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ART. V. An Introduction to Aftronomy. In a Series of Letters from a Preceptor to his Pupil: In which the most useful and interesting Parts of the Science are clearly and familiarly explained. Illuf trated with Copper-plates. By John Bonnycaftle, of the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich. 8vo. 7s. Boards. Johnson. 1786. HIS Author obferves, that many who are not fufficiently ac quainted with the mathematics, to read, with fatisfaction to themselves, the works of Newton, and other eminent writers on the fubject of aftronomy, are yet very defirous of obtaining fuch an idea of it as will enable them to comprehend the leading principles upon which it is founded, and to partake of thofe pleafures, which enquiries into nature, and the inveftigation of fome of her grandeft operations, must neceffarily afford to every ingenious and inquifitive

· mind.'

To this clafs of readers Mr. Bonnycaftle addreffes his book, which was firft intended for the private ufe of an individual, without any immediate view to publication; but finding nothing in our language fufficiently clear and explicit, in his opi nion, to answer the purpose of general information, he was induced to make these letters public, in hopes that they might afford affiftance to fuch perfons as had been prevented from applying themselves to the ftudy of aftronomy, from a notion of its being of too abftrufe and difficult nature to be attained without a previous knowledge of many other branches of fcience.

Such being the plan, Mr. B. informs us, that his principal aim, throughout the whole performance, was to avoid, as much as poffible, all complicated mathematical principles and calculations, and to elucidate the moft ftriking particulars in as popular and easy a manner as the nature of the fubject would admit. For the fame reafon he made choice of such parts only of the science as seemed moft likely to excite the cufiofity and attention of the uninformed reader, and give him a tafte for these ftudies and pursuits.

A performance of this kind, he adds, muft, from the very nature of it, be unavoidably deficient in many particulars: it muft not be expected that a fcrupulous exactnefs has been always obferved, or that every illuftration of a fubject is strictly fcientific. Such minute attention was incompatible with the defign, and therefore extremely difficult, if not abfolutely impoflible to be obferved in the execution. The great object in view was to unite truth with perfpicuity, and to give a general idea of the operations and phenomena of nature, independent of abftrufe reafoning or laborious calculations and though, by this means, the knowledge obtained by the reader muft, neceffarily, in many inftances, be fuperficial, yet it may ferve to give juft ideas of the fubject, and correct thofe notions which REV. Nov. 1786.

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the prejudices of education, or the apparent view of things, might fuggeft. The Author acknowledges that he has not fcrupled to make a free ufe of the labours of preceding writers, whenever he found any particular fubject illuftrated in a manner fuitable to his defign: and if he has not always acknowledged his obligations, it is because fuch alterations were commonly made as rendered it impoffible to do fo without affecting a fhow of exactnefs which would have appeared pedantic; and fuch pains have been taken to arrange and methodize the whole, as will, he hopes, be fufficient to obviate every objection which can be made on this account, and render all further apologies unneceffary,

To the above abftract of the Author's preface, we shall add his table of contents, which is as follows:

Of the use and advantage of aftronomical learning. Of the figure and motion of the earth. Of the folar fyftem, and the firmament of the fixed ftars. Of the fyftems of Ptolemy, Tycho Brahe, and Copernicus. Of the fyftem of Des Cartes. Of the Newtonian fyftem and discoveries. Of the caufe and nature of the tides. Of the latitude and longitude, and the methods of difcovering them. Of the different lengths of days and nights, and the viciffitudes of the seasons. Of the natural and artificial divifions of time. Of the equation of time. Of the reformation of the calendar. Of the menfuration of the earth. Of the distances and magnitudes of the fun, moon, and planets. Of the motion, refraction, and aberration of light. Of the conftellations, and the phenomena of the fixed stars. Of the phenomena and affections of the fun, moon, and planets. Of eclipfes. Of the new planet, and other difcoveries. An explanation of the principal terms made ufe of in aftronomy.'

Before we venture to deliver our opinion of the work before us, we muft obferve, that it does not appear to us to be fair to cenfure a writer for what he does not attempt; and we have been more particular in explaining what is, and what is not attempted in this performance, than we were in mentioning the former productions of this Author, because we do not forget how feverely we were reprehended for fpeaking favourably of them. But notwithstanding this, and notwithstanding alfo the express declaration of an old and much valued acquaintance, that "No man can get credit by making a horn-book for the babes in mathematics," we fhall perfift in an opinion, which we have more than once maintained, that the man who clears away the rubbish and brambles, and makes the entrance into the path ways to fcience plain and confpicuous, merits great commendation, though he may not claim one of the highest niches in the temple of fame: for a learner is greatly encouraged to proceed in his ftudies when he finds them lefs difficult than he had been led to expect, and that he has been able to make more progrefs in them than ever his hopes flattered him with and it

is at the first entrance on the study of any science that a learner is moft easily discouraged from pursuing it; because, after he has made fome advances in it, he begins to be taken notice of by men who are more eminent than himself, and the importance which he feels on that account is a fufficient ftimulus to him to perfevere.

However trifling a bufinefs it may be thought, we affirm that very few of those who profefs the art of teaching have the art of inftructing, and rendering difficult things eafy to be understood; and therefore it is that we wish to countenance those who are poffeffed of fuch abilities.

The Author of the work under confideration appears to us to poffefs the art of explaining the fubjects he treats in a more plain and familiar manner than we have met with before; and of dreffing them up in a language neat, clear, and comprehenfive; for which reafon we recommend him to those who wish to know the firft principles of aftronomy, without enquiring how far he conducts them in it, or where he picks up the materials on which he works.

At the fame time that we do juftice to the merits of his book we shall take the liberty of hinting to him that he has flipped into fome confiderable miftakes in it; particularly in his 8th, 9th, and 22d letters, which he will readily difcover without our being more particular refpecting them. Perhaps, alfo, his book would not be worse thought of a few years hence if he had taken lefs notice of fome fanciful hypothefes of a popular aftronomer, as they are not only improbable in themselves, but are, in fome inftances, flatly contradicted by ftrict mathematical reafoning. Let us add that we read his 13th letter, on the reformation of the calendar, with pleasure and profit. Wa:

ART. VI. Letters and Poems, by the late Mr. John Henderson; with Anecdotes of his Life. By John Ireland. 8vo. 4s. fewed. Jahnfon. 1786.

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HE poet, the moralift, and indeed the literary character in general, can afford but flender materials for the biographer. The uniform tenor of their lives leaves him little on which to expatiate, or by which he can difplay the elegance and power of his pen. To tell of any one that he was born, that he wrote verfes, and that he died, is no very pleafing task. Something, however, is ufually promifed by an editor, and fomething muft be done yet not unfrequently where we expected to find a particular account of the author, we meet with only a critique on his works.

But if the life of the man of letters is thus unvaried and bar ren of incident, that of the poor player, who

Frets and ftruts his hour upon the ftage,'

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is, if poffible, ftill lefs fubject to change. His firft appearance on the theatre, indeed, is an awful and an interesting moment to him it even fwells him into fomething like importance. But his debut once made, he prefently dwindles into infignificance; and after having for a little time, perhaps, out-Heroded Herod,' he-dies, and is thought of no more.

It must be acknowledged, however, that the Comedian, who is the fubject of the prefent article, was an exception to our remark. He formed himself on the model of Garrick; and to follow Garrick was to follow nature- Nature to advantage dreft.' Henderson was fully fenfible of this: he copied the English Rofcius clofely, and attained to excellence in his profeffion.

Mr. Ireland, the relater of the anecdotes now before us, does juftice to the memory of his friend. The principal features in his character are faithfully and accurately delineated. We knew Mr. Henderson well, and can therefore fpeak with certainty to the truth of the portrait-There is little of flattery in the piece.

With respect to the verfes which make a part of the prefent volume, Mr. Ireland obferves, The poems which are fubjoined, confidered as hafty effufions rather than finished compofitions, as the productions of a man who had received few aids from education, and whofe only guides were a claffical tafte, formed by having read, with a power of difcrimination, fome of the beft English writers, prove that he poffeffed imagination and aptitude of poetical expreffion, which might, had he made poefy the object of his pursuit, have been cultivated into excellence. This is in a great degree true: the pieces are not devoid of merit. It is not as a writer, however, but as an actor, that Mr. H. fhould be confidered and praised.

From Mr. Henderfon's letters (fays his biographer) I have endeavoured to felect fuch as, from their naïveté, pleafantry, and good fenfe, place his powers in a light which I think gives them a diftinguished rank in that clafs of writing.' We discover little of the naïveté and pleafantry here fpoken of. It is not a little laughable, indeed, to find Mr. Henderson the Comedian playing the critic, with a very folemn air, on the writings and abilities of Mr. Pope. Seriously fpeaking, the letters in queftion ought never to have seen the light-but we fuppofe it was deemed expedient to make a book.

The anecdotes, though not very numerous, are related in a pleafing and agreeable manner; we shall select a paffage or two from the life of Mr. Henderfon, which will, we think, prove entertaining to our readers, and ferve as a fpecimen of the work.

• Mr. Henderson had no claim to hereditary honours, nor title to any paternal inheritance. He was the builder of his own fame, and

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the founder of his own fortune, for had not his talents brought him into celebrity, and given him the power of acquiring independence, it is not probable that any one would have enquired who was his grandfather. Of his grandfather, however, thofe who wish it, may read in the Memoirs of an unfortunate young Nobleman, by which memoirs, and fome collateral evidence, it appears that he was a Quaker, and a warm adherent to the cdufe of Mr. Annesley; that in conjunction with feveral others, he adventured a confiderable fum in fupport of the Anglefey law-fuit, which being loft, the money advanced was never recovered by himself or Henderfon's father, who was an Irish factor in Goldsmith-ftreet, Cheapfide, where Mr. John Henderson was born in February 1746-7.

By his father's death in 1748, his mother was left with a very flender pittance, and two fons totally dependent upon her. She retired to Newport Pagnell, where a close attention to economy enabled her to fupport herself and family upon the intereft of less than a thousand pounds.

In this place, with no other tutor than his mother, Henderson paffed the early part of his life. She taught him to read, pointed out the proper authors, and induced him to imprint upon his memory, and recite, felect paffages from Shakespeare, Pope, Addifon, or any other English claffic in her poffeffion.

The wonder-working magic of the old bard inchanted his imagination, opened a new creation to his fancy, and prompted him to enquire how thofe characters were reprefented which afforded him fo much delight in the perufal. The description promoted a most eager wish to fee a play, a wish which could not then be gratified, for in Newport-Pagnell there were no players.

Learning and reciting the fpeeches improved a memory naturally tenacious, and gave him an early relish for polite literature. By this was his tafte formed, and as the writer of thefe anecdotes has frequently heard him declare, by this he acquired what knowledge he had of the English language; for of the rules of grammar he was totally ignorant.

It would be defrauding his memory of a debt due from juftice, fhould I omit to remark that he not only always fpoke of his mother's attentions with filial gratitude, but when his fituation enabled him to follow the impulfe of his mind, made her happiness his first care. She lived to fee her inftructions matured by time, and the Public diftinguish and protect what he had planted and fostered.

At about eleven years of age he went to a school at Hemel-Hemftead, taught by the late Dr. Stirling, where he did not remain above twelve months; but, fhort as the period was, contrived to enlarge his acquaintance with the English claffics, to acquire fome knowledge of French, and learn the common rules of arithmetic.

From this place he returned to London, and having fhewn an early propensity to drawing, was placed as a kind of houfe pupil to the late Mr. Fournier, who was then a drawing-master, a man poffeffed of great verfatility of talent, but deftitute of that prudence which might have rendered his abilities ufeful to himfelf or family.

From a perfon of this defcription it is not to be fuppofed young Henderfon could obtain many advantages. He was indeed very ill

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