

ae 2: 
8) 2 F rench Afironotil Gherumias “Tiibin Notion of Dying. 
haps, is that of having given birth to the 
Gierufalemme ene of Taffo ; 
6 So much more thanks from human kind 
does merit 
The poet’s fury, than the zealot’s fpirit.”’ 
We fhall refume the fubje&t of Taffo’s 
merit, as a motive for learning the Italian 
language, when we come to confider the 
kindred excellence of Metaftafio. 
GL. 
=e 
To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. 
SIR, 
CORRESPONDENT, M.J.S. at 
oh 
your excellent t Magazine, wifhes fome in- 
formation concerning the nature and refult 
of the obfervations made by Vipat on the 
planet Mercury, and inferted by LaLaNDE 
in the additions to the Connozffance des 
Tems for the VIII. and IX. years (1799 
and 1800). 
From the paffage in Lalande’s Hiftory 
of Aftronomy for the year VI. given at 
page’ 433 of your Magazine for July laft, 
the lovers of aftronomy mutt naturally 
have had a defire to poflefs the great and 
highly valuable aftronomical’ information 
contained in thefe annual additions or fup- 
plements to the French Ephemerides ; and 
i have to lament the interruption to their 
regular importation: into this country, at 
leaft my book(eller in London fo imforms 
‘me, and, though continually defired, has 
only been able to procure me the Connoif~ 
fence des Tems for this year (23d Septem- 
ber, 1799, to 23d September, 1800), fince 
that for the year 1793.—It is to be la- 
mented that the Crufade carrying on 
againft French principles fhould operate 
againft French {cience alfo.—lI can, there- 
fore, but imperfectly fatisfy the wifhes. of 
M. J. S. but fhould none of your corre. 
fpondents, lefs unfortunate than myfelt, 
fend you a more fatisfa& Xory account of 
Vidal's obfervations, you wili, -perhaps, 
oblige me by inferting the ee fhort 
notice of thele oblervation 183 oa would 
hardly, I fear, find room fer the obferva- 
tions at length :. they confift then of a fe- 
ries of obfervations made at Mirepoix; in 
March, April, and May, 1797, during a 
compleat revolution of Mercury round “the 
Sun, and on each day is given the time of 
,Wercurys palling the meridian, and its 
meridian altitude; the time of the Sun’s 
pafling the meridian, and meridian alti- 
tude on each corresponding day, together 
with the time of iome neighbouring large 
‘ftars pafling a meridian, and its meri- 
dian altitude ; with the height of the baro- 
page 692, in the laf Number of 
meter and eee at noon, of each 
day of obfervation.—To thofe who are 
acquainted with the difficulty, at moft 
times, of “making obfervations on the 
planet Mercury, on account of its near- 
nefs to the Sun, the importance of thefe 
obfervations will appear ‘very great. It 
appears that the acute eye of Vipat ob- 
ferved Mercury in its tranfit over the me- 
ridian on the 21ft of April, but_four mi- 
nutes after the Sun’s paflage! LaLaNDE 
has jufily celebrated thefe rare and difficult 
obfervations. 
While I am writing, I beg leave to cor- 
rect an error which crept into your Maga- 
zine for September laft refpe€ting great 
floods in the county of Bedford, particu- 
larly in the neighbourhood of Shefford, as 
no event of that. kind happened; the im- 
pofition was firft, I believe, praétifed on a 
refpectable newpaper, and thence found 
its way into yours, and moft other fe 
odical works. Tam) Si; 
Your conftant reader, 
WOBURNIENSIS. 
Odtober 10, 1795. 
EE 
For the Monthly Magazine. 
Nec fané omnia referenda ad vim Fati pu- 
tat; fed effe aliquid in nobis. | 
Apuleius de Dog. Plat. 
HAT the opinion of Homer, con- 
cerning Fate or Deftiny, coincides 
with the do€trine of thofe Stoics, who con- 
fider it as the fuprerfie power of the uni- 
verfe, has heen afferted by Cicero, and, 
after him, byCudworth, and Shaftefbury* = 
This affetion does not feem to be fup- 
ported by faéts: Homer allows that there - 
are certain fixed laws of nature ordained by 
the governor of the world, and acting in 
fubordination to him; but he no where 
affirms, as has been done by Seneca and 
others, that the will of man, and even 
of the gods themfelves, is placed under 
the abfolute controul of a-fatal neceflity. 
The particular paflage of his writings, 
upon which they have founded their af- 
fer tion, is as follows; “> 
2 pass eyay, ¢ ETE A01 SapTrn dia, SIATATOY AVDEaT, 
M ates uno ie sooo Mevostiadao Oapetivett 
Ary Sa Of peor xeadin (ECOVE, Deerly doreatverTly 
Hye Ceo oy & , a pedyns amo SuKevIEc ons 
Oftw aiaeracas Avxing éve amiovs O40, 
oH 10 um yeert Msvariddue dapedora 
” Homers Iliad. lib. XVI» VU. 433. 
four 
‘ Ah me! that my fon, Sarpedon, 
ve among men, thould be doomed to 

* Vide Cicero de Divinatione, lib. 25 Cud- 
worth’s Intelle€tual Syftem, book 1. chap. 15 
and Shaftefbury’s Moralifts, parti. feét. 2. 
die 


