550 
and well-informed man, and much addisted 
toftudy. But his natural genius has pro- 
bably been over-rated. From an accurate 
analyfis of bis works, it may eafily be 
‘gathered, that his predominant intellec- 
tual power was memory ; that his powers 
of imagination were not vigorous; that 
his want of firi¢t method betrays a defeé 
of analytical inveftigation; that he was 
rather a judicious ftudent and compiler of 
the obfervations of others, than an ori- 
ginal writer; that he made no extenfive 
refearches beyond the common ple Seg 
‘of his contemporaries; and that his ftyle 
is phlegmatical, and the arrangement of 
his ideas peor): The uncommon 
fuccefs of his works among the bulk of 
the people in Italy, was perhaps not a lit- 
tle owing to perfonal and local circum- 
fiances. A young man, fcarcely of the 
age of thirty, a nobleman, a lord of the 
court, a religious knight, and yet capable 
of philofophical inveftigations, was, at 
that time, deemed a prodigy. And if his © 
writings met with equal approbation in 
England, France, Germany, and America, 
it might be partly attributed to the pre- 
vailing difpofition'of men’s minds, which, 
previoufly to the convulfions of the French 
Revolution, were wholly engroffed with 
fubjecis of political economy; and partly 
to the interefted precautions | of bookfellers 
and librarians, who very f trequently, in 
their line of trade, vamp ie merit of fo- 
reign publications; or (what is no lefs 
probable) to the i enorance of the lancuage, 
Extraéis fram the Port-Folto if a Man of eile 
[Acouft, 
“which: act auied them from afcertaining 
faults, the difcovery of which would have 
lead to a correct judgement of the author’s 
merit. In this laft cafe, it might ferve te 
prove how far the fcience of words is or 
is not conneéted with the fcience of ideas. 
Certain it is, that many Neapolitans dif- 
fered much from the popular opinion, and 
thought they could appreciate Filangiera 
in his juft value. . 
When Dr. Franklin wrote Filangieri 3 
letter of invitation, requefting him to make 
a voyage to America, and become the dit 
geftor of the civil code ef the United 
States; Father Marone, a Daminicaa. 
friar, accounted the moft learned man in 
Naples, exclaimed: Jt would have been 
better for Dr. Franklin to attend to bis 
eleétric machines! And the laughing phile- 
fopher, D.. Francefco @ Aftore “(whofe 
name is mentioned with refpeé in another | 
part of this Magazine) heen ob= 
ferved, that, previoufly to the aualyfis of Fi- 
lancieht S works, a peeleceee problem 
required a folution, viz. Whether-it was 
polfible tor a nobleman, a lord of the court, 
an officer in the army, a Confiantiman — 
knight, and a nephew to the archhifhop of 
Naples, to render any éffential fervice te 
philofophy 2 ‘This farcattic fally, however, 
of Mr. D’Aftore was rather outre, yet 
very fuitable perhaps to the /iate of the hu- 
man mind, ESPECIALLY In ITALY, fifteea 
years ago! Ovmmia fert tempus, Guimum 
quogue. _F, Damian 
London, Fune 15 E799+. 

Extraéts from the Port- Pa ofa. Man of 
UNDERSTANDING AND MEMORY, 
a underitanding may be fo perfect 
Ge and mechanical, as to furvive even 
the fofs: of namely, itfelf.. FE ‘fhall give 
two infrances.. De Lagny, the mathema- 
two days had lain in 2 deep Ie- 
thargy, ne had not known every his own 
children. Maupertuis abruptly, and with 
2 very loud eae aiked him, Aaa was 
the fquare of. twelve?—144, replied a 
feeble lingermg remain of the expiring 
intelle&. The celebrated iaeeg tel Chi- 
rac was Much in the fame ftate, and: with- 
out any power of recolleéting thofe near 
his death: bed. His» right hand mechani-. 
cally laid hold ef his left, and, feeling his 
pulfe, he exclaimed, « ee: have called 
me too late.” The patient has been bled, 
on he fhould have ee evacuated. He 
is a dead man !?” Phe prediction and the 
promnattics were foon after verified. 
tician, t fot 
ie oe ESc, Se, 
NATURAL PAINTINGS. 
Tt is well known that natare, in her. 
playfulhumour, has {ketched many extra- 
ordinary piétures. We frequently, find 
admirable figures, naturally formed on_all 
forts of mole and other matfies. Pliny 
pes an agate, where, without the pen- 
cik of art, were {een A’pollo with his lyre; 
feated in the midft of the Mufes. At 
Venice, in the church of St. George, 
they keep a marble, on which was feen 
a crucifixion piece, with the nails and 
all other attributes of the paffion, almoit 
as finifhed as that of a fkilful artift. che 
hermit in a defert, feated on the bank of 
a river, holding : a hand bell, in the man- 
ner in which § St. Anthony is painted, | is 
preferved at Pifa. It is on a piece of 
jafper. Inthe neighbourhood of Florence, 
are ftones, which, “whien fawed through the 
~ middle, exhibit ruins, land{capes, trees, 
2 kes 
~ 
