208 
to a period of 18 years, and. the fraction 
22394. The probability that the same 
person shall continue in being to the 
end of a term of thirty years, will be 
equal to a period of 25 years, and the 
fraction .9894. The probability that 
the same person shall continue in being 
to the end of a term of forty years, will 
be equal to a period of 32 years, and the 
fraction .8101. The probability that 
the same person shall continue in being 
to the end of a term of fifty years, will be 
equal to a period of 38 years, and the 
fraction .2624. The probability that 
the same person shall continue in being 
to the end of a term of sixty years, will 
be equal to a period of 41 years, and the 
fraction .8909. ‘The probability that 
the same person shall continue in being 
to the end of aterm of sixty-five years, 
will be equal to a period of 42 years, and 
the fraction .8573. The probability that 
the same person shall continue in being 
to the end of a term of seventy years, 
will be cqual to a period of 43 years, 
and the ‘fraction .8278.. And the pro- 
bability that the same person shall con- 
tinue in being to the end of a term of 
eighty years, will be equal to a period 
of 43 years, and the fraction .5094, 
But the probabilities thata person, whose 
age is 15, shall continue in being to the 
end of the said terms of ten, twenty, 
thirty, forty, fifty, sixty, sixty-five, se. 
venty, and eighty, years, respectively, as 
deduced by the rule of faith, from the 
same register of life and death, will be 
equal to the respective periods of 9.1273, 
16.3679, 22.0047, 24.8113, 23.2901, 
14.9292, 9.0448, 3.9622, and 0.0000, 
years. Can the probability, therefore, 
of the continuance in being of sucha 
life, to the extremity of old age, be, ac- 
cording to the result, in page 531, equal 
to something, and at the same time equal 
to nothing, according to the necessary 
consequence of Mr. Baily’s rule, in page 
$55? Thus it is, that error always con- 
tradicts itself. 
Trusting that I have made the above 
statement sufficiently plain to be tho- 
roughly understood, and thereby having 
succeeded in representing the fallacy of a 
doctrine so confidentially authorised, so 
mathematically tolerated, and so impli- 
citly acquiesced in, during the last hun- 
dred years; it is only lett me now to 
‘enquire, on which side of the question 
conviction preponderates? 
NatuanieL Hawes. 
s 
‘+ Pindication of Bariis 
To the Editor of the Monthly Magazines 
SIR, 
EING always an admirer of painte 
ings, and for many years slightly 
acquainted with the late Adelphi Barry, 
from whose writings L have received more 
solid information on the subject of the 
art he professed, than from any other 
modern author, not excepting Reynolds; 
I was eager, after perusing a late account 
of his life and writings, to hear what 
were the sentiments on those valuable 
memoirs of the Edinburgh Review, so well 
versed in the art of bestowing profitable 
praise, or plausible condemnation. 
But, after wading through thirty-four 
pages of the vainest nonsense that ever 
was uttered on the subject of the art, to 
prove that Barry possessed, which we all 
know, a great deal of inspiring vanity ; 
we come to charges, without proofs, of 
his misanthropy, uttered in the language 
of the boldest malice, and a denial that 
he had enemies, produced in the most 
inimical terms; and then we begin to 
see that Barry was not so far out in his 
suspicions, as this reviewer would have 
us believe; for no hyena of the desert, 
on the scent after a corpse long fallen in 
the sand, can be imagined to more closely 
track his prey, than this prowling assassin 
of departed genius has endeavoured to 
come up with, and mangle, the honest 
fame of a long-neglected, and late-ree 
warded, artist. 
In his rage to delay the award of merit, 
which he ‘now sees must, ere long, be 
allotted to the manes of this generous- 
minded and high-spirited artist, he falls 
upon the whole tribe of men of ge- 
nius, who have followed the profession® 
time out of mind; and, not content with 
advising parents and friends to be cau 
tious how they indulge its whisperings in 
young minds, he would allow no encourage- 
ment to be given to juvenile artists, but 
such as would enable them to live “ com- 
fortably by severe toil and study ;” for 
the reviewer. thinks that the stimulus of 
want, is no less necessary than the allures 
ments of ambition, to procure success in» 
this elegant accomplishment. 
How he reconciles the living comfort- 
ably amid “the stimulant of want,” I 
‘leave to his cold heart to explain, who 
perhaps thought they had ‘in this way. 
made Burns a good poet, by creating him. 
an exciseman, as bird-fanciers put out 
the eyes of nightingales to make them =e 
et 
Capri ip 
