Royal pupil. This work, entitled "Elements of Commerce," was printed in quarto for private use, but was never, published. In the construction of the Thames and Severn Canal, between Lechlade and Framilode, the Dean took a lively interest, furnishing some valuable suggestions as to the making of the locks and other matters. Mr. John Mills has drawn attention to the fact that he also invented some contrivance by which runaway horses could be released from a carriage. For this he was complimented by his friendSoame Jenyns, -in some verses beginning, "Crown'd be the man with lasting praise, Who first contrived the pin To loose mad horses from the chaise, and ending And save the necks within." "Let all who view the instructive scene, And patronise the plan, Give thanks to Glos'ter's worthy Dean, For Tucker-thou'rt the man.' "2 He was possessed of the Welsh love of music, and often found pleasure in promenading the aisles and cloisters of the Cathedral while Mr. Mutlow was playing on the organ. He was a man of plain habits and vigorous health. In 1791, he resigned his living at St. Stephen's, Bristol, in favour of his curate; and from that time resided chiefly at the deanery, where he died of a paralytic seizure, November 4th, 1799, and was buried in the Cathedral. On the east wall of the south transept, near his grave, there is a monument inscribed "Sacred to the memory of the Rev. Josiah Tucker, D.D., Dean of this Cathedrel, who in the long period of forty-two years, during which he filled that station, was never once obliged by sickness, or induced by inclination, to omit or abridge a single residence; and the state of the fabric at the time of his death bore ample testimony to the conscientious and liberal interest which he always took in the preservation and improvement of it." He is further eulogised as "distinguished by a vigorous, comprehensive, and independent mind"; as "eminently conspicuous for political discernment on the important subject of national commerce; for the free spirit of which, unrestrained by monopoly and colonial preference, he firmly contended against prepossessions long and generally entertained;" and as a writer of works not soon forgotten. NOTES 1. Another aspect of their intercourse, and some unfavourable references to their marriage relations, may be found in some curious verses of the period, of which Mr. Francis E. Guise has obligingly furnished the following copy : Dialogus de venustate Decanisse et de deliciis Episcopissæ inter maritos habitus. Dean. My wife, Father William, is ugly and old, Bishop.-My wife, Son Josiah, you need not be told, Dean.-I have put mine away. Bishop.-The deed I applaud; But example can only admire : For you were joined only by man and by God, But my obligation is "Prior." This was evidently the production of one who was no friend to either Bishop or Dean. 2. Little, as well as great, things seem to have engaged his attention, and he was the subject of some trifling jokes by others as well as by his Bishop. One tale that circulated among the citizens was, that walking in College Green he met a small boy, who was evidently newly breeched. The Dean's enquiring mind prompted the question, "Well, my little boy, who made your breeches ?" The urchin's reply was prompt and particular, "Father cut 'em out, and mother sewed the stitches." R JOHN CANTON, F.R.S. [1718-1772.] ECORDS of several early workers in the departments of natural philosophy and mechanical science are found in the annals of Gloucestershire. Some of these were pioneers of more recent inventions and discoveries; others are notable for their abilities rather than their attempts or achievements. "The Both Camden and Sir Robert Atkyns point out St. Mary's Mills, at Chalford, as the birthplace of the celebrated Roger Bacon, who was born in 1214. These ancient premises contain a room still called Friar Bacon's study. house," says Canon Lysons, "having been occupied by my grandfather, great-grandfather, and great-great-grandfather, I can answer for the same tradition as handed down to me to that extent." The Canon with much probability suggests that Ilchester, which is commonly given as the place of the Friar's nativity, has crept in from a mis-reading in some manuscripts for Cirencester, about eight miles distant from St. Mary's Mills. The evidence certainly seems to justify us in claiming this great philosopher as a Gloucestershire man, and associating his name and his remarkable discoveries with the village which antiquarian, historian, and local tradition credit with his birth. The celebrated Edward, Marquis of Worcester, was by residence and property so connected with this county that Canon Lysons claims him also as a Gloucestershire man. When Raglan Castle, the seat of the Somersets, had been demolished by the Parliamentarians, that family removed their residence to Badminton, where they have continued ever since. It was probably here that the Marquis, after the war was over, carried on those curious investigations resulting in that "Century of Inventions" which he propounded, and some of which contained the germs of great modern scientific achievements. Some of the experiments of this early enquirer--between whom and Sir Charles Wheatstone nearly two centuries rolled-were directed to the invention of a system of telegraphy. "In the year 1663," says Dr. Gregory, "the Marquis of Worcester affirmed that he had discovered a method by which at a window as far as eye can discover black from white, a man may hold intercourse with his correspondent, without noise or notice taken; being according to occasion given, a means afforded ex re nata, and no need of provision beforehand; though much better if foreseen, and course taken by mutual consent of parties." This could be done only by means of a telegraph, which in the next sentence is declared to have been rendered so perfect that by means of it correspondence could be carried on by night as well as by day, though as dark as pitch is black.' What this method of communication was is not revealed, and can now only be conjectured. The Rev. Arthur Bedford, a Bristol clergyman, in a letter to the Bishop of Bath and Wells, written in 1703, gives a strange account of Thomas Parks, of Mangotsfield. In 1690 Mr. Bedford was lodging at the house of Parks' father, and there became acquainted with Thomas, who was then about twenty years of age, and by trade a blacksmith. He was soon found to be a young man of unusual abilities and attainments, being extremely well skilled in mathematical studies, which were his constant delight. He also understood arithmetic, geometry, gauging, surveying, astronomy, and algebra." His attention was chiefly devoted to astronomy, and he could not only calculate the motions of the planets, but an eclipse also, and demonstrate every problem in spherical trigonometry by mathematical principles." 66 66 He was introduced to the Rev. Mr. Bayley, rector of St. James', Bristol, who was endeavouring to set up a mathematical school. This gentleman was astonished at the degree of proficiency he had acquired; but nothing seems to have been done to further his education. A few years afterwards his mind appears to have become affected, and he was the subject of singular delusions. According to his own accounts, he had midnight communications with spirits at cross roads in Kingswood. With these imaginary beings he professed to converse, asking them hard questions, and inducing them to sing. One called Malchi was his Familiar, and came at his call. Both Mr. Bedford and Mr. Bayley so fully believed these statements that they were afraid to accept his offer to take them to the spot and introduce them to these strange acquaintances. He thus, Mr. Bedford tells the Bishop," conversed with spirits to his own destruction;" for it was followed by illness which ended in an early death. He Dr. Smiles in his "Men of Invention and Industry," after speaking of Denis Papin, of Marburg, as probably the first who made a model steamboat-which was destroyed by jealous boatmen while being conveyed to England in 1707, for trial on the Thames,—says The next inventor was Jonathan Hulls, of Campden, in Gloucestershire. patented a steam boat in 1736, and worked the paddle-wheel placed at the stern of the vessel, by means of a Newcomen engine. He tried his boat on the river Avon at Evesham, but it did not succeed, and the engine was taken on shore again. A local poet commemorated the failure in the following lines, which were remembered long after the steamboat experiment had been forgotten : The failures of some are the stepping stones by which others reach success. |