Retrofpeét of Domeftic LiteratureFine Literature, Aris, Se. (58h 
jight refpeéts its motion, and its co- 
lour. Cangety Ue both, much remains 
to be afcertained. It is not known if 
refleGted light moves with the fame 
velocity as original light, Admitting 
that through empty fpace, or perfectly 
tran{parent fubftance, light travels in 
right lines; yet, asit is refracted in the 
neighbourhood of all bodies, and, 1s 
made to {werve from its firft path, pro- 
bably with a diminifhed yelocity, by 
the contiguity of every fort of matter 
—it may be fulpeéted that a great deal 
of folar light, which rectilinearly would 
pafs-by our_earth, is, by the refract- 
ing principle, drawn within the limits 
of our atmofphere, made to alight on 
our globe, and habitually increafes to 
our optics the apparent diameter of the 
fun. Colour is probably a merely che- 
mical modification of the ray. The 
divifion into feven primary hues 1s 
wholly arbitrary, a refult of reading 
Mallebranche, an imitation of the mu- 
fical fcale. The moft luminous, no 
doubt therefore the moft pure and 
unmixed, light is yellowifh. By oxi- 
dation, probably, it becomes firf green, 
then indigo, then dark and cold. By 
* phlogiftication, probably, it becomes 
firft yellow, then, red, then dark and 
hot. Some chemifts have told us that 
the lunar rays are feptic, that they 
promote putrefaction, that they. pblo- 
gifticate the atmofphere, and generate 
gazeous azotic fluids, it is more ra- 
tional to fufpect, at leat of the, fun’s 
rays, that they are oxygenous; as the 
evaporation of water in. the funfhine 
epurates the atmofphere; as houfe- 
paint, in which the lead has been re- 
vivified and blackened by foul vapours, 
recovers in the light its whitenefs; and 
as bees-wax and linen undergo the 
fame change, by funning them in cool 
places, which they undergo from ex- 
pofure to volatilized muriatic acid: 
they are bleached. Herfchel has made 
it in fome degree probable that there 
is an invifible as weli as a vifible radia- 
tion from the fun; and the laws of 
eee 
* Hydrogen is an abfurd name: for water 
is not, like acid, a clats of fluids in the 
formation of which this element is concerned ; 
its very compoundnefs is {till deniable. We 
already want to talk of oxygenous galvanifm 
and hydrogenous galvanifm; yet in the latter 
cafe water is not generated, but perhaps de-. 
compoied. What inconvenience is there in 
retaining the old word pbhloyifion, as the 
mame ef the element now called hydrogen ? 
MoateLty Mac. No, 82. 
ae | 
this calorique (or whatever it is to be 
called) may differ widely from thofe of 
its fellow-traveller. In velocity of 
motion it feerms to be inferior; for the 
maximum of heat happens every day 
later by nearly two hours than the 
maximum of light. The fluid which 
occafions the luminous impreffions is 
probably elaftic; for if a beam of rays 
be admitted: into a very dark room, the 
fhadows are fomewhat broader than if 
the rays continued parallel. It feems 
alfo detainable, lke water, by an at- 
traction of cohefion, on the furface of 
certain bodies immerfed in it, for a 
fenfible length of time. Thus the 
Bologna-ftone, and the mimic com- 
pounds of lime and fulphur, when car- 
ried out of the funfhine, continue 
awhile luminous. {fn fhort, concern= 
ing light, we are much in the dark. 
Fine LITERATURE AND ARTS, Puta 
LOLOGY, CRITICISM, DRAMA, NO« 
VELS, &c. 
** Thalaba, a Metrical Romance, by 
R. SoOUTHEY, 148.” 
To thofe who have been long ac-, 
cultomed to the fwing of rime and the 
fee-{aw of couplets, the irregular verfe, 
or meafured profe, in which this very 
poetical poem is compofed, will appear 
to ‘have been adopted rather for the 
accommodation of the writer than of 
the reader—rather to elude the abece- 
dary drudgery of {pelline ban, can, dan, 
fan, &c. bare, care, dare, fare, &c. till 
the defiderated fyllable arrives, than to 
invite from the fecond gate of the pa- 
lace of pleafure a new gharmer of the 
ear 
in our rude climes unknown, 
That on a leafy arbour fits alone, 
Stiains his fweet throat, and waves his pure 
ple wings, 
And thus in human accents foftly fings. 
Sis W. Jones’s Works, 1V. 437. 
But thofe who delight in the narrative 
odes of Pindar, or the def{criptive odes, 
of Stolberg, will perceive that ages 
have fanctioned and nations have ad- 
mired a fimilar ftructure of metre. 
The fable or ftory of Thalaba is per= 
haps too marvellous: every incident is 
a miracle; evéry utenfil, an amulet; 
every {peech, a fpell; every perfonage, 
a god; or rather a talifmanic ftatue ; 
of which deftiny and magic overrule 
the movements, not human hopes and 
fears—not human defires and paffions, 
which always muft excite the vivid 
fympathy of men. It offers, however, 
icope beyond other metrical romances, 
2 aS : for 
