Mr. Hutcheson's Letter of Instructions to Mr. John Collier, Mayor of Hastings in Sussex, dated 6 February, 1722.

1. You have herewith delivered to you my assignment to yourself, and Mr. Cranston, of my parts in several ships and vessels therein mentioned, which you are to dispose of according to the trusts therein specified: and in relation to which I have nothing further to add.

2. I did, some years since, lodge in your hands the sum of 100%. to be lent to such of the freemen of Hastings concerned in the fishery, and in such proportions, as you, in your discretion, should think fit, for their encouragement in the said trade; and as I think the loan hitherto has been sufficiently charitable to those to whom the same was at first lent, I desire that you may proceed to recover the money so lent from the respective borrowers thereof; and on receipt thereof, that you may either lend or give the same absolutely to such of the said freemen as you shall judge the most proper objects of this charity, without any account to be rendered to me, or to any other person for the same.

3. I have directed payment to be made to you for the expense of sending news to the corporation till Lady-day next, and for my allowance of 5l. per annum to the school of Hastings, to Christmas last, from which respective times I will be at no further expense in these matters; and as I have defrayed the same for these last seven years, I shall leave it to my fellow member to do it for the ensuing seven years and I hope I have therein, and in all other respects, endeavoured to shew my goodwill to the corporation in general,

and to the members thereof in particular, according to the best of my poor abilities; although I may not have been able to come up to what others of greater power and interest have been able to perform.

4. I desire you to acquaint Captain Bartholomew, that in consideration of the signal virtue he has shewn in voting for me according to his inclinations and promise, to the prejudice (as I believe) of his particular interest, that I have been at the expense of a Statute of Bankruptcy to clear him of those demands with which he was not able to comply; and that for your concurrence therein, without which it could not have been effected, I have paid you 50%. of the 150l. which was due from him to you: I mention this that he may be sensible that in this particular he is under great obligations to yourself. I desire you to acquaint him farther, that I have that regard the virtue he has shewn in so degenerate an age, that I will take care, during my own life, and will make provision for it in my last will, that he and his aged wife, during their lives, shall have a support towards their comfortable subsistence; and I heartily wish that other representatives of Great Britain, for the honour and true interest of the nation, would, in a matter of this nature, follow my example.

to

act, according to this rule: and, therefore, I desire you to publish that several persons (some of them my own tenants) who voted against myself, and contrary to my inclinations, in the last two elections for the city of Westminster, have been by me treated with the same candour and friendship as they were before, without the least expression of resentment on that accompt; and for the sake of Great Britain, I wish that this were the general practice of the nation. I think this conclusion would be imperfect to the end I design, if I did not at the same time desire you to acquaint all the electors of Hastings, that I entirely release them from all obligations, either out of gratitude or inclination of voting for me, on any future election,

and that I never will again stand a candidate for their corporation; and if my thoughts continue as they at present are, for no other place whatsoever; for in truth, in the sixty-third year of my age, recess and quiet is highly necessary for me; and should I live to see writs issued for a new Parliament, it will be much more so. I believe, for the future, I shall be determined by my own judgment, and not by the importunities of any friend whatsoever; but, let this happen as it will, I do hereby declare that I acquit all my friends at Hastings of all sorts of obligations to me in relation to any future election, and leave them entirely at liberty to vote as they shall judge best. I shall only add that I am, Sir, &c.

MR. URBAN,

IT is a generally received opinion that Archbishop Parker was induced to give his attention to the study of Anglo-Saxon, and to the publication of books in that language, from his desire to promote the Reformation; and that the Paschal Homily of Alfric was the first work in the AngloSaxon language and character printed in England.

Alfric's homily appeared in a 12mo. volume, (from the press of John Daye in 1567) entitled, "A Testimonie of Antiquitie," &c. which apparently confirms the general opinion; the principal argument of the homily being directed against transubstantiation. I have, however, lately met with references by two authors to a work, which it is probable, if it exist, will dispute the claim for priority with the above volume, as being "the first work in the Anglo-Saxon language and character printed in England."

The first quotation which I give is from "Edward Rowe Mores's Dissertation on Typographical Founders and Founderies, 8vo. 1778," p. 8. "In the preface to the Asser. Menevensis, (which the Archbishop, to allure the English to the study of their mother tongue) published in Saxon characters in the year 1567, we are expressly told that the types for that edition were cut by Day, and that he was the first and only one who had cut such types." My next quotation is from "Astle's Origin and Progress of Writing," p. 224. "About the year 1567, John Daye. who was patronised by Archbishop Parker, cut the first Saxon types which were used in England. In this year Asserius Menevensis was published by the direction of the

Archbishop in these characters; and in the same year Archbishop Alfric's Paschal Homily," &c.

Can any of your readers inform me if such a work ever existed? I am willing to believe that Mr. Mores, a Saxon student, and a writer on typographical antiquities, had some reason for making such a statement: his general accuracy is undeniable, as one proof of which he has pointed out (what appears was unknown to M. Michel when he published his AngloSaxon Bibliography) two editions of the "Testimonie of Antiquitie," one having the date of 1567, the other without date, but both published in the same year by John Daye.

If such a work existed, or exists, as the Asser of 1567*, we might reasonably infer that it was written in the Saxon language as well as character, "to allure the English to the study of their mother tongue," and it might also induce a belief that Archbishop Parker was not entirely guided by his feelings in favour of the Reformation in the promotion of Saxon literature.

Perhaps some of your correspondents can also inform me whether Alfric's Paschal Homily, together with other Saxon monuments, appeared in the second edition of Fox's Acts and Monuments, folio 1570? In most or all of the subsequent editions they certainly did, although not in the first of 1562-3.

Yours, &c. PEDRIDAN.

* Archbishop Parker published "Alfredi Regis Res Gesta" in 1574; but the language is Latin, although the type is Saxon.

ALTHOUGH the Hungarians cannot as an original people be traced up to their primary source, emanating as they do from so many ancient tribes, yet their characteristics as a bold, resolute, and warlike nation, partaking of a harsh rudeness bordering on ferocity, impart to them some distinctive features.

The territorial property of Hungary is divided between the clergy and the nobility; and out of eight million inhabitants, there are only eight royal free towns the others and the villages are the property of the crown, the clergy, and nobility; and the inhabitants are the complete vassals of their lords. Her institutions, civil, political, and religious, are greatly inferior to many others of civilised Europe; still one of the leading features of these people is their determination in accomplishing objects of great and apparently unsurmountable difficulty.

A noble instance in this respect has been displayed in Smandeli, an Hungarian scholar of the most profound and masculine genius, who for thirty years devoted his whole energies to the study of art, sciences, and philology; and who by the extreme dint of application mastered a knowledge of all the known languages ancient and modern. Nothing could tempt him from his retired and persevering studies neither honours, emoluments, riches, or distinctions; all of which he refused though proferred to him.

Hungary has rendered herself somewhat famous in her encouragement of literature, if she has not produced many learned men. In the fifteenth century there were more than 40,000 students in the University of Prague, and among the number two thousand Hungarians. After the death of Huss, who was burned at Constance by the authority of the Council of Trent in 1416, the Emperor of Germany, as King of Bohemia and Hungary, changed the entire organization of this University in consequence of which, thirty-six thousand out of the GENT. MAG. VOL. XI.

forty left the walls of the University, and no less a number than fifteen thousand departed in one day. Up to the present period there exist in the Universities of Leipsic and Jena scholarships and exhibitions, founded by Protestant noblemen of Hungary, for Hungarian students. During the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries the University of Paris was attended by a considerable number of Hungarian scholars.

The period we have mentioned presents a very singular contrast to the present time. The University of Pesth is governed by a President and a Vice-president. In the Theological faculty there are seven professors; in Jurisprudence six, in Medicine eighteen, in Philosophy nineteen. In the year 1836, the number of students promoted to the degree of doctor were eight in Divinity, in Laws five, in Medicine forty-five, Chirurgy nine, in Philosophy seven.

Turnau is only to be considered as the supreme Catholic Lyceum : the number of students were two hundred and forty-eight. This number included twenty-two Greeks from the Grecian Catholic dioceses of Epesies, Groswardein, and Mankatz; hundred and eighteen students devoted themselves to Theology, and one hundred and thirty to Philosophy.

one

The development of human genius and expansion of mind has to a considerable degree been backward in Hungary. Arts, Sciences, and Literature are not even now deemed the common good of the nation, notwithstanding there are so many things favourable to their advancement. The people themselves possess a natural organization of intellect, gifted with vivid conceptions, energy and strength of mind, equal to any other people in Europe.

The climate of the country itself seems to contribute and invite the activity of human intelligence: embracing, as she does, a twofold advantage, distinguished on her mountains for a bracing atmosphere, in the valleys and plains for a mild and varied and

4 F

in some instances even burning temperature; with these advantages, the inhabitants can vie with the sons of the eastern or northern climes.

The whole history of Hungary presents, from the Roman conquest of Panonia and Dacia, a picture of the highest interest; fruitful with important events from that period down to the present time, she has been engaged in one uninterrupted struggle against the oppression of foes and the devastation of conquest: her history combines a chain of events, which in a remarkable degree illustrates the progress of civilization amid great disadvantages.

Shortly after the Romans had subdued Panonia, Dacia, and Illyria, they began to introduce the culture of the human mind, and to improve the habits and rude dispositions of these people, with all the advantages and privileges of a Roman province; but numerous hordes of barbarians poured forth in great numbers from the interior of high Asia, the Caspian and Black Seas, which retarded in a great degree the progress of civilisation.

These invaders, such as the Quades and Huns, assumed dominion, and established themselves in Hungary under the famed King Attila, who has been named, and with great justice, the "scourge of God." Formidable as were these enemies to the progress of knowledge among these people, they had to contend with barbarians more savage and cruel than they. The Gepides, the Herules, the Vandals, the Goths, the Lombards, the Avares, the Slavonians, and lastly the Bulgarians, followed in rapid succession.

Victo

ry after victory, with pillage, fire, and sword, devastated this fair country from one extremity to the other. Those of the people who had not perished in contest with such formidable enemies, were compelled to submit to the yoke of slavery; and thus their religion, language, and civilisation were thrown into the greatest state of confusion.

The Lombards and Goths were the least savage of these hordes of barbarians. The former did in some measure advance intellectual improvement and civilisation; but even their efforts received a check from the

Goths, who settled in Hungary, while the Lombards wandered westward and wrested the north of Italy from the dominion of the Romans, and thus founded the Lombardian empire, which flourished, during four centuries, to a considerable extent, when it finally became united to the French empire under Charlemagne.

The Goths themselves became civilised by the advance of time, and greatly improved the country they had subjugated; when Hungary was again invaded, in the beginning of the ninth century, by the Huns, who came from the borders of the Caspian Sea, and who called themselves Magyares. These people not only conquered the Goths after the most desperate and repeated struggles, but even penetrated into Germany as far as Mersburg in Saxony, where they experienced an overthrow, the greater part being slain in a contest with the Germans under their distinguished Emperor Henry the First.

It was during this period, and in the middle of the tenth century, that Christianity was introduced into Hungary, and its principles were embraced by the Magyares, the present Hungarians, by the influence and encouragement of Stephen the First, their king, surnamed the Pious,* the first of their princes who became a Christian. With his patronage, many missionaries came from different parts of Europe, by which means the Latin language was introduced, and the youth instructed in its principles; through which circumstance it assumed the superiority over all the idioms then in existence among these people, and soon was the language of the church, the king, court, and government. It must, however, be remarked, that the Latin thus introduced was of a mixed and corrupt quality, as was commonly used by the monks, and such as is now found in their writings, and therefore could not conduce to a knowledge of that language in its classical purity. A national tongue formed itself, consisting of a variety of mixed idioms, and which subsequently

This monarch was canonized after his death, and raised to the distinction of a saint.

greatly partook of the Turkish language, as the Osmanlis were for some time masters of considerable part of Hungary.

In the dark ages, the clergy were here, as in other countries, the depositaries of learning and the fosterers of education and science; but their zeal and energy, in endeavouring to diffuse its influence, met with but little success in improving and civilising the Hungarian people. This disadvantage naturally arose from the continual wars with the Germans, the Greeks, Venetians, and Slavonians, and more especially from the invasions of the Tartars, who almost reduced the country to a vast desert. In conjunction with these external attacks, Hungary had, moreover, to contend with internal civil wars, arising from the disputed succession of her princes, which disputes were not finally settled till the fourteenth century.

From such a combination of evils, it I will be evident that civilisation was not only retarded, but that the country itself became considerably depopulated; so much so indeed, that the kings were obliged to call in new colonists, consisting of barbarians, such as the Russians, Kumanes, Gazyges, Bulgarians, and others; but even this resource, instead of being beneficial, was in some measure injurious, as it introduced new customs, new manners, and fresh languages, and thus vitiated and retracted the progress of national improvement.

The internal state of the kingdom was in a desperate condition, arising from the nobility; who were incessantly engaged in contests among themselves, and in committing pillage, de. vastating the country, and burning the towns and castles, and thus producing the greatest internal disorder.

The clergy themselves added in no small degree to the confusion, being alternately allied to the nobles or the citizens, for political or personal advantages. Such was the deplorable state of things arising from party feuds, external and internal disorders, that the peasantry were nothing more than serfs, and the country a scene of barbarism.

Amid circumstances so discouraging and events so unpropitious, the Hun

garians had the good fortune to select in a king of the house of Anjou, who, together with his successors of that dynasty, were the means of restoring order, and the nation assumed

a

more powerful appearance; the Hungarian language became more generally adopted, and was even introduced into the court, and used in high society. Louis, surnamed the Great, whose accession was, in 1730, gave special encouragement to all departments of human learning, and was the founder of the first University * in Hungary; her towns assumed stability, her inhabitants increased in wealth, and the riches of the nation sensibly augmented.

In later times, King Mathias Cor

vin, of the illustrious family of Huniades, devoted particular care to the cultivation of letters in his dominions, notwithstanding he was continually engaged in wars during his regency with the Emperor of Germany, the Kings of Bohemia and Poland, and the Turkish Sultan. He was not only an advocate for the study of learning among his people, but ardently pursued it himself, and gave the most munificent encouragement to the efforts of science, art, and literature. With a king so eminent, and patronage so powerful, the spark of intelligence seemed as if it would be fanned into a flame, giving at the same time splendour to the throne, and happiness to the people; but alas! upon his decease the light of knowledge dwindled almost to extinction among his kingly but feeble successors.

Ferdinand the First, brother of the Emperor Charles the Fifth, of the Austrian house of Hapsburg, contrived to obtain election as King of Hungary, and thus put an end to the internal struggles and convulsions resulting from the disputes of the hereditary succession.

The reformation of Luther, and that of Zwingli, met with great encouragement in Hungary, being embraced alike by the people and the nobility, who adhered very generally to the creed adopted by Zwingli and Calvin. However, the severe measures adopted by the Kings Ferdinand the First,

*At Tuenfkirchen in 1367.