SCOTS THE M MAGAZINE. SEPTEMBER, 1776. CONTENT S. AMERICA. Ld Howe to Ld George Ger- ***** HE picture that you draw to me of incredulity alarms me, though it does not aftonifh me. This was foretold by the facred fcripture. The mind is fufceptible of every bad impreffion when the heart is corrupted. From the wish that there should be no God to punish crimes, the incredulous, man concludes there is no God. Dixit infipiens in corde VOL. XXXVIII. fuo, non eft Deus "The foot faid in his heart, there is no God." Deifm leads infenfibly to Atheism. We have no compafs whereby to direct our course without religion. Religion alone is the bafis on which we can ra tionally lay a folid foundation. Notwithstanding the dreadful confequences of the new philofophy, I am of opinion that its votaries ought not to be irritated. They deferve our compaffion, becaufe faith is a gift of God. Jefus Chrift, who thundered against the Pharifees, faid nothing to the Sadducees. The incredulous are converted more eafily by meeknefs than by feverity. Their opponents fpeak to them with a tone of pride, which offends them fo much the more, as the arguments used by them 3 M 32 are not told or writ with a spirit equal to what they fay and write. The weakeft clergyman thinks that it is incumbent on him to attack them, without reflecting, that, if his zeal be commendable, his knowledge not being equal to theirs, he does more evil than good. People are not converted by declamation or invectives. Example, reasons, and moderation, are neceffary. We fhould begin by acknowledging, that religion has really incomprehenfible myfteries, and that all cannot be explained. There is a chain from the earth to heaven; and incredulity can never be conquered unless we hold all the links of that chain. Vague declamations are not arguments. To combat men skilled in the art of fophiftry, we should have knowledge, method, and precifion. heart, but at least they would not exclaim against the defenders of religion. We ought to gain fomething, if we cannot gain all. If God bears with the incredulous, we ought to bear with them fo much the more as they enter into his designs, fince it is by them that religion appears stronger, and that the just are exercised in faith. Times of incredulity are but momentary ftorms, which make the fky more pure and ferene. The more the incredulous increase, the more the ministers of the gospel fhould be attentive to ren der religion refpectable by their love of ftudy, and the purity of their manners, GANGANELLI. Rome, February 28. 1750. Certain objections to the veracity if the Mofaic Hiftory, with regard to the age of the earth, drawn from the appearances of fome parts of Mount Etna, in Mr Brydone's Tower through Sicily and Malta, refuted from the changes allowed to have. happened in other parts of the fame moun tain. and Malta, vol. 1. p. 123. edit 2. we IN Mr Brydone's Tower through Sicily meet with the following paffage. The laft lava we croffed before our arrival there (at Jaci Reale) is of a vaft extent; I thought we never should have done with it; it certainly is not less than fix or feven miles broad, and appears in many places to be of an enormous depth. When I fee perfons tainted with this new philofophy, (and fuch people I frequently fee), I begin by gaining their confidence, and fpeaking to them with the greateft politenefs. They are fenfible of this civil behaviour towards them, if they have any education, and thereby I diminish at leaft their prejudices. An impetuous zeal, that would bring down fire from heaven, excites nothing but hatred. The church has not the character of a perfecuting church in the eyes of the incredulous, but because many of her ministers flew an over-ardent zeal. A good caufe fupports itfelf; fo that religion has only need of fhewing herself, with her proofs, her traditions, works, and meeknefs, in order to create refpect. When we came near the fea, I was deReligion of herself overturns fectaries, firous to fee what form it had affumed in conquers every thing that favours of re- meeting with the water. I went to exabellion, and whatever animofity breathes. mine it; and found it had driven back I have often occafion to be in compa- the waves for upwards of a mile, and had ny with men who really hate all monks*. formed a large black high promontory, It is to that kind of people 1 want to where before it was deep water. This fhew the greateft civility. Had I leifure lava, I imagined from its barrenness, for and capacity to oppugn the new philofo. it is as yet covered with a very fcanty phy, I have the vanity to believe no phi- foil, had run from the mountain only a lofopher would complain of me. I few ages ago; but was furprised to be infhould lay down principles that could not formed by Signor Recupero, the hiftobe denied; and fhould I meet any of riographer of Etna, that this very lava thefe renowned perfons who boaft pu- is mentioned by Diodorus Siculus, to blicly of incredulity, I fhould fhew to have burst from Etna in the time of the them, with the utmoft politenefs, that fecond Punic war. When Syracufe was they have not understood the true fenfe befieged by the Romans, a detachment of the fcriptures, or that they have not was fent from Taurominum to the relief fufficient proofs for denying their authen- of the befieged: they were ftopped on ticity. I think, indeed, that 1 fhould their march by this ftream of lava, which not convert them, becaufe it is God a having reached the fea before their arri lone who enlightens and changes the val at the foot of the mountain, had cut He was a monk before he was Pope, off their paffage, and obliged them to re, tura turn by the back of Ætna, upwards of 100 miles about. His authority for this, he tells me, was taken from infcriptions on Roman monuments found on this la. va, and that it was likewife well afcertained by many of the old Sicilian authors. Now, as this is about 2000 years ago, one would have imagined, if lavas have a regular progrefs in becoming fertile fields, that this muft long ago have become at leaft arable: this, however, is not the cafe; and it is as yet only covered with a very fcanty, vegetation, and incapable of producing either corn or vines. There are, indeed, pretty large trees growing in the crevices, which are full of a rich earth; but, in all probability, it will be fome hundred years yet, before there is enough of it to render this land of any use to the proprietors." On this foundation Signor Recupero endeavours, p. 140. to establish the great antiquity of our earth. "Near to a vault, which is now thirty feet below ground, and has probably been a burial-place, there is a draw-well, where there are several ftrata of lavas, with earth to a confiderable thickness over the furface of each ftratum. Recupero has made ufe of this as an argument to prove the great antiquity of the eruptions of this mountain for, if it requires two thoufand years or upwards to form but a fcanty foil on the surface of a lava, there muft have been more than that space of time betwixt each of the eruptions which have formed these strata. But what fhall we fay of a pit they funk near to Jaci of a great depth? They pierced through feven distinct lavas, one under the other, the furfaces of which were parallel, and moft of them covered with a thick bed of rich earth. Now, fays he, the eruption which formed the loweft of thefe lavas, if we may be allowed to reafon from analogy, muft have flowed from the mountain at least 14,000 years ago. Recupero tells me, he is exceedingly embarraffed by thefe difcoveries in writing the hiftory of the mountain; that Mofes hangs like a dead weight upon him, and blunts all his zeal for inquiry; for that really he has not the confcience to make his mountain fo young, as that prophet makes the world." Having given the two paffages in the words of Mr Brydone, 1 fhall now make a few remarks upon them. - The great eruptions of Etna, without one of which a century feldom paffes, of ten produce confiderable alterations on the coaft*, to the extent of thirty miles from the fummit of the mountain. What evidence then have we, that a lava which flowed in the time of the fecond Punic war, has not been totally changed, or overwhelmed by other lavas in fucceeding times? Signor Recupero refers us for the identity of the promontory, from which he reafons, to Roman monuments found upon it, and to the teftimony of old Sicilian authors. But till the age, the infcriptions, and even the reality of the monuments, are ascertained, we cannot admit them as proofs of the point in question. And as the earliest of these old Sicilian authors, as they are called, probably lived thirteen or fourteen hundred years after Diodorus Siculus, their teftimony comes too late to fatisfy us, that on a coaft fo fubject to changes, a lava, which he is faid to mention, still fubfifts in its original form. Here, then, is a great failure of evi dence with regard to the fact on which the whole of this reafoning from analogy depends. But what if we allow the fact as ftated by Signor Recupero? Will it follow as a juft confequence from this inftance, that we can be affured of the time requifite to clothe another lava with foil, if that other lava is very differently fituated? The lava in queftion, as Mr Brydone describes it, "has driven back the waves for upwards of a mile, and formed a large black high promontory, where before it was deep water." It is, therefore, expofed to the fpray of the fea; it is expofed to all the violence of ftormy winds and rains; which will not eafily fuffer any foil to reft and faften, but will difperfe and carry it down, either into the fea, or upon the lower grounds. The tops of mountains retain only a thin moffy coat of earth, or continue bare and barren from old time, while the vallies beneath are enriched at their expence. And fomething of this fort may be observed on this very promontory: "There are large trees growing in the crevices, which are full of a rich earth.” The different ftate of the heights and crevices of this lava points out to us what will naturally happen in different fituations. The place where the feven lavas are accumulated, is near to Jaci Reale, to which Mr Brydone defcended from Brydone, vol. 1. p. 274. the Caftagno de cente cavalli. It lies, therefore, I prefume, in low ground, on which the earth washed by rain from the eminences would fettle, and where the afhes of the volcano would remain: for Atna fometimes fends forth great showers of afhes, which cover the adjacent country to a confiderable depth. At first these afhes render the land barren, but afterwards greatly fertilize it. "I have obferved," fays Mr Brydone, "in fome places the richest foil to the depth of five or fix feet and upwards, and ftill below that nothing but rocks of lava." Perhaps, under different circumftances, it may require a different time to mellow thefe alhes into foil; but in no cafe have we reason to fuppofe it a procefs of 2000 years. It is not quite feventeen hundred years fince the city of Pompeii was buried under the matter thrown out by Vefuvius; and upon this fpot there is a good thickness of fruitful mold, in which the vine flourishes, and has probably flourish ed for centuries paft. Strabo relates ‡, that Ætna fometimes covers the country about Catania with great depth of afhes. The afhes, he fays, are detrimental for a feafon [xpus xaipov], but afterwards highly beneficial to the land. We can hardly fuppofe the expreffion for a feafon to mean more than two or three centuries at most. And I conclude, Mr Brydone did not intend to fuggeft an idea of longer duration, when he tells us, that the country near Hybla "was fo celebrated for its fertility, and particularly for its honey, that it was called Mel Paffi, till it was overwhelmed by the lava of Ætna; and having then become totally barren, by a kind of pun, its name was changed to Mal Palfi. In a fcond eruption, by a fhower of afhes from the mountain, it foon realiumed its ancient beauty and fertility; and for many years was called Belle Paffi." If, then, the afhes which fell upon the lava that had detroyed Mel Paffi, foon ripened into fertile foil, may we not fuppofe the very fame thing to have happened upon fome at leaft of the feven lavas near Jaci Reale? And if it happened but upon fome of them, it mars the argument for the high antiquity of the mountain. A lava is caft out from the crater into the valley or plain; after a while the fame crater fends forth upon it a mighty fhower of athes, Brydone, vol. 1. p. 122. ↑ Ibid. p. 125. Strabo's Geography, b. 6. p. 413. edit. Amsterdam. fol. Brydone, vol. 1. p. 172. which are mixed with the earth washed from the fides of the hill, and yield a rich mold. Upon this mold another lava is poured, and a new accumulation of foil fucceeds by the fame means as before. Which procefs, according to the account of Strabo, and of Mr Brydone himself, we may well conceive to be completed in three hundred years, and the interftices of these feven lavas to have been fupplied with good earth in two thousand years, the time affumed as neceffary for each of them. For why are we to eftimate what is produced on a plain, by what may have happened on, an expofed high promontory? With regard to increase of foil, what analogy is there between them? It is poffible, I fay, that these lavas may have been formed in two thousand years; and the poffibility is fufficient for my purpose: for I do not contend, that they were actually formed in fo fhort a time. We may allow the lowest of them to be four, or, if you will, near fix thousand years old: for Etna may have burned from remote ages, fed by thofe fubterraneous fires, which fome fuppofe coæval, or nearly coæval, with our earth. But if the Philofopher of Meurt Etna will venture on fuch uncertain grounds to carry its antiquity so far back, "and incautious tread On fires with faithlefs afhes overspread,” he may expofe his own vanity and rafhnefs, but he will not hurt the credit of Mofes, or affect the chronology built on his writings. Of SENTIMENTAL COMEDY. From Elements of Dramatic Criticism. By William Cooke, Efq; Though the laws of the drama know yet as the prevalence of cuftom has not no fpecies of comedy under this title, only of late admitted it, but given it a first-rate place on our theatres, it very properly becomes an object of enquiry in this work. fhould never be able to find out the cause Were we to reafon by analogy, we of fo unclaffical a fuperfeffion: for whoever will make the comparison between that comedy left us by antiquity, and fo ably continued to us by feveral of our English poets, with this, will find the features too diffimilar to claim the moft diftant reference. In the former, we have a fable founded on the laws of probability and nature; characters fpeaking the language language of their conformation, and the whole ftage reflecting the manners of the world in the latter, names inftead of characters, poetical egotifms for manners, bombaft for fentiment, and inftead of wit and humour, (the very effence of comedy), a driveling fpecies of morality, which as a term generally applied to ethics, may properly enough be called good, but from being falfely applied to comedy, (however it may excite the piety of the croud), must nauseate men of fenfe and education. There is a circumftance which we think has been a leading affiftant in the eftablishment of this falfe tafte. Without meaning to turn reformers, and inconfiderately fall in with the vulgar opinion of generally condemning the prefent age, merely because it is the prefent age; thus much we think we are warranted to affert, that the prefent age, however it may be free from great and leading vices, is peculiarly marked by a flavish effeminacy of manners, and universality of indolent dif. Jipation, unknown to former ages. Hence the people of fashion, unwilling to fee fuch juft emblems of themselves on the ftage as comedy fhould reprefent, thought it better to affume a virtue which they had not, by crying up the theory of morality as a kind of cover for the breach of it. The lower kinds of people, having no other models in their eye, than thofe whom they often mistakenly call their betters, without weighing this opinion, followed their example: fo that between the two parties nature began to be called vulgar; and every thing partaking of the low, humorous, or vicious, (principal ingredients in comedy), began to be under-rated, becaufe the former had an interest in decrying them, and the latter permitted themselves to be duped by the artifice. It is the voice of the public forms the public tafte. Comedy, which is, above all walks of writing, perhaps the most difficult, and unattainable, and which, according to one of the moft diftinguished characters of the last age, -" is the first pretence To judgement, breeding, wit, and eloquence," being thus vitiated, there were not wanting poets, who, departing from the honourable line of their profeffion, (or to Speak more correctly, unacquainted with the principles of their profeflion), prefcribed to this innovation. Sir Richard Steele's Confcious Lovers, we believe, was the first in this line of writing. Not that we would clafs this, in other refpects, elegant and judicious writer, with the general run of poets who have fince fucceeded him in this line; we only mean to fay, that the pathetic fcenes of this comedy, made the firft departure of any confequence, from that Sterling kind of writing left us by antiquity; and, confequently, the general reputation of Sir Richard Steele, who was at that time much above par as a moral writer, first gave it the ftamp of fashion. Comedy being thus debauched, like an unhappy female, began to be viewed in the light of common game, by thofe poets who dare not look up to her in the days of her chastity: fuch finding the intercourfe eafy, and the profits great, immediately hired themselves in her fervice. The fuccefs of one fool drew many: they had nothing to do but to exchange the vis comica for the pathetic, and fubftitute tame individual recital for natural dialogue: in fhort, a novel furnished them with the plot; a fervile allufion to all the little chit-chat, for wit and humour; and the Whole Duty of Man, Pamela, or the OEconomy of Human Life, for fentiments. Thus an art originally invented to lash the follies and imperfections of mankind, through the vehicle of ridicule; an art which should ever be confidered as the greateft teft of wit, breeding, and obfervation; an art, "whofe end both at the first, and now, was, and is, to hold as 'twere the mirror up to nature, to fhew Virtue her own features, Scorn her own image, and the very age and body of the Time his form and preffure," is changed into what is vulgarly called a moral kind of entertainment, where a citizen, it is true, may bring his wife, and daughter too, with as much fafety as to a Methodist chapel, but with equal profpect of improvement. But as we mean to treat this fubject otherwife than either inveftigating its origin, or fimply declaiming on its imperfections, it will be but candid to weigh the force of the arguments which are urged by the favourers of this innovated art. The first and moft flattering to the paffions of the public is, that vicious or ridiculous characters, though fentimental writers are piously afraid fuch do fometimes exift in nature, yet it would ill become the dignity of their pens to exhibis |