1814.] Origin of the American terms Yankee and Caucus. others, which Philostratus affirms to have been very instrumental towards rendering the sleeper's mind clear and unclouded. Part of these preparatives consisted in one day's abstinence from cating, and three, nay, even, in some cases, fifteen day's abstinence from wine, the commnon beverage of the Greeks. This was the practice, also, with other oracles; nor were the priests, in the mean time, insensible to their own interests on these occasions; for those, who were cured by Amphiaraus's revelations were permitted to bathe in the sacred waters of a fountain within his temple, into which they were enjoined to cast pieces of gold and silver, which were destined, most probably, to sweeten the labour of his officiants. 213 In Italy there existed two oracles, whose responses were imparted in dreams, before the worship of Esculapius was introduced from Greece. One of them only belongs to this place, that of the physician Podalirus, in Daunia, which is mentioned by Lycophron. Subsequently, it is well known, incubation was practised after the Grecian form in the Roman temple of Esculapius on the Insula Tiberina.† The oracles, whose intervention was principally or altogether sought for the healing of the sick by means of divinatory dreams, were scattered over Greece, Egypt, Italy, and other countries. As to those of Egypt, it may be remarked, tuat although many of the Egyptians belived there were thirty-s. demons, or aerial deities, each of whom had the care of a certato portion of the human frame, and when that portion was diseased, would heal it on the patient's earnest prayer; yet a variety of their oracles, such as those of Serapis, Isis, and Pathas, the Hephaestos of the Greeks, appertained to the class, which is the present object of our inquiry. The oracle of Serapis was situated near Canopus; it was visited with the highest veneration by the wealthiest and most illustrious Egyptians, and contained ample records of miraculous cures which that god had performed on sleepers. It is said Isis effected similar cures in her le-time, whence it became her office, in her after-state of de fication, to reveal in dreams the most efficacious remedies to the sick. Indeed, the healing powers of this goddess were such, that, as we are told by Diodorus, the remedies she prescribed never failed of their effect, and that convalescents were daily seen returning from her temple, many of whom had been abandoned as incurable by the physicians. The third oracle of the sick was consecrated to Phthas, and lay near Memphis; but it is seldom mentioned by the ancients.§ * De Vita Apoll. Thyan. ii. 37. ↑ Strabo, Lib. xvi. p. 801. Exped. Alex. vii. 6. In Egypt. Lib. I. 25. Arrian. 6 Galen de Comp. Med, p. Gen. v. 2. (To be concluded in our next.) ORIGIN of the AMERICAN TERMS YANKEE To the Editor of the New Monthly Magazine. AS the word caucus and its deriva- Per The current American term Yankee was a cant, or favourite word with farmer Jonathan Hastings, of Cam bridge, about 1713. The inventor used it to express excellency. A "Yankee good horse," or "Yankee cyder," and the like, meant an excellent horse and excellent cyder. The students of the college were accustomed to hire horses of him; their intercourse with him, and his use of the term upon all occasions, led them to adopt it, and they gave him the name of Yankee Jonathan. He was a worthy honest man, but no conjuror. This could not escape the notice of the collegians. Yankee probably became a by-word among them to express a weak, simple, awkward person; was carried from the college with them when they left it, and thus circulated and established through the country (as was the case in respect to Hobson's choice,§ by the students at Cambridge, in Old England,) till from its currency in New England it was at length taken up, and unjustly applied to the New Englanders in common, as a term of reproach. I am, &c. London, Aug. 18. Alexand. 1050. THEOGNIS. May not the characteristic name of Jonathan applied to the people of the United States owe its origin to the same person?— EDITOR. § See the Spectator, No. 509. 214 Description of the Nycteribia of the Bat. For the New Monthly Magazine. IT was in the summer of the year 1804 that I first observed these most remarkable of all insects. I was engaged in a series of experiments respecting the flight of bats, and had by me six or eight individuals of the common and longeared species (cespertilio murinus, and auritus of Linnaeus) when, amongst the fur of one of the latter, I remarked a great number of small brownish insects, which, for a moment, I mistook for fleas. Their activity greatly surprised me, and was such as rendered it by no means an easy task to catch and secure them for examination by the microscope. But iny astonishment was indeed great when on a minute inspection with high magnifying powers, I found them not only perfectly distinct from fleas, but a species of insects which either carried their mouth on their back, or else appeared to run about with their belly upward. It was not until I had examined them for some time, and with great attention, that I could satisfy my self respecting this particular. ap Their legs are six in number, of considerable length in proportion to the size of the animals; and, contrary to the or der of all other known insects, issue from the upper instead of the under part of the thorax. It is this circumstance which gives to the creatures the pearance of running wrong side upward. The mouth, or rather proboscis, for it is of a somewhat tubular form, is situated erect on the upper part of the thorax. The insects, in feeding, must consequently turn upon their back, in order to bring this in contact with the skin of the bat, on the blood of which they are supposed to subsist. strange and contradictory to experience," observes Colonel Montagu, in the tenth So volume of the Linnean Transactions" is the form of this insect, that were it not for the structure of the legs, no one could doubt that the upper was actually the under part of the body: the joints of the legs, however, demonstrate other wise and the living animal, examined in [Oct. 1, motion, puts it beyond all doubt." The thigh and tibia are remarkably thick and strong; and each foot is terminated by two sharp, long, and hooked claws, which enable the creatures to lay hold, with great facility, upon the hairs of the bat, and to retain their situation amongst the fur without danger, during the vacil lating flight of that quadruped through the air. It is further remarkable of the Nycteribia, that it is destitute of head, antennæ and eyes. The length of its body is not quite the tenth part of an inch, and the legs are nearly double this length. Its colour is a light, reddish brown; and the posterior extremity of its body is furnished with bristles. As these insects are of much too large size to run about amongst the fur of the bat without being seen, they are easily discovered by even the most inexpe rienced naturalist, alternately appearing above the extremity of the hairs, and plunging down amongst the roots. In thus moving about from one part of the animal, whose body supplies them with food, to another, their agility is extremely wonderful, particularly when we con sider the firm hold which they must take with their claws in order to push their way through a fur so close as that of the bat is known to be. When placed upon a plane surface their motions are no less singular. They line like other insects, but usually run do not proceed onward in any direct round and round in small circles. Colonel Montagu says of them that, when two or three of them are put into a small phial, their agility appeared in conceivably great; for as their feet are incapable of fixing on so smooth a body, their whole exertion was employed in laying hold of each other, and in this most curious struggle they appeared to be actually flying in circles; and when the bottle was reclined they would fre quently pass from one end to the other with astonishing velocity, accompanied by the same gyrations. If by accident they escaped each other they very soon quickly were became motionless: and as the whole put into motion again by the least touch of the bottle, or the move ment of an individual. In this situation they would survive two or three days. Colonel Montagu describes these insects as having been seen by him only on the two species of horse-shoe bats (ver pertilio ferrum equinum, and minutus;) but since the preceding observations 1814.] Particulars relative to the Southcotites. were made, I have found them among the fur, not only of the long-eared, but of the common species. S. X. 215 thought the quoted words alluded. I confessed my ignorance of Biblical cri ticism; but added, it was my opinion that the prophecy in question had been PARTICULARS not generally known rela- fulfilled, as the head-line of the chapter tive to the soUTHCOTITES. “Priests seant of goodness, but replete with To the Editor of the New Monthly Magazine. HAVING just received great satis faction from the perusal of the paper in your last number, signed CURSITOR, I have come to the resolution of requesting you to insert in your valuable colamns, for the benefit of posterity, (who, be it remembered, will naturally seek information of remarkable occurrences from contemporary journals,) some opinions, &c. incidental to those fanatics of the nineteenth century, called Southcotites; and, before I record them, let me solemnly affirm, that they are capable of enduring the most rigid ordeal of truth. Let me also confess, to my shame, that, to gain my intelligence, I had recourse to Janus for one of his faces; or, to be serious, I professed myself half a convert, about six months after a respectable friend of mine had incessantly sounded the alarm-bell for my spiritual interests, and after I had attended a course of sermons by the Rev. William Tozer, the second in this sodality of sin and superstition. The first thing I regard as worthy of exposure is this, that it was universally believed within the pale, that Buonaparte would invade England, but they had the sagacity to add, that "it would be at a time when the country universally believed in the authenticity of Joanna's visitation; and that, like Senacherib* of old, he would then experience his owa weakness." This, in my opinion, supersedes the necessity of comment; for Buonaparte is just as likely now to invade the country, as the country is to embrace the Southcott faith. A second circumstance, which, in my opinion, ought to be generally known, concerning them, is the following. The before-mentioned friend" one day asked ne seriously and solemnly if I had ever reflected on the judgments denounced on the profane wicked prince of Israel mentioned in the second chapter of Ezekiel's prophecy, and, if I had, to whom I See Chronicles, xxiii. 6 specified it to be prophecy against Je rusalem.' My friend with the utmost gravity replied: It may probably have been fulfilled in the opinion of some, but it is a general opinion of the believ ers that it alludes to the Prince Regent, and that the word overturn being mentioned three times in a following verse, intended the overthrow of three governments, namely, that of the Devil in the world, or the destruction of all wickedness, that of Buonaparte in France, and that of the Prince Regent in England!!!” This quotation is from a memorandum taken at the time. It serves to show the piecemeal manner in which they use the Scriptures, and the absurd human dogmas they shackle them with. Many may doubt the veracity of the above; but, in the witness of an omnipresent Deity, I declare it to be a fact as to what it relates. Another circumstance worthy of rela tion, but which is more generally known, is the intercourse which subsisted be tween these pseudo-prophets and the fasting impostor, Ann Moore; and hear it, ob posterity! and blush for your ancestors, the detection of that blas phemous woman did not open their eyes to truth! The Deity has, it seems, con versed with Joanna on the subject of Ann Moore, and told her that she was in reality a genuine phenomenon, intended as a type of a direful famine which would take place in France when England had universally embraced her faith!!! And Mrs. Joanna, it appears, had a vision, in which she met Mrs. Ann by the side of a castle-wall; and one of her credulous people some time afterwards calling to see the Tutbury impos tor, came home and declared that her house was situated near such a castlewall as that described by the "spiritual mother," and that her appearance was exactly as described by Joanna, although she had never seen her, except in the before-mentioned vision. This is a stub born fact, which no one can deny, because allusions are made to it in some of her nonsensical writings, though not to the extent here specified; for be it observed, no prophecy of importance was ever committed to writing by her, but propagated privately among her followers; so that, in case of its failure in toto, her accusers might receive for an 216 The Edinburgh Review and Mr. Svinine. swer, "it was only an opinion incidental to certain of the believers." And now, Sir, I dare say, from my rambling method of narration, you are quite weary of the subject; yet I think that ought not to operate against the recording of those facts-those incontrovertible facts: they will be beneficial to posterity in a two-fold point of view; first, to caution them against similar impostors in religion; and secondly, to convince them and us that superstition is incidental to human nature; that it is coeval with, and in all probability will only cease to exist with it. JACQUES WREDA. "How are the mighty fallen!" "If there be any one among us who continues to admire the Edinburgh reviewers with unabated ardour, or who doubts the charges and complaints repeat edly brought against them; if there be any such, let him attentively peruse the number containing a review of Paul Svinine's Memoirs of General Moreau; where will be found abundance of proofs of that unfairness and malignant littleTess to which no other reviewers, with any pretensions to character, could or ever ought to descend. From what we have heard of Mr. Svinine's attainments we indulged no high expectations of his producing any thing remarkable for its excellence; but we confess that his little work rises in comparison with the Review, which is much beneath it. The reviewers do not criticise his style, or the general conduct of the work, but with decorum peculiar to themselves, they give him the lie, and contradict his facts, not by other facts, but merely upon their own ingenious surmises. For example, Mr. Svinine states that Moreau said once, he would not change his lot with that of his persecutor; and the reviewer imme. diately suggests that Moreau might have said only, that he would not change places with Bonaparte; and upon this sugges [Oct. 1, tion of his own be concludes, or leaves the reader to infer that Svinine told a lie! "This is the new-fangled logic of the Edinburgh junta, and we should like to see how it can be proved by their patent logic that both expressions are not the same in substance, and that Moreau could not have used one as well as the other. But this question of fact we leave to Svinine himself to decide, as it rests on his exclusive authority; while we take notice of another remark, which shews plainly the true spirit of the Edinburgh reviewers. "Svinine states that Moreau and Bernadotte, on their first meeting ia Sweden, were closetted together, and concerting a plan for the general happiness of mankind; which is merely saying that they conversed together upon the politi cal prospects of the civilized world, just as any two individuals would converse here, discussing the probable means of liberating Europe. The reviewers, with their usual candour, fasten on this expression, wilfully misquote it, and attri bute to Svinine the declaration that "Bernadotte and Moreau, during this interview, planned the whole German campaign," thus assuming for a fact the only thing which was not stated at all, and denying every thing else that was given as a positive fact. We are really astonished at this unparalleled impu dence, which ought in justice to transfer the charge of falsehood from the author to the reviewers. "Had Mr. Svinine dared in reality to assert that Bernadotte and Moreau planned the campaign at the the mentioned, we should have no hesitation in ques tioning his veracity, upon much better ground than the reviewers question it as to other statements. We might ask, then, when was this plan presented to the Allies, without whose acceptance it would remain just like the plan of any other person who reads and talks of the news of the day? We might also con tend that the plan of a campaign is the actual conduct of that campaign, chang ing with every movement of the enemy, which conduct Moreau did not live long enough to direct, and Bernadotte was too distant to take his place. We might say that the commanders of the Bohe mian army, whoever they were, did in reality issue orders to Blucher and Ber nadotte, thus commanding the whole. We might also allade to the ridiculous and now-exploded opinion that Lon Wellington planned the Russian campaign; the credit of which was again 1814.] On an Error in the English Version of the Psalms. transferred to Moreau, in this country; though it is evident, from Svinine's account, (which, if believed in part, must be believed in toto,) that this general had first obtained satisfactory information concerning that campaign from Alexander himself. But we will not dwell upon what must be evident to every body, and will conclude with observing, that the sole motive of the Edinburgh Reviewers in that course, which has debased themselves more than the author, was-his being a Russian. "We take the liberty of subjoining here the fanciful but just portrait of the Edinburgh Reviewers, drawn by the author of the "Resources of Russia," in his reply to them. He speaks of them as a "non-descript monster, a compound animal, whose nature and real existence can only be understood by giving it the serpent's tongue, the wolf's tooth, the fox's tail, the monkey's limbs, the syren's face, the crocodile's eyes, the raven's voice, the tiger's claws, the cameleon's colours, the fugitive body of Proteus, and to all these a perpetual motion. This amphibious animal, though it lives and moves in every element, has its most favourite haunt on the sea of politics, between the Scylla of usurping and undividing despotisin and the Charybdis of lawless many-headed democracy, where crossing from the one to the other, and alternately embracing each, it intercepts all such as heedlessly float on the midway tide, and by chance might have escaped the two extremes so dangerous and fatal." On a SUPPOSED ERROR in the ENGLISH 217 ginal Hebrew, by the most learned men YOUR correspondent mans desires some explanation of the translation of part of the 28th verse of the 105th Psalm," and they were not obedient unto his word," which he justly observes appears in the Hebrew to, signify quite the reverse, viz. 172 NS. He also states, that he was confirmed by turning to the version of Sternhold and Hopkins, where he saw "they did not disobey." The prose version quoted by your correspondent is that in the Prayer-book, which is the translation made in the reigns of Henry the Eighth and Edward the Sixth, at the beginning of the Reformation, and is commonly called the Bishops' Bible. In the authorized version of the Bible now in use, made by order of James the First, from the oriNEW MONTHLY MAC.-No. 9. The translation in the Prayer-book, in which a different sense is put upon the passage, was not made directly from the Hebrew, but follows the reading of the Septuagint, 66 και παρεπίκραναν τους λο your autou," in which the particle of negation is omitted. This might have arisen from the inaccuracy of the transcribers of the Greek manuscripts, but is more probably owing to another cause. If your correspondent will closely examine his Hebrew Bible, he will find in many places-for instance, in Leviticus, 11, v. 2, and Isaiah, 63, v. 9—, signifying not, in the text, with 15, signifying to him, in the margin, and which translators render in the affirmative, although delicacy towards the manuscript did not permit the Masorite editors to make the correction in the body of the text. It is extremely probable that the seventy interpreters read this 28th verse with, or supposed they ought to do so, considering the disobedience as referring to the Egyptians. The ancient Italic version, in general use in the western churches before the translation of St. Jerome, following in this, as in other instances, the Septuagint, gives it, "Tum tenebrarum obscuritate invexit illis ejus mandata detrectantibus." This sense is followed by the translators of the Bishops' Bible. When our Church adopted the new translation in the reign of King James, they still retained the old version of the Psalms in the Prayer-book, and in doing this, they followed the example of the VOL. II. Gg |