Knowledge of the Ancients refpecting Glass. Sidon in Phoenicia had been, in early times, famous for glafs. In the time of Pliny, that of the Bay of Naples was preferred. The Romans were acquainted with the art of engraving upon, or cutting glafs; which is exprefsly mentioned by Pliny, and confirmed by the antique gems fo frequently found. It was formed either by blowing it with a pipe, grinding it in a lathe, or cafting it in a mould like metal. The colours principally in use were an obfcure red glass, or perhaps rather earthen ware, called hæmatinon; one of various colours called myrrhinum; a clear red, a white, a blue, and indeed most other colours. The perfectly clear glafs was, however, moft valued. Nero gave for two cups, of no very extraordinary fize, with two handles to each, upwards of fix thoufand feftertia, or above fifty thousand pounds Sterling. But though the finest kinds of glafs were fo valuable and rare, yet I apprehend, from the frequent mention of glass in Martial, and from what Pliny fays, that glafs for drinking veffels had nearly fuperfeded the ufe of gold and filver, fo that the inferior forts muft have been common enough. Pliny likewife mentions the ef fects of hollow glass globes, filled with water, in concentrating the rays of light, fo as to produce flame in any combustible fubftance, upon which the focus fell; and relates, that fome furgeons in his time made ufe of it as a cauftic for ulcers and wounds. 19 He was alfo acquainted with the comparative hardness of gems and glafs; as he obferves, that the Lapis Obfidianus would not fcratch gems. And he likewife mentions the counterfeiting of the natural gems by glafs as a very lucrative art §, and in high perfection in his time; and the fame feems to be confirmed by Trebellius Pollio *. Vopifcus t fays, that Firmus furnished his houfe with fquare pieces of glafs, fastened together with bitumen or other subftances; but, whether they were to ferve for windows, or as reflectors of the light and objects, do not appear. As fpecula, or metal reflectors, in the prefent age, bear fome reference to glafs, and as they were in confiderable use among the ancients, I fhall here fubjoin a few words concerning them. The antiquity of fpecula or metal reflectors, muft, according to Plutarch, have been very great. He tells us in his life of Numa ‡, that it was one of the inftitutions of that Prince, that if the facred fire of the veftal virgins fhould, at any time, be extinguished, that it fhould be rekindled by means of the fun's rays collected by a polished concave me. talline fpeculum. Aulus Gellius, quotes fome verfes of Laberius, a cotemporary of Julius Cæfar, which mention a metalline burning fpeculum being conftructed by Democritus of Abdera, a cotemporary of Hippocrates, the celebrated phyfician who lived about two hundred and fifty years after Numa . Reflecting fpecula were C 2 * Trebell. Poll. Gall. duo. com. § Plin. Hift. Nat. XXXVII. 12. It is worth obferving, that Pliny advises the fame cement for broken glafs-veffels that is now in use, viz. the mixture of a white of an egg with quick lime. He likewife no tices a fact which later experience has confirmed, that hot water may be fafely poured into a glafs-veffel, provided it be immediately before moiftened with cold water. Vita Numæ. Numa is thought to have lived seven hundred and eight years before Chrift. L. X. C. 19. Archimedes, who lived above two hundred years after Democritus, was perfectly ac quainted with burning fpecula, as appears from a work of his now remaining, where in he demonftrates, that the parabolic form is the best adapted to that purpose. common in the time of Plautus *, as appears from feveral paffages, and were then, it seems, moftly made of filver; which, however, was much alloyed with copper, † from its giving a fmell to the hands of thofe who rubbed it. Vitruvius appears to have been well acquainted with the proper conftruction of fpecula, as he ob ferves it was neceffary they should be of a confiderable thickness, elfe they were apt to warp, and to reflect indistinct images of objects. Seneca was more completely informed on this fubject. He knew the powers of reflecting concave fpecula in magnifying objects, and fpeaks of fome other kinds that diminished, and exhibited other various diftortions of the human figure. He alfo knew, that a portion of a hollow fphere was the proper figure for the magnifying fpecula 4. He was alfo acquainted with multiply. ing fpecula, which he particularly mentions. Pliny is ftill more particular in his account. He fpeaks of their compofition as being of tin and copper, which is the fame with that generally used at prefent. He fays, however, that filver fpecula were preferred, and were first introduced by Praxiteles, in the time of Pompey the Great. I fuppofe he here means pure filver; for that filver was at leaft part of the compofition of them in early times, appears from the pasfage of Plautus above quoted. Probably, as a white metal, it might be ufed with the fame intent tin is at prefent, to whiten and harden the copper. Silver fpecula were, however, fo frequent, Pliny fays, as to be in common ufe with the maid feryants. He mentions the proportion of the tin to the copper, to be two of the former to one of the latter, which feems to have been that most efteemed: other proportions were equal parts of copper, lead and tin §, and another of two parts of copper, two of lead, and one of tin; but these were held much inferior, as the lead debafed the quality of the compofition very much. He mentions various forms of them in use, as concave, convex, multiplying, diftorting, &c. **. Their burning quality, when oppofed to the fun's rays, was likewife known to Pliny. Aulus Gellius mentions feveral properties of fpecula, which fhow the nature and conftruction of them to be well understood in his time; fuch as the non-inverfion of objects, the appearance of an object in the centre of a concave fpeculum, and feveral others. Memoirs of the late JOHN STANLEY, Esq. MR STANLEY, who has been for fo many years diftinguifhed, not only as a moft eminent mufical compofer and performer, but for the very extraordinary ingenuity by which he was enabled to remedy, in *Moft. Act. I. Sc. 3. papim. Epidic. A&t. III. Sc. 3. a MOST. A&. I. Sc. 3. Sunt ifta a quibufdam ita compofita, ut poffint detorquere in parvum; nam, ut dixi, funt fpecula quæ faciem profpicientium obliquent, funt quæ in infinitum augeant, & hu manum habitum excedunt, modumque noftrorum corporum. Sectæ pilæ pars. SENEC. Nat. Queft. L. I. C. 4. SENEC. Nat. Quest. L. I. C. 15. Memoirs of the late Mr John Stanley, Esq. 21 a great measure, the inconveniences who bequeathed his music to him and of blindness, was born on the 28th of Mr Smith, he undertook, in conJanuary 1713. The accident, which junction with that gentleman, to fudeprived him of his fight, happened perintend the performance of Oratowhen he was about two years of rios, firft at Covent Garden, and afage; at which time he had the misterward at Drury Lane; which he fortune to fall down upon a marble continued to do till within four years hearth with a china bafon in his of his death. In 1779, he was aphand. pointed Master of his Majefty's band of muficians, in the room of Dr Boyce deceased; and in 1782, he fucceeded Mr Weideman, as the conductor of it. Mufic, with great propriety, was thought to be a fource of entertainment, and, in courfe, of alleviation, under the calamity which this accident had occafioned. Mr Stanley, therefore, began to learn mufic at the early age of feven years; and, under the tuition of Mr Reading, a pupil of the celebrated Dr Blow, and then Organist of Hackney church, he foon arrived at confiderable excellence as a harpfichord player. Such was the delight that the blind pupil took in cultivating this favourite fcience, that what was at firft intended only as the confolation of his life, was now confidered as laying the foundation, in all probability, of future fame and fortune; and, by the advice of fome competent judges, his father was induced to place him under the care of Dr Green, the Organift of St Paul's, under whom he ftudied with great diligence and fuccefs. In the year 1723, being then only eleven years of age, he was appointed Organist of Allhallows, BreadAtreet. Three years after, he was made organist of St Andrew, Holborn. In 1729, he was admitted Bachelor of Mufic at the univerfity of Oxford; and, in 1734, was elected Organist of the Temple church, by the Benchers of the honourable Society of the Inner Temple. Of the two churches laft mentioned, Mr Stanley continued Organift to his death. In 1738, he married Mifs Arland, daughter of the late Cap. Edward Arland, in the fervice of the East India Company. In 3760, on the death of Mr Handel, It has been juftly obferved, that the lofs of one fenfe is greatly compenfated by that fuperior strength in the others, which is the confequence of the deprivation. Mr Stanley, in many respects, resembled that great Mathematician, Dr Nicholas Saunderfon. He had the fame retentive memory, the fame ftrength of feeling, and the fame refined ear. He was never at a lofs for any thing he had ever learned in his profeffion, even in his juvenile years. His conduct of the Oratorios was fuch, as to excite not only admiration but aftonishment. At the performance, in particular, of one of Handel's Te Deums, for the benefit of a public charity, the organ being half a note too sharp for the other instruments, he tranfpofed the whole of it with as much eafe and addrefs as any performer could have done by the help of fight. He never forgot the voice of any perfon when once he had heard it. If twenty people were feated at a table near him, he would addrefs them all in regular order, without their fituations being previously announced to him. In the younger part of his life riding on horfeback was one of his favourite exercifes; and, of late years, when he lived in Salter's Buildings, on Epping Foreft, and wished to give his friends an airing, he would often take them the most pleafant road, and point out to them the moft pleafing profpects. He played at Whist with with great readinefs and judgment: each card was marked at the corner with the point of a needle; but thofe marks were fo delicately made as hardly to be perceived by any perfon not previously apprised of it: his hand was generally the firft that was arranged; and it was not uncommon for him to complain to the party, that they were tedious in fort ing the cards. By the found alone, he could diftinguish with great accuracy the fize of a room. He could alfo diftinguish colours, tell the precife time by a watch, name the notes in mufic, and do many other things dependent on the ear and touch, which his friends had long ceafed to confider as extraordinary in him. But his naming the number of perfons in a room on entering it; his directing his voice to each perfon in particular, even to ftrangers when they have once fpoken; his miffing any perfon abfent, and telling who that perfon was; in a word, his conceptions of youth, beauty, fymmetry, and shape, were fuch wonderful attainments, as to be, perhaps, peculiar to himself. Mr Stanley, whofe great talents both as a composer and a performer, are too univerfally acknowledged to require an eulogy, died at his house in Hattan- ftreet, Holborn, on Friday the 19th of May 1786, in the 73d year of his age; and, in the evening of the 27th, his remains were interred in the New Burying Ground belonging to St Andrews Church; at which, on Sunday the 28th, inftead of the ufual Voluntary, a folemn Dirge, and after fervice," I know that my Redeemer liveth," were, with great propriety, performed upon that organ, on which he had with fuch eminence, and for fuch a number of years, difplayed his mufical abilities. Univ. Mag. Impeachment of Mr HASTINGS. THE HE trial and impeachment of Warren Haftings, Efq; late Governor General of Bengal, for high crimes and misdemeanors, has attracted the attention of Europe, and may decide the fate of Afia. The reprefentatives of a great nation fiting in judgment on a delegated fovereign of India; the omnipotence of the British parliament difplayed in erecting a Throne of Justice for the univerfe; furnishes one of the grandeft fpectacles which ancient or modern hiftory has tranfmitted to cur contemplation. The celebrity of the accufer, who in his happier hours has delighted the world with the eloquence of Greece and Rome; the celebrity of the perfon accufed, who has reprefented with unparalleled fuccefs the majefty of the first European nation in the remote re mote regions of Afia, and who comes crowned with victory and laurels to that tribunal at which he is accufed; the manifold difcuffions, the nice difcrimination of particulars, and ge neral conclufions upon the whole, which an inquiry into an adminiftration of more than fifteen years standing neceffarily involves; render this one of the most important causes which has ever been fubmitted to the decifion of mankind. On the fide of the accufers, we may expect all that ingenuity, argument, or cloquence, can hold out, to move the paffions or gain the voice of the public: On the fide of the accufed, we may expect all the punishments attendant on delinqency, when afcertained by authentic evidence; prefent death, or permanent infamy. Mr Burke and his affociates What may be faid AGAINST Mr Haftings. have popularity and power to acquire. Mr Haftings has every thing to lofe. On the fide of the accufers it may be faid, The numerous charges against the pannel muft infer no common fhare of criminality; his long adminiftration in India, in direct difobedience to the orders of the Company, is almoft one uniform fcene of cruelty and oppreffion: you trace his progrefs, like that of a ftorm, by marks of devaftation; before him is the garden of Eden, behind him a defolate wildernefs. He feems to have examined the map of India merely to mark out a cool geographical line of deftruction. When the refolutions of 1782 were voted in the House of Commons, it was observed by Mr Dundas, one of his prefent defenders, that he scarcely ever left the walls of Calcutta that his fteps were not followed with the depofition of fome prince, the defertion of fome ally, or the depopulation of fome province though ultimately he may have ferved the interests of the India Company and his own, he has difhonoured the British name, and given an odious impreffion of the British character in that part of the world, and among the nations of Europe; it interefts therefore the honour and the dignity of parliament to vindicate itself from any fhare of the infamy, and fet an example of juftice to mankind, by impeaching Warren Haftings. If a Roman fenator condemned his fon to death for gaining a victory contrary to the laws, a British parliament should punish a Governor General of Bengal for having promoted the interefts of the India Company at the expence of greater interefts, of juftice, humanity, good. faith, and national character. Setting afide the Rohilla war, on account of the diftance of the time at which it happened, and the alleged 3 23 new important fervices of Mr Haftings con |