it, pointing the reader to that where the article ftands: For, in this cafe, few readers will have the good luck always to feek the article in the first attempt, where alone it is to be found; yet, wherever he feeks for it under a different but likely word, he fhould there find a clue to direct him infallibly to what he is in queft of. None of these fynonymal words ought to have any references one to the other, ---neither should the article, wherefoever placed, have any references to them; but all of them should refer to the article, as that alone answers the trouble of turning to it. This obvious remark leaves me at a lofs how to accourt for the gentleman's meaning in his references from Night-Mare to elf, hag, mare, incubus,--when the reference ought to be from these terms to this article, and not from this to them. (V. Specimen, Par. 1, 2. Every article ought to ftand in a proper place; but there may be sometimes a reason for not inferting it, or, at least not the whole of it, in the most proper place. Suppofing one article would pretty naturally fall under either of two different letters in the alphabet, one of which letters would introduce a great number of articles, and the other very few, if I had not fome other confideration pretty powerful and prevail- . ing, I fhould be induced rather to place this fuppofed article under the letter which would afford me feweft of them, and that for this reafon because the articles there would be few. It is alfo poffible, the matter of an article may occur too late to come in under one head, and yet time enough for another which falls in a following part of the alphabet: and if upon these accounts, or fome other, any article which would most commodiously lie together, becomes divided between two fynonymal words, if there are no repetitions, and there be a reciprocal reference, there will no great inconvenience arife from hence. If I have made any mistakes in what I have written, it is hoped fomebody will be fo kind as to rectify them; and if any thing is advanced which does not quadrate with the dictates of reafon, I fhall take it as a particular favour to be fet right. I conclude with hearty wishes that the good work may be profecuted with vigour, and upon the molt correct and beautiful plan.---Hoping foon to fee more concerning it in fome of your future collections, I take my leave and fubfcribe myself, Sir, Yours, May 22, 1745. B. Remarks on the above confiderations are in the following page; for which reafon the references a, b, c, d, are inferted, by the author of the plan and fpecimen, to whom Mr B's letter had been fhewn. N.B. With regard to the difficulty mentioned by Mr B. in the 2d par. of bis letter, about getting this pamphlet, it is not the only complaint of this kind: and there is no remedy but to perfift, as he did, till the bookseller Jhall please to fend it; unless any Gentleman will, in fuch caje, take the trouble of writing to the editor at St John's Gate. Mr URBAN, 3 June, 1745. Since you were pleased to give me a fight of the above letter before you pub- COSMOPOLITA. Remarks on Mr B's confiderations, inferted in the foregoing pages. HE author of the plan was fo far from intimating (n. 10) that point, as it relates to aftronomy, ought to be explained under the article aftronomy; that, on a review, you will find he meant quite the contrary, in confiftence with what he advanc'd in n. 7. For the fame reason that you could almoft petition for the ufe of capitals in the words "god, lord, and spirit"; others would argue for the ufe of them in "ghoft, &". in fhort, in numberless numbers of appellalatives, expreffive of the three perfons of the deity. If you fancy there is want of reverence in the ufe of fmall letters, on this occafion, you fhould rather infift upon having the whole words in capitals, as is the custom of many well-meaning chriftians. Undoubtedly we may, with great propriety; and fometimes, perhaps, to better purpofe. Your obfervation on Synonymals is very reasonable: and you will find, on fecond thoughts, that I had a due regard to it, if you pleafe to confider that, in the fpecimen of the article " Night-mate" (1) where there was no particular reafon, I made no reference to the fynonymous term; as in "Ephialtes": (2) but only to thofe, where fomething more (of ufe to explain what was there offer'd) was neceflary to be obferv'd under the article refer'd-to. Thus, though the reafon of the names "Incubus, &c." is given there: yet (in the confideration of those articles, in their proper place) fomething must be faid (in explication of the terms) relative hereto; that would have been improper there; and yet may make it worth while to confult them alfo, even on this occafion. Whether I am in the right, or no, will better appear from the little articles of "Ephialtes, Elf, Incubus, Mare;" which (for our further fatisfaction) I have directed to be printed after yours, in the affixed fpecimen in folio. I have also taken the liberty, here, to prefent you with your own article, in a form fomewhat more agreeable to the plan which I first propos'd; omiting (as was fit, in a fupplement) what I apprehend was duly explain'd in the Cyclopædia. The comparing of the article in these two forms, when we fee them in print, may be of use to us both, to form a judgment of the difference between us; and furnish others with means of making further improvements on us. COSMOPOLITA. Mr B's article on Cofmopolita's plan. ANEURYSM (paragr. 1]---If the blood be without the veffel (in which cafe it takes the name of a spurious aneuryfm) it raifes a livid a livid tumor, which has fcarce any pulfation; does not eafily yield to preffure; and often becomes gangrenous, and proves mortal. Though it may be obferv'd (what we learn from experience) that a large quantity of blood may be detain'd in the panniculus adipofus; and lie there, extravafated, for a confiderable time, without corrupting; provided it does not communicate with the external air. We read of a lad, of about 17 years of age, wounded, by a bullet, in a confiderable artery, on the upper part of his thigh. This was follow'd with a profufe hemorrhage: but was reftrain'd by a furgeon. The day after, a large tumor appear'd, with a ftrong pulfation; and the blood started from the wound (at times) to the quantity of 2 or 3 ounces. Thus it continued for forty days; when it was agreed (in confultation) to lay open the part, and fecure the artery a: and, upon making the incifion, there was taken-out no less than 6 pounds of grumous blood. a The fuccefs of the operation was, that, in 6 weeks time, the lad was perfectly cur'd, without any diminution of the ftrength, or the fize of the limb.. 2 3 Paragr. 4] By way of Palliation, all that can be done for the patient, in the cafe of a true aneuryfm, is---to abate the force of the blood's circulation, by a thin, flender, balfamic diet; and repeated phlebotomy---and to keep him, as much as poffible, from all commotions, both of mind, and body.-----Some relief may also be hop'd-for from a prudent compreffion of the tumor in doing which, it will be of confiderable service to keep a moderate preffure upon the artery, above the facculus; in order to abate the impetus of the blood. 5 Mr URBAN, Having maturely confidered, and being well pleafed with the plan and specimen of a Jupplement to the Cyclopaedia, published in your 3d number of the Mifcellaneous Correspondence; I have ventured to offer my mite of an article [See Mnemonics in the folio-leaf] in which if I have been guilty of fome deviations from the directions of the abovementioned plan; I hope it will be confidered that it was with a view of carrying the defign to a greater perfection. C. D. ܀܀ Note, A Letter in defence of Tythes, from an ingenious correspondent in answer to a letter from Rufticus against Tythes, No I. p. 41. is received, and will be inferted in our next. A Paffage in the Te Deum explain'd. Mr URBAN, SI am a clergyman of the church of E. I think it a part of my A duty to underland rightly not only the feveral phrafes, but every fingle word, of that form of worship which is appointed for my daily prayers, and at the fame time cannot help being defirous that every body elfe, could it fo be, fhould likewife have a true apprehenfion of the fame. There's a paffage in that admirable hymn, the Te Deum,which is fo far from being taken in its genuine fenfe by all, that our commentators, whom we are apt to look upon as our guides on fuch occafions, generally mistake it themselves; the place I mean is towards the conclufion of it; O Lord let thy mercy lighten upon us, as our truft is in thee. Dr. Bennet, in his paragraph and annotations on the book of CommonPrayer, explains the word lighten, thus: To lighten is an old English word, and fignifies the fame as to en• lighten, or jhine upon. Accordingly God's mercy does then lighten upon us, when it fhines upon us; that is, when it comforts and refreshes us, for light very commonly betokens comfort and refreshment in the holy fcriptures. See Confut. of Quaker. ch. 11. p. 129, &c. According to the doctor the word lighten here is a verb deduc'd from the fubftantive light, or lux, and fignifies to enlighten or shine upon, in confequence whereof it must here be used in a figurative or metaphorical fenfe. And indeed it has this fenfe of enlightening, illuminating, or making light, on many occafions. In Shakespear's Henry IV. the Chief Justice fays to Falfaff, Now the lord lighten thee, thou art a great fool. Part II. Act II. Sc. III. Lighten mine eyes that I fleep not in death. Pf. XIII. 3. And in the liturgy itfelf, in the Nunc dimittis, To be a light to lighten the gentiles: Where the original words of St Luke are, φῶς εἰς ἀποκάλυψιν ἐθνῶν τ and in the evening prayer, Lighten our darknefs we beseech thee, O Lord; an expreffion taken from 2 Sam, XXII. 29. I omit feveral paffages which might be cited from the last tranflation of the bible. But notwithstanding this conceffion, it must be observ'd, First, That in all thefe cafes, the expreffion is, to lighten a thing, as in this verficle of the Te Deum. See Rev. XXI. 23. Secondly, in the Latin original of Te Deum, from whence this in our morning fervice is tranflated, it is conceived thus, Fiat miferi cordia tua, Domine, Explication of a word in the Te Deum. 239 Domine, fuper nos, quemadmodum fperavimus in tu. And in like manner the Greek verfion of Dr Duport, γένοιτο κύριε τὸ ἔλεός σε ἐφ' ἡμᾶς, καθάπερ ἠλπίσαμεν ἐπὶ σοί. Thirdly, This paffage of the hymn is evidently taken from the last verse of the 33d pfalm, Let thy merciful kindness, O Lord, be upon us: like as we do put our truft in thee. Where the Vulgate Latin,which was that verfion which StAmbrofe the author of the Te Deum made use of, agrees to a tittle with the Latin words of the hymn recited above. Fourthly, As this hymn is a clofe and literal version of the Latin original throughout, it is not very probable that our tranflators should apply a figurative word in this place, fo foreign from the fimplicity of the Latin text, and no where else. For these reasons, I incline to think, that Dr Bennet has abfolutely mistaken the meaning of this word, and that it has a fenfe lefs figurative, and more nearly approaching to the original of St Ambrofe. I believe it to be a word quite different from what the doctor imagines, and no other than our prefent English word to light, which means to come or fall down upon, in which fenfe we use it commonly with the Prepofitions off or upon; off, in regard to the thing we defcend or come down from, and on or upon in regard of that we defcend upon. So Gen. xxiv. 64. She lighted off the camel. Judg. 1v. 15. Sifera lighted down off his chariot. Rutb. 2. 3. Her hap was to light on a part of the field belonging unto Boaz. 2 Sam. xvII. 12. We will light upon him as the dew falleth on the ground: And once more concerning inanimate things, f. 1x. 8. The Lord fent a word unto Jacob, and it hath lighted upon Ifrael. In fhort, it is the Saxon word lihten, defilire, to alight; and you will please to remember, Mr Urban, that the English tranflation of the Te Deum was made in Henry VIII's time, for it appears in his Primer, where, as well as in the first book of K. Edward VI. the word is lyghten. In our modern English, this termination of the infinitive used in en or in, is very much dropp'd, but in our old books it occurs every where; in the first 800 lines of Chaucer you have it above 20 times, and in Henry VIII's time. The old Saxon termination, for fuch it is, might well be retain'd, tho' now we never fay to lighten upon, but to light or alight upon and this antique termination was the very thing that misled Dr Bennet, inducing him to think it a different word, and the fame as enlighten. The fenfe then will be, O Lord let thy mercy light, or come, or fall upon us, as our truft is in thee; and this is very natural and eafy, agreeing beft with, and coming nearest to St Ambrofe's original, as alfo to that other paffage in the morn ing prayer, O Lord fhew thy mercy upon us. And in the litany, Verficles after the creed. O Lord let thy mercy be fhewed upon us, as our truft is in thee. |