and is followed by that from the room wherein the ftoves are placed, paffing through the apertures in the fire-places; fo that a fufficient current or draft being obtained, the fmoke is led to país downwards, contrary to its natural tendency, as liquids will rife and pafs upwards through a fiphon, and from the fame caufe. I cannot difmifs the subject without obferving, that an attention to the principle may lead to more effectual remedies for the fmoking of common chimnies, and that, by means of this improvement, churches, and other public Buildings, may be fupplied with plea fant and wholefome warmth; that the architect, thus relieved from the neceffity of providing fire-places and chimnies on the feveral fides of a building, will often be enabled to make a more convenient appropriation of the feveral parts to the ufes intended, and may fometimes find himfelf more at liberty to pursue the fuggeftions of his imagination in the nobler objects of his art, the attainment of graceful fimplicity, and the display of unincumbered space. Yours, &c. G. N. B. One of thefe ftoves is placed in the Phoenix Fire-office, Lombard ftrect, where it anfwers in every the molt perfect degree. Explanation of Plate II. Fig. 1. A, the bafe or foundation. C, circular hearth. D, the fub-plinth or bed-ftone. gg, the courfe of the flue and chimney. b, an iron door; for the ufe of which fee the defcription annexed, Fig. 2. The bafe plate, of caft-iron. a a, the ashes-pits. bb, the flues, feparated from cach other. cece, holes for the paffage of air from the cellar; which, after becoming heated in the cavities of the ftove, is difcharged at the feveral parts marked dddd. Fig. 3. The bed-tone, ii, the aperture for the flues. k, four holes to admit air from the cellar into the cavitous parts of the ftove. Mr. URBAN, Leeds, March 2. AS S many ingenious conjectures have been fome time ago, and very lately, offered, refpealing the true reading of the monaftic feal which has belonged to an hofpital dedicated to the Virgin Mary, and hitherto supposed to have been fituate at a place called Nouthun; and what the initial letter of the name of the place really is being the fole matter in doubt, and which can be determined only by an accurate infpection of the original feal; it becomes, therefore, incumbent upon the poffeffor of it to communicate fuch information as may clear up that doubt, and which, it is hoped, the following remarks will not fail to do. On looking back to vol. LVI. p. 1107, where your correfpondent W. & D. fuppofes that the initial letter might not be N but B, and the fmall joining ftrokes in the center and bottom parts of the B might have been fo much worn in fo old a feal as to have escaped the obfervation of the delineator, I was induced to take off a very fair impreffion of the feal; and upon accurately examining it, and comparing fuch initial letter of the name of the place with the B in the word BEATE of the infcription, the first letter of the former appears evidently to be a B, the ftrokes at the top and bottom, and a small one in the center, of the B, and alfo a rotundity at the top and bottom of it, being yet vifible. The infcription upon the feal (fee pl. II. fig. 4) undoubtedly is S'HOSPI TALIS BEATE MARIE DE BOVTHVN, and carries with it the higheft probability of having once belonged to one of the two hofpitals in the fuburbs of the city of York, which bore the name of Boutham, both being dedicated to St. Mary according to Tanner. Yours, &c. A. B. Mr. URBAN, Uttoxeter, Feb. 21. I HAVE fent you a drawing of the remains of a brafs, or mixed metal, veffel, which was brought to me on the 14th of February laft, and was found by a labourer the day before, in digging upon a common belonging to the parish of Uttoxeter in Staffordshire, which had never before been cultivated, and which is now inclosing in confequence of an act of parliament, for the purpose of aiding the poors rates, which are very high here. (See pl. II. fig. 5). The common where the veffel was found is cailed the High Wood; there is a very remarkable eminence upon it, which goes by the name of Toot Hill, fuppofed to be a tumulus, and is upon the very highest part of the common, and is confpicuous at many miles dif tance. tance. All the bottom part of the veffel, of which this drawing is an exact copy, is corroded away by time; and as the Romans, when they conquered England, had several stations in this neighbourhood, I fuppofe it to have been a veffel in ufe among them, and confequently to be of very remote antiquity; and I am the more confirmed in my fuppofition, as it has a very near refemblance to a Roman veffel defcribed in the third volume of Montfaucon's Antiquities, by Humpherys, and of which there is a figure in Plate 24, No. 9. According to the account there given of fuch veffels, I fuppofe it to be an epichyfis for bringing wine to the table; or, perhaps, it was appropriated for their facrifices. The measure, over the top, is three inches and a half from the lip to the handle, and the handle is five inches to the top of the bended part. The metal feems to have been covered over, both infide and outfide, with a hard and smooth enamel, where it is not corroded or chipped off, and to have been of a grey colour. The handie feems to have been richly gilt with gold; and the labourer who found it was exceedingly elated, expecting that the whole had been of that precious me tal, and was very much difappointed when it proved to be only brafs. Whether the veffel is what the Romans called a feria, guttus or epichyfis, I fhall leave to the more learned Antiquaries to determine. I wished very much to have procured it, to have fent it to Mr. Green of Lichfield; but, after I had feen it, and made this drawing, it was fetched from me fo often, to have the quality of the metal tried by different people, and was fo mutilated by filing, fcraping, and hammering, that it was quite fpoiled for a curiosity. The common called the High Wood, about 130 years ago all covered, a few places except with timber trees and underwood; at all of it has been long cleared away. There is a very old mansion-houfe on the fide of the common, which, from time immemo rial, has been the feat of a family of the name of Minors; which family, according to Dr. Lightfoot, who made a furvey of the parish about the year 1658, had very great landed property in the parish. There are now fome remains of the great eftate lying near the house; and the prefent owner of it is ftill of the name of Minors. The family muft formerly have been of very great diftinc tion, as they had a chapel on the South fide of the parish church in Uttoxeter; where, I fuppofe, a mass-prieft was appointed to fay mafs for the family; and it is ftill the family burying-place. I fhall be much obliged to you to infert the above account, with the drawing, the first opportunity. I may, perhaps, in a little time, fend you fome extracts from the Uttoxeter parish-books during the time of Oliver's ufurpation, as they were regulated and arranged by Dr. Lightfoot. S. BENTLEY. Mr. URBAN, Gloucefier, March 1. feems gaining ground in this kingdom, in oppofition to the interested views of thofe who are concerned in that infamous traffic; every perfon who wishes well to the general good of mankind will chearfully ftep forward on the occafion, and contribute all he can to put an end to the fufferings of fo large a portion of the human race. This is a pious duty we owe to our Creator, the common parent of mankind; to the feelings of our own hearts, which forbid us to be happy at the expence of the unfortunate; and to our fellow-creatures, who are entitled, equally with ourselves, to every bleffing enjoyed on earth. In obedience to this call of humanity, I beg room in your useful Magazine, Mr. Urban, for the reflections of an individual, who abhors the idea of flavery, and fecs with fhame a combination formed by interested perfons in this country of freedom to perpetuate a kind of tyranny hitherto unheardof in the annals of hiftory. The remark I believe is true, Sir, though highly degrading to mankind, that tyranny is no where exercifed with fuch feverity as among a free people. The Romans, under the commonwealth, were extremely fevere to their flaves. Inftances of their unbounded cruelty are every where to be met with in their authors. Even Cato, the rigid obferver of virtue, laid it down as a maxim, that, when a flave was advanced in years, he ought to be fold. If we turn our eyes to Greece, the nurse of liberty, of patriots, and heroes, we fee the fame cruelty to flaves, attended in fome states by circumstances peculiarly difgraceful to the human fpecies. Who can read of the abject condition of the Helotes at Sparta without indignation? are you not shocked when you find the Roman emperors, emperors, the tyrants of the world, cndeavouring to moderate this ferocious fpirit of tyranny in their fubjects, and enacting laws to mitigate its violence? I wish to know what Mrs. Macaulay, the enthufiaftic admirer of " thofe illuftrious nations" (Greece and Rome), and of their "divine precepts," can fay in defence of this horrid cuflom, a custom no where carried to greater lengths than in thofe republics. It was not till Christianity influenced the manners of inen, and introduced a fpirit of mildnefs and juftice in our dealings with o thers, that flavery received its firft check. Civilization, or rather the reflection of Chriftianity upon the human mind, fhewed flavery in its true colours, and taught us to pay a proper refpect to our fpecies. It was at length totally abolished in Europe; and would to Heaven Europe had not revived it again in its traffic with Africa! It is a well known fact, that our flaves in the Weft-Indics receive harther treatment than thofe belonging to the French or Spaniards. All who vifit thole islands are witneffes of the unrelenting barbarity and Aatic defpotifm of our planters on the one hand, and of the fufferings and fullen refentment of their flaves, who are ever ready to take an opportunity of revenge, on the other. But, in the French iflands, we find the flaves of a different temper. In time of war, they in general unite cordially with their matters in defence of their poßeffions, and have often given proofs of their courage and fidelity. This difference in the negroes we muft neceffarily attribute to the different behaviour of the mafters. But then, how can we otherwife account for this difference of behaviour in the matters, than by fuppofing the truth of the re-. mark abovementioned, that tyranny is exercifed by none with fo-much feverity as by a free people? We know, Sir, that our Legislature, with an attention that does them honour, has interfered in behalf of thofe unfortunate men, and enacted the most falutary law, to mitigate their fufferings. But, alas! what are laws in the hands of thofe whofe intereft it is to pervert them, and who are at too great a diftance from the mother-country for punishment! They are like the dictates of confcience, binding only on the good, but poffeting no power over the wicked, Before flavery was abolished in Europe, aws were multiphed in vain to prevent the evils refulting from it, and our fore. fathers found a neceffity of utterly abolifhing a custom which feems to bring an infeparable curfe with it. Let us then no longer with, by partial and inadequate remedies, to palliate an evil which the wisdom and experience of nations could not remove, and which has not been leffened by the many laws already enacted by our Legislature; laws which only ferve to aggravate the diftrefs of the fufferers, by holding out to them a relief they are not permitted to enjoy. Such has been the fate of the oppreffed in all ages, and fuch it will ever be. It is therefore my opinion, Sir, an opinion I give as an individual of a free nation, that no partial remedies are to be adopted in behalf of flavery; that we muft either leave our African brethren to their prefent unhappy fate, or totally abolith a practice which is an infult on humanity. We have a noble example fet us by the Quakers of America, who have made it the firft-fruit- offerings of their independance. Let us call upon our Legislature to adopt their example, and to declare flavery inconfiftent with the laws of England, and the spirit of Christianity. Some inconveniencies will at firft arife; but, when they are removed by the wifdom of Parliament, and the perfeverance of the nation, we fhall find ourfelves happy in having compleated a regulation which the other European nations will neceffarily adopt. Mr. URBAN, OU Bath, Feb. 5. You have given two inftances of the fagacity, confidence (or, what fhall I call it?) of birds. Let me, there fore, give you one inftance of the tendernefs, I was about to fay humanity, of a raven. He lives, or did live three years fince, at the Red Lion at Hungerford; his name, I think, is Rafe. You must know then, that, coming into that inn, my chaife run over, or bruifed, the leg of my Newfoundland dog; and, while we were examining the injury done to the dog's foot, Rafe was evidently a concerned fpe&ator; for, the minute the dog was tied up under the manger with my horfes, Rafe not only vifited, but fetched him bones, and attended upon him with particular and repeated marks of kindness. The bird's notice of the dog was fo marked, that I obferved it to the hoftler, for I had not heard a word before of the hiftory of this benevolent creature. John then told me, that he had been bred from Humanity of a Raven.-Labour and Solitude ufefully conjoined. 213 his pin-feather in intimacy with a dog; that the affection between them was mutual; and that all the neighbourhood had often been witneffes of the innumerable acts of kindness they had conferred upon each other. Rafe's poor dog, after a while, unfortunately broke his leg, and, during the long time, he was confined, Rafe waited upon him conftantly, carried him his provifions daily, and never fcarce left him alone! One night, by accident, the hoftler had fhut the ftable door, and Rafe was deprived of the company of his friend the whole night; but the hoftler found in the morning the bottom of the door fo pecked away, that, had it not been opened, Rafe would, in another hour, have made his own entrance-port. then enquired of my landlady (a fenI fible woman), and heard what I have related confirmed by her, with feveral other fingular traits of the kindneffes this bird fhews to all dogs in general, but par ticularly to maimed or wounded ones * ; but having committed thefe particulars to paper, and fent them for publication in the St. James's Chronicle +, I have forgotten them. I hope and believe, however, the bird is ftill living; and the traveller will find I have not overrated this wonderful bird's merit. In my next, I will give you fome account of a real Nervfoundland dog, once my property; for, though I know it will be deemed a long bow-firing, I had rather be fufpected of fuch a ftretch, than omit to repeat what I faw, and what I verily believe my brother faw. P. T. Mr. URBAN, March 3. AGRICOLA, p. 104, has juftly obferved, that places of punishment upon a small scale have been adopted, where labour and folitude have broken the fpirits of the moft ferocious; and, on the authority of Mr. Howard, he might have added, that the plan has been purfued with fuccefs upon a large fcale. For the Prifoner's Friend, in his defcription of la Maifon de Force in Ghent, which was not half finished, thus expreffes himfelf: "I was prefent during the whole time the men criminals were at dinner. This company of near 190 ftout criminals was governed * Rafe has been a widow or winower fome years. To my great furprize, it was not inferted in that paper. I fuppofe it was not credited; but my name is at the fervice of the doubtful. with as much apparent ease as the most the metropolis of this kingdom, where No better opportunity could Mr. URBAN, W. & D. March 1. IT has often been matter of furprize to me, that no nation, either European or remote, with which I am acquainted, or of which I have heard, feemingly obvious and convenient mode has fallen upon, or adopted, the most of establishing its current coinage, that is, by decimals; and I confefs it would give me much pleasure to fee my own particulars, to a regulation which is at country fet the lead in this, as in other once confonant to reafon, and very highly convenient to all ranks of people. guinea (fhould it be thought proper not The plan I would propofe is, that the the value of, and pafs for, twenty fhilto change that appellation) fhould be of lings; and ten pence, inftead of twelve, make one filling. How greatly would this eafy alteration facilitate and finplify accounts and payments, without being, as 1 conceive, fubject to a single objection convenience too of afcertaining, and It would have the further being the caule of re-coining, all the piefent coinage there are, I believe, fpecie in circulation (aud against the even be made the means of annihilating fome juft objections). Nay, it might that fo general and unfair practice of clipping 1 clipping the coin, to which all endeavours have hitherto proved ineffectual, by Government at the fame time eftablishing an exact money-balance by authority, on which fuch a tax or price might be fixed as would bring in a con fiderable fum for the ufe of the state (fuppofe, for inftance, half-a-guinea each). Every man would find it his intereft to be provided with one of thefe; and, as by this precaution no light money would be received, thofe who practite the clipping it would find it extremely difficult, if not impoffible, to iffue any. In perufing M. Buffon's Natural Hif. tory, which does so much honour to literature, and to his country in particular, and is undoubtedly compiled from the beft authorities then extant, I obferve that, under the article elephant, he expreffes it to be undecided in what manner the young one fucks the mother, whether with the trunk, as the fpecies undoubtedly always drink, or as the young of other animals, with the mouth but he decidedly gives his opinjon, that the former one will be known to be the way whenever opportunity fhall offer to afcertain it; for which he affigns fuch reafons as experience only can fhew are ill-founded It is most certain, however, that this able naturalift is mistaken in his theory on this ́point; and that the young elephant does not fuck its mother with the trunk, and convey the milk to the mouth, as it does all other food, but that it draws the milk with its mouth, in the fame manner a calf or a foal does; of which many Europeans, beide myfelf, have had ocular demonftration. Much has been faid of late, and I fear with too much reafon, of the very uncomfortable, and even difgraceful, circumftances, of many of our inferior clergy. For if the fituation of a clergyman be not fuch as to make him refpectable in the eyes of his parishioners, little attention will be paid either to his example or his doctrine. It is a fubject which requires vettigation and correction as much, perhaps, as any which concerns fociety; and cannot be too early taken up and redreffed by thofe poffeffed of the power, both for their own honour, and the comfort of a very laborious and deferving body of gentle men, from whofe example we expect a good influence on the inorals of thofe committed to their charge. I am concerned to have caufe to add, that there is alfo fome room for reform both in the conduct and appearance of too many modern priests. In their drefs they imitate the laity, and of thofe not the moft refpectable order, as far as they can, and further than they ought, till they become ridiculous in themselves, and the laughing-ftock of others; and it has been the obfervation of scores, who frequent watering-places, and other scenes of diffipation, that the num ber of clergymen always to be found there is enormous and difgraceful, as it can only happen through the neglect of their clerical duties And to this circumftance, Mr. Urban, may, I fear, be chiefly owing the great falling-off in the attendance on the established church, and the vaft increase of fectaries, whose paftors, both by precept and example, enforce thofe duties with unremitting zeal, which ours feem happy to escape from the trouble of. In a former letter I took the liberty of fuggefting two new taxes, which I believed would bring in a confiderable revenue to the ftate, without affecting the conveniencies of life, ftrictly speaking, or the circumstances of the poor. It feems pretty evident too, that the prefent taxes on perfumery, hats, gloves, and receipts, are fhamefully evaded. It is to be hoped that fome regulations to prevent this may be fpeedily established. Yours, &c. R. R. E. Mr. URBAN, March 5. WHILST we contemplate with peculiar pleasure thofe periods of history which have been most enlightened with the beams of fcience, we may, with higher fatisfaction, reflect upon the effects of that more perfect ftate of knowledge, and general spirit of liberal fentiment, which is the characteristic of the prefent age. Knowledge, which was long confined to few, is now univerfally diffufed, and is not loft in empty fpeculation, but operates upon the heart, and ftimulates more active and new modes of benevolence. To alleviate the forrows, to ease the burthens of the oppreffed, and to procure for men the rights of men, are objects attempted by various methods; and fuch diftinguished efforts of benevolence, fo active, fo intelligent, and fo intrepid, as now excite the admiration and wonder of the world, exhibited in our immortal countryman, Mr. Howard, will not long be folitary inftances. In his endeavours is, however, feen an uncommon |