Mr. URBAN, THE June 2. HE character which you have given of the late Mr. Simmons of Canterbury, in p. 177 of your volume for the year 1807, was such as he well merited. Mr. Hasted, in his History of Kent, gives the following account of one of the public-spirited works of this gentleman but it deserves to be better known; and if the following particulars, which I took on a late visit to Canterbury, appear to you to be worth inserting in your Miscellany, they are much at your service, as are the inclosed drawings, from the elegant pencil of a friend who accompanied me. (See Plate 1.) Mr. Hasted says, The Dungeon, or Dane-John field, adjoins to, but within the walls of the City, at the S. E. corner of it. At the S. E. corner of this field there is thrown up a vast artificial mount, to all appearance circular, having a deep ditch, from which, no doubt, the earth was taken; it is a great deal higher than the wall ever was, when entire. From the top is a clear view of the City, as well as of a great extent of the adjoining country. On the top formerly stood a windmill. The field consisted of very uneven ground, and had never been levelled. On the outward side of the wall, opposite to this mount, separated by the City ditch and a high road, is another smaller mount." Vol. IV. p. 430. "In 1790, the Dungeon field was with much labour leveled, and planted with trees, and beautifully laid out in walks, for the use and amusement of the publick, at the expence of upwards of £1000. by a private, but liberal-minded citizen, James Simmons, esq. banker, and an alderman of the City, to whom the Corporation granted it for this purpose for life, rent-free." P. 423. "When the Riding-gate was pulled down, Mr. Simmons, when making these improvements, erected a very spacious and Lofty arch over the road, and continued the terrace-walk formed on the City wall over it at his sole expence." P. 415. in it and across it, which form a communication from one part of the City, to another, are graveled, trees planted by the sides, and the grass kept in the nicest order. No horses or carriages are admitted. A gardener, who has the care of it, has a small neat house within it, in the Gothic style. On the mount mentioned by Mr. Hasted; is now erected a square stone. building, from which rises a column. The ascent to it is by a easy spiral walk; the building is inclosed by iron rails, and on each side is a seat for the accommodation of visitors, which is also of iron, not liable to be damaged by the folly of inconsiderate boys. The second only of the following Inscriptions was there, when we visited it; the other having been damaged by the frost, and having been taken down to be repaired; but we got a copy from the stone-mason. 1. "This field and hill were improved, and these terraces, walks, and plantations made in the year 1790, for the use of the Simmons, esq. of this City, alderman and publick, at the sole expence of James Banker. To perpetuate the memory of which generous transaction, and as a mark of gratitude for his other public services, this Pillar was erected by voluntary subscription in 1803.” 2. "The Mayor and Commonalty of this antient City, in consideration of the expensive improvements lately made in this field; unanimously resolved, in 1802, the use of the publick, and to endow it to appropriate the same in perpetuity to with sixty pounds a-year, for the maintenance and support of the terraces, walks, and plantations, payable out of the Chamber." The horse-barracks adjoin to this field on one side, and near them is an open seat, covered at top, like the musick-gallery at Vauxhall, in which the band of such regiment as happens to be quartered in the town, often entertains the company in a summer evening. Yours, &c. Mr. URBAN, A TRAVELLER. May 9. N his article on the TURRETS of The piece of ground which belongs to the Corporation contains about five acres; the circuit nearly half a mile. A terrace is carried along the side of the wall, within three or four feet of the top, so that VIIth's CHAPEL, Mr. Carit forms a parapet. It commands a view of the surrounding country. The ground was originally full of pits, was in the rudest state, and was used for exercising horses, laying dung and rubbish, &c. The walks GENT. MAG. June, 1908. 2 teris very peremptory: he was present at the removal of the capping, be was taking drawings; he is certain "there was no injury that threatened ruin"- "that might not have been re paired." paired." Now, Mr. Urban, the truth of this bold assertion rests upon Mr. Carter's testimony only; for the Mason was present likewise, and he asserts directly the reverse. Believe me, when I testify the Mason possesses as much integrity as Mr. C.: you have, therefore, only assertion for assertion; and if Mr. C. should choose to assert upon oath, the Mason will stand to the same ordeal. This question has been put to him by authority; and he may justly complain of Mr. C. as guilty of a gross calumny, injurious to his character as an artificer, and detracting from his fidelity in his office, an office which is his pride, and which has continued in his family for three generations without impeachment. On the day Mr. C. attended this turret-annihilation, the Mason was taking measurements of the dimensions, proportion, height, and construction; I vouch for the existence of these documents still in his possession, and I only hope that he may live to raise the structures again in their original beauty. There is not an ornament of the whole Chapel which is not preserved in the same hands, either in cast, model, or mathematical drawing. And though Mr. C. warns him to touch nothing* but the mullions, such is his estimation as a man of knowledge in his profession, and fidelity in his engagements, that it ought not to be questioned but that whatever he undertakes he will perform. Thus, after following Mr. C. a second time through the same strictures, I think both you, Mr. Urban, and your readers, will think the subject worn out; so will not Mr. C. He will reply; and five lines of abuse may require an answer of an hundred: but with this subject I have done. There may be a multitude of other grounds for censure, which Mr. C. will not fail to occupy: it is not my intention at present to follow him in his progress, but what provocation may do I cannot determine-he may add fiction to censure, and fight with giants. But, before I close the subject, Mr. C. must permit me to ask a few questions. Does he mean to throw obloquy on those who bear rule in the *What, Mr. Carter, not the turrets? or are they better in ruin than touched by his sacrilegious hand? Church of Westminster? or, if he does, is it leveled at their taste, or their integrity? Knowledge of Antiquity equal to his, they certainly have not; but a desire to maintain their fabrick, so far as is consistent with their duty, they certainly possess; and the sums they have expended for this purpose within these last twenty years, if they were produced, would astonish Mr. C. himself. These are produceable if called for by proper authority. "But the expence has been misapplied"-it may be so: yet they have taken the best advice; and, if they are not Architects themselves, this is all they can do. A client trusts to his counsel, and a patient to his physician. Or does Mr. C. impute all the absurdities in public monuments to their want of taste; he knows nothing of the circumstance. An Artist, under the authority of Parliament, comes and demands space for an enormous mass of marble; without the remuneration of a farthing, he takes ground worth three or four hundred pounds, of which he robs not the members, but the fabrick. He then loads the ground with a burden that it groans under; and expends that upon bulk, which he cannot employ upon art. No complaint is made of the loss incurred by the Church; for all are as ready to contribute to the honour of departed statesmen and warriors as the publick; but the encroachment of the Artist is a real grievance ; and it is to be hoped the publick will not impute all the extravagances of art which appear in these monuments to want of taste in the members of the church, but consider them as lamenting an evil which they have no power to controul. Or does Mr. C. wish to throw a shade of ridicule or contempt on Ec clesiastical Bodies in general, by visiting every Cathedral, and censuring all? From his general character and principles, one would not willingly impute this to him; but this must be the consequence of his reproaches, if they are listened to; and were it possible to suppose his success in this instance, every religious building in the kingdom would be a ruin; for, at the dissolution, those only escaped which were reserved for the Clergy i and all that then fell into lay hands, are now either crumbling to dust or utterly annihilated. A final - A finalcomplaint of Mr. C.'s is all that remains for consideration: - he lamentsthat he is excluded illiberally from prsuing his researches in the Abbey nore particularly, and in some other places, which he only hints at; he imputes this exclusion to one standing on the highest ground of his profession, and bids him hide his head, in contempt. Ought he not rather, with such language in his mouth, to impute his exclusion, when it happens, to his own supercilious ness; and to consider, that a man who enters any house with a disposition to censure every thing he sees in it, can be no welcome visitor any where? And if he is affronted, has he not af fronted thousands? Wherever he approaches without giving offence, his talents will ensure him respect; but if he expects more than is his due, he will certainly meet with less. YOUR OLD CORRESPONDENT. P. W. in your last Supplement, WILL you admit the following Shakspeare's Macbeth, (Act V. Scene Observation on a passage in 5.) into your Miscellany? The Queen, my Lord, is dead. Macb. She should have died hereafter: There would have been a time for such a word. [row, &c." To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-mor I remember to have heard a Critic (a sensible man on the whole, but"aliquando bonus, dormitat") at tempt to remove the apparent desultoriness of this passage, by making "To-morrow" an explanation of "Hereafter;" i. e. supposing it to be the Hereafter when Lady Macbeth was to die. The passage then would stand thus: -She should have died hereafter; p. 1191, may be assured, that the following method of cleaning Prints was successfully pursued by a late collector. May it not, in some cases, be of use in restoring tarnished Books? Should it, upon a careful There would have been a time for such a trial, prove efficacious in the latter as well as in the former, you will have a right to expect another Letter from the Correspondent, who has occa=sioned the present communication from Yours, &c. N. Y. "If the Print should be pasted upon canvas, put it into a copper or kettle of water just boiling; and in three or four minutes it will easily separate from the canvas: next expose it to the sun, by placing it on a grass-plot; and, to prevent the wind from having any effect upon it so as to tear it or blow it away, fix four skewers into the ground near the corners, and tie a string to each of the skewers, crossed from corner to corner, so as to confine it completely: when it becomes dry, wet it again thoroughly; and so on for several days, if necessary, in the same manner as you bleach linen; in which operation, as well as in bleaching Prints, a hot sun is best. If the foulness of the Print should settle in spots, soak those spots well by putting wet linen rags doubled upon them for a considerable time. If soaking in this manner does not get the spots out, put the Print into hot water, gently boiling or very near it; and let it continue for 24 hours: but, if the word for, however desultory the passage "Within this circle none durst walk Mr. URBAN, THE ERICETICUS. May 11. HE beneficial effects which have been experienced, by the use of fumigations with mineral acids, in gion, induces me now to offer the preventing the spreading of conta following suggestion to your Medi cal Readers; hoping some of them will, through your Miscellany, communicate their opinion on the subject. Might not it be of essential service in preventing the spreading of the Small-Pox, if the rooms where the patients A. Z. patients are, and adjoining passages, is Louisa; next, in the selling of were fumigated with nitrous or other the name, which should be spelt acid? If this method should be Strangways, without any e in it, thought proper, I would recommend, and not Strangeways. Thisis a misthat, as soon as the disorder is be- take often committed by serunts and coming infectious, a careful per- the common people in the ountry, son should be instructed by the pa- who almost always miscall people's rish-othcers, or other persons, to names; but, in the instance of this call at the house, and desire permis- very antient and respectable family, sion to adopt this mode. I use the what is most singular is, that Mr. word careful, on account of the dan- Hutchins, the historian of the county ger which there might be from the of Dorset, should have been so i heedless management of such pow- correct or perverse, as all through erful liquors as the mineral acids. his work, to spell the name of the Perhaps in close lanes and alleys family in the same manner, though fumigations out of doors might be all the tomb-stones and other me of benefit. morials of the family in the Church adjoining almost to their antient mansion, and where they have fiourished for centuries past, uniformly spell the name Strangways, in which manner the family themselves have always pronounced it. The family of Strangways have been inhabitants of Melbury these four hundred years past, and have been always of great consequence, as appears by their marriages with the heiresses of the descendants of Thomas of Woodstock, one of the sons of King Edward III. in consequence of which, they have not only inherited many extensive manors and other possessions, but likewise have to boast of the blood of the families of Plantagenet and Valois. I' Mr. URBAN, April 9. T would be deemed a favour if any one could inform me of a cheap and easy method to render linen perfectly transparent and impervious to the rain and air, and which would remain uninjured by heat or cold. The desideratum is, to procure a covering for forcing or melon-frames, and band-glasses, if I may use the expression, not liable to the accidents of glass or paper, and yet answering the purpose of glass altogether. Linen, it appears to me, from its flexibility, is the most likely to answer, as it would not only resist the wind better than paper, but also withstand a smart stroke or a hailstorm much better than either; and, it is conceived, would be nearly as cheap as paper. . All gardeners will feel themselves much indebted to the person who shall make this discovery, but none more than I Mr. URBAN, J. C. May 30. SHALL feel much pleasure in seeing the following little interesting anecdote inserted in the pages of your excellent publication; it is copied from Lloyd's Evening Post of Nov. 22, 1805, p. 498; and, as it relates to one whose name will be ever held dear by all true Sons of Britannia, deserves to be perpetuated beyond the fleeting limits of a newspaper. And who knows but that the child mentioned therein, may, some distant day, rise to a man of valour? D. D. S. Plymouth, Nov. 13, 1805. "A most curious circumstance, respecting the ever-to-be-lamented Lord Nelson, happened on Monday last:-As Colonel Tyrwhitt, Vice-warden of the Stannaries of Cornwall and Devon, was, with other gentlemen, looking through a telescope at the French prizes going up the harbour, he observed a fine little boy, of an open countenance, cheering with his playfellows, and heard him several times called Nelson Nelson. This raised, on being often repeated, his curiosity to know who the boy was.. Col. Tyrwhitt went to his father's cottage, who was a quarry-man, and lived at Rusty Anchor, under the West Hoe. By this time the boy was returned, first appearing shy; but, on a little conversation, this wore off, and the boy said Lord Nelson was his godfather, but he was shot and killed, the other day, in a great battle. The Colonel then entered the hut, and found the father, who had lost a limb in the Minotaur in the Battle of the Nile, and his wife, and four children, clean, though poorly dressed. Col. Tyrwhitt then asked if the circumstance was true, of Lord Nelson's being godfather to this little boy, and was answered Yes; the mother then produced the certificate of his baptism, at the British Factory Chapel, Leghorn, July, 1800, attested by the Clergyman, the Rev. Mr. Cummins, and signed, Emma Hamilton, The child was named Horatio Nelson. His mother was washer-woman on board the Minotaur, 74 guns, Capt. Louis. When the child was born in the Bay of Leghorn, his Lordship, Sir William, and Lady Hamilton, said they would stand Donsors. He had promised, when the by grew up, to put him to school, and give him a nautical education. But, after the Peace of Amiens, these poor people, through ignorance, forgot (though desired by his Lordship when he sailed for England) to write him where they were settled. The Minotaur was paid off at this port; and the father of the boy, with his small pension and by hard work, contrived to maintain his family ever since. After talking over the kindness of Lord Nelson to this poor little boy, if he had known their situation and place of abode, Col. Tyrwhitt determined to follow up his Lordship's good wishes, has taken the boy as his protege; and, with his usual humanity, hat him directly clothed, and has put him to school, meaning to give him a regular nautical education, to fit him for the naval service of his country. A little purse, by way of subscription, for present purposes, has been opened, under the patronage of Mrs. Admiral Sutton; which will, no doubt, be soon filled, out of respect to the memory of a Hero, beloved, admired, and almost adored, and whose memory will be cherished, and entwined round the heart-strings of every lover of British Naval virtue and heroism." ronetcy in their arms, whilst others retain it; permit me to drop a hint on the subject. If, in any respect, 1 am erroneous, no doubt some of your Correspondents, informed in the science of Heraldry, will favour me with their remarks. The Baronets of England and Ireland, bear the arms of the province of Ulster, on their armorial coat, on an escocheon in the centre, or in chief, viz. Argent, a sinister hand, couped at the wrist, and erect Gules. The Baronets of Nova Scotia bear in like manner, on an escocheon Argent, the cross saltire of St. Andrew, Azure, charged with an inescocheon, of the Royal arms of Scotland, ensigned with the imperial crown (this, encircled with the motto Fax mentis honesta gloria, is also worn by them round the neck, from an orange tawny ribbon; and is sometimes displayed with their arms). Though the patent of creation also allows the afore-mentioned distinctions to be borne on a canton, yet the escocheon method is generally considered to be more clear and distinct. When a Baronet is advanced to the Peerage, it is thought to be highly improper to maim the shield, by erasing and discontinuing the ensigns of Baronetcy; it being an hereditary honour personally and immediately belonging to the noble Peer himself, and, of course, cannot be used and borne by his sons or daughters in their arms; nor with the courtesy honours of the heir apparent, who improperly, though customarily, assames a coronet, to represent the second title, with the supporters. But it is supposed the emblems of Baronetcy can, and should only be borne and used by the noble head of the family, in his arms, declarative that he enjoys this distinct honour. Also, upon succession to the honours of the family, this, and the proper coronet, supporters, &c. should be added to the shield. Mr. URBAN, J. B. June 1. S the person who now writes is A probably the only surviving one who can vouch for the truth of the Narrative, which you have reviewed in p. 143; I think it may gratify the curious to know, that the As is undoubtedly discontinue to use the badge of Ba true; as the story was related by Robert |