the conclusion, was a convincing proof of the high opinion entertained by the nobility and gentry of this rural festival. The company in general expressed infinite satisfaction at the great and lively abilities of the composer, who shewed great taste and genius throughout the whole performance. Much merit is also due to Mr. Vernon and Mrs. Barthelemon, particularly the former, whose abilities were not solely confined to the harmonical part allotted him, but was particularly serviceable on the occasion, in decorating the trees with festoons of flowers, assisted by the gardener and his attendants. This being over, the company amused themselves with walking about till the temporary room was illuminated, and upon a signal given, another procession was made. Lord Stanley, supported by Lady Hamilton, the Queen of the Oaks, and Miss Stanley, led the way, the rest of the company following two by two. The noble visitors were first conducted through a beautiful and magnificent octagon hall, with transparent windows, painted suitable to the occasion; at the end of the great room hung six superb curtains, supposed to cover the same number of large windows; they were of crimson colour, richly ornamented with deep gold fringe. Colonnades appeared on each side the room, with wreaths of flowers running up the columns; and the whole building was lined chairback high with white persian and gold fringe; the seats around were covered with deep crimson. The company amused themselves with dancing minuets and cotillions till half-past eleven, when an explosion, similar to the going off of a large quantity of rockets, put the whole lively group into consternation. This was occasioned by a signal given for the curtains, which we have before described, to fly up, and exhibit to the company a large supper room, with tables spread with the most costly dainties, all hot and tempting. The company took their seats in an instant, without the least interruption, and partook of the entertainment. They no sooner appeared satisfied than the whole was removed instantaneously, and a handsome dessert spread on the tables, without being able to account for the sudden change. When the ladies seemed tired with this second place of luxury, the band were heard tuning their instruments in the octagon hall. This MONTHLY MAG. No. 357. was another signal for the company to leave the supper-room and adjourn to the ball-room. No sooner was the above chamber cleared, when again, to the astonishment of all present, down flew the large curtains, and made the ball-room appear in its first state of elegance. The ceremony of arranging the company next took place, and was executed by the general, who having placed LADY BETTY HAMILTON in the centre, formed the rest of the company into a circular group. This done, a Druid of the Oaks, represented by Capt. Pigott, came forward from the octagon hall, with a few complimentary lines, suitable to the occasion, summoning the fauns and wood-nymphs to attend the ceremony within. A grand chorus was then sung by the nymphs, fauns, and sylvans, led on by cupids; after this chorus another speech by the Druid. Mrs. Barthelemon, in the character of a wood-nymph, sung a pleasing air, the words in praise of conjugal felicity; this produced at the conclusion a chaconne, which was executed by eight principal dancers, with great ease and agility. The Druid made another speech, and having finished, Mr. Vernon sung an air in praise of the Oak. Next was an allemande by sixteen principal dancers, and afterwards a speech relative to the Oak by the Druid. Mrs. Barthelemon and Mrs. Vernon then sung a duett, which was likewise in praise of the Oak, its prosperity and advantages, finishing with a few complimentary lines to LADY BETTY by the Druid, and a grand chorus, vocal and instrumental, during which a device in transparency was introduced, consisting of two hymeneal torches lighted on the top, with a shield representing the Hamilton crest, an oak with a saw through it, and a ducal coronet. After a chorus, the Druid, fauns, and wood-nymphs, went to the altar, and two cupids, the cupid of care and the hymeneal cupid, ascending the steps, crowned the shield with the wreath of Love and Hymen. Thus ended the second part, of which, by this description, the reader will judge the elegance and grandeur. The third part was opened by minuets, composed for the occasion, by the Earl of Kelly. Lord Stanley and Lady Betty Hamilton opened the second ball, and the rest of the nobility danced in their turns. When the minuets were ended, country dances were struck up, and continued C continued till past three o'clock. The company were highly entertained with the illumination in the gardens, which had a fine effect from the front wing of the house. Facing the temporary room was erected a large Ionic portico, supported by four large transparent columns of a bright pink colour. On a scroll on the pediment were the following words:" SACRED TO PROPITIOUS VENUS." In the centre of the pediment was a shield, with the Hamilton and Stanley arms quartered, the whole supported by a band of Cupids, who appeared to great advantage by the assistance of four pyramids of light. Several pyramids of light were likewise erected in several parts of the gar dens. The whole of this festival was conducted by Gen. Burgoyne. The company were so highly pleased that they did not leave till four in the morning. Many who had been at Féte Champetres in France, declared they never saw any one equal to Lord Stanley's. This Fête Champetre was afterwards imitated at Drury-lane Theatre. To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. SIR, YOUR correspondent Mr. William having stated his object to be, the calling of "the attention of scientific men" to his assertions of "being in possession of the gift of working the Divining Rod," for the discovery of hidden springs of water, and above all his having mentioned the names and addresses of six or eight respectable individuals, to whom he appears to refer, as vouchers for the reality of his pretentions, I cannot refrain from replying to his letter. It is worthy of remark, that the "low, cunning, sottish fellow," from whom Mr. P. seems to wish it to be inferred that he obtained "the gift," rather than that this fellow should lose a justly expected pe cuniary reward, and to be branded as the practiser of "a mere trick" into the bargain, is not said to have other wise intended any such gift, or that he made, in fact, any communication to Mr. Partridge, besides exhibiting with the forked peach stick, in his presence: on his own shewing, therefore, I think, it appears that Mr. P. scarcely came honestly by "the gift," of which now he boasts the profitable possession. Whether in making his first experiment, Mr. P. complacently shut his 66 eyes or looked another way, while the cunning" Mr. Rankin hooked down the end of the stick, and broke it off at the forks, I will not pretend to say, but I appeal to the "Common Sense" of your work, Mr. Editor, whether such an impulse from Mr. R.'s hand be not a cause more adequate to the effect described by Mr. P. than the nonsensical cause "attraction," so much scouted in your pages; and more probable also, than that, as Mr. P. mentions in describing the cunning operations of Mr. R. "the stick suddenly pressed downwards;" what but an absurd and inpossible cause, can be said, at one time to draw or attract, and at another, and under the very same circumstances (except the change of hands from Mr. R. to Mr. P.) to press or repel. In describing his brother's well, Mr. P. says, "if means had not been used to prevent the water running off through the walls, there is little doubt but it would have risen to and run over the top of the well:" all this is to me a mystery; as is also, "the proper lines for divining," near to the top of the next colmmn." I can have no doubt of the truth of Mr. P.'s assertion, a little further on, that a diviner (whether having the gift or not) may out a perceptive difference;" nor have I the least doubt but "the divining rod will indicate the presence of metals as well as water;" equally so, firmly believe. At the notable performance by the Mendip gentleman, Mr. P. has informed us, that besides Messrs. Jones and Davis, there were others present; this is a fortunate circumstance, since, as confederacy must, in my opinion, be referred to, for accounting for the pretended facts, it relieves me from a dilemma with respect to the parties named. In short, Mr. Editor, I am entirely without faith in the reality of Mr. Partridge's pretensions; I am not of opinion from any thing which he has stated, that he possesses any supernatural or other "secret" means of judging of the situation of subterraneous springs of water, or other means than those of which experienced well-diggers, diviners, and others avail themselves daily, in almost every district in England; indeed, the cause and operation of springs, as connected with the stratafi cation, as originally taught by Mr. William Smith, the author of many maps, ORD BYRON has been so long, Land so deservedly esteemed as the greatest poet of the present age that it is with a feeling of the utmost deference, I presume to offer for insertion in your valuable and widely circulated Magazine, the following extracts from the Second Canto of his Don Juan, with corresponding passages from a work entitled Shipwrecks and 66 Disasters at Sea," in 3 vols. To attempt a criticism upon the writings of his Lordship, were it even possible, would require a much abler pen, and a far maturer judgment than I possess; and not without timidity do I venture to ask if, in the following stanzas which I have selected, plagiarism the most glaring, is not sufficiently evident? Accident furnished me with the narratives from which Lord Byron appears to have derived most of the incidents in that part of his Don Juan, in which is so admirably described a storm and shipwreck. Most readers of One gang of people instantly was put While they thrust sheets, shirts, jackets, Into the opening! but all such ingredients Would have been vain, and they must have gone down, taste have doubtless heard or perused that portion of the poem, and whilst their feelings have been harrowed by his appalling and heart-rending recital, few, perhaps, were aware that his Lordship was indebted for the most prominent features therein exhibited, to the work above-mentioned. The interest of the hapless crew of the vessel in excited by the well-imagined sufferings sure, be at all diminished, but, on the which Juan embarked, will not, I am contrary, increased, by learning that the horrors of such a scene were actu ally experienced by some of our fellow creatures. Possessed, as is his Lordship, of an imagination, fertile beyond most, it is he could have occasion to borrow from impossible for a moment to suppose that the writings of any one; and doubtless rative with incidents which are well his motive in thus illustrating his narauthenticated to have occurred, was to render his descriptions the more natural. But from what cause is it that there are no notes subjoined, acknowledging the sources from which he derived them? I trust the freedom with which the charge of plagiarism is here advanced against so renowned a poet, will be justified by the importance of keeping even renown within the pale of honesty. Norwich, Feb. 20th, 1821. C. E. S. 27. Night came on worse than the day had been, and a sudden shift of wind, about midnight, threw the ship into the trough of the sea, which struck her aft, tore away the rudder, started the stern-post, and shattered the whole of her stern-frame. The pumps were immediately sounded, and in the course of a few minutes the water had increased to four feet deep. Loss of the ship Hercules. 28. One gang was instantly put on them, and the remainder of the people were employed in getting up rice from the run of the ship, and heaving it over, to come at the leak if possible. After three or four hundred bags were thrown into the sea, we did get at it, and found the water rushing into the ship with astonishing rapidity; therefore we thrust sheets, shirts, jackets, bales of muslin, and every thing of the like description into the opening. ib. 29. Notwithstanding the pumps discharged fifty tons of water an hour, the ship must certainly have gone down, had not our ex t Despite of all their efforts and expedients But for the pumps; I'm glad to make them known To all the brother-tars that may have need hence; For fifty tons of water were upthrown By them per hour, and they had all been undone But for the maker, Mr. Mann, of London. 30. As day advanced, the weather seemed to abate, And then the leak they reckoned to reduce, And keep the ship afloat, &c. A gust, which all descriptive power transcends, Laid, with one blast, the ship on her beamends. 31. There she lay, motionless, and seem'd upset ; The water left the hold, and washed the decks, And made a scene men do not soon forget, &c. 32. Immediately the masts were cut away, Both main and mizen; first the mizen went, The main-mast followed, but the ship still lay Like a mere log, and baffled our intent. Foremast and bowsprit were cut down, and they Eased her at last (although we never meant To part with all till every hope was blighted,) And then with violence the old shiprighted. 35. Perhaps more mischief had been done, but for Our Juan, who, with sense beyond his years, Got to the spirit-room, and stood before It with a pair of pistols: and their fears, As if death were more dreadful by his door of fire and water, spite of oaths and tears Kept still aloof the crew, who, ere they sunk, Thought it would be becoming to die drunk. 36. "Give us more grog," they cried, "for it will be All one an hour hence;" Juan answered "no! pedients been attended with some success. The pumps, to the excellent construction of which I owe my life, were made by Mr. Mann, of London. ib. 30. As the next day advanced, the weather appeared to moderate, the men continued incessantly at the pumps, and every exertion was made to keep the ship afloat. ib. Scarce was this done, when a gust, exceeding in violence every thing of the kind I had ever seen, or could conceive, laid the ship on her beam ends. Loss of Centaur man of war. 31. The water forsook the hold, and appeared between decks, so as to fill the men's hammocks to leeward, the ship lay motionless, and to all appearance irrecoverably overset. ib. 32. Immediate directions were given to cut away the main and mizen masts, trusting, when the ship was righted, to be able to wear her. On cutting one or two lanyards the mizen mast went over first, but without producing the smallest effect on the ship, and on cutting the lanyard of one shroud, the main mast followed. I had next the mortification to see also the foremast and bowsprit go over. On this the ship immediately righted. ib. 35. A midshipman was appointed to guard the spirit-room, to repress that unhappy desire of a devoted crew to die in a state of intoxication. The sailors, though in other respects orderly in conduct, here pressed eagerly upon him : Loss of Abergavenny E. Indiaman. 36. "Give us some grog," they exclaimed, "it will be all one an hour hence." "I know we must die," replied the gallant officer, coolly, "but let us die like men;" armed 'Tis true that death waits both for you and with a brace of pistols he kept his post even |