That no dint of brond No grieved him, I plight. And four feet in the face And fifteen in brede + His nose was a foot and more; He looked lothliche, And was swart as pitch; Of him men might adrede! Charles repaired to Vassers, for the purpose of reconnoitring his monstrous enemy; but, after examining him limb by limb with the minutest attention, was so little tempted by the survey, that he declined the challenge; but suffered Ogier le Danois, whose curiosity to try the strength of such an uncouth adversary was keener than his own, to encounter the giant in the presence of both armies. Ogier armed himself with great care, mounted his best horse, chose a lance of uncommon strength, and rushed upon his enemy with the rapidity of lightning; but Ferragus, receiving the point of the spear on his shield with an air of perfect indifference, seized the knight with his right hand, lifted him from his horse, and, trussing him under his arm in such a manner that the captive could make no effort to escape, bore him off in perfect silence to the castle of Vasers. The novelty of this spectacle astonished but did not intimidate the warriors of Charlemagne. On the following morning, the gallant Reynald de Aubépine presented himself to the giant, but was as unsuccessful as Ogier; and Ferragus, not more disturbed by the struggies of the dauntless knight, whom he held under his arm, than a hawk by the fluttering of the prey in its talons, tauntingly exclaimed to Charlemagne, Charles, on the next day, dispatched Sir Constantine of Rome, together with Howel earl of Nantes, on the same errand: he then sent ten knights at once; but all shared the same fate; and he foresaw that his army was on the point of being taken from him piece-meal by the villainous giant, when the formidable Roland demanded the combat, and, in spite of the king's entreatises, persisted in his resolution of attacking the unbelieving monster.' Measured.' '+ breadth.' 'I loathly.' 'f black.' || More generally called Renaud de Montauban; the Rinaldo of the Italians. ¶ such.’ In In Ferumbras, the heroine is conspicuous for her savage and atrocious disposition. Not satisfied with betraying her father, she pushes her governess into the sea, and delights to contemplate the sufferings of one of her father's knights, who is burned alive. The Editor next treats us with a learned and amusing Introduction to the Seven Wise Masters, which he analyses as a specimen of the oriental Romance. The fragment in the Auchinleck MS. has been chiefly followed, as the most antient copy; and the conclusion has been supplied from the more recent MS. in the Cotton Library. Under the general title of Miscellaneous, Mr. Ellis has comprized all those romances which do not naturally find a place in some of the preceding Classes. They are intitled, Florice and Blanche flour, Robert of Cysille, Sir Isumbras, Sir Triamour, the Life of Ipomydon, Sir Eglamour of Artoys, Lay le Fraine, Sir Eger and Sir Grahame and Sir Gray-Steel, Sir Degoré, Roswal and Lillian, and Amys and Amylion.-Of these, one of the longest and most entertaining is the Life of Ipomydon, of which the entire MS. belongs to the Harleian Library, in the British Museum. The poem, in its original state, consists of two fyttes or cantos, and 2342 verses. Our limits forbid a more detailed exposition of the con tents of these curious volumes; and indeed, in order to form a proper estimate of their merits, it would be requisite to sketch the character and outlines of each romance, of which the shortest is too long for transcription, and the longest would be materially injured by compression. While we bear our willing testimony to the taste and diligence of the compiler, we wish that he had reserved his playful remarks and witticisms for the annotations, rather than have blended them with the narratives; and that he had given a little more extension to his critical illustrations. ART. XI. The Transactions of the Royal Irish Academy, Vol. X. 4to. Dublin, 1806. London, sold by Payne and M'Inlay. Price L Boards. THE "HE contents of this volume are, as usual, divided into the departments of Science, Literature, and Antiquities, o£ which the first is by far the most extensive. We shall endeavour to pay due attention to each, following the order of the classes. Under the head of SCIENCE, we meet first with a Description of an Apparatus for transferring Gases over Water on Mercury, &c. By the Rev. Gilbert Austin, Austin. Without the assistance of the plates, it would not be easy to give a perfect idea of Mr. Austin's invention; and we can only remark on it, that, although it would no doubt answer the end in view, we think that it would require considerable nicety in the management; while a moderate share of attention in the usual way of transferring gases might render it altogether unnecessary. An Account of a new semi-metallic substance, called Menacane, and its Ores. By the late G. Mitchell, M. B.-It may be necessary to inform our readers, that Menacane is the substance which is now by all chemical writers called Titanium; and we are surprised that this its most common appellation is not once mentioned by the author. It was discovered by Mr. Gregor of Cornwall, and was by him named Manachine, from the place at which it was found. Some years afterward, Klaproth, in one of his analyses, obtained the same substance, without (as it appears) being aware of Mr. Gregor's experiments, and gave it the name of Titanium, which has been since universally adopted. It has been more lately examined by Kirwan, Vauquelin, Lowitz, and Lampadius; so that its chemical properties are tolerably well ascertained. Mr. Mitchell, however, supposed that its natural history was still defective, and this deficiency he undertakes to supply in the paper before us. Five ores of this metal have been discovered, Rutile, Ru tilite, Nigrine, Menacane, and Iserine. The fourth is the one which was originally examined by Mr. Gregor, and consists of the oxids of titanium and of iron; the first two are cnposed entirely of the oxid of titanium, and were the substances on which Klaproth made his experiments. In his account of each of these species, the author professes to follow the method of Werner; and he arranges his remarks under the heads of external characters, observations, chemical characters, and geognostic occurrences. He concludes with some observations on the probable uses to which this metal is applicable : The use of this metal is, as will readily be supposed, from its scarcity, and the newness of its discovery, very confined. The rutile, indeed, was, for a length of time, employed to give a brown colour, in the porcelain manufacture of Sevres, near Paris; but, from the difficulty of communicating an equal tint by it, has since been abandoned. The rock crystal, inclosing capilliform crystals of rutile, has been employed as a setting for rings. The precipitates, especially those from acid of sugar, may be employed as water colours that, by acid of galls, affording a good tile red, and that, with Prussian alkali, an agreeable dark green. The latter, also, communicates a durable colour to silk, as my friend, Lampadius, assures me; perhaps, with proper management, it might be employed to furnish the so much wished for durable green for the printing of cotton. And, lastly, its close connection with some iron ores, and those exactly of the most superior quality, such as the ores of Norway and Stiria, leads naturally to the suspicion that it may possess some favourable influence upon the manufacture of iron, and, therefore, well deserves the attention of future enquirers.' On the Volcanic theory, by the Rev. Wm. Richardson, D. D. This paper is divided into three parts; the object of the first being to controvert the hypothesis originally proposed by M. Desmarest, that basalt is a volcanic production. It is as serted that he wrote on this subject with the professed intention of discrediting the scripture history, by shewing that natural phænomena are inconsistent with the Mosaic account of the creation. Some reason certainly appears for supposing that this was the case; and yet, as far as we learn from Dr. Richardson's paper, this serious imputation on M. Desmarest's character rests principally on the very suspicious authority of Barruel. The hypothesis was contained in a paper published many years ago in the memoirs of the Academy of Sciences; and Dr. R. proposes to examine it with some minuteness.-M. Desmarest builds his system principally on the appearances which he noticed in Auvergne, a country which contains a large quantity of basalt, and at the same time bears evident marks of volcanic eruptions. From his own statement of what he saw there, and from comparing it with the relations of other naturalists, Dr. R. attempts to prove (and, we think, with success,) that the facts do not correspond to the theory, and in some instances are even adverse to it.-The French philosopher afterward endeavours to support his opinion by a reference to the basaltic masses in the county of Antrim: but in every thing respecting this district, Dr. Richardson, who is a native of this part of the island, manifests that he egregiously mistook. The Doctor's opinion concerning Auvergne is, that it was originally a basaltic country, and that, independently of this circumstance, volcanoes were afterward formed there. In the 2d part of his inquiry, Dr. R. examines the works of the different authors who have supported the hypothesis of M Desmarest; and among others he particularly notices St. Fond, Dolomieu, Whitehurst, and Spallanzani. They all appear to have taken for granted, without farther examination, the volcanic origin of basalt, and have done little more than endea vour to remove particular objections which have been made to the hypothesis, or to add new facts which seemed to confirm it. From a review of these writings, the Doctor thinks that he is warranted in concluding that they do not add any real support to the system; and that the facts which they adREY. Nov. 1806. U duce duce prove that, where basalt has been discovered near a volcano, it must have existed previously to it and independently of it. He notices an opinion suggested by Dr. Hamilton, that basalt has been formed by crystallization in the interior of volcanoes, and not in the currents of lava. Many circumstances seem to militate against this idea; and among others it is stated that basalt is found disposed in strata with substances of a different nature interposed between them: an arrangement which could not have taken place if the whole had been in a state of fusion. Part 3 of this paper contains the writer's own opinion on 3. the subject. He draws his arguments against the volcanic origin of basalt principally from the appearances which it presents in the county of Antrim. In no part of the world, perhaps, is it found in greater abundance, or in a more perfect state; and we think that the facts adduced by the author, against the French hypothesis of its volcanic origin, are perfectly decisive. Dr. R. conceives that basalt is a primitive production, and that it was originally formed in the state in which it now exists; an opinion which, we may observe, tends rather to cut than to untie the knot.-We cannot enter farther into the discussion than to remark that basalt may be of igneous origin, altho' not the product of a volcano; an idea which we are, on the whole, inclined to adopt. This memoir displays considerable ability, and is a very spirited and able attack on M. Desmarest's theory: but we must regret that the author should have chosen to adopt so contemptuous and flippant a manner of treating his opponent. Admitting the latter to have been influenced by the unworthy motives of which he has been suspected, it would have been more dignified in Dr. R. to have exposed them without comment, and to have left the reader to form his own judgment on them. We do not, however, think that the charge alleged against M. Desmarest has been proved; it certainly is not substantiated in the paper before us. He has undoubtedly employed very inadequate arguments to support his opinion; and he seems in many cases to have viewed the phænomena which fell under his observation, rather as a partial advocate than as a candid inquirer after truth: but this is a failing to which naturalists in general have so great a propensity, that it is not necessary to imagine any unusual motives for it in this particular instance. An Experimental Inquiry into the nature of gravelly and calcu lous Concretions, in the human subject; and the effects of alkaline and acid substances on them, in and out of the Body. By Thomas Egan, M. D.-The object of this paper, which occupies nearly 100 |