Taxes should rise on the different classes of society in a much higher ratio than the simple proportion of their respective expences, because in a large expenditure the proportion of luxuries to necessaries is greater than in a small one, and therefore the proportion of the Tax should be greater also; every person being better able to bear a diminution of his luxuries than of his necessaries. When the scale of Duties for the highest and lowest classes shall have been established, that for the intermediate classes may easily be adjusted. If it be objected that, these calculations being made on a supposition that every person keeps a suitable establishment, any one, by reducing his establishment, may avoid a part of the Tax. I answer, he certainly may. And why should he not? If he chuses to renounce any part of his enjoy ments, would it not be unreasonable, nay, contrary to the principle of the Tax, to tax him for what he does not enjoy? Nor need it be apprehended that on this account the Tax would be unproductive: for, since there must always be a certain number of the taxed articles in use by the community at large, it would only be necessary to increase or decrease the Duties upon them, according as that number should fall short of, or exceed, the number first assumed for calculating the produce of the Tax. Besides, though many persons would reduce their establishments, and thereby keep less than would be in proportion to their other expences, yet there would be others, on the other hand, whose establishments would exceed the assumed standard; and these persons would consequently pay a greater sum than their estimated proportion, and it would be highly reasonable, and perfectly consistent with the principle of the Tax, that they should for as their luxuries would be greater in proportion to their necessaries than those of people in general, the proportion of their contribution should be greater also.-If it be further objected, that by making expenditure the standard of Taxation, a person who spends only half his income, will pay only half what he would other wise pay; I answer, it is very true, but it does not thence follow that the Government are thereby losers. They would be so, indeed, if he locked up

the remaining half in his chest, and kept it out of circulation. But there is no danger of his doing this: he will either employ it in trade, invest it in the Funds, or lend it out on mortgage. But in whichever of these ways he dis poses of it, it must be employed, either immediately by himself, or ultimately by the person who gets it from him, either as a capital to produce more, or in expences these being the only two ways in which money can possibly be employed. If it be employed as capital, then it is of course exempt from Taxation, it being contrary to every principle of Taxation to tax money in this state: nor is any thing lost by not taxing it, since whilst it is. so employed, it produces, by its accumulation, an increased fund for future expence, which, when called forth (as it will be sooner or later), will contribute in a much greater proportion than the original capital would have done, had it been taxed in the first instance; and will thus abundantly compensate for its temporary exemp tion. But if, instead of being em→ ployed as capital, the money be consumed in expences, then it will pay its proportion of the Tax; and the only difference to the Government will be, that instead of receiving the amount of the Tax upon the whole income from one person, they will receive it from two; viz. part from the person in receipt of the income for that por tion of it which he spends himself; and part from the person to whom the remainder was lent, for what is spent by him.-Nor must it be overlooked, that among the many advantages of taxing expenditure instead of income, it would not be the least, that properties so different in their nature as those arising from land, the funds, professions, and annuities for life or a period of years, would not be put upon the same footing, and taxed alike, as they most unjustly are by a Tax on Income. Suppose, for instance, a person with a large family in the receipt of an income of 5001. a year, to cease with his life; and suppose another, with a family equally large, to have an estate in land yielding the same sum: by the plan of taxing Income, both these persons will contribute the same sum, though the former cannot reasonably be supposed to enjoy more than about 3001. or at most 400/. of his receipts, being

obliged

obliged to lay by the remainder as a provision for his family; whilst the other, having no such urgent necessity to lay by, may spend the whole of his. Is it just that these two persons should contribute alike? It certainly is not: and why? Because the tax on the former is beyond the proportion of his expences. And does not this very circumstance, by the bye, indicate a general sense of the propriety of regulating Taxation by Expenditure ? It is evident that it is not in the nature of a Tax on Income to make any distinction between an income which is permanent, and therefore may be wholly spent, and one which is temporary and contingent, and which therefore is spendible only in part. It is this very circumstance which constitutes an insuperable objection to this mode of Taxation, and shews that the principle of it is radically defective; not to mention that it requires the disclosure of the private circumstances of every individual a measure no less repugnant to the general feelings of the community at large, than inimical to morality, by the temptation it holds out to false swearing, which is an evil that under the mode of Taxation here proposed, would be entirely avoided. CIVIS.

I from the distinguished and just fame of Mr. Bowyer; but the very name of Conjecture, when the New Testament is the subject, carries, in my ears, some alarm with it. This, however, may be admitted, that alterations in the punctuation are more allowable, than in the language of the sacred page, as the antient manuscripts, I believe, have very few points, except at the end of a sentence or paragraph.

T is far from my wish to detract

Mr. Cassan (in your last Supple ment, p. 629,) has adduced some instances of "improved punctuation," which he thinks are particularly worth attention." The first is Matth. v. 37. To the note on this verse, in my edition of Bowyer, the name of Erasmus is subjoined; but before the proposed punctuation can be admit ted, two words, Erw de, must be expunged from the text, without any authority of manuscirpts. The common pointing and common version afford an obvious and satisfactory

sense: "Let your conversation be simply affirmative, or simply negative; strengthened only, if occasion demand, with a reduplication of the terms: It is not so; it is not so."

The second is Matth. xvi. 13. "Whom do men say that I am? [do they say that I am] the Son of Man?” This would properly require an explicit answer; "they do, or they do not say so." It is repugnant also to the question as it is repeated, generally; "Whom say ye that I am?" not, "Do ye say that I am the Son of Man?"

Little if any thing seems to be gained in the third instance: Matth. xxvi. 45. "Do ye sleep on still, and take your rest?" Still, in English, may have reference to time past, or time coming on: "Are ye still asleep, as ye were before?" or, Sleep on still, i. e. continue to sleep." The original, TO ROSTOV, it should seem, must relate to time coming on; and therefore should be rendered, not interrogatively, with a retrospect to time past,"Are ye still asleep?" but positively, "Sleep on still." The purpose, for which their blessed Master had required them to watch and pray with him, was now past; and in reference to that he 66 says, Sleep on now, and take your rest." Had no other occasion demanded their attention, they might have taken the cus

tomary refreshment of sleep till the day dawned. But another occasion did call; and therefore he says, "Rise, let us be going."

To the next, on Mark iv. 36, there are many objections. The original, if we stop at παραλαμβάνεσιν αυτον, is very abrupt; and would also seem to imply, contrary to fact, that he was not with them already. If the next words are to begin a sentence, some connecting particle is necessary: as, w's [de] ny, ws [ ]ny, or the hike. They would imply also, that he was not already in the ship, whereas we are distinctly told in the beginning of the chapter, that because there was 66 a great multitude" of hearers," he entered into a ship, and sat in the sea, and the whole multitude was by the sea, on the land." The disciples, therefore," when the even was come," and he gave com2 mand to "pass over unto the other side," take him "as he was in the ship." In this very clear and natural

account

account what is there to drive a man to look out for new punctuations?

It is not perhaps very material, in the last instance, John iv. 48. whether we read the passage with or without an interrogation; but to my feeling, neither the order nor the form of words leads us to understand them as a question. It was an important and alarming truth, plainly uttered; but the original, being in the subjunctive, is perhaps rather less peremptory than our translation, though it cannot be otherwise translated. Yours, &c.

Mr. URBAN,

R. C.

AN any of your readers state where in Staffordshire is Yngton, for some descents the seat of the Colcloughs, as repeatedly said in a Colclough Pedigree added by William Smith (once Rouge-Dragon) to his own transcript of the Staffordshire Visitation 1583, now in my possession? I find nothing nearer to it in sound than Endon (a few miles South West from Leek on the Newcastle road), either in Plott's List of Places, or in an Index Villaris of all England (by Adams I believe, toward the end of the17th century, but wanting its titlepage.) Could Endon have been once written Yngton? In Plott, Endon is the name both of the village and the brook running by it.

I do not at all apprehend the place to be Engleton or Ingleton, the seat

of the Moreton ancestors of Lord Ducie, in the West part of the coun try; but conceive it somewhere in the North or Moorlands, the rather as I elsewhere find Colcloughs described of Delf (or Delph) House, a place fixed by the Index Villaris in that Northern tract; though this precise spot too I do not find either in Plott's or the large modern map. Yours, &c.

S. P. W.

produced the sudden change, by him alone pursued, and with him sunk into disuse, without any followers to carry on his novel and fanciful style; yet while a vestige of his works reinain, his memory will never be entirely consigued to oblivion. Sir John Vanburgb, architect, who, disdaining all trammels forged by the precise rules of his profession, felt bold enough to strike out that which was uncommon, was surprizing, and at the same time imposing and majestic; he never, though in his most humble constructions, shewed any ideas that were poor or trifling; and trace him from the cottage to the palace, all was strength, and grandeur of conception. A boldness of parts, and an unbounded flow of external decoration peculiar to himself, distinguishes the whole of his works, which, however, have, by persons of envious and narrow minds, been termed "heavy and prepos terous."

"Lie heavy on him, Earth, for he

Laid many a heavy load on thee."

It may be remarked that Sir John of his own brain, but that throughout was not so bigoted to the creations his various designs there is always found a remote tendency to the Roman and Grecian models; and, what appears rather unaccountable, broad hints of the castellated architecture of this Country are made a part of the heterogeneous commixture. With impartial minds his effusions appear

the effects of consummate skill and intense study; not like our present professionalists, who, to catch a momentary applause, seem to produce their compositions from the accidental scrawls of the pencil, not scientific demonstrations; and who substitute

scratchings and scorings for refined decorations and tasteful embellishments, Sir John Vanburgh's Houses, on the Eastern side of Greenwich, Kent.Much celebrity has been attached to these creations, and they exist at this time, with trifling alterations, as when originally completed; and as the leases (99 years) are expiring, their date may with certainty be assigned to this Reign, as then it was Sir John first acquired public patronage. His houses have an approach from the South through a gateway, forming part of their arrangement; they lie on the right, in line, and at the ex

tremity

:

tremity thereof one of increased dimensions stands to the North, at a right angle with them.

First directing attention to the gateway, its plau is composed of two cottages, otherwise square towers, in three stories; each story, one room and concealed staircase. Elevation: circular-beaded door-ways and win dows to second story, with cills; square-headed windows to first and third stories; parapets. Between the towers an elliptic arch, on square piers, parapet and machicolations connecting the towers together. Three houses in line: the centre ditto clairas the first notice. Plan: ball centri cally; right and left anti-rooms, each having in continuation still smaller ditto, opening into the principal rooms, each ditto giving the depth of the house; at the extremities of line, offices. Elevation: one story; hall has an ascent of steps, circularheaded door-way with impost and parapet; above, small tower with machicolations. Anti-rooms: squareheaded windows, open pediments; principal rooms, square-headed windows and parapets; offices, half-circle windows, cills, cornice, and pedimentroof. Chimneys take the forms of small circular turrets. Sir John, in his disposal of chimneys to buildings of all classes, never failed to mask such unpleasant objects with some happy and picturesque decoration; this was a ruling principle, whereby he gave satisfaction to all in this respect, whatever they might object to in his other conceits. Interior modernized. The houses on each side the above centre ditto similar; that on the right expressing some innovations, we refer to that on the left, which has not been altered. Plan: one room deep, and centrical; square towers on each side; left, circular stairs; right, as chimneys; entrance on the return, left. Elevation: four stories, in kitchen, parlour, one and two pair stories; parlour story and its returns rusticated; door-way and parlour windows circular-headed; other windows square-headed; strings and parapet; towers with parapets machicolated. Interior: parlour, a triple-kneed chimney-piece, carved cieling with half-groins, large compartment much foliaged.

House bearing North at the extremity of the line. Plan: castle-wise,

and the arrangement laid down regular and uniform: approach (South) or outwork, centrically, double flight of steps and landing, with entrance to a covered way or terrace leading to the house: right and left, wall parɛpeted, having at the extremities small square bastion towers, for summerhouses, &c. ; line in continuation of wall with entrances to the offices, areas, and cellars, under covered way. House, a square, with a projecting porch of entrance; centrically, vestibule passage with screen of columns; left, hall; right, anti or breakfastroom: centrically, a passage running through the body of the house. Back half of the house: dining parlour; centrically a half projecting circular tower, or bow window. On West and East sides of the building, projecting small square towers, giving salons leading to circular towers, such still carrying on the projecting line in continuation; that West, circular stairs; that East, circular cabinet. This arrangement, it may well be conceived, turns to the most complete and elegant uses, and carrying with it the happiest effect. The principal or third story is nearly similar in the lines, forming library, tea-room, china closet, drawing-room, &c. Basement, or first story: repetition of the lines, where are the butler's room, kitchen, scullery, &c.; even in this menial allotment symmetry is preserved,-the same masterly hand is visible as in the principal stories, which are, in fact, all bound within a very narrow compass, still not so confined a space but that every convenience and comfort prevails as in a more capacious residence. Elevations: outwork; plain wall with small piers and strings; rusticks to the bastions, which have sloping base lines, with circular-headed door-ways and windows; door-ways to offices, segmented heads. House, four stories; kitchen, parlour, one and two pair stories: circular-headed door-way to porch and a parapet; all the windows have square heads, except the upper ditto to circular towers, which are circular-headed. The entire grounds to parlour and principal story run with a continued series of rusticks, unbroken by vertical joints; parapets; chimneys disguised in machicolated turrets. Equal attention is paid to the out-offices, and to the covered way, in circular-headed door

ways

ways and windows, machicolations, &c. Material to these several houses, brick. Interior: hall, Ionic columns; chimney-piece, kneed architrave with side scrolls and pediment. Breakfastroom, front scroll terms, plain eutablature. Dining parlour; rich chimney-piece of architrave, side scrolls with human heads and foliage, guideron tablet, and a low scroll superstructure enclosing a busto of Sir John. Sideboard within an alcove, having Corinthian columns, pyramidal decorations, &c. Cielings: those to passage of each story, groined; and those of the several rooms of halistory, carved with large compartments; their frames much enriched, but the compartments remain unadorned. The rooms of the principal story, we regret to state, have undergone so many modern alterations, that all detail thereof is necessarily passed over in silence. We are fur. ther compelled to note, that an irrelevant modern erection has been stuck against the Eastern tower, to the great disfigurement of this curious Vanburghian edifice *.

Mr. URBAN,

AN ARCHITECT.

March 20.

N your Magazine for the month of January in the present year, I perceive, in pp. 32 and 33, two reflections upon certain passages contained in the Extinct Baronetage of England, published by me some years since. In reply to the unknown writers of these remarks, I beg it may be understood, that although I might have "rejected unfounded claims to antient descent in the familles of Ryder, Lascels, and Howard, with more address and civility," I feel satisfied that the present heads of those families must be convinced, I have treated them with more courteousness than their conduct to me deserved.

With regard to laying "too much stress upon Epigrams and Epitaphs, as deciding points of family antiquity," I must take upon me to deny that I ever introduced the one, or the other,

* In passing through the College, we were concerned to observe, in the Western court, that stone facings have been run over Sir C. Wren's characteristic brick walls; an innovation as ill-timed as unnecessary!!

for any such purpose: such citations are very few through the whole of the three, volumes referred to; and where inserted, have been more to represent character, than to prove genealogy. I trust I know more of the nature of legal evidence, than to suppose (much less assert) that it rests upon the mere effusions of the brain.

The "antiquated style of the Kingdom of Ireland" may in some instances occur, but these will be found to relate to creations prior, and not subsequent, to the Union. I, however, shall at all times be happy to stand corrected; and shall now feel obliged by any observations which may tend to render the efforts of my labour more acceptable to the publick. And here, probably, it may not be irrelevant to state, that I propose publishing, before the end of January in the ensuing year, a Supplemental Volume to the three former of the Extinct Baronage, embracing a miscellaneous collection of genealogy relating to many antient and noble families (never before printed by any author), together with Addenda and Corrigenda, and a general Index to the whole. T. C. BANKS.

B. says, "it was with the greatest surprize, and some degree of vexation, that he found the Prayer inserted in p. 37, commented on as reprehensible.' His view in this attempt was to form a simple Prayer, for young people only of all denominations, and he flattered himself he had succeeded; certainly,

those who think otherwise need not

adopt it." And he suggests, "that Christians, in using it, may add, as in the instance of the admirable Prayer for his Majesty's recovery, 'These blessings I entreat, through the merits and mediation of thy Holy Son, our Saviour, Jesus Christ.' "'

Mr. GILBERT FLESHER, of Towcester, in answer to Mr. Blair, LXXXIV. Part ii. p. 202, says, it would highly gratify him to see his Drawings of Northamptonshire Churches (which include every one in the County) engraved in a suitable manner to illustrate Bridges's History, with which view he originally commenced the undertaking. His condi tions for their use would be liberal, and he is ready to communicate on the subject with any one seriously disposed to forward so desirable a measure.

Narrative of the Death of HAMPDEN; D. B.; &c. &c. in our next.