or deco n of the rounded ted to its like its adorned, points of toke (or d in not p. 115. urch, in rs on the fpicuous it ftands and the round it trees en pleafing gular, as Company ot in the efer your ry of the fuch par th notice exprefs a of Brampof diftinu with an by way of this fhort he Hiftory Bridges. except the ts of Leired in our re intended Fne faying MALCOLM. Гая. 12. your correes, like S.r ↑ John Falthe doughty on account fleep; and, art of valour, o awaken it. tained a ccnhe now ipby the heavy [elf, and unner method; to his talents, Fenhve kind. bitantiate the has brought as recourte to at his pretexts are M. URBAN, UPON a wall plate of oak or chef Norwich, Jan. 1. deftitute of tower, battlements, or deco- nut, five inches in thickness, under the projection of the first floor, in the front of the Bridewell at Ayltham, in Norfolk, the following legend is emboffed: (See plate I. fig. 1.) GOD SAVE: OUR: SUPREMHED: KYNG HENRY: THE HYGHT PRAY FOR: THE : GOOD PROSPERYTE: AND ASSTATE: or ROBERD; MERSHM AND JONE: HIS : It is in one line of 37 feet 10 inches in length; and, over the entrance-door, is full preferved a flat Gothic arch, in wood (of the ftyle prevalent at that time, and first ufed in the reign of Henry VIII.), 3 feet 11 inches in length, and has the following legend: THIS. HOWSE WAS MADE. IN. THE YER. OF. OUR. LUKDE: 1543. (Fig. 2.) and on the fhields of the spandals of the arch the initials R. M. and J. B. The letters are painted white on a brown ground, and are in good prefervation, Theltered from the weather by the projection of the fuperincumbent floor. I imagine Robert Meriham to have been of the family of Marhems, of Stration Strawleys, from whom the prefent Lord Romney is a defcendant, although I find no mention of hin, or Joan his wife, to accord with the date in Blomefield's account of the Martham family t; he was probably a ton of John, who died in 1515, called, in evidences, Senior of Siration. Mr. URBAN, W. W. Jan. 2. IN a cold and comfortless morning of February, 1792, I left Market Harborough, in company with one gentleman and a guide, in fearch of Antiquities and Steeples. We propofed vifiting Stoke Albini church; and Holt, the noble manfion of the Nevilles; to dine at Medbourn; and return in the evening to Harborough, by Welham, &c. The first fenfation we felt was not that of pleasure, for it was biting cold; but our attention was foon attracted by the forlorn appearance of St. Mary in Ar. den, the mother-church to Harborough, The legend is noticed in Blomefield s The fpire of Brampton church, in Northamptonshire, which borders on the county of Leicefer, is confpicuous at a confiderable diftance, as it stands high. The village is pleafant, and the church handfome; the grounds round it rich; and the number of fine trees encompaffing the church give it a pleafing confequence. It is very regular, as will be feen by the drawing accompanying this. (Pl. II)-I was not in the church; and must therefore refer your readers to Mr. Bridges's Hiftory of the County, vol I. p. 491, for fuch particula s as in 1720 were worth notice therein; and hall only here exprefs a with that the prefent Rector of Brampton (a gentleman, I am told, of diftinguifhed tafle,) will favour you with an article for a future number, by way of fupplying the deficiencies of this fort letter, and in continuation of the Hiftory of Brampton as given by Mr. Bridges. Nothing worthy attention, except the antiquities in the feveral parts of Leicefterfire we vifited, occurred in our excufion; and, as thofe are intended for another purpoft, I decline faying any more of them at prefent. Yours, &c. J. P. MALCOLM. Mr. URBAN, Jan. 12. AFTER a long filence, your cerre fpondent J. M. revides, like Sr John Faitaff, and, like Sir John Faltaff, claims the victory. Like the doughty knight, he confoles himfelf on account of the controverfy being afkeep; and, thinking difcretion the best part of valour, declares it is not his aim to awaken it. Having, as he pretends, obtained a conceffion of what he withed, he now ipforms us, that he can país by the heavy charges made against himfelf, and undifturbed purfue his former method; that is, give a fuil feope to his talents, which are entirely of the offensive kind. Not being able to fubstantiate the charges which he himself has brought against Dr. Geddes, he has recourte to thick and fubterfuge. But his pretexts are 10 Mr. Ring's Defence of Dr. Geddes.-Congreve's Birth-place. [Jan, are fo flimfy, that they are eafily feen I have no where admitted, that the defence was conducted on Proteftant grounds and if he means to contend, that a Proteftant may not defend a Catho. lic, who differs fron another Catholic concerning the corruptions of Popery, I pity his ignorance. Dr. Geddes profeffes to believe all the doctrines which were univerfally received by the Chriftian church in the pureft ages of Chriftianity; but does not think Counting of beads a cardinal virtue, nor kifing of the Pope's tot an article neceffary to falvation. I no where allowed, that Dr. G. did not acknowledge all the doctrines of the Catholic church; but I confeffed, that he diffented from the difcipline of modern Popery, and juftified his diffent. The next affertion of J. M. is equally Untrue. I no where faid any thing that could confirm an opinion of Dr. G. being in the literary fecrets of Sir J. T. What I faid was this: "Has he questioned the truth of Chriftianity? No: but he has queftioned the pretended rights of Popery. He defends Sir John Throckmorton, who advifes the Catholics to chufe their own bishops. This is the fin which the bifhop elected by the Pope cannot forgive. This is what makes Popith bishops, and their confederates, perfecute him with unrelenting rancour and revenge. -Tantæne animis cœleftibus iræ ?" Sir John Throckmorton published his opinions before Dr. G. defended them; and who can refrain from laughter, when he reads of a man's opinions being fecrets, after they are publifhed to all the world? Mala mens, malus animus: a bad heart is commonly accompanied with a bad head. The fupidity of a bigot is the corrector of his malice: bis fat is an antidote for his poifon. J. M. informs us, that the main intention of his letter was to communicate, what he justly obferves will be news to the people of this country, that the majority of the French are excellent Chriftians, and excellent Roman Catho- J. M. is not fatisfied with afferting "Innumerable converfions to the caufe of thofe who were the declared foes of it when Dr. Priestley himself never advanced Mr. URBAN, Jan. 4. This furely is evidence extremely fa lowing lowing praife of Dr. Johnfon. "What ever objections," fays he, " may be made either to his comic or tragic excel'ence, they are loft at once in a blaze of admiration, when it is remembered, that he had produced these four plays before he had completed his 75th year." But three years at this period of life make a wonderful difference. I will not take up any more in your valuable pages by a farther comment on this fubječt. I hope Dr. Kippis will allow a place in his fucceeding volume to George Ferrers, and John Higens, two principal authors of the Mirrour for Magifirates; to George Gascoigne, the love-poet of his day; and to William Habington, the truly elegant author of Caftara. Let him not fail into Dr. Johnfon's error about the mother of James Hammond, the elegiac poet: fhe was not a Walpole, but a Clarges, as he may fee by the Baronetage. Capt. William Hammond, mentioned in the Biographia Dramatica, vol. i, p. 206, was his fecond coufin, being a younger fon of Anthony Hammond, efq. of St. Albans, in Kent, whofe father William was elder brother to Anthony, of Somerfham, co. Hunt. the grandfather of the faid James. He inherited none of the genius of his coufin. They were both defcended, (through the Auchers) from the fifter of George Sandys, the poet. Yours, &c. F. S. FEW Mr. URBAN, L-C-Street, Jan. 12. NEW things, I apprehend, are more frequently talked of, or more generally believed, than the dreadful confequences fuppofed to proceed from the bite of mad animals, particularly of dogs. In antient times, as well as modern, among all ranks of mankind, and however they may have differed as to the methods of treating the malady, the idea, that the bydrophobia is communicable by a bite, feems to have obtained univerfal confent; and yet the following circumftance has occafioned a confiderable degree of doubt in my mind. Some months ago, I fell into converfation with a learned friend upon this fubject, at a place of public refort at the fea-fide. A medical relation of mine in London had a little time before attended a maid-fervant of one of his patients, from the first appearance of illness, until the moment of her death in the London hofpital. She remembered to have been bitten fix weeks before by a cat. I am not myself in the medical line; but I was relating the circumftances of this cafe to my friend, who, after hearing me with a polite kind of impatience, faid, "Sir, I believe if you had had a complete opportunity of tracing, to the fource, the caufe of this young woman's diforder, the flory of the bite would have reced:d from your fearch. The diforder is, unhappily, too frequent; but the college of phyficians as a body (the men the beft qualified to judge) are not convinced, notwithstanding all that hath been faid, that it can be communicated by the bite of any animal in any ftate of madnefs. My own private opinion is, that it cannot." I remember that my answer was, "Doctor, I should not have been much more aftonished, if you had told me that the fall pox was not communicable by inoculation! Why is not this idea communicated to the world?" "Because," anfwered my friend, "the world at this time would not believe it; and, being a negative propofition, the truth of it would be difficult to prove in a conteft; but I have little doubt that at fome time the prefent opinion will be exploded." The manner in which this opinion was delivered obliges me to conceal my friend's name; he is, however, a regular phyfician, educated at Oxford, from whence he took his degree; he ftudied abroad, and has been in full practice near fixteen years; stands high in rank, as a member of the college, has read the Gulftonian lecture, and is very generally confidered to have a great fhare of knowledge, and to be free from all affectation of fingularity, or whim. I am completely unqualified to judge of this matter; yet I venture to fend you this letter, becaufe, whether the opinion be right or wrong is a question of very confiderable importance to mankind. I have myself fo high a refpect for every thing my friend fays, the refult of many years knowledge of him, that, notwith ftanding the fixed idea I had with the generality entertained, yet his words have created a confiderable degree of doubt. Dr. Mead, I remember, although it is many years fince I faw his celebrated work on Poifons, writes very seriously upon the effects and mufical cure of the bite of the Tarantula; the whole of which is, by the prefent generation, known to have been founded in imagi nation. If my learned friend is right, the bite of a mad dog may have the fame fate with pufterity. At least I flatter myself that I am deferving well of the publick |