1811.] Employment for Soldiers. 25 
relief, but suspicions will naturally arise 
when the subject is taken up in the 
way this has been, to prevent the pro¬ 
mulgation of a remedy which threatens 
to annihilate the horrors of a disease, 
upon the continuance of which num¬ 
bers depend for a comfortable existence. 
Verax. 
To the Editor of' the Monthly Magazine, 
SIR, 
HE motion of Sir Francis Burdett, 
respecting flogging in the army, 
has no doubt been lead by some pro¬ 
fessional persons, and almost all not- 
professional, with a decided opinion of 
its propriety, and a wish for its practi¬ 
cability. Any further interference must 
be consigned to priviledged persons. 
The subject of my present address 
is of similar tendency, but of less jea¬ 
lous apprehension. Employ of the mi¬ 
litary is of undisputed propriety; and 
there is no fear of libelling by propo¬ 
sing substitutes of undoubted good. 
Cleanliness is of consequence; but here, 
to every rational mind, the duty ceases. 
Carry it further, the effects upon the 
moral and intellectual character are in¬ 
jurious; it exalts trifles into virtues; 
and how the public suffers by the habit, 
is evident by the discontent of the army 
with button-and-gaiier generals, and 
their miserable conduct in the field. 
Little minds cannot make great men: 
and this character vve expect from men 
in high command, on account of for¬ 
cibly impressing their own army and 
the enemy. The Romans (no trifling 
authority) employed their soldiers in 
aqueducts and public works. Suppose 
a garrison in a eaport town employed 
on the works, in road-making, m tw ist¬ 
ing ropes, helping in the docks, &c. 
money is saved to the public. Sup¬ 
pose their musquets bronzed like fowl¬ 
ing pieces, their under-dress grey pan¬ 
taloons, and their shoes of common 
blacking, is not that sufficient? Is 
there a kind of labour which can assist 
health and inure to fatigue, equal to field 
work? If so, does not the service im¬ 
periously require it? Surely it is not 
libellous to say, that the good of the 
army does not require deductions from 
a petty income for such things as heel- 
balfs, pipe-clay, and excess of brushes. 
Tiiey may suit Nat Pigtail, in the play ; 
but they disgrace witlj foppery, the ve¬ 
teran, the grenadier. I have been told 
tliat adjutants have been known to 
Mo>N'iHLy Mag, No. 2iQ. 
open the inside of a cartridge-box, and 
to punish the man, if any oust was in 
it; and that firelocks have hurst by 
being worn out through cleaning. Est 
modaa in rebus, and, without disputing 
the point of employing the soldiery, I 
beg to ask,^ if, as such things are omit¬ 
ted on foreign service, it could not at 
home be more profitable to the public, 
who pay the military, if they were em¬ 
ployed lor the benefit of that public,, , 
ill every fair way, not for the mere! 
adornment of their persons, which to.‘.. 
soldiers ought ever to be tlie smallest ,,, 
object of concern. B C. D. ..p 
To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine, r. 
SIR, .c 
N reading the history of Joseph jw 
in the book of Genesis, I have .u 
always found myself at a loss to ac- ol 
count for an apparent inattention on 
his part towards liis father Jacob. I 
mean in not voluntarily taking rnea- ■- 
sures, before the arrival of his brothers - 
in Egypt, to apprize his father of hi^s 
being alive in that country, a piece of 
intelligence, which, he must have been 
sensible w'ould be highly grateful W) the 
old patriarch. It is obvious from the 
story that Joseph fiad been in Egypt 
many years ; that the communication 
betw'een that country and the land of 
Canaan was by no means difficult; and 
that Joseph subsequeiitly, at least to 
his interpretation of Fhaiaoh^s diearns, 
must have had it fully in his power to 
convey thither the information. It iias 
never occurred to me to see any re¬ 
marks on this subject ; and the few at¬ 
tempts at explanation wliich I have 
heard respecting it, have been to me 
far from satisfactory. Periiaps, through 
the medium of vour useful Miscellany, 
this seeming difficulty might easily be 
elucidated.— Perhaps, too,, some one of 
your classical cr.j respondents Would be 
kind enoucrh to satisfy me on the foN 
lowing point. In referring a deriva¬ 
tive word Ill the Greek language to its 
primitive, the lexicons do not appear 
to me always to point out the radical 
word with sufficient precision. Some¬ 
times, f(.ir instance, the noun is consi¬ 
dered as the primary word, sometimes 
the adjective, sometimes the vertc, 6cc. 
where the ground for such a derlvatioii 
is not always to be clearly discrimina¬ 
ted. I will exemplify my meaning, by 
the woi'fls araa; and ctji, a.v'^^Cl} and auon. 
Ill one instance the verb avTaai is givea 
D 
