and without farther reflection. Accordingly, they apply to Mr. Prov. Teller, to inform them what public confeffion would be required of them by the confiftory, provided they were inclined to take refuge in the Proteftant church. Nay, fay they, the importance of the fubject encourages us to put the queftion to you in ftronger terms; what articles would you yourfelf be willing to fubfcribe, or to declare your affent to, had Providence placed you in our fituation? To obtain a folution of this difficulty, feems to have been the chief defign of their letter to Mr. Prov. Teller; in which, however, is contained much extraneous matter. Amongst other things, there are fome good obfervations on the Hebrew language; as likewife, a well-written defence of their brethren against the charges of ufury, fraud, and perfidy, with which they are generally loaded. I was furprized to find it alfo afferted, that the expectation of a Meffiah, and of their return to the land of their forefathers, is gradually declining amongft them, and is efteemed by the greater part of the Jews in Holland, France, and Germany, wholly chimerical and vifionary. Such is this remarkable letter; to which, perhaps, may be attributed the no lefs remarkable fchifm which has lately taken place in the Jewish church in Holland. Nor is it improbable, that many more Jews, in different parts of the world, may be induced to follow its example, to renounce the ceremonial law, and to feparate from their brethren, Should this be the cafe, a way may thus be paved to the more speedy convertion of the whole body of the Jewish people. Be this, however, as it may, at leaft, another will be added to the many important and extraordinary events, to which the prefent age has been witnefs. Yours, &c. W. W. Arthur Young, Mr. URBAN, Chapter Coffeehouse, Oct. 18. HAT Ireland is in poffeffion Treat natural and local advantpeal advanof ages, every person who has travelled in that country must allow ; yet, with a climate nearly the fame as England, a more fruitful soil *, parts as convenient for all the purpofes of commerce, a numerous people who are acute and ingenious; yet, with all thofe great and important advantages, the Irish nation, almoft fince the reign of Henry II. have been in the state of civil war, turbulence, and diftraction. To perfons who are converfant in the hiftory of that country, from the first connexion with Britain, or what is called by hifto rians the conqueft, effected in the firft inftance by the exertions and marriage of Richard de Clare, furnamed Strongbow, Earl of Pembroke; it will appear, that the population of that kingdom is compofed of two diftinct parts, the native Irish and the English colony, fettled there by Henry II. and his fucceffors, at different periods. The indifference, if not impolicy, of England heretofore, to the inftruction, improvement, and, I muft add, encouragement, of the na tive Irish, and their attachment and partiality to the colony through many reigns, has been the prin cipal caufe for fix centuries of those deftructive animofities and warfare between both parties, that have paralyfed induftry and enterprize, rendered property in many parts of the island infecure, prevented ftrangers from fettling in the country, and nearly completed its ruin. Conciliation, by encouraging the natives and the coloniits to intermix by marriage, was, till very lately, never thought of, except in a few inftances; yet, the experience of hiftory bears me out in afferting, that this measure alone would ultimately tend, by fufion and intermixture, to fettle the distracted state of that country, by a true creation and union of one common intereft, connected by that tye which binds society together in every part of the civilized world; and by encouraging this principle, acting upon it, and making a few conceffions to the different fectaries, by the creation of an equality of privileges between them, as they compose the majority of the population; I fay, by the adoption of those measures, in my humble opinion, the Union will be for ever built on a permanent, folid, fure, and lafting bafis; and Ireland will then rife or fall with Great Britain, united and identified as one people, and in poffeffion of the fame conftitution, laws, and government. I have been induced to take this fketch of Irish hiftory by the obfervations of Bettus, vol. LXX. p. 833; and before I difmifs the fubject, I claim your impartiality and indulgence in order to make a few remarks on that production. "Say, fhall my little bark attendant fail, Purfue the triumph, and partake the gile?" Without following him through the mire that he has accumulated in Ireland, or to make use of the very elegant metaphor adopted by him, "out of the frying-pan into the fire," I fhall only obferve that, from the internal évidence in his letter, it appears to be a compilation felected from the travels of Mr. Richard Twifs; from which puny and petulant writer, fcurrillity, prejudice, and mifreprefentation, are transferred to his work; and it is evident, that there is a coincidence not aceidental in plot, unity, action, and fentiment, between thofe two tranfcendent writers, as they "At random cenfure, wantonly abuse." To attempt to libel a "brave and generous nation" would at any time meet with reprobation from a liberal mind; but at the prefent period, when we are on the point of being united and identified as one people, every production calculated to provoke, to irritate, or to inflame, fhould be pointed out; and every impartial reader will perceive, that this writer's epiftle has that tendency, and to be fimilar to thofe ill-timed, unfeafonable, and illiberal mis-statements, that have fo often heretofore teemed from the envenomed pens of writers, who endeavour "With no kind view To judge the many by the rafcal few." After praising the humonr, pleafantry, and defcriptive powers of Mr. Twifs, his great precurfor and model, your traveller proceeds to pay a reluctant compliment to Mr. Cooper; but, foon after, finds fault with that gentleman, for not calling the hofpitality of the Irish nation, drunkennefs, &c.; and then he makes a ferious charge against the veracity of Mr. Cooper, and fays, that he has " gloffed and varnithed" the Irish character. Mr., Cooper's Letters on the Irish nation will be read with pleafure, amusement, and inftruction, by every candid and moderate British fubject, and every well-wisher to the happiness and profperity of the united empire. They give an unvarnifhed statement, a faithful and a true portrait, of the prefent fituation of that country. Prior's advice on another occafion he has followed: "Be to their faults a little blind, Be to the virtues very kind." As an antidote against the prejudice of Mr. Twifs, I would re commend to Englishmen, who with to be well informed of the prefent ftate of Ireland, to purufe Watkinfon's Philofophical View of the South of Ireland*, published fome years ago; the Travels of Mr. Young; and Mr. Cooper's Letters, But to the vitiated and jaundiced perceptions of a Smellfungus, or a Mundungus, *This work is in a series of letters, and adorned with fome neat engravings of the ruins of antient structures in Ireland. " Who the Devonshire MSS. [ "Who the good to bad transform, the bad to worse," and who volunteer in the caufe of prejudice, and become advocates for mifreprefentation, the most exquifite paintings, the fineft productions of the fculptor or the fiatuary, even the celebrated Venus of Medicis or the Apollo of Belvidere, appear deformed. MR ANTHONY SINNOT. FROM THE ORIGINAL LETTER LATE REV. SAMUEL BADCOCK. Mr. URBAN, July 4, 1789. R. CHAPPLE, of Exeter, was for many years engaged in writing the hiftory of Devonfhire. He died, and left the mott unfinished. The papers collected for that purpofe are very curious and ample; but they were confuled and undigefted. Sir Robert Palk purchased them of Chapple's daugh ter, and fent them to me with moft liberal offers, if I would undertake the work on Chapple's plan, and publith a complete hiftory of this county. I declined fo arduous an undertaking for many reafons; but offered to arrange and methodize the, various articles, and write a catalogue of the MSS. and a general review of their contents. I have finished what I under- I intend to publifh a general ac- * Mr. Lewis had been reading an antient MS. in vellum, written in 1260, and originally belonged to See this paper in vol. LVI. p. 553. priory of Otterton. It was a Cofiumale, or ledger-book, of the priory, in-the hand-writing of a monk who was fent hither by the abbot of St. Michael de Monte in Normandy, to which Otterton wasa cell, before it was annexed to Sion, after its alienation. A fair tranfcript from the original is in Chapple's collection, with explanatory notes, and will greatly aflitt the antiquary in the hiltory of that priory, and of its dependencies. Mr. Lewis, in perufing this Cofiumale, was puzzled at the word: auca, and fent to Chapple for an The inclofed explanation of it. papers are the refult of that appli-: cation. Yours, &c. S. BADCOCK. P. S. My intenfe application to Chapple's papers hath almost meta-: morphofed me into an antiquary; S. B. and taken me off from theology' and the belles lettres. Mr. URBAN, Jan. 14. SHOULD be greatly wanting. in gratitude towards A. X. (vol. LXX. p. 816,) if I did not in return, for the handiome compliments he has paid me, give the information defired, concerning the cantharis or common glow-worm. I have peruted Thomfon too of ten, and too attentively, not to have obferved the trifling lapfe in his enchanting pen noticed by A. X.; and never could account for it in any other manner than by fuppofing that the divine poet expreffed, himfelf in the manner quoted, be-, caufe Dr. Hill afferts the male glow-worm to have wings; yet I apprehend, that, like the cricket, lady-cow, and many other infects, the glow-worm makes very little ufe of its wings; for I never faw it in any fituation more elevated As A. X. than the fummit of a barley ear or a ftunted furze-buth. has done, I have in general found them on banks under hedges, and fometimes in the interftices of ruggedelm-roots, and the foundations of buildings. I obierve it to be conmmon for feveral years together to elapfe, without any being feen'; and then a year occurs, when, in the month of Auguft, the earth is almoft as thickly fpangled with them as the cope. of heaven is with ftars. I have heard people fay, that they abound moft in dry feafus but I do not think that wet is inimical to them, becaufe I have feen them thining as bright in rainy nights as in fine ones; and I faw many in the wet fummer of 1792, but could not discover one in the extreme hot fummer of laft year. The laft I faw was in. Aus guft 1797, when I was returning home late in the evening through a very heavy rain, which did not affect the fplendour of the worm in the leaf. The luminaus appearance of the cantharis has cauled it to attract the notice of moft of our rural poets; and all of them, except Themfon, have confidered it as a crawling reptile, in habitant of the herbage on the earth. The third of the fimply-elegant fables written by More, for the "Female Sex," (and which I with, the young ladies of the prefent day would attend to,) is intitutled, "The Nightingale and Glowworm;" and in it the author makes the fongiter, previous to devouring the boatting infe&, addrefs it thus: "Deladed fool, with pride elate, Know 'tis thy beauty brings thy fate: Lefs dazzling, long thon might'ft have lain Inheeded on the velvet plain; Pride, foon or late, degraded mourns, And beauty wrecks whom the adorns." In compofing and illuftrating this fable, the order of Nature has been clofely obferved, both by the author and the draughtfman. The nightingale is almoft the only bird that could have been chofen with propriety to be the punifier of the reptile's vanity; as (except the wood-lark) it is the only one awake in thofe hours when the glowworms are vifibly luminous, and it is one that feeds on infects. In the plate illuftrative of the fable, Hayman, the draughtfinan, has very judicioully delineated the glow-worm lying on a bank under a tree, and in the fhade, The moon behind the tree flings light on the tranfaction, without dimimithing the brilliancy of the worm; and Grignion, the engraver, has done ftrict juice to the truth and tate of the defign. For farther particulars concerning the cantharis, I muft refer A. X. to the "Hiftory of Animals," compofed by Dr. Hill, who has enumerated and defcribed twelve kinds of them. I alto take the liberty of referring Stella (p. 1045,) to the fame work, as I have a fufpicion, that the infects obferved by her were the cicindela volens, or flying glow-worms, which are alfo treated of by Mr. Waller, in Phil. Trans No. clxvii. p. 841. Now I am treating on luminous infects, I will trefpafs farther on your Magazine, Mr. Urban, tọ mention an incident that may ferve to guide curious perfons in their refearches for them. As I was walking, a few fummers ago, on a fea-beach, I faw fome peasants, (for the purpofe of making fences to fome neighbouring inclofures, where hedge-wood would not stand the fea-air,) gathering up the weeds that had been recently flung up by an high fea. Obferving many tolerable fpecimens of marine plants among these weeds, I made a boy overturn a bufhel-basket full of them in the garden belonging to my lodging, that I might examine them at my leifare. Being engaged from home all the afternoon, I thought no more of my weeds till I paffed through the garden after it was quite dark, when I was furprized to fee them ftudded with innumerable vivid fparks. To difcover the caufe of this beautiful phænomena, I kicked the weeds about with my foot, and perteived that by fo doing I flung an hoft of minute lucid animals into as much confufion as a neft of ants is in when difturbed. It was only from this activity of the fparklers that I judged them to be infects, for for they were too small to be difcernable either by day-light or candlelight. For feveral nights that I watched them, I found their numbers diminish gradually, till at last they all became totally extinct, which, I fuppofe, was owing to their being no longer able to furvive out of their native element the fea. One reads accounts, in voyages, of the fea fometimes appearing luminous, and of that phe nomena being attributed to infects; and, poffibly, the fhining appearance on ftinking whitings, lobfters, &c. &c. may be imputable to infects likewife, and that my fparklers might be of that race. I A SOUTHERN FAUNIST. timer, whose arms, tranfmitted from a very early period, on a gold ring of antique workmanthip, was still preferved, as having belonged to one of their ancestors. I found, however, from his papers, which he obligingly thowed me, that Robert Parr, from whom the genealogy is regularly deduced, was a merchant in Exeter, in about 1585, born in 1567, when the Old Parr was 84 years old; and it is not probable that the labourer of Shropfhire could have had a fon in this fituation, in a town fo diftant; nor have we ever heard of any collateral defcendant, or even of any other branches of the family at that time. It is probable therefore, though we may admit of the origin of the family from another county*, that no connexion with the Old Parr can have exifted. Mr. Parr, the furgeon, lived to the age of 87, and his father one year longer; but I do not find any of the other branches of the family remarkable for longevity. I thall, however, be glad to hear the opinions of those who may be better informed, and am Mr. URBAN, Crediton, Jan. 10. OBSERVE, in your laft Obitutuary, an account of the death of Mr. Parr, formerly a furgeon in Exeter, and your quære refpecting the probability of his having been a defcendant of the OLD PARR. I knew the father of the gentleman, whofe death you record, well. He was a Diffenting minifter, of talents and acquirements highly refpectable, and was equally known as a gentleman and a fcholar. He was an intimate friend of the famous bithop Hoadly, who offered to ordain him on his own terms; and when the character of the bishop is confidered, it will not be fuppofedent. that any thing which could be difpenfed with would have been infifted on. At this time alfo, Mr. Parr poffeffed two livings in very defirable fituations, near Exeter, thofe of Rewe, and St George's Clift, now worth 200l. per ann. each! But to the point. From this gentleman's youngest fon, Mr. William Parr, of Moreton, I have heard the fame ftory of the family having defcended from the Shropshire labourer. Yet, on tracing his documents, I could not find any ftriking proof of this opinion. The family, he told me, were not originally from Devonfhire, but from Shropshire; and elaimed a defcent from a lord La Yours, &c. ANTIQUARIOLUS. I have great reafon to add, that the Rev. Mr. Parr was a conftant reader and purchaser of your Magazine from its commencement, as well as an occasional correfpond He was alfo one of the laft furviving correfpondents of the Spectator, of which he ufually claimed two or three papers of no inconfiderable merit. H Mr. URBAN, Slawfton, Jan. 11. AVING, fometime fince feen under an arch in a very antient church, the effigies of a man in armour, fculptured in oak wood, now much decayed by worms, &c.; allow me to atk of what age is this kind of feulpture, and how long fince it gave place to carving effigies in ftone, &c. Yours, &c. J. T. One argument in fupport of this is, that there is no other family of this name in Devonshire, though common in Shropfire, Lancashire, &c. |