Retrofpee of Domeftic Literature athematics and Aftronomy. 583 
but they proved delufive! His paatier 
after he had been confined in the afylum 
about two months, received the melan- 
choly intelligence, that her fon had breath- 
ed his laft on the 16th of Otober, 1774+ 
His remains were decently interred in the 
Cannongate Church-yard, and it was long 
before any {tone pointed out the Ipot 
where they were depofited; this generous 
tafk was left to'a brother poet who thed 
tears of forrow on his grave. ROBERT 
Burns erefted a ftone, on one fide of 
which were engraven the following lines: 
No fculptur’d marble here, nor pompous lay! 
No ftoried urn, nor animated butt ! 
This fimple ftone directs pale Scotia’s way 
To peur her forrows o’er the Poet’s duft. 
The other fide contains this infcription:— 
By fpecial grant of the Managers 
To Robert Burns, who erected this ftone, 
This burial-place is ever to remain facred tothe 
Memory of, 
RogpertT FERGUSON. 
“¢ A Praétical Improvement of the Di- 
vine Counfel and Conduét; attempted in 
a Sermon, occafioned by ‘the Deceafe of 
William Cowper, Efq, preached at Olney, 
May 18, 1800, by SamueL GREaT- 
HEED:”’ this interefting article, which 
feems more properly to belong to the pre- 
ceding divifion of our retrofpect, is ar- 
ranged here on account of the biographi- 
cal {ketch which it contains of the ele- 
gant, the amiable, the wretched Cowper! 
In the double capacity of preacher and) 
biographer, Mr. Greatheed is equally im- 
preffed with which the folemnity of his fub- 
ject, and relates, with thofe melancholy feel- 
ings with which every reader will moft deep- 
si fympathize, thedreadful malady which it 
pleafed Providence to afflict on a man of 
the fineft genius, the moft cultivated tafte, 
and the moft fervent piety ! 
Colonel GEorGe Hancer has _ pub- 
lifhed an account of his own ‘¢ Life, Ad- 
ventures, and Opinions:”’’ a more con- 
temptible farrago, to ufe the mildeft 
epithet, never iffued from. the prefs. 
The laft work which we have to notice 
under the head of. Biography, is the -ele- 
gant produétion of the Rev. W. Parr 
GRESSWELL, entitled, ‘* Memoirs of 
Angelus Politianus, A&tius Sincerus San- 
nazarius, Petrus Bimbust Hieronymus 
Fracaftorius, Marcus Antonius Flami- 
nius, and the Amalthei: Tyanflations from 
their Poetical Works, and Notes and 
Obfervations concerning other Literary 
Characters of the Fifteenth and Sixteenth 
Centuries.” We muf enrcl ourfelves 
among the number of thofe who regret 
“the ae with which thefe interefting 
Memoirs are drawn up, and that from the 
very rare and valuable materials which the 
author poffeffed, he fhould have made fo 
parémonious a felection; his plea is for- 
getting the precept of the poet, medio tu- 
tifimus ibis—that he preferred this extreme 
to that of entering into a minutenefs of de- 
tail, which might probably fatigue, rather 
than intereft, the reader. The ,obje&t of 
Mr. Grefwell appears to have been rather 
to ftimulate than gratify: thofe eminent 
fcholars, who flourifhed in the Italian 
ftates during the fifteenth and fixteenth 
centuries, are, comparatively f{peaking, 
but little known among us; and Mr, 
Grefwell, lamenting the obfcurity with 
which fuch characters are now fhaded, has 
endeavoured, by critical remarks on their 
writings, by occafional verfions of their 
poems, and by {ketches of their lives, to 
bring them again into light. Mr. Gref- _ 
well appears to have infufed the true {pirit 
of his originals into his tranflations, and 
the correétnels and elegance of his ftyledo 
credit, as well to the models from which 
he ftudied, as to himfelf. 
MATHEMATICS AND ASTRONOMY. 
The firft work which we fhall notice in, 
this department of literature is Mr. In- 
GRAM’s edition of the ‘© Elements. of 
Euclid, viz. the firit fix Books, with the 
eleventh and twelfth ; in which the Cor- 
rections of Dr. Simfon are generally 
adopted, but the Errors overlooked by 
him are corrected, and the Obfcurities of 
his and other Editions are explained ; alfo 
fome of Euclid’s Demonftrations are re- 
ftored; others made fhorter and more ge- 
neral, ‘and feveral ufeful E Propofitions are, 
adied(** After fo ample and explanatory a 
title page, we fhall fay but little as to the 
work. Dr. Simfon’s motive in the publi- 
cation of an edition of Euclid, was to 
remove the various errors and interpola- 
tions which his work had fuffered from 
the ignorance and incorrectnefs of the 
Greek editors: notwithftanding the la- 
bours of that acute and learned man, 
however, there are fome things, fays Mr. 
Ingram, of great importance, which need 
correction, overlooked by him ; and others, 
though correéted, are not reftored to their 
original accuracy, becaufe his correc- 
tions are lefs extenfive than the blemifhes, 
or are not adapted to Euclid’s defign. 
The prefent editor, therefore, after enu- 
merating feveral definitions and propofi- 
tions, which demanded correétion, has un- 
dertaken and executed that tafk with great 
abilicy. Tothe Elements of Euclid are 
fubjoined, the Elements of Plane and 
R Foo Spherical 
