ther entrie into the warres, but also for to give secretlie to certain heads of them for to bringe them to that purposse. And this custume of taking of money is so engendered in them, that they doe take them for a foole that comith to treat any matter with them without money; nor wisdom, nor good reason, nor persuasion, is hear admitted without money, Wher it is comprised in my instruccion that one payment should be made after a battle should be striken between the Frenchmen and them, they will not move one foot without the payment of their wages for one month, &c. &c. "Necessary it is that the Pope be diligently moved, not only to sticke by the Kinge stedfastly, as he is bound, but also to contribute some good somes of money to thes Swices, to plucke them from France: but they do say plainlie unto me hear, that they will beleeve noe worde sayd or written by his Holines, unless they see the money, because of his infinite promises heartofor without any performance. "I am sure that the Frenchmen hath published in England, as they have done in all Italye, the conclusion of a peace between them and the Swices, but they may lye at their pleasure after ther accustomed manner: this is the truth that I doe writt unto your Grace. If any money shall be sent unto the Swices, the names of the townes wher it shall be most commodiously payd be thes following: Augusta, Constantia, Argentina, Basilea, &c. "Such order as was taken for hasty sending of letters can not now be had hear, wherfor I think it expedient that your Grace should provide ther for thes thinges unto such tyme that you shall have an resolute in every thing from the Swices. The Duke of Barye doth commende himself most bumblie unto the Kinge's Grace and yours, desiring your said Grace to continue his good lorde, and to shew unto the Kynge's Grace that what money soever his Highnes lays out in this side the mountains. against the French .... himself to restitution thereof, as much as it shall please his Grace to have restored again, &c." .... N. B. See the letter at large in Mr. Planta's able" History of the Helvetic Confederacy: the article is taken from the Cottonian manuscripts in the British Museum, Vitell. B. xviii, p. 222. L. S. (To be continued.) Mr. URBAN, M. Temple, March 21. S a new CUSTOM-HOUSE is now erecting, and a new POST-OFFICE is in contemplation, you will, perhaps, agree with me, that the following description of those public edifices in 1677, may not be unentertaining to your Readers: "Not far below London Bridge is placed the Custom-house, where is re ceived and managed all the impositions laid on merchandize, imported or exported from this City, which are so considerable, that of all the Customs of England, divided into three parts, the Port of London pays two-thirds, that is above 330,0001, yearly. In this Office are employed a great number of officers, whereof divers are of considerable quality and ability. The House where this great Office was kept, being destroyed by the late fire, is now rebuilt in a very much more magnificent, uniform, and commodious manner by the King, and bath cost his Majesty 10,000l. the building !”* "Of the Office of Postmaster-General., tled by Act of Parliament on his Royal "The profits of the said cffice are setHighness the Duke of York; but his Majesty doth constitute his PostmasterGeneral by, letters patent under the Great Seal of England; and accordingly hath conferred that office upon the Right Honourable Henry, Earl of Arlington, Ld. Chamberlain of his Majesties Houshold. The present Postmaster-General keepeth one Grand or General Office in the City of London, from whence letters and pacquets are dispatched. Every Monday to France, Italy, Spain, Flanders, GerKent. Every Tuesday to the United many, Sueden, Denmark, &c. and tb Netherlands, Germany, &c. and to all parts of England, Scotland, and Ireland. Every Wednesday to Kent onely, and the Downs. Every Thursday to France, Spain, Italy, and all parts of England and Scotland. Every Friday to the Spanish and United Netherlands, Germany, Sueden, Denmark, and to Kent. Every Saturday to all parts of England, Scotland, and Ireland. And the answers of the said letters and pacquets are received in the said Office in due course; and from thence dispersed and delivered, aecording to their respective directions, with all expedition. The said Office is managed by a Deputy, and other officers, to the number of seventy-seven persons, who give their actual attendance re spectively spectively in the dispatch of the business. Upon this Grand Office depends one hundred and eighty-two Deputy Postmasters in England and Scotland, most of which keep regular Offices in their stages, and Sub-Postmasters in their branches; and also in Ireland, another General Office for that Kingdom, which is kept in Dublin, consisting of eighteen like officers, and forty-five Deputy Postmasters. The present Postmaster General keeps constantly, for the transport of the said letters and pacquets, between England and France, two pacquet-boats; Flanders, two pacquet-boats; Holland, three pacquet-boats; Ireland, three pacquetboats: and at Deal, two pacquet-boats for the Downs. All which Officers, Postmasters, and Pacquet-boats, are maintained at his own proper charge. And, place, sheltered from foul weather and Mr. URBAN, March 31. the master-piece of all those good One of the Beauties of England N perusing lately the XVth vo regulations, established by the present Postmaster-General for the better government of the said Office, he hath annexed and appropriated the Markettowns of England so well to the respective postages, that there is no considerable Market-town but hathan easy and certain Conveyance for the letters thereof, to and from the said Grand Office, in the due course of the Mails every post.-Though the number of letters missive in England were not at all considerable in our ancestors' days, yet it is now so prodigiously great (since the meanest people have generally learnt to write), that this Office is farmed for thirty thousand pounds a year! Note also, that letters are conveyed with more expedition, and Jess charges, than in any forreign countrey. A letter containing a whole sheet of paper is conveyed 80 miles for 2d. and two sheets, 4d. and an ounce of letters but 8d. and that in so short a time, by night as well as by day, that every 24 hours the post goes 120 miles, and in five days, an answer of a letter may be had from a place 300 miles distant from the writer. Moreover, if any Gentleman desire to ride post to any principal town of England, Post-horses are always in readiness (taking no horse without the consent of his owner), which in other Kings' Reigns was not duely observed; and only 3d. is demanded for every Eng lish mile, and for every stage to the Besides Post-boy, 4d. for conducting. this excellent convenience of conveying letters and men on horseback, there is of late such an admirable commodious ness, both for men and women of better rank, to travel from London to almost any great town of England, and to almust all the villages near this great City, that the like hath not been known in the world; and that is by Stage-Coaches, wherein one may be transported to any and Wales, I was struck with the following passage, p. 311: "Ansley Hall was visited 1758 by the elegant and truly-poetical Thomas Warton, at which time he wrote, and left in this cell,some beautiful verses, beginning, Beneath this stony roof reclin'd, I sooth to peace my pensive mind.' It may be observed, that the verses, as printed in Warton's Poetical Works, differ much from the simply-pleasing original copy, which is still preserved at Ansley Hall." Now, if this should meet the eye of the present Possessor of that Mansion, or of any of his Friends, I should feel myself, as an admirer of the productions of Warton, much obliged for a transcript of the verses. Yours, &c. Mr. URBAN, F. J. MEADORS. April 4. Ttroubling you with the following HE apology I can make for remarks on a passage in the Beauties of England and Wales, is the universal circulation of your entertaining Miscellany.-a circulation which has more evinced its utility, than any panegyrick from the greatest of its advocates can display. In the account of Boconnoc in Cornwall (vol. II. p. 401.) it is stated, that the Manor of that Lordship descended, by the marriage of Margaret, daughter and coheir of Thomas Carminowe, to Sir Hugh Courtenay, who was killed at Tewkesbury (1 presuine this to have been the Courtenay who was restored to the Earldom of Devonshire by Warwick 1461). Some of YOU will, I flatter myself, permit had no connexion whatever with the religious sect called Methodists, and never meddled with those high Calvinistic doctrines which some of them are said to inculcate. He was indeed well versed in, and a great lover of God's Word; he set forth the same most impressively by his eloquent preaching; and he shewed his expe You constant Reader to say a few rience of its practical power, by his "Per words in refutation of an idle remark (to make use of a moderate expression) which a Correspondent, p. 4, has taken an opportunity of making. In his communication respecting certain Epitaphs, he introduces the name of Dr. Stonhouse, and observes of him, that he had "written many religious tracts, and was a pious good man." Had he suffered his pen to proceed no farther, his purpose would have been sufficiently answered, and all would have been well enough. But, traveling rather out of his way, he adds, that he (Dr.S.) was " perhaps a little tinctured with Methodism." haps;" he is not quite certain. Why then suggest the idea? While he af fects to drop a word favourable to the Doctor's memory, with the next move of his pen he takes sufficient care to obliterate its effect; for, whatever Methodism be in itself, R. C. doubtless knows, that, in the estimation of the world, it implies something derogatory-some intellectual error, some imaginative aberration, or some moral deformity, However, whether or not this inexplicable something was imputable to Dr. Stonhouse, this Writer ought, as a liberal man, to have remembered the liberal maxim, De mortuis nil nisi bonum. Had he been acquainted with the subject of his animadversion (which it is pretty evident he was not), he might, instead of such detracting sentence, have substituted one (with certainly too on his side) of a very different tendency, namely, that he was not only a good man," but an eminent Divine; and could, if he pleased, have referred your Readers to his various tracts, especially his "Sick Mau's Friend" (a book in the hands of most of the Clergy), and to the recollection of his inimitable excellence as a preacher, for a proof of the fact. The surviving friends, Sir, of Dr. Stonhouse can safely attest, that he consistently pious, amiable, and beneficent living. Now, Mr. Urban, though all this, as you well know, is no more than what we constantly pray for, in behalf of all Bishops, Priests, and Deacons, in our excellent Liturgy, and what, of course, every Clergyman, in every station, ought to aspire to; yet, unfortunately for the interest of our Church, this- this realization of our prayers, if it appear rather promis nently, is by a good many persons termed Methodistical, or being "tinctured with Methodism." When will such folly, such perversion of things, cease! Happy would it be for the benefit of true religion and virtue, and particularly for the advantage of the Reformed Episcopal Church, if such faithful and able Ministers as was the late Sir James Stonhouse, were more highly valued, and more generally patronized! The conse quence would be, crowded Churches, well-attended Sacraments, devout Members, widely-extended moral and civil good. It may not be inappropriate to add, that this exemplary Divine was presented successively, without interest or solicitation, to two valuable livings, by a Noble Patron; to the first, merely in consequence of his clerical fame; and to the second, after a long subsequent intimacy, as a testimony both of his Lordship's friendship for him, and his decided approbation of his clerical conduct. May many other Patrons go and do likewise! Thus would union increase, and dissent diminish; and thus would no good Clergyman be deterred, through fear of incurring an unmeaning scoff, from the honest and zealous performance of his duty. R. C. is mistaken in supposing that the lines on the Epitaph of Mrs. Stonhouse were written by the Doctor: it is well known they are the composition of Mrs. Hannah More, who had long known her worth. T. C. Mr. Mr. URBAN, THE March 17. which I should be glad to see ac- HE celebrity of your Magazine, and especially among the Clergy, induces me to send you a few remarks. I have long thought a candid and accurate account of the domnestic, as well as of the Synagogue, ceremonies of the modern Jews, a great desideratum. Many respectable scholars may be daily met with, who, although well versed in the Antiquities of Greece and Rome, are very ignorant of existing, and far more interesting customs. If reading, and some knowledge of the Hebrew language, were the only requisites for such a treatise, some, perhaps, might be found adequate to it, even "in this sequester'd spot," but the Compiler ought to reside in or near Town, that he migh, is the following very remarkable confer with some well-informed Jew, who has lately embraced Christianity. A mere ritual of the Jewish Ceremonies is contained in the late David Levi's work; and the very learned Buxtorf published his " Synagoga Judaica" more than two centuries ago; but it has been often remarked, that he wrote in so acrimonious a spirit, as if he intended to irritate, rather than conciliate, the Jewish People. Scaliger is reported to have said, "Mirum quomodo Buxtorfius ametur à Judæis in illa tamen Synagoga Judaica illos valde perstringit:" but, perhaps, neither of these great men would have been less loved. by his opponents, had he used less virulence. I have lately met with a copy, though a mutilated one, of Dr. L. Addison's" Present State of the Jews;" but this was confined to the state of that people in Barbary, where Dr. A. was Chaplain to our Garrison at Tangier, before the fort was demolished and abandoned by the English; and as the Dedication bears the date of 1674-5 (in about two years, I believe, after the birth of his illustrious son Joseph A.), a more modern and more universal account of the Jews would be very acceptable. As I am not quoting, Mr. Urban, from "Books penes me, Which nobody but myself can see," -some of your Readers may be surprized at the great similarity between the Doctor's work, and that of Buxtorf above-mentioned. There is in one e as remarkable a variation, Mr. URBAN, M. T. MENEVENSIS. London, Feb. 15. N Peck's" Memoirs of Cromwell," communication : No. 28. Part of a Letter written to the Publisher by Christopher Wren, esq. giving an account that King Henry VII. had formerly the title of "Defender OF THE FAITH." "Among some memorials of my grandfather's, which happen at this time to lie before me, is one of particular note, which, I imagine, may suit your curiosity to see. · That King Henry VII. had formerly the title of Defender of the Faith,' appears by the Register of the Order of the Garter, in the black book [sic dict. à tegmine] (now in my hands by office), which, having shewed to King Charles I. he received with great joy; nothing more pleasing him then that the Right of that Title was fixed in the Crown long before the Pope's pretended donation. "To all which, I make attestation to all posterity, avroypaã hoc meo. Ita testor Chr. Wren, à memoria et secretis honoratissimi ordinis.' "I am, Sir, Your most obedient servant, I have examined different Histories of England, such as Hume, &c.; but have not succeeded in finding any thing of the kind mentioned. It is generally understood that K. Henry VIII. (A. D. 1521.) received the title of "Defender of the Faith" from Pope Leo X. for defending the Papal Chair against Luther. I should be much obliged to some of your Correspondents, if they could give me any information on the subject. Yours, &c W. J. A Second Second Address, by the Bishop of ST. DAVID's, to Persons calling thems selves Unitarians; continued from p. 135. YOU Having given abundant proof of Mr. Belsham's inaccuracy in his representations of persons and characters, I will now give you a specimen of his inaccuracy in matters of fact. He says, in his answer to my former Address, "the most material point at issue between Bp. Horsley and Dr. Priestley was not a question of 'scholarship and criticism,' but concerning a plain matter of fact. The fact asserted by Dr. Priestley is, that the great body of Hebrew Christians, in the two first centuries, were believers in the simple humanity of Christ. Bp. Horsley denies the fact, and contends for the existence of an orthodox Hebrew Church at Elia. Of this orthodox Hebrew Church, now first heard of, Dr. Priestley questions the existence." In this passage Mr. Belsham says, that "the most material point at issue was not a question of " scholarship and criticism, but a plain matter of fact." A point at issue may be a plain matter of fact; but, if the fact be disputed, the point cannot be settled (if it be a matter of antient history) without scholarship and criticism; and not to know this is, of itself, an indisputable proof of Mr. Belsham's want both of criticism and scholarship. If Dr. Priestley and Mr. Belsham had not been very deficient in both, they could not have questioned the orthodoxy of the Church of Jerusalem, either before or after the building of Ælia. The Church of Jerusalem comprehended the great body of Hebrew Christians. If the GENT. MAG. April, 1815. faith of this mother Church of Christendom can be proved to have been the orthodox faith, both before the destruction of Jerusalem by Adrian and after, the great body of Hebrew Christians could not have been unbelievers in the Divinity of Christ, whe ther they retained the ordinances of Moses or not. For evidence of this orthodoxy I will not refer you back to Bp. Horsley's Tracts; but I will give you two proofs, which he has not made use of. "At that time," says Eusebius, that is, under the Emperor Alexander, "flourished many Ecclesiasticks of great learning, whose Letters have come down to us, and may be easily met with. For they are extant in the Library of the city of Elia, which was built by Alexander, Bishop of that Church" Alexan der, as Eusebius informs us, was promoted to that See for his eminent faith in Christ t. He was the 35th Bishop of Jerusalem, being the 20th Bishop after the name of the city was changed from Jerusalem to Elia. The first fifteen Bishops, whose names Eusebius enumerates, were all of the circumcision; and the period during which they presided over that Church, is specially denominated the primitive Church of Jerusalem. Of the orthodoxy of the primitive Hebrew Church, Eusebius bears this explicit testimony "From written records (syygaQα) I have learnt, that to the siege of Jerusalem, in the time of Adrian, fifteen Bishops presided over that Church in continued succession, and that all of these were of Hebrew ori gin, and that they held and professed the genuine knowledge of Christ,ywow του Χριστου γνησίως καταδεξασθαι†.” Of the orthodoxy of the Bishops of Jerusalem, expressed by the term yvnows, there could have been no doubt, from other passages of his History, even if Sulpitius Severus had not still more expressly said of the general body of these Hebrew Christians in the time of Adrian, that they believed Christ to be God: tum pene *Euseb. Eccles. Hist. L. vi. c. 20. + Ibid. c. 8. Ibid. L. iv. c. 5. omnes, |