The Gentleman's Magazine; LOND.GAZETTE Chefter,Coventry OCTOBER, 1797. CONTAINING Maidstone Manchefter 3 Northampton Nottingham OXFORD Reading Salisbury SCOTLAND 12 Sheffield 2 Sherborne Shrewsbury Staffordshire Stamford 2 Worcester 2 YORK 3 Meteorolog. Diaries for Sept. and Oct. 1797 810 Hiftorical Account of Phyfiognomy, Letter I. 832) By SYLVANUS URBAN, Gent. Printed by JOHN NICHOLS, at Cicero's Head, Red-Lion Pallage, Fleet-ftreet; where all Letters to the Editor are defired to be addreffed, PosT-PAID. 1797. 3. Goffamer floats.-5. Very tempeftuous night of wind and rain.-6. Swallows congregate.-12. The robin fings for the first time this autumn, but feebly.-21. After a deluge of rain, the atmosphere clears, the fun fhines, and the air falubrious. In the fpace of three hours, the grounds, hedges, and trees, entirely covered with goffamer. After fun-fet, a thick vapour arifes from the ground.-22. The temperature of the air fuch as to raise the thermometer as high as 61° at 11 in the evening.-24. Gathered a neatly-blown Provence rose.-26. Leaves of trees, particularly the horse-chefnut, fall in abundance.Fail of rain this month, 3.95 inches. Evaporation, 3.6 inches. Walton, near Liverpool. METEOROLOGICAL TABLE for October, 1797. Height of Fahrenheit's Thermometer. J. HOLT. Height of Fahrenheit's Thermomeer. Month. 08. Sept. 27 28 51 62 12 55 13 49 56 66 55 30,00 fair 14 47 53 41 60 51 29,65 cloudy 45 48 30,02 fair 58 57 ,06 fair, rain at n 2345678 60 51 ,12 far 86 170 fair ,46 cloudy fair 950 36 42 41 ,60 showery 42 42 42 45 rain 50 45 947 fhowery W. CARY, Optician, No. 182, near Norfolk-Street, Strand, THE Gentleman's Magazine: For OCTOBER, 1797. BEING THE FOURTH NUMBER OF VOL. LXVI. PART II. Mr. URBAN, A Hartfborn, O&. 12. S your correfpondent M. S. I. p. 726, amongst other enquiries refpe&ting Dr. John fo's worthy friend Mr. Wainflev, withes to know whether Mr. Seward's verfes on him are infcribed on his temb; pleafe to infert in your next Magazine the fo lowing epitaph, which I am now printing, together with all thofe that remain in Lichfield cathedral; and a much more curious collection, fortunately preferved in the Athmolean MSS. and in Dugdale's Vifitation, in the Heralds college, from which I have likewife engraved moft of the fine monuments, effigies, and arms, in painted glafs, &c. deftr ved in the civil wars, for my first volume of the History of Staffordshire, now very forward in the prefs. With refp. to other particulars of Mr. Walmsley's life and writings, I am at prefent ignorant; nor would it be within the compals of my volumes, confidering the abundant materiais I have to compress into them, to enlarge much upon the lives and characters of all the Wortbies in the county; though the chief of them fhall certainly be fully noticed under the refpective places of their birth and education, &c.; for, Biography is doubtless a most requifite and entertaining part of County-Hitories; and let thofe, who fcoff at a proper felection of thofe ufeful memorials of the dead, know that "the perufal of epitaphs is not to be confidered as a frivolous and light amufement, but, On the contrary, an introduction to pleafing knowledge, and an incentive to moral improvement. What Biography is to Hiftory, an Epitaph is to' Biography. It is a sketch, which marks the great outlines of character, and excites curiofity to view the portraits as painted on the pages of Hiftory. It is likewife an epitome of a fermon, which teaches the most useful truths in the most comprehenfive form." On the right fide of the great Weft door of Lichfield cathedral is a rich mural monument of mixed marble, thus infcribed: In a vault near this place who departed this life Auguft 3, 1751, aged 71. He was defcended from an antient family city of Lichfield in parliament, and was in Lancashire; his father represented the chancellor of this diocefe. In the fame vault are depofited the remains of MAGDALEN his wife. She was daughter of Sir Thomas Afton, of Afton, in the county of Chester, bart. She died Nov. 11, 1786, in the 78th year of her age.' Yours, &c. Mr. URBAN, you " S. SHAW, jun. oa. 16. OUR readers, who have any knowledge of, or regard for, our national antiquities, of whatever communion they may be, are much obliged to Mr. Milner, for his candid and unb affed statement, p. 638, of the difputes in the Society of Antiquaries, refpe&ng the election of Mr. Wyatt. If he was prefent at the time of his being propofed a fecond time, it may be queftioned if he has given you the whole that paffed, or the violence with which the debates were conducted; thinking, perhaps very justly, that the force of the arguments on both fides would be better felt by the feveral difputants on cool reflection. But' are you not willing to hope that Mr. W. is not fo ambitious to disturb the peace or counteract the very inftitution of the Society, as certain of his warm friends and patrons are for him? He," probably, partifans in both houses of parliament, or on the epifcopal bench; who would facrifice their own judgement to his, or, it may be, having no judgement of their own, be guided by him, fhoold the Society of Antiquaries abet, the havock? Once more then let me indulge the fuppofition that it is not Mr. W. but his eager friends, who are thus rafhly, and without due confideration, pung him into that learned Society, inftituted, if we believe their foundationcharter, for the fo e purpose of "mutua! improvement in the fludy of an probably, is confcious that he is only difplaying his own skill in all the alterations he makes, and the boldness with which he props up antien: ftructures, regardless of the general effe of his art on the beauty or proportions of the building; and that, where he blocks up two tranfepts, he provides fupport for tottering arches or towers. Without pretending to any hiftoric knowledge of Ayles, dates, armorial bearings, monumental infcriptions, and a thoufand other effentials in antiquarian lore; without even having read enough to inform himself that the true figure of a Christian church is a Chriftiquity and the hiftory of former times, tian crofs, his aim is to form a creature of his own fancy: and, when we want a new cathedral, or a new chapel to a new or old college, let him, in God's name, be the builder of it. But let not his admirers attempt to perfuade the Society of Antiquaries that he is not hostile to Gothic architecture, or that, compared with Grecian, Gothic architecture is barbarifm, or that Mr. W's architecture is fuperior to both. Let them not go about to vindicate the indecent disturbance of the dead, and the abfurd confufion of the arts of one age with another, or the frivolous converfion of a churchyard into a bowling green or parterre, where Mr. Price or Mr. Repton may fhare the palm with Mr. W. Let not gratitude to Mr. W. for planning, if b* did plan, a room for the Society of Antiquaries to meet in, overcome every other confideration; or the fear that the influx of a high tide into the Society's coal-cellars will not be removed if Mr. W. is not made an A S.S. influence them to fan&tion the deftruction of their own principal and primary objects. Should fome petitmaitre of a record-keeper arife and recommend the configning to the flames ali thofe of our national archives which are too thick covered with duft, or want too much washing or reftoring for his delicate fingers or eyes to attempt, and affim boldly, and once for all, thar, beyond such a period, they are of no ufe; had he ever fo many, * Was not the whole of the new build ing at Somerset-place planned and executed by Sir William Chambers? and is not he alone aufwerable for the failure of any part of it afterwards, when ti e fall of the Royal Academy's apartments might have involved a 1 the other Societies in one common ruin? which have ever been efteemed highly commendable and useful, not only to improve the minds of men, but also to incite them to Virtuous and noble actions, and fuch as may hereafter render them famous and worthy examples to late pofterity," not for the fan&tion of confufion in ali biftoric evidence of Art, Science, and Hiftory. For, put the cafe, that the Dean and Chapter of Westminster were once perfuaded to fancy that the removal of an aire or a tranfept, or even of Henry the Seventh's chapel, were effential to the new organization of their church, the Pantheon of national merit in every kind and degree, in all the actors of this great fcene of life, from the patriot to the player; would not the publick refent the havock of fo many fuperb memoria's which have been, from time to time, raifed at the public expence, or from the purfes of individuals, to the no fmall emolument of the reverend and learned members of that and every other ecclefiaftical foundation? It is in the recollection of the Society of Antiquaries, how one impudent man was attemp.ed to be forced in by another of the fame defcription, who gloried in the attempt, which the Society had the virtue to refift with fuccefs. If the rage of equalization has not extended itself completely over literature, or avarice dazzled the eyes of a learned body to forget that Merit has claims beyond Wealth; we will hope there is at least one Learned Body, which does not indifc:iminately embrace, with the pliancy and frenzy of fashion, thofe whom private opinion does not view with the undifcerning eye of public opinion, or facrifice merit to name. If the conduct of a man in his profeffion be not an object of difcuffion, 813 1797.] A new Medical Biography.-A Trip to Paris in 1788. 813 difcuffion, how fadly is the very infti. tution of any Society departed from, and particularly of that Society inftituted for the purpofe of preferving all that is grave and ferious, in the ecclefiaftical and, civil antiquities of their country, from that leveling flippancy which threatens to bear down before it all that is valuable in both! D. H. T writings of authors recourse should be had to their works; and, for the lives of others, to the best memoirs that are extant concerning them. It may poffibly be objected to my work, that there are others extant which may fuperfede the neceffity of the one in hand; but, it must be remembered that, fince the publication of any work of medical biography, many very eminent and celebrated characters have existed, whofe lives would probably be loft to the world were they not now recorded; and, from the advantage of an extenfive correfpondence with medical men, I have been able to collect the lives of fome eminently-diftinguished phyfi. cians and others, who have not yet graced the page of Biography. I hope to be enabled to put my work to the prefs before the end of the prefent year; and I fhall feel myself" much obliged to any of my medical brethren, who will communicate to me the lives and writings of any diftinguished medical characters, whom I may have omitted either through inadvertence or ignorance. I cannot but thus publicly exprefs my obligations for affiftance to the celebrated and ingenious Dr. Darwin, Mr. Carlifle, and Mr. Ward, of the Westminster hofpital, and to my valued friend the author of the Medi cal Spectator, &c. &c. B. H. Mr.URBAN, Southwell, Notts, Sept. 9. O preferve memoirs of illuftrious men is not only doing an act of juftice to departed merit, but may be the means of inftigating the activity and genius of modeft and unaffuming fuperiority of mental poffeffions to the laudable exertion of thofe talents which may prove highly beneficial to mankind. With thefe views, Biography difclofes the different, ge niufes of all ages, and relates to the world the various natural and acquired excellences of diftinguished characters. With thefe views, Mr. Urban, I have been induced to undertake a work, which, I truft, will not be unacceptable to the Medical World. I have nearly completed what I have intituled, Biographia Medica; or, an hiftorical and critical Account of the Lives and Writings of the most eminent Medical Perfons, from the earliest Accounts of Time to the prefent Period; with a Catalogue of their literary Productions." This work contains fome account of every charac ter, in the profeffions of phyfick and furgery, that has been fufficiently diftinguished to be recorded. It will, therefore, naturally include a hiftory of the most remarkable and interefting tranfactions; an hiftorical account of, the progrefs of medical fcience, of anatomy, furgery, chemistry, botany, and of every department of fcience, connected with medicine; and an ab stract of all opinions and principles by which the Medical World has been influenced in all its extent and duration. I have been particularly careful to do juftice to the learned and ingenious of all countries, whofe works are held in high esteem. A TRIP TO PARIS. (Continued from p. 725.) AS no waiters are kept in the hôtel, we were obliged to hire a fervant. This'race of men may be truly faid to live in clover. They are hired for 40 fous a day; and whatever is removed from the table is their property. The traiteur, the fhop-keeper, and even the coach-mafter, are obliged to fee them regularly. It is eafily conceived that the ftranger ultimately pays all these contributions; but it is politic for him to fubmit without enquiry to this customary imposition; for, by that means, he will be preferved from greater offes and inconveniences. Sometimes thefe men are alfo paid by the agents of police, to act as fpies on their employers. Thus every thing turns to their advantage. We had reason to be pleafed with our domestique, and we gave him three livres a day. As foon as we had fettled thefe preliminaries, we took a fiacre, and went to the Comédie Françaife. This build ing, |