(2) rious Queries. Classical Disquisitions. An Account of some No IX. General Correspondence. Fartlier Remarks on the Invention No. X. No X. General Correspondence. his Method of Instruction. Some Account of Pestalozzi, and Further Particulars respecting Mr. Carlyle's Greek Testament. Account of the South-west side of New Caledonia (concluded.) Synonymic Elucidations (con tinued.) Persian Couplets explained. Narrative of the late Mutiny at Malta. Answer to Queries. Sketch of the present State of Edinburgh (concluded.) Addition to a grammatical Discussion (continued.) On national Morality. On the soporific Quality of Lettuce. Classical Disquisitions. On the Life and Writings of Hesiod. Extracts from the Grecian Drama. Accounts of, and Extracts from, Rare and Curious Books. Encyclopedical Survey, &c. (concluded.) Account of the first printed Psalters at Mentz, in the Years 1457, 1459, and 1490. Memoirs of distinguished Persons. Supplement to the Memoir on Adanson. Original Poetry. Literary and Miscellaneous Information. Monthly List of New Publications. Meteorological Register. Discoveries and Improvements in Arts and Manufactures. Domestic Occurrences. Foreign Occurrences. Retrospect of Public Affairs. Commercial Report. Prices Current. Course of Exchange. Prices of Bullion, Price of Stocks. Premiums of Insurance. Agricultural Reports. Prices of Grain. To Correspondents, No XI. General Correspondence. Labillardièrês Letter to Mess. Konig and Sims. Narrative of the late Mutiny at Malta. (concluded.) Tour in England (continued.) Questions respecting Mr Malthus. Gray's Imitations. Synonymic Elucidations (continued.) On patience. Conduct of Navigators towards Savages. Grammatical Discussion (concluded.) Omniana. Summary View of the Trade between Russia and China. Classical Disquisitions. Archilochus, Callinus, Tyrtæus, Mimnermus, Extracts from the Grecian Drama. Accounts of, and Extracts from, Rare and Curious Books. Account of the first printed Psalters (concluded.) Memoirs of distinguished Persons, Memoir Memoir of St Francesco. Original Poetry: Literary and Miscellaneous Information. Monthly List of New Publications. Meteorological Register. Discoveries and Improvements in Arts and Manufactures. Domestic Occurrences. Foreign OcCurrences. Retrospect of Public Affairs. Commercial Report. Prices Current. Course of Exchange. Price of Bullion. Price of Stocks. Premiums of Insurance. Agricultural Reports. Prices of Grain. To Correspondents. No XII. General Correspondence. Apocrypha read in the Church Service. On Milton's imitations of Tasso. On Systems of Morals. Tribute to Mrs. Wilson. Mr. Wakefield's Greek Lexicon. A Day dream. An account of Archbishop Parker's Collection of MSS. in Bene't College, Cambridge. An historical View of the Nations of the Russian Empire. Passage in Lycophron explained, Sketch of the University of Glasgow, Editio Princeps of Virgil. Some Account of the Gulph and Territory of Cataro, on the Coast of the Adriatic. Omniana. Classical Disquisitions. On the early lyric Writers of Greece. On the Dancing of the Ancients. from, Rare and Curious Books. moirs of distinguished Persons. (continued.) Original Poetry. Literary and Miscellaneous Information. Account of the African Institution. Donovan's London Museum of Natural History. The Comet. Monthly List of New Publications. Meteorological Register. Discoveries and Improvements in Arts and ManufacDomestic Occurrences. Foreign Occurrences. Retrospect of Public Affairs. Commercial Report. Prices Current. Course of Exchange. Prices of Bullion. Price of Stocks. Premiums of Insurance. Agricultural Reports. Prices of Grain, tures. Accounts of, and Extracts Catalogue of old Books. MeMemoir of St. Francesca THE ATHENEUM. No. 7. JULY 1st, 1807. GENERAL CORRESPONDENCE. OTHER REMARKS UPON THE DESTRUCTION OF OLD MANSIONS. To the Editor of the Athenæum. Sir, I AM ready to concur with your correspondent W. R. in his lamentation over the destruction of the old mansions that were such venerable and picturesque objects in the rural scenery of this country; but it appears to me that he has laid the blame of this demolition upon a set of men to whom it can only in a secondary way be attributed. If it be "an abominable practice" to purchase old family mansions with the view of making money by pulling them down, what is it for the hereditary possessors of such mansions to sell them for that purpose? If they have no regard to the memory of their ancestors and the associations which should make the seats of their name and family dear and sacred to them, what can be expected from builders and speculators in a remote town, who can have no other object than to make a good bargain of what has doubtless been sold to them at as high a price as it would fetch? The fine groves and plantations which decorated these noble residences may well be regretted by the inhabitants of the vicinity, when they fall under the axe; but whom should we execrate for this violation, but the spendthrift heir or rapacious hoarder, who has devoted them to this fate. If a nobleman or country gentleman goes to market with his trees, he may un questionably find persons who will buy them; but it would be a very idle notion to suppose that the purchaser is to let them stand for the sake of the prospect. Your correspondent is, I think, rather lucky if he sees snug citizens' houses rise in place of his demolished mansions; since in many parts of the kingdom he would only have a farm-house or two, surrounded with wide naked inclosures. If he is capable of enjoying reflex pleasure from contemplating the enjoyments of others, he might perhaps find some compensation for the loss of his magnificent scenery, in the idea of the humble happiness of the occupiers of these new retreats, even though they may be "shopkeepers." How Oxford can be endangered from the schemes of these formidable speVOL. II. culators, B culators, I cannot well conceive. If the avenue of Christ-church and the groves of Magdalen be ever doomed to fall, it will scarcely be from the plots of carpenters, but from some storm of the state which will sweep them away in company with things still more venerable. After all, the true cause of this destruction is in the political circumstances of the times, which have brought on us such an enormous load of taxation, that the greatest estates are unable to support the different mansions at which the ancient proprietors in turn exercised their rural hospitality. As little can the possessor of a portion of such property afford to inhabit a single house built in the style of a century or two ago, with its numerous apartments and countless windows. The taxes have introduced a totally new mode of architecture, and it is now almost worth while to pull down an old family house for the sake of rebuilding it upon a more thrifty plan. This circumstance has affected even the buildings in towns, in which the respectable abodes of the more opulent inhabitants of a former generation are either shut up and suffered to go to ruin, or are replaced by houses of contracted dimensions and a scanty admission of light, fabricated from the old materials. Let us not, then, impute a fault to individuals, who only yield to hard necessity; but let us join in execrating those ambitious and grasping views in the rulers of mankind, which breed endless wars, and make every act of government a sacrifice of private comfort. THE FIRST APPEARANCE OF GIPSIES IN EUROPE, IT was not before the year 1480 that this singular ráce of people issued from their concealments, pretending that Egypt was their native country, and that they were deprived of their settlements by a king of Hungary. Notwithstanding the geographical absurdity of this assertion, it was readily credited by the ignorant vulgar. It appears probable that they drew their origin from Walachia or the neighbouring countries, as they are still met with in great numbers in Hungary, Servia, Bulgaria, and Macedonia. Whether they were expelled from their native dens, or left them spontaneously, it is certain that at this period they began to appear in the western provinces, and by their fraudulent arts were able to gain a footing there, though by nature ever addicted to a vagabond life. They were neither cultivators of the soil, nor artisans, but found an inexhaustible supply of their necessities in theft, rapine, and deceit. Although their way of life was not unknown to the Italians, their infamous practices were tolerated, because they made simple people believe that a penance, was imposed upon them of wandering about for seven years; and still more, |