MOSES MENDEZ Efq From an Original Painting in the possession of M." Edwards, Beaufort Buildings. Publish'd by J.Sewell 37 Cornhill1 August,1792. EUROPEAN MAGAZINE, For OCTOBER 1792. SOME ACCOUNT OF MOSES MENDEZ, Esq; THIS elegant Poet and polite Scholar, whole works have hardly obtained the celebrity they deferve, and whole poetical reputation has been much inferior to his merit, appears to have inrolled himself in the clafs of Authors with no other views than thofe of fame and amufement. Born to affluence, he paffed through life in the undisturbed calm of domeftic life, with little variety and no adventures, much refpe&ted by the world, and univerfally beloved in the circle of his friends. He was of Jewish extraction, and born, if we are rightly informed, in the City of London. His education was liberal, and he affociated with thofe whole notice was fufficient to confer honour. By fome letters which have appeared in print, we find the amiable Thomfon lived in terms of the most unreferved intimacy with Mr. Mendez's family, on one of whom he wrote fome complimentary verfes, which have not yet been collected into his works ; and after Thomfon's death, he was remembered by our Author in the following manner: Ere yet I fing the round revolving year, At Alcon's grave I drop the pious tear; Of Mr. Mend: z's works the following is the completeit lift we have been able to ahtain: 1. The Double Difappointment, a Ballad Opera, acted at Drury-lane 18th March 1746, for the benefit of Mr. Gifford, 2. The Chaplet, a Mulical Entertainment, fet to music by Dr. Boyce, afted at Drury-lane ad December 1749. 3. Robin Hood, a Mofical Entertainment, fet to mufic by Dr. Barney, and after at Drury-lane 13th December 1750. 4. The Shepherd's Lottery, a Mulical Entertainment, fet to mufic by Dr. Boyce, acted at Deury-lane 19th November 1751. 5. Henry and Blanch; or, The Revengeful Marriage. A Tale. Taken from the French of Gil Blas, 4to. 1745. This is the faine story as that of Tancred and Sigifmunda, on which Mr. Thomson the fame year produced a Tragedy at Drurylane. 6. The Sealons. A Poem, in imitation of Spenter, folio, 1751, fince republished in Pearch's Collection of Poems. 7. The Battiad. Two Cantos, folio, 1751. Reprinted in Dilly's Repofitory. 8. The Squre of Dames. A Poem, in imitation of Spenfer. Printed in Dodfley's Collection of Poems, Vol. IV. 9. A Tranflation of Maphæus, and a few other Pieces, in a Collection of Poems publifhed by Richardfon and Urquhart, Svo. 1767. On the 19th June 1750, Mr. Mendez And, like his Milton, fcorn'd the rhyming was created M. A. by the Univerfity of chain. Ah! cruel fate, to tear him from our eyes; Oxford; and we have been informed, that *Thefe Verfes being little known, we fhall here iniert them. Born on Valentine's Day. THINE is the gentle day of love, When youths and virgins try their fate; When, deep retiring to the grove, Each feather'd fongfter weds his mate. With temper'd beams the fkics are bright, affluence, affluence, being at the time of his death, 4th February 1758, fuppofed to be worth not less than one hundred thousand pounds; a fum, we prefume, no Poet ever before could boast of. From his Epistle to Mr. Ellis, printed in our Magazine for February last, we may form fome judgment of the turn of PRECAUTIONS TO BE USED BY mind of the Author; and from an Imita tion of Spenfer, entitled, "The Blatant Beaft," in Two Cantos, which has never yet been printed, and which will be inferted in our two fucceeding Magazines, our readers will be furnished with an excellent fpecimen of his poetical powers. THOSE WHO ARE ABOUT TO UNDERTAKE A SEA-VOYAGE. BY DR. WHEN you intend to take a long voyage, nothing is better than to keep it a fecret, as much as poffible, till the moment of your departure. Without this you will be continually interrupted and tormented by vifits from friends and acquaintances, who not only make you fofe your valuable time, but make you forget a thoufand things which you wish to remember; fo that when you are embarked and fairly at fea, you recollect with much uneafinefs affairs which you have not terminated, accounts that you have not fettled, and a number of things which you propofed to carry with you, and which you find the want of every moment. Would it not be attended with the beft confequences to reform fuch a cuftom, and to fuffer a traveller, without deranging him, to make his preparations in quietnefs, to fet apart a few days, when thefe are finished, to take leave of his friends, and to receive their good wishes for his happy return? It is not always in one's power to choose a Captain, though great part of the pleafure and happiness of the paffage depends upon this choice, and though one must for a long time be confined to his company, and be in fome meafure under his command. If he is a focial fenfible man, obliging, and of a good difpofition, you will be fo much the happier. One fometimes meets with people of this defcription, but they are not common. However, if your's be not of this number, if he be a good feaman, attentive, careful, and active in the management of his veffel, you must difpente with the reft, for there are the most effential qualities. FRANKLIN. Whatever right you may have by your agreement with him to the provifions which he has taken on board for the uie of the paffengers, it is always proper to have fome private ftore, which you may make use of occafionally. You ough, therefore, to provide good water, that of the hip being often bad; but you must put it into bottles, without which you cannot expect to preferve it fweet. You ought alfo to carry with you good tea, ground coffee, chocolate, wine of that fort which you like beft, cyder, dried raifius, almonds, fugar, capillaire, citrons, rum, eggs dipped in oil, portable foup, bread twice baked. With regard to poultry, it is almost useless to carry any with you, unless you refolve to undertake the office of feeding and fattening them yourself. With the little care which is taken of them on board fhip, they are almost all fickly, and their flesh is as tough as leather. Ail failors entertain an opinion, which has undoubtedly originated formerly from a want of water, and when it has been found neceffary to fpare it, that poultry never know when they have drank enough, and that when water is given them at difcretion, they generally kill themfelves by drinking beyond meafure. In confequence of this opinion, they give them water only once in two days, and even then in small quantities; but as they pour this water into troughs inclining to one fide, which occafions it to run to the lower part, it thence happens, that they are obliged to mount one upon the back of another, in order to reach it, and there are fome which cannot even dip their beaks in it. Thus continually tantalized and tormented by thirst, they are unable to digeft their food, which is very dry, and they foon fall fick and die; fome of them are found thus every morning, and are thrown into the fea; whilst those which are killed for the table are fcarcely fit to be eaten. To remedy this inconvenience it will be neceffary to divide their troughs into small compartments, in fuch a manner that each of them may be capable of containing water; but this is feldom or never done. On this account, fheep and hogs are to be confidered as the beft fiefh provifions that *In French pain bifcuite. It is made by cutting bread into flices, and baking it a fecond time; it forms most wholefʊme nourishment. 4 4 one can have at fea; mutton there being in general very good, and pork excellent. It may happen that fome of the provifions and ftores which I have recommended may become almoft uleleis, by the care which the Captain has taken to lay in a proper stock; but in fuch a cafe, you may difpofe of it to relieve the poor paffengers, who, paying lefs for their paffage, are ftowed among the common sailors, and have no right to the Captain's provifions, except to fuch part of them as is ufed for feeding the crew. These paffengers are fometimes fick, melancholy and dejected, and there are often women and children among them, neither of whom have any opportunity of procuring those things which I have mentioned, and of which, perhaps, they have the greatest need. By diftributing amongst them a part of your fuperfluity, you may be of the greatest affiftance to them. You may reftore their health, fave their lives, and in short render them happy, which always affords the livelieft pleasure to a feeling mind. The most difagreeable thing at fea is the cookery, for there is not, properly peaking, any profeffed cook on board. The worst failor is generally chofen for that purpofe, who for the most part is equally dirty and unfkilful; hence comes the proverb ufed among the English failors, that "God fends meat, and the Devil fends cooks," Thole, however, who have a better opinion of Providence, will think otherwife. Knowing that fea air, and the exercife or motion which they receive from the rolling of the fhip, have wonderful effect in whetting the appetite, they will fay that Providence has given failors bad cooks, to prevent them from eating too much; or that knowing they would have bad cooks he has given them a good appetite, to prevent them from dying with hunger. However, if you have no confidence in thefe fuccours of Providence, you may yourself, with a lamp and a boiler, by the help of a little fpirits of wine, prepare fome food, fuch as foup, hash, &c. A fmall oven made of tin plate is not a bad piece of furniture; your fervant may roaft in it a piece of mutton or pork. If you are ever tempted to eat falt beef, which is often very good, you will find that cyder is the bett liquor to quench the thirit generally caufed by falt meat or falt fish. Sea-bifcuit, which is too hard for the teeth of fome people, may be foftened by teeping it; but bread doublebaked is the best, for, being made of *Pain biscuite. good loaf bread cut into flices, and baked a fecond time, It readily imbibes water, becomes foft, and is easily digefted: it confequently forms excellent nourishment, much fuperior to that of bifcuit, which has not been fermented. I must here obferve, that this doublebaked bread was originally the real bifcuit prepared to keep at fea; for the word bifcuit in French lignifies twice baked t. Peate often boil badly, and do not become foft; in fuch a cafe by putting a twopound hot into the kettle, the rolling of the veffel by means of this bullet, wit! convert the peale into a kind of porridge like mustard. Having often feen foup, wher put upon the table at fea in broad flat dishes, thrown out on every fide by the rolling of the ver fel, I have wished that our tin-men would make our foup-bafons with divifions or compartments, forming fmall plates, proper for containing foup for one perfon only. By this difpofition the soup in an extraordinary roll would not be thrown out of the plate, and would not fall into the breafts of those who are at table, and fcald them. Having entertained you with thefe things of little importance, permit me now to conclude with fome general reflections upon navigation. When navigation is employed only for transporting neceffary provifions from one country where they abound to another where they are wanting, when by this it prevents famines, which were fo frequent and fo fatal before it was invented, and became fo common, we cannot help confidering it as one of thofe arts which contribute most to the happiness of mankind. But when it is employed to transport things of no utility, or articles merely of luxury, it is then uncertain whether the advantages refulting from it are fufficient to counterbalance the misfortunes which it occafions, by expofing the lives of fo many individuals upon the vast ocean. And when it is ufed to plunder veffels and transport flaves, it is evidently only the dreadful means of increafing thofe calamities which afflict human nature. One is astonished to think on the number of veffeis and men who are daily expofed in going to bring tea from China, coffee from Arabia, and sugar and tobacco from America; all commodities which our ancestors lived very well without. The fugar trade employs nearly a thousand veffels, and that of tobacco almoft the fame number. With regard to the utility of tobacco little can be faid; and with re † It is derived from bis, again, and suit, baked, gard |