238 Somerfetfhire....Devonshire....Cornwall. in confequence of which, the jury brought in a verdict of lunacy. He was a bachelor far advanced in years, but had fome time paft paid his addreffes to a widow lady in bufinefs; and after the day of marriage was agreed on, and the lady had quitted her fhop, Mr. Mackrell fuddenly changed his intentions. To prevent a lawfuit it was referred to arbitrators, to give a proper fatisfaction to the difappointed lady, who awarded her 300l. Though this fum could be no great object to a man of Mr. M.'s wealth, he fuffered the circumftance to prey upon his mind, till he was at length induced to the rash act of terminating his exiftence. SOMERSTTSHIRE. The magiftrates of Bath have at length adopted the propofition of Mr. WooD, of Shrewsbury, for incorporating the different parishes and conftituting a houfe of industry, on the plan of that in Shrewsbury. Some beneficial confequences may be expected to refult from these establishments, provided due care is taken to prevent the poor from being oppreffed by an abufe of the authority of the conductors. As fome labourers were at work upon the Bath road, the driver of a waggon, in which were feveral cafks of fpirits, invited them to drink, having contrived to tap the casks, by introducing a reed. This offer was accepted with avidity, and fo greedily did the men drink, that two of them died, and three more are in a very dangerous ftate, with little hopes of recovery. Married.] At Bath, the Rev. Jofeph Legg, of Market Lavington, Wilts, to Mifs C. Trefler, of the former place. Mr. Bannet, auctioneer, to Mrs. Hodgfon, of Wootton-under-edge, Gloucefterfhire. John Shakefpear, efq. to Mifs Fletcher, of Lee Houfe, Hants, Mr. W. Smith, of Amelbury, to Mifs Harding, of Wincanton. Mr. Midlane, to Mifs Jones. Benjamin Morgan, efq. of Gwernthlenwhethe, Glamorganfhire, to Mifs Lucy Gregory, of Bath. Died.] At Bath, Mr. Wilkie, of the beeffteak houfe in the market, the oldeft mufician in the pump-room. John Saxon, efq. Aged 76, Mr. Thomas Orpin, mufician. Mr. Abbot. In her 28th year, Mifs Mary Johnfton, daughter of the late general Johnston, of Wefton Houfe. Mr. Hooper. Mr. Richard Wilkinson, of Newcastle. Mr. Thomas Millington. Mr. Smith, fruiterer. At the fame place, Mrs. Juliana Mackworth, fitter to the late fir Herbert Mackworth, Bart. of Groll Castle, Glamorgan fhire. Her death was occafioned by a fevere contufion, which the received in confequence of a fall from the vineyard, on her return from chapel. At Holloway, near Bath, fuddenly, Mr. Edwards. At Horfington, F. B. Reafton, efq. of the Temple, London, to Mifs Doddington, only daughter of Mr. Samuel Doddington, of Horfington.. Mr. James Poole, printer and bookfeller, of Bridgwater, to Mifs Allen, of Stogumber. At Churchill, Mr. Jeremiah Boord, gra zier, of Ebden, to Mifs Richardfon, of the former place. Mr. John Parker, of Wrington, to Mifs Mary Dyer, of Claverham. At Churchill, Mifs Marfham. At Froome, Mr. William Palmer, painter. Mr. John Allen, clothier. On the firft of March, the Rev. Henry Newman, upwards of 40 years rector of the parishes of Shepton Beauchamp, and Spark ford. ̧ DEVONSHIRE. Married. At Exeter, the Reverend Henry Nicholas Aftley, fon of fir Edward Aftley, bart. of Norfolk, to Mifs Pitman, only daughter of the late Samuel Pitman, efq. of Exeter. Mr. John Hill, to Mifs Cherry Sweetland. At Tiverton, Mr. Henry Dunsford, jun. mercer, to Mifs Pulling. Mr. Thomas Owen, wine-merchant, to Mifs Patch. At Emma Place, Plymouth, by fpecial licence, Capt. James Newman, of the navy, to Mifs Brace, of Bennet-street, St. James's, London. Mr. Cartwright, mafter of the White Hart inn, Okehampton, to Mifs Hockin, daughter of the late rev. Mr. Hockin. Died.] At Exeter, fuddenly, Mr. John Pierce. Mifs Harriet Coffarat. At his houfe in the royal hofpital, Plymouth, fuddenly after fupper, F. Geach, M. D. F. R. S. fenior furgeon to this hofpital nearly 30 years. At Stoke, near Plymouth, aged 18, Lieut. Wm. Fleming, of the 25th regiment of foot. At Moreton, Mr. Petherbridge, fergemaker. Mr. James Fownes. At Taunton, Mifs Mary Bovet. Mrs. Spil ler. Mrs Colman. At Kingsteignton, the 'rev. Chriftopher Beeke, He had been vicar of that place upwards of 60 years. As Mr. James Bath was returning to his houfe, at the Double Lock, near Exeter, he fell into a pond and was drowned. CORNWALL. Died.] At Pencarrow, fir William Molefworth, bart. reprefentative for the county of Monmouth in two parliaments. He was formerly of St. John's college, Cambridge, and took his degree as honorary master of arts in 1779. At Lawhitton, near Launceston, the rev Roger Mafiey, formerly of St. John's college, Cambridge, and archdeacon of Barnstaple, rector of Lawhitton, Cornwall, and Chariton Bifhop, Devon, and of the prebendaries of Exeter Cathedral. Mr. M. commenced A. B, in 1783, and A. M. in 1786. [For Agricultural Report, fee page 228.] At Wells, Mr. Champion to Mifs Palmer. At Stowey, Mr. Charles Holcombe, of St. Decuman's, near Watchet, to Mifs Gadd. At Frome, Mr. J. Lyon, to Mifs Liebman THE MONTHLY MAGAZINE. xxx.] FOR APRIL, 1798. [VOL. V. The Four Volumes of the MONTHLY MAGAZINE, which are now published, may be bad complete of any Bookfeller, price Thirty Shillings, neatly balf-bound, or any fingle Number, or Volume, may be had separate, at the Pleasure of the Purchaser. ORIGINAL COMMUNICATIONS. To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. SIR, THE best cap. "Now the peculiar manners, which are the concomitants of wealth, prefent themselves on the furface to every man's obfervation: for rich men are prone to infult and arrogance, from feelings invariably connected with the poffeffion of wealth; for they perceive themselves fo affected, as if they were mafters of every thing good; inasmuch as money is the common standard, by which the worth of all ther things is estimated:" o de (fome editions, yag with an immaterial variation) πλετος, οἷον τιμη τις εστί της αξίας των άλλων· δι ̓ ὁ φαίνεται παντα ωνια ειναι αυτό : "because every thing appears purchaseable by money. All this feems to me as plain and unexceptionable as poffible, and arranged with that confecutive dependence of the claufes, which preeminently diftinguishes this incomparable reafoner. The domineering manners of rich men arife from the fancied fuperiority of their endowments; this notion of fuperiority in wealth fprings from their conception of wealth as a criterion of value to all other things; and this conception is produced by daily experience, which actually afcertains this general truth, that all things have their price, and are acceffible to the influence of wealth: a pofition, too much countenanced by the conduct of men in all ages. The teftimony of Horace is fo very pertinent and explicit to this effect, fat. ii. 3. 94-99. as to deferve quotation: -Omnis enim res, MONTH. MAG. No. XXX. Virtus, fama, decus, divina humapaque, pul Divitiis parent; quas qui conftruxerit, ille et rex, SIR, W Female Friendly Society at Berwick, I engaged to tranfinit fome account alfo of a Female Friendly Society at York, which was initituted in the year 1788. The idea of forming it arofe principally from the with of prolonging the time fuperintended two charity-schools in of the ladies, who had for fome patronage this city, to the young girls educated in them, beyond the period of their continuance in their refpective fchools. For it always feemed to me that the business was left incomplete, however well the inftitutions themfelves might be regulated, if the objects of them were abandoned to take their chance in the world, often the very moment when they are most liawithout parent, protector, or friend, at ble to a train of evils, more fatal perhaps in their confequence than even those from which, in their infant years, they had been refcued. WHEN I sent you an account of the The outline of the plan is as follows: of the fchools, if her behaviour in them That every girl, on her leaving either becoming a member of the friendly fociety was approved, fhall have the option of on the following terms. Entrance money 2s. 6d. Subfcription for the first two years (when her wages as a fervant terly, 1s. may be fuppofed to be very fmall), quarAfterwards the fum of 1s. 6d. quarterly. And when the fubfcription has been paid one half year, the shall be entitled to the benefits, which are as follow: The fum of 49. per week in any ex I i treme 1 240 Mrs. Cappe on Female Benefit Societies. treme cafe, where admiffion into the county hofpital fhall be judged ineligible by the ftewardeffes for the time being. 2s. per week in any lingering difeafe, which may not confine the fick member to her bed, oblige her to leave her fervice, or wholly difable her, if married, from attending the care of her family. The fum of 10s. 6d. on the birth of every child, if her circumftances are fuch as to require this affiftance. Is. 6d. per week, if fhe be entered a patient in the hofpital, during her ftay there, for washing and cloaths; and more over, After having been a member 40 years, fhe fhall be entitled to all the benefits of the inftitution, without farther contribution, if the state of the fund fhall at that time be fuch as to admit of it. Honorary members contribute 6s. per ann. by advance, into the public fund; and the like fum of 6s. annually into a fund intended likewife for the benefit of the fociety, but not fubject to particular laws, and for the difpofal of which the honorary members are not accountable to the fociety at large. Without honorary members, and indeed without a feparate fund, properly their own, one great object of the inftitution, which is to afford patronage in health, as well as pecuniary aid in sickness, would not be obtained. The number of honorary £110 0 47 80 O ftance, mortifying as it may be, will not furprife, if it be remembered, that confiderable comprehenfion of mind is required to relinquifh a very fmall advantage, if it be prefent, for the fake of a far greater good, if it be diftant; and especially if it appear in any meature contingent and moreover, that the restrictions of a charity-fchool, if it be well regulated, in themfelves however juft and neceffary, and the very circumftance of the various wants of the children fo educated being regularly fupplied, muft neceffarily preclude both that acquaintance with the character of others, fo useful to put a young perfon on her guard against bad advice, and that experience of the wants and diftreffes, incident to extreme indigence, which the fame girl * would have acquired in the houfe of her parents, or other needy relatives; fo that the very circumftance, which renders fome fort of patronage on leaving fuch an institution especially neceffary, creates, at the fame time, confiderable difficulty in adopting any which may prove effectual. It may not be impertinent to add, that this total ignorance of human life is a defect, which unavoidably muft attach itfelf to this mode of education, and af furedly leffens the utility of it so much, that, except in the cafe of orphans rescued from a parish work-house, or of children, whofe parents are notoriously abandoned; it may even become a question, how far it is defirable; notwithstanding the advantages which refult from thofe habits of fobriety, order, industry and cleanlinefs, which may, and ought to be generated in fuch an inftitution. So far, I think, must be granted, that wherever the parents are living, and are decent characters, it is the best charity, most favoura ble to the cultivation of the focial affections, and moft conducive to the well being and happiness of all parties, that they fhould have fuch aids judiciously afforded them, as may enable them to educate their children under their own roof. But to return from this digreffion. The honorary members of the fociety flatter themselves, that when time fhall have fhewn the great advantage of being a member, by the different fate in their progress through life, of those who have, and those who have not remained fuch, a conviction of its defirablenefs, fo forcible will be the refult, as to fupply the inabi *This obfervation does not hold equally in refpect to boys, who may be placed out to little trades much earlier. Prize of the Royal Medical Society, Edinburgh. lity of reafoning and judging for themfelves, even in the minds of the most inexperienced; and they are encouraged in this hope, by feeing that the numbers who withdraw themselves confiderably leffen every year. In the mean time, however, in order to attach thefe young people by a principle which applies to their prefent feelings, the honorary members join them in a proceffion, once in two years, to the cathedral here, in which they walk at their head, giving each a green ribbon to place in their hats, as a mark of diftinction, and wearing the like themfelves; and after the return of the proceffion, regale them with tea and cake, addreffing each member perfonally, and inquiring into their respective fituations. It deferves to be remarked, that not one inftance has occurred of a young perfon's withdrawing herself from the fociety, who has been introduced by an honorary member. The plan adopted by the ladies at Wifbeach, mentioned in your Magazine for February (p. 83), of allowing an annuity to aged members, who have remained fingle, or who, being married, have not received any contribution during their lying-in, is, I think, an effential improvement, and goes far to obviate the difficulty arifing from the inequality of benefits received by married and unmarried members, where pecuniary affiftance is allowed from the fund, in diforders incident to child-bearing. May not the rea 241 To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine, SIR, Twill probably prove interefting to fome of your philofophical readers. THE following article of intelligence Society of Edinburgh offered a prize for In the year 1794, the Royal Medical the heft experimental effay which fhould be prefented to them, in reply to feveral queries propofed on the fubject of animal electricity. Some unavoidable caufes of delay have deferred the final determination till the prefent time, when the profeffors, who were nominated as judges, communicated to the fociety the following decifion. ultra poffe tenetur is prefixed, containing "The effay to which the motto nemo new and ingenious experiments, and anfwering all the queftions propofed, is the beft experimental effay which has been received, and is therefore entitled to the prize; at the fame time the judges unanimously declare, that they cannot coin cide with the author in his theoretical deductions." panied this effay, it was found to have Upon opening the letter which accombeen written by Dr. CREVE, professor, at Mayence. By order of the Committee, G. C. DELARIVE, M. D. fon, however, be asked, why a member Edinburgh Medical Hall, Feb. 23, 1798. removing from Wifbeach is not entitled to any further weekly allowance? May not many circumftances arife, to make fuch removal matter of neceffity? and will fuch poor member be lefs likely to ftand in need of pecuniary affiftance, because he is no longer under the immediate eye of her generous and benevolent patro neffes? I am forry to have lengthened this artiticle far beyond what I had intended but as the hints respecting a charity-choc, education, &c, arofe out of the fubject, and are the refult of fome obfervation and experience, I have hoped that they might not be without their use. If, by inferting them in your valuable Magazine, it fhould appear that you, Mr. Editor, are of the fame opinion, I may perhaps, in a future number, trouble you with tome account of the rife, progrefs, and prefent regulations of the two particular Ichools, with a view to the future benefit of the girls educated in which, the friendly fociety above defcribed was principally formed. I am, Sir, your humble fervant, York, April 2, 1798. C. CAPFE, For the Monthly Magazine. ALETTER from a MERCHANT of TOMBUCTOO, a capital City on the Mediterranean Sea, in the Center of Africa, to his FRIEND there.. (Tranflated from the Original Tombuɛtan by a Moorish Dragoman.) London, the 22d of the Moon of the Lion, Year 50, 751. EEE, the merchant of Tombuctoo, metropolis of the world, to his friend Cooo, the fcribe; a found mind in a found body. Joy, my friend! while thefe favages are endeavouring to discover our city, I am in the midft of theirs. Their whole manners are fo remote from thofe of the civilized world, that I am overwhelmed with strange particularities, and hardly know where to begin. I fhall, therefore, content myself, at prefent, with a few obfervations; referving further information for future opportunities. In the first place, I fhall, as in duty bound, confider the important project I iz which 242 Letter from a Merchant of Tombuctoo. which our monarch (of whom thou art the fkilful fervant) has formed, for the fubjugation of thefe barbarians. To prevent any other African nation from afferting any claim of prior difcovery of this remote ifland, I in the night proceeded boldly to the chief temple, in the center of this city, and affixed the holy badge of our religion, as a token of the right of the glorious fovereign of Tombuctoo. I alfo buried a bottle containing all his titles, fubjoined to which is a folemn claim of thefe newly discovered illands in the northern fea, as gems inherent in his crown; and of the inhabitants, as fheep referved for his own flaughter-houfe. There can, therefore, be no future doubt to whom these islands belong. Our numerous fleets may eafily proceed down the great river, and, entering the ocean, affail thefe lands on the weft. The favages have, indeed, many and large fhips; but they are happily ftrangers to that fubmarine fire, fo long preferved as a fecret of our ftate, and by which a few of our boats may fend all their fleet into the air, and render it only an illumination of our triumph. Their foldiers are numerous, but not clothed in metal; in confequence they are quite expofed to thofe fhowers of active and cauftic poifon, ufed by our troops; by which, when ejected to a prodigious height by our vaft machines, whole territories may be overwhelmed, and myriads of men fent to their fathers; the touch being inftant death, and the very air rendered poifon. May the leffing of all our gods attend the glorious inventor of this artificial peftilence, the fecret of which is only known to us, the chofen people of heaven, the chief of all civilized nations! Let us bend to the gods in humble adoration for this favour, and ever remember their infinite goodness and mercy. Moft juft it is, and most neceffary. There is a king in this country, but it is chiefly ruled by a fort of fenate; which, instead of meeting in the morning, the ufual and chofen hour of the foul's vigour, affembles in the night, even in the nights of winter. Hence follow colds and catarrhs, and political fevers, and many inflammatory fymptoms. Their ftate councils, as may be expected, are far inferior to ours; and forgetting that wildom is the lot of the few, they always decide by the majority, a fingular inftance of direct oppofition to our conftitution. I heartily agree with all Africa in ex ecration of thofe cannibals. That they are cannibals I am convinced: Would t thou think, my friend, that out of thoufands of blacks, imported by them, I have hardly feen half a dozen, fpared, I fuppofe, as ufual among the worst favages, by fome favour, or fortuitous circumftance? The rest are all eaten ! The vengeance will be sweet; we fhall export them by whole fhip loads, and fell them to the fouthern cannibals of Africa. Many of the people are very fat and fair, particularly of the cafts of the Spankidoodels, and of the Hahums and the Mummums. This fpeculation will be excellently profitable. I fhould expect from five to twenty dinars per man. A As to the colonies to be fent here, they may be eafily and firmly established. few myriads destroyed by the artificial earthquakes, which we know how to produce fo eafily; and two or three millions blafted by our artificial peftilences, the reft will be overawed; and will refpect our farther progrefs in civilization, and fuperior fkill in the arts of death and destruction. We must, by all means, infift on the establishment of a defpotic government, exactly fimilar to our own. Without this the people could have no liberty nor happinefs, and of course would grow fretful and lean; the very thing to be avoided; as our profit depends much upon their fat and good condition. The lean and deformed may, however, be occupied for our profit, in manufactures, in which they fhew fome little skili, Indeed, I am told they have, in this branch, excelled moft of the favages of the north, for thefe forty years. Before this, most articles were imported, in exchange for their wool, a staple commodity, and always a favourite; infomuch, that perhaps fome of our Tembuctan fociety of antiquarians may thence derive the fingular partiality of this voracious people for the woolly heads of the negroes. This I leave to the learned. I have told thee, Friend Cooo, that, about forty years back, thefe favages imported most articles of manufacture; and, I am told, but know not how to credit it, that fuch was formerly their rage for importation, that they have repeatedly imported their kings from the Continent; as being men of a fuperior manufacture to any made in their country. This I fuppofe is one of the fables, obtruded upon ignorant travellers. I know not well what religion thefe wild people profefs. But we must fend forpt |