866 Summary of Proceedings in the third Seffion of Parliament. Ordered out a new writ for Haflemere, in the room of Sir T. Potticthwaite, who has accepted the Chiltern Hundreds. Lord Newhaven moved, that the letter of Sir W. Chambers, of the 10th ult. be read, as it ftated feveral porticulars relative to the new buildings at Somerfet-houfe The clerk then proceeded to read the letter, which mentionce that 100,000l. more would be neceffary for the completion of the works; but at the fame time remarked, that the money would not be loft to the publick, as it would be cafily refunded by the fale of the victualling, army, navy, pay-offices, &c.-Ld. Newhaven then obferved, that at firft it was his intention to make a specific motion on the bufinefs; but as the feffion was now fo far advanced, he was confident that it could not be attended with the defired effect. He therefore recommended it to miniftry to advise a return of the cftimates to Sir W. Chambers, in order that more accurate ones may be produced by next feffion. The Chancellor of the Exchequer nodded affent to the propriety of the noble Lord's obfervations. The Houfe having refolved itfelf into a committee, Mr. Rofe in the chair, Mr. Dempster, as foon as a refolution was propofed to grant certain relief to thofe concerned in the Scotch diftilleries, rofe to applaud the meature. He had no doubt but it would in future be found expedient to extend the benefits of the law now in agitation; as a farther encouragement of our own diftille. ries would operate towards the fuppreffion of fmuggling.-No other remarks having been made, the refolutions pafled the committee. The Houfe being refumed, Lord Surry wished to be informed, whether it was intended to bring forward, in the prefent feffion, any new matter of importance. It had been confidently af ferted that fomething effectual would be paffed relative to the future disposal of convicts; and that certain propofitions concerning the fale of the crownlands, which were to be converted to the public benefit, would also be recommended as a matter of parliamen tary confideration. Nothing decifive had, however, taken place on either of thefe two heads; and, warmly as he aproved the tendency of the latter article, he hoped nothing refpecting it would be brought forward at this advanced period of the sellion, when fo many refpe&table members had retired into the country.-He then took notice of the petition from the Derwentwater family, which was now before parliament, and which, in his opinion, deferved immediate attention. It prayed, that the family alluded to might partake of thofe privileges which had been granted to feveral others whofe eftates had been forfeited for the active part they had taken in the tranfactions of the year 1745; and he thought the claim as well founded as any other of the kind. The next object of his attention was, the unfortunate fituation of the American loyalifts, whofe caufe he warmly recommended to the confideration of administration. Mr. Pitt replied, that, with regard to the crown-lands, a general propofition would be submitted to parliament within a few days, which was intended only as the ground-work of their future de liberations. As to the loyalifts, their various claims could not be fully afcertained before the expiration of the prefent feffion; and therefore nothing decifive could be done by parliament before the next. Upon the bringing up of the report from the committee on the militia bill, a defuktory and uninterefting converfation enfucd. Mr. Marsham, and several others, objected to the claufe which mentions that only two-thirds of the corps thall be annually mustered. It was ftated that the whole fhould be exercifed as ufual, the faving of 10,000l. a year being but a trifling object of œconomy compared with the effential fervice which the publick, would neceffarily derive from its expenditure in this inftance.-The queftion was then put on the claufe; after which a divifion took place, Ayes 49, Nues 13. The 1 Summary of Proceedings in the third Seffion of Parliament. The feveral claufes were then agreed Granted 57841. for making new roads The Houfe refolved itfelf into a committee of fupply, to take into confideration the estimate for the new buildings to be erected near the Admiraltyoffice. It appeared, from the estimate, that the fum of 13,000l. would be neceffary for erecting thefe works; and it was moved, that 6000l. of that fum fhould be advanced this year, towards carrying them on. Mr. Jolliffe thought the works not only unneceffary, but ufclefs. While he had a feat at the Admiralty, he had an opportunity of feeing the infide of that great pile, and was fatisfied that there was fufficient room to accommodate all the perfons employed in it. He had been told, that fome additional offices were wanted for clerks; but when he caft his eyes upon the plan of the intended buildings, then in his hand, he found a magnificent dwelling-houfe inftead of offices, the expence of which, though stated at only 13,000!. would, he was convinced, amount to 25,000l. or 30,000l.; a fum by no means inconfiderable, when gentlemen reflected that it was by favings in the leffer establishments that the new finking fund might become truly ferviceable to the nation. Mr. Hopkins faid, he might prefume the Hon. Member had feen but little of the Admiralty-office, or he would be convinced of the neceffity of the propofed buildings. The clerks were huddled together in fmall rooms, fome lying below the level of the pavement, whereby they could do but very little bufinets without candle-light: the papers lay in confufed heaps, for want of rooms in which they might be placed with regularity; and indeed the regard due to the fecurity of the nation, which depended much on the fecrecy obferved in war-time at the Admiralty-office, pointed out the impropriety of making many clerks write together in the fame room, and of having important papers, that ought to be clofely locked up, lying lootely about. Mr. Francis wifhed to know, if drawing-rooms, library, and bed chambers, for fuch he found in the plan, were intended for locking-up papers. 867 Mr. Pitt replied, that thefe were for the accommodation of the Firft Lord of the Admiralty, whofe prefent houfe would be converted into offices for the clerks. After fome little converfation, and oppofition on the part of Mr. Haffey, the question was put, and, on a divifion, carried by a majority of 27-Ayes 63, Noes 36. The Houfe was then refumed. On the third reading of the wine-duty bill, fome alterations were made, and new claufes added; and, a motion having been made, that this bill do pafs,' Mr. Alderman Newnham, Mr. Alderman Hammet, Mr. Alderman Sawbridge, Mr. Fox, and Mr. Sheridan, exproffed their difapprobation of it. After which, the Boufe divided, and it was carried by a majority of 38—Ayes 71, Noes 33. The bill was accordingly paffed, and ordered up to the Lords. The Houfe then went into a committec, to take into confideration a pe tition from the Eaft India Company, which had been prefented a few hours before, praying for leave to borrow twa millions sterling. The Chancellor of the Exchequer obs ferved, that, as he could not forefce any objection to the player of the petition, he would not tire the committee by urging arguments to enforce it. It was a fignal fatisfaction to him, he faid, that the propofition which he was going to make would relieve the Eaft India Com pany without laying any burthen on the nation. He was not going to propofe, that the publick fhould lend the money, but that the company might be fo far releated from its legal reftraints as to be at liberty to borrow it on its own credit. The fum wanted by the company was two millions fterling, which he propofed to raife in this way, by the fale of an annuity of 36,000l. due by the publick to the company, this would produce 800,cool.; and by an enlarge ment of the company's trading stock from 3,200,000l. to 4,000,000l. the additional 800,0001. frock would fell for 1,200,000l.; which would complete the fum wanted. He then moved, "That it is the opinion of this com mittee, that the Eaft India Company be enabled to raile a fum of money, for the purposes mentioned in their petition, by the fate of 36,2261. 16s. being an annuity due from the publick in confideration of 1,207,5591. 159. part 4,200,0 868 American Halfpenny.-Poetical Defcription of the Oak. 4,200,000l. advanced by the company to the publick, under the authority of feveral acts of parliament. That the faid company be enabled to raise a further fum, by adding 800.000l. to their capital ftock of 3,200,000l. fo as to make the capital in future 4,000,000l.; and that fuch additions be made by opening a fubfcription to that amount, after the rate of 150l. for every 100l." To be reported on Monday. This brought on a converfation, in which Mr. Sheridan and fome other members entered largely into the ftate of the company's affairs After which, the queftion was put, and carried without a divifion. The Houfe was then icfumed, and adjourned. (To be continued.) MR. URBAN, infcription on the front of their coin, have erected the ftandard of liberty and juftice. But, from what we have lately heard concerning American politics, both one and the other, I fear, are known only by name throughout that vaft, and once flourishing, continent. Yours, &c. W. B. P. S. It is a little remarkable that, contrary to antiquarian principles, and the practice of all other ftates and kingdoms, they have adopted the vowel in preference to the conjonant. DESCRIPTIONS OF VEGETABLES, IT has been remarked by various critics, that modern poets have in general been much inferior to the antient, in the truth and accuracy of their defcriptions of natural objects. The verfifiers 07. 21. of later ages, deriving their art merely BSERVING in your laft Magazine from imitation, have fallen into a kind a reprefentation of a copper, the of chablished phrafcology in their diccoin of the renowned Protector, I beg tion, which, while it cuts off all novelty leave to tranfmit to the public, through of imagery, expofes the writer to perpethe fame very entertaining channel, a tual mistakes, from the application of defcription of a halfpenny lately truck epithets and defcriptions according to by the United States of America, which, memory, or the rules of measure, rather although of a late date, will, I prefume, than the obfervation of nature. Thofe, be thought no lefs curious, being the fift on the other hand, who were nearer to of the kind I have seen in this kingdom. the original fources of poetical ornament, Confidering the principles that actuated feldom fail to paint objects in their gethe revolt of the English colonies in A-nuine colours, even though they may be merica, and that which brought about the protectorship in place of a royal government, the reprefentations of the two coins would have been proper ccmpanions, had they met on the fame plate: but, fhould you favour my halfpenny with a place in your next, I hall elteem it no lefs fortunate to find them both in the fame volume of your repofitory. On one fide, encircled within a wreath of LAUREL, exceedingly well executed, are the letters US in cypher, furrounded with an inscription, LIBERTAS ET JUSTITIA; date, 1785. On the reverfe, in the center, is a coNSTELLATION, from which iffue THIRTEEN illuminated RAYS, and between each ray is a small STAR, expreffive of the THIRTEEN UNITED STATES; round thefe rays and the ftars is the following infcription: NOVA CONSTELLATIO. The new American halfpenny is in weight as three to two of the English coin. The United States, as appears by the See it in plate II. fig. 9. unfkilful in the employment and difpofition of them. Of this we have a striking inftance in the fimilies of Homer, which, taken feparately, are always just and lively pictures, though frequently they have little refemblance to the object to which they are applied. The number of thefe drawn from the vegetable creation is very fmall; while Virgil, and the other Roman Poets, probably from living in a more cultivated ftate of fociety, feem particularly fond of introducing trees and other plants into the imagery of their pieces. From a peculiar attention to this fubject, I became fo ftruck with the beauty and accuracy with which they had painted fome of my favourite objects, that I was led to collect the paffages, and to form a fort of connected poetical defcriptions by their names. Some of these it is my intention to offer to the readers of this periodical work. I fhall begin with QUERCUS-THE OAK, one of the nobleft objects in the rural landfcape, and a fine image for comparifon on various heroical occafions. The height of the oak is referred to by 869 Defcriptions of the Oak, from the Roman Poets. by Virgil in the Eneid, where, defcrib. Quales cum vertice celfo 'De cœlo tactas memini prædicere quercus. oak. WARTON. The wide spread of its branches is ftrongly painted by the fame poet in the following paffage: Sicubi magna Jovis antiquo robore quercus PIIT. Ovid, on the fame account, calls the oak patula Jovis arbos. Met. I. 106. Jove's far-extended tree; auras Etherias, tantum radice in Tartara tendit. As o'er th' aerial Alps fublimely fpread, Ovid feems to labour to equal or excel the grandeur of this defcription by a picture of the oak in peaceful majefty, diftinguished by its vaft bulk, and the almoft divine honours which have at various times been paid to it : Stabat in his ingens annofo robore quercus ; Sertaque cingebant voti argumenta potentis. an epithet loft in Dryden's verfion, whofe Sylva fub hac, fylva quanto jacet herba fub paraphrafe is, And falling acorns furnish'd out a feaft. —velut in fummo quatientem brachia tauro call her omni. Hung tablets, monuments of profperous vows. Full fifteen ells it measur'd in the wafte: The bold expreffion "una nemus," itself a grove, would fcarcely apply to any other European tree, and is, therefore, equally appropriated and poetical. Lucan has given a picture of the oak at a different period; no longer firm and ftable, but decayed with age, and ready to fall with the first blaft, yet fill appearing great and venerable, and forming a fhade, though with its naked branches. Its application as a fimile is not lefs happy, than the defeription is striking. It is made an emblem of Pompey the Great, at the commencement of the civil war, with all his honours fill about him, yet, in reality, only the fhadow of his former greatness: Qualis frugifero quercus fublimis in agro Exuvias 870 Poetical Defcriptions of the Oak.-Letter from Dr. Robertson. Exuvias veteres populi, facrataq e festans rens [mos Pondere fixa 'fuo eft; nudofque per aera raEffuadens, trunco, non frondibus, efficit umbram: Sed quamvis primo nutet cafura fub Euro So, in the field with Ceres' bounty fpread, The martial character (as it may be termed) of this tree, probably occafioned it to be ufed as the bafis for trophies; the captured arms of the foe being hung on an oaken trunk. Thus Æneas raifes a trophy of the armour of Mezentius in honour of the God of War: Ingentem quercum decifis undique ramis PITT. The ufe of the fruit of the oak as an article of food in the early ages of mankind, is alluded to in almoft innumerable paffages of the poets. There were feve. ral kinds of glandes, but thofe of the oak, by us termed acorns, were preferred for the ufe of man. This we learn from Pliny; and might alfo infer from a line in Virgil, in which he threatens the negligent hufbandman with being compelled again to shake the oak for his fubfiftence: Concuffaque famem in fylvis folabere quercu. Georg. I. 159. Thou'lt fhake from forest-oaks thy tasteless food. WARTON. One other economical ufe of the oak is hinted at by Ovid, which is, that of coagulating milk by its small twigs : veluti concretum vimine querno Met. XII. 436. Lac. As through a colendar The curdled milk. (To be continued.) DRYDEN. J. A. MR. URBAN, Edinburgh, Sept. 14. Hif zine for July laft, p. 562, an article In anfwer to this charge, it is mate rial to obferve, that the firft edition of the book, of which the third edition is now, as this gentleman expreffes it, "in circulation," was printed at Edin burgh, and entered in Stationers'-hall, in the year 1768. It is rather unaccountable, therefore, that a book publifhed in 1758 fhould have proved a mere tranflation of one published at Paris in 1770. This, I believe, might be regarded by the public as a fatisfacagainst me by your anonymous corretory refutation of the charge exhibited fpondent. But juftice to myfelf, as well as to the public, requires that the matter fhould be ftated a little more fully. I request, therefore, the particular attention of your readers to the two following quotations. In the preface to the first edition of the Hiftory in queftion I write thus: "Accordingly, Mr. Rollin's own countrymen, the members cfpecially of the fame learned body to which he himself once belonged, namely, the univerfity of Paris, feem to have been the first who became fenfible of the inconveniencies attending his learned work; and expreffed their wishes, that fome compilement of the Greek hiftory were made on a plan better adapted to the genius and circumstances of the generality of ftudents."-" Agrecably to thefe fentiments of the university of Paris, and with the approbation and affiftance of fome of its members, fuch a compilement was made out, and publifhed at Paris in the year 1763. The hiftory of the acient Greeks is there brought under one connected view, unperplexed with that of any other people; the tranfactions of the Perfian empire being taken notice of fo far only as they immediately influence thofe of Greece; and the principal events refpecting Sicily being thrown into a book by themfelves." Many little circumftances obferved by Mr Rollin are there omitted; all the interefting facts are placed in a clear light, and made to peak directly to the understanding; pertinent reflections are judiciously, but fparingly, |