Abbildungen der Seite
PDF
EPUB
[ocr errors]
[graphic]
[ocr errors]

3. PORTISHAM CHURCH, DORSET.

Mr. URBAN,

Clay-hill, Feb. 8.

following may require fome explana

RODDEN CHAPEL, a rough tion.

fketch of which is here fent, Plate

Jafpar, Melchior, Baltafar, are the fuppofed names of the three kings of Colen, imagined to be the Magi who prefented offerings to Chrift: avanyzapta I leave to exercise the genius of your numerous learned correfpondents; tetragrammaton was a word first used by the Greeks to exprefs the name of God, because in moft of the antient languages it confifts of four letters, as

I. is fituated on the borders of Somerset and Wilts, between Frome and Warminster. It can boaft of nothing particularly interesting, either in appearance or antiquity. Ecclefiaftically confidered, it is a chapelry to Boynton, in Wiltshire, diftant 15 miles; and was built at the expence of the tything, about the year 1640, by the then rector of Boynton, purfuant to an order, ds, Deus. This ftrange afobtained of the Archbishop of Canterbu- femblage was intended to form an ry, by fome perfons unknown; to which amulet, or charm, for the protection the rector annexed the chancel. and profperity of the wearer.

E.

Mr. URBAN, Coventry, Dec. 14. THE HE inclofed drawing (fig. 2.) is a faithful reprefentation of a maffy gold ring, which about a month fince was dug up in the park adjoining this city. It weighs 1oz. 13dwts. and prefents a striking picture of the wealth, while it exhibits an union of the religion and fuperftition of the period when it was made; which, from the form of the letters and other circumftances, I am inclined to think was about the time of Henry VI. the era when Coventry was at its greatest splendour and confequence.

In the centre compartment is Chrift rifing from the fepulchre; behind are feen the nails, fpear, fpunge, and various emblems of his paffion. The ring is divided into three other compartments by reprefentations of the five wounds of Chrift, which (as well as the drops of blood iffuing from each) are enameled red, to heighten the refemblance. To every wound is an appropriate motto: thus to the first two; The well of pitty.

The well of merci..

To the two next;

The well of comfort.

The well of gracy.

Mr. URBAN,

THER

Jan. 24.

Σο

HE inclofed drawing, which reprefents the South fide of Portifham church, in the county of Dorfet, was prefented to me a fhort time ago; and, thinking you might poffibly deem it worth engraving, I have tranfmitted it to you.

Having never been in Dorfetshire, I have to regret the impoffibility of accompanying the drawing with an original defcription. I had therefore recourfe to Hutchins, from whofe Hiftory of the County the following ac count is principally extracted.

Portifham, or, as it is vulgarly called, Poffam, is fituated in a valley feven miles from Dorchester, and two from Abbotsbury, in the Hundred of Uggef combe. It was given by Canute to Orcus, who at his death bestowed it on the monaftery of Abbotsbury. At the diffolution the manor and rectory were granted to William Paulet, Lord St. John. The church is a handfome antient fabric, confifting of a nave, chancel, and two fide ailes, which extend only from the chancel to the porch. At the Weft end is a lofty fquare tower, ornamented with battlements and pinnacles, and containing three bells.

and to the fingle large wound, intend- The living is a vicarage, worth about

ed for that in his fide,

The well of everlastingh lyffe. Within the ring is this infcription: Mulnera quinq' dei funt medicina mei pia

Crux et pafsio r’pi funt medicina michi Jalpar Melchior baltalar avanyzapta tetragrammaton.

the analogy of which, to michi inclufive, is very obvious; but the words GENT. MAG. June, 1809.

70 pounds per annum, in the patronage of Jofeph Hardy, efq. and has a parfonage adjoining the church.

This parish contains an antient cromlech, called by the vulgar Hell-flone. In the year 1768, in digging the foundation of a granary, an antient pair of brazen fnuffers weighing fix ounces was found; and in the year 1750 a cu rious old ring was, difcovered in a gar den; both of which are engraved in Hutchins.

H. S.

Mr.

I

Mr. URBAN,

May 27. WAS perufing Mant's Edition of T. Warton's Poetical Works, when the obfervations of one of your last month's correfpondents fell into my hands. I own that I felt the fame regret which he did, when I found that Mr. Mant had retailed fome trifling College anecdotes in fo refpectable a performance. I was refident in Oxford at the time Mr. Warton was near the meridian of his fame. Such anecdotes I certainly have heard; but they were regarded, if confidered as true at all, as little peculiarities in a very worthy character.

But I thould not have troubled you with thefe lines, if I did not think that I had fomething to add more worthy of your readers' acceptance. No moral or. religious poem has been given amongti Mr. T. Warton's poetry. Mr. Mant, I think, fays no fuch has been fonnd. When I was a young man, and refiding in the Univerfity, a friend and contemporary of Mr. Warton's gave me the copy of verles, which I fubjoin, as his production. I have never feen them in print; and have every reafon to believe, from the refpectable channel through which it came, that this was a juvenile compofition of the late poet-laureate.

THOUGHTS ON NEW YEAR'S Day.
Of time, and months, and fleeting years
Unconscious, we purfue

Th' ideal phantom, happiness,
In feeking fomething new.
Pregnant with jôy, yon blushing,dawn
Fresh transport seems to give;
Whilst man, for noblett purpose born,
Vain man forgets to live.

Think not, ye fair! the rifing year

Aught novel can bestow;
Life's but at beft a checquer'd (cene

Of pageantry and woe.

And whilft this bufy maze we tread,
Tho' both alternate reign,
Yet think, how tranßent is our blifs!
How permanent our pain!

Ye jocund (wains, who fondly hope
For many years in ftore,
Live, as you wish that you had liv'd,
• When time thail be no more.

With critic eye each year review
Past levities of youth;

And confecrate the future bour

To penitence and truth.
Correct whate'er obitu&s.the way
To Son's bleft abode :
No more adopt the fenfual plan,
But be the man of God.

Say, have you with a lenient hand
E'er footh'd the orphan's moan?
Or have you made by sympathy
The widow's tear your own?
Have you from penury and pain
E'er wip'd the filent tear?
Or have you once reflected why
Th' Almighty fent you here?
With tranfport then no more await
But, to be bleft, amend the past,
Yon bright revolving fun:

If aught is yet undone;
Before the folemn trumpet founde

From vain delufions free,
Before the bubble burits, and time
Sinks in eternity.
Yours, &c.

J. B.

Mr.URBAN, Near Gainfbrough, June 4.
AS you have been fo obliging as to

proffer me your affifiance in lay-
in the five Tracts I have lately pub-
ing the practical information, contained
I haften to avail myfelf of it. Indeed,
lifhed, before your numerous readers,
as every day's experience adds to my
conviction of the importance of thofe
bly urged to take this more fpeedy and
communications, I feel myself irresisti-
effectual way of rendering them public,
rather than wait for their diffemination

by the fale of the Tracts themfelves.

The firft Tract is on Malignant Scarlet Fever and Sore Throat. Ifhall pass over the preface, as confifting chiefly of flight remarks on the mifiaken principles on which the modern practice of inèdicine is founded; and thall confine myfelf to facts, and to what is prac tical.

Early in 1801 the Scarlet Fever appeared in this neighbourhood. It foon became prevalent; and, in the courie of the enfuing fummer, its ravages bevery general throughout the

came

kingdom.

I fhall not be particular in the enumeration of its various fymptoms; it will be fufficient to fay, that fever, fwelling, and inflammation of the throat, and efflorefcence, or final red eruptions ou the ikin, were the moft general attendants. In fome cafes the fever was moderate; in others violent, with great anxiety. In fome the inflammation of the throat was merely troublesome; in general, however, it was fo great as to produce danger and extreme diftress, and not unfrequently became ulcerated. The eruption too was common; but not an invariable concomitant. Thefe were the leading.

and

[ocr errors]

and more characteristic fymptoms. Children and young people were chiefly affected. Numbers were feized; many died; fome were taken off rapidly; and a general dread prevailed.

I foon had abundant opportunities of trying the modes of treatment taught in the fchools, and recommended by authors; but was foon fully convinced, that nothing which I had employed had been of any real fervice whatever, although every thing I had heard of had been reforted to.

As the diforder was rapidly spreading at the very moment when that humiliating conviction poffeffed my mind, and the victims of the difeafe became daily more numerous; I thought mylelf fully authorized to deviate from the opinions of others, and to adopt my own ideas upon the fubject. The volatile alkali I had propofed, in my own mind, as adapted to the disease; and I determined to have recourfe to it. At the very moment of this determination, meflengers arrived to inform me that two of my patients were hourly becoming worfe; and to requeft more efficacious and immediate afliftance. I gave the volatile alkali, in folution, to each, although raging with fever and delirium ;-twas evening. The next morning's report was that both were aftonishingly better, cool, collected, and every way relieved! In fhort, they speedily recovered; and the volatile alkali became my grand remedy in every cafe, and every fymptom of the difeafe; and completely fucceeded in between two and three hundred patients, with the lofs of only two infants, who were declared hopeless before any attempt was made to give the medicine. Since that publication I could greatly extend the litt; and have the happiness to add, that, by accounts from different quarters, I am informed, that the remedy has been given in numbers of cafes with the greateti fuccefs. It has been found not less efficacious, given in the manner directed in your Magazine for April, in the prefent epidemic, or catarrhal fever, in a great variety of cafes. 1 am ftrongly inclined to think the volatile alkali would prove the most powerful of all remedies in the plague and if it would not (occafionally conjoined with certain metallic oxyds, or opium,) prove an efficacious remedy in the Yellow fever; this I know, that in fevers of eertain deferiptions it is pre-eminent,

[ocr errors]

and therefore deferves a trial in both thofe deftructive diforders.

The general method of administering the remedy to adults is, to diffolve fix grains of mild or common volatile alkali in two drachms, or two tea-fpoonsfull of water, for one dofe; to be repeated every two hours till the violence of the diforder be fubdued. In ftrong conflitutions and very violent cafes, it may be given at first every hour for a few dofes; then every two, four, or fix hours, as circumftances may feem to require. If the throat be feverely affected, and fwallowing extremely difficult, the fix grains of volatile alkali may be diffolved in one tea-fpoonful of water, and given without further dilution; and it may be applied outwardly, if agreeable, of the fame firength; or may be fhaken into a liniment with a little fweet oil, and externally applied.

As one drachm of volatile alkali contains fixty grains, of course it will make ten dofes. If that quantity be diffolved in twenty tea-fpoonsful of water, two tea-fpoonsful will be a dose; but, if it be neceflary, it may be dif folved in only ten tea-fpoopsful; when one tea-fpoonful will be a proper quantity to be taken at once.

In delicate confiitutions, younger fubjects, and flight cafes, the dofes may be leffened; in infants and young children they must be reduced to half a a grain, or a grain, according to firength and age. A little fugar, or fvrup, may be added if agreeable; or the volatile alkali may be diffolved in a flight infufion of anifeeds, to cover its talle. Should the bowels require an opening medicine, a little rhubarb, common aloëtic pill, or infufion of fena, may be given; or, in fome cafes, calomel.

In fome few iniiances, after the inflammatory flate has been fubdued by the medicine, a watchfulness with mental agitation and delirium, with little or no fever, will occur. Every cafe of this kind which I have met with has readily yielded to the addition of a moderate dofe of opium, or laudanum, repeated as the agitation might require. Sometimes once, and in other cafes twice or thrice a day; increafing or leflening the dofes according to their effects. Acids of every kind, throughout the difeafe, to be avoided.

Having thus laid down the general mode of treatment, I fhall not intrude further upon your goodness, at préfent,

by

« ZurückWeiter »