118 
atmofphere, yet advanced fo near to this 
difcovery, as to leave no very, extraordi- 
nary merit to his pupil Torricelli, in the 
aétual accomplifhment of it. Far be it 
from me to offér to tear, with rath hand, 
the Jaurels from the immortal brow of 
Newton! . Yet, let me permitted to ob- 
ferve, that when this great man difcover- 
ed the doétrine of the attraCtion of gra- 
¥itation, aftronomy, geography, and-na- 
vigation ; mechanics, and all the mecha- 
mical arts, had been improved to fucha 
pitch of advancement, the attention of 
philofophers was fo earneftly turned to- 
wards the difcovery of the true fyftem of 
the univerfe, and the operations of ma- 
thematical calculation had been fo much 
facilitated and improved, that the thecry 
ef gravitation, had. it even efcaped.the 
genius of Newton, could not well have 
fatled'to.arife to the meditations of fome 
one’ cr another of the philofophers, who 
were cotemporary with him. Reflecting 
upon thefe tacts, we fhall find it difficult 
temaintain, that even Newton foared to 
fach an exceffive height: above the com- 
mon level of the knowledge of his age, as 
many of his admirers feem to have imea- 
gined. Inthe more recent initance of the 
difcovery of the true theory of chemiftry, 
does the merit of that difcovery reft with 
Lavoifier alone? No; Van Helmont, 
Boyle, Mayow, Hale, Prieftley, Berg- 
many Scheele, Black, Cavendith, Baumé, 
Macquer, Bucquet, had, fucceflively or 
collaterally, purfued chemical inveftiga- 
tions, and traced out the general truths of 
this fcience, till it was almoft as impoffi- 
ble that fome one or another fhould not 
ftumble on Lavoifier’s difcoveries, as that 
a number of perfons fhould, in a dark 
night, wander about among frequent open 
pits, and yet none of them have the for- 
tune-to-fall in. Such has ever been the 
cafe in regard to the grand difcoveries in 
philofophy.. Knew we but minutely the. 
fteps- by which ‘their authors were con- 
duéted to them, we fhould not fail to 
abate much; from the fervour of that ad- 
miration with which we are at prefent 
_ difpofed to regard thofe authors. Nay, 
more.. I doubt not, but there has been a 
greater energy of genius exerted, and 
much more contributed towards the true 
advancement of {cience, by perfons whofe 
names are undiftinguifhed in its annals ; 
than by thofe on whom has been fondly 
lavithed boundie‘s praife. It is in philo- 
fophy as in-war: the‘foldiers fight the - 
battle, but the meed of viftory.is for the 
generals alone. 
En pociry, the ‘cafeis widely. different, 
Difcovereres in Philofophy compared with Poets. 
The great poet can never derive from his 
predeceflors more than a very little of 
that on which alone his fame cam be per- 
manently built. Melody, and variety of 
verfification; a copious and happily ex- 
preflive phrafeology ; tafte to avoid fale 
ornaments of wit and faney; {kill to ad- 
ju all the parts of a work into one whole; 
all thefe, the poet may, indeed, derive 
from the ftudy of the works of his pre- 
deceffors, but little elfe can this fiudy 
confer. We eafily diftinguifh what is 
merely the copy of a copy from that 
which is directly imitated. from nature. 
We praife the great poet only m propor- 
tion as his images and fentiments are ori- 
ginal as wellas juft-and interefting. Of all 
the literary arts, poetry is the leaft be- 
nefited by the graduai progrefs of human 
knowledge. Its grand engines are conti- 
nually difarmed by the overthrow of ig- 
norance and fuperftition: and one poet 
after another ftill pre-occupies from his 
fucceffors, one after another of the great 
provinces of nature, fo as to excite the 
general fentiment; Pereant gui noftra, 
ante nos, dixére. If Virgil has imitated 
Homer; if Milton has borrowed largely 
from all poetical antiquity, facred and 
profane, we are careful to ftrip them of 
all their borrowed feathers, whenever we 
come to eftimate their poetical merits. 
What infinite pains has been taken to 
trace all the imitations and plagiarifins of 
the divine Shakefpeare? We give poets 
credit folely for what each has himfelf 
aétually caught from nature. We fome- 
times, as has been beautifully fhewn by 
Dr. Hurd, fuppofe them imitators, when 
they-are, in truth, entitled to the praife 
of originality. A poet cannot“ borrow, 
without being perceived to borrow. In 
philofophy we are apt, at all times, to 
praife him who impoles the key-ftone; as 
if he had built the whole arch. . 
It is for thefe reafons, chiefly, that I 
think the'truly creat poet to be a more’ 
illuftrious charaéter than the great difco- 
verer in philofophy. Hi. 

MODERN PERU AND MEXICO: 
PHYSICAL GEOGRAPH¥IOF PERU. 
Intended as a Continuation of the Hiftory 
of the Monuments of Peru, inferied in 
our Magazine for December lat. 
[From ¢ E/ Mercurio Peruano.” ] . 
HE firft obje&t which prefents itfelf 
to the contemplation of the philo-~ 
fopher, in the hiftory of the monuments’ 
of ‘ancient Peru, is the delineation of the 
» Various difpehticas and organization of” 
its 
