~ 
A V4 
To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. 
SIRs f 
Was neither furprifed nor offended at 
the letter, p.318, in your laft Num- 
ber, figned Querif?, refpecting Mr. Far- 
mer’s Memoirs and Manufciipt. The 
enquiries, which I own are natural, de- 
ferve an anfwer, and I am happy that I 
can give you a fatisfa&ory one. The MS. 
faid to be preferved from the flames, was 
given by Mr. Farmer, with a view to 
its publication, a little before his death, 
to a frien}, who ought to have printed ir 
fooner. His name will be inferted, with 
the reafon of its delay. Befices this, 
another valuable paper of Mr. Farmer’s 
will be inferted, containing an extract 
from his curious piece on the cafe of 
Balaam, which was unfortunately deftroy- 
ed. This was taken by his learned friend, 
the late Michael Dodion, efq. In addi- 
tion to thefe, there will be feveral Let:ers 
of Mr, Farmer, the originals of which 
may be feen by any refpe¢table perlon 
who doubts their. authenticity. As the 
whole will fhortly be before the public, I 
fhall leave it to {peak for itfelf. 
I am, Sir, refpeétfully your’s, 
May 7; 1204. Tue EDITOR. 
= 
To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine, 
SIR, 
:. opening your Magazine of this 
month, I have juft caft my eyes upon 
an enquiry propofed by *4r. Marr, on 
verfe 270 (or, in Brunk, 262) of the 
(Edipus Tyrannus of Sophocles. 
The omiffion of the augment in edusvynce 
is no violation of Mr. Porfon’s canon, as 
this word is preceded by a long. vowel. 
In this fame play, verfe 1504, we read, 
@ “puTeveipeey, 
Profeflor Dalzel has fallen into a fimi- 
Jar mifapprehenfion of this matter. On 
verfe 1523 of this fame Ciidipus, Kas yee 
@’ugatncas, he writes thus: @ “xgatncas, 
i.e. aexgarncas. Plane tamen perfuafum 
habet Porfonus, nen licuiffe in Attico fer- 
mone augmentum abjicere. But here the 
augment coalefces with the relative. Vide 
verle 722. 70 deivgy cipoCerro. 
I am, Sir, 
Your's, &e. 
Higham bill, 
E. CoGan. 
May 5, 1804- 
To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. 
SIR, 
7T is fated by Dr. Johnfon, that Pope 
I received from Walfh the counfel frem 
which he feems to have regulated his 
fludies. Walth advifed him to corredine/s, 
which, as he told him, the Englih poets 
Farmer.—Mr, Cogan.— Pope's Univerfal Prayer. [June 1, 
had hitherto negleéted, and which, there-. 
fore, was left to him as a bafis of fame. 
Neither any of Pope’s works, nor perhaps 
any other produétion of the human mind, 
has been fo much read and committed to 
memory, for nea:ly a century palit, as his 
Univerfal Prayer. Yet, on reading it 
over lately, with a view to Mrs. Trimmer’s 
faftidious and .narrow {pirited criticilms, 
I obferved in it two inftances of what 
appeared to me palpably bad grammer, 
but which no critic has yet noticed, at. 
leatt to my knowledge. They occur in 
the two following verfes, and are marked 
with Téalics. . 
Thou Great Firft Caufe, leaft underftood, 
Who all my fenfe confin'd, 
To know but this, that thou art good, - 
And that myfelf am blind. 
Yet gave me in this dark eftate, &c. 
Thou «who confined, and thou gave, are 
as contrary to grammatical correctnefs. as 
thou who is would have been. Afiuredly 
the verb fhould have been sn the fecond 
perfon, ‘ confined, cr haft confined.”* 
The poet feems to have facrificed his 
grammar, in order to preferve the word 
confin’d as a rhyme to the word blind. 
Exeter, April 5, 1804. S. F. M. 
To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. 
SUR ie 
i on our coaft journals were kept of the 
IL natural hiffory, firiking phenomena, and 
maritime events, every fea-port might, in 
a few years, furnifh materials for a work 
of no inconfiderable amufement, to fay the 
Jeaft of it, viz. an Hiftorta Littorum Cornu- 
bienfium. Befides the more ftationary ob- 
je&ts of curiofity, fach as the fhells, the cl.ff 
and fubmarine plants, &c. the appearance 
of any uncommon fifh or fea-fowl; the 
migration of the pilcbard, herring, of 
mackerel, fhoals ; tne exact time of their 
arrival, continuance, and departure; any 
unufual rife and agita ion of the tides; a 
near or diftant waterfpout ; the electricity 
of the atmofphere, its degree, at different 
times; thefe notices, ard many others, 
might not only afford the man of leifuie 
and obfervation a peculiar pleafure and 
@ppo.tunity of philofophiecal {peculation 
and refearch, but, by the communication 
of them, confiderably add to the ftock of . 
national and general knowledge. Nor 
would fuch a perfon deem it beneath him 
to fet down, in a difttin@ column, a-fuc- 
cinét narrative of fiorms and fhipwrecks ; 
remarkable efcapes from the danger of the 
feas; the unexpeéted arrival of foreig. 
veflels from: very remote parts, their con- 
ee 2 ftrugtion 
