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Where'er I go, by fate, by fortune led,
War's loudest thunders raging round my head;
Borne by rough whirlwinds to an hoftile fhore,
My fad heart whifpers-to return no more:
Still hall thy lov'd idea fill my foul,
Infpire with action, and engrofs the whole;
And if fore-doom'd to prefs a foreign plain,
'Midft gafping crowds, the earlieft victim
flain,

More than his own, thy pangs will wound his mind,

Who leaves his MARY and his peace behind. I am, Sir,

Yours, &c.

VIATOR.

To the Editor of the COUNTY MAGAZINE.

SIR,

AMONG the Proverbs ficult to be

there are many very difficult to be understood. This may be often owing to the obscurity attendant upon detached fentences, where recourfe to the context cannot be of use, and not unfrequently, perhaps, to fome infufficiency in the tranflation. A verfe in the 27th chapter comes, in particular, under this defeription; it is the 14th, "He that blefleth his friend with a loud voice, rifing early in the morning, it fhall be counted a curfe to him." Some of your correfpondents may perhaps communicate an explanation.

OBSERVATIONS ON THE

D. S.

SAGACITY OF THE SPIDER.

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NIMALS, in general, are fagacious in proportion as they cultivate fociety. The elephant and the beaver fhew the greateft figns of this when united; but when man intrudes into their communities, they lofe all their fpirit of induftry, and teftify but a very fmall fhare of that fagacity, for which, when in a focial ftate, they are fo remarkable.

Among infects, the labours of the bee and ant have employed the attention and admiration of the naturalift; but their whole fagacity is loft upon feparation, and a fingle bee or ant feems deftitute of every degree of induftry, is the most ftupid infect imaginable, languifhes for a time in folitude, and foon dies.

Of all the folitary infects I have ever remarked, the fpider is the moft fagacious, and its actions to me, who have attentively confidered them, fem almoft to exceed belief. This infect is formed by nature for a ftate of war, not only upon other

infects, but upon its own fpecies. For this ftate nature feems perfectly well to have formed it. Its head and breaft are covered with a strong, natural coat of mail, which is impenetrable to the attempts of every other infect, and its belly is inveloped in a foft, pliant fkin, which eludes the fting even of a wafp. Its legs are terminated by ftrong claws, not unlike thofe of a lobfter, and their vaft length, like fpears, ferve to keep every aflailant at a distance, Not worfe furnished for obfervation than for an attack or defence, it has feveral eyes, large, transparent, and covered with a horny fubftance, which, however, does not impede its vifion. Befides this, it is furnished with a forceps above the mouth, which ferves to kill or fecure the prey already caught in its claws or its net.

Such are the implements of war with which the body is immediately furnished; but its net to entangle the enemy feems what it chiefly trufts to, and what it takes

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avoid thinking that the infect feemed to exult in his new abode. It frequently traverfed it round, examined the ftrength of every part of it, retired into its hole, and often came out of it. The first enemy, however, it had to encounter, was another, and a much larger fpider, which having no web of its own, and having probably exhaufted all its flock in former labours of this kind, came to invade the property of its neighbour. Soon then a terrible encounter enfued, in which the invader feemed to have the victory, and the laborious fpider was obliged to take refuge in its hole. Upon this I perceived the victor ufing every art to draw the enemy from its ftrong hold. He feemed to go off, but quickly returned, and when he found all arts vain, began to demolish the new web without mercy. This brought on another battle, and, contrary to my expectations, the laborious fpider became conqueror, and fairly killed his antagonist.

Now then, in peaceable poffeffion of fible. Nature has furnished the body of what was juftly its own, it waited three this little creature with a glutinous liquid, days with the utmoft patience, repairing which it fpins into a thread coarfer or finer, the breaches of its web, and taking no as it chooses to contract or dilate its sphinc-fuftenance that I could perceive. At laft, ter. In order to fix its thread when it be- however, a large blue fly fell into the fnare, gins to weave, it emits a finall drop of its and ftruggled hard to get loofe. The fpiliquid against the wall, which, hardening der gave it leave to entangle itself as much by degrees, ferves to hold the thread very as poffible, but it seemed to be too strong firmly. Then, receding from the firft for the cobweb. I muft own I was greatly point, as it recedes the thread lengthens; furprized when I faw the fpider immediand when the fpider has come to the place ately fally out, and in less than a minute weave a new net round its captive, by which the motion of its wings was stopped, and when it was fairly hampered in this manner, it was feized and dragged into the hole.

where the other end of the thread fhould be fixed, gathering up with its claws the thread which would otherwife be too flack, it is ftretched tightly, and fixed in the fame manner to the wall as before.

In this manner it lived, in a precarious ftate, and nature feemed to have fitted it for fuch a life, for upon a single fly it fubfifted for more than a week. I once put a wafp into the net, but when the fpider came out, in order to feize it as ufual, upon perceiving what kind of an enemy it had to deal with, it inftantly broke all the bands that held it faft, and contributed all that lay in his power to difengage fo formidable an antagonift. When the walp was at liberty, I expected the spider would have fet about repairing the breaches that were made in his net, but thofe, it feems, were irreparable; the cobweb, therefore, was now entirely forfaken, and a new one begun, which was completed in the usual

In this manner it fpins and fixes feveral threads parallel to each other, which, fo to fpeak, ferve as the warp to the intended web. To form the woof, it fpins in the fame manner its thread, tranfverfely fixing one end to the first thread that was fpun, and which is always the ftrongeft of all the whole web, and the other to the wall. All thefe threads, being newly fpun, are glutinous, and therefore ftick to each other wherever they happen to touch; and in thofe parts of the web moft expofed to be torn, our natural artift ftrengthens them, by doubling the threads fometimes fix-fold. Thus far naturalifts have gone in the defcription of this animal; what follows is the refult of my own obfervations upon that fpecies of the infect called an houfe-time. fpider. I perceived about four years ago, a large fpider in one corner of my room making its web; and though the maid frequently levelled her fatal boom against the labours of the little animal, I had the good fortune then to prevent its deftruction, and I may fay it more than paid me by the entertainment it afforded.

In three days the web was with incredible diligence completed, nor could

I had now a mind to try how many cobwebs a fingle (pider could furnish; I therefore deftroyed this, and the infect fet about another. When I deftroyed the other allo, its whole flock feemed quite exhaufted, and it could fpin no more. The arts it made ufe of to fupport itfelf, now deprived of its great means of fubfiftence, were indeed furprifing. I have feen it roll up its legs like a ball, and lie motionless for hours

together, but cautioufly watching all the time: when a fly happened to approach fufficiently near, it would dart out all at once, and often feize his prey.

Of this life, however, it foon began to grow weary, and refolved to invade the poffeffion of fome other fpider, fince it could not make a web of its own. It formed an attack upon a neighbouring fortification with great vigour, and at first was as vigorously repulfed. Not daunted, however, with one defeat, in this manner it continued to lay fiege to another's web for three days, and, at

RECTITUDE.

TH

HE confcioufnefs of rectitude is fo delighting to the mind, that if experience did not convince us of the contrary, we muft fuppofe the perpetration of evil to be impoffible.

The anxiety and fears which continually torment the guilty mind, prove, that as virtue is its own reward, fo is vice its own punishment.

Afk the honeft man from whence proceeds his tranquillity, and he will anfwer, "I am free

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and calling to his companions, "Friends, Soon after one of the citizens awaked, faid he, liften to my dream: I thought myfelf tranfported into hell by two angels: for a long time they kept fufpended over the abyfs of everlafting fire; there I was a witnefs to the torments of the damn'd.” gates of heaven were opened for me; I And I, faid the other, dreamed that the was carried before the throne of God,

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length, having killed the defendant, ac- that arife from the perpetration of bad where I was a fpectator of his glory;" began to

tually took poffeffion.-When fmaller flies happen to fall into the fnare, the spider does not fally out at once, but very patiently waits till it is fure of them; for upon his immediately approaching, the terror of his appearance might give the

to

actions."

Purfue the libertine through the guilty incidents of his life, and you will find that pain is the conftant attendant on his pleafures.

Vifit him in the gayeft fcene of diffipa

of the infernal abodes.
the wonders of paradife, as the other had

he heard perfectly well, pretended to be
The countryman, meanwhile, though
his flumber, when he affecting great fur-
ftill afleep. They went to roufe him from

the manner then is to wait patiently, till. tion, and you will perceive that he is not prife, cried out, "What is the matter?"

by ineffectual and impotent struggles, the captive has wafted all his ftrength, and then he becomes a certain and eafy conqueft.

The infect I am now defcribing lived three years; every year it changed its fkin, and got a new fet of legs. I have fometimes plucked off a leg, which grew again in two or three days. At first it dreaded my approach in its web, but at laft it became fo familiar, as to take a fly out of my hand; and upon my touching any part of the web, would immediately leave the hole, prepared either for a defence or attack.

To complete this description, it may be obferved, that the male fpider is much lefs than the female, and that the latter are oviparous. When they come to lay, they fpread a part of their web under the eggs, and then roll them up carefully, as we roll up things in a cloth, and thus hatch them in their hole. If difturbed in their holes, they never attempt to escape without carrying their young brood in their forceps away with them, and thus frequently are facrificed to their parental affection.

As foon as ever the young ones leave their artificial covering, they begin to fpin, and almoft fenfibly feem to grow bigger. If they have the good fortune, when even but a day old, to catch a fly, they fall to with good appetites; but they live fometimes three or four days without any fort of fuftenance, and yet ftill continue. to grow larger, fo as every day to double their former fize.

As they grow old, however, they do not still continue to increase; their legs only continue to grow longer. When a fpider becomes entirely ftiff with age, and unable to feize its prey, it dies, at length, of hunger.

Senfual pleasures are like the rofe-they
please the fenfe, but a thorn lies beneath;

and the thorn remains after the flower
has loft its fense and shed its leaves.

THE

TRADESMEN and the CLOWN.

A TALE of the 14th CENTURY.

WO

What! do you not recollect us? Come, "Why, it is only your fellow-travellers. arife, and inform us of your dream."

My dream-Oh! I have had a very droll one, and one that I am fure will afford you great diverfion. When I faw you both carried away, the one to heaven, the other to hell, I thought I had loft you for ever; I then got up, and as I never expected to fee you again, I went and demolifhed the loaf."

SONNET.

gerous eke,

TH
THOUGH rugged be the steep, and dan
[lime:
Where Fame's proud temple glittereth fub-
Many there are that dare the mountain bleak,
And tow'rds the dreary pinnacle will climb.
Ah! whilft they labour for the fickle meed,
fuffi-Ah!
What scenes of mifery they undergo!
But far to me-the felf-approving deed,
Than all that Fame or Fortune can bestow.
Let others prize the noify court's parade,
Thofe taftelefs joys my heart could never love."
And guide, O Solitude, thou heavenly maid!
My penfive fteps where thou delight'ft to

traders were proceeding on a pilgrimage; a countryman, who joined them on the road, they agreed to was purfuing the fame journey, having travel together, and make a joint ftock of their provifions. But when arrived within a day's journey of the Holy Land, it was almoft wholly expended. They had nothing left but a little flour, barely fufficient to make a fingle cake. The perfidious traders entered into a plot together to cheat their companion of his fhare, and from his ftupid air imagined they could dupe him without difficulty. "We muft come to fome agreement, faid one of the citizens-what will not affuage the hunger of three, may fatisfy a fingle perfon, and I vote that it be allotted to one of us only; but that each may have a fair chance, I propofe that we all three lie down and fall afleep, and that the bread may be the lot of him who, on awaking, fhall have had the most curious dream."

They

The other citizen approved vaftly of
this fuggeftion; the countryman alfo fig-
nified his approbation, and pretended to
give completely into the fnare.
then made the bread, put it on the fire to
bake, and lay down. But our tradefmen
were fo much fatigued with their journey,
that, without intending it, they foon fell
into a profound flumber. The clown,

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The primrose invited my view;

I lik'd not its colour so pale, Expreffive of jealousy too

I left it to fade in the vale.

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The fuit of her fhepherd she heard :— More sweet than the rose-breathing gale Were her lips when she utter'd the word.

A pleafing delirium fteals over my breast,

And, ere the fun-beams yield to her their fway,
Th' archangel comes, and fummons her away:
Straight to the funeral pile fhe's borne along,
The wife attend her with the weeping throng;
A leffon to the gay behold she lies,
A mangled corpfe, an early facrifice!
And, whilft her charms make ev'ry bosom
fwell,

Deprefs'd Pomona tolls the parting knell :
The facred fepulchre's difclos'd to view,

The hollow vault refounds our last adieu;
There the rich relics we fecurely trust,
Till time shall bring them to their native duft:
Her purer part afcends to realms above,
To share the joys of innocence and love.
Wide o'er the world let Nature's trump

proclaim

Her ever-growing, her much envied fame; And Graham's marquis fhall translate her

name.

September 29, 1785.

THE MINISTER'S LEVEE.

(TUNE-Richmond Bells.)

For my Phillida's hand ftrews the poppies of SEE the cringing coxcombs come, one, two,

reft.

MALLING.

CONSUMMATION.

TWO roles twin fifters that grew,

Of turtles a pair from their neft,

Begirt with a ribbon of blue,

The sweet nuptial union exprefs'd. Dear emblems of innocent blifs,

Did you merit my Phillida's fmile? Your presents I seal'd with a kiss,

And bade a farewell to my toil. Next morning our gay village band

To church my dear Phillida bore: With pleasure I gave her my hand; My heart had been hers long before.

And now, gentle Hymen, your bleffings beflow;

The turtles fhall bill, and the rofes fhall blow.

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three, four, five, fix,

Among them none
Says his foul's his own,

They all fneak forrily, forrily.
See the bufy whispering crowd,
Where not a man dares speak aloud,
Till he first has been taught his cue,
By fome top cringer of the crew :

Dingle dangle, dingle dangle, wait they there,
Their patron's looks to scan:
And the de'el a fop
Leaves this State-shop

Till he fees the MIGHTY MAN!

REFLECTIONS

ON THE

STUDY OF NATURE:

Being a Tranflation of the Preface to the Museum Regis Adolphi Friderici of Linnæus.

THO

HOSE who visit mufeums of natural productions, generally pafs them over with a carelefs eye, and immediately take the liberty of giving a decided opinion upon them. The indefatigable collectors of these things fometimes have the fate of being reckoned monsters; many people wonder at their great tenderly, exclaim, that fuch things ferve to but ufelefs labours; and those who judge mofl 3

| amufe perfons of great leifure, but are of no
real ufe to the community. It fhall therefore
be the bufinefs of this difcourfe, to examine
the defign and end of fuch collections.

The knowledge of one's felf is the firft ftep
towards wisdom: this was the favourite pre-
cept of the wife Solon, and was written in
letters of gold on the entrance of the temple
of Diana.

A man furely cannot be faid to have attained this felf-knowledge, unless he has at leaft made himself acquainted with his origin, and the duties that are incumbent upon him.

Men and all animals increase and multiply in fuch a manner, that however few at first, their numbers are continually and gradually increafing. If we trace them backwards, from a greater to a leffer number, we at length arrive at one original pair. Now mankind, as well as all other creatures, being formed with fuch exquifite and wonderful skill, that human wildom is utterly infufficient to imitate the moft fimple fibre, vein, or nerve, much lefs a finger, or other contriving or executive organ; it is perfectly evident, that all these things muft originally have been made by an omnipotent and omnifcient being; for "he who formed the ear, fhall he not hear? and he who made the eye, fhall he not fee?

Moreover, if we confider the generation of animals, we find that each produces an offfpring after its own kind, as well as plants, tanias, and corallines; that all are propagated by their branches, by buds, or by feed; and that from each proceeds a germ of the fame nature with its parent; fo that all living things, plants, animals, and even mankind themselves, form one "chain of univerfal being," from the beginning to the end of the world in this fenfe truly may it be said, that there is nothing new under the fun.

If we next turn our thoughts to the place we inhabit, we find ourfelves fituated on a vaft globe of land and water, which muft neceffarily owe its origin to the fame Almighty Being; for it is altogether made up of wonders, and displays fuch a degree of contrivance and perfection, as mortals can neither defcribe nor comprehend. This globe may therefore be confidered as a museum, furnished with the works of the Supreme Creator, difpofed in three grand claffes.

If, in the first place, we confider the fofil kingdom, we fhall fee the manner in which water depofits clay; how it is cryftallized into fand near the fhore*; how it wears down Shells into chalk, dead plants into vegetable mould, and metals into ochre; from all which fubitances, according to the laws of nature, fones are formed: thus from fand originates whetfone, from mould flate, from chalk flint, from fhells and earth marble, and from clay tale. In the cavities of thefe, concrete beau

tiful pellucid crystals, which consisting of various fides oppofed to each other, form a number of regular figures, which the most ingenious mathematician could fcarcely have invented, and among which the glittering gems and brilliant adamant find a place.

Here the ponderous and fhining metals are conftantly forming; the ductile gold +, which eludes the violence of fire, and which can be

This opinion of the cryftallization of fand from water is difputed by the mineralogifts of the present day. Lentum aurum.

extended in length and breadth to an almost incredible degree: here is found the wonderful magnet, of which no mortal has hitherto been able to learn the fecret law of its mutual attraction with iron, or of its conftant inclination towards the poles.

The various ftrata of stones often concealed in the highest fummits of the Alps, are moft ancient monuments, which place before our eyes the many changes of the old globe, and proclaim them to us, whilft all other things åre filent on the subject.

The innumerable petrifactions of foreign animals, and of animals never seen by any mortal in our days, which often lie hid among ftones under the moft lofty mountains, are the only remaining fragments of the ancient world, and reach far beyond the memory of any history whatever.

So large a quantity of thefe and other ftones covers the globe, that no man has hitherto been able to break through them, and penetrate to the originally created earth.

In the fecond place, the vegetable kingdom offers itself to our contemplation. Of all its productions, the first covering of the earth was furnished by the wintry moffes; of fuch variety in their forms, that they icarcely yield to herbs in number; and although extremely minute, yet of fo admirable a structure, that they undoubtedly excel the stately palms of India. Thefe moffes are dried up in fummer, but in winter they revive, and in the early spring guard the roots of other plants from cold, as they afterwards do from the injuries of fummer funs.

For the gratification of our eyes, the earth is every where covered with verdure: there is no foil fo rich or fo barren, none fo dry or fo boggy, mountainous or marfhy, expofed or hady, that fome peculiar fpecies of grafs does not freely grow there, and fill up the interftices between other plants.

(To be continued.)

Such numberless fwarms of armed infects around us; and of touching, that we may exfly about the earth, that their fpecies are more amine their furfaces; and ali for the purpose numerous than all that the ground produces. of our comprehending, in fome measure, the Thefe, in their infancy, are difguifed in the wifdom of his works. The fame intruments form of caterpillars, in which fate each has of fenfation are beltowed on many other aniits proper plant affigned it, which it is ap-mals, who fee, hear, fmell, taste, and feel; pointed to inhabit and to feed upon, that the but they want the faculty which is granted us, inordinate increafe of any one may be pre- of combining thefe fenfations, and from thence vented. Hence thofe vegetables, whofe lux- drawing univerfal conclufions. uriant branches other animals cannot touch, either on account of prickles or height, or of a certain fœtor or acrimony peculiarly obnoxious to their fenfes, are obliged to afford entertainment to a number of infects: fo that while many plants are deftined to feed a very few fpecies of these animals, the nettle affords fubfiftence to feveral different kinds; and trees, being out of the reach of quadrupeds, frequently fupport innumerable legions. The dumb fibes which glitter at the bottom of the waters, and which furpafs birds in number, find an ample repaft prepared for them in the numberless worms which have their dwelling there and at the fummons of Venus they in their turns annually approach the fhore in duly divided troops.

The winged inhabitants of the air, which excel all other in the beauty

pro

To the Printer of the COUNTY MAGAZINE.

SIR,

You will oblige many of your Readers' and Correfpondents by giving the following a place in your Magazine, and alfo your humble fervant,

W. W.

"Thou shalt not fleal." DECALOGUE. may not improperly forms, find in the loftieft trees a rich proviT be called the Magua Charta of the fion of infects for their fuftenance. Here they Levitical law; for certainly that must be modulate their harmonious throats to the ten-fuperlatively great, whofe author and der melody of love, preparatory to their ducing new tribes for the ornament of future fcribe is no lefs than God: what venefeafons. Moft birds migrate every year from ration therefore ought to be paid to every the northern fhores to countries nearer the part of it, is furely manifeft to every one; fun; and, having reached their appointed and a man who can, with impunity, break distance, return for the purpose of diffemi- or tranfgrefs any part of it, must be an nating plants and fishes*. audacious rebellious finner: for if, on the delivery thereof, thunders and lightnings, fire and smoke, and the convulfive motion of Sinai, made the numerous hoft of Ifrael tremble, it is beyond the power of human abilities to frame a description of the horror and dread that impenitent offenders must inevitably experience, when fummoned to appear before the great Lawgiver for difobedience; and mankind, by frequent violations of this eighth commandment, feem to be grown into a ftate of forgetfulness and complete obduracy.

Quadrupeds, which wander and fport in the fields, convert all other things to their ufe: by their joint endeavours they purge the earth from putrifying carcaffes; by their voracious appetites they fix bounds to the numThe widely diffeminated herbs, diftinguish-ber of living creatures; they join in the coned by the various forms of their leaves, flow- tracts of love; and, when urged by hunger, ers, and fruits, decorate the earth in the most unite in purfuit of their prey. Thus, whilft agreeable manner; not one of them but has all things are purified, all things are renewed, its end and office affigned it by the fupreme and an equilibrium is maintained; fo that of governor of the world: numerous as they are, all the fpecies originally formed by the Deity, they most of them differ from one another in not one is deftroyed. taste and fmell, form and colour, powers and properties; but especially in their flowers, which attract our notice by their elegant variety; and in them we difcover the amours of plants, by which, although unattended with fenfation, they develope their internal ftructure, and overspread the globe.

Trees, whofe roots being railed high above the earth, conftitute what we call a ftem, weave their branches into an agreeable fhade, to defend the ground from exceffive heat and cold, and to fhelter men from the injuries of the weather.

The third divifion contains the animal kingdom, where the various kinds of worms filently occupy the bottom of the fea; fome of which, united in a manner by focial compact, build corals, others lead a folitary life, concealed in their horny fhells, which are constructed with fuch beauty and variety in their figures, that no human wisdom can trace them out, or comprehend their numbers.

*This refers to a theory of the author's, the folidity of which may be doubted. Those who wish to fee more of it, may confult the Amoenitates Academice, Vol. vi. Differtation 1. No. X.-VOL. I.

While we turn our minds to the contemplation of the beauties which furround us, we are alfo permitted to employ them for our benefit for to what ufe would the fun difplay its beams? for what end would the fpacious world be furnished by the great and bountiful Author of nature, were there no rational beings capable of admiring and turning it to their profit? The Creator has given us eyes, by the affiftance of which we difcern the works of creation. He has, moreover, endowed us with the power of tasting, by which we perceive the parts entering into the compofition of bodies; of smelling, that we may catch their fubtile exhalations; of hearing, that we may receive the found of bodies

Pulpy fruits are in general the food of a variety
of birds as well as of quadrupeds; but the feeds

which are contained in thefe fruits are of fuch a na-
ture, that they almost always pafs through the ani-
mal unhurt, and rather more fit for vegetation than
before; thus they are tranfported to places far from
their native foil. The fpawn of fifhes often fhares

the fame fate.-See Linnæus's Oratio de Telluris
incremento, Amoen. Acad. vol. ii. published in
English by the Rev. Mr. Brand, among his Select
Differtations from the Amoenitates Academicæ.

X

All civilized nations have ever held theft in abhorrence, and in a variety of methods inflicted punishments. When the keeping and poffeffing of flocks and herds were the principal employment of our forefathers, an extraordinary restoration for ftealing part thereof was enjoined. Thus it is faid in the Levitical law-five oxen for an ox, and four sheep for a fheep: afterwards fatisfaction was made by pecuniary mulets; but time convincing that many thieves were thus unable to atone for their tranfgreffions, corporal punishments took place, fuch as imprisonment, flagellation, transportation, &c.

The Almighty having commanded mankind to labour fix days, has difplayed his juftice and goodnefs in behalf of boneft induftry in this eighth commandment: and he to whom all hearts are open, well knew that covetoufnefs was a principal cause of theft and injuftice; he therefore

154
fubjoined the tenth; a repetition, as it
were, of his divine will in performance
of the above. The crime then of unjustly
wifhing for, much more of ftealing the
property of another, appears, I think, ob-
vious to the dulleft capacity; and regard
for religion only, in a Chriftian country,
fhould be fufficient to awe and deter every
one from coveting and taking the property
of another.

History informs us, that the four firft commandments were contained in the firft table, and relate to our duty towards God; and the fix others in the fecond table contain our duty towards man: and though given peculiarly to the Jews, by their being publifhed and proclaimed by the fhrill awakening found of a celeftial trumpet, it plainly indicates, that all the inhabitants of this little orb were included in their obfervance. Among the Ifraelites, however, in number 600,000, befides children, who were juft fet out on a journey that would take them up full forty years, we may fuppofe they had no apparel to carry but that they daily wore; fo that it would have been cruelly dishonest for either to have taken from another any part of it. Of what materials their clothing was made we are not informed; but fo durable was it, that in the whole forty years their raiment waxed not old, neither did their fhoes wear out.

I

SIR,

prefume the following Extracts from a Pamphlet lately publifhed, entitled, "A fhort Inquiry into the Fees claimed and taken by the Clerk of Affize on the Home Circuit, and other Officers," will be found deferving the notice of Grand Juries, and very useful to those who have or may have business at Affizes on the Western Circuit, and to the Public in general; I therefore earnestly recommend them to your attention and infertion.

Yours, &c.

AN ENEMY TO EXTORTION,

INDICTMENT S.

N every indictment on a particular ature (the laid indictment confiftir g of one count only) the clerk of affize receives for drawing the fame, three fhillings and fix-pence.

On every common indictment (the faid indictment confifting of one count only) the clerk of affize receives for drawing the fame, two fillings and fix-pence.

And for every additional count, in every indictment, there is taken by the clerk of aflize the further fum of three and fix-pence, or two and fix-pence, agreeably to the above diftinction.

expence cultivated and fown; but that is To the Editor of the COUNTY MAGAZINE. a pitiful plea, and a great abfurdity and con- To the Editor of the COUNTY MAGAZINE, tradiction, that poverty (the divine will) fhould authorife theft, when God himself hath faid, "Thou shalt not fteal." Theft then, in the moft indigent object, muft undoubtedly hazard the eternal falvation of his precious foul.-Some, in mercy, profecute not, and others cannot, or will not, bear the expence attending it; but let fuch remember, that with all their kind intentions and frugality, they may very juttly be called encouragers or promoters of felony,-let villains loofe to prey upon the public, and are, in fome meafure, answerable for all the thefts, robberies, murders, &c. thofe unprofecuted culprits may afterwards commit; every means therefore to prevent, check, or punifh fuch offences, fhould in due time be used.That made ufe of in this and in the neighbouring villages, has the appearance of anfwering fuch purpofes in their full extent; i. e. the gentlemen, farmers, tradefmen, and reputable houfholders here have formed themselves houfholders here have formed themfelves into a fociety, with pledges of honour to each other, impartially to profecute, at their joint expence, perpetrators of every fpecies of felony that may be committed upon the property of either of them, and to fpare no expence to apprehend fuch thieves that may fly or conceal themfelves from juftice. Like focieties, if generally entered into, would undoubtedly produce (among others) the following beneficial and falutary circumftances:Many that now escape juftice, and fhelter themselves under the inability to profecute of thofe they pilfer, would be brought to condign punishment, and be no longer villains at large-many prevented from falling into fuch a wicked courfe of life, through dread of a rigorous perfecution:-many unfortunate youths, mifled by wicked affociates, escape an ignominious end-many families preferved from the indelible ftain that the indifcrete criminal conduct of a diffolute relative often brings on them to latest pofterity;-thofe fly nocturnal plunderers would probably in time be diminished;-the harmless part of fociety travel with lefs moleftation, or remain fearless and in quietude at home; and, It is an established principle, that little above all, the property of the induftrious lafins, unpunished, are the feeds of future borious mechanics, tradefmen, and farmers, crimes it hence follows, that omitting which, with expenfive diligence, they have to correct petty thefts, or larceny, with gathered together, for the fupport of themfeverity, is an encouragement to offen-felves and families, would be far more feders, and a principal caufe of thofe greater cure under the laws and conftitution they offences public papers are too full of; for daily contribute to fupport, by virtue of the "vice naturally begets vice; and the leaft fpirited exertions of fuch laudable focieties. digreffion from virtue is frequently fucBrixton, Ile of Wight, ceeded by fuch a train of evils, as leads on Sept. 26, 1786. imperceptibly to certain ruin." Poverty and neceffity are often made the plausible pretences for stealing fuel, apparel, and provifions; and particularly hedge breaking, and ftealing turnips and peafe, the produce of lands dearly rented, and at great toil and

In ancient times, the equitable way of compromifing thefts was, for the thief to pay four times the value of what he had tolen; a fourth whereof was given to the king, a quarter to the church, for pious ufes, a fourth to the informer, and the remainder to the perfon injured. But experience proves, that fuch kind of punifhments are inadequate to the offences; for offences of a glaring nature they certainly are; --for they not only fhew a depraved difpofition, but fuch culprits are canker-worms to fociety, indolently live on what they ravage and plunder of the fruits of the induftrious, render fatigue and labour heartlefs, and, it fometimes happens, that a whole family become impoverished and reduced by daring acts of villainy.

:

N. B. The clerk of affize fays, that his claim is only three and four-pence, and two and four-pence in the refpective cafes above ftated, but that it has not been ufual to return the half-pence.

On every indictment the Judge's fervant, ufually his coachman, takes one filling, under the pretence of attending to fhew the profecutor and his witneffes the way to the office of the clerk of affize.

On the fwearing of the witneffes, whofe names are indorsed on the indictment, the officer of the court, who adminifters the oath, takes fix-pence for every witness fworn.

On the bringing up of every indictment to the Grand Jury, the bailiff who attends the Grand Jury, and who is conftantly the livery fervant of the clerk of aflize, takes the further fum of one fhilling.

N. B. The fums thus received by the bailiff are, as he has confeffed, brought to account by him, and fet off by the clerk of affize in the payment of his wages.

OBSERVATIONS.

BY the ftatute of the 10th and 11th of King William, cap. 23, the clerk of affize, clerk of the peace, and every other perfon whatfoever, is expressly prohibited from deTHERE are two numbers whofe fum is manding, taking, or receiving any fee or re100, and their difference 700.

A PARADOX.

ward from any perfon whatfoever, that

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