1803.] 
penfioner on the bounty of Charles IX. 
who feared that too great riches might re- 
lax his exertions, and caufe a fatal lofs to 
the literature of his country. Though 
not in orders, he held fome {mall ecclefiaf- 
tical benefices, which were the rewards of 
the ardour with which he lent his pen, 
and even his {word, to {upprefs Proteftant- 
ifm, when it endeavoured to {pread from 
Germany to France. He died in 1585, 
having exhaufted a {trong conftitution by 
his debaucheries. His works are full of 
love-verfes, addrefled to three different 
miftrefies, who fucceffively became the ob- 
jects of his amorous regard. One of 
thefe, named ** Helena de Sugeres,”’ de- 
fired Cardinal du Perron to write a Pre- 
face to Ronfard’s Poems, declaring, that 
the conneétion between her and the poet 
had been perfectly chafte; but the Cardi- 
nal declined the tafk, obferving, ‘* that it 
would be fuificient to prefix her pi¢ture.”” 
His love.verfes are not addrefled to his 
own miftrefles only : many of the ladies 
of the French court were celebrated by the 
fruitful Mufe of Ronfard, whofe aid was 
frequently folicited by lovers, doubting 
their powers of defcribing the beauties 
they. admired. He compofed odes in imitae 
tion of the writings of Pindarand Horace, 
fometimes propofing to himfelf the fub- 
limity of theone,and femetimes the elegance 
New Patents lately enrolled, 
249 
of the other. His hymns, of which there 
is a great number, exhibit an extraordi- 
nary mixture of piety, profanenefs, abfur- 
dity and indecency. In one of thefe, he 
compares Chrift and Hercules, and even 
goes the length of referring the adultery 
of Jupiter to the incarnation of the Son of 
God. The thought which is the founda- 
tion of his Hymn to the four Seafons, 
would fcarcely have heen hazarded by the 
loofeft modern writer. He was confidered 
while he lived, and long after his death, as 
thePrince of the French poets; and though 
truth and talte continually contributed to 
obfeure the {plendour of his reputation, yet, 
fuchwas its original intenfity,that his works 
hold a diftinguifhed place in ‘a Colleétion 
of the fineft Pieces of French Poetry,” 
publifhed in 1694. It is pleafing to be 
told, that Rabelais, who was his cotem- 
pofary, thought meanly of his talents, and 
to find that a true genius will remain un- 
infeéted by the errors of anignorant age. 
Bruyere remarks, that he rather injured, 
than improved, the French language ; Ma- 
rot, who was his predeceflor, approaching 
much nearer than hedid to modern purity 
and elegance. Concerning the works of 
Marot, Ronfard obferved, with a ridicu- 
lous conceit of fuperiority,that they werea 
dunghill, out of which, with great labour, 
he had picked a few grains of gold, 
SS a a 
NEW PATENTS LATELY ENROLLED. 
ee eae 
MR. JOHN LEACH’S (MERTON) for @ 
METHOD of ufing MADDER im the dy- 
ing of CALICOES,LINENS, avd STUFFS, 
in which a confiderable faving is 
made in the CONSUMPTION of that 
ROOT or DRUG. 
HE ufual and common practife has 
hitherto been in dying with madder, 
to make ule of any kind of clear water 
in its natural ftate; but according to this 
{pecification, it is firft to be prepared with 
heat, either in an open, or a fteam-tight 
veffel, which renders it more efficacious 
for extracting the tint dye or colour of the 
madder. The effe&t may be produced in 
a greater or lefs degree, by keeping the 
water either at a heat greater, or lefs, than 
the boiling-heat ; but the fureft method is 
to continue it at a boiling-heat for a cer- 
tain {pace of time, viz. for half an hour 
or upwards, after which it fhould ftand 
to cool and fubfide, before it is ufed ; 
though it may be ufed without cooling. 
MONTHLY Mac, 99. 
The water firft prepared by heat, may be 
repeatedly ufed in the dying with madders 
provided the fame be preferved from im- 
purities, which may be done by keeping 
the liquor, after boiling or dying with 
madder, until the vegetable or earthy parts 
are fubfided. 
ee 
MR. WILLIAM NICHOLSON’s (SOHO- 
SQUARE) for MACHINERY for the bet~ 
ter and more expeditious manufaciuring 
of FiLES. 
This machinery confitts of four effential 
parts,viz. 1. A carriage or apparatus,in or 
by which the file is fixed or held, and moved 
along, for the purpofe of receiving the fuc~ 
ceffive ftrokes of a cutter or chizel. 2. The 
anvil by which the file is fupported beneath 
the part that receives the ftroke. 3.°Dhe 
regulating gear, by which the diftance be- 
tween ftroke and ftroke, is determined and 
governed. And 4. The apparatus tor 
Kk giving 
