though Death hath wrapped thee, Louisa, in the dark confines of the tomb, fond Memory shall preserve thy beauties unwithered in the mind, whilst Fancy shall oft pourtray thee sitting in thy father's cottage ere the cankering thorn of misery pierced the rosebud of thy bliss. Ah! happy were the days which then circled around thee, and smoothly glided thy little bark down the current of domestic peace. Sweet be thy pallet of rest, Louisa! and as I sorrowfully bid thee adicu, Reflection compels me to add, that through one weak act of indiscretion, thou didst mar every future happiness which fortitude in strictly virtuous conduct might have gained. Learn then, ye inconsiderate fair-ones, to withstand the offerings of temptation, nor efface the simple snow-drop of Chastity on your bosoms, for all the pleasure-decked allurements Vice deceitfully may bestow. MISCELLANEOUS ANECDOTES and W REMARKS. ARTON is said to have lost his election to the headship of Trinity College, Oxford, in a very singular way. As one of the fellows of that society, by no means remarkable for an uncommon share of wisdom, was reading prayers, he came to that verse in the Psalms, "Lord, thou knowest my simpleness."-"Why," said Warton, "that is known to every body."-When the headship was vacant, Warton asked his friend for his vote, which happened to be the casting one. -" No, no," repiled he, "I am not so simple as that;" and Warton lost his election. Such is the curse of wit! Χ. It was an observation of Lowth, in his English Grammar, that the Greek article ο η-το was used in the same sense in which we apply the. This he has illustrated by several quotations from the New Testament. I will add another to the list, to prove more strongly what I am about to say. In the Lord's Prayer, our translation runs, "but deliver us from evil;" the Greek original is, σε άλλα ρύσαι ημας απο το ποynga." Here the article occurs: I would therefore translate it, " but free us from the evil one." Since I made the remark, I have seen this passage translated into Latin thus, "sed libera nos ab illo malo;" which is exactly what I mean. The words, “ Ο υιος το ανθρωπε," are in our common version translated "the son of man." To prove clearly whether it ought not to be "the son of the man," viz. Joseph, we must recur to the Hebrew; a language which, beyond any other, is precise and exact in its articles. Having little knowledge of it myself, I should be much obliged to any of your ingenious correspondents who is conversant in that language to satisfy my doubts on this subject. I think the expression occurs in some of the minor Prophets, or else in Daniel. A son of God has been generally supposed to mean an angel; but this expression cannot be opposed to that which I am speaking of. One more query, and I have done. Can any correspondent give me an account of the life and writings of that clegant poet, Merrick? As to his life, I only know from the title-page of his edition of Tryphiodorus that he was a scholar of Trinity College, Oxford. As to his writings, his Psalms are the work best known to the public. Many of his lighter pieces are scattered through Dodsley's Collection; and I am in doubt whether they were ever collected into a volume. In 1789, when A.B. he published at Oxford a translation of Tryphiodorus, with the original text and copious notes. The author himself possesses no great beauty of style or thought; but the translation has considerable merit, and is, I think, very much in the style of Pope, whom he appears to have imitated, as the original was written by way of continuation to the Iliad. The criticisms on the original text, considering the age which he most probably was at the time of his publishing this work, are uncommonly good. The number of subscribers is remarkably great, and many of them persons of the highest distinction. AD POSTHUMUM EPIGRAMMA. W. Sponze lacinias, uniones, serica vendis- cuivis Vendita quæ toties-semper emenda maJ. net. ON BLEACHING. To the Editor of the European Magazine. I SIR, N the forty-seventh volume of the European Magazine, page 119, 1 saw a New Method of Bleaching by Vapour, and observed it to be from a French work. If this method had been as useful as it represents, it would have universally been made use of, for it is now more than two years since it was first published in your Magazine; whereas I have never yet heard of it be ing made use of anywhere. The French are such great boasters in every thing, that we must receive what they say with the greatest caution. It is there said, that the operation will be terminated in two or three days, and will give the cloth a consummate whiteness: now every bleacher knows that it must take a much longer time for the ashes to act upon it, to wash it, and to dry it, necessary things in every sort of bleaching, which cannot be done in two or three days. Though carbonate of soda be used in washing and other domestic purposes, I think it is too mild for bleaching. I hope you will not take it amiss in thus animadverting on a publication in your very respectable Magazine; but as it may be a sort of caution to bleachers not to bleach linen boldly by newly discovered methods without knowing their nature, your inserting it will oblige, Sir, Your obedient servant, Wellgate, Dundee, July 6, 1807. THE LONDON REVIEW, AND LITERARY JOURNAL, QUID SIT PULCHRUM, QUID TURPE, QUID UTILE, QUID NON. Memoirs of the Life and Writings of the Honourable Henry Home, of Kames, one of the Senators of the College of Justice, and one of the Lords Commissioners of Justiciary in Scotland: Containing Sketches of the Progress of Literature and general Improvement in Scotland during the greater Part of the Eighteenth Century. Two volumes, quarto, 1807. T is with great pleasure, and yet, we will confess, a little mortification, that we have contemplated these volumes. Our pleasure arises from the interest which their contents are so well calculated to excite; and our mortification from a passion which, we fear, never totally subsides in the human mind, we mean, envy that our northern brethren should, after the second revival of literature in Scotland, so pre-eminently have taken the lead of us in many branches of science. Of those effusions it is unnecessary to quote specimens, because the work before us exhibits, in the progress of the life it includes, many instances and examples of the truth of our proposition. For biographical works, particularly those which, while they give abstract sketches of men and manners, briefly characterise the times, and, therefore, are properly termed MEMOIRS, we have frequently declared our predilection, because, while we have found amusement in their pages, we have as frequently derived improvement, and have consequently been convinced of their utility. To compare the past with the present times, to observe the passions and propensities that have operated in different ages, and, from the philosophy of mankind, to extract a moral lesson, is one of the noblest researches that can engage the mental faculties. In this pursuit our Scottish brethren bave been so successful, that, while they have treated those subjects which came before them with candour and liberality, they have left little to be said upon them by the authors who shall suc ceed. While we mention candour and libe-. rality as virtues concomitant to our northern philosophers and historians, we must make some deductions from our general partiality for Scottish writers, in reprehension of a set of young gentlemen, who, in defiance of all anthority, classical or judicial, have had the temerity to call themselves CRITICS, and, under the sauction of that respectable appellation, to act in the same manner as a JURY, determined, against evidence, to find every culprit who has the misfortune to come before them guilty. Upon these, which appear to us as specks on the fair face of literature in Scotland, we shall at present make no other observation, than that experience will in this case prove the best cosmetic, and in a short period clear those moles from that countenance upon which they have lately been too appa rent. To return, therefore, to a more pleasing task, as it appears that Lord WoonHOUSELEE, the editor of this work, had the same opinion of the subject of it that we have more generally, though more faintly, endeavoured to inculeate, we shall, in the first instance, quote a short extract from his well-written preface. "As the history of the eminent person whose life is the subject of the following work is intimately connected with every species of improvement, whether of an intellectual or a political nature, that took place in Scotland during his age, the task incumbent on his biographer will at once appear to be much more comprelíensive in its plan, and various in its objects, than that which ordinarily belongs to this specios of writing. To fulfil his duty in its amplest form and measure, the author ought not only to delineate the life of an individual lawyer, philosopher, pohtical economist, and critic, but to exhibit the moral and political character of the taves in which the lived, and to detail the progress of literature, arts, munners, and general improvement of SCOTLAND, during the greater part of the eighteenth century." HENRY HOME" (we learn in the first chapter), "the son of George Home, of Kames, in the county of Berwick, North Britain, was born at Kames, in the year 1696. He was descended from an ancient and honourable family, being on his father's side great grandson of Sir John Home, of Renton, whose ancestor was a cadet of the faudy of the Farls of Home, and who held the office of lord justice clerk in the reign of King Charles II. His mother was a daughter of Mr. Walamshaw, of Barrowfield, and grandaughter of Mr. Robert Ballie, principal of the university of Glasgow, the author of a learned work on history and chronology, and of a very curious journal of his own times, in a series of letters from 1637 to 1662." It appears that his father resided upon his paternal lands, and discharged the duties of an active magistrate. "He was educated at home, under a private tutor of the name of Wingate, of whose capacity for insusing knowledge he was never heard to say much in commendation; but an anecdote which he delighted to relate shews that he retained a lasting remembrance of lus severity. Wingate had by industry and parsimony made a little money, which he eployed in making a small purchase of land; and being anxious to guard against any detects or insuficiency in the title deeds, he repaired with them to his former pupil, who was at that time in the height of his reputation as a lawyer. Mr. Home, after examining the parchments, and turning them over and over again, addressed himself to Wingate with great anxiety of countenance," (saying), "Pray, Sir, is your bargam finally concluded?"-" Not only so," said Wingate, " but the price is paid."-" Good heavens!" said Mr. Home, "how unlucky is this!" And here, with infinite ingenuity, he began to point out numberless flaws which would lead to endless litigauon; till perceiving the sweat distilling in large drops from the brows of the pedagogue, "Mr. Wingate," said he, " you may remember how you made me smart in days of yore for very small offences: now I think our accounts are cleared. Take up your parchments, and go home with an easy mind: your titles are excellent." Lord W. observes, that the instruction which young Home received from Wingate was probably only elementary; for when he had chosen a profession connested with literature, he found it ne cessary to apply himself with great assi duity to the study of the Latin and Greek languages; in the former of which he arrived, at least, to as much proficiency as is commonly attained by those who, with complete classical education, are not justly entitled to the rank of profound scholars. Classical learning, which had, at the beginning of the eighteenth century, reached its acme in England, is represented as but little cultivated in Scotland; which, says the editor, "Is to be accounted for chiefly from the political circumstances of the country. The gloomy and fanatical spirit which arose in the reign of Charles I. was hostile to every elegaut accomplishment. The seminaries of learning were filted by the champions of the Solemn League and Covenant, who were at much more pains to instil into" (the minds of) "their pupils the antimonarchical principles of Kuox, Buchanan, and Melvil, and to inculcate the independence of the kingdom of Saints on all earthly potentates and powers, than to point their attention to the energetic eloquence of Cicero and Demosthenes, the simple majesty of Livy, the ease and amenity of Xenophon, the playful wit and naïvetée of Horace, or the chastened elegance of Virgil." He then states, that the spirit of the times was, if possible, more fanatical in the reign of Charles II. than in that of his father. The spirit of commerce which has arisen from the union of the two kingdoms, however generally advantageous, Lord W. observes to have been, by opening new and shorter paths to wealth and distinction, inimical tothe spread of classical learning; though we think in this idea he is not quite correct, as literature and commerce have generally gone hand in hand; of which we could quote abundance of instances, were we not compelled to pursue the subject more immediately before us. The first professional views of Mr. Home were circumscribed to the narrow limits of a writer or solicitor before the supreme court. He was consequently, in 1712, bound by indenture to attend the office or chambers of a writer to the signet in Edinburgh. "There is a tide in the affairs of men;" for it appears, while in this situation, from a trifling incident his mind received a bias to an ampler field of occupation. "One winter evening, his master sent him with some papers to the house of Sir Hew Dalrymple, then president of the court of session, who lived in a sort of suburban villa at the end of Bristo-street. He was shown into the parlour, a very elegant apartment, Europ. Mag. Vol. LII. July 1807. where a daughter of the president, a very beautiful young lady, was performing a piece of music on the harpsichord, while the venerable judge sat by her with his book on the table. The music was suspended, and a short conversation ensued on the business to which the papers related; in which the young man acquitted himself so much to the president's satisfaction, as to draw from him a handsome compliment on his knowledge and proficiency in the law. The conversation then turned on general topics, and was prolonged with much pleasure; while the young lady made tea, and afterwards, at her father's desire, played and sung some Scotch airs on the harpsichord The youth was struck with every particular of the scene in which he had borne a part: and his ardent mind, as he was wont himself to relate, caught fire from the impression. Happy the man,' said he to himself, whose old age, crowned with honour and dignity, can thus repose itselt, after the useful labours of the day, in the boson of his family, amidst all those elegant enjoyments that affluence justly earned can command! Such are the fruits of eminence in the protession of the law. From that moment Mr. Home determined to abandon the more limited occupation of a writer, and qualify himself for the function of an advocate before the supreme courts, to which the employment of the past years formed a very useful preparation." Passing over the ardour of his mental exertions, the observations upon the want of a regular institution at that period for the study of the Roman and the municipal law of Scotland; the importance of general erudition to the profession, respecting which Lord W. states, that "the professional occupations of the best employed lawyer or the most distinguished judge cannot fill up every interval of his time;" therefore" the pursuits of science and literature afford an unbounded field and endless variety of delightful occupation:" at the conclusion of this passage he observes, "How melancholy was the reflection ut. tered on his death-bed by one of the ablest lawyers and judges of the last age, but whose mental stores were wholly limited to the ideas of his profession, "My life has been a chaos of nothing i" We must here hint to Lord W. that it is impossible for a man to be an able lawyer whose mental stores are wholly limited to his profession; classical learning and scientific erudition are as necessary at the bar, or on the bench, as in the pulpit, the senate, or any where else: for example, we have frequently G heard many of the more solemn, and some of the lighter classics, quoted with great propriety and effect in Westminster-hall; our own historians, moralists, and poets, very frequently: and with respect to technical knowledge, knowl every day's experience in our courts shews its use. As an instance: When Mr. Erskine was once pleading a cause in which the gold and silver wiredrawers were most materially concerned, he surprised the court and the trade so much by his eloquence, and the knowledge he displayed of the operations of the draw-bench, that one of the masters afterwards said to the writer of this article, "I declare I was never so astonished at a man in my life; if I had not known the contrary, I should have sworn that Counsellor Erskine had served an apprenticeship of seven years to a gold and silver wire-drawer!" It appears that Mr. Home, whose studies before be put on the gown took a metaphysical turn, corresponded with ANDREW BAXTER and Dr. SAMUEL CLARKE; which probably was the reason that he was accused of scepticism; a charge against which the learned biographer very ingeniously defends, and from which, in our opinions, he fully exculpates him, though at the hazard of rather classing him among the dogmatists than the sceptics. Mr. Home was called to the bar in January, 1723-4; and in the second chapter, Lord W. introduces an account of the state of the Scottish bench and bar at that period. The judges wereSir Hew Dalrymple, the president of the court of session; Sir John Lauder, of Fountain-hall; and Sir Walter Pringle, of New-hall. a folio volume of the Remarkable Decisions of the Court of Session from 1716 down to that period; a work which is said to have been executed with great judgment, and to contain a very correct statement of each cause on its proper merits. We cannot follow the author in his delineation of the manner of pleading of Mr. Home, of which the principal features seem to have been discrimination and penetration, which he with uncommon ingenuity and proportionate success, applied, in a few remarkable cases, to overruling opinions that, sanctioned by the most eminent of the old writers on the law, had till then been prevalent. This success gained him a great accession of reputation, and, by a rapid progress, elevated him to the first eminence as an advocate. In every period of his life, it appears (chapter iii.) that Mr. Home was fond of social intercourse, and that, with all his ardour of study and variety of lite. rary and professional occupation, a considerable portion of his time was devoted to the enjoyments of society in a numerous and respectable circle of acquaintance; among whom, Colonel Forrester, Lord Binning, who wrote some of the most tender and elegant of the Scottish songs, and Hamilton of Bangour, whose poetical merits have deservedly assigned him a place among the British classics, and the Club of Wits who frequented Balfour's coffee-house (the miniature of Will's or Button's) were his most favourite companions. "Among the early friends of Mr. Home, were some men, whose talents, of a superior order and graver cast, fitted them to discharge with honour the most important duties in the state, or have ranked them high in the annals of literature." These were, the late Earl of Findlater, then Lord Deskfoord, the late Mr. Oswald, of Dunikier, from whose letters on subjects connected with the politics of those times several extracts appear; among these the characters of Murray (Lord Mansfield) and Pitt (the late Earl of Chatham), as displayed in consequence of the debate on the expedience of taking 16,000 Hanoverians into British pay, strongly attracted our attention. "This question has been agitated in three different debates. On the first day, MURRAY was introduced to support the court, which he did in a set speech extremely |