tion to the curious in family history, I hope some of your readers, better qualified than I am to extend the inquiry, will give it their attention for the benefit of the publick as well as Dunelmensis. TUDOR. YOU! Mr. URBAN, May 6. YOUR valuable Correspondent, A. H. in his "Nuga Curiose et Antiquæ," inserted in p. 220, ascribes the origin of painting in profile to the circumstance of an antient painter having to paint the portrait of his Prince, who only had one eye, adopting the conciliatory expedient of painting him in profile; but, is not its origin rather to be traced to the same incident that is supposed to have given rise to the Art of Painting itself, and is mentioned by Pliny in his Natural History? viz. The affection of a young woman of Corinth for her Lover, who observing his shadow on the wall, eagerly traced the outline, to the astonishment of her friends. At all events, it would appear more probable that painting in profile preceded that of the full face; the simple outline of the features in a side view, being certainly much more easy to delineate, than as presented to us in the full face. A. B. A LITHOGRAPHIC VIEW OF THE SEVERAL COUNTIES IN ENGLAND: BY THE LATE MR. EMANUEL MENDEZ DA COSTA, F. R. S. SECOND JOURNEY. (Concluded from p. 308.) MIDDLESEX. Chiefly clay and sand, or gravel; the clay-pits yield some fossils. Berkshire. Quarries in this county, at Buckland, Basyleigh, Cumner, Garford, Marsham, &c. which yield petrefactions; also gravel-pits. Chalk about Reading. Wiltshire. Some quarries, as flag. stone. Quarries between Calne and Chippenham, and Westbrook in Brumhall parish, &c. The Downs are all chalk; the famous Druid monument of Stonehenge. Hampshire. The Coast part see in the first Journey (p. 222;) besides which, there are iron-works at Titchfield and Sowley near Lymington. Sussex. Iron-works at Buxted and Maresfield, Battle, Bivelham, Hawkesden, Brightlin, Burwash, Westfield, and Woodcock; and shell marble quarries at Petworth. Surrey. Besides the fullers-earth pits and quarries mentioned in the First Journey, the chalk-pits of Surrey yield fine pyritæ, flint, and figured fossils. Kent. Part of this County is in the First Journey (p. 222.) The Isle of Sheppey is very fertile in most curious figured fossils, especially pyritised fruits, shells, &c. ludus helmontii, or septaria, and the stellaria, a species of gypsum peculiar to this spot. Iron mills at Erith, Bexley, Crayford, and Dartford. Some quarries at Maidstone, &c. The cliffs at Folkstone, near Dover, abound with curious figured fossils. Mr. Seehl's copperasworks at Blackwall, and a copperas work at Gillingham, near Chatham. Chatham-dock. Woolwich, the train of artillery, and the lands-pits that have immense strata of fossil shells in them. The clays used for pottery wares, found on the East banks of the river Medway, between Maidstone and Rochester. The great chalk pits near Gravesend yield many curious figured fossils. Essec. Harwich Cliff yields fine floured and other fossils; and on the shore there, and at Landguard Fort, quantities of amber are found. Suffolk. On the shores fine amber is found; and at Nacton and other places, large tracts of fossil shells, which they call craig, are found, which serve the inhabitants to manure the lauds. Norfolk. Amber found on the shores. Lincolnshire. I find not any thing very remarkable. Nottinghamshire. Coal-pits in many places, especially North-west and West of Nottingham. Many quarries of stone at Mansfield, Linby, Gedling, &c. Iron forges at Bullwell, Camberton, Clipston, and Cuckney. Leicestershire. Leicester, stocking manufactory. Gypsum at Mount Sorrel. Many coal-pits, especially at Mesham, and Coal Overton. A famous lime-quarry at Barrow, in which is abundance of fossil fish. A valuable slate-quarry at Swithland, near Mount Sorrel. Rutlandshire. I do not recollect any remarkables in this county. Northamptonshire. A stony county, abounding in quarries of free stoue, stone, which yield curious figured fossils. Cambridgeshire. University. Shells in the gravel-pits thereabouts. Fine pyrite and figured fossils in the chalkpits of Cherry Hinton. Huntingdonshire. I do not find any remarkable particulars in this county. Bedfordshire. Fullers - earth pits at Woburn. Aspley, famous for the petrified wood found there. Dunstable chalk hills yield very fine pyritæ, which are vulgarly called crow gold. Hertfordshire. Much chalk in this county, but not any thing very remarkable occurs. Middlesex. Return to London. Some Notices relative to ScoTLAND. Granite quarries of North-ferry and Aberdeen. Bamffshire marble quarries at Port Mr. URBAN, affords an opportunity to those who require information upon curious subjects of Literature, to obtain a removal of doubts, and a correction of errors, by the intercourse between men of profound erudition, of which it is the medium. I always resort to it with alacrity, because my ignorance is always regarded with feelings of candour, and not insulted by the asperities of arrogant criticism. It cannot be other. wise indeed, in a work sheltered by the name of Urban. My present enquiry is respecting Esther, the Queen of King Artax erxes, who, being the orphan daughter of Abibail, uncle of Mordecai, the fourth in descent from Kish, who was carried into Babylon, probably with King Jeconiah, was, as the Scripture : history relates, preferred in the room of Queen Vashti, and upon her elevation to the Persian throne took the new name of Esther, agreeable to the custom of that nation. I wish to know what meaning the word Esther bears in the Persian language? and probably some of your learned Correspondents will be so good as to explain it and perhaps I ought in courtesy to mention the motive of my enquiry, which I beg leave to do by saying that, in a variety of portraits, which scattered here and there in various parts of the country, in Churches in old pannel paintings, &c. I observe two or three very striking peculiarities of features; and am desirous of knowing whether the name conferred upon her, instead of or in addition to her Jewish name of Hadassah, bears in its signification any allusion either to her personal charms or mental qualifications. YOUR X. V. Mr. URBAN, Easter Monday. YOUR reverend and very truly respectable Correspondent, the Vicar of Dudley, will, I hope, excuse a remark dictated solely by a desire that upon every occasion the strictest regard to literary accuracy and naked truth should be manifested by all who inculcate the duties of Religion which the perusal of his "Annual Pastoral Address," inserted in your Number for March, p. 206, has suggested. The Writer, quoting various authorities, particularly of eminent Laymen, 66 to peruse the Sacred Volume which " contains the words of Eternal Life," which is so highly creditable in him as a Clergyman, to place in the best point of view, has mentioned King Edward the Sixth and Dr. Johnsonboth of them, unquestionably, very pious and devout; but neither the one nor the other, I believe, correctly cited as to the facts attributed to them. However, it would be absurd to assert partially what passed colloquially between Edward the Sixth and his Courtiers; and therefore, if Dr. Booker will indulge my curiosity by mentioning his authority for the anecdote respecting the Bible, I shall be willing to concede that point: at the same time that I beg leave to say, it has been commonly understood that it was not at the Council Chamber that that the young Monarch displayed that remarkable reverence for the Sacred Book-but whilst at play, in his very boy-hood, with some other youths, who must even in those oulden times" have been imagined more likely to have been guilty of such an indiscretion as that which his young Majesty so strikingly checked, than any of his Counsellors. Besides, it does not appear that a great Bible ever made a part of the furniture of the Council Chamber; much less that papers are there arrayed in any manner likely to require such a stepping-stool to reach them! However, if the Reverend Author will be so good as to quote fairly; this mistake, if it be one, on my part, shall be most humbly acknowledged. With regard, however, to the dying words of Dr. Johnson, there are sufficient proofs of his piety and religious fervour to prevent his character losing a whit of its most valuable ornament, if it shall be found (as from the best accounts published of that event, and the repeated details of one of the persons who was in attendance upon the melancholy occasion alluded to, there is great reason to suppose it will be found) that your amiable Correspondent has been led into a mistake: which, for the reason before given, it were desirable should have been avoided. Once more, Mr. Urban, I beg pardon for this liberty; but I am sure that when Dr. Booker reflects upon the danger of mis-quotation, with whatsoever motive, of benevolence or piety, I am sure, I say, that be will be glad of an opportunity of removing such an objection to the mode which he has thought proper to adopt, in order to encourage a constant and daily perusal of the Holy Scriptures, which come more power fully recommended to us than by any human authority. One word more. The less temporal concerns are mixed with spiritual the better. Let the Clergy forsake all other but those pursuits which belong to their sacred character, and not mix up politicks and police with the worship of the Supreme Being, and the study of his Laws: and those over whom the Holy Ghost makes the Christian and Protestant Minister an Overseer will scarcely fail to recognize the good Shepherd, or to obey his voice. Yours, &c. DRAW. LETTERS FROM THE CONTINENT. Paris, August 7, 1818. E arrived an hour Wand as the weather is too hot for moving about, I take the opportunity of sitting down to write you a line. Amiens Cathedral has no centre tower, but only a slim wooden spire, and the West towers are too low to be distinguishable at a distance; but the body of the church is extremely lofty; and it was this which, seen in a direction from the East so as only to command the breadth and not the length of the Church, gave the whole of it, in the dusk, the appearance of a massive tower. We were at an excellent old Inn at Amiens, the Hotel de France et d'Angleterre. The floors were beautifully inlaid with old oak, finely polished; and the sofas and furniture very elegant. Before breakfast I visited the Cathedral, which is so completely surrounded with houses, that there is no obtaining an outside view of it, unless it were from the walks without the town; and this the intense heat did not permit our attempting. The glory of the Cathedral is its West front, which is extremely lofty; being raised as high as the top of the acutely-pointed roof of the nave; there are two attempts at West towers, neither of them of any consideration, though good as far as they go; but one is higher than the other. There are three lofty portals; the centre one is a most noble arch; more than double the height of that at York. Along the interior of the arch are 7 or 8 tiers of small images; about 30 in each tier. Along the bottom or lowest range of the West front there is a tier of large statues. The second range is a row of windows. The third a tier of about 20 large statues. The fourth a St. Catherine's wheel in the centre, and two windows on each side. The statues are nearly all perfect. The style of architecture is the middle Gothic. Within, it is extremely simple, and the windows, pillars, and arches are free from ornament; small lancet windows, and all in one style. It is said to have been built between 1220 and 1260. The choir is very short, and finishes with a semicircle, like Antwerp, and a low Lady's Lady's Chapel beyond. The organ was not used in mass. The singing boys were dressed in crimson gowns and red coifs, which they wore in service over their gowns they had close white frocks, with short waists. There was a mass performed in the Lady's Chapel for a deceased child, and the chapel, &c. were hung with black.-Amiens contains 45,000 inhabitants. The Revolution reduced the number of churches from eleven to five. After breakfast we again visited the Cathedral. The side ailes abound with curious small imagery, very antient, and representing a series of Scripture histories, and traditional stories also: they have great merit. There is Christ driving the money-changers out of the temple; the whole story of St. John the Baptist, Herodias, &c. &c. When the head is presented to Herodias, she faints away; a circumstance which, though it has no foundation in Scripture history, is extremely likely to have been the case. If Shakspeare had worked up the account, he would have made her do so.-John the Baptist is the grand favourite at this Cathedral; for it luckily happens, that they are in possession of the identical head of the Baptist, which is placed in a crystal, on a canopy, in one of the 26 chapels which surround the church. Men and women are continually resorting thither to kiss the relick, and make offerings, which may either be public, in a dish which stands by the head, or private, in a hole made in the table or pedestal in which the head is laid. The only remains of it are the nose, the sockets of the eyes, and the upper jaw; the lower jaw is gone. On the 12th of December, 1206, which was a few years before the present fabric began to be erected, a printed paper which we purchased of the Sacristor states, that Wallon de Sarton, a Canon of Amiens, brought the head from Constantinople, to which place it had been removed many centuries before, from Jerusalem. There is no doubt they have had it at Amiens for six centuries. The pillars and roof of the Cathedral are very lofty, but the arches are flat. The height, in French feet, 132; the length, 408, including Lady's Chapel.-I forgot to mention that St. John Baptist is resorted to by ladies in the family way; and a prayer is delivered out by one of the vergers, which beseeches the Saint, that as he leaped in his mother's womb, he will preserve the fruit of her womb from accidents, that it may live to receive the sacra ment of baptism. The choir has two side ailes on each side of the centre, making five. The Tabernacle work is very rich. The St. Catherine's Wheel, at the West end, over the organ, has in the interior the twelve hours delineated on its rim, and a large hour pointer crosses the window; the circumference is 96 feet. The Priests, as usual, were saying private masses.—I ascended the roof, and in doing this, passed through a gallery within side the top of the nave, at the West end, which commands a striking view of the building. In ascending the wooden spire above the centre, the heat was so intense from the sun on the lead, that I thought I must have desisted. The height of this spire is 400 feet, but I only ascended to a gallery about 100 feet short of the summit. There are woods, gardens, and pastures, and a small river, near the town; but the distance is, as usual in this country, open corn fields, as far as the eye can reach. The different shades of graiu appeared something like a tailor's card of patterns. On our return from the Cathedral, we got one of our 251. bills cashed at the Banker's, and only received 587 francs, or 24l. 9s. 2d. English, the exchange there being 23f. 50c.; and nearly one-half of this sum we were obliged to accept in sil ver. We afterwards proceeded to view the Hall of Congress, in which the Treaty of Amiens, in 1802, was signed; and a Merchants Hall, or large covered building, like 'Exeter Change, in which a variety of goods are exposed to sale; and at one o'clock returned to our Inn. At two, the thermometer in the shade was 86. At five, we proceeded by Hebecourt and Flers to Breteuil, and slept at the Angel Inn. At nine, the thermometer was 76. Breteuil is a small town, with nothing remarkable. August 6th.-We arrived to dinner at Clermont, pleasantly situated on a bill; here we first began to be amongst Vineyards. They somewhat resemble hop plautations, but the sticks are only about four feet high. The grapes as yet are small, noripe and and invisible from the road. There rather flat. The Palace itself was are several dead yellow leaves on the totally destroyed at the Revolution; vines, probably from the drought. but there remain the Stables, the We dined at the table d'hôte with the principal of which is a noble lofty diligence company. There was a arched hall, 600 feet long, and 45 Priest at table with a cross of honour wide, in which the Prussians had 400 round his neck, suspended by a blue horses in the year 1815. The Charibbon. He is a Chaplain to the teau of the Duke d'Enghien (a son of King. He carries his own wine with the Prince who was murdered by him when he travels, had his wicker- Buonaparte) also remains. It is a cased bottle of Burgundy in a cooler handsome uniform pile of building, of water, and courteously pressed us but greatly inferior in size and splento partake. We find the same for- dour to what was the palace. At malities as to passports are required Chantilly, at four in the afternoon, in from the French as from foreigners. the shade, in a North aspect, and in a The Priest was obliged to produce his current, the thermometer was at 88; passports to the gens d'armes, who and it was under this power of heat eame to inspect them during dinner; that we walked above half a mile to he was only travelling between Amiens see the Stables. The trees in this and Paris, to prepare for a confirma- country are loftier than in England, tion. On entering and leaving a mixed the poplars in particular. We procompany like that of the table d'hôte, ceeded on the road to St. Dennis, every one bows and pays his saluta through a wooded country intermixtions to the company. At breakfast ed with corn-fields and vineyards. dinner, and supper, every one spreads Saw on the road a man and woman a large napkin before him; it is lighting a fire on the back of a large thought barbarous not to use it.—I dead pig. Our postillion's explanawas laughed at this morning for say- tion was, that it was done in order to ing bon matin (good morning). In burn the fat. At St. Dennis, a large England, we say, good morning, good town, only four miles short of Paris, afternoon, &c. ; but the French, only we determined to stop all night, that good day, or good night. In asking we might have an opportunity of seefor any thing at table, we say coming the Chapel Royal, which is the monly in England, I will trouble you to help me, &c. An English gentle man, last year, at a table d'hôte, wishing to partake of a dish which he saw placed next to a Frenchinan, began to address the Frenchman very gravely, "Je vous troublerai, Monsieur;" the Frenchman stared at his apparent rudeness, in proposing to trouble him; but very politely assisted him the moment he understood the nature of his request.-The French complain greatly of the heat, and inquire if it be the same in England. The women in the towns and villages sit in the streets at their work, in small parties, on the shady side. The young women every where have coloured pocket handkerchiefs tied round their heads. At Creil we crossed the River Oise, and proceeded to Chantilly through a beautifully wooded and hilly country. The sight of green trees is very refreshing, after the arid sameness of corn fields and stubbles. At Chantilly we stopped burial-place of the Kings of France. But this is too long a story to be begun at the bottom of a sheet. August 7th.-We left St. Dennis at ten this morning. At entering Paris there was nothing to impress the notion of a Metropolis; no preparatory towns or villages after leaving St. Dennis; and on entering, a remark. able quictness and thinness of popu lation, nor any thing in the streets or shops better than in Amiens and Cambrai, and other towns. But in the neighbourhood where we are quartered, viz. that of the Thuilleries, there is considerable splendour. have as yet seen nothing except in driving through the streets; and the thermometer being now (one o'clock) at 82, 1 am in no haste to explore. Here is, however, no such smoke as in London, and our hotel is very quiet and airy. (To be continued.) Mr. URBAN, X. I May 6. of our enviable country, that there belonged to the Prince of Condé. is surrounded by woods; the country is scarcely a misfortune incident to GENT. MAG. May, 1820. bumad |