandeur to his dtfign. He
made his figures elegant and large ; he varied the out¬
lines by frequent undulations 5 but he was not always
pure and corredl.
Corregio painted in oil, a kind of painting fufeep-
tible of the greateft delicacy and fweetnefs ; and as
his chara&er led him to cultivate the agreeable, he
gave a pleafing captivating tone to all his piftures.
He fought transparent colours to reprefent fhades con¬
formable to nature, and adopted a manner of glazing
which a£hially rendered his fhadows more obfeure.
Obfcurity in painting cannot be fully obtained without
tranfparent colours ; for thefe abforb the rays of light,
and of confequence give lefs reflexion. He laid his co¬
lours very thick on the brighteft parts of his pifhires, to
make them capable of receiving, by a proper touch, the
greateft degree of light. He perceived, that the reflec¬
tions of light correspond with the colour of the body
from which they are reflefted ; and on thefe principles
he founded his theory of colours with refpeft to light
and fliade and reflexion. But it is chiefly in the co¬
lour of his {hades that he deferves to be imitated ; for
his lights are too clear, and fomewhat heavy \ and his
flefhy parts are not fufficiently tranfparent.
Harmony and grace are connected together ; and
on this account Corregio excelled alfo in harmony.
As the delicacy of his tafte fuffered him not to em¬
ploy ftrong oppofitions, he naturally became a great
mafter in this part, which chiefly confifts of eafy gra¬
dations from one extreme to another. He tvas har¬
monious in his defign, by making the lines which
formed the angles of the contour arched and undula¬
ted. But in the lights and {hades, he placed always
between the two extremes a fpace which ferved to
unite them, and to form a paflage from the one to
the other. The delicacy of his organs made him per¬
ceive, better than any other artift, what relief was
neceffary to the eye after a violent exertion ; and he
was therefore careful to follow a bold and prevailing
colour with a demi-tint, and to conduft the eye of the
fpe&ator, by an invifible gradation, to its ordinary
ftate of tenfion. In the fame manner (fays Mengs) does
agreeable and melting mufic pull one fo gently out of
fleep, that the awaking refembles enchantment more
than the difturbing of repofe. A delicate tafte in co¬
lours, a perfect knowledge of the claro obfeuro, the
art of uniting light to light, and fliade to {hade, to¬
gether with that of detaching the obje&s from the
ground, inimitable, grave, and perfect harmony, were
the qualities which diftinguifiied Corregio from all
the painters, and placed him near the head of his pro-
feflion.
The Caracci, Lewfis, Auguftin, and Hannibal, form-
T I N G.
ed what is called the fecond Lombard fchool, which is
frequently diftinguiftied by the name of the fchool of
Bologna.
Lewis w-as the raaftcr of the other two ; he had
ftudied the works of Titian and Paul Veronefe at Ve¬
nice, thofe of Andre del Sarte at Florence, thofe of
Corregio at Parma, and thofe of Jules Romaen, at
Mantua 5 but he chiefly endeavoured to imitate the
manner of Corregio. Hannibal fiudluated between Cor¬
regio and Titian. Auguftin their rival in painting had'
his mind cultivated by learning, and devoted part of
his time to poetry and mufic, to dancing and to other
manly exercifes. Thefe three painters often employed
their talents on the fame piece ; and it was admirable
that their united labours feemed to be animated with the
fame fpirit.
They eftabliftied an academy at Bologna, which their
zeal for the advancement of their art made them call
BAcademia degli Defulerofi ; but it was afterward called
the Academy of the Caracci, becaufe the reputation which
thefe artifts acquired, permitted not a more illuftrious
name to be given to an eftabliftiment of which they
were the founders. In this fchool were taught the art
of conftrufling models, perfpe£live, and anatomy *, lef-
fons were given on the beautiful proportions of nature,
on the belt manner of ufing colours, and on the princi¬
ples of light and fhade. They held frequent conferen¬
ces, in which not only artifts, but men of general know¬
ledge, were permitted to elucidate points relative to the
art of painting : but they were feparated upon Hanni¬
bal’s going to Rome to adorn the gallery of the cardinal
Farnefe.
The Avorks of the Caracci are often, from the refem-
blance of their manner, confounded together ; efpecial-
ly thofe which Avere finifhed previous to the refidence of
Hannibal at Rome. Meanwhile each of them has a de¬
cided charafter diftinff from the other tAvo. LeAvis had
lefs fire, but more of gracefulnefs and grandeur 5 Au¬
guftin had more fpirit in his conception, and more plea-
fantnefs in his execution : Hannibal is charadlerized by
boldnefs, by a defign more profound, by an expreftiorr
more lucky, and by an execution more folid.
Sir Joftiua Reynolds, Avho faAv the Avorks of LcavIs at
Bologna, holds him out in his difeourfes as the beft mo¬
del for Avhat is called.yfy/? in painting \ Avhich is the fa¬
culty of difpofing colours in fuch a manner as to exprefs
our fentiments and ideas. “ Lodovico Caracci,” fays
he, “ (I mean in his beft vrorks) appears to me to ap¬
proach the neareft to perfection. His unaffeCled breadth
of light and IhadoAv, the fimplicity of colouring, which,
holding its proper rank, does not drarv afide the leaft
part of the attention from the fubjeCf, and the folemn
efteCt of that tAvilight Avhich feems diffufed over his pic¬
tures, appears to me to correfpond with grave and dig¬
nified fubje&s better than the more artificial brillian¬
cy of funlhine Avhich enlightens the pictures of Ti¬
tian.”
Hannibal is efteemed by the beft judges as a model
for beauty and defign. Thofe Avho blame him for be.
coming lefs a colourift at Rome than he Avas as Bologna,
ought to recolleCt that it is his performances at Rome
which have chiefly fecured his reputation. Severe cri¬
tics have maintained that his defign is too little varied
in his figures j that he excels only in male beauty; that
in imitating ancient ftatues, he excites feme refemblance,
but
638 PAIN
, Sch^ols- t but without arriving at the fublimity of ideas and of
v ftyle which characterize the ancients j or, in other
words, that he hath fuccefsfully imitated the exterior of
their manner, but that he was incapable of reaching the
interior and profound reafonings which determined thofe
admirable artifts.
The fuccefs of Hannibal, and the reputation which
he acquired, have been pernicious to the art. His fuc-
cc lTors, deluded by thefe confiderations, have made him
the object of their imitation, without afeending to the
fources from which he derived his knowledge, and which
he never could equal. The refult has been, that, in-
ftead of becoming equal to Hannibal, they have often
17 copied his imperfe6tions.
i he French T his fchool has been fo different under different ma-
.ciiool. fters, that it is difficult to characterize it. Some of its
artifts have been formed on the Florentine and Lombard
manner, others on the Roman, others on the Venetian,
and a few of them have diftinguifhed themfelves by a
manner which may be called their own. In fpeaking in
general terms of this fchool, it appears to have no pecu¬
liar character; and it can only be diftinguifhed by its
aptitude to imitate eafily any impreffion; and it may be
added, fpeaking ftill in general terms, that it unites, in
a moderate degree, the different parts of the art, with¬
out excelling in anv one of them.
It is equally difficult to determine the progrefs of
painting in France. Miniature painting, and painting
on glafs, were early Cultivated in that country *, and in
thefe two kinds, the Italians had often recourfe to the
French artifts. When Francis I. encouraged Roffo a
Florentine, and Primatice a Bolognian, the painters in
France were not remarkable for any fuperior talent j
but they were capable of working under thefe foreign
artifts.
Coufin, a painter on glafs, and portrait painter, was
the firft who eftablifhed any kind of reputation in
France. He was correft, but poffeffed very little ele¬
gance of defign.
Painting, for feme time encouraged by Francis I.
fell into a ftate of languor, from which it was not reco¬
vered till the reign of Louis XIII. Jacques Blanchard,
formed at the Venetian fchool, and called the French
Titian, flourifhed about this period. But as he died
young, and without educating any pupils to perpetuate
his manner, he muft be regarded as a fingle good artift,
and not as a founder of the French fchool.
In the fame manner Pouffin, one of the greateft
French painters, and who is called the Raphael of
France, educated no pupils, nor formed any fchool.
His ftyle and charafter of painting are defcribed by Sir
Jofhua Reynolds as fimple, careful, pure, and correft.
No works of any modern (adds the lame author) have
fo much of the air of antique painting as thofe of Pouf¬
fin. HL beft performances have a remarkable drynefs
of manner, which, though by no means to be recom¬
mended for imitation, yet feetns perfectly correfpondent
to that ancient fimplicity which diftinguifhes his ftyle.
In the latter part of his life he changed from this
T 1 N G- Hiftor;
manner to one much fofter and richer 1 wher# there is Schools,
a greater union between the figures and the" ground. '—
His favourite fubjetfts were ancient fables j and no paint¬
er was ever better qualified to paint fuch objefts, not
only from his being eminently Ikilled in the knowledge
of the ceremonies, cuftoms, and habits of the ancients,
but from his being fo well acquainted with the different
characters which thofe who invented them gave their al¬
legorical figures.
If Poutfin, in the imitation of the ancients, reprefents
Apollo driving his chariot out of the fea by way of re-
prefenting the fun rifing, if he perfonifies lakes and ri¬
vers, it is no. wray offenfive in him, but feems perfedtly
of a piece with the general air of the picture. On the
contrary, if the figures which people his pictures had a
modern air or countenance, if they appeared like our
countrymen, if the draperies were like cloth or filk of
our manufatture, if the landfcape had the appearance of
a modern view, how ridiculous would Apollo appear ?
inftead of the fun, an old man 5 or a nymph with an
urn, inftead of a river or a lake.
Pouflin, however, more admired than imitated, had
no manner of influence in forming the French fchool.
Simon Vouet, his enemy and perfecutor, had this ho¬
nour, becaufe his pupils, in the happy age of the arts in
France, conferred on it the higheft fplendour. . Vouet
wTas a man of diftinguithed abilities j but the fchool
which he ere&ed would have had no continuance if his
fcholars had purfued his manner of painting. He had a
kind of grandeur and facility ; but his defign was falfe
with regard to colours, and without any idea of expref-
fion. It was faid of him, that he only needed to take
the pencil in his hand to finilh with one ftroke the fub-
je£t which he had conceived j and on this account one
is tempted to be pleafed, becaufe he is aftonilhed. He
had the merit of deftroying the infipid manner which
reigned in France, and of pointing the wray to a better
tafte.
If Vouet laid the foundation of the French fchool,
Le Brun finifiied the edifice. When Le Brun was pla¬
ced under the tuition of Vouet, he aftonifhed his mafter
and the reft of his pupils with the rapidity of his pro¬
grefs. At the age of 26 he finifired his piece called
the horfe.r of Diomede, which gained a place in the pa¬
lace royal (a), befide thofe of the moft eminent pain¬
ters. He was afterwards recommended to Poutfin j but
the young artift was more difpofed by his natural incli¬
nations to that modern part of the art which is called
the great machine, than to the profound and ftudied
manner of the Greek artifts. Poutfin at the fame time
was of great fervice to him in recommending to his
ftudy the monuments, the cuftoms, the drefs of the an¬
cients ; their architeflure, their rites, their fpcctacles,
their exercifes, their combats, and their triumphs.
Le Brun had a noble conception and a fruitful imagi¬
nation. He was on no occafion inferior to the vaft com-
pofitions which he undertook, and he chiefly excelled
in rigorous coftume and exafr likeneffes.
Few’ painters have united fo great a number of effen-
tial
(a) Where it may now be is uncertain. Perhaps it perifhed during the revolutionary frenzy of the French,
which at firft threatened the utter deftru6Hon of every thing connected with fcience or the liberal arts.
Hiftory. P A 1 N
Schools, tial qualities and acceiTories of the art j and if he had
v--'V—fuperiors, it confided in this, that they poileffed fome
particular quality in a more eminent degree.—He was a
good drawer; but his defign was far from being fo ele¬
gant as that of Raphael, or fo pure as that of Dome-
nique, and it was lefs lively than that of Hannibal Ca-
racci, whom he had taken for a model. In drapery he
followed the Roman fchool : the clothes which he gave
to his figures were not like thofe of the Venetian fchool,
of fuch and fuch a ftuff; they were draperies and no¬
thing more, and this manner agreed with the heroic
flyle of his works •, but in this part he was not equal to
the painter of Urbino.—He had ftudied the expreffion
of the affe&ions of the foul, as is evident from his trea-
tife on the chara&er of the paflions : but after obferving
the general chara£lers, and eftablilhing the principal
ftrokes of exprefiion, he thought he reached the whole
extent of this fubjeft, which is fo infinitely extended.
He always employed the few chara&ers which he had
once found out, and negle&ed to ftudy the prodigious
variety of gradations by which the interior affections are
manifefted in the exterior appearance. He fell then in¬
to the manner of repeating always •, and polfeffed nei¬
ther the delicacy, nor the depth, nor-the extreme jult-
nefs of Raphael’s expreflion. He loved and pofieffed
in a high degree the grand machine of the art j he was
delighted with great compofitions : and he gave them
life, and animation, agd variety ; but he wanted the vi¬
gour and infpiration of Raphael. His compofitions are
formed on philofophical principles, but thofe of Raphael
are created. Le Brun thought well j Raphael, Poufiin,
Le Sueur, thought moft profoundly.— Le Brun had ele¬
vation, but he was not elevated like Raphael, to the iu-
blime.
In colouring, Le Brun did not imitate the painters of
the Venetian fchool. The fweet attraftions and ftrong
and folid colours of the fchools of Rome and Lombardy
feem rather to have been the objeft of his imitation ; an/d
from them alfo he learned an eafy, agreeable. bold
management of the pencil.
As Le Brun poflefied a great fkare of lively imagina¬
tion, he delighted in allegory, which gives the greatefl:
fcope for ingenious invention. The fecundity and re-
fources of his imagination appeared ftill farther, in his
inventing fymbols for his allegorical figures, without
refting contented with thole employed by the ancients.
But fanciful reprefentaliohs of this kind are difiant from
the operations of true genius. Spirit and thought in the
arts are very different from fpirit and thought in literary
productions. A painter of moderate abilities may intro¬
duce into his works a great deal of the invention whidh
belongs to poetry without enriching his peculiar art.
The true fpirit of painting confills in making the figures
appear in the very circumftances and attitudes in which
they are fuppofed to aft, and penetrated with the fenti-
3nents with which they ought to be affefted. By thefe
means the fpeftator is more certainly interefted than if
the aftions and thoughts were reprefented by allegorical
fymbols. Pouflin appears to have lefs wafte of fpirit
and imagination than Le Brun, while at the fame time
he gives more delight to people of fpirit and imagina¬
tion.
Eufiach le Sueur was the contemporary and rival of
Le Brun ; and no painter approached nearer to Raphael
hi the art of drapery, and in dilpofing the folds in the
2
TING. 639
moft artful and the nobleft manner. His defign was in Schools.
general more (lender than that of Raphael, but, like his, ' *
it was formed on the model of the ancients. Like Ra¬
phael he reprefented with art and precifion the affeftions
of the foul •, like him, he varied the air of the head, ac¬
cording to the condition, the age, and the charafter of
his perfonages } and, like him, he made the different
parts of every figure contribute to the general effect.
His intention in compoiing was to exprefs his fubjeft,
not to make Ihining contrails or beautiful groups of fi¬
gures, not to altonith and bewitch the fpeftator by the
deceitful pomp of a theatrical feene, or the fpl&ndour of
the great machine. His tones are delicate, his tints
harmonious, and his colours, though not fo attraftive as
thofe of the fchools of Venice and Flanders, are yet en¬
gaging. They fteal peaceably en the foul, and fix it
without diftraftion on the parts of the art, fuperior to
that of colouring.
His preaching of St Paul, and the pifture which he
painted at St Gervais, which the critics compare with
the bell produftions of the Roman fchool, and the 23
piftures which he painted for the Carthufian monaftery at
Paris, and which were formerly in poffeflion of the king,
are efteemed his belt pieces. His contemporaries af¬
firm, that he confidered as (ketches merely thofe excel¬
lent performances which are the glory of the French
fchool.
If Le Sueur had lived longer, or if, like Le Brun, he
had been employed under a court, fond of the arts, and
of learning, to execute the great works of the age, the
French ichool would have adopted a different and a bet¬
ter manner. The noble beauty of his heads, the fimple
majefty of his draperies, the lightnefs of his defign, the
propriety of his expreflion and attitudes, and the fimpli-
city of his general difpofition, would have formed the
charafter of this fchool. The deceitful pomn of thea¬
trical deo>Ma£jon woujd have CSen more lately Introdu¬
ced, or perhaps would never have appeared, and Paris
might have been the counterpart to Rome. But as Le
Brun, by an accidental concurrence of favourable cir¬
cumftances, was the fathionable painter, to be employed
or rewarded it was neceffary to imitate his manner and
as his imitators poffeffed not his genius, his faults be¬
came not only current but more deformed.
The French (chool not long ago changed its princi¬
ples ; and if, when peace, (hall be reftored to this un¬
happy nation, they continue to follow the road which,
while the artifts (lourilhed among them, they marked
out for themfelves, they have the chance of becoming
the moft rigid obfervers of the laws impofed on the
Greek artifts. The count de Caylus, pupil of Bouchar-
dion, who by his rank and fortune had the means of en¬
couraging the imitators cf the ancients, and of the ma-
flers of the 15th century, firft formed the defign of re-
ftoring a pure laite to the art of painting. He was (e-
conded by the talents of M. Vien, an artift who had on¬
ly occafion to have his leffons and his example laid be¬
fore him.—In this manner commenced a revolution, fo
much the more wonderful, as it was fcarcely ever known
that any nation fubftituted a fyftem of finiple and rigid
excellence in place of a falfe and glittering talte. The-
hiftory of all nations, on the contrary, difeovers a gra¬
dual progrefs from a rude beginning to perfection, and
afterwards to irremediable decay. The French had the
profpeft of (topping ftiort in this ordinary courfe. They
began
tS
The Ger-
PAIN
began in a manner which promifed faccefs ; and the beft
confequences may be expedited, from being in pofleflion of
thofe precious treafures of fculpture and painting of which
they plundered the countries fubdued by their arms.
In Germany there can hardly be faid to be a fcliool,
man fchool.as it is a continuation of lingle artifts, who derived their
-manner from different fources of originality and imita¬
tion. There were feme German painters of eminence,
when the art, emerging from its barbarous Hate, firlt
began to be cultivated with fuccefs in Europe. As they
■were totally unacquainted with the ancients, and had
fcarcely accefs to the works of their contemporaries in
Italy, they copied nature alone, with the exception of
; fo me what of that ftiftnefs which forms the Gothic man¬
ner. It is this manner, if we fpeak of the early Ger¬
man painters, which charaflerizes their fchool. But
this is by no means the cafe with their fucceffors, part
of whom were educated in Flanders and part in Italy :
For if Mengs or Dietrich were comprehended in this
fchool, there would be nothing peculiar to its manner
difcovcred in their works. And it is therefore neceffary
to confine our obfervations to the more ancient German
painters, in whom the Gothic ftyle is confpicuous.
Albert Durer was the firft German who corredted the
bad tafle of his countrymen. Fie excelled in engraving
- as well as painting. His genius was fertile, his compo-
f tions varied, his thoughts ingenious, and his colours
.brilliant. His works, though numerous, were finilhed
with great exadlnefs; but as he owed every tiling to his
-genius, and as works of inferior merit were by the falfe
tafle of the times preferred to his, it was impoffible for
him altogether to avoid the faults of his predecefibrs.
Fie is blamed for fliffnefs and aridity in his outlines, for
little tafle or grandeur in his expreffion, for ignorance
of the coflume of aerial perfpedHve and of gradation of
colours ; but he had carefully iludied lineal perfpedlive,
- * * " - —4
arcuneCture, . .^aiion.
John Holbeen or Holbein, nearly contemporary V/ltu
Albert Durer, painted in oil and water colours. He
excelled chiefly in hiftory and in portrait painting. His
colours are frefli and brilliant, and his works are highly
finifhed •, but in his biftorical fubjedts, his draperies are
not in fo good a tafte as thofe of Albert Durer.
The Flemiflr fchool is recommended to the lovers of
the art by the difcovery, or at lead the firfl pradlice, of
oil painting. Van Mander gives us the account of this
wonderful difcovery in the following words : “ John
Van Eyck was fo excellent a chemift, that he difcover-
ed a method of varnilhing his diftemper colours with a
varnifh, which was made of fome oils, and was very
pleafing on account of the glols and luftre it gave them.
Many artifts in Italy had vainly attempted to find out
that fecret ; they never hit on the true method. It hap¬
pened once that John, in his ufual manner, having high¬
ly finiflied one of his pidlures on boards, and having var-
niflied it with his new invented varnilh, expofed it to
dry in the fun 5 but whether the boards were not well
joined, or whether the heat of the fun was too violent,
the boards fplit afunder and opened in the junftures.
John faw with concern that his work was fpoiled, and
refolved to contrive fomething againft future accidents
of the fame kind. Being-difgufted at diftemper painting
and varnifhing, he thought of a varnilh that might dry
without funfhine ; and having tried many oils and fub-
Jlances, he found that linfeed and nut oil dried better
ting,
19
Tiie Fle-
mifh
fchool.
Hiftoryj
than any other. He boiled them with fbme other drugs, Schools,
and produced the beft varnifti in the world. Ever bent
on improvements, he found, after much inquiry, that
colours mixed with thefe oils worked and dried extreme¬
ly well, and when dried would be water-proof. He ob-
ferved likewife, that thefe oils would animate and give
them a glofsand luftre without any further varnifhing.^
F he truth, however, of this account is now very much
queftioned ; and it is even proved by the manufcripts of
Theophilus Prelhyter, and alfo by fome old paintings in
England, that this method of painting was difcovered
long before the time of John Van Flyek. At the fame
time we admit, that John and his brother Hubert may-
have been the firft who brought oil painting into gene¬
ral pradlice, not only by Ihowfng the excellence of which
it was fuiceptible, but alfo by making feveral improve¬
ments on the art. And this is the more probable, from
the great reputation which their pidlures acquired over
all Europe, by the foftnefs and delicacy of their colours.
The attention of the Italian painters was chiefly ex¬
cited, infomuch that Antoine de Meflina performed a
journey into Flanders for the expre.fs purpofe of acquir¬
ing the confidence of John Van Eyck, and of difcover-
ing the fecret.
John de Bruges was the founder of painting as a pro-
feflion in Flanders; Peter Paul Rubens was the founder
of the art. This extraordinary perfon produced an im-
menfe number of works. He excelled equally in hifto-
rical, portrait, and landfcape painting ; in fruits, flow¬
ers, and in animals. He both invented and executed
with the greateft facility ; and to fhow the extent of his
powers, he frequently madfe a great number of Iketches
on the fame fubjedl altogether different, without allow¬
ing any time to elapfe between them. The works of
Rubens were deftitute of that foft infpiration, produ&ive
of fweet and pleafant effedls, fo confpicuous in the works
of Raphael ; but he poflefled that fprightlinefs of genius
and ftrength of mind which is ever ready to burft forth
in wonderful and aftonifhing eflfedls. His figures ap¬
pear to be the exaft counterpart of his conceptions, and
their creation nothing more than a Ample aft of the
will.
His talent for defign is unjuftly cenfured, for on eve¬
ry occafion his defign is noble and Cafy. He had great
knoxvledge of anatomy, but he was hurried away by the
impetuofity of his imagination and the ardour for execu¬
tion ; he preferred fplendour to the beauty of forms, and
facrificed correftnefs of defign too often to the magic of
colours. In ftiort, his qualities fuppofe a mind full of
fire and vigour, rather than accuracy or profound
thought. His drapery may be confidered rather as fine
than properly adapted to his figures ; for, in the lan¬
guage of the art, to c/ot/ie and to give drapery are not
fynonymous terms. A portrait painter may excel in
clothing his perfonages, while he is totally incapable of
giving good drapery to a hiftorical painting. His chief
merit confifts in colouring ; though in this branch of
the art he has not equalled Titian. He is the firft
among painters eminent for pomp and majefty ; the
firft among thofe who fpeak to the eye, and the power
of the art is often carried by him almoft to enchant¬
ment.
It is evident from the works of Rubens, that his me¬
thod of painting was to lay the colours in their place,
one at the fide of another, and mix them afterwards
liftory. PAIN
Schools, a fllglit touch of the pencil. Titian mingled his tints as
— y—are in nature, in fuch a manner as to make it im*
poffible to difcover where they began or terminated $
the effect is evident, the labour is concealed. Thus Ru¬
bens is more dazzling, and Titian more harmonious. In
this part, the firft excites the attention, the fecond fixes
it. The carnations of Titian referable the blulh of na¬
ture ; thofe of Rubens are brilliant and polilhed like fa-
tin, and fometimes his tints are fo ftrong and feparated
as to appear like fpots.
“ Rubens (fays Sir Jolhua Reynolds) is a remarkable
inftance of the fame mind being feen in all the various
parts of the art. The whole is fo much of a piece, that
one can fcarce be brought to believe but that if any one
of them had been more correft and perfect, his works
would not be fo complete as they appear. If we Ihould
allow a greater purity and corredtnefs of drawing, his
want of fimplicity in compofition, colouring, and dra¬
pery, would appear more grofs.”
In his compofition his art is too apparent. His fi¬
gures have expreflion, and aft with energy, but with¬
out fimplicity or dignity. His colouring, in which he
is eminently Ikilled, is notwithftanding too much of
yvhat we call tinted. Throughout the whole of his works
there is a proportional want of that nicety of diliinc-
■ tion and elegance of mind, which is required in the
higher walks of painting •, and to this want it may be in
fume degree aferibed, that thofe qualities which make
the excellency of this fubordinate ftyle appear in him
with their greateft luftre.—Indeed the facility with
which he invented, the richnefs of his compofition, the
luxuriant harmony and brilliancy of his colouring, fo
dazzle the eye, that, whiltl his Works continue before
us, we cannot help thinking that all his deficiencies are
fully fupplied.
The Flemilh fchool, of which Rubens is the greateft
mafter, is remarkable for great brilliancy of colours and
the magic of the claro-obfcuro. To thefe may be joined
a profound defign, which is yet not founded on the moft
- beautiful forms ; a compofition poflefled of grandeur, a
certain air of noblenefs in the figures, ftrong and natural
exprefiions j in fhort, a kind of national beauty, which
is neither copied from the ancients nor from the Roman
nor Lombard fchools, but which deferves to pleafe, and
L ^ ^ ^ *s capable of pleafing.
To fpeak in general terms, and without regarding a
great number of exceptions, the Dutch fchool carries
l none of the above qualities to great perfeftion, except
that of colouring. Far from excelling in the beauty of
heads and forms, they feem chiefly to delight in the ex-
aft imitation of the loweft and moft ignoble. Their
fubjefts are derived from the tavern, the fmith’s (hop,
and from the vulgar amufements of the rudeft peafants.
The expreflions are fufficiently marked ; but it is the ex¬
preflion of paflions which debafe inftead of ennobling
human nature. One would think that they praftifed
the art of degrading the bodies and fouls of men.
It muft be acknowledged, at the fame time, that the
Dutch painters have fucceeded in feveral branches of
the art. If they have chofen low objefts of imitation,
they have reprefented them with great exaftnefs ; and
truth muft always pleafe. If they have not fucceeded
in the moft difficult parts of the claro-obfcuro, they at
leaft excel in the moft ftriking, fuch as in light confined
in a narrow fpace, night illuminated by the moon or by
Vol. XV. Part II.
TING. 641
torches, and the light of a fmith’s forge. The Dutch Sch°ol:s- _
underftand the gradations of colours j and by their know- "—v—
ledge of contrail they have arrived at the art of paint¬
ing light itfelf. They have no rivals in landicape paint¬
ing, confidered as the faithful reprefentation or pifture
of a particular feene; but they are far from equalling
Titian, Pouflin, Claude Lorrain, &c. who have carried
to the greateft perfeftion the ideal landfcape, and whofe
piftures, inftead of being the topographical reprefenth-
tion of certain places, are the combined refult of every
thing beautiful in their imagination or in nature. The
Dutch, however, diftinguifh themfelves by their per-
fpeftive, by their clouds, fea feenes, animals, fruits,
flowers, and infefts; and they excel in miniature paint¬
ing. In fhort, every thing which requires a faithful
imitation, colour, and a nice pencil, is well executed by
the Dutch painters.
Holland has alfo produced hiftory painters, as Oc¬
tavius Van Been, and Vander Hilft the rival of Van¬
dyke, and perhaps his fuperior : but it is not in the works
of thofe artifts that we find the eharafter of the Dutch
fchool.
Neither is the origin of their ftyle to be derived from
the works of Lucas of Leyden, though, from the time
he flourilhed, viz. about the end of the 15th century, he
may be confidered as the patriarch of the Dutch fchool.
Lucas painted in oil, in water colours, and on glafs 5 and
the kinds of his painting were hiftory, landfcape, and
portrait. His pifture of the Laft Judgment is pre-
ferved in the Hotel-de-Ville of Leyden 5 it poflefTes vaft
merit in point of compofition, and a great variety of
figures.
If miniature painting be confidered as a charac-
teriftic of the Dutch fchool, Cornelius Polembourg
may be regarded as the father of it. He pofleifed the
colour, delicacy of touch, and difpofition of the claro-
obfcuro, Which chiefly diftinguifh this fchool } and if
any thing is to be added, it is want of correftnefs in his
defign.
But if the choice of low figures is its chief charafterif- /
tic, this is to be found in the greateft perfeftion in the
works of the celebrated Rembrandt Vanryn ; and it is
the more offenfive in this artift, as his compofitions fre¬
quently required an oppofite choice of figures. As his
father was a miller near Leyden, his education muft
altogether have depended on the exertion of great ta¬
lents and the ftudy of nature. He ftudied the gro-
tefque figure of a Dutch pealant or the Fervant of an inn
with as much application as the grcatelt mailers of
Italy Avould have ftudied the Apollo of Belvidere or
the Venus de Medicis. This was not the manner of
elevating himfelf to the noble conceptions of Raphael -j
but it was acquiring the imitation of truth in vulgar
painting.
“ Rembrandt (fays M. Defcamps) may be compared
to the great artifts for colour and delicacy of touch and
claro-obfcuro. It appears that he would have difeover-
ed the art, though he had been the firft perfon that ever
attempted it. Fie formed to himfelf rules and a method
of colouring, together with the mixture of colours and
the effeft of the different tones. Fie delighted in the
great oppofitions of light and ftiade ; and he feems to
have been chiefly attentive to this branch of the art. His
•workfhop was occafionally made dark, and he received
the light by a hole, which fell as he chofe to direft it
4 M on
642
Schools, on the place which he defined to be enlightened. On
v~ particular occalions he pafted behind his model a piece
of cloth of the fame colour with the ground he wanted j
and this piece of cloth receiving the fame ray which en¬
lightened the head, marked the difference in a fenfible
manner, and allowed the painter the power of augment¬
ing it according to his principles.
“ Rembrandt’s manner of painting is a kind of magic.
No artift knew better the effects of different colours
mingled together, nor could better diitinguiih thofe
•which did not agree from thofe which did. He placed
every tone in its place with fo much exadnefs and har¬
mony, that he needed not to mix them, and fo deiiroy
what may be called the flower and frethnefs of the co¬
lours. He made the firit draught of his pidures with
great precifion, and with a mixture of colours altoge¬
ther particular : he proceeded on his firfl: Iketch with a
vigorous application, and fometimes loaded his lights with
fo great a quantity of colour, that he feemed to model
rather than to paint. One of his heads is faid to have a
nofe nearly as much projeded as the natural nofe which
he copied.”
Such is the power of genius, that Rembrandt, with
all his faults, and they are enormous, is placed among
the greateff artifls by M. Defcamps, who faw his
works, and was himfelf an artifl. It is neceflary to
obferve, that if Rembrandt was ignorant of the effen-
tial parts of his art, or negleded them, he was yet ac¬
quainted with expreflion, which alone was capable of
giving animation to his works. His expreflions are not
noble, but they are juft, lively, and excited with great
judgment.
John de Laer, a miniature painter, and who made
choice of his fubjeds from common life, deferves a di-
ftinguifhed place in the Dutch fchool. He painted hunt-
ing-fcenes, the attacks of robbers, public feftivals, land-
fcapes, and fea-views •, and he ornamented his pidures
with old ruins, and enriched them with figures of men
and animals. He had a corred defign, and employed
vigorous and lively colouring.
Van Oftade, although born at Lubeck, Gerard Dow,
Metzu, Miris, Wovermans, Berghero, and the cele¬
brated painter of flowers Van Huyfum, belong to the
Dutch fchool.
The greater part of the fchools of which we have
treated have no longer any exiftence. Italy alone had
four fchools, and there only remain at prefent a very few
Italian artifts known to foreigners. The fchool of Ru¬
bens is in vain fought for in Flanders. If the Dutch
fchool ftill exifts, it is not known beyond the preeinds
of Holland. Mengs a German artifl; has made him¬
felf famous in our days ; but it was in Italy that he
chiefly improved his talents and exercifed his art.
M. Dietrich, another German, has made himfelf known
to ftrangers j but two folitary artifts do not form a
2t fchool.
The Eng- A new fchool is formed in our times and in our own
lilh fchool. country, called the Knglijh fchool. It is conneded with
the academy in London, inftituted in 1766 by letters
patent from the king, and formed only in 1769* Sir
Jolhua Reynolds is the undoubted founder of it. His
works give him a diftinguiftied rank among the artifts
of the prefent age, and exhibit a genius in their author
which has feldom been furpaffed : but the effeds which
Hiftorj
he has contrived to give to them by the formation of a Schools
new ichool, and by the good principles which his dif-—y—!
eourles to academicians, and his example as a painter,
have diffeminated, will fecure his reputation as long as
England ihall eftcem the advantages and the worth of
great abilities. The Englilh tafte appears to be formed
on the great mafters of the Italian and the - Flemilh
fchools. Sir Jolhua was a great admirer of Michael
Angelo, and particularly recommends him to the atten¬
tion of the academicians. “ I feel ffays Sir Joftma), a
felf-congratulati<>n in knowing myfelf capable of fuch
fenfations as he intended to excite. I refled, not with¬
out vanity, that thefe difcourfes bear teftimony of my
admiration of that truly divine man j and I fliould de-
fire that the laft words which I ftiould pronounce in
this academy, and from this place, might be the name
of—Michael Angelo.” But though he thus entlmfiafti-
cally admired this very great man, yet he allows, what
cannot indeed be denied, that he was capricious in his
inventions : “ And this (fays he) may make fome eir-
cumfpedion neceffary in itudying his works 5 for though
they appear to become him, an imitation of them is al¬
ways dangerous, and will prove fometimes ridiculous.
‘ In that dread circle none durft tread but he.’ To me,
I confefs, his caprice does not lower the eftimation of
his genius, even though it is fometimes, I acknowledge,
carried to the extreme j and however thofe eccentric
excurfions are confidered, sve muft at the fame time re¬
coiled:, that thofe faults, if they are faults, are fuch as
never could occur to a mean and vulgar mind; that they
flowed from the fame fource which produced his greateft
beauties ; and were therefore fuch as none but himfelf
w'as capable of committing; they were the power¬
ful impulfes of a mind unufed to fubjedion of any
kind, and too high to be controuled by cold criti-
cifm.”
The effed of Sir Joftma’s difcourfes is vifible in the
pidures of this fcheol. The Death of General Wolfe,
the Departure of Regulus for Cartilage, the Arrival of
Agrippina, and fome other fubjeds, are decided proofs
that the Englilh fchool is acquainted with greatnefs of
ftyle, boldnefs of expreflion, and the art of managing a
great number of figures. It will be fortunate for the
painters of this fchool, if, more rigid with regard to
their forms, than ambitious of poignant and aftoniftnng
effeds, they fupport the charader which they have
already acquired. But although England had not
enjoyed this brilliant fuccefs in painting, ftie would
have immortalized berfelf by the excellency of her en¬
gravings.
It is eafy to perceive in all thofe fchools the caufe
of the charader which diftinguifties them. In the Ro¬
man fchool, it is the excellent education of its firft
mafters, together with the precious remains of an¬
tiquity found in the ruins of ancient Rome. In the
Venetian fchool, the magnificence derived from the
commerce of the eaft, the frequency of feafts and
mafquerades, and the neceffity of painting to the rich
and luxurious, who were accuftomed to behold thefe
magnificent objeds, were the caufes of its gaudy tafte.
In the Dutch fchool, the peculiarity of its grovelling
manner may be accounted for from the habits of the
artifts. Accuftomed to vifit taverns and workftiops,
and having moft commonly expofed to their view
PAINTING.
Hiflory.
School;, low and grotefque figures, they reprefent in their pic-
—-v tures the objedts which were nloft familiar to them in
life.
*Kncychp- “ Beauty (fays a French writer*) ought to be the
BMOT^rtr.charadleriftic of the Englifli fchool, becaufe the artifts
uro- ** have it often expofed to their view. If this beauty is
not precifely fimilar to that among the ancients, it is
not inferior to it. The Englilh fchool Ihould alfo di-
ftinguilh itfelf for truth of expreflion ; becaufe the liber-
' ty enjoyed in that country gives to every paflion its na¬
tural and unbiaffed operation. It will probably long
preferve its fimplicity unpolluted by the pomp of thea¬
trical talle and the conceit of falfe graces, becaufe
the Englilh manners will long preferve their fimpli-
city.
“ Examine the pidlure of a Frenchwoman (continues
he) painted by an artilt of that nation, and you will ge¬
nerally find, in place of expreffion, a forced grin, in
which the eyes and the forehead do not partake, and
which indicates no affedlion of the foul. Examine the
pidlure of an Englilhwoman done by one of their pain¬
ters, and you obferve an elegant and Ample expreflion,
which makes you at once acquainted with the charadler
of the perfon reprefented.”
Sect. III. Comparifon between the Ancient and Modern
Painting.
No perfon of judgment or tafle hefitates to give the
fuperiority to the ancient fculpture •, but the moderns
comfort themfelves with refufing the fame fuperiority
to the Greek artifts in the art of painting. The fmall
number of their productions which remain, and the pro¬
bable conjedlures which may be formed concerning thofe
which have perilhed, go the length to prove that the
Greek painters conducted themfelves on other principles
than thofe which have received the fanCtion of cuftom
and the force of laws in our fchools. But this cenfure
might be applied with equal juftice to Homer as an epic
poet, and to Sophocles and Euripides as writers of tra-
gedy.
The principal difference between the ancient and
modern manner of painting con lifts in the complica¬
tion of figures, and the pompous decoration o»f feenery
which prevails in the modern, when compared with
the unity and limplicity of the ancient painters. "I his
fimplicity, however, does not feem to arife from the
want of capacity, but from a choice, as Polygnotus,
one of their moll ancient painters, reprefents in one
of his pieces the liege of Iroy, and in another the
defeent of Ulyffes into hell j but they foon decided in
favour of fimplicity, and their pieces generally contain
one or two figures, and very rarely more than three or
four.
Poetry in this particular is conduced on very dif¬
ferent principles. A poet may with great propriety
multiply his charafters, and enter into details of a
variety of aflions, becaufe the whole of his chara£lers
and aflions do not occupy the mind of his reader at
the fame time. The whole of his art confifts in ma¬
king one naturally fucceed another ; but every part
of the poem which contains a feparate tranfaftion
would make a piflure capable of fixing the attention.
In painting, the eye takes in the whole ; and it is by
no means fatisfied if 20 or 30 figures are prefented to
PAINTING.
it, which it cannot poflibly comprehend.
643
It is in Compari-
vain to group the figures, or to call the attention to tween t.re
the principal objeft by a greater degree of light •, the Ancient
fpe&ator is anxious to examine every objetft which is and Mo-
prefented to him ; and if they are not to be examined, dern. ^
for what reafon are they painted ? An excellent piece,
at the fame time, confifting of a great number of fi¬
gures, will give pleafure ; but it is accompanied with
that fatigue which one experiences when he runs over
a gallery furniftied with a great variety of excellent
pi&ures.
Thofe obfervations on the attention of the fpeflator
led the Greeks to make fimilar ones on the attention of
the artift. They perhaps thought that the painter who
had to execute a great variety of figures in the fame
work, could not ftudy each of them with equal accuracy
and care 5 and of confequence that he might produce
fomething aftoniftiing in the extent, and yet difgufting
in the detail.
This difference, however, between ancient and mo¬
dern painting, cannot give any decided principle to de¬
termine on their comparative merit. W'e are accuftom-
ed to behold affemblages in nature ! and it is a fa<ft, that
even in affecting feenes a great number of figures may
not only be brought together, but that they may heigh¬
ten the diftrefs. It is fuppofing a picture to have little
effeft, to imagine that we can coolly, and with the fame
kind of attention, examine the principal and the accef-
fory figures. If it is highly finilhed, our whole foul muft
be abforbed in that objeft which the artift. intended to
be moft confpicuousq and if we give any attention to
the furrounding figures, we fliall confider them as fpec-
tators of the fame feene, and derive from them an addi¬
tion of fympathy and of feeling. '1 he whole queftion
in this particular point of view amounts to this, that
the moderns have chofen a more difficult part •, and
if they have executed it with fuccefs, their merit is
greater. And this obfervation will hold good, unlefs it
can be proved that it is utterly impoffible to make an
affemblage of figures lead to one general and common
effefl.
The proper manner of deciding the comparative me¬
rit of the ancients and moderns, is to coniider, as far as
we have fufficient data to go upon, to what degree the
ancients excelled in the particular departments of this
art. There are two fources from which we can derive
information j namely, from the morfels of antiquity which
yet remain, and from what the ancient writers have faid
on the fubjeft of painting, both of which are extremely
defective. It is allowed, however, by every Ikilful per¬
fon who has viewed the remains of ancient paintings,
that none of them appear to be the performances of fu-
perior artifts, notwithftanding much merit in the defign
and accuracy in the drawing, which indeed fee ms to
have been habitual to almoft every ancient artift. The
beft among thefe paintings (according to Sir Joffiua
Reynolds), “ the fuppofed marriage in the Aldroban-
" dine palace,” is evidently far fhort of that degree of ex¬
cellence undoubtedly implied in the deferiptions of an¬
cient authors, and which from them we are fairly led to
expeft.
Sill more defeftive, if poffible, is this laft fpeeies of
evidence: for we have no direft treatife remaining on
the fubjefl by any of the ancients, although many were
compofed by their artifts. The paffages from which we
4 M 2 are
&f4
^fon be”" are t0 dec5cle are’ eItlier ^ie curfory remarks of writers
tween the liot e^Fef'sly treating on the fubje£l of painting, or the
Ancient defcriptions of thofe who at bell can rank but as ama-
and Mo- teurs of a fafhionable art. From thefe. indeed we may
, flern- pretty fafely affert the degree of excellence which the
paffages imply 5 but we Ihould reafon very inconclufive-
ly, tvere we to deny them any higher or any other me¬
rit than appears to be Ifri&ly contained in thefe fcatter-
ed obfervations. Let any one for a moment place the
modern painters in his mind in the fame fituation as the
ancients, and he will quickly decide on the truth of
thefe remarks.
Neverthelefs, it is neceflary on this fubjeft to derive
lome conclufions from the information which is occa-
fionally given in ancient auothors. That the ancients
paid a particular attention to defign, would be evident
from the manner in which they fpeak of this depart¬
ment of the graphic art, even though the modems were
not in pofleffion of fuch remaining proofs of their ex¬
cellence herein (though by artifts of an inferior clafs),
as to place this point beyond the reach of doubt.
Indeed, when it is confidered that, with refpedl to
freedom and corredlnefs of outline, painting and fculp-
ture are very nearly connected; that Phidias and A-
pelles were nearly contemporaries ; that many of the
ancient painters, fuch as Zeuxis, Protogenes, Apelles,
&c. were accuilomed to modelling for the purpofe of
fculpture or of calling ; that the extreme elegance of
clefign in the ancient llatues is fo notorious as to be
the acknowledged model even for modern artifts; and
that thefe ornaments of fculpture were well known and
univerfally admired among the ancients—we lhall have
little hefitation in admitting their equality with the mo¬
derns fo far as defign is concerned. But Ihould any
doubt remain on this point, the drawings from the an¬
tiquities of Herculaneum will be llriking proofs that
truth, elegance, and fpirit, in a degree rarely to be met
with among the moderns, were habitual even to the
common run of artifts in the declining age of ancient
painting.
The ancients excelled moreover not merely in the
common and obvious parts of delign; but they appear
to have had no inconfiderable degree of Ikill in the art
forefhortemng. The performance of Paufanias is a
proof of this : Fecit autem grancles tabu/as Jicut fpe&atam
. in Pompeii porticibus bourn immolationem. Earn enim
piBuram primus invenit, quam pojlea imitati funt multi,
equuvit nemo. Ante omnia, cum longitudinem bovis of-
tendere ve/let, adverfum eum pinxit, non tranfverfum, et
abunde inteUigitur amplitudo. Dein cum omnes qui vo-
lunt eminentia viden, candicantia faciant, coloretnque
condant, hie totum bovem atri co/oris fecit; umbrceque
corpus ex ipfo dedit; magna prorfus arte in ecquo extan-
tia oftendens et in confradio folida omnia.
Nor will it be difficult to Ihow, that the ancient pain¬
ters were not inferior to the moderns in expreffion. The
ftate of fculpture alone among the ancients would al-
inoft furniffi a decifive proof that the filler art of paint¬
ing could not be deficient. Among the ancient lla¬
tues which yet remain, expreffion is carried to a wmn-
derful height j not merely the features of the face,
but almoft every mufcle of the body, combining to en-
. force the idea intended to be conveyed.
inland'11' . Webb * very properly obferves, that “ the an-
Foetry, cients thought characters and manners fo effential to
V- *4^
Hiftory,
painting, that they exprefsly term painting an art de- Compan-
fcriptive of manners. Arillotle in his Poetics fays of he-
Polygnotus, that he was a painter of the manners j and tween the
objedls to Zeuxis, his weaknefs in this part.” We have ^CJJnt
in Philollratus the following defcription of a picture : ^demT"
“ We may inltantly (fays he) dillinguilh Ulyffes by his1 
feverity and vigilance j Menelaus by his mildnefsj and
Agamemnon by a kind of divine majelty. In the fon
of Tydeus is expreffed an air of freedom 5 Ajax is known
by his fallen fiercenefs; and Antilochus by his alertnefs.
To give to thefe fuch fentiments and aCtions as are con-
fequential from their peculiar char afters, is the ethic of
painting.”
Another inltance of excellence in expreffion among
the ancient paintings was the Medea of Timomachus.
She was painted about to kill her infants. Aufonius
fpeaks with admiration of the mingled expreffion of
anger and maternal fondnefs in her face and man¬
ner.
Immanem exhauft rerum in tliverfa laborem
Finger et affeSlum matris ut ambiguum,
Irafub ejl lachrymis, miferatio non caret irat
Altere utrum videos ut Jit in altere utro.
It may not be amifs, however, at this period of our in¬
quiry, to make fome obfervations on the tellimonies of
ancient authors refpefting this fubjeft.
^ It is certainly true, that when the works of an an¬
cient artilt are praifed for any real or fuppofed merit,
the commendations will be relative to the degree of
perfeftion to which the art had arifen at the time, and
to the opportunities of information, the talle, and judge¬
ment of the perfon who bellows them. Excellence
will always be afcribed to him who leaves his cotem¬
poraries far behind ; and thofe performances will often
be confidered as fupremely beautiful which exceed in
beauty all that have gone before.
In like manner, a perfon of natural fenfibility, but
who has^ been accuflomed all his life to performances of
an inferior llamp, will be in raptures at any which much
exceed the bell he has heretofore been taught to admire j
and whatever opportunities of information he may have,
his evidence will not be of much weight, if he do not
poffefs a fufficient degree of talle and judgment to ufe
them properly.
In afcertaining therefore the degree of credit due to
the praifes bellowed on any performance in a branch of
the fine arts, w'e mull take into confideration the gene¬
ral Hate of the art at the time, and the competence of
the perfon who bellows the praife.
.No flight degree of probability, however, may be at¬
tained on both thefe points, by attending to a circum-
llance not generally noticed, viz. that in an advanced
Hate of the art, and when the obferver is acquainted
with his fubjeft, the praife will feldom be given in loofe,
general, and comprehenfive expreffions ; but the terms
in which it is conveyed will be charafterillic and deter¬
minate, and often technical; they will frequently fhow
the Hate of the art, by marking the fubdivifions and the
Ikill of the obferver by judicious difcrimination. When,
added to thefe, the latter can refort for comparifon to
auy exiffient ftandard of perfeftion, his praife may fairly
be adopted in its full extent, and regarded as evidence
upon the point in queltion.
To apply thefe obfervations to painting, it is clear,
'with.
PAINTING.
Hiftory.
Compari- with refpeft to the msft difficult, the moft fundamental,
fon be- ancj tLe higheft in rank among the departments of the
tween the ^ vjz> gef!gn anci expreffton, that the ancients were
and Tlo e(lua^ t0 ^ie mo^erns ? anc^ '■heir expreffions of
2 dern. " praife muft be allowed to imply an equal degree of abfo-
lute ikill, with fimilar expreffions, if applied to the great
mafters of modern art. It is alfo clear that painting was
extremely cultivated among the ancients, and that their
good painters were more efteemed than artifts of equal
merit in modern times j that what we ffiould term gen¬
tlemen arlifts were frequent with them (apud Romanos
•quoque honos mature huic arti con tig it); and that the
expreffions of the ancient connoiffeurs evince much theo¬
retical and technical knowledge of the art, and difplay
a diftribution of its parts almoft as minute, complete,
and fcientific, as the prefent ftate of it can boaft.
With regard to colouring, the praifes of the ancient
authors chiefly relate to the ftyle of it as exerted upon
Angle figures or particular tints. It may therefore be
doubted whether the ancients were poffeffed of the art
of diflributing their colours through the whole of a pic¬
ture, fo as to produce an harmony and general tone of
colouring fimilar to that which we admire in the Lom¬
bard and Flemifli fchools. The prefent remains of an¬
cient paintings do not appear to warrant any fuch con-
clufion •, but being undoubtedly the works of inferior
hands, their authority is very fmall when alleged
againft the general or particular merit of the ancient ar-
tiiis. The following extracts will be fufficient to evince,
that the ancients did attend to this technical branch of
colouring.
Indeed the modern technical expreffions appear bor¬
rowed from the following paffage of Pliny, which may
be regarded as decifive on the fubjefl. Tandem fe/e
ars ipfa dijiinxit, et invenit lumen atque umbras, diffe¬
rentia colorum alterna vice fefe excitante. Dem adjeBus
ejl fplendor ; alius hie quam lumen ; quern quia inter hoc
et umbram ejfet appeliaverunt tonon. Commijfuras vero
colorum et Iran fit us, harmogen. The lumen atque um¬
bras of this paffage might have been regarded as mere¬
ly deferiptive of the light and fliade neceflary to relieve
fingle figures, if it were not for the fubfequent defini¬
tion of tone. The harmogen of Pliny means the hand¬
ling or Ikilful blending and foftening colours into one
another, rather than what ive now call harmony.
f In his Lucian in his fine defeription of that fpirited
Zeuxis. painting by Zeuxis of the male and female centaurs,
after relating the treatment of the fubjeft itfelf, pro¬
ceeds to notice the technical execution of the pidlure;
and he praifes particularly the truth and delicacy of the
drawing, the perfeft blending of the colours, the Ikilful
lhading, the fcientific prefervation of fize and magni¬
tude, and the equality and harmony of the proportions
throughout the whole piece.
Painters, fays Plutarch, increafe the effeft of the
light and fplendid parts of a pifture by the neighbour¬
hood of dark tints and lhades. And Maximus Tyrius
obferves, that bright and vivid colours are always plea-
fant to the eye } but this pleafure is always leffened if
you omit to accompany them with fomewhat dark and
gloomy. Thefe paffages feem to imply a knowledge
of the ufe of cold and dark tints even where a bril¬
liancy of tone is required. The beft among the an¬
cient painters, however, feem to have preferred a chafle
645
and fober ftyle of colouring to the gaudinefs and flutter Compari-
, • n 0 Ion be¬
ef the later artifts. . , . . . tween the
Upon the whole, therefore, with reipect to colour- Ancient
ing as employed upon Angle figures, as the ancients an(t Mo-
were fully as competent to judge ol excellence herein dern-
as the moderns j as the expreliions of the ancient con- '
noifleurs are very warm in praife of the colouring of
many of their painters 5 as they appear alfo to have at¬
tended very much to the art of colouring j and more¬
over, as probable evidence can be adduced that they at¬
tended to miniature painting—a confiderable degree of
merit may be allowed them in the ufe of the colours
they pofli-ffed.
Chiaro-fcuro, or the art of placing and proportioning
light and ffiade in fuch a manner as to produce a plea-
fing effect, independently of any other circumftance
connefted with the pifture, has been commonly deem¬
ed a chara&eriftic difference between the knowledge of
ancient and modern painters. On this fubjeft the works-
of the ancients norv remaining give little or no informa¬
tion ; hence Sir Jolhua Reynolds obferves, “ that this,
which makes fo confiderable a part of the modern art,
wras to them totally unknown. If the great painters
had poffeffed this excellence, fome portion of it would
have infallibly been diffufed, and have been difeovered,
in the works of the inferior ranks of artifts which have
come down to us, and which may be confidered as on
the fame rank with the paintings that ornament our
public gardens.” But the accounts of the places where
thefe paintings have been found, make it evident that
they were thus ornamented at a very confiderable ex¬
pence. The generality of them confift of fingle figures;
fome of them of two or three figures, generally relieved
by an uniform ground j and, except in a few inftances,
evidently defigned as mere reliefs to a compartment,
and anfwering, as near as may be, to the ftuccoed orna¬
ments in our modern rooms •, nor do any of them feem
the works of artifts equal in their day to thole at
prefent employed on the painted ceilings of private
houfes.
The Abbe du Bos maintains, on the other hand, that
what Pliny and other ancient writers fay concerning the
claro-obfcuro and the delightful diftribution of light
and lhade, is altogether decifive ; and that their wri¬
tings are full of fo many probable circumftances, that
it cannot be denied that the ancients at leaft equalled
the moft celebrated of the moderns in this part of the
art.
On the examination of the greater part of the paf¬
fages from antiquity, it is evident that they may re¬
late to the light and ftiade of fingle figures, without in¬
volving what is now called the fcience of the claro-ob¬
fcuro. The paffage of Pliny, however, already quoted,
and feveral others, go very near to prove that this branch
of painting was underftood among the ancients. The
dark, the light, and mezzotint, are evidently and accu¬
rately deferibed in that paffage.
Equally itrong is that expreffion in Quintilian :
Zeuxis luminum umbrarumque rationem inveniffe tradi-
tur. This cannot well be otherwife tranflated than by
the fcience of light and ffiade.
That fome technical knowledge of the effeeff produ¬
cible by majfes of light and ffiade was poffeffed by the
ancients, appears indubitable from the paffages adduced:
to
PAINTING.
dern.
CfonPbeU t0 extent was carricd cannot now be afeertained.
tween*the probability they were much inferior in this re-
Ancient to the moderns; otherwife, although much fcience
and ,vlo- of this kind could hardly be expefted from the trifling
performances that remain, much more would have oc-
■" curred on the fubjeft, it would have been more largely
dwelt on, and more precifely exprefled among the ob-
fervations of ancient authors on the belt painting of the
ancient mailers.
Neither is there fufficient evidence that the ancients
were eminent in that important branch of the compo-
fition of a piflure, which confifb in diftributing the fi¬
gures and objefts in groups, or mafles. There are few
examples of this difficult-branch of the art among the
remaining antiquities; and indeed from the paucity of
the figures introduced in the generality of thefe ancient
paintings, there is little room to expefl them. But
what makes it Hill more doubtful whether the ancients
attained any degree of eminence in grouping is, that
among the many paintings of thefe great mailers enu¬
merated by Pliny, Lucian, or Philoftratus, there is none
of them praifed for this fpecies of excellence. This,
however, it mull be confefled, may as well arife from
want of knowledge in the writer as of Ikill in the artiffi;
for in a picture found in Herculaneum,' which reprefents
in all probability the education *>f Achilles, the figure
of an old man holding a child on his knees, together
with that of a woman behind him, form a very agreeable
group. A work of the fame collection, painted in one
colour on marble, confilts of five figures grouped very
much after the modern idea, if it vrere not that three of
the heads are at the fame height. It is extremely pro¬
bable, that this morfel had been the copy of a picture
finiihed in the purelt times of the art. But although it
were proved that the ancients did not attempt grouping
their figures, it is Hill uncertain whether this might not
arife from their peculiar and perhaps excellent taile in
the arts. Wilhing to enjoy in the fullell manner their
painted figures as they enjoyed the afpecl of a ftatue,
they took care that every figure ffiould be detached from
another in the fame picture, which permitted them to
give their obje&s more relief, and to render them more
dillinCl to the eye of a dillant fpeClator.
We are not therefore to conclude, that they were en¬
tirely ignorant of grouping, on the one hand ; or that
they declined the execution of it from want of fkill, on
the other. Indeed it actually appears to have been
technically attended to by them, whatever might be
their comparative excellence in it; for Apelles is ex-
prefsly afierted by Pliny to have been inferior to Me-
lanthius in compofition (tfe difpojitione): and one of
their paintings mentioned by the fame author, is faid to
have contained one hundred figures ; but this unwieldy
number mull have been offenfive, if they were not
grouped with fome fkill.
From the conneClion between the filler arts of poetry,
painting, and fculpture, and the admirable performances
of the ancients in the other two departments of the fine
arts, it is reafonable to conclude that the ancient paint¬
ers were not deficient in invention. Many inflances,
were it neceffary, might be collected in fupport of their
well-founded claim to this branch of the art; but it
will be fufficient to obferve, that as invention is rather a
.natural endowment than an acquired talent, and as the
PAINTING. Hiftory.
ancients univerfally feem to be at leaft equal to the mo- Compa
derns in the gifts of genius and good fenfe, we cannot fon ke-
but admit, on their part, an equality with ourfelves fo tme" d'e
far as invention is concerned. andMo*
Very nearly connected with the fubjeft of invention deni. *
is that of the cq/hime ; by which is meant an attention l—y*—»
to probability with refpeft to times, places, obje£ts,
perfons, and circumflances in the tranfa&ion reure-
fented.
The ancient paintings now remaining, fo far from ex-
bibiting any proofs of attention to this important branch
of the art, are full of grofs violations of probability,
and reprefentations of impoffible connedtion. But very
little flrefs is to be laid on thefe inflances; firfl, becaufe
they are evidently the performances of artifls of no re¬
putation; fecondly, becaufe none of them to which this
objedlhm can be made are regular reprefentations of any
perfon or tranfadlion; and thirdly, becaufe, as they
were (for the mofl part) manifeltly intended as orna¬
ments to apartments, the tarte of the owner, and not of
the artift, Avould of courfe be chiefly confulted. No¬
thing, however, can be more clear than that the an¬
cients required an attention to probability in the works
of their artifls ; and from the manner in which their
writers exprels themfelves on the fubjedl (not fo much
recommending the pradlice of it as taking it for grant¬
ed), we may rea fon ably conclude, that their belt paint¬
ers were feldom guilty of any grofs violation of the cof-
tume. Sint Ji£ia Jimillima veris was an apophthegm ge¬
nerally known, and when known muff have been uni¬
versally admitted.
The principles of the coftume are W'ell expreiTed and
illuflrated by Horace in the firfl lines of his Art of
Poetry ; and Vitruvius, lib. vii. chap. 5. fays, that no
pictures can be approved of which have not a refem-
blance to truth and nature. Whether the ancient
painters put in practice a greater fhare -of good fenfe
with refpedl to the coflume than the moderns, cannot
now be accurately determined ; the advantage feems to
be in favour of the former; for, as we fhall have occa-
fion more particularly to obferve afterwards, the molt ,
celebrated of modern painters from Raphael to Sir Jo-
fhua Reynolds have been guilty of fuch flagrant breaches
of probability, as Would appear aftonifhing to thofe who
are not in the habit of expefling them.
It has been doubted whether the ancients were ac¬
quainted with the fcience of perfpe&ive: and if the re¬
mains of ancient painting were alone to decide the que-
flion, it mufl be determined againfl them: for the works
of the ancient painters now in pofleflion of the moderns
afford no proof of attention to the rules of perfpedlive
equal to the performance of a modern fign-painter.
The piflure of the facrifice among the Herculanean an¬
tiquities, and the fourth of the prints which Bellori has
publifhed and deferibed, taken from the paintings in the
fepulchre of the Nafonii, are barely tolerable; but the
other landfcapes (almofl the only remaining antique
paintings which admit of perfpeftive) are grofsly de¬
fective in this particular ; fo much fo indeed, that con-
fidering the late period when landfcape-painting was in¬
troduced among the ancients, together with this mani-
fefl imperfedion in point of perfpeftive of fuch as are yet
extant, we cannot help fufpeCting the inferiority of the
ancients in this refpeCt. In perfpe£tive, as in the chiaro-
feuro.
/
Hiftory.
painting;
fcuro, had good pra&ace been common, fome traces
would have been difcovered in the works of their loweft
artiils.
And yet fome general knowledge of the principles,
and fome degree of attention to the practice, of per-
fpe&ive, cannot well be denied to the ancients. They
were good mathematicians, they were excellent archi-
tedls, and fome of them .are celebrated for their Ikill in
fcene-painting. Geminus the Rhodian, contemporary
with Cicero, was the author of an ‘exprefs treatife on
perfpe&ive j and Euclid, Heliodorus, Lariffeus, Aga-
tharcus, wrote alfo on the fame fubjeft. It is well
known, befides, that the ancients praftifed the art of
painting in perfpeftive on walls in the fame way that it
is now done by the moderns 3 Pliny (Nat. Hill. lib.
xxxv. c. 4.) fays, that one of the walls of the theatre
of Claudius Pulcher, reprefenting a roof covered with
tiles, was finilhed in fo mafterly a manner, that the
rooks, birds of no ftnall fagacity, taking it for a real
roof, attempted to light upon it. We are likewife told,
that a dog was deceived to fuch a degree^ by certain
Reps in a perfpe&ive of Dantos, that expelling to find
a free palfage, he made up to them in full fpeed, and
dalhed out his brains. But what is Hill more, Vitruvi¬
us tells us in exprefs terms by whom and at what time
this art was invented. It was firlf pra&ifed by Aga-
thareus, a contemporary of iEfchylus, in the theatre of
Athens 3 and afterwards reduced to certain principles,
and treated as a fcience, by Anaxagoras and Democri¬
tus 3 thus faring like other arts which exifted in praftice
before they appeared in theory.
Portrait painting feems to have been a principal em¬
ployment of the firlt artift whom the ancients have te
boaft of, fince Alexander is faid to have permitted no
painter but Apelles, and no fculptor but Phidias, to take
his likenefs. Pliny particularizes feveral inltances of
Apelles as a portrait painter.
In the drawing and colouring, of fingle figures, to
which the ancients paid particular attention, they mult be
allowed to be equal, if not fuperior, to the moderns.
That fpirit and' animation, eafe and dignity, were com¬
mon to the performances of ancient artifts, the ancient
itatues and paintings ftill remaining molt evidently
evince 3 and as they poflefled, therefore, all the requi-
fites to excel in portrait painting, a branch of the art at
all times much in requeft among them, there is good
dern.
"V
647
reafon to infer, in favour of the ancients, at lealt an Compari-
equality with the moderns in this refpeft. tween'the
On the whole, all the principal parts of the art, as Ancient
purity of defign, and beauty and exprelhon in the forms, an(i m0-
were not only to be found in the ancient ilatues, but
were aftually the foundation of excellence in modern
painting 3 and hence we may conclude that their
painters formed on tire fame models, and very often
the fame men who excelled in fculpture, were not infe¬
rior in thofe branches of the art. But with regard to
the inferior parts, the allurement of colouring, the inge¬
nuity of the claro-obfcuro, the fplendour of compofition,
the art of grouping figures, and the nice handling of the
pencil, the moderns are fuperior to thofe ancient painters
who have moll deferred the notice of their contempora¬
ry writers. It is Hill to be obferved, however, that the
progrefs of the arts among the ancients, from the prin¬
cipal parts to the more Iplendid, was fomewhat fimilar
to that among the moderns 5 and as the painters of the
firfl rank were more immediately the objefts of criticifm
and delight to authors of genius, it is impolhble at this
dillance ®f time to Hate any accurate companion be¬
tween the ancients and moderns in what may be termed
the decay of the art. This is particularly the cafe with
regard to colours, there being in ancient as well as in
modern times two epochs 3 the one comprehending Po-
lygnotus and his immediate fucceflors, and the other the
painters, both of Greece and Rome after the art began
to decay. The colouring of Poly.gnotus-was hard, and
his manner had fomething of wildnefs 3 but his defign
was in the highell llyle of perfection. In the fue-
ceeding ages the colorring was more varied, more bril¬
liant, more harmonious, and the handling more agree¬
able ; but the defign was lefs elegant and exaft, And
the true connoilfeurs continued to prefer the works of the
ancient fehool, in the fame manner that the bell writers
in our times prefer the works of the Roman and Vene¬
tian mailers to the more brilliant piftures of their lue-
ceflors. Erom this llatement of fafts it is abundantly
evident, that from the ancient authors we can form fome
comparifon between the bell ancient and modern paint¬
ers in thofe things which are moll excellent in the art j
while in the inferior parts, from the filence of authors,
and the lofs of paintings, w'e have no grounds upon
which a comparifon can be accurately made.
Part I. Principles of the Art, and the Order of the ArtifPs Studies.
WE have joined thefe together, becaufe they are
like caufe and effeft 3 and comprehend both on what
parts in the execution of the art the painter is to em¬
ploy his chief attention, and alfo the manner in which
he is to employ it. We (hall not therefore be confined
to the dry and abllraft, and as it were unembodied prim,
ciples, but conneft them with the ufeful and agreeable
branches of the art, in that order in which it appears to
us they fliould be Itudigd.
Sect. I. Of Anatomy.
To alk if the lludy cf anatomy is requifite t® a
painter, is the fame thing as to alk if, in order to learn
5
any fcience, a man mull firll make himlelf acquainted
with the principles of it. It would be an ufelefs walte
of time to cite, in confirmation of this- truth, the autho¬
rities of the ancient mailers, and the molt celebrated
fchoolsi A man, who is unacquainted with the form
and conllruftion of the feveraf bones which fupport and
govern the human frame, and does not know in what
manner the mufcles moving thefe bones are fixed to
them, can make nothing of what appears of them through
the integuments with which they are covered; and
which appearance is, however, the n'obkli objeft of the
pencil. It is impoflible for a painter to copy faithfully
what he fees, unlefs he thoroughly underftand it. Let
him employ ever fo much time and iludy in the attempt,.
it
648 PAIN
Anatomy, it cannot but be attended with many and great miftakes :
   ’juft as it mutt happen to a man, who undertakes to
copy fomething in a language which he does not un-
derttand j or to tranflate into his own, what he has
written in another, upon a fubjedt with which he is not
acquainted.
It feldom happens, that nothing more is required of a
painter than to copy exactly an object which he has be¬
fore h im. In ftill and very languid attitudes, in which
every member is to appear motionlefs and dead, a living
model may, no doubt, yield for a long time a faithful
image, and prove an ufeful pattern to him. But in re¬
gard to geftures any way hidden, motions any way vio¬
lent, or thofe momentary attitudes which it is more fre¬
quently the painter’s bufinefs to exprefs, the cafe is quite
different. In thefe a living model can hold but an in-
ftant or two $ it foon grow’s languid, and fettles into a
fixed attitude, which is produced by an inflantaneous
Concourfe of the animal fpirits* If, therefore, a painter
pollefs not fo thoroughly all the principles of anatomy,
as to be at all times able to have immediate recourfe to
them ; if he know not the various manners in which
the feveral parts of the human body play, according to
their various pofitions 5 living models., far from proving
an ufeful pattern to him, will rather tend to lead him
affray, and make him loie fight of truth and nature, by
exhibiting the very reverfe of what is required, or at
leaft exhibiting it in a very faint and imperfeft man¬
ner. In living models, we often behold thofe parts
flow, which fliould be quick ; thofe cold and torpid,
which ihould have the greateft (hare of life and fpirit
in them.
Nor is it, as fome may be apt to imagine, merely to
reprefent athletic and vigorous bodies, in which the parts
are moft bold and determined, that anatomy is requifite :
it fhould be underflood to reprefent perfons of the moft
delicate frame and condition, even women and children,
whofe members are fmoothert and roundeft, though the
parts made known by it are not to be ftrotigly expreffed
• in fuch objeft ; juft as logic is equally requifite under
the poliftied infinuations of the orator, and the rough
arguments of the philofopher.
But it is needlefs to fpend much time in proving, that
a painter ftiould be acquainted with anatomy ; or in
{bowing, how far his acquaintance with it Ihould extend.
For inrtance, it is unneceffary for him to enter into the
different fyftems of the nerves, blood-veffels, bowels, and
the like 5 parts which are removed from the fight, and
which- therefore may be left to the furgeon and the phy-
' fician, as being a guide in the operations of the former
and in the preferiptions of the latter. It is enough for
the painter, to be acquainted with the Ikeleton j in other
words, with the figure and connexion of the bones.
Which are, in a manner, the pillars and props of a hu¬
man body ; the origin, progrefs, and fhape of the
mufcles which cover thefe bones ; as alfo the different
degrees in which nature has clothed the mufcles with
fat, for this fubftance lies thicker upon them in fome
places than in others. Above all, he ftiould know in
what manner the mufcles effeft the various motions and
geftures of the body. A muffle is eompofed of two
tendinous and flender parts, one called the head, the
other t\\e tail, both terminating at the bones j and of an
intermediate part, called the belly. The aftidn of a
muffle confifts in an extraordinary fwelling of this in-
TING. patt L
termediate part, while the head remains at reft, fo as to Anatomy,
bring the tail nearer the head, and confequently the u
part to which the tail of the muffle is fixed, nearer to
that part into which the head is inferted.
There are many motions to effect which feveral of
the muicles (for this reafon called co-operating mufcles')
muff fwell and operate together, while thofe calculated
to effect a contrary motion (and therefore called antago-
nijl mufcles) appear foft and flaccid. Thus, for exam-"
pie, the biceps and the brachheus internus labour when
the arm is to be bent, and become more prominent than
ufual •, while the gemellus, the brachiaeus externus, and
the aneonaeus, whofe office is to extend the arm, conti¬
nue, as it were, flat and idle. The fame happens re-
fpe&ively in all the other motions of the body. When
the antagonift muffles of any part operate at one and
the fame time, fuch part becomes rigid and motionlefs.
This action of the muffle is called tonic.
Michael Angelo intended to give the public a com¬
plete treatife upon this fubjeft j and it is no ftnall mis¬
fortune, that he never accompliftied fo ufeful a defign.
This great man, having obffrved, as Ave are told in his
life by Condivi, that Albert Durer Avas deficient on the
fubjeft, as treating only of the various meafures and
forms of bodies, Avithout faying a Avord of their attitudes
and geffures, though things of much greater importance,
refolved to compofe a theory, founded upon his long
pratffice, for the ffrvice of future painters and ftatuaries.
And, certainly, no one could be better qualified to give
anatomical precepts for that purpoff, than he who, in
competition with Da Vinci, defigned that famous cartoon
of naked bodies, Avhich Avas ftudied by Raphael himfelf,
and afterwards obtained the approbation of the Vati¬
can, the greateft ffhool of the art Ave are iioav treating
of.
Fhe Avant of Michael Angelo’s precepts may, in
fome meafure, be fupplied by other books written on
the fame fubject by Moro, Cefio, and Tortebat; and
lately by Boucherdon, one of the moft famous ftatu¬
aries in France. But nothing can be of equal fervice
to a young painter, with the leffons of fome able diffec-
tor j under Avhom, in a few months, he may make him¬
felf mafter of every branch of anatomy Avhich he need
to be acquainted Avith. A courfe of ofteology is of no
great length j and of the infinite number of muffles dif-
covered by curious myologifts, there are not above 80
or 90, Avith Avhich nature fenfibly operates all thofe mo¬
tions which he can ever have occafion to imitate or ex-
prefs. Thefe, indeed, he ftiould cloffly ftudy, thefe he
Ihould carefully ftore up in his memory, fo as never to
be at the leaft lofs for their proper figure, fituation, office,
and motion.
But there is another thing, befides the diffeflion of
dead bodies, by which a young painter may profit
greatly ; and that is anatomical calls. Of thefe we
have numbers by feveral authors ; nay, fome which pafs
under the name of Buonarroti himfelf. But there is
one in Avhich, above all the reft the parts are tnoft di-
ftinflly and lively expreffed. This is the performance
of Hercules Belli, who has perhaps gone greater lengths
in this kind of ftudy than any other mailer. We have,
befides, by the fame able hand, feme calls of particular
parts of the human body, fo curioufly coloured for the
ufe of young painters, as to reprefent thefe parts exactly
as they appear on removing the integuments} and thus,
by
Part I.
PAINTING.
649
Anatomy, by the difference in their colour as tvell as configura-
k-—V—tion, render the tendinous and the flefliy parts, the
belly and the extremities of every mufcle, furprilingly
diftinft j at the fame time that, by the various direc¬
tion of the fibres, the motion and play of thefe mufcles
become very obvious j a work of the greateft ufe, and
never enough to be commended ! Perhaps, indeed, it
would be an improvement, to give the mufcles various
tints ; thofe mufcles efpecially which the pupil might
be apt to be miftake for others. For example, though
the maftoides, the deltoides, the fartorius, the facia la¬
ta, the gafterocnemii, are, of themfelves, fufficiently
diftinguiihable, it is' not fo with regard to the mufcles of
the arm and of the back, the right mufcles of the belly,
and fome others, which, either on account of the many
parts into which they branch, or of their being inter¬
woven one with another, do not fo clearly and fairly
prefent themfelves to the eye. But let the caufe of
confufion to young beginners be what it will, it may be
effectually removed, by giving, as already hinted, dif¬
ferent colours to the different mufcles, and illumining
anatomical figures •, in the fame manner that maps are
coloured, in order to enable us readily to diitinguilh the
fevcral provinces of every kingdom, and the feveral do¬
minions of every prince.
The better to underftand the general effeft, and re¬
member the number, lituation, and play of the mufcles,
it will be proper to compare, now and then, the anato¬
mical caffs, and even the dead body itfelf, with the li¬
ving body covered with its fat and Ikin *, and above all
things, with the Greek ftatues ftill in being. It was
the peculiar happinefs of the Greeks, to be able to cha¬
racterize and exprefs the feveral parts of the human bo¬
dy much better than we can pretend to do ; and this,
on account of their particular application to the ffudy
of naked figures, efpecially the fine living ones which
they had continually before their eyes. It is well
known, that the mufcles moft ufed are likewifethe moft
protuberant and confpicuous •, fuch as, in thofe avIio
dance much, the mufcles of the legs; and in boatmen,
the mufcles of the back and arms. But the bodies of
the Grecian youth, by means of their conftant exertion
of them in all the gymnaftic fports, were fo thoroughly
exercifed, as to fupply the ftatuary with much more
perfeCt models than ours can pretend to be.
There are a great many exercifes, which a young
painter fhould go through while engaged in the ftudy of
anatomy, in order to make himfelf more thoroughly
mafter of that fcience. For example: The thighs of any
figure, a Laocoon for inftance, being given, he ffiould
add to them legs fuitable to that ftate in which the
mufcles of the thighs are reprefented, that is, the mufcles
which ferve to bend and extend the legs, and to effec¬
tuate in them fuch a precife politico and no other. To
the fimple contour of an anatome or a ftatue, he
Ihould add the parts included by it, and give it a fy~
ftem of mufcles conformable to the quality of that par¬
ticular contour ; for every contour denotes fome one
certain attitude, motion, exertion, and no other. Exer¬
cifes of this kind would foon eftablilh him in the moft
fundamental principles of painting, efpecially if he had
an opportunity of comparing his drawings with the fta¬
tue or caff from which the parts given him to work up¬
on were taken, and thereby difeovering and correcting
VOL, XV. Part II.
his miftakes. This method is very like that ufed by
thofe who teach the Latin tongue , when, having given
their fcholars a paffage of Livy or Ciefar already tranf-
lated into their mother-tongue, to tranflate back into
Latin, they make them compare their work with the
original text.
Perfpec-
live.
Sect. II. Of Perjpeflive.
The ftudy of perfpeCtive Ihould go hand in hand witit
that of anatomy, as not lefs fundamental and neceffary.
In fact, the contour of an objeCt drawn upon paper or
canvas, reprefents nothing more than fuch an interfec-
tion of the vifual rays fent from the extremities of it to
the eye, as would arife on a glafs put in the place of the
paper or canvas. Now, the fituation of an objeCt at
the other fide of a glafs being given, the delineation of
it on the glafs itfelf depends entirely on the fituation of
the eye on this fide of the glafs $ that is to fay, on the
rules of perfpeftive : a fcience which, contrary to the
opinion of moft people, extends much farther than the
painting of feenes, floors, and what generally goes un¬
der the name of quadratura. PerfpeCtive, according
to that great mafter da Vinci, is to be confidert d as the
reins and rudder of painting. It teaches in what pro¬
portion the parts fly from, and leffen upon the eye j
how figures are to be marflialled upon a plain furface,
and forelhortened. It contains, in ftiort, the whole ra¬
tionale of defign.
Such are the terms which the mafters beft grounded
in their profeffion have employed to define and com¬
mend perfpeCtive : fo far were they from calling it a
fallacious art, and an inf dious guide; as fome amongft
the moderns have not blulhed to do, infilling that it is
to be followed no longer than it keeps the high road, or
leads by eafy and pleafant paths. But thefe writers
plainly (how, that they are equally ignorant of the na¬
ture of perfpeCtive, which, founded as it is on geome¬
trical principles, can never lead its votaries aftray ; and
of the nature of their art, which, without the affiftance
of perfpeCtive, cannot, in rigour, expeCt to make any
progrefs, nay, not fo much as to delineate a fimple
contour.
When a painter has formed a fccne in his mind, and
fuppofed, as it is cuftomary, that the capital figures of
this feene lie clofe, or almoft clofe, to the back of his
canvas, he is, in the next place, to fix upon fome point
on this fide of the canvas, from which he W'ould choofe
his piece ftiould be feen. But in cheofing this point,
which is called the point of fight, regard fliould be had
to its fituation to the right or left of the middle of the
canvas : but, above all things, to its diftance and its
height with refpeCt to the lower edge of the canvas;
which edge is called the bafe line, and is parallel with
the horizontal line that paffes through the eye. For by
affuming the point of fight, and confequently the hori¬
zontal line, too low, the planes upon which the figures
Hand will appear a great deal top (hallow ; as, by affu¬
ming it too high, they will appear too deep, fo as to
render the piece far lefs light and airy than it ought to
be. In like manner, if the point of fight is taken at
too great a diftance from the canvas, the figures will
not admit of degradation enough to be feen with fuffi-
cient diftir.CInefs j and if taken too near it, the degra-
4 datioit
650 P A I N
Perfpec- dation will be too quick and precipitate to have an
. tl^e' agreeable effefl. Thus, then, it appears, that no fmall
attention is requilite in the choice of this point.
When a picture is to be placed on high, the point of
fight fhould be alTumed low, and vice verfa ; in order
that the horizontal line of the pifture may be, as near
as poffible, in the faaae horizontal plane with that of
the fpedlator 5 for this difpofition has an amazing tffeft.
When a picture is to be placed very high, as, amongft
many others, that of the Purification, by Paolo Veronefe,
engraved by le Fevre, it will be proper to affume the
point of fight fo low, that it may lie quite under the
pifture, no part of whofe ground is, in that cafe, to be
viilble ; for, were the point of fight to be taken above
the picture, the horizontal ground of it ■would appear
Hoping to the eye, and both figures and buildings as
ready to tumble head foremoft. It is true, indeed, that
there is feldom any neceffity for fueh extraordinary
exadlnefs ; and that, unlefs in feme particular cafes, the
point of fight had better be rather high than low : the
reafon of which is, that, as we are more accultomed to
behold people on the lame plane with ourfelves, than ei¬
ther higher, or lower, the figures of a piece mult ftrike
us molt when Handing on a plane nearly level with that
upon which vve ourfelves Hand. To this it may be ad¬
ded, that by placing the eye low, and greatly Ihortening
the plane, the heels of the back figures will Idem to bear
again!! the heads of the foremoll, fo as to render the di-
flance between them far lefs perceptible than otherwife
it would be.
The point of fight being fixed upon according to the
fituation in which the picture is to be placed, the point
of diftance is next to be determined. In doing this, a
painter Humid carefully attend to three things : firfl, that
the fpeftator may be able to take in, at one glance, the
whole and every part of the compofition ; fecondly, that
he may fee it diflindlly 5 and, thirdly, that the degrada¬
tion of the figures and other objedfs of the picture be
fufficiently fenfible. It would take up too much time
to lay down certain and precife rules for doing all this,
confidering the great variety in the fizes and iliapes of
pidlures ; for which reafon we mufl leave a great deal
to the diferetion of the painter.
But there is a point Hill remaining, which will not
admit of the leafl latitude. This is, the delineation of
the pidlure, when once the point of fight has been fix¬
ed upon. The figures of a pidlure are to be connder-
ed as fo many columns eredfed on different fpots of the
fame plane ; and the painter muH not think of defigning
any thing, till he has laid down, in perfpedlive, all thole
columns which are to enter his compofition, with the moff
fcrupulous exadlnefs. By proceeding in this manner, he
may not only be fure of not committing any miflake in
the diminution of his figures according to their different
diffances, but may Hatter himfelf with the thoughts of
treading in the Heps of the greatefl mailers. It is to the
pundlual obfervance of tliefe laws, that we are to attri¬
bute the grand effedl of fume paintings by Carpazio and
Mantegna, fo carelefs in other refpedfs ^ whereas a fingle
fault again!! them is often fufficient entirely to Ipoil the
works of a Guido, in fpite of the fublimity and beauty
of his fuperior flyle.
Now, as the demonflration of the rules of perfpedlive
depends on the dodlrine of proportions, on the properties
o»f fimilar triangles, and on the interfedlion of planes, it
TING. part. j
will be proper to put an abridgement of Euclid into the Symmetry,
hands of the young painter, that he may underHand thefe
rules fundamentally, and not Hand confined to a blind
pradlice of them : but, then, there is nothing in this
author relative to the art of painting, which may not
be eafily acquired in a few months. For, as it would
be of no ufe to a painter to launch out into the anatomi¬
cal depths of a Monro or an Albinus, it would be equal¬
ly fuperfluous to perplex himfelf with the intricacies of
the higher geometry with a Taylor, who has handled
perfpedtive with that rich profoundnefs, which we can¬
not help thinking does a great deal more honour to a ma¬
thematician, than it can poflibly bring advantage to a
limple artiil.
But though a much longer time were requifite to be¬
come a perfedt mailer of perfpedlive, a painter, furely,
ought not to grudge it •, as no time can be too long to
acquire that knowledge, without which he cannot poffi-
bly expedt to fucceed. Nay, we may boldly affirm, that
the Ihortell road in every art is that which leads through
theory to pradlice. From theory ariles that great faci¬
lity, by means of which a man advances the quicker, in
proportion as he is Hirer of not taking a wrong Hep ;
whilfl thofe, who are not grounded in the fcience, labour
on in perpetual doubt ; obliged, as a certain author ex-
preffes it, to feel out their way with a pencil, jult as the
blind, with their Hicks, feel for the itreets and turnings,
with which they are not acquainted.
As pradlice, therefore, ought in every thing to be built
upon principle, the Hudy ol Optics, as far as it is re¬
quifite to'determine the degree in which objedls are to
be illuminated or {haded, Ihould proceed hand in hand
with that of perlpedtive : And this, in order that the
fliades, caH by figures upon the planes on which they
Hand, may fall properly, and be neither too Hrong nor
too light j in a word, that thofe mofl beautiful effedls
of the chiaro-fcuro may run no rilk of ever receiving
the lie from truth, which footer or later difeovers itfelf
to every eye.
Sect. III. Of Symmetry.
The fludy of fymmetry, it is obvious, fhould imme^
diately follow that of anatomy ; for it would avail us lit¬
tle to be acquainted with the different parts of the human
body, and their feveral offices, we were at the fame time
ignorant of the order and proportion of thole parts in re¬
gard to the •whole in general, and to each other in par¬
ticular. The Greek Hatuaries diffinguiftied themfelves
above all others, as much by the jufl fymmetry of their
members, as by their {kill in anatomv j but Polyeletes Plir.ii
furpaffed them all by a Hatue, called the Rule, from
which, as from a moil accurate pattern, other artiffsf g
might take meafures for every part of the human body.
Thefe meafores, to fay nothing of the books which treat
profeffedly of them, may now be derived from the Apollo
of Belvedere, the Laocoon, the Venus of Medici*, the
Faunus, and particularly the Antinous, which laft was
the rule of the learned Pouffin.
It is the general opinion of painters, that the ancients
were not fo happy in reprefenting the bodies of children,
as they are allowed to have been in reprefenting thofe of
women and men; especially thofe of their gods; in which
they excelled to fuch a degree, that with thefe gods were
often worffiipped the artiHs who had carved them. Vet
PAINTING.
5 Cic. in.
Verrem, dc
/ignis
Strabo,
lib. ix-
riin. Nat.
Wfl. lib.
xxxvi. c. 5.
the Venus of Gfiidus by Praxiteles vras not more famous
than her Cupid, on whofe account alone people flocked
to Thcfpue To children, fay they, the ancients knew
not how to impart that foftnefs and effeminacy which
Flammingo has fince contrived to give them, by repre-
fenting their cheeks, hands, and feet, fuelled, their heads
large, and with fcarce any belly. But fuch critics feem
to forget, that thefe firft fketches of nature very feldom
come in the painter’s way, and that this puny and deli¬
cate date has not in its form even the lead glimmering
of perfedlion. The ancients never undertook to repre-
fent children lefs than four or five years old ; at which
age the fuperfiuous humours of the body being in fome
meafure digeded, their members begin to affume fuch a
contour and proportion as may ferve to point out what
they are afterwards likely to be. This obfervation is
confirmed by the children which we meet with in an¬
cient bado-relievos and paintings : for they are all doing
one thing or another 5 like thofe mod beautiful little
Cupids in a picture at Venice, who are playing with
the arms of Mars, and lifting up the ponderous fword
of that deity ; or that little urchin in the DanUe of
Caracci, who empties a quiver of its arrows in order to
fill it with the golden fhower. Now, what can be a
greater blunder in point of codume, than to attribute
aftions, which require fome degree of drength and
judgment, to infancy, to that raw and tender age fo
totally unable to govern and fupport itfelf ?
Let a y#ung painter confider the Greek datues ever
fo often, of whatever chara&er or age they may be re-
prefented, it is impodible he fhould ever confider them
without difeovering new beauties in them. It is there¬
fore impodible he could copy them too often, accor¬
ding to that judicious mottd placed by Maratti on his
print called T/ie fch'ool. This truth was acknowledged
by Rubens himfelf 5 for though, like one bred, as he
was, in the foggy climate of the Low Countries, he
generally painted from the life •, in fome of his works
he copied the ancients; nay, he wrote a treatife on the
excellency of the ancient datues, and on the duty of a
painter to dudy and imitate them. As to the fatirical
print, or rather pafquinade, of the great Titian, in
which he has reprefented a parcel of young monkeys
aping the group of Laocoon and his fons} he intended
nothing more by it than to lalh the dulnefs and poverty
of thofe artids, who cannot fo much as draw a figure
without having a datue before them as a model.
In fadt, reafon requires, that an artid fhould be fo
much mader of his art, as feldom to dand in need of a
pattern. To what other purpofe is he to fweatand toil
from his infancy, and fpend fo many days and nights
in dudying and copying the bed models; tfpecially the
fined faces of antiquity, which we are dill poffeffed of;
fuch as the two Niobes, mother and daughter; the
Ariadne, the Alexander, the young Nero, the Silenus,
the Nile : and likewife the fined figures; for indance,
the Apollo, the Gladiator, the Venus, and others ; all
which (as was faid of Pietro Feda), he fliould have, as
it were, perfectly by heart! With a dock of excellencies
like thefe, treafured up in his memory, he may one day
hope to product fomething of his own without a model;
form a right judgment of thofe natural beauties which
fall in his way ; and, when occafion offers, avail himfelf
properly of them.
It is very injudicious to fend boys to an academy to
draw after naked figures, before they have imbibed a Syrnmetry.^
proper relidr for beautiful proportions, and have been v '
well-grounded in the true principles of fymmetry. They
diould fird learn, by dudying the precious remains of
antiquity, to improve upon life ; and difeern where a
natural figure is faulty through diffnefs in the members,
or clumfinefs in the trunk, or in any another refpeci; fo as
to be able to correct the faulty part, and reduce it to its
proper bounds. Painting, in this branch, is, like
medicine, the art of taking away and adding.
It mud not, however, be diflembled, that the me¬
thods hitherto laid down are attended with fome dan¬
ger : for by too flavifh an attention to datues, the young
painter may contraft a hard and dry manner ; and by
dudying anatomies too fervilely, a habit of reprefentjng
living bodies as dripped of their fkin : for after all, there
is nothing but what is natural, that, befides a certain
peculiar grace and livelinefs, poffeffes that fimplicity,
eafe, and foftnefs, which is not to be expedled in the
works of art, or even in thofe of nature when deprived
of life. Poudin himfelf has now and then given into
one of thefe extremes, and Michael Angelo very often
into the other; but from this we can only infer, that
even the greated men are not infallible. It is, in diort,
to be confidered as one indance, among a thoufand, of
the ill ufe thofe are wont to make of the bed things,
who do not know how to temper and qualify them pro¬
perly with their contraries.
But no fuch danger can arife to a young painter from
confining himfelf for a long time to mere defign, fo as
not to attempt colouring till he has made himfelf mader
of that branch. If, according to a great mader *, co-* Pouffin,
lours in painting are in regard to the eye what numbersin his Life
in poetry are in regard to t]pe ear, fo many charms toby^e*‘®ri’
allure and captivate that fenfe ; may avc not affirm, that
defign is in the fame art xvhat propriety of language is
in Avriting, and a jud utterance of founds in mufic ?
Whatever fome people may think, a piidure defigned
according to the rules of perfpedlive and the principles
of anatomy, Avill ever be held in higher edeem by good
judges, than a picture ill defigned, let it be ever fo Avell
coloured. Hannibal Caracci fet fo great a value upon
the art of contour, that, according to fome expreffions
of his which have reached us, he confidered almod exrery
thing elfe as nothing in comparifon with it. And this
his judgment may be judified, by confidering, that na¬
ture, though die forms men of various colours and com¬
plexions, never operates in the motions contrary to the
mechanical principles of anatomy, nor, in exhibiting
thefe motions to the eye, againd the geometrical Iuavs
of perfpe&ive : a plain proof, that, in point of defign,
no midake is to be deemed trifling. Hence avc are en¬
abled to feel all the Aveight of thofe Avords in xvhich
Michael Angelo, after he confidered a piflure draAvn
by a prince of the Venetian fchool, addreffed Vafari!
“ What a pity it is,” faid lie, “ that this man did not
fet out by fludying defign !” As the energy of nature
diines mod in the fmalled fubje&s, fo the energy of art
dunes mod in imitating them.
Sect. IV. Of Imitation.
When you confider art as the imitation of nature
(fays Mengs), it is not to be underdood that nature,
Avhich is the objeft, is more perfedl than art which.
4 N 2 imitates
6j2 PAIN
Imitation, imitates it. Nature, it is confeiTed, offers fome views
v of which the imitation muft for ever remain imperfect,
as in the inftance of the claro-obfcuro j but, on the
other hand, in every thing relative to beauty of form,
imitation may even furpafs nature. Nature, in her pro¬
ductions, is fubjeCt to many accidents. Art, labouring
•, on pailive and obedient materials, renders perfect the
objedts of its creation, choofes every thing in nature the
moft excellent, and colledts the different parts and the
different beauties of many individuals into one whole. It
is feldom that we find in the fame man greatnefs of foul
and the due proportions of body, vigour, fupplenefs,
firmnefs, and agility, joined together. Art conftantly
reprefents what is rarely or never to be met with in hu¬
man nature ; regularity in the outlines, grandeur in the
forms, grace in the attitudes, beauty in the members,
force in the breaft, agility in the limbs, addrefs in the
arms, franknefs in the forehead, fpirit in the eyes, and
affability over the whole countenance. Let an artift
give force and expreffion to all the parts of his fubjedt,
let him vary this force and expreffion as different cir-
cumftances make it neceffary, and he will foon perceive
that art may furpafs nature. But although this be
granted, the artift is not to imagine that art is uBualhj
arrived at this fupreme degree of perfedtion, and can pro¬
ceed no farther. The moderns feem never to have per¬
ceived the track pointed out by the ancient Greeks: for,
fince the revival of painting, the true and the agreeable,
inftead of the beautified, have been the objedts of culti¬
vation. Still, however, imitation is the firft part of the
art of painting, though not the moll excellent or beauti¬
ful. It is a neceffary ilep in the progrefs which leads
forward to greater perfedtion.
A painter ought attentively to confider, compare to¬
gether, and weigh in the balance of reafon and truth, all
the different ftyles of the great mailers 5 but he ought
likewife carefully to guard againft too great a fondnefs
for any one of them in particular that he may think pro¬
per to adopt 5 otherwife, to ufe the expreffion of a firft-
* Drt Vinci rate mafter*, inftead of the child, he would become the
on Famt- grand child of nature.
‘ Befides, his imitation muft be of generals, and not of
particulars. Whatever a young painter’s natural difpo-
fition may be, whether to paint boldly and freely like
Tintoret and Rubens, or to labour his works, like Ti¬
tian or da Vinci, let him follow it. This kind of imi¬
tation is very commendable. It is thus that Dante, at
the fame time that he carefully avoided adopting the
particular expreffions of Virgil, endeavoured to feize his
bold and free manner, and at laft caught from him that
elegance of ftyle which has done him fo much honour.
As to the reft, nothing fhould hinder an able mafter
from making ufe now and then of any antique, or even
modern figure, which he may find his account in em¬
ploying. Sanzio, in a St Paul at Lyjlra, fcrupled not
to avail himielf of an ancient faerifice in bafl'o-relievo •,
nor did Buonarroti himfelf difdain to ufe, in his paint¬
ings of the Sextine chapel, a figure taken from the fa¬
mous cornelian which tradition tells us he wore on his
finger, and which was lately in the poffeffion of the moft
Chriftian king. Men like thefe avail themfclves of the
produflions of others in fuch a manner as to make us ap¬
ply to them, what La Bruyere faid of Defpreaux, that
one would imagine the thoughts of other men had been
?f his own creation.
TING- . Parti.
In general, a painter fhould have his eye conftantly Imitation
fixed on nature, that inexhauftible and varied fource of' w—'
every kind of beauty ; and ftiould ftudy to imitate her
in her moft fingular effe&s. As beauty, fcattered over
the whole univerfe, ftiines brighter in fome objefts than
in others, he fhould never be without his little book
and crayon, in order to make drawings of every beau¬
tiful or uncommon object that may happen to prefent
itielf, and take fketehes of every fine building, every
fituation, every effeft of light, every flight of clouds,
every flow of drapery, every attitude, every expreffion
of the paffions, that may happen to ftrike him. He
may afterwards employ thefe things as occafions offer ;
and in the mean time will have the advantage of acqui¬
ring a grand tafte.
It is by carefully ftudying the beft mafters, and imi¬
tating nature, that a painter arrives at the ftyle of per¬
fedtion which the Italians call gujlo grando, the French
le beau ideal, and the Englifh the great Jhjle.
“ A mind (fays Sir Jofhua Reynolds), enriched by an
affemblage of all the treafures of ancient and modern art,
will be more elevated and fruitful in refources in propor¬
tion to the number of ideas which have been carefully
collected and thoroughly digefted.
“ The addition of other men’s judgment is fo far from
weakening, as is the opinion of many, our own, that it
will fafhion and confolidate thofe ideas of excellence
which lay in their birth feeble, ill-fhaped, and confufed ;
but which are finilhed and put in order by the authority
and practice of thofe, whofe works may be faid to have
been confecrated by having ftood the left of ages.
“ When we fpeak of the habitual imitation and con¬
tinued ftudy of mafters, it is not to be underftood that I
advife any endeavour to copy the exa£t peculiar colour
and complexion of another man’s mind 5 the fuccefs of
fuch an attempt muft always be like his who imitates
exactly the air, manner, and geftures, of him whom he
admires. His model may be excellent, but he himfelf
will be ridiculous ; and this ridicule arifes not from his
having imitated, but from his not having chofen the
right mode of imitation.
“ It is a neceffary warrantable pride to difdain to
walk fervilely behind any individual, however elevated
his rank. The true and liberal ground of imitation is an
open field, where, though he who precedes has had the
advantage of ftarting before you, yet it is enough to
purfue his courfe : you need not tread in his footfteps j
and you certainly have a right to outftrip him if you
can.
“ Nor, whilft I recommend ftudying the art from
artifts, can I be fuppofed to mean that nature is to be
neglefted : I take this ftudy in aid, and not in exclufion
of the other. Nature is, and muft be, the fountain,
which alone is inexhauftible ; and from which all ex¬
cellencies muft originally flow,
“ The great ufe of ftudying our predeceffors is to
open the mind, to fhorten our labour, and to give us
the refult of the feledtion made by thofe great minds of
what is grand or beautiful in nature : her rich ftores are
all fpread out before us ; but it is an art, and no eafy
art, to know how or what to choofe, and how to attain
and fecure the objeft of our choice.
“ Thus the higheft beauty of form muft be taken
from nature 5 but it is an art of long deduction and
great experience to know how to find it. I cannot
avoid.
3
Parti. PAIN
Colouring, avoid mentioning liere an error which ftudents are apt
-v ' to fall into.
“ He that is forming himfelf muft look with great
caution and warinefs on thofe peculiarities or prominent
parts which at firft force themfelves on view, and are
the marks, or what is commonly called the manner, by
which that individual artift is diftinguifhed.
“ Peculiar marks I hold to be generally, if not al¬
ways, defe&s, however difficult it may be wholly to
efcape them.
“ Peculiarities in the works of art are like thofe in
the human figure •, it is by them that we are cognizable
and diftinguifhed one from another 5 but they are al¬
ways fo many blemifties, which, however, both in the
one cafe and in the other, ceafe to appear deformities to
thofe who have them continually before their eyes. In
the works of art, even the moft enlightened mind, when
warmed by beauties of the higheft kind, rvill by degrees
find a repugnance within him to acknowledge any de¬
fers ; nay, his enthufiafm will carry him fo far as to
transform them into beauties and objedls of imitation.
“ It muft be acknowledged, that a peculiarity of
ftyle, either from its novelty, or by feeming to proceed
from a peculiar turn of mind, often efcapes blame j on
the contrary, it is fometimes ftriking and pleafing •, but
it is vain labour to endeavour to imitate it, becaufe no¬
velty and peculiarity being its only merit, when it ceafes
to be new, it ceafes to have value.
“ A manner, therefore, being a defeft, and every
painter, however excellent, having a manner, it feems
to follow that all kinds of faults as well as beauties
may be learned under the fandlion of the greateft autho¬
rity.”
SFXT. V. Of Colouring.
Colouring, though a fubjett greatly inferior to many
others which the painter muft ftudy, is yet of fufficient
importance to employ a confiderable fhare of his atten¬
tion j and to excel in it, he muft be well acquainted
with that part of optics which has the nature of light
and colours for its objefl. Light, however Ample and
uncompounded it may appear, is neverthelefs made up,
as it were, of feveral diftinft fubftances and the num¬
ber, and even dofe, of thefe ingredients, has been hap¬
pily difeovered by the moderns. Every undivided ray,
let it be ever fo fine, is a little bundle of red, orange,
yellow, green, azure, indigo, and violet rays, which,
while combined, are not to be diftinguiftied one from
another, and form that kind of light called zvi/i/e: fo
that white is not a colour per fe, as the learned Da
I' Trattato Vinci f (fo far, it feems, the percurfor of Newton) ex-
‘iella Pit- prefilv affirms, but an affemblage of colours. Now
i • ua, c. 14. colours, which compofe light, although immuta¬
ble in themfelves, and endued with various qualities,
are continually, however, feparating from each other in
their reflexion from and paffage through other fubftan¬
ces, and thus become manifeft to the eye. Grafs, for
example, refledls only green rays, or rather refledls green
rays in greater number than it does thofe of any other
colour ; one kind of wine tranfmits red rays, and an¬
other yellowifir rays : and from this kind of feparation
arifes that variety of colours with which nature has di-
verfified her various produftions. Man, too, has con¬
trived to feparate the rays of light by making a portion
TING. 653
of the fun’s beams pafs through a glafs prifm j for after Colouring,^
paffing through it, they appear divided into feven pure k-,,~ v "'
and primitive colours, placed in fucceffion one by the
other, like fo many colours on a painter’s pallet.
Now, though Titian, Corrcgio, and Vandyke, have
been excellent colourifts, without knowing any thing
of thefe phyfical fubtleties, that is no reafon why others
ftiould negleft them. For it cannot but be of great
fervice to a painter to be well acquainted with the na¬
ture of what he is to imitate, and of thofe colours
with which he is to give life and perfeftion to his de-
figns 5 not to fpeak of the pleafure there is in being
able to account truly and folidly for the various effefts
and appearances of light. From a due tempering, for
example, and degrading, of the tints in a picture •, from
making colours partake of each other, according to the
refleftion of light from one objeft to another ; there
arifes, in fome meafure, that fublime harmony which
may be confidered as the true mufic of the eye. And
this harmony has its foundation in the genuine prin¬
ciples of optics. Now' this could not happen in the
fyftem of thofe philofophers, who held, that colours
did not originally exift in light, but were, on the con¬
trary, nothing elfe than fo many modifications which
it underwent in being reflefted from other fubftances,
or in paffing through them •, thus fubjedt to alterations
without end, and every moment liable to perifh. Were
that the cafe, bodies could no more receive any hues
one from another, nor this body partake of the colour
of that, than fcarlet, for example, becaufe it has the
power of changing into red all the rays of the fun or
fky which immediately fall upon it, has the powder of
changing into red all the other rays refledfed to it from
a blue or any other colour in its neighbourhood.
Whereas, allowing that colours are in their own na¬
ture immutable one into another, and that every body
reftefts, more or lefs, every fort of coloured rays,
though thofe rays in the greateft number which are of
the colour it exhibits, there muft neceffarily arife, in
colours placed near one another, certain particular hues
or temperaments of colour : nay, this influence of one
colour upon another may be fo far traced, that three or
four bodies of different colours, and likewife the in-
tenfenefs of the light falling upon each, being aflign-
ed, we may eafily determine in what fituations and how
much they would tinge each other. We may thus, too,
by the fame principle of optics, account for feveral other
things praftifed by painters 5 infomuch that a perfon,
wrho has carefully obferved natural effects with an eye
direfted by folid learning, fliall be able to form ge¬
neral rules, where another can only diftinguifh particu¬
lar cafes.
But after all, the pictures of the beft colourifts are,
it is univerfally allowed, the books in which a young
painter muft chiefly look for the rules of colouring J
that is, of that branch of painting which contributes
fo much to exprefs the beauty of objects, and is fo re-
quifite to reprefent them as what they really are. Gi¬
orgio and Titian feem to have difeovered circumftances
in nature which others have emirely overlooked ; and
the laft in particular has been happy enough to exprefs
them with a pencil as delicate as his eye was quick and
piercing. In his works we behold that fweetnefs of
colouring which is produced by union, that beauty
which is confiftent with truth ; and all the infenfible
tranfmutations,.
654 PAIN
Colouring, trahfmiitatiofts, all the foft tranfitions, in a word, all
’ :v the pleaiing modulations, of tints and colours. When
a young painter has, by clofe application, acquired
from Titian, whom he can never fufficiently dwell up¬
on, that art which, of all painters, he has bell contri¬
ved to hide, he would do well to turn to Baflano and
Paolo, on account of the beauty, boldnefs, and ele¬
gance of their touches. That richnefs, foftnefs, and
freftmefs of colouring for which the Lombard fchool
is fo jullly cried up, may likewife be of great fervice
to him. Nor will he reap lefs benefit by ftudying the
principles and pradlice of the Fletnilh fchool j which,
chiefly by means of her varniflies, has contrived to give
a molt enchanting luftre and tranfparency to her co¬
lours.
But whatever pictures a young painter may choofe
to ftudy the art of colouring upon, he mult take great
care that they be well preferved. There are very few
pieces which have not fuffered more or lefs by the
length, not to fay the injuries, of time ; and perhaps
that precious patina, which years alone can impart to
paintings, is in fome meafure akin to that other kind
which ages alone impart to medals ; inafmuch as, by
giving teftimony to their antiquity, it renders them
proportionably beautiful in the fuperftitious eyes of the
learned. It muft indeed be allowed, that if, on the
one hand, this patina bellows, as it really does, an
extraordinary degree of harmony upon the colours of a
pidlure, and deftroys, or at leall greatly lelfens, their
original rawnefs, it, on the other hand, equally im¬
pairs the freflinefs and life of them. A piece feen many
years after it has been painted, appears much as it
would do, immediately after painting, behind a dull
glafs. It is no idle opinion, that Paolo Veronefe, at¬
tentive above all thing, to the beauty of his colours,
and what is ca\\&&JIrepito, left entirely to time the care
of harmonizing them perfedlly, and (as we may fay)
mellowing them. But moll of the old mailers took that
talk upon themfelves; and never expofed their works
to the eyes of the public, until they had ripened and
finilhed them with their own hands. And who can fay
whether the Chrifl of Moneta, or the Nativity of Baf-
fano, have been more improved or injured (if we may
fo fpeak) by the touchings and retouchings of time,
in the courfe of more than two centuries ? It is indeed
impofiible to be determined. But the lludious pupil
may make himfelf ample amends for any injuries which
his originals may have received from the hands of time,
by turning to truth, and to Nature which never grows
old, but conllantly retains its primitive flower of youth,
and was itfelf the model of the models before him. As
foon, therefore, as a young painter has laid a proper
foundation for good colouring, by lludying the bell
mailers, he Ihould turn all his thoughts to truth and
nature. And it would perhaps be well worth while to
have, in the academies of painting, models for colour¬
ing as well as defigning; that as from the one the pu¬
pils learn to give their due proportion to the feveral
members and mufcles, they may learn from the other
to make their carnations rich and warm, and faithfully
copy the different local hues which appear quite dif-
tin£l in the different parts of a fine body. To illuftrate
ftill farther the ufe of fuch a model, let us fuppofe it
placed in different lights: now in that of the fun, now
in that of the iky, and now again in that of a lamp or
TING. Parti.
candle } one time placed in the (hade, and another in Drapery,
a refledled light. Hence the pupil may learn all the V
different effedls of the complexion in different circum-
ftances, whether the livid, the lucid, or tranfparent j
and, above all, that variety of tints and half tints, oc-
cafioned in the colour of the fldn by the epidermis ha¬
ving the bones immediately under it in fome places,
and in others a greater or lefs number of blood-veffels
or quantity of fat. An artift who had long ftudied
fuch a model would run no rifk of degrading the beau¬
ties of nature by any particularity ef ityle, or of giving
into that prepofterous fulnefs and floridnefs of colour
which is at prefent fo much the tafte. He would not
feed his figures with rofes, as an ancient painter of
Greece flirewdly expreffed it, but with good beef; a/FfM,dial
difference which the learned eye nf a modern writer
could perceive between the colouring of Barocci and
that of litian. lo pradtife in that manner, is, ac¬
cording to a great mafter, no better than inuring one’s
felf to the commiflion of blunders. What llatues are
in defign, nature is in colouring; the fountain-head of
that perfedlion to which every artift, ambitious to ex¬
cel, fliould conftantly afpire : and accordingly the Fle-
miffi painters, in confequence of their aiming folely to
copy nature, are in colouring as excellent as they are
wont to be awkward in defigning. The beft model for
the tone oLcolours and the degradation of fliades is
furniflied by means of the caniera-obfcura. See Diop¬
trics, Sedl. vi. and ix.
Sect. \T. Of Drapery.
Drapery is one of the moft important branches of
the whole art, and accordingly demands the greateft
attention and lludy. It feldom happens that a painter
has nothing but naked figures to reprefent ; nay, his
fubjedts generally confifl: of figures clothed from head
to foot. Now the flowing of the folds in every gar¬
ment depends chiefly upon the relief of the parts that
lie under it. A certain author, we forget his name,
obferves, that as the inequalities of a furface are dif-
coverable by the inequalities in the water that runs over
it, fo the pofture and fliape of the members muff be
difcernible by the folds of the garment that covers
them. 1 hofe idle windings and gatherings, with which
fome painters have affedled to cover their figures, make
the clothes made up of them look as if the body had
fled from under them, and left nothing in its place but
a heap of empty bubbles, fit emblems of the brain that
conceived them. As from the trunk of a tree there
iffue here and there boughs of various forms, fo from
one miilrefs fold there always flow many leffer ones :
and as it is on the quality of the tree that the elegance,
cnmpadlnefs, or opennefs of its branches chiefly depends;
it is, in like manner, by the quality of the fluff of which
a garment is made, that the number, order, and fize of
its folds muft be determined. To fum up all in two
words, the drapery ought to be natural and eafy, fo as
to fhow what fluff it is, and what parts it covers. It
ought, as a certain author expreffes it, to cover the
body, as it were merely to ftiow it.
It was formerly the cuftom with fome of our mailers
to draw all their figures naked, and then drape them ;
from the fame principle that they firft drew the Ikeie-
tons of their figures, and afterwards covered them with
mufcles-
Part I. , PAIN
Drapery. mufcles. And it was by proceeding in this manner
that they attained to fuch a degree of truth in expref-
fing the folds of their drapery, and the joints and di¬
rection of the principal members that lay under it, fo
as to exhibit in a moft ftriking manner the attitude of
the perfon to whom they belonged. That the ancient
fculptors clothed their ftatues with equal truth and
grace, appears from many of them that are itill in be¬
ing •, particularly a Flora lately dug up in Rome, whofe
drapery is executed with fo much judgment, and in fo
grand and rich a ftyle, that it may vie with the fineft
of their naked ftatues, even with the Venus of Medicis.
The ftatues of the ancients had fo much beauty when
naked, that they retained a great deal when clothed.
But here it muft be confidered, that it w-as ufual with
them to fuppofe their originals clothed with wet gar¬
ments, and of an extreme finenefs and delicacy, that,
by lying clofe to the parts, and in a manner clinging
to them, they might the better ihow what thefe parts
were. For this reafon a painter is not to confine him-
felf to the ftudy of the ancient ftatues, left he fhould
contraft a dry ftyle, and even tall into the fame faults
with fome great mafters who, accuftorjed to drape with
fuch light fluffs as fit clofe to the body, have after¬
wards made the coarfeft lie in the fame manner, fo as
plainly to exhibit the mufcles underneath them. It is
therefore proper to ftudy nature herfelf, and thofe mo¬
dern mafters who have come neareft to her in this
branch ; fuch as Paolo Veronefe, Andrea del Sarto,
Rubens, and above all, Guido Reni. The flow of their
drapery is foft and gentle •, and the gatherings and plaits
are lo contrived, as not only not to hide the body, but
to add grace and dignity to it. Their gold, filk, and
woollen fluffs, are fo diftinguifhable one from another,
by the quality of their feveral luftres, and the peculiar
light and (hade belonging to each, but above all by the
form and flow of their folds, that the age and fex of
their figures are hardly more difcoverable by their faces.
Albert Durer is another great mafter in this branch,
infomuch that Guido himfelf was not afhamed to ftudy
him. There are ftill extant feveral drawings made
with the pen by this great man, in which he has copied
whole figures from Albert, and fcrupuloufly retained
the flow of his drapery as far as his own peculiar ftyle,
lefs harlh and (harp, but more eafy and graceful, would
allow. It may be laid that he made the fame ufe of Al¬
bert that our modern writers ought to make of the beft
authors of the 13th century. .
To drape a figure well, it is necefiary that the folds
be large and few in number •, becaufe large folds pro¬
duce great maffes of light and fhadow, while fmall ones
multiply the objefts of view and diftraft the attention.
But if the charaaer of the drapery or kind of fluff re¬
quire fmall folds, they fhould at leaf! be diftributed in
croups, in fuch a manner that a great number of fmall
folds (hall be fubordinate to an equal mafs formed by a
principal fold. , , , . .
It is alfo proper to obferve, that the colour of the
drapery contributes to the harmony of the whole, and
produces effeas which the claro obfcuro cannot do
alone. At the-fame time, the principles of the claro
obfcuro ftiould prefide over, or at leaf! regulate, the
art of drapery. If the folds of the fluff which cover
the members expofed to the light are too ftrongly fhad-
T I N G.
655
ed, they will appear to enter into the members, and cut drapery,
them.
Drapery contributes to the life, to the charaaer, to
the expreilion of the figures, provided all the move¬
ments of the folds announce the lively or more tran¬
quil movement of thofe figures. The colour, and the
kind of fluff, concur alfo to promote the general ex-
preflion ; brilliant or fine drapery cannot be properly
introduced in a mournful fubjea, nor the oppofite in a
gay one.
The drapery muft alfo agree with the age and cha¬
raaer of the figures : And if nature in any inftance is
found to contradia thofe principles, it is becaufe they
relate to the ideal of the art; and it is this ideal which
carries it to the greateft perfeaion.
Great attention is alfo neceffary to the fituation in
which the figures are placed, and the aaions about
which they are employed. If they are in the aa of
afeending, a column of air weighs down the drapery j
if, on the contrary, they are defeending, the drapery
is fupported and fpread out. The folds placed on
every member, and the general play of the drapery,
(hould indicate whether the figure is in aaion or about
to be fo *, whether aaion be beginning or ending j and
whether it be flow, or quick, or violent. All this is
agreeable to nature •, but it. alfo partakes of the ideal,
fince nature never can be copied in fuch fluauating ft-
tuations. The pradlice of the Roman fchools, firft to
draw after nature, and then to paint after the drawing,
cannot be adopted by colourifts *, becaufe nature, accord¬
ing to the kind of the fluffs, produces tones and lights
which give more perfeaion and truth to the work.
Meanwhile Raphael, who followed this praaice, enjoys
the firft reputation for giving play to his drapery, and
difpofing the folds in the beft order. In this part he has
even attained the height of ideal beauty. He is the
greateft painter of drapery, as the Venetians are the
greateft in painting fluffs.
Raphael, fays Mengs, imitated at firft his mafter
Perugin’s manner of drapery j and he brought this
manner to perfection, by ftudying the works of Pvla-
faccio and of Bartholomew : but he departed en¬
tirely from the tafte of the fchool in which he was
educated when he had feen the works of the ancients.
It was the baffo-relievo of antiquity which pointed out
to him the true flowing of drapery, and he was not
backward to introduce it. He difeovered, by attend¬
ing to the principles of the ancients, that the naked is
the principal part •, that drapery is to be regarded al¬
together as an acceffory, and that it is intended to cover,
not to conceal ; that it is employed from neceflity, not
caprice •, that of confequence the clothes fhould not be
fo narrow as to conftrain the members, nor fo ample as
to embarrafs them ; but that the artift ftiould adapt
them to the fize and attitude of the figures intended to
wear them.
He underftood that the great folds fhould be placed
at the large places of the body ; and where the nature
of the drapery j-equired final! folds, that it was necef¬
fary to give them a projedton, which indicates a fub-
ordination to the principal parts.
Fie made his ample draperies without ufelefs folds,
and with bendings at the articulations. It was the form
of the naked figure which pointed out to him the form.
o£
6s5 PAIN
Landscape of his folds, and on the great mufcles he formed great
^pifhire'1* ma®?s' When any part required to be forethortened,
- ' - ' . he covered it with the fame number of folds as if it had
been ftraightj but then he crowded them in proportion
to the forelhortening. »
He frequently difcovered the border of his drapery,
to fliow that his figures were not dreffed in a Ample
fack. The form of the principal parts, and the fpecific
weight of the air, were always the caufes of his folds.
It was eafy to difcover in his works, by the folds of
his drapery, the attitude of the figure previous to the
one in which it was placed j and whether, for example,
the arm was extended or otherwife, immediately be¬
fore the aftion. This was an expreflion which he had
carefully ftudied on all occafions, becaufe he found it in
nature.
When the drapery was to cover the leg or arm but
half, or in an imperfedt manner, he made it cut ob¬
liquely the member which was partly to be covered.
His folds were of a triangular form. The reafon of
this form is in nature: for all drapery has a tendency
to enlarge itfelf and be extended-, and as at the fame
time its own weight obliges it to fall back on itfelf, it
is naturally formed into triangles.
He knew perfectly that the movements of the body
and of its members are the caufes of the adtual fitua-
tion of drapery, and of the formation of its folds. All
his practice is nothing elfe but the unfolding and de-
monltrating of this theory $ and drapery executed in
tmy other manner muft be in a falfe and vicious tafte.
Sect. VII. Of Landfcape and Architecture.
When our young painter has made a fufficient pro-
grefs in thofe principal branches of his art, the defign-
ing, perfpedtive, colouring, and drapery of human fi¬
gures, he fhould turn his thoughts to landfcape and ar-
chitefture : for, by Itudying them, he will render him-
felf univerfal, and qualified to undertake any fubjeft;
fo as not to referable certain literati, who, though great
mailers iivfome articles, are mere children in every thing
elfe.
The moll eminent landfcape painters are Pouflin,
Lorenefe, and Titian.
Pouflin was remarkable for his great diligence. His
pieces are quite exotic and uncommon ; being fet off
with buildings in a beautiful but lingular ftyle $ and
with learned epifodes, fuch as poets reciting their verfes
to the woods, and youths exercifing themfelves in the
feveral gymnaltic games of antiquity 5 by which it
plainly appears, that he was more indebted for his fub-
jefts to the deferiptions of Paufanias than to nature and
truth.
Lorenefe applied himfelf chiefly to exprefs the vari¬
ous phenomena of light, efpecially thofe perceivable in
the heavens. And thanks to the happy climate of
Home, where he ftudied and exercifcd his talents, he
has left us the brighteft Ikies, and the richeft and molt
glorioufly cloud-tipt horizons, that can be well concei¬
ved. Nay, the fun himfelf, which, like the Almighty,
can be reprefented merely by his effefts, has fcarcely
efcaped Iris daring and ambitious pencil.
Titian, the great confidant of nature, is the Homer
■of landfcape. His feenes have fo much truth, fo much
variety, and fuch a bloom in them, that it is impoflible
TING. partI
to behold them, without wifhing, as if they were real, Landfcape
to make an excurfion into them. And perhaps the and'Archi.
fined; landfcape that ever iffued from mortal hands, is te<fture.
the back ground of his martyrdom of St Peter ; where,
by the difference between the bodies and the leaves of
his trees and the difpofition of their branches, one im¬
mediately difeovers the difference between the trees
themfelves 5 where the difierent foils are fo well expref-
fed, and fo exquifitely clothed with their proper plants,
that a botanift has much ado to keep his hands from
them. See Part II. fe£l, ii.
Paolo Veronefe is in architecture what Titian is in
landfcape. To excel in landfcape, we muft, above all
things, ftudy nature. To excel in architecture, we mull
chiefly regard the fineft works of art 5 fuch as the fronts
of ancient edifices, and the fabrics of thofe moderns
who have bed ftudied and belt copied antiquity Next
to Brunellefchi and Alberti, who were the firlt revivers
of architecture, came Bramante, Giulio Romano, San-
fovino, Sanmicheli, and laftly Palladio, whofe works
the young painter ftiould above all the reft diligently
ftudy and imprint deeply on his mind. Nor is Vignola
to be forgotten 5 for fome think he was a more fcrupulous
copier of antiquity, and more exaCt, than Palladio him¬
felf, infomuch that moil people confider him as the firft
architeCl among the moderns. For our part, to fpeak
of him, not as fame, but as truth feems to require, we
cannot help thinking, that rather than break through
the generality of the rules contrived by him to facili¬
tate praClice, he has in fome inftances deviated from
the molt beautiful proportions of the antique, and is
rather barren in the diftribution and difpofition of cer¬
tain members. Moreover, the extraordinary height of
his pedeftals and cornices hinders the column from
drawing in the orders defigned and employed by him,
as it does in thofe of Palladio. Amongft that great
variety of proportions to be met with in ancient ruins,
Palladio has been extremely happy inchoofing the beft.
His profiles are well contrafted, yet eafy. All the parts
of his buildings hang w7ell together. Grandeur, ele¬
gance, and beauty, walk hand in hand in them. In
limit, the very blemiihes of Palladio, who was no flave
to conveniency, and fometimes perhaps wTas too profufe
in his decorations, are piCturefque. And we may rea-
fonably believe, that it was by following fo great a
mafter, whofe works he had continually before his eyes,
that Paolo Veronefe formed that fine and mafterly tafte
which enabled him to embellilh his compofitions with
fuch beautiful ftruClures.
The ftudy of architecture cannot fail, in another re-
fpeCt, of being very ufeful to the young painter, inaf-
much as it will bring him acquainted with the form of
the temples, thermae* bafilics, theatres, and other build¬
ings of the Greeks and Romans. Befides, from the
baffo-relievos with which it was cuftomary to adorn thefe
buildings, he may gather, with equal delight and profit,
the nature of their facrifices, arms, military enfigns, and
drefs. The ftudy of landfcape, too, will render familiar
to him the form of the various plants peculiar to each
foil and climate, and fuch other things as ferve to cha-
raCterife the different regions of the earth. Thus by
degrees he will learn what we call coflume, one of the
chief requifites in a painter; fince by means of it he
may exprefs with great precifion the time and place in
which his feenes ace laid.
SecL
Part I.
Exprtilion
' of the
Paffions.
PAIN
Sect. VIII. Of the Expre/fion of the PaJJions.
That language which abave all others a painter
ftiould carefully endeavour to learn, and from nature
herfelf, is the language of the paffions. Without it
the fined works muft appear lifelefs and inanimate. It
is not enough for a painter to be able to delineate the
mod exquifite forms, give them the mod graceful at¬
titudes, and compofe them well together; it is not
enough to drefs them out with propriety, and in the
mod beautiful colours; it is not enough, in fine, by the
powerful magic of light and {hade, to make the canvas
vanidi. No ; he mud likewife know how to clothe his
figures with grief, with joy, with fear, with anger j he
mud, in fome fort, write on their faces what they think
and what they feel 5 he mud give them life and fpeech.
It is indeed in this branch that painting truly foars, and
in a manner rifes fuperior to itfelf 5 it is in this branch
{he makes the fpe£lator apprehend much more than what
fhe exprefles.
The means employed in her imitations by painting,
are the circumfcription of terms, the chiaro-fcuro, and
colours *, all which appear folely calculated to drike the
vifual faculty. Notwithdanding which, die contrives
to reprefent hard and foft, rough and fmooth furfaces,
which are obje£ls of the touch : and this by means of
certain tints, and a certain chiaro-fcuro, which has a
different look in marble, in the bark of trees, in downy
and delicate fubdances. Nay, die contrives to exprefs
found and motion, by means of light and diade, and
certain particular configurations. In fome landfcapes
of Diderich we almod hear the water murmur, and
fee it tremble along the fides of the river and of the
boats upon it. In the Battle of Burgogne, we are
really apt to fancy that the trumpet founds j and we
fee the horfe, who has thrown his rider, fcamper along
the plain. But what is dill more wonderful, painting,
in virtue of her various colours and certain particular
gedures, expreffes even the fentiments and mod hidden
affections of the foul, and renders her vifible, fo as to
make the eye not only touch and hear, but even kindle
into pafiion and reafon.
Many have written, and amongd the red the fa¬
mous Le Brun, on the various changes that, according
to the various paffions, happen in the mufcles of the
face, which is, as it w’ere, the dumb tongue of the foul.
They obferve, for example, that in fits of anger the
face reddens, the mufcles of the lips puff out, the eyes
fparkle} and that, on the contrary, in fits of melancholy,
the eyes grow motionlefs and dead, the face pale, and
the lips fink in. It may be of fervice to a painter to
read thefe and fuch other remarks; but it will be of in¬
finitely more fervice to dudy them in nature itfelf, from
which they have been borrowed, and which exhibits them
in that lively manner which neither tongue nor pen can
exprefs.
Upon Le Brun’s Treatife on the Paflions, we have
the following jud, though fevere, criticifm by Winckle-
man. “ Expreflion, though precarious in its nature
(fays he), has been reduced into a fydem, in a Trea¬
tife on the PalTions by Charles le Brim, a Avork gene¬
rally put into the hands of young artids. The plates
which accompany this treatife do not only give to the
face the affeCtions of the foul in too high a tone, but
VOL. XV. Part II.
TING.
657
there are many of the heads in which the paflions are Expreffioa
reprefented in an outrageous manner. He appears to
give indruftions in expreflion, as Diogenes gave ex- . ," ^ .
amples of morality : I aft like muficians, faid that cy¬
nic, who give a high tone, in order to indicate a true
one. But the fervour of youth has naturally more in¬
clination to feize the extreme than the middle j and
hence it is difficult for the young artid, in copying after
Le Brun, to feize the true tone. Youth in general may
be fuppofed to have that regard for the calm and mo¬
derate in the arts, which they have for the precepts of
wifdom and virtue.”
Other French writers have given indru&ions re-
fpe£ting the expreflion of the paflions, equally excep¬
tionable with thofe of Le Brun. All of them whom
we have confulted make fo many divifions and fubdi-
vifions of paflions, that a philofopher cannot follow
them in metaphyfical theory, nor a painter exhibit their
effects upon canvas. Nature therefore mud be his
guide, particularly in treating thofe very minute and
almod imperceptible differences, by which, however,
things very different from each other are often ex-
preffed. This is particularly the cafe with regard to
the paflions of laughing and crying ; as in thefe, how¬
ever contrary, the mufcles of the face operate nearly
in the fame manner. As the famous Pietro de Cor¬
tona was one day finidung the face of a crying child
in a reprefentation of the Iron Age, wuth which he
was adorning the floor called the Hot-bath in the royal
palace of Pitti, Ferdinand II. who happened to be
looking over him for his amufement, could not forbear
exprefling his approbation, by crying out, “ Oh how
well that child cries !” To whom the artid,—“ Has
your majedy a mind to fee how eafy it is to make chil¬
dren laugh ? Behold, I’ll prove it in an inflantAnd
taking up his pencil, by giving the contour of the
mouth a concave turn downwards indead of the con¬
vex upwards wdiieh it before had, and with little or no
alteration in any other part of the face, he made the
child, who a little before feemed ready to burd its heart
with crying, appear in equal danger of burding its fides
with immoderate laughter j and then, by redoring the
altered features to their former pofition, he foon fet the
child a-crying again.”
The different exprefllons of laughter and weeping Lectures of
are thus defcribed by Le Brun. “ The movements Q^Pfalip BaU
laughter are exprefled by the eye-brows elevated to-
wards the middle of the eye, and lowered towards the 0f La
fides of the nofe : the eyes, almod {hut, appear fome- Crufca U
times moidened with tears : the mouth, a little open, Lyjlratox
allows the teeth to be feen : the extremities of the ^c’
mouth drawn back, make a dimple in the cheeks,
which appear to be fwelled : the nodrils are open :
and the face becomes red. The changes which weep¬
ing occafions are equally vifible. The eye-brow is
lowered on the middle of the forehead ; the eyes are
almod fliut, moidened, and lowered towards the fides of
the cheeks : the nodrils are fuelled, and the veins of
the forehead very apparent : the mouth {hut, by the
lownefs of its fides, occafions wwinkles in the cheeks $
the under lip is turned down, and preffes at the fame
time the upper lip : the whole countenance is wrinkled
and becomes red 5 efpecially the eye-brows, the eyes,
the nofe, and the cheeks.”
According to Leonardo da Vinci, the bed mailers *
4 O that 1
658
■ExprelTion that a painter can have recourfe to in tins branch are
Fifties ^10^e difmb men Avho liave found out the method of
• ~ *’ , exprefling- their fentiments by the motion of their hands,
eyes, eye-brows, and in flrort every other part of the
body. If this advice be at all proper, fuch geftures
mutt be imitated with great fobriety and moderation,
left they fliouid appear too ftrong and exaggerated ; and
the piece fhould (how nothing but pantomimes, when
fpeaking figures alone are to be exhibited } and fo be¬
come theatrical and feeond-hand, or, at belt, look like
the copy of a theatrical and fecond-hand nature.
The artift avIII reap greater benefit from ftudying
fuch fine ancient heads as thofe of Mithridates, Sene¬
ca, Alexander dying, Cleopatra, Niobe, &c. and above
all, from attentively obferving fuch movements of na¬
ture as we daily meet with in the world. But let him
chiefly confult his looking-glafs, and ftudy after his
own face, what, in certain expreflions, are the mufcles,
the lineaments, the tints, and the accidental circum-
flances which charafterife the fituation of the foul.
It rarely happens that a model, which is afifefted with
no fentiment, prefents that to us which we ourfelves
feel, and which we are capable of exprefling when we
are our own model. Puget executed the legs of his
Milo after his own *, and many ingenious artifts have
had recourfe to a fimilar expedient. In fliort, to be
affetled ourfelves is the true fecret of affedting the
fpedlator.
We muft not negledl, at the fame time, to fecure
the fleeting charadlers which nature prefents to us on
a thoufand°occafions. We muft diftruft our memory,
and alf the refources which are not eafily employed
when we happen to Hand in need of them. It is necef-
fary to watch the circumftances from which we can de¬
rive any ufeful hint } to feize them when they prefent
themfelves } and to be careful never to lofe, by an irre¬
parable negligence, the fruit of a happy incident:
Let us alfo endeavour to poflefs the feeling of what
we are to exprefs : whether it be by forming the
image of a thing abfent as if it were prefent, or by
being affedled with the lively idea of a fituation which
rve have either experienced, or Avith Avhich avc haAre
feen another perfon remarkably affedled. We muft
never forget, that all the terrible or agreeable, the
violent or flight movements, are to be treated in a na¬
tural manner, and bear a relation to the age, condi¬
tion, fex, and dignity of the perfon. Thofe grada¬
tions, which art varies according to the nature of the
fituation, and the charadler of men, compofe the prin¬
cipal ingredients of difcernment, kno>vledge, and tafte.
They have been the objedls of attention and inquiry
to the mod eminent painters of every age •, and they
were of the laft importance in aflifting them to arrive at
that degree of excellence to Avhich they have carried
expreflion.
We are told ftrange things of the ancient painters
of Greece in regard to expreflion *, efpecially of Ari-
ftides j Avho, in a pidlure of his, reprefenting a \yoman
wounded to death at a fiege, with a child crawling to
her breaft, makes her appear afraid, left the child,
when fire Avas dead, ftiould, for Avant of milk, fuck her
blood. A Medea murdering her children, by limoma-
chus, was likewife much cried up, as the ingenious
artift contrived to exprefs, at once, in her countenance,
both the fury that hurried her on to the comnuflion of
Part T,
fo great a crime, and the tendernefs of a mother that Expreffio|
feemed to vrithhold her Irom it. Rubens attempted to of the
exprefs fuch a double effect in the face of Mary el Me-, ^a^10ns-
dicis, ftill in pain from her paft labour, and at the fame
time full of joy at the birth of a Dauphin. And in
the countenance of Sanfla Polunia, painted by Tiepolo
for St Anthony’s church at Padua, one may clearly
read a mixture of pain from the Avound given her by the
executioner, and of pleafure from the profpeft ol para-
dife opened to her by it.
Few, to fay the truth, are the examples of ftrong
expreflion afforded by the Venetian, Flemifli, or Lom¬
bard fchools. Deprived of that great happinefs, the
happinefs of being able to contemplate, at leifure, the
works of the ancients, the pureft fources of perfeflion
in point of defign, expreflion, and character ; and ha¬
ving nothing but nature conftantly before their eyes j
they made ftrength of colouring, blooming complec-
tions, and the grand effefts of the chiaro-oblcuro, their
principal ftudy : they aimed more at charming the fen-
fes than at captivating the underftanding. The Ve¬
netians, in particular, feem to hav'e placed their Avhole
glory in fetting off their pieces Avith all that rich va¬
riety of perfonages and drefs, Avhich their capital is
continually receiving by means of its extenfive com¬
merce, and Avhich attrafts fo much the eyes of all thofe
Avho vifit it. It is much to be doubted, if, in all the
pictures of Paolo Veronefe, there is to be found a bold
and judicious expreflion, or one of thofe attitudes
which, as Petrarch expreffes it, fpeak Avithout words j
unlefs, perhaps, it be that remarkable one in his Mar¬
riage Fcajl of Cana of Galilee. At one end of the table,
and diredtly oppofite to the bridegroom, Avhofe eyes are
fixed upon her, there appears a woman in red, holding
up to him the fkirts of her garment *, as much as to fay,
Ave may fuppofe, that the Avine miraculoully produced
Avas exaftly of the colour Avith the fluff on her back.
And in faft it is red Avine avc fee in the cups and
pitchers. But all this Avhile the faces arid attitudes of
moft of the company betray not the leaft fignof Avonder
at fo extraordinary a miracle. They all, in a manner,
appear intent upon nothing but eating, drinking, and
making merry. Such, in general, is the ftyle of the
Venetian fchool. The Florentine, over Avhich Michael
Angelo prefided, above all things curious of defign, Avas
moft minutely and ferupuloufly exa£l in point of ana¬
tomy. On this fhe fet her heart, and took lingular
pleafure in difplaying it. Not only elegance of form,
and noblenefs of invention, but likeAvife ftrength of ex¬
preflion, triumph in the Roman fchool, nurfed as it Avere
amongft the works of the Greeks, and in the bofom of
a city which had once been the feminary of learning
and politenefs. Here it Avas that Domenichino and
Pouffin, both great mailers of expreflion, refined them¬
felves, as appears more particularly by the St Jerome
of the one, and the Death of Germanicus, and the
Slaughter of the Innocents, by the other. Here it was
that Raphael arofe, the fovereign mafter of them all.
One Avould imagine that pidlures, which are generally
confidered as the books of the ignorant, and of the ig¬
norant only, he had undertaken to make the inllru&ors
even of the learned. One Avould imagine, that he in¬
tended in fome meafure, to juftify Quintilian*, who* In/lit.
affirms, that painting has more power over us than all ^f’
the arts of rhetoric. There is not, indeed, a Angle pic¬
ture
PAINTING.
Part I.
rxpreffion ture of RapliaePs, from the ftudy of which thofe who
°f the are curious in point of expreflion may not reap great be-
Palhons. ne^t . particularly his Martyrdom of St Felicitas, his
^ * Trans figurations, his Jofeph explaining to Pharaoh his
dream, a piece to highly rated by Pouffin. His School
of Athens in the Vatican, is, to all intents and purpofes,
a fchool of expreflion. Among the many miracles of
art with which this piece abounds, we fltall Angle out
that of the four boys attending on a mathematician,
who, flooping to the ground with his compafles in his
hand, is giving them the demonilration of a theorem.
One of the boys, recollecting within himfelf, keeps back,
■with all the appearance of profound attention to the rea-
foning of the matter •, another, by the brifknefs of his
attitude, difcovers a greater quicknefs of apprehenfion }
while the third, who has already feized the conclufion,
is endeavouring to beat it into the fourth, who, (landing
motionlefs, with open arms, a (faring countenance, and
an unfpeakable air of ftupidity in his looks, will never
perhaps be able to make any thing of the matter. And
it is probable from this very group that Albani, who
ftudied Raphael fo dofely, drew the following precept
of his •, “ That it behoves a painter to exprefs more
circumttances than one by every attitude ; and fo to
employ his figures, that, by barely feeing what they
are aftually about, one may be able to guefs, both what
they have been already doing, and are next going to
do.’"’ This is indeed a difficult precept j but it is only
by a due obfervance of it that the eye and the mind
can be made to hang in fufpenfe on a painted piece of
canvas. Xt is expreflion that a painter, ambitious to
foar in his profeflion, mutt, above all things, labour to
perfedtt himfelf in. It is the laft goal of his art, as So-
Xatph. crates proves to Parrhafius. It is in expreflion that
Ment'orab. dumb poetry confiits, and what the prince of our poets
lib. iii. cans a vifible language.
Sect. IX. Of Invention.
As the operations of a general ffiould all ultimately
tend to battle and conqueft, fo (hould all the thoughts
of a painter to perfect invention. Now, the ftudies
which we have been hitherto recommending, will prove
fo many wings by which he may raife himfelf, as it
were, from the ground, and foar on high, when defirous
of trying his ftrength this way, and producing fome-
thing from his own hand. Invention is the finding out
probable things, not only fuch as, are adapted to the
fubjefl in hand, but fuch, befides, as by their fublimky
and beauty are mod capable of exciting fuitable fenti-
ments in the fpeftator, and of making him, when they
happen to be w’ell executed, fancy that it is the fubjeft
itfelf in its greateft perfection, and not a mere reprefen-
tatiftn of it, that he has before him. We do not fay
true things, but probable things ; becaufe probability or
verifimilitude is, in fad, the truth of thofe arts which
have the fancy for their objeft. It is, indeed, the bu-
finefs and duty of both naturalifts and hiftorians to. draw
cbjefts as they find them, and reprefent. them with, all
thofe imperfe&ions and blemiflies, to which, as indivi¬
duals, they are fubjeft. But an ideal painter., and fuch
alone is a true painter, refembles the poet: inftead of
copying, he imitates : that is, he works with his fancy,
and reprefents objects endued with all that perfection
659
which belongs to the fpecies, and may be conceived in Inventkn..
the archetype.
“ ’Tis nature all, but nature methodis’d j”
fays an eminent poet, fpeaking of poetry : And tlie
fame may be faid of painting j it is nature methodifed,
and made perfeft. Infomuch, that the eircumftances
of the adtion, exalted and fublimed to the higheft de¬
gree of beauty and boldnels they are fufceptible of,
may, though poflible, have never happened exadly fuch
as the painter fancies and thinks proper to reprefent them.
Thus, the piety of ./Eneas, and the anger of Achilles, are
things fo pCrfedt in their kind, as to be merely probable.
And it is for this reafon that poetry, which is only an¬
other word for invention, is more philolophical, more
inftruflive, and more entertaining, than hiiWy.
Here it is proper to obferve, what great advantages
the ancient had over the modern painters. The hiftory
of the times they lived in, fraught with great and glo¬
rious events, was to them a rich mine of the moil;
noble fubjecls, which, befides, often derived no fmali
fublimity and pathos from the mythology upon which
their religion was founded. So far were their gods
from being immaterial, and placed at an infinite di-
ttance above their worffiippers •, fo far was their reli¬
gion from recommending humility, penance, and (elf-
denial, that, on the contrary, it appeared calculated
merely to flatter the fenfes, inflame the paflions, and
poifon the fancy. By making the gods partake of
our nature, and fubjedting them to the fame paflions,
it gave man hopes of being able to mix with thofe
who, though greatly above him, refembled him, not-
withftanding, in fo many refpedls. Befides, thofe dei¬
ties of theirs were in a manner vifible, and to be met
at every ilep. The fea was crowded with Tritons and
Nereids, the rivers with Naiads, and the mountains
with Dryads. The woods fwarmed with Fauns and
Nymphs, who, in thefe obfeure retreats, fought an
afylum for their ftolen embraces. The mod potent
empires, the mod noble families, the mod celebrated
heroes, all derived their pedigree from the greater di¬
vinities. Nay, gods interefted themfelves in all the con¬
cerns of mankind. Apollo, the god of long arrows,
ilood by the fide of He/lor in the fields of Troy, and
infpired him with new ftrength and courage to batter
down the walls and burn the (hips of the Greeks.
Thefe, on the other hand, were led on to the fight
and animated by Minerva, preceded by Terror, and fol¬
lowed by Death. Jove nods, his divine locks (hake
on his immortal head; Olympus trembles. With that
countenance, which allays the temped, and^ reftores
ferenity to the heavens, he gathers kifles from the
mouth of Venus, the delight of gods and of men. A-
mong the ancients, every tiling fported with the fancy j
and in thofe works which depend entirely on the ima¬
gination, feme of our greateft mafters have thought they
could not do better than borrow from the Pagans, if wc
may be allowed to fay it, their pidlures of Tartarus, in or¬
der to render their own drawings of hell more ftriking.
After all, there have not been wanting able inventors
in painting among the moderns. Michael Angelo, not-
withftanding the depth and boldnefs of his own fancy,
is not aftiamed in feme of his compofitions, to Dantize ;
as Phidias and Apelles may be faid formerly to have
d O 2 Hotnerized.
PAINTING.
66o PAINTING.
^Invention.^ Homerixed. Raphael, too, tutored by the Greeks, has
Webb,
7.
found means, like Virgil, to extract the quinteffence of
truth 5 has feafoned his works with grace and noble-
nefsj and exalted nature, in a manner, above herfelf, by
giving her an afpect more beautiful, more animating,
and more fublime, than (he is in reality accuftomed to
wear. In point of invention, Domenichino and Hanni¬
bal Caracci come very near Raphael, efpecially in the
pieces painted by them in Rome; nor does Pouflin fall
very fliort of him in fome of his pictures, particularly in
his Ejlher before Ahafuerus, and his Death of Germani-
cus, the richeft jewel belonging to the Barberine family.
Of all the painters who have acquired any extraordina¬
ry degree of reputation, no one ftudied lefs to fet off his
pieces by bold and beautiful circumftances, or was
more a itranger to what is called poetical perfection,
than Jacopo BafTano. Among the numberlefs inltances
we could produce of his careleffhefs this wray, let it fuffice
to mention a Preaching of St Paul painted by him in a
place, near that of his birth, called Mar of ego. Inftead
of reprefenting the apoitle full of a divine enthufiafm,
as Raphael has done, and thundering againit the fuper-
Jtitions of the heathen in an alTembly of Athenians ; in-
Read of exhibiting one of his auditors ftruck to the quick,
another perfuaded, a third inflamed j he makes him hold
forth, in a village of the Venetian Rate, to a parcel of
poor peafants and their wives, who take not the leafl no¬
tice of him $ the women efpecially, who feem to mind
nothing but the country labours in which he had found
them employed.
With regard to invention, painting and poetry re-
femble each other fo much in many other refpe&s, be-
fides that of combining in every action all the beauty
and elegance it will admit, that they well deferve the
name oiffer arts. They differ, however, in one point,
and that too of no fmall importance. It is this. The
poet, in the reprefentation of his Rory, relates what has
already happened, prepares that which is Rill to come,
and fo proceeds, Rep by Rep, through all the circum-
Rances of the aflion 5 and, to produce the greater ef-
feft on his hearers, avails himlelf of the fucceffion of
time and place. The painter, on the contrary, deprived
of fuch helps, muR be content to depend upon one Angle
moment. But what a moment ! A moment, in which
he may conjure up, at once, to the eyes of the fpefta-
tor, a thoufand objedts ; a moment, teeming with the
moR beautiful circumRanees that can attend the adtion ;
a moment, equivalent to the fucceffive labours of the
poet. This the works of the greateR mafters, which
are everywhere to be feen, fufficiently evince : among
others, the St Paul at Lyfra, by Raphael, whom it is
impoflible not to prajfe as often as this pidture is men¬
tioned. In order to give the fpedlator a thorough in¬
fight into the fubjedt of this piece, the painter has placed
in the front of it the cripple already reflored to his
limbs by the apoftle, fired with gratitude towards his be-
nefadlor, and exciting his countrymen to yield him all
kinds of honour. Round the cripple are fome figures
lifting up the fkirts of his coat, in order to look at the
legs reduced to their proper fliape, and acknowledging
by geftures full of aftonilhment the reality of the mira¬
cle j an invention, fays a certain author, a profeffed ad¬
mirer of antiquity, which might have been propofed as
an example in the happiefl age of Greece.
We have another Ihining inflance of the power of
2P
Part I.
painting to introduce a greater variety of objeas on the Invention
feene at the lame time, and of the advantage it has in —v—
this relpea over poetry, in a drawing by the celebrated
La Fage. This drawing reprefents the defeent of Ai-
neas into hell. The field is the dark caverns of Pluto’s
kingdom, through the middle of which creeps flowly
the muddy and melancholy Acheron. Nearly in the
centre of the piece appears Aineas with the golden
bough in his hand, and with an air of aftonifliment at
what he fees. The Sibyl, who accompanies him, is
anfwering the queflions which he alks her. The per-
fonage there is the ferryman of the pitchy lake, by
which even the gods themlelves are afraid to fwear.
Thofe who, crowding in to the banks of the riverr
numberlefs as the leaves Riaken off the trees by autum¬
nal blafts, exprefs, with outfiretched hands, an impa¬
tience to be ferried to the oppofite fliore, are the un¬
happy manes, who, for want of burial, are unqualified
for that happinefs. Charon, accordingly, is crying
out to them, and with his lifted-up oar driving them
from his boat, which has already taken in a number
of thofe who had been honoured with the accuflomed
funeral rites. Behind AEneas and the Sibyl we difeover
a confufed group of wretched fouls, lamenting bitterly
their misfortune in being denied a paffage 5 two of
them wrapped up in their clothes; and, in a fit of de-
fpair, funk upon a rock. Upon the firR lines of the
piece Rands a third group of uninhumed (hades. Leu-
eafpes, Orontes, and, in the midfl of them, the good
old Palinurus, formerly mafler and pilot of the hero’s
own veffel, who with joined hands moft earneflly de¬
fires to be taken along with him into the boat, that,
after death, at leafl, he may find fome repofe, and his
dead body no longer remain the fport of winds and
waves. Thus, what we fee fcattered up and down in
many verfes by Virgil, is here, as it were, gathered into
a focus, and concentered by the ingenious pencil of the
painter, fo as to form a fubje& well worthy of being ex-
pofed, in more drapes than one, to the eyes of the public.
When a painter takes a fubjeft in hand, be it hiflo-
rical, be it fabulous, he flrould carefully perufe the
books which treat of it, imprint well on his mind all
the circumRances that attend it, the perfons concern¬
ed in it, and the paflions with which they mufl have
been feverally animated $ not omitting the particulars
of time and place. His next bufinefs is to create it,
as it were, anew, obferving the rules already laid down
for that purpofe : From what is true, choofing that
which is moR flriking ; and clothing his fubjeft with
fuch acceffory circumflances and adtions, as may render
it more confpicuous, pathetic, and noble, and befl dif-
play the powers of the inventive faculty. But, in do¬
ing this, great diferetion is requifite; for, let his ima¬
gination grow ever fo warm, his hand is never to exe¬
cute any thing that is not fully approved by his judge¬
ment. Nothing low or vulgar fliould appear in a lofty
and noble argument; a fault, of which fome of the
greatefl maflers, even Lampieri and Pouffin, have been
now and then guilty.
The aftion mufl be one, the place one, the time
one. We need not fay any thing of thofe painters,
who, like the writers of the Chinefe and Spanifli
theatre, cram a variety of adlions together, and fo give
us at once the whole life of a man. Such blunders, it is
prefumedj are too grofs to be feared at prefent. The
gplitenef?
Part I. PAIN
Invention, politenefs and learning of the age feem to demand eonfi-
derations of a more refined nature ; fuch as, that the epi-
fodes introduced in the drama of a piflure, the better to
fill and adorn it, (hould be not only beautiful in them-
felves, but indifpenfably requifite. I'he games celebrat
ed at the tomb of Anchifes, in Sicily, have a greater va¬
riety in them, and more fources of delight, than thofe
that had been before celebrated at the tomb of Patro-
clus under the walls of Troy. The arms forged by Vul¬
can for yTineas, if not better tempered, are at leaft bet¬
ter engraved, than thofe which the fame god had forged
feveral ages before for Achilles. Neverthelefs, in the
eyes of judges, both the games and the arms of Homer
are more pleafmg than thofe of Virgil, becaufe the for¬
mer are more neceffary in the Iliad than the latter in the
TEneid. Every part Ihould agree with, and have a re¬
lation to, the whole. Unity {hould reign even in varie¬
ty ; for in this beauty confitts. This is a fundamental
maxim in all the arts whofe objeft it is to imitate the
works of nature.
Piftures often borrow no fmall grace and beauty
from the fiftions of poetry. Albani has left us, in fe¬
veral of his works, fuffieient proofs of the great fhare
the belles lettres had in refining his tafte. But Ra¬
phael, above all others, may in this branch too be con-
fidered as a guide and mafter. To give but one in-
ftarice out of many; what a beautiful thought was it to
reprefent the river himfelf, in a Paffage of Jordan, fup-
porting his waters with his own hands, in order .to open
a way to the army of the Ifraelites ! Nor has he difplay-
t d lefs judgment in reviving, in his defigns engraved by
Agoflino of Venice, the little loves of Aetius playing
with the arms of Alexander, conquered by the beauty
of Roxana.
Among the ancients, Apelles and Parrhafius were
thofe -who diftinguifhed themfelves moft in allegorical
fabjefts, in which the inventive faculty {hows itfelf to
the greateft advantage; the firft by his picture of
* See Lu- Calumny *, the fecond by that of the Genius of the
nan upon Athenians j-. The ancient painter called Galaton gave
ancUWo lik-ewife a fine proof of his genius in this branch, by
Daf/, in the reprefenting a great number of poets greedily rfuench-
L\fe of ing their thirft in the waters gufhing from the mouth
of the fublime Homer. And to this allegory, accord-
tT *Plinii to Guigni, Pliny f has an eye, when he calls that
Nat. Hijl. prince of poets the fountain of wits. But it is, after
all, no way furprifing that we {hould often meet fuch
fine flights of fancy in the ancient artifts. They were
not guided in their works by a blind practice : they
were men of polite education, converfant with the
letters of the age in which they lived ; and the com¬
panions rather than the fervants of the great men who
employed them. The fineft allegorical painter among
the moderns was Rubens ; and he was accordingly
much celebrated _for it. The beft critics, however,
find fault with his uniting in the Luxemburg gallery,
the queen-mother, in council, with two cardinals and
Mercury. Nor is there lefs impropriety in his making
Tritons and Nereids, in another piece of the fame gal¬
lery, fwim to the queen’s veffel through the galleys of
the knights of St Stephen. Such freedoms are equally
difgufting with the prophecies of Sannazaro’s Proteus,
concerning the myftery of the incarnation, nr the Indian
kings of Camoens, reafoning with the Portuguefe on the
adventures of Ulyfles.
lib. xxxv.
c. 10.
t Plinii
Nat. Hi/l.
lib. xvii.
c' 5-
W,bh,
dial. 4.
Polytn
dial. 18.
TING.
661
The befl modern performances in piiRurefque allegory Invention,
are certainly thofe of Pouffin ; who availed himfelf, with
great diferetion and judgment, of the vaft treafures
with which, by a clofe ftudy of the ancients, he had en¬
riched his memory. On the other hand, Le Brun, his
countryman, has been very unhappy this way. Ambi¬
tious to have every thing his own, inftead of allegories,
he has filled the gallery of Verfailles with enigmas and
riddles, of which none but himfelf was qualified to be
the Oedipus. Allegory muft be ingenious, it is true ;
but then it mult be equally perfpicuous ; for which rea-
fon, a painter {hould avoid all vague and indeterminate
allufions, and likewife thofe to hiltory and heathen my¬
thology, which are too abftrufe to be underilood by the
generality of fpedlators. The befl: way, perhaps, to
fymbolize moral and abftraft things, is to reprefent par¬
ticular events : as Caracci did, by advice of Monfignore <’ee -^(0-
Agucchi, in the Far.nefian palace. For example, what ^
can better exprefs a hero’s love towards his country, than
the virtuous Decius confecrating himfelf boldly to the
infernal gods, in order to fecure victory to his country¬
men over their enemies ? What finer emblems can we
defire of emulation, and an infatiable thirft for glory,
than Julius Caefar weeping before the ftatue of Alexan¬
der in the temple of Hercules at Gades ; of the incon-
ftancy of fortune, than Marius fitting on the ruins of
Carthage, and receiving, inftead of the acclamations of
an army joyfully faluting him imperator, orders from a
li£tor of Sextilius to quit Africa ; of indiferetion, than
Candaules, who, by {bowing the naked beauties of his
wife to his friend Gyges, kindled a paffion that foon
made him repent his folly ? Such reprefentations as thefe
require no comment; they carry their explanations along
with them. Befides, fuppofing, and it is the worft we
can fuppofe, that the painter’s aim in them {hould hap¬
pen not to be underftood, his piece would {till give de¬
light. It is thus that the fables of Ariofto prove fo en¬
tertaining, even to thofe who underftand nothing of the
moral couched under them ; and likewife the /Eneis,
though all do not comprehend the allufions and double
intent of the poet.
Sect. X. Of Difpojition.
So much for invention. Difpoftion, which may be
confidered as a branch of invention, confifts in the pro¬
per Rationing of what the inventive faculty has imagi¬
ned, fo as to exprefs the fubjedt in the moft lively man¬
ner. The chief merit of difpofition may be faid to con-
fift in that diforder, which, wearing the appearance of
mere chance, is in fabt the moft ftudied effedt of art. A
painter, therefore, is equally to avoid the drynefs of
thofe ancients Avho always planted their figures like fo
many couples in a procefium, and the affedfation of thofe
moderns who jumble them together as if they were met
merely to fight and fquabble. In this branch Raphael
was happy enough to choofe the juft mecium, and at¬
tain perfedtion. The difpofition of his figures is always
exadtly fuch as the fubjedt requires. In the Battle of
Confantine, they are confufedly cluftered with as much
art, as they are regularly marftialled in ChriJPs commit¬
ment of the keys to St Peter, and conftituting him prince
of the apoftles.
Let the inferior figures of a piece be placed as they
will, the principal figure {hould ftrike the eye moft, and
ftandi
66:2
Difpofitior.. flanJ out, as it were, from among tlie reft.
' "v ^ be affected various ways, as by placing it on the foremoft
lines, or in fume other confpicuous part of the piece ;
by exhibiting it, in a manner, by itfelf’, by making
the principal light fall upon it •, by giving it the moft
rdplendent drapery ; or, indeed, by feveral of thefe
methods, nay, by all of them together. For, being the
hero of the pidurefque fable, it is but juft that it ihould
draw the eye to itfelf, and lord it, as it were, over all
the other objeds.
According to Leon Batifta Alberti, painters fhould
follow the example of comic writers, who compofe their
fable of as few perfons as poftible. For, in fad, a crowd¬
ed pidure is apt to give as much pain to the fpedator,
as a crowded road to the traveller.
Some fubjeds, it muft be granted, require a number,
nay, a nation, as it were, of figures. On thefe occa-
ftons, it depends entirely on the Ikill of the painter to
difpofe of them in fuch a manner, that the principal ones
may always make the principal appearance ; and con¬
trive matters fo that the piece be not overcrowded, or
want convenient refts and paufes. He muft, in a word,
take care that his piece be full, but not charged. In
this rel’ped, the Battles of Alexander by Le Brim are
mafterpieces which can never be fuftkiently ftudied •,
whereas nothing, on the other hand, can be more un¬
happy than the famous Faradfe of Tinteret, which co¬
vers one entire fide of the great council-chamber at Ve¬
nice. It appears no better than a confufed heap of fi¬
gures, a fwarm, a cloud, a chaos, which pains and fa¬
tigues the eye. What a pity it is that he did not dif¬
pofe this fubjed after a model of his own, now in the
gallery of Bevilacqua at Verona ! In this laft the feve-
-ral choirs of martyrs, virgins, bifhops, and other faints,
are judieioufly thrown into fo manyclufters, parted here
and there by a fine fleece of clouds, fo as to exhibit the
innumerable hoft of heaven drawn up in a way that
makes a moft agreeable and glorious appearance. There
goes a ftory, to our purpofe, of a celebrated mafter, who
in a drawing of the Univerfal Deluge, the better to ex-
prefs the immenfity of the waters that covered the earth,
left a corner of his paper without figures. Being afked,
if he did not intend to fill it up : No, laid he ; do not
you fee my leaving it empty is what precifely conftitutes
the pidure ?
The reafon for breaking a compofition into feveral
groups is, that the eye, paffing freely from one objed
to another, may the better comprehend the whole. But
the painter is not to flop here j for thefe groups are, be-
fides, to be fo artfully put together, as to form rich
elufters, give the whole compofition a Angular air .of
grandeur^and afford the fpedator an opportunity of dif-
cerning the piece at a diftance, and taking the whole in,
as it were, at a fingle glance. Thefe effeds are greatly
promoted by a due regard to the nature of colours, fo
as not to place together thofe which are apt to pain by
their oppofition, or diftrad by their variety. They
fhould be fo judicioufly difpofed as to temper and quali¬
fy each other.
A proper ufe of the chiaro-fcuro is likewife of great
fervice on this occafion. I he groups are eafily parted,
and the whole pidwre acquires a grand effed, by intro-
educing fome ftrong falls of ftiade, and, above all, one
-principal beam of light. This method has been follow¬
ed with great fuccefs by flembrandt in a famous pidure
Part Tv
of his, reprefenting the Virgin at the foot of the crofs Difpbfuios,
on Mount Calvary ; the principal light darting upon v-—^
her through a break of the clouds, while the relt of the
figures about her ftand more or lefs in the fliade. Tin-
toret, too, acquired great reputation, as well by that
brifknefs with which he enlivened his figures, as by his
mafterly manner of (hading them j and Polidoro de Ca¬
ravaggio, though he fcaroely painted any thing but baf-
fo-relievos, was particularly famous for introducing with
great Ikill the effeds of the chiaro-feuro, a thing firft
attempted by Mantegna in his Triumph of Julius Ccefer.
It is by this means that his eompofitions appear fo ftrik-
ingly divided into different groups, and, among their
other pevfedions, afford fo much delight through the
beautiful difpofition that reigns in them.
In like manner, a painter, by the help of perfpedive,
efpecially that called aerial, the oppofition of local co¬
lours, and other contrivances which he may exped to
hit upon by ftudying nature, and thofe who have beft
ftudied her before him, will be able not only to part his
groups, but make them appear at different diftances, fo
as to leave fufficient paffages between them.
But the greateft caution is to be ufed in the purfuit
of the methods here laid down ; efpecially in the ma¬
nagement of the chiaro-fcuro, that the effeds attributed
to light and (hade, and to their various concomitants,
may not run counter to truth and experience. This is a
capital point. For this purpofe, a painter would do well
to make, in little figures, as Tintoret and Poufiin ufod
to do, a-model of the fubjed that he intends to repre-
fent, and then illuminate it by lamp or candle-light. By
this means he may come to know with certainty, if the
chiaro-fcuro, which he has formed in his mind, does not
clafti with the reafon of things. By varying the height
and diredion of his light, he may eafily difeover fuch
accidental effeds as are moft likely to recommend his
performance, and fo eftablifh a proper fyftem for the il¬
luminating it. Nor will he afterwards find it a difficult
matter to modify the quality of his (hades, by foftening
or (Lengthening them, according to the fituatfon of his
feerte, and the quality of the light falling upon it. If
it ftiould happen to be a candle or lamp-light feene, he
would then have nothing to do but confider his model
well, and faithfully copy it.
In the next place, to turn a group elegantly, the beft
pattern is that of a bunch of grapes adopted by Titian.
As, of the many grains that compofe a bunch of grapes,
fome are (truck diredly by the light, and thofe oppofite
to them are in the (hade, whilft the intermediate ones
partake of both light and (hade in a greater or lefs de¬
gree ■, fo, according to Titian, the figures of a group
ftiould be (o difpoied, that, by the union of the chiaro-
fcuro, feveral things may appear as it were but one
thing. And in fatt it is only from his having purfued
this method, that we can account for the very grand ef-
feft of his pieces this way, in which it is impoffible to
ftudy him too much.
The mannerifts, who do not follow nature in the track
of the mafters juft mentioned, are apt to commit many
faults. The reafon of their figures cafting their (hades
in this or that manner feldom appears in the pitfure, or
at leaft does not appear fufficiently probable. They are,
betides, wont to trefpafs all bounds in fplaftiing their
pieces with light, that is, in enlivening thofe parts which
we ufually term the dtafs of a pifture. This method.
P A I N T I N G.
This may
Part I;
pifpofltion.
Hogarth's
Amlyfis of
Beauty.
no doubt, has fometimes a very fine effeft ; but it is,
however, to be ufed with no fmall difcretion, as other-
wife the whole lofes that union, that paufe, that majef-
tic filence, as Caracci ufed to call it, which affords fo
much pleafure. The eye is not lefs hurt by many lights
fcattered here and there over a pi£ture, than the ear is
by the confufed noife of different perfons fpeaking all
together in an affembly.
Guido Rent, who has imparted to his paintings that
gaietv and fplendor in which he lived, feeras enamoured
with a bright and open light \ whereas Michael Angelo
de Caravaggio, who was of a fullen and favage difpoii-
tion, appears fondeft of a gloomy and clouded Iky : fo
that neither of them were qualified to handle indifferent¬
ly all obiecK The chiaro feuro may like wife prove of
great fervice to a painter in giving his compofition a
grand effeft •, but, neverthelefs, the light he choofes
mud be adapted to the fituation of the feene where the
action is laid : nor would he be lefs faulty, who in a
grotto or cavern, where the light entered by a chink,
Ihould make his (hades foft and tender, than he who
fhould reprefent them (trong and bold in an open fky-
light.
But this is by no means the only fault which manner-
ids *are apt to be guilty of in hidorical pieces, and parti-
cularly in the difpofition of their figures. To fay nothing,
of their favourite group of a woman lying on the ground
with one child at her bread, and another playing about
her, and the like, which they generally place on the
fird lines of their pieces; nor of thofe half-figures in the
back ground peeping out from the hollows contrived for
them : they make a common praftice of mixing naked
with clothed figures ; old men with young ; placing one
figure with its face towards you, and another with its
back '; they contrad violent motions with languid atti¬
tudes, and feem to aim at oppofitipn in every thing ;
whereas oppofitions never plcafe, but when they arife
naturally from the fubjedt, like antithefes in a dif-
courfe.
As to forefhortened figures, too much affedlation in
ufing or avoiding them is equally blameable. .Lhe at¬
titudes had better be eompofed than, other wife. It
very feldom happens that there is any occafion for mak¬
ing’ them fo impetuous as to be in danger of lofing
their equilibrium ;. a thing too much pradfifed by feme
painters.
In regard to drapery, equal care diould be taken to
avoid that poverty, which makes feme maders look as
if, through mere penury, they grudged clothes to their
figures; and that profufion which Albani imputed to
Guido, faying, that he was rather, a tailor than a
painter. The ornaments of drefs fhould be ufed with
great fobriety ; and it will not be amifs to remember
what was once faid to an ancient painter: “ I pity you
greatly : unable to make Helen handfome, you have
taken care to make her fine.”
Let the whole, in a word, and all the-different parts
of the difpofition, poffefs probability, grace, codume,
and the particular charatter of what is to be reprefent-
ed. Let nothing look like uniformity of manner;
which does not appear lefs in the compofition than it
does in colouring, drapery, and defign ; and is, as it
were, that kind of accent, by which painters may be as
readily diftinguifhed as foreigners are, by pronouncing
PAINTING.
in the fame manner all the different languages they
happen to be acquainted with.
663
Illation.
Sect. XL Of Ulufion.
Among painters, and the writers on painting, there
is one maxim univerfally admitted and continually in¬
culcated ; it is, that nature ought to be imitated, and ob¬
jects are faid to be reprefented naturally, when they
have fuch relief that they may feem real. If we inquire
to what degree painting may carry this illufion, we diall
find that it deceives the eye, and obliges the lpe£lator
to employ the touch in mouldings and in baffo-relievos
where they are a little projected; but that it is weakened,
and the effect partly deftroyed where the projection is
one or two feet. It is paffible alfo to make it in the
higheft degree complete in pictures of flowers, fruits,
and other reprefentatidns of (till life, provided they be
feen in a certain point of view, and at a confiderable di-
ftance ; but there is no example of a picture containing
a number of figures, and placed in a proper light, being
miftaken for real life. We are told, indeed, of a buit
of an abbe painted by Charles Coypel, which, placed
in a certain direction behind a table, and in a certain
light, deceived feveral perfons fo completely as to in¬
duce them to falute it: but, without admitting any
thing very extraordinary in the projection or illufion of
this painting, it is evident, from the circumftances at¬
tending the relation, that the deception arofe from fur-
prife and inattention, which might happen to a produc¬
tion of an inferior artift. And hence we may conclude
that it is vain to pretend to perfedl the illufion, efpeci-
ally in piflures confiding of a number of figures, and
with confiderable didances fuppofed between them.
Among the obdacles which are oppofed to the per-
fe£tion of this branch of the art* we diall chiefly attend
to thofe which naturally proceed from our habits of
thinking and judging on all occafions. Thefe, together
with the experience we daily have of light on all kinds
of furfaces, and* of all colours, are fudkient to demon-
drate the want of reality in the mere reprefentation of
any feenes.
It has been elfewhere (hewn, that didance, figure, and
magnitude, are not naturally objedfs of perception by
the fenfe of fight; that we judge of thefe things by the
eye only, in confequence of affociations early formed be¬
tween the perceptions of touch and the correfponding
impreffions on the retina and optic nerve by the rays of
light; and that a painter makes-his picture refemble the '
original, merely by laying his colours on a plane fur-
face in fuch a manner, as that they re fie ft the fame rays
of light with the convex on concave original, when the
fpeftator dands at the proper didance (fee Metaphy¬
sics, N°49; 50, 51, 52, and 95.). But if this be ad¬
mitted, illufion in painting can never be made perfeft,
on account of the inevitable falfity of the diades which
mark the mod didant parts of the pifture. The painter
can only imitate thofe diades by obfeure colours, laid on
a plane furface, and fufceptible of redefting the light
with a degree of force relative to the real didanee. Now
our eyes give us the true plane of this furface, oppofed
to the idea of deepening which the painter widies to
produce, a contrariety which prevents the deception.
On this account, the faults found in the works of the
greatefb’
664
PAINTING.
Illusion, greateft matters, with regard to the effe£b produced by
the whole, moft frequently relate to their manner of
{hading, which is fufficient to prove, that the want of
illufion in painting depends chiefly on the imperfection
of the fhades.
This defeitt, though it cannot be wholly avoided, may
yet be rendered lefs perceptible. There has yet, indeed,
been no painter able to imitate fhadow, nor is it proba¬
ble that any one will ever perfedttly accomplitti his talk.
Shadow in nature is not a body, but the privation of
light, which deftroys colours in a greater or lefs degree,
in proportion as it is more or lefs complete. Now the
painter can only imitate this privation and real darknefs,
by colours which mutt from their very nature be capa¬
ble of reflefling light.—The colours may be more or
lefs obfcure, but they preferve always fomething which
gives a mixture of reflection. To carry the imitation of
fliadow to the higheft degree of perfection, it would" be
neceflary to apply a colour capable of darkening all
others, more or lefs as there Ihould be occafion, and
which might have no vifible trace of its exiftence, that
is, no one part of it which reflected one coloured ray
more flrongly than another. Perhaps this kind of nega-
rtive colour might be found in praCtice to be of fervice
to the artbut it would not render the furface totally
invifible, for it would be neceflary, farther, that it
fhould have the property of not reflecting a Angle ray of
light when expofed to it; which is altogether impoflible,
as there.is no colour or body in nature without reflection
in fuch a Atuation.
We fhall be further convinced of the impoflibilily of
painting ftiadow, if we attend to the pictures of the
greatett matters, with regard to the imitation of truth.
Every part, when taken by itfelf, connected with light,
or with demitints, prefents a perfeCt imitation. Even
the different degrees of light or the objeCts are fufficient-
ly exaCt; but notwithftanding this affemblage of circum-
ftances correfponding with truth, and of which the re-
fult fhould be perfeCt iUuJion, yet in confldering the
whole, we are never fo completely deceived, as to take
a picture for a reality •, from which we may conclude,
that the want of illuAon proceeds almoft entirely from
the imperfeCtion of {hading.
IlluAon then, in the ftriCteft fenfe, cannot exift in
painting} but there is another kind of illuAon, perhaps
improperly fo called, which is one of the principal parts
of the art, and worthy of the greateft attention : It is,
that the picture fhall refemble truth to fuch a degree, by
the juftnefs of its forms, by the combination of colours,
and by all its general effeCts, that the image {hall give
all the pleafure to be expeCted from the imitation of
truth. This is not illuAon in the proper fenfe of the
word, flnce it exitts as well in pictures on a fmall fcale
as in thofe of equal dimenAons with the original; but it
is that truth of imitation of which painting is fufceptible,
even in pictures containing any numbers of Agures at any
reafonable diftance from each other.
But it remains to be conAdered whether this imitation
of truth, taken by itfelf, be the higheft attainable per¬
fection in painting. It is generally granted, that the
greateft beauty is that which not only pleafes at A: ft
view, but on the neareft and moft critical examination.
But if illuAon, fuch as we have defcribed it, were the
Jble merit of the art, it ivould follow, that the perfon
3vho was leaft acquainted with its beauties would expe¬
rience the fame pleafure as he who had ftudied them
moft. Farther, in examining the works of the greateft
mafters, it is eafy to perceive, that it is not their illuAon
which has excited the attention and admiration of the
critic. Even the works of the divine Raphael do not
deceive the eye in any point of view more completely
than thofe of an ordinary painter. Raphael, pure in his
charaCler and deAgn, is, without doubt, very deAcient
in this part of the art. Meanwhile the grandeur of his
ideas in compoAtion, and the choice of his forms ; the
beauty of his heads, wherein one does not admire Amply
the imitation of any known truth j his ingenious and
noble manner in drapery, which yet does not refemble
any known fluff, or the garb of any nation \ in fhort,
all his beauties are fuperior to the Ample imitation of
truth, and contradiCl the fentiment of the greateft plea¬
fure ariflng from illuAon.
If we pafs to thofe who have purfued colouring with
the greateft fuccefs, we {hall And them, doubtlefs, ap¬
proach nearer to illuAon than thofe who have negleCted
it 5 and it is alfo a faCt, that their works have been more
univerfally admired.
At the fame time it is not the illuAon occaAoned by
colours which has altogether excited this admiration.
The exquiAte demitints and the freflmefs of Corregio
and Titian, which excel the ordinary beauties of na¬
ture, and even imitate her moft perfeCt produCtionst
may perhaps not be conAdered as deftroying illuAon j
but it is no lefs a faCt, that weaker and lefs precious co¬
louring wmuld carry it to greater perfection. BeAdes,
this large, eafy, and exquiAte manner of painting, this
harmony, of which they have given us the beft exam¬
ples, are owing to qualities in them much more excel¬
lent than what wmuld be fufficient to produce the Ample
imitation of truth. Guido, Cortona, and fome others,
appear to approach nearer to illuAon, But even thofe
mafters prove by their works, that the moft eftimable
beauties in painting do not all tend to this branch of the
art $ for notwithftanding the high charaCler which they
have gained, they are much inferior to Raphael, Corre¬
gio, and Titian, although the Arft failed in colouring
and in the knowledge of the claro-obfcuro, the fecond
in point of correCtnefs, and the third in the choice of
noble fubjeCls.
From this we may conclude, that the neareft refem-
blance to truth is not the foie objeft in painting 5 that it
requires a fuperior degree of elevation by the art of add¬
ing beauty and perfedion to the moft exaCt refemblance;
and that it is this art which diftinguifties and charaCle-
rizes extraordinary men.
If we run over the great branches of painting, we
{hall And a number of effential beauties different from
thofe which are capable of carrying illuAon to the great¬
eft poflible height. In compoAtion, we principally ad¬
mire the extent of genius, the choice of piCturefque and
graceful attitudes, the ingenious combination of groups,
whether in uniting the light and fhade in order to ob¬
tain the greateft effedt, or in difpofing a whole in fuch
a manner as to make no part fuperfluous •, and Anally,
that kind of practical talent by which the mind takes
poffeflion of nature, and forces it to produce all the
beauties of which the art is fufceptible. In this enume¬
ration of particulars it is eafy to perceive that the beau¬
ties of compoAtion are very diftant from thofe of il¬
luAon. . . ,
T®
Part I.
Illufion.
Part I.
Million. r To obtain illufion in defign, there is no occafion for
*— V"’* 'correftnefs nor tafte beyond what is'perceived in nature
by the moft ignorant fpe£lator. And with regard to
colouring, that is not always moft; admired which is moft
natural. What departs widely from truth, indeed, is
not of confequence beautiful, but many qualities are re¬
quired befides the Ample imitation of truth. Freftmefs,
cafe, and tranfparency in certain tones, are deemed ab-
folutely requifite •, and the moft elteemed colourifts have
carried their beauties in all thefe refpedls beyond what
they have feen in nature. If fome tones in the fleftiy
parts have approached towards vermilion, to a light-
blue, or a fftver-gray, they have made them more ap¬
parent ; not only to point them out to the fpedlator, but
to Ihow their knowledge in the difcovery and their art
in painting them. This would have been going beyond
the limits of perfeiftion, if thefe had confifted in fimple
illufion.
The oppofition of colour, of light, and of fhade, would
have been in this cafe alfo fuperfluous 5 for nature is al¬
ways true, without any pointed attempt to make her
more engaging. The fuppreffion of certain lights,
which truth would require, and which art extinguilhes,
in order to augment the harmony of effcdft, would be
alfo worthy of cenfure, whatever pleafure would refult
from it.
Finally, one of the greateft beauties of the art, name¬
ly, the peculiar manner of a great mafter, has no relation
to illufion. This is not even founded in nature, but de¬
pends on the genius or Angularity of the artift. It is
this manner which diftinguilhes the original of a great
mafter from the moft exadl copy •, and which charadle-
rizes the talents of the artifts jb well, that the fmalleft
part of the pidlure, and even the leaft interefting, is fuf-
ficient to difcover the painter. The diftindtion between
the beautiful and illufive in painting has made Sir Joftma
Reynolds, in exprefs terms, recommend a perfedlion fu-
perior to the imitation of nature. “ The principle now
laid down (fays he), that the perfedlion of the art does
not confift in mere imitation, is far from being new or
Angular. It is, indeed, fupported by the general opi¬
nion of the enlightened part of mankind. The poets,
orators, and rhetoricians of antiquity, are continually
enforcing this pofition, that all the arts receive their per¬
fedlion from an ideal beauty, fuperior to what is to be
found in individual nature. They are ever referring to
the pradlice of the painters and fculptors of their times,
particularly Phidias the favourite artift of antiquity, to
illuftrate their affertions. As if they could not fufficient-
ly exprefs their admiration of his genius by what they
knew, they have recourfe to poetical enthufiSfm. They
call it infpiration j a gift from heaven. The artift is
fuppofed to have afcended the celeftial region to furnilh
his mind with this perfedt idea of beauty. He (fays
Proclus) who takes for his model fuch forms as nature
produces, and confines himfelf to an exadl imitation of
• them, will never attain to what is perfedlly beautiful.
For the works of nature are full of difproportion, and
fall fhort of the true ftandard of beauty. So that Phi¬
dias, when he formed his Jupiter, did not copy any ob-
jedl ever prefented t© his fight; but contemplated only
that image which he had conceived in his mind from
Homer’s defcription.’
“ It is not ealy to define in what this great ftyle con-
nfts, nor to defcribe by words the proper means of ac-
VOL. XV. Part II.
665
quiring it, if the mind of the ftudent Ihould be at all ca- Illufion.
pable of fuch an acquifition. Could tve teach tifile or v" '
genius by rules, they would be no longer tafte and ge¬
nius. But though there neither are nor can be any pre-
cife invariable rules for the exercife or the acquifition of
thefe great qualities 5 yet we may truly fay that they al¬
ways operate in proportion to our attention in obferving
the works of nature, to our Ikill in feledling, and to our
care in digefting, methodifing, and comparing our ob-
fervations. There are many beauties in our art that feem
at firft to lie without the reach of precept, and yet may
eafily be reduced to praftical principles. Experience is
ail in all; but it is not every one that profits by expe¬
rience : and moft people err not fo much from want of
capacity to find their objeift, as from not knowing Avhat
objefl to purfue. This great ideal perfection and beau¬
ty are not to be fought in the heavens, but upon the
earth. They are about us, and upon every fide of US':
But the power of difcovering what is deformed in na¬
ture, or, in other words, what is particular or uncom¬
mon, can be acquired only by experience ; and the
whole beauty and grandeur of the art confifts in being
able to get above all Angular forms, local cuftoms, par¬
ticularities, and details of every kind,”
After thefe opinions, however, derived from the prac¬
tice of the art, and this high authority, it may not be
improper to hazard a few obfervations. Although illu¬
fion can be diftinguiftied from many of the moft excel¬
lent parts of the art taken feparately, yet it does not fol¬
low that it (hall not add in every picture to the beauty
of the whole. It is impoffible to ftate it in oppofition to
defign, to compofition, to colouring, or to the peculiar
manner of a great artift j becaufe all thefe may exift
where there alio exifts the moft perfect illufion. This is
evident from the works of art: which have real relievo,
and which at the fame time are capable of perfection in
all thofe branches, and of Ihowing the peculiar manner
of the artift. Again, it appears evident, that illujtoti,
properly fo called, fliould be a proper objeCt of attention
in painting. We may rate the ideal beauty very high,
and with great juftice 5 but it ftill confifts in overcom¬
ing the defeCts in individual objeCts in nature, and not
in departing from the truth of reprefentation. And per¬
haps it may be alleged, that' the impoflibility of giving
perfeCt illufion on a plane furface has pufiied the greateft
mafters too far, and made them crowd artificial beauties
into their pictures to conceal their want of power to
give real ones. It is not improbable that on this very
account the art is lefs perfeCt than otherwife it might
have been : For in all fubjeCts thought to be impoflible,
there is not only great room for exertion, but the perfon
carries the art to greater perfection as he comes nearer
to (how that it may not be impofiible. And if the
works of Raphael, in point of illufion; are not fuperior
to an ordinary artift, we may be permitted to fay that
there is great room for improvement in this branch.
Sect. XII. Of the Cofume,
The coftume in painting correfponds with the unities
of time, place, and aCtion, in tragedy and in epic poetry.
It is chiefly confined to hiftory painting; and regards
the cuftoms of different periods, the manners, the drefs,
and the colour, of different nations. Great exaClnefs in
the coftume is fcarcely praCHcable) but too fenfible a
4 P departure
PAINTING.
666
PAIN
Coftume.
Jilanchefler
Tranfac-
tion i, vol.
«*• P- 564.
&.C.
departure from it denotes unpardonable negligence. It
frequently happens that a piece compofed of pi&urefque
figures derives confiderable advantage from certain li¬
berties which are calculated to pleafe both the artill and
the fpeclator; for the judges of painting are not habi¬
tually occupied with'the details of ancient and modern
hiftory, or profoundly verfed in all the circumftances
which make a departure from the coftume eonfpicuous.
On the other hand, if they were fo ignorant as not to
underftand, or fo indifferent as not to regard thole cir¬
cumftances, this branch of the art would be altogether
arbitrary. The road of the painter is between thefe
two extremes, not to defpife beauty on the one hand,
nor probability on the other. But in purfuing this part
of the art, it is in vain to feek for perfect models in an¬
cient or modern painting.
“ When Raphael in his cartoons introduces monks
and Svvifs guards ; when he puts into a boat more fi¬
gures than it is evident the boat could aftually contain j
when in the chaftifement of Heliodorus, who attempted
to defpoil the temple of Jerufalem, Pope Julius II. is
depi&ed as being prefent; when, in the donation of
Conftantine in the Vatican, a naked boy is placed eon¬
fpicuous in the fore ground aftride upon a dog, in the
immediate prefence of the pope and the emperor ; when
Venetian fenators are introduced while Pope Alexan¬
der excommunicates Barbaroffa; when Ariftotle, Plato,
Dante, and Petrarch, are brought together in the fchool
of Athens, to omit the leffer improprieties of flioelefs
apoftles, &c.—every perfon muft acknowledge that fuch
offences as thefe againft truths fo obvious, if they do not
arife from a defedft of underftanding, are inftances of in-
excufable carelefsnefs.
“ In like manner when the fame great mafter paints
the dreams of Jofeph and his fellow prifoner in circles
over their heads j w hen fimilar contrivances to exprefs
future events are ufed by Albani, Pameggiano, and
Fufeli—is it not evident that no poflibility can make the
fiction true 5 and that real and feigned exiftences are
unnaturally introduced in one narration ?
“ When Polydore choofes to reprefent the death of
Cato, and expofes to the fpeftator the hero of the piece
with his bowels gulhing out j when Paul Veronefe, at a
banquet painted with his ufual magnificence, places be¬
fore us a dog gnawing a bone, and a boy making wa¬
ter : hoAvever fuch difgufting circumftances may be
forgiven in the chef cPceuvre of a Michael Angelo, had
he reprefented thefe inftead of the horrible figures of his
Day of Judgment, the performance of an inferior artift:
cannot atone for them.
“ So alfo, when one of the firft rate among the mo¬
dern painters, we mean Paul Veronefe, introduces Be-
nedi&ine monks at the marriage of Cana *, when, in a
pifture of the crucifixion, he puts the Roman foldiers
in the jerkins of the 16th century, and adorns their
heads with turbans ; when Guido, in a painting of Jefus
appearing to his mother after his refurreftion, places St
Charles Borromee in a kind of delk in the back-ground
as witnefs to the interview; when Tintoret, at the mi¬
raculous fall of manna, arms the Ifraelites with fufils •,
and Corregio appoints St Jerome as the inftruftor of the
child Jefus—common fenfe revolts at the impropriety ;
and we are compelled to exclaim, ^uicquidojiendismihi
lie, mcredulus odi!
, “ The mythological tafte of the learned Pouffn is
TING. Part I.
well known ; but Rubens feems to claim the merit of Coftume.
having prefented to the world a Hill greatt r number of r—'
fupreme abfurdities in this learned ftyle : nor is it eafy
to conceive a more heterogeneous mixture of circum¬
ftances, real and imaginary, facred and profane, than
the Luxembourg gallery, and the other works of that
great mafter, perpetually exhibit.
“ When fo high an authority as Sir Joftiua Reynolds * * Lircow-
contends for the rejection of common fenfe in favour of/«, Svo.
fomewhat he terms a higher fenfe ; when he laments,
indireftly, that art is not in fuch high eftimation with
us, as to induce the generals, lawgivers, and kings of
modern times, to fuffer themfelyes to be reprefented
naked, as in the days of ancient Greece •, when he de¬
fends even the ridiculous aberrations from poflibility,
which the extravagant pencil of Rubens has fo plenti¬
fully produced—it is not furprifing that the artifts of
the prefent day fhould be led to rejeft the company of
common fenfe 5 or that Sir Jofhua’s performances ftiould
furnifli examples of his own precepts.
“ Mrs Siddons is reprefented by Sir Joftiua in the cha-
radter (as it is faid) of the tragic mufe: She is placed in
an old-faftiioned arm chair j this arm chair is fupported
by clouds, fufpended in the air 5 on each fide of her
head is a figure not unapt to fuggeft the idea of the at¬
tendant imps of an enchantrefs : of thefe figures, one is
fuppofed to reprefent Comedy, and the other Tragedy j
Mrs Siddons herfelf is decently attired in the faftiion-
able habilements of 20 or 30 years ago.
“ If this be a pidture of the tragic mufe, flie ought
not to appear in a modern drefs, nor ought fhc to be
feated in an old arm chair. If this be a portraiture of
Mrs Siddons, ftie has no bufinefs in the clouds, nor has
fhe any thing to do with aerial attendants. If this be
Mrs Siddons in the charafter of the tragic mufe, the firft
fet of objections apply j for ftie is placed in a fituation
where Mrs Siddons could never be.
“ In the death of Dido, Sir Jofliua Reynolds introdu¬
ces her After, lamenting over the corpfe of the unfortu¬
nate queen. This is poflible ; but he has alfo introdu¬
ced Atropos cutting Dido’s hair with a pair of feiffars,
a being equally real and apparent in the painting with
Dido or her filter. This (continues our author) appears
to me a grofs offence againft mythological probability j
nor is it the only offence againft the ccftume with
which that pidture is chargeable.
“ There is one other breach of the coftume, however
common among painters, more grofs and offtnfive than
any of the inftances hitherto alleged \ we mean the per¬
petual and unneceffary difplay of the naked figure. We
ftiall notftay to inquire whether more Ikill can be fhown
in painting the human body clothed or unclothed. If
the perfonages introduced in any pidlurc are more naked
in the reprefentation than can be juftified by the proba¬
bility of the times, perfons, places, or circumftances, it
is a breach of the coftume proportionate to the deviation.
This fault, however, is fo common as hardly to be noti¬
ced ; fo flight indeed, when compared with that general
tafte for voluptuous imagery and obfeene reprefentation,
which has fo long difgraced the art of painting in every
ftage of its progrefs, that fcience and morality are cal¬
lous to the flight offence.
“ This depravity of imagination, this proftltution of
the pencil to the bafe purpofes of lafeivious inclination,
was a fubjedl of much complaint among the ancients.
Nor
Purt I.
Cofturae. Nor is there lefs reafon to complain in modern times,
V--' that this delightful art, which might be employed in ex¬
citing the nobleft fentiments, and become fubfervient to
the beft interefls of fociety, ihould fo often be exercifed
upon fubjefts folely calculated to pleafe the eye of the
voluptuary and debauchee. It is hardly poflible to pafs
through any admired colleftion without meeting with
fome of thefe 5 of which, however excellent the perform¬
ance may be, the common feelings of decency and mo¬
rality (if we are neither profcfled artifts nor connoifleurs)
prevent us from viewing them without a mixture of dii-
guft.”
* Abbe de Et pudor averfos texit veiamine vu/tus*.
Marfy- It is impoflible to exprefs how much a picture fuffers
by fuch loofenefs of fancy, and finks as a baftard of the
art in the efteem of good judges. Some people, indeed,
are of opinion, that fo fcrupulous an obfervance of the
coftume is apt to hurt pi&ures, by depriving them of a
certain air of truth, arifing, they think, from thofe fea¬
tures and habits to which we are accuftomed ; and which
are therefore apt to make a greater impreflion, than can
be expe&ed from things drawn from the remote fources
of antiquity 5 adding withal, that a certain degree of li¬
cence has ever been allowed thofe artifts who in their
rvorks muft make fancy their chief guide. See, lay they,
the Greeks ; that is, the matters of Raphael and Pouflin
themfeWes. Do they ever trouble their heads about fuch
niceties ? The Rhodian ftatuaries, for example, have not
fcrupled to reprefent Laocoon naked *, that is, the prieft
of Apollo naked in the very aft of facrificing to the
gods, and that too in prefence of a whole people, of the
virgins and matrons of Ilium. Noav, continue they, if
it was allowable in the ancient ftatuaries to negleft pro¬
bability and decency to fuch a degree, to have a better
opportunity of difplaying their fkill in the anatomy of
the human body *, why may it not be allowable in mo¬
dern painters, the better to attain the end of their art,
which is deception, to depart now and then a little from
the ancient manners and the too rigorous larvs of the
eoft’ime ? But thefe reafons, we beg leave to obferve,
are more abfurd than they are ingenious. What ! are
Ave to draAv conclufions from an example, Avhieh, far
from deciding the difpute, gives occafion to another ?
The learned are of opinion, that thofe Rhodian mailers
Avould have done much better had they looked out for
a fubjeft in Avhich, without offending fo much againft
truth, and ev'en probability, they might have had an
equal opportunity of difplaying their knowledge of the
naked. And certainly no authority or example Avhat-
ever Ihould tempt us to do any thing contrary to Avhat
both decency and the reafon of things require, unlefs we
intend, like Carpioni, to reprefent
Sogni (P infer mi, e foie di roman<zi.
The dreams of fick men, and the tales of fools.
No : a painter, the better to attain the end of his art,
which is deception, ought carefully to avoid mixing the
antique Avith the modern, thedomeftic Avith the foreign j
things, in {hurt, repugnant to each other, and therefore
incapable of gaining credit. A fpeftator Avill never be
667
brought to confider himfelf as actually prefent at the Proper
feene, the reprefentation of Avhich he has before him, s
unlefs the circumftances Avhich enter it perfeftly agree ^ ^ ^ ~
among themfelves, and the field of aftion, if avc may
ufe the expreflion, in no Ihape belies the aftion itfelf,
For inltance, the circumftances, or, if you pleafe, the
acceffories, in a Finding of Mofes, are not, furely, to re¬
prefent the borders of a canal planted Avith roAvsof pop¬
pies, and covered with country-houfes in the European,
tafte *, but the banks of a great river {haded Avith cluf-
ters of palm trees, Avith a Sphinx or an Anubis in the
adjacent fields, and here and there in the back-ground
a towering pyramid. And indeed the painter, before
he takes either canvas or paper in hand, ftiould, on the
Avings of fancy, tranfport himfelf to Egypt, to Thebes,
or to Rome $ and fummoning to his imagination the
phyfiognomy, the drefs, the plants, the buildings, fuit-
able to his fubjeft, Avith the particular fpot Avhere he has
chofen to lay his feene, fo manage his pencil, as, by the
magic of it, to make the enraptured fpeftators fancy
themfelves there along with him.
Sect. XIII. Of Proper Booh for a Painter.
From Avhat lias been already faid, it may be eafily
gathered, that a painter ftiould be neither illiterate nor
unprovided Avith books. Many are apt to imagine, that
the leonologia of Ripa, or fome fueh colleftion, is alone
fufficient for this purpofe, and that all the apparatus he
{lands in need of, may be reduced to a feAV calls of the
remains of antiquity, or rather to Avhat Rembrandt ufed
to call his antiques, being nothing more than coats of
mail, turbans, ftireds of fluff, and all manner of old
houfehold trumpery and Avearing apparel. Such things,
no doubt, are neceffary to a painter, and perhaps enough
for one who wants only to paint half-lengths, or is will¬
ing to confine himfelf to a few Ioav fubjefts. But Algarotti.
are by no means fufficient for him ivho Avould foar high-®" Paint¬
er *, for a painter Avho Avould attempt the Univerfe, and**^'
reprefent it in all its parts, fuch as it Avould appear, had
not matter proi^ed refraftory to the intentions of the fo-
vereign Artift. Such a painter alone is a true, an uni-
verfal, a perfeft painter. No mortal, indeed, muft
ever expeft to rife to that fublimity •, yet all ftiould
afpire to it, on tiie pain of otherwife ever continuing at
a very mortifying diftance from it: as the orator, Avho
Avifties to make a figure in his profeflion, fhould propofc
to himfelf no lefs a pattern than that perfeft orator de-
feribed byT Tully *, nor the courtier, than that perfeft
courtier delineated by Caftiglione. It cannot, therefore,
appear furprifing, if Ave infill on the propriety of rec¬
koning a good colleftion of books as part of fuch a paint¬
er’s implements. The Bible, the Greek and Roman hi-
ftorians, the works of Homer, that prince of poets, and
of Virgil, are the moil claffical. To thefe let him add
the Metamorphofes or Ovid, fome of our beft poets, the
voyage of Paufanias, Vinci, Vafari, and others, upon
painting.
It Avill alfo be of confiderable advantage to him to
have a well chofen colleftion of drawings by the beft
mafters (d), in order to trace the progrefs and hiitorv
4 P 2 of
PAINTING.
(D) We have formerly (fee Hi/lonj of Anatomy), mentioned a great anatomical work carrying on by
Andrew
668
Proper 0f 1-iJs art^ and make himfelf acquainted with the various
^ I^a'inter" a^y^es Paintiug which have been, and now are, in tlie
■ ‘ " . greateft vogue. The prince of the Roman fchool was
not athamed to hang up in his ftudy the drawings of Al¬
bert Durer ; and fpared no pains or expence to acquire
all the drawings he could meet with that were taken
from baffo relievos ; things which the art of engraving
,' lias fince rendered fo common as to be in every one’s
hands. This art of multiplying drawings by means of
the graver, is of the fame date, and boafts the fame ad¬
vantages, with the art of printing, by means of which
the works of the mind are multiplied, as it were, at one
ftroke, and difperfed over the whole wrorld.
The fight of fine fubjefts treated by able mailers, and
the different forms which the fame fubjefts affume in dif¬
ferent hands, cannot fail both of enlightening and in¬
flaming the mind of the young painter. The fame may
be faid of the perufal of good poets and hillorians, with
the particulars and proofs of what they advance 5 not to
mention thofe ideas and flights of invention, with which
the former are wont to clothe, beautify, and exalt every
thing they take in hand. Bouchardon, after reading
Homer, conceived, to ufe his own words, that men were
three times taller than before, and that the world was
enlarged in every refpeft. It is very probable, that the
beautiful thought of covering Agamemnon’s face with
the fkirt of his mantle at the facrificeof Iphigenia, was
fuggefted to Timantes by the tragedy of Euripides.
And the fublime conceit of Raphael, who, in a Creation
of his, reprefents God in the immenfe fpace, with one
hand reaching to the fun and the other to the moon,
may be confidered as the child of the following words of
the Pfalmift : The heavens declare the glonj of God, and
the firmament evoeth his handy-work.
This thought of Raphael has been, indeed, cenfured
by Mr Webb. “ A God (fays this gentleman), extend¬
ing one hand to the fun, and another to the moon, de-
llroys that idea of immenfity which fliould accompany
the work of creation, by reducing it to a world of a few
inches.” But the opinion of Count Algarotti is very
different. “ For my part, (fays that elegant critic), I
cannot difeover in this painting a world of a few inches,
but a world on a much greater fcale ; a world of mil¬
lions and millions of miles : and yet this fo immenfe a
world, by means of that a£l of the Godhead, in which
■with one hand he reaches to the fun, and with the other
to the moon, fhrinks, in my imagination, to a mere
nothing, in refpeft to the immenfity of God himfelf;
which is all that the powers of painting can pretend to.
This invention is, though in a contrary fenfe, of the
fame kind with that of Timantes, who, to exprefs the
enormous fize of a fleeping Polyphemus, placed round
him fome fatyrs meafuring the monfter’s thumb with a
thyrfus. Hence Pliny, who relates the fa£t, takes oc-
cafion to tell us, that his works always imply more than
they exprefs ; and that how great foever he may be in
execution, he is fiiil greater in invention : Atque in om~
nibus ejus operibus intelligitur plus femper quam pingitur ;
Part I.
et cum ars fumma fit, ingenium tamen ultra artem ejl.^ Proper
Nat. Hill. lib. xxxv. C. IO. Books fora
1 lie perulal of good authors cannot but be very fer-, *>a*nter-
viceable to a painter in another refneft ; as, among the11 J
great number of fubjedls afforded by biftory and poetry,
he may expeft to meet with many on which his talents
may difplay themfelves to the greateft advantage. A
painter can never be too nice in the choice of his argu¬
ments 5 for on the beauty of them that of his piece will
greatly depend. How much to be pitied, therefore,
were our firft mailers, in being fo often obliged to re¬
ceive their fubje&s from the hands of fimple and illite¬
rate perfons ! and what is worfe, to fpend ail the riches
of their art upon barren or unworthy fubjedls ! Such are
the reprefentations of thofe faints, who, though they ne¬
ver had the leafl intercourfe with each other, and per¬
haps even lived in different ages, are, notwithflanding to
be introduced, teteatete, as it were, into the fame picture.
The mechanic of the art may, indeed, difplay itfelf on
thefe occafions : but by no means the ideal. The dif-
pofition may be good and praifeworthy, as in the works
of Cortoni and Lanfranc ; but we are not to expedl in
them either invention or expreffion, which require for
their balls the reprefentation of fome fa£t capable of pro¬
ducing fuch effedls. Who does not, on the bare men¬
tion of this abufe, immediately recoiled! many fad in-
ftances of it ? fuch as the famous St Cecilia of Raphael,
furrounded by St Paul, St Mary Magdalen, St John,
and St Auguflin } and the pidlure of Paolo Veronefe,
in the veflry of the Nuns of St Zachary at Venice, in
which St Francis of Affizium, St Catharine, and St
Jerome richly habited in his cardinal’s robes, form a
ring round the Virgin feated on a throne with the child
Jefus in her arms j perhaps the moft beautiful and pic-
turefque of all the infipid and infignificant pieces with
which Italy abounds. It is very fhocking to think, that
young painters fhould be obliged to ftudy their art from
fuch wretched compofitions.
The fubjedls in which the pencil triumphs moft, and
with which a judicious painter may flock himfelf by the
perufal of good books, are, no doubt, thofe which are
moft univerfally known, which afford the largeft field
for a difplay of the paffions, and contain the greateft va¬
riety of incidents, all concurring, in the fame point of
time, to form one principal action. Of this the ftory of
Coriolanus befieging Rome, as related by Livy, is a
fhining example. Nothing can be imagined more beau¬
tiful than the feene of adtion itfelf, which ought to take
in the praetorium in the camp of the Volfcians, the Ti¬
ber behind it, and the feven hills, among which the
towering Capitol is, as it were, to lord it over the reft.
It is impoffible to conceive a greater variety, than what
muff appear in that crowd of foldiers, women, and chil¬
dren, all which are to enter the compofition 5 unlefs,
perhaps, it be that of the different paffions with which
they are feverally agitated *, fome wifhing that Coriola¬
nus may raife the liege, others fearing it, others again fu-
fpedting it. But the principal group forms the pidturefque
part
PAINTING.
Andrew Bell, Efq. in Edinburgh, of the figures of which, as they are engraved under the infpedtion of fo able
an anatomifl as Mr Fyfe, and with the approbation of Dr Monro, we may at leaft form a favourable opinion j
and if well executed, of which there can be but little doubt, they will unqueftionably be of effential fervice to
ithe painter.
PAIN
part of the piece. Coriolanus, haftily defcending from
his tribunal, and hurried on by filial affeftion, to em¬
brace his mother, (tops fhort through ihame, on her cry¬
ing out to him, Hold ? let me firft know, if it is a fon,
or an enemy, I am going to embrace ? Thus a painter
may impart novelty to the moil hackneyed fubjedl, by
taking for his guides thofe authors who poffefs the hap¬
py talent of adding grace and dignity, by their beauti¬
ful and fublime defcriptions, even to the moil common
and trifling tranfa£lions.
Sect. XIV Of the Painter's Balance.
The celebrated De Piles, who by his writings has
thrown fo much light upon painting, in order to aflift
young painters in forming a right judgment of thofe
mailers who hold the firil rank' in the profeflion, and to
reduce fuch judgment to the greater precifion, be¬
thought himfelf of a pidlorical balance, by means of
which a painter’s merit may be weighed with the great-
eil exadlnefs. This merit he divides into Compofition,
Defign, Colouring, and Expreffion j and in each of
thefe branches he has afligned to every painter that flrare
to which he thought him intitled, according as he ap¬
proached more or lefs the higheil degree of excellence
and fummit of perfedtion 5 fo that, by fumming up the
numbers which, Handing againil each mailer’s name, ex-
prefs his {hare of merit in each of thefe branches, we
have his total merit or value in the art, and may hence
gather what rank one painter holds in regard to ano¬
ther. Several objedlions, it is true, have been ilarted
to this method of calculation, by a famous mathemati¬
cian of our days, who, among other things, infills, that
it is the produdl of the above numbers multiplied by
VAcad. des eacj1 ot]ierj an(j not tlie fum Gf them, that gives the _me-
™*ccs' rjt Qf tjie artift. But this is not a place to enter into
fuch niceties, nor indeed would the doing of it be of
any fervice to the art. The only thing worth our no¬
tice is, whether the original numbers, Handing for the
painter’s merit in the feveral branches of his art, are
fuch as he is really intitled to, without fuffering ourfelves
to be biaffed by any partiality, as De Piles has been, in
favour of the prince of the Flemifli fchool 5 the conle-
quence of which, flrange as it may appear, is, that in
his balance Raphael and Rubens exadlly turn out of the
fame weight.
The idea of the painter’s balance is doubtlefs curious,
and therefore deferved to be mentioned *, but as the me¬
rits of the mofl eminent painters have been already ap¬
preciated under the fecond fedlion of the hiilorical part
of our article, to which we refer, it is needlefs to be
more particular here, or to repeat what has been already
treated of at fuflicient length.
Sect. XV. Pra&ical Obfervations.
Hwing thus laid down the principles of the art,
and ventured to give the fludent fome direttions with
regard to his fludies, we flrall conclude this part of
the fubjeft with a few obfervations relative wholly to
pratlice.
And, 1. The young painter muH be careful not to
be led aHray by the ambition of compofirig eafily, or
attaining -what is called a maferly handling of the chalk
or the pencil j a pernicious attempt, by which fludents
Parti.
Painter’s
Balance.
Lhy, Dec.
ii. lib. 2.
See Mai-
ran’s re¬
marks, in
Mem de
TING. 66(j
are excluded from all power of advancing in real excel-
lence. To this attempt, however, young men have not ti®^a“
only the frivolous ambition of being thought maflerly, u. — r1
inciting them on the one hand, but alfo their natural
floth tempting them on the other. They are terrified
at the profpeft before them, and of the toil required to
obtain exadlnefs ; whilH the lives of the moH eminent
painters furnifli us with examples of the moil unceafing
induflry. When they conceived a fubjedl, they firfi
made a variety of iketches ; then a finiihed drawing of
the whole ; after that a more corredl drawing of every
feparate part, heads, hands, feet, and pieces of drapery ;
they then painted the pifture, and after all retouched
it from the life. The pidlures thus wrought with
fuch care, now appear like the effects of enchantment,
and as if fome mighty genius had flruck them ofi' at a
blow.
But a fludent is not always advancing becaufe he is
employed j he mufl apply his flrength to that part of
the art where the real difficulties lie ; to that part which
diflinguiffies it as a liberal art, and not by miflaken in¬
duflry lofe his time in that which is merely ornamental.
The ftudents, inftead of vying with each other who
{hall have the readieft hand, ffiould be taught to la¬
bour who {hall have the pureft and moft corredl out¬
line 5 inflead of driving who {hall produce the bright-
eft tint, or endeavouring to give the glofs of fluffs fo
as to make them appear real, let their ambition be di-
redted to contend, who {hall difpofe his drapery in the
moft graceful folds, and give the greateft dignity to the
human form.
He who endeavours to copy accurately the figure be¬
fore him, not only acquires a habit of eXaflnefs and
precifion, but is continually advancing in his knowledge
of the human figure ; and though he Teems to fuperficial
obfervers to make a flow’er progrefs, he will be found at
laft capable of adding (without running into capricious
wilclnefs) that grace and beauty which is neceffary to
be given to his more finiffied works, and which cannot
be got by the moderns, as it was not acquired by the
ancients, but by an attentive and W'ell-dire&ed ftudy of
the human form.
2. It is, in the next place, a matter of great impor¬
tance, that the drawings on which the young artift firft
exercifes his talents be of the moft excellent kind. Let
the profiles, the hands, and the feet given him to copy,
be of the beft mailers, fo as to bring his eye and his
hand early acquainted with the moft elegant forms and
the moft beautiful proportions. A painter who has ear¬
ly acquired a fine tafte, finds it an eafy matter to give
dignity to the meaneft features, while even the works of
a Praxiteles or a Glycon are feen to fuffer in the hands
of another. A veffel will ever retain the feent which
’.ffias firft contrafled.
3. It wmuld be proper alfo to make the pupil copy
fome fine heads from the Greek and Roman medals ;
not fo much for the reafon juft laid down, as to make
him acquainted, if we may ufe the expreffion, with thofe
perfonages which in time he may have occafion to in¬
troduce into his pieces, and, above all, to improve him
early in the arts of copying from relief. Hence he will
learn the rationale of light and ffiade, and the nature of
that chiaro feuro by which it is, properly fpeaking, that
the various forms of things are diftinguiffied.
There is no danger of ftudying too much the works
of
670
PAINTING.
Obferva1 niafters? either in painting or fculpture j
lions'1" ^Ut ^0'V t,nt-y Ria^ ftudie^ to advantage is an inquiry
of great importance. “ Some (fays Sir Joihua Rey¬
nolds), who have never raifed their minds to the confi-
deration of the real dignity of the ait, and who rate
the works of an artill in proportion as they excel or are
defedliye in the mechanical parts, look on theory as
fomething that may enable them to talk, but not to
paint better ; and, confining themfelves entirely to me¬
chanical pra&ice, very afliduoufly toil in the drudgery
of copying, and think they make a rapid progrefs, while
they faithfully exhibit the minuteft part of a favourite
picture. This appears to me a very tedious, and, I
think, a very erroneous method of proceeding. Of
every large compofition, even of tliofe which are moll;
admired, a great part may be truly faid to be common
place. 1 his, though it takes up much time in copying,
conduces little to improvement. I confider general co¬
pying as a delufive kind of induftry : the ftudent fatis-
lies himfelf with the appearance of doing fomething;
he falls into the dangerous habit of imitating without
feledling, and of labouring without any determinate ob-
jed : as it requires no effort of the mind, he deeps over
his w'ork ; and thofe powers of invention and compofi¬
tion which ought particularly to be called out, and put
in aflion, he torpid, and lofe their energy for vrant of
exercife.
“ However, as the prattice of copying is not entirely
to be excluded, fince the mechanical practice of paint¬
ing is learned in fome meafure by it, let thofe choice
parts only be felecled which have recommended the
work to notice. If its excellence conffffs in its general
effe6I, it will be proper to make flight Iketches of the
machinery and general management of the pifture.
'I hofe Iketches fliould be kept always by you, for the
regulation of your ftyle. Inftead of copying the touches
of thofe great mailers, copy only their conceptions.
Inftead of treading in their footfteps, endeavour only to
keep the fame road. Labour to invent on their general
principles and ivay of thinking. Poflefs yourfelf with
their fpirit. Confider with yourfelf how a Michael
Angelo or a Raphael would have treated this fub-
jecl, and work yourfelf into a belief that your pic¬
ture is to be feen and criticifed by them when com¬
pleted. Even an attempt of this kind will roufe your
powers.”
The fame great mailer recommends to Undents to
keep their minds fixed on the higheft excellencies. 
“ If you compafs them, and compafs nothing more
you are Hill in the firft clafs. We may regret the in¬
numerable beauties which you may want : you may be
very imperfect ; but Hill you are an imperfett perfon of
the higheft order.
“ I inculcate as frequently as I can your forming
yourfelves upon great principles and great models. 
^ our time will be much milpent in every other purfuit.
Small excellencies Ihould be viewed, not ftudied ; they
ought to be viewed, becaufe nothing ought to efcape a
painter’s obfervation, but for no other reaibn.
“ There is another caution which I wilh to give you.
Be as feledl in thofe whom you endeavour to pleafe, as
in thofe whom you endeavour to imitate. Without the
love of fame you can never do any thing excellent; but
by an exceflive and undiftinguilhing thirft after it, you
will come to have vulgar views you will degrade your
ftyle •, and your tafte will be entirely corrupted. It is
certain that the lower ftyle will be the molt popular,
as it falls within the compafs of ignorance itfelf, and
the vulgar will always be pleafed with what is na¬
tural in the confined and mifunderftood fenfe of the
word.”
Genius he confiders as an improveable talent, ne¬
ver to be deftroyed by the moft exceflive, if ivell
direifled, application, and difplaying the elegancies
of the art in proportion to the number of ideas
which have been carefully collefled and digefted in
the mind.
He cautions painters, therefore, in every ftage of
their progrefs, to beware of that falfe opinion, but too
prevalent among artifts, of the imaginary power of na¬
tive genius, and its fufficiercy in great works.
This opinion, according to the temper of mind it
meets with, almoft always produces, cither a vain con¬
fidence or a fluggilh defpair, both equally fatal to all
proficiency. “ Study, therefore, the great works of the
great mailers for ever. Study, as nearly as you can,
in the order, in the manner, on the principles on which
they ftudied. Study nature attentively, but always with
thofe mafters in your company : confider them as mo¬
dels which you are to imitate, and at the fame time as
rivals whom you are to combat.”
Part I.
Pradical I
Obferva.
tions. 1
Part II. Of the Different Classes of Painting.
Sect. I. Genera/ Enumeration.
As all the objects in nature are fufceptible of imitg
lion by the pencil, the mafters of this art have applied
themfelves to different fubjefls, each one as his talents,
his tafte, or inclination may have led him.—From whence
have arifen the following claffes.
I. Hi/lory •painting ; which reprefents the principal
events in hiftory facred and profane, real or fabulous;
and to this clafs belongs allegorical exprejjion Thefe
are the moft fublime produblions of the art; and in
which Raphael, Guido, Rubens, Le Brim, &c. have ex¬
celled.
II. Rural hi/lory ; or the reprefentation of a country
life, of villages and hamlets, and their inhabitants.
This is an inferior clafs •, and in which Teniers, Breug¬
hel, Watteau, &c. have great reputation, by rendering
it at once pleafing and graceful.
III. Portrait painting ; which is an admirable branch
of this art, and has engaged the attention of the
greateft mafters in all ages, as Apelles, Guido, Van¬
dyke, Rembrandt, Regauds, Pefne, Kneller, La Tour,
&c.
IV. Grotefque hijlories ; as the nocturnal meetings of
witches, forceries and incantations •, the operations of
mountebanks, &c. a fort of painting in which the young¬
er Breughel, Teniers, and others, have cxercifed their
talents with fuccefs.
V. Battle
Part II
General
Enumera¬
tion.
•In the
ieftions of
Invention
and Li/poft.
Hon.
PAIN
V. Battle pieces; by tviiicb Hucliletnberg, Wouver-
mans, &c. have rendered themfelves famous.
VI. Landfcapes ; a charming fpecies of painting, that
has been treated by mailers of the greateil genius in
every nation.
VII. Landfcapes diverfifed with venters, as rivers,
lakes, catara&s, &c. •, which require a peculiar talent,
to ex profs the water fometimes fmooth and transparent,
arwl at others foaming and rulliing furiouily along.
VIII. Sea pieces; in which are reprefented the ocean,
harbours, and great rivers *, and the veffels, boats,
barges, &c. with which they are covered fometimes
in a calm, fometimes with a frelh breeze, and at others
in a florin. In this clafs Backhuyfen, Vandervelde,
Blome, and many others, have acquired great reputa¬
tion.
IX. Highl pieces; which reprefent all forts of obje£ls,
either as illuminated by torches, by the flames of a
conflagration, or by the light of the moon. Schalk,
Vanderneer, Vanderpool, &c. have here excelled.
X. Living Animals: A more difficult branch of
painting than is commonly imagined j and in which Ro-
la, Carre, Vandervelde, and many others, have fucceed-
ed marvelloufly well.
XI. Birds of ell hinds; a very laborious fpecies,
and which requires extreme patience minutely to ex-
prefs the infinite variety and delicacy of their plu¬
mage.
XII. Culinary pieces; which reprefent all forts ofpro-
vifions, and animals without life, &c. A fpecies much
inferior to the reft, in which nature never appears to ad¬
vantage, and which requires only a fervile imitation of
objetts that are but little pleafing. The painting of
fifties is naturally referred to this clafs.
XIII. Fruit pieces, of every kind, imitated from na¬
ture.
XIV. Flower pieces ; a charming clafs of painting,
where Art in the hands of Huyzum, P. Segerts, Meri-
an, &c. becomes the rival of Nature. Plants and in-
feBs are ufually referred to the painters of flowers, who
with them ornament their works.
XV. Pieces of arc hiteBure; a kind of painting in
which the Italians excel all others. Under this clafs
may be comprehended the reprefentations of ruins, fea-
ports, ftreets, and public places j fuch are feen in the
works of Caneletti, and other able mailers.
XVI. Injlruments of inujic, pieces of furniture, and
other inanimate objefts •, a trifling fpecies, and in
which able painters only accidentally employ their ta-
lents.
XVII. Imitations of bas-reliefs; a very pleafing
kind of painting, and which may be carried by an able
hand to a high degree of excellence.
XVIII. Hunting pieces: thefe alfo require a peculiar
talent, as they unite the painting of men, horfes, dogs,
and game, to that of landfcapes,
It will not be expe£led that we ftiould here give the
rules that the painter is to obferve in handling each
particular fubjeft. What lias been faid on hiftorical
painting (Part I. *) may throw fome light on the reft,
and the particular rules mull be learned from the ftudy
of the art itfelf. Good mailers, academies of reputation,
and a rational pradlice, are the fources from whence
the young painter mud derive the detail of his art. We
Ihall however infert fume rules and obfervations relative
4
TING. 6?1
to Landfcape and Portrait; theie, with FLiftory painting Landscapes.
(already pretty fully treated), forming the principal *
branches of the art.
Sect. II. Q/'Landfcapes.
Landscape painting includes every objctl that the
country prefents : and it is diftinguilhed into the heroic,
and the pajloral or rural; of which indeed all other
ftyles are but mixtures.
The heroic f yle is a compofition of objects, which in Dc Piles on.
their kinds draw both from art and nature every thing Painting.
that is great and extraordinary in either. The fitua-
tions are perfectly agreeable and furprifing. The only
buildings are temples, pyramids, ancient places of buri¬
al, altars confecrated to the divinities, pleafure houfes of
regular architedture; and if nature appear not there as
we every day cafually fee her, Ihe is at lealt reprefented
as we think Ihe ought to be. This Ityle is an agreeable
illufion, and a fort of enchantment, wdien handled by a
man of fine genius and a good underftanding, as Pouffin
was, who has fo happily expreffed it. But if, in the
courfe of this ftyle, the painter has not talent enough to
maintain the fublime, be is often in danger of falling
into the childith manner.
The ruralfyle is a reprefentation of countries, rather
abandoned to the caprice of nature, than cultivated :
we there fee nature Ample, without ornament, and with¬
out artifice; but with all thofe graces wherewith Ihe
adorns herfelf much more when left to herfelf than when
conftrained by art.
In this ftyle, fituations bear all forts of varieties:
fometimes they are very extenfive and open, to contain
the flocks of the Ihepherds j at others very wild, for
the retreat of folitary perfons, and a cover for wild
beafts.
It rarely happens that a painter has a genius extenfive
enough to embrace all the parts of painting: there is
commonly fome one part that pre-engages our choice,
and fo fills our mind, that we forget the pains that are
due to the other parts ; and we feldom fail to fee, that
thofe whofe inclination leads them to the heroic ilyle,
thi ^k they have done all, when they have introduced
intd their compofitions fuch noble objefts as will raife
the imagination, without ever giving themfelves the
trouble to ftudy the effects of good colouring. Thofe,
on the other hand, who pra£life the palloral, apply
clofely to colouring, in order to reprefent truth more
lively. Both thefe ftyles have their fedlaries and par-
tifans. Thofe who follow the heroic, fupply by then-
imagination what it wants of truth, and they look no
farther.
As a counterbalance to heroic landfcape, it would
be proper to put into the paftoral, befides a great cha-
rafler of truth, fome affedling, extraordinary, but pro¬
bable effeft of nature, as was Titian’s cuftom.
There is an infinity of pieces wherein both thefe
ftyles happily meet j and which of the two has the af-
cendant, will appear from what we have been juft ob-
ferving of their refpeftive properties. The chief parts
of landfcapes are, their openings or fituations, accidents,
fkies and clouds, offskips and mountains, verdure or
turfing, rocks, grounds, or lands, terraces, fabrics, wa¬
ters, fore-grounds, plants, figures, and trees ; of all
which in their places.
Of
672
Landfcapes Of Openings or Situations. The word Jite, or fitua-
tion, lignifies the “ view, profpeft, or opening of a
country.” It is derived from the Italian word Jito;
and our painters have brought it into ufe, either becaufe
they were ufed to it in Italy, or becaufe, as we think,
they found it to be very expreffive.
Situation^ ought to be well put together j and fo dif-
engaged in their make, that the conjunftion-of grounds'
may not feem to be obftru&ed, though we Ihould fee
but a part of them.
Situations are various, and reprefented according to
the country the painter is thinking of: as either open or
clofe, mountainous or watery, tilled and inhabited, or
wild and lonely 5 or, in fine, variegated by a prudent
mixture of fome of thefe. But if the painter ‘be obli¬
ged to imitate nature in a flat and regular country, he
muft make it agreeable by a good difpofition of the cla~
ro-obfcuro, and fuch pleafing colouring as may make one
foil unite with another.
It is certain, that extraordinary fituations are very
pleafing, and cheer the imagination by the novelty and
beauty of their makes, even when the local colouring is
but moderately performed : becaufe, at word, fuch pic¬
tures are only looked on as unfinifhed, and wanting to
be completed by fome Ikilful hand in colouring ; where¬
as common fituations and objefts require good colouring
and abfolute finilhing, in order to pleafe. It was on¬
ly by thefe properties that Claude Lorrain has made
amends for his infipid choice in mofl: of his fituations.
.But in whatever manner that part be executed, one of
the bed ways to make it valuable, and even to multiply
and vary it without altering its form, is properly to
imagine fome ingenious accident in it.
Of Accidents. An accident in painting is an ob-
drudion of the fun’s light by the interpofition of clouds,
in fuch manner, that fome parts of the earth fliall be in
light and others in flrade, which, according to the mo¬
tion of the clouds, fucceed each other, and produce fuch
wonderful effects and changes of the claro-obfcuro, as
feem to create fo many new fituations. This is daily
obferved in nature. . And as this newnefs of fituations
is grounded only on the (hapes of the clouds, and their
motions, which are very incondant and unequal, i^fol-
lows, that thefe accidents are arbitrary ; and a painter
of genius may difpofe them to his own advantage when
he thinks fit to ufe them : For he is not abfolutely
obliged to do it; and there have been fome able
landfcape painters ■who have never praflifed it, either
through fear or cudom, as Claude Lorrain and fome
others.
Of the Sky and Clouds. The Iky, in painters terms,
is the ethereal part over our heads j but more particu¬
larly the air in Avhich we breathe, and that where clouds
and dorms are engendered. Its colour is blue, growing
-clearer as it approaches the earth, becaufe of the inter-
polition of vapours arifing between the eye and the ho¬
rizon ; which, being penetrated by the light, communi¬
cates it to objects in a greater or leffer degree, as they
are more or lefs remote.
But we mud obferve, that this light being either yel¬
low or reddiih in the evening, at funfet, thefe fame ob-
■}e£ls partake not only of the light, but of the colour :
thus the yellow light mixing with the blue, which is the
ijatural colour of the Iky, alters it, and gives it a tint
Part II.
more or lefs greenifli, as the yellownefs of the-light is Landfcape*,
more or lefs deep. y--~i
This obfervation is general and infallible-: but there
is an infinity of particular ones, which the painter mud
make upon the natural, with his pencil in his hand,
when occafion offers j for there are very fine and Angu¬
lar effefts appearing in the Iky, which it is difficult to
make one conceive by phyfical reafons. Who can tell,
for example, why we fee, in the bright part of fome
clouds, a fine red, when the fource of the light which
plays upon them is a mod lively and diflinguilhing yel¬
low ? Who can Account for the different reds feen in dif¬
ferent clouds, at the very moment that thefe reds receive
the light but in one place ? for thefe colours and furpri-
fing appearances feem to have no relative to the rain¬
bow, a phenomenon for which the philofopher pretends
to give folid reafons.
Thefe effefls are all feen in the evening when the
weather is inclining to change, either before a dorm, or
after it, when it is not quite gone, but has left fome re¬
mains of it to draw our attention.
The property of clouds is to be thin and airy, both
in drape and colour: their drapes, though infinite, mud
be dudied and chofen after nature, at fuch times as they
appear fine. To make them look thin, we ought to
make their grounds unite thinly with them, efpecially
near their extremities, as if they were tranfparent: And
if we would have them thick, their reflexions mud be
fo managed, as, without dedroying their thinnefs, they
may feem to wind and unite, if neceffary, with the clouds
that are next to them. Little clouds often difcover a
little manner, and feldom have a good effeX, unlefs
when, being near each other, they feem altogether to
make but one objeX.
In flrort, the charaXer of the Iky is to be luminous j
and, as it is even the fource of light, every thing that is
upon the earth mud yield to it in brightnefs: If, how¬
ever, there is any thing that comes near it in light, it
mud be waters, and poliflied bodies which are fufcep-
tible of luminous refleXions.
But whild the painter makes the Iky luminous, he
mud not reprefent it always finning throughout.
On the contrary, he mud contrive his light fo, that
the greated part of it may fall only upon one place :
and, to make it more apparent, he mud take as much
care as poffible to put it in oppofition to fome terredrial
objeX, that may render it more lively by its dark co¬
lour •, as a tree, tower, or fome other building that is a
little high.
This principal light might alfo be heightened, by a
certain difpofition of clouds having a fuppofed light, or
a light ingenioufly inclofed between clouds, whofe fweet
obfcurity fpreads itfelf by little and little on all hands.
We have a great many examples of this in the Flemiflr
fchool, which bed underdood landfcape; as Paul Bril,
Brugel, Saveri: And the Sadelers and Merian’s prints
give a clear idea of it, and wonderfully awaken the
genius of thofe who have the principles of the claro-
fcuro.
Of Ojfskips and Mountains. Offskips have a near
affinity with the Iky ; it is the fky which determines ei- •
ther the force or faintnefs of them. 1 hey are darked
when the flcy is mod loaded, and brighted when it is
mod clear. They fometimes intermix their drapes and
lights;
PAINTING.
part II.
Landfcapes-lights; and there are times, and countries, where the
 ' clouds pafs between the mountains, whofe tops rife and
appear above them. Mountains that are high, and co¬
vered with fnow, are very proper to produce extraordi¬
nary effedts in the oftskip, which are advantageous to the
painter, and pleafing to the fpedtator.
The difpofition of offskips is arbitrary; let them on¬
ly agree with the whole together of the pidfure, and the
nature of the country we would reprefent. They are
ufually blue, becaufe of the interpofition of au between
them and the eye: but they lofe this colour by degrees,
as they come nearer the eye, and fo take that which is
natural to the objedis.
In diftancing mountains, we mud obferve to join them
infenfibly by the roundings off, which the refledfions
make probable ; and mult, among other things, avoid a
certain edginefs in their extremities, which makes them
appear in dices, as if cut with fciffars, and duck upon
the cloth.
We mud further obferve, that the air at the feet of
mountains, being charged with vapours, is more fufcep-
tible of light than at their tops. In this cafe we fuppofe
the main light to be fet reafonably high, and to enlight¬
en the mountains equally, or that the clouds deprive them
of the light of the fun. But if we fuppofe the main light
to be very low, and to ftrike the mountains, then their
tops will be drongly enlightened, as well as every thing
elfe in the fame degree of light.
Though the forms of things diminidr in bignefs, and
colours lofe their ftrength, in proportion as they recede
from the fird plan of the pidture, to the mod remote off-
ikip, as we obferve in nature and common pradfice; yet
this does not exclude theufeofthe accidents. Thefe con¬
tribute greatly to the wonderful in landfcape, when they
are properly introduced, and when the artid has a jut!
idea of their good effedls.
Of Verdure, or Turfing. By turfingis meant the green-
nefs with which the herbs colour the ground: This is
done feveral ways ; and the diverfity proceeds not only
from the nature of plants, which, for the mod part, have
their particular verdures, but alfo from the change of
feafons, and the colour of the earth, when the herbs are
but thin Town. By this variety, a painter may choofe
or unite, in the fame trad! of land, feveral forts of greens
intermixed and blended together, which are often of
great fervice to thofe who know how toufe them; becaufe
this diverfity of greens, as it is often found in nature,
gives a charadter of truth to thofe parts, where it is pro¬
perly ufed. There is a wonderful example of this part
of landfcape, in the view of Mechlin, by Rubens.
Of Rocks. Though rocks have all forts of (hapes, and
participate of all colours, yet there are in their diverfity
certain charadfers which cannot be well expreffed with¬
out having recourfe to nature. Some are in banks, and
fet off with beds of Ihrubs; others in huge blocks, either
projedling or falling back; others confilt of large broken
parts, contiguous to each other; and others, in Ihort, of
an enormous fize, all in one done, either naturally, as
free-done, or elfe through the injuries of time, which in
the courfe of many ages has worn away their marks of
feparation. But, whatever their form be, they are ufual¬
ly fet out with clefts, breaks, hollows, bullies, mofs, and
the dains of time; and thefe particulars, well managed,
create a certain idea of truth.
Rocks are of themfelves gloomy, and only proper for
VOL. XV. Part II.
67s
folitudes: but where accompanied with bufhes, they in- Landfcapev
fpire afredi air; and when they have waters, either pro- ~v
ceeding from, or walhingthem, they give an infinite plea-
lure, and feem to have a foul which animates them, add
makes them fociable.
Of Grounds or Lands. Aground or land, in painters
terms, is a certain didindt piece of land, which is neither
too woody nor hilly. Grounds contribute, more than
any thing, to the gradation and didancing oflandicape;
becaufe they follow one another, either in ihape, or in the
claro-obfcuro, or in their variety of colouring, or by feme
infenfible conjundlion of one with another.
Multiplicity of grounds, though it be often contrary
to grand manner, does not quite dedroy it; for betides
the extent of country which it exhibits, it is fufceptible
of the accidents we have mentioned, and which, with good
management,' have a fine effedf.
There is one nicety to be obferved in grounds, which
is, that in order to charadlerize them well, care mud be
taken, that the trees in them have a different verdure and
different colours from thofe grounds; though this diffe¬
rence, withal, mud not be too apparent.
Of Terraces. A terrace in painting, is a piece of
ground, either quite naked or having very little her¬
bage, like great roads and places often frequented.
They are of ufe chietiy in the foregrounds of a pidture,
where they ought to be very fpacious and open, and ac¬
companied, if we think fit, with fome accidental verdure,
and alfo with fome dones, which, if placed with judge¬
ment, give a terrace a greater air of probability.
Of Buildings. Painters mean by buildings any druc-
tures they generally reprefent, but chiefly fuch as are of
a regular architedlure, or at leal! are mod confpicuous.
Thus building is not fo proper a name for the houfes of
country-people, or the cottages of fliepherds, which are
introduced into the rural tade, as for regular and fhowy
edifices, which are always brought into the heroic.
Buildings in general are a great ornament in land-
fcapes, even when they are Gothic, or appear partly in-,
habited and partly ruinous : they raife the imagination
by the ufe they are thought to be defigned for ; as ap¬
pears from ancient towers, which feem to have been the
habitations of fairies, and are now retreats for fliepherds
and owls.
Pouflin has very elegantly handled the Roman man¬
ner of architecture in his works, as Bourdon has done
the Gothic ; which, however Gothic, fails not to give
a fublime air to his landfcapes. Little Bernard has in¬
troduced into his facred hiftory what may be called a
Babylonian manner ; which, extraordinary as it is, lias
its grandeur and magnificence. Nor ought fuch pieces
of architecture to be quite rejeCted : they raife the ima¬
gination ; and perhaps would fucceed in the heroic ftyle,
if they were placed among half-diftant objeCls, and if we
knew how to ufe them properly.
Of Waters. Much of the fpirit of landfcape is owing
to the waters which are introduced in it. They appear in
divers manners ; fometimes impetuous, as when a ftorm
makes them overflow their banks; at other times rebound¬
ing, as by the fall of a rock ; at other times, through un-
ufual preffure, gufliing out and dividing into an infinity
of filver ftreams, whofe motion and murmuring agree¬
ably deceive both the eye and ear ; at other times calm
and purling in a Tandy bed ; at other times fo flill and
flanding, as to become a faithful looking-glafs, which
4 -£) doubles;
PAINTING.
67+ PAIN
Landfcapes. doubles all the objects that are oppofite to it j and in
v " this date they have more life than in the molt violent
agitation. Confult Bourdon’s works, or at lead his
prints, on this lubject : he is one of thole who have
treated of waters with the greated fpirit and bed ge¬
nius.
Waters are not proper for every fituation : but to
expreis them well, the artid ought to be perfect mader
of the exaftnefs of watery reflections^ becaufe they only
make painted water appear as real : for praftice alone,
■without exactnels, deitroys the effeft, and abates the
pleafure of the eye. The rule for thefe reflections is
very eafy, and therefore the painter is the lefs pardon¬
able for negleCting it.
But it mud be obferved, that though water be as a
looking-glafs, yet it does not faithfully reprefent ob-
jeCis but when it is dill ; for if it be in any motion,
either in a natural courfe, or by the driving of the
wind, its furface becoming uneven, receives on its
furges fuch lights and flrades as, mixing with the ap¬
pearance of the objeCls, confound both their drapes and
colours.
Of the Foreground of a PiElurc. As it is the part of
the foreground to uflier the eye into the piece, great
care mud be taken that the eye meet with good recep¬
tion ; fometimes by the opening of a fine terrace, whofe
defign and workmanfliip may be equally curious \ fome¬
times by a variety of well didinguifhed plants, and thofe
fometimes flowered 5 and at other times, by figures in a
lively tade, or other objeCls, either admirable for their
novelty or introduced as by chance*
In a word, the artid cannot too much dudy his fore¬
ground objeCls, fince they attraCl the eye, imprefs the
fird character of truth,, and greatly contribute to make
the artifice of a picture fuceefsful, and to anticipate our
edeem for the whole work.
Of Plants. Plants are not always neceffary in fore¬
grounds, becaufe, as we have obferved, there are fe-
veral ways of making thofe grounds agreeable. But
if we refolve to draw plants there, we ought to paint
them exaCtly after the life ^ or at lead, among fuch as
we paint praCtically, there ought to be feme more fi-
nithed than the red, and whofe kinds may be didin-
guidred by the difference of defign and colouring, to
the end that, by a probable fuppofition, they may give
the others a charaCter of truth. What has been faid
here of plants may be applied to the branches and barks
of trees.
Of Figures. In compofing landfcape, the artid may
bavtjr intended to give it a charaCter agreeable to the fub-
jeCt he has chofen, and which his figures ought to repre¬
fent. He may alfo, and it commonly happens, have only
thought of his figures, after finifliing his landfcape. The
truth is, the figures in mod landfeapcs are made rather to
accompany than to fuit them.
It is true, there are landfcapes fo difpofed and fituated,
as to require only pafling figures ; which feveral good
maders, each in hisdyle, have introduced, as Pouflin in
the heroic, and Fouquier in the rural, with all probabi¬
lity and grace. It is true alfo, that reding figures have
been made to appear inwardly aClive. And thefe two dif¬
ferent ways of treating figures are not to be blamed, be¬
caufe they aCl equally, though in a different manner. It
is rather inaCtion that ought to be blamed in figures ; for
in this condition, which robs them of all connexion with
2
T I N. G. part n.
the landfcape, they appear to bepafled on. But without Landfcapes.
obdruCting the painter’s liberty in this refpeCt, undoubt- ^— v
edly the bed way to make figures valuable is, to make
them fo to agree with the charaCier of the landfeape,
that it may teem to have been made purely for the
figures. We would not have them either infipid or in¬
different, but to reprefent feme little fubject to awaken
the fpeCiator’s attention, or elfe to give the piCture aname
of diflinCHon among the curious.
Great care mud be taken to proportion the fize of the
figures to the bignefs of the trees, and other objeCls of
the landfcape. If they be too. large, the piClure will
difeover a little manner ; and if too fmall, they will
have the air of pigmies j which will deflroy the worth
of them, and make the landfcape look enormous. There
is, however, a greater inconvenience in making figures
too large than too fmall; becaufe the latter at lead gives
an air of greatnefs to all the red. But as landfcape
figures are generally fmall, they mud be touched with
fpirit, and fuch lively figures as will attraCl, and yet
preferve probability and a general union. The artid
mud, in fine, remember, that as the figures chiefly give
life to a landfcape, they mud be difperfed as convenient¬
ly as poflible.
Of Trees. The beauty of trees is perhaps one of the
greated ornaments of landfcape ; on account of the va¬
riety of their kinds, and their fredmefs, but chiefly their
lightnefs, which makes them feem, as being expofed to
the air, to be always in motion.
Though diverfity be pleafing in all the objeCls of
landfcape, it is chiefly in trees that it fliows its greated
beauty. Landfcape confiders bothdheir kinds and their
forms. Their kinds require the painter’s particular
dudy and attention, in order to didinguifli them from
each other *, for we mud be able at fird fight to difeo¬
ver which are oaks, elms, firs, fycamores, poplars, wil¬
lows, pines, and other fuch trees, which, by a fpecific
colour, or touching, are didinguifhable from all other
kinds. This dudy is too large to be acquired in all its
extent j and, indeed, few painters have attained fuch a
competent exaClnefs in it as their art requires. But it
is evident, that thofe who come neared to perfeClion
in it, will make their works infinitely pleafing, and gain
a great name.
Befides the variety which is found in each kind of
tree, there is in all trees a general variety. This is ob¬
ferved in the different manners in which their branches,
are difpofed by a.fportof nature^ which takes delight
in making feme very vigorous and thick, others more
dry and thin ; fume more green, others more red or
yellow. Tile excellence of practice lies in the mixture
of thefe varieties : but if the artid can didinguifh the
forts but indifferently, he ought at lead-to vary their
makes and colours j becaufe repetition in landfcape is as
tirefome to the eye, as monotony in difeourfe is to the
ear.
The variety of their makes is fo great, that the pain¬
ter would be inexcufable not to put it in pradtice upon
occafion, efpecially when he finds it neceffary to awaken
the fpedtator’s attention ; for, among trees, we difeover
the young and the old, the open and clofe, tapering and-
fquat, bending upwards and downwards, flooping and
{hooting : in fhort, the variety is rather to be conceived
than expreffed. For infiance, the charadter of young
trees is, to have long {lender branches, few in number,
but
Part II. ' PAIN
Landfcapes. but ivell fet out j boughs well divided, and the foliage
  v ' vigorous and well fliaped : whereas, in old trees, the
branches arc fhort, ftocky, thick, and numerous-, the
tufts blunt, and the foliage unequal and ill fliaped } but
a little obfervation and genius will make us perfectly
fenfible of thefe particulars.
In the various makes of trees, there muft alfo be a
diftribution of branches, that has a juft relation to, and
probable conneftion with, the boughs or tufts, fo as
mutually to aftift each other in giving the tree an ap¬
pearance of thicknefs and of truth. But, whatever
their natures dr manners of branching be, let it be re¬
membered, that the handling muft be lively and thin,
in order to preferve the fpirit of their char afters.
Trees likewife vary in their barks, which are com¬
monly gray •, but this gray, which in thick air, and low
and marfhy places, looks blackifh, appears lighter in a
clear air : and it often happens, in dry places, that the
bark gathers a thin mofs, which makes it look quite yel¬
low } fo that, to make the bark of a tree apparent, the
painter may fuppofe it to be light upon a dark ground,
and dark on a light one.
The obfervation of the different barks merits a parti¬
cular attention ; for it will appear, that, in hard woods,
age chaps them, and thereby gives them a fort of em¬
broidery j and that, in proportion as they grow old, thefe
chaps grow more deep. And other accidents in barks
may arife either from moifture, or drynefs, or green mof-
fes, or white ftains of fevcral trees.
The barks of white woods will alfo afford much mat¬
ter for praftice, if their diverfity be duly ftudied ^ and
this confideration leads us to fay fomethirig of the ftudy
• of landfcape.
Of the Study of Landfcape. The ftudy of landfcape
may be confidered either with refpeft to beginners, or
thofe who have made fome advances in it.
Beginners will find, in praftice, that the chief trouble
of landfcape lies in handling trees j and it is not only in
praftice, but alio in fpecuiation, that trees are the moft
difficult part of landfcape, as they are its greateft orna¬
ment. But it is only propofed here, to give beginners
an idea of trees in general, and to fhow them how to ex-
prefs them well. It would be needlefs to point out to
them the common effefts of trees and plants, becaufe
they are obvious to every one 5 yet theie are fome
things, which, though not unknown, deferve our reflec¬
tion!5 We know, for inftance, that all trees require air,
fome more, fome lefs, as the chief caufe of their vegeta¬
tion and production $ and for this reaion, all trees (except
the cyprefs, and fome others of the lame kind) leparate
in their growth from one another, and from other ftrange
bodies as much as poffible, and their branches^and foliage
do the fame : wherefore, to give them that air andthin-
nefs, which is their principal charafter, the branches,
boughs, and foliage, muft appear to fly from each other,
to proceed from oppofite parts, and be well divided.
And all this without order ; as if chance aided nature
in the fanciful diverfity. But _ to fay particularly how
thefe trunks, branches, and foliages, ought to be diftri-
buted, would be needlefs, and only a defeription of the
works of great matters : a little refleftion on nature will
be of more fervice than all that can be faid on this head.
By great matters, we mean fuch as have publiffied prints 5
ftr thofe will give better ideas to youug copyifts than even
the paintings themfclves.
T I N G. 675
Among the many great mailers of all lehools, De Landfcape*.
Piles prefers Titian’s wooden prints, where the trees ' ~v i
are well ffiaped ; and thofe which Cornelius Cort and
Agoftino Caracci have engraved. And he afferts, that
beginners can do no better than contract, above all things,
an habit of imitating the touches of thefe great matters,
and of confidering at the fame time the perfpeftive of
the branches and foliages, and obferving how they ap¬
pear, either when rifing and feen from below, or when
finking and feen from above, or when fronting and view¬
ed from a point, or when they appear in profile 5 and, in
a word, when fet in the various views in which nature
prefents them, without altering their charafters.
After having ftudied and copied with the pen or
crayon, firft the prints, and then the defigns of Titian
and Caracci, the Undent ftiould imitate with the pencil
thofe touches which they have moft diftinftly fpecified,
if their paintings can be procured ; but fince they are
fcarce, others ffiould be got which have a good charac¬
ter for their touching ; as thofe of Foquier, who is a
moft excellent model : Paul Bril, Breugel, and Bour¬
don, are alfo very good 5 their touching is neat, lively,
and thin.
After having duly weighed the nature of trees, their
fpread and order, and the difpofition of their branches,
the artift muft get a lively idea of them, in order to keep
up the fpirit of them throughout, either by making them
apparent and diftinft in the fore-grounds, or obfeure and
confufed in proportion to their diftance.
After having thus gained fome knowledge in good
manner, it will next be proper to ftudy after nature, and
to choofe and reftify it according to the idea which the
aforefaid great matters had of it. As to perfeftion, It can
only be expefted from long praftice and perfeverance.
On the whole, it is proper for thofe who have an incli¬
nation for landfcape, above all things to take the proper
methods for beginning it well.
As for thofe who have made fome advances in this
part of painting, it is proper they ffiould colleft the ne-
ceffary materials for their further improvement, aird
ftudy thofe objefts at leaft which they ffiall have moft
frequent occafion to reprefent.
Painters ufually comprife, under the wordy?«r/y, aoy
thing whatever which they either defign or paint fepa-
rately after the life } whether figures, heads, feet, hands,
draperies, animals, mountains, trees, plants, flowers,
fruits, or whatever may confirm them in the juft imi¬
tation of nature : the drawing of thefe things is wffiat
they call fudy ; whether they be for inftruftion in de¬
fign, or only to affure them of the truth, and to perfeft
their work. In faft, this word fudy is the more proper¬
ly ufed by painters as in the diverfity of nature they are
daily making new difeoveries, and confirming themfelves
in what they already know.
As the landfcape-painter need only ftudy fuch objefts
as are to be met with in the country, we would recom¬
mend to him fome order, that his drawings may be al¬
ways at hand when he wants them. For inftance, he
ffiould copy after nature, on feparate papers, the differ¬
ent effefts of trees in general, and the different effefts
of each kind in particular, with their trunks, foliage,
and colours. He fhould alfo take the fame method with
fome forts of plants, becaufe their variety is a great orna¬
ment to terraces on fore-grounds. He ought likewife to
ftudy the effefts of the fky in the feveral times of the day
4 £) 2 and
Cj6 PAIN
Landfcapes, and feafons of the year, in the various difpofitions of
v clouds, both in ferene, thundering, and ftormy weather j
the offskip, the feveral forts of rocks, waters, and other
principal obje&s.
Thefe drawings, which may be made at different
times, fliould be collefled together ; and all that relate
to one matter be put into a book, to which the aitift
may have recourfe at any time for what he wants.
Now, if the fine effedls of nature, whether in fhape or
colour, whether for an entire pifture or a part of one,
be the artifl’s fludy ; and if the difficulty lies in choofing
thofe effeds well, he mull for this purpofe be born with
good fenfe, good tafte, and a fine genius ; and this ge¬
nius muft be cultivated by the obfervations which ought
to be made on the works of the belt mailers, how
they clioofe nature, and how, while they corre&ed her,
according to their art, they preferved her eharader.
With thefe advantages, derived from nature and per¬
fected by art, the painter cannot fail to make a good
choice ; and, by diflinguiffiing between the good and
the bad, muff needs find great inflruction even from the
moil common things.
To improve themfelves in this kind of fludies, painters
have taken feveral methods.
There are fome artifts who have defigned after na¬
ture, and in the open fields; and have there quite finiffi-
ed thofe parts which they had chofen, but without adding
any colour to them.
Others have drawn, in oil colours, in a middle tint,
on ftrong paper ; and found this method convenient,
becaufe, the colours finking, they could put colour on
colour, though different from each other. For this
purpofe they took with them a flat box, which com-
modioufly held their pallet, pencils, oil, and colours.
This method, which indeed requires feveral imple¬
ments, is doubtlefs the beff for drawing nature more par¬
ticularly, and with greater exadtnefs, efpecially if, after
the w ork be dry and varniffied, the artifl return to the
place where he drew, and retouch the principal things
after nature.
Others have only drawn the outlines of obje&s, and
liightly waffied them in colours near the life, for the
cafe of their memory. Others have attentively obferved
fuch parts as they had a mind to retain, and contented
themfelves with committing them totheir memory, which
Upon oecafion gave them a faithful account of them.
Others have made drawings in paflil and waffi together.
Others, with more curiofity and patience, have gone fe¬
veral times to the places which were to their tafte : the
firft time they only made choice of the parts, and drew
them corredlly ; and the other times were fpent in ob-
ferving the variety of colouring, and its alterations
through change of light.
Now thefe feveral methods are very good, and each
may be praiftifed as beft fuits the ftudent and his tem¬
per : but they require the neceffaries of painting, as
colours, pencils, paflils, and leifure. Nature, how¬
ever, at certain times, prefents extraordinary but
tranfient beauties, and fuch as can be of no fervice to
the artifl who has not as much time as is neceffary
to imitate what he admires. The beft w7ay, per¬
haps, to make advantage of fuch momentary occafions,
is this :
The painter being provided with a quire of paper,
and a black-lead pencil, let him quickly, but flightly,
TING. Part II.
defign what he fees extraordinary j and to remember Landfcapes.
the colouring, let him mark the principal parts with ' v—
characters, which he may explain at the bottom of the
paper, as far as is neceffary for himfelf to underftand
them : A cloud, for inflance, may be marked A, ano¬
ther cloud B, a light C, a mountain D, a terrace E,
and fo on. And having repeated thefe letters at the
bottom of the paper, let him wwite againfl each that it is
of fuch or fuch a colour ; or, for greater brevity, only
blue, red, violet, gray, &c. or any oilier ffiorter abbre¬
viation. After this, he muft go to painting as foon as
poffible •, otherwife moft of what he has obferved will,
m a little time, flip out of his memory. This method
is the more ufeful, as it not only prevents our lofing an
infinity of fudden and tranfitory beauties, but alfo helps
by means of the aforefaid marks and characters, to per-
feCt the other methods we have mentioned.
If it be afked, Which is the properert time for thefe
ftudies ? the anfwer is, That nature ffiould be ftudied
at all times, becaufe ffie is to be reprefented at all fea¬
fons •, but autumn yields the moft plentiful harveft for
her fine effeCts : the mildnefs of that feafon, the beauty
of the fky, the richnefs of the earth, and the variety of
objeCls, are powerful inducements w'ith the painter to
make the proper inquiries for improving his genius and
perfeCling his art.
But as we cannot fee or obferve every thing, it is
very commendable to make ufe of other men’s ftudies,
and to look upon them as if they urere our own. Ra¬
phael fent fome young men into Greece to defign fuch
things as he thought would be of fervice to him, and
accordingly made ufe of them to as good purpofe as if
he himfelf had defigned them on the fpot: for this,
Raphael is fo far from deferving cenfure, that he ought,
on the contrary, to be commended j as an example, that
painters ought to leave no way untried for improving
in their profeffions. The landfcape painter mav, ac¬
cordingly, make ufe of the works of all thofe ivho have
excelled in any kind, in order to acquire a good man¬
ner 5 like the bees which gather their variety of honey
from dififerent flowers.
General Remarks on Landfcapes. As the general
rules of painting are the bafis of all the feveral kinds
of it, we muft refer the landfcape painter to them, or
rather fuppofe him to be well acquainted with them.
We {hall here only make fome general remarks on this
kind of painting.
I. Landfeape fuppofes the knowledge and praClice
of the principal rules in perfpeBive, in order to maintain
probability.
II. The nigher the leaves of trees are to the earth,
the larger they are, and the greener j as being apteft
to receive, in abundance, the fap which nouriffies
them : and the upper branches begin firft to take the
rednefs or yellownefs which colours them in autumn.
But it is otherwife in plants 5 for their, flocks renew all
the year round, and their leaves fucceed one another
at a confiderable diftance of time, infomuch that na¬
ture, employed in producing new leaves to adorn the
flock as it rifes, does by degrees defert the under ones $
which, having firft performed their office, are the firft
that die : but this effedt is more vifible in fome than in
others.
III. The under parts of all leaves are of a brighter
green than the upper, and almoft always incline to the
filverifti).
Part II. _ PAIN
Undfcapes. filverifli *, and tliofe which are wind-ihaken are known
'—sr—J from others by that colour : but if we view them from
beneath, when penetrated by the fun’s rays, they dif-
cover fuch a fine and lively green as is far beyond all
comparifon.
IV. There are five principal things which give fpirit
to hmdfcape, viz. figures, animals, waters, wind-fhaken
trees, and thinnefs of pencilling ; to which add fmoke,
when there is occafion to introduce it.
V. When one colour predominates throughout a land-
fcape, as one green in fpring, or one red in autumn,
the piece will look either as of one colour, or elfe as
unfinilhed. We have feen many of Bourdon’s land-
fcapes, which, by handling the corn one wray through¬
out, have loft much of their beauty, though the fitua-
tions and waters were very pleafant. The ingenious
painter muft endeavour to correft, and, as they lay, re¬
deem, the harlli unfightly colouring of winter and fpring
by means of figures, waters, and buildings •, for fummer
and autumn fubjc&s are of themfelves capable of great
variety.
VI. Titian and Carrache are the beft models for in-
fpiring good tafte, and leading the painter into a good
track, with regard to forms and colours. He muft ufe
all his efforts, to gain a juft idea of the principles which
thofe great men have left us in their works •, and to
have his imagination filled with them, if he w’ould ad¬
vance by degrees towards that perfeftion which the
artift Ihould have always in view.
VIIa The landfcapes of thefe two mailers teach us
a great many things, of which difcourfe can give us
no exaft idea, nor any general principle. Which wfay,
for example, can the meafures of trees in general be
determined, as we determine thofe of the human body ?
The tree has no fettled proportions •, moft of its beau¬
ty lies in the contrail of its branches, an unequal dif-
tribution of boughs, and, in Ihort, a kind of whimfi-
cal variety which nature delights in, and of which
the painter becomes a judge when he has thoroughly
relilhed the works of the two mailers aforefaid. But
we muft fay, in Titian’s praife, that the path he ftruck
out is the fureft ; becaufe he has exaftly imitated na¬
ture in its variety with an exquilite tafte, and fine co¬
louring : whereas Carrache, though an able artift, has
not, more than others, been free from manner in his
landfcapes.
VIII. One of the greateft perfeflions of landfcape,
in the variety it reprefents, is a faithful imitation of
each particular chara&er : as its greateft fault is a
licentious pra£tice, which brings us to do things by
rote.
IX. Among thofe things which are painted pradlical-
ly, we ought to intermix fome done after nature, to in¬
duce the fpe£lator to believe that all are fo.
X. As there are ftyles of thought, fo there are alfo
ftyles of execution. We have handled the two relating
to thought, viz. the heroic and paftoral ; and find
that there are two alfo with regard to exe6ution, viz.
the firm ftyle, and the polilhed •, thefe two concern the
pencil, and the more or lefs ingenious way of conduc¬
ing it. The firm ftyle gives life to work, and excufe
for bad choice •, and the polilhed finilhes and brightens
.every thing; it leaves no employment for the fpeCa-
tor’s imagination, which pleafes itfelf in difeovering
and finilhing things which it aferibes to the artift, though
I
T I N G. 677
in faC they proceed only from itfelf. The polilhed Portraiture.
ftyle degenerates into the loft and dull, if not fupported J
by a good opening or fituation ; but when thofe two
characters meet, the piCure is fine.
Sect. III. Of 'Portraiture.
If painting be an imitation of nature, it is doubly fo
in a portrait ; which not only reprefents a man in gene¬
ral, but fuch "a one as may be diftinguifhed from all
others. And as the greateft perfeftion of a portrait is
extreme likenefs, fo the greateft of its faults is to re¬
ferable a perfon for whom it was not made ; fince there
are not in the world two perfons quite like one another.
But before we proceed to the particulars which let us
into the knowledge of this imitation, it is neceffary, for
Ihortening this part of our fubjedf, to attend to fome ge¬
neral propofitions.
I. Imitation is the effence of painting : and good
choice is to this effence what the virtues are to a '
man ; they raife the value of it. For this reafon, it
is extremely the painter’s intereft to choofe none but
good heads, or favourable moments for drawing them,
and fuch politions as may fupply the want of a fine na¬
tural.
II. There are views of the natural more or lefs ad¬
vantageous ; all depends upon turning it well, and tak¬
ing it in the favourable moment.
III. There is not a fingle perfon in the world who has
not a peculiar charaCer both in body and face.
IV. Simple and genuine nature is more proper for imi¬
tation ; and is a better choice than nature much formed,
and embellilhed too artificially.
V. To adorn nature too much is doing it a violence ;
and the aCion which attends it can never be free when
its ornaments are not eafy. In Ihort, in proportion as
we adorn nature, we make it degenerate from itfelf, and
bring it down to art.
VI. Some means are more advantageous than others
to come at the fame end.
VII. We muft not only imitate what we do fee in
nature, but alfo what we may pofiibly fee that is advan¬
tageous in art.
VIII. Things are valuable by comparifon ; and it is
only by this we are enabled to make a right judgment
of them.
IX. Painters eafily accuftom themfelves to their owm
tints, and the manner of their mafters : and after this
habit is rooted in them, they view nature not as the
really is, but as they are ufed to paint her.
X. It is very difficult to make a pidlure, the figures
of which are as big as the life, to have its effeft near
as at a diftance. A learned picture pleafes the ig¬
norant only when it is at fome diftance ; but judges
will admire its artifice near, and its effect at a di¬
ftance.
XI. Knowledge makes Avork pleafant and eafy. The
traveller who knows his road, comes to his journey’s end
with more fpeed and certainty than he who inquires
and gropes it out.
XII. It is proper, before we begin a work, to me¬
ditate upon it, and to make a nice coloured flcetch
of it, for our own fatisfaftion, and a help to the me¬
mory.
We cannot too much refled on thefe propolitions ; and
it-
67B _ PAIN
Portraiture. It is necelTary to be Well acquainted with them, that they
v' may prefent themfelves to our mind, of their own ac¬
cord, without our being at the trouble to recal them to
*our memory when we are at work.
I here are four things neceffary to make a portrait
perfect •, air, colouring, attitude, and drefs.
Of Air. 1 he air ref pe6ts the lines of the face, the
head attire, and the fize.
I he lines of the face depend upon exa&nefs of draught,
■and agreement of the parts; which all together mult re-
prefent the phyfiognomy of the perfon painted in fuch a
manner, that the pifture of his body may feem’to be al-
fo that of his mind.
It is not exaitnefs of defign in portraits that gives
fpirit and true air, fo much as the agreement of the parts
at the very moment when the difpofition and tempera¬
ment of the fitter are to be hit off. We fee feveral
portraits which, though corredtly defigned, have a cold,
languilhing, and ftupid air*, whilft others, lefs correct in
-defign, ftrike us, however, at firft fight with the fitter’s
' character.
Few painters have been careful enough to put the
parts well together ; Sometimes the mouth is fmiling,
and the eyes are fad $ at other times, the eyes are
cheerful, and the cheeks lank : by which means their
Work has a falfe air, and looks unnatural. We ought
'therefore to remember, that, when the fitter puts on a
fmiling air, the eyes clofe, the corners of the mouth
draw up towards the noftrils, the cheeks fwell, and the
eyebrows widen : but in a melancholy air, thefe parts
have a contrary effeft.
The eyebrows, being raifed, give a grave and noble
air ; but if arched, an air of aftonifhmerit.
Of all the parts of the face, that which contributes
moil to likenefs is the nofe ; it is therefore of great mo¬
ment to fet and draw it well.
Though the hair of the head feems to be part of the
drefs which is capable of various forms without altering
the air of the face ; yet the head attire w’hich one has
been moft accuftomed to creates fuch a likenefs, that
wefcarce'know a familiar acquaintance on his putting
on a periwig fomewhat different from that which he
ufed to wear. It is neceffary therefore, as far-as poflible,
to take the air of the head ornament, and make it ac¬
company and fet off that of the face, if there be no rea-
fon to the contrary.
As to the llature, it contributes fo much to likenefs,
that we very often know people without feeing their
face : It is therefore extremely proper to draw the fize
after the fitter himfelf, and in fuch an attitude as we
think fit ; which was Vandyke’s method. Here let us
remark, that, in fitting, the perfon appears to be of
a lefs free make, through the heaving of his {boulders ;
wherefore, to adjuft his fize, it is proper to make him
Hand for a fmall time, fwaying in the polfure we would
give him, and then make/our obfervation. But here oc¬
curs a difficulty, W’hich We lhall endeavour to examine :
“ Whether it is proper, in portraiture, to correft the
defeats of nature ?”
Likenefs being the effence of portraiture, it would
feem that we ought to imitate defers as well as beau¬
ties, finee by this means the imitation will be more
•complete : it would be even hard to prove the contrary
to one who would undertake the defence of this pofi-
ttion. But ladies and gentlemen do not much approve
TING. part n.
of thofe painters who entertain fuch fentiments, and put c°lourir:£.
them, in praaice. It is certain that fome complaifance ^
in this refpe.a is due to them 5 and there is little doubt
but their pidures may be made to referable, without
difpleafing them ; for the effedual likenefs is a juft
agreement of the parts that are painted with thofe of
nature j fo that we may be at no lofs to know the air of
the face, and the temper of the perfon, whofe piaure is
before us. All deformities, therefore, when the air and
temper may be difeovered without them, ought to be
• either correaed or omitted in women’s and young men’s
portraits. A nofe fomewhat awry may be helped, or a
ftirivelled neck or high (boulders adapted-to a good air,
without going from one extreme to another. But this
muft be done with great diferetion : for, by endeavour-
ingjto correa nature too much, we infenfibly fall into a
method of giving a general air to all our portraits; juft
as, by confining ourfelves too much to the defeas and
littlenefs of nature, we are in danger of falling into the
low and taftelefs manner.
But in the faces of heroes and men of rank, diftin-
guifhed either by dignities, virtues, or great qualities,
we cannot be too exad, whether the parts be beautiful
or not : for portraits of fuch perfons are to be (landing
•monuments to pofterity *, dn which cafe, every thing in
a piaure is precious that is faithful. But after what¬
ever manner the painter acquits himfelf in this point,
let him never forget good air nor grace ; and that there
are, in the natural, advantageous moments for hitting
them off.
Of Colouring. Colouring, in portraiture, is an effu-
fioh of nature, difcovering the true tempers of perfons }
and the temper being effential to likenefs, it ought to be
handled as exaftly as the defign. This part is the more
valuable, as it is rare and difficult to hit. A great many
painters have come to a likenefs by ftrokes and outlines j
but certainly they are few who have drown in colours
the tempers of perfons.
Two points are neceffary in painting j exa&nefs of
tints, and the art of fetting them off. The former is
acquired by praflice, in examining and comparing the
colours we fee in life with thofe by which we would
imitate it : and the art of thofe tints confifts in know¬
ing what one colour will produce when fet by another,
and in making good what either diftance or time may
abate of the glow and fredinefs of the colours.
A painter who does nothing more than what he fees,
•will never arrive at a perfect imitation 5 for though his
work may feem, on the eafel, to be good to him, it may
not appear fo to others, and perhaps even to himfelf, at
a diftance. A tint which, near, appears disjoined, and
of one colour, may look of another at a diftance, and be
confounded in the mafs it belongs to. If you would
have your work, therefore, to produce a good effedt in
the place where it is to hang, both the colours and
lights muft be a little loaded ; but learnedly, and with
diferetion. In this point confult Titian, Rubens, Van¬
dyke, and Rembrandt’s method; for indeed their art is
Wonderful.
The tints ufually require three times of obfervation.
The firft is at the perfon’s firft fitting down, when he
has more fpirit and colour than ordinary; and this is to
be noted in the firft hour of his fitting. The fecond is
when, being compofed, his look is as ufual; which is
te be obferved in the fecond hour. And the third is
when,
-art II. - PAIN
attitude, -wlien, through tireforaenefs by fitting in one poflure,
—v ' his colour alters to what wearinefs ufually creates. On
which account, it is bell to keep to the fitter’s ufual tint,
a little improved. He may alfo rife, and take fome
turns about the room, to gain frefh fpirits, and lhake off
or prevent tirefomenefs.
In draperies,, all forts of colours do not fuit all forts
of perfons. In men’s portraits, we need only obferve
great truth and great force : but in women’s there muff
alfo be charms j whatever beauty they have muft appear
in a fine light, and their blemilhes muft by fome means
or other be foftened. For this reafon, a white, lively,
and bright tint, ought never to be fet off by a fine yel¬
low, which would make it look like plafter ; but rather
by colours inclining to green, blue, or gray, of fuch
others as, by the oppofition, may make the tint appear
more flefliy than ufual in fair women. Vandyke often
made a fillemot coloured curtain for his ground ; but
that colour is foft and brown. Brown women, on the
other hand, who have yellow enough in their tints to
fupport the chara&er of flefliinefs, may very well have
yellowifh draperies, in order to bring down the yellow
of their tints, and make them look the freflier •, and
near very high coloured and lively carnations linen
does wonders.
In grounds, two things are obfervable j the tone and
the colour. The colour is to be confidered in the fame
manner as thofe of draperies, with refpeft to the head.
The tone muft be always different from the mafs it fup-
ports, and of which it is the ground, that the objects
coming upon it may not feem tranfparent, but folid and
raifed. The colour of the hair of the head ufually de¬
termines the tone of the ground and when the former
is a bright chefnut, w-e are often embarraffed, unlefs
helped by means of a curtain, or fome accident of the
claro-obfcuro fuppofed to be behind, or unlefs the ground
is a Iky.
We muft further obferve, that where a ground is nei¬
ther curtain nor landlcape, or fuch like, but is plain and
like a wall, it ought to be very much party-coloured,
with almoft imperceptible patches or ftains \ for, befides
its being fo in nature, the pidlure will look the more
grand.
Of Attitude, or Pq/htre,—Attitudes ought to fuit the
age and qualities oi perfons and their tempers. In old
men and women, they thould be grave, majeilic, and
fometimes bold: and generally, in w-omen, they ought
to have a noble fimplicity and modeft cheerfulnefs •, for
modefty ought to be the charafter of women 5 a charm
infinitely beyond coquetry ! and indeed coquettes them-
felves are not to be painted fuch.
Attitudes are of two kinds: one in motion, the other
at reft. Thofe at reft may fuit every perfon : but thofe
in motion are proper for young people only, and are
hard to be expreffed } becaufe a great part of the hair
and drapery muft be moved by the air ^ motion, in
painting, being never better expreffed than by fuch agi¬
tations. The attitudes at reft muft not appear fo much
at reft as to feem to reprefent an ina&ive perfon, and
one who fits for no other purpofe but to be a copy.
And though the figure that is reprefented be at reft, yet
the painter, if he thinks fit, may give it a flying dra¬
pery, provided, the feene or ground be not a chamber or
clofe place.
It is above all things neceffary that the figures which
TING. 679
are not employed fhould appear to fatisfy the fpeflator’s Practice
curiofity j and for this purpofe fhow themfelves in fuch m
an aftion as fuits their tempers and conditions, as if, ,
they would inform him what they really were: and
as moft people pretend to fincerity, honefty, and great-
nefs of mind, we muft avoid in attitudes, all manner of
affe&ation ; every thing there mutt appear eafy and na¬
tural, and difeover more or lefs fpirit, noblenefs, and
majefty, in proportion to the perfon’s character and dig¬
nity. In a word, the attitudes are the language of por¬
traits ; and the Ikilful painter ought to give great attem#
tion to them.
But the belt attitudes are fuch as induce the fpefta-
tor to think that the fitter took a favourable opportu¬
nity of being feen to advantage, and without affecta¬
tion. There is only one thing to be obferved with
regard to women’s portraits, in whatever attitude they
are placed ; which is, that they fway in fuch a man¬
ner as to give the face but little {hade 5 and that tve
carefully examine whether the lady appear moft beau¬
tiful in a fmiling or in a ferious air, and conduct our-
felves accordingly. Let us now proceed to the next
article.
Of Practice in Portraiture.—According to De Piles,
portraiture requires three different fittings and opera¬
tions j viz. dead colouring, fecond colouring, and re¬
touching or finiftung. Before the painter dead colour,
he muft attentively confider what afpe<ft will beft fuit
the fitter, by putting him in different pofitions, if we
have not any fettled defign before us : and when we have
determined this, it is of the laft confequence to put the
parts well together, by comparing always one part with
another j for not only the portrait acquires a greater
likenefs when well defigned, but it is troublefome tor
make alterations at the fecond fitting, when the artift
muft only think of painting, that is, of difpofing and
uniting his colours.
Experience tells us, that the dead colouring ought
to be clean, becaufe of the Hope and tranfparency of
the colours, ofpecially in the {hades : and when the
parts are well put together, and become clammy, they
muft be judicioufty fweetened and melted into each
other ; yet without taking away the air of the pic¬
ture, that the painter may have the pleafure of finifliing
it, in proportion as he draws. But if fiery geniufes
do not like this method of fcumbling, let them only
mark the parts {lightly, and fo far as is neceffary for
giving an air.
In dead colouring, it is proper to put in rather too
little than too much hair about the forehead ; that, in
finifliing, we may be at liberty to place it where we
pleafe, and to paint it with all poflible foftnefs and de¬
licacy. If, on the contrary, you {ketch upon the fore¬
head a lock which may appear to be of a good tafte,
and becoming the work, you may be puzzled in finifli¬
ing it, and not find the life exatftly in the fame pofition
as you would paint it. But this obfervation is not
meant for men of {kill and confummate experience, who
have nature in their heads, and make her fubmit to their
ideas.
The bufinefs of the fecond fitting is, to put the co¬
lours well in their places, and to paint them in a man¬
ner that is fuitable to the fitter and to the effe£t we
propofe : But before they are made clammy, we ought
to examine afreih whether the parts are rightly placed,
and
68o PAIN
n*" an<^ ^cre an^ there to give fome touches towards like-
, } uefs, that, when we are allured of it, the work may
go on with greater fatisfa&ion. If the painter under-
iftands what he is about, and the portrait be juftly de-
figned, he ought as much as poffible to work quick ;
the fitter will be better pleafed, and the work will by
this means have the more fpirit and life. But this rea-
dinefs is only the etxedt of long ftudy and experience ;
for we may well be allowed a confiderable time to find
out a road that is eafy, and fuch as we mull often tra¬
vel in.
Before we retouch or finifh, it is proper to ter¬
minate the hair, that, on finithing the carnations,
we may be abler to judge of the effed. of the whole
head.
If, at the fecond fitting, w7e cannot do all we in¬
tended, which often happens, the third makes up the
lofs, and gives both fpirit, phyfiognomy, and cha-
rader.
If we rvould paint a portrait at once, vre mull load
the colouring; but neither fweeten, nor drive, nor
very much oil it: and if we dip the pencil in var-
nifh as the work advances, this will readily enable us
to put colour on colour, and to mix them without
drivipg.
The ufe and fight of good pidures give greater
light into things than words can exprefs : What hits
one artiil’s underftanding and temper may be difa-
greeable to another’s; and almoit all painters have
taken different wrays, though their principles were of-
-ten the fame.
We are told that a friend of Vandyke’s having ob-
ferved to him how little time he bellowed on his por¬
traits, Vandyke anfwered, “ That at firlt he worked
hard, and took great pains, to acquire a^reputation,
and alfo to get a fwift hand, againft the time he Ihould
work for his kitchen.” Vandyke’s cultom is faid to
have been this : He appointed both the day and hour
for the perfon’s fitting, and worked not above an hour
on any portrait, either in rubbing in or finilhing; fo that
as foon as his clock informed him that the hour was out,
he rofe up, and made a bow to the fitter, to fignify, that
he had done enough for that day, and then appointed
another hour fome other day ; whereupon his fervant
came to clean his pencils, and brought a frelh pallet,
whilfl he was receiving another fitter, whofe day and
hour he had before appointed. By this method he
worked on feveral piftures the fame day, with extraor-
% dinary expedition.
After having lightly dead-coloured the face, he put
the fitter into fome attitude which he had before con¬
trived ; and on a gray paper, with white and black
crayons, he defigned, in a quarter of an hour, his lhape
and drapery, which he difpofed in a grand manner, and
an exquifite tafte. After this, he gave the drawing to
the Ikilful people he had about him, to paint after the
fitter’s own clothes, which, at Vandyke’s requeft, were
fent to him for that purpofe. When his difciples
had done what they could to thefe draperies, he lightly
went over them again ; and fo, in a little time, by his
great knowledge, difplayed the art and truth which we
at this day admire in them. As for hands, he had in
his houfe people of both fexes, whom he paid, and who
ferved as models.
This condufl of Vandyke, however, is mentioned
T I N G. *
Part II.
rather to gratify the reader’s curiofity than to ex¬
cite his imitation ; he may choofe as much of it as
he pleafes, and as fuits his own genius, and leave the
reft.
Judgment
cf Tints.
We mull obferve by the way, that there is nothing
fo rare as fine hands, either in the defign or Colouring.
It is therefore convenient to cultivate, if we can. a
friendlhip with fome woman who will take pleafuie in
ferving for a copy : The way to win them is, to praife
their beauty exceedingly. But if an opportunity lerves
of copying hands after Vandyke, it muit not be let flip;
for he drew them with a furprifing delicacy, and an ad¬
mirable colouring. /
It is of great lervice to copy after the manners which
come ncareft to nature ; as are thofe of Titian and
Vandyke. We mull, at fuch times, believe them to
be nature itfelf; and, at fome diftance, confider them
as fuch, and fay to ourfelves—What colour and tint
Jhall I ufe for fuch a part ? And then, coming near
the picture, we ought to examine whether we are
right or not; and to make a fixed rule of what we
have difeovered, and did not praflife before without un¬
certainty.
It is recommended, before we begin colouring, to
catch the very firft moments, which are commonly the
moft agreeable and moft advantageous, and to keep
them in our memory for ufe when wre are finifhing : for
the fitter, growing tired with being long in the fame
place, lofes thofe fpirits, which, at his firft fitting down,
gave beauty to the parts, and conveyed to the tmt more
lively blood, and a frefher colour. In ftiort we muft
join to truth a probable and advantageous poflibility,
which, far from abating likenefs, ferves rather to fet it
off. For this end, we ought to begin w ith obferving the
ground of a tint, as well what it is in lights as in {hades;
for the {hades are only beautiful as they are proportion¬
ed to the light. We muft obferve, if the tint be very
lively, whether it partake of yellowmefs, and Avhere that
yellownefs is placed; becaufe ufually, towards the end
of the fitting, fatigue diffufes a general yellownefs, which
makes us forget what parts were of this colour, and
what were not, unlefs we had taken due notice of it be¬
fore. For this reafon, at the fecond fitting, the colours
muft be everywhere readily clapped in, and fueh as ap¬
pear at the firft fitting down ; for thefe are ahvays the
fineft.
The fureft way to judge of colours is by compa-
rifon; and to know a tint, nothing is better than
to compare it with linen placed next it, or elfe pla¬
ced next to the natural objeft, if there be occafion—
We fay this only to thofe who have little praftifed
nature.
The portrait being now fuppofed to be as much
finilhed as you are able, nothing remains, but, at
fome reafonable diftance, to view both the picture and
fitter together, in order to determine with certainty,
whether there is any thing ftill wanting to perfect the '
work.
Sect. IV. Of Theatrical Decorations ; the Bejigns for
Furniture, Embroidery, Carriages, is'e.
OF Theatrical Decorations.—This is a particular art,
which unites feveral of the general parts of painting
with the knowledge of archite&ure, perfpedlive, &c.
They
Part II. PAIN
Theatrical They tvho apply themfelves to it would do well to
Decora- defign their decorations by day, and to colour them
tions, See. ky candie light, as they will be much better able to
u-’v iudge of the eftedt of a painting intended to be viewed
by that light. It is proper alio to caution the young
painter to avoid, as much as pofiible, the uniting the
imitations of nature with nature itfelfj that is, he ihould
not introduce with his decorations living horfes, or
other animals, real fountains or cafcades, trees, or fta-
tues, &c. For fuch combinations are the effedl of
ignorance and a bad tafte ; they are the refource of
painters of little ability, they difcover a flerility of
invention, and produce great inconvenience in the re-
prefentation. Thofe pieces which they call moving
pictures, where the painted landfcape remains immove¬
able, and the figures move by means of fprings, form a
part of thefe decorations-, and there are fome of them,
as thofe of Antwerp and Ghent, that have a pleating
effedl.
The defigns ior furniture, carriages, porcelain, and
other branches of manufadture, form alfo a very im¬
portant article of painting in general, and of acade¬
my painting in particular. J. his is a diltindt branch
of the art; and without doubt not the lead ufeful of
its parts, as it concurs fo eflentially to the fuccefs of
manufadlures, and confequently to the profperity of a
Hate: and it is an art, to which it were much to be
wilhed that youth of ability and invention would ap¬
ply themfelves. See the articles Japanning and Por-
CELAIN.
Sect. V. Enumeration of the different Methods of Paint¬
ing, or the different Means and Materials that Painters
make ufe of to imitate all vifble Objects on a plane Su¬
perficies.
Those now in pradlice are,
1. Painting in oil; which is preferable to all other
methods, as it is more fufceptible of all forts of expref-
fions, of more perfedl gradations of colours, and is at the
fame time more durable.
2. Mosaic painting; an invention truly wonderful.
It is compofed of a great number of fmall pieces of
marble of different colours, joined together with ftucco.
The works of this kind are made principally at Rome,
where this art has been carried fo far as to referable the
paintings of the greateft mailers; and of thefe are made
monuments for the lateft poilerity.
3. Painting in FRESCO ; which is by drawing, with
colours diluted with water, on a wall newly plaftercd,
and with which they fo incorporate, that they peri fir
only with the Hucco itfelf. This is principally ufed on
ceilings.
4. Painting in WATER COLOURS ; that is, with co¬
lours mixed with water and gum, or pafte, &c.
5. Miniature painting; which differs from the
preceding as it reprefents objects in the lead; difeern-
ible magnitudes.
6. Painting in crayons ; for which purpofe colours,
either fimple or compound, are mixed with gum, and
made into a kind of hard pade like chalk, and with
which they draw on paper or parchment. v
7. Painting in ENAMEL ; which is done on copper or
gold, with mineral colours that are dried by fire, and
become very durable. The paintings on the PORCELAIN
Vol. XV. Part II.
r I N G. 68*
6f China and Europe, oh Delft ware, &c. are fo many FrL"lco' ;
forts of enamel.
8. Painting in WAX, or ENCAUSTIC painting: This is
a new, or rather an old invention renewed, in which
there are in France performances highly pleafing. It
is done with wax mixed with varnidi and colours.
9. Painting oh GLASS ; of which there are various
kinds.
See all the articles here enumerated, explained in thh
order of the alphabet. On one of them, however, fume
additional obfervations may here be fubjoined.
§ I. Of Painting in Frefco.
Of all kinds of painting, frefeo is the mod ancient,
the mod durable, the mod fpeedily executed, and the
mod proper to adorn great buildings. It appears, that
the fragments of ancient painting handed down to us
by the Romans are all in frefco. Norden, quoted by
Winkleman, fpeaks of the ruins of Egyptian palaces
and temples, in which are coloffal paintings on walls
80 feet high. The defeription which thole authors
have given of thefe paintings, of the prepared ground,
and of the manner in which the colours have been em¬
ployed, &c. draws plainly that they have been executed
in frefco.
The dability of frefco is demondrated by the exid-
enee of thofe fragments of the highed antiquity. There
are no other kinds of painting which could equally have
refided the injuries of the Weather, the excedive aridity
of certain climates, the moidure of fubterraneous iitua-
tions, and the encroachments of barbarians.
There are different opinions concerning the climate
mod proper to preferve this kind of painting. “ It is
obferved (fays Felibien), that the colours in frefco fade
fooner in Italy and Languedoc than at Paris; perhaps
from lefs heat in the lad-mentioned place, or better
lime.” M. Falconet contradidfs this affertion in his
notes on Pliny, vol. i. p. 223. of his mifcellaneous
works, publidied at Paris 1787. Painting in frefco,
according to this author, is longer preferved in dry
and warm, than in northern and moid climates. How¬
ever oppofite the fentiments of thefe two authors may
appear to be, it is podible to reconcile them, when
we confider, that the expofure to a burning fun is ca¬
pable of operating a great change of the colours on
the one hand, and that the frod in a cold climate ine¬
vitably dedroys the paintings of frefco on the other.
Frod is capable of burding dones, of corroding the
petrified veins of earth in the heart of coloured marble,
and, in flrart, nothing can redd its dedruclive opera¬
tion.
Thefe obfervations on frefco paintings lead us to
conclude, that the choice of place, when they are with¬
out doors, is of the greated importance. In countries
where there is little or no frod, an expofure to the
north is the mod favourable ; and in cold climates a
wedern expofure Ihould be made choice of, becaufe
the fird rays of the riling fun have a very pernicious
cffefl after frod. We are not, however, wholly to
adopt the fentiment of M. Falconet with regard to the
pernicious effedls of moidure on frefco paintings: for,
1. The ancient paintings recovered from moid places,
in which they were buried for many ages, have, under
enormous heaps of earth, preferved all their colours.
Thofe from the ruins of Herculaneum have been ob-
4 R ferved,
PAIN
ferved, on the contrary, to 3ofe their colours in a fhort
time after they have been dried by the exterior air.
2. 1 he mortar which compofes the ground of this
painting is not deilroyed in our rainy climates. It is
necefl'ary frequently to ufe powder in removing pieces
of this mortar, which are now’ found to obitrudt lome
buildings in Paris.
After the choice of place, the choice of materials is
the next thing of importance in executing frefco. To
make it durable, the ground is the objeft of chief atten¬
tion ; and to make this perfect, the mortar ufed by the
ancients, now unknown, would be neceffary.
It is eafy to perceive, that a minute detail of forms,
an exteniivC mixture and gradation of tints, and the
merit of a delicate and gentle touch, can make no part
of the excellencies of this kind of painting. It can¬
not bear a clofe examination like a picture in oil. There
is always fomething dry and rough which difpleafes.
An artift who would flatter himftlf with fuecefs in a
frefco placed near the eye would be grofsly deceived : a
common fpeftator would find it coarfe and badly fi-
niftied.
Frefco is chiefly employed in palaces, temples, and
public edifices. In thefe vaft places no kind of paint¬
ing can be preferred to it. ; large, vivid in its ftrokes,
and conftantly frefti, it enriches the archite&ure, ani¬
mates it, and gives relief to the eye from the repetition
of the fame forms, and the monotony of colour in a
place where coloured marbles and bronzes are not em¬
ployed. Still more a fine frefco gives the greateft
effect to a lofty building, fince this building ferves
as a frame and fupport to this enchanting art, which
fixes the attention of every perfon of fenfibility and
tafte.
We (hall afterwards have occafion to fliow the man¬
ner of executing frefco, as well as the nature and ap¬
plication of the colours employed in it : it is neceflary
to demonftrate here, that it has a freflmefs, fplendour,
and vigour not to be found in oil or water colours.
A known principle in all kinds of painting is, that
the colouring is more perfect in proportion as it ap¬
proaches to the lights and (hades in nature. As co¬
lours applied to any fubjeft can never reach this degree
of perfection, the illufion which painters produce con-
fifts in the comparifon and oppofition of the tones of co¬
lours among tbemfelves.
If the white of the fineft and purefi: oil appears hea¬
vy and gray, compared with great lights in natural
whites, it follows, that, in order to copy them with fide¬
lity, the tones which follow the firft white mufl: be de¬
graded in an exaCt proportion. Thus it is neceffary
that the (hades of a picture be confiderably deeper than
thofe of the model ; efpecially if, from the greatefl:
lights to the browns, one hath proportionally followed
the diftance which is found between the colours on the
pallet, and the tones of the objeCI copied.
Now if the whke of frefco be infinitely more bright
than that of oil, the fame effeCt will be obtained in a
brown tone. On the other fide, if it conftantly hap¬
pens that the brown tones of frefco are much more vi¬
gorous than thofe of water colours, and equal even to
the browns of oil itfelf, it is certain that it pofleffes a
fplendour and vigour more extenlive than any other
kind of painting. Thus in the hands of an artift who
is well acquainted with the colours fit for frefco, it is
TING.
Part II,
more fufceptible of the general effeCI, and more capable
than any other kind, of giving projection and the fem- *
blance of life to the figures.
If we were to inquire why painting in frefco is now
fcarcely or never praCtifed, we Ihould perhaps aferibe it
to the great talents required to execute it. “ Many of
our painters (fays Vafari in his Treatife on Painting)
excel in oil or water colours, and yet fail in frefco; be-
caufe of all kinds this requires the greateft ftrength of
genius, boldnefs in the ftrokes, and refolution.” If in
an age abounding in great mafters, it was difficult to
excel in this kind, it muft be much more fo in ours ;
but we fhould not require the characters of fublimity
and ftyle to which men were accuftomed in the time of
Vafari.
We fhould execute in frefco as we do in oils 5 for
Italy herfelf, along with Michael Angelo and Zui-
charo, had Cortonni Giardano and Francifchini as
middling frefco painters. And in France, Lafofie, Bon-
Boulogne, and Perur, performed feveral works in
frefco which might be imitated by the painters of our
times. But let us proceed to the real caufes for aban¬
doning this art. Thefe proceed from the want of know¬
ledge and tafte in the perfons who employ the artifts,
and from the manners of the age. As a pleafant or
licentious conceit, unfinifhed colouring, and bold effeCks
of (hade, are the chief objefts of confideration, a very
fmooth painting enlivened by gentle touches completely
gratifies the perfon who pays the price ; and therefore
the philofophical principles of the art, which require
ftudy, are not cultivated.
We (hall now attend to the mechanical procefs of
this ufeful and beautiful kind of painting. Before
painting, it is neceffary to apply two layers. If the
wall on which you are to paint is of brick, the layer
is eafily applied ; but if it is of free ilone clofely united,
it is neceflary to make excavations in the ftone, and to
drive into them nails or pegs of wood in order to hold
the firft layer.
The firft layer is made of good lime and a cement
of pounded brick, or, which is ftill better, river fand :
this latter forms a layer more uneven, and better fitted
to retain the fecund fmooth and polifhed layer applied
to its furface.
There fhould be experiments to difeover a layer
ftill more compadk, and more independent of the vari¬
ations of the air 5 fuch for example, as covers the aque-
dufts and ancient refervoirs conftrufted by the Romans
in the neighbourhood of Naples.
Before applying the fecund layer, or what you are
to paint, it is neceffary that the firft be perfectly dry ;
for there iffues from the lime, when it is moift, a fmell
both difagreeable and pernicious to the artift.
When the firft layer is perfedly dry, it is wet with
water in proportion to its drynefs, that the fecond layer
may the more eafily incorporate with it.
The fecond layer is compofed of lime, flaked in the
air, and expofed for a year, and of river fand, of an
equal grain, and moderately fine.
It requires an aftive aiid intelligent mafon to apply
this layer, as the furface mufl; be altogether equal. The
operation is performed with a trowel ; and the operator
requires to have a fmall piece of wood to take away the
large grains of fand, which, remaining, might render the
furface uneven.
To
tretlo.
Part IT.
Frefco.
PAIN
To give a fine polllh to tins layer, one ought to take
a fheet of paper, apply it to the wall, and pafs and
repafs the trowel over the paper. By this means the
little inequalities which hurt the exa&nefs of the llroke,
and which produce falfe appearances at a didance, are
entirely fmoothed.
The artift mud: not lay more than the painter can fi-
ni(h in a day, as this kind of painting mult be execut¬
ed on a frefh ground.
The layer being thus prepared, the painter begins
his operation ; but as painting in frefco mud be exe¬
cuted rapidly, and as there is no time to retouch any
of the drokes, the painter, as we have obferved under
the article Fresco, takes care to provide himfelf with
large cartoons, on which he has drawn, with exa£t-
nefs, and in their full fize, the figures which he is to
paint, which leaves him nothing to do but to copy them
on the wall.
The cartoons are compofed of feveral fheets of large
paper paded one on another, neither too thick nor too
(lender.
The painter traces the. tracks of the figures on the
plader, by pafling a deel point over the tracks in the
cartoons, or in pricking them.
Having in this manner attained an exact and fpeedy
drawing, it now remains to execute the painting.
But it is effential, when one wiihes to finilh any
fmall work of this kind, in the fird place to be inform¬
ed of the proper colours, and of thofe which cannot be
ufed.
In general, the colours which are extrafted from
earths, and thofe which have palled through the fire,
are the only ones which can be employed in this kind of
painting.
The colours are white, made of lime, the white of
egg ftiells, ultramarine } the black of charcoal, yellow
ochre, burnt vitriol, red earth, green of Verona, Vene¬
tian black, and burnt ochre.
There are others which require to be ufed with great
precaution, fuch as enamel blue, cinnabar, and white
marble dud.
AVhen enamel blue is ufed, it requires to be applied
indantaneoufly, and when the lime is very moid,
otherwife it does not incorporate with the plader *, and
if one retouch with this colour, it mud be done an
hour or more after the fird application, to increafe its
*U^re' . • • r • n.
With regard to the white marble dud, it is fubject to
turn black if it be not mixed up with a convenient quan¬
tity of white lime.
Cinnabar which has a fplendour almod fuperior to
all other colours, lofes it almod entirely when mixed
with lime. At the fame time, it may be employed in
places not expofed to the air, with a little degree of
care in the preparation. Reduce a quantity of the
pured cinnabar to powder, put it into an earthen vef-
fel, and pour lime water on it for two or three times.
By this procefs the cinnabar receives fonm impreflion
of lime water, which makes it capable of being employ¬
ed in frefco painting.
One of the bed colours, and the one mod ufed in
frefco for the gradation of tints, and for giving the
requifite tone, is white of lime. This white is prepa¬
red by mixing lime flaked long before with good water.
TING.
The lime depofits a fediment at the bottom of tne vef-
fel ; when the water is poured off, this, fediment is the
white of lime.
Another kind of white might be ufed, the effefts of
which would be known by experience, . namely, the
white of egg (hells. To prepare this white, one mud
take a great quantity of (hells of eggs, which mud be
pounded and boiled in water along with a quantity ot
quicklime} after this they are put into a (trainer, and
walked repeatedly with fountain water.
The (hells are again pounded until the water em¬
ployed for that purpofe become pure and limpid ; and
when they are in this manner reduced to powder, this
powder is grinded in water, and formed into nnaJ
pieces, and dried in the fun.
All the different kinds of ochres make excellent co¬
lours for frefco, and take different (hades, being pie-
vioufly burned in iron chefts.
With regard to the Naples yellow, it is dangerous
to ufe it where the painting is mucii expofed to the
air. The blacks of charcoal, of peach (tones, and ot
vine twigs, are good : but that extracted from bones is
of no value.
Roman vitriol gathered at the furnaces, and which
is called burnt vitriol, grinded afterwards in fpirit of
wine, refills the air extremely well when employed ill
lime. There is alfo a red extradted from this preparation
fomewhat like that produced from lac.
This colour is very proper for preparing the layers
to be coloured with cinnabar •, and the draperies paint¬
ed with thefe two colours will vie in fplendour w’ith
thofe painted with fine lac in oil.
The ultramarine is the molt faithful colour \ and it
not only never changes, but it communicates this preci¬
ous quality to thofe colours with which it is mixed.
The manner of employing thofe colours, is to grind
them in water, and to begin by arranging them into
the principal tints you are to employ ; thefe are after-
wards put into pots } and it is neceffary to ufe a great
many pallets raifed at the edges, to form the interme¬
diate (hades, and to have under your eye all the (hades
you require.
As all the tints, except burnt ochre, violet, red, and
blacks of all kinds, are apt to become clear, the paint¬
er muff have befide him feme pieces of crick or new
tile very dry. A da(h of the colours is applied to one of
thefe with the pencil before ufing them •, and as the tile
inftantaneoufly imbibes the water, one perceives what
the (hade will be after the frefco is dry.
5 2. Elydoric Painting, invented by M. Vincent of Mont-
petit.
This new kind of painting is little known, and capa¬
ble of great improvement.
Its principal advantages are, that the artift is able to
give the greateft finhhing poffible to fmall figures in
oil ; to add to the mellownefs of oil painting, the great-
eft beauty of water colours in miniature, and to do it in
fuch a manner that it appears like a large pidlure feen
through a glafs which diminifties objedts.
This kind of painting takes its name from two Greek
words expreffive of oil and water; becaufe thofe two
liquids are employed in the execution. The following
is the manner of proceeding : A piece of very fine
4 R 2 linen,
684
Painth *0 ^nen’ 0f iaffety, is iized with llarch, in the
t ain^ng- moft equal manner poflible, on pieces of glafs about two
inches fquare, the angles of which are blunted in order
that the cloth may cover them neatly and without
wrinkles.
When thefe pieces of cloth are fufficiently dry, a
layer compofed of white lead finely grinded, and oil of
pinks or of poppies, the whited; that can be found, is
applied to them with a knife. When this layer is dry
enough to admit of fcraping, more may be applied if ne-
celfary.
As it is of the greateft importance for the preferva-
t.ion of this kind of painting, that the different layers
be purged of oil, in order that they may imbibe the
colours applied to them, it is neceffary that their fur-
face be very fmooth, very dry, and very hard.
The artift is next provided with a circle of copper
nearly two inches in diameter, one-fourth of an incli in
height, extremely thin, and painted on the infide with
black. This circle is employed to contain the water on
the furface of the picture.
The preference is'given to water diddled from rain
or fnow ; becaufe ordinary water, from the falls which
it contains, is pernicious to this kind of painting.
ft is neceflfary alfo to obferve, that the colours mud
be grinded between two oriental agates, mod carefully
preferved from dud, and mixed with oil of poppies, or
any other ficcative oil which has been extracted with¬
out fire, and pure as water.
All the colours being grinded, they are placed in a
fmall heap on a piece of glafs, which is covered with
diddled water in a tin box.
When the materials are thus prepared, the fubjedl
Is dightly traced on one of the pieces of cloth above
mentioned with a lead pencil.
The tints are formed on the pallets from the heaps
of colours under the water, and the pallet placed as
Part II.
ufual on the left arm with the thumb through the Elvdoric
aperture. Painting.
The piflure is held between the thumb and fore fin-' 'r~mJ
ger, fupported by the middle, and the neceffary pencils
between the third and little fingers. The hand is dip-
ported on the back of a chair, that there may be full
liberty of bringing the work near, or keeping it at a
didance from the eye.
The pencils are cleaned with the effence of reaified
turpentine.
After having made the rough draught with the co¬
lours dill frelh, the circle of copper, which ought to fur-
round the piaure, is fitted exadlly to the furface.
1 he diddled w-ater is poured within this circle to
the height of one eighth part of an inch ; and the body
is leaned forward till the light fall perpendicularly on
the objea.
The third finger of the right hand mud red on the
internal right angle of the piaure.
The artid, with a fine and firm pencil, runs over the
fird draught, to give colours to the weak places, and to
foften thofe which appear too drong.
As foon as the oil fwims on the top, the water is
poured off, and the piaure is carefully covered with a
watch glafs, and dried in a box with a gentle heat.
When it is fufficiently dry, to be fcraped almod to
a level with the knife: the above operation is renewed
till the artid is fatisded with his work.
It is in this lad work that the artid feels all the ad¬
vantage of this new method for finidiing.
The water poured on the piaure difcovers all the
faults of the pencil, gives facility in fearching into the
bottom of the drades, and the power of correaing the
work and of rendering it perfea.
When the work is finidied, it is put under a crydalv
where there is no admidion of external air, and dried
with a gentle beat..
PAINTING.
Part III. Of Economical Painting,
Sect. I.
THE objea of this Part is to give an account of
fome mechanical proceedings in certain kinds of paint¬
ing, calculated to preferve and embellilh the walls of
houfes and furniture. This branch of the art extends
to every part of arcbiteaure. The whole building
becomes the vvorkdiop of the artid ; the dairs, the bal
ludrades, the falhes, the doors, and the railing of all
kinds, occupying his fird care, and then the ceiling and
wainfcotting.
The artid gives to all his fubjefb- a chofen and uni¬
form tint ; but he has it in his power to vary the co¬
lours on different parts of the building in fuch a manner
as to produce the mod pleafing objefts.
Of -he u Among the utendls of the painter, it is needlefs, but
tenfils for for rendering the article complete, to mention brufhes
thfi kind of and pencils of all dzes as abfolutely neceffary.
painting. The brufhes are made of boars bridles, or of hair
with a mixture of bridles ; they ought to be draight,
very fmooth, and of a round form. Half an hour be-
f»re they are ufed, it is proper to foak them in water,
4-
in order to fwell the wood of the handle, and prevent
the hairs from falling off; after this they may be ap¬
plied to all purpofes, either in water colours or in oil j
but it may be obferved that for the former they require
.lefs foftening.
'T he pencils are made of badgers hair, or any fine
hairs enchafed in the pipes of quills of all fizes.
'fhe veffel wherein the pencils are cleaned is made
of copper or of tin, fmooth below, rounded at the ends,
and divided into two parts by a thin plate in the middle.
The oil, or the fubdance with which the pencil is clean¬
ed, is contained in one of the dividons.
The pallet is made of the wood of the pear or apple
tree, of an oval or fquare diape, very dender, but
fomewhat thicker at the centre than at the extremities.
A hole is made in one of its ddes fufficiently large to
admit the thumb of the workman.
When the pallet is new, it is covered with oil of
walnuts and as often as it dries, the operation is re¬
peated, till it be fully impregnated j it is afterwards
poli(lied, and finally rubbed with a piece of linen dipped
in oil of common nuts.
The painter’s knife is a thin flexible plate, equally-.
flendes
Part HI.
Application {lender on botli fides, rounded at one extremity, and the
of Colours. 0tlier fixed into a handle of wood.
All the veffels employed to hold the colours fhould
be, varnilhed 5 a precaution neceffary to prevent their
drying too quickly.
Of grind- To grind, is to reduce to powder the fubftances
ing anddi- which give colours on a piece of marble or any hard
luting tire q-one hy means of water, oil, or ellence.
colours. js to impregnate a liquid with a tint in
fuch a manner as to make it capable of being applied by
a brufh.
When the materials are grinded in water, it is proper
to dilute them in fize made from parchment. If they
are diluted in fpirit of wine, there mult be no more di¬
luted than what ferves the immediate occalion, as co¬
lours prepared in this manner dry very rapidly.
Colours grinded in oil are fometimes diluted with pure
oil, more frequently with oil mixed with effence, and
commonly with the pure effence of turpentine ; the
effence makes the colours eafy to work. Thofe prepar¬
ed in this manner are more folid, but they require more
time to dry.
When colours are grinded with the effence of tur¬
pentine, and diluted in varnifh, as they require to be
immediately applied, it is neceffary to prepare a fmall
quantity at a*time. This preparation of colours gives
greater brilliancy, and dries more fpeedily, than thofe
prepared in oil j but they require more art to manage
them.
They grind colours or coloured fubflancos with a
mullar, which is employed on the ftone till they be¬
come a very fine powder. The operation is facilitated
by moiftening them from time to time with a little
water, and by colle&ing them under the mullar with
the knife. They are afterwards laid in fmall heaps on
a (beet of white paper, and allowed to dry in a (itua-
tion not expofed to dull. Thofe who grind white lead
have a ftone for the purpofe, as this colour is very eafily
tarnhhed. In executing this part well, it is neceffary
to grind the colours equally and moderately to grind
them feparately, and not to produce a tint by mixture
till the colours are well prepared.
Dilute no more at a time than what you have occa-
fion to employ, to prevent them from growing thick.
In grinding the colours, put in no more liquid than
what is neceflary to make the folid fubilanees yield
eafily to the mullar ; the more ihe colours are grinded,
they mix better, and give a fmoother and more agree¬
able painting.
It is alfo neceffary to give all attention to the grind¬
ing and diluting of colours, that they may be neither
too thick nor too thin.
Sect. II. Application of Colours.
1. Prepare only the quantity neceffary for the
work you undertake, becaufe they do not keep long ;
and thofe which are newly mixed are more vivid and
beautiful.
2. Hold the brufh ftraight before you, and allow on¬
ly the furface to be applied to the fubjeft : if you hold
it inclined in any other direftion, you will run the
hazard of painting unequally.
3. It is neceffary to lay on the colours boldly, and
with great ftrokes 3 taking care at the fame time to
PAINTING.
68s
fpread them equally over the furface, and not filling up Application
the moulding and carved work. If this accident {hould ot (tT>urs-_
happen, you muft have a little brufh to clean out the
colours.
4. Stir them frequently in the veffel, that they may
preferve always the fame tint, and that no fediment may
remain at the bottom.
5. Take care not to overcharge the brufh with the
colour.
6. Never apply a fecond layer till the firft or pre¬
ceding one be perfectly dry ; which it is eaiily known
to be when, in bearing the hand gently over it, it does
not adhere.
7. In order to render this drying more fpeedy and
uniform, make always the layers as thin as poflible.
8. Before painting, it is necefiary to prime the fub-
jeft ; that is, to give it a layer of fize, or of white co¬
louring oil, to fill up the pores, and render the furface
fmooth : by this means fewer layers of colour or of var¬
nifh are afterwards neceffary.
9. Every lubjedt to be painted or gilded ought to
have firft a white ground 5 this preferves the colours
frefli and vivid, and repairs the damage which they oc-
cafionally receive from the air.
§ 1. Of Painting in Water Colours.
To paint in water colours, is to do it in thofe which
are grinded in water and diluted in fize. There are
three kinds of this painting *, namely common, the var-
nifhcd, and that which is called king's white; but beiore
entering on thefe, it is neceffary to make fome prelimi¬
nary obfervations.
1. Take care that there be no greafe on the fubjeft j
and if there be, fcrape it off, or clean it with a lye, or
rub the greafy part with garlic and wormwood.
2. Let the diluted colour fall in threads from the end
of the bruih when you take it out of the veffel j if it ad¬
heres to it, it is a proof that it wants fize.
3. Let all the layers, efpecially at the beginning, be
laid on very warm, provided that the liquid be not boil¬
ing, which would effeiflually fpoil the fubjedl; and if on
wood, expofe it to crack. The lait layer, given imme¬
diately before the varnilh, is the only one which ought
to be applied cold.
4. In very fine work, where it is neceffary to have
beautiful and folid colours, the fubje.6ts are prepared by
fize and proper whites, which ferve as a ground to re¬
ceive the colour, and render the furface very equal and
fmooth.
5. Whatever colour is to be laid on, the white
ground is the beft, as it aflimilates moft eafily with
the painting, which borrows always fomething of the
ground.
6. If knots of wood are found in the fubje£l, it is
neceffary to rub them with garlic, to make the fize ad¬
here.
To make the following details fufticiently plain, we
fhall take the meafures to which the quantity of colours
are applied at fathoms y that is to fay, fix feet in height
by fix feet in breadth. We lhali afterwards fix the
quantity of materials, and of liquids, neceffary to cover
this furface. This, however, cannot be exactly define, f
as fome fubjeds imbibe the colours much more than
others. The manner of employing them alfo mak« • a
difference 5 as habit enables one to manage then to
greater
6S6
PAINTING.
Part III.
Application greater advantage than another. And it is alfo to be
,ot v’»k)ur^ obferved, that the firft layer will confume more than
the fecond; and that a prepared fubjeft requires lefs
than one which has not been fo.
When we fpeak of a fathom, it mud be underdood
of a fmooth and equal furface ; for if the wood is va¬
ried wdth mouldings and carving, there mud be a dif¬
ference in the quantity of colours. In general, it re¬
quires about a pound of colours to paint a fquare fa¬
thom in water colours. In making up this quantity,
take three-fourths of colours grinded in water, and one-
fourth pound, or fix ounces, of fize to dilute it.
§ 2. Of Painting in Common Water Colours.
Works which require no great care or preparation,
as ceilings and daircafes, are generally painted in com¬
mon water colours, i. e. with earths infufeu in water
and diluted in fize.
For a common white kind of this painting, deep
Spanifh white moderately pounded in wrater for two
hours. Infufe a proper quantity of the black of char¬
coal in water for the fame fpace of time •, mix the black
and white in the proportion that the tint requires j af¬
terwards mix them up with a pretty drong fize fuffi-
ciently thick and wTarm, and apply them to the fubjedl
in as many layers as may be thought neceflary. It re¬
quires about two pounds of white in a pint of wrater, and
a quantity of black in proportion to the tint, together
with a part of fize, to cover a fquare fathom. If this
be employed on old walls, they mud be well feraped,
the dud brudied off with a hair befom, and w’afhed care¬
fully with lime wrater. If on new7 plader, the colours
require more fize.
All kinds of colours may be grinded in water only
when the tint is made •, and when they have been in-
fufed in water, they mult be mixed up with fize.
§ 4. 0/' Badegeon.
Application
of Colours.
Badegeon is a pale yellow colour applied to plader
to make it appear like free dones. It gives to old houfes
and churches the exterior of a new building, by ad'um-
ing the colour of dones newly cut.
1. Take a quantity of lime newly killed.
2. Add to it half the quantity of what the French
call feiure de pierre in which you have mixed of the
ochre of rue, according to the colour of the done you
intend to imitate.
3. Steep the whole in a pail of water, in which is
melted a pound of rock alum. When the feiure de
piet re cannot be obtained, it is necefl'ary to ufe a great¬
er quantity of ochre de rue, or of yellow ochre, or grind
the feales of the done de St Leu; pafs it through a lieve:
and along with the limeitwill form a cement, on which
the weather will fcarcely make any impredion.
$ 5- Of Ceilings and the Rorfs of Rooms.
When the ceilings or roofs are new7, and you with to
whiten them, take white of Bougival, to which add a
little of the black of charcoal to prevent the white from
growing reddilh ; infufe them feparately in water; mix
the whole with half water and half fize of glove leather,
which being drong would make the layer come od'in
rolls if it were not reduced with water. Give two
layers of this tint while it is lukewarm.
If the roof has been formerly whitened, it is ne-
ceffary to ferape to the quick all the remaining white ;
then give it two or three layers of lime to ground and
whiten it: Brulh it carefully over; and give it two
or three layers of the white of Bougival prepared as be¬
fore.
§ 6. Of Colouring the backs of Chimneys with Lead 'Ore.
§ 3. Walls done with the White Des Carmes.
The white des carmes is a manner of whitening in¬
terior walls, whereby they are rendered extremely beau¬
tiful.
1. Procure a quantity of the very bed lime, and pafs
it through fine linen ; pour it into a large tub, furniflied
with a fpigot at the height equal to that which the lime
occupies : fill the tub with clear fountain water; beat
the mixture with great pieces of wood, and then allow
it to fettle for 24 hours.
2. Op en the fpigot, allow the w7ater to run off, fupply
the tub with frelh water, and continue this operation
for feveral days until the lime receives the greated de¬
gree of whitenefs.
3. When you allow the water finally to run off, the
lime will be found in the confidency of pade; but with
the quantity you ufe it is neceffary to mix a little Pruf-
fian blue or indigo to relieve the brightnefs of the
white, and a fmall quantity of turpentine to give it
brilliancy. The fize proper for it is made of glove
leather, with the addition of feme alum ; and the whole
is applied with a drong brulh in five or fix layers to new
plader.
4 The wall is drongly rubbed over with a brulh of
hogs bridles after the painting is dry; which gives it its
ludre and value, and which makes it appear like marble
or ducco.
Clean them with a very drong brulh, and carefully
rub off the dud and rud ; pound about a quarter of a
pound of lead ore into a fine powder, and put it into a
veffel with half a pint of vinegar ; then apply it to the
back of the chimney with a brulh: When it is made
black with this liquid, take a dry brulh, dip it in the
fame powder without vinegar, and dry and rub it with
this brulh till it become diining as glafs.
§ 7. Of Varnijhed Water Colours.
The advantages of this kind of painting are, that the
colours do not fade ; that they refledl the light; that
they give no offenfive fmell, but permit the places to be
inhabited as foon as finilhed ; and that the varnilh pre-
ferves the wood from infedls and moidure.
To make a fine varnilh on water colours, feven prin¬
cipal operations are neceffary; namely, to fize the
wood, to prepare the white, to foften and rub the fub-
jecl, to clean the moulding, to paint, to fize, and to var-
nilh.
To fize the wood is to give one or trvo layers of fize
to the fubje<d which you intend to paint. 24
Take three heads of garlic and a handful of worm- Phft opera-
wood leaves ; boil them in three pints of water till theyticm*
are reduced to one ; pafs the juice through a linen
cloth, and mix it with a pint of parchment fize; add
half a handful of felt and half a pint of vinegar ; and
boil the whole on the fire.
Size
Part III. PAIN
Application Size the wood with this boiling liquor •, allow it to
i,f Colours. penetrate into the carved and fin noth places of the wood,
w~v but take care at the fame time to take it as clean off the
work as poffible, or at leaft to leave it at no place thick¬
er than another. This firft fixing ferves to fill up the
pores of the wood, and to prevent the materials after¬
wards from collefting in a body, which would caufe the
work to fair oft' in fcales.
In a pint of ftrong parchment fize, to which you
have added four pints of warm water, put two handfuls
of white Bougival, and allow it to infufe for the fpace
of half an hour.
Stir it well, and give a fingle layer of it to the fub-
je£l very warm but not boiling, equally and regularly
laid on, and dallied with repeated ftrokes of the brufti
into the mouldings and carved work.
Second ope- To prepare the white, take a quantity of ftrong
ration. parchment fize, and fprinkle lightly over it with the
hand, Bougival white, till the fize be covered with it
about half an inch in thicknefs •, allow it to foak for
half an hour as near the fire as to keep it milk warm :
and then ftir it with the brufti till the lumps are broken
and it be fufficiently mixed.
Give feven, eight, or ten layers of this white, or
as many as the nature of the work or the defefts in the
wood {ball render neceflary, giving more white to the
parts which require to be foftened ; but in general, the
layers muft be equal both with regard to the quantity
of the white and the ftrength of the fize.
The laft layer of the white ought to be clearer than
the reft, which is made by adding water. It muft be
applied more {lightly, taking care with fmall bruflies
to cover all the difficult places in the mouldings and
carved work. It is necefiary alfo, between the drying
of the different layers, to fill up all the deftffts with
white maftich and fize.
Third ope- To foften, is to give to the fubjeft after the whiten-
tjmon. ing a fmooth and equal furface, and to rub it over with
a pumice ftone.
The wood being dry, take little pieces of white
wood and of pumice ftone, grinded for the purpofe
into all neceffary forms, either for the pannels or the
moulding.
Take cold water, heat being deftru&ive of this kind
of work •, in fummer it is common to add a little ice.
Soften the wail with a bruih, but only as much at a
time as you can eafily work, as the water might dilute
the white and fpoil the whole: Then fmooth and rub
it with the pumice ftones and with the fmall pieces of
wood. Wafti it with a brufh as you fmooth it, and rub
it over with a piece of new linen, which gives a fine
luftre to the work. -
Fourth ope- The mouldings and carved work are cleaned with an
ration. iron ; and the only thing to be attended to in the opera¬
tion is not to raife the grain of the wood.
The fubjefl thus prepared is ready to receive the co¬
lour you intend to give it. Choofe your tint j fuppofe
^ a filver colour.
Fifth ope- Grind white cerufe and Bougival white feparately
ration. in water, of each an equal quantity, and mix them to¬
gether.—Add a little blue of indigo and a very fmall
quantity of black of charcoal from the vine tree very
fine,'grinded alfo-feparately, and in water j more or
lefs of the one or other gives the tint you require.—
Dilute this tint in ftrong parchment fize j pafs it
5
TING. 687
through a bolting cloth of filk very fine, and lay the Application'
tint on your work, taking care to fpread it very of 1-0l0urs-i
equally ; and then give it two layers, and the colour
is applied. *9
Make a weak, beautiful, and clean fize-, ftir it till'•ixth ope-
it cools; ftrain it through a fine cloth, and give twora,:lon‘
layers to the work with a foft painting bruih, which
has been uied, but which you have been careful to
clean. Take care not to choke up the mouldings nor
to lay on the fize thicker on one place than another,
and fpread it. over the work very {lightly, otherwife you
will dilute the colours,' and occafion undulations in the
painting.
The beauty of the rvork depends on this laft fizingq
for if any part is omitted, the varnifti will penetrate
into the colours and give it a darker {hade. ^
When the fixing is dry, lay on twro or three layers Seventh
of fpirit of wine varniftr, taking care that the place on operations
which you lay it be warm, and the work is finifhed.
§ 8. Of the King's White.
This derives its name from the ufe of it in the apart¬
ments of the French king. It is in all refpedls conduct¬
ed like the former, except that there is only a fmall
quantity of indigo, to take the yellow from the white,
without any black of charcoal, and without varnilh.
This white anfwers extremely well for apartments
which are feldom ufed ; but otherwife it fpoils eafily,
efpeeially in bedchambers. It is the beft white where
there is any kind of gilding ; and in this cafe it receives
a little varnifli.
Sect. III. Of Painting in Oil Colours.
To paint in oil is to apply to all forts of fuhjeCH,
as walls, wood, cloths, and metals, coloured earths
grinded and diluted in oil. The ancients are thought
to have been ignorant of this art, and the honour of
the difeovery is generally aferibed to John Van Eyck a
Flemith painter. The fecret is nothing more than fub-
ftituting oil in place of water in grinding .and diluting
colours.
By means of oil the colours are longer preferved }
and not drying fo fpeedily, they give painters longer
time to fmooth, finith, and retouch their works ) the
colours being more marked, and mixing better together,
give more diftinguiftvable tints, and more vivid and a-
greeable gradations, and the colouring is more fweet and
delicate.
The painting in oil confifts of two kinds, namely, of
that in fimple oil and of that in polilhed oil varnifn.
§ 1. Gbfervutions on Painting in Oil.
1. When bright colours, as white or gray, are grind¬
ed and diluted in oil, it is neceffary to make ufe of the
oil of walnuts \ but if the colours be dark, fuch as
chefnut, or olive, or brown, you muft make ufe of pure
linfeed oil.
2. When the colours are grinded and diluted in oil,
they muft be laid on cold, except on a new or moift
plafter, which requires them to be boiling.
3. Every colour diluted in pure oil, or in oil mixed
with effence, ought to fall in threads from the end of
the brufti.
4. Take care to ftir from time to time your colour
befoi$
688 ^ _ PAIN
OU CVoii-!* *ai''y<l';i !!“ llP on 'bruih, t!iat it may preferve
■....n .f’ _^ an ef]8ial thicknefs, and confequently the faint; tone.
Notwithftanding the precaution of dirring, if it is found
to be thicker towards the bottom, it will be neceffary
to pour in from time to time a little oil.
5- •ln general, every lubjeft which is painted in oil
ought firft to receive one or two layers of white cerufe,
grinded and diluted in oil.
6. When the painting is expofed to the air, as in
doors, windows, and other works, which cannot be
varnithed, it is neceffary to make thefe layers with pure
oil of walnuts, mixed up with about one ounce of ef-
fence to a pound of colours ; more would make the
colours brown, and occafion them to fall off in dud ;
but this quantity prevents the fun from blitlering the
work.
7. In fubjefls on the infide of the houfe, or when
the painting is varnifhed, the firft layer ought to be
grinded and diluted in oil, and the laft diluted with
pure effence.
8. If copper or iron, or other hard fubftances, are
to be painted, it is neceflfary to mix' a little effence with
the firft layers, to make the oil penetrate into them.
9. When there are many knots in the fubjcCl, as is
particularly the cafe with fir wrood, and when the colour
does not eafily take impreftion on thefe parts, it is ne-
ceffary, when you paint with fimple oil, to lay on a
little oil mixed with litharge on the knots. If you
paint with polilhed oil varnith, it is neceffary to apply
a hard tint, which we (hall have occafion to fpeak of
afterwards. A fingle layer well applied is generally
fufficient to give a body to the wood, and make the
other layers apply eafily.
10. There are colours, fuch as what the French call
ftils-de-gr a in, black of charcoal, and efpecially bone and
ivory blacks, which are difficult to dry when grinded
in oil. To remedy this inconveniency, the following
ficcatives are mixed with the colours, to make them
dry, viz. litharge both of the filver and gold colour, vi¬
triol or copperas, and what is called ficcative oil.
§ 2. Obfervations on the Siccatives.
1. Do not mix the ficcatives with the colours till they
are to be employed, otherwife it will thicken them.
2. Mix it only in very fmall quantities in tin, where¬
in there is white lead or cerufe, becaufe thofe colours
are ficcative of themfelves, efpecially when they are di¬
luted in effence.
3. In painting which is to be varnilhed, give the fic¬
cative only to the firft layer, and allow the other layers,
in which there is effence, to dry of themfelves.
4. In dark colours in oil, give to every pound of co¬
lours in diluting them half an ounce of litharge ; to
bright colours, a drachm of white copperas grinded in
walnut oil.
5. When in place of litharge or copperas the ficca¬
tive oil is employed, it requires a quartern of this oil to
every pound of colour.
The ficcative oil is prepared of one half ounce of li¬
tharge, as much of calcined cerufe, as much of terre
d'ornbre, a colour with which the French paint ffiadows,
and as much of talc boiled for two hours on a flow and
equal fire, with one pound of linfeed oil, andftirred the
TING. part In
whole time. It muft be carefully fkimmed and clari- Painting in
fied, and the older it grows it is better. Oil Colours,
§ 3. Obfervations on the Quantities of SuLfances and
Liquids.
1. Ochres and earths require more liquids both in
grinding and diluting than cerufe.
2. Different quantities of liquids are required in the
grinding only on account of greater or lefs drynefsj but
in diluting, the quantity is always the fame.
3. lor the firft layer after the priming, which has
no relation to the colours laid on afterwards, to a fquare
fathom give fourteen ounces of cerufe, about two ounces
of liquid to grind, and four ounces to dilute it. If there
is a fecond layer of the fame materials, the quantities
will require to be lefs.
4. It will require three pounds of colour for three
layers of a fquare fathom. The firft may confume
eighteen ounces, the fecond fixteen, and the third four¬
teen.
5. To compofe thefe three pounds of colour, take
two or two and a half pounds of grinded colours, and
dilute them in a pint or three half pints of oil, mixed
with efftnee or pure oil. But if the firft layer of cerufe
is not ufed, there will be a neceffity for a greater quan¬
tity of colours.
N. B. In the following kinds and applications of oil
painting, we are to hold thofe proportions in our eye.
§ 4. Painting in Simple Oil.
On doors and windows give a layer of cerufe grinded Of doors,
in oil of walnuts diluted in the fame oil, together with windows,
a little ficcative •, then give another layer of the fame “nc* v^‘n'
preparation ; to which, if you want a grayiffi colour, m *
add a little black of charcoal and Pruffian blue, grind¬
ed alfo in oil of walnuts. If to thefe you incline to
add a third layer, grind and dilute it in pure walnut
oil; obferving that the two laft layers be lefs clear,
or have lefs oil in them, than the firft ; the colour in
th is cafe is more beautiful and lefs apt to blifter with
the fun. 52
Walls that are to be painted muft be very dry *, and Of walls,
this being fuppofed, give two or three layers of boiling
linfeed oil to harden the plafter 5 then lay on two layers
of cerufe or ochre, grinded and diluted in linfeed oil j
and when thefe are dry, paint the wall. ^
lo paint tiles of a Hate colour, grind feparately ce-Of tiles,
rufe and German black in linfeed oil •, mix them toge¬
ther in the proportion which the colour requires, and
dilute them in linfeed oil: then give the firft layer very
clean to prime the tiles 5 and make the three next lay¬
ers thicker, to give folidity to the w'ork. ^
To paint arbours and all kinds of garden work, give of arbours,
a layer of white cerufe grinded in oil of walnuts, and&-c.
diluted in the fame oil, with the addition of a little
litharge, then give two layers of green, compofed of
one pound of verdigris and twTo pounds of white lead,
grinded and diluted in oil of walnuts. N. B. This
green is of great fervice in the country for doors, win¬
dow (butters, arbours, garden feats, rails, either of
wood or iron ; and in fliort for all works expofed to the
injuries of the weather. ^
. To whiten ftatues, vafes, and all ornaments of done, Of ftatues-
either within or without doors j firft clean the fubjedt311(1 vaf<s’
well,
36
Painting
on the in-
fide of the
houle.
.37
Chairs,
benches,
ftone, and
plafter.
Part III. PAIN
painting in well, then give one or two layers of white cerufe,
Oil Colours, gentled and'diluted in pure oil of pinks, and finilh with
‘“"■'■v*-—' giving one or many layers of white lead prepared in the
fame manner.
If you wilh to paint on walls not expofed to the
air, or on new plafter, give one or two layers of boil¬
ing linfeed oil, and continue the bruflt till the walls
are fully foaked j then give a layer of white cerufe,
grinded in oil of walnuts, and diluted -with three-
fourths of the fame oil and one fourth effence j and
laftly, give two layers more of white cerufe, grinded in
oil of walnuts, and diluted in oil mixed with efience, if
it is not to be varniftied ; but in pure effence if it is. It
is in this manner that walls are painted white. If you
adopt another colour, it is neceffary to grind and dilute
it in the fame quantities of oil and effence.
To paint chairs, benches, ftone, or plafter, give a
layer of white cerufe grinded in oil of walnuts and
diluted in the fame oil, into which you have caft a little
litharge to make it dry j then apply a layer of the
tint you fix on, grinded in oil and diluted in one part
oil and three parts effence and afterwards give two
more layers of the fame tint grinded in oil and diluted
in pure effence : This may be varniftied with two layers
8 of fpirit of wine.
Ste.eUolour To make a fteel colour, grind feparately in effence,
for locks, white cerufe, Pruftian blue, fine lac, and verdigris.
The tone which you require is procured by the proper
mixture of thofe ingredients. When you have fixed on
the tone of colour, take about the fize of a walnut of
the ingredients, and dilute them in a fmall veffel in one
part of effence and three parts of white oily varnifh.
N. B. This colour is generally made of white cerufe,
of black charcoal, and Pruflian blue, grinded in thick
oil, and diluted in effence, Avhich is the cheapeft me¬
thod of procuring it 5 but the former is the moft beauti¬
ful.
For painting balluftrades and railings, dilute lamp
black with varnifti of vermilion ; giving two layers of
it, and afterwards two layers of fpirit of wine varnifti.
Since the difcovery of oil painting, and the know¬
ledge that wood is preferved by it, and efpecially fince
the difcovery of a varnifti without fmell, and which even
takes away that of oil, the painting of apartments in oil
has been with juft ice preferred.
In fad the oil flops up the pores of the wood ; and
although it does not altogether refift the impreflion of
moifture, yet the effed is fo little perceptible, that it is
to be recommended as the beft method of preferving
wood.
To preferve wainfcotting in the moft effedual man¬
ner from moifture, it is neceffary to paint the wall be¬
hind it with two or three layers of common red, grinded
and diluted in linfeed oil.
To paint the wainfcotting itfelf, give a layer of white
cerufe grinded in oil of walnuts, and diluted in the
fame oil mixed with effence. This layer being dry,
give two more of the colour you have adopted, grinded
in oil and diluted in pure effence. If you wilh the
mouldings and fculpture to be painted in a different
colour, grind and dilute it in the lame manner.
Two or three days after, when the colours are fully
dry, give two or three layers of your white varnifti
without fmell, and which al!o prevents the offenfive
fmell of the oil colours. N.- B. Thofe who begin their
A'ol. XV. Part II.
39
Balluftrades
and rail¬
ings.
, .4°
Wainicot-
ting of a-
partments.
TING. 689
operations in watercolours, if they find it more agree-Parting in
able, may finifti it in oil colours as above. Oil lomars.
\Vhen the pores of the wood are well flopped by the
prepared white, a layer of white cerufe grinded in oil of
walnuts, and diluted in the fame oil, mixed with effence,
may be applied. This will be fufficient, the wood be¬
ing previoufly primed j and afterwards lay on your in¬
tended colour and varnifti.
§ 5. Painting in Oil 'with the polijl.'ed Varnijh.
This is the beft kind of oil painting, owing more to
the care it requires than to the proceedings, for they are
nearly the fame with thofe of Ample oil painting ; the
difference confifting only in the preparation and manner
of finilhing. 4i
To paint wainfeottings of apartments with the polifti-Wainfcot-
ed varnifti, it is neceflary, in the firft place, that thebng6-
pannels be new. Then,
1. Make the furface of the fubjeft which you mean
to paint very fmooth and level, which is done by a layer,
which ferves to receive the hard tint or poliftied ground
and the colours.
This layer ought to be of white, whatever colour
you are afterwards to apply. It confifts of white cerufe,
grinded very fine in linfeed oil, with a little litharge,
and diluted in the fame oil mixed with effence.
2. Make the poliihed ground by feven or eight lay¬
ers of the hard tint. In painting equipages, a dozen is
neceffary.
The hard tint is made, by grinding pure white ce¬
rufe, which has not been much calcined, very finely
in thick oil, and diluting it with effence. You muft
take care that the layers of the hard tint be not only
equal as to the application, but to the quantity of the
white cerufe and the oil, and to the degree of calcina¬
tion. Then,
3. Soften this ground with pumice ftone.
4. Polifti it moderately with a piece of ferge foaked
in a pail of water, in which you have put fome powder
of pumice ftone finely grinded and paffed through a fine
fieve. There is no occafion to fpare waftiing, as this
part of the operation will not fpoil with water.
5. Choofe the tint with which you intend to deco¬
rate your apartment •, grind it in oil, and dilute it in
effence •, pafs it through a piece of very fine filk, give
two or three layers carefully and thinly fpiead over the
furface, as on this part of the operation depends in a
great meafure the beauty of the colour. All forts of
colours may be employed in this manner in oil of ei~
fence.
6. Give two or three layers of a fpiritx>f wine var-
nilh, if it is to wainfcotting ; if to the body of a coach,
a varnifti of oil is employed. If the varnifti is to be
poliftied, it is neceffary to give feven or eight layers at
leaft, laid on equally and with great precaution, not to
be thicker in one place than another, which cccafions
fpots.
7. It is again poliftied with pumice ftone reduced to
powder, and water and a piece of ferge. If the wain¬
fcotting has been painted before, it is neceffary to rub
oft' the colour till you come to the hard tint, which is
done with pumice ftone and water, or with a piece of
linen dipped in effence. ^
There is a white painting in oil, called white varnijh White var-
polijh, which correfponds to the king’s white in water nifh polifh
4 S colours,in
£>9° PAIN
OU Colours ColoUrs’. and is eclual t0 tIie freflmefs and glofs of
^ - marble if it is applied,to wood. To paint in this man¬
ner,
1. Give a layer of white cerufe grinded in oil of
walnuts, with a little calcined copperas, and diluted
in eflence. But if it is applied to ftone, it is necef-
i’ary to employ oil of walnuts and calcined copperas
alone.
2. Grind white cerufe very fine in efience, and dilute
it in fine white oil varnifli with copal.
3. Give feven or eight layers of it to the fubjeft.—
1 he varnilh mixed with the white cerufe dries fo prompt¬
ly, that three layers of it may be given in a day.
4. Soften and polifli all the layers as above.
5. Give two or three layers of wThite lead grinded in
oil of walnuts, and diluted in pure effence.
6. Give feven or eight layers of white fpirit of wine
varnilh, and then polilh them.
§ 6. Of Painting in Varnifj.
To pamt in varnilh, is to employ colours grinded and
diluted in varnifli, either in fpirits of wine or oil, on all
forts of fubje&s. Wainfcotting, furniture, and equi¬
pages, are painted in this manner, though we lhall con¬
fine ourfelves to the firft.
1. Give two layers of white of Bougival, diluted in
a llrong lize boiling hot.
2. Give a layer of what the French call de blanc
apprit.
3. Fill up the defefts of the wood with maftich in
water ; and when the layers are dry, fmooth them with
the pumice Hope.
4. When the wood is fmooth, fuppofe the paint a
gray colour, take one pound of white cerufe, one dram
of Pruflian blue, or of black of charcoal or ivory black j
put the Avhite into a piece of leather, fo tied that the
colours cannot efcape j (hake them till they are fufficient-
ly mixed.
5. Put two ounces of colours into,, a quartern of
varnilh ; mix them carefully 5 give one layer above the
white.
6. This layer being dry, put one ounce of colours
into the fame quantity of varnifli as above, and give a
fecond layer.
7. To the third layer give half an ounce of colour
to the fame quantity of varnilh.
8. As each of thefe layers dry, be careful to rub
them with a piece of new coarfe cloth, in fuch a man¬
ner, however, as not to injure the colour. iY. B. The
three layers may be given in one day.
9. If you want to give a perfect luftre, add a fourth
layer prepared as the third.
All other colours, as blue, &c. may be applied in the
fame manner. This method is the only one by which
orpiment can be employed in all its beauty, but not w ith¬
out fome of its inconveniences.
Another manner of performing this kind of work,
is to apply the colours and the varnifli without previ-
• oufly ufing the fize and the white ground. This is ex¬
tremely expeditious, but it is eafy to perceive it will
want the polifli and brilliancy of the other.
Sect. IV.
We cannot perhaps more properly conclude this ar-
T I N G. Part III,
tide, than with an account of M. de Morveau’s at- Painting in
tempts to render more perfedt the proportion of colours, ^ Colours.
and efpecially of white, employed in painting. Thefe ’ 
we ftiall extra61 from a memoir of his read in the acade¬
my of Dijon.
“ White (fays the ingenious academician) is the moil
important of all colours in painting. It affords to the
painter the materials of light, which he diflributes in
iuch a manner as to bring his objedls together, to give
them relief, and that magic which is the glory of his art.
F01 thefe realons I fhall confine my attention at prefent
to this colour.
^ “ The firft white which was difeovered, and indeed Examfna-
the only one yet known, is extradled from the calx oftion°f
lead. The danger of the procefs, and the dreadful di-kn°wn
ftemper with which thofe employed in it are often feized, lteS‘
have not yet led to the difeovery of any other white.
Lefs anxious, indeed, about the danger of the artift than
the perfedtion of the art, they have varied the prepara¬
tion, to render the colour lefs liable to change. Hence
tne different kinds of white, viz. white of Crems in Au-
ftrm, a* lute lead in ffiells, anci Avhite cerule. But every
perfon converlant in colours, knoivs that the foundation
of all thefe is the calx of lead, more or lefs pure, or more
or lefs loaded with gas. That they all participate of this
metallic fubftance, Avill indeed appear evident from the
following experiment,which determinesanddemonftrates
the alterability of colours by the phlogiftic vapour.
“ I poured into a large glafs bottle a quantity of li¬
ver of fulphur on a balls of alkali, fixed or volatile, it
makes no difference ; I added fome drops of diftilled
vinegar, and I covered the mouth of the bottle with a
piece of pafteboard cut to its fize, on Avhich I difpofed
different lamples of crems, of Avhite lead, and of ccsrufe,
either in oil or in Avater; I placed another ring of pafte¬
board over the firft, and tied above all a piece of bladder
round the neck of the bottle Avith a ftrong pack thread.
It is evident, that in this operation I took advantage of
the means Avhieh chemiftry offers to produce a great
quantity of phlogiftic vapour, to accomplifti inftantane-
oufly the effedl of many years 5 and, in a Avord, to apply
to the colours the very fame vapours to which the pidture
is neceflarily expofed, only more accumulated and more
concentrated. I fay the fame vapour, for it is norv fully
eftabiilhed, tnat the fmoke of candles, animal exhalations
of all kinds, alkalefeent odours, the eledlric effluvia, and
even light, furnifh continually a quantity more or lefs of
matter, not only analogous, but identically the fame Avith
the vapour of vitriolic acid mixed with fulphur.
“ If it happens that the famples of colours are fenfibly
altered by the phlogiftic vapour, then avc may conclude
A' Jth certainty, that the materials of Avhich the colours
are compofed, bear a great affinity to that vapour ; and
fince it is not poffible to preferve them entirely from it
in. any fituation, that they Avill be more or lefs affedled
Avith it, according to the time and a variety of circum-
ftances.
“ After fome minutes continuance in this vapour, I
examined the famples of colours fubmitted to its influ¬
ence, and found them Avholly altered. The cerufe and
the Avhite lead both in water and oil were changed into
black 5 and the white of crems into a brownifh black j
and hence thofe colours are bad, and ought to be aban¬
doned. .They may indeed be defended in fome meafure
by varnifli: but this only retards for a time the contadl
of
part III. PAIN
Painting in of the phlogiftic vapour; for as the varnilh lofes its
Oil Colours, humidity, it opens an infinite number of pafiages to this
fubtile fluid.
“ After having afcertained the inftability of the whites
in common ufe, I made feveral attempts to difcover fuch
as would prove more lafting j and though many of thefe
attempts w'ere without effeft, I (hall give a fuccinft ac¬
count of the whole, which may fave a great deal of trou¬
ble to thofe who wifli to travel over the fame field.
“ There are three conditions effential to a good colour
in painting.
“ Firjl, That it dilute eafily, and take a body both
with oils and with mucilages, or at leaf! with the one
er other of thefe fubftances, a circumflance which de¬
pends on a certain degree of affinity. Where this
affinity is too ftrong, a dififolution enfues j the colour is
extinguifhed in the new compofition, and the mafs be¬
comes more or lefs tranfparent; or elfe the fudden re-
aftion abforbs the fluid, and leaves only a dry fubftance,
which can never again be foftened. But if the affinity
is too weak, the particles of colour are fcarcely fufpended
in the fluid, and they appear on the canvas like fand,
which nothing can fix or unite.
“ The fecoml condition is, That the materials of which
colours are compofed do not bear too near an affinity
with the phlogiftic vapour. The experiments to which
I fubmitted whites from lead, is an infallible means of
afcertaining the quality of colours in this reipeft, with¬
out rvaiting for the flow impreffion of time.
“ A third condition equally eflential is, That the co¬
louring body be not volatile, that it be not connected
Avith a fubftance of a weak texture, fufceptible of a
fpontaneous degeneracy. This confideration excludes
the greater part of fubftances which have received their
tint from vegetable organization •, at leaft it makes it
impoffible to incorporate their finer parts with a com¬
bination more folid.
“ After thefe refleftions, my refearches Avere direfled,
firft, to the five pure earths; next, to the earthy com¬
pounds ; in the third place, to the earthy falts, Avhich
can fcarcely be diffolved j laftly, to the metallic earths,
either pure or precipitated by Pruffian alkali. M. Wen¬
zel has difcovered a fixth earth, Avhich I call eburne, and
Avhich, after other experiments, I thought of applying
to the purpofes of painting j but I foon perceived that it
would have the fame fault Avith other kinds of earth,
and, befides, that it could not be obtained but at a very
confiderable expence.
“ The five pure earths pofiefs fixity in a very great
degree, and at the fame time are little afle&ed by the
phlogiftic vapour j but they refufe to unite Avith oil or
mucilages, and the Avhite is totally extinguiftied Avhen
. they are grinded Avith thefe liquids. I made feveral at¬
tempts on earth from alum, not only becaufe M. Beaume
recommended the ufe of it in painting, and becaufe it
enters into the compofition of Pruffian blue, but alfo be¬
caufe it is a chief ingredient in ochres, and other earths
of that nature, Avhich fuppofes that it ftiould unite in a
certain degree Avith diluting liquors *, notwithftanding,
in whatever manner I treated it, it Avould not yield a
Avhite ; but one avIH be lefs furprifed at this AA^ant of
fuccefs, Avhen he confiders, that in the ochres and Pruffian
blue, the earth from alum is only the Arehicle of the
colouring body, Avhereas here it is the colour itfelf.
■“ To be convinced of the truth of this obfervation, it
TING. 691
is only neceffary to mix equal parts of this earth, or even Painting in
of clay not coloured, Avith cerufe or any other Avhite : , 1 ^ uu
the mixture Aviil be fufceptible of being grinded in oil
or in gum Avithout being extinguiftied •, it Aviil eafily
unite Avith any coloured lubitance, and be produ£tive of
no bad confequences to the pure earths.
“ Nature and art prefent to us a confiderable number
of earthy compofitions fufficiently white for the purpofes
of painting ; fuch as the jafper Avhite, thefeldfpar Avhite,
the fchirl Avhite, &c. But all thefe fubftances, in all
the trials which I made, had the fault Avhich I have al¬
ready mentioned ; and originating from the fame caufe,
they Avanted a fixed colouring body, Avhich Avould not
change Avhen it is pulverized, nor be extinguiffied when
it is diluted.
“ The ultramarine blue, Avhich is extracted from the '
blue jafper, and knoAvn by the name of lapis lazuli, feems
at firft view to Avarrant the poffibility of appropriating to
painting all the opaque half vitrified compofitions of the
nature of jafper.
“ Prepofiefled Avith this idea, I conceived the hope of
producing a true Avhite lapis; but I foon perceived
that the experiment confirmed the principle Avhich I
had laid down from my obfervations on pure earths ;
fince it is not the fubftance peculiar to the jafper which
conftitutes the ultramarine blue, but the metallic fub¬
ftance which accidentally colours this particular kind of
jafper.
“ In the fame manner, art in this imitation of nature
ftiould have for its object to give a permanent bafe to a
colour already formed, to fix it Avithout altering, and to
augment perhaps its fplendour and its intenfity, without
attempting to produce a colour.
“ In excepting from earthy and metallic falts all
thofe of which the acid is not completely faturated,
Avhich would eafily attraft the humidity of the air, or
which would be eafily diffolved, you have but a very
fmall number to make experiments on.
“ The natural and artificial felenite gives Avith oil a
pafte Avithout colour, and tafting fomewhat like honey ;
its Avhite is better preferved with a gum, but even in
this cafe it refembles a half tranfparent pap.
“ The natural or regenerated heavy /par is the moft
likely fait to produce white. As it is of all others the
moft difficult to diffolve, it appears after pulverization
to be a very fine white, but is fcarcely touched with oil
when it becomes gray and half tranfparent: the muci¬
lage alters it alfo, although lefs difcernibly 5 and it does
not even refume its Avhite colour after it becomes dry on
the canvas.
“ The fame is the cafe Avith calcareous borax, formed
by the folution of borax in lime Avater j its white is com¬
pletely extinguifired with oil, lefs fo Avith gum ; but it
hardens fo inftantaneoufly Avith the latter, that is im-
poflible ever to dilute it again.
“ Calcareous tartar, obtained by calling quicklime,
into a boiling folution of cream of tartar, is affected
Avith oil in the fam^ manner as felenite, but Avith muci¬
laginous water it gives a pretty good Avhite, only pof-
feffed of little reflection, and appearing like plafter; it
applied Arery Avell to the canvas, and refilled the phlo- '
giftic vapour.
“ According to M. Weber, in his Avork entitled Fa*
briken und Kutifie, publilhed 1781, the Avhite, called in
Germany krembfer wiefs, is nothing but the vitriol
4 S 2 of
692 PAIN
Painting in oflead, prepared by diffolving lead in nitrous acid, and
Oi Colours. precipitating it in vitriolic acid 5 and forming it after¬
wards into folid tablets by means of gum water. It is
certain that this relembles in no Ihape the white called
in France the white of crems ; at leaf! I never found
that it could be diffolved in vinegar •, but I tried the
white prepared in M. Weber’s manner, and the refult
was the fame as above, -that is to fay, it turned com¬
pletely black.
“ The vitriols of lead and of bifmuth alter more fpee-
dily than the calces of thofe metals. And thus, with
the exception of calcareous tartar, which may be of fome
ufe in water colours, the bell earthy falls on which I
have made experiments, may all, or the moll of them,
give a bale to fome colours, but cannot conflitute by
thcmfelves a colour ufeful in painting.
“ Of the fifteen known metallic fubffances, there are
nine which yield white calces : namely, filver, mercury,
lead, tin, antimony, bifmuth, zinc, arfenic, and manga-
nefe.
“ Of thefe nine fubfiances, rve may almolf pafs over
filver and mercury becauft, though they yield a very
fine white, precipitated by means of cryftallized vege¬
table alkali, yet it is foon altered when expufed to the
air ; that from filver changing into black, and that from
mercury into yellow.
“ It is well known that lead gives a very good white,
and one which unites eafily with oil or fize •, but that
it is extremely liable to change, has been my principal
objefl to prove, and the experiments which I have made
place it beyond contradiffion.
“ I (hall only add, that if there is a preparation able
to corre<5! this fault, it fliould be the precipitation of the
earth of this metal in its acetous diffolution by Pruffian
alkali ; but the white which refults from this preparation
becomes fenfibly brownifh wdien it is expofed a few mi¬
nutes only to the phlogittic vapour.
“ It Avould be therefore unreafonable to perfevere in
the ufe of this fubftance, or to wifli to render it fixed,
fince the changes which it undergoes do not alter its
nature, and the indefiruclible order of its affinities.—
The calx of tin is eafily applied to any purpofe, and ex¬
periences no change from the concentrated phlogiftic
vapour. Tbefe confiderations induced me to endeavour
to obtain this calx perfe&ly white and here follows
the refult of my operations : The tin calcined gives a
pretty white calx ; but whatever attention I paid to
take off the red furface which the violence of the fire
occafioned, a (hade of gray always appears when it is
diluted. Tin calcined by nitre in fuiion, gives a tar-
nifhed and grofs calx, which multiplied waihings could
not deprive of a yellowifh tint.
“ Having precipitated, by means of cryftallized ve¬
getable alkali, a folution of Englifti tin, which load been
made in the muriatic acid,, after the manner of M. Bayen
to extraft the arfenic, I had a calx of the greateft white-
nefs, fo light that it buoyed up to the furface of the li¬
quor, and fo thin that the greater part of it paffed through
the filter •, but it experienced at the fame time a kind of
adherence with the falts, which makes the part of it re¬
tained by the filter incapable of being pulverized, gum¬
my, half tranfparent, and even a little changed into yel¬
low. In this condition it is extinguithed when diluted $
\t is negeffary, therefore, to moiften it in boiling water*
a -
TING. Part HI.
and afterwards to calcine {lightly the fedimeftt after it Painting in
has had fufficient time to fettle. Oil Colours.
“ I have tried the calcination by means of moifture, V”"v—
in employing the tin of the pureft melac, and a retfified
nitrous acid, according to the method of Meyer. It form¬
ed a very white fparkling calx, which remained in the
filter in the confiftency of jelly.—Meanwhile, I obferv-
ed that it was always a little yellow by the mixture of
a portion of that earth which took, in the operation, the
colour of turbith mineral.
“ A very fine white calx is extrafted from antimony.,
calcined by nitre in fufion ; but the earth of this femi-
metal mult be placed in the number of thofe which
combine too eafily with the phlogiftic vapour. The
diaphoretic antimony, grinded in oil, took in ten mi.-
nutes in my phlogiltic apparatus a colour fomewhat like
fulphur.
“ 1 he property of bifmuth to give a very fine white
calx, known by the name of magijiery, or white fard, is
generally known ; it is eafily prepared, fince it is only
neceffary to diffolve the bifmuth in nitrous acid, and to
precipitate the folntion by pure water : it dilutes per¬
fectly with.oil and mucilages. But this colour ought to
be rejeCted, as the molt alterable by the phlogiltic va¬
pour. It became completely black in ten minutes in my
apparatus ; and this fad is alfo proved from what happens
to women who ule this colour, when they are expofed to
the vapours of fulphur, of garlic, or of any putrid fub-
ftances.
“ Zinc furnifhes by all the proceffes of calcination and
precipitation a pretty white calx, when it is pure and fe-
parated from iron ; otherwife the folutiohs of the vitriol
of zinc will become yellow when expofed to the air. I
have precipitated thofe folutions by lime water, by cauftic,
and effervefeent alkalies j 1 have calcined this {emi-metal
alone and with nitre •, and in all thofe operations I have
obtained an earthy fubftance of different degrees of white-
nefs, which, after it was dried and prepared, mixed rea¬
dily with oil and mucilages without iofing its colour ;
and which experienced no fenfible change when expofed
to the phlogiftic vapour.
“ Thefe valuable properties, the chief objefl of my
refearches, engaged me to multiply my experiments to
determine at once the moft economical procefs, and the
moil advantageous and infallible preparation.—Thofe at¬
tempts have convinced me, that the calcination of this
ftmi-metal alone in a crucible, placed horizontally on
the corners of a reverberating furnace, gives the pureft,
the whiteif, and the leaf! reducible calx j and that to
make an excellent colour, it is fufficient to feparate the
parts not burned with water, and grind it with a little
of the earth of alum or chalk to give it a body. Zinu
precipitated in Pruflian alkali, even in diftilled vinegar,
retains always a flrade of yellow, does not unite fo well
in oil, and takes a demi-tranfparent confiftence like
cheefe.
“ White arfenic extinguifhes much lefs in diluting
than one would believe from its faline nature •, it pre-
ferves its colour be ft in gum water ; and it is remark¬
able, that inftead of turning black in the phlogiftic
vapour, it takes a very diflinft fhade of yellow, i his
properly is fufficiently Angular and conftant to fur-
nifti a new method of analyzing arfenic, fo as to. know
it. And this alteration of colour makes, it of no ufe.
Part III. * PAIN
Painting in in painting, although its deleterious qualities did not
Oil Colours forbid the praftice.
“ The lemi-metal known by the name of manganefe,
gives alfo a white calx. I had at firfl great hopes from
this colour, as, contrary to all thofe extracted from the
other metals, it became white by the phlogiftic vapour.
There remained, therefore, but one difficulty to over¬
come, viz. to leparate from the manganefe the portion
of iron which it ufually contained, and which infallibly
makes the earth a little yellow. To accomplilh this in
the cheapefl manner, 1 fubmitted the black ore of the
manganefe to a long calcination to render its iron info-
luble j I afterwards applied vinegar to it, after the ex¬
ample (jf M. de la Peyroufe $ and in precipitating the
diflolution by effervefcent alkali, I eafily obtained a pure
white precipitate. But I foon perceived that the facility
with which a colouring body lofes its phlogifton, is no
lefs an inconveniency than that of attracting it, and pro¬
ductive of the fame alterations.
“ The white of manganefe became very foon yellow
when expofed to the air ; and this is not to be aferibed
to the iron contained in it, lince neither the galls nor
Pruffian alkali had difcovered any of it in the diffolution.
This fubftance, therefore, can be of no ufe in producing
a white colour for painting.”
The experiment by which M. de Morveau tried the
colours not alterable by the phlogistic vapour, was per¬
formed before the academy, the prince of Conde being
prefident. “ I placed (fays he) in my apparatus pieces
of cloth, on which were laid the white of calcareous tar¬
tar in water, different preparations of white from tin and
zinc, in oil and water*, and I allowed them to continue
expofed to the phlogiftic vapour during a fitting of the
academy : if they were not altered, their fuperiority over
the whites in ufe would be Efficiently eftabliflied. The
fitting continued for near an hour j and the bottle hav¬
ing been opened, all the colours continued to have the
fame tirade which they had before. I can, therefore, re¬
commend to painters thofe three whkes, and particular¬
ly that of zinc, the preparation of which is expofed to
lefs variation, the tirade more lively and uniform, and
moreover it is fit for all purpofes, and perhaps procured
at lefs expence.
“ I will affert farther, that it may be procured in fuf-
ficient quantities to fupply the place of cerufe in every
branch of the art, even in interior houfe painting :—I
would recommend it, lefs with the view of adding new
fplendour to this kind of ornament, than for the fafety
of thofe who are emploved in it, and perhaps for the
fafety of thofe who inhabit houfes ornamented in this
manner.
“ But, without being too fanguine, although the
proceffes in the fabrication be Amplified in proportion to
the demand, as is ufually the cafe, yet there is reafon to
apprehend that the low price of cerufe will always give
it the preference in houfe-painting. With regard to
thofe who apply colours to nobler purpofes, they will
not hefitate to employ the white of zinc. I am affured
that four franks is paid for the pound of the white of
crems 5 and I believe the white in queftion, prepared in
the manner which I have pointed out, might be fold
for, fix.
“ M. Courtors, connefled with the laboratory of the
academy, has already declared that it is ufed lor houfe-
painting: lefs, however, in regard to its unalterability,
TING.
693
than to its folubility : and this can be the more readily Paintingin
believed, as the Hower of zinc enters into many compo- ( olour^
fitions of the apothecary. The fame M. Courtors has v '
arrived at the art of giving more body to this white,
which the painters feemed to defire, and alfo of making
it bear a comparifon with white lead either in water or
oil. The only fault found with it, is its drying flowly
when ufed in oil j but fome experiments which I have
made, incline me to believe that this fault may be eafily
remedied, or at leaif greatly corredled, by giving it more
body. At any rate, it may be rendered ficcative at
pleafure, by adding a little vitriol of zinc or copperas
ilightly calcined.
“ Painters already know the properties of this fait,
but perhaps they do not know that it mixes with the
white of zinc better than with any other colour j the
reafon is, they have chemically the fame bafe. It is
prepared by purging the white copperas of that fmall
portion of iron which would render it yellow *, and this
is eafily done in digeiiing its folution, even when cold,
on the filings of zinc.
“ i he mixture of this fait thus prepared is made oa
the pallet, without producing any alteration, and a fmall
quantity will produce a great effeef.”
APPENDIX.
We fhall here add an account of fome proceffes'
which have been recommended, on account of their
cheapnefs, for preparing different materials for economi¬
cal painting. The firft is a method of houfe painting
with milk, by Cadet de Vaux*. The following are the* Nicb.
directions for preparing this paint. Jour. v.
“ Take of fkimmed milk a pint, which makes two 24S' 4t0,
pints of Paris, or nearly two quarts Englifli; freffi fla¬
ked lime, fix ounces, (about fix and a half ounces avoir¬
dupois) } oil of caraways, or linfeed, or nut, four ounces j
Spanilh white (whiting) three pounds : put the lime
into a ftone-ware veffel, and pour upon it a fufficient
quantity of milk to make a mixture refembling thin
cream j then add the oil a little at a time, ftirring it
with a fmall fpatula ; the remainder of the milk is then
to be added, and lafily, the Spanilh white. Skimmed
milk in fummer is often clotted, but this is a circum-
ftance of no confequence to our objeCl, becaufe the con-
ta£l with the lime foon reffores its Huidity. But it muff
on no account be four, becaufe in that cafe it would
form with the lime a kind of calcareous aeetite, capable
of attracting moifture.
“ The lime is flaked by dipping it in water, out of
which it is to be immediately taken, and left to fall in
pieces in the air.
“ The choice of either of thefe oils is indifferent
neverthelefs for white paint the oil of caraways is to be
preferred, becaufe colourlefs. The commonelt oils may¬
be ufed for painting with the ochres.
“ The oil when mixed in with the milk and lime dif-
appears, and is totally diffolved by the lime, with which
it forms a calcareous foap.
“ The Spaniffi white is to be crumbled, or gently
fpread on the furface of the fluid, which it gradually
imbibes, and at lafl finks; at this period it muff be well
flared in. This paint may be coloured like diffemper
(or fize colour) with levigated charcoal, yellow ochre,
&.C.
“ And
094
Painting.in
Oil Colours.
f Tranfaci.
of the So¬
ciety for
Arts, &c.
vol. xxiii.
u And it is ufed in the fame mafmer :
“ The quantity here prefcribed is fufficient for the
firft coat of fix toifes, or 2"] fquare yards Engiifh.
“ The price of this quantity amounts to nine fols,
■which reduces the price of the fquare toife to one fol,
fix deniers, prime coft ”
And to give this paint a greater degree .of folidity,
that it may be employed as a fubftitute for oil paint, the
author adds to the proportions of the paint for out-door
works, of flaked lime, oil, white Burgundy pitch, each
two ounces. The pitch is to be melted with a gentle
heat in the oil, and then added to the fmooth mixture
of the milk and lime. In cold weather this mixture is
to be warmed, that it may not occafion too fpeedy cool¬
ing of the pitch, and to facilitate its union with the
milk of lime. This paint, it is faid, has fome analogy
with that known by the name of encaujlic. It has been
employed, the author informs us, for outfide ihutters,
formerly painted with oil, and is preferable to painting
with lead, objefts that are expofed to putrid exhalations,
which are apt to blacken paint compofed of metallic
matters, efpecially of lead.
A method has been propofed by Mr Vanherman, for
making cheap and durable paints with filh oil. The
paints thus prepared, befide their cheapnefs, are not fub-
jeft to blifter or peel off by expofure to the weather.
They may be manufa6tured of any colour, and laid on
by ordinary labourers. The price of fome of them is
io low as twopence, and the higheft does not exceed
threepence per pound, in a ftate fit for ufe. The author
adds, that white lead ground with prepared fifh oil, and
thinned with linfeed oil, furpaffes any white hitherto em¬
ployed for refilling all weathers, and retaining its white-
nefs. The following is an account of his proceflesf.
“ To refine one Ton of Cod, Whale, or Seal Oil, for
painting, vjith the cofi attending it.
PAINTING. Part III.
into a ton of whale, cod, or feal oil; (but the Southern Fainting in
One ton of fifli oil, or 252 gallons, L.36 O o
32 gallons of vinegar, at 2s. per gallon, 340
12 lbs. litharge, at 5d. per lb. 050
12 lbs. white copperas, at 6d. ditto, o 6 O
j 2 gallons of linfeed oil, at 4s. 6d. per gallon, 214 o
2 gallons of fpirits of turpentine, at 8s. ditto, o 16 o
l-43 5 °
252 gallons of fifh oil,
12 ditto linfeed oil,
2 ditto fpirits of turpentine,
32 ditto vinegar.
298 gallons, worth 4s. 6d. per gallon.
Which produces L.67 I o
Deduft the expence 43 5 o
L.23 16 o profit.
“ To prepare the Vinegar for the Oil.
“ Into a calk which will contain about forty gallons,
put 32 gallons of good common vinegar*, add to this
12 pounds of litharge, and 12 pounds of white copperas
in powder j bung up the veffel, and {hake and roll it
well twice a-day for a week j when it will be fit to put
3
whale oil is to be preferred, on account of its good co-oil c°l°urs.
lour, and little or no fmell) j (hake and mix altoge- ’ "f
ther, when it may fettle until the next day ; then pour
off the clear, which will be about feven eighths of the
whole. To this clear part add twelve gallons of linfeed
oil, and two gallons of fpirit of turpentine j fliake them
well together, and after the whole has fettled twTo or
three days, it will be fit to grind white lead, and all fine
colours in $ and, when ground, cannot be diftinguiflied
from thofe ground in linfeed oil, unlefs by the fuperiori-
ty of its colour
“ If the oil is wanted only for coarfe purpofes, the
linfeed oil and oil of turpentine may be added ar the
fame time that the prepared vinegar is put in, and after
being well fhaken up, is fit for immediate ufe without
being fuffered to fettle.
“ The vinegar is to diffolve the litharge j and the
copperas accelerates the diffolution, and Arengthens the
drying quality.
“ The relidue, or bottom, when fettled, by the addi¬
tion of half its quantity of frefh lime-water, forms an
excellent oil for mixing with all the coarfe paints for
preferring outfide w’ork.
“ Note. All colours ground in the above oil, and ufed
for infide work, muff be thinned with linfeed oil and oil
t>f turpentine.
“ 07/* The oil mixed with lime-water, I call incorpo- '
rated oil.
“ The method of preparing, and the expence of the va¬
rious Impenetrable Paints.
“ Firff,—Subdued Green.
Frefh lime water, 6 gallons,
Road dirt finely lifted, 112 pounds,
Whiting, 112 ditto,
Blue-black, 30 ditto,
Wet blue, 20 ditto,
Refidue of the oil, 3 gallons,
Yellow ochre in powder, 24 pounds,
L.o o 3
010
024
026
o 10 o
060
0 2 0
L.I A 1
“ This compofition will weigh 368 pounds, which is
fcarcely one penny per pound. To render the above
paint fit for ufe, to every eight pounds add one quart of
the incorporated oil, and one quart of linfeed oil, and it
will be found a paint with every requifite quality, both
of beauty, durability, and cheapnefs, and in this flate
of preparation does not exceed twopence halfpenny per
pound; whereas the coal tar of the fame colour is
fixpence.”
To this we fhall only add the following receipt for a
conflant white for infide painting. This paint, the au¬
thor obferves, is not entirely free from fmell in the ope¬
ration, but becomes dry in four hours, at the end of
which time the fmell is entirely diffipated.
“ White Paint.
“ To one gallon of fpirits of turpentine, add two
pounds of frankincenfe ; let it fimmtr over a clear fire
until diffolved j Arain it and bottle it for ufe. To one
gallon
Appendix. PAINTING. 6g
Painting m gallon of my bleached linfeed oil, add one quart of the laft mixture to it, until you find it fit for laying on. If Painting
()d €°ltmrs; above, lhake them well together and bottle it alfo. Let in working it grows thick, it muft be thinned with fpi- P*1 CoIours<
v any quantity of white lead be ground with fpirits of tur- rits of turpentine.—It is a flat or dead white.”
pentine very fine 5 then add a fufficient portion of the
Pair,
Pairing.
Karnes's
Sketches,
jvol. i. 1^8
P A I
PAIR ; two of a fort, a couple.
PAIRING, the uniting or joining in couples.
The inllindt of pairing is bellowed on every fpecies
of animals to which it is neceffary for rearing their
young ; and on no other fpecies. All wild birds pair j
but with a remarkable difference between fuch as place
their nefts on trees and fuch as place them on the
ground. The young of the former, being hatched
blind, and without feathers, require the nurfing care of
both parents till they be able to fly. The male feeds
his mate on the neft, and cheers her with a fong. As
foon as the young are hatched, finging yields to a more
neceffary occupation, that of providing food for a nu¬
merous iflue 5 a talk that requires both parents.
Eagles and other birds of prey build on trees, or on
other inaccelfible fpots. ' They not only pair, but con¬
tinue in pairs all the year round ; and the fame pair
procreates year after year. This at lead; is the cafe of
eagles : the male and female hunt together, unlefs du¬
ring incubation,* at which time the female is fed by the
male. A greater number than a Angle pair are never
feen in company.
Gregarious birds pair, in order probably to prevent
difeord in a fociety confined to a narrow fpace. This is
the cafe particularly of pigeons and rooks. The male
and female lit on the eggs alternately, and divide the
care of feeding their young.
Partridges, plovers, pheafants, fea fowl, groufe, and
other kinds that place their nefts on the ground, have
the inftindl of pairing j but differ from fuch as build on
trees in the following particular, that after the female is
impregnated, fire completes her talk without needing any
help from the male. Retiring from him, Ihe choofes a
fafe fpot for her neft, where fire can find plenty of worms
and grafs feed at hand •, and her young, as foon as hatch¬
ed, take foot, and feek food for themfelves. The only
remaining duty incumbent on the dam is, to lead them
to proper places for food, and to call them together
when danger impends. Some males, provoked at tire
defertion of their mates, break the eggs if they ftumble
on them. Eider ducks pair like other birds that place
their nefts on the ground •, and the female finilhes her
neft with down plucked from her own breaft. If the
neft be deftroyed for the down, which is remarkably
warm and elaftic, Ihe makes another neft as before. If
lire is robbed a fecond time, Ihe makes a third neft 5 but
the male furnilhes the down. A lady of fpirit obfer-
ved, that the eider duck may give a leffon to many a
married woman, who is more difpofed to pluck her huf-
band than berfelf. Tire black game never pair : in
fpring, the cock on an eminence crows, and claps his
wings ; and all the females within hearing inftantly re¬
fort to him.
Pairing birds, excepting thofe of prey, flock to¬
gether in February, in order to choofe their mates.
P A I
They foon difperfe j and are not feen afterward but in Pairing,
pairs. Paifley.
Pairing is unknown to quadrupeds that feed on grafs. 'r~~™
To fuch it would be ufelefs 5 as the female gives fuck
to her young while ftie herfelf is feeding. If M. Buf-
fon deferves credit, the roe deer are an exception. They
pair, though they feed on grafs, and have but one litter
in a year.
Beafts of prey, fuch as lions, tigers, wolves, pair not.
The female is left to fliift for herfelf and for her young ;
which is a laborious talk, and often fo unfuccefsful as to
ftiorten the life of many of them. Pairing is eflential
to birds of prey, becaufe incubation leaves the female
no fufficient time to hunt for food. Pairing is not ne-
ceffary to beafts of prey, becaufe their young can bear
a long faft. Add another reafon, that they would mul¬
tiply fo faft by pairing, as to prove troublefome neigh¬
bours to the human race.
Among animals that pair not, males fight defperate-
ly about a female. Such a battle among horned cattle
is finely defcribed by Lucretius. Nor is it unufual for
feven or eight lions to wage bloody war for a Angle
female.
The fame reafon that makes pairing neceflary for
gregarious birds, obtains with refpeft t@ gregarious
quadrupeds ; thofe efpecially who ftore up food for win¬
ter, and during that feafon live in common. Difeord
among fuch would be attended with vrorfe confcquences
than even among lions and bulls, who are not confined
to one place. The beavers, with refpedl to pairing, re-
femble birds that place their nefts on the ground. As
foon as the young are produced, the males abandon /
their flock of food to their mates, and live at large 5 but
return frequently to vifit them while they are fuckling
their young.
Hedgehogs pair, as well as feveral of the monkey
kind. We are not well acquainted with the natural
hiftory of thefe animals ; but it would appear that the
young require the nurfing care of both parents.
Seals have a lingular economy. Polygamy feems to
be a law of nature among them, as a male affociates
with feveral females. The fea turtle lias no occafion to
pair, as the female concludes her talk by laying her eggs
in the fand. The young are hatched by the fun, and
immediately craAvl to the fea.
PAISLEY, a town of Renfrewlhire, in Scotland, fitu-
ated about fix miles and a half weft of Glafgow, on the
river White Cart, over v/hich there are turn ftone bridges
of two arches each, and one which confifts of three
arches. The town is very ancient 5 but was of much
lefs confequence formerly than it is at prefent. “ Nostatijlhal
fatisfaftory etymology has hitherto occurred of the name Account of
Paifty. The following has been fuggefted by a good Scotland,
Gaelic fcholar : ‘ A ridge of rocks that runs acrofs thevoi' Vli"
river, and forms a beautiful cafcade, would, prior to the
building
to ,g
P A I [ 696 ] PAT
building of the town, be undoubtedly the molt ftriking
objeft that this place would prefent. The brow or lace
of a rock is in Gaelic Pais-licht. A church in front of
the rock would be the church in Pais-licht. A church
did Hand here previous to 1160: it is named in the
foundation charter Ecc/ejia de Pafelet, Latinized, in the
records of the monaftery, Pajlatum, an eafy derivative
from Pais-licht in all probability the original of the
modern Paijley. It was erefted into a burgh of barony
by James IV. in the year 1488, at that time probably
deriving all its importance from the rich monaftery
which had been eftablilhed there for feveral ages.} for
George Schaw, who was then abbot of the monaftery,
obtained this privilege from the king. Even in Mr
Crawford’s time, who wrote the hiftory of thelhireof Ren¬
frew near the beginning of the x8th century, it feems to
have been but an inconftderable place} for he defcribes
it as confifting only of one principal ftreet, about half a
mile in length, with feveral lanes belonging to it}
whereas now the town, with its fuburbs, occupies fuch
an extent of ground, that ftrangers are apt to confider
it as, next to Edinburgh and Glafgow, the largeft and
moil populous town in Scotland. Its buildings of late
years have been greatly improved } its ftreets are well
paved } and the different parts of the town and fuburbs,
where the river intervenes, are conne£ted with one ano¬
ther by three bridges at convenient diftances.”
The affairs of the community are managed by three
bailies, of which the eldeft is commonly in the commif-
fion of the peace, a treafurer, a town clerk, and 17
counfellors, who are annually elected upon the firft
Monday after Michaelmas. It enjoys all the powers
neceffary for government and police, without any of the
burdens to which royal boroughs are fubjeft. The
freedom of the place is conferred on very moderate terms.
The revenues of the town are not great, but they have been
managed to the belt advantage. The rapid increafe of
the place has not been attended with a proportional in¬
creafe of revenue •, therefore feveral neceffary improve¬
ments, and intended public: buildings, are not yet car¬
ried into execution. It gives the title of baron to the
earls of Abercorn ; the firft of whom was a younger fon
of the Due de Chatelherault. The black book of Puijley,
frequently mentioned in Scottish hiftory, was a chronicle
of the public affairs and remarkable event's kept by the
monks who refided in the monaftery. It agreed in every
material faft with the Scoti-Chronicon of Fordun \ and
is by many thought to be the fame performance.
The old part of the town runs from eaft to weft upon
the fouth Hope of a ridge of hills, from which there is
a fine profpedl of the city of Glafgow and the adjacent
country ; but to the fouthward, the view terminates in
a ridge of green hills, about two miles diftant. Inclu¬
ding the late buildings and fuburbs, it is fully a mile
long, and nearly as much in breadth. On the eaft fide
of the river Cart, Hand the abbey and new town. This
new town was fome years ago feued off by the earl of
Abercorn, and now confifts of a number of hand'ome
buildings. The ftreets are laid off in a regular manner,
but (rather unfortunately for the conveniency and ele¬
gance of fome of the houfes) not in right angles.
Here the earl of Abercorn has built at his own expence
one of the largeft, moft commodious, and moft elegant
inns in Scotland. In the vicinity of it was propofed
alfo to build feveral convenient and neceffary market
places. A little way fouth of the inn ftands the ab- Paifley,
bey church, the only one which Paifley formerly requi- l——y~—
red. This church, when entire, has been a moft noble
building, and confifted of feveral diftinft and feparate
places of worftnp : what now remains of this magnifi¬
cent Gothic ftru&ure is not yet unworthy the notice of
the curious in antiquities. Mr Pennant fays, the great
north window is a noble ruin, the arch very lofty, the
middle pillar wonderfully light, and ftill entire : only
the chancel now remains, which is divided into a middle
and two fide ailles, by very lofty pillars, with Gothic
arches j above thefe is another range of pillars much
larger, being the fegment of a circle, and above a row
of arched niches from end to end, over which the roof
ends in a (harp point. The outfide of the building is
decorated with a profufion of ornaments, efpecially the
great weft and north doors, than which fcarce any thing
lighter or richer can be imagined.
The town of Paifley continued a part of the original
or Abbey parifh of Paiiley till the year 1738} when
the magiftrates and council having purchafed the right
of patronage from the then earl of Dundonald, a new
church wTas built, and the town was erefted into a fepa¬
rate pariftt. This is called the Laigh Church, is built
in the form of a Greek crofs, very well laid out, and
capable of containing a great number of people. In
1756 another church was built, upon a very extended
plan, to accommodate its multiplied inhabitants} in
which, though it is one of the largeft: in Scotland, yet
the moft diftant of the congregation can hear a tolerably
good fpeaker with eafe and diftimftnefs *, and as it ftand*
upon the higheft part of the town, it was afterwards or¬
namented with a lofty and well-proportioned fpire, vifible
at a great diftance. This is called the High Church,
and is a very fine building : it is an oblong fquare of
82 feet by 62 within the w'alls, built of free ftone well
fmoothed, having ruftic corners and an elegant ftone
cornice at the top. In the conftruftion of the roof
(which is a pavilion covered with flate, having a plat¬
form covered with lead on the top), there is fomething
very curious, and it is admired by every perfon of tafte.
In 1781, the number of the inhabitants ftill rapidly in-
creafing, another church, called the Middle Church, was
built, not quite fo large as the former, but very hand-
fomely and elegantly finiihed: and in the following year,
the town w7as divided and erefted into three feparate
parilhes, exclufive of the Abbey pariih, and named ac¬
cording to their refpeftive churches.
There are two large diffenting congregations in the
town *, thofe of the Antiburgher perfuafion and the
Relief. The firft of thefe has exifted therefor upwards
of 30 years*, the other is of a late date. There is be-
fides a fmall congregation of Cameronians.
The townhoufe io a very handfome building of cut
ftone, with a tall fpire and a clock. The flefh market
has a genteel front of cut ftone, and is one of the neat-
eftandmoft commodious of thekindin Britain. Butchers
meat, butter, cheefe, fifh, wool, and feveral other articles,
are fold here by w'hat they call the tron pound, of 22
Englith ounces and a half.
The poors houfe is a large building, very well laid
out; and ftands oppofite to the quay, in a fine free air.
It is fupported by a fmall tax laid upon the inhabitants
quarterly.
Clofe by the Abbey church is the earl of Abercorn’s
burial
P A I
Paifley. burial place, the greateft curiolxty in Paifley. It is a
vaulted Gothic chapel, without pulpit, pew, or any other
ornament, but has the fineft echo perhaps in the world.
When the end door (the only one it has) is fhut, the
noife is equal to a loud and not very diftant clap of
thunder. If you ftrike a fingle note of mufic, you have
the found graduallv afcending, with a great number of
repetitions, till it dies away as if at an immenfe diftance,
and all the while diffufing itfelf through the circumam¬
bient air. If a good voice fings, or a mufical inftru-
ment is well played upon, the effedt is inexpreffibly agree¬
able. The decpejl, as well as the moil acute tones, are
diftimftly reverberated, and thefe in regular intervals of
time. When a mufical inllrument is founded, it has the
effedt of a number of inftruments of a like fize and
kind playing in concert. When a number of different
inftruments in unifon found the fame note, a good ear
is able to diftinguifh the variety of found produced by
each. A fingle inftrument founding a particular note,
and then inftantly its fifth, or any other concordant note,
the two founds can be heard, as it were, running into
and uniting with each other in a manner peculiarly
agreeable. But the effedt of a variety of inftruments
playing in concert is particularly charming, and muft
excite fuch emotions in the foul as it is impoflible
to defcribe. In this chapel is the monument of Mar¬
jory Bruce (a) ; fhe was daughter of Robert Bruce,
and wife of Walter, great Reward of Scotland, and
mother of Robert II. In this fame chapel were inter¬
red Elizabeth Muir and Euphemia Rofs, both conforts
to Robert II.
A particular account of the abbey of Paifley would
fill many pages. It was founded as a priory for monks
of the order of Clugni about the year 1160 by Walter
great Reward of Scotland. It was afterwards raifed to
the rank of an abbacy ; and the lands belonging to it
were by Robert II. eredted into a regality, under the
jurifdidtion of the abbot. After the Reformation, the ab¬
bacy was fecularized by the pope in favour of Lord
Claud Hamilton, third fon of the duke of Chatelherault,
in reward of his Ready adherence to the caufe of Queen
Mary ; and, in 1588, it was by the king and parlia¬
ment eredted into a temporal lordfhip, and Lord Claud
was created Lord Paifley. The revenues of the abbacy
were very confiderable : They confided of the tythes of
28 different parifhes, with the property of the lordfhips of
Paifley, of Kilpatrick in Dumbartonlhire, and of Monk-
ton in Ayrthire, extending each to a hundred merk
land ; and the forty pound land of Glen in Lochwin-
noch ; with the lands of Achengown, Grange, &c. and
a confiderable detached property in different parts of the
kingdom. All this property, with the patronage of the
feveral churches, fell to Lord Claud Hamilton, laft ab¬
bot of Paifley. It continued in that family till 1 C63,
Vol. XV. Part II.
P A I
when his grandfon James earl of Abercorn fold the lord- Paiflej
(hip of Pailley to the earl of Angus, who next year {old v
it to William Lord Cochran, Kilpatrick to Sir John Ha-
miltoun of Orbiftoun, Monktoun to Lord Bargenny, and
Glen to Lord Semple and others. Great part oi the
lordfhip of Pailley was at different times {old off by the
family of Dundonald 5 and what remained of it was in
1764 repurchafed by the late earl of Abercorn. The
fabric of the abbey owed much of its magnificence to
Abbot George Schaw, who about 1484 enlarged and
beautified the building, furrounding the church, the
precindts of the convent, the gardens, and a fmall de>er
park, with a noble wall of hewn freelfone. The abbey
was, after the Reformation, fuccefiively the leat of the
earls of Abercorn and Dundonald. 1 he late earl of
Dundonald demoliflred the ancient gateway ; and, by
feuing off the immediately adjoining grounds for build¬
ing, entirely changed the appearance of the place. As
it w'as thus rendered totally unfit for a family refidence,
it has fince that time been let out into leparate dwel¬
lings, and is now in a very mean and almoft ruinous
ftate. The wall Rood almoft entire till 1781, when the
garden being feued off for building upon by the late earl
of Abercorn, the wall was fold to the feuers, and the
ftones of it employed in their houfes.
The veftiges of the Roman camp and prcetorium, at
the weft end of the town, are at piefer.t almoft annihi¬
lated. It was fuppofed to be vaulted underneath.
The number of inhabitants in the town of Paifley
amounted in 1695 to 2200 5 in 1755 they were 4290 j
in 1782, 11,100; and in 1792 they were 13,800. But
in 1801 the whole population of the town, tuburbs, and
parifti, exceeded 31,000.
Paifley is now the firft manufacturing town in Scot¬
land, and is greatly celebrated on account of feme of its
branches. The manufactory of filk gauze, in this re-
fpeCt, firft claims our notice. This branch is brought
here to the utmoft perfection, and is wrought to an ama¬
zing variety of patterns. Itjias been computed, that
there have been no lefs than 5000 weavers employed in
Paifley and in the country adjacent; and the number of
Avinders, Avarpers, clippers, and others neceffary in other
parts of the filk manufacture, has been likewife comput¬
ed to be no lefs than 5COO. Each loom will produce
in an average value 70I. yearly ; the whole will then be
350,000!. _ .
It appears, from the beft calculation that could be
made, that in the year 1784 the manufactures of Paifley
in filk gauze, laAvn and linen gauze, and white feuing
thread (b), amounted to the value of 579,185!. 16s. 6d.
and that no ferver than 26,484 perfons Avere employed
in carrying them on. It is difficult to give an exaCf ac¬
count of the ftate of its manufactures at prefent. The
filk branch has evidently declined, but the muffin has fo
4 T far
[ 697 ]
(a) Her ftory is fingular : In the year 1317, Avhen the Avas big Avith child, flie broke her neck in hunting near
this place j the Caefarean operation Avas inftantly performed, and the child taken out alive } but the operator chan¬
cing to hurt one eye Avith his inftrument, occafioned the blemiffi that gave him afterAvarSs the epithet of B/ear-eye;
and the monument is alfo ftyled that of Queen Bleant. Elizabeth Muir died before the acceffion of her hufband
Robert.
(b) This Avas introduced into this town about 60 or 70 years ago. The method of making Avhat is glazed
’white thread, has been difeovered and brought to as great perfeClion as that made by Mr Leland and Son, Lon¬
don. The value of this branch is computed at about 6o,oool. annually.
t
Paifley.
P A I [ 698 ] P A I
far come in its room, and the thread manufa&ure has
confiderably increafed. 'I here is, however, reafon to
conclude, that, though it is daily advancing, it has not
yet recovered its former greatnefs. Btfides thefe prin¬
cipal manufadlures, there are fome others carried on
there of too much importance to be overlooked : for in-
ftance, confiderable tan works, four in number, two foap
and candle works, a manutadure of ribbons, and an¬
other of inkle or tape. In 1789 the annual value of all
the manufactures in Paifley of every fort amounted to
660,385!. 16s.
In the various weaving branches there were employ¬
ed at Whitfunday 1791, in the fuburbs of Pailley, 1108
looms, which, added to 2494 employed in the town,
gives 3602 in all. But it is to be obferved, that the
extent to which the weaving branches are carried on by
the manufacturers in Paifley, is not to be judged of from
the number of looms in the town and fuburbs. Be¬
tides about 150 in the country part of the parifh,
there are great numbers employed by them in the vil¬
lages of Neilftoun, Barhead, Beith, Dairy, Kilwinning,
&.c. &c. In 1744? when all the buflnefs was confined
to the town.and tuburbs, there were 867 looms at work.
— • he thread-making in Abbey parilh employs 9 mills,
which, added to 128 employed in Paifley, makes 137
in all. The number in 1744 was 93. The fpinning
of cotton was introduced into Abbey parifh in 1783.
The principal feat of that manufactory is at Johnftoun,
a neat and regularly built village about three miles weft
from Paifley, upon the eftate of Mr Houfton of John¬
ftoun. The feuing of that village was begun in 1782;
and it contained, at Whitfunday 1792, 293 families, or
1434 fouls. There are five companies eftablifhed in it
for cotton fpinning. Twro of thefe carry on their prin¬
cipal operations by water machinery. In the twTo mills
employed in them, there are going at prefent 11,672
fpindles j but, when the whole machinery in both fhall
be completed, there will be 22,572. The number of
perfons, young and old, at prefent employed in both
mills is 660. There is ahfo in the neighbourhood of
Paifley a calico printing work. Copperas has been long
manufactured at Lord Glafgow’s coal works j and for
feveral years paft the manufaClure of alum has been con-
duCled on a very extenfive fcale at the fame place.
The bleaching bufinefs in the Abbey parifli is carried
on to a very confiderable extent. There are to fields
for whitening muflins and lawns, and about as many for
thread, almoft wholly employed by the manufafturers
in Paifley. About 300 perfons are at work in this
branch of bufinefs, of whom about 240 are women, who
are hired for the feafon. A foap and candle manufac¬
ture pays about 2000I. of duty per annum to govern¬
ment, and has in fome years paid upwards of 3000I.
A black and hard foap manufaClure, 4500I. per annum.
The ftarch manufaClure is but lately eftablifhed. The
diftillery bufinefs is to be mentioned under this head : it
has for fome time paft been carried on to a great extent,
and the fpirit manufactured in great perfection. A
eonfiderable quantity of it is exported, but too much of
it is confumed at home (c).
The river on which Paifley ftands runs from fouth to
north ; and falls into the Clyde, after it has joined the
conflux of the rivers Grife and Black Cart at Inchinnan
bridge, about three miles below the town. At fpring
tides, veflels of 40 tons burden come up to the quay.
The communication by water is of great importance to
the inhabitants : for in this way they are frequently fup-
plied with fifli of different kinds, and can fend their
goods and manufactures to Port Glafgow and Greenock,
and to Glafgow hkewife; and now, by means of the
great canal, they have alfo a communication with the
frith of Forth.
The air here is moifl j a neceffary confequence of the
prevailing fouth-weft winds, which, coming loaded with
vapour from the Atlantic, produce frequent and heavy
rains. X he effeCts of this moift atmofphere appear in
rheumatifins, quinfeys, pneumatic ailments, and all the
tribe of inflammatory diforders. Upon the whole, how¬
ever, neither the town nor country adjacent can be laid
to be unhealthy. Contagions, indeed, at times vifit this
as other places, which run their ufual courfe as epide¬
mics j but none are remembered of any uncommon vio¬
lence except a pleurify in fummer 1771, and which,
contrary to the received opinion, was truly epidemic.
There are no diforderst hat can be faid to be endemic,
unlefs fcrofula is to be excepted, which is ftill but too
common. This has been aferibed to the water ufed by
the inhabitants of Paifh y : It more probably proceeded
from, and certainly was greatly aggravated by, poor liv¬
ing, and by the damp (hops which were neteffary for
the linen manufacture •, for lince filk weaving became
the general employment, and increafe of trade has in¬
troduced better living, this dilorder is lefs frequent.
From the fame caufes probably it is that fwelled and
fore legs, once extremely common here, are now but
rarely met with. Dyftntery raged with great violence
in 1765 , fince that time it has been fcarcely complain¬
ed of. Nervous fevers at times appear j but they are
neither very general nor uncommonly fatal. It is to be
apprehended, that the confinement and fedentary pofture
of the weaver, and the laborious life of the bleacher,
are frequent caufes of confumptive complaints. Inter-
mittents, which, from the damp air, and adjoining mofs,
might be expeCled to be common, are not fo much as
known. W. Long. 4. 20. N. Lat. 55. 52.
PA IT A, a fea-port of America, in Peru, and in the
audience of Quito. The town conlifts of about 200
houfes but one ftory high *, and the walls art made of
fplit cane and mud, and the ’roofs only a covering of
leaves. The only defence of Paita is a fort without ei¬
ther ditch or outwork 3 but it is furrounded by a brick
wall of little or no ftrength, on which are mounted
eight pieces of cannon. It was frequently plundered by
the bucaniers; and Commodore Anfon got poffeflion of
its fort in 1741, and took and burnt the town becaufe
the governor refufed to ranfom it. W. Long. 81. 19.
S. Lat. 6. I 2.
PAIX, or Port Paix, a town on the north coaft of
the ifland of Hifpaniola, which has a pretty good har¬
bour. W. Long. 72. 55. N. Lat. 19. 58.
PALACE,
Paiftey
II
Vaix.
(c) Of the capital, and number of perfi ns employed in the manufa&ures, and of the revenue paid to governs
Kent from them, it is obvious, that the amount, from numerous circumftances, muft be extremely variable..
P Ar L [ 699 ] PAL
Palace PALACE, Palatium, a name generally given to
II the dwelling houfes of kings, princes, and other great
, perfonages ; and taking .different epithets, according to
the quality of the inhabitants, as imperial palace, royal
palace, pontifical palace, cardinal palace, ducal palace,
epifcopal palace, Sec.
It is cuffomary in China to build palaces in honour of
great anceftors. Hu-pi-lay, of the Mogul empire, in
the year 1263, built one for his anceftors j and he is the
firft who borrowed this Chinefe cuftom. Amongft the
works of the ancient Egyptians, we have an account, in
the Ancient Univerfal Hiftory, of a moft magnificent
palace in the Upper Egypt, not far from Afwan, the
ancient Syene; the ruins whereof are enough to ftrike
a fpeftator with aftonifhment. It is as large as a little
city, having four avenues of columns, leading to as ma¬
ny porticoes. At each gate, between two pillars of
porphyry, ftand two gigantic figures of fine black mar¬
ble, armed with maces. The avenues confift of columns
fet three and three together, in a triangle, on one pe-
deftal: on the chapiter of each triangle is placed a fphinx
and a tomb alternately. Every column is 70 feet high,
all of one ftone. There are in all the four avenues about
5000 or 6000 of thefe columns, a great many of which
are fallen down.
The firft hall of this palace is adorned with pieces of
hiftory, which feem as frefti as if the painting had not
been long finifhed. In fome places they have reprefent-
\ ed the hunting of antelopes j in others, feafts, and a
great many young children playing with all kinds of
animals. From thence you go into other apartments,
incrufted with marble, the roof being fupported with
pillars of porphyry and black marble. Notwithftanding
Lucas tlm vaft quantity of rubbilh, our author made ftiift to
trol. iu, got up to the top of this building, from whence he had
a profpeft of the ruins of the greateft city that ever had
been, as he thought, in the world. He fuppofes it
might be the ancient Thebes j but that city flood much
lower.
PALACE-Court. See Marshalsea.
PAL/EMON, or Melicerta. See Meeicerta.
PaLtEMOK, Rhemmius, a famous grammarian of
Rome, in the reign of Tiberius. He was born of a
(lave at Vienza. We are told he was firft brought up
in the bufinefs of a weaver: but attending his matter’s
fon to fchool, he ufed this opportunity to procure know¬
ledge j and acquired fo much (kill in the common learn¬
ing, that he obtained his freedom, and became a teach¬
er or preceptor at Rome. His claim to learning cannot
be queftioned, fince he is recorded as a fcholar even by
Juvenal:
%uis gremio Enceladi doElique Palcemonis qffert,
Quantumgrammaticus meruit labor? Sat. vii.
He had alfo an excellent memory, a ready elocution,
and could make verfes extempore. On account of thefe
qualities, notwithftanding his debauched courfe of life,
which was fuch that nobody was more unworthy to have
the preceptorfhip of youth, he held the firft rank among
thofe of his profeflion. But his arrogance furpaffed his
merit: he had the confidence to affert, that learning
was born when he Avas born, and would die when he
died; and that Virgil had inferted his name in his
Eclogues by a certain prophetic fpirit \ for that he,
Palieraon, would infallibly become one day foie judge
and arbiter of all poetry. He was exceflively prodigal Palaeoum
for the gratification of his voluptuous humour 5 infomuch p jJ,tra
that neither the immenfe fums he gained by teaching, ' ^
nor the great profit he made, both by cultivating his
lands and in the way of tratfic, proved a fufficient fund
to fupport his extravagancies. We have only lome frag¬
ments of his works.
PAL^EOLOGUS, Michael, a very able man
who was governor of Afia under the emperor Theodo¬
ras Lafcaris \ and who, by various ttratagems and cruel¬
ties, procured the empire for himfelf and his pofterity.
See Constantinople, from N° 145. to the end of that
article.
PALtEPAPHOS (Strabo, Virgil, Pliny), a town
of Cyprus, where flood a temple of Venus j and an ad¬
joining town called Neo Paphos ; where St Paul ftruck
Elymas blind, and converted the proconful Sergius
Paulus.
PALiESTR A, in Grecian antiquity, a public build¬
ing where the youth exercifed themfelves in w reft ling,
running, playing at quoits, &c. To prevent the com¬
batants from hurting themfelves by falling, the bottom
of the palaeftra was covered with dull: or gravel. Some
will have the palaeftra to be only a part of the gymna-
lium. Many authors imagine Aat the palaeftra was of
two kinds j the one for the exercife of the body, the
other for the cultivation of the mind; but the deriva¬
tion of the word feems to confine it to bodily exer¬
cife.
We have this account of the palaeftrae in Barthelerni’s
Anacharfis j-: “ They are nearly of the fame form with ^
the gymnafia. We vifited the apartments appropriated
to all the fpecies of baths; thofe where the wreftlers
leave their clothes, where they rub their bodies with
oil to render their limbs fupple, and where they roll
themfelves in the fand in order to give their antagonifts
a hold.
“ Wreftling, leaping, tennis, and all the exercifes of
the lyceum, were here repeated before us with greater
varieties, and with more ftrength and Ikill on the part
of the performers. Among the different groups before
us, we diftinguilhed men of the moft perfedl; beauty, and
worthy of ferving as models for artifts: fome with vigo¬
rous and boldly marked outlines, as Hercules is repre-
fented; and others of a more flim and elegant Ihape, as
Achilles is defcribed. The former, devoting themfelves
to wreftling and boxing, had no object but to increafe
their bodily ftrength j the latter, educated to lefs violent
exercifes, fuch as running, leaping, &c. confined them¬
felves to acquirement of agility.
“ Their regimen is fuited to the different exercifes for
which they are defigned. Some of them abftain from
women and wine ; others lead a very abftemious life ;
but thofe who make laborious exertions ftand in need or
a great quantity of fubftantial food, fuch as roafted beef
and pork, to reftore their ftrength. If they require on¬
ly two minse a-day, with bread in proportion, they give
a very favourable idea of their temperance. But feveral
are mentioned who have made a terrible confumption of
provifions. Theagenes of Thafos, for inftance, is faid
to have eaten a whole ox in a day. The fame exploit
is attributed to Milo of Crotona, whole ufual quantity
of food for a day Avas tAventy minse of meat, as many of
bread, and three congii of Avine. It is faid likeAvife,
that Aftydamas of Miletus, Avhen at the table of Ario-
4-^2 barzanes
»
p
barzanes the Perfian fatrap,
prepared for nine'guefts.
aSrtera^e^' prove at iealt the idea generally entertained
of the voracity of this clafs of wreftlers. When they are
able to gratify it without danger, they acquire extraor¬
dinary ftrength : their ifature becomes fometimes gigan¬
tic ; and their adverfaries, llruck with terror, either de¬
cline entering the lilts, or fink under the weight of their
enormous bodies.
“ They are fo oppreficd by excefs of nutriment as to
be obliged to pafs part of their lives in a profound deep,
and loon become fo extremely corpulent as to be no
longer known to be the fame perfons: this is fucceeded
by diforders which render them as wretched as they have
always been unferviceable to their country ; for it can¬
not be denied that wreltling, boxing, and all thofe com¬
bats difputed with fo much fury and obilinacy in the pu¬
blic folemnities, are no longer any thing but oftentatious
exhibitions, fince taffies have been brought to perfec¬
tion. Egypt at no time adopted them, as thev give on¬
ly a temporary ftrenglh. Lacedaemon has corrected
their inconveniences by the wifdom of her inftitutions.
In the other Hates of Greece men have difeovered, that,
by fubjeiling their children to them, they incur the rilk
of injuring their {nape and preventing their growth ; and
that, in a more advanced age, profeffed wreftlers never
make good foldiers, becaufe they are unable to fupport
hunger, thirft, watching, the fmalleft wants, or the molt
tritling deviation from their ufual habits.” See Pkn-
Tathlum and Pancratium.
PAL/ESTROPHYL AX, was the direflor of the
palajftra, and the exercifes performed there.
PALAMBO ANG, or Palambang, a towm of A-
fia, in the Eaft Indies, and in the illand of Java, capi¬
tal of a kingdom ; feated at the eaft: end of the ifland,
on the ftraits of Bally, and feparated from the ifland of
Bally by a narrow channel. E. Long. 115. 10. S. Lat.
7. 10.
P AL APvIEDE A, a genus of birds belonging to the
order of grallae. See Ornithology Index.
PALAMEDES, a Gx-eek chief, fon of Nauplius
king of Euboea, by Clemene. He was fent by the Gre¬
cian princes who were going to the Trojan war, in or¬
der to bring Ulyffes to the camp, who, to avoid the ex¬
pedition, pretended infanily 5 and the better to carrv on
the impofition, he often harnefled different animals to a
plough, and fowed fait inftead of barley. Palamedes
foon difeovered the cheat. He knew that regret to part
■with Penelope, whom Ulyffes had lately married, was
his only reafon for pretending infanity *, and to demon-
ffrate this, Palamedes took Telemachus, of whom Pe¬
nelope had lately been delivered, and put him before his
father’s plough. Ulvffes turned the plough a different
way, not to hurt his child. He was therefore obliged
to attend the Greek princes to the war; but a mortal
enmity took place between Ulyffes and Palamedes. The
king of Ithaca determined to take every opportunity to
diftrefi him 5 and when all his expeftations were fruf-
trated, he was mean enough to bribe one of his fervants,
and to make him dig a hole in his mailer’s tent, and
there conceal a lai'ge fum of money. After this Ulyffes
forged a letter in Phrygian charadlers, as from Priam to
Palamedes. In the. Ltter the Trojan king feemed to
beg Palamedes to deliver into his hands the Grecian ar¬
my, according to the conditions which had been previ-
P A L
oufly agreed upon when he received the money. This Palamedes.
forged letter was carried, by means of Ulyffes, before 1.1
the princes of the Grecian army. Palamedes was fum- ,Palatinale-
moned, and made the moll folemn protellations of inno- ' ^
cence, but in vain. The money that was difeovered in
his tent ferved to corroborate the accufation ; and he
was therefore found guilty by the whole army, and Hon¬
ed to death. Homer is filent about the unfortunate fate
of Palamedes ; and Paufanias mentions, that it had
been reported by fome that Ulyffes and Diomedes had
droxvned him in the fea as he was filhing on the coaft.
Philoftratus, who mentions the tragical itory as above
related, adds, that Achilles and Ajax buried his body
with great pomp on the fea (bore ; and that they raifed
upon it a fmall chapel, where facrifices were regularly
offered by the inhabitants of Troas. Palamedes was a
man of learning as well as a foldier ; and, according to
fome, he completed the alphabet of Cadmus by the ad¬
dition of the four letters 0, during the Trojan
war. To him alfo is attributed the invention of dice
and backgammon ; and it is faid that he was the firll
who regularly ranged an army in a line of battle, and
who placed fentinels round the camp, and excited
their vigilance and attention by giving them a watch¬
word.
PAL ARIA, among the Romans, a kind of exercife
performed at a Hake by the foldiers. The Hake being
fixed in the gi'ound, and fix feet high above it, the
young undifeiplined loldiers advanced againll it, armed
with a hurdle and cudgel, inftead of a fword and Ihield,
and went through all the rules of attack and defence,
as if aflually engaged with an adverfary. Sometimes
they flood at a diftanee, and attacked with mifiive wea¬
pons \ at the fame time ufing all the requifite motions
for defending themfelves, and warding off what might
be thrown again!! them.
PALATE, in Anatomy, the Helix that compofes the
roof, or the upper and inner part, of the mouth.
The palate has much the fame ftrudture with the
gums ; but it has alfo a great number of glands, difeo¬
vered fo early as the time of Fallopius : thefe are prin¬
cipally fituated in the hinder part near the uvula, where
it is pendulous, in the manner of a curtain, which part
is called the velum, or claujlrum, of the palate. The
glands fituated particularly in this part, fecrete a mucous
fluid, ferving to lubricate the mouth and throat, and to
facilitate deglutition : they have a great number of
apertures there for the difeharge of this humour into the
mouth.
The great ufes of this membrane are, to defend the
bones of the palate from corrupting j and for prevent-
ing, by its clauftrum or velum, the things to be fwal-
lowed from getting up to the noftrils.
PALATINATE, a province or figniory, poffeffed
by a palatine.
Palatinate of the Rhine, a province of Germany,
divided into two parts by the Rhine, called the Upper
and Lower Palatinate. The former lies in the circle of
Bavaria, and belongs to the eleflor thereof; but the
latter, in the circle we are now treating, belongs to the
eleftor palatine. The latter part is bounded to the eaft
by the county of Katzenellnbogen, the archbilhopric of
Mentz, the bilhopric of Worms, and part of the terri¬
tory of the Teutonic order in Franconia } to the well
by Alface, the duchy of Deuxponts, the county of
Sponheim,
A L [ 700
devoured alone the {upper
Thefe ftories, no doubt ex-
PAL [70
falatinate. Sponheim, the duchy of Sitnmern, and certain diftiicts
 ' of the eleftorate of Mentz j to the fouth by the duchy
of Wurtemberg and the biftiopric of Spire •, and to the
north by a part of the archbUhopric of Mentz and the
county of Katzenellnbogen. It contains 41 towns, be-
lides fcveral boroughs ^ and is about loo miles in length,
and 70 in breadth. The air is healthful, and the foil
fruitful in corn, pafturage, wine, tobacco, and all forts
of pulfe and fruits, particularly walnuts, ehefnuts, and
almonds. This country alfo breeds abundance of cattle,
and is well watered by the Neckar, the Nahe, and the
Rhine. In the laft of thefe, near Germerlheim and Selz,
is found gold ; the exclufive right of fearching for which
is farmed out by the eleflor. The ftate of religion hath
varied greatly here fince the Reformation, Lutheranifm
and Caivinifm having been uppermoft by turns, till the
deflorate devolved to the Popifh branches of the family,
when Popery, with all its fuperflition and mummery,
was eftablifhed anew : fo that the Proteftant religion is
now on a very precarious footing in the Palatinate,
though moft of the natives are ilill of that perfuafion :
but the two fefls of Proteilants, namely, the Lutherans
and Calvinifts, have greatly contributed to their own
ruin, by their mutual jealoufy and animofity, being no
lefs rancorous againft one another than againfl their com¬
mon adverfaries the Papifts. The Lutherans reckon
themfelves 50,000 ftrong, and are poffeffed of about 85
churches ; but not one half of their preachers and fchool-
mafters have a competent maintenance. The number of
Calvinitt clergy here, is eftimated at 5ocb an<^ that of
the Roman Catholics at 400. Befides fchools and .Te-
fuits colleges in this country, there is one univerfity,
- namely, that of Heidelberg ; but there is very little
trade in it except in wine, Authors are divided about
the origin of the name Palatines, or Pfahgraves, as the
Germans call them *, but it feems moll likely to be de¬
rived from the pnlatia, or palaces, which the old Frank-
ifh and German kings and Roman emperors were poffef¬
fed c f in different parts of the country, and over which
they appointed fupreme Rewards or judges, who are cal¬
led” Palatines or P/alzgraves. The countries where
thefe Palatines kept their courts, were, from them, cal¬
led Palatinates ; which name came at laft to be appro¬
priated, by way of eminence, to this country, as being
the moft confiderable of them. The ancient elefloral
line failing in 1685, the eleflorate devolved to Philip
William duke of Neuburg ; and upon the death of his
fecond fon Charles Philip, to the prince of Sultzbach.
This eleflor has the title of arch-treafurer of the em¬
pire, as well as the eleftor of Brunfwick Lunenburg,
and is the fifth in rank among the fecular eleftors. He
is alfo one of the vicars of the empire alternately with
the elettor of Bavaria, and enjoys many other preroga¬
tives. In his own dominions, he difpoles of all vacant
benefices •, but allows the ecclefiaftical council, compo-
fed of two clergymen and two laymen, to prefent two
candidates, of which he choofes one. He is alio mafter
of all the tithes in his dominions ; but he either grants
them to the clergy, or falaries in lieu of them, out of
the revenues of the church. His title is Pfalzgrave of
the Rhine 5 arch-treafurer and elector of the holy Roman
empire ; duke of Bavaria, Juliers, Cleve, and Berg •,
prince of Mens; marquis of Bergen-op-Zoom; count of
Veldens, Sponheim, the Mark, and Ravenfberg ; and
lord of Ravenftein. His quota to the army of the em-
5
i ] PAL
pire is 30 horfe and 138 foot, or 9x4 florins monthly.Palatinate.
To the chamber of Wetzlar he contributes, each term, * ' ‘
404 rixdollars, 82 kruitzers. There is an order of
knighthood in this country, viz. that of St Hubert j the
badge of which is a quadrangular crofs pendant to a red
ribband, with a ftar on the breaft. The whole of the
eledftor’s revenue, arifing from the Palatinate, the duchies
of Berg and Juliers, the feigniory of Ravenftein, and the
duchies of Neuburg and Sultzbach, hath been eftimated
at about 300,000!. per annum. The military eftablilh-
ment coniifts of feveral regiments of horfe and foot, be¬
fides the horfe and Swifs life guards: in time of peace
he is faid to maintain about 6cco men.—All the differ¬
ent courts and councils, ulual in other countries for the
different departments of government, are alio to be
found here.
In general, the Lower Palatinate has fuffered more
by the preceding wars with France than all the provin¬
ces of Germany7 put together during the fpace of 30
years } for the French have plundered the country, and
demoliflred fome of its firft towns more than once. It
has undergone various changes during the late French
revolution, for an account of which, fee France. In
the modern part of the Univerfal Hiftory, we have the
following account of the rife of the Palatinate of the
Rhine, under the hiftory of Germany.
“ Though Conrad the fon of Everhard inherited from
his father the duchy of Franconia, with the counties of
Keffe and Alface, he could not fucceed him in the dig-
nitv of Count Palatine, becaufe Otho had taken it from
his father, and conferred it on Herman third fon of Ar¬
nold duke of Bavaria : but as this honour was unattend¬
ed with any folid advantage, the emperor began to an¬
nex to it the lands and eafiles fituated on the Rhine,
whence he acquired the title of Count Palatine of the
Rhine : and, in procefs of time, thele counts made great
acquifitions by marriages, purchafes, mortgages, and
imperial donations, fo as to form a very confiderable
province.” The powers of counts palatine in the Ger¬
man empire have always been ample 5 we have this ac¬
count of it in the fame learned work.
“ When the counts palatine of the Rhine began to
execute their office, they neither poffeffed on that river
lands, cities, nor caftles 5 but having by degrees made
great acquifitions by marriages, purchafes, agreements,
imperial donations, or otherwife, they have at length
formed a very confiderable principality." We are tojd,
that under the emperors of the houfe of Suabia, their
authority and power increafed greatly, though it was a
gradual increafe. Under the reign of the emperor
Henry IV. the credit of the counts palatine was very
confiderable at the court 5 and by the German law, the
count palatine of the Rhine enjoys not only during the
abfence of the emperor, but likevvife during a vacancy
of the empire, the right of the ban beyond the Rhine,
to within a mile of the city of Metz, and as far as the
ocean, as well as in Flanders. However, this right of
the ban has not been granted to him by the emperors.
There is likewife an ancient ordonnance, in which the
office of count palatine is mentioned *, it imports, that
the count palatine is always by right the reprefentative
or lieutenant of the kingdom. Laftly, How great the
power of the counts palatine was, may be underftood
from this, that in the eleflion of Rodolphus of Hapf-
burgh, and in that of Henry VII. the other eleftors
promifeijL.
PAL
Palatinate promifed to acknowledge as emperor him whom he
[ 702 1
PAL
Palatine.
fhould name. Although, however, the power of the
_ counts palatine had as it were fecured to them the vica¬
riate of the empire, neverthelefs the emperors ftill refer-
ved to themfelves the right of eftabliihing vicars.” See
Bavaria.
PALATINATES of POLAND. Previous to the
revolution in this unfortunate country, it was divided in¬
to palatinates j whether thofe will be now changed can¬
not at prefent be afcertained, though it feems likely.
A Polilh palatine is thus defcribed in the Univerfal
Hiftory:
“ A palatine may be regarded as the governor of a
province, who levies and leads the troops of his own ju-
rifdiftion to join the army of the republic. His civil
power is likewife confiderable, as he prefides at the af-
femblies of his palatinate, rates the prices of all commo¬
dities and merchandife in the province, regulates the
weights and meafures, and judges and defends the Jews
within his jurifdidtion. This part of his function is par¬
ticularly fpecified, that a fet of men the moft ufeful and
induftrious in Poland may not be oppreffed; the king
being likewife obliged, by his oath, to afford them the
proteftion of the laws and his fovereignty. Under him
is appointed a fubftitute or vice-palatine, who takes an
oath to his fuperior, and muft be poffeffed -of a land
eftate to a certain value.”
PALATINE, or Count Palatine, a title ancient¬
ly given to all perfons who had any office or employ¬
ment in the prince’s palace: but afterwards conferred
on thofe delegated by princes to hold courts of juftice in
the provinces 5 and on fuch among the lords as had a
palace, that is, a court of juftice, in their ^wh houfes.
Counties PALATINE in £«f/rt«r/.-—Chefter, Durham,
and Lancafter, are called counties palatine. The two
former are fuch by prefcription, or immemorial cuftom j
or, at leaft as old as the Norman conqueft: the latter
was created by King Edward III. in favour of Henry
Plantagenet, firft earl and then duke of Lancafter ;
whofe heirefs being married to John of Gaunt the king’s
fun, the franchife was greatly enlarged and confirmed
in parliament, to honour John of Gaunt himfelf, whom,
on the death of his father-in-law, the king had alfo cre¬
ated duke of Lancafter. Counties palatine are alfo cal¬
led d/w/hlzh ; becaufe the owners thereof, the earl of
Chefter, the biftiop of Durham, and the duke of Lan¬
cafter, had in thofe counties regalia, as fully as the
king hath in his palace ; regalem potejlatem in omnibus,
as Brafton expreffes it. They might pardon treafons,
murders, and felonies; they appointed all judges and
juftices of the peace; all writs and indi&ments ran in
their names, as in other counties in the king’s ; and all
offences were faid to be done againft their peace, and
not, as in other places, contrapacem domini regis. And
indeed by the ancient law, in all peculiar jurifdiftions,
offences were faid to be done againft his peace in whofe
court they were tried; in a court-leet, contra pacem do¬
mini ; in the court of a corporation, contra pacem balli-
vorum ; in the ffieriff’s court or tourn, contra pacem vi-
cecomitis. Thefe palatine privileges (fo fimilar to the
regal independent jurifdi&ions ufurped by the great ba¬
rons on the continent during the weak and infant ftate
of the firft feudal kingdoms in Europe) were in all pro¬
bability originally granted to the counties of Chefter and
purham, becaufe they bordered upon enemies countries,
Wales and Scotland: in order that the owners, being Palatine.
encouraged by fo large an authority, might be the more 
watchful in its defence; and that the inhabitants, having
juftice adminiftered at home, might not be obliged to go
out of the county, and leave it open to the enemy’s in-
curfions. And upon this account alfo there were for¬
merly two other counties palatine, Pembrokefhire and
Hcxamfhire, the latter now united with Northumber¬
land : but thefe w^ere aboliftied by parliament, the for¬
mer in 27 Henry VIII. the latter in 14 Eliz. And in
27 Hen. VIII. likewife, the powers before mentioned of
owners of counties palatine were abridged ; the reafon
for their continuance in a manner ceafing; though ftill
all writs are witneffed in their names, and all forfeitures
for treafon by the common law accrue to them.
Of thefe three, the county of Durham is now the on¬
ly one remaining in the hands of a fubjeft. For the
earldom of Chefter, as Camden teftifies, was united to
the crown by Henry HI. and has ever fince given title
to the king’s eldeft fon. And the county palatine or
duchy of Lancafter was the property of Henry of Bo-
lingbroke, the fon of John of Gaunt, at the time when
he wrefted the crown from King Richard II. and affum-
ed the title of Henry IV. But he was too prudent to
fuffer this to be united to the crown; left, if he loft one,
he fhould lofe the other alfo. For, as Plowden and Sir
Edward Coke obferve, “ he knew he had the duchy of
Lancafter by fure and indefeafible title, but that his title
to the crown was not fo affured: for that after the de-
ceafe of Richard II. the right of the crown was in the
heir of Lionel duke of Clarence, fecond fon of Ed¬
ward III, ; John of Gaunt, father to this Henry IV.
being but the fourth fon.” And therefore he procured
an aft of parliament, in the firft year of his reign, or¬
daining that the duchy of Lancafter, and all other his
hereditary eftates, with all their royalties and franchifes,
fhould remain to him and his heirs forever; and ftiould
remain, defcend, be adminiftered, and governed, in like
manner as if he never had attained the regal dignity t
and thus they defcended to his fon and grandfon Hen¬
ry V. and Henry VI.; many new territories and privi¬
leges being annexed to the duchy by the former. Hen¬
ry VI. being attainted in I Edw. IV. this duchy was
declared in parliament to have become forfeited to the
crown, and at the fame time an aft was made to incor¬
porate the duchy of Lancafter, to continue the county-
palatine (which might otherwife have determined by the
attainder), and to make the fame parcel of the duchy:
and, farther to veft the whole in King Edward IV. and
his heirs, kings of England, for ever; but under a fe-
parate guiding and governance, from the other inheri¬
tances of the crown. And in 1 Hen. VII. another aft
was made, to refume fuch part of the duchy lands as
had been difmembered from it in the reign of Edw. IV.
and to veft the inheritance of the whole in the king and
his heirs for ever, as amply and largely, and in like
manner, form, and condition, feparate from the crown
of England and poffeffion of the fame, as the three Hen¬
ries and Edward IV. or any of them, had and held the
fame.
The ille of Ely is not a county palatine, though fome-
times erroneoufly called fo, but only a royal franchife:
the biftiop having, by grant of King Henry Ly«r<7 re-
galia within the ifle of Ely; whereby he exercifes aju- *
rifdiftion over all caufes, as well criminal as civil.
Palatine
PAL [703] PAL
Palatine PALATINE Games, in Roman antiquity, games infti-
II . tuted in honour of Auguftus by his wife Livia, after he
Palt’nCla•, had been enrolled among the gods. They Were cele-
- T brated in the palace, from whence the name, and were
confirmed by the fucceeding emperors.
Some authors fay that thefe games were inftituted
in honour of Julius Caefar, and others again confound
them with the Ludi Auguftales ; but neither of thefe
opinions feems to be well fupported. See Augu-
STALES.
PALATINUS MONS, or Palatium, the firft moun¬
tain of Rome occupied by Romulus, and where he
fixed his refidence and kept his court, as did Tullus
Hoftilius, Auguftus, and all the fucceeding emperors j
and hence it is that the refidence of princes is called
pafatium. The reafon of the name is varioufly aflign-
ed : fome fay it is derived from the goddefs Pales, or
from the Palatini, who originally inhabited the place,
or from balare or palare, the bleatings of (beep, which
were frequent there ; or perhaps from the word palantes,
wandering, becaufe Evander, when he came to fettle in
Italy, gathered all the inhabitants, and made them all
one fociety. To the eaft it has Mount Coelius, to the
fouth the Aventine, to the weft the Capitoline, and to
the north the Forum.—Palatinus, the furname of Apol¬
lo from this place ; where Auguftus built a temple to
that god, adorned with porticoes and a library, valuable
for the various colledlions of Greek and Latin manu-
ficripts which it contained.
PALATIUM, in Ancient Geography, a place in the
territory of Reate, diftant from it 25 ftadia. Dionyfius
Haliearnafleus reckons it one of the firft towns of the
Aborigines ; and from it Varro accounts for the name of
the Mons Palatinus ; namely, that a colony from Pala¬
tium fettled there.
Palatium (Plinv), Pallantium (Paufanias), Pa/an-
teuni (Livy) ; Pal/antcum (Solinus). This laft is the
true writing ; the great grandfather of Evander, from
whom it took its name, being called Pallas, not Pains ;
A town of Arcadia, which concurred to form Megalo¬
polis (Paufanias). From it the Palatium, ox Mons Pa¬
latinus, takes alfo its name, according to Virgil and
Pliny
Palatium Diocle/iani; the villa of Dioclefian, near
Salon*, where he died, (Eufebius). Afterwards call¬
ed Spalatum ; which rofe to a confiderable city from
the ruins of Salon* *, fituated in Dalmatia on the Adri¬
atic Now Spa/lato^ or Spalatro.
PALATIUM luculli (Plutarch), or Villa Luculli; a
place between Mifenum and Bai* in Campania, of won¬
derful ftrucfture. Now in ruins, and called Pifcina Mi-
rabile.
P AL ATO-salping.®us, 1 See Anatomy, Table
P ALA TO-Staphi/limis. $ of the Mufcles.
PALE, a little pointed (take or piece of wood ufed
in making enclofures, feparations, &c. The pale was
an inftrument of punifhment and execution among the
ancient Romans, and ftill continues fo among the I urks.
He nee empaling, the palling a fttarp pale up the funda-
jnent through the body.
Pale, in Heraldry. See HERALDRY.
P ALENCTA, a town of Spain, in the kingdom of
Leon, with a rich archbiftmp’s fee. It had an univer-
Sty, but it was removed to Salamanca. It is feated in
I
a fertile foil, on the river Carion, on the frontiers of Ca- Faleaeia,
ftile, in W. Long. 3. 7. N. Lat. 42. 10. ,FaIc_rma .
PALERMO, a city of Sicily, in the Val-di-Mazara,
with an arebbifhop’s fee and a large harbour. “ I his
city (kys Mr Hill *), which is the capital of Sicily, is* Travels
of great antiquity j and if a conjecture may be formed Su
from its ancient name Panormus, which fignifies an uni-c,i) an^
verfal harbour, it was formerly in a very flourilhing con- Calai*ia
dition. By whom it was founded is uncertain, nor have
we any authentic accounts of its inhabitants till it be¬
came a colony of the Phoenicians, after which it paffed
into the hands of the various nations that became mailers
of this ifland. The prefent city principally conlilts of
two wide, uniform, and well built ftreets, each about a
mile in length, crofting each other at right angles in the
centre, where there is a fmall oCtagon ipace, ornament¬
ed with four ftatues.” Molt of the cities of Sicily have
furnames : Palermo is denominated the happy. It has
gained this epithet, no doubt, on account of the advan¬
tages of its fituation. It has two harbours : in the one,
which is very large, and in which there is a mole 1300
paces in length, Ihips lie at anchor ; in the other their
cargoes are laden and unladen. Both the harbours open
to the weft : there is alfo a fuperb quay which extends
a mile from weft to eaft, in a rectilinear diredtion, and
is called La Marine. The profpedt is, on the one fide,
loft in the wide expanfe of the ocean, and on the other
confined by the walls of the city j the walls appear
adorned with pilafters, and crowned with a row of bal-
luftrades through which the eye difeovers a long range
of palaces. Thefe objedts altogether form a delightful
fpedtacle. Indeed nothing can be more pidturefque
than the bay of Palermo. It forms a large amphithea¬
tre, with the capital of Sicily in the centre 5 furrounded
for fome miles by a molt delightful country, and enclof-
ed by romantic rocks and mountains. T he town was
formex-ly furrounded by a ftrong wall •, but the fortifica¬
tions are now entirely negledted, except towards the
fea, where there are ftill a few weak works. Ihe quay
is the principal public walk here. Palermo is embellifh-
ed all around with avenues of trees, and has four princi¬
pal entrances, facing the four cardinal points, which
are at the extremities of the two fpacious ftreets which
crofs each other. The molt frequented of thefe two *
ftreets is called Cqffero. It begins where the quay ends,,
with the north gate called Porta Felice, the happy gate j
and terminates on the fouth, at the new gate, which
opens on the road to Montreale. Near the laft of thefe
gates, this city, which fo well merits the attention of a
lover of the arts, exhibits a large fquare, round which-
Hand fome extenfive monafteries, the palace of the arch-
bifhop, and the palace of the viceroy. Diredtly oppo-
fite to the palace of the viceroy Hands, on a pedeftal
richly ornamented with a variety of figures, a ftatue of
Philip IV. The ftatue, the pedeftal, and the ornaments
are all of marble.
Palermo is quite filled with public monuments,
churches, monafteries, palaces, fountains, ftatues, and
columns. Thefe are not all eminently beautiful ; for
thev have not been all erected under the reign of good
tufe ; but every one of them {hows that the nation is
fond of the arts, ancl pofiefles a genius for decoration.
Spring waters are very copious in this city. Not a
quarter in Palermo but is liberally fupplied with foun¬
tains.
Palermo.
February.
PAL [ 704 ] PAL
tains, mod of which are marble, all of them adorned
with pieces of fottlpture, and all afford large quantities
of water.
I he fituation of this city is truly happy •, the fea, the
hills, the lofty mountains, prefent. on all fides beautiful
and ftriking profpeffs, which render it one of the moft
favourable lituations for the genius of the artill, whofe
objedt is to copy the beauty and fublimity of nature.
Freed from the fetters of the Inquiution, the abolition
of which was procured by the marquis of Caraccioli,
and from the influence of feme other unfavourable infti-
tutions, which are rapidly declining, Palermo muff be¬
come one of the fineft cities in the wmrldj and the ifland
of which it is the capital, being all cultivated like a gar¬
den, one of the moll enchanting fpots on the face of the
earth. Nature has denied none of her bell fpots to Si¬
cily. It was the benignity of nature, which, in the
happy ages of antiquity, when the political circumltan-
ces of the Sicilians were not fuch as to reprefs their ge¬
nius, prompted and enabled them to eredt fo many il-
luilrious monuments. “ Adjoining to the town, and
near the fea, is a public garden or promenade, planted
with orange and lemon trees, formed into arcades, and
now' loaded with fruit* j the Hems of the trees Hand in
furrows, and are continually watered by a fmall Itream.
In the middle is a fountain, on which Hands a coloffus
of white marble, furrounded by four grotefque temples,
in two of which are canary birds. Among the oranges
is a kind called fanguinei or bloody, which are llained
in the middle with red, and have ufually the finell fla¬
vour. Some of the lemons are fweet, but very flat, ta¬
iling like fugar and water. The citrons grow to an im-
menfe fize •, the rind, which occupies at lealt three-
fourths of the bulk of the fruit, is eaten with fugar ; the
juice is (harper than the fourelt lemon. Indian figs in
very great abundance grow wild in the fields and hedges,
to the height of twelve or fourteen feet ; of thefe there
are three kinds, one with large fpines, another with
fmaller, and the third alrnolt fmooth. Their fruit is
cooling and delicious, io,oool. worth of which is fold
annually to the poor people in the neighbourhood of this
city. Another plant, very common in this country, is
the aloe, w'hich ufually bloffoms every fifth or fixth year.
Of thefe there are five or fix fpecies, which grow moltly
in the hedges, and together with the Indian figs, form
a moll impenetrable fence.
“ The palace, which is an indifferent old building, is
fituated in a fquare, near the fouth gate of the city,
and commands a delightful profpeft of the adjacent
country. At the top is an obfervatory, inhabited by
an ingenious old pried who has been in England, and
brought from thence feveral aflronomical inflruments
conflrucled by Ramfden.” Neither the drudture, fitu-
ation, nor architeftural ornaments of the palace are fuch
as to merit any extraordinary praife. It is, like many
others, an affemblage of buildings erected in various ages,
as need of accommodation or fancy fuggeded ; and, of
confequenee, it mull unavoidably be defective in arehi-
tedlural order and beauty. The chapel is the only
part of it that merits any attention. It was founded
by the Counts Roger, the Norman conquerors of Si¬
cily. Within, it is decorated with beautiful pieces of
marble and porphyry, and of mofaic work in gold and
various colours. It is in the fame tade with the ca¬
thedral of Montreale. It is built on the fame plan
with common churches, only on a fmaller feale. The
nave is encircled with pillars; on the right and the left
are two narrower openings, called lateral or low pafl'a-
ges : the choir and fanduary are at the end of the nave.
Among all the pillars which enclofe the nave, it would
be hard to find two exadly of the fame form and work-
manlhip. Oppofite to a channelled column nands an¬
other on which the graving tool has made no Inch im-
preflions ; feveral have neither adragal, nor bafe, nor
leak : they are formed of various kinds of marble, and
are of different orders and unequal in height. The
walls, the arcades, and the arches, are covered with mo¬
faic work, in gold and colours, reprefenting angels, and
male and female faints.
Over the entrance into the choir, and fronting the
nave, there is an Eternal Father of a huge fize ; the de-
fign of which has, in all probability, been to imprefs
the beholder with a fufliciently awfful idea of the great-
nefs of God. Such reprefentations of the deity, how¬
ever improper, not to lay impious, occur pretty com¬
monly in the churches of Sicily. The cathedrals of
both Montreale and Palermo dilplay the Divine Ma-
jedy with equal dignity. Over the walls of the cha¬
pel there are many pieces of granite, porphyry, and
ferpentine, cut into a round, or a fquare, or fome other
form, and fet like panes of glafs. Their edges are en¬
circled with various draughts in gold and colours j de¬
corations unquedionably expenfive, as they are indeed
very finely executed in their kind. But it is amazing
that fuch irregularity of delign was admitted in a build¬
ing of fuch magnificence and raifed at fuch an enormous
expence. The pavement of the chapel has been origi¬
nally laid, and dill confids in part of large blocks of tin,
porphyry, and ferpentine. Mod of thele are round $
ornamented with compartments of draughts, and cover¬
ed over, as well as the walls, with incrudations of co¬
loured mofaic work. The feat defigned for the vice¬
roy is of the fame kind, and highly ornamented. The
candlediek intended to receive the wax lights at the
fedival of Eafler is of white marble. All the riches of
fculpture are lavilhed on it with fuch profufion as ren¬
ders it a prodigy of labour j but in a fantadic unnatu¬
ral tade.
In a long gallery in the palace of the viceroy, dand
two figures of rams in bronze, concerning which we
find the following tradition.—Archimedes is faid to
have long ago erefted in one of the public fquares of
Syracufe four columns with a brazen ram upon the top
of each. He is faid to have placed them there in fuch
a poflure, as that fome one of them always indicated
which of the four principal winds was blowing; and it is
added, that they were fabricated with fuch art, that the
wind caufed them to utter founds exa£fly fimilar to the
bleating of Iheep ; and whenever any one of the four
bleated, he thereby gave notice that the wind was blow¬
ing from that quarter towards which he dood. It is
certain (as travellers inform us) that the two brazen
rams in this gallery are perforated with fmall holes in
their flanks, clofe to their thighs, and in other places
over their bodies ; and that by blowing through thofe
holes a found is produced pretty much like the bleating
of Iheep. The wind appears to pafs through the holes,
and to pafs out at the mouth : there might, however,
be other holes in the pededal on which the ram flood,
or in other parts of the body, which might contribute to
produce
Palermo.
PAL ^ t 7°5
Palermo, produce tlie bleating •, for travellers agree in faying,
v*—-v ' that thofe which they could obferve do not appear to be
fufficient to produce the effeft. The prince of Torre
Muzza, one of the moft enlightened men in Sicily, in¬
formed M. Houel, that thefe two rams were dug up
from among the ruins of Syracufe in the fourteenth cen¬
tury : as they were buried under ground, they had pro¬
bably lain there for many centuries. They were bought
by the Marquis Geraci, of the family of Ventimiglia,
and lay long in his caftle. About the end of the 15th
century they were brought to Palermo, and placed in
the palace of the viceroy. It is not known what is be¬
come of the other two. They are probably buried in
fome ancient ruins, and may be one day or other difco-
vered in digging for the foundation of fome new build¬
ing. The proportions of thefe two rams are larger
than nature. They are pieces of very fine workman-
ihip : both the heads and the horns are formed with
talle, delicacy, and truth ", the wool is not fo well
executed •, the forms ail together are not abfolutely
the fined that might be fele&ed from among the whole
fpecies.
The cathedral of Palermo is dedicated to St Rofa-
lia. The Sicilians, though fo exceedingly devout,
have however neglefted to repair it ; and it is at
prefent in a moft miferable ftate, as the interior parts
appear to be falling into ruins. Propofals have been
made for rebuilding it, and various plans have been
ftiown.
The prefent church appears to have been built by
the Counts Roger. The external parts are in a Go¬
thic tafte, and very heavy : within, it has been at dif¬
ferent periods repaired and embellifhed. The pillars
of the nave are adorned Avith pilafters of the Corin¬
thian order : thefe are joined by arches through which
you pafs to the fides of the building. In fome places
it is overloaded with ornaments, in others but very
poorly ornamented : viewed all together, it is fo defti-
tute of order or proportion, as to be abfolutely ridicu¬
lous.
In a chapel on one fide of the cathedral are four Go¬
thic tombs of the fame period, They have been origi¬
nally farcophagi; and having efcaped the fate of moft of
the other works of antiquity, have been fpoiled by at¬
tempts to repair or improve them, and have been fet
up here to preferve the remains of fome of the kings
of Sicily. The only thing about them that can deferve
attention is the beauty of the ftone j they are of a fine
red porphyry.
In the fame chapel there is a fine large tabernacle ;
the whole of Avhich, when \dewed without diftin&ion
of the parts, refembles the dome and the front gate of
the Val-de-grace at Paris. It is of rich lapis lazuli,
of the very fineft colour. The whole of it is plated, and
the pillars are faid to be folid. All its ornaments are
of gilt brafs $ and on the whole it is extremely beau-
x tiful.
Around the church are feveral ftatues of faints by
Guagini, the celebrated fculptor. On the Avay from the
cathedral doAvn the Calfero there is, on the right hand,
a fmall fquare, at the entrance of which Hands a pede-
ftrian ftatue of Charles V. in bronze. Near the place
where the two great ftreets crofs Hands the fenate houfe,
in a fmall court, before which there is a fine marble
fountain ; there are befides about this edifice many cu-
Vol. XV. Part II.
] PAL
rious fragments of antiquity. It would extend this sr- Palermo.
tide beyond all proportion if avc Avere to mention all the *” v
curiofities Avhich are to be found in Palermo. We lhall ,
now endeavour to give our readers an idea of the inter¬
nal government of the place, Avhich avc lhall do in the
words of Mr Hill.
“ The magiilrates appointed to preferve the order
of foeiety in this city are, firft, the fupreme judge, to
Avhom belongs the adminiftration of juftice in criminal
cafes : he is the head of the nobility, and immediately
folioavs the viceroy in all the folemn functions. Second¬
ly, The praetor, Avho regulates the affairs of the city.
He is the perpetual deputy of the kingdom ; chief in
parliament of the order to A\rhom appertains the right
of regulating the king’s demefne, and poffeffed of the
prerogative of captain-general during the abience of the
viceroy. Thirdly, The praetorian court, Avhich confifts
of three judges, citizens of Palermo, Avho are chofen an¬
nually by the king. They affift the fupreme judge in
the decifion of criminal affairs, and the praetor in the
deliberations upon the finances ; thefe tAvo officers, Iaoav-
ever, have neither vote nor fignature, except the praetor,
in the bufinefs refpe£ting the public bank and firft fruits.
Fourthly, The fenate of Palermo, compofed of the prae¬
tor and fix practitioners of the Hav, named by the king,
Avho Avear the toga after the manner of the ancient Ro¬
man fenators, and principally infpeft the police which
regards the grain and provifions. There are befides
feven great officers of ftate, to each of whom is affigned
a peculiar employment. Firft, II Maejiro Porte/ano,
to Avhom is committed the care of the public granaries,
and Avho manages the fale of the corn both at home and
abroad. The impofition of a tax upon tills commodity
has neatly proved the ruin of agriculture, efpecially as
the exportation of it is prohibited to all thofe Avho are
not able to pay an exorbitant price for that privilege.
The quantity of corn annually produced in the ifiand
does not at prefent amount to more than a tenth part of
what Avas colle&ed in former years. Secondly, The
auditor general; Avho paffes judgment without appeal
upon all offences committed Avithin the precinfts of the
palace. Thirdly, The high admiral, whofe jurifdidion
extends over the marine. -Fourthly, The chancellor,
who overlooks all the notaries of the kingdom, prepares
all official patents, reads the propofitions Avhen the par¬
liament affembles, and at the time of a coronation ten¬
ders the oath of fidelity to the people, and alfo proclaims
that of the monarch, who thereby binds himfelf to main¬
tain and defend the privileges of the city, of Palermo.
The fame ceremony takes place upon the inftallation of
a viceroy. Fifthly, The prothonotary of the queen’s
chamber, Avho has the infpeftion of the demefnes of fix
cities, viz. Syracufe, Lentini, Carlentini, St Filippo,
Mineo, and Virini, Avhich Avere formerly appropriated
to the queens of Sicily. Sixthly, The chief fecretary,
Avho prefides over the officers appointed to receive the
taxes and duties in the places of their refpe6Hve jurifdic-
tions. And, feventhly, The lieutenant of the royal ex¬
chequer, Avho has the adminiftration of all effefts that
have been fequeftered or confifcated.
“ Palermo is the principal refidence of the greater
part of the Sicilian nobility ; and as it is not the cuftom
for any gentleman to Avalk in the ftreets, at leaf! icoo
carriages are faid to be kept in the town. They are
for the moft part in the Fnglilh tafte, very elegant,
4 U ftlOAVi*
PAL
Palermo
fliown to the greateft advantage, with beautiful horfes
richly caparifoned, and as many footmen in fplendid
liveries as can be crowded together behind. Every
evening all the people of rank drive about in this
manner on the grand public terrace by the fea fide.
There are alfo very convenient hackney coaches, co¬
vered and open, waiting all day in their refpedtive na¬
tions.”
It is very remarkable, that the dead in Palermo are
never buried. Captain Sutherland gives the following
account of this circumilance in his Tour to Conftanti-
nople. The dead bodies are carried to the Capuchin
convent, which is one of the largefi: in Italy ; “ where,
after the funeral fervice is performed, they are dried in
a ftove heated by a compofition of lime, which makes
the fldn adhere to the bones. They are then placed
ereft in niches, and faftened to the wall by the back or
neck. A piece of coarfe drab is thrown over the
ihoulders and round the waifl: ; and their hands are
tied together, holding a piece of paper with their epi¬
taph, which is Amply their names, age, and when they
died. We of courfe (fays Captain Sutherland) vifited
this famous repofitory ; and it is natural to fuppofe
that fo many corpfes would imprefs one with reverence
and awe. It was nearly dulk when we arrived at the
convent. We paffed the chapel, where one of the or¬
der had juft finifhed faying vefpers, by the gloomy
glimmering of a dying lamp. We were then conduc¬
ed through a garden, where the yew, the cyprefs, and
the barren orange, obfcured the remaining light ; and
where melancholy filence is only difturbed by the hol¬
low murmuring of a feeble water fall. All thefe cir-
cumftances tuned our minds for the difmal fcene which
we were going to behold ) but we had ftill to defcend
a flight of fteps impervious to the fun ; and, thefe at
laft, conveyed us to the dreary manfion of the dead.
But (will you believe me ?) notwithftanding the chil¬
ling fcene through which we had palled, notwithftand¬
ing our being in the midft of more than a thoufand life-
lefs bodies, neither our refpeC for the dead, nor for the
holy fathers who condudled us, could prevent our fmil-
ing. The phyfiognomies of the deceafed are fo ridicu-
loufiy mutilated, and their mufcles fo contra&ed and di-
ftorted in the di'ying, that no French mimic could equal
their grimaces. Moil of the corpfes have loft the lower
part of the nofe 5 their necks are generally a little twill¬
ed ; their mouths drawn awry in one direCion, their
nofes in another j their eyes funk and pointed different
ways 5 one ear perhaps turned up, the other drarvn
down. The friars foon obferved the mirth which thefe
unexpeCed vifages occafioned 5 and one of them, as a
kind of memento, pointed out to me a captain of caval¬
ry, who had juft been cut off" in the pride of his youlh :
but three months ago, he was the minion of a king—
the favourite of a princefs—Alas! how changed ! Even
on earth there is no diftinCion between him and the
meaneft beggar. This idea in a moment reftored my
refieCion •, and I felt with full force the folly of human
vanity. I turned to the holy father, who gave me this
leffon. His eyes were fixed on what was once a captain
of horfe.—I faw in them, ‘ Read this, titled pomp, and
ihrink to thy original nothingnefs. Hie thee to my
lady’s chamber ; tell her, though Ihe paint an inch thick,
to this mull Ihe come at laft—make her laugh at that.’
The relations of the deceafed are bound to fend two
[ 706 ]
PAL
wax tapers every year for the ufe of the convent j in Palermo
default of which, the corpfe is taken down and thrown ||
into the charnel houfe. Were it not for the number Paleftine,
of vacancies occafioned by the nonpayment of this fti-
pend, the Capuchins would be unable to find niches for
the number pf men who mull die every year in fo po¬
pulous a city as this. Women are dried as well as
the men, but are not expoi'ed. Nobles are fhut un in
chefts.” 1
I he number of the inhabitants is above 200,000 •
and the harbour, though very large, is not fo com¬
modious as might be expefted, and the veffels that ride
therein are not always very fafe. There is a magnifi¬
cent caftle built near the fea fide, wherein the viceroy
refides fix months in the year j and his prefence draws
a great number.of nobility to this place. This city
has fuffered greatly by earthquakes, particularly in
1693 > and it was greatly damaged by a fire in 1730,
when a magazine of powder was blown up, containing
400 tons. It Hands in a pleafant fruitful country, on
the north-eaft coaft of the ifland, and at the bottom
of the gulf of the fame name. E. Long. 13. 23. N.
Lat. 38. 15. .
PALES, in Pagan worlhip, the goddefs of the Ihep-
herds, to whom they offered milk and honey, in order
that ftie might deliver them and their Hocks from wild
beafts and infedtious difeafes. This goddefs is repre-
fented as an old woman. She was worftiipped with great
Solemnity at Rome 5 and her feilivals, 'called Palilia,
were celebrated on the 21ft of April, the very day that
Romulus began to lay the foundation of the city of
Rome ; the ceremonies of which confifted in burning
heaps of ftraw, and leaping over them. No facrifices
were oftered, but purifications were made with the fmoke
of horfes blood, and with the allies of a calf that had
been taken from the belly of its mother after it had been
lacrificed, and wuth the alhes of beans. I he purifica¬
tion of the Hocks was alfo made with the fmoke of ful-
phur, of the olive, the pine, the laurel, and the rofe-
mary. Offerings of mild cheefe, boiled wine, and cakes
of millet, were afterwards made to the goddefs. Some
call this feftival Parilia, quaji a pariendo, becaufe the
facrifices were offered to the divinity for the fecundity
of the flocks.
PALESTINE, in its prefent ftate, is a part of
Aliatic Turkey, lituated between 310 30' and 330 20'
north latitude, and between 340 50' and 370 13' eaft
longitude. It is bounded by Mount Libanus, which
divides it from Syria, on the north •, by Mount Hermon,
which leparates it from Arabia Deferta on the eaft 5 by
the mountains of Seir and the dcferts of Arabia Petrrea,
on the fouth j and by the Mediterranean fea on the
weft.
This once fertile and happy fpot was firft called the
land of Canaan, or C/ianaan, from Noah’s grandfon.
In Scripture, however, it is frequently diftinguiihed by
other names j fuch as the Land of Promife, the Land of
God, the Land of Ifrael, &c. It received the name of
Palefine from the Palejlines or Phi It/lines, who poffeffed
a great part of it; and it had the name of Judea, or
Judea Palejlina, from Judah, the moft confiderable of the
twelve fons of Jacob. The Chriftians have denominat¬
ed it the Holy Land; partly on account of the many
lingular blelfings it received from the Divine Provi¬
dence, and partly on account of its metropolis being
made
PAL [ 707 ] PAL
made the centre of God’s worfhi’p and his peculiar habi¬
tation but much more for its being the place of our
Saviour’s birth, the feene of his preaching and manifold
miracles ; efpecially the place in which lie accompliihed
the great work of our redemption. As to the name of
Judea, it did not begin to receive that till after the re¬
turn of the Jews from the Babyloniili captivity, though
it had been llyled long before the Kingdom of Judah, in
oppolition to that of Ifrael, which revolted from it un¬
der Jeroboam, in the reign of Rehoboam the fon of So¬
lomon. But after the return, the tribe of Judah, the
only one that made any figure, fettling at Jerufalem,
and in the countries adjacent, quickly gave its name to
the whole territory. By profane authors it was called
by many different names 5 fuch as Syria, Paleftina Sy¬
ria, Coelofyria, Iduma, Idumaea, and Phoenicia or Phoe-
nice j but thefe are fuppofed only to have been given
out of contempt to the Jewifh nation, whom they look¬
ed upon as unworthy of any other name than what di-
ftinguifhed the moil obfcure parts of the neighbouring
provinces.
That part of the country which was properly called
the Land of Promife, was enclofed on the weft by the
Mediterranean ; on the eaft by the lake Afphaltites,
the Jordan, the lea of Tiberias or of Galilee, and the
Samachonite lake ; to the north it had the mountains
of Libanus, or rather of Antilibanus, or the province
of Phoenicia j and to the fouth, that of Edom or Idu-
mcea, from which it was likewife parted by another
ridge of high mountains. The boundaries of the other
part, which belonged to the two tribes and a half be¬
yond the river Jordan, are not fo ealily defined, as well
as thofe of the conquefts made by the more profper-
ous kings of the Jews. All that can be faid with any
probability is, that the river Arnon was the firft nor¬
thern boundary on that fide j and with refpedft to thofe
on this fide the Jordan, there is a confiderable difagree-
ment between the Hebrew and Samaritan verfions of
the Pentateuch.
The extent of this country is likewife varioufly fet¬
tled by geographers ; fome giving it no more than 170
or 180 miles from north to fouth, and 140 in breadth
where broadeft, though not much above half that
breadth where narrowed:. But from the lateft and mod:
accurate maps, it appears to extend near 200 miles
in length, and about 80 in breadth about the middle,
and about 10 or 15, more or lefs, where it widens or
contradls.
The climate is certainly very happy, its fituation be¬
ing neither too far fouth nor too far north. 1 he long-
eft day is not above 14 hours 15 minutes : But the li¬
mits of Paleftine appear fo fmall, confidering that the
country is likewife interfered by high ridges of moun¬
tains, woods, deferts, &c. that many learned men have
been induced to queftion what we read of its fertility
and populoufnefs in former times. It muft be owned,
indeed, that when we compare its ancient and douridung
ftate, when it was cultivated with the utmoft diligence
by perfons well drilled in every branch of agriculture,
with what it has been fince the total extirpation of the
Jews out of it, and more efpecially fince it fell into the
hands of the Turks, the contraft is amazingly great :
but when we confider the many evident caufes which
have contributed to effeift: this change, and even yet
confider the nature of the country itfelf, we find not
the leaft reafon to doubt the truth of what the facred Paleftine-
hiftorians have related. Mofes defcribes the richnefs ‘
of it in the ftrongeft terms, even before the Ifraelites
got pofl'eftion of it. It even exceeded the land of E-
gypt, fo much celebrated by ancient hiftorians 5 efpe¬
cially in the vaft numbers of cattle which it produced ;
in the quantity and excellence of its Avine, oil, and
fruits. With refpedl to the oil and fruits, it is plain,
that the olives and oil of Canaan exceeded in goodnefs
thofe of Egypt, fince the tribes fent them thither from
thence j and as for vines, Herodotus tells us, that the
Egyptians had none at all, but fupplied the want of
them by a liquor brewed from barley. The prefents
which Jacob fent to his fon Jofeph, of honey, fpices,
myrrh, almonds, and other fruits of Paleftine, ftroAV
that they muft have been much better in the land of
Judea than in Egypt. The Avines of Gaza, Afcalon,
and Sarepta, were famous among the moft remote na¬
tions j though it is alloAved, that the wine Avhich Avas
made at and in the neighbourhood of Bethlehem, in great
quantities, was equal at leaft, if not fuperior, to any of
the reft : and that of Libanus, mentioned by the prophet
Hofea, was no lefs celebrated for its excellent flavour.
Several circumftances contributed to this Avonderful
fecundity : fuch as, the excellent temperature of the
air, Avhich was never fubjeft to exceflive heats or colds j
the regularity of its feafons, efpecially the former and
latter rain j and the natural fatnefs and fertility of its
foil, which required neither dunging nor manuring, and
could be ploughed Avith a Angle yoke of oxen and a
fmall kind of plough j for the foil Avas, and is ftill, fo
IhalloAv, that to have gone deep into it, Avould rather
have endangered than improved the crop. With re-
fpeft to the excellency of its corn, Ave are told, that
the bread of Jerufalem Avas preferred above all other 5
and the tribe of Aflrer produced the beft of both,
and in greater quantity than any other tribe j and
fuch plenty Avas there of it, that, befides Avhat fuf-
ficed the inhabitants, Avho made it their chief fu-
ftenance, Solomon, avc read, could afford to fend
20,000 cors, or meafures, of it, and as many of oil,
yearly, to Hiram king of Tyre j befidcs Avhat they ex¬
ported into other countries. And Ave find, even fo late
as King Herod, furnamed Agrippa, the countries of
Tyre and Sidon received moft of their fuftenance from
his tetrarchy.
As to their fruits, the grapes Avere delicious, finely
flavoured, and very large. The palm tree and its
dates were in no lefs requeft 5 and the plain of Jericho,
among other places, Avas famed for the great plenty
and excellence of that fruit 5 infomuch, that the me¬
tropolis of that territory Avas emphatically ftyled the
city of palm trees. But Avhat both this plain, and other
parts of Paleftine, Avere moft celebrated for, Avas the bal-
fam fhrub, Avhofe balm Avas efteemed fo precious a drug
among the Greeks, Romans, Egyptians, and other na¬
tions, and is ftill to this day, under the name of balm of
Gilead. They had likeAvife the greateft variety of other
fruit trees in the higheft perfeftion ; and which might
be, in fome fenfe, ftyled perpetual, becaufe they Avere
not only covered Avith a conftant verdure, but becaufe the
neAV buds alway appeared on the fame boughs before the
old fruit Avas ripe ; and of thofe buds, which Avere in too
great quantities to be allowed to come to maturity, they
gathered enough to make very delightful pickles and
4 U 2 Iweetmeats,
PAL [
?a!eftine. fweetmeats, efpecially of their citrons, oranges,
y—»... appjes 0£ paraiji|t> which laii commonly hung by hun¬
dreds in a duller, and as big as hens eggs, and of an
excellent tafte and flavour. 1 here vines yield grapes
twice, and fomeumes three times a year, great quan¬
tities of which were dried up, and preferved for ufe, as
well as their figs, plums, and other fruits. They had
plenty of honey, the very trees diililled it; and the
fpcks yielded it in great quantities : but whether that
of the latter kind was there dcpofited by the indu-
flrious bees', or produced feme other way, is much dil-
puted by travellers and naturalifts. They like wife
cultivated fugar canes in great abundance ; and the
cotton, hemp, and flax, were moltiy of their own
growth and manufadlure, except fome of a finer fort,
that were brought to them from Egypt, and worn by
thofe of the higher rank. Their vicinity to Libanus
made the cedars, cypreffes, and other llately fragrant
trees, very common in moll parts of the land, but
more efpecially in Jerufalem. Cattle, both large and
fmall, they fed in vail quantities; and the hilly coun¬
tries not only afforded them variety and plenty ol paf-
ture, but alfo of water, which defeended thence into
the valleys and low lands, and fertilized them to the
degree we have feen ; befides feveral other rivers and
brooks, fome of the moll remarkable of which we
fliall fpeak of in their proper places. But the moll
fertile paflure grounds were thofe on each fide of the
river Jordan ; befides thofe of Sharon, or Sarona, the
plains of Lydda, Jamnia, and fome others then jullly
famed for their fecundity. As for filh, the river above-
mentioned, the lake of Tiberias, and the Mediterra¬
nean fea, afforded, as they do to this day, great plen¬
ty and variety. Vail quantities were brought to Jeru¬
falem, on which the inhabitants moftly fubfilled ; and
hence one of the gates of that metropolis was, accord¬
ing to St Jerome, called the fifh gate. The lake Af-
phalites yielded fait in abundance, wherewith to fea-
fon and prelerve their filh, which Galen affirms to have
been preferable to any other for wholefomenefs, dige-
flion, and extenuation. In ffiort, the Scripture is fo
pregnant with proofs of the extraordinary richnefs and
fecundity of this once happy land, and the vail num¬
ber of people that lived in it, almoft wholly upon its
product, to fay nothing of the vail exports of its corn,
wine, oil, raifins, and other fruits, &c. that a man mull
have taken a llrange warp to infidelity, that can call it
in quellion, merely on account of the melancholy and
quite oppolite figure it now makes under its prefent ty¬
rannical government.
But its fertility has been called in quellion; and Vol¬
taire and other infidel writers have raifed difficulties and
objeflions againll the authority of Scripture, from the
pretended fierility of the land of Judea. In anfwer to
which, the abbe Guenee, about the year 1780, com¬
municated to the Academy of Infcriptions and Belles
Lettres at Paris, Two Memoirs concerning the Fertility
of Palefline, in order to fhow that fuch objedlions had
no folid foundation.
In the firll of them, the author proves, that from
the captivity of Babylon to the war of Adrian, Judea
was always eonfidered as a rich and fertile country.
The pofitive and multiplied authorities of the writers
of that period, Jews, Greeks, and Romans, not only
atteft in general. the fertility of that country, but
4
708 ] PAL
and many of thefe writers, entering into a particular de- Paleftine.
tail of circumllances, prove it from the nature of the '—“■v—
climate, the qualities of the foil, and the excellencies
and variety of its productions. Thefe. are confirmed
by proofs of another kind, but which are of a very
convincing nature, even thofe refulting from a great
number ol medals llrnek under the reigns of the kings
of Syria and Judea, and under the Romans, both by
Jews and Pagans, and which ail bear the fymbols of a
rich fertility. To thefe proofs are added a multitude
of facts, recorded in the hillory of the Jews during
this period ; the efforts of the neighbouring kings to
conquer their country ; the long and bloody wars that
the Jews carried on with vigour, and fometimes with
fuecels, againll powerful princes and nations ; the tri¬
bute and taxes they paid to the kings of Egypt and
Syria, to the Romans, and to their own princes ; the
magnificence of their lovereigns, and among others of
Herod ; the troops he raifed and kept on foot ; the
temples, fortreffes, palaces, and cities, which he eredled
and embellilhed, not only in his own country, but alfo
in Syria, Alia Minor, and even in Greece; the im-
menfe fums he laviffied among the Romans, the dona¬
tions he made to his own people, and the vail trealures
which he left behind him : all thefe circumllances con¬
cur in proving the fertility and riches of Paleftine during
that period.
In the fecond memoir, the Abbe Guenee confiders
the Hate of Palelline as it was from the time of the
emperor Adrian to the caliphate of Omar, which
comprehends a period of four centuries. From fundry
fadls he ffiows, that it could not then have been the
barren country which it has been reprefented by fome
fceptical writers. He particularly mentions the pro-
jeft formed by Adrian of rebuilding and embellilhing
Jerufalem, of forming it into a Roman colony, and giv¬
ing it his own name; a projedl of which he could
never have entertained a thought, if Judea, which he
had feen and examined with his own eyes, had appear¬
ed to him fuch a barren and wretched country as it is
faid to be by fome who have neither feen that country
nor examined the matter with care and attention. Our
author alfo produces a variety of other fadls, to Ihow
that Judea, after all that it had fuffered from the de-
folations of war both in ancient and latter times, Hill
remained at the period in quellion fertile, rich, and
populous. This is the idea which the writers of the
time, Pagan and Chrillian, as well as Jewilh, have
given of Palelline. Antoninus Martyr, a citizen of
Placentia, who in the 6th century travelled to Pale¬
lline, and compofed an account of his voyage, which
is Hill extant, fays, that the canton of Nazareth was
not inferior to Egypt in corn and fruits ; land that
though the territory of that city was not very exten-
five, it abounded in wine and oil, and excellent honey.
The country about Jericho appeared to him Hill more
fertile. He faw Mount Tabor, which he reprefents as
furrounded with cities : and he obferved, in the neigh¬
bourhood of Jerufalem, vineyards, great plantations of
fruit trees, and through the whole country- a confider-
able number of hofpitals, monalleries, and beautiful
edifices. Our learned abbe, in concluding his work,
acknowledges, that the opulence and fertility of Judea
might begin to diminilh towards the middle of the pe¬
riod treated of in Ids fecond memoir : but he does net
think ,
P A L [ 709 j
akftine. think that any argument can be drawn from hence richer,
-v againft its having been at the commencement of this
period in a flourifhing Hate ; and much lefs can any
proof be brought from hence, that in preceding periods,
under the kings, or under the admintifration of Mofes,
the country of Paleltine was a barren and uncultivated
didrift. .
Behdes, it ought to be confidercd, that it was then
inhabited by an induftrious people, who knew how to
improve every inch of their land, and had made even
the mod defert and barren places to yield tome kind
of productions, by proper care and manure ”, fo that the
very rocks, which now appear quite bare and naked,
were made to produce corn, pulfe, or padure •, being,
by the indudry of the old inhabitants, covered with
mould, which, through the lazinefs of the fucceedmg
proprietors, has been iince wadied off with rains and
ttorms. We may add, that the kings themfelves were
not above encouraging all kinds of agriculture, both by
precept and example ; and, above all, that they had the
divine blefling promifed to their honed endeavours and
indudry : whereas it is now, and hath been long fince,
iniiabited by a poor, lazy, indolent people, groaning
under an intolerable fervitude and all manner of difeou-
ragements •, by which their averfion to labour and agri¬
culture, farther than what barely ferves to fupply their
prefent wants, is become in a manner natural and invin¬
cible. We may further obferve, after the judicious Mr
Maundrell, that there is no forming an idea of its an¬
cient flouriflffng date, when under the influence of hea¬
ven, from what it is now under a vifible curfe. And, if
we had not feveral concurring tedimonies from profane
authors, who have extolled the fecundity of Paledine,
that Angle one of Julian the Apodate, a fworn enemy
to Jews'and Chridians, as well as to all the facred writ¬
ings, would be more than fufficient to prove it ; who
frequently makes mention, in Ids epidles, of the perpe¬
tuity, as well as excellence and great abundance, of its
fruits and produCt. The vifible effeCts of God’s anger,
which this country has felt, not only under Titus Vef-
pafian (when myriads ol: inhabitants were either {lain,
or perilhed by the mod fevere famine, pedilence, and
other calamities, and the red lold for flaves into all
lands j and new colonies fent to repeople it, who found
it in fuch defolate date, as quite difeouraged them from
redoring it to its pridine fruitfulnefs) ; but much more
lince that emperor’s time, in the inundations of the nor¬
thern barbarians, of the Saracens, and of lue more cruel
and dedruftive Chridians during the crufades 5 and in
the oppreflion it now feels under the I urkifli yoke, may
be eafily owned to be more than fufficient to have wrought
the difmal change we are fpeaking of, and to have redu¬
ced the far greater part into a mere defert.
Neverthelefs, if we may credit thofe who have view¬
ed it in this doleful condition, they will tell us, there
are dill fuch vifible figns of its natural richnefs and
fertility, as plainly ffiow, that the bare want of cul¬
ture is the main if not the only eaufe of its prefent po¬
verty and barrennefs. We ffiall hint, as a farther proof
of this, what a learned traveller hath lately written of it
from his own obfervations.
“ The Holy Land (fays Dr Shaw% were it as well
peopled and cultivated as in former times, would dill
be more fruitful than the very bed part of the coad of
Syrig and Phcenice j for the foil is generally much
P A L
arid, all things confidered, yields a preferable Fakftinc^
crop. Thus the cotton that is gathered in the plains ol
Ramah, Efdraelon, and Zabulun, is in greater edeem
than what is cultivated near Sidon and Tripoli. Neither
is it poflible for pulfe, wheat, or any fort of grain to be
more excellent than what is fold at Jerufalem. The bar¬
rennefs, or fear city rather, which feme authors may, either
ignorantly or malicioufly, complain of, doth not proceed
from the incapacity or natural unfruitfulnefs of the coun¬
try, but from the want of inhabitants, and the gieat
averfion there is to labour and indudry in thofe few who
poffefs it. There are, befides, fuch perpetual difeordsand
depredations among the petty princes who fliare this fine
country, that, allowing it was better peopled, yet there
would be fmall encouragement to low, when it was un¬
certain who Ihould gather in the harved. Otherwife,
the land is a good land, and dill capable of affording its
neighbours the like fupplies of corn and oil which it is
known to have done in the time of Solomon.
And Volney, in his Travels in Egypt and Syria, ob-
ferves, that though the whole of Paledine is aimed an
entire level plain, without either river or rivulet in dim¬
mer, and only watered by the winter toirent1-, the foil is
ytt good, and may even be termed fertile . for when the
winter rains do not fail, every thing fprings up in abun¬
dance j and the earth, which is black and fat, retains
moifture fufficient for the growth of grain and vegeta¬
bles during the dimmer. IVIore doera, fefamum, water
melons, and beans, are fown here than in any other part
of the country. They alfo raife cotton, barley,and wheat;
but though the latter be mod edeemed, it is lefs culti¬
vated, for fear of too much inviting the aval ice of the
Turkifli governors and the rapacity of the Arabs.
Judea, in its larged fenfe, was divided into maritime
and inland, as well as into mountainous and champaign ;
and again fubdivided into Ji.dea on this fide, and Judea
beyond Jordan. But the mod confiderable divifion is
that which was made among the twelve tribes, by lot,
to prevent all murmuring and difeontent among that
dubborn people * ; of thefe, two and a half were ieated * JoJh. xiv.
beyond Jordan, and the red on this fide. The next re-2. &c.
markable was made by King Solomon, who divided his
kingdom into twelve provinces or didritfs, each under
a peculiar oflicer ; and every one of thefe was to fupply
the king with provifions for his houfehold in his turn ;
that is, each for one month in the year f. But the mod f j Kingr, .
fatal divifion of all was that which obtained under his iv 7.
imprudent fon Rehoboam, when ten of the twelve tribes
revolted, under the conduft of Jeroboam, who became
head of this new monarchy, dyled the kingdom of Ifrael,
in oppofition to that of Judah, the title which diftin-
guifhed the maimed kingdom of Rehoboam from that
time downwards. Under the fecond temple the didinc-
tion laded a confiderable time, and the fame bloody ha¬
tred and hodilities continued between thefe two king¬
doms ; that of Ifrael taking the name of Samaria from
its capital. The inhabitants were a mixture of the old
Ifraelites, and of new colonies fent thither by the kings
of Aflyria after their conqued of it, till they were fub-
dued by the Maccabees, and their metropolis dedroyed.
Under the Romans it began to be divided into tetrar-
chies. and toparchies : the larger were thofe of Judea,
Samaria, and Galilee, Upper and Lower ; the leffer,
thofe of Geraritica, Sarona, and others of lefs note ;
ail which lay on this fide of the Jordan. The red, on
PAL [ 7
Pii'Mline the other fide, were thofe of Gilead, Pertea, Gaulo-
Palfrey. Auranitis, Latanea, and Decapolis. Jofeplius men-
i tions * another divifion made in Gabinius’s time into five
^ Antiq. diftiifts, or, as he ftyles them, or councils, a~
ab. xiv. greeable to the Roman manner : theie were Jerufalem,
Jericho, and Sephoris, on this fide Jordan j and Gadaris
and Amathus on the other. In the reigns of the Chri-
ftian emperors, it was divided afrefii into Paleftina Prima,
Paleftina Secunda, and Paleftina Tertia or Salutaris •
which laft included the far greater part, if not the whole
country, as is known to all who are acquainted with hi-
ftory. On that account we fhall wave all other divifions
and. changes that happened to it under the northern bar¬
barians, Saracens, Sic. and conclude this article with
the prefent ftate and divifion of it under the Turks. 
The whole country of Paleftine is now reduced to a di-
ftrift or province, under the beglerbegate or baffalhip of
Sacham or Damafcus, who hath the feven following fan-
giacs or fubgovernors under him, ftyled, according to the
different places of their refidence, i. The fangiac of Da-
mafcus, who is under the baftia of that province 5 2. Of
Jerulalem, or, as the lurks call it, Cudjemboric or Coud-
fcherif; 3. Aglum ; 4. Sahara 5 5. Scifat; 6. Gaza 5
Nabolos. Each of theie has a number of ziamets,
and each ziamet a number of timariots under them ; for
the better underftanding of which terms, we (hall refer
our readers to Sir Paul Rycaut’s account of the Ottoman
empire. At prefent it will be fufficient to fay of thefe
inferior fubdivifions, under the fangiac of this diftrift, or
fangiacate of Jerufalem, that it hath nine of the former
and fixteen of the latter clafs. Neither muft the reader
imagine thefe fangiacates or fub-governments to be any
tiling confiderable, or the refidence of thefe officers to be
places of any note or opulence. The former indeed live
by oppreffing the people under them, and extort con¬
tributions of every thing that comes within their reach,
fuch as the protection of travellers, merchants, and cara¬
vans*,, but being all under their refpedtive balhas, who
are ftill more griping than their underlings, they are
commonly fleeced of fome confiderable part of their un¬
juft gains. As for the places of their refidence, except
it be here and there one in a confiderable city, as at
Damafcus and. Jerufalem, the reft are either fome old
cities or even inconfiderable villages.
There are a variety of curiofities in Paleftine both
natural and artificial 5 but they are fo very numerous as
almoft to preclude defcription : we therefore refer our
readers to the Ancient Univerfal Hiftory, vol. ii. where
they are mentioned and particularly defcribed. The
principal mountains, rivers, and other places of note,
have already been, or will be, noticed under their re-
fpeffive names.
PALES IRINA, a town of Italy, in the Campagna
di.Ro.ma,. with a biffiop’s fee. It is the capital of a
principality, of the fame name, and the bifhop is one of
the fix cardinal bifhops. It was anciently famous for
the temple of Fortune, being then called Prcenejle, and
feated on the top of a mountain, the ruins of which may
yet be feen. E. Long. 12. 55. N. Lat. 41. 51.
Palestrina, is one of the largeft and moft populous
of the iflands called the Lagunes near Venice, and where .
•the moft confiderable of the noblemen have houfes of plea:
fiure. It is 15,000 paces in length and 400 in breadth j
the principal harbour has alfo the fame name.
P ALFRED, is one of the better fort of houfes ufed
3
O ] PAL
by noblemen or others for ftate j and fometimes of old Palfrey
taken for a horfe fit for a woman to ride. Camden II
fays, that William Fauconberge held the manor of Palinge-
Cutkeny, in the county of Nottingham, in ferjeantry, nc[la^
by the fervice of (hoeing the king’s palfrey when the v
king (hould come to Mansfield.
P ALICAUD, or Palgatcherry, a fortrefs of con¬
fiderable ftrength in India, which commands the paffage
between the two coafts of Malabar and Coromandel, by
way of the Tritchinopoly and Coimbettore countries :
there is alfo a communication with it through the Nayre
country. It was held by the Englifti; and was of great
importance to them, when Coimbettore was in the hands
of Tippoo, becaufe, by our holding this place on the
weft, and Dindigul on the eaft of Coimbettore, that pro¬
vince was of little ufe to him in the time of war, with¬
out a very large force to proteft it. But the fall of that
Sovereign, and the redu£tion of his territories, have efteft-
ed a total change of cireumftances. See Memoir of a
Map of the Peninfula of India by Major Rennel.
PALI CATE, a fea port town of India, on this fide
of the Ganges. It is feated on the coaft of Coromandel,
in the kingdom of Carnate, 70 miles north of Fort St
George. Here the Dutch had a factory, and fort called
the Fort of Gue/derlctnd. E. Long. 80. 1. N. Lat. 13. 34.
PALICI, or Palisci, in Fabulous Hi/loi'y, two dei¬
ties, fons of Jupiter by Thalia, whom iEfchylus, accord¬
ing to Macrobius, calls JEtnu, in a tragedy which is
loft. I he nymph ALtna, when pregnant, begged Ju¬
piter to remove her from the purfuit of Juno. Upon
which he concealed her in the bowels of the earth ; and
when the time of her delivery arrived, the earth opened
and brought into the world two children, to whom were
given the name of Paliciy utto rev ttxXiv ix-ia-Uxi, becaufe
they came again into the world from the bowels of the
earth, Thefe deities were worlhipped with many cere¬
monies by the Sicilians; and near their temple were two
fmall lakes, which wTere (uppofed to have fprung out of
the earth when they were born. Near thefe pools it was
ufual to take the moft folemn oaths when any body wifli-
ed to decide controverfies and quarrels. If any of the
perfons who took the oaths were perjured, they were
immediately puniftied fupernaturaliy ; and thofe whofe
oath, by the deities of the place, was fincere, departed
unhurt. 1 he Palici had alio an oracle, which was con-
fulted upon fome great emergencies, and. which rendered
the trueft and moft unequivocal anfwers. In a fuperfti-
tious age, the altars of the Palici were ftained with the
blood of human facrifices ; but this barbarous cuftom did
not laft long, as the deities were fatisfied with the ufual
offerings.
PALINDROMES, a verfe or fentence which runs
the fame when read either backwards or forwards. Such
is the verfe,
Roma tibi fubito motibus ibit amor.
Some people of leifure have refined upon the Palindro-
mus,and compofed verfes,each word of which is the fame
backwards as forwards ; for inftanee, that of Camden :
Odo tenet mulum, madidam mappam tenet Anna.
Anna tenet mappat?i madidam, mu him tenet Odo.
PALINGENESIA, among divines, the fame with
regeneration. Among the older chemifts, it denotes the
producing of a body from its principles.
PALINGENIUS,
PAL
!j>alingenius PALINGENIUS,Marcellus, an Italian poet, well
II known by a poem divided into 12 books, and en-
, titled Zodiacus Vitce, which he was feveral years in com-
pofing, and dedicated to Hercules II. of Efte, duke of
Ferrara. Some fay he was a phyfician to that prince :
others rank him among the learned Lutherans, to whom
the duchefs of Ferrara gave a reception in her court, and
honoured with her proteftion. His Zodiac contains good
things, and is a philofophical fatire againft immorality
and falfe prejudices. Of the author’s life, however, but
little is known. He died fome time between the years
1537 and 1543.
PALINODE , a dncourfe contrary to former avowed
principles ; hence the phrafe of palinodiam canere was
taken for a recantation.
PALINURIpromontorium (Virgil, Velleius), with
a cognominal port, was fituated at the fouth extremity
of the Sinus Pseftanus on the coaft of Lucania : fo called
from Palinurus, iEneas’s fteerfman, who there perifhed
(Mela, Dionyfius Haliearnaffeus).
PALINURUS, in Fabulous HiJIory, /Eneas’s pilot,
whofe fate Virgil very particularly defcribes. He fell
into the fea when alleep •, and was three days expofed to
the tempefts and its agitation, and at laft came fafe
afliore, when the cruel inhabitants of the place mur¬
dered him to get his clothes. His body was left un¬
buried on the fea there : and fince, according to the
religion of the old Romans, no one could crofs the
Stygian lake before 100 years were elapfed, if his re¬
mains had not been decently buried, we find ./Eneas,
when he went down to hell, fpeaking to Palinurus, and
afluring him, that though his bones were deprived of a
funeral, yet the place where his body was expofed thould
foon be adorned with a monument, and.bear his name j
and accordingly a promontory was called Palinurus,
PALISADES, in fortification, itakes made of throng
fplit wood, about nine feet long, fix or feven inches
fquare, three feet deep in the ground, in rows about two
and a half or three inches afunder, placed in the covert
way, at three feet from, and parallel to, the parapet or
fide of the glacis, to fecure it from furprife. They are
alfo ufed to fortify the avenues of open forts, gorges, half
moons, the bottoms of ditches, and in general all polls
liable to furprife. They are ufually fixed perpendicu¬
larly, though fome make an angle inclining towards the
ground next the enemy, that the ropes call over them to
tear them up may flip off.
Turning PALISADES ; an invention of M. Coehorn,
in order to preferve the palifades of the covert way
from the befiegers Ihot. 'They are fo ordered, that
as many of them as Hand in the length of a rod, or
about ten feet, turn up and down like traps, fo as not
to be in fight of the enemy till they juft bring on their
attack •, and yet are always ready to do the proper fer-
vice of palifades.
PALISSE, in Heraldry, a bearing like a range of
palifades before a fortification, reprefented on a feffe,
riling up a confiderable height, and pointed a-top, with
the field appearing between them.
P ALIURUS, in Botany. See Rhamnus, Botany
Index.
PALL, in Heraldry, a figure like a Greek y, about
the breadth of a pallet •, it is by fome heralds called
a crofs pall, on account of its being looked upon as an
archiepifcopal bearing.
PAL
PALL A, in Roman antiquity, a mantle which wo¬
men wore over the gown calledy?o/a. It was borne on
the left Ihoulder j whence palling to the other fide, under
the right arm, the two ends were bound under the left
arm, leaving the breaft and arm quite bare. It had a
great many folds, and derived its name from mx.\Xa, to
Jhake or tremble.
PALLADIO, Andrea, a celebrated Italian archi-
te£l of the 16th century, was. a native of Vicenza in
Lombardy, and the difciple of Trillin. He made exa<ft
drawings of the principal works of antiquity in Rome,
adding commentaries to them, which went through fe¬
veral impreflions. But this, though a very ufeful work,
was greatly exceeded by theTreatife of Architecture in
four books, which he publifhed in 1570. Inigo Jones
wrote fome excellent remarks on it 5 which were includ¬
ed in an edition of Palladio, publilhed by Leoni, in two
vols. folio, 1741.
PALLADIUM, in antiquity, a ftatue of the god-
defs Palias. It was about three cubits high, and re¬
prefented the goddefs fitting and holding a pike in her
right hand, and in her left a diftaff and a fpindle. It
fell down from heaven near the tent of Hus, as he was
building the citadel of Ilium. Some, however, fuppofe,
that it fell at Peffmus in Phrygia ; or, according to
others, Dardanus got it as a prefent from his mother
Ele£tra. There are fome who maintain, that the palla¬
dium was made with the bones of Pelops by Abaris j but
Apollodorus fays, that it was no more than a piece of
clockwork which moved of itfelf. However various
the opinions of ancient authors be about this celebrated
ftatue, it is univerfally allowed, that on its prefervation
depended the fafety of Troy.' This fatality the Greeks,
during the Trojan war, were well aware of; and there¬
fore Ulyffes and Diomedes were commiflioned to fteal it.
This they effected j and if we can rely upon the authority
of fome, they were directed how to carry it away by
Helenus, a fon of Priam, who in this betrayed his coun¬
try, becaufe his brother Deiphobus, at the death of Paris,
had married Helen, of whom he was enamoured. Mi¬
nerva was enraged at the violence offered to her ftatue 5
and, according to Virgil, the palladium itfelf feemed to
have received life and motion ; and by the flafhes which
ftarted from its eyes, and fudden fprings from the earth,
it feemed to fhovv the refentment of the goddefs. The
true palladium, as is obferved by fome, was not carried
away from Troy by the Greeks, but only a ftatue of
fimilar fize and lhape, which was placed near it, to de¬
ceive whatever facrilegious perfons attempted to fteal it.
The palladium, therefore, as they maintain, ALneas con¬
veyed fafe from Troy to Italy, and it was afterwards
preferved by the Romans with the greateft fecrecy and
veneration in the temple of Vefta ; a circumftance which
none but the veftal virgin? knew. It was efteemed the
deftiny of Rome ; and there wrere feveral others made
perfectly like it, to fecure it from being ftolen, as was
that of Troy, which the oracle of Apollo declared thould
never be taken fo long as the palladium was found with¬
in its Avails. A palladium Avas alfo placed by Nicias in
the citadel of Athens.
Palladium, one of the newly difeovered metals,
which is found alloyed Avith platina. See Chemistry
Index, and Ores, Reduction of, under Platina.
PALLADIUS, bifhop of Helenopolis in Bithynia,
and then of Afpona. He Avas a Galatian, and born at
Cappadocia,
[ 711 1
PAL
Palladius Cappadocia. He became an anchorite in the mountain
U. . .of Nebria in 388, and was confecrated a bifhop in 401.
. a aJlcul1' Hp. was an intimate friend of St John Chryfoftom, whom
he never forfook during the time of his perfecution, nor
even in his exile. He went to Rome fome time after
Chryfoftom’s death, and at the requeft of Laufus gover¬
nor of Cappadocia, compofed the Hi dory of the Ancho¬
rites or Hermits, and entitled it Laujiacu, after the name
of that lord, to whom he dedicated it in 420, when it
was written, being then the 20th year of his epifcopacy,
and 53d of his age. Palladius was accufed of being an
Origenift. It is true., he was an enemy to St Jerome,
of whom he does not fpeak well, and was intimately
conne&ed with Ruffinus •, but perhaps no good proof
can be brought of his Origenifm. He had been the dil-
ciple of Evagrias of Pontus, and was even fufpefled of
entertaining the fentiments of Pelagius. Pie died in the
qth century, but in what year is not certain. His Hi-
ilory was publiihed in Greek by Meurfius at Amfler-
dam in 1619, and in Latin in the Bibliotheca Patrurn ;
but he feems not to have been the writer of the Life of
St John Chryfoftom in Greek and Latin, by M. Bigot,
printed in 1680.
PALLAS, a freed man of Claudius, celebrated for
the power and the riches which he obtained. He ad-
vifed the emperor his mafter to marry Agrippina, and to
adopt her fon Nero for his fucceffor. It was through
him and Agrippina that the death of Claudius was ha-
ftened, and that Nero was raifed to the throne. Nero,
however, forgot to whom he was indebted for it. He
difcarded Pallas, and fome time after caufed him to be
put to death, that he might procure his great riches.
Pallas, a fmall planet lately difcovered, and be¬
longing to the folar fyftem. See PLANET.
vPALL AVICINI, Ferrante, an Italian writer,
defcended from a noble family in Placentia, was born
about the clofe of the 16th century. He foon gave
proofs of an extraordinary genius, and quickly improved
in claftical erudition. He was afterwards fent to com¬
plete his education in the monaftery of Auguftin friars at
Milan, where he took the habit, lived much efteemed
for piety and learning, and raifed great expeftations of
future fame j but being fomewhat amoroufly inclined,
he engaged in an intrigue with a young courtezan of
Venice, whofe charms proved irrefiftible •, and in order
to enjoy them without reftraint, he obtained leave from
his general to make the tour of France. Accordingly,
he pretended to fet out for that country ; but it was
only a blind to cover his real defign. He never left
Venice, but lived there privately, enchanted in the
arms of his Venus: and having too ready a talent at
invention, he impofed upon his friends by often fend¬
ing them in letters feigned accounts of his travels
. through France 5 alfo informing them of feveral things
refpefling that court, which he learned from the ad¬
vices of many confiderable perfons with whom he cor-
refponded.
His finances were in the mean time greatly reduced ;
and in this exigence he naturally had recourfe to his
wits for fupplies. He wrote for the bookfellers j and
compofed feveral pieces, more for the fake of lucre than
out of fondnefs for authorftiip. Among other ‘things,
he wrote a collection of letters, moftly fatirical, which
he called The Courier Robbed of his Mail. "1 he work
appeared at firft in fuch a caft, as could not give great
PAL
offence except to the Spaniards, againfi: whom he had Pallavicini*
fome grudge. The piece was accordingly licenfed by --v—
the inquifitors j but falling into the hands of the fe-
cretary of tire republic of Venice, who at that time
was licenfer of books, he would not give his imprima¬
tur, though great intereft was employed for that pur-
pofe, neither would he return the manufcript. This
enraged Pallavicini fo much, that had not his friends
reftrained him, he would have purfued the affair to his
ruin.
At length he found an opportunity of travelling
into Germany with the duke of Amalfi, as his chaplain.
This journey, as was to be expeCled, had no good ef-
fed either upon his wit or his morals. On the con¬
trary, finding lymfclf, from the manners of the Ger¬
mans, more at liberty, he indulged his genius and paf-
fions with greater eafe ; and after a refidence there of
upwards of a year with the duke, he returned to Ve¬
nice. He was now refolved to have his full meafure of
revenge againft the fecretary of the republic for keeping
his manufcript 5 and with him his refentmentjoined the
family of Barberini, Pope Urban VIII. and his nephews,
becaufe they alfo endeavoured, at the inftigation of the
Jefuits, to get all his manufcripts forbid the prefs. In
this rancorous fpirit he caft his Courier into r new mo¬
del, and enlarged it with many letters and difcourfes.
Thus new modelled, he offered it to a bookfeller, who
undertook to get it printed j but our author was betray¬
ed by a pretended friend ; who aCled the part of a fpyr
and informed the archbithop of Vitelli, then the pope’s
nuncio at Venice, juft as the work was finiftied at the
prefs : at the fame time, this treacherous friend bought
the rvhole impreffion; and upon the nuncio’s complaint,
Pallavicini was imprifoned. In this miferable condition
he found a friend in one of his miftrefles, who, feeing
him abandoned by moftof his patrons, not only fupport-
ed him, but conveyed letters to him, by which ftie gave
him fuch information as enabled him to make a proper
defence, and to recover his liberty.
But a war having in the mean time broken out be¬
tween the Barberini and the duke of Parma *, Palla¬
vicini, in order to revenge himfelf upon the fuppofed in-
ftruments of his imprifonment, wrote a piece entitled
“ The tinkling Inftrument to call together the Bar¬
berini Bees and dedicated it in terms of the pro-
foundeft contempt to the nuncio Vitelli. 1 he nuncio
finding that little notice was taken of his complaints
on the occafion, procured by bribery one Charles
Morfu, a Frenchman of infamous chara&er, who pre¬
tended to pafs for a gentleman, to enfnare Pallavicini :
to which end, the traitor ufed his beft endeavours to
infinuate himfelf into his friendftiip, and at length ex¬
horted him to accompany him to France. He de¬
clared that his fortune would be. made by the extraor¬
dinary encouragement which was given to men of let¬
ters by Cardinal Richelieu : and the better to favour
the deceit, he produced feigned letters from the Car¬
dinal, inviting our author to France, and exprefling a
defire he had to eftablfth in Paris an academy for, the
Italian tongue, under the direftion of Pallavicini. The
fnare took ^ and now, fafcinated by the profpeft of
gain, Pallavicini fuffered himfelf to be led like an ox
to the flaughter, whitherfoever Morfu thought pro¬
per. He left Venice much againft the advice of his
friends, and went firft to Bergamo, where he fpent a
[ 712 1
PAL [7
Pallavicini. fe\v days with fome of his relations, by way of giving
u—v fome entertainment to Morfu. They then fet off for
Geneva, to the great fatisfa6tion of our author, who
propofed to get fome of his works printed there, which
he had not been able to do in Italy. Morfu, how¬
ever, inftead of conducing him to Paris, took the
road to Avignon*, where, eroding the bridge of So-
races, in the county of Venaiffin, they were feized by
a gang of Jbirri^ or iheriff’s officers, on pretence of
carrying contraband goods, and confined. Morfu was
quickly difeharged, and very liberally rewarded ; but
Pallavicini, being carried to Avignon, was imprifoned;
and notwithftanding, on his examination concerning
fome papers found upon him, he made a very artful
defence, it was in vain. The fentence was already
brought from Rome, and he was to undergo^ a trial
merely for form’s fake. For this purpofe being put
into a dark dungeon, he made another effort to efcape.
He managed matters fo well with his keeper, as to pro¬
cure wax candles to be allowed him, under pretence of
amufing himfelf with reading, and when he had got
a number of thefe, he fet fire one night to the prifon
door, in order to get off by that means ; but the ftra-
tagem did not fucceed, and he was of courfe confined
much clofer, and treated with great inhumanity. Af¬
ter a year’s fuffering, he was brought to trial, in which
he made an excellent defence, and flattered himfelf with
hopes of relief. He had even begun a whimfical piece
on the fubjeft of melancholy j but, contrary to his ex¬
pectations, he was fentenced to die, and loft his head
on a fcaffold in the flower of his age.
He tyas of fo heedlefs and profufe a difpofition, that
had he poffeffed an immenfe eftate he would have fpent
it .all. He was never engaged in a virtuous paffion, be¬
ing inflamed to a prodigious and unnatural degree with
the love of the meaneft and moft infamous proftitutes.
On the other hand, no one could be more fincere and
faithful in his friendftrips, nor was ever a man a greater
prey to treachery ; infomuch that, when releafed from
prifon in Venice, he was told that a wretch had betrayed
him, he could not be prevailed upon to believe it, faying,
“ How can this be, fince he declared himfelf my friend,
and I made him privy to all my concerns !” He ufed,
while he wore a religious habit, to ftudy or write two
or three hours in bed every morning. The reft of the
day he fpent either in the company of idle perfons, or
elfe with the ladies : but after he had wholly left the
monaftic life, upon pretence of fecuring himfelf from
the fnares of his enemies, he lived in a very irregular
manner. He was poffeffed of a fine genius, had a
great facility in writing; and till he was corrupted by
the commerce of mean lewd women, he wrote pieces
worthy of immortality. He did not fpend much time
or pains either in compofition or in revifion, for he fre¬
quently fent to the prefs the very firft exertions of his
genius*, yet nature had given him fo noble a vein of elo¬
quence, which he had greatly improved by perufing the
beft authors, that his firft thoughts were often equal to
the moft laboured compofitions. He was modeft, and
fpoke of himfelf with diffidence: but his works are
ftrongly tinCIured with envy, malice, and gall. He
made but a poor figure in converfation j and when with
perfons of worth and diftin&ion, would often retire to
a corner of the room, and feem quite wrapt up in
thought. He never exerted his wit and humour after
VoL. XV. Part II.
/ '
S ■ 1 PAL-
his return from Germany, but when he was in the com- Pahavicuu
pany of fome mean women. Upon the whole, it is dif- pJto_
ficult to determine whether vice 01 virtue was the moft
predominant feature in his charaCler. His death gave
birth to a dialogue, entitled, Anima erremti di Ferrante
Pallavicini, or, “ The wandering Ghoft of Pallavici¬
ni.” Befides his life at the head of his works in two
volumes, there is another prefixed to the “ Divortio ee-
lelle,” at Amfterdam, 1696.
PALLENE, a fmall peninfula of Thrace or Mace¬
donia, formerly called Phlegra. It is fituated near the
bay of Thermae, and contains five cities, the principal of
which is called Pallene. It was famous, according to
fome of the ancients, for an engagement between the
gods and the giants.
PALLET, among painters, a little oval table, or
piece of wood or ivory, very thin and fmooth ; on and
round which the painters place the feveral colours they
have occafion for, to be ready for the pencil. 1 he
middle ferves to mix the colours on, and to make the
tints required in the work. It has no handle, but, in¬
ftead thereof, a hole at one end to put the thumb through
to hold it.
Pallet, among potters, crucible makers, &c. a
wooden inftrumeHt, almoft the only one they ufe, for
forming, beating, and rounding their works. They
have feveral kinds: the largeft are oval, with a handle;
others are round, or hollowed triangularly ; others,
in fine, are in manner of large knives, ferving to cut
off whatever is fuperfluous on the moulds of their
work.
Pallet, in gilding, an inftrument made of a fquir-
rel’s tail, to take up the gold leaves from the pillow,
and to apply and extend them on the matter to be gilt.
See Gilding.
Pallet, in Heraldry, is nothing but a fmall pale,
confifting of one half of it in breadth, and there¬
fore there are fometimes feveral of them upon one
ffiield.
Pallet, is alfo a part belonging to the balance of a
watch or movement. See the article Watch.
PAL LI AT iE, a name which the Romans gave to
fuch plays as laid the plot in Greece, and required the
performers to appear in Grecian habits. It is ufed in
contradiftinftion to togatce, in which the feene was laid
at Rome, and in which the dreffes were Roman. The
word palliatse is derived from 'pallium, which was a part
of drefs peculiar to the Greeks; whereas the toga be,
longed to the Romans only. See Togatai, Come¬
dy, &c.
PALLIATION, or a Palliative Cure, in Medi¬
cine, is when, in defperate and incurable difeafes, after
predidling the fatal event, the phyfician preferibes fome
remedies for mitigating the pain or fome other urgent
fymptoms, as in ulcerated cancers, or cancerous fiftulas,
and the like.
PALLIO cooperire. It was an ancient cuftom,
where children were born out of lawful wedlock, and
their parents were afterwards married, that thofe child-,
ren, together with the father and mother, fliould ftand
pallia cooperti, under a cloth, while the marriage was fo-
lemnizing; which rvas a kind of adoption, and had the
effe£t of a legitimation. Thus Robert Grofthead, the
famous bifhop of Lincoln, in one of his letters fays :
In lignum legitimatianis, nati ante matrimonium coufue-
4 X verunt
PAL [7
•uerunt pom fub pailio fuper parentes eorum extento in
matrimonii folernnizatione.
Selden, in his notes on Fleta, adds, that the children
of John of (jaunt, duke of Lancafter, by Catharine
Swinford, though legitimated by a£i of parliament, yet
■were covered with the pall when the parents were mar¬
ried.
PALLIUM, a word often mentioned in our old
hiftorians. Durandus tells us, that it is a garment
made of white wool, after the following manner, viz.
The nuns of St Agnes, every year, on the feafl day of
their faint, offer two white lambs on the altar of their
church, during the time they fing Agnus Dei, in a fo-
lemn rnafs 5 which lambs are afterwards taken by two
of the canons of the Lateran church, and by them gi¬
ven to the pope’s fubdeacons, who fend them to paflure
till (hearing time, and then they are (horn, and the pall
is made of their wool mixed with other white wool.
The pall being thus made, is carried to the Lateran
church, and there placed on the high altar, by the dea¬
cons of that church, on the bodies of St Peter and St
Paul } and after an ufual watching, it is carried away
in the night, and delivered to the (ubdeacons, who lay
It up fafe. And becaufe it was taken from the body of
St Peter, it fignifies the plenitude of ecclefiaftieal
power : and therefore it was the prerogative of popes,
who pretend to be the immediate fucceitors of that faint,
to inveft other prelates with it ; which at firft was
done nowhere but at Rome, though afterwards at other
places.
Pallium, in antiquity, an upper garment or mantle
worn by the Greeks, as the toga was by the Romans.
Each of thefe was fo peculiar to the refpedlive nations,
that Palliutus is ufed to fignify a Greek, and Togatus a
Roman.
PALM, has among almoft all nations been regarded
as an emblem of vidtory, and affigned as the reward of
it. The reafon why this tree was adopted, and made
ufe of to reprefent vidory, is faid to be, becaufe it
is fo elaftic, that if prefled by the greatelt weight, it
will rife fuperior to the prclfure, and be able to re-
ftore itfelf to its former (late, appearing almoft invin¬
cible.
PALM-Sunday, in the Chriftian church, the Sunday
next before Eafter ; being fo called in memory of our
Saviour’s triumphal entry into Jerufalem, when the mul¬
titude that attended him ftrewed branches on his way.
The ancients had other names for this day. For, 1.
They call it Dominica Competentium, i. e. Sunday of
the Competentes ; becaufe on that day the catechumens
came to afk the bilhop leave to be admitted to baptifm,
which was conferred the Sunday following. They had
alfo then given them the fymbol or credo, to get off by
heart, to be repeated to the bilhop in the ceremony of
baptifm 2. They called it Capitihivium, the Sunday
of wafhing the head ; becaufe thofe that were to be bap¬
tized the following Sunday were prepared by wafhing
their heads on this day. Some time afterwards they
called it Indulgence Sunday, becaufe the emperors and
patriarchs ufed to diftribute gifts on that day.
PALM-Tree. See Phoenix, Botany Index.
PALMA, or PALMA Nova, a very ftrong town of
Italy, in Friuli, in the territory of Venice. It is a very
important place, for the defence of the Venetians againft
the Auftrians and Turks ^ and was built in 1593, for
2
14 1 PAL
that very purpofe. Ihey have cut ‘a canal near this Palma
place, which is very advantageous. It is feated on li
the fea fide, 10 miles fouth-eaft of Udino, and cr,P^lmer-
north-eaft of Venice. Eaft Long. 13. 15. North Lat. il011’s‘fiJ^-
46. 2.
Palma, an ifland in the Atlantic ocean, and one of
the Canaries, 56 miles north-weft of Gomera, and about
75 iu circumference. It abounds in wine and fugar j
and has a handfome town of the fame name, which car¬
ries on'a trade in wine to the Weft Indies and other
parts. Their beft vines grow in a foil called the Brenia,
where they make 12,000 butts of wine every year,
which is well known by the name of palm wine. There
is plenty of cattle, and all forts of fruits. In 1623 a
volcano broke out in this ifland, with a moft violent
earthquake ; the flame was feen for fix weeks toge¬
ther, and a great quantity of allies were thrown as-
far as Teneriffe. It ‘was conquered by the Spaniards'
in 1460.
PALMAI, Palms. Under this name Linmeus has
arranged feveral genera, which, although capable of a
place in feparate clafles of his fyftem, he choofes ra¬
ther, on account of their lingular ftru&ure, to place
apart, in an appendix to the work.—See Botany In¬
dex.
The fame plants conftitute one of the feven families
or tribes into which all vegetables are diftribute.d by
Linnaeus in his Phitofophiu Botanica. They are defined
to be plants with fimple ftems, which at their fummit
bear leaves refembling thofe of the ferns, being a
compofition of a leaf and a branch ; and whofe flowers
and fruit are produced on that particular receptacle
or feat called a fpadix, protruded from a common ca¬
lyx in form of a (heath or fcabbard, termed by Linnae-
w&fpatha.
Palnue is likewife the name of the firft order in Lin¬
naeus’s Fragments of a Natural Method.
PALMARIS MUSCLE, in ylnatomy. See there,
Table of the Mufcles.
PALMATED, fomething refembling the (hape
of the hand : thus we fay, palmated leaves, roots,
ftones, &c.
PALMERSTON’S Island, fituated in the South
Seas, which Captain Gook vifited in his fecond and laft
voyages. It confifts of a group of fmall iflets, nine or
ten in number, connected by a reef of coral rocks, and
lying in a circular dire61 ion. It admits of no anchor¬
age, nor are there any inhabitants on it, though it
abounds with cocoa nuts, feurvy grafs, and the wharra
tree. This ifland is not more than a mile in circumfe¬
rence, and is not elevated above three feet above the
level of the fea. It confifts entirely of a coral fand,
with a fmall mixture of blackifli mould, which appear¬
ed to be produced from rotten vegetables. “ At one
part of the reef (fay our navigators), which bounds the
lake within, almoft even with the furface, there was a
large bed of coral, which afforded a moft enchanting
profpe6f. Its bafe, which was fixed to the Ihore, ex¬
tended fo far that it could not be feen, fo that it appear¬
ed to be fufpended in the water. Even this delightful
fcene was greatly improved by the multitude of fifties
that gently glided along, feemingly with the moft per-
fe6! fecurity. Their colours were the moft beautiful
that can be imagined, blue, yellow, black, red, &< far
excelling any thing that can be produced by art. The
ricknefs
PAL [ 71
Palmer- richnefs of tilts fubmarine grotto was greatly increafed
(ton’s ifland their various forms ; and the whole could not poffi-
II biy be furveyed without a pleafing tranfport, accompa-
,5all^>ra’ , mod at the fame time with regret, that a work fo aflo- .
nilhingly elegant thould be concealed in a place fo fel-
dom explored by the human eye.” E. Long. 196. 35*
S. Lat. 18. 8.
PALMIPEDES, among ornithologifls, the fame
with web-footed birds. See ORNITHOLOGY.
PALMISTRY, a kind of divination, or rather a
deceitful art praftifed by gyplies, who pretend to foretel
events by looking upon the lines and marks of the hand.
PALM US, a long meafure ufed both by the Greeks
and Romans. The Grecian palmus was of two forts *,
the greater, which contained nine finger breadths, and
the lefs which contained four. The Roman palmus was
alio of two forts *, the greater, which contained twelve
finger breadths, or eight inches and a half Englilh j and
the lefs, which contained four finger breadths, or near
three inches Englilh.— the great palmus was taken
from the length of the hand or fpan 5 the lefs from the
breadth of it. The Greek palmus was called iloran.
See Measure.
PALMYRA, or Tadmor, a noble city of ancient
Syria, now in ruins, the origin of whofe name is un¬
certain. Neither is it well known by whom this city
Avas built •, for though, from the identity of the names,
it is thought by many to have been the Ttrdmor in the
* 1 Kings, wildernefs built by Solomon *, this point, however, is
ix. iS. and much controverted by many learned men. For the
2 Chron. xvorld have been long and jutlly aftonifhed to find in the
Me tus defert of Syria, at a diltance from the fea, with a very
Antljud. precarious and fcanty fupply of water only, and without
lib. i. a particular connexion Avith any great monarchy, ruins
of a city more extenfive and fplendid than Rome itfelf,
the depofitary of all the arts Avhich Greece in its molt
flourifhing periods could afford. I he problem is an in¬
tricate one j yet when rve diveft it of many of its diffi-
vulties, avc lhall bring this llupendous prodigy to no ve¬
ry uncommon magnitude. The coaft of Syria Avas in
Arery early ages rich and populous 5 and either from the
eonveniencv of procuring Avater, or from the vicinity of
India and Egypt, the population, inftead of increafing
on the mountains, extended to Judea, and from thence
through its plains only to the internal parts. The ruins
of this numerous people, and of their habitations, re¬
main } but as their edifices were not uncommonly fplen¬
did, or, as the caufes of their deftru&ion Avere powerful,
they have not attrafted much attention. Yet the ruins
of more than 30 towns are difcoverable to the fouth-
eaft of the Dead Sea, and from thence towards Tadmor
or Palmyra ; we knorv the caufe of the deftru&ion of
thefe towns, and avc know that it did not reach Palmy¬
ra. This fplendid city was not, therefore, infulated in
a mafs of fand : it Avas probably a link of a continued
chain of population, or perhaps its termination. The
fituations of towns in the fandy defert muft necefiarily
be determined by local advantages. Eadmoris fituated
Avhere two hills converge, and beyond the point Avbere
they approach. Thefe hills afforded water, that necef-
fary aid to animal life ; and the aquedufts through
Avhich it was brought from them Avere difcovered and
defcribed by Mr Wood. Though the other towns now
in ruins afford feme remains of luxury and opulence, yet
in thefe refpefts they are much inferior to Palmyra j and
5 1
PAL
this deferves to be explained. Palmyra was undoubted- Palmyra,
ly very ancient. “ The two fprings of frefh water it v~,“~
poflefles (fays Volney *) were, above all, a powerful in-* Travels
ducement in a defert everywhere elie fo parched and t^rongh ^
barren. Thefe, doubtlefs, were the two principal mo-jE^'
tives which drew the attention of Solomon, and induced
that commercial prince to carry his arms h> remote
from the limits of Judea.” “ He built iirong Avails
there (fays the hiftorian Jofcpbus), to fecure himfelf in
the poffeflion, and named it Tadmor, Avhich lignifies the
Place of Palm trees.” Hence it has been inferred that
Solomon Avas its firft founder •, but we Ihould, from this
paffage, be rather led to conclude that it was already a
place of known importance. The palm trees he found
there are not the trees of uninhabited countries. Prior
to the days of Mofes, the journeys of Abraham and Ja¬
cob from Mefopotamia into Syria, fufficiently prove a
communication between thefe countries, which mult
foon have made Palmyra flourilh. The cinnamon and
pearls mentioned in the time of the Hebrew legifiator,
demonftrate a trade with India and the Perfian gulf,
Avhich muft have been carried on by the Euphrates and
Palmyra. At this diftance of time, when the greater
part of the monuments of thefe early ages have perill¬
ed, avc are liable to form very falfe opinions concerning
the ftate of thefe countries in thofe remote times, and
are the more eafily deceived, as avc admit as hiftorical
fadfs antecedent events of an entirely different charadler.
If we obferve, however, that men in all ages are united
by the fame in ter efts and the fame defires, Ave cannot
help concluding, that a commercial intercourfe muft ear¬
ly have taken place between one nation and another, and
that this intercourfe muft have been nearly the fame
Avith that of more modern times. Without, therefore,
going higher than the reign of Solomon, the invafion of
Tadmor by that prince is fufficicnt alone to throAV a
great light on the hiftory of this city. The king of
Jerufalem would never have carried his attention to fo
diftant and detached a fpot, Avithout fome poAverful mo¬
tive of intereft; and this intereft could be no other than
that of an extenfive commerce, of which this place was
already the emporium. This commerce extended itfelf
to India •, and^ the Perfian gulf was the principal point
of union.”
From the nature of the commodities, from the requi-
fite aftiftance of the Tyrians, and other forcible argu¬
ments, M. Volney ftiows that the Perfian gulf was the
centre of the molt ancient commerce of the eaftern
Avorld ; and that it Avas Avith a vieAV of obtaining a
fiiorter route, by means of the Euphrates, that Solomon
turned his attention to Tadmor, diftant but three days
journey from it. Our author goes on, “ We may even
reafonablyconjedture, Avhcn we reflect on the revolutions
of the following ages, that this commerce became a
principal caufe of thofe various Avars in Lower Afia, for
Avhich the barren chronicles of thofe early times aflign
no motives. If, after the reign of Solomon, the Affy-
rians of Nineveh turned their ambitious views towards
Chaldea, and the lower part of the Euphrates, it was
Avith the intention to approach that great fource of opu¬
lence the Perfian gulf. If Babylon, from being the
vaffal of Nineveh, in a fhort time became her rival, and
the feat of a neAV empire, it Avas becaufe her' fituation
rendered her the emporium of this lucrative trade j in
Ihort, if the kings of this great city waged perpetual
4X2 wars
Palmyra.
PAL [ y
wars with Jerufalein and Tyre, their obieft was not on¬
ly to dt'lpoil thefe cities of their riches, but to prevent
their invading their trade by the way of the Red lea.
An hiftorian who has informed us that Nabuchodonofor,
before he laid liege to Jerufalein, took poffeflion of Tad-
mor, clearly indicates that the latter city adfed in con¬
cert with the two neighbouring capitals. Their gra¬
dual decline became, under the Perlian empire, and the
fucceffurs of Alexander, the efficient caufe of the fud-
den greatnefs of Palmyra in the time of the Parthians
and Romans 5 (he then enjoyed a long peace for many
centuries, which allowed her inhabitants to eredl thofe
monuments of opulence whole ruins we Hill admire.”
If the former obfervations Ihowed the connexion of this
remote fpot with a more populous country, thefe re¬
marks explain the caufe of the renovation, and of the
magnificence of this city. Our author’s remarks are at
lead probable, and are, in our opinion, very convincing.
Cairo, in another, probably a fubordinate route, never
attained the fpltndour of Palmyra ; but the genius
of the Egyptians, perhaps the laws of Egypt, prevent¬
ed it.
There is, however, no authentic hiftory of Palmyra
till after the captivity of the Roman emperor Valerian
by the Perlians. It is firlt mentioned by the Roman
hiftorians, as a place which Mark Antony attempted to
plunder, upon pretence that it had not obferved a juft
neutrality between the Romans and Parthians. Pliny
takes notice of it as being fituated in a rich foil, among
pleafant ftreams, and totally feparated from the reft of
the world by a vaft fandy defert, which had preferved
its independence between Parthia and Rome. There is
ftill a confiderabie fpot of good foil next the town and
on the hills •, and even in the wildernefs, there were
palms and fig trees, fome of which remained till the
latter end of the 17th century, though not one is now
to be found.
After the captivity of Valerian, it was become an
opulent city, to which its fituation in the vicinity of the
Roman and Parthian empires greatly contributed •, as
the caravans, in going to or returning from the eaft, fre¬
quented the place, and thus rendered it a confiderabie
leaf of merchandife. It enjoyed an independency till
the time of Trajan j who, having made himfelf mafter
of almoft all the Parthian empire, reduced Palmyra
likewife, and it was afterwards accounted part of the
Roman dominions. But when the defeat and capti¬
vity of Valerian had fo much weakened the empire, that
the Perlians feemed to be in a fair way of becoming
mailers of all the eaftern provinces, the Palmyrenians
began to entertain thoughts of recovering their liberty.
Odenathus, prince of Palmyra, fent a very refpeeftful
letter to Sapor on his return, accompanied with confi¬
derabie prefents ; but by that haughty conqueror his
letter and embaffy were treated with the moft provoking
contempt. The prefents were thrown into the Eu¬
phrates : and to his letter Sapor replied. That his info-
lence in- prefuming to write to his lord was inexcufable ;
but if he could atone for it in any way, it would be. by
prefenting himfelf before the throne, bound hand and
fe 1. in token of a confcioufnefs of his crime, and the
pi'nifhment he deferved. With this injurious treatment
Odenathus was fo provoked, that he fwore either to
bri g down the pride of the haughty conqueror, or die
in the attempt. Accordingly, having affembled what
6 ] PAL
forces he could, he fell upon the Perfians, deftroyed a Palmyra,
number of them, took a great part of their baggage, and v—-
fome of the king’s concubines. Of the war ol Odena¬
thus with the Perfians, however, we know very little :
only that though the latter were often vanquilhed and
the independency of Palmyra eftabliffied for the pre-
fent yet Valerian was never releafed from his captivi¬
ty, though Odenalhus earneftly wiihed to have the ho¬
nour of refcuing him from his enemies.
Odenathus enjoyed his fovereignty but a very fliort
time ; being murdered by his nephew, who was foon
after put to death by Zenobia the wife of Odenathus.
This lady is faid to have been poffelfed of very extra¬
ordinary endowments both of body and mind, being, ac¬
cording to Mr Gibbon, almoft the only Afiatic woman
who is recorded to have overcome the obftacles arifing
from the confined fituation of the fair fex in that part
of the world. Immediately on taking vengeance for
the murder of her huffiand, ftie aflumed the govern¬
ment, and foon ftrengthened herfelf fo much, that ffie
refolved to fubmit neither to the Roman nor Perfian
power. The neighbouring Hates of Arabia, Armenia,
and Perfia, dreaded her enmity, and folicited her alli¬
ance. To the dominions of Odenathus, which extend¬
ed from the Euphrates to the frontiers of Bithynia, his
widow added the inheritance of her anceftors, the popu¬
lous and fertile kingdom of Egypt. The emperor
Claudius acknowledged her merit, and was content, that,
while he purfued the Gothic Avar, ffie ffiould aflert the
dignity of the empire in the eaft. The conduft, how¬
ever, of Zenobia, was attended with fome ambiguity j
nor is it unlikely that ffie had conceived the defign of
erefling an independent and hoftile monarchy. She
blended with the popular manners of Roman princes the
ftately pomp of the courts of Afia, and exafted from her
fubjefls the fame adoration that was paid to the fuccef-
fors of Cyrus. She beftowed on her three fons a Latin
education, and often ffiowed them to the troops adorned
with the imperial purple. For herfelf ffie referved the '
diadem, with the fplendid but doubtful title of ^ueenof
the eaft.
When Aurelian pafled over into Afia, againft an ad-
verfary whofe fex alone could render her an object of
contempt, his prefence reftored obedience to the province
of Bithynia, already (haken by the arms and intrigues of
Zenobia. Advancing at the head of his legions, he ac¬
cepted the fubmiffion of Ancyra 5 and was admitted in¬
to Tyana, after an obftinate fiege, by the help of a per¬
fidious citizen. The generous, though fierce temper of
Aurelian, abandoned the traitor to the rage of the fol-
diers : a fuperftitious reverence induced him to treat
with lenity the countrymen of Apollonius the philofo-
pher. Antioch was deferted on his approach j till the
emperor, by his falutary edidls, recalled the fugitives,
and granted a general pardon to all who, from neceffity
rather than choice, had been engaged in the fervice of
the Palmyrenian queen. The unexpected mildnefs of
fuch a conduCt reconciled the minds of the Syrians, and
as far as the gates of Emtfa, the Aviffies of the people
feconded the terror of his arms.
Zenobia would have ill deferved her reputation, had
ffie indolently permitted the emperor of the Weft to-
approach within 100 milg* of her capital. The fate of
the Eaft was decided in two great battles *, fo fimilar in
almoft every circumftance, that we can fcarcely diftin-
/
PAL [7
Palmyra. ffuiPn them from each other, except by obferving that
y ~ 1 the tirlt was fought near Antioch, and the fecund near
Etnefa. In both, the queen of Palmyra animated the
armies by her prefence, and devolved the execution of
her orders on Zabdas, who had already fignalized his
military talents by the conqueft of Egypt, i'he nume¬
rous forces of Zenobia confided for the moft part of
light archers, and of heavy cavalry clothed in complete
Heel. I'he Moorilh and Illyrian horfe of Aurelian
were unable to fuftain the ponderous charge of their an-
tag milts. They fled in real or affefted diforder, enga¬
ged the Palmyrenians in a laborious purfuit, haraffed
them by a delultory combat, and at length difeomtited
this impenetrable but unwieldy body of cavalry. 1 he
light infantry, in the mean time, when they had exhault-
ed their quivers, remaining without protection againlt a
cloler onfet, expofed their naked fides to the Iwords of
the legions. Aurelian had chofen thefe veteran troops,
who were ufually ttationed on the Upper Danube, and
whofe valour had been feverely tried in the Aliemannic
war. After the defeat of Emefa, Zenobia found it im-
poflible to colled a third army. As far as the frontier
of Egypt, the nations fubjeCt to her empire had joined
the ftandard of the conqueror j who detached Probus,
the. braved of his generals, to poffefs himfelf of the
Egyptian provinces. Palmyra was the lail refource of
the widow of Odenathus. She retired within the walls
of her capital; made every preparation for a vigorous
refiftance; and declared with the intrepidity of a hero¬
ine, that the laft moment of.her reign and of her life
fhould be the fame.
In his march over the Tandy defert, between Emefa
and Palmyra, the emperor Aurelian was perpetually
liaraflbd by the Arabs ; nor could he always defend his
army, and efpecially his baggage, from thofe flying
troops of aClive and daring robbers, who watched the
moment of furprife, and derided the flow purfuit of the
legions. The liege of Palmvra was an objeCl far more
difficult and important j and the emperor, who with
inceffant vigour preflfed the attacks in perfon, was him¬
felf wounded with a dart. “ The Roman people, (fays
Aurelian in an original letter), fpeak with contempt of
the war which I am waging againfl; a woman, i hey
are ignorant both of the character and of the power of
Zenobia. It is impoffible to enumerate her warlike
prep irations, of Hones, of arrows, and of every fpecies
of miflile weapons. Every part of the walls is provided
with two or three balillae, and artificial fires are thrown
from her military engines. The fear of punilhment has
armed her with a defperate courage. Yet I trull Hill
in the protefting deities of Rome, who have hitherto
been favourable to all my undertakings.” Doubtful,
however, of the protedion of the gods, and of the event
of the fiege, Aurelian judged it more prudent to offer
terms of an advantageous capitulation : to the queen, a
fplendid retreat ; to the citizens, their ancient privi¬
leges. His propofals were obftinately rejected, and the
refufal was accompanied with infult.
The firmnefs of Zenobia wa?> fupported by the hope
that in a verv Ihort time famine would compel the Ro¬
man army to repafs the defert ; and by the reafonable
expectation that the kings of the Ealt, and particularly
the Perlian monarch, would arm in the defence of their
molt natural ally. But fortune, and the perfeverance
*f Aurelian, overcame every obltacle. The death of
17 ] PAL
Sapor, which happened about this time, chflraAed the Pabnyia-
councils of Perlia j and the inconliderable iuccours that
attempted to relieve Palmyra were eaiily intercepted
either by the arms or the liberality of the emperor.
From every part of Syria a regular lucceffion of con¬
voys fafely arrived in the camp, which was increafed by
the return of Probus with his victorious troops from the
conqueft of Egypt. It was then that Zenobia relbived
to fly. She mounted the fleetefl of her dromedaries ;
and had already reached the banks of the Euphrates,
about 60 miles from Palmyra, when fhe was overtaken
by the purfuit of Aurelian’s light-horfe, feized, and
brought back a captive to the feet of the emperor.
Her eapitai loon after furrendered, and was treated with
unexpected lenity. The arms, horfes, and camels, with
an immenfe treafure of tgold, filver, filk, and precious
ftones, were all delivered to the conqueror; who, lea¬
ving only a garrifon of 6co archers, returned to Emefa,
and employed fome time in the didribution of rewards
and punilhments at the end of fo memorable a war,
which reftored to the obedience of Rome thofe provin¬
ces that had renounced their allegiance fince the capti¬
vity of Valerian.
When the Syrian queen was brought into the pre¬
fence of Aurelian, he flernly afked her, How fhe had
prefumed to rife in arms againfl the' emperors of Rome ?
The anfwer of Zenobia was a prudent mixture of re-
fpeCf and firmnefs : “ Becaufe I difdained to confider as
Roman emperors an Aureolusor a Gallienus. You alone
I acknowledge as my conqueror and my fovereign.”
But as female fortitude is commonly artificial, fo it is
feldom Heady or confiftent. The courage of Zenobia
deferted her in the hour of trial; fhe trembled at the
angry clamours of the foldiers, who called aloud for her
immediate execution ; forgot the generous ddpair of
Cleopatra, which fhe had propofed as her model ; and
ignominioufly purchafed life by the facrifice of her fame
and her friends. It was to their councils, which govern¬
ed the weaknefs of her fex, that fhe imputed the guilt
of her obftinate refiftance; it was on their heads that
Ihe direCfed the vengeance of the cruel Aurelian. The
fame of Longinus, who was included among the nume¬
rous and perhaps innocent victims of her fear, will !ur-
vive that of the queen who betrayed, or the tyrant who
condemned him. Genius and learnirg were incapable,
of moving a fierce unlettered foldier, but they had fer-
ved to elevate and harmonife the foul of Longinus.
Without uttering a complaint, he calmly followed the
executioner, pitying his unhappy mittrefs, and beftowing
comfort on his afflicted friends.
Returning from the conqueft of the Eaft, Aurelian
had already crofted the flraits which divided Europe
from Alia, when he was provoked by the intelligence
that the Palmvrenians had maffacred the governor and
garrifon which he had left among them, and again
ereCted the flandard of revolt. Without a moment’s
deliberation, lie once more turned his face towards
Syria. Antioch was alarmed by his rapid approach,
and the helplefs city of Palmyra felt the irreiiftible
weight of his refentment. We have a letter of Aure¬
lian himfelf, in which he acknowledges that old men,
women, children, and peafants, had been involved in
that dreadful execution, which Ihould have been con¬
fined to armed rebellion : and although his principal
concern fieems directed to the re-eftablifhment of a
tempi®
v
PAL [ 71
Palmyra, temple of the fan, he difcovers fome pity for the rem-
 ' v_l~' nant of the Palmyrenians, to whom he grants the per-
milhon of rebuilding and inhabiting their city. But it
is eafier to deftroy than to reitore. The feat of com¬
merce, of arts, and of Zenobia, gradually funk into an
obfcure town, a trifling fortrefs, and at length a mifer-
ablc village.
Little is known concerning the fortunes of Palmyra
fince the time of Mahomet, except that it was confi-
dered as a place of flxength : and that in the i2th
century there were 2000 Jews in it. With refpeft
to the ruins, they appeared to be of two different and
diftincff periods •, the oldeit are fo far decayed as not to
admit of menfuration, and look as if they had been’re¬
duced to that flate by the hand of time ; the others ap¬
pear to have been broken into fragments by violence.
Of the inferiptions none are earlier than the birth of
Chrift, and none are later than the deftruflion of the
city by Aurelian, except one, which mentions Diocle-
13 an.
Mr Wood is of opinion, that the face of the coun¬
try which furrounds Palmyra was always the fame ;
• but though Palmyra was always faid to be fituated
in a wildernefs, it does not follow that the wildernefs
was always of the fame extent : It is perhaps more
probable, that rvhen Palmyra was firft fettled, the
rich foil mentioned by Pliny extended much farther *,
for whatever were the reafons for making a fettlement
there, Palmyra can fcarcely be fuppofed to have in¬
vited a greater number of people than it could feed.
The palms and fig trees that were formerly found on
the hills, and in the borders of the defert, that are now
totally barren, confirm this opinion. Mr Wood ob-
ferves, that while he was there a whirlwind happened,
which took up fuch quantities of fand as quite darken¬
ed the Iky 5 this fand therefore might by degrees en¬
croach upon the fertile environs of Palmyra, and re¬
duce the number of inhabitants as it reduced their fuf-
“tenance, till the few wretched families only rvere left,
who found it difficult to furnifh food for Mr Wood and
his company, though they did not continue longer than
a fortnight among them. It will alfo appear from hif-
tory, that what is fuppofed to have happened here has
happened at other places, where fuch an event was
* Memoirs much lefs probable. * On the fea coatt in the neigh-
of French bourhood of St Pol de Leon, in Lower Bretagne, there
is a confiderable tra£! of land which before the year
1666 was inhabited, but which was rendered uninha¬
bitable by a fand, which encroaching every year, co¬
vered it to the depth of above 20 feet. In the year
1718 it had advanced more than fix leagues, and within
one league of St Pol ; fo that it was then thought pro¬
bable that the town would of neceffity be abandoned.
This fand is raifed by the eaff or north-eafl wind, which
drives it in clouds w'ith great fwiltnefs, and in a pro¬
digious quantity. It w'as alfo attefted by the captain
of a fhip, and all on board, that in the year 1719 there
fell in the Atlantic ocean, at 15 degrees of north la¬
titude, and at the diftance of more than eight leagues
from any land, a {bower of fand, fome of which they
I jjyi 0f produced, and depofited in the academy at Paris f.
the Acad. The company with whom Mr Wood, the publiffier
*77*. of the Ruins of Palmyra, travelled, arrived at length
at the end qf the plain, where a ridge of barren hills,
by which it was divided on the right and left, feemed
Academy
Jor 1718.
8 ] PAL
to meet 5 between them there was a vale, through Palmyra,
which an aqueduft formerly conveyed water to Pal--
myra. On each fide of this vale they remarked feve-
ral fepulchres of the ancient Palmyrenes, which they
had fcarce pafftd, when the hills opening on a Ridden,
they difeovered Rich piles of ruin as they had never
feen. They were all of white marble 5 and beyond
them, towards the Euphrates, was a wide level, {{retch¬
ing farther than the eye could reach, totally defolate,
without variety, and without bounds. After having
gazed fome time upon this profpeft, which rather ex¬
ceeded than fell fiiort ot their expectations, they were
conducted to one of the huts of the Arabs, of which
there are about 30 in the court of the great temple.
The inhabitants of both fexes were welf fhaped, and
the women, though very fwarthy, had good features.
They were veiled, but did not fo fcrupulouily conceal
their faces as the eaftern women generally do. t hey
paint the ends of their fingers red, their lips blue, and
their eyebrows and eyelaffies black. They had large
rings of gold or brafs in their ears and noftrils, and ap¬
peared to be healthy and robuft. The walls of the
city are flanked by fquare towers, into which fome an¬
cient funeral monuments have been converted ; but the
walls are in moft places level with the ground, and
fometimes not to be traced. It is, however, probable,
by their general direction, that they included the great
temple, and are three miles in circumference. The
Arabs {bowed a tract which was near ten miles in cir¬
cumference, (he foil of which was raifed a little above
the level of the defert : this, they faid, was the extent
of the old city 3 and that by digging in any part of it
ruins were difeovered.
Thefe ruins confift of temples, palaces, and porti¬
coes of Grecian architecture 3 and lie fcattered over
an extent of feveral miles. They were accidentally
difeovered by fome Englifli travellers from Aleppo
fbmewhat more than a century ago. By far the moft
remarkable of them is the Temple of the Sun, of which
the ruins are fpread over a fquare of 220 yards. It
was encompaffed with a {lately wall, built of large
fquare {tones, and adorned with pilafters within and
without, to the number of 62 on a fide. Within the
court are the remains of two rows of very noble marble
pillars 37 feet high, with their capitals of rooft exqui-
fite workmanfhip. Of thefe only 38 remain entire 3
but there mult have been many mere, for they appear
to have gone round the whole court, and to have fup-
ported a double piazza. The walks on that fide of
the piazza which is oppofite to the front of the caftlo
fetm to have been the moil fpacious and beautiful.
At each end of this line are two niches for llatues,
with their pedeftals, borders, fupporters, and canopies,
carved with the utmoft propriety and elegance. The
fpace within this inclofure, which is now filled with
the dirty huts of the inhabitants, feems to have been
an open court, in the middle of which flood the temple,
encompaffed with another row of pillars of a different
order, and much taller, being 50 feet high 3 but of
thefe 16 only remain. The whole fpaee contained
within thefe pillars is 59 yards in length, and near 28
in breadth. The temple is no more than 33 yards in
length, and 13 or 14 in breadth. It points north and
fouth ; and exactly into the middle of the building, on
the weft fide, is a moil magnificent entry, on the re¬
mains
PALMYRA.
PLATE CCCCIII.
The remains of the GreatTernple of the Sian in PALMYJLA from the West.
Knil raved by W.&'D.Iizars KiVuT
PAL [7
Palmyra, mains of which are fbme vines and clufters of grapes,
—* carved in the moft bold and maflerly imitation of na¬
ture that can be conceived. Juft over the door are
difcerned a pair of wings, which extend its whole
breadth ; the body to which they belonged is totally
deftroyed ; and it cannot nowT certainly be known whe¬
ther it was that of an eagle or a cherub, feveral repre-
fentations of both being vifible on other fragments of
the building. It is obferved of the windows of this
building, which were not large, that they were narrow¬
er at the top than below. The north end of the build¬
ing is adorned with the moft curious fret-wmrk and bas-
relief-, and in the middle there is a dome or cupola
about ten feet diameter, which appears to have been ei¬
ther hewn out of the rock, or moulded to fome compo-
fition which by time is grown equally hard. North of
this place is an obelilk, confiding of feven large ftones,
befides its capital and the wreathed work about it. It
is about 50 feet high ; and, juft above the pedeftal, is
12 feet in circumference. There was probably a ftatue
upon it, which the Turks, in their zeal againft idolatry,
deftroyed. At about the diftance of a quarter of a mile
from this pillar, to the eaft and weft, are two others, be¬
fides the fragment of a third j fo that perhaps they were
originally a continued row.
About ibo paces from the middle obelilk, ftraight
forward, is a magnificent entry to a piazza, which is
4O feet broad, and more than half a mile in length,
inclofed with two rows of marble pillars 26 feet high,
and eight or nine feet in compaf«. Of thefe there ftill
remain 129-, and, by a moderate computation, there
could not originally have been lefs than 560. The
upper end of the piazza was (hut in bv a row of pil¬
lars, (landing fomewhat clofer than thofe on each fide.
A little to the left are the ruins of a (lately building,
which appears to have been a banqueting-houfe. It is
built of better marble, and is finifhed with yet greater
elegance, than the piazza. The pillars which fup-
ported it were of one entire (lone, which is fo ftrong,
that one of them which is fallen down has received
no injury. It meafures 2 2 feet in length, and in com-
pafs 8 feet 9 inches. In the weft fide of the piazza
are feveral apertures for gateis into the court of the
palace. Each of thefe was adorned with four por¬
phyry pillars, not (landing in a line with thofe of the
wall, but placed by couples in the front of the gate
facing the palace, two on each fide. Two of thefe
only remain entire, and but one (landing in its place.
They are 30 feet long and 9 in circumference. On
the eaft fide of the piazza (lands a great number of
marble pillars, fome perfedl, but the greater part mu¬
tilated. In one place 11 are ranged together in a
fquare : the fpace which they inclofe is paved with
broad fiat ftones, but there are no remains of a roof.
At a little diftance are the remains of a fmall temple,
which is alfo without a roof, and the walls are much
defaced. Before the entry, which looks to the fouth,
is a piazza fupported by fix pillars, two on each fide
of the door, and one at each end. The pedeftals of
thofe in front have been filled with inferiptions both
in the Greek and Palmyrene languages^ which are be¬
come totally illegible. Among thefe ruins are many
fepulchres : they are ranged on each fide of a hollow
way, toward the north part of the citv, and extend
more than a mile. They are all fquare towers, four
9 1 PAL
or five dories high. But though they are alike in Palmyra,
form, yet they differ greatly in magnitude and fplen- ^
dour. The outfide is of common done, but the fioors
and partitions of each ftory are marble. There is a
walk acrofs the whole building, juft in the middle 5 and
the fpace on each hand is fubdivided into fix partitions
by thick walls. The fpace between the partitions is
wide enough to receive the largeft eorpfe and in thefe
niches there are fix or feven piled upon one another.
Many inferiptions have been found at Palmyra,
which have occupied much of the attention of the
learned ; and if any thing certain could be derived
from them, there is no doubt but they would tend
very confiderably to the elucidation of ancient hiftory.
See Barthelemy’s Refieftions on the Palmyrene Al¬
phabet, publilhed at Paris in 1754 } and An. Explica¬
tion of the Inferiptions at Palmyra hitherto publifhed,
by John Swinton of Chrift-church, Oxford. See alfo
Phil. Tranf. N° 217. and 2x8.; the firft volume of the
Ancient Univerfal Hiftory ; and, above all, confult the
Ruins of Palmyra, or Tadmor in the Dtfert, publiflied by
Mr R. Wood, who, with M. Bouverie and Mr Dawkins,
travelled thither in 1751. The refult of their obfer-
vations was publifhed in 1753, in the form of an atlas.
The ruins of this once mighty and celebrated city are
reprefented in 57 copperplates, 16 by 12 inches, print¬
ed on imperial paper. They are admirably' executed j
the drawing is correft and mafterly and the engraving gpe piate
highly finilhed : nor can they fail to give fatisfaHion CCCC1IL
to thofe who are connoiffeurs in the art, or to thofe who
delight in the labours of antiquity.
Palmyra was vifited by Mr Bruce before his journey
into Abyflinia but, on account of the many publica¬
tions concerning thefe celebrated ruins, he has declined
faying much concerning them. He informs us, that,
before he came in fight of the ruins, he afeended a hill
of white gritty (tone, in a very narrow wfinding road,
fuch as is called a pafs ; but on getting up to the top
his eyes were ftruck wfith the moft ftupendous fight
which, he believes, ever mortal faw'. The whole plain
below, which is very extenfive, was fo covered with
magnificent buildings, that they feetned to touch one
another. All of them are finely proportioned, agree¬
ably (Iiaped, and compofed of white ftones, which at
that diftance appeared like marble. In taking a
draught of thefe ruins, Mr Bruee divided the whole
into fix angular views, for which the fit nation of the
place is very convenient. The columns are all unco¬
vered to the very bafes, the ground on which they are
built being hard and folid. The views he took were
upon lax*ge paper j fome of the columns being repre¬
fented a foot long, and fome of tire figures in the fore¬
ground of the Temple of the Sun (a magnificent build¬
ing which flood at one end of the town) being near
four inches. Before he left Palmyra he obferved its
latitude w ith a reflefting quadrant of Hadley ; but as
the inftrument w^as out of order he could not determine
it exacllv. In his opinion, however, 330 58' is not far
diftant from truth. From fuch obfervations as he could
make on the longitude, he concluded it to be 370 9*
eaft from Greenwich. Mr R. Wood makes the latitude
34° north.
From Palmyra Mr Bruce proceeded to Baalbcc, di¬
ftant ab-'Ut 130 miles, where he found ruins ftill more
magnificent. The interior part of the great temple
at
PAM [ 7
Palmyra at this place, according to our author, furpaffes any
Pamphilus t‘“nS had feen at Palmyra, or anywhere elle. “ All
> - thefe views of Palmyra and Baalbec (fays he) are now
in the king’s colleftion. They are the moft magnifi¬
cent offering, in their line, that ever was made by one
fubjedt to his fovereign.”—In the neighbourhood of
Palmyra afe fome falt-marihes 3 and to the adjacent
country a trade is carried on in kelp from Tripoli in
Syria. I here are two Arab tribes, almoft equally
powerful 3 one of them, called Annecy, remarkable for
the fineft horfes in the world. They poffefs the country
to the fouth-weft, at the back of Libanus, about Bozrah,
and fouthward towards the borders of Arabia Petraa
and Mount Horeb. The other tribe, named Mowalli,
inhabit the plains eaft from Damafcus, to the Euphrates,
and north to near Aleppo. They are fewer in number
than the Annecy, but much better foldiers 3 and their
breed of horfes not greatly inferior.
Refpedling the latitude and longitude there are ftiil
various opinions: that which appears to be neareft the
truth is E. Long. 38. 50. N. Lat. 33. 20. It Hands
about 50 leagues fouth-eaft of Aleppo, as much from
Damafcus, and 20 leagues weft of the Euphrates.
PALPABLE, fomething perceivable by the fenfes,
particularly that of feeling.
PALPITATION of the Heart. See Medicine
Index.
PALSY. See Medicine Index.
PALUDAMENTUM, in Roman antiquity, a ha¬
bit that differed but little from the chlamys, except
that this laft belonged chiefly to the lower clafs of
people. It was worn by the officers and principal men
among the Romans in time of war, who are therefore
called Paludati; which diftinguiffied them from the
common foldiers, who, becaufe they wore the fagum,
were called the Sagati. The paludamentum came
down only to the navel, was open on the fides, had
ftiort fleeves refembling angels wings, and was generally
white or red. It is fometimes ufed to fignify the com¬
mon foldier’s coat.
PAL US meotis, the ancient name of a gulf be¬
tween Europe and Afia, to the north of the Black fea,
now called the fea of Zabach, or Afoph.
PALY, or Pale, in Heraldry, is when the ffiield is
divided into four or more equal parts, by perpendicular
lines falling from the top to the bottom.
PALY Bende, is when the efcutcheon is divided by
perpendicular lines, which is paly; and alfo by diago¬
nals, which is called bendy.
PAMBOUK, the Turkifh name of the ruined city
of Hierapolis. See Hierapolis.
PAMPELUNik, the capital of the kingdom of Na¬
varre in Spain, with a very ftrong citadel and rich bi-
ftiopric. It is handfome and populous, and carries on a
great trade, feated in a very fertile plain, in E. Long.
1. 25. N. Lat. 42. 42.
Pampeluna, a town of New Granada in South A-
, merica, famous for its gold mines and numerous flocks
x>f fheep. W. Long. 68. 30. N. Lat. 6. 30*
PAMPHILUS, a celebrated painter of Macedonia,
in the age of Philip. He was founder of the fchool
for painting at Sicyon 3 and he made a law which was
obferved not only in Sicyon but all over Greece, that
none but children of noble and dignified perfons ihould
A N
Apelles was one of his Pamphllus
fan.
20 ] P
be permitted to learn painting
pupils.
PAMPHYLIA, the ancient name of a country of ^ 
Natolia in Afia, now called Carimania and Cay-bay, ' '—
between Lycia and Cilicia, on the fouth coaft, to the
north of the Mediterranean fea.
PAN, the god of fliepherds, hunters, and all coun¬
try exercifes. Such lie is defcribed by the Greek and
Roman poets 3 but he bore a higher charafter among
the earlieft Greeks, as well as among the Egyptians 3
from whom his worftiip was borrowed by that people.
In Egypt he was known by the name of Mendes,
which, according to .lablonlki *, fignifies fecundity.*
Hence his iymbol was a living he-goat, the moft fala-
cious of all animals: “ Hircum Mendefium coluntn'ffi*
Atgyptii, eo quod virtuti prolificoe ac genitivae, con-
fecralus eft.— Nam animal hoc coitus valde cupidum
eft.” His principal temple was a magnificent build¬
ing in a city of Lower Egypt, called after his name.
It is well known (fee Polytheism) that from dedi¬
cating certain animals to certain gods, the Egyptians
proceeded to confider the animals themfelves as adluated
by the divinities to whom they were facred. Hence
the origin of brute ivorfhip. In the temple of Mendes
was kept a he-goat, to whom facrifices of a very mon-
ftrous kind were offered. Herodotus, fpeaking of the
praefedlure of Mendes, fays -f-, Eyntlo tw vopu rcvl#^ Lib. ii.
i7r Sjttsi; tovto to yvyoitx.t T(ntyo<; ettreysra ctvcttpxy^oy. ch. 26,
Tovro sc iTridiifyv xv6gM7ray oottiksto. Our readers, learned
and unlearned, will forgive us for not tranflating this
paffage, which contains, however, nothing that is not
confirmed by the teftimony of other writers 3 particular¬
ly of Plutarch, and Pindar as he is quoted by Strabo.
The moft wonderful circumftance of this monftrous fa-
crifice is, that it was made publicly in the prefence of a
great concourfe of men ! But to what divinity was it
made ? To a Qiere goat, or to fome fuperior principle
animating the goat ? Doubtlefs to the latter ; for it is
faid that the fair worfhippers were of the firft rank, and
of unfpotted fame 3 and that if they had borne a differ¬
ent charadler, the deity would not have accepted of their
devotions.
The deity whom the Egyptians adored by the name
of Mendes, was no other than the Soul of the Uni-
verfe 3 for he was their moft ancient god : and we are
told by Plutarch J, “That they took the firft GodfZ)f#rf»
and the Univerfe for one and the fame thing.” Hence
his name Tlav among the Greeks : not that either
the Greeks or their mafters in theology worfhipped,
as the firft god, mere brute matter, but that fpirit
which they coneived to be coeternal with matter, and
to animate all things, making them one. Thus Orpheus,
who imported the Egyptian doftrine into Greece, de¬
clares that all things are one : and after him Parmeni-
das, and other philofophers, taught £» soar to vrecy, that
“ one is the univerfe 3” and that “the univerfe is im¬
moveable.” That the ancient Grecian Pan, or the E-
gyptian Mendes, was not the corporeal world, as fenfe-
lefs and inanimate, but the whole fyftem of things, ani¬
mated and eternal, appears further from the following
teftimony of Macrobius. “ Hunc deum Arcades co-
lunt, appellantes Toy tjk oMt xv^ov, non fylvarum domi-
num, fed univerfae fubftantiae materialis dominatorem 3
—The Arcadians worffiip this god, calling him the
lord
PAN [7
lord of HylE j i. e. not the lord of the woods, but the
lord of all material ^ubfl:ance.,, In the fame manner,
Pharnutus * defcribes the Pan of the other Greeks, not
as the mere corporeal world, but as the intelleftual
principle aftuating it and prefiding over it: and he adds,
that “ Pan was feigned to be lafcivious, becaufe of the
multitude of fpermatic reafont in the world, and the
continual mixtures and generation of things.”
The Egyptians, as we learn from Jablonfki, had
nearly the fame notion with the Greeks of the fpirit
which they worflripped as the Soul of the Univerfe •,
only they gave to it both fexes. As the maker, go¬
vernor, and bountiful father of univerfal nature, they
confidered it as a male, whofe fymbol was the he-goat
of Mendes ; and as a female it was adored by the name
of Ifis, to whom the (he-goat was confecrated, though
not held in fuch veneration as the male. From this
view of the Egyptian creed, the facrifice which we
have mentioned appears no longer unaccountable. It
was made to a god, believed to be the univerfal fource
of fecundity, and to whom, from the well-known
character of the animal whom he wras fuppofed to ac¬
tuate, they had rcafon to believe it would be moll ac¬
ceptable.
The Greeks never worfhipped their Pan by the em¬
blem of a living goat •, but they painted him with the
lower parts of a goat, for a reafon which (hall be af¬
terwards mentioned. How he came to degenerate among
that people, from one of the DU majorum gentium, or
rather from the firft principle of all things, to the
rank of a daemon or demi-god, we cannot pretend to
fay : but that fuch was his fate, is certain ; for under
this lafl character mention is made both of his birth and
his death.
Whofe fon he was, is not agreed among them. Ho¬
mer makes him the fon of Mercury, and fays he was call¬
ed Pan from omne, becaufe he charmed all the gods
with his flute ; others fay that he was the fon of Demo-
gorgon, and firft invented the organ, of feven unequal
reeds, joined together in a particular manner: Having on
a time fought with Cupid, that god in fpite made him
fall in love with the coy nymph Syrinx, who, flying
from him to the banks of Ladon, a river of Arcadia,
at the inftant prayers of the Nymphs was turned into
a reed, as her name in Greek fignifies, which the god
grafping inftead of her, made a pipe of it, and for his
mufic was adored by the Arcadians. The moft com-
mon opinion was, that he was the fon of Mercury and
Penelope. But Nat. Comes, out of Dun's Samius,
makes his birth fcandalous, by faying he was called
becaufe begot by all Penelope’s fuitors. He was paint¬
ed half-man half goat, having large goats horns, a chap¬
let of pine on his red face, a pleafant laughter, with
the feet and tail of a goat •, a motley {kin covering his
body, with a crooked flick in one hand and his pipe
in the other. See him nicely defcribed by Sil. hal.
13. 326. et feq. a fight enough to fright women and
children, yea, armed men too j for when Brennus the
Gaul was about to pillage the temple of Apollo at
Delphos, he by night flruck fuch a terror into his army,
that he quitted his facrilegious defign : hence Panici
terrores. Yet, as homely as he was, he pleafed the
goddefs Luna, turning himfelf eafily into a white ram,
Virgil, Georg, iii. 392. et deinceps ; and the nymph
Dryope alfo, almoft putting off his'divinitv, and turning
VOL. XV. Part II.
21 ] PAN.
fhepherd for her fake. Neither was he difpleafing to
other nymphs, who are generally made dancing round !v
about him to hear the charms of his pipe. I he ulual
offerings made him were milk and honey, in iliepherds
wooden bowls ; alfo they facrificed to him a dog, the
wolf’s enemy } whence his ufual epithet is Xvx.xk>$ 5 and
whence alfo his priefts were called Luperci.
His feftival was celebrated on February 13th by the
Romans, brought into Italy by Evander the Arcadian,
and revived afterwards by Romulus, in memory of his
preferver. He was alio called by the Romans Inuus, ab
ineundo. Vid. Liv. i. 5. Macrob. Sat. i. 21. and Serv.
in Virg. Ain. vi. 775. The ancients, by giving fo many
adjuncts and attributes to this idol, as we have obferved
above, feem to have defigned him for the fymbol of the
univerfe j his upper parts being human, beeauie the up¬
per part of the world is fair, beautiful, fmiling, like his
face *, his horns fymbolize the rays of the fun and of the
moon •, his red face, the fplendour of the Iky \ the fpot-
ted fldn wherewith he is clothed, the flars which be-
fpangle the firmament ; the roughnefs of his lowTer
parts, beads and vegetables 5 his goat’s feet, the folidi-
ty of the earth ; his pipe, compact of feven reeds, the
feven planets, which they fay make the harmony of-the
fpheres $ his crook, bending round at the top, the years
circling in one another. Serv. Interpr.
Having faid fo much of Pan, both as a felf-exiftcrtt
god and as a generated daemon, we fhall conclude the
article with fome obfervations on Plutarch’s account
of the prodigy which happened at his death j for in
the Pagan creed, daetnons were not all believed immor¬
tal.—“ In the reign of Tiberius (fays our author *), * D'S
certain perfons on a voyage from Afia to Italy, and
failing towards the evening by the Echinedes, were c-e '
there becalmed, and heard a loud voice from the {here
calling on one Thamus an Egyptian pilot whom
they had on board. Thamus, as may be fuppofed,
liftened with attention ; and the voice, after re¬
peating his name thrice, commanded him when he
came to the Pelodes, to declare that the Great Pan
was dead. The man, with the advice of his compa¬
nions, refolved, that if they fliould have a quick gale
off the Pelodes, he would pafs by in filence 5 but that
if they fliould be becalmed, he would perform what
the voice had commanded. Adhering to this refolu-
tion, they foon arrived off the deftined iflands, and Were
immediately becalmed, there being neither breath of
wind nor agitation of water. Upon this Thamus look¬
ing from the hinder part of the {hip towards the land,
pronounced with a loud voice 0 piyus n&y nlhnKi, The
Great Pan is dead! and was inflantly anfwered from
the ffiore by numberlefs bowlings and lamentations.”
This ftory, which has fo much the air of impof-
ture, has not only been admitted as truth by men of
the firft eminence for learning and acutenefs, but has
been applied to our Saviour, whofe death (fays Cud-
vmrth) the dmmons mourned not from love, but from
a prefage that it would put a period to the tyranny
and domination which they had fo long exercifed over
the fouls, and bodies of men. In fupport of this opi¬
nion, he quotes feveral paffages of Scripture, fuch as,
“ Now is the prince of this world judged j” and, “ Ha¬
ving fpoiled principalities and powers (by his death
upon the crofs), he triumphed over them in it.” H&
affirms like wife, that “ Pan being taken for that rea-
4 Y fon
"'Pan.
* Tacit.
Annal.
cap. 72- 83
et lib. iii.
cap. x.
•{• Cud-
nvorth' r
Int'd. Syfl.
cap. 4
note 132.
PAN [72
fon or underftanding by which all things were made,
and by which they are all governed, or for that divine
wifdom which diffufeth itfelf through all things, is a
name which might very well fignify GoJ manifejled in
the flefb.’1'1
The authority of Cud worth is great 5 but a ground-
lefs opinion has fcldom been propped by weaker rea-
fonir.g than he makes ufe of on this occafion. Plu¬
tarch indeed fays, and feems to believe, that this pro¬
digy fell out during the reign of Tiberius 5 but as he
mentions not the year of that reign, there is no evi¬
dence that it was at the crucifixion of our Saviour.
The daemons who inhabited the Echinedes knew7 what
had been tranfafted at Jerufalem far diftant from their
iflands ; they knew the name of the pilot of a ftrange
flop j they knew that the mariners of that (hip had
refolved to difobey their command, unlefs becalmed off
the Pelodes ; thev had power over both the winds and
waves at the Pe/odes, and exerted that power to enforce
obedience to their command •, and yet thefe all-knowing
and powerful beings were under the neceffity of calling-
in the aid of a man to deliver a meffage to their com¬
panions, inhabiting a place to which the very fame
itory affures us that thei^ own power and knowledge
reached. Should it be faid that the daemons were com¬
pelled by divine power thus publicly to make known to
man Chrift’s triumph over the kingdom of darknefs, we
beg leave to afk why they were not likewife compelled
to give him another name, fince it is certain, that at the
aera of Tiberius, and long before, illiterate Pagans, fuch
as common feamen mull: be fuppofed to have been, knew
no other Pan than the fabled fon of Penelope and Mer¬
cury ?—Indeed the other Pan, taken for that reafon or
underflanding by -which all things wTere made, could not
pofhbly be the being here meant} for, erroneous as the
Pagan fydem wras, there is nothing in it fo completely
abfurd as the death of the foul of the univerfe, the
maker of all things : nor do w-e believe that any Pa¬
gan ever exifted, who dreamed that fuch a death was
poffible.
What then, it will be alked, are we to underfland
by this flory ? Plutarch was eminent for knowledge
and integrity, and he relates it without expreffing a
doubt of its truth. He does fo ; but many a man of
worth has been credulous •, and though that was not
his charadler, this prodig:/ may be accounted for by na¬
tural means. Germanicus was believed to have been
poifoned, at leaft with the knowledge, if not by the
command, of Tiberius ; and there was nothing which
the Romans fo deeply deplored as the untimely death
of that accomplilhed prince1*. They fancied that his
body was animated, not by a human foul, but by a
fuperior daemon : and they decreed to him llatues, re¬
ligious ceremonies, and even facrifices. His w’idow
was highly honoured, as having been nearly related to
a divinity, and his children were adored as demi-gods.
Thefe faffs being admitted, nothing appears to us
more probable than the opinion of the learned Mo-
(heim -f, who thinks that fome (hrewd ftatefman, in
order to excite the popular fury againft Tiberius to
the higheft pitch, invented this flory, and bribed fo¬
reign mariners to fpread it among the people, who
would naturally believe, that by the great Pan was
meant their favourite Germanicus. This hypothefis is
at leaft countenanced by -what Plutarch tells us of the
2 ] PAN
anxiety of the emperor to difcover what perfonagc could
be meant by the Pan whofe death was announced to the
feamen : he confulted the learned men of Rome, who,
in order to reftore peace to the city, declared that they
under Hood it of none other than the fon of Penelope
and Mercurv.
PANACEA, among phyficians, denotes an univer-
fal medicine, or a remedy for all difeafes j a thing im-
poflible to be obtained.
PANADA, a diet confiding of bread boiled in wa¬
ter to the confidence of pulp, and fweetened with a lit¬
tle fugar.
PANAMA, the capital city of the province of Da¬
rien in South America, where the treafures of gold
and diver, and the other rich merchandifes of Peru, are
lodged in magazines till they are fent to Europe. W.
Long. 82. 15. N. Lat. 8. 57.
W hen Guzman fird touched at this place in 1514,
it condded entirely of fidiermen’s huts. Orius d’Avila
fettled a colony here in a few years after, and in 1521
it was condituted a city by the emperor Charles V.
with the proper privileges. In 1670 it was lacked and
burnt by John Morgan, an Englifh adventurer, who
had the preceding year taken Porto Bello. This mis¬
fortune induced the inhabitants to remove the city to
its prefent dtuation, didant about a league from the
place where it dood before. For the greater iecurity,
the new city was inclofed by a free-done wall, and the
houfes were built of done and brick. Since that time
feveral badions have been added, and now there is al¬
ways a complete garrifon maintained, and the walls are
mounted with large cannon. But all thefe precautions
could not fave this city from another misfortune ; it was
entirely confumed by fire in the year 1737. After this
accident it was again rebuilt,' in the manner as it now
dands, with neat elegant houfes, but not magnificent.
The inhabitants are rather independent in their fortunes
than rich j thest are few of them opulent, and fcarce
any in a date of poverty. As to the harbour, it is con¬
venient, and well fecured againd dorms by a number
of furrounding idands, and is capable of containing the
larged deets. Here the royal audience is feated, at
which the governor of Panama refides; for which rea¬
fon this city is commonly deemed the capital of the pro¬
vince.
This place, a little while after it was founded, be¬
came the capital of the kingdom of Terra Firma. Some
hopes were at fird entertained from the three provinces
of Panama, Darien, and Veragua, which compofed it j
but this profperity vanilhed indantaneoudy. The fa-
vages of Darien recovered their independence ; and the
mines of the two other provinces were found to be
neither fufhciently abundant, nor of an alloy good
enough to make it worth while to work them. Five or
fix fmall boroughs, in which are feen fome Europeans
quite naked, and a very fmall number of Indians who
have come to refide there, form the whole of this date,
which the Spaniards are not afhamed of honouring with
the great name of kingdom. It is in general barren
and vinwholefome, and contributes nothing to trade but
pearls.
The pearl fifhery is carried on in the iflands of the
gulf. The greatefl part of the inhabitants employ
fuch of their negroes in it as are good fwimmers.
Thefe Haves plunge and replunge into the fea in fearch
• of
PAN
[ 723 3
PAN
Panama
of- pearls, till this exercife has exhaufted their ftrength
or their fpirits.
Every negro is obliged to deliver a certain number
of oyfters. Thofe in which there are no pearls, or in
which the pearl is not entirely formed, are not reckoned.
What he is able to find beyond the ftipulated obligation,
is confidered as his indifputable property: he may fell it
to whom he pleafes •, but commonly he cedes it to his
mailer at a moderate price.
Sea monfters, which abound more about the iflands
where pearls are found than on the neighbouring coaits,
render this filhing dangerous. Some of thefe devour
the divers in an inliant. 1 he manta fifh, which de¬
rives its name from its figure, furrounds them, rolls
them under its body, and fuffocates them. In order
to defend themfelves againtl fuch enemies, every diver
is armed with a poniard : the moment he perceives any
of thofe voracious fitb, he attacks them with precau¬
tion, wounds them, and drives them away. Notwith-
ftanding this, there are always fome fithermen dellroyed
and a great number crippled.
The pearls of Panama are commonly of a very fine
water. Some of them are even remarkable for their
fize and figure : thefe were formerly fold in Europe.
Since art has imitated them, and the paffion for diamonds
has entirely fuperfeded or prodigioufly dimimlhed the
ufe of them, they have found a new mart more advan¬
tageous than the firll. They are carried to Peru, where
they ai-e in great ellimation.
This branch of trade has, however, infinitely lefs
contributed to give reputation to Panama, than the
advantage which it hath long enjoyed of being the
mart of all the produ£lions of the country of the Incas
that are dettined for the old world. 1 hefe riches, which
are brought hither by a fmall fleet, were carried, fome
on mules, others by the river Chagre, to Porto Bello,
that is fituated on the northern coaft of the ifthmus
which feparates the two feas. See DaRIEN.
P ANA HI, one of the Lipari iflands, lying in the
Tufean fea. It is only five miles in circumference,
and the foil is barren. E. Long. 15. o. N. Lat. 39. o.
PANARO, a river of Italy, which rifes in the
Apennines, croffes the valley of Frignano, and running
on the confines of the Modenefe and Bologpefe, waters
Fenal, and falls into the Po at Bondeno, ten miles above
Ferrara.
PAN ATHEN vTl A, ?r«»«^»i»*<«f,in Grecian antiquity,
an ancient Athenian feftival, in honour of Minerva the
proteflrefs of Athens, and called Atheruea. Harpo-
cration and Suidas refer the inftitution of this feftival
to Erichthonius IV. king of Athens, who lived before
Thefeus. Theodoret alone fays the feaft was^efta-
blifhed by Orpheus. Be this as it will, till Thefeus it
was never a particular feaft of the city of Athens, and
was called Amply /hhencea : but that prince, uniting all
the people of Attica into one republic, they afterwards
all aftifted at the feaft ; whence the name P anal hence a,
i. e. the feaft of all Attica. In efFeft all Attica was
prefent; and each people fent a bullock for the facri-
fices, and for the entertainment of the vaft multitude of
people affembled.
There were two feftivals under this denomination, the
greater and the lefler. The greater panathentea were ex¬
hibited every five years •, the lefs every three, or, accord¬
ing to fome writers, annually. Though the celebration
of neither, at firft, employed more than one day ; yet in
after-times they were protracted for the fpace of many
days, and folemnized with greater preparations and mag¬
nificence than at their firft: inftitution.
The ceremonies were the fame in the great and the
little panathenaea •, excepting for a banner* wherein the
aCtions of the goddefs were reprefented in embroidery,
performed by maids, with the names ot thofe who had
diftinguilhed themfelves in the fervice of the republic 5
which was only borne at the greater.
Prizes were eftablilhed there for three different kinds
of combat : the firlt confided of foot and horfe races ;
the fecond, of athletic exercifes : and the third, ot poe¬
tical and mufical contefts. Thefe laft are faid to hav’e
been inftituted by Pericles. Singers ot the firft clais,
accompanied by performers on the flute and cithara, ex-
ercifed their talents here upon lubjeCls prelcribed by the
directors of thefe exhibitions.
The following is the order obferved in this feiiival, 4nacharJ\tt
according to M. Barthelemi, who quotes numerous au-vcl. ii.
thorities on the occafion : “ 1 he inhabitants of the dif-P' 434-
ferent towns of Attiea thronged to the capital, leading
with them a great number ot viCtims deftined tor iacri-
fices to the goddefs. In the firft morning were the
horfe-races, in which the fons of the firft citizens of A-
thens contended for the honour of the victory. In the
ftadium were other young men ftruggling for the prize
at wreltling, and different exercifes of the body j and
in the odeum were feveral muficians engaged in gentler
and lefs perilous contefts. Some executed pieces oh the
flute or cithara j others fang, and accompanied their
voices with one of thefe inftruments. I he (ubjeCt pro-
pofed to them was the eulogium of Harmodius, Arifto-
giton, and Thrafybulus, who had refeued the republic
from the yoke of the tyrants by which it was oppreffed :
for, among the Athenians, public inftitutions are fo
many monuments for the citizens who have ferved the
ftate, and leffons for thofe who are called upon to render
it fervice. A crown of olive, and a veffel filled with
oil, were the prizes beftowed upon the viCfors. Crowns
were afterwards conferred on individuals, who appeared
to the people to have merited that mark of honour by
their zeal in the fervice .of their country.
“ At the Ceramicus paffed a proceflion, formed with¬
out the walls, and which began at that place to file off.
It was compofed of different claffes of citizens crowned
with chaplets of flowers, and remarkable for their perfo-
nal beauty. Among the number were old men of a
majeftic and venerable appearance, bearing branches of
olive y middle-aged men, who, armed with lances and
with bucklers, feemed only to refpire war j youth from 18
to 20, who fang hymns in honour of the goddefs ; beau¬
tiful boys, clad in a fimple tunic, adorned only with
their native graces •, and, laftly, girls, who were of the
firft families in Athens, and whofe features, fhape, and
deportment, attrafted every eye. With their hands
they held bafkets on their heads, which, under a rich
veil, contained facred utenfils, cakes, and every thing
neceffary for the facrifices. Female attendants, who fol¬
lowed them, with one hand held over them an umbrel¬
la, and carried in the other a folding chair. This is a
fpecies of fervitude impofed on the daughters of all fo¬
reigners fettled at Athens : a fervitude they fhare in
common with their fathers and mothers, who likewife
carried on their fhoulders veffels filled with water and
4 Y 2 ' honey*
PAN
JWidern
U-i. Hi/!.
vol. viii.
honey, for the purpofe of libations.
ed by eight muficians; four of whom played on th
dute and four on the lyre. After them came rhapfo-
difls finging the poems of Homer j and dancers armed
at all points, who, attacking each other at intervals, re-
prefented, to the found of the flute, the battle of Mi¬
nerva with the I itans. Next came a fhip that appear¬
ed to glide over the ground by the power of the wind,
and the efforts «f a great number of rowers, but which
really was put in motion by concealed machinery. The
veffel had a fail of light fluff, on which young girls had
reprefented in embroidery the viffory of Minerva over
the Titans. On it alfo they had depidled, by order of
the government, fome heroes whofe illuflrious deeds had
merited to be celebrated with thofe of the gods. This
proceffion marched on with folemn Heps, under the di¬
rection of feveral magiflratesj and traverfed the moft
frequented quarter of the city amid ft a crowd of fpeCta-
tors, moft of whom were placed on fcaffolds ereCted for
the oecaftom When it had reached the temple of the
Pythian Apollo, the fail of the (hip was taken down and
carried to the citadel, where it was depofited in the tem¬
ple of Minerva.
“ In the evening, at the academy, was the torch race.
The courfe is only fix or feven ftadia in length. It ex¬
tends from the altar of Prometheus, which is at the gate
of this garden, to the walls of the city. Several young
men are ftationed in this interval at equal diftances.
When the ftiouts of the multitude have given the fignal,
the firft lights his flambeau at the altar, and, running
with it, hands it to the fecond, who tranfmits it in the
fame manner to the third, and fo fucceftively. He who
fuffers it to be extinguifhed can no more enter the lifts*,
and they who flacken their pace are expofed to the rail¬
leries, and even blows, of the populace. To gain the
prize, it is neceffary to have paffed through the different
flations with fuccefs. This trial of fkill was frequently
repeated, and is divcrfified according to the nature of
the feftivals.
“ The candidates rvho had been crowned at the dif¬
ferent exercifes invited their friends to fupper. Sump¬
tuous repafts were given in the prytaneum and other
public places, which lafted till the following day. The
people among whom the immolated viClims were diftri-
buted fpread tables on every fide, and gave a loofe to
their lively and tumultuous mirth.”
PAN AX, Ginseng; a genus of plants belonging to
the polygamia clafs. See Botany and Materia Me-
DICA Index.
PAN AY, an ifiand of Afia, and one of the Philip¬
pines, lying between thofe of Paragoa and Negro. It
is 2;o miles in circumference, and is the moft populous
and fertile of them all. It is watered by a great num¬
ber of rivers and brooks, and produces a great quantity
of rice. Its fhape is triangular. The names of its prin¬
cipal capes are Potol, Nafo, and Bulacabi. The coaft
from Bulacabi to Potol lies eaft and weft; from Potol
to Nafo, north and fouth; from Bulacabi to Iloilo, an¬
other cape, lefs than the great ones, is alfo north and
fouth; from Iloilo to Cape Nafo, eaft and weft. The
middle of the ifiand is fn the latitude of ten degrees.
On the north fide, almoft in the middle between the two
capes of Potol and Bulacabi, the famous river Panay
falls into the fea; and the mouth of the harbour is co¬
vered by a fmall ifland called Lutaya, in which port the
[ 724 1 PAN
They were follow- Spaniards had a fafe retreat before they difcovercd and Panay.,
conquered Manilla and Gavite. The fertility of Panay Pancarpus,
is caufed by the many rivers that water it, for there is v~—<
no travelling a league without meeting a river; but
more particularly by the Panay, which gives its name
to the ifiand, and runs a courfe of 40 leagues. The
ifland, for the better adminiftering of juftice, is divided
into jurifdidions: the firft, called Panay, contains all
that lies between Cape Potol and Bulacabi; the reft of
the ifland is fubjed to the aleayde of Otton, who refides
at Iloilo, a point of land running out into the fea, on
the fouth fide, between the two rivers of Tig Bavan and
Jaro, and, with the ifland Imaras, forms a ftrait not
above half a league over, or rather an open harbour.
On this point the governor Don Gonzalo Ronquillo
caufed a fort to be built in the year 1681. The ifland
contains about 16,360 tributary Indians, partly belong¬
ing to the king and partly to particular encomienderos
or lords ; but they all pay in rice, the illand producing
100,000 bufhels, Spanifh meafure, and but little other
grain. The inhabitants are (tout, lufty, and induftri-
ous farmers, and expert huntfmen, the country being
full of wild boars and deer. The women make cloth
of feveral colours. There are in the ifland 14 parifhes,
belonging to the fathers of the order of St Auguftin,
three benefices of fecular priefts, and formerly one col¬
lege of the fociety of Jefus, where they adminifter the
facraments to the garrifon of Iloilo. Befides the tribu¬
tary Indians, there are here thofe blacks the Spaniards
called Negrilloes, who were the firft inhabitants of the
ifland, and afterwards driven into the thick woods by
the Bifayas who conquered it. Their hair is not fo ftiff
curled, nor are they fo flout and ftrong as the Guinea
blacks. They live in the moft uncouth parts of the
mountains with their wives and children, all naked like
be^fts. They are fo fwift that they often overtake wild
boars and deer. They flay about the dead beaft as long
as it lafts; fqr they have no other fubfiltence but what
they acquire with their bow* and arrow's. They fly
from the Spaniards, not fo much through hatred as from
fear. Among the iflands about Panay lies Imaras, op-
pofite to Iloilo, and about a quarter of a league diftant.
It is long and low, ten leagues in compafs and three in
length, the foil fertile, abounding in farfaparilla, and
exceeding good water. On the mountains there are
w'ild boars, deer, and good timber. It has alfo in it
the port of St Anne, three leagues from Iloilo.
PANCARPUS, in Roman antiquity, a kind of fliow
which the Roman emperors frequently exhibited to the
people. The word is formed from the Greek 7r«», all,
and fruit. Whence the name was alfo given by
the Athenians to a facrifice wherein all kinds of fruits
were offered. In this fpeftacle, the circus being all
fetover with large trees, reprefented a foreft, into which
the beafts being let from the dens under ground, the
people, at a fign given by the emperor, purfued, (hot,
and killed all they could lay hold of, which they after¬
wards carried away, to regale upon at home. The
beafts ufually given on thefe occafions were boars, deer,
oxen, and fheep.
Cafaubon, Cujas, Pithou, &c. make the pancarpus
and iylva the fame thing; Salmafius will have them dif¬
ferent. The fylva, according to him, was fuch a di-
verfion as that above defcribed: but the pancarpus a
combat, wherein robuft people, hired for that purpofe*
fought
PAN
[ 7
pancarpus fought with wild beads : which opinion he confirms
II from Caffian, Juftinian, Claudian, Firmicus, Manilius,
panders. anj Caffiodorus.
U'^v ' PANCRAS, a town of England, in the county of
Middlefex, on the north-weft fide of London, and in the
highway to Kentifti town. Its church is one of the pre¬
bends of St Paul’s, of which cathedral fome call it the
mother, it being thought to be as old as that church
even in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, when it is repre-
fented as weather-beaten and ftanding alone, without
any company, though it had formerly many buildings
about it. A veterinary college was eftablilhed here in
1791, for the improvement of farriery, and the treat¬
ment of cattle in general.
PANCRATIUM (compounded offfesv, «//, and*£*-
I overcome'), among the ancients, a kind of inter¬
mix d exercife, confiding of the ludta or wreftling, and
the boxing or pugilate : but it difters in this, that as
the athletse are not to feize the body, their hands
are not armed with gauntlets, and give lefs dangerous
blows.
The pancratium was the third gymnaftic exercife, and
xvas not introduced till long after the others. 1 he peo¬
ple who were engaged in thefe exercifes were called pan-
cratiaf.ee ; which name was alfo given to fuch as did not
confine themfelves to one exercife, but fucceeded in fe-
veral different ones.
Barthelemi, in his Travels of Anacharfis, gives us a
fhort account of one of thofe at which he fuppofes him
Anacharfis, to have been prefent, in thefe words : “ The aclion was
vol iii. foon terminated 1 a Sicyonian named Sojiratus, a cham¬
pion celebrated for the number of prizes he had won,
and the ftrength and fkill which had procured them,
had arrived the preceding day. 1 he greater pait of
the combatants yielded up all pretenfions to the crown
as foon as he appeared, and the others on the fiift trial j
for in thofe preliminary effays, in which the a tide tie
try their ftrength by taking each others hands, he
fqueezed and twifted the fingers of his adverfaries with
fuch violence as inftantly to decide the victory in his fa¬
vour.”
PANCREAS. See Anatomy Index.
PANDA, in Mythology, a goddefs who was invoked
and honoured as the protearefs of travellers and naviga¬
tors. The goddefs of peace was alfo called Pandar, be-
caufe fhe opened the gates of cities which were ftmt in
time of war. According to Varro, Panda is a furname
of Ceres, derived a pane dando, becaufe (he gave bread
to mankind.
P AND ATARI A (Suetonius, Pliny, Strabo) ;Pan-
DATERIA (Mela, Tacitus) ; An ifland in the I ufcan
fea : a place of banifhment for the more illuftrious ex¬
iles. Hither Julia, the daughter of Auguftus, was ba-
nifhed for her incontinence. To this ifland Tiberius ba-
nifhed Agrippina, his daughter-in-law (Suetonius). It
was the place of confinement of Otfavia the daughter of
Clodius, married to Nero 5 a fight that affected every
eye (Tacitus). Now Santa Maria, fituated between
Pontia and Ifchia (Holib nius).
P ANDECTS, Panbectte, in junfprudence, the di-
geft or .collection, made by Juftinian’s order, of 534 de-
cifions or judgments of the ancient law'yers, on. fo ma¬
ny queftions occurring in the civil law ; to which that
emperor gave the force and authority of law, bv * he
epiftle prefixed to them.—The word is Greek,
25 ] PAN
compounded of ttxv, 11 all,” and capio, t‘ I take j”
i. e. a compilation, or a book containing all things.
Though others, as Bartoli, will have it formed from
Trxr, and as if thefe books contained the whole
doctrine of the civil law.
The PandeCts confift of 50 books, and make the firft
part of the body of the civil law.
They were denoted by txvo tttt ; but the copyifts tak¬
ing thofe tttt for JT, the cuftom arofe of quoting them
byf:
in the year 1137, the PandeCts of Juftinian, which
had been brought by an Almafitan merchant from the
eaft, fell into the hands of the Pifans. Angelus Politi-
anus believes this copy to be that which had been com¬
piled by order of the emperor. However that be, it is
certain that all other copies are taken from it, as being
the moft ancient. The Pifans having obtained their re-
queft from the emperor, carried the volumes to Pifa, and
for near three centuries they were known by the name
of the PandeBee Pifance. But, about the year 1416,
Pifa being taken by the Florentines, they were tranf-
ported from thence to Florence, where they are now
preferved in the library of the Medici, and known by
the name of the PandeElce Florenlince. Some authors al¬
lege, that Lotharius ordained by an editt that the Pan-
de£ts ftiould be publicly read and explained at Bologna,
and pleaded in the tribunals j but Corringius and Lin*
denbrogius fully refute their opinion.
Papias extends the denomination of PandeEis to the
Old and New Teftament.
There are alfo PANDECTA Mcdidnce, “ PandeUs of
Medicine 5” a kind of di&ionary of things relating to
medicine, compiled by Mat. Sylvaticus of Mantua,
who lived about the year 1297. Leunclavius has pub-
liftied Pandefts of Turkey ; and Biflrop Beveridge Pan-
deBa Canonum.
PANDICULATION, a ftretchingj or that violent
and extenfive motion of the folids that ufually accompa¬
nies the aft of yawning.
PANDORA, in fabulous hiftory, a woman formed
by Prometheus, to whom each of the gods gave fome
perfeftion. Venus bellowed upon her beauty ; Pallas,
wifdom 5 Juno, riches ; Apollo, mufic *, and Mercury,
eloquence : but Jupiter being difpleafed at Prometheus
for having ftolen fire from heaven to animate the mafs
he had formed, gave Pandora a box, which Ihe was or¬
dered not to open-, and then fent her to the earth with
this box, in which were enclofed age, difeafes,. pefti-
lence, war, famine, envy, difeord, and all the evils and
vices that could afflift mankind. This fatal box was
opened by Epimetheus, Prometheus’s brother, when in-
ftantlv all the difeafes and mifehiefs with which it was
filled fpread over the earth, and Hope only remained at
the bottom. Hefiod fays Ihe was the firft woman.
PANDOURS, are Hungarian infantry ; they wear
a loofe garment fixed tight to their bodies by a girdle,
with great fleeves, and large breeches hanging down to
their ankles. They ufe fire-arms, and are excellent
markfmen : they have alfo a kind of fabre near four feet
long, which they ufe with great dexterity.
PANDOSIA (Livy, Juftin, Strabo), an inland town
of the Bruttii, and a place of ftrength on the river A-
cheron, where Alexander of Epirus, deceived by the
oracle of Dodona, met his fate and periftied. Now
Mendicino (Holftenius. Another of Epirus (Strabo) >
fituated
PAN [ 726 ] PAN
- Pandofia
II
Panel.
fituated on the river Acheron (Livy) j which Alexan¬
der of Epirus was advifed to avoid as fatal, but which
he met with in Italy. This laft is faid to have been the
refidence of the Oenotrian kings (Strabo).
PANDURA, or Pandoron, a mufical inftrumerit,
ufed among the ancients, resembling the lute. The
word is faid to be formed from the Greek and
i. e. u all gifts, all forts of gifts.” Ifidore derives
the name from its inventor Pandoras ; others from Pan,
to whom they attribute its invention, as well as that of
the flute. It has the fame number of firings with the
lute •, but they, are of brafs, and of confequence give a
more agreeable found than thofe of the lute. Its frets
are of copper, like thofe of the ciftre j its back is flat,
like that of the guitar 5 and the rims of its table, as
well as its ribs, are cut in femicircles. IDu Cange ob-
i’erves, that Varro, Itidore, and others of the ancients,
mention it as having only three firings \ whence it is
fometimes alfo fpoken of under the denomination
5ov, trichordum.
PANE AS (Pliny, Jofephus) : the apparent fpring
from which the Jordan rifes, on the extremity of the
weft fide of the Trachonitis (Pliny).
Paneas (Coins, Pliny, Jofephus), the name of a di-
ftri61 adjoining to the fpring Paneas, with a cognominal
town, either enlarged and adorned, or originally built,
by Philip fon of Herod, and called Ccefarea by Jofe¬
phus, and in St Matthew, Ccefarea of Philip; with a
temple eredled to Auguftus his benefadlor, who confer¬
red the Trachonitis upon him (Coin). It was afterwards
called Neronias, in honour of Nero (Jofephus).
PANEGYRIC, an oration in praife of fome extra¬
ordinary thing, perfon, or virtue.
The name is Greek ; formed of ?r#v, “ all,”
and ccyuev, “ I afl'emble becaufe anciently held in
public and iolemn affemblies of the Greeks, either at
their games, their feafts, fairs, or religious meetings.
To make their panegyrics the more folemn, the
Greeks ufed to begin with the praifes of the deity in
whofe honour the games, Sic. were celebrated 5 then
they defeended to the praife of the people or country
where they were celebrated •, then to the princes or
magiftrates who prefided at them •, and at length to the
champions, efpecially the conquerors, who had gained
the prizes in them.
PANEGYRICUM, in church hiftory, an ecclefiaf-
tjcal book, ufed by the Greek church, containing the
panegyrical orations of various authors, on the folemni-
ties of Jefus Chrift and the faints. It is found in MS.
in moft churches, but it is not the fame in all; each
church having its particular faints •, and the compilers
of this kind of books ufually fuited their colle£Hons to
the tafte of their own devotion. They are difpofed ac¬
cording to the order of the months, and frequently con-
fift of 12 volumes, anfwering to the 12 months of the
year.
Among the principal authors of this work are Atha-
nafius, Cyril, Bafil, Chrvfoftom, &c.
PANEL, {Panel/a, Panellum), according to Sir Ed¬
ward Coke, denotes “ a little part ' but the learned
Spelman fays, that it fignifies fchedula vel pagina, “ a
fchedule or roll *,” as a panel of parchment, or a coun¬
terpane of an indenture : but it is ufed more particularly
for a fchedule or roll, containing the names of fuch ju¬
rors as the fticriff returns to pafs upon any trial. And
the impanelling a jury is the entering their names in a
panel or little fchedule of parchment.
Panel, in Scots Law, fignifies the prifoner at the
bar, or perfon who takes his trial before the court of
jufticiary for fome crime.
PANGOLIN, a fpecies of the manis peculiar to
Hindoftan. See Manis, Mammalia Index.
PANIC, denotes an ill-grounded terror or fright.
Polytenus fays, it originates from Pan, one of the cap¬
tains of Bacchus, who with a few men put a numerous
enemy to rout, by a noife which his foldiers raifed in a
rocky valley, favoured with a great number of echoes.
JThis ftratagem making their number appear far greater
than it was, the enemy quitted a very commodious en¬
campment, and fled. Hence all ill-grounded fears have
been called panics, or panic fears ; and it was this that
gave occafion to the fable of the nymph Echo’s being
beloved by the god Pan. Others derive the origin of
it hence: that in the wars of the Titans againft the
gods, Pan was the firft who ftruck terror into the hearts
of the giants. Theon on Aratus fays, he did it by the
means of a fea fhell, which ferved him for a trumpet,
whereof he was the inventor.
PANICLE, in Botany, denotes a foft woolly beard,
on which the feeds of fome plants hang pendulous j as
in millet, reeds, and hay.
PANICUM, a genus of plants belonging to the tri-
andria clafs. See Botany Index.
PANINI, Paolo, a painter of perfpedlive and ar-
chitedlure. He was born at Placentia in 1691, with a
moft happy genius to painting, which he cultivated by
ftudying at Rome, where he defigned every veftige of
ancient magnificence, the ruins of fuperb Roman edifices,
cenotaphs, columns, baths, arches, and obelHks, as al¬
fo fome of the moft entire buildings, the ornaments of
modern Rome.
He ftudied the works of Ghifolfi with peculiar plea-
fure j Ire formed his tafte, ftyle, and manner, by the
compofitions of that efteemed artift •, and his ftrongeft
ambition was to imitate him j fo that he foon became
eminent in that ftyle beyond all bis contemporaries. His
compofition is rich ; the truth of his perfpedlive is criti¬
cally exa£t; and his paintings are univerfally efteemed
for the grandeur of the architefture, for the clearnefs of
his colouring, for the beautiful figures which he gene¬
rally introduced, and alfo for the elegant tafte with
which he difpofed them. He always defigned them
correftly, and fet them off with fuitable attitudes and
expreffion.
However, this defeription of his merit muft be fuppo-
fed to allude to his early and prime performances ; for
in his latter time, his pictures were diftinguilhable by a
free and broad touch, but they are feeble in their colour¬
ing and effedt. At all times, indeed, he was too apt to
defign his figures rather too large for the architedture,
which diminifhed the grandeur of the moft magnificent
parts of his compofition, and was quite contrary to the
practice of Ghifolfi j w hofe works muft perpetually af¬
ford a pleafing deception to the eye, by the perfpedlive
proportions obferved between the figures, buildings, and
diftances. *
At Rivoli, a pleafure houfe belonging to the king of
Sardinia, there are feveral of Panini’s paintings, which
are views of that fine retreat and its environs. They
are beautifully coloured, well handled, and with a touch
full
Panel
II
Panini.
PAN
[ 727 J
PAN
Pamni
Pannam.
full of fpirit j though in feme parts the yellow feems a
little too predominant, and the lights are not always di-
1 ftributed in fuch a manner a.^ to produce the molt itrik-
ing effedl.
PANIONIA, in antiquity, a feftival celebrated in
honour of Neptune by a concourfe of people from all the
cities of Ionia. It is remarkable in this feftival, that if
the bull offered in facrifice happened to bellow, it was
accounted an omen of divine favour j becaufe that found
was thought to be acceptable to Neptune.
P ANN ARIA, one of the Lipari iflands. See Ll-
fara and Lifari.—The ancients called it Themifia,
from the hot waters which they found in it. It may be
about, eight or nine miles in circumference. It bears
wheat, and grapes,from which the inhabitants make wine.
Pannaria, like the other adjacent iflands, appears to be
a volcano ■, its original having been deftroyed by conti¬
nued eruptions. It is now no longer of a conical figure.
It contains about 100 inhabitants, reckoning every foul,
men, women, and children. It is, like Stromboli, go¬
verned by a curate, who depends on the prieft of the pa-
rifli of St Jofeph in Lipari ; and when any couple in the
illand determine to marry, they muft crofs the fea to
Lipari to receive the nuptial benedidHon in the parilhof
St Jofeph, or pay a fum for a licenfe to empower the
curate of Pannaria to perform the ceremony. All the
other adjoining illands are fubjeil to the fame regula¬
tion.
The inhabitants of Pannaria live by fithing, and by
taking fmall quantities of game on this and the little
contiguous illands. They bring up and tame thole birds
known by the game of gulls, which are feen in tempel-
tuous weather flying near the furface of the fea. They
are here called corracio. The body of the bird and the
tips of itt wings are white ; but the head, the. tail, and
the reft of the wings, are gray : they are of the fize of
Indian hens ; their wings are prodigioully large : they
have their nefts on the fteep inacceflible cliffs of tne le-
veral illands. When the iflanders bring thefe birds up
tame, they feed them with filh, which, though of fuch
fize that you would think it impoflible for their ftomachs
to receive them, they eagerly ftretch their necks and
fwallow rapacioufly. Thefe birds are thus brought up
to be as tame as pullets or pigeons ; and luch an attach¬
ment do they often acquire to the places in which they
are reared, that fome of them have been known to re¬
turn to thefe iflands after being conveyed to Mellazzo
and Meflina.
On the fummit of a hill in this illand, which projects
over the fea, the inhabitants pretend to fhow a caltle
and an infeription. Rut their callle is only an elevated
peak of the rock, which nature feems to have prepared
as a retreat for birds. It confifts of puzzolana 5 and has
been actually formed by the afiion of winds and rains,
for a long eourfe of time, into a fantaftic figure, which
may appear, when carelefsly viewed from a diftance by
an undiftinguilhing eye, the remains <>i fome ancient
ftnnfture.. The good'people of the illand, not being
able to judge of it otherwife than from appearance, are
perfupded, that it can be nothing but a caftle, which
muft have been reared for the defence of the illand a-
gainft the Turks and the corfairs of Barbary. -Thefe
they confider as the moft dreadtul fcourge with which
mankind can poflibly be afflided, and fear them much
more than the eruptions of the volcano. When they
feel their illand lhaken, they embark with all their
wealth, which a lingle Hoop eafily contains j and en
board they are fafe from both the lhaking of the
earth and the eruptions of the lava, but not from an ho-
ftile fleet.
In this iiland there appear various remains of ancient
buildings, but very ruinous and very fcanty. In plough¬
ing the fields, many remains of fepulchres, in different
modes of conftruction, are found ; fome of rough Hones,
tiles, or bricks j others confitting each of a lingle ftone.
Vafes of various forts and fizesare alfo faid to have been
found in the fame fields, utenfils of different kinds, mo¬
ney, chains, and medals of lead. But none ol thefe re¬
licks of antiquity have been preferved : the good peo¬
ple who found them were ignorant of their value, and
therefore negledled them as trifles. In places along the
Ihore of the illand, where the fea appears to have en ¬
croached, there are fome hewn ftones to be feen : they
feem to be remains of walls, which muft have been very
ftrong and of elegant architeflure. In other places far¬
ther diftant from the ihore, there likewife appear frag¬
ments of walls funk in the ground, and apparently over¬
whelmed with mud, which the winds and rains have
brought down from the mountain above. T hefe remains
ftiow, that Pannaria, either under the Greeks, or in
that period when all the elements were taxed for the
gratification of Roman luxury, mutt have been adorned
with fuperb buildings, as well as the adjacent illands of
Lipari, Stromboli, and Bafiluzzo..
PANNELSo/a Saddle, are two cuthions or bol-
fters, filled with cows, deer, or horfes hair, and placed
under the faddle, on each fide, to prevent the bows and
bands from galling the horfe.
PANNICULUS carnosus, in Comparative Anato¬
my, a robuft fiefhy tunic, fituated in bealts between the.
fkin and the fat ^ by means of which they can move
their Ikin in whole or in part. It is altogether wanting
in mankind.
PANNONIA (Pliny, Strabo, Dio), an extenlive
country of Europe, having the Danube on the north,
Dalmatia on the fouth, Noricnm on the weft, and Moe-
fia on the eaft. It is divided into Superior and Inferior
(Ptolemy, Dm). The common boundary between both
were the river Arabo and Mount Cetius, having the
Superior to the weft, and the Inferior on the eaft fide.
This divifion is thought to be no older than the times of
the Antonines. Pannonicus the epithet (Martial).
PANOMPHAtUS, in antiquity, a defignation giv¬
en to Jupiter, becaufe he was faid to be the original au¬
thor of all forts of divination, having the books of fate,
and out o£ them revealing either more or lefs, as he
pleafed, to inferior demons.
PANOPOLIS. See Achmim.
PANORMUS (Polybius, Paufanias), a town of A-
chaia, in Peloponnefus, near the promontory Rhium.— "
Another (Ptolemy, Pliny), a town on the north fide of
Crete.—A third (Ptolemy), in Macedonia, on the Ae¬
gean fea, near Mount Athos.—A fourth, of Samos
(Livy).—A fifth, of Sicily ; an ancient city, built by
the Phoenicians (Thucydides) j a principal town of the
Carthaginians (Polybius) 5 fituated between Lilybseus
and Pelorus (Mela) j a Roman colony. Now Palermo^
capital of the ifland, on the north fide. E. Long. 13.
N.
Pamuria
II
Panormus.
PAN
Panormus JsJ, ^g> ^ fixth Panormus of the Thracian
Pantaloon. Cherfonefus, placed by Pliny on the welt fide of the pe-
1 t-- ■ ninfula, and mentioned by no other writer.
Panormus (Ptolemy), a port of Attica $ its name de¬
noting it to be capacious.—Another, of Epirus (Strabo,
Ptolemy) •, a large harbour in the heart of the Montes
Cerauni, below the citadel Chimaera.—A third of Ionia
(Strabo) 5 near Ephefus, with the temple of the Ephe-
fian Diana.
PANORPA, the Scorpion fly, a gems of infers
belonging to the order of neuroptera. See Entomolo¬
gy Index.
PANTALARIA, an illand in the Mediterranean
fea, between Sicily and the main land of Africa, about
17 miles in circumference. It is near the coafl of Tu¬
nis, and abounds in cotton, fruits, and wine 5 but the
inhabitants are obliged to bring all their corn to Sicily,
as it belongs to the king of the tivo Sicilies. E. Long.
12. 25. N. Lat. 36. 59.
PAN FALNUS, a Stoic philofopher, born in Sicily
(though fome have erroneoufly fuppofed him to be a He¬
brew) about the beginning of the reign of Commodus.
He prefided over the celebrated fchool of Alexandria,
where, from the time of St Mark, th.e founder of that
church, they had always a divine that was eminent for
his learning and piety, to explain the Holy Scriptures,
and to inftruft them in human learning. This employ¬
ment he was obliged to leave ; for when the Indians re¬
quired of Demetrius biflrop of Alexandria to fend them
one to inftruft them in Chriflianity, he fent Pantfenus,
who undertook the miffion with joy, and behaved him-
felf very properly in it. We are told, that the Indians
had been tindlured with Chriftianity by St Bartholomew
the apoftle *, and that Pantaenus met with the Hebrew
original of St Matthew’s gofpel, which the apoftle had
left there. St Jerome fays that Pantaenus brought it
with him ; and that it was, in his time, preferved in the
library of Alexandria. But rve fufpeft St Jerome to be
miftaken in this refpefi. W hen Pantaenus returned to
Alexandria, he reaifumed the government of the fchool
of that city, which, it is probable, he had, during his
abfence, committed to the care of St Clement, aprefby-
ter of Alexandria. He explained the Scriptures pub¬
licly, under the reign of Severus Antoninus Caracalla;
and was, in St Jerome’s opinion, more ferviceable to the
church by his difcourfes than by his writings. He pub-
liftred fome commentaries upon the Bible, which are
loft. “ That the prophets often exprefs themfelves in
indifferent terms, and that they make ufe of the prefent
time inftead of the part and future,” is a rule of Pantae¬
nus, which has been followed by all fucceeding interpre¬
ters. Theodorus has related this rule j but he fpeaks of
it as if Pantaenus had rather faid than written it.
W^e may have fome notion of Pantsenus’s manner of
explaining the Scriptures bv the like performances of
St Clement of Alexandria, Origen, and others who w'ere
brought up in that fchool.
PANTALOON, a fort of garment confifting of
breeches and ftockings of one piece j faid to have been
firft introduced by the Venetians.
Pantaloon, on the theatre, is a buffoon or malked
perfon, who performs high and grotefque dances, and
fhows violent and extravagant poftures and airs. The
word is likewife ufed for the habit or drefs thefe buf¬
foons ufually wear j which is made precifely to the
[ 728 1
PAN
form of their body, and all of a piece from head to
foot.
And hence thofe wTho wear a habit of this kind, for
conveniency, under their other clothes, are called pan¬
taloons of Venice.
PANTHEA, in antiquity, were fingle ftatues, com-
pofed of the figures, or fymbols, of feveral different di¬
vinities together. Father Joubert, who calls them pan-
thecz, and who has remarked them fometimes on medals,
fays their heads are moft commonly adorned with the
fymbols or attributes belonging to feveral gods. An in-
fiance of this appears in a medal of Antoninus Pius
which reprefents Serapis by the bufiiel it bears ; the Sun
by the crown of rays ■, Jupiter Ammon by the ram’s
horns ; Pluto by the large beard 5 and ASfculapius by
the ferpent twilled in his hand. M. Baudelot, in a dif-
fertation on the Lares, obferves, that the panthea had
their origin from the fupertlition of thofe, who, taking
feveral gods for the proteclors of their houfes, united
them all in the fame ftatue, by adorning it with the fe¬
veral fymbols proper to each of thefe deities.
PANTHEISM, a philofophical fpeeies of idolatry
leading to atheifm, in which the univerfe was confidered
fts the fupreme God. Who was the inventor of this ab-
furd fyftem, is, perhaps, not known ; but it was of ear¬
ly origin, and differently modified by different philofo-
phers. Some held the univerfe to be one immenfe ani¬
mal, of which the incorporeal foul was properly their
God, and the heavens and earth the body of that God ;
whilft others held but one fubftance, partly a£live and
partly paftive ; and therefore looked upon the viiible.
univerfe as the only Numen. The earlieft Grecian Pan-
theifl of whom we read was Orpheus, who called the
world the body of God, and its feveral parts his mem¬
bers, making the whole univerfe one divine annual.
According to Cudworth, Orpheus and his followers be¬
lieved in the immaterial foul of the world ; therein a-
greeing with Ariftotle, who certainly held that God and
matter are coeternal •, and that there is fome fuch uniori
between tjiem as fubfifts between the fouls and bodies of
men. See Metaphysics, N° 264.
In the ancient Orphic theology, we are taught, that
“ this univerfe, and all things belonging to it, were
made within God \ that all things are contained toge¬
ther in the womb of God ; that God is the head and
middle of all things ; that he is the bafis of the earth
and heaven ; that he is the depth of the fea, the air we
breathe, the force of the untameable fre; that he is
the fun, moon, and fars ; that there is one divine body ;
for,
Tlctilcc yoiQ ev piyceXu tcc eh ccopcth kutcu,
“ all thefe things lie in the great body of God.”—But
further, to prove that the moft: ancient Greek philofo-
phers refolved all things into God, and made God all,
we (hall cite a moll remarkable paffage from Plutarch’s
Deleft of Oracles. “ Whereas there are two caufes of
all generations, the divine and the human, the moft an¬
cient theologers and poets attended only to the more ex¬
cellent of thefe two ; refolving all things into God, and
pronouncing this of them univerfally ;
Zios Ziv? pitrrcc, A<«s ik ttu'jIx mXtvrxi,
‘ that God is both the beginning and middle, and that
all things are out of God j’ infomuch, that they had no
regard
Pantaloon
II
Pantheifm.
PAN
[ 729 3
PAN
.pantheifra, regard at all to the other natural and neceflary caufes of
pantheon, things : but on the contrary, their juniors, who were
called naturalijls, deviating from this moft excellent and
divine principle, placed all in bodies, their paffions, col-
lifions, mutations, and commixtures.”
That by the moft ancient theologers here mentioned,
Plutarch meant Orpheus and his immediate followers, is
plain from the Orphic verfe by which he proves their
antiquity. By their juniors, whom he calls naturalijls,
he could mean no other than the firft Grecian philofo-
phers, Anaximander, Anaximenes, and Hippo, who were
followed by the atheiftical atomifts, Leucippus, Democri¬
tus, Protagoras, and Epicurus. But with refpect to the
univerfe being God, and all things divine and human
being modifications of mere matter, the ftoics undoubt¬
edly agreed with Anaximander and his followers 5 for
the fchool of Zeno held but one fubftance. See META¬
PHYSICS, N° 265. This impious doftrine, that all
things are God, and that there is but one fubftance, was
revived in modern times by Spinoza, an apoftate Jew.
As we ftiall give a life of him and a view of his princi¬
ples, we muft refer the reader for a fuller account of
Pantheifm to Spinoza. See alfo Pan.
PANTHEON, a beautiful edifice at Rome, ancient¬
ly a temple, dedicated to all the gods j but now con¬
verted into a church, and dedicated to the Virgin and
all the martyrs.
This edifice is generally thought to have been built
by Agrippa fon-in-law to Auguftus, becaufe it has the
following infcription on the frieze of the portico.
M. AGRIPPA L. F. COS. TERTIUM FECIT.
Several antiquarians and artifts, however, have fuppo-
fed that the pantheon exifted in the times of the com¬
monwealth ; and that it ivas only embelliihed by Agrip-
pa, who added the portico. Be this as it will, however,
the pantheon, when perfeded by Agrippa, was an ex¬
ceedingly magnificent buildingthe form of whole bo¬
dy is round or cylindrical, and its roof or dome is fphe-
rical : it is 144 feet diameter within j and the height of
it, from the pavement to the grand aperture on its top,
through which it receives the light, is juft as much. It
is of the Corinthian order. The inner circumference is
divided into feven grand niches, wrought in the thick-
nefs of the wall : fix of which are flat at the top , but
the feventh, oppofite to the entrance, is arched. Be¬
fore each niche are two columns of antique yellow mar¬
ble fluted,' and of one entire block, making in all 14,
the fineft in Rome. The whole wall of the temple, as
high as the grand cornice inclufive, is cafed with divers
forts of precious marble in compartments. The frieze is
entirely of porphyry. Above the grand cornice arifes
an attic, in which were wrought, at equal diftances, 14
oblong fquare niches: between each niche were four
marble pilafters, and between the pilafters marble tables
of various kinds. This attic had a complete entabla¬
ture •, but the cornice projected lefs than that of the
grand order below. Immediately from the cornice
fprings the fpherical roof, divided by bands, which crofs
each other like the meridians and parallels of an aitifi-
cial terreftrial globe. The fpaces between the bands
decreafe in fize as they approach the top of the roof}
to which, however, they do not reach, there being a
confiderable plain fpace between them and the great
-opening. That fo bold a roof might be as light as pof-
VeL. XV. Part II.
Able, the architeft formed the fubftance of the fpaces Pantheon.^
between the bands of nothing but lime and pumice- 7
ftones. The walls below were decorated with lead and
brafs, and works of carved filver over them ; and the
roof was covered on the outfide with plates of gilded
bronze. There wTas an afeent from the Springing of the
roof to the very fummit by a flight of feven ftairs. And
if certain authors may be credited, thefe ftairs were or¬
namented with pedeftrian ftatues ranged as an amphi¬
theatre. This notion was founded on a paffage of Pli¬
ny, who fays, “ That Diogenes the fculptor decorated
the pantheon of Agrippa with elegant ftatues j yet that
it was difficult to judge of their merit, upon account of
their elevated fituation.” The portico is compofed of
16 columns of granite, four feet in diameter, eight of
which Hand in front, with an equal intercolumniation
all along, contrary to the rule of Vitruvius, who is for
having the fpace anfwering to the door of a temple,
wider than the reft. Of thefe columns is a pediment,
whofe tympanum, or flat, was ornamented with bas-re¬
liefs in brafs ; the crofs beams which formed the ceiling
of the portico were covered with the fame metal, and
fo were the doors. The afeent up to the portico was by
eight or nine fteps.
Such was the pantheon, the richnefs of which in¬
duced Pliny to rank it among the wonders of the
world.
The eruption of Vefuvius, in the reign of Tiberius,
damaged the Pantheon very confiderably : it was repair¬
ed by Domitian ; which occafioned feme writers to men¬
tion that prince as the founder of the building. The
emperor Adrian alfo did fomething to it. But it ap¬
pears, that the pantheon is more indebted to Septimius
Severus, than to any one fince its ere&ion. The moft,
perhaps, that any of his predeceffors had done, was the
adding fome ornament to it: Septimius bellowed effen-
tial reparations upon it. The following infcription ap¬
pears upon the architrave :
IMP. CAES. SEPTIMIVS. SEVERVS.
PIVS. PERTINAX.
ARABIC VS. PARTHICVS. PONTIF.
MAX. TRIE. POT.
XI. COS. III. P. P. ET. IMP. CAES.
MARC VS.
.AVREEIVS. ANTONINVS. FIVS.
FELIX. AVG. TRIB.
POT. V. COS. PROCOS. PANTHEVM.
VETVSTATE.
OBRVPTVM. CVM. OMNI. CVLTV.
RESTIT V E R V NT.
It is really a matter of aftoniffiment, that a ftruflure,
which, granting it to have been built by Agrippa, was
not more than 200 years old, ffiould have fallen into
decay through age. This fingle conlideration feems fuf-
ficient to confirm the opinion of thole who believe it to
have flood in the times of tbe commonwealth.
The temple fublifted in all its grandeur till the in-
curfion of Alaric in the time of Honorius. Zozymus
relates, that the Romans having engaged to furnilh
this barbarian prince with 3000 pounds weight of gold
and 5000 pounds weight of filver, upon condition that
he ffiould depart from their walls $ and it proving im-
poffible to raife thofe firms either out of the public trea-
fury or private purfes, they were obliged to ftrip the tem-
4 Z pies
PAN [73°
i iimoeon^ pies of their ftatues and ornaments of gold and filver.
It is probable that the pantheon fupplied a good pai't,
as that of Jupiter Capitolinus was the only one in Rome
that could vie with it for riches.
Alaric carried off nothing from the Romans befides
their precious metals. Thirty-nine years after this,
Genferic king of the Vandals took away part of their
marbles } and whether from a greedinefs of plunder,
or from a reiifh of the produftions of art, loaded one
of his lhips with ftatues. It cannot be queftioned,
but that on this oecafion the pantheon was forced to
part with more of its ornaments, and that the inefti-
mable works of Diogenes became the prey of this
barbarian.
Before thefe unwelcome vifits of the Goths and Van¬
dals, the Chriftian emperors had iffued edifts for demo-
lifhing the Pagan temples. But the Romans, what¬
ever were their motives, {pared the pantheon, which is
known to have fuffered no damage from the zeal of the
pontiffs, or the indignation of the faints, before the firft
liege of Rome by Alaric. It remained fo rich till about
the year 655, as to excite the avarice of Conftantine II.
who came from Conftantinople to pillage the pantheon,
and executed his purpofe fo far as to ftrip it both of its
infide and outftde brazen coverings, which he tranfport-
ed to Syracufe, where they foon after fell into the hands
of the Saracens.
About fifty years before this, Pope Boniface IV. had
obtained the pantheon of the emperor Phocas, to make
a church of it. The artifts of thefe days were totally
ignorant of the excellence of the Greek and Roman ar-
chite&ure, and fpoiled every thing they laid their hands
upon. To this period certain alterations are to be re¬
ferred, of which w^e {hall fpeak by and by.
After the devaftations of the barbarians, Rome was
eontradled within a narrow compafs : the feven hills
were abandoned 5 and the Campus Martius, being an
even plain, and near the Tyber, became the ground-
plat of the whole city. The pantheon happening to
ftand at the entrance of the Campus Martius, was pre-
fently furrounded with houfes, which fpoiled the fine
profpeft of it; and it was yet more deplorably difgra-
ced by fome of them which flood clofe to its walls.
Pedlars {beds were built even within its portico, and
the intercolumniations were bricked up, to the irrepa¬
rable damage of the matchlefs pillars, of which fome
loft part of their capitals, fome of their bales, and
others were chiffeled out fix or feven inches deep,
and as many feet high, to let in polls. Which excava¬
tions are to this day half filled up with brick and mor¬
tar ; a fad monument of the licentioufnefs of the
vulgar, and of the ftupid avarice of thofe who fold
them the privilege to ruin the nobleft piece of art in
the world !
This diforder continued till the pontificate of Eu¬
gene IV. whofe zeal for the decency of a confecra-
ted place, prevailed upon him to have all the houfes
cleared away that encumbered the pantheon, and fo
the miferable barracks in the portico were knocked
down.
hrom the time Conftantius carried off the brafs pla¬
ting of the external roof, that part was expofed to the
injuries of the weather, or at beft was but {lightly tiled
in, till Benedict II. covered it with lead, which Nicho¬
las V. renewed in a better ftyle.
] PAN
It docs not appear that from this time to Urban Pamlmn.
VIII. any pope did any thing remarkable to the pan- '
theon. r
Raphael Urban, who had no equal as a painter, and
who as an architect had no fuperior, left a confiderable
fum by his will for the reparation of the pantheon
where his tomb is placed. Perino de la Vagua, Jaco-
mo Udino, Hannibal Carracci, Flamingo Vacca, and
the celebrated Archangelo Corelli, did the fame. All
the ornaments within, that have any claim to be called
good, are of the later times; the paintings merit efteem;
and the ftatues, though not mafterpieces, do honour to
fculpture, which alone is a proof that they are pofterior
to the 15th century.
But, with all the refpe6l due to a pontiff, who was
otherwife a proteftor, and even a pradlifer of the arts,
it were much to be wiftied that Urban VIII. had not
known that the pantheon exifted. The inferiptions cut
at the fide of the door inform us, that he repaired it *
yet, at the fame dme that he built up with one hand^
he pulled down with the other. He caufed two bel¬
fries of a wretched tafte to be eroded on the ancient
front work, and he divefted the portico of all the re¬
mains of its ancient grandeur, viz. the brazen cover¬
ture of the crofs beams, which amounted to fuch a
prodigious quantity, that not only the vaft baldaquin
or canopy of the confeflional in St Peter’s was caft out
of it, but likewife a great number of cannon for the
caftle of St Angelo. This pope, who was of the fa¬
mily of Barberini, prefented aifo as much of this me¬
tal to his nephew, as was fufficient for the decoration
of his new palace; on which occafion this remarkable
pafquinade was ftuck up :
^uod non fecerunt Barbarifecere Barberini.
If ever gingle added force to wit, it was certainly in
this, inftance.
It is furprifing, that whilft all thefe operations were
carrying on in the portico, he never once thought of
repairing the damages which time had wrought in it t
Of the 16 pillars which fupported this magnificent pile,
there were no more than 13 left; the three next the
temple of Minerva had difappeared ; with thefe the
entablature and an angle of the front had tumbled
down. There were not wanting in Rome fragments
enough of antique columns that might have been put
together, and fet up, to have prevented the downfal
of a pile which deferved to ftand as long as the world
endured.
Alexander VII. did what Urban VIII. had neglec¬
ted to do. At the fame time that Bernini ivas con-
ftru&ing the colonnade of St Peter, this pontiff order¬
ed fearch to be made for pillars to match thofe of the
portico of the pantheon ; and fome were found not far
from the French church of St Lewis of the very fame
model. They were granite of the ifle of Ilva, or Elba,
and thofe of the portico were Egyptian granite; the co¬
lour, however, was the fame, fo that the effeft was equal.
The pope’s zeal did not flop here ; he cauied all the
old houfes before the portico to be pulled down, and
the foil and rubbifh to be cleared away which covered
the fteps, and even the bafes of fome of the pillars.
He began covering the roof with marble, and raifed a
lantern over the aperture, to keep out rain ; but death
took him off before his project was completed. Cle¬
ment
PAN
[ 73
Panto¬
mime.
Pantheon merit IX. his fucceffor, inclofed the portico within iron
rails. Several later popes have added to its decorations,
which were all in the tafte of the times they were
, done in ; and the body of the edifice and its architec¬
ture gained nothing from them. The main obje£t of
their holineffes liberality was the embellilhment of the
grand altar. One gave purple curtains, another be¬
llowed filver tabernacles ; others again vafes, and fuperb
dreffes, fuited to the folemn ceremonies of religion.
All thefe might be called rich *, but they had in no fenfe
a tendency to retrieve the ancient majefty or original
fplendour of the temple. The true gullo of the orna¬
ments was a little imitated at the revival of the arts.
Good ftatues took place of the Ikeletons and fquat
figures that ridiculoully difgraced the altars tor the
fpace of eight centuries. The paintings of Perugino,
Cozza, and Grefli, covered the dull mofaics with
which the Greeks of Conftantinople had loaded the
walls of moll of the churches in Rome. The porphyry
and the greetf-and yellow antique found among the old
ruins were employed to much advantage.
There was befides at Rome another pantheon, dedi¬
cated to Minerva as the goddefs of medicine. It was
in the form of a decagon, and the diftance from one
angle to another meafured about 22 feet and a half.
Between the angles there were nine round chapels, each
of which was defigned for a deity^ and over the gate
there was a ftatue of Minerva. 1 he pantheon of A-
thens was in many refpedls little inferior to the Roman
one built by Agrippa. The Greek Chriftians alfo con¬
verted it into a church, dedicated it to the Virgin, un¬
der the name of Panegia; and the lurks changed it
into a mofque. The pantheon of Nifmes was a temple
in that city, wherein were 12 niches for ftatues, fuppofed
to have been deftined for the 12 great gods. In the
Efcurial is a moft magnificent chapel, called pantheon,
35 feet in diameter, and 38 feet high from the pavement,
which is compofed of marble and jafper inlayed. The
whole infide of the chapel is of black marble, except
the luthern, and fome ornaments of jafper and red marble.
In this chapel are depofited the bodies of the kings and
queens •, there are only places for 26, and eight of them
are already filled.
PANTHER. See Felis, Mammalia Index. _
PANTING, confifts in a rapid fucceflion of infpira-
tions and expirations, which happens when we run or
perform any violent motion.
PANTOMIME, nccvTopiw, among the ancients,
a perfon who could imitate all kind of a&mns and cha-
raflers by figns and geftures without fpeaking.
The pantomimes made a part in the theatrical en¬
tertainments of the ancients their chief employment
was to exprefs, in geftures and a£lion, whatever .the
chorus fung, changing their countenance and behaviour
as the fubjeft of the fong varied. They were very an-
Panto-
1 ] PAP
cient in Greece, being derived from the heroic times,
according to fome ; but however this may be, they were
certainly known in Plato’s time. In Rome, it was fo pap_caftle.
late as the time of Auguftus before they made their ap- u—y——>
pearance. As to their drefs, it was various, being al¬
ways fuited as near as poflible to that of the perfon they
were to imitate. The crocota was much ufed among
the Roman pantomimes, in which and other female
dreffes they perfonated women.
We have this account of them in Gibbon’s hiftory j
“ The pantomimes (a), wdio maintained their reputa¬
tion from the age of Auguftus to the fixth century,
expreffed, without the ufe of words, the various fables
of the gods and heroes of antiquity *, and the perfection
of their art, which fometimes difarmed the gravity of
the philofopher, always excited the applaufe and won¬
der of the people. The vaft and magnificent theatres
of Rome were filled by 3000 female dancers, and by
3000 fingers, with the mafters of the refpeftive cho-
ruffes. Such was the popular favour which they enjoy¬
ed, that in a time of fcarcity, when all ftrangers were
baniflied from the city, the merit of contributing to the
public pleafures exempted them from a law which was
ftriClly executed againft the profeftbrs of the liberal
arts (b).”
Pantomimes are ftill very common in England: they
differ indeed in fome refpeCts from thofe of antiquity j
but they retain the name, and like thefe they confift in
the reprefentations of things merely by geftures.
PANUCO, a town and province of North America,
in New Spain, lying to the north of Mexico, with a
bifiiop’s fee. There are veins of gold, and fait works,
which are the principal revenue of the inhabitants.—
It is feated near the mouth of a river of the fame name,
at a fmall diftance from tire gulf of Mexico. W.
Long. 100. 5. N. Lat. 24. o.
P AO-ting-FOU, in China, where the viceroy refides,
is the moft confiderable city in the province next to
Pekin. It has 20 others under its jurifdiClion, three of
the fecond and 17 of the third clafs. The country
around it is pleafant, and inferior in fertility to no part
of China. It is neceffary to pafs this city in going from
Pekin to the province of Chan-fi.
PAOLO, Marco. See Paulo.
PAPA, a fmall but ftrong town of Lower Hungary,
in the county of Vefprin. It was taken from the Turks
in 1683, after raifing the fiege of Vienna, and is fubjedt
to the houfe of Auftria. It is feated on a mountain,
near the river MarchaeZ, in E. Long. 18. 10. N. Lat.
47. 20. .. ..
PAP-CASTLE, in England, in Bridekirk pariflr, Cum¬
berland, flood two miles from Cockermouth, on the other
fide of the Derwent, whofe Roman antiquity is proved
by feveral monuments; and a large green ftone veffel
found here, with little images upon it, is fuppofed to
4 Z 2 have
(a) “ See the dialogue of Lucian, entitled, Be Saltatione, tom. 11. p. ^5—317. edit. Reitz. The pantomimes
obtained the honourable name of ; and it was required that they Ihould be converfant with almoft every
art and fcience. Burette (in the Memoires de PAcademic des Infa iptions, tom. 1. p. 127, &A.) has given a fliort
h^ory of^ art^ofpantonnme^ ^ compla;ns? with decent indignation, that the ftreets of Rome were filled
with crowds of females, who might have given children to the ftate, but whofe only occupation was to curl and
drefs their hair ; and jaftari volubihbus gyns, dum expnmunt innumei ajimu/acra, queefinxere fabulce theatra e .
PAP L 732 ] PAP
Pap-caftle, have been formerly a Danifh font for dipping infants j
, PaPer~ and has been fince ufed at Bridekirk in the neighbour¬
hood for their fprinkling.
The name of Pap-cajile feems to be contracted from
Pipard its owner : it is laid to have been demolifhtd, and
the materials employed to build Cockermouth caftle.
Mr Routh, in a letter to Mr Gale, thus defcribes the
ruins difcovered at Pap-caftle, Jan. j 6. 1741.
Camden's “ I made particular inquiry of the man in whofe
Gml}'10' §rouriC^y they were difcovered, and of feme of the neigh-
editf S b°urs prefent at the difcovery. The clofe in which
they lay is a little to the fouth of the fort, on the de¬
clivity of the hill to the river, and bounded on the weft
by a narrow lane, probably the via militaris continued ;
and is ufuaily (hown to ftrangers as the moft remarkable
here for finding Roman coins. They are the largeft
ruins ever known to be difcovered in thefe parts : for
they met with three walls befides the pavement; the
firll lay eaft and weft, and rvas covered with earth near
a foot high ; parallel to it at feven yards, they found a
fecond ; and between thefe two, about two yards deep
(the height of the walls, which were fix yards broad,
and ftrongly cemented), they came to a pavement cu-
rioufly laid with large flags, three quarters of a yard
fquare, and two or three inches thick, as 1 meafured
them : but imagining there muft be money under it,
they covered it up till night, and then tore it all up.
It was compofed of flags of different thicknefs : under
the thinner was a eoarfe ftrong cement, which caufed
them to be broken in taking up •, but the thicker are
pretty entire. Part of the wall flood on the floor, and
the edge was iecured by a fine red cement two inches
thick, fuppofed to be intended to keep the floor dry.
They imagined themfelves at the corner of the building,
the third wall handing at right angles with the firft,
and the fecond parallel to the ftony lane, on which was
an old hedge. On the floor they found a ftone trough,
or rather bafe of a pillar, about a foot high, and the
hollowed part fquare, and two inches deep. They like-
wife found a fmall earthen patera, which I procured, of Pap-caftle
the fine red clay, beautifully fmooth, with letters im- II
preffed on the bottom j but fo defaced as not to be in- JVW-
telligible.—Some years ago, the man’s father who found v *
thefe ruins dug up a conduit. The owner had no coins,
nor knew of any. One of his neighbours {bowed me a
large brafs one defaced.”
Mr Routh, in another letter to Mr Gale, April 13.
1743, defcribes a fibula, a coin of Trajan, . . . IANO
AVG. . . . P. M. Rev. the emperor feated on a pile
of arms, a trophy before him, S. P. () R. OPTI
. . S. C. and two oaken pieces of the adjoining timber
of a houfe which appeared to have been burnt, in the
gardens of Jerome Tully, Efq. of Carlifle. The earth
as far as they dug was artificial, and antiquities are only
found at a confiderable depth.
Dr Stukeley fays, the Roman caftrum lies on the top
of the hill above the village, and he traced its whole cir¬
cumference, a bit of the Roman wall by the river fide
going to Wigton, and there the ditch is plainly vifible,
though half filled up with the rubbifh of the wall. A
fubterraneous vault, floored with large {labs of free-
ftone, was found in the pafture of the'fouth-eaft angle.
The name of Boroughs includes both clofes where it
flood j and they find ftones and flates with iron pins in
them, coins, &c. on the whole fpot below it, towards the
water-fide. It was a beautiful and well chofen plan, on
the fouth-weft fide of a hill, a noble river running un¬
der, and pretty good country about it. Coins of Clau¬
dius, Adrian, and a filver Geta, font. rev. princeps
I WENT VTIS. He fuppofes its ancient name Derventio,
derived from the Derwent.
PAPAVER, the Poppy j a genus of plants belong¬
ing to the polyandria clafs, and in the na ural method
ranking under the 27th order, Rhcecedce. See Botany
and Materia Medica Index.
PAPAW, or Papa-tree. See Carica, Botany
Index*
PAP
"DAPER is a word evidently derived from the Greek
papyrus, the name of that celebrated Egyp¬
tian plant which was fo much ufed by the ancients in
all kinds of writing. It w7ould be unneceffary particu¬
larly to defcribe the different expedients which men in
every age and country have employed for giving lia¬
bility to their ideas, and for handing them down to
their children. When the art of writing was once dif¬
covered, ftones, bricks, leaves of trees, the exterior and
interior bark, plates of lead, wood, wax, and ivory,
were employed. In the progrefs of fociety, men haveT*
invented the Egyptian paper, paper of cotton, paper
manufaftured from the bark of trees, and in our times
from old rags-
The inhabitants of Ceylon before the Dutch made
themfelves mafters of the ifland, wTrote on the leaves of
the talipot. ! he manufcript of the bramins, fent to
Oxford from Fort St George, is written on the leaves
of a palm of Malabar. Herman fpeaks of another palm
in the mountains of that, country which produces leaves
E R.
of feveral feet in breadth. Ray, in his Hiftory of Plants,
vol. ii. book xxxii. mentions feme trees both in India
and America, the leaves of which are proper for writing.
From the interior fubflance of thefe leaves they draw a
whitifli membrane, large, and fomewhat like the pellicle
of an egg j but the paper made by art, even of the
coarfeft materials, is much more convenient in ufe than
any of thefe leaves.
The Siamefe, for example, make two kinds of paper,
the one black and the other white, from the bark of a
tree called Phokk/ot. Thefe are fabricated in the coarfeft
manner ; but they can be ufed on both fides with a bod¬
kin of fullers earth.
The nations beyond the Ganges make their paper of
the bark of many trees. The other Afiatic nations
tvithin the Ganges, excepting thofe toward the fouth,
make it of old rags of cotton cloth •, but from their
ignorance of the proper method, and the nectffary ma¬
chinery, their paper is'coarfe. This, however, is by
no means the cafe with that made in China and Japan,.
733
Hiftory
Egyptian
paper.
PAPER.
which deferves attention from the beauty, the regulari¬
ty, the ftrength, and finenefs of its texture. In Europe
they have difcovered, or rather carried to perfe£Hon, the
ingenious art of making paper with old rags, originally
either from flax or hemp ; and fince this ditcovery the
paper produced from our manufactures is fufficient for
every purpofe. And though thefe materials have been
hitherto abundant, feveral philofophers have attempted
to fubftitute other vegetable fubftances in their place.
In the 6th volume of the TranfaCtions of the Society
for the Encouragement of Arts, we have an account of
paper made by Mr Greeves near Warrington from the
bark of willow-twigs •, and it has been obferved by a fo-
ciety of able critics, that hop-buds would probably an-
fwer this purpofe better. The rags in common ufe for
paper-making are a texture of fupple and ftrong fibres
feparated by a lee from the bark of the plants. It would
be in vain to employ the whule body of the plant, as
this fubflance forms a very improper fluff for the opera¬
tions of the paper-mill. From thefe principles we are
direfted in the choice of vegetable fubftances fit for the
prefent purpofe. The greater or lefs degree of purity
in the materials is not abfolutely neceiTary ; for flax it-
felf, without any preparation, could be made into pa¬
per *, but it would be extremely coarfe, and the bark of
nettles or malloes would not bear the expence of labour.
Although cotton be ufed in the fabrication of paper in
the Levant, and perhaps in China, we are not to con¬
clude that the down of plants in Europe, without the
ftrength or fupplenefs of cotton, will anfwer the fame
purpofe.
History.
The chief kinds of paper which merit attention in
this work are, x. The Egyptian paper ; 2. The paper
made from cotton j 3. Paper from the interior bark
of trees or liber j 4. Chinefe paper j 5. Japanefe paper ;
6. Paper made from afbeft ; and, 7. Paper made from
linen rags.
This is the famous paper ufed by the ancients, which
was made of a kind of reed called papyrus, growing in
Egypt on the banks of the Nile. According to Ifido-
rus, this paper was firft ufed at Memphis, and Lucan
feems to be of the fame opinion,
Nondum jlamineas Memphis conuexere hihlos
Noverat. Pharsae. lib. iii. ver. 222.
Whatever truth may be in this, it is certain, that of
all the kinds of paper ufed by the ancients, the papyrus
was the moft convenient, both from its flexibility and
from the eafe of fabrication. It was a prefent from na¬
ture, and required neither care nor culture.
It is not certain at what particular period the ancients
began to make paper of papyrus j but there are feveral
authorities which prove the ufe of it in Egypt long be¬
fore the time of Alexander the Great.
Pliny, lib. xiii. cap. II. gives a full defcription of the
method of making this paper in Egypt. 1 hey divide,
fays he, with a kind of needle the ftem of the papyrus
into thin plates or flender pellicles, each of them as large
as the plant will admit. Thefe are the elements of
which the (beets of paper are compofed. The pellicles
in the centre are the bed •, and they diminifla in value
as they depart from it. As they were feparated from
the reed, they were extended on a table, and laid acrofs
2
each other at right angles. In this ftate they were
moiftened by the water of the Nile, and while wet were
put under a prefs, and afterwards expofed to the rays of
the fun. “ It was fuppofed that the water of the Nile * *'
had a gummy quality neceffary to glue thefe ftripes to-*1
gether. This, fays Mr Bruce, we may be aflured is with¬
out foundation, nofuch quality being found in the water
of the Nile 5 on the contrary, I found it of all others the
moft improper, till it had fettled and was abfolutely di-
vefted of all the earth gathered in its turbid ftate. I
made feveral pieces of this paper both in Abyflinia and
Egypt ; and it appears to me, that the fugar or fweet-
nefs with which the whole juice of this plant is impreg¬
nated, is the matter that caufes the adhefion of thefe
ftripes together; and that the ufe of the water is no
more than to diflblve this, and put it perfectly and equal¬
ly in fufion.” When there was not enough of fugar in
the plant, or w'hen the wrater did not fufficiently dilfolve
it, the pellicles were united by a pafte made of the fined
wheat flour, mixed vuth hot water and a little vinegar,
and when dried they were flattened and fmoothed by
the beating of a mallet.
The lize of this paper varied much $ it feldom ex¬
ceeded two feet, but it was oftentimes fmaller. It
had different names, according to its fize and quality :
The firft was called Imperial, which was of the fined
and largeft kind, and was ufed for writing letters by
the great men among the Romans. The fecond fort
was called by the Romans the Livian paper, from Li-
via the wufe of Auguftus 5 each leaf of this kind w:as
12 inches. The third fort was called the Sacerdotal pa¬
per, and was 11 inches in fize.
The paper ufed in the amphitheatres was of the di-
menfions of nine inches. But what was efteemed of
greateft value in it, was its ftrength, w hitenefs, and po-
liih. The ink, however, funk lefs in paper highly po-
lifhed ; and therefore the charaflers were more liable to
be effaced. When it was not carefully foaked in the firft
preparation, the paper brought a lefs price ; becaufe let¬
ters were with difficulty formed upon it, and it fent
forth a difagreeable fmell. To remedy this defecl, the
paper went through a new courfe of fizing and hammer¬
ing 5 and the fize ufed on that occafion was made of
light bread fteeped in boiling water, and paffed through
a filtering cloth. By this means the paper became in
the higheft degree united, and fmoother than the fineft
linen. It was this paper which gave fo long a duration
to the works of the Gracchi, Tiberius and Caius, in
their own hand-writing. “ I have feen them (fays
Pliny) in the library of Pomponius Secundus, a poet
and citizen of the firft rank, near 200 years after they
were written.” We may add, that manuferipts of this
paper (fill remain, which have undoubtedly been writ¬
ten 1000 or 1 200 years ago. It appears from Pliny,
that the Egyptians nafted together the pellicles of the
papyrus by means of the wrater of the Nile ; but that
the polifhing with ivory, and the operations of the ham¬
mer and the prefs, were added by the invention and in-
duftry of the Roman arrifts. The Egyptians feem to
have known the ufe of fize ; but it is evident from the
fame author, that the Romans ufed a ftronger fize in the
making of paper. Notwithftanding the care which w'as
taken to give ftrength and confiftency to the paper of
Egypt, the leaves, although collefted into a book, were
too weak to fupport themfelves j and for this reafon it
was,
734
P A
was a common practice, after every five leaves, to infert
a leaf of parchment. There ftill remains in the abbey
of St Germain de-pres a fragment of the epiftles of St
Auguitine written in this manner. The manufeript is
at leaft uoo years old, and in a high Hate of preferva-
tion.
This paper was an important branch of commerce to
the Egyptians, which continued to increafe towards the
end of the Roman republic, and became Hill more ex-
tenfive in the reign of Auguftus. The demand from
foreign nations was often fo great, as to occafion a fcar-
city at Rome; and we read in the reign of Tiberius of
a tumult among the people in confequence of this fcar-
eity. In a letter of the emperor Adrian, the preparing
of the papyrus is mentioned as one of the principal oc¬
cupations at Alexandria. “ In this rich and opulent
city (fays he) nobody is feen idle: Some are employed
in the manufaftory of cloth, fome in that of writing pa¬
per,” &c. During the time of the Antonines, this
'commerce continued equally to flourifh. Apuleius fays,
that he wrote on the paper of Egypt with a reed of the
Nile prepared at Memphis.
The demand for this paper wras fo great towards
the end of the third century, that when the tyrant Fir-
mus conquered Egypt, he boafted that he had feized
as much paper and fize as would fupport his whole
army.
St Jerome informs us, that it was as much in ufe in
the fifth century when he flouriihed. The duty on the
importation of this commodity had grown exceflive
towards the end of this or the beginning of the fixth
century j and being abolifhed by Theodoric king of
Italy, Cafliodorus, in the 38th letter of his nth book,
congratulates the whole world on the difeharge of an
impoft on a merchandife fo eifentially neceffary to man¬
kind.
The fathers Montfaucon and Mabillon mention fe-
veral fragments written on this paper in the fixth cen¬
tury. One of them was a charter of the emperor
Juftinian, entitled Charta p/enaricefccuritatis. Father
Montfaucon faw in 1698, in the library of Julio Jufti-
niani, three or four fragments of paper of Egypt of
the fame antiquity. And Mabillon fpeaks of fome
books of the Jewilh antiquities by Jofephus tranilated
into Latin, which feemed to have been written in the
fame century, and which were preferved in the library
of St Ambrofi# of Milan, but he had not feen the ma-
nuferipts. The fame father mentions to have feen in
the library of St Martin of Tours the remains of an old
Greek manufeript of the paper of Egypt, and which
appeared to him to be of the feventh century. He alfo
believes that the copy of St Mark’s gofpel preferved in
the regifter-office of Venice is written on the fame pa¬
per, that it is the moil ancient of any of the evangelical
manuferipts, and may be fuppofed to be written at the
latell in the fourth century.
According to the fame antiquarian, the paper of
Egypt was ufed in France and Italy, and other Euro¬
pean countries, both for books of learning and public
records; and there ftill remains, adds he, a great num¬
ber of thefe in the archives of the church at St Dennis,
at Corbie, in the abbey De Grafie, and in other con¬
vents.
It is probable, that the invention of paper made of
cotton, of which we are afterwards to treat, infenfibly
3
E R. Hiflory
deftroyed the reputation and manufa&ure of the paper
of Egypt j but it is ftill a queftion at what particular
period the fabrication of the latter totally ceafed. Eu-
ftachius, the learned commentator on Homer, allures us
that in his time in nyo it was no longer in ulej but
Father Mabillon maintains, that many of the popilh
bulls were written on the papyrus in the nth cen¬
tury.
The Count Maffei, in his Ijlor. Diplomat, lib. ii.
Biblioth. Ital. tom. ii. p. 25 x. is decidedly of opinion,
that the paper of Egypt was not in ufe in the fifth cen¬
tury. He confiders all records written on this paper
dated pofterior to this period a^ not authentic ; and the
popilh bulls mentioned by Father Mabillon appear to
this learned perfon, as well as the copy of St Mark’s
gofpel, to be written on paper manufaftured from cot¬
ton. To reconcile in fome meafure thefe contradictory
accounts, it may be obferved, that on fome particular
occafions, and by fome particular perfons, the paper of
Egypt might have been employed for feveral hundred
years after it ceafed to be of general ufe. Whoever
wilhes for a fuller account of the paper of Egypt, may
confult among the ancients Pliny, lib. xiii. and Theo-
phraftus, lib. iv. chap. ix. and among the moderns,
Guilandinus, Scaliger, Saumaife, Kerchmayer, Nigrifoli j
Father Hardouin in his edition of Pliny 3 Father Ma¬
billon in his WTork De re Diplomat.; Montfaucon in his
Paleography, and in his ColleCHons; the illuftrious
Maffei in his Ijlor. Diplomat.; the count de Caylus in
the Memoirs of the Academy of Infcriptions 3 and Mr
Bruce in his Travels to difeover the Source of the
Nile\
It is generally fuppofed that the invention of the pa- Paper mad*
per, called charta bombycina, fupplanted the Egyptian b°m co,;-
paper in Greece. This paper is incomparably moreton*
lafting, and better calculated for all the purpofes of
writing. It is not precifely known at what period this art,
which fuppofes a great variety of previous experiments,
was firft reduced to pra&ice. The application of cot¬
ton to the purpofes of paper-making requires as much
labour and ingenuity as the ufe of linen rags 5 and for
this reafon, if we could determine the precife time when
paper was made from cotton, we ihould alfo fix the in¬
vention of the art of paper-making as it is prefently
praftifed in Europe. Father Montfaucon proves, by
inconteftable authorities, that paper from cotton was in
ufe in 1100. This paper, in the Greek language, is
called ftct^Tn /Svp^vx.ivo;, or 3 for although
is the Greek word for filk, yet in thofe times it
was applied, as well as (Zctp&xi,, to cotton 3 and hence
the Italians to this day call cotton bambaccio.
The moft ancient manufeript of this paper which
Father Montfaucon faw with the date, was that in the
French king’s library, written A. D. 1050 ; but as the
manuferipts without date are infinitely more numerous
than thofe which are dated, and as fome conjedlure can
be formed concerning them from the manner of writ¬
ing, this father believes fome of thefe to have been
written in the 10th century.
The refearches of the fame learned antiquarian amount
almoft to a proof that this paper was difeovered towards
the end of the ninth century or beginning of the tenth 3
for before the twelfth century it was commonly ufed in
the eaftern empire, and even in Sicily. Roger king of
Sicily fays, in a diploma written in 1145, that he had
renewed
735
Hiftory. P A
renewed on parchment a charter which had been written
on paper of cotton, in the year 1100, and another which
was dated in the year 1112. About the fame time the
emprefs Irene, in the ftatutes for fome religious houfes at
Condantinople, fays that fire had left three copies of the
fame ftatutes, two in parchment and one in -paper from
cotton. From that period this paper was ftill more in
ufe through all the eaftern empire $ and innumerable
Greek manufcripts are found written on it in all the
great libraries.
This difcovery happened at a time when there feems
to have been a great fcarcity of parchment; for it
was about this period that the Greeks erafed the
writings of Polybius, Diodorus of Sicily, and many
valuable ancient authors, for the fake of the parch¬
ment.
It was the invention of this paper of cotton which
deftroyed the manufafture of the paper of Egypt ;
for, if we may believe Euilathius, who wrote towards
the end of the 12th century, the latter paper had
gone into difufe but a little before his time. We may
eafily believe, however, that this new invention, al¬
though of great advantage to mankind, was introduced
by degrees.
The manufa&ure of this kind of paper has flourifhed
in the Levant for many ages, and is carried on with
great fuccefs even to this day. It is not neceflary to
lay any thing farther, than that the paper produced
from cotton is extremely white, very ftrong, and of a
2 fine grain.
Paper from This paper of the ancients was made from the white
the interior pellicle or inner coat found in many trees between the
hark of bark ancl the wood. The trees commonly in ufe were
I liber. ^ie maple> the plane tree, the elm, the beech, the mul¬
berry, and moll frequently the lindin tree. The ancients
wrote on this inner coat after they had feparated it from
the bark, beat, and dried it.
The fathers Mabillon and Montfaucon fpeak frequent¬
ly of manufcripts and diplomas written on paper made
from bark j and pofitively diftinguifli it from the Egyp¬
tian paper, becaufe it was thicker, and compofed of parts
lefs adhering together.
There are many palm trees in India and America to
which botanifts have given the name papyraceous, be¬
caufe the natives have written with bodkins either on the
leaves or the bark. Such is the American palm, called
/«/by the Indians ; and of the fame kind is the guajara-
ba of New Spain. Every palm, the bark of which is
fmooth, and the leaves large and thick, may be ufed for
^ this purpofe.
Cliinefe The art of making paper from vegetables reduced
1, paper. to fiuff was known in China long before it was prac-
tifed in Europe •, and the Chinele have carried it to a
degree of perfection hitherto unknown to the European
art ills. The fine paper in China is fofter and fmoother
than that of Europe *, and thefe qualities are admirably
adapted to the pencil, which the Chinefe ufe in writing.
Several kinds of their paper difeover the greateft art and
ingenuity, and might be applied with much advantage
to many purpofes. They are capable of receiving, for
example, the impreffion of types *, and both maps and
prints have been executed with fuccefs on the Chinefe
paper.
The different forts of paper vary in China according
to the materials of which they are compofed, and to
> E R.
the different manner of manufaCluring thofe materials.
Every province has its peculiar paper. That of Se-
chwen is made of linen rags as in Europe ; that of
Fo-kien, of young bamboo; that of the northern pro¬
vinces, of the interior bark of the mulberry; that of the
province of Kiang-nan, of the Ikin which is found in the
webs of the filk-worm; finally, in the province of Hu-
quang, the tree chu or ko-chu furnilhes the materials
with which they make paper.
The method of fabricating paper with the bark of
different trees is nearly the fame with that which is
followed in the bamboo. To give an idea, therefore,
of the manner of manufacturing the interior barks of
the mulberry, the elm, and the cotton-tree, it will be
fufficient to confine our obfervations to the bamboo.
The bamboo is a kind of cane or hollow reed, divided
by knots ; but larger, more elaftic, and durable than
any other reed.
The whole fubftance of the bamboo, compofed of
filaments, and a great abundance of fibrous materials, is
employed in this operation. The fhoots of one or two
years, nearly the thicknefs of a man’s leg, are preferred.
They ftrip the leaves from the Item, cut them into pieces
of four or five feet long, make them into parcels, and
put them into water to macerate. As foon as they are
foftened, which generally happens in five days, they
waffi them in pure water; put them into a dry ditch ;
cover them with lime for fome days, wrhich they water
for the purpofe of flacking : they waflr them carefully a
fecond time ; cut every one of the pieces into filaments,
which they expofe to the rays of the fun to dry and to
bleach them. After this they are boiled in large ket¬
tles ; and then reduced to fluff in mortars of wood, by
means of a hammer with a long handle, which the work¬
man moves with his foot.
The fluff being thus prepared, they take fome Ihoots
of a plant named koteng, which, fteeped in -water four
or five days, is reduced to an unCluous or glutinous
fubftance ; and when they proceed to make the paper,
this is mixed with the fluff in certain exaft quantities,
for on this mixture depends the goodnefs of the paper.
When the extraCf from the koteng is mixed with
fluff of the bamboo, the whole mixture is beat toge¬
ther in mortars till it becomes a thick and vifeous
liquor. This is poured into large tubs or refervoirs,
fo exa£lly framed as that no part of the liquor can
efcape.
The workmen after this plunge their forms into the
liquor ; take out what is fufficient for a ffieet of paper ;
which immediately, from the glutinous fubftance, be¬
comes firm and finning-, and is detached from the form
by turning down the ftieet on the heap of paper already
made, without the interpofition of pieces of woollen
cloth, as in Europe.
In order to dry this paper, they have a hollow wall,
the two fronts of which are fmooth and extremely white.
At the extremity of this wall is placed a ftove, the pipes
of which are carried in a circular manner through the
whole empty fpace. The fheets of paper are laid on the
furface, to which they adhere till they come over them
with a foft bruflr; and after they are dry, it is eafy to
diftinguifli the fide which received impreffions from
the bruffi from that which adhered to the wall. By
means of this ftove the Chinefe dry their paper as faft as
they can make it; but it is only in cold feafons, or in
certain
73<5
Japanefe
paper.
P A
Certain provinces, that they find tills expedient necef-
fary.
The Chinefe paper muft be dipped in a folution of
alum before it can take either ink or colours. They
call this operation fa?ier, from the Chinefe rvord fan,
which fignifies alum. The following is the manner of
preparing this folution : Six ounces of ifinglafs cut
very fmall is put into boiling water, and conftantly
ftirred, that it may dillblve equally. When the ifin¬
glafs is wholly dilfolved in the water, they throw in
twelve ounces of calcined alum, which is alfo ftirred
till it is completely dilfolved and mixed with the ifin¬
glafs. This compofition is afterwards poured into a
large and deep baton, at the mouth’of which is a little
round piece of wood ; the extremity of every (beet of
paper is fixed in another piece of wood, V'ith a flit
made to receive itq by means of this equipage they
plunge the flieet of paper into the compofition of alum
and ifinglafs; and when it is fully penetrated, they
draw it out, making it glide over the little round
piece of rvood. The long piece of wood which holds
the fheet by one end, and keeps it from tearing, is
afterwards fufpended with it on a wall till it is fuffi-
ciently dry.
The Chinefe give the paper intended for different
purpofes different preparations. We (hall confine our
obfervations to the filver colour which they give to feme
paper. They take twro fcruples of pafte made of cows
hide, one fcruple of alum, and a pint of water : the
whole is boiled on a flow fire till the water be evaporat¬
ed. The flieets of paper are then ftretched on a frnooth
table, and covered over with two or three layers of this
pafte. They take afterwards a certain quantity of talc,
wafhed and boiled in water, with the proportion of one-
third of alum ; this is dried, reduced to a powder, paffed
through a fieve, boiled a fecond time in water, dried in
the fun, and again palfed through the fieve. This pow¬
der is fpread equally over the flieets of paper, prepared
as w'e mentioned above $ and then they are dried flowly
in the fliade.
The flieets of paper, covered in this manner with
talc, are laid upon a table, and rubbed with a little cot¬
ton *, which fixes a certain quantity of the talc in the pa¬
per, and carries off the overplus to be ufed on another
occafion. By means of this compofition the Chinefe
draw all manner of figures on their paper.
Formerly the Chinefe wrote with a bodkin of iron on
tablets of bamboo 3 afterwards on fatin with a pencil ;
and during the dynafty of their tyrants, about 160 years
before Chrift, they difeovered the art of making paper.
The paper made from the bamboo is fufficiently
white, foft, clofely united, without the leaft inequality
on the furface to interrupt the motion of the pencil, or
to occafion the riling of the materials which compofe it.
Meanwhile every kind of paper made from the bamboo
or the bark of trees, is readier to crack than that made
in Europe ; befides, it is more fufeeptible of moifture,
and fooner deftroyed with duft and Worms. To obviate
this laft inconveniency, they are obliged frequently to
beat their books in China, and to expofe them to the
fun. It may be obferved, however, that the Chinefe
paper, employed fi r various purpofes in Europe, has
been preferved for a long time without receiving da¬
mage either from moifture or infedfs.
According to Kempfer, the bark of the morns papi-
^ ^ R. Hiftory.
fera fativa, or true paper tree, is chiefly employed for
making paper in Japan. Every year after the fall of the
leaves, which happens in the tenth month, correfponding
to our December, the Japanefe cut the young {hoots of
this tree into pieces of about three feet, collect them
into parcels, which they boil in water into which they
have call a certain quantity of allies. If the w’ood is
dry, they take care to fteep it 23 hours in water before
it is boiled. The parcels are kept in a clofe copper till
the bark at the extremity of the flioots is feparated from
the Item about half an inch } they are then cooled ; and
the bark alone is fit for making paper. They begin by
a preparation which confifts of cleaning the bark, and
feparating the good from the bad. For this purpofe
they fteep it in water three or four hours ; and as foon
as it is foftened they ferape off with a knife whatever
is blackilh or green, and at the fame time feparate the
ftrong bark of a year’s growth from the {lender which
covers the young Ihoots. The firft of thefe gives the
whiteft and bell paper. If there is any of the bark of
more than a year’s growth, it is laid aflde for the coar-
feft.
After the bark has been culled and cleaned in this
manner, it is boiled in a clear ley till the matter is of
that confiftenCy, that, being touched gently with the
finger, it draws off’ in the form of hairs, or like a collec¬
tion of fibres. During the time of boiling it is con¬
ftantly ftirred with a ftrong reed, and the wafte by eva¬
poration fupplied from time to time with additional quan¬
tities of the clear ley. To make this ley, they put two
pieces of wood acrofs the mouth of a tub, cover them
with ftraw, on which they lay a bed of allies a little
moiftened ; and pouring boiling rvater oh the allies, the
falts contained in them are carried down to the tub.
This is what is called a clear ley.
After the bark is in the condition we have juft now
ftated, it is walked with great care ; for on this walk¬
ing depends in a great meafure the goodnefs of the
paper. It is put into a kind of fieve through which
the water can flow freely *, and great care is taken to
turn it with the hand till it is fufficiently diluted, and
reduced to foft and tender fibres. For the fineft paper
a fecond walking is requifite, and a piece of cloth is ufed
inftead of a fieve.
When the bark is walked, it is laid on a flrong and
fmooth table, and beat with a kind of baton of hard
rvood till it is reduced to a proper conliftency. It be¬
comes indeed fo foft, that it refembles paper fteeped
in water.
The bark prepared in this manner is put into a nar¬
row tub, with a glutinous extraft from rice and the root
oreni, which is very vifeous. Thefe three fubftances,
mixed together, are ftirred with the reed till they form
a liquor of an equal and uniform confiftency. This com¬
pofition is poured into tubs limiiar to thofe ufed for filling
the forms in our paper mills.
As foon as the fheets are made and detached from
the form, they are laid in a heap on a table covered
with a double mat. A fmall chip of cane is placed
betwixt every Iheet. This piece of cane jutting out,
ferves to diflinguilh the ftieets, and afterwards to raife
them. Every one of the heaps is covered with a plate
or thin board of the exa<ft fize of the paper. In pro¬
portion as the paper dries, or is able to bear it with¬
out danger of being compreffcd into one mafs, they lay
on
737
Hiftory. P A
on additional weights. This preffure, intended to carry
off any unneceffary moifture, is continued for 24 hours,
when the fheets are fufpended, by means of the little
pieces of reed, to long plants, in the open air, till they
are completely dried.
The extraft from rice is made in an unvarnilhed
earthen pot. The pot is agitated at firft gently, then
more briikly : new water is poured in, and then it is
filtered through a linen cloth. The finiihing of the pro-
cefs is determined by the vifeofity of the fubffance.
The infufion of the root oreni is made in the follow¬
ing manner : The root, peeled and cut into fmall pieces,
is infufed into water for one night, during which time
it communicates a vifeofity fufficient for the purpofe to
which it is applied.
The Japaneie paper is of fuch prodigious ftrength, that
the materials of which it is compofed might be manufac¬
tured into ropes. There is fold at Serige, the capital
city of the province of Japan of that name, a kind of it
fit for bed hangings and wearing apparel; refembling fo
much fluffs of wool and filk, that it is often taken for
them. The following is Kempfer’s catalogue of trees
ufed in Japan for the manufattory of paper. 1. The
true paper tree, called in the Japaneie language kaad/i,
Kempfer characterizes thus : Papyrus fruBu mori eelfee,
Jive moms fativa foliis urticce mortuae cortice papifera.
2. The falfe paper tree, called by the Japanefe katji,
kadfire ; by Kempfer, papyrus procumbens la&efcens folio
longo lanceato cortice chartaceo. 3. The plant which the
Japanefe call oreni is named by Kempfer malva radice
vifeofa flore ephemera magno punico. 4. The fourth tree
ufed for paper is the futokadfura, named by Kempfer
frutex vifeofus procumbens folio telephii vulgaris emulo
fruElu racemofo.
The defeription of thefe trees, given more particu¬
larly by Kempfer than the limits of this work will per¬
mit, may be of great fervice to lead botaniiis to difeover
the European plants and Ihrubs adapted, like the Japa¬
nefe, for the fabrication of paper.
Before finifliing our reflections on this part of the fub-
jeCt, it will be proper to give a juft idea of the attempts
which have been made to increafe the original materials
of paper in Europe.
A flight attention to the procefs in China in reducing
the bamboo to a pafte, by a careful and ingenious ana-
lyfis, and to the long and proper method of the Japanefe
of feparating the principal fibres of the bark of the mul¬
berry, will Ihow the abfurdity not only of taking plants
without any kind of choice, but of giving them no pre¬
paration except that of pounding them with mallets.
With a proper feleCHon, and good principles, it ap¬
pears not improbable that many of the European plants
might be ufed with great advantage in conftruding fe-
veral kinds of paper.
It is evident that the materials ufed by the Chinefe
require lefs labour and preparation than the fluff of
linen rags. The ftieets of the Chinefe paper are eafily
detached from the form ; they are laid in heaps with¬
out the interpofition of pieces of woollen cloth ; the
fuperfluous water is immediately dilcharged ; and they
require not, as in Europe, the vigorous aClion of preffes
g to unite the parts more clofely together.
Paper made The afbeftos is a fibrous fubftance of little ftrength,
jrom afbe- the threads of which are eafily broken. See Minera-
^ logy Index. This fubftance has the peculiar property of
Vol. XV. Part II.
PER.
fupporting the aClion of fire without receiving any da¬
mage: whence pieces of cloth and garters made of it are
incombutlible. From the knowledge of this property
paper has been made of the afbeftos. Dr Brukman, pro-
feffor at Brunfwiek, publiftied the natural hiftory of this
foflil j and four copies of his book, in the library of
Wolfenbuttle, are on this paper.
The manner of fabricating this paper is deferibed by
M. Lloyd in the Philofophical TranfaCtions, N° 166.
A certain quantity of the atbeftos is pounded in a mor¬
tar of ftone till it be reduced to a fubftance like cot¬
ton. All the parts of earth or ftone remaining in the
afbeftos are then taken off by means of a fine fieve, and
it is formed into fheets of paper by an ordinary paper
mill. Mixing it with water reduces it to fluff; only,
as it is heavier than that from linen rags, it requires
to be continually ftirred when they are taking it up
with the frames. The only excellence of this paper
is, that the writing difappears when it is call into the
fire. It muft be obferved, at the fame time, that as it
is of a flender confiftency, and eafilyftorn, it is more
an objeft of curiofity than ufe.
This paper is manufaclured through all Europe of Paper made
linen rags colle£led in the cities and in the country, fr01** rags.
This kind of paper was utterly unknown to the an¬
cients. The libri lintei mentioned by Livy, I. lib. iv.
Pliny, XIII. c. xi. and by other Roman writers, are
demonftrated by Guilandin, in his commentary on Pliny,
&c. to have been written on pieces of linen cloth, or
canvas prepared in the manner of painters.
But it is not fufficient to be certain that paper from
linen is a modern invention ; it is neceffary to know
by what nation, and at what period, it was difeovered.
Polydore Virgil, He Inventonbus Rerum, C. II. c. viii.
confeffes his ignorance of thefe fadls. Scaliger, with¬
out any kind of proof, gives the glory to the Ger¬
mans ; and Count Maffei to the Italians. Other wri¬
ters aferibe this honour to fome Greek refugees at Bafil,
to whom the manner of making paper from cotton in
their own country had fuggefted the idea. Du Halde is
perfuaded that Europe derived this invention from the
Chinefe, who, in feveral provinces, make paper of rags
nearly in the fame manner that we do. But this inven¬
tion was praeftifed by the Europeans before they had any
communication with China, and before the taking of
Conftantinople, at which time the Greek refugees were
fuppofed to have retired to Bafil. The precife time of
this difeovery in Europe is not exa£Ily known. Father
Mabillon believes that it was in the twelfth century j
and cites a paffage of Pierre de Clugny, born A. D.
1100, to prove it. The books which we read every
day, fays that abb£ in his treatife againft the Jews, are
written on {beeps and calves {kins ; or on oriental plants j
or, finally, Ex rofuris veterum pannorum. If thefe laft
words fignify paper, fuch as we ufe, there w'ere books of
it in the twelfth century. But this citation is the more
to be fufpefted, as Montfaucon himfelf, after the mi-
nuteft fearch in France and Italy, could find no book on
this paper antecedent to the death of St Louis, A. D.
I27°*
The epocha of this invention w’as not determined till
1762, M. Mierman having propoled a reward to the
perfon who could procure the moft ancient manufeript
written on this kind of paper. The colleftion of all the
memoirs fent to him along with the manuferipts was
5 A publiftied
733
P A
Art of Ma-publiflied at the Hague in 1767 ; and it appeared that
king Paper paper had been ufed in Europe before the year
in hurope. 11 .
V I300'
In 1782 the Abbe Andrez published a work entitled
Del/' Origine, Progre/Ji, e State attuale d'Ogni letteratura ;
wherein lie fpeaks of the difeovery of many kinds
of paper, and particularly of that made of rags. The
Abbe Andrez maintains, that paper made from filk was
very anciently fabricated in China, and in the eaftern
parts of Afia *, that the art of making this paper was
carried from China to Perfia about the year 652, and to
Mecca in 706. The Arabs fubftituted cotton, the com¬
modity of their own country, in place of filk or rather
bamboo. This paper of cotton was carried into Africa
and Spain by the Arabs. The Spaniards, from the
quantity of linen to be found in the kingdom of Valen¬
cia, feem firft to have adopted the idea of ufing linen
rags •, and the mofi: ancient paper of this kind is of Va¬
lencia and Catalonia. From Spain it paffed into France,
as may be learned from a letter of Joinville to St Louis
about the year 1 260. It is difcovered to have been in
Germany in 1312, and in England in 1320 and 1342.
In confequence of the paper made from cotton in the
Levant, the paper from linen was introduced much later
into Italy. See the work of Abbe Andrez, printed at
Parma, 1782, in 8vo 5 and Mierman’s Colledlion, pub-
liihed at the Hague.
P
Sect. I. Art of Making Paper in Europe.
■ To give a concife view of this fubjeel, it will be ne¬
edier y to proceed with all the important parts of the
g operation in their order.
The ie!ec- The feledfion of the rags, is the arranging of them
tion of rags, jnto different lots, according to their quality and to the
demand of the paper mill In general this feledfion is
very much negleiffed : The degrees of finenefs and
whitenefs, difiinguifhed with little care' are thought to
be the only objeds of importance 5 whereas the hard-
nefs and foftnefs, the being more or lefs worn, are much
more effential in this felebtion. It is certain, that a
mixture of foft and hard rags occafions much more lofs
in the trituration than a difference in point of finenefs
or of colour This exa&nefs in the feledlion is {fill more
neceffary where cylinders are ufed inflead of mallets.
We cannot do better than to give the method pradlifed
in Holland as worthy of imitation.
They begin by a general feparation of the rags into
1 four lots •, fuperfine, fine, middle, and coarfe. Thefe
lots are given to feledlors, who fubdivide each of them
into five chefts. They have befides a bench, on which
is fixed vertically a hook, and a piece of feythe which
is terminated by a crooked point.
The perfon, for example, who has the charge of the
fine lot, puts into one of the chtfts the hard rags, or
thofe which are little ufed, into another the fofi, into a
third the dirty, into a fourth thofe which are Hitched or
hemmed, and, finally, into the fifth the fuperfine rags
which happen to be among the fine.
After this procefs, the, women who have the charge
of it are at extreme pains to pick out every kind of few-
ing, and efpeciallv the knots of thread and the hems, by
means of the hook or feythe which they have under their
hands. They take care allb by the fame means to cut and
reduce the rags exadlly by the warp and the woof into
it
E Sea. I
fmall pieces. It is of great advantage to cut or tear the Art bf Ma.
pieces of rags by a thread, whether it be by the warp or kinS Paper
woof •, becaufe if it is done obliquely, many of the ends 111 £uroPe>
are loft in the operation. 'v_' 'J
When they have feledled a certain quantity of each
of thefe fubdivifions, they are placed on an iron grate,
which covers a large cheft where they are beat, and
otherwife turned, till the filth and dull pafs through
the bars of the grate and fall into the cheft.
The number ol lots in the feledtion of rags mull be
proportioned to the mafs from which the feledion is
made, and to the kinds of paper produced by the mill.
Some mills, the work of which is confiderable, make
nine lots of their rags, five of which refpeft the fine¬
nefs, and the reft the cleannefs and the colour. In or.
dinary mills there are only four lots, and in iome two.
We have already obferved, that the ieledlion which
regards the hardnefs of the materials is the moft effen¬
tial •, becaufe it is of great importance to obtain fluff
compofed of equal parts, and without any lofs. But
it is neceffary to add, that the finenefs and beauty of
the paper depend in fome cafes on a feledfion not ri-
gorous. Thus, for example, it is of great fervice to
allow the middling to retain fome part of the fine, and the
fine fome part of the fuperfine j for without this the in¬
ferior kinds of paper can never be of great value. The
moft common fault is to mix the rags of the inferior lots
with the fuperior j which though it augments the quan¬
tity of paper, is extremely injurious to the quality. It
does much better to mix part of the fuperior lots with
the inferior. It is the want of attention to this mix¬
ture which makes fome paper mills excel in the fuperior
forts of paper, while the inferior kinds are of a very bad
quality.
The feledlion of rags being made with exadlnefs,
however, and the lots being fermented and triturated
feparately, the mixture may be made with much great¬
er advantage when they are both reduced to fluff; al¬
ways taking care that it be in the fame proportion as
if it were in the ftate of rags, and only in the manner
w'hich we juft now mentioned 5 for the inferior forts
gain more in beauty and quality by this mixture than
is loft in Huff; whereas if the fine fluff receives a cer¬
tain quantity of the inferior, the paper is more dama- ,
ged in its value than increafed in quantity. In this
manner the intereft of the manufacturer, as in all cafes,
is intimately conne£led with the goodnefs of his commo¬
dities. 9
In fome mills the place for fermentation is divided The wafft-
into two parts, one of which ferves for waftiing away *n£ an(^/<ir‘
the filth from the rags. After allowing them to ffeeP
for fome time in a large ftone vat, they ftir them, and
pour in frefti water till the impurities connected with
the rags run over. When they are as clean as they
poflibly can be made by this kind of waftiing, they are
laid in a heap to putrefy. In this condition they expe¬
rience a degree of fermentation, which is firft difcovered
by a mouldinefs of the different pieces of cloth. After¬
wards the mafs grows warm 5 and then it is of great con¬
fequence to attend to the progrefs of this heat, in order
to moderate its effefts : for this purpofe, the middle of
the heap, where the fermentation is ftrongeft, is turned
out, and viceverfa. In mills where mallets are ufed, the
putrefaction is carried to a great height, which is fre¬
quently attended with two inconveniences. The firft is^
that
Sect I. 'v PAP
Art of Ma- that a part of tlie rags is reduced to an earthy fubftance,
kins Paper which is found in great abundance about the cutting
in Europe.^ as we (halt afterwards have occafion to fee. But
^ ’ befides this wafte, exceflive fermentation makes the ftuff
incapable of fuftaining the action of the mallets till it is
equally pounded. A paper made from a ftuff too hard
and too little fermented, is coarfe and ill compared 5
that made from rags too much fermented, is compofed
of fibres without foftnefs and without ftrength.
The fecond inconveniency is, that the rags'turn greafy
by too much fermentation, and of confequence it is very
difficult to feparate and reduce them by all the waftiings
of the trituration.
We {hall not deferibe the form of the place for fer¬
mentation, becaufe in different paper works thefe places
are of different conftrudfions : it is fufheient to fay, that
they are all placed in low fituations and made very clofe.
The fele&ed rags are placed in them in heaps, and wa¬
tered from time to time to bring on the fermentation.
In different paper mills they praftife different methods
in the putrefaeftion of their rags.
In certain provinces in France, they lay in the place
for putrefaction a heap equivalent to what the mill can
triturate in a; month. When this is equally and fuf-
ficiently moiftened by means of moveable pipes, they
cover it with an old heap, which has lain a month in a
Hate of fermentation. When this old heap is exhaufted
by the mill, the new one becomes a covering to another,
and fo on. From this detail it is eafy to perceive, that
there muft be near three weeks difference of putrefaftion
in the fame heap, avid alfo that in this method there, is
no allowance for thole feafons in which the fermentation
advances more rapidly.
In general the putrefadion goes on more fiowly in
proportion to the finenefs of the rags. But when, on
any occafion, it advances more rapidly than the demand
from the mill, the rags are turned over and watered, to
flop the fermentation and prevent the bad effeCts.
All the inconveniences attending the excefs of putre-
faftion are remedied in Holland by machines which tri¬
turate the rags without having recourfe to it; and their
fuccefs in this manner of preparing the ftuff has attrafted
the notice of the French artifts, fome of whom have a-
* dopted with advantage the Dutch machinery.
Meanwhile, it is poflible to carry the method of pu¬
trefaction to much greater perfection and feveral ma¬
nufacturers have made attempts fo well concerted, as to
deferve the attention of thofe who ftudy the fubjeCt.
In the neighbourhood of Bruffels fome paper manu-
faCturers, who have conftruCted their mills after the
Dutch plan, have ftill found it neceffary to putrefy their
rags j but, at the fame time, they have an excellent me¬
thod for moderating the effeCts of this putrefaCHon. In
the great galleries connefted with the buildings of the
paper mill, they have conftruCted a continuation of chefts,
capable each of them of containing a certain quantity of
rags •, for example, the quantity which the cylinder can
triturate in one day. I he number of chefts is equal to
the number of days which the rags in any feafon require
for putrefaCtion } and the number actually employed is
greater or lefs according to the feafon. In profecuting
this plan, they lay a heap of rags in one cheft, as often
as they take one from another. It fhould alfo be obferv¬
id, that., for the fake of the fermentation, the rags are
£ R. 739
firft moiftened in a large hollow ft one before they are Art of Ma-
1 1 n0 King raper
arranged into the cheits. # ;n Europe.
The peculiar advantages of this method are, the .
equal fermentation of the rags, without any part of
them being weakened ; great eafe in waftiing them ;
and it is even pretended, that a lefs degree of fermen¬
tation renders the impurities and the difcoloured parts
both of hemp and linen more foluble, and confequently
the ftuff of a purer white. To
When the rags are reduced to a proper ftate of pu- Cutting
trefaftion, they are carried to th^ cutting table, which table,
is placed on folid treffels, and enclofed on three, fides
to contain the rags cut in it. Before the table is fix¬
ed vertically a part of the blade of a fey the, the edge
of which is turned from the operator. This workman,
in a fituation rather elevated, takes from the left fide
a handful of the putrefied rags, and arranging them the
long way, gives them a gentle twift, preffes the half-
formed rope againft the blade of the feythe, and, in
the manner of fawing, cuts it into three or four pieces,
which he throws to the right fide of the table. In
this operation the rags lofe part of their filth, and efpe-
cially of the earthy particles occafioned by too much
putrefaCtion. n
When the rags have been fubmitted to all the fore- Mills for
going operations, they are in a condition to be reduced triturating
into a fibrous ftuff, of which the paper is made. To terag!>'
obtain this ftuff, mills are conftruCted on different'prin¬
ciples. Thofe which have been ufed for a long time,
over all Europe, and which by a ftatement in the EWp-
clopedie Methodique, publilhed at Paris in 1789, are ftill
ufed in France, are mills with mallets. But the mills
invented by the Dutch, and ufed in the neighbouring
provinces, and, excepting one inftance, in every part of
Great Britain, are mills with cylinders or rollers. In
the former of thefe, the mallets are raifed by notches
fixed at convenient diftances in a large circular beam of
wood. The teeth fixed on the end of the mallet fall
into a correfponding gap made the whole breadth of the
plate, and the ftrokes are repeated till the rags are re¬
duced to a proper confiftency. On fupplying the vat
with water, and carrying off all the impurities, the
operation is nearly fimilar to that in the mills with
cylinders.
Such is the nature of what may be called the old me¬
thod of making paper. It was proper to fpeak of this
old method, becaufe at one time, and that not very di-
ftant, it univerfally prevailed. That it was inferior to
that now in praftice, feems very evident *, and that the
rotting of the rags was peculiarly abfurd, cannot be de¬
nied, as the paper made of fermented ftuff could neither
be fo ftrong nor fo durable as that which is made in the
common way without putrefaCtion. The only kind of
paper that, with any propriety, could be made from pu-
v trefied fluff, was pafteboard ; but we are informed by
the moft intelligent papermakers in Britain, that they
feldom or never even putrefy the rags or ropes of which
pafteboard is made. It will now be requifite to ftate
the method prefently in praCtice, with the improvements
lately made in the art. I2
The dufter is made in the form of a cylinder, four The dufter.
and a half feet in diameter, and five feet in length. It
is altogether covered with a wire net, and put in motion
by its conneC!ion*with fome part of the machinery. A
c A 2 convenient
740
An of Mfa-
king Paper
in Europe.
*3 .
Defcription
of a paper
mill.
Plate
fcccciv.
fig- i.
P A
convenient quantity of rsgs before the feleftion are en-
clofed in the duller, and the rapidity of its motion fepa-
rates the dull from them, and forces it through the
wire. It is of considerable advantage to ufe the duller
before feledfion, as it makes that operation lets pernicious
to the fele6fors.
1 he feledfion is performed much in the fame manner
as we have already defcribed ; only it is found more
convenient to have the tables for cutting off the knots
and Hitching, and for forming them into a proper
lhape, in the fame place with the cutting table. The
furtace both of thele and of the cutting table is com-
pofed of a wire net, which in every part of the opera¬
tion allows the remaining dull and refufe of every kind
to efcape.
The rags, without any kind of putrefa&ion are again
carried from the cutting table back to the duller, and
from thence to the engine, where, in general, they are
in the fpace of fix hours reduced to the Huff proper for
making paper. The hard and foft of the fame quality
are placed in different lots ; but they can be reduced
to Huff at the fame time, provided the foft be put fome-
what later into the engine.
The engine is that part of the mill which performs
the whole aflioti of reducing the rags to pafle, or, as
it may be termed, of trituration. The number of the
engines depends on the extent of the paper work, on
the force of wate., or on the conllrudlion of the ma¬
chinery.
It will afford a fufficient idea of the work, to give in
detail a defcription of the different parts of the engine.
Figure i. reprefents the chapiter which covers tlie rol¬
ler. It is four feet three inches in length, and two feet
eight inches in breadth. The fuperior part is pierced
with two openings running crofswife, I, 2, 3, 4, into
which enter the cheffes, or wicker frames, figures 6. and
7.; the firH, made of wire cloth, enters into the opening
3 and 4 ; the fecond made of hair cloth, and Hrength-
ened with feveral crofs bars of wood, enters into the
opening 1, 2, ferves to retain the fmall pieces of rags
which efcape through the firfi, and prevents them from
falling into the dalot or hole-fcupper, fig. 2. This hole-
feupper is placed acrofs the vat of the engine, parallel
to the axle of the roller j the part g enters into the
notch c of the chapiter ; and the extremity // enters in¬
to the opening k of the tunnel 11 (fig. 3.), by which
means the water dafhed through the wicker frames by
every revolution of the roller is precipitated into the ca¬
nal fh, and lofes itfelf belo\t the engine. The figures
4, 9, and 10, reprefent the roller in perfpe£live, in plane,
and in profile. It is two feet in diameter, and two feet
three inches in length. The trundle head A is 16
inches in diameter, about half as much in length, and
furnifhed with feven fpindles of iron, which are ferewed
to the end of the trundle head, made alfo of iron. The
teeth or blades of the roller are 27 in number, and fit¬
ted Hrongly into the wood which cornpofes its body,
parallel to its axis. They are of that thicknefs as to
leave as much empty fpace as they occupy. The exte¬
rior face of each of the blades fhould be made round,
and divided into two parts, with a longitudinal motion,
as in the profile a a a, fig. 10.
The axis AB of the roller (fig. 4. and 9.) has two
parts perfedlly rounded in A and in B, which perform
the office of pivots. Thefe pivots reft in the fockets A
5
P E R' Sea. I.
and B (fig. 8.) rn the middle of the levers OAH and Art 0f Ma¬
in BH. It is by means ot thefe levers that they raife at king Paper
pleafure, or lower the axis of the roller, and fit it exaft- in ! ur°pe-
ly, and in a parallel manner, to the plate. The plates
(feet fig. 5.) are made of Heel cut into channels, in fuck
a manner as to correfpond with the blades of the roller.
1 heir channels are not perpendicular, but oblique j and
there are two rows of them, bx, xd, conlilting of feven
or eight blades each on one plate.—Thofe in bx, for
the purpofe of changing the plate, lie in an oppofite di-
redlion to thofe in X d. The levers are kept in their po-
fition near the vat by bands of iron, MN and mn ; be¬
tween which they are made higher or lower by the cog¬
ged wheel H, which fupports one of the extremities.
Wedges N n are likewife employed to fix the levers at
a convenient height above the plates. Finally, Every
vat is fupplied with a fmall Hide door, which is occafion-
ally raifed to carry the prepared Huff by means of the
feuppers of wood to the general repofitories.
. %• 5- is placed in the vat fig. 8.5 the roller (fig. 4.) w0rkL
is placed above it in fuch a manner that the pivots relief the en.
in the fockets of the levers *, the feupper (fig. 2.) andS‘,1#-
the chapiter are difpofed in the manner above mention¬
ed. 1 he vat is charged with a proper quantity of rags,
and frelh ivater is admitted by a fpigot placed at one of
the corners. In this fituation, when the engine is put
in motion, the roller turning upon its. axis draws the wa¬
ter and the rags by the lealt inclined plane, and making
them pals between its blades and the channels of the
plate, daflies them againff the chapiter and the wicker-
frames ; and, in Ihort, part of them falls back into
the vat, and returns into the circulation. The caufe
of this circulation is evidently the continual void oc-
cafioned by the movement of the roller on the one
fide, and the return of the water and the Huff on the
other.
As all the rags are not thrown towards the part B d
of the chapiter, from whence they might fall back into
the vat, but a part of them to a greater diHance ; it is
neceffary to have the wicker frames formerly defcribed,
not only to prevent their lofs, but to allow the dirty wa¬
ter to efcape. The fpigot at the corner of the vat con¬
tinually fupplies this wafie of water. This operation
would be lufficient to whiten the rags, although the rol¬
lers were raifed confiderably from the plate j and there¬
fore the force and adlion of the rollers reducing them
to Huff muff be much more effectual. It requires great
Ikill to conduft the engine, whether it be with regard .
to the firff quantity, to the proper time for adding the
fofter rags, to the augmenting or diminilhing the wa¬
ter in proportion to the trituration ; or, finally, to
knowing exadlly when the Huff is reduced to a proper
confiflency.
In the paper manufa&ory at Montargis, it was at¬
tempted to introduce rollers of the greateff Hrength and
the leaff weight poflible, in order to give them the great¬
er rapidity ; but the experiment did not fucceed : the
rollers of prodigious rapidity were found to produce
Huff' neither in greater quantity nor of fuperior quality.
The moff experienced artiffs have effablilhed a propor¬
tion between the motion of the roller and the greater
or lefs refiffance of the rags. And the Dutch, who
have arrived at very great perfe£lion in this art, have
followed a method totally different from that pra£lifed
at Montargis. A roller in Holland complete in all its
parts
PAPER MILL.
PLATE CCCCIK
£>ti/ru* eJ fy TfTnt&Juieanr JSchh&uryJi..
'
Sea.l. PAP
Ml of Ma-parts werglis nearly 30 hundred weight j and they find
Icing Paper this neeeffary for cutting the rags, efpecially if they
in Europe. jiave not been putrefied. In proportioning the rapidity
— ' to the refinance, they have alfo difcovered, that a flow
motion is preferable to a rapid one. The rollers at
Saardom, by calculation made from the different parts of
the machinery, make about 68 revolutions in a minute j
thofe at Montargis about 166.—In Holland, too, this
trituration of the rags is divided into two diftinft ope¬
rations, performed by rollers conftrufted on different
principles: the firft of them, for cutting the rags and
preparing for the other, is furnifhed with blades of fteel
without any moifture, and with a confiderable fpace be¬
tween them •, the fecund, intended to reduce the fluff
to the proper confiftency, has a greater number of
blades, compofed of a mixture of brafs and copper.
The milts with rollers are in every refpeft fuperior to
thofe formerly in ufe with mallets. Two Dutch rollers
of the con ft ruction we have juft now defcribed will pre¬
pare as much fluff in the fame time as 24 mallets-, they
require infinitely lefs room they do it without putre-
faftion, and as they do it in lefs time, and with lefs wa¬
ter, they occafion much lefs wafte of the fluff.
When the fluff is brought to perfection* it is convey¬
ed into a general repofitory* which fupplies the vat from
which the iheets of paper are formed. This vat is made
of wood, and generally about five feet in diameter, and
two and a half in depth. It is kept in temperature by
means of a grate introduced by a hole, and furrounded
on the infide of the vat with a cafe of copper. For
fuel to this grate, they ufe charcoal or wood; and, fre¬
quently, to prevent fmoke, the wall of the building
comes in contaCl with one part of the vat, and the fire
has no communication with the place where they make
the paper.
Every vat is furnifhed on the upper part with planks,
enclofed inwards, and even railed in with wood, to pre¬
vent any of the fluff from running over in the opera¬
tion. Acrofs the vat is a plank which is called the
trepan, pierced with holes at one of the extremities, and
relling on the planks which furround the vat.
The forms or moulds are compofed of wire-cloth, and
a moveable frame. It is with thefe that they fetch up
the fluff from the vat, in order to form the fheets of pa¬
per. The fides of the form are made of oak, which is
previoufly fteeped in water, and otherwife prepared to
prevent warping. The wire-cloth is made larger than
the fheet of paper, and the excels of it on all fides
is covered with a moveable frame. This frame is ne-
ceffary to retain the fluff of which the paper is made
on the cloth ; and it muft be exactly adapted to the form,
otherwife the edges of the paper will be ragged and bad¬
ly finifhed. The Avire-cloth of the form is varied in
proportion to the finenefs of the paper and the nature of
the fluff.
The felts are pieces of woollen cloth fpread over
every flieet of paper, and upon which the {beets are laid,
to detach them from the form, to prevent them from ad¬
hering together, to imbibe part of the water with which
the fluff is charged, and to tranfmit the whole of it
when placed under the affion of the prels. The two
fides of the felt are differently raifed: that of which the
hair is longeft is applied to the fheets which are laid
down ; and any alteration of this difpofition would pro¬
duce a change in the texture of the paper. The fluff
E R. 742
of which the felts are made Ihould be fuflicietitly flrong. Art of Ma¬
in order that it may be ftretched exactly on the Iheets k'nit Paper
without forming into folds ; and, at the fame time, fuf- ■ , ‘
ficiently pliant to yield in every direction without inju¬
ry to the wet paper. As the felts have to refill the rei¬
terated efforts of the prefs, it appears neceffary that the
warp be very ftrong, of combed wool, and well twilled.
On the other hand, as they have to imbibe a certain
quantity of water, and to return it, it is neeeffary that
the woof be of carded wool, and drawn out into a flack
thread.—Thefe are the utenfils, together with the prefs,
which are ufed in the apartment where the Iheets of pa¬
per are formed.
The vat being furnilbed with a fufficient quantity of The fabric
fluff and of water, two inftruments are employed to mix cation of
them ; the one of which is a Ample pole, and the other PaPer-
a pole armed with a piece of board, rounded and full of
holes. This operation is repeated as often as the fluff
falls to the bottom. In the principal writing mills in
England, they ufe for this purpofe what is called a /iog$
which is a machine within the vat, that, by means of a
fmall wheel on the outfide, is made to turn conftantly
round, and keep the fluff in perpetual motion. When ,-
the fluff and water are properly .mixed, it is eafy to per¬
ceive whether the previous operations have been com¬
plete. When the fluff floats clofe, and in regular
flakes, it is a proof that it,has been well triturated;
and the parts of the rags which have efcaped the rollers
alfo appear.
After this operation the workman takes one of the
forms, furnifhed with its frame, by the middle of the
fhort fides, and fixing the frame round the wire-cloth
with his--thumbs, he plunges it obliquely four or five
inches into the vat, beginning by the long fide, which "
is neareft to him. After the immerfion he raifes it to a
level : by thefe movements he fetches up on the form a
fufficient quantity of fluff; and as foon as the form is
raifed the water efeapes through the wire-cloth, and the
fuperfluity of the fluff over the fides of the frame. The
fibrous parts of the fluff arrange themfelves regularly
on the wire-cloth of the form, not only in proportion as ■'
the water efcapes, but alfo as the workman favours this
effeft by gently (baking the form. Afterwards, having
placed the form on a piece of board, the workman takes
off the frame or deckle, and glides this form towards
the coucher; who, having previoufly laid his ft It,
places it with his left hand in an inclined fituation,
on a plank fixed on the edge of the vat, and full of
holes. During this operation the workman applies his
frame, and begins a fecond fheet. The coucher feizes
this inftant, takes with his left hand the form, now
fufficiently dry, and laying the fheet of paper upon the
felt, returns the form by gliding it along the trepan of
the vat.
They proceed in this manner, laying alternately a
iheet and a felt, till they have made fix quires of paper,
which is called a pofl ; and this they do with fuel) fwift-
nefs, that, in many forts of paper, two men make up¬
wards of 20 pofts in a day. When the laft fheet of the
poll is covered with the laft felt, the workmen about the
vat unite together, and fubmit the whole heap to the ac¬
tion of the prefs. They begin at firft to prefs it with a
middling lever, and afterwards with a lever about fif¬
teen feet in length. After this operation another perfon
feparates the (beets of paper from the felts, laying them
742
PAPER.
Ait of Ma-in a |ieap ^ an(J feveraj 0f ^ie{*e heaps colleftcd together
h'l Eittope^ ar^ aSain PU1 under the preis.
j I he ftuflf which forms a (heet of paper is received,
as we have already faid, on a form made of wire cloth,
which is more or lefs fine in proportion to the fluff, and
furrounded wdtlj a wooden frame, and fupported in the
middle by many crofs bars of wood. In confequence
of this conflruiffion, it is eafy to perceive, that the iheet
of paper will take and preferve the impreflions of all
the pieces which compofe the form, and of the empty
fpaces between them.
1 he trace? of the wire-cloth are evidently perceived
on the fide of the (heet which was attached to the form,
and on the oppofite fide they form an aflemblage of pa¬
rallel and rounded rifings. As in the paper which is
molt highly finifhed the regularity of thefe impreflions
is Hill vifible, it is evident that all the operations to
which it is fubmitted have chiefly in view to foften thefe
impreflions without deftroying them.—It is of confe¬
quence, therefore, to attend to the combination of labour
which operates on thefe impreflions. The coucher, in
turning the form on the felt, flattens a little the round¬
ed eminences wfliich are in relievo on one of the furfa-
ces, and occafions at the fame time the hollow places
made by the wire-cloth to be partly filled up. Mean¬
while the effort which is made in detaching the form,
produces an infinite number of fmall hairs on every pro¬
tuberant part of the flieet.
Under the aftion of the prefs, firft with the felts and
then without them, the perfecting of the grain of paper
ftill goes on. The veftiges of the protuberances made
by the wires are altogether flattened, and of confequence
the hollows oppofite to them difappear alfo ; but the
traces formed by the interftices of the wire, in confe¬
quence of their thicknefs, appear on both fides, and are
rounded by the prefs.
The rifings traced on each fide of the paper, and
which can - be difeovered by the eye on that which is
molt highly finilhed, form what is called the grain of
paper. The different operations ought to foften but not
deftroy it; which is effedlually done by employing the
hammer. This grain appears in the Dutch paper )
Avhich is a fufficient proof, that though they have brought
this part of the art to the greateft perfection, they have
not employed hammers, but more Ample and ingenious
means. The grain of paper is often disfigured by the
felts when they are too much ufed, or when the wool
does not cover the thread. In this cafe, when the pa¬
per is fubmitted to the prefs, it takes the additional tra¬
ces of the warp and the woof, and compofes a furface
extremely irregular.
The paper, the grain of which is highly foftened, is
much fitter for the purpofes of writing than that which
is fmoothed by the hammer : on the other hand, a coarfe
and unequal grain very much oppofes the movements of
the pen; as that which is beat renders them very uncer¬
tain. The art of making paper, therefore, flrould con-
fift in preferving, and at the fame time in highly foften-
ing, the grain : the Dutch have carried this to the
higheft perfection.
'1 he exchange fucceeds the operation laft deferibed.
It is conduded in a hall contiguous to the vat, fupplied
with feveral preffes, and with a long table. The work¬
man arranges on this table the paper, newly fabricated,
into heaps j each heap containing eight or ten of thofe
*1
Exchange
laft under the prefs, kept feparate by a woollen felt.
The prefs is large enough to receive* two of them at
once, placed the one at the other’s fide. When the
compreflion is judged fufficient, the heaps of paper are
carried back to the table, and the whole turned flieet
by Iheet, in fuch a manner that the furface of every
flieet is expofed to a new one; and in this fltuation they
are again brought under the prefs. It is in conduding
thefe two operations fometimes to four or five times, or
as often as the nature of the paper requires, that the
perfection of the Dutch plan confifts. If the fluff be
fine, or the paper (lender, the exchange is lefs frequent¬
ly repeated. In this operation it is neceffary to alter the
fituation of the heaps, with regard to one another,
every time they are put under the prefs ; and alfo, as
the heaps are higheft toward the middle, to place fmall
pieces of felt at the extremities, in order to bring every
part of them under an equal preffure. A Angle man
with four or five preffes may exchange all the paper
produced by two vats, provided the previous prefling at
the vats be well performed. The work of the exchange
generally lafts about two days on a given quantity of
paper.
When the paper has undergone thefe operations, it is
not only foftened in the furface, but better felted, and
rendered more pliant in the interior parts of the fluff.
In fliort, a great part of the water which it had im¬
bibed in the operation of the vat is diflipated. By the
felting of paper is underftood the approximation of the
fibres of the fluff, and their adhering more clofely to¬
gether. The paper is felted in proportion as the water
efcapes 5 and this effeCt is produced by the management
and reiterated aCtion of the prefs. Were it not for the
gradual operation of the prefs, the paper would be po¬
rous, and compofed of filaments adhering clofely together.
The fuperiority of the Dutch over the French paper de¬
pends almoft entirely on this operation.
If the flieets of paper are found to adhere together,
it is a proof that the bufinefs of the prefs has been bad¬
ly conducted. To avoid this inconveniency, it is necef¬
fary to bring down the prefs at firft gently, and by de¬
grees with greater force, and to raife it as fuddenly as
poflible. By this means the water, which is impelled
to the fides of the heaps, and which has not yet efcaped,
returns to the centre 5 the flieets are equally dry, and
the operation executed without difficulty.
According to the ftate of drynefs in which the paper
is found when it comes from the apartment of the vat,
it is either preffed before or after the firft exchange.
The operation of the prefs ffiould be reiterated and ma¬
naged with great care *, otherwife, in the foft ftate of
the paper, there is a danger that its grain and tranfpa-
rency be totally deftroyed. Another effential principle
to the fuccefs of the exchange is, that the grain of the
paper be originally well raifed. For this purpofe the
wire cloth of the Dutch forms is compofed of a rounder
wire than thofe ufed in France, by which they gain the
greateft degree of tranfparency, and are in no danger of
deftroying the grain. Befides this, the Dutch take care
to proportion the wires even where the forms are equal
to the thicknefs of the paper.
Almoft every kind of paper is confiderahly improved
by the exchange, and receives a degree of perfection
which renders it more agreeable in the ufe. But it is
neceffary to obferve at the fame time, that all paper*
Sed. I
Art uf Ma¬
king Paper,
in Europe.
Sea. I. PA]
Art of via-are not equally fufcepHble of tbis melioration *, on the
king Paper contrary? if the tluff be unequal, dry, or weakened
in fc-uruyi ^ ^ dellruCtion of the fine parts, it acquires no¬
thing of that luftre and foftnefs, and appearance of
velvet, which the exchange gives to duffs properly pre-
iS pa^d.
Of the dry- The (beds for drying the paper are in the neighbour¬
ing of pa- hood of the paper mill; and are furnithed with a vaft
per. number of cords, upon which they hang the (heets both
before and after the fizing. The Iheds are furrounded
with moveable lattices, to admit a quantity of air fuffi-
-cient for drying the paper. The cords of the fhed are
ftretched as much a- poffible ; and the paper, four or
five Iheets of it together, is placed on them by means of
a wooden inftrument refembling a pickaxe. The prin¬
cipal difficulty in drying the paper, confids in gradually
admitting the external air, and in preventing the cords
from, imbibing molfture. With regard to the fird of
thefe, the Dutch ufe very low iheds, and condnnff their
lattices with great exaflnefs.. By this means the Dutch
paper is dried eqqplly, and is extremely fupple before
the fizing. They prevent the cords from imbibing the
water by covering them with wax. In ufing fuch cords,
the moidure does not continue in the line of contafr be¬
tween the paper and the cord, which prevents the ilieet
from dretching in that particular place by its weight,
and from the folds which the moidure in the fubfequent
operations might occafiotv. The Dutch alfo employ
cords of confiderable thicknefs, and place fewer of them
under the fheets ; by which means they diminiih the
points of contact, and give a freer and more equal cir-
19 culatiofft to the air.
f)f the The fize for paper is made of the fhreds and pairings
fizing of g0t from the tanners, curriers, and parchment makers.
All the putrefied parts and the lime are carefully fepa-
rated from them, and they are enclofed into a kind of
balket, and let down by a rope and pulley into the caul¬
dron. This is a late invention, and ferves two valuable
purpofes. It makes it eafy to draw out the pieces of
leather when the fize is extra&ed from them by boiling,
or eafy to return them into the boiler if the operation
be not complete. When the fubdance is fufiiciently ex-
trafted, it is allowed to fettle for feme time ; and it is
twice filtered before it is put into the veflel into which
they dip the paper.
Immediately before the operation, a certain quantity
of alum is added to the fize. The workman takes a
handful of the dieets, fmoothed and rendered as fupple
as poffible, in his left hand, dips them into the veffel,
and holds them feparate with his right, that they may
equally imbibe the fize. After holding them above the
veffel for a fhort fpace of time, he feizes on the other
fide with his right hand, and again dips them into the
veffel. When he has finilhed ten or a dozen of thefe
handfuls, thev are fubmitted to the aftion of the prefi.
The fuperfluous fize is carried back to the veffel by
means of a fmall pipe. I he veffel in which the paper
is fized is made of copper, and furnilhed with a grate,
to give the fize when neceffary a due temperature ; and
a piece of thin board or felt is placed between every
handful as they are laid on the table of the prefs.
The Dutch are very careful, in fizing their paper, to
have everv ffieet in the fame handful of equal drynefs;
becaufe it is found that the dry fheets imbibe the fize
more flowly than thofe which retain fome degree of moi-
1 E R. ' 743
fture. They begin by fele£iing the padges in the dry-‘\rt°f
ing houfe ; and after having made them fupple, and ha-k“1|4^P'J
ving deffroyed the adherence between the fheets, they . t- * .
feparate them into handfuls in ^oportion to the drynefs,
each of them containing that number which they can
dip at one time. Befides this precaution, they take care
to apply two iheets of brown paper of an equal fize to
every handful. This brown paper, firm, folid, and al¬
ready fized, is of ufe to fupport the fheets.
As foon as the paper is fized, it is the praftice of fome
paper mills to carry it immediately to the drying houfe,
and hang it, before it cools, fheet by fheet on the cords.
The paper, unlefs particular attention be paid to the lat¬
tices of the drying-koufe, is apt to dry too faff, whereby
a great part of the lize goes off in evaporation ; or, if
too flow, it falls to the ground. The Dutch drying-
houfes are the beft to prevent thefe inconveniences :—
But the exchange after the fizing, which is generally
praftifed in Holland, is the beft remedy. They begin
this operation on the handfuls of paper, eiiher while
they are ftill hot, or otherwife, as they find it conveni¬
ent. But, after the exchange, they are careful to allow
the heaps to be altogether cold before they are fubmit¬
ted to the prefs. Without this precaution, the fize
would either be wholly fqueezed out by the prefs of the
exchange, or the furface of the paper become very irre¬
gular. It is of confequence that the paper, ftill warm
from the fizing, grow gradually firm, under the opera¬
tion of the exchange, in proportion as it cools. By
this method it receives that varnifh whiph is afterwards-
bimught to perfection under the prefs, and in which the
excellency of the paper either for writing or drawing
chiefly confifts. It is in confequence of the exchanging
and preffing that the Dutch paper is foft and equal, and
that the fize penetrates into the body of it, and is ex¬
tended equally over its furface.
The exchange after the fizing ought to be conduced
with the greateft fkill and attention, becaufe the grain
of the paper then receives impreffions which can never
be eradicated. When the fized paper is alfo exchanged,
it is poffible to hang more fheets together on the cords
of the drying-houfe. The paper dries better in this con¬
dition, and the fize is preferved without any fenfible
wafte, becaufe the fheets of paper mutually prevent the
rapid operation of the external air. And as the fize has
already penetrated into the paper, and is fixed on the
furface, the infenfible progrefs of a wrell conduced dry¬
ing-houfe renders all the good effeCIs more perfeCI in
proportion as it is flowly dried
If to thefe confiderations be added the damage done
to the paper in drying it immediately after the prefs of
the fizing room, whether it be done in railing the hairs
by feparating the (heets, or in cracking the furface, it is
evident that the trouble of the fecond exchange is infi¬
nitely overpaid by the advantage. 20
When the paper is fufficiently dry, it is carried to the Of the
finifhing room, where it is prefled, feleCfed, examined,finifl“nS
folded, made up into quires, and finally into reams.—Itrooin-
is here put twice under the prefs ; firft, when it is at its
full fize, and fecondly, after it is folded.
The principal labour of this place confifts in afforting
the paper into different lots, according to its quality and
faults ; after which it is made up into quires. The per-
fon who does ♦his muft poffefs great fkill, and be capable
of great attention, becaufe he ads as a check on thofe
who
744 PAP
Art of iN'a- v/iio feparated the paper into different lots. He takes
ii^Europ^ ^ie ^ieet,s his right hand, folds them, examines
> ■ ■■ t- -' ■ them, lays them over his left arm till he has the number
requifite for a quire, bv *gs the fides parallel to one an¬
other, and places them in heaps under the table. An
expert workman, if proper care has been taken in affort-
ing the lots, will finifli in this manner near 600 quires
in a day.
The paper is afterwards collected into reams of 20
quires each, and for the laft time put under the prefs,
where it is continued for 10 or 12 hours, or as long as
ti the demand of the paper-mill will permit.
a. method has lately been difcovered of bleaching
bleaching ^}C ra"s or ftudj which will undoubtedly be adopted
the rags everywhere in the preparation of writing paper, pro-
or ftuff. vided the expence of the procefs be not too great.
This difcovery was made by Scheele, M. Bexthollet,
and M. Chaptal. The firft of thefe illuftrious writers
communicated to the Swedifh Academy of Sciences an
Effay on Manganefe, containing a numerous feries of
experiments, intended to inveftigate the nature and
properties of that fubftance. Among thefe experi¬
ments were feveral which pointed out a new date of
the muriatic acid, or the acid diftilled from fea-falt,
otherwife known under the name of the acid or fpirit
offeu fait. This date of the muriatic acid was pro¬
duced by Mr Seheele, in confequence of putting the
faid acid into a retort or diddling veffel, along with
the above-mentioned fubdanee called manganefe, and
diddling over the acid into a proper receiver ; it was
found to have changed its nature and properties in a
very remarkable manner, while at the fame time the
manganefe remaining in the retort had differed a very
material alteration.
To the new date of the acid thus produced, in con¬
fequence of certain theoretic ideas which Mr Scheele
entertained refpe&ing the mutual aftion of the original
muriatic acid and the manganefe on each other during
the procefs of di{filiation, he gave the name of dephlo-
gificated muriatic acid. Since the time of this original
difeovery, in confequence of certain changes which
have occurred in the theory or philofophy of chemi-
dry, this new date of the acid of fea-falt has been
called the oxygenated muriatic acid. Among many other
properties of it difcovered by Mr Scheele, the mod re¬
markable was, that it dedroyed the colour of every vege¬
table fubdance which was expofed to its aftion ; or, in
other words, it bleached them ; or, in the language of
the dyers, it difcharged their colours *, that is to fay,
whatever happened to be the colour of any vegetable
body that was fubmitted to the aftion of the oxygena¬
ted or deohlogidicated muriatic acid, it always became
white, or lod its colouring matter.
In the year 1786, Dr Beddoes, then profeffor of che-
midrv in the univerfity of Oxford, publifhed an Eng-
lidi tranflation of the Chemical Eflays of Mr Scheele ;
and thereby made known to the chemids of Great
Britain the power of the oxygenated or dephlogidica-
ted muriatic acid, to bleach or whiten vegetable fub-
dances, or to difcharge or decompofe their colours.
But M. Bertbollet, a celebrated chemid in France, and
one of the members of the Academy of Sciences at
Paris, appears to have been the fird wTho thought of
rendering the above-recited difcovery fubfervient to the
jpurpofes of manufacture.
E R. Se&. T.
In 1789, he publithed in the Annales de CJiimie an Art of via.
eflay calculated entirely for the ufe of manufacturers, kinS ^aPer
by being diveded of theoretic dufcudions ; of which the ln tl^ro{>e-(
title is, “ Method of Bleaching Linen or Cotton Cloths,
Threads, and Yarns, by means of oxygenated Muriatic
Acid, and of fome other properties of that Liquor which
may be ufeful in Manufactures.”
In the fame work, and in the fame year, M. Chap¬
tal, another French chemid, publidied an account of
fome experiments, in which, among many other appli¬
cations of the oxygenated muriatic acid to purpofes ufe¬
ful in the economical arts, he gives information of ha¬
ving bleached or whitened coarfe rags ufed by the pa¬
per-makers, fo as greatly to improve the quality of the
paper into which they were afterwards manufactured.
His preparation of this bleaching liquor differs not
from Berthollet’s, which is as follows : “ Take fix
ounces of manganefe and fixteen ounces of fea-falt,
both reduced to a fine powder ; mix thefe accurately,
and introduce them into a retort or diddling veffel:
Then take twelve ounces of oil of vitriol and eight
ounces of water, mixed together, and allowed to cool;
add thefe to the other ingredients in the retort, and
conned the retort with a calk or receiver capable of
holding twenty-feven gallons and a half of water, but
only containing twenty-five gallons, which is to be im¬
pregnated with the gas or vapour of the oxygenated
muriatic acid7 and proceed to didillation, fird without
and afterwards with a fire gradually raifed, till the whole
acid comes over.”
Experiments have been made with this liquor both
by fome of the principal paper-makers in the neigh¬
bourhood of Edinburgh, and by Meffrs Clement and
George Taylors of Maiddone in Kent. By the form¬
er it was found, that paper made of rags and pulp
whitened in this manner, was fuperior to any other
made of fimilar materials, not only in colour but in
finenefs of texture. By the latter, the excellence of the
liquor was found to be fo great, that probably having
never heard of Scheele, Berthollet, and Chaptal, and
conceiving themfelves to be the fird inventors of it,
they obtained a patent for its exclufive ufe, which other
manufacturers will doubtlefs difregard. It is not to be
concealed, however, that, even with all the precautions
which can poffibly be taken at fird, various circum-
dances of imperfection mud neceffarily remain to be re¬
moved by means of farther experience, both in the per¬
fection of the bleaching proeefs and the economy of its
application to ufe ; but for the attaining of this experi¬
ence a diort time will rarely be fufficient. The above
account, it mud appear, refers to the time when the
bleaching of rags by this procefs was fird introduced.
The pradtice, we find is dill (1808) fuccefvfully conti¬
nued by fome of the manufacturers in the vicinity of
Edinburgh, and has been improved by ufing the bleach¬
ing fait (the hyperoxymuriate of lime), the right to the
preparation of which is exclufively veded by patent in
Meffrs Tennant and Company of Glafgow.
Sect. II. Of the different Kinds of Paper.
21
Te'E paper proper for writing diould be without Anting
knots, without any parts of the duff not tritura-PaPer‘
ted, without folds, and without wrinkles, of a fupple
texture, its grain uniform and regular, foftened in the
exchange.
Sea. II.
P A
and not deftroyed by fmoothing. The
Different exchange,
kinds of ground 0f this paper tnuft be extremely white, or fhad-
L PaPer- i ed with a very light blue, which adds to its natural
fplendour. It is of great importance that it be fully
and equally lized, otherwife the writing cannot be well
finilhed, and the turnings of the letter^ will be very
imperfedl. This paper fhould be made from fluff not
putrefied, which takes a better grain, receives more
benefit from the exchange, is more equally fized, and,
23 finally, is lefs fubjeft to folds and wrinkles in the dif-
For dura- ferent operations. To make paper peculiarly fit for
ble writing, durable writing, Dr Lewis recommends the impregna¬
tion of it with aftringent materials. “ It is obfervable
(fays he) that writings firft begin to fade or change
their colour on the back of the paper, where the larger
ftrokes have funk in, or are vifible through it j as if part
of the irony matter of the vitriol was in a more fubtile
or diflblved ftate than the reft, and funk further, on ac¬
count of its not being fully difengaged from the acid,
or fufficiently combined with the aflringent matter of
the galls. Hence, it fhould feem probable, that if the
paper was impregnated with aftringent matter, the co¬
lour of the ink would be more durable. To fee how far
this notion was well founded, I dipt fome paper in an
infufion of galls : and, when dry, repeated the dipping
a fecond and third time. On the paper thus prepared,
and fome that was unprepared, I wrote with different
inks •, feveral of which, that the effe&s might be more
fenfible, had an over-proportion of vitriol. The wri¬
tings being expofed to the weather till the beft of the
inks on the unprepared paper had faded and changed
their colour, thofe on the prepared paper were all
found to retain their blacknefs. It is therefore recom¬
mended to the confideration of the paper-makers,
whether a particular kind of paper might not be pre¬
pared for thofe ufes where the long duration of the
writing is of principal importance, by impregnating it
with galls or other aftringents, in fome of the opera¬
tions it paffes through before it receives the glazing ;
as, for inflance, by ufing an aftringent infufion, inftead
of common water, in the laft operation, when the mat¬
ter is reduced into a pulp for being formed into (beets.
The browniih hue which the paper receives from the
galling, would not perhaps be any great obftacle to
its ufe; and, if the propofal (hould be thought worthy
of being carried into execution, further inquiries may
poflibly difcover the means of obviating the imperfection,
and communicating aftringency without colour.”
The paper ufed for drawing, or for coloured maps, is
in fome mills made from one kind of white fluff, either
fine or middling; in others, from a mixture of three or
four kinds of fluff of different colours. The Dutch
were not long ago almoft wholly in poffeflion of this
manufacture. The fame qualities are neceffary in this
paper as in that for writing. The grain, however, muft
be a little more raifed, although foftened by the" ex¬
change; for, without this grain, the pencil would leave
with difficulty the traces of the objeCts. Great care
is alfo neceffary in the fizing of this paper, that the
drawing be neatly performed, and alfo that the (inking
of the ink or colours into the irregularities of the fluff
be prevented.
This paper is alfo made in greateft perfection by fluffs
n
Paper fit
Tor draw¬
ing, or for
coloured
maps.
26
Offurni-
lUre paper. not rotted. Thefc take a more even glofs, and are in
Vol. XV. Part II.
p E R. - 74S
better condition to receive all the imprcffions of the Different
painter. It is alfo neceffary that furniture paper be k‘ncls of
well foftened, and fubmitted to the exchange, to take d^er‘
more exaCtly the outlines of the figures. The French
have carried this part of the manufacture of paper to the
higheft ftate of perfection.
The Britilh and Dutch have had the greateft fuccefs Pafteboard
in manufacturing pafteboard, which they make either ofed in the
from a (ingle mafs of fluff' on the form, or from a col_ manufac-
leCtion of feveral (heets pafted together. In both cafes, woouen
the (lieets of pafteboard are made of fluff not rotted, cloth,
and triturated with rollers furnilhed with blades of well
tempered fteel. By the operation of the exchange, and
fmoothing continued for a long time, the Britilh and
Dutch obtain folid and fmooth fluffs, which neither
break under the folds of cloth, nor adhere to them.
The fluffs not putrefied have another advantage in this
fpecies of pafteboard, namely, that of refilling the ac¬
tion of heat, which they experience between the folds
of cloth, without wafting or tarnifhing, and of confe-
quence they may be ufed for a long time.
In England they have at lead equalled any other printing
nation in the manufacture of this paper; and even in paper.
Scotland they have arrived to fuch a degree of perfec¬
tion in this art, that great part of what they manu¬
facture is fent into England. It requires to be made of
a foft and equal fluff, without folds or wrinkles, of a
natural whitenefs, and with a (hade of blue. It muft be
fized lefs ftrongly than writing paper, but fufficiently
well to give neatnefs to the characters. The paper,
thus properly prepared, yields eafily to the printing
prefs, and takes a fufticient quantity of ink. The fluff
muft be without greafe, and wrought with that degree
of flownefs as to make it fpread equally over the form,
and take a neat and regular grain ; without this the
characters will not be equally marked in every part of
the page; and the fmalleft quantity of greafe renders
the fizing unequal and imperfeCt. Some artifts with
confiderable fuccefs, both to meliorate the grain, and
to reduce the inequalities of the furface, have .fubmitted
this paper to the exchange. And it is proper to add,
that a moderate degree of exchanging and of prefling
may be of great fervice after the (lieets are printed, to
deftroy the hollow places occafioned by the prefs, and
the relievo of the letters.
Engraving requires a paper of the fame qualities Paper fer
with the laft mentioned, with refpeCl: to the fluff, which engraving,
muft be pure, without knots, and equally reduced ; the
grain uniform, and the (heets without folds or wrinkles*
To preferve the grain, it is neceffary that it be dried
(lowly in the lowed: place of the drying-houfe. If it is
fubmitted to the exchange, the effefts of it muft be mo¬
derated with the greateft care, and the aftion of the two
firft preffes muft be equally diftributed over the whole
mafs, otherwife the inequality of the moifture at the
middle and (ides will expofe it to wrinkles in the drying*,
The fizing of this paper muft alfo be moderate. Thefe
circumftances are neceffary to make it receive with
neatnefs all the foft and delicate touches of the plate.
—The foft and yielding paper of Auvergne poffeffes
all thofe advantages ; and accordingly a great quantity
of this and of printing paper were formerly imported
into Britain and Holland from France, where they (till
continue to rot the materials from which they make en-
5 B graving
746 PAP
Mifcellane-graving paper. The wire wove frame, though but late-
ous Obfer- j invented, is, we are told, peculiarly adapted to this
vations on . r 7 7 7 A i
kind or paper.
Paper for cards tnuft be manufactured from a pretty-
firm duff, in order to take that degree of fmoothnefs
which makes the cards glide eafily over one another in
ufing. For this reafon the cardmakers rejeft every
of painting kind of paper which is foft and without itrength. This
on afmoothpaper requires to be very much fized, fince the fizing
holds the place of varnifh, to which the fmoothing gives
a glazed and fhining furface. To anfwer all thefe pur¬
poses, the rags require to be a little rotted, and the
mallets ftrongly armed with iron ftuds. Formerly An-
goumois was alraoft the only province in France which
fold card-paper to the Dutch and the other northern
nations. The rags of Angoumois have the peculiar
quality of not turning too foft in the putrefaCUon,
and the mills of that province reduce them to duff
though they be not much putrefied. The French, we
believe, excel every other nation in this branch of the
manufacture of paper.
Paper.
25>
Paper for
cards or
any kind
furface,,
3°
To preferve
paper from
linking.
3*
Paper var-
nifhed for
writing.
3*
Paper pre¬
pared tor
drawing.
33
Paper pre¬
pared for
copying a
jirmu
Sect. III. Mifcellaneous ObfervaWms on Paper.
To hinder paper from finking, take about the fize
of a nut of rock alum, diffolve it in a glafs of clear wa¬
ter, and apply it to the paper, which has not been fuf-
ficiently fized, with a fine fponge. It is in this man¬
ner that the paper-manufaCturers of Paris prepare the
paper for drawing called papiers laws. When there is
occafion to write on a printed book, or on paper too
frefh, it is fufficient to mix a little gum with ordinary
ink.
To give to writing paper a brilliant varnidi, take
that which is of an ordinary finenefs, very fmooth^
without any kind of dain or hairs on its furface j dretch
it on a fmooth plank, and by means of a hare’s foot
cover it with a thin and equal layer of fandarac finely,
powdered. Afterwards, if a Avhole ream is to be var-
niflied,-take eight ounces of rock alum and one ounce
of white fugarcandy *, bring them to boil in fix pints
of water; and when the liquor is lukewarm, wet that
fide of the dieet which has been covered with the fan¬
darac with a fine fponge; lay the fheets in a lieap, one
Iheet exaftly above another ; and fubmit the ream to
the prefs for the fpace of twelve hours: hang them
afterAvards dieet by dieet on the cords of the drying-
houfe ; put them again under the prefs for fome days
to dretch them ; and, finally, beat them with a book¬
binder’s mallet. This paper can only be ufed for three
or four months after it is prepared.
Painters prepare their paper for drawing, and give
it a dark ground, which fpares. them, much labour of
the pencil afterwards in thofe places Avhere diade is
neceflary. For this purpofe, they take Ayhite paper
and pafs a fponge over it, Avhich has imbibed water
impregnated Avith foot, leaving the light places to be
formed afterAvards. They ufe alfo a kind of paper for
drawing, which is called tainted paper. A light co.
lour is paffed over the Avhole ground, Avhich deprives the
paper of its original brightnefs, and makes the light
places of the print appear more in relievo, and more
luminous.
The method mod common and mod convenient for
E R. Se&. III.
copying a print, is to ufe oiled paper. The manner Mifcellana-
of preparing this paper is to take that Avhich is thin ous Obi'er-
and fmooth, knoAvn commonly by the name of ferpent v 011
paper, and moiden it Avith a compofition, two parts of * , ‘ j
the oil of Avalnuts and one part of the oil of turpen¬
tine mixed Avell together. A Iheet of pafteboard and a
fheet of paper are laid on a fmooth table ; above them
are placed two ftieets of paper to be prepared; and a
layer of the oil applied to the uppermoft is fufficient to
penetrate both. This may be done to any number of
fheets, and a drong fheet of pafteboard is placed over
the whole. The heap is afterAvards fubmitted to the
prefs, under Avhich it remaini for two or three days till
the oil be completely dry. Paper prepared in this man¬
ner ferves to copy very readily and exaCfly all kinds of
figures and plans ; becaufe, being altogether tranfpar-
ent, all the parts of the draAving, Avhethpr of light or
fhade, are eafily diftinguifhed. ^
Befides the paper made from the afheftos, it is ne-Incombuftk
ceflary for wrapping up gunpoAvder and valuable Avri- ble paper,
tings, to have a paper that Avill not eafily take fire. The
manner in Avhich- this is prepared is extremely fimple.
Ordinary paper is dipped into boiling liquid, confift-
ing of three-fourths of water, and one-fourth of diffolved
slum. This fait, Avhich is not inflammable, covers the
furface of the paper, and renders it in fome meafure in*
combuftible.
35
In the feafon of verjuice, a little of it diluted with A method,
water is fufficient for obliterating any frefh fpot ofpferafmg
ink. The fait of the verjuice diffolved in Avater anfwers rom
the purpofe equally Avell, and the fait of forrel or oxalic
acid is alfo employed Avith this vieAy. If the fpots be
dry, and the above acids are infufficient to eradicate
them, a little aquafortis diluted in water, and applied
with the feather of a quill, or a fine hair pencil, Avill
make them entirely difappear. ^
Books and manuferipts are fometimes defaced by A method
accidental ftains Avitli. oil. To remove fueh blemilhes, rir ta^in§
burn fheeps bones and reduce them to a fine poAvder
lay a quantity of this powder on each fide of the ftain ;per>
place it betAveen two flieets of white paper, and fub-
mit it for tAvelve hours to the prefs. If the ftains have
not difappeared, it will, be neceffary to reiterate the pro-
cefs- 37
To make oiled papers take colours ; mix with theco- A method
lours a very fmall quantity either of the gall of a pike or of making^
carp ; and, as thefe fubftances are of the nature of foap,
they diflblve the greafe that is in the paper, and permit
the colours to be fpread over the furface, 38-
Fmery paper, Avhich is employed for taking the ruft To make
from iron Avithout Availing it, is made by impregnating emery
coarfe paper with gummed water or any other tenaci- ^er‘
ous fubftance, and then covering it over with the fineft
emery. 39
The colours proper for paper are not different from Staining 0?.
thofe ufed for other fubftances, and are enumerated C(’*oun"S
under the article COLOUR-Making., They are applied 0 I ^
Avith foft bruihes, after being tempered to a due de¬
gree Avith fize or gum-Avater. If the paper on which
they are to be laid is foft, fo that the colours are apt
to go through, it muft alfo be fized before they are laid
on, or a proportionably larger quantity muft be ufed
along with the colours themfelves. If a confiderable
extent of the paper, is to be done over with one colour,
it
Seft. m.
P A f E R.
747
40
To gild
paper.
4l
To filver
Mifcellane- it muft receive feveral coatings, as thin as poflible, let-
ous Obfer- tjn„ eac]1 coat Jj-y before another is put on, otherwife
Vapg0I^r°n the colour will be unequal.
■_ _ 1 Take yellow ochre, grind it with rain-water, and
lay a ground Avith it upon the paper all over j when
dry, take the white of eggs, beat it clear with white
fugarcandy, and ftrike it all over; then lay on the leaf-
gold $ and Avhen dry, polifh it with a tooth. Some
take faffron, boil it in water, and diffolve a little gum
with it; then they ftrike it over the paper, lay on the
gold ; and, when dry, they polilh it.
Take two fcruples of clear glue made of neats lea-
paper alter ther, one fcruple of Avhite alum, and half a pint of
lhe^'hinele clear water j fimmer the whole over a Aoav fire, till the
without fil- water is confumed, or the fleam ceafes : Then, your
ver. flieets of paper being laid on a fmooth table, you dip
a pretty large pencil into that glue, and daub it over
as even as you can, repeating this two or three times :
then fift the powder of talc through a fine fieve, made
of horfe-hair or gauze, over it $ and then hang it up
to dry ", and, Avhen dry, rub off the fuperfluous talc,
Avhich ferves again for the fame purpofe. The talc
you prepare in the folloiving manner : Take fine white
transparent Mufcovy talc', boil it in clear water for
four hours} then take it off the fire, and let it ftand
fo for two days: then take it out, Avalh it well, and put
it into a linen rag, and beat it to pieces with a mallet :
to 10 pounds of talc add 3 pounds of white alum, and
grind them together in a little hand-mill 5 fift it
through a gauze-fieve •, and being thus reduced to a
powder, put it into Water, and jult boil it up : then let
it fink to the bottom, pour off the Avater from it, place
the poAvder in the fun to dry, and it will become of a
hard confidence. Beat this in a mortar to an impal¬
pable powder, and keep it, for the ufe above mentioned,
free from dull.
The common grounds laid in Avater are made by
mixing whiting ivith the common glovers fize, and
grounds for laying it on the paper with a proper brufh in the moft
yaper h»ng-eVen manner. This is all that is required, Avhere the
ground is to be left Avhite and the paper being then
iuing on a proper frame till it be dry, is fit to be paint¬
ed. When coloured grounds are required, the fame
method muff be purfued, and the ground of Avhiting firft
laid j except in pale colours, fuch as ftraAV-colours or
pink, Avhere a fecond coating may fometimes be fpared,
By mixing fome ftrong colour Avith the whiting.
There are three methods by which paper-hangings
are painted •, the firft by printing on the colours •, the
fecond by ufing the Jiencil; and the third by laying
them on with z pencil, as in other kinds of painting.
When the colours are laid on by printing, the im-
preflion is made by Avooden prints •, which are cut in
fuch manner, that the figure to be expreffed is made
to project from the furface by cutting aAvay all the
other part j and this, being charged with the colours
tempered Avith their proper vehicle, by letting it gent¬
ly down on a block on which the colour is previoufiy
fpread, conveys it from thence to the ground of the pa¬
per, on which it is made to fall more forcibly by means
of its weight, and the effort of the arm of the perfon
Avho ufes the print. It is eafy to conclude, that there
muff be as many feparate prints as there are colours to
be printed. But Avhere there are more than one, great
;42
White and
coloured
43
Method of
painting
the paper
hangings.
care muff be taken, after the ffrft, t<3 lei i^c Pnnj-
fall exaftly in the fame part of the paper as that Avhich ^ tions ^
Went before j othenvife the figure of the defign Avould paper.
be brought into irregularity and confufion. In common 1 '—v1* ■<
paper of Ioav price, it is ufiial, therefore, to print only
the outlines, and lay on the reft of the colours by ften-
cilling ; Avhich both faves the expence of cutting more
prints, and can be pradtifed by common Avorkmen, not
requiring the great care and dexterity neceffary to the
ufing feveral prints.
The manner of Jlencilling the colours is this. The
figure, which all the parts of any particular colour iftake
in the defign to be painted, is to be cut out, in a piece
of thin leather or oil-cloth, Avhrch pieces of leather of
oil-cloth are called Jlencils; and being laid flat on the
fheets of paper to be printed, fpread on a table or floor,
are to be rubbed over Avith the colour, properly tem¬
pered, by means of a large brufh. The colour pafling
over the Avhole is conlequently fpread on thofe parts of
the paper where the leather or cloth is cut aAvay, and
give the fame effedt as if laid on by a print. This is
neverthelefs only pradticable in parts Avhere there are
only detached maffes or fpots of colours : for where
there are fmall continued lines, or parts that run nne
into another, it is difficult to prefetve the connedtion
or continuity of the parts of the cloth, or to keep the
fmaller corners clofe doAVn to the paper : and therefore,
in fuch cafes, prints are preferable. Stencilling is in¬
deed a cheaper method of ridding coarfe Avork than
printing : but Avithout fuch extraordinary attention and
trouble as render it equally difficult Avith printing, k
is far lefs beautiful and exadt in the effedt. For the
outlines of the fpots of colour Avant that fharpnefs and
regularity that are given by prints, befides the fre¬
quent extralineations, or deviations from the juft figure,
which happen by tire original mifplacing of the ften-
•cils, or the fliifting the place of them during the opera¬
tion.
Pencilling is only ufed in the cafe of nicer Avork, fuch
as the better imitations of the India paper. It is per¬
formed ih the fame manner as other paintings in Avater
or varnilh. It is fometimes ufed only to fill the out¬
lines already formed by printing, Avhere the price of
the colour, or the exadlnefs of the manner in which it
is required to be laid on, tender the ftencilling or
printing it lefs proper $ at other times, it is ufed for
forming or delineating fome parts of the defign, Avherea
fpirit of freedom and variety, not to be had in printed
outlines, are defired to be had ih the work.
The paper defigned for receiving the flock is firft Manage-
prepared Avith a varnifli-ground Avith fome proper co-mentof
lour, or by tlrat of the paper itfelf. It is frequently t^e flocli
pradlified to print fome mtofaic, or other fmall running pa^er'
figure in colours, on the ground, before the flock be
laid on •, and it may be done with any pigment of the
colour defired, tempered with varnilh, and laid on by a
print cut correfpondently to that end.
The method of laying on the flock is this. A wooden
print being cut, as is abo\'e deferibed, for laying on
the colour in fuch manner that the part of the defign
which is intended for the flock may project beyond
the reft of the furface, the varnilh is put on a block
covered with the leather or oil-cloth, and the print is to
be ufed alfo in the fame manner, to lay the varnilh on
5 B 2 ail
748 D A r
Mifcellane-^ * - , x -Ck a
- • »ux the patls ivliere the nock is to be fixed. The (beet,
ous Obfer- thus prepared by the varnithed impreflion, is then to
paj)er ‘ be removed to another block or table, and to be ftrew-
1 ed over with flock ; which is afterwards to be gently
compreffed by a board, or fome other flat body, to
make the varnifh take the better hold of it : and then
the fheet is to be hung on a frame till the varnifh be
perfectly dry } at which time the fuperfluous part of
flock is to be brufhed off by a foft camel’s-hair brufh $
and the proper flock will be found to adhere in a very
itrong manner.
The method of preparing the flock is, by cutting
woollen rags or pieces of cloth with the hand, by means
 ■iiinnin
PAP
PJPER-Moneij is a term frequently made ufe of for
bank-bills, which pafs currently in trade inftead of gold
and filver.
Concerning this fpecies of currency, the national u-
tility of which has been controverted by fome, we have
the following obfervations in Dr Smith’s Treatife on
the Wealth of Nations : “ The fubftitution of paper in
the room of gold and filver money replaces a very ex-
penfive inftrument of commerce with one much lefs coft-
ly, and fometimes equally convenient. Circulation comes
to be carried on by a new wheel, which it cofts lefs
both to ereft and maintain than the old one.
“ When the people of any particular country have
fuch confidence in the fortune, probity, and prudence
of a particular banker, as to believe that he is always
ready to pay upon demand fuch of his promiffory notes
as are likely at any time to be prefented to him, thofe
notes come to have the fame currency as gold and filver
money, from the confidence that fuch money can at any
time be had for them.
“ A particular banker lends among his cuftomers
his own promiffory notes, to the amount, we fliall fup-
pofe, of ioo,cool. As thofe notes ferve all the pur-
pofes of money, his debtors pay him the fame intereft
as if he had lent them fo much money. This intereft
is the fource of his gain. Though fome of thofe notes
are continually coming back upon him for payment,
part of them continue to circulate for months and years
together. Though he has generally in circulation,
therefore, notes to the amount of loo,oool. 20,oool.
in gold and filver may frequently be a fufficient pro-
vifion for anfwering occafional demands. By this ope¬
ration, therefore, 20,000!. in gold and filver perform
all the funftions which ioo,ocol. could otherwife have
performed. Eighty thoufand pounds of gold and fil¬
ver can therefore, in this manner, be fpared from the
circulation of the country j and if different operations
of the fame kind fliould at the fame time be carried on
by many different banks and bankers, the whole circu¬
lation may be thus conduced with a fifth part only of
the gold and filver.
“ Let us fuppofe, for example, that the whole cir¬
culating money of fome particular country amounted,
at a particular time, to i,ooo,oool. fterling, that fum
being then fufficient for circulating the whole annual
psoduce p£ their land and labour. Let us fuppofe too,
5
e e. geci, nr.
of a large bill or chopping knife } or by means of a ma- Mifcellane-
chine worked by a horfe-mill. °us Obfw-
There is a kind of counterfeit flock-paper, which, vap“n^r°n
when well managed, has very much the fame effeft to i ^ ' j
the eye as the real, though done with lefs expence.
The manner of making this fort is, by laying a ground
of varnifli on the paper ; and having afterwards printed
the defign of the flock in varnifli, in the fame manner as
for the true ; inftead of the flock, fome pigment, or dry
colour, of the fame hue with the flock required by the
defign, but fomewhat of a darker ftiade, being well
powdered, is ftrewed on the printed varnifli, and pro¬
duces nearly the fame appearance.
PAP
that, fome time thereafter, different banks and bankers
iffued promiffory notes, payable to the bearer, to the
extent of l,000,000l. referving in their different coffers
200,oool. for anfwering occafional demands. There
would remain, therefore, in circulation 8oo,oool. in
gold and filver, and i,ooo,oool. of bank notes, or
i,8oo,cool. of paper and money together. But the
annual produce of the land and labour of the country
had before required only i,ooo,oool. to circulate and
diftribute it to its proper confumers, and that annual
produce cannot be immediately augmented by thofe
operations of banking. One million, therefore, will
be fufticient to circulate it after them. The goods to
be bought and fold being precifely the fame as before,
the fame quantity of money will be fufficient for buy¬
ing and felling them. The channel of circulation, if
I may be allow'ed fuch an expreffion, will remain pre¬
cifely the fame as before. One million we have fup-
pofed fufficient to fill that channel. Whatever, there¬
fore, is poured into it beyond this fum, cannot run in
it, but muft overflow. One million eight hundred
thoufand pounds are poured into it. Eight hundred
thoufand pounds,, therefore, muft overflow, .that fum
being over and above what can be employed in the cir¬
culation of the country. But though this fum cannot
be employed at home, it is too valuable to be allowed
to lie idle. It will therefore be fent abroad, in order
to feek that profitable employment which it cannot
find at home. But the paper cannot go abroad; be-
caufe, at a diftance from the banks which iffue it, and
from the country in which payment of it can be ex-
afted by law, it will not be received in common pay¬
ments. Gold and filver, therefore, to the amount of
8oo,oool. will be fent abroad, and the channel of home
circulation ftill remain filled with l,ooo,oool. of paper
inftead of i,ooo,OOol. of thofe metals which filled it be¬
fore.
“ But though fo great a quantity of gold and fil¬
ver is thus fent abroad, wTe muft not imagine that it is
fent abroa-d for nothing, or that its proprietors maite a
prefent of it to foreign nations. They will exchange
it for foreign goods of fomc kind or another, in order
to fupply the confumption either of fome other foreign
country or their own.
“ If they employ it in purchafing goods in one fo¬
reign country in order to fupply the confumption of
- another,
Paper
Money.
PAP f 749 3 PAP
another, or in what is called the carrying trade, what¬
ever profit they make will be an addition to the neat
revenue of their own country. It is like a new fund,
created for carrying on a new trade *, domeftic bufinefs
being now tranfadted by paper, and the gold and filver
being converted into a fund for this new trade.
“ If they employ it in purchafing foreign goods for
home confumption, they may either firft purchafe fuch
goods as are likely to be confumed by idle people who
produce nothing, fuch as foreign wines, foreign filks,
&c. j or, fecondly, they may purchafe an additional
flock of materials, tools, and provifions, in order to
employ an additional number of induftrious people,
who reproduce, with a profit, the value of their annual
confumption.
“ So far as it is employed in the firft way, it pro¬
motes prodigality, increafes expence and confumption
without increafing production, or eftabliftiing any per¬
manent fund for fupporting that expence, and is in
every refpeCt hurtful to the fociety.
So far as it is employed in the fecond way, it
promotes induftry j and though it increafes the con¬
fumption of the fociety, it provides a permanent fund
for fupporting that confumption, the people who con-
fume, reproducing, with a profit, the whole value of
their annual confumption. The grofs revenue of the
fociety, the annual produce of their land and labour, is
increafed by the whole value which the labour of thofe
workmen adds to the materials upon which they are em¬
ployed } and their neat revenue by what remains of this
value, after deducing what is neceflary for fupporting
the tools and inftruments of their trade.
“ That the greater part of the gold and filver
which, being forced abroad by thofe operations of
banking, is employed in purchafing foreign goods for
home confumption, is, and muft be employed for pur¬
chafing thofe of this fecond kind, feems not only pro¬
bable, but almoft unavoidable. Though fome parti¬
cular men may fometimes increafe their expence very
confiderably, though their revenue does not increafe at
all, we may be aflured that no clafs or order of men
ever does fo j becaufe, though the principles of com¬
mon prudence do not always govern the conduft of
every individual, they always influence that of the ma¬
jority of every clafs or order. Eut the revenue of idle
people, confidered as a clafs or order, cannot in the
fraalleft degree be increafed by thofe operations of
banking. Their expence in general, therefore, cannot
be much increafed by them, though that of a few in¬
dividuals among them may, and in reality fometimes is.
The demand of idle people, therefore, for foreign goods,
being the fame, or very nearly the fame, as before,
a very fmall part of the money, which being forced
abroad by thofe operations of banking, is employed in
purchafing foreign goods for home confumption, is like¬
ly to be employed in purchafing thofe for their ufe.
The greater part of it will naturally be deftined for the
employment of induftry, and not for the maintenance of
idlenefs.
“ When we compute the quantity of induftry which
the circulating capital of any fociety can employ, we
muft always have regard to thofe parts of it only which
confift in provifions, materials, and finifned work : the
other, which confifts in money, and which ferves only
to circulate thofe three, muft always be deducted. In
order to put induftry into motion, three things are re-
quifite $ materials to work upon, tools to work with,
and the wages or recompenfe for the fake of which the
work is done. Money is neither a material to work
upon, nor a tool to work with j and though the wages
of the workman are commonly paid to him in money,
his real revenue, like that of all other men, confifts, not
in the money, but in the money’s worth j not in the
metal pieces, but in what can be got for them.
“ The quantity of induftry which any capital can
employ, muft evidently be equal to the number of
workmen whom it can fupply with materials, tools,
and a maintenance fuitable to the nature of the work.
Money may be requifite for purchafing the materials
and tools of the work, as well as the maintenance of
the workmen. But the quantity of induftry which the
whole capital can employ, is certainly not equal both
to the money which purchafes, and to the materials,
tools, and maintenance, which are purchafed with it j
but only to one or other of thofe two values, and to the
latter more properly than to the former.
“ When paper is fubftituted in the room of gold and
filver money, the quantity of the materials, tools, and
maintenance, which the whole circulating capital can
fupply, may be increafed by the whole value of gold
and filver which ufed to be employed in purchafing
them. The whole value of the great wheel of circula¬
tion and diftribution is added to the goods which are
circulated and diftributed by means of it. The opera¬
tion, in fome meafure, refembles that of the undertaker
of fome great work, who, in confequence of fome im¬
provement in mechanics, takes down his old machi¬
nery, and adds the difference between its price and
that of the new to his circulating capital, to the fund
from which he furnilhes materials and wages to his
workmen.
“ What the proportion is which the circulating mo¬
ney of any country bears to the whole value of the an¬
nual produce circulated by means of it, it is perhaps
impoftible to determine. It has been computed by dif¬
ferent authors at a fifth, at a tenth, at a twentieth, and
at a thirtieth part of that value. But how fmall foever
the proportion which the circulating money may bear
to the whole value of the annual produce, as but a part,
and frequently but a fmall part, of that produce, is ever
deftined for the maintenance of induftry, it muft; always
bear a very confiderable proportion to that part. When,
therefore, by the fubftitution of paper, the gold and fil¬
ver neceffary for circulation is reduced to perhaps a fifth
part of the former quantity, if the value of only the
greater part of the other four fifths be added to the funds
which are deftined for the maintenance of induftry, it
muft; make a very confiderable addition to the quantity
of that induftry, and confequently to the value of the
annual produce of land and labour.
“ That part of his capital which a dealer is obliged
to keep by him unemployed, for anfwering occafional
demands, is fo much dead flock, producing nothing ei¬
ther to him or to his country. The judicious opera¬
tions of banking enable him to make it aflive and
produflive. The gold and filver money which circu¬
lates in any country, and by means of which the pro¬
duce of its land and labour is annually circulated and
diftributed to the proper confumers, is in the fame man¬
ner as the ready money of the dealer, all dead flock. It
is
Paper
Money.
Paper
Money
II
Papier.
PAP [ 750
is a very valuable part of the capital of the country,
which produces nothing to the country. The judicious
operations of banking, by fubftituting paper in the room
1 of a great part of it, enables the country to make a great
part of this dead itock adlive and productive. The
gold and filver money which circulates in any country,
may very properly be compared to a highway, which,
while it circulates and carries to market all the grafs
and corn of the country, produces itfelf not a fingle pile
of either. The judicious operations of banking, by pro¬
viding, if I may be allowed fo violent a metaphor, a
fort of waggon-way through the air, enable the country
to convert, as it were, a great part of its highways into
good paftures and corn fields, and thereby to increafe
very confiderably the annual produce of its land and la¬
bour. The commerce and mduftry of the country,
however, it mull be acknowledged, though they may
be fomewhat augmented, cannot be altogether fo fe-
cure, when they are thus, as it were, fufpended upon the
Daedalian wings of paper money, as when they travel
about upon the folid ground of gold and filver.
“ The whole paper money of every kind which can
eafily circulate in'any country, never can exceed the
value of the gold and filver, of which it fupplies the
place, or Which (the commerce being fuppofed the
fame) would circulate there if there was no paper mo¬
ney. If twenty (hilling notes, for example, are the
lowed paper money current in Scotland, the whole of
that currency, which can eafily circulate there, cannot
exceed the fum of gold and filver which would be ne-
ceffary for tranfa&ing the annual exchanges of twenty
(hillings value and upwards, ufually' tranla&ed within
that country. Should the circulating paper at any
time exceed that fum, as the excefs could neither be
fent abroad, nor be employed in the circulation of the
country, it mud immediately return upon the banks to
be exchanged for gold and filver. Many people would
immediately perceive that they had more of this paper
than was neceffary for tranfa&ing their bufmefs at
home, and as they could not fend it abroad, they would
immediately demand payment of it from the banks.
When this fuperfluous paper was converted^ into gold
and filver, they could eafily find a u(e for it by fend¬
ing it abroad } but they could find none while it re¬
mained in the (hape of paper. There would immedi¬
ately, therefore, be a run upon the banks to the whole
extent of this fuperfluous paper, and, if they (bowed any
difficulty or backwardnefs in payment, to a much
greater extent; the alarm which this would occa-
fion neceflarily increafing the run.” See Bank and
Trade. .
PAPER Office^ an office in the palace of v, hitehall, in
which all the public writings, matters of (late and coun¬
cil, proclamations, letters, intelligences, negociattons
abroad, and generally all defpatches that pafs through
the offices of the fecretaries of (late, are lodged, by way
of library. , r ,
PAPIER MACHE. This is a fubftanep made ot cut¬
tings of white or brown paper, boiled in water, and
beaten in a mortar, till they are reduced to a kind of
pafte, and then boiled with a folution of gum arabic or
of fize, to give tenacity to the pafte, which is afterwards
formed into different toys, &c. by prefling it into oiled
moulds. When dry, it is done over with a mixture of
fize and lamp black, and afterwards varniffied. The
4
] p A P
black varnifli for thefe toys, according to Dr Lewis, is
prepared as follows : fome colophony, or turpentine
boiled down till it becomes black and friable, is melted
in a glazed earthen veffel, and thrice as much amber in
fine powder fprinkled in by degrees, with the addition
of a little fpirit or oil of turpentine now and then : when
the amber is melted, fprinkle in the fame quantity of
farcocolla, continuing to ftir them, and to add more
fpirit of turpentine, till the whole becomes fluid j then
(train out the clear through a coarfe hair bag, preffing
it gently between hot boards. This varniffi, mixed with
ivory black in fine powder, is applied, in a hot room, on
the dried paper patte-; which is then fet in a gently
heated oven, next day in a hotter oven, and the third
day in a very hot one, and let (land each time till the
oven grows cold. The pafte thus varniffied is hard,
durable, glofly, and bears liquors hot or cold.
PAPHLAGONIA, in Ancient Geography, a coun¬
try of the Hither Aba, beginning at Parthenius, a river
of Bithynia, on the weft, and extending in length to
the Halys eaftward, with the Euxine to the north, and
Galatia to the fouth. Pliny enlarges the limits on the
weft fide to the river Billis, on this fide the Parthenius.
It is called Pyhcmenia by lome (Pliny). Paphlagones,
the people, mentioned by Homer, and therefore of no
fmall antiquity. A fuperftitious and filly people
(Lucian) ; a brave people (Homer) } taking their name
from Phaleg (Bocchart).
PAPHOS, in Ancient Geography, two adjoining
Iflands on the weft fide of the illand of Cyprus ; the one
called Hallce Paphos (Strabo, Ptolemy, Pliny)’, the
other Nea Paphos; and when mentioned without an
adjunct, this latter is always underftood. Both dedi¬
cated to Venus, and left undiftinguiflied by the poets
(Virgil, Horace). Hence Venus is furnamed
Paphii, the people, (Coins, Stephanus). It was reftored
by Auguftus, after a ffiodk of an earthquake, and called
'Augttjia (Dio).
The abbe Mariti, in his Travels through Cyprus,
gives the following account of the ifland of Paphos. “ It
is (ituated (fays he) on the fouthern fide: it contained
the celebrated temple of Venus •, which, together with
the city, was deftroyed by an earthquake, fo that the
lead veftige of it is not now to be fetn. A lake in the
neighbourhood, which even in fummer overflows with
ftagiiant and corrupted water, renders the air in fome
degree unwholefome. On the weftern coaft is the new
Paphos, called by fome of the modern geographers Baf*
Jos ; a name which is unknown in the ifland of Cyprus.
That we may not pofitively aferibe to the latter every
thing that hiftory tells us of Paphos in general, it may
not be here improper to mention that it has been feveral
times ddftroyed. This city had a port, where veffels
trading upon that coaft dill caft anchor : but this hap¬
pens only in fummer; for, being expofed to every wind,
it is extremely dangerous. The bottom of it is full of
(harp rocks; which fometimes deftroy the cables fo
much, that mariners are obliged to keep them afloat on
the furface of the water, by means of empty calks fixed
to them at certain diftances. In the neighbourhood
there are two caftles 5 one on the borders of the fea, and
the other on the fummit of a little hill: but the latter
is at prefent in ruins. The government of Paphos con-
fifts of a digdaban or conuuiffary ; a cadi; and an aga,
who prefides over the cuftomhoufe. Of all the Chriftian
edifices,
P A p [75
Paphos, edifices, there is none remaining but the church of St
“—' George, in which fervice is performed by the Greek
minifters. The produ&ions of this part of the ifland,
which are all of an excellent quality, are filk, barley,
and other kinds of grain. To difcover the origin of the
Old and New Paphos, would be carrying light into the
midft of the thickeft darknefs. When we have added
conje&ure to conje&ure, we are ftill in the fame fitua-
tion. As this is an attempt fuperior to my abilities, I
lhall leave it to the divining, though uncertain, know¬
ledge of our antiquaries, I muft, however, obferve, that
there was here formerly a temple dedicated to Venus,
which was entirely dellroyed by an earthquake. In this
iiland St Paul by his eloquence converted Sergius, a
Roman proconful. He here likewife conferred the dea-
confiiip on his difciple and colleague Titus, who foon
after luffered martyrdom. Paphos was an epifcopal
city in the time of the Lufignans j and it is ftill the
feat of a biftiop, who is a fuffragan to the archbifhop
• of Nicofia. On the ’weftern fide of the ifland there
are a great number of fcattered villages j but they are
not worthy of notice, being either abandoned or in
ruins.”
Mr Bruce informs us, that in the neighbourhood of
this place many filver medals of excellent workmanftiip
are dug up; they are, however, but of little eftimation
among the antiquarians, being chiefly of towns, of the
fize of thole found at Crete and Rhodes, and in all the
iflands of the Archipelago. There are fome excellent
Greek intaglios; generally upon better ftones than ufual
in the iflands. This illuftrious traveller informs us, that
lie has feen fome heads of Jupiter, remarkable for bulhy
hair and a beard, which were of excellent workmanlhip,
and worthy of any price. All the inhabitants of the
ifland are fubjeft to fevers, but efpecially thofe in the
neighbourhood of Paphos. The fame traveller oblerves,
that Cyprus was very long undifcovered -7 for though
Ihips had been failing on the Mediterranean 170Q years
before Chrift, and though the ifland is only a day’s fail¬
ing from the continent of Alia on the north and eaft,
and little more from that of Africa on the fouth, it was
not known at the building of Tyre, a little before the
Trojan war, that is, 500 years after the neighbouring
feas had been navigated. It was covered with wood at
its firft difcovery ; and our author is of opinion, that it
was not well known even at the time of building of So¬
lomon’s temple; becaufe we do not find that Hiram
king of Tyre, though juft in its neighbourhood, ever
had recourfe to it for wood: though the carriage would
undoubtedly have been eafier from thence, than to have
brought it down from the top of Mount Lebanon. Era-
tofthenes informs us, that in ancient times the ifland was
fo overgrown with wood, that it could not be tilled ;
fo that they firft cut down the timber to be ufed in the
furnaces for melting filver and copper ; that after this
they built fleets with it: but finding even this infuffi-
cient, they gave liberty to all ftrangers to cut it down
for whatever purpofe they pleafed; and not only fo, but
they gave them afterwards the property of the ground
they had cleared. Matters are now quite altered; and
the want of wood is a principal complaint in moft parts
of the ifland. About Acamas, however, on the weft
fide of the ifland, the wood is ftill thick and impervious,
inhabited by large flags and wild boars of a monftrous
fee, Mr Bruce was informed, tha,t a live elephant had
1 ] PAP
lately been feen there, but gave no credit to the ac¬
count.
PAPIAS, bifliop of Hieropolis, a city of Phrygia,
was the difciple of St John the Evangelift, and the
companion of Polycarp, as St Jerome obferves, and
not of John the Ancient, as fome other authors have
maintained. He compofed a work in five books,
entitled Expq/itions of the Difcourfes of our Lord, of
which there are only fome fragments now remaining.
He it was who introduced the opinion of the Millena-
rians.
PAPILIO, the Butterfly, a genus of infe£ts be¬
longing to the order of lepidoptera. See Entomology
Index.
PAPILIONACEOUS, among Botani/ls, an appel¬
lation given to the flowers of plants belonging to va¬
rious claffes, from their refembling the wings of a but-,
terfly.
PAPINIAN, a celebrated Roman lawyer of the
third century, under the emperor Severus ; who had
fo high an opinion of his worth, that he recommended
his fons Caracalla and Geta to his care. Caracalla
having firft murdered his brother, ordered Papinian to
compofe a difcourfe to excufe this murder to the fenate
and people; which when he refufed to undertake, the
brutal emperor ordered him to be beheaded; and his
body was dragged through the ftreets of Rome. Pa¬
pinian wrote feveral treatifes in the line of his profei-
fion.
PAPISTS, are thofe who believe the pope or bifliop
of Rome to be the fupreme paftor of the univerfal
church, who profefs to believe all the articles of Pope
Pius’s creed, and who promife implicit obedience to the
edi&s of the church, efpecially the decrees of the coun¬
cil of Trent. See Pope and Trent.
PAPPENHEIM, a town of Germany, in the circle
of Franconia, and capital of a county of the fame
name, with a caftle, where the counts refide. It is
feated near the river Altmal, 17 miles north-weft of
Neuburg, and 32 fouth of Nuremburg; and is fubjeft to-
its own count. E. Long. 10. 51. N. Lat. 48. 58. The
count of Pappenheim is hereditary marftial of the em¬
pire, and performs his office at the coronation of the
emperor.
PAPPUS, an eminent philofopher of Alexandria,
faid by Suidas to have flouriftied under the emperor
Theodofias the Great, who reigned from A. D. 379 to
395. His writings fhow him to have been a confum-
mate mathematican: Many of them are loft; the reft
continued long in manufcript, detached parts having
only been occafionally publifhed in the laft century, un¬
til Carolus Manoleffius publilhed his remains entire at
Bologna, in 1660, in folio.
Pappus, in Botany, a foft downy fubftance that
grows on the feeds of certain plants, as thiftles, hawk-
weed, &c. ferving to fcatter and buoy them up in the
air.
PAPYRUS, the famous reed from-which was made
the far-famed paper of Egypt. Before entering on
the defcription of the papyrus, it is natural to fay a
word or two on the opinion generally received in Eu¬
rope concerning the lofs of this plant. Suppofing this
lofs poffible, the date of it muft be fixed at no diftant;
period; for it- is not 200 years fince Guilandin and
Profper Alpin obferved the papyrus on the banks of
the
Paphos
II
Papyrus.
PAP [ 752 ] PAP
Papyrus, the Nile. Guilandin faw the inhabitants of the coun-
' try eating the inferior and fucculent part of the ftem in
the manner of the ancients; a fadt which alone (hows it
to be the papyrus, and of which other travellers feem
. not to have availed themfelves. This pra&ice, toge¬
ther with thofe related by Profper Alpin, are fufficient
to convince us, that this plant is not wholly ufelefs, al¬
though it is not now employed in the fabrication of pa¬
per. The alteration on the foil of Egypt, and on the
methods of agriculture, have in all probability rendered
this plant lefs common 5 but caufes altogether local
could not occalion the deftrudlion of the papyrus, efpe-
cially as its refidence in the marlhes would prevent their
operation. But it is needlefs to reafon from probabili¬
ties or analogy : Mr Bruce not only faw the papyrus
growing both in Egypt and Abyffinia, but actually
made paper of it in the manner in which it was made
by the ancients. He tells us likewife, that, fo far from
any part of it being ufelefs, the whole plant is at this
day ufed in Abyffmia for making boats, a piece of the
acacia tree being put in the bottom to ferve as a keel.
That fuch wrere the boats of ancient Egypt, we know
from the teftimony of Pliny, who informs us, that the
plants Were firft fewed together, and then gathered up
at ftem and ftern, and tied fall to the keel: “ Conferitur
bibula Memphitis cymba papyro.”
Appendix « -pjm bottom, root, or woody part of this plant was
^Travels'* ^ewife of feveral ufes before it turned abfolutely hard }
it was chewed in the manner of liquorice, having a
confiderable quantity of fweet juice in it. This we
learn from Diofcorides; it was, I fuppofe, chewed, and
the fweetnefs fucked out in the fame manner as is done
with fugar cane. This is ftill practifed in Abyftinia,
where they likewife chewT the root of the Indian corn,
and of every kind of cyperus : and Herodotus tells us,
that about a cubit of the lower part of the ftalk was cut
off, and roafted over the fire, and eaten.
“ From the fcarcity of wood, which was very great
in Egypt, this lower part was likewife ufed in making
cups, moulds, and other neceflary utenfils: we need not
doubt, too, one ufe of the woody part of this plant was,
to ferve for, what w'e call boards or covers for binding
the leaves, which were made of the bark ; we know that
this was anciently one ufe of it, both from Alcaeus and
Anacreon.”
The papyrus, fays Pliny, grows in the marflies of
Egypt, or in the ftagnant places of the Nile, made by
the flowing of that river, provided they are not beyond
the depth of two cubits. Its roots are tortuous, and
in thicknefs about four or five inches : its ftem is tri¬
angular, rifing to the height of ten cubits. Profper
Alpin gives it about fix or feven cubits above the wa¬
ter ; the ftem tapers from the bottom, and terminates
In a point. Theophraftus adds, that the papyrus car¬
ries a top or plume of fmall hairs, which is the thyrfus
of Pliny. Guilandin informs us, that its roots throw
to the right and left a great number of fmall fibres,
which fupport the plant againft the violence of the wind,
and againft the waters of the Nile. According to him,
the leaves of the plant are obtufe, and like the typha of
the marfties. Mr Bruce, on the other hand, affures us,
that it never could have exifted in the Nile. “ Its head
(fays he) is too heavy, and in a plain country the wind
muft have had too violent a hold of it. The ftalk is
fmall and feeble, and withal too tall j the root too fhort Papyrui.
and flender to ftay it againft the violent preffure of the 'T'—
wind and current j therefore I do conftantly believe it
never could be a plant growing in the river Nile itfelf,
or in any very deep or rapid river j” but in the califties
or places where the Nile had overflowed and was ftag¬
nant.
The Egyptians made of this plant paper fit for
■writing (fee Paper), which they call (i&Ms or philuria,
and alfo KxgrYis, and hence the Latin charta; for in
general the word charta is ufed for the paper of E-
gypt- , , • r
The papyrus was produced in lo great quantities
on the banks of the Nile, that Cafliodorus (lib. xi. 30.)
compares it to a foreft. There, fays he, rifes to the
view, this foreft without branches, this thicket without
leaves, this harveft of the waters, this ornament Of the
marfties. Profper Alpin is the firfl who gives us a plate
of the papyrus, which the Egyptians call berdi. This
correfponds in fome degree with the defcription of the
plant mentioned by Theophraftus; but the beft drawing
of it has been given by Mr Bruce.
The ancient botanifts placed the papyrus among the
graminous plants or dog grafs j ignorant of the particu¬
lar kind to which it belonged, they were contented to
fpecify it under the name of papyrus, of which there
were two kinds, that of Egypt, and that of Sicily. The
moderns have endeavoured to ftiow, that thefe two plants
are one and the fame fpecies of cyperus. It is under
this genus that they are found in the catalogues and de-
fcriptions of plants publiftved fince the edition of Morri-
fon’s work, where the papyrus is called cypcrus niloticus
vel Syriacus maximus papyraceus.
In the manufcripts of the letters and obfervations of
M. Lippi phyfician at Paris, who accompanied the en¬
voy of Louis XIV. to the emperor of Abyftinia, we find
the defcription of a cyperus which he had obferved on
the banks of the Nile in 1704. After having defcrib-
ed the flowers, he fays that many ears covered with
young leaves are fupported by a pretty long pedicle 5
and that many of thofe pedicles, equally loaded and
coming from one joint, form a kind of parafol. Ihe
dilk of this parafol is furroundcd with a quantity of
leaves which form a crown to the ftem which fup-
ports it. The ftem is a pretty long prifm, the cor¬
ners of which are a little rounded •, and the leaves, not
at the top but at the fide, are formed like the blade of
a fword •, the roots are black and full of fibres •, and
this plant is called cyperus Niliacus major, umbel/a mul-
tiplici. .
The fame Lippi defcribes another kind which rifes
not fo high : the ftem and leaves correfpond with the
former, but the ears form rather a kind of head than
any thing like the fpreading of an umbrella ; this head
was very foft, ftiining, and gilded, rich and airy, much
loaded, fupported by pedicles which were joined to¬
gether at the bottom like the knitting of a parafol.
It is called by him cyperus Niliacus major aurea, divifa
panicu/a. Thefe two kinds of cyperus have a marked
refemblance in their leaves, their ftem, their foliage,
and the marfliy places where they grow. The. only
difference confifls in their fize, and in the pofition of
the ears, which ferve to diftinguifti them 5 and they
feem to bear a refemblance to the papyrus and the fari, '
defcribed
PAP [ 753 ] PAP
Papym defcrlbed by ancient authors. The firft is perhaps the
—''v papyrus, and the fecond the fari j but this is only con¬
jecture.
The papyrus, which grew in the waters, is faid to
have produced no feed ; but this Mr Bruce very pro¬
perly calls an abfurdity. “ The form of the flower
(fays he) fufficiently indicates, that it was made to re-
folve itfelf into the covering of one, which is certainly
■very fmall, and by its exalted fituation and thicknefs of
the head of the flower, feems to have needed the extra¬
ordinary covering it has had to proteCt it from the vio¬
lent hold the wind muft have had upon it. For the
Tame reafon, the bottom of the filaments com poling the
head are fheathed in four concave leaves, which keep
them clofe together, and prevent injury from the wind
getting in between them.'” Its plume was compo-
fed of {lender pedicles, very long, and fomewhat like
hair, according to Theophraftus. The fame peculiarity
exifts in the papyrus of Sicily •, and the fame is found
to exift in another kind of papyrus fent from Madagaf-
car by M. Poivre, correfpondent of the Academy of
Sciences.
It is impoflible to determine whether the papyrus of
Sicily was ufed in any way by the Romans. In Italy
it is called papero, and, according to Cefalpin, pipero.
This papyrus of Sicily has been cultivated in the gar¬
den of Pifa ; and if we can depend on the authority of
Cefalpin, who himfelf examined the plant, it is differ¬
ent from the papyrus of Bgypt.
The papyrus, fays he, which is commonly called
pipero in Sicily, has a longer and thicker ftem than the
plant cyperus. It rifes fometimes to four cubits ; the
angles are obtufe, and the Item at the bafe is fur-
rounded with leaves growing from the root,; there are
no leaves oh the ftem even when the plant is at the
greateft perfection, but it carries at the top a large
plume which refembles a great tuft of difhevelled hairs ;
this is compofed of a great number of triangular pedi¬
cles, in the form of reeds ; at the extremity of which
are placed the flowers, between two fmall leaves of a
reddifh colour like the cyperus. The roots are woody,
about the thicknefs of reeds, jointed, and they throw
out a great number of branches which extend them-
felves in an oblique direCtion. Thefe are fcented fome-
what like the cyperus, but their colour is a lighter
brown ; from the lower part iffue many fmall fibres,
and from the higher a number of Items {hoot up,
which in proportion as they are tender contain a fweet
juice.
The plume of the papyrus of Sicily is pretty well de-
fcribed in a fliort account of it in the fecond part of the
Mufeeum de Boccone. This plume is a tuft or affemblage
of a great number of long {lender pedicles, which grow
from the fame point of divifion, are difpofed in the man¬
ner of a parafol, and which carry at the top three long
and narrow leaves, from which iffue other pedicles,
Ihorter than the former, and terminating in feveral knots
of flowers. Micheli, in his Nova Plantaruni Genera,
printed at Florence 1728, has given an engraving of
one of the long pedicles in its natural length : it is fur-
rounded at the bafe with a cafe of about one inch and a
half in height ; towards the extremity it carries three
long and narrow leaves, and four pedicles, to which are
fixed the knots of flowers. Every pedicle has alfo a
ffmall cafe furrounding its bafe. In fliort, we find in
Vol. XV. Part II.
the Grojlo Graphia of Scheuchzer a very particular de- Papyrus,
fcription of the plume of a kind of cyperus, which ap-
pears to be a Sicilian plant. From this account it ap¬
pears that the papyrus of Sicily is well known to bota-
nifts. It were to be wiflied that we had as particular a
defcription of the papyrus of Egypt ; but meanwhile it
may be obferved, that thefe two plants have a near affi¬
nity to one another ; they are confounded together by
many authors; and, according to Theophraftus, the fari
and the papyrus nilotica have a decided character of re-
femblance, and only differ in this, that the papyrus
fends forth thick and tall Items, which being divided
into Ilender plates, are fit for the fabrication of paper ;
whereas the fari has fmall flems, confiderably Ihoiter,
and altogether ufelefs for any kind of paper.
The papyrus, which ferved anciently to make paper,
muft not be confounded with the papyrus of Sicily,
found alfo in Calabria ; for, according to Strabo, the
papyrus was to be found in no place excepting Egypt
and India. The greateft part of botanifts have believed
that the Sicilian plant is the fame with the fari of Theo¬
phraftus ; others have advanced that the papyrus of E-
gypt and the fari were the fame plant in two different
ftages of its exiftence, or confidered with refpedl to the
greater or lefs height, which, according to them, might
depend on the qualities of the foil, the difference of the
climate, or other accidental caufes. In proof of this,
it is maintained, that there is an effential difference be¬
tween the papyrus growing in the waters and the fame
plant growing on the banks of rivers and in marfhes.
The firft of thefe has thick and tall ftems, and a plume
in the form of a tuft of hair very long and {lender, and
without any feed : the fecond differs from the firft in all
thefe particulars ; it has a Ihorter and more {lender
ftem, its plume is loaded with flowers, and of confe-
quence it produces feed. In whatever way we confider
thefe fafts, it is fufficient for us to know, that the dif¬
ference between the papyrus and the fari neither de¬
pends on climate, nor foil, nor on fituation. The plants
whofe difference depended on thefe circumftances, both
grew in Egypt, and were both employed in the manu-
fadlure of paper. But it is an eftabliffied faft, that th*
fari cannot be employed for this purpofe.
Finally, The papyrus of Sicily began to be known
by botanifts in 1570, 1572, 1583, at which periods the
works of Lobel, of Guilandih, and of Cefalpin, firft ap¬
peared. The ancients had no manner of knowledge of
this plant. Pliny makes no mention of it in his Natu¬
ral Hiftory ; from which it is evident that it was neither
ufed in Rome nor in Sicily. If he had feen this plant,
he muft have been ftruck with its refemblance to the
papyrus and the fari, as they were defcribed by Theo¬
phraftus ; and fince he gives a particular defcrip¬
tion of thefe laft mentioned, he would have moft
naturally hinted at their conformity to the Sicilian
papyrus.
Among many dried plants colle£led in the Eaft In¬
dies by M. Poivre, there is a kind of papyrus very dif¬
ferent from that of Sicily. It carries a plume compofed
of a confiderable tuft of pedicles, very long, weak, {len¬
der, and delicate, like fingle threads, terminating moft
frequently in two or three fmall narrow leaves, without
any knot of flowers between them ; hence this plume
muft be. altogether barren. Thofe pedicles or threads
are furnilhed with a pretty long membranous cafe, in
5 C which
PAP [ 754 ] PAR
Papyrus, winch they are inferted ; and they ifTue from the fame
""■"“v—” '' point of diredtion, in the manner of a parafol. The
plume, at its firft appearance, is furrounded with leaves
like the radii of a crown. The ftem which fupports
it is, according to M. Puivre, about ten feet in height,
where there is two feet under water •, it is of a trian¬
gular form, but the angles are rounded ; its thicknefs
is about the fize of a walking ftaff which fills the
hand.
The interior fubflance, although foft and full of
fibres, is folid, and of a white colour. By this means
the Hem poffefles a certain degree of ftrength, and is
capable of refiilance. It bends without breaking ; and
as it is extremely light, it ferves in fome fort for a cane :
The fame M. Poivre ufed no other during a relidence
of feveral months at Madagafcar. This item is not of
equal thicknefs in its whole length •, it tapers infen-
fibly from the thickeft part towards the top. It is
without knots, and extremely fmooth. When this
plant grows out of the waters, in places fimply moift,
it is much fmaller, the ftems are lower, and the plume
is compofed of fliorter pedicles or threads, terminating
at the top in three narrow leaves, a little longer than
thofe at the plume, when the plant grows in the water.
From the bafe of thefe leaves iffue fmall knots of flowers,
arranged as they are in the cyperus 5 but thefe, knots
are not elevated above the pedicles, they occupy the
centre of the three leaves, between which they are
placed, and form themfelves into a fmall head. The
leaves which fpring from the root and the lower part of
the ftem refemble exaftly thofe in the cyperus. This
plant, which the inhabitants call fangu-fanga, grows in
great abundance in their rivers and on their banks, but
particularly in the river Tartas, near the Foule-point in
Madagafcar. The inhabitants of thefe cantons ufe the
bark of this plant for mats ; they make it alfo into fails,
z into cordage for their fifliing houfes, and into cords for
their nets.
This kind of papyrus, fo lately difcovered, and differ¬
ent from the papyrus of Sicily by the difpofition of its
flowers, fhows, that there are two kinds of the cyperus
which might eafily be confounded with the papyrus of
Egvpt ^ whether we confider, on the one hand, to what
purpofes the inhabitants of the places where they grow
have made them fubfervient 5 or, on the other compare
their form, their manner of growth, and the points in
which they refemble each other. This comparifon can
be eafily made from- the accounts which Pliny and
Theophraftus gave of the papyrus of Egypt, and by the
figure and defeription given by Profper Alpin, after
having obferved the plant on the banks of the Nile.
But if we can depend cm the teftimony of Strabo, who
affirms that the papyrus is found nowhere but in Egypt
and in India, it is perhaps poffible that the papyrus
of the ifle of Madagafcar is the fame with that of
Egvpt.
Whatever truth may be in this conjefture, the inha¬
bitants of this ifland have never derived from it thofe
advantages which have immortalized the papyrus of
Egvpt. They have not made that celebrated paper,
quo ufu maxime humanitas, vita, conjlat et memona.
This remarkable expreffion of Pliny not only charac¬
terizes the Egyptian paper, but every kind which art
and induftry have fubflituted in its place.
2
PAR, in Commerce, fignifies any two things equal
in value. See Exchange.
PARABLE, a fable or allegorical inftruflion, found¬
ed on fomething real or apparent in nature or hiflory,
from which a moral is drawn by comparing it with
fomething in which the people are more immediately
concerned $ fuch are the parables of Dives and Lazarus,
of the Prodigal Son, of the Ten Virgins, &c. Dr Blair
obferves, that “ of parables, which form a part of alle¬
gory, the prophetical writings are full ; and if to us they
fometimes appear obfcure, we mult remember, that in
thofe early times it was univerfally the mode through¬
out all the ealltrn nations to convey facred truths under
myfterious figure and reprefentations.”
PARABOLA. See Conic Sections.
PARABOLE. See Oratory, N° 84.
PARACELSUS, Aurelius Philip Theophras¬
tus Bombastus de Hohenheim, a famous phyfician,
born at Einfidlen, a town in the canton of Schweitz in
Swiflerland. He was educated with great care by his
father, who was the natural fon of a prince, and in a
little time made a great progrefs in the ftudy of phyfic.
He afterwards travelled into France, Spain, Italy, and
Germany, in order to become acquainted with the moil;
celebrated phyficians. At his return to Swifferland, he
flopped at Bafil, where he read lectures on phyfic in the
German tongue. He was one of the firft who made ufe
of chemical remedies with fuccefs, by which he acquir¬
ed a very great reputation. Paracelfus gloried in de-
ftroying the method eltablilhed by Galen, which be be¬
lieved to be very uncertain ; and by this means drew
upon himfelf the hatred of the other phyficians. It is
faid, that he boafted of being able, by his remedies, to
preferve the life of man for feveral ages : but he him¬
felf experienced the vanity of his promifes, by his dying
at Saltzburg, in 1504, at 37 years of age according
to fome, and at 48 according to others. The bell edi¬
tion of his works is that of Geneva in 1658, in 3 vols.
Par
Paradife
folio.
PARACENTESIS, an operation in furgery, com¬
monly called tapping. See Surgery.
PARACLET, the Comforter, a name given to
the Holy Ghoft.
PARADE, in a military fenfe, the place where
troops affemble or draw together, to mount guard, or
for any other purpofe.
Parade, in fencing, implies the Rclion of parrying
or turning oft any thruft.
PARADISE, a term principally ufed for the garden
of Eden, in which Adam and Eve were placed imme¬
diately upon their creation.
As to this terreftrial paradife, there have been many
inquiries about its fituation. It has been placed in the
third heaven, in the orb of the moon, in the moon itfelf,
in the middle region of the air, above the e^rth, under
the earth, in the place poffeflfed by the Cafpian fea, and
under the arftic pole. The learned Huetius places it
upon the river that is produced by the conjun&ion of
the Tigris and Euphrates, now called the river of the
Arabs, between this conjun&ion and the divifion made
by the fame river before it falls into the Perfian fea.
Other geographers have placed it in Armenia, between
the fources of the Tigris, the Euphrates, the Araxes,
and the Phafis, which they fuppofe to be the four rivers
defcribed
PAR
[ 755 ]
PAR
* Phyftco-
Theol.
Leiiures.
paridifc. clefcnbed by Mofes. But concerning tbe exafl: place
—-v ' we muft neccffarily be very uncertain, if indeed it can
be thought at all to exiit at prefent, confidering the
many changes which have taken place on the furface of
the earth fince the creation.
“ Learned men (fays Mr Miln *) have laboured to
find out the fituation of Paradife, which feems to be but
a vague and uncertain inquiry 5 for the Mofaie defcrip-
tion of it will not fuit any place on the prefent globe.
■He mentions two rivers in its vicinity, viz. Pifon and
Gihon, of which no velliges can now be found- The
other two ftill remain, viz. the Hiddekel, fuppofed to be
the Tigris, and the Euphrates, whofe dreams unite to-
gether at a confiderable diihance above the Perfian gulf;
in home part of which, it is highly probable the happy
garden once lay (a). This gulf is eaftward both of the
land of Midian and the wildernefs of Sinai ; in one of
which places Mofes wrote his hiftory. But fince the
formation of this earth, it has undergone great changes
from earthquakes, inundations, and many other caufes.
The garden, however, feems to have been a peninfu-
la, for the way or entrance into it is afterwards men¬
tioned. We are told that a ‘ river went out of it
which, according to feme, (liould be rendered ‘ run on
the outfide of it,1 and thus gave it the form of a horfe-
ftioe : for had the Euphrates run through the middle
of the garden, one half of it would have been ufelefs to
Adam, without a bridge or boat wherewith to have
crofled it.”
The learned authors of the Univerfal Hiftory, in their
account of rarities natural and artificial in Syria, men¬
tion “ a fpot which is ftill drown as the place where
once flood the garden of Eden, or Terreftrial Paradife.
And indeed it is in all refpefts fo beautiful and rich,
' and yields fo delightful a profpedl from the adjacent
hills, that there is hardly another place in the world
that has a fairer title to the name it bears. Its proxi¬
mity to Damafeus, the capital of Syria, near the foun¬
tain head of the Jordan ; its fituation between the Ti¬
gris or Hiddekel, the Euphrates, the Phafts or Phifon,
the Araxes or Gihon (which laft has thofe names from
its vaft rapidity above all other known rivers), its bor¬
dering upon the land of Chus, famed for its fine gold ;
all thefe and many other marks fpecified by Mofes, to¬
gether with its charming and furprifmg fruitlulnefs, and
conftant verdure, have induced a great number of com¬
mentators to fettle that celebrated and fo much fought-
after fpot here, and to deem it the moft valuable of all
the natural rarities of this country.
Chriftians, we prefume, need not be told, that however
curious or amufing this inquiry may be, the determina¬
tion of it is of no importance, fince we are all well af-
fured that the celeftial paradife is that place of pure and ^
refined delight in which the fouls of tire blcfled enjoy
everlafting happinefs.
It may not be improper, however, in this place to
give a defeription of the paradife of the Mohamme¬
dans. The fenfuality and abfurdity of that impoftor muft
be apparent to all men. Their religion has no confiften-
cy in its parts, and the deferiptions of the future enjoy¬
ments of the faithful are miferable initances of human
weaknefs and folly.
“ The paradife of the Mohammedans is faid by them
to be fituated above the feven heavens, or in the fe-
venth, and next under the throne of God ; and to ex-
prefs the amenity of the place, they tell us that the
earth of it is of the fineft wheat flour, or of the pureft:
mulk, or of faffron ; and that its ftones are pearls and
jacinths, the walls of its buildings enriched with gold
and filver, and the trunks of all its trees of gold, amongft
which the moft remarkable is the tree tuba, or tree of
happinefs. They pretend that this tree Hands in tha
palace of Mohammed, though a branch of it will reach
to the houfe of every true believer, loaded with pome¬
granates, dates, grapes, and other fruits of furprifing
bignefs, and delicious taftes, unknown to mortals. If
a man defires to eat of any particular kind of fruit, it
will immediately be prefented to him ; or if he choofes
flefti, birds ready drefled will be fet before him, and
fuch as he may wifti for. They add, that this tree
will fupply the blefled, not only with fruit, but with
{ilk garments alfo, and beafts to ride on, adorned with
rich trappings, all which will burft forth from the
fruit; and that the tree is fo large, that a perfon mount¬
ed on the fleeteft horfe would not be able to gallop from
one end of its fliade to the other in 100.years. Plenty
of water being one of the greateft additions to the plea-
fantnefs of any place, the Alcoran often fpeaks of the
rivers of paradife as the principal ornament. Some of
thefe rivers are faid to flow with water, feme with milk,
fome with wine, and others with honey : all of them have
their fources in the root of this tree of happinefs ; and,
as if thefe rivers rvere not fufficient, we are told that the
garden of this paradife is alfo watered by a great number
of lefler fprings and fountains, whofe pebbles are rubies
and emeralds, their earth of camphor, their beds of mulk,
and their Tides of faffron. But all thefe glories will be
eclipfed by the refpiendent and exquifite beauty of the
girls of paradife, the enjoyment of whofe company will
conftitute the principal felicity of the faithful. Thefe
(they fay) are not formed of clay, as mortal women,
but of pure mulk *, and are, as their prophet often affirms,
in his Alcoran, free from all the natural defe&s and in¬
conveniences incident to the fex. Being alfo of the
5 C 2 ftridleft
Farad he.
( \) “ God (we are told) placed at the eajl of the garden of Eden cherubims and a flaming 'which turned
even, way, to keep the way of the tree of life. In Scripture, the extraordinary judgments of God are faid to be
executed by his angels, Avho are fometimes compared to flames of fire. Therefore the cherubim and the flaming
fword may probably mean nothing more than that a large portion of ground on the eaftward of Paradife was fet on
fire during the above awful oceafion, and continued burning with fuch violence, that the flame thereof a(a diftance
appeared like a brandiflied fword, turning every way with the wind. Now if the foil of Eden was bituminous, like
that of Gomorrah (which was once fo fertile as to be compared to the “ garden of the.Lord ), the fire would con¬
tinue burning till it produced the fame efteft in the one place as it did in the other, and turned a great part of that
trad into fea : which feems to countenance the opinion of thofe who place the fituation of Paradife in fome part ol
the Perfian gulf.”
PAR
Paradife
II
Paradox.
flri&eft modefty, they keep thernfelves fecluded from
public view in pavilions of hollow pearls, fo large, that,
as roine traditions have it, one of them will be no lefs
than 16, or, as others fay, 60 miles long, and as many
broad. With thefe the inhabitants of paradife may tafte
pleasures in their height; and for this purpofe will be
endowed with extraordinary abilities, and enjoy a per¬
petual youth.”
PARADISE Loft, the name of a modern epic poem,
the firft and fined: of thofe compofed by Milton.
1 he fubje£t of this poem is extraordinary ; it had
never before been attempted, and feemed to be above
the efforts of human genius. Angels and devils are
not the machinery, but the principal adlors in it; fo
that what would appear marvellous in any other com-
polition, is in this only the natural courfe of events.—
The poet’s intention was, as he expreffes it himfelf, to
vindicate the ways of God to men. How far Milton
was happy in the choice of his fubjeft, may be
queftioned. It has led him into difficult ground,
though it certainly fuited the daring fublimity of his
genius. It is a fubjeft for which he alone was fitted ;
and, in the condudt of it, he has ffiown a ftretch both
of imagination and invention which is perfeftly won¬
derful.
Bird of PARADISE. See the following article.
PARADISE A, a genus of birds belonging to the
order of picae. See Ornithology Index.
PAR :\DOX, ttoi^o^ov, in philofophy, a propofition
feemingly abfurd, as being contrary to fome received
opinions, but yet true in faft.
The vulgar and illiterate take almolf every thing,
even the molt important, upon the authority of others,
without ever examining it themfelves. Although this
implicit confidence is feldom attended with any bad
conlequences in the common affairs of life, it has never-
thelefs, in other things, been much abufed ; and in po¬
litical and religious matters has produced fatal effects.
On the other hand, knowing and learned men, to avoid
this weaknefs, have fallen into the contrary extreme :
fome of them believe every thing to be unreafonable or
irapoffible, that appears fo to their firft apprehenfion ;
not adverting to the narrow limits of the human under-
llanding, and the infinite variety of objefts, with their
mutual operations, combinations, and affedlions, that may
be prefented to it.
It mull be owned, that credulity has done much more
mifchief in the world than incredulity has done, or ever
will do ; becaufe the influences of the. latter extend only
to fuch as have fome lhare of literature, or affeff the re¬
putation thereof. Andfincethe human mind is not ne-
ceffarily impelled, without evidence, either to belief or
unbelief, but may fufpend its affent to, or diffent from,
any propofition, till after a thorough examination; it is
to be wiffied that men of learning, efpecially philofo-
phers, would not hallily, and by the firft appearances,
determine themfelves with refpedt to the truth or falfe-
hood, poffibility or impoflibility of things.
A perfon who has made but little progrefs in the ma¬
thematics, though in other refpedts learned and judi¬
cious, would be apt to pronounce it impoffible that two
lines, which were nowhere two inches afunder, may
continually approach towards one another, and yet never
meet though continued to infinity ; and vet the truth of
this propofition may be eafily demonftrated. And many,
[ 756 1
PAR
who are good mechanics, would be as apt to pronounce Paradox
the lame, if they were told, that though the teeth of ii
one wheel Ihould take equally deep into the teeth of P raSuay-
three others, it ffiould afteft them in fuch a manner,   
that, in turning it any way round its axis, it fliould
turn one of them the fame way, another the contrary
way, and the third no way at all.
No fcience abounds more with paradoxes than geo-
metiy . thus, that a right line fhould continually ap¬
proach to the hyperbola, and yet never reach it, is a
true paradox ; and in the fame manner a fpiral may con¬
tinually approach to a point, and yet not reach it in
any number ot revolutions, however great.
The Copernican fyftem is a paradox to the common
people ; but the learned are all agreed as to its truth.
Geometricians have of late been accufed of maintain-
ing paradoxes ; and fome do indeed ufe very myflerious
terms in expreffing themfelves about afymptotes, the
fums of infinite progreffions, the areas comprehended
between curves and their afymptotes, and the folids
generated from thefe areas, the length of fome fpirals,
&c. But all thefe paradoxes and myflcries amount to
no more than this ; that the line or number may be
continually acquiring increments, and thofe increments
may decreafe in fuch a manner, that the whole line or
number ffiall never amount to a given line or number.
I he neceffity of admitting it is obvious from the na¬
ture of the moll common geometrical figures : thus,
while the tangent of a circle increafes, the area of the
correfponding feiftor increafes, but never amounts to a
quadrant. Neither is it difficult to conceive, that if a
figure be concave towards a bafe, and have an afymp-
tote parallel to the bafe (as it happens when we take
a parallel to the afymptote of the logarithmic curve,
or of the hyperbola, for a bafe), that the ordinate
in this cafe always increafes while the bafe is produced,
but never amounts to the diftance between the afymptote-
and the bafe. In like manner, a curvilinear area may
increafe while the bafe is produced, and approach conti¬
nually to a certain finite fpace, but never amount to it;
and a folid may increafe in the fame manner, and yet
never amount to a given folid. See M'Laurin's Fluxions.
See Logarithmic Curve.
PARADOXI, a fort of mimes or buftbons among
the ancients, who entertained the people with extem¬
pore effufions of drollery. They were alfo called Pa-
radoxologi, Ordonurii, Neanico/ogi, and Aretalogi. See
Mimi.
PARAGAUDAL, among the Romans, were wreaths
of gold, or filk and gold, interwoven in, not fewed to
their garments. The garment wasfometimes of one co¬
lour with one paragaudae ; fometimes of two colours,
with two paragaudae ; of three colours, with three para¬
gaudae, &c. They were worn both by men and wo¬
men.
PARAGOGE, in GVcOTOTcr, a figure whereby a let¬
ter or fyliable is added to the end of a word, as mcd,
for me; dicier, for did, &c.
PARAGRAPH, in general, denotes a fe&ion or
divifion of a chapter ; and in references is marked
thus,
P ARAGUAY, or La Plata, a province of Spa-
nifh America, bounded on the north by the river of
the Amazons ; on the eafl, by Brazil ; on the fouth,
by Patagonia; and on the weft, by Chili and Peru.
This
PAR
[ 757 1
P A R
Paraguay. This country was firlt difcovered by Sebaftian Cabot,
  i who, in 1526, palTed from Rio de la Plata to the river
Parana in fmall barks, and thence entered the river call¬
ed Uruguay. It was not, however, thoroughly reduced
till the Jefuits obtained poffellion of it. A few of thefe
went to Paraguay foon after the city of Affumption
was founded, and converted about 50 Indian families,
who foon induced many others to follow their example,
on account of the peace and tranquillity they enjoyed
under the fathers. They had long refilled the Spa¬
niards and Portuguefe ; but the Jefuits, by learning
their language, conforming to their manners, &c. foon
acquired great authority among them ; till at lall, by
Readily purfuing the fame artful,meafures, they arrived
at the bighelt degree of power and influence, being in a
manner the abfolute fovereigns of a great part of this ex-
tenfive country ; for above 350,000 families are faid to
have been fubjeft to them, living in obedience and awe
bordering on adoration, yet procured without the lealt
violence or conllraint.
We have the following particular account of the mif-
fions of Paraguay, in the words of Don Jorge Juan, &c.
“ The territories of the millions of Paraguay compre¬
hended not only the province of that name, but alfo
a great part of the provinces of Santa Cruz de la Sierra,
Tucuman, and Buenos Ayres. The temperature (a)
of the air is good, though fomewhat moift, and in fome
parts rather cold : the foil'In many places is fertile (b) \
and produces in great abundance not only the fruits and
vegetables peculiar to America, but alfo thofe of Europe
which have been introduced there. The chief articles of
their commerce are cotton, tobacco, fome fugar, and the
herb called Paraguay. Every town gathers annually
more than 2000 arrobas of cotton, of a quarter of an
hundred weight each, which the Indians manufacture
into Huffs. There are alfo great quantities of tobacco
produced. But the chief article is the herb Paraguay :
Hunt. Mag.
Uii-
for it grows only in the diftriCts of the miffions ; and Paraguay.^
there is a vaft confumption of this herb in all the pro¬
vinces of Chili and Peru, efpecially of that called camini,
which is the pure leaf; the infufion of which is called
mate, and is drank by the inhabitants of Lima twice a
day in lieu of tea or chocolate. Phe mate which is made
by the infufion of the ftalk is not fo much efteemed.
“ ’Tis now almoft two centuries fince thefe naiffions
were firft fet on foot by the Jefuits. T he bad ma¬
nagement of the Portuguefe greatly favoured the views
of thefe fathers. There was a nation of Indians called
Guaranies, fome whereof were fettled upon the banks of
the rivers Uruguay and Parana, and others a hundred
leagues higher up in the country to the north-weft of
Guayra. The Portuguefe frequently came upon them,
and by force carried aAvay as many as they thought pro¬
per to their plantations, and made flaves of them. Of¬
fended by fuch treatment, the Guaranies refolved to quit
their fettlements in the neighbourhood of the Portuguefe,
and to remove into the province of Paraguay. Accord¬
ingly a migration of 12,000 perfons, great and fraall, en- ,
fued. Thefe the Jefuits foon converted ; and having had
the like fuccefs in converting about an equal number of
the natives of Tape, a diftrift in Paraguay, they united
the two nations, and laid the foundation of their future
dominion. Thefe fathers feem to have trode in the fteps
of the firft Incas, and to have civilized nations and con¬
verted fouls in order to acquire fubjedfts. According to
a very exa£t account taken in the year I734> there were-
then"3 2 towns of the Guaranies, which were reckoned to
contain above 30,000 families ; and as the new converts
were continually increafing, they were then about laying
the foundations of three new towns. There were alfo
then feven very populous towns inhabited by the con¬
verted Chiquito Indians, and they were preparing to
build others for the reception of the new converts of
that nation which were daily made.
“ The
(a) The climate of Paraguay differs but little from that of Spain \ and the diftin&ions between the feafons are
much the fame. In winter, indeed, violent tempefts of wind and rain are very frequent, accompanied with fuch
dreadful daps of thunder and lightning as fill the inhabitants, though ufed to them, with terror and confterna-
tion. In fummer, the exceflive heats are mitigated by gentle breezes, which conftantly begin at eight or nine in
the morning.
(b) It produces maize, manioc, and potatoes, befides many fruits and fimples unknown in Europe. Vines,
however, do not thrive, except in fome particular places. Wheat has alfo been tried j but it is only ufed for
cakes, and other things of that kind. There are great numbers of poifonous ferpents, and others of enormous
fize, many of which live on filh. It produces alfo abundance of fugar, indigo, pimento, ipecacuanha, and va¬
riety of other drugs ; and above all the herb Paraguay, which it exports to the value of 100,0001. annually, to
the provinces of Chili and Peru. It is the leaf of a middle-fized tree, refembljng an orange tree, in tafte not
unlike mallows. There are three gatherings : firft, the buds before it unfolds its leaves, which is the beft, but
fooneft fubied: to decay •, the fecond gathering is the full grown leaves at the firft expanfion j the third is when
the leaves have remained on fome time after they are full blown. The leaves are roafted, and then kept in pits
dug in the ground to be ready for fale. Thefe trees grow principally in the moraffes on the eaft fide of Para¬
guay, but now are diftributed all over the country. The manner of ufing it is, to dry and reduce it almoft to
powder, then put it into a cup with lemon juice and fugar j boiling water is then poured on it, and the liquor
drank as foon as may be. It is fuppofed to be ferviceable in all diforders of the head, breaft, and ftomach, it
preserves the miners from the noxious mineral fleams with which they would otherwife be fuffocated j it is a
fovereign remedy in putrid fevers and the fcurvy 5 allays hunger ; and purifies all kind of water, by infufing it
therein. The country is diverfified with forefts, mountains low lands (great part of the year under water),
fertile meadows, and moraffes. Almoft every foreft abounds with bees, which have their hives in hollow trees.
Befides cotton, the country produces hemp. flax, corn, rice, and wool ; and there are fuch numbers of wild cat¬
tle, that they are killed only for their hides. The natives differ not materially from thofe defcribed under th&
article AMERICA.
PAR [ 7S8 ] PAR
Paraguay.^ “ The miffions of Paraguay are furrounded on all
v fides with wild or unconverted Indians ; fome of whom
live in friendthip with the towns, but others harafs them
by frequent incurfions. The father miffionaries frequent¬
ly vifit thofe Indians, and preach to them j and from
thefe expeditions they feldom return without bringing
along with them fome new converts to incorporate with
their civilized fubje&s. In the performance of this duty
they fometimes penetrate 100 leagues into thofe uncul¬
tivated tra&s where wild Indians range ; and it is ob-
ferved that they meet with the lead fuccefs amongft
thofe nations with whom any fugitive Meftizos, or Spa-
nidi criminals,N have taken refuge. The diligence of
thefe fathers is certainly worthy the imitation of the
Proteftant clergy.
“ Every town has its curate, who is aflifted by one,
and very often by two priefts of the fame order, ac¬
cording to the largenefs and extent of the town and its
didrift. Thefe two or three prieds, together with fix
boys who adid them in the fervice of the church, form
a fmall college in every town, wherein the hours and
• other exercifes are regulated with the fame formality
and exaftnefs as in the large colleges in the cities of
Peru and Chili. The mod troublefome part of the duty
of the afiidant prieds are the perfonal vifitations which
they are obliged to make to the Indians to prevent their
giving themfelves up to idlenefsj for fuehis the dothful-
nefs of the Guaranies, that if they were not very care¬
fully looked after, the fociety would receive no benefit
or advantage from them. They alfo attend the public
diambles, where the cattle neceffary for the fudenance
of the Indians are daily fiaughtered, and didribute the
fledi amongd all the families in the town, in proportion
to the number of perfons whereof each family conlids;
fo that all may have what is necelfary, none what is fu-
perfluous. They alfo vifit the fick, and fee that they are
properly taken care of. They are generally employed
the whole day in thefe affairs, fo that they have feldom
time to adid the curate in his fpiritual funftions. All
the boys and girls in the parilh go to church every day
in the week (except on fedivals and Sundays), where
they are indrufted by the curate. On Sundays the
whole parilh goes to church to be indrufted. The cu¬
rate is befides obliged to go to confefs the fick, and to
adminider the viaticum to thofe who defire it, and alfo
to perform all the other funftions peculiar to this office.
In driftnefs the curate ffiould be appointed in this man¬
ner. The fociety ffiould nominate three perfons to the
-governor of Buenos Ayres (in whole government the
miffions of Paraguay are included), as being vice patron
of the miffions, that he may choofe one of them for cu¬
rate •, and the curates diould be indrufted in the duties
of their office by the biffiop: but as the provincials of
the order can bell judge who are properly qualified for
the office, the governor and biffiop have ceded their
rights to them, and by them the curates are always ap¬
pointed. The miffions of the Guaranies and the miffions
of the Chiquitos, into which the miffions of Paraguay
are divided, have each their didinft father-fuperior, by
whom the coadjutors or affidant curates of the feveral
towns in the refpeftive divifions are appointed. Thefe Paraguay,
fuperiors are continually viliting the towns, to fee that
they be well governed, and to endeavour to improve and
augment them. They likewifefrom time to time take
care to fend out fome fathers of the order into the coun¬
tries of the -wild Indians to make new converts. The
better to enable him to difeharge thefe duties, the fupe-
rior of the Guaranies is affilted by two vice fuperiors j
one of whom refides in Parana, the other upon the-
banks of the river Uruguay, and the fuperior himfelf
refides in the town of Candelaria. The poll of fuperior
of the Chiqnitos is not near fo troublefome as that of the
fuperior of the Guaranies : for the Chiquitos are not only
led numerous, but much more docile and indudrious than
the Guaranies, fo that they need not be continually watch¬
ed and attended in order to prevent their idlenefs.
The king allows an annual dipend of 300 pezas to each
curate of the Guaranies, for the maintenance of himfelf
and his affidants. The money is paid to the fuperior,
who iffues out monthly to each curate as much as is ne¬
ceffary for his fubfillence •, and v. hen they want any
thing extraordinary, their wants are fupplied upon ap¬
plication to him. But the Chiquitos maintain their own
curates. In every town there is a plantation fet apart
for the maintenance of the curate, which is cultivated
by the joint labour of all the inhabitants. The produce
ol thefe plantations is generally more than fufficient for
the fubfidence of the curate*, and the furplus is fold to
buy ornaments for the churches. Nor are the curates
the fpiritual reftors of the towns only ; they are alfo in
effeft the civil governors. It is true there are in every
town of the miffions a governor, regidores, and alcaldes,
as there are in the other towns and cities under the Spa-
niffi government. But though the governor is elefted
by the Indians, he mud be approved by the curate be¬
fore he enters upon his office j nor can he chadife or pu-
niffi delinquents without the curate’s permiffion. The
curate examines thofe who are accufed of offences j and
if he finds them guilty, delivers them to the governor to
be puniffied, according to the nature and quality of the
offence committed. He fometimes orders them to be
imprifoned for a few days, fometimes to fad, and, when
the fault is confiderable, to be whipped, which is the
fevered puuiffiment that is ever inflifted 5 for the regu¬
lations and indruftions of the curates have been fo
efficacious, that murder and fuch like heinous crimes are
never here committed. And even before they undergo
thefe gentle eorreftions, the curate difeourfes the offen¬
ders in a mild friendly manner ; and endeavours to excite
in them a due fenfe of their crime, and of the ill confe-
quenees that might flow from it, and to convince them
that they merit a much greater puniflnnent than is in-
fiifted. This mild treatment prevents tumults and in-
furreftions, and acquires the curates univerfal veneration
and efleem. The alcaldes are chofen annually by the
regidores. The governor, regidores, and alcaldes are
all Indians of the bed capacities; and are in effeft only
fo many overfeers appointed by the curate, and dignified
with thefe empty titles (c).
Every town has its armory or magarine, in which are
lodged
(c) We call them empty titles ; becaufe in all caufes the Jefuit or curate of the pariffi was a kind of fovereign, re¬
garded as a petty prince, and obeyed as an oracle. Whatever forms might take place in the choice of the chiefs of
the
PAR [ 759 ] PAR
Paraguay, lodged the fire arms or other weapons wherewith the mi-
•—y—' litia are armed when they take the field to repel the ir¬
ruptions of the Portuguefe and wild Indians. The mili¬
tia are very dexterous and expert in the management of
their arms •, and are exercifed on the eves of fellivals in
the fquares or public places of the towns. The militia
is compofed of all thoie who are able to bear arms: they
are formed into companies, which have each a proper
number of officers, chofen from among!! thofe who are
moil diflinguilhed for judgment, and condud. The
drefs of the officers is rich, adorned with gold and filver,
and the device of the town to which they belong: they
always appear in their uniforms on feilivals, and on the
days of military exercife. The governor, alcaldes, and
regidores have alfo proper robes and drefies fuitable to
their refpedive offices, in which they appear on public
occafions. There are fchools in every town, in which
the common people are taught reading and writing, and
alfo mufic and dancing; in which arts they become very
ikilful. The Jefuits are very careful in confulting the
natural bent and genius of their fcholars, and in direft-
ing their iludies and application accordingly. The lads
of the mol! promifing genius are taught the Latin tongue
with great fuccefs. In one of the court-yards of every
curate’s houfe are various (hops or workhoufes of pain¬
ters, carvers, gilders, filverfmiths, carpenters, weavers,
and clockmakers, and of feveral other mechanics and ar-
tizans, who daily work for the public under the direc¬
tion of the coadjutorsj and at the fame time teach the
youth their refpe£Iive arts and occupations.
The churches are large, well built, finely decorated
and enlightened, and not inferior to the richefl in Peru.
Each church has a choir of mufic, compofed of inflru-
ments of all forts, and very good voices; fo that divine
fervice is celebrated here with as much pomp and folem-
nity as in cathedrals: nor are the public proceflions lefs
fplendid, efpecially that of the hoi! ; which, whenever
it is carried abroad, is attended by the governor, alcal¬
des, and regidores, in their robes, and alfo by the mili¬
tia in a body. The houfes of the Indians are as well
built and as well furnithed as mof! of the Spanifli houfes
in Peru. The greateft part indeed have mud walls,
others are built with brick, and fome with flone, but all
are covered with tiles. In every town there is a houfe
where gunpowder is made, that they may never want it
when they are obliged to take arms, and always have it
ready to make artificial fireworks on rejoicing days: for
all feilivals are here obferved with as great ceremony and
exaftnefs as in the greateft cities. Upon the proclama¬
tion of a new king of Spain, the governors, alcaldes, re¬
gidores, and officers of the militia, appear dreifed in new
robes and uniforms of a different faffiion from thofe they
wore before. There is a fort of convent in every.town;
in one part whereof are confined women of an ill life, and
the other part is deilined for the reception of married
women who have no family, and who retire thither
when their huibands are abfent. For the maintenance
of this houfe, and for the fupport of orphans, and of old
and infirm people, all the inhabitants of the town work Paraguay,
two days in every tveek ; and the profits of their labour,
which is called the labour of the community, are fet
apart for the purpofe. If the produce of this labour be
more than is neceffary for their fubfiilence, the furplus
is laid out to buy ornaments for the churches, and
clothes for the orphans and aged and infirm people ; fo
that here are no beggars, nor any who want the necef-
faries of life. In ffiort, by the wife policy and prudent
regulations of the Jefuits, the whole community enjoys
peace and happinefs.
“ The Guaranies are fo profufe and negligent, that
the curates are obliged to take into their hands all their
goods and fluffs as foon as they are manufadfured and
made ready for fale ; otherwife they would walle and
deftroy them, and not be able to maintain themfelves.
The Chiquitos, on the contrary, are diligent and frugal;
fo that the curates have no other trouble with them than
the affifting them in the difpofal of their goods, and pro¬
curing returns for them. For this purpofe the fociety
keeps a fad!or or procurator at Santa Fe and Buenos
Ayres, to whom the merchandife of the miffions is fent
to be difpofed of; and thefe fadlors return the value to
the fathers in fueh forts of European commodities as are
wanted. The goods of every town are kept feparate ;
and the royal taxes are taken out of them without any
other difcounts or allowances, fave the ilipends of the
curates of the Guaranies and the penfions of the caciques.
The fathers choofe to manage the commerce of their
fubjedls themfelves, left they ihould contradl vices by
their communication with other people. In this refped!
the fathers are fo careful, that they will not fuffer any of
the people of Peru, whether they be Spaniards, Mefli-
zos, or Indians, to enter into the territories of the mif¬
fions. They fay that the Indians are but juft recovered
from a barbarous and diffolute way of life, and that their
manners are now pure and innocent; but that if ftrangers
were fpffered to come among them, the Indians would
foon get acquainted with people of loofe lives : and as
the Guaranies efpecially are very prone to vice, wicked-
nefs, diforder, and rebellion would foon be introduced ;
the fociety would lofe all the fouls they have converted ;
and their little republic would be utterly fubverted.
However, there are fome who fufped! that thefe are all
fpecious pretences; and that the fociety’s real motive for
prohibiting all intercourfe with ftrangers, is the fear of
rivals in the beneficial commerce of Paraguay, which is
now entirely in their hands.”
Such is the account they themfelves have given us of
their own condmft r but others have treated their charac¬
ters with more feverity; accufing them of pride, haugh-
tinefs, and abufing their authority to the greateft degree ;
infomuch that they would have caufed the magiftrates to
be whipped in their prefence, and obliged perfonsofthe
higheft diftinflion within their jurifdiftion to kifs the
hem of their garment, as the greateft honour at which
they could poffibly arrive. To this might be added, the
utter abolition of all ideas of property; which indeed u'as
rendered
the feveral departments, their fucccfs ultimately depended on him. The cacique held of him ; the general received
his commiffion and inftrudlions from him ; and all h.s decifions were without appeal. 1 here were, we are inform¬
ed, not lefs than 6000 pariffies on th<- banks of the rivers Uruguay and Parana, not exceeding the diftance of 30
miles from each other ; in each of which was a Jefuit or curate.
PAH [ 760 ] PAR
Paraguay rendered ufelefs by the general magazines and ftoreboufes
p P r which they eftablifhed, and from which, together with
the herds of cattle kept for the public ufe, they fupplied
the wants of individuals as occafion required 5 yet dill it
was objected to the charadler of the fraternity, that they
poffeflfed large property tllemfelves, and claimed the ab-
folute difpofal of the meaneft effects in Paraguay. All
manufadlures belonged to them ; every natural commo¬
dity was brought to them } and the treafures annually
remitted to thefuperior of the order were thought to be
a proof that zeal for religion was not the only motive by
which they were influenced.
Befides the parochial or provincial governments, there
was a kind of fupreme council, compofed of an annual
meeting of all the fathers, who concerted the meafures
neceffary for promoting the common concerns of the
miflxon, framed new laws, corredted or abolifhed old
ones, and, in a word, adapted every thing to circum-
ilances. It is faid to have been one of the great objedls
of the annual councils to take fuch meafures as fhould
effedtually deprive ftrangers of all intelligence concern¬
ing the flate of the million. Hence the natives were re-
'ftrained from learning the Spanilh tongue, and were
taught, that it was dangerous for their falvation to hold
any converfation with a fubjedt of Spain or Portugal.
But the circumftance that rendered their defigns moll
fufpicious, was the eftablifhment of a military force.
Every parilh had its corps of horfe and foot, who were
duly exercifed every Sunday j and it rvas faid, that the
whole amounted to a body of 70,000 or 80,000 troops,
well difciplined.
The city of Buenos Ayres, the metropolis of this vail
province, was taken by the naval and military forces of
his Britannic majefty, under the command of Sir Home
Popham and Major-general Beresford, on the 26th of
June 1806. It was attacked on the 9th of Auguft the
fame year, by a detachment of Spanifh troops from
Monte Video, and obliged to furrender on the 12th
under a capitulation, the terms of which were not after¬
wards obferved ; and General Beresford, the officers,
troops, marines of the fquadron, and a few feamen, re¬
mained prifoners of war. A more confiderable force,
under the command of Lieutenant-general Whitelocke,
was afterwards fent to reduce it. That officer, after a
number of Ikirmiffies and partial engagements with the
enemy, in which the officers and troops under his
command exhibited abundant proofs of great bravery,
thought proper to abandon the idea of reducing the
town. The reafon affigned by him for this myfteri-
ous condutt, the dread that all the prifoners would be
maflacred by an exafperated mob, might have done
honour to his humanity, but it is extremely doubtful
whether or not that was founded on fa6L The Britifh
government certainly thought otherwife, and the degrad¬
ing fentence of the court martial by which he was tried,
gives us reafon to conclude that his anxiety for the life
of General Beresford and the reft of the Britifh prifoners
was nothing more than a pretext.—The reader will find
feme interefting information with regard to this country
in Davie’s Letters from Paraguay in 1803.
PARALIPOMENA, in matters of literature, de¬
notes a fupplement of things omitted in a preceding
work.
PARALEPSIS. See Oratory, N° 87.
PARALLACTIC, in general, fomething relating Paralladfle<
to the parallax of heavenly bodies. See Parallax Parallax.’
PARALLAX, in AJironomy, is the difference be- ^
tween the places of any celeftial objeft, as feen from the
furface and from the centre of the earth at the fame
inftant. v t
Let E in figure of parallax, reprefent the centre ofllluftratioft
the earth, O the place of an obferver on its furface,
whofevifible horizon is OH, and true horizon EF: Now r/^Tv
let ZDT be a portion of a great circle in the heavens,
and A the place of any objeft in the vifible horizon ;
join E A, and produce it to C 5 then C is the true place
of the objeff, and H is its apparent place, and the angle
CAH is the parallax 5 or, becaufe the objedt is in the
horizon, it is called the horizontalparallax. But O AE,
the angle which the earth’s radius fubtends at the objeft,
is equal to CAH : Hence the horizontal parallax of an
objedf may be defined to be the angle which the earth’s
femidiameter fubtends at that objedl. For the various
methods hitherto propofed to find the quantity of the
horizontal parallax of an objedf, fee Astronomy.
The whole effedl of parallax is in a vertical diredlion :
For the paralladlic angle is in the plane palling through
the obferver and the earth’s centre j which plane is ne~
ceffarily perpendicular to the horizon, the earth being
confidered a fphere. 2
The mote elevated an object is above the horizon, the The paral- |
lefs is the parallax, its diftance from the earth’s centreiax ^ecrea*
continuing the fame. When the object is in the zenith,
it has no parallax \ but when in the horizon, its parallax the objedt
is greateft. The horizontal parallax being given, thefromthe
parallax at any given altitude may be found by the fol- zenith,
lowing rule ; 3
To the logarithmic cofine of the given altitude, add The fine of
the log. fine of the horizontal parallax, the fum, rejedl-^P3^
ing 10 from the index, will be the log. fine of the pa-^efiMof
rallax in altitude. thehor.par.
Demotijlration. Let B be the place of an objedt ; pro- as the re¬
duce OB, ED to F and D j then the angle BOZ will®ne 0^aj)'
be the apparent altitude of the objedt, BEZ the true
altitude, and OBE the parallax in altitude. Now intheradius*
the triangle AOE,
R : fine OAE :: EA : EO.
And in the triangle OBE
BE (=EA) : EO :: fine BOE : fine OBE.
Hence R : cofine BOA :: fine OAE : fine OBE.
As the two laft terms are generally fmall quantities,
the arch may be fubftituted in place of its fine without
any fenfible error.
Example. Let the apparent altitude of the moon’s
centre be 390 25', and the moon’s horizontal parallax
56' 54". Required the parallax in altitude.
Moon’s apparent alt. 390 25' cofine 9.8879260
Moon’s horizontal par. 56' 54'' fine 8.2188186
Moon’s par. in altitude 43' 57" fine 8.1067446
Or, to the fecant of the moon’s apparent altitude,
add the proportional logarithms of the parallax in alti¬
tude.
As the apparent place of an objedl is nearer the hori¬
zon than its true place, the parallax is therefore to be
added to the apparent altitude, to obtain the true alti¬
tude. Hence alfo an objedl will appear to rife later and
fet fooner.
The1
PAR
Parallax.
4
The fine of
the parallax
of an ob-
jedf in the
inverfe ra¬
tio of its
diiUnce
from the
i earth’s
■centre.
5
Parallax in-
creafes the
apparent
iftance of
a objecft
om the
icridian.
6
’arallax in
mgitude,
atitude,
ight afcen-
ion, and
declination.
[ 1
PAR
The fine of the parallax of an obje£l is inverfely as
its dillance from the earth’s centre.
Demonjlration. Let A be the place of an object, and
H the place of the fame object at another time, or that
of another objeft at the fame inllant j join EH, then in
the triangles AOE, HOE,
R : fine OAE :: AE : OE
fine OHE : R :: OE : EH
Hence fine OHE : fine OAE :: AE : EH.
The parallax of an object makes it appear more di-
ftant from the meridian than it really is.
Demonjlrutiotu The true and apparent places of an
objeft are in the fame vertical, the apparent place be¬
ing lower than the true ; and all verticals meet at the
zenith : Hence the apparent place of an object is more
diftant from the plane of the meridian than the true
place.
The longitude, latitude, right afcenfion, and decli¬
nation of an object are aft’efled by a parallax. The dif¬
ference between the true and apparent longitudes is cal¬
led the parallax in longitude; in like manner, the dif¬
ference between the true and apparent latitudes, right
afcenfions, and declinations, are called the parallax in
latitude, right afcenfion, and declination, refpectively.—
When the object is in the nonagefimal, the parallax in
longitude is nothing, but that in latitude is greateft :
and when the object is in the meridian, the parallax in
right afcenfion vanidies, and that in declination is a
maximum. The apparent longitude is greater than the
true longitude, when the objedt is eaft of the nonagefi¬
mal, otherwife lefs j and when the objeft is in the eaft-
ern hemifphere, the apparent right afcenfion exceeds the
true, but is lefs than the true right afcenfion when the
objedt is in the wellern hemifphere. The apparent place
of an objedl is more diftant from the elevated poles of
the ecliptic and equator than the true place : hence,
•when the latitude of the place and elevated pole of the
ecliptic are of the fame name, the apparent latitude is
lefs than the true latitude, otherwife greater •, and the
apparent declination will be lefs or greater than the true
declination, according as the latitude of the place, and
•declination of the objedt, are of the fame or of a contra¬
ry denomination.
The parallaxes in longitude, latitude, right afcenfion,
and declination, in the fpheroidal hypothefis, may be
found by the following formulae; in which L reprefents
the latitude of the place, diminilhed by the angle con¬
tained between the vertical and radius of the given place *,
P the horizontal parallax for that place ; a the altitude
of the nonagefimal at the given inftant *, rfthe apparent
dift-ance of the objedl from the nonagefimal; /x the true
and apparent latitudes of the object ; D 5 the true and
apparent declinations refpectively ; and m its apparent
distance from the meridian.
Then par. in long. ~ P. fine a. fine d. fecant /, to ra¬
dius unity ; and par. in lat. r= P. cofine a, cofine
X rqp p. cofine d. fine a. fine X.
The fign — is ufed when the apparent diftance of
the objedt from the nonagefimal and from the elevated
pole of the ecliptic are of the fame affedtion, and the
fign -f- if of different affedtion. If the greateft precifion
be required, the following quantity o.ococoi2i 216.
par. long.*, fine 2/, is to be applied to the parallax in
latitude found as above, by addition or fubtradlion, ac*
Vol. XV. Part II.
cording as the true diftance of the objedt from the ele¬
vated pole of the ecliptic is greater or lefs than 90°.
Again, par. in right afeen. — P. cotine L, line m.
fecant D, to radius unity and par. in declination
rr P. fine L. cofine ^ P. cofine L. fine co¬
fine m.
The upper or lower fign is to be ufed, according as
the diftance of the objedt from the meridian and from
the elevated pole of the equator are of the fame or dif¬
ferent affedtion. Part 2(1 of par. in declination ~
0.000001 21 216 par. in right afeen. *, fine 2 D, which
is additive to, or fubtradtive from, part firlt of parallax
in declination, according as the true diftance of the ob¬
jedt from the elevated pole of the equator is greater or
lefs than 90°. For the moon’s parallax, fee Astrono¬
my. There is alfo a curious paper in the firft volume
of Afiatic Refearches, p. 320, &c. on the fame fubjedt,
to which we refer our readers.
PARALLAX of the Earth's annual Orbit, is the dif¬
ference between the places of a planet as feen from the
fun and earth at the fame inftant. The difference be¬
tween the longitudes of the planets as feen from' the
fun and earth is called the parallax in longitude; and
the difference between its latitudes is the parallax in la¬
titude.
Parallax of the Fixed Stars, fee Astronomy,
art. 268. which contains an account of the method ufed
by Dr Herfchel, to afeertain the parallax of a ftar
which appears to be double, from obfervations made at
oppofite points of the orbit of the earth. M. Piazzi,
the difeoverer of the planet Ceres, has made many ob¬
fervations of the Zenith diftances of « Lyrae, Ardturus,
Procyon, and Aquike, &c. at thofe times when the ef-
fedls of parallax ought to be the greateft. His obfer¬
vations are publifhed in the xoth volume of the Italian
Society. Let p be the abfolute parallax, eonfequently,
of II,e ll'ar from’tl,e earth; ,'ICn the ^
rallax of Ardlurus in declination will be 0.595/1, and
that in right afcenfion, 1.035/j,- hence, he obferves,
that obfervations of the right afcenfion of this ftar are
preferable to thofe of the declination, for determining
the parallax of this ftar.
M. Calendrelli, in a work printed at Rome in 1806,
has given the refult of his obfervations of the zenith di¬
ftances of as Lyrae, made with the feclor of Meff. Maire
and Bofcovich. By comparing five obfervations in June,
with four in December 1805, and five in March with
the fame number in June, he deduced the parallax of «s
Lyrce in declination to be g."?, and that in right afcen¬
fion 6.,/85.—According to M. Piazzi, the parallax is
lefs than half of thefe quantities 5 and, hence, the re*-
quired quantity not exceeding the unavoidable differ¬
ences attending obfervations, it appears difficult to de¬
termine it, fo as to be free from doubt.
Meff. Delambre and Mechain have made many ob¬
fervations of the pole ftar, and Ur fie minoris, being
thofe ftars which ought to have the greateft parallax in
declination, at the times moft proper to difedver their
parallax *, but from the companion, which M. De¬
lambre made, cf the zenith diftances of thefe ftars, he
difeovered nothing that could give the leaft fufpicion of
a parallax ; and the fmall anomalies which he obferved
are often in a contrary dire&ion. M. Delambre adds-,
S E> that
Parallax.
PAR [ 762 ] PAR
Parallax that thefe ftars being of the fecond magnitude, may be
p Jl , too far diftant from us to have a parallax ^ however, al-
»... '' though this may be the cafe, yet it appears to him that
the fixed liars have no parallax.
The parallax of Venus affords the moft correal me¬
thod, hitherto propofed, of finding the diftance of the
earth from the fun ; and, hence the difiances of the
other planets, and alfo their magnitudes. For this dif-
covery we are indebted to the celebrated Dr Halley.
From obfervations of the tranfits of this planet, in 1761
and 176.9, the parallax of the fun has been more accu¬
rately determined than previous thereto. The parallax
of Mars has alfo been employed for the fame purpofe.
Parallax, is alfo ufed to denote the change of
place in any objedl ariling from viewing it obliquely
with refpedt to another ob]‘e£t. Thus the minute hand
of a watch is faid to have a parallax when it is viewed
obliquely } and the difference between the inftants ftiown
by it, when viewed direflly and obliquely, is the quan¬
tity of parallax in time.
PARALLEL, n\ Geometry, an appellation given to
lines, furfaces, and bodies, everywhere equidiftant from
each other. See GEOMETRY.
PARALLEL Sphere, that fituation of the fphere where¬
in the equator coincides with the horizon, and the poles
with the zenith and nadir.
Parallel Sailing. See Navigation, book i.
chap. iv.
PARALLELS of Latitude, in AJironomy, are lelfer cir¬
cles of the fphere parallel to the ecliptic, imagined to
pafs through every degree and minute of the colures.
PARALLELS of Altitude, or Almucantars, are circles
parallel to the horizon, imagined to pafs through every
degree and minute of the meridian between the horizon
and zenith, having their poles in the zenith.
PARALLELS of Declination, in dfronomy, are the
fame with parallels of latitude in geography.
PARALLELOPIPED, in Geometry, a regular fo-
lid comprehended under fix parallelograms, the oppofite
ones whereof are fimilar, parallel, and equal to each
other.
PARALOGISM, in Logic, a falfe reafoning, or a
fault committed in demonftration, when a confequence
is drawn from principles that are falfe, or, though true,
are not proved 5 or when a propofition is paffed over that
fhould have been proved by the way.
PARALYSIS, the Palsy. See Medicine Index.
PARAMARIBO, the capital of the former Dutch
fettle me nt of Surinam, fituated about 18 miles from the
mouth of a river of the fame name. See Surinam.
PARAMOUNT, (compounded of two French
words, par, i. e. per, and monter, afcendere), fignifies
in our law the “ higheft lord of the fee, of lands, tene¬
ments, and hereditaments.” As there may be a lord
mefne where lands are held of an interior lord, who
holds them of a fuperior under certain fervices 5 fo this
fuperior lord is lord paramount. Alfo the king is the
chief lord, or lord paramount, of all the lapds in the king¬
dom. Co. Lit. 1.
PARANYMPH, among the ancients, the perfon
who waited on the bridegroom, and directed the nuptial
folemnities; called alfo pronubus and aufpex, becaufe
the ceremonies began by taking aufpicia.- As the para-
nymph officiated only on the part of the bridegroom,
a woman called pronuba officiated on the part of the Pararym^
bride. j)
PARAPET, in Tortifcation, an elevation of earth , ^ara^ltf--
defigned for covering the foldiers from the enemy’s can- ~
non or fmall (hot. See Fortification.
PARAPHERNALIA, or Parapherna, in the
civil law, thofe goods which a wife brings her hufband
befides her dower, and which are Hill to remain at her
difpofal exclufive of her hufband, unlefs there is fotne
provifion made to the contrary in the marriage contrail.
Some of our Englifli civilians define the paraphernalia to
be fueh goods as a wife challengeth over and above her
dower or jointure, after her hufband’s death 5 as furni¬
ture for her chamber, wearing apparel, and jewels,
which are not to be put into the inventory of her huf¬
band’s goods ; and a French civilian calls paraphernalia
the moveables, linen, and other female neceffaries, which
are adjudged to a wife in prejudice of the creditors,
when fhe renounces the fucceflion of her hufband.
PARAPHIMOSIS, a diforder of the penis, where¬
in the prepuce is ftirunk, and withdrawn behind the
glans, fo as not to be capable of being brought to cover
the fame j which generally happens in venereal difor-
ders. See Surgery.
PARAPHRASE, an explanation of fome text in
clearer and more ample terms, whereby is fupplied what
the author might have faid or thought on the fubjeiff.
Such are efteemed Erafmus’s Pharaphrafe on the New
Teffament, the Chaldee Paraphrai’e on the Pentateuch,
&c.
PARAPHRENITIS, an inflammation of the dia¬
phragm. See Diaphragm, Medicine Index.
PARAPHROSYNE, a word ufed by medical writ¬
ers to denote a delirium, or an alienation of mind in fe¬
vers, or from whatever other caufe.
PARAPLEGIA, afpeciesofpalfy. See Medicine
Index.
PAR A SANG, an ancient Perfian meafure, different
at different times, and in different places ; being ufually
30, fometimes 40, and fometimes 50 ftadia or furlongs.
—The word, according to Littleton, has its rile from
parafeh ungarius, q. d. the fpace a poftman rides from
one ftation, angaria, to another.
PARASCENIUM in the Grecian and Roman
theatres, was a places behind the feenes whither the
ablors withdrew to drefs and undrefs themfelves. The
Romans more frequently called it Poffcenium. See
Theatre.
PARASELENE, in Natural Philofophy, a mock
moon j a meteor or phenomenon encompaffing or adja¬
cent to the moon, in form of a luminous ring 5 wherein
are oblerved fometimes one and fometimes two or more
images of the moon.
PARASEMON, among the Greeks, was the figure
carved on the prow of the ftiips to diftinguifh them from
each other. This figure was generally that of a bull,
lion, or other animal ; fometimes the reprefentation of
a mountain, tree, flower, &c.
PARASITE, among the Greeks, was originally a
very reputable title 5 the parafites being a kind of priefts,
at leaft minifters, of the gods, in the fame manner as
the epulones were at Rome. They took care of the fa-
cred corn, or the corn deftined for the fervice of the
temples and the gods, viz. facrifices, feafts, &c. They
Parchment.
PAR [763
Parafite had even the intendance over facrifices ; and took care
that they were duly performed. At Athens there was
a kind of college of twelve parafites ; each people of
Attica furnifhing one, who was always chofen out of
the beft families. Polybius adds, that a parafite was
alfo an honourable title among the ancient Gauls, and
was given to their poets. But of late it has been made
a term of reproach, and ufed for a flatterer or mean de¬
pendent.
PARASITES, or Parasitical Plants, in Botany,
filch plants as are produced out of the trunk or branches
<>f other plants, from whence they receive their nourifli-
ment, and will not grow on the ground. Such are the
mifletoe, &c.
PAR AST AT iE, in Anatomy. See Prostate.
PARATALASSIA. See Primorie.
PARBUNCLE, in a (hip, the name of a rope al-
moft like a pair of flings : it is feized both ends toge¬
ther, and then put almoft double about any heavy
•thing that is to be hoifted in or out of the fliip ; hav¬
ing the hook of the runner hitched into it, to hoift it
up by.
PARCiE, in heathen mythology, goddeffes who were
fuppofed to prefide over the accidents and events, and to
determine the date or period, of human life.
The Parcae were three, Clotho, Lachefis, and Atro-
pos ; becaufe, forfooth, all things have their beginning,
progrefs, and end. Hence the poets tell us, the Parc*
fpun the thread of men’s lives ; that Clotho held the di-
ftaff, and drew the thread ; Lachefis twirled the fpindle,
and fpun it •, and Atropos cut it. Clotho colum retinet,
Lachefis net, Atropos fecat.
The ancients reprefent the Parcae divers ways : Lu¬
cian, in the fliape of three poor old women, having large
locks of wool, mixed with daffodils on their heads; one
of which holds a diftaff, the other a wheel, and the third
a pair of fchTars, wherewith to cut the thread of life.
Others reprefent them otherwife : Clotho appearing in a
long robe of divers colours, wearing a crown upon her
head adorned with feven ftars, and holding a diftaff in
her hand *, Lachefis in a robe befet with ftars, with fe-
veral fpindles in her hand } and Atropos, clad in black,
cutting the thread with a pair of large fciffars.
The ancients imagined that the Parcae ufed white
wool for a long and happy life, and black for a fhort and
unfortunate one. See Neceffity, in Mtthoi.ogy.
PARCHMENT, the fkins of flieep or goats prepa¬
red after fuch a manner as to render it proper for writing
upon, covering books, &c.
The word comes from the Latin pergamena, the an¬
cient name of this manufa&ure ; which is faid to have
been taken from the city Pergamos, to Eumenes king
■whereof its invention isufually afcribed ; though, in rea¬
lity, that prince appears rather to have been the impro¬
ver than the inventor of parchment. For the Perfians
of old, according to Diodorus, wrote all their records
on fkins; and the ancient lonians, as we are told by
Herodotus, made ufe of flieep fkins and goat fkins in
writing, many ages before Eumenes’s time. Nor need
we doubt that fuch fkins were prepared and dreffed for
thattpurpofe, after a manner not unlike that of our parch¬
ment 5 though probably not fo artificially.—The manu¬
facture of parchment is begun by the fkinner, and fi-
nifhed by the parchment maker.
The fkin having been ftrippedof its wool, and placed
] PAR
in the lime pit, in the manner defcribed under the arti- Parchment
cle Shammy, the fkinner ftretches it on a kind of frame, pavjon
and pares off the flefh with an iron inftrument 5 this done,
it is moiftened with a rag j and powdered chalk being
fpread over it, the fkinner takes a large pumice ttone,
flat at bottom, and rubs over the fkin, and thus fcours
off the flefh $ he then goes over it again with an iron in¬
ftrument, moiftens it as before, and rubs it again with
the pumice ftone without any chalk underneath : this
fmooths and foftens the flefh fide very confiderably. He
then drains it again, by paffing over it the iron inftru¬
ment as before. The flefh fide being thus drained, by
fcraping off the moifture, he in the fame manner pafles
the iron over the wool or hair fide : then ftretches it on
a frame, and fcrapes the flelh fide again : this finifhes
its draining ; and the more it is drained the whiter it
becomes. The fkinner now throws on more chalk,
fweeping it over with a piece of lamb fkin that has the
wool on 5 and this fmooths it ftill farther. It is now
left to dry, and when dried, taken off the frame by cut¬
ting it all round. The fkin thus far prepared by the
fkinner, is taken out of his hands by the parchment ma¬
ker, who firft, while it is dry, pares it on a fummer,
(which is a calf fkin flretched in a frame), with a ftiarp-
er inftrument than that ufed by the fkinner j and work*
ing with the arm from the top to the bottom of the
fkin, takes away about one half of its thicknefs. The
fkin thus equally pared on the flefh fide, is again render¬
ed fmooth, by being rubbed with the pumice ftone, on
a bench covered with afack fluffed with flocks ; which
leaves the parchment in a condition fit for writing up-
The parings thus taken off the leather, are ufed in
making glue, fize, &c. See the article Glue, &c.
What is called vellum is only parchment made of the
fkins of abortives, or at leaf! fucking calves. This has
a much finer grain, and is whiter and fmoother than
parchment j but is prepared in the fame manner, except
its not being pafled through the lime pit.
PARDALIS. See Felis, Mammalia Index.
PARDIES, Ignatius Gaston, an ingenious and
learned French Jefuit, born at Paris in 1636. He taught
polite literature for feveral years •, during which time he
compofed feveral fmall pieces, both in profe and verfe,
with peculiar delicacy of thought and ftyle. At length
he devoted himfelf entirely to mathematics and natural
philofophy, and read all authors, ancient as well as mo¬
dern, in thofe branches of knowledge. He died in 1673,
of an infe£fious diforder contra&ed by conft flir.g and
preaching to the prifoners in the Bicetre during the
Eafter holidays. Father Pardies publifhed feveral works j
of which his Elements of Geometry are w» 11 known in
this country, where a tranflation of them has gone
through feveral editions. In 1672 he had a difpute with
Sir Ifaac Newton refpe&ing the Theory of Light and
Colourswhich may be feen in the Philofophical Tranf-
aftions for that year.
PARDON, \r\ Criminal Law, is the remitting or for¬
giving an offence committed againft the king.
Law (fays an able writer) cannot be framed on pnr\- Beccaria 0^
ciples of compaHion to guilt ; yet juftice, by the confti- Crime'and
tution of England, is bound to be adminiftered in mer- Pun!fi~
cy : this is promifed by the king in his coronation oatji; menU‘
and it is that a£l of his government which is the moft
perfonal and moft entirely his own. The king con¬
demns no man j that rugged talk he leaves to his courts
5 ^ 2 " of
PAR [ 764 ] PAR
Pardon, of juftice : the great operation of his fceptre is mercy.
“ v’~" Hh power of pardoning was faid by our Saxon ancestors
to be derived a lege fur dignitatis: and it is declared in
parliament, by ftat. 27 Hen. VIII. c. 24. that no other
perfon bath power to pardon or remit any trealon or fe¬
lonies wbatfoever •, but that the king hath the whole
and fule power thereof, united and knit to the imperial
crown of this realm.
This is indeed one of the great advantages of mo¬
narchy in general above any other form of government,
that there is a magiftrate who has it in his power to ex¬
tend mercy wherever he thinks it is deferved j holding
a court of equity in his own breaft, to loften the rigour
of the general law, in fueh criminal cafes as merit an
exemption from punifhmcnt. Pardons (according to
fome thcorills) fhould be excluded in a perfect legifla-
tion, where punilhments are mild, but certain ; for that
the clemency of the prince feems a tacit difapprobation
of the laws. But the exclufion of pardons rnuft neceffa-
rily introduce a very dangerous power in the judge or
jury ; that of cenftruing the criminal law by the fpirit
inflead of the letter ; or elfe it mult be holden, what no
man will ferioufly avow, that the fituation and circum-
flances of the offender (though they alter not the effence
of the crime) ought to make no diltinftion in the punifh-
ment. In democracies, however, this power oi pardon
can never fubfift ; for there nothing higher is acknow¬
ledged than the magidrate who adminifters the laws :
and it would be impolitic for the power of judging and
of pardoning to centre in one and the fame perfon. This
(as the prefident Montefquieu obferves) would oblige
him very often to contradict himfelf, to make and to
unmake his decifions : it wmuld tend to confound all
ideas of right among the mafs of people ; as they would
find it difficult to tell, whether a prifoner were difehar-
ged by his innocence, or obtained a pardon through fa¬
vour. In Holland, therefore, if there be no ftadtholder,
there is no power of pardoning lodged in any other
member of the Hate. But in monarchies the king afts
in a fuperior fphere *, and though he regulates the whole
government as the firft mover, yet he does not appear
in any of the difagreeable or invidious parts of it. When¬
ever the nation fee him perfonally engaged, it is only
in works of legiflature, munificence, or compaffion.
To him therefore the people look up as the fountain of
nothing but bounty and grace ; and thefe repeated a6ts
of goodnefs, coming immediately from his own hand,
endear the fovereign to his fubje&s, and contribute more
than any thing to root in their hearts that filial affeffion
and perfonal loyalty which are the fure eftablifhment of
a prince.
The king may pardon all offences merely againft the
crown or the public 5 excepting, 1. That, to preferve
the liberty of the fubjeft, the committing any man to
prifon out of the realm, is, by the habeas corpus aft,
31 Car. II. c. 2. mzdie a praemunire, unpardonable even
by the king. Nor, 2. can the king pardon, where pri¬
vate jufirce is principally concerned in the profecution of
offenders : Non potejl rex gratiam facere cum injuria et
damno aliorum. Therefore, in appeals- of all kinds
(which are the fuit, not of the king, but of the party
injured), the profecutor may releafe j but the king can¬
not pardon. Neither can he pardon a common nuifance,
while it remains unredreffed, or fo as to prevent an a-
4
batement of it \ though afterwards he may remit the Pardon,
fine : becaufe though the prolecution is veiled in the ~“~v—
king to avoid the multiplicity of fuits, yet (during its
continuance) tins offence favours more of the nature of
a private injury to each individual in the neighbourhood,
than oi & public wrong. Neither, lalily, can the king
pardon an offence againft a popular or penal ftatute, af¬
ter information brought : for thereby the informer hath
acquired a private property in his part of the penalty.
i here is alio a reftriftion of a peculiar nature, that
affefts the prerogative of pardoning, in cafe of parlia¬
mentary impeachments, viz. that the kingb pardon can¬
not be pleaded to any luch impeachment, fo as to im¬
pede the inquiry, and llop the proiecution of great and
notorious offenders. Therefore, when, in the reign of
Charles II. the earl of Danby w'as impeached by the
houfe of commons of high treafon and other mildemean-
ors, and pleaded the king’s pardon in bar of the fame,
the commons alleged, “ That there was no precedent
that ever any pardon was granted to any perfon im¬
peached by the commons of high treafon, or other high
crimes, depending the impeachment and thereupon
refolved, “ That the pardon fo pleaded was illegal and
void, and ought not to be allowed in bar of the im¬
peachment of the commons of England for which re-
folution they affigned this reafon to the houfe of lords,
“ That the fetting up a pardon to be a bar of an im¬
peachment defeats the whole ufe and effeft of impeach¬
ments : for ftrould this point be admitted, or ftand
doubted, it would totally difeourage the exhibiting any
for the future', whereby the chief inftitution for the pre-
fervation of the government would be deftroyed.” Soon
after the Revolution, the commons renewed the fame
claim, and voted, “ That a pardon is not pleadable in
bar of an impeachment.” And at length, it was enaft-
ed by the aft of fettlement, 12 and 13 W. III. c. 2.
“ That no pardon under the great feal of England ftiall
be pleadable to an impeachment by the commons in par¬
liament.” But, after the impeachment has been folemn-
ly heard and determined, it is not underftood that the
king’s royal grace is farther reftrained or abridged : for,
after the impeachment and attainder of the fix rebel
lords in 17x5, three of them were from time to time re¬
prieved by the crown j and at length received the be¬
nefit of the king’s moft gracious pardon.
The effeft of fuch pardon by the king, is to make
the offender a new man ; to acquit him of all corporal
penalties and forfeitures annexed to that offence for
which he obtains his pardon ; and not fo much to reftore
his former, as to give him a new credit and capacity.
But nothing can reftor/? or purify the blood when once
corrupted, if the pardon be not allowed till after attain¬
der, but the high and tranfeendant power of parlia¬
ment. Yet if a perfon attainted receive the king’s par¬
don, and afterwards hath a fon, that fon may be heir to
his father •, becaufe the father being made a new man,
might tranfmit new inheritable blood j though, had he
been born before the pardon, he could never have inhe¬
rited at all.
Such is the nature of pardons in this kingdom.
Thefe, like other good things, may doubtlefs be abu-
fed 5 and if thev are in any inftance, their abufe deferves
cenfure : but that in their nature they Ihould be counted
abfurd,'arbitrary, and deftruftive of morality, can, wa
fufpeftj-
Pardon
Godwin's
Inquiry
co'ice* ning
VohticuL
yujlue.
PAR [ 76
fufpeft:, proceed from nothing but from the prefumptive
petulance of modern reformers, or from the new lyftem
of civil equality.
We are told, however, by a late champion for the
Rights of Man, that “ the very word to a retledling
mind is fraught with abfurdity. ‘ What is the rule that
ought in all cafes to preferibe to my conduct ?’ Surely
juftice : underltanding by juftice the greatett utility of
the whole mafs of things that may be influenced by my
condudt. ‘ What then is clemency ?’ It can be nothing
but the pitiable egotifm of him who imagines he can do
fomething better than jultice. ‘ Is it right that I fliould
fuff'er conflraint for a certain offence ?’ The rectitude of
my fuffering muff be founded in its tendency to promote
the general welfare. He therefore that pardons me, ini-
quitoully prefers the imaginary interell of an individual,
and utterly neglects what he owes to the whole. He
bellows that which I ought not to receive, and which
he has no right to give. ‘ Is it right, on the contrary,
that I Ihould not undergo the fuffering in queftion >
Will he, by refeuing me from fuffering, do a benefit to
me, and no injury to others ?’ He will then be a noto¬
rious delinquent, if he allow me to fuffer. There is in¬
deed a confiderable defeil in this lalt fuppofition. If,
while he benefits me, he do no injury to others, he is
infallibly performing a public fervice. If 1 fuffered in
the arbitrary manner which the iuppofition includes, the
whole would fuflain an unqueftionable injury ;n the in-
juftice that was perpetrated. And yet the man who pre¬
vents this odious injuftice, has been accuftomed to arro¬
gate to himfelf the attribute of clement, and the appa¬
rently fublime, but in reality tyrannical, name of tor-
givenefs. For, if he do more than has been here de-
feribed, inftead of glory he ought to take fliame to him¬
felf, as an enemy to the intereft of human kind. If
every aflion, and efpecially every ablion in which the
happinefs of a rational being is concerned, be fufceptible
of a certain rule, then caprice mult be in all cafes ex¬
cluded : there can be no action, which, if 1 peglebt, I
Ihall have difeharged my duty ; and, if I perform, I
Ihall be entitled to applaufe.”
Such is the reafoning of this Angular writer ; rea-
foning which, in our opinion, betrays want of feeling or
ignorance of human nature. That human nature is fuch,
as, in the aggregate, to need controul, no one who is
acquainted with it will deny ; and there appears to be
no other method of controuling mankind but by general
laws ; and thefe laws may, through the natural imper-
feblion of human affairs, be cruel in one cafe, where
they are juft in another. Cafes may likewife occur
where the fentence of the law, without its execution,
will anfwer every purpofe which could be expefted from
it: and where the execution of it would be extreme
cruelty, though it might in ftridft unfeeling language be
called juflice, becaufe in conformity with the letter of
the law : Yet though fuch cafes may and do often oc
c.ur, it would indeed be abfurd to aboliih any of thofe
laws which the fecurity of civil fociety has required ;
and therefore the only natural remedy-againft legal in-
jujiice is the fystem of pardons.
Our author next goes on to trace the origin of par¬
dons ; and inflead of a definite fyftem of daw, we are
told that it is neceffary to have a court of reafon, to
which the decifions of a court of law (hall be brought
for revifal: a remedy apparently too vague and indeter-
3 ] pa R
minate to produce any lafting or good effefl ; and the Pardon,
propofal of which refults from fuppofing mankind more
virtuous and more knowing than they really are. We
are next led to conlider the abufes of pardons : from
whence our author would draw an argument for their
abolition 5 a fpecies of reafoning unfair and unphilofophi-
cal. He tells us, that the authority in this cafe is pla¬
ced firft in the judge, and next in the king and council.
“ Now (fays he), laying afide the propriety or impro¬
priety of this particular fele&ion, there is one grievous
abufe which ought to ft tike the moft fuperficial obfer-
ver. Thefe perfons with whom the principal Iruft is re-
pofed, confider their fumflions in this refpebf as a mat¬
ter purely incidental, exercife them with fupinenefs, and
in many inftances with the moft fcanty materials to guide
their judgment. This grows in a confiderable degree
out of the very name of pardon, which implies a work
of fupererogatory benevolence.”
Now it is obvious to remark, that pardons are in ge¬
neral granted in confequence of an application from peo¬
ple who have more than fcanty materials to guide their
judgments, and on vvhofe fidelity in relating the circum-
ftances of the cafe, confidence is placed or not accord¬
ing to their feveral charabters. Our author next pro¬
ceeds to the arbitrary charabler of pardons. “ Such a /
fyftem (he fays), to fpeak it truly, is a lottery of death,
in which each man draws his ticket for reprieve or
execution, as undefinable accidents tliall decide.” The
allufion here to a lottery ticket is peculiarly unfortunate
and indelicate, nor does the whole fentence tliorv any
great degree of candour. It is poffible to define a par¬
ticular crime, and to annex a particular punithment to
the commiflion of it •, but the nature of morality confi'fts
not in the external aflion, but in the motives which
prompted to it. Definite law cannot, however, always
make this diftinblion ; and alter the fentence of the law
is pronounced, it comes to be confidered whether there
are any alleviating circumftances in the cafe j and
whether there are or not, muft depend on the parti¬
culars or accidents of the cafe : and it is indeed im-
poflible to fuppofe that thefe accidents could be pre-
vioutly defined ; their nature does not admit of it.
To particularize and define every mode of an ablion
which imagination can conceive, or which experience
has thovvn us may happen, would indeed be an Hercu¬
lean labour ; and we might literally fay with the apoftle,
that the world could not contain the books that might be
written. We are, however, told, that “ reafon is a
thoufand times more explicit and intelligible than law7 ;
and when we are accuftomed to confult her, the cer¬
tainty of her decifions would be fuch, as men prabtifed
in our prefent courts are totally unable to conceive.”
Were reafon, however, appointed to be appealed to in-
all cafes, and to be the final criterion, it would leave
far greater room for villany than any mode at prefent in
prabtice. Reafon is a very uncertain and indefinite term,
and may be made any thing, according to the circum¬
ftances or paflions of men. Our reforming neighbours
the French have raifed a ftatue to reafon and to truth ;
but what claim they have to either, Mr Godwin muft
himfelf decide.
We are next told that pardons are deftrubtive to mo¬
rality. “ Another very important confequence (fays our
author) grows out of the fyftem of pardons. A fyftem
of pardons is a fyftem of unmitigated flavery. I am
taught
P A R
Pardon tauglit to expect a certain defirable event; from what?
p ’I , From the clemency, the uncontrouled, unmerited kind-
ma nels of a fellow mortal. Can any leffon be more de-
>•■■■ v~—' grading ? The pufillanimous fervility of the man, who
devotes himfelf with everlafting obfequioufnefs to an¬
other, becaufe that other having begun to be unjuft, re¬
lents in his career j the ardour with which he confefles
the reftitude of his fentence and the enormity of his de-
ferts, will conftitute a tale that future ages will find it
difficult to underftand. What are the fentiments in this
refpect that are alone worthy of a rational being ? Give
me that, and that only, which without injuftice you can¬
not refufe. More than juftice it would be disgraceful
for me to alk, and for you to beftow. I ftand upon the
foundation of right. This is a title which brute force
may refufe to acknowledge, but which all the force in
the world cannot annihilate. By refilling this plea you
may prove yourfelf unjuft, but in yielding to it you
grant me but my due. If, all things confidered, I be
the fit fubjeft of a benefit, the benefit is merited : merit
in any other fenfe is contradictory and abfurd. If you
beftow upon me unmerited advantage, you are a recreant
from the general good. I may be bafe enough to thank
you •, but if I were virtuous, I Ihould condemn you.
Thefe fentiments alone are confident with true indepen¬
dence of mind. He that isaccuftomed to regard virtue
as an affair of favour and grace, cannot be eminently
virtuous. If he occafionally perform an aflion of appa¬
rent kindnefs, he will applaud the generofity of his Fen¬
timents ; and if he abftain, he will acquit himfelf with
the queftion, ‘ May I not do what I will with my own ?’
In the fame manner, when he is treated benevolently
by another, he will in the firft place be umvilling to ex¬
amine ftriClly into the reafonablenefs of this treatment,
becaufe benevolence, as he imagines, is not fubjeCl to
any inflexibility of rule j and, in the fecond place, he
will not regard his benefaftor with that ereCt and unem-
barraffed mien, that complete fenfe of equality, which is
the only immoveable bafis of virtue and happinefs.”
Such is Mr Godwin’s conclufion on this fubjeft j and
we leave it with our readers to determine, whether his
fyftem or that which we at prefent enjoy would be the
more rigorous or unjuft •, or whether mankind have in¬
deed arrived at that eminent pitch of virtue, as to dif-
dain every favour which they do not abfolutely merit.
The Chriftian religion fpeaks atery different language.
PAREGORICS, in Pharmacy, medicines that af-
fuage pain, otherwife called Anodynes.
P AREIR A FLAVA, in the Materia Medic a, a kind of
oblong and large root brought from theBrafils.—Itiscer-
tainly a diuretic of no mean charaCler, and is faid to have
done great ferviceinnephriticcafes,pleurifies, andquinfies.
PARELCON, in Grammar, a figure by which a
Word or fyllable is added to the end of another.
PAREMBOLE, in Rhetoric, a figure wherein fome-
thing relating to the fubjeft is inferted in the middle of
a period. All t he difference between the parembole and pa-
rcnth* fis. according to Voffius, is, that the former relates
to the lubjeft in hand, whereas the latter is foreign to it.
PARENCHYMA, in Anatomy, a term introduced
by Erafiftratus, figr ifying all that fubftance which is
contained in the interftices betwixt the blood veffels of
the vifcera, which he imagined to be extravafated and
concreted blood.
PARENCHTMA of Plants. Grew applies the term
r 766 ]
PAR
parenchyma to the pith or pulp, or that inner part of a Parencby.
fruit or plant through which the juice is fuppoied to be
diftributed. See Plants.
PARENT, a term of relation applicable to thofe
from whom wre immediately derive our being. See MO¬
RAL Philofophy, N° 129. and 137.
To this article belongs an inquiry into, i. The legal
duties of parents to their legitimate-children. 2. Their
power over them.
I. The duties of parents to legitimate children confift
in three particulars ; their maintenance, their prat eel ion,
and their education.
I. The duty of parents to provide for the maintenance Black]}.
of their children, is a principle of natural law j an obYi-Comment.
gation, fays Puffendorff, laid on them not only by na¬
ture herfelf, but by their own proper a£t, in bringing
them into the world 5 for they would be in the higheft
manner injurious to their iffue, if they only gave their
children life, that they might afterwards fee them pe-
riffi. By begetting them, therefore, they have entered
into a voluntary obligation, to endeavour, as far as in
them lies, that the life Avhich they have beftowed lhall
be fupported and preferved. And thus the children will
have a perfedt right of receiving maintenance from their
parents. And the prefident Montefquieu has a very juft
obfervation upon this head, that the eftabliffiment of
marriage, in all civilized ftates, is built on this natural
obligation of the father to provide for his children ; for
that afeertains and makes known the perfon who is
bound to fulfil this obligation 5 whereas, in promifeuous
and illicit conjundlions, the father is unknown; and the
mother finds a thoufand obftacles in her way j ftiame,
remorfe, the conftrairft of her fex, and the rigour of
laws, that ftifle her inclinations to perform this duty j
and befides, ffie generally wants ability.
The municipal laws of all well regulated ftates have
taken care to enforce this duty: though Providence has
done it more effedlually than any laws, by implanting
in the breaft of every parent that natural vogysi, or in-
fuperable degree of affldtion, which not even the defor¬
mity of perfon or mind, not even the wickednefs, ingra¬
titude, and rebellion of children, can totally fupprefs or
extinguifti.
The civil law obliges the parent to provide main¬
tenance for his child ; and if he refufe, judex de ea re
cognofcet. Nay, it carries this matter fo far, that it
will not fuffer a parent at his death totally to difinhe-
rit his child, without exprefsly giving his reafon for fo
doing*, and there are 14 fuch reafons reckoned up,
which may juftify fuch difinherifon. If the parent al¬
leged no reafon, or a bad, or a falfe one, the child
might fet the will afide, tanquam tejlamcntum inofficio-
Jum, a teftament contrary to the natural duty of the
parent. And it is' remarkable under what colour the
children were to move for relief in fuch a cafe 5 by fug-
gefting, that the parent had loft the ufe of his reafort
“when he made the inofficious teftament. And this, as
Puffendorff obferves, was not to bring into difpute the
teftator’s power of difinheriting his own offspring \ but
to examine the motives upon which he did it 5 and if
they were found defective in reafon, then to fet them
afide. But perhaps this is going rather too far : every
man has, or ought to have, by the laws of fociety, a
power over his own property : and, as Grotius very
well diftinguiffies, natural right obliges to give a ne-
cejary
PAR [ 767 ] PA R
Parent, cejfarij maintenance to children; but what is more than
■—V"—’' that, they have no right to, than as it is given by the
favour of their parents, or the pofitive conftitutxons of
th$ municipal law.
Let us next fee what provifion our own laws have
made for this natural duty. It is a principle of law,
that there is an obligation on every man to provide for
thofe defcended from his loins j and the manner in
which this obligation fhall be performed, is thus point¬
ed out. The father and mother, grandfather and
grandmother, of poor impotent perfons, (hall maintain
them at their own charges, if of fufficient ability, ac¬
cording as the quarter feffions (hall direct j and, if a
parent runs away, and leaves his children, the church
wardens and overfeers of the parilh fhall feize his rents,
goods, and chattels, and difpofe of them towards their
relief. By the interpretations which the courts of law
have made upon thefe ftatutes, if a mother or grand¬
mother marries again, and was before fuch fecond mar¬
riage of fufficient ability to keep the child, the huf-
band fhall be charged to maintain it; for this being
a debt of her’s, when fingle, fhall, like others, extend
to charge the hufhand. But, at her death, the relation
being diffolved, the hufband is under no farther obliga-
tion.
No perfon is bound to provide a maintenance for his
iffiie, unlefs where the children are impotent and unable
to work, either through infancy, difeafe, or accident ;
and then is only obliged to find them with neceflaries,
the penalty on refufal being no more than 20s. a month.
For the policy of our laws, which are ever watchful to
promote induftry, did not mean to compel a father to
maintain his idle and lazy children in eafe and indo¬
lence *, but thought it unjuft to oblige the parent againfl:
his will, to provide them with fuperfluities, and other
indulgencies of fortune ; imagining they might truft to
the impulfe of nature, if the children were deferving of
fuch favours. Yet, as nothing is fo apt to ftifle the
calls of nature as religious bigotry, it is enafted, that
if any Popifh parent fhall refufe to allow his Proteftant
child a fitting maintenance, with a view to compel him
to change his religion, the lord chancellor fhall by order
of court conftrain him to do what is juft and reafonable.
But this did not extend to perfons of another religion,
of no lefs bitternefs and bigotry than the Popifh : and
therefore, in the very next year, we find an inftance
of a Jew of immenfe riches, whofe only daughter ha¬
ving embraced Chriftianity, he turned her out of doors j
and on her application for relief, it was held {he was
entitled to none. But this gave occafion to another
ftatute, which ordains, that if Jewifh parents refufe to
allow their Proteftant children a fitting maintenance,
fuitable to the fortune of the parent, the lord chancellor,
on complaint, may make fuch order therein as he fhall
fee proper.
• Our law has made' no provifion to prevent the difin-
heriting of children by will; leaving every man’s pro¬
perty in his own difpofal. upon a principle of liberty in
this as well as every other aftion *, though perhaps
it had not been amifs if the parent had been bound
to leave them at the leaft a neceffary fubfiftence. In¬
deed, among perfons of any rank or fortune, a compe¬
tence is generally provided for younger children, and
the bulk of the eftate fettled upon the eldeft by the
marriage articles. Heirs alfo, and children, are fa-
5 '
vourites of our courts of juftice, and cannot be difirw Parent,
herited by any dubious or ambiguous words ; there be- *——"v—■“
ing required the utmofl: certainty of the teftator’s inten¬
tions to take away the right of an heir.
2. From the duty of maintenance we may eafily
pafs to that of protect ion ; which is alfo a natural du¬
ty, but rather permitted than enjoined by any muni¬
cipal laws j nature, in this refpedf, working fo ftrong-
ly as to need rather a check than a fpur. A parent
may, by our laws, maintain and uphold his children
in their law-fuits, without being guilty of the legal
crime of maintaining quarrels. A parent may alfo ju-
ftify an aflault and battery in defence of the perfons of
his children j nay, where a man’s fon was beaten by
another boy, and the father went near a mile to find
him, and there revenged his fon’s quarrel by beating
the other boy, of which beating he afterwards unfor¬
tunately died j it was not held to be murder, but man-
flaughter merely. Such indulgence does the law fhow
to the frailty of human nature, and the workings of
parental affefHon.
3. The laft duty of parents to their children is that
of giving them an education fuitable to their ftation in
life : a duty pointed out by reafon and of far the
greateft: importance of any. For, as Puffendorff very
well obferves, it is not eafy to imagine or allow, that
a parent has conferred any confiderable benefit upon
his child by bringing him into the world, if he af¬
terwards entirely neglects his culture and education, .
and fuffers him to grow up like a mere beaft, to lead a
life ufelefs to others, and fhameful to himfelf. Yet the
municipal laws of molt countries feem to bd defective
in this point, by not conftraining the parent to beftow
a proper education upon his children. Perhaps they
thought it punifhment enough to leave the parent who
neglects the inftruftion of his fa'mily, to labour under
thofe griefs and inconveniences which his family, fo
uninftrufted, will be fure to bring upon him. Our
laws, though their defects in this particular cannot be
denied, have in one inftance made a wife provifion for
breeding up the riling generation : fince the poor and
laborious part of the community, when pall the age of
nurture, are taken out of the hands of their parents,
by the ftatutes for apprenticing poor children $ and
are placed out by the public in fuch a manner as may
render their abilities, in their feveral ftations, of the
greateft advantage to the commonwealth. The rich
indeed are left at their own option, whether they will
breed up their children to be ornaments or difgraces
to their family. Yet in one cafe, that of religion, they
are under peculiar reftriftions 5 for it is provided that
if any perfon fends any child under his government be¬
yond the feas, either to prevent its good education in
England, or in order to enter into, or refide in, any
Popifh college, or to be inftru£ted, perfuaded, or
ftxengthened in the Popith religion ; in fuch cafe, be-
fides the difabilities incurred by the child fo fent, the
parent or perfon fending fhall forfeit tool, which {hall
go to the foie ufe and benefit of him that fhall difeover
the offence. And if any parent, or other, fhall fend
or convey any perfon beyond fea, to enter into, or be
refident in, or trained up in, any priory, abbey, nun¬
nery, Popifh univerfity, college or fchool, or houfe of
Jefuits or priefls, or in any private Popifh family, in
order to be inftrufted, perfuaded or confirmed, in the
Popifh
Parent.
PAR C 768 ] PAR
Popllh religion; or (Kail contribute any thing towards
their maintenance when abroad by any pretext what¬
ever, the perfon both fending and fent (hall be difabled
to fue in law or equity, or to be executor or adminillra-
tor to any perfon, or to enjoy any legacy or deed of
gift, or to bear any ofrice in the realm, and (hall forfeit
all his goods and chattels, and likewife all his real ellate
for life. See NONCONFORMISTS*
II. The power of parents over their children is de¬
rived from the former coniideration, their duty; this
authority being given them, partly to enable the pa¬
rent more effeftually to perform his duty, and partly
as a recompenfe for his care and trouble in the faith¬
ful difcharge of it. And upon this fcore the munici¬
pal law's of fome nations have given a much larger au¬
thority to the parents than others. The ancient Ro¬
man laws gave the father a power of life and death
over his children ; upon this principle, that he who
gave had alfo the power of taking awav. But the ri¬
gour of thefe law's was foftened by fubfequent conftitu-
tions: fo that W'e find a father banilhed by the empe¬
ror Hadrian for killing his fon, though he had commit¬
ted a very heinous crime; upon this maxim, that/?«-
tris potejlas in pietate debet, non in atrocitate, conjijlere.
But (till they maintained to the laid a very large and
abfolute authority: for a fon could not acquire any pro¬
perty of his own during the li(e of his father; but all
hi« acquifitions belonged to the father, or at lead the
profits of them for his life.
The power of a parent by the Englifh law is much
more moderate; but Hill fufficient to keep the child in
order and obedience. He may lawfully eorreft his
child, being under age, in a reafonable mnaner : for
this is for the benefit of his education. The confent
or concurrence of the parent to the marriage of his
child under age, w'as alfo dire£ted by our ancient law
to be obtained: but now it is abfolutely neceflary; for
without it the contradl is void. And this alfo is an¬
other means which the law has put into the parent’s
hands, in order the better to difcharge his duty; fird,
of protecting his children from the fnares of artful and
defigning perfons ; and next of fettling them properly
in life, by preventing the ill confequences of too early
and precipitate marriages. A father has no other
power over his fon’s ellate, than as his trudee or guar¬
dian : for though he may receive the profits during
the child’s minority, yet he mud account for them
when he comes of age. He may indeed have the be¬
nefit of his children’s labour while they live with him
and are maintained by him; but this is no more than
he is entitled to from his apprentices or fervants. The
legal power of a father (for a mother, as fuch, is en¬
titled to no power, but only to reverence and refpeCl),
the power of a father, we fay, over the perfons of his
children ceafes at the age of 21; for they are then en-
franchifed by arriving at years of difcretion, or that
point which the law has edablidied (as fome mud
necelfarily be edablidied) when the empire of the fa¬
ther, or other guardian, gives place to the empire of
reafon. Yet, till that age arrives, this empire of the
father continues even after his death; for he may by
his will appoint a guardian to his children. He may
alfo delegaate part of his parental authority, during his
life, to the tutor or fchoolmader of his child ; who is
then in ioco parentis, and has fuch a portion of the
power of the parent committed to his charge, viz.
that of redraint and correction, as may be neeelfary to
anfwer the purpofes for which he is employed.
In the Gentleman’s Magazine for 17 $0, we have the
following cafe of confeience. “ A perfon has his own
parents and his own children living, both parties equally
indigent, both equally incapable of amding themfelves,
and both equally earned in calling upon him for relief.
Things are fo cireumdanced that he can podibly adid
but one party, and not both, ^uery, Which party has
the greated claim to his affidanee, and to which is he
obliged, by all ties human and divine, to give the pre¬
ference r” One folves this difficulty, by informing us
of a pretty print done at Rome, reprefenting a young
woman fuckling her aged father, on which the following
lines are quoted.
Parent.
My child and father vital nurture crave,
Parental, filial, fondnefs both would fave,
But if a nurfling only one can live,
I choofe to fave the life I cannot give.
Here we find the preference given to the parent;
and another correfpondent gives the fame decifion in
thefe words. “ i he obligations arifing from nature,
and natural affedion, feem to be in this cafe recipro¬
cal and equipollent; the child is as drongly attraCled
to the parent, as the parent to the child. But will
not filial gratitude operate-and decide in favour of the
parents? Does not the perfon, either mediately or im¬
mediately, owe his prefent power and abilities to re¬
lieve, to his parents ?• and are not . they on that ac¬
count bell entitled to relief? Does not the fifth com¬
mandment declare more drongly in favour of the parents,
than any other divine precept does in favour of the
children? If a perfon had an opportunity given him of
delivering either his parent or his child (but not both)
from certain death, 1 dare fay the voice of nature and
of mankind would applaud him that faved his parent,
and condemn him that (hould prefer his child. There
is more of felfidmefs in preferring the child; and to
fave the parent feems to me to be much the more ge¬
nerous, noble, and exalted condmEl. It is indeed, upon
the whole, a melancholy alternative; but if both parties
continue importunate, and neither will relinquiffi their
claims in favour of the other, I fay relieve the pa¬
rent.” There are two correfpondents, however, who
think differently, and their reafons are as follows :
“ A perfon’s children have the greated claim to his
affidance, and he is obliged by all ties to prefer them,
in that refpedd, to his parents. It is true, when a
man’s parents are in want, they have a claim to his
affidance; but that claim is not equal to that which
his children have. His parents he has of neccffity ;
his children, of choice. It is his duty, before he be¬
get childreb, to confider how he is to provide for
them: and by being wilfully the caufe of their exid-
ence, he comes under fuch an obligation to provide
for their comfortable fubfidence, as mud be' dronger
than any obligation of that kind he can be under to
perfons with whom his connexion is involuntary. But
nature and reafon point it out as the duty ol all pa¬
rents to provide for their chidren; but not-u/a5 verfa.
If a man’s parents happen to be indigent, and he himfelf
able, he is bound to maintain them out of refpett and
gratitude: but his obligation to provide for his children
PAR [ 769 ] PA U
Is a debt of drift judlce •, and therefore ought to be
preferred. Neverthelefs the deferiptlon of the cafe to
which the query is fubjoined, is fo general, that it is
eafy to figure a cafe according to that defcription in
which the perfon ought to prefer his parents. This
obligation to provide for his children may have been
dilTolved by monftrous ingratitude, fuch as their plotting
again It his life *, or he may have given them proper edu¬
cation, and ample proviiions, which they have riotoufly
fquandered away : in either of which cafes it is thought
he is undoubtedly difcharged from his obligation. But
if they have loft their portion purely by misfortunes,
without their fault, it is thought his obligation to alTift
them is not wholly extinguilhed ; and in that cafe their
claim to his afliltance, or that of his parents, is prefer
able.” “ I find (fays the author of the lait anfwer)
that all your correfpondents agree, that the life of the
parent is to be preferved. It is very certain, that the
relation between me and my child is exactly equal to
that which is between me and my parent •, and there¬
fore relation cannot decide in favour of the one or the
other : I mull then be determined by a different consi¬
deration *, and I know of none more Weighty than the
following. If I preferve the life of my child, I am in-
ftrumental in giving life to all his defcendants, which
may, perhaps, be very numerous j but if I preferve the
life of my parent, I preferve a fingle life only, and that
a fhort one. 1 therefore fay, relieve the child. But it
is thought that the voice of nature will applaud the
perfon who preferves the parent : if fo, nature muff ap¬
plaud a rule which ftie herfelf does not obferve : it is
natural for old men to die before young ones. Be-
fides, the command, Be fruitful and multiply, and re-
plenifh the earth, may be oppofed to the fifth command¬
ment.” Still, however, it is doubtlefs difficult to de¬
termine in fuch cafes when they occur, as there are no
fixed rules whereby to decide. With refpeft to the
power of parents and the duty of children, much may
be faid. There are, however, fcarcely any inftances
where both are oftener abufed than with refpeft to
marriage. This, as it is the moft important event in
the civil life either of a man or woman, fo it is often
rendered peculiarly unfortunate, by precipitate folly
and W'ant of duty in children •, and as often through the
unreafonable feverity of parents. As a child is bound
not to give unreafonable offence to a parent in the
choice of a partner ; fo neither ought the parent to im-
pofe any improper or arbitrary reftraint upon the child.
The power of a parent in China is very great for
a father, while living, has the power of an abfolute
defpotic tyrant, and after his death is worffiipped as a
god. Let a fon become ever fo rich, and a father
ever fo poor, there is no fubmiflion, no point of obe¬
dience, that the latter cannot command, or that the
former can refufe. The father is abfolute mafter, not
only of his fon’s eftate, but alfo of his concubines and
children, who, whenever they difpleafe him, he may
fell to ftrangers. If a father accufes his fon before a
mandarin, there needs no proof of his guilt ; for they
cannot believe that any father can be fo unnatural as
to bring a falfe accufation againft his own fon. But
ftiould a fon be fi> infolent as to mock his father, or
arrive at fuch a pitch of wickednefs as to ftrike him,
all the province where this lhameful aft of violence is
Vol. XV. Part II.
committed is alarmed ; it even becomes the concern of
the whole empire j the emperor himfelf judges the cri¬
minal. All the mandarins near the place are turned
out of their polls, efpecially thofe of the town where he
lived, for having been fo negligent in their inftruc-
tions ; and all the neighbours are reprimanded for ne-
glefting, by former puniihments, to put a flop to the
wickednefs of the criminal before it arrived at inch fla-
gitioufnefs. As to the unhappy wretch himfelf, they
cut him into a thoufand pieces, burn his bones, level
his houfe to the ground, and even thofe houfes that Hand
near it, and fet up monuments and memorials of the
horrid deed.
The emperor of China, who is one of the moft
powerful and defpotic monarchs upon earth, pays the
greateft attention to his mother. An initance of this
Pere Amyot relates as having happened at Pekin,
A. D. 1752, when the emperor’s mother entered her
60th year, which, among the Chinefe, is accounted a
very remarkable period. Grofier likewife particularly
deferibes the homage the emperor pays his mother every
new-year’s day in the palace, at which ceremony all the
great officers of his court affift. See CHILDREN, FILI¬
AL Piety, Parental Affeclion, &c.
Parent, Anthony, a mathematician, was born at
Paris in 1666. He Ihowed an early propenfity to
mathematics. He accuftomed himfelf to write re¬
marks upon the margins of the books which he read ;
and he had filled a variety of books with a kind of com¬
mentary at the early age of thirteen. At fourteen he
w7as put under a mafter, who taught rhetoric at Chartres.
It was here that he happened to fee a dodecaedron,
upon every face of which was delineated a fun dial, ex¬
cept the loweft whereon it flood. Struck as it were
inftantaneoufly with the curiofity of thefe dials, he at¬
tempted drawing one himfelf: but having a book which
only (howed the praftical part without the theory, it
was not till after his mafter came to explain the doc¬
trine of the fphere to him that he began to underftand
how the projeftion of the circles of the fphere formed
fun dials. He then undertook to write a Treatife upon
Gnomonics. The piece was indeed rude and unpolilh-
ed : but it was entirely his own, and not borrowed.
About the fame time he wrote a book of Geometry, in
the fame tafte, at Beauvois. His friends then fent for
him to Paris to ftudy the law j and, in obedience to
them, he ftudied a courfe in that faculty 5 which was
no fooner finifhed, than, urged by his paftion for mathe¬
matics, he ftrut himfelf up in the college of Dormans,
that no avocation might take him from his beloved ftudy:
and, with an allowance of lefs than 200 livres a-year,
he lived content in this retreat, from which he never
ftirred but to the Royal College, in order to hear the
leftures of M. de la Hire or M. de Sauveur. W hen
he found himfelf capable of teaching others, he took
pupils: and fortification being a branch of mathema¬
tics which the war had brought into particular notice,
he turned his attention to it ; but after fome time be-,
gan to entertain fcruples 'about teaching what he had
never feen, and knew only by the force of imagination.
He imparted this fcruple to M. Sauveur, who recom¬
mended him to the marquis d’Aligre, who luckily at
that time wanted to have a mathematician with him-
Parent made two campaigns with the marquis, by which
5 E be
PAR [ 77° ] PAR
Parent, he inftru&ed himfelf fufficiently In viewing fortified
Parental. places • Gf which he drew a number of plans, though he
had never learned the art of drawing. From this pe¬
riod he fpent his time in a continual application to the
iludy of natural philofophy, and mathematics in all its
branches, both fpeculative and pra&ical j to which he
joined anatomy, botany, and chemiftry. His genius
managed every thing, and yet he was inceffant and in¬
defatigable in his application. M. de Eillettes, who
%vas admitted into the Academy of Sciences at Paris in
1699, with the title of their mechanician, nominated
for his difciple Parent, who excelled chiefly in this
branch. It was foon difcovered in this ibciety, that
he engaged in all the various fubjefts which were
brought before them j and indeed that be had a hand
in every thing. But this extent of knowledge, joined
to a natural impetuofity of temper, raifed in him a
fpirit of contradiction, which he indulged on all occa-
fions j fometimes to a degree of precipitancy highly cul¬
pable, and often with but little regard to decency. In¬
deed the fame behaviour was drown to him, and the
papers which he brought to the academy were often
treated with much fevcrity. He was charged with ob-
fcurity in his productions ; and he was indeed fo no¬
torious for this fault, that he perceived it himfelf, and
could not avoid correcting it. The king had, by a
regulation in 1716, fuppreffed the clafs of fcholars of
the academy, which feemed to put too great an inequa¬
lity betwixt the members. Parent was made a joint
or afliftant member for geometry : but he enjoyed this
promotion but a fhort time 5 for he was taken off by
the fmallpox the fame year, at the age of 50. He was
author of a great many pieces, chiefly on mechanics and
geometry.
PARENTAL, fomething belonging to the relation
of parent. See Parent.
PARENTAL Affeftion, the endearing attachment of
parents to their children, including in it love 5 a defire
of doing good to thofe who by an aft of our own de¬
pend upon us for all that they enjoy. Nature even ex¬
cites this affeftion in brutes: but in them it continues
only fo long as it is neceflary for the prefervation of their
offspring \ for w'hen thefe are able to provide for them-
felves, it ceafes, and the relation is forgotten. In man,
however, though it leffens, or at leafl: becomes lefs
anxious as the dependence of the child becomes lefs,
it never entirely ceafes, except in fome few inftances
of extreme depravity. Authors, however, have ima-
* Sketches gdied, and Lord Kames* among the reft, that after
of the Hi- the child is provided for, and no more depends on the
Jlory of parent, all affeftion wmuld ceafe, were it not artificially
3fazz. preferved and confirmed by habit. Whether his lord-
ftiip, in this opinion, be right or wrong, we ftiall not
pretend to fay. One thing, however, is certain, that
be it natural or not, it is one of the greateft comforts
of life, even when all dependence has ceafed. It
matters not that there are many inftances where this
comfort is not felt. Human depravity has often obli¬
terated the fineft feelings of the mind; and it is not to
be wondered at if in fome inftances it do fo in the cafe
before us. A good heart certainly can enjoy no great¬
er fatisfaftion than that arifing from grateful returns of
kindnefs and affeftion to an aged parent. As the vexa¬
tions which parents receive from their children haften
the approach of age, and double the force of years 3
fo the comforts which they reap from them are balm to Partita!
all other forrows, and difappoint the injuries of time. II
Parents repeat their lives in their offsprings 3 and their , Parenzo-
concern for them is fo near, that they feel all their fuf- 'rmm'
ferings, and tafte all their enjoyments, as much as if
they regarded their own perfons. HoAvever ftrong we
may fuppofe the fondnefs of a father for his children,
yet they will find more lively marks of tendernefs in
the bofom of a mother. There are no ties in nature to
compare with thofe which unite an affeftionate mother
to her children, when they repay her tendernefs with
obedience and love.
We have a remarkable inftance of parental affeftion
in Zaleucusf prince of the Locrincs 3 wrho made a de-1 J&ian,
cree, that whoever was convifted of adultery ftiouldllb'
be punilhed with the lofs of both his eyes. Soon
after this eftablilhment, the legiflator’s own fon wTas
apprehended in the very faft, and brought to a public
trial. How could the father acquit himfelf in fo
tender and delicate a conjunfture ? Should he execute
the law in all its rigour, this would be worfe than
death to the unhappy youth : ftiould he pardon fo noto¬
rious a delinquent, this would defeat the defign of his
falutary inftitution. To avoid both thefe inconveniences,
he ordered one of his own eyes to be pulled out and one
of his fon’s.
Diodorus Siculus alfo, lib. 34. relates a furprifing in¬
ftance of the fame warm affeftion. Cambalus, a young
gentleman of charafter and fortune in the city of Mul-
geatum, being one day out courfing, was way-laid, and
very near being robbed and murdered by the banditti
who infefted that part of the country. Gorgus, the
young gentleman’s father, happened to come by at the
very inftant, to whom Cambalus related the danger he
was in. The fon svas on foot, the father on horfeback ;
but no fooner had he heard the melancholy tale, than
he leapt from his horfe, defired his fon to mount, and
make the beft of his way into the city : but Cambalus,
preferring his father’s fafety to his own, would by no
means confent to it 3 on the contrary, conjured his fa- '
ther to leave him, and take care of himfelf. The fa¬
ther, ftruck with the generofity and affeftion of his fon,
added tears to entreaties, but all to no purpofe. The
conteft between them is better conceived than deferibed
—while bathed in tears, and befeeching each other to
preferve his ow:n life, the banditti approached and ftab-
bed them both.
Amongft the ancient Greeks, the fentiments of pa¬
rental affeftion were exceedingly ftrong and ardent.
The mutual tendernefs of the hufband and the* wife
wras communicated to their offspring 5 while the father
viewed in his child the charms of its mother, and the
mother perceived in it the manly graces of its father.
As parental kindnefs is the moft Ample and natural ex-
panfion of felf-love, fo there are innumerable inftances
of it in all countries favage and civilized.
* PARENT ALIA, in antiquity, funeral obfequies,
or the laft duties paid by children to their deceafed pa¬
rents.
PARENTHESIS, in certain intercalary
words inferted in a difeourfe, which interrupt the fenfe
or thread, but feem neceffary for the better underftand-
ing of the fubjeft.
PARENZO, a fmall but ftrong town of Italy, and
in Iftria, with a bilhop’s fee and a good harbour 3 feat-
cd
PAR [ 771 ] PAR
Parenzo ed on the gulf of Venice, in E, Long. 13. 46. N. Lat.
I! 39. 28. It fubmitted to the Venetians in 1267.
Parhe ion.^ PARESIS, in Medicine, a palfy of the bladder,
wherein the urine is either fupprefifed or difcharged in¬
voluntarily.
PARGETING, in building, is ufed for the plafter-
ing of walls, and fometimes for plafter itfelf.
Pargeting is of various kinds : as, 1. White lime and
hair mortar laid on bare walls. 2. On bare laths, as in
partitioning and plain ceiling. 3. Rendering the in-
iides of walls, or doubling partition walls. 4. Rough-
cafting on heart laths. 5. Plaftering on brick work,
with finifhing mortar, in imitation of ftone work j and
the like upon heart laths.
PARHELION, or Parhelium, formed from
near, and fun, in Natural Philofopky, a mock fun
or meteor, in form of a very bright light, appearing on
the one lide of the fun.
Appearances of this kind have been made mention
of both by the ancients and moderns. Ariftotle ob-
ferves, that in general they are feen only when the fun
is near the horizon, though he takes notice of two
that were feen in Bofphorus from morning to evening;
and Pliny has related the times when fuch phenomena
were obferved at Rome. Gaffendi fays, that in 1635
and 1636 he often faw one mock fun. Two were ob¬
ferved by M. de la Hire in 1689 } and the fame num¬
ber by Caflini in 1693, Mr Grey in 1700, and Dr
Halley in 1702: but the moft celebrated appearances
of this kind were feen at Rome by Scheiner, by Muf-
chenbroeck at Utrecht, and by Hevelius at Sedan. By
the two former, four mock funs were obferved, and by
the latter feven.
Parhelia are apparently of the fame fize with the
fun, though not always of the fame brightnefs, nor
even of the fame fhape *, and when a number appear
at once, there is fome difference in both thefe refpe&s
among them. Externally they are tinged with colours
like the rainbow j and many have a long fiery tail op-
pofite to the fun, but paler towards the extremity. Par-
* helia are generally accompanied with coronas, fome of
which are tinged with rainbow colours, but others are
white. They differ in number and fizej but all agree
in breadth, which is that of the apparent diameter of
the fun.
A very large white circle, parallel to the horizon,
generally paffes through all the parhelia *, and, if it
were entire, it would go through the centre of the
fun. Sometimes there are arcs of leffer circles con¬
centric to this, touching thofe Coloured circles Avhich
furround the fun. They are alfo tinged with colours,
and contain other parhelia. There are alfo faid to have
been other circles obliquely fituated with refpedt to all
thofe we have mentioned ; but of this we have met with
no authentic account. The order of the colours in thefe
circles is the fame as in the rainbow*, but on the infide,
with refpeft to the fun, they are red, as is alfo obferved
in many other coronas.
Parhelia have been vifible for 1, 2, 3, and 4 hours
together j and in North America, they are faid to
continue fome days, and to be vifible from funrife to
funfet.
When the parhelia difappear, it fometimes rains, or
there falls fnow in the form of oblong fpiculae, as Ma-
raldi, Weidler, Krafft, and others, have obferved; and
becaufe the air in North America abounds with fuch Parhelion,
frozen fpiculse, which are even vifible to the eye, ac- * '
cording to Ellis and Middleton, fuch particles have
been thought to be the caufe of all coronas and par¬
helia.
Mr Ellis fays, that, at •Churchill in Hudfon’s Bay,
the rifing of the fun is always preceded by two long
ftreams of red light, one on each fide of him, and about
20° diftant from him. Thefe rife as the fun rifesj and
as they grow longer begin to bend towards each other,
till they meet diredlly over the fun, juft as he rifes,
forming there a kind of; parhelion or mock fun. Thefe
two ftreams of light, he fays, feem to have their fource
in two other parhelia, which rife with the true fun 5 and
in the winter feafon, when the fun never rifes above the
haze or fog, which he fays is conftantly found near the
horizon, all thefe accompany him the whole day, and fet
with him in the fame manner as they rife. Once or
twice he faw a fourth parhelion direftly under the true
fun ; but this, he fays, is not common. Thefe fatfts being
conftant, are very valuable, and may throw great light on
the theory of thefe remarkable phenomena.
Sometimes parhelia appear in a different manner j
as when three funs have been feen in the fame vertical
circle, well defined, and touching one another. The
true fun was in the middle, and the loweft touched
the horizon; and they fet one after the other. This
appearance was feen by M. Maleziew in 1722. Other
appearances fimilar to this are recited by M. Mufchen*
broeck.
Sometimes the fun has rifen or fet with a luminous
tail projefting from him, of the fame breadth with
his diameter, and perpendicular to the horizon. Such
an appearance was feen by Cafliui in 1672 and 1692,
by De la Hire in 1702, and by Mr Ellis in Hudfon’s
Bay.
As M. Feuillee was walking on the banks of the ri¬
ver La Plata, he faw the fun riling over the river with a
luminous tail projedling downwards, which continued
till he was fix degrees high.
Parafelenae, or mock moons, have alfo been feen, ac¬
companied with tails and coloured circles, like thofe
which accompany the parhelia. An account of feveral,
and a particular defcription of a fine appearance of this
kind, may be feen in Mulchenbroeck.
The Roman phenomenon, obferved by Scheiner, is
famous on account of its having been the firft appear¬
ance of the kind that engaged the attention of philofo-
phers. It is reprefented in fig. 1. j in which A is the
place of the obferver, B his zenith, C the true fun, AB
a plane palling through the obferver’s eye, the true fun,
and the zenith. About the fun C, there appeared iwo
concentric rings, not complete, but diverfified with co¬
lours. The leffer of them, DEF, was fuller, and more
perfeft 5 and though it was open from D to F, yet thofe
ends were perpetually endeavouring to unite; and fome¬
times they did fo. The outer of thefe rings was much
fainter, fo as fcarcely to be difcernible. It had, how¬
ever, a variety of colours; but was very inconftant.
The third circle, KLMN, was very large, and ail over
white, paffing through the middle of the fun, and every¬
where parallel to the horizon. At firft this circle was
entire; but towards the end of the appearance it was
weak and ragged, fo as hardly to be perceived from M
towards N>
Plate’
CCCCIV.
fig. I.
J E 2
Ifi
P A R
Parhelio-i. In the interfeflion of this circle, and the outward iris
L ' ' GKI, there broke out two parhelia or mock funs N
and K, not quite perfect; K being rather weak, but
N (hone brighter and ftronger. The brightnefs of the
middle of them was fometking like tliat of the fun ; but
towards the edges they were tinged with colours like
thofe of the rainbow ; and they were uneven and ragged.
The parhelion N was a little wavering, and font out a
fpiked tail, NP, of a colour fomewhat fiery, the length
of which was continually changing. ,
The parhelia at L and M in the horizontal ring
were not fo bright as the former •, but -were rounder,
and white, like the circle in which they were placed.
The parhelion N difappeared before K ; and while M
grew fainter, K grew brighter, and varnifhed the laft
of all.
It is to be obferved farther, that the order of the co¬
lours in the.circles DEF, GKN, was the fame as in
the common halos, namely, red next the fun ; and the
diameter of the inner circle was aifo about 45 degrees j
which is the ufual lize of a halo.
The reverend Dr Hamilton font the following ac¬
count of parhelia, letn at Cookitown, to the Royal irifh
Academy.
“ Wednefday, September 24th, 1783, as I was pre¬
paring to obferve the fun palling the meridian, before
the firft limb touched the centre wire, it was oblcured
by a dark well defined cloud, about 1c0 in diameter.
Upon going to the door of the tranfit room, to fee if
it was likely foon to pafs off the difk of the fun, I ob¬
ferved the following phenomena: From the weitern edge
of the cloud iffued a luminous arc parallel to the hori¬
zon, perfectly well defined, extending exactly to the
northern meridian •, it was about 30' broad, white, and
ended in a blunted termination. On it were two par¬
helia*, the neareft to the fun difplaying the prifmatic
colours j the remote one white, and both ill d. fined. In
a fhort time the cloud had paffed off, and (bowed the
luminous almucantar, reaching perfect to the true fun.
While things were thus fituated, I meafured with an
accurate fextant the difiances of the parhelia ; I found
the coloured one 26°, the remoter one 90°, from the true
fun. Jufi as I had done this, a new and prifmatic circle
furrounded the fun immediately with the prifmalic par¬
helion. And now another coloured parhelion appeared
on the eaftern board.—The fextant with its face up and
down, exadlly meafured this and the former at the ori¬
ginal diftance of 26° ; the luminous almucantar ftill re¬
maining perfeft. In about 10 or 12 minutes whitifh
hazy clouds came on, and obfcured all thefe uncommon
appearances.—I did not obferve that the atmofpherical
phenomena before or after were at all unc ommon. The
wind a light breeze at SSW. Bar. 29. 6. rifing. Ther¬
mometer 550.
Ug- *• In fig. 2. SM reprefents the fouth meridian *, NM
the north meridian ; PP the prifmatic circle, with two
prifinatic funs or parhelia, at 26° diftance on each fide
the true fun *, W the white parhelion, at 90° difiance
from the true fun ; LA the luminous almucantar ; and
HO the horizon.
Various hypothefes have been framed by philofophers
to account for this phenomenon, particularly by M.
Marriotte, Defcartes, and Huygens. None of them,
however, are fatisfaftory : but thofe readers who wifh
to become -.acquainted with them may conlulfc Huy-
P A R
gens’s Differtation on this fubjedt, in Smith’s Optics, Parhelion
book i. ch. xi. Mufchenbroeck’s Introdudtion, &c. I|
vol. xi. p. 1038, &c. 4I.0. j but efpecially Dr Prieft- , ^arias-
ley’s Hifiory of Vifion, Light, and Colours, vol. ii. p.
6x3, &c.
PARI A, or New Andalusia, a country of Terra
Firma in South America *, bounded on the north by the
north fea *, on the eaft by Surinam *, on the wefi by
New Granada and the Caraccas. and on the fouth
by Guiana. It produces colouring drugs, gums, me¬
dicinal roots, Brazil wood, iugar, tobacco, and fome
valuable timber; the inland parts being woody and
mountainous, but interfperfed with fine valleys that
yield corn and pafturage. Comana is the capital
town.
PARIAN Chronicle. See dRundelian Mar-
b/es, and Parian CHRONICLE.
Under the article Parian CHRONICLE, we have been
as full as the fubjedt feemed to require, or as the nature
of our work would admit. It is unneceffary, therefore,
to refume it in this place. Such ot our readers, how¬
ever, as with for lurfiler information on this lubjtfl:
(which is equally interefiing to the feholar and to the
amiquarian) we mutt refer to Robertlon’s attack upon
their authenticity, and to Gough’s learned and judicious
vindication of the authenticity, publithed in Archceologm
for 1789 The extent of his learning, and the lolidity
of his arguments, appear upon the whole to outweigh
the objections of his fenfible and plaufible opponent.
Hewlett’s book upon the fame fide of the qucition may
command fome degree of attention. It is ingenious.
See Sandwich Marble.
Parian Marble, among the ancients, the white mar¬
ble ufed by them, and to this day, for carving ftatues,
&c. and called by us at this \\me Jlatuary marble.
Too many of the later writers have confounded all
the white marbles under the name of the Parian ; and
among the workmen, this and all the other white
marbles have the common name of alabajlers ; fo that
it is in general forgotten among them, that there is fuch
a thing as alabafter different from marble ; which, how¬
ever, is truly the cafe. Almoft all the world alfo have
confounded the Carrara marble with this, though they
are really very different ; the. Carrara kind being of a
finer texture and clearer white than the Parian ; but lefs ,
bright and fplendid, harder to cut, and not capable of
fo glittering a polifh.
The true Parian marble has ufually fomew hat of a
faint bluifii tinge among the white, and often has blue
veins in different parts of it. It is fuppofed by fome to
have had its name from the ifland Paros f, one. of the ^ See pa.
Cyclades in the Aegean fea, where it was firft found ; r0s.
but others will have it to have been fo called from
Agoracritus Parius, a famous ftatuary, who ennobled it
by cutting a fiatue of Venus in it.
PARI AS, or Perreas, a tribe of Hindoos, fo pe¬
culiarly diftinguifiitd from all others, that they live by
themfelves in the outfkirts of towns ; and, in the coun¬
try, build their houfes apart from the villages, or rather
have villages of their own, furnifiied with wells ; for 3^. Unfa-
they dare not fo much as fetch water from thofe which 77^. v. 5.
other families make ufe of; and, left thefe latter thould
inadvertently go to one of theirs, they are obliged to
featter the bones of dead cattle about their wells, that
they may be know’n, Uhey dare not in cities pafs
through.
t 772 1
PAR [ 773 ] PAR
Farias, through the firects where the Bramins live j nor fet foot
—v in the villages where they dwell.—They are likewiie
forbidden to enter a temple, either of their god Wilt-
now or Efwara •, becaufe they are held impure. They
get their bread by fowing, digging, and building the
walls of mud houfes; molt oi thole inhabited by the
common people being raifed by thefe Parias ; who alfo
do fueh kinds of dirty work as other people do not care
to meddle with. Nor is their diet much more cleanly ;
for they do not fcruple to eat cows, horfes, fowl, or other
carrion, which die of themfelves, and are even putrid.
One would fcaree imagine, that contentions for prece¬
dency Ihould ever enter into the thoughts of a people
who have renounced all cleanlinefs, and, like fwine, w al¬
low in filth } and yet pride has divided the Parias into
two clafl'es : the firli are fimply called Parias, the other
Seriperes. The employment of thefe latter is to go
about felling leather, which they drels alfo to make
bridles, and fueh kind of things : fome of them like-
wile ferve for foldiers. The Parias, w ho reckon them¬
felves the better family, will not eat in the lioufe of the
Seriperes •, but the Seri peres will readily eat with the
Parias. For this reafon they are obliged to pay them
refpeft, by lifting their hands aloft, and Handing up¬
right before them. Thefe Seriperes. when they marry,
cannot fet up a pandcl, a kind of garland, before their
doo^s, made with more than three flakes or trees •, ihould
they exceed that number, the whole city would be in
motion. The Seriperes are likewife fubjeff to fome fort
of flavery •, for when any.perfon of credit or authority
dies in the families of the Komitis, Sittis, Palis, farriers,
or goldfmiths, and the friends have a mind to be at the
expence of fome clothes to give the Seriperes, thefe lat¬
ter mult fuffer their beards to be (haven ; and W'hen the
corpfe is carried out of town to be burned or interred,
they muft do that office *, for which each receives a fa-
num, or one piece and a half of filver, worth three fous
, and a half. Thefe are the fame fort of people who are
called at Surat Ha/a/chors ; that is, in the Perfian lan¬
guage, “ eat-alls, or eaters at large.” Nothing can of¬
fend an Hindoo more than to be called a Halalchor : yet
thefe poor people are not offended, cringe and bow to
all they pafs, and go through their drudgery without
noife or concern.
The Parias are very vicious, ftupid, and ignorant, oc-
cafioned by their wretched way of life : The Bramins
and nobility (liun them as if they had the plague, and
look on the meeting a Parias as the greateft misfortune.
To come near one of them is a fin, to touch them a fa-
crilege. If a Parias were dying, it is infamy to vifit
him, or to give him the leaft affiftance, in the utmoft
danger or diffrefs. A Bramin who unavoidably fhould
touch a Parias, immediately wafhes himfelf from the im¬
purity. Even their fhadow and breath being reckon¬
ed contagious, they are obliged to live on the eait fide
of their towns, that the wefterly winds which prevail in
this coui^ry may keep back their breath. And it is
lawful for a Bramin to kill one of thefe unhappy crea¬
tures, if he does not avoid it by getting out of his way :
In (hurt, they think them reprobated by God, and be¬
lieve the fouls of the damned enter into the Parias, to be
punilhed for their crimes.—Yet the million have found
among thefe dregs of the people very aftive zealous ca-
techilfs, who by their labours have very much contribu¬
ted to the converfion of their countrymen, particularly
2
one Rajanaiken a Paria foldier, who, of all the inferior Parias
miffionaries, has diftinguithed himfelf moft by his labours I*,
and iunerings. >
PARIETALIA ossa. See Anatomy Index.
PARIETARIA, Pelluort of the Wall. A
genus of plants belonging to the polygamia elafs •, and
in the natural method ranking under the 53d order,
ScahruLv. See Botany Index.
PARIETES, in Anatomy, 2. term ufed for the enclo-
fures or membranes that (top up or clofe the hollow parts
of the body j efpecially thofe of the heart, the thorax,
&c. The parietes of the two ventricles of the heart
are of unequal ftrength and thicknefs ; the left exceed¬
ing the right, becaufe of its office, which is to force the
blood through all parts of the body j whereas the right
only drives it through the lungs.
PARIS, Matthew, one of our beft hiftorians from
William the Conqueror to the latter end of the reign of
Henry III. but of his life few particulars have been
tranfmitted to us. Leland his original biographer, with¬
out determining whether he was born in France or Eng¬
land, informs us, that he was a monk of St Alban’s,
and that he was fent by Pope Innocent to reform the
monks of the convent at Holm in Norway. Bifliop
Bale, the next in point of time, adds to the above rela¬
tion, that, on account of his extraordinary gifts of body
and mind, he was much elteemed, particularly by King
Henry HI who commanded him to write the hiltory
of his reign. Fuller makes him a native of Cambridge-
finire, becaufe there was an ancient family of his name
in that county. He alfo mentions his being fent by the
pope to vifit the monks in the diocefe of Norwich.
Biihop Tanner, Bifhop Nicholfon, Dodlor I3u Pin, and
the Nouveau Ditlionnaire Hijiorique, add not a fingle
fa£t to thofe above related. Mattlu w Paris died in the
monaftery of St Alban’s in the year 1259. He was
doubtlefs a man of extraordinary knowledge for the 13th
century •, of an excellent moral character, and, as an hif-
torian, of drift integrity. His dyle is unpolifhed but
that defeft is fufficiently atoned for by the honed free¬
dom with which he relates the truth, regardlefs of the
dignity or ianftity of the perfons concerned. Hrs works
are, 1. Hijlona ab Adamo ad Conquef.um Anglia, Lib.
I. manufeript, col. C. C. Cantab, c. ix. Mod of this
book is tranferibed, by Matthew of Wed minder* into
the fird part of his Florilegium. 2. Hifloria major, feu
rerum Anglicanarum hijloria a Gul. Conquejloris adven-
tu ad annum 43 Henna III. &e. fevcral times printed.
The fird part of this hidory, viz. to the year 1235, is
tranferibed aimed verbatim from the Chronicle of Ro¬
ger Wendover; and the Appendix, from the year 1 260,
is the work of William Radiinger, who was alfo a
monk of St Alban’s. 3. Vila duorum Of arum, Mer¬
cia regum, S. Albani fundatorum. 4. Gefa 22 abba-
tum S. Album. 5. Additamenta chronicorum ad hijl.
majorem; printed. 6. Hiforia minor,fve epitome ma-
joris hijloria ; manufeript. Befides many other things,
in manufeript.
Paris, fon of Priam, king of Troy, by Hecuba, al¬
fo named Alexander. He was decreed, even before his
birth, to become the ruin of his country ; and when his
mother, in the fird months of her pregnancy, had dream¬
ed that (he (hould bring forth a torch which would fet
fire to her palace, the foothfoyers foretold the calamities
which were to be expefted from the imprudence of hep
future
p A R . [ 77
Paris, future Ton, and which would end in the ruin of Troy.
" 1 ' Priam, to prevent fo great and fo alarming an evil, or¬
dered his Have Archelaus to deftroy the child as foon as
he was born. The flave, either touched with humanity,
or influenced by Hecuba, did not obey, but was fatisfied
to expofe the child on Mount Ida, where the fhepherds
of the place found him, and educated him as their own.
Some attribute the prefervation of his life, before he was
found by the thepherds, to the motherly tendernefs of a
Ihe bear who fuckled him. Young Paris, though edu¬
cated among fhepherds and peafants, gave very early
proofs of courage and intrepidity $ and from his care in
protecting the flocks of Mount Ida from the rapacity of
the wild beafts, he was named Alexander, “ helper or
defender.” He gained the elteem of all the ftiepherds j
and his graceful countenance and manly deportment
recommended him to the favours of Oenone, a nymph
of Ida, whom he married, and with whom he lived
with the molt perfeCt tendernefs. Their conjugal peace
was, however, of no long duration. At the marriage
of Peleus and Thetis, the goddefs of difcord, who had
not been invited to partake of the entertainment, {howed
her difpleafure, by throwing into the aflembly of the
gods who were at the celebration of the nuptials, a gol¬
den apple, on which were written the words Detur pul-
chriori. All the goddefies claimed it as their own j the
contention at firfl: became general *, but at lafl: only
three, Juno, Venus, and Minerva, wifhed to difpute their
refpeftive right to beauty. The gods, unwilling to be¬
come arbiters in an affair fo tender and fo delicate in its
nature, appointed Paris to adjudge the prize of beauty
to the faireif of the goddefles $ and indeed the Ihepherd
feemed fufficiently qualified to decide fo great a contefl:,
as his wifdom was fo well eftabliflied, and his prudence
and fagacity fo well known. The goddelfes appeared
before their judge without any covering or ornament,
and each endeavoured by promifes and entreaties to gain
the attention of Paris, and to influence his judgment.
Juno promifed him a kingdom; Minerva military glory $
and Venus the fairefi: woman in the w'orld for his wife,
as Ovid exprefles it, Hejiod 17. v. 118.
Unaque cum regnum ; belli daret altera laudem ;
Tijndaridis conjux, tertia dixit, eris.
After he had heard their feveral claims and promifes,
Paris adjudged the prize to Venus, and gave her the
golden apple, to which perhaps flie feemed entitled as
the goddefs of beauty. This decifion of Paris drew up¬
on the judge and his family the refentment of the two
other goddefles. Soon after, Priam propofed a contefl;
among his fons and other princes, and promifed to re¬
ward the conqueror with one of the fineft bulls of Mount
Ida. His emiflaries were fent to procure the animal,
and it was found in the pofleflion of Paris, who reluc¬
tantly yielded it. The fhepherd was anxious to regain
his favourite, and he went to Troy and entered the lifts
of the combatants. He was received with the greateft
applaufe, and obtained the victory over his rivals, Neftor
the fon of Neleus, Cyenus fon of Neptune, Polites, He-
lenus, and Deiphobus, fons of Priam. He likewife ob¬
tained a fuperiority over Heft or himfelf; which prince,
enraged to fee himfelf conquered by an unknown ftran-
ger, purfued him clofely j and Paris muft have fallen a
viftim to his brother’s rage, had he not fled to the altar
of Jupiter. This facred retreat preferved his life $ and
3
4 ] PAR
Caflandra the daughter of Priam, ftruck with the fimi- Paris,
larity of the features of Paris with thofe of her brothers,v—
enquired his birth and age. From thefe circumftances
Are foon difcovered that he was her brother, and as fuch
fire introduced him to her father and to her brothers.
Priam acknowledged Paris as his fon, forgetful of the
alarming dreams which had caufed him to meditate his
death, and all jealoufy ceafed among the brothers. Paris
did not long fuffer himfelf to remain inactive; he equip¬
ped a fleet, as if willing to redeem Hefione his father’s
lifter, whom Hercules had carried away and obliged to
marry Telamon the fon of Aiacus. This was the pre¬
tended motive of his voyage, but the caufes were far
different. Paris remembered that he was to be the huf-
band of the faireft of women; and, if he had been led
to form thofe expectations while he wras an obfcure fhep-
herd of Ida, he had now every plaufible reafon to fee
them realized, fince he was the acknowledged fon of the
king of Troy. Helen was the faireft woman of the
age, and Venus had promifed her to him. On thefe
grounds, therefore, he went to Sparta, the refidence of
Helen, who had married Menelaus. He was received
with great refpeft ; but he abufed the hofpitality of
Menelaus, and while the hufband was abfent in Crete,
Paris perfuaded Helen to elope with him, and to fly to
Alia. Helen confented ; and Priam received her into
his palace without difficulty, as his filler was then de¬
tained in a foreign country, and as he wilhed to fhow
himfelf as hoftile as polfible to the Greeks. This affair
was foon productive of ferious confequenccs. When
Menelaus had married Helen, all her fuitors had bound
themfelves by a folemn oath to protedl her perfon, and
therefore the injured hufband reminded them of their
engagements, and called upon them to recover her.
Upon this all Greece took up arms in the caufe of
Menelaus ; Agamemnon was chofen general of all
the combined forces, and a regular Avar Avas begun.
Paris, meamvhile, avIio had refufed Helen to the peti¬
tions and embaffies of the Greeks, armed himfelf, Avith
his brothers and fubjeCls, to oppofe the enemy ; but the
fuccefs of the war Avas neither hindered nor accelerated
by his means. He fought with little courage, and at
the very fight of Menelaus, Avhom he had fo recently
injured, all his refolution vanilhed, and he retired from
the front of the army, Avhere he Avalked before like a
conqueror. In a combat Avith Menelaus, Avbich he un¬
dertook by means of his brother HeClor, Paris muft
have perilhed, had not Venus interfered, and ftolen him
from the refentment of his antagonift. He Avounded,
hoAvever, in another battle, Machaon, Euryphilus, and
Diomedes ; and, according to fome opinions, he killed
Avith one of his arroAVS the great Achilles.
The death of Paris is differently related: fome fay
that he Avas mortally Avounded by one of the arroAvs of
PhiloCletes, Avhich had been once in the poffelfion of
Hercules ; and that when he found himfelf languid on
account of his Avounds, he ordered himfelf to Ifc carried
to the feet of Oenone, Avhom he had bafely abandoned,
and Avho in the years of his obfeurity had foretold him
that he A\muld folicit her alfiftance in his dying moments.
He expired before he came into the prefence of Oeno¬
ne ; and the nymph, Hill mindful of their former loves,
threAv herfelf upon his body, and {tabbed herfelf to the
heart, after Ihe had plentifully bathed it Avith her tears.
According to others, Paris did not immediately go to
PAR [ 775 ] PAR
Paris. Troy when lie left the Peloponnefus, but he was driven
on the coafts of Egypt, where Proteus, who was king
of the country, detained him; and when he heard of
the violence which had been offered to the king of Spar¬
ta, he kept Helen at his court, and permitted Paris 1o
retire. Whatever was the mode of his death, it took
place, we are told, about 1188 B. C. See Troy, &c.
Paris, the capital of the kingdom of France, is
fituated on the river Seine, in the Ille of France, being
one of the largeft and fineft cities in Europe. It deri¬
ved its modern name from the ancient Parifii; and is
fuppofed by fome to have had the Latin name of Lute¬
tian from Lutum, “ mud,” the place where it now ftands
having been anciently very marlhy and muddy. Ever
lince the reign of Hugh Capet, that is, for near 800
years, this city has been the ufual refidence of the kings
of France j it is of a circular form, and, including the
fuburbs, about five French leagues, or 15 Englifh miles,
in circumference. The number of its inhabitants is
computed at about 800,000; that of its ftreets 912;
and that of its houfes upwards of 20,000, exclufive of
the public ftruftures of all forts. Its greateft defeft,
according to fome, is the want of good drinking water;
but others tell us, that very fine water is brought by an
aqueduct from the village of Arcueil, not far from Pa¬
ris, but own that the water of the Seine, and the city,
is not good. The ftreets are of a proper breadth, well
built, paved, and lighted. There is a great number of
tribunals, and offices here ; moft of which are kept in
the Palais, fituated on an ifland, to which it gives name.
The number of churches, convents, hofpitals, market
places, fountains, gates, and bridges, in this city is very
great; befides the unirerfity, feveral academies, public
libraries, royal palaces and caftles, and above 100 hotels,
fome of them very ftately. But to be more particular,
that part called la Cite, lies in the centre, and confifts of
three iflands formed by the Seine, viz.'L’Ifle de Palais,
L’lfie de Notre Dame, and L’lfle Louviers. It is the
principal of the three parts into which the city is divi¬
ded, and contains the following remarkable ftrudtures :
I. Several bridges; of which fome are of wood and
others of ftone, and have moft of them a row of houfes
on each fide. The chief of thefe are the Pont-neuf and
Pont-royal: the firft confifts of 1 2 arches, which, pro¬
perly fpeaking, make two bridges, the one leading from
the fuburb of St Germain to the city, and the other
from thence to that part called la Ville : there is a car¬
riage way in the middle 30 feet broad, and footwalks on
each fide, raifed two feet high; and in the centre ftands
a brafs ftatue of King Henry IV. on horfeback. On
this bridge is alfo the building called La Samaritaine,
from a group of figures upon it reprefenting our Saviour
and the Samaritan woman, Handing near Jacob’s well.
Here is a pump to raife the water, which through feve¬
ral pipes fupplies the quarter of the Louvre, and fome
other parts of the town. The Pont-royal, which leads
to the Thuilleries, ivas built by order of Lewis XIV.
in the room of a wooden bridge that was carried away
by the current in 1684. 2. The cathedral of Notre
Dame, or our Lady, being dedicated to the Holy Vir¬
gin, which is a large ftately Gothic ftrufture, faid to
have been founded by King Childeric, and built in the
form of a crofs. Here, befides other great perfonages,
are interred the cardinals de Retz and Noailles. From
the two fquare towers belonging to it, is a noble profpeft
of the city and neighbouring country. Here is a vaft
quantity of gold and filver plate, rich tapeftry, and fine
paintings; and the number of the canons is no lefs than
50. Near it ftands the palace of the archbiffiop, in
which is the advocates library: the revenue of the arch¬
biffiop amounts to about 180,000 livres: and his taxa¬
tion to the court of Rome is 4283 guilders. 3. The
priory and pariffi church of St Bartholomew; the laft
of which is the moft beautiful in all this part of the ci¬
ty, and ftands near the Palais. 4. The Palais, which
gives name to an ifland, and in which the parliament,
with a great many other courts, are held. It was an¬
ciently the refidence of the kings; but was given to the
officers of juftice by Philip the Fair, who aifo fettled the
parliament here in 1302. The parliament, confifting of
feveral chambers, each of which has its department, is
opened the day after Martinmas with a folemn mafs, ce¬
lebrated by a biffiop, and continues fitting till the 8th
of September, when a vacation chamber is appointed
during the interval, for criminal caufes, and others , which
require difpatch. The jurifdiftion of this court is of
great extent. There is a beautiful chapel belonging to
the Palais: in which is alfo the prifon, or jail, for
the jurifdiftion of the parliament, called in French
La Conciergerie. 5. The Hotel Dieu, the moft ancient
and largeft hofpital in Paris, in which 8000 fick and
infirm poor are taken care of, and attended by the nuns
of the order of St Auguftine. 6. The hofpital of St
Catharine, where poor women and maidens are enter¬
tained three days, and attended by the above-mentioned
nuns. y. The Grande Chatelet, where fome of the in¬
ferior courts of juftice hold their feffions. 8. Fort PE-
veque, in which is the mint and a prifon. It ftands in
or near the ftreet La Ferrionere, in which Henry IV.
was {tabbed by Ravilliac. 9. St Germain I’Auxerrois,
which is called the rotjalpalace church; becaufe the
palaces of the Louvre and Thuilleries ftand in its pa¬
riffi. 10. The Louvre, an ancient royal palace, of
which a part was rebuilt by Lewis XIV. Had it been
completed on the fame plan, it would have been a moft
magnificent ftru&ure. On one of its gates is the fol¬
lowing infcription, Dum totum impleat orbem; the
meaning of which is, “ May it laft till the owner of
it hath extended his fway over the whole world:” which
implies what the French kings have conftantly aimed'
at. Another infcription Ihows, at the fame time, the
vanity of the nation, and their abjeft flattery of their
grand monarque. It may be rendered in Engliffi
thus :
Louvre is a palace for great Louis fit :
God him alone exceeds, as heaven does it.
This palace is joined to the Thuilleries by a gallery,
in which are 180 models of fortreffes, fome fituated in
France, and fome in other countries, executed with
the utmoft accuracy. Here is a valuable celleftion
of paintings, the king’s printing houfe, the mint where
the king’s medals are ftruck, together with a prodi¬
gious quantity of ricli tapeftry hangings, and a col-
le&ion of ancient arms, among which are thofe worn
by Francis I. at the famous battle of Pavia. Here
alfo the French academy, the academy of infcriptions
and belles lettres, the royal academy of fciences, the
academy of painting and fculpture, and the royal aca¬
demy of archite&ure, have their meetings. The firft
of
P A R f 776 ] PA R
of thefe was founded for the improvement of the French
language *, and as for the others, their names explain
the deiign of their inftitution. 11. Le Palais Royal,
which was built by Cardinal Richelieu, in the year
1636, and belongs to the duke of Orleans. It is faid
to contain pictures to the value of four millions of
livres, which were purchafed by the regent of that
title, and of which a part belonged to Chriftina queen
of Sweden. 12. The palace of the Thuilleries, fo called
from a tile or brick kiln which flood there formerly.
This palace, as we obferved above, communicates with
the Louvre by a gallery. Behind it are exceeding
pleafant gardens, adorned with fine walks, planted with
evergreens and other trees, and with beautiful par¬
terres, where are to be feen, all the year round, every
Rower according to its feafon. There are alfo three
fine fountains in the garden, and a canal. Behind the
Thuilleries, on the bank of the river, are pleafant walks,
compofed of four rows of lofty elms, to which vaft
crowds of people refort in the fine weather, as well as
to the gardens. In the palace is a fpacious and mag¬
nificent theatre •, and hard by it are the Elyfian fields,
where a furprifing number of coaches are to be feen in
fair weather ; not far off is the church of St Roche,
where the celebrated poet Corneille is interred. 1,3. La
place de Louis le Grand, a very beautiful fquare, in
the centre of which is an equeftrian ftatue of that
king, which is juftly accounted a mafterpiece. jq. The
Place or Square des Viftoires, which is round, and
contains a ftatue of Louis XIV. of gilt brafs, erefled
to him by the duke de la Feuillade, with this infcrip-
tion, Vira immortali. 15. The Royal Library in the
Rue Vivien, which contains 94,000 printed books,
30,000 manufcripts, and a prodigious colleftion of cop¬
perplates and medals. Near this, in the churchyard of
St Jofeph, lies the famous comic poet Moliere. 16. The
parifh church of St Euftace, which ftands in the quar¬
ter of the fame name, and contains the tomb of the great
minifter Colbert. 1 7. The gate of St Dennis, which
was eredled as a triumphal arch in honour of Louis XIV.
18. The gate of St Martin, eredled al fo inform of a trium¬
phal arch, in honour of the fame king. Not far from
hence, in the churchyard of St Nicholas des Champs,
Peter Gaffendi, and other learned men are buried. 19. La
Greve, an open place, where all public rejoicings are
celebrated, and malefadlors executed. 20. The Hotel de
Ville, which is a large-building of Gothic architefture,
though adorned with columns of the Corinthian order.
21. The arfenal in the quarter of St Paul, confifting of
many fpacious buildings1, among which are a foundery,
and a houfe for making faltpetre. Here is a mufque-
toon of two barrels, which it is faid will pierce a thick
board 'at the diftance of fix miles ; and for difeerning
an object at that diftance, has a telefcope fixed to the
barrel. 22. The Baftile, now demolifhed, was a kind of
fortrefs like the Tower of London, and ufed as a prifon for
ftate criminals, and for fuch as were taken up by lettres de
cachet, i. e. by warrants figned by the king, and fealed.
23. Le Temple, a commandery of the knights of Malta,
which gives name to a quarter, wherein, being a pri¬
vileged place, artificers that are not freemen may carry
on their bufinefs without moleftation. The Temple is
the r< licence of the grand prior of the French nation.
24. That formerly called La Maifov profefle des Jefuites,
in the quarter of St Anthony, in the church of w'hich
the hearts of Louis XIII. and XIV. are preferved, Paris,
each in a calket of gold, fupported by two angels of —-y—
maffy filver, and as big as the life, hovering with ex¬
panded wings. In the fame quarter is a fine broking
glafs rnanufaflure, where above 300 perfons are employ¬
ed in polifhing plates call at St Gobin 5 with a convent
of Francifcans, the monks of which are called Pique
puces, for Prick fleas.
In that part of the city called the XJniverflty, the
principal places are,
1. The univerfity, which gives name to it, and whicli
was firft founded, as it is faid, by Charles the Great ;
all the arts and fciences are taught here, particularly
law, phyfic, and divinity. There are above 40 col¬
leges ; of which the chief are thofe of Sorbonne, of
Navarre, of the faculty of phyfic, and of the four na¬
tions j but leftures are read only in eleven of them.
The head of the univerfity is the reeftor, who is cho-
fen every three months, but fometimes is continued fe-
veral years. All the profeffors have fettled falaries j
the whole annual income of the univerfity amounting,
it is faid, to about 30,000 Hvres. 2. The Gobelins,
a houfe or palace, where a great number of ingenious
arlifts, in various manufa61ures and handicrafts, are
employed by the government. The moft curious ta-
peftry of all forts is made here. 3. The General Hof-
pital, a moft noble foundation for the poor of the fe¬
male fex, near 7000 objefts being taken care of and
provided for. The fick are carefully tended j and thofe
that are in health are obliged to work; different wards
being allotted for foundlings, for girls who few or knit, -
proftitutes, idiots, and poor women : of the laft, fome
are kept gratis, and others pay a fmall matter. In
the caftle of Bic$tre, belonging to this hofpital, and
confifting of many large buildings, are near 4000 per¬
fons of the other fex, among which are perfons difor-
dered in their fenfes, and fuch as are afflifled with the
venereal difeafe. To this hofpital are alfo fent child¬
ren who abufe their parents, and lead diffolute lives.
The fund for the maintenance of it, and the hofpilal
de la Pitie, where poor children are brought up, to¬
gether with the Hotel Dieu, amounts to about two
millions of livres per annum. 4. The King’s Phyfic
Garden, in wThich are an infinite variety of plants and
trees, a certain fum being allotted by the king for
keeping the garden in order, and improving it, and
for lectures on botany, anatomy, chemiftry, and the
materia medica. A curious colleflion of natural eu-
riofities is kept here. 5. The abbey of St Vidtor, in
which is a public library, containing fome very an¬
cient and fcarce books, feveral curious manuferipts,
and a prodigious coliedlion of maps and copperplates.
6. The College of Phyficians, to which belong five
profeffors. 7. The Little Chatelet, an old fortrefs,
now ufed for a prifon. 8. The Rue St Jacques, chief¬
ly inhabited by bookfellers. -q. The Royal College,
and that of Louis the Great : to the former belong
twelve profeffors. 10. The abbey of St Genevieve,
in which is the marble monument of King Clovis, the
ftirine of St Genevieve, a large library, with a cabi¬
net of antiquities and natural curiofities. 11. The
Royal Obfervaiory, a moft ftately edifice, built on the
higheft part of the city. Several aftronomers are main¬
tained here by the king. 12. The Royal Academy of
Surgery, inilituted in 1721. l3.The Convent of Fran¬
cifcans.
PAR
Pan?,
Parifli.
eifcans, in the quarter of St Andrew, the richeft in
France. In the fame quarter are feme remains of the
palace of Julian the Apoftate, in which Childebert, and
fume other kings of the Franks, afterwards refided.
14. The Playhoufe. 15. The Convent of Carthufians,
in the quarter of Luxemburgh, containing fine paintings.
16. The palace of Luxemburgh or Orleans, a magnifi¬
cent ftru&ure, containing alfo fome fine paintings by
Rubens, and embellifiied with a noble garden. In the
Hotel des Ambaffadeurs, ambafladors extraordinary are
entertained for three days, and thofe of remote countries
all the time they day at Paris. 17. The Abbey
of St German des Prez, which contains a very valu¬
able library, the manuferipts alone making 8oco vo¬
lumes : here alfo is a cabinet of antiquities. 18 The
Hotel Royal des Invalides, erefled by Louis XIV. in
which lame and fuperannuated officers and foldiers are
maintained. The buildings take up no lefs than 17
acres. The number of common foldiers here amount
to about 3000, and of officers to about 500. The cha¬
pel is very magnificent. Hard by is a military acade¬
my, in which 500 young gentlemen are inftrudded in
the art of Avar.
Our readers from the above account will be able to
conceive what Paris was. For an account of the changes
which have taken place in that city during the progrefs
of the revolution, fee France ; and for a more par¬
ticular detail of thofe events we mull refer to the nume¬
rous works which have appeared fince the peace of A-
miens, in the form of tours and defcriptions, fome of
which are in the hands of every reader.
Paris, Herb Paris, or True love, a genus of plants
belonging to the oftandria clafs, and in the natural me¬
thod ranking under the I Ith order, Sarmentacece. See
Botany Index.
Herb PABIS of Canada, a genus of plants belonging
to the hexandria clafs. See Irillium, Botany Index.
P/aJler of Paris, or Stucco, or Parget of Montmar¬
tre, the firll and the lad name being derived from the
place where it is found in great abundance, is a fubftance
compofed of lime and fulphuric acid, which on account
of its property of rapidly abforbing water, after being
calcined, is much employed in making calls and models.
See Gypsum, Mineralogy and Geology Index.
PARISH, the precina of a parochial church, or a
circuit of ground inhabited by people who belong to
one church, and are under the particular charge of its
minilter.
The word comes from the Latin parochia, the Greek
Tretgoitux, habitation; compounded of near, and
houfe.—Accordingly Du Cange obferves, that the
name was anciently given to the whole teni-
torv of a biffiop, and derives it from neighbourhood; be-
caufe the primitive Chriflians, not daring to aflemble
openly in cities, were forced to meet fecretly in neigh¬
bouring houfes.
In the ancient church there was one large edifice in
each city for the people to meet in ; and this they
called parochia. “ Pariffi.” But the fignification of the
word was afterwards enlarged, and by a pariffi was
meant a diocefe, or the extent of the jurifdnRion of a
biffiop, confifting of feveral churches, unlefs we will
fuppofe, as fome do, that thofe biffiops were only paf-
tors of fingle churches. Du Pin obferves, that country
Vol. XV. Part II.
[ 777 1
PAR
pariffies had not their origin before the 4th century ;
but thofe of cities are more ancient. The city of Al¬
exandria is faid to have been the firft that was divided
into parilhes.
Of the firft divifion of pariffies there is no certain
information j for in the early ages of Chriftianity in
this ifland, pariffies were unknown, or at leal! fignified
the fame that a diocefe now does. There was then no
appropriation of ecclefiaftieal dues to any particular
church ; but every man was at liberty to contribute
his tithes to any prieft or church he pleafed, but he
v'as obliged to do it to fome •, or if he made no fpe-
cial appropriation thereof, they were paid to the bilhop,
whofe duty it was to diftribute them among the clergy,
and for other pious purpofes, according to his own dil-
cretion. Camden fays England was divided into pa¬
riffies by Archbiffiop Honorius about the year 630. Sir
Henry Hobart maintains that parifties were firft erecled
by the council of Lateran, held A. D. 1179*
Selden proves, that the clergy liYed in common without
any divifion of parifties, long after the time mentioned
by Camden ; and it appears from the Saxon laws, that
parifties were in being long before the council of Lattv
ran in 1179. The diftinftion of parifties occurs in the
laws of King Edgar, about the year 970. It feems
pretty clear and certain, fays Judge Blackftone (Com.
vol. i. p. 112.) that the boundaries of pariffies were firft
afeertained by thofe of a manor or manors 5 becaufe it
very feldom happens that a manor extends itfelf over
more than one pariffi, though there are olten many ma¬
nors in one pariffi. The lords, he adds, as Chriftianity
fpread, began to build churches upon their own de-
mefnes or waftes, in order to accommodate their tenants
in one or two adjoining lordffiips ; and that they might
have divine fervice regularly performed therein, obliged
all their tenants to appropriate their tithes to the main¬
tenance of the one officiating minifter, inftead of leaving,
them at liberty to diftribute them among the clergy of
the diocefe in general ; and this tra£l of land, the tithes
of which were fo appropriated, formed a diftind parifti 3
and this accounts for the frequent intermixture of pa*
riffies one with another. For if a lord had a parcel of
land detached from the main of his eft ate, but not fuf-
ficient to form a pariffi of itfelf, it was natural for him
to endow his newly ereded church with the tithes of
fuch lands. Extra-parochial waftes and marffi lands,
when improved and drained, are by 17 Geo. II. cap.
37. to be afleffed to all parochial rates in the parifti next
adjoining. Camden reckons 9284 pariflies in England ;
and Chamberlayne makes 9913. They are now gene¬
rally reckoned about 10,000.
Parish Clerk. In every pariffi the parfon, vicar, &c,
hath a pariffi clerk under him, who is the loweft officer
of the church. Thefe were formerly clerks in orders,
and their bufinefs at firft was to officiate at the altar 3
for which they had a competent maintenance by offer¬
ings 3 but they are now laymen, and have certain tees
with the parfon on chriftenings, marriages, burials,
&.c. befides wages for their maintenance. The law
looks upon them as officers for life : and they are cho-
fen by the minifter of the pariffi, unlefs there is a cu-
ftom for the pariftiioners or churchwardens to choofe
them 3 in which cafe the canon cannot abrogate fuch
cuftom 3 and when chbfen it is to be fignified, and
3 F they
Parifli,
PAR [ 778 ] PAR
I'anfii tlrey are to be fworn into their oiFico by the arehdea-
P-uk con’ ^or ^ie court of king’s bench will grant a
1 , mandamus.
PARISH, in Ancient Geography, a people of Gallia
. Celtica, inhabiting the country about the Sequana and
Matrqna. Now a great part of the Hie of France.—
Parifii (Ptolemy), a people of Britain, having the Bri-
gantes to the north and weft, the German fea to the weft,
and the Coritani to the fouth, from whom they were fe-
parated by the Humber. Now HolderneJJe, a peninfula
of the eaft riding of Yorklhire.
PARISIORUM civitas. See Lutetia.
PARIUM, in Ancient Geography, a noble city of
JVIyfia Minor, with a port on the Propontis ; called
AdraJUa by Homer, according to Pliny j but Strabo di-
ftinguilhes them : according to others, the Pae/ios of
Homer. Pariani, the people (Strabo). The birthplace
of Neoptolemus furnamed Glo(fographm (Strabo). Here
flood a Cupid equal in exquihte workmanlhip to tire
Cnidian Venus.
PARK (Frenchparque, i. e. locus inelufus'), is a large
quantity of ground enclofed and privileged for wild
beafts of chafe, by the king’s grant or prefcription. See
Chase and Forest.
Manwood defines a chafe to be “ a privileged place,
for beafts of venery, ahd other wild beafts of the fo-
reft and chafe, tam fyhcftres, qutim campejlresand
difters from a chafe or warren, in that it muft be en¬
clofed : for if it lies open, it is good caufe of feizure
into the king’s hands, as a thing forfeited 5 as a free
chafe is, if it be enclofed : befides, the owner cannot
have an aftion againft fuch as hunt in his park, if it
lies open. No man can erefl a park without licenfe
under the broad leal ; for the common law does not
encourage matter of pleafure, which brings no profit
to the commonwealth. But there may be a park in
reputation ereifted Avithout any lawful warrant •, and
the owner may bring his action againft perfons killing
his deer.
To a park three things are required. 1. A grant
thereof. 2. Enclofures by pale, Avail, or hedge. 3.
Beafts of a park ; fuch as the buck, doe, &c. And
where all the deer are deftroyed, it ftiall no more be ac¬
counted a park 5 for a parr confifts of vert, venifon, and
enclofure : and if it is determined in any of them, it is a
total difparking.
Parks as well as chafes are fubject to the common
law, and are not to be governed by the foreft larvs.
Park, as connected Avith gardening. See Garden¬
ing.
A park and a garden are more nearly allied than a
* See Tarm farm and a garden *, and can therefore be accommoda-
and Gar- ted to each other without any difparagement to either.
dening. farm lofes feme of its charadleriftic properties by the
connexion, and the advantage is on the part of the gar¬
den : but a park thus bordered retains all its own excel¬
lencies •, they are only enriched, not countera£led, by
the intermixture. The moft perfeft compofition of a
place that can be imagined, confifts of a garden opening
into a park, Avith a ftiort walk through the latter to a
farm, and ways along its glades to ridings in the coun¬
try ; but to the farm and the ridings the park is no Park,
more than a paifage ; and its woods .and its buildings ^——Y—
are but circumftances in their views ; its feenes can be
communicated only to the garden.
The affinity of the tAvo objedts is fo clofe, that it
would be difticult to draw the exadt line of feparation
between them. Gardens have lately encroached very
much both in extent and in ftyle on the character of a
park but ft ill there are feenes in the one which are
out of the reach of the other. The fmall fequeftrated
fpots which are agreeable in a garden Avould be trivial
in a park 5 and the fpacious lawns which are among the
noblelt features of the latter, Avould in the former fa¬
tigue by their Avant of variety ; even fuch as, being of
a moderate extent, may be admitted into either, will
feem bare and naked, if not broken in the one 5 and
lofe much of their greatnels, if broken in the other.
The proportion of a part to the whole is a meafure of
its dimenfions : it often determines the proper fize for
an objecl, as well as the fpace fit to be allotted to a
feene ; and regulates the ftyle Avhich ought to be affign-
ed to either.
But Avhatever diftindlions the extent may occafion be- <
tween a park and a garden, a ftate of highly cultivated
nature is-confident with each of their charadlers j and
may in both be of the lame kind, though in different
degrees.
The excellencies both of a park and of a garden are
happily blended at Hagley (a), where the feenes are
equally elegant and noble. It is fituated in the midil
of a fertile and lovely country, between the Clent and
the Witchberry hills ; neither of which are within the
pale, but both belong to the place. The latter rife in
three beautiful fwells. One of them is covered Avith
Avood ; another is an open Iheep walk, Avith an obelilk
on the lummit 5 on the third, the portico of the temple
of Thefeus, exactly on the model of that of Athens,
and little lefs in the dimenfions, Hands boldly out upon
the brow, backed by the dark ground of a fir planta¬
tion, and has a moft majeftic appearance above the
deeps which fall before and befide it. The houfe is
feen to the greateft advantage from thefe eminences,
and every point of them commands feme beautiful
profpeft. Tire bufy town of Stourbridge is juft be¬
low them ; the ruins of Dudley caftle rife in the off-
fkip ; the country is full of induftry and inhabitants $
and a fmall portion of the moor, where the minerals,
manufactured in the neighbourhood, are dug, breaking
in upon the horizon, accounts for the riehnefs, without
derogating from the beauty, of the landfeape. From
the Clent hills the views are ftill greater : they extend
on one fide to the blaok mountains in Wales, a long
ridge which appears, at 60 miles diftance, in the inter¬
val between the lunwaeidy heap of the Malvern hills and
the felitary peak of the Wrekin, each 30 miles off, and
as many afunder. The fmoke of Worcefter, the churches
in Birmingham, and the houfes in Stourbridge, are di-
ftinftly vitible. The country is a mixture of hill and
dale, and ftrongly enclofed j except in one part, where
a heath, varied by rifing grounds, pieces of Avater, and
feveral obje&s, forms an agreeable contraft to the culti¬
vation
(a) Near Stourbridge, in Worcefterlhire, the feat of Lord Lyttleton.
P A R *
Park, vation which furrounds it. From the other extremity
of the Clent hills, the profpeft is lefs extenfiv'e *, but the
ground is more rude and broken ; it is often overfpread
with large and beautiful woods 5 and the view is digni¬
fied with numerous feats. The hills alfo being very ir¬
regular, large advanced promontories frequently inter¬
rupt the fight, and vary the fcene : in other parts, deep
valleys {helving down towards the country below,' exhi¬
bit the objefts there in different lights. In one of
thefe hollows is built a neat cottage, under a deep
defcent, Iheltered befides by plantations, and prefenting
ideas of retirement in the midft of fo much open ex-
pofure : from the heights above it, is feen all that view
which before was commanded from the Witchberry
hills, but which is feen here over Hagley park ; a noble
fore ground, beautiful in itfelf, and completing the land-
fcape.
The houfe, though low in the park, is yet above the
adjacent country, which it overlooks to a very diftant
horizon. It is fiirrounded by a lawn of fine uneven
grounds and diverfified with large clumps, little groups,
and Angle trees. It is open in front, but covered on one
fide by the Wkchberry hills ; on the other fide, and
behind, by the eminences in the park, which are high
and deep, and all overfpread with a lofty hanging wood.
The lawn prefiing to the foot, or creeping up the (lopes
of thefe lulls, and fometimes winding along glades into
the depth of the wood, traces a beautiful outline to a
fylvan fcene, already rich to luxuriance in maffinefs of
foliage and flatelinefs of growth.
But though the wood appears to be entire, it in rea¬
lity opens frequently into lawns, which occupy much
of the fpace within it. In the number, the variety,
and the beauty of thefe lawns, in the (hades of the re¬
paration between them, in their beauties alfo, and their
varieties, the glory of Hagley eonfifts. No two of the
openings are alike in dimenfions, in fhape, or in charac¬
ter. One is of no more than five or fix acres; another
of not lefs than fifty ; and others are of all the interme¬
diate fizes. Some ftretch out into lengthened glades ;
fome widen every way : they are again diftinguifhed by
buildings, by profpefts, and often by the fiyle only of
the plantations around them. Fire boundary of one is
defeibed by a few carelefs lines; that of another is com-
pofed of many parts, very different, and very irregular ;
and the sround is never flat, but falls fometimes in
fteep defeents, fometimes in gentle declivities, waves
along eafy fwells, or is thrown into broken inequalities,
with eiidlefs variety.
An oflagon feat, facred to the memory of Thomfon,
and erefted on his favourite fpot, {lands on the brow
of a deep •, a mead winds along the valley beneath, till
it is loll on either hand behind fome trees. Oppofite to
the feat, a noble wood crowns the top, and feathers
down to the bottom of a large oval {welling hill.
As it defeends on one fide, the diilant country becomes
the offskip. Over the fall, on the other fide, the Clent
hills appear. A dnfkv antique tower (lands juft below
them, at the extremity of the wood ; and in the midft
of it is feen a Doric portico, called Pope's Build¬
ing, with part of the lawn before it. The fcene is very
Ample : the principal features are great •, they prevail
over all the reft, and are intimately connefled with each
other.
The next opening is finall, circling about a rotunda
PAR
on a knoll, to the foot of which the ground rifes every Park¬
way. The trees which furround it are large j but their
foliage is not very thick } and their ftems appearing be¬
neath, their ramifications between the boughs are, in fo
confined a fpot, very diftinguilhed and agreeable cir-
cumftances. It is retired ; has no profpect ; no vifible
outlet but one, and that is thort and narrow, to a bridge
with a portico upon it, which terminates a piece of
water.
The grove behind the rotunda feparates this from a
large, airy, foreft glade, thinly (kirted with wood, care¬
lefs of drefs, and much overgrown with fern. The wild-
nefs is an acceptable relief in the midil of fo much ele¬
gance and improvement as reign in the neighbouring
lawns : and the place is in itfelf pleafant \ in no part
confined ; and from a Gothic feat at the end is a per-
fpective view of that wood and tower which were feen.
before in front, together with the Witchberry hills, and
a wide range of country.
The tower, which in profpe£l is always conne£led
with wood, (lands, however, on a piece of down, which
ftretches along the broad ridge of a hill, and fpreads
on each hand for fume way down the fides. Thick
groves catch the. falls. The defeent on the right is foon
ioft under the trees ; but that on the left being deeper
and Ihorter, it may be followed to the bottom. A wood
hangs on the declivity, which is continued in the val¬
ley beneath. The tower overlooks the whole : it feems
the remains of a caftle, partly entire, partly in ruins,
and partly overgrown with bathes. A finer lituation
cannot be imagined : It is placed in an expofed unfre¬
quented fpot ; commands an ex ten five profpe£l) and
is everywhere an interefting objecl.
At the end of the valley below it, in an obfeure. cor¬
ner, and (hut out from all view, is a hermitage, com-
pofed of roots and of mofs : high banks, and a thick
covert darkened with horfe chefnuts, confine the fe-
queftered fpot : a little rill trickles through it, and two
fmall pieces of water occupy the bottom. They are
feen on one fide through groups of trees 5 the other is
open, but covered with fern. This valley is the extre¬
mity of the park ; and the Clent hills rife in all their
irregularity immediately above it.
The other defeent from the caftle is a long declivi¬
ty, covered like the reft with noble woods, in which
fine lawns are again embotbmed, differing ftiil from
the former, and from each other. In one, the ground
is very rough, the boundary is much broken, and
marked only by the trunks of the trees which (hoot up
high before the branches begin. The next is more
fimple ; and the ground falls from an even brow into
one large hollow, which {lops towards tire glen, where
it finks into the covert. This has a communication
through a (hort glade, and between two groves, with
another called the Tinian lawn, from the refemblanee
which it is faid to bear to thofe of that celebrated
ifland : it is encompaffed with the ftatelieft trees, all
freth and vigorous, and fo full of leaf, that not a llem,
not a branch, appears, but large maffes of foliage only
deferibe an undulating outline •, the effe<?l, however, is
not produced by the boughs feathering down to the bot¬
tom they in appearance {hoot out horizontally, a few
feet above the ground, to a furprifing diftanee, and from
underneath an edging of {hade, into which the retreat is
immediate at every hour of the day. The verdure of
5 F 2 the
[ 779 1
Park.
PAR [ 7^0 ] PAR
the turf is as luxuriant there as m the open fpace : the
ground gently waves in both over eafy fwells and little
dips, juil: varying, not breaking, the furface. No ftrong
lines are drawn ; no ftriking objefts are admitted ; but
all is of an even temper, all mild, placid, and ferene 5 in
the gayeft feafon of the day not more than cheerful, in
the ftilleft watch of night not gloomy. The fcene is in¬
deed peculiarly adapted to the tranquillity of the latter,
when the moon feems to repofe her light on the thick
foliage of the grove, and iteadily marks the tirade of
every bough. It is delightful then to faun ter here, and
fee the grafs, and the goffamer which entwines it, gli-
ftening with dew ; to liften and hear nothing ftir, ex¬
cept perhaps a withered leaf dropping gently through a
tree •, and, flickered from the chill, to catch the freflx-
nefs of the evening air : a folitary urn, chofen by Mr
Pope for the fpot, and now infcribed to his memory,
when drown by a gleam of moonlight through the trees,
fixes that thoughtfulnefs and compofure to which the
mind is infenfibly led by the relt of this elegant
fcene.
The Doric portico, which alfo bears his name, though
not within fight, is near : it is placed on the declivity of
a hill; and Tlromfon’s feat, with its groves and appen¬
dages, are agreeable circumflances in the profpeft before
it. In the valley beneath is fixed a bench, which com¬
mands a variety of Ihort views ; one is up the afcent to
the portico, and others through openings in the wood to
the bridge and the rotunda.
The next lawn is large : the grotmd is fteep and ir¬
regular, but inclines to one dire&ion, and falls from
every fide into the general declivity : the outline is di-
verfified by many groups of trees on the flopes ; and
frequent glimpfes of the country are feen in perfpec-
tive through openings between them. In the brow is
a feat, in the proudefl: fituation of all Hagley ; it com¬
mands a view down the bold fweep of the lawn, and
over a valley filled wtth the noblefl: trees, up to the
heights beyond. One of thofe heights is covered with
a hanging wood ; which opens only to fliow Thom-
fon’s feat, and the groves and the fteeps about it ; the
others are the Witchberry hills, which feem to prefs
forward into the landfcape ; and the malfy heads of
the trees in the vale, uniting into a continued furface,
form a broad bafe to the temple of Thefeus, hide the
fwell on which it is built, and crowd up to the very
foundation. Farther back ftands the obelilk 5 before
it is the flreep walk •, behind it the Witchberry wood.
The temple is backed by the firs 5 and both thefe plan¬
tations are conne&ed with that vaft fylvan fcene which
overfpreads the other hill and all the intermediate
valley. Such extent of wood ; fuch variety in the dif-
pofition of it •, objedts fo illuftrious in themfelves, and
ennobled by their fituations, each contrafted to each,
every one diftinft, and all happily united ; the parts
fo beautiful of a whole fo great, feen from a charm¬
ing lawn, and furrounded by a delightful country,
compofe all together a fcene of real magnificence and
grandeur.
The feveral lawns are feparated by the fineft trees ;
which fometimes grow in airy groves, chequered with
gleams of light, and open to every breeze ; but more
frequently, whofe great branches meeting or crofling
each other, call; a deep impenetrable flrade. Large
boughs feathering down often intercept the fight; or a
I
vacant fpace is filled with coppice wood, nut, hawthorn, Pafk
and hornbeam, whofe tufted heads mixing with the foil- '““'Y-
age, and whole little Items cluftering about the trunks
of the trees, thicken and darken the plantation. Here
and there the divilion is of fuch coppice wood only,
which then being lefs conftrained and opprefled, fprings
up flronger, fpreads further, and joins in a low vaulted
covering : in other places the ftrade is high, overarched
by the tailed: aflr, or fpreads under the branches of tire
moll venerable oaks. They rife in every fliape, they are
difpofed in every form in which trees can grow. The
ground beneath them is fometimes almoit level ; fome¬
times a gentle fwell j but generally very irregular and
broken. In feveral places, large hollows wind down
the fides of the hills, worn in the dormy months by wa¬
ter courfes, but worn many ages ago. Very old oaks in
the midd of the channels prove their antiquity : fome
of them are perfeftly dry mod part of the year ; and
fome are watered by little rills all the fummer : they are
deep and broad j the fides are commonly deep ; often
abrupt and hollow ; and the trees on the bank fometimes
extend their roots, all covered with nrofs, over the chan¬
nels of the water. Low down in one of thefe glens,
under a thick flrade of horfe chefnuts, is-a plain bench,
in the midd of feveral little currents and water falls,
running among large loofe flones, and the dumps of dead
trees, with which the ground is broken. On the brink
of another glen, which is didinguiflred by a numerous
rookery, is a feat in a dill wilder fituation, near a deeper
hollow, and in a darker gloom : the falls are nearly per¬
pendicular 5 the roots of fome of the trees are almod
bare, from the earth having crumbled away ; large
boughs of others, finking with their own weight, feem
ready to break from the trunks they belong to j and the
fined a 111, dill growing, lie all aflant the water courfe
belouq which, though the dream runs in winter only,
yet condantly retains the black tinge of damp, and cads
a chill all around.
Gravel walks are conduced acrofs the glens, through
the woods, the groves, or the thickets, and along the
fides of the lawns, concealed generally from the fight,
but always ready for the communication, and leading to
the principal feenes. The frequency of thefe walks, the
number and the dyle of the buildings, and the high pre-
fervation in which all the place is kept, give to the whole
park the air of a garden. There is, however, one fpot
more peculiarly adapted to that purpofe, and more arti¬
ficially difpofed than the red ; it is a narrow vale, divi¬
ded into three parts : one of them is quite filled with
water which leaves no room for a path, but thick trees
on either fide come down quite to the brink ; and be¬
tween them the fight is conduced to the bridge with
a portico upon it, which clofes the view : another part of
this vale is a deep gloom, overhung with large aflr and
oaks, and darkened below by a number of yews : thefe
are fcattered over very uneven ground, and open under¬
neath ; but they are encompaffed by a thick covert, un¬
der which a dream falls, from a dony channel, down a
rock ; other rills drop into the current, which after¬
wards pours over a fecond cafcade into the third divifion
of the vale, where it forms a piece of water, and is lod
under the bridge, d he view from this bridge is a per-
fe£l opera fcene, through all the divifions of the vale up
to the rotunda. Both thefe buildings, and the other de¬
corations of the fpot, are of the fpecies generally confi¬
ned
fafk,
Parker.
PAR
ned to a garden. The hermitage alfo, which has been
deferibed, and its appendages, are in a ftyle which does
not belong to a park •, but through all the reft of^the
place, the two charafters are intimately blended. The
whole is one lubjeft 5 and it was a bold idea to conceive
that one to be capable of fo much variety ■, it required
the moft vigorous efforts of a fertile fancy to carry that
idea into execution. See Gardening.
Park of Artillery. See Artillery.
PARK of Proviftons, in military affairs, the place
where the futlers pitch their tents in the rear, and fell
their provifions to the foldiers. Likewife that place
where the bread waggons are drawn up, and where the
troops receive their ammunition bread, being the ftore
of the army.
P ARKER, Matthew, the fecond Proteftant arch-
bifhop of Canterbury, was born at Norwich in the year
1504, the 19th of Hen. VII. His father, who was a
man in trade, died when our author was about twelve
years old j but his mother took fpecial caie of his edu¬
cation, and at the age of 17 fent him to Corpus Chrifti
college in Cambridge, where, in I523>
bachelor’s degree. In 1527 he was ordained, created
mafter of arts, and chofen fellow of the college. Ha¬
ving obtained a licenfe to preach, he frequently held
forth at St Paul’s crofs in London, and in other parts
of the kingdom. In 1533 or I 534 he was made chap¬
lain to Queen Anne Boleyn, who obtained for him the
deanery of Stoke Clare in Suffolk, where he founded a
grammar fchool. After the death of the queen, King
Henry made him his own chaplain, and in 1541 preben¬
dary of Ely. In 1544, he was, by the king’s command,
defied mafter of Corpus Chrifti college, and the follow¬
ing year vice chancellor of the univerfity. In 154?
loft the deanery of Stoke, by the diffolution of that col¬
lege. In the fame year he married the daughter of Ro¬
bert Harleftone, a Norfolk gentleman.
In the year 15^2 he was nominated, by Edward VI.
to the deanery of Lincoln, which, with his other pre¬
ferments, enabled him to live in great affluence : but
Mary had fcarcely fucceeded to the throne before he
was deprived of every thing he held in the church, and
was then obliged to live in obfeurity, frequently chang¬
ing his place of abode to avoid the fate of the other xe-
formers.
Queen Elizabeth afeended the throne in 155S ; and
in the following year Dr Parker, from indigence and
obfeurity, was at once raifed to the fee of Canterbury j
an honour which he neither folicited nor defired. In
this high Ration he afled with fpirit and propriety. He
vifited his cathedral and diocefe in 1560, 1565, and
1 ^73. He repaired and beautified his palace at Lam¬
beth at a vaft expence. The fum which the repairs of
the palace and great hall at Canterbury coft him was
upwards of 1400I. fterling, which is at leaft equal to ten
times the fum now-a-days. Both the palace and great
hall were in i^cay, partly through the injuries of time,
and partly through that of fire. The hall, built by
Archbiftiop Huber in the 12th century, was famous in
hiftory for the great feafts that had been given there by
PAR.
archbifliops and abbots in former times j in particular,
at the nuptial feafts of King Edward I. in 1290 ; at th&
inftallation of the abbot of St Auftin’s in 1309 ; at
the enthronization of George Nevill4 archbiihop of
York, in 1464 ; and of Archbiffiop Warham in 1504,
when Edward duke of Buckingham a6led as lord high
fteward of his houfehold \ and laftly, for the entertain¬
ment given by that archbiftiop in 1519 to the emperor
Charles V. Henry VIII. Queen Catherine, &c. In
1565 Archbiftiop Parker gave three entertainments in
this hall at Whitfuntide (which lafted three days), on
Trinity Sunday, and in aflize time. At the two firft of
thefe the archbiftiop himfelf fat in the midft of the up-
permoft table ; on his left hand the mayor, &c. and fo
on one fide of the hall a continued row of men accord¬
ing to their rank filled the other tables 5 and on his
right hand fat only fome noble women and ladies of
quality, the whole length of the hall, correfponding to
the row of men on the other fide : which order of pla¬
cing the women was obferved in honour of the queen.
The firft rank of guefts having rifen, and the tables clear¬
ed, they were furnifhed again, and filled the fecond time.
At the laft feaft, which was grander than all the reft,
the archbiftiop entertained the two judges who went
that circuit (b), the attorney-general, the high-flieriff,
with all who met at thefe aflizes, as juftices of the
peace, advocates, and common lawyers, and all the reft
of proffers and attorneys j who all (with a promifeuous
company) in troops came in. The hall was fet forth
with much plate of filver and gold, adorned with much
tapeftry of Flanders ; and dainties of all forts were fer-
ved in excellent order by none but the arebbifliop’s fer-
vants, the table being often the fame day furniflied a-
frefti with new guefts j while the ladies were nobly en¬
tertained in inner parlours by Mrs Parker, the hall be¬
ing now filled with gentlemen. Otherwife, at thefe
feafts, it was the archbifhop’s cuftom, in honour of ma¬
trimony, to entertain both men and their wives. Of
this noble hall and palace, now within 200 years, there
is little or nothing left except a few ruins. On Whit-
funday 1570, and the two following days, this archbi¬
ftiop feafted the citizens of Canterbury and their wives
in the fame manner as he had done before : and on
Trinity Sunday (after confecrating Bifhop Curteis of
Chichefter) he made another moft archiepifcopal feaft,
inviting another archbiftiop (viz. Grindal of York, who
came thither for confirmation) to be his gueft : befides
whom were prefent Horn biftiop of Winchefter, and
Curteis bifhop of Chichefter. At the lower tables
fat all the minifters and fervants whatfoever, even the
children, who belonged to that church ; and at the re-
moteft tables, but in the fame hall, in fight, fat the poor
of both fexes of the hofpitals of St John’s and Harble-
down. On July nth, being aflizes time, the judges,
high-ftieriff, gentlemen, and the common fort, w^ere all
feafted by the archbiftiop in a fplendid manner as be¬
fore. Soon after Biftiop Sandys of Worcefter, eledl of
London, 'i-ame to Canterbury to be confirmed. The
archbiftiop, on his return, lodged the firft night at Sit-
tingbourn, and the next night (after dining at Grave-
fend)
[ 781 ]
Parker.
(b) This proves that the judges of aflize then came to Canterbury, though it was then a county in itfelf, being
fo made in 1461.
PAR [ 782 ] PAR
fend) came to Lambeth in barges by Thames*, with all
his family. Sept. 7. 1573, being fL Elizabeth’s birth¬
day, Archbishop Parker entertained her majefty, and as
many noblemen, &c. as were prefent at Archbishop
Warham’s entertainment in the fame hall 54 years be¬
fore. The archbiihop (to ufe his own words, in a letter
to Archbiihop Grindal of York) “ met her higbnefs,
as (he was coming to Dover, upon Folkftorre Down. I
left her at Dover, and came home to Bekelborn that
night j and after that went to Canterbury to receive her
xnajefty there. Which I did, with the bifhops of Lin¬
coln and Rocheller, and my fuflFragan (wf Dwer), at
the wed door 5 where, after the grammarian had made
his oration to her upon her horfe-back, fhe alighted.
We then kneeled down, and faid the pfalm Deur ritifere-
atur, in Englifh, rvith certain other eollefts briefly j and
that in our chimers and rochets. The quire, with the
dean and prebendaries, flood on either fide of the church,
and brought her majefty up with a fong ; fhe going un¬
der a fquare canopy, borne by four of her temporal
knights, to her traverfe, placed by the communion
board, where file heard evening fong ; and after depart¬
ed to her lodging at St Auftin’s, whither I waited upon
her. From thence I brought certain of tire council, and
clivers of the court, to my houfe to fupper, and gave
them 14 or 15 difhes, furnifhed with two mefs, at my
long table, whereat fat about 20 ; and in the fame cham¬
ber a third mefs, at a fquare table, whereat fat 10 or
12 ; my lefs hall having three long tables furnifhed
with my officers, and with the guard, and others of the
court : and fo her majefty came every Sunday to church
to hear the fermon. And upon one Monday it pleafed
her highnefs to dine in my great hall, thoroughly fur¬
nifhed with the council, Frenchmen, ladies, gentlemen,
and the mayor of the town, with his brethren, &c. j
her highnefs fitting in the midft, having two French
ambafiadors (Gondius and Mothe-Fenelon) at the end
of the table, and four ladies of honour at the other
end. And fo three mefs were ferved by her nobility
at w a fifing, her gentlemen and guard bringing her
difiies, Stc.” On which the archbifhop of York, in
his anfwer, made this refTe<5lion : “ Your grace’s large
defeription of the entertainment at Canterbury did fo
lively fet forth the matter, that in reading thereof I
almoft thought myfelf to be one of your guefts there,
and as it were beholding the whole order of all things
done there. Sir, I think it ffiall be hard for any of
our coat to do the like for one hundred years, and how
long after God knoweth.” In this progrefs Lord
Treafurer Burleigh was lodged with Mr Pearfort, the
eleventh prebendary, who, the arehbifhop fays, “ had a
fine houfe.”
He founded feveral fcholarfhips in Bennet or Corpus-
Chrifti college in Cambridge, and gave large prefents
of plate to that and to other colleges in this univerfity.
He gave too volumes to the public library. He like-
wife founded a free fchool at Rochdale in Lancafhire.
He took care to have the fees filled with pious and
learned men ; and, confidering the great want of Bibles
in many places, he, with the affiftance of other learned
men, improved the Englilh tranflation, had it printed
on a large paper, and difperfed through the kingdom.
This worthy prelate died in the year 1575, aged 72,
and was buried in bis own chapel at Lambeth. He
was pious without affectation or aufterity, cheerful and
contented in the midft of adverfiiy, moderate in the Patker
height of power, and beneficent beyond example. He n H
wrote feveral books 5 and alfo publiiked four of our
belt bifforians, Matthew of We/fmitjier, Matthew Pans, >—
Afer's Life of King Alfredy and 'l ho, Walftnghum. The
learned archbiihop alfo tranftated the Pfalter. Tim
verfion was printed, but without a name 5 and lias been
attributed to an obfeure poet of the name of Keeper,
i bis was Wood’s opinion j but it is more than pro¬
bable that the learned author of the Athence Oxon. was
wrong. See Gentleman’s Magazine for 1781, p. 566,
where Parker is proved to be the author of a verfion of
the Pfalms.
PARKINSONIA, a genus of plants, belonging to
the decandria clafs ; and in the natural method ranking
under the 33d order, Lotnentaeecc. See Botany In¬
dex.
PARLEY, a conference with an enemy. Hence,
to beat or found a parley, is to give a fignal for holding
fuch a conference by beat of drum, or found of trumpet. 1
PARLIAMENT, the grand affembly of the threeDefiniticn.
ftates of this kingdom, fummoned together by the king’s
authority, to Confider of matters relating to the public
welfare, and particularly to enaft and repeal laws. 2
The original or firft inftitution of parliament is one Origin not
of thofe matters which lie fo far hidden in the dark ages certainly
of antiquity, that the tracing of it out is a thing equally Juiovvn-
difficult and uncertain. Tire word parliament itfelf (or
colloquium, as fome of.our hiftorians tranflate it) is, com¬
paratively, of modern date j derived from the French,
and fignifying “ the place where they met and conferred
together.” It was firft applied to general aflemblies of
tire ftates under Lewis VII. in France, about the middle
of the 12th century. But it is certain, that long before
the introduftion of the Norman language into England,
all matters of importance were debated and fettled in the
great councils of the realm. A pradtice which Items to
have been univerfal among the northern nations, parti¬
cularly the Germans ; and carried by them into all tire
countries of Europe, which they overran at the tlifiolu-
tion of the Roman empire, Relicks of which eonftitu-
tion, under various modifications and changes, are flill
to be met with in the diets of Poland, Germany, and
Sweden, and lately in the affembly of the eftates in
France : for what is there now called the parliament, is
only the feipretne court of juft fee, confiftmg of the peers,
certain dignified ecclefiaftics, and judges 5. which nei¬
ther is in pradliee, nor is fuppoled to be in theory, a
general council of the realm. 3
In England, however, this general council hath been Antiquity
held imitiemorially, under the feveral names of michel- in
fynoth, or “ great council michel-gemote, or “ great'ar‘^'
meeting and more frequently wittena-gemote, or “ the
meeting of wife men.” It was alfo ityled in Latin,
commune concilium regni, magnum concilium regie, curia
magna, conventus magnatum velproCerum, off fa gen era Its,
and feme times communitas regni Anglue. fWe have in-
ftances of its meeting to order the affairs of the king¬
dom, to make new laws, and to amend the old, or, as
Fleta expreffes it, novis injuriis emerfs nova confituere
remedia, fo earlv as the reign of Ina king of the Weft
Saxons, Offa king of the Mercians, and Ethelbert king
of Kent, in the feveral realms of the heptarchy. And
after their union, the Mirrour informs us, that King
Alfred ordained for a perpetual ufage, that thefe couu-
PAR
Parliament, dir, (liould meet twice in the year, or oftener, if need
^ he, to treat of the government of God’s people ; how
they fhould keep themfelves from fin, ftiould live in
quiet, and (hould receive right. Our fucceeding Saxon
and Danilh monarchs held frequent councils of this fort,
as appears from their refpedtive codes of laws j the titles
■whereof ufually fpeak them to be enafited, either by the
king with the advice of his wiitena-gemote, or wife men,
as, ll'cc funt inf Unto, quae Edgurus rex conflio fapien-
titim fuorum inf ituit; or to be enabled by thofe fages
with tlxe advice of the king : as llaec funt judicia, quae
fipientes eonflio rcgis Ethelfam infituerunt ; or, laftly,
To be enabled by them both together, as Hoe funt infi-
tuttones, quns rex Edmundus ct epifcopi fui cum fapienti-
bus fuis infituerunt.
There is alfo no doubt but thefe great councils were
oecafionally held under the firfi princes of the Norman
line. Glanvil, who wrote in the reign of Henry II.
fpeaking of tlm particular amount of an amercement in
the fheriff’s court, fays, it had never yet been afcertain-
ed by the general affize or aflembly, but was left to the
cuftom of particular counties. Here the general affize is
fpoken of as a meeting well known, and its ftatutes or de-
cifions are put in a manifeft contradiftin&ion tocufiom,
or to the common law. And in Edward Ill.’s time, an
acl of parliament, made in the reign of William the Con¬
queror, was pleaded in the cafe of the abbey of St Ed-
, mund’s Bury, and judicially allowed by the court.
Thenature Hence it indifputably appears, that parliaments, or
of thefe general councils, are coeval with the kingdom itfelf.
early par- How thofe parliaments were conlritutcd and compofed,
liamei ts js anotlK.r queftion, which has been matter of great dif-
known1 ly 'Pute ainon.Sf our learned antiquarians ; and particularly,
whether the commons were fummoned at all ■, or, if ium-
moned, at what period they began to form a diHindi af-
ferably. But without entering into controverfies of this
fort, it may be fufficient to obferve, that it is generally
agreed, that in the main the conllitulion of parliament,
as it now Hands, was marked out fo long ago as the 17th
year of King John, A. D. 1215, in the great charter
granted bv that prince ; wherein he promifes to fummon
all archbifhops, bifhops, abbots, earls, and greater ba¬
rons, perfonally ; and all other tenants in chief under
the crown, bv the fiieriff and bailiffs ; to meet at a cer¬
tain place, with 40 days notice, to affefs aids and feu-
tages when neceffary. And this conftitution has fubfift-
ed in fadl at leaft from the year 1266, 49 Henry III.
there being Hill extant writs of that date, to fummon
knights, citizens, and burgeffes, to parliament. We
proceed therefore to inquire wherein confifls this con-
ffitution of parliament, as it now Hands, and has Hood,
for the fpace of at leaf! 500 years. And in the pro-
fecution of this inquiry, we fliall confider, firfl, The
manner and time of its affembling : Secondly, Its con-
ftituent parts : Thirdly, The laws and cufloms relating
to parliament: Fourthly, The methods of proceeding,
and of making flatutes, in both houfes : And, laflly,
The manner of the parliament’s adjournment: proroga¬
tion, and diffolution.
Parliament I. As to the manner and time of affemhUng. The par-
furamoned liament is regularly to be fummoned by the king’s writ
only by the 0r letter, iffued out of chancery by advice of the privy
klng’ council, at leafl 40 days before it begins to fit. It is a
branch of the royal prerogative, that no parliament can
be convened by its own authority, or by the authority of
FAR
any except the king alone. And this prerogative is Parliament,
founded upon very good reafon. For, fuppofing it had 1 111 v
a right to meet fpontaneoufly, without being called to¬
gether, it is impuffible to conceive that all the members,
and eacli of'the houfes, would agree unauimoufly upon
the proper time and place of meeting ; and if half of the
members met, and half abfented themfelves, who fliall
determine which is really the legiflative body, the part
affembled, or that which flays away ? It is therefore ne¬
ceffary, that the parliament fliould be called together at
a determinate time and place •, and, highly becoming its
dignity and independence, that it ihould be called toge¬
ther by none but one of its own conflituent parts : and,
of the three conflituent parts, this oflice cannnly apper¬
tain to the king; as he is a Angle perfon, whofe will
may be uniform and fteady ; the firft perfon in the na¬
tion, being fuperior to both houfes in dignity ; and the
only branch of the legiflature that has a feparate exift-
ence, and is capable of performing any a£t at a time
when no parliament is in being. Nor is it an .excep¬
tion to this rule, that, by fome modern ftatutes, on the
demije of a king or queen, if there be then no parlia¬
ment in being, the laft parliament revives, and is to fit
again for fix months, unlefs diffolved by the fucceflbr :
for this revived parliament murt have been originally
fummoned by the crown. ^
It is true, that the convention parliament which re-Thecon-
ftored Kmg Cliarles II. met above a month before hisvention
return ; the lords, by their own authority, and the com-Par!iamerte
mens in purfuance of writs iffued in the name of the™
keepers of the liberty of England by authority of par-this;
liament, and that the faid parliament fat till the 29th
of December, full feven months after the Reftoration ;
and enabled many laws, feveral of which are flill in
force. But this was for the neceflity of the thing,
which fuperfedes all law ; for if they had not fo met,
it was morally impoffible that the kingdom fliould have
been fettled in peace. And the firft thing done after
the king’s return was, to pafs an ad declaring this to
be a good parliament, notwithftanding the defed of the
king’s writ. So that as the royal prerogative was chiefly
wounded by their fo meeting, and as the king himfelf,
who alone had a right to objed, eonfented to wave the
objedion, this cannot be drawn into an example in pre¬
judice of the rights of the crown. Befides, we fhould
alfo remember, that it was at that time a great doubt
among th$ lawyers, whether even this healing ad made
it a good parliament, and held by very many in the ne¬
gative ; though it feems to have been too nice a feruple.
And yet, out of abundant caution, it was thought necef¬
fary to confirm its ads in the next parliament, by ftatute
13 Car. II. c. 7. and c. 14. ^
It is likewife true, at the time of the Revolution nor that of
A. D. 1688, the lords and commons by their own au- l688> be-
thority, and upon the fummons of the prince of Orange ca.u^e theJ
(afterwards King William), met in a convention, and
therein difpoftd of the crown and kingdom. But it mufttare rei.
be remembered, that this affembling was upon a like
principle of neceflity as at the Reftoration ; that is, upon
a full convidion that King James II. had abdicated the
government, and that the throne was thereby vacant;
which fuppofition of the individual members was con¬
firmed by their concurrent refolution, when they adually
came together. And in fuch a cafe as the palpable va¬
cancy of a throne, it follows, ex necejftate rei, that the
form
[ 783 1
PAR [ 784 ] PAR
'Parliament, form of the royal writs mull be laid afide, otherwife no
' 1 *' parliament can ever meet again. For let us put ano¬
ther poffible cafe, and fuppofe, for the fake of argument,
that the whole royal line ihould at any time fail, and
become extincl, which would indifputably vacate the
throne : in this fituation it feem.s realonable to prefume,
that the body of the nation, confiding of lords and com¬
mons, would have a right to meet and fettle the govern¬
ment at all. And upon this and no other principle did
the convention in 1688 affemble. The vacancy of the
throne was precedent to their meeting without any royal
fummons, not a confequence of it. They did not af¬
femble without writ, and then make the throne vacant*,
but, the throne being previoufly vacant by the king’s
abdication, they aflembled without writ, as they mud do
if they affembled at all. Had the throne been full, their
meeting would not have been regular : but, as it was
really empty, fuch meeting became abfolutely necedary.
And accordingly, it is declared by datute 1 W. & M.
Hat. 1. c. 1. that this convention was really the two
houfes of parliament, notwitdanding the want of
writs or other defers of form. So that, notwith-
danding thefte two capital exceptions, which were
judifiable only on a principle of necedity (and each of
which, by the way, induced a revolution in the govern¬
ment),. the rule laid down is in general certain, that
g the king only can convoke a parliament.
The king is And this, by the ancient datutes of the realm, he is
obliged to bound to do every year, or oftener if need be. Not
convoke. or ever waS) obliged by thefe datutes to
a^often^'s ca^ a new Parhament every year; but only to permit
circumftan- a parliament to fit annually for the redrefs of griev-
ces require, ances, and defpatch of bufinefs, if need be. Thefe lad
words are fo loofe and vague, that fuch of our monarchs
as were inclined to govern without parliaments, neglect¬
ed the convoking them, fometimes for a very confider-
able period, under pretence that there was not need of
them. But, to remedy this, by the datute 16 Car. II.
c. 1. it is enaCled, that the fitting and holding of parlia¬
ments diall not be intermitted above three years at the
mod. And by the datute 1 W. and M. d. 2. c. 2. it is
declared to be one of the rights of the people, that for
redrefs of all grievances, and for the amending, drength-
ening, and preferving, the laws, parliaments ought to be
held frequently. And this indefinite frequency is again
reduced to a certainty by datute 6 W. & M. c. 2. which
enaCls, as the datute of Charles II. has done before, that
a new parliament diall be called within three years after
9 the determination of the former.
The king, II. The conjlituent parts of a parliament are, theking’s
lords fpiri- majedy, fitting there in his royal political capacity, and
tualr and tpe tjiree eflalfcs Gf the realm ; the lords fpiritual, the
and*com- lords temporal (who fit together with the king in one
mons, make houfe), and the commons, who fit by themfelves in an-
the parlia- other. And the king and thefe three edates together
ment. form the greater corporation or body politic of the
kingdom, of which the king is faid to be caput, prm-
cipium, et fnis. For upon their coming together the
king meets them, either in perfon or by reprefenta-
tion *, without v hieh there can be no beginning of a par¬
liament j and he alfo has alone the power of diflblving
them.
It is highly neceffary for preferving the balance of
die conditution, that the executive power fhould be a
branch, though not the whole, of the legidature- The Parliament,
total union of them, we have feen, vvoulu be productive w—‘v—
of tyranny : the total disjunction of them for the prelent, rjie1Cl
Avould in the end produce the fame effeCts, by caufing prietfTnd
that union againd W’hich it feems to provide. 1 he le-neceflity of
gidature would foon become tyrannical, by making con-the king’s
tinual encroachments, and gradually afiuming to itlelfJ’e‘nS^a
the rights of the executive power. Thus the long par-the legifla
liament of Charles I. while it acted in a conditutionalcure,
manner, wfith the royal concurrence, redrefied many
heavy grievances and eltablilhed many falutary laws.
But when the two houfes affumed the power oi legiila-
tion, in exclufion ot the royal authority, they toon after
ad’umed likewife the reins of admnfidration ; and, in
confequence of thefe united powers, overturned both
church and date, and edablithed a worfe oppreffion than
any they pretended to remedy. To hinder therefore any
fuch encroachments, the king is himfelf a part of the par¬
liament \ and as this is the reafon of his being fo, very
properly therefore the diare of legidation which the con¬
ditution has placed in the crown, confids in the power
of rejeCling, rather than refolving 5 this being fufhcient
to anfwer the end propofed. For we may apply to the
royal negative, in this indance, what Cicero obferves of.
the negative of the Roman tribunes, that the crow n has
not any power of doing wrong, but merely of prevent¬
ing w'rong from being done. The crow n cannot begin
of itfelf any alterations in the prefent edablidied law j
but it may approve or difapprove of the alterations fug-
geded and confented to by the two houfes. rl he legi-
dature therefore cannot abridge the executive power of
any rights which it now has by law, without its owm
confent j fince the law mud perpetually dand as it now
does, unlefs all the powers will agree to alter it. And
herein indeed confids the true excellence of the Britiih
government, that all the parts of it form a mutual check
upon each other. In the legidature, the people are a
check upon the nobility, and the nobility a check upon
the people, by the mutual privilege of reje£ling what
the other has refolved j while the king is a check upon
both, which prtferves the executive power from en¬
croachments. And this very executive power is again
checked and kept within due bounds by the two houfes,
through the privilege they have of inquiring into, im¬
peaching, and punidling the condudt (not indeed of the
king, which would dellroy his conditutional independ¬
ence; but which is more beneficial to the public) of his
evil and pernicious counfellors. Thus every branch of
our civil polity fupports and is fupported, regulates and
is regulated, by the red: for the turn houfes naturally
drawing in tv'o dire&ions of oppolue intered, and die
prerogative in another dill different from them both,
they mutually keep each other from exceeding their
proper limits; while the whole is prevented from repa¬
ration, and artificially connected together by the mixed
nature of the crown, which is a part of the legiflative,
and the foie executive magillrate. Like three difiinft
powers in mechanics, they jointly impel the machine of
government in a diredtion different from what either,
adting by itfelf, would have done ; but at the fame time
in a diredlion partaking of each, and formed out of all;
a diredtion which conditutes the true line of the liberty
and happinefs of the community.
Having already confidered thefe condituent parts of
the
PAR
[ 785 ]
PAR
The power
of pay¬
ment-
Parliament, the fovereign power, or parliament, each in a feparate
view, under the articles King, Lords, and Commons,
jj to which the reader is referred, we proceed,
III. To examine the laws and cuftoms relating to
parliament, united together and confidered as one ag¬
gregate body. The power and jurifdiition of parlia¬
ment, fays Sir Edward Coke, is fo tranfcendent and
abfolute, that it cannot be confined either for caufes
or perfons within any bounds. And of this high court
he adds, it may be truly faid, Si antiquitatem fpefles, ejl
vetujlijjima ; Ji dignitatem, ejl honoratijjima ; Ji jurifdic-
tionem, ejl capacijjima. It hath fovereign and uncontroul-
able authority in making, confirming,enlarging,reftrain-
ing, abrogating, repealing, reviving, andexpoundinglavvs,
concerning matters of all poflible denominations, eccle-
tiaftical or temporal, civil, military, maritime, or crimi¬
nal : this being the place where that abfolute defpotic
power, which muft in all governments refide fomewhere,
is intrufted by the conftitution of thefe kingdoms. All
mifchiefs and grievances, operations and remedies, that
tranfeend the ordinary courfe of the laws, arc within the
reach of this extraordinary tribunal. It can regulate or
new-model the fucceffion to the crown ; as was done in
the reigns of Henry VIII. and William III. It can al¬
ter the eftablifhed religion of the land j as was done in a
variety of inltanoes in the reigns of King Henry VIII.
and his three children. It can change and create afrelh
even the conftitution of the kingdom and of parliaments
themfelves; as was done by the aft of Union, and the fe-
veral ftatutes for triennial and feptennial eleftions. It
••can, in fliort, do every thing that is not naturally im-
poflible j and therefore fome have not fcrupled to call
its power, by a figure rather too bold, the omnipotence of
parliament. True it is, that what the parliament doth,
no authority upon earth can undo. So that it is a matter
moft effential to the liberties of this kingdom, that fuch
members be delegated to this important truft as are moft
eminent for their probity, their fortitude, and their
knowledge ; for it was a known apophthegm of the
great lord treafurer Burleigh, “ That England could
never be ruined but by a parliamentand, as Sir Mat¬
thew Hale obferves, this being the higheft and greateft
court, over which none other can have jurifdiftion in
the kingdom, if by any means a mifgovernment (hould
anyway fall upon it, the fubjefts of this kingdom are left
without all manner of remedy. To the fame purpofe
the Prefident Montefquieu, though we truft too haftily,
prefages, that as Rome, Sparta, and Carthage, have
loft their liberty and periftied 5 fo the conftitution of
England will in time lofe its liberty, will perith : it will
perilh whenever the legiflative power (hall become more
corrupt than the executive.
. n , It muft be owned, that Mr Locke, and other theo-
? ion re s retical writers, have held, that “ there remains (till in-
£pe<fting ' herent in the people a fupreme power to remove or al-
this power, ter the legifiature, when they find the legiflature aft
contrary to the truft repofed in themfor when fuch
truft is abufed, it is thereby forfeited, and devolves
to thofe who gave it.” But however juft this conclu-
fton may be in theory, we cannot adopt it, or argue
from it, under any difpenfation of government at pre-
fent. aftually exiftmg. For this devolution of power,
to the people at large, includes in it a diffolution of
the whole form of government eftabliihed by that peo¬
ple ; reduces all the members to their original ftate of
Vol. XV. Part II.
equality ; and by annihilating the fovereign power, re¬
peals all pofitive laws whatfoever before enafted. No
human laws rvill therefore fuppofe a cafe, which at
once muft deftroy all law, and compel men to build
afrefti upon a new foundation ; nor will they make pro-
vifion for fo defperate an event, as muft render all
legal provifions ineffeftual. So long therefore as the
Englilh conftitution lafts, we may venture to affirm,
that the power of parliament is abfolute and without
controul.
In order to prevent the mifchiefs that might arife,
by placing this extenfive authority in hands that are
either incapable or elfe improper to manage it, it is
provided by the cuftom and law of parliament, that
no one (hall fit or vote in either houfe, unlefs he be
21 years of age. This is alfo exprefsly declared by
ftatute 7 & 8 W. III. c. 25.: with regard to the houfe
of commons, doubts have arifen, from fome contra-
diftory adjudications, whether or not a minor was in¬
capacitated from fitting in that houfe. It is alfo en¬
afted by ftatute 7 Jac. I. c. 6. that no member be
permitted to enter the houfe of commons till he hath
taken the oath of allegiance before the lord fteward or
his deputy : and by 30 Car. II. ft. 2. and 1 Geo. I.
c. 13. that no member (hall vote or fit in either houfe,
till he hath, in the prefence of the houfe, taken the
oaths of allegiance, fupremacy, and abjuration, ami
fubferibed and repeated the declaration againft tran-
fubftantiation, and invocation of faints, and the facri-
fice of the mafs. Aliens, unlefs naturalized, were like-
wife by the law of parliament incapable to ferve there¬
in : and now it is enafted, by ftatute 1 2 & 13 W. III.
c. 2. that no alien, even though he be naturalized, (hall
be capable of being a member of either houfe of parlia¬
ment. Arid there are not only thefe (landing incapaci¬
ties ; but if any perfon is made a peer by the king, or
elefted to ferve in the houfe of commons by the people,
yet may the refpeftive houfes, upon complaint of any
crime in fuch perfon, and proof thereof, adjudge him
difabled and incapable to (it as a member : and this by
the law and cuftom of parliament.
For as every court of juftice hath laws and cuftoms
for its direftion, fome the civil and canon, fome the
common law, others their own peculiar laws and cu¬
ftoms 5 fo the high court of parliament hath alfo its
own peculiar law, called the lex et confuetudo parlia-
tnenti; a law which Sir Edward Coke obferves is ah
omnibus queerenda, a multis ignorata, a paucis cognita.
It will not therefore be expefted that we (hould enter
into the examination of this law with any degree of
minutenefs ; fince, as the fame learned author affures us,
it is much better to be learned out of the rolls of parlia¬
ment and other records, and by precedents and conti¬
nual experience, than can be expreffed by any one man.
It will be fufficientto obferve, that the whole of the law
and cuftom of parliament has its original from this one
maxim, “ That whatever matter arifes concerning either
houfe of parliament, ought to be examined, difeufled,
and adjudged in that houfe to which it relates, and not
elfewhere.” Hence, for inftance, the lords will not fuf-
fer the commons to interfere in the fettling the eleftion
of a peer in Scotland ; the commons will not allow the
lords to judge of the eleftion of a burgefs j nor will ei¬
ther houfe permit the fubordinate courts of law to
examine the merits of either cafe. But the maxims
5 G upon
Parliament.
x3
The quail
fications of
members.
14
The cu¬
ftoms of
parliament
which are
not fanc-
tiOEed by
exptefs
laws.
PAR
C 786 ]
PAR
Parliament, upon which they proceed, together with the method of
^ v'~ proceeding, reif entirely in the breall of the parliament
itfelf 5 and are not defined and aicertained by any par-
ticuiar itated laws.
Itsextcnfive The privileges of parliament are likewife very large
privileges and indefinite $ and therefore, when in 3 ill Hen. VI.
the houfe of lords propounded a queftion to the judges
concerning them, the chief julfice, Sir John Fortelcue,
in the name of his brethren, declared, “ That they
ought mit to make aniwer to that queftion ; for it hath
not been ufed aforetime, that the juftices Ihould in any-
wife determine the privileges ot the high court of parlia¬
ment ; for it is lo high and mighty in its nature, that it
may make law 5 and that which is law, it may make no
law •, and the determination and knowledge of that pri¬
vilege belong to the lords of parliament, and not to the
juftices.” Privileges of parliament was principally eftab-
liftied, in order to protect its members not only trom
being molefted by their fellow-fubjects, but alfo more
efpecially from being oppreffed by the power of the
crown. If therefore all the privileges of parliament were
once to be fet down and afcertained, and no privilege to
be allowed but what was fo defined and determined, it
were eafy for the executive power to deviie lome new
cafe, not within the line of privilege, and under pretence
thereof to harafs any refractory member, and violate the
freedom of parliament. The dignity and independence
of the twTo houfes are therefore in great meafure preferv-
ed by keeping their privileges indefinite. Some, how¬
ever, of the more notorious privileges of the members of
either houfe are, privileges of fpeech, of perfon, of their
domeftics, and of their lands and goods. As to the firft,
privilege of fpeech, it is declared by the ftatute 1 W.
and M. ft. 2. c. 2. as one of the liberties of the people,
“ 1 hat the freedom of fpeech, and debates, and pro¬
ceedings in parliament, ought not to be impeached or
queftioned in any court or place out of parliament.'”
And this freedom of fpeech is particularly demanded of
the king in perfon, by the fpeaker of the houfe of com¬
mons, at the opening of every new parliament. So like¬
wife are the other privileges, of perfon, fervants, lands,
and goods ; which are immunities as ancient as Edward
the Confeffor : in whofe laws we find this precept, ad
Jynodos venicntibus, Jive [ummomti fint, Jive per Je quid
agendum habuerint. Jit Jumma pax; and fo too in the
old Gothic conftitutions, Exlenditur hetc pax etfecuritas
ad quatuordecim dies, convocato regm fenatu. This in¬
cluded formerly not only privilege from illegal violence,
but alfo from legal arrefts and feizures by procefs from
the courts of law. And ftill to alfault by violence a
member of either houfe, or his menial fervants, is a high
contempt of parliament, and there punilhed with the ut-
rooft feverfty. It has likewife peculiar penalties annex¬
ed to it in the qourts of law by the ftatutes 5 Hen. IV.
c. 6. and 11 Hen. VI. c. 11. Neither can any member
of either houfe be arrefted and taken into cuftody with¬
out a brea. h of the privilege of parliament.
But all other privileges which derogate from the
common law are now at an end, fave only as to the
freedom of the member’s perfon $ which in a peer (by
the privilege of peerage) is for ever facred and invio¬
lable ; and in a commoner (by the privilege of parlia¬
ment) for forty days after every prorogation, and forty
days before the next appointed meeting •, which is now
in effect as long as the parliament fubfifts, it feldom
16
Some pri¬
vileges abO'
liHied.
being prorogued for more than 80 days at a time. Parlianiee-
As to all other privileges which obttrudft the ordinary v—*-v~—<
courfe ol juftice, they rvere reftraintd by the ftatutes
12 W. ill. c. 3. 2 and 3 Ann. c. 18. and 11 Geo. II.
c. 24. and are now totally abolilhed by ftatute jo G.
III. c. 50. j which enadfs, that any fuit may at any
time be brought againil any peer or member of parlia¬
ment, their fervants, or any other perfon entitled to pri¬
vilege of parliament j which ftiall not be impeached or
delayed by pretence of any Inch privilege, except that
the perfon of a member of the houfe of commons lhall
not thereby be iubje&ed to any arreft or imprifonment.
Like wife, tor the benefit of commerce, it is provided by
ftatute 4 Geo. 111. c. 33. that any trader, having privi¬
lege of parliament, may be ferved with legal precels for
any juft debt (to the amount of 100I.) : and unlefs he
makes fatisfa&ion within two months, it ftiali be deem¬
ed an aft of bankruptcy; and that commiffions of bank¬
ruptcy may be iflued againft luch privileged traders in
like manner as againft any other.
The only way by which courts of juftice could an- Members
ciently take cognizance of privilege of parliament was miiy be ar-
by writ of privilege, in the nature of a fuperfedeas, to reit«l; but
deliver the party out of cuftody when arrefted in a civil
fuit. For when a letter was written by the fpeaker to foime/of^
the judges, to ftay proceedings againft a privileged per-it, and of
fon, they rejefted it as contrary to their oath of office.^16 cauie.
But fince the ftatute 12 Will. III. c. 3. which enafts,^10,
that no privileged perfon ftiali be fubjeft to arreft or im¬
prifonment, it hath been held, that fuch arreft is irregu¬
lar ab initio, and that the party may be difeharged up¬
on motion. It is to be obferved, that there is no pre¬
cedent of any fuch writ of privilege, but only in civil
fuits ; and that the ftatute of 1 Jac. I. c. 13 and that of
King William (which remedy fome inconveniencies ari-
fing from privilege of parliament), fpeak only of civil
aftions. And therefore the claim of privilege hath
been ufually guarded with an exception as to the cafe of
indiftable crimes; or, as it hath been frequently expref-
fed, of treafon, felony, and breach (or furety) of the
peace. Whereby it feems to have been underftood, that
no privilege was allowable to the members, their fami¬
lies, or fervants, in any crime, whatfoever ; for all crimes
are treated by the law as being contra pacem donuni re-
gis. And inftances have not been wanting, wherein
privileged perfons have been convifted of mifdemeanors,
and committed, or profecuted to outlawry, even in th&
middle of a fefllon; which proceeding has afterwards re¬
ceived the fanftion and approbation of parliament. To
which may be added, that a few years ago, the cafe of
writing and publifhing feditious libels was refolved by
both houfes not to be entitled to privilege ; and that the
reafons upon which that cafe proceeded, extended equal¬
ly to every indiftable offence. So that the chief, if not
the only, privilege of parliament in fuch cafes, feems
to be the right of receiving immediate information of
the imprifonment or detention of any member, with the
reafon for which he is detained : a praftice that is daily
ufed upon the fligheft military accufations, preparatory
to a trial by a cotirt martial; and which is recogniled
by the feveral temporary ftatutes for fufpending the ha¬
beas corpus aft : whereby it is provided, that no mem¬
ber of either houfe {hall be detained, till the matter of
which he ftands fufpefted be firft communicated to the
Loufe of which he is a member, and the confent of the
faid -
PAR
r 78? ]
PAR
Parliament, faid lioufe obtained for Ins commitment or detaining.
v * But yet the ufage has uniformly been, ever fmce the Re¬
volution, that the communication has been fubtequent to
the arrelt.
Thefe are the general heads of the laws and cuftoms
relating to parliament, confidered as one aggregate bo¬
dy. The laws and euftoms relating to each branch in
particular being explained under the articles already re¬
ferred to, viz. King, Lords, and Commons, welhould
proceed, IV. To the method of making laws 5, which is
much the fame in both houfes. But for this, too, we
have to refer the reader to. the article Bill j and {hall
g only obferve in this place, that, for defpatch of bulinefs,
Of the lord each houfe of parliament has its fpeaker. The fpeaker
chancellor of the houfe of lords, whofe office it is to prefide there,
and ipeaker an£l nianage the formality of bulinefs, is the lord chan-
of the houfe ceqor^ or keeper Gf t}ie king’s great feal, or any other
u C0111" appointed by the king’s commiffion : and if none be fo
appointed, the houfe of lords (it is faid) may eleft.—
The fpeaker of the houfe of commons is chofen by the
houfe •> but muft be approved by the king. And here¬
in the ufage of the two houfes differs, that the fpeaker
of the houfe of commons cannot give his opinion or ar¬
gue any queftion in the houfe *, but the fpeaker of the
houfe of lords, if a lord of parliament, may. In each
houfe. the aft of the majority binds the whole ; and this
majority is declared by votes openly and publicly given ;
not, as at Venice, and many other fenatorial affemblies,
privately, or by ballot. This latter method may be
ferviceable, to prevent intrigues and unconftitutional
combinations; but it is impoffible to be praftifed with
us, at leal! in the houfe of commons, where every mem¬
ber’s conduft is fubjeft to the. future cenfure ot his con-
ftituents, and therefore Humid be openly fubmitted to
their infpeftion.
V. There remains only, in the laft place, to add a
word or two concerning the manner in which parliament
may be adjourned, prorogued, or dijfolved.
An adjournment is no more than a continuance of the
feffion from one day to another •, as the word itfelf fig-
nifies; and this is done by the authority of each houfe
feparatdy every day ; and fometimes for a fortnight or
a month together, as at Chridmas or Eafter, or upon
other particular occafions. But the adjournment of one
houfe is no adjournment of the other. It hath alfo been
ufual, when his majefty hath fignified his pleafure, that
both or either of the houfes ffiould adjourn themfelves to
a certain day, to obey the king’s pleafure fo figriified,
and to adjourn accordingly.—Otherwife, befides the in¬
decorum of a refufal, a prorogation would affuredly fol¬
low ; which would often be very inconvenient to both
public and private bulinefs. For prorogation puts an
end to the feffion ; and then fuch bills as are only be¬
gun, and not perfected, muft be refumed de novo (if at
all) in a fubfequent feffion ; whereas, after an adjourn¬
ment, all things continue in the fame ftate as at the
time of the adjournment made, and may be proceeded
on without any frefh commencement.
A prorogation is the continuance of the parliament
from one feffion to another ; as an adjournment is a con¬
tinuation of the feffion from day to day. This is done
by the roval authority, expreffed either by the k>rd chan¬
cellor in Ins majefty’s prefence, or by commiffion from
the crown, or frequently by proclamation. Both houfes
are neceffarily prorogued at the fame time j it not being
T9
Of the ad¬
journment
<>f parlia¬
ment.
10
Of proro¬
gation of
parliament.
a prorogation of the houfe of lords or commons, but ofPwhameny
the parliament. The feffion is never underftood to be v "
at an end until a prorogation ; though, unlefs fome aft
be paffed, or fome judgment given in parliament, it is
in truth no feffion at all. And formerly the ufage was,
for the king to give the royal afl’ent to a’l fuch bills as
he approved at the end of every feffion, and then to pro¬
rogue the parliament, though fometimes only for a day
or two ; after which all bulinefs then depending in the
houfes was to be begun again. Which cuftom obtained
fo ftrongly, that it once became a queftion, Whether
giving the royal affent to a fingle bill did not of courfe
put an end to the feffion ? And though it was then re-
folved in the negative, yet the notion was fo deeply
rooted, that the ftatute 1 Car. I. c. 7. was paffed to de¬
clare, that the king’s affent to that and fome other afts
fhould not put an end to the feffion 5 and even fo late as
the reign of Charles II. we find a provifo frequently
tacked to a bill, that his majefty’s affent thereto ffiould
not determine the feffion of parliament. But it now
feems to be allowed, that a prorogation muft be exprefs-
ly made, in order to determine the feffion. And if at
the time of an aftual rebellion, or imminent danger of
invafion, the parliament (hall be feparated by adjourn¬
ment or prorogation, the king is empowered to call them
together by proclamation, with 14 days notice of the
time appointed for their reaflembling. aI
A dijfblution is the civil death of the parliament; and Rarliamerit
this may be effefted three ways : 1. By the king’s will, is diffolvcd
expreffed either in perfon or by reprefentation. For as by the
the king has the foie right of convening the parliament,kin^ s wl 1
fo alfo it is a branch of the royal prerogative, that he
may (whenever he pleafes) prorogue the parliament for
a time, or put a final period to its exiftence. If nothing
had a right to prorogue or diffolve a parliament but it¬
felf, it might happen to become perpetual. And this
would be extremely dangerous, if at any time it fhould
attempt to encroach upon the executive power, as was
fatally experienced by the unfortunate King Charles I. j
who, having unadvifedly paffed an aft to continue the
parliament then in being till fuch time as it ffiould pleafe
to diffolve itfelf,• at latl fell a facrifice to that inordinate
power which he himfelf had confented to give them.
It is therefore extremely neceflary that the crown
ffiould be empowered to regulate the duration of thefe
affemblies, under the limitations which the Engliffi con-
ftitution has preferibed : fo that, on the one hand, they
may frequently and regularly come together for the
defpatch of bufinefs and redrefs of grievances 5 and may
not, on the other, even with the confent of the crown,
be continued to an inconvenient or unconftitutional
length. as
2. A parliament may be diffolved by the demife of orin«on-
the crown. This diffolution formerly happened imme- fequenceof
diately upon the death of the reigning fovereign : for he lus
being confidered in law as the head of the parliament, •
(jcaput, principium, etfinis'), that failing, the whole bo¬
dy was held to be extinft. But the calling a new par¬
liament immediately on the inauguration of the fueceffor
being found inconvenient, and dangers being apprehend¬
ed from having no parliament in being in cafe of a dif-
puted fucceffion, it was enafted by the ftatutes 7 and 8
Wm. III. c. 15. and 6 Ann. c. 7. that the parliament
in being {hall continue for fix months after the death of
any king or queen, unlefs fooner prorogued or diffol-
5 G 2 ved
Parliament
23
or through
length of
time.
24
General
forrm ob¬
served in
the houfe
of peers.
, 25
In the
houfe of
commons.
PAR [ 788 ]
ved by the fuccelTor ; that if the parliament be, at the fpeaker only,
time of the king’s death, feparated, by adjournment or
prorogation, it lhall notwithftanding afl’emble immedi¬
ately : and that if no parliament is then in being, the
members of the laid parliament (hall aflemble and be
again a parliament.
3. Lailly, A parliament may be diflolved or expire by
length of time. For if either the legiflative body were
perpetual, or might lait tor the life of the prince cvho
convened them as formerly, and were fo to be fupplied,
by occafionally filling the vacancies with new reprefen-
tatives j in thefe cafes, if it were once corrupted, the
evil would be pad all remedy; but when different bo¬
dies fucceed each other, if the people fee caufe to difap-
prove of the prefent, they may rectify its faults in the
next. A legiflative alfembly alfo, which is fure to be
ieparated again, (whereby its members will themfelves
become private men, and fubjeet to the full extent of
the laws which they have enafted for others), will think
themfelves bound, in intereft as well as duty, to make
only fuch laws as are good. The utmoft extent of time
that the fame parliament was allowed to fit, by the fta-
tute 6 W. and M. c. 3. was three years : after the expi¬
ration of which, reckoning from the return of the firfl:
fummons, the parliament was to have no longer conti¬
nuance. But by the ftatute 1 Geo. I. flat. 2. c. 38.
(in order, profeffedly, to prevent the great and conti¬
nued expences of frequent ele&ions, and the violent
heats and animofities confequent thereupon, and for the
peace and fecurity of the government then juft recover¬
ing from the late rebellion), this term was prolonged to
/even years ; and, what alone is an inftance of the vaft
authority of parliament, the very fame houfe that was
chofen for three years, enatfted its own continuance for
feven. So that, as our conftitution now (lands, the par¬
liament mud expire, or die a natural death, at the end
cf every feventh year, if not fooner diflolved by the royal
prerogative.
, We (hail conclude this article with an account of fome
general forms not taken notice of under any of the above
heads.
In the houfe of lords, the princes of the blood fit by
themfelves on the (ides of the throne j at the wall, on
the king’s right hand, the two archbifliops fit by them¬
felves on a form. Below them, the bilhops of London,
Durham, and Winchefter, and all the other bifliops, fit
according to the priority of their confecration. On the
king’s left hand the lord treafurer, lord prefident, and
lord privy feal, fit upon forms above all dukes, except
the royal blood ; then the dukes, marquiles, and earls,
according to their creation. Acrofs the room are wool
facks, continued from an ancient cuftom ; and the chan¬
cellor, or keeper, being of courfe the fpeaker of the
houfe of lords, (its on the firft wool fack before the
throne, with the great feal or mace lying by him 5 be¬
low thefe are forms for the vifeounts and barons. On
the other wool facks are feated the judges, mailers in
chancery, and king’s council, who are only to give their
advice in points of law 5 but they all (land up till the
king gives them leave to (it.
The commons fit promifcuoufly ; only the fpeaker
has a chair at the upper end of the houfe, and the clerk
and his afliftant fit at a table near him.
When a member of the houfe of commons fpeaks,
he (lands up uncovered, and directs his fpeech to the
PAR
If what he fays be anfwered by ano- Parliament
ther, he is not allowed to reply the fame day, unlefs‘‘■“'■v——J
perfonal refle&ions have been call upon him : but
when the commons, in order to have a greater freedom
of debate, have refolved themfelves into a committee of
the whole houfe, every member mayfpeak to a queftion
as often as he thinks neceflary. In the houfe of lords
they vote, beginning at the puifne or lowed baron, and
fo up orderly to the higheft, every one anfwering Con¬
tent or Not content. In the houfe of commons they vote
by yeas and nays ; and if it be dubious which are the
greater number, the houfe divides. If the queftion be
about bringing any thing into the houfe, the yeas go
out, but i( it be about any thing the houfe already has,
the nays go out. In all divilions the fpeaker appoints
four tellers, two of each opinion. In a committee of the
whole houfe, they divide by changing (ides, the yeas
taking the right and the nays the left of the chair ; and
then there are but two tellers. If a bill pafs one houfe,
and the other demur to it, a conference is demanded in
the painted chamber, where certain members are depu¬
ted from each houfe ; and here the lords (it covered, and
the commons (land bare, and debate the cafe. If they
difagree, the affair is null: but if they agree, this, with
the other bills that have paffed both houfes, is brought
down to the king in the houfe of lords, who comes thi¬
ther clothed in his royal robes ; before him the clerk of
the parliament reads the title of each bill, and as he
reads, the clerk of the crown pronounces the royal af- 26
fent or diffent. If it be a public bill, the royal affent is Manner of
given in thefe words, Le roy le vent, “ The king will ^preffin,°
have it foif private, Soil fait comma il ejl deftre\ IffenTor
“ Let the requeft be complied with ; if the king refu-diffent to
fes the bill, the anfwer is, Le roy s'1 avifera, “ The kino'tdlfe
will think of it 5” and if it be a money bill, the anfwer
is, Le roy remercie fes loyaux fujets, accepte leur bene¬
volence, et aufi /event; “ The king thanks his loyal
fubjefts, accepts their benevolence, and therefore grants
his confent.”
High Court of PARLIAMENT, is the fupreme court
in the kingdom, not only for the making, but alfo for
the execution of laws; by the trial of great and enor¬
mous offenders, whether lords or commoners, in the me¬
thod of parliamentary impeachment. As for a£ls of
parliament to attaint particular perfons of treafon or fe¬
lony, or to inflift pains and penalties, beyond or contra¬
ry to the common law, to ferve a (pecial purpofe, we
fpeak not of them; being to all intents and purpofes
new laws, made pro re nata, and by no means an exe¬
cution of fuch as are already in being. But an impeach¬
ment before the lords by the commons of Great Britain,
in parliament, is a profecution of the already known and
eftabiiflied law, and has been frequently putin practice j
being a prefentment to the mod high and fupreme court
of criminal jurifdi&ion by the mod folemn grand inqueft
of the whole kingdom. A commoner cannot, however,
be impeached before the lords for any capital offence,
but only for high mifdemeanors ; a peer may be im¬
peached for any crime. And they ufually (in cafe of
an impeachment of a peer for treafon) addrefs the crown
to appoint a lord high (teward, for the greater dignity
and regularity of their proceedings ; which high fteward
was formerly elefted by the peers themfelves, though he
was generally commiflioned by the king ; but it hath of
late years been ftrenuoufly maintained, that the appoint¬
ment
PAR [ 789 ] PAR
Parliament. ment of a high fteward infuch cafes is not indifpenfably
neceflary, but that the houfe may proceed without one.
The articles of impeachment are a kind of bills of in¬
dictment, found by the houfe of commons, and after¬
wards tried by the lords j who are in cafes of mifde-
meanors conftdered not only as their own peers, but as
the peers of the Avhole nation. This is a cuitom derived
t© us from the conftitution of the ancient Germans j
who in their great councils fometimes tried capital ac-
cufations relating to the public : Licet apud concilium
v.ccufare quoque, et difcrimen capitis intendere. And it
has a peculiar propriety in the Englifh conftitution ;
which has much improved upon the ancient model im¬
ported hither from the continent. For though in gene¬
ral the union of the legiflative and judicial powers ought
to be moft carefully avoided, yet it may happen that a
fubjeft, intruded with the adminiftration of public af¬
fairs, may infringe the rights of the people, and be
guilty of fuch crimes as the ordinary magiftrate either
dares not or cannot punifti. Of thefe the reprefentatives
of the people, or houfe of commons, cannot properly
judge; becaufe their conftituents are the parties injured,
and can therefore only impeach. But before what court
fhall this impeachment be tried ? Not before the ordina¬
ry tribunals, which would naturally be fwayed by the
authority of fo powerful an accufer. Reafon therefore
will fuggeft, that this branch of the legiflature, which
reprefents the people, muft bring its charge before the
other branch, which conlifts of the nobility, who have
neither the fame interefts, nor the fame paflions, as po¬
pular aflemblies. This is a vaft fuperiority which the
conftitution of this ifland enjoys over thofe of the Gre¬
cian or Roman republics 5 where the people were at the
fame time both judges and accufers. It is proper that
the nobility Ihould judge, to enfure juftice to the accu-
fed ; as it is proper that the people fhould accufe, to en¬
fure juftice to the commonAvealth. And therefore, a-
mong other extraordinary circumfiances attending the
authority of this court, there is one of a very lingular
nature, which was infilled on by the houfe of commons
in the cafe of the earl of Danby in the reign of Chas. II.
and is now enabled by ftatute 12 and 13 W. III. c. 2.
that no pardon under the great feal lhall be pleadable to
an impeachment by the commons of Great Britain in
parliament.
Such is the nature of a Britifii parliament, and in
theory at leaft wre Ihould prefume it were nearly per-
fedft; but fome of our fellow countrymen, more zealous
perhaps than wife, fee prodigious faults in it, fuch indeed
as they think muft inevitably prove fatal. The confe-
quence of this perfuafion, has been a loud and inceflant
call for parliamentary reform. That abufes ought to
be reformed, is certain ; and that few inftitutions are
fo perfect as not to need amendment, is a fa£l equally
indifputabl<?. We Ihall even fuppofe that there are ma¬
ny abufes in our parliament which would require to be
amended but, granting all this, and fomething more
if it were neceftary, we would recommend in the mean
time to the ferious confideration of thofe who call them-
felves the Friends of the People, whofe fincerity in their
profeflions it would be unpolite to queftion, the ex¬
ample of France, and that they would allow it tp be a
warning to Britain. France wanted reform indeed, and
that which tvas firft propofed had the countenance of the
eooleft and the beft of men} but the confequences have
been'dreadful *, and if ever a free and liable government Parliament,
take place in it, which we fincerely wilh may be foon, Farrna*
it Avill have been purchafed at an immenfe price, by ¥
enormities which will difgrace it whilft the remem¬
brance of them lafts.
The former P ARLIAMENTS of France were fovereign
courts eftablilhed by the king, finally to determine all
difputes betAveen particular perfons, and to pronounce
on appeals from fentences given by inferior judges.—
There were ten of thefe parliaments in France, of Avhich
that of Paris Avas the chief, its privileges and jurifdiction
being of the greateft extent. It confifted of eight cham¬
bers : the grand chamber, Avhere caufes of audience were
pleaded j the chamber of Avritten laAV ; the chamber of
counfel; theTournelle criminelle, forjudging criminal
affairs 5 the Tournelle civile, in aid of the grand cham¬
ber ; and three chambers of inquefts, Avhere proceffes
were adjudged in Avriting: befides thefe, there Avere alfo
the chamber of vacations, and thofe of requefts. In
1771 the king thought fit to branch the parliament of
Paris into fix different parliaments, under the denomina¬
tion of fuperior courts, each parliament having fimilar
jurifdi&ion. Under their fecond race of kings, this par¬
liament, like that of England, was the king’s council;
it gave audience to ambaffadors, and confulted of the af¬
fairs of Avar and government. The king, like ours, at
that time prefided in them, Avithout being at all matter
of their refolutions. But in after times their authority
Avas abridged 5 as the kings referved the decifion of the
grand affairs of the public ■ to their oavu councils \ leaAr-
ing none but private ones to the parliaments. The par¬
liament of Paris.alfo enjoyed the privileges of verifying
and regiftering the king’s arrets or edifts, Avithout which
thofe edifts were of little or no value.
PARLIAMENT of Sweden, confifts of four eftates,
Avith the king at their head. Thefe eftates are, 1. The
nobility and reprefentatives of the gentry ; Avith wdiom
the colonels, lieutenant colonels, majors, and captains of
every regiment, fit and vote. 2. The clergy •, one of
Avhich body is ele&ed from every rural deanery of ten
parifties ; Avho, Avith the biftiops and fuperintendents,
amount to about 200. 3. The burghers, elected by the
magiftrates and council of every corporation as their re¬
prefentatives, of whom there are four for Stockholm,
and tAvo for evTery other toAvn, amounting in the Avhole
to about 150. 4. The peafants, chofen by the peafants
out of every diftridl; Avho choofe one of their own rank,
and not a gentleman, to reprefent them : thefe amount
to about 2 50.
All thefe generally meet at Stockholm: and after the
ftate affairs have been reprefented to them from the
throne, they feparate, and fit in four feveral chambers
or houfes, in each of which affairs are carried on by ma¬
jority of votes j and every chamber has a negative in
the patting any laAV.
PARMA, an ancient, rich, populous, and handfome
toAvn of Italy, capital of the duchy of the fame name.
Avith a citadel, a bifhop’s fee, and an univerfity. It has
a magnificent cathedral, and the largeft opera houfe in
Europe, Avhich has feats for 8000 people ; but as it re¬
quired a vaft number of candles, Avhich occafioned great
expence, they have contrived another Avhich has room
for 2000 fpettators. The dome and the church of St
John are painted by the famous Corregio, who Avas a na-
tAe of this place. Don Carlos, king of the two Sicilies-,
carried.
PAH [ 790 ] PAH
Parma carried away tlie library of Naples’, winch contained
p II. . 18,000 volumes, and a very valuable cabinet of curiofi-
ano_ ties, as alfo the rich collection of medals. The citadel,
——v—^ which is very near the city, is built in the fame tafte as
that at Antwerp. In 1734 there was a bloody battle
fought here ; and in 1741, by the treaty of Aix-la-
Chapelle, the duchies of Parma, Placentia, and Gua-
italla, were given to Don Philip, brother to Don Car¬
los above mentioned. It is 30 miles fouth-eaft of Cre¬
mona, and 60 fouth-eaft of Milan. E. Long. 10. 51.
N. Lat. 44. 50.
Parma, the duchy of, a province of Italy, bounded
on the north by the Po-,,on the north-eaft by the Man¬
tuan; on the eaft by the duchy of Modena; on the
fouth by Tufcany ; and on the weft by the duchy of
Placentia. The air is very wholefome, on which account
the inhabitants live to a great age. The foil is very fer¬
tile in corn, wine, oil, and hemp ; the paftures feed a
great number of cattle, and the cheefe i» in very high
efteem. Here are confiderable mines of copper and fdver.
P ARMES AN cheese, a fort of cheefe much efteem-
ed among the Italians ; fo named from the duchy of
Parma where it is made, and whence it is conveyed to
various parts of Europe.
The excellent pafture grounds of this country are wa¬
tered by the Po ; and the cows from whofe milk this
cheefe is made yield a great quantity of it. Of this
cheefe there are three forts ; the fromaggio ch forma,
about two palms in diameter, and feven or eight inches
thick ; and the fromaggia di ribiole and di ribohtu,
which are not fo large. This cheefe is of a faffron co¬
lour ; and the beft is kept three or four years. See
Cheese.
PARMIGIANO, a celebrated painter, whofe true
name was Francefco Mazzuoli; but he received the for¬
mer from the city of Parma, where he was born, in
1504. He was brought up under his two uncles, and
was an eminent painter when but 16 years of age. He
was famous all over Italy at 19; and at 23 performed
fuch wonders, that when the general of the emperor
Charles V. took Rome by ftorm, feme of the common
foldiers having, in facking the town broke into his
apartments, found him intent upon his work, and were
inftantly fo ftruck with the beauty of his pieces, that in-
ftead of involving him in the plunder and dedruftion in
which they were then employed, they refolved to pro¬
tect him from all manner of violence ; which they ac¬
tually performed. His works are didinguilhed by the
beauty of the colouring, the invention, and drawing.
His figures are fpirited and graceful, particularly with
refpeft to the choice of attitude, and in their dreffes.
He alfo excelled in mufic, in which he much de¬
lighted. *
In large compofitions Parmigiano did not always
reach a high degree of excellence; but in his holy fa¬
milies, and other fimilar fubjefts, the gracefulnefs of his
heads, and the elegance of his attitudes, are peculiarly
delightful. For the celebrity of his name he feems to
be chiefly indebted to his numerous drawings and etch¬
ings ; for his life being (hort, and a great part of it con-
fumed in the idle ftudy of alchemy, in purfuit of the phi-
lofopher’s ftone, and in the feducing avocations of mufic
and gambling, there was but little time left for applica¬
tion to the laborious part of his bufinefs. His paintings
in oil are few in number, and held in high efteem, as
are alfo his drawings and etchings ; good impreffions of Paittiigh
thefe lart being very rarely to be found. He was the an<>
firit that praiftifed the art of etching in Italy ; and pro- II
bably he did not at firft know, that it had been for , u3j
fome years pra&ifed in Germany. When he fet out for
Rome, he was advifed to take fome of his pictures with
him, as a means of getting himielt introduced into the
acquaintance of the nobility and artills in that celebra¬
ted city. One of them is mentioned by his biographers
as a mafterpiece. It was his own portrait painted upon
a piece of wood of a convex form, in imitation of a con¬
vex mirror. The furiace is faid to have been fo won¬
derfully executed, that it had the appearance of real
glafs, and the head, as well as every part of the furni¬
ture of the chamber in which he was fuppofed to lit,
was fo artfully managed, that the whole formed a very
complete piece of deception. At Rome he was employ¬
ed by Pope Clement VII. who was highly pleafed with
his performances, and rewarded him liberally. A cir-
cumcifion which he painted for him was particularly
efteemed as a capital work. In it Parmigiano was fuc-
cefsful in introducing a variety of lights, without de-
ftroying the general harmony. When Charles V. came
to Bologna to be crowned emperor of the Romans, Par¬
migiano failed not to be prefent at that lingular ceremo¬
ny; and fo accurately marked the countenance of ill?
emperor, that at his return home, he was enabled from
memory to make out a furprifing likenefs. In the fame
piece he introduced the figure of Fame placing a crown
of laurel on the head of the emperor, whilft a young
Hercules prefented him with a globe of the world. Be¬
fore it was quite finilhed, the painter and his piece were
introduced to Charles by the Pope, but to little pur-
pofe ; for the emperor left Bologna a few days after,
without ordering him any recompenfe for his labour. In
the church of Madona della Stercato at Parma are hill
to be feen feveral of the works of this artift ; among
which one of Sibyls, and two others of Mofes, and of
Adam and Eve, are much admired. So alfo is a Dead
Chrift, with the Virgin in forrow, in the church of the
Dominicans at Cremona. In the Houghton collection
of pictures, now in pofleflion of the emprefs of Ruffia, is
one of his beft pictures, reprefenting Chrift laid in the
fepulchre, for which he is faid to have been knighted
by the duke of Parma. His principal works are at Par¬
ma, v'here he died poor in 1 54°*
PARNASSI A, grafs of Parnalfus ; a genus of plants
belonging to the pentandria clafs. See Botany /«-
dex.
PARNASSUS (Strabo, Pindar, Virgil), a mountain
of Phocis, near Delphi, and the mounts Cithaeron and
Helicon, with two tops (Ovid, Lucan) ; the one call¬
ed Cirrha, facred to Apollo ; and the other Nifa, fa-
cred to Bacchus, (Juvenal). It was covered with bay
trees (Virgil) ; and originally called Larnaffus, from
Deucalion’s larnax or ark, thither conveyed by the
flood, (Stephanus, Scholiaft on Apollonius) ; after the
flood, ParnqO'us ; from Har Nahas, changing the h in¬
to p, the hill of divination or augury (Peucerus) ; the
oracle of Delphi Handing at its foot.
Chandler*, who vifited it, thus deferibes it:—“ Par-* Travels
naffus was the weftern boundary of Phocis, and ftretch-IS ^,eei
ing northward from about Delphi toward the Oeteean
mountains, feparated the weftern Locri from thofe who
poffeffed the fea coaft before Euboea. It was a place of
refuge
\
PAR [79
Pamaflus. refuge to the Delphians in times of danger. In the cle-
v——luge, which happened under Deucalion, the natives were
faved on it by following the cry of wolves. On the in*
vafion by Xerxes, fome tranfported their families over
to Achaia, but many concealed them in the mountain,
and in Corycium, a grotto of the Nymphs. All Par-
naflus was renowned for fandity, but Corycium was the
moft noted among the hallowed caves and places. ‘ On
the way to the fummit of Parnaffus, fays Paufanias, as
much as 60 lladia beyond Delphi, is a brazen image j
and from thence the afcent to Corycium is ealier for a
man on foot, and for mules and horfes. Of all the caves
in which I have been, this appeared to me the belt
worth feeing. On the coafts, and by the fea fide, are
more than can be numbered j but fome are very famous
both in Greece and in other countries. The Corycian
cave exceeds in magnitude thofe I have mentioned, and
for the molt part may be paffed through without a light.
It is fufficiently high : and has water, fome fpringing
up, and yet more from the roof, which petrifies; fo that
the bottom of the whole cave is covered with fparry ici¬
cles. The inhabitants of Parnafl'us efteem it facred to
the Corycian Nymphs, and particularly to Pan.—From
the cave to reach the Summits of the mountain is diffi¬
cult even to a man on foot. The fummits are above the
clouds, and the women called Thijades madden on them
in the rites of Bacchus and Apollo.’ Their frantic or¬
gies were performed yearly. Wilder and his company
afeended Parnaffus from Delphi, fome on horfes, by a
track between the ftadium and the clefts of the moun¬
tain. Stairs were cut in the rock, with a ilrait channel,
perhaps a water duff.—In a long hour, after many tra-
verfes, they gained the top, and entering a plain turned
to the right, towards the fummits of Caltalia, which are
divided by deep precipices. From this eminence they
had a fine profpeiff of the gulf of Corinth, and of the
coaft j Mount Cirphis appearing beneath them as a
plain, bounded on the eait by the bay of Afprofpitia,
and on the weft by that of Salona. A few ffiepherds
had huts there. They returned to the way; which they
had quitted, and croffed a hill covered with pines and
fnow. On their left was a lake, and beyond it a peak,
exceedingly high, white with fnow. They travelled to
the foot of it through a valley, four or five miles in
enmpafs •, and refted by a plentiful fountain called Dro-
foni^Oy the ftream boiling up a foot in diameter, and
nearly as much above the furface of the ground. It
runs into the lake, which is about a quarter of a mile
diftant to the fouth-eaft. They did not difeover Cory¬
cium, or proceed farther on, but keeping the lake on
their right, came again to the brink of the mountain,
and defeended bv a deep and dangerous track to Raco-
vi, a village four or five miles eaftward from Delphi.
It was the opinion of Wheler, that no mountain in
Greece was higher than Parnaffus •, that it was not in¬
ferior to Mount Cenis among the Alp"; and that, if de¬
tached, it would be fecn at a greater diftance than even
Mount Athos. The fummits are perpetually increafing,
every new fall of fnow adding to the perennial heap,
while the fun has power only to thaw the fuperficies.
Caftalis, Pleiftus, and innumerable fprings are fed, fome
invifibly, from the lakes and refervoirs, which, without
thefe drains and fubterraneous vents, would fwell, efpe-
cially after heavy rain and the melting of fnow, fo as
to fill the valleys, and run over the tops of the rocks
]
PAR
down upon Delphi, fpreading wide an inundation, fi- Farnaflus
milar, as has been furmiled, to the Deucalionian de- II
luge.” ■ ^ y' .
PARNELL, Dr Thomas, a very ingenious divine
and poet in the early part of the 18th century. He was
archdeacon of Clogher, and the intimate friend of Mr
Pope j who publithed his works, with an elegant copy
of recommendatory verfes prefixed. He died in 1718,
aged 39.
Johnfon f fays, “ The life of Dr Parnell is a talk f Lives of
which I Ihould very willingly decline, fince it has been^f Loett,
lately written by Goldfmith, a man of fuch variety of
powers, and fuch facility of performance, that he always
feemed to do belt that which he was doing j a man who
had the art of being minute without tedioufnefs, and ge¬
neral without confulion j whofe language was copious
without exuberance, exa<ff without conftraint, and eafy
without weaknefs.
“ What fuch an author has told, who would tell a-
gain ? I have made an extraff from his larger narrative ;
and lhall have this gratification from my attempt, that
it gives me an opportunity of paying due tribute to the
memory of a departed genius.
‘ To ysg#s tsv S’oevevlwv.’
“ The general charaiffer of Parnell is not great ex¬
tent of comprehenfion, or fertility of mind. Of the lit¬
tle that appears ftill lefs is his own. His praife mult be
derived from the eafy fweetnefs of his dnffion : in his
verfes there is more happinefs than pains; he is fpright-
ly without effort, and always delights though he never
ravilhes ; every thing is proper, yet every thing feems
cafual. If there is fome appearance of elaboration in
the Hermit, the narrative, as it is lefs airy, is lefs plea-
fing. Of his other compofitions, it is impoffible to fay
whether they are the produffions of Nature fo excellent
as not to want the help of Art, or of Art fo refined as
to refemble Nature.”
PARODICAL DEGREES, in an equation, a term
fometimes ufed to denote the feveral regular terms in a
quadratic, cubic, biquadratic, &c. equation, when the
indices of the powers afeend or defeend orderly in an
arithmetical progreffion. Thus, x* f-m x1-!{• t: x—p is a
cubic equation where no term is wanting, but having all
its parodic degrees $ the indices of the terms regularly
defeending thus, 3, 2, 1, o.
PARODY, a popular maxim, adage, or proverb.
Parody, is alfo a poetical pleafantry, confifting in
applying the verfes written on one fubjeff, by way of
ridicule, to another •, or in turning a ferious work into a
burlefque, by affeffing to obferve as near as poffible the
fame rhimes, words, and cadences.
The parody was firft fet on foot by the Greeks; from
whom we borrow the name. It comes near to what
fome of our late writers call travejly. Others have
more accurately diftinguiffied between a parody and bur¬
lefque •, and they obferve, that the change of a fingle
word may parody a verfe j or of a fingle letter a word.
Thus, in the laft cafe, Cato expofed the inconftant dif-
pofition of Marcus Fulvius Nobilior, by changing No-
bilior into Mobilior. Another kind of parodv confifts
in the mere application of fome known verfe, or part of
a verfe of a writer, without making any change in it,
with a view to expofe it. A fourth initance is that of
writing verfes in the tafte and ftyle of authors little ap¬
proved.
PAR [
Y'aroSy proved. The rules of parody regard the choice of a fub
P iro; je^-> anc^ ':‘ie raanner °f treating it. The fubjeft ftiould
. be a known and celebrated work : as to the manner, it
ftiould be by an exaft imitation, and an intermixture
•of good-natured pleafantry.
PAROLE, in a military fenfe, the promife made
by a priioner of war, when he has leave to go any¬
where, of returning at a time appointed, if not ex¬
changed.
Parole, means alfo a word given out every day in
orders by the commanding officer, both in camp and
garrifon, in order to know friends from enemies.
PARONOMASIA, in Rhetoric, a pun ; or a figure
•whereby words nearly alike in found, but of very differ¬
ent meanings, are affedledly or defignedly uled. See
Oratory, N° 76.
PARONYCHIA, the Whitlow, in Surgery, is an
abfcefs at the end of the fingers. According as it is li-
tuated more or lefs deep, it is differently denominated,
and divided into fpecies. See Surgery Index.
PAROS, in Ancient Geography, an ifland of the Ai-
•gean fea, one of the Cyclades, with a ftrong cognomi-
nal town, 38 miles diftant from Delos (Pliny, Nepos).
Anciently called Pa&ye and Minoa (Pliny); alfo De-
metrias, Zacynthus, Hyria, Hylcejfa, and Cabarnis (Ni-
canor). The country of Archilochus the iambic poet
(Strabo). An ifland famous for its white marble (Vir¬
gil, Horace, Ovid), called lychnites, becaufe dug with
lamps (Pliny). The name of Cabarnis is borrowed, ac¬
cording to Stephanus, from one Cabarnus, who firft in¬
formed Ceres of the rape of her daughter Proferpine $
or, according to Hefychius, from the Cabarni, the
priefts of Ceres being fo called by the inhabitants of this
ifland. The name of Minoa is borrowed from Minos
king of Crete, who fubdued this, as he did moft of the
other iflands of the Aegean fea. It was called Paros,
which name it retains to this day, from Paros the fon of
Parrhafius, or, as Stephanus will have it, of Jafon the
Argonaut. Paros, according to Pliny’s computation,
is diftant from Naxos feven miles and a half, and 28
from Delos. Some modern travellers fuppofe that it
is 80, others only 50 miles in compafs. Pliny fays it
is half as large as Naxos, that is, between 36 and 37
miles in compafs. It was a rich and powerful ifland,
being termed the moft wealthy and happy of the Cy¬
clades, and by Cornelius Nepos an ifland elated with its
riches. The city of Paros, the metropolis, is ftyled by
Stephanus a potent city, and one of the largeft in the
Archipelago : the prefent city of Paros, now Parichia,
is fuppofed to have been built upon its ruins, the coun¬
try abounding with valuable monuments of antiquity.
The very Avails of the prefent city are built with co¬
lumns, architraves, pedeftals, mingled Avith pieces of
ancient marble of a furprifing magnitude, Avhich Avere
92 ] PAR
once employed in more noble edifices. Paros was indeed Paros,
formerly famous for its marble, which Avas of an extra- -y—
ordinary Avhitenefs, and in fuch requeft among the an¬
cients that the beft ftatuaries ufed no other (a). The
ifland is provided Avith feveral capacious and fafe har¬
bours, and was anciently much reforted to by traders.
It was, according to Thucydides, originally peopled by
the Phoenicians, Avho Avere the firft mailers of the fea.
Aftenvards the Carians fettled here, as Ave are told by
Thucydides and Diodorus. Put thefe two authors dif¬
fer as to the time Avhen the Carians came firft into the
ifland } for Thucydides tells us, that the Carians Avere
driven out by the Cretans under the conduft of Minos •,
and Diodorus Avrites, that the Carians did not fettle here
till after the Trojan Avar, when they found the Cretans
in poffeflion of the ifland. Stephanus thinks that the
Cretans, mixed Avith fome Arcadians, Avere the only
people that ever poffeffed this ifland. Minos himfelf, if
we believe Pliny, refided fome time in the ifland of Pa¬
ros, and received here the melancholy neAvs of the death
of his fon Androgens, Avho Avas killed in Attica after
he had diftinguiflied himfelf at the public games. We
find the inhabitants of this ifland chofen from among all
the Greeks-by the Milefians to compofe the differences
Avhich had for tivo generations rent that unhappy ftate
into parties and fa&ions. They acquitted themfelves
with great prudence, and reformed the government.
They aflifted Darius in his expedition againft Greece
Avith a confiderable fquadron; but after the vi&ory ob¬
tained by Miltiades at Marathon, they Avere reduced to
great ftraits by that general. HoAveA^er, after blocking
up the city for 26 days, he Avas obliged to quit the en-
terprife, and return to Athens with difgrace. Upon his
departure, the Parians Avere informed that Timo, a
prieftefs of the national gods, and then his prifoner, had
advifed him to perform fome fecret ceremony in the
temple of Ceres, near the city 5 affuring him that he
Avould thereby gain the place. Upon this information
they fent deputies to confult the oracle of Delphi, Avhe-
ther they ftiould punilh her with death, for endeavour¬
ing to betray the city to the enemy, and difcovering the
facred myfteries to Miltiades. The Pythian anfwered
that Timo Avas not the advifer •, but that the gods, hav¬
ing refolved to deftroy Miltiades, had only made her
the inftrument of his death. After the battle of Sala-
mis, Themiftocles fubjefted Paros and moft of the other
neighbouring iflands to Athens, exafling large fums
from them by Avay of punifhment for having favoured
the Perfians. It appears from the famous monument of
Adulas, which Cofmos of Egypt has defcribed Avith
great exaftnefs, that Paros and the other Cyclades were
once fubjeft to the Ptolemies of Egypt. PIoAvever, Pa¬
ros fell again under the power of the Athenians, Avho
continued mailers of it till they were driven out by Mi-
thridates
(a) Sutherland fays, “ that Avhile its marble quarries continued to be Avorked, Paros Avas one of the moft flou-
rifliing of the Cyclades ; but on the decline of the eaftern empire they Avere entirely neglefted, and are noAv con¬
verted into caves, in which the fhepherds ihelter their flocks. We have been in feveral of thefe fubterraneous
folds, Avhich put me much in mind of Homer’s defcription of Polyphemus. 1 he common Avails are almoft entirely
•compofed of marble ; and in examining a very fmall part of one, we found feveral pieces of cornice and baflb re¬
lievo. Several fine blocks of marble (fragments of columns) are lying clofe to the Avater’s edge ; and feem to
■have been brought there by travellers, Avho for Avant of a proper purciiafe to get them on board, have not been able
to carry them further.”
PAR t 793 ] PAR
Paros thridates the Great. But that prince being obliged to
II yield to Sylla, to Lucullus, and to Pompey, this and
^arr' . the other iflands of the Archipelago fubmitted to the
v Romans, who reduced them to a province with Lydia,
Phrygia, and Caria.
Mr Sutherland, who lately vilited Paros, fays, that
“ the water in it is excellent; and as that which we got
at Medina has been complained of, as being too hard
to make proper peafe foup for the people, all the calks
are ordered to be emptied and refilled. The Ruffians
made this place their grand arfenal $ their powder ma¬
gazines, and feveral other buildings, are Hill Handing }
and the ifland is confiderably indebted to them for im¬
proving the convenience for water, and for the trade
which the calh they expended introduced among the
inhabitants.”
PAROTIDES, or Barotids, are glands lituated on
each fide of the head. See Anatomy Index.
PAROXYSM, in Medicine, the fevere fit of a dif-
eafe, under which it grows higher or exafperated ; as
of the gout, &c.
PARR, Catharine, queen of England, wras the el-
dell daughter of Sir Thomas Parr of Kendal. She Avas
firll married to John Nevil, Lord Latymer j after whofe
death, by her marriage with Henry VIII. fhe was raifed
to the throne. The royal nuptials were folemnized at
Hampton Court on the 12th of July Being reli-
gioufly difpofed, ffie was, in the early part of her life, a
zealous obferver of the Romiffi rites and ceremonies \
but in the dawning of the Reformation, ffie became as
zealous a promoter of the Lutheran do&rine ; yet with
fuch prudence and circumfpe&ion as her perilous fitua-
tion required. Neverthelefs, we are told, that ffie was
in great danger of falling a facrifice to the Popiffi fac¬
tion, the chief of whom was Bilhop Gardiner : he drew
up articles again!! her, and prevailed on the king to fign
a ivarrant to remove her to the Toiver. This Avarrant
Avas, hoAvever, accidentally dropped, and immediately
conveyed to her majelly. What her apprehenfions
mull have been on this occalion may be ealily imagined.
She kneiv the monarch, and ffie could not help recol-
le£ling the fate of his former queens. A fudden illnefs
Avas the natural confequence. The neAA's of her indif-
pofition brought the king to her apartment. He Avas
laviffi in expreffions of affeftion, and fent her a phyfi-
cian. His majefiy being foon after alfo fomeAvhat indif-
pofed, ffie prudently returned the vifit', with which the
king feemed pleafed, and began to talk Avith her on re¬
ligious fubjeils, propofing certain queltions, concerning
Avhich he Avanted her opinion. She anfwered, that fuch
profound fpeeulations Avere not fuited to her fex *, that
it belonged to the huffiand to choofe principles for his
Avife •, the Avife’s duty was, in all cafes, to adopt im¬
plicitly the fentiments of her huffiand 5 and as to her-
felf, it A\Tas doubly her duty, being bleffed with a
huffiand who was qualified, by his judgment and learn¬
ing, not only to choofe principles for his oAvn family,
but for the moll wife and knoAving of every nation.
“ Not fo, by St Mary,” replied the king •, “ you are
noAv become a doctor, Kate, and better fitted to give
than receive inllrudlion.” She meekly replied, that
ffie Avas fenfible how little ffie was entitled to thefe
praifes •, that though ffie ufually declined not any con-
verfation, hnAvever fublime, when propofed by his ma-
Vol. XV. Part II.
jelly, ffie well knew that her conceptions could fer\re
to no other purpofe than to give him a little momentary v~'
amufement; that Ihe found the converfation a little apt
to languiffi Avhen not revived by fome oppofition, and
ffie had ventured fometimes to feign a contrariety of
fentiments, in order to give him the pleafure of refuting
her j and that ffie alfo propofed, by this innocent arti¬
fice, to engage him into topics whence ffie had obferved,
by frequent experience, that ffie reaped profit and in-
Itrudtion. “ And is it fo, fweetheart ?” replied the king;
“ then Ave are perfedl friends again.” He embraced her
Avitlt great affedlion, and fent her away Avith affurarices
of his protection and kindnefs.
The time being noAv come when ffie Avas to be fent.
to the ToAver, the king, Avalking in the garden, fent
for the queen, and met her Avith great good humour ;
Avhen lo the chancellor, Avith forty of the guards, ap¬
proached. He fell upon his knees, and fpoke foftly
with the king, Avho called him knave, arrant knave,
bealt, fool, and commanded him inltantly to depart.
Henry then returned to the queen, Avho ventured to
intercede for the chancellor : “ Ah, poor foul,” faid
the king, “ thou little knowell horv evil he deferveth
this grace at thy hands. Of my Avord, fvA’eetheart,
he hath been toward thee an arrant knave; and fo let
him go.” The king died in January 1547, juft three
years and a half after his marriage with this fecond
Catharine ; who in a Ihort time Avas again efpoufed to
Sir Thomas Seymour lord-admiral of England ; and in
September 1548 ffie died in childbed. The hiftorians
of this period generally infinuate that ffie Avas poifoned
by her huffiand, to make Avay for his marriage Avith the
lady Elizabeth.
That Catharine Parr Was beautiful is beyond a
doubt : that ffie was pious and learned is evident from
her Avritings ; and that her prudence and fagacity Avefe
not inferior to her other accomplilhments, may be
concluded from her holding up the paflion of a capri¬
cious tyrant as a ffiield againft her enemies ; and that
at the latter end of his days, Avhen his paflions Avere
enfeebled by age, and his peeviffi aullerity increafed
by difeafe. She Avrote, 1. Queen Catharine Parr’s la¬
mentation of a finner, bewailing the ignorance of her
blind life ; Lond. 8vo. 1548, 1563. 2. Prayers or me¬
ditations, Avherein the mynd is ftirred patiently to fuffre
all afflictions here, to fet at nought the vaine profperitee
of this worlde, and ahvays to long for the everlaftynge
felicitee. Collected out of holy workes, by the moll
virtuous and gracious princelTe Katherine, Queen of Eng-
lande, France, and Irelande. Printed by John Wayland,
1545, 4to,—1561, i2mo. 3. Other Meditations, Pray¬
ers, Letters, &c. unpubliffled.
Parr, Thomas, or Old Parr, a remarkable Eng-
lilhman, who lived in the reigns of ten kings and
queens ; married a fecond Avife when he was 120, and
had a child by her. He Avas the fon of John Parr, a
huffiandman of Winnington, in the pariffl of Alderbury,
in the county of Salop, Avhere he was born in the year
1483. Though he lived to the vaft age of upivards
of 152 years, yet the tenor of his life admitted but of
little variety ; nor can the detail of it be confidered of
importance, further than what Avill arife from the gra¬
tification of that curiofity Avhich naturally inquires after
the mode of living Avhich could lengthen life to fuch
5 H extreme
Parr.
PAR [ 794 ] PAR
extreme old age. Following the profeflion of his fa¬
ther, he laboured hard, and lived on coarfe fare. Tay¬
lor the water poet fays of him :
Good wholefome labour was his exercife,
Down with the lamb, and with the lark would rife ;
In mire and toiling fweat he fpent the day,
And to his team he whittled time away :
The cock his night-clock, and till day was done,
His watch and chief fun-dial was the fun.
He was of old Pythagoras’ opinion,
That green cheefe was moft wholefome with an onion j
Coarfe meflin bread, and for his daily fwig,
Milk, butter-milk, and water, whey, and whig :
Sometimes metheglin, and by fortune happy,
Fie fometimes lipp’d a cup of ale moft nappy,
Cyder or perry, w hen he did repair
T’ a Whitfun ale, wake, wedding, or a fair,
Or when in Chriftmas time he was a gueft
At his good landlord’s houfe among the reft :
Fife he had little leifure time to wafte,
Or at the alehoufe huff-cap ale to tafte.
Nor did he ever hunt a tavern fox •,
Ne’er knew a coach, tobacco, or the .
His phylic was good butter, which the foil
Of Salop yields, more fweet than Candy oil 5
And garlic he efteem’d above the rate
Of Venice treacle or beft mithridate.
He entertain’d no gout, no ache he felt,
The air was good and temperate where he dwelt j
While maviffes and fweet-tongued nightingales
Did chant him roundelays and madrigals.
Thus living within bounds of Nature’s laws,
Of his long lafting life may be fome caufe.
And the fame writer defcribes him in the following two
lines :
From head to heel, his body had all over
A quick fet, thick fet, natural hairy cover.
The manner of his being conduced to London is
alfo noticed in the following terms: “ The right hon-
mwable Thomas earl of Arundel and Surrey, earl mar-
fhal of England, on being lately in Shropftttre to vifit
fome lands and manors which his lordftiip holds in that
county, or for fome other occafions of importance
which caufed his lordftiip to be there, the report of this
aged man was fignified to his honour, who hearing of
fo remarkable a piece of antiquity, his lordftiip was
pleafed to fee him 5 and in his innate, noble, and
Chriftian piety, he took him into his charitable tuition
and proteflion, commanding that a litter and two
horfes (for the more eafy carriage of a man fo feeble
and worn with age) to be provided for him ; alfo, that
a daughter of his, named Lucy, ftiould likewife at¬
tend him, and have a horfe for her own riding with
him : and to cheer up the old man, and make him
merry, there was an antique-faced fellow, with a high
and mighty no-beard, that had alfo a horfe for his
carriage. Thefe were all to be brought out of the
country to London by eafy journeys, the charge being Parr,
allowed by his lordftiip j likewife one of his lordfhip’s s~v—
own fervants, named Bryan Kelly, to ride on horfe-
back with them, and to attend and defray all manner
of reckonings and expences. All which was done ac¬
cordingly as follows :—
“ Wilmington is a parifti of Alderbury, near a place
called the Welch Pool, eight miles from Shrewlbtiry 5
from whence he was carried to Wem, a town of the
earl’s aforefaid 5 and the next day to Shiffnall, a manor-
houfe of his lordftiip’s, where they likewife ftayed one
night : from Shiffnall they came to Wolverhampton,
and the next day to Birmingham, and from thence to
Coventry. Although Matter Kelly had much to do
to keep the people off, that preffed upon him in all
places where he came, yet at Coventry he was moft
oppreffed, for they came in fuch multitudes to fee the
old man, that thofe that defended him w'ere almoft
quite tired and fpent, and the aged man in danger of
being ftifled ; and, in a wrord, the rabble were fo un¬
ruly, that Bryan was in doubt he ftiould bring his
charge no farther ; fo greedy are the vulgar to hearken
to or gaze after novelties. The trouble being over,
the next day they paffed to Daintree, to Stony Strat¬
ford, to Radburne, and fo to London ; where he was
well entertained and accommodated with all things,
having all the aforefaid attendance at the foie charge
and colt of his lordftiip.” When brought before the
king, his majefty, with more acutenefs than good
manners, faid to him, “ You have lived longer than
other men, what have you done more than other men ?”
He anfwered, “ I did penance when I was a hundred
yeai'S old.” This journey, however, proved fatal to
him •, owdng to the alteration in his diet, to the change
of the air, and his general mode of life, he lived but a
very ftiort time, dying the 5th of November 1635 (a) j
and was buried in Weftminfter Abbey. After his
death, his body was opened j and an account was drawn
up by the celebrated Dr Harvey, part of which we lhall
lay before our readers.
“ Thomas Parr was a poor country man of Shrop-
ftiire, whence he ivas brought up to London by the
right honourable Thomas earl of Arundel and Surrey 5
and died after he had outlived nine princes, in the tenth
year of the tenth of them, at the age of 152 years and
nine months.
“ He had a large breaft, lungs not fungous, but
flicking to his ribs, and diftended Avith blood j a livid-
nefs in his face, as he had a difficulty of breathing a
little before his death, and a long lafting warmth in
his armpits and breaft after it j Avhich fign, together
Avith others, were fo evident in his body, as they ufe
to be on thofe that die by fuffocation. His heart Avas
great, thick, fibrous, and fat. The blood in the heart
blackifti and diluted. The cartilages of the fternum
not more bony than in others, but flexile and foft.
His vifcera Avere found and ftrong, efpecially the fto-
mach •, and it Avas obferved of him, that he ufed to
eat often by night and day, though contented with
(a) The author of a book entitled Long Livers, S’/o. I722> which Oldys in his MS. notes on Fuller afcribes
to one Robert Samber, againft all evidence fays, p. 89. that Parr died fixteen years after he had been prefented to
the king, 24th of November 1651.
Parr
II
Parret.
PAR [79
old cheefe, milk, coarfe bread, fmall beer, and whey •,
and, which is more remarkable, that he ate at midnight
, a little before he died. His kidneys were covered with
fat, and pretty found 5 only on the interior furface of
them were found fome aqueous or ferous abfeeffes, where¬
of one was near the bignefs of a hen egg, with a yellow-
i(h w^ater in it, having made a roundith cavity, impreffed
on that kidney •, w'hence fome thought it came that a
little before his death a fuppreffion of urine had befal¬
len him 5 though others were of opinion, that his
urine was fupprefled upon the regurgitation of all the
ferofity into his lungs. Not the lead appearance there
was of any ftony matter either in the kidneys or blad¬
der. His bowels were alfo found, a little whitiih with¬
out. His fpleen very little, hardly equalling the big¬
nefs of one kidney. In Ihort, all his inward parts ap¬
peared fo healthy, that if he had not changed his diet
and air, he might perhaps have lived a good while
longer. The caufe of his death was imputed chiefly
to the change of food and air; forafmueh as coming
out of a clear, thin, and free air, he came into the
thick air of London 5 and after a conftant plain and
homely country diet, he was taken into a fplendid
family, where he fed high and drank plentifully of the
beft wines, whereupon the natural functions of the parts
of his body , were overcharged, his lungs obftrufted,
and the habit of the whole body quite diibrdered; upon
which there could not but enfue a diflolution. His
brain was found, entire, and firm ; and though he had
not the ufe of his eyes, nor mueh of his memory, feveral
years before he died, yet he had his hearing and appre-
henfion very well; and was able, even to the 130th
year of his age, to do any hufl)Andman’s work, even
thrafliing of corn.”
The following fummary of his life is copied from
Oldys’s MS. notes on Fuller’s Worthies: Old Parr was
born 1483 ; lived at home until 1500, aet. 17, when
he went out to fervice. 1518, aet. 35, returned home
from his mailer. 1522, aet. 39, fpent four years on the
remainder of his father’s leafe. 1543? 0et* enci«d
the firft leafe he renewed of Mr Lewis Porter. 1563*
aet. 80, married Jane, daughter of John 1 aylor, a
maiden', by whom he had a fon and a daughter, who
both died very young. 1564, mt. 81, ended the fe-
cond leafe which he renewed of Mr John Porter.
158 9, ret. 102, ended the third leafe he had renewed
of Mr Hugh Porter. 1588, aet. 105, did penance in
Alderbury church, for lying with Katharine Milton,
and getting her with child. 1595, ast. 112, he buried
his wife Jane, after they had lived 32 years together.
1605, aet. 122, having lived 10 years a widower, he
married Jane, widow of Anthony Adda, daughter of
John Lloyd of Gilfells, in Montgomery (hire, who fur-
vived him. 1635, aet. 152, he died j after they had
lived together 30 years, and after 50 years pofleflion of
his laft leafe. See Longevity.
PARRA, a genus of birds belonging to the order of
grallae. See Ornithology Index.
PARRELS, in a fhip, are frames made of trucks,
ribs, and ropes, which having both their ends faftened
to the yards, are fo contrived as to go round about
the malls, that the yards by their means may go up and
down upon the malt. Thefe alfo, with the brealt ropes,
fallen the yards to the malls.
PARRET, or Pedred river, has its rife in the
5 1 PAR
fouthern part of Somerfetlhire in England, and being
joined by feveral other fmall rivers, the Evel •, and ^
about four miles from this junction, it is joined by the
Tone or Thone, a pretty large river, riling an o. g the
hills in the weftern parts of this county. About two
miles below the junction, it paffes by the town of
Bridgewater, and falls into the Briltol channel in
Bridgewater bay.
PARRHASIUS, a famous ancient painter of Ephe-
fus, or, as fome fay, of Athens : he flouriihed about the
time of Socrates, according to Xenophon, who hath in¬
troduced him into a dialogue difcourfing with that phi-
lofopher. He was one of the bell painters in his time.
Pliny fays, that it wras he who firil gave fymmetry and
jult proportions in that art •, that he was likewife the
firlt who knew how to exprefs the truth and life of cha-
rafters, and the different airs of the face ; that he dil-
covered a beautiful difpofition of the hair, and heighten¬
ed the grace of the vifage. It is allowed even by the
mailers in the art, that he far outfhone them in the
glory of fucceeding in the outlines, in which eonfifts
the grand fecret of painting. But it is alfo remarked
by Pliny, that Parrhalius became infupportable with
pride \ and was fo very vain as to give himfelf the moll
flattering epithets \ fuch as, the tendered:, the foflelt,
the grandeft, the moll delicate, and the perfecler of his
art. He boalled that he was fprung from Apollo, and
that he was born to paint the gods 5 that he had actual¬
ly drawn Hercules touch by touch, that hero having
often appeared to him in dreams. When the plurality
of voices was againll him at Samos in favour of Timan-
thes, in the opinion of a picture of Ajax provoked
againll the Greeks, for adjudging to Ulylfes the arms of
Achilles, he anfwered a perfon who condoled him on
his check, “ For my part I don’t trouble myfelf at the
fentence ; but I am forry that the fon of Telamon hath
received a greater outrage than that which wras former¬
ly put upon him fo unjultly.” AElian relates this Itory,
and tells us that Parrhalius affedled to wear a crown of
gold upon his head, and to carry in his hand a batoon,
lludded with nails of the fame metal. He worked at
his art with pleafantry, often indeed linging. He was
very licentious and loofe in his pi£tures ; and he is
faid, by way of amufement, to have reprefented the
moll infamous objefts. His Atalantis, with her fpoufe
Meleager, was of this kind. This piece was afterwards
devifed as a legacy to the emperor Tiberius, upon con¬
dition that, if he was difpleafed with the fubjedl, he
Ihould receive a million feilerces inltead of it. The em¬
peror, covetous as he was, not only preferred the picture
to that fum, but even placed it in his moll favourite
apartment. It is alfo faid, that, though Parrhafius
was excelled by Timanthes, yet he excelled Zeuxis.
Among his pictures is a celebrated one of Thefeus 5 and
another reprefenting Meleager, Hercules, and Perfeus,
in a group together •, as alfo YEneas, with Caltor and
Pollux, in a third.
Parrhasius, Janus, a famous grammarian in Italy,
who was born at Cofenza in the kingdom of Naples,
1470. Fie was intended for the law, the profeflion of
his anceftors-, but he refufed it, and cultivated clalfical
learning. His real name was Johannes Paulus Pariliusj
but according to the humour of the grammarians of the
age, he took inllead of it Parrhafius. He taught at
Milan with much reputation, being admired for a grace-
5 H 2 fui
Parret,
Parrhafius.
Pirrhafias
II
Parricide.
PAP [ 796 ] PAR
ful delivery, in which he chiefly excelled other profef-
fors.—It was this charm in his voice, which brought a
vaft concourfe of people to his lectures ; and among
others had the pleafure to fee General Trimoles, who
was then threefcore years old. He went to Home
when Alexander VI. was pope •, and was like to be in¬
volved in the misfortunes Bernardini Cajetan and
Silius Savello, with whom he hadiome correfpondence j
but he efcaped the danger, by the information of Tho¬
mas Phosdrus, profeflbr of rhetoric, and canon of St
.Tohn Lateran, whole advice he followed in retiring from
Rome. Soon after, he was appointed public profeflbr
of rhetoric at Milan 5 but the liberty be took to cenfure
the teachers there as arrant blockheads, provoked them
in return to afperfe his morals. They faid he had a cri¬
minal converle with his fcholars : which being a crime
extremely abhorred by the Milanefe, our profeflbr was
obliged to leave Milan. He went to Vicenza, where he
obtained a larger falary •, and he held this profeflbr (hip
till the dates of the Venetians were laid watte by the
troops of the League : upon which he went to Ids na¬
tive country, having made his efcape through the army
of the enemy. He was at Cofenza, when his old
friend Phcedrus perfuaded Julius to lend for him to
Rome \ and though that defign proved abortive by the
death of the pope, yet, by the recommendation of John
Lafcaris, he was called thither under bis fucceflbr Leo
X. Leo was before favourably inclined to him 5 and
on his arrival at Rome, appointed him profeflbr of po¬
lite literature. He had been now fome time married to
a daughter of Demetrius Chalcondylas ; and he took
with him to Rome, Bafil Chalcondylas, his wife’s bro¬
ther, and brother of Demetrius Chalcondylas, profeflbr
of the Greek tongue at Milan. He did not long enjoy
this office conferred upon him by the pope j for, worn
out by his (Judies and labours, be became fo affiidfed with
the gout, that for fome years he had no part of his body
free, except his tongue : having almoil loft the ufe of
both his legs and both his arms. He laboured befides
under fo great a degree of poverty, as put him out of
all hopes of being ever in a better fituation j fo that he
left Rome, and returned into Calabria, his native coun¬
try, where he was tormented a long while with a fever,
and at laft died in the grealeft mifery. He left his li¬
brary to his friend Seripandus, brother to Cardinal Je¬
rome Seripandus, who built him a tomb in the convent
of the Auflin friars at Naples. There are feveral
books aferibed to him ^ and in the dedication of one of
them, his character is drawn to great advantage by
Henry Stephens.
PARRHESIA. See Oratory, N° 88.
PARRICIDE, the murder of one’s parents or chil¬
dren. By the Roman law, it was puniihed in a much
feverer manner than any other kind of homicide. Af¬
ter being fcourged, the delinquents were fewed up in a
leathern fack, with a live dog, a cock, a viper, and an
ape, and fo caft into the fea. Solon, it is true, in his
laws, made none agalnft parricide 5 apprehending it im-
poflible that one ftiould be guilty of fo unnatural a bar¬
barity. And the Perfians, according to Herodotus, en¬
tertained the fame notion, when they adjudged all per-
ions v'ho killed their reputed parents to be baftards.
And upon fome fuch reafon as this muft we account for
the omiflion of an exemnlary puniftnnent for this crime
sn our Engliih laws j which treat it no otherwife than
2
as Ample murder, unlels the child was alfo the fervant Parricide
of the parent. ||
For though the breach of natural relation is unob- , ^iirf(jn-
ferved, yet the breach of civil or ecclefialtic connexions, ’
when coupled with murder, denominates it a new of¬
fence ; no lefs than a fptcies of treafon, called parva
pt'odino, or petit treafon ; which, however, is nothing,
elfe but an aggravated degree of murder ; although,
on account of the violation of private allegiance, it
is ftigmatized as an inferior fpecies of treafon. And
thus, in the ancient Gothic conftitution, we find
the breach both of natural and civil relations ranked
in the fame clafs with, crimes againft the (late and fove-
reign.
PARROT. See Psittacus, Ornithology In¬
dex.
PARSHORE, a town of England in Worcefterfliire,
feven miles from Worcefter, and 102 from London, fi-
tuated on the north fide of the Avon, near its jundtion
with the river Bow, being a confiderable thoroughfare
in the lower road from Worcefter to London. A reli¬
gious ho ufe W'a"- founded here in 604, a 1'mall part of
which now remains, and is ufed as the pariftr church of
Holy Crofs, the whole of which contained above to
acres. The abbey church rvas 250 feet long, and 1 20
broad. J he pafiih ot Parfhore is of great extent, and
hath within its limits many manors and chapeiries. At
prefent it has two pariflits, Holy Crofs and St Andrew.
In Holy Crofs church are feveral very antique monu¬
ments. Its chief manufaefure is ftockings. It contains
about 300 houfes.
PARSLEY. See Afium, Botany Index.
PARSNEP. See Pastinaca, Botany Index.
PARSON Vicar. A parion.ecc/ejice,
is one that hath full poffefiion of all the rights of a pa¬
rochial church. He is called parlbn, pcrfomi, becaufe
by his perfon the church, which is an invifible body, is
reprefented 5 and lie is in himfelf a body corporate, in
order to proteft and defend the rights of the church mackft.
(which he perfonates) by a perpetual fucceflion. He is Comment.
fometimes called the j'elior ur governor of the church ;
but the appellation of parfon (however it may be de¬
preciated by familiar, clowniib, and indiferiminate ufe)
is the moft legal, moft beneficial, and moft honourable
title that a parilh prieft can enjoy ; becaufe fuch a one
(Sir Edward Coke obferves), and he only, is faid vicem
feu perfonam eedejice gerere. A parfon has, during his
life, the freehold in himfelf of the parfonage houfe, the
glebe, the tithes, and other dues. But thefe are
fometimes appropriated; that is to fay-, the benefice
is perpetually annexed to fome fpiritual corporation,
either foie or aggregate, being the patron of the li¬
ving ; whom the law efteems equally capable of provi¬
ding for the fervice of the church as any (ingle jn'ivate
clergyman *. * See Ap-
The appropriating corporations, or religious houfes,
were wont to depute one of their own body to perform
divine fervice, and adminifter the facraments, in thofe
panflies of which the fociety was thus the parlbn. This
officiating minifler was in reality no more than a curate,
deputy, or vicegerent of the appropriator, and therefore
called yicarius, or “ vicar.” His ftipend was at the
diferetion of the appropriator, who, was, however, bound
of common right to find fomebody, qui illi de temporuli-
busy epifeopo de fpiritualibus, debcat refpondere. But
this
PAR [ 797 ] PAR
Parfon. this was done in fo fcandalous a manner, and the paridi-
—-v*— ' cs fuiFered fo much by the negleil: of the appropriators,
that the legiflature was forced to interpofe : and accord¬
ingly it is enabled, by ifatute x5 Rich. II. c. 6. that in
all appropriations of churches the diocefan bifhop (hall
ordain (in proportion to the value of the church) a com¬
petent fum to be diftributed among the poor parilhioners
annually ; and that the vicarage fhall be fufficiently en¬
dowed. It teems the pari 111 were frequently fufferers,
not only by the want of divine fervice, but alfo by with¬
holding thofe alms for which, among other purpofes, the
payment of tithes was originally impofed : and therefore
in this aift a penfion is diretled to be ditlributed among
the poor parochians, as well as a fufficient ftipend to the
vicar. But he, being liable to be removed at the plea-
fure of the appropriator, was not likely to infift too ri¬
gidly on the legal fufficiency of the ftipend ; and there¬
fore, by ftatute 4 Hen. IV. c. 1 2. it is ordained, that
the vicar (hall be a fecular perfon, not a member of any
religious houfe ; that he Ihall be vicar perpetual, not
removeable at the caprice of the monaftery •, and that
he Ihould be canonically inftituted and induced, and be
fufficiently endowed, at the difcretion of the ordinary ;
for thefe three exprefs purpofes, to do divine fervice, to
inform the people, and to keep hofpitality. The en¬
dowments, in conlequence of thefe ftatutes, have ulually
been by a portion of the glebe, or land belonging to
parfonage, and a particular (hare of the tithes, which
the appropriators found it moll troublefome to colled!,
and which are therefore generally called petty or fmall
tithes ; the greater, or predial tithes, being ftill referved
to their own ufe. But one and the fame rule was not
obferved in the endowment of all vicarages. Hence
fome arc more liberally, andfome more fcantily, endow¬
ed : and htnce the tithes of many things, as wood in
particular, are in fome parilhes redlorial, and in fome
vicarial tithes.
The dill in cl ion therefore of a parfon and vicar is
this : The parfon has for the moft part the whole right
to all the ecclefiaftical dues in his parilh ; but a vicar
has generally an appropriator over him, entitled to the
bell part of the profits, to whom he is in effedl perpetual
curate, with a ftanding falary. Though in lorne places
the vicarage has been confiderably augmented by a large
(hare of the great tithes ; which augmentations were
greatly affifted by the ftatute 27 Car. II. c. 8. enacted
in favour of poor vicars and curates, which rendered
fuch temporary augmentations (when made by the ap¬
propriators) perpetual.
'['he method of becoming a parfon or vicar is much
the fame. To both there are four requifites neceffary ;
holy orders, prefentation, inftitution, and induction.
The. method of conferring the holy orders of deacon
and prieft, according to the liturgy and canons, is fo¬
reign to the prefent purpofe 5 any farther than as they
are neceffary requifites to make a complete parfon or vi¬
car. By common law, a deacon, of any age, might be
iuftituted and indufled to a parfonage or vicarage; but
it was ordained, by ftatute 13 Eliz. c. 12. that no per¬
fon under twenty-three years of age, and in deacon’s
orders, fliould be prefented to any benefice with cure ;
and if he xvere not ordained prieft within one year af¬
ter his indu£lion, he fhould be ipfo faB<j deprived : and
now, by ftatule 13 and 14 Car. II. g. 4. no perfon is ca¬
pable to be admitted to any benefice, unlds he hath
been firft ordained a prieft j and then he is-, in the lan¬
guage of the law, a clerk in orders. But if he obtains
orders, or a licenfe to preach, by money or corrupt prac¬
tices, (which feems to be the trite, though not the
common, notion of fimony), the perfon giving fuch or¬
ders forfeits 40I. and the perfon receiving, xol. and is
incapable of any ecclefiaftical preferment for feven
years after.
Any clerk may be prefented to a parfonage or vi¬
carage \ that is, the patron, to whom the advowfon of
the church belongs, may offer his clerk to the bilhop of
the diocefe to be inftituted. But when he is prefented,
the biffiop may refufe him upon many accounts. As, 1.
If the patron is excommunicated, and remains in con¬
tempt 40 days ; or, 2. If the clerk be unfit : which un-
fitnefs is of feveral kinds. Firft, With regard to his
perfon j as if he be a baftard, an outlaw, an excommu¬
nicate, an alien, under age, or the like. Next, With
regard to his faith or morals : as for any particular he-
refy, or vice that is malum in fe; but if the biftiop al¬
leges only in generals, as that he is fchifmaticus invete-
rutus, or objects a fault that is malum prohibitum mere¬
ly, as haunting taverns, playing at unlawful games, or
the like, it is not good caufe of refufal. Or, laftly.
The clerk may be unfit to difeharge the paftoral office
for want of learning. In any of which cafes, the bi¬
ftiop may refufe the clerk. In cafe the refufal is for
herefy, fchifm, inability of learning, or other matter
of ecclefiaftical cognizance, there the bifiiop mull
give notice to the patron of fuch his caufe of refufal,
wrho being ufually a layman, is not fuppofed to have
knowledge of it \ elfe he cannot prelent by lapfe j but
if the caufe be temporal, there he is not bound to give
notice.
If an action at law be brought by the patron again!!
the bifhop for refufing his clerk, the bilhop muft affign
the caufe. If the caufe be of a temporal nature, and
the fa£t admitted (as, for inftance, outlawry), the judges
of the king’s courts muft determine its validity, or
whether it be fufficient caufe of refufal: but if the fact
be denied, it muft be determined by a jury. If the
caufe be of a fpiritual nature, (as herefy, particularly al¬
leged), t he fa£t, if denied, (hall alfo be determined by a
jury : and if the fact be admitted or found, the court,
upon confultation and advice of learned divines, fhall
decide its fufficiency. If the caufe be want of learning,
the bilhop need not fpecify in what points the clerk is
deficient, but only allege that he E deficient; for the ita-
tute 9 Edw. II. ft. 1. c. 13. is exprefs, that the exami¬
nation of the fitnefs of a perfon prefented to a benefice
belongs to the eccleftaftieal judge. But btcaufe it
Mould be nugatory in this cafe to demand the reafon of
refufal from the ordinary, if the patron were bound to
abide by his determination, who has already pronounced
his clerk unfit ; therefore if the bilhop return the clerk
to be minus fufficiens in liieratura, the court fhall write
to the metropolitan to re-examine him, and certify his
qualifications ; which certificate of the archbfftiop is
final.
Parfon.
If the biffiop hath no objeclions, but admits the pa¬
tron’s prefentation, the clerk fo admitted is next to be
inftituted by him •, which is a kind of inveftiture of the
fpiritual part of the benefice ; for by inftitution, the care
of the fouls of the parish is committed to the charge of
the clerk. When a vicar is inftituted, he (befides the
ufual
PA H [ 798 ] PAR
ufual forms) takes, if required by the bifliop, an oath
of perpetual refidence ; for the maxim of law is, that
vicarius non habet vivarium : and as the non-refidence
of the appropriators was the caufe of the perpetual efta-
blithment of vicarages, the law judges it very improper
for them to defeat the end of their conftifution, and by
abfence to create the very mifchief which they were ap¬
pointed to remedy ; efpecially as, if any profits are to
arife from putting in a curate and living at a diilance
from the parifh, the appropriator, who is the real parfon,
has undoubtedly the elder title to them. When the or¬
dinary is alfo the patron, and confers the living, the pre-
fentation and inftitution are one and the fame aft, and
are called a collation to a benefice. By intlitution or col¬
lation the church is full, fo that there can be no frefh
prefentation till another vacancy, at leaft in the cafe of
a common patron j but the church is not full againft the
king till induction : nay, even if a clerk is inftituted
upon the king’s prefentation, the crown may revoke it
before induftion and prefent another clerk. Upon in¬
ftitution alio the clerk may enter on the parfonage houfe
and glebe, and take the tithes: but he cannot grant or
let them, or bring an aftion for them, till induftion.
See Induction1.
For the rights of a parfon or vicar, in his tithes and
ccclefiaftical dues, fee Tithes. As to his duties, they
are fo numerous, that it is imprafticable to recite them
here with any tolerable concilenefs or accuracy 5 but the
reader who has occafion may confult Bi/hop Gibfon’s
Codex', John foil’s Clergyman"1 s Vade Mecum, and Burn’s
Ecclefafical Law. We fhall therefore only juft men¬
tion the article of refidence, upon the fuppofition of
which the law doth ftyle every parochial minifter an in¬
cumbent. By ftatute 21 Henry VIII. c. 13. perfons
willingly abfenting themfelves from their benefices, for
one month together, or two months in the year, incur
a penalty of 5I. to the king, and 5I. to any perfon that
will fue for the fame ; except chaplains to the king, or
others therein mentioned, during their attendance in the
houfehold of fuch as retain them 5 and alfo except all
heads of houfes, magiftrates, and profeflors in the uni-
verfities, and all ftudents under forty years of age refi-
ding there, bona fide, for ftudy. Legal refidence is not
only in the parifh, but alfo in the parfonage houfe \ for
it hath been refolved, that the ftatute intended refidence,
not only for ferving the cure and for hofpitality, but
alfo for maintaining the houfe, that the fucceflbr alfo
may keep hofpitality there.
We have feen that there is but one way whereby one
may become a parfon or vicar : there are many ways by
which one may ceafe to be fo. 1. By death. 2. By
ceflion, in taking another benefice j for by ftatute 21
Hen. VIII. c. 13. if any one having a benefice of 81.
per annum, or upwards, in the king’s books, (according
to the prefent valuation), accepts any other, the firft
fhall be adjudged void, unlefs he obtains a difpenfation \
which no one is entitled to have but the chaplains of
the king and others therein mentioned, the brethren
and fons of lords and knights, and doftors and bachelors
of divinity and law, admitted by the univerfities of this
realm. And a vacance thus made for want of a difpen¬
fation, is called cejjion. 3. By confecration *, for, as was
mentioned before, when a clerk is promoted to a bifhop-
ric, all his other preferments are void the inftant that he
is confecrated. But there is a method, by the favour
1
of the crown, of holding fuch livings in commendam. Parfon
Comtnenda or ccclefia commendata, is a living commend- 1!
ed by the crown to the care of a clerk, to hold till a Plilterie'
proper pallor is provided for it. This may be tempora¬
ry tor one, two, or three years, or perpetual, being a kind
of difpenfation to avoid the vacancy of the living, and
is called a commenda retinere. There is alfo a commen-
da recipere, which is to take a benefice de novo, in the
bifhop’s own gift, or the gift of fome other patron con-
fenting to the fame ; and this is the fame to him as in¬
ftitution and induftion are to another clerk. 4. By re-
fignation. But this is of no avail till accepted'by the
ordinary, into whole hands the refignation mull be
made. 5. By deprivation, either by canonical cenfures,
or in purfuance of divers penal ftatutes, which declare
the benefice void, for fome nonfeafanee or negleft, or
elfe fome malefeafance or crime : as for fimony •, for
maintaining any doftrine in derogation of the king’s
fupremaey, or of the thirty-nine articles, or of the book
of common prayer 5 for neglefting after inftitution to
read the liturgy and articles in the church, or make the
declarations againft Popery, or to take the abjuration
oath ; for ufing any other form of prayer than the liturgy
of the church of England •, or for abfenting himfelf 60
days in one year from a benefice belonging to a Popifh
patron, to which the clerk was prefented by either of
the univerfities : in all which, and fimilar cafes, the be¬
nefice is ipfio faClo void, without any formal fentence of
deprivation.
PARSONAGE, a reftory, or parifh church, endow¬
ed with a glebe, houfe, lands, tithes, &.c. for the main¬
tenance of a minifttw, with cure of fouls within fuch
parifh. See Parson.
PART, a portion of fome whole, confidered as divi¬
ded or divifible.
Logical PART, is a divifion for which we are indebt¬
ed to the fchoolmen. It refers to fome univerfal as
its whole ; in which fenfe the fpecies are parts of a
genus, and individuals or fingulars are parts of the
fpecies.
Physical PART, is that which, though it enter the
compofition of a whole, may yet be confidered apart,
and under its own diftinft idea ; in which fenfe, a con¬
tinuum is faid to confift of parts. Phyfical parts, again,
are of turn kinds, homogeneous and heterogeneous; the
firft are thofe of the fame denomination with fome other;
the fecond of a different one : See Homogeneous, &c.
Parts, again, are diftinguifhed into fubjeftive, effential,
and integrant. The fchoolmen were alfo the authors of
this divifion.
Aliquot PART, is a quantity which, being repeated
any number of times, becomes equal to an integer.
Thus 6 is an aliquot part of 24, and 5 an aliquot part
of 30, &.c.
Aliquant PART, is a quantity, which, being repeated
any number of times, becomes always either greater or
lefs than the whole. Thus 5 is an aliquant part of 17,
and 9 an aliquant part of 10, &c.
The aliquant part is refolvable into aliquot parts.
Thus 15, an aliquant part of 20, is refolvable into 10,
a half, and 5 a fourth part of the fame.
Parts of Speech, in Grammar, are all the forts of
words which can enter the compofition of a difcourfe.
See Grammar.
PARTERRE, in Gardening, a level divifion of
ground.
Parterre.
PAR [ 799 ] PAR
ground, which for the moft part faces the fouth, or bell
front of a houfe, and is generally furnilhed with ever¬
greens, flowers, &c. There are two kinds of thefe, the
plain ones and the parterres of embroidery.
Plain parterres are molt valuable in England, becaufe
of the firmnefs of the Englilh graft turf, which is fupe-
rior to that of any other part of the world ; and the par¬
terres of embroidery are cut into (hell and fcroll work,
with alleys between them. An oblong, or long fquare,
is accounted the moft proper figure for a parterre ; and
a parterre fliould indeed be always twice as long as it is
broad, becaufe, according to the known laws of perfpec-
tive, a long fquare always finks to a fquare j and an
exaft fquare always appears left than it really is. As
to the breadth of a parterre, it is to be proportionable
to the front of the houfe j but lefs than IOO feet in
breadth is too little.
There fhould be on each fide the parterre a terrace
walk raifed for a view, and the flat of the parterre be¬
tween the terraces fhould never be more than 300 feet,
at the utmoft, in breadth ; and about 140 feet in width,
with twice and a half that in length, is efteemed a very
good fize and proportion.
PARTHENIUM, a genus of plants, belonging to
the monoecia clafs, and in the natural method rank¬
ing under the 49th order, Compojitce. See BOTANY
Index.
Parterre,
Partheni-
um.
END OF THE FIFTEENTH VOLUME.
DIRECTIONS for placing the PLATES of Vol. XV.
Part I.
Plate CCCLXX. to face • . 38
CCCLXXI.—CCCLXXIV. - - 164
CCCLXXV.—CCCLXXXIX. - 288
Part II.
CCCXC. - . .. 410
CCCXCI. - . . 4?2
CCCXCII.—.CCCCII. - - c6i
CCCCIII. - . . 7J8
CCCCIV. . . ... 740
I
*
>