of ancient wisdom. In giving this tract of Xenophon at prefent to the public, he is profeffedly actuated by the landable motive of diminishing that blind envy of high fituation, which fo much contributes to increafe the bile of difcontent. The truth is, that every high office, and particularly that of a fovereign, is a feat of care, which thofe alone think enviable. who are ignorant of its evils, or goaded by ambition to defpife them. But this leffon may, it must be confeffed, be more advantageously taught than by the Hiero of Xenophon. Hiero is a tyrant, that is, an abfolute prince, whofe fituation differs effentially from that of a limited and legal monarch. He is alío reprefented here, fuch as he was in the early part of his reign; not yet fully informed either of the duties, or of the advantages of his fituation: and whatever he delivers defpondingly, concerning the miferies to which he felt himfelf expofed, is fully anfwered and refuted in the concluding admonitions of Simonides. To fay that the mere fituation of a monarch will make him happy, is to talk ignorantly; but to deny that the noble exercife of thofe virtues which are peculiar to his itation, may counterbalance the evils of it, and give him as much of that mixed happinefs, which belongs to mortality, as mortals ever attain, is to do injuftice to virtue, which in no fituation. wholly lofes its reward.

The ftyle of this tranflation is elegant, and fufficiently faithful to the original. The introduction and notes judicious. As a fpecimen of the dialogue itself, and of the tranflation, we cannot felect any thing more ftriking than the conclufion, in which Simonides points out in what manner even an abfolute monarch may make himself beloved and happy. After pafling fome cenfure upon the favourite ambition of Hiero, that of excelling at the Olympic games, he thus proceeds.

"But, if you would liften to me, Hiero, permit me to advise you to enter the lifts against the governors of other ftates: and if you can render the city, over which you prefide, more happy than thofe, you may be affured, that you obtain the victory in the most noble conteft in which a mortal can engage.

"And, in the first place, you will fucceed immediately in the grand object of your ambition, the gaining the love of your fellowcitizens: and, in the next place, this victory of yours will not merely be proclaimed by a fingle herald, (as at the Olympick games) but all mankind will concur in celebrating your virtue,

"And you will not only attract the refpect of a few individuals, but the love of whole cities; and not only be admired privately, within the walls of your own palace, but publickly, and by the whole world.

"You may alfo, if you defire it, either go abroad to fee any thing rare or curious, or fatisfy your curiofity though you remain at home. For there will always be a crowd of thofe about you, who will be 3

preud

proud to exhibit whatever they have difcovered, either ingenious, beautiful, or useful; and of those who will be ambitious to ferve you. "Every one who is admitted to your prefence, will be devoted to your perfon; and thofe who live at a distance, will paffionately defire to fee you. So that you will not only be respected, but fincerely and cordially beloved by all men. You will be under no neceffity of foliciting the favours of the fair fex, but muft even fuffer yourself to be folicited by them. You will not be afraid of any one, but every one will be anxious for your prefervation.

"Your fubjects will pay you a voluntary obedience, and carefully watch for the fafety of your perfon. And fhould you be exposed to any danger, you will find them alert, not only to affift you, but to protect you, and avert the danger, at the hazard of their own lives. You will be loaded with prefents; nor will you want friends to whom you may have the pleafure of imparting them. All men will rejoice in your profperity, and will contend for your rights, as earnestly as for their own. And you may confider the wealth of your friends as treasure laid up for your ufe.

"Take courage then, Hiero, enrich your friends with a liberal hand; for by that means you will enrich yourself. Augment the power of the itate, for thus you will render yourself more powerful, and fecure alliances in time of war.

"In a word, regard your country as your own family; your fellow-citizens, as your friends; your friends, as your own children; and your children, as your own life: but endeavour to furpass them all in acts of kindness and beneficence. For if you thus fecure the attachment of your friends by acts of beneficence, your enemies will not be able to refift you.

"To conclude, if you regulate your conduct according to these maxims, be affured, Hiero, you will obtain the most honourable and moft valuable poffeffion which mortals can poffibly enjoy; you will be completely happy, yet unenvied by any one." P. 108.

It is pleafing to recollect, that, whether Hiero learned this leffon in truth from Simonides, or gathered it from his own reflections,he practifed it during the latter and the chief part of his reign, and thus actually became beloved and happy.

In chap. 6, by a very commendable liberty, the tranflator has removed a most strong objection to the original, which they who undertake to read the Greek will find oppofed to their progrefs, in the moft glaring deformity. No where does the depraved licence of the ancients appear in a more difgufting form. This blemish being removed, the dialogue exhibits an excellent example of the fimple elegance, and perfpicuous wifdom of Xenophon; and well deferved the labour of the uanflator, as his verfion does the attention of the English reader,

ART.

ART. V. An Account of the Bilious Remitting Fever, as it appeared in the City of Philadelphia, in the Year 1793. By Benjamin Rufh, M. D. Profeffor of the Inftitutes, and of Clinical Medicine, in the University of Pennsylvania. 8vo. pp. 363. Price 6s. Philadelphia, printed by Thomas Dobfon, 1794. Dilly, London.

THE first pages of this book, are employed in accounting for the origin, and reciting the symptoms that attended the difeafe, as it affected different parts of the fyftem; as the fanguiferous fyftem, the liver, lungs, &c. This part is not only unfeasonably tedious, but abounds with many fanciful thooretical notions, which tend rather to render obfcure, than to throw any light upon the hiftory of the disease. It was the lefs neceffary, as the author fays, his only defign in publishing fo prematurely, was to obviate as much as poffible the danger of the difeafe, fhould it unhappily appear again in the city, in the courfe of the prefent feafon." But this had furely been better done, by giving a plain, fuccinct defcription of the fever, and of the method that had been found most fuccessful in treating it. We will give a fpecimen of the author's theory.

"The blood veffels, he fays, (and not the ftomach and bowels, as Dr. Warren teaches) are the feat and throne of this as well as of all other fevers, I have publicly taught, he adds, for feveral years, that a fever is occafioned by a convulfion of the arterial fyftem. When the epidemic, which we are now confidering, came on with a full, tense, and quick pulfe, this convulfion was very perceptible; but it frequently came on with a weak pulfe; often without any preternatural frequency, or quickness, and fometimes fo low as not to be perceived without preffing the artery at the wrifts. In this cafe the convulfion was not perceptible."

How then, it may be afked, does the author know that it existed, or how does he perceive it, when the pulfe is quick, full, and tense. Convulfion is an irregular motion, but the pulfe is as regular when quick, full and tenfe, often more so, than when flow. The pulfe is often quick, full, and tenfe after labour or any quick motion; are the arteries then convulfed? But the pofition, does not require a ferious refutation.

"The ftomach and bowels, Dr. Rufh fays, were affected in many ways, in this fever. The difeafe feldom appeared without naufea and vomiting. In fome cafes they both occurred for feveral days, or a week, before they were accompanied by any fever."

This

This would lead one to incline to the opinion of Dr. Warren, that the ftomach and bowels, and not the blood veffels, were the feat and throne of the difeafe. A little further on, he says, "the vomiting and coftivenefs, in the first stage of this fever, he believes, were occafioned chiefly by the morbid state of the brain." The brain therefore, and not the blood veffels, appears to be the feat and throne of the disease. These are the errors the author falls into, by attempting to account for what lies probably beyond the reach of our capacity to comprehend; by reafoning inftead of defcribing. We will produce one more pallage, in which there is a confufion of ideas not easy to be developed.

"There was frequently, on the 4th or 5th day, a difcharge of matter from the flomach, refembling coffee impregnated with its grounds. This was always an alarming fymptom. I believed it to be at first a modification of vitiated bile, but I was led afterwards, by its refemblance to an appearance in the urine, to fufpect that it was produced by a morbid fecretion in the liver, and effufed from it into the ftomach."

We know of no fecretion in the liver but of bile, and the author feems to call it by that name in the next paragraph, for we suppose "the matter difcharged from the ftomach of a deep or pale black colour," must be the fame as this coffeecoloured difcharge. This the Dr. thinks was bile, in a highly acrid state. But it is probable they were neither of them bile, but blood effufed into the ftomach. After this view of Dr. Rufh's mode of reasoning, the reader will not expect us to follow him in detailing the fymptoms in the order he has given them. It would extend this article much beyond the limits to which we with to confine ourselves: and convey, we fear, but very little real information. But there are a few detached obfervations which deferve notice, fome of thofe we fhall examine.

"A great proportion of all who were affected by this fever, Dr. R. fays, were attacked in the night." This is contrary to the general obfervation of Dr. G. Fordyce, who fays, that at least, ten fevers take place between eight in the morning and eight in the evening, for one that takes place between eight in the evening and eight in the morning. Whence fo marked and decided a contradiction, in the refults of observations made upon fo fimple a matter, as the time in which fever makes its attack, could happen, we are unable to guefs.

See our laft Number, p. 617.

Dr.

Dr. F. does not pretend to account for this, or any other appearance of fever. It is to be remembered, he fays, that the hiftory of fever is to be given here as it arifes from obfervation, and not from any fuppofition. Dr. R. on the contrary, finds from the theory he had adopted, that the first approach of fever fhould be by night, "Sleep, he fays, induced direct debility, and thereby difpofed the contagion which Bload in the blood, to act with fuch force upon the fyftem as to destroy its equilibrium, and thus to excite fever." But although this dif pofition to theorize may have warped the author's mind to a certain degree; yet the number of cafes that occurred in the fpace of a few weeks, muft, if the fact had been the reverfe of his theory, have overcome that propenfity. We hope older phyficians who lived on the fpot, where this great calamity happened, will favour us with their thoughts on the fubject. At prefent, certainly, the rule laid down by Dr. Fordyce, cannot be confidered as established in all fevers.

The pulfe frequently intermitted, Dr. Rufh informs us, and in fome cafes was reduced in frequency, to 64. 48. 44. and in one patient to 30 ftrokes in a minute. The intermitting pulfe occurred in perfons who were fo flightly affected as to be able to walk about, and continued fome days after their

recovery.

"The flowness of the pulfe, was occafioned by the ftimulus of the contagion, acting upon the arteries with too much force to admit of their being excited into quick and convulfive motions. Milton, he adds, has defcribed a darkness from an excefs of light. In like manner, we obferve in this fall intermitting pulfe, a deficiency of ftrength, from an excess of force applied to it."

The author feeins here to be more obfcure and unintelligible, in his explanation of this phænomenon in fever, than Milton, in the boldeft of his poetical flights.

This low intermitting pulfe, the author calls the undescribable, and fometimes, the fulky pulfe. But enough of this fubject.

"All ages, the author obferves, were attacked by the fever, but perfons between 14 and 40, were most subject to it. Men were more fubjectto it than women. It had been thought that Africans were not liable to it, but they took the difeafe in common with the white people, and many of them died with it. Three butchers only, out of nearly an hundred, who remained in the city, died of the fever. Out of forty fcavengers who were employed in collecting and carrying away the dirt in the streets, one only caught the fever and died. Very few grave diggers, compared with the number who were employed in that bufinefs, were infected. During the whole time the disease pre