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&c. (Does Madame Catalani take snuff?) If taking of snuff makes genius, though I would not wish to be understood to insinuate that there are no men of genius that do not take snuff, I wish to know if that is the reason why every nowa-days constantly carries his snuff-box in his waistcoat pocket, in order to be ranked among the wiseheads. For merly snuff may be said to be taken wholesale; for I knew one of the worshipful fraternity of snuff-takers, that was said to have his coat-pocket lined with tin, and to serve his nose from thence by handfuls.

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N 1471 Lewis XI. wishing to have in his library a copy of a book written by Dr. Rhazes, an eminent physician, borrowed the original from the faculty of medicine of Paris, and gave twelve marks of silver, or

twenty pound sterling, for the security of the said manuscript; and, besides that, the bond of a private citizen for the sum of one hundred gölden crowns. It appears very odd that a king should not only give pledges for a book which he borrows in his kingdom, but also the bond of a private. It shows how difficult it was, before. and after the invention of printing, to procure books, and how very dear they must have been: for in the year 1470 the printers who had settled in Paris dedicated their first book to Lewis XI; and it is in the following year, in 1471, that this prince borrowed a book to get a manuscript cópy of it. It is supposed that 20,000 people in France subsisted by the sale of the books which they were copying; and that it was the reason for which the discovery of printing met with no encouragement in the begin-: ning. F. H.

A METEOROLOGICAL JOURNAL, kept at CLAFTON, in Hackney.

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22 to 27. Varia

March 21. Various clouds and fair day, Corona Lunaris very faint. ble and cool weather with showers of snow and rain, and various modifications of clouds. 28 to 31. Warmer, with variable weather and some rain.

April 1 to 7. Warm and variable weather; wind changeable in strength and direction; much cloud and a good deal of rain. 8 to 15. cold North and Easterly winds prevailed, with, however, some variation, and occasional change to S. and various clouds.

Clapton, April 16, 1812.

THOMAS FORSTER.

Mr.

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Mr. URBAN,

W

RENTHAM Hall, in the county of Suffolk, was the seat of the antient family of Brewster from the reign of Edward VI. to 1797, when, by the sudden death of the last heir male, this venerable mansion, and the estates belonging to it, became the property of Mrs. Meadows and John Wilkinson, esq. aunt and first cousin of the deceased, by whom the whole was sold in 1810 to Sir Thomas Gooch, bart. The Brewsters were gentry of consideration in their county for a long period, but they appear to have attained their highest elevation during the Protectorate of Oliver Cromwell, to whose party Robert Brewster, esq. the then possessor of Wrentham Hall, was a warm adherent. He sat in the Long Parlia ment which dethroned the monarch, for the borough of Dunwich, in the room of Henry Coke, esq. disabled for his loyalty. The writ issued for his election, by vote of the house, bears date Sept. 2, 1645. Among the five gentlemen of Suffolk to whom the representation of that county was granted by Oliver Cromwell and his officers in July 1653 (the assembly commonly called Barebone's Parliament) appears the name of Francis* Brewster. In the parliament of the succeeding year, Robert Brewster, esq. of Wrentham, sat again for Dunwich: and in that of September 1656, he was one of the ten representatives of Suffolk, and voted for conferring the title of King upon the Protector. To preserve the memory of an antient family, and their residence, which has recently been taken down by the present proprietor, you are requested to insert this brief account, and the view of Wrentham Hall which accompanies it. (See Plate I.) Т. В.

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* If this is not an error of the compilers of the Parliamentary History, for Robert.

GENT. MAG. April, 1811.

"The 14th day of December, Received of Mr. Ed. Cave the sum of Fifteen Guineas, in full, for compiling and writing "The Life of Richard Savage, esq." deceased, and in full for all materials thereto applied, and not found by the said Edward Cave. I say, received by me, Dec. 14, 1743. SAM. JOHNSON."

"Mr. CAVE, Bristol, March 17, 1749. According to your request, I have purchased Savage's Play, and have here sent it you with a receipt inclosed. The person of whom 1 purchased the play is a particular friend of mine: he assures me, the play is perfect, and never was copied. I hope you will find it to your satisfaction. Please to give my account credit for the Five Guineas. I am, Sir, your humble servant, THO. CADELL*."

"To all people to whom these presents shall come, I Samuel Johnson, of Gough's-square, London, gentleman, send greeting: Whereas Edward Cave, Citizen and Stationer of London, has bought paper and printed for me an edition, in folio, of a periodical Work called The Rambler, and is now about to re-print Seventy Numbers of the same work in twelves, at his own Expence: Now know ye, that I, the said Samuel Johnson, do hereby authorize and imdispose of the said second Edition of the power the said Edward Cave to sell and Rambler, in twelves, and to receive and apply to his own use so much of the mo ney arising from such sale as shall fully repay and reimburse to him such sums as upon a just reckoning he shall appear to have expended on account of the said Work; provided that the names of John Payne and Joseph Bouquet be inserted in the new edition in twelves, as the persons for whom the said edition is printed, as is inserted in the said folio edition. In witness whereof, I, the said Samuel

Johnson, have to these presents set my

the twenty-fourth year of the reign of
hand and seal this first day of April, in
our sovereign lord George the Second,
by the grace of God, of Great Britain,
France, and Ireland, King, Defender of
the Faith, and in the year of our Lord one
thousand seven hundred and fifty-one.
Sealed and delivered SAM. JOHNSON,
being first duly stampt
in the presence of
DAVID HENRY,
JNO. HAWKESWORTH."

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Mr. URBAN,
March 25.
HAVE no doubt but you will rea-

Remarks on Antient Manners, when
* Father of the late worthy Alderman.
informed

informed that they were selected by book called Youth Behaviour, translated

the late Rev. Dr. Lort.

Yours, &c.

M. GREEN.

"John Falcourt of Lucea in Italy, in

the 32d year of King Edward the Third's reign, was the first Apothecary in England, as appears in Lord Coke's Reports in the Case of the City of London, fol. 126. b."

" In those days (temp. Henry VI.) it was thought sufficient for Noblemen's sons to wind their horn and carry their hawk fair, and leave study and learning to the children of mean people. See Caxton's Life in Biographia Britannica."

from the French by Francis Hawkins, a boy of ten years old, 1663, 12mo. p.60."

"Sir William Temple says, vol. I. p. 268, I think I remember, within less than 50 years, the first noble families that married into the City for money, and thereby introduced by degrees this

public grievance, which has since ruined so many estates by the necessity of giving great portions to daughters, impaired many families by the weak or mean productions of marriages made without any of that warmth and spirit that is given them by force of inclination and personal

"Bolton Village and Castell is 4 miles choice, and extinguished many great

from Midleham. The Castell standithe on a roke syde; and all the substaunce of the lodgings in it be included in 4 principall towres. Yt was an 18 yeres in building, and the expencis of every yere came to 1000 marks. It was finished or Kynge Richard the IId. died.

"One thinge I muche notyd in the Haulle of Bolton, how Chimeneys were conveyed by tunnelles made on the syds of the wauls bytwixt the lights in the Haull, and by this meanes, and by no covers, is the smoke of the harthe in the Hawle wonder strangly convayed. Moste parte of the tymber that was occupied in buyldynge of this Castell was set out of the Forest of Engleby in Cumberland, and Richard Lord Scrope, for conveyaunce of it, had layde by the way dyvers drawghts of oxen to cary it from place to place till it cam to Bolton. There is a very fayre Cloke at Bolton, cum motu solis, &c. lunæ, and other conclusions. From Leland's Itinerary, viii. 19."

" In Selden's edition of the Fleta (see Book 2.) every thing minutely described appertaining to the office of every household servant of our old nobility; Cook, Ox-driver, Shepherd, Swineherd.

"Fleta was written in Edward the Second's reign; best edition 1685."

"J. Loccenii Antiquitates Sueo-Gothicæ, in quibus prisci ævi Sueorum et Gothorum mores, status regni, et institutiones, cum hodiernis comparantur. Upsaliæ, 1670, 8vo. See Peck's Desiderata Curiosa, vol. II. and the 1st vol. 1. vi. p. 30."

"The Exchange (that arsenal of choice vanities) is furnished with a daily supply and variety of beauty spots cut out in diminutive moons, suns, stars, castles, trees, birds, beasts, and fish. King

James affirmed that whoever used these patches either was, or would be, a whore. "When yellow starched bands and cuffs were in fashion, Lord Chief Justice Coke commanded the common Hangman to do his office in that dress, and thus put a stop to the idle fashion.-From a

ones by the aversion of the persons who should have continued them. Quoted by Brown in his 'Estimate of the Times'."

"In the time of the Great-grandfather of the present Duke of Devonshire, Wine handed round on a salver after dinner. Then the Duke withdrew. Company entertained with strong beer by the Steward, and smoking. Hence the origin of Salver Wine.

"Lambeth Palace; old customs broke through. Chaplains entertain."

"Sir Wm. Cecil, in a letter to Sir N. Throckmorton at Paris, May 1561, says, 'The Queen wishes some Goldsmith might be induced to come hither, with furniture of Agrets, Chains, Bracelets, &c. to be bought both by herself and ladies here to be gay in this Court towards the Progress. He shall be free of Custom for all he shall not sell."

Mr. URBAN,

Feb. 12.
Forbes,

VOUR Correspondent John
in p. 24, has favoured your readers
with a copy of a Licence for Lent,
granted in Scotland; and speaks of an
antient branch of revenue arising
from thence, which no longer exists in
that country. Perhaps the same Act
of Parliament, which passed since the
Union, and authorized ed Clergymen
in
this country to grant Licences of this
kind, gave the same power to the per-
sons in Scotland who issued the Licence
which your Correspondent copies.

It may be amusing to some of your Readers if you will insert the following Licence grauted in England in the year 1639, by the Rector of the Church of St. Bartholomew the Great, London. I have copied this Licence verbatim from the oldest Register of the above-named Parish.

"Whereas Mrs. Mary Anthony, the wife of John Anthony, of my parrish, Dr. of Phisick, hath bine along time sick, and is now in great weakness of body, wherby

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