diminishing the price of opium, its extraction from lettuce would, in Dr. Coxe's opinion, become a very profitable species of culture. Experiments and Observations on the Atmosphere of Marshes. By Adam Seybert, M. D.-The experiments of this gentleman have led him to conclusions which rather differ from those of former investigators. He supposes that marsh-air contains a large proportion of carbonic acid gas and of oxygen; and that the hydrogen, which is obtained by the surface of stagnant water, is produced by a decomposition of the water, and of the putrifying animal and vegetable substances contained in it. -Dr. S. is also of opinion that marshes are designed by Providence to support the balance among the component parts of the atmosphere, by correcting the effects of vegetation, which might ultimately overcharge the air with oxygen. An Essay on a new Method of treating the Effusion which collects under the Skull after Fractures of the Head. By J. Deveze, Officer of Health, of the first Class, in the French Armies.In cases in which the discharge of effused fluid is prevented. by the adhesion of the dura mater to the skull, at the sutures, Dr. Deveze recommends, instead of making a fresh opening with the trepan, a separation of the adhering membrane from the skull by means of a blunt probe. An Answer to Dr. Priestley's Considerations on the Doctrine of Phlogiston, and the Decomposition of Water; founded upon demonstrative Experiments. By James Woodhouse, M. D. Professor of Chemistry in the University of Pennsylvania.-This accurate and well-written paper contains a satisfactory solution of the difficulties started by Dr. Priestley, in the two essays which open this volume: but, as it would lead us far beyond our limits to follow Dr. W's train of argument, we shall only notice a new fact which he has ascertained; viz. that turbith mineral, instead of being a pure oxyd of mercury, contains sulphuric acid, and may be regarded as a sulphate of mercury. We refer those readers, who may have been staggered by Dr. Priestley's objections to the new theory, to a perusal of this memoir for a complete settlement of the question. : Memoirs on the extraneous Fossils denominated MammothBones principally designed to shew, that they are the Remains of more than one Species of non-descript Animal. By George Tur ner. It had been generally imagined that the bones of the Mammoth were only to be found in the northern parts of America. Mr. Turner, however, informs us that a consider able deposit of them has lately been discovered in South Carolina. 15 Carolina. He is of opinion that the various bones, which have been supposed to belong to this animal, ought to be referred to two distinct species; one of which he conceives to have been carnivorous, the other herbivorous. The parts, he says, which mark the remains of a second species, are a grinder exclusively belonging to graminivorous and herbivo rous animals, and two tusks, differently fashioned. Mr. T. thinks that both these species of incognita have long since perished. From some Indian traditions, joined to the uncommon appearances at the Great Bone Lick, he is inclined to believe that the Mammoth united to his uncommon bulk and strength, the agility of the tyger. A Description of the Bones deposited, by the President, in the Museum of the Society, and represented in the annexed Plates. By C. Wistar, M. D.-This paper contains an anatomical description of these curious bones, which cannot be understood without the plates. It proves that the Mammoth, or animal incognitum, must have been provided with claws. Some farther particulars respecting this animal have lately been published in our Philosophical Transactions. See Rev. for March last, p. 303. [To be continued.] ART. III. Specimens of Literary Resemblance in the Works of Pope, Gray, and other celebrated Writers; with critical Observations: In a Series of Letters, by the Reverend Samuel Berdmore, D D. late Master of the Charter-house School. 8vo. pp. 127. 4s. Boards. Wilkie. 1801. TH HIS volume contains a formidable attack on Dr. Hurd's "Marks of Imitation," and we believe that most readers will deem it successful. From the agreeable manner, indeed, in which Dr. Berdmore has treated the points of discussion, we cannot help wishing that he had extended his views to the subject of literary imitation in general: but this would have been transgressing the limits which he assigned to himself. In a strain of lively and ingenious raillery, he has detected the sources of Dr. Hurd's explanation of Virgil's invocation to Augustus, in the 3d Georgic; and he has shewn that the discovery, of which that learned critic assumed the merit, was nothing more than an obvious interpretation of the poet's words, which had been previously given by different commentators. As it seldom happens that so amusing a morceau of criticism passes through our hands, we shall follow the author's own arrangement with more minute attention than we usually devote to such small productions. C 4 Dr. Berd Dr. Berdmore refers, in his first letter, to an essay published in the Adventurer, containing several instances in which Pope had borrowed the thoughts of Palingenius, and other writers, for his Essay on Man; and he intimates a suspicion that Dr. Hurd afterward availed himself, without acknowlegement, of these very quotations, in his Letter on the Marks of Imitation-an allegation which the passages produced appear satisfactorily to establish. The letter concludes with two examples of imitations from Ovid, by Mr. Pope. on which we must beg leave to remark, once for all, that none of our poets has laid preceding writers more largely under contribution than Pope; and that the margins of his pages might easily be filled with references to original authors, to whom most of his brilliant passages may be traced. We have already taken occasion to mention in our review, that the celebrated simile of the spreading circles of water, which has been generally reckoned original, was taken from a poem by Donne. In the second letter, Dr. Berdmore digresses to a consideration of the introductory stanza of Mr. Gray's Progress of Poetry, where we have these admirable lines: "Now the rich stream of music winds along, Deep, majestic, smooth, and strong, Through verdant vales, and Ceres' golden reign; Headlong impetuous see it pour; The rocks and nodding groves rebellow to the roar." The great excellencies of the sublimest poetry are here united with an ease and elegance, which give to the composition so much the air of an original, that none of Mr. Gray's editors, or commen tators on his works, seem to have suspected an imitation Mr. Mason, who appears to have been sufficiently assiduous in bringing together every sentiment, or expression, from other au thors, bearing resemblance to any part of the writings of his respected friend, has produced no parallel to this exquisitely beautiful passage. Mr. Wakefield has also given us an edition of Mr. Gray's poems, enriched with many valuable and interesting notes: in which he professes "not to be sparing of quotations from the poets," and conceives "no author to be a more proper vehicle for remarks of this sort, at once useful and entertaining, than Mr. Gray:" yet, in all his extensive range through the fields of classic lore, he notices only one or two slight resemblances. Having thus taken the liberty of introducing Mr. Wakefield, I cannot suffer so favorable an opportunity to escape me, without res turning to that candid and discerning critic my warmest thanks, in which I am persuaded I shall be joined by every friend to genius, and lover of the Muses, for his very able and spirited defence of the British Pindar against the illiberal attacks of a prejudiced commen tator; whose puerile strictures on these divine poems certainly cast a shade on his literary character. Even Dr. Johnson himself, willing, as he evidently was, from whatever cause, to degrade the high character which Mr. Gray deservedly held, of an original writer, with uncommon powers of fancy and invention, and, therefore, ever on the watch to detect any latent imitation, has been able to discover no instance of similar composition. Now allow me to submit to your consideration the following lines, which I am inclined to believe you have already in imagination anticipated, from one of the sublimeft odes in Horace: - Quod adest, memento B. III. O. 29. With this stanza before us, will there not arise in the mind something like suspicion, that Mr. Gray, when he wrote the fine lines quoted above, had his eye on Horace? Allow me to mark the principal features of resemblance. We have in each poet a stream, applied by the one to the various forms of poetry, by the other, to the vicissitudes of human affairs, with especial reference to political revolutions. It is conducted by both, first in a course of placid serenity, then in torrents of rapid impetuosity; and marked at the close, by the same striking and impressive consequence. "The rocks and nodding groves rebellow to the roar." Very nearly a verbal translation of the Latin text, "Non sine montium Clamore vicinæque sylvæ." Here is certainly, in these two passages, an extraordinary coincidence of thought and imagery. In addition to which, the varying circumstances, described in both, follow each other exactly in the same order. The attentive reader will, however, discover, under this general similitude, a considerable difference in the mode of composition between the British and the Roman Pindar; enough, perhaps you will think, to remove all appearance of direct imitation. It is most probable that Gray, without recurring to the text of Horace, has only copied from the traces, which a frequent perusal had left upon his memory. This hypothesis will appear more credible, when we analyse the different forms of composition. While the stream of Horace glides quietly into the Etruscan ocean, with no other distinction than that of gentleness; "Cum pace delabentis Etruscum the stream of Gray winds along with a marked character, appro priate to his subject: 66 Deep, "Deep, majestic, smooth, and strong." Mr. Gray gives also peculiar grace and beauty to the piece, by his skilful use of the metaphorical style, blending the simile with the subject, so much in the manner of Pindar; and not making, as Horace has done, a formal comparison of the one with the other.' We admit the ingenuity of these observations: but is there not a passage in Horace still nearer to the "deep, majestic, smooth, and strong," as well as to the general imagery of Gray? We allude to the second ode of the fourth book: "Monte decurrens, velut amnis, imbres Fervet, immensusque ruit profundo There can be little doubt that this fine image was in Gray's recollection, when he composed his ode. Parallelisms of this kind, however, may be pursued to excess. Dr. Farmer has produced a curious instance in his Essay on the Learning of Shakespeare; and another remarkable example occurs to us at this moment. We have an old song, which runs thus; "Tom loves Mary passing well, But Mary she loves Harry; What shall we say of its relation to the following lines of Moschus? Ἤρα Παν ̓Αχᾶς τὰς γείτων, ἔρατο δ' Αχω A coincidence of this nature may be accidental: but if the modern author can be proved to have read the original writer a suspicion of plagiarism is almost unavoidable; although the amorous perplexities, described by Moschus, may have presented themselves to the observation of a rustic poet, in the undignified loves of his native village. The subject of incidental (perhaps unconscious) imitation is pursued in the third letter, which contains some curious examples of this nature. We extract one passage, as a specimen of the author's mode of attack on Dr. Hurd, and for the sake of an hypercriticism which we think it necessary to make. Dr. Hurd |