1802.] The late Rev. Mr. Robertjon—Enquiry concerning Clofterbayn. 3i6 
his biogvapher was not acquainted. To: 
the biblical fiudent, and to all who with 
to form juft ideas of the government and 
providence of God, and, as the author 
expreffes it in the title, ** To feparate the 
Word of God from the Doéfrines and Tra- 
ditions of Mén,”’ it mutt appear a valuable 
piece. It was printed for W. Goldimith, 
No. 24, Paternofter-row, 1772, and is 
entitled ** An Inquiry into the Scripture 
Meaning of the word Saran, and its 
fynonymous Terms, the DEVIL, or the 
ADVERSARY and the WicKkepD-ONE.”” 
The Introduf&tory Remarks run to forty 
pages, and the Tract itfelf to feventy- 
feven. In this Tra& the author printed 
only part of his work, ‘and * the remain- 
der was to follow in due time,.if the 
public fhould feem difpofed to receive it. 
with candour.”? The writer of this con- 
ceives, that he muft exprefs the fentiments 
of all friends to candid enquiry and {crip- 
tural difguifitions, if he adds his fervent 
wifh that the remainder, which the auther 
promifed, may be found among his papers, 
be prepared for the prefs, and be, in an 
early feafon, laid before the public, 
I am, 
Your conftant Reader, 
J. TouLmMin. 
Taunton; 
March 6, 1802. 
To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. 
SIR ; 
T may not be uninterefting to fome of 
your readers to know, that a great 
part of the curious account of the ele- 
phant by. Brunetto Latini, in p. 233, m 
your laft Number, was collected by him 
from a work written by fome Monkifh 
Pliny, about the 12th or 13th century, 
and intitled Befzarium. I may at fome 
future time prefent you with a further 
account of this fingular treatife on ani- 
mals, but fhall confine myfJf, for the 
prefent, to the following extract from it, 
in order to prove the above affertion. 
‘© Fit ammal quod dicitur elephas, in 
quo non eft concupifcentia coitus. Ele- 
phantem Greci a magnitudine corporis 
vocant; putant qued formam montis per- 
ferat. Gracé autem mons eiipho dicitur. 
Apud Indos a voce barro vocatur, unde 
eft et vox ejus barritus ‘et dentes ejus ebur. 
Roftrum autem promufcida dicitur; quurm 
illo pabula criadmovet, etelt anguifimilis, 
vallo munitus eburneo. “Nullom animal 
grandius-videtur. In eis enim Pe:fe et 
Indi laribus ligneis coliocatis tanquam de 
muro jaculis dimicant. Intellectu et, me- 
‘moria multa vigent; gregatim incedunt. 
Fugiunt murem. Averficoeunt. Biennio 
autem parturiunt, nec amplius quam femel 
gignunt, non/plures fed tanfum unum: 
Vivunt autem annos tres centos. St 
autem voluerit facere filios, vadit ad Ori- 
entem prope Paradifum, et eft ibi arbor 
quz vocatur Mandragora, et vadit cum 
femina fua, que accipit prius de arbore-et 
dat mafctilo fuo, et feducit: eum donee 
manducet, ftatimque in utero concipit. 
Cum vero tempus pariendi-venerit, exit 
in fagnum, et aqua venit ufque ad ubera 
matris. Elephans autem cuflodit eam par~ 
turientem, quia draco eft inimicus ele- 
phanti. Siautem invenerit ferpentem, oc- 
cidit eum, quem conculcat donec moria- 
tur. Eft autem formidabilis tauris ele- 
phans, tantum murem timet. Eft hec 
natura ejus; ficeciderit non poteft refurgere. 
Cadit aatem cum fe inclinat ad/arborem 
/ut dormiat. Non autem habet jun&uras 
geniculorum. Wenator autem incidit ar- 
borem modicum ut elephans cum fe incli- 
naverit fimiliter cum arbore cadat. Cadens - 
autem clamat fortiter, et fatim magnus 
elephans exit,, et non poteft eum levare. 
Tunc clamant ambo, et veniunt xii. ele- 
phantes, et non poflunt eum levare qui 
cecidit. Deinde clamant’ omnes, et fta- 
‘tim venit pufillus elephans, et mittit os 
fuum cum promufcida fubtus magnum 
elephantem, et elevat eum.” he author 
then moralizes the whole, affimilating the 
male and female elephants to Adam and 
Eve; the mandragora to the tree of life; 
the dragon to the ferpent; the great ele- 
pant to the law ; the twelve to the pro< 
phets ;'and the little one to Chrift.. The 
circumftance of the-elepharit’s fear of the 
moute is probably borrowed from Pliny. . 
But it thould feem that the elephant 
deferibed by Brunetto was not the only 
ene that had till then been feen in Eng 
land. Henry III. had already received a 
fimilar prefent from the King of France; 
as we learn from Mathew Paris, fub anna 
1264, edit. Watf. p. 903. It. was res 
garded as a donation of very high value, 
and the people flocked in crowds to fee it, 
Of one of thefe animals a contemporary’ 
drawing is preferved on the back of a leaf 
in a MS. in the Cotton Library, Nerg 
D. I. a mifcellany relating to the Abbey 
of St. Alban. 
April 9, 1802. \ D. 
ce Se ' aS 
To the Editor of ibe Meathly Magazine. 
SIR, 
TALE the opportunity, through the - 
medium. of your Magazine, which 
has fuch a general circulation both in this 
country and on the Continent, to requeft 
fomg 
