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is justified by the result of his personal observations at Alexandria in 1803. "The fever there," says Mr. Dinmore, "burst out in the lower parts of the town, near the marshes, and the diseased parts thereof might have been surrounded by a line. It was not contagious, for in that case the effect must have been general. It only affected those who lived in, or Occasionally visited that part of the town which it afflicted. The air contained an increased quantity of azote, which was proved by the following fact. The store of the British Consul at Alexandria being in the dis eased part of the town, was not open during the continuance of the fever, and contained several casks of lime. When the town was restored to health, and the store opened, the casks were found burst by the swelling of the lime, which had absorbed so much azote as evidently to possess the taste of saltpetre."

The question which I would beg leave to suggest is, whether such statement of Mr. Dinmore be corroborated by the observation of others; and if there be any thing in that gentleman's reasoning upon it, which is opposed by the commonly-received notions respecting the origin of putrid diseases? For my own part, the evidence of Sir Robert Wilson before the Committee of the House of Commons alone, even if it had not had the able support of other testimony of undoubted credit and impartiality, would have been sufficient to convince me, that prejudice and want of a clear, candid, philosophical view of the subject, could only have led to any other conclusion than that which is fairly deducible from his able and acute description of the progress and effects of the Plague; and could alone have occasioned the persisting in the old unfounded notion of contact being the source of a disease, which evidently arises independent of contact; and as certainly disappears under certain changes, and in certain states of the atmosphere, notwithstanding the closest communication with the sick and diseased, and under circumstances the most favourable for the continuance and spread of the disease thereby. I shall be glad, however, to be corrected by any of your learned Correspondents. .. 1 G. COMBE. GENT. MAG. December, 1819.

Mr. URBAN,

TH

Nov, 27.

HE Town of Chesterfield, co. Derby, is supposed by Dr. Pegge; to have originated in a Roman ståtion on the road from Derby to York. It is noticed in Domesday Book as a bailiwick only belonging to Newbold, now a small hamlet at a short distance from it on the North. After this period it rapidly increased. A Church, erected here towards the conclusion of the 11th century, was given by William Rafus to the Cathedral of Lincoln. In the reign of John, the manor was granted to William de Briwere, or Bruere, his particular favourite, through whose influence with the Monarch the town was incorporated, and an annual fair, of eight days continuance, and two weekly markets obtained. From the De Brueres it passed in marriage to the family of Wake, and afterwards to Edward Plantagenet, Earl of Kent, (who married a female of that name,) whose descendants continued possessors for several generations. In 26 Edward III. it was held by John, second son of Edmund of Woodstock ; and in 1386, by Sir Thomas Holland, from whom it passed to the Nevilles. In the reign of Queen Elizabeth, it belonged to George Earl of Shrews bury; and afterwards became the property of the Cavendishes by purchase, from whom it descended to the present Duke of Portland; but has since passed, in exchange, to the Duke of Devonshire. The Stanhopes, Earls of Chesterfield, derive their title from this town.

A battle was fought here in 1266 between Henry, nephew of King Henry III. and Robert de Ferrers, the last Earl of Derby; who was defeated, and was taken prisoner in the Church, where he had concealed himself. During the Civil Wars another battle was fought here, in which the troops of the Parliament were defeated by the Earl of Newcastle.

The Church is a spacious and handsome building; but more particularly remarkable for the appearance of its spire, which rises to the height of 230 feet; and is so singularly twisted and distorted, that it seems to lean in whatever direction it may be approached. I send a drawing of it, (see Plåte II.) taken in a different point of view from one already inserted in your vol. LXIII.

p. 977,

p. 977, by Mr. Malcolm; in which page, and in vol. LXIV. p. 17, will be found several particulars relative to the Church, and the Monuments within it.

The best account of the Grammar School in this Town will be found in Mr. Carlisle's "Endowed Schools," vol. I.

In the Market-place is a neat Townhall, built a few years ago, under the direction of Mr. Carr, of York; on the ground floor is a gaol for debtors, and a residence for debtors; and on the second floor, a large room for holding the Sessions, &c. Several alms-houses have been endowed in different parts of the town.

The present Corporation consists of a Mayor, six Aldermen, six Brethren, and twelve capital Burgesses; assisted by a Town Clerk.

At the Castle-inn, an elegant Assembly-room was built a few years ago.

The Town contained in 1801, 920 houses, and 4267 inhabitants. The chief employments for the labouring classes are, the iron-works in the neighbourhood; the stocking manufacture; the potteries; a carpet manufactory; and the making of shoes*. Yours, &c.

N. R. S.

REMARKS PHILOSOPHICAL AND LITERARY.

THE

(Continued from p. 400.) HE feelings or the convictions of various contemporary Critics may induce them to reply in the negative, but it may on the other hand be fairly assumed, that a contemporary age, however distinguished by talent or discernment, affords not a criterion for judging of the future fame of a living Poet. It may be assumed to be pretty much the same in the department of Poetry as in that of History; and here, when the generation who were themselves the actors or the spectators in the great drama of political, moral, and social life which is transacting before the eyes of mankind shall have passed away, and given place to a new race of successors, who shall look back upon the past age only as upon that

*The above particulars, are chiefly abridged from vol. III. of the "Beauties of England and Wales."

a

portion of time, which once existed in the views and apprehensions of men, approximating the nearest to their own, when the eyes of posterity shall, divested of all ephemeral influence, upon the mere strength of reason alone, judge, discriminate, compare, and combine,-then will History, under the hands of a writer competent to view with comprehensive eye its various parts, and draw the proper corollaries,— assume higher philosophical importance. So it is in Poetry, when all the petty jealousies, antipathies, and considerations of personal attachment and of party motives shall have died away, and the occasions be forgotten, then, and then only, perhaps, will the merits of many be determined who are to occupy a place in the bright hemisphere of our native genius. Many things which have, in a present æra, excited high enthusiasm, and often unqualified praises, may, it is possible, in a future, be thought, by a rigid and discriminating posterity, to merit only a cold neglect, and the flattering testimonials be imputed to little more than a fortunate concurrence of adventitious circumstances, not altogether dictated by the genuine warmth of heartfelt sentiments, or the pure emanations of a judgment sound by nature, and enlarged by habits of reading and reflection."

Such, may we suppose to be the style in which the opinion of certain Critics would probably flow, of the propriety of which others, and not themselves, must be admitted to judge.

Poetry, as it now exists in our island, presents perhaps a more diversified aspect than at any former period. The wide licence which the genius and mixed character of our language affords, has ever served to legalize combinations the most dissimilar, sometimes the most inharmo nious,-which variety and discordance certainly prevails in the present day to un unlimited extent.

Amidst however the wide miscellany which, dedicated to the Muses, weekly, monthly, and annually has, during the 19th century, issued from the Press, the general predilections in favour of rhimes, whatever be the subjects or the nature of the verse, seems pretty conspicuous. The approbation, likewise, which they have

obtained

1

obtained among all classes of readers, as being more peculiarly adapted to the beauty and idiom of the English language, may be inferred from the decided success and patronage which have attended productions in which they have been employed ;-as, on the other haud, from the flat and languid complexion which has been shed over the compositions of some authors, who have adopted this measure, Blank verse has exhibited an aspect of inferiority which is not its genuine characteristic. The frequent and indiscriminate adoption of rhimes, however, may be thought not on the whole auspicious to the vigour, dig. nity, and elevation of the aspirings of genius, in a future age. It may obviously be thought, to perpetuate, among others, a wish too blindly to emulate the style of models which has been perceived to raise its votaries to distinguished reputation and favour, and from the unprecedented avidity which productions of a certain school have been sought after, such emulation is not likely, in its operation, to be confined to a narrow sphere.

Diversified opinions, however, upon the merits and propriety of rhimes, as a vehicle in Poetry of imparting pleasure, have always existed among speculative Critics, certain writers have taught that rhimed verse is the Arue and genuine form of metrical composition, as opposed to those who talk of the expediency or eligibility of blank verse. Authorities may be adduced on either side, but whilst we find some who have investigated these topics of the true source of metrical harmony and beauty,-opposing others advocating the cause of rhimes, we may suppose most of them to be actuated, each by a secret bias or predilection in favour of the one or the other, more than from any conviction of their abstract claims of superiority. One or two of these authorities may be not improperly noticed, as they serve to show that such influences may be supposed to guide those who are respectively in the habit of giving their attention, or have attained any decided excel

lence to the one or the other.

Johnson's predilections in favour of rhime were uniform and strong. Whoever has attentively studied his various Criticisms in his Lives of the

English Poets, and elsewhere, must be no stranger to his opinions in this respect. Whenever the subjects of his Poetical disquisitions affords him opportunity for displaying it, this preference or this prejudice is plainly discernible, so much so indeed that from the nature of some of his remarks we are almost inclined to think that he does not willingly award the palm of beauty or of merit to those performances which do not chime in the regular couplet. Inheriting a fondness for the smoothness, harmonious cadence and modulation, and alternate pauses of rhimed measure, his ear could not endure the irregu lar and abrupt pause, and the wide and unbounded licence, which the flowing nature of blank verse affords to the excursions of fancy, or the expression of passion.

If Johnson, an authority of such weight, dignity, and authority, as to command attention and respect, if it does not insure conviction upon the strength of his arguments, seems almost to consider the essentials of Poetry to be involved in its metre; the classical taste of another authority declares himself of opinions widely opposite, and not only recommends blank verse in Epic and Tragic Poetry, but sanctions its use in all compositions of any dignity. He, on the other hand, considers rhime as only adapted to the subordinate offices of metrical composition, had it not been immortalized in the works of Dryden and Pope. His sentiments on these points may be comprehensively deduced from the following remarks.

"The strongest demonstration," says Dr. Young, in his very judicious Conjectures on Original Composition,'" of Dryden's false taste for the buskin are his tragedies fringed with rhime, which in Epic Poetry is a sore disease, in Tragic is an absolute death. To Dryden's enormity Pope's was a light offence. As lacemen are foes to mourning, these two authors, rich. in rhime, were no great friends to those solemn ornaments which the noble nature required. Must rhime, then," he continues, "be banished? I wish the nature of our language would bear its entire expulsion,-but our lesser Poetry stands in need of a toleration for it,-it raises that, but sinks the greater, as spangles adorn children, but expose men,'

That

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