One cannot fufficiently admire the ardour and celerity with which fo extraordinary an enterprife was completed, in fo fhort a space of time, and in the moft inclement feafon. But what remained to be done was ftill more difficult to perform. This immenfe ftone was found at the diftance of eleven Ruffian verfts, or about 41,250 English feet, from the fpot where the ftatue was to be piaced, which it was intended to fupport. Before it could reach the place of its deftination, it was to pafs over rifing I grounds, crofs fwamps, and boggy places, be tranfported over rivers, embarked on the Neva, unfhipped, and then carried by land to the place appointed for it. Any perfon that chufes to form a notion of the vastnefs of this undertaking, and the labours it required, has no more to do than to confider, that the weight of this enormous mafs, geometrically calculated, amounts to THREE MILLIONS TWO HUNDRED THOUSAND : pounds. The largeft obelifk in the world, that which Conftantius, the fon of Conftantine the Great, caufed to be Aranfported from Alexandria to Rome, is in weight but 907,789 pounds, which is not a third part of the weight of the rock of Peterburg. Such is the ftone that fupports the equerian ftatue of the legiflator of Ruffia. In the whole hiftory of the arts there is no mention of any thing fo great, fo wonderful. The ftatue of Peter the Great, placed on this rock, ftands in an irregular fquare, formed on the left by the Senate Houfe and other edifices, on the right by the Admiralty, to the back by a mag nificent marble church, (which, though its foundation was laid about thirty years ago, is not yet completed,) in honour of St. Ifaac; and in front of the statue runs the noble river Neva, the like of which, for the clearness of its waters, the conftant fulness of its bed, and, withal, the diftance of its shores, no city in Europe has to boat of. The fiatue is at a proper diftance from the foot of the great bridge of pontons, extending across the Neva, to an oppofite ifland, forming part of the city, and called Vaffili oftrof, or Bafil's ifland. The statue, together with the transport of the ftone whereon it ftands, coft the Emprefs not lefs than 425,000 rubles, which, at 42 pence the ruble, as the exchange was at that time, amounts to 74,375 pounds fterling. On this ftone Mr. URBAN, Carlife, Feb. 1. HAVE fomewhere read or heard of a ftrange mode of inflicting punishments, in fome of the petty ftates of Italy, on ftate criminals. They are beaten with bags of fand; which is performed in fuch a way, that no marks of external violence appear, whilft their bodies is broken. I feem to myyet every bone in felf to have been thus baftinadoed by R. G. in your laft December Magazine. Nothing, perhaps, is directly faid that is particularly exceptionable; yet, enough is mumbled, or muttered, or infinuated, to hurt the credit of the county history, which, at a vaft expence, I am endeavouring to publish; and thereby to injure my interefts. I intreat R. G. yourself, Mr. Urban, and the public, to do the editors, and myfelf, the juftice to believe, that no pains have been spared to obtain full and accurate information on all the points difcuffed in the propofed hiftory. That our fuccefs has always been equal to our industry, we dare not flatter ourselves. If R. G. himself has ever been an editor, as from the initials of his name fubfcribed to the remarks one is led to fufpe&t may have been the cafe, he cannot be infenfible of the many difficulties that stand in the way of a county hiftorian: though he may not know, nor do I wish to intereft him by communicating to him, many that probably are peculiar to the compilers of the history of Cumberland. Inftead, therefore, of anticipating and triumphing over their fuppofed failure, one might have hoped he would have had the candour to have sympathifed with his fellow-adventurers, and, if in his power, have foftened the disappointment of the public. With refpect to the crofs at Bewcastle, and the font at Bridekirk, I am forry to have to inform R. G. and others, that, whatever may be the fentiments of the public, the compilers are very far from having fatisfied themselves. They have procured new drawings, and a fac-fimile of the infcriptions; and have alfo read ail all the Danish, as well as other works, likely to throw any light upon the fub. ject; but, hitherto, as they have affured me, with much concern, to very little purpose. They hope, it will be remembered, how very little affiftance is to be derived, in thefe investigations, from the labours of their predeceffors: even the laft edition of Camden, with all the peculiar advantages of the editor, has been forced to retail all the old, meagre, and unfatisfying conjectures of former antiquaries, without a fingle jota of new and useful information. In addition to this, the antiquities themfelves are now, through the lapfe of time, becoming daily lefs perfect and neither the compilers, nor the publisher, are likely to receive any fuch patronage, as would indemnify them for exploring thoroughly, by digging, many remains, perhaps both of Roman and Saxon antiquities, yet lying buried at Bewcastle. Something in this way, however, they have done, and will continue: and, more for the fake of the public, than their own, they will rejoice, if their labours are fuccessful. : As to the facers, towards the close of R. G's remarks, no one of the editors of the Cumberland hiftory, they are unworthy of R. G.; aud I am ashamed to reply to them in fuch a way as yet I feel that I ought. But the gentleman, who, for no reason that he is confcious of, excepting that he is an antiquary, and that two of a trade fo feldom agree, feems to have incurred R. G's dif-esteem, needs not my feeble pen to defend him. His works, as well as R. G's, are in the poffeffion of the public. What there is in thefe works that has incurred R. G's difpleasure, I am at a loss to conjecture; unless it be, that their author has fhewn an uncommon anxiety to publish them at a moderate price. You, Mr. Urban, are also an antiquary, I affure myself, too candid and too intelligent not readily to allow, that, as an author, he well deferves the indulgence of the public, which he has fo long experienced. I have too much regard for you, Mr. Urban, and too much refpect for your readers, to take up your valuable pages with the hiftory of a mere private tranfaction. Suffice it, that I affure you and the public, that, whenever it is proper, a fatisfactory account can, and will, be -given for the delay of the publication of the third volume of the Hidory of Durham. How would R. G., or any body elte, like to have all their private tranf actions with bookfellers, or others, raked into by anonymous remarkers, and unneceffarily dragged before the public? Yours, &c. FRAN. JOLLIE. Feb. 14. Mr. URBAN, EING at Berlin laft fummer, I met with the two little engravings of the Great King, as he is fometimes called by his people. The one (pl. III. fig. 2) reprefents him, as he ufually appeared, fitting, after his infirmities had difabled him from ufing much motion; during which period he was heard at times to fay, Dans peu je m'approcherai de toi. To what or to whom he alluded by the expreffion, is left for the world to conjecture. Fig. 3. exhibits him expiring. The principal figure ftanding by him is his prefent Majefty of Pruffia; the next is intended for Baron Hertzberg; and the third, the prefent Prince of Pruffia. If you chufe to give a copy of them in your Magazine, they are at your fervice. M. M. Mr. URBAN, - Feb. 11. SOME Now, Sir, I fhall be obliged to your correfpondent, whofe fignature in your laft Magazine, p. 33, is the Greek letter Chi, to give the conftruction; or, to any other correfpondent, for anecdotes refpecting this fame clergyman; part of whofe household goods were fold pub licly not long fince by Mr. Christie. As to the motto of Edmond Ludlow, mentioned in the forecited page (33), Mr. Addifon, in his Travels, 4th edit. p. 265, fays, the houfe that Lud ow inhabited in the canton of Bern has this infcription over the door: .-W. de Britain not a Naturalift. [ Mr. URBAN, THE HE infcription, vol. LXII. pl. III. 1079, IS PI ESSUR, EN FAITS It is to be regretted that J. N. LXII. p. 1200, did not afcertain the number, quality, and fize, of the bones, which he mentions as having been found in a cave digging for oaker. Probably he may recollect if any teeth were found, which would infallibly prove the fpecies of the animal. produced from the fame caufe. The Vol. LXII. p. 44. mentions the lon- I have for many years paid great at- Fairy rings are produced by circular A PARISH PRIEST. Ne futer ultra crepedam. OF Feb. 4. F an afferrion fo ignorant and unqualified as that of an anon aus critic in page 1082 of your lare Su ment, nor yet of the motives of thor, I fhould not have taken tice, if it had not come in the tionable shape of fuper extenfive reading, and would have beer trans to have been mistake of the author and the t The book in quanton,f (which I called W.de B Prosperity of th) is that meus de Glanvice, o Bugi the properde proprietalibus verion, ties of things, &c. Auovaus may, for anght 1 kncy, Lave been "ined into a linguift," but in tha tafe, it is certain, he been entrely led away by founds, instead of fente: he is not a whit nearer the mark he is aiming at, than the poor man, who raved about Alexander the Copperfinith, while his antagonist was talking of Alexander the Great!-But, not to imitate him in unqualified alertions, I repeat it, that W de Britain, in the Low Dutch language, is not a naturalift, but a moralift; and the book in queftion, not that men tioned by the critic, but that which I have flared it to be, viz.; a work upon the prosperity, and not the properties, of things. In the German likewife, it bears the title of Der Kunft wodurch ein Mensch Jein gluck boch empor bringen kan. Thofe who know this language are the only perfons who can determine upon the agreement of this title with the other, though expreffed by a circumlocution; however, the following quotation from the work itfelf puts the matter beyond difpute, "Gaming brings no content with it, except a prodigality of our own, or a pernicious defire of that which is another's. It is a folly which no hellebore can cure; and therefore, if you are a perfon of this caf, I can tell you your fortune, without pretending to be a foothfayer. Whatever you hazard, or gain, riches, &c. ANONYM. I vifited the chapel of New College, to fee th restoration of its antient plendour, fet like an antique jewel in a precious cafe of modern workmanship, under the direction of the ingenious Mr. Wyatt, whofe diftinguished merits need not my praife; but of whom I fhall obferve, that his fkill and judgement in regard to Gothic architecture are as ttuly unequalled by any artift fince the introduction of the Grecian and Roman orders into this country, as the chafte elegance and clathical fimplicity of his Grecian ftru&tures are fuperior to the Vanburgh-like attempts at grandeur of tome of his highly favoured contemporaries. Among other excellent alterations at this place, he has dragged from their obfcurity under a dark row of back feats, and placed in a confpicuous point of view, a great number of admirably. wrought wooden intablatures, well worthy the attention of the fculptor and the antiquary. They appear to have been placed in the chapel under the reign of Charles the Firtt; and contain many interefling illuftrations of antient architecture, fortification, military and ecclefiaftical dreffes. &c. &c. befide abundance of ludicrous alufions to the mummeries my way through Oxford, I lately and debaucheries of monachifm. One, for infance, reprefents a Gothic cattle furrounded by its ballia or out-works; as defcribed in Captain Grofe's preface to his Antiquities of England and Wales. A bishop appears upon a drawinidge, haranguing a multitude, whole heads, highly expreffive of various emotions, are crowded on one fide of the tablet: while on the other appears a cardinal leading an attentive train of followers to the oppofite fide of the battlements. A fecond prefents you with two gigantic armed heads, frowning over the parapets of barbicans, or watch-towers; in the center is the gate of a caftle: a daring warrior, in the heat of battle, has fpurred his fteed under it. The Portcullis has been loofed in an inftant. Its iron fangs have forced their way through the leg of the unfortunate adventurer, and are funk to their full length in the broad loins of the horfe, that is finking in agony beneath the infupportable preffure. A third, from which I took the hafty sketch of which I beg your acceptance, (plate III.) gives us two nuns converfing in a pew, on the fides of which their rofaries are carelessly fufleaves us room to guefs at the tenor of pended. The fituation of the devil hardly their colloquy, while the prior is found afleep on the one hand, and the venerable abbefs muttering over her beads on the other. PEREGRINE LE MOINE. Mr. URBAN, AVING been for many years a la HA bourer in the vineyard, without Rectory, without Vicarage, or without a regular Curacy (though I flatter myfelf, and that I truft without vanity, that my labours, and literary publications, would be acknowledged, were I to fign my name, to give me a fair claim to a public reward) and fent in only when I could meet with any lord of a vineyard, who was willing to hire me, even for the laft hour of the day; but this, from a very refpe&table and numeious acquaintance, very frequently. In attending at various churches in this great city, I have often observed an inattention to the rubric; particularly in the communion fervice,fin kneeling down in the prayer for the king, and in turn. ing to the communion-table, inftead of the congregation, in reading the commandments. On this fubject this is fufficient to remind the clergy, who may not have attended to the rubric. But the reafon of my addreffing you is refpecting another part of the practice of the clergy, which I find to vary in many churches, and in refpect of which the rubric is filent. The part I allude to is the etiquette which ought to be obferved by the clergy on entering the church; whether it is right for the reader of prayers, or for the preacher, to take the precedency. In my opinion, and in my practice, I take it as a right to the reader; but in one church, where [ fre frequently attend, the lecturer refufes to follow me to avoid which, he always Rays in the veftry five or fix minutes after I have gone into the church. In this refpect I wish to be fet right. I look upon the prayers to the DEITY of fo much more confequence and refpe&tability than the addrefs to men, that, except an opinion is given decidedly againft it, I fhould think I acted unworthy of my miniftry in fubmitting in precedency to bibop, redor, vicar, curate, er lecturer, Mr. URBAN, THER as PREACHERS. If I am wrong, I will chearfully fubmit; if right, I have no objection to wave my right, to compliment and to follow my fuperiors in rank in the church. I wish to be better informed, that I may know the place I have a right to claim, and that the bene ficed clergy may know, whether precedency is given to them out of their right to it, or out of compliment. Information on this fubject will oblige Yours, &c. A FRIEND TO ORDER. Feb. 7. HERE are certain adjectives in our language, which are feldom or never applied, unless perhaps metaphorically, to more than one particular substantive; and I here propofe to fend you a lift of them. Thefe are what I at prefent recollect, but fuch as are attentive in reading or converfation, will probably meet with many other expreffions of the kind. Character of Mr. WRIGHT. rick's; and, in the beginning of the fol- L. E. to his friends of an ill flate of health, which continued to diftrefs him *. In 1746, Mr. Wright made a voyage to Ireland, where we find him under the patronage of lord Limerick and the bishop of Raphoe. He continued the *Mr. Wright's vifits in this and the two following years were, 1743, to Old Windsor, taught lady Grey, lord Glenorchy, and the two mifs Townfends, Caroline and Abinea; to ford Middleton's, and accompanied him to Epfom races; to Mr. Duck, at Kew; Mr. Holmes's, Tottenham High-ci ofs; to Caffiobury, and Acton Wells, with Mr. Evans; to lord Limerick's; to col. Selwin's, in Kent; to the Meat, near Canterbury, with the hon. Mr. Townsend, to vifit Mr. Cowper; invented and drew, for the duchefs of Kent, the two fronts of her new house; taught Mrs. Phipps, and Mits Davers; 1744, at Caffiobury, with lady Effex; went to Eltham, and furveyed the old palace; Old Windfor; vifited Mr. Godolphin, lord Middleton, Moor park, New Town, near Limington, Hants, with Mr. Mitford; Ifle of Wight, Portsmouth, Southampton, Salisbury, Wilton, Amberfbury, Stone-henge, Winchester, Pepperham, Petworth, and dined with an Indian king; Newington, Kew, Muffets, in Hertfordshire, with the hon. Mr. Cowper; earl Cowper, at Cole Green, Hertford, St. Edmund'sbury, Culford, lord Cornwallis's, Eufton, Ickworth, the earl of Briftol's, Rainham in Norfolk, lord Townsend's, taught his fon Roger navigation, and his daughter aftronomy; Mrs. Townsend's, lord Hubbard's, Hor. Walpole's, efq. Lynn, drank out of king john's cup; lady Davers at Ruthbroke,Cambridge; lord Godolphin's, at Gog Magog; the vice-chancellor's, Dr. King. 1745, taught Mifs Car. and Ann Townsend, Mifs Abinia Towníend, lady Sophia Grey, the marchionefs Grey, Mifs Cornwallis, Mifs Davers; Mr. Egerton, navigation. Invited this year to Ickwork, Rufhbroke, Culford, Danfon, Honningham, Ranham, Wreft, Cambridge-Kew, Newtown, Pepperharra, Newington, Wilton, Muffets, Caffi bury, Old Windior, and Whitchurch. Diank Acton waters, came to town to folicit (by lady Cornwallis's advice) a fmall place vacant by the death of Grey Longeville, efg. Went to the Moat near Canterbury, at Christmas, 30 vifit the rev. and hon. Mr. Cowper: faw a valuable friend, Miis Carter. winter |