in the morning till twelve in disposing French said I in ated, h prisons, more rigorously treated, and less bountifully provided for, and, perhaps, without the ingenuity of the Frenchman to add to their comforts and relieve their languor. I was told, there were no less than three thousand prisoners at present in this place. Though, as I have said, no country in the world is more liberally provided with public charities for the relief of the indigent and helpless, yet, in most of our large towns, the feelings of the passenger are often wounded by the sight of some poor mutilated wretch, who in mournful and tremulous accents solicits his charity, 1, who have lived so long in a country where such objects are rarely, if ever, to be seen, am filled with grief and commiseration to behold so much human misery. Both in Liverpool and in Bristol 1 saw a great many beggars; but particularly during the fair at the latter place. Ballad-singers with infants around them, blind fiddlers, maimed objects, and other unhappy creatures, told their mournful stories to the passers-by, and appealed to their humanity. Of all the benefactors of mankind, whose memory the Bristolians hold in the highest veneration, is Edward Col ston, an eminent eminent merchant of Bristol, who lived about a century and a half ago. This man certainly was one of those who existed chiefly to do good, and diffuse blessings around him. His charity is described as unbounded, and he died followed by the gratitude and sorrow of all his fellow-citizens. He was the founder of that charitable seminary that goes by his name. His re mains are deposited in All Saints Church, where a well-executed marble monument is erected to his memory, with his statue in a recumbent posture by Rysbrack. Some wanton wretches have thought fit to break off two of the fingers of this statue; these, however, could easily have been replaced, and on expressing my surprise at this not being done, I was told that there was an intention of taking down, and repair ing and beautifying the whole monu ment. Every Sunday a bouquet of flowers is placed in the hand of this venerable image of deceased virtue, as an additional homage of gratitude and esteem. nate Chatterton, a spirit of poetry bas distinguished many of the natives of this city as if the Muse of that hapless youth extended her inspiration, after his deccase, to those who inhabited the same spot, and inhaled the sanie air. The name of Miss Hannah More will always rank high both in poetry and prose; Mr. Southey cannot but be admired as an elegant votary of the Muses; and to these may be added the names of Coleridge, Cottle, Lovell, Thorne, Porter, Yearsley, &c. The last nientioned was one of those extraordinary poetic geniuses which the present tince has been so remarkable for producing in the humblest walks of life. She was a milk-woman of this city, and produced some pieces which, for elegant simplicity and genuine feeling, were the admiration and astonishment of every one who knew what good poetry was. She chiefly excelled in the pathetic. Yet with all this poetical talent, I was told, by those who knew her, that Mrs. Yearsley was vulgar and uncouth in her conversation and manners; and her behaviour towards Miss Hannah More, who kindly undertook to correct, revise, and publish her poems, shewed neither gratitude nor good manners. This woman, is now dead. Bristol is one of the most ancient cities in England; some of its churches would alone testify this: it is said it was founded even before the Christian era. Long before its present rival in commercial extent and opulence (Liverpool) was any thing more than an obscure and inconsiderable village, Bristol was distinguished as a rich and flourishing city. But such are the rapid effects of commercial enterprise, the great source of wealth, population, arts, and luxury. When Henry VII. was in Bristol, the citizens' wives made so splendid a figure, that this prudent monarch, who loved money above all things, thinking this a certain evidence of the wealth of their husbands, ordered every citizen who was worth 20l. in goods to pay 20s. We read also of a Jew of Bristol, who was fined in the sum of ten thousand marks, by King John, for refusing to pay a heavy tax laid by that monarch on that race of people; and on his refusal to pay that also, the king ordered one of his teeth to be drawn every day till he should comply: the Jew suffered seven of his teeth to be drawn out before he would consent to pay the money, The Jews were at this tinne a very oppressed people in England. Bristol had once a castle, which was considered as the most impregnable in the kingdom. It was demolished during the civil wars, by order of the protector. Of what consequence Bris tol was, as a place of defence, &c. as far back as the reign of King Johu, will appear by that monarch's send ing his eldest son (afterwards Henry III.), for greater security, during his struggles with the barons, to be eaucated here. At this time bristol was incorporated by charter from John. (To be continued.) A MONG the variety of WATERS mentioned by ancient writers, such as HOLY WATER, INCORRUPTIBLE WATER. WATER OF SEPARATION, WATERS OF JEALOUSY, &c. there are none of these aqueous fluids that have, in the present age, obtained less celebrity than the WATER OF WISDOM. Had not Kircher exhibited some of this important element in his musrum, as a curious specimen of what had been, the world would have scarcely known that it had ever existed. Yet under the appellation of living water, it is said to have been of great use in formertimes, and more! over to have possessed the good quali ties of all the other menstraums united: as, for example: In the first instance, it was HOLY, inasmuch as repeated draughts of it repressed the passions and preserved the brains of men in a temperate state consequently it made them attentive to their RELIGIOUS duties. Secondly, By inhibiting their appetites for stimulating food and intoxicating beverages, and of course for, feasts, it rendered both their health and their morals INCORRUPTIBLE. Thirdly, It cooled their corporeal commotions, and unquestionably SEPARATED them from BAD COMPANY. Fourthly, It afforded no temptation for MEN to leave their wives, and consequently banished the wATERS OF JEA LOUSY. Such were the virtues of the WATER of WISDOM; of which, perhaps, as a punishment for our sins, we are in this age deprived. The cup containing this excellent be verage, far superior in its qualitier to the Castalian, Lethean, or Pactolian streams, has been fong withheld from our lips: the consequence of which has been, that we have resorted to other cups, and have frequently taken a cup too much. The WATER OF WISDOM has long since disappeared from the tables of the great, from the TAVERNS of the CITY, where it is said to have blushed in its retreat from the sight of a MAGNUM and even from the TEA-EQUIPAGE of the LADIES, where it was at last hardly worthy of being thrown into the slip SLOP BASINS. If you inquire for the WATER of Wispon at the first of these places, the butler will bring you a large glass OF SPA OF SELTZER, If at the second, the waiter will tell you that it is exchanged for SPRUCE; and If at the third, the lady will declare, that the TFA-KETTLEhas boiled so much, that it has evaporated in steam. Yet from the use of this great dissoiver of crudities, what immense benefits were formerly derived in this counZry! From the loss of the original spring what evils have ensued ! " Do you think," it was the other day asked by a medical gentleman, that if we had taken large doses of aqua sapientiæ, For shallow dranghts intoxicate the brain, and therefore, if I could find it pure, I should prescribe it in large quanti ties ANECDOTE of DEAN SWIFT. TH THE eccentric DEAN, in the course of one of those journies to Holybead, which, it is well known, he several times performed on foot, was traveling through Church Stretton, Shropshire, when he put up at the sign of the Crown, at that place, and finding the host to be a communicative, goodhumoured man, inquired if there was any agreeable person in town with • whom he might partake of a dinner (as he had desired him to provide one), and that such a person should have nothing to pay. The landlord immediately replied, that the curate, Mr. Jones, was a very agreeable companionable man, and would not, he supposed, have any objection to spend a few hours with a gentleman of his appearance. The Dean directed him to Mr. Jones with his compliments, intimating that a traveller would be glad to be favoured with his company at the Crown, to spend an afternoon, if it was agreeable. When Mr. Jones and the Dean had dined, and the glass began to circulate, the former made an apology for an occasional absence; saying, that at three o'clock he was to read prayers and preach at the Church (viz. Strettou). Upon which intimation, the Dean replied, that he also should attend prayers. Service being ended, and the two gentlemen having resumed their station at the Crown, the Dean began to compliment Mr. Jones upon his delivery of a very appropriate sermon; and remarked, that it must have cost him (Mr. Jores) some time and attention to compose such a one. Mr. Jones observed, that his duty was rather laborious, as he served another parish-church at a distance, which, with the Sunday and weekly service at Church Stretton, strait ened him much with respect to the time necessary for the composition of sermons; so that when the subjects pressed, he could only devote a few days and nights to that purpose. "Well," says the Dean, "it is well for you to have such a talent; for my part, the very sermon you preached this afternoon cost me some months in the composing."*- On this observation, * Among the many observations that are afloat on the stream of tradition respecting. the Dean of St. Patrick, one of the most trite is, that his talents qualified him in a far greater degree for a minister of state than for a minister of the gospel. Without stopping to examine the truth of this propositiong we shall only remark, in confirmation of it, that he is said to have written sermons with great study and labour, which, at last, were but indifferent compositions, framed with little spirit, and frequently delivered wita still less: in short, though we believe his. principles to have been strictly orthodox, the pulpit does not secin to have been a place calculated for the display of his genios; while, on the other hand, in a political circle (the CLUB OF SIXTEEN, for mstance), he appeared quite at home. Yet we think his talents shone brighter in opposition than in power: of which he was himself also sensi ble; for he observes, "And till they wore me out of date, Could maul a mimster of state." We have met with many instances of this propensity of the human mind; but in rome has it been more apparent than in those that have recently occurred. THI HIS truly pious and laborious divine was born at Newport, in the Isle of Wight, in the year 1571. He received the first part of his education at Winchester school; whence he removed to New College, Oxford, where he was chosen fellow, and proceeded to the degree of doctor of divinity. Hewas, upon the restoration of the university library by Sir Thomas Bodley, honoured with the appointment of keeper, and preferred to the sub-deanery of Wells. Though this was, we think, the highest ecclesiastical preferment that he ever attained, his talents, learning, and the This little anecdote brings to our recolLection another, something similar. A young clergyman, upon some public occasion, preached a sermon before a congregation in the city, among which a bishop was one of the auditors. Tue gentleman displayed his rhetorical powers with such energy, and, consequently, effect, that he was listened to with tire most profound attention, and even thanked by the churchwardens when he descended from the pulpit. He had the still higher gratification, when he retired. to the vestry, to be also thanked by the bishop for what he politely termed the edification he had received from the fervour of his devotion, and the animated elegance of his elocution. The young clergyman hesitatingly made bis acknowledgments to his lordship, but, unfort.nately, wishing to be deemed an author as well as an orator, he observed, that the sermon which he had just preached was the first of his own composing. The bishop started, and sternly replied, Was it so, sir? then I think, upon this occasion, you ought to pay BEVERIDGE!" How the young man felt upon this reprimand may be better conceived then it can be described. Epіток. similarity of their pursuits, produced an acquaintance betwixt him and CAMDEN which continued through the life of the latter. This eminent antiquarian, speaking of his friend Dr. James, says, that " he was a very learned man, a great lover of books, wholly dedicated to learning," and then describes him as an assiduous collector of ancient books, unquestionably for the BODUETAN library; for he continues," he is now searching the libraries of England for scarce authors for the public good, and the great benefit of young students." At the peri period alluded to, which must have been early in the seventeenth cen tury, the passion for the collection of scarce books, although it blazed in the bosoms of Sir Thomas Bodley and Dr. James, was little known in this kingdom. Tradition states, that it began to ex pand from those little conclaves, or councils, which used to be held upon literary subjects in the booksellers shops which surrounded PAUL'S. Like many other useful and learned pursuits, this shrunk from the horrors of the Interregnum, but was, soon after the Restoration, revived by a set of bibliographers who had then removed to Little Britain. Dr. James thought so highly of this propensity, and was so enthusiastically devoted to the search for ancient books. that he is said to have inspected more libraries than any man of his, or, perhaps, of any other age or country. Joined to this indefatigable industry. such was his zeal in the cause of literature, as connected with religion, that he took a particular delight in old manuscripts, and was equally sagacions and successful (by collation) in discovering interpolations and counterfeit passagesin printed works, which, such had been the polemical spirit of former ages, it was a very common practice to insert, especially in Roman Catholic editions, in order, we may suppose, to raise doubts and to create disputes. Being a member of the convocation in the parliament 1 Car. I. he made a motion in the House, that some per sons might be appointed to peruse the * Of this passion operating upon the mind of a retired individual, we have a most extraordinary instance, in the astonishing library of the late ISAAC REED, Esq. which is now before the public. manuscript fathers in all the public and private libraries in the kingdom, to discover the interpolations and foul play in the Roman Catholic editions, which, had his encouragement been adequate to his design, he meant to publish in a protestant Index Expurgatorius. This, therefore, was never carried into effect. The manuscript fathers mouldered away, and the editions of them reprobated by Dr. James still remain, with all their errors and interpolations. Respecting the death of this learned divine, there seems to have been some error in the date. Wood (Athen. Oxon.) states it to have happened at Oxford, 1632; but other authors (Fuller, in his Worthies, for one instance) say, that he died in 1629. How the difference of three years could occur with respect to this event, it is now impossible to trace. Among a number of other works relating chiefly to the corruption of the Scriptures, to those of councils and of fathers, by the church of Rome, Dr. James published, Ecloga Oxonio-Cantabrigiensis, Lib. 2. It contains a catalogue of all the manuscripts in each college library in Oxford, but not those of the university library; and of all the manuscripts of the the college libraries of Cambridge, together with those of the public library. find the same remark hold good; ; if i ang subject is introduced that admits of gross puns, the man in years, you will most generally find, unhesitatingly make them; while, if the young man ventures a smutty pun, he will stammer it out, and afterwards look more than half ashamed of what he has said. This is probably to be accounted for, on the part of the man in years, by his being, or having been, married, and consequently careless of what the world may think; or that the years he has passed in this chequered world have made him callous to the finer feelings of the mind, yet neither of these circumstances ought, or can, by a délicate mind, be considered to form an excuse for such conduct. I must again repeat, that old age, when amiable, is the object of my warmest regard; but, I confess, I do not admire to see a man with grey hairs, as i otten have seen, insulting decency, and his own dignity, by fulsome and disgusting ribaldry, or conversation, more suited to a brothel than to the society of modest women, or of men who would wish to be thought men of decency and decorum. Sept. 1, 1807. ! J. M. L. ADAGES which CROMWELL WAS frequently in the Habit of repeating.* CUNNING and deception help through one half deception and cun COMPARISON between the MANNERS of ning, through the other. YouTu and AGE. LD age is always to be respected! This is a maxim that I would be the last in the world to do away. Eut, as a young man, I wish, in some measure, to defend the young from a charge, often preferred against them, and, in some degree, without truth: it is, that the youthful part of mankind are more full of levity and licentiousness in their manners than their elders in life. Go into a mixed company of males and females, of old and young, attend strictly to the conversation that is going forward; and, depend on it, on will find depend you that at least nine-tenths of the indelicate ate jokes and blush-creating observations will be made by the elder part of the males in company. Again: Seck the society of men only, and you will still * Aged 58. He who suddenly alters his conduct towards you, has either cheater, or is willing to cheat you. Never trust him whom thou hast once injured. If thou wilt not be deceived by an enemy, never trust a friend. Govern by fear. When thou caust not revenge thyself, be silent, and dissemble. The multitude is like a madman, it must be kept within the lengto of its chain. Dissimulation and hypocrisy are regal virtues. Who has courage seldom lacks success, but all who succeed have not conrage. Fortune has singled out many whe know, it not. * We insert this article as a curiosity, not as an object of morality or ankly... Epiron |