appear not to us fo great as to their author. Why they do not, we need not explain to any man who, with a fufficient degree of mechanical and mathematical knowledge, has perufed this article with attention. Mr John Luccock, however, of Marley, near Leeds, thinks fo very differently from us on this fubject, that, on Mr Bramah's principle, he propofes to apply water or other dense fluids, fo as to make them fupply the place of team in what is commonly called the team engine. He calls his engine the paradoxical machine; and

he got a patent for it on the 28th of February 1799, though it differs in nothing from Mr Bramah's ma chine, reprefented by fig. 4. except that the tube C in the paradoxical machine is fupplied with water, not by means of a forcing pump, but from a ciftern elevated to fuch a height as, that the water defcending through the tube may produce its effect merely by its weight. Whether this variation, for it is no improvement, of Mr Bramah's machine intitled its author to a patent, it is not our business to inquire.

cpher

on.

MAC

MACPHERSON (James, Efq;), was born in the parish of Kingufie, and county of Inverness, in the year 1738. His father was a farmer of no great affluence; and young Macpherson received the earlier part of his education in one of the parish schools in the diftri&t called Badenoch. By an anonymous writer in the Edinburgh Magazine, he is faid to have been educated in the grammar school of Inverness; and he may, for ought that we know to the contrary, have spent a year in that feminary; but we rather think that he went directly from a country fchool to the univerfity of Aberdeen. At this our readers need not be furprised; for at the period to which we refer, fome of the parochial schoolmasters in Scotland, and more especially in the Highlands, were men eminent for tafte and claffical li

terature.

It was in the end of October or the 1ft of November 1752, that James Macpherson entered the King's College; where he difplayed more genius than learning, entertaining the fociety of which he was a member, and even diverting the younger part of it from their ftudies, by his humorous and doggerel rhimes. About two years after his admiffion into the university, the King's College added two months to the length of its annual feffion or term; which induced Macpherson, with many other young men, to remove to the Marifchal College, where the feffion continued fhort; and it is this circumftance which leads us to suppose that his father was not opulent.

Soon after he left college, and perhaps before he left it, he was schoolmater of Ruthven, or Riven, of Badenoch; and we believe he afterwards delighted as little as his great antagonist Johnson in the recollection of that period when he was compelled, by the narrowness of his fortune, to teach boys in an obfcure school. It was during this period, we think in 1758, that he pub lifhed The Highlander, an heroic poem in fix cantos, 12mo. Of this work, as we have never feen it, we can fay nothing. By the anonymous writer, already quoted, it is mentioned as a "tiffue of fuftian and abfurdity;" whilft others, and they too men of learning and character, have affured us, that it indicated confiderable genius in fo young an author.

Soon after this publication, Mr Macpherson quitted his fchool, and was received by Mr Graham of Balgowan into his family as tutor to his fons; an employ. ment of which he was not fond, and to which he was not long condemned. In the year 1760 he furprised the world by the publication of Fragments of Ancient Poetry, collected in the Highlands of Scotland, and Tranf

MAC

fon.

lated from the Gaelic or Erfe Language, 8vo. Thefe Macpher fragments, which were declared to be genuine remains of ancient Scottish poetry, at their first appearance delighted every reader; and fome very good judges, and amongst the reft Mr Gray, were extremely warm in their praises. Macpherson had intended to bury them in a Scotch magazine, but was prevented from fo injudicious a ftep by the advice of a friend. He publifhed them therefore in a pamphlet by themselves, and thus laid the foundation of his future fortune.

As other fpecimens were faid to be recoverable, a fubfcription was fet on foot by the Faculty of Advocates at Edinburgh, to enable our author to quit the family of Balgowan, perambulate the Highlands, and fecure, if he could, the precious treafure. He engaged in the undertaking, and was fuccefsful; for all who poffeffed any of the long famed works, vied with each other in giving or fending them to a man who had fhewn himself fo capable of doing them juftice.

With his collection of poems, and fragments of poems, he went to London; and tagging them toge ther in the form which he thought beft, he published, in 1762, Fingal, an Ancient Epic Poem, in fix books, together with feveral other poems, compofed by Offian the fon of Fingal, tranflated from the Gaelic language, 4to. The fubject of this epic poem is an invalion of Ireland by Swaran king of Lochlin. Cuchullin, general of the Irish tribes during the minority of Cormac king of Ireland, upon intelligence of the invafion, affembled his forces near Tura, a caftle on the coaft of Uliter. The poem opens with the landing of Swaran; councils are held, battles fought, and Cuchullin is at laft totally defeated. In the mean time, Fingal, king of the Highlands of Scotland, whofe aid had been folicited before the enemy landed, arrived, and expelled them from the country. This war, which continued but fix days and as many nights, is, including the epi fodes, the ftory of the Poem. The fcene, the heath of Lena, near a mountain called Cromleach in Ulfter. This poem alfo was received with equal applause as the preceding Fragments.

The next year he produced Temora, an ancient epic poem, in eight books; together with feveral other poems compofed by Offian fon of Fingal, 4to, which, though well received, found the public fomewhat lefs difpofed to beftow the fame measure of applause. Tho thefe poems had been examined by Dr Blair and others, and their authenticity afferted, there were not wanting fome of equal reputation for critical abilities, who either doubted or declared their disbelief of the genuineness of

them.

Macj her- them. Intò this queftion it would be fuperfluous to enter here particularly, as we have faid enough on it elsewhere. See OsSIAN, Encycl.

fon.

That any man fhould fuppofe Macpherfon, after his tranflation of Homer, the author of the poems which he afcribes to Offian, appears to us very extraordinary; and it is little lefs extraordinary, that any one fhould, for a moment, believe in the existence of manufcripts of thefe poems of very high antiquity. Part of them he undoubtedly received in manufcript from Macdonald of Clanronald; but we can affirm, on the best authority, that the faid manufcript was written at different times by the Macvurichs, hereditary bards to that family. He may likewife have received fort manufcripts elfewhere; but every Highland gentleman of learning and of candour (and none elfe have a right to decide on this queftion), declares, that by much the greater part of the poems had been preferved in fragments and popular fongs from a very remote age by cral tradition. To thefe fragments Macphersou and his affociates (A) gave form; and it was by uniting together fragments of different ages, that he inadvertently furnished Gibbon and others with the opportunity of objecting, that the poems are fometimes inconfiftent with the truth of hiflory. This, however, is no folid objection to their authenticity; for every Weft Highlander fixty years of age remembers to have heard, in his youth, great part of those poems repeated by old men; and is confident that, many centuries ago, the names of Fiune Mackuil (Fingal), and of Offian's other heroes and heroines, were as familiar to a Highland ear, as the names of Agamemnon, Hector, Helen, &c. were to a Grecian ear at the time when the poems of Homer were reduced into their prefent form. For the fubftance of the poems, this is fuch evidence as none will reject who does not prefer his own cobweb theories to the united testimony of a whole people.

With refpect to authenticity, the poems of Offian have indeed been compared with the poems of Rowley; but the comparison is abfurd. The poems of the Celtic bard were not found in an old cheft, and prefented to a people who had never before heard either of them or of their author; they were the popular fongs and traditions of ages collected together, and reduced into form, with additions occafionally made by the tranfla tor. It is ridiculous to afk how these songs and ftories could be fo long preserved among a rude and illiterate people; for it is only among fuch a people, whofe ob. jects of purfuit are too few to occupy all their attention, that the exploits of their ancestors can be handed down by tradition; and the most ferious objection which we have ever met with to the tranflator's account of the origin of the poems, arifes from his having pretended that he received the greater part of them in old ma· nufcripts.

After the publication of Offian's poems, by which ,we have reason to believe that he gained twelve hundred pounds, Mr Macpherson was called to an employ. ment which withdrew him, for fome time, both from

2

the mufes and from his country. Captain Johnstone was Mi appointed governor of Penfacola, and Mr Macpherson, accompanied him as his fecretary, being at the fame time made furveyor general of the Floridas. memory does not deceive us, fome difference arose be tween the principal and his dependant, and they parted before their return to England. Having contributed his aid to the settlement of the civil government of that colony, he vifited feveral of the Weft India islands, and fome of the provinces of North America, and returned to England in the year 1766, where he retained for life his falary as surveyor, which we believe was L.200 a-year.

He foon returned to his ftudies, and in 1771 produced An Introduction to the Hiflory of Great Britain and Ireland, 4to; a work which he fays," without any of the ordinary incitements to literary labour, he was induced to proceed in by the fole motive of private a. mufement." The fubject of this performance, it might reafonably be fuppofed, would not excite any violent controverfial acrimony; yet neither it nor its author could efcape from feveral moft grofs and bitter invec tives, for fome of which he perhaps gave too great occafion.

His next performance produced him neither reputation nor profit. In 1773 he published, The Iliad of Homer, tranflated in two volumes 4to; a work fraught with vanity and felf-confequence, and which met with the most mortifying reception from the public. It was condemned by the critics, ridiculed by the wits, and neglected by the world. Some of his friends, and particularly Sir John Elliott, endeavoured to rescue it from contempt, and force it into notice. Their fuccefs was not equal to their efforts.

About this time feems to be the period of Mr Macpherfon's literary mortifications. In 1773 Dr Johnson and Mr Bofwell made the tour to the Hebrides; and in the courfe of it, the former took fome pains to examine into the proofs of the authenticity of Offian. The refult of his inquiries he gave to the public in 1775, in his narrative of the tour; and his opinion was unfavourable. "I believe they (i. e. the poems, says he), never exifted in any other form than that which we have feen. The editor or author never could fhew the original; nor can it be fhewn by any other. To revenge reafonable incredulity by refufing evidence, is a degree of infolence with which the world is not yet acquainted; and tubborn audacity is the laft refuge of guilt. It would be eafy to fhew it if he had it. But whence could it be had? It is too long to be remembered, and the language had formerly nothing written. He has doubtle is inferted names that circulate in popular ftories, and may have tranflated fome wandering ballads, if any can be found; and the names and fome of the images being recollected, make an inaccurate auditor imagine that he has formerly heard the whole."

Again, he fays, "I have yet fuppofed no imposture but in the publisher; yet I am far from certainty, that fome tranflations have not been lately made, that

may

her may now be obtruded as parts of the original work.

"Credulity on the one part is a ftrong temptation to deceit on the other, efpecially to deceit of which no perfonal injury is the confequence, and which flatters the author with his own ingenuity. The Scots have fomething to plead for their eafy reception of an improbable fiction: they are feduced by their fonduefs for their fuppofed ancestors. Neither ought the English to be much influenced by Scotch authority; for of the paft and prefent flate of the whole Erfe nation, the Lowlanders are at least as ignorant as ourselves. To be ignorant is painful; but it is dangerous to quiet our uneafinefs by the delufive opiate of hafty perfuafion." Thefe reafonings, if reafonings they can be called, might have been eafily anfwered, had not Macpherfon pretended to the poffeffion of at least one manufcript which certainly never exifted. He did not, however, attempt to answer them; but adopted a mode of proceeding which tended only to convince the world that Johnfon's opinion had fome foundation, and that the editor of Offian had more imagination than found judge. ment. Prompted by his evil genius, he fent a mena. cing letter to his illuftrious antagonist, which produced the following brief but fpirited reply:

"Mr James Macpherson,

No date.

"I received your foolish and impudent letter. Any violence that shall be offered to me, I will do my best to repel; and what I cannot do for myfelf, the law fhall do for me; for I will not be hindered from expofing what I think a cheat, by the menaces of a ruffian. What! Would you have me retract? I thought your work an impofition: I think fo ftill; and, for my opi nion, I have given reafons, which I dare you to refute. Your abilities, fince your Homer, are not fo formidable; and what I hear of your morality, inclines me to be lieve rather what you shall prove than what you fhall fay."

Whether this letter fhewed to Macpherfon the imprudence of his conduct, or that he had been made fenfible of his folly by the interpofition of friends, we know not; but certain it is, we hear no more afterwards of this ridiculous affair, except that our author is fuppofed to have affifted Mr Macnicol in an answer to Dr Johnfon's Tour, printed in 1779. This fuppofition we are inclined to confider as well-founded, because we have been told by a gentleman of veracity, that Mr Maenicol affirms, that the feurrility of his book, which conftitutes a great part of it, was inferted, unknown to him, after the manufcript was fent for publication to London.

In 1775 Mr Macpherfon publifhed The Hiftory of Great Britain from the Restoration to the Acceffion of the Houfe of Hanover, in two volumes 4to; a work in our opinion of great merit, though by one party it has been induftriously, and, we are forry to add, too fuccefsfully, decried. As an hiftorian, our author could not indeed boaft the attic elegance of a Robertfon, the fplendour of a Gibbon, or the philofophical profundity of a Hume; but his fiyle, though it has fometimes been the avowed, was not the real, caufe of the coldnefs with which his hillory was received. The writer of this sketch once faw a gentleman of rank, and of the Whig intereft, turn over one of Macpherfon's volumes, and heard him

fon.

fay, upon fhutting the book, "I cannot bear that Macpher work." He was asked if he thought the narrative "No! It is too true; but I falfe? and he replied, cannot bear it, because it gives me a bad opinion of thofe great men to whom I have been accustomed to look back with reverence as to the faviours of my country."

That it has been abhorred by others on the fame account, we have not a doubt; and yet language has no name too contemptuous for thofe who will not follow truth whitherfoever fhe may lead them; or who, on the abfurd pretence of having already made up their minds, will not ftudy the evidence on both fides of a difputed queftion in our national hiftory. A man needs not furely difapprove of the Revolution, or of the subfequent fettlements, though he fhould find complete proofs that Danby and Sunderland were crooked poli ticians, that Marlborough was ungrateful, or even that King William himself was not that upright and difinterefted character which from their infancy they have been taught to believe. It is no uncommon thing for Divine Providence to accomplish good ends by wicked inftruments. Every Proteftant furely confiders the Reformation as one of the most bleffed events that have caken place in the world fince the first preaching of the gofpel of Chrift; yet he would be a hardy champion who fhould undertake to vindicate the motives which

influenced the conduct of the first reformers-of Henry VIII. for inftance, or even of Luther himself. And why may not the Revolution be confidered as in the highest degree beneficial to the country, though the conduct of fome of thofe who brought it about fhould be found to be fuch as Macpherson reprefents it?

That author certainly acted with great fairness; as together with the hiftory he published the proofs upon which his facts were founded, in two quarto volumes, intitled, Original Papers, containing the fecret Hiftory of Great Britain, from the Refloration to the Acceffion of the Houfe of Hanover; to which are prefixed, Extracts from the Life of James II. as written by himself. Thefe papers were chiefly collected by Mr Carte, but are not all of equal authority. They, however, clear up many ob fcurities, and fet the characters of many perfons in paft times in a different light from that in which they have been ufually viewed. On this account we have no hefitation to fay, that he who is capable of facrificing prejudice to truth, and wishes to understand the politics of the reigns of James, and William, and Anne, fhould ftudy with care the volumes of Macpherfon.

Soon after this period, the tide of fortune flowed very rapidly in Mr Macpherson's favour, and his talents and industry were amply fufficient to avail himself of every favourable circumftance which arofe. The refittance of the Colonies called for the aid of a ready writer to combat the arguments of the Americans, and to give force to the reafons which influenced the conduct of government, and he was felected for the purpose. Among other things (of which we should be glad to receive a more particular account), he wrote a pamphlet, which was circulated with much induftry, intitled, The Rights of Great Britain afferted against the Claims of the Colonies; being an Answer to the Declaration of the General Congrefs, 8vo, 1776, and of which many editions were publifhed. He alfo was the author of

bort Hiftory of Oppofition during the laft Seffion of

Parliament

Macpher Parliament, 8vo, 1779; a pamphlet which, on account of its merit, was by many afcribed to Mr Gibbon.

fon.

I

Reasons why the

ancis

were ignatal

But a more lucrative employment was conferred on him about this time. He was appointed agent to the nabob of Arcot, and in that capacity exerted his talents in feveral appeals to the public in behalf of his client. Among others, he published, Letters from Mahommed Ali Chan, Nabob of Arcct, to the Court of Dire&ors; to which is annexed, a State of Facts relative to Tanjore, with an Appendix of Original Papers, 4to, 1777; and he was fuppofed to be the author of The Hiflory and Management of the Eaft India Company from its Origin in 1600 to the prefent Times, vol. i. containing the af. fairs of the Carnatic, in which the rights of the nabob are explained, and the injuftice of the Company proved,

4to, 1779.

In his capacity of agent to the nabob, it was probably thought requifite that he should have a feat in the British Parliament. He was accordingly in 1780 chofen member for Camelford; but we do not recollect that he ever attempted to speak in the Houfe. He was alfo rechofen in 1784 and 1790.

He had purchased, we think before the year 1790, an eftate in the parish in which he was born; and changing its name from Retz to Belville, built on it a large

IN

and elegant marfen, commanding a very romantic and Macpher picturefque view; and thither he retired, when hison, Magma. health began to fail, in expectation of receiving benefit from the change of air. He continued, however, to decline; and after lingering fome time, died at his feat at Belville, in Inverness, on the 17th of February 1796.

He appears to have died in very opulent circumftan. ces; and by his will, dated June 1793, gave various annuities and legacies to feveral perfons to a great a. mount. He alfo bequeathed L. 1000 to John Macken. zie of Figtree Court, in the Temple, London, to de fray the expence of printing and publishing Offian in the original. He directed L. 300 to be laid out in erecting a monument to his memory in fome confpicu ous fituation at Belville, and ordered that his body fhould be carried from Scotland, and interred in the Abbey Church of Westminster, the city in which he had paffed the best part of his life. His remains were accordingly taken from the place where he died, and buried in the Poets Corner of Westminster church.

MAGMA is properly the refuse of any substance which has been fubjected to preffure; but, in chemistry, the term is fometimes used to denote a mixture of two or more bodies, reduced to the confiftence of dough or pafte.

N natural philofophy.-Our intention in the prefent article was principally to give a more diftinct account of the theory of Mr Epinus than is contained in the article MAGNETISM of the Encyclopædia Britannica, referring for proof and illuftration to the many facts contained in that article: but, on more mature confideration, we concluded, that this method would fret and confufe the reader by continual references, and leave Lut a feeble impreffion at laft. We have therefore preferred the putting the whole into the form of a fhort treatife on magnetifm, fimilar to our fupplementary article of ELECTRICITY. This, we hope, will be more perfpicuous and fatisfactory; ftill leaving to the reader the full ufe of all the information contained in the article MAGNETISM of the Dictionary.

The knowledge which the antient naturalifts poffeffed of this fubject was extremely imperfect, and affords, we think, the ftrongest proof of their ignorance of the true method of philofophifing; for there can hardly be named any object of phyfical refearch that is more cuphilofo; hy. rious in itself, or more likely to engage attention, than the apparent life and activity of a piece of rude unorganifed matter. This had attracted notice in very early times; for Thales attributed the characteristic phe nomenon, the attraction of a piece of iron, to the agency of a mind or foul refiding in the magnet. Philofophers, as they were called, feem to have been contented with this lazy notice of a flight fuggeftion, unbecoming an inquirer, and rather fuch as might be expected from the most incurious peasant. Even Ariftotle, the moft zealous and the moft fyftematic ftudent of Nature of whofe labours we have any account, has collected no information that is of any importance. We know that the general imperfection of ancient phyfics has been afcribed to the little importance that was attached to

the knowledge of the material world by the philofophers of Greece and Rome, who thought human nature, the active pursuits of men, and the fcience of public affairs, the only objects deferving their attention. Moft of the great philofophers of antiquity were also great actors on the stage of human life, and defpifed acquifitions which did not tend to accomplish them for this dignified employment: but they have not given this reafon themselves, though none was more likely to be uppermoft in their mind. Socrates diffuades from the ftudy of material nature, not because it was unworthy of the attention of his pupils, but because it was too difficult, and that certainty was not attainable in it. Nothing can more diftinctly prove their ignorance of what is really attainable in fcience, namely, the know. ledge of the laws of nature, and their ignorance of the only method of acquiring this knowledge, viz. obfervation and experiment. They had entertained the hopes of difcovering the caufes of things, and had formed their philofophical language, and their mode of research, in conformity with this hopeless project. Making little advances in the difcovery of the caufes of the phenomena of material nature, they deferted this study for the ftudy of the conduct of man; not because the dif covery of caufes was more eafy and frequent here, but because the ftudy itfelf was more immediately interefting, and becaufe any thing like fuperior knowledge in it puts the poffeffor in the defirable fituation of an advifer, a man of fuperior wifdom; and as this ftudy was closely connected with morals, because the fear of God is truly the beginning of wisdom, the character of the philofopher acquired an eminence and dignity which was highly flattering to human vanity. Their procedure in the moral and intellectual fciences is ftrongly marked with the fame ignorance of the true method of

philo

Dr Gilbert

actifm.

philofophifing; for we rarely find them forming general propofitions on copious inductions of facts in the conduct of men. They always proceed in the fynthetic method, as if they were fully converfant in the firft principles of human nature, and had nothing to do but to make the application, according to the eftablished forms of logic. While we admire, therefore, the fagacity, the penetration, the candid obfervation, and the happy illuftration, to be found in the works of the ancient moralifts and writers on jurifprudence and politics, we cannot but lament that fuch great men, frequently engaged in public affairs, and therefore having the finest opportunities for deducing general laws, have done fo little in this way; and that their writings, however engaging and precious, cannot be confidered as any thing more refined than the obfervations of judicious and worthy men, with all the diffufenefs and repetition of ordinary conversation. All this has arisen from the want of a juft notion of what is attainable in this department of science, namely, the laws of intellectual and moral nature; and of the only poffible method of attaining this knowledge, viz. obfervation and experiment, and the formation of general laws by the induction of particular facts.

We have been led into these reflections by the inatwas the firft tention of the ancients to the curious phenomena of experimen magnetism; which must have occurred in confiderable tal enquirer and entertaining variety to any perfon who had taabout mag-ken to the experimental method. And we have ha zarded these free remarks, expecting the acquiefcence of our readers, because the superior knowledge which we, in these later days, have acquired of the mag. netical phenomena, were the firtt fruits of the true method of philofophifing. This was pointed out to the learned world in 1590 by our celebrated countryman Chancellor Bacon, in his two great works, the Novum Organum Scientiarum, and De Argumentis Scientiarum. Dr Gilbert of Colchester, a philofopher of eminence in many refpects, but chiefly because he had the fame juft views of philofophy with his noble countryman, pub. lifhed about the fame time his Phyfiologia Nova, feu Tradatus de Magnete et Corporibus magneticis. In the introduction, he recounts all the knowledge of the antients on the fubject, and their fupine inattention to what was fo entirely in their hands; and the impoffibility of ever adding to the stock of useful knowledge, fo long as men imagined themselves to be philofophifing while they were only repeating a few cant words, and the unmeaning phrafes of the Ariftotelian fchool. It is curious to remark the almoft perfect fameness of Dr Gilbert's fentiments and language with those of Lord Bacon. They both charge, in a peremptory manner, all those who pretend to inform others, to give over their dialectic labours, which are nothing but ringing changes on a few trite truths, and many unfounded conjectures, and immediately to betake themselves to experiment. He has purfued this method on the subject of magnetism with wonderful ardour, and with equal genius and fuccefs; for Dr Gilbert was poffeffed both of great ingenuity, and a mind fitted for general views of things. The work contains a prodigious num ber and variety of obfervations and experiments, collected with fagacity from the writings of others, and inftituted by himself with confiderable expence and labour. It would indeed be a miracle, if all Dr Gilbert's SUPPL. VOL. II. Part I.

general inferences were juft, or all his experiments accurate. It was untrodden ground. But, on the whole, this performance contains more real information than any writing of the age in which he lived, and is fcarcely exceeded by any that has appeared fince. We may hold it with juftice as the firft fruits of the Baconian or experimental philofophy.

This work of Dr Gilbert's relates chiefly to the loadtone, and what we call magnets, that is, pieces of steel which have acquired properties fimilar to those of the load ftone. But he extends the term magnetism, and the epithet magnetic, to all bodies which are affected by loadftones and magnets in a manner fimilar to that in which they affect each other. In the course of his inveftigation, indeed, he finds that these bodies are only fuch as contain iron in fome ftate or other: and in proving this limitation, he mentions a great variety of phenomena which have a confiderable refemblance to thofe which he allows to be magnetical, namely, those which he called eletrical, because they were produced in the fame way that amber is made to attract and repel light bodies. He marks with care the diftinctions between these and the characteristic phenomena of magnets. He feems to have known, that all bodies may be rendered electrical, while ferrugineous fubftances alone can be made magnetical.

3

contains

It is not faying too much of this work of Dr Gil. His treatife bert's to affirm, that it contains almost every thing that many dif we know about magnetifm. His unwearied diligence coveries. in fearching every writing on the fubject, and in get. ting information from navigators, and his inceffant occupation in experiments, have left very few facts unknown to him. We meet with many things in the writings of pofterior inquirers, fome of them of high reputation, and of the prefent day, which are publifhed and received as notable difcoveries, but are contained in the rich collection of Dr Gilbert. We by no means afcribe all this to mean plagiarism, although we know traders in experimental knowledge who are not free from this charge. We afcribe it to the general indolence of mankind, who do not like the trouble of confulting originals, where things are mixed with others which they do not want, or treated in a way, and with a painful minutenefs, which are no longer in fashion. Dr Gilbert's book, although one of thofe which does the highest honour to our country, is lefs known in Britain than on the continent. Indeed we know but of two British editions of it, which are both in Latin; and we have feen five editions published in Germany and Holland before 1628. We earnestly recommend it to the perufal of the curious reader. He will (befides the found philofophy) find more facts in it than in the two large folios of Scarella.

After this moft deferved eulogy on the parent of magnetical philofophy, it is time to enter on the subject.

na.

In mechanical philofophy, a phenomenon is not to be We can on confidered as explained, unless we can fhew that it is ly class the the certain refult of the laws of motion applied to mat-phenometer. It is in this way that the general propofitions in phyfical aftronomy, in the theory of machines, in hydraulics, &c. are demonftrated. But the phenomena called magnetical have not as yet obtained fuch an explanation. We do not fee their immediate cause, nor can we say with confidence that they are the effects of

P

any