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money was used, as Cadvan ddu, servant to the Constable of Penllyn, was condemned by the English for refusing to receive the old money for new. Yours, &c. M.R. R.

Mr. URBAN,

WH

June 5.

HILE a sentiment of the deepest regret for the death of Mr. Windhani, generally prevails throughout the nation, and so many tributes of esteem and admiration have been offered to his memory by the most distinguished of his own countrymen, it will doubtless be gratifying to your Readers, to peruse the Character which a Foreigner has given of him, in a French work published about five years since, and which has not yet been translated. I allude to the "Memoirs of Count Joseph de Puisaye, intended to serve for the History of the French Royalist Party during the late Revolution." That gentleman found in Mr. Windham the most zealous supporter of the cause in which he was engaged; and from the peculiar relations which subsisted between them during the interesting period when the hopes of the Royal'ists were kept alive by the assistance which the Government of this country afforded them, he had the amplest means of appreciating the many rare qualities he possessed.

though the book be but indifferently
written, the descriptions of dresses,
and manners of the countries, in those
times, compared with modern dresses,
and modern manners, and customs,
may, in some measure, compensate
for that defect; and if Mr. Urban
thinks this worthy of insertion, the
Writer will have another portion
ready for the next month,
J. B.

Mr. URBAN,
July 10.
OSSESSING all the Volumes that

ents for any information on the sub-
ject.

After the settlement of the Romans in this island, their money became the current coin; and perhaps continued so for some time after their departure; but whether the Roman was immediately followed by the use of English money in Wales, is still a question or when it was first used there. From the " Statement of Griefs of the Men of Penllyn," temp. time of

P have been published of your va- Llewelyn ap Grufydd, the English

luable Miscellany, and having been a constant Reader of its numbers, I have occasionally met with notices, and additional information given respecting a County, when its History has been published. A large, splendid, and to me interesting work, contain

much novel matter, has lately been

put into my hands by my bookseller, intituled, "The History and Antiquities of the County of Cardigan." The Author tells us, p. 196, "that about 5 or 6 years ago, several curious Silver Coins were dug up in a field belonging to a farm called Cevn Lewtrev, in the parish of Llanwanen. They were all triangular, with a hole in the centre, and a circular inscription on each. These curiosities suffered the fate of many antiquities, being given to children as playthings, and were consequently lost. Had these, and the coins found near the inscribed stone in the parish of Penbryn, been preserved, they might perhaps have settled the long-doubted question, whether the Welsh Princes coined money themselves, or used that of the English." This passage struck me forcibly, as, while I was on a tour in South Wales last Summer, being at Caermarthen, I was told that some Coins, exactly answering the above description, were, about five years, back, found in a leaden box, that was drawn out of the earth by the teeth of a harrow, in a field belonging to Green Castle, antiently called Castell Moel, about 4 miles from Caermarthen, on the river Towey.

These the servant man aud girl in the field shared between them, sold a part in Caermarthen to some watchmaker, and the rest at Swansea; but all my farther enquiries proved fruitless. As I have never any where else heard of Triangular Coins, I should be much obliged to any of your Correspond

Grateful to him for his generous exertions in behalf of his country, as well as for the particular kindness he had uniformly received from him as an individual, under circumstances that rendered it doubly valuable, the Count speaks of Mr. Windham with a warmth of panegyrick no less honourable to himself, than to the object of it; and which cannot fail of being highly pleasing to the liberal Reader, who will for a moment forget his own and country's loss, to sympathize with

what

what must be the feelings of this illustrious Foreigner, on the death of so warm, so disinterested, and so firm a friend!

I have only farther to say, that I wish the following translation were better worthy of the subject. I do not think I could have shortened it, without a diminution of its interest; and it may perhaps induce some of your Readers to peruse the work it self from which it is extracted; which, I will venture to assure them, will afford a great deal of information, as well as entertainment.

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- I have said in the beginning of these Memoirs, that among the generous men who are superior to the influence of public opinion, when contrary to the conviction of their own minds, there is one above all, whose name never occurs to my memory without awakening in me the liveliest sentiments of gratitude, veneration, and attachment. By this alone my friends have recognized Mr. Windham : it was impossible they should be mistaken; and however insignificant my testimony, however elevated above the enmities of the vulgar may be a man whose whole life is a continued eulogy on his virtues, the calls of gratitude prevail with me over every other consideration.

"Proud of having seen my name associated with that of this great man in the mouth of malignity and folly, I anticipate the judgment of posterity. I shall render an exact account of the part he has taken in the affairs of the Royalists; and the simple exposition of facts will reduce to silence those, who, being as eager to accuse without cause as they are to condemn without proof, sufficiently discover the virulence of the motives which have excited their rage and venom.

"I am under great obligations to Mr. Windham; yet I am proud to say, what he has done for me has been prompted by no selfish principle, but has sprung solely from his regard to Justice; and where can Justice fly for refuge, but to the Brave and Virtuous, when the mistaken multitude have but to utter a single cry to stifle her voice, and rise in a mass to overwhelin her..

"His esteem has been the more flattering to me, as I owe it to the purity and warmth of my zeal for my King aud Country. To one who feels like him, how sublime is the sentiment of duty, and how imperious its force! Hesitation and lukewarmness would have been weak recommendations; but Treason!-ye reptiles, who compel me to write the word, how unGENT. MAG. July 1810.

able are ye to estimate the interval betwixt yourselves and Virtue!

"My relations with England had never been any other than those of which I have before made mention; and I was wholly unknown to Mr. Windham. As the Mi

nister, charged more especially to treat with me on the affairs which had brought me thither, it was of the utmost importance to him, to study and observe minutely all the details of my conduct. If the lively interest he testified towards me had had for its object only the use that could be made of me to the particular advantage of England, that interest would undoubtedly have ceased with its cause; and when, to adopt the language of your modern men of Honour, I had become good for nothing, he would have abandoned me to my ill fortune.

:

"Yet such as this Minister appeared to me at the time when he had some hope of success from my efforts, such have I found him during every moment of a series of nine years of injustice, misfortune, and disaster and the calumnies with which I have been assailed, the persecution I have experienced, have produced no other effect on him, than to make him the more zealous, to defend me by a continuance of his friendship, and to compensate my sufferings by fresh proofs of esteem.

"Can, therefore, any thing farther be wanting to convince even those to whom Nature has been the least bountiful in her dispensation of the faculties which distinguish men from brutes ?

"A stranger to every thing that has not what is useful and just both for its means and object, Mr. Windham kindles at the idea of all that is great and noble. Like Aristides, he would refuse to purchase the most important advantage to his country, at the expence of Justice and Honour. Simple as the character Genius, to the most discriminating judgment, to the greatest sagacity of observation, to the most solid powers of reasoning, and a degree of erudition seldom equalled, he joins the amiable polish of the man of the world, and the interesting attractions of‘a compassionate and benevolent soul. In him alone have I seen the rare union of all that till then I had esteemed and admired separately in other men; while a noble confidence in integrity is the natural result of his own worth.

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"He has considered the principle of the French Revolution under that point of view which we have, too late to regret all the Statesmen in Europe have not taken of it. The confidential friend of Mr. Burke, educated in the principles of that celebrated man, who was so long the light of Great Britain, and the ornament of its Senate, he has inherited his foresight, no

less

Mr. URBAN,

July 10. AM highly gratified to learn from your Correspondent Stortfordianus, LXXX.p.533, that the Church to which I alluded in p. 311, is likely to undergo every necessary repair. And though I feel much obliged by the communication, I have to complain of an incorrect inference which Stortfordianus has drawn from my remark respect the sums expended in erecting an Organ, and beautifying the interior of the Church. From my statement of that fact, he deduces that my opinion must be that such expenditure was "an extravagant waste of money;" and follows up this erroneous conclusion by observing, that "I should have known that the money thus expended is not contributed by rate," but from "old standing donations.” Now, Mr. Urban, I beg to assure your Correspondent, that I did not mean by reference to such expenditure, to imply, that beautifying the interior of the Church, or adding harmony to the solemnity of the service, was 66

an extravagant waste of money." On the contrary, it is a mode of application I think highly praiseworthy. But I am mistaken if every reasonable man will not agree that the work of reparation (no matter from what source the revenue is derived) has been begun at the wrong end; for, as I before observed, "in the event of the Tower falling," (and which had long been pronounced in a very dangerous state) great part of the internal improvements "must inevitably be destroyed;" and I sincerely hope that they may not be injured in the progress of securing the edifice. I trust that Stortfordianus's remark as to the Trustees will have the desired effect; if not, that he will perform his promise, by detailing the palpable negligence" he alludes to. Yours, &c.

60

less than his talents. With an unerring and comprehensive glance he seized on general causes, and pursued their consequences far into the future. An enemy to halfmeasures, temporary expedients, and those palliatives which calm the evils of the moment, and gradually lead States to their dissolution, it was to the source of the disease he wished the remedy should be applied; and he judged it more effectual, and more prompt, to lay the axe to the root of the tree, whose narcotic and destructive shade spreads death wherever its branches extended, than playfully to pull it to pieces, leaf by leaf. It was, in fine, in the preservation of France, and in its restoration to the rank of a civilized people, that he saw the welfare of his country, and that of the whole world.

"He never made me any promise that he did not fulfil: thus his word alone became

the most certain pledge to the Royalists. A stranger to that narrow policy, as fatal to those who adopt it as to those whom it deceives, which consists in combining false hopes with means inadequate to their accomplishment; in sporting with credulity, necessity, misfortune, and weakness; and in promoting disturbance, with the view of solely reaping the advantages to be derived from it, indifferent to the fate of the

blind instruments it employs; he has ever spoken to me with the most noble frankness, concerning what the Royalist party had to expect from the British Government, as well as upon what we were not to hope for. For a moment, when our affairs had taken an unfavourable turn in London, he relinquished the management of them, in order to secure us from the

evils which the confidence attached to his name might have produced, from the want of means sufficiently abundant to prevent them; and when the Minister, yielding to the solicitations with which he was assailed, appeared to decide on a more general and comprehensive plan (which certainly would have been preferable to any other, had it not been founded on data which had no existence, but which he undoubtedly would not have acquiesced in, had it not been carefully concealed from him, that the adoption of it would inevitably cause the rain of the Armies which had so long contended in the Provinces of the West) Mr. Windham hastened to interpose his influence with us, to terminate the scourge of Civil War ; and I felicitate myself on having most preciously preserved the papers, which bear testimony to his humane and generous sentiments: of which his efforts to stop the useless effusion of human blood, as well as the lively inquietudes he testified on this account, have been the most affecting and honourable proofs *."

*See Memoirs, vol. iii. p. 189.

E. W. P.

Mr. URBAN, Harpenden, July 13. HAVING, as I hoped, sufficiently

established the fact of Hedgehogs sucking Cows, I had determined never more to resume the subject: but so powerful a corroboration of that circumstance has since occurred at a village in this vicinity, and communicated to me by such disinterested and unquestionable authority, that I am thereby most agreeably diverted from my resolution, and feel

strongly

strongly disposed to submit the consideration of it to the candour and impartiality of your numerous and respectable Readers.

Mr. Parrott, a reputable brewer and farmer, who resides at Wheathamstead, three miles from hence, in this county, having lately observed his cows, though in luxuriant pasture, to be greatly deficient in affording their usual quantity of milk, began to suspect the fidelity of his servants, or the honesty of his neighbours, in being guilty of privately milking them by night, as neither punctures nor lacerations appeared to furnish conjecture of the real cause (which, indeed, is frequently the consequence when Hedgehogs remain, till satisfied, in the undisturbed enjoyment of this favourite food), and resolved on their speedy detection; but, fortunately for the reputation of those suspected, a most intelligent dairy-farmer from an adjacent county, happening to be there on a friendly visit, to whom long experience, added to anxious observation, had rendered such occurrences familiar, suggested the probability of the milk having been sucked by some noxious animals; and, with the assistance of dogs, proposed examining the pasture in which the cows had been grazing: this proposition being readily acceded to, the indagation took place, the result of which was, besides those that may have escaped, the immediate destruc tion of two old, and four young HEDGEHOGS.

It is scarcely necessary to observe, that the cows, since the death of these little nocturnal spoliators, have given their former quantity of milk.

I trust, Sir, that this strong additional evidence, when combined with that already advanced on the subject, will prove sufficiently conclusive, to dispel from the mind of every candid Reader, all future doubt of the truth of this curious and singular FACT. Candour too must allow, that the Gentleman's Magazine is, probably, the only publication extant, in which it appears to be so satisfactorily established on ocular and irresistibly circumstantial testimony.

Yours, &c. W.HUMPHRIES. "I have read the above account, and declare it to be true,

ROB. PARROTT, Wheathamstead, July 13th, 1810."

THE

Mr. URBAN, Penzance, July 6. THE Society for promoting Christianity among the Jews will be. much obliged to Mr. Lemoine,LXXX. p.514, for the promised continuation of his Essays "on the present State of the Jews," because it is a leading object of that Society to collect the best information concerning the actual disposition, both moral and social, of that antient and wonderful People. Nor will the "well-intentioned Members" of that Society feel surprised, if Mr. Lemoine, and other learned and intelligent men, doubt the probability of their efforts succeeding at present. They are well aware that difficulties seem to oppose their efforts; and will therefore thankfully receive the notices, which Learning and Experience may suggest, and Philanthropy communicate, for their information. They are not ignorant that "interested motives" are apparently the most powerful: but, havving no warrant in the Holy Scriptures to offer any such inducement, the friends of Humanity may rest assured that no pecuniary incentive will be held out; but, on the contrary, a strong test of the sincerity of the Converts will be this: Cut off from the aid of the Jewish community, they may expect to meet many hardships before they find employment equal to their support. The Society offers them instruction, but not maintenance. Its benevolent Members will not of course refuse to a Converted Jew, the benevolence which they previously manifested to the distressed of any other nation: thus far, and no farther, have the Converted Jews a claim to pecuniary aid, and friendly attention.

The Society presumes not to foresee the time of, or hasten the all-wise appointment of Providence. That the Jews will be converted to Christianity, the Holy Scriptures_clearly reveal: but whether the period of their Conversion is now near, or still remote, events only can ascertain. It is, however, certain, that a variety of circumstances afford ground to expect the time is drawing nigh. To say nothing of the wonderful Revolutions which so evidently tend to the final destruction of the Papal and Mahommedan Powers (events which the best Commentators generally suppose are to precede, and nearly

extend to, the Restoration of the Jews) it is very remarkable, that a spirit of enquiry has been lately springing up among the Jews; and many, in places very distant from each other, have been brought to acknowledge our blessed Saviour to be the promised Messiah. At the same time a like surprising change respecting this long despised, persecuted, and wonderful people, has passed upon the minds of the Christian Nations *. Politicians have been raising them to the rank of Citizens and Liege Subjects; and learned Theologians labouring to instruct them in the knowledge of their own Sacred Books and antient records. The name of Jew, which, by the awful decree of Heaven, has been for nearly eighteen hundred years" a proverb, reproach, and bye-word among all nations," is visibly becoming less and less odious; and serious Christians observe in them a miraculous proof of the Divine Authenticity of those Sacred Writings committed to their charge. They see in Jews the descendants of that great family distinguished by the Most High from all the families of the earth; to whom Divine Revelation was given; "whose were the Prophets" and Apostles; "and of whom, as concerning the flesh, Christ

came."

That the temporary fill of the Jews from the favour of God was to make

competent to afford concerning their Sacred Books, which they (though generally sunk in sordid ignorance) still venerate; and which their Rabbins + are little able, perhaps less willing, to bestow.

How honourable to our venerable Church, that many of her most profound Scholars have so benevolently associated, in order to disseminate a knowledge of the Hebrew Scriptures among the dispersed, and hitherto despised, Children of Abraham! Without any sinister motive, with no Sectarian zeal, but upon the broad and generous basis of Christian benevolence, at the expence of much labour and cost, offering gratuitous instruction to the ignorant, and kind admonition to the profligate; in order that they may become peaceful, honest, and useful members of society in this world, and fit for higher felicity in that which is to come.

Such are the means used, the object pursued, and the end desired, by "the London Society for propa, gating Christianity among the Jews." To have raised the Jews to the rank of Citizenship is perhaps one of the few bright acts of Buonaparte's government: but how much nobler the effort to raise them to present and everlasting happiness! Yours, &c.

Mr. URBAN,

H. B.

way for the vocation of the Gentile, ever evinced for the preservation HE lively interest that you have is largely insisted upon by Saint Paul, in his Epistle to the Romans. He affirms, however, with equal assurance, their Restoration; and assures us, that if in their fall they benefited the world, much more.shall their recovery abound in glory.

If then a variety of circumstances, unparalleled in the history of the Christian world, do now excite an attention to this wonderful People, which they never before experienced; surely it is not presumptuous to suppose, that Providence is operating some great change in their condition. Whether, however, the period of their Conversion he near or remote, certainly nothing can be more creditable to this nation, than the being the first to hold out to the Jews, that instruction which our learned Divines are so

*See Atkins's "History of the Israelites," reviewed in vol. LXXX. p. 556.

of Antiquity, will, I trust, be a sufficient apology for requesting an insertion of the following Letter of an occasional Correspondent and constant Reader.

" SIR,

To the Author of the "Pursuits of Architectural Innovation." Sept. 29. MOST highly gratified with the perusal of your interesting Observations

on the Antient Architecture of this

Kingdom, and your frequent exposure of those various Improvements and Innovations made by MODERN ARCHITECTS in our Fcclesiastical Buildings; permit me to direct your attention to the following hasty remarks. During an excursion that I made this autumn into various parts of Kent, I visited the antient and distinguished

There is in this Country at least ONE eminently learned Rabbi.

EDIT.

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