for their own amufement or the information of others, do not lav afide enmity and perfonal diflike to each other, and, in mild and decent language, inform each other of any trifling mistake, where it does not tend to establish any fundamental error in enquiry after antiquities, or in fcience. I with Academicus may lay his hand upon his breaft, and in fome future number folemnly fay, that he is a perfect ftranger to Obfervator; that no enmity, nor difference in religious fentiments between them, has influenced his pen; but that a fincere regard to correctness, and a love for the remains of antiquity, has been the fole caufe of his remarks. And, fhould he answer in the affirmative, I hope he will, previous to his making any future ftrictures, for the credit of antique enquiries, and the difcoveries of truth, imitate the example of the moft eminent perfons in fcience, revolve in his mind, and be always prepared to fubscribe to, the following precept: Quæcunque volueritis ut faciant vobis homines, ita et vos facile eis. CONCORDIA. Mr. URBAN, Jan. 2. HAVING been lately at Peterborough, a natural fondnefs for antiquity led me to enquire, if the ftone with an infeription in memory of Floria nus (fee LVI. 1034. LVII. 118) was fill in that neighbourhood. I was lucky enough to view it; but was extremely mortified at feeing the little attention paid to fo rare and valuable a relick. The poffeffor of this monument has placed it against the house, in an obfcure corner of a fmall back-yard, where the dropping of the rain, with the natural dampnefs of the yard, will, I appreherd, in a fhort time obliterate the infcription. It was fo covered and incrufted with dirt and filth, that I was obliged to employ a fervant in cleaning it before I could difcover the infcription. The yard had been newly graveled, and the INVICTO AVGVSTO M. P. L. was abfolutely burid in the foil. I must confefs, I with to efcue this remnant of antiquity from the hands of its prefent poffefior (to whom it can be of no moment), and to place it under the care of a person of more refinement. If this hint thould be the means of faving to valuable a relick from decay, which ferves to elucidate a dark period in hiftory, I fhall feel myfelf highly fortunate; for never let it be faid, that in Britain, where the tudy of antiquity is carried to as great perfection as in any part of Europe, and where relicks are preferved with the greateft avidity, that the only infcription this island affords, and the fecond yet difcovered, to the memory of Florianus, fhould moulder and perish in obfcurity. I fhould be happy to illuftrate the æra of Maiden Cafle, hinted at by a correfpondent of yours, where little or nothing ferves to guide the curious inveftigators. Events of this nature muft in general be hypothetically founded.→ Camden, whofe knowledge as an antiquary ftands unrivalled, has fettled it a fummer station of the Romans; and there are others who have pronounced it Roman, tracing out each part allotted to the refpective legions quartered there, I have paffed it on the Weft road from Dorchefter. It feems a work of great extent; and, if my time would have allowed me to have explored it, I fhould have amply gratified a natural curiofity. From a diftant view, I could judge the ramparts and intrenchments to be im menfe; and, from the great labour and pains taken to fortify it, muft have been what the Romans termed their caftra ftativa. I fee no reason why we may not allow them the merit of it: it is the moft convincing argument, and marks he reflefs and turbulent fpirit of the Britons, better than the pen of the ableft hiftorian.—I need not animadvert to the form of the Roman camp; it has been ably defcribed by hiftorians. It is fufficient to fay, that the figure was fquare, divided into two chief partitions, the upper and lower, the upper, affigned to the General and his chief officers,-the lower to the common foldiers, horfe and foot Maiden Castle bears no affinity to the towns of the Britons at Cafar's arrival.-In his excellent Commentaries, War in Gaul, book v. chap. 8, the English call a thick wood, furrounded with a ditch, and fortified with a rampire, a town. He must have been an eyewitness in what he afferts, and his teftimony, as a faithful hiftorian, cannot be doubted. MILES. The GIANTS AT GUILDHALL, whence originally derived. der from school in holiday feafon. To continue the metaphor; I have difcovered a fountain of knowledge, which has opened my eyes on this occafion, and will, I hope, be ferviceable to all fuch readers as delight in knowing matters not worth knowing. This fpring of fapience, Mr. Urban, is a thin 4to, ycleped, Joannis Gryphiandri J. C. De Weichbildis Saxonicis, five Coloffis Run landinis Urbiam quarundam Saxonica ram, Commentarius, &c. Argentorati, 1666. This work is full of true German learning; and the author fets the patience of the reader at utter defiance, However, upon peeling off the rind of digreffion, and cracking the hell of pedantry, the kernel is pretty good. It appears that tradition, which is always a liar, afcribes thofe coloifal ftatues in the towns of Saxony to Charlemagne, and his fabled nephew Roland. This idea the author demonftrates to be falfe by the moft convincing arguments, and a deal of curious reading. He fhews that towns were unknown in Germany till the tenth century; fo that it is in vain to give thofe giants an earlier date. In confutation, Mr. Urban, no lefs than nearly fixty-five chapters are employed by our pugnacious author. In chapter 66, to our great confolation, after having fhewn what thofe coloffal gentry are not, be condefcends to inform, us who they are. From many authorities he proves that, in the middle ages, a ftone, a crofs, or fome fuch fign, was erected in towns, to denote, 1. the power of hold ing a fair or market; 2. the power of judgement lodged in the magiftrates, and the privilege of the inhabitants to be judged only by their own municipal, or weichbildic, law. These two privi. Jeges were, indeed, the chief diftiuc tions of a burgh or free city. In the time of the Emperor Otho II. or about the year 980, we find that the people of Magdeburg, in gratitude to that Prince, who gave them great privileges, erected a coloffal ftatue to him in the court of judgement. The fame plan was followed by Brandenburg, Bremer, Hal, Northous, Halberstad, &c. &c. Sometimes one, fometimes two, or more, of these statues are found, as the city had one great benefactor or more. Thefe ftatues are feen in the places of judgement, where the coloffal prince feems to prefide. Thefe fiatues came, in time, to be 37 regarded as types of municipal power; and adopted, as would feem, by many cities lately, merely as fymbolic of their privileges, as gigantic genii of the town, and protectors of its freedom and laws. In Germany they are called Weichbilds and Rolands: weich, is a town (wic, Anglo-Sax.); bild, a privileged or fecure place. Of this later kind, Mr. Urban, [ fhould fuppofe the giants at Guildhall; not erected to real perfons, but merely fymbolic patrons of the city, in perfect imitation of the German Weichbilds.. They indeed correspond to the descrip tions of Gryphiander; "nam veftiti erant fagis, et armati longis lanceis, et fubnixi ftabant parvis fcutis, habentes ad renes cultellos longos." But many varieties are found. Of the giants at Guildhall, he on the right as you enter bears the long weapon, and leans on a small shield. The former is the lang bard; of which another kind, ufed in guarding the halls of the great, was called bal-bard, or ballaxe (our halbert). The Lochaber axe of Scotland belongs to the former class. See Pennant's Tour, 1769. The field bears a black eagle, on a field, Or; if I mistake not the arms of Saxony. He on the left has a fword by his fide, and a bow and quiver on his back. In his right he holds a fingular weapon, namely, a pole with a pricked ball fufpended from its top. This weapon éfcapes my memory at prefent; but it is hoped fome of your Antiquarian correfpondents will give information concerning it. I Both giants are in the Roman warlike drefs, and have laurel crowns. know not if the figures in Germany have ever fuch dreffes, but fufpect not; and take this dress to fignify, that London was a city adorned and enlarged by the Romans, and a Roman colony. But it fuffices to have opened the tract; and I hope fome of your Antiquarian friends will give more illustrations on it. Yours, &c. PUSILLUS. Oxon, Nov. 18. HAVE not yet feen Dr. Taylor's letter to Dr. Johnfon, and am as willing as another to believe it deferves the warmnest encomiums. But in one part, if a correfpondent in vol. LVII. p. 874. has given a juft account of what he fo much admires, furely, Sir, whatever there may be of novelty in the ar gument, we may be permitted to doubt whether whether there be much of good reafon ing and of truth. "A previous and circumftantial knowledge of the felicity of Heaven" is not beftowed, we are told, "left, overpowered by the ineftimable and eternal reward, we thould be induced to anticipate it by a voluntary and premature extinction of our prefent existence, and, of course, by a desertion of that pot which Providence has affigned us." In every view this remark feems exceptionable. Larger manifeftations of the goodness of God could never tempt any man to disobey his will: and if any one should be fo tempted, the violence here spoken of is Dot of that fort by which the kingdom of Heaven may be taken. It feems to be forgotten on this occafion, that the Gofpel, through which alone happiness can be attained, promifes no pardon in another life to fins of which we have not repented in this life; and the fuicide dies in the very act of violating the fixth commandment: "Thou shalt do no murder." The precept includes every fpecies of murder; and the reafon of it accordingly extends to all: "for in the image of God made he man," Gen. ix. 6. "He who kills himself deftroys God's image, as much as he who kills another man *." At prefent, indeed, by the general decifion of juries and coroners in thefe deplorable cafes, it feems to be fuppofed, that the mere act of felf-murder, without any previous or concomitant fymptoms of difordered intellect, is of itfelf a fufficient proof of infanity: and, if this is fo, the laws that have been enacted on this head do but combat a fhadow, and fix a penalty for a crime which never did nor ever can pollibly exift. But our legiflators judged differently; and, leaving every man's final lot to the difpofal of Infinite Good nefs and unerring Wifdom, intended, without doubt, that, if no want of fot er reafon was difcoverable before the fatal moment, the violence fhould then be confidered as a tranfgreffion of law, and as fuch be followed by marks of infamy, to deter others from committing fimilar offences. And the inflitution is no lefs charitable than juft. If a blind man is approaching a precipice, whether he knows of it or not, fhould he fall, he is deftroyed; but to warn him of his danger, that he may avoid it if he pleafes, is the part of humanity. With regard to the other point, which Sherlock on Death, p. 277. led to thefe remarks, the providence of God, gracious and merciful in the knowledge imparted to us, is, no doubt, equally wife and good in what is withheld. The happiness of another life is reprefented in Scripture under the most fignificant terms and allufions that language can fupply; it is a crown of ineltimable value, a kingdom whofe duration never fhall have an end. But why, we are asked, is not a more diftinet and particular view of these glories afforded? Perhaps to fee them is to en joy them; and perhaps they can only be feen by the pure in heart, by thofe whom death has freed from fin*, not by thofe who are labouring to fubdue the remains of evil habits, and fighting with the infirmities and paffions of this life. Why has not a brute beast the idea of a God, the knowledge of duty, and the powers of reafon because a brute is not a man. Why does not man behold with open eyes the things of another world? becaufe man is not an inhabitant of that world; because he is not an angel, nor, as he thall hereafter be, "equal unto the angels." Luke xx. 36. Thefe, or fimilar obfervations, which are ufually made on this fubje&, appear probable in themfelves, and confonant to the fuggeftions of Holy Scripture. We are there told, that we fhall hereafter fee our glorified Redeemer "as he is ;" and this is given as a proof that we fhall then "be like him t," mortal eyes not being capable of beholding that glory, nor flesh and blood of inheriting that kingdom t. To St. Stephen indeed the Heavens were opened; and he "faw the glory of God, and Jefus standing on the right hand of God.” But he was miraculoufly ftrengthened to fuftain the fight: for he was "full of the Holy Ghoft;" and all those who fat in council against him "faw his face as it had been the face of an angel §." The Lord, even Jefus, revealed himfelf to Paul; and, for the glory of that fight, he could not fee till he was reftored by Ananias in the name of the fame Jefus | St. Paul was afterwards caught up" (whether in the body, or out of the body, as he modeftly declares, he could not tell)" to the third Heaven," and "into Paradife." the joys of Heaven he does not fo much as attempt to make any remark; but he *Rom. vi. 7. Of + John iii. 2. 1 Cor. xv. 50.- Acts vi. 15; vii. 54-56. || Acts xxii. 11-13; with ix. 3, &c. affures On Suicide, and a future State. affures us that, in Paradife, the abode Mr. URBAN, R. C. Nov. 19. 39 repented of; and which, therefore, would be fo far from introducing us into a ftate of happiness, that it would · certainly doom us to eternal mifery. That Dr. Johnfon once had his doubts and fears, refpecting his own title to happinefs hereafter, is very certain; but it would be abfurdity in the extreme, in any one who is the leaft converfant with his moral and religious effays, to fuppofe for a moment, that he could receive information from any man on the fundamental doctrines of our holy religion. About three months before his death, he declared to a lady of my acquaintance, that he would gladly undergo feveral fevere fits of the afthma, and other painful difeafes which he mentioned, for a few more years of life, in order to perfect his repentance. The lady expreffing her furprize at fuch a declaration from him, who, the obferved, had lived fo good a life, and who had ferved the cause of re ligion and morality fo much by his writings, he replied, "Madam, no man can know the ftate of another man's foul fo well as himself." He said also to a gentleman, a friend of mine, much about the fame time, that, if he was faved, he should be "indebted for his falvation to the fermons of Dr. Clarke." His doubts and fears, which appeared to be rather the ef&t of humility than of un YOUR correfpondent CANDIDUS, repented guilt, it is charitably to be p. 874, has taken a great deal of pains to prove the novelty and excellence of an argument, ufed by Dr. Taylor in his letter to Dr. Johnson, on a future ftate. The novelty of it I do not difpute; but I cannot fubfcribe to its excellence. There is an inconfift ency in it which I fhall be much oblig. ed to Candidus if he will reconcile. Dr. Taylor, he fays, clearly evinces the perfect wildom of God in not making the mode and mealure of our future blifs cognizable to our fenfes, "left, overpowered by the inestimable and eternal reward, we thould be induced to anticipate it by a voluntary and premature extinction of our prefent exiftence, and, of course, by a defertion of that poft which Providence has affigned us; that is, by the committion of one of the most heinous crimes which we can be guilty of, which, as Dr. Taylor obferves, is c mainly unpardonable, if death be the inftantaneous confequence of the act, because it could not then be Cor. xii. 2-4• hoped, and may reasonably be believed, are now changed to a happy certainty. Yours, &c. R. G. R. Mr. URBAN, Bedfordshire, Nov, 21. HAVE read the letter of CANDI DUS with the utmoft aflonithment; that Dr. Taylor fhould maintain, that the reafon why the mode and measure of happinefs in the next world is not made cognizable to our fenfes is, left, overpowered by the eternal reward, we fhould be induced to anticipate it by a voluntary and premature extinction of our prefent existence, and, of course, by a defertion of that poft which Providence has affigned us." If Candidus has mifreprefented the Doctor's words, he mutt fee to that. If the Doctor has really afferted as Candidus reprefents, truth obliges me to declare that, to me, it appears that a weaker argument could not well be made. The true Chriftian (who only might reafonably hope for fuch rewards) would not, if the mode and measure of the happinefs of a future flate were revealed, ruth, uncalled by his Maker, into a future ftate, and by that means (as the Doctor fays) defert immaturely the poft which Providence has affigned him. Here the Doctor feverely, wounds his own argument. The Chriftian life is, unluckily for his argument, compared to the life of a foldier; and the foldier that deferts his poft has, among men, no mercy fhewn him; and the fpiritual foldier's cafe would be hazardous to an extreme. The Scripture directs a Chriftian to be patient under all the ills of life, and to endure, hardfhips as a good foldier. Therefore, no good Chriftian, in his right fenfes, I am convinced, would ever act according to the Doctor's fuppofition. That the Doctor's argument is new, I moft readily allow; for who but himself, can any fenfible perfon think, would have advanced it? But that the inconfiderate may think his argument a good one when advanced, I have proof, or Candidus's letter would for me have remained unanswered. Having, I truft, confuted the Doctor's reafon, I fhall advance one which, I think, is (as his is faid to be) irrefragable; and that is, that the very effence of our religion requires, that we live by faith, and not by fight. CLERICUS. Mr. URBAN, Jan. 6. Ata sine gitaciofo for nye bwter mes Ta time when fo many new schemes nagement of the poor, while objections are raifed against them all, and yet all ac knowledge that fome alterations and inprovements are neceffary; I beg to be indulged with the infertion of a few obfervations on two points which ought to be confidered previously to the tab. lishment of any new mode, and a proper attention to which might decide the preference due to one above another. Thefe points are, the RIGHTS OF THE POOR, and the COMFORTS OF THE POOR. With relpect to the Poor Man's RIGHTS, I prefume they are naturally the fame with the rich man's. Set the prince and the basket-maker together upon a defolate ifland, and it is certain the birth of the former will not be fo good a plea for fuperiority as the kill of the latter. But in a fate of fociety, the rights of the poor man must be cftimated by the fucrifics he has made (or has acquiefced in) for the benefit of that fociety. Now thefe are great indeed. He has refigned to the landlord all his fhare of the ground which his own hands cultivate; not referving to himfelf fo much as will bury him. He has lent to the merchant and manufacturer the use of his limbs, as an engine to procure them wealth, at a rate much below their real value. He has relinquished, to those who are called his betters, all claim to power, rank, title, and refpect, and is content to fwell the pomp of ftate by the contrast he exhibits of meannefs oppofed to grandeur; without which comparative relation neither of them would exift. What then, in fuch an unequal diftribution, is left him? Surely the fecurity, at least, that his condition hall not become ftill worfe (unlefs by his own fault); and that, like the bee which refigns her treasures to man, he may remain unmolefted in his hive, and be fed with a portion of that honey which he collects for his masters. If this be denied him, will he not be apt to call for a fresh divifion of the common property, and fay," Give me the portion of good things which falleth unto Heavy as is the burthen of poorrates, I fuppofe the opulent do not with for fuch a liquidation of the account, I conceive it, therefore, to be the right of the poor man, at all events, and notwithstanding the burthens which may feem to prefs upon the rich, to be fecured in the continuance of the humble enjoyments belonging to his ftation. A willingness to labour is all the return that can be required of him. If, either by age or fick nefs, he is rendered incapable of labour, or if no work can be found for him, he may ftill demand his ufual feanty fhare from thofe, who, without labouring any more than he, are fupplied with abundance out of the general flock. It is not enough, then, to provide for the poor, by keeping their fouls and bodies together in the cheapest manner poffible; they are to be maintained in the poffeffion of their comforts." me." What are the poor man's COMFORTS? They lie in a small compats; and therefore ought to be the more fa cred. One great fource of comfort to the poor man is his wife and children, if he he not overburthened by them. Defpifed and infignificant as he may be abroad, he is of fome confequence at home. He finds there those who care for him, who obey him; to whom he may fay, Go, and they go; and Come, and they come. He is not without a fenfe of the charities of father, fon, and hufband; and, when fick and difpirited, it is the greatest of his comforts to be at |