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ther doore, at the fartheft end of the stage, two old men, the one in blew, with a ferjeant at armes, his mace on his shoulder; the other in red, with a drawn fword in his hand, and leaning with the other hand upon the others fhoulder, and fo they two went along in a foft pace, round about by the skirts of the stage, till at last they came to the Cradle, when all the Court was in the greatest jollity, and then the foremost old man with his mace ftroke a fearful blow upon the Cradle; whereat all the Courtiers, with the three ladies and the vizard, all vanished; and the defolate Prince starting up bare-faced, and finding himselfe thus fent for to judgement, made a lamentable complaint of his miferable cafe, and fo was carried away by wicked fpirits. This Prince did perfonate in the morall the wicked of the world; the three ladies, Pride, Covetoufneffe, and Luxury; the two old men, the end of the world, and the laft judgement. This fight tooke fuch impreffion is me, that when I came towards man's eftate, it was as freth in my memory as if I had feen it newly acted. From whence I obferve, out of mine owne experience, what great care should bee had in the education of children, to keepe them from seeing of fpectacles of ill examples, and hearing of lafcivi. ous or fcurrilous words; for that their young memories are like faire writing-tables, where in if the faire fentences or leffons of grace bee written, they may (by God's bleffing) keepe them from many vicious blots of life, wherewithall they may otherwise be tainted; especially confidering the generall corruption of our nature, whofe very memories are apter to receive evill than good, and that the well feasoning of the new cafke at the first keepes it the better and fweeter ever after; and withall we may obferve how farre unlike the plaies and harmlesse morals of former times are to those which have fucceeded, many of which (by report of others) may be termed fchoolmasters of vice, and provocations to corruptions, which our depraved nature is too prone unto, nature and grace being contraries.

MEDITATION XII. Upon a Pedigree feene

in a Nobleman's House.

Lumley Castle, in the countie palatine of Dureime, was built by that noble and worthy lord John lord Lumley, after the manner of fome caftles hee had obferved in his travailes beyond the feas; with two faire patfages into it, up two paire of ftaires, large but fhort, both standing, the one over against the other, at the lower end of the hall; the most eminent roome whereof, at the upper end of the hall (being the great chamber) was adorned with the pictures of all the barons of that family in their robes, at

full length, beginning with the firft, who was fet forth kneeling before king Richard the Second, and receiving his writ or patent of creation at his hands; and fo from one to another to that nobleman himselfe that built the houfe; with the picture alfo of his lordfhip's fonne and heire apparent, then a young man, with a hawk on his fift. In that faire chamber, at the upper end of it, in a bay window, I obferved a long table hanging, fitting the one end of the window, containing a faire written or printed pedigree, fetting out not onely how the barons of that house fucceeded one another, but also how the first baron was lineally descended from Adam himfelfe. But he that lived to build the house, and to adorne it with fuch monuments of noble ancestors from so high a defcent as the very creation of the world, and having a fonne then likely to have fucceeded him in the barronie, died himselfe childless in Queen Elizabeth's time, and fo the barony dyed with him, and there was no lord Lumley to entertaine king James there, at his first comming into England, upon her Majeftie's deceafe; and fo that pedigree which (I know not by what heraldry) brought that worthy nobleman, by many generations of kings and queens and other famous ancestors, by a lineall defcent from Adam himself, could not deduce it one descent further, but it ends in him for whose honour itself was devised. And that noble lord, when he was at the highest of the pedigree, what could he finde there of nobility by it, when the meaneft fcullion of his kitchen, and the pooreft cripple at his gates, were thereby made their lord's kinímen, being all Adam's children as well as himfelfe! And what pitch of honour had he gotten from that common ancestor of all mankind, but (what we all, his pofterity, by wofull experience, finde to be truth indeed) the guilt and infection of fin, and the fruits of it, death? objects proper for shame, forrow, and humiliation, no way for honour or vain-glory, Adam himselfe being made but of red earth, and he and his pofterity to returne to earth againe.

I fhall only add, that the author of thefe Meditations appears to have been born at Gloucester, in 1564; educated at the free grammar-school, called Chrift's, in that city, under MasterGregory Downhale of PembrokeHall, Cambridge, who afterwards became fecretary to lord chancellor Ellesmere; as our author did, firft, to lord Brook, chancellor of the exchequer; then to the earl of Middlesex, lord high treafurer; and, lastly, to lord Coventry, lord keeper of the great feal. Having paffed the great climacterical year, he thought it high time to retire from worldly employ ments; and on Nov. 30, 1631, being fud

denly

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It being the duty, as we conceive, of Literary Journalists to preserve such pieces relative to any work of importance as appear with marks of authority, we here infert the two following Letters.

IT having been afferted in a late fcurrilous

publication, that fome paffages relative to a noble Lord, which appeared in the first edition of my Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides, were omitted in the fecond edition of that work, in confequence of a letter from his Lordship, I think myself called upon to declare that that affertion is falfe.

In a note, p. 527, of my fecond edition, I mentioned, that "having found, on a revifion of this work, that, notwithstanding my best care, a few obfervations had escaped me, which arose from the inftant impression, the publication of which might perhaps be confidered as paffing the bounds of a strict decorum, I immediately ordered that they fhould be omitted in the prefent edition."

I did not then think it neceffary to be more explicit. But as I now find that I have been mifunderstood by fome, and grofsly misreprefented by others, I think it proper to add, that foon after the publication of the first edition of my work, from the motive above mentioned alone, without any application from any perfon whatever, I ordered twentyfix lines relative to the noble Lord to be omitted in the second edition (for the loss of which, I truft, twenty-two additional pages are a fufficient compenfation); and this was the fole alteration that was made in my book relative to that nobleman; nor was any application made to me by the Nobleman alluded to, at any time whatfoever, to make any alteration in my Journal.

To any ferious criticifm, or ludicrous banter, to which my Journal may be liable, I fhall never object; but receive both the one and the other with perfect good humour; but I cannot fuffer a malignant and injurious falfehood to país uncontradicted. I am, Sir,

Your most humble fervant,
JAMES BOSWELL.

March 9, 1786.

NO man has lefs inclination to controverfy than I have, particularly with a lady. But as in my Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides I have

claimed, and am confcious of being entitled to, credit for the ftrictest fidelity, my respect for the public obliges me to take notice of an infinuation which tends to impeach it.

Mrs. Piozzi (late Mrs. Thrale) to her Anecdotes of Dr. Johnjon has added the following pottfcript:

Naples, Feb. 10, 1786.

"Since the foregoing went to the press, "having feen a paffage from Mr. Boswell's "Tour to the Hebrides, in which it is faid "that I could not get through Mrs. Montagu's "Ejay on Shakspeare, I do not delay a mo"ment to declare, that, on the contrary, I "have always comniended it myself, and "heard it commended by every one else; "and few things would give me more con66 cern than to be thought incapable of "tafting, or unwilling to testify my opinion "of its excellence."

I might, perhaps with propriety, have waited till I fhould have an opportunity of anfwering this poftfcript in a future publication; but, being fenfible that impreffions once made are not easily effaced, I think it better thus early to afcertain a fact which feems to be denied.

The fact reported in my Journal, to which Mrs Piozzi alludes, is ftated in thefe words, P. 299: "I spoke of Mrs. Montagu's very

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high praises of Mr Garrick. Johnson. Sir, "it is fit fhe fhould ay fo much, and I "fhould fay nothing. Reynolds is fond of "her book, and I wonder at it; for neither "I, nor Beauclerk, nor Mrs. Thrale, could get through it."

66

It is remarkable that this poftfcript is fo expreffed, as not to point out the perfon who faid that Mrs. Thrale could not get through Mrs. Montagu's book; and therefore I think it neceflary to remind Mrs. Piozzi, that the affertion concerning her was Dr. Johnfon's, and not mine. The fecond o'erva tion that I fhall make on this poftfcript is, that it does not deny the fact afferted, though I must acknowledge, from the phrafe it beftows on Mrs. Montagu's book, it may have been defigned to convey that meaning. What

What Mrs. Thrale's opinion is or was, or what the may or may not have faid to Dr. Johnson concerning Mrs. Montagu's book, it is not neceffary for me to enquire. It is only incumbent on me to afcertain what Dr. Johnfon faid to me, I fhall therefore confine myfelf to a very short state of the fact.

The unfavourable opinion of Mrs. Montagu's book, which Dr. Johnson is here reported to have given, is known to have been that which he uniformly expreffed, as many of his friends well remember. So much for the authenticity of the paragraph, as far as it relates to his own fentiments. The words containing the affertion to which Mrs. Piozzi objects, are printed from my manufcript Journal, and were taken down at the time. The Journal was read by Dr. Johnson, who pointed out fome inaccuracies, which I corrected, but did not mention any inaccuracy in the paragraph in question; and what is fill more material, and very flattering to me, confiderable part of my Journal, containing this paragraph, was read feveral years ago, by Mrs. Thrale berfelf, who had it for fome time in her poffeffion, and returned it to me, without intimating that Dr. Johnson had mistaken her fentiments.

When my Journal was paffing through the prefs, it occurred to me, that a peculiar delicacy was neceffary to be obferved in reporting the opinion of one literary lady concerning the performance of another; and I had fuch fcruples on that head, that in the proof sheet 1 ftruck out the name of Mrs. Thrale from the paragraph in question, and two or three hundred copies of my book were actually printed and published without it; of thefe Sir Joshua Reynolds's copy happened to be one. But while the sheet was working off, a friend, fór whofe opinion I have great respect, fuggefted that I had no right to deprive Mrs. Thrale of the high honour which Dr. Johnson had done her, by ftating her opinion along with that of Mr. Beauclerk, as coinciding with, and, as it were, fanctioning his own. The obfervation appeared to me fo weighty and conclufive, that I haftened to the printing houfe, and, as a piece of juftice, reftored Mrs. Thrale to that place from which a too ferupulous delicacy had excluded her,

On this fimple state of facts I fhall make no obfervation whatever.

JAMES BOSWELL.

London, April 17, 1786.

PARTICULARS relative to the NATURE and CUSTOMS of the INDIANS of NORTH AMERICA. By Mr. RICHARD M'CAUSLAND, Surgeon to the King's or Eighth Regiment of Foot.

[From the PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS, Vol. LXXVI. Part I. just published.]

IT has been advanced by feveral travellers and hiftorians, that the Indians of America differed from other males of the human fpecies in the want of one very characteristic mark of the fex, to wit, a beard. From this general obfervation the Efquimaux have been excepted; and hence it has been Suppofed, that they had an origin different from that of the other natives of America. Inferences have also been drawn, not only with respect to the origin, but even relative to the conformation of Indians, as if this was in its nature more imperfect than that of the rest of mankind.

It appears fomewhat fingular that authors, in deducing the or in both of the Efquimaux and of the other Indians of America from the old world, fhould never have explained to us how the former came to retain #heir beards, and the latter to lay them afide. To afcertain the authenticity of this point may perhaps prove of little real utility to mankind; but the fingularity of the fact certainly claims the attention of the curions: and as it is impoffible to fix any limits to the inferences which may at one time or another be drawn from alledged facts, it sault always be of confequence to enquire

into the authenticity of those facts, how little interefting they may at prefent appear,

I will not at present take upon me to fay that there are not nations in America destitute of beards; but ten years refidence at Niagara, in the midft of the Six-Nations (with frequent opportunities of feeing other nations of Indians) has convinced me, that they do not differ from the rest of men, in this particular, more than one European differs from another and as this imperfection has been attributed to the Indians of NorthAmerica, equally with thofe of the rest of the Continent, I am much inclined to think, that this affection is as void of foundation in one region as it is in the other.

All the Indians of North-America (except a very small number, who, from living among white people, have adopted their cuftoms) pluck out the hairs of the beard; and as they begin this from its first appear. ance, it muft naturally be fuppofed, that to a fuperficial obferver their faces will feem fmooth and beardlefs. As further proof that they have beards, we may obferve, first, that they all have an instrument for the purpose of plucking them out. Se

condly,

condly, that when they neglect this for any time, feveral hairs fprout up, and are seen upon the chin and face. Thirdly, that many Indians allow tufts of hair to grow upon their chins or upper lips, refembling those we fee in different nations of the old world. Fourthly, that feveral of the Mohocks, Delawares, and others, who live amongst white people, sometimes fhave with razors, and fometimes pluck their beards out. There are facts which are notorious amongst the Army, Indian-traders, &c. and which are never doubted in that part of the world by any perfon in the leaft converfant with Indians; but as it is difficult to transport a matter of belief from one country to another diftant one, and as the authors who have maintained the contrary opinion are too refpectable to be doubted upon light grounds, I by no means intend to rest the proofs upon what has been faid, or upon my single affertion.

I have provided myfelf with two authorities, which I apprehend may in this cafe be decifive. One is Colonel BUTLER, Deputy Superintendant of Indian affairs, well known in the late American war, whofe great and extenfive influence amongst the Six-Nations could not have been acquired by any thing lefs than his long and intimate knowledge of them and their language. The other authority is that of THAYENDANEGA, commonly known by the name of Captain JosEPH BRANT, a Mohock Indian of great influence, and much spoken of in the late war. He was in England in 1775, and writes and fpeaks the English language with tolerable accuracy. I shall therefore only fubjoin their opinions upon this matter, the originals of which I have under their own fignatures.

Colonel BUTLER'S.

The men of the Six-Nation Indians have all beards naturally, as have all the other nations of North-America which I have had an opportunity of feeing. Several of the Mohocks fhave with razors, as do likewife many of the Panees who are kept as flaves by the Europeans. But in general the Indians pluck out the beard by the roots from its earliest appearance; and as their faces are therefore smooth, it has been fupffed that they were deftitute of beards. I am even of opinion, that if the Indians were to practife shaving from their youth, many of them would have as strong beards as Europeans. (Signed)

JOHN BUTLER, Agent of Indian Affairs,

Niagara, Apr. 12, 1784.

Captain BRANT'S.

The men of the Six-Nations have all beards by nature; as have likewife all other Indian nations of North America which I have feen. Some Indians allow a part of the beard upon the chin and upper lip to grow, and a few of the Mohocks thave witia razors in the fame manner as Europeans; but the generality pluck out the hairs of the beard by the roots as foon as they begin to appear; and as they continue this practice all their lives, they appear to have no beard, or at most only a few straggling hairs which they have neglected to pluck out. I am however of opinion, that if the Indians were to fhave, they would never have heards altogether fo thick as the Europeans; and there are fome to be met with who have actually very little beard.

(Signed)

JOS. BRANT THAYENDANEGA, Niagara, Apr. 19, 1783.

Upon this fubject 1 fhall only further obferve, that it has been fuppofed by fome, that this appearance of beard on Indians arifes only from a mixture of European blood; and that an Indian of pure race is

intirely deftitute of it. But the nations a mongst whom this circumftance can have any influence, bear fo fmall a proportion to the multitude who are unaffected by it, that it cannot by any means be confidered as the

caufe; nor is it looked upon as fuch either by captain Brant or colonel Butler.

I fhall here fubjoin a few particulars relative to the Indians of the Six Nations, which, as they feem not to be well underflood even in America, are probably fill lefs known in Europe. My authorities upon this fubject, as well as upon the former, are the Indian captain Brant and colonel Butler.

Each nation is divided into three or more tribes; the principal of which are called the Turtle-tribe, the Wolf-tribe, and the Bear

tribe.

Each tribe has two, three, or more chiefs, called Sachems; and this diftinction is always hereditary in the family, but defcends along the female line: for inftance, if a chief dies, one of his fifter's fons, or one of his own brothers, will be appointed to fuc, ceed him. Among thefe no preference i given to proximity or primogeniture; bu the Sachem, during his life time, pitches up on one whom he supposes to have more abi lities than the reft; and in this choice he frequently, though not always, confults the principal men of the tribe. If the fucceffe

happer

happens to be a child, the offices of the po are performed by fome of his friends until he is of fufficient age to act himself.

Each of thefe pofts of Sachem has a name peculiar to it, and which never changes, as it is always adopted by the fucceffors; nor does the order of precedency of each of these names or titles ever vary. Nevertheless, any Sachem, by abilities and activity, may acquire greater power and influence in the nation than thofe who rank before him in point of precedency; but this is merely temporary, and dies with him.

Each tribe has one or two chief warriors, whofe dignity is alfo hereditary, and has a peculiar name attached to it.

These are the only titles of distinction which are fixed and permanent in the nation; for although any Indian may by fuperior talents, either as counsellor or as a warrior, acquire influence in the nation, yet it is not in his power to tranfmit this to Lis family.

The Indians have also their Great Women as well as their Great Men, to whose opinions they pay great deference; and this diftinction is alfo hereditary in families. They do not fit in council with the Sachems, but have feparate ones of their own.

When war is declared, the Sachems and great Women generally give up the management of public affairs into the hands of the warriors. It may however fo happen, that a Sachem may at the fame time be also a chief warrior.

Friendships feem to have been inftituted with a view towards ftrengthening the union

N

For the EUROPEAN

between the feveral nations of the confederacy; and hence friends are called the fi news of the Six-Nations. An Indian has therefore generally one or more friends in each nation. Befides the attachment which fubfifts during the life-time of the two friends, whenever one of them happens to be killed, it is incumbent on the furvivor to replace him, by presenting to his family either a fcalp, a prisoner, or a belt confifting of fome thousands of wampum; and this ceremony is performed by every friend of the de

ceafed.

The purpose and foundation of war partics therefore is, in general, to procure a pri. foner or scalp to replace the friend or relation of the Indian who is the head of the party. An Indian who wishes to replace a friend or relation prefents a belt to his acquaintance, and as many as chufe to follow him accept this belt, and become his party. After this, it is of no confequence whether he goes on the expedition or remains at home (as it often happens that he is a child), he is ftill confidered as the head of the party. The belt he presented to his party is return ed fixed to the scalp or prifoner, and passes along with them to the friends of the perfon he replaces. Hence it happens, that a war party, returning with more fcalps or prifoners than the original intention of the party required, will often give one of the fupernumerary fcalps or prifoners to another war party whom they meet going out; upon which this party, having fulfilled the purpose of their expedition, will fometimes return without going to war.

MAGAZINE.

A MOTHER and NO MOTHER; or, The LITIGATED CHILD.
An ANECDOTE.

O circumftance, or even chain of circumstances, can happen fo fingular, but that a fimilar may, one time or other, occur again; and as the facts which gave rife to the following little Anecdote, have already ferved to perplex the most eminent lawyers of France; it would certainly afford a fatisfaction to know, with fome kind of probability, how, according to the laws of England, fuch a complicated cafe could with propriety be determined.

Complicated as the affair is in itself, the facts are few, and in fum and fubft. nce as follow :

A midwife, fome time ago, was fummoned to attend with all poffible expedition on a gentlewoman in the province of Norm ndy, who had unexpectedly been feized with the pains of hour. Hardly had the good wo men arrive to difcharge the duties of her when he was herfelf violently at.

tacked with the like pains, and the confequence was, that prefently both the midwife and her patient were delivered together.

Not a human being was then in the neighbourhood, nor even in the house, but an old woman, who had acted in the double capacity of midwife and nurse, and who, unfortunately, in her hurry, confufion and diftrefs, was fo inadvertent as to place the two infants upon one and the fame pillow, without diftinguishing which of them it was that belonged to her mistress.

They were both males, and one of them, lived but a few minutes -Now the grand circumstance which perplexes the cafe, and gives it an air of ridicule, is this, that each mother claims the furviving child as her's, nor will abide by any decifion to the contrary, fhort of a judicial one; and steps før that purpose have accordingly been taken,

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