1S1().] 



language g<^nerally considered barba- 

 rous and uncTiltivated ; but am I not 

 warranted in making use of them, un- 

 less such objection be accompanied 

 ■with more sjslemaiic tests out of any 

 other ton^iie, eitlior to controvert, or to 

 support tiiem? If, of the former kind, the 

 authority herein developed becomes 

 questionable ; and, if of the latter, the 

 sj-stcm becoiiies the more established, 

 through the additional evidence thus 

 obtained in its favonr. Therefore, until 

 that objection, and so accompanied, be 

 produced, such authority ought to main- 

 tain its rank, as an analytic formula, by 

 which tl'.e irregular and unconnected 

 powers of t!ie vowels, in other lan- 

 guages, are to be investigated. 

 August 7, 1816, Meirion, 



To the Editor of the BImithly Magaziiie. 

 sm, 



WILL any of your correspondents 

 do me the favour to refer to the 

 legend of SL Ursula and the eleven tiiou- 

 sand virgins, of whom such undoubted 

 relics are preserved at Cologne ? If they 

 were not in histor}', they would be im- 

 iDortalized by Claude's noble picture, 

 and by I'itler's engraving from it, on t!ie 

 subject. There is an English version of 

 this legend in my possession, for I have 

 a distinct recollection of noting it many 

 years ago, but I have forgotten the book 

 tliat contains it ; and have been morti- 

 fied by the sacrifice oil time in more than 

 one fruitless attempt to retrace it. I 

 thought it was in Gibbon, but the index 

 affords me no clue. Q. 



To the Editor of the Mmithly Magazine. 



SIR, 



I BEG leave to suggest, that a little 

 advice to farmers, at this dreary mo- 

 ment, might be of the greatest utility. 



Every farmer should br' provided with 

 one or more large sails, or tarpaulins, 

 the larger the better, which should be 

 properly erected on the most elevated 

 part of the field where the corn is in- 

 tended to be cut ; and, as it is reaped, it 

 should be carried and placed under tills 

 covering ; here, being secured from the 

 wet, and having all the advantage of the 

 air, it would soon be fit to carry (when 

 it should also be covered), making room 

 for more, as the weather permitted it to 

 be cut; thus it would be preserved entirely 

 in good condition, without which, serious 

 loss to the farmers must be expected, 

 Tlic cxi)ence of the tarpauliji or canvass 

 would ix) trifling, iu comparisun of th« 



Select Notices of Italian Literature. 107 



loss and expenee otherwise incurred in 

 a season like the present. 



Farmers would find it their interest 

 to reap their barley and oats, and pre- 

 serve them in this way in wet season.s. 

 S, GuppY. 



For the Monthly Magazine, 



SELECT NOTICES of ITALIAN LITERA- 

 TURE, cfimprising original corres- 

 pondence, ANECDOTES, BIOGRAPHI- 

 CAL SKETCHES, POETRY, ^^^C iSc 



Letter from Signor Gallileo Galilei to 

 Father Benedetto Castelli, public Lec- 

 turer of Mathematics iu the University 

 of Pisa. 



THE (juestious proposed to j'ou, at 

 ttieir table, by their Serene High- 

 nesses the Grand Duchess Mother, and 

 the Archduchess,* in the presence of the 

 Grand Duke, and other individuals of 

 that illustrious family, have led me to 

 consider several parts of the sacred 

 writings seemingly at variance with the 

 laws of iMture, and more particularly 

 the passage of Joshua in contiadiction 

 to the mobility of the earth, and the sta- 

 bility of the sun. With respect to the 

 first specific demand made to you by the 

 Grand Duchess Mother, it ajipears to 

 me, that it was prudently proposed by 

 her, and conceded and established by 

 your most reverend paternity, that the 

 sacred writings can never lie or err, but 

 that their decrees are of absolute and 

 inviolable truth. 1 shall simply add 

 that, although the Scriptures cannot err, 

 still their interpreters and expounders 

 may err in various modes; one of the 

 most grievous and most frequent of 

 which is, that of constantly adhering to 

 the puie signification of the words; 

 seeing that this may lead, not only to 

 divers contiadictions, but also to grievous 

 heresies and blasphemies, since it would 

 be necessary to bestow on God, hands, 

 feet, and cars, and not only corporal, but 

 human aftections, sucli as anger, icpen- 

 tanee, hatred, and occasionally an obli- 

 vion of things past, and an ignorance of 

 the future. Hence, as in the Scrijiturcs, 

 nrany propositions are found, some of 

 which, respectively to the naked sense of 

 the words, have an aspect different from 

 their true import, but which are exhi- 

 bited in this way, to the end that they 

 may be accommodated to the incapacity 

 of the vulgar; it is necessary that, for the 

 few who deserve to be separated from 



• Christina of Lorena, mother of Cos. 

 mo II. au4 Aladdelena of .Vuatria. 



P» the 



