H́nh ảnh trang
PDF
ePub

with notes and illuftrations by Puffendorf, is to be found in the great library of the late Count de Būnaū, now incorporated with the elector of Saxony's library at Dreiden.

In the Royal library at Berlin, there is a large collection of literary and political correfpondence of the fixteenth and feventeenth centuries; and among the reft, feveral volumes of Cardinal Mazarin's letters.

The Abbé Granvelle, a defcendant of the brother of Cardinal Granvelle, minifter of the Emperor Charles the V. was poffeffed fome years ago of the papers of the Cardinal, from which an useful felection might be made to illuftrate Schmidt's hiftory of Germany, and Dr. Robertson's history of Charles the V.

[ocr errors]

In the library at Breslaw, there is a fair and fine manufcript of Froiffart's history, fuller than that which has been printed. The curators of the library of Breslaw cannot allow any manufcript to be borrowed out of their apartments; but it might be proper to have it collated, with the printed copies, and to print that which has not hitherto appeared, and mark the corrections that are found to be neceffary for a new edition* of Froiffart.

Mr. Bernoulli at Berlin, has a large collection of original letters of the learned, prepared for the prefs, with proper illuftrations, which he would be willing to part with on a moderate indemnification, by any man of learning, who is difpofed to publish them.

N. B. Nothing can fo much contribute to the perfection of the history of the progrefs of the human mind, and of literature, as a judicious felection of the correfpondence of the learned,

A learned and elegant life of George Buchanan is much defiderated; and for this undertaking, there are

abundant materials already printed by Ruddiman and others.

A good hiftory of the revival of literature in Scotland in the prefent century, beginning with Lord Kaimes, would be a very faleable and interefting work, if executed by a masterly hand.

L.

SIR,

To the Editor of the Bee.

As, like many other Scotchmen, I have a partiality for my native country, and am an admirer of the Doric dialect, if we may fo call that broad and open manner in which we pronounce the English language, I was much pleased with the firit article in your fixth number, relative to Scottish Songs. The ingenious writer of that article feems to hint, that of said dialect, there was a court and a city or country mode *. I can eafily conceive, that there might be a propriety in the mode of expreffion ufed by men of learning and politenefs, far different from that of the unlettered vulgar. I also imagine that vulgarifms ufed by fome of our writers, have tended to bring our dialect into difrepute: But if the gentleman would be fo obliging as favour' us with a specimen of elegant Scotch, fuch as he knows to have been in ufe at the time of the union, I am perfuaded it will be agreeable to many others of your readers, as well as to J. CE.

It might perhaps be worth inquiry, how it happens that both in London and Edinburgh the language of the lower class of people is inferior to that of fome of the county towns: Alfo, how it fhould happen that the vulgar in London and Murrayfhire, though so distant, fhould agree in converting the Vinto a W, and vice verfa.

SIR,

To the Editor of the Bee.

Stockport May 16th 179. I OBSERVED what was faid in the 14th Number of the Bee with respect to fome experiments, which were thought to prove, that vegetables uniformly produce pot-afh. It was there fuggefted, that the foda which is obtained from the afhes of marine plants, is owing to the vegetable alkali which they contain, evolving the mineral alkali, by decompofing the fea falt with which the marine plants are impregnated.

To form as just an opinion as I could of this curious fubject, I procured fome barilla, and made a strong lye of it. I faturated the folution with vitriolic acid, in order to fee if it would produce vitriolated tartar; and if it did, what proportion it bore to the glauber's falt. I conducted the experiment with a confiderable degree of attention, and I obtained somewhat more than five ounces and a half of the fulphat of Soda, a few chryftals which feemed to be Epfom falt, and fome other impurities; but not one certain veftige of the fulphat of potash. I did not depend altogether upon the form of the chrystals; but I exposed them to the air, and they efflorefced, which vitriolated tarar will not do; and having laid fome of the most doubtful fhape upon burning coals, they did not crackle nor fly to pieces, as do the crystals of the fulphat of potash.

Thus, Sir, I have fet before you the refult of an experiment, in making which I endeavoured to be correct; and if you pleafe, you may lay it before the public. But I would be understood as speaking with that diffidence, which fubjects of this kind require. Moreover, barilla and kelp may be found very impure, provided they have been adulterated with the ashes of extraneous plants.

VOL. III.

[ocr errors]

E e

[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]

June 15 May we not fuppofe, that much depends upon the food of plants; and that those which grow where mineral alkali abounds, naturally produce Soda. We are informed, that the plant barilla is cultivated on the declivities of hills by the fides of falt marshes, or on the banks of canals which are cut to water and manure the land; and yet the ashes of barilla, according to my experiment, produce Soda confiderably pure. If much did not depend on the nutriment or the nature of the plant itfelf, fo great an effect could not be accomplished by faline exhalations, not even by the fpray of the fea, though within its reach. Thefe might impregnate the plant with common falt; but were there not another caufe, its afhes, I think, would abound with vegetable alkali, which I have not found to be the cafe.

I should be glad to be informed, if barilla has ever been cultivated in inland countries, and in fituations where other plants always yield potafh. If in thefe circumstances it produced mineral alkali, then we should have a pofitive proof, that it was its nature fo to do; but if it yielded vegetable alkali, then it would be as evident, that the Soda obtained from the ashes of plants, is in part owing to their food, and perhaps in part to faline impregnations by external cuses.

I fhall be happy to find this fubject more fully treated of; and it would give me pleasure if gentlemen who make experiments, or who speculate on useful fubjects, would embrace the opportunity, which your useful mifcellany affords them of throwing out any important hint, without waiting to form a complete treatise upon it. Thus the ideas would be catched by kindred fouls, and might be again and again returned with improvements through the medium of the Bee, till they received a form and excellence, which would render them ornamental to fcience, and highly beneficial to the world.

Sir,

[blocks in formation]
[ocr errors]

For the Bee.

On the Death of William Cullen, M. D.

WHEN lapdogs die,,

Or ladies figh,

Or linnets ceafe to fing,

The poet then

Will take his pen,

The mufe will spread her wing.

Shall real worth drop like the flower at eve,
Without a friendly wreath to deck its grave;
Shall Cullen fall, that venerable name,

Which from Edina spread the rising day,
And foar'd immortal on the wings of fame,
Far as fair science dans its paleft ray?
Say, shall he fall without a tear,
Or grateful tribute to a name fo dear?

The pupil beft can feel a teacher's death;
One who has felt a Cullen's foft'ring care,
One who rejoic'd each friendly word to share,
Can beft lament him, when depriv'd of breath.
Oft when he cheer'd with phylofophic blaze,
The darken'd paths of theory's winding maze,
And nature's footsteps trac'd,

Still fhunning hypothetic rules,
And all opinions of the schools,

But fuch as practice grac'd,

The ftudent look'd and wonder'd at his plan,
And thought the teacher something more than map.

But vain is all the praise I can bestow,

And vainer ftill, fhould I attempt to fhew

The wit which made the haughty pedant bow;

The liberal hand

Which made hard-struggling merit's bofom glow,

And bade the opening bud of genius blow,

And gratitude expand.

His fame fhall reft upon a nobler tongue,
Whose mild humanity exalts the fong,

Where fuffering mortals vex'd with racking pains,
Confefs his healing hand in grateful strains,
Where patients driven by the fever's wrath,

« TrướcTiếp tục »