Davis; duty, Sunday, prayers and sermon. See Remarks. Salary, 50l. and a yearly freedom of the City, voted by the Court of Aldermen, and valued at 251. Surgeon, Mr. Hodgson; salary 1001. and 201. for medicines, at the two Compters and Ludgate, both for debtors and felons. Number of prisoners, February 16, 1607; debtors, thirty-seven, felons, nine. Allowance, to poor debtors, felons, &c. ten ounces of bread, and one pound of potatoes, daily; also six stone of beef, (48lbs.) divided amongst them every Saturday, besides a quantity of broken victuals, collected from the different taverns aud eating-houses about the Royal Exchange, For legacies, and other donations, see Remarks. REMARKS.-Some years ago, I spoke of this ruinous receptacle for debtors, felons, and other criminal prisoners, as it once stood, in spite of age and debility. Its whole history is most singular; and it must, hereafter, become incredible, wheneverits locality is considered to have been in the centre and very heart of the British Metropolis! How long before the Fire of London this Compter had been a prison, cannot easily be ascertained. There is reason, however, to believe it to be quite as antient as the other Compters. It first appears in the reign of Edward the Sixth, when the keeping of it was an office of no small consideration, for, at that period, one John Seymour, at the special recommendation of the King, had a lease granted to him of this Compter, for a term of years; and in the year 1554, the keeper of the other Compter was Robert Smarte, the City's Sword-bearer, who had the keeping thereof granted to him for life, he obeying the orders of the Court with respect to its management. In the year 1600, certain buildings and alterations of this Compter were finished, at an expence of upwards of 600l. ; and in the year 1614, the Compter was again partially rebuilt, and repaired with oak. After the Fire of London, in the year 1666, two of the city gates, Aldgate and Bishopgate, were converted into prisons, in lieu of the two Compters, (which were both destroyed in that general confiagration) until new Compters could be built. For this purpose an order was passed in the year 1669, and executed accordingly. Since then the Woodstreet Compter has been pulled down, and a new one erected: but the Old Poultry Compter still remains; and, until the alteration hereafter mentioned, was appropriated for the reception of prisoners, in the manner following : For master's-side debtors, heretofore there were fifteen rooms be twixt the inner and the outer gates; for the use of which each prisoner paid as per table. For common side debtors six wards, within the inner gate; two of them on the groundfloor, called the King's Ward, and the Prince's Ward, in the former of which, November 12, 1803, were seven debtors, and in the latter, the same number. On the first floor, or story, were the Women's Ward, with two debtors: the Middle Ward (so called, as as I conceive from its being between the Women's and the Jews' Ward) containing six debtors; and the Jews' Ward, in which were two Jew deb. tors, with a separate stair-case leading to it. This, let me pointedly observe, is the only prison I ever visited, in which persons of their persuasion were allowed to have the ge, nerous, humane, and just indulgence of being kept entirely distinct from the other prisoners; and very sincere. ly do I hope, that, in the projected change and improvement of this building, some similar allotment will be assigned, of a place of retirement, security, and comfort, for debtors, or others, of their peculiar description. Reason suggests the motive for such a hint; and Christian principle sanctions its adoption. It may easily be done, as no great space will be re quisite. On the second story, or floor above, were also the Queen's Ward, which had ten debtors, and a small room adjoining to it for the sick. The thirty-four debtors whom I found here at my visits had ten wives and fifteen children living with them in the prison. All are allowed one rug each by the City, but are expect ed to provide their own beds, To each ward there is a fire place, In one of the rooms on the second floor, called the Pump Room, the debtors had the convenience of water, The court-yard here is very small, paved with flag-stones, and had water continually continually running through it. In the passage-court was a day-room for felons, and a small one adjoining to it for debtors: they have irongrated windows, opposite the publichouse, kept within the gates of the prison; and from which they were constantly supplied with liquor. Men felons slept in two "strong rooms," planked with oak, and studded with large broad-headed nails, on boards raised about three feet from the ground; having each a rug allowed them: and up stairs was another large room for men, and one for women. The Chapel, which was below, had a gallery for master's side debtors; and the felons, and other criminals, were seated on forms or benches in the area beneath. At the top of the whole building are spacious leads, where the master's-side debtors were occasionally allowed to take the air. The keeper, however, or turnkey, was always with them, because the adjacent houses were thought capable of furnishing the ready means for escape. 65 all SUCH was this prison in the year 1803; but the buildings being in a very dilapidated state, and in many parts shoared up with props, it became at length so dangerous, not only to the lives of the prisoners, but of other persons resorting thither, that in July 1804, an Act passed, with a degree of uncommon expedition, suited to to the supposed pressure of the occasion, for the removal of the debtors and prisoners here in custody to the Giltspur-street Compter, or to such other safe, secure, and convenient place within the city, as should be approved of by the Lord Mayor, Aldermen, and Commons thereof in Common Council assembled." It was also ordained to "be lawful for the Sheriffs, from time to time, and until the Poultry Compter shall have been rebuilt, or made secure, and fit, and commodious for the reception of prisoners, or another Compter shall be provided, to receive, keep, and detain them in such place of intended removal." This took place in consequence, and prisoners continued to be received in the Giltspur-street Compter till the 20th of May 1805; when the very crowded state of that temporary re ceptacle occasioned a necessity of sending all the night charges to their old place of destination in the Poultry. were Nor was this step sufficiently adequate; for in August 1806, the Giltspur-street Compter not being found large enough to contain the criminal prisoners of both gaols, they likewise re-consigned to the Poultry. This ruinous and tottering pile therefore (so long before deemed hardly tenable) has now, for above eighteen months, been made the only place of confinement for the criminals of the two Compters, and the Chapel of the present, being turned into a sleeping room, for want of space, no Divine service is performed there. The result is, that Gillspur-street Compter is now wholly appropriated to the confinement of the debtors only belonging to both prisons, until a New Poultry Compter shall be provided, or the old one rendered "safe," for we can hardly say "fit," and "commodious for the reception of prisoners." More than five years have now elapsed: the circumstances above narrated are matter of notoriety; yet how little, if any thing, is done!!! The two rooms already mentioned as fronting the public-house, the one set apart for debtors, the other for felons, are at present both shut up : and the Queen's Ward, with nearly the whole East end of the prison, have been taken down, to prevent their falling with instant destruction on the hel helpless inhabitants! Master's-side felons, or those who can pay for beds, sleep in strong rooms above stairs, to which the access is from the keeper's house. Common-side felons have, within the wooden gate, a small court, paved with flag-stones, and a miserable room called the Rat-hole, with an iron-grated unglazed window; and two dismal cells to sleep in, upon boards raised about a yard from the floor, with a rug or two each, according to their number; but no straw. One of these cells is for four prisoners, and the other for two; above which are two other rooms, of a similar description. The Chapel, since its conversion into a dormitory, has barrack bedsteads laid on the floor. The women felons are shut up in a dreary 20 13 10 15/5 7 20 17 3 Annually on the 5th of November the gift of Mrs. Margaret Dame, one quarter of beef and five dozen of penny loaves, is sent by the Ironmonger's Company. The Drapers Company allow annually fourteen pounds for the discharge of small debts up to forty shillings each, the gift of Mr. John Kendrick. Sheriff's court, twopence eachjudgment, from the Clerk of the Judgments, Mr. Higden, Curriers Hall, at Christmas. The prisoners receive 65 penny loaves every eight weeks, the gift of Eleanor Gwynn. N. B. Master's-side Debtors partake of no charity, except it be particularly ordered by the Donor. I The Public-house, within the passage leading to this Prison, is rented from the City at 301. per annum. was constantly assured it had nothing to do with the Compter, although I as constantly saw that the iron grated rooms of the Debtors and Felons were supplied from thence with Liquors; the windows of both being opposite to it. It is worthy of remark that this Public-house was shut up as soon as the Poultry prisoners were removed to Giltspur-street Compter; but was opened again immediately on their being returned hither. From the best accounts I could extract from the books it appears, that from Jan. 1, 1800, to Jan. 1, 1807, there were Four hundred and twentyfive Debtors committed to this Prison from the Court of Conscience; and yet, the number of Creditors who received debt and costs, in consequence of such imprisonment, was no more than seventy-eight! Scanty fuel this, for the Spirit of Litigation! My Dear Sir, Chelsea, Dec. 23. It gives me pain to publish an account of this execrable place of confinement, which has so long been suffered to remain a discredit to a City that on all public occasions stands foremost in acts of Liberality, Benevolence, and Humanity. It is difficult to account for the delay in repairing this Prison, or building a new one. It does not seem to be lost sight off. Ata Court of Common Council, held 26th October last, it was resolved, "That the Poultry Compter is in a most deplorable and ruinous condition, and by no means a fit place for the confinement of Prisoners of any description." Should the preceding remarks tend to expedite the building build a New Prison, it will be the highest gratification to Yours, &c. JAS. NEILD. Doctor Lettsom, Sambrook Court. Mr. URBAN, Jan. 5. PERHAPS ☐ ERHAPS you will think the fol lowing desultory Notes, from the Portfolio of an eminent Scholar, as they relate to a celebrated Bard and no less celebrated Critic, not unworthy to be introducedto the publick. "Mr. Gray was supposed to have died worth 10,000/. He left 1000l. to Miss Antrobus and her sister Cummins. A Play of three acts, plain prose.-Discretionary power, to Mason, with Brown, to publish an "Elegy written at Stoke Pogeis," where he is buried with his father and mother. The "Long Story" published, because it contained the only drawing he ever made of Stoke House. It was written, in one morning, at Strawberry Hill. - Bannerman wrote of his death to Walpole before it happened. Gray was very satirical in early life, which went off. - He has large notes on. Linnæus and Goedart. He had large architectural collections of Founders and Builders from Books; and notes from actual survey. - He lay a week, much afflicted with obstructions. Glyn says, he' had no pain.-Brown shocked at his convulsions; but his face after death returned, though not sufficient to take a cast. Bostock, of Christ's, his, elève, attended his funeral.-Farmer was offered 2001. for directing a new edition of Beaumont and Fletcher, with critical notes and introduction to each Play." "Dr. Bentley's grandson is a scholar, but still more desirous of being reckoned a person of fashion, and, as such, would be more hurt at the Doctor's condition being debased than his learning, es-t pecially as the former is at least equivocal, the latter not at all. To settle this matter as far as is necessary, hear what the College Register says: Richardus : Richardus Bentley, Ebor. de Oulton*, filius Thomæ B. defuncti, annos natus 15, et quod excurrit, literis institutus infra Wakefield, admissus subsizator pro Magistro Johnson, tutore et fidejussore ejus, Maii 24°, 1676.' "The late Dr. Powel, who gave me this copy, said it was remarkable that he was admitted Sizar for his own Tutor, Every Sizar must be admitted for somebody, but it is now entirely a mere form, yet he said he had never observed such an instance; and that though they put down the first fellow's name that occurs, yet that he had never put down his own. Had his father been living, his profession would have been mentioned. The received opinion in College is, that he was a Blacksmith, which in the country is nothing very great. But if any body has a mind to see how astonishing a scholar and critick he was, Jet him only read a letter on Hesychius in Alberti's noble edition. - Somersham, Pidley, and Colne, all in Huntingdonshire, are annexed to the Regius Professorship of Divinity; but, though he takes care of them by Curates, they cannot be called livings in the common acceptation of the word, as he may hold two livings besides, just as if he had not them. This is one of the 40 capital blunders in Biographia Britannica." *** JOUR pages have frequently noticed the state of our West Indian YO Islands, both with respect to Religion and Government, One of the Islands is still governed by the Spanish laws, because these laws are supposed by some to afford greater protection to the Slaves and to the peopleof Colour, than British laws under a West Indian administration. In other Islands, regulations have been made with regard to Itinerant Preachers, which have been disallowed by the Government at home, as inconsistent with the spirit of the British Constitution. In my humble opinion, the proper remedy for all these inconveniences is the appointment of a Bishopto reside in the West Indies. A Bishop, from his office and his education, would be the friend of humanity, and at the same time the friend of the British Constitution, These Islands are said to be within the diocese of London; why then may not the Bishop of London be allowed * "A hamlet between Rothwell and Methley, due North of Wakefield and its Outwood. Jeffreys' Map," to appoint a Suffragan, with full Jan. 6. Mr. URBAN, I. p. 154, 1750, occurs this note: "Wine of one ear.] A proverbial expression for excellent good wine. In some parts of Leicestershire and elsewhere, speaking of good ale, ale of one ear; bad ale, ale of two ears. Because when it is good, we give a nod with one ear; if bad, we shake our head, that is, give a sign with both ears that we don't like it." Not having met with this proverbial expression in any other Writer, I should be glad to know to what County it is properly to be appropriated. H, Mr. URBAN, A Jan. 10. REGULAR Correspondent of yours will be much gratified, if you will, through the medium of your pub lication, convey to him some information respecting RICHARD DIXON, once of King's College, Cambridge, B. А. in 1555. Was he the same person who was Bishop of Cork and Cloyne in 1570, but suspended in 1572? If so, where was he born, where buried, and what inscription is there on his tomb?-If you can inform me also about what time Bells * began to be used in matters of Religion and Festivity, you will have the sincere thanks of YKS. * Bells were first invented by Bishop Paulinus, at Nola, a town in Italy. If our correspondent looks at the Encyclo pædia Britannica under the article Bells, Paulinus, or even Nola, he will find in formation the subject, EDIT H Mr. URBAN, Brentford, Jan. 20. AVING recently had occasion to investigate the title to some land in the parish of Isleworth, I found in the deeds connected with that title the name of a lane in which the property is situate, spelt Whirlpool, Walpole, and Wurple, which induced me to make some inquiries as to the real orthography and derivation of the word in the place where such information was most likely to be obtained; but, finding no satisfactory result, I investigated the matter further. The lane is long and narrow, intersecting garden-ground to a considerable distance; and I conceive its name is a corruption of Warp, Belg. and Weltan, Sax. and was probablyantiently called "Warpweit" Lane, and by an easy transition Warple or Wurple. Warp is the thread which crosses the woof in cloth, and Welt is a boundary, edging-border, or hold: hence all words signifying an inclosure are derived; as Belt and Wall, Eng. and Vallum, Lat.; and in this sense Chaucer, "Adam welte (i. e. held) al paradise * saving to one." And in an Account of the expences of a May Game in the Reign of Henry VIII. there is an article "A Cote of Russet and a Kyrtle of Worstedde weltyd with red cloth." Before inclosures became general, land, being open, was intersected with roads, common to all the occupiers, but exclusively the property of none; hence the name Warple was indiscriminately applied to all such roads, as being that part of the land which was the border or boundary, and distinguished one man's land from another's. The Warp, therefore, is that part of the cloth, which, not being crossed by the woof, is waste, and the Welt a border, consequently, if my derivation be correct, the Warple may be denominated a piece of land uncultivated, bounding or bordering open or com mon field lands. Perhaps a more familiar exemplification of this derivation may be seen in the weaving of Napkins, where the division between each is marked by the threads of the warp not being crossed by the woof. Yours, &c. LITERARY INTELLIGENCE. Communications for this Article (of Works preparing for publication, not of Works already published) will be a duly attended to. The Hulsean Prize for the last year has been adjudged to FRANCIS ČUNNINGHAM, Esq. fellow commoner of Queen's College: subject, " A dissertation on the Books of Origen against Celsus, with a view to illustrate the argument, and to point out the evidence they afford to the truth of Christianity." - The following is the subject for the present year: "An Inquiry into the Religious Knowledge which the Heathen Philosophers derived from the Jewish Scriptures." The following works will very soon be published: Sermons on various important subjects, in two octavo volumes, left for publication by the late Rev. OWEN MANNING, vicar of Godalming. A Treatise on Algebra, in Practice and Theory, methodically arranged in two Parts, and adapted to the present State of the Science, together with Notes and Illustrations, containing a great variety of particulars relating to the Discoveries and Improvements that have been made in this branch of Analysis. By Mr. BONNYCASTLE, Professor of Mathematics in the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich. The work will be printed in two moderate-sized Octavo Volumes, and is designed to form the second and third Parts of the Author's intended General Course of Mathematics, of which several of the succeeding branches are nearly ready for p publication. Rules for English Composition, and particularly for Themes, in a duodecimo volume. By Mr. JOHN RIP PINGHAM, of Westminster School; who has also in thepress, a Translation of Longinus, with critical and explanatory notes, in an octavo volume. Narrative of a Voyage to the Rio de la Plata, and of Travels in Brazil, from 1804 to 1810. By Mr. Jouw MAWE, author of a Treatise on the Mineralogy of Derbyshire. A Description of the Arteries, in an octavo volume. By Dr. JOHN BAR CLAY. A History of the University of Cambridge, including the Lives of the Founders, with illustrative engravings. By Mr. GEORGE DYER. The |