GENTLEMAN'S MAGAZINE. OCTOBER, 1838. BY SYLVANUS URBAN, GENT. CONTENTS. MINOR CORRESPONDENCE. - Foreign Orders of Knighthood - The Celtic Notes on Boswell's Life of Samuel Johnson, LL.D. PAGE 346 347 361 An Historical Disquisition on Almanacs 365 Origin and History of the Emperor Carausius "Due Preparations for the Plague," an unknown work by Defoe Roman Antiquities found at Winchester (with a Plate) Remarkable Plagiarism in the Edinburgh Review 66 Topographical Prosings; Hints for Antiquarian Tourists Ogham Inscriptions found in Ireland..... 386 RETROSPECTIVE REVIEW. WORKS OF THE CAMDEN SOCIETY. 387 390 REVIEW OF NEW PUBLICATIONS. Goethe's Correspondence with a Child, 393.-Palmer's Antient House at Great Yarmouth, 397.-Britton's Dictionary of Architecture, 398.- Napier's Montrose and the Covenanters, 403.-The History of Esau considered, 406. -Archæologia, Vol. XXVII. Part II. 408.-Ordnance Survey of the County of Londonderry, 411.-D'Alton's History of the County of Dublin, 414. -D'Alton's Memoirs of the Archbishops of Dublin, 415.-Miscellaneous Reviews, ib.-Eagles's Brendallah, James's Robber FINE ARTS.-New Statues, &c. 418.-Britton's London and Birmingham Railway LITERARY AND SCIENTIFIC INTELLIGENCE. 417 419 431 ANTIQUARIAN RESEARCHES.- Society of Antiquaries of Normandy, 431.-Ancient Coffins found in Essex, 433.-Roman Coins, &c........... 434 HISTORICAL CHRONICLE.-Foreign News, 435; Domestic Occurrences 436 Promotions, Births, Marriages 438 OBITUARY; with Memoirs of Earl Annesley; Sir W. B. Cave, Bart.; Sir W. Maxwell, Bart.; Sir G. W. Leeds, Bart.; Capt. Sir J. S. Peyton; General Onslow; Colonel Dumaresq; Robert Holford, Esq. F.R.S.; Thomas Jervis, Esq. Q.C.; Rev. Dr. Jamieson; Dr. Bowditch; Mr. Fred. Accum; Mr. S. Terry 441 ...... CLERGY DECEASED, &c. &c... 449 ........ Bill of Mortality-Markets-Prices of Shares, 455.-Meteorological Diary Stocks... 456 Embellished with a Plate of Various ROMAN ANTIQUITIES found at WINCHESTER, &c. &c. MINOR CORRESPONDENCE. Mr. URBAN, Somerset-pla. Sept. 5. I BEG leave to acquaint you, and, through the medium of your widely-extended Magazine, the public also, that I am preparing an account of the several FOREIGN ORDERS of KNIGHTHOOD; and, as many of HER MAJESTY's subjects, both CIVIL AND MILITARY, have had the honour to receive one or more of those distinctions from the Illustrious Sovereigns in whose dominions they have been instituted, I would respectfully request the favour of an answer from them to the following questions, viz. : 1. What is the title of THE ORDER which you have received? And have you had the Royal permission to accept and wear the same, and when? 2. In what year, and upon what occasion, was the order conferred upon you? And what was your rank at that time? 3. Be pleased to communicate any information which you may deem necessary to promote the utility and accuracy of the work. You may be sure, Sir, that I shall be proud to perpetuate the renown of my countrymen, and that I shall be most thankful for whatever intelligence may be imparted to me; and, at the same time, I hope, that, as my correspondents may be numerous, I shall not be considered unreasonable in my request, that the communications may be sent to me free of expense. In the meanwhile, I would observe, that my friend Sir WILLIAM WOODS, GARTER, has kindly offered to contribute every information which THE COLLEGE OF ARMS can supply. Yours, &c. NICHOLAS CARLISLE. Sir WILLIAM BETHAM remarks, "It is quite consoling to observe something like an approximation to common sense in the consideration and discussion of the Celtic inquiry; and that national prejudices are at length giving way to the force of truth. FIOR GHAEL is entitled to the thanks and gratitude of all lovers of truth and the study of history. His letters have done and will do much towards dissipating the obstinate and absurd prejudices which have so long obscured the true history of the antient inhabitants of the British Isles. Fondly adhering to a puerile fiction, and fancying the national honour depended on its maintenance, the Welsh and Gaelic writers have insisted on the near affinity, if not identity of the two languages. This delusion has been removed, and we may now hope that the investigation will proceed with more auspi cious results. "I was, however, surprised at the passage in FIOR GHAEL's last letter, which indicates that he is not aware that an English translation of Llwyd's Preface was published by Bishop Nicholson in the Irish Historical Library (edition 1724, p. 216). He will find, also, that I availed myself of this translation in my Gael and Cymbri. Mr. LOGAN, in one of his letters, censures me for stating that it appeared to me Llwyd wanted moral courage in not publishing the Preface in English. "I fully acquiesce in the opinion given by FIOR GHAEL of the writings of Rowland Davies, Vallancey, O'Connor, and Pezron, to which may be added the following works ; Pellontier-Histoire des Celtes. Baun- Récherches Dictionnaire Cel sur des Origines Which are equally deserving of censure, as jumbles of rubbish, only calculated to mislead." The Rev. J. SIMPSON EVANS, of Kensington, observes, "I have in my possession a MS. Life of Bishop Frampton, who was ejected for not taking the oaths to William and Mary. It is of sufficient detail and interest to deserve publication. But, before I give it to the world, that I may do what justice I can to the memory of so excellent a man, I should be happy to receive the contributions of any of your readers who may happen to possess any thing of interest relating to him. I have reason to believe that several of his sermons, the texts of which are given in his life, are still in existence." In our Memoir of Sir R. C. Hoare, p. 98, col. 2, the statement relative to the disposal of his property should be thus corrected:- "The Baronetcy devolves on his oldest half-brother Henry Hugh Hoare, Esq. the head of the eminent banking-house in Fleet-street; and the whole of the landed as well as personal property, is strictly entailed upon the male descendants of the family." In our notice of the late Edward Bentley, Esq. page 337, we have fallen into some inaccuracies. On his retirement from the Bank of England, in Feb. 1837, the Directors, to mark their sense of his long and faithful services, during fifty-five years, voted him, in the most flattering manner, the salary and emoluments of his office for life. On the formation of the Bank Volunteer Corps, 1798, Mr. Bentley was appointed First Lieut. not Sergeant of the Grenadier Company; and the portrait of him by Maclise, in possession of the family, was, at the solicitation of the gentlemen of the Bank, engraved, at their expense, as a memento of their old and much-esteemed friend, GENTLEMAN'S MAGAZINE. HISTORICAL AND STATISTICAL ACCOUNT OF NEW SOUTH WALES, &c. By J. D. LANG, D.D. 2 vols. 2d ed. : A FEW years only have clapsed since Dr. Whately called the attention of the public in a Letter to Lord Grey to the effect of the system of Transportation, which has been long pursued by our Government; and he arrived at the conclusion, "that the transportation of felons is an experiment, whose failure has been decidedly proved." This somewhat strong and startling proposition was denied by Colonel Arthur and other functionaries resident in New South Wales; but their arguments went to shew, not that it had not failed, so far as it has been tried, but that it might succeed in future in other words, that under an altered plan and wiser management, its defects would be removed, and its success ensured. This also is the line of argument which in these later volumes Dr. Lang has adopted, who urges that the experiment cannot be said to have failed, for it never has been fairly and properly tried and that the experiment of a penal colony on a grand scale has been recklessly entrusted to mere chance, to ignorance, to incapacity, and to the uncontrolled operation of the worst passions that disgrace humanity. He has unfolded his opinions at large on this subject, in a work which we have not seen, but which, we believe, places the argument almost entirely on the basis of management. This, however, seems evident, that all those who have defended the system of Transportation as a punishment, and who have observed its effects, as exhibited in the colony of New South Wales, have been compelled to acknowledge its failure, up to the present time, though they have differed much as to the causes, and suggested different measures for its future improvement and success. They differ from Dr. Whately in maintaining that the failure has not arisen from anything inherent in the Transportation system itself, but has rather been the natural and necessary consequence of a state of things which ought never to have existed in the Australian colonies, and from which no other result could possibly have been anticipated;-in short, they mean to assert, that the colony has been placed, from first to last, under an inefficient, improper, and imperfect governinent. Now, it is very true that in all these vindications of Transportation, as Dr. Whately observes, there is a perpetual confusion of two separate questions:-The benefit of Transportation, as a mode of punishment, and as a mode of colonization: and thence also springs a second mingled argument, regarding the benefit to the mother country and to the colony. Bacon had called this mode of colonization-" of a shameful and unblessed character!"'—a bad parent of a worse offspring; and it has been said, that to establish a colony to serve as a drain to the impurities of the mother country, is an act which no casuistry can defend ; to found a new society entirely out of the outcasts of the old, is an unjus * Transportation and Colonization; or the Causes of the comparative Failure of the Transportation System in the Australian Colonies, with Suggestions for ensuring its future Efficacy in subserviency to extensive Colonization," tifiable measure-a measure "shameful and unblessed." This view of the question is so forcibly and clearly put in a work quoted by Dr. Whateley in his Appendix, that we are induced to make a short extract from it."There is no doubt that wicked men, intent on the commission of crime, whether they have been convicted or not, are an evil to a country; nevertheless, they are a less evil in the mother country than in a penal colony. Passions which are almost harmless when extenuated and diffused in a large mass, work with a fatal vigor if taken in a concentrated and separate form. Nor is it a simple question of numerical proportion, whether a bad man is more mischievous with ninety-nine good men, or ninety-nine bad men; but the future increase of the one bad man is likewise to be considered. In the midst of a large society, discountenanced by the general opinion, neglected and shunned by their relatives and friends, outstripped by the industrious, oppressed with the sense of disgrace, blighted in all their prospects by the knowledge of their dishonesty, rarely marrying on account of their bad character and irregular habits; criminals commonly terminate by an early death their career of riot, dissipation, debauchery, wretchedness, and outrage, and sink into the great ocean of society without a grave,-unknelled, uncoffined, and unknown. Such is the way in which the propagation of vice is hindered in the regular order of society. We, however, in our wisdom, thinking to improve on this arrangement, and too impatient of the presence of the vicious to await their natural extinction, save them from this moral shipwreck, and collect them into one spot, where there is no example to deter, no virtuous public opinion to discountenance, no honest industry to compete with them, no odious comparisons to be undergone; and thus ensuring always a regular supply of additional recruits from the gaols of the mother country, like the physical philosophers of antiquity, from this corruption we generate a new society."* Now, although we acknowledge the force and justness of these sentiments, yet we think that there is still room for one or two observations upon them, which may remove somewhat from the comprehensive power with which they cover and command the whole question; and the fact is, that the colony of New South Wales is not solely nor separately a place to which criminals are transported, an ergastulum servorum, but is in addition a territory of immense space and general fertility, to which free settlers resort from their mother country in search of subsistence and wealth; therefore, like the mother country, it consists of a very mixed community. It is not a vast dungeon of felons-a distinct wing of Newgate-a condemned cell at the Atlantic Pole; and though the proportion of criminals to the other part of society may be much larger than it is at home, yet the accession to the number of these criminals must always be limited, from the limited population of the mother country; perhaps also lessened by the improved systems of education, discipline, and police at home: while from the immense territory of New South Wales, its congenial soil and climate, the number of free emigrants may be multiplied beyond all present calculation, so as to materially reduce the present unequal proportions, especially as the pressure of population in the mother country may be expected, if not to increase, certainly in no degree to diminish. Now Dr. Whately will call this, not knowledge, but reasoning: yet, as the form of society in New Holland is rapidly assuming this altered character, as the free emigrants are every *This quotation is from the Law Magazine, V. App. 20-7. : year extending their possessions over more remote districts, as towns are rising amid hitherto unpeopled wastes, as trade and commerce are spreading their sails over all the neighbouring seas, and stemming the current of rivers whose hitherto unyoked and unburthened waters are hereafter to darken under the prows of vessels meeting from every quarter of the globe, as also a mixed population is growing up; and as we can imagine no cause that can in probability arise to check or divert the tide of this emigration to other channels (for we know no other country we could call our own with such extensive boundaries so entirely unoccupied, and under so fine a climate), we have a right to assume that Emigration will in time cover these Southern shores with her swarms of hardy and industrious adventurers, in the same manner as she has peopled the wildernesses of the Transatlantic regions. The argument, therefore, which at the foundation of the colony, and many years after, might hold good, drawn from its "shameful and unblessed character, is now much diminished in force, and may be altogether removed and on this ground we might pause whether to agree in Dr. Whately's proposition of an entire alteration of system, and of the abolition of the penal colony. We allow fully the justness and accuracy of Dr. Whately's representation of what this colony has been, and how signally it has failed; but we hesitate as to his design of abolishing it, in the belief that it possesses materials which may so improve its future character as to justify its continuance. It will then no longer resemble a collection of prisoners in a condemned cell, separate from their fellow-creatures, but rather the same persons under a mitigated law of restraint, under certain rules or liberties of the prison (such as debtors enjoy), by which they are allowed to mix with the rest of society, yet are under the restraint of a peculiar and powerful law, which prevents their liberty endangering the security of others. Thus, supposing that this colony is placed under a more vigilant and experienced government, under wiser laws and improved regulations, and a more moral discipline, would it not offer as good a prospect of the ultimate reformation of the criminal as any other place of punishment or constraint that could be devised? The first good it would effect would be the separation of the offender from all his former haunts of misery and scenes of guilt; and this it would possess in common with all other modes of penal discipline, as prisons, and houses of correction and penitentiaries. The second would be one in which it would eminently excel, viz. in opening new and untried incentives to the mind, in enabling new and unexpected hopes to germinate in the heart, in extinguishing or weakening whatever of selfish, base, and cruel, had grown up in the struggle of wild temptations, and under the severe pressure of necessity, by affording opportunities of a livelihood more easily obtained, and which might be preserved without a conflict with that stern necessity which in the mother country was for ever forcing the bad passions of the uncontrolled mind into perpetual activity, and shielding them under the plea, that the wants of life could not be procured by better means. To awaken the activity of the mind under new impressions, new objects, views and impulses, is, we conceive, the surest method of eradicating what is mischievous and wrong, in the same manner as filling the ground with a new crop will of itself diminish the weeds; and where can such a stimulus be more efficaciously applied to the moral faculties so long torpid as among the vast and boundless resources of the country that has fallen under our present inquiry? Further, we are far from wishing to deny the |