etical work, among beauties of fo much greater magnitude. The reader who willingly ftays to contemplate fuch, in a work of this ftamp, refembles a pretended connoiffeur, who is not content with the effect of a finè picture viewed at it's proper distance, but, by approaching too near, converts it into an unpleafing display of petty errors, and partial difproportions. I will. now, advert to a few ftriking beauties of a characteristic excellence, which have not been, particularly, noticed elsewhere. The "natural fort of Milton is," as Johnfon obferves, " gigantic loftinefs." A fort of more than mortal fublimity. This runs through all his works, and tinctures all his defcriptions. Even his tractate of education, the plan of which, evidently, tends rather to produce heroes, and great men, than peaceful and obedient citizens, evinces this. But this fublimity is, wonderfully, varied. I will produce two or three characteristic fpecimens of its varieties. The firft, of the most dreadful fort; and fuch as would have entered no human imagination, without the aid of the infpired writings. At once the Four spread out their ftarry wings With dreadful fhade contiguous, and the orbs Of his fierce chariot roll'd, as with the found Of torrent floods, or of a numerous hoft. He on his impious foe right onward drove, Gloomy as night; under his burning wheels The ftedfaft empyrean fhook throughout, All but the throne itself of God. Full foon Among them he arrived, in his right hand Grafping ten thoufand thunders, which he fent 3 Here the appeal to Adam, "thou remember'ft, for thou heard'ft," feizes on the reader's imagination, in a fingular manner; and greatly adds to the intereft, as well as the folemnity of the fcene. The following lines, though, certainly of the dreadfully fublime fpecies, are quoted chiefly to fhew that a" metaphor, or epithet drawn from art" does not, always, 66 degrade na ture:an obfervation made by Dr Johnfon in his life of Gray. Like a dark ceiling* stood." The word ceiling fuggests nothing debafing to the imagery, but, rather, an idea of clofeness and confinement, that adds greatly to the terror of the defcription. Again: "The thunder when to roll With terror through the dark aereal ball." G Milton's *The note of Richardson on this paffage is ridiculous enough. "Ceiling may be thought too mean a word in poetry, but Milton had a view to its derivation Coelum, (Latin) Cielo, (Italian) Heaven." It is very unlikely Milton had any fuch view. It is enough to fay in defence of this and other paffages of the kind, that the precifion they give to idea often more than compensates for their meanness. Milton's pathos does not seem to me of the higher kind. It is, however, fuch as, perhaps, better fuits his fubject than that of a more tender kind. Of the graceful fimplicity of Homer, in his pathetic touches, he discovers little. But it fhould be remembered, that he has fewer opportunities for it than most other poets. The fituation and circumftances of Adam, scarce afforded any. Eve, yet childless, wanted one of the most touching occafions for it. The reft of his characters are far fuperior to it. He has, however, contrived to produce scenes of a very affecting, though more laboured, and, if I may term it fo, oratorical kind of pathetic. It is always nicely fuited to the character of the speaker. His talent for natural defcription fhines, chiefly, I think, in his many picturefque fimiles. His long and laboured defcriptions of paradife have, as has been obferved," little of the freshness of nature in them." On looking over his fimiles, I was fomewhat furprised to meet with one, in the tenth book, that seems less neceffary, and worse adapted to his fubject, than any I have met with in poetry. I mean that, where he compares the vacuity left in hell by the incurfions of the evil angels on earth, to the wafte left by the retreat of the Tartars from their Ruffian foes. The image required no illuftration; and there is an evident affectation of reading in the attempt to furnish one. ON THE QUALITIES AND EFFECTS OF THE PARTICULAR SUBSTANCES WHICH ARE USED AS FOOD. FROM MOORE'S ESSAY ON THE MATERIA MEDICA. HE circumstances we are der is evacuated as useless. Tchiefly defirous of knowing re fpecting aliments are, In the first place, which are moft nutritive? Secondly, which are eafieft digeffted? Thirdly, which are of a ftimufant or heating nature. Fourthly, which are of a fedative, or cooling kind? I fhall proceed to examine thefe queftions, and to mention the particular fubftances which poffefs these qualities. If the whole fubftance of each of our aliments were converted into chyle, then equal weights of each would give precifely the fame quantity of nutriment. But this is by no means the cafe; for fomc alimentary fubftances give more chyle in proportion to their weight, than others; and only a small portion of those aliments which give the most chyle is converted into that fluid, and the remain As the bodies of men and the fubftances of those animals we feed upon, are nearly the fame, it might be expected that little or none of our animal food would become excrementitious. The truth, however, is as above stated; a large portion even of animal food is requifite to form a fmall quantity of chyle. This is not owing to there being any ingredients in beef or mutton, for example, which are not required in the human body; but because these ingredients are not perpetually wanted in the human body in the fame proportion in which they exist in thefe aliments. As fome particles of our bodies wafte faster than others, these particles require to be renewed fafter. The chyle is a compound fluid, confifting of particles in the fame proportion to each other, with those particles in the blood which are ufually wafted. The The chyle therefore fupplies the blood with particles exactly fimilar to those which are generally wasted. But, as the particles of our aliments are the fame with those of the chyle, although combined in a different proportion; and as the latter is extracted from the former, it follows, that our aliment must be of greater quantity than the chyle; and that fome part of the food must be excrementitious. The chyle of many animals is not very different from the human. If therefore it could be procured in fufficient quantity to be used as food, it would be infinitely the moft nutritive of all aliments; because the whole, or nearly the whole, would be converted into human chyle, and hardly any of it would be excrementitious. The most nutritious fubftance, next to chyle, perhaps is fat. The following obfervations led me to this opinion. It is remarked, that the northern bears, and all those animals who pass the winter in fleep, are extremely fat previous to their falling into the fleepy or torpid ftate, and thin and lean when they awake in fpring. From this it is natural to conclude, that the whole of the fat has been abforbed during the winter months, to supply the wafte of the circulating blood. As it is evident from this, that the fat of thofe animals is a depofit to fupply them with nutriment during that period in which none is received by the mouth; it cannot be doubted, but that nature would place in the body a fubftance perfectly well adapted to the purpose she intended. It seems extremely probable therefore, that fat is one of the moft nutritious fubftanees exifting. Men, and those animals who are never in the torpid ftate, have no need of this accumulation. To them it is generally an incumbrance; and fometimes in adults takes place to great degree, in confequence of ufing too full a diet, and taking too little exercise. By this mode of life the blood becomes too great in quantity, and too rich. And it seems probable, that the fat is thrown out by the vesfels, in order to relieve them from the plethoric ftate. If this is the cafe, it is clear that the evacuation of the richest part of the blood would give the greatest relief; it is therefore not unnatural to conclude, that the part thrown out is the richest. Befides these prefumptions drawn from reafoning, the late very ingenious Dr Stark informs us, that on his making trials of a vast variety of food, he found that a fmaller quantity of fat, than of any other fubftance, was fufficient for his fuftenance. Butter, and the expreffed oils of vegetables which are exceedingly fimilar to fat, are likewife extremely nutritive, but all these fubftances are of difficult digeftion. Weak ftomachs are disordered by even a small portion of most of them. Butter feems to be the lightest to an English stomach; but this probably proceeds from habit. I am apt to think that eggs are nutritious in the next degree. They afford nourishment and growth to the young chick, and the whole yolk is converted into the fubftance of the animal. From the use of the egg, it is evident, that it is intended to contain as much nutriment for the chick in a fmall compafs as poffible. A fubftance fo exceedingly nutritious for this animal, it is natural to think will likewise be so in a confiderable degree for men, On this, however, I fhould not place a great deal of weight, if those who use eggs in their diet did not agree, that they are remarkably nourishing. They are more light and eafier of digeftion when moderately boiled, than quite hard. In this last state, the white is particularly difficult of digeftion, as appears by Mr Goffe's experiments, G 2 a an and perhaps is the least nutritive. Eggs are generally believed to be a ftimulant kind of food; but I ima gine they have acquired this reputation, principally from their being extremely nutritious. The next alimentary fubftance I fhall take notice of, is blood. That of the hog particularly is used in this country, made into puddings; and the Laplanders feed much upon the blood of the rein-deer. There can be little doubt, that blood must be extremely nutritive, even more fo than the flesh of the animal. For, as all our food is to be converted into blood, a pound will probably form more human blood than a pound of fieth. But it must be recollected, that a fubftance, being extremely nutritious, is not a proof of its being extremely wholefome. For it was formerly pointed out, that vegetable food, which is much lefs nutritious in general than animal food, is, notwith. standing that, equally wholefome. The ancients had a notion, that the blood of bulls was poisonous: this is entirely groundlefs. To a man with a strong ftomach, there are few fubftances which, in an equal quantity, would preferve life fo long. Yet blood is difficult to digeft; the puddings which are made of it in this country, are perhaps the heavi eft food in ufe. We We come now to confider the flesh of those animals which form our principle aliment. That of the hog being the fatteft, is certainly the moft nutritive; but it is difficult to digeft. Perfons who have weak organs of digeftion, or are unaccustomed to this food, are ufually difordered by it. Those who have ftronger ftomachs, however, find it wholesome. Pork is therefore very judiciously chofen as part of the Aliments of our feamen and foldiers, because a Jefs portion of it than any other meat gives fufficient nourishment. When falted, it is eafier digefted, than when fresh, because the falt ftimulates the ftomach. Young fucking pigs are still heavier than full grown pork, because they are fatter. Beef and mutton are the lightest and eafieft digefted aliments in use, and afford a confiderable quantity of nourishment, though lefs than those hitherto mentioned. Veal and lamb are much more difficultly digefted, than older meats. Lamb, particularly, is heavy; veal, however, like all white meats, is lefs ftimulant than beef. It is therefore very properly directed in feverish ftates of body, preferably to beef, and broth made of it is more infipid and lefs ftimulant than beef or mutton broth. Boiled meats are always lighter, but lefs nourishing, than the roasted or broiled. In boiling, the fat and blood partly oozes out, and is washed off by the water. In the two other modes of cooking, the juices are more retained in the meat. Venifon and hare are readily digested. The fat of venifon appears to be eafier of digeftion than that of other animals. Both appear rather ftimųlant. Geefe and ducks are heavy and indigeftible to all, except the ftrongeft ftomachs. They are likewise a ftimulant food. Turkey is much lighter than the two laft mentioned fowls; but fill it is rather heavier than the common fowl and pheafant, which are more readily digefted, and not at all stimulant. Partridge, quail, moor-game, the wood-cock, and pigeons, are all digefted easily, and afford a good deal of nourishment; but they are of a heating and ftimulant nature. Fifh, in general, gives lefs nourrifhment than butcher's meat; the fat fat fish are however to be excepted; for eels, falmon, and herrings, being of an extremely oily nature, are nourishing, but not eafily digeft sed. Moft other fish are light and wholefome; they are frequently recommended with great advantage to convalefcents, who have not entirely recovered the powers of digesting ftronger food, and who require Aliments neither ftimulant nor heavy. Vegetables in general are less nutritious than animal substance. Those animals which live entirely on vegetables, as horfes, black cat tle, and ftags, are almoft continually feeding. Sheep particularly are hardly ever unemployed when awake. They either feed, or chew the cud: and they bite, when hungry, from seventy to eighty times in a minute. Whereas lions, tigers, and other beafts of prey, eat rarely. A full meal in feveral days, or even weeks, is all they require. Thofe men likewife who live folely on vegetables, require a much larger quantity of food, than thofe who live on animal substance. It is a mistaken notion, that our appetites are the fureft guides with respect to the quantity of food proper for us. If that notion were true, no man would eat too much. For no man (except for a wager) ever eats more than his appetite prompts. But neither in our defire for food, nor in other defires, are our appetites to be trufted to. In almost every inftance, they would lead us to excels. An infant at the breast, if permitted will fuck till its ftomach is fo full, that it becomes fick, and vomits. Since it is obvious, that the uncorrupted appetites of infants are not to be trufted, even when the milk of their mothers is their only diet; how much lefs is the inclination of adults to be fully indulged, whofe appetites are excited and pro longed by ftimulants and variety? In the brute creation, likewife, appetite alone always prompts them to excels. All domeftic animals, if plenty be placed before them, grow fat; how unwieldy do cows become, if allowed to graze in rich meadows without being milked, or fucked by their calves! And theep in the fame fituation, are fuch gluttons, that they die in a few years of mere fat. Scarcity, and not inftinct, prevents the wild animals from glutting themselves in the fame manner; their food, being fo fcantily supplied, that it ufually requires their whole frength, agility, and addrefs to enable them to procure a fufficient quantity for bare subsistence, The fuperior powers of man enable him to provide abundance. He is therefore not prevented from excefs by scarcity, like the brutes; neither, as has been fhewn, ought he to be guided by appetite : it is reafon alone to which he must truft. From experience he difcovers the quantity of food which agrees with him, and the bad effects of over-eating. Our reafon, therefore, when founded upon experience, is the only guide to be! trufted. Vegetables, having the quality of being in general lefs nutritive than animal food, are well fitted to form the whole or chief part of the diet in certain conflitutions. There are perfons who poffefs excellent organs of digeftion, fecrete from the food a great deal of chyle, which is formed into blood, and who do not ufe fuch exercife as is fullcient to waste a quantity of blood qual to that which is formed. In confequence of this inequality Le tween the formation and waite of the blood, the fluids muft accumulate, and the veffels become too full. Fat is then fecreted, in order to relieve the loaded blood veffels. But if the fame circumstances continue, the |