1745. He published, in Gent. Mag. vol. XV. p. 553? "A Rhapfody on the late Affociation in Yorkshire," relative to the rebellion; and, the fame year, a poem called "Ridley's Ghoft," which has confiderable merit, and the author was enquired after by a correfpondent of Mr. Shenftone. See Hull's edition. See it advertised in Gent. Mag. vol. XV. p. 672. 1747. His wife died, and was buried at Tunbridge June 20. She was an amiable, fenfible, ingenious woman; but had long laboured under a bad state of health. 1748. He publifhed a fermon, intituled, "Benevolence the Source and Ornament of civil Diftinctions; preached at St. Antholin's, before the Skinners Company, by James Cawthorne, M. A.9" 1749. "The Vanity of Human Enjoyments, an Ethic Epiftle 10," was fpoken as a school exercife, by Mafter P. Dalyfon, before the Skinners Company, at their annual vifitation of the fchool. 1750. "Happiness the Object of all our Purfuits, an Ethic Epiftle "," fpoken on the like occafion, by Mafter J. Moore. "The Difficulty and Danger 1751. of rifing at Court, an Ethic Epiftie 12," fpoken, &c. by Mafter J. Moore. 1752. "Nobility, a Moral Effay 13," fpoken, &c. by Mafter J. C. Roberts. 1753 Lady Jane Grey to Lord Guilford Dudley, an Epiftle in the Manner of Ovid 14," fpoken, &c. by Matter E. Byam. 1754. "Ann Boleyn to Henry the Eighth, an Epiftle in the Manner of Ovid 15," fpoken, &c. by Malter G. Children. * An imperfect copy of which penes E. G. 9 See Gent. Mag. vol. XVIII. p. 432. This year he received a letter, dated "Eyndhoven, May 8, O. S." from "Capt. Hughes (fee Cawthorn's Poems, p. 17), mentioning the cellation of hoftilities, and foliciting Mr. C. to pay a visit to the Continent." io See Cawthorn's Poems, p. 172. 11 Not found amongst his MSS. This year he vifited Paris, as appears by a letter to his fifter, dated "June 16." 12 Not found amongst his MSS. 14 See his Poems, p. 97. 15 Not found among ft his MSS. This year died his father, aged 65; and his brother homas, hardware dealer, in LeadenhallAtreet, aged 31, u married. 1755. "The Regulation of the Pal fions the Source of Human Happiness"," fpoken by Mafter G. Children. 1756. "Of true and falfe Tafte, an Effay," fpoken by Mafter Gordon 17. 1757- "Wit and Learning, an Al legory 18," fpoken by Matter Children. 1758. "The Birth and Education of Genius, a Tale 19," spoken by Master Children. 1759. "Verfes occafioned by the Victory of Robach 20," spoken by Mafter Thurfion. 1760. "Life unhappy, because we ufe it improperly," a moral effay 24, fpoken by Mafter Thurston." The Temple of Hymen," a tale 22, spoken by Mafter Woodfall. 1761. April 15, he unhappily loft his life by a fall from his horfe 23. What is very remarkable, it appears from bis papers 24 that he had appointed Virgil's fifth Eclogue to be recited by Meirs. Brett and Marriott, at the enfuing vifi. tation of the Skinners Company; when, alas! it had a peculiar unexpected pro priety. Thus this good man made his poetical abilities fubfervient to the intereft of his pupils. But his literary talents, though very confiderable, bore orly a fmall proportion to his moral excellence. In the character of a fon, he always fhewed a moft refpectful and affectionate attention to his parents; as a brother, purfued every proper method to promote the intereft of his relations; as a husband, was tender, polite, and ob liging; as a mafter, humane, and folicitous for the welfare of his fervants. In his fchool, he fupported his ftation with a becoming dignity; paid a firift regard to his duty; and, without partiality, was ever ready to applaud merit, and difcourage indolence." He was hofpitable and generous, yet an economif; egular in his accounts, and punctual in the discharge of every just demand: 16 See his Poems, p. 81. 17 See ibid. p. 110. 18 ibid. p. 188. 19 Ibid. p. 36. 20 Ibid. p. 129. 21 Ibid. p. 119. 22 lbid. p. 153. 23 See a copy of verfes to his memory, addreffed to Sir Sampfon Gideon, Bart. now Lord Eardley, Gent. Mag. vol. XXXI. p. 232. 24 This and the preceding notices relative to the fchool-exercifes are from Mr. Cawthorn's MSS. penes E. G. fhewed fhewed a becoming focial chearfulness in company, yet was temperate; and, in private, was beft pleafed with the plainelt diet. In a word, thofe who best knew him had the most reafon to value him, and lament his diffolution. A$ E. GOODWIN, Sheffield. Mr. URBAN, Birmingham, Nov. 12. S the Gentleman's Magazine is now become famous all over the globe for curiofities of all forts, permit me, through the channel of that muchefteemed Publication, to relate a converfation that paffed fome few days ago in a company of fox-hunters. One of the gentlemen faid, he made it a conftant rule always to drown the first litter of whelps that his young bitches had, as it was generally understood fuch puppies always went mad. Another faid, that when his cat kittened he thought of keeping a boar kitten, having been fome time troubled with females (cats, I mean, Mr. Urban,); but, on picking out one for its beauty, before a particular examination of its fex, his wife began to laugh at him, and asked him if that was his be cat, for the never knew a be bave three colours; and, upon a more minute examination, it proved a . female. Now, Mr. Urban, if any of your learned correfpondents will inform us if "fuch things are," and their reafons, it will very much oblige numbers of your readers, and in particular a young naturalift. Permit me, Mr. Urban, alfo to afk Capt. Newte when be visited Birmingbam? I have known that town very well for near thirty years, and, thank God, my eyes are yet pretty good, but I could never difcover what that gentleman has found out, viz. that the footpaths are laid with flag-ftones like the London streets, and defy him to mention one fireet that is flagged on both fides, or even one fide from end to end. Somme few individuals have got a few on their own fronts; and one fide of the High-ftreet, from the corner of Newftreet to Corbet's-alley, is laid with flags nearly in the London tafte; but how he could fay, "it is not above three years fince pavements on foot-paths, formed of flag-ftones upon the London p an, were first introduced in this place (Birming ham); the ladies of Birmingham at first confidered thefe fmooth pavements as very great grievances; they were not fo convenient, they faid, as their old foot-paths, or ealy to walk on." F. Newte, efq. had much better have been filent about Birmingham, becaufe every one in the town, and thousands out of it, mult know this to be a moft palpable falfbood, and will confequently fufpect all or mott of this tour to be fabricated in his own houfe. And fo far from the ladies difliking thefe flag-fiones, the very reverfe may be obferved any day by the numbers that cross the High-ftreet on pur pofe to have the pleasure of walking on that small part of it that is flagged as beforementioned. He alfo fays, "what religion there is in Birmingham is to be found amongst the Diffenters." Now, from my obfervations these twenty years and upwards, I think the religion of the Birmingham folk to consist in variety; for, as foon as any new place of worship is opened, it is fure to be well filled for a few months, let their creed be what it will; fo that fome wags have faid, if the d- was to open fhop at Birmingham, he would have plenty of customers. As to Method ifts, they fwarm all over the town; and the Roman Catholic chapel, or mais houfe, was always very crowded till the New Jerufalem or Swedenborgians began, and now they overflow in fuch a manner that they talk of making an additicn; but, fhould they wait till fome more new places of worship open, must likely they will have room enough. I understand that the amphitheatre is divided, and to be opened foon, one fide by the Prefbyterians, and the other by a company of young gentlemen of the town as a playhouse; to that Dr. Priestley may have an opportunity now of coming to Birmingham (if he dare), and fighting the devil on his own ground. Yours, &c. SENEX. defign, from time to time, to fend them goods from hence, my whole account I will pay you when you come up here, not in poetical paper-credit, but in the folid money of this dirty world. I will not draw upon you, in cafe you be not prepared to defend yourself: but if your purfe be valiant, pleafe to enquire for Jean or Elizabeth Thomson, at the Rev. Mr. Gufthart's *; and if this let ter be not fufficient teftimony of the debt, I will fend you whatever you fhall defire. It is late, and I would not lofe this poft. Like a laconic man of bufineis, therefore, I muft here ftop fhort; though I have feveral things to impart to you, and, through your canal, to the deareft, trueft, and heartieft youth that treads on Scottish ground. The next letter I write you fhall be washed clean from bufinefs in the Caftalian Fountain. "I am whipping and fpurring to finish a tragedy for you this Winter, but am ftill at fome diftance from the - goal, which makes me fear being diftanced. Remember me to all friends, and, above them all, heartily, heartily to Mr. Forbes: though my affection to him is not fanned by letters, yet it is as high as when I was his brother in the viri, and played at chefs with him in a poft chaife. I am, dear Rofs, most fincerely and affectionately yours, JAMES THOMSON. To Mr. George Rofs, at the Hon. Mr. Duncan Forbes bis boufe in Edinburgh.” THOMSON to Mr. Ross. "Dear Sir, London, Jan. 12, 1737. "HAVING been entirely in the country of late, finishing my play, I did not receive yours till fome days ago. It was kind in you not to draw rafhly upon me, which at prefent had put me into danger; but very foon, that is to fay, about two months hence, I fhall have a golden buckler, and you may draw boldly. My play is received at Drury-lane playhoufe, and will be put into my Lord Chamberlain's or his deputy's hands to-morrow. May we hope to fee you this winter, and to have the affiftance of your hands, in cafe it is acted? What will become of One of the minifters of Edinburgh, father to Dr. Gufthart, of Bath. By that worthy clerg, man I was baptized on the 8th of June, O S. 1700; and he was always fo kind to me, that I wish I could perpetuate the memory of his virtues." you if you don't come up? I am afraid the Creepy and you will become ac quainted. "Forbes, I hope, is chearful and in good health-fhall we never see him? or fhall I go to him before he comes to us? I long to fee him, in order to play out that gaine of chets which we left unfinished. Remember me kindly to him, with all the zealous truth of old friendship. Petite came here two or three days ago: I have not yet feen the round man of God to be. He is to be perfonified a few days hence. How a gown and caffock will become him! and with what a boly leer be will enfy the devout females ! "There is no doubt of his having a eall, for he is immediately to enter up on a tolerable living. God grant him more, and as fat as himself! "It rejoices me to fee one worthy, honeft, excellent man raifed at leaft to an independency. Pray make my com pliments to my Lord Prefidentt, and all friends. I fhall be glad to hear more at large from you. Juft now I am with the Alderman, who wishes you all happinefs, and defires his fervice to Joe. Believe me to be ever moft affec tionately yours, JAMES THOMSON.” When the Earl of Buchan had read' thefe letters, he said, "In thefe letters you fee exhibited the gentleman, the man of elegant tafie, the kind relation, and the affectionate friend. "In his poems, those who are happy enough to be able to tafte and relish that divine art, which raises the man of clay from the dirty foil on which he vegetates to the heaven of fentiment, where he can roam at pleature in the regions of fancy, will delight in feeing the beautiful pictures of Nature prefented to their eyes as spectators, and not readers; and after thefe delightful impreffions are over, they will find themfelves happier and better than they were before. "They will behold none of the enervating beauties of the Sacontalà of the Hindoos, or of the dry meditations of our modern poetafters; but they will every where find what comes home to the heart, and to the enlightened understanding of the admirers of Nature, and the lovers of Virtue. I have in my "The Rev, Patrick Murdoch, the Oilyman, characterifed, con amore, in the Caftis of indolence." +"Duncan Forbes." hands hands a copy of "The Seafons," which my father received from the author; and on it, fince I have not the buft of the poet to inveft, I lay this garland of bays. "Hail Nature's Poet! whom she taught alone To fing her works in numbers like her own; Sweet as the thrush that warbles in the dale, And foft as Philomela's tender tale. She lent her pencil too, of wondrous power, To catch the rainbow, or to form the flower Of many mingling hues; then-fmiling-faid (But first with laurel crown'd her favourite's head), [thine, • These beauteous children, though fo fair they Fade in my SEASONS, let them live in thine.' And live they fhall, the charm of every eye, Till Nature fickens, and the Seafons die." On the above occafion Mr. Burns, the Ayrshire Bard, now fettled in the honourable and useful occupation of his ancestors, in the neighbourhood of Dumfries, compofed the following addrefs to the fhade of the Bard of Ednam: "While Virgin SPRING, by EDEN'S flood, 66 To admire the works of Nature in her ufual courfe is a laudable difpofition; many content themselves with her ordinary operations only; but there is alfo an additional fecret pleasure in contemplating her bye-ways, or feeking to examine her fportive aberrations," Such, Mr. Urban, are the juft remarks on the fludy of Nature made by a deceafed refpeable correfpondent of yours in vol. LIX. p. 1187. The pleafuse he describes I fentibly feel whilft attending to the investigation of the Origin of Fairy-rings, notwithstanding little progrels towards difcovery can be yet reported; but the unremitting obfervations of Naturalifts, and the communication between them afforded by your Magazine, will, I truft, in time produce the elucidation of the mystery. Concerning these appearances many hypothefes have been formed, and nearly as many overthrown. In your Mifcellany the question was first brought forward by C. Berington, whofe enquiry failed of meeting attention. It was reintroduced by J. M. (vol. LX. p. 710) in a letter rather fingularly worded. J. M. fays, thefe rings exift in a meadow been in the fame state full twenty years, at the back of his houfe, which "has except once ploughed about nineteen, years ago, during which whole time there has been no alterations in the rings." He then very gravely and carneftly appeals to the publick, whefelt they ever faw any cows, &c. &c. ther any "one will be fo hardy as to afdung or urine? But before this, J. M. turning round" whilft expelling their affronts the memory of "our great dramatic Bard," by imputing to him the folly of having entertained and encouraged a belief of the circles being really caufed by Fairies. The existence of Fairies, Mr. Urban, is an elegant chimera, admirably applicable to the fupport and embellishment of feveral kinds of poefy. It is a fiction fo truly poetical, and fo particularly concordant with the excurfive fancy of Shakspeare, that it is no wonder that that Child of Nature fhould avail himself of it, and interweave it in his dramas. The ufe he has put it to in his "Midfummer's Night's Dream" is fimilar to the ufe Pope has made of the Rosicrufian fyftem in the "Rape of the Lock." In other parts of his works Shakspeare has applied it in the way of embellishment, as two ingenious poets of the prefent day have done likewife in "The Village Cu rate," and the poetical romance of "Ar thur." (See Village Curate, p. 38, and Arthur, p. 184). Mr. Pope, in his dedication to Mrs. Fermor, has implied his want of faith in Sylphs and Gnomes : but as the unknown author of "The Village Curate," and Mr. Hole, the writer of "Arthur," have not particularly implied any disbelief in the Fairy fyftem, J. M. may poffibly attribute to them the fame abfurdity as he has attri- . buted to Shakspeare, and he may do it with as much reason. There is no affertion, how inane foever, but what has its advocate. J. M. did not deem it poffible that the affertion refpecting the circular movements of cattle whilft evacuating their dung could find one; yet T. E. (p. 8co) was hardy enough to ftand forward in favour of it, though he does not go quite fo far as to declare himself ever to have been an ocular witnefs of fuch an evolution, a circumftance indifpenfably neceifary to proving a fast fo ludicrously inconceivable. As T. E. fuppofes thefe circumlocutions to have been performed round fcrubbing-pofts, it should be obferved, that Fairy-rings are too fmall ever to have had fcrubbing-pofts for their centres; and that, according to that fuppofition, the fields wherein Fairy-rings abound must have had formerly, either at one or at different times, fcrubbing-poits in every part of them; an improbable cafe. Befides, the rings appear (as M. C. p. 1191, and D. D. vol. LXI. p. 8, have obferved before me,) in places whereto cattle have not had accefs in the memory of man, or perhaps fince the Conqueft. No doubt thefe were the reafons which induced B. L. A. (vol. LX. p. 1193) to fay, very unceremonioufly, I deny that Fairy-rings have always a fcrubbing.poft in their centre; I never faw one in that predicament." Notwithstanding this gentleman's roughnefs, I agree with him." T. L. and B. (pp. 1007, 1106,) both fententiously afcribe Fairy-rings to the effect of lightning; the one quoting Dr. Priestley, and the other Mr. Jellop. Befeeching forgiveness of thefe four gentlemen for prefuming to differ from them (which is being yet more bardy than T. E. beforementioned), I must confefs, that I think they have promulgated a fcientific prejudice whilft endeavouring to difpel a vulgar one. They are of a different kind; but. philofophers have their prejudices as well as the commonality, and they are as tenacious of them. Mr. Jeffop's friend, Mr. Walker, might fee a new circle immediately after a thunder form, for a fresh appearance might as probably attract his notice on a day on which a thunder-ftorm had happened as on any other day; but it might have appeared on that day, fince a ftorm is no impediment to the rings appearing, tho' the lightning does not caufe them. On the contrary, I apprehend that the circle, obferved by Mr. Walker, was brought out to view (as the painters term it) by the additional verdure which the rain had given to the furrounding herbage. Had Mr. Walker ftooped to it, and perceived a smell of fulphur proceeding from it (23 all fubftances blafted by lightning emit that effluvia), his evidence would have had weight. A fashion has existed fome years, among the medical people, of at tributing every complaint they could not comprehend to defective or diforceted nerves. Philofophers and lecturers have fallen into a fimilar habit of afcribing every natural phænomenon they are incapable of accounting for to electric fire: in conformity to this fyftem, Fairy-rings have been called the effect of lightning. Did lightning caufe then, we fhould fee them upon corn, flubble, garden-crops, &c.; whereas they never appear (as I ever faw or heard) but upon greenfward or clover aftermath. Did lightning caufe them, they would be molt numerous thofe years when there is most lightning, and vice verja; but the year prefent furnifhes an inftance of the contrary. Duing the three elapfed quarters lightning was neither particularly frequent or uncommonly violent; yet the additional number of Fairy-rings which prefented themfelves to view at the ufual time (July and Auguft) of new ones appear ing is (at least in my vicinity) greater than common. C's fuppofition (p. 1180) is amufing. Surely this writer never faw a Fairyring, and as furely never noticed the dimenfions given by J. M. Were we to fubftitute Fairies for Britons, we might, from his other words, imagine ourselves fellow-inhabitants of Fairy-land, fince his ideas and expreflions are more appli cable to the children of Fancy than to thofe of Adam. Inftructed by C, we might, from the appearance of a fre circle, know as well when the Fairies had been performing religious rites, of celebrating feftive revels, as we do now when we perceive by fcattered feathers and extin&t afhes that a gang of Giplies have had a luxurious regale under a hedge. But I muft not trespass further on the province of Antiquaries, to whom C. has, with all due deference, referred the digeftion of his idea; and that with very great propriety, as the digestive powers of fome of those gentlemen are entirely equal to the task. Ants and moles have been mentioned; but the hillocks of these laborious beings would be seen invariably in the vicinity of the rings, did they occafion them. Ants ever affect dry places, and Fairycircles often appear in moift. Moles happen to work under them fometimes. J. G. of Kendal, inveftigates the mate ter |