848 
will ferve to unite the names of Milton 
and Arne fo long as harmony is culti- 
wated.”” This opera, Iconfefs, I never 
heard ; but upon referring to it, I find 
the very firft fong, “* Now Phacbus finkerb 
gn the we/?,’ to be-a moft flagrant pla- 
giarilm from Handel; the fubjeét, note 
for note, correfponding to ‘‘ Come, ever- 
fimiling Liberty; and the fong ‘“* Nor ox 
beds of fading flowers” is evidently taken 
from Pergolefi's “ Sanéta Mater.” 
Of the Opera, in general, nothing is 
left to admire but the Recitative, ‘* How 
gentle was my Damon's ar.’ This is 
peculiarly {weet and expreflive, and the 
melody which follows is not lefs beauti- 
fully pathetic. That Arne has made 
clofe imitations of the Italian mutfic, will 
immediately appear on comparing his 
fine fong “ The Soldier tiv’d,” with the 
Etalian fong “‘ Vo folcando.”’ 
Your biographer farther remarks, that 
‘<The feature of nature is prominentin all 
his airs 5 never affe€ted, never pedantic, 
never vacant ; they areas remarkable for 
the juftnefs of their expretlion as for 
their beautiful implicity.” 
In anfwer to this affertion, I call to his 
mind the low and vulgar Gavot, which 
follows the fublime Largetio in the over- 
ture of Artaxerxes, and would refer him 
alfo to the colie€tion of fongs in * Lyréc 
Harmony,” which, I prefume, he cannot 
have feen, as they are, perhaps, fcarcely 
to be equalled for vacancy and dullnefs. 
I will mention a piece of the Doétor’s 
which his biographer did not enumerate : 
that well-known fong “ Rule Britaunia.” 
This piece will probably ferve to bear up 
his name when the mufic of Comus fhaili 
be forgotten. I am ready to allow, that 
Dr. Arne deferves a diftinguifhed place 
in the Republic of Harmony, but not 
the exalted one which your mufical friend 
has ailgned to him. 
I am, fir, your's, &c. 
Leicefier, Dec. 5, 1796- ne 
eo ‘ 
To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. 
SIR, 
your correfpondent, TF. (Number IIT, 
p. 186) after ftating the well-known 
fact, that lime is a ufeful manure in cer- 
tain cafes, endeavours to account for its 
afefulnefs in two ways. In the firft place, 
taking for granted the truth of Sir John 
Pringle’s theory, that lime is of a feptic 
nature, he fuppofes it to a& ufefully by 
promoting the putrefaétion of dead ve- 
getable fubftances which it may meet 
with in the earth. In the fecond place, 
x 
Chemical Operation of Lime... A New Febrifuge. 
[ Dec. 
that in ftrong clayey foils, when its effedts 
are more advantageous than could be ac- 
counted for by its mere feptic power, its 
ufefulnefs confifts in decompofing alum, 
and fetting at liberty a certain quantity of 
fixed air. 
This latter theory appears to me ene 
tirely groundlefs. 
“All clay,” your corel pee ob- 
ferves, ‘contains a very conliderable 
quantity of alum. When lime is applied te 
a clavey foil, it decompofes the aluminous 
mixture in the clay, as the vitriolic acid 
has a flronger attraétion for the calcaree 
ous earth than for the earth of alum. 
The liberation of fixed air, while the 
lime is uniting with the acid, 1s favours 
able to vegetation.” 
It is a miftake that all clay contains 
alum. The combination of fulphuric 
acid with argil, which conftitutes alum, 
is feldom found ready formed by nature. 
It is almoft entirely an artificial produc- 
tion, and is obtained hy roafting alumin- 
ous ores which confift of clay combined 
with fulpbur. So far from all clays con- 
taining alum, very few of them contain 
even aluminous ore: and even thofe that 
are combined with fulphur, contain ne 
alum till the fulphur is converted into 
fulphuric acid by combuftion. 
But even fuppofing for a moment that 
alum does exilt in all clay, and is decom- 
pofed by lime, whence arifes the fixed 
air on which fo much ftrefs is laid? Every 
one knows that lime contains no fixed 
air; that the very formation of lime con- 
fifts in expelling fixed air from calcareous 
earth by means of heat. 
Norwich, Dec. 4, 1796. Tee 

To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. 
SIR, 
Vouk Readers are much indebted te 
4. the liberal {pirit which pervades your 
Magazine, and which has induced you to 
prefent them with the important proceed- 
ings of the public inftitutions in France. 
Perhaps an ufeful difcovery in the prac- 
tice of phyfic will not have the lefs cre- 
dit with you as coming from a man who 
probably differs from yeu in political fen- 
timents. The difcovery, to which I 
would call the attention of your medical 
readers, is a new febrifuge. 
ZANNETTINI, phyfician to the French 
army in Italy, has addrefied a letter to the 
infpeétors-general of health to the re- 
publican armies, in which, after charac- 
terizing the double-tertian fever, “_ 
e 
