352 



Morgante Maggiore. — Queries. 



[Nov. 1, 



followed by a fliowcr of rain, which is 

 more or Icfs, accorciiiig to the loudncfs of 

 the report, or the quantity of gas the 

 cloud contains. 



It may be hekl as an argument againft 

 tlie above, that it frequently thunders 

 without rain : but in anfvver to it, and 

 as a confirmation of tlie above, I fiiy, 

 that when it thunders witliout rain, it is 

 only when the thunder is at a dillance ; 

 for, invariably as a clap of thunder is 

 heard nigh, the rain is found to increale 

 iu proportion to the loudnefs of the re- 

 port. And as a continuation to the 

 above form or matter of clouds (I mean, 

 their being interfperfed with bladders, or 

 bubbles of inflated gas), we hear that 

 rumbling noife fometimes during a thun- 

 der ftorm ; for if they were not compofed 

 of detached particles of matter, the re- 

 port would be inllantaueous, and not 

 attended with tliiit crackling noife as it is 

 fometimes, which is the clfcct of feveral 

 explolions immediately following one af- 

 ter the other. 



Another argument againft the caufe of 

 thunder in the ab(;vc manner is this : — 

 why does it not always thunder preced- 

 ing rain, as rain is always formed by the 

 explofion or decompofition of the gafe- 

 oas fluids iu the clouds ? — to which 1 ihall 

 anfwer, that it is not abiblutely necelfary 

 that the gafeous fluids hi the clouds 

 fliould be exploded by the electric fpark, 

 as various other means may decompofe 

 them ; for inllance, percullions occalion- 

 ed by wind may in I'ome meafurc effett 

 it without any cNplofion, or the dilferent 

 temperature of the atmofphere may, and 

 various other means which we are unac- 

 ♦juainted with at prefent. 

 Half Moon-Jheet, G. A. L*****. 



Ficcudilli/. 



To the Editor of' the Monthly Magazine. 



SIR, 



I HAVE read with fo much pleafure, 

 Critical Obfervations on the iMorgante 

 Maggiore, in your Magazine, that I feel 

 extremely anxious that your ingenious 

 correfpondent flviuld undertake an ana- 

 lylis of the whole poem, on the plan 

 which he Items to have meditated ; that 

 is, to give a general idea of the contents 

 of the poem, and to interfperi'e the profe 

 uairatioii w ith particular pall'ages tranf- 

 lated into Englifli verfe. The poetical 

 verlions which he has given are, in my 

 opinion, executed with great felicity. 

 Extravagant as this poem iiiav be, it has 

 many lieanties, and, therefore, merits to 

 Le introduced to tlie notice of the Eng- 

 litii,. read^i-. Eclides^ it ha# a fiu'tb^f 



claim to the attention of the public, as 

 the tirll romance iu the Italian language. 

 " Romance," fays liitfon, " did not niakc 

 its appearance in Italy before the time 

 of Dante or Boccaccio ; nor perhaps, in 

 a ftri(^ter fenfe, previous to the Morgante 

 Maggiore of Pulci." — Dijf. on Horn, and 

 MivJ. p. liv. A critical examination of 

 this extraordinary poem could not fail of 

 being extremely acceptable to every cu- 

 rious reader. The opinion of Mr. Kolcoe 

 (Life of Ixjrenzo de' Medici, vol. i. p. 

 247), and Mr. Walker (Efiay on the 

 Rev. of the Drama in Italy, p. 267), are 

 alre;idy before the public ; but the ob- 

 fervations (jf thole writers are general, 

 not particular. The fubject demands a 

 minute examination. As the Pulci fa- 

 mily diftinguifhcd themfelves at the re- 

 vival of letters in Italy, an account of that 

 family fliould be prefixed to the analyfis. 



Nor is the liulia Libirala of Triliino 

 lefs deferving of being introduced to the 

 notice of the Englifli reader, on the plan 

 propofed above. A complete tranflatiou 

 of the poem would never be read; but 

 there arc many beautiful paffages in it to 

 which the author of the Critical Obferv- 

 ations on the Morgante Maggiore would, 

 I think, do great juftice. 



I am, &c. A. B. 



P. S. The refpeftive merits of the poems 

 of Puki and Triliino, are aljly difcuflcd liy 

 Gravina, in his admirable little treatife Delia 

 Ragion Poctlca, of which an elc^jant edition 

 by Mr. Mjthias hes juft appeared. 



Can any of your correlpondents inform me, 

 whether the following work, which from its 

 title promifes to be curious and interefting, 

 has been tranflated into Engliih : HarUk'm j 

 oder die Vcrthc':d'igu>ig des Gri/tiJie-KcniiJcben. 



QUERIF.S 



ruoir VARIOUS corPvEspondents oif 



MISCEtLAKEOUS SUBJECTS.* 



To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. 



SIR, 



LOOKING into your very entertain^ 

 ing work, the Monthly Magazine, 

 October ISOi, I obferved a letter hgned 

 Archieologus, mentioning a gentleman 

 having in his polVcllion two coins and a 

 medal, viz. afliiUing of Edward the Sixtii, 

 a lixpence of INlary the Firtt, a large 

 medal, having on one fide Abraham'* 

 Offering, on the other the Crucifixion, 



* Inftead of difperfing Communications of 

 this nature through our pages, as heretofore, 

 we {hall, in future, print them together every 

 two er ihre« moaUiii a$ tbey accuouilate. 



fOUJl<l 



