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Mr. URBAN,

N

A.

June 27.

O apology is necessary for trans

mitting to you an extract from a Plan recently suggested at Newcastle-upon-Tyne for a Literary Establishment, to be denominated "The Newcastle Typographical Society."

"In furtherance of this Plan, with all due deference to the opinion of others, it is submitted, that an association of this kind might fairly embrace every species of local investigation connected with the Literature or Typography, and consequently with the History, of this great commercial town, from the earliest period of time down to the present moment. No one disputes, that there are several interesting transactions, relative to our Border History, which have never been properly developed; nor have we yet discovered the secret and real impulse which led to, and directed, many of the most remarkable events exhibited upon the frontiers of the two contending kingdoms of England and Scotland. These and other similar transactions, of a civil and military nature, will afford a wide field of enquiry; and the publication of any elucidation of subjects so highly interesting must necessarily be advantageous to the future historian. The Topography of the surrounding country, in the enlarged sense of the word, should also be a matter of continual attention; and the publication of antient manuscripts on that subject, as well as the printing of such of our local conventions and customs, as have not yet been published, with which many private and public collections in this part of the country abound, cannot be too strongly recommended. The great avidity with which every kind of knowledge is now sought after, may likewise

stimulate the Society to re-print other scarce articles intimately connected with these parts. A further object, which the intended Society should not lose sight of, is that of securing, whenever practicable, the portraits of such celeresidents in, the town and neighbourbrated characters, either natives of, or hood, as have any way eminently distinguished themselves by their learning, their talents, or their other acquirements. The recollection of the honour thereby conferred on us, it is hoped, may, in some measure, inspire the suc ceeding generation with that generous love of fame which produced the celebrity and eminence of their illustrious predecessors. Of course, it would be desirable to accompany these portraits with the best biographical sketches that could be procured, which might, from time to time, be printed for the use of the members. But above all, the attention of the Society should be particularly directed towards the acquisition of a complete local library. Such as are acquainted with the immense number of literary productions which issued from the printing-presses of Barker, Bulkeley, White, Saint, and Slack, to say nothing of the printers of the present day, will probably regard an attempt to collect them all as bold and presumptuous; but to those who have felt the pleasures of book-collecting; or, to be more intelligible to the uninitiated, when we reflect on and feel the delight and instruction which the studies of Literature inculcate; when we have experienced the perpetual charm which they communicate to leisure hours,— otherwise too often lamentably dissipated in indolent and degrading pursuits, it must be confessed to be a laudable endeavour, even should it ultimately fail. There seems no occasion, however, to anticipate such an event; for, though the present association has hardly yet been mentioned, several literary gentlemen have already consented to patronize the Institution, and to add to its collections from their own stores. There is, therefore, every reason to believe, that, when the future views of the Society become more generally known, the example will soon be followed by others attached to similar pursuits.

"As the Library of the Society will be always open to the inspection of the public, we are not, perhaps, assuming too much in looking forward to presentation copies, either from the authors or from other quarters, of the greatest part of the works that may hereafter be published in Newcastle-upon-Tyne.

"J. C. B."

Mr.

Mr. URBAN, Bristol, July 3. LTHOUGH the real value of any

fully made a memorandum of it, and highly delighted when an oppor

A thing be, according to the poel, tunity of passing within about twenty

"as much money as it will bring,' there is an ideal or national value affixed to innumerable objects, not in their nature of much worth or utility, but merely because they have belonged to some particular person. Thus, in addition to that most valuable and extensive class of relics which devotees have preserved with becoming reverence, as part of the possessions of the noble army of Saints and Martyrs-a loyal Virtuoso in our own Country, even since the establishment of Protestantism, directed by his last will, that some of the hair and blood of King Charles I. which he had inclosed in a casket, and left in Southwich House, near Portsdown Hill, should be carefully preserved there till the end of the world! Much may be said in favour of what certain grave and phlegmatic philosophers have called whimsies, and I have no inclination to ridicule either the disposition to collect rarities of any description, or to attach to whatever has once belonged to antient worthies, and persons of renown, a certain degree of estimation and regard. Far be it from me to do so; for, in common with many other men of leisure, I have devoted many a long and tedious hour to the investigation of Antiquities, and know how to feel for the disappointment which sometimes overwhelms the industrious labourer in this department of science, by what has occasionally occurred to myself. Every thing which belonged to our immortal Shakspeare is deservedly esteemed curious and valuable. If Addison thought, that to know the stature and aspect of the great Duke of Marlborough would afford delight to posterity, surely it is not unreasonable to suppose that even the most trivial circumstance, connected with the most extraordinary genius which the world has ever produced, is worthy of being recorded and preserved. With such impressions, I read, many months ago, an account of the discovery of a ring which was conjectured, and almost proved, to have belonged to the illustrious Bard. A seal-ring, too; and with his own initials! Not having constant access to the volume in which I read the account, I care

miles of Stratford-upon-Avon, lately, gave me, as I thought, a chance of obtaining a sight of this gem,-for, without being an idolator of Shakspeare, such I considered it. Without the least hesitation or reluctance, I deviated from my road, and, in spite of a heavy rain, crossed the country from near Bromsgrove, and thought lightly of the trouble when I arrived safe at the White Lion Inn-that very inn which Toldervy and others have so handsomely mentioned, situated in that very street where "Nature's Darling" first opened his eyes. Moreover, I thought myself quite in luck to find therein assembled a large company of respectable inhabitants of the town, who politely received an uoknown traveller amongst them, and appeared pleased in gratifying his curiosity respecting the Bard. But, alas! when the ring was mentioned, not one amongst them seemed to know any thing of the matter; only one of them had ever heard of it, and he accidentally met with the very account which I had also met witha hundred miles from the spot ;-but a good-looking, portly old gentleman, who sat a long time perfectly silent, seemed to listen with much attention to the remarks of the rest of the company, took his pipe from his mouth, and drily observed, that there must have been some mistake in the relation, and that, instead of such a ring being found at Stratford, it must have been at Birmingham! In short, Mr. Urban, one and all assured me that I had been hoaxed; and, as I was once hoaxed before, in the affair of a supposed Queen Anne's farthing, I have made a resolution never to ride twenty miles in a wet day again, such a wild-goose chace: and this account of my adventure may be a warning to others, as well as it certainly will be to Yours, &c.

RAMBLER.

Mr. URBAN, June 5. N the attainder list of Protestants,

in Dublin, appears the name of Capt. John Ryder, of the county of Mouaghan. Perhaps some of your Correspondents may possess information as to the brauch of the Ryder family

from which he proceeded. John Ryder, Archbishop of Tuam in 1752, was first cousin to Sir Dudley Ryder, the eminent Judge.

Your heraldic friends could probably say whether a title of Peerage should date from the period of the grant appearing in the Gazette, or from the perfect completion of the patent. A title, for instance, may be gazetted in 1818, and the patent not fully completed until January 1819. Instances have occurred of many months intervening,

Is your Correspondent, p. 404, certain as to the Lorton Viscounty being derived from Cumberland? G. H. W.

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A CORRESPONDENT, in vol.

LXXXVIII. p. 305, requests information respecting an inscription upon a brass-plate in the possession of Mr. Burleigh, of Barnwell, of which a figure, No. 11, is given in the second Plate of that Number.

In the walls of a farm-house built upon the site of Marton Abbey, in Yorkshire, are two stones representing shields, bearing the same device, and surmounted with crowns. A shield of the same description occurs in the wall over the East window of the Chapel of Marton, situated about a mile from the place where the Abbey stood. There are also two other similarly-inscribed stones in the walls of a collage at Craike, about two miles distant, and another over the porch of the Church at Wheuby, of which Molesby, a Nunnery subordinate to Marton, was the impropriator and patron; which induced me to suppose that it was a device peculiar to that Abbey; but I have since found that it is common to all religious houses, and is sufficiently explained in the Gentleman's Magazine for 1754, page 494. It is there stated to be an abbreviation of the Greek name 'Inos, that name being originally very commonly written IHC, which is usually interpreted, Jesus Hominum Salvator; but this the writer looks upon as a vulgar error, it being no other than the common note of 'Ino, both in MSS and inscriptions.

If the Brass-plate in question were found in or near the Priory at Barnwell, there can be no doubt of its designation.

Yours, &c.

SCRUTATOR.

I

Mr. URBAN,

July 10. HEARTILY join in the appellation you have bestowed, in p. 537, on the "Hints towards an attempt to reduce the Poor Rate."

The Author commences his able pamphlet with joining in the general agreement, that Excess of Population is the chief cause of the increase deprecated, to which he adds, Inoculation for the Small Pox and the Vaccine have eminently contributed. The other leading great cause, is improvident marriage in the poor, iu check of which, the Author purposes denial of parochial relief to all persons under the age of thirty, except from urgent circumstances approved by a Magistrate. Many other regulations are suggested, all of which deserve the most solemn attention.

The following account will highly amuse persons of sentiment and knowledge of the world: "In some instances which have come within my own knowledge, the overseers and farmers have held meetings at the parish alehouse, for putting up to sale by auction the labour of the poor for the ensuing week, after this manner: the farmer bids two shillings; another advances three-pence (no bidding can be under three-pence), another bids three-pence more; and so on, till the poor man is bought in at four or five shillings for the week. The farmer pays the poor man the whole sum allowed him by the parish for the week, and then receives back from the overseer as much as the difference is between the sum so allowed and the price of the purchase. The consequence is, that the purchasing farmer gets his labour done at half-price, or less: and that what ought to come from his own pocket, is paid from the Poor-rate, and thrown upon the other inhabitants. And this is not all;—for the farmers consider these meetings to be of such advantage, that the ale-house expences are all charged to the parish account."

a

Allowing that versatility of talents is daily exhibited with amazing ingenuity in shuffling and swindling, Dothing is equal to the ability displayed in low life. I actually knew miser of humble condition, who wanted beer, and brewed a single bushel of malt, but so managed the process, as to create almost as much yeast as payed for the malt.

G. MUNGO

A

MUNGO PARK.

LETTER has been received

by a gentleman of Liverpool from his brother at Juddah, a sea

port on the Red Sea. The following extract purports to give some infor. mation respecting this enterprising traveller:

"Dec. 13, 1818.-On my landing at Juddah, a place where I did not expect to hear an English word, I was accosted by a man in the complete costume of the country, with Are you an Englishman, Sir? My answer being of course in the affirmative, appeared to give him plea 'Thanks and sure beyond expression.

praise to God!' he exclaimed, 'I once
more hear an English tongue, which I
have not done for fourteen years before.'
I have been much amused by him since;
his account of the Abyssinians, the in-
habitants of a country that has absorbed
fourteen years of his existence, is indeed
truly interesting.-You must, no doubt,
have heard or read of him; he is that
Nathaniel Pearce spoken of by Mr. Salt
in his Account of his Travels in Abyssi-
nia. He was left there by Lord Valen-
tia, and has been the greater part of

the time in the service of one or other
of the chiefs in various parts of the coun-
try. At the time I met with him, he
was endeavouring to make his way to
Tombuctoo, where he says Mungo Park
is still in existence, detained by the
chief. He says the whole country al-
most idolize him for his skill in surgery,
`astronomy, &c. &c. They say he is an
angel come from heaven to administer
comforts to them; and he explains to
them the motions and uses of the hea-
venly bodies. He is, Pearce says, very
desirous to make his escape, but finds it
impossible. What!' say they, do
you suppose us so foolish as to part with
so invaluable a treasure? If you go
away, where are we to find another pos-
sessing so much knowledge, or who will
do us so much good?'-Pearce appeared
to have been resolutely bent on endea-
vouring to reach Tombuctoo, but bad
for some time been labouring under se-
vere illness."

Happy should we be if Pearce's statement should be found correct, and the illustrious Park still in existence. That Pearce gave the above relation to the writer of the letter, we do not doubt; but we question the truth of that relation. There is a greater weight of evidence to prove the melancholy fate of Park," than

there is to prove his being still in existence. No intelligence has been

received from him since he left San-
sanding in the year 1805; and this
fact itself is a strong presumption
that he is not now in existence, and

a corroboration of the several ac-
counts which have been published re-
specting the manner of his death.
Pearce, we suppose, obtained his in-
telligence respecting Park in Abys
sinia; but the distance of Tombuctoo
from the Eastern coast is so great,
and the intermediate regions so com-
pletely a terra incognita, that this
consideration alone is sufficient to
overthrow the whole story. But there
is one fact which to us is decisive
against the truth of Pearce's relation.
Many of our Readers may have read
the narrative of Robert Adams, a
sailor, who was wrecked in the year
1810 on the Western coast of Africa,
detained by the Arabs of the Great
Desert, and carried by them to Tom-
buctoo. He remained there several
months, resided the whole period of
his stay in the palace of Woollo the
king, and frequently walked about
the town. Adams, from the uncom-
mon degree of curiosity which he ex-
cited, believed that the people of
Tombuctoo had never seen a white
man before. Now, supposing Park
to have been then detained in that
city (and he must have been there at
that time, if Pearce's story be true),
engaged in explaining to the rude
and ignorant natives the sublime sci-
ence of astronomy, is it at all pro-
bable, either that Adams would not
have seen or heard of so wonderful
a man, or that Park would not have
found some means of communication
with Adams? The writer of the let-
ter states, that when he met at Jud-
dah, Pearce was endeavouring to
make his way to Tombuctoo. This,
in our opinion, is as improbable as
the story about Park. For where is
this Juddah? It is, no doubt, the
well-known sea-port of Arabia Felix
on the Red Sea. If it be so, and if
Pearce were endeavouring to pene.
trate to the far-famed Tombuctoo, is
it not a little singular that he should
endeavour to do so from Juddah,
which is on the Asiatic side of the
Red Sea, which, before he could com-
mence his journey, he must cross to
the African side?

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REVIEW

1.

REVIEW OF NEW PUBLICATIONS.

Political and Literary Anecdotes of his own Times. By Dr. William King, Principal of St. Mary Hall, Oxon. 8vo. 2d. Edit. pp. 252. Murray.

E have been much delighted with
WE
this instructive and amusing
Work. It brings to our view a cha-
racter not uncommon, the pleasing
garrulous old Collegiate scholar, who
is often seen filling the arm-chair by

the fire-side of a common, or com-
bination-room. Being among com-
panions of similar habits, and a com-
mon interest, such persons indulge in
all that innocent hilarity which pro-
ceeds from absence of cares. Of this,
that part of society which is unac-
quainted with the modes of living in
an English University has no con-
ception. Released from the trouble
and expence of a household establish-
ment, horses, taxes, wives, children,
and other expensive et ceteras, un-
avoidably attached to living in the
world; their expences are
or may
be limited to food, wines, clothes, and
books, without any diminution of re-
spectability. They are not further
subjected to inequalities of society,
especially the torture of humouring
and enduring those who are wealthy
without education, and the eternal
annoyances of ignorance, slander,
roguery, and clamorous beggary, with
which many a resident in a country
village is frequently harassed. Of
all this, even the gentleman of good
property, who resides in the country,
has no knowledge. He is constantly
interrupted by domestic disagree

ables: even if he is blessed with a
consort who is in everlasting good
humour, unfortunately an impossibi-
lity, if she be also a good ma-
nager; for it is the injury which all
such characters feel from waste and
mischief that occasions such frequent
ringing of the animal bell. But ad-
mitting that he has an accomplished,
amiable, drawing-room wife, there is
still perpetual misbehaviour of ser-
vants; sickness in the nursery; colds
and lameness in the stable; poultry
stealing; rainy weather in haymak
ing time; unsuccessful brewings; and,
more especially, that consummate
misery, poaching. Add to this, one
GENT. MAG. July, 1819.

perpetual intrusion from servants for orders, and tenants or neighbours on petty business. When a dinner is got up for a large party, it is a bustle for a week throughout the house.

Now all these miseries are avoided in

College. It is habitation in an inn, or hotel, without its publicity, or severe expence.

The Residents know no

thing of the lower orders of life, or

of the business of the world; and their abstract studious pursuits, foolish to the majority of mankind, because they are not certain roads to riches, limit their desires, beyond the table, enjoyed in innocence, to puns, criticisms, anecdotes, and calculations of the value of livings. Such are the blessings attached to the University Toga.

similar occasions, suffered much in

We remember to have heard, when young, our old University friends talk very affectionately of Dr. King, and the furious party contentions of Jacobites and Hanoverians, which once prevailed in the University of Oxford. Dr. King was a strong Pretendarian ; and, like many other good men in all worldly respects from trying to serve fools, an obstinate one, who did not a fool; a fool of the worst sort of suit his measures to circumstances, but presumed that it was the duty of inclinations. This the Pretender conProvidence to adapt events to his own ceived to be a certain privilege of Royalty and that it was the ruin of by Dr. King, in the following passage; the Stuarts is luminously exhibited for we shall not quote that in p. 196, because it has appeared in other journals.

Dr. King, speaking of the misfortunes of this House, ascribes them

"to a certain obstinacy of temper, which appears to have been hereditary and inherent in all the Stuarts, except Charles II. I have read a series of letters, which passed between King Charles I. whilst he was prisoner at Newcastle, The whole purport of her letters was to and his Queen, who was then in France. press him most earnestly to make his escape, which she had so well contrived, by the assistance of Cardinal Mazarine, that it could not fail of success. She informed him of the designs of his ene

mies,

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