"I had fcarcely faid or thought any thing more about this matter, till laft fummer having mentioned it to fome Cornish people, I found that they could not credit that any perfon had exifted within thefe five years who could fpeak their native language; and therefore though I imagined there was but a fmall chance of Dolly Pentraeth's continuing to live, yet I wrote to the Prefident, then in Devonshire, to defire that he would make fome inquiry with regard to her; and he was fo obliging as to procure me information from a gentleman whofe houfe is within three miles of Moufehole; a confiderable part of whofe letter I shall fubjoin.

• Dolly Pentraeth is fhort of ftature, and bends very much with old age, being in her eighty-feventh year, fo lufty however as to 'walk hither (viz. to Calle Horneck) above three miles, in bad weather, in the morning and back again. She is fomewhat deaf, but her intellects feemingly not impaired; has a memory fo good, that the remembers perfectly well, that about four or five years ago at Moufehole (where the lives) fhe was fent for to a gentleman, who, being a stranger, had a curiofity to hear the Cornish language, which he was famed for retaining and fpeaking fluently; and that the inn-keeper, where the gentleman came from, attended him.' [This gentleman was myfelf; however, I did not presume to send for her, but waited upon her.]

She does indeed at this time talk Cornish as readily as others do English, being bred up from a child to know no other language; nor could the (if we may believe her) talk a word of English be 'fore he was past twenty years of age; that, her father being a fisherman, fhe was fent with fifh to Penfance at twelve years old, and fold them in the Cornish language, which the inhabitants in general (even the gentry) did then well understand. She is pofitive, however, that there is neither in Moufehole, or in any other part of the county, any perfon who knows any thing of it, or at leaft can converfe in it. She is poor, and maintained partly by 'the parish, and partly by fortune-telling, and gabbling of Cornifh.' Art. XXXII. On the defcent of titles of honour, particularly baronies through the female line.

Art. XXXIII. A defcription of the Carn Braich y Dinas, on the fummit of Pen-maen-mawr in Carnarvonshire, by Governor Pownall.

Illuftrated by a copper plate.

Art. XXXIV. A letter from Mr. Pegge to Dr. Percy, on the minstrels among the ancient Saxons.

An ingenuous and candid confeffion of Mr. Pegge's mistake in his obfervations on what Dr. Percy had written on the fubject.' Art. XXXV. Remarks on the abbey church of Bury St. Edmunds, in Suffolk.

Illuftrated by two plates; the one a ground plan of the abbey, fhewing the additions that might be made to Sir James Burrough's plan; the other a view of the ruins of the weft front, as they now appear, with the three houfes built in the arches of

the

the three great doors and other additional buildings; exhibiting a grotefque and whimsical appearance.

Of the eight following articles, our readers will be fatisfied with the fimple titles, after obferving that most of them are accompanied with plates, that not only ferve to illuftrate each fubject, but afford an emb llishment to the work, that doth honour both to the tafte and liberality of this very refpectable and ingenious Society *.

Art. XXXVI. Remarks on the first noble, coined 18 Edward III. A D. 1344, wherein a new and more rational interpre tation is given of the legend on the reverfe. By the Rev. Mr. Pegge.

Art. XXXVII. Obfervations on the Corbridge altars. By the Hon. Daines Barrington. In a letter to the President.

Art. XXXVIII. Obfervations on the Corbridge altar, defcribed in the fecond volume p. 92. In a letter to the Hon. Daines Barrington, Vice-prefident, from Thomas Morrell, D.D. Secretary.

Art. XXXIX. An account of fome ancient Roman inscriptions, lately difcovered in the Provinces of Iftria and Dalmatia, with remarks. In a letter to the Rev. Dr. Mills, Dean of Exeter, and Prefident to the Society of Antiquaries, from John Strange, Efq. Art. XL. Further obfervations on Pen-maen-mawr, vernor Pownall. In a Letter to Mr. Gough.

By Go

Art. XLI. An account of fome Irish antiquities. By Governor Pownall.

Art. XLII. Obfervations on two jewels in the poffeffion of Sir Charles Mordaunt, Bart. By the Rev. Mr. Pegge.

Art. XLIII. An account of the body of King Edward the First, as it appeared on opening his tomb in the year 1774. By Sir Jofeph Ayloffe, Bart. V.P.S.A. and S.A.S.

Art. XLIV. A letter from Sir William Blackftone, Knt. to the Hon. Daines Barrington, defcribing an antique feal; with some obfervations on its original, and the two fucceffive controverfieş which the difufe of it afterwards occafioned.

The feal here defcribed, of which is alfo given a neatly engraved plate, was found fome years ago in pulling down an old houfe in Oxford; it is of copper with a braís handle; and appears to have been engraved under fome of the princes of the houfe of Tudor. Of the controverfies attending its difufe, Sir William gives the following account.

"This fpecies of feals has been rarely, if ever, noticed by any of our legal antiquaries: and the feals themfelves, from their fcarcene fs, as well as the controverfies they afterwards occafioned, may be re

The plates contained in this volume, executed in a masterly manner mostly by Batire, are in number twenty.

garded

garded as no vulgar curiofity. Their fcarcenefs has arifen from the very fhort period of time during which they continued in ufe, and zeal with which it may be fuppofed the generality of them were deftroyed, on the return of papal authority, under the reign of Queen Mary. For by the ftatute 1 Mar. ftat. 2. chap. ii. this act of King Edward VI. (was among others) exprefsly repealed and that ftatute of Queen Mary was no farther abrogated by the fubfequent ftatute Eliz. chap. ii. than related to the book of Common Prayer; and therefore in every other respect continued in force during the reft of Elizabeth's reign."

But among other statutes of King Edward, repealed by this ftatute of Queen Mary, there were two in particular*, which had declared the marriage of priests to be lawful. And these Queen Elizabeth (who difapproved of marriages in her bishops) would never permit to be revived during the whole of her reign. However, at the acceffion of her fucceffor, thofe ftatutes of Edward VI. were (at. the special inftance of the bishops and clergy) revived and made perpetual by ftatute 1 Jac. I. chap. xxv; the children of all ecclefiafticks were at the fame time declared to be legitimate and inheritable; and it was alfo, by a fatal overfight, enacted, that the ftatute of Mary fhould stand repealed and void.'

I

"The enemies to our ecclefiaftical establishment, who were always quickfighted in difcerning its flaws and imperfections, foon availed" themselves of fo hafty and unadvised a step, as the total repeal of that act, instead of such parts of it only as related to the celibacy of the clergy. They alledged, with great appearance of reafon, that by fo abfolute and unlimited a repeal, the ftatute of 1 Edward VI. chap. ii. was again revived; and therefore that all the bishops who had been. made by Congé d'elire fince the 19th of March 1603 (the first day of that feffion of parliament) were not lawful bishops; and that the feals, the files, and the procefs of all ecclefiaftical courts, being continued with the arms and in the name of the refpective ordinaries, and not of the king, had from that period been contrary to law. This matter was firit moved and ftrongly urged at a grand conference between the lords and commons, touching ecclefiaftical caufes, on Thursday the first of May 1606; and feems to have made a wonderful impreffion, at the time, upon all orders and ranks of men."

Sir William gives an account of the difputes, that happened at various periods afterwards on the fubject; particularly when it was revived by Prynne and his affociates, who were furi-, ous in their attack upon the prelacy; but we beg leave to refer fuch of our readers, as are curious to know more of the matter to the work at large.

ART. VI. Walking Amusements for chearful Chriftians.

To

which are added, various Pieces in Profe and Verfe: With a Map of the Roads to Happiness and Mifery. 8vo. 2s. Buckland. We are forry to find, in an age of fuch extenfive reading as the prefent, that there are writers of fo little refinement in lite*Stat. 2 and 3 Edw. VI. ch. xxi. 5 and 6 Edw. VI. ch. xii.

rature,

rature, as to give into the low and vulgar ftile of our ancient fanatics, in treating the highest and most interefting of all fubjects. This Author indeed tells us, he has attempted to point out a new mode of ferious amufement for well-difpofed Chrif tians. The mode, however, is at leaft as old as the puritanic jargon of the laft century, and is the more exceptionable in this age, as a better tafte for ftile is fo, generally diffused, that the impropriety of language, fo ill adapted to the fubject, is ftriking to almoft every reader; while to perfons of a light and frivolous turn, it ferves only to place ferious and facred objects in a light of contempt, and ridicule. Let our readers judge.

"As you pafs by a baker's fhop, let your thoughts be directed to Jefus Chrift, who is the bread of life;-is bread baked in the oven? He was, bruised for our fins, in the wine-prefs of his father's wrath; is bread the staff of the natural life? fo is Chrift, or faith in him, the fupport and comfort of the chriftian life; is bread fold? fo was Chrift by the traitor Judas, for thirty pieces of filver; is bread the food of children as well as grown men? fo is Chrift of the youngest as well as oldeft. believer in his church; is bread obtained by money? fo is falvation through faith in him, the only current coin of true grace.

"When you pass by a banker's, it may remind you of the believer's heavenly and never failing banker, the Son of God, in whom are hid all treasures of wisdom and knowledge.-The bank is the covenant of grace; the foundation of the bank is the purposes of God; the fecurity of the bank is the oaths and promifes of God, ratified by the blood of Jefus Chrift; the privileges of drawing belongs to every true.believer, and the more we draw the richer we are; the bank notes are the teftimonies of the Spirit: the current cafh is joy, comfort and confolation: faith deals in bank notes *, but experience in ready money."

It is in this manner the chriftian ambulator is directed to fpiritualize every local and occafional occurrence, by way of leading his thoughts from temporal to eternal things: his meditations being thus particularly affifted in paffing by a draper's, a coach-maker's, a glazier's, a fruiterer's, a hotpreffer's, a pawnbroker's, a tallow-chandler's, a toy-fhop, &c. The meditation on that of a bookfeller is as follows:

"When you pass by a bookfeller's fhop, let it teach you to look within yourfelf, and fee whether your mind, which is a book God has committed to your care, is clear and unfullied, the subjects it treats on fpiritual and divine, the impreffion legible and fair, and its contents worthy the perufal of its glorious Author; should the blots or stains of evil thoughts in any part of it appear, immediately erafe them with the knife of felf-examination, and prevent them from

*This thought our author probably borrowed from the late Mr. Whitfield, who in his pulpit-rhaptodies ufed frequently to call the New Teftament God-Almighty's note of hand; and the promifes of pardon to the repentant finner, drafts at fight on the Redemption Bank,

finking

finking with the pounce of repentance: let it be elegantly bound with the grace of God, and lettered on the back with, Holinefs to the Lord; to preferve it from the duft and defilement of the world, cover it with daily watchfulness and circumfpection. From the number of books in the fhop, you may be led to reflect on the numerous flars which adorn the firmament, that heavenly volume in folio."

In the fame fanatical spirit he carries on this ludicrous allegory fo far as to tell us, the Deity hath been pleafed to publish three volumes of his glorious works in folio, viz. the heavens, the earth, and man.- We are aware, that there are fome expreflions in the Evangelifts, which feem to countenance this mode of moralizing. Follow me, it was faid to the fishermen, and I will make you fishers of men. There is, however, a wide difference between natural fimplicity and affected meannefs; and, though it be true, that Chriftians cannot too often revolve in their minds, and contemplate the great work which God hath done for their fouls, in the redemption of mankind, they cannot too seriously reflect on the awful reverence, with which the very name of their Redeemer fhould be mentioned; that to be frequent, it is not neceffary to be familiar; but that in religious converfe, as well as in every thing clle, familiarity breeds contempt.

ART. VII. Elements of Anatomy and Animal Oeconomy. From the French of M. Perfon. Corrected and confiderably augmented: with Notes. By Samuel Foart Simmons, 8vo. 5s. Wilkie. The tract entitled Elemens d'Anatomie raifonnèe, from which Mr. Simmons profeffedly borrowed the plan of the prefent work, was originally published at Paris, by its author Mr. Perfon, in the year 1748, and republished by M. Bruny, with an appendix on Generation, in the fame city, in 1763. It appears that M. Perfon's original defign, was to render it ufeful to perfons ftudying natural philofophy in general, without any particular view to the practice of phyfic or furgery.

"It will be eafy to conceive, fays Mr. Simmons, that a work profeffedly written on this principle, was not perfectly calculated for the ufe of the ftudent; and every perfon who is at all converfant with thefe matters, cannot but be fenfible that within the last twenty years, our ideas on the fubject of anatomy have undergone very confiderable changes. It is now more than twenty years fince M. Perfon's work first made its appearance; and a fill greater fpace of time has elapfed, fince any well received compendium of anatomy has been published in. this country; fo that an attempt to give a clear and concife account of the prefent ftate of anatonțical knowledge, will perhaps not be deemed improper or unneceffary."

After mentioning a few particulars in which our Tranflator hath deviated from the author's plan, he proceeds to the follow ing general remarks on his performance.

VOL. II.

* Every