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means (if they were so disposed) of attacking the Establishment." The "new provisions," whatever they were, were to weaken, or to retain in a state of weakness, the Popish interest; not merely to raise a barrier against it, or to affect to mitigate its hostility, but to keep it from growing formidable—it was to preserve the principle of the penal laws -merely substituting an indirect for a direct disqualification.

Mr. Pitt, in his letter to the King, dated Jan. 31, 1801, states that he has con

curred in what appeared to be the prevailing sentiments of the majority of the Cabinetthat the admission of the Catholics and the Dissenters to offices, and of the Catholics to Parliament (from which latter the Dissenters are not excluded), would, under certain conditions to be specified, be highly advisable, with a view to the tranquillity and improvement of Ireland, and to the general interest of the United Kingdom. For himself, he is, on full consideration, convinced

that the measure would be attended with no

danger to the Established Church, or to the

Protestant interest in Great Britain or Ire

land :—That now the Union has taken place, and with the new provisions which would make part of the plan, it could never give any such weight in office, or in Parliament, either to Catholics or Dissenters, as could give them any new means (if they were so disposed) of attacking the Establishment: That the grounds, on which the laws of exclusion now remaining were founded, have long been narrowed, and are since the Union removed :-That those principles, formerly held by the Catholics, which made them he considered as politically dangerous, have been for a course of time gradually declining, and among the higher orders particularly they have ceased to prevail."

،، With respect to the Dissenters, who, it is feared, entertain principles dangerous to the Constitution, a distinct political Test, pointed against the doctrine of modern Jacobinism, would be a much more just and more effectual security, than that which now exists, which may operate to the exclusion of conscientious persons well affected to the State, and is no guard against those of an opposite description.""-"Besides these provisions, the general interests of the Established Church, and the security of the Constitution and Government, might be effectually strengthened by requiring the litical Test, before referred to, from the preachers of all Catholic or Dissenting Congregations, and from the teachers of schools of every denomination."

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The firmness, piety, and patriotism of the late King have always ranked high in public estimation; and the sincerity of the following declaration of his sentiments, in a letter dated Feb. 1, 1807, will not be questioned :

"I should not do justice to the warm impulse of my heart, if I entered on the subject most unpleasant to my mind, without first expressing, that the cordial affection I have for Mr. Pitt, as well as high opinion of talents and integrity, greatly add to my uneasiness on this occasion; but a sense of religious as well as political duty has made me, from the moment I mounted the Throne, consider the oath that the wisdom of our forefathers has enjoined the Kings of this realm to take at their coronation, and ening it in the course of the ceremony with forced by the obligation of instantly followtaking the sacrament, as so binding a religious obligation on me to maintain the fundamental maxims on which our Constitution

is placed, namely, the Church of England being the established one, and that those who hold employment in the State must be members of it, and consequently obliged not only to take oaths against Popery, but to receive the Holy Communion agreeably to the rights of the Church of England. This principle of duty, must, therefore, prevent me from discussing any proposition tending to destroy this groundwork of our happy Constitution, much more so that now mentioned by Mr. Pitt, which is no less than the complete overthrow of the whole fabric."

So far the published correspondence is gratifying, as it exalts still more in our affection and veneration the character of the

King, whom we have been accustomed to love and reverence; and as it vindicates from all suspicion the Minister, to whom the country owes so much, and whose fame, it must, therefore, wish to see relieved from every stain.

We shall close with the following letter of the late lamented Duke of York to his Father, dated Feb. 13, 1801, respecting the Catholic Question :

"SIR,-I have the honor to return your Majesty the papers which you were graciously pleased to allow me to peruse. If my sentiments upon the question of Catholic Emancipation, and of the repeal of the Test Act, had not been already immutably fixed, the arguments adduced in favour of the measure would alone have been sufficient to have convinced me of the danger, if not of the absolute certainty of the dreadful consequences, of its being carried into execution.

1 have the honour to be, Sir, Your Majesty's most dutiful son and subject, FREDERICK."

ROXBURGHE CLUB.

May 31. The celebrated Roxburghe Club held their Anniversary at Freemason's Tavern, when the Duke of Devonshire, Earl Spencer, Lord Althorpe, with nearly all the members now in England, were present. G. W. Taylor, Esq. presented to each member

a volume of exquisite typographical beauty, printed by Mr. Nicol, consisting of the Amatory Poetry of Charles Duke of Orleans and Milan, nephew of Charles the 6th of France, and father to Louis the twelfth, who was taken prisoner at the battle of Agincourt on 25th Oct. 1415, where he was found under a heap of dead bodies almost lifeless, and detained as a State prisoner in England, by the mandate of Henry the 5th, 25 years. He was confined in a mansion, surrounded by a moat, at Groombridge in Sussex, where he devoted much of his time to the composition of verses in English and French. This treasure is copied from a manuscript in the British Museum, which seems to have been unknown to Lord Orford, who only mentions the poems preserved in the Royal Library at Paris. It has been resolved by the Members of the Club that all their future publications shall be printed at their joint expense; and that Haviloe, an interesting and very curious Romance, from a Manuscript which has recently been discovered in the British Museum, is to be sent to press immediately. ROYAL SOCIETY.

May 31. Davies Gilbert, Esq. M. P. Treas. R. S. in the Chair.

A paper was read, entitled, "On the resistance of fluids to bodies passing through them; by Jas. Walker, Esq. :" communicated by Mr. D. Gilbert.

A paper was read, entitled, "Corrections of the Pendulum, depending on the value of the divisions of the level of the small repeating circle, as recently ascertained by the experiments of Capt. Kater; by Capt. E. Sabine, R. A. F. R. S. The Society then adjourned over Whitsun week, to

June 14, when Mr. Gilbert again took the Chair, and a paper was read,

"On the ultimate composition of simple alimentary substances, with some preliminary remarks on the analysis of organized bodies in general; by W. Prout, M. D., F. R. S."

The reading was also commenced of a paper, entitled, "Theory of the Diurnal Variations of the Magnetic Needle, illustrated by experiments; by S. H. Christie, Esq. M. A., F. R. S.

June 21. Capt. H. Kater, V. P. R. S. in the Chair. The reading of Mr. Christie's paper was concluded.

A paper was read, "On the variation of the Magnetic Needle at London and Paris; by Capt. E. Sabine, R. A., F. R. S."

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was also read, "On a new acrid

principle in plants; by John Frost, Esq. F. S. A.": communicated by Sir James M'Gregor, M. D., F. R. S.

The Society then adjourned over the long vacation, to Thursday, November 15. MEDICO-BOTANICAL SOCIETY.

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March 9. His Grace the Duke of Wellington having signified the pleasure he would feel in belonging to the Society, was immediately balloted for and declared unanimously elected an Honorary Fellow. Dr. Sigmond delivered his second lecture on Poisons.

April 4. John Frost, Esq. Director, in the Chair. The Chairman announced that he had had an audience of the Duke of Wellington, who had inserted his name in the Signature Book. A letter from the Right Hon. Robert Peel was read, announcing His Majesty's gracious acceptance of theSociety's Address, on the death of their lamented Patron, his late R. H. the Duke of York. The Dukes of Somerset and St. Alban's, Lords Kenmure and Nugent, and the Right Hon. C. W. W. Wynn, were elected into the Society. Gen. Neville, Sir John Scott Lillie, B. Hawes, S. Reed, W. Loddige, and T. B. Mackay, Esqrs. with several others, were proposed as Members. A Paper on the Materia Medica of the Chinese, by John Reeves, Esq. F. R. S. of Canton, was read; and some remarks on the Materia Medica of Demarara, communicated verbally by M. C. Friend, Esq. F. R. S.

PANORAMA OF RIO JANEIRO, IN LEICESTER SQUARE.

On Monday the 25th of June, this exhibibition was opened to the public. It consists of a view of the City of St. Sebastian, and the Bay of Rio Janeiro; painted by the proprietor, Mr. R. Burford, from drawings taken in the year 1823. The view taken from the harbour about a mile from the city is the finest and most extensive that can be obtained; from which its lofty eminences, crowned with convents, &c. and the beautitiful hills in its environs, interspersed with villas, gardens, &c. have a rich and magnificent appearance. Every part of the view is picturesquely mountainous, and presents an infinite variety of sublime and captivating scenery. About the time this view was taken, Lord Cochrane had the command of the

Brazilian navy; and the Artist has represented his Lordship's vessel with several others, in various parts of the bay. This produces a wonderful effect in affording a bold and admirable relief to the fore-parts of the picture. We sincerely hope that the talented Artist will receive the encouragement his merits deserve.

Mr. HUNTER on the Connection of BATH with the Literature and Science of England.

(Concluded from p. 350) Bath may justly be regarded as the cradle of English GEOLOGY. This new science had its birth in our city within our own time. The honour of first discovering the peculiar disposition of the strata in this neighbourhood, was reserved for a humble and very modest man, an engineer, named William Smith, who had been brought to Bath for the temporary purpose of superintending the excavations necessary in constructing the Coal Canal. This was the first spark-this, an original and grand discovery. The whole science of English geology, which has opened so many new and curious views, is the magnificent result.

Smith observed, and in part systematized. But in theorising, he was indebted to two gentlemen, one of whom is still living, an early benefactor to this Institution, and the other not long since deceased, and taking a conspicuous place in the science and literature of Bath. It was Mr. TOWNSEND who first felt the full importance of Smith's observations, and assisted him in methodizing his remarks. Mr. Townsend was himself one of the earliest writers in this science; and he has also enriched our literature in

the several departments of Philology, Travels, and Practical Divinity.

The catalogue of those who have contributed by their writings to enrich THEOLOGICAL OF MORAL SCIENCE, would doubtless admit of increase, were not the several Histories of Bath deficient in presenting us with catalogues of the incumbents of our several Churches. We look into them also in vain for the catalogue of Masters of the Grammar School; for Bath has had the benefit of one of these foundations, almost from the time when it lost the advantage of having a society of learned religions within its walls. There have been, however, some names in those walks, which well deserve to be remembered: and amongst them must be placed the name of JouN HALES. He was a native of Bath: and was justly considered one of the great theological lights of an age which produced Andrews, Hooker, and Taylor. The youth of Dr. SAMUEL CHANDLER, one of the ablest defenders of Revelation in the controversies of the last century, was spent at Bath: and it was here, or rather in our immediate neighbourhood, that WARBURTON produced the great work to which he chose to give the title of the Divine Legation of Moses demonstrated, a work which will ever command admiration for its learning and genius.

Of a gentler spirit than this Goliah of theologians was MELMOTH; whose elegant and beautiful, TRANSLATIONS will gain him the character of one of the finest classical scholars of his time. In the same rauk may

be placed some of the literate family of BOWDLER, who belong peculiarly to us, and in whom something of the spirit of their illustrious ancestor, the founder of the Cottonian Library, might reasonably be expected to survive. But above all in this class, may be placed the honoured name of HARTLEY, a considerable portion of whose life was spent in this city.

Here lived that somewhat irregular, but highly-gifted person, the real writer of the most celebrated, perhaps, of all the Sermons which form the Bampton course.

Here, too, the clear and vigorous mind of JARDINE was directed to the study of THEOLOGY and MORALS. Here MACLAINE found refuge, when driven by an invading enemy from the country of his choice.

With these, the names of COGAN and SIMPSON, I shall close this department, and the next that may be opened is that of History.

The first name that presents itself in HISTORY, is that of WILLIAM PRYNNE. I look upon him as the great Lawyer of his time, as acquainted, perhaps beyond all his contemporaries, with the Constitutional Law of England; as a man of immense industry; as the devoted investigator of our Charter Antiquities; and as one who preferred a dark chamber in the Tower before the most

sumptuous apartment. Prynne we may pe culiarly claim as our own: for he was born at the little village of Swainswick; his mother was the daughter of Sherston, the first mayor of Bath under the charter of Elizabeth; he was our Recorder; he was twice chosen Member of Parliament for the city; and in his Brevia Parliamenti there is, I am told, the fullest account of the state of the question, which from time to time agitates this city, respecting the body in whom resides the high privilege of returning the citizens to Parliament, and the most complete demonstration of the right of those who have so long exercised it.

If Prynne leaned too much to the republican part of our Constitution, we have CARTE, the great historical advocate of the rights of the Monarch. Carte was the Leeturer at the Abbey. He wrote his history while residing here; and he became engaged while here in an historical controversy with CHANDLER, another resident of Bath, the father of the Chandler before mentioned, respecting the Irish Massacre. Carte is supposed to have been principally concerned in that little ebullition of feeling in favour of the exiled family, which manifested itself at Bath in 1715.

As if the muse of history could never make her appearance at Bath without the ensigns of party, we have next to speak of Mrs. CATHERINE MACAULEY. This lady resided many years at the house in Alfredstreet, where there is still the bust of King Alfred over the door, domesticated with her

-friend Dr. Wilson, son to the truly amiable and excellent Bishop of Sodor and Man. Here she prosecuted her historical enquiries, wrote much of her History, and made herself the centre of a little circle of politicians, to whom she was accustomed to give lectures on general Politics and English Constitutional History.

Bath has herself sufficient to tempt the curiosity of the historical enquirer. Long before Mr. Warner collected together most of what could be learned respecting its history, one of its citizens named CHAPMAN wrote a short treatise on its Antiquities and History. Several of the writers who have treated on its springs as a subject for philosophical research, have also spoken of the Civil History of Bath. WOOD, an architect to whom we owe much of the beautiful architecture in and around Bath, aspired to the character of its historian. Few have touched upon any point in the Roman Antiquities of Britain, without adverting to some at least of the many remains of the Roman æra that have been discovered here. The Britannia Belgica of Musgrave relates especially to those antiquities; but they have been illustrated most fully by a very eminent antiquary of the present age, whom we may claim as belonging to Bath, as many of his early years were spent here, and he was trained to learning in our Grammar School. I mean the late Mr. SAMUEL LYSONS, who projected, and in part accomplished, one of the most magnificent works to be found in the literature of any nation, and who was prevented from completing it only by his too early and lamented death. There is a boldness of design about his Reliquiae Romanae which excites the utmost respect and admiration; a carelessness of expense; a devotedness of heart to a project worthy of a great mind to entertain; and a taste and felicity in the execution, which mark the native and the cultivated elegance of his mind.

Among the names by which Bath becomes connected with the HISTORICAL LITERATURE of England, must not be forgotten that of POWNALL. The curious and minute enquiries of Mr. LUDERS into points of our na tional history and the origin of peculiar political institutions, place his name in an honourable rank among the cultivators of our national antiquities. And last, only because he was the last who ceased to pour upon the world the lights of his antiquarian and historical knowledge, must be named that careful investigator of one very important branch of our national antiquities, the early roads and other earth-works which are scattered in such abundance over the surface of this island, the Rev. Mr. LEMAN, a Founder and original Trustee of this Institution, and who has marked his sense of its usefulness and permanence by making its GENT. MAG, June, 1827.

library the depository of many volumes of Genealogical Collections in his own neat and beautiful hand, and many scattered but precious notices of various English antiquities. Few are the works in English topography that have appeared in his time that have not owed something to the assistance, ever so kindly rendered, of Mr. Leman.

Bath, from the earliest period to which we can ascend in our enquiries, has not been without those who could minister to the amusement of the strangers who resorted hither. It has ever had its musicians, from LICHFIELD, the lutanist to Queen Elizabeth, whose monument is in the Abbey, to RAUZZINI. Among its artists appear the names of HOARE and GAINSBOROUGH. It had its Theatre in early times, in which have been trained some of the most eminent in the histrionic art, including SIDDONS herself. If this make not a part of the Literature of our country, it will at least be allowed to be nearly allied to it. For the Theatre at Bath late in the reign of Elizabeth, or early in that of James I., SAMUEL DANIEL wrote his Tragedy of Philotas, which gained so unfortunate a celebrity. Daniel we may claim as, one of our own poets, for he was born in this neighbourhood, spent most part of his life in rural retirement in this part of the kingdom; and he lies buried in the church of Beckington, where his bust may be seen, a part of the monument erected to his memory by that Countess of Dorset, Pembroke, and Montgomery, who raised the monuments to Drayton and Spenser; a great critic of the present day calls him one of the golden writers of our golden Elizabethan age.'

Contemporary with Daniel was SIR JOHN HARINGTON: himself a poet of no mean rank, but one to whom England and English poetry owe nearly as much as England and English science to Athelardus. To him in a great measure is to be attributed the introduction of that taste for Italian Poetry and Italian Literature, which is one principal cause why the poetry of the reign of Elizabeth is of so different a cast from the poetry of the reign of her father. What is Skelton, or even Surrey, when we speak of Spenser and Shakspeare and how much do Spenser and Shakspeare, and even Milton, owe to the poetry and literature of Italy. Harington translated the great poem of Ariosto into English, and did every thing in his power to familiarise the English with the great writers of Italy. He assisted in drawing the arts from thence, for he employed Barozzi to design for him the house which he built at Kelston.

The notices of Bath in the poems of SYLVESTER show that he had a personal acquaintance with the country around us; and it was here that a critic, not long deceased, proved his curious position, that the

writings of Sylvester, neglected as they now are, were much studied by Milton; that many portions of them dwelt in his memory; and that he has interwoven in his great works many compound terms and poetical phrases, which he had found in Sylvester. The little river Boyd, which flows into the Avon at Bitton, is peculiarly celebrated by another poet of those times, now as it seems undeservedly fallen into oblivion, JOHN DAVORS, who, in 1613, published a didactic poem on the Art of Angling. He speaks of it as if it were his native stream, and it certainly was the favourite scene of his pastime.

It is pleasant to know, and to remember, that a place which we value, has been mingled with the poetic imaginings of the great bards of our country. The being, half man, half dæmon, who presents himself under the name of Merlin from the utmost depths of our history, and whose vaticinations, weak and foolish as they are, have at different periods contributed to shake the kingdom, had his mind directed upon our heated springs, and he foretells that under the reign of the Mouldiwarp they shall become cold. The Wife of Bath will be known to the latest posterity in the work of Chaucer, or the transversion of the story by Pope, when the English language had become more settled. The lines of Dryden are inscribed upon one of the many monuments in our Abbey Church; and the little village of Box contains a slab covered with the verses of Waller.

represented in one of his most popular novels.

When Allen was gone, Allen the kind and the good, the house of Sir John Miller became the centre of the lighter literature of Bath. But LADY MILLER lived in perhaps the least fortunate age of English poetry, and the contributions to the Vase are now rather sought for their curiosity and rarity, than for any high and sterling merit.

To enumerate all the inhabitants of this gay and populous city, who are connected with the light and more elegant literature of England, would be a vain and endless task. The SHERIDANS, the LINLEYS, THICKNESSE, GRAVES, HARINGTON, LEE, and Piozzi, ell belong to us, who have all a name in the literature of England, and through whom Bath becomes connected with some of the greatest names and most interesting cir cumstances in modern English Literature.

The Chatterton controversy belongs rather to another city, but it was here that Dr. SHERWIN devoted an extensive acquaintance with early English literature to the determination of it.

One name remains: a name that never vibrates on the ear of one acquainted with Bath, but to produce pleasure: the name of ANSTEY, in whose poem, so truly original, so truly comic, the peculiarities of our city will descend to the latest posterity, which, as long as the English language endures, will be valued as the plays of Aristophanes are valued.

With him the catalogue may be closed. Are there many cities in the Empire which can boast a catalogue like this? But beside those whom we have named, how many have there been among the residents of this city, men adorned by various learning, and able to have instructed and delighted beyond the limits of their private circle !

In the early part of the last century arose a remarkable character, whose name is never mentioned in this place but with respect and honour-RALPH ALLEN: who was accustomed to receive all the more eminent literary men of his time, so that he became a centre around which much of the wit and poetry of the age was gathered. Pope especially was a frequent visitor at Prior Park, and there was laid the foundation of that intimacy which has connected the names of Pope and Warburton, so that they never will be dissevered. There also was often to be found FIELDING, whose residence indeed for many years was at Bath and in its vici-ith maternal kindness; and I rejoice in nity. And there too SMOLLETT, who thus became acquainted with the local peculiarities of Bath, which he has so successfully

In offering this tribute to the past literary character of Bath, I have not been swayed by any of the partiality which is supposed to attach to those who speak of the place of their nativity. But nearly the half of my life has been spent here; for I fell early into her lap. I have been treated by her

the opportunity which through your indulgence I have enjoyed, of rendering this tribute of filial gratitude.

ANTIQUARIAN RESEARCHES.

SOCIETY OF ANTIQUARIES.

May 31. The President in the Chair. Mr. Ellis exhibited a MS. map, dated 1590, of part of the borders of Scotland, entitled "A platt of the marches of Scotland overagainst the west marches of England;" and an accompanying transcript was read of a tract affording a specimen of the

topography of the Scottish marches in the latter part of the reign of Elizabeth.

The Society then adjourned, over Whitsun week, to June 14; when the Chair was taken by Hudson Gurney, esq. M.P. F.R.S. V.P.S.A.

W. Capon, esq. exhibited five drawings of portions of the ancient palace of our Kings at Westminster.

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