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his entry on the Consulate, that, when she poured the wine in the ashes, a bright flame burst out, forgetting the natural cause which might have occurred to the most ignorant physician.

Now all these ceremonies, symbols, and oblations, with many others suited only to the finer climates of the earth, were observed within the memory of man in the Western Islands of Scotland, when the anaitis of Persia was held in veneration, and even worshipped; horses burnt in honour of Apollo or the sun, after the manner of the Pagan Tartars; and in Ireland, to this day, by traditional custom, the illiterate natives pass their wives, and their children, and their cattle, through the fire to Baal, as was done in the east four thousand years ago,

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From all these reflections, thought I, though we can derive no certainty with respect to our common origin, we can find sufficient reason to repel suggestions of those false philosophers who would insinuate the casual exist ence of man, and his spontaneous origin from the scene of his existence.

Having thus given sufficient scope to my agreeable reverie, I was awakened out of it by the tinkling sound of the bell for supper.

Sic ego inglorius ad ripam amnis amati,
Et agens solicita jucunda oblivia vitæ.

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ima nɑ Muddle .26, . 1894

Obituary Notice of the Right Honourable ndaleRobert Lord Romney.59 doudw

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10 TO THE EDITOR OF THE BEI. III share q arot bun

3+ brg (Dec. 25. 1798.), betur :།་!།】 I mad SIR,2

ROBERT LORD ROMNEY, President of the Society instituted at London, for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures, and Commerce, died at his seat, of the Mote, near Maidstone in Kent, on Saturday the 16th of No vember, in the 83d year of his ageofil

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Of all the institutions that dignified and adorned the reign of the good George the Sen cond, none, in my opinion, is entitled to so much praise as the Society over which Lord Romney wort worthily presided. vinogzorg lenortsa This Society, Sir, was not indebted to any vain or ostentatious patronage of men of fortune and fashion, but to the humble, though! zealous and successful endeavours of a very l private gentleman, Mr William Shipley of Maidstone in Kent, with the countenance of st the good Lord Romney. jerustrot ad Il It is not enough that Mr Shipley, and Lord Romney, should have been put in the fore ground of Mr Barry's picture in the Hall of

the Adelphi, or that the gold medal, which the Society presented to Mr Shipley in the year 1758, should be engraved and recorded to perpetuate the remembrance of that public spirit, and energy in the private walk of life, which gave being to that useful establishment. It is right and reasonable that every respectable journal should make an entry of the public benefits that have accrued from private virtue, united to public spirit, and to show them forth as belonging to the promoters of

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years past, to be a member of it, and I warmly seize this opportunity of recommending to those who may doubt of the efficacy of private societies in promoting eminent advantage to the "public, to trace, in the History of British Arts, Manufactures, and Commerce, the effects of a thousand men of substance and ingenuity, coming together, with an annual and regular subscription, to encourage the advancement of national prosperity in Agriculture, Arts, Commerce, and Manufactures.

free the honour for near th

With respect to Lord Romney, and to conclude, I willadd, that that venerable old man ju lived to see, from the top of his Pisgah, a new a'new's National Board of Agriculture, rising at a distance from the elements of his Society, which will be fortunate if it is accompanied by the same perennial enero that made the other flourish and succeed.

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Finally, I I cannot stop without recording,

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that when a slave on Lord Romney's plantations in the West Indies was asked by one who met him in the field, if he was a slave of Lord Romney's? No, Massah,' replied he; 'Lord Romney, de good Lord Romney have no slaves; I be his child and servant. Lord Romney be de father of his people.' I am your well-wisher,

B.

Characteristic Anecdotes of Frederick the Great, King of Prussia, &c.

SIR,

TO THE EDITOR OF THE BEE.

(July 13. 1791.)

NOBODY can have a greater contempt than I feel for frivolous anecdotes concerning men or women of frivolous description, let their rank or situation be ever so important; nor should I wish to see your excellent undertaking hurt, by giving way to that rage for it which has disgraced our British commonwealth of learning for many years past.

But however I may deprecate this abuse of the noble and useful study of Biography, I admit with pleasure, and a conviction of their utility, such anecdotes, relating to great and useful characters, as have a tendency to un

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