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French revolution has been the cause of diffufing the French language all over Europe, and fome part at leath of Afia? Thanks to thofe worthy men, Orleans, Robespierre, and Marat, cum multis aliis quæ nunc prefcribere longum eft.

Norwich, from its vaft influx of ftrangers in the fixteenth century, muft have had, one would think, a fort of polyglott dialect for a long time; and it is probable that the French and Dutch languages would become familiar to many of the citizens. But if the Norman conqueror was unable to uproot the language of this country and tranfplant into it his own, there would be no danger that a hunbled fet of refugees fhould difcourage the cultivation of an indigenous tongue, and be able to naturalize their own exotics.

Norwich has been fcandalized as a disloyal city. I am fure, Mr. Editor, you will agree with me, that fuch flander is very abominable. Norwich a difloyal city! Sir, every other man you meet is decked in regimentals :

jam litui ftrepunt;
Jam fulgor armorum fugaces
Terret equos, equitumque vultus.
Videre magnos jam videor duces
Non indecoro pulvere fordidos,
Et cuncta terrarum fubacta.

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Formerly the young men and maidens would rife betimes to ufher in the firft of May Shakespeare tells us "it was impoffible to make the people fleep on Maymorning," but now-a-days we trouble not ourselves about fuch childish festivals; and if our 'prentice-lads rife an hour before their ufual time-it is on a field-day!

It is difficult to conceive a more complete metamorphofis than takes place among fome of thefe gentlemen: it would be fcarcely poffible to identify them; the fhop-apron is indignantly thrown behind the counter, when lo!-the thigh difplays a cream-white buck-fkin, and the leg a jet-black boot; the fword dances valiantly by the fide, and the richlyclustered feathers-if the wind proves high-wave tempeftuously on the afpiring head, like the awful plumage of Al fonfo's fatal helmet in the gallery of

Otranto,

But the most unequivocal proof of that noble military ardour which has feized the citizens of Norwich, is the circumftance of their having of late years fuffered the gates of their city to be deftroyed, and the walls to remain in ruins gates that would have refiited many a fierce affault,

and walls that would have stood the fhock of many a deadly ball! This teftimonial, I fay, is unexceptionable the people of Norwich are fomething like the ancient Germans-who by the bye had no cities at all-of whom we are told, that they regarded it as a badge of flavery to be furrounded with walls ; to live in ignominious and timid fecurity. This godlike notion they nourished with fo much folicitude, that when one of their tribes had emancipated itself from Roman fervitude, their countrymen required as a teftimony of their liberty that they fhould demolish the walls which the Romans had erected. It appeared, however, in the tenth century, that the empire was invaded by Hungarians and other barbarous nations, and the prejudices of the Germans were overcome by their fears, for they fecured their habitations with walls and ramparts! Now, Sir, it is very true that the citizens of Norwich, in cómmon with their countrymen, were only threatened with an invasion from the French but when that threat was apparently on the point of being executed, when the danger of incurfion was most imminent, fo cool and fteady was the courage of our Norwich heroes-I do not mean the volunteers merely, and the fencibles, the cavalry, the militia, &c. &c. &c.-but of the citizens at large, that to the best of my knowledge there was not fo much as a motion made in either of thofe illuftrious and fapient affemblies, the court of aldermen or the court of common-councilmen, for rebuilding the gates or repairing the walls! Indeed, from the known valour and high-fed fpirit of those two bodies, I question whether the confequence would not have been fatal to the mover of fuch an ignominious propofal as it happens, we have not a Tarpeian rock in the town, but I am fure that the vile mifcreant would have been inftantly precipitated from the castle or cathedral fummit, as a well-merited punishment for his cowardice.

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I have thought it no more than handfome, Mr. Editor, to attempt this vindication of the calumniated character of my fellow-citizens; this repulfion of an imputed crime-which has certainly no parallel in the decalogue-the crime of difloyalty. If the corporation have any fenfe of gratitude, they will, I think, prefent me with the freedom of the city in a gold box: but many of them, I understand, have imbibed the Godwinean philofophy, fo that it would be imprudent

to

to indulge very ardent hopes of fuch a compliment for my trouble.

It is time, Sir, that we fhould fpeak about the amusements of Norwich; but they are fo fimilar, no doubt, to thole which prevail in all other parts of the kingdom, that the fubject admits but of little enlargement. I fhall fay nothing about the playing at foldiers, becaule that very fashionable game has already been noticed I mention it pro formâ. We have a theatre which is fo much frequented, that, according to the new leafe for fourteen years which has juft been granted of it, and which is not to commence for more than a twelve-month from this time, the manager is to pay double the old rent and fink a confiderable fum of money (1000l.) on the building: we look forward with no little expectation to a company of comedians, whofe exertions and talents will fecure to the new manager a perpetual fucceffion of full houses.

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A tafte for mufic is very prevalent here this may be readily accounted for. Among our profeffional performers are to be diftinguished fome few, to whofe fine execution and rich tones, he must be dull indeed who is infenfible. During the winter feafon, therefore, in addition to the periodical public concerts, we have frequently domeftic mufic-parties, which are much indebted to the vocal and infrumental affiftance of feveral private la dies and gentlemen. To cheer the long evenings too," when icicles hang by the wall", we often join in the dance as well as the fong, and, upon the whole, I fuppofe, live as merrily as our neighbours. Our modes of vifiting are various we have dinner parties, fupper parties, fandwich parties, converfation parties, routs and routettes-hurricanes, tempefts and tornadoes!

What fort of a character would be drawn of us by a stranger I cannot fay: I think he would remark of the common people that they are peaceable and fober; the fight of many of them funning themfelves in the market-place and lounging about the ftreets, would not, indeed, afford him a very favourable opinion of their induftry; but if he were a fenfible man he would not form a hafty judgment: he would enquire before he condemned thefe poor fellows for idlenefs-whether they could get any employment? he would enquire into the ftate of our manufactory in particular, and into the ftate of our bufinefs in general: the refult of his enquiries would probably lead him, ra

ther to commiferate than reproach these emaciated and inactive wanderers; empty looms, uninhabited houfes, and unwanted work-rooms would have given him sufficient information*.

"La

A ftranger would experience from the upper claffes of our fociety much kindnefs and hofpitality if he cultivated a female acquaintance, after having tired himself with liftening to the vacant prattle of fome of the fair daughters of fashion, he might turn for relief to a circle of ladies in whofe conversation are united sense, vivacity, and acuteness. The manners of our females are, in general, easy and familiar. I do not, however, know that they have formed among themselves any fociety correfponding to one which Mr. Gibbon, in his pofthumous works, relates to have existed in Switzerland. focieté du printems," fo denominated from the vernal ages of its members, was a fociety which Mr. G. frequented, confifting of about twenty unmarried ladies, of ealy but not fplendid fortunes; they met at each other's houses, aloft every day, without the control or even the prefence of any elder matron: they received visits from a number of young men of every nation of Europe, and their own prudence was their only reftraint. They laughed, they danced, they acted, and they fang; "but in the midst of this careless gaiety," fays Mr. Gibbon, "they respected themfelves and were refpected by the men: the invifible line between liberty and licentioufnefs was never tranfgreffed by a gefture, a word, or a look, and their virgin chastity was never fullied by the breath of scandal or fufpicion. A fingular inftitution, expreffive of the innocent fimplicity of Swiss

manners."

A ftranger would remark that the ladies of Norwich, as well as the gentlemen, fpeak their provincial dialect; many of them, no doubt, are infenfible that the purity of their colloquial language is thus tainted: and fuch are the force of early habit and the influence of imitation, that others, aware of the vulgarity of provincialifim, and, of course, eager to avoid it, are not at all times able to fucceed: the ftream of converfation will occafionally be impregnated with the foil through which it flows. There may be fome few

For a very able sketch of "the history of Norwich manufactures" I refer my reader. to a communication in your Monthly Magazine Vol. vi. page 413. perfons,

perfons, perhaps, of coincident opinion with the journalist of Dr. Johnfon, Mr. Bofwell, who, after relating that when the prefent lord Loughborough firit croffed the Tweed he was taught English pronunciation by Macklin and Sheridan, fays, (though I do not remember the exact words) that it may be all very well to rub off the coarsenefs of the Scotch accent, but as to thofe "nativewood-notes wild' which ferve to distinguish his country, he could heartily defpife any Scotchmen who fhould affect to forget them. Bofwell dared not have talked thus to Johnson. For my own part, I do not think there is any thing very musical in our "native wood-notes:" I like them well enough at a sheep-fhearing or a harveft frolic; they proceed in character from the wide open mouth of a great brawny countryman, but from the lips of a fashionable fair one, the found of thefe wood-notes are too wild and immelodious to please my ear.

As it was no part of my plan, Mr. Editor, to trouble either you or myfelf with the topographical minutiae of Norwich, I fhall fay nothing about our churches, and our chapels, our prifons, our halls, and our hofpitals: we take as much care of the fouls and bodies of our citizens as other people. Our places of worship are very numerous, our prifons are ftrong enough to hold the hardieft highwayman, and we have hofpitals to relieve the decrepitude of age and employ the activity of youth: we have, moreover, a noble inftitution for the cure of fick perfons and thofe who fuffer from accidents, which receives fupport by the gratuitous attendance of our beft medical practitioners.

You will recollect, Sir, that I profesfed only to give a sketch of fociety in Norwich; the outlines are rough, but they are taken from life: any body that pleases may complete the picture.

T. S. N..

To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine.

SIR,

PERHAPS the following method of a weak fight may not be commonly known. I tranflate it from La Nouvelle Bigarure for February 1754. "The author of this difcovery was about fixty years of age; he had almoft entirely loft his fight, feeing nothing but a kind of thick mift, with little black fpecks which appeared to float in the air. He knew not any of his friends, he could not even diftinguish a man from a woman,

nor could he walk in the streets without being led. Glaffes were of no ufe to him; the best print, feen through the best ipectacles, feemed to him like a daubed paper. Wearied with this melancholy ftate, he thought of the following expedient.

"He procured fome fpectacles with very large rings, and taking out the glaffes fubftituted in each circle a comic tube of black Spanish copper. Looking through the large end of the cone he could read the fmalleft print placed at its other extremity. Thele tubes were of different lengths, and the openings at the end were alfo of different fizes; the fmaller the aperture the better could he diftinguish the malleft letters; the larger the aperture the more words or lines it commanded, and confequently the lefs occafion was there for moving the head and the hand in reading. Sometimes he ufed one eye, fometimes the other, alternately relieving each, for the rays of the two eyes could not unite upon the fame object when thus feparated by two opaque tubes. The thinner thefe tubes, the lefs troublesome are they. They must be totally blackened within fo as to prevent all fhining, and they fhould be made to lengthen or contract, and enlarge or reduce the aperture at pleasure.

When he placed convex glaffes in thefe tubes, the letters indeed appeared larger, but not fo clear and diftinct as through the empty tube: he alio found the tubes more convenient when not fixed in the fpectacle-rings; for when they hung loofely they could be raised or lowered with the hand, and one or both might be ufed as occafion required." Brifol, February 21.

T. Y.

To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine,

SIR,

TH HE times are paft, in which a perfon might have been liable to perifh in the flames, for not worshipping God according to the custom of the country; pr for worshipping the devil, and for a fuf pected participation in his confpiracy against the peace and welfare of mankind.

But, the history of the intercourse, fan cied or real, between men and evil fpirits, ftill remains one of the most curious and the moft obfcure fubjects of human inveftigation. It is horrible to reflect, how many poor wretches were, in the course of the last century, facrificed, in both Scotland and England, by puritanical zeal, to the fufpicion of witchcraft! it is inexpreffibly painful to think how mang

murders

murders have received a fancied fanction from the fcripture story of the witch of

Endor!

I have fometimes been half inclined to think that I had discovered the origin of the popular notions concerning witches, wizards, and fairies.

Concerning witches and wizards, almoft all the vulgar opinions and tales prevalent among christians, have, doubtless, originated from hints thrown out in the holy fcriptures. What was accounted witchcraft among the ancient Ifraelites, feems to have been, a remnant of the myfteries of fome fuperftition which had been anciently prevalent in the land, or had been recently introduced into it, but which was profcribed by the laws of the ftate, and was cherished only in fecret, and under strong fears of detection and punishment. It does not certainly appear, that any people ever fet themfelves, knowingly, and directly, to cultivate the good graces of the devil, as fuch, in contempt of the favour of a better and more powerful divinity. But, it was fufficiently natural to reprefent, as the worfhip of the devil, any fecret worship of Gods, not acknowledged by the state, nor generally known in the country. These ideas, having been once conceived concerning fuch fecret worship, could hardly fail to maintain and propagate themfelves, nay, even to give, at length, a new tone to the fpirit of that worship which was the fubject of them. One thing that confiderably diftinguishes conjuration and witchcraft from other practices and forms of superstition is, that the agents in them have pretended to have, by one means or another, attained to a commanding irresistible authority over the powers to whom they were wont to address themfelves. This authority is fuppofed to have been attained, by compact, ftipulating reciprocal conditions: by the interpofition of fome fuperior divinity, conferring a fway over the meaner demons; or by the offering of fome facrifices, fo irrefiftibly grateful to the appetites of the beings whofe fervices are wanted, that they are abfolutely unable to refufe their prefence and aid. It were eafy to trace thefe fancies to their origin in the fentiments of nature. Conjuration and witchcraft were known alfo to the Greeks and Romans. Pontus and Theffaly were the regions from which these nations derived their rites of conjuration. The fyftem of witchcraft, which has been received among christians, exhibits a fort of medley of that of the Jews, with that of the Greeks

and Romans. It has been, no doubt, in the lapfe of fo many centuries, variegated and improved by the differing manners of different ages, and by a genius and induftry of the long fucceffion of perfons who have fancied themfelves witches or wizards. Witchcraft seems likely to be very foon reduced into the fituation of thofe loft arts of which the genius of a Pancirolo or a Dutens is required to recognize the very existence. I fear, for poor Satan, that, if he ceafe to roam the earth, and to deal with old women, men may foon prefume to deny him any being at all.

yet re

as

Fairies are, in the conception of our ruftics, beings of a very various character. Sometimes they are little tiny forms; light, airy, gay, and clad in green; who ride nimbly through the air, or dance in feftive sport, on earth; and who, though they may occafionally exercise little teizing pranks upon mankind, gard them with no ferious malignity; and by their kindneffes to the deferving, more than compenfate the little ills they do to the fluttish, the idle, and the undeferving. In other cafes, they are confidered malicious fprites, who owe a human being, as a feptennary victim, to the devil, and who therefore occafionally carry infants away, to be devoted to this fate. At times, too, they are represented, as having power to guide the winds, to fwell the billows of the ocean, to darken the earth with clouds, to launch the lightnings, and to excite the thunders' loudest roar. Often are they faid to inveigle mankind into compacts, such as prove in the end fatally ruinous to the everlasting welfare of the unhappy wretches who are thus enticed into their fnares.

Now thefe beings, to whom fuch various powers and fo many incongruous attributes have been vulgarly afcribed, appear to me to be the genuine reprefentatives of a mingled and very numerous hoft of the divinities of ancient polytheism, and even of the faints of the dark ages of chriftianity. The fpirits of Offian, inhabiting the airy halls of the clouds; the deities worthip ped by Druidifm; the rural divinities of the Greeks and Romans; with fome part of the powers of the old Scandinavian mythology; are affuredly affociated in one confufed affemblage, in the common notions of our British rufties, concerning thofe beings which they call fairies: I fufpect the faints of Popish chriftianity to be mingled in the fame multitude; for the eve of the feftival of all the faints, is one on which the fairies are believed to fwarm about,

about in mighty numbers,and to exert them-
felves with extraordinary activity: but
the fairies, who are thus bufy upon fuch
an occafion, can furely be no other than
the faints to whom it has been confecrated.
The notion of a human victim to be by
thofe fairies facrificed at the end of every
feven years to the devil, has, in all pro-
bability, had its origin in the myfterious
horrors of those rites of the Druidical and
the Scandinavian worship, in which human
yictims were facrificed, to avert the wrath
of gloomy, malevolent divinities. It
may be, that the Druids were accustomed
to fteal
away
infants for thofe horrid and
barbarous rites, fomewhat in the manner
in which they have been faid to be stolen
away by the fairies.

As to the ideas entertained by the fimple vulgar among us, concerning wraiths fometimes feen immediately before the death of the perfons whom they reprefent; and concerning gholts feen after the deaths of fuch perfons; thefe seem to be almost entirely of Jewish and of Popish origin. It was a Jewish idea, that every human being is always attended by a good and a bad angel; that there is an inceffant contest between thefe rival

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fpirits for the maftery over the conduct of their charge that, upon occafions of extraordinary temptation or danger, one or both of these guardians, will become visible, interpofing in their ward's behalf, or departing for ever from him.

This idea, perhaps, in its primary origin, rather Perfian than Jewish, was from the Jews communicated to the chriftians; among them, has been handed down from age to age, in their traditions, in the bible, and in their other writings. The popular notions concerning gholts, are precifely those which were taught by the Roman-catholic clergy, during the dark ages. They are thofe notions which originate in the natural fentiments of the human heart; modified and

accom

Jefuits at Avignon, (he fhould have faid concerning a religious convention affembled by the Jefuits at Avignon) to whom he afcribes a fecret connexion with various European courts.

Of the nature and quality of this convention, he may form fome idea by the perufal of two pamphlets; " Teftimony of the Spirit of Truth, by W. Bryan," and another by J. Wright, 1795, which contain memoirs of the journey of two of the English apoftolic characters who attended. Of the general views which animate the occult and superintending body, of which this convention was to have been an inftrument, fome idea may be collected from the 5th chapter of a German book entitled "Vorläufige Darftellung des beutigen Jefuitifmus, der Rofenkreuzerey, Profely tenmacherey, und Religions vereinigung, 1786."

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A connection ftill fubfifts between various fuperftitious focieties in Great Bri tain, and fimilar combinations on the continent, which is conducted by the frequent deputation of miffionaries.

I wish to direct the attention of the Abbé Barruel's commentators to a German novel printed in 1785, and called "Saint-Nicaife," which contains the hif tory of a Quixote of free-mafonry, and appears to have fupplied the principal affumed facts on which the newest accounts of the interior structure of that order are founded.

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SIR,

error

I did not till very lately perceive an which has accidentally crept into your excellent mifcellany, in the department of retrospective literature, vol. 3, page 42: where you affert, in fpeaking of Simeon's Skeletons, that the fame author "has lately given a new tranflation of Claude's Efay on the compofition of a Sermon." Now, Sir, the tranflation that accompanies Mr. S.'s Skeletons is without any alteration or emendation whatever; the fame which the late Mr. Robinfon, of Cambridge, made fome years ago from the French, and which was publifhed in two 8vo. volumes with the incumbrance of a copious, and (as the A. R. author juftly entitles them) "odd farrago" of notes, most of which are very foreign from the subject of the essay, and rarely illuftrative of any thing contained in it.

modated to the abfurd views and inter-
efted purposes of the chriftian clergy in
the times of the gloomieft ignorance.
They retain their influence among our
vulgar ; because it is very, very long
before a thorough change can be effected
upon the vulgar creed concerning any
fyftem of fubjects.

Yowland, near Kirkudbright,
April 9.

To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine.

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YOUR correspondent at p. 30, folicits information concerning a fociety of MONTHLY MAG. No. XLIV.

Perhaps, Mr. WAKEFIELD (if he fs not already apprized of it) may be glad to learn that there exifts a rumour at St.

John's

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