pearance of the scene before us yesterday. The ground was then parched with a long drought; the flowers hid their drooping heads; no fragrant odours were perceived; and vegitation feemed to ceafe. To what caufe muft we impute the revival of nature?-To the rain which fell this morning, replied Alexis, with a modeft confufion. He was ftruck with the felfishness and folly of his conduct; and his own bitter reflections anticipated the reproofs of Euphronius.'

The Paffions fhould be governed by Reafon.

Sophron and Alexis had frequently heard Euphronius mention the experiment of ftilling the waves with oil, made by his friend Dr. Franklin, They were impatient to repeat it; and a brifk wind proving favourable to the trial, they haftened one evening to a sheet of water, in the pleasure grounds of Eugenio, near Hart-Hill. The oil was fcattered upon the pool, and fpread itself inftantly on all fides, calming the whole furface of the water, and reflecting the most beautiful colours. Elated with fuccefs, the youths returned to Euphronius, to inquire the caufe of fuch a wonderful appearance. He informed them, that the wind blowing upon water which is covered with a coat of oil, flides over the furface of it, and produces no friction that can raise a wave. But this curious philofophical fact, faid he, fuggefts a most important moral reflection. When you fuffer yourselves to be ruffled with paffion, your minds refemble the puddle in a ftorm. But Reafon, if you hearken to her voice, will then, like oil poured upon the waters, calm the turbulence within you, and refore you to ferenity and peace.'

Affection extended to inanimate Oajes.

A beautiful tree grew in an open space, oppofite to the parlour windows of Euphronius's houfe. It was an object which his family often contemplated with pleafure. The verdant foliage with which it was covered, gave an early indication of fpring; its fpreading branches furnished an agreeable fhade, and tempered the heat of the noon- tide fun; and the falJing leaves in autumn marked the varying feafons, and warned them of the approach of winter. One luckle's morning, the ax was laid to the root of this admired tree, and it fell a lamented victim to the rage for building, which depopulates the country, and multiplies mifery, difeafes, and dea:h, by the enlargement of great towns. You now feel, faid Euphronius to Alexis on this occafion, the force of that good natured remark of Mr. Addifon, in one of the Spectators, that he should not care to have an old ftump pulled up which he had remembered ever fince he was a child. The affections of a generous heart are extended by the early affociation of ideas, to almoft every furrounding object. Hence the delight which we receive

from

from revifiting thofe fcenes in which we paffed our youth; the school where our first friendships were formed, or the academic groves in which fair Science unveiled herfelf to our enraptured view. Suetonius relates, that the Roman Emperor, Vefpafian, went conftantly every year, to pass the fummer in a fmall country house near Rieti, where he was born, and to which he would never add any embellishment; and that Titus, his fucceffor, was carried thither in his laft illness, to die in the place where his father had begun and ended his days. The Emperor Pertinax, fays Capitolinus, during the time of his abode in Liguria, lodged in his father's house; and raising a great num. ber of magnificent buildings around it, he left the cottage in the midft, a striking monument of his delicacy of fentiment and greatness of soul.'

Scepticism condemned.

• Sophron afferted, that he could hear the slightesft fcratch of a pin at the distance of ten yards. It is impoffible, faid Alexis, and immediately appealed to Euphronius, who was walking with them. Though I don't believe, replied Euphronius, that Sophron's ears are more acute than yours, yet I disapprove of your hafty decifion concerning the impoffibility of what you fo little understand. You are ignorant of the nature of found, and of the various means by which it may be increased or quickened in its progrefs; and modefty fhould lead you, in fuch a cafe, to fufpend your judgment till you have made the proper and neceffary inquiries. An opportunity now presents itfelf, which will afford Sophron the fatisfaction he defires. Place your ear at one end of this long rafter of deal timber, and I will fcratch the other end with a pin. Alexis obeyed, and diftinctly heard the found, which being conveyed through the tubes of the wood, was augmented in loudnefs as in a speaking trumpet, or the horn of the huntfman.-Scepticism and credulity are equally unfavourable to the acquifition of knowledge. The latter anticipates, and the former precludes all inquiry. One leaves the mind satisfied with error, the other with ignorance.'

ART. V. A Vindication of the Apamean Medal; and of the Infcription NOE: Together with an Illuftration of another Coin, ftruck at the fame Place, in Honour of the Emperor Severus. By the Author of the Analysis of ancient Mythology. 4to. I s. Payne. 1775

R. Bryant, in the tecond volume of his Analysis of ancient Mythology, amidst other traces and proofs of the deluge, which he finds among the Pagan nations, has made fume curious obfervations concerning the City Cibotus in Phrygia, in latter times called Apamea; and he has particularly mentioned a coin of the Emperor Philip the Elder, which was

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ftruck

Atruck at this place, and contained an epitome of the diluvian hiftory. Upon the reverse of this medal is delineated a kind of fquare machine, or ark, floating on the water. Through an opening in it are feen two perfons, a man and a woman, as low as to the breaft; and upon the head of the woman is a veil. Over this ark is an open roof, on which fits a dove; and over against it is another in the air, which feems to be returning towards the machine, and holds a small branch in its bill. Before the machine is a man following a woman, (probably the fame perfons repeated), who seem to have juft quitted it, and with uplifted hands, to witnefs fome extraordinary emotion. On the ark itself, underneath the perfons there inclosed, is to be read in diftinct characters, NOE.

To the above account it has been objected, by the writer of an ingenious letter in the Gentleman's Magazine, that this pretended name of Noah is only the remainder of the city's name, Aλavopswv, which is infcribed on the legend round the coin; but there not being room for the three laft letters to be continued round the edge of the coin, the Artift engraved them on the cheft in the middle of the coin in a reverfed manner.'

This difficulty hath been thought, by Mr. Bryant, to be important enough to deferve a diftinct folution. Accordingly, he has fhewn, in the publication before us, that the objection is groundless, and has confirmed his own opinion by new and Ariking evidence. Befides this, he hath critically examined another coin, ftruck at Apamea, in honour of the Emperor Severus, and hath thence deduced fresh proofs of the traditions and memorials that were preferved of the deluge.

Our learned Author is perfuaded, that if it had been out of his power to have ascertained what he hath undertaken to prove, it would have been of little confequence, even if the name had been totally erafed. The hiftory, he fays, would ftill remain in legible characters, independent of the infcription. Thus take away the letters Nos, or affign them to a different purpose ; yet the hiftorical part of the coin can neither be obliterated nor changed. The ark upon the waters, and the perfons in the ark, will still remain; the dove too, and the olive, will be seen : and the great event, to which they allude, will be too manifeft to be mistaken.

W

ART. VI. The Hiftory of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. By Edward Gibbon, Efq. Volume the Firft. 4to 11. Is. Cadell. E have now before us one of those productions which, fo far as we can judge from the small portion of the work, we have, as yet, had time to perufe, will do honour to the literature of our country, and give the Author a just title to a diftinguished rank among the most celebrated hifto.

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rians

rians of the prefent age. The fubject which he has chofen for the display of his hiftorica abilities, is, in a variety of views, highly interesting; to the philofopher and ftatefman, it opens a wide field for reflection; to every clafs of readers it must afford both inftruction and entertainment. It naturally leads to the difcuffion of many points, equally curious and important; and which, in order to do juftice to them, require an uncommon fhare of learning, judgment, and fagacity. Mr. Gibbon appears in every refpect equal to the tafk he has undertaken; his ftyle is well fuited to the dignity of his fubject,-elegant, perfpicuous, and manly. The arrangement of his materials, which he has felected with great diligence and accuracy, is clear and distinct; his reflections are pertinent and folid; his manner, also, of treating fome points, even those of the most nice and delicate nature, and which have been variously represented according to the different views and prejudices of different writers, fhews an enlarged and liberal turn of thinking, is far from being decifive and dogmatical, and equally evinces his candour, his judgment, and his penetration.

In a fhort, and modeft preface, he explains the nature and limits of his general plan:

The memorable feries of revolutions, fays he, which, in the courfe of about thirteen centuries, gradually undermined, and at length deftroyed, the folid fabric of Roman greatnefs, may, with fome propriety, be divided into the three following periods.

1. The first of these periods may be traced from the age of Trajan and the Antonines, when the Roman monarchy having attained its full ftrength and maturity, began to verge towards its decline; and will extend to the fubverfion of the western empire, by the barbarians of Germany and Scythia, the rude ancestors of the most polifhed nations of modern Europe. This extraordinary revolution, which fubjected Rome to the power of a Gothic conqueror, was completed about the begin ning of the fixth century.

II. The fecond period of the Decline and Fall of Rome, may be fuppofed to commence with the reign of Juftinian, who by his laws, as well as by his victories, restored a tranfient fplendour to the Eastern Empire. It will comprehend the invafion of Italy by the Lombards; the conqueft of the Afiatic and African provinces by the Arabs, who embraced the religion of Mahomet; the revolt of the Roman people against the feeble princes of Conftantinople; and the elevation of Charlemagne, who, in the year eight hundred, established the fecond, or German Empire of the west.

III. The laft and longest of these periods includes about feven centuries and a half; from the revival of the Western Empire, till the taking of Conftantinople by the Turks, and

the extinction of a degenerate race of princes, who continued to affume the titles of Cæfar and Auguftus, after their dominions were contracted to the limits of a fingle city in which the language, as well as the manners, of the ancient Romans, had been long fince forgotten. The writer who should undertake to relate the events of this period, would find himself obliged to enter into the general hiftory of the Crufades, as far as they contributed to the ruin of the Greek Empire; and he would fcarcely be able to restrain his curiofity from making fome inquiry into the ftate of the city of Rome, during the darkness and confufion of the middle ages.

'As I have ventured perhaps too hastily to commit to the prefs, a work, which, in every fenfe of the word, deferves the epithet of imperfect, I confider myself as contracting an engagement to finish, most probably in a fecond volume, the firit of thefe memorable periods; and to deliver to the Public, the complete hiftory of the Decline and Fall of Rome, from the age of the Antonines, to the fubverfion of the Weftern Empire. With regard to the fubfequent periods, though I may entertain fome hopes, I dare not prefume to give any affurances. The execution of fuch an extenfive plan, as I have traced out, and which might perhaps be comprehended in about four volumes, would fill up the long interval between ancient and modern hiftory; but it would require many years of health, of leifure, and of perfeverance.'

Before we proceed to give a general view of what is contained in this first volume, we cannot help expreffing an earnest wish, in which, we are perfuaded, every intelligent reader of it will readily and heartily join us, that Mr. Gibbon's health and fpirits may enable him, with pleasure and alacrity, to pro fecute and complete the extenfive defign which he has sketched out in his preface.

That part of the work which is now under our confideration, is divided into fixteen chapters, in the three firft of which, Mr. Gibbon defcribes the profperous condition of the Roman Empire in the age of the Antonines; giving a concife, but clear and diftinct view of its extent and military force; of its union and internal profperity; and of its conftitution, during this happy period.

After obferving that the moderate fyftem, recommended by the wisdom of Auguftus, was adopted by the fears and vices of his immediate fucceffors, and that it was uniformly pursued by Hadrian and by the two Antonines, our Author proceeds, in his firft chapter, to take a view of the military eftablishment of the Roman Empire; and after giving a general idea of the imperial forces, he tells us, that the moft liberal computation which rea

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