ing, with Raphael and Angelo at its head, will ever be surpassed in the essential perfections of the art. The second Roman school flourished at this time, which included the Caraccis-three brothers Guercino, Albano, Lanfranc, Domenichino, and Guido.

The last portion of the present era, comprising the eighteenth century, and the nineteenth thus far, is perhaps less distinguished than the portion of it just reviewed, for profound attainments and original works in science and literature. This seems to arise rather from the force of circumstances, than from any other cause. Many subjects of investigation had been forestalled, yet great improvements have been made in every department of knowledge, nor have discoveries been wanting; and where the genius of former ages has not exhausted research, research has been made. Within this period some sciences have been created, and others have been greatly advanced. By a course of observation agreeably to the Baconian philosophy, the great principles of chemistry, botany, electricity, galvanism, mineralogy, geology, statistics, in many respects geography, and perhaps one or two other sciences, have been fixed on a new and firm basis. Both the science and the practice of astronomy have been carried to a very high pitch, by the talents and ingenuity of many eminent persons in France, Britain, Germany, Italy, &c. Five planets have been added to those formerly known as belonging to our solar system. But it would be endless to specify particulars in respect to the advancement of knowledge.

In polite learning, the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries have been greatly distinguished. The Augustan age of English literature is said by some to have begun with the eighteenth century under Queen Anne, and to have continued, without any visible decline, till the accession of George III., a period rendered glorious by the names of Addison, Swift, Congreve, Rowe, Steele, Prior, Pope, Young, Watts, Thomson, and many others. But ever since the accession of George III., though the period has been more particularly fruitful in scientific and philosophic research, there has been an illustrious train of fine writers, with Johnson and Burke at their head; and though poetry declined in the latter part of the eighteenth century, a new school has arisen since the commencement of the present ceneury, including several names, both in Great Britain and in the United States, destined to immortality. In our own country literature has made a rapid progress during the last twenty or thirty years, as is also the case with every branch of learning. In lexicography we can boast a standard work, (Webster's Dictionary,) which, it is believed, for extent of learning, and accuracy of thought, is superior to any other publication of the kind in the English language. In periodical literature, both countries, Great Britain for a long time, America more recently, have made the most laudable efforts; and indeed this is a form in which the mind of all intellectual nations now chooses to exhibit much of its wealth. It is needless to speak of continental Europe in respect to polite learning, since it is impossible to particularize. France and Germany have more especially excelled in works of taste and imagination, as well as in the departments of science and

philosophy. Other nations on the continent, however, have a share in the glory of these noble pursuits.

During the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries the fine arts have been cultivated with much success. Architects, painters, and sculptors, have generally received a patronage worthy of their merits. Hogarth, Reynolds, Mengs, Cipriani, West, and David, in painting, and Canova, Flaxman, and Chantrey, in sculpture, are great names. American talent has been conspicuous in the former art. Within the period here spoken of, there have been numerous inventions and discoveries, many of which are exceedingly important. By means of them, the conveniences and comforts of life have been almost indefinitely extended and multiplied. On these objects the human intellect has been most vigorously and happily employed. The numerous inventions which are designed to aid the various branches of manufactures, and the application of steam to the same and to many other purposes, are the glory of the age. A very few of the more important discoveries and inventions are the following, viz.: inoculation, and much more recently vaccination, spinning machines, stereotype printing, lightning rods, life-boats, and life-preservers, the cotton-gin, engraving on steel plates, steam engines, steam-boats, and locomotive engines.

To concentrate and give effect to individual labors, societies, in more modern times, have been formed in all parts of the world; and on these now depends, in a great degree, the further improvement of mankind in knowledge. Thus in England there is the Royal Society which has been already mentioned, the Antiquarian Society, the Royal Academy, the Society of Arts, and the Board of Agriculture. In France there is what is now called the Imperial or Royal Institute; and at Berlin, Madrid, Vienna, and Petersburg, there exist royal societies like those of London. America also has its literary associations, and there are others in India, and even Turkey-all laboring for the promotion and propagation of knowledge.

The power of association for such a purpose, as well as for its great collateral object, viz. religion, was scarcely realized until comparatively of late years. It is a distinguishing feature of the age, and wili doubtless be increasingly relied upon in future time. Multitudes of students and readers have been brought into being by these means, especially in connection with the periodical press. The extent to which newspapers have been published in the United States, and Great Britain, particularly the former, show how much may be calculated upon for the diffusion of knowledge, on that means alone. More probably than two millions of prints of that kind are put into circulation every week in these two countries. With every deduction on account of the light character of many of these vehicles of intelligence the amount of information which they diffuse cannot but be considerable. That information, it is to be noted, operates, particularly in the United States, on the great mass of the people. It cannot be denied, however, that these papers, in many instances, have produced a degree of political animosity, that endangers the stability of free institutions. It becomes important, therefore, that they should be

controlled in their character, by the good sense of the community, as enlightened by early moral and religious instruction. The periodical press, as it might and ought to be conducted, would be of incalculable advantage, in respect both to the intelligence and morals of the coinmunity.

On the whole, as we have now the advantage of looking over the entire history of human genius, we arrive at the following result. "In several of the fine arts, in which chiefly the taste and imagination are concerned, such as poetry, rhetoric, statuary, and architecture, the ancients, according to the general opinion, have equalled, if not surpassed, any of the moderns. The ancients nobly distinguished themselves also in those more vigorous exercises of the understanding which are demanded by pure mathematics; in proof of which it is sufficient to quote the name of Euclid and of Archimedes. But it was reserved for the moderns to invent a calculus-a new and more profound arithmetic, which was called for by a more exact acquaintance with nature herself, and was to be applied to that more improved state of natural science which is peculiar to later times; we allude to the doctrine of fluxions, or to the differential method of Newton and Leibnitz, since cultivated and applied to physical astronomy with great success by the French, and especially by La Place. In most of those branches of knowledge, however, which rest on the basis of experiment and observation, the ancients almost entirely failed. The case is, that to form theories, or systems of science and philosophy, from a hasty view of facts and appearances, is an easy task, since this can be done without the labour of close and patient thinking: and if antiquity be in truth, as Bacon represents it, but the childhood and youth of the world, it is nothing more than we might expect, that, at that period of its existence, imagination should prevail over reason; and that the calmer and more successful exercises of the latter should not unfold themselves till a maturer age."

Discoveries and Inventions.

1. A passing notice only can be taken of the discoveries and inventions which have characterized modern ages, as a full and adequate account of them would require volumes. Many of them are altogether new and original; others are essential improvements of the works of antiquity. Those of a mechanical character, will claim principal attention in this place, since some that pertain to science and philosophy, are naturally included in the consideration of those subjects. Somewhat of a chronological order will be observed. The following are a few of the many inventions and discoveries that are presented in modern history.

2. Corn Mills. In remote antiquity, corn was rather pounded than ground; and the hand-mills of which we read in scripture, were probably not unlike the pestle and mortar still in use. In

provements were made in these machines. till, in process of tine. shafts were added to them, and they were driven by cattle. The first mention of public water-mills which occurs in the Roman laws, dates in the year 398, A. C., when some enactments were made, which shew they were then considered as a new establishment. These mills were situated on the aqueducts which supplied Rome with water, and as these were cut off when the city was besieged by the Goths, 536, Belisarius, who commanded the garrison, caused boats to be moored in the Tyber, on which he erected mills, which were driven by the current. Hence the origin of tide mills. Wind-mills, which for a long time were so constructed, that they could work only when the wind was in one quarter, are not spoken of till the time of the first crusade.

3. Clocks and Watches.-The art of constructing mechanical clocks was unknown to the ancients. It was not until late in the fifth century of the Roman era (293 B. C.) that the first sun-dial was introduced into Rome. At a later period, a machine was invented at Alexandria, termed a water-clock, which was simply a conica! glass, with the scale marked on the sides; and which, being perforated at the base, denoted the hour, as the liquid, with which it was filled, subsided. To this may be traced the origin of the hour

glass, still in use.

The inventor of clocks moved by machinery, is not certainly known Several names of the ninth century have been mentioned, but there is reason to believe that the origin of the present invention is not older than the eleventh century. About that time, clocks moved by weights and wheels, certainly began to be used in the monasteries of Europe. The writers of the thirteenth century, speak of them as being well known; still they were for a long time confined to monasteries. It was not till towards the close of the fifteenth century, that they began to be used in private houses; and about the same time, mention is first made of watches. These were originally formed in the shape of an egg, or at least of an oval, and catgut supplied the place of a metal chain. The first watch is said to have been made in Germany. In England, watches appear not to have been in general use, until about the time of Queen Elizabeth.

The invention of pendulum clocks, is due to the ingenuity of the seventeenth century, and the honour of the discovery is disputed between Galileo and Huygens. The most ancient. now existing in England, is that of Hampton Court palace, the date of which is 1540.

4. Linen used as clothing.-Although linen was known in ancient times in the East, and was introduced into Rome in the second century, it was not used in Europe, in the form of a garment, till sometime in the third century. It was earlier adopted for the table than for the person. The emperor Alexander Severus, is said to have been the first European, who wore a linen shirt. But inasmuch as the web was usually interwoven with threads of gold, it was too rough to be much of a luxury. The manufacture of this article made but little progress in Europe, during the middle ages. It was confined both then, and for a long period afterwards to private families

among whom it was made for domestic use; and its scarcity as an article of apparel, has been considered as one chief cause of that cutaneous disorder, formerly called leprosy. About the middle of the twelfth century, linen was so little known, that woollen shirts were generally worn in Milan; and flannel, or rather linseywolsey, formed the usual underclothing of ladies. Linen was first imported into England from Flanders.

5. Glass Windows.-The venerable Bede tells us, that artificers, skilled in making glass for windows, were first brought into England from the continent, in 674, and were employed in glazing the church of the monastery at Wearmouth. But the art was not generally practiced, and the luxury of such windows was slowly adopted, for it was not until a century after the Norman conquest (1160, or 1170) that they began to be used in private houses, and even then, few could support such a style of magnificence. The manufacture of glass was not commenced in England, until the middle of the sixteenth century.

6. Glass Mirrors.-There is no positive evidence that glass mirrors were known before the year 1279. At that time, an English Franciscan monk speaks of them, in a work on optics, but also mentions that they were covered on the back with lead. It may be inferred that this invention cannot be much older, from the circumstance that glass mirrors were scarce in France, even in the fourteenth century. Various methods were adopted to perfect the art, before that which is now in use.

7. Mariner's Compass.-The date of the invention of the mariner's compass, is near the commencement of the fourteenth century. Gioia, of Amalfi, in Naples, a celebrated mathematician, from his knowledge of the magnetic powers, was the author or improver of this important contrivance. The polarity of the magnet had been known in Europe, as early as the thirteenth century, but the compass was not used in sailing, till the time of Gioia. It is said that the Chinese, as in several other inventions or discoveries, lay claim to a knowledge of the compass long before; but we may well be incredulous in regard to most of their pretensions of this sort, since they are so much in accordance with that vanity, which derives their national existence from ages long preceding the scriptural account of the creation. By this discovery, the dominion of the sea has been opened to man, and he is also put in full possession of the terrestrial giobe, by being enabled to visit every part of it. The art of steering by this instrument, was gradually acquired. Sailors unaccustomed to quit sight of land, durst not launch out and commit themselves to unknown seas. The first appearance of a bolder spirit may be dated from the voyages of the Spaniards to the Canary Islands.

8. Gunpowder. It is said that the Chinese claim acquaintance with gunpowder from the remotest era of their history; but however that may be, it is certain, that several centuries of the Christian era had passed away before it was known in Europe. Some have thought that the knowledge of it was obtained in Europe through