the place of that letter. We shall thank any body who will point out a gentleman that makes a good bow, and whofe name he gins with an S. We have already refufed a P, who does not wear his hat with a good air; and have done the fame by a V, becaufe he has not the faculty of ftanding upon one jeg. As we are determined that Our fociety fhall be truly English, we peremptorily rejected the propofal of a cer tain great fcholar to admit the Digamma in to our club. When we meet in an evening, which we do once in twenty-fix days, we amufe ourfelves in a very fprightly manner without uttering a fingle words our whole converfation being carried on by the bodies of the members. We connect ourfelves together by our hands, and fo form words and fentences. Thus we are continually in motion, and talk in dumb fhew. Were you to enter when we are carrying on a brifk converfation, you would think we were playing at blindman's buff: at other times you would take us for a knot of Peripatetics. We think all this very innocent,.and conducive to the fharpening of our wits, and keeping our bodies in health. I am, &c. RALPH CROTCHET. P. S. There are feveral clubs fet up in imitation of ours; fuch as the Black letter, the Italic, the Grecian, &c. But, I believe they are not in a thriving condition. In the first there have been great contentions between the vowels and confonants, in which the diphthongs have fided with the former. The Italic has for fome time been in a fender tottering condition, and expect that it will foon fall. There is a gentleman here whofe letter is filled up, and who wants us to admit him as an honorary member under the title of et cætera. We wish to know your advice on this point. Sit is well known that your va the prejudice of the people to that kind of fifh as food is fo great, that they cannot be prevailed on to make trial of them. As this is the cafe, and as they are as much relished by fome as they are difliked by others, and as they are univerfally allowed to afford a most wholefome and nourishing food, and to prevent fo great a lofs both to the publick and to the proprietor, efpecially when provifions of every kind are fo dear; I am very defirous to convey them to thofe markets where they might be difpofed of to advantage. With this view I fhould be glad to be informed of the best mode of conveying eels to a diftance alive, and what is the moft faleable way to preferve them when dead, whether by potting, collaring, or pickleing and falting, and for what length of time they will keep fo preferved, and where is the belt market for difpofing of them, in what towns in England or to what places abroad, as they are not generally liked in Scotland where the fifhing is fituated; or if they will bear to be tranfported to the Weft-Indies, and, if fo, if they could be fold there to advantage. A CONSTANT READER. Mr. URBAN, April 2. HAVE fo frequently obferved the attention with which you notice the enquiries of your numerous correfpondents, that I feel encouraged to indulge the pleafing hope of experiencing a funilar kindnefs. A very neat quarto MS. lately came into my poffeffion. It is intituled, "Diverfe Chriftian letters, written by that worthy divine Mr. Jofeph Alleine, minif ter of the Gofpel at Taunton in Somerfetfhire, afliftant to Mr. Newton, Aluable Magazine anites the ufe-Prov. x. 7. The memory of the juft is ful with the agreeable, I have taken the liberty to beg a fpare corner for the following queries, hoping that fome of your numerous correspondents will favour me with fome information on the fubject. Being in poffeffion of an Eel-fishing, I have for fome time paft endeavoured to turn it to fome good account, both for the fake of the pub-. lick and myfelf; but, although there are a valt number of eels, and that of a kind called the filver eel, and quite free from the mud tafte fo common to moft eels, yet hitherto I have been able to do little more than pay for the expence of catching them. In that part of the country where this fifhing is fituated, bleffed: but the name of the wicked fhall rot." The MS. is fubfcribed James White, Anno 1718; the name, probably, of the tranfcriber. It conlifts of forty-fix pages, well filled. The language and fentiments of this little work are truly excellent; and I confefs, Mr. Urban, my curiofity has been ftrongly excited to know the character and life of the venerable writer. He appears to have been a non-juring Proteftant clergyman, who was confined in the common gaol at Ilchefter, in September, 1663. He refided at Bath in October 1668. This is all the intelligence I can deduce from the MS, The The following admirable prayer occurs in p. 15. "O Father of Spirits, that haft fet me o Father over thy flock to watch for their fouls, as one that must give an account! I have long ftudied thy will, and taught in thy name; and do unfeignedly bless thee that any have believed my report. I have given unto them the words which thod gaveft me, and they have received them. I have manifefted thy nanie unto them, and they have kept thy word. And now I am no more with them, but I come unto thee: Ily Father, keep them through thine own name, for they are thine. As they have kept the word of thy patiences fo keep thou them in the hour of temptation. They are but a flock, a little and a helpless flock; but thou art their shepherd. Suffer them not to want. Do thou feed them and fold them. Let thy rod and thy Staff comfort them; and let not the heart of prey fall upon them to the fpoiling of "But what fhall I do for them that will not be grathered? I have called after them, but they would not anfwer; I have charged them in thy name, but they would not hear; I have ftudied to fpeak perfuafively to them, but I cannot prevail. Then I faid, 'I have laboured in vain, I have spent my strength for nought, yet I cannot give them over!" Much less may I give thee over. "Lord, perfuade Japhet to dwell in the tents of Shem. Lord, compel them to come in, and Jay the hands of mercy upon them as thou didit upon lingering Lot; and bring them forth, that they escape for their lives and be not confumed. Lord, I pray thee, open their eyes that they may fee; and lay hold upon their hearts by thy omnipotent grace. Do thou turn them, and they fhall be turned. Oh bring back the miferable captives; and fuffer not the enemy of mankind to drive away the most of the Block before mine eyes! Oh let him not deride the fruitless endeavours of thy labourers, and ho.ft over them, that he can do more with them, though he feek to ruin them, than all the befeechings, counfels, aud charges of thy fervants who feek to fave them! Lord, if I could find out any thing that would.. pierce them, that would make its way into their hearts, thou knoweft I would ufe it. But, I have been many years pleading thy caufe in vain. Oh let not thefe endea yours all be loft. O God, find out every ignorant, every prophane finner, every prayerfefs toul, and every prayer!efs family: convince them of their miferable condition, whilft without thee in the world. Set thine image upon their fouls. Set up thy worship in their families. Let GENT. MAO. May, 1801. not pride, ignorance, or flothfulness, keep them in neglect of the means of knowledge. Let thine eyes be over the place of my defire for good; from one end of the year to the other end thereof. Let every houfe therein be a feminary of religion; aud let thofe who caft their eyes upon thefe lines, find thee entering by the fecret influence of thy grace into their hearts, and irrefutibly engaging them to do thy pleaJOSEPH ALLEINE." fure. Amen! Amen! Relying upon that politenefs which I have fo often perfonally experienced; permit me for the prefent, Mr. Urban, to take my leave. W. B. May 13. HE annexed view (Plule II.) of a boat-houfe on the North-fide of the Serpentine river in Hyde Park, may perhaps be acceptable. This houfe, in the beginning of laft century, perhaps much carlier, was called The Cake-houfe. Dr. Swift in his Journal to Stella, Nov. 15, 1712, mentioning the death of duke Hamilton in a duel. with Lord Mohun, fays, the duke was helped towards the Cake-houfe by the Ring in Hyde Park (where the duel was fought), and died on the grafs before he could reach the houfe." It is built of timber and plafter, tiled with flat tiles, and is certainly antient. The view is taken from the coach road going by the fide of the river towards the Magazine; and in the diftant fcenery is a part of Kenfington gardens. In the garden belonging to this houfe (the entrance to which appears in the drawing) is the building benevolently erected by the Roval Humane Society, which you have already defcribed and engraved. Yours, &c. B. L. TELLA is obliged to the Southern Faunift for fuggefting his fufpicions in regard to the flying glow-worms; and the followed his reference to the Hiftory of Animals by Dr. Hill. The fpecies there defcribed and delineated bulk and in form than thofe fhe had were more refembling the Beetle in feen. Although unable to gain any further information in the county where the obferred them, the has learnt through a friend, that a perfon. of great obfervation in Staffordshire has frequently remarked fimilar flights in the month of June, when in the laft fuge of exiftence, and are called by the the common people fire-flies, though undoubtedly a fpecies of the glowworm. Stella, fatisfied with this information, takes the first opportunity to impart it. I Mr. URBAN, Louth, May 7. THANK your feveral correfpondents who have kindly endeavoured to answer my queries in vol. LXVII. p. 7, refpecting the antient barony of Zouche of Harringworth. Your correfpondent W-di-r in particular (vol. LXIX. p. 1013,) has fhewn that there is no illue from Mary, fecond daughter and co-heir of Edward, laft Lord Zouche; and fays, that the barohy is in abeyance amongst the children of the two fifters of the late Bartholomew Tate, efq, This latter circumftance, however, may poffibly adinit of fome doubt; for, in Walker's Account of the Sufferings of the Clergy in the time of the grand rebellion, is the following remarkable paffage relative to Zouche Tate, fon of William Tate and Elizabeth eldest daughter of the laft Lord Zouche: "His grandfather was born of poor parents in Weftmoreland; but advancing himself by fome means or other, got the nunnery of -near Northampton for his booty in Queen Elizabeth's reign; after which his fon (father to this Z-h) mar ried a daughter of the Lord Zouch, who was with child before marriage, or elfe the had never fallen to his lot. This Z built on the icite of the nunnery and part of the church. He had likewise other church lands, and no bread to eat but of that kind." Z. Tate was a member of the committee of Northampton; of which committee Walker fays, that it was compofed of men who could not justly claim the title of gentleman either by blood or armour. The above account of him is taken from the papers of the Rev. Jeremiah Stevens, who was prefented by King Charles I. to the rec tories of Wotton and Quinton, co Northampton, and in 1641 to the prebend of Bigglefwade, in Lincoln cathedral, by the intereft of that great patron of learning Archbishop Land, as a reward for affifting the celebrated antiquary Sir Henry Spelman in his edition of the Councils. From Mr. Stephens's account we may conjecture that Z. Tate was illegi timate; and the circumftance of his eftate having confifted entirely in abbey lands, may feem to corroborate that fuppofition; for, had he been legitimate, he muft, on the deccafe of his mother, have been entitled to a moiety of Lord Zouche's eftates; and, on failure of iffue from Mary Leighton, to the whole of the eftate of the Zouche family, as well as to the barony. I fhould, therefore, Mr. Urban, esteem it a great favour if any of your corre fpondents would inform me whether the illegitimacy of the faid Z. Tate can be fatisfactorily proved; and whether there are at this time any perfons who have an intereft in the barony of Zouche of Harringworth, in prefe rence to the defcendants of Francis Uvedale, of Horton, co, Dorset, and Catharine his wife, daughter of John, Lord Zouche. Mr. URBAN, R. U. April 17. Tritions, ghofts, and fupernatural HE following reflections on appaadmonitions, arofe from the reading of Mr. Wraxall's relation of an extraordinary fcene which paffed at Drefden fome years ago. (Letter 8. vol. I.) If this effay fuits your Mifcellany, it is at your fervice; perhaps it may not be unfeafonable, when the prefent German' tafte in novels is confidered. ། ། By the word ghoft is meant the fpirit of a dead man returning in a visible form to this world. That fuch returns are poflible and not uncommon, was once the general belief; now it is out of credit, and with reafon. Thould feem that Z. Late was neither begotten nor børu în lawful matrimony but, though it could even be proved that he was born in wedlock, yet from M, Stephens s account it appears he was certainly begotten before marriage, and it would be abfurd to fuppose that the defcendant of a perfon, not begotten within the' rules of honour and civil fociety, can make any juft claim to a perfonal honour annexed to the blood. The defcent of titles of honour is governed by the rules of honour, and not by the rules of the common law. Honours are inherent in the blood; and when the line of defcent is not perfectly spotlefs and uncontaminated, when the blood is in any degree ftained, that which is inherent is taken away. The rules of defcent of honours are, in short, much more strict than thofe of more grofs inheritances. May we not, therefore, infer that in the inheritance of titles of honour, kindred derived from the blood of a perion begotten as well as born within the rules of honour, fhall be preferred to thofe from the blood of a perfon not begotten but merely born in lawful wedlock? |