Reply to Critical Inquiries, &c. TO THE EDITOR OF THE IMPERIAL SIR, 66 ment. How ridiculous the stern and self-opiniated importance of the former! how disgusting the pride, ignorance and impertinence of the latter! Persons who barely comply with the prescribed forms of decency and decorum, conceive themselves ON lately perusing your valuable Misremarkably modest; forgetting that cellany, col. 419, I was attracted by the chief and component parts of this the title, Inquiries respecting some qualification, diffidence and humility, minute particulars of the English lanare essentially requisite. How ami- guage;' ;" and on cursorily perusing able is the youth, who, notwithstand- those Inquiries, I strongly suspected ing the possession of superior abilities that your correspondent A. B. had and education, is diffident of his own mistaken Lindley Murray in some of opinion, and with modest deference his remarks. I therefore referred to attentively considers the remarks of that gentleman, and found that in his all; or, even if he is not conspicuously Notes and Observations under Rule blessed with ability and education, 14, Syntax, he states, that “particibut presumes not more than he pos-ples are sometimes governed by the sesses, still how praiseworthy is his Article; for the present participle, with conduct! Contrast it with the bois- the definite article the before it, beterous presumption of arrogance and comes a substantive, and must have ignorance, and behold more clearly the preposition of after it." The senthe inestimable advantages resulting tence referred to by A. B. as coming from Modesty! The truly modest feel under this note, is "the cause of my not less diffident of their own opinion, not receiving it." But, Sir, what dethan fearful of too hastily and incon- finite article in this sentence comes siderately contradicting that of an- before the participle, in the way pointother: the delicacy of their own feel- ed out by Murray, so as to be said to goings induces them to be always watch- vern that participle? Now the, the only ful, lest they should incautiously definite article in the sentence, cannot wound the feelings of others. A sym- be said to do that, for it applies to its pathetic ardour pervades in the heart, particular substantive cause:' and, by which they are at all times not only moreover, I understood Murray to inclined, but willing, to rejoice with mean (when he says before) immedithe fortunate, compassionate with the ately before; so that the of in the sendistressed, bear with the pragmatical, tence, as amended by A. B., is an inand envy not the prudish. In short, terpolation, and quite ungrammatical, to use a paradoxical expression, Mo- according to Murray, as well as ineledesty is not what (in these days) it gant. As he has not given any referseems to be. It is not that mummery ence to a grammarian in his second of expression, that preciseness of form, objection, and as it appears really frithat stiffness of demeanour, which is volous, I shall pass it over. "Tis true, so conspicuous in the middle and he says it is authorized by Mr. Murray higher classes of society; neither is himself; but, qui quondam erravit rursus it to be discovered in that refined de- erret. licacy, which shrinks at the idea of The answer to the last objection will any open personal impropriety, or de- be allowed, I doubt not, on my referviation from established usage, but ring your correspondent to a similar which feels no remorse in privately dip-passage in the Latin tongue; "Ubi ping its envenomed tongue in the cup of slander and detraction. ad Dianæ veneris ite ad dextram." Now Diance here supplies the place of two cases, the genitive and accusative; but it is got over by understanding the accusative templum.' In the same way may A. B.'s objection be got over, by putting the sentence thus: " their house is more commodious than our's;" e. g. our house. In haste, Your very obedient Servant, M. S. Shadwell, London, Aug. 16, 1810. MR. EDITOR, Most likely, your antiquarian correspondent Q, may, through the medium of your invaluable Miscellany, be enabled to give the lovers of antiquity and local information, some elucidation of the following brief remark in Blome's Brittannia, as the subject is highly interesting in the ancient history of Liverpool, with which he seems to be well acquainted. BLOME. "On the west side, upon the said river, (Mersey) is a stately and strong pile of building called the Tower, erected many hundred years ago, by Sir Jo. de Stanley and his lady, who lye enter'd under their alablaster tombs." The interment of Sir John and his lady here, seems to rest entirely on the evidence of this writer: neither Camden, nor Leland, takes any notice of it, or the monuments. Query. If Q, or any of your correspondents ever met with any account of it in any other writer; or any graphic illustration of the monuments which existed, so late as 1673, when Blome wrote? P. S. Query. By whom was the carved work in St. Peter's church executed, (between the years 1669, and 1704,) consisting of palms, foliage, doves, &c.; and a pelican, allusive to scripture history? This is well worthy the attention of the admirers of the Arts, and reflects an honour on the name of the artist, which, instead of remaining dubious and forgotten, is deserving of being rescued from oblivion. Yours, &c. Liverpool, Aug. 10, 1819. W. I. R. and, To contradiction and argument; rudely elevated with a consciousness of his own mental superiority, he smiles with a supercilious sneer on the common herd of his "unreflecting fellow creatures;" and too frequently treats them either as unworthy of his attention, or as incapable of comprehending, not merely logical disquisitions, but even simple moral truths. combat with such antagonists, is at once a difficult and an imposing task. If, in point of sterling sense, the advocate for truth be superior to the supporter of error, still that is not sufficient: he must grapple with him pro focis et armis; he must meet him on his own ground; he must refute by the application of incontrovertible truths and first principles; he must not walk around the moat of the capital of Error, but he must scale the walls— remove the sentinels-scour the outworks-enter the citadel, and there, arm to arm, and foot to foot, must fight on till he conquers his enemy, or dies in the combat. But as, in military tactics, the wisdom of the general is developed in the election of the mode of his attack; so it is with the champion for Truth: his learning, and skill, and intellect, are more displayed in the method he pursues, in order to refute and convince, than in the arrangement of his arguments when classed, or in the beauty of his language, the chastity of his style, or the brilliancy of his imagery. By the unskilful management of an army, many a campaign has been rendered nugatory; and by the ill-timed or ill-planned efforts of well-meaning advocates for truth, the cause of truth itself has frequently been put in jeopardy, so that by undue concessions, or weak and frivolous refutations, it has suffered more by its intended friends, than by all the malice and raillery of its enemies. Review." The Edipus Romanus; or an attempt to prove, from the principles of reasoning adopted by the Right Hon. Sir William Drummond Mr. Townsend, in the work before in his Edipus Judaicus, that the us, has, however, approved himself to twelve Casars are the twelve Signs of be at once a learned, judicious, and the Zodiac. By the Rev. George skilful opponent to error. He has Townsend, A. M. of Trinity College," met Greek like Greek." Cambridge. Hatchard, pp. 147, 8vo. 7s. 6d." ERROR never assumes a more dangerous form, than when it is supported by learning and rank. Surrounded by the bulwarks of education and science, the learned sophist braves the storm of ridicule, or the shafts of No. 7.-VOL. I. He has adopted the ex absurdo method of prov skilful ambush; the enemy takes pos- | session of the field not long since occupied by his antagonists; he sees no opponents, and he imagines they have retreated; but when he has pitched his camp, and himself and his veterans have concluded that the laurel and cypres have been ceded to them as their right, then, from behind the ambuscade, the well-trained phalanx advance, and, by a timely and judicious scheme, change the scene of hilarity and triumph into one of bondage and submission. That our readers may accurately appreciate the merits of the interesting and important volume before us, we consider it necessary to premise, that it is intended as a refutation of a work, entitled " Edipus Judaicus," published by Sir William Drummond, in 1812, the object of which was, expressly, to prove, by etymological deductions from the Hebrew and other dead languages, that the facts recorded in the books of the Old Testament, were nothing more than allegories and fables. To meet such objections to Holy Writ, it must be evident is not in the capacity of every man, or even every scholar; but Mr. Townsend has effected a task which but few were capable of accomplishing, and yet still fewer willing to perform. collection of astronomical emblems;" or, in other words, "that as things which are equal to the same thing are equal to one another, the patriarchs are the Cæsars, and the Cæsars the sons of Jacob, because they are both synonymous with the Zodiac." 66 As to the principles of reasoning adopted by Drummond, Mr. Townsend, however, remarks, “Sir William has invented a new mode of eliciting that truth, which is the common object of all who are not contented to think with the vulgar. Instead of looking for moral arguments, and metaphysical subtleties, he traces the goddess through all the living and dead languages, till he discovers her in the recesses of words, in the consonants of a radical, or in the remnant of a Zodiac." That those principles of reasoning are inaccurate, he leads his readers to discover, from the absurdities which they will induce their disciples to believe, and from the violations of every rule of construing, believing, and deciding, which is acknowledged to be correct. Congruent with the plan of his work, Mr. Townsend, for the greater part of his volume conceals his real object, which is to refute error under the disguise of a design to establish the before-mentioned proposition. He thus expresses himself: (page 14.) " The proposition, Amongst a variety of absurdities the truth of which I am anxious to contained in the " Edipus Judaicus," establish, is nearly the same as that perhaps there is none more flagrant of Sir William Drummond: to quote than that which Mr. Townsend has his own words, I pretend, that the anexposed. It is that of maintaining, cient Jews, like other nations of antiquity, that by the twelve tribes of Israel, had their esoteric and their exoteric docspoken of in the Pentateuch, were in- trines: that is, the ancient Jews distended the twelve signs of the Zodiac; | guised the history of the progress of for we agree with Mr. Townsend when astronomy, and the reform of the cahe says, though Sir William Drum-lendar, under the veil of simple narramond's professed object is to prove tion, and apparent matter of fact; and only that the standards of the twelve the mystery has never been solved till tribes were taken from the zodiacal the present day. The arguments on signs, he keeps the word of promise which the hypothesis is supported, are to the ear, and breaks it to the faith;' derived from etymology, coincidence, for his arguments undoubtedly identify and tradition." "I pretend that the the patriarchs themselves with these Roman historians, Tacitus, Suetonius, signs." In order to combat this and &c. had their esoteric and exoteric every other objection, made by Sir W. doctrines; they are enigmatical writers, D. to the truth of the Old Testament, and concealed certain truths from the Mr. Townsend has undertaken to vulgar, under the disguise of a most shew, that from the principles of reason- candid and impartial statement of ing adopted by the author of Edipus facts. These truths, consequently, like Judaicus, it could be easily proved, the esoteric doctrines of the Jews, are "that there is equal reason to believe generally unknown among their dethe twelve Cæsars to be the twelve scendants; like these, too, they do not signs of the Zodiac, as that the narra- even seem to have been understood tives of the Hebrew scriptures are a at the time they were written; a cir 66 oumstance which adds considerably to our merit in discovering their meaning at present: my arguments are likewise deduced from etymology, coincidence, and tradition; and I trust, by their assistance, to explain the hidden sense of many passages in the Roman historians." In order to develop the manner in which Sir William Drummond arrived at the absurdities which he has ventured to publish to the world, Mr. Townsend proposes to adopt the same plan of procedure, and to evince therefrom, the irrationality of all such principles of reasoning." In a strain of chaste, yet nervous and correct satire, he then remarks: "From the evidence of an innumerable collection of writers, I may here assume as a preliminary, that the whole Earth was originally of one language; all languages are derived from one source, and however they may now differ, it is probable we shall find in each, many radicals and words, which are to be traced to the original stock. Etymology is the art of discovering these words, by stripping off their sinecure appendages of mood, tense, number, person, gender, digamma, affix, prefix, intensitive, and accent. Etymology can change, derive, add, or subtract syllables. Like a suit of chain armour, it bends at pleasure over every part of an hypothesis; and defends a new system, by guarding against the intrusion of all the darts and arrows of facts and history, while the whole body moves easily beneath its impenetrable strength. Its only disadvantage is, that if the links are once broken through, the most illustrious theory, which depends on its protection, becomes at once utterly powerless and defenceless, and is suffocated in its own discoveries." Inquiry after Books. TO THE EDITOR OF THE IMPERIAL SIR, Lincolnshire, Aug. 2, 1819. M. P. ANECDOTE OF HER LATE MAJESTY. SIR, London, Aug. 30th, 1819. THE following circumstance came to my knowledge, with many other such, after I had finished my Memoir of her As a friend to illustrilate Majesty. ous virtue, I am persuaded you will give it a place in your Magazine. I am, Sir, yours, &c. W. M. CRAIG. General B-, died in service with the British army of occupation, which was stationed in the northern frontier of France, under the direction of the Duke of Wellington. His widow, Certain rules of etymology are then conceiving she had claims upon the admirably presented for consideration, British Government, set out to visit which are as absurd in themselves, as London, for the purpose of preferring they are literally descriptive of the them; but, in her journey through real errors which Sir W. Drummond France, she was attacked by robbers, has committed, in his classical and and plundered of every property but grammatical arguments in support of the clothes she wore at the time. Thus his most singular opinion. These rules, destitute, she reached the metropolis and our further remarks on this very of England. These circumstances, interesting publication, we are, how-being by unexpected channels made ever, unavoidably compelled to defer till our next month's Magazine. In the mean time, we cordially recommend the volume to the attentive perusal of every intelligent and pious reader. (To be continued.) known to the Queen, her Majesty immediately sent the sufferer, from her own wardrobe, an ample and complete service of linen and dresses, with duplicates of each article. This present was accompanied by £100 in money. SIR, TO THE EDITOR OF THE IMPERIAL MAGAZINE. You will perhaps think the following document, copied from the original, in the Exchequer, at Westminster, with a fac-simile of the autograph of Henry VIII. prefixed, as in the Record, likely to prove interesting to some of your numerous readers. Heresy off BY THE KING. W. WE wol and comaunde you, to allowe dailly fromhensforth unto o' Right Dere and welbelovede the Lady Lucye, into hir Chambre the dyat & fare hereafter ensuyng Furst ev'y mornyng at brekefast oon Chyne of Beyf at our kechyn, oon Chote Loff and oon Maunchet at our panatry Barr, and a galon of Ale at our Buttrye Barr. Itm, at Dyner a pese of Beyfe a stroke of Roste and a Rewarde at o' said kechyn, a cast of Chete bred at our panatrye bar and a galone of Ale at o' Buttrye Bar. Itm at after none a manchet at our Panatrye Bar, and half a galon of Ale at our Buttrye Barr. Itm at Supper a messe of Porage a pese of Mutton and a Rewarde at our said ketchyn, a caste of Chete brede at our Panatrye, and a galon of Ale at our Euttrye. Itm at after Supper a Chete Loff and a maunchet at our panatrye Barr, a galon of Ale at our Buttrye Barr, and half a galon of Wyne at our Seller Barr. Itm ev'y mornyng at o' Woodeyarde, four Tall Shyds and twoo Fagotts. Itm. at our Chaundrye Barr in Wynter ev'y night oon preket and Fourc Syses of Waxe weight Candells White Lights, and oon Torche. Itm at o' Picherhouse wekely six white Cuppes. Itm at ev'y tyme of our Remoeving oon Hoole Carte for the cariage of hir Stuff. And these our Ires shalbe your sufficient Warrant and discharge in this behalf at all tymes herafter. Yeven under our Signet at our Manour of Esthampstede the xvjth day of July. The xiiijth yere of our Reigne. To the Lord Steward of our Houshold, the Treasurer, Comptroller, Cofferer, Clerks of o' Greneclothe, Clerks of of Kechyn, and to all other our Hed Officers of our said Houshold and to ev'y of theym. Hints on Charitable Institutions. TO THE EDITOR OF THE IMPERIAL SIR, IN your last number, you have given a short extract from a letter you had received, signed Veritas, respecting the conduct of some persons employed as collectors for the Bible and Missionary Societies. The impropriety, of which that writer seems to complain, is not confined to the circle of his neighbourhood; it has appeared in the metropolis and its environs, and perhaps in other places. Therefore a delicate hint, conveyed through the channel of such a publication as yours, to those whom it may concern, may not be improper; as it may prevent the recurrence of the same evils for the future. A letter was inserted in a public paper about a year ago; an extract of which I here subjoin, as it seems to correspond with the views of the writer Veritas: 66 "It is an old observation, that the best Institutions are liable to abuse, and have been actually abused in every age. I have lately made some remarks concerning a mode of collecting money to promote the design of the Bible and Missionary Societies. I am a friend to these Institutions; and sincerely wish success to all such and other laudable designs. However, to one mode of collecting money for this end, I beg leave to object; namely, employing females, even very young ones, to go about; some of whom have assumed a kind of official air and effrontery, and have expostulated with persons in a manner unbecoming that delicacy and modesty, which ought to be the characteristics |
