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fortune better, than in the moft liberal patronage of arts and fciences. Moreover, Lorenzo took the pains to court his mistress in elegant fonnets, and wrote a great deal of poetry; fome on light, and fome on grave fubjects. For poetry all the rich citizens of the mercantile ftate of Florence feem to have had an extraordinary predilection, and prizes were propofed for thofe who excelled in that art. And, what is the most surprising of all, grave merchants, good men of the city, worth two or three hundred thousand florins, ufed to meet about the fummum bonum." This is Mr. Rofcoe's account: I do not pretend to have examined his authorities; but I can make ufe of my eyes, and where a relation fo diametrically contradicts every thing that we fee or hear of in the prefent day, I can fcarcely help rejecting it as fabulous. I have never understood that any difputations of this kind made a part of the entertainment of our city feafts, or that the fummum bonum was fuppofed to confift in any thing but a pipe of excellent Madeira, or a flice of the new loan. How fhould we be furprized to hear, that Mr. Pitt and Mr. Dundas, even with the affiftance of Dr. Prettyman, were gone down to Wimbleton to difcufs the different fyitems of Clark, and Hutcheson, and Woolafton, concerning the origin of moral obligation; or, if we should be told, that, in the entertainments at Carltonhoufe, thofe noctes cœnæque deûm, any of the company fhould undertake to elucidate, after dinner, fome knotty paffage of an ancient Greek author. Some Roman customs, preparatory to the better enjoyment of a plentiful entertainment, have, indeed, been adopted, we are told, among the fcientific improvements of modern Epicurism; but I have never understood, that at any fashionable dinner, the company have indulged themfelves in hearing a page or two of Epictetus read to them along with the defert. I have not even heard that at any of our noblemen's tables, the chaplain has been defired to read a chapter or two of Paley's Evidences, or Bishop Watson's Apology for Chriftianity, for the edification of the illuftrious company; though it might fometimes be as feafonable there as among the lower clafs, whom their fuperiors are fo kindly and fo difintereftedly folicitous, at the prefent juncture, to preferve from the fpreading poifon of infidelity.

"As to poetry, I do not deny that we

poffefs men of talents in that walk, but, I believe, with the exception of the Laureat, none of them expect any public honours on that account; and you can hardly put them more out of countenance than to allude to their productions in the intercourfes of fociety. In the city, we are not without one, who is, like Lorenzo, both a banker and a poet; but I am confident, that gentleman underftands the tone of fashionable manners too well, to think of walking into a route with his hair crowned with a gar land of bay-leaves, inftead of being fcented with marefchal powder; and though we have heard of many raffies and races at our fummer watering places, we have never feen an article in any of the papers, that, on fuch a day, two poets contended in alternate verfe in the pavillion at Brighton, for a golden cup fet with jewels, given by a certain illuftrious perfonage. Lorenzo, Mr. Rofcoe fays, was the glass of fashion. It must be confeffed, our modern glaffes of fashion reflect very different images---In fêtes, déjunés, galas, &c. we may, perhaps, rival the magnificence of Florence, though I cannot fay much for their being conducted with the fame claffical tafte; and we might find even very high examples of collectors of gems and pictures, and rarities of all kinds, but here is the wonderful difference: Lorenzo's collection, we are told, were all for the public; his libraries were for the public; his paintings for the public, to form a fchool for painting; his urns, cameos, and intaglios, all for the public, Not locked up in little baby-houses of curiofities, to gratify with more elegant toys the liftless hours of felfish wealth, or folitary grandeur, but open to the artifts he patronized, the fcholars he cultivated, the fellow citizens he lived with; who, to increase the wonder, were most of them in debt to him, and not he, as we can find, to any of them. Now, fir, I muft again afk, can this hiftory of Mr. Rofcoe's be called a credible one? If we can fuppofe there is any truth in the account of Lorenzo's spending his time and fortune in a manner fo totally different from the heads of the moft illuftrious and princely houfes which we have feen or heard of, I can only impate it. to his plebeian origin, which was too recent to admit that extreme polish of fashion, that is invariably found to be the confequence of many generations of wealth and power, The ftream of noble

blood,

1796.]

Wapping and Reveley's Plan of Docks compared.

blood, however it may be tinged near its fource, with mixtures of earthy fubftances,

Works itfelf clear, and as it runs refines,

Till by degrees the floating mirrror fhines. It then becomes, indeed, a glafs of fashion, and all the courtly youth drefs their faces by it. I am, fir, &c. July 15, 1796.

X. Y. Z.

To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine,

SIR,

N your Magazine, No. II, p. 120, J.W, has recommended the plan for forming wet docks at Wapping. His letter drew my attention to the fubject. Having procured the report from the committee appointed by the Houfe of Commons to enquire into the beft mode of accommodating the encreased shipping of the port of London, I compared the veral plans, and asked many queftions concerning them, I cannot agree with J. W. in preferring the Wapping plan.

The Wapping company propofes to purchase 120 acres of district, to convert 40 acres into quays, warehoufes, &c. 40 acres into a wet dock, and 40 acres into a navigable canal, communicating with the Thames below the Ifle of Dogs. The fhips are to be moored ten in the acre, and thirty are to go or come every tide. From Mr. Ludlam's evidence, it fhould feem, that the plan will not pay itself, but will require the affiftance of a parliamentary tax.

To this enterprize it may be objected, that by cluttering together fo immenfe a property, the danger of fweeping fires becomes extreme: that the line of excavation intercepts from the river a prodigious range of common fewers, which cannot be let into the dock, to the extenfive nuifance of a populous neighbour hood that the Shadwell water-works will be lopped of all their profitable branches that the idle length of canal, ufelefs to fair ftowage, will give opportunity for the contraband diicharge of cargoes innumerable: that the plan itself

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puny and inefficient, and muft be followed up, in twenty years, by three or four more fuch, in whofe way it will have placed mighty difficulties that all ships are ill-mocred, which are not perpetually afloat; and that if the whole trade of London could be moved out of a tidefiver, into a still dock, it would be better than removing only a particle of it,

Herewith, contraft Mr. Reveley's first

445

plan. He propofes to cut a new bed for the Thames, from Limehoufe to Blackwall, and to convert the old bed (the femi-circular reach furrounding the Ille of Dogs) into one vait wet dock. This 116 acres of diftrict (for the isthmus to plan, by the purchafe and excavation of be cut through meafures no more) obtains 434 acres of wet dock: fo that, at the expence of an equal furface, it obtains ten times the mooring room of the Wapping plan: and as the excavated foil can in this cafe be removed by water, the coft of the process will be partly dimi nifhed,

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By thefe means the uncertain navigation around this bend of the Thames is equally avoided the hourly expence of cleaning a crooked part of the river, fingularly given to generate fhoaly obftractions, is faved: and a magnificent crefcent-fhaped wet dock is obtained, in which fhips can moor at a fafe distance from each other, and can enter in any number at once. No property of confe quence is violated, except fome houfes in Blackwall. An immenfe property is created on the Ifle of Dogs, and on the Deptford and Greenwich thore. The new quays, cuftom-houses, and warehoufes will have room for expanding into a coloffal magnificence, fuited to the age and the country. And a porto-franco, the long claim of commerce, may be created in the metropolis, without danger to the revenue. If the national affiftance must be given; be it given to an object worthy of the nation; not to a monopoly company.

I fhall not detain your readers by any comment on the bye-projects of Mr. Reveley (fuch as the reconstruction of London-bridge) which appear to me feparable from this bold and fimple scheme: but I earnestly recommend the perufal of his whole Memoir to thofe who know that greater enterprifes have been atchieved, and that nations only excel by daring to put confidence in genius.

I hear that this plan is difliked by an elder brother of the Trinity: fo much the worfe. ARISTOPHILOS.

July 1, 1796.

To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine.

SIR,

N the Monthly Magazine, for June,

at p. 385, your correfpondent H. P. very juftly remarks, that the fick and labouring poor are prohibited the ufe of Port wine, at a time when they mostly need it, by the enormous advance on the

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price of it. I fear, that what they formerly have purchafed, has been of a very inferior quality, if it have not, in many inftances, contained noxious ones alfo. The univerfal complaint of bad wine at inns and public houfes (from whence the poor have usually drawn their little ftock) will, perhaps, too much juftify the above obfervation. We have lately, in this country, been taught to feek for fubftitutes for the neceffaries of life. Prohibited the ufe of Port wine, I would recommend CYDER to the poor, when attacked by the low contagious fever, defcribed by H. P.; but not lufcious, fweet cyder, fuch as is ufually fold at our inns, or is to be found in the cellars of the merchants; for this has generally been adulterated, and mixed with we know not what, to render it agreeable to the palate. The beft cyder for fuch cafes of fever and fore throat, is the natural produce of apples, fuch as the farmers of Herefordshire keep for the entertainment of their friends, which they call rough and ftout, in oppofition to the fort and lufcious forts that are made to adapt themfelves to the tafte. Such home-made cyder, we are fure, is genuine; has no mixture in it of acid fpirit, as most of our wines have; and is quite as ftrong an antifeptic. If perry be ufed inftead of cyder, the fame at tention should be had to its quality. The beft forts of perry for fuch ufes, I fuppofe to be those that are in this country called by the feveral names, Caradine, Houghcap, and Barland. As our fruit is all deftroyed this year, I fear our ftock of cyder and perry will be exhaufted but if it fhould please Providence to favour us with a good crop next year, I hope that the application to the farmers will be for their ftouteft, not their pleasanteft, cyders and perries; and that those who can afford to pay a little for carriage, will rather fend their orders to the farmer than to the merchant; as they are less likely to have the liquor adulterated; and fave the tax of twentynine fhillings per hogfhead, by purchafing it immediately from the maker. I myfelf have bought for 9d. and 10d. per gallon, as good cyder and perry as any perfon would with to drink fo that thofe who are charitably difpofed to affift their poor neighbours, may be enabled to do it at the rate of, at moft, 3d. per bottle; whereas wine, in the fame quantity, will cqft 3s. or more. Query, would it not be advifable for all infirmaries to lay in a good kock of such liquors, for

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the ufe of fuch patients? As the plea fant forts which entice the palate, would not be fo medicinal as the rough, there would be the lefs inducement to drink them wantonly, or to occafion an un neceffary confumption of them. Your's, &c.

A CONSTANT READER. Worcester, July 4.

DEVON AND EXETER HOSPITAL. To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine.

SIR,

an

A Ta time when the orders of poverty and mifery are fuffered to exift in fociety, there cannot, perhaps, be inftitution more laudable and beneficent than that of general hofpitals.. This is particularly true in provinces remote from the metropolis; where, independent of the good done to the individuals who receive their cures, it would be otherwise extremely difficult for phyficians and furgeons to obtain that experience which is abfolutely neceffary to their improvement. When good men, then, hear of the decline of an inftitution of this fort, which has flourished for upwards of half a century, and, during that period, has given relief to nearly fifty thousand human beings; when they are informed, that in the fame diftrict where this inftitution is fading away, other public works, fuch as canals, inclofures, armed yeomanry, &c. &c. are flourishing with unabated vigour; they are naturally filled with forrow and afto nifhment. This, fir, is unfortunately the cafe with the Devon and Exeter hofpital; an inftitution which was first opened in January, 1743, and has dif· charged fince that time to Lady-Day, 1795, the following number of patients; cured, 34,981---received benefit, 7295-for non-attendance, many of whom were known to be cured, 3736. Total, 46,012.

In a provincial paper of June 16, 1796, appeared an advertisement requelting the meeting of a general court of governors, to take into confideration the expediency of fhutting fome of the wards of the hofpital. The court met in confequence; and it was found neceffary to fhut up five wards containing 43 beds. On June 23, appeared a second advertisement requesting another general court, to confider what farther fieps it might be neceffary to take, in order to bring the expenditure of the hofpital to a par with its income. The fecond court met June 30, and a committee was

then

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· 1796.].

Myfterious Mother........Ufeful Society propofed.

then appointed, to draw up, and point out to the general court, what measures appeared to them most proper to be adopted. This committee has, we underftand, met feveral times; and from the well known abilities and virtues of feveral of its members, we make no doubt that the beft poffible measures will be adopted. But is it not furprising, Mr. Editor, that though it is a well-known fact that the hofpital has been for more than a twelvemonth feveral hundred pounds in debt, and has, in confequence, been obliged to borrow that money; though it has long been known that the annual receipts are inadequate to the expenditure; yet it is notorious, that there is fcarcely a town in the county of Devon but has several men of property in its neighbourbood, who do not fubfcribe even their annual mite towards fo excellent an institution? It is difficult to account for fuch a fact. That public fpirit is wanting in the county, I can hardly think poffible, if I were to judge only from the numbers and refpectability of thofe gentlemen who already fubfcribe towards the hofpital; but there appears to me a fort of liftleffness and inactivity in fome men, which require the immediate fpur of a perfonal application to Such men probably forget that provifions are much enhanced in price within these last twenty years: what could then be purchased for one

urge

them on.

447

relation of Mr. Perkins, and fince that, met with it in the report of two several German authors.

Fuller, in his Holy State, fays of this Perkins, that " he was an excellent chirurgeon at joynting of a broken foul and would pronounce the word Damn with fuch an emphafis, as left a doleful echo in his auditors' ears a good while after." He was lame of the right hand; and Hugh Holland, in his Icones, faith of him:

Dextera quantumvis fuerat tibi manca, docendi

Pollebas mirá dexteritate tamen.

Tho' nature thee of thy right hand bereft, Right well thou writeft with thy hand that's left.

The fame ftory is told by Julian de Medrano, of whofe Common-place Book an edition was published, 1608, by Cefar Oudin, fecretary and interpreter to Henry IV. of France. The Spanish writer fays, he heard the story in the Bourbonois, where the people fhowed him the houfe the parties had lived in, and the place where they were buried, and repeated to him the epitaph :

Cy-gift la fille, cy-gift le père, Cy-gift la four, cy-gift le frère; Cy gift la femme & le mary, Et fi n'y a que deux corps icy. The author of the Mysterious Mother adds, in his preface, that there is a fimilar hilling, cannot now be had for half-a-tory in the Tales of the Queen of Na

crown.

It is not, then, to be expected that an inftitution fhould continue to

flourish, when the annual fubfcriptions, by which it is chiefly fupported, are not increased in proportion to the expence of its maintenance. To obtain this increafe is the purpose of this letter it is a cause which the writer has much at heart; and if the defired effect be produced, his trouble in writing will be amply compenfated. DEVONIENSIS.

Devonbire, July 5, 1796.

MYSTERIOUS MOTHER.

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To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine.

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varre.

Julian Medrano was a cavalier of her
It may be worth remarking, that

court, and dedicated his book to that

princefs; he, of course, would never have taken the ftory from a book of tales, and given it as a fact that he had learned in his travels.

June 28, 1796.

B.

To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine.

SIR,

IT

was with infinite fatisfaction I perufed the obfervations of your intelligent correfpondent, J. W. on the vil

lainy of pettifoggers, in your Magazine,

No. IV, and I fincerely lament the malpractice of the lower clafs of profeffors of the law. The profeffion of an attorney is no lefs honourable and lucrative, than useful to fociety; his real duty being to vindicate the caufe of the weak and the poor, against the oppreffions of the ftrong and the rich. That this is not the practice, the almoft daily applications to the courts of law for redrefs, against needy or unprincipled practitioners, convince us:

and

and, notwithstanding the many attempts of the legislature, from the reign of Henry the IVth to the prefent time, to obtain a reform in the profeffion, and the frequent cenfure paffed, and punishments inflicted for profeffional misconduct, the evils ftill exift. I am convinced that many nefarious tranfactions have never been brought to light, merely owing to the poverty of the victims labouring under their ruinous effects, and that many peculations have efcaped punishment from the difficulty of obtaining redrefs, without an enormous expence, which few individuals, however able, are willing to rifk. In order to obviate thefe difficulties, I beg leave, through the medium of your ufeful Mifcellany to propofe, That a fociety fhould be formed, of perfons anxious to ftop the farther progrefs of profeffional impofition, to investigate the bafe actions of unprincipled attornies, and to espouse the cause of thofe oppreffed by their practices. In this fociety many refpectable members of the law would, no doubt, join; and from the united efforts of thofe judges who have already taken fo much pains to detect villainy, and of this propofed fociety, many of the evils now complained of might be remedied, and this at a trifling expence to the individual members, as the fubfcriptions to fuch an undertaking would certainly be numerous and liberal.

I have communicated thefe imperfect hints, not willing that any scheme which might tend to the good of fociety fhould remain untried ; and hoping that fome of your correfpondents will favour me with their fentiments upon the fubject, with the most expedient methods of furthering the defign. J. W. F.

Weft Smithfield, June 6, 1796.
To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine.

SIR,

ALLOW me the favour, occafionally,

of a corner in the Monthly Magazine, to give publicity to a few things relating to WALES.

The following is a Literal Tranflation of a poem, felected from the works of David ap Gwilym, printed in Welsh, at London, in 1789, edited by Meff. O. Jones and W. Owen. The author flourished a

little paft the middle of the fourteenth century. He has always been a great favourite with his countrymen, and is generally denominated the Ovid of Wales. Your's, &c.

July 5, 1796.

MEIRION.

THE INVOCATION OF ST. DWYNWEN*, DWYNWEN, fair as the hoary tears of morning, thy golden image in its choir, illumined with waxen torch, well knows the pains of yonder croffed-grained mortals how to cure!

A wight that watches within thy choir, bleft is his happy turn, thou fplendid beauty! with ailings, nor with tortured mind, none fhall return from Landwynt!

Thy extended guardianship I crave, within thy holy district! Anxiety and pain opprefs me! My troubled breaft, for a fair maid, is one continued fwell of amorous paffion! Unceafing pain, that fprings from cares! Hence my difeafe, full well I know.

If I have not Morvidt, and yet alive-behold, it is vain to live! Oh! make me well--(more pleafing is the theme)--from this my languor, this my grief! Blend thy good offices of Love with God's free bounties, deigned through thee to man, for one bleft year. Potent golden image, thou needeft never dread the fin of unrefifting flesh! He, that is peace complete, will not undo his work---God has made, that thou shalt not depart from heaven. No prude fhall ken thee, through the paffing year, when whispering good advice to us, in difficulties that may thwart our love. The jealous one, a black and envious man, bare fcare-crow, never can do thee harm in his fierce fits of anger; he fhall never cudgel thee, who art of nature chafte. Haften with thy reward.-Hufh, virgin !---It will not be a tedious concern. From Landwyn, a much re forted fpot, I know of many a happy turn, thou jewel of the land of faith!

Heaven has not refufed thee an eafy accefs to peace; the praise of fluent tongue, man will not refufe to thee. The good effect of prayers is always fure. Thou, who art called of God, fablecrowned maid, fhould envy come, heaLet ven is thy refuge, and manly arms.

The daughter of Brycan, a prince of a part of Wales, comprehended in the prefent county of Brecon. She was esteemed the tu telar faint of lovers.

† A church in Môn or Anglefey, dedicated to Dwynwen, and the great refort of

her votaries.

This lady was the theme of seven score. and feven poems of our bard. Yet he was unfuccessful; for her father married her to a hunch-backed old man, who had more wealth than the man of fong. But he contrived to carry her off twice from her husband, which brought him into much trouble.

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