men Seculare," which, Ainsworth tells me, means what is done in the hundredth year, but a New-year's gift for the new R. C. century.

IX

MR. UREAN, Gloucefter, Feb. 10. WAS not a little furprized to learn from your laft, p. 64, that Mr. Pye has condefcended to give public fupport to the nonfenfical controverfy about the commencement of the century. That the Laureat of the day fould, like other Poets, be difpofed to write a Carmen Seculare, and indulge himself, and treat his friends with fiction, fancy, and whim, is perfectly warrantable; but his attempting to call to his aid the authorities of Mathematicians and Theolo gians, however it may redound to his credit as a fcholar, cannot add one grain of weight to the fubject. Common fenfe ftill keeps its ground amongst us amidft all the revolutions of the times; and that ftill maintains, in fpight of all vagaries, that, as foon as the finger of the clock has paffed the point of twelve, it is in the fir hour of the circle; that, the inftant the child is born into the world, it is in the first year of its age; that, the moment the traveller fets out on his journey, he is in the first mile of it; though that hour, that year, or that mile, is not complete ons, till the finger, child, or traveller, arrives at the end of it. On the fame ground, it is abfurd to fay that the 18th century is complete, till the end of the prefent year; or that the 19th century will commence, till the 31t of next December is past. Yours, &c.

A. D.

To this kind Correfpondent's Compliments we can only offer Thanks.

Mr. URBAN, Wells, Norfolk, Feb. 11.

YOUR laft Obituary, p. 93, con

YOUR

tains a circumftantial and pa thetic narrative of the melancholy catastrophe of Lord Andover, and an ap propriate tribute of refpect to his memory. It is, indeed, but echoing the general voice to fay, that his ftrong fenfe, cultivated mind, and (their never failing accompaniment) engaging affability of manners, had gained the esteem and affection of all around him. To him, with a flight emendation, may be justly applied the lines of Waller, written upon the death of the only fon of a former poffeifer of the title:

"Had there been space and years enough allow'd

His noble spirit fully to have show'd,
We had not found, in all the num'rous roll
Of his fam'd ancestors, a greater foul:
His early virtues to that antient stock
Gave as much honour as from thence he
took."

But we look in vain to the elegancies of profe, on the happiest flights of poetry, for an adequate idea of the worth of this amiable and unfortunate nobleman; his eulogy must be fought in the ftreaming tears of a lovely relict, and in the poignant regrets of a numerous circle of relatives and friends.

"Multis ille bonis flebilis occidit." Yours, &c. VICINUS.

Mr. URBAN, Wells, Norfolk, Feb. 13.
PALLANZANI, in his tracts on

the Nature of Animals and Vegetables, treats the idea of animals fuch for inftance as toads and frogs, being found alive in the middle of large ftones or other hard fubftances, as "Hiflories more the object of admiration than of belief." That fuch phanomena are entitled to credit, I am perfectly convinced; having myself feen a very large flint-ftone that, fome years ago, was broken by fome la bourers in a gravel pit in this county, in the centre of which was a living toad, I have had ocular demontration of the cavity in which it had lain (probably for many years), and which bore its exact shape and form; and, from the teftimony of perfons of the Arieft veracity, I have not the leaf doubt of the fact having been as here defcribed. The ftone was lately in being, and kept as a curiofity.

Cob-fiones, which, I prefume, are meant by cob (vol. LXIX. p. 1113) are defcribed by Mr. Grofe, in his Provincial Dictionary, to be "ftones that may be thrown;" alfo "large flones;" which latter definition pro bably folves the query. JOHN HILL.

Mr. URBAN, Chelfea, Feb. 14 I SHOULD efteem myfelf much

obliged to any of your refpectable correspondents, who would condefcend to give me biographical infor mation relative to Dr. Bathurst *, and Meffrs. Harding and Bridges, all three formerly of Trinity college, Oxford.

Of this gentleman fee a life by the late Mr. T. Warton. EDIT.

I fucceed by an unexpected, and to your readers uninterefting, event, to part of Mr. Bridges's ineftimable col letion of uncommon books in various languages. In the blank-page, in front of an unique duodecimo, in admirable prefervation, are infcribed the following brief hints; which, perhaps, may in part fit the refearch.

"Gulielmus Harding, e coll. Trin. Oxon, 1694. Cui donum dedit hunc libellum R. Bathurst, ejusdem collegij præfes, adjectis notulis quibufdam MSS.

"Rad. Bridges, Jun. 11, 1703, e coll. Trin. Oxon. memoriæ facrum, donum in feliciffimi viri Gulielmi Harding, ejufdem collegij focij, qu: mortem fibi confcivit.

Quam vellent æthere in alto

Nunc et pauperiem et duros perferre labores! Virg. Æn. VI. 436."

Fata obitant.

Yours, &c.

Mr. URBAN,

M. V. M.

Feb. 15.

HABES confitentem reum. I acknow. ledge the juftnefs of your correfpondent Eufebia's remarks, vol. LXIX. p. 1175. As the tranfl tor of the Latin verfes, I can truly fay the verfion was made merely for my own amulement. It was alfo fent, haftily and inconfiderately to you, when I happened to be fending you fome other papers. I verily believe the original communicator of the Latin verfes, (whom, however, I do not know) and probably the author of them, (who be is I am perfectly ignorant,) had intentions as innocent: and, I am confident that you yourfelf were not aware the infertion of them could have given pain to any one. I am well affured you are difpofed to fay, with fome lit. ile variation from Mr. Pope;

minds, from mere want of a little confideration. Kind is the monitor, who recalls them to it. A particular friend of mine, not long fince, told me, that, juft as he left Westminster fchool, he had acquired a filly habit of interlarding his common converfation with frequent oaths and curfes, without confidering in any refpe&t the import of them; but only ofing them as well-founding expletives. A brother Weftminster, fcarce a year his fenior, one day remonftrated with him, with the most affe&ionate gentleness, on his having acquired a habit at once fo impious and vulgar, fo incompatible with the principles of a Chriftian, or the ful force of the rebuke, and from the manners of a gentleman. He felt that time put fuch a bridle on his lips, that perhaps an idle word has never fince etcaped him. This circumstance poffibly contributed not a little to fim.

plify and chefien his common language,

fo as to render it pecu iarly acceptable to all perfons of real tafte, who have the pleasure of converfing with him. Yours, &c.

Mr. URBAN,

TH

E. D.

Feb. 16. HE following difcovery of a maritime arfenal belonging to the Lacedæmonians, (the fubftance of a memorial of Citizen Jumelin, read in the fecond clafs of the National Inftitute) is worthy the notice of your readers.

"Citizen Jumelin, one of the most learned of the perfons who accompanied Choifeul Gouffier in his voyage, in returning from Couftantinople, in 1788, narrowly efcaped being wrecked on the rocks of

combin'd,

That gives offence to one religious mind.

I believe all parties concerned thought it a matter of innocent levity. But what we might think, does not obviate the juftige of Eufebia's obfer. vations; and, asferulá manum fubducere is not my wish, beg thus publicly to thank her for them. She has taught me to reflect that,

Hec nugæ feria ducunt

In mala;", and, that no levity is innocent which, has Scripture for its groundwork. I promife not to forget her lefon. The beft-intentioned perfons often act imprudently, and fometimes dire&ly contrary to the real beat of their own

was the occafion of an interesting discovery, relative to antient geography. Unfortu nately, he had not an opportunity of examining the place he difcovered as minutely as he withed, but others will probably visit the fpot under more favourable oir cumstances. In the mean time, Citizen

Jumelin's account of this difcovery is fufficiently curious and interesting.

"On the 8th of June, 1788, the veffel on which Jumelin was on-board was fuddenly becalmed in paffing ender Cape Matapan. Night came on, and the veffel was at the mercy of a current, which fet in toward the rocks. At break of day, the was fo near the rocks that thofe on-board

could almoft touch them with their hands; when the wind, which fprang up with the morning, together with aid from the boat of a Venetian veffel that lay at anchor near

the

the place, delivered them from this imminent danger. The report of a cannon, that had been fired to advertize the Venetian veffel of their fituation, had alfo given, notice of it to the inhabitants of the coaft, and about a hundred men armed with fire locks were defcending from the mountains with the expectation of feizing upon fome wreck. As foon as they perceived their ferocious hopes fruftrated, they fet up a cry of rage, discharged their pieces at the veifel; but fortunately no perfon on board was wounded.

"Citizen Jumelin remarks, on this occafion, that if the idea of men eagerly watching for wrecks, and even doing all in their power to accelerate the lofs of veffels for the fake of plunder, is disgusting to a civilized country, although many of its inhabitants are capable of the crime, nevertheless men in their progress to civilization have not always been guaranteed from fo fhocking a practice even by the influence of religion. The minifters of the altar have encouraged this enormity, to fhare in the profit; and Christian temples have refounded with prayers addreffed to Heaven to caufe fhipwrecks; a circumtance which, however extraordinary, is proved by a form of prayer for the purpose, which is found in the antient rituals of the maritime provinces of France.

"The gale which fnatched the French veffel from her extreme peril, continuing to be favourable for a while, the proceeded towards the Inlands of Sapienza, when the wind fuddenly changing to the North-weft, and blowing with violence, compelled her to return beyond the Cape for shelter, under very high lands on the Western fide of the Gulph of Colokitia. The delay, arifing from calms and contrary winds, have ing already occafioned the confumption of much of the thip's stores, apprehe::fions were entertained of their falling thort, ef pecially in the article of water. The captain therefore refolved to proceed to the lower end of the Gulph, where, according to the information of a Greek pilot onboard, plenty of provifions and fresh water might be procured. The veffel reached the place pointed out by the pilot in the middle of the night; and as foon as day began to appear, Jumelin haftened upon deck to fee if any thing prefented itfelf worthy of obfervation. He perceived, to the South, a port sheltered by a fmall island; to the Weft, a chain of mountains, of which the cape formed the fummit; and to the North, in front of the veffel, at a little diftance, a fandy thore, which promifed a fafe and good mooring. On this ftrand, not far from the fea, was a building of a confiderab e fize, but of an uncouth form; and beyond it a hill, covered from the top to the bottom with small and mean boufes. In a plain, a little concealed by the hill, he

was furprifed to perceive a vaft extent of ruins, which feemed to announce, that formerly the place had been the feat of a large and powerful city.

"This difcovery,' fays Jumelin, ‘appeared to me to be more curious and interefting, as no traveller, that I know, has fpoken of thefe ruins; and as the Laceda monians had not the reputation of being fumptuous in their edifices, and even not a veftige of Sparta remains.

"The building nearest to the fea ferved for an habitation for the principal perfo in the district, the other inhabitants of which occupy the hill. Thefe people were tractable and humane, having no refemblance to the inhabitants of the Cape, although they have frequent intercourfe with them. They furnished us with theep and other provifions. Their chief came to pay us a vifit; but the captain, who was a man of brutal manners, would not foffer him to come on-board, and even refofed him a rope he begged to have to fasten his boat to the fhore.

"I asked thefe people the name of the city whofe ruins I beheld, but I received no f tisfactory answer. They called it Paleopalis, which fignifies antient town,' and is a general name given by the Greeks to the fe veral ruins of their country. I was eager to land, to examine the ruins. I flattered myfelf with finding infcriptions, remains of temples, amphitheatres, and other public buildings; and had even prepared to make sketches of whatever might appear interesting; but the refentment of the chief of the district, excited by the conduct of our captain fhewed itself in prohibiting my landing.

"Jumelin thus prevented, to his infinite regret, from clofely inspecting objects which at a diffance fo greatly excited his curiofity, fixed his eyes attentively on the plain. He could perceive heaps of broken materials, but he could not diftinguish their forms. On the fhore, were many remains of buildings ftill standing; and, among the reft, the remans of a portico, compofed of columns, which fupported i pediment. The waves of the fea almoft reached these columns; but Jumelin fuppo fed they had not stood fo near the fea whet they were firft raifed. This conjecture was foon changed into certainty; for he perceived that the fea had made inroads in that quarter, and actually covered walls partially overthrown; and ruins of buildings, whofe broken points, in fome places, projected above the waves, clearly indicating that a city had been buried, by fome accident, beneath the fea.

"Jumelin peglected nothing that could be done in his fituation toward elucidating this difcovery. Having obferved every thing with attention that could be feed from the vefiel, he had recourfe to his

books