The preceding Encomium upon Iron may be thus translated. Iron supplies the Soldier with his Sword; thus arming him for those Combats, in which he seeks for Glory. It affords the Husbandman his ploughshare; and by means of it, those Harvests, which are the source of Plenty. Lastly, it supplies the Mariner with his Compass: enlarging the spheres of. Commerce; and its attendant, Civilization. Thus to Iron we are indebted for Glory, Plenty, and Civilization. senting Commerce as a source of Civilization: and the early, great, and rapid progress, from barbarity to polish, of the Greeks, is in no small degree attributed to their inhabiting a country, favourably situated and circumstanced for commercial intercourse. See Mitford's Hist. Ch. 1. Sect. 1. pages 10 and 12. 8vo. edition of 1795. But, besides this, many eminent Writers, and Robertson amongst the rest, appear to connect, in the way of effect and cause, the attainment of any high degree of Civilization, with the possession of Iron, the knowledge of its use, and the art of fabricating this serviceable metal; which, while Nature completes the formation of others, (less deservedly termed precious,) is never discovered in its perfect form; but must endure laborious processes, before it becomes fit for use. Hence probably the Divinity (and perhaps marriage) of the God Vulcan. At all events however, Commerce is the admitted parent of Civility; and the tendency of the Mariner's Compass to promote commercial intercourse between distant countries, need scarcely be insisted on. SIR, To the Anonymous. The following Epigrams, though their language be foreign, are of Irish birth and parentage. I do not know whether this be any recommendation; nor whether, if it be not, they have any thing left to recommend them. Sir, yours, A. T. NINON. Au sujet de Ninon, soyez plus raisonnables : Parmi les femmes, elle n'est des plus aimables ; D'accord: mais avouons qu'elle est des-agreable. L'Ecrivain, aussi bien que le Lecteur, donne les couplets suivans Au Diable.* U. Vous voulez être tout aimable; Mieux connue, vous serez le Di-able; * Qui, même en changeant de sexe, retient toujours son genre masculin: à temoin le Diable amoureux; Mad. &c. &c. NUMBER XXXIV. FRIDAY, JANUARY 15th, 1808. IN Assuitur pannus. Unus et alter HOR. A patch-work Number, gentle Reader this is; SIR, To the Anonymous. a Postscript to your twelfth Number, you notice your having heard the phrase "at all" stigmatized as an Hibernicism; and, in answer to this imputation, cite the following line from Pope: "Most women have no characters at all." In your farther justification, allow me to request your acceptance of two more authorities; with which the same writer has supplied me. "Fools, who from thence into the notion fall, "Tho' many a passenger he rightly call, "You hold him no Philosopher-at all." Pope would not have been disposed to adopt this mode of speech, if he had considered it as of Patrician origin; or imported from a country which he has (politely) named Boeotia.* Neither do I think that Johnson would have given the current stamp of his authority to a phrase, which he considered as the Native of a Country, from whose University he scorned to accept the title of Doctor of Laws. Yet in his Dictionary we find "at all"-described as signifying "in any manner;"" in any degree." I remain, Sir, Your humble Servant, Vindex. SIR, To the Anonymous, In your paper on Puns, you have omitted to notice a very quaint and venerable equivoque, preserved by Aulus Gellius,§ and since commemorated by Mr. * Dunciad. + It is well known, that when the honorary Degree of L.L.D. was conferred upon Samuel Johnson, by Dublin College, he declined assuming the title; and would not suffer himself to be styled Doctor, until the like honour had been bestowed by the University of Oxford. No. 21. § Aul. Gell. XII. 6. Harris; whose account of it I beg to give you in his own words. "Aulus Gellius has preserved a Latin Enigma, which he also calls a Sirpus, or Sirpos; a strange thing, far below the Greek, and debased with all the quibble of a more barbarous age. Semel minusne, an bis minus, (non sat scio,) An utrumque eorum, (ut quondam audivi dicier,) This, being sifted, leaves in English the following small quantity of Meaning. Was it ONCE MINUS, or TWICE MINUs, (I am not enough informed;) or was it not rather THE TWO TAKEN TOGETHER, (as I have heard it said formerly,) that would not give way to Jove himself, the Sovereign. THE TWO TAKEN TOGETHER, (that is ONCE MINUS and TWICE MINUS) make, when so taken, THRICE MINUS; and THRICE MINUS, in Latin, is TER MINUS, which, taken as a single word, is TERMINUS, the God of Boundaries. Here the Riddle, or Conceit, appears. The Pagan Legend says, that, when in honour of Jove, the Capitol was founded, the other Gods consented to retire; but the God TERMINUS refused. The Story is elegantly related in the Fasti of Ovid, III. 667. |