"The newe Attractiue, containing a short Discourse of the Magnes or Lodestone, and amongst other his vertues, of a newe discovered secret and subtile propertie, concerning the declinyng of the Needle, touched therewith, under the plaine of the Horizon. Now first found out by ROBERT NORMAN, Hydrographer. Small 4. Imprinted at London, by John Kyngston, for Richaad Ballard, 1581.” This rare tract is the production of Robert Norman, who first discovered what is called the dipping of the needle, and which discovery this work was intended to promulgate. As this curious work is very little known; a synopsis of its contents will, perhaps, not be deemed uninteresting. The 1st chapter treateth-Of the Magnes or Lodestone, where thei are found, and of their colours, weight, and vertue in drawying iron, or steele, and of other properties of the same stone. The 2nd chap. Of the diuers opinions of those that haue written of the attractiue poinct, and where thei haue imagined it to bee. 3d. By what meanes the rare and straunge declinyng of the Needle, from the plaine of the Horizon was first founde. 4th. How to finde the greatest declinyng of the Needle under the Horizon. 5th. That in the vertue of the Magnes or Lodestone, is no ponderous or weightie matter, to cause any suche declinyng in the Needle. 6th. A confutation of the comon receiued opinion of the point Attractiue. 7th. Of the poinct Respectiue, where it maie bee by greatest reason imagined. 8th. Certaine proofes of the power and action, wholie and freelie beeying in the stone, to shewe this poinct respectiue, and in the Needle, by vertue and power receiued of the Stone, and not forced, or constrained by any Attraction in Heauen or Yearth. 9th. Of the Variation of the Needle from the Pole or Axeltree of the Earth, and how it is to bee understoode. 10th. Of the common Compasses, and of the diuers different sortes and makynges of them, with the inconueniences that maie growe by them, and the plattes made by them. After which followeth, A table or regiment of the Sunnes declinatio, exactly calculated unto the minute by the true place of the Sunne, whose greatest declination for this age is 23 degrees 28 minutes, and maie serve for 30 yeres without greate errour. How to use the Sunne's declination, for knowing the elevation of the Pole. Three Tables, the first sheweth the conjunctions of the Sunne and Moone for 19 yeres, with the Eclipses of the Sunne. The seconde Table sheweth the hower and minute of the oppositions or full Moones, with the Eclipses of the Moone. The third Table followeth the Kalender, by the whiche is always founde, what signe the Moone is in, with the helpe of the letters in the Kalender, also by the saied Kalender is shewed the hower and minute of the length of the daie for euery daie of the yere, for the eleuation of the Pole 52 degrees. The body of the work, with the tables, occupy 62 pages, printed with black letter; exclusive of which, at the beginning are a dedicatory Epistle, an address to the Reader, and the Magnes or Lodestone's Challenge; which last I beg leave to lay before your readers. THE MAGNES OR LODESTONE'S CHALLENGE. GIUE place, ye glitterying sparkes, In breefe, ye stones inricht, Giue place, giue place, I saie, Magnes, the Lodestone, I, My vertue lyes unknowne, By me, the court and commonweale No shippe could saile on seas, Blush then, and blemishe all, Bequeath to me that's dewe, Your seates in golde, your price in plate, Whiche jewellers doe renewe. It's I, it's I, alone, Whom you usurpe upon, Magnes by name, the Lodestone cald, The prince of stones alone. If this you can denie, Then seeme to make replie, THE MARINER'S JUDGMENT. THE Lodestone is the stone, Whose vertues are unknowne. THE MARCHANTE'S VERDICT. THE saphire's bright, the diamods braue, London, March 18, 1812. SPECIMENS SIVAD. OF THE SIMILARITY AND CONNECTION OF LANGUAGES. (Continued from p. 49.) IN Hebrew, lak, signifies an agent, a legate, or messenger; laki, Ethiopic, to send, to serve, &c.; lego, Latin, to send. From the Hebrew come the English word lackey; Spanish, lacayo; French, laquais; Italian, lacchè; Portuguese, lacayo; Danish, leckei. Gel, Persian; gelid, Chaldee, to condense, to congeal, (and as a substantive) ice; TEλa, Greek; Latin, gelidus, cold; French, gelé; gelid, English. As meadows parch'd, brown groves, and withering flow'rs As chill dark air inhales the morning beam, As thirsty harts enjoy the gelid stream: Thus, to man's grateful soul, from heav'n descend SIR WILLIAM JONES. Bene, Saxon; bon, French; boon, Celtic; boon, English; all signifying a good turn, a favour, &c. It is worthy of notice, that boonia, in the Mandingo tongue, signifies a present, or gift. See the vocabulary of that language, in Mungo Park's Travels. English, rave; French, raver; Dutch, revan; Swedish, yra, to rave; in Shanscrit, rava; signifies a shriek or a loud cry. p, kabar, Hebrew, to bury, to inter; from whence the noun, p, a grave, a sepulchre. In Persian, khabgahe, signifies the place of the last sleep, or the same as the English cametry; and the Greek xoangiov. It has long ago been remarked, that sleep is the image of . * death; "Somnus mortis imago." Sleep and death are so apparently similar, that Galen saith they are brother and sister. In the scriptures it is said, such-a-one slept with his fathers; and not such-a-one died. So the iron-sleep of the poets: Olli dura quies oculos et ferreus urget Somnus in æternam clauduntur luminæ noctem. Death's iron-slumbers chased VIRG. EN. X. WRANGHAM'S RAISING OF JAÏRUS'S DAUGHTER. The words for sleep and death in the Madagascar tongue have a striking resemblance, the former being mororo, and the latter moro. Our English word, grave, may probably be derived from the old Gothic, grubben, to dig, or the Teut. grab. Sabbat, Persian; sabbate, French; sabato, Italian ; sabbat, German; sábado, Spanish; all undoubtedly from the Hebrew, naw, to cease, to rest, to desist, from labour. Edw, Greek, video, to see; English, eye; Scottish, een, eyes; Saxon, Eag; French, ocil; Cimbric, aug; Gothic, augo; Swedish, öga; Belgic, oog; Sclavonic, oko; Danish, aye; Spanish, ojo; Portuguese, olho; Feroese, eyen Ty, oin, Hebrew †, an eye, from the root,, which signifies acute, sensibility, weakness, &c. because the eye is so tender and delicate an organ, and is so naturally alarmed when any thing approaches it, that it immediately closes. It is also affected, more or less, by all the passions. In Arabic, ain, an eye; Italian, occhio; Latin, oculus. Divini signa decoris Ardentesque notate oculos. VIRG. EN. lib. v. Dow, Hebrew, heaven; Ethiopic, shamai; Samaritan, schamaim; Tartarian, schmaio. Most of the European languages follow the Latin, cœlum; cielo, Italian; cielo, Spanish; o ceo, Portuguese; ciel, French; ceal, Irish t. **See his Lib. de Caus: Pulsat. &c. Also the name of the sixteenth letter in the Hebrew alphabet. † See Sir John Carr's "Stranger in Ireland,” p. 330. |