Inquiry into the Difufe of Dialogue-writing. after its author had attained to full maturity of years and experience; after he had converfed much with books, and in fcenes of warfare, of folemn political bufinefs, of gallant and courtly gaiety, very much with men. He intended it as a fond memorial of the court of Urbino, in which he had spent many of his earlier years. The accomplished male and female characters which he has attempted to delineate, were meant by him to exhibit the copied excellencies of the fair, the gallant, and the wife, whofe fociety he had there enjoyed. The fashion of literary compofition in dialogue was, at that time, even to a ridiculous degree, prevalent in Italy. So very prevalent was it, that hiftory, of which I poffefs a particular fpecimen, was then written in dialogues. Caftiglione, of course, and with the happieft propriety, was induced to frame his work in this fashionable form. It is reprefented as the fubitance of feveral different converfations, which paffed, on fo many fucceffive evenings, in the prefence of the duke and duchefs of Urbino. The fubject, and its difcuffion, are chofen at the pleasure of a lady, as an amufement after fupper, which might for once be preferred to questions and commands, or crofs purposes, or any other more common and lefs refined means of recreation. First, on one, and then, to relieve him, on feveral others in fucceffion, is impofed the task of defcribing the character, and enumerating the qualifications of the accomplished courtier. From the accomplished gentleman, the progrefs of the converfation at length paffes, by a very natural tranfition, to the accomplished lady. The perfons in the company, and particularly those who take a fhare in the dialogue, are men and women of the highest rank, and the most illuftrious perfonal character, which were in that age known in Italy. The tediousness of a continued harangue from the mouth of one perfon, is avoided, by objections, from time to time, gaily urged against the opinions of the principal fpeakers, and from frequent explanations demanded from them. Men, who were themselves confeffedly eminent in thofe accomplishments which are enumerated, are the fpeakers from whofe mouths the defcriptions of the different qualifications required, are made refpectively to flow. One rich stream of mellifluent eloquence and wisdom runs through the whole feries of the difcourfe, from its opening to its very clofe. It is enlivened, not only with the flowers and figures of eloquence, MONTHLY Mag. No. xxx, 255 but with a multitude of fmart and striking LI are 256 Interesting Establishment of a Country School. although not purely Tufcan, is accounted exquifitely elegant by the Italians themfelves. I have, of purpose, here confined myfelf to fpeak of the form and acccidental ornaments of " Il Cortigiano," without confidering its merits, as a treatife on its peculiar fubject; in refpect of which, at leaft equal praife might be, with justice, beftowed upon it. I fhould like to fee this charming book more generally read in Britain than it, at prefent, is. T. N. To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. SIR, TH HE intelligence which I have juft received from the country gives me fo much pleafure, and imprefles my mind with fo high an opinion of its value, that I cannot well refift the inclination I feel of making it public. When any thing is done for the improvement or ornament of fociety, I think it is a tribute we owe the benefactor, not to withhold the praise he merits, nor to be filent on a fubject which concerns the general welfare. I could have wifhed even to have introduced you to the name of my worthy friend, as well as to his liberality, but this not meeting his ideas, I fhall content myself with recommending to the imitation of others what juitly entitles him to the thanks of his country. It occurred then to him, and more particularly as being a clergyman, for he is one, and what is more, a true minifter of the gospel, that nothing is so much to be regretted, as the want of that information amongst the lower claffes of people, which is fo effential to their temporal and eternal intereft. It is indeed but too just a reflection upon the policy of any ftate, where the means of cultivating the understanding of its members are not provided. We have only to turn our eyes to Scotland, to evince the truth of this remark, in whofe fuperior witdom we read our own reproach. It is quite unneceffary to detail, or particularize, any of the numerous intances that have occurred, and which are recent in almost every one's recollection, of fo many of the inferior orders of her community, who have attained to eminence, opulence, and honour. An incitement to industry and ability, a general door to merit is thrown open, by the adoption of feminaries for the education of youth in every town and village of that provident country. To enumerate the great advantages which refult from fuch wife inftitutions would far exceed my prefent purpofe; I fhall proceed therefore to elucidate fome of them afforded us in the intance of my generous correfpondent. And furely it is a noble proof of difinterestedness and of charity in a private individual, the rector of an inconfideraable pariik, to fink (and while living too) above two thousand pounds of his fortune in the founding of a fchool for the inftruction of the children of his flock. It is an occurrence, Mr. Editor, fo ftriking, that I fcarcely think the prefent age can furnish a fimilar example. Not many miles fouth of Oxford, in a village in the county of Lerks, is erected a ftrong but handfome edifice, of brick and tile; the fchool is on one fide of the entrance, and the matter's house on the other, with the feveral refpective offices adjoining: the approach from the street is by two steps of afcent; on each fide is a parterre of flowers and thrubs, with a paved walk to the houfe twenty feet in length, behind which there is a good kitchen garden. Here, by the found of a bell, the children, forty in number, (boys and girls) are fummoned to repair at an early hour, and are inftructed in reading, writing, and arithmetic. The school opens and clofes with prayers read by the mafter, to whom a very liberal falary is given; which, to gether with an annual fum for providing books, paper, pens, and ink, for the fcholars, and repairs, arifes from the public funds, and is properly fecured for ever. My friend, who attends even to the minutiae of propriety, has left nothing undone; for there is fomething appropriated for a handfome dinner for the children on the anniversary, and likewife for the entertainment hereafter of truftees who will audit the accounts, and inipect the school on that day. I fhall now conclude my letter by fubjoining a specimen of the fruit, which this infant inftitution has already produced; a specimen I think of genius almost as extraordinary, as the fplendid inftance of charity by which it was brought to light. It is the compofition of a boy of eleven years of age, who has been but three years at fchool: the ideas were his own, and the only alteration made by the master was in a trivial error or two of orthography: it was prefented by the boy to his benefactor on the morning of the anniversary. I am, Sir, your's, &c. PHILOLOGUS. SPECIMEN. School, October 3, 1797. "Moft respected and most generous benefactor, permit me, in the humblest manner, Further Particulars relative to Welsh Indians. manner, to return you fincere thanks, tion. To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. SIR, 257 feveral are particular in marking the time of the voyage down the ftream into the Miffiffippi to be full three months, which exceeds the space it took EVANS by about from 16 to 20 days. You the fources of that river. The following communication refpecting the fame fubject, came to hand a few days ago, being an extract of a letter, written laft April, to the late Dr. Jones of Hammerfinith, by his brother, Mr. BENJAMIN JONES, the proprietor of fome iron works on the Monangahela river, near Pittsburg, which runs thus: "One of our neighbours, who bought wares of us laft fall, went down the Ohio, and then up the Miffiffippi, within fixty miles of the confluence of the Missouri, to a town called Mazeres. He being one day in a store, saw two Indians coming in, who began to talk to the ftore-keeper in fome unknown language. The storekeeper fent for all the interpreters about the neighbouring towns and forts, but none of them understood their language: at last a perfon, who fpoke Welsh, came in, and obferving the two Indians pointing to fome goods in the store, and talking together, obferved that they talked Welth. He immediately accofted them in that language, and the refult was, that they understood each other exceedingly well. They were very neatly dreffed in buck-skin from head to foot, but had no fhirts. They had brought fome white bear-fkins, drefied in a very curious manner with the hair on. He understood that they lived a great way up the Miffouri, and had been at least three months on their journey, before they reached the place they were then in. Thefe are all the particulars I could learn of him. He is now gone down again, and promised to make a more particular inquiry. He said they were copper-coloured, like other Indians, and had very black hair, and no beard, except a little on the chin. There is no doubt at all but the nation of Welth Indians lives near the fource of the Miffouri, perhaps two thoufand miles from its mouth it likewife feems probable that thofe regions are pretty cold, as they abound with white bears, which are all perfectly black, at least on the fouth fide of the lakes, and about the Allegany mountains. I remain, Sir, your's, &c. MEIRION. April 6, 1798. In order to do away the impreffion, which the failure of EVANS's expedition may produce, I beg leave to inform you, that I have, with the affistance of a friend, made a collection of about eighty different notices of the existence of fuch a tribe in the fituation above mentioned, and : the pockets of the people could be reached, has at laft had an effect to oblige the different claffes of fociety to forego a great part of the comforts formerly understood to belong to their respective fituations. And the portion of income allotted to fuch purposes, which in the hands of individuals would have encreased the powers of general confumption, and have multiplied the fprings of domestic induftry, is now mortgaged to pay the intereft of a growing national debt. The object of our, and every good conftitution, muft be, to preferve to the multitude of individuals the full enjoy ment of all the comforts arifing from their individual exertions, and from the advantageous circumftances of their fituation. But whether the overpowering influence of our system does not now fuperfede the effect of fuch principle in our contitution, is a queftion of which every man in the kingdom, high as well as low, can judge from his own experience. Our statesmen feem to value national profperity only as furnishing new means for the fupport of ambition; every little comfort which growing induftry, or the improved powers of labour, might have added to the stock of individual enjoyments, the rapacious hand of taxation has greedily feized upon. So much indeed have we been familiarized to this new order of things, that without furprize we daily liften to people anxiously fuggefting objects of general confumption not yet exhaufted by taxation; as if all that a man laboured for, nature had not intended him freely to enjoy. We find alfo our ftatefmen and political writers calculating national profperity, not by the fum of individual enjoyment, but by what they call our refources, and by the number of fighting men we are capable of maintaining in the field. A fyftem of government founded in wifdom, fhould, along with evidence of its general utility, exhibit features of permanency. I would ask, however, if general utility or permanency can be difcovered in that fyftem, the expences of which are fuppofed to be equal to the land-rent of the whole kingdom, and thofe expences growing with fuch rapidity, as to have nearly doubled under a fhort adminiftration of thirteen years. In fuch circumftances, therefore, may it not be a duty to ftate a few plain queftions for general difcuffion, and perhaps in being able to trace the evil to its fource, be led to the means of its errors. Immediate annual labour? Of the accumulated favings of the labour of former years? And of a rent in intereft, drawn for the ufe of fuch part of these accumulated fav. ings, as may have been lent to foreign countries, and employed in foreign lahour? If, therefore, the amount of the immediate annual labour, with the addition of fuch annual rent, fhould not together be equal to the general annual expenditure of the country, the ftock of accumulated labour will be diminished to the extent of the defalcation; but in a country not going back, is it not alfo evident, that the great proportion of every burthen must rest upon labour? If the exchangeable value of a commodity does not depend upon its cost, but is limited by a market competition with fimilar commodities, the wages of labour, depending altogether upon the market demand for labour,any intermediate charges, whether arifing from increased taxes or from other circumftances, not being poffible to be added to the market price of this commodity, muft of neceffity fall to be deducted from the amount of wages the merchant can afford to pay to the workman. The labourers, therefore, of this country, highly favoured by nature, may at laft find themselves in no better fituation than the labourers of those countries, to which nature has almost wholly denied the means of exchanging their industry. I know I am within bounds when I ftate, that the labourers of Great Britain, upon an average, already pay a twelfth of their income towards the permanent taxes. How much more furprising, however, would this be if stated, that fuch labourer has one month out of every twelve of his labour, deftined by inheritance to purpofes which bring no return whatever to him or to his family. Such cannot be a natural, and therefore certainly not a permanent order of things. For, If it is not competent for an individual to burthen his individual pofterity, by what just right can any number of individuals entail burthens upon their general pofterity, even upon a plan of fuppofed benefits to be transmitted to them? GOURNAL, To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine, SIR, Have been much pleafed with the relations which have appeared in the different numbers of your Magazine, il Does not the wealth of every nation luftrating the very curious fact in natura! confift of bistory, Toads in Stones.....Elkington on Draining. history, of a toad exifting for a length of time in a confined fituation, without any fupply of fresh air. The following facts are mentioned by Dr. WILLIAMS, of Vermont, in America, in a work which has never appeared in Europe, and which I conceive is fcarcely in the hands of any perfon in this country, and I have little doubt but they will be found acceptable to many of your readers, as in fome degree illuftrative of the fame subject, though relative to an animal fomewhat different in its habits. "At Windsor, a town joined to Connecticut river," fays Dr. WILLIAMS, "in September, 1790, a living frog was dug up at the depth of nine feet from the furface of the earth. STEPHEN JACOBS, Efq. from whom I have this account, informs me, that the place where this frog was found was about half a mile from the river, on the interval lands, which are annually overflowed by its waters. "At Castleton, in the year 1779, the inhabitants were engaged in building a fort, near the centre of the town. Digging into the earth five or fix feet below the furface, they found many frogs, apparently inactive, and fuppofed to be dead. Being exposed to the air, animation foon appeared, and they were found to be alive and healthy. I have this account from General CLARKE, and a Mr. MOULTON, who were prefent when these frogs were dug up. Upon viewing the spot, it did not appear to me, that it has ever been overflowed with water; but it abounded with fprings. A more remarkable inftance was at Burlington, upon Onion river-In the year 1788, SAMUEL LANE, Efq. was digging a well near his houfe: at the depth of twentyfive or thirty feet from the furface of the earth, the labourers threw out with their hovels, fomething which they fufpected to be ground nuts, or ftones, covered with earth. Upon examing thefe appearances, they were found to be frogs; to which the earth every where adhered: the examination was then made of the earth in the well, where they were digging. A large number of frogs were found covered with the earth, and fo numerous, that feveral of them were cut in pieces by the fpades of the workmen. Being expofed to the air, they foon became active; but unable to endure the direct rays of the fun, the most of them perifhed. This account is from Mr. LANE and Mr. Lawrence, one of the workmen, who were both prefent when the frogs were dug up. From the depth of earth with which thefe frogs were covered, it cannot be doubted, but that they must have been covered over in the earth for many ages, or rather centuries: the appearances denote that the place from whence these frogs were taken was once the bottom of a channel, or lake, formed by the waters of Onion river, In dig 259 ging the fame well, at the depth of forty-one feet and a half from the furface, the workmen found the body of a tree, eighteen or twenty inches in diameter; partly rotten, but the biggest part found. The probability is, that both the tree and the frogs were once at the that the waters of Onion river, conftantly bottom of the channel of a river, or lake; bringing down large quantities of earth, gra dually raised the bottoms; that by the conftant increase of earth and water, the water was forced over its bounds, and formed for itself a new channel or paffage, in its defcent into lake Champlain. How vigorous and permanent must the principle of life be in this animal! Frogs placed in a fituation in which they were perpetually fupplied with moisture and all wafte and perfpiration from the body prevented, preferve the powers of life from age to age! Centuries must have paffed fince they began to live, in fuch a fituation; and had that fituation continued, nothing appears, but that they would have lived for many centuries yet to come!" The fame author has fome curious facts relative to the migration of fwallows, martins, &c. which I fhould conceive well entitled to notice in your Magazine, as the work never has been, and I apprehend never will be published in England. Your's, &c. April 9, 1798. PHILOPHUSIKOS, To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. H SIR, AVING feen your very useful Magazine for last month, a communication figned R. H. (Kelfo) refpecting Mr. Elkington's mode of draining land; has induced me to offer a few obfervations on that subject. Extracts from every new and useful treatife, efpecially thofe relating to the improvement of agriculture, might tend very much to benefit the community, if conveyed through the channel of periodical publications. Your correfpondent, R. H. has only taken notice of the utility of Mr. Elking ton's method of draining marshes by the detection of fprings, as he is pleated to call it; but, although he fays, that he has had opportunities of feeing the effects of his (Mr. Elkington's) practice, he has not gratified the reader with an explanation of the principles on which his fyftem is founded, neither has he given any hints, whereby a practical farmer might be enabled to adopt his method, or at least be induced to make the experiment. On this fubject, however, I have lately had an opportunity of perufing a very ufeful |