fame acquired by this class of writers. Whether it be that the science itself rests on a precarious foundation; that its discoveries can never be brought to a decisive test; that it is too remote from the business of life, to be generally interesting; that it does not compensate by its use, for its defects in the fascinations of pleasure; and that it is not, like the intricacies of law, interwoven with the institutions of society: the fact is unquestionable. He who aspires to a reputation, that shall survive the vicissitudes of opinion and of time, must think of some other character than that of a metaphysician. Grand and imposing in its appearance, it seems to lay claim to universal empire, and to supply the measures and the criteria of all other knowledge; but resembles in its progress the conquests of a Sesostris and a Bacchus, who overran kingdoms and provinces with ease, but made no permanent settlements, and soon left no trace of their achievements. but if they are less extensive, they are more certain; if they occupy less ground, they cultivate it better. In the language of Bacon, “they come home to men's business and bosom." As they aim at the delineation of living nature, they can never deviate far from truth and reality, without becoming ridiculous, while, for the fidelity of their representations, they appeal to the common sense of mankind, the dictates of which they do little more than embody and adorn. The system of Locke, or of Hartley it is possible to conceive, may be exploded by the prevalence of a different theory; but it is absurd to suppose, that the remarks on life and manners, contained in the writings of Addison or of Johnson, can ever be discredited by a future moralist. In the formation of a theory, more especially in matters so subtle and complicated as those which relate to the mind, the sources of error are various. When a chain of reasoning consists of many links, a failure of connexion in any The case is very different with po- part will produce a mass of error in pular writers, who, without attempt- the result, proportioned to the length ing to form a theory, or to trace to to which it is extended. In a complitheir first elements the vast assem-cated combination, if the enumeration blage of passions and principles which enter into the composition of man, are satisfied with describing him as he is. These writers exhibit characters, paint manners, and display human nature in those natural and affecting lights under which it will always appear to the eye of an acute and feeling observer. Without staying to inquire why it is that men think, feel, reason, remember, are attracted by some objects or repelled by others, they take them as they are, and delineate the infinitely various modifications and appearances assumed by our essential nature. From the general mass of human passions and manners, they detach such portions as they suppose will admit of the most beautiful illustrations, or afford the most instructive lessons, Next to a habit of self-reflection, accompanied with an attentive survey of real life, writers of this kind are the best guides in the acquisition of that most important branch of knowledge, an acquaintance with mankind. As they profess to consider human nature under some particular aspect, their views are necessarily more limited than those of metaphysical writers; of particulars in the outset is not complete, the mistake is progressive and incurable. In the ideal philosophy of Locke, for example, if the sources of sensation are not sufficiently explored, or if there be, as some of the profoundest thinkers have suspected, other sources of ideas than those of sensation, the greater part of his system falls to the ground. The popular writers of whom we have been speaking, are not exposed to such dangers. It is possible, indeed, that many particular views may be erroneous, but as their attention is continually turned to living nature, provided they be possessed of competent talents, their general delineations cannot fail of being distinguished by fidelity and truth. While a few speculative men amuse themselves with discussing the comparative merits of different metaphysical systems, these are the writers, whose sentiments, conveyed through innumerable channels, form the spirit of the age; nor is it to be doubted, that the Spectator and the Rambler have imparted a stronger impulse to the public mind than all the metaphysical systems in the world. OBSERVATIONS ON THE BEING OF A GOD. (Concluded from col. 714.) "III. ASTRONOMICAL phænomena very difficult to be accounted for upon natural principles; and strong evidences of the being and continual agency of God: "PHENOMENON I. "The motion of a planet in an elliptic orbit is truly wonderful, and incapable of a physical demonstration in all its particulars. From its aphelion, or greatest distance from the sun, or body round which it revolves, to its perihelion, or least distance, its motion is continually accelerated; and from its perihelion to its aphelion as constantly retarded. From what source has the planet derived that power, which it opposes to the solar attraction, in such a manner, that when passing from aphelion to perihelion, by a continued acceleration, it is prevented from making a nearer approach to the sun? And, on the other hand, what influence prevents the planet, after it has passed, by a continued retardation, from perihelion to aphelion, from going altogether out of the solar attraction, and causes it to return again to perihelion? In Sir Isaac Newton's demonstration, that this phænomenon is a necessary result of the laws of gravity and projectile forces; it is worthy of observation, that to account for a planet's moving in an elliptic orbit, little differing from a circle, and having the sun in the lower focus, the projectile force of the planet, or the power by which it would move for ever in a straight line, if not acted upon from without, is assumed to be nearly sufficient to counterbalance the planet's gravitating power, or, which is the same thing, the attraction of the central body-for, the demonstration, the particulars of which are too complicated to be here detailed, puts us in possession of the following facts:if a planet be projected in a direction exactly perpendicular to that of the central body, with a velocity equal to what it would acquire by falling half way to the centre by attraction alone, it will describe a circle round the central body. If the velocity of projection be greater than this, but not equal to what the planet would acNo. 71.-VOL. VI. quire in falling to the centre, it will move in an elliptical orbit more or less eccentric according to the greater or less degree of projectile force. If the velocity of projection be equal to that which the planet would acquire in falling to the central body, it will move in a parabola; if greater than this, in a hyperbola. Now, it cannot be demonstrated upon physical principles, that a planet should have a certain projectile force, and no other; or that it should have any at all: for it is a law of nature, ably demonstrated by Newton in his Principia, that all bodies have such an indifference to rest or motion, that, if once at rest, they must remain eternally so, unless acted upon by some power sufficient to move them; and that a body once put in motion will proceed of itself ever after in a straight line, if not diverted out of this rectilinear course by some influence. Every planetary body has a certain projectile force; therefore, some previously existing cause must have communicated it. The planets have not only a projectile force, but this power is at the same time nearly a counterbalance to its gravitation, or the attraction of the central body; so that by virtue of these powers, thus harmoniously united, the planets perform their revolutions in orbits nearly circular, with the greatest regularity. It hence follows, that the Cause which has com municated just so much projectile force as to produce so near an equilibrium in the centrifugal and centripetal powers, is infinitely intelligent; therefore this Cause must be God. "As all the planets move in orbits more or less elliptical, when they could have been made to move in circles by a particular adjustment of the attractive and projectile forces; the Divine purpose must be best answered by the eccentric orbit. The habitable earth evidently derives very great advantage from the elliptical orbit; for, in consequence of it, the sun is seven or eight days of every year longer on the northern side of the ecliptic than he is on the southern; i. e. from the 21st of March, when he crosses the equator northward, to the 23d of September, when he again returns to the equator, there are 186 days; but from the 23d of September, or autumnal equinox, to the 21st of March, or vernal equinox, there are 3 R only 179 days. From this circumstance, the northern hemisphere, which it has pleased God should contain by far the greatest portion of land, is considerably warmer towards the polar regions than in similar latitudes towards the south pole, where an equal degree of temperature is not needed. Circumnavigators have not yet been able (because of the great cold of the south polar regions) to proceed beyond seventy-two or seventy-three degrees of south latitude; or, which is the same thing, to approach the south pole nearer than about 1200 miles: but the northern frigid zone, possessing a greater temperature, has been explored to within about 600 miles of the pole, i.e. to nearly eighty-two degrees of north latitude. "PHENOMENON II. 6 the heavens is at all accelerated or retarded by the diurnal rotation; or, on the other hand, that the earth's motion on its axis experiences the least irregularity from the annual revolution. How wonderful is this contrivance! and what incalculable benefits result from it! The uninterrupted and equable diurnal rotation of the earth gives us day and night in their succession, and the annual revolution causes all the varied scenery of the year. If one motion interfered with the other, the return of day and night would be irregular; and the change of seasons attended with uncertainty to the husbandman. These two motions are, therefore, harmoniously impressed upon the earth, that the gracious promise of the Great Creator might be fulfilled, While the earth remaineth, seed-time and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night, shall not cease.' The double motion of a secondary planet is still more singular than that of its primary; for, (taking the moon for an example), besides its particular revolution round the earth, which is performed in twenty-seven days, seven hours, forty-three minutes, four seconds and a half; it is carried round the sun with the earth once every year. Of all the planetary motions, with which we have a tolerable acquaintance, that of the moon is the most intricate: upwards of twenty equations are necessary, in the great majority of cases, to reduce her mean to her true place; yet not one of them is derivable from the circumstance that she accompanies the earth "The double motion of a primary planet, namely, its annual revolution and diurnal rotation, is one of the greatest wonders the science of astronomy presents to our view. The laws which regulate the latter of these motions are so completely hid from man, notwithstanding his present great extension of philosophic research, that the times which the planets employ in their rotations can only be determined by observation. How is it that two motions, so essentially different from each other, should be in the same body, at the same time, without one interfering at all with the other? The astonishing accuracy with which celestial observations have been conducted within the last one hundred years, has enabled astronomers to de-in its revolution round the sun. They monstrate that the neighbouring planets very sensibly affect the figure of the earth's orbit, and consequently its motion in its orbit. Of this every one may be convinced who examines the calculus employed in ascertaining, for any particular point of time, the sun's place in the heavens; or, which is the same thing, the point of the earth's orbit which is exactly opposed to the place of the earth in this orbit. Thus the maximum that the earth is affected by Venus, is nine seconds and seven-tenths of a degree; by Mars, six seconds and seven-tenths; and by Jupiter, eight seconds two-thirds, &c. But no astronomer, since the foundation of the world, has been able to demonstrate that the earth's motion in depend on the different distances of the earth from the sun in its annual revolution, the position of the lunar nodes, and various other causes, and not on the annual revolution itself, a motion which of all others might be expected to cause greater irregularities in her revolution round the earth than could be produced in that of the latter by the planetary attractions. Who can form an adequate conception of that influence of the earth which thus draws the moon with it round the sun, precisely in the same manner as if it were a part of the earth's surface, notwithstanding the intervening distance of about two hundred and forty-thousand miles ; and, at the same time, leaves undis turbed the moon's proper motion round the earth? And what beneficent purposes are subserved by this harmony? In consequence of it we have the periodical returns of new and full moon; and the ebbing and flowing of the sea, which depend on the various lunar phases, with respect to the sun and earth, (as is demonstrable from each of these phases being continually contemporaneous with a particular phænomenon of the tides,) always succeed each other with a regularity necessarily equal to that of the causes which produce them. "PHÆNOMENON III. "The impression of an inconceivably rapid motion upon the earth, without disturbing, in the smallest degree, any thing upon its surface, or in the atmosphere which surrounds it; is another instance of the infinite wisdom of God. That with which God has endued the celestial bodies, in order to accomplish this end, is called gravity, or attraction. The existence of this influence is easily demonstrable from the curious law which pervades all the bodies in the solar system, and probably every other body in the whole compass of space. This law, viz. that the squares of the periodic times of the planets are to each other as the cubes of their mean distances from the central body, was first discovered by Kepler, and afterwards demonstrated by Sir Isaac Newton. Thus, if the distance of but one planet from the sun is known, and the periodic revolutions of the whole, the distance of each from the sun is easily ascertained. The mean distance of the earth from the sun has been found by the transits of Venus, in 1761 and 1769, to be about ninety-five and a half millions of English miles; and the periodic times of all the planets are known by direct observation. Thus, to find the distance of Jupiter from the sun, nothing more is necessary than first to square the period of the earth, 365 days, 5 hours, 48% minutes; and that of Jupiter, 11 years, 315 days, 14 hours and a half; and divide the greater product by the less, to find the proportion one bears to the other; then to cube the earth's mean distance from the sun, 95 millions, and multiply the cube by the proportion between the periodic times already found; and the cube root of the last product will be the distance required. By this means it was that the distances of the different planets from the sun, and of the satellites from the primaries, (for this law extends to the satellites,) have been calculated.-See the Table of the Periodic Revolutions, &c. of the Planets, in the Notes on the first chapter of Genesis. From this law it is evident, to every one that deeply considers this subject, that the planets revolve in orbits by an influence emanating from the sun; for the nearer a planet is to the sun, the swifter is its motion in its orbit, and vice versâ.—See the Tables already referred to.) The singular phænomenon of a planet's describing equal areas in equal times, results from gravitation combined with the projectile power; or, in other words, from the union of the centripetal and centrifugal forces. Thus, if a planet describe in twenty-four hours any given arc of its orbit, and the area contained between two straight lines drawn from the extremities of this arc, and meeting in the sun, be ascer→ tained; it will be precisely equal to what the planet will describe in any other twenty-four hours, the greater or less quantity of the arc described being continually compensated by the less or greater extent of the straight lines including the respective areas. We also find that, by virtue of these laws, the motion of a planet in its orbit is not decreased in arithmetical proportion to the increase of the distance from the central body; for the hourly orbitical motion of the Georgium Sidus, for example, is only about five times slower than that of the earth, though its distance from the sun is full nineteen times greater. "Every man may convince himself of the existence of gravity, by observing the phænomena attending falling bodies. Why is it that the velocity of a falling body is continually accelerated till it arrives on the earth? We answer, that the earth continually attracts it; consequently, its velocity must be continually increasing as it falls. It is also observable, that the nature of the influence on falling bodies is precisely the same with that which retains the planets in their orbits :-by numerous experiments it is found, that if the falling body descends towards the earth 16 feet in the first second, (a statement verv OF GENERAL SIR ROBERT BROWNRIGG, BART. G. C. B. LATE GOVERNOR OF THE ISLAND OF CEYLON. near the truth,) it will fall through | MEMOIR The above is but a very brief account of the influence of this wonderful principle, which is universally diffused through nature; and capable of attracting every particle of matter under all its possible modifications, and of imparting to each substance, from the lightest gas to the most ponderous metal, that property which constitutes one body specifically heavier or lighter than another. To detail all the benefits which result from it, would be almost to give a history of the whole material creation. But it may be asked, What is gravity? To the solution of this question natural philosophy is unable to lead us. Suffice it to say, all we know of gravity is its mode of operation, and that it is, like its Great Creator, an allpervading and continued energy.Therefore, that it is, and not in what it consists, is capable of demonstration. "All these things prove not only that there is a God infinitely powerful and intelligent, but also kind and merciful; working all according to the counsel of His will, and cansing all His operations to result in the benefit of His creatures. They prove also, that God is continually present, supporting all things by His energy, and that, while His working is manifest, His ways are past finding out. Yet, as far as He may be known, we should endeavour to know Him: for, he that cometh unto God must know that he is. Without this, it is not likely that any man will serve Him; for, those alone who know Him, seek Him: and they only, who put their trust in Him, can testify he is the rewarder of them who diligently seek him." (Concluded from col. 896.) THE debasing effects of an old system of despotism cannot be expected to cease at once. Under a more liberal rule, however, the real Kandyan character is daily developing itself with increasing advantage. In addition to other branches of trade, they are now diligently extending the culture of coffee, which, being indigenous, was always to be obtained in considerable quantities for the supply of the Arab merchants. The circumstance of the Arab ships carrying off the Ceylonese coffee to the Red Sea, had not escaped the observation of Sir Robert Brownrigg; and he suggested the probability of their exporting the same article to Europe as the production of Arabia; and that our countrymen had been for a series of years drinking Mocha coffee, grown in Ceylon. He, consequently, proposed it as an article of trade; and, from its own worth, it will, without doubt, soon prove a very advantageous one, as it so greatly surpasses that from the West Indies. Among the many other arrangements for the benefit of the colony during General Brownrigg's government, the establishment of a Casualty Hospital at Columbo was not the least in importance. A very large house in the Peltah, or native town, contiguous to the fort, had been originally built by the Dutch government to answer the purposes of an orphan school. But that institution had fallen into decay; and having been revived under the particular auspices of Lady Brownrigg, it was removed to a more suitable spot at Colpetty. The old orphan house was, from its central situation,-its capaciousness,—and its plentiful supply of good water, excellently adapted for a hospital.Here, when that dreadful visitation of the cholera morbus afflicted the island of Ceylon, was an asylum to which natives of all castes resorted; and medical gentlemen being in constant attendance, not a moment was lost in administering to them the proper remedies. That was indeed an awful moment, which will long be remembered, especially by the two head |