INSECTS, perhaps, compose the most ramified and complicate branch of Natural History; yet are they very far from being one of the least delightful and instructive. Their strange transformations, economical habits, glittering and glossy beauties, together with the extreme perfection of all their members and organs, even almost to an infinitude of minuteness, ing marks of each animal, &c. with the greatest judgment; and, what no man else probably could have done, he has made the German - Latin of Linnæus purely classical." der the dust of the British Museum? Now, Sir, who, with anything of a soul, has ever glanced his eye, though never so transitorily, over the lucid pages of Linnæus without rapture? tryman has added to the lustre of his Yet if our gifted and learned Counlanguage and his light, why should sparks so bright and warm lie hid unfor there, I understand, these MSS. letter is to rouse some spirited perare deposited. The purport of this son, whose eye, amid the million that undertake the pleasing and profitable. meet your pages, may observe it, to task of bringing out either the whole. of these valuable Notes, or solely that est desiderata of Natural History. on English Insects-one of the greatPlaced at the distance I am from the MSS. and press, locality prohibits it or, with clearly assert their equality of claim with every other part of this wonderful frame, this "fair variety of things," in hourly holding forth the wisdom, power, and benevolence, of its Great Author. Most of the works I have met with on this branch of this most fascinating subject, are either too meagre, or too diffuse, for general consultation or amusement. That of the matchless Linnæus, though excellent in its kind, is, from a view to brevity, so scant in discrimination and description as to be little more than a catalogue of names; and the excellent and elegant plates of Donovan are of necessity so expensive, that they can reach few but the rich, who are generally too great to look at an insect, to increase their knowledge by a comparison of the reality with the rich semblance their wealth has purchased. Now, Sir, I find in á note on Mason's Life of Gray (vol. II. p. 321. 8vo.) a short account of the April 8. Mss. on Natural History of that spi-timed to propose a new work of T may perhaps appear a little ill rited Poet, which I shall here transcribe, being the purport of this letter. (He is speaking of Gray's interleaved copy of Linnæus.) "In the class of animals (Mammalia) he has concentrated what the old writers and the diffuse Buffon have said on the subject; he has universally adapted the concise language of Linnæus, and has given it an elegance which the Swede had no idea of. In the birds and fishes he has most accurately described all that he had an opportunity of examining. But the volume of insects is the most perfect. On the English Insects there is certainly nothing so perfect. I suppose no man was so completely master of his system; he has selected the distinguish fications, I would most cordially unproper permission and quali dertake the delightful task. I trust the only reason for its not having been earlier done, is that such persons as are likely to perform it are ignorant of the existence of such Manusuch, with the ardent hope of exciting scripts: this is written to apprize the desired sparks. Let our admired Gray appear in other of his many is of all persons the most proper før a acquisitions, and prove that a POET NATURALIST. Yours, &c. JOHN F. M.DOVASTON. Mr. URBAN, it is already charged with are so expence to the publick, when those heavy; and still more so, if the work than of utility. But in the metropo proposed is one, more of ornament lis of a Country like ours, ornament may surely be considered as no im proper nor unreasonable accessory to the prosperity and credit it enjoys: and if that object may be attained by the employment of a number of ne cessitous and industrious hands, it is an additional argument in favour of the pursuit of it. For these reasons, I venture to propose the improve ment of that fine piece of water, the Serpentine River in Hyde-park, by uniting uniting with it the piece that is within Kensington Gardens, now divided from it by a head, over which the walk round the Gardens is carried. The practicability of this work I think I have made myself pretty sure of, by ocular observation, and some little measurement (but without taking any regular level), from which I am persuaded, that the difference of level between the two pieces is not above three feet, or, at most, four; but I rather believe the former. This, conjecturing the upper piece of water to be an area of about 17 acres (which I believe, from having paced it round, to be its full extent), will give between 80 and 90,000 cubic yards to be excavated, to bring it to a level with the lower piece: and to add that variety and beauty to the banks on each side that they admit of, we may, suppose the whole quantity to be excavated at 100,000 solid (cubic) yards. The expence of this might easily be calculated, and, I should suppose, would not exceed 6000. Of this sum no inconsiderable return would be made, in the manure that would be The increase of rational enjoyment which this improvement would give to so many of the inhabitants or visitors of the Metropolis, and consequently the moral good effects that might, in some degree, be expected from it; the admiration it would excite in foreigners; the 'credit which our Country would gain by it, already so due to the correctness of its taste for natural scenery, &c.; could not, I think, well fail of giving popularity to this work. The only two objections that I can foresee to it; i. e. that of interrupting the walk round the Gardens, and of injuring the preserve of fish in the higher piece of water; would, I think, be fully obviated; the first, by the increase of beauty that the walk would gain by being carried round the sides of it; the second, by the separation that would still be made between the two parts of the water, by the sunk fence being carried (as it of course would be) close to its sides. RURICOLA IN got by cleaning and deepening the G. H.W. Cassan, How the Rev. bottom of the water, of which I am. able to form some little estimate, from a similar work of my own (but far inferior in magnitude), which I directed the performance of in the Autumn of last year, and which, by the cleaning of the bottom of a small piece of water in the form of a Canal, not above an acre in extent, gave me near 800 two-horse cart-loads of excellent manure. The proportionate quantity to be expected from the work proposed, might, considering the mode in which the expence would be defrayed, be looked upon as so much clear gain to the publick. The additional beauty that would be given to the water by the enlargement of it, varying the form of its banks, making headlands, bays, &c. I think is evident, and indeed, if properly executed, might be greater than can well be imagined. This would be done chiefly with the stuff to be excavated (a great deal of which would probably be barrow-work), and the space and form of the ground between the water and the wood on its sides (in the Gardens) is such as would easily admit of it*, Fungor vice cotis. Mr. URBAN, Abbotts Roding, Apr.8. N auswer to the question proposed by Mr. Rolfe can be the Nephew of Lord Nelson, let me frankly and candidly acknowledge that it was an error into which I involuntarily fell, when I so described him in my letter of fast October's date. The consanguinity. subsisting between Lord Nelson and Mr. Rolfe is of an inferior degree. Lord Nelson was the nephew of Mr. Rolfe's mother; the father of the one, and the mother of the other, being brother and sister. I ought, therefore, to have placed him in no nearer degree of consanguinity than that of having been bis first cousin. In justice to my most excellent and valuable friend, I must say, that he not only very early convinced me of my mistake, but expected to have seen the subject placed in its true and proper light in the Magazine of the subsequent month. Such would have been the case, had I not thought it to have been a trivial matter, of little or of no consequence whatsoever ; particularly as it had no respect to a table of genealogy, where accuracy and precision are indispensably requi * For a farther conception of what propose, I need only refer to the Maps of London and its Environs, particularly Messrs. Laurie and Whittle's Map of London, which comprehends Hyde Park, and good part of Kensington Gardens. site. Allow me likewise to observe, that as I am always desirous of seeing your pages filled with subjects of importance to real and useful knowledge, I was unwilling to request a column, or even any part of a column, to correct a mis-nomer. The sole and principal object which I had originally in view, was to bring forward to public notice a relation of Lord Nelson, whose personal merit in the sacred profession to which he belongs, supported by the various distinguished services rendered to this Country by his noble Relation, strongly recommends him to a grateful and generous Country for some remuneration in the Church. On all sides it will freely be confessed, that his Majesty, with the Lords and Commons, has generously provided for the Brother of the Admiral. Upon a plea of the same ground, let a very inferior recompence be given to one deserving branch of the Family-where any one, of the King's Preferments in the Church would diminish very little from the patronage of his Ministers ; and at the same time would not lay the burthen of a single farthing upon his Majesty's subjects. Before I put a period to this subject, suffer me to observe, that, had Lord Nelson fived to have reaped the fruits of his last important Victory, it was his intention to have interested himself in procuring some ecclesiastical preferment for his relation Mr. Rolfe. The observation I have here to make is, that, in recompence for services so essential to the honour of his Majesty's Navy, and so beneficial to the Country at large, his request must have been listened to with plea sure, and freely granted at the moment with the highest gratification. The obvious conclusion then to be drawn is, that Lord Nelson having nobly died in the arms of Victory, and our Country having derived from his different victories incalculable advantages, as a great Maritime Power; the remembrance of his important life, the National grief and mourning for his heroical end should, in all reason, dispose the great Officers of the Crown to call forth from the obscurity of a Country Curacy the exemplary Clergyman, in whose cause I lament that I am so feeble an advocate, Regarding the subject in the same light in which I have always viewed it, it is not without much disappoint Ploravere suis non respondere favorein Yours, &c. MA W. C. DYER. Mr. URBAN, Cambridge, March 29. ANY Cases of remittent and low nervous Fevers having occurred in the University of Cambridge, more particularly in two Colleges, and four deaths having taken place unfortu nately in a short interval, much alarm and unfounded rumours have been spread. I conceive there can be no doubt of their having arisen from a morbid constitution of the atmosphere generally, but aggravated by unfanot be found to be peculiarly endemic vourable local situation; and it will to Cambridge. That it is contagious from one person to another, i see nothing in the character or progress of the disease that can support such opinion. The Tutors have very proleave Cambridge for two or three perly recommended Gentlemen to weeks; and I am happy to add, "the" disposition to the disease appears to have nearly subsided. HENRY HEADLY, Surgeon. Mr. URBAN, HOPE you will permit me, from that while so many admirable regulamotives of humanity, to point out, tiens exist, providing for worn-out and decayed Soldiers of the British Army, Army, the worn-out and decayed Black Troops of our West-India regiments are, poor wretches! absolutely without any provision whatever. It seems matter of deep regret that this evil should have escaped the notice of Parliament and the Military Authorities; the benevolent intentions of the Commander in Chief are well known, and it were surely inconsistent with the exalted character Great Britain bears amongst the Nations of the Earth, not to extend her fostering consolation to the wounds and decrepitude of a class of men, who, during the late twenty years' arduous struggle, have evinced signal bravery on many occasions, in advancing her Military and Commercial greatness, and who have so frequently bled in her cause. A WEST-INDIA PROPRIETOR. R. B. & W. Mr. URBAN, Liverpool, March 15. HAVING a few choice MSS. in my possession relative to Lancashire, I have ventured to prepare them for the press; prompted thereto by the Editor of Fuller's Worthies, in his note at the end of that County. I shall publish them as Fragments" only of the History of Lancashire, which County is more than six times as large as Middlesex, and though not so populous, has yet more than double the population of the average of the whole Kingdom; and is full of manufactures. In addition to the materials mentioned by the Editor of Fuller's Worthies, allow me to point out the copious information relative to Lancashire given by Mr. Nichols, in the "History of Leicestershire," more important, on the whole, than is to be found in any one work extant, that has come to my knowledge; and which is now laid open for public use by the excellent Index lately pub lished. In vol. I. will be found a list and account of all who possessed the Honour of Lancaster; the history of the Earls of Chester, so far as related to Leicester and Lancaster; the history of all the Earls of Lancaster from Edward Crouchback to Henry IV.; the history of the Ferrars Family, &c. Also, Pedigrees of the Earls of Chester, Lincoln, Salisbury, and Lancaster; a great number of Charters, Grants, Inquisitiones post mortem, &c. &c.; highly serving to illustrate the early History of this famous County. Allow me to thank the industrious Author, for the great pains he has evidently taken; and for the inform ation he has afforded me. Yours, &c. M. GREGSON. Mr. URBAN, Ross, April 9. HE dimensions of Buonaparte's Triumphal Column stated, p. 208, by Mr. Owen, are not correct: they are as under: Height of its pedestal, about 23 feet 5 inches, English. The width of ditto is nearly 18 feet by 21 feet. Diameter of the shaft, 12 feet 9 inches. Height of the statue of Buonaparte, 10 feet 8 inches. Weight of ditto, 5112 livres, or 6710.4 pounds troy, or 5522 avoirdupois. Whole height of the column, including the pedestal and statue, 141 feet 9 inches. At each angle of the pedestal, and above its cornice, is an eagle supporting a garland of laurels; over the door which fronts the Thuilleries is a cartouche, supported by two Fames, with the following inscription: NAPOLIO. Imp. Aug. Monumentum Belli Germanici Anno M.D.ccc.v. Trimestri spatio ductu suo profligati Ex ære capto Gloria Exercitus maximi dicavit. This monument was constructed in three years by Lepère and Gouduin, and finished the 15th of August, 1810. Its situation is in the middle of the Place Vendôme, which is a parallelogram 460 by 473 feet, English.-This point was, before the Revolution, occupied by an equestrian statue of Louis XIV. A. M. |