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"and pence, and wholly abforbed in mortbank-notes, and three per cent. gages, "confols."

There appears very little in this when written, but the whole company were in one convulfive burft of laughter for five minutes; and Garrick, feizing his hat, left the room evidently chagrined.

But latterly, Mr. Foote's fpirits failed him, and he applied to his old refource the bottle, but in vain: yet even in those temporary flashes which this falfe friend af. fords, I have obferved intervals of filence in his company, which I could account for no otherwife than from the fear infpired by the keenuefs of his farcafm, and the overwhelming tumultuous attack of his humour, which, when exerted, always predominated, and bore down every thing and every body before it.

But a life fpent in a violation of the moral duties, and whose best praise was,

SIR,

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that it provided laughter for the giddy, and indecent merriment for the unthinking, while the god and reafonable fighed at his fate; fuch a life could not be expected to end with comfort or fubftantial hope.

In the midst of company he was latterly obferved to be often loft in reveries, whilft frequent fighs and a correfponding countenance betrayed a heart ill at eale, and he replied to a friend, who congratulating him on having fettled his annuity business with Colman, obferved, that he might now pafs the remainder of his life with tranquillity: "I was miferable before, and now I am far from being happy."

He died at Dover, on his way to France, from an over-dofe of laudanum, taken either by mistake or defign; though, from an authentic relation of the circumstance by a perfon prefent, I ftrongly incline to the latter opinion.

To the EDITOR of the EUROPEAN MAGAZINE.

FROM a full conviction of your readiness to infert in your excellent Mifcellany whatever is really entertaining, I fend you the following elegant Epitaph for that purpose, which is tranfcribed from an old brafs plate in the chancel of Aylfton church, near Leicester, dated 1594. PHILOTUM BOS.

TH

In obitum pientiffimi viri
GULIELMI HEATHCOT,

Avunculi et patroni tui colendiffimi J. H.
Si natale folum quæras; enquæ tibi fummis
Ad coelum affurgit Derbia verticibus ;
Illa mihi prima indulfit fpiramina vitæ,
Communi præbens in patria patriam.
Natus ibi, hic vixi: hic dudum vixiffe fatetur
Gens inopum, et luget me male cincta cohors.
Hic vixi, fobolis fraternæ educator et altor.
Ille dedit vitam, victum ego munificé.
Ille dedit fpirare fuis, ego protinus auxi
Et manibus fovi vifcera nata meis.
Nec tamen exorata mihi mors, mors pietatem
Si feriat, quantum fæviet in reprobos?

LONGEVITY.

HE celebrated Dr. Rufh, of Phila delphia, has juft publifhed a fecond volume of Medical Enquiries and Obfervations, from which the following is taken:

AN ACCOUNT OF THE STATE OF THE BODY AND MIND IN OLD AGE; WITH OBSERVATIONS ON IT'S DISEASES,

AND THEIR REMEDIES.

Moft of the facts which I fhall deliver upon this fubject are the refult of obfer

yations made during the laft five years, upon perfons of both fexes, who have paffed the 80th year of their lives. I intended to have given a detail of their names-manner of life-occupations→ and other circumstances of each of them; but, upon a review of my notes, I found fo great a famenefs in the hiftory of molt of them, that I defpaired, by detailing them, of answering the intention which I

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I have not found a fingle inftance of a person who has lived to be eighty years old in whom this was not the cafe. In forne infances I found the defcent was only from one, but in general it was from both parents. The knowledge of this fact may ferve, not only to affift in calculating what are called the chances of lives, but it may be made useful to a phyfician. He may learn from it to cherifi hopes of his patients in chronic, and in fome acute difeafes, in proportion to the capacity of life they have daived from their ancestors.

4. TEMPERANCE IN EATING AND DRINKING.

To this remark I found feveral exceptions.—I met with one man of eighty-four years of age, who had been intemperate in eating; and four or five perfons who had been intemperate in drinking ardent ipiits, They had all been day-labourers, or had defered drinking until they began to feel the languor of old age. I did not meet with a fugle perfon who had not, for the last forty cr pftyyears of their lives, used tea, coffee, and bread and butter, twice a day as part of their diet. I am difpofed to believe, that thofe articles of diet do not materially affect the duration of human life, although they evidently impair the ftrength of the ty item. The duration of life does not appear to depend fo much upon the strength of the body, or upon the quantity of its excitability, as upon exact accommodation of ftimuli to each of them. A watch Spring will last as long as an anchor, provided the forces which are capable of defroying both are in an exact ratio to their ftrength. The ufe of tea and coffee in diet feems to be happily fuited to the change which has taken place in the human body by ledentary occupations, by which means leis nourishment and ftimulus are required than formerly to fupport animal life.

THE MODERATE USE OF THE UNDERSTANDING.

It has long been an established truth, VOL. XXV.

that literary men (other circumstances being equal) are longer-lived than other people. But it is not necessary that the understanding should be employed upon philofophical fubjects to produce this influence upon human life. Butineis, politics, and religion, which are the objects of attention of men of all claffes, impart a vigour to the understanding, which, by being conveyed to every part of the body, tends to produce health and long life.

4. EQUANIMITY OF TEMPER. The violent and irregular actions of the paflions tend to wear awaythe fprings of life,

Perfons who live upon annuities in Europe have been observed to be longer-lived, in equal circumftances, than other people. This is probably occafioned by their being exempted, by the certainty of their fubfittence, from thofe fears of want which fo frequently distract the minds, and thereby weaken the bodies of all people. Liferents have been fuppofed to have the fame influence in prolonging life. Perhaps the define of lite, in order to enjoy as long as poflible that property which cannot be enjoyed a fecond time by a child or relation, may be another caufe of the longevity of perions who live upon certain incomes. It is a fact, that the defire of life is a very powerful ftimulus in prolonging it, efpccially when that defire is supported by hope. This is obvious to phyficians every day. Defpair of recovery is the beginning of death in all difeales.

But obvious and reasonable as the effects of equanimity of temper are upon human life, there are fome exceptions in favour of paifionate men and women having attained to a great age. The morbid stimulus of anger in thefe cafes, was probably obviated by lets degrees, or less active exercifes of the understanding, or by the defect or weakness of fome of the other ftimuli which kept up the motions of life.

5. MATRIMONY.

In the courfe of my enquiries, I mc with only one perion beyond 80 years of age who had never been married. I met with feveral women who had bore from ten to twenty children, and fuckled them all. I met with one woman,a native of Herefordfhire in England, who is now in the 100th year of her age,who bore a child at 60,menitruated till 80, and frequently fuckled two of her children (though born in fucceffion to each other) at the fame time. She had paffed the greatest part of her life over a washing-tub.

6. I have not found fedentary employ. ments to prevent long life, where they are not accompanied by intemperance in eat

D

ing

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There appears very little in this when written, but the whole company were in one convulfive burst of laughter for five minutes; and Garrick, feizing his hat, left the room evidently chagrined.

But latterly, Mr. Foote's fpirits failed him, and he applied to his old refource the bottle, but in vain: yet even in those temporary flashes which this falfe friend af. fords, I have obferved intervals of filence in his company, which I could account for no otherwife than from the fear infpired by the keenuefs of his farcafm, and the overwhelming tumultuous attack of his humour, which, when exerted, always predominated, and bore down every thing and every body before it.

But a life fpent in a violation of the moral duties, and whose best praise was,

that it provided laughter for the giddy, and indecent merriment for the unthinking, while the god and reasonable fighed at his fate; fuch a life could not be expected to end with comfort or fubftantial hope.

In the midst of company he was latterly obferved to be often loit in reveries, whilft frequent fighs and a correfponding countenance betrayed a heart ill at eafe, and he replied to a friend, who congratulating him on having fettled his annuity business with Colman, oblerved, that he might now pafs the remainder of his life with tranquillity: "I was miferable before, and "now I am far from being happy."

He died at Dover, on his way to France, from an over-dofe of laudanum, taken either by mistake or defign; though, from an authentic relation of the circumstance by a perfon prefent, I ftrongly incline to the latter opinion.

To the EDITOR of the EUROPEAN MAGAZINE.

SIR, FROM a full conviction of your readiness to infert in your excellent Mifcellany whatever is really entertaining, I fend you the following elegant Epitaph for that purpose, which is tranfcribed from an old brafs plate in the chancel of Aylfton church, near Leicester, dated 1594. PHILOTUMBOS.

In obitum pientissimi viri
GULIELMI HEATHCOT,

Avunculi et patroni tui colendiffimi J. H.
Si natale folum quæras; enquæ tibi fummis
Ad coelum affurgit Derbia verticibus;
Illa mihi prima indulfit fpiramina vitæ,
Communi præbens in patriá patriam.
Natus ibi, hic vixi: hic dudum vixiffe fatetur
Gens inopum, et luget me male cincta cohors.
Hic vixi, fobolis fraternæ educator et altor.
Ille dedit vitam, victum ego munificé.
Ille dedit fpirare fuis, ego protinus auxi
Et manibus fovi vifcera nata meis.
Nec tamen exorata mihi mors, mers pietatern
Si feriat, quantum fæviet in reprobos?

LONGEVITY.

THE celebrated Dr. Rush, of Philadelphia, has jutt publifhed a fecond volume of Medical Enquiries and Obfervations, from which the following is taken:

AN ACCOUNT OF THE STATE OF THE BODY AND MIND IN OLD AGE; WITH OBSERVATIONS ON ITS DISEASES, AND THEIR REMEDIES.

Moft of the facts which I fhall deliver upon this fubject are the refult of obfer

vations made during the laft five years, upon perfons of both fexes, who have paffed the 80th year of their lives. I intended to have given a detail of their names-manner of life-occupations and other circumstances of each of them; but, upon a review of my notes, I found fo great a fameness in the hiftory of most of them, that I defpaired, by detailing them, of answering the intention which Ï

fhall conclude this head by the following remark.

Notwithstanding there appears in the human body a certain capacity of long life, which feems to difpofe it to preferve its existence in every fituation; yet this capacity does not always protect it

frm premature deftruction; for among the old people whom I examined, I fcarcely met with one who had not loft brothers or fifters in early and middle life, and who were born under circumftances equally favourable to longevity

with themselves.

For the EUROPEAN MAGAZINE.
THOUGHTS ON POETRY.

Of all the feiences which afford matter
of fpeculation to the mind of man,
there is fomething in Poetry that not
enly diftinguishes it from every other
fpecies of knowledge, but that bears
about it the marks of divinity and infpi-
tation. The poffeffion of this talent is
looked upon, even in thefe days of de-
generacy, as an emanation of the divine
Spirit; and it is well known that the
Bards and Minstrels of antiquity were
venerated by the Pagans with a fenti-
ment of adoration, that bore all the
marks of that zeal which diftinguishes
the Chriftian world in their reverence of
their Prophets and their Saints.

The antiquity of Poetry is univerfally allowed, but the origin of it is varionly accounted for. Mr. Pope cointides with the opinion of Scaliger and Fontenelle, and lays it down as arifing in the calm occupations of rural life, and celebrating in paftorals the happines and tranquillity of a thepherd's days. But it is more natural and more rational to fuppofe, that the firft poems were hymns or odes made in praife of the Deity, who by the Royal Poet commanded his people to praise him in the cymbals and dances. And this con jeture seems to be ftrongly favoured by thofe beautifulfragments that are fcattered thro' the facred writings, and efpe cially the fongs of Mofes, which are the very foul of grandeur and fublimity.

There can be no doubt but that Poetry, in its infant ftate, was the langnage of devotion and of love. It was the ,vaice and expreffion of the heart of man, when ravished and tranfported with a view of the numberlefs bleflings that perpetually flowed from God, the fountain of all goodnefs. When the firft-created pair found themfelves in the garden of Paradife, amidst an infinite number of creatures, fo fearfully and wonderfully made; when they faw every herb, plant, and flower rife up for their ufe and pleafure, and every creature fubmit to their will; when they

heard the morning's dawn ushered in with the orifons of birds, and the evening warbled down with notes of thanks and gratitude; when all nature exulted in praife of the omnipotent Creator; when the morning fars fang together, and all the fons of God shouted for joy; that fpirit of devotion which feemed to breathe through the univerfe, infpired the human heart, and thefe happy objets of divine love

join'd their vocal worship to the choir

Of creatures wanting voice.

Enraptured thus with the love of God, and filled with an awful idea' of his power, glory, and goodness, the foul, incapable of finding words in common language fuitable to its lofty conceptions, and difdaining every thing low and profaic, was obliged to invent a language of its own. Tropes and figures were called in to exprefs its fentiments, and the diction was dignified and embellished with metaphors, beautiful defcriptions, lively images, fimilies, and whatever elfe could help to exprefs, with force and grandeur, its paffion and conception: Difdaining all common thoughts and trivial expreffions, it foars, like a being of fuperior faculties, into a diftant region, and afpires at all that is fublime and beautiful, in order to approach perfection and beatitude. Nor was this fufficient:-the mind diffatisfied with culling only the most noble thoughts arrayed in forcible and luxuriant terms, and perceiving the fweetnefs which arofe from the melody of birds, called in mufic to its aid; when thefe illuftrious thoughts, dignified and dreffed with pomp and fplendor, were fo placed as to produce harmony: the long and fhort, the fmooth and rough fyllables were varioully combined to recommend the fenfe by the found, and elevation and cadence cinployed to make the whole more mufically expreffive.

Hence Poetry became the parent of D 2

mufic,

mufic, and indeed of dancing; for the method of meafuring the time of their verfes per Arfin et Thefin, and of beating the bars or divifions of mufic, gave rife, we may fuppofe, to this art, and taught the poet alio to exprefs the tranfports of the foul *. And this will in tome measure account, not only for the great antiquity of dancing, but for its application to religious ceremonies even in the first ages of the world. Poctry, mufic, and dancing, were all ufed by the Ifraelites of old in their worship, and are thus employed by many of the eaftern nations, and by the Indians of America to this day.

What has been faid of the origin of Poetry will account for the neceffity there is for that enthufiafin, that fertility of invention, thofe fallies of the imagination, lofty ideas, noble fenti. ments, bold and figurative expreffions, harmony of numbers, and indeed that natural love of the grand, fublime and marvellous, which are the effential characteristics of a good Poct. The Poet, not fatisfied with exploring all nature for fubjects, wantons in the fields of fancy, and creates beings of his own. He raifes floating islands, dreary defarts, and inchanted caftles, which he peoples by the magic of his imagination with Satyrs, Sylphs, and Fairies; and, as Shake fpeare fays,

-as imagination bodies forth The forms of things unknown, the

Poet's pen

Turns them to shape, and gives to airy nothing

A local habitation and a name.

This is what is called the infpiration of Poetry, and what can never be either conveyed by precept or obtained by ftudy. It is fomething of too fine a nature to come within the power of definition; and all the rules and differtations of all the critics in the world, can never fupply the place of genius, or brighten an imagination that is obfcure by nature. Receipts for poetical compofitions, like the Pope's anathemas, begin to lose their virtue, and be univerfally defpifed. The truth is, they touch only on the externals or form of the thing, without entering into the fpirit of it; they play about the furface of Poetry, but never dive into its depth. The fecret, the foul of good writing is not to be come at through fuch mecha

nic laws; the main graces, and the cardinal beauties, as they are fomewhere ftyled, of this charming art, are too retired within the bofom of nature, and are of too fine and fubtile an effence, to fall under the difcuffion of pedants and commentators, Thefe beauties, in fhort, are rather to be felt than defcribed. By what precepts fhail a writer be taught only to think poetically, or to trace out, among the various powers of thought, that particular vein or feature of it which poetry loves; and to diftinguish between the good fenfe which may have its weight and juftnefs. in profe, and that which is of the nature of verfe? What inftruction shall convey to him that flame which can alone animate a work, and give it the glow of Poetry? And how, and by what induftry thall be learned, among a thousand other charms, that delicate contexture in writing, by which the colours, as in the rainbow, grow out of One another, and every beauty owes its luftre to a former, and gives being to a fucceeding one? Could certain methods be laid down for obtaining thefe excellencies, every one that pleafed might be a poet, as every one that pleafes may be a geometrician, if he will but have due patience and attention. Many of the graces in Poetry may be talked of in very intelligible language, but intelligible only to those who have a natural tatte for it, or are born with a talent To have what we call of judging.

Talte, is having, one may fay, a new fenfe or faculty fuperadded to the ordinary ones of the foul, the prerogative of fine fpirits! and to go about to pedagogue a man into this fort of knowledge, who has not the feeds of it in himself, is the fame thing as if one fhould teach an art of feeing without eyes. True conceptions of Poetry can no more be communicated to one born without tafte, thar adequate ideas of colours can be given to one born without fight; all which is faying no more than it would be to fay, that to judge finely of mufic, it is requifite to have natu rally a good ear for it.-Thofe celeftial bodies, which through their distance cannot appear to us but by the help of glaffes, do yet as truly exist as if they could be feen by the naked eye: fo are the graces of poetry, though they come within the reach but of few, as real as if they were perceptible alike to all,

*Ducunt chorios et carmina dicunt.

VIRG.

The

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