1819.] KANT AND COLERIDGE. 51 Wastle and Odoherty offered themselves at the same moment to our notice, and we had some difficulty in deciding to which of the two the first hearing should be given. The age and aristocratical dignity of the Laird, on the one side, was met, on no unequal terms, by the manly beauty and transcendant genius of the Adjutant, on the other. Odoherty, indeed, conceded the pas (when he observed the Laird's anxiety) with his accustomed Cortesia Castillana; but this was only a change of difficulties, for nothing could now prevail on that illustrious Tenant in capite, to accept of the proffered precedence. To put a stop to so much altercation, we were compelled to have recourse once more to our old expedient of skying a copper, the result of which terminated, as usual, in favor of the Standard-bearer. That personage has indeed a wonderful degree of luck in such matters. Never was such an exemplification of the truth of that old text, FORTUNA FAVET FORTIBUS. He made use of the silence with which we now surrounded him, by reading, in his usual fine high Tipperary key, a short continuation of that excellent series of his, the Boxiana.* The face of Kempferhausen, during this sporting article, was most excellent. The practice of pugilism was evidently a mystery which his fine speculative understanding could not penetrate, and though few men have more enthusiasm than our good friend Phillip, he could not go along with the profound disquisition and impassioned feeling of the Adjutant on such a theme. He contented himself, however, with a short quotation out of Emmanuel Kant, who had, it would *The No. read referred to the boxing match between Broughton and Slack, in 1759, which ended in the triumph of the latter; who, after being Champion for ten years, was beaten by a worthy rejoicing in the appellation of Bill Stevens, the Nailor.-M. † Mr. Coleridge has somewhere expressed himself to this effect-That, if Plato were to rise again from the grave and appear in London, any performer of chemical tricks would be looked on as much the greater man; and further, that with respect to any discovery, he would have more credit for it who should make it à posteriori, (accidentally perhaps, or by benefit of a fine apparatus)—than he who should demonstrate its necessity à priori, (i. e. should deduce it from the law which involved it). This remark is well illustrated in the following case: Twentysix years at least before Dr. Herschel discovered the planet which bears his name (otherwise called the planet Uranus, and in England the Georgian planet), it had been predicted-or, to speak more truly, it had been demonstrated-by Kant, that a planet would be found in that region of the heavens (i. e. a planet superior to Saturn). The difference between the discoveries is this: Herschel's was made empirically, or à posteriori, by means of a fine telescope; Kant's scientifically, or à priori, as a deduction from certain laws which he had established in his Celestial System (Himmel's System). We have unfortunately not brought with us to Braemar the volume which contains Kant's Himmel's System; but we will state from memory the course of reasoning which led Kant to this prediction. What is a comet? It is a planet whose orbit is exceedingly eccentric. Are then the planets not eccentric? Yes, but much less How much less? Some in one degree-some in another: their eccentricity varies. cording to what laws; or does it vary according to any law? In general according to this law: the eccentricity has a tendency to increase, as the distance from the sun increases; that is to say, the planets become more eccentric in their orbits, i. e. more cometary-as they approach to that region of the heavens from which the comets descend. Now from this gradual tendency of the planetary motions to become cometary (which tendency, by the way, is itself a necessary consequence from Kant's system, and no accident), Kant suspected, that as nature does not ordinarily proceed per saltum. the system of planets must pass gradatim into the system of comets-and not so abruptly as it would do if Saturn were the last planet. Therefore, said he, at some future period, there will be found at least one planet superior to Saturn--whose orbit will be much more eccentric than that of Saturn, and will thus supply a link to connect the motions of the planets and the comets into a more continuous chain. The comets will perhaps vary as much in eccentricity as the planets, and according to the same law: so that Ac appear, considered pugilism as one of those anomalies in the history of the human mind, inexplicable by the transcendental philosophy, and with hinting, that Randal the Nonpareil could have found no favor in the eyes of the sage of Koningsberg. Odoherty avowed his utter ignorance of all Cant, but was willing to pin his faith on the sleeve of Plato, who, it was well known, was in his day a fighting man of great skill, pluck, and bottom; and who, though desirous of excluding poetry from his republic, recommended an enlightened patronage of pugilism. At the same time, he was very far from thinking, with his quondam friend, Bill Parnell, knight of the shire for Wicklow (whom he now indignantly disowned), that the Irish people, owing to their ignorance of pugilism, "were base, cowardly, and savage."* The man who could utter such a sentiment is unworthy of his pota“His soul,” said the Adjutant, with much animation, “has not the true Irish accent--it wants the brogue of his country. I agree with my friend, Lord Norbury,† in thinking we are a fine people ;' and if I heard Bill Parnell with his own lips say, that it is only backed by a mob of his friends that an Irishman will fight,' I would not tell him, Mr. Editor, to remember the fine lines of my friend, Tom Moore, toes. 6 When Malachi wore the collar of gold, but I would call upon him, in the words of a pardonable parody, to think, How Donelly wore the kerchief of blue, That he won from the Deptford gardener.t the last planet and first comet will stand pretty much in the same relation to each other as any planet to the next superior planet--or as any comet to the next more eccentric comet.This was said in the year 1754 at the latest. With respect to the date of Herschel's discovery, having no Astronomy in our Tent later than that of David Gregory, the Savilian Professor, (Astron. Phys. et Geomet. Elementa: Geneva, 1726.) we cannot assign it precisely; but according to our recollection, it was made in 1781; and certainly not earlier than 1780. Kant then discovered the planet Uranus à priori, (that is, he discovered the necessity of such a planet as a consequence of a law previously detected by his own sagacity at least six-andtwenty years before Herschel made the same discovery à posteriori by-the excellence of his telescope.-N. B. The reader will perhaps object the case of Mercury and of Mars-the first as contradicting the supposed law, the second as imperfectly obeying it (his eccentricity being indeed less than that of the next superior planet, but yet greater than according to his distance from the sun); these exceptions, however, confirm the system of Kant-being explained out of the same law which accounts for the defect in bulk of these two planets. It might have been supposed that Sir Isaac Newton would have been led to the same anticipation as that here ascribed to Kant, by the very terms in which he defines comets, viz. "genus planetarum in orbibus valde eccentricis circa solem revolventibus" (Princip. lib 3. Prop. 41): but he was manifestly led away from any such anticipation by the same reasoning which induced him to conclude that no tenable theory could be devised which should assign a mechanical origin to the heavenly system. Kant has framed such a theory, which we shall lay before our readers in a month or two.-C. N. * Maurice and Berghetta, or the Priest of Rahery; a tale Parnell.-M. ] London, 1819, [Written by ↑ The Earl of Norbury, commonly called the The Hanging Judge, who jested with criminals, on whom he was pronouncing sentence of death. He was Chief Justice of the Common Pleas in Ireland, from 1800 to 1827, and died in 1831.-In "Sheil's Sketches of the Irish Bar" his career, character, and appearance are very fully described.-M. * An allusion to the great fight between Sir Dan and Oliver.-C. N. [Daniel Donelly, an 1819.] THE SHILELAH! 53 "What, sir! would any Irishman who ever sung 'the sprig of shilelah and shamrock so green,' accuse his countrymen of cowardice? Let me not be misunderstood. I conceive that a duet in a ring at Moulsy-Hurst is pleasanter music than a general chorus at Donnybrook fair. But that is a cultivated, a scientific taste; and let no man rashly assert, that the genius and intellect, and moral worth of a people, may not exhibit themselves as strikingly in the shilelah as in the fist, in a GENERAL ROW, as in a LIMITED SET-TO. Is it the part of a coward, Mr. Editor, for one of the Tipperary lads to step forward and ask the Kerry lads, who will snaze? and if Roderic Milesius M'Gillicuddy replies, 'I am the boy to snaze in your face,' is my cousin a coward because the Tipperary shilelahs come twinkling about his nob as thick as grass? By the staff of St. Patrick, a coward has no business there at all; and what though Mr. M'Gillicuddy be backed by a mob of friends, as the county says, has not O'Donnahue his friends too? and where then is the cowardice of knocking down every Pat you can lay your twig upon, till you yourself go the way of all flesh? and if 'twenty men should basely fall upon one,' why, to be sure, their turn will come next, and all odds will be even. At the close of the day, when the pot-house is full, "No, Mr. Editor, never may Morgan Odoherty live to see that day when the shilelah shall no longer flourish and be flourished in the Green Isle." Here Mr. Tims softly interposed, and after complimenting the Standard-bearer on that liberal philosophy, which discerns and knows how to appreciate the genius of a people in their pastimes, without any invidious preference of one or another, volunteered (if agreeable to the Editor and the Contributors) a song, entitled, "Ye Pugilists of England," which he understood was written Irishman, who beat Oliver, an English pugilist, in a prize fight, returned to Ireland, declaring that the Prince Regent had knighted him for his prowess, opened a public house in Dublin, was one of his own most bibacious customers, and died soon after this from inflammation, caused by drink.-M.] *This is a sweet pastoral image, which we ourselves once heard employed by a very delicatelooking and modest young woman, in a cottage near Limerick, when speaking of the cudgels of an affray. A broken head, is in Ireland, always spoken of in terms of endearment, and much of the same tender feeling is naturally transferred to the shilelah that inflicted it. "God bless your honor," said the same gentle creature to us, while casting a look of affectionate admiration on our walking-stick (at that time we had no rheumatism). you would give a swate blow with it." It is in such expressions that we may trace the genius of a people, and they should serve to moderate that indignation with which moralists are wont to speak of the "brutality" of Irish quarrels. In the account of the battle between Randal, and Martin the baker, we observed with pleasure, an imitation of this Hibernian amenity. After stating that Randal finished the fight by a knock-down facer, the historian (probably our good friend Mr. Eagan), very prettily remarked, "Randal is like a bird on the boughs of a tree." A fine sylvan image-C. N. Pearce Eagan, at this period, editor of the sporting paper called Bell's Life in London, and author of several works on pugilism and its history.-M. either by Mr. Gregson, Mr. Egan, or Mr. Thomas Campbell. This handsome offer was received with thunders of applause, and nothing could be grander than the trio. We remarked, that during the ode there was not an unclenched fist in the whole Tent. YE PUGILISTS OF ENGLAND. As Sung by Messrs. Price, Tims, and Woods (Son of the Fighting Waterman), on the 4th of September 1819, near the Linn of Dee. 1. YE Pugilists of England,* Who guard your native sod, Whose pluck has braved a thousand years, Your corky canvas sport again, To mill another foe, As you spring, round the ring, While the betters noisy grow; While the banging rages loud and long, 2. A Briton needs no poniards No bravos 'long his street- With one-twos from his horny fists, He floors the coves below, As they crash, on the grass, When the betters noisy grow; When the banging rages loud and long, 3. The spirits of prime pugilists For the ring it was their field of fame, Where Slack and mighty Belcher fell, Your manly hearts shall glow, As you peel, true as steel, While the betters noisy grow; While the banging rages loud and long, 4. The Randal-rag of England Must yet terrific burn, Till Ireland's troublesome knight be beat, * Vide Campbell's "Ye Gentlemen of England.”—M. 1819.1 CARMEN DIABOLICUM. Then, then, ye glutton-pugilists, To the fame, of your name, When the noise of betts is low; When Sir Dan lies levelled loud and long, 55 Mr. Price, whose voice reminded us of Incledon in his best days, took the tenor; Mr. Tims' sweet and shrill pipe was a most exquisite counter-tenor; and, with the sole exception of Bartleman, we never heard any thing at all comparable to the bass of young Woods.* The accompaniment, too, was exceedingly fine. Wastle blew his bugle affletuoso; Tickler, who fingers with any man in England, though we confess that his bow-hand is not so free, flowing, and unfettered, as that of Yaniewicz, was powerful on his fiddle; and John of Sky, on the bagpipe, at one moment, roused the soul to all the triumph of victory, and at another sunk it into the despondency of defeat. At that line, in particular, which the three voices dwelt upon with mournful emphasis,—— * When Sir Dan lies levelled loud and long," we observed the tear start into Odoherty's eyes, and he veiled them with his foraging-cap, as if wishing to seal his sight from the vision of the conquest of Crib and the downfall of Donelly. We were apprehensive at one time, that the Standard-bearer and Mr. Tims would have quarrelled; but on the latter assuring Odoherty that he yielded to no man in his admiration of the pluck and prowess of Sir Daniel Donelly, and that he could not be supposed answerable for the prophetic intimations of the poet, the Adjutant extended his hand towards him with his accustomed suavity, and by that pacific overture quieted the incipient alarm of the Cockney. He at the same time offered to back Sir Dan against all Britain, Crib not excepted, for a cool hundred-and against Jack Carter, £100 to £80. The best Irish pugilists, continued the Adjutant, "have been Corcoran, Ryan, Odonnel, Doherty, (filius carnalis, we believe, of Morgan's half-uncle, Father Doherty, an Irish priest, who dropt the O for reasons best known to himself,) and Donelly"-but here we felt it absolutely necessary to interfere, and to request Mr. Wastle to read his article, by way of diverting our thoughts into a different channel. The Laird observed, that he did not feel as if his "Essay on the Study of Physical Science" would sound well after the Boxiana, and therefore would, for the present, content himself with reading a very short paper, on the Scottish Proverbs of Allan Ramsay. * This entertaining and accomplished young fellow is Mr. Tims' body servant. He is a natural son of the brave Woods, who fought Richmond, the Black, but he is a far better man than his father; and though he has, we believe, never exhibited publicly in the ring, his private turn-ups have been numerous, and he has still been the winner, without a scratch. He is the only man in England a match for Randal. Will the sporting Colonel back the Nonpareil for £200?-C. N. |