Mr. URBAN, Bury St. Edmunds, Jan, 1. SEND you, to be engraven, a curiofity, (Plate II. fi 1, 2, 3,) which has long been in the family of my refpectable grandfather, but of which he cannot give any account. The antiquaries of this antient town, both male and female, are unable to determine whether this toad, of filver gilt, be a charm, or a cafe for perfume, or only an ornament. In all events, that other grand-children may live as little like toads under a harrow, as I expect to be kept by my good old gentleman here, is the fincere with of one who incans to be, your constant reader, LITTLE TIP. Mr. URBAN, Middle-Temple, Jan. 2. THE HE inclofed rough fketches (figs. 4, 5) are taken from a painted window, in the hall of a gentleman's houfe in Salisbury, where there are many others, which, upon fome future day, I fhall beg the favour of infertion in your Magazine, for explanation. There are various opinions afloat relative to the former owners of this antient manfion; but they all feem to agree, that it was poffelled by fome noble family. If fome of your heraldic friends will favour me with the names of the families to whom these coats of arms belong, it may throw fome light upon it. W. F. Mr. URBAN, Jan. 5. THE fubjoined filver penný (fig.7), THE in my poffeffion, feems to have fomething peculiar in it. The figure on the obverfe, bearing a crofier, marks it to be epifcopal; at the fame time, the crofs and pellets on the reverfe feem to limit it to a date higher than Hen. III. Now, does it appear, that any ecclefiaftic (and if any, what?) was permitted to affix his own portrait to a coin, after the conqueft? Perhaps, if you can spare a corner in your plate for this drawing, one of your correfpondents will favour me with an opion refpecting the coin. GAYT. MAG. Jynuary, 1801. Jun. 6. Mr. URBAN, INCLOSED is a drawing (fig. 8), which, perhaps, you may think proper to engrave for your valuable Mifcellany. It reprefents a reliquary 3 the links are gold; the jewellery-work rubies and table-diamonds; the cross is enamelled red; our Saviour in high relief, white; the figure of St. John green and blue; the Virgin deep blue; the cylinder of ivory, hollow, opening at each end; ends enamelled in beautiful blue and gold Mofaic; contained a piece of the true crofs; the reverfe of the crofs enamelled white and gold, with the inftruments of our Lord's paffion; the foot of the crofs on a fkeleton; in the centre frame or ring, is a miniature covered with cryftal, about the fize of a filver penny, reprefenting Adam and Eve, the Serpent, the Tree of Knowledge and forbidden-fruit. It belonged to Queen Catherine, wife of Chrales II. from whom it came into the family of the Comptons, and is now in the po fleffion of a lady, the immediate de fcendant of that family." A. B. THE impreffion of a feal which ascompanies this (fig. 10) having been communicated to me by Mr. Douglas, with his fentiments thereon; I think you will not decline inferting it in your ufeful Mifcellany, that fonre of your Antiquarian correfpondents may illuftrate and rightly align it. The feal was found in a field near Petworth; and the impreflion reads, S.F.B. BOSSOV. PRIEVR. DE COVDRES; which Mr. D. fuppofes may relate to a priory founded at Cowdry, the antient feat of the Montacutes; but there does not appear to be any reafon for fuppofing there was a religious houfe at that place, R. G. fignature with his right hand, from an "My Lord, "I have received the favour of your Lordship's letter, and had one yelterday from Monf. Van Ellemeet, to whom I now return an anfwer; and as you will have a fight of it, I fhall refer your Lordship to what I write to him, and will only add, that in cafe he fhould infift upon having every thing fettled before the marriage, which, I find by Mr. Guidet's letter, cannot be done till next term; yet, in that cafe, your Lordship might go over to England, and come back again to confummate the marriage time enough in all likelihood to return with me; and you may be fure 1 fhall be glad of your company. "I forgot whether your Lordship defired Breda, or fome other place for your quarters, wherein I pray you will inform me by your next. I am, my Lord, your Lordship's most faithful -and moft humble fervant, MARLBOROUGH." Cambron, in Flanders, Oct. 18, 1706. 66 "I know not by what accident, but, I affure you, I had no the honour of yours of the 21ft of the laft month till yesterday, notwithstanding that we had five days ago thofe of the 24th, which brought the news of Lord Hatton. At the fame time I was informed, that the Monday morning. “I received your Lordfhip's letter. All I can fay to the matter it concerns is, that, having had lately occafion to talk ferioufly to my daughter of marriage, I find the is in very good earnest when the declares against it, which I am very forry for. What more I can aflure your Lordship from her own mouth is, that fhe has not forgot the zeal you expreffed for her deliverance once upon a time, fo that the heartily withes you a long and perfect happiness, and hopes you will meet it in fomebody who deferves and can return your affection. Could I have told you with fincerity any thing you defired more to hear, I had fooner anfwered your letter; for I am, with all imaginable eftcem, my Lord, your humble fervant, DORCHESTER." Morch 26, 1724. My Lord, "I don't know whether your Lordfhip was at the houfe yesterday; but if you were not, I beg of your Lordship that you will go to-day, to aflift in doing the greatest piece of juftice and compaffion that ever you did in your life. The lawyers have fpoke on each fide; but you will hear the fame arguments again to-day; and indeed, if you heard only the appellant's fide, it would be fufficient to judge against them; for my Lord Mohun, who was only an adopted heir, has kept the family of the Fittons out of their eftate near 50 years; they are of a good family, and if they had not gone to fervice, they must have farved. I don't doubt but that your Lordship will take a pleasure in affifting the unfortunate. I am, your Lordfhip's mott faithful, and most obliged humble fervant. S. MARLBOROUн," "I am much obliged to my Lady North and Grey for the honour the did ine; and I will be fure to wait upon her, with my humble thanks, as foon as I have any liberty." kerton has mentioned and figured the quarter forin in his eflay on medals; but he has not defcribed (and for the beft of all poflible reafons) the half Horin in any publication whatfoever. The half florin recently difeovered, and lately in the poffeflion of Mr, Sharpe, of Coventry, and the quarter florin now contained in the cabinet of the late Dr. Hunter, are prefumed, by perfons moft intelligent in English coin, to be the only genuine fpecimens extant. Of the firft no counterfeit has yet appeared; of the fecond, two fpurious ones are known to be in exiftence *. The quarter florin long fince has been engraved, and is printed in every work on English coin, publifhed within the last fifty years. Your print of it in the Magazine for December is laD. S. mentably incorrect ↑, Mr. URBAN, Maldon, Jan. 14. p. 308, is a fpirited letter, addreffed by Mr. Polwhele to Benjamin Incledon, efq. in which he very properly reprehends that gentleman for withholding information refpecting the Hiftory of Devonshire; and more especially for not returning an anfwer to feveral letters which he had written to him. IN your vol. LXI. my curiofity was much excited by fo. fingular a circumftance; and I took the liberty to request from Mr. Polwhele his authority for that particular, My first letter, I concluded, muft neceffarily, have mifcarried, as it produced no anfiver; but a fecond and a third having proved equally unfuccefsful, I am convinced that Mr. Polwhele, like his great archetype Mr. Incledon, is determined to perfevere in a dignified filence. If the Hiftorian of Devon was urged to fuch lamentations on the wretched fate of Authors, by a fingle inftance of inattention of his applications, (I fay a fingle inftance, for, if more had occurred, at that time we should unquefüionably have heard of them,) what have not a right to fay, who have not only chofen him for a correfpondent, but alfo another gentleman who is likewife in the habit of not anfwering queftions. An unfortunate paffage in Mr. Henfhall's tranflation of Domefday, (No. I. p. 221), where he fpeaks of Greek being ufed on Saxon coins, led me to addrefs a letter to him for farther information; but, though it was written fome months fince, he has not been pleafed to take any notice of it. This is the more mortifying, as I have copies of above 2000 legends of Anglo-Saxon coins; but have never been fo fortunate as to difcover thofe very interefting ones which Mr. Henfhall either has, or ought to have, feen. Your readers, who happen to recollect the contents of that letter, will fcarcely believe, that Mr. Polwhele now thinks it becoming in him to adopt that - conduct which he there fo feverely I cannot conclude without declaring, cenfures; that he has withheld infor- that thefe inftances of incivility have mation, and has not anfwered letters. been ftrikingly contrafied by the most But, however incredible it may appear, liberal and polite behaviour in the nu the fact is, that he has forgotten how merous perfons to whom have apindignantly he himself fpurned at un-plied for information, This is by no worthy treatment, and has forced others to feel "the humiliating nature of fuch folicitations." I have long employed my leifurehours in preparing for the prefs an Hiftory of the Mints and Coinage of this kingdom, and am, in courfe, anxious to collect every information on the fuhject. When I read in the fecond volume of the Hiftory of Devonshire, p. 35, an account of a Mint in the manfion-houfe of the Great Copleftone, incans the proper place to expreis my gratitude to them individually; but I hope fhortly to do it, when I fhall fubmit to the publick eye that work, which their generous communications will be found to have fo greatly affifted and embellished. 1 Yours, &c. ROGERS RUPING. P, S. I fhall efteen it a favour if any of your correfpondents will inform me whether the following work was ever publifhed. "Brief Memoirs relating to the Silver and Gold Coins of England, with an Account of the corruption of the Hammered Menies, and of the reform of the late grand Coinage at the Toer and County Mints, i. the years 1096, 97, 98, and 99, by Hopton Haynes, Efq. London, 1700," Snelling Snelling made large extracts from it, which are now in the library of Richard Gough, efq. by whom I have been permitted to copy them, I likewife with to know what is be come of a MS. which, in 1732, was in the hands of Mr. Peck, rector of Gode by in Leicestershire; but whether drawn up by himself does not appear from the memorandum. It contained, A brief Collection of the alterations which have been made in the Moneys of the Realm fince the time of Edward I. &c. &c. This MS. is mentioned by Sir Charles Frederick in a note written in his copy of Leake on English Coins, now in the polletion of Mr. Gough. Qu. What is meant by Mr. Hawkes's Book of Coins? which occurs in another MS note by Sir C. Frederick, Upper ThornhaughMr. URBAN, Street, Jan. 20. YOUR OUR correfpondent, R. G. p. 1153, will find that his difficulty of difcovering Kiel in Staffordshire was owing to a defect in its orthography; and that the place he enquires after is not written Kiel, but Kcel. It is to be found in Spelman's Villare Anglicarum, Adams's Index Villaris in Pirehill hundred, and the map of Staffordshire in the laft edition of Camden, about two miles to the South-weft of Newcaftle-under-Line. Keel manor was parcel of Tuthury caftle 1 Edw. III.; Hiftory of Staffordfhire, I. 40; and Keele houfe was ordered to be forthwith demolished by Capt. Barbar's foldiers, Feb. 29, 1643 Ib. Gen. Hift. p. 64, Gilbert Rollef ton, of Rollefion, married to his firft wife, Jane, daughter of Ralph Sneyd, of Keel, efq.; 1b, so. The principal branch of the family of the Sneyds have been feated there many generations, and the prefent poffeffor is Walter Sneyd, efq. lieutenant-colonel of the Staffordshire militia. Their curious old manfion, built 1581, as engraved in Plot, tab. 28, ftill remains with few external alterations, and, no doubt, contains the portrait mentioned by R. G.; which, if not anticipated by any other publication, will be particularly defcribed, or engraved, in the latter part of the Hiftory of Staffordfhire; a fecond portion of which is now finifhing at the prefs for publication early in the fpring, as will be more particularly fpecified on the cover of your next Magazine. S. SHAW. Mr. URBAN, Humpton, Jan. 6. chiefly devoted to literature, I Athe Gentleman's Magazine is flatter myself that this fhort article will be admitted into a corner of that useful publication, In the fupplement to the Encyclopædia Britannica, vol. II. part i. p. 383, we meet with the following paffage : "Punctuation, in grammar, is an art, with which we have faid, in the Encyclopædia, that the antients were entirely unacquainted. Candour obliges us to confefs, that this was faid rafhly." A learned writer, in the Monthly Magazine for Sept. 1798, who fubfcribes J. WARBURTON, after having proved, we think completely, that the art is not wholly modern; adds, that 66 The beft treatife upon punctuation, that he has feen, was publifhed fome years fince by an anonymous author, and dedicated to Sir Clifton Wintring ham, bart. With this treatife we are not acquainted; but we do not think that the art of punctuation can be taught by rules.” I fhall take the liberty to make two or three obfervations on this extract. 1. Mr. Warburton's proofs are taken verbatim from the Eflay on Punctua tion, by that anonymous author. 2. The author of that effay is no longer anonymous. The name of J, ROBERTSON is affixed to the dedication of the fourth edition. The fame gentleman is the author of the Differtation on the Parian chronicle; a new edition of Telemachus, with notes; an Effay on the Nature of the English Verfe; and other publications. He is, I believe, vicar of Horncaftle in Lincolnshire, 3. The authors of the Encyclopædia are of opinion, that the art of punctua tion cannot be taught by rules. If I am not deceived, the author has clearly proved, that "the art of punctuation is no arbitrary and capricious invention; but an art, founded on rational and determinate principles," and confequently may be taught by rules. C. D. H. that country from England, fuch as the Gordous, the l'aux or De Vallitus, the Montgomerys, &c.; and having ex hanfred the fources of information which it has been in my power to obtain, in this retired part of the world, and which, indeed, have been much confined to the works of Dugdale and of Collins; I ufe the liberty to addrefs your readers, learned in the Antiquities of this Ifland, in hopes that, out of to great a number, fome one will be fo far inclined to affift a beginner, as to give a lift of the works in which information is most likely to be found. I fee, in Mr. Longmate's Supplement to the fifth edition of Collins's Peerage, that he frequently quotes Chitting Chefter Herald's account of the families of Vaux, Multon, and Dacre. Having never feen that account, I wish to obtain fome knowledge of it, as alfo of its author. Mr. Longmate, I under ftand, is dead; but, in his preface to the before-mentioned Supplement, he an nounced, that he had been collecting materials for an extinct peerage of England; and I am curious to know if he lived long enough to complete it, and if there is any chance of its being given to the publick. CAMBRO-SCOTUS. YOUR excellent publication being open to receive every intelligence intereffing to mankind, I hope the following hints may not be deemed unworthy of infertion. I cannot help lamenting the great neglect in parents of families, not making their left wills and teftaments, the confequence of a fudden death thereby involving their relatives in fature contention and mifery, Surely, Mr. Urban, the once prevalent opinion, that death muft fhortly follow the making of fuch an inftrument, muft now be entirely exploded in this enlightened age; and yet we daily fee the neglect I have here pointed out, or, if done at all, the will is too often made in the laft fiage of fickness, a time the most farely unfit to fettle the affairs of this, when the teftator fhould be looking forward to another and better world." Another hint I wish to give thofe who have the prudence to make their wills, is, to be very circumfpect in the appointment of executors; where there are younger children, it is highly im proper to appoint an eldeft, or only fons fole executor. The laws of the count try have, no doubt from wife motives, given him a pre-eminence in eftates over his brothers and fifiers; but to extend the fame, by putting their property in fome meafure in his power, (at leaft for twelve months,) is almoft fure to be followed by family contention, frequently fettled by the court of chancery. An infiance has lately occurred to my knowledge, of an cldeft fon, left fole executor, fpeculating in the funds with his brothers' property, until the twelve months were expired, when his father's affairs might have been fettled with eafe in two or three months; the molt prudent method therefore is,. for the teflator to limit the payment of his children's 'fortunes to three months; for, notwithstanding the law allows twelve months, yet, by that means, the fortunes will carry intereft from the end of three mouths from the teftator's death, and thereby induce the execu tors to ufe that diligence in fettling, the affairs, as in juftice they are bound to do. MENTOR. I Mr. URBAN, Winchester, Jan. 5. BEG leave to thank your correfpondent, who, in vol. LXX. p. 1159, informs me of my mistake in com-. plaining, that my letter concerning a certain error in a newly-eftablifhed Mifcellany had not been noticed, and to apologize to the parties concerned. Finding that it was not inferted in due courfe, and that it was not afterwards advertifed amongft that publication's other contents, for I do not regularly take it in, I too haftily concluded that my letter had been fuppreffed, which 1 now learn was duly honoured. But, Mr. Urban, whilst I deduct this inftance of uncandid treatment from the general mais I complained of, how inany new ones accumulate around me! Your correfpondent P. Q. at p. 1136, reprefents me as fetting afide all hi torical evidence in denying the reality of the powder plot. It is true, Sir, I have placed that affair in a very different light from that in which it is exhibited by moft former writers, and have demonftrated that it leads to oppofite conclufions to thofe which are generally drawn from it; but, fo far from denying the fact itfelf, I have exprefly ftated, that I have never met with an author who has called it in quefiion. |