come to us from different parts of the Continent, where they are bred in large forests, and principally in the more Northern encs, whence they are driven be the fnows and the approach of Winter. By the fhort flights which they take when flushed in our woods they do not feem fond of flying far, yet they certainly come from places at a great dinance. Some of them do probably come over by the short paffage from Calais to Dover; but whether they are fatigued with the journey, and unable to proceed farther without refting, as is the cafe at other landing-places, I know not, having never heard any thing upon the fubject from an inhabitant of thofe parts. Thofe which arrive on the Suffex coat come, it is moft likely, by way of Normandy and the adjacent provinces, as others do from Holland and Germany to our Eaftern coafts. But whence do they come to our Weftern coafts, where they abound more than they do in other parts of the kingdom? And whence to Ireland, where they are much more numerous than in England? Do they alight in Ireland first, and then come to us? or do they pafs over us to Ireland, and there continue as their me plus ultra? Is it impoffible that fome of them may come from the more Northern parts of America? It is obfervable that, like other birds that are formed for long flights, they have their bones very fine and light, yet at the fame time firm and ftrong; fome of them almost as fmall as the ribs of a herring. large heads, and of a colour fomewhat darker than others. Those which are rive in October and November, the moft numerous tribe, are rather lefs, with lefs heads, and of a colour not quite fo dark. And the Candlemas cocks are fill finaller, with shorter bills, and of a lighter colour on the head, back, and breaft. Such a variety is likewife obfervable in fnipus, though perhaps not commonly noticed. I am of opinion that woodcocks are to be found in almost all parts of the world. A gentleman, who has been governor of Bengal, informed me, that they have them in India, whither they probably come from the immenfe wilds of Tartary. Thefe delicious birds are now very rare, and become more and more fo every year, being fo eagerly hunted after, that very few efcape to go back again. And 1 apprehend that they are not great breeders, as thofe few that chance to breed here are observed to lay but two, or at most three, eggs. Formerly, before the art of footing flying was fo general, and they were in much greater plenty, they were taken in fprings fet in moit places where they came to feed; but the greatest havock of them is made in Cornwall and Devon hire by nets hung in the woods; and I have heard that the Exeter fagecoach has brought up thirty dozen to a week to the all-confuming city of London. So many enemies, and fo many engines, are employed to defroy them, that very few can return to breed and bring us fresh supplics. Mr. URBAN, You R. B. There are very clearly different kinds of them; whether bred in the fame or diffe ent countries, the curious refearches of the Naturalift may hereafter Feb. 18. investigate; at prefent, I prefume, it is OUR correfpondent L. R. vol. undetermined. Thofe which come to LXII. p. 21, is mifinformed with us about Candlemas are different from regard to Mr. Cartier's pulling down the others, that arrive earlier, in fize, and re-building Bedgbury, he having in colour, and even in their manner of only taken away one wing that confifted flying, being quicker of wing, taking of coach-houtes and tables; the house, longer fights, and, as is well known to which is a good one, ftill remaining on fportfmen, more difficult to be hot, be- its old foundation laid by Sir James caufe they do not rife to quickly above Hayes. Nor did L. R. confider the the fpray, but make their way for fome fente of the word exemplar in the indistance among the boughs. That fome fcription on the plate, or he must have few are bred here is beyond a queftion, perceived that it was another, though because the nefts and the young are not fimilar, plate, that was buried in the unfrequently feen. Thefe are fuppofed foundation. The plate which he mento be from wounded birds difabled from tions I have feen many years ago, long. returning; and I take them to be those before Mr C, or the prior poffeffors, that are found to carly as September, the Stephenfons, had the cftate, it beand chiefly in hedge-rows. They flying preferved in the houfe. I fhould heavily, and feidom many rods at a be happy if I could give your corretime. They are of the largeft fize, with fpondent full information about Sir James James Hayes and Lady Falkland; but grefs, of these fish of paffage, is one of the moft extraordinary circumftances in all the History of Nature. What it is that impels them to fuch diftant voyages; what directs their paffage; what fupports them by the way; and what fometimes prompts them to quit, for feveral feafons, one fhore for another, and then return to their accustomed afk, but Philofophy can hardly refolve. We harbour; are questions that Curiofity may muft difmifs enquiry, fatisfied with the certainty of the facts." The overruling power of a Deity, vifible indeed in every part of the crea tion, diftinguishes itfelf here, I think, in a very peculiar manner; for, in the AFTER fo long a difcuffion kept unfathomable waters of the Ocean, the up in your inftructive pages concerning the retreats of swallows, and their manner of fubfiftence in the winter months, their total migration feems defervedly to have affixed the general opinion. And this conclunion is farther favoured by the confideration that there exifts a parallel inftinct among the race of files, fome fpecies of which perform like periodical migrations, equally diftant, and with as unerring regularity as any of the aërial tribes. But I fhall take the liberty, to offer you an extract, from Dr. Goldfmith's Natural Hiftory, on fishes of paffage, which will afford a ftriking idea of their fimilarity in this refpect, and which may be new and not uninterefting on the prefent occafion to fome of your readers. Having fpoken of fuch kinds as pafs, at certain feafons, up and down rivers, he thus proceeds: variation of feafons can have no effect, Mr. URBAN, Witney, June 29. HAVING occafion, a few days ago, to be at the village of ChurchHandborough in this neighbourhood, curiofity, and a little fondness for An "But the length of the voyage performed by these fishes is fhort, if compared to what is armually undertaken by fome tribes that conftantly refide in the Ocean. These are known to take a course of three or four thousand miles in a feafon; ferving for prey to whales, fharks, and the numerous flocks of water-fowl that regularly wait to intercept their progrefs. Thefe may be called fifh of paffage, and bear a strong analogy to birds of paffage, both from their focial difiquity, led me into the antient church pofition, and the immenfity of their numbers. Of this kind are the cod, the haddock, the whiting, the mackrel, the tunny, the herring, and the pilchard. Other fish live in our vicinity, and refide on our coafts all the year round, or keep in the depths of the Ocean, and are but feldom feen; but thefe, at ftated fenfons, vifit their accustomed haunts with regular certainty, generally returning the fame week in the fucceeding year, and often the fame day." The Doctor then adds, there, in which I read, not without furprize, an infcription to the manes of Charles the Firft, of unfortunate memory; and, recollecting that my old acquaintance Mr. Urban was fomewhat attached to fuch curiofities, I determined to fend a copy for his infpection, withing, if he thinks it unknown to his readers, to have it inferted in his Mifcellany. It is painted on the wall of the Eaft fide of the chancel, and furrounded by a border, designed to repre "The stated returns, and the regular pro- fent a marble flab, I could not learn when in a note, fays, that Mary Dyer was the only Quaker that fuffered death for her religious opinions at Boston. If he confults Sewell's Hiftory of that fociety, a writer whom their enemies cannot charge with falfehood, he will find that three men were also put to-death. I am not defirous to enlarge on this fubject, and very willingly believe that the far removed from the bigotry and perBoltonians of the prefent day are very fecuting fpirit of their predeceffors. But, whatever tenderness is due to the feelings of our contemporaries, yet, when entering into the important province of Hiftory, a ftrict veracity and impartiality is certainly requifite. If the tranflator is one of those who are devoted to truth, from whatever quarter it come, I hope to fee an acknowledge ment of his error conveyed to the publick through fome channel of information as extenfively circulated as your Mifcellany; and, if his work should pafs through a fecond edition, the erro necus paffage will be canceled. W. F. Mr. URBAN, Adderbury, June 21. WHILE I pay my tribute of reItalian tranflator, I cannot but lament fpect to Mr. Hoole as an able that no one has given us a complete tranflation of Petrarch's poetical works. I was led to thefe reflexions by the pelogue, where I enumerated near fifty rufal of a stray fheet of an Italian cataeither whole, or in part. different editions of this poet's works, How ftrange it is that he has never yet appeared in an English drefs! Some ingenious gentleman has given us a beautiful fpecimen in an elegant tranflation of thirty of his fonnets, and three of his odes, in a fmall volume printed for Davies. The reafon this gentleman gives, in his Advertisement to his book, for not tranflating the whole, namely, the difficulty of the task, may be with him unan fwerable; and certainly, difficulties excepted, it would be no fmall labour, as Petrarch's works contain above 300 fonnets, befides many odes, &c. &c. But his other reafons are (at least with me) rather an argument for a general tranflation than against it. Perraich, confidering the times in which he lived, was a phænomenon in literature, and feems to have poffeffed a very refined fenfibility. Ardent and romantic in his ideas, yet his fentiments are to beautiful, that I conceive a good tranflation of of his poetical remains would be a valuable acquifition to the English reader of poetical tafte: and I the more wonder that no fuch thing has appeared, as he was the father of the fonnetteers; and many, who write in that way, would do well enough to take him as a model. As many, like me, may wish for information in fuch things, if you would indulge my enquiries, I fhould be glad to be informed, whether Cafimir the Polifh poet's works were ever tranflated into the English language? His fame for the elegance of his Latin, and the beauty and spirit of his poetry, toge ther with the fingularity of fo great a Northern genius, makes a more familiar acquaintance with him defirable. In Mr. Steevens's new edition of Shakspeare, he mentions a Thomas Watson as 66 an elder and more eloquent fonnetteer than our great dramatic bard. As I never met with his name before, and I believe it is but little known, if any of your readers, Mr. Urban, could furnish us with any account of him through the channel of your Magazine, it would confer an obligation upon the lovers of English poetry; among whom, I make no fcruple to fay, I am not the leaft ardent. In vol. LXI. p. 308, is a letter to the Rev. Mr. Morrison, which intimates that he was employed in preparing a new edition of the Biographical Dictionary. It is a very useful work, and I have been long wifhing for a new and improved edition of it, and fhould be pleafed to learn that it was published. The publisher would do well to haften it if it is not already out, as there is now publishing a paltry compilation of that kind, which, from the fpecimen I have seen of it, is very badly executed; yet it may hurt the fale of the other, which, with all its faults in the old edi. tion, was a much better book. I have been lately much amufed with the life of that great mathematician, Emerfon, prefixed to a new edition of his tracts on mechanicks, &c. He was altogether a very fingular man, and a wonderful prodigy of genius in his way. His works, which comprehend almoft the whole circle of the mathematical fciences, are excelled by very few on the different fubjects which he wrote upon; but the truth is, his inveftigations are in general too condenfed, and his demonstrations too concife, for a Audent who has not a deep penetration ⚫er a tutor at his elbow. Mr. Bowes, the author of his Memoirs, has given us a lift of his works, with the dates of their publication; and Mr. Wingrave, the publisher, has given us another at the latter end of the book: but I remember to have feen an advertisement of his works under the title of Cyclomathefis, in ten volumes. Now, upon comparing thofe lifts, I cannot make out any order of arrangement, which there must have been under that title; nor is there any mention of any uniform edition of his works in his memoirs; therefore I should be much obliged to any gentleman for information, whether it was an uniform edition of his works that were printed off together under that title? or if it was only an arrangement of fome particular volumes under a general title? and if fo, what were the particulars, and method of arrangement? It Three or four years ago, I underftoo! that Profeffor Martyn was engaged in the collection and arrangement of materials for a new edition of Millar's Gardener's Dictionary; and that he propofed to make it a perfect botanical as well as gardener's dictionary. This plan, well executed, must render it a very valuable and ufeful work. would doubtlefs much oblige many who are interested in thofe pursuits, if the learned Profeffor would inform them, through fome public channel, when they might expect its appearance*. Yours, &c. T. WOOLSTON. Mr. URBAN, I June j. SHALL not ufe a fafbionable word by faying I was "very forry" to read the decease of Mr. Jeffreys in your Obituary, p. 381, though I felt some regret that he did not live to complete and enjoy the reward of his labours; yet, on recollection of the many almost infurmountable obftacles he must have met with, the space of time unavoidably required, and the expences neceffarily attending fuch a purfuit, together with his feeble conftitution of body, one would rather rejoice at his release from a task which there was little probability of accomplishing. The "benevolent character" who buried him fuppofed right, "that he was paying a tribute to learning and genius." Poverty is too often the companion of learning-little enquiry is needful to prove it. The diftreffed ftate of Mr. J's circumftances may occafion fome furprize among thofe * See this month's Review, p. 650. EDIT. who who knew his fuccefs in collecting for his "Traveller's Guide;" which was half-a-crown the fubfcription, and another half-crown on the delivery of the book. He has certainly collected feveral fubfcriptions in a few hours, and had better fuccefs the following day; hence it may appear fufpicious that the fums he muft have received were not prudently managed. But he, as is ufually the characteristick of fuch men, was no œconomift; he had no method in pecuniary matters; and hence he was moftly in poverty, without proof of extravagance, or being given to irregularities of any kind. Had he indulged in any excefs, the tongue of fcandal would not have been more lenient to bim than to other men; reports would have fpread around him, and himself pro. claimed an impoftor: but fuch was not the cafe. Wherever he wandered, he found fupport, and oftentimes diftin. guished esteem, from his unaffuming manner, and remarkable modefty of deportment. Few particulars concerning him will perhaps now appear, as he left nothing of information behind him except his two books of fubfcriptions, in which were, a few years ago, fome introductory and recommendatory letters, the Jeals of which fecure them from fufpicion of forgery. There were also a few papers, of which I know not the contents, as I did not deem myself empowered to overreach his confidence by infpecting them in his abfence. One of his books was for fubfcribers to his "Archæology;" for this no money was required. The other book was for his "Traveller's Guide;" for this half-a-crown was paid, as before obferved. I now take my leave of the subject, observing that my attachment to him arofe from three caufes-learning in difirefs-a Briton, and an Antiquary. Yours, &c. J. H. P.S. I with to correct an error of your compofitor's in my laft, p. 40%, col. 2, l. 11, for "mentioned" 1. vacant. "the beginning of ftrife is as when one letteth out water." Daily experience furnishes us with but too many teftimonies to the truth of the fimile; which ftrongly points out the neceffity of attending to the caution which accompa nies it" therefore leave off contention before it be meddled with." If the smallest fiffure be made in the mound which confines the water, it will foon force for itfelf a wider paffage; and, when once the torrent is at liberty, it difdains restraint, and carries down before it whatever is thrown to impede its progrefs. And, fuch is the violence of ftrife, if we give it but the leaft entertainment in the mind, its conftant attendants, malice, hatred, and revenge, will foon force a paffage after it. Then, Non fic aggeribus ruptis cùm fpumeus amnis Exiit, oppofitafque evicit gurgite moles, Fertur in arva furens cumulo, compofque per Cum ftabulis armenta trahit- Lomnes. Characters, reputations, every thing that is valuable and dear to man, will not be able to check its fury. There are, indeed, often the first objects of its rage. The tempeft paffes over the head of the bulrush, to wreak its vengeance on the oak. The man who is carried by a rapid ftream appears, to himself, to be at reft, whilft every other object feems to be in motion. He who is hurried away by the violence of ftrife is equally deceived both in his fenfes and his judgement. He ever fancies himself to be in the right, and those of the opposite party constantly in the wrong. Human invention, which has fo abundantly fupplied the world with mifchievous weapons of deftruction, has not been deficient in discovering fubjets for the exercife of ftrife. It is a melancholy reflexion, that Chriftianity, which was intended for the comfort and happiness of mankind, fhould have given rife to fo many bloody feuds and contentions. The expreffion of our Saviour, "I came not to bring peace, but a fword," has been literally fulfilled almost ever fince the com. mencement of Chriftianity. Chriftianity had no fooner triumphed over the altars of Paganifm, but the became divided within herfelf; and "her foes were thofe of her own household." But it would be unjust to lay to the charge of Chriftianity all the bickerings, animofities, and bloodshedding, which have fo much obtained among Chriflians. It is, as a fyftem of morality, every thing that |