It cannot be doubted, from several passages in Pliny's letters, that the mind of this great and good man was somewhat tinctured with the superstition of the times in which he lived; but, as his ingenious translator has observed, this was also the case with the greatest characters of that age, and therefore it would be unjust to bring a charge of weak credulity against Pliny. Now, though I am ready to admit this as a sufficient apology for the wonderful stories related in letter 26, book vii. about a ghost rattling his chains, which Pliny says he believes upon the credit of others; and two other ghosts who entered a window, and cut off a poor boy's hair as he lay asleep (which latter story he gives upon his own credit); yet I confess I am at a loss to account, upon any principle short of downright credulity, for the credence which Pliny professes to give to the story of the dolphin and the boy, as related in letter 38, book ix, which, though he declares it to be authenticated upon undoubted evidence, is scarcely surpassed by any thing to be met with in the adventures of the renowned Baron Munchausen.

It is not surprising that a degree of importance should be attached to the most trifling production of such a writer as Pliny-the most trivial incident connected with such a character, naturally excites a degree of interest; yet I really

do think that a few of the letters in this collection (such for instance as that to his colleague Cornutus, No. 21, book vii,) might have been omitted without any serious loss to posterity. The whole purport of this letter is to inform his friend that he had got sore eyes, and at the same time to thank him for a pullet, which he observes "notwithstanding the weakness of his eyes, he could discover was extremely fat "

These objections, however, are unimportant, and sink into nothing, when compared with the innumerable beauties, and the intrinsic excellence, which every reader of taste and judgment will readily discover in these letters.

R. A. D.

To the Editor of the European Magazine.

SIR,

LATELY very much ATELY passing through the city

struck with the following inscription on the front of a house situated on the north side of the High street.

A.D. 1771.

And on further inquiry I found that Richard Watts, Esq of Rochester*, in Queen Elizabeth's time, dwelt in a house called Sat, on Bolly-hill, in the parish of St. Nicholas, in this city, which house is now the property of: Joseph Brook, Esq. His noble charity to the poor of this city will appear by the following summary of his will, dated the 22d of August, 1579. He gave unto his wife Marian all his lands, tenements, annuities, and freehold estates whatsoever, for her widowhood; and if she married again, then he gave her an annuity of twenty marks for her life, chargeable on his said estates; and after her marriage or death he willed that his principal house, called Satis, with the house adjoining, the closes, orchards, gardens, and appurtenances, his plate and household furniture, should be sold; and after some legacies paid thereout, the residue to be placed out at interest by the Mayor and Citizens of Rochester, and the interest and profits to be employed to the perpetual support of an alms-house then erected, and standing near the market-cross in Rochester; and that there be added thereto "six several rooms, with chimneys, for the comfort, placing, and abiding of the poor within the said city; and also to be made apt and convenient places therein for six matrices, or flock beds, and other good and sufficient furniture, to harbour or lodge in poor travellers or wayfaringʻmen, being no common rogues nor proctors; they, the said wayfaring men, to harbour and lodge therein no longer than

and

*hichard Watts, Esq, represented this city the second Parliament in the reign of Queen Elizabeth,

+It is generally thought that the reason of Mr. Watts's exclading proctors from the benefit of this charity was, that a proctor had been employed to make his will, whereby he had given all the estates to himself; but I am

one night, unless sickness be the further cause thereof; and those poor folks there dwelling, should keep the same sweet, and courteously entreat the said poor travellers; and every of the said poor travellers, at their first coming in, to have fourpence; and they should warm them at the fire of the residents, within the said house, if need be." And further to support the said house, and to pershase flax, hemp, yarn, wool, and other necessary stuff to set the poor of this cils to work, he gave to the Mayor and Citizens all other his lands, traenents, and estates, for ever. The ancual rents of these lands, &c. at the time of making his will, amounted to 36. 16. 8d.; and his next and immediate heirs have authority to inspect the accounts of the charity every four years. The leases were not to exceed twenty-one years. The will was proved the 20th of September, 1579. Mrs. Watts, the sole executrix, married, after six years, to one Thomas Pagitt; and certain doubts arising about the will of Mr. Watts, an agreement was entered into between the parties-" By which the late Mrs. Watts was to keep Satus, the furniture, &c.; and in consideration of this, she was to pay one bundred marks towards repairing the als-house, to pay all the monies willed by Mr. Watts, to clear the lands bequeathed of all claims, and to convey other lands to the yearly rent of 201.” And the Mayor and Citizens agreed to purchase hemp, &c. to set the poor to work, and to provide for travellers as directed. The Mayors succeeding are to provide a sufficient Citizen, within ten days after they are sworn, whose business it shall be to receive and disburse the yearly profits, under the name of provider: which provider is to deliver an annual account of the receipts and disbursements to the Dean and Chapter, or to the Bridge wardens. The poor residing in the house are to be put in by the Mayor for the time being. In this state the charity continued until the year 1672, when the parishes of St. Margaret's and Stroud complained in Chancery, by Sir Heneage Finch,

inclined to think that the word proctor is derived from procurator, who was an itinerant priest, and had dispensatious from the pope to absolve the subjects of this realm from the oath of allegiance to Queen Elizabeth, in whose reign there were many such pricats.

Attorney-general, that they had no share of, nor benefit from, Mr. Watts's charity, left for the poor of the city of Rochester, although part of their parishes were in the liberties and precincts of the said city. They shewed that the estate at London was leased by Mr. Watts in his life-time for ninety-nine years, at 87. per annum, which lease expired in 1658; and, from improvements made during the lease, it then yielded to the Mayor and Citizens of Rochester 2001. per annum; and that from the estates in Chatham they received 50l. per annum above the original value.*

That the Mayor and Citizens of this city have not been wanting in setting a due value on so liberal a benefaction, is evident,not only from the attention they pay to the building, and in seeing the generous design of the testator duly performed; but in 1736 they gave a fresh expression of their gratitude, in causing a very handsome mural white marble monument to be erected to his memory, on the south side of the door entering into the choir of Rochester cathedral: on the top of this monument is a small but very neat bust of Mr. Watts, given by Joseph Brooke, Esq. as appears by the following inscription:

Under the busts: Archetypam nunc dedit Jos. Brooke, de Satis, Arm. On the marble monument beneath it: Sacred to the memory of Richard Watts, Esq. a principal benefactor to ber 10th, 1579, at his mansion-house on this city, who departed this life SeptemBully-hill, called Satis (so named by Queen Elizabeth, of glorious memory), and lies interred near this place, as by his will doth plainly appear; by which will, dated August 22d, and proved September 25th, 1579. He founded an alms house for the relief of poor people, and for the reception of six poor travellers every night, and for employing the poor of this city.

The Mayor and Citizens of this city, in testimony of their gratitude and his merit, have erected this monument A. D. 1736.-Richard Watts, Esq. then Mayor.

Notwithstanding the defendants, the

The original annual value of the estate in Chatham, left by Air. Watts, is in the decree said to be twenty marks, equal to 131. 6s. 3d.

Mayor and Citizens, alledged that no part of those parishes were within the city, or the ancient walls or limits thereof; yet a decree in that court was made, ordering that St. Margaret's parish should receive 30. a year till the lease of ninety-nine years, of the estate at Chatham, expired; afterwards they should receive six parts out of thirty, which shall from time to time be made by any improvement of rents, &c. over and above the said 301. It decreed to the parish of Stroud 207. on the same condition, and when the said lease expired, four parts of thirty of the improved reuts, together with the 201. per annum. And the remaining twenty. parts were decreed to the Mayor and Citizens of Rochester, for the relief of

travellers, and other charitable uses. The estates of this excellent charity are now so far improved as to amount to near 500 per annum: the receipts and disbursements are regularly inspected by the Committee for Charitable Uses.*

The house appointed for the reception of the poor travellers is situated on the north side of the High-street, and is probably the original building. A very considerable sum was expended by the Mayor and Citizens on its repair in 1771. Agreeably to the benevolent de-, sign of the donor, poor travellers have lodging and fourpence each; and that this charity might be more generally known, the foregoing inscription was fixed over the door.

I am, Sir, your constant reader, London, Jan. 16, 1818. M. ROSS.

Tothe Editor of the European Magazine.

SIR,

T page 95 of your Magazine for A last month, is an inquiry respecting the property of the powers of binomial factors. This property is well known, and is noticed by almost every writer on Algebra. Its principal use is its being the foundation of the binomial theorem, and its furnishing a ready method of finding the co-efficient of

The Committee of Charitable Uses was first established in 1693, by mutual agreement, between the Mayor and other governing members of this city on one part, and the freemen on the other; it is composed of two Aldermen, two Common Councilmen, and five freemen; all which are chosen annually by the jury of the court leet, held on the day of swearing the Mayor.

the terms of any power of the binomial » without being under the necessity of performing the involution. The me thod by which this is performed is calle by writers "Sir Isaac Newton's Rulm for raising a Binomial to any Powel whatever" (See Hutton's Mathematics and Bonnycastle's Alg.) But every re quisite information on this subject ma be obtained by consulting the four las chapters of the second sect. of vol. I Euler's Algebra, and therefore any fur ther remarks here would be superfluous

I am, Sir, your's, respectfully, Kent-road, March 7. J. R. YOUNG

Thomas Allen, No. 20, Middle-street Cloth-fair,

Benjamin Brasier, 3, Colt-yard, Mile end road,

S. Brown and Son, No. 3. George yard Water-lane, Fleet-street,

Joseph Bolton, No. 4, Duke-street
Aldgate,

W. Coleman, Tottenham.
John Cook, No. 17, Great Windmill

street, St. James's, and at No. 4 Cain place, Kentish-town, John Davis, Peter street, Mint, South wark,

Thomas Edmonds, Stoke Newington,
John Fisher, Union-street, Borough,
James Hall, Pear-tree-alley, Shoreditch
John Harding. No. 15, John's-row
Brick lane, Old-street,

Ann Herbert, Hampstead,
J. Johnson, No. 28, Laystall-street
Gray's inn-lane,

J. Kirton, No. &, Manor-place, Wal worth,

Thomas Marreck, 13, Bell-lane, Spital

fields,

John Powell, Layton, Essex,
J. Parker, Stratford, Essex,
John Pain, Blue-coat fields, Shadwell,
Jonathan Snow, No 6, Baker's court,
Half-moon alley. Bishopsgate,
W. Sermon, Brewer's court, Angel-al-
ley, Bishopsgate,

S. Sheridan, Walthamstow,
W Stafford, Walthamstow,
Timothy Thorn, West Ham, Essex,
Samuel Weazer, Holloway, i
Richard Walker, No. 6, Green-court,
Coleman street,

IRISH EXTRACTS.

CONTAINING A CONCISE DESCRIPTION OF 10ME OF THE PRINCIPAL PLACES IN MELAND; WITH THE ANTIQUITIES, CESTOMS, CHARACTER, AND MANNERS OF THAT COUNTRY.

BY THOMAS STRINGER, M.D.

(Continued from page 118.)

ANTIQUITIES OF IRELAND CONTINUED.

MILITARY ANTIQUITIES.

Raths, always on high ground, are of different dimensions, some not measuring more than ten or fifteen yards in diameter others contain eigh teen or twenty English acres. They were always proportioned to the property and power of the Toparch. Round these the clan resided, and within these they retreated from danger: many of them are artificial, with bterraneous chambers and sally ports. These raths or hills were, according to the dialect of the foreign tribe that possessed them, named mnotes. Mota, in the Icelandic, is a place of meeting. The Mote of Monacoghlan, in the pa rish of Aghaboe, is an high artificial hill, surrounded by entrenchments, and defended by outworks, the residence of a Toparch subordinate to Macguil Phadruig, or Fitzpatrick, Prince of Ossory. A place of judicature, or talk-motes, as well as the residence of the Chief. These raths, or earthen mounds, are thes constructed:

1st, à mound of earth formed in the shape of a cone, and fished in a point at top, encircled generally by a slight ditch. These are sepulchral.

2d. A large circle, surrounded by a raised agger of earth and a slight ditch: frequently I observed two near to each other. These cannot be sepulchral, probably raths for conferences and meet ings.

3d, High raised circular tumulus with more than one fosse. These are evideatly military works; as likewise are, 4th, Those with ramparts and outworks. The most common plan is a bigh circular mound, with a square or oblong work attached to it, the whole surrounded by one or more ditches. The Dun, or Din, was another sort of fort, and the same as the Welsh Dinas. This originally was an insulated rock, as is proved by the application of it to Dunamase, Dundanolf, and others. Smith and O'Connor confound the Dun with the next kind of Irish fortress Europ. Mag. Vol. LXXIII. Mar. 1818.

called Daingean, expressing a close secure place. This the English styled a Bawn, from the Teutonic Bawen, to construct and secure with branches of trees. Such seems to have been the principal warlike constructions of the Irish and their defences previous to the arrival of the English in 1169, when large and strong castles of lime and stone were erected,

Let us next consider the military weapons of this period. Antecedent to the coming of the Belgic colonies, and probably during some subsequent ages, stone hatchets, and spears and arrows headed with flints or stones, were only in use. The Celtes, from practice, having acquired a dexterity in using the stone hatchet, the Firbolgs made brass ones of the same shape. When such instruments as brazen celts were fabricated, it was not difficult to make brazen swords, and they have been discovered, at different times, in great numbers in this isle.

Giraldus Cambrensis, who with his countrymen bore a part in the Irish wars towards the end of the twelfth century, is our best authority for the military weapons of the ancient Irish. He tells us, they had long lances, two darts, broad axes, and threw stones with great quickness, force, and effect.

The battle axe was a weapon which Cambrensis expressly declares we adopted from the Ostmen and Norwagians. The Irish and Britons, who fought with darts and lances, were unable to resist the long swords and axes of the AngloSaxons. This axe, or hatchet, they carried constantly about with them, and used it as a walking-staff, and they ofteu used it treacherously. Bows, arrows, and swords, were of later introduction. They did great injury with stones, to prevent which the English placed archers in the ranks with the heavy-armed infantry. In the age of Cambrensis, the Irish had bridies, but no stirrups, boots, nor spurs; even in 1584, when Stanihurst writ, they were without spurs, as was Mac Murrogh in

1599.

foot and a half long, sometimes shorter, and was a Firbolgian instrument. William the Conqueror was the first that encouraged archery; it soon became the strength of the British army. The ancient bow was six feet long, and the arrow two feet three inches: so that the small Irish bow and arrows, which seem to me lately introduced by the Scots, were very inferior to ours.

CASTLES.-In obedience to Henry's commands, his great feudatories erected castles in their respective possessions. About 1180, Lacey castellated Leinster and Meath. Cox is the most copious on this head; he says, Ardfinnan, Nenagh, Lismore, Tyrbrack, within two miles of Carrick, and Limerick, were built by King John. Castledermot, Castlederwagh, Kilkea, and Leighlin, by the Lacies. Ferns, Sligo, Tralee, Geashill, Adare, and Askeaton, by the Fitzgeralds. The Grey Friars at Leighlin, Ballymarter, Ardtully, Lixnaw, and Macrome, by the Carews. Phillips town and Maryborough, by Belling ham. Athenry, by Bermingham. Green Castle, Castle Carberry, Athassel, Carlingford, Castle Connell, Loughrea, and Portumny, by the De Burgos. Kil kenny, by Ranulph Earl of Chester. Castle of Kilkenny, by the Earl of Ormond. Thomastown, by Thomas Fitz Anthony. Ross and Carlow, by Isabel, daughter of Strongbow. Carrickfergus, by Sir Henry Sidney. Castle Island, in Kerry, by Geoffry de Marisco. Timoleague, by Barret. Trim, by William Peppard.

Insulated rocks adopted as a place of safety, probably from the Firbolgian invaders, a warlike race: Dunamase is situated in the Queen's County, about four miles east from Maryborough. Its name, which imports the fort of the plain, evinces it to have been considered and used as a place of strength in the earliest ages: the plain is what is called the Great Heath, nearly surrounding it.

The Castle of Ley, near Portarling ton, one of the oldest structures made by the English in this kingdom. The Castle of Ley was erected on a lofty hill. Its length externally is sixty feet, its breadth forty-six. The walls are eight feet thick, in some places sixteen. It was three stories high. The arches are all circular, except one pointed leading from the causeway into the Bawn, probably a later construcOn the north ran the river

tion.

Barrow, the other sides were secured by a ditch twenty-five feet broad, which could occasionally be filled with water from the river. Within the ditch was a wall, the foundations of which only remain. The approach to this fortress was by a causeway one hundred feet in length; the outer ballium from north to south, including the Bawn, three hundred and fifty feet in diameter, from east to west four hundred and ten feet. The inner ballium from north to south is one hun dred and forty, and from east to west one hundred and thirty feet. The Bawn was a common appendage to castles. Stanihurst describes it as connected with castles, and being a large area surrounded with great ditches and ramparts; within these cattle were protected from an enemy or thieves.

It was not before 1584 that the Irish became reconciled to the fire and explo sion of guns.

The Earl of Essex, in 1599, tells Queen Elizabeth, that the Irish were unable to force any walled town, or castle, or house of strength; but they used a military engine called a Sow, which was used at the siege of Sligo, A.D. 1689, and is thus described: "It was made hollow to contain men, and was composed of very strong whole timbers bound with iron hoops, aud covered with two rows of hides, and as many sheep-skins, which rendered it proof against musket-balls or steel arrows, The back part was left open for the men to get in and out at pleasure, and in front were doors to be opened, when the sow was forced under the wall, which was done with little labour, the engine being fixed on an iron axle-tree." "The Irish," says Stafford, "besieged Liskaghan Castle. in 1600, and placed a sow to the walls thereof, to sap the same; but the defendants did so well acquit themselves in a sally, that they tore the sow in pieces, made her cast her pigs, and slew twenty-seven of them dead on the place.

MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS OF THE ANCIENT IRISH.O'Carrol, about 1330, and Cruise, two eminent harpers, were most probably the first who tuned their harps on the true diatonic harmonic principles. But even this improvement seems to have been confined to those residing within the English pale.

With the state of the ancient Irish melodies of the middle ages we are not acquainted, few having reached our