124 Roman Notation... Hero worfhip: 
out calculations. The Arabic charaéters, 
we know, receive their power from the 
place they hold, or the relation they 
bear to others; thus, the third place in 
enumeration 6 fan of hundreds ; the 
fourth of thoufands; the feventh of 
millions, &c. Not fo the Roman; for 
in them we find four charaéters ufed to 
exprefs a number that we oe bs 
one, and which falls under unity, 
VITi—8. I cannot apprehend Hse 
without a tedious procefs, they could 
even execute-a jong fum in fimple 
addition ; and as to their multiplying of 
two large fums together, it is to me to- 
tally incomprehenfible, how it could be 
caine at For inftance, the date of the 
prefent year, multiplied into itfelf ; 1. ¢. 
SEP hae multiplied by mpccxcvtil. 
I hope I have exp: celled myfelf fo far 
intelligibly, that the difficulty I fugeeh 
may be evident to others; and a folu- 
“tion of it will be a fingular favour to- 
Worcefter, Feb. 2, 1797. x. O0.K. 
—— 
For the Montily Magazine. 
Tayal luit apud omnes fere gentes, ut memo- 
yiam  infignium ‘virorum & belli- facinoribus 
imprimis ante alios eminentium publicis ac 
divinos poit obitum eorum honoribus cele- 
‘braren nt, five quod tanta virtutis integritatis 
que vis ac fpleador, ut reitin@a ergo viventem 
invidia, omnium , animos mentefqué percellat 
ingue ful admirationem rapiat, five quod ex 
via reipublice credebatur efie, ut bene me- 
yentium jufto honore, fuperilites edocerentur, 
gua via ad veram’ -gloriam deberent eniti. 
Romanorum inde apotheofin autores, nummi, 
Nermora loquuntur, ‘aliarum gentium in ea re 
hodie que fuperans mos ab iis proditus ef, 
gui Afie, Africe, & Americ litora legerunt. 
Quidni igitur Ar&tox gentes idem fecifient, 
qui omne fere jus omnemgue  gioriam ie 
armis pofitam arbitrabantur. Certe apud Luci- 
anum Toxaris ait: Scythas ita a fe 
recte & oidine facere, qui virorum preitan- 
tium memoriam colant, quo magis ees 
fe ad magna erigant, ab videant etiam poft 
imortem manere benefaétorum preemia. Ada- 
mius Bremenfis de feptentrionis incolis: Colunt 
et ceos ex hominibus faétos quos pro ingen- 
tibus factis,_ immortalitate donant. 
Keyflers Antigu: tates Sc/stentricnales, /:. 97. 
S. R. has honoured with a polite com- 
". Mentary (vol. ii. p. 17) the paper 
concerning hero-worthin, in your 2d vol. 
/ Or Semin ie objets that the cited 
paffages do not apply. This mut be left 
to the reader. ‘Not ev ery one afflociates 
the like ideas ae a given feries of Eng- 
lith words. e et Hume, who was emi- 
nently aire by the ftudy of Lord 
Bacon, ‘plainly confiders the pallage ad - 
faints the 
[Feb, 
duced from that author, as wore than 
hiftorical; fince he has taken pains (in 
the Efiay on Parties) to controvert the 
polition therein contained, that the in-_ 
ventors of uleful arts are dciter entitled 
than legifiators, to be infialled among, | 
the worthies. 
Milton, again, furely applauds the-peo- 
ple for having been wont io repute for 
affertors of the common li- 
berty ; and. complains that with a dege- 
ner: 2 bafenefs of {pirit, they- feemed 
likely io transfer their idolatry to Charles 
the martyr. Nor is his allufion merely 
oratorical : Edmund, for his prowefs— 
Edward the Confeffor, for his laws, were 
literally canonized. 
The words of Middleton certainly go 
no farther than to prefer paganifm to 
popery, on account of the hero-worthip 
which made a part of it. And is this 
not much in afcholar of his profefiion ? 
2. To the paragraphs from Hume is 
objected their implying the Bose 
able opinion, that ‘* to degr: ade the deity 
will clevate the mortal.” They do fo: 
and as this opinion is ill-defended, and 
quite improbable, they fhould not bg 
pleaded as authority for difociating 
hero-worfhip, from the adoration of the 
Supreme Being. | 
Hero- worthip is as compatible with 
that, as faint-worfhip has been with the 
adoration of the Trinity : m Hindoftan 
they are faid actually to fubfift in al- 
liance.” 
3. §. R. objects to adulation and fer- 
vility (x sho does not?) and places in 
this predicament worlhipping a man. 
Socini, as zealous a monotheift as he was, 
objec ed nor to the worfhip of Jefus, 
whom he cS as a mere man; 
other monotheifts may think many men 
alio worthy of pofthumous veneration. 
Rites, no doubt, can be imagined, which 
would be fervile and adulatory ; but 
with fuch, until they have been fuggeft- - 
ed, there is no war to wage. Your cor- 
refpondent is willing to fee public halls 
filled with the bufts and ftatues of heroes 
and fages ; and is willing to attend bio- 
graphical eenires: in their honour. Give 
the ‘name of churches or temples to fuch 
public halls ; and he admits all that the 
partizans of hero-worfhip are likely to 
contend for, as of probably ufeful infti- 
tution : for he furely cannot with to in- 
terfere with the De tles of the people, 
under a notion of their being idulatrous 3 
and to prevent (for inftance) a frater- 
nity ef wool-combers from holding their 
holiday proceffion, in honour of bifhop 
Blaze, 
: 
