mine the volumes, and thereby faved my 75; but those who have made the purcafe in a confidence of the publisher's integrity, will be fufficiently mortified to find themfelves taken-in by fuch unprincipled forgeries.

P.S. I take the liberty to inclofe an effufion of George Alexander Stevens, and an excellent fong; neither of which, fo far as I know, has ever appeared in prior. PHILARKAIOS.

1. On a Window in the Red Lion, Doncaster. FROM Wakefield drove by powerful laws, I gam'd, 'tis true: ay, that's the caufe: Condemn'd for what deferves applause; Fallere fallentem non eft fraus.

June, 1750.

G. ALEX. STEVENS.

Old ballad-wright Homer delighted in nec[He&tor; And made a great fufs with the tall boy call'd But, had he been caft upon Norfolk's fair coaft,

Let poets of drawing-room beauties make boast,

I defy them to match or my liquor or toaft

N. B. The Hogan of Houghton was brewed 14 bushels to the hogfhead, and kept 14 years in the cafk before tapped.

Mr. URBAN,

June 30.

I THINK vou allow a little laugh is good for the health of your readers; and that, amidst so much furious, but monthly, a fmall service of laugh may entertaining, matter, which you ferve up occafionally be brought upon your board. I, therefore, fend you an original letter, containing a defcription of Lifton; and, though not fo full of information as fome others which I have occafionally given you, yet ftill it has its entertainment too, efpecially when I tell you it came from the only fon of a man, who, in his time, made no fmall figure in this country, and whofe fon now poffeffes many thouB. F. fand pounds a year.

"I am vaftly forry that I have not had the pleasure of writing to you before now, which I hope youll excufe, Lisbon is very fine place for buiffinefs, but is badly fituated, for carriages, &c. and monftrous dirty they make nothing here to fling water and pifs upon you as you pafs by, I like the place where I am and my matters too, they are both very worthy gentlemen, I am vaftly hurried to night that I can but just write this letter-fo I hope youll excufe the short difcription of Lisbon, I will tell you farther the next time I write, let me know what I can ferve you in and I will do it with great pleasure, only let me know what it is, let me have an answer to this letter and you'll oblige me, mightly, fo pray excufe my bre vity. I am dear Sir your most affectionate friend."

MORRISIAN MISCELLANY. ARTICLE II.

Col'nel Oft *.

real Names of Perfons and Places recorded in Hifiory; if otherswife, the Story is falfe.

A

LL men, who have the use of letters and of their reafon, know, that in reading of hiftories, or an account of any tran'actions, antient or modern, unless they have the true names of the perfons acting, and the places where they' aed, it is no account at all, and is but like an apothecary that gives you ipeca cuanha inftead of jallap. Is pot this exactly the cafe of an Hiftorian, who gives you Walganus instead of Gwalchmai, Breigh mous inttead of Eryri mons, Hu

dibras for Rhun-baladr-bras, Halterennes for Allt yr ynys. Kentigern for Cyndeyrn Garibwys, Gannec for Dyganwy, Damnonium for Dyfnaint, Nuevin for Aneurin, &c. &c.? Is there any body then that takes a pleafure in reading the actions of his ancestors, or of the antient inhabitants of Britain and Gaul, in the old books that treat of Britain, but who would willingly have the real and true names of the people and places he reads of? The occafion of the errors of authors in this refpect being either their want of knowledge in the Celtic tongue, or owing to the ignorance of tranfcribers, or to the publishers of antient MSS. in print, or elfe to that vicious custom of modeling or Latinizing Celtic names, whereas the names of men and places in all nations should be tranfmitted as they are used in the language that impofed them.

It vexes me to fee the renowned king of the Britons, Caswallon, nicknamed, in Cælar's Commentaries, Cause launus, and feveral of the like, as Cynvelyn, Cunobelinus: to fee Cyn-las, in that patched piece of Gildas, called Cunoglafus, and explained Lanto fulve, a yellow butcher; a plain mark of the forgery: and, in the fame author, Maelgwn Gwynedd tranfmogrified into Maglo Cunus I am forry to fee the lands of Gwyr and Cydweli, in Glamorganfhire, transformed in different corrupt copies of Nennius, to Guiter cet Guely, Gubir tee Guli, Guir Gecgadi, Guircat Gueli and Gubir cet Gwely. The inhabitants of Ireland are under no obligations to Ptolemy, or his tranfcribers, for calling their island Tespris, instead of led, or, as the Britons wrote it, Y Werdaynys, and, as it is to this day, Y Werddon, the green island, or, as the laft name imports, the green place.

I fhall now pafs over Bede, Matthew Paris, Matthew of Westminster, William of Newbury, and all the Saxon and Englifh authors that fucceeded them, being all fwarming with errors where they have touched on the British names of men and places; but muft obferve, that the Welsh name Cynfelyn is, by Roman writers, Latin zed Cunobelinus; the meaning of the word is yellow bead, and is compounded of cyn and melyn, and was the name of one of our antient kings of Britain about 1,800 years ago: but there is no more neceflity for a perfon of this name to have a yellow head, than for Mr. Whitebead the poet to have a white head, or Mr. Broaabead to have a broad

1

one. Cyn, in the antient Celtic, fignified firft, chief, or principal; cyntaf is firft; cyn, before; fo that it feems it was ufed but metaphorically for a head in the compofitions of names of men. So Cyntwrch, Hog's head; Cynfarch, Horsehead; Cynllo, Calf's-bead; Cynwalch, Hawk's-bead, &c. were men's names among the antient Britons, but were originally titles of offices of ftandardbearers, or officers that carried fuck and fuch figures in their banners. This fhews the vanity of etymologifts, that fearch for the nature or offices of perfons in their name; for every body knows that names of offices are often turned into common names, as Steward, Butler, Mason, Smub, Carpenter, &c. Camden hods Brenbin, a king, in the name Brennus, the Gaulith leader, whofe real name was Bran, a common name in Wales; and Brutun mawr, a great Briton, in the name Britomarus; as if people's names thewed their qualities and offices; for the fame reafon Mr. John King fhould wear a crown; every one of the name of Armstrong thould be fiong; and Mr. Button fhould be a very little, round man. Some English writers, for want of a competent knowledge in the old Celtic, have coined names for fome of our antient kings, which, with great confidence, they have impoled on the world as real names, and genuine; moft audacioufly fetting up their own gueffes against the authorities of the an. tient MSS, monuments, and traditions, of a whole nation. Sir Winston Churchill, in his Divi Britannici, fancied that Belinus and Brennus, the two brɔthers (called in Weith Beli a Bran), fons of Dyfnwal Moelmud, were the fame individual perfon; and that Belin fignified the fame with Cæfar, or Pharaoh, and was only a title of majesty ! and having found another Belin (Bef Mawr ab Manogan), as he calls him, father of Callivelaunus (who fought Julius Cæfar), and of Lludd and Niniaw; and that (after this Caflivelaunus) there was a king here called Cunobelinus, of whofe coins we have feveral, he makes bold with them all, and turns them into Belins-Caffibelin, Cunobelin, Ludbelin, Moriobelin, Tubelin or Tudorbelin, Guitkabelin, Belinarvitag, Calibelin, Cymbelin, &c.-names never fo much as heard of in any other hiftorian in the world; and all founded on his mistaking and confounding the name of Belt, wro was the father of Caffiveiaunus, or Calwallan, with Cynfelyn, who is Launız d Cunobelinus.

Cunobelinus. It would be endless to mention all these kind of mistakes in our English authors. The etymologies of the names of perfons and things ought to be looked-for in their own language, and not after they have been translated into another, and adapted to the tongues of ftrangers. Tyfilio's antient British Hiftorv (who was a Welsh bifhop, and fon of Brock wel Yfgithrog, Prince of Powys), and our other antient Welsh writers, poets, and genealogifts, fhould be the authors confulted on this occafion about Welsh etymologies; and, without these helps, it is but groping in the dark, and amufing the world with dreams and fancies.

IN

TO THE MAN OF LETTERS. N perufing books which have paffed through several editions, I frequently meet with the titles of authors, of itatelmen, bishops, and other men eminent for their rank or understanding, together with allufions to events then recent; of all which, as a lover of biography and anecdote, I want to afcertain the true naine and date. Again, I have in my time bought up feveral books immedi ately on their publication; and before I could give them a hafty perusal, another edition has iffued from the prefs, with numerous alterations or additions, fo interfperfed in different parts of the work, that, without the trouble and expence of buying the laft, to compare throughout with the preceding edition, I cannot know whether I am in poffeffion of the actual opinions of the author. Many readers must have experienced thefe inconveniences. Might not the publishers obviate the former, if they understood it to be the concurrent with of writers and readers, that the date of every preceding edition were printed in fome confpicuous part of the book, as, for example, where the imprimatur is, or used to be, exhibited? Some bookfellers may, perhaps, on certain occafions, be averle to this obvious method of information: but the united influence of purchasers would prevail; nay, it must be a defideratum with every author who avails himself of the publications of others. The author alone, or a perfon appointed by him, is competent to the removal of the latter inconvenience com

plained of and, out of regard to his own character, and in gratitude to fuch as buy up his firft productions, ought he not to mark in a preface, more carefully than is ufually done, every fubftantial

alteration, whether of correction or improvement? QUERIST.

TO THE MAN OF FASHION. BY an affociation which may be thought a little extraordinary I pafs from the Man of Books to the Man of the World. The tranfition, however, is not uncommon in real life. The reverfe is indeed extraordinary. I would fain unite thefe two characters; and, having lain-in a fund of fcholaftic lore, 1 fhould like to let it off by the acquifition of a little ton; as a preliminary tiep to which, I fhould be glad to be informed how I may diftinguish the feveral colours which, in their feveral feasons, are worn by the fair and fashionable. My taylor is not always at hand; and truly I cannot remember half of them with any degree of accuracy. I have fancied, that as colours are fimple ideas, of which a person who has never feen them, or a perfon who has totally forgotten them, can have no conception, the painter might fupply this defect of our knowledge and understanding by depicting fome of the moft remarkable hues of which the ftuffs commonly worn are fufceptible. Or, as you are the arbiters of taste and elegance, you might direct the makers of fashionable magazines and memorandum-books to give us, from time to time, a tablet of fashionable co. lours, with their appropriate epithets. By these means we should not only apprehend the colour itfeit; but fuch of us as have not travelled may learn, by reference, the qualities of things and of per

fons whom we never faw. Our ideas would be multiplied, and we should underftand your language though we might not enrich our own. QUERIST.

Mr. URBAN,

IF

Salop, July 12. F the dialogue between the late Dr. Johnfon and Mrs. Knowles really palled, as it is related in p. 500-502, it perfectly convinces me of what for many - years I fufpected, viz. that Dr. Johnfon was but a very fuperficial Divine ; and that he had never drunk deep at that facred fountain of Revealed Truth, which records the plan and economy of human redemption; nor had ever well informed himself of the MEANS by which the Chriftian religion was originally communicated to fallen man, and has ever fince been preferved from perishing from off the earth.

Had Dr. Johnfon's capacious mind been stored with thofe data which the facred Hebrew Scriptures, divested of the

vail with which the Rabbis and apoftate Jews have obfcured them, do amply furnifh, he never could have been fo "cbafed" and confounded, either by Mrs. Knowles, or even by Robert Barclay himself.

Was not this ignorance refpecting true theology, rather than mere conftitutional morbid melancholy, the fource of thole fuperftitious notions which fo harraffed the good Doctor, and which held him in continual bondage and fear of death throughout the greateft part of his life?

as

I have converfed with Quakers of much ingenuity and acutenefs; but I never met with an intelligent perfon among them, who, when properly dealt with, was not foon and easily induced to give up his pretended LIGHT WITHIN naturally inherent in every man, or driven into the tents of downright Deifm, to which camp the Quakers certainly belong. The ftory of AHI EB'N YOCKDAN, fo pompously related in Barclay's Apology," is now well known to be nothing more or less than part of an Arabic Romance.

Although Charles Leflie (who knew the Quakers and their tenets better than any man not of the fect), in his "Snake in the Grafs," and the defences of it, has effectually expofed the delufions of that fubtle feet (originally fyftematized by the Jefuits), yet, in my opinion, no writer has more completely overturned their whole fabrick than the Rev. Daniel Gittins, in his "Remarks on the Tenets

and Principles of the Quakers," one vol. Svo. London, printed for E. Withers. The book is now rather fcarce, but very well deferves to be re-printed, efpecially at this time, because it is an excellent ANTIDOTE, not only to the reveries of the Quakers, but also to thofe of the Swedenborgians, and all other enthufiafts, whether antient or modern. To this book I particularly refer your correfpondent M. F. p. 515.

Is there any expectation that Mr. Park hurt's Hebrew and English and Greek and English lexicons will be foon republished? Many perfons in this neigh bourhood have long been anxiously wishW.C. ing for them.

feals, on a private plate. See "British Topography," vol. II. p. 18.

If the name of the old manfion in Hertfordshire had been mentioned, the initial on the ring might more cafily be afcertained.

Are the figures on the brown jug in relief or enameled? The firft, infcribed De Leifde, or rather Liefde, reprefents Charity; the fecond, De Gerechtiger, or Geregbiigheyd, Jufiice; the third,. Der Glof, or Geloof, Faith.

I have fomewhere before seen fuch a

figure as you have engraved in pl. III. fig. 5. of last month.

The feal fig. 6. is not peculiar to Sporle priory. Such an one, found at Shaftsbury, was exhibited to the Society of Antiquaries about two years ago. It ftill remains to be accounted for.

Dr. Johnfon will fatisfy your corre fpondent p. 529, that effectuate is ufed by Sidney, and derived from the French, effectuer.

P. 534. Dr. Butler published "Lives of the Saints," in 5 vols. 4to. 1745; reprinted at Dublin, in 12 vols. 8vo.

years.

P. 468. The two laft verfes of the extract from Dr. Downman's excellent didactic poem are, in the fourth edition, printed at Edinburgh in 1788, more elegantly reduced to one:

"For benefits receiv'd attun'd the lyre."

The other poems of this ingenious author

are recorded in pp. 254, 5.

P. 485, col. i, 1. S, 9, read "Samuel Bever, efq. at Mortimer, in Berk thire." In his poffeffion is a very large and exquifite picture, in oil colours, of Leonidas taking leave of his wife and infant fon, painted by Mr. Sherwin, which may be juftly esteemed as a moft valuable

They are in relief. EDIT.

acquifition,