are followed by disappointment and even ruin. In the present case, the experiments on the small scale represent the thing as more difficult than when tried on the great one it is found to be; and would lead us by an error the direct opposite of the last, to conclude things to be impracticable that may be carried into effect with ease. Had the ingenious inventor of the slide at Alpnach, been better acquainted with the received theories of friction, or the experiments on which they are founded, even those that are the best and on the greatest scale, such as those of another most skilful engineer, M. Coulomb, or had he placed more faith in them, he never would have attempted the great work, in which he has so eminently succeeded.” It appears, however, in fact, that Mr. Rupp, the inventor of the slide at Alpnach, was much better acquainted than Professor Playfair with the received theories of friction, and in particular, we may be allowed to suppose, with the improved views derived from the ingenious experiments of Coulomb; and, moreover, that it was because he had faith in the received theories, so modified and confirmed, that he engaged in the immense enterprise which is likely to hand down his name to posterity, as one of the most enlightened engineers of the nineteenth century. The volumes now given to the world as the works of Mr. Playfair, contain his “ Illustrations of the Huttonian Theory;" the “ Dissertation on Physical Science,” published in the Supplement to the Enclyclopædia Britannica; a variety of papers originally printed in the Transactions of the Royal Societies of London and Edinburgh ; and, lastly, a selection from the articles which he contributed to the Edinburgh Review. The " Dissertation exhibiting a general View of Mathematical and Physical Science since the Revival of Letters in Europe,” is worthy of the author's name; but unfortunately, owing to his death before the materials could be finally prepared for the press, it remains in an unfinished state, and must for ever continue in the shape of a mere fragment. One of the last things Mr. Playfair wrote, and with which he seems to have amused himself during part of the time he was confined with illness, is a Memoir relating to Naval Tactics, as improved by the late John Clerk of Eldin. It is a singular incident in the history of human affairs, that a person who had never been at sea in his life, should have introduced into military seamanship the most important improvement which that difficult art has received in modern times. From his early youth, a fortunate instinct seems to have directed his mind to this line of study. “I had,” says he, in a document referred to by Mr. Playfair, “acquired a strong passion for nautical affairs when a mere child. At ten years old, before I had seen a ship, or even the sea at a less distance than four or five miles, I formed an acquaintance at school with some boys who had come from a distant sea-port, who instructed me in the different parts of a ship, from a model which they had procured. I had afterwards frequent opportunities of seeing and examining ships at the neighbouring port of Leith, which increased my passion for the subject; and I was soon in possession of a number of models, many of them of my own construction, which I used to sail on a piece of water in my father's pleasure grounds, where there was also a boat with sails, which furnished me with much employment. I had studied Robinson Crusoe, and I read all the sea voyages I could procure.” Upon the commencement of the American war, Mr. Clerk, who continued to pay the utmost attention to the subject of naval tactics, and derived all the knowledge he could possibly acquire from read а a ing and conversation, and particularly from studying the details of the several actions which took place between the belligerents, saw more and more reason to suspect that there was something very erroneous in the method heretofore pursued by the British admirals, for bringing their fleets into battle.' He perceived, that while nothing could exceed the skill with which the ships individually were worked and manœuvred, the plan followed in bringing a whole fleet to meet the enemy was extremely uncertain and precarious: and, in a word, he was convinced from the conduct of our bravest and most skilful admirals, that an expedient for forcing their antagonists to fight, on equal terms, was an addition to the art of naval warfare that remained still to be discovered. It had usually happened, that the British fleet was eager to engage, and that the enemy was unwilling to risk a general action; the object of our commanders, therefore, had almost always been to gain the weather gage, as it is called, of the enemy, or to place themselves to the windward of his fleet. When that fleet was drawn out in line, in the manner necessary for allowing every ship its share in the action, the British fleet bore down from the windward upon the enemy; who was so placed as to have his whole line, and also the broadside of each individual ship, nearly at right angles to the direction of the wind. In such circumstances, the British had usually adopted one of the two following methods, in order to make the attack. They either formed their feet into a line parallel and directly opposite to that of the enemy, whence each ship bore down upon that which was immediately opposed to it; or, sailing on the tack'opposite to that on which the enemy stood, ran along parallel to their live, and within fighting distance, till the whole of the one line was abreast of the other, and each ship ready to engage her antagonist. If the former of these methods was pursued, each ship on coming down had to sustain a destructive fire from the broadside of the one immediately opposed to her in the enemy's line, which she could only return very ineffectually from the few guns mounted in her bows. The rigging, consequently, which presented the best mark, when the ship was moving end on before the wind, was in general so dreadfully cut by the enemy's shot, that the vessel was always much disabled, and sometimes rendered totally unmanageable, before she arrived within fighting distance. If the second method was pursued, the headmost ship had to endure the fire of the whole line before she arrived in her place; the next, the fire of all but one; the third had to sustain the broadsides of all but two, and so on; so that it was very improbable that any, except the sternmost ships, could reach their station in the line without having received material damage. This mode of fighting, it requires not to be observed, would give to the enemy who remained quietly on the defensive, a great advantage over the attacking squadron, and enabled him almost to a certainty to maim his antagonist's fleet, with very little loss to himself, or even to gain a victory without exposing to any great hazard either his men or his ships. “Mr. Clerk had the merit of pointing out the evils now enumerated, in a manner most clear and demonstrative, and of describing a method by which the attack might be made, without incurring any of the disadvantages that have been mentioned, and almost with a certainty of success. As the evil arose from an enVOL. I. No. 3.-Museum. 2C 7 O for a soft and gentle wind! I heard a fair one cry; And white waves heaving high ; The good ship tight and free- And merry men are we. And lightning in yon cloud; The wind is piping loud; The lightning flashes free Our heritage the sea. My Mary! when each summer flow'r Is blooming in its pride again, Shall pay me for an age of pain. One look or smile will then suffice My heart its sorrow smothers; Than joy in smiles with others. A cheerless waste, all gloom and night, Thine eye upon its darkness beam'd, And sunn'd it into life and light. And, as a lone but lovely flow'r, Which, when all other flow'rs depart, Still blooms within its ruin'd bow'r, Thou bloomest in my lonely heart. And shall I, then, the Rose forget, Which seem'd in Hope's wreath braided; And, like a Spirit lingers yet, Now all the rest have faded. Oh, no! the heart, which is the seat Of love like mine, can never rove; Its faithful pulse may cease to beat, But never-never cease to love : And soaring as the Ocean wave : A never-ending token, When all save that are broken. MUSEUM. FROM THE BRITISH CRITIC. The Works of John Playfair, Esq. late Professor of Natural Philo. sophy in the University of Edinburgh, &c. &c. With a Memoir of the Author. Constable & Co. Edinburgh, 1822. With the usual aversion entertained and professed by critics for the vile art of book-making, we are, notwithstanding, disposed to allow that this is one of the books which deserved to be made. The most valuable of Mr. Playfair's treatises, the “Illustrations of the Huttonian Theory,” had been many years out of print; and his other essays, biographical and scientific, were only to be found in very expensive collections, such as the Transactions of Philosophical Societies, or the equally inaccessible pages of modern Encyclopædias. Mr. Playfair was the son of a Scotch minister, and was born in 1748. He received his education at St. Andrew's, where, at the age of sixteen or seventeen, he was selected by Professor Wilkie, who happened to be confined by illness, to read his lectures on natural philosophy. When only in his eighteenth year he stood candidate for the mathematical professorship in the Marischal College of Aberdeen; on which occasion he sustained, with great credit, a comparative trial, which continued eleven days, yielding only to the superior attainments of Dr. Trail, the present Chancellor of Down and Conner, in Ireland, and of Dr. Hamilton, the well known author of a very profound work on the national debt, who is at this moment in possession of the chair which called forth so ardent a competition. The death of his father determined the choice of young Playfair in favour of the ecclesiastical profession: and in due time the charge and emoluments of his native parish were secured to him by the kindness of his patron, Lord Gray. After about ten years' residence in the country, where, we are told, he devoted the chief part of his time to the duties of his cure and the composition of sermons, he found himself induced, by very advantageous offers, to resign his living, for the purpose of superintending the education of two young men, the sons of a Fifeshire 'squire of considerable fortune. In company with his pupils, who, we find, were Mr. Ferguson, of Raith, and his brother, Sir Ronald Ferguson, the existing M. P. for Kirkcaldy, the rector of Benvie repaired to Edinburgh, to attend the lectures which are annually delivered there, on every subject of human interest or curiosity; and where he soon made himself so'well known, by his great abilities and learning, that, in 1785, he was nominated, by the patrons of the college, joint-professor of mathematics, a situation in which he remained about twenty years. In 1805, the death of Professor Robinson led to his preferment, if such it can be called, to the chair of natural philosophy, a position which he held and adorned, with much talent and a large share of popular approbation, till the period of his demise in the year 1819. There is, appended to the memoir, a sketch of Mr. Playfair's chaVol. I. No. 3.-Museum. 2 B |