of her holy faith, and a firm and vigilant guardian of her conftitution Signed by the Præcentor, in the name of the body."

Mr. URBAN,

Chapter Coffeehoufe, July 16.

"My Lord, We'the Præcentor,

Minor Canons, and Lay Clerks, of this collegiate church, impreffed with a deep fenfe of gratitude to your LordThip for the many obligations which we owe to your paternal concern for our welfare and intereft, from the time of your Lordship's coming to prefide over us, down to the prefent period; and for the ready and kind attention which, in our different applications to your Lordship for the advantage and comfort of ourselves and families, we have always experienced--are promptcd no lefs by duty than inclination to exprefs.our feelings to your Lordship. And when we confider that we are abont to lofe a Dean who began his refidence among us by augmenting our comforts, and continued to enlarge thofe comforts' by granting additional benefits t; however we, in

common with the rest of mankind, may rejoice that great learning and piety are diftinguished by fuitable rewards; yet, in the prefent inftance, we cannot but lament the lofs that we fhall fuftain by your Lordship's removal. Accept, my Lord, our warmest thanks for the many favours which you have conferred upon us; and be affared that the recollection of them will

be accompanied with fentiments of efleem and affection for you. May the evening of your life be rendered happy, my Lord, in the poffeffion of every temporal and fpiritual blefling! and as the morning and noon have been spent in the caufe of Learning and Religion, may your day clofe heightened with this affurance, that in your Lordship the Church of England has long beheld a moft able and zealous defender

*His Lordship raifed the falaries of the

whole chair;

And afforded them other advantages, by which their fituation was rendered more comfortable,

HE

THE

is productive, it is capable of fupWhen an acre of potatoe ground porting eight or ten perfons; whereas an acre of wheat will fcarcely fupport half the dumber.

Before the great froft in 1739-40, the prefervation of this valuable root in winter, or during the continuance of bad weather, was much neglected. I obferved laft winter, in the neighbourhood of Waterford, that the method that in general the peafantry adopt to preferve them previous to the commencement of frofty weather, is to lodge them in pits with ftraw underneath, and then to cover them with layers of earth and straw till the pit is filled up. The potatoes preferved in this manner feldom keep above twelve months, as those perfons who can afford to keep a flock on hand find that the old potatoes, when preferved in this manner, are nearly exhaufted or rotten at the period of the appearance of the first crop of new potatoes; therefore this method of keeping them, I think, might be furpaffed by adopting the following process.

The potatoes to be boiled in a great quantity; then, the water being poured off, they should be peeled, and the pulp collected in large flat veffels, and expofed to the heat of fire till the watery particles be totally and entirely evaporated; the pulp or matter then being efflorefcent, dry, and farinaceous, should be crushed or ham

I fuggeft that a malt-kiln would an(wer the purpose..

mered

mered into maffes of two or three feet diameter, which may be formed in tubs or fquare boxes. Thefe flakes of the amylum, or nutriment substance of the potatoe, would keep a confiderable time; and, befides other advantages, would be free from that waite * which attends potatoes when they are about eight or ten months old, and verge into a state of decay and rottennefs. The potatoes kept in pits for the winter retain their vegetable moisture, and their veffels and tiffue within them; but the root, dried as I have mentioned into efflorescence, and the vegetable titfue and veffels bruifed and deftroyed, will withftand corruption much longer. The potatoe with its fibres, filled with vegetable juices abforbed from the earth, cannot keep above a year; but when prepared in the manner that I have ftated, I think it poffible to preferve this valuable root for three feafons. The procefs thould take place when the potatoe is in its prime; that is, when not too young or watery, or not too old or lefs fweet. I apprehend about the middle of September, when this root attains to maturity and perfection, would be a fit period to try the experi

ment.

The nutriment thus prepared will be a ready fupport to human beings at the lealt poffible expence. In the navy, the flakes of potatoes thus prepared would be a much better preventative againft the fcurvy than the bifcuit, becaufe the efflorefcence of the potato is amylum; whereas the bifcuit of wheaten flour contains the vegeto-animal gluten, which has a tendency and inclines to promote the fcurvy. That the potatoe thus dried and prepared fhould be found capable of undergoing the faccharine tranfmutation, I have not a doubt; and I am perfectly convinced by this obvious reafon, i. e. that the efflorescence of the pota

A imali propoon of ait to be mixed with the matter.

toe, and the amylum or fubftance of the barley, are of the fame nature. This hint may, if acted upon by experiment, be of effential fervice to diftillers and various other profeffions or trades where fugar is the bafis of manufacture.

In addition to what I have stated above, this excellent root, by domeftic ingenuity, may be made to ferve as a fuccedaneum for bread in various departments of housekeeping, particularly in its application to paftry, the manufacture of ftarch, and various other uses; when, in times of fearcity, it is neceffary to economize the confumption of flour. It is a wellknown fact, and many refpectable perfons in the United Kingdom can bear me out in afferting, from the experience that they have derived from making experiments to increafe a quantity of human food in the time of the late alarming fcarcity, that potatoes will answer every purpose, where bread is confumed in a family, to ferve as a fubftitute, except with tea.

ANTHONY SINNOT.

Mr. URBAN,

IN

July 17.

N your very useful and benevolent Mifcellany, p. 421, under the title of a new plan of benevolence, was announced a paper containing obfervations well fuited to roufe the public attention to a fubject of all others the most important to its tranquillity and fecurity, Although there is nothing new in the obfervations, and although the miferable state of those unfortunates has been for ages an occafional topic of converfation, and a fource of general pity and regret, yet, by an unaccountable fatality, that subject has never been properly inveftigated, or brought forward fo as to be acted upon.

It muft, therefore, give great fatisfaction to your numerous and refpectable readers to be informed, that thofe fuggeftions have been fo far attended to, that fome humane gentlenen (whofe laudable

zeal

zeal on other occafions has been often confpicuous) have had a meeting; and, after maturely confidering the propriety of establishing fuch a place of refuge, for the employment of those who of themfelves can find none, being deftitute of character and literally the outcafts and dread of fociety, they refolved unanimoufly, that fuch an establishment would conduce to the public fecurity and advantage; and accordingly a committee was appointed, to confider of the most eligible means to carry the measure into effect.

The flighteft reflection must convince every one that fuch an attempt is arduous in the extreme, being furrounded with the moft embarraffing difficulties and gigan-tic obftacles; but it is to be hoped, that the incalculable benefits, which must refult from its accomplithment being kept in view, will tend to gradually furmount thofe diffi-culties, and fubdue every obftacle which might oppofe its final fuccefs.

In all other charities of a public nature, the feeling mind contemplates the good refulting to the individual he relieves, and a certain gratification urges to a repetition

of the benevolent act; but how much greater muft those feelings be, where the objects of their care, folicitude, and bounty, are caft off by all, and without fuch friendly aid are not only friendlefs and deftitute, but on the high road to deftruction. This pleafing fatisfaction must be greatly enhanced, from the reflection that every individual thus reclaimed from destruction and mifery faves ten, perhaps ten times ten, from the fatal infection which his example might have spread, and thus add greatly to the general iecurity, and the repofe, comfort, and tranquillity of every member of the community.

It will only require to be announced to the publick by thofe gentlemen, that fo good and necef

fary a work is begun, to meet with that encouragement and fupport which the utility and magnitude of the undertaking demand; for the philanthropy of the British character is confpicuous, not only on its own vaft and extended empire, but throughout the world.

If, through the patronage and liberality of the publick, joined to the active zeal and perfevering exertions of well-informed and welldifpofed individuals, this undertaking fhall be ultimately crowned with fuccefs, we may hope that a fimilar one on the fame extensive fcale for females will be adopted with the fame beneficial effects.

The advantages refulting from the reformation of those who have been criminally vicious, may prove ftill more extenfively beneficial by inducing the Legislature to bring forward fooner what has already occupied their attention; the very comprehenfive and ingenious plan of Mr. Bentham, for reforming criminals while under confinement; and fuperfeding the neceflity of hulks, and, except in the most defparate cafes, of tranfportation to Botany-bay. A PHILANTHROPIST.

July 13.

497, 4932

Corrigenda

and Addenda to the third volume of the Biographia Britannica, by Kippis, are prefixed to the fourth and fifth volumes of that unfinished work, he would have omitted fome parts of his letter; as in those two addenda he may find fatisfactory information relative to both the daughters of Bishop Burnet. Lord Chancellor Weft, who married the younger, is represented in p. 68 of the Catalogue of James Weft's Library, fold in 1773, to have compiled the "Inquiry," mentioned by your correfpondent, chiefly from Mr. Petyt's MS. in the Inner Temple library, intituled De Creatione Nobilium, 2 vols. fol. (MS. note.)"

On a mural monument of marble,

ble, on the Eaft fide of the porch of the church at Wellfbourn, in Warwickshire, is engraven the following epitaph, at once unaffuming and fignificative:

"Endure.
Mary Williams,
relict of John Williams,
daughter of Richard West,
grand-daughter of Gilbert Burnet,
departed this life
March the 2d,
1800.
Aged 85.
Abftain."

This worthy lady, whofe lot in life was fufficiently hard, was the fifter of Gray's "friend and companion," and paffed her last days at her fon's vicarage-houfe in Wellfbourn. In your vol. LIII, pp. 222, 223, 224, is an admirable letter from her husband to her mother, in which the and her brother are noticed as "Molly and Dick;" and their "uncle" David Mitchel, efq. the husband of bifhop Burnet's other furviving daughter, is alfo referred to. In your vol. LVII, PP. 371, 372, are two letters from the famous Dr. Young to Mr. Williams, then at Lions and Nice.

As to Admiral Weft, enquired

after by D. H., was he not the brother of the eminent Gilbert Weft; with whom the family of the Lord Chancellor is, in all probability, not in the leaft connected? The British Critic" for November laft, p. 529, makes mention of the two former.

Is it a clear point that Mr. St. Amand, whofe "animadverfions" are referred to by D. H. was the fame individual who was a benefactor to the Bodleian Library and to Chrift's Hofpital? In your vol. XXIV. p. 435, col. 1, the death of this benefactor is recorded as bearing date on Sept. 5, in that year. He is there defcribed as "James St. Amen, of Red Lion fquare, efq. who has left Soool. to Chrift's Hofpital," &c. In the late Profeffor Warton's preface to his

fplendid edition of Theocritus, the name is fpelt "Santamand;" and he is there reprefented as "alumnus collegii Lincolnienfis Oxonii, circiter A. D. 1705. Ibi vix unius anni fpatium commoratus, academiæ valedixit, et in Italiam se contulit, literarum Græcarum flagrans ftudio." In p. iv. he is defcribed as "mortuus circiter A. D. 1750;" instead of which it is evident from your Magazine, that "1754" fhould be fubftituted. His will is, according to Mr. Warton, "dat. Auguft 9, 1749;" fo that in your last number, p. 493, col. I, 1. 33, for " about 1754" we fhould fubftitute "in 1749-* The following note, by Warton, fully proves that the perfon defcribed by him is the fame individual whom your vol. XXIV. regifters as then dead:

Sepultus jacet in clauftro hofpitalis Chrifti, Londini; cujus etiam benefactor extitit."

Would not an examination of his will difcover "who were the other two" executors?

Yours, &c. INDAGATOR.

Mr. URBAN,

July 14.

Ketchup is made (see p. 392),

HE mushrooms of which

are very plentiful in the new inclofures about us, in their teafon, which is most fo in autumn, efpecially if it be a thowery time. The ketchup-makers gave laft year 5s. per bufhel for mushrooms; and they have been higher in very dry feafons. Twenty or thirty years ago, fcarce a muthroom was gathered for this purpofe; now, I fuppofe, feveral hundred quarters are annually. Yours, &c. J. T.

Mr. URBAN, Baldock, July 16.
F the following remarks on the

efficcts of spring-froft on vege tation, by Meifrs. Duhamel and Buffon, will afford any explana tion to the obfervations made by a correfpondent, p. 492, on the fevere weather of May 1302, the

infertion

infertion of them in your Magazine will much oblige T. S. "We find, by a number of experiments, that it is humidity that makes frofts fatal to vegetables; and, therefore, every thing that can occafion humidity in them expofes them to thofe injuries; and every thing that can prevent or take off an over-proportion of humidity in them, every thing that can dry them though with ever fo increated a cold, muft prevent or preferve them from thofe injuries. Numerous experiments and obfervations tend to prove this. It is well known that vegetables always feel the frofis very defperately in low places where there are fogs. The plants that fland by a river fide are frequently found deftroyed by the fpring and autumnal froft, while thofe of the fame fpecies, which stand in a drier place, fuffer little or perhaps not at all by them; and the low and wet parts of a foreft are well known to produce worfe wood than the high and drier.

The coppice wood in wet and low parts of common woods, though it push out more vigorously at first than that of other places, yet never comes to fo good a growth; for the froft of the fpring killing thofe early top fhoots, obliges the lower part of the trees to throw out lateral branches; and the fame thing happens in a greater or leffer degree to the coppice wood that grows under cover of larger trees in great forefis, for here the vapours, not being carried off either by the fun or wind, fagnate and freeze, and in the fame manner deftroy the young fhoots as the fogs of marthy places. It is a general obfervation alfo, that the

froft is never hurtful to the late fhoots of the vine, or to the flower-buds of trees, except when it follows heavy dews, or a long rainy feafon, and then it never fails to do great mifchief, though it be ever fo flight. The froft is always obferved to be more mifchievous in its confequences on newlycultivated ground than in other places; and this because the vapours, which continually arife from the earth, find an easier paffage from thofe places than from others. Trees alfo, which have been newly cut, fuffer more than others by the fpring frofts, which is owing to their fhooting out more vigoroully.

"Frols alfo do more damage on

light and fandy grounds, than on the tougher and firmer foils, fuppofing both equally dry; and this feems partly owing to their being more early in their productions, and partly to their lax texture fuffering a greater quantity of vapours to, tranfpire. It has alfo been frequently obferved, that the fide-fhoots of trees are more fubject to perifh by the fpring frofis than thofe from the top; and M. Buffon, who examined into this with great accuracy, always found the effects of the fpring frofis much greater near the ground than elsewhere. The thoots within a

foot of the ground quickly perifhed by them; thofe which food at two or three feet high bore them much better; and thofe at four feet and upwards frequently remained wholly unhurt, while the lower ones were entirely de

froyed. A feries of obfervations have proved beyond all doubt; that it is not the hard frofis which fo much hurt plants, as thofe frotis, though lefs fevere, which happen when they are full of moiflure; and this clearly explains the account of all the great damages done by the fevere frofts being on the South fide of the trees which are affected by them, though that has been plainly all the while lefs cold than the North. Great damage is also done to the Western fides of trees and plantations, when, after a rain with a Weft wind, the wind turns about to the North at fun-fet, as is frequently the cafe in fpring, or when an Eaft wind blows up a thick fog before funrifing."

Mr. URBAN,

July 29. THE « claffic criticifm" reprinted

in your pages 510, 511, 512, is controverted by the ingenious and celebrated Thomas Warton, in p. 202, col. 2, of the firft volume of his edition of Theocritus; and his learned coadjutor Toup, in p. 340 of the fecond volume, adverting to Neftor's cup" apud Homerum, quod quatuor anfis et gemina Bo gaudebat," adds; Qui locum aliter accipiunt, falluntur." It may be remarked, as an opportunity now offers, that Warton's note relative to this curious cup is mifplaced, and should be tranfferred to the oppofite page, as it belongs to the Scholion on Idyll. vii. and not on Idyll. vi.