and ftronger light on moral and philofophical objects, can it be any difcredit to neglect things of imaginary and precarious value, for those of real and substantial worth? We mean not to cenfure Mr. Taylor for his attachment to abstruse literature. His purfuit is certainly blamelefs, perhaps laudable; but it gives him no right to condemn the purfuits of others, of which we have, in this work, too frequent inftances.-A Differtation on the Life and Theology of Orpheus is prefixed. Of the Life, we fhall fay nothing. It is evidently fo blended with fiction, and involved in obfcurity, that we can form but a flight conjecture of either his origin, his country, or the age in which he exifted. The account of his Theology is curious; and we fhall, therefore, give a flight fketch of what Mr. Taylor fays on that fubject. He diffents from the author of the Letters on Mythology, who endeavoured to prove that The Orphic hymns deify the various parts of nature, not confidered as animated by different intelligences, but as various modifications of inert and lifeless matter.' He rather fuppofes him and his followers to confider The Deity as an immenfe and perpetually exuberant fountain; whofe ftreams originally filled, and continually replenish the world with life. Hence the univerfe contains in its ample bofom all general natures; divinities vifible and invifible; the illuftrious race of dæmons; the noble army of exalted fouls; and men rendered happy by wifdom and virtue. According to this theology, the power of univerfal foul does not alone diffufe itself to the fea, and become bounded by its circumfluent waters, while the wide expanfe of air and æther, is deftitute of life and foul; but the celeftial spaces are filled with fouls, fupplying life to the stars, and directing their revolutions in everlafting order.' The farther elucidation of this doctrine, by the Platonists, next engages our author's attention. But, notwithstanding Orpheus filled all things with gods, they are to be understood as fubordinate intelligences to the one Supreme Being, and First Caufe, who comprehends the world in his infinite nature, and from whom they proceed. This appears from fome verfes afscribed to him by Proclus and others, which contain, according to Dr. Cudworth, the grand arcanum of the Orphic theology, that God is all things. Not that he fuppofed the Deity as of *The unity of the Deity is ftrongly inculcated in a Hymn preferved by Clemens Alexandrinus and Eufebius, and attributed to Orpheus. It is to be found, likewife, in the Poetæ minores Græci. Warburton, who looked upon it as authentic, gives a tranflation of it in his Divine Legation; but Dr. Jortin confiders it as fpurious. It is not inferted in the prefent performance, but has furnished the author with a very applicable motto. . A di I A divifible, corporeal, nature; but that he is all things, because prefent every where, and to every being totally, though more or lefs intimately prefent, according to the various grada tions and approximations of being. So that he is to be confidered as containing all things, and yet as fepárate and apart from all; as the fource of all multitude, yet himself perfect unity; and as immenfly prolific, yet divinely folitary and ineffably good.' Several quotations from Proclus and Poryphry are introduced, in illuftration of this doctrine. Mr. Taylor next treats of the nature of facrifices, as inftituted by Orpheus, and explained by the Platonic writers, who made a remarkable di tinction between the worship of the Deity, and that of the fubordinate gods. The former, they fuppofed, was honoured by the reverence paid to his most illuftrious defcendants. The fentiments of Porphyry, on this fubject, are elevated and refined. "Let us alfo," fays he, "facrifice, but in a manner be coming the offspring of intellect, bringing with us the most exalted offerings, with our moft exalted powers. To the divi. nity indeed who is above all things, as a wife man faid; neither facrificing nor dedicating any thing fenfible or material; for there is nothing fubfifting by material concretion, which muft not be deemed impure by a nature entirely free from the con tagion of body. Hence even the difcourfe which is proffered by the voice, is not proper to be addreffed to a cause fo fublime and ineffable; nor the internal fpeech of the foul, if conta minated with any perturbation, or mixed with any of the fenfible phantafms of imagination. But we ought to worship the fupreme God in the most profound and pure filence, and with the purest thoughts concerning his exalted nature." The tranflation from Porphyry and Proclus, containing their opinions on facrifice and prayer, form not the least interesting part of this performance; but they are too long for an extract, and will not admit of an abridgement. The author, indeed, so thoroughly enters into the fentiments of the old Platonifts, that he feems not only to approve, but even fully to credit their vifionary notions; for, in another place, having taken notice of their doctrine concerning the pre-existence of the foul, he declares, that it is not ftrange we should know fo little of thofe divine and exalted beings above us, fince, from our union with generation and material concerns, we are imbued with oblivion, ignorance, and error.' But that it is poffible to know more of fuch exalted natures than is generally believed, by the affiftance of the ancient philofophy, accompanied with a fuitable life, is, I am perfuaded, true; and I would recommend the arduous and glorious inveftigation to every liberal mind.' Dd z The The unlearned will fmile, and confider fuch an enquiry as the pursuit of a phantom. We cannot, however, but acknowlege there is fomething elevated in the idea. Philofophy, like poetry, occafionally appeals to the fancy rather than the judgment; and we refpect the day-dreams of a Plato or a Homer. In regard to the Hymns, Mr. Taylor agrees with preceding writers, that they were not compofed by Orpheus, but Onomocritus, a Pythagorean that they contain, however, the genuine tenets of the former. They may rather be styled Mystical Invocations to the Gods, than Hymns; and were probably repeated or fung by the initiated during the ceremony. At the conclufion of the fection Mr. Taylor observes, that, on perufing a book of Meurfius, entitled Denarius Pythagoricus, he fuppofed, that as the divinities afcribed to each number had a particular relation to one another, they fhould likewife have a mutual agreement in thefe Hymns.' This coincidence is pointed out in a great variety of inftances. Another difcovery, which Mr. Taylor ftyles equally curious," is, that thofe who profeffed the Orphic theology fuppofed there was a two-fold nature in fouls, the one of a gnoftic, the other of a vivifying quality.' But what inferences are we to draw from this numerical agreement, or myftical union? We fhould have been glad of fome farther elucidation. The glimmering light' here given us, at leaft in our opinion, ferves only to render the darkness more vifible' that envelopes the Grecian myfteries. An accurate investigation of those of Ifis and Ofiris, would probably tend to clear up fome circumftances in them now unintelligible. . The poetical merit of the original is inconfiderable; and the tranflation as good as could reasonably be expected. The feventh Hymn, addreffed to the Sun, with the notes annexed, will give a general idea of the performance. Hear golden Titan, whofe eternal eye Pythagoras was not only initiated in the myfteries instituted by Or pheus in Thrace, but derived his theological opinions from the fame fource as he did. The Egyptians were probably the inventors of arithmetic, and applied it in the earlieft ages to aftronomy and geometry. From them he learnt the properties of numbers; and, ftruck with their wonderful powers, taught that all truth might be difcovered by arithmetic.-In the rites inftituted by Orpheus, according to his own teftimony, he was inftructed in the anity of the Deity, and learnt that the eternal fubftance of numbers was the principle, moft providential, of the univerfe, of heaven, of carth, and of the middle natures. De Vita Pythag. cap. 28. in 5 Lord Lord of the feafons, with thy fiery car Fiery and bright around the heav'ns you run. Of fleeds the ruler, and of life the light: And blefs thy fuppliants with a life divine.' In farther illustration of this Hymn, we may add, that the most ancient nations, not only Egypt, but Chaldea, Perfia, and Arabia, fuppofed that an intellectual fire (of which the fun became the fymbolical representation), animated all nature, and that fire itself poffeffed an inherent divine quality. From this notion, the ftory of Ceres' defign to immortalize Demophon, as related in Homer's Hymn to that goddess, by plunging him into it, probably derived its origin. It is thus elegantly rendered by Mr. Hole. At night, to purge from earthly drofs his frame, *Ver. 17.] Immortal Jove. According to the Orphic and Platonic philofophers, the Sun is the fame in the fenfible, as Apollo in the intellectual, and God in the intelligible world. Hence Proclus in Theol. Plat. p. 289. from the occult union fubfifting between God, Apollo, and the Sun, calls the Sun Basis Te warlic, or king of the universe and it is well known that Jupiter is the demiurgus of the world. So that the Sun, in perfec conformity to this theology, is called immortal Jove.' + Ver. 25.] Faithful defender. Proclus, lib. v. in Timæum, informs us in the words of Orpheus ὅτι ἥλιον μὲν ἐπέστησε τοῖ ὅλοις, ο δημιεργον, και φύλακα αυτὸν ἔτευξε, κέλευσε τε πασιν ἀναάσσειν "That the demiurgus placed the Sun in the univerfe, and fabricated him as its guardian, commanding him to govern all things." Dd 3 Th' Th' unconfcicus child. The parents wond'ring trace To chance fuperior, and to time's annoy, Crown'd with unceafing joys in heaven fhould reign.—' The paffage is curious, and entirely in the wild Oriental style. It is no abfolute proof of the genuineness of that poem, but a prefumptive evidence of its antiquity, and the fource from whence it was taken. The worshippers of fire are ftill numerous in the Ealt, and probably entertain fimilar notions concerning it to what their forefathers did fo many thousand years ago. Mr. Taylor profeffes he has no expectation of pleasing the many,' and he is right. Those who are fond of abstruse and recondite learning, though they may object to fome peculiarities, will find entertainment in this elaborate commentary on a most difficult fubject; in which the author, not deterred by the prohibition to the uninitiated of Procul o procul efte profani! endeavours to withdraw the veil from the myfterious rites of antiquity, and Pandere res alta terra & caligine merfas. Experiments and Obfervations on Light and Colours: to which is prefixed, the Analogy between Heat and Motion. 8vo. 35. Johnfon. TH HESE little effays feem a part of a larger work: the author fhows that he poffeffes extenfive information; and his acuteness is often as confpicuous as his knowlege. On fubjects fo uncertain he muft, of course, fometimes err. If we principally enlarge on what we fufpect to be mistakes, we mean not to infinuate that the work is generally erroneous: much of it is very exact, and we are certain that the author's candour will excufe us for noticing them, when we allege, that truth is equally the object of our pursuit. The firft effay contains an analogy between the heat of bodies and their motion. This analogy is fomewhat too diftant; but the parallel is carried on fo clofely, that thefe qualities appear to be much more nearly connected than might be at first ima gined. The analogy between velocity and temperature holds for fome time it begins, we think, to fail in the fecond cafe of the fecond propofition, where the refiftance given to a body moving in a medium is compared with a body lofing its heat in a colder medium. The firft undoubtedly is in the ratio of the denfity of the medium; the fecond, even in homogeneous bodies, depends on very different conditions, and follows, probably, a very different ratio. It is connected with the equilibrium of heat, and that depends on the fpecific heat, partly on the denfities, on the fufibility, and vitrefcibility. The |