Vindication of Dr. Johnson's Prayers.-Essay on Death. tertain the reader with the brilliancy of elevated expreffions, of which he was fo capable; he rightly judged ftrokes of fancy and poetical ftyle had no place here. But the book is calculated to inftruct us how to amend our lives, by fetting apart ftated times for prayer, and forming pious refolutions to amend our conduct in life. If it anfwers this purpose (as it must to every ingenuous mind), it will be of more importance and real ule to mankind than all his other writings, how ever excellent. I cannot, therefore, but fpeak of it with the highest applaufe and approbation, and muft ftill think it adds much to the Dr.'s reputation, though fome with, for his credit, the book had not been published; among whom, however, I will not rank the fenfible and judicious Mr. Urban: neither will I find excufes for the Dr. and fay it arofe from "the morbid melancholy" and conftant difeafe of body he felt. No! it was the refult of his fenfe of religion, and prefent evident decay of CHRISTIAN piety, that prompted him to the publication; it flowed from a found well-informed judgement in religion, free from the cold indifference of SCEPTICISM on the one hand, and the reveries of ENTHUSIASM on the other.. 127 dying, which they confider as an accu- "It is impoffible," fays Swift, "that tended as an evil." For many years fo univerfal a thing as Death can be inafter the difcharge of this opinion he death: "my earlieft vifitation, and my was daily tormented with the terror of laft at even." This is alfo the confeffion of Erafmus, at a certain time of his life, in a letter to a friend. The debt of nature, which is incur(which perhaps a wife man would not red by our grant of the leafe of life afk for), must be paid by every body: no merit, no excufes, can avail: "For all is poffible to Heaven, but this," fays our English Homer. Death is the great and the crouded streets, being only fo leveller of the world; Love and Night, for the moment. and conftitution, place Death in differEducation, habit, ent points of view-of a friend and an wished for, enemy. They are both sometimes unthough the remark, "that Death and and even contemned; the Sun cannot be fteadily looked up. love of life is a great fecurity against on," is generally true. The instinctive our putting an end to it: and few peo The thought of Lucan is poetical, but not perfuafive," that the gods conceal they may endure life." No meffenger from men the happiness of death, that is arrived to announce the fituation of I am happy to find the Dr.'s Prayers and Meditations fo well received as to pafs through a fecond edition already; a proof that a regard to religion and deple would die if they could help it. votion is not yet extinguished amongst us; for my part, I fhall always revere the man and his writings, regardless of what any HISTORIAN may artfully interweave in his work agant Chriftianity, or the BIOGRAPHER and PHILOSOPHER, and fome modern writers, may lily infinuate against its divine truths, whilft an ADDISON, a Lord LYTTELTON, a Mr. WEST, a Dr. JOHNSON, and other LEARNED men, may be ranked among the friends of revelation, the frenuous affertors, the avored patrons, and diftinguished ornaments of the CHRISTIAN religion. W. B. Laicus. A SENTIMENTAL ESSAY DEATH. 012 the departed, at the place "from whose "Ah! but to die, and go we know not From thefe diftreffing images, the poetry of Garth tries to relieve us (him DEATH," fays Epicurus, "is felf dying in that faith) which affures, nothing to us, becaufe when Death is, we are not, and when we are, Death is not." Such is the true philofophical account of Death. But the vulgar confound Death with the act of that, "To die, is landing on a friendly fhore, It 128 Sentimental Effay on Death.-Mercurius Aulicus. It hat been often faid, and feen, that weeping friends, the tolling bell, the plumed hearfe, the opening grave (unmoralized upon only by the hardened fexton) are awful and dramatic terrors. Pompa martis magis terret, quam mors ipfa.': Lingering diforders, agonizing pains, "Luke's iron crown, and Damien's bed of fteel," or morbid melancholy, make us forget the gratifications of fenfe, afraid of what is to come, with for a peaceful retreat, and call upon death, to remove the naufeous draught of life from our lips. "Thefe are the bugbears of a winter's eve, The horrors of the living, not the dead," fays Young. But where nature is permitted to wear out by infenfible decay, and difeafe does not immaturely carry us off, as it does at all ages, our departure may refemble the falling afleep, for Death and Sleep are very near relations. Some few are tormented with the perfonification of Death, as if it were a real, though, Like Night, it is only a negative being. And yet Death is no fuch formidable enemy-Revenge triumphs over itLove flights it-Honour afpires to itGrief flies to it-Fear pre-occupies it fays obfervation and Lord Bacon. Poets, painters, profe and pulpit declaimers, have helped to make Death more terrible, and are more likely to open monafteries, than to prepare men for ac tion and for the field. The Gentoos have a faying that excludes all horror, "that it is better to fit than to walk; to lie down than to fit; to fleep than to wake; and that Death is the beft of all.” Diversion, hurry, and an active life, are the beft prefervatives against the dreary opinions of the diffolution of the body. Of the ten thousands who daily walk up and down the streets of London, how few are occupied with the thoughts of mortality!. They are more afraid of the apparition of Poverty than of Death. The philofopher need not be alarmed about annihilation, for he knows that matter can only change its form. The Chriftian confiders life as a pilgrimage, and this world as the road to another. Perhaps thofe who have moft reafon to be pleafed with fublunary things, would not with their time to cone over again. Many who rife from the feaft of life, fatisfied or cloyed with the length and variety of their entertainment (for life, like wine, muft not be tafted to the lees) would confider Death as a fmaller evil than a continuation of exiftence. Scarcely one, fays conjecture, how happy foever his life may have been (to exprefs the last idea again), would be willing to return from the tition of pleasure from his fenfations or verge of the grave, to defire a repereflections, and to go through precisely the fame scenes he has already paffed. Human beings are not only made " to look upwards," as Ovid expreffes it, but to look forward. Curiofity and hope, thofe powerful and enlivening principles, establish, beyond refutation, the goodness of our Creator. But, as this world is the best place its inhabitants have been in, very few wish to change their certainty for the prospect of a better. The laft fcene of the moral and mortal drama few are in hafte to perform. To finish it with glory and applaufe, with public and felf-approbation, is the laft difficulty. It is more eafy to die in hot than in cold blood. "Then tell me, frighted reafon, what is death? Blood only stopp'd, and interrupted breath.” Calm and unruffled muft he be who can always cry out, with courage and with truth, "Welcome life, whatever it brings; welcome Death, whatever it is!" MEMORY. MR. URBAN, Lichfield, Jan. 30. A Correfpondent wishes to be informed, by means of fome of your work, intituled, "Mercurius Aulicus," numerous readers, whether a periodical published weekly, during the civil wars, by the royalifts, is to be met with; it contains many curious and entertaining particulars relative to thofe troublesome times. The enquirer is in poffeffion of the fecond volume (a thick quarto), which begins Jan. 6, 1643. He has infpected many catalogues of books, but without fuccefs; from whence he fuppofes they were moftly destroyed by the Oliverian party. MR. URBAN, R. G.. Jan. 31. N Picardy every petty baron is lord paramount of his village: the payfans, who are his vaffals, obey his com mands in the moft minute circumftances. If any quarrels arife, the chateau is the grand tribunal where all contentions are decided. It is to this place they likewife bring their tribute, either in corn, poultry, Unaffected Gaiety of the Inhabitants of Picardy. poultry, eggs, and fo forth, being as a a 129 was at that time very popular in Eng land. Ob" fays monfieur le baron, "c'est un grand homme, do you know him " I answered, I was not perfon ally acquainted with him. I foon found the baron (though very extraordinary) a ftrong Wilkite: as to myself, I was not then a partifan of that gentleman however, I did not choofe to offend the other by telling him fo. Our converfation then turned upon other political topics, in which I gave him the beft information in my power. He feemed fo well pleafed, that at last he broke out into this exclamation, c'eft domage! "Can you not," faid he, "fufpend your prefent tour?" pointing at the fame time to his chatean, which was in view; do us the honour to spend a month: voila ma famille; we will study to make your fejour as agreeable as poffible; ma chaffe eft bonne; the English, I know, are great fportlinen; we have pheasants, partridges, and quails, in abundance; with fome few hares" (it was then the beginning of September). He afterwards added, "les dames prendront leurpart à vous amufer;" and at night, fays he, "we will difcourfe of Monf. Wilkes over a bottle or two of the best Burgundy, called St. George." It was unlucky for me, that my time was fo laid out, I could not accept of my frichd the baron's kind invitation. Ife infifted ftill, and preffed me so much, that I promifed to wait on him at my return. The ladies alfo politely took their leave with thefe, or fome fuck like, expreffions: bon voyage, an revoir, monfieur, n'oublies pas. As a true Englishman, I kept my word, and paffed fome agreeable day's with the family. Upon a clofer acquaintance, I Found my baron to be what Garrick calls an English foreigner; a great admirer of our laws and conftitution. The ladies were highly entertaining, well accomplished, and of that order which the French term fpirituelles. All this happened in Picardy; for which reafon I have dedicated a fmall tribute of gratitude to the beauty and hofpitality of that province. OR. Your's, &c. MR. URBAN, Feb. 6. THE building of an additional the atre in the capital induces me to This is taken from one of Garrick's prologues. And thus the English foreigner addreffed the foreign Englishman." fubmit 130 Theological Anecdote from Tertullian.-Simple Cure for the Itch. fubmit to the confideration of the worthy magiftrates who patronize the project, a fhort anecdote from TERTUL LIAN. "A woman,' fays he, "went to the Theatre, and came home poffeffed by a devil. The exorcift who endea voured to caft him out, afked him, how he had the affurance to enter into a Chriftian? Why not? faid the demon, I found her at my own house." De Spectac. 26. But, left the authority of the father, and the general reflections confequent upon the ftory, fhould be derided by their worthips, I fhould wish to be informed by any of your correfpondents, who may be difpofed to give a difpaffionate account of the legality of opening the intended theatre, how a company of Comedians, in the Tower Hamlets, can evade the operation of the act of 17 Geo. II. commonly called "The Vagrant A&t?” Yours, &c. N. Y. MR. URBAN, Edinburgh, Jan. 14. Y vol. LV. p. 791. 565. (with whom I heartily agree in reprobating the ufe of the ordinary fulphureous and mercurial applications) does not feem to be informed of a fimple remedy, entirely free from the objections urged against thofe abovementioned, which has been lately employed, with the beft fuccefs, in the cure of the itch: the remedy I fpeak of is the vegetable acid. Of this, trial was first made in the year 1780, by Dr. Pifchecow, at that time furgeon at Livenfk, in Rullia. This gentleman, who came to England not long afterwards, has defcribed his mode of treatment in this difcafe in a thefis, printed at Edinburgh in 1784, intituled, "Tentamen Zoologico-practicum de nova Methodo Pforam fanandi." As the diftribution of this pamphlet has been confined to the narrow circle of a few friends, I should be glad to have an opportunity, through the medium of your ufeful Mifcellany, of making the author's practice more generally known. "In the year 1780 (fays the Dr.), when I was furgeon at Livenfk, in the diftrict of Woronitz, I found many of the poorer fort of people had the itch; ,and, as there were feveral diftilleries in D. P. though he published his thefis at Estoburgh, took his degree from another univerity. the place, I applied to all that were in- "From thefe experiments (adds the author) frequently performed with fuccefs on perfons infected with the itch, I deduce the following practical corollary, viz. that acids, applied to the human fkin, prove deftructive, and, in a manner, inftant poifon, to very fmall infects, fuch as the acari firones t." which this author propoles, that, if it see ally poffeffes the efficacy which he fays it does, no unprejudiced practitioner can hefitate a moment to lay afide the ordinary unctuous applications for this difcafe, and to fubititute, in their place, the acidulated bath. In large towns, where there are many breweries, plenty of four grains can always be had; and thefe will anfwer equally well with the Ruffian barda: on the other hand, in country places, four milk may be employed in their ftead. When the eruption is confined to the hands, would not the vapour of boiling vinegar be the best application? But Dr. P. does not feem to have been aware that this deleterious property, with refpect to animalcula, is not peculiar to vegetable acids, but is poffeffed in common by thofe alfo of the mineral kingdom. The oil of vitriol, as it is improperly called, has, in fome cafes, applied externally, removed the difeafe. I believe, indeed, that it has never been used in the form of a bath. A few drops of this oil will go a far greater way than a much larger quantity of the vegetable acid; and, as it is cheaper than vinegar, and much more commodious than either the grains or For fo the animalcula, which cause the itch, are called by Linnæus, Query in Natural Hiftory.—Anecdotes of Clement Edmondes. 131 four milk, it will be better to employ Mr. URBAN, PERSO MEDICUS. Hants, Jan. 8. ERSONS, I perceive, of the firft rank in literature, do not think it beneath them to become correspondents in your valuable Magazine. Doubts, whether refpecting any part of natural or revealed religion, may modeftly be propofed, and depend upon a rational folution. Different appearances of things in nature are accounted for; difficulties are fatisfactorily cleared up; and questions, of any kind, anfwered with polite attention. I hope, therefore, that I fhall be excufed if I beg a place in your next month's Mifcellany, if you think the matter deferving the attention of any of your correfpondents. I have been in Hants fome time, and frequently heard the people talk of what they call ground ice, or ice that begins to freeze at the bottom of the river Avon, in that county. I imagined this to be a mistake; but have had an opportunity, this feafon, of afcertaining the reality of the fact, and fhould take it as a favour if one of your ingenious correfpondents would account for it upon rational and philofophical principles. I obferve, that it generally begins to freeze at the bottom, where the water is fhallow, and the current pretty strong. However, I have found the ground ice, in other parts of the river, upwards of hx or feven feet deep, where the ftream has been fo gentle, that one can scarcely perceive the motion of the water. At first I imagined that this ground ice might poffibly have funk from the furface; but, on a minuter examination, am convinced that this is not the cafe, but that it really begins to freeze at the bottom. Whether this is peculiar to the river Avon in Hants, or not, others may determine. A folution of the above phænomenon would much oblige fellow of the houfe, 1590. Four years after, he proceeded in that faculty; and then leaving the college, was, moftly by his father's endeavours, made fucceffively fecretary, as it is faid, for the French tongue to Queen Elizabeth about 1601, remembrancer of the city of London, mafter of the Requests, mufter-mafter at Briel in Zeland, one of the clerks of the council, and, in 1617, a knight. He was a learned perfon, was generally fkilled in all arts and fciences, and famous as well for military as for politic affairs, and therefore efteemed by all an ornament to his degree and profeffion. He has written and published: "Obfervations on the five firft Books of Cæfar's Commentaries," &c. Lond. 1600, Fol. "Obfervations on the fixth and seventh Books of Cæfar's Commentaries," &c. Lond. 1600, Fol. "Obfervations on Cæfar's Commentaries of the Civil Wars," in three books. Lond. 1609, Fol. On which, or the former Obfervations, Ben Jonfon hath two epigrams. All, or most of thefe Obfervations, are re-printed with an addition of an eighth Commentary, written by Hirtius Panfa, with our author's (Edmondes) fhort obfervations upon them. Lond. 1677, Fol. Before which edition is the Life of Cæfar, &c. &c. &c. Our learned author, Sir Clement Edmondes, died in St. Martin's in the Fields, near to London, O&t. 12, 1622, and was buried in the little chapel belonging to his manour of Prefton, near to the antient borough of Northampton. Over his grave is a comely monument erected, having an English and a Latin epitaph infcribed thereon. The last of which being already printed, you shall, therefore, have the other as moft proper for this place. His "Here lyeth Sir Clement Edmondes, kt. one of the clerks of his Majesty's moft honourable privy council. dextrous pen made him moft worthily efteemed in his own vocation; and, in the art military, by Cæfar's confeffion, He lived an understanding foldier. faithfully, induftrious in his place, and MR. URBAN, died religiously conftant in the belief of LEMENT EDMONDES, fon of the refurrection," &c. AN HUMBLE ENQUIRER. C Sir Thomas Edmondes, comptrol ler of the king's houfhold (Athena Oxonienfes, vol. I. p: 472), was born in Shropshire (at Sharwardine, as it is faid); became either clerk or choritter of Al Souls College in 1585, aged 19; took one degree in arts, and then was chofen *.* It will be doing an effential fervice to literature, if any perfon poffeffed of letters which paffed between JOHN NAPIER of Merchetton, and Mr. HENRY BRIGGS, profilor of aftronomy in Gretham College, &c. will communi cate them to the Editor. 2. MR. |