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22. Toleration of Popery. When Popery is considered as a false religion, we must enquire, what it is ? Is it a religion which teaches men to make and worship images ?Is it a religion which teaches men to make a god of a wafer, and then to eat the god which they had made?-Is it a religion which has created a purgatory, merely to have the pleasure and the profit of fishing souls out of it?Does Popery teach us, that God cannot be worshipped properly, without a wax candle, a dry stick, and a little bell? that the baptism of water, cannot be duly performed without a mixture of salt, spittle, and oil?-does it prescribe the exact number of bows to be made before one approaches the rail within which is the picture of a beautiful mother and a lovely infant ? -does it require its votaries, on certain occasions, to walk many miles with a small stone in their shoes?to sleep without a shirt? to eat no flesh on Fridays, and wholly to abstain

from it for forty days in the spring, when the commodity is scarce and high priced?does Popery inform us exactly, and solemnly, how many corners a cap should have? what should be the length of a gown? how many folds it thould admit of? and what should be its fabric ?-does Popery teach its disciples to kiss the toe of an old man, and to shave the head of a young man does it enjoin the numbering over a string of beads so many times a day, and making the figure of a cross with their finger so many times in the hour?-And do the Papists pretend conscience for all this?

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If Popery be nothing more than this, let it be tolerated by all means,it ought to be tolerated, upon the same principles, and for the same purposes, that other jugglers and triflers are tolerated; for the amusement of fools, and as a new method of circulating money.

Porteus.

23. The diversity of questions ought also to have diversity of answers.— Some ask, said Aristotle, whether fire be hot and these must be made to perceive it by touching it. Some demand whether their father or mother be to be honoured: such are not worthy to be disputed with, but rather to be rebuked.

Others desire to have it

proved to them, by apparent reasons, that there is a providence which ruleth the world: such should be answered by a whip or a hangman, not by a philosopher.

24. Fisheries. About 1601, one John Keymor published some observations on the Dutch fisheries, in which he attempted to demonstrate that more wealth was raised from herrings and other fish in the king's seas, by the neighbouring nations, in one year, than the king of Spain had from the Indies in four; and that there were 20,000 ships and other vessels, and about 400,000 people, then,working by sea and land, maintained only by fishing upon the coasts of Great Britain and Ireland.

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25. Pray tell me, you who deal in quaint conceits,

How a book bound can be a book in sheets?

These lines were sent by Dr Knatchbull to some young ladies, who had gone into his apartment one day, and not finding him there, had laid a great folio book between his sheets, which he did not discover till he stept into bed.

26. There was one in Q. Elizabeth's reign who wrote the ten commandments, the creed, the Lord's prayer, the Queen's name, and the year of our Lord, within the compass of a penny.

27. A dancer said to a Spartan, • You cannot stand so long on one leg as I can.' 6 True,' answered the True,' answered the Spartan, but any goose can.'

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28. Libel. One Mr Henry Doyley of Lincoln's Inn, made a motion in parliament in the reign of Q. Eli. zabeth, in the following words Mr Speaker, I think myself bound in conscience to certify to you of an infamous libel that is printed and spread abroad since the beginning of this parliament; saving your presence, Mr Speaker, it is called The Assembly of Fools: I desire the printer that printed it may be sent for; he dwells right over against Guild-Hall gate.' The house wondered much at the motion, and great murmuring there was. Mr Doyley, however, was firmly persuaded that the Assembly of Fools could mean nothing but the House of mons, and the person whom he had seen reading the book was sent for. The book was found a very harmless piece of fun, and Mr Doyley was well laughed at for his pains. (Communications for this department fully received.)

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of this country.

Matthew Boulton, son of Matthew Boulton, by Christian, daughter of Mr Peers, of Chester, was born at Birmingham on the 3d of September, (O. S.) 1728, and was principally educated at a private grammar school, kept by the Rev. Mr Ansted, who officiated at St John's Chapel, Deritend. He learned drawing under Worledge, and mathematics under Cooper, &c. he was above the middle stature, and well built; was exceedingly disposed to encourage modest merit, and fascinating in his manner and

conversation.

So early as the year 1745, Mr Boulton invented and brought to great perfection the manufacture of inlaid &c. Great quantities of these were steel buckles, buttons, watch chains, exported to France, from whence they were re-purchased with avidity by the English, as the offspring of French ingenuity.

Mr Boulton's manufactory at BirmCom-ingham being inadequate to his extensive improvements and further experiments, he, in 1762, purchased a lease of the Soho, at Handsworth, in the county of Stafford, distant about two miles, at that time a barren heath, on the bleak summit of which stood a nathank-ked hut, the habitation of a warrenner. These extensive tracts of common were present superb manufactory, which was converted by Mr Boulton into the finished in 1765, at the expence of 90001. and in the year 1794, he purchased the fee simple of Soho, and much of the other adjoining lands.

Memoirs of MATTHEW BOULTON, Esq.
F. R. S.

To say merely that the subject of
the present Memoir was an ingeni-
ous man, would convey to the public

Impelled by an ardent attachment to the arts, and by the patriotic ambition of bringing his favourite Soho to perfection, the ingenious proprietor soon established a seminary of artists for drawing and modelling; and men of genius were sought for, and liberally patronised, which shortly led to the successful establishment of an extensive manufactory of ornaments, in what the French call or molu; and these ornaments not only found their way into the apartments of his Majesty, but also into those of the nobility and curious of this kingdom, France, and the greatest part of Europe.

Finding that the mill which he had erected fell infinitely short, even with the aid of horses, of the force which was necessary for the completion of his vast designs, Mr Boulton, in 1767, had recourse to that masterpiece of human ingenuity, the Steam Engine. This wonderful machine was yet in its infancy, and did not at first answer the expectations that had been formed of it. In 1769 Mr J. Watt, of Glasgow, obtained a patent for an improvement in the steam engine. This induced Mr Boulton to form connections with Mr Watt, and invite him to settle at Soho, to which the latter consented. In 1775 Parliament granted a prolongation of the patent for 25 years, and Messrs Boulton and Watt entered into a partnership, established a very extensive manufactory of these engines at Soho, whence most of the great mines and manufactories in England continue to be supplied, and they are now applied to almost every mechanical purpose, where great power is requisite.

Among the various applications of the Steam Engine, that of coining seems to be of considerable importance, as by its powers all the operations are concentered on the same spot. It works a number of coining machines with greater rapidity and exactness, by a few boys from 12 to 14 years of age, than could be done by a great

number of strong men, without endan2gering their fingers, as the machine itself lays the blanks upon the die perfectly concentral with it, and when struck, displaces one piece and replaces another.

The coining mill, which was erected in 1788, and has since been greatly improved, is adapted to work eight machines, and each is capable of striking from 60 to 100 pieces of money per minute, the size of a guinea, which is equal to between 30,000 and 40,000 per hour*, and at the same blow, which strikes the face and reverse, the edge of the piece is also struck, either plain or with an inscription.

"The whole of this expensive and magnificent apparatus (says Dr Darwin), moves with such superior excellence and cheapness of workmanship, as well as with works of such powerful machinery, as must totally prevent clandestine imitations, and in consequence save many lives from the hand of the executioner; a circumstance worthy the attention of a great Minister. If a civic crown was given in Reme for preserving the life of one citizen, Mr Boulton should be covered with a garland of oak.”

About the year 1773, the ingenious art of copying pictures in oil colours, by a mechanical process, was invented at Soho; and, under the patronage of the above, Proprietor, was brought to such a degree of perfection as to make its productions be taken for originals by the most experienced connoisseurs. This art was brought to perfection under the management of the late ingenious Mr F. Eginton, who was no less celebrated for his painting on glass.

In

*It is justly observed by Mr Shaw, in his history of Staffordshire, that such a coining mill, erected in the national able to coin all the bullion in the Bank, mint, would, in cases of emergency, be at a short notice, without the necessity of putting dollars, or other foreign coin, into circulation.

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Previous to Mr Boulton's engagement to supply Government with copper pence, in order to bring his apparatus to perfection, he exercised it in coining silver money for Sierra Leone, and the African Company; and cop per for the East India Company and Bermuda.

Various beautiful medals, of superior workmanship to any of the modern money of this country, of our celebrated naval and other officers have, from time to time, been struckby Mr Boulton, for the purpose of employing and encouraging ingenious artists to revive that branch of sculpture.

Since the demise of the late Empréss Catharine, Mr Boulton presented her successor, the late Emperor Paul I. with some of the curious articles of his manufactory, and in return received a polite letter of thanks and approbation, together with a splendid collection of medals, minerals from Siberia, and specimens of all the modern money of Russia. Among the medals, which, for elegance of design and beauty of execution, have never yet been equalled in this or any other country, is a massy one of gold, impressed with a striking likeness, it is said, of that monarch. Our readers will be surprised, when they are told that this unrivalled piece was struck from a die engraved by the present Empress dowager, who has from her youth taken great delight in engraving on steel.

With a view of still further improving and facilitating the manufactory of steam engines, Messrs Boulton and Sept. 1809.

Watt have lately, in conjunction with their sons, established a foundry at Smethwick, a short distance from Soho. ho. Here that powerful agent is employed, as it were, to multiply itself, and its various parts are fabricated and adapted together with the same regularity, neatness, and expedition, which distinguish all the operations of their manufactory. Those engines are afterwards distributed to all parts of the kingdom by the Birmingham canal, which communicates with a wet dock belonging to the foundry.

In a national view, Mr Boulton's undertakings are highly valuable and important. By collecting around him artists of various descriptions, rival talents have been called forth; and, by successive competition, have been multiplied to an extent highly beneficial to the public. A barren heath has been covered with plenty and population; and these woks, which in their infancy were little knwon and attended to, now cover several acres, give employ ment to more than 6000 persons, and are indubitably the first of their kind in Europe.

No expence has been spared to render these works uniform and handsome in architecture, as well as neat and commodious. The same liberal spirit and taste has the great and worthy proprietor gradually exercised towards adjoining gardens and pleasure grounds, which, at the same time that they form an agreeable separation from his own residence, render Soho a much admired scene of picturesque beauty.

The house, which was before much too small for the hospitable purposes of its generous owner, has lately been considerably enlarged.

To comment upon the private character of a gentleman in Mr Boulton's situation, would be a useless task, we shall therefore only observe, that as his great and expanded mind formed and brought to perfection the wonderful works we have briefly endeavoured to describe, so he felt no greater fe

licity,

licity, than that of diffusing happiness to all around him.

cease,

Mr Boulton was not only a Fellow of the Royal Societies of London and Edinburgh, but likewise of that which bears the Imperial Title of the Free and Economical at St Petersburgh, and many other Foreign Institutions of the highest celebrity in Europe. For a long time previous to his dehe had been confined to his room by illness, and his dissolution daily expected. His memory will ever remain dear to the British nation, whose glory was advanced in proportion to his own fame. While we commemorate those great men who have sought their country's honour in the fields of war, we ought not to omit paying a just tribute of applause to those who have promoted arts, industry, and commerce, and diffused plenty and comfort through the realm, by cultivating science, and applying it to the useful arts of peace.

Narrative of LADY MURRAY, rela-
ting to the Concealment and Exile of
SIR PATRICK HUME.
(From Rose's Observations on the Histori-

cal Work of Mr Fox.)

SIR Patrick Hume and Mr Robert Baillie were intimate friends, and very strictly connected, from their being of the same way of thinking in religion and politics.

When Mr Baillie was first imprisoned, Sir Patrick sent his daughter, Grizzel, [mother to the narrator,] from Redbraes to Edinburgh, with instructions, to endeavour to obtain admittance, unsuspectedly, into the prison; to deliver a letter to Mr Baillie, and to bring back from him what intelligence she could.

She succeeded in this difficult enterprize; and having at this time met with Mr Baillie's son, the intimacy and friendship was formed, which was afterwards completed by their marriage.

During the period of her father's imprisonment, she attended to all her

mother's directions. When Mr Baitlie was again imprisoned, Sir Patrick Hume thought it adviseable to keep himself concealed.

The MSS. facts give the following Account of his Concealment:" After persecution began afresh, and my Grandfather Baillie again in prison, her father thought it necessary to keep concealed; and soon found he had too good reason for so doing; parties being continually sent out in search of him, and often to his own house, to the terror of all in it; tho' not from any fear for his safety, whom they imagined at a great distance from home, for no soul knew where he was, but my grandmother, and my mother, except a carpenter called Jamie Winter, who used to work in the house, and lived a mile off, on whose fidelity they thought they could depend, and were not deceived. The frequent examinations, and oaths put to servants in order to make discoveries were so strict, they durst not run the risque of trusting any of them-by the assistance of this man, they got a bed, and bed cloaths, carried in the night to the burying place, a vault under ground at Polwarth Church, a mile from the house, where he was concealed a month; and had only for light an open slit at the one end, through which nobody could see what was below: she went every night by herself at midnight, to carry him victuals and drink; and stayed with him as long as she could to get home before day. In all this time, my Grandfather shewed the same constant composure, and cheerfulness of mind, that he continued to possess to his death, which was at the age of 84; all which good qualities she inherited from him in a high degree: often did they laugh heartily in that doleful habitation, at different accidents that happened. She at that time had a terror for a church-yard, especially in the dark, as is not uncommon at her age, by idle nursery

stories,

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