Charater of Mrs. Hanway.-Bishops of London and Norwich, 105 law-giver, who, in the mist of punishment, preferves the life, and improves the morals, of the offender. Yours, &c. Mr. URBAN, AGRICOLA. Feb. 1. MR. Pugh, in his Life of Jonas Han way, has mentioned that gentleman's fifter-in-law, Mifs Anne Stowe (afterwards married to Capt. Hanway), as retaining her beauty till her death, at the age of fixty; but he has not informed his reader who this lady was. I beg leave, through the channel of your Magazine, to fupply this defect. Mifs Stowe was the daughter of Thomas Stowe, Efq; of Newark upon Trent, a gentleman in the commiffion of the peace for the county of Nottingham. His family was of Newton, in Lincolnshire. Mrs. Hanway was indeed beautiful, and the best-shaped woman I ever faw; but the was confcious of this, and the ornaments of her mind were not fplendid.She died of the fmall-pox; and when her brother, Mr. Jonas Hanway, vifited her in her laft illness, the spoke with the moft feeling regret of the lofs of that beauty which he had retained till fo late a period. The following lines were written by a clergyman of Lincolnshire : "Ye fair, who would the palm of beauty gain, Ye practife fmiles, and roll your eyes in vain: Vanquish'd, each blooming nymph must quit the field, And ev'n the fairest of the fair-ones yield Mr. URBAN, PROCULUS. Feb. 8. I am not mistaken in the perfon who is confidered, as I am informed it is, in his diocefe: and, if not, it is certainly in his Grace's province. I have likewife been informed, that the prefent Bishop of Norwich conftantly refides in his diocefe, even during the feffion of Parliament, to which he feldom attends. It would have been more candid, if F. P. had enquired a little more accurately about this matter, before he had fent it for your infertion. For, though I greatly refpect the memory of that venerable prelate, Bishop Hough, whose character F. P. fo highly and justly extols, yet there was no occafion to do it by reflecting upon the Bishops of the prefent day, unless they actually deserve it. I am as much an advocate as F. P. can be for their conftant refidence upon their respective diocefes; for their keep ing up a conftant and perfonal intercourfe and connection with all their clergy, rectors, vicars, and curates, encouraging their labours in the ministry, and rewarding them accordingly. For furely the parochial ministers of every denomination, when they regularly and faithfully difcharge the duties of their facred function, deferve every regard and attention from their fuperiors both in church and ftate, for their great and public utility to the cause of religion and virtue. I am likewife an advocate for the clergy being promoted to the Epifcopal Bench at rather an earlier period of life than F. P. feems to approve; that, in their full ftrength both of body and mind, they may exert their zeal, and extend their watchfulness and care, over every part of their diocefe, and may live to fee the good effects of their pastoral I figns himfelf F. P. in your laft Mag. influence, both in the clergy and laity over whom they prefide. As Dr. Maddox has been fo many years dead, and had, no doubt, his good qualities, as well as his failings, and as there are fome alive very nearly connec ted with him, it would have been more candid, if F. P. had fpared the mention of his name in the light in which he introduces it. Perfonal reflections should be avoided as illiberal: and, " de mor M. A. tuis nil nifi bonum.” P. 27, it is the fame who was fo unfortunate, fome time ago, as to infert fome errors relative to a stone coffin found among the ruins of Reading abbey. I apprehend he is again in an error, when he afferts, that "the peculiar merit of refiding conftantly on his diocefe cannot be given to any one Bishop of the prefent day." Whenever the Bishops are released from their attendance in Parlia ment, I should hope that this merit may be given to feveral of the Epifcopal Be the Bifhop of London; and to the Market-place at Dover, Beach. But it may be given conftantly HE sketch herewith fent you, of the Archbishop of Canterbury, if Lambeth Mr. URBAN, Feb. 6. may ferve as an agreeable contrast to the feenes of antiquity your Mifcellany very frequently exhibits. [See Plate II.] Yours, &c. CANTIANUS. MA Mr. URBAN, St. Jago de la Vega. A$ S a further proof of what I have advanced in your former volumes (LI. 559. LIII. 1025. LV. 594), have patience with me, while, at this diftance of time, I review fome of those nautical accounts which are given us as proofs of a contrary opinion. And Captain Dampier's fpout within ten leagues of the Celebes, being pretty defcriptive, and moreover the ftrongest of Dr. Franklin's extracts, I fhail take him as the first spec men. I have not as original copy of the Captain's Voy ages; but as I take him up from Dr. Franklin's own extracs [o. 2767, I fhall fuppofe myself fate from mireprefentations. A fpout,' he fays, 'is a ↑ small ragged piece or part of a cloud banging down about a yard, feemingly, from the blackeft part thereof. Commonly it hangs down floping from thence, or fometimes appearing with a small bending or elbow in the middle. I never *faw any perpendicularly down. It is fmall at the lower end, feeming no 'bigger than one's arm, but fill fuller towards the cloud from whence it pre• ceeds. ' under a fpout when it breaks, therefore 6 6 we always endeavour to fhun it, by keeping at a diftance, if poffibly we can. But, for want of wind to carry us away, we are often in great fear and danger, for it is ufually calm when spouts are at work, except only just where they are. Therefore men at fea, when they fee a fpout coming, and know not how to avoid it, do fom:times fire hot out of their great guns into it, to give it air or vent, that fo it may break; but I did never hear that it proved to be of any benefit.' Then telling us of another flory at fecond-hand (the steward of a Guineaman, John Canby), he thus concludes this extract: We are ufually much afraid of them, yet this was the only damage that I ever heard done by them. They feem terrible enough, the rather becaule they come upon you while you lie becalmed, like a log in the fea, and cannot get out of the way. But though I have feen and been befet by them often, yet the fright was always the greatest of the haun.' Dampier, vol. I. p. 451. and every thing, both aloft and below, in fuch ferene quie ule, that the clouds are without motion, and the fhip like a log in the water. The rife therefore, according to Dampier, is not from the fea,-nor from any whirlwind eitherhowever a light driving air might as a confequence tollow. Now from this account we have a fpout's first rife, from a fmall ragged When the furface of the fea begins portion of a cloud, hanging downwards • to work, you shall fee water, for a- from the blackest part of the parent mafs 'bout one hundred paces in circumfe--the cloud from whence it proceedsrence, foam, and move gently round, till the whirling motion increases; and then it flies upwards in a pillar, about one hundred paces in compafs at the bottom, but gradually letfening up wards, to the finallnets of the fpout it felf, through which the ring fea water feems to be conveyed into the • clouds. This vifily appears, by the • clouds increasing in bulk and blacknejs. Then you fhall pret aty fee the cloud • drive along, though before it seemed to be without any motion. The (pout allo keeping the fame coufe with the cloud, and fill fucking up the water as it goes along; and they make a wind as they go. Thus it continues for half an bour, more or lefs, until the fucking is fpent, and then breaking off, all the water which was below the fpout, or pendulous piece of cloud, falls down again into the fea, making a great noite with its falling and clathing motion in the fee. It is very dangerous for a fhip to be * Vol. IV. p. 595, 1. 24. r. 6 a whit ks, &c. + The Italick paffages, through all the following extracts, are thofe which partiular I mean to consider. The projective or foping form he next defcribes them to have, he is pretty right in: and they are fometimes fo landing as to form an arch, bow-like, which fuppole, he means by the elbow in the middle. And which appearance alone were almoft fufficient, without having any other concuring circumftance, to convince an unprejudiced mind, that fuch a fpout cannot be a rifing one,—unles it is fuppofed to rush forth, like a projectile difmitted with extreme power from its agent; which, however it may agree with the notion of pulfion, cau by no means carry any likchefs to a rifing t vacuo. But, that (pouts are never perpendicular, or to appearance fo-an inference which nearly prefents itself by this gentleman, who, having feen fo many, had never feen fuch--would be to us a conclufion too rah: for this Dr. Lindfay on Dr. Franklin's Doctrine of Water-fpouts. 107 this will answer no defcription whatever. If whirlwinds and vacuums, in ftak calms, are the caufes of fpouts, and that fpouts rife, then will they most certainly appear agreeable to that figure given by Dr. Stewart, and from him by Dr. Franklin, perfectly perpendicular, jet-d'eau like and fo furely fo, that I much question if a fhot from a great gun, or any crofs accident, was to let in air, or fet fuch a column as theirs out of the plumb, it would overfet the whole navigation, and the towering fabric tumble fplah, like a boy's houfe of cards, As to the other idea, a falling fpout, the flopings never can be uniform, becaufe they must hang as the varying fituation of the atmosphere will form them: more or lets fo, as the reigning breeze has ftrength, as it is high in the air, or low on the horizon. And, befides thefe, the laws of perfpective will give them different cafts to the curve or perpendi cular, as the eye may be fituated which obferves them-of which more anon. Befides, I fee not (while the atmo fphere otherways may enjoy a profound calm) why an overcharged cloud may not, from fome internal caufe, unperceived, and even unknown by us, burft into a spout. And, if Father Beccaria's electrical hypothefis fhall have any fhare here, viz that electric fire gathers the vapours together, forms clouds with them, and afterwards diffolves them into rain; I fee not why fuch a fall may not be, truly fpeaking, perpendicular, This, I believe, however, is feldom the cafe; for though they happen in calms, they are feldon feen in ftark calms. Sometimes there are light airs below, raised by, and according to, the violent agitation of the rebounding waters, but always fo above, created alfo by that fudden change which muft fo expediti oufly be made in both the figure and denfity of the cloud-making a wind as they go, in Dampier's phrafe-trom all which arife thofe little rakes, flopes, and bendings, which that mariner very properly defcribes them to have. Indeed this very gentle breeze, or fluttering air, is, in my opinion, the very accoucheur of the fpout, if I may fo exprefs myfelf. A cloud fully charged, and equally charged every where, in a perfect calm, will, if the air is unable to fupport the weight, give way every where into a general rain. Again, a cloud fo charged with weight, in an evenly and fmart gale will be broken, difperfed, and driven away, without perhaps the fall of a fingle drop: both which we inhabiting this fultry zone are conftantly experiencing, either to our good, or our lucklefs fortunes. But if a cloud is charged, and hangs in the way of baffling airs from different, perhaps oppofite quarters, perhaps within, perhaps without the cloud, pushing and fqqueczing it, as it were a fponge, into a narrower compals; it may give way, not only in one heavy pour, but in feveral at once of a lighter fall. And this alfo is the caule why fpouts from the fame cloud appear to have different rakes or arches-befides this principal one, which, from the laws of peripective, will always exist, viz. that all being feen in different points, and from one place or fhip's deck, none can be feen in an equal point of view. But, as already obferved, all above must be gentle, to give the effects we feel, and, accordingly, hardly an inftance is to be met with of any thing violent or hurrying, amongst the heavy clouds, during the continuance of a water-fpout, till, growing fpecifically lighter by the vaft difcharge of fluid, they gradually feek upwards for a lighter atmosphere, and fometimes gain alfo a motion onwards; which laft motion, to the eye, will always be the most difcernible. And we may here remark, once for all, that thefe motions must be regulated by the difcharge from the cloud. The motion upwards may be fo flow as not to attract the eye's notice; but fuch a motion must be, and must take place early on the difcharge. That the mo tion onwards muft take its rife alfo by flow degrees, and is not perhaps often very difcernible till a confiderable time after the beginning of the fall. And that, if that driving of the cloud for half an hour, more or lefs, as fome obfervers have mentioned, is with any confiderable velocity or rake, there muft arrive at that time fome extraneous breeze to add to the natural light air. Nor is it unlikely for nothing is fo commonly oblerved with us, in fultry weather, as the long pennated leaves of our lofty palm-trees to have a rustling motion in one tree, when perhaps all near it, and as high as it, remain in folemn quiet. So that, until fome motion onward is thus gained or met with, nothing can hinder a fpout appearing in' perfect perpendicular-and there are alfo fituations in which spouts, which have great rakes and bendings, muft yet appear to hang in perpendicular, although Capt. Dampier might never perhaps have to feen them. T |