William and Queen Mary against the French in the Weft Indies-A letter concerning a French invafion to reftore King James to the throne-Political remarks on the life and reign of King William III.-Bishop Spratt's relation of the wicked contrivance of Ste

phen Blackhead and Robert Young, against the lives of feveral perfons-A view of the court of St. Germain, from 1690 to 1695— A letter to a new member of the House of Commons, on the embezzlement and mifmanagement of the kingdom's treasure."

much to the usefulness of this curious and interefting publication.

Mr. Agutter, in his "Chriftian Politicks, or, the Origin of Power, and the Grounds of Subordination, preached at All Saints, Northampton, September 28, 1792," as an oppofer of Republicanifm, has my concurrence, though I have feen abler refuters of the pernicious doctrine. One would think the mealures purfued by the French to establish such a fyftem in these days must make every confiderate man heartily fick of the principles whether he is read in the hiftory of antient republicks or not. Q. Q

Mr. URBAN, Appleby, May 5. WH HEN we perufe the memoirs of men diftinguished for learning, valour, or virtue, we feel fomewhat interested in the most trivial events of their lives, and thirst after a difcovery of any unknown or unexplained circumftance, left in fuch fiate by the faithful biographer, rather than, by hafty and unfounded conclufions, lead his reader into error, and render his veracity obnoxious to fufpicion.

But fuch is not the cafe with the biographer of the great Dr. Johufon; who hath faithfully and diligently collected, with a care the most reverential and affectionate, many valuable, though detached, particulars of that unrivalled fcholar. Many are irrecoverably lost; but there are fufficient remaining to convey his fame to the remoteft pofte rity.

It is recorded, that a schoolmaster of eminence once obferved, "he was very near having that great man for his fcholar" but this was in his days of obfcurity; for, as Mr. Bofwell obferves †, "Could the world have forefeen what was to attend his emergence from that obfcurity, his attempts of a fchool at Edial had better fucceeded."

*Bofwell's Johnson, vol. I. p. 16: ↑ Ibid. p. 45.

in Staffordshire; and in a note at the bottom, by Mr. Pope, in Shropshire. It being evident that one must be erroneous, if not boib, I compared time difcover whether the fchool in queftion and circumftance together, in order to might not be this of Appleby. Some of the trustees at that period were "worthy gentlemen of the neighbourhood of Lichfield." Appleby itself is not far from the neighbourhood of Lichfield. The falary, the degree requifite, toge ther with the time of election, all agreeing with the ftatutes of Appleby. The election, as faid in the letter, "could not be delayed longer than the 11th of the next month," which was the 11th of September, juft three months after the annual audit-day of Appleby school, which is always on the 11th of June; and the ftatutes enjoin ne ullius præcep torum ele&tio diutius tribus menfibus moraretur, &c.

Thefe I thought to be convincing proofs that my conjecture was not ill founded, and that, in a future edition of that book, the circumftance might be recorded as fact.

But what banishes every fhadow of doubt is the Minute-book of the fchool, which declares the head-mastership to be at that time VACANT.

Mr. UREAN,

J. HENN.

May 6.

I AM very much obliged to you for founder's kin at All Souls college, and inferting my enquiry relative to to those gentlemen who have been fo good to notice it. If it will not trefpals too far on your valuable publication, or on their good-nature, I could wifh to fee a copy of that part of the ftatutes which gave the preference to the founder's kin, and of the oath pre

fcribed to the Fellows; and to be informed, whether that oath was taken by thofe Fellows who voted against the Founder's kin; whether the oath has been fince abolished; and whether the Vifitor ever faw the Oath 2

I

A. B.

WAS greatly diftreffed in my melancholy confinement by a paper in your laft Magazine, which announces to the publick the approaching downfal of the New College at Hackney. As it is to be broken up this Midfummer, a gentleman offered 8,000l. for the premifes; but the prop tetors and agents afked 10,000l. In the name of good fenfe, what did the D enters mean by erecting fo magnificent and expenfive a fucture? They have ruined the inftitution by letting out in too fuperb a ftyle, confiftent with the plainnefs and fimplicity of the Dillenters. How did they ever imagine that it could be fupposted in the prefent age of extraragance and expence? The rich Diffinters, being generally merchants and tradefinen, fend their fons to boardingfchools or private fchools, where they continue till they are fourteen or fif. teen; where they learn nothing, being fometimes better fed than taught; when they are taken into the count og house or put behind a counter. The fons of the poor or middle clafs of Prefbyterians are educated for minifters, for whofe fupport a fund is neceffary. None of the rich families bring up their fons for Prefbyterian parfons: they have. too much fenfe or too much worldly wif dom. What the rational D fenters will now do, in the education of their fons for the ministry, I know not. I am a few years paft three fcore, and have feen wonderful revolutions with regard to Diffent ng academies. The academy at Kendal, in Weftmorland, kept by Dr. Rotheram, a learned and intelligent man, perished at his death. The academy at Taunton, kept by Mr. Grove, and afterwards by Dr. Amory, was difcontinued upon his removal to Lon, don. The academy at Warrington was completely ruined by building feveral ftately structures, by being not able to raife money adequate to the pomp of them, and having no fund to affift the ftudents. The late academy at Exeter, kept by the ingenious and pious Mr. Towgood and Mr. Merrivale, is now no GENT. MAG. May, 1793.

more. The academy at Daventry, Northampton fhire, is alfo broken up. I am a moderate and candid Diffenter, though above twenty years ago I was extremely ill-ufed by a very fall fociety, whofe fubfcription, though I had a wife and numerous family, was continually diminishing. The Prefbyte rians neglect their fcholars. To fay nothing of myself, they treated infa moufly Dr. Taylor, of Norwich, the immortal author of the Paraphrafe upon the Romans, as may be feen in my funeral fermon occafioned by his death. With what difrefpect and neglect they ufed the great and good Dr Lardner is fully manifefied in Dr. Kippis's Memoirs of his Life. The Diffenters are too generally governed by the vox et præterea nibil With regard to the fpeedy diffolution of the New College at Hackney, the old adage has proved too true, Quos Deus, &c. thofe whom God is willing to ruin, he, ficft blats their understanding. This is abfolutely the very laft paper I fhall fend to your ufeful Mifcellany, as I do not expect to live from one week to another, and cannot get out of bed, or get into ft, without help. Yefterday I have been deprived of my left fide for eleven years. I am your obliged old friend, in much affliction and diftrefs,

F

EDWARD HARWOOD.

Mr. UREAN,

May 21. HE ketch of Old Sandwich in your laft has a fufficient refemblance to that place in its prefent ftate to induce me to believe that the picture, from which I conje&ure, it was taken, is an original. I have fome recollection of feeing, near thirty years ago, at the free ichool there, a painting on canvas, which I then underfood to be a view of Sandwich in its antient fiate, with the old fleeple of St. Peter's church, and the South ile which the fall of that deeple demolished on the 13th of October, 1661, as appears by an extract from the legitter in Mr. Boys's Hillery. Being a native of Sandwich, and having left it in life, was much gratined by that 1: publication, and feel myfelf interested in every thing relative to the place. If you do me the favour to ipfert this, perhaps your correfpondent will take the trouble to inform me, in a future number, whether the fketch he fent you was from the picture I have mentioned, or what other, and the reafon he has to doubt of its originality. Yours, &c. Mr.

Mr. URBAN, Cowbit, April 8. IT T was with pleasure, that I read in the lift of Heraldic Authors, p. 311, and in June laft, p. 522, the name of Mills, who published a catalogue of Honour in 1610. I have heard my grandfather, Thomas Mills, fay, he was born at or near Afhford (I don't remember which) in 1668, fo that he was probably an immediate defcendent, or near relation, of the Heraldic Author before mentioned. My grandfather died at the end of the year 1758, old and full of days, like as a fhock of corn cometh in his feafon. I would here, Mr. Urban, beg leave to obferve, that two lines, in the Epitaph, p. 37,

"Where, welcom'd by the focial Powers Divine, [wine," Freely with them he drinks celeftial put me in mind of a Mahometan para. dife, and appear to me to have too much the air and refemblance of a Heathen banquet, fuch as we read of at the end

of the first book of Homer:

Αὐτὰρ ὁ τοῖς ἄλλοισι θεοῖς ἐνδέξια πᾶσινο Ὠνοχόοι γλυκὺ νίκλαρὰ τὸ κρητῆρα ἀφύσσω Ως τότε μὲν πρόπαν ἦμαρ έ; ἤελιον καλ δύνα

Aånuíï', ¿d' ït. Juμò, ideúílo dailòç iion;. "Then to the rest he fill'd; and in his turn Each to his lips apply'd the nectar'd urn. Thus the bleft gods the genial day prolong, In feafts ambrofial, and celestial fong."

J. MILLS.

Mr. URBAN, Corubit, April 10. Accidentally miffed feeings poffeript, p. 41, which speaks very refpectably of me. I also lament, that I am far fe parated from fo worthy a friend, and thank him for the kind condolence he there expreffes. As Mr. Blakey, p. 1004, and Sylvicola, p. 1002, have given him fo just an eulogy for his mechanical ingenuity, I need fay nothing of his temperance, piety, affiduity, and laborious researches in fcientific matters. fays, he is much calumniated, therefore keeps himself to himself. There is a thought in Anacreon to the fame purpofe, Ode 43, 1. 681, which 1 thus imitate, and apply to my friend:

He

I keep my heart from envy clear, That fo I may no envy fear; I keep remote from ev'ry throng, And io I fhun the fland'rous tongue. I would in this letter acquaint him, that I have read the Hebrew Bible once over; and, in going over again, I com

pare the Septuagint with the original. I have got to the 18th chapter of the fift book of Samuel. The Septuagint often expreffes the fenfe without keeping to the words, and is fometimes a kind of paraphrafe. The following are the remarks, which I have made on comparing them together:

“Verfio τűv Septuaginta cum textu Hebraico collata. In libro Genefis, quadraginta novem leviores variæ lectiones apparent; in Exodo, centum et octo; Leviticus habet tri ginta quinque; Numeri, triginta tres; Deuterononium, triginti duo; Ruth, duo; Ecclefiaftes unam habet; Efther, feptem; Jothua, viginta quatuor; Liber Judicum, quatuordecim; Samuelis liber primus, quadraginta fex ad vicefimum verfum capitis octo. decimi."

I must tell him before I conclude,

I have a good mind to rub his fin for him, for his joke at the end of his poftfcript. In the body of the learned Pike, which he mentions, I find the word, which if my old friend has by him, and looks at, unless I am greatly mistaken in him, he will fee his Yours, &c. J. MILLS. own name.

Mr. URBAN,

May 14.

SEND you a literary curiofity, the copy of an original letter from Mr. Macklin to his daughter, which breathes much affection and good fenfe; but the letter will fpeak for itfelt. The original is in the hands of a friend, who did not chufe to part with it, but favoured me with the copy. It was received among a parcel of dead letters from the Post-office, and is directed

To Mifs Maria Macklin, in Henrietta-ftreet, Covent Garden, London." It is ftamped DUBLIN, and the Poftoffice note on it is-Not known.

Yours, &c.

A. F. DEAR POLL, Dublin, Tuesday Feb. 21, 1764.

Yours on the 28th of January I received fome time ago, and this iuft. that of the 16th inft.; and I am glad to find that even the expectation of a new Farce from me, or the hopes of fecing me in London to play for your Benefit, has had fufficient influence on you to make you punctual in answering my letter. As to leading you a new Farce, I cannot pay fo ill a compliment to you, the publick, or my own fame, as to fend you one that I had not been nice about; nay, rather more fo than if it had been for my own benefit or emolument as an author. Your character has been nicely conducted hitherto even in your profesfion, as well as in that of real life; and I hope you will fcorn to offer the publick a piece merely to fill your

Galleries

Galleries or your Houfcs. No, you have been nicely conducted, I fay, hitherto; continue it even about your Benefit. I have always loved the confcious worth of a good action more than the profit that would arife from a mean or a bad one; and, depend upon it, there is a wealth in that way of thinking; and I feel the value of it at this inftant and in every viciffitude of my life, but particularly in thofe of the adverfe kind. Had it been in my power to have fent you a piece worthy of your Night and Fame, be affured I would, but it was not in my power. 1 have written a great deal this winter; but I find the more I write, and the older I grow, the harder I am to be pleafed. I do not know whether I told you in my last that I am reduced, in my fuftenance, entirely to fith, herbage, puddings, or fpoon-meat, not being able to chew any meat harder than a French bouillée. And now I have told you, what am I the better? But old age, and invalids, think all their friends are obliged to attend to their infirmities. I am mightily glad to think that your House will be tolerable at all events; for, I would not have you have a bad one for more than the value of it. Pray fend me word what you think of taking for your Benefit, and your day, as foon as ever it is fixt. Do not mifs a poft, and send me an exact account of the fate of Midas. You are the worst co refpondent in the world. You fent me no account of Mis

Davis's illness and Mifs Brent's, nor the

caufes or theatrical confequences; nor of Mifs Poitier's engagement, Mifs Haughton's leaving the ftage, Mifs B's promotion to infamy with Calcraft. All this is news, and fuch like; and all the theatrical tittle tattle and fquibble-fquabble. With us, Mifs Catley is with child; is in great vogue for her finging, and draws houfes; has been of great fervice to Mossop. My "True-born Scotchman" is not yet come out : but it is highly admired both by the actors and fomne ladies and gentlemen of the first taste and fashion, to whom I have read it, both for its fatire, characters, writing, moral, and fable; and indeed I think well of it myfelf, but not fo well as they do. On Monday the 5th of March, I think, it will be out. I have juft read the Philafter that was done at Drury. lane; it is a lamentable thing. O, I had like to have forgot the fhip by which you fent the box is not yet come in. Pray in your writing never write could'nt, fkan't, quouldn't, nor any abbreviation whatever. It is vulgar, rude, ignorant, unlettered, and difrefpe&ful; should not, shall not, &c. is the true writing. Nor never write "M. Macklin: pray who is M It is the highest illbreeding ever to abbreviate any word; but particularly a name, befides the unintelligibility of it. Pray how does this look, "1 am, Sr,

"Yrmt obt hu'ble Sert?"

Mind-always write your words at length, and never make the vile apologies in your letters of being greatly burried with business; or, and mußt now conclude, as the Poft is this infant going out. Then, why did you not begin fooner? You fee I am nothing with you, if not critical; and fo, at full length, I am, my dear, your most affectionate and anxious Father, CHARLES MACKLIN

P. S. Your account that you are in heal'h and fpirits rejoices me. I never was better in health or content. If I can contrive it, I will be over with you; but do not depend on any body but yourself. C. M.

Mr. URBAN,

April 15.

I HAVE feen in your Magazine, p.

222, a letter figned Ariftobulus, in which the writer fpeaks of a propofal made in a little tract, published about a year ago, concerning a correction of fome of the more striking abuses in the government of the Established Church, and intituled, "The Moderate Reformer." The propofal is faid to be, “that the bishops of the Church should likewife be rectors of fome valuable benefices in it; which Ariftobulus difapproves of. Now the writer of that litile tract had made this proposal with fuch conditions and cautions as he thought would remove all objections to it. In the first place, he propofed, that the diocele of the bishop, or in London, the benefice. fo held fhould be only in fo that he might refide upon the benefice, and do the duty of it during a part of the year, without going out of his diocefe, or while he was in London attending his duty in parliament. adly, he proposed that there should be a curate appointed to the living by the bifhop who was the rector of it; but the faid curate fhould, when once appoinred, be unremovable by the bishop without fuch juft caufe as would be a ground for deprivation of a rector. 3dly, he proposed that this curate fhould have a very ample tipend out of the living, not dependent on the bihop's or rector's pleafuse, namely, no lefs than 600l. a year in the cafe of the living of Winwick, which is faid to be worth, by fome accounts, 3,000l. and, by the lowest accounts, 2,000l. a year. With fuch a falary, it may be fuppoled that a very able and fufficient clergyman might be procured to do the duty when the bishop was abfent; fo that no great inconvenience would follow from the b fhop's abfence, or total neglect of duty. But, if he did the duty of the

living,

Jiving, he would do himself and the church honour, by fetting a good example to his clergy of the diligent difcharge of the paftoral duties. I remember that when Dr. Secker, Bishop of Oxford (who was afterwards Archbishop of Canterbury), was rector of St. James's parish, he performed the duty of it in fuch a manner as to raise the admiration of every body, and was greatly revered for it by all his parifioners. Nor do I fee why other bishops fhould not do the like. The good effects of fuch a conduct in fupporting the character of the Clergy, and the ca blishment of the Church, would be prodigious. But I herewith fend you the tract itself in which this propofal was 'made'; which is but Art, and out of wh ch you may make fuch extras for your Magazine as you think proper. The fubject well deferves the notice and attention of the publick, and particularly of futh perfons as with the Church-eftablishment to continue unA. B

molyfied.

**Our correfpondent, from whom we fhould always be happy to hear, will find his title tract reviewed, vol. LXII, 647, and the heads of his proposed 'reforiti extracted.

Mr. URBAN,

May 19.

tution, an evafive account was given of the finances; and the tutor who preached it, after infulting the antient and refpe&table academical inftitutions in our two univerfities, as Dumourier, juft be fore his defeat, boafted he would breakfall at Amfterdam and dine in Looden on a given day, retreats. Ike that vaunter with his fhattered army, to fome diftant fisuat on. Why was there not an anniversary formon preached in 1792? Did the zeal of the party flacken, or was the bubble burfing?

A CONSTANT READER.

Mr. URBAN,

MR.

April 20. R MURRAY is faid, p. 286, 1. 35, to have been admitted a king's fcholar of Chrift church, Oxford, in 1723. This is in ccurately expreffed; ftudent is the proper term, and it is ufed a few lines before. But he became a king's fcholar in W.Aminfter college in 1719, and was the head boy of the election in that year. M. Tho. mas Newton, the late Bishop of Bristol, was the junior boy of the election in 1718; and, having ftayed at fchool one year in order to be captain, went in 1783 to Trinity college, Cambridge, on his own application to Dr. Bentley, the mafter, to make choice of him.

the managers of the undertaking dare not contradict (LX. 793, 1127, LXI. 309,622), is now come to pafs. The boatted feminary of rational reli"gion, the flaughterboufe of Chriffianity, as it has been not inaptly called, is become felo de fe, and with all its fub fruttiones infana, its overgrown buildings, is offered to fale for less than 10,000l. [See p. 409.]

Does not this remind you of that 'temperate counsel of a Jewish Doctor,

Refrain from thefe men, and let them alone: for, if this confel, or this work, be of men, it will come to nought; but, if it be of God, ye cannot overthrow it, left happily ye be found to fight even against God. Vanity and expence in building, jealoufies and difputes among the tutors, want of interior government and of common economy, have brought HACKNEY COLLEGE to this fure teft, and proved, beyond contradi&tion, that this coundland this work was OF MEN. The French Revolution and Conftitution, three times renewed, and as often overturned, will verify the fame obfervation. In the laft fermon, that was preached for this new academical infti

styles William Mur ray "the greatest character of the age, who, during the time of his being at fchool, gave early proots of his uncommon abilities, not fa much in his poetry as in his other exer cifes, and particularly in his declamations, which were fure tokens and prognofticks of that eloquence which grew up to fuch maturity and perfe&tion at the Bar and in both Houfes of Parlia ment."

P. 257, I. 1. The important caufe, refpe&ting literary property, was not an inflance in the judgement of which Lord Chief Justice Mansfield was peculiarly fortunate. For, when that queftion was agitated in the Court of King's Bench, that found and upright lawyer, Mr. Juft ce Yates, clearly proved, that a right by common law to that species of property was indefenfible. And, on the appeal to the Houle of Lords from a decree in Chancery, in the cafe of Donaldtons v. Becket and Co. the Earl of Mansfield did not vindicate an opinion he had before fomewhat pertina ciously maintained. See vol. XLVI.

*See vol. LXII. p. 793.

PP. 52,