12 Discoveries not cafual....Godwin's Essay on English Style. [Jan; recommends, and which fince the Greeks none have executed better than the Spaniards; this I conceive to be what appeared unpleasant to Cicero, whofe ears were accuftomed to verfes little more harmonious than those of Ennius. The epiftle from which an extract was printed in your Magazine, is given by the prefent editor to Francifco de Rioje. I know not whether the reafons he affigns are fufficient to afcertain the author, but they certainly prove that it could not have been written by Bartolome Leonardo : I have felected three fornets as characteristic of these authors, the two firft are by Lupercio: Thou art determined to be beautiful, With not a grey lock left, thy mouth fo black, That with a random hand blind Fortune deals Content with what I am; the founding names In common with the great; enough for me And whofe fond heart is fatisfied with me? From Bartolome Leonardo. Fabius, to think that God hath in the lines With which the will of Heaven may vifit thee, T. Y. To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. SIR, IT is a common obfervation, that almoft 66 all great discoveries have been stumbled upon by chance: a multitude of inftances might easily be cited, to confirm its truth. Now I have, with concern, heard this fact employed, as an argument, to difcourage eager fcientific refearch: Why not truft to that chance which has ftruck out the most valuable inventions of paft ages? Why withdraw from the ordinary duties and pleafures of life, to bufy one's self in vain investigations, which are, moft probably, to end in ridiculous disappointment?" To me it occurs, that this reafoning, which, to lazy ignorance, appears but too fpecious, might be filenced for ever, if it could be afcertained, that useful inventions and difcoveries have become continually more numerous, precifely in proportion as the general mass of human knowledge has been angmented and diffufed, and as the thirst of literary and fcientific curiofity has become more impatient, and has been excited fill in a greater number of minds. But I know no very promifing means of afcertaining this, other than to intreat you to put the queftion, through the channel of your Magazine, "Whether our ufeful inven tions and difcoveries have not been multiplied, in proportion as our knowledge has been enlarged?" Pray oblige me by putting this queftion. I have little doubt but your hoft of enlightened correfpondents may easily furnish fuch anfwers as thall for ever fix the general truth upon this not unimportant point. I am, fir, your conftant reader, A FRIEND TO PHILOSOPHICAL EXPERIMENT. Univerfuy of Glagow, Dec. 17, 1797. To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. SIR, I PROFESS myself a very warm admirer of the writings of Mr. WILLIAM GODWIN. He has feized' fome of the most important truths in morality, with a lynx-eyed intuition, powerful to pierce through every obfcurity, and to fingle out its object at once, however numberless the myriads of others among which it may be entangled. The reader of his books feels, on many occafions, as if he were vigorous intuition; and can difcern the fuddenly gifted with the author's own truth of his most valuable principles, without the toil and perplexity of reafon ing. In eloquence, this writer diftinguishes himself by an irrefiftible energy, which he seems to derive from an enthu fiaftic conviction of the truth and high importance of the doctrines which he teaches. If fparing in imagery, if rarely fuccefsful in lengthened ratiocination, he is eminently excellent in fentiments, and he feems to know all the genuine emotions and language of all the higher paffions. But Mr. GODWIN's erudition, and even his power of reafoning, in cafes of very complex and tedious deduction, are very unequal to the ardent, impaffioned force of his genius. A remarkable proof of this appears in his Effay on English Style. He there fuppofes it to be a prevalent opinion, maintained, in particular, by Johnson, and other philologifts of high authority, that the English ftyle written in the last century, and even at a time fo remote as in the age of Queen Elizabeth, was, in all refpects, more perfect than that of our contemporaries. This opinion he ftrives to combat and destroy by a long induction of paffages from the eminent writers of fix different periods, from the reign of Elizabeth to the end of that of George II. Now the opinion against which he fo laboriously fights, never was maintained by any critic. JOHNSON and LowTH have taught only, "that the writings of the authors of the last century, and of the age of Elizabeth, contain an immenfe treasure of words and phrafes, fufficient to exprefs, in fpeech or written compofition, even all, or almoft, all our prefent knowledge; and that we should do more wifely, to feek our terms and phrafes out of that treasure, than continually to debafe our ftyle by words and idioms affectedly introduced from other languages, not richer than our own." Mr. GODWIN has certainly not refuted this opinion; and I fuppofe it is what will not quickly be done by any perfon. As little do his quotations and his afterifks appear to me to evince the badnefs of thofe styles which he condemns; even his own admirable style, and thofe of his moft eminent cotemporaries, are not much more fecure against fuch minute criticism, than the ftyles of SHAKSPEARE, or our tranflation of the Bible; befides, the colouring of words and phrafes partakes of the changing, fugitive nature of that of REYNOLDS's portraits. I fhould undertake, too, to produce, from every one of the writers cited by GoDWIN, inftances of correct and elegant writing, to confront his examples of incorrectness. Jan. 3, 1798, H. R. To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. SIR, THE following remarks upon our English weights, are fubmit ed to the confideration of your correfpondent, J. R. not under the idea of their conveying to him that learned and correct information which he folicits, but on the contingency of their supplying him with fome facts that may have efcaped his own researches, and with the additional view of contributing to the gratification of fuch your readers as are lefs acquainted with the fubject; the great difficulty of which will, I truft, apologize for the errors that I may commit. of In It appears to have been a favourite object with the legiflators of the middle ages, to accomplish equality, or unity, in weights and measures. Thus, in the laws of the Lombards, we find, "De menfuris, ut fecundum juffionem noftram equales fiant." In the capitulary of Charlemagne, Unufquifque habeat æquam menfuram & æquales modios;" and again, "Ut æquales menfuras & rectas & pondera justa & æqualia omnes habeant.' Magna Charta, "Una menfura vitis fit per totum regnum noftrum & una menfura cerevitiæ & una menfura bladi; de ponderibus vero fit ficut de menfuris." This claufe, or the fubftance of it, is repeated in many of our subsequent ftatutes; but the numerous regulations upon this fubject, unequivocally prove the impoffibility of effecting fo just and laudable a purpose, and yet leave us quite in the dark with respect to what had occurred to prevent it. The obstruction may partly have arifen from the difficulty of obtaining a common medium; and therefore, in all countries, there must have been a perpetual variation, both in weights and mea→ fures. In France, there were fcarcely two cities to be found in which they agreed. The next thing to be examined, is the origin and progreffion of the various alterations that have been made in our weights.. It has been afferted, but I believe without any proof, that William I, upon his arrival in England, changed the weights of his newly-acquired dominions, and introduced thofe of Normandy, and par ticularly the troy weight.-Although it is not impoffible that the troy weight might have been known to the Normans, from their ancient connection with Champagne, yet this weight does not appear in our ftatutes, as will be hereafter shown, until a much later period; befides, it ap pears, 14 On English Weights. pears, from William's own laws, that he eftablished the weights and measures of his predeceffors in this kingdom, "Et quod habeant per univerfum regnum menfuras fideliffimas & fignatas, & pondera fideliffima & fignata ficut bonis prædeceffores ftatuerant."-Leg. 57. de men. furis & ponderibus. I am aware that his Latin laws are not without imputation of forgery, and that, confequently, little or no ftrefs can be laid upon this quotation. His pennies are alfo found to have been of the fame ftandard as those of his Saxon predeceffors, another argument that he did not change, at leaft, the money weight of the kingdom; and it is very probable, as we fhall perceive in the courfe of even this flight investigation, that there was no other at this time. In the affize of measures of Richard I, the pound and other weights are directed to be of the fame quantity, or fpecific gravity, throughout the kingdom, according to the divertity of merchandise. Here we perceive, and I believe for the first time, a variety in the ftandard weights of the land. In the "Compofitio de Ponderibus," the date of which does not appear, though it is probably before Edward III, the pound, for fpices and drugs, was to contain twenty fhillings, and for all other commodities twenty-five fhillings. The pound alfo for drugs was to contain twelve ounces; and the ounce was, at all times, to contain twenty pence: thus we fee there were, at this time, two pounds; the one of twelve ounces, the other of fifteen the latter is called the merchants' pound, in Fleta, written about this time in which the compofitio de ponderibus was made. The author alfo fpeaks of the pound of twelve ounces, as making twenty fhillings, and of the ounce of twenty pence. I fhall here take occafion to obferve, that our oldeft pound would naturally be of twelve ounces, like the Roman libra; and this is proved from the word inch, which is the fame as ounce, i. c. the twelfth part of any thing. Agricola, in a treatife "de Ponderibus & Menfuris," is faid to defcribe two different pounds, the one of twelve, the other of fixteen ounces; the firft of these he calls libra medica, the other libra civilis; but, as I have not feen his work, it remains to be afcertained, of what antiquity are thefe weighs, and where made ufe of? In the ftat. Weftm. 31 Edw. III, c. 2, mention is made of "weights of Exchequer ftandard;" but neither the terms [Jan. troy nor averdupois are used upon this occafion. The above may ferve as a flight sketch of the alterations in our weights, after the conqueft; let us next endeavour to throw fome fmall light upon thofe obfcure terms, troy and averdupois. I fhould fcarcely have troubled the reader with the following opinion, relating to the origin of troy weight, were it not for the purpofe of confuting it. The laws of Edward the Confeffor mention, that the court of Huftings, in the city of London, had been built after the manner, and in memory of, the city of Troy, thereby adopting the fabulous account of the foundation of London by the Trojans. To fupport this comparifon, STRYPE, in his edition of Stowe's Survey of London, affumes, that the troy weight was called, in the time of the Saxons, the Huftings weight. He fhows authority, indeed, for the existence of Huftings weight; but, to have proved his point, he fhould have fhown that Huftings weight was alfo called troy weight. The more common opinion is, that the troy weight was imported with the Normans; but this is improbable, for the following reafons: 1. That William, as has been already fhown, did not change the weights of the kingdom; 2. That, in the flat. Panis, 5 Hen. III, the weights are not defcribed in troy, but money weights, and the fame in the ftat. 51 Edw. I; 3. That the pound troy is not mentioned in the ftatute-book, nor elsewhere, that I can find, until the 2d Hen. V, c. 4, in the ftatute of Westminster, relating to goldfmiths. As a fandard weight, it occurs, I believe for the first time, in 12 Hen. VII, c. 5. The non-existence, as far as I have been able to trace, of a troy pound, feems to prove that this weight could never have been used for heavy articles of any kind, nor was it used as a money weight, until the reign of Henry VIII. As to the origin of the term, there are different opinions. The more common one is, that it came from Troyes, in Champagne. Du Cange fays, that troy weight was used, not only in France, but in Germany, England, Spain, Flanders, and other parts of Europe, and that this arofe from the celebrity of the fair at Troyest. Bishop Hooper, however, objects, with great reason, to this opinion, from having noticed that, in a document given by Du Cange, a fpecific difference is made between the mark of England and that of Troyes; and, finding a coincidence between the English ounce, and that ufed by the moneyers and apothecaries in Egypt, conjectures that troy weight might have been fo denominated, from the Arabian word, Taraw, which fignifies fpices. Had he recollected there was a city of Troy, in Egypt, he might have gone farther; but in neither cafe does the opinion feem deferving of much attention. The bishop adds, that Sir HENRY SPELMAN appears to have thought that our troy weight was not borrowed from the city of Troyes, from his ftyling it libra Trojana (and Treja pondus) and not Trecenfis; but SPELMAN, aware, perhaps, of the difficulty, does not enter into the fubject, though he defcribes many other forts of pounds. 15 c. 3, where it is called lawful weight, but was certainly known long before, for STRYPE, in his edition of STOWE'S Survey, Vol. II, p. 344, gives an extract from the records of the city of London, 6 Ed. II, in which it is mentioned. I think it is more probable that the weight was denominated from the merchandife, than the latter from the weight, notwithstanding CowEL infers the contrary. By ftat. 27 Edw. III, ftat. 2, c. 10, it is directed, that all averdupois commodities be fold by one method of weighing, that is, by even balance, without inclination of the fcales to either fide, as appears to have been fometimes fraudulently practifed. A fimilar ordinance had been already made, in the reign of Edw. I, notwithstanding a remonftrance on the part of the mayor and theriffs of London, that a contrary practice had immemorially prevailed, with refpect to averdupois goods, as appears from the plea book's of Edward I & II, cited by Cowel v. Pondus, Regis. I would here remark that, in my humble judgment, Cowel, or his editor, has mifconceived the meaning of the extract from the plea books, and that the term pondus regis meant nothing more than the royal, or authorifed weight, as to averdupois goods, and not a different, ner troy weight. With refpect to averdupois weight, it will be neceffary to examine, in the first inftance, its etymology. It is, as to this kingdom, undoubtedly a Norman-French word, and implies cither babere pondus, or babere debitum pondus, avoir du poids: fhould the latter appear too fanciful, let it be remembered, that the idiom of the French language would now require, in the former inftance, avoir le poids, though In the reign of Elizabeth, our weights it is impollible to criticife, with any de- were, at length, regulated by the presentgree of certainty, upon the old French. ment of a jury, which, for troy weight, The older word is fimply averium, or adopted a ftandard at Goldsmiths' Hall, averia, which, from innumerable inftances," of ancient ufe," and for averdupois appears to have denoted all kinds of moveable property. Du Cange derives it from the French avoir, but I thould rather fuppofe it a barbarous term from babere, the common parent. In the "Liber Confuetudinum Imperii Romaniæ," which was compofed in the thirteenth century, and exhibits a moft curious fpecimen of the Italian language of that period, I find the word avoieria ufed for land; and the term, variously difguifed, was probably indicative of property of all kinds: it was alfo uled in the old Spanish language. SPELMAN's derivation from ouvre scarcely deferves notice. Averdupois occurs in our ftatutes, in the fenfe of heavy merchandife in general, and I believe, for the first time, in the ftat. York, 9 Edw. III, and frequently afterwards. As a weight, it does not appear in the statutes, until 24 Hen. VIII, Hooper's Enquiry into the State of the Ancient Measures, pages 435, 437. "an ancient standard of 56lb. remaining in the Exchequer fince the time of king Edward III, and then in ufe." This prefentment was afterwards allowed by the queen and her council, and a proclamation iffued for the making of weights agreeable thereto, and for diftributing them throughout the kingdom, in the places mentioned in ftat. Hen. VII*. Patterns of the above weights were depofited in the Exchequer, where the averdupois weight of fourteen pounds is marked with a crowned E, and infcribed XIIII POVNDE AVERDEPOIZ ELIZABETH REGINA, 1582+. The troy weights, marked alfo with a crowned E, are ounces from 256 oz. to the fixteenth part of an ounce. There being no pounds troy, feems a proof that that weight was never defigned for heavy articles. Other weights in the Exchequer are dated 1601. A complete fet of troy and averdupois weights, dated 1588, were delivered to the churchwardens of the parish of St. Margaret, Weftminster, pursuant to the proclamation of that year, and were feen, December 1749, in fine prefervation, in the veftry-room of that church, where they probably ftill remain. Thefe are imagined to be the most perfect models of thofe ftandards that are extant*. In the year 1696, an experiment was made at the Exchequer, to afcertain the proportion between the troy and averdupois ftandards, when 15lbs. of the latter were found equal to 18lbs. 2 ozs. 15 dwts. troy, which fixes the pound averdupors, at 7000 grs. troy, and the troy pound at 5760; and upon three feveral trials made by the gentlemen of the council of the Royal Society, at the fame place, upon a medium, the pound averdupois, was found equal to 7000.25 grains troy. Bishop Hooper fays, the pound averdupois, is to the troy as 175 to 144, and is equal to 7000 grains troy; but its ounce, which is the fixteenth part of it, is equal to 437.5 fuch grains, whereof the ounce troy is 48ot. Wine measure has generally been confidered as equal to troy weight; and the ale gallon is faid to bear the fame proportion to the wine gallon, as the averdupois pound does to the troy. There is another pound weight which may deferve fome notice before we quit the fubject, and that is, the lower, or moneyers' pound. Mr. FOLKES thinks that this was the pound in common ufe before the Conqueft; to which I beg leave to add, that it may be the Huftings weight already mentioned. The tower weights continued to be ufed there until Henry VIII, by an order of council only; and, without the fanction of parliament, eftablithed the troy weight in its ftead, and ordained that the other fhould be no more used. It was found, upon this occafion, that the gravity of twelve ounces, or the tower pound, was in proportion to twelve ounces troy, as 5400 to to 5760, or as 150 to 160. Dec. 21, 1797. I am, fir, &c. D. [Jan. ing proof of the general circulation and utility of your most valuable Magazine, and, at the fame time, of the importance of what has already appeared in it refpecting Book Societies. Every candid liberal perfon among your readers must join in withing this gentleman and his public-fpirited friends all poffible fuccefs. Their good fenfe will of courfe fuggeft the propriety of obtaining copies of the rules of as many other Reading Societies as they can meet with, in order to felect the best from each, and to form a perfect whole. Permit me in this view respectfully to fuggeft to them, the careful perufal of your correfpondent Mercator's letter, vol. iv. p. 264.-The evil he complains of is indeed real, increafing, and therefore should be carefully guarded againft. Perhaps the following eafy plan would be effectual for this purpose:-Let the committee be changed every three months; and let the new one be compofed of fuch members as fhall be drawn by the librarian out of an urn, containing the names of all the fociety except the laft committee. By this means all underhand combinations, clerical bigotry, or party fpirit, will be prevented as much as poffible; each member will have the opportunity of gratifying his own tafte, fubject to proper regulations, in the choice of books, and free difcuffion, fo effential to the spread of literary knowledge, be greatly promoted. Perhaps too, it would be ufeful if at certain fixed periods, fuppofe every fix years, the books in the library were to be infpected by the whole fociety at their annual meetings, and fuch of them as were rejected by the vote or ballot of three-fourths of the members who bave previously perufed fuch books, were fold, and the money arifing from the fale of them applied to the purchase of new books. In the hafty, unpremeditated manner in which great numbers of books are introduced into fuch libraries as these in which are of but little value in the efti queftion, there muft, of course, be many mation of the majority of the fubfcribers, and which difappoint the expectation even of the propofer himself. Now, in fuch cafes, there feems to be a great impropriety, as well as lofs, in permitting To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. books of this defcription to remain as SIR, THE fubject of your Lincolnshire correfpondent's letter, p, 344, is a pleaf part of the stock of the fubfcribers, feeing they are in reality no better than mere ufelefs lumber. The only cafe which is requifite on fuch occafions, is to guard against the effects of bigotry and party fpirit; for which purpose a very little previous |