but from some externall violence of cask, or carriage, or the like? Therefore wee knock boldly at your cellardoore, and request onely to bee heard, that is, to bee tasted. Accompanying it with the heartiest wishes that an obliged reall freinde can breath, and resting yours affectionately to serve you.

God bless my Grandsonne *, and rewarde you for him. J. SCUDAMORE."

2. Cùm sub tuo moderamine (Vir Reverende) tam diu bonis literis institutus, tanti viri sanctioribus curis summoque favore intimiùs fruebar, pudet, fateor, post tot exactos annost pro tantis beneficiis jam primùm gratias retribuere; timeremque ne ipsa gratiarum actio, cùm tam sera sit, indicium ingratitudinis videretur, nisi cognovissem tantum tuum esse

erga tuos candorem, ut hinc colligeres potiùs non posse ingratum esse animum, qui beneficiorum quæ tot abbinc annis contulisti, firmiter semper religiosèque retinet memoriam. Fateor olim in animo esse, semperque me ab illo favoris tui memori incitari, aliquod tibi meæ gratitudinis specimen offerre, ninimèque in hoc distulissem tempus nisi tam ingentia tua in me merita sic deterruissent, ut putaverim me non omnino posse, nisi post diuturniorem in Academia moram felicioresque in studiis progressus, aliquid tibi offerre quod videatur illis aliquatenus dignum; et profectò conscius adhuc, quàm minimè possum hoc præstare, diuturniore silentio credo me ingratè usurum, nisi tuis donis quæ nuper mihi misisti sic prioribus beneficiis accumulasti nova, ut eligerem potiùs tibi quocunque modo meam prodere tenuitatem, quàm pro his meam gratitudinem ulteriùs non agnoscere, nî, dum meæ tenuitati addam etiam ingratitudinem, duplice nomine fiam tuo favore indignus. Precor igitur ut hæc grati animi officia eâdem quâ solitus eras in me tua conferre beneficia acciperes benignitate, ate, quæ quanta sunt aliundè cupio æstimari, nisi quatenus exprimunt meam gratitudinem, quæ qualis sit satis inde apparere potest, quòd eligerem potiùs per hæc, quàm indignus sum tanto tuo favore, apertè indicare, quàm post tot accepta beneficia non præstare. Sed cum levia

non

* James Scudamore, King's Scholar, 1661. † Elected to Oxford, 1666.

hæc non possint exprimere, quanta tibi debeo, gratulor meæ fortunæ me a Decano munere dignum putari, in quo mihi data est occasio, etiam per industriam ulteriùs indicare, quanto in precio habeo tuum favorem, in quo, quid à nobis actum sit, quamvis à Reverendo viro cui has meas com: misi literas possis pleniùs informari, nonnulla tamen immatura mea in illo tentamina, primitiasque laboris tibi mitto, quæ, quamvis hoc legendi genus quatenus à Decano doctus tuis legibus prohibitum ulteriùs non exerceo, spero tamen ostendent me, si non præstitisse, saltem tentasse aliquid quod in aliorum utilitatem tuumque honorem conduxisse videatur. Hæc qualiacunque sunt tibi humiliter offero, quæ tamen prius fuere tua, speroque me per illa aliquatenus indicare quantum cupio per

omnia grati animi officia videri seinper esse tui favoris studiosissimus

HUMPH. PRIDEAUX."

3. REV. SIR, Wells, Aug. 28, 81. It is now a month since I came hither, to Wells; and, having taken some prospect of our Church affaires, I thought fitt to let you know how ready I am to execute any of your commands. I find all here in peace; were it not for one Dissenting Brother, who (I feare) will never be otherwise; and at the last Chapter (as they tell me) flew out, and declared he would never more come to their meeting. I am to try what I can do with him against our next Assembling at Michaelmas. The two junior Canons (Mr. Dutton and Mr. Sandys) will (I hope) prove usefull men in the Church.-Sir, you need not doubt of having right done you the next Audit, in respect to your former arreares, when the desperate debt, was so unhandsomely assigned you for payment. As for what Dr. Fane owed you, his wife declares that she hath administered to the summe of many hundreds of pounds beyond what she needed, in paying severall debts more than she was bound to: One and twenty pounds (as I thinke 1 formerly told you) she acknowledgeth to be due to you, and hath given in to the Church a remnant of her Husband's bookes, in lieu of that summe; which (it seemes) the Canons thought best to lay hold of, whilst they were to be had. They are now layd aside in the Audit-house till your pleasure be knowne concerning them: If they be worth that money, I thinke it is the utmost. If you please to have them prized and sold, the money shall be accounted to you. There are severall of them which are not in our Library; which if you please to have added to the Catalogue of your Beneficence, you will still enlarge the Churches obligations to you: The rest may either be exchanged for others which we want, or else sold, as you shall give order. This should have gone by Dr. Creighton, but his Majestyes sudden resolutions for Newmarket hath turned his course immediately that way. I perceive Dr. Holt is very slow in making up his accounts with you, but he saith he will do it speedily. He is now no lesse than 4 yeares behind in paying the Augmentation which our Church made to the Vicarage of Mudford; we summoned him lately about it, and he hath promised satisfaction; as he hath likewise to James Williams, to whom he hath not yet payd the 5l. you were pleased to appoint the last yeare for his paines in overseeing the reparations of your house. I thinke I did then, at the request of Dr. Creighton and other Canons, propose to you the entertaining of Mr. Greene for your Vicar, who is a man usefull in the Quire, poore, and having divers children. I am now desired to renew the same petition to you: You know, Sir, it is what the Charter requires of us all, and no man ever declined it, but Dr. Fane, toward his latter time, whose Nobility privileged him to do any thing that was ignoble.

I hope the next dividend (by helpe of Sir John Sydenham's fine, when it comes,) will give encouragement to all your charitable intentions; and if you designe any thing to be distributed to the poore, here is Mr. Hobs, an old poore vicar, whose wife now lyes at charge for the use of the Bath, desires me humbly to recommend his case to you. In whatsoever you please to command me, I am, Rev. Sir, your most faithfull and obedient servant,

RA. BATHURST."

4. "SIR, Ch. Ch. Oxon, Jan. 13, 86.

THE Common Prayer Bookes, and Explications of the Church Catechisme, which I bestowed as your guift on the children in St. Peter's

parish, according to your orders transmitted to me by Dr. Hickman, were acknowledged by their parents with such affectionate expressions of gratitude towards you, for that addition to your greater bounty, annually dispensed to your Lecturer on their behalfe and for their benefit; that I esteemed myself oblidged bound to return theirs, together with my own most humble thankes to you, for the continuance of your generous charity to them, and most oblidging favours to myselfe. I have found so good effects of it on the children themselves, in an apparent forwardness, and ingenuous emulation who shall give the most perfect account of the Catechisme before the congregation, and in bringing their bookes with them to Church, and repeating distinctly the responses throughout the whole Divine Service, as emboldens me to solicite your farther charity to be bestowed on Bibles, or what other good practicall bookes of Christianity you shall please particularly to appoint, for those who are more adult; and on Explications of the Church Catechisme and Common Prayer Bookes, as before, for the younger sort, who want them. If you shall be pleased by any hand to send me your commission for this purpose, I will faithfully and punctually observe your instructions. I will go on to do my best endeavour to establish that people in a sound beleife of the Articles of Christian Religion; and to prevail on them to shew the sincerity of their faith, by a sober, righteous, and godly conversation.

That God would be pleased long to continue you in health and prosperity, as a most eminent instrument of his glory, and great public good to this Church and kingdome; and hereafter reward your labors and charity with eternall happiness in the life to come, shall ever be the most hearty prayer of, Sir, your most faithfull, and most humble servant,

S you have ascertained the Poetical Inscription on the Monument to Mrs. Mason, in Bristol Cathedral, and that also in Prose to the memory of Lady Palmerston in the Church of Romsey, Hants; I wil

P. S. By the present judicious plan of republishing works which may be called high priced, rather than dear, as valuable not merely from scarcity, butsterling merit, I have been enabled to procure a new edition of a work I have long wished to possess, "Fuller's Worthies of England," with a very fine and most pleasing print of the Author, which one may almost assert to have been taken from a striking likeness. It is curious to observe the occasional coincidence of circumstances at distant periods of times. At presen present the provincial papers which circulate through Bedfordshire are crowded with controversial calculations on Canals, by an intention of forming a petty junction with the Grand Junction near the town of Bedford. Fuller's "Farewell" to that County in 1662 is:

"Being to take my farewell of this County, I am minded of the mistake (what Writer is free from them?) in Mr. Stowe, telling us of tide-boats, till†boats and barges, which come from Bed

* From Whitehead's Poems, 1774, vol. 11. p. 236. + Quære tilt?

fordshire down the Thames to London*, which surely must row over many miles of drie-land in their passage thereunto. But if there be a possibility of such a conveyance by art and industry to be effectedt, may his words prove true by way of prediction, seeing certainly such a conveniency must needs be advantageous to this County!"

Mr. URBAN,

A

Jan. 9.

T length Mrs. Mason's epitaph is decidedly ascertained; and so it might have been from your vol. LXIV. p. 64, where it is conjunctly and correctly printed. But your Correspondent (LXXXII. p. 416) mistakes in supposing that "Whoe'er like me," &c. (rightly referred to as in vol. XLVII. p. 240, under the title of "Inscriptive Verses, written by a Gentleman whose Lady died at BristolWells," and which, it now appears, are not on the Tomb of Lady Palmerston) were written by Dr. Hawkesworth on his Wife. The Doctor died Νον. 16, 1773; and his tomb at Bromley is inscribed by his Relict (see vol. LI. p. 370). See also an Epitaph for him, by his friend Fawkes, vol. XLIII, p. 614; Verses to his Memory, vol. XLIV. p. 231; and " Verses found near his Grave" (vol. XLV. p. 292), written, if not by, at least in the character of his amiable Widow, who survived till Sept. 23, 1796, (vol. LXVI. p. 798).Query then, whose are the above verses, and on whom written? Yours, &c.

CARADOC.

1

Mr. URBAN, Witham, Dec. 12, 1812. MONGST a variety of modern

A

discoveries which have attracted the attention of the Philosopher, or of the Politician; few, if any, will probably be attended with more important results than the introduction of powerful and highly-improved machinery into our manufactories; whether we consider their effects on commerce, on the population, or on the prosperity of the country at large. In viewing the fair side of the question, webehold our manufacturers excelling in the quality, appearance, and texture of their goods; and, from the immense power of their machines, enabled to

* " Stowe, in Survey of London, p. 18, writing of the River Thames. F.

+ "This, modern ingenuity and enterprize have in many places effected by Canals, N."

sell on terms below all precedent; thus giving their Merchants a decided advantage over all competitors, if not ultimately the trade of the world. But, on the other hand, we are constrained to allow, an evil arises from these improvements, of the greatest magnitude, nearly commensurate with the benefits achieved; viz. the immediate distress and want of work for the labouring poor, without any prospect of alleviation; as all the advantage arises from dispensing with their services; in other words, by doing with twenty hands what used to employ an hundred, leaving the remaining eighty a dead weight on the community, to be maintained by the same manufacturers, under the denomination of parochial poor, instead of industrious workmen. From this circumstance we are led to deduce the following inference, that, however plausible and specious the machine system may appear in theory, its practical effects as to national prosperity, cannot be fully realized till some remedy is found for so dreadful and extensive an evil, an evil nurturing every bane to improvement, and undermining our fairest prospects.

Under these convictions, and animated by sincere affection to my country, I beg leave through the medium of your Miscellany, to suggest a few hints to those whose phiTanthropic zeal and public spirit, combined with political power, may fit them for maturing a plan at once to ameliorate the condition of the unemployed manufacturing poor, and to render that physical strength, which is at present useless, if not dangerous, subservient to the well-being and prosperity of the state.

Some of our first agriculturists are of opinion that the growth of corn in this country, of late years, has not been equal to the consumption; and also that the enclosure of lands on a large scale has been disadvantageous to individuals, however beneficial to the publick, from the insufficiency of private capital, where the returns must inevitably be slow, though eventually profitable and sure. It is therefore proposed, as a radical cure for one and all of these evils, to cultivate our WASTE LANDS, whether in the possession of the Crown, or other wise (not as a private speculation, but

under the immediate direction and support of Government), by employing the superabundant population of the manufacturing districts, under similar regulations, and organized in the same way as foreign colonies, with only this difference, that in Settlements abroad, the whole expense must unavoidably fall on the Treasury; whereas in this case a great proportion might be raised from the parishes relieved, as with apprentices, distant paupers, &c. independent of the important advantage derived from the increased value of the land.

Thus might our poor be immediately employed, who otherwise, from idleness and wretchedness, may become the easy dupes of the factious and disaffected, the greatest quantity of land be brought into cultivation in the shortest possible time, when, from the unhappy state of the Continent, and our relations with America, no foreign supplies can be relied on; and our manufactories, gradually emancipated from the enormous burthen of parish rates, would alone present with renovated vigour the fair side of that picture we before alluded to, while the helpless poor would themselves be benefited under the existing laws in their behalf, in drawing their future support from cultivated land, instead of embarrassed trade.

Mr. URBAN, ERMIT me

PE

GERMANICUS.

Jan, 12.

to offer to your ac

ceptance a few observations suggested by different articles in your last month's Miscellany.

P. 503*. You serve the publick by admitting into your publication the observations of E. P. respecting sevéral foolish phrases which fashionable Simpletons are endeavouring to bring into use: permit me to mention, in continuation, the complaints that I every now and then hear Ladies making of themselves or others, that they are extremely unwell, or are very much inconvenienced by something or other.

P.505. If your Correspondent T. V. will consuit Abp. Newcome on the Minor Prophets, or other judicious Commentators, who will open their eyes, and judge for themselves without a blind and slavish attachment to authority, he will see great reason to believe that the last six chapters at tributed tributed to Zechariah were not written by that Prophet. If many parts of the Old Testament were written in verse, as they certainly were, and that versification were a guide to those who divided them into verses, how does this militate against the idea that they might be divided into verses and chapters in modern times ?

P. 510. Biographicus may be assured that the Lady he speaks of has an undoubted right to quarter the arms of Compton, and to transmit them, though not those of Berkeley, to her heirs; inasmuch as, for want of male heirs, she is heiress of a branch of the Compton family. His observations about several new peerages are very just: but there is no greater absurdity in any of the new creations than to see persons created Peers of Ireland with titles taken from places in England; for instance, Auckland, Kensington, Teignmouth, Hood of Catherington, Rendleshara, Milford, &c. The sons of the younger sons of Dukes and Marquisses both in England and Scotland have the title of Honourable given them by courtesy, their fathers having been titular Lords. I do not conceive that either Scots or Irish Peers are privileged from arrest, quatenus tales, unless they be of the number of Representative Peers, or, in the latter case, Members of the House of Commons: they have no duty to perform in Parliament which would be prevented by their being arrested. Surely your Occasional Correspondent" charges Mr. Archdall, the Continuator of Lodge, with impropriety, without reason: if Richard Jones were third Viscount (and only Earl) of Ranelagh, surely Charles Jones, his next successor, at what time soever he succeeded to the title, could be no other than fourth Viscount.-For "William Baker, Member for Staffordshire," read "late Member for Hertfordshire."

66

P. 512. There is some mistake in the bill for curing the broken head: either the Surgeon charged for his servant 2s. or else the whole amount of the bill is but 10s. 6d.

P. 514. The pious and just "Considerations on the custom of Visiting on Sundays" were first published in 1771, as an Appendix to "Short Meditations on select Portions of Scripture, designed to assist the serious Christian in the improvement of the

Lord's-day and other seasons of devotion and leisure, by Daniel Turner, A. M." who, I believe, was a Baptist Minister at Abingdon in Berkshire, and died some years since. In his preface the author says that "most of them are the substance and chief branches, (or, in fashionable language, the skeletons) of sermons preached from the several texts at the respective heads of them;" and at the end of it he adds, that these "Considerations were communicated to him by a particular friend, from a very pious and worthy Clergyman of the Established Church *, with a desire that they might be published with the Meditations, as particularly agreeable to the design of them." whole of the first paragraph, as far as the Qu. is printed in Italicks, as being introductory to the rest; and at the word ' Injunction,' about the middle of p. 515. col. i. is inserted the following note:

The

"The merciful and benevolent Creator intended the Sabbath as a day of rest for the Cattle, as well as for Men: and it is a degree of cruelty, as well as a breach of the divine Commandment, to use our Cattle on Sundays, except in cases of absolute necessity. And that we may not deceive ourselves by calling those cases of necessity which are not so, let every one when he is going to use his cattle on a Sunday, ask himself, as in the presence of God, whether he really think it is a case of such necessity as will justify his doing it at the day of judgement."

P. 557. b, line 10. For five, read six. Will any of your intelligent Correspondents, Mr. Urban, do me the honour to inform me, what Baronet, existing in 1683, bore for his arms, Ermine, a Lion rampant, and Canton, Sable, with the arms of Ulster in an Inescutcheon on the body of the Lion? The gentleman may very probably have been connected with Hertfordshire, or one of the adjacent counties.

J. B.

Errata in Vol. LXXXII. Part ii. Page 321, a. line 1, for " place" read "places."-line 6, for "man" read "men."

Page 327, a, line 43, for " 1 Sam. xii. 31," read "2 Sam. xii. 31." Page 549, b, line 25, for "dependants" read" descendants."

* See p. 20.

Mr.