104 
‘word Goth was written by the poet, and 
that of Gaul fubfituted by miftake. The 
Confab'e Bourben, who condufted an 
army to the fack of Rome in 1527; might, 
indeed, be called a Gaul; but, befides 
that it is not to be fuppofed the Diuid 
would pafs all the earlier difafters to allude 
to one fo diftant, Bourbon was in the Im- 
perial fervice, and his army was Spanith 
and German. In fhort, unlefs fome mif- 
take be admitted, I confefs myfelf at a 
lofs to explain Cowper’s meaning, and 
fhould be happy-to receive a further elu- 
cidation. Your's, &c. ne 
To the Editor oj the Monthly Magazine. 
SER, 
CAN very readily admit, with the 
JL writer of a letter ficned “ A Chap- 
man,’ in your laft Number, that it would 
be not a little exatrordinary, if, in this 
country, where commercial tranfa&ions 
are fo intimately underitcod, the fubjects 
of profits and difcounts were fo unfettled, 
*< that the very ground-work of thele 
calculations fhould be a matter of dif- 
pute.” In the term di/coumts, the writer 
dozs not appear to include the ufual al- 
lowance for the advance of money on 
bills of exchange, or in lieu of cuftomary 
credits, but to mean merely certain al- 
lowances made by the manutacturers, or 
wholefale dealers, in fome b:anches of 
trade. Theie kind of difcounts are various 
on different articles, but, being a fixed 
and known allowance’ in each particular 
line, wil, of courfe, be added to the 
ccoftand profit of goods by the feller, as 
he knows he muft allow it in fettling with 
-the buyer. Nothing can be plainer. In 
faét, your Correfpondent admits, that thefe 
difcounts have’ been pretty generally 
reckoned on right principles ; fo that his 
only difhculty appears to be refpeéting the 
mode of calculating prefits. ‘ Some fay, 
to 90 coft a’d ro foreprefit, and you gain 
ao percent.’ If this can be admitted, the 
ruje of three muf be expunged from cur 
books of arithmetic; for this ufeful rule 
would inform us, that if gol. gain 1ol. 
the gain per cent. is inl. as. 234..5 nor 
can I conceive by what means it can be 
made to appear otherwife. If aman lends 
95 for a-year, and receives 5]. for it, this 
is. fo well known to be more than § per 
cent. that, on an aétion for ufury, He | 
would, to acertainty, be caft ; and if the 
colt of materials, with expences of work- 
mnanihip, together amount t6 gol. the 
edditicn of 10]. would certainly as much 
Mr. Carey on Horfe-Shoes and Worden Legs. 
[March 8 
exceed 10 per cent. as if it was a. mere 
money tranfaétion, ‘Ten per cent. isa 
tenth part of the amount ; confequently 
the addition to gol. at this rate is 9l.— 
This I know to be the mode of charging 
the profit in fome branches of manutac- 
ture; it is certainly the correct mode 5 
and is fo clear and fimple, that I fhould 
apologize for occupying any part of your 
Magazine with an explanation of it, did 
not the infertion of a query imply that you 
conceive an anfwer toit may be ufeful. . 
gth Feb. 1805. Je Fin 
To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. 
SIRS 
N the fubject of horfe thoes, I beg 
leave to troudle you with two pal- 
fages, in reply to the query of your cor- 
refpondent Veterinarius. . 
* Catullus, who lived in the time of Ju- 
lius Colar, and died about a hundred and 
twenty years before Pliny, notices {uch 
fhoes ina manner which. feems to prove 
that the ofe of them mutt have been gene- 
ral in his time; fince he only flightly and 
cafually introduces them em paffant (as a 
modern poet might do) to illuftrate his 
fubject by a fimile— 
....Ferream ut foleam tenaci in voragine 
mula. 17, ult. 
But the pradtice of fhoeing horfes appears 
to have been of much earlier date ; for 
Homer twice menticns ‘* brazen-footed 
fteeds,”” ep bil 
eee. Xadnono™ inaw. 1. vill. gr, and xii. 24. 
T need not here obferve upon the gene 
ral ufe of brafs or copper in remote ages, 
before the accidental difcovery of iron ; 
nor do I think the ‘ brazen foo'ed bulls” 
or ‘‘ brazen-footed hind” worthy of atten- 
tion, any further than as tholfe tradition- 
ary fables fecm to have derived their ori- 
gin from the firft introduction of horfe- 
fhoes—a phenomenon which, no doubt, 
appeared miraculous to arude, ignorant 
people, fuch as transformed the Thefla- 
lian horfemen into Centaurs. But I have — 
long been of cpinion that commentators ~ 
have miftaken Virgil’s meaning in that | 
paflage relating to Salmoneus (/En. Vi. 
591) :— 
Demens, qui nimbos et non imitabile fulmen 
fEre et cornipedum pulfu fimularet* equo- 
. rund} , 
Inftead of the ridiculous nonfenfe of 
‘* Ia my Latin Profody made Eafy, page 
165, I have given my reafons for preferring 
fimularet as the true reading, ; 
Rs «* brazen 
