ARTS AND SCIENCES. PHYSIOLOGY. STATURE. THE vital principle seems to act with the greater energy, as the sphere of its activity is narrowed; which has led Pliny to say, that it was chiefly in the smallest things that Nature has shown the fulness of her power.* The circulation is quicker, the pulse more frequent, the determinations more prompt, in men of short stature. Such was the great Alexander: never did man of colossal make, display great activity of imagination: none of them have glowed with the fire of genius. Slow in their actions, moderate in their desires, they obey without murmuring, the will that governs them, and seem made for slavery. Agrippa (says Emilius Probus, in his History of Augustus) advised that they should disband the Spanish guard, and that in its room, Cæsar should choose one of Germans, "wotting well, that in these large bodies, there was little of coverte malice, and yet lesse of subtiltie, and that it was a people more minded to be ruled than to rule." To judge soundly of the remarkable difference which inequality of stature brings into the character, compare extremes; set against a Colossus, a little man of diminutive stature; granting, nevertheless, to this last, full and vigorous health. You may guess that he is talkative, stirring, always in action, always changing his place: one would say that he is labouring to recover in time, what he has lost in space. The probable reason of this difference in the vital activity, following the difference of stature, arises from the relative bulk of the primary organs of life. THE HEART. than the least bird of prey; that the ox has less than the lion and other carnivorous animals. What has been said does not apply to the absolute, but to the relative size of the heart. Now, though the heart of a hawk be absolutely smaller than that of the turkey cock, it is nevertheless larger, in proportion to the other parts of the animal. Besides, the bird of prey, like the other carnivorous animals, in part owes his courage to the strength of his weapons of offence. Another objection, more specious, but no better founded, is drawn from the courage manifested, on certain occasions, by the most timid animals; for example, by the hea in protecting her young; from the courage with which other animals pressed by hunger, surmount all obstacles; but particularly from the heroic valour of men of the most feeble bodies. All these facts, however, are only proofs of the influence of the mind on the body. In civilized man, the prejudices of honour, interested considerations, and a thousand other circumstances, degrade the natural inclinations of man, so as to make a coward of one whose strength is such as would induce him to brave all kinds of dangers; while on the other hand, men whose organization should render them most timid, are inspired to perform the most daring actions. But all these passions, all these moral affections operate, only by increasing the action of the heart, by increasing the frequency and the force of its pulsation, so that it excites the brain or the muscular system by a more abundant supply of blood. THE FACULTIES. When the mind brings together two ideas, when it compares them, and determines on their analogy, it judges. A certain number of judgments, in series, form a reasoning. To reason, then, is only to judge of the relations that exist among the ideas with which the senses supply us, or which are reproduced by imagination. Courage arises out of the consciousness of strength, and the latter is in proportion to It is with the faculties of the soul, as with the activity with which the heart propels the those of the body. When called into full blood towards all the organs. The inward exertion, the intellectual organ gains vigour; sensation occasioned by the afflux of the it languishes in too long repose. If we exblood, is the more lively, and the better felt ercise certain faculties only, they are greatwhen the heart is powerful. It is on that ac-ly developed to the prejudice of the rest. count that some passions, for example, anger, It is thus that, by the study of mathematics, by increasing the action of the heart increases soundness of judgment is acquired, and prea hundred fold both the strength and cour-cision of reasoning, to the extinction of image, while fear produces an opposite effect. Every being that is feeble, is timorous, shuns danger, because an inward feeling warns him that he does not possess sufficient strength to resist it. It may perhaps be objected, that some animals, as the turkey cock and the ostrich, possess less courage agination, which never rises to great strength without injury to the judging and reasoning powers. The descriptive sciences employ especially the memory, and it is seldom that they much enlarge the minds of those who study them exclusively. The most scanty languages have been formed in the most barren countries. The * Nusquam magis quam in minimis est tota Natura, savage who strays along the desert shores Hist. Nat. lib. II. cap. 2. of New-Zealand, needs but few signs to distinguish the small number of objects that those agitations, of which however, repuhabitually impress his senses; the sky, the tation, wealth, and power, are the uncerearth, fire, shells, the fish, that form his tain aim. Our passions have not yet been chief food, the quadrupeds, and the vege-analyzed with the same care as our ideas: tables, which are but few in number under no one has yet duly stated the differences this severe climate, are all that he has to there are, in respect to their number and name and to know; accordingly, his vocabu- energy, betwixt savage man, and man in lary is very small; it has been given to us the midst of civilized and enlightened soby travellers in the compass of a few pages. ciety. A copious language, one capable of exAll passions spring from desire, and suppressing a great variety of objects, of sensations and of ideas, supposes high civiliation pose a certain degree of exaltation of the in the people among whom itis spoken. You intellectual faculties. The shades of the hear complaints of the perpetual recurrence passions are infinite; they might be all of the same expressions, the same thoughts, arranged by a systematic scale, of which the same images, in the poetry of Ossian; but indifference would be the lowest gradation, living amidst the barren rocks of Scotland, and maniacal rage the highest. A man, the bards could not speak of things of which without passions, is as impossible to imagnothing, on the soil they inhabited, could ine, as a man without desires; yet we dissupply them with the idea. The monotony tinguish as passionate, those whose will of their languages was involved in that of rises powerfully towards one object earnesttheir impressions, always produced by rocks, ly longed for. In the delirium of the pasmists, winds, the billows of the ireful ocean, the gloomy heath, and the silent pine, &c. The repetition of the same expressions, in the Scriptures, shows that civilization had not made the same progress among the Hebrews, as among the Greeks and Ro mans. sions, we are for ever making, unconsciously, false judgments, of which the error is exaggeration. A man recovering from a seizure of fear, laughs at the object of his terror. Look at the lover whose passion is extinct: freed at last from the spell that enthralled him, all the perfections with which his love had invested its objects are vanished; the illusion has passed away; and he can almost believe that it is she who is no longer the same, while himself alone is changed: like those maniacs who, on their return to reason, wonder at the excesses of their delirium, and listen, incredulously, to the relation of their own actions. The ambitious man feeds on imaginations of wealth and power. He who hates, exaggerates the defects of the object of his hatred, and sees crimes in his lightest faults. To think is only to feel: and to feel is, for us, the same as to exist: for, it is by sensation we know of our existence. Ideas, or perceptions, are either sensations, properly so called, or recollections, or relations which we perceive, or, lastly, the desire that is occasioned in us by these relations. The faculty of thought, therefore, falls into the natural subdivision of sensibility, properly termed memory, judgment, and will. To feel, properly speaking, is to be conscious of an impression; to remember, is to be The effects of the passions are not, for sensible of the remembrance of a past imtheir uniformity, the less inexplicable. pression; to judge, is to feel relations How, and why does anger give rise to madamong our perceptions; lastly, to will, is to desire something. Of these four elements, ness, and to sudden death? How does fear sensations, recollections, judgments, and de- &c.? Why does excessive joy, a sense of determine paralysis, convulsions, epilepsy, sires, are formed all compound ideas. Attention is but an act of the will; compari-effects as fatal, as sad and afflicting impres pleasure carried to extremity, produce sons cannot be separated from judgment, sions? In what way can violence of laughsince we cannot compare two objects withter lead to death? Excess of laughter out judging them; reasoning is only a re- killed the painter Zeuxis and the philosopetition of the act of judging; to reflect, to imagine, is to compose ideas, analyzable pher Chrysippus, according to the relation into sensations, recollections, judgments, of the Cevennes, under Louis XIV. was of Pliny. The conversion of the reformed and desires. This sort of imagination, which effected by binding them on a bench, and is only certain and faithful memory, ought tickling the soles of their feet, till, overnot to be distinguished from it. THE PASSIONS. powered by this torture, they abjured their creed; many died in the convulsions and immoderate laughter which the tickling exIt is to avoid extreme wants, of which a cited. A hundred volumes would be invigilant foresight perceives afar off the possibility-it is to satisfy all the factitious wants which society and civilization have created, that men condemn themselves to sufficient to detail all the effects of the passions on physical man; how many would it take to tell their history in moral man, from their dark origin, through all their stages of growth, in the infinite variety of their cha- | siognomy is drawn in the lives of Mark racters, and in all their evanescent shades. MODULATIONS OF THE VOICE. Antony and Alcibiades. In Bacchus are found both the forms and the character. But why seek amongst the illustrious men of antiquity, or among its gods, the model of the temperament I have been describing, whilst it is so easy to find it among the moderns? No one, in my opinion, exhibits a more perfect type of it than the Marshal Duke of Richelieu, that man, so amiable, fortunate and brave in war, light and inconstant, to the end of his long and brilliant career. Whatever Rousseau may have said, in his Dictionary of Music, singing may be regarded as the most natural expression of the emotions of the soul, since the least civilized nations so use it in their songs of war and love, of joy and mourning: and as every affection of the mind modifies in some way the voice, music, which is only imitated song, can, by the aid of sounds, paint love or rage, sadness or joy, fear or desire, can Inconstancy and levity are, in fact, the produce the emotions of these different chief attribute of men of this temperament; states, can thus sway the course of our ideas, good, generous, feeling, quick, and impasand direct at pleasure the operations of the sioned. In vain he whom nature has enunderstanding, and the acts of the will. Of dowed with a sanguine temperament, will all the instruments which this art employs, think to take fixed and lasting likings, to the vocal organ of man is indisputably the attain, by profound meditation, to the most most perfect, that from which the most varied abstract truths; mastered by his dispositions, powers may be obtained. Who is there that he will be for ever driven back to the pleaknows not the property of the human voice sures from which he flies, to the inconstancy to lend itself to all accents, and to imitate which is his lot; more fitted to the brilliant all languages? I will observe, on the oc-productions of wit, than the sublime concasion of song, that it is especially conse-ceptions of genius. crated to the expression of tender senti- If sensibility, which is vivid and easily ments or movements of passion, and that it is turning it aside from its natural or primitive destination, to employ it in situations where no emotion can be supposed. It is this that makes the recitative of our operas so intolerably tiresome, and throws such ludicrousness over dialogues where the speakers converse singing, on the most indifferent matters. Languages abounding in vowels, are thereby fitted to song, and favour the growth of musical genius. It is perhaps their smooth and sonorous language that has given to the music of the Italians, its superiority over that of other countries. The declamation of the ancients was much more removed than our own, from the common tone of conversation, approached nearer to music, and might be noted like real song. TEMPERAMENTS. excited, can dwell long upon one object; if the pulse is strong, hard, and frequent, the sub-cutaneous veins prominent, the skin of a brown, inclining towards yellow, the hair black, moderate fulness of flesh, but firm, the muscles marked, the forms harshly expressed; the passions will be violent, the movements of the soul often abrupt and impetuous, the character firm and inflexible. Bold in the conception of a project, constant and indefatigable in its execution, it is among men of this temperament we find those who in different ages have governed the destinies of the world; full of courage, of boldness and activity, all have signalised themselves by great virtues or great crimes, have been the terror or admiration of the universe. Such were Alexander and Julius Cæsar, Brutus, Mahomet, Charles XII., the Czar Peter, Cromwell, Sixtus V., Cardinal Richelieu. If the heart and the vessels which carry the blood through every part, are of pre- As love in the sanguine, ambition is in dominant activity, the pulse will be sharp, the bilious the governing passion. Observe frequent, regular, the complexion ruddy, the a man, who, born of an obscure family, countenance animated, the shape good, the long vegetates in the lower ranks: great forms softened though distinct, the flesh of shocks agitate and overthrow empires: tolerable consistence, moderate plumpness, actor, at first secondary, of these great rethe hair fair and inclining to chesnut; the volutions, which are to change its destiny, nervous susceptibility will be lively, and at- the ambitious hides from all his designs, tended with rapid susceptibility, that is to and, by degrees, raises himself to the sovesay, that being easily affected by the im-reign power, employing to preserve it the pressions of outward objects, men of this same address with which he possessed himtemperament will pass rapidly from one self of it. This is, in two words, the history idea to another; conception will be quick, of Cromwell, and of all usurpers. memory prompt, and the imagination lively. The physical traits of this temperament are to be found in the statues of Antinous and the Apollo Belvidere. Its moral phy The portrait of Justice in the house of a certain Judge, MISCELLANEOUS. ANECDOTES OF MONKEYS. From a late English publication. WHEN Lord Howe commanded at Gibralter a party of his officers, were amusing themselves with whiting-fishing at the back "The usual effects followed. Other stea after having been themselves previously inoculated, and several are (it is said) now sending out to South America, provided with all necessary means for spreading the beneficial infection. May the attempt sucthat extensive continent, have cause to bless ceed, and men and monkeys, throughout the name of England! of the rock; but were disturbed and obligdy monkeys were thus instructed in the art, ed to shift their ground, from being pelted from above, they gained a station where they caught plenty of fish. At this time the drums beat to arms, on some unexpected occasion, and the officers rowed their boat ashore, and left it high and dry upon the beach, hurrying where their duty called them. "On their return, their surprise was excessive to find their boat beached, not half so high as they left it, and at some little dis- "Now the things which most distinguish tance from its former position. Their amaze-man from beast, are man's exclusive use of ment was increased, on examining their clothing and weapons, and management of tackle, to find some hooks baited, which had fire; yet here we see monkeys adopting two been left bare, and to see the disposition of of the habits, which are supposed to be pemany things altered. The cause was after-culiar to man; and my next anecdote will wards explained. An officer of Hanoverian show monkeys exercising the other. grenadiers, who was amusing himself with a "I was promised a private exhibition of solitary walk, happened to be a close observ- these beasts by a showman in a country er of animal and vegetable nature. This village. On approaching the covered cart, man, hearing the chatter of monkeys, stole I was alarmed at finding it lighted, and reupon a party of young ones, who were pelt-proached the master with having made his ing the fishers from behind some rocks. exhibition public. In this, however, I did While they were so employed, arrived two or three old ones who drove the youngsters away, and then remained behind secretly observing the proceedings of the whitingfishers. "The fishers having beached their boat and retired, the monkeys apparently deemed the time was come for turning their observations to account. They accordingly launched the boat, put to sea, baited their books, and proceeded to work. Their sport was small, as might be anticipated, from the impatient nature of the animals; but what few they caught, were hauled up with infinite exultation. When they were tired they landed, placed the boat (as nearly as they could) in her old position, in the friendly spirit on which I have before remarked, and went up the rock with their game." him wrong. He assured me that the light was only to keep his monkeys quiet, who would otherwise disturb the whole village with their cries; and in fact I, on entering, found four monkeys seated round a table, with a farthing candle upon it, as if for the purpose of conversation. "The alarm of these monkeys in the dark is another curious fact, though people, who have studied the habits of animals, know that the young of these are as instinctively subject to causeless fear in darkness as children themselves; and I was once or twice thrown on my face, in crossing a heath at night, by a Newfoundland puppy, who howled and ran between my legs for refuge at the sight of every prominent object, more especially if it was white." "In one of the old border peels lived a monkey, who, for a monkey, might be deemed of a very phlegmatic constitution, for his principal gratification was sleeping in the exclusive possession of which he was however sometimes disturbed. His enemy was a raven, whose petulance would have been intolerable to any but a Scottish monkey. Pug, however, dissembled his rage, and watched his opportunity. "The small pox having spread fearfully amongst the monkeys of South America, Dr., secretary to the Bloomsbury-sun on the spacious flat of the tower, in the street vaccination society, was struck by the idea of arresting its further progress. Vaccination was of course to be the means of staying the plague, and his scheme for its introduction was singularly ingenious. He vaccinated two or three boys, (whom he first bound, hands and feet,) in the presence of an old baboon, who was observed to be closely attentive to his proceedings. He then left him alone with a young monkey, depositing a guarded lancet and some of the "He took some sausages which he found lying in the scullery, and with them made himself a necklace, with a long string hanging down in front, such as that to which ladies often fasten a cross. He strutted about the leads for some time, as if proud of his ornament, with a switch in his hand, which appeared to have been taken up in order to complete his equipment. At last he seemed tired of this display, laid himself down at full length, and closed his eyes. We extract the following description of the famous Beau Nash from "Letters from the west of England :”— Of a verity, this same Nash was as complete a despot as an African fiend of Ashantee. When the Duchess of Queensberry appeared at the dress-ball in an apron, he deliberately commanded her to take it off; observing, as he threw it to the attendants, that there was no regulation by which housemaids were admitted to the balls. And when the Princess Amelia applied to him for one more dance after eleven o'clock, he refused, -assuring her, that the laws of Bath were, like those of Lycurgus, unalterable. time for their footman to wait on them home to prevent disturbance and inconvenience to themselves and others. That no person take it ill that any one goes to another's play or breakfast, and not to theirs-except captious by nature. That gentlemen crowding before ladies, at the ball, show ill manners; and that none do so for the future-except such as respect nobody but themselves. That no gentleman or lady take it ill that another dances before them-except such as have no pretension to dance at all. That the elder ladies and children be content with a second bench at the ball-as being past, or not come to perfection That the younger ladies take notice how many eyes observe them.-N. B. This does not extend to the Have-at-alls. That all whisperers of lies and scandal be taken for the authors. That all repeaters of such lies and scandal be shunned by all company-except such as have been guilty of the same crime. The influence which this firmness, in his government, gave him, in the little world of Nash, like many other heroes, died in poBath, was unbounded; and Nash took care verty, and unlamented. The great, whom to preserve and increase it by a considera- he had served with such devotion, rewarded ble affectation of splendour in his dress and him—as they usually do the minions of their equipage,-aware that external appearance pleasures-by deserting him in the hour of has a powerful and visible effect on the need. Sickness attacked him; and poverty greatest part of mankind,-the weak and stared him in the face. These were evils the proud, namely; and that the wise and against which he had provided no defence, the good are not quite insensible to it. and, therefore, they fell upon him with douConsistently with this just view of human-ble weight. Sorrow and distress clouded nature, his house was richly furnished; his the evening of his days, and reflection came chariot was drawn by six grey horses; sev- too late for any other purpose, than to diseral persons, on horseback and on foot, at-play to him the disconsolate situation of that tended him, bearing French-horns, and oth-man, when he approaches his end, who has er noisy instruments. His own dress was spent his whole life in the pursuit of pleasure the very acmé of fashionable absurdity, and and the service of folly. He died in 1761, his head was usually decorated with a white aged 83,-and was buried at the expense of hat. He was certainly a dandy of the very the corporation, with great pomp and cirfirst curl; and, without any sterling mental cumstantiality. qualifications, he ruled the flower of British fashion with glorious success :-a proof, by the way, that the insects which buz in the glare of worldly frivolity may be awed into subjection, even by-a monkey. Nash, like all other conceited persons, had a wonderful opinion of his own wit and talents; and, by way of displaying them to his admiring dependants, he had the following rules (written by himself) posted in all the places of public amusement. Coarse and impudent as they are, they would not, perhaps, be wholly unserviceable in some of our metropolitan assemblies. Rules by general consent determined. sure That a visit of ceremony, at coming to Bath, and another at going away, is all that is expected or desired by ladies of quality and fashion-except impertinents. That ladies coming to the balls, appoint a During his life, a marble statue was erected in the Pump-room, and placed between the busts of Newton and Pope; and, after his death, a monument was erected to his memory in the Abbey, with an eloquent though somewhat flattering inscription, by the celebrated Dr. Harrington. Under the inscription is cut, in marble, the arm of Death, striking his dart at a falling crown and sceptre; with the motto "Equâ pulsat manu !" PUBLISHED EVERY SATURDAY. JAMES G. BROOKS, Terms-Four dollars per annum, payable in advance, |