fome days paft, by raving about the streets, that the devil was to fetch him by agreement, is under the care of the well-known Dr. Bradbury, who has engaged to compromife matters between him and his infernal highnefs, at his chapel, called glory's hole, in Mint-street, Southwark. Thursday, July 27. A young woman was found between two hay ricks, in a farmyard near Fulham, undreffed with her cloaths lying by her, and almoft dying: fhe was immediately taken to the workhouse of that parish, where he died the next day. She was not able to give any account of herfelf, and appeared to have had two or three blows on her head and neck. No enquiry having been made after her, it is imagined he was brought thither in that melancholy condition for fome bafe ends. Friday, July 28. Diteman, the walking poulterer, who alarmed the inhabitants of Southwark, under pretence that he had fold himself to Satan, was taken into cuftody, and committed to hard labour, in Bridewell, as an impoftor. James Huthwaite, now or late of Nottingham, Hofier. Samuel Dent, late of Carey ftreet, in the county of Middlefex, taylor. John Peerman, of Old Broad-ftreet, London, packer and emboffer. Richard Richardson, late of Hutton's Ambo, in Yorkfire, Butter-f:&tor. Michael Naylor, of Newfholme, in the parish of Kighley, in Yorkshire, ftuff-maker. James Strachan, now or late of Greenwich road, Kent, merchant. George Rofs, late of Tain in North-Britain, but now of the king's-bench prifon, merchant. Jofeph Eland of Sunderland in the county of Durham, Grocer. Robert Matthews, of Sadlers hall court, Cheapfide, London, merchant. Jofeph D'Atournou, of Great St. Helen's, London, merchant. John Philpot, of the parish of St. Ann, Weftminster, in the county of Middlefex, builder and bricklayer. Ellis Cooper, of Rotherhithe, in the county of Surry. George Smith of Warrington, in the county of Lancafter, goldfmith. Edward Rook, of the parish of St. Leonard, Middlefex, grocer. Alexander Brown, of Wappingwall, Middlefex. Jofhua Hibben, of Walnut-tree walk, in the parish of Lambeth, in the county of Surry, merchant. John Hockley, of Broad-street, London, mafon. George Fairlamb, late of Hexham, in the county of Northumberland, hatter and mercer. Margaret Grant, late of Leadenhallftreet, London, widow, brush-maker. Peter Hafanclever, late of London, but now of Putney, in the county of Surry, merchant John Morgan, of Bridge-street, near Weftminfter-bridge, Middlesex, victualler. Edward Vaux, of Catherine-court, near Tower-hill, London, wine-merchant. Samuel Cope, of Skinner-freet, in the parish of St. Botolph, Bishopfgate, London, weaver. Alexander Murray and Gordon Urquhart, of Villars-ftreet, merchants and partners. James Child, of Calne, in Wiltfhire, baker. DE A TH S. At his palace of Hamilton in Scotland, the most noble George-James duke of Hamilton, Chatelrault, and Brandon; marquifs of Douglafs and Clydefdale; earl of Angus, Arran, Lanerk, and Cambridge; lord Avon, Aberbrothick, Polmont, Macan hire, and Innerdale; baron Dutton; hereditary keeper of his majesty's palace of Holyrood-house.. At his houfe in Soho-fquare aged near 90, John Baptift Roucini, an Italian merchant. At his houfe in Bolton-row, after a very fhort illness, the rev. Sir Richard Wrottelley, bart. one of his majefty's chaplains in ordinary, and dean of Worcester; father to her grace the duchefs of Grafton, brother in law to earl Gower, and brother in law to her grace the duchefs of Bedford. His death was occafioned by a ftoppage in the paffages of his bowels, which turned to an inflammation. He is fucceeded in title and eftateby his only fon, now Sir John Wrottesley, bart. knight of the fhire for the county of Stafford. In Park-ftreet, Grofvenor-fquare, Mifs Rich, fitter to Sir Robert Rich, bart. and to lady Lyttleton. Yesterday, at his house in Chesterfield-ftreet, May-Fair, Thomas Woolafton, Efq; At Kensington, the right hon. lady Henrietta Williams Wynn, wife of Sir William Watkins Wynn, bart. Her ladyship was the third daughter of the most noble Charles Noel Somerfet, late duke of Beaufort, by the most noble Elizabeth duchefs dowager of Beaufort, fif ter to the right hon. the lord Botetourt. She was born March 26, O. S. 1748, married April 13, and died July 24, 1769. At his houfe at Peckham, aged 74, Aaron Nunes Pereira, Efq; a Jew merchant of this city, worth 100,000l. MARRIAGE. At Mrs. Rivett's houfe in Old Bondftreet, General Carnac, member of parliament for the borough of Leominster in Herefordshire, to Mifs Elizabeth CatherineRivett, fecond daughter of Thomas Rivett, Efq; deceafed, late member of parliament for the borough of Derby. The Oxford Magazine; For AUGUST 1769. TH For the OXFORD MAGAZINE. THE The only hopes therefore of reformation in a country, arrived at the fumVOL. III, mit of its glory and riches, and at the fame time fenfibly verging to its decline, from an abuse of both, muft be derived from a restoration of the first principles of religion and virtue, which are loft in the luxury and fathionable vices, that power and riches naturally introduce into a flourishing commonwealth. This can only be affected by promoting a general change of manners, and by being particularly attentive to the behaviour of the youth of both fexes, the rifing generation, that, if poffible, the contagion of vice and inmorality, of diffipation and debauchery, may not be handed down to pofterity. But a reformation of this kind will never be brought about, either by rigorous exertions of the power of the civil magiftrate, which, for the reafons affigned, will prove only partial and defective; nor yet by the fons of gloomy hypocrify, affuming a fuperior air of fanctity to the rest of mankind, and concealing, beneath a well-difguised humility, and an affected fimplicity of manners; more fordid principles, than thofe they undertake to eradicate; with mifdemeanors and offences, as injurious to fociety, as thofe they undertake to remove. Such has been the general character and complexion of the members of our modern focieties for the reformation of manners throughout England. The views of fome popular zealot were always at the bottom of their officious cares for the welfare of fociety, and the conver-fion of the property of an offender into the channel of fome private conventicle, an object far fuperior to that of F reforming reforming the tenour of his conduct. Some other method then feems abfolutely neceffary to check those irregularities in the community which, tho' they lead to crimes cognizable by the laws, are not in the first instance within the verge of them. Such as may be ftiled the ftamina of great and incurable evils, but which may be totally eradicated by the most lenient applications, if administered in time, by a delicate hand; and thereby work a thorough change in the habit of the patients. It is a trite remark, that the British prefs is one of the fuperior advantages this nation enjoys above all others. But it ought to be observed, that the ufe to which it is put, can alone determine its value. If, for inftance, it is made the channel for corrupting the morals, for vitiating the principles, or molefting the tranquillity of the people, it may prove a curfe, instead of a bleffing. But if, on the contrary, it communicates, amongst other things, the most falutary and beneficial advice, with refpect to the conduct of life, it anfwers one of the nobleft purposes of its institution. For the Preacher, Monitor, or Cenfor, call him what you will, if he advances any thing deferving the public attention, has the fatisfaction of knowing that his labours will not be confined to the narrow circle of any private congregation, or affembly of men, but will be circulated throughout the whole kingdom. Animated with the hopes that this pleafing fuccefs will attend the friendly admonitions of the Cenfor, he will venture to fend you, from time to time, his animadverfions on the living manners of the times. Converfant in polite focieties, and no ftranger to the common walks of life, he vifits all parts of this great metropolis, and its amufing environs. His leffons will fometimes be formed in an alcove at Vauxhall; at other times a hint will be communicated from a parish-church; his rambles, and his fentiments, will be miscellaneous. Unprovided of the Toga, the Fafces, and other infignia of the Roman Cenfor, and armed with no other authority, than that which he derives from mature experience, incorruptible integrity, and found judginent, founded on the unerring principles of religion and virtue, he will difcufs his fubjects with a true British freedom and independance, devoid of that haughtinefs, pedantry, and dictatorial infolence, which leffened the merit of former Ramblers, Idlers, and Monitors.His caufe being good, he will attend more to the matter, than to the mode of his productions; and fo that the former be important and praife-worthy, he will give himself but little trouble about the elegance and precifion of the latter. Not that he means wilfully to offend against the laws of grammar and good fenfe; but he hopes to be pardoned, if occafionally, his loofe, unconnected effays, fhould deviate from the rigid rules of claffical correctness. As to the title he affumes, he begs leave to obferve, that he means it fhould be confidered as merely synonimous to the Monitor, to which he was inclined to have given the preference, had not the laft Monitor appeared folely in the garb of a politician. The Cenfor's character must not be confined, it must be univerfal, and though he will now and then force himself in a democratical manner, into the political cabinet, he will be much oftener discoverable in the office of Cicefbeo (confidered in a modest fenfe) to the ladies. The Cenfor means to be a virtuous attendant on the female fex, to hand them to and from the public world with fafety, honour and difcretion; and when he intrudes on their retirement, it shall be for fuch laudable purposes, that envy itself shall not dare to arraign his conduct. The extent of his office will naturally create him a multiplicity of affairs, and as the buftle of business brings on fague, he hopes to stand indebted to fome generous correfpondents for occafional relief. With this view, and to improve his plan, he folicits the affiftance of all ingenious, candid perfons, who fhall be pleafed to communicate their fentiments on any of the vices, errors, or foibles, they may obferve in the manners of the times; affuring them, that any information of the smallest indecorums in fociety, will be thankfully received, and duly attended to, as coinciding with the general view The CENSOR. view of the Cenfor. It is now high time to enter upon the function of my office, which I fhall do without farther ceremony. NOT long fince I was ruminating in my study on the various caufes which contribute to the depravity of the manners of the nation; and particularly to the want of that virtue and honour in the female breast, for which the ladies of Great-Britain were formerly as much renowned, as the men for their natural bravery and love of liberty. A fufpicion immediately arofe in my mind, that there must be fome defect in the mode of educating young ladies, that in early life gave a wrong bias to the judgment, and a falfe conception of the true happiness arifing from a life of chastity and fidelity, the appropriate virtues of the fair fex. What farther confirmed this idea, was, the daily complaints concerning the number of children fent from Great-Britain to France for education. The inveftigation of fo important a point seemed worthy the attention of a Cenfor; I therefore, without lofs of time, paid a vifit to a lady of the second order of nobility in this kingdom, and having obtained from her ladyfhip the addrefs of a boarding-school, which the affured me held the first degree of reputation in the kingdom, I entreated permiffion to make use of her ladyfhip's name as an introduction to the governefs, to whom I purposed to pay my refpects in a very short time. Accordingly thus prepared, I fet off the next day for the young ladies boarding-school at -> in a common vehicle called a ftagecoach; a circumftance which it is neceffary to mention, as it will be applied hereafter. The name of the Cenfor was no fooner announced, with the addition of his being recommended to the notice of the governefs, by the refpectable lady-than a general hurry and confufion feemed to arise like an inftantaneous whirlwind, and to threaten general diforder throughout the whole houfe. The fervant who carried in the meffage left the Cenfor for a few minutes to shift for himself, and while I was admiring an old picture in the hall, a few of the young fry fcudded along with great precipitation, and 43 afcended the great stair-cafe; one of them, however, with peculiar propriety, whispered a fervant to fhew the gentleman into the parlour," for the very well knew her governefs could not get up stairs while that old fright was in the hall, and she was fuch a figure she was afhamed to be feen." The young lady apparently had not yet attained the polite accomplishment of whispering in company; fo that for want of skill to lower her voice to that pitch, which creates a difagreeable anxiety to know what is faid, when care is taken at the fame time that you fhall not, I overheard the hint, and without waiting for any invitation ftept into an adjacent parlour, which I found furnished with all the elegance of modern taste, the works of our most celebrated artifts, feemed here to vie with each other for the preference of the young ladies; but one piece in particular engaged the attention of the Cenfor, it was a fleeping Venus engraved by Strange; the plate is too well known to need further description. Suffice it to obferve, that it gave me a strong intimation of the benevolent intention of the governess. Here, thought I, we have a fine fampler, to speak in the school phrase, of a most finished piece of female excellence; and being between youth and age, appertaining properly to neither, but, as Shakespeare elegantly expreffes it, dreaming on both, with a favourable difpofition for matrimony, a fairer opportunity cannot be offered me of following the taste of the times, by making a flave for life of fome fine young creature in her teens, who may be allured by my rank and fortune to reverse the order of nature, and seek a husband in a father. Here luxuriant fancy may rove at large, and as the blooming virgins pafs in review before me, a glance at Strange's inimitable performance, will regulate my choice of every vifible beauty-but if at my time of life, the bare idea of fuch a fcene of comparison could awake these reflections, what must be the effect, when the grown-up brothers and nephews occafionally attend their mammas, on vifits to their fifters and coufins, at these pious feminaries of female education. I should expect no F 2 lefs iefs than the fcaling-ladder and the poft-chaife to convey the living refemblance of the fleeping Venus, in fafety, to the arms of the enchanted admirer. Nor would I doubt the compliance of mifs, if the thought the faw in the young adventurer any of the traces of the manly features of Hercules, and of theGladiators, which she had been taught to admire in her papa's cabinet of antiques at home. Sufficient time was allowed me for thefe and fome other reflections, which I may hereafter communicate, before I was interrupted in my meditations, by the French teacher, who, according to the custom of foreign women, in the middle ftations of life, had dreffed her head for the day at her rifing, and was therefore fo far in readiness for completing the rest of her drefs, that the could make herself fit to be feen in much less time than the governefs. Mademoiselle had taken but twenty minutes from the firft alarm that was given of my arrival, to prepare for the delivery of an apology for her lady, which the made in broken English, and with that awkward attempt at the imitation of the English manner of addrefs, which diftinguifnes foreigners who have not been long amongst us; having long fince made the grand tour of Europe, I cafily difcovered the teacher's dialect to be German; and after he had delivered her meffage from her miftrefs, which was, to beg ten thousand pardons for the lady's abfence, but really the did not expect any body on Saturdays, which were the days of their greatcft difhabille, and therefore the required more time than ufual to adjust herself, but would make all poffible expedition." I took the liberty to ask her, how long fhe had been in England, and by what good fortune fhe had obtained fuch an agreeable settlement in one of the firft fchools in the kingdom? A remarkable volubility of tongue, which is alfo often difcoverable in foreign women, prevented the neceffity of more than this leading question, and being fent to entertain me, while her mitreis was adjufting herfelf, the perhaps imagined the could not do it more effectually, than by giving me a fhort hiftory of her life; the most striking particulars of which were, that she was the eldest daughter du Marechal ferrant de fon Excellence ***, of the blackfmith, who had the honour of fhoeing the horses of his Excellency ** *; that the family being large, her education had been proportionally limited; that he had been croffed in love, was rather a burthen on her family, and under thefe circumftances was perfuaded by one of her countrymen, a tutor to an English nobleman, who fpent fome days at the place of her nativity, to reft her future fortune on the fucces of two particular talents, which might be turned to great advantage in England. These were, the teaching the French language, and fine needle-work; both of which she had picked up at a French convent in the neighbourhood; and he affured her, that the rage in England for acquiring these two accomplishments was incre dible: he further advised her to take no more money with her than was barely neceflary for her expences; but to make ufe of all her credit to obtain as many French blond laces, filk ftockings and ribbons, as the could conveniently conceal, or decently exhibit, as her proper apparel. A tear escaped her, when the informed me, that by the vigilance of our custom-house officers, all her little cargo was feized, and that thus reduced to live upon the produce of what the could fpare from her real wardrobe, which was not contemptible, fhe put herself under the conduct of a celebrated corn-cutter, who had the honour to pare the nails and cut the corns of G-e A-s S-n, Efq; and feveral other gentry and nobility; that this genius one day brought her the Daily Advertiser, wherein was fpecified, the want of a French teacher at one of the moft eminent boarding-fchools for young ladies near town. That purfuant to his advice, fhe applied to A. B, the anonymous advertifer, and was introduced to an interview with her prefent miftrefs. But was greatly furprized and mortified to find, that tho' the approved her qualifications, of which indeed fhe did not appear to be any judge, the refufed to allow her any falary, alledging, that the reputation of having ferved her, would be the making of her fortune; and that the could |