In the Hist. Gener. Ind. dec. i. lib. 9. c. 4. p. 296, says, that the old inhabitants of Cuba had a tradition that Noah's curse upon that son, from whom they descended, was that they should be rude, particoloured, and walk on foot, naked while those, whom he blessed, were to have cloaths, ride on horseback, &c. CHRYSOSTOM-THEOPHYLACT-LACTANTIUS. These writers contend, that the world is of the shape of a house, because Scripture calls it a tabernacle, and that it is impossible, that the sky can reach to the Antarctic pole, and southern and western regions! See Chrysost. Hom. 14 and 27 in Heb. 6 and 13 in Genes, and 12 ad pop. Antioch. Theophyl. in Heb. 8. Lucian. Firmian. iii, divin. Justit. c. 24. MAIOLUS. Maiolus in his Dies Canicul. i. Com. Colloq. 23. p. 520. et seq. et colloq. 18. P. 404. & seg. et p. 422. and Aloys. Cada must. Navigat. 55. say, that there are mountains of loadstone, which draw the nails out of ships, as in the story of Sinbad. PENEDA-LEIRNUS LEMNIUS GEROPIUS BECANUS JOHN BAPTISTA PIUS - CELIUS CALGAGNINUS-AND STE PHENS. All these writers maintain that in the Mercator of Plautus, the versoria in the compass need not be confuted. KIPPINGIUS. In his Antiq. Roman. 1. 4. c. 4. p. 732. upon the following line of Horace: "Seu malis vetita legibus aleu-says, Alea, id est chartulis pictis! ludere. Thus, in a treatise upon Roman antiquities, making the Romans acquainted with playing cards! JAMES THE FIRST. In his Reg. Donun lib. 3. persuades his son, Hairy Prince of Wales not to play at chess, because it required close attention, which was opposite to the principle of play, which ought to be relaxation, but to indulge in cards where chance prevailed, and there was no art or diligence requisite. An excellent piece of advice in education! MALVENDA. In his tract de Antich. ii. c. 15. maintains that, the whole sea is not only na vigable, but has been navigated. CRANZIUS. He says that in the north beyond Greenland, the sca becomes innavigable in a day's voyage, because "the ends of the world becoming dark before them, inmane abyssi burathrum reperitur." JUSTUS LIPSIUS-BASIL. PONTIUS. Say, that two-headed eagles exactly like those of the Romans, were effigiated in many houses and gates at Chili in Peru. They were idols. BAPTIST. FULGORIUS-PETER MEXIA. Say, that ships almost rotten with damp, have been found upon the tops of very high mountains, far inland. Fulgor, Rer. Memor. c. 6. Mexia in Sylea var. Lect. p. 2. c. 13. See also Alex. lib. 5. Gen. c. 9. Maiol. Colloq. v. 1. p. 6. § 18. COLUMBUS. Pet. Martyr. Dec. Nov. Orb. 1. i. says, that he had often heard Columbus say, that, when he lauded at Hispaniola, he had found Ophir. GREGOR. LOPEZ. He writes, that the people of Sophala, a place in the extremity of Africa, at the Ethiopian sea, abounding in gold mines, have books written in the Indian tongue, which say, that Solomon every third year fetched gold from thence; and that they have mines still called by his name. PHALLUS. It is singular, that this indelicate amulet of the Greeks and Romans was found suspended round the necks of the Mexcians. Rodin. Dæmon. l. 3. c. 15. Theatr. Vit. Human. v. 17. l. i. p. S114. So also the Indians adored the Phallus. NIMROD. He is usually supposed to have been a hunter. But some Glossarists, Hugo, Laurentius, &c. render the passage in Genesis "Nembroth, a stout huuter in the presence of the Lord," an oppressor of men by the permission of God. Jo. Solorzani de Indiur. Jure, l. ii. c. xi. p. 209. BARONIUS. Sec ON THE ORIGINAL POETRY. DEATH OF GENERAL MOORE. MORN broke the parting clouds of night, To fame by gallant Moore! The warrior dies, but Fame shall tell, From France he laurels tore; Adieu, blest soul, whose hasty flight away He saw thy blooming ripeness Time prevent, Wither in penance for their forward haste;, So deck'd with all the robes of light, We should thy full ripe virtues wrong, For the Monthly Magazine. [The poetry of John Oldham, once so popular that his collective works went through six editions, is now almost forgotten. Taste and morality will not sigh deeply for the loss. Yet, among the satires, there are lines which may deserve transplanting: and, among the Pindarics, there is one,, which carries the manner of Cowley to higher perfection than any other production of that pedantic school, and which may be thought to have served as a model for the Threnodia Augustalis of Dryden.-This poem, pruned into readable limits, is herewith recom mended for your insertion, and thus deserves to be gathered into an Anthology of British Odes. It describes a character of a scarce, not of an unreal class. The extravagance may diminish the credibility but not the ingenuity of the praise. If this smells of the lamp, it is of Aladdin's, which dispatched a genius on its owner's errands beyond the boundaries of nature.-The Ode is inscribed to the memory of Mr. Charles Morwent.] BEST friend! could my unbounded grief but rate, With due proportion thy too cruel fate; The learned sisters all transform'd should be, Tosing thy well-tun'd praise ; Nor should we fear their being dumb, Fate, when thy forward gifts she told, Nature was proud when she contriv'd, thy Draw nature's larger self within a span. Nor were these fruits on a rough soil bestown, The Muse and Grace were so combin'd, A genius did thy whole comportment act, Such a soft air thy well-tun'd sweetness As told thy soul of harmony was made. Thos still wouldst make them vosal with thy That mar or disunite society, layt MONTHLY MAG. No. 182. Were foreigners to thee: Y Love only in their sted took up its rest, This made thy courtesy to all extend, But 'twas a continent to other countries fixt, As firm by love, as they by carth annext; Thou scorn'st the map should thy affections guide, Like theirs who love by dull geography, Friends to whom but by soil they are allied: Thine reach to all beside, To ev'ry member of the world's great' family; Heaven's kindness only claims a name more general, Which we the nobler call, Untoucht the other's string returns the moan, And shrink the current of another's grief; Who hope that breath which they in sighs convey, Should blow calamities away; So friendly angels their relief bestow And wounds itself to cure another's wound. appear, If any durst that title wear; They could not offer wrongs so fast, Which walks not earth alone, but is vouch- And by thy acts of amnesty defac'd; safed to all. Thou seem'st corrupted with the very power to please; Only to let thee gratify, Would bribe and pay thy courtesy ; By acts of goodness to compute thy days. To think each hour out of life's journal lost, Had he who wisht the art how to forget, Became thy speedy proselyte; Somewhat was to the miserable due ; translate, And foreign grief impropriate; Whate'er mishap did a known heart oppress, And wore its sadness in as lively dress; Conceive the tender care, Of guardian angels to their charge assign'd, are; These are the emblems of thy mind, The only types to show how thou wast kind. So gentle was thy pilgrimage beneath, A small misfortune scarce could reach thy Time's unheard feet scarce make less noise, ear, But made thee give in alms a tear; And when our hearts breath'd their regret in sighs, Thine with their mournful airs would sympathize, Throngs of like sighs from its fine fibres croud. And tell thy grief for our each grief aloud; Or planets gliding in eternal poise; Where Nile does want of rain supply, Which wears the name of Peace, So thy unvaried mind was always one; In thee extremes were join'd; From all the flattery and obloquy of fame, Nor this could thee exalt, nor that depress thee lower; Less the heaven dreads that it should fired be Which was too great for envy's cloud to 'Twas thy brave method to despise contempt; And make what was the fault the punish ment: So clouds, which would obscure the sun, oft And shades are taught to lend him pageantry;' And from its darkness borrow light. Fand Pleasure, whose soft magic oft beguiles And with smooth flattery cajoles, For thus to he unskill'd is to be wise; To make thee from her rigid dictates swerve: Would ne'er a mercenary be, But choose to serve her still without a livery; Which thou in doing well didst always find, Thou wast a living system, where were wrote ́ Thy practice did more virtues share 'power; So pure, that if blest saints again could be bear, Beholders seem'd more indispos'd than thee, Like some well-fashion'd arch thy patience And purchas'd firmness from its greater load; Those shapes of torture, which to view in paint Would make another faint, Thou could'st endure in sharp reality, And smile to feel what others shriek to see: choose, Could ne'er thy sway refuse; If he deserves to reign who suffers best, Had paid thy fortitude, And turn'd thy death bed to a throne. Fate paus'd awhile with wonder struck, And wisht she might have cut another line; And bad her give the blow of destiny; Yet IN Go, happy soul, ascend the joyful sky Where saints keep an eternal carnival of bliss, Where pleasures spring for ever new, PROCEEDINGS OF LEARNED SOCIETIES. ROYAL SOCIETY OF LONDON. N the second part of the Philosophical Transactions for 1808, Dr. HERSCHELL has published Observations on a late Comet, made with a View to investigate its Magnitude, and the Nature of its Illumination. The comet, which we have lately observed, says Dr. Herschell, was pointed out to me by Mr. Piggot, who discovered it at Bath the 28th of September; and the first time I had an opportunity of examining it was the 4th of October, when its brightness to the naked eye gave me great hopes to find it of a different construction from many I have seen before, in which no solid body could be discover ed with any of my telescopes. In the following observatious, my attention has been directed to such phenomena only, as were likely to give us some information relating to the physical condition of the comet: it will therefore not be ex. pected that I should give an account of its motion, which I was well assured would be most accurately ascertained at the Royal Observatory at Greenwich. The different parts of a comet have been generally expressed by terms that may be fiable to misapprehension, such as the head, the tail, the coma, and the uncleus; for in reading what some authors say of the head, when they speak of the size of the comet, it is evident that they take it for what is often called the nucleus. The truth is, that inferior telescopes, which cannot show the real nucleus, will give a certain magnitude of the comet, which may be called its head; it includes all the very bright surrounding light; nor is the name of the head badly applied, if we keep it to this meaning; and since, with proper restriction, the terms which have been used may be retained, I shall give a short account of my observations of the comet, as they relate to the above-mentioned particulars, namely, the nucleus, the head, the coma, and the tail, without regarding the order of the time when they were made. The date of each observation, however will be added, that any person who may hereafter be in possession of more accurate elements of the comet's orbit, than those which I have at present, may repeat the calculations in order to obtain a more accurate result. Oct. 4. 1807. Ten-feet reflector. The comet has a nucleus, the disk, of which is plainly to be seen. Oct. 6. 1 examined the disk of the comet with a proper set of diaphragms, in order to see whether any part of it were spurious; but when the exterior light was excluded, so far from appearing larger, as would have been the case with a spurious disk, it appeared rather diminished for want of light; nor was its diameter lessenel when I used only the outside rays of the mirror. The visible disk of the comet therefore is a real one. Oct. 4. I viewed the comet with dif ferent magnifying powers, but found that its light was not sufficiently intense to bear very high ones. As far as 200 and 300, my ten-feet reflector acted very well, but with 400 and 500 there was nothing Lained, |