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nical engine-an animal organization a chemical procefs-the projection of bodies currents, tides, or any natural phænomenon-muft partake of that obIcurity and imperfection which exifts in the general doctrine.

It appears to me, Sir, that men too much neglect this fundamental concern, while they are eager in the purfuit of more limited information; and that much labour and genius is fruitleffly employed, in particular lines of ftudy, in order to elucidate thofe motions, or facts, about which perfons in thofe depart ments are chiefly employed, which might more fuccefsfully, at leaft more rationally, be exercifed in folving the general queftion that would not only reflect a light on their own art, but on the whole circle of arts and fciences.

Permit me, therefore, Sir, through a channel of communication which will infure its meeting the view of numerous learned and ingenious perfons, to propofe a problem relative to this very important and fundamental point,

Problem.

IT IS REQUIRED TO EXPLAIN THE COM

MUNICATION OF MOTION IN THE IM-
PULSE OF BODIES.

I ftate this fimple problem, Sir, not to prefent to your readers a too complicated enquiry. But the inveftigation of this will doubtlefs involve a much larger extent of inveftigation.

If any of your correfpondents will hazard a fpeculation on this very obfcure and very interefting queftion, he will have my fincere acknowledgements; and, if I venture to object to any part of fuch fpeculation, it will be with that candour which a love of truth will infpire, although with the freedom which the invefligation of it demands.

If no one fhould choofe to engage in a task which has hitherto proved to difficult, I promife, provided you favour me with the infertion of this, to tranfmit you fome of my own thoughts upon the fubject; and am,

IN

Yours, &c.

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Mr. URBAN, Hackney, Dec. 15. a perioical publication of fome celebrity for October laft, is the following obfervation. "In order to preferve the refpe&tability and the influence of a religious establishment, and render it productive of thofe advantages to fociety which may reasonably be expected from it, its doctrines and inflitutions muft be, from time to time, accommo

dated to the general opinions and tafle! Monthly Review, for Oct. p. 272.That fuch a sentence fhould be promulgated by thofe who are generally fuppofed to be in the miniftry, though not of the establishment, must be a matter of aftonishment to every lover of confiflency. As times, fashions, and other circumftances of weight occur, it may doubtlefs be prudent, nay expedient, to make fome alteration in the phrafeology, and poffibly in the mode of worship.But that doctrines fhould be accommodated to opinions and taftes, appears to me rather as the fentiments of a defcendant of Loyola, than of a liberal Proteftant.

Neither my abilities nor my leifure will allow of my defcanting further upon this fubject. Happy fhall I think myfelf, if this flight animadverfion may induce fome able champion to step forth, and vindicate that establifhment, which thefe critics are pleafed to carp and nibble every returning month. NICODEMUS.

Mr. URBAN,

TH

at

Jan. 6. HE dream inserted in your last vol. p. 1062, as it may probably take the attention of many, will alfo exhibit an obvious contradiction in the fentiments of the editor, fince it feems very extraordinary that he, who begins his lucubration with exploding the fuperftition of the vulgar relative to fuch nightly vifions, and whofe letter is intituled, "Extreme danger of the popular belief in dreams," fhould only make his exordium the introduction to one of the moll incontrovertible proofs of fuch fupernatural interpofitions, if the fact was as he relates it. For no dreamer, of any age, can produce a more serious confutation of infidelity on fuch tubjects! Nor was ever dream lefs fatisfactory in its confequence, fince, though it did indeed atlift in bringing the murderer to juftice, and produced an uncommon evidence against him to the credulous, yet the innocent man loft his life, as if no fuch miraculous interpofition had happened. And therefore this dream, like many others on doubtful record, can only add to the natural propentity of the weak, to encourage the faith this editor feems to reprobate in theory, and to adopt in opinion! For why, as an illuftration that the vapours of the night ought to be difregarded in the morning, fhould he recount a story fit for the Christmas evening tale of a

century

century paft, when marvellous narrations of ghofts, or dreams of wondrous import, afforded that amusement which cards have now entirely exploded?-Or rather, modern education has expanded the mind, and afforded, by the light of general erudition, fenfe enough to rife fuperior to that fuperftition which influenced the unlettered multitude of former times. It may be obferved alfo, that the dreamer gives no date of the year when this tranfaction happened in Ireland, a kingdom ever replete with marvellous and barbarous tranfactions! D. S.

Mr. URBAN,

Jan. 7.

To the lift of female authors, vol. LVII. p. 884, pleafe to add Mrs. Jane Marshall, author of Clarinda Cathcart, Alicia Montague, and the comedy of Sir Harry Gaylove.

Brantome defcribes the unfortunate Mary Stewart as poffeffing, among other acquirements, a fingular eafe in poetical compofition. If you think the inclofed Elegy, written by that princefs on the death of Francis I. her husband, poffelles a fufficient degree of merit, you will, no doubt, give it a place in your Mifcellany. Those who are to judge of it, ought to recollect the time when it was written, and the ftate of French poefy at that period. It is transcribed from a note in a hiftory of Queen Elizabeth, just published, by Mademoiselle de Keralio, and never was before printed. Does not your correfpondpent Pl-t, p. 206, do fome injuftice to Dr. Ander fon and Dr. Adam Smith, when he reprefents them as having had any difference with Mr. Knox? Since I faw that letter, I have looked over the political writings of both thefe gentlemen, and can find nothing that can authorife that expreffion: nor have I heard that ever either of these authors have thought the rude illiberalities of Mr. Knox required from them any fort of notice whatever. Nor do I fuppofe they will ever degrade their characters fo far as to take notice of fcurrilities; which are fufficiently refuted by the whole tenor of their life and writings.

It is with pleasure I received intimation of the new English Dictionary undertaken by Mr. Herbert Croft. No book is more wanted in England than a good Dictionary of the language; and this, I conceive, may be faid without implying any fevere reflection against Dr. Johafon. It is but by flow and gradual fteps that a work of this nature See it in our Poetry, p. 63.

can be brought to perfection; and I have often been forry to fee, that men of letters did not feem to think they could do juftice to Dr. Johnson, unless they praifed his work as poffeffing abfo lute inftead of relative perfection. Many English words are certainly omitted in that work, as Mr. Croft very properly remarks, LVII. 651; and perhaps he might have added, that many improper (words have been admitted, which tend not only to fwell the volume (a circumftance of fmall importance indeed), but alfo to corrupt the language. Dr. Johnfon was fond of long founding words, derived from the Latin. This was his hobby-horfe, and he was at great pains to pick them up with care wherever he could find them, and give them a place in his work. And as the tafte for coining new words of this kind was very prevalent about a century ago, many writers of that period feem to have thought it intimated a poverty of genius, and want of learning, if they did not crowd their pages with fonorous words of this kind that had never before been used, and which, as being perfly ufelefs, never were by others employed afterwards. Such words as thefe do not, furely, deferve the name of English words, and ought to be excluded from an English Dictionary; or, if admitted at all, they should be marked there as barbarifms only.ŢI had once the curio fity to run over the letter D in Johnfon's Dictionary, in fearch of words of this clafs; and there I found fome hundreds of words, that neither I myself, nor any of my literary friends to whom I fhowed the lift, could recollect ever to have feen in any English writer whatever. It will be of ufe to mark fuch words either as obfolete or as barbarifms.

But the radical defect of Johnson's Dictionary is the imperfect or the erroneous explanation of the meaning of the words that are there admitted. Thefe explanations are in almost every cafe fo obicure, or fo indefinite, as to convey no accurate idea to the mind of the ig norant perfon who confults the Dictionary for information. I doubt not but Mr. Croft will apply his chief attention to this very important part of his work. It is not enough that Dr. Johnfon has produced, in his large work, paffages from the feveral authors he quotes as authorities-for although it fhould happen that the word thould bear the fame meaning in the quotation that is given to it in the text, with the explanation he

gives

gives of it (which is not always the cafe), yet as our best writers have, on many occafions, employed a word in an improper fenfe, it may often happen that the reader will thus be lead into great perplexity and error. The compiler of a Dictionary fhould understand the language fo well, as to be able to give the precife idea that should be annexed to each word, and to point out the nice differences between that word and others which in certain circumftances may be fynonymous, though on other occafions their meaning is very diftinct and different. Thefe peculiarities fhould be illuftrated by appofite examples, fur, nifhed by the author himself for the occafion, which might be farther corro. borated by paffages felected from our beft authors. An example of this mode of explaining words occurs, under the article Dictionary, in the Encyclopædia Britannica, publifhed at Edinburgh; to which I beg leave here to refer the reader.

I am fatisfied, however, that the abilities of no one man, however intelligent he may be, are fufficient to compleat a Dictionary of any language upon that plan. To fupply the omiflions, and to correct the errors, of fuch a work, one plan, and only one, occurs to me as effectual. Let the perfon or perfons who engage in fuch an arduous undertaking, when their materials are fo far collected as to admit of copying out the articles for the prefs, begin the work, by publishing gradually as they advance one leaf, or more, as they can overtake it, in fome Periodical Mifcellany that is very generally read by men of letters in Britain [and without any flattery, Mr. Urban, I know of none fo well entitled to that honour as your own], giving in that leaf their own explanations full, fimply pointing out, by exact references, the writers they would quote as additional authorities, with a general invitation to all perfons to tranfmit to fome one, appointed for that purpofe, fuch obfervations as occurred, tending to correct errors or to fupply defects; all of which, when they were evidently right, might be adopted, and fuch as appeared of a doubtful nature, might be inferted in fome future number of the Mifcellany, accompanied with explanations for the farther confideration of the publick. In this way the work might be gradually advancing towards completion; and, at a proper period, the new work might begin to be published by itfelf in fepa

rate numbers, that room might be thus given for farther corrections during its publication, which corrections might be inferted into the Appendix, fo as to render it as compleat as poffible. In this way, and in this way only, as I apprehend, may we hope to obtain in time a Dictionary of the English language, that in point of copioufnefs, diftinctness, and accuracy, would exceed the works of the fame kind undertaken by the joint labours of the learned Academicians in other parts of Europe.

In a Dictionary of this kind it would be proper to admit all words, whether they had now grown obfolete, or were only provincial or barbarous, putting a diftinguishing mark, with full explana tions concerning each. The authorities for each word fhould alfo be printed at full length; and occafionally fhould be given examples of the improper use of fuch words even by our moft claffical authors, with the reafons why the fe were rejected. All this fhould be printed in a work by itfelf, to which references should be made in the Dictionary, fo as to admit of being readily confulted at pleasure. In this way the bulk of the work would not be fo exceedingly cumberfome, as if the full authorities were printed in the Dictionary itfelf. The authorities could be occafionally confulted by the curious, and might be fuffered to remain untouched by thofe who were perfectly fatisfied with the fhorter illuftrations in the Dictionary itself.

If you think thefe fhort hints can in any measure tend towards the perfecting of this great national work, I should be glad they obtained a place in your valuable Mifcellany. And if further elucidations are required, I fhall furnifh you with a particular address to me

if called for.

Mr. URBAN,

A. B. D.

Jan. 28. ERHAPS, amongst your numerous and

Peripectable correfpondents, 1 may be

favoured with an anfwer to the following queries. By inferting them, therefore, in your u feful Mifcellany, you will confer a particular obligation on B. J. B.

1. Is there any known and cheap compo fition, by wafhing over walls therewith, built with a foft fand-ftone, that tends to harden and preferve them from the injuries of weather?

2. What are the ingredients of that red compofition, much used in Italy for making floors, and its usefulness in respect to durability? I have been informed, a principal one is the blood of cattle.

Mr.

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