a dinner to celebrate the Revolution in France fhewed no more enmity to the British Conftitution than the zeal of our clergy in favour of the French emigrants does at this period: the proceedings of the National Affembly were then fanctioned by the unfortunate Louis, though reprobated by a majority of priests; England was on amicable terms with her neighbours, &c. profeffed not to interfere with their internal government at prefent, the face of things is altered; but no judgement can be drawn from fuch fubfequent events as the wifeft were incapable of forefeeing. The fole averred caufe of the riot was the brutal fanaticism of a tory mob; whoever knows other caufes will deferve the thanks of his country by difclofing them. As real "Enemies to the ConAitution," even they who plunder and deftroy, muft yield precedence to thofe who, after men's minds have had time to cool, exult in fuch outrages; among those who may thank themfelves for the effects, if they feel affeffments for damages fall heavy on their eftates, may be numbered fuch magiftrates as, profeffing their attachment to what they called "pacific measures," refufed Captain Maxwell's fpirited offer to collect and head the foldiers in the town, and omitted reading the Riot-Act, whether their conduct proceeded from their fears or their prejudices: but, no doubt, many a blamelels tradefman owes his ruin to the transactions of that day, which J. M. calls "a difpofition in the pub. lic mind, however irregularly exprefled to repel all" infults on the happy conftitution of their country." If burning the houfes of peaceful citizens, whofe fect differs from our own, be a good difpofition irregularly expreffed, the cutting their throats, or beating out their brains, will as easily be mitigated into "taking rather too great a liberty with them." Were I to afcribe my haftily giving an imperfe&t tranfcript of the above foul paffage to tendernefs or delicacy, I should act the hypocrite: but to call it "unfair" is the groffeft pervertion of language; the truth is, my exhibiting the quotation in too curtalled a Itate, for want of fufficiently obferving where the fhoe pinches, was owing to inadvertence or ftupidity, moft probably to a mixture of both.

By the rioters fealing and depofiting private letters torn from the blazing roofs of Diffenters in the hands of fuck as tranfmitted them to thole in autho

rity, every poffible fpecies of evidence against the fufferers was obtained: yet, at the expiration of two years, has nothing been produced to criminate them, The dialogue of Caliban and his affociates may have fuggefted to kindred fpirits an idea that it is eafy to prevail over the enchanter after depriving him of his books; but, though a series of perfecutions fhould drive a diftinguished philofopher weary of fojourning in Mefech and dwelling in the tents of Kedar," to end his days in a remote quarter of the globe, it can never be expected that "the mantle" of this great object of envy to the fycophant and the illiterate will ever make its appearance in any Birmingham Sanhedrim.

The two questions propofed to me are fo extraordinary that they deferve rather to be noticed in order to expose themfelves than to receive any anfwer; your Chriftian correfpondent, after quoting the refpe&table" J. M.'s exultation over thefe fcenes of diabolical outrage, inftantly turns fhort round again, and, paying me the compliment of thinking that my opinion must be diametrically oppofite, afks me whether, "if Hou, es are to be demolished," I had not rather they were thole of my friends?" and, "if the riots were on a religious account, why the Diffenters were never molefted before? The preliminary to this catechifin, "if Houles are to be de molished," requires much explanation before any choice can be made: "Dii, meliora piis!" is the natural and moft obvious fentiments; the Prefbyterians certainly came not under the defcription of thofe "on whom the Tower of Siloam fell," to all human appearance, by mere accident; nor, I truft, will they at any time be numbered among thofe "whofe blood Pilate mingled with their facrifices:" we may, in the mean time, reft fatistied that they were not "finners above all men that dwelt in Jerufalem." If the interrogatory be fill pufhed, I would fay (but not from any leveling principle), "if the favages of Birmingham are to repeat thefe horrors, may they fpare boil my friends and my enemies; it were more tolerable for them to wreck their brutal fury on thofe of higher rank, for this obvious reafon, because their fufferings would claim immediate attention, and exemplary punishment, followed up by a neceflary enquiry into the fource of fuch repeated mitchiefs, would prefs close on the heels of the tranfgrellois; to wrong

ed Plebeians juftice 18 hard of accefs, but statesmen and fenates vie with each other in preffing forward to avenge all injuries done to thofe of their own order."

My affailant's fecond queftion ("why the Diffenters were never molefted before?") carries ten-fold abfurdity on the very face of it; I will not turn to Neal's Hiftory of the Puritans to fhew, that, during the reigns of Elizabeth and the Stuarts, they were under a feries of perfecutions diverfified by fome intervals; the meaning muft be, "why have fourfcore years intervened fince the blessed days of Sacheverell without any confpicuous renewal of hoftilities?"While Sir Robert Walpole, the two Pelhams, or Lord Chatham, prefided at the helm, the repeated inftances Diffenters had given of their attachment to the House of Brunswick were too fresh in the minds of those statesmen to fuffer them to be trodden under foot with impunity; a parliamentary enquiry would, no doubt, have been countenanced. A fmall portion of common fenfe will inform thofe who are not determined to close their eyes against all evidence, that, if Mr. Whitbread's motion had been acceded to, it had clearly been pro ed, by a full and impartial difcuffion that the riot originated in the madness of an High Church mob, without any latent myftery of wickedness; it must have tended to narrow instead of widening the breach, by removing a variety of injurious fufpicions, which, from its being thrown out with an high hand, could not fail to acquire additional ftrength.

The expreffion, of "foothing them as a mifchievous boy going to torment fome poor animal," applied to the Birmingham magiftrates' addrefs to the rioters, is fetting the outrages committed by the latter in what fome will think too ludicrous a point of view: not that cruelty can, properly fpeaking, ever be ludicrous, whether exercised by peers, or priests, or button makers; be its object to the poor beetle "whom we tread upon," or the more loathed feparatist from a domineering hierarchy. Wit, like fome of our swampy grounds, has been fo affected by the drought as to grow putrid and offenfive: fimiles running icarce, the above was thought choice enough to ferve two purpotes, being originally aimed at me. Could Chriftians have levelled fome, eminent (chifmatick, fuch as Dr. Pricfley, he

might, like the wild Indians, have flattered himself with the hopes of fucceeding to the virtues and abilities of his vanquished foe; but aiming at me, who am within the fame pale, and, like Naaman, have always profeffed to bow down in the houfe of Rimmon, is throwing away fo much powder and fhot in flaying the flain. If I " con no thanks," as he quaintly expreffes it, to "the Enemy of Perfecution," for pointing me out as an object of his refentment, he may be affured that, in raising my feeble voice to affert the caufe of humanity, I am as little difpofed to fhun cenfure as to court praise. Nothing can be more immaterial than his comparing me to the child, or the rep❤ tile to the prelate thundering down his charge furrounded by a groupe of fleeping clergymen, or the fexton raising the flave from Sternhold over the dead; neither the one nor the other of thefe likeneffes will, in the fmallest degree, elate or deprefs my fpirits.

In fome European nations, fpies are ftationed in their public coffee-houses; and, if a gentleman of warm temper utter unguarded expreffions at a time when the witneffes themfelves cannot agree in their report whether he be drunk or fober, he is imprisoned, pilloried, turned out of his profeffion, bound over to confiderable bail, and, to close the scene, commanded, with bit. ter farcafms, to remember the excellence of the Conftitution under which he fuffers all these things.

Let us turn our eyes from the capital to one of thofe provincial districts which wears the afpect of being in a fingular degree prieft-ridden. Suppofe a writer, obnoxious to the mitred lages of the land, ftands fo firm in innocence that the common-law cannot reach one hair of his head; ftationed in a college qua drangle he is equally fecure from perfecuting mobs, who cannot approach his dwelling without violating the roofs of deans and prebends. Yet fhall not he thus efcape. A numerous conspiracy of Levites is formed to hunt him down. His enemies rout out from the duft of pedantry, where it has flept for ages, a ftatute de concionibus, fp worded as to take in any thing, or every thing. Jefus exhorted the Jews who rejected his teftimony "to fearch the Scriptures:" but the chairman of this court, according to the trial published by his own beadle, with a peculiar emphasis, warns his hear. ers, most of them ftudents in theology,

"to beware of entering into religious controverfy." With the holy leer of a Dominick, he concludes by fentencing the accufed to recant publicly; the perfecuted object of their malice, with a lau dable manly fpirit refufes, and is banished. The liberal author of the Tour through Spain, himself a beneficed clergyman, obferves, that "the original Inquifition, under the appellation of the Spiritual Court, ftill exifts in England." Townsend's Travels, vol. II. p. 331. A landed hierarchy, founded, according to Lord Shaftesbury's idea, on the model of Egyptian and Afiatic priesthoods, may continue to thrive; but all parties are agreed that Religion is rapidly declining among us; the caufes of its decline float on the furface, and are by no means among thofe truths which it is requifite to dive deep in queft of.

At an early period of the 18th cen tury, this nation exhibited one Sacheve re!!; and the very name has been hitherto proverbially ufed to fignify unlettered virulence and bigotry: but, in thefe days, wherever we ftation our felves, from the Land's-end to the margin of the Tweed, thousands of Sache verells, like the fevered limbs of the polypus, thicken round us; they not only infeft every column of our periodical publications, but difgrace our pulpits, by rendering fermons, like the antient comedies cenfured by Horace, mere vehicles of unfeemly invectives against thofe fects and individuals who are not fufficiently obfequious to them. Yours, &c, L. L.

Mr. URBAN,

June 28. THO HOUGH the Regifter of the parifh of St. Laurence, in Winchefter, is miffing, perhaps fome of the infcriptions that were in it may be extant in the Regiftry of that diocefe; it being ordered, by the 70th canon of 1601, that the churchwardens fhall every year tranfmit to the bishop, or his chanceller, a true copy of the names of the perfons chriftened, married, or buried, in their parishes, during the preceding year. Per baps is the proper term; fince the extracts may or may not be found in the abovementioned place, it being well known that this injunction has not been regularly complied with, as well because churchwardens are not always willing to defray the charge of making the tranfcripts, as that they are to be received at the office without a fee. Such a restriction does not feem to have been

calculated to induce regifters and their deputies to prefs for a return of these certificates; nor, confidering the little chance there is of any emolument likely to accrue from the cuftody of the papers, was it to be expected that they would be duly arranged, and carefully preferved. Whether, under thefe difcouraging inuendos, it will be advisable to fearch the Confiftory office at Winchefter, in order to afcertain the reprefentative of Sir Hugh Middelton, shall be fubmitted to the deliberation of your correfpondents W.and PERHAPS, P.419. P. 426, col. 2, l. 33. The late Mrs. Betenfon was fifter, not widow, of Sir Richard Betenfon. Her bequests are noticed in vol. LVIII. pp. 1032, 1123, 1151, and vol. LIX. p. 119. Ibid. col. 2, 1. 22, for charity read

Christ.

P. 523, col. 2, 1. 4 from the bottom. Dr. Mofs, who published a fermon on Heb. xii. 3, was not a bishop: he was dean of Ely.

P. 528, col. 1, l. 40, for Stratford, r. Dartford. Mr. Lambe was rector of Ridley, fituated about feven miles co the South of Dartford. In that neighbourhood the culture of burnet was foon difcontinued, the plant, upon a farther trial, not anfwering to the fanguine reports made of its fruitfulness and utility by Meffrs. Rocque and Lamb.

From the Maidstone Journal, June 18. "At a meeting of the Kentish Society on Thursday last, the following very valuable

obfervations were communicated by Mr. Hunt, gardener, of this town.

"A great cuftom has of late years prevailed in thefe parts among gentlemen, fportfmen, and game-keepers, in deitroying the different fpecies of martens or swallows. which entirely live upon the wing, and are only to be feen in this country during the breeding months of fummer. Mr. H. remarked, that the number of thefe birds has, within thefe few years, greatly diminished, and that the prefent year produces infinitely lefs than can be remembered in any preceding one*. This diminution is attributed, in part, to the wanton havock made of them by practitioners and others with their guns, who, without reflexion, destroy what Providence fent for a great purpose. By shooting the old birds, the neftlings are in confequence destroyed; which, when added to a number of the latter loft in the feas by migration for the winter, unitedly affign a just

According to A Southern Fauoift, in his part of the country, "the birundines are this feafon moft exceedingly numerous." P. 493, col. 1, line to from the bottom.

reafon

differtation from the ad volume of Dr. Burney's Hiftory of Mufick, e. g. p. 569. P. xxv. This ftory of King Anlaff, who ventured into Athelftau's camp in the habit of a minstrel, is told by Leland of a king of Scotland, who practifed this fratagem while Athelftan lay in his tents befide York. Collectanea, vol. II. part I. p. 3.

P. xxi. On the fingular ufe of minfrels in raising the fiege of Rhydlan, fee Gough's Camden, vol. II. p. 439

P. xxxiii. Some light is thrown upon the condition of minstrels in the time of Edward II. by a proclamation in the ninth year of his reign (printed in Leland's Coll. vol. VI. p. 36), regulating the number of dishes which should be ferved up at dinners; in the preamble to which, after reciting the luxury which had of old been used, it is added, "and befydes this, because many idle perfons, under colour of mynftreife.... have ben, and yet be, receaved in other men's houfes to meate and drynke, and be not therwith contented yf they be not largely confydered with gyftes of the lordes of the houfes." And it is provided, that "to the houfes of prelates, earles, and barons, none refort to meate and drynke, uniefs he be a mynfirel: and of thefe mynstrels, that there come none except it be thre or foure mynfirels of bonour at the moft, in one day, unless he be defired.....and to the houses of meaner men none come unless he be defired...... and if any one do against this ordinaunce, at the firtte time he to lofe his minstrelfie, and at the fecond tyme to forfweare his crafte, and never to be receaved for a minstrel in any house." It is obvious that this is a tranflation; or, at leaft, that the orthography and structure of the fenteaces has been accommodated to the time when it was firft printed, which feems to have been about the beginning of Queen Elizabeth's reign.

P. xxxiv. Rymer has preferved a patent by Edward IV. 1469, conftituting a corporation of minstrels; and a fimilar one in 11 Car. I. See Burney's Hiftory of Mufick, vol. II.

P. xli. In the "Compotus Garderobe," 11 Edward III. is an entry, "Magiftro Conrad, regi heraldorum, & decem ALIIS menetrallis:" and af. terwards, "Ludekino regi heraldorum Alemannie, et Ludekino Piper miniftrallo domini imperatoris, facientibus menetralliam fuam coram rege." AnGENT, MAG. Auguft, 1793•

ftis's Order of the Garter, vol. II. p. 283, Conf. p. 3co. From this it would feem that minstrels were pursuivants at arms; and it might eafily be fhewn, that feveral parts of the office of an herald are derived from his antient capacity of a minstrel thus heralds and minfrels are joined together in the ftatute of arms (lb. p. 294); and in a Scotch fta. tute of 1471 (lb. p. 441). Now, Mr. Anftis fhews, p. 282, that an analogy was always underflood to exift between heralds and the clergy; and this will ferve to establish the connexion between minstrels and ecclefiafticks contended for by Dr. Percy in the text.

P. xliv. Some information relative to the jongleurs may be collected from Petrarch's curious, but angry, defcription of them, in the Memoirs of his Life by M. l'Abbé de Sade, vol. III. p. 655; a paffage which is noticed by Barrington, Ouf. anc. Stat. p. 504, where he refers his reader, "for his fuller fatisfaction," to this "moft learned differtation of Mr. Percy's." An Hungarian chronicle (cited py Gibbon, Rom. Hift. vol. V. p. 548), mentions the "garrulus cantus joculatorum.” The chroniclers were generally monks; a confideration which will account for the use of this contemptuous epithet. for the fame reafon, I fuppofe the au thor of Fleta to have been an ecclefiaftick (as indeed moft lawyers in that early age were); for, in his 2d book, cap. 71, he fays, that the lord of a manor ought to follow his own counsel rather than that of "cujuflibet voluntarii* juvenis, menetralli vel adulatoris." I will beg leave to add one more instance. In Jocelin's Life of St. Kentigern, cap. 37, is a tory of a joculator of the King of Ireland, who came to the court of Rederech [Roderick], King of Cambria [Strathcluyd], to fee the magnificence of that monarch; and, being admitted into the hall, he manu pfallebat in tympano & cytbara. For his reward, this joculator, who is allo called byfrio, demanded neither filver nor gold, of which, he faid, there was plenty in Ireland [this was about A. D. 5S0], but fome ripe mulberries; which the faint, by a miracle, for it was in the depth of winter, furnished. The monkih biographer cannot help having a fling at the profeffion of minfrels: tanto, fays he, "hujufmodi minifier in oculis

* i. e. wilful.

audientium