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involve America in the fate of the minor European powers; and that they would not be at a loss for causes or pretences in the private conduct of her citizens, or in the public proceedings of her government, which would stimulate all those acts of aggression, spoliation, and in sults, which have evinced the implacable enmity of those two powers; their envy at her increasing commerce and pros perity, and their studied desire and secret machinations to compromise her peace, independence, and glory.

This state of things has originated two parties, viz. the friends of peace, and those of war. The party for war is again split into two factions, viz. the English and the French. The friends of peace, at the head of whom is the government, are certainly the most numerous, the most enlightened, and respectable. It is difficult to appreciate the relative strength, influence, and wealth, of the two factions. Perhaps an insight may be obtained by contrasting their opposite qualities. If the English party be more mercantile and wealthy, the French is more numerous; if the former have more good sense, the latter shews more viva city and activity: if the English bave the influence of wealth, the French has that of agreeable qualities, which mask its superior skill at intrigue, foresight, combination, and effect. At all events, the unjust causes of England and France, which they respectively defend, their mutual recriminations, their appeals to, and abuse of, the federal government, are calculated to give it considerable uneasiness and alarm.

The consequence will be, that she will find great difficulty in deciding upon the cause she has to pursue. The spoliations and aggressions upon her commerce will continue and increase; it is highly probable likewise that the events of the war will shut up the continent against England; and though France may not wish to prevent America from trading with the continent, yet it will be under limitations; she must not touch at a British port, nor import upon the continent British manufactures. The policy of England will render this impossible to America, from her maritime superiority. England will force America to bring her cargoes to British ports, and through British custom-houses, before she is per mitted to re-export them to the conti nent. If America submit to this, her independence is a dead letter, as she will sail across the Atlantic to acquiesce MONTHLY MAG. No. 210,

in and embrace a species of taxatinó more degrading and tyrannical than that on account of which she encountered and waded through a revolutionary war. And if she do not submit to it, her com merce is neutralised. The only wise course which she can now, and must then, pursue, will be to close her inter course with the belligerents, till they listen to the voice of reason. She can do better without their manufactures and their empoisoned luxuries, than they can do without her flour, rice, and tim ber. Let her withhold these precious necessaries but for a short time, though many American merchants may be ru ined, the West Indies will cry out for bread, the belligerents will be brought to their senses by famine.

America shall preserve the lives of her citizens, her territorial riches, her peace, independence, and happiness. It will likewise be a powerful stimulus to her domestic, manufactures. But the reverse of this picture is to be dreaded. It is to be feared, from the influence of the two war factions, even in the national councils, and from the fluctuating events of the war, that the negociations with the belligerents will necessarily partake of a double-faced policy: she will have to conciliate both; and in the attempt she may find it impracticable. Her policy will be oscillating, she will make laws and abrogate them; and thus, by being the butt of the implacable hatred and envy of the belligerents, she will become the scorn and contempt of her self and the world.

To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. SIR,

on always presents nearly the same face towards the earth; and it has been ascertained that the satellites of Jupiter, and the largest of those of Saturn, are similarly circumstanced as to their re spective primaries: whence, it seems reasonable to infer, that the case is the same with all other secondary planets ; and such appears to be the opinion of our best astronomers.

T is a striking peculiarity that our

At first it might seem that this must be disadvantageous to the minor planets, as one half of their surface can never receive any benefit from the light reflected by their primaries; while all parts of those primaries enjoy, successively, the beautiful and useful light afforded by the secondaries. It can scarce indeed be doubted, but that the inhabitants of one hemisphere

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hemisphere possess a considerable advantage over those of the other in this respect; but we may be confident that the wisdom and goodness of the Creator had some important end in view, whereby these globes are, upon the whole, greatly benefited by the above arrangement. Not having met with any opinion, or conjecture, formed upon this subject, I therefore beg to propose as a

QUERY" What benefit, of consequence, is attained, or (which is the same) what important inconvenience is avoided, by the secondary planets, from their having always the same hemisphere turned towards their primaries."

COPERNICUS, Jun.

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The

Of the first of the above, Iberia comes from Av, the sea or water, changed to Iv, as in the river Ivel, and this to Ib, as in the rivers Ibber and Iber. Er is Celtic for border, end, point, &c. Ia is terri tory: Iberia then implied the Sea or Water Border Territory, and included, I suppose, all Spain. To this Cell was added. The Promontory of Galicia was otherwise called Promontorium Celticum. word Col, is head. It is often written Cal and Gal, as in the instances beforementioned, and in this very head-land. In numberless instances « is written e, as may be seen in Lhoyd's Archæologia. A is indeed called the changeable vowel, frome being so often written for it in old hames. Hence then Cal became Cel, Kel, and often Kil, and each of these would mean hill, head, or end; as the end of this very head-land proves. The syllable Ic takes T in the word Celtica, in the same manner as Ir or Ireland, take at in Ceantire, an head-land; Promontorium Celticum is translated Cape Finis terre, the End's Land, or the Land's End. And Celt, in Celticum, the Head at sea or the End at land, took its name from its situation; the Celti of Spain were therefore named from this head and its continuation, and not from a Celtic people, who have been supposed to give

name to this country. Galicia, being a synonyme of Celtica, needs no other explanation. But to return: Celt Iberia, from the above, implies the Water Border Hend Territory. It is said by all writers that Arragon was Celt Iberia; but though this country were a part, Arragon is not a translation of it.

With the assertion of Herodotus, that the Cynesii inhabited the sea-coast, and the Celta the interior, I cannot agree; the word Cyn implies head, es is water in this word; and the Cynesii were dwel lers at the Water Head. But we have proved the Celte, or the Head Inhabitants, to be dwellers at the same Water Head, and therefore they were the same people. The ancients were very often incorrect in their descriptions. Appian, who wrote an history of Spain, or of Spamish Wars, makes the Ebro empty itself into the Bay of Biscay.

Espana, Ispana, or Hispana, is de rived from Is, water, as in the word Island, (Water Land) as in the river Isis, or in the river Isel, Pan is a variation of Pen, a head; as Hum is of Hem, border: so that Espana is a translation of Cynes; and the rabbits, though numer ous, gave names to their holes only, and not to the kingdom.

In Lusitania the herbage may be good; but we should not mistake a coat for its owner. The figs and almonds too are very plentiful; but these make better desserts than etymons. Lusitania comes from Los, a tail or end, Tan land, and Ia country; and the word means no more than the Land's End Territory. Lisbon or Lysbon, also comes from Los, a tail or end, and describes the land on the sea belonging to this settlement. The word Bon, is a variation of fonn, land, which is often changed to Von, Bon, and even Mon.

Portugal is another name for this country: we have seen that Galis head point, or end; and Port, of which Porta may be the plural, is not very difficult: this is either a bank, or a road, &c.; and when applied to a stream, it may be rendered the Water Road or Port; and Porta may be the Ports; but, if so, Portugal means the Port's Head Land. But the name may be otherwise rendered.

Guul.-I will now carry my colonists into France, and here we have to encounter a figure of rhetoric, in Gallia Celtica. Gallia comes from Gal, an head, and Ia, territory or country. In like manner, the Galic word Gailia implies a Head Piece. But it is said by authors, that it

is

is demonstrated next to mathematical press this word with less syllables, used certainty, that this country was peopled by Gomer's posterity. The probability of this I will not dispute, but I have seen no such proof as here mentioned. Be this however as it may, the Celtes or Gauls are said "actually to be derived from the Gomerians." I will set this in its proper light.

Let Can, a mountain or head, (which is often changed to Cal and Gal, when it takes another syllable,) be changed into Cav, and this to Cam, as in the Cambri; and into Cum or Cym, as in the Cumbri or Cymbri; these changes will be the same in analogy with Tav, Tau, and Tam, words for water or stream, derived from Tamh, or Tav: and the syllables Cam, or Cum, will, in composition, imply the same as Cau, Cal, or Gal, a head, hill, point, or end. But as Al, high, takes D in Dal, a dale, and V in Vale; so Cav, Cam, and Cum, will be found in some names to imply a cavity or hollow: and, in a similar way, the roots of words for depths, are often derived from those for heights. A Combe, (sometimes written Cwm and Cum,) is a corner, which includes a valley or bottom, and is surrounded on every side, except one, by a ridge of Hill Land. The word Cubhar, or Cumar, is corner; but let us suppose that, instead of a raised corner, or height, which this often im plies, you conceive a similar hollow. The word Cum, or Combe, will in this case be the hollow: the syllable Ar is the land, and the same as Ic, or Tic, in Celtica. There is in Devon a Combe, into which several small ones terminate these lands are therefore called the Cumari. In like manner the word Cel may sometimes imply a bottom in names, and the Celtici and the Cumari may be supposed the same people; but in this we have been totally mistaken. For towns on streams constantly took syno nymous names, and these were distin guished, not by their like meanings, but by their different spellings; and although the same names of one country were found in another, it did not follow that the people of the one were the same as, or allied to, the people of the other. It was the same by these people, the Celtici and the Cumari. I have proved that the features of Spain gave name to the Celts, or Gauls, of that country; I must do the same of the Cimbri. But first I must shew how the word Cumbri, or Cimbri, is formed; I have given what Mons. Pezron says of it. The Romans, to ex

the letter b for a or u, and thus Cumar, or Cumur, in which the syllable ur meant border land, or land, they expressed by Cumbr; and hence the word Cumari was expressed by Cumbri. There are se veral head lands, or corners, which are said to have taken names from the Cumbri: these are enumerated in our dictionaries of proper names, and from these I will select Cimbria, part of the country now called Denmark, and which takes the name Cimbrica Chersonesus. This name is certainly, Mr. Editor, nearly allied in rhetorical analogy to Gallia Celtica. The point of land which gave these Cimbri name is Jutland: you can scarcely select a point of land which answers to its old name better; its new one is a translation of the old. Jutland gives name to the Jutlanders; and the Cumar, or Corner Land, gave name to the old Cumari, of this region. I will, Mr. Editor, give no further proofs of this plain case. The mathematical certainty therefore of Gomer's posterity peopling Jutland is very uncertain: we shall hereafter find how it peopled France."

In the dispersion of mankind, and the settlement of the earth, the Bible is our only safe guide. In other books we combat all sorts of fables; but, froin the names in these compared with situa tions, a vocabulary may be formed of all the old Celtic terms which refer to the features of nature; and from these should all names be compared and analysed.

I have repeatedly mentioned in what I have written that ambiguities arise not from common words of a particular lan guage, when referred to common things; for these are formed and varied to convey common ideas only. But in the knowledge of proper names, necessarily formed for every particular district, and for every local purpose, the number and variations of which exceed our ordinary conception, and whose roots, only in the common language, often denote the names of places, and of natural things, we are very deficient. Let me illustrate this by a late author's derivation of Corycus.

"Corycus," says he," is a lofty moun tain near Teos, and not far from Erythra; it is said to abound with crocusses:"

"Ultima Coryco quæ cadit aura Croco." Chorachim," he says, "is Hebrew for these flowers, and from this word, slightly changed by the Greeks, I conceive the mountain to have been named."

I have often charged people to see that there is an agreement between thing

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and their old names. The covering of a man is fastened with buttons, and these are often numerous, and so contrived as at once to be of use and an ornament. But we call not man a button, because his taylor has bedecked him with buttons; nor should we call a hill a crocus, because nature has adorned it with cro

cusses.

Cor is a name used in the composition for even the highest hills and heads of the world. This word is derived the same as Cau, in which the u is generally changed to or r, when a syllable follows; and hence Cau, Cal, Col, and Cor, imply the same. But each of these is derived from the root A, an hill, pronounced Au, which, to form a proper name for an head or hill, takes a c as a prefix. Prefixes were either given to form proper names only, or to convey some additional meanings to their roots. At present they are not fully understood, but I will hereafter explain these as far as I am able. The word Ic is a root for Jand or territory; and the Hill Territory is the import of Corycus.

I have proved that the lands of Spain gave name to its inhabitants the Celts, and not the inhabitants to the lands, as all authors, both ancient and modern, from not understanding the imports of names they have written upon, have sup posed. I shall therefore have little trou. ble to prove the same of Gaul. I have already shewn that Gal, in Galicia, and Cel, or Kel, in Celtica, were the same. That the syllable Ic, in Galicia, takes at in Celtica, which are names for the same tract in Spain, in the same manner as En or An land, takes a t in tan, which is also land. The syllable Gal taken singly became Gaul; but the word Cel, taking the letter t from the second sylla. ble in Celtica, became Celt. The Celts and Gauls were therefore the same men. The end of the known world was not only Spain, nor did this kingdom contain all its head-lands. Gallia contained also much head-land: and its derivation from Cal, or Gal, a head, is as reasonably in ferred from its figure, running on the north-west and on the north towards the sea in one continued head, as the land of Spain.

I have said that the coast of France was considered as an end or head of the continent; but some of this coast was low, and some added by time at the mouths of its rivers in the Netherlands. The word Cal, or Kel, applied to heads in general; but implies border or mouth. The Belge lay on the border of

the Rhine; and in time the general name
reached the coast. The border on the
Netherlands was low, and they trans-
lated it Low Lands. On the coast of Hol-
land the land lay underneath banks, and
they translated this Hollow Land. The
word Bel, signifying a border, might im-
ply a high or a low one from its root; and
hence these translations. The Belge
were therefore named from their situa-
tions, as well as the Cellæ.

Gallia then came from Gal, a head,
and Ia, land or territory, and meant
the Head Territory. The Celta, Celtici,
Galli, Cumari, or Cumbri, were the
dwellers within the dominions to which
the heads, or head-lands, gave name.
Let us put Gual, for Gaul, and we shall
have Guallia, or Wallia, which will also
mean the head-territory, and Wales will
mean The Heads. We have, Mr. Editor,
all our districts, ancient and modern,
known to be named according to the im-
ports of their principal features; two only
excepted, Wales and Scotland. But are
there any sufficient reasons for excepting
these? I believe no good ones. Wales
is very appropriately named.

But following these principles, I hear some readers exclaim "that we shall not be enabled to trace the inhabitants of Europe to their present lands." To which I answer, that where we cannot rationally, we shall be unwise to attempt it; the best way of tracing a people is from its history, and a comparison of its language with the languages of other natious. The descent on this island of inhabitants from the "Land of Pits and Pools," seems like a cradle story. We have, however, every where to encounter such stories. Livy, the father of Roman History, derived the Apennines from Hannibal Penninus; Tacitus, Casar, and other Roman historians, give proofs of the same knowledge in the imports of names; all these give you details of a variety of strange things. Plutarch has a chapter on the names of rivers, moun tains, &c. he derives the names of his rivers from heroes which were drowned in them: he then relates a story of a maryellous stone found in each stream: and next gives you the names their principal mountains derived from the most fanciful stories. We read his accounts as we do old romances, not to seek information, but to admire the invention of the author. If we go further back into antiquity, we are still disappointed; if we return to later times, we find tales of which I am

ashamed.

When old errors are attacked, people
who

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who are attached to them, collect around their temples, not to defend truth, but their idols. For a time it will be so with those who hold the commonly-received opinions of the descent of nations. His tory will be searched to support their edi. fice; fiction will be brought against fact and nothing will convince a few, until they find their writings fixed on the shelves, with books of magic, witchcraft, and astrology. A. B.

To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine.

SIR,

N this enlightened age, in this epoch

surprise that the art of combining sounds did not take place till about the fifteenth century.

Muris, Fairfax, and Bird, were the first musicians who laid the foundations of the harmonic science. Handel, Pur cel, and Corelli, gave it scale, system, and arrangement; but the completion of the work was reserved for the immortal Haydn, who has spread out the edifice to the skies, and environed with the delights of melody.

The leading characteristics of the im❤ proved music depend upon new admixtures of sound to an extent hitherto un

I invention, while known. If we search into an

arts are attaining a perfection hitherto unknown, it is curious to see with what tenacity the advocates of ancient music adhere to their old notions and favourite masters. They set up the works of Handel and Corelli as the models of excel lence, and scruple not to speak of the music of the present day in terms of contempt and disgust.

By what pretensions these partizans arrogate to themselves the standard of perfection, I know not; but they remind us of the Spartans who cut off the four strings from the lyre of Timotheus. They would dictate their own ideas of taste, and prescribe the boundaries of science; but when philosophers, and lecturing musicians, add weight to these opinions by entering their denunciations against a system they obviously don't understand, I think it only necessary to point out some of the excellencies of modern music, to prove its superiority, and the want of feeling in its opponents.

Music, like all other arts, is progressive, and its improvements may be traced through a period of more than two thou sand years. In the time of the Greeks it was thought to be in high perfection, but we need only examine the structure of their instruments, to prove its comparative rudeness and simplicity.

The elements, or simple notes of the scale, have experienced no improvement. They are the same now as in the days of Pythagoras; but it is matter of great

In the lectures of the late Dr. Moyse, now read by Mr. Nicol, I was much surprised to hear the modern music called a senseless jargon, and compared to the tricks and juggles of a mountebank-that might astonish, But never could please. The speculations of this philosopher go still farther: he establishes discord to be musical evil, and concord musical good, and infers that much vice may be apprehended from the frequent use of the modern music!

thors, we shall not find a combination that exceeds four ingredients, whereas the present discoveries fully authorize the use of the chord of the thirteenth, which is a compound of all the notes of the scale. In what way the five remaining semitones may be employed, it is left for succeeding ages to determine.

Another prominent feature is the fre quent use of a combination of four minor thirds, constituting the chord of the extreme flat 7th. By this agent the most intricate harmony is solved; it is a menstruum in which all the chords are chemically changed, and in the hands of a master it is the key that leads us through the winding recesses to the unexplored chamber of harmony.

110

Having slightly hinted at these discoveries,it is requisite to point out some improvements in the department of melody that have much tended to increase its operation and sympathetic effects upon the mind. In the time of Handel and. Scarlatti, and prior to the invention of the piano-forte, the composer had no helps to his genius but what the harpsichord would afford; and, as this instrument, from its mecha nical structure, is devoid of expression, it was only serviceable in the combina tion of sound. But the piano-forte at once combines with this power the graces of enunciation. Its improvements have kept pace with the genius of the age, and it has powerfully lent its aid in giving birth to the most passionate and exquisite species of song. Though imperfect, it has taught the voice and violin to give a new utterance to sounds, and to divulge a tenderness that softens and refines the heart of man.

still in its infancy, and its faculty of ut Musical enunciation may be said to be terance and inflexion is apparently with out bounds. I have experienced with delight the indescribable impression which Catalani imparts to the movement of

her

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