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when he foon murdered her, but not without her making a hard ftruggle for her life, and alfo fonie noife; which fuddenly awakening the nephew, in the next room, out of his dead fleep, forced him to get up, in order to fave his aunt. But, before he could get himself ready, the villain choked the woman, cut off her ringfinger, and flew directly to the nephew's apartment; who, difabled as he then was, being a strong young fellow, grappled with the murderer for a confiderable time, the moon that night fhining in bright at the window (as the unhappy man afterwards declared at his trial), and difcovering the fhape and colour of the villain; whom the poor ignorant wretch contefting with him took to be the Devil. The Negro at laft, finding that he could not get the better of this intoxicated fellow, ran away from him, carrying in his hand the woman's finger, and the money which he had found in her box, and running up the chimney at which he had come in, the drunken man parfuing him, and feeing him making his efcape that way, which he looked upon as miraculous, declaring, when brought to the bar, that his Devil, in a moment, flew up into the air through that tunnel of conveyance, and he faw hima no more.—By the way I fhould oblerve, that this Devil, in the fcuffle, had befmeared the nephew's fhirt in many places with blood, being the blood of the murdered aunt; in which the execrable flaughterer had imbrued his atrocious hands. The drunken wretch, her nephew, went to bed again, and foon fell into his former profound fleep. The next morning, the neighbours, obferving the door and the window-fhutters to remain unopened (contrary to cufiom) at a late hour (9 of the clock or after), and having fome fufpieion, broke in, found the woman murdered, and her nephew, in the next room, ftill afleep, and his fhirt blooded; which was to them, as they thought, a fufficient evidence that he was the murderer. And accordingly, being brought before a magiftrate, and examined, he was committed to prifon, full perfifting in the declaration of his innocence, and in his fiory of the Devil, which nobody could beat out of his head. At his trial he was condemned, and foon after executed, protefting his total ignorance of the murder to the laft,

and throwing it wholly upon his black antagonist, whom he formerly believed to be no other than Satan.

[By the way, it was great pity, that fome fenfible and fagacious perfon or perfons, especially the clergyman, if any, who attended him after his condemnation, did not take the hint, from his filly notions and affertions, to make farther inquiry, and, if poffible, to find out the fkulking villain, fo plainly defcribed by the poor wretch, who knew no better.]

The Negro, with his little booty (the price of blood), decamped, as foon as he well could, for Carolina; came back the next year, went thither again the year following, and fo on reciprocally for about 9 years running, being always uneafy, and never able to quiet his confcience, whither foever he went.

At laft, as Providence would have it, he came back for the last time into England, landing at Rotherhith; whither he was no fooner arrived, but a prefs-gang advancing towards the fhip alarmed his fears, and convinced his guilty mind that they were coming to feize him for the murder above mentioned. He immediately flipt into the hold, or underdecks, crying out aloud that vengeance had at laft overtaken him, and that he was the perfon that had committed the fact. Inquiry being made what fact, he confefled the whole; fo that he had, in effect, murdered two perfons. The aunt he dif patched with his own hands; of the death of her nephew, he was the principal caufe, and underwent the punifhment he deferved.

This guilt (efpecially that of bloody often difcovers itfelf on the fudden, contrary to all human expectations, and when it would not have been in the power of man to make the difcovery. There is a fecret hand of Providence in all fuch difcoveries.

Mr. Keate, at the fame time, confirmed to us the extraordinary fory of the three women in the market, at the Devifes in Wiltshire, which is every where known, and authentically attefied. This gentleman, having been often upon the fpot, made particular inquiries, and faw the infcription upon the monument fet up in the marketplace, in atteftation and memory of the moft furprising fact.-The infcription was affixed foon after the fact; which, as near as this gentleman can now recollect, was in or about the

year

year 1753. The whole town and market (a very full one on that day) were witneffes to the fact, and faw the concealed money clenched up in the dead woman's hands, the moment the expired.

Mr. URBAN,

IN

J. J.

Dec. 9. N addition to what your excellent correfpondent R. C. remarks, after Wheatley, on the paffage in the Confecration Service, vol. LXVI. p. 720, it is to be obferved, that Dr. Nichols, on the authority of what he calls a fealed book, contends for own instead of one. The sealed book was a copy of the laft revifal of the Book of Common Prayer under the act of Uniformity 14 Charles II.; of which act, and an edition printed, from fuch revital, a copy was to be obtained by all deans and chapters before Dec. 25, 1662, to be kept and fhown in any court of record, and other copies to be delivered into the refpective courts at Weftminfter, and into the Tower of London: which books, fo to be exemplified under the great feal, were to be examined by perfons appointed under the great feal, and compared with the original book annexed to the Parliament Roll; which perfons were to have power to correct and amend errors in the printing, and to certify at the end of the fame book that they have fo examined and compared it. The divines made their corrections from a copy of the edition 1639; the book thus altered was tranfmitted to the convocations of the provinces of Canterbury and York, and attefted by the archbishops, bishops, and all the other members. The original Convocation book with the autograph is feparated from the Parliament Roll, and is not to be found: all that has been difcovered in the Parliament Office is only a large-paper copy of the edition 1636, with the preface, "It hath been the wisdom of the Church of England," &c. with a calendar, additional prayers and thanksgivings, with many lefs important variations, all in MS. Copies of the book were printed by the king's printer, 1662, but by fome accident, not eafy to be accounted for, differing from the book altered and figned by the Convocation, and annexed to the Parliament Roll. These books were examined, attefted, and figned and fealed by a competent number of commithioners, and are called GENT. MAG. December, 1802.

the scaled books. It is doubted whe ther a printed copy of the act, and alfo of the book thus exemplified, be at this time to be found in the repofitories of all deans and chapters; but in each of the courts at Weltminster it is probable there may. In the treafury of the Court of Common-pleas is one, as there is alfo among the records of the Tower: both thele, having been confulted, are found to agree in the primitive reading one. Dr. N.'s affertion can only be juftified on the ground, that the printer did not attend to the corrections of the Convocation, and was made to reprint this fèrvice, as well as the leaf on which they had put the prayer, "O God, whofe nature and property is ever to have mercy," between the laft prayer for Ember week and that for the Parliament; notwithflanding which, this correction was neglected in all the following impreffions; and the error is in many copies continued to this day. See Antiquarian Repertory, vol. IV. 129–132. ́D. H. Dec. 4.

Mr. URBAN,

TRA

RAVELLING lately from Newmarket, I obferved, at the entrance of the village of Newport, a chimney of extraordinary workmanship. Ť should, perhaps, have faid three chimneys, as there are three apertures, connecting with as many different apartments. They are of three different patterns, moft curioully formed of brick, and certainly of great antiquity. They have attracted the curiofity and attention of fo many paflengers, that I am furprized a drawing of them has not long fince been communicated to you, I know that many of your readers will be glad if this hint fhall induce fome artist to tarry a few minutes, and take a fketch of as fingular a fragment of antiquity as can well occur. E. O. E.

*If I miftake not, Dr. Gordon, late præcentor of Lincoln, fhewed me a fplendid copy of this book, in folio, to which probably the act was prefixed, lying in the library of the dean and chapter at Lincoln; a fpacious room, built and fitted up at the expence of Dean Honywood, 1660-81, whofe portrait is over the door, but not furnished in proportion to its dimenfions;

and the MSS. toiled about in the anteroom; and many of them, enumerated in the "Catalogus Manufcriptorum Angliæ," not to be found. Of Dean Honywood, ceftershire, vol. III. p. 856. as rector of Kegworth, fee Nichols's Lei

Mr.

Mr. URBAN,

Worcester, Dec. 5.

NOT having feen any tranflation of the Greek infcription on the ftone lately brought into England from Rofetta, I think it may be a matter of curiolity to fome of your readers to have the following tranflation of it; till fome perfon favours the public with a more complete one. I have alfo another reason for requesting you to give this a place in your useful Publication; which is, that I fufpect a copy of it has already got into hands which it was not defigned for, and that too not by honourable means, or for very fair purposes.

The fmall numerals refer to the lines in the fac-fimile, from whence this verfion is taken. A copy of the original Greek may be met with in the laft Appendix to the Critical Review.

Yours, &c.

T. PLUMPTRE.

THE prefent minor king (Ptolemy Philometor), now reigning, and having received the kingdom from his father, the ruler of thefe realms, greatly-glorious; who (that is, which father) eftablished the welfare of Egypt, and fhewed his 2 piety towards the gods, was fuperior to his enemies; regulated the lives of his fubjects; lord, or chief of the pianovla eingides [quære, whether this word relates to any " fpaces of thirty years," or to any fociety or order of "thirty companions," or has any reference to the word AET, as commented upon in Mr. Bryant's Antient Mythology, vol. I. p. 378, an old name of Egypt, and perhaps a facred term implying here prięfts, and which probably is the root of the word Aros, which occurs twice in the fourth line] like the great Hephaiftus (or Vulcan), king, like the great 3 Helius, king of the countries both in the upper and lower diftriéts; defcended from the gods Philopators, whom Hephaitius approved, to whom Helius (the Sun) gave victory; the living image of Dis (or Jupiter) the fon of Helius; (namely,) PTOLEMY the immortal, beloved by Phtha (a title of Vulcan), whofe influence is over the priest of the Eagle, in his ninth year, the Eagle (Ifay,) of Alexander [alluding, if not to the word AFT, as above, then to the two eagles who were faid to have lodged upon the houfe of Philip at the birth of Alexander, from whence poffibly an order of priesthood might have been denominated] whofe influence is over the priest of the gods Soters, and the gods Adelphi, and the gods Euergeta, and the gods Philopators, and of himself alfo, being now the gods Epiphanes, well-beloved, who received many mortal honours; (whofe influence is also over) Berenice Pyrrha wife of Euergetes, and a facred charger-bearer, the daughter of Philinus: (whofe influence is also over) Arfinoc Areia, the wife of Philadelphus, the well defcended prieftefs; (alfo over) Arlinoe Philopator Eirene, the wife of Ptolemy, on the fourth day of the month Xanthicus, [2 Maccab. xi. 30] the 18th of the month Machir of the Egyptians; the high priest and prophets, and thofe who are ufually admitted into the interior of the temple for the robing of the 7 gods, and the female [attendants] bearers of wings [feathers or fans] and the hieroglyphic writers, and all the other priests, who from the other temples throughout the land met the King at Memphis at the great celebrity of the af fumption of the crown of Ptolemy the immortal, beloved by Phtha, the god Epiphanes, which (crown) he alfo received from his father, [the high prients, & being thus affembled in the temple of Memphis on this day, have thus decreed whereas king Ptolemy the immortal, beloved by Phtha, the god Epiphanes, highly favoured, the fon of Ptolemy and Queen Arfinoe, the gods Philopators, in many refpects hath conducted himself well towards the temples and those who refide in trem; and to all who were placed under his government; being a god from a god and goddefs, even as Orus the fon of lfis and Ofiris, who affifted his father Ofris, being well difpofed towards the gods, brought fupplies to the temples both in money and corn, and fuftained many expences in order to place Egypt in tranquillity, and to establith all facred concerns; and hath done fervice to mankind by all his powers; and, of the contributions and taxes arifing in Egypt, hath put an end to fome, and hath lightened the weight of others, in order that the people and all others throughout his kingdom might be put in a flate 13 of plenty and profperity; and hath remitted to the people at large the payments due to the king, being confiderable, which were owed by thofe in Egypt, and others in the reft of bis dominions; and hath fet at liberty thofe who were confined in the prifons, 14 and had lain under charges there for a long time; and hath moreover appointed, that the revenues for the

temples,

temples, both the contributions yearly made to them in corn 5 and money, and alfo the proper allotinents to the gods from the vineyards and gardens, and other things belonging to the gods in the time of his father, fhould remain 16 established throughout the country; and did appoint alfo, that with regard to the priests, they fhould pay nothing towards the treatury beyond what they were appointed to pay, until the first year of his father; and hath releafed those who are of the 17 facred orders from the charge of an annual voyage to Alexandria ; and did appoint that they fhould not make a contribution towards the voyage; and hath remitted two parts (of three, suppose) of what was charged upon the temples for the royal treasury, of flaxen linnen; 18 and hath reltored to order all that hath been neglected in former times; providing, however, that the accuftomed rites towards the gods should be performed with decency; 19 and hath also distributed juftice to all men, being great himself even as the great Hermes; enjoining that thofe who fhould return from banishment both from among the military, and from all others whofe minds were fet upon the property of their neighbours 20 in troublesome times, (that thefe) returning fhould abide upon their own spot and feulements, (not wandering about as Gypley-vagabonds, wapa AUTO, as Theocritus fays)—and provided alfo that forces both of horfe and foot and fhips fhould be fent against thofe who should invade 21 Egypt by fea or land; having fuftained great charges both in money and corn, in order that both the facred concerns of the country and all perfons that were in it might be placed in fafety; and going to 22 Lycopolis in the diftrict of Bufiris, which was gar rifoned and fortified for a blockade (against him) by a fuitable provifion of arms and of all other fupplies, as a spirit of change and 23 innovation for fome time had exifted among the worthlefs men who were affembled in it, who had done much harm to the temples and to those who dwelt in Egypt, (he) fitting 24 down against it furrounded it with mounds and trenches and walls of confi advance now for derable magnitude; and (whereas) the Nile had made a great the eighth year, and was accustomed to flow over the 25 level grounds, he checked it in many places, ftopping up the mouths of rivers, and having expended upon them a large fum of money, and having appointed horfemen and infantry to watch his works, 26 in a fhort time he both entirely reduced the city, and punished the impious inhabitants, even as Hermes, and as Orus alfo, the fon of this and Ouris, conquered thofe who in the time of his own father had revolted before in thofe very 27 places, and had injured the country, and the temples. (fo he) coming to Memphis, while affitting 28 his father's government, punithed all the revolters) very properly, at fuch time as he came (to Memphis) in order to fulfil the accustomed ceremonies for the affumption of the government; and (whereas) he remitted what was due from the 29 temples to the royal treafury up to the eighth year, confifting of no finall quantity of corn and money in like manner remitting the value of flaxen linnen 39 due to the treatury which had not been paid, and the difference (unless Copz means taxes, or gifts, as in 2 Maccab. i. 35) alfo of what had been paid (in part) for tolls in the markets (fee Suidas in voce Aya) for the fame time; and (wherens) he released the temples from the payment of the (accustomed) buthel, (or quantity) per acre (or fixed portion) of the church property, and alfo remitted the mea fure (or gallon) for every fixed 31 portion of their vineyards; and gave_large contributious-for Apis and Mnenis, and for the other facred animals in Egypt, much more than during the reigns before him; always and in all things aiming giving largely and honourably what was proper at what was becoming; and 32 for their interments; and what was to be expended upon their feveral temples; together with facrifices and folemn aflemblies and other cuftomary circumftances; and hath preferved all the precious 33 things (relics, plate, &c.) both of the temples, and of Egypt throughout all the country, in purfuance of the laws; and hath repaired the temple of Apis with cofily work, expending on it no fmall quantity of gold and filver 34 and precious tones; and hath erected temples and fhrines and altars, and provided also all proper requifites, having the godlike inclination of a benevolent deity towards mankind, in all proper cales; and having moreover enquired after what was most valuable among the other temples, he made new that of his own palace, as was becoming,-on which ac counts the gods bestowed upon him health, victory, strength, and all other bletlings

attendant

attendant on a kingdom 36 that was perpetuated to himself and to his children for ever, in the name of good fortune.

It feems good to the priests of all the temples throughout the country [here much uncertainty begins in the copy from the broken ftate of the original infeription] mightily to increase the fame of the 37 immortal king Ptolemy, beloved by Phtha, the god Epiphanes; and in like manner alfo (to do honour to) his parents the gods Philopators, and his ancestors the gods Euergetæ, 38 and the gods Adelphi, and the gods Soters, and to caufe to be fet up an image of the immortal king Ptolemy, the god Epiphanes, highly favoured in every temple, in the moil confpicuous part of it, 39 which image fhall be furnamed the image of Ptolemy the Defender of Egypt; near to which the peculiar god of the temple fhall be fixed, prefenting to him a victorious fuit of armour, which shall be prepared in due form, 4 and that the priests fhall religiously attend upon thefe images thrice every day, and fhall provide for them facred veftments, and fhall perform the other customary rites as for the other gods, both by 41 feafts and. folemn affemblies of the people, and fhall fet up a finmall (moveable) image of the king Ptolemy, the god Epiphanes, well beloved, the fon of Ptolemy and Queen Arlinoe, the gods Philopators, and a golden fhrine (containing the image), 42 and fhall place this in the innermott parts of the temples among the other fhrines, to lead forth alfo in proceffions the fhrine of the god Epiphanes, ever amiable, on all folemn affemblies of the people, in which procellions of the shrines take place; 43 and that it may be confpicuous now and hereafter, that there be laid upon the fhrine ten golden crowns of the kings, to which the Afp fhall be added 44 according to the pattern of the afp-formed crowns upon the other fhrines; in the midst of which fhall be the crown called on (an Egyptian word probably) which he having on entered into Memphis .. 45 when the ceremonies

were performed at his inauguration; and that there be placed upon the fquare
ornament about the crowns, according to the aforefaid kingly fiyle, golden amu-
lets... 46 (in due honour) to a king who has done eminent fervices both to
the upper and lower difiricts; and that on the 30th day of the month Mefra, on
which the birth-day of the King is held, as alfo on .... 47 that day in which
he received the kingdom from his father, and which days men have called after
their names in the facred Calendar, which days indeed were the beginnings
of many bleflings to all men, (it shall be decreed) to obferve a feast and a publick
celebrity in the temples throughout all Egypt for the 48 month, and to perform
in the temples, facrifices, and libations, and all other cuftomary obfervances, as
in the other celebrities, and that the offerings which are made 49 (unintelli-
gible).... in the temples, and to hold a feaft and an affembly of the people to
the immortal King Ptolemy, the god Epiphanes, beloved by Phtha, highly
favoured, every year 5 .... throughout the country, from the new moon of the
month Thoth, for five days, in which they fhall wear chaplets, performing at
the fame time facrifices and libation, and other fitting obfervances, 51 .... and
the priests in addition to the other titles of the gods to whom they pay facerdotal
honours, fhall alfo feparate a priesthood for him, for the purposes of oracular re-
fponfes and all other (facred offices) 52..... and that it be permitted to the
common people at large, not initiated in the myfteries, to hold a feaft, and to fet up
(in their houfes, a rejemblance of) the aforefaid thrine, and to hold among them
$3.... three times a year; that it may be known wherefore the inhabitants of
Egypt refpect and honour the god Epiphanes, king, as is decreed by law, 4...
(and the pricfts have thought fit to inferibe this decree upon) hard ftone, in hiero
glyphics, the vulgar tongue (the Coptic), and in Greek characters, and to place it
in each diftrist, both of the first and fecond (great divifions or diflricts of the
country.)

Mr. URBAN, Dec. 11. T is now near twenty years ago fince I gave in my name to Mr. Dade's Hiftory of Holderness, the propofals for which bear date June 10, 1783, at which time he had above 200 fubferibers at two guineas (one in hand); when he propofed, after 240 copies were fubfcribed for, to put the book to

prefs. Mr. Dade died Aug. 2, 1790
(fee vol. LX. pp. 767, 1196); and his
work was then fuppofed to be partly.
printed, and a number of plates en-
graved. I fhall be much obliged to
any of your correfpondents who can
inform me in what flate it is at prefent,
and whether we may expect to fee it
published.
ANTIQUARIUS.

Mr.

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