a Mais ceux, MIXT ILYPOTHESIS. capite, and on the other side mucro. The of this and another passage of a similar length of the blade is about 25 inches, kind, that of the hilt 8: the whole length of the The lines immediately corresponding sword being 33 inches; the greatest with the subject of the enquiry are these, breadth about 2} inches. “ Car ceux qui s'enfuyent peuvent revenir It must be observed however that my sur leur pas ; examination of this precious relic was Ainsi ne sont jamais mis hors de combat. rather cursorily made; for although it was, au contraire, qui demeurent after certain ceremonies, applied to my sur la place, forehead and lips, by the monk who ex- Se privent de tout moyen de venger leur hibited it, any more familiar handling of disgrace,” it might perhaps have given scandal, not ON THE MATERIAL, IMMATERIAL, AND to the worthy guardian, but to a number of peasants wino, bearing the relic was to be produced, hastened to avail themselves “ Il esser apparente ed il Esser Vero.” Sonn, di GRALINI. of the opportunity to have at least a distant view of this object of their respect. I am glad to find the metaphysical subWhen we reflect that the genuine Roman ject revived by W. II. I hope and think gladius, was, according to the best ac- he is the same with Hylaus. Hc bas excounts, the representations on the lais- prest the reasons, which prove the simple toric columns of Trajan and Antoninus in material hypothesis impossible to be true, Rome, to coins and other authentic autho. with great perspicuity and force. But rities, a short double-edged sharp-pointed I would observe that, although simple weapon, in length from 14 to 16 inches, materialism camot possibly be true, the it will be evident that the decapitation of very reasons chat prove it can not, are St. Paul was performed probably by the many of them strong arguments ayainst securis, or axe, or at any rate not by an the inixt hypothesis. That matter, if it ancient Roman sword. exist, is essentially impercipient and inHaving thus hastily viewed some of the capable of sensation as of intellectual most remarkable objects in and about activity, seems to me perfectly clear. Toledo, for to examine the whole with Sentient matter cannot be inert matter, due attention would have required as it must feel. It must think, at least, many weeks as I could spare days, I re think on its feelings, and seek pleasure and turned to Madrid to prepare for the con avoid pain. But voluntary, active, feeltinuation of my tour through La Mancha ing, thinking being, that has its own ends to Valencia, Barcelona, &c. on my return and chuses its means to them, is mind, to France. not matter. (To be continued.) Bod, may and does exist, in the only sense which the phenomena require, or seein to admit, though matter seems to To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine have no existence. For body will then SIR, mean the energies of mind rendered sen“ I've been so oft remembered I am forgot.” sible by certain general permanent phePOR once the author of Hudibras nomena, and acting by fixed laws in this production of new phenomena and efmight adopt the words of the author fects; also general. of the Night Thoughts. And this will prove the clear bounFew passsages have been so often quo- dary between imagination and fact. ted as that of Butler, concerning which Both are phenoinena, both are believed your correspondent enquires. The Greek real, neither has any material existence independently of mind. But fact repreΑναρδο φευγων και παλιν μαχασείαι. sents permanent general phenomena reof which it is a diffusive translation, seems cognised as such by all minds possessing to have been as proverbial in Greece as the requisite faculties, and in circumthis : stances to apply them. The man who fights and runs away The shining of the sun is a fact. With this the existence or non-existence of matMay live to fight another day. tér is indifferent. It is a fact, that the The two others are thus: phenomenon and its consequent sensaFor those that fly may fight again, tion and effects permanently and geneWhich he cannot do that's slain. rally take place. But if I dream of a There is an admirable French transla. sun, if I imagine a sun at midnight when tion quoted by in bis Hudibras no such phenomenon can be sensible to others FOR verse others in this climate, according to the general law of causes and effects, this is an imagination. The one produces a vast variety of general permanent consequences; not so the other. It is not therefore matter, but permanence and generality of effect which distinguish truth and reality from the solitary wanderings of imagination. Mind and its modifications, its active and passive powers, seem to me demonstrably adequate to all phenomena and effects in the intellectual and sensible universe. I seek no more for no more is wanted. I admit no more; for I find that more is useless, repugnant, contradictory, and I hope that W. H. will ultimately agree with me in recognizing the sublime truth, that mind is the sole real existence :a truth understood by Plato; and which my Italian motto beautifully expresses. THE PLANET VENUS. We are now in one of the Novennial periods, calculated by the illustrious fialley, of greatest illumination. Last night Venus far exceeded the brightness of either Jupiter or Juno. And this appearance will continue and increase for several days longer. The absence of twilight at this time of the year long before Venus sets, and the absence of the moon, concur with the position of Venus to produce this beautiful appearance. Your's, &c. Troston, February 5, 1809. CAPEL LOFFT. tion, in the year 1789; particularly stating the number of original nominees in each class, the deaths in each to the present time, and the increase of the dividends respectively in consequence thereof; or rather indeed what is now paid per share: for I apprehend that, if this auxiliary financial aid to the revenue had been conducted agreeably ta the letter of the statute, the adventurers now entitled to dividends therefrom would receive more than they do or have done for some time past. I am fully aware that an investigation into this national measure may be indispensable to a perfectly satisfactory exposition of the subject; but it is not necessary for the purpose I have in view, which is merely to shew, whether there is any considerable ground for supposing mal-administration in a government mea¬ sure which induced so many persons to embark their property in it, from the very flattering prospect held out by the origi nal scheme. Bristol, January 23, 1809. Your's, &c. R. RANKIN. To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine, SIR, S your invaluable Miscellany has, Afor a series of years, given nie much pleasure in its perusal, it will be an additional gratification to contribute the smallest portion of genuine matter to the source of information it contains. Permit me to relate an anecdote of would never have appeared before the one of the brute species, which, perhaps, public, had not the relation of one partly similar, in the present work, revived the circumstance in my memory. Some years ago, having occasion to reside for some time at a farm-house in the country, I was much alarmed, one morning, by the unusual bellowing of a cow under the window of the apartment wherein I was sitting; looking out I perceived her to be one belonging to a herd, which I previously understood were enclosed in a field near a mile distant; alarmed at her appearance I went out in order to take her back, but as soon as I left the house, she ran before me apparently in the greatest concern, frequently looking back to see if I was following; in this manner she continued across several fields till she brought me to the brink of a deep and dangerous morass; where, to my great surprise, I beheld one of her associates nearly enveloped in the swamp underneath. The distressed animal, after much difficulty, was was extricated from its perilous situation to the no small satisfaction of the other which seemed to caress and lick it, as if it had been one of her own offsprings. Every observer of the animal creation, must be aware, what a regular degree of subordination exists among herds of cattle that have been long accustomed to ruminate together; the instinct of the cow, in this respect, is by no means the least predominant. When a farmer makes his first selection, he, of course, has a great variety of the same species, and (if we may presume to judge from analogy) endued with a diversity of dispositions; hence, for some time it is entertaining to behold the many disputed points that arise among the candidates for precedence, before the business can be amicably adjusted; for it is very observable, they always walk in lineal procession, preceded by a chieftain, or leader, which is unanimously acknowledged by the whole herd; the rest follow in or der, according to their contested decisions, each being most tenacious of her allotted station; which did not escape that accurate delineator of nature. Bloomfield, who, in his "Farmer's Boy," makes the following beautiful allusion: "The right of conquest all the law they know: Subordinate, they one by one succeed; And one among them always takes the lead: Is ever foremost, wheresoe'er they stray, Allow'd precedence undisputed sway; With jealous pride her station is maintain'd, For many a broil that post of honour gain'd." But a tacit responsibility seems to devolve their leader, for the care and welfare of the whole, which has been fully exemplified in the preceding anecdote: the concerned cow being the premier of the herd. To account for this wonderful degree of instinct, in this part of the animal species, is beyond my penetration; I leave the subject for matured philosophy to investigate. Your's, &c. Redman's Row, Mile End, J. HOLCROFT. February 6, 1809. For the Monthly Magazine. SKETCHES OF MALTA.-No. I. STRANGER, on his arrival at this A celebrated Island, cannot but be greatly struck with the change of character which its inhabitants have undergone, since the time of the Order. In the early periods of their subjection to the ancient Knights of St. John, they merely supplied the inferior military ranks among the followers of those redoubted champions, or assisted in rowing and naviga ting the gallies which performed the an nual caravance against the Turks. The modern knights, like most of the old worn-out governments of Europe, imitated their predecessors only in a vain ostentation and parade. They performed no prodigies of valour; gained no trophies of conquest; but still, the "pomp and circumstance," of a continual war against the infidels, supplied pretexts for oppressing the industry of the native Maltese, and for precluding them from almost every species of traffic, especially that which might have been beneficially carried on with Barbary and the Levant. Hence the agriculture and commerce of Malta alike languished. At present, the scene is changed; Malta is become one of the greatest depots of merchandize in the whole Mediterranean: and the natives, in the midst of a war peculiarly levelled, against the commercial intercourse of the world, have acquired habits of industry, and developed sources of profit, to which they were formerly total strangers. It is no less curious than amusing, to view the diversities of dress and appearance among the motley crowd which business daily assembles on the Marina, or shore of the harbour of Valetta. Besides the English soldiers, sailors, and merchants, (many of whom have their warehouses placed there), one sees Barbaresque traders wrapped in their long shawls, and adorned with waistcoats of most splendid embroidery, with white or green turbans, black bushy beards, yellow gipsy-like countenances, and dark sparkling eyes. They generally sit with pipes, a yard long, in their mouths, or walk up and down very leisurely, while they negociate matters of business. Their settled gravity is contrasted with the noise of the Maltese boatmen and porters, who are a lively set of people, having much more of the Italian than of the African character, although some of them evidently appear to be of the latter origin. These men wear the peculiar dress of the lower classes of Maltese, a berrettu, or cap, red or black, a checked shirt, commonly tucked up to the elbows, a coarse cotton waistcoat and trowsers, generally ornamented with a set of globular silver buttons, a girdle of various colours bound round the loins; their feet are either bare, or protected by a rude kind of sandals; and to protect them from rough weather, they wear in the colder season a grego, Haute-Marne, has been long celebrated as the vineyard of France. There are two kinds of wines which distinguish this district. White wines called Riviere de Marne wines. Red wines: called Montagne de Rheims wines. The white wines are produced from vineyards situated in the valleys and upon the sides of the hills in Epernay, Dizy, Avenay, Cramant, Lemesnil, Monthelon, Chouilly, Moussy, &c. but in consequence of one of those varieties of nature, for which we cannot always account, the estate of Cumieres, in the midst of so many vineyards celebrated for white wines, and under the same exposure, produces red wines only, and of a quality far superior to the above wines. Among all the vineyards on the river Marne, the cantons of Hautvillers, Mareuil, Cumieres, and Epernay, are the most advantageously situated: they extend along the river Marne, with this distinction, that the quality of the wine falls off in proportion as the vineyard is distant from the river: for this reason Hautvillers and Ay have always enjoyed a preference over Epernay and Pierry; and the latter over Cramant, Lemesnil, &c. and these last over Monthelon, Moussy, &c. South exposures produce upon the banks of the Marne excellent white wines, but their declivities and posterior parts, which are called the mountains of Rheims, although situated in general towards the north, and almost always to the east, also yield red wines of a good quality, and of a fine taste and aromatic flavour. The slope which overhangs Rheims is divided according to the quality of its wines; hence we have wines of tlie mountain, of the lower mountain, and of the estate St. Thierry. The mountain comprehends Verzy, St. Basle, Verznay, Mailly, Taissy, Ludes, Chigny, Rilly, and Villers-Allerand; and among these vineyards, the most esteemed are Verzy, Verznay, and Mailly. The rest, although very good, are of a different quality. The vineyard of Bouzy, which terminates the chain or the horizon between south and east, and which, therefore, belongs to the two divisions, ought not to be omitted. It produces excellent, fine, and delicate red wines, which, from its exposure, participate in the good qualities of Verznay and the good red wines of La Marne. The lower mountain comprehends a great quantity of vineyard countries; among which we may distinguish Chamery, Ecueil, and Ville Demange: this last place in particular, when the season is good, yields wine which will keep for ten or twelve years. The lower mountain extends to the banks of the river Aisne. As the wines it produces are of a middling quality, it scarcely requires to be particularized. The district of Saint Thierry, comprehends a large extent of grounds, containing large vineyards, such as Saint Thierry, Trigny, Chenay, Villefranquex, Douillon, Hermonville, which produce very agreeable red wines of a pale colour, very much in request among the dealers. But the wine properly called Clos Saint Thierry, and coming from the archbishopric of Rheims, is the only wine which unites the rich colour and flavour of Burgundy to the sparkling lightness of Champagne. Clos Saint Thierry, holds the same rank among Champagne wines, that' Clos-vougeot does among those of Burgundy. In the enumeration of the vineyards of the mountain, some readers may perhaps expect to find Sillery mentioned, once so remarkable for red and white wines: the truth is, that Sillery wine is in a great measure composed of the wines produced in the territories of Verznay, Mailly, and Saint Basle, once made, by a particular process, by the marechale d'Estrées, and for this reason long known by the name of Vins de la Marechale. At the revolution this estate was divided, and sold to different rich proprietors of Rheims: the senator of Valencia, however, the heir to a great part of this vineyard, neglects no means of restoring Sillery to its former reputation. Series of Questions put by M. Chaptal, with their Answers. I. Which is the most advantageous Exposure for the Vine? The most advantageous exposure for the vine is, without contradiction, the south and the east; but it has been ascertained that certain advantages of soil and the nature of the plant must also concur: otherwise various districts, such as Damery, Vanteuil, Reuil, &c. with the same exposure and climate, and also watered by the Marne, would enjoy the same celebrity as Cumieres, Hautvillers, and Ay. It must be confessed that the former districts produce inferior kinds of wine; but |