To the author of the SCOTS MAGAZINE. Upon feeing a note in the Scots Maga- When he printed the first advertisement at Edinburgh, with regard to the publifhing of his lectures, he intended a compliment to those who had been fubfcribers to the course, by intitling them to a book upon payment of half a guinea only, as his intention then was, to have publifhed a handfome large quarto at the price of a guinea. But as he was afterwards advifed by many perfons to print a fmaller and cheaper edition of the work, who offered good reafons in fupport of their opinion, he began to fluctuate in his refolution; but, however, thought it neceflary to take the advice of his friends in London, before he came to a determination. Upon this occafion he publithed another advertisement at Edinburgh [xxiii. 390.], wherein he said, that he did not defire that the half-guinea fhould be paid in advance, but that all who were defirous of having the book, fhould be intitled to one at the price of half a guinea on the delivery of the book, only upon fetting down their names at that time, in order to afcertain the number to be published. Those who had paid their half-guineas previous to the publication of the latter advertisement, were by this means at liberty to withdraw them; which fome did, as Mr Bell can testify; others chole to let the money lie. The whole number of thofe who had paid, did not amount to thirty; and as it was at their own option to have withdrawn their money or not, there could not poffibly be the leaft caufe of complaint against Mr Sheridan. He afterwards found it the unanimous opinion of his friends in London, that he fhould publifh a small, inftead of a large quarto, as alfo a number for fale befide what would ferve the fubfcribers, for reafons which he could not refift; and the books have been fince fent down in order to be delivered to the fubfcribers. "A look over the paragraph in the Scots M1After this state of the cafe, let us now gazine in which the charge is exhibited against Mr Sheridan. It is in a note at the bottom of page 481. vol. 24. correfpondent obferves, that those who attended Mr Sheridan's lectures at Edinburgh have not been handsomely used by him; inasmuch as they were drawn in, by his making them believe they were to get this book at half-price, to pay the full price per advance upwards of a year before they got it." Now, Sir, it appears from the above ftate of the cafe, that no fubfcriber was obliged to advance a fhilling, as all who had paid upon the firft propofal were at liberty to withdraw their cash; that thofe who chofe it did fo; and that fomewhat more than twenty, who had not perhaps fo high an idea of the intereft of half a guinea as your correfpondent seems to have, chofe to let it remain; for which they have fince received value. From the candid manner in which you have exprefled yourself, as wishing to have an opportunity of vindicating Mr Sheridan's character, I make no doubt but you will take the first opportunity of inferting this in your useful Magazim. I am, Sir, Your conftant reader, and humble servant, C. F. ALETTER from M. de VOLTAIRE the Printer of the St James's Chronicle. SIR, I Have feen, by chance, in the St James's Chronicle, Saturday, July 17. 1762, that is fuppofed written by me, and whereN° 211. a letter to M. d'Alembert [364.]*, in the date is wanting. That epiftle is very civil, indeed, towards my neighand most respectful to my king: it is a bours, very kind towards my nation, masterpiece of politeness, moderation, and good manners. I don't know what honest gentleman I muft thank for that noble fuppofition; yet I am obliged, in regard to truth, to declare, that I never wrote to M. d'A pers and magazines.] Ta 13 Oct.1762. Of focieties formed for improvement in literature. T To the author of the SCOTS MAGAZINE. SIR, Edinburgh, Oct 18. 1762. HE feafon is approaching, when men, leaving the bufinefs and diverfions of the country, affemble in populous cities; fome for bufinefs, fome for amufement, and not a few for education and inftruction. In the laft clafs may be reckoned thofe young men who, fmitten with the love of elegant literature, or deftined for the pulpit or the bar, form themselves into preparatory focieties, for mutual im provement in fpeaking and writing. The following effay, on the advantages refulting from fuch focieties, is fubmitted to your inspection. The fu ject is new: a young eflayift may therefore expect fome indulgence. It is like wife of importance; and if, by your publifhing the following thoughts, an able writer fhall be induced to do it justice, you will oblige more than one of your readers. I am, &c. A. I. I. The first advantage attending fuch a fociety, is that of Converfation. It is impoffible, fays Mr Addifon, for a man of the greatest parts, to confider any thing in its whole extent, and all its variety of lights. A member of fuch an inftitution as has been mentioned, will immediately aflent to the truth of this obfervation. Whatever pains he may previously take, in examining the fubject to be debated; upon comparing his own fentiments of it with thofe of others, he will ind his views not a little enlarged. May obfervations will then prefent themelves, which escaped his own penetraion. His arguments he will fometimes ind to be feeble, his principles erroneous, is conclufions unjuft. Often he will be enfible, that he has viewed the fubject in oo narrow a point of light, and often hat he has treated it too fuperficially. In the course of fo ingenious, fo liberal converfation, the mind is insensibly cued of those prejudices which are fo apt o grow up in it in private. A ftudent ho confines himfelf to his clofet, withut mizing in company that is truly good, ften contracts fuch a fondness for a partipular author, as leads him to imitate, not nly his beauties, but his faults. The nagination of a young reader must be ratified: if this faculty be pleafed, if it e pleafed efpecially with a florid ftyle, he oo often facrifices his judgment. While se thinks, that nothing bad can be hid mder fo fair a form, he imbibes, not only VOL. XXIV. 517 ous principles of his beloved author. What the charming fentiments, but the poison-TM blind attachment to particular authors, o•. pinions, and fyftems, is fren in young men, whofe curiofity is confined to their closet! To prevent, or remove, fuch prepoffeffions, an early fociety of this kind will greatly contribute. Various opinions are delivered, and examined, with candour. That moderation which others oblerve, in hearing their fentiments refuted, difpofes the ingenuous mind to a like moderation. In a word, an inftitution of this kind, when properly conducted, enlarges our views, improves our reafoning, and frees the mind from every narrow notion. An ingenious author obferves, that nothing is preferable to a select company, where one has an opportunity of trying the juftnefs of every reflection that may occur. I doubt, whether the admirable productions of that gentleman, or those of his friends, would have reflected fo great honour of late upon Scotland as they have done, had they not mutually enjoyed the happinets of a SELECT SOCIETY. II. A fecond advantage arifing from fuch a fociety is, An eafe and affurance in fpeaking. Modefty in any young fpeaker is always engaging: in the pulpit it appears with peculiar grace. But favourable as this amiable quality is, an aukward bashful manner is no lefs hurtful. If one is not poffe fled of a becoming aflurance, he will injure any ftudied fpeech: upon an extemporary occafion he will behave still worle. No abilities can atone for the want of this qualification; whilft one poffefled of little elfe, frequently ingroffes the attention of an audience. To attain to this eafe and affurance in fpeaking, a preparatory fociety is abfolutely neceffary. It carries in it the air of a public aflembly, and at the same time mittakes in expreffion and action are mutually expected and forgiven. Whatever bathfulness may attend one in his firft appearances, that bathfulness will gradually leave him. The want of expreflion, under which he labours, will be changed by practice into a fluency of speech. That broken, that faltering tone in which he first fets out, will give way to a pronunciation more firm and bold. That aukward, that lifeless gefture, which at first he betrays, will be fucceeded by a manner more spirited and graceful. 3 Y III. Forgetful of pedantic rules, let him trust to the workings of nature: very unnatural. III. When one is mafter of this eafe and affurance in fpeaking, is all that is rete in a good delivery attained? I imagine not. A perfon may express himself with eafe, nav, with a genteel air, if you will, and yet his tones and geftures may be The youth who afpires at excellence in his profeffion, muft acquire not only an eafy, but a proper delivery.. Nothing is of more importance, than th. neglected part of oratory. A public fpeaker who is deficient here, will never fucceed in the art of perfuafion. The fineft ftyle has little beauty, the ftrongest reasoning little force, without it. An elegant compofition delivered from the pulpit in a carelels or affected manner, is of ten apt to raise a fulpicion, either that the ingenious preacher believes not what he fays, or that he feeks the applause, more than the reformation of his audience. Our orators in general, you know, have been lately accufed as deficient in elocution. The dead language of words, we have been told, is ftudied with the greateft care and fuccefs: the more expreffive, and understood by all, the penetrating language of the human countenance, voice, and gefture, is fhamefully neglected. Our orators, it has been afferted, either difcover no elocution, or what they do difcover is improper. It is not the language of nature, it is not the refult of feeling, it is the offspring of fancy or imitation. If this charge be juft, it is incumbent on the rifing youth of this nation to endeavour to wipe off fo foul an afperfion. A member of fuch a fociety as has been mentioned, enjoys the advantage of trying any manner with fafety; an experiment not to be made in a more public affem bly. Nor is he yet fo accustomed to a bad delivery, as to have reafon to complain that it is incurable. The cure will not be effected without fome pains: but lefs perhaps will fuffice, than may be imagined; lefs, far lefs, am fure, than are equal to the reward. It is well known, that, at each meeting of thofe weekly focieties held in this univerfity, a question is propofed, which is debated next meeting. One who is deftined for the pulpit or the bar, will allot perhaps one hour each day for private preparation. Let him devote this ftated hour to compofition during the first three or four days, and study the delivery of it in private during the remain ing ones. In this exercife, let him diveft himself of all conceit or imitation. Take Nature's path, and mad Opinion's leave; All states can reach it, and ali heads conceive Every careful perufal will be attended with improvement, till at last he has wrought himfelf into the proper natural expreflion of every fentiment. Were our ingenious youth in the university-clubs to bestow fuch previous care upon the delivery of their fpeeches, and affift each other by mutual hints and obfervations, I am convinced, that, in a few months, their public behaviour would carry in it a manner more graceful, spirited, and proper, than has hitherto appeared. To convince us by a ftriking example of the effect of practice in elocution, let us turn our eyes a little to the stage. It is in that public fcene of eloquence alone, that every emotion of the human heart is accompanied with its correfponding tone, look, and gesture. The fact, I believe, will not be difputed. I ask, whence arifes this fuperiority? Will we once fuppose, that of the fmall number of those who devote themfelves to the theatre, fo many fhould be endowed by nature with fo fine a genius, whilft the crouds with which the pulpit, fenate, and bar, abound, are fo hardly dealt with? Will it be faid, that the feigned diftreffes of princes, however affectingly described by the magic pencil of Shakespear, are subjects more fufceptible of eloquence, than the real and interefting topics which religion and liberty prefent to us? No, furely. Whence then arises this fuperiority? From application. The players are in earnest *: the preachers are not. A preacher studies the compofition of his fermon with the greatest care; about the delivery of it he is little folicitous. What is the confequence? Difcourfes that do honour to human ingenuity, in which the temporal and eternal interests of man *See Sheridan's lectures, p. 127. [The Bihip of London, afking Betterton on a certain occafion, "What could be the reafon, that whole audiences fhould be moved to tears, and have all forts of paffions excited, at the representation of fome ftory on the ftage, which they knew to be feigned, and in the event of which they were not at all concerned; yet that the fame perfons fhould fit fo utterly unmoved, at difcourfes from the pulpit, upon fubjects of the utmost importance to them, relative not only to their temporal, but alfo their eternal interefts?" he received from Betterton this memorable reply: (s My Lord, it is because we are in earnest."] t. 1762. Of focieties formed for improvement in literature. id are concerned, are heard with inference. An actor, who ftudies his t in a tragedy, perules it a dozen, and lozen of times, always unfatisfied, till has entered into the natural exprellion every fentiment. Hence that attention ich he commands, thofe tears and acmations with which he is interrupted; hence that conqueft which in a borved character he gains over the pallions a crouded aflembly. IV. The laft advantage which I fhall ntion, derived from fuch a fociety, is, it it infpires Emulation. The purfuits of the clofet are naturally agreeable to the gay, to the diflipated n of mind which prevails in youth. To ert his attention from vanity and vice thofe rational, thofe elegant ftudies, which enlarge the understanding, and ree the heart, the reafon of a young man nfufficient. The love of virtuous praife, natural in that generous age, is moft ectual in producing fuch a reformation. where is this laudable ambition gratid more, than in fuch a fociety as has en mentioned. The praifes bestowed upothers, prove fo many reproaches to own inactivity, and awaken him from inglorious eafe. He now enters the ad to glory. Propofing to himself the bleft models, he endeavours even to país them. In vain do his firft efts mifcarry; in vain do obftacles retard progrefs. He knows, that excellence attained by perfeverance alone. Difince is the bane of every improvement: it, animated by a noble emulation, the blime fpirits of antiquity became imortal. It was the laurels which Miltiles gathered in the plains of Marathon, at fired the breast of Themistocles, that ought forth into action thofe talents hich fhook the foundation of the Per an throne. It was the acclamations be owed upon a Grecian orator, that roufed e powers of the young Demofthenes at furmounted every obftacle in the ad to honour, and at laft produced that nrivalled eloquence, which triumphed ver the arms of Philip, and the paffions fGreece. Is it here aflerted, that emu. ition and unceafing induftry will carry eery one to fuch a pitch of excellence in is profeffion? No. But he that exerts imfelf moft, is most likely to fucceed. Should he miscarry, he mifcarries with ionour : 'Tis not in mortals to command fuccefs; But every effort will command applaufe. See Plutarch's lives of thofe great men. 519 To the author of the SCOTS MAGAZINE. SIR, Perth, Od. 14. 1762. BY an order of the magiftrates of Edinburgh, we fee, that feveral mad dogs have lately appeared in and about that city, and that fome unhappy perfons have fuffered by them. It is much to be wifhed, that a more effectual method could be fallen upon for preventing the difinal confequences that attend the bite of that animal, than what is commonly practifed. Whether plunging in the falt water, the pulvis antilylus iii. 500. x, 404.], the Tonquin medicine [xxii. 404.], or other quackish prefcriptions, tend not more to amufe, than to eradicate the feeds of that direful diforder, after they are once received into the blood, may justly be doubted. Whether oil, ufed both internally, and as an external application, will not have fome effect this way, may be beft determined from experience. It is very certain, it is the most univerfal antidote we know, against the generality of poifons, and the bites of venemous infects. The ftory is well known of the viper catcher in the Philofoph. Tranf. N' 443. "who, before feveral members of the Royal Society, allowed himself to be bit by an old back viper, procured on purpose by for an hour and a quarter after receiving one of the company. The oil was applied the infection, by which time the effects of the poison had reached the heart and vital parts. This was followed by violent vomitings and purgings, with a low interrupted pulfe, and other untoward fvinptoms, fo that the phyficians prefent were at laft obliged to preferibe for him. But neither were their prefcriptious, nor the oil applied outwardly, of any avail, till be drank a glais or two of the oil of olives; which feemed to give him fome eafe. He was put to bed, and his arm bathed a fecond time; but complaining much of his back, and belly, his wife was advited to rub them likewife with fallad oil, heated in a laddle over charcoal; whereupon he found immediate relief, as though by fome charm, and recovered. "Several experiments of the like kind were made on pigeons, dogs, cows, and horfes, even ten hours, fome of them, after being bit, with equal fuccefs; and it is imagined, that it would be equally ef fectual against the bite of the rattlefiake, [This order is dated Sept. 23. 1762, and requires all dogs within the city and liberties to be kept up for twenty days.] 3 Y a fcorpions, fcorpions, and other venemous creatures." All this perhaps is only problematical; what follows, it is prefumed, is more than conjecture. It is much to be wifhed, that Celfus's method [xxii. 404.] of fearing the part with a red-hot iron, was again revived; which certainly bids fairer for fucceeding than any other method yet known. No body makes any doubt, but that fire, which confumes every thing, will infallibly deftroy the virulence of the moft exalted poison, and of the infected faliva; the only difficulty is, how to prevent its being received into the blood by the abforbent veins, while the iron is a-heating. With respect to the extremities, that is, the thighs, legs, or arms, and which are often the parts injured, this objection will have little force, if fufficient care be taken to tie very tight above the part, with a bit of string or garter, the moment the injury is received [xxi. 69.]; which will as effectually put a stop to all circulation below the ligature, as if the tourniquet itself was applied. This is evident in blood-letting, when the fillet about the arm happens to be too tight; or if one makes a ligature fufficiently upon the wrift, all pulfation in the carpal artery immediately ceafes. After using this precaution, the part is next to be feared with a red-hot poker, or any folid piece of iron that comes firft to hand; and the ligature being loofed, the fore is to be dreffed with oil, or treat ed as a common burn. If any of the tendinous parts of the hands, wrift, or feet, fhould happen to be injured by this fiery trial, which the patient is obliged to undergo, and a locked jaw, univerfal fpafm, or other untoward fymptoms, fhould be the confequence, it would be advifeable to have the limb immediately amputated; which, though it be a hard choice, is more eligible, than to drag on a miferable life, or to die a death of all the most lamentably flocking. It is not certain, whether warm oil well foaked into the part, over a chaffingdifh, might not fuperfede the application of the hot iron, provided the precaution above mentioned, of tying above the part, was immediately put in practice. I was once a witnefs of the good effects of it in the Weft Indies laft war, where a failor happened to be bit on the thumb by a fcorpion. He had tied above the part, and upon the application of the oil, the excruciating pain immediately went off. I have reafon to believe he afterwards did well. But however that be, it would furely be worth while to make the experiment. But This method had been fome years ago recommended by Dr Ingram [xxii 404.3, and if I am not mistaken, without any restrictions or precautions whatever. notwithstanding his publication, it is far from being fo univerfally known, as the exigence of the cafe requires. Many have been bit by mad dogs, many will be bit, that never heard of either Celfus's or Dr Ingram's name; but, through the channel of your ufeful collection, their prescription may become of more general utility. It may be of service, can do no harm, and certainly promifes fairer than any of the recipes handed about, fome of them under the fanction of great names. I am, &c. The characters and adventures of TWO SISTERS of different inclinations. SOPHIA and AURELIA were fifters, of fmall fortunes, and the whole offspring of a couple, who had more goodnets in them than wifdom. They were near of an age, and educated in common; but ftill with a distinction which created different views, from a disparity that was apparent in their perfons. Sophia was beautiful in her form as well as features, which were early the inspirers of that kind of flattery from beholders, that has a tendency to the mifleading of judgment; parents being com monly as fufceptible of fuch kind of infufions, as the very objects of inconfiderate commendation. Continual admiration was the inspirer of common vanity in the parents and daughter, who were easily brought to be lieve, that beauty comprehended all merit, and intitled its poffeffors to all advantages. Full of this opinion, the parents as well as daughter thought, that to be feen would be fufficient to fucceed. With this view Sophia was prepared for gay life; and her small fortune destined to the fupport of a recommendatory appearance. She was introduced into company, became extenfively acquainted, appeared much in public, and was generally admired. Outwardly careffed by the giddy and indifcreet of her own fex, and flattered and followed by the empty and idle part of the other, fhe grew vainly inconfiderate; was at all public places, and for ever furrounded by a clufter of coxcombs. Made cheap by indifcretion, the at length became |