all would be clear: Thus, "They have rewarded me evil for good, saying, Set thou a wicked man over him," &c. I cannot, however, agree with your Correspondent, that David supplicates that his slanderous enemies may be themselves the victims of those calamities which they had imprecated upon him. If indeed the 20th verse be properly rendered in our Translation, "Let this be the reward of mine adversaries," it must be so. But our Translators were certainly mistaken. The verse should be rendered thus: "Such is the requital of those who falsely accuse me before Jehovah;" or "This behaviour of mine enemies is from Jehovah;" as David says of Shimei in the 16th Chapter of the 2d Book of Samuel, "Let him curse, because the Lord hath said unto him, curse David." And "Let him curse, for the Lord hath bidden him." All the antient versions support such a translation. Dr. Sykes (in his Comment on the Epistle to the Hebrews) was the first who proposed the above interpretation of the 109th Psalm; and it has since been adopted by several learned men; viz. Green in his trauslation of the Psalms; and Keate and Partridge in single Sermons. W. W. Mr. URBAN, IN Chelsea, July 15. N September 1806, the Rev. John Rush, Richard Yates, and your Correspondent, canvassed votes for the Lectureship of Chelsea; I was favoured soon by the clergyman who retained the appointment with a written assurance, that "it was not his intention to resign the duty."-In June 1814, the Rev. John Rush, Jas. Gibson, and your Correspondent, canvassed votes for the same office: I was again favoured, thus: "Dear Sir, From the repeated assurances of respect which I have frequently received from you, I should be very ungrateful indeed if I did not answer your Letter, to acknowlege that I gave you the earliest information of my wish to resign the Lectureship of Chelsea: consequently, no inhabitant can think you were premature in your canvas. I have been induced to give up the intention, in the hope that my poor services may be acceptable to a very large portion of the inhabitants. Had I retired, it would have been very grateful to my feelings, to have been succeeded by so able and couscienti ous a Minister as yourself. I remain, dear Sir, yours, &c. J. HUTCHINS. "Rectory, Noble-st. July 4, 1814." WEEDEN BUTLER, Jun. Lecturer of Brompton. Mr. URBAN, July 19. GLADLY avail myself of the permission accorded to me in the very polite and instructive Letter of “ Investigator," received in London yesterday; and with deference offer a few observations in reply. The work on the Pleasures of Reading, which has been honoured by Investigator's notice, is very humble in all its pretensions: copiousness (which the subject invited) was designedly avoided in what I was pre-determined should be a concise volume; and to save it from the neglect to which gravity might have exposed it in the eyes of the young and gay, who are too apt to think it impossible to be pleased and serious at the same time, I have done no more than glance at religious reading; of all reading sure ly the most calculated to produce pleasurable effects. Investigator has instanced the great Lord Mansfield as one of those who were inclined to maintain the authenticity of "The Poems of Ossian.”—If he believed those poems genuine, Lord M. may have been biassed in his opinion by national feelings; but I really had supposed the question decided by the result of recent inquiries; and, for my own part, I believe the Poems to be, strictly speaking, forgeries by M'Pherson, i. e. that he built his volume on the slight foundation of a few traditionary fragments of uncertain date: if so, the book thus made, ceases to be what it professes, namely, a curious specimen of antient manners, and actually the poetry of a very remote period. I am unconscious of having consigned all kinds of Light Reading to contempt; in the Essay on that subject I have carefully excepted some works belonging to that class of books, and endeavoured to join my feeble voice to the loud applauses which most deservedly attend on the venerable name of Samuel Richardson. In the volume of Letters lately published, Richardson is introduced without the smallest intention of attempting to depreciate an author to whom his Country is under eternal obligation; and for whose geains genius and virtues my high admiration has been more than once publicly avowed. The reference to Sir Charles Grandison was made to support what had been previously said in favour of the efficacy with which truth is employed where a lesson of good is given, when, as it appears to me, and indeed I deem the position a safe one, the most homely narrative, if authentic, would be more operative, than the most artfully-composed fiction-even though the production of such a master as Richardson. The notion thrown out by Investigator, of, an Edition of Richardson's Novels clad in a modern costume, is very lively; but the experiment would be a bold one; and perhaps not prove altogether friendly to Richardson's fame he is an English Classick; the garb of his immortal personages beTongs specifically to their day, and, in some measure, to their peculiar modes of thought and action-and where is the hand that would dare to touch the beautiful fabrick! Yours, &c. Mr. URBAN, A EDW. MANGIN. July 9. LLOW me to ask some of your Friends, either at Enfield, or at Trinity College, Cambridge, whether Dr. Robert Uvedale, who was Vicar of Enfield from 1721 to 1731, was the same person with the celebrated Botanist, who planted the large Cedar in the garden of the Manor-house.If so, he must have received the benefice late in life.-If not, when did the Botanist die? and was the Vicar his Son? Mrs. Brooke, the justly-celebrated Authoress of "Julia Mandeville," "Rosina," &c. was buried at Sleaford in Lincolnshire; where the memories of her uncle and father are preserved by her elegant inscriptions. If that Lady has any Epitaph in the same church, a copy is requested. CARADOC. Mr. URBAN, July 15. brated in the political world for Whig Principles "At College too, such quibbles prove Envy oft the mind will move." OLIVIA WILMOT SERRES. It is necessary, in absolute justice to myself, I should state, I have PROOF beyond the possibility of doubt in my possession-that Dr. Wilmot was the composer and writer of the Letters signed Junius. *** We have to acknowledge the Receipt of a long Letter from Mr. John Birch; in which that respectable Gentleman (no doubt with the purest motives) perseveres in his Fulminations against Vaccination; condemning it in toto, and anathematizing its Practisers and Abettors, the College of Physicians, the Royal Vaccine Institution, and the Parliamentary Committees. Thus far we think it right to notice Mr. Birch's Letter; at the same time entering our most solemn Protest against the doctrine it would inculcate; und forbearing to spread the Terrors it has a tendency to excite. Such parts of the Letter as relate to Mr. Birch, and his own Mode of Practice, we shall, however, submit to the consideration of the Publick. IN answer to the general Invectives flung out by the Board against all who dare to think for themselves and to reject their associations, I must beg leave to say for myself, that I never lost a patient by Inoculation; and that I consider even the Natural Small-pox a mild disease, and only rendered malignant by mistakes in nursing, in diet, and in medicine, and by want of cleanliness: which last is the fomes of Hospital fevers and of all Camp and contagious disorders. It would hardly be too bold to say, that the fatal treatment of this disease, for two centuries, by warming and confining the air of the Chamber, and by stimulating and heating cordials, was the cause of two-thirds of MR. Gaspar's Letter, Parti. p. 535, the mortality which ensued. has met my eye. In reply to that Writer, I have only to observe with a correct attention to truth-1 gave the extracts of Major Hankin's Letter to the world; and I should suppose the allusion by that Gentleman to the Whig Club may bear this explanation: That Junius published his Essays with the patronage, &c. of Gentlemen who were afterwards cele It is not to the wisdom of the College of Physicians that the Publick is indebted for the present successful treatment; but to the family of the Suttons, who were indicted for their practice at the Quarter Sessious at Chelmsford, but acquitted, with great encomiums for their success, and with the thanks of the Grand Jury for the lesson they were teaching the Faculty. Mr. I Mr. URBAN, July 12. HAVE no wish to continue the discussion on the state of the Soul after death. The arguments have been laid before your Readers, and of the justness of them they will judge. A. H. (p. 548. b.) does not find himself "convinced of any error." Perhaps not; for to prove is one thing, and to convince is another. He is "surprised by" my "conceding to all he is arguing for, in the definition of Paradise as the state or abode of the soul, in rest and consolation, when separated from the body, between the hour of death and the day of resurrection." This does not surprise, but it does astonish, me. A. H. contends that there is no such state of rest to the soul, and I maintain that there is; and by thus main taining the direct contradiction of his opinion, I" concede all that he argues for"!!! Again, he says:-St. Paul's being caught up to Paradise cannot be assumed as an authority for the future intermediate state of the soul, because St. Paul afterwards lived on earth, and died." To any plain understanding, as seems to me, the reverse must be obvious. What was exhibited to St. Paul, in vision, was no delusion, but has a real existence in nature. Heaven and Paradise were so exhibited to him; and therefore Heaven and Paradise are no delusion, but have a real existence in nature. A. H. says: "It is true, that a man who kills the body, kills the soul also for a season.' On the contrary, he who knew both worlds, all things invisible as well as visible, says, they which kill the body, are not able to kill the soul." Matth. x. 28. He says: "Lazarus, and those who were visibly raised, left no light to shew what their soul had either enjoyed or suffered since their deaths." He should rather have said, No such light is recorded; though, at the same time, it is probable, that if they had attempted to describe what they had seen, the attempt would have been fruitless: the things of the invisible world, even in that part which is not the region of highest beatitude, being, as St. Paul assures us, unspeakable," such as cannot be expressed in human language. 2 Cor. xii. 4. GENT. MAG. July, 1814. He thanks me (and T. V. likewise, p. 550.) for referring him to "the passages which he cited before." But the passages, to which he was referred, were those which had been alledged by others, in disproof of his notions, though some of them had perhaps been cited by him” also, There are many other things in this Letter of A. H. liable to just animadversion; but it is time to have done. Yours, &c. R. C. Mr. URBAN, July 14. WAS much gratified, when I read in your Magazine of June, the very just and sensible observations of A. S. respecting the late "Stipendiary Curates' Bill." As I am ignorant of the real author, I can only address him through you, or the medium of your Monthly Publication. In confirmation of the "judicious. remarks of A. S. respecting the plurality of Curates," I will here recite a true copy of a Letter from a Curate addressed to a Rector, within these few days: "I refused a Curacy, pleasantly situate, with a good house and four acres, rent and tax free, and a stipend of 75 guineas, for one church and single duty. A few days before, 1 refused a neat house and field, rent and tax free, and 1107. salary, for, two churches, within a mile of each other, and single duty alternately. I expect (he adds) beside a neat house, 1001. or guineas, for one church; and, if I serve two, I expect at least 50%. more. For less, I will never again be Curate !" I wish to call the attention of A. S. to another subject, materially con nected with the Established Church; I mean, the Curates of Lay-Impro priators. Surely they ought to be compelled by the Legislature, in a similar proportion, to augment their stipends. I could cite many cases in point. I will content myself, at present, with noticing only two of them :-The Perpetual Curacy of Flamstead, Hertfordshire, appointed by the Master and Fellows of University College, Oxon. Their lessee (Sir John Sebright) occupies the great and small tithes; and likewise receives all the fees for vaults, monuments, tombs, not only in the chancel and body of the Church, but, likewise in the church The Perpetual Curate of Minster, Isle of Sheppy, has a stipend of only 401. per ann. paid by the Impropriator, William Hopson, esq. from the great and small tithes, which are let to Mr. Chambers for 1200l. per ann. Sheerness is in the parish, and I believe the population is 3000. It is not only the most populous part, but distant four miles from the parochial church. In consequence, many Chapels, estranged from the Established Church, have been erected at Sheerness, in the parish of Minster; and in consequence of that distance, the Chaplain of the Garrison has not unfrequently trespassed upon the rights and emoluments belonging to the parochial officiating Minister, by baptizing children at his Chapel, and churching women, receiving very considerable fees for the same. Should the communication I have Dow transmitted bring forward any observation or comments in your Magazine, you may probably hear from me again. CLERICUS. "One science only will one genius fit; So vast is art, so narrow human wit: Not only bounded to peculiar arts, But, oft in those, confin'd to single parts." POPE. Mr. URBAN, July 11. HAVING been lately gratified with formed in times I have now little concern with, being under no doubt of their receiving due reprehension. It is the collision of opinions that strikes out sparks of truth. A compilation under the name of Cyclopædia I consider as a vain attempt to condense and compress all human knowledge into one book (using the word book, as what grammarians term-a noun of multitude singular); and thereby to supersede all other elementary didactic compositions, and convert them into wastepaper. The expected advantage of so enormous a monopoly has given rise to growing competitions for its accomplishment: but happily, as the object of such illiberal endeavours is unreasonable, so the proposed interested selfish grasp is too mighty for human attainment! No one 'man, and no association of men, though the materials be all in readiness, can collect a satisfactory uniform summary · of human labours, through all ages, upon every object of intellectual and manual attention, into one view, só as to answer any valuable purpose. In such a universal hash of every thing, all conceivable subjects must be comprehended, and all ought to be cxhausted for if any articles be omitted, or improperly treated, so as to render a reference to other books necessary, the merit of such an expensive cumbrous compilation will be seriously impaired, by the loss of public confidence; and its laboured professions, and positive assurances, be treated as mere deceptions. The obligation of brevity must press closely on the minds of the undertakers, in every step they take; the sight of, what I conceive under a precarious discretion, dependto be, the best esteemed of the Cying on their competency to the subclopædias now publishing; and also ject under hand: and such defects as of a System of Botany, which, as an they may chance to notice, originaelaborate, elegant, professional work, ting in this obligation, creep forward, I confess, I viewed with more respect- as matter of course, at the close of ful eyes, though I somewhat won- their labours, when all professions are dered at finding it in company where worn out, in Addenda et Corrigenda, it might be considered as an officious and in Appendixes; which are but intruder; the reflections they natu- clumsy patch-work remedies to soothe rally gave rise to, I imagine, I cannot their subscribers with at parting!dispose of better, than to tender them Such an undertaking must be too sufor your acceptance. Should they in- perficial, at best, for any but supercur the censure of being old-fashioned ficial readers; must be too unequal notions, now grown obsolete, I can and defective in execution, to be only plead their starting in an old safely confided in; as time and ochead, and that I most willingly sub- casion only may bring unobserved defects under notice; and can only-gra it them to the correction of minds tify the vanity of those, who, by purchasing costly works under alluring titles, think they are to have all knowledge at their command, beside the credit of it, which they by no means neglect to cultivate. It is worth pausing a moment to reflect, that it was not at this easy mechanical rate our forefathers sup plied the materials, now sliced and garbled for such specious purposes ! The recent productions of the press, loosely executed upon fine wove paper, carefully hot-pressed, and suitably decorated by the binder, may, in this age of foppish literature, serve the purpose of attracting admiration in a gentleman's library; while the actual student is contented to sit down in some convenient corner, among common editions, of easy purchase, the garniture of which does not divert his attention from the obfects of his serious research. In brief, close-thinkers are not found surrounded by pretty nesses, which argue and cherish dissipation of the mind. I am, Sir, though not often troublesome as a Correspondent, one of the oldest of your constant Readers, A GOTHAMITE P. S. My harmless well-meaning townsmen are reported to have once exposed themselves to derision, by raking in a pond to find the Moon they saw glittering on the surface! The tale is laughable enough, but is pregnant with a inoral of more extensive application than Gothamites were then aware of. For, if they missed what they looked for, they at least might have gained what they did not look for, a conviction of the folly of trusting to appearances. During my residence among them, I have been labouring to rescue them from the dangers and reproach of credulity, and to restore their character to the level of common sense. Whether I do any good or not, I console myself in the rectitude of my intentions; though even these may expose me to the hazard of passing for a Gothamite in another manner. E.J. asks, “Why does the Register-book, in its title, speak of Births, as well as Baptisms, Marriages, and Burials; whilst it contains no Schedule adapted thereto, nor any columns for them in the other Schedules ? ARCHITECTURAL INNOVATION. No. CLXXXIV. Progress of Architecture in ENGLAND in the Reign of WILLIAM and MARY. (Continued from Part I. p. 560.) We now find ourselves returning, in a certain degree, to the Wrenean school, not yet grown out of fashion, though the founder of it had, it seems, lost all countenance at the new Court of St. James's. Hence attention is directed to St. Martin's-street, Orange-street, and Orange-court, Leicester-fields. In the first street, a stone compartment, "St. Martin's-street M. H. M. 1692." In the second, ditto, on a large stone, basso-relievo, "Orange-streete, 1695," surrounded by palm and laurel branches, well sculptured. In the houses are found, among modern alterations, three distinct classes: kitchen, parlour, first and second floors, and gar rets. 1st class: plan; stairs, on one side, and rooms two deep on the other. Elevation: plain cornice over parlour, between the floors, strings without mouldings; general cornice, including a large hollow, or cavelto: dripping-eaves to roof. Door-way, plain pilasters, scrolis, and cornice? door itself in four pannels; 'over it a small sash-light: first appearance of such a conveniency. Windows: ari chitraves, without mouldings. 2d class; distribution of parts nearly the same as the preceding, excepting, that in the general cornice are blockings, and to the door-way rich treblefoliaged scrolls; the door itself in two compartiments: there are likewise among the windows, which are of the ordinary proportion, others, in narrow and small oval forms, first appearances. Adjoining this house is a gateway (stone), leading to a stableyard; the design is uncommonly simple, yet pleasing; the architrave to arch (having no impost) has but one moulding, a fillet: on each side do. pilasters, without any decoration of plinth or cap; cornice, few mouldings. 3d. class: Sir Isaac Newton's House, St. Martin's-street-A single building, six stories; kitchen, parlour, first and second floors; garrets, and an observatory. Plan; passage to stairs, on the right; on the left, rooms, two deep. Elevation: between each foor plain strings, general cornice destroyed, |