whole, or a great part of the ground on which Blackwell Hall ftands. In that cafe, a new houfe will be erected, containing every defirable accommodation fuitable for an establishment of such magnitude. It will be neceffary to enter into a brief explanation of the internal economy of the houfe, and to give an account of the publications which are found on the tables of the inflitution; and also a thort defcription of the library. On entering the houfe, which was erected in 1677 by Sir Robert Clayton, is a large and fpacious hall, the great itaircafe in which is finely painted, by Sir James Thornhill, with feveral fubjects from the ftory of Hercules, as detailed by the Mythologifts. On the top of the ftair-cafe is a copy of Guido's picture of the Rape of Dejanira. &c. The rooin on the right contains the foreign papers and journals; on the table is Le Moniteur, le Publicite, the Hamburg Correfpondenten; the Manheim, Francfort, and Leyden Journals; the Magazin Encyclopedique; Archives Litteraire ; Journal de Phylique ; Mercure de France; Bibliotheque Commerciale; Journal de la Litterature de France; Journal de la Litterature Etrangere; Annales des Arts et Manufactures; La Revue; Annales de Muteum d'Hiftoire Naturelle; L'Efprit des Journaux; and the Allgemeine Literatur-Zeitung. There are alfo feveral modern French publica tions to be found in this room. The library is arranged on the first floor, and is contained in five handfome rooms. It confifts of nearly ten thoufand volumes, felected with great care; about one half of which are in Behind the hall is the newspaper-room, folio and quarto. In the fine arts, in which contains three tables, on which are natural history, in bibliography, in parlaid all the London Daily Newfpapers, liamentary hittory, in topography, and viz. the Times, Poft, Chronicle, Herald, the hiftory and antiquities of Great BriLedger, Prefs, Oracle, Morning Adver- tain, this library is extremely rich. Here tifer, Courier, Sun, Star, Traveller, may be found the valuable collection of Globe, Statefman, and Pilot; the Lon- books made by the deceafed Marquis of don Gazette; Cobbet's and Redhead- Lanfdown, relating to the French revoluYorke's Weekly Papers, Lloyd's Lift, tion, alfo a large Collection of Tracts, the Packet Lift, the Shipping Lift, and having reference to the Political and the London Price Carrent. In each Commercial Affairs of thefe Kingdoms, table are drawers, in which the clerk of in upwards of three hundred volumes. the Inftitution regularly files the papers The library, including a good collection every evening after the houfe is clofed, of maps, coft nearly 9000l. and confiderand at the end of the month they are removing that it comprifes many works of great ed and preferved to be bound in volumes. On thiefe tables are alfo found Gazetteers, Directories, and other books of reference. There are alfo the votes and all the reports of the various committees, printed by order of the Houfe of Commons, which are presented to the Intitution by one of the managers a member of the House of Commons. Round this room is hung a collection of Arrowsmith's Maps, neatly fitted up on canvas and spring-rollers. On each end of this room is another fmaller room; that on the left is ufed for reading the reviews, magazines, the principal periodical publications, popular pamphlets, and modern books. In this room are found the Reviews, the Monthly, Gentleman's, European, Philofophical, and Botanical Magazines; the Athenæum, the Literary Panorama; Cenfura Literaria; Repertory of Arts; Naval Chronicle, the Monthly Mirror; Lifts of the Army amb Navy; Sowerby's English Botany Nichoson's Journal; Flower's Political Review; the Medical Journal; and increafing value, fcarcity, and utility, this fum cannot be thought difpropor tionate to the extent and importance of the acquifition. The establishment of the Inftitution, at prefept, confifts of the principal librarian, Profeilor Porton, who has apartments in the houfe; the clerk, Mr. J. Savage, who has alfo the domeftic management of the Inflitution; two fub-librarians; porter, book-binder, and two female fervants. The The funds of the Inftitution arise from the payment of feventy-five guineas by each of the proprietors, and of twentyfive guineas, lately advanced to thirty-five guineas, by the life-fubfcribers. total expenfe of repairs, alterations, furniture, and various neceffary accommodations, have been about 3,800l. The total receipts are about 78,000l. which with the intereft, will make nearly 82,000l. The temporary committee of managers, on the commencement of their duties, appointed two fub-committees; the one for the purpose of obtaining temporary accommodations; 1 accommodations; the other for that of fuperintending and directing the formation of the library. The diligence and fuccefs of thefe fub-committees, will be beit understood by an examination of the houfe of the Inftitution, and of the library. The state of the house and the accommodations given to the proprietors and fubfcribers, will fpeak futficiently for the one, and the value; and the utility of the books felected for the library, will fpeak the industry, talents, and attention, paid by the other to the accomplishment of an object fo truly defirable in the metropolis. To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. FIR, AVING long confidered your work H as the most eligible chaunel, from its refpectability and great circulation, in which to circulate enquiries on meterology, and through which to communicate any hints which may forward this fcience; I have regretted that none of your ingenious and obferving correfpondents have publicly noticed the memoir inferted in your laft July Magazine (vol. xxi. p. 523) on the expedients relorted to in France, for diffipating or preventing forms of hail &c. and the important note at page 524; ftating, that a plan for correcting and regulating the anomalies of the atmosphere in general, was announced at Leiccfter in the year 1794, founded chiefly on the application of electric conductors. I am fure, Sir, that you would be performing a moft acceptable piece of fervice to all thofe engaged in fuch enquiries, if you could procure information of the particulars of the plan laft alluded to, and communicate the fame in your Magazine. In the mean time, I beg to call the attention of your readers to fome curious investigations on this fubject, by John Williams, efq. in his work lately publifhed "On the Climate of Great Britain": this writer fuppofes it eftablished by his experiments, that the leaves and projecting points of trees and vegetables, are principally employed by nature, in diminishing or altering the fate of atmofpheric electricity: at the fame time that the aqueous evaporation from the leaves of trees, plants, graffes, &c. caufes fogs, mifts, and clouds, owing to the deficiency of electricity therein: it refults from his experiments, that the leaves of Vide alfo Skinner's Prefent State of Peru, p. 42. different kinds of trees, &c. are endowed with very different powers for evapora ting moifture, and that the exotic trees and plants, fo greatly increased and cultivated in this country in modern times, poffefs vaftly greater powers of evaporating, even when naturalized here, and fpread their leaves earlier in the fpring, than our native trees and plants: and thefe circumftances be contends, joined to the general increase of plantations, hedges, and trees, and of permanent pafture and crops of exotic or highly evaporating plants, in place of arable land, formerly covered with vegetables only during a few of the fummer months, and when in fallow not at all; together with the converfion of commons and wastes bearing low evaporating plants, to carrying increafed quantities of fuch as poffefs this property in an high degree; have operated, and particularly within thefe thirty-five years paft, a moft effential and perceptible change in the atmosphere and climate of this kingdom: occationing the damp, cold, and late fprings, and fummers, and the blighted crops, particulaily of fruits and of wheat, of which complaints have been fo loud and frequent of late. Befides recommending the correcting the evil as far as may be, by a difufe of fuch broad and early-leaving exotic trees and plants as can be fpared; fubfiituting the oak, ath, and beach, in place of the elm: and the holly in hedges, in place of the hawthorn, (whose evaporation from the fame weight of branches and leaves, is itated to be nine times as great as the former) and the leffening of the furface of permanent pafture, (a thing much to be wifhed for, in other refpects), Mr. Williams fuggefts the propriety of attempting by art to fupply the deficient quantity of electricity, in occafional blue mifts, fogs, and haze, which now fo often intercept the fun's rays and caufe vegetation to languish; by which electrization, according to his theory, thefe vapours are rendered capable of being difolved or rendered tranf parent in the air, by the heat of the fun. The method he propofes is, to conftruct fuch a number of electric mills in different parts of the country, each containing many revolving cylinders or plates of glafs, and furnished with rubbers, whofe electricity is to be collected in an upright infulated bar, extending above the building, and terminating in a large lamp, or a feries of lamps and points, for diffufing the electric fluid in the fur rounding To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. SIR, N valuable ufed fometimes the fingular and fometimes the plural number, in his charters; that Henry I. and II. and Stephen, invariably addreffed themfelves in the fingular; and that from the commencement of the reign of Richard I. the cuftom of fpeaking in the plural number has been continued without variation, to the prefent time. The forms which obtained in France, on fimilar occafions, are exhibited by Mabillon, De Re Diplomat. Your obedient fervant, Glaampton, W. M. MOSELEɣer. March 12, 1807. To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. SIR, I bruary lat, the 5, ifcellany of Fe- IN your number for March, (p. 157) I p. 25, a correfpondent," "Inquifitor," afks" what prince or potentate first addressed himself to his fubjects in the plural number, as we always fce in Proclamations." With refpect to this point, Bishop Nicolfon, in his Hift. Lib. p. 146, fays, on the authority of Coke's Inftit. that," the first of our kings, who wrote in the plural number, was king John; his predeceffors writing in the fingular. They ufed ego in their grants: and this king, with those that followed him nos." I beg leave to obferve, that upon inveftigation, I find this opinion to be incorrect: for in an edict of William the Conqueror (printed in vol. 1, of Rapin's Hit.) the plural number is ufed, throughout-flatuimus, volumus, &c. But in another charter of the fame king, inferted in the Formulare Angl. p. 36, the fingular is used. All the charters of Hen. I. and II. without exception, appear to be addreffed in the fingular number.-Sec Formulare Angl. p. 37, No. 64, and Monaft. Angl. vol. i, 782"Stratis me dediffe." King Stephen, allo, in every inftance ufes the fingular. Sec Monaft. Angl. vol. i, p. 779, and Form. Angl. p. 40, No. 68. On the other hand, Richard I. feems invariably to fpeak in the plural-" Sciatis nos conceffiffe"-See Form. Angl. p. 51; Rymer, vol. 1, p. 65 and 80: Monat. Angl. vol. i. p. 782. With regard to the practice of King John, and that of the fovereigns who followed him, the obfervation of Coke and Nicollon is confirmed by the example of feveral charters inferted in the works to which I have above referred. According to this ftatement, therefore, it feems that William the Conqueror, am accused of mifreprefentation. My whole apology thall be a simple statement of plain facts. The blue cover of laft November Magazine, (vol. xxii. p. 349,) announces a " Defence of Earl Stanhope's Syftem of tuning Piano-Fortes." But in the effay itfelf the author proposes a fourth way of dividing the octave; in oppofition to the great principle of Earl Stanhope, which is to make the key of C, as perfect as poflible. This fourth fyftem rejects the biequal third of E-G harp, by making C-E one femibiequal third, and the E-G tharp another; leaving the A flat to C exactly as in the Stanhope fydem: and hence the beauty of C-E is entirely destroyed. To find out, or to invent, are to me terms of timilar import, and whether the four propofitions I quoted (or mifcepre sented) contain real information, I thall, after fairly ftating the fenfes in which ĺ undertand them, leave to the difcernmeut of impartial readers. 1. Earl Stanhope's Syftem is clear and perfpicuous. It is fo doubtless to those who are both mathematicians and muficians; but how many perfons unite thefe two characters, is a queftion to which I can give no answer. 405 II. It is a new difcovery, Tierce Wolves ercepted. Kirnberger, like Earl Stanhope, inakes his C-E a perfect third. How far the ditonic third A flat C of Kinberger (4) and his flatter enharmonie fourth E-A flat, 12) differ from the two biequal thirds of Earl Stanhope; are queftions I referve for future investigation. I can, however, affure the publie, that I never faw the four tierce wolves in their refpective columns, before I opened Earl Stanhope's work; and I do 'do therefore confider this arrangement of To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. thofe defective intervals as new. III. The term Wolf is a reproach or figma. I have traced the origin of this metaphor as far back as Prætorius, who, in his Syntagma (1614) fpeaks of the Wulf. Not having feen this book my felf, and depending wholly on the authority of a quotation in Adlung, I cannot fay how, or to what defect it was originally applied. IV. Glee-fingers may fink without tempering. This extraordinary affertion can only have arifen from fome mifapprehenfion of the expreffion temperament, I therefore aik 1. Does this defect of keyed inftruments exit in unaccompanied vocal mufic? 2. Can occafional depreffion (or even elevation) of pitch refer to any fixed fyftem of time, except that of periect intervals as fixed by the ratios, or divitions of the monochord? 3. If temperament dignifies deviation from the jutt proportion of intervals, how can voices fink without tempering? The Huygenian Theorem, (that of a fingle voice unging CFDGC) has been adduced as a proof that a melody may fink a comma every time it is repeated. Thus in five repetitions it would fall to B, and in four more to B flat. But Rameau has fhewn, that the original impreffion of C would preferve the pitch, in defiance of the defective third D-F; and Mr. Maxwell (Eftay on Tune, P. 218) has entered at large into the probable reafons, why vocal performers alter the pitch; which he attributes ([ think with great appearance of truth) not to mufical, but anatomical caufes. (fee his Effay, p. 211.) Submitting my defence to the judgment of the public, and the candour of my adverfary, I am happy to find he thinks well of my induftry and research. Sorry I am that any incautious language of mine fhould have injured his feelings. My object was to attract his attention, and thus far I have fucceeded. Temper, however, fhould be always preferved, and my conclufion fhall be an extract from Pafcal, "Violence and truth have no power over each other. The former has but a limited and temporal courfe; while truth fubfifts for ever, and in the end muft triumph over all her enemies, becaufe the is eternal and powerful as God himfeif." Your's, &c. March 16, 1807. J. W. CALLCOT. Upper Grovenor-jirect. SIR, HAVING lately, among other pa pers, become poffeffed of the two following, I take this opportunity of rendering them publicly beneficial, through the medium of your much read Magazine. To keep Crows from Corn, Take a quart of train-oil, as much turpentine, and bruifed gunpowder, boil them together, and when hot dip pieces of rags in the mixture and fix thero on flicks in the field. About four are fulfi cient for an acre of corn. To Preferve Wood in Damp Situations. Two coats of the following preparation are to be applied, after which the wood is fubject to no deterioration whatever from humidity. Twelve pounds of refin, are to be beaten in a inortar, to which three pounds of fulphur and twelve pints of whale-oil are to be added. This mixture is to be melted over the fire, and firred during the operation. Ochre reduced to an impalpable powder by triturating it with oil, may then be combined in the proportion neceffary to give either a lighter or a darker colour to the material. The firft coat hould be put on lightly, having been previously heated; the fecond may be applied in two or three days, and a third culiar dampnefs of the fituation, it should after an equal interval, if, from the pe be judged expedient. Your's, &c. JOHN MORRISS FLINDALL. March 6, 1307. To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. SIR, YOUR valuable Correfpondent, Mr. YOUR Pybus, having in your last number, requetted one of your readers to inform him of a method of browning gun-barrels; I am happy (through the medium of your mifcellany) to point out to him a way which has always proved fuccefsful. After the barrel is finished, to give it a brown colour, it is to be rubbed over with aqua-fortis or fpint of falt diluted with water, and then to be laid by, for a week or fo, till a complete coat of ruft is formed. A little oil is then to be applied, and the furface being rubbed dry, it is to be polished by means of a hard brush and a little becz Your's, &c. wax London, February 11, 1807. G. A. M. THE neybowris, and all they togider toke an harte. But whan they fhulde deuyde it, the Lyon spake and fayde, I fhall be eyre of the first parte, for I am grettitt of worthippe here, and the first choyce fhall grettist labowre thall gyve me the thryd parte, and but if I have the forth parte I thall breke the conuenaunte of concorde, and with thefe wordys he began to gryne with his teth, and smote the growude with his tayle, so soore that all they for fere rane awaye, and left all the hoole harte to the lyon. Wherby it ap perithe that a man owith to be ware to affocyate hym felf with his bettyrs, for he Among the works which are not mentioned in Herbert's Typographical Anti-hall euyr be put to the worfe parte, as it is quities is an antient volume called "The Dialogues of the Creatures moralyfed," evidently tranflated from the "Dyalogus Creaturarum moralifatus," printed at Antwerp 1491. The letter of the English verfion is of a date not far fubfequent. The book is in quarto. The following is a fpecimen of the Fa bles. Upon a tyme Gold went to Syluer and fayde, Be mery brodyr, for we twayne bere the pryce amonge all othir metallys. And if we were couioyned togider, we fhulde be of greate fublymyte and worthype. Wherto Syluer gave this anfwere and fayde, Broder thowe fpekit charitably. But I confydre wele that thy colowre is reede and myn is whyte. Alfo I remembre that thow arte of grete reputacyon and imcomparable valowre. Wherfor I trow verely that lyke as we be deuydid and contrary in pryce and in valowre, fo fhall we be deuydid in owre wyllys. It is bettyr therefore for vs not to begynne conjunccyon than aftyrwarde to make feparacyon and to withdraw us frome the thinge that is begon: and alfo Syluer fayd thefe wordis. "No wyfdom it is for any man to aplye To compare with his bettyr, nor to steppe to hye. "As it is wryten Ecclef. xiii. He chargith him felf with an importable burdon that joynythe hymfelfe to his bettyr; and alfo hit is wrytten in that fanfe place, Be thowe no felowe to hym that is rycher than thowe; wherefore the philofofre fayth, The poreman periffith whan he begynnyth to tryve with the ryche man, as Ifope thewith in a fable and faith that the gote, the fhepe and the affe uppon a a tyme made a confederacye with the Lyon and compenyed withe hym to goo an huntynge togyder, as felows and MONTHLY MAG., No. 156. fayde in a commune proverbe, I counsell not feruauntis to ete cheryes with ther bettyrs: for they will have the rype, and leue them the harde; and therfore faith Ifope, By this exemple it is fhewyd that it is not good for the weke to be ioyned to the myghty, for he wyl not at all tymes be faithfull vnto hymn."" The Tranflation of Efop, however, appears to have fuperfeded the publication of the "Dialogues." Of Alderman FABIAN, but few particulars have reached us. Mr. Warton's account of him, in the Hiftory of English Poetry, is unfavourable. 66 Among the many striking contrafts (he obferves), between the manners and characters of antient and modern life, which thefe Annals prefent, we must not be furprised to find a mercer, a fheriff, and an alderman of London defcending from his important occupations to write verfes. This is Robert Fabyan, who yet is generally better known as an hiftorian, than as a poet. He was efteemed, not only the moft facetious, but the most learned, of all the mercers, theriffs, and aldermen, of his time and no layman of that age is faid to have been better skilled in the Latin language. He flourifhed about the year 1494. In his Chronicle or Concordance of Hiftories, from Brutus to the year 1485, it is his ufual practice, at the divifion of the books, to infert metrical prologues, and other pieces in verse. The beit of his metres is the Complaint of King Edward the Second; who, like the perfonages in Boccacio's Fall of Princes, is very dramatically introduced reciting his own misfortunes. But this foliloquy is nothing more than a tranflation froin a fhort and a very poor Latin poem attributed to that monarch, but probably written by William of Wyr cefter, |