cular* fituation, it may, through a certain propensity for reprefenting faints as reverend perfonages be defigned for this charitable pilgrim, who figures fo confiderably in our Rochefter annals.

Prefent my thankful acknowledgements to your correspondents who were fo kindly attentive to my enquiries concerning the family of Wiseman.

It may not be here altogether deemed impertinent to remark, that any lady or gentleman, induced by curiofity to perform a pilgrimage to the fhrine of this faint, fecluded from the vulgar eye, within the penetralia of the cathedral, muft, before they can be admitted to pay their devoirs, adminifter a proper dofe of foporific filver to a certain lay ecclefiaftical dragon, commonly known by the name of verger, who watches affiduously over this facred golden fleece; however, if fpoken in a magifterial tone, it is natural to conclude, a ready obedience will be the confequence, as habits of former days cannot as yet have quite given up their influence.

Mr. URBAN,

July 18. A REVIEW of my Siglarium Romanum having been given in your lal, p. 547, I rely on your impartiality in inferting the following obfervations.

The criticifms appear to me precipitate and uncandid. Precipitate, becaufe the writer feems not to have perufed the work with fufficient attention; otherwife I am at a lofs to understand with what propriety he pronounces it "an index of figles or abbreviations," instead of a didionary; the conftruction of which it evidently bears, and thereby juftifies the omiffion he complains of, that the pages from which the authorities are felected are not annexed to the names of the authors. He might have informed himfelf from the title page, that it was very diftant from the defign of the publication to fend the reader back to the in

Wanting the tonture, as refore remarked, Ferunt eam, non tantum epifcopi, verum etiam minores clerici, & qui fola prima toafura initiata funt." J. Warner, de ecclefe primitive clerico, p. 127. GENT. MAG. July, 1792.

dex of the books I had gone through;" my intention having been (as is fuffici ently fpecified) to fave the labour, and not unfrequently the difappointment, attending fuch tedious refearches, by producing, under their refpective heads, and at one view, the numerous explications of the Learned.

I had originally defigned to publish the work without referring to any authorities, had gone through the colla tions, and proceeded with my copy in that form for the prefs as far as the letter which he mentions. The hint for their introduction I owe to a gentleman of very diftinguished abilities as an Antiquary, and to whom the Learned World are eminently indebted. I had now the laborious task of re-tracing the whole of my collections, aggravated as it was by having previously parted with many of the books from which I had made them. A circumftance, I prefume, that may account, in one respect, for the delay the gentleman fo uncandidly recollects. The only reafon my learned friend fuggefted for the introduction of authorities was, to fhield myfelf from the imputation of having fabricated many of the characters in order to fwell the collection.

A fecond inftance of precipitancy appears in his confining the collection to infcriptions and old jurifconfults," when a more attentive perufal must have informed him, that it was made with equal fidelity from the other fources expreffed in the title.

A third inftance is difcoverable in his afferting, that "the collections of Gruter and Muratori are not fo frequently referred to as they ought to have been;" whereas due reflexion would have reminded him, that this defect (as he confiders it) arofe, in great measure, from their being, as he terms them, "modern collections." It has been a rule with me, throughout the work, to give the original expofitors the credit of their difcoveries, whenever it was in my power to trace them. A great number of the articles in Gruter were more antiently explained; and the principal part of the reft are inferted in the name of Scaliger, to whom, in his Indices ad Gruterum, the world are indebted for them. Confiftent with this, the name of Gruter could only be given in inflances where he had not been thus fuperfeded. The fame remarks apply to Muratori; whofe infcriptions, as being a ftill more modern colle&or, were pretty

pretty generally explained before. As a proof, however, that his works have not been neglected, his name appears among the authorities little less than three hundred times. Neither has the "incorrectness or want of authenticity which later views of infcriptions have difcovered" been overlooked in the collection. At the fame time, I am free to confefs, that experience has inftructed me not to repose fo implicit a confidence in these boafted emendations; being fully convinced, in a variety of inftances, that they have been made with. out fufficient authority, and with unwarrantable mutilations.

Another instance of premature judge. ment appears in my being accufed of "not giving fac-fimiles of my charac ters;" as alfo in referring to fome hint thrown out to me for this purpose in vol. LVII. p. 338, which is not to be found there. Whenever it was confidered neceffary, fac-fimiles have been introduced with all poflible accuracy, Mr. Caflon having been employed to execute them at a very great expence.

66

However, as they vary materially in different authors, it was only poffible for me to copy from fuch as were more ge nerally fimilar, and beft authorized. Want of candour appears in the prefumption, that, as my work had hung fo long on hand, I was glad to bring it to a clofe" which, admitting it to be juft, cannot be urged in difcredit of the compilation, unless it can be proved that marks of hafte and inaccuracy are more difcoverable in the latter than in the former part of the work. I have had fubftantial reafons to lament that the work (as the writer complains) has been fo long delayed: but it was compiled under many difcouraging and affictive circumstances; to fome of which, perhaps, the gentleman is no ftranger. I feel happy, however, at this late pe riod, to have fulfilled my engagements with very few fubfcribers, and the publick at large; and, however unpleafing it may be to ftep forward in my own vindication, yet I cannot filently permit the labour of many years to be depreciated by hafty firictures and conclufions. As far as I have fulfilled the engagements I profeffed, and executed my work confiftent with my propofals, fo far I rely on the candour of the publick.

Yours, &c. JOHN GERARD. P. S. In line 3 of my Preface, for enucleati be pleafed to read enucleatos. *It is la vol. LVIII. p. 338. EDIT.

Mr. URBAN,

S

July 8.

As your valuable Mifcellany is ever

open to receive what is curious and interefting in fcience, and as every new fact adds fomething to the improvement of our knowledge, permit me to prefent you with the following fingular inftance of Croup, or Cynanche trachealis of Dr. Cullen, which, after proving fatal to a child, attacked two young cats in the fame house, and proved deftructive to both of them.

The child, named Mary Finley, was about four years of age, and naturally healthy. She was first taken ill on Fri day, the 20th of January, 1792, with fymptoms of flight catarrh, which, at that time, was prevalent in the neighbourhood. The next day (Saturday) the became feverish, was remarkably hoarfe, and barraffed with a troublefome cough. On Sunday, being confi derably worfe, the parents requested my attendance, when I found my patient, about ten in the forenoon, labouring under the following fymptoms: a rattling noife in the trachea, and refpiration performed with difficulty; a peculiar hoarfenefs, with a ringing found and fhrillness both in fpeaking and coughing; pain on preffing the larynx externally, or on elevating it by the act of deglutition; and infpiration accom panied with a found as if the paffage through the glottis was conftricted. From this affemblage of symptoms, I had no hesitation in pronouncing the difeafe to be Croup; and, from obfervations of its fatality in fix preceding inftances, I explained its nature to her parents, pointed out the danger to be apprehended, and prepared them for the approaching confequences.

To obviate the danger of fuffocation, blood was taken from the arm, leeches applied to the throat, and, when the orifices ceafed bleeding, the part was covered with an epifpaftic. Befide which, an emetick was given as an expectorant, antimonials prefcribed every four hours, and a clyfter administered as a laxative. In fpite of thefe antiphlogific applications, the fymptoms increafed rapidly, and, in twelve hours more, unfortunately terminated her exiftence.

The body was not permitted to be infpected.

About three days pofterior to this, two young cats in the fame room were obferved to become fick; they had pe culiar hoarfe coughs like the child,

great

great difficulty in refpiration, and refufed their food. The next day they fecluded themfelves from the family, and feemed evidently worse, while the whizzing noife in infpiration, and the fhrill found in coughing, were fo extremely loud as to be diftinguishable in an adjoining apartment. In this ftate they laboured for about forty-eight hours, when both dying, one of them was fent me for diffection. The following are the appearances which prefented:

The two inferior lobes of the left lung loaded with black blood, and the ramifications of the bronchiæ fo compreffed by extravafation, that there was no poffibility of inflating them; the fuperior lobe easily inflated, and perfectly free from difeafe. The inferior lobe of the right lung equally furcharged with the two inferior of the left; but the fecond only partially affected, while the fuperior was in every refpect found. The epiglottis, internal membrane of the thyroid cartilage, furrounding mufcles, and membraneous covering of the pharynx, had a natural appearance; but on flitting the trachea through its whole length, pofteriorly, the following phanomena were obfervable: the trachea replete with opake mucus, the laryn gean facs diftended with the fame; and, on the anterior part of the tube, a preternatural membrane loofely adhering. This membrane, being extracted, meafured two inches in length, two lines in breadth, and was very thin. The internal furface of the trachea and its larger branches, when divefted of vifcid mucus, feemed confiderably inflamed.

From the fymptoms defcribed, and their illustration by diffection, the prox imate caufe of death becomes evident; but the great defideratum is this, What caufed the Croup in the cats? was a fimple ftimulus, fuch as external cold, the occafional caufe, the parts being predi pofed by catarrh or was contagious miafmata generated in the child by (pecific inflammation, and commu nicated to the cats by the air?

Exodus xxi. 16, "He that stealeth a man, and felleth him, or if he be found in his hand, he fhall furely be put to death." This certainly appears directly contrary to what I faid; but, on my reading the whole chapter, I find it relates only to the Children of Ifrael, for the marginal reference to this very place is Deuteronomy xxix. 7: "If a man be found ftealing any of his brethren, the Children of Ifrael, and maketh merchandize of him, or felleth him, then that thief thall furely die." All this, Mr Urban, does not forbid the buying of flaves from the nations of the heathens. R. is polite enough to suppose the paffage he mentions may be miftranflated; but whether it is or no, I am unable to fay, being as ignorant of Hebrew as he is.

But what furprized me most was, that R. fays, he can perceive nothing in the 25th chapter of Leviticus analogous to the flave-trade, and expected from my words "quite the contrary," to find it formally established. As he has been willing to fuppofe me not to affert a thing without being acquainted with it, I will be equally willing to fuppofe the three following verfes, the 44th, 45th, and 46th, are not in his Bible: " Both thy bond-men and the bond-maids, which thou shalt have, fhall be of the heathen that are round about you; of them fhall ye buy bond-men and bondmaids.-Moreover, of the children of the ftrangers that do fojourn among you, of them fhall ye buy, and of their families that are with you, which they be gat in your land: and they fhall be your poffeffion. And ye hall take them as an inheritance for your children after you, to inherit them for a poffeflion; they fhall be your bond-men for ever: but over your brethren the Children of Ifrael, ye shall not rule one over another with rigour." This I conceive at least not to forbid the flavetrade, if not formally to establish it, though, I must own, to me it seems nearly to do the latter. And if R. will but take the trouble to read the whole chapter of Exodus to which he reters, and then the verses I have quoted above, I think he will find the former to relate entirely to the Children of Ifrael, and the latter to allow perpetual flavery, provided the flaves are obtained from the Heathen nations. P. P. P.

P. S. Though I am nearly as ignorant of aftronomy as your correfpondent C. W. p. 410, yet I imagine the antwer

MR. URBAN.

A

July 12. GENTLEMAN in the beginning of October emptied his neceffaryhouse, one fide of which was open to the air. He obferved a ftrange per.

verfenefs and debasement of tafle, as he expreffed it, in bees, or in infects refembling bees. During a month, he had every part of his neceffary, outfide and infide, upper and lower ftories, occupied by them. They were fwept away every day, but they ftill returned; nor have they left off returning even in the beginning of November, though in fmaller numbers. Sampfon's bees, it is true, lived in the putrid, ftinking carcafs of a dead lion but he obferves, that these bees were Pagans and Philiftines, and

:

no better could perhaps be expected from them. Among fuch people as we are, in a well-bred part of the Chriftian world, better things might have been expected from them. But, joking apart, fome of your numerous correfpondents, who are practifed in the management of bees, can perhaps inform us whether thefe infe&s, fo nearly refembling bees, were really fuch.

Yours, &c.

Mr. URBAN,

J. A.

July 16. BEG you to inform Mr. Lofft, p. 398 [and fee p. 601], that there is an edition of Milton's Paradise Loft, with a collection of notes of various authors, by John Marchant, gent. author of the expofition of the Old and New Teftament. London, printed by R. Walker, 1751. With frontifpiece and plates; a Dedication to the king; a Preface; Elijah Fenton's Life of Milton Latin verfes on the work by Samuel Barrow, M. D.; Marvel's commendatory lines; and the reasons for the verse. Yours, &c. A. B.

H. OF LORDS.

February 27.

Trelative to the Ruffian armament, HE order of the day being read, Ld. Porichifler commenced his fpeech by apologizing for bringing forward a fubject which had fo recently occupied the attention of the Houfe, and which, he was aware, nothing but the importance of the bufinefs could excufe. What he meant at prefent was, to charge the Minifter with criminal conduct, in first concealing from the publick the grounds upon which they were about to interfere, when no fuch concealment was neceffary; and afterwards continuing the armament, which Parliament had voted upon implicit confidence, after they had determined to give it up. Upen both these topicks his Lord hip dwelt for fome time; and concluded by urging their Lordships to come to a refolution, which was in fubftance:

;

for which that armament had been required; and that, by its continuance, it had not been advantageous to that party whofe caufe they pretended to espouse, though highly prejudicial to the individuals of this country."

The Lord Chancellor read the motion, and was preparing to put the question, when

Lord Rawdon rofe, to exprefs his aftonifhment at the filence of Adminiftration, when a direct charge of this nature was brought against them. In his mind, every Noble Peer in that Houfe was a reprefentative of the publick; and, whenever the official fervants of the Crown were charged with misconduct, a defence from them was due to the publick. To remain in obftinate filence was not only difrefpectful to their Lordships, but a contempt for the pcople at large. His Lordship then went into the question, condemned our interference as nugatory and unwife; and, after extending his arguments to a confiderable length, his Lordship concluded by declaring he should give his fupport to the motion.

The Earl of Carlile fupported the motion.

The Earl of Hardwicke was of opi

nion that Adminiftration had acted wifely by their interference, and procured much advantage to this country by checking the encroaching fpirit of Ruffia.

Lord Grenville felt himself extremely furprized that Minifters fhould be ac cufed of filence upon the prefent queftion. With refpect to himself, he had, upon a former occafion, gone very much at length into the fubje&t, and had explained much in detail the motives upon which his Majefty's Minifters had acted; but he could not account for the conduct of the Noble Lord who brought forward the motion, and those who fupported him. It certainly was no very high compliment to their Lordfhips, after they had given a distinct and decided opinion upon this fubject, again to call upon them to confider and decide upon the fame question, and that too within a week after their former decifion. It had not been afferted by any Noble Lord that Great Britain had no intereft in the affairs of the Continent; and, in order to prove that the prefent interference was founded upon true principles of policy, his Lordship entered into a brief hiftory of the rife of the Ruffian empire; in which he proved, that it was the invariable fixed object of Ruffian politicks to drive the Turks out of Europe; and difplayed, in the Arongest colours, the danger of permitting a naval power to aggrandize itfelf upon the deliruction of a neighbouring power. Ruffia had risen to its prefent ftate in the fcale of nations under the foftering hand of England, yet she had uniformly employed her power in purfuits the most injurious to the interefts of Great Britain. His Lordship concluded by oppofing the motion.

Lord Darnley, in a few words, fupported the motion.

Lord Loughborough declared himself decidedly in favour of the motion. His Lordship went over the fame grounds of argument adopted by the other Lords on the fame fide of the question; which he preffed with his ufual acuteness and eloquence. He contended, that Minifters ought not to have continued their preparations for the armament after they were determined to accede to the propofals of the Court of St. Petersburg. It was however a fact, that, within three days after the last debate in that House laft feffion, Minifters had come to a determination of not having recourse to force to carry into execution

their projects; it was, therefore, highly culpable in them, after that, to run the nation to the enormous expence of continuing the armament.

The Lord Chancellor quitted the woolfack, and declared himfelf, for many potent reafons, against the motion, which, he faid, was folely as to the propriety or impropriety of keeping up the armament after a determination to accede to the propofitions; and that the former was the cafe, he thought muft appear evident to every man who gave it a moment's confideration, as there was no other fecurity against the Em prefs's increafing her demands.

Lord Stormont ftrenuously fupported the motion.

Lord Hawkesbury as ftrenuously oppofed it, and proved that the part Adminiftration had acted was the inevitable confequence of the fituation in which they were placed by the Oppofition made at home to their measures whether right or wrong.

Earl Stanhope declared that Ministry, inftead of cenfure, merited the highest praife, for having had moderation fufficient to forego their own opinions, and take up what appeared to be the fenfe of the country at large.

The question being called for, their Lordships divided; when there appeared, Contents 19 Non-contents 82

Proxies O Proxies

19

Majority 79.

16

98

In the Commons, the fame day, Sir James Sanderson took the oaths and his feat for Malmesbury, Wilts.

Several petitions were prefented, praying the abolition of the flave-trade.

The land-tax and marine mutiny bills were read the third time, and paffed.

Mr., Blackburne, from the Plymouth election Committee, reported, that Sir F. L. Rogers was duly elected; and that the petitions and oppofition to them were not frivolous or vexatious.

A new writ was ordered for Rochefter, in the place of Sir Richard Bickerton, deceated.

February 28.

Several petitions were prefented for the abolition of the flave-trade.

The Seaford Election Committee was then appointed.

The bills of the different taxes intended for repeal were read the third time, and pailed.

H. OF