512 Rev. T. Cormouls on Gravity. White silk prefers the vitreous, and deep coloured silk the resinous. A tourmalin being heated at every gradation of cooling, changes its preference and attraction of the electrics various times. Secondly if the neutral electric is denser some height in the air, than near to or below the earth's surface, which it must be by reason that all matter there, vegetative, inert, and living, is extracting and imbibing it from the lowest stratum of air; and electric practice shews that the neutral fluid is much more easily separated there into its components than in air-then the neutral will be distinguished into the dense aërial and rarer terrestrial fluid. In which case, action and rest on electric principles should make as great difference in the election of substances for one or the other, as slight gradations between roughness and smoothness, between shades of colours, or warmer and cooler states of the same substances do for one electric or the other. Therefore it may be expected, as really happens, that action, and especially upon air, the container, should give bodies greater degrees of preference for its denser perfecter fluid, than for the rarer less complete of the earth, and that while the preference for the aerial fluid continues, the body should continue in air, and when it changes it should seek that of the earth, and come to it, and lie at rest, especially as the want or redundance of fluid are the cause of matter's spontaneous motion, as the consideration of the effect of the flatus in the last paper demonstrates. Now as these suppositions have been proved in the greater part to be facts by projectile cases, and the flight of birds, and terrestrial flatus, they resolve themselves easily into the radical laws of spontaneous material motion in general, and particularly that of the department of gravity, both direct and inverted near the earth. The same neutral fluid being also trace able by sufficient criteria through the great sphere of solar dominion, therefore it will be found to be the principal cause of all the spontaneous movements there. However, the radical facts of, and the laws of gravity near the earth, are the seven following: I. Neutral electric, the motive fluid, exists in two conditions: a denser one in air, and a rarer one in and near the earth; and all things are in continual want of one or the other. II. Inert substances, and living creatures at rest, have affinity for, and tend to, the rarer terrestrial fluid. [July 1, III. Action impressed on inert matter, particularly if it be through the air, causes it to prefer the dense aerial fipid; and while it does it remains in air, and it rises from the earth also if overcharged with terrestrial fluid. Creatures and things constituted to attract and use the fluid of air, for the purposes of motion, stay in the air as long as their will and power to use it lasts. IV. The earth is continually attracting and receiving this fluid from the air in a double ratio to all other bodies: via. a sheet or sphere of it sixteen feet thick per second. V. The wants of heavy substances of terrestrial fluid are just half the ratio of the earth's want of aerial: viz a quantity equal to a column of it of their own expanse of eight feet deep per second. From these two last cases the modes and laws of common gravity ensue: thus, VI. A heavy body pushed from a base, or loosed from a sustainer, being involved in that sphere of fluid which is descending to the earth, falls with it the sixteen feet of its thickness and a few inches and no more the first second, and by reason as it seems that it is some time in consuming the last second's supply it received from the earth by its base or sustainer, and therefore its want is not established till near the end of the first second, and then it is: hence, VII. A heavy body increases its speed eight feet per second regularly after the first second's fall, its wants being equal in equal times, and its whole fall in time is the depth of the earth's sixteen feet imbibations per second, and its own wants after the first moment of falling, These effects are the same in aëral vacuum as in air, or too nearly for any inference of weight pro or con. To these laws of statistic gravity every ex periment truly reported agrees. For instance, Sheallian, as an elevated part of the earth, offered some fluid to the plummet in a lateral direction, and it tended in part to that, in part to the earth below. Its direction was also something affected by aerial fluid attracted by the mountain. But it is not in art to procure an unrising flight in a strongly jaculated body of the most enormous size or weight, nor is the irr tional quantity of the squares of the times in falling any more possible than likely. These laws, and every thing nearly in natural forces or phenomena, as the tide, &c. hitherto are mere accommodations to geometric figures and proportions, and are non-existent in nature. 1816.] Mathematics --Public Libraries-Old Monthly Magazine. 513 MR. EDITOR, I TRUST you will not only insert the problem of HOMUNCULUS, but others which may be sent to you, as a numerous class of your young readers feel a strong interest in mathematical questions, and I ain sure it will attract the notice of others who are able to contribute greatly to the instruction and improvement of your general readers. I wish, Mr. Editor, you would also call the attention of your correspondents to the Public Libraries in the different towns and cities in the united kingdom; so that a tolerably correct account of them may be obtained through the medium of your publication, and of the books in them, as I am convinced we are in the possession of a much greater va riety of early printed books than the modernists give us credit for. Subjects of this nature occasionally introduced into your work would render it more generally amusing than some of the long essays from a worthy correspondent of yours on the S***** side of the water. June 13, 1816. A FRIEND. MR. EDITOR, I WAS lately reading "Spurinna, or the Comforts of Old Age," a late publication of Sir THOMAS BERNARD, and in page 121 found the following passage, which I think gives a very accurate character of the old Monthly Magazine, and similar publications. He is speaking of that literature which "tends to vilify and degrade human nature," and says: "There is yet a third species, which it seems necessary to notice; I mean those writings which are calculated to vituperate our national character. All misrepresentations of the actions and motives even of our enemies are unjustifiable and criminal; but an attempt thus to degrade and paralyse our own country, goes as far beyond the other as the crime of a parricide exceeds that of a common murderer: and when this is committed under the pretence of patriotism and candour, the most abandoned guilt is aggravated by the most infamous hypocrisy." W. G. June 10, 1816. MEMOIRS OF EMINENT PERSONS. MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE OF PRINCE LEOPOLD OF SAXE-COBURG - SAALFELD. PREVIOUSLY to the treaty of Congress signed at Vienna in 1815, the possessions of the house of Saxe-CoburgSaalfeld comprised 17 German square miles, with a population, according to the census taken in 1812, of 57,266 souls. The principality contains eight towns and 270 villages and hamlets. The revenues of the prince amounted, in 1806, to 425,413 florins, or near 50,000l. sterling.† The inhabitants, as well as the reigning family, belong to the Lutheran church, and are chiefly employed in trade and manufactures. The problem alluded to by our correspondent should have appeared in our present number, had it not been the conclusion of a volume. It shall have a place without fail in our next. EDITOR. + It gives me great pleasure to be able to furnish these data, which are extracted from STORCH'S Staats und Adress Handbuch (Weimar, 1813), as they afford the most satisfactory refutation of the sneers in which some persons have ignorantly indulged on the subject of the pecuniary resources of the house of Coburg. The above-mentioned treaty secures to the Duke of Coburg-Saalfeld, an additional territory of such extent as to comprise 20,000 inhabitants, so that his dominions and resources will be increas→ ed by about one-third. All the ducal houses of Saxony are branches of the elder or Ernestine line, which, without regard to primogeniture, long retained the custom of dividing the possessions left by the father among all his sons. In process of time, however, the law of primogeniture began to be adopted; but it was not introduced into the house of Saxe-Coburg till the reign of FRANCES JOSIAS, in the middle of the 18th century. the reigning duke, was respected by his 514 Memoirs of Prince Leopold of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld. princess Sophia Antoinette, sister to the celebrated prince Ferdinand of Brunswick, as niso to the Queen of Denmark, to the consort of Frederic the Great, and to the grandmother of the present King of Prussia. By this union, the house of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld became nearly allied to most of those reigning families in Europe to which it was not previously related. Its connections were still farther extended by the marriage of the two daughters of this prince, the elder Sophia, to the Duke of Mecklenburg Schwerin (by whom she was mother to the present duke), and the younger Amelia, to Alexander, Margrave of Brandenburg-Anspach, and Bayreuth. The three younger sons of Duke Francis Josias devoted themselves to the profession of arms. Prince Christian, the elder, entered into the Austrian service, and during the Seven Years' war, attained to considerable military distinctions, when ill health compelled him to quit the army and return to Coburg. Adolphus, the third son, fell whilst very young, as colonel of a Saxon regiment of carbineers in the first Silesian war. The fourth, and youngest of these brothers, was Frederic Josias, a field marshal in the Austrian service, and the celebrated commander of the allied armies at the commencement of the war of the French revolution, who died at Coburg in February, 1815.* Duke ERNEST FREDERIC had by his consort Sophie Antoinette of Brunswick, three children, two sons and one daughter. FRANCIS, his eldest son and successor, made the science of government his peculiar study. With a clear understanding he united a truly philanthropic heart, and are attainments, acquired in the indulgence of an ardent passion for the sciences and fine arts, of which, till his death, he was a zealous patron and ad mirer. Lewis, the second son, served under his uncle Frederic Josias, as an Austrian general, and died in the prime of life at Coburg, n 1807. Duke Francis had three sons and four dang ters by his consort, a princess of the ancient and celebrated house of the Cou ts Reuss, of Plauen. Gifted with a superior understanding, and adorned *We regret that the limits to which we are confined prevent us from giving the interesting particulars of this prince introduced here in the work from which the article is extracted.-EDITOR. [July 1, with rare accomplishments, this princes unites all the softness of her own sex with the firmness of the other. daunted by the storms of fate, she never lost sight for a moment of her destination as a wife and mother. Amid the rarious pursuits to which her genius inclined, this extraordinary woman made the most careful education of her numerous family the business, the recreation, and the happiness of her life. The tender attachment which subsists between all the surviving members of the house of Coburg is her work--her highest glory; and at the same time, the surest test of the exccllence of her own heart and of those of her children. By the marriage of the third daughter of Duke Francis, who was united by the name of Anna Feodorowna to the Grandduke Constantine, eldest brother of the Emperor Alexander, the house of Coburg became intimately connected with the court of Russia. In consequence of this alliance, the Empress Catherine II. gave a military appointment to the hereditary prince, Ernest, and destined alse LEOPOLD, the youngest son of Duke Francis, for the Russian service. The latter, to whom the emperor Leopold II. stood sponsor, had been originally designed for the Austrian service, but the early death of his majesty prevented the fulfilment of these intentions. Ferdinand, the second son of Duke Francis, however, entered into the Ausstrian service, under the auspices of bis great-uncle the field-marshal. The political convulsion, which in 1806 involved the whole north of Germany, was attended with consequences peculiarly calamitous to the house of Coburg. When, in the autumn of that year, the French approached the Saxon frontiers, Duke Francis, who was in very ill health, retired with his consort from Coburg to Saalfeld; which town is situated on the other side of the very considerable range of mountains known by the appellation of the Forest of Thuringia, and forming the barrier of North Germany. Prince Leopold, then but fifteen years old, was the companion and support of his infirm father: for Ferdinand was detained by his duty in Austria, and the truly German spirit of Prince Ernest had carried himo to the head-quarters of the King of Prussia, with whom he had been for some The French appeared before Saalfeld; years on terms of the closest friendship. the castle was stormed; and the ducal family, which was in it, exposed to all the dangers and horrors of that disastrous 1816.] Memoirs of Prince Leopold of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld. battle, which cost Prince Lewis Ferdinand of Prussia his life. This was more than the constitution of Duke Francis, already so much impaired by disease, was capable of supporting; he sunk under the accumulation of misfortunes, and died in the beginning of December, to the profound grief of his family and country, which was left by his decease in a truly disconsolate situation. No sooner was Buonaparte informed, that the hereditary Prince ERNEST, now Duke of Coburg, was at the Prussian head-quarters, than he issued a proclaination, declaring him his particular enemy, and caused forinal posssession to be taken of his territories. A French intendant and commandant were appointed exclusively for Coburg; all the property belonging to the ducal family was seized, and a very heavy contribution imposed upon the country, which had already suffered most severely from the passage of great part of the French army, from the battle at Saalfeld, and from the consequent plunder of the town and envi rons. During this period of distress, Prince Leopold remained with his afflicted mother, who, but for him, would have been entirely deserted, attentively watching over the interests of his family. Duke Ernest, the faithful companion of the King of Prussia, in the eventful battle of Auerstädt, proved on that occasion to his enemies, how ardent a love of German independence, and how lofty a principle of honour resided within his bosom. He would rather have sacrificed himself and his own possessions, than have deserted the cause of his royal friend in his adversity. He kept constantly with the king when almost every one else had abandoned him; he accompanied his majesty to the dreary wilds of Poland, to Königsberg, and Memel, and as if fate had been determined to put his constancy to every possible trial, he was there seized with the epidemic nervous fever, from which he had a very narrow escape with his life. It was not till the peace of Tilsit, that, by a particular stipulation, the house of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, was reinstated in its possessions. Duke Ernest, however, on his return to his capital, found the finances dilapidated by the French authorities; various institutions, which before the war were in a flourishing state, entirely ruined; and his country to the last degree impoverished. Though now under French supremacy and stristly watched by Bonaparte, the 515 princes of the house of Coburg stedfastly adhered to the principles prescribed to them by their ardent patriotism, and their high sense of honour, truth, and justice; nay, they were not even at the pains to conceal from the oppressor of Germany, that the deliverance of their native land was, and ever would be under every circumstance, the sacred object of their persevering exertions. Such is frequently the power of right, that Buonaparte himself, though he knew but too well the sentiments of these princes, and kept a particularly vigilant eye upon them, still could not help doing complete justice to the sincerity of the brothers, and therefore treated them with marked distinction, when they visited Paris upon business relative to their house. In 1808, Duke Ernest went to Russia, and resided there for some time. During his absence, Prince Leopold devoted his assiduous attention to the administration of the duchy. Since that period his brother has never failed to consult him on all the concerns, whether internal or external, of the house of Coburg; and whenever he has not been himself absent on his travels, he has exclusively superintended various branches of the administration. In the same year, Prince Leopold accompanied the Emperor of Russia and his brother-in-law, the Grand-Duke Constantine, to the interview which Napoleon had appointed at Erfurt. In 1809, when Austria was again involved in war, Buonaparte, who watched the princes of the house of Coburg more narrowly than ever, insisted, with his peculiar vehemence, that Prince Ferdihand should quit the Austrian service. As he had probably been informed about the same time, that supplies of arms were going from Coburg to Bohemia, he dispatched a minister, named Bacher, for the purpose of making a strict inquiry into the affair. This man was ordered to repeat the demand respecting Prince Ferdinand, accompanied with the menace, that if he should be taken as an Austrian soldier, during the campaign, he should infallibly be tried by a French council of war. The efforts of this minister to accomplish his master's purpose proved unsuccessful. The rigid investigation set on foot concerning the depits of arms led to no result, because they had fortunately been already sent off to Bohemia, and Prince Ferdinand seemed to consider the last message of Napoleon as a challenge to fight with more desperate resolution than he 516 Memoirs of Prince Leopold of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld. [July 1, south of Saxony-a business which, from the complicated interests that it involved was attended with infinite difficulty. The diplomatic talents of the prince, however, at length succeeded in adjusting the differences, by the conclusion of a convention with Bavaria, had ever yet shown against his inveterate the then circumstances, to the whole enemy. This determination was clearly evinced in the wounds which he received during the campaign. Under these circumstances, and as Napoleon became better acquainted with the active exertions of the brothers against him, it was no wonder that he should grow more jealous of these princes and more attentive to their proceedings. In consequence of this mistrust, he repeated in 1810 his demand, that Prince Ferdinand should retire from the Austrian service: and this time with the additional requisition, that Prince Leopold also should quit the Russian army, in which he had been a general ever since 1803. Champagny, who was then minister, and to whom was referred, under the mediation of Russia, a question concerning the adjustment of the limits of the principality of Coburg, expressed but too plainly the sentiments of his master in these words-que l'Empereur ne ferait rien pour ses ennemis. Whoever knows the power with which such an exorcism was calculated to operate at that time on a German prince, will not fail to admire the firmness of Leopold, who, after this declaration, still hoped that he should not be obliged to leave the Russian service, and went to Paris to remonstrate on the subject. He there found the government highly incensed at such refractory behaviour, to which France was certainly not accustomed on the part of the German princes of the Confederation of the Rhine; and he was bluntly assured, that, in case of his farther refusal to comply, Napoleon would be necessitated to take the possessions of the house of Coburg from his brother, the reigning duke. The affections of the prince were not proof against this threat; it produced the desired effect, and Leopold sacrificed his own inclination and his brilliant military prospects to the welfare of his family. The Emperor of Russia granted his request, that he might tacitly retain his military rank, till better times should permit him publicly to resume it. Obstructed in the career which he had marked out for himself, Prince Leopold declined all the offers of military charges made to him from the west; and devoted himself with so much the more assiduity to the affairs of his house, and to the arts and sciences. In 1811, he negociated with the crown of Bavaria, at Munich, a frontier arrangement, of considerable importance to the principality of Coburg, and likewise, under When, towards the end of 1811, the political horizon began to be once more overcast, and a new prospect of a bap pier result was afforded, Prince Leopold, unable any longer to endure his constrained inactivity, again tendered his services to the Emperor of Russia Alexander, apprehensive lest a premature step might endanger his family, begged to defer the fulfilment of his wish to a more seasonable time. The prince having thus failed in the object upon which he was exclusively bent, in order to withdraw himself from the observation of the French government, set out at the beginning of 1812 on a distant tour, and travelled to Vienna, Italy, and Switzerland. At the commencement of 1813, the three brothers of the house of Coburg exerted themselves, as far as their situation permitted, to prepare the emanci pation of Germany. Such were the zeal and the openness of their proceed ings, that the French government, in censed in the highest degree, only waited for the moment of a favourable turn in the political state of affairs, to wreak its utmost vengeance. In despite of its rage, however, the reigning Duke, Er nest, repaired to Berlin, where he had no inconsiderable influence upon the personal resolutions of the king, in con sequence of which he sent his brother Ferdinand to Vienna. Prince Leopold went to Munich, to pave the way for happy changes, and in February pro ceeded to Poland, to the Emperor of Russia, who received him with cordial friendship. Here he communicated to Field-marshal Kutusoff much important information respecting the state of thing in Germany, and the condition of the French army, and thus acquired the im mortal honour of being the first prince of the then existing Confederation of the Rhine, who openly declared against France. The allied army pow marched from Poland to Silesia and Saxony. On the 2d of May, Prince Leopold was in the battle of Lützen, and the following day with the Russian cavalry formed part of the rear-guard. The prince was afterwards sent in forced marches toward the |