(_FROM THE LATIN OF VINCENT BOURNE_.)
Newton, the light of each succeeding age,
First learned his letters from a female sage.
But thus far taught--the alphabet once learn'd--
To loftier use those elements he turn'd.
Forced th' unconscious signs, by process rare,
Known quantities with unknown to compare;
And, by their aid, profound deductions drew
From depths of truth his teacher never knew.
Yet the true authoress of all was she!--
Newton's Principia were his _a_, _b_, _c_.
Rufus.
* * * * *
_Prince Madoc_ (No. 4. p. 56.; No. 18. p. 282.).--In the darkness
superinduced by the absence of historical evidence on the Welsh
settlement in America, I beg leave to offer a few remarks on some
ethnological subjects involved in this question.
In reference to the specimen of a Welsh-Indian Vocabulary in Catlin's
_N.A. Indians_, which "Gomer" opposes to Prof. Elton's proposition
on this subject (No. 15. p. 236.), were the instances of similarity
to exhibit the influence of opinion, of government, or of commerce,
on the language of the tribe, the origin of such words would be as
indisputable as that of those introduced by the English into the
various countries of the East where they have factories; e.g.
governor, council, company. But these and numerous other traces of the
Celtic language which have been found in Florida and Darien are not
indicative of such impressions; most of them, from their universality,
bespeak themselves to be primitive; and who can assure us that some
may not have reached them before the twelfth century, through "Walsh
or strangers," "a race mightier than they and wiser," by whom they
may have been instructed in the arts which have excited so much
astonishment?
The glass beads, erroneously called Druid's beads, furnish Catlin
with another proof of affiliation, which, however, is invalidated by
the well-ascertained facts of glass-manufactories having, in remotest
antiquity, existed in Egypt, and of glass beads having been dispersed
by the Phoenicians among the nations which they visited. (See Tassie's
_Gems_, introd.--Here, by the by, are mentioned celebrated emeralds,
which have turned out to be only lumps of green glass!)
Lhuyd relates that the cross was honoured in N. America before the
arrival of the Spaniards, and Sir R. Manley (_Turk. Spy_, vol.
viii.) states that they found crucifixes also. Unfortunately for this
hypothesis, it has been shown, by G. Becanus (_Hierogl._, see Index),
Olaus Wormius (_De Danicis Monumentis_, see Index), M. Ficinus (_De
Vita coelitus Propaganda_, l. iii. c. 18.), and Kircherus (_Prodromus
Coptus_, p. 163.), that in various countries the cross was, before
the Christian era, an object of veneration, and symbolled the genius
of their religion. In the event of crucifixes having been found (for
which, however, Sir R. Manley supplies no authority) we need not be
surprised that the Christian topography was so far extended, since
the Christianity of China, between the seventh and the thirteenth
century, has been invincibly proved; and simultaneously, perhaps,
the aborigines of America received the symbol, [Greek: Eros mou
hestaurotai], which is peculiar to the Christian religion.
In conclusion, permit me to cite Southey _versus_ Catlin:--"That
country," says the author of _Madoc_ "has now been fully explored;
and wherever Madoc may have settled, it is now certain that no Welsh
Indians are to be found upon any branches of the Missouri" (Preface,
note written in 1815).
Since I wrote the above, I have met with a work, by Mr. George
Jones, entitled _The History of Ancient America anterior to the Time
of Columbus_, vol. i.: "The Tyrian Æra." In the second, not yet
published, he promises to give "The Introduction of Christianity into
the Western Hemisphere by the Apostle St. Thomas."