number cannot be controverted). I do not here alledge the authority of Archbishop Secker to this purpose, as contained in his Sermons upon the Corruptions of the Church of Rome: but I declare, from ocular demonstration, this to be the fact, having seen the Commandments in French (printed, or engraved rather in a large French print) in which the second commandment is omitted, and the tenth divided, as above-mentioned, at a house in Hinckley where I then lodged. With respect to Archbishop Secker's Sermons on the Errors of the Church of Rome, I shewed them to a very candid Romish Priest, then officiating in a Romish family in the County of Leicester, and desired, if he saw any faulty or wrong statement, to point it out to me:-he returned the volume, saying he discovered none, but he must believe with his Church. This was by a third gentleman, known to Mr. Urban, who can prove my assertion. In some Romish books of devotion or doctrine (as in the Grounds of the Catholic Faith, printed 1751) there is no mention whatever made of the Ten Commandments; and in a Manual of Devotions and Instructions, by Dr. Richard Challoner, Bishop of Debra, and Vicar Apostolic, (London, 1796) there is no copy or enumeration of the Ten Commandments; but, p. 227, "An examination of conscience upon the Ten Commandments," all reference to the second is wholly omitted; and the first turns chiefly on Heresy, without any mention of God as the exclusive object of worship: but in p. 107, a direct violation of the second Commandment is ordered, in bowing and kneeling before the Crucifix. In other books, which being in English are likely to be examined by us heretics, as they are pleased to call is, there is sometimes a mutilated and abbreviated second Commandment; but even this is not general, II. With respect to Indulgences, they are, strictly and properly, the sale of pardons for sin. In the above Manual there is, by a Popish Bull, April 5, 1772, from Clement XIV. an Indulgence of seven years, and as many Lents, for the repetition of certain acts there stated. As this doc trine of Indulgences was the pivot upon which the Reformation turned, it is most impudent effrontery to deny the fact, I myself saw, at Ifield in Sussex, in what was the rectory-house before the Reformation, though alienated to a lay-rector (which is a saerilege justly chargeable upon us) an Indulgence to certain persons and their descendants for several generations to come: this was in 1767, and it had been in the family for centuries. It was on parchment, in painted and illuminated letters. The Indulgences granted and sold by Leo X. were not for the sake of true charity, but, among other purposes, to raise a fortune for his sister. Mr. URBAN, SENEX. April 6. HAVE before, in your Magazinė, remarked on the subject of accommodation in our Churches; and was highly pleased it had drawn the attention of a learned Nobleman during the last Session of Parliament, and that his proposed enquiry met the unanimous approbation of an august Assembly. I have no doubt, the buildings themselves are in geneupon investigation, it will be found ral of sufficient dimensions to hold the congregations of the Established Church belonging to the respective parishes; but it is the extremely ill construction of the interior of those sacred edifices that occasions the want of accommodation to the pas rishioners. In many of the country Churches (and several in town) the large (as many rooms you will see in pews are of a square dimension,' and the modern-built houses in London), in which the individuals are seated fronting each other, consequently some of them with their backs to the Clergyman; whereas the congrega tion should in all cases face the Communion table and the Clergyman, and then their attention will be more properly applied to their devotions. I have seen several Churches of the above description, containing between forty and fifty pews, and the parish ants, which, if properly constructed containing some hundreds of inhabitand arranged in a long square * would contain three times the num ber of pews for the accommodation. of the parishioners; but it seems that places obstructs such an alteration, some prescriptive right in several It is to be hoped our excellent Le * Similar to the modern Chapel in Woburn-place, Tavistock-square, in London. gislature gislature will do away such absurd privileges, and let every good man be comfortably accommodated in paying his devotions to the supreme Governor of the Universe. Galleries might be also erected in most Churches, and particular accommodation made for poor people, who cannot afford to pay for pews, and not be obliged to stand during the whole service, whilst the large square pews I have before pointed out are nearly (if not entirely) empty. A place or pew should also be set apart to accommodate strangers. If a person of this latter description enters into a Dissenting Meeting, he is immediately offered a seat; but generally in our own, it must be procured by request as a favour, and a silver ticket to enforce the application. & "Letlan, impedire, implying that which is set apart for a particular purpose," as this word does not carry with that characteristic itness which distinguishes the generality of Saxon compounds, I should rather bring the etymology from lic, a corpse, and time, an inclosure: for the road to our "long home" is called the Lich-way, and it enters the church-yard at the Lich-gate (vulgo, Light-gate): surely, then, the Cemetery itself cannot be more properly named than the Lich-tune, Liten, or Letten. Tune, in this sense, is opposed to feld, a field or open ground. Thus the peaceful "forefathers of the hamlet" were buried in the Lictune; but the warriors who fell in battle had for their "monumental mould" a tumulus on the Liefeld. Lichfeild in Staffordshire, and a village of the same name near Whitchurch in Hampshire, are sufficiently expressive of their etymon. Litten (observes Dr. Sherwen) is " used in some counties for a garden." Words fre quently outlive their primary signification. Stean (i. e. stone) pots are now made of clay, and candlesticks and buglehorns of metal. It is not less easy to conceive that Litten, though at first exclusively applied to a church-yard, might in aftertimes be transferred to many other inclosures, and deemed synonymous with yard, garden, or curtilage. Much has been lately said upon the subject of Tithes. Although I do not altogether strictly hold with them, yet, as a firm supporter of the Established Church, they are just and necessary. If a man purchases an estate subject to a perpetual rent charge, or even Tithes, knowingly, he has not any right to complain of the burthen, nor, indeed, would he, where the same is fixed at any given standard; but the complaint in regard to Tithes is, if a person expends considerable sums of money in improving his estate, the Tithes thereon are very considerably augmented without bearing any proportion of Whilst reverting to this antient expence occasioned thereby; it is language, I cannot willingly forego this which occasions so much dispute, the opportunity of mentioning Proand frequently ill-will, between the fessor Ingram's Inaugural Lecture on Parishioners and Clergymen. As to the utility of Anglo-Saxon Literature Moduses, they are frequently varia- a work replete with curious informable and vexatious; but the only suretion, and satisfactorily shewing method to remove those complaints would be by the Legislature appropriating certain portions of land in each parish to the Clergyman, ia lieu of all manner of Tithes (as is wisely adopted in all Inclosure Acts) and then each proprietor would be fully benefited by his own improve ments. MENTOR. in "that the present language of Englishmen is not that heterogeneous compound which some imagine, compiled fron the jarring and corrupted elements of Hebrew, Greek, Latin, French, Spanish, and Italian, but completely Anglo-Saxon in its whole idiom and construction." 1 THO WILLIAM HAMPER. Mr. URBAN, March 19. Mr. URBAN, Birmingham, April 5. Correspondent's opinion respectTHOUGH i am perfectly of your 1 LITEN (a church-yard) p. 1045 or Letten, as Dr. Sherwen, p. 216, writes it, may doubtless be asscribed to the language of our Saxon Ancestors, whence the greater part of our provincial and obsolete words are certainly derived; but I cannot agree with Dr. S. in deducing it from ing its being so desirable an object to preserve, if possible, the present structure of Reculver Church and its beautiful and useful spires, rather than take it down to erect an inferior * Vale Benson, Vocab. Anglo-Sax. -edifice, edifice, he is wrong in his remark, on the beach at the bottom of a dan- Mr. URBAN, PERM Feb. 15. ERMIT me to inform your Constant Reader, p. 29, that, like himself, I was some time puzzled with the story of the Sun-flower turning always towards the Sun; as I had observed, when a very young botanist, that it grew in considerable bunches, and that different flowers were opposite to almost every point of the compass: but, on coming to the transformation of the nymph Clytie in Ovid, Metam. lib. IV. ver. 260, &c. the difficulty is readily removed :it proves not to be the Sun-flower, Helianthus, but the Turnsol, Heliotropium, which turns towards the sun. The description (like most of those of the major Poets) is very accurate and beautiful; but the following lines "Membra erunt hæsisse solo: partemque coloris [herbas. Luridus exsangues pallor convertit in Est in parte rubor; violæque similli mus ora Flos tegit." ""Till fix'd to earth she strove in vain to inclined until about sun-rise next morning, when it begins gradually to meet the sun about noon, and again inclines with him Westward. The plant being in a pot, and moved about without regard to this quality, has generally lost it, or at least it has becoine so far diminished as to be scarcely perceptible from the rest of the shrubs, &c. in the green-house, which may be all observed to turn towards the light, East, South, and West; scarce a leaf facing the back wall of the house. Popular error, ever ready to embrace any superstition, anxious to lose nothing of the marvellous, and always obstinate in the wrong, has willingly transferred the above quality to the Helianthus, a plant very commonly to be met with in the garden (whereas the Heliotrope is much more rare) and the situation of the flowers always presenting their broad disks to the horizon, some of them necessarily opposite to the sun, has occasioned the story very readily to obtain. Should any of your Correspondents be inclined to try an experiment with the Helianthus, I would recommend a single root to be transplanted, or a sowing thinned to one, in an open situation:-then the flower-buds taken off to two or a few more, such as naturally grow due East and West; when I shall be surprised if an accurate observation of either the Helianthus or any other flower so treated, do not shew some inclination of all the flowers to the South, about noon, on a very hot and still summer's day; or rather, indeed, if they do not trend permanently to the South as they grow to maturity. Your insertion of the above remarks, if you deem them worthy, will call for some farther observations received on popular errors, from your occasional Correspondent, X. X. X. would very ill apply to the majestic and resplendent Helianthus, but very accurately to the humble and delicate Heliotrope," "with its conscious blush." It is a low herb, very nearly resembling the common yarrow (Millefoil), but the flowers possessing a very delightful fragrance, something resembling the bitter kernels. It is a greenhouse plant; and being of course planted in small pots, and frequently removed, has perhaps nearly lost its turnsol quality, which I take to have opeApril G. rated in this manner:-having follow-foe fatal effects of the Small HE following affecting instances ed the course of the sun until evening, not by any very violent twisting of the stalk that can be perceived, but as if one were to incline one's head upon the left shoulder, then raise it gradually upright, aud afterwards recline it upon the right shoulder: it remains so P. S. Any person the least conversant in Greek can inform your Correspondent of the derivation of Heli-anthus and Helio-trope. Mr. URBAN, Pox evince the urgent necessity of the inoculation for that disease being prohibited, or at least put under such restriction, that the publick may no longer suffer by its contagion so severely as they have lately experienced. At す At Lyme Regis in Dorsetshire, a gentleman, not being able, readily, to procure vaccine matter, insisted on having his child inoculated with the Small-Pox; the contagion was thereby communicated to the inhabitants, and the mortality was so great in that small town, that sixty persons lost their lives in a few weeks. Only a few weeks since, Mr. Mansfield, No. 9, Bishop's-head-court, Gray's Inn-lane, lost all his four children by the Small-Pox. At the School for the Indigent Blind in St. George's-fields, two-thirds of the objects admitted into that Charityhave lost their sight by the Small-Pox. Yours, &c. HUMANITAS. THE PROJECTOR, No. LXXXII. I To the Author of the PROJECTOR. SIR, HOPE I shall secure this letter a favourable reception in your Paper, when I announce myself as an Antiquary, oue of a class of men to whom your friend Mr. Urban has ever extended his protection, and whose labours he has ever welcomed with a hearty zeal. But it may be necessary to apprize your readers, Mr. Projector, that the objects of my researches come more immediately within your plan, than those in which my brother Antiquaries at Somersethouse are usually employed. It may be necessary to inform your Readers, that I am not about to introduce them into the keep of a castle, nor the chapel of a cathedral. I have nothing to advance respecting battlements and buttresses, naves and chancels. I wish not to dip into the controversies that have been excited by the Goths and Grecians, the advocates of pointed or semicircular arches, I have no light to throw upon vaulted roofs, clustered pillars, transepts, door-cases, or choirs. I have no inclination to divert their attention from your favourite topics of morals and manners, to the minutiae of screens and stalls; perks and taber nacles; crypts and vaults; fonts, cloisters, spires, and steeples. I leave these matters, the importance of which I at the same time acknowledge, to men who have made these noble remains of antient grandeur GENT. MAG. April, 1803. their peculiar study the Goughs and the Carters, the Lysonses and the Nicholses of our time; and I know not in whose hands they can be more safely reposed. For my part, Sir, I profess myself to be an Antiquary of Manners, a searcher into the modes and customs of past times, and have been for many years so indefatigably intent upon. what our predecessors have been saying and doing in this way, that I am ready to acknowledge my total ignorance of what is now passing, except in cases where I find it necessary to obtain a little knowledge, that I may compare things past with things present. And so eagerly have I been attached to this study, that the best recommendation any thing can have with me is its being old. Hence I must candidly own, among other consequences of this my taste, that I have more comfort in my wife, who like myself is well stricken in years, and a very fine piece of ruins, than in my children, who can remember nothing beyond twenty or thirty years. Hence also, I still preserve the antient early hours of meals, ef going to rest, and of rising. I know no authority, at least I am not disposed to acknowledge any, by which the day has been so oddly divided, that we cannot tell, for six months together, where it begins, or where it ends. I know not by whom, or for what, our mornings were lengthened to such a degree as to occupy the whole of the day; and our afternoons and evenings thrown into the shades of night. Disliking, therefore, all such innovations, I may at any time be found dining when my neighbours have scarcely done breakfast. I drink tea when they are preparing to dress for dinner; and I keep up the good old custom of a comfortable supper (that most social meal) when they are calling for waterglasses, and preparing for the dessert. All this I confess has put me a little back in the world, and I am looked upon as a most unseasonable creature, whether I visit or am visited; still, there is a small society of us, who endeavour to keep one another in countenance; and, what perhaps will surprise many of your Readers, we may be detected in the very fact of dining at one o'clock on Sundays-that our servants, as well as ourselves, may may go to Church in the afternoon; I mean what was formerly called the afternoon. In other parts of my domestic economy you may likewise discern shreds and remnants of past times. My sideboard of plate, al-, though not very extensive in the num ber of articles, is pretty much so in dimensions, and each piece bears the initials of my great-grandfather, who was the first that set up a silver candlestick in the family. All my plate, indeed, is of such goodly size, as to breadth of base, that were a pair of my candlesticks to be placed on a modern tea-table, the tea-things must find room somewhere else. But in some matters I have not been able to preserve the costume of my ancestors. In the cut of my coat I cannot, after many attempts, adhere so obstinately to former days, because I cannot find a taylor sufficiently conversant with the antiquities of attire; but, on the other hand, my wife's caps and bonnets are of the beginning of the present reign; and my daughters, although really very pretty girls, are still comfortably cloathed, and have not been prevailed upon to discover much more of their skin than what was formerly contemplated in the face and hands. In my library I have been enabled to gratify my antient prejudices, if they deserve to be so called. My books bear all the proper and genuine marks of the age in which they were published. In all my visitations to the booksellers shops, I make it a point to prefer what are to be found "in the original binding." I honour the age-stained yellow of the leaves; and revere the former owners' names, especially if written in an almost unintelligible old hand. It is in vain that my worthy friend of Pall Mall endeavours to tempt me with his cor. Russ. eleg. compact. fol. deaurat.; and I look without a particle of envy at your hot-pressed and wire-wove productions of modern times; while a presentation-copy of the sixteenth entury is with me the greatest treasure, and I flatter myself that I am possessed of a rare collection of priinitive Divinity, handed down in a direct line from the good old authors, attested by their own hands, To my lovinge friende Master, &c." and adorned by their striking effigies in beards and rus Other particulars of my taste I may perhaps take a future opportunity to communicate; but it is more necessary at this time to come immediately to the purpose of my letter, which was, to say a few words on the manners of our days, in comparison with the manners of those days that are not so very long past as to be quite out of the remembrance of some persons now living. I have lately been perusing many volumes of newspapers about half a century old, for any thing within that period is not much to my taste; and as newspapers are "the abstract and brief chronicles of the times," and convey to us, with more minuteness than any other species of historical record, the modes and customs of the passing day, I shall trouble you with a few remarks which occurred as part of the result of my labours. In the first place, I could not help observing how low money is sunk in value within the time specified;indeed every one who peruses the news of that time, must be struck with a variety of circumstances in proof of this depreciation. It was then thought of importance to communicate to the world, that on such a day "died Mr. an eminent broker or merchant, worth twenty thousand pounds." Now, Sir, it is certain that no paper in our days would condescend to notice an event of this kind; and why? Truly, because the sum would appear too trifling for a newspaper, and the editor would either be laughed at, or censured as deficient in respect for his readers, when he could suppose them interested in such a paltry fortune. Yet in the esti mation of some individuals of the old school, twenty thousand pounds may seem deserving of notice: it may even appear to be a sum large enough to be adequate to the maintenance of a family; and sufficient to do a great deal of good to those who are worse provided: but the publick has certainly so far lost all respect for it, that whether a man died with such a sum in possession, or breaks with it in debt, he is not thought deserving of much attention; whereas, if his debts amount to ten times the sum, and if he has reserved only six-pence in the pound for his creditors, he is thought a person of superior conse quence, and his character is treated |