menitus, the king, prisoner; and, for trying his constancy, ordered his daughter to be dressed in the habit of a slave, and to be employed in bringing water from the river; his son was also led to execution with a halter about his neck. The Egyptians vented their sorrows in tears and lamentations. Psammenitus only, with a downcast eye, remained silent. Afterwards meeting with one of his companions, a man advanced in years, who, being plundered of all, was begging alms, he wept bitterly, calling him by his name.Cambyses, struck with wonder, demanded an answer to the following question: "Psammenitus, thy master, Cambyses, is desirous to know why, after thou hadst seen thy daughter so ignominiously treated, and thy son led to execution, without exclaiming or weeping, thou shouldst be so highly concerned for a poor man, no way related to thee?" Psammenitus returned the following answer: "Son of Cyrus, the calamities of my family are too great to leave me the power of weeping: but the misfortunes of a companion, reduced in his old age to want of bread, is a fit subject for lamentation." LE COEUR HUMAIN. At the WHAT the Mareschal Saxe terms le cœur humain, is no other than fear occasioned by surprise. It is owing to that cause, that an ambush is generally so destructive intelligence of it beforehand renders it harmless. The Mareschal gives, from Cæsar's Commentaries, two examples of what he calls le cœur humain. siege of Amiens, by the Gauls, Cæsar came up with his army, which did not exceed seven thousand men, and began to entrench himself in such hurry, that the barbarians, judging him to be afraid, attacked his entrenchments with great spirit. During the time they were filling up the ditch, he issued out with his cohorts; and, by attacking them unexpectedly, struck a panic that made them fly with precipitation, not a single man offering to make a stand. At the siege of Alesia, the Gauls, infinitely superior in number, attacked the Roman lines of circumvallation, in order to raise the siege. Cæsar ordered a body of his men to march out silently, and to attack them on the one flank, while he, with another body, did the same on the other flank. The surprise of being attacked, when they expected a defence only, put the Gauls into disorder, and gave an easy victory to Cæsar. A third may be added, no less memorable. In the year 846, an obstinate battle was fought, between Xamire, King of Leon, and Abdoulrahman, the Moorish King of Spain. After a very long conflict, the night only prevented the Arabians from obtaining a complete victory. The King of Leon, taking advantage of the darkness, retreated to a neighbouring hill, leaving the Arabians masters of the field of battle. Next morning, perceiving that he could not maintain his place for want of provisions, nor be able to draw off his men in the face of a victorious army, he ranged his men in order of battle, and, without losing a moment, marched to attack the enemy, resolved to conquer or die. The Arabians, astonished to be attacked by those who were conquered the night before, lost all heart: fear succeeded to astonishment, the panic was universal, and they all turned their backs without almost drawing a sword. THE LONGEVITY OF MUSICIANS. IN consequence of a wish expressed by Mr. Lofft, in a letter which appeared in the Mirror for August, I have taken some pains to add to the catalogue of English musicians, who have attained to any considerable degree of longevity. The list is still very far from complete, as there remains a large number, the date of whose birth I have been unable to ascertain. Tallis, the father of English musicians, is among this number. He died in 1585, and, by the epitaph on his monument, we may suppose that he lived to an advanced age. The following verse is taken from it. "He serv❜d long time in Chappel* with grete prayse, Bird, the scholar of Tallis, died at the age of 80. Dr. Child, after having been organist of Windsor chapel 60 years, died at the age of 90. Dr. Wilson, author of the elegant and yet popular glee of lived to 79. "From the fair Lavinian shore-" Dr. Turner died at 88. Dr. Holder at 82. Dr. Creyghton, author of two excellent services, and several anthems, died in 1736, aged 97. The chapel royal, where almost all our best church composers we re educated. Dr. Aldrich, the learned and excellent Dean of Christ Church, died at the age of 63. Leveridge, for whom Purcell wrote the song of "You twice ten hundred deities," died in 1769, aged 90. Dr. Pepusch, who though not born in England, may be reckoned among the number of English composers, died in 1752, aged 85. Mr. Boyce, in February 1779, aged 69. It is certainly remarkable that so many of our best composers should have attained to such advanced ages, and it is also worthy of notice, that three, who are at least equal to any of those abovementioned, died very young. Orlando Gibbons, of whom Dr. Tudway said, that "his anthems were the most perfect pieces of church music that had appeared since the time of Tallis and Bird," died in 1625, at the age of 44. Henry Purcell, whose sublime and elegant compositions for the church and the theatre, indisputably claim for him the title of the first of English composers, died in 1695, at the age of 37, Pelham Humphreys, whose compositions, for the church, display marks of the sublimest genius, died in 1674, at the age of 27. On the early death of these three composers, Dr. Burney thus remarks: "It has been extremely unfortunate for our national taste and our national honour, that Gibbons, Purcell, and Humphreys, our three best composers during the last century, were not blest with sufficient longevity for their genius to expand in all its branches, or to form a school, which would have enabled us to proceed in the establishment of music without foreign assistance." It is, perhaps, worthy of notice, that within the space of one hundred years, four musicians, of considerable celebrity, should have died violent deaths. William Lawes, who, in the reign of Charles I. took up arms against the parliament, and was shot at the siege of Chester, in 1645. Michael Wise, organist of Salisbury, and author of the popular duett of "Old Chiron," was killed in an affray at Salisbury, in 1687. Jeremiah Clarke, author of several beautiful anthems, shot himself, in 1707; and Harry Carey, also put an end to his life, in 1744. If you think the above statement worthy insertion in the Mirror, it is very much at your service. Norwich, January 9th, 1805. E. D. METHODS THAT NATURE HATH AFFORDED FOR COMPUTING TIME AND SPACE. Turs subject is introduced, because it affords several curious examples of the influence of passion to bias the mind in its conceptions and opinions; a lesson that cannot be too frequently inculcated, as there is not, perhaps, another bias in human nature that hath an influence so universal to make us wander from truth as well as from justice. I begin with time, and the question is, what was the measure of time before artificial measures were invented; and what is the measure at present, when these are not at hand? I speak not of months and days, which are computed by the moon and sun; but of hours, or in general of the time that passes between any two occurrences, when there is not access to the sun. The only natural measure is the succession of our thoughts, for we always judge the time to be long or short, in proportion to the number of perceptions and ideas that have passed during that interval. This measure is, indeed, far from being accurate; because, in a quick and in a slow succession, it must evidently produce different computations of the same time; but, however inaccurate, it is the only measure by which we naturally calculate time; and that measure is applied on all occasions, without regard to any casual variation in the rate of sucċession. That measure, would, however, be tolerable, did it labour under no other imperfection besides that mentioned, but in many instances it is much more fallacious; in order to explain which distinctly, an analysis will be necessary. Time is computed at two different periods; one, while it is passing; another, after it is past: these computations shall be considered separately, with the errors to which each of them is liable. Beginning with computation of time while it is passing, it is a common and trite observation, that to lovers absence appears immeasurably long, every minute an hour, and every day a year; the same computation is made in every case where we long for a distant event, as where one is in expectation of good news, or where a profligate heir watches for the death of an old rich miser. Opposite to these are instances not fewer in number: to a criminal the interval between sentence and execution appears. woefully short; and the same holds in every case where one dreads an approaching event, of which even a school-boy can bear witness; the hour allowed him for play, moves, in his apprehension, with a very swift pace; before he is thoroughly engaged, the hour is gone. A computation founded on the number of ideas, will never produce estimates so regularly opposite to each other; for our wishes do not produce a slow succession of ideas, nor our fears a quick succession. What then moves nature, in the cases mentioned, to desert her or dinary measure for one very different? I know not that this question ever has been resolved, the false estimates I have suggested being so common and familiar, that no writer has thought of their cause. And, indeed, to enter upon this matter without preparation, might occasion some difficulty, to encounter which, we luckily are prepared, by what is said upon the power or passion to bias the mind in its perceptions and opinions. Among the circumstances that terrify a condemned criminal, the short time he has to live is one; which time, by the influence of terror, is made to appear still shorter than it is in reality. In the same manner, among the distresses of an absent lover, the time of separation is a capital circumstance, which, for that reason, is greatly magnified by his anxiety and impatience: he imagines that the time of meeting comes on very slow, or rather that it will never come: every minute is. thought of an intolerable length. Here is a fair, and I hope satisfactory reason, why time is thought to be tedious, when we long for a future event, and not less ficet when we dread the event. The reason is confirmed by other instances. Bodily pain, fixed to one part, produces a slow strain of perceptions, which, according to the common measure of time, ought to make it appear short; yet we know that, in such a state, time has the opposite appearance; and the reason is, that bodily pain is always attended with a degree of impatience, which makes us think every minute to be an hour. The same holds, where the pain shifts from place to place, but not so remarkably, because such a pain is not attended with the same degree of impatience. The impatience a man hath in travelling through a barren country, or in a bad road, makes him think, during the journey, that time goes on with a very slow pace. We shall see, afterward, that a very different computation is made when the journey is over. 1 How ought it to stand with a person who apprehends bad news? It will probably be thought that the case of this person resembles that of a criminal, who, terrified at his approaching execution, believes every hour to be but a minute; yet the computation is directly opposite. Reflecting upon the difficulty, there appears one capital distinguishing circumstance: the fate of the criminal is |