so late as in 1492; a proof that the more recent title of earl, &c. did not supercede the more ancient of thane, &c. &c. • Two truths are told-may be explained by supposing, the death of Finel might not be generally known. Macbeth might have received intimation by a special courier; or Finel might have been only custos thanagii, and after him Macbeth of some near relation the true thane of Glamis, who might have died while he was at the wars, and of course he would succeed to the thaneship. Custos thanagii may with as much propriety be called thane, as custos comitatus is called earl. One of Macduff's slain at Falkirk, 1290, is called earl of Fife, though he was only custos comitatus. We may even suppose, that Macbeth might have been acquainted with this during his harangue with Rosse by some one attending them, of course was surprised to be thus addressed by spirits. BALLAD SINGERS. WE have a great number of ballad writers, and ballad readers, and ballad preachers, and baliad speakers; but we have no ballad singers, properly so called. These harmonious itinerant societies were held in no small estimation among the ancients. The profession is said to have originated with Homer, who hawked about his Illiad for an obolus a book. But as the trade was then in no repute, and as his poetry was neither vendible nor singable, by reason of its worthlessness, he could scarce earn salt for himself or his family. Thespis is said to have improved upon the art, and by tackling Pegasus to a cart, and driving round with his ballads he made out to pick up' something to keep his soul and body together.' Among the Romans too, we learn this practice from Virgil, whose shepherds in one of their conversations say, -Non tu in triviis, indocte, solebas, Stridenti miserum stipula disperdere Chorus For ne'er shall fire burn while there's water to quench it, Or the hammer that drives a nail holds out to clench it. Sing tol de rol, &c. &c.' Some friends, more prudent than learned,have hinted to me that this did not seem quite original. If they mean by this, that it bears a resemblance to some of our nation. al ballads already in print, so much the better. It is nothing more than natural that it should, and perhaps proper that it ought to possess a considerable simularity to secure a favourable reception. NEW TESTAMENT. THE translation of the New Testament circulated in the reign of Edward III, and afterwards, must appear to the English reader of the present day, who is unacquainted with the Anglo-Saxon and MasoGothick languages, almost unin telligible. Annoon Ihesu constreynide the disciplis to steige in a boot." Mathue chap. xiv. (v. 22.) Ande the thornes steigeden up and strangelden. Mark. chap. v. 7. What ben ye troublid, and thougtis stigen up in youre hertis. Luk. xxiv. 38. Victima sacratos tinget honore focos. Marmoreusque tibi, versicoloribus alis, Adsis, O Cytherea; tuus te Cæsar OIn morem picta stabit amor pharetra. lympo, Et surrentini litoris ora vocat. EPIGRAMS. De asino, qui Æneiden dentibus discerpsit. Carminis Iliaci libros consumsit asellus. Hoc fatum Troja est; aut equus, aut asinus, Subscriptum imagini Virgiliana. Subduxit morti vivax pictura Maronem; Et quem Parca tulit, reddit imago viHilarus. Lucis damna nihil tanto nocuere Poeta, Quem præsentat honos carminis, et plutei. Idem rum. Pastor, arator, cques, pavi, colui, superavi, Capras, rus, hostes, fronde, ligone, maPentadius. nu. For the Anthology. THE STUDENT, No. 2. THE classification of human knowledge, by lord Bacon, quoted at the close of our last number,* merits a more full description. With this it may be useful and pleasant to give some account of the divisions of science, adopted by Mr. Locke and Mr. Hartley, and intersperse some notices of these eminent writers. This will be attempted in the present essay. What three men have rendered more vast and valuable services to science, than Bacon, Locke, and Hartley? These are luminaries of prime magnitude and purest light, which attract the first attention, and long fix the admiration, as through the telescope of history the eye gazes on the hemisphere of genius and learning. Their mighty powers, and diligent improvement of them; their gigantick projects, and Herculean exploits, are themes on which, with ever fresh delight, memory loves to dwell, imagination to expatiate, and reason to ponder. Sir Francis Bacon,† baron of Verulam, &c. had held a considerable rank among men of civil and scientifick eminence, for nearly a century; and, at some periods of that space, had enjoyed unmixed celebrity; while at others, his labours were but indifferently estimated, and his mistakes or errours censured with malignant satisfaction; when Pope, by the point and Page 237. The reader will notice and correct a transposition in the order of the mental faculties, which should be Memory, Imagination, and Reason. He was born 22d Jan. 1561, and died 9 April, 1626. paradox of a brilliant couplet,* re vived the attention of the lovers of intellect and erudition to his astonishing faculties and attainments, as well as the lovers of anecdote to his lamented aberrations. The scrutiny resulted in a verdict, which the high chancery of publick opinion has sanctioned, and which is registered in the archives of this ul timate tribunal. The poet's splen did eulogy is as just and appropriate, as his severe reprehension, In parts' he 'shone' indeed, be, yond competition or comparison with any of his contemporaries. From the darkness palpable' of superstition and bigotry, religious and intellectual, he burst forth like the full-orb'd moon from the sha dow in an eclipse. Such was, in this instance, and such usually has been, and is, the dazzling brightness of pre-eminent talents, that it overpowers the vision of beholders; and it is necessary that the medium of time interpose, before the relative degree of lustre is ascertained and assigned. It would not be so difficult to fill the space allowed to this number, with encomium on Bacon's genius, as it is to suppress eulogy, and submit to the task of noting deficiency or eccentricity. pecting the civil defalcation of the chancellor, or the moral irregularities of the man, much might be said in extenuation; the guilt Res If parts allure thee, think how Bacon shin'd, The wisest, brightest, meanest of mankind.' Essay on Man, 4 epistle, 1.232- imity with which he promptly met the investigation of his accusers, and the full, the unreserved disclosure, of all his official delinquency. Although in morals he did not undeviatingly practise integrity; and although in science he did not profoundly understand mathematicks, (what higher charges than these, can be adduced or proved against the christian and the scholar?) yet, as the writer of his life, which is prefixed to the last edition of his works, has observed with equal eloquence and truth- The empire, he has erected in the learned world, is as universal as the free use of reason; and one must continue till the other is no more. He had a mind, which neither affected novelty, nor idolized antiquity.These qualities, which, with a noble confidence, he has applied to himself, are obvious and eminent, in his Instauration of the Sciences, a work designed not as a monument to his own fame, but a perpetual legacy to the common benefit of others." might probably be chiefly affixed to his associates and dependents, rather than to the minister; but some censure, and that not small or light, must attach to the prin cipal, who suffers prodigality in expenses, or extravagance in lar gesses, to involve him in mazes, and ensnare him in temptations. From the perplexities and hazards of such entanglement, few will escape without severe suffering, or bitter repentance, or just reproach. -Bacon sustained them all. Toa high-minded chevalier, what more poignant wound could be inflicted than exile from the court, and incarceration in the tower? To the lover of hospitality, and the devoted admirer of convivial joy, whose wit and wisdom delighted every company, and always rendered him either the idolized host, or the wel come guest; what harder sacrifice could be assigned, than a mulct, which involved the abandonment of all his means of giving or receiving social satisfaction. Above all, to a mind, warmed with a love of virtue; if indeed, other passions smother the genial flame, and inspired, surely, with many high and pure sentiments, though some sordid or selfish feelings had intruded and acquired a control; what could be a more agonising reflection, than that the choicest jewel it possessed, was indelibly tarnished; the dignities which royal favour had conferred, all torn away; and a sentence of ignominy pronounced, of which, though its penalties might be remitted, the record and remembrance could never be ob-natural, civil, ecclesiastical, and literated? To the immortal honour of his intellectual character, be it remembered, that under the pressure of all this weighty mass, his genius rose with vigour; while a softening light is shed on his oral deviations, by the magnan We are thus called back to that famous arrangement, which is more especially the object of present attention. Distributing the faculties of the soul into Memory, Imagination, and Reason, he apportions to these powers their branches of knowledge, under the heads of History, Poetry, and Philosophy. If we may borrow from the Linnean system an illustration of this scheme, these may be stated as the three great classes of science. The first, History, includes four orders literary. In Natural History are two genera, narrative and inductive; and, in each of these, several species, as history of celestial bodies, of the earth, of the elements, and of mechanick arts. It might appear pedantick, and prove per 1807.] Student, No. 2. plexing, were the whole tree of knowledge to be thus described, in its numerous and complicated ramifications. The most commodious and satisfactory form, in which it can be represented, is that of a map or chart, which may be found correctly and well delineated, both in the first and seventh volumes (Edit. 1803. of Bacon's Works. Lond. for J. Johnson and others, in 10 vols. 8vo.) It must suffice, just to enumerate Six years after the departure of ; lustration and defence of christian- 6 |