among whom there are so many old women, might be employed as nurses; and some would naturally become undertakers, as a congenial profession. The beneficed clergy are two big for the funnel of a chimney; but as they know something of the good things of this, as well as of the other world, they might be usefully engaged as restaurateurs, end keepers of eating-houses. The high-flown singers, Catalani, Billington, Storace, and Braham, might distinguish themselves in the Cries of London, and rival even those of Venice. of their personal charms; and when they can no longer fascinate by external allurements, they may be led to cultivate the mind, and thus become better housewives. The young men will thus be induced to prefer virtue to beauty, and lasting esteem will supersede temporary passion. Hence the danger to female virtue would be prevented in proportion to the extinction of the Co Cow-pock; though it has been asserted by some chaste old maids, that the young misses are in more danger from leaving off stiff and long-peaked stays, than even from the Cow Pock; and that, since this fashion took place, there is scarcely a pretty girl any better than she should be. J. С. МоттLES. As a matter of domestic economy, the Small-Pox doubtless entails the most important advantages, for as a family of children is an heavy expence in the present times, this pestilential disease, bydestroying half of them, renders living much easier; and as to the charge of burying them, it is only for once, and the little creatures sleep quietly in their graves, and give no trou-nary Bill now before Parliament, ble afterwards. It is likewise a great saving also to the parishes, which have already expended throughout England only 10,000l. for coftins for the poor who have died by the Small Pox during the last year, and 20,000 poor children being thus got rid of, must prove a great saving in future; and if those who recover should be blind, or have the king's evil, and cannot work, it would be no great hardship to the parishes, which save so much by deaths, to maintain the survivors; and then the poor little deformed and blind creatures might live comfortably in a workhouse, exempt from labour for daily subsistence, and depend like its other denizens, upon the industry of others. In a moral point of view, the Small-pox possesses peculiar and decided advantages. It might appear invidious, whilst on this subject, to raise one sex on the degradation of the other; but it may perhaps be candidly admitted, that if the female sex be not more volatile, they possess at least a share of levity, and if they are less ambitious, they do not lack vanity, which has been increased wherever the Cow-pock has prevailed, which, by preserving their beauty, may have augmented their pride. The Small-pox, by marring the softness and smoothness of feature, may render them less admirers I Mr. URBAN, May 19. CANNOT avoid offering you my sentiments on the very extraordi : called the Stipendiary Curates Bill. As a friend to that respectable body of men, the Curates, i am ready to allow that they ought to have liberal salaries; that is, stipends sufficient to maintain their families in credit, and gain them respect in their parishes; but have not the late Acts of Parliament done this? "If I mistake not, by them a Curate having the care of a large living is entitled to a 5th part of that living, and one serving a smaller to £.75 a year, and the parsonage-house. I know not what Mr. Perceval means by the Bill, but it seems to me to be giving a deathblow to the independence of the Incumbents. [See our Review, p. 523.] The misfortune is, that when any Bill relating to the Clergy is brought into the House, it passes without be ing considered, as there is nobody to represent the Clergy in the Lower House, and no one to regard their interest. In the case in question, only that respectable nobleman Lord Porchester spoke to the purpose; and I am sure he merits the thanks of the Clergy. If the Legislature consider the matter properly, they must acknowledge that they are highly obliged to the Incumbents of the different parishes for stemming the tide of disaffection which had begun to break forth some years ago. I say Incumbents; for they, 1 they, as having fired interest in their country, exerted themselves accordingly. They pay their taxes chearfully, and more in proportion than any other part of the landed property, as theirs are only life-estates and liable to great reductions; and are assiduous to keep order and decorum in their respective parishes. And what is their recompence; but to have Bills continually intruded into the House, which, if they do not tend to sow discord between the Rector or Vicar and his Curate, at least do not promote that harmony between them, so necessary to the good of the parish., If the Incumbent has all the responsibility, and a great one it is, let him not lose the few privileges he has, the principal of which is appointing his own Curate.. I The present Bill is putting power into the hands of the Bishops, which I am persuaded they do not want. trust Mr. Perceval is not aware of the consequences of it. Whom does he mean to favour by it? If the Curates, be may be assured they will ultimately be hurt by it, as none but they who are obliged to it from infirmity or particular circumstances will have any: thus many will be thrown on the Legislature to provide for. If the residence of the Clergy is zimed at by this Bill, the Residence Bill is sufficient, and it will be found that farther compulsory measures will have no good effect. The situation of the beneficed Clergy of this Country has been enviable, but is no longer so; the con tinual Bills introduced to destroy their independence are extremely vexatious; and if this should pass, it will be better to be a Curate than an Incumbent. I say again, that I would wish every Clergyman who is so unfortu nate as not to have preferment, to have a liberal salary, a salary fully Proport proportioned to the dearness of provisions; but if it Visions; is thought right to increase them in this rapid and unbeard - of manner, the Legislature should do it; nor will it be the worst money they advance. It should also be remembered, that an Incumbent from various reasons can seldom get what is due to him; but the Curate is sure of his salary. P PHILECCLESIE. May 24, ERMIT me to make some additions to the account given in your Magazine, p. 273, of the late Mr. Serjeant Hill. He was of an antient family, and descended from Sir John Hill of Hounston, in the County of Somerset, knight, who died about the beginning of the reign of Edward the Third; as appears by an office of inquest, taken in the same reign, 1341. Your statement of the number of his children and grand-children and-children is correct. He had two daughters: the one married T. C. Maunsell, esq. of Thorpe Malsover, Lieut.-colonel in the Northamptonshire Militia; the other married the Hon. William Cockayne, youngest son of the late, and heir presumptive of the present Viscount Cullen, of Rushton-hall, in the County of Northampton. I knew the Serjeant very well for many years, and have been in habits of intimacy. with the different members of his family a considerable time; but never heard the anecdote of his disliking that Mrs, Hill should assume the additional name of Medlycott, or that he had the smallest objection to her signing or being called by it. An Act of Parliament, pursuant to a clause in the will of her father, was obtained, empowering her to take the name, and use the arms, of Medlycott only; and the Serjeant was too scrupulous an observer of laws and ordinances, not to wish that the statute should be strictly complied with, From his early youth he was strongly-attached to literary pursuits, and when at Cambridge, a great favourite with the famous blind professor Sanderson, who often declared that he would prove one of the greatest proficients in the mathematicks this country ever produced, if he devoted his studies to that science. All who were acquainted with him concur in opinion, that, amidst his numerous eccentricities, he was a man of most unimpeachable character, character, retentive memory, deep erudition, and profound knowledge of the Laws and Constitution of his Country. Hewas also an excellent classical scholar, and often said of himself, that he did not read multa, but multum. Until he approached towards the conclusion of life, he was blessed with an uninterrupted state of good health, to the preservation of which he was always peculiarly attentive. May the remembrance of his talents, his probity, and virtues, live when every recollection of his oddities has perished! YOUR CONSTANT READER. Mr. URBAN W June 12. 1 ITH what grateful emotions does the enlightened mind contemplate its vast obligations to the benefactors of mankind! to those philosophers, scholars, and moralists, whose deep and laborious researches have so largely contributed to our mental culture! What secret stores of knowledge have they not unfolded? How many facilities of acquiring wisdom and science have they not furnished? How have they enlarged the faculties of the human mind! Grateful for the labours of such exalted characters, nations have vied with each other in doing them honour. What then is our surprize and regret, that the immortal John Locke, one of the greatest philosophers, and best of men, that this or any other age or country ever produced, is in the land of his fathers neglected, unhonoured, and undis tinguished by any monumental pile! But can his name or his worth be for gotten? Or shall we be satisfied that the name of a Locke should only be embalmed in our grateful recollection? That he should have been neglected for more than a century, is at once matter of regret and astonishment. To do justice to his exalted memory, and as a stimulus to others who labour in the mines of knowledge, and who are anxious for human improvement, to redeem the honour of our Country, and prove to the enlightened world our love of virtue and sense of national obligation, at length we resolve to raise a monument to his fame. The Committee for carrying into effect the above dignified object have, through the channel of the newspapers, pub lished their intentions. Subscriptions of two guineas and upwards, we understand, will be received at the Literary Fund Office, the use of which has been generously offered to the Committee for the purpose, and where the model of the intended monument may be viewed by the publick. Yours, &c. AN ADMIRER OF LOCKE. P.S. The Committee have also signified that each subscriber is to have an elegant engraving of the monument, and that subscribers of five guineas shall be presented with a medal executed by the celebrated Mr. Bolten of Soho, with the head of Locke, and on the reverse a representation of the monument; and those of ten guineas the same in silver. I Mr. URBAN, May 20. N Barber's Tour, &c. 1803, page 160, we read under Glamorganshire, South Wales: "Not far from Ewenny, on the sea-coast, is Duntaven House or Castle * * * * at length fell to the Vaughans, the last of whom (as tradition relates) was such an unprincipled wretch, that he set up lights, and used other devices to mislead seamen, in order that they might be wrecked on his manor. But his crimes did not escape punishment: for it is said that three of his sons were drowned in one day by the following accidents. Within sight of the house is a large rock called the Swancer. dry only at low water, to which two of the sons went in a boat to divert themselves; but not taking care to fasten their vessel, on the rising of the tide it was washed away, and they were left to the horrors of their fate-inevitable, as the family had no other boat, nor was their any other in the neighbourhood. Their distress was seen from the house; and in the confusion, their infant brother being left alone, fell into a vessel of whey, and was drowned, almost at the same instant with the other two."? The Law-books, by the punishments marked against certain crimes, prove plain enough that such crimes have been committed. Sce Stat. 22 Geo. II. c. 19, for enforcing the Laws against persons who shall steal or detain shipwrecked goods, and for the relief of persons suffering losses thereby; whereby it is enacted (among other things) that persons convicted convicted of plundering, stealing, &c. shipwrecked goods, &c. or of obstructing the escape of any person from a wreck, or of putting out false lights to bring any ship or vessel into danger, shall suffer death. NAUTA. Mr. URBAN, Y June 4. p. OUR Correspondents R. S. 222, and Animadvertator, p. 284, with a sort of pedantic astonishment express their admiration at the advertisement of manuscript sermons; and the latter asks, with an affected sneer, in what newspaper is it to be found? He must be no great reader of newspapers, for it is in many, and particularly the Cambridge Chronicle. Now perhaps, Sir, these gentlemen are very learned divines, and composers of very learned sermons, and very eloquent deliverers of the same, though I should rather think it more probable that they are either pedantic schoolmasters, or bawlers of nonsense in conventicles. But, whoever they are, I dare say many of their hearers would be as well pleased, and quite as much edified, with passages from Barrow or Beveridge, and many others; and surely they may be uttered with as much feeling and animation as any thing these learned gentlemen can produce. I conceive, Sir, the chief end of preaching is to edify and instruct; and surely it can be no presumption to say, that it can be done as well or better by extracts from our old learned Divines, as by anything a person can ordinarily produce of his own. If they hear not such discourses into the pulpit. These, to be sure, are not manuscripts; but these gentlemen seem to ftout and scout introducing anything into the pulpit but your own compositions, and particularly the tame manner of reading what others have written: but why in a tamer manner than what you write yourself? I cannot better con clude than with the passage of Addison I have before referred to. Speaking of Sir Roger going on with his story about his chaplain: "The gentleman we were talking of," says he, "came up to us; and upon the Knight's asking him who preached to-morrow (for it was Saturday night) told us, the Bishop of St. Asaph in the morning, and Dr. South in the afternoon. He then shewed us a list of his preachers for the whole year; where I saw with a great deal of pleasure Archbishop Tillotson, Bishop Sanderson, Dr. Barrow, Dr. Calamy, with several living authors, who have published discourses of practical divinity. I no sooner saw this venerable man in the pulpit, but I very much approved of my friend's insisting upon the qualifications of a good aspect and a clear voice, for I was s0 charmed with the gracefulness of his figure and delivery, as well as with the discourses he pronounced, that I think I never passed any time more to my satisfaction. A sermon repeated after this manner, is like the composition of a poet in the mouth of a graceful actor. I could heartily wish that more of our country clergy would follow this example; and instead of wasting their spirits in laboriendeavour after a handsome elocution, and all those other talents that are proper to enforce what has been penned by greater masters. This would be not only more easy to themselves, but more edifying to the people." the divine truths of the Gospel soous compositions of their own, would eloquently illustrated by our most excellent predecessors in this way, by far the major part of our congregations are never likely to hear them thus at all: and the preacher himself must be cold indeed, who is not warmed by the eloquence of Barrow and others, and of course more likely to deliver himself with more animation, than by uttering any crude, undigested stuff of his own. I am supported in my sentiments upon this subject by men, I will venture to say, at least as wise as your correspondents; viz. Addison, in the Spectator, No. 106, to whom I shall hereafter revert; and Dr. Glasse, who has very lately published 15 sermons abridged, and modernized from Bishop Beveridge, and approves of introducing W. June 3. communications having lately been made to you under the initials I. M. P. which have been applied to me, as answering to J. P. M. transposed, I feel myself compelled to declare that I am not the writer of the papers alluded to, neither have I the least knowledge of the author *. Yours, &c. J. P. MALCOLM. We know these Correspondents to be different persons. EDIT. 86. Memoirs of Josias Rogers, Esq. Commander of His Majesty's Ship Quebec. By the late William Gilpin, M. A. Prebendary of Salisbury, and Vicar of Boldre, in New Forest. Published by his Trustees, for the Benefit of his School at Boldre. 8vo. Cadell and Davies. T HE British Character glows in this short specimen of British Biography; whose Author takes every opportunity of impressing it on sympathetic minds, whether by recital of Britons saving the lives of their Countrymen or their Enemies. Mercy like this is the true companion of Bravery. It makes the bosom glow with a generous flame, which excludes all resentment. It fixes a smile even on the rugged features of War. We have other kind of traits in this true Hero-those of gratitude to GOD, and duty to his Relations and his Country; and his merits always went beyond their recompence." 66 If the present Review appears pregnant with gratitude and feeling, be it remembered as a monument which the Writer of it is proud to consider as erected to both. 87. Cordiner's Description of Ceylon. THE interior of the country is entirely destitute of roads, for which paths overgrown by bushes, and rendered imperfect by the rapid vegeta tion of the soil, are wretched substitutes. Wheeled carriages are consequently useless beyond the boundaries of the British territory; and even the palanquins of the natives are forced with difficulty through the thickets. The revenue, according to Mr. Cordiner, is very inadequate to the expenditure, the deficit payable from the Treasury being £.103,400; who allows £40,000 as the profit of the pearl fishery, and 2.60,000 paid annually by the East India Company for cinnamon; and asserts that the remainder of the receipts proceed from rent of land, markets, fisheries, taxes on Moors and Chitties, arrackshops, cock-fighting, wearing of jewels, and duties on various articles of export and import. Almost all the rice raised pays a tithe of the crop to Government; gardens are taxed in money; but some lands are exempt by the cast of their owners. 629 small vessels cleared out from CoGENT. MAG. June, 1808, lumbo in 1902; the duty on the export of Areka nuts was £.12,268; the calico or cloth imported was valued at £.51,650; 137,337 bags of rice, exclusive of the same article in the husk, were entered duty-free; and the total of the duties in the above year was £.19,160 sterling. Before 1802 Ceylon was under the controul of the East India Company, but is now a Royal government, and, with all the disadvantages enumerated, is a most important acquisition, and may be made more productive by judicious management, besides being essential to the security of our other possessions in India. We have thought it necessary to give the preceding abstract of the Author's general description of Cey lon, in order to shew the nature and probable future advantages of the island. It now remains for us to examine the manner in which the subject has been treated, and to point out such passages as are of particular interest. Mr. C. pays a handsome compliment to the memory of Capt. Robert Knox, who wrote a most accurate account of Ceylon 126 years past, by introducing a long extract from his work; and adds, "This book did not fall into my hands until after my own description was finished and it is a matter of curiosity to observe how much they agree when they treat of the same subjects. Whatever extracts are made from it in this work may be considered as entitled to implicit credit." In the entertaining description of Columbo which follows, we are informed by Mr. C. that it is extremely regular and beautiful, with double rows of trees in the streets, and werandas or piazzas before the houses, on which the communication for walking is only interrupted by balustrades. The trees have a dense foliage; are evergreen, and bear yellow blossoms, at certain periods, as large as tulips; they belong to the species of the portia or hibiscus populneus, and are planted in grass-plats, interspersed with flowers, before the piazzas. The houses are built of stone, lime, and clay, and "in general have only one floor. There are a few, however, of two stories, which are much esteemed, and command charming prospects. The plan according 1 |
