with neglect, and their labours are undervalued but it is impossible that they should ever be wholly forgotten. Addison, indeed, knowing the fate of preceding writers, predicted that, at some future period, the historian would speak of the Spectator, as a work rather to be translated, because of its many obsolete words and obscure phrases, than to be read in the vulgar idiom. But, though nearly a century has expired since this prediction was uttéred, there is little prospect of its being fulfilled; and to Addison and his coadjutors, no less than to the periodical writers who succeeded them, we are to resort for genuine English phraseology. The method adopted by these authors of conveying instruction with elegance, and of uniting vivacity with truth; of tempering the asperity of the censor with the pleasantry of the humourist; of teaching morals without the forbidden formulas of system, and of improving taste without the tedious repetition of the rules of criticism, promises immortality to their productions. The English classicks should make part of the reading of every student before he has formed his habits of writing. For, though he may learn by his grammar and rhetorick even to excel some of them in mere accuracy of expression, and to avoid their petty blemishes, he will never gain, by the mere application of the common rules of composing, th se amenities of stile, and pure idiomatical combinations, in which much of their excellence consists.

THE ADMIRABLE CRICHTON.

No epithet perhaps excites more curiosity, as to the qualities of its subject, than that of Crichton.

When a man is marked by the title of the Great, or the Conquerour, we know at once what idea to affix to it: we perceive with the first glance of the mind the seas of blood, that have been forded, and the labyrinths of crime, that have been explored, to acquire those distinctions. In former times, the Good, and the Just, have been added by the general voice of popular impartiality to the names of merit. Crichton acquired by his pre-eminent endowments of mind and body, of memory, imagination and reason, from his astonished cotemporaries, the appel lation of the Admirable. Alike skilled in the exercises of manly dexterity and of every species of literary talent, he created in the breast of one of the Doctors of Paris no slight suspicion, that the prince of darkness had thought proper to gratify his vanity, and display his abilities by exhibiting himself in that specious form. It was confidently asserted by those, who had heard his performances, that the intense and uninterrupted exertions of a whole and a long life, devoted to study, would be trivial towards attaining the various acquisitions, that he displayed at twenty-two years of age. There are yet on record, particularly in the works, of Aldus Manutius, his contemporary, testimonies, which uniformly speak the same language of extreme commendation. The principal events of his life, as related by these writers, are summarily noticed by Hawkesworth in a num ber of the Adventurer. To reduce these narratives to human probabili. ty, and to save posterity from despair, it is perhaps fortunate, that there are yet remaining some materials, on which we may found a judgment for ourselves. Contemporary praise is often corrupt, and always uncertain. There are yet extant

ar.

some poems of the admirable Crichton in the Latin language, preserved in the "Delicia Poetarum Scotorum." These poems we have not seen, but an author of great taste and respectability asserts, that they are so deficient, not only in the beauties of fancy and genius, but in the correctness of grammar and prosody, as to be quite unworthy of a scholTestimony, like this, joined to the internal improbability of most of the facts in Crichton's life, will warrant a great portion of skepticism. He probably owed his bril hancy of reputation to the assassin, that put a premature end to his life. He would gladly have gratified the reader's curiosity, and given him still greater latitude in opinion, by presenting him with some of the poems, to which we have alluded. But the "Delicia Poetarum Scotorum" have never reached the alcoves of New-England.

66

MOTTOS.

I HAVE Sometimes been sorry for the disuse of classical allusion and quotation, that is now generally approved. Excessive use of them is doubtless of bad tendency: no one would wish to restore such varied, many languaged" pages, as those of Burnet, or of the "Pursuer of Literature." Notwithstanding this possible redundancy, every classical reader must have felt a peculiar pleasure at meeting with an old acquaintance in the guise of an apposite quotation. The sensations are similar to those of a pious mind at hearing from the pulpit a reverent and applicable scriptural allusion. In this latter case, though we are willing to. censure too frequent a use of the language of the bible, we generally feel a greater satisfaction, where it

larly pleasing is the practice, so universal among the standard English periodical writers, to preface their essays with a line from a classical author. What can more induce one to welcome a new acquaintance, as a friend, than to see him introduced by one, whom from childhood we have been accustomed to love and revere, whose society we have long cultivated, and found it in pleasure and in sorrow, "nunquam intempestiva, nunquam molesta." love, when I am made acquainted with a stranger, to see him accompanied by an old friend with a smiling countenance. Men, at all times, and, in a great variety of circumstances, seem to have been fond of these little pithy axioms, called mot

tos.

I

The Jews, we are told, made part of their dress consist of small rolls of parchment, inscribed with sentences from scripture. The valourous errant knights of the age of chivalry painted them on their arms. The more peaceful nobleman of modern times sees on his equipage, his plate, his seal, his ring, and in his library, some pointed rule of conduct, perhaps the disgrace of his ancestors for centuries. I have seldom seen a neater motto than the follow. ing, which, though the anecdote be common, is worth relating The author of the Night Thoughts had prepared an arbour at the end of an avenue in his garden, which on a distant view appeared to contain a couch for reclining. A nearer approach, removing the deception, showed the couch to be painted, but consoled the spectator with the reflection, "Invisibilia non deci piunt."

LITERARY PAPERS.

THE number of quarterly, month

formation and amusement is so great, that an indolent person may with them fill up the intervals of eating and sleeping through his whole life. He can hardly be said to be active in the perusal of them, for his mind preserves the remembrance of them only one moment longer, than does a mirror the image of her, who last gazed in it. The true voracious reader of magazines, swallows with equal avidity the detail of a robbery and a classical disquisition, and sips an Alcaick ode or an acrostick with the same moderation. For the perpetual refreshment of such minds it is proposed to publish an hourly paper, to be called Papilio, or the Grub, devoted to the publication of puns at the instant of their birth, to the diffusion of scandal the same moment it first is whispered, and the early gratification of curiosity without the fatigues of impertinent inquiry. To the publick in general, whose only occupation at this time is to ask the news, and to the fairer part, whose inquisitive spirits cannot

endure the delays of investigation and the lazy developement of circumstances, this project will be no less acceptable, than its execution will be useful. Many a one, whose great celebrity has been too shortlived to be recorded, shall live in these pages, the hero of an hour; and let her, whose beauty is as bright and as evanescent as a shooting star, confidently believe, that we shall "catch, ere it fall, the Cynthia of the minute." Twelve times at least. between sunrise and sunset shall our readers know,

"Who danced with who, and who are like to wed,

"And who are hanged, and who are brought to bed."

Each hourly number shall contain one true story, with a reasonable proportion of circumstances, three hints, four conundrums upon fashionable people, seven whispers, and seventeen insinuations, besides one fictitious character, cut up in the most genteel style.

ACCUMULATING specimens of stones, precipitated from the atmosphere, in various quarters of the globe, have not only removed all incredulity, as to the fact itself, but have drawn attention to a new branch of mineralogy, which may be termed atmospherick; a subject, which will at least be interesting to our cu

The French also, on this occasion, have employed the terms Lithologie Atmospherique, and Acrolithes, corresponding

to the above.

riosity and love of conjecture, and perhaps even to general science; and in this case to the common purposes of life. To the particulars respecting these stones, already published in the Monthly Anthology of Boston, for January and February last, others may still be added. Such as are here offered, will be comprised under the four following heads.

1. Of the connection between these stones, and the masses containing native iron.

2. Of the connection between

these stones, and a certain description of fire balls.

3. Miscellaneous observations respecting these stones.

4. Of their origin.

An Appendix will contain a few remarks, respecting certain other meteors, in addition to what will have been said on the same subject, under the second of the above heads.

1. Of the connection between atmospherick stones, and the masses containing native iron.

Most of the known specimens of atmospherick stones, and of the mineral masses containing native (or natural) iron, are said to conform themselves to a variety of common laws; which has therefore led to the natural conjecture, that the two substances have one and the same origin. For example, both of them, as far as they have been examined, are said to be formed out of a few materials, with some variation however, (either general or particular) as to the combination of them. Iron and nickel, under different forms and in different proportions, are in particular seen in both. Both are said to contain, in one or other of their specimens, a mixture of" zilica, magnesia, and oxides of iron and nickel," either as a cementing medium, or as insulated globules. Both appear in some, if not in all instances, to have an outside coat or crust. Both are unlike the minerals found in their neighbourhood. Both possess combinations, which while they correspond to each other, are as yet unknown in the rest of the mineral kingdom. Such are the chief general points of agreement hitherto noticed between these two sets of substances.

Two other particulars may be added to this parallel; the first of smaller, the other of greater importance. First, though the sizes of

atmospherick stones and of the specimens containing native iron, are not always corresponding, yet on the whole, no objection drawn from their size, contradicts the supposition, that one nature belongs to

both.

The fragments, for example, collected from the atmospherick stone, lately observed in Connecticut, weigh above 330 pounds, independent of the missing portions; and therefore imply a size, which, though far inferiour to that of some of the specimens containing native iron, yet may still agree with others. A second more remarkable particular is, that, notwithstanding the heat, which both sets of substances appear to have experienced in whole or in part, certain specimens of each, after they have grown cool enough to be handled, have still retained a peculiar softness in their exterior surface, during a certain period. Thus, an atmospherick stone has been said at its first falling, to have been soft enough in some of its parts, to attach to itself straws, which have not easily been separated from it; though the mass has afterwards become hardened throughout, by exposure to the atmosphere. On the other hand, a certain specimen, soon to be mentioned, as including native iron, if ever it was heated, as probably it was, seems to have retained for a time such an union both of softness and coolness in its coat or crust, as to have admitted of permanent impressions from the naked touch of different animals. A new and general application of heat in an artificial manner, may be incapable of reproducing this peculiarity; not only because the primary operation from fire may have been partial, and also dependent on materials, which this operation has dissipated; but because time, joined to this operation,

may have occasioned a change of qualities, as to this particular.

A few concluding remarks on the analogy between the two substances in question, will be deferred, till we have given an account of some of the more celebrated masses containing native iron.

MR. KIRWAN's account of native iron, is as follows:

"The existence of native iron seems now (1796) placed beyond the reach of doubt. The testimony of Margraf, (transmitted to us by Lakman) with respect to that found at Eibenstock, in Saxony, seems to me sufficient. That specimen, Lakman assures us, was both malleable and ductile: consequently in the state of bar iron.

*

"It has also been lately found in the same state in the mountain of Grand Gilbert, in Upper Dauphine, by M. Gualtier des Cottes; (as M. Schreiber assures us, 41 Rozier. 7.) "We have also had another late and indubitable instance of the existence of native iron, on the plains of Otumpa, in Peru, of several tons weight; on which the impressions of men's hands and the claws of birds have been found by Don Ruban de Celis. He imagines it to have been produced by fusion. If it were, it is still the product of nature, and not of art. Yet I must own, the impressions made on it seem repugnant with the supposition of this mode of production; as they must have been made while the iron was as yet soft; and if softened by heat, what animal could then press it? It seems much more natural to suppose, that it originally consisted of detached particles of native iron, collected in the moist way, and hardened by subsequent desiccation, (as frequently happens to heaps of fie

*Phil. Trans. 1788.

ry cinders, near forges, after those heaps have been long exposed to the air;) the earthy matter which originally surrounded and formed the pit, in which it was collected, being by subsequent inundations washed away. What Don Celis calls ashes, by which, he says, it is surrounded, is probably nothing more than loose white clay.

The enormous mass of iron, found in Siberia by Pallas, is also plainly a natural production, and formed by a deposition in the moist way; for no such mass has hitherto been seen in the neighbourhood of a volcano. And if there had, it would be insufficient to lead the mind to any volcanick cause in this case, as this mass is found on the summit of a mountain, in which, nor in its vicinity for some hundred miles, no trace of a volcano can be discovered. It is malleable when cold, and produces inflammable air, when treated in acids; which prove it not to be in a calcined state. The substance found in it, which was thought to be glass, is now known to be Chrysolite." Thus far Mr. Kirwan.†

"Stahlenberg, says M. Pallas, has spoken of pumice stones to be met with in the neighbourhood of the river Jenisee, [in Siberia ;] but the scoriæ from the works of miners in former times deceived him. I have in vain searched the course of this river for the traces of volcanos ; and, in particular, in the neighbourhood of that mountain, where I found a mass of iron, which was naturally malleable, and intimately mixed, and, as it were, kneaded up with a transparent yellow, vitreous matter. This mass is deposited in the cabinet of the academy of Petersburg. Its origin is a subject of con

See his Elements of Mineralogy, 2d edition, vol. ii. p. 156, 157.