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Interview between Mr Bruce, and Tenfa Chriftos an Abyffinian Prieft.

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ENSA CHRISTOS, who was one of fa Chriftos, I do not fay you should the Chief priests of Gondar, be alarmed; whatever your faith is was a native of Gojam, and confe- I would defend you myself; the quently of the low church, or a fol- Iteghe knows I always fpoke well lower of Abba Euftathius; in other of you, but will you gratify an old words, as great an enemy as possible man's curiofity; in telling me wheto the Catholic, or as they will call ther or not you really are a Frank, it, the religion of the Franks. He Catholic, or Jesuit? was, however, reputed a perfon of great probity and fanctity of manners, and had been on all occafions rather civil and friendly to me when we met, though evidently act defirous of any intimate connections of friendship; and as I, on my part, expected little advantage from connecting my felf with a man of his principles, I very willingly kept at all poffible diftance; that I might run no risk of difobliging him was my only aim.

This prieft came often to the Iteghe's and Ayto Aylo's, with both of whom he was much in favour, and here I now happened to meet him, when I was taking my leave in the evening. I beg of you, fays he, Yagoube, as a favour, to tell me, now you are immediately going away from this country, and you can anfwer me without fear, Are you really a Frank, or are you not? Sir, faid I, I do not know what you mean by fear; I fhould as little decline antwering you any question you have to ask had I ten years to stay, as now I am to quit this country to-morrow; I came recommended, and I was well received by the king and Ras Michael: I neither taught nor preached; no man ever heard me fay a word about my particular mode of worship; and as often as my duty has called me, I have never failed to attend divine fervice as it is cftablished in this country. What is the ground of fear that I fhould have, while under the king's protection, and when I conform in every fhape to the laws, religion, and cuftoms of Abyffinia? True, fays Ten

I have too great a regard, replied I, to request of a man, fo truly good and virtuous as you, not to have anfwered you the question at whatever time you could have asked me; and I do now declare to you, by the word of a Chriftian, that my countrymen and I are more diftant in matters of religion, from those you call Catholics, Jefuits, or Franks, than you and your Abyffinians are; and that a priest of my religion, preaching in any country fubject to those Franks, would as certainly be brought to the gallows as if he had commit ted murder, and just as speedily as you would ftone a Catholic priest preaching here in the midst of Gondar. They do precifely by us as you do by them, fo they have no reafon to complain. And, fays he, don't you do the fame to them? No, replied I; every man in our country is allowed to ferve God in his own way; and as long as their teachers confine themfelves to what the facred books have told them, they can teach no ill, and therefore deferve no punishment, No religion, indeed, teaches a man evil, but, when forgetting this, they preach against government, curse the king, abfolve his fubjects from allegiance, or incite them to rebellion, as being lawful, the fword of the civil power cuts them off, without any blame falling upon their religion, because these things were done in contradiction to what their priests, from the fcripture, fhould have taught them were truly the tenets of that very religion.

The

The Iteghe now interpofed: What do you think, Tenfa Chriftos, if Yagoube is not a prieft, fhould he not be one? Madam, fays he, I have one question more to inquire of him, and that shall be all, nor would I afk it if he was not going away to-morrow. It is an unfair one, then faid I, but out with it; I cannot fuffer in the opinion of good men, by anfwering directly a question which you put to me out of curiofity. It feems then, fays he, you are not a Frank, but you think your own religion a better one than theirs; you are not of our religion, however, for you fay we are nearer the Catholics than you; now what objection have you to our religion, and what is your opinion of it?

Frank, but agreeing in every thing elfe with you,) was to preach againft this, and fome fuch like practices, frequently ufed in Abyffinia, could this priest live amongst you, or how would you treat him? Stone him to death, fays Ayto Aylo, who was fitting by; ftone him to death like a Frank, or a Jefuit; he should not live a week. Yagoube is hard upon me, continued Tenfa Chriftos, turning to the Iteghe, but I am forry to fay with truth, I fear they never would abandon the flesh pots of Egypt, their ancient inheritance; for the teaching of any priest, however perfect his religion might be, or pure his life, however corrupt their manners. Then Tenfa Chriftos, faid I, do not be over fure but that shedding the blood of thofe Franks as you call them, may be criminal in the fight of God. As their religion has fo far ferved them, as to prevent the practice of fome horrid crimes, that are common here, yours hath not yet had that effect upon you; if you do not want precept, perhaps you may want example, thefe Franks are very capable of fhewing you this last, and your own religion inftructs you to imitate them.

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All this time there was not the fmalleft noife in the room, in which above

As far as I am informed, faid I, I think well of it: it is the ancient Greek church, under St Athanafius, fucceffor to St Mark, in the chair of Alexandria. This being the cafe, you cannot have a better, as you have the religion nearest to that of the apoftles, and, as I have before faid, no religion teaches a man evil, much lefs can your religion give you fuch inftruction, if you have not corrupted it; and if you have, it is no longer the religion of St Athanafius, or the Apostles, therefore liable to error. And now, Tenfa Chriftos, a hundred people were prefent; but, let me afk you two questions; you are in no fear of anfwering, neither are you in danger, though not about to leave the country, Does your religion permit you to marry one fifter, to divorce her and marry the other, and then, keeping the aunt, to marry the niece likewife? Does St Athanafius teach you to marry one, two, or three wives, and divorce them as often as you please? to marry others, and then go back to the former again? No, replied he. Then as you do this daily, anfwered I, you certainly are not living in this one inftance according to the religion of St Athanafius. Now I afk you, If any prieft, truly a Christian, from our parts, (not a

as I withed this converfation to go no further, and was afraid of fome question about the Virgin Mary, I got up, and, paffing to the other fide of the room, I ftood by Tenfa Chrif tos, faying to him, And now, holy father, I have one, laft favour, to afk you, which is your forgiveness, if I have at any time offended you; your bleffing, now that I am immediately to depart, if I have not; and your prayers while on my long and dangerous journey, through countries of Infidels and Pagans.

A hum of applaufe founded all throughout the room. The Iteghe faid fomething, but what, I did not hear. Tenfa Chriftos was fupr.fed apparently

apparently at my humility, which he had not expected, and cried out, with tears in his eyes, Is it poffible, Yagoube, that you believe my prayers can do you any good? I fhould not be a Chriftian, as I profefs to be, Father, replied I, if I had any doubt of the effect of good men's prayers. So faying, I tooped to kifs his hand, when he laid a fmall iron crofs upon my head, and, to my great furprife, instead of a benediction, repeated the Lord's prayer. I was afraid he would have kept me ftooping tili he fhould add the ten commandments likewife, when he concluded, "Gzier y' Baracuc," May God bless you. Afier which, I made my obeifance to the Iteghe, and immediately withdrew, it not being the cuftom, at public au

dience, to falute any one in the prefence of the fovereign.

Twenty greafy monks, however, had placed themfelves in my way as I went out, that they might have the credit of giving me the blefing likewife after Tenfa Chriftos. As Ï had very little faith in the prayers of thefe drones, fo I had fome reluctance to ki's their greafy hands and fleeves; however, in running this difagreeable gauntlet, I gave them my bleting in English,--Lord fend you all a halter, as he did to Abba Salama, (meaning the Acab Saat.) But they, thinking I was recommending them to the patriarch Abba Salama. pronounced at random, with great feeming devotion, their Amen,----So be it.

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Review of New Publications.

Elay on the New Method of Bleaching by means of Oxygenated Muriatic Acid, &c.; tranflated from the French of M. Berthollet, by Robt. Kerr, F. R. and A. S S. E. Edin. Creech, 3 s.

TH

HE Public have already been obliged to Mr Kerr for an eafy and correct tranflation of Lavoifier's Elements of Chemistry. A defire of promoting the arts which depend upon that fair fcience has happily induced him to favour us with an English copy of the prefent ufeful little treatife, which is dedicated with propriety to the Honble. Trustees for Fifheries, Manufactures, &c. in Scotland. His motives are the beft; to fpread widely and quickly the knowledge of the new discovery, and to prevent monopolizing patents, which already fome have not been afhamed to ask for, though no invention of their own. He has executed his talk with fuccefs; in general the verfion is as clofe and literal as the different idioms of the

languages would permit. The divifion into different fections, and fome additions from other memoirs are improvements upon the original. We are happy to fee that he has adopted the new nomenclature throughout; the notes he has added will every where make it as intelligible to thofe for whom the publication is intended as the old one, and to thofe who are to learn, it is a relief to be freed from the complex, and often unmeaning names of the Phlogiftians.

Scheele first difcovered that fpirit of fea falt diftilled from Calx of Man-. ganefe had the property of deftroying vegetable colours. The fubject was profecuted, and Mr Berthüllet in particular made many experiments with a view to apply this property to bleach-. ing.

Thofe who wish to understand the procefs, or to put it in pactice, muft confultthetranflation itfeif,for without the plate it is hardly poffible to give a clear idea of it.

The

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This new method of bleachinghas fucceeded very well in the great in France, and is alfo practifed with fuccefs in England, though ftill improvements remain to be made in it: The principal obftacles to its becoming univerfal, are the hitherto impoffibility of producing the oxygenated acid in a concentrated portable ftate, and the difagreeable funes which it emits.

The first renders it neceffary that the bleacher fhall make it for himself; and in the introduction of new, illunderstood improvements, there is too commonly an averfion from the trial; the inconvenience arifing from the fumes is not fo great as to be a material hindrance.

mark or two. If the end of the tube which comes from the retort, is im merfed in the water of the intermediate bottle, as reprefented in the engraving, we cannot perceive how the fecurity tube can remedy the danger. of bursting the veffel on fudden cooling. Would it not fimplify the machinery, if the funnels Z in the tubs of the vat were removed, and the middle funnel of cach tub fhortened to their length? We think the air-bubbles would hardly ever go up fo directly as to take at firft the mouth of the funnel immediately above it, other wife that might be eafily prevented.

To the belt of our knowledge, the Linnæan fyftem, at least, knows of no myrtus cerifera; we apprehend that in the note p. 110. the tranflator meant the myrica cerifera of modern botanilts.

A Narrative of the Difinterment of Milton's Coffin, in the Parish Church of St Giles's, Cripplegate, on Aug.4th, 1770, and of the Treatment of the Corpfe during that and the following Day, London

In favour of the new method much can be urged. Equal cheapnefs of CURIOSITY having been awamaterials upon the whole perhaps kened to avail itself of the prefent. greater than in the old way. In fix repairs of Cripplegate church, whose days thread and cloth may be bleach- roof and upper windows are going to ed as compleately as formerly they be made new, to fearch for Milton's were in feveral months. The bufinefs body, whofe father was buried here, may be carried on in winter almost according to the parish-regifter, March equally well as in fummer, and an 15, 1656-7, and his fon, according unfavourable feafon will not put it to tradition, under the clerk's defk out of the merchant's power to bring in the chancel, i. e. where that desk his goods in time to the market. In once ftood, for it is now opposite to a word, many of thofe fine fields now the former, Meffieurs Strong, F. A. S. loft to Agriculture, will be deftined veftry-clerk, Cole, church-warden, again to produce fuftenance for man Laming and Fountane,_overfeers, and beaft. To thofe whofe intereft it Taylor, furgeon, from Derbyshire, is to fee fuch ends accomplished, we on a vifit to Mr Laming, Afwould recommend the prefent publi- cough, hereditary parish clerk, Mrs Hoppers, fexton, and two others, The tranflator will excufe a re- opened the grave, Auguft 3. and It were to be wilhed that the author had given the fpecific gravity of the mix

cation.

ture.

VOL. XII. No. 70.

M m

fonad

found a leaden coffin, old, and much corroded, without infeription or plate,

The Mercy of Providence, particularly obvious in the British Nation: on the Severeign's most happy Recovery from a very unfortunate Malady; read on the Birth-day of bis Britannic Majefty George the III. King of Great Britain, France, and Ireland, Defender of the Faith, Duke of Brunfwick-Luneburg, Ele&tur and Hereditary Treafurer of the Roman Empire, &c. &c. &c. Celebrated by his Majefty's Envay Extraordinary and Minifter Plenipotentiary to the Court of Ruffia, Charles Whitworth, Efq. By a naturalized Englishman, P. H. Librarian to the British Factory at St Peterburg. 1789. Celebrated likewife by the British Conful general, John Cayley, Efq.

feet 10 inches long, and I feot 4 inches broad over the thoulders, lying on a wooden one, supposed his father's. The ground was immediately closed, but opened next morning by the churchwardens, &c. in confequence of a merry-meeting at Fountane's houfe. They cut open the leaden cofka, from the head to the breaft, and found the corpfe done up in its fhroud; on difturbing which, the ribs fell. They knocked out the teeth, cut off the hair, fix inches long, which had been combed and tied together, and after pulling the bones about, left the whole a prey to the grave-digger, who made money by thewing it till Thursday at four o'clock, when the ground was clo'ed. Mr Philip Neve, of Furnival's Inn, the writer of this pamphlet, has not a doubt of the authenticity of the body, from the fite and hair, notwithstanding over the fpot is a monument to a father, mother, and two fons of the fa mily of Smith, buried near that place 1653, 1655, 1664, 1674, to a daughter of which, a writer in the St James's Chronicle, Sept. 4-7, inclines to give it and it must be confeffed, the Its length of the hair, and the state in which it was found, rather favours the opinion. Be this as it may, the dead have been fhamefully violated, and most probably a fiction impofed on the public for truth; which we fincerely with may have been the cafe, and that our honoured Bard kill refts in peace

In the fecond edition Mr Neve has. added fome farther evidences that it was Milton's body, and not that of a female, from an attentive examination on a fecond careful difinterment, by leave of the churchwardens, in the prefence of Mr Strong, Aug. 17.

Of this production the following is a specimen:

There was a time in Britain's lies,
"Tandem bona caufa triumphat.”

- When Sin and Paffions loudly fway'd, And moral Force, fupprefs'd by guiles, In party danger was array'd;

To

which, an unc pected ftroke,

(From phyfical, or Nature's caufe.)
Tremendous hock, all union broke,
And threatened Britain's land and laws;
Sovereign-the beft of King's clate,
Good Heaven!-what a stroke of Fate i
Was taken ill, in mind and health:

Made Britain tremble with its wealth
Such heavy judgment then appear'd,
Might lead to ruin Albion's race,
Had Heaven not kepp'd between, and rear'd,
Now favour'd them to feek for grace.".
"Hail! happy Monarch, great and good;

Thy fear of God-and virtues food,
Thy people's wifh--thy with in life,

To foften jarring intereft ftrife.
Then my the Lord increafe thy days,

For Britain's welfare, careful deign;
(They, thankful, will increase their lays

To manifeft thy glorious reign. And all the people join'd in the chorus➡ "Cod fave our noble King"God fave Great George the King,

"God fave the King, &c. &c. &c."

Manners

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