liged to hide himself in a cellar near Moorfields, to avoid being lodged in a room with an iron grate. In thofe days of adverfity he wrote fpeeches worthy of a Demofthenes, for and against the most important questions agitated in Parliament, which were published under the names of the real members. These fpeeches for a long time paffed for genuine in the coun. y and it is not generally known, that among them is the celebrated Speech of Pit, which he is faid to have pronounced, when his youth was objected to him, and which never fo flowed from the mouth of Pit. Johnson has now conducted the Pactolus into his garden. He enjoys a penfion of three hundred pounds sterling, not to make speeches; but, as the Oppofition afferts, to induce him to remain

filent.

I forgot to tell you, that Johnfon denies the antiquity of Offian. Macpherson is a native of Scotland; and Johnson would rather fuffer him to pass for a great poet, than allow him to be an honest man. I am convinced of their authenticity. Macpherfon fhewed me, in the prefence of Alexander Dow, at least twelve parcels of the manufcript of the Earfe original. Some of these manufcripts feemed to be very old. Literati of my acquaintance, who understand the language, have compared them with the tranflation; and we muft either believe the abfurdity, that Macpherson had likewife fabricated the Earfe text, or no longer contend against evidence. Macpherson declaimed a few paffages to me. The language founded melodious enough, but folemnly plaintive and guttural, like the languages of all rude uncultivated nations.

STERNE.

In an hiftorical and critical Account of the Lives and Writings of the living Authors of Great Britain, published in 1762, a meagre performance, even inferior to fome late attempts, is to be found a literary anecdote of Sterne, which may now be forgotten. The writer tells us, that Sterne's fuccefs was owing to an accident by which fome authors would have been altogether difcouraged. He had offered to fell the copy of Triftram Shandy" to a bookfeller at York, for 50l. The bookfeller not being willing to give that fum for it, he fet out for London. The literary adventurer foon agreed on fair terms with Dodfley; and the work refufed at York, produced the author and bookfeller in London as confiderable a profit, as perhaps any work of mere amulement ever did..

66

THE PRETENDER.

THE vulgar proverb of " Once a Captain, always a Captain," it seems may be applied to abdicated monarchs. The Pretender, when living in retirement at Rome, ufed to cry out in the fits of the gout, by which he was horribly tormented, Poor King! Poor King! A French traveller who often went to fee him, told him that he was aftonished at never meeting any English at his houfe." I know how it is," anfwered he, "they imagine that I remember paft times; but I fhould receive them with pleasure, for I love my subjects; I do indeed!"

HOPS.

THE most ancient botanifts were not acquainted with the hop-plant; and it is probable that, like many culinary herbs, it became firft known in Europe at the time of the great migration and irruption of nations. Ifidore informs us, that the ufe of the hop was first tried in Italy. Walafridus Strabo in the ninth, and Æmilius Macer in the following century, have made no mention of it: nor does it occur in the Capitulare de villis imperatoris, which is generally afcribed to Charlemagne, and in which are named a great number of plants, to be cultivated in the emperor's farms. The plant was, however, known in Germany, in the times of the Carolingians. In a charter of King Pepin, we meet with hop gardens, bumulonaria; and in the Statutes enacted in the year 822, by Adalard Abbot of Corbey, the millers belonging to the domains of the abbey are exempted from the fervice of labouring in the hop-grounds. Modii umuli, bumuli, humulonis, occur among the most ancient contributions, or rents paid in kind to churches and monafteries in Germany.

The English, according to the most credible accounts, learned the ufe of hops from some native of Artois, who, in the beginning of the 16th century, introduced them into this country: but a long time after, the addition of them to beer was held to be an adulteration of that liquor. In the reign of Henry VI. the cultivation of the plant was prohibited; and fo late as Henry the Eighth's time the use of its product, as likewife of brimftone, was forbidden to the brewers under fevere penalties. In the reign of Edward VI. about the year 1552, the term hop-grounds first occurs in our laws. In 1603, a very confiderable quantity of hops were already produced in this country: however, it was ftill neceffary to import from abroad; and

U 2

by

by the adulteration of the foreign, as we learn from an act of parliament, the English were then defrauded annually to the amount of 20,000 pounds fterling.

In Sweden, too, the ufe of hops was not known before the time of Gustavus the First.

Instead of hops, the antient Cimbri used the tamarisk, tamarix Germanica; and the ancient Swedes, the myrica gale; for which reafon there is in the ancient Swedish laws a prohibition to gather that fpecies of tamarifk on another man's ground. This plant must not be confounded with the ledum palustre, which fometimes is called by the fame name; and with which, and likewife with the Daphne mexereum, veratrum album, and menifpernum cocculus, an intoxicating quality and ftrong tafte, is by fraudulent brewers communicated to weak beer; a practice worthy of execration; and here, and in many other countries, forbidden under fevere punishment,

THE GUILLOTINE.

WHEN the celebrated astronomer Lalande was at Gotha, to attend the aftronomical congrefs held there in the year 1798, the Duke of Saxe-Gotha (as it is related in the Journal de Paris) fhewed him a German book intituled, "Kirchen Kalender von [Church Calendar by] Kafpar Goldwurm, Frankfurt 1570, in which there is a reprefentation of a falling-axe for executing criminals; from which it would follow, that the Guillotine could not properly be called a French invention.

But (J. F. ROTH informs us in the Allgem. Litterar. Anzeig.) there exifts a ftill more ancient reprefentation of the Guillotine in another German book, viz. Biblia Veteris Teftamenti et Hiftoria, artificiofis pilluris effigiata, [Bib. Hift. Kunst. furgem.] Pranc. apud Chr. Egenolphum,— On the back of the title.page ftands: Ordo librorum Teftamenti Veteris et Novi. The fecond leaf contains the dedication in Latin verfes, with the fuperfcription: Illuftriffimo Principi Pomerania, &c. D. Joanni Frederico.-Petrus Artopaeus S. D. The theets are diftinguished by the let ters A.-L.-Over each of the figures is an explication of it in Latin, and under it in German, and the corresponding paffage in the bible referred to. At the end is the number of the year: M. D. LI.The fecond part has the following title: Novi Teftamenti Jefu Chrifti Hiftoria effigiata. Vna cum aliis quibufdam iconibus.

Das new Teft. und Hifl. fürgem.] Franc. ap. Chr. Eg..-Sheets marked with

A-B b. printed in M. D. LI.-The third part has likewife a peculiar title, Sanctorum et Martyrum Chrifti Icones quadam artificiofiffima, [Der Heil. und Martir. Gottes, &c.] Franc. ap. Chr. Eg.-On the reverfe of the title page, an index to the 85 reprefentations.The fheets marked with A-F. Over each of these pictures, the fubject of it is indicated in Latin. The 44th, for example, has the fuperfcription Exaudi, the 45th Terribilis, the 55th Divi Tutelares, the 72d Patientia, the 73d Tentatio, the 74th Exequiae, the 81ft Purgatorium, and the 85th and laft, even Infernus. At the end is again the year, M.D.LI. The copy which M. ROTH examined is in 8vo.; and the wooden cuts are beautifully illuminated.

The Guillotine is in the third part, on the laft page of the fheet A. The fuperfeription is: XIIII. [An error of the prefs, inftead of XVI.] Matthæus decollatur.-St. Matthew kneels; his head, with the hair rugged and erect, and a bufhy beard, lies upon a block between two thick boards; over his head hangs the murderous axe; the executioner, dreffed in a red doublet, and red trowfers reaching down to the ancles, holds the rope with both hands, and is.on the point of letting down the axe to fevere St. Matthew's head from the body. Behind this Guillotine, and round about it, are a number of foldiers who feaft their eyes with the bloody fpectacle. At fome diftance a gibbet is likewife introduced. It is likewife worthy of remark, that the greateft number of the caps, which are faped after the Oriental fashion, have been coloured red by the illuminer. In fine, one egg cannot be liker to the other, than this German Guillotine is to the French, at least according to the pictures M. F. had feen of the latter.

To the above particulars may be added, that in a fhort Biography of the Apostles, which is prefixed to a copy of Lufts' edition of Luther's Tranflation of the Bible, printed in 1534, formerly belonging to Götze's collection of Bibles, and now in the city-library of Hamburg, there is an accurate delineation of the Guillotine, called in that book a Roman falling-axe, with which St. Matthew had been decollated.Of a latter date, but more generally known, is the reprefentation of this falling-axe in De Cat's Dutch poem: Doodtkijte voor de Levendige; Amfterdam 1658, fol. p. 39. In a carving in wood, over a very ancient door of the fenate-house of Luneburg, we find a fimilar murderous machine; probably reprefenting the mar tyrdom of St. Matthew.

QUACKERY

QUACKERY.

THE following preamble to an Act of Henry the Eighth, in favour of regular physicians and furgeons, is not inapplicable to the prefent age of Quackery :"For as much as the fcience and cunning of phyfic and furgery is daily (within this realm) exercised by a great multitude of ignorant perfons, of whom the greater part have no infight in the fame, nor in ny other kind of learning: fome also can

(ken, know) no letters on the book, fo far forth that common artificers, as fmiths, weavers, and women, boldly and accuftomably take upon them great cures, in which they partly ufe forcery and witchcraft, partly apply fuch medicines to the difeafe, as be very noxious, and nothing meet, to the high difpleafure of God great infamy to the faculty, and the grievous damage and destruction of divers of the King's people.

ODE, ON THE DEATH OF A YOUNG LADY.

LUR'D by the foft and genial gale,

That cools the breaft of spring
The balmy rofe and primrose pale
Are fan'd by Zephyr's wing.
Yet oft the flumb'ring ftorms arife
From out their dark fojourn
And rudely fweep in ireful guife
The vale's defenceless bourn.
Beneath their fell tyrannic pow'r,
The vernal rofes die;
No more their fplendours of an hour,
Shall meet the mufing eye *.
So, foil'd by Death's victorious hand,
The youthful Laura fell;
Unmov'd the met the ftern command,
And fmil'd a long farewell.

Sad o'er the lonely bed of grief

Her tender mother hung;
No foothing words afford relief,
Though honied from the tongue:
She, like fome hero's mimic form,
In filent gloom remains :
Thus bends the yew before the storm,

That howls along the plains.
Around the couch where Laura lies

The mournful virgins ftand;
No more the founds of gladnefs rife

Amid the peerless band.
Behold, ye fun-beams of the morn!

How foon your glories fade;
Though orient hues the sky adorn,
Their fplendour 's foon decay'd.

The reader will probably discover a coincidence of thought betwixt these ftanzas, and a paffage which occurs in Ruftica's addrefs "To an early Snow-Drop," published in the Monthly Magazine of January. Although I fhould not have been afhamed to imitate the ftrains of this lady, I must do myfelf the justice to obferve, that the first part of the above Ode was written long before the pubJcation of her production.

Say, on your cheek does beauty's flower
In virgin radiance bloom?
Can youthful beauty's magic power
Elude the fatal tomb?

By Efk's poetic ftream no more
My guilelefs friend fhall ftray,
Nor e'er with eager ftep explore,

The Yarrow's winding way.

No more at early down we fcale
Glenvoran's lordly brow,
And hail, with youthful rapture hail,
The fairy fcenes below.

Yet oft, at dewy ev'ning's close,

My feet shall haunt thy grave; O'er which the balmy-fcented rafe And humble lily wave.

Horace, Book the 3d. Ode the 25th. Subject-The Poet meditating the praises of Auguftus, exults in the aid of Bacchus.The abrupt paufes of the Original, expreffive of the abrupt character of the Ode, are retained in the tranflation.

A Suppliant, Bacchus, at thy fhrine,

Where am I borne?-In extacy divine
To what fequefter'd grove convey'd ?—
Or to what grot?-Beneath what hallow'd
fhade,

Through glory's paths by Cæfar trod,
Shall contemplation reach the future God?
In loftieft notes, and new to fong,
A theme yet unprophan'd by mortal tongue,
I'll proudly dare.-O'er the white teep
So hangs entranc'd, when wak'd from flum-
bers deep

With barb'rous dance, thy myftic maid
On Rhodope's high top.-Oft in the glade,
Or barren cliff, like vifions wild
My lonely wanderings greet.-Hail, sov’reign
child,

Hail thou, whofe march the Nymphs attend,
To whom the Bacchanals obeifive bend,
While high the rifted afh they bear.
But, hark!-what heaven-form'd warblings
float in air!

The call delights-I'm wholly thine,
Who bindst thy temples with the curling vine.
PU TEOLANUS.

AN

Heaven bids thee thus reward a parent's care,

Whilft Hope and Love alternate fwells his breast.

May virtuous joy thy every moment share, Nor e'er Misfortune, by fome demon fent,

Affail thy heart, or break thy peaceful reft,

But life's mild day with thee unclouded pafs!

Fate, fpare me yet-nor from thine awful glafs

Shake my laft fand-I anxious am to live
To fee my plant a firmer shoot put forth,
That I may wake within her sender
mind

Thofe heavenly feelings that shall blefs
her kind,

And call integrity to guard her worth This granted-take the fleeting breath I'll freely give.

Liverpool, Feb. 5, 1800.

THE FAIRY GIFT.

An Ode.

PRESS'D by cares and hopeless love,
Sad I fought a lone retreat,
Sought the precincts of a greve,
Where young fairies nightly meet.
Fair in midnight's front ferene,

Which unnumber'd ftars adorn,
Glows the moon with filver sheen,

Rearing bright her beamy horn.
Through the glade as foft I ftray'd,

Muling fad in mournful guife,
In her sky-wove robes array'd,
Fairy Mab falutes my eyes.
Twenty virgins round her throng,
Each a face of rofy hue:
Light and gay they trip along,

Deftly skimming o'er the dew.
Soon the queen, approaching nigh,
Wav'd her little fceptre's pride,
Soon with kindness in her eye

Thus aloud the fweetly cried :
Wayward youth of penfive mien,
By what woes fevere oppreft,
Tread'st thou thus the fairy fcene
At the hour of foothing reft?
Gentle queen of fairy plains,

Sad I ftray, of hope forlorn,
Still confum'd by fecret pains,
Doom'd to prove Aminta's fcorn.
Have ye feen the op'ning rofe,
Redolent with orient dews,
All its fragrant fweets disclose,
Manifeft its lovely hues?
Can the rofe, or flow'ret fair,

Can the balmy eglantine,
With the peerless nymph compare,

In whofe form fuch charms combine?
Long I've lov'd th' enchanting maid,
Oft confeft the tender flame;
Still my fighs with fcorn are paid,

Still I languifh at her name. Sad beneath a branching plane

Thus I fpoke, in mournful guifeFairy Mab, to footh my pain,

Soon in accents mild replies: Faithful fwain, thy tale of woe

Moves my foul with rifing grief;
Let thy tears no longer flow,

Elfin arts fhall yield relief.
Take with speed this glitt'ring prize,
Emblem pure of faithful loves;
Lo! it meets thy dazzled eyes,

Blazon'd o'er with cooing doves.
Let her view the powerful fpell,

Swift convey it to the fair; Love within her breaft shall dwell, Nor thy vows be loft in air. Shuns th' enchanting nymph thy arms? Low'rs fhe now with high difdain? Soon to thee she'll yield her charms, Thou her fondeft love fhalt gain.

PEACE AND SHEPHERD.

LOW in a deep fequefter'd vale,
Whence Alpine heights afcend,

A beauteous nymph, in pilgrim garb,
Is feen her steps to bend.

Her olive garland drops with gore;

Her fcatter'd treffes torn,
Her bleeding breast, her bruifed feet
Bespeak a maid forlorn.

"From bower, and hall, and palace driven To thefe lone wilds I flee,

My name is Peace, I love the cot;

O fhepherd, shelter me!"
Obeauteous pilgrim, why doft thou
From bower and palace flee?
So foft thy voice, fo fweet thy look,
Sure all would shelter thee."
"Like Noah's dove no rest I find;

The din of battle roars

Where once my steps I lov'd to print
Along the myrtle shores.

For ever in my frighted ears

The favage war-whoop founds; And, like a panting hare, I fly Before the op'ning hounds."

"Pilgrim, thofe fpiry groves among The mansions thou may'ft fee,

Where cloistered faints chaunt holy hymns, Sure fuch would fhelter thee!"

lication on Agriculture is now in a state of confiderable forwardness; and that from the mode of arrangement which has been purfued, and the care that has been taken in collecting and digesting the different materials, it may be expected that the various contradictory facts and reafonings in that important branch of knowledge will be reduced to greater order, and placed in a more perfpicuous and prominent point of view. Much attention is faid to have been given to the introduction of practical economy into the inftrumental, and other departments of the work. The book will be published in quarto, and illustrated by a great variety of well executed engravings.

Shortly will be published the promised "Addenda," to "General Washington's Oficial Letters to Congress," containing thofe numerous paffages (marked by al terifks, in the two volumes already in the hands of the public), as well as entire

it was thought proper to fuppress during the General's life-time.

Mr. WAKEFIELD has at length determined to favour the world with a Greek and English Lexicon. It will be a thick volume in quarto, and be published at a Subfcription of Two Guineas, one half to be paid at the time of fubfcribing, and the other half on the delivery of the book. Subfcriptions received by Mr. Rutt, No. 139, Thames-street. We are in poffeffion of the profpectus of this very capital work; but as it came to hand after this part of our Magazine had been made up, we are under the neceffity of delaying its infertion till our next.

The First Volume of Mr. DYER'S Poems will be ready for delivery to Subfcribers by the 1ft of May. The Second Volume, together with a Profe work on Poetry, will be ready by the time, to be mentioned either in the Preface, or the Poftfeript, of the first Volume.

Three