The improprieties in Rouffeau's late conduct appear to me to have arifen, rather from bodily infirmity, than from moral depravation; and confequently to render him an object of forbearance, and pity, rather than of perfecution or ridicule. [xxviii. 695. xxix. 443. 537-] Select works of Mr Abraham Cowley; with a preface and notes by the editor. 2 vols. 63. fewed. Cadell." IN that region of the fine arts which lies under the dominion of the eye and the ear, rules and proportions may be affigned for compofition; and, in thefe, a criterion may, in fome degree, be found for determining the merit of execution. The architect, the painter, and the musician, may be cenfured for the tranfgreffion of mathematical truth. In their arts, even Fancy has her precincts; the is under the controul of known rules, and has bounds which he cannot pass. In works of this nature, therefore, it may not be difficult to ascertain what we fhould reject, and what we should prefent for public acceptance and approbation. But who fhall be the poet's judge? Unlimited by rules, it is not from rules he fhall receive his fentence. He is fubject to no law but the law of Nature, and if he tranfgreffes that law he will die. The question therefore is, Whether an individual has a right to pronounce that Jaw? whether he may, merely upon the ftrength of bis own judgement, mutilate a poet at his pleasure, and make him undergo an arbitrary amputation of what he apprehends to be the unfound parts, under the idea of preferving the reft? We have no doubt but this mode of republication may be attended with fome advantages; but the liberty thus taken with the remains of an author is, in our opinion, too violent to be generally indulged, and too dangerous to be fuffered to grow into common usage. In the re'public of letters, the monuments of the dead fhould be more facred than the manfions of the living; and though in those monuments there may be fome objects on which the idea of different times has caft an unfeemly air, yet ought they mot, on that account, to be removed. If Cowley has now loft half of himself, a critic in a future century may, with equal right, curtail his remains, till he fhall have little or nothing left. Upon thefe violent principles of decifion, fome other cenfor of the ancient English poefy, armed with more dangerous, because worse, abilities, than the prefent, may, in the courfe of the winter, give us an edition of Spencer, or of fome other eminent writer of his time, which thall contain no more than half, poffibly than a third part of his works, certainly not more than his own fagacity fhall fet apart for him; while he enjoys even the idea that the reft are to perifh by his definitive fentence. In fhort, whatever may be the abilities of the editor, this arbitrary mode of editing ought not, for the moft obvious reafons, to be tolerated in the commonwealth of letters. Let us leave all the labours of departed genius to live as long as they can; and let us, with an indulgence which will do us more honour than the acumen of criticifm, fuffer what we may esteem their lefs perfect productions, to abide under the protection of their better and happier works: Still green with bays each ancient altar stands, To teach vain wits a feience little known, Above the reach of facrilegious hands; T'admire fuperior fenfe, and doubt their own. The remains of claffical genius, in their re-editing, met with a different fate, and many of them fuffered from the contrary extreme. Inftead of being curtailed, they were enlarged with fpurious additions, by the Greeks of the middle empire, the schoolmen, and monaftics, into whofe hands they came. This, however, was better than if they had fuffered in the other degree; for it is always more eafy to reject than to regain, and Time is ftill doing juftice in the feparation of thofe works that bear the ftamp of their proper character. Having thus freely delivered our fentiments on this mode of publication, it is requifite that we should let the editor. plead his own apology, which is found in his preface: "It would be ufing moft writers of name very ill, to treat them with that freedom which I have prefumed to take with Mr Cowley. But every thing he wrote, is either fo good or fo bad, that, in all reafon, a feparation fhould be made; left the latter, which, unhappily, is the greater part, fhould, in the end, ftifle and overlay the former. The reafon of this ftriking difference in the compofitions of the fame man, whofe genius and learning are unqueftionable, is, that he generally followed the the taste of his time, which was the communicated to them the obfervations wort imaginable; and rarely his own, that he had collected on the subject of which was naturally excellent; as may ventriloquifm in general, and thofe he be feen in the few pieces of his poetry had made on M. St Gille in particular, here felected from the reft; and efpecial- that learned body deputed two of its ly in his profe works, which (except the members, M. de Fouchy, and Le Roi, notes on his Pindaric Odes, and Davideis) to accompany him to St Germain-enare given entire, and have no common Laye, in order to verify the facts, and to merit. make their obfervations on the nature and caufes of this extraordinary faculty. In the course of this inquiry, a very fingular plan was laid, and executed, to put M. St Gille's powers of deception to the trial, by engaging him to exert them in the prefence of a large party, confifting of the commiffaries of the academy, and fome perfons of the highest quality, who were to dine in the open foreft near St Germain-en-Laye on a particular day. All the members of this party were in the fecret, except a certain lady, bere defigned by the title of the Countes de B; who was pitched upon as a proper victim to M. St Gille's delufive powers, as the knew nothing either of M. St Gille, or of ventriloquifm; and poffibly, we should think, for another reafon, which the Abbé, through politeness, fuppreffes. She had only been told, in general, that this party was formed in confequence of a report that an aerial spirit had lately eftablifhed itself in the foreft of St Germainen-Laye, and that a grand deputation from the academy of fciences were to pafs the day there to inquire into the reality of the fact. But the talents by which he is diftinguished as a polite writer, are the leaft of his praife. There is fomething in him which pleases above his wit, and in spite of it. It is that moral air, and tender fenfibility of mind, which every one perceives and loves in reading Mr Cowley. And this character of his genius, though it be expreffed, indeed, in his other writings, comes out especially, and takes Our attention moft, in fome of his fmaller poms and effays; which, therefore, it kemed to be for the author's credit, and convenience of his readers, to draw near to each other, and place together in one view. I have faid, for the convenience of his readers for though all are capable of being entertained, perhaps inftructed, by the image of a good mind, when fet before them; yet few will be at the pains to feek that inftruction or entertainment for themfelves, through the scattered works of fo unequal and voluminous a writer. To do juftice to the memory of Mr Cowley, in thefe two refpects, I mean, in his capacity both of a polite and moral writer, is the fole end of this publication. Every man of tafle and virtue will read it with pleasure. There are, indeed, maby lines difperfed through his other poems, which deserve praise. But, on the whole, it is enough if this small collection go down to pofterity: in that cafe, neither they, nor the author, will have any great lofs, though the reft be forgotten. M. St Gille, it is not to be doubted, was one of this felect party. Previous to his joining the company in the forest, he completely deceived even one of the commiffaries of the academy, who was then walking from them, and whom he accidentally met. Juft as he was abreast of him, prepared and guarded as the academician was against a deception of this kind, he verily believed that he heard his affociate M. de Fouchy, who was then with the company at above 100 yards All that can be faid in favour of the diftance, calling after him to return as liberties Dr Hurd has taken with Mr expeditiously as poffible. His valet too, Cowley's works, is, that he has, in geof M. de Fouchy's fuppofed exclamation, after repeating to his mafter the purport neral, fhewn a proper judgement in his felection, and that he does not by any means hold forth this publication as a precedent for others of the like nature. M. Lincoln's Inn, April 21.1772. R. HURD." The Ventriloquist, continued. [34.] In confequence of three memoirs prefented by the author to the royal academy of fciences at Paris, in which he VOL. XXXV. with the greateft fimplicity imaginable, turned about towards the company, and bawled out as loud as he could in answer to him, "Yes, Sir." After this promifing beginning, the party fat down to dinner; and the aerial fpirit, who had been previously furnished with proper anecdotes respecting the La company, nor, if we did, fhould we chufe to com municate the principles of ventriloquifm t the public. For though it is certainl very proper, that it should be univerfal ly known that fuch an art exifts, it wi readily occur to every one who reflec ever fo little upon the matter, that it i not for the intereft of fociety that the at tainment of this art fhould be taught c rendered easy to thofe who might mak it fubfervient to the purposes of knaver and deception. company, foon began to addrefs the comprehend the Baron's explanations Countess of B. particularly, in a voice that seemed to be in the air over their heads. Sometimes he spoke to her from the tops of the trees around them, or from the furface of the ground at a pretty large diftance; and at other times feemed to speak from a confiderable depth under her feet. During the dinner the Genii appeared to be abfolutely inexhauftible in the gallantries he addreffed to her; though he fometimes faid civil things likewife to the Duchefs of C. This kind of converfation lafted above two hours; and in fine the Countefs was firmly perfuaded, as the reft of the company affect ed to be, that this was the voice of an aerial fpirit. Nor would the, as the author affirms, have been undeceived, had not the rest of the company, by their unguarded behaviour, at length excited in her fome fufpicions. The little plot against her was then owned; and the acknowledged herfelf to be mortified only in being waked from fuch a delicious de lufion. Several other inftances of M. St Gille's talent are here related. He is not, how ever, the only ventriloquift now in being. The author, in the courfe of his inquiries on this fubject, was informed, that the Baron de Mengen, a German nobleman, poffeffed this art in a very high degree. On a proper application lately made to him, that nobleman favoured the author with a particular answer to all the que ftions propofed to him, and a defcription of the manner in which these acoustic deceptions are produced*. We do not • The Baron has conftructed a little pup pet or doll, (the lower jaw of which he moves by a particular contrivance), with which he holds a spirited kind of dialogue. In the course of it, the little virago is fo impertinent, that at last he thrufts her into his pocket; from whence the feems, to thofe prefent, to grumble and complain of her hard treatment. Some time ago, the Baron, who was then at the court of Bareith, being in company with the Prince de Deux-Ponts, and other noblemen, amufed them with this fcene. An Irish officer, who was then prefent, was fo firmly perfuaded that the Ba ron's doll was a real living animal, previouf ly taught by him to repeat these refponfes, that he watched his oportunity at the clole of the dialogue, and fuddenly made an attempt to fnatch it from his pocket. The little doll, as if in danger of being fuffocated, during the firuggle occafioned by this attempt, called out for help, and fereanjed in We rather wonder that this reflectio fhould not occur to the well-intentione author of this performance. Independ ent of the bad purposes to which a t lent of this kind might be applied, whe directed fo as to operate on the superft tion and credulity of the multitude, it eafy to figure to one's felf the various mi chiefs that might be occafioned, in fi milices and neighbourhoods, by a wanto: malicious, or unprincipled ventriloquifi who can not only imitate the voice any of his neighbours, but can likewi make it feem to come out of any quarte he thinks proper to emit it from. W fhall therefore terminate this article b adding only a few obfervations, tendin to explain the nature of this deception in general. As we cannot afford roor for the more diffufe and defultory expli cations of the author, we fhall endeavou briefly to illuftrate this matter in ou own manner. It appears clearly from the Baron d Mengen's account of himself, and fror the obfervations made by the author, i his frequent examinations of M. St Gille that the factitious voice produced by. ventril quift does not (as the etymology of the word imports) proceed from th belly, but is formed in the inner parts o the mouth and throat. As to its fingula effect, in deceiving even the moft intelli gent and accurate obfervers, the follow ing confiderations may perhaps throw a degree of light on the fubject, fufficient to make what feems marvellous in this phenomenon in a great measure disappear independent, however, of that truly wonderful flexibility and command of the various and complicated organs of speech by which it is produced. This art, neceffantly from the pocket till the officer de fifted. She then became filent; and the Ba ron was obliged to take her out from thence, to convince him by handling her, that the was a mere piece of wood. vertheless, vertheless, according to the author, does not depend on a particular structure or organization of thefe parts, peculiar ony to a few individuals; but may be acquired by almoft any one poffeffed of a very ardent defire to attain it, joined to a very large ftock of perfeverance. It is evident, we think, that the judgements we form concerning the fituation and distance of bodies, by means of the fenfes mutually affifting and correcting each other, are entirely founded on experience. The reiterated impreffions made by objects on the organs of fenfe, conftitute, in time, a large fund of habitual knowledge, which is always at hand: fo that, for inftance, the place, or distance, or nature, of a vifible or audible object, are immediately, and all to gether, without any formal train of reafoning, fuggefted to the mind on the first Impreffion made on the organ. "That ficha noise (says the acute and learned Dr Reid, Inquiry into the Human Mind, fr edit. p. co.) is in the freet; fuch another, in the room above me; that this is a knock at my door; that, a perfor walking up ftairs, is probably learnt experience.It is probable, (he adds), that previous to all experience, we fhould a little know whether a found came from the right or left, from above or below, from a great or a small diftance, as we fould know whether it was the found of a drum, or a bell, or a cart."— In fhort, we pafs, in thefe cafes, from the fig to the thing fignified by it immediate y, or at least without any intermediate teps that are perceptible to ourselves. by On thefe principles it evidently follows, that if a man, though in the fame room with another, can, by any peculiar modification of the organs of fpeech, produce a found, which, in faintnefs, tone, body, and in fhort, every other fenfible quality, perfectly refembles a found delivered from the roof of an oppofite houfe; the car will naturally, without examination, refer it to that fitua. tion and diftance; the found which the perfon hears being only a fign, which he has from his infancy been conftantly accuftomed, by experience, to affociate with the idea of a perfon fpeaking from a houfe-top. It is evident too, that when there is no particular ground of suspicion, any fmall disparity between the two founds will not be perceptible. A deception of this kind is practifed with fuccefs on the organ and other mu fical inftruments; and we may very aptly refer on this occafion to many optical deceptions; and more especially to a curious experiment on the camera obscura ; where the images of objects received on a piece of white paper, not feven inches distant from the eye, excite the idea of the real objects themselves appearing at the diftance of feveral hundred feet. Here the perspective, claro-obscura, colouring, &c. being all fuch as the mind has, by continual experience, been accuftomed to confider as the figns of visible objects, placed at confiderable and different diftances; the fpectator, fo far as he trufts to the informations of the eye a lone, is as completely deceived, as he is who trufts to his ears alone in the company of M. St Gille. But there is a further analogy between the two experi ments. The above-mentioned optical deception is corrected or diminished by the fpectator's knowing that he is looking into a box; by repetitions of the experi ment; and by a new habit thereby in duced of confidering the rays of light as really proceeding, or reflected, from the plane of the paper. For the fame rea fons, in the acoustic deception, that experience or habit which misleads a perfon who has feldom heard the ventrilo. quift, and is a ftranger to his powers, at length fets another perfon right who is acquainted with them, and has been a frequent witnefs of their effects. This was the cafe of the author, with whom the illufion at length ceafed, in confequence of repeated vifits to M. St Gille: fo that, while others, ignorant of his talent, and poffeffed only of their old or habitual experience with regard to articulate founds, confidered his voice as coming from the top of a tree, or from a deep cellar under ground; the Abbé, well acquainted with the powers of the ventriloquift, and having acquired a new kind of experience, at once referred it directly to the mouth of the speaker. According to our promise at the beginning of this article, we shall add a few particulars relating to the author's Scaphandre. A few years ago he invented this aquatic accoutrement, or piece of machinery, by means of which a person totally ignorant of the art of fwimming, may plunge boldly into the deepest and moft agitated waters; and there, without any effort or skill, keep himself in an erect pofition; the water rifing all the L 2 time time no higher than the pit of his stomach. Here, according to his account, he may at his ease eat, drink, write, and charge, prefent, and fire a musket; turning himfelf round at any time almoft by a mere act of the will. We pafs over many of the ufes of this apparatus; which is not cumbersome, either in the water or on fhore, and may be put on or off in lefs than a minute. The Abbé has now brought it to the highest degree of perfection, by having lately, after many fruitless attempts, discovered an expedient, or, in his own words, attained what he calls a fixed point, by means of which a perfon may walk across the deepest rivers, as if he was footing it on a folid plane. The Abbé appeals for the truth of thefe affertions to many thoufand witneffes; and in further corroboration of them, has added a letter written by M. Artuo, captain of artillery at Huninguen; who there defcribes the fuccefsful trial lately made of one of the author's Scaphandres in the Rhine, by a mere novice in the art of fwimming; who, with this accoutrement, walked upright and at his eafe backwards and forwards in that river, as if by inchantment. We fhall only add, that the author intends immediately to compofe and publish a complete defcription of every part of the apparatus, to which he means to add an account of the various ufes to which it is applicable. M. 4 s. LONDO N. Religion, Morality, Controverfy, &c. The life and character of Jefus Chrift delineated. By E. Harwood, D. D. fewed. Becket and De Hondt. The ftyle diffufe; but the work, upon the whole, inftructive, entertaining, and practical. M. Fifteen fermons on various subjects. By Jofeph Sims, M. A. 5 5. Cadell. Mr Sim's difcourfes have no pretenfions to elegance; and to the matter too, in a few instances, we have fome exception. M. Six fermons on important subjects. By Jofiah Tucker, D. D. dean of Gloucester, I s. 6 d. Bladon.- The fubjects of these difcourfes are, 1. God confidered both as a potter over the clay, and as a judge over moral and rational agents, from Rom. ix. 21.; 2. Salvation the gift of God, from Eph. ii. 8. 9. 3. Our fervices unprofitable to God, but proutable to ourselves, from Luke xvii. 10.; 4. Different methods of converfion, from 1 John iii. 7. 8.; 5. The penitent thief, from Luke xxiii. 39. —43.; 6. Preached in 1746, before the contributors to the Briftol infirmary, The difcourfes are fenfible and furious. M. Á fermon at St Thomas's, Jan. 1. 177: for the benefit of the charity-children in Gr. vel-lane, Southwark. By Thomas Tolle 6 d. Buckland, &c. 6 A fermon, from Luke xiii. 30. preached: Romsey, Hants, Sept. 10. 1772, on occafic of the fettlement of the Rev. Mr Thom Porter with the congregation of Proteftai diffenters there. By Thomas Toller. Buckland, &c. Defigned to fhew, th mankind will be treated hereafter accordir to the improvement they make of their r fpective moral and religious advantages. A A fermon, from Prov. xiv. 24. before t Rev. Stotherd Abdy, archdeacon of Effex, Rumford, May 21. 1772. By William Sali bury, B. D. rector of Moreton and Little H lingburg in Effex 6 d. Bathurst.Display in a judicious and striking manner, the ba effects of great opulence, upon weak and in confiderate men. In difcufling the meanin of his text, Mr Salisbury has afforded an is ftance of the advantage which arifes from critical acquaintance with the original las guage of fcripture. M. Affociations against the established churc indefenfible Preached before the univerf ty of Oxford, Feb. 24. 1772. By John Al len, M. A. Vice-Principal of Magdalen hal 6 d. Rivington. · A good and dutift churchman, entirely fatisfied with establish ed doctrines and forms. M. Clerical fubfcription no grievance; or The doctrines of the church of Englan proved to be the doctrines of Chrift. the annual visitation of the clergy of th archdeaconry of Exeter, held at Columpton May 12. 1772 By Auguftus Toplady, A. B vicar of Broad- Hembury. 6 d. Gurney A fpirited, but at the fame time a vi rulent declamation against the preacher's an tagonists. M. |