are well acquainted. But indeed there are higher considerations still to recommend the situation of a friendly instructor of youth; for what employment can there be so instructive, or that which calls into constant exertion so many Christian graces? This makes it indeed more fatiguing; but useful fatigue is the condition of the Christian warfare, and after a few short years, what else will appear to have been important in any rank or situation? 'Tis a great blessing that enjoys her health so well amid so many cares. I depend much * Mrs. on her kind attention to the dear lit- I Mr.URBAN, Liverpool, Dec. 21. THINK Humanus, p. 318, has been very unsuccessful in his arguments to prove the propriety, upon Christian, or indeed upon any other principles, of a certain description of what are called Field Sports. To assimilate man with the brutes, in order to prove his right to amuse himself with their miseries, is rather too much for human nature to bear. The modern Poesy on Fox Hunting, &c. to the principles of which he has suddenly become a convert, asserts, that Heaven has permitted, or decreed, he does not say which, "That through creation's bounds weakness to strength Its life should yield an unresisting prey." If the Poet means only the conduct of brute to brute, in how many instances is the divine permission or decree at variance with this assertion; there being as great an instinctive disposition to avoid and resist, as there is to pursue and devour. If he would allude to the conduct of man to man, or man to the brute, he is in a still worse dilemma; as the divine decrees are decidedly in favour of the weak against the tyranny of the strong, and have enjoined mercy, towards the brutes. Man's revealed permission is - only to kill. The positive injunction in the Jewish law, not to muzzle the GENT. MAG, Suppl. LXXX. PART C 66 ox which treadeth out the corn," is decisively opposed to every kind of wanton cruelty and torture in the usage of these creatures. The other argument quoted by Humanus from his poet, viz. - because the fox leaves a scent, and the hounds have noses, a man has a right to kill a favourite horse, and risk his own neck in company with these dogs, to run the aniinal to death for mere amusement would sanction the worst propensities of our nature, and reduce us to the level of mere brutes at once. Our author I conceive to be still more unfortunate in his application of a quotation from Paley's Theology. This I apprehend is a defence of the moral government of the world, respecting the propensity of the brutes to prey upon each other, which, in numberless instances, by a forced and sudden death, not only prevents a burthensome increase of such creatures, but that slow starvation and misery the aged and helpless of them would be otherwise liable to. All this rea soning is in direct opposition to that systematic prolongation of an animal's misery in the pleasures of the Chace, &c.; in which prolongation the princi pal amusement consists, and wherein it not unfrequently happens, that some of the noblest of animals are literally rode to death, while the poor object of the pursuit, after suffering a thousand deaths, if it survive, may be doomed to repetitions of the same wanton cruelty, and, finally, suffer a lingering death. I confess myself amongst the number of those who consider that the most wanton and barbarous custom of bull-baiting, &c. &c. owe much of their, baneful continuance to such sophistical arguments as the above; otherwise the powers and energies of the magistrates would be exerted in every place (as they have been so laudably exerted in most large towns) to wipe away this national disgrace; and am truly sorry that a gentleman, who could so feelingly quote from Blair, "I would not treat the smallest insect with wanton cruelty" should, in any respect, become the advocate of pleasures or customs of either the great or the vulgar, in the enjoyment of which so many disgusting scenes. of wanton cruelty are the necessary consequence; and, inost of all, that he should sign his name -HUMANUS. II. Yours, &c. HUMANITAS. Mr. PERIODICAL Works not only dif- are continually going on a variety of fuse useful information, but afford a vehicle for the full discussion of new opinions and discoveries, in order that their real merit and utility may be ascertained. The parish of which I am Rector being six miles distant from the residence of a Medical man, I have for many years paid some attention to popular Medicine, for the purpose of rendering assistance to my poor parishioners, and a few others, when they are afflicted with disease; and to you 1 stand much indebted for the character you some time ago gave of Dr. Reece's Medical Guide, which induced me to purchase a copy, and I have found it fully answer the high encomium you bestowed upon it; and indeed it so far exceeds every other popular publication which I have seen, that I look upon it as an invaluable acquisition; for it has enabled me to afford relief in many cases I durst not attempt before I had perused that work. I have also purchased his new System of Physick and Surgery, with the view of becoming more deeply instructed in Medical Science. With these new opinions I became fascinated; and in consequence of a notice in the preface, that he should deliver gratuitously, in October, a Course of Lectures for the purpose of elucidating more clearly the opinions broached in that work; I resolved to visit some friends in London, that I might avail myself of his liberal proposal. The doctrines appear to me, although quite new, to be well supported by facts, and so consonant to my own feelings, that I have been emboldened to send you the outlines of them, not solely with a view of giving them publicity, but that in your valuable publication they may undergo the investigation of such of your scientific readers as may think them worthy of their particular notice; that I, as well as others, may be better enabled to judge whether they are really supported by facts, and to which I find the author himself is by no means averse. In his introductory Lecture, he takes a view of the living body in a state of health, and the processes that animate it, and the organs that prepare the nourishment, and those that are em ployed in its mutation. The living animal body, he says, "may be considered an animal elaboratory, in which processes dependent on chemical affinity." After noticing the different functions of the organs engaged in the assimilation of food and nutrition or mutation of the body, he notices the powers which may be strictly termed vital, as keeping the grand digester and the subservient vessels at work. This investigation he commences with the primary moving powers of the body, viz. the brain and nerves, The se This complex organ, the brain, he represents as possessing three powers, viz. intellectual, electrical, and sentient. It is, says he, the connecting medium between the body and an immaterial principle, to which various denominations have been given, viz. the soul, the vis medicatrix naturæ, nature &c. a power which superintends the different processes going on in the system. The brain is thence the seat of all our intellectual operations, as well as our various sensations or senses. It has also electrical pow ers, supplying the body by means of its ramifications, called nerves, with animal electrical matter. cond organ engaged in vitalizing the body is the lungs: they supply the blood with vital air, which is convey. ed over the body by the arteries. These vessels run parallel with the nerves. An union takes place between the animal electric fluid and the oxygen, in consequence of which caloric, or heat, is disengaged, and therefore generally diffused through the body; and on the degree of this heat not only depend the proper functions of the different organs, but even sensation of the nerves, and consequently the health of the body. He makes a distincties between excitability and irritability: the former alluding to the electrical powers of the brain, and the latter to the sentient powers of the cerebral system (which includes brain and nerves). That the blood parts with the oxygen it attracts during its pas sage through the lungs, is, I believe, generally admitted; and that the brain is an electrical organ, the Doctor appears to prove by many rational expe riments. In gouty inflammation, he has collected such a quantity of elec trical matter by covering the affected limb with silk, as to conduct it off in sparks. By By compression or division of the principal nerve of a limb, the heat of the extremity is considerably diminished; and the same effect follows the compression or division of the principal artery, which seems to prove that heat depends on the action of both.When the excitability of the brain is increased, or the skin does not afford a conducting surface, an accumulation of electric matter takes place in the body, which is discharged through the nerves on the approach of, or during sleep, producing a shock of the body. The vitality of the body he therefore states to depend upon this species of ignition, produced by oxygen and electric matter, which keeps up the different functions, and occasions a constant evaporation from the surface, termed insensible perspiration. If the excitability of the brain (its electrical power) be increased, and the blood be well supplied with oxygen, the ignition or heat of the body will be increased, and all the functions disturbed; the excretions, the fæces, and urine, will of course be morbid, and digestion so disturbed as to occasion pausea, loss of appetite, &c. The irritability of the cerebral system will also be more or less increased; the consequence of which is, the circulation of the blood will be accelerated, and the velocity of the blood through the vessels of the brain and lungs tend to keep up the excitability of the brain, and super-oxygenation of the blood: this is the state of system termed inflammatory fever. When the excitability of the brain is morbidly increased, the blood not sufficiently oxygenated, and the irritability of the cerebral system is augmented, low or typhus fever is produced. The former state of system he terms simple, aud the latter specific general increased ignition, and inflammation, local increased ignition. If the excitability of the brain be diminished, and the blood not sufficiently oxygenated, there will be a deficiency of ignition, the different organs will not perform their respective offices, the body will, of course, be debilitated, and emaciation, or dropsy, will be the consequence. Hence, in all cases of disease, whether acute or chronic, general or local, we must attend to the igniting or vitalizing powers of the system; and the Doctor's first class of reme dies consists of those which, through the medium of the mind, act on the brain. Every species of primary fever, he contends, commences in the brain: hence the first symptom is head-ache, disturbed sleep, and confusion of ideas, which is followed by a discharge of electric matter producing shiverings or rigors. All contagious effluvia enter the system by the lungs; and if the poison do not disturb the brain, it will not be productive of mischief. "Hence," says he, "people whose brains are not easily acted upon escape infectious fevers, and generally enjoy a good state of health." In cases of local injuries, as fractures and dislocations, he points out the necessity of reducing the igniting powers of the system, to prevent general increased ignition, which would re-act on the injured part. In accidents, he observes, if these precautions be neglected, the local irritation will be communicated to the brain, and in a day or two its excitability will be increased; and the general increased ignition excited termed sympathetic fever. In local cases or organic diseases, he advises that the igniting process be kept low. If a patient with a simple ulcer on any part of the body disturbs the brain by the abuse of wine or spirituous liquor, the consequences will be increased ignition of the ulcerated part, and a morbid discharge. The same effects will be produced by inental perturbation; hence people afflicted with ulcerated or diseased bowels will be affected with looseness or dysentery, on their minds being disturbed. JAMES CHARLES LISTER. [being I shall promulgate) I fetch my life and From men of royal siege and my de[tune May speak unbonnelted to as proud a forAs this that I have reached." merits This meaning is supposed there to be with submission; but surely a refer encu ence to Heraldry will explain it in a way much more naturally than W. P. has done. The bonnet or chapeau of Nobility is still very frequent in English Armorial Bearings, generally supporting the Crest: it is represented as a Cap turned up with ermin, and was the mark of families descended from noble stocks. To this Othello alludes; and his meaning obviously is, that even though descended from Royal ancestors, his own personal merits might challenge, without the aid of any attribute of Nobility, the fortune which he had reached. A reference to Heraldry,which, even so late as Shakspeare's days, was a science of very great importance, will of explain many allusions in the poets that age, and those of the centuries immediately preceding, which otherwise cannot be understood. In Scotland, the bounet or chapeau of Nobility is not much used; nor was it, I believe, in France, where coronels were assumed in its place; but in England it was, and is very generally blazoned in Coats of Arms. Yours, &c. D. Mr. URBAN, Caernarvonshire, Dec.4. BSERVING in p. 416, some appearance of controversy respecting the three Fleur-de-lis, borne by the families there mentioned; I am enabled to inform you, that no bearing is more commonly met with upon the monuments, or in the pedigrees, of the nobility and gentry residing with in Caernarvonshire (of which alone 1 can affect to speak with precision) than the Fleurs de Lis either alone or quartered. They were, in fact, the coat of Collwyn ap Tanyns, one of the fifteen Welsh tribes, who lived three generations before the Norman conquest, This coat received the augmentation of a pole-axe Argent from Edward the Black Prince, at the battle of Puictiers, where Sir Howel ap Fwyall, a Welsh Knight, and descendant of Collwyn, is stated, and, in my opinion, upon very strong circumstantial evidence truly stated, to have been the person, who made prisoner the King of France. Newborough arms, are apt to refer it to a more recent grant from the head of that empire, while it yet existed. The fact is, that Cilmin lived in the ninth century; and I must confess considerable surprise, at finding the royal arms both of France and of Germany in the Principality at so remote a poriod. Yours, &c. EDMD. HYDE HALl. I must in candour observe, that the late Mr. Penuant, under the head of Criccaeth Castle, seems to prefer the assertion of Froissart, that the capture of King John was made rather by a French knight than by Sir Howel.. But the tradition, the augmentation of the armorial bearings, and the expensive establishment at Criccaeth Castle, weigh with me against the direet evidence. Sir Howel's abode is still in being, a mean farm-house. In thus diftering from Mr. Pennant, I would not be understood to undervalue him. After spending weeks and months in taking a detailed account of the country through which he merely rode, I am bound, for many a wea ry hundred miles, to bear my testimony to his very extraordinary accuracy of description. We have been extremely grateful here at the republication of his Welsh Tours by the piety, taste and zeal of his son, David Pennant, Esq. Cilmin ap Troed Du, another noble tribe, the ancestor of Lord Newborough, bore the Imperial Eagle of the Germanic Empire; though many persons upon seeing it in the present Mr. URBAN. Dec. 12. UR revered Monarch having some tivue since resolved on re storing that antient and honourable Institution, the Knights of Windsor, to its original state of respectability, and an arrangement having been accordingly made to secure such vacancies as inay hereafter occur to decayed and disabled Officers of his Majesty'sLand forces; the following extracts from the Statutes of the Order, if you will have the goodness to give them a place in your valuable Miscellany, may not only afford entertainment to some of your readers, but likewise be the means of conveying to many a brave Veteran in secluded retirement on a scanty pittance, the pleasing intelligence that he has not been forgotten, and that a comfortable asylum has been provided for him in his old age, by the paternal regard of his beloved Sovereign; each Knight having a sepa rate dwelling-house allotted to him, beside beside his salary, which being but - small, may be held together with halfpay, or any other stipend granted for past services. Candidates must apply to the Secretary of State for the Home Department; and, highly to the ho-" nour of the present Minister the Right Hon. Richard Ryder, all those appointed by him are gentlemen duly qualified by honourable and meritorious services. It would be, however, injustice not to add, that the reformation of abuses commenced in the time of his predecessor, the Right Hon. the Earl of Liverpool. There are also seven Naval Knights of Windsor, for particulars of which, see Steel's list of the Royal Navy. Yours, &c. AN OLD CORRESPONDENT. King Edward the Third, out of the great regard he had to Military honour and those who had bravely behaved themselves in the wars yet after chanced to fall to decay, made a provision for their relief and comfortable subsistence: the stated number at first ture none to be admitted except gen. tlemen born." The present establishment consists of 18 Knights, including a Governor, exclusive of the 7 Naval Knights. Mr. URBAN, Essex, Dec. 23. N the Book of Common Prayer it is stated, that "Easter Day (on which the rest depend) is always the first Sunday after the Full Moon, which, happens upon, or next after the 21st day of March; and if the Full Moon happens on a Sunday, then Easter Day is on the Sunday after." This appears to be a fixed, and has been the usual rule for calculating the falling of Easter; but I have to notice a deviation from each part of it, as under: In the present year (1810) the Moon and Easter fell on the 22d of April; was full on the 21st day of March, which agreeably to the first rule of calculation, should have been on the 28th of March. In 1802, the full of the Moon and day; namely, on the 15th of April Easter Day were both on the same which also is contrary to the rule above quoted. I beg leave, through the medium of your very useful publication, to euquire of some of your intelligent Corthat some sufficient one will be given) respondents, what reason (presuming exists for these deviations. Yours, &c. Mr. URBAN, QUERENS. Near Reading, Berks THE observations of Clericus in your page 537, are in every sympathy for the Poor congenial with sense praise-worthy, and manifest a my feelings: their situation in many parishes call loudly for redress. Believe me, Sir, when I read the public advertisements for farming the Poor, my mind is filled with horror at the idea; contemplation to devise some plan or and I am frequently led into serious mode to ameliorate their condition, to avert the savage recurrence to the farming system, which is a disgrace to Thomson elegantly observes, the country, where, alas! as "How many drink the cup of baleful grief, Or eat the bitter bread of misery! Sore pierc'd by wintry winds, how many was twenty-four; but shortly after, upon his instituting the Order of the Garter, two more were added. The intention of the founder was, as he describes them, Milites Pauperes, infirm in body and decayed; or, as the Statutes of the Garter qualify them, such as through adverse turns of fortune were reduced to that extremity, that they had not wherewithal to sustain themselves to live so genteelly as was suitable to a military condition; which, for greater caution, was reiterated in the Statutes of King Henry V. and afterwards by King Henry VIII. who by his Will settled Lands and Manors upon them for their support; Edward VI. also, in the first year of his reign, bestowed several Lands on the Institution; and in the reign of Philip and Mary, buildings for their residence within the Castle were commenced; and on Elizabeth coming to the Crown, she completed the buildings, and confirmed her sister's grants; and August 30th, in the first year of her reign, minding the continuance of King Edward's foundation, the intent of her progenitors, and King Henry VIIIth's Will, ordained Statutes and Ordinances for them, under which they still remain, and by which the number was to be 13, to be called Knights of Windsor, and for the fu shrink Into the sordid hut of cheerless poverty!" |