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fact, and will tell him the true reafon." What then follows from fuch an admiffion, but that Mr. WooD has been liable to impofition? and that the conclufions he deduces from fuch questionable data ought to be feverely catechifed, and even at last received with no final degree of hesitation and doubt. This, I freely avow, has been the conduct I have purfued myself: and yet, for the mere expreffion of fuch doubt, the actual detection of errors now openly confeffed, I have been unfortunate enough to excite Mr. WOOD's indignation: and he speaks, in confequence, of difingenuity on my part; of attempts to deceive the public; of round and confident affertion; of my being the dupe of my own fallacious reafoning; of being his enemy; of aiming a dagger dipt in oil at his reputation; and, laftly, of being hereby guilty of a capital crime!!!

This, Sir, is language which I certainly fhall not imitate, and which I fhould much rather have expected from one of the inhabitants of the Shrewsbury poor-boufe than from one of its directors. Far, however, from being irritated by its very opprobrious and unmerited violence, I am rather excited to laughter; and am half induced to regard it as a new, but certainly extraordinary, attempt at wit. Yet I cannot but regret that a gentleman of Mr. WOOD's liberal pursuits, and, as I hear, estimable heart, should fo widely deviate from the path that belongs to him; and consent to tarnish a journal of POLITE LETTERS with a phrafeology to diametrically out of character.

It appears there has been a mis-ftatement of the weekly price of provifions incurred at the poor-house at Norwich: and Mr. Wood is ftill refolutely determined to impute this mis-statement to myself. Whoever does me the honour to perufe my Differtation on the Poor, will readily difcover that there was at no time any neceflity for fuch a perfonal imputation but furely, after the full explanation I have fince given of this fubject in my laft letter, to perfevere in fuch an imputation till, is to difcover a pertinacity of difpofition, fortunately for the world, not often to be met with. But even this does not now fatisfy Mr. WOOD; for independent of this imputed error respecting the poor-house at Norwich, he afferts that I have fallen into one of even greater magnitude relative to that at Shrewsbury: for I have stated, he gravely tells us, that the cost of the poor at Shrewsbury is 35. 1d. each per week;

while, adds he, they are now fupported at 1s. 9d. instead. Even this, however, I am forry to obferve, is not perfectly confiftent with the fact. I avowedly calculated the expence of the poor at Shrewfbury, as I did thofe of every other inftitution upon which I thought it neceffary to animadvert, at the mean London price of the different articles confumed, and at a period when provifions were in fome inftances double the mean price at which they may be purchafed at prefent: and upon fuch calculation, and at fuch time, I certainly did ftate that the Shrewsbury diet, if purchased in London, would, at the time of writing (to wit, in January 1796) have amounted to the average price of 3s. 1d. for each weekly. But fo far from ftating that this 3s. 1d. must be the common average expended at Shrewfbury; I exprefsly declared in the fame place (p. 65), that even at that period of extreme fcarcity and dearnefs, it was very probable this calculation exceeded in fome degree the actual cost incurred at that place: contending alone that Mr. WooD at least must have been mistaken in reducing it at any time to fo low an eftimate as is. 6d.

This gentleman once more enquires what right I had to prefume that the number of their poor within the House of Industry were diminishing annually? This I have twice told him already; and fhall only, therefore, refer him to paffages which he hitherto appears to have peruled inadvertently. The augmentation of the poor-rates during the laft two or three years at Norwich and Manchester, to which he fo triumphantly adverts, does not necessarily imply an augmentation of the number maintained within thofe refpective poor-houses; whofe families, for the moft part, are derived from a defcription of perfons, who fo far from being fubject to frequent increase, Mr. WOOD himfelf immediately afterwards, with a fingular instance of self-contraction, afferts to be commonly ftationary; and which in reality appears to have been nearly fo at the inftitution to which he has devoted fo much of his time. The augmentation in the above rates may, therefore, and in all probability actually does arife from the additional affiftance which, in confequence of the prefent war, or fome cafual rife in the price of provifions, it has been deemed neceffary to afford a vaft multitude of families without the poor house; and whom, from the mere preffure of temporary diftrefs, it would be equally in

humane

humane and impolitic to force from their own homes, and render permanently burdenfome to their parish.

In ftating that the board of directors at Shrewsbury have been impofed upon by their domestic officers, whom, with falfe confidence, and from growing neglect, they had entrusted with the management of the internal concerns of the house, and that they had in confequence been involved in increafed expences, Mr. WOOD has only verified what I long predicted would be the inevitable refult. "Thefe gentlemen," I obferved (page 122 of my Differtation, &c.), are entitled to a very high share of praise for their laudable and unremitted activity: but the complicated fcheme they are thus enveloped in, I cannot recommend to be adopted generally throughout the country. It is not to be expected that a neceffary attention fhould, for many years, be paid to fo extenfive a concern, unless the parties attending are entitled to fome emolument for their trouble. And when once fuch a neceffary attention is relaxed, or difcontinued, the parish will be involved in a very confiderable expence for the purchase of new materials; and from the idleness or the frauds that will inevitably enfue, the articles fold will feldom repay it for the original expences incurred.'

The rest of Mr. Wood's letter has no connection whatever with the difpute between us; and appears merely written with a view of informing us, that he is about to publish a new edition of his pamphlet; and that he has the happinefs of claiming a friendship with Mr. Voght, "one of the benevolent founders of the Hamburgh inftitution," and "who has written (an obfervation in which I cordially acquiefce) an admirable account of this establishment." In both thefe notices, indeed, I rejoice moft fincerely, particularly in the former, as he will hereby have an opportunity of correcting thole errors upon which we have neither of us any farther controverfy.

any longer. I admire the warmth with which Mr. Wood has embarked in the caufe of the poor; and have only to lament that it should occafionally excite fo much fever in his language*.

I have now, Sir, only to afk pardon of you, and the public for having a fecond time obtruded myself fo largely upon their attention. Mr. Wood has talked of my fkill as a controverfialift; I beg it may be remembered, however, that this controverfy was firft introduced in your miscellany by himself, and that whatever may be this gentleman's determination upon the subject, for my own part neither my private ftudies, nor my profeffional avocations will allow me to continue it

JOHN MASON GOOD. Caroline-Place, Guildford-freet, February 13, 1799.

To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. SIR,

Τ

IT is paying you no compliment to fay,

that your Magazine is infinitely fuperior to every other mifcellany in all matters of elegant entertainment and ufeful information. The attention fhewn to fubjects connected with medicine, chemistry, and manufactures, deferves particular notice. In the latter clafs you have lately admitted fome papers on tanning, a branch of manufacture, which, independent of its general utility, is of confiderable importance to our commerce and revenue, particularly at this time when our active neighbours in France are indefatigable in their exertions to rival us in this article. It is only within a few years that men of science (I do not mean fuch fuperficial writers as your correfpondent C. T. C. page 427) have attended to the mode or manufacturing leather, which is capable of wonderful improvement, and which, it is to be hoped, the late difcoveries in chemistry will foon bring to perfection. The great fcarcity and confequent high price of oak bark, for fome years pait, with the time and expence incurred in the usual mode of tanning leather, have led many ingenious perfons to endeavour to shorten the process, and to fubititute other ar ticles leis expenfive in the room of bark. The mineral and vegetable kingdoms have been explored for materials, while chemistry and philofophy have examined their nature, and directed their application. But with all the experience of practical manufacturers, and all the ingenuity of Icientific men, I do not find that any important discoveries have been made; that the process has been fhortened i

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the expence leffened; or that our leather. is much better than it was twenty years ago. To this general remark, there

may, perhaps, be two exceptions. An

ingenious man has obtained a patent, and erected a manufactory near Westminsterbridge, where leather is tanned on the principles of Monfieur Seguin, a French chemist of much celebrity. By this mode, leather of the fame kind and quality is manufactured in fourteen days, which in the ordinary way requires as many months. Whether the expence attending this procefs be greater or lefs, I am not competent to decide.

The other exception to which I have alluded, is the difcovery and ufe of elmbark, for which alfo a patent is obtained. As this discovery is not generally known, and it seems to be of great importance, I hall lay before your readers the refult of many experiments made, under the direction of the patentee, by fome eminent manufacturers in Southwark, and which have been fubmitted to the examination of the lords of the committee of privy-council, as well as to a committee of the house of commons. From this evidence it appears that a confiderable quantity of leather had been manufactured with elm-bark-that it was firm and durable-that its quality and weight were nearly equal to that tanned with oak-bark-and that the fhoemakers who worked it up confeffed that they fcarcely knew the difference.

As it would be uninterefting to your readers to enter into a detail of the experiments, with a precife ftatement of the weight of the bark expended and of the leather produced, I fhall only fay that the comparative advantage of that which was tanned with oak, over that tanned with elm-bark,appears to be about one in twenty; and as the price of the latter is not above half the price of the former, this advantage is more than counterbalanced.

If the ufe of elm bark fhould become general (as it probably will when prejudice fubfides) it will confiderably increase the materials of tanning; will leffen the confumption of oak timber; will aug ment our commerce and revenue; and will ultimately tend to benefit the public by reducing the price of one of the neceffary and indispensible articles of life.

Should this letter be deemed worthy a place in your valuable mifcellany, I may perhaps on a future occafion trouble you with fome further remarks.

I am, Sir, your obedient fervant,

Bark-Place, Feb. 12, 1799.

To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine.

MR. EDITOR,

Ioue Saint-Simon, printed at

the 13th volume of the works of

Strafburg in 1791, I find fome curious
remarks on the ecclefiaftical difcipline of
Spain, and on the authority of the In-
quifition, which I flatter myself will not
be unacceptable to your readers.
bishop of Toledo took me afide, and with the
"One day," fays the duke," the Arch-
the moft lively emotions, feid to me: for
Heaven's fake, Sir, let your bishops in
France beware of following the example of
their brethren here in Spain. For, by little
and little, Rome has brought us under her
yoke, and reduced us to mere cyphers in our
own diocefes. Mere priefts of the inquifition
are become our teachers and our mafters, and
are in poffeflion of our authority; and we are
daily indebted to our very fervants for the
information, that a decree on doctrinal points
is affixed to the doors of our cathedrals, of
which we had no previous knowledge, but
The correction of vice and the regulation of
to which we muft fubmit without reply.
the manners of the people belongs alfo to the
inquifition. In the concerns of the bishop's
court, whoever pleafes may difregard the
proper officers and go to the tribunal of the
nuncio, where, if diffatisfied with his offi-
cers too, he has only to appeal from their de-
cifion to that of the nuncio. So that, de-
prived as we are of all authority, we have
only the powers of ordination and of con-
firmation left us: in truth, we are no longer
is the immediate biflop of every diocese here,
the bishops of our own diocefes. The pope
and we are no more than his vicars, confe-
crated indeed, and mitred, but for the fole
purpofe ordaining priests, and of performing
a few other manual operations, without
daring to intermeddle with, otherwife than
by blindly fubmitting to, the inquifition, the
nunciature, and whatever is fent us from
Rome: and fhould a bishop happen to dif
please them in the fmalleft tittle, he is in-
ftantly punished, without being allowed to
offer any thing in his own defence; becaufe
nothing less than the fubmiffion of deaf and

dumb animals is expected from him. It fel-
dom indeed happens now, that any one is fent
to the prifon of the inquifition, or to Rome,
bound and gagged, because these inftances,
in paft times, have been too frequent, and
because they wish to run no risk; yet we are
not entirely without fuch punishments, and
thefe very recent.

"Judge then, Sir, what weight and autho rity the conftitution can derive from the acceptance of bishops thus enflaved, as we in Italy, Portugal, and Spain are; and from the univerfities, the doctors, and the fecular, regular, and monaftic bodies of the clergy in L. S the fame countries. But this is not all. Do you imagine that a fingle individual

among

among us would have accepted the bull, if the pope had not, by his nuncio, commanded it? Our very acceptance of it would itfelf have been a crime, which would not long have remained unpunished. It would have been deemed an encroachment on the infallibility of the holy father; for to dare to accept what he decides, is to judge that he has decided aright. Now who are we to add our judgment to that of the Pope? When ho has fpoken, filence and blind obedience are our poition: we muft bow down in perfect adoration to what he has faid, and furrender, as I may fay, into his hands, our will, memory, and understanding. So that far from daring to contradict, move ary amendment, or afk for any explication, we are not allowed to approve, accept, or do

any thing, that befpeaks an active part in

what he decrees.

"Such, Sir, is the nature of the accept ance given by Spain, by Portugal, and by Italy, and which, I find, is fo much extolled in France, and held out as the free judgment and approbation of all the churches aud fchools! But, in truth, they are no better than flaves, whofe maiter has condefcended to open his lips, and has prescribed the form of words that they are to pronounce, and which, without the change of a letter, or an iota, they have fervilely pronounced. This is the pretended judgment, that is fo much talked of in France, and which we have given indeed unanimoufly, because the fame form was prefcribed to us all!

"At this view of the calamitous fituation of the church, the archbishop could no longer contain himself, but melted into tears. He intreated me, for obvious reafons, not to mention to any one what he had faid. Accordingly I kept the fecret inviolably as long as he lived, but as he is now no more, I think myfelf equally bound to reveal it to the

world."

The inquifition, Mr. Editor, which generally narrows and debates the mind of thofe who live within the fphere of its activity, had little or no effect, it feems, on this fenfible primate of Spain, who ever he was-for I am not fufficiently converfant in the history of Roman Catholics to know his name, nor of what conftitution and bull he fpeaks, unlefs of that which is called Unigenitus, which, as hiftory tells us, convulfed all France and Flanders in the beginning of the prefent century-yet, as his language appears to be fo very unusual in the mouths of bishops of the Romish communion, I fhall be glad to learn, from fome of your correfpondents, what degree of credit is due to Louis de Saint-Simon, and to the archbishop. Permit me alfo to ask, whe. ther the inquifition ever found its way into England before the Reformation; or

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To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. SIR,

CONSIDER myself much obliged to

your two Correfpondents, W. H. and attention to my queries on my kitchen liE. F. (particularly the latter) for their brary; the lift of the latter correfpondent, I imagine peculiarly fitted for fuch a plan; the cheap repofitory mentioned by the former, is, I apprehend, alfo particu larly fuitable. A bible, and prayer book, has hitherto, I believe, been all that the generality of kitchens have had to fhew. I would at the fame time fuggeft to W. H. that, if the principle mentioned in my laft be true, I am afraid thofe two will long, and in addition to the church of not fo exactly anfwer; I have had them England prayer book, I have added a collection of prayers for the use of families, published at the expence of the fociety of Unitarian Chriftians, established in the Weft of England, for promoting christian knowledge, and the practice of virtue, by the diftribution of books; printed at Exeter, by M'Kenzie and Son, and fold by J. Johnfon, St. Paul's Church-Yard, London; not prefuming to dictate in what mode my equals, though my fervants, fhould worship the power that created them. My wifh, Mr. Editor, is to mix the useful with the agreeable and to invite my domeltics to the habits of free enquiry and the practice of morality by the allurements of the rational voluptuary, and I folicit your correfpondents will continue to fuggeft fuch books as may in their opinions be fuited to fuch a fcheme. I hope I fhall foon meet with an informant equally able and ready to communicate on the hatting bufinefs as E. F, on my Library." Perhaps, Sir, it would be affifting, in fome degree, the enquiry on the fecond fubject, to inform you, that one kind of hat is called Cody or Cordeback, which I am told took its name from a town in France,* where cod

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* Caudebec. Editor.

wool

wool (called in the North mort wool) was first used upon a wool hat. That must be fome time fince, and the probability is that the name has been changed. I recollect no fuch name in that country, though fome of your correfpondents may inform me, from which we may, gradatim, develope its hiftory. Another kind of stuff hats are alfo called Carolines and Caftors, the last name evidently from the caftor or beaver, the fine hair of which animal covers the outfide of the hat. But why the former ?

In Whitaker's History of Manchefter, p. 304 and 305 of the first volume, we have the following account :

"The Britons in general did not adopt the Roman pileus or petafus, as a covering for the head; but continued their own kappan, hata, or boined, in ufe, as they have. tranfmitted them and their appellations to us. Vid. Suetonius, p. 82, Solis-ne hiberni quidem patiens (Auguftus) domi quoque non nifi petafatus fub dio fpatiabatur; and Montfaucon, plate 15, tom. 3. L'Ant. Expliquée.

Your's, &c. Newcastle, Feb. 8, 1799.

MUNNOO.

To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine.
SIR,

B

OEING a conftant reader of your valuable mifcellany, and highly gratified by your correfpondent J. S.'s topographical information relative to the Cities of New York and Philadelphia, I here include you a brief but accurate and impartial account of a short tour which I undertook through a part of New England, in the United States of America, fome little time ago. If you think it worthy of infertion, I fhall confider my felf as highly flattered.

Having previously vifited Philadelphia and New York, I failed, in the autumn of 1795, from the latter place in a packet floop for Newport, on my way to Bolton, the capital of New England. There is a regular ftage which daily paffes between thefe places, (diftant about 270 miles); but as the roads are but indifferent for carriage conveyance, and the coach was, ftrictly fpeaking, a heavy caravan, carrying eleven paflengers befides the driver, I preferred the veffel as the least evil of the two, although not at all partial to the watery element. I foon found I had chofen right, at leaft if I might judge from the number of paffengers bound on the fame expedition. This decided preference, however, was not unattended with its difadvantages, as the

captains of packets, in this refpect much like the drivers of fhort ftages, never balance the eafe and comfortable accommodation of their paffengers with their fares: fo it proved at night; for what with the few births, and the number of perfous to occupy them, I had no other resource than to wrap myself in my great-coat, and fleep as well as I could on a failor's cheft.

On our way, and arrived within fight of New York, I was fhewn the remains of the Jerfey, an English 64 gun man of war, converted during the American troubles into a prifon-fhip: fhe floated immediately oppofite us, and the fhore was covered with a number of boney fragments, reliques of the many victims who had from thence been daily conveyed and depofited there. The Americans relate divers ftories of unusual feverity and illtreatment experienced at that time by the for the fake of humanity, and for the prifoners on board; but which I hope, honour of my countrymen, are not the exact truth. In failing down about ten miles farther, along the eastriver, we paffed a tremendous current and whirlpool, called Hell-gate: to get through this dreadful Euripus in fafety, it is neceffary for all veffels, excepting coafters, to have a regular pilot. The currents here are To rapid and narrow, and are fo perplexed with contrary ones, and jutting rocks on all fides obftructing them, that it requires the niceft care and circumfpection of the moft ikilful pilot. During the minute we were rapidly whirled through by the impetuous current, the foaming noite on every fide, contrafted by the ftill anxiety of the paffengers, contributed not-a little to increafe its natural horrors. The captain, though for many years habituated to ftee! ing through this paffage,declared it always had the effect to produce on him a profufe perfpiration; and related a circumftance of piloting a Wett Indiaman from New York up the Sound, when the owner, whole whole property was on board the veffel, and who had entertained great apprehenfions of this place, (fomething like Ulyffes in fabulous history), actually locked up his (the pilot's) wife, who was on board, in the cabin, during the time the veffel was paffing through, lett by any converfation fhe might etrange and withdraw her husband's attention! Indeed, this place, which I viewed at a fubfequent period from the adjoining fhore, is well deferving the inspection of the curious: it is fupposed to have taken

its

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