physician to his consideration; and I have no doubt but that the examination will somewhat startle the professor of craniology. "I have myself, Mr. Urban, some little judgment in heads; but, being a native of the Highlands, and gifted with second sight, I do not require to handle men's skulls in order to judge of their character; and consequently I can, without ever having seen the aforesaid doctor, tell the professor some things which will occur in his examination of the skull. "He will find the organ of calocagathy* outwardly so perfect, that, without looking any further, he will at once pronounce the doctor to have been incapable of giving his pupils nonsense as an equivalent for their money. "But, if he extend his inquiry, he will discover that the organ of covetiveness is of a capacity equal to that of calocagathy; and the real history of the doctor's life will inform him, that he, being a free agent, perverted the good tendency of the latter, and yielded to the evil tendency of the former, until he persuaded himself that he might honestly take money for instructions in an art which never had existence. "The lecturer must be aware that it is by no means uncommon for men thus to deceive themselves. "The above is humbly submitted to the professor's consideration, upon the supposition that the profound lecturer upon animal magnetism is actually dead. If that be not the case, I must apprize him as a foreigner, that it is not quite safe in this country to handle living skulls in order to prove dishonesty, excepting perhaps in Westminster Hall, the Old Bailey, and other lecture rooms of the same kind. "This, however, need not prevent the professor from paying due attention to his own skull, and especially to those organs which I have particularly pointed out; and I am clearly of opinion, that a candid examination of them will give him an idea of the state of those organs very different from that which he at present entertains. "I remain, Mr. Urban, with the highest consideration for the learned lecturer, your very humble servant, "PERICRANIUM." *"I translate for your country readers, calocagathy is honesty. Now-adays terms of art are not looked at unless they be derived from the Greek." "Your critique on Sir Joshua Reynolds is in the hands of Dr. Middleton,* but whether he intends to use it or not, he has not told me. I can see no objection to your writing to him. Direct, Rev. Dr. Middleton, Rectory House, Kentish Town, London. "About Malone, as a critic, I totally differ from you. He was very industrious and laborious, and ferreted out a good deal by these qualities; but had not, in my opinion, a spark of genius, nor even taste, where poetry was concerned. It is capable of proof that he did not rightly understand even the measure of English verse. Steevens was full of genius, but not always to be depended upon. Sometimes he even made a sport of misleading his readers; but his powers were infinitely above any that Malone possessed. Northcote is a man of true genius, though occasionally defective as a writer. As to Mason, he was certainly a poet; but a malignant man, and particularly malignant against the good King George III. all which malignity was occasioned by some real or imagined slight† shown by the King towards his imaginary merit. With all his powers, Mason was a despicable man morally; and that is the worst that need be said of a man.‡ "I am not at all in the secrets of the new editor § and proprietors. They have not even asked me to give occasional assistance, which I should have been willing to do. But I am heartily glad to be no longer responsible for a work always going on, always responsible, and never thanked. Yours ever most truly, &c. &c. "R. NARES." * Dr. Middleton was consecrated Bishop of Calcutta, 8th May 1814. He died suddenly July 5th, 1822. See a memoir of him in Gent. Mag. vol. XCII. ii. p. 561; and vol. XCIII. ii. 647. † Perhaps because the Professorship of Poetry was not offered to him, when given to Whitehead. Jackson might resent Mason's Poem, "The Tears of Isis," which was a coarse attack on his University.-J. M. "Jackson (who died Bishop of Oxford) had not less an antipathy against Mason. At one of his supper parties, Mason happened to be mentioned, when Jackson spoke of him scornfully. I could scarcely suppress my indignation. Greville's report of Mason (in accordance with Kempethorne's) I am sure comes nearer to the truth."-POLWHELE. (See his "Reminiscences.") § Dr. Middleton. To the GENTLEMAN'S MAGAZINE. "MR. URBAN, Sept. 25, 1815. "In Park's Harleian Miscellany,' III. p. 101, there is a note on Bocardo, in Oxford, which says that it was 'formerly a place of confinement, in East-gate, near Magdalen College, Oxford.' Now I well remember the said Bocardo standing; correct, therefore, A prison over the gateway of the North-gate, Oxford, adjoining to the tower of St. Michael's Church. It was pulled down between thirty and forty years ago.' "In the Castle Barber's Soliloquy, probably written by T. Warton, Bocardo is thus mentioned: "Then think not that I ask amiss: My small request is only this; That I, by leave of Leigh, or Pardo, May, with the Castle, shave Bocardo.' -That is, may be barber to one prison, as well as the other. See 'Oxford Sausage,' p. 184. "By the Newsman's Verses for 1772, in the same Miscellany, p. 223, it appears that Bocardo was taken down in that year: "Rare tidings for the wretch whose lingering score Remains unpaid: BOCARDO is no more.' "A note says, "The City Gaol, taken down by the Oxford Paving Act.' "In some Verses spoken in the theatre at Oxford in 1773, the fall of Bocardo is mentioned as a recent event. The Verses were written by Dr. Wheeler, then Professor of Poetry. 666 Multa movent bilem. Quid censes optime? num jam Visitur Oxonii? Salve, haud ignobile nomen ! Te stante, hic steterunt; Te jam pereunte peribunt.' "A note on the name Bocardo says: "Castellum Porta Boreali impositum, nuper dirutum; tum re, tum nomine, variis olim usibus accommodatum.' "These Verses are to be found in Popham's 'Selecta Anglorum Poemata,' vol. III. p. 147. Soon after, in allusion to the logical Bocardo: "Cui placet à solo missum enthymema Bocardo.' "But we find this Northern Gate celebrated also in an older Poem, the author of which was Bishop Smalridge, entitled Auctio Davisiana.' It is thus introduced : "Est locus, improbulis benè notus civibus, urbis Plebs indocta vocat; docti dixere Bocardo.' "See Musæ Anglicanæ,' vol. I. p. 175. "This must have been written while Smalridge was still resident at Oxford, and, indeed, before he had taken orders. It was first printed in 1689. "The origin of the name is very obscure; but, as BoCARDO is the technical word in the scholastic logic to express a syllogism in the fourth figure of the third mode, I should conjecture that it arose from some academical jest, now lost, comparing the prison to that syllogism. I know not of the word in any other mode of application. "Yours, &c. A. N." Dec. 11, 1815. To the GENTLEMAN'S MAGAzine. "MR. URBAN, "In a French journal of 1813, I find an account of a great improvement of that noble instrument, the organ, by giving it expression equal to that of a voice; the only thing before wanting to its excellence. As the invention was received by the Imperial Conservatory of Music,' as it was then called, and approved publicly by the Minister of the Interior, I presume that it had some merit, and therefore subjoin a translation of the French paper; wishing, at the same time, to make inquiry of your correspondents whether the invention has been yet brought here, in any shape? So great an improvement, if real, ought to be made general. It is called The Expressive Organ; and is thus described: The Expressive Organ, invented by M. Grénié, an amateur, and executed under his direction, has been examined and heard, with the greatest interest, by the Committee named for this purpose. It had long been an object of inquiry, how to give to the Organ, the most beautiful, and most classical of all instruments, the varieties of which the voice is susceptible. It wanted hitherto the great faculty of expression, that of enforcing or diminishing the sounds, (the swell of our common organs does not, I fancy, meet the idea intended, which goes to enforce or relax any single note,) and musicians had almost renounced the hope of seeing this degree of perfection added to the organ. M. Grénié, by a mechanism at once the most simple and most ingenious, has enabled the organ to obey all the influences of the soul. The moveable key frame (clavier), applied upon the bellows themselves, seems to breathe as the player wishes; and the most practised voice cannot attemper its tones (filer des sons) with a gradation more exact. Other advantages are connected with this discovery. Wooden pipes, reduced to a different dimension, simplify the construction, and render it much less expensive. "We regret that we cannot enter into the detail of all the contrivances employed by M. Grénié; and we announce with real pleasure, that, on the report which has been made of it to his Excellency the Minister of the Interior,* he has been pleased to commission M. Grénié to construct an Expressive Organ on a large scale, to be placed in the Library of the Conservatory; which may be considered as a material point gained for the art of music, and for this Institution. It is now in hand, and the public may expect to hear it in the course of the current year (1813).-Esprit des Journaux, Fevrier 1813, p. 137. "The invention having been so far tried and approved at that period, and so far advanced towards publicity, it is perhaps only the scantiness of my information respecting what has since been done in France, which makes me in want of further intelligence. But, as many others of your readers must be, of necessity, in similar circumstances, and as the invention appears truly interesting, and particularly so to the admirers of church music, I am convinced that you will oblige many, as well as myself, by adding your efforts to make it known among us. "A. N." Reading, Jan. 29, 1816. "I send you General Fitzpatrick's epitaph on himself, which you said would be acceptable. 'My own Epitaph. "Whose turn is next? this monitory Stone * "Or for the Home Department. EDIT." |