.

1754.

A PHILOSOPHICAL LETTER.

broke through the guards, and was bearing down all before him. Upon this Appius and Claudius go out to put themfelves at the head of the guards, and a loud fhouting being heard without, Icilius at the head of the people enters, who upon feeing Virginia, ftands at first aftonifhed, then kneels down by her, and upon hearing his voice the endeavours to raife herfelf, looks at him for fome time, then finks down, and with a groan expires. He then starting up, is going to stab himself, but is prevented by Virginius, who fays,

What means thy rage ?-Look here - his impious blood

Smokes on my dagger's point!

But Ichius ftill upbraiding him, he says,
Icilius, hear me-

Look on the cold remains of that dear
maid-
[thou rather
She fleeps in peace and honour !—wouldst
Behold her thus, or ftain'd with foul pol-
lution ?

Declare

-Now, as thou art a Roman, C

ICILIUS.

Away!-I wish to die, Virginius-
L. VIRGINIUS.

To die? Are Rome and glory then forgot?

¡blood, At fight of this hot knife, fmoking with All Kome was fir'd, and aided my old [we now To reach the tyrant's heart !—And shall Give up thefe glorious hopes ?-The Ro

arm

man name

Again thall rife! Again fair liberty
Smile o'er th'afflicted land -For fuch a
jewel,

[dear?

end

165

should seldom or never find thofe perfons in the wrong thagreened or out of humour; but as the contrary of this is often the cafe, fo we find few of thofe people ever willing to acknowledge themselves in an error, let truth appear ever fo plain against them.-- This is generally the cafe, where perfons have imbibed wrong prinA ciples by education; and may be seen by every day's experience, in religion, philofophy, and all other fciences. This feems to belong to my opponent *, who, by being long used to apply effects without ever enquiring after their caufes, has at last taken them to be caufes themfelves, or at leaft he thinks it out of human power to acB count for them; thus our industry is ftopped, and any farther enquiry at an for this reafon, he flies in a passion, and abufes any perfon who endeavours to confute him of his error, yet at the fame time accufes his opponent of the fame thing. I will affure him that this was my first method of writing, and has continued to be fo ever fince, and I hope alviz. that I endeavour to ways will, throw off all prejudices to men or characters, and thereby lay myself as open to conviction as I poffibly can; and whenever I find truth against any opinion, I have already embraced, I hope, I fhall always have refolution enough to acknowledge it; and I wish I could think Dthe fame of this gentleman. As he accufes me of paffionate expreffions, in order, fuppofe, to be fome excufe for his own foul language; fo if I have used any, I will freely afk his pardon for fo doing, as foon as they are pointed out to me; but whether I do fo or not, I believe; most of his readers will think he has very great reafon for fo doing.-He first says, in anfver to the letters against him, that he has not time to make a regular and full reply; that he has not, is plain; but what may be the caule, I fhall not take upon me to determine.-What he says in regard to the letter in defence of Mr. Penrofe's pamphlet needs no farther obfervations than what has already been mentioned, only that he acknowleges that gravitation is an effect caufed by attraction, and that attraction is or is not the immediate influence of the omnipotent So here we find he has given up power. gravitation and attraction as cauíes, and therefore they are not inherent in the earth, or any other folid,but are caused by fome other power which he is ignorant of.

A patriot breaft must know no price too
Not ev❜n a daughter's blood!-Remember E
Tarquin,

His exil'd race, and Brutus' guilty fons,
Great Curtius, Cocles, and th'Horatian
brothers!

Heroes of old, who for their country bled,
And all th`illuftrious lift of mighty dead!
Warm'd with their distant rays,let us afpire
To trace their steps, and emulate their fire!
T'extend our fame beyond this narrowspan,
And in the Roman to forget the man!

To the Author of the London Magazine.
SIR,

F

I have bere fint you a Letter, which, not-
withstanding its Length, I hope, you will
infert in your Magazine, as it is likely to
be the laft on this Ucafion; and I could not G
quell make it any jhorter.

W

I am

Your Lumble Servant,

CANDIDUS,

AS truth made the fole end of our
controverfies and difputes, we

This gentleman fpeaking of interftitial vacuities, in answer to Candidus, fays, "I do not fay that thofe vacuities are abfolute, left I fhould appear to be a country oaff, who thinks his pot is empty

* See London Magazine for Dec. last, p. 556.

when

166 Of a VACUUM, AIR, FIRE, LIGHT, &c. April

when he has drank out his liquor. No,
no, these vacuities may be, and indeed it
is probable they are filled with that fluid
we call light or fire." Here then, we
find, this gentleman agrees with me in
thinking there is no abfolute vacuum, and
of confequence no vacuum at all, in a
philofophical fenfe. He alfo agrees, as A
above, that attraction and gravitation are
not caufes but only effects. Thus far our
difpute is ended; but if he had acknow-
ledged it in another manner it might be
rather more genteel.-His refusing to ex-
plain the idea he has of the motion of
the planets proceeding from an electrical
ftream iffuing from the fun, and faying it
was only a fuggeftion, is fufficient. He
then mentions the following paragraph
of mine, viz. "That the action of light
is the greatest, more expanfive and pene-
trating, the nearer it is to the fun ; but
that the preffure (which proceeds from
the light being condenfed into air) is the
greatest the farther it recedes from the
body of the fun." His remark on this C
paffage is as follows; "I take no notice
of the falfe grammar, because, I believe,
we thall foon hear of fire as well as air
being congealed." I acknowlege the
error of writing more instead of most,
but at the fame time I am a little fur-
prifed to find fuch a profound critic thould
be guilty of fo great an inconfiftency, in
writing, as to fay that he would prove
this to be falfe grammar, because we shall
foon hear of fire as well as air being con--
gealed. What the congelation of fire or
air has to prove this fentence to be falfe
grammar is known to few befides this
author. As there have been already in
this difpute experiments brought which
prove that air may be changed into fire E
and light, and alfo that fire and light may
be converted into air; fo they still remain
in their full force, as this author has not
proved them to be falfe.-Had this gentle-
man been born near the equator, and
there never feen or heard of water being
condenfed into ice, 1 doubt not on being
told it, he would give as little credit to it,
as he does now to fire or light being con-
verted into air.-If he had never seen it,
he might also have queftioned, whether
the fteam proceeding from a liquid could
be condenfed into water.-I cannot help
this author's not understanding me, when
1 faid that light and air performed two
feparate actions, viz. where fire or light
abounds, there will be the greatest ex-
pantion, and where air, preffure; in the

fame manner as we find is performed in a
ftill; the greater the fire the greater the
expanfive power of the fteam will be;
on the other hand, the colder the water
of the refrigeratory, the fooner and greater

will be the condenfation.-I am glad this
gentleman agrees with me in what I have
faid on electrical light.-He has given us
two out of his many experiments, which,
he fays, prove air to be of a different na-
ture or effence to light; whether they do
or do not, we shall toon fee.-- His words
are as follows, "Surely this author never
faw a glafs window; for through fuch a
one we daily fee that light pafies freely,
and yet not a breath of air can país.”-
I affure him I have often feen this, but
did not imagine it gave me the least proof
that light and air were not of the fame
effence or fubftance, any more than that
hail and fnow were not of the fame fub-

Bftance as water, because it could not pafs
a common ftrainer, in that form; or that
the grains of wheat were of a different
fubftance to wheat flour, because it would
not go thro' the fieve before it was
ground in the mill. But to fatisfy this
gentleman I will give him one experiment
which fhews that air will país the pores
of giats, tho' it must first be converted
into light, i. e. if we put a lighted candle
under a glafs receiver full of air, and then
fix the receiver in fuch a manner as to
admit no grofs air into it; the candle will
continue burning fo long as there is any
grofs air remaining in the receiver, but as
foon as that is spent it will immediately
go out, and on opening the receiver, we
find the fame vacuum there, as is made
by the air-pump; and the air prefies into
it with the fame violence. Now, as on
the first placing of the candle under the
receiver, we were affured that it was full
of air, and when the candle was ex-
tinguished we find there was none; so of
confequence the air muft, fome way or
other, find a paffage thro' the receiver.
In what maner it paffes the receiver will
not be very difficult to conceive, when we
confider the many other experiments
which prove that air may be converted
into light, and that air is the only and
true pabulum of fire. Hence we find
that this gentleman's experiment, when
it comes to be examined, does not prove
air and light to be of a different effence,
but only of a different quality. The ex-
periment of a cannon fired at a distance,
and feeing the flash some moments before
we hear the report, is nothing to the pur-
pofe, and only fhews us that feeing is
performed by the medium of air in
quality of light, while that of hearing is

F

G

performed by the grofs air; and as a noife

or found is occafioned by any thing that makes a fudden break of the grofs air; fo the vibrations aring therefrom are some time before they can reach at a diftance, in the fame manner as a fone, or any other

body,

1754 Of RAREFACTION, CONDENSATION, &c.

body, on being thrown into the middle of a pond, and there dividing the water, the vibrating waves are fome time before they reach the edges of the pond.

As to Candidus's not being interested in this difpute, I can affure him, he thinks himself just in the fame fituation as this gentleman is, viz. as he has thought A proper to make his remarks on others, juft the fame manner I think myself at liberty to make my remarks on him. He fays, I called the following an impudent affertion, viz. that the fame fluid cannot and confift of particles of different sizes; that if the particles are of two fizes, they must be two forts of fluids. By making me call it an impudent affertion, (which I did not) I fuppofe he thinks he has fome plea for the foul language of his

letter.

B

D

167

is there to change its place, and thereby
preffes it back towards the fun, where it
is again melted, and fent out as before;
this being always continual, fo it must al-
ways occafion a continual endeavour for
airs in each of thofe qualities to poffefs
the places of the other. The obfervation
on the burning-glafs wants nothing more
than to make a proper diftinction between
collected and directed.

To the Author of the London Magazine.
SIR,

The following Extra from Vol. IV. of Lord
Bolingbroke's Works ought, I think, to be
made as publick as poffible; and for this
Reafon Ibope you will give it a Place in
your ufful and inftructive Magazine; for
tho' bis Lordbip be wrong in many of bis
Opinions, and therefore bis Works ought to
be read with great caution, yet in what be
fays in this Extract be feems to be right in
the main, and it will ferve to confirm
people in a high opinion of our prefent ex-
cellent conflitution, which is my defign in
&c.
recommending it to you,

The fame effential matter may confift of particles of different fizes; and yet their effential atoms be the fame. Therefore, when we would exprefs the different quality of each we muft ufe different names, as inow, hail, ice, &c. but C the effential atoms of all thefe are the fame; and are all comprehended in that one fluid water.-As to his experiment of a pint pot being full of two forts of thot, it is nothing to the purpofe; because the very effence of fluidity is fuch, that any impreffed force may move fome parts of the thereauid, without moving the whole fore, as a lefs force is required to move a fmall hot than there is to move a swan fhot, juft fo, finall fhot will refift lefs than swan hot. As to his maintaining that there is fuch a thing as repulfion, in the method he has explained it, viz. that matter can act -in a place where it is not, or at a distance from itself; I believe, moft philofophers will allow it to be contrary to the very E idea we have of matter; therefore I think, it would have been as well, if he had acknowleged it to have been the name for an effect of fomething, he could not tell what, in the fame manner he has gravitation and attraction. He mentions that I have faid, "it is the natural quality of the airs, which are denfer, to endeavour to prefs into the places poffeffed by airs of a more fubtil nature." "I must obferve, fays he, that this natural quality is an occult quality." I will affure this gentleman I am not at all fond of occult qualities, and if I had not fome idea how this was performed, I would acknowlege it as fuch. But as imagine the whole univerfe to be a plenum, and that in the G fun is placed a power of expanding the light from itself, till it arrives at the extremities of the fyftem, where it is congealed into air (in the fame manner steam is into water) and by the continual addition of this force it obliges the air that

F

H

I am,

IS lordship, after having given a very
learned and judicious account of
the many arts and contrivances made ufe
of by the popes of Rome, for raising the
ecclefiaftical power above the civil; and
after having taken notice of the many
misfortunes brought upon mankind by
the difputes between different fects of re-
ligion, concludes this volume thus:

"It is natural to ask, can nothing be
done to remove this fcandal by putting an
end to these evils? I will presume to
anfwer, nothing; unless men can be pre-
vailed upon to affume the fpirit of chri-
ftianity as well as the name of christians,
and this will be found, I fuppose, im-
practicable as long as the fole care of re-
ligion and the fole direction of confcience
is confined every where to a diftin&t order
of men, whofe diftinct interefts, and
whofe paffions of courfe, carry them to
keep thefe diffenfions and feuds alive. If
they were content to explain what they
understand, to adore what they under-
ftand not, to leave in mystery all that
Chrift and his apoftles have left fo, to a
time that is not yet come, and to teach
others to content themselves with natural
theology, and fuch revealed theology as
this; the evils fpoken of would foon
ceafe, and the fcandal confequently. If
they proceeded in this manner, there
would be ample matter left to employ
their tongues and their pens, and none to
employ the fwords and daggers of the
The law of God
reft of mankind.
would be a plain and consistent law, and

ΠΟ

168

Extract from Lord BOLINGBROKE's Works. April

no colour would remain for infidels to form

this argument : "Either the fcriptures
do not contain the law of God, or it was
not in the intention of God to promote
the peace and happiness of mankind, or
he did not proportion the means to his
end" every one of which propofitions
is blafphemy, and yet, as theology has A
corrupted genuine chrittianity, it will be
hard to evade them all.

But fince fuch a change as this may be wifhed for by good men, rather than expected by any man, it is proper to conider what can be done to leffen an irremediable evil, and whether good policy cannot furnish an antidote againit the

poifon of theology; on which I thall fay
a word or two before I finish this long
effay. There are arguments, no doubt,
even of the political kind, and of irre-
fiftible force, against at units who reje
all religion, latitudinarians who admit
all alike, and rigidifts who fuffer one
alone. If the firft prevail, there will be
no religious confcience at all; if the
fecond, there will be as many as there are
religious fects in every fociety; if the
third, perfecution for religion will be
made a maxim of government, as it is
made in fome countries, to the bane of
fociety, and to the fhame of the chriftian
profeffion. Do there remain then no
means to prevent the fatal effects of theo-

B

civil power, not that of a religious fociety pretending to be the allies and aiming to be the mafters of the civil, may be reconciled very well to thefe principles, and fure I am, that they may be pursued, not only without perfecution, but without the invafion of any one right which men can justly claim under the freeft and most equitable government. The parliament of one thoufand fix hundred and forty one declared, that human laws cannot bind confcience; which is a declaration every fect makes out of power, and none obferve willingly in it. But be it fo. Human laws, however, may and ought to exclude thofe men from power in the ftate, kings efpecially, who profefs a private confcience repugnant to the publick confcience of that ftate. Such men will make use of power, and the better men they are, the more to propagate their own fchemes of religion, to ftrengthen their own party and to recommend their par ticular notions about ecclefiaftical government, which cannot be done without manifeft danger to the publick peace. The wisdom of our conftitution has therefore joined, admirably well together, the two most compatible things in the world, how incompatible foever they may have been reprefented, a test and a toleration and by rejecting alike the principles of latitudinarians and rigidifts, has gone far

D to prevent thofe evils that gave occafion to the objection of atheifts: As I hope that I have done in this effay, to prove, by confidering the nature, rife, progress, and effects of authority in matters of re ligion, that theology has been always liable to this objection, christianity never, &c."

Jogical difputes, and ecclefiaftical quarre's?
Some countries are fo miferable, by prin-
ciples of bigottry incorporated with thofe
of their government, and by the establish-
ment of inquifitions, that there remain
no fuch means, but by the total extir-
pation of all those who differ, or who are
fufpected to differ, from the established
doctrines. In other countries, tho' a E
rigid fpirit prevails, yet if inquifitions are
not established, and if ecclefiafticks do
not govern, it is very poffible by skill and
management to allay, for the most part,
the ferments which theology is apt to
raife in the ftate, and to blunt the fury of
those who call themselves orthodox, and
every man who diffents in opinion from
them heretical. In countries where this F
rigid fpirit is not that of the government,
tho' diffenfion cannot be entirely pre-
vented, the bad influence and etreets of
it may. To make government effectual
to all the good purposes of it, there must
be a religion; this religion must be
national; and this national religion muft
be maintained in reputation and reve-G
rence; all other religions or fects must
be kept too low to become the rivals of
it. These are in my apprehension first
principles of good policy. The establish-
ment of a religious order fubject to the
civil magiftrate, and fubfervient to the

Conclufion of the Extras from Mr. War

burton's lifery and Antiquities of the famous Roman Wall, commonly called the Piats Wall. See p. 119, and the PLATE

annexed.

IG. 5. JOVI Optimo Maximo pro falute

imperatoris Marci Antonii Gordiani pit feLicis invicti Augufti et Sabiniæ Furiæ Tranquille conjugis ejus totaque domu divina ecrum ala

g. Gordiana ob virtutem appellata pofuit cui præeft Emilius Crifpinus profectus equitum natus in provincia Africa de Tuldro fub cura Nonnii Philippi legati Auguftalis proprætoris Attico et Prætextato confulibus. The first of thefe is among the infcriptions at Conington, though now very much effaced, fo that little more could be had from the original than the fhape and fize of the letters; which obliged me to follow Camden's copy, compared with that in Gruter's Corpus. It is reprefented in Camden as a grand infeription, though, when expreffed

in

1754. INSCRIPTIONS belonging to the ROMAN WALL. 169

in its due proportion, it is confined, as here, to a narrow compass; and this inftance, alone, is fufficient to fhew the expediency of keeping to the fame scale or proportion through the whole of a work of this nature. The letters are rude and uneven, and the A without a transverse.

The altar is infcribed to Jupiter Optimus Maximus, and erected by the Ala that was called Augufta Gordiana on acThe then legate count of their valour.

Roman altar, that ever was difcovered in
Britain. The draught of it, I think, has

been given no where, except in Camden's
Britannia, and there not very correctly.
It was found at this station, and removed
from Elenborough-hall to Flat-hall, near
Whitehaven, the feat of James Lowther,
A Efq; where it is carefully preferved. But
though the altar is fine, yet the infcription
feems to be coarse; and I have often ob-
ferved, that rude infcriptions are upon
beautiful altars. The infcription, at pre-
fent, is in fome parts, especially towards
the end, nearly effaced, where, no doubt,
it was vifible enough when Camden first
copied it ; and in thefe parts I took the
help of his reading, in order to make the
whole as compleat as I could. It will be
proper first to take notice of the infcrip-
tion, and then of the fculpture.

and proprætor is named in it, Nonnius
Philippus, and the confuls Atticus and
Prætextatus, which fixes the time to the
year 242; both this date and the infcrip-
tion itfelf determine it to the reign of the
emperor Gordian the Third, whofe wife's B
name was Tranquillina. Capitolinus and
Eutropius agree in affirming that Gordian,
the fon and grandfon of Gordian, married
when very young, and before he engaged
in war: The former fays, his wife was
the daughter of Mifitheus, the latter calls
her Tranquillina. Mr. Gale, in his re-
marks on the infcriptions found at Lan-C
chefter in the county of Durham, supposes
the Ala Augufta to be a part of the Legio
fexta witrix: But Old Carlile is a long
way from York where that legion was
ftatedly quartered; and Ala, upon in-
fcriptions, as well as in Tacitus, fignifies
rather fome auxiliary horfe than the legio-
nary. This Ala was at this time com-
manded by Æmilius Crifpinus, an African,
a native of Tufdrus, the place where the
eldest Gordian was made emperor. Ca-
pitolinus, who informs us of this, calls
it Tyfdrus, and others write it otherwife;
fo alfo do they write varioufly the name
of the province in which it was fituated,
Byzacium, Byzacina, or Byzacena.
believe the imperfect infcription which E
Gruter gives us, as from Camden, I. O.
M. OB HONOREM VXORIS
GORDIA NI, to have been the fame
with this, in which the is mentioned.

I

There have been, however, other altars found here erected by the fame Ala, two of which, defcribed in Camden, and referred by him to this place, are now at Drumbrugh-castle, which will be confidered under the following numbers: And it is a mistake in Mr. Gordon to say, the infcriptions at Drumbrugh-castle were brought from Allonby; for the four next are the only legible infcriptions that I could meet with at Drumbrugh; and it is certain from Camden's teftimony, that thefe belong to Old Carlisle.

Fig, 6, 7. GENIO loci Fortune reduci Romæ æternæ et Fato bono Gaius Cornelius Pcregrinus tribunus cobortis ex provincia Mauritaniæ Cæfarienfis domes et ædem decurionum reBituit. This is the finest and most curious

April, 1754

D

F

The altar is infcribed Genio loci, Foutune
reduci, Romæ æternæ, et Fato bono. It is
well known that places had their genii, as.
well as perfons and ftates: And it was a
common practice for the Romans to make
their addreffes to the genius of the place,
even where they were ftrangers.
Eneas, when he arrives at the mouth of
the Tiber:

So

-Frondenti tempora ramo
Implicat, et Geniumque loci, primamque deorum
Tellurem,Nympbafque, et adbuc ignota precatur

Flumina.

We have also another monument, in-
fcribed Genio loci, found at York. For-
tuna redux and Roma æterna are alfo com-
mon, both on coins and infcriptions; fo
that these three first are not unufual: But
FATO BONO is fomewhat peculiar ;
yet we have another instance in Britain
of an altar MARTI VICTORI,
GENIO LOCI, ET BONO E-
VENTVI: And thefe two feem to be
much the fame, bonum Fatum and bonus
Eventus. This epithet is added to other
gods and goddeffes. Among the Arun-
delian collection we have BONÆ DEE
VENERI. And Virgil afcibes it to
Juno:

Adfit lætitiæ Bacchus dator, et bena Juno.
Pliny defcribes the image of Bonus Eventur,
as "holding a patera in the right hand,
an ear of corn and poppy in the left."
The figure of it upon medals is agreeable
to this defcription. In a coin of Anto-
ninus Pius it has a patera over a flaming
altar in one hand, and ears of corn in the
Gother. I mention this now, because it
may help us to understand what relates
to the fculpture upon this altar. I only
farther add for the fame purpose, that as
Burton informs us, "Severus's Bonus

Y

Eventu

R