328 Small-Pox Hospital, St. Pancras. of the different sects, this will serve as a specimen of the rest." "At midnight the relations, accompanied by all that have been invited to the wedding, men and women, go to the house where the bride is, in procession, each carrying a candle, and music playing before them." I do not deny that the illuminations of the Jews on festive occasions were very splendid within their houses, and the company admitted within on private seasons of joy, perhaps, was select; not so, during a public festival. It is necessary to know, also, the form of the houses in the East, to understand what is meant by "within the house." Dr. Shaw, in describing the houses of the Levant, says, "Their general method of building seems to have continued the same from the earliest ages-large doors, marble pavements, cloistered courts. If we except a small latticed window or balcony, which sometimes looks into the street, all the other win dows open into the respective courts or quadrangles. It is during the celebration of some zeenah, as they call a public festival, that these houses and their latticed windows or balconies are left open; for, this being a time of great liberty, revelling, and extravagance, each family is ambitious of adorning both the inside and outside of their houses with their richest furniture, whilst crowds of both sexes, dressed in their best apparel, and laying aside all modesty and restraint, go in and out where they please. If from the streets we enter one of the houses, we first pass through a porch or gateway with benches on each side where the master of the house receives visits and dispatches business, few persons, not even the nearest relations, having further admission, except upon extraordinary occasions. From hence we are re ceived into a court or quadrangle, which, lying open to the weather, is paved with marble. When much people are to be admitted, as upon the celebration of marriage, or circumcision of a son, the court is the usual place of reception; for the company is rarely, if ever, admitted into one of the chambers, and this court is called the middle of the house." The custom of illuminating publicly on festival evenings being so very ancient in Judea, and Persia particularly, may, perhaps, give us the true meaning of two verses of Scripture:-" The lamp of the righteous rejoiceth," says Solomon. Commentators say, "outward prosperity" is meant; be it so: yet I cannot understand it, unless the lamp, or [Nov. 1, SMALL-POX HOSPITAL, ST. PANCRAS. To the Editor of the New Monthly Magazine. SIR, BE so good as to give my thanks to the author of the letter signed A Pancratian, in the last number (September) of your valuable miscellany, for his kind remarks concerning the Small-Pox Hospital. Respecting our officers, he must know that those who reside at the house are as much confined as ever, perhaps more so, as their number is lessened, which renders their employment somewhat greater. As to the other officers, the necessity of their attendance is not lessened by the uncertain number of home patients: and by the great attention paid to vacci nation, more is done at that house than at any other establishment: besides the superior confidence one class of the public has in so old an establishment, to which many of the present mothers were formerly carried as infants for inoculation. That the building is larger than is necessary, requires no sagacity to prove. But this could not have been ascertained till the security of vaccination, and even its adoption by the public was well ascer tained. Since then, there has been a doubt whether Lord Boringdon's Bill might succeed, and how far that house might be adapted for the county. How ever, I perfectly agree with your corre spondent, that it might be made a gene ral hospital with great advantage to the public, particularly should the Regent's Canal Company establish a dock in that neighbourhood. But how are the funds to be raised for such an establishment? Reflect on the state of the other hosp tals which depend on voluntary contri butions. Notwithstanding all our boasted charity, it must be admitted that we have more houses than can be supported without a recurrence to some fresh means of supply. On the whole, Sir, I wish to recommend to your correspondent to become 1814.] Remarks on J. H. Wynne -The Black Slug. one of our governors; and as our committees are all open, we shall be very thankful for his assistance, which he will be better able to offer us, when, by a regular attendance, he has made himself master of the whole question. I am, Sir, &c. A MEMBER OF THE COMMITTEE MR. J. H. WYNNE, the PRINTER. YOUR last number (June, p. 524) contained some anecdotes of the late J. H. Wynne, the printer, by Mr. Mitchell, who, I presume, is of the same profession, and was well acquainted with the subject of his anecdotes. A few years since, when in Bristol, a master printer there put into my hands a poem, entitled "The Prostitute," which he informed me was the production of a journeyman printer, who was then in the town, in much distress. From several circumstances I am induced to think this person to be Mr. Wynne; and my memory seems to bear me out, that this was the name mentioned, though I am not positive. I think the price of the work was 2s. 6d. embellished by an engraving. I perused it; and, as Mr. Mitchell observes, found it to "contain many good sentiments and moral reflexions;"-whether the title operated against its success, I know not; but of this I am convinced, that the author would have employed himself much more to his own benefit, and the advantage of the public, if he had applied to his business, instead of losing his time and reducing his finances by such publication, which of course was at his own risk and expense. It is a misfortune attached to many young men who have a smattering in general literature, also to fancy that they have a genius for any particular pursuit which inclination points out as strewed with roses. For this propensity, they will neglect their necessary occupations, spend their time in useless and expensive experiments, and, in consequence, entail on themselves poverty and disappointment. The public in general, ever judges of real merit, not encouraging those advances in a manner which selflove considers justice, they assume all the restlessness of "neglected genius," -apply to themselves the appellation think on Chatterton and sigh-and bring on a denouement, if not tragical, yet extremely deplorable. 329 By these reflexions, I mean not to attempt to repress the aspirations of ability: I only advocate the propriety of not suffering ourselves to be led away by delusive prospects, which only embitter life. I am further led into them by the appearance of the person, whom I consider to have been Mr. Wynne, which was not that of one who had lately enjoyed much of the conveniences of social life. Although I purchased the book, for an obvious reason, I did not consider it worthy of preservation, and have it not to make a quotation from. I do not recollect ever to have seen it in any bookseller's shop. The fragment of his Hengist," is much superior; and, if written by the same hand, must have been at a later period, and after much more experience. From what I saw of the above person, I have no reason to judge unfavourably of him as a man. He was pointed out to me as of a most accommodating temper, with this foible-an unconquerable itch for scribbling. I cannot consider his abilities more than should belong to every compositor. It is lamentable, that to this important business there are hundreds apprenticed who have no knowledge of even the commonest principles of their language,-nay, some can scarcely read, and do not possess the least taste for arrangement. In the annals of the business, there are to be found printers who could not read at all. The anec lote of Mason is well known, when solicited to subscribe five guineas in support of Anna Yearsley, the Bristol milk-woman and poetess. He observed to his friend, who was rather hyperbolical in his praises, "Ilere is five pounds for her book, and five shillings for her heaven-born genius." Perhaps this was illiberal; but the force of its reasoning may be applied and rendered even poetically just by analogy. I am, &c. Portsmouth, July, 1814. ROBERTUS. The BLACK SLUG. To the Editor of the New Monthly Magazine. HAVE the goodness to inform Z. in answer to an inquiry respecting the black slug, that the snail is both masculine and feminine, at least the shelled snail, which I have seen in conjunction. The head and neck are the seats of the organs of generation; the horns, or what may appear su, are, I believe, the male. Z. query relates to the female. That ench 330 Detection of a Literary Imposture. snail should be furnished with two sets of cach, is no objection, if we consider the earth-worm, and many others of the reptile race. Yours, &c. J. BUTLIN. Baker-street, Sept. 22, 1814. An eminent naturalist assures us [Nov. 1, that this answer is not quite correct. "The horns of snails, as they are called, are," he says, "no indication whatever of sex, for both sexes have them. The hole in the neck is certainly the seat of the organs of generation."-EDItor. DETECTION of an EXTRAORDINARY LITERARY IMPOSTURE. AMONG all the deceptions attempted upon the public, in this age of quackery and imposture, I cannot recollect any more grossly impudent than one which I have just met with, and to which I am desirous of calling the attention of your readers. Perhaps, indeed, by so doing, I may render some of them a service, and prevent them from becoming the dapes of fine printing, hot-pressed paper, wide margins, and a plentiful dose of puffing. They will already pereive that it is some literary performance against which my animadversions are levelled. The title of it is as follows-France: a Heroic Poem. By Hamilton Roche, Esq. (late a Captain of Light Infantry in the British Service) Author of the Heroic Poem on "Russia;" the Poem on Salamanca ;" "The Sudburiad, or Poems from the Cottage;" "Letters from North America," &c. &c. &c. The imposture of which I complain is this, that the author is not the person he pretends, but has, for sinister purposes, assumed the name of Hamilton Roche, Esq. late a Captain, &. &c. and I think I shall be able to demonstrate to the entire satisfaction of every one who will take the trouble to peruse this paper, that so far from having a right to the respectable additions enumerated above, he is but a jackdaw dressed up in borrowed feathers. The following quotations will afford irrefragable evidence of this position: Homer's Iliad, book xxi. concluding lines. Iliad, Book viii. move; Thou, Fate! fulfil it; and ye Powers! ap- What God but enters yon forbidden field; driven, Gash'd with dishonest wounds, the scorn of Or far, oh, far, from steep Olympus thrown, And lock'd by hell's inexorable doors, And know th'Almighty is the God of Gods. For the sake of those who may yet be inclined to doubt my premises, I will produce one more specimen : France, page 13. With rage infim'd, the armies nearer drew Iliad, Book xii. 1. 505. They toil and fight, but neither gain nor They tug, they sweat, but neither gain or yield One foot nor inch of the contended field, Their manly breasts are pierc'd with many a While thunders roar, and rattling arms re- And copious slaughter rushes to the shore, Thus stood the war, when Ficedom's matchless might yield One foot, one inch, of the contended field: Thus, obstinate to death, they fight, they fall; Nor these can keep, nor those can win the wall; Their manly breasts are pierc'd with many a wound, Loud strokes are heard, and rattling arms resound; The copious slaughter covers all the shore, And the high ramparts drop with human gure. So stood the war, till Hector's matchless migh', Prevail'd with heav'n, and turn'd the scale of With Fates prevailing, turn'd the scale of fight. Fierce on the foe the Muscovite quick flies, The allies charge at Alexander's call, Above the works they lift their glittering And all their force now rising round appears. The ramparts trembled, and the foe gave Heroes they move, resistless in their course, fight. Fierce as a whirlwind, up the walls he flies, Raise scaling engines, and ascend the wall: Thus arm'd, before the folded gates he came, Drive the sharp rocks, the solid beams give He moves a God, resistless in his course, And seems a match for more than mortal force. Then pouring after, through the gaping space, A tide of Trojans flows and fills the place; The Greeks behold, they tremble, and they fly, The shore is heap'd with death, and tumult rends the sky. Having thus given a tolerable specimen of the moderation of this wholesale pilferer in his selections from antiquity, I shall subjoin one instance of the address with which he can shape the productions of modern ingenuity to suit his customers: and here give me leave to observe, that I am speaking, not from hearsay, but with a perfect knowledge of the facts. Soon after the battle of Vittoria, Mr. James Minasi, a native of Italy, not more respectable for his talents as an artist, than esteemed by all who know him for his amiable disposition and manners, undertook to engrave a portrait of our illustrious Wellington, which is now finished, and has excited the admiration of all who have seen it. Inspired by his subject, he composed during the progress of his work a sonnet on his hero, which, with a free translation in English, was actually printed in the month of January last. This little piece the impostor, assuming the name of Hamilton Roche, esq. late a captain in the British service, has made just as free with as he has done with the property of old Homer, who has been dead above two thousand years, He has conferred on the writer 332 Detection of a Literary Imposture. [Nov. 1, the honour of transferring the whole of it, with certain mutilations, to his cious patchwork. Ecce signum! France, page 33 and 34. And thou, great Wellesley, pride of human kind, Immortal Wellington, by heav'n design'd o'er. To reap fresh laurels on thy native shore. I might adduce other examples of this incorrigible propensity to pilfering, were I not afraid of tiring the patience of your readers, and did I not think the preceding more than enough in a piece of only 36 pages, and containing in the whole about 500 lines. I now leave your readers to decide whether an esquire, and a captain in the British service," could possibly stoop to so base an appropriation of what belongs to others, and assuming the negative, as I think I may fairly do, let me endeavour to develope the real character aud profession of this literary felon. That he is deficient in courage, that essential qualification of an "esquire, and a captain in the British service," I have his own authority for asserting. In his description of the battle of Dresden, which, as I have already shewn, was written for him by the Grecian bard, he says of himself Could I, an humble bard, elude the grave, Which claims alike the fearful and the brave; For lust of fame, here would I bravely dare, And plunge headlong into the soul of waror, in other words, "Were I not afraid of death I would go and fight too." -When a man proclaims himself a coward, it is but fair to set him down as such-and the lines in which this scribbler makes so degrading a confession, shew that his spirit and his poetic talents are as nearly as possible upon a par. That he is a tailor, this " thing of shreds and patches," affords strong presumptive evidence; but that he is a very bungler at his business, is equally obvious; since, though he has cut out and mutilated the materials which he has cabbaged, so as to suit his own ends, yet Lines, originally written in Italian by James Minasi, esq. pre Boast of thy country, pride of human kind, His splendid virtues and his trophies won, Shall anxious wait the day that wafts ther o'er, To reap fresh laurels on thy native shore. he has put them together most clumsily, and has not gone thorough-stitch with his work, but left marks enough by which the owners may recognize their property. I must own, however, that what I chiefly admire in the whole proceeding, is that inimitable effrontery of this wholesale tradesman, who not only writes up on the front of his shop, Beware of rogues and counterfeits, (for such I take to be the literal interpretation of the words, Entered at Stationers' Hall,) but instead of depositing his stolen goods in some obscure corner, displays them conspicuously in his window to the gaze of every passenger. I allude to these lines printed with the title upon the cover, and taken, as I have already shewn from Homer : "Against a Tyrant, Paris shut ber gate, And Frenchmen breathe, delivered from their fate!" "ROCHE'S FRANCE." On a different part of this same cover I observe an advertisement of another performance, entitled Russia, in which we are favoured with fourteen lines apparently quoted from that "popular poem," commencing thus:— Curs'd is that man, and void of law and Unworthy confidence, unworthy light, Whose lust is murder, and whose horrid To tear his country, and his kind destroy. If we substitute the for that in the first line, and property for confidence in the se cond, we shall find these verses in Pope' translation of the Iliad, B. iz. v. 87. |