same, according to Newton, is 4 to 2.99432. Ptolemy's experiments on the refraction, from air into glass, give 3 to 202158; Newton's give 3 to 1.93048. Newton chose rain water: Ptolemy simply tells us, that the water which he employed had always the same density. Newton, again, employed common glass; but the common glass of his time might not be, as to refractive powers, entirely similar to that used by Ptolemy. We can now only venture upon a very few results, which we shall draw from Ptolemy's geography. The longitudes of places, as exhibited in this work, are exceedingly incorrect, in some cases varying between 10° and 20° from the truth. His latitudes are less erroneous: we shall select a few, beginning with Alexandria, to which M. Delambre gives the appellation of "the metropolis of ancient geography." Here we see that the latitudes of Alexandria, Syene, Nice, Gibraltar, Marseilles, and other places at which it is known that the ancients had observatories, were ascertained in the time of Ptolemy, to within a quarter of a degree: the latitudes of other places deviate much farther from the true result. In the time of Ptolemy the most southerly known parallel of the earth passed through the part of Ethiopia distinguished by the name of Agisymba; that parallel being the tropic of CapriWhat was then called the island of Thule, was the northern known extremity: the parallel of Thule was 63° from the equator, or 31500 stadia of 500 to a degree. What is the place in modern geography, to which the ancients gave the name Thule, corn. is not positively decided. Virgil, when depicting the widely-ex- tended power of Augustus, says, -"tibi serviat ultima Thule."* Pomponius Mela, in his treatise de Situ Orbis, gave the name of Orcades to the Orkney Islands; and attempts to mark the position of Thule by the observation "Belgarum littori opposita:" and if, as Camden conjectures, Belgarum was by mistake put for Bergarum, then Zetland, to which Berge or Bergen in Norway lies opposite, will be the Thule to which Pomponius Mela referred. A passage in Tacitus's life of Agricola serves, we think, to establish this conjecture. He describes Agricola as the first person who discovered the Orkneys; and, when speaking of those islands, says, "dispecta est et Thule," "and Thule was seen," which evidently points to one of the Zetland Isles, as the ancient Thule. No other islands than Fair Isle, Foula, or some part of the main land of Zetland near Fitfull Head, or Sumburgh Head, can possibly be seen in a northerly direction from the Orkneys. Now, Sumburgh Head, and even Foula, is in less than 60° of north latitude: and it appears, we understand, from the astronomical observations of Dr. Gregory and Captain Colby during the last summer, that the latitude of the extreme point northerly beyond Lambaness does not exceed 60° 50'. So that, if Saxavord Hill, Ronas Hill, or some other among the majestic hills and cliffs of the north of Zetland, could be seen from Orkney, instead of Fitfull Head, Foula, &c. (which, however, is quite impossible), still Ptolemy's estimate of 63° for the latitude of Thule would err, in excess, more than two degrees. We close our account of M. Delambre's History of Ancient Astronomy, with a feeling of cordial respect for the talents, erudition, and scientific zeal of its author. We have pointed out a few omissions and defects; and we may remark still further, that the author is, in some cases, not sufficiently explicit in distinguishing his own language and opinions from the translated language and doctrines of the ancient astronomers whose works he is analyzing, while, in other cases, he lays himself open to the charge of prolixity. We are, however, aware that prolixity is not measured by the same scale in France as it is in England. In that country there are facilities for the composing, reading, and circulation of books, which among us are, altogether, unknown so that what we should be tempted to regard as prolix, our continental neighbours may consider as only adequately detailed and elucidated. The history before us has solid and substantial merits, that infinitely counterbalance the defects to which *Georg. lib. i. 30. Tacitus in Agricola, § x. + Pomp. Mela, de Situ Orbis, lib. iii. we have adverted: and we sincerely wish its learned author health and activity to carry through the undertaking he has so well begun. We are especially solicitous to see his developement of the history and progress of physical astronomy; because we have always understood that if, with respect to the discoveries of men of different countries in the last two centuries, there be one philosopher in France more likely than another to hold the balance of historical deduction in the hand of impartiality, that philosopher is the Chevalier Delambre. ART. IX.-Rob Roy. By the Author of "Waverley," "Guy Mannering," and "The Antiquary." 3 vols. 12mo. pp. 1008. Longman and Co. London, 1818. ALL who are acquainted with the local history and traditions of Scotland will recollect something of the character of Rob Roy. There were, we believe, two persons of that name; of whom the more modern one, whether related to the other we know not, was hanged at Edinburgh, about the middle of last century, for carrying off, illegally and clandestinely, sundry herds of cattle, and a beautiful heiress. Rob, the hero of this tale, was a noted freebooter in the reign of Queen Anne, and of the first George, and combined, in his actions, a good deal of the romantic daring of our Robin Hood, with the more selfish and vindictive ferocity of an Indian chief, or an Algerine pirate. In the troublous times which preceded and followed the Revolution, the authority of law was greatly relaxed in the northern parts of this island. The system of clanship, or feudal power, was already, in a great measure, broken up, whilst the enforcement of justice, as emanating from the crown, was as yet very little known, and still less respected, among the barbarians of the mountains. In this state of things, Robert M'Gregor Campbell, commonly called Rob Roy, or Robert the Red, exercised, in the districts bordering upon the Highlands, the apparently incompatible functions of a robber and of a protector: that is to say, he engaged, upon the payment of a certain tribute, denominated black mail, to protect the property, and to make up the losses, of every individual who consented thus to purchase his good offices; whilst he regarded the corn and cattle of all others as fair and lawful plunder, to be seized, destroyed, or carried away, as occasion might offer, by the numerous partizans who owned his command. It is even said that Government found it expedient to connive, for a time, at such exactions, and usurpation of authority; thinking it better, perhaps, to permit the existence of one robber, who acted under the semblance of principle, than to have to check the devasta tion of a hundred, who would submit to no terms or conditions. In the little work now before us, however, Rob Roy is not seen figuring as a collector of black mail, nor as a stealer of black cattle, nor as a performer of desperate and bloody exploits against the unprotected agriculturists of Perthshire and Lenox. On the contrary, he is introduced to us as the confidential agent of certain families in the northern parts of England and Scotland, who, at the period in which the action is thrown, were making preparations for the rising which took place in 1715, under the Earls of Mar and Derwentwater, to support the pretensions of the Chevalier de St. George. Rob, in common with the great body of Highlanders, was strongly attached to the cause of the royal exiles; and, accordingly, to promote the views of their principal adherents in Britain, we find him every where present, either to give information to their friends, or to mislead their enemies,―to use, in short, his ears or his tongue, his legs or his dirk, as circumstances might require. In one word, this novel is connected with the insurrection of 1715, in the same way, al+ though not quite so closely, as "Waverley" is with the events of the year 1745. The characters, however, in the two pieces, with some points of resemblance, no doubt, are radically different; for although Diana Vernon, the heroine of this, is as devoted and man-like, as much a Jacobite, and a Tory, as Flora M'Ivor, the heroine of the former, yet the two ladies, in almost every other respect, are totally unlike. The Scottish damsel is, indeed, tranquil and composed, but she appears throughout to labour ander a settled melancholy, and the most painful presentiments; whereas the Northumbrian maid is full of glee and light-heartedness; satirical, disdainful, and regardless of modes and forms; mistress of her own actions, and the censor of all others. The reader, however, will have an opportunity of judging by and by. Imagining that the tale was to turn almost entirely upon Celtic affairs and Highland squabbles, we were not a little surprised to find ourselves, in the very outset, invited to give our opinion on the domestic plans, and counting-house projects, of a merchant in Crane Alley.. Mr. Osbaldistone, of the firm of Osbaldistone and Tresham, who seems to have run mad about merchandise, purely for its own sake, had sent his son to Bourdeaux, to study the mysteries of trade, under an accommodating Frenchman, of the name of Duborg; but finding reason to suspect that, after four years' residence abroad, the young man was not likely to make any progress in the science of buying and selling, he recalls him to England, with the view of reading him a lecture, and of subjecting him to a, formal examination. Accordingly, whilst VOL. XI. NO. XXI. the old gentleman is conducting a scrutiny into his memorandumbook, and cross-questioning him upon the various entries and remarks which are set down in it, lo! out drops a piece of blotted paper; which goes directly to convict Mr. Francis of having attempted poetry, at the very time he ought to have been studying the course of exchange, and the various prices of French produce. We must mention, before we proceed further, that Frank is the teller of his own story, and that the whole, indeed, of this narrative is supposed to flow from his pen, and to be addressed to the son of his father's partner, William Tresham, Esq. -The appearance of the verses, entitled "To the Memory of Edward, the Black Prince," excited very unpleasant feelings in the mind of the old merchant; for being, as his son describes him, a religious man, and of the dissenting persuasion, be considered such pursuits as equally trivial and profane. He read the lines accordingly, sometimes with an affectation of not being able to understand the sense,-sometimes in a mouthing tone of mock heroic,-always with an emphasis of the most bitter irony; and, as the verses and the criticism are possessed of considerable merit, we give them at length. "O for the voice of that wild horn, On Fontarabian echoes borne, The dying hero's call, That told imperial Charlemagne, Had wrought his champion's fall.. "Fontarabian echoes!' continued my father, interrupting himself; 'the Fontarabian Fair would have been more to the purpose.Paynim?-What's Paynim.-Could you not say Pagan as well, and write English, at least, if you must needs write nonsense.' "Sad over earth and ocean sounding, How Britain's hope, and France's fear, "Poitiers, by the way, is always spelled with an s, and I know no reason why orthography should give place to rhyme.' "Raise my faint head, my squires,' he said, That I may see once more The splendour of the setting sun Gleam on thy mirror'd wave, Garonne, And Blaye's empurpled shore.' "Garonne and sun is a bad rhyme. Why, Frank, you do not even understand the beggarly trade you have chosen. 1 |