dale "commenced a fuit at the common law again one Randal Holme, a painter, in the city of Chefter, who had boldly taken upon him to invde his office of Norroy, by preparing achieve. ments for the funeral of Sir Ralph Ahton, of Middleton, in the county of Lancafer, knight, and given direction for a funeral proceeding at the folemnity thereof; whereupon he had a verdict against him, the faid Holme, at the general affizes held at Stafford, March, anno 1667, recovering good damages and cofts of fuit." But indeed it is not certain that this Randal Holme was the fame pe:fon as the poor book maker who afterwards published the Academy of Armory; for if, as Mr. Stanley fays, there were three of the fame name, it might have been either of the others, At all events, the determination in this cafe deferves to be remembered Yours, &c. Mr. URBAN, As R. P. Aug. 6. SI have not the pleasure of being acquainted with the Rev. Herbert Croft, who has published Propofals for a new and improved edition of Dr. Johnfon's Dictionary, I beg leave to communicate to him, through the channel of your ufeful Magazine, the probable etymology of a word, which I o not recollect to have feen mentioned in any other work. I mean the word bat tel, which is fo commonly used in the univerfity of Oxford, and, I believe, at Cambridge, where it fignifics to account; and battels, the college accounts in general. It is probably derived from the German word betzzahlen; in Low German and Dutch, bettable; in Wth, taly; which fignifies to pay; whence may be derived likewife the Eaglifh verb to tale, and the noun a tale or jcore, if not the corrupted expreflions to tell or number, and to fally or agree, Yours, &c. Mr. URBAN,, OXONIENSIS. Aug. 3. CORRESPONDENT, under the A fignature of A Friend to the Poor*, p. 596, wifhes to fee the three penny * W. W. P. fays, "I have read with great fatisfaction the letter in p. 596. Whoever the writer is, he has my hearty concurrence in withing that Mr. Pitt will repeal it: though the fum is too paltry, in my opinion, to make it, fuch an object as he supposes it is to the poorest perfon, yet, as he oblerves, it is of the nature of a poll tax, the moft offenfive fpecies of taxation.” tax on births, marriages, and burials, taken off. He very justly calls it a paltay one, as it cannot be productive. As to the point of making the clergy taxgatherers, if we had no greater indignities offered us, it were matter of little confequence. The trouble is not great; and, where there is a large collection, the two fhillings in the pound allowed for it is a fufficient recompence. The greatest grievance is that of being obliged to demand it from a poor perfon, who perhaps is obliged to borrow it. And I think a much greater indignity is offered to people of rank and fortune in puiting them upon a level with the poorest labourer. Whatever he may imagine of the difficulty of new modeling it, I can af fure him there is none in it; for I have now before me, "A Scheme of the Rates and Duties granted to his Majefty upon Marriages, Births, and Burials, and upon Batchelors and Widowers, for the Term of Five Years from May 1, 1695." By this fcheme every perlon (with few exceptions) is charged, For Burial Birth Marriage " £. s. d. 4 O 2 Batchelor above 25 years Widower having no child O Addition according to rank. Having 50. per annum 600l. perfonal eftate.-Burial Barth Marriage or 1 O O 10 4 Batchelors and widowers And the tax increafes in proportion up to a duke, who is charged for burial, 50l. 45.; marriage, 3ol. 25.; birth, gol. 25 6d. ; batchelor or widower, 12l. 115. The wives, widows, and children, of every degree, rated proportionably. Now, were only one filling to be paid for every perfon above a common day-labourer (who should be exempted), with proportionable addition, according to this fcheme, up to 10l. for a duke, I an of opinion that the tax would be much more productive; I am certain it would be more equitable. The nobility fince that time are, I prefame, much increased. But there is a certain or der of mortal men, called in the Scheme an Efquire, or Reputed Efquire, rated at 51. 4., which, according to my plan, would be reduced to il. is. And these are, at this prefent writing, a very numerous body, and could hardly refufe to be taxed for the honour of the title. Nor would the number of Gentlemen, or fo fo reputed, be greatly diminished, because the yeomen and tradefmen are advanced into their feats. The fervants' tax ought likewife to be modeled in the fame progreffional manner; for furely it is an affront to my Lord's Gentleman, or Mr. Butler out of livery, or indeed to the whole partycoloured fraternity, to be valued no higher than the poor boy that I retain to clean my fhoes, and scratch in my little garden. In reward of this my labour, the only favour (and furely it is not an unreasonable one) that I have to beg is, that my family, confifting only of a wife and eight children, may be indulged with a perpetual exemption from thefe taxes whenever they take place. What A. B. miftook for bees, were, I make no doubt, a fpecies of drones that breed in neceffries, They do fomewhat resemble the drone-bees; but their flight is different, and they fmell of the nidus in which they are propagated. Yours, &c. R. B. Mr. URBAN, Hartfborn, Aug. 15. SOM OME months ago I fent you a drawing of Hanbury church, &c. as a companion to St. Werburgh's fhrine in a former Number; but, as they did not reach you in due time, I wished them to be withheld till I fent you a more perfe&t account, having fince vifited the place more fully. However, I obferve in your laft, p. 651, you mean to give them place in your next. If fo, you will perhaps favour me with embodying the following amendments *. I have before faid, from a wrong information, that the fite of the nunnery was near the foundation of the new vi carage houfe; but it is on the Eaft fide of the church; and in Mr. Hunt's garden, and gravel-pit below, have frequently been dug up human bones. The manor of Falde was purchafed by Lord Mountjoy, time of Richard III. The Burton family poffeffed it afterwards; and of late years Hawkins Browne, efq. by purchale, who fold it to Crompton, efq. of Derby; and he has lately fold it to Mr. Hunt, of CaftieHay. The old half-timbered house, in which the Leicestershire Hiftorian lived, has not enough of the antiqué remaining to afford a proper picture for engraving, though with the additional brick part * These came not to hand till after the former part, p. 693, was printed off. EDIT. built by him, together with its rural appendages, they form a pleafing groupe viewed from the oppofite fide of the river Dove. When and by what means Coton manor paffed from the antient family of that name, I do not find. But in Richard III's reign Lord Mountjoy abovementioned poffeffed it by purchase; and, in 1558, it was fold from that family to Ralph Adderley, efq. whofe defcendants have fince lived in the curious old half-timbered manfion, in which Prince Rupert took shelter during the civil commotions, as appeared by his name left on the pane of a window. This old houfe was taken down a few years fince, and an excellent modern one erected in its place, by the prefent poffeffor of this and the fplendid manfion of Harns-hall, in Warwickshire. R. SHAW. FR Two MONTHS TOUR IN SCOTLAND. (Continued from p. 617.) ROM the fpot we were upon, the right-hand view attracted our regard, but with inferior power to that immediately before us, which presented a hill, green, beautifully fhaped, and clad in pines, backed by prodigious naked craggs, and washed below by the rapid waters of the Tay. It was now the decline of day, and, though the fun ftil tinted the loftier mountain tops, it had been long loft to us who fojourned in the vale; winding, however, round the hill, which had fronted us in our approach, the town of Dunkeld, its mouldering cathedral, and the palace of the Duke of Athol, intermixed with large and fhadowy trees, and overhung with vaft maffes of bare and variouslycoloured rocks, opened upon the view at once, and together compofed a landfcape well worthy the pencil of a Salvator or Pouffia. By this time night drew on apace; the furrounding mountains shed an awful gloom over the valley we were in; the river rolled impetuously upon the right, feparating us from the town of Dunkeld, where it had been purposed we thould fleep; whilft not the leaft promile of a bridge was feen; when, on a fudden turn, a comfortable inn unexpectedly appeared amongst the trees on its hither thore, difpelling in an instant all our apprehenfions about croffing the Tay with fafety. Next morning, paffing the river in a boat, we vifited the delicious regions of Dunkeld; which Mr. Pennant having largely largely dwelt upon, I fhall (however reluctantly) quit with barely adding, that short must be the catalogue of places furpaffing in loveliness thefe banks of Tay. Journeying on towards the Blair of Athol (another feat belonging to his Grace within the limits of what are properly termed the Highlands), the river fometimes rolled its eddying waters far beneath our feet, fending up a foft and foothing murmur, its broad bed overshadowed by a luxuriant growth of wood, reminding us of a more Southern climate; at other times its more confined channel was thrown off to a great diftance from us by intervening tracts of meadows; and then again the road hovered, as it were, over the margin of its rocky courfe, where it chafed and roared amongst the obftructing fraganents ftruck down by time or tempets from the heights above; the moun tains, in the mean while, which formed its farther fhore, fhooting up occafionally into a wild variety of fhapes and altitudes, by turns bare, dark, and craggy, well-wooded, green, and tamed by cultivation. IN that, July 26, the Earl of Mansfield was created Earl of Mansfield, in the county of Middlefex, with remainder to Viscount Stormont and the heirs male of his body; and in your Magazine, vol. LXVI. p. 484, it is recorded, from the Gazette, as I imagine, that, Oct. 18, 1776, Earl Mansfield was created Earl of Mansfield, in Nottinghamfhire, with remainder to the heirs male of his father. Now, fuppofing the patents of creation to correfpond with the paragraphs in the news-paper of the highest authority, I am at a loss to difcover a reafon for the new creation, there being, as appears to me, a diftinction without a difference, Lord Stormont being the heir male of the father of the prefent Earl of Mansfield. And fuppofing, as I fufpect to be the cafe, that the earldom granted in 1776 is to pafs directly, on the demise of the prefent Earl, to the fon of Lord Stormont, should both father and fon furvive the uncle and great uncle, there will be at the fame time two earls of the fame denomination. Such an incident may not, perhaps, be without a precedent in the annals of our English nobility, but it mut occafion a perplexity; and, with becoming fubmiffion, it will be a devia tion from the proper line of fubordination that the fon thould have the precedency of his father. It may, however, be easily obviated, if his Majesty will be graciously pleased to confer one more favour on the venerable peer of Caen wood, and recompence his very long and meritorious fervices with the title of a Marquis. ANTIQUARIOLUS. Mr. URBAN, Aug. 13. It was in the course of this stage that, in paffing through an inconfiderable village, we met with the firft fpecimen of Caledonian washing. A large and ftrong tub, which in fome places, it feems, is the joint property of a parish, is brought down to the river's edge; in to this whatfoever is to be washed is put, when the good woman (velibus fuccinalis) following them into the veffel, with no fmall exertion treads them with her naked feet, renewing from time to time the water from the river till the operation is fatisfactorily performed. The multitude of rivers, lakes, and waterfalls, throughout the High-HAVE juft received your Magazine lands, may have occafioned the more general practice of this method there; but, fhould it be carried on in wintertime, it must be molt bitterly fevere. Whether, however, it arofe from this custom, or from any peculiar bleaching property in the keen and clear air of the country, never did I any where meet with cleaner or whiter linen, either for bed or board, than in the Highlands of Scotland, even at the most ordinary inns. It would have given me pleasure 40 have said as much, with equal truth, as to the neatness of their culinary arrangements, even at the best throughout that kingdom. (To be continue1.) month of June, in which I fee a gentleman defires that I should "explain Mr. Jacquet's contrivance for correcting the irregularities in the vibrations of the pendulum, arifing from heat and cold." He fays, that he has never yet feen any method for this correction, either in theory or practice, without its objections." No name being put to this letter, I cannot have the honour to reply; but I fhall let you know, that I fent a defcription of this contrivance, with a drawing, with other matters, to the Society for the Encouragement of Arts, &c. for which Mr. More fent me thanks in the name of the Society, who did me the honour honour 10 defire the continuation of my future correfpondence. From this you fee, Mr. Urban, that your correfpondent may apply to Mr. More, who will let him fee the description I fent, dated the 6th of June, 1781. If from fome accident this letter and drawing is not to be found, I fhall fend them to you, with my whole correfpondence, which I published in French when I was abroad in 1785; to which I fhall add the drawing and defcription of the pendulum's corrector, I having kept the original fetch from which I drew what I fent to the Society. I Yours, &c. W. BLAKEY. Mr. URBAN, Newcastle, Staff. Aug. 7. SEND you the following epitaph for infertion, not only on account of the elegance of the infcription, but alfo with a hope that fome of your biographical correfpondents may give you further information refpecting the fubject of it; who, if the following lines tell truth, must have been an ornament to feience and human nature. I am ignorant whether it was actually engraved on any monument, having only accidentally difcovered it amongst a collection of antient manufcripts. Yours, &c. INVESTIGATOR. Hic jacet GUIL. FALKNER, S.T.P. *Hujufce loci decus, et gentis litteratæ orna mentum: acerrimus juris tam regalis, tam ecclefiaftici vindex; hinc phanaticorum petulantiam frænavit, et illinc Romanum proftravit faftum. Maximo major elogio, feems that Catharine de Medicis was weak enough to hearken to thofe crafty knaves of her, and even our, days, called forcerers, fortune-tellers, conjurors, &c. and being defirous of knowing what men were to wear the crown of France in future days, the fent for the cunning man, or principal forcerer of Paris, to attend her; who, after having drawn himself and the queen within his circle of feience, thewed Catharine, in the glafs over her chimney, the portraits of Heary the Fourth, Louis the Thirteenth, Louis the Fourteenth, and four Jefuits, Aruggling for a crown, which they were holding over their own heads! He then informed the queen, that, after the reign of thofe three kings, a troop of Jefuits would feize upon the crown, and govern the kingdom themselves 1 By what artifice this conjuror could cause three kings and four Jefuits thus to appear to Mary in her own miroir enchanté, it is not in my power to explain; but that he did perform fuch a deed can hardly be doubted, when I tell you that a fine copper-plate print now lies before me, and which feems to have been engraven at or near the fame time, and after the following defcription of it has been read and confidered; for in it the queen is reprefented in an elegant attitude, with a crown upon her head, and a long flowing mantle charged from top to bottom with feurs-de-lys. She is looking in the mirror over her chimney, her hands in the attitude of furprize at three kings, and four Jefuits who hold a large crown over their own heads near the queen; the long-bearded conjurer with his wand is ftooping down to ex ùm fe minimo minorem exiftimâffet præ- amine the hieroglyphical figures on the conio. Viator, margin of his circle, which is decorated with a full, a cat, and an antique burning lamp. Under the print is the following infcription, verbatim: "On dit, que la Reine Catherine auroit beaucoup de commerce avec les forciers et magiciens, qui lui faifoient voir dans un miroir enchanté ceux qui régneroient en France à l'avenir. Elle vit d'abord Henry IV. enfuitte Louis XIII. après Louis XIV. et enfin une troupe de Jéfuites qui devoient abolir la mo narchie & gouverner eux-mefmes. Ce miroir fe voit encore aujourd'huy dans le palais du roy." De Lefpionture, tome IV. p. 363. Now had the conjuror brought into the mirror poor Louis the Sixteenth, the prophecy would at this day have Qu. Were there any copper-plate engravings in Mary's days? I think not. Befide, it is finely engraved, and therefore muft, I think, be of later days. been been almost fulfilled; for I have no doubt but that the prefent king will be either choufed out, or put out, very foon, by a troop of Jefuits. P. T. Mr. URBAN, Aug 3. rooms. He died unmarried, in extreme poverty, about the fame time, in a barn belonging to Mr. Brown, who then kept the White Hart, at Chigwell-row, and was buried (I believe at the expence of the parish) in the family vault at WISHING with your friend W B. Chigwell church, at which funeral I to do whatever I can for the advantage of your Magazine, and in hopes of being of ufe to the defcendants of Sir Hugh Middleton, though what ufe my information refpecting them can be is unknown to me, I trouble you with the following. Giles, fon of Sir John Green, married a Mifs Soams, or Sooms, but died without children. William Green married a Mifs Burwele, and had by her one daughter. She married, and left four fons and one daughter, who are all living either in Devonshire or Somerfetshire, and are the great great grandchildren of Sir William Middleton; and most likely there are more, but where I cannot inform you. Elizabeth and Catharine, fifters of William Green, both married; one, a Mr. Atkinfon; another, Mr. Hunt, and, 1 have heard, had children, and that they are living in London. Sir William Middleton had too a grandfon, who died unmarried. Yours, &c. VERITAS. Margaret-freet, CarvenMr. URBAN, difb fquare, Aug. 7. THE HE frequent enquiries which I have lately obferved in your very excellent Repofitory refpe&ting the family of Sir Hugh Middleton, have induced me to acquaint you with fome particulars which I have not feen mentioned by any of your correspondents, in hopes that they may be found ufeful to the gentlemen who have been foliciting the communications. About the year 1756 or 1757 I was at fchool at Chigwell, in Effex, and perfectly remember to have frequently feen an old lady who was called Lady Middleton, and lived at a houfe called the Rookery, and was faid to fubfift on a penfion of 100l. per annum, which the received from Government. She had one fon, Sir Hugh, whom I have likewife feen, a tall thin man, very profligate, and addicted to all manner of low vices: one circumstance which makes me remember him more particularly is, that, upon the report of his being in the vil lage, it fo frightened us children that we always locked curlelves up in cur was a fpectator. Thefe hints may, perhaps, induce fome enquiries to be made at Chigwell, where I think it likely thefe communications may be further authenticated. W. H. Mr. URBAN, Aug. 18. IN p. 603, you favoured the publick with a letter, giving an account of the virtues of the herb Clivers, or Cleavers, commonly called Hariff, or Goose-grafs. Not knowing it by any of thefe names, I had recourfe to Dr. Johnson's Dictionary, but was difappointed; I then fearched Dr. Ah's, and under Goofe. grafs met with Clivers, wild tanly. Not being fatisfied, I confulted Dr. Hill's Herbal, belonging to a medical acquaintance, where, under Chivers or Cleavers, 1 met with a clear description, and a general mention of its virtue in the fcurvy, by which I knew the herb, bat which I apprehend is quite another than the wild tanfy. Let me request your inferting this notice, to complete the benefit you defigned the publick. Yours, &c. A COUNTRYMAN. Mr. URBAN, Ipfrwich, Aug. 2. T was with fome furprize that I obferved the death of the late Prince Ferdinand, the glorious hero of Minden, and younger brother of the late reigning Duke of Brunswick Wolfenbuttel, recorded in our provincial papers with fuch coolness and unconcern as to mistake him for his nephew Charles, the prefent reigning Duke of Brunfwick Lunenburg, who married our fovereign's fifter, and is now at the head of the Auftrian and Pruffian armies on the confines of France. But I was infinitely more furprized to fce the miftake copied into your Magazine, p. 6753 as the two perfonages, who are both equally illuftrious, are as diftinct as can poffibly be; and the latter is at prefent in fo confpicuous a fituation, that, if any accident were to befall him, it might make a great alteration in the ftate of affairs abroad. I hope not only to fee the above corre&ed in your next, but also that fome of your correfpondents will furnish you with fome interesting anecdotes of the decealed hero. Yours, &c. S. J. S. Mr. |