The rule may be made universal for extracting the roots of any powers whatever, thus: After the necessary divisions and extractions of the square root, multiply the root found by the index of the power less 1: add the assumed root to the product and divide the sum by the index of the power.

:

EXAMPLE. Required the 5th root of 12309502009375.

Here there must be one division, and two extractions of the square root.

THIS remarkable Latin poet was born at Dunbarton in Scotland, in 1506, and received his education principally at the University of Paris, then the most celebrated seminary of literature in Christendom. He was at different periods tutor to three of the greatest men of his time; Murray, the regent during Mary's minority; James, afterwards the pedantick monarch of Great Britain; and Michael de Montaigne, who first gave to the prose of his native tongue that beauty of style, that

VOL. VIII.

winning simplicity and native eloquence, which have since been successfully imitated by the best writers of the age of Louis the 14th. Buchanan died in 1582, so wretchedly poor, that his whole property was not sufficient to defray the expenses of his funeral. His poetical character stands extremely high; yet his merit does not so much consist in sublimity or lofty flights of the imagination, as in splendour of diction and harmony and variety of versification. His odes, epigrams and other miscellaneous pieces possess merit of various kinds and in unequal degrees. The following lines addressed to his mistress, I think eminently beautiful. An imperfect imitation of them by Menage and another in English, which is perhaps yet farther from the spirit of the original, than the illustrious Frenchman's, are subjoined......

Illa mihi semper praesenti dura Neaera.

Me, quoties absum, semper abesse dolet;
Non desiderio nostri, non moeret amore,
Sed se non nostro posse dolore frui.-

........Pieta crudele.....

Chi credulo l'avrebbe ?
L'empia, la cruda Jole

Del mio partir si dole.
A quel finto dolore

Non ti fidar, mio core.

Non è vera pietade

Quella che mostoa, nò, mà crudeltade.
Dell' aspro mio martire

La cruda vuol gioire

Udir la cruda i miei sospiri ardenti,
E mirar vuole i duri miei tormenti.

IMITATED FROM THE LATIN.

Whilst at Anna's feet I'm kneeling,
Breathing forth my timid vows,

She no kindred passion feeling,

Proud and scornful knits her brows.....

When I seek relief in flying,

Of my absence she complains:

Not with love but malice sighing,

That no more she sees my pains.....

ROME.

THE pronunciation of this word, as if it were written Room has been ridiculed as a modern refinement. That our fath ers

however thus uttered it, we have sufficient evidence in the corresponding word, employed in the rhymes of many an English poet. Our puritan ancestors certainly gave it. that sound, for we find by a statute of "the Massachusetts Colony," made in 1647, printed at Cambridge with the other ordinances of the government, under the admirable title of "LAWES AND LIBERTYES," 1660, that Jesuits," men brought up and devoted to the religion and court of Room," or "ordained by the authority of the Pope or See of Room," are forbidden to enter this jurisdiction. So that it seems there is good law for the polite pronunciation.

LIGHT OF NATURE.

THERE is sober sense and apt illustration in the following passage of Edward Search: (Abraham Tucker, Esq.) useful to those, who placing virtue with Godwin in "impartial justice," or with Edwards and Hopkins in " love of being" may be liable to overlook the parts in their solicitude for the whole.

"It is necessary however that I should explain in what sense I recommend the pursuit of the general good as the proper end of morality. By this then I understand none other than the greatest good in our power to perform, or that conduct, which, taken in all its consequences, is likely to be the most beneficial of any other. For we can only promote the general good by adding to that of individuals; and it is very rarely that we can be of any signal service to the publick. If we stand still, waiting for opportunities of promoting the good of the whole by some grand stroke of benevolence, we shall pass away life in a dream. Moralists, indeed, continually exhort men to look to distant consequences; but there is moderation in all things; one may stretch one's view too far as well as confine it too near. He that goes along with his eyes fixed on the ground will be liable to miss his way, or run into danger; so we exhort him to look up, that he may see the windings of the path before him and the objects about him; but if he keep gaping at the distant horizon, this will be as bad as to keep poring on the ground. The proper way of judging of our rules of conduct, is by their usefulness; we ought to study the duties of life, lying every day in our way; and make ourselves perfect in the common virtues, before we attempt the shining. This love of the heroical and grand in virtue, of making painful sacrifices, and engaging in lofty enterprizes, is, for the most part, just as absurd

as if a taylor or shoemaker should live in a boat to inure himself to the hardships of a sea voyage, or lie out whole nights in a ditch, by way of preparing himself for a winter's campaign, to neither of which services he is ever likely to be called."

CRITICKS.

In the year 1546, the council of Trent pronounced the Latin Vulgate to be authentick for a very curious reason; because said the holy fathers, if it were necessary to have recourse to the originals, the grammarians and criticks would become more important persons than the ecclesiasticks.....Criticks certainly ought to give place to those who without or even in defiance of art and rules, perform wonders in literature..... This seems to be the characteristick mark which discriminates the man of genius from the scholar..... Montesquieu, in his Persian letters, speaking of certain brisk, little Frenchmen, who gained a comfortable subsistence by teaching what they did not understand, adds, Il me semble qu'il faut avoir beaucoup d'esprit pour cela. Every smatterer in your trade (says the steward to the cook in Moliere) can send up a good dinner, if he is furnished with materials; but the true spirit and beauty of cookery consists, in doing it without them. (L'avare, Act 3. Scene 5.

SELF-COMMAND,

WHETHER the gift of nature, or the fruit of patient discipline, is among the best qualities of the best men. It shows a spirit always master of itself, the same in misfortune, as in prosperity; and equal to all emergencies and contingencies. It gives a man all his talents at his call, and enables him to deliberate and decide, in moments of peril, on affairs of the utmost magnitude, with the same calmness, as when at ease on questions of simple interest. It shows itself in moderation after victory, as well as in the courage which secures it; in a kind of chivalrous courtesy, which is the opposite of whatever is insolent or oppressive; in a soul that is equally a stranger to fear and reproach; în a noble superiority of mind over body; in a perfect control of the baser appetites; and in following the dictates of religion and honour through all the varieties of condition and circumstance. Who without admiration can read of the self-command of Edward the black prince, of the Chevalier Bayard, and of Sir Philip Sidney? The noble knight last mentioned, at the battle of Zutphen, in 1586, fell into an ambus

cade, where he received a fatal wound in his thigh. Growing thirsty with excessive loss of blood, he called for water which was brought him. But as he was putting it to his mouth, he observed a soldier fixing his eyes upon it with an eagerness of attention, that indicated a similar extremity. Sir Philip, instantly refusing it, gave it to the soldier with these words, "thy necessity is greater than mine." If this act of fortitude and generosity has its superiour, it is found in the behaviour of Epaminodas, who gloriously said, “The event of the day is decided draw this javelin from my body now, and let me bleed."

ETYMOLOGY.

THE following passage from Dr. Burney's History of Musick is taken from the first chapter of his history of Greek musick; but rather for the sake of the note which is attached to it, than for the passage itself. It may be read with profit, if it be not already familiar, by all those who are fond of constructing theories on fancied analogies and etymologies; whether drawn from the Hebrew and Phenician, or the Tartarian and Indian languages.

"Diodorus Siculus tells us, that, according to the mythology of the Cretans, most of the gods of the Greeks were born upon their island, especially those that have acquired divine honours. by the benefits they have conferred on mankind: however, as to the existence of these personages, the whole is doubtful now. New systems of mythology are but a series of new conjectures, as difficult to ascertain and believe as the old legends. And as these legends have been long received by the wisest men, and greatest writers of antiquity, and are at least as probable as the hypotheses of modern mythologists, I shall adhere to them, not only as being more amusing and ingenious than fancied analogies and etymologies drawn from Phenician and Hebrew roots by Bochart, the Abbe de la Pluche and others; but, because the minds of most readers will have accommodated themselves by long habit to classick opinions, imbibed during their tender years of education and credulity."

NOTE. The Bishop of Gloucester has a passage so replete with wit, humour, and satire, that I shall make no apology for inserting it at full length. In speaking of l'Histoire du Ciel by de la Pluche, he asks, “On what, then, is this author's paradox supported? On the common foundation of most modern philologick systems, etymologies; which, like fungous ex