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the pefo duro, exactly par ;-with Bilbao and Madrid, it is fomewhat against us; being at 35 for the fame pefo duro.-It is at 60 pence for the ducat banco, with Venice. Those who have had money to receive from Ireland, have of late, found great difficulty in pra curing remittances The exchange with Dublin is at 163.

The port and road improvements of London, proceed with great rapidity. A dividend of 10 per cent. is paid on the ftock of the Company by which the West India docks were lately completed: The London docks are expected to be ready in fummer, for the reception of imports: Government is to rent on these Docks, large warehoufes, for tobacco chiefly. The East India Dock Company, with a ftock of £.200,000, is erecting a dock, for the unlading of East India fhips, which we understand, will be complete in fpring 1805. The tolls of the commercial road which commences from the Weft India docks, and comes out at Whitechapel, yield already £.70 or £.80. a week: the profits to thofe at whofe expence it is conftructed, are limited by law to 10 per cent. The stock of the Grand Junction Canal Company, is £.1,350,000: the laft works remaining to be executed, in order to complete their undertaking, are the tunnel and aqueduct at Blifs worth it is not doubted, but, when thefe fhall have been finished, the profits upon the whole, will foon, be very ample.

The Importation of Coals laft Year, into the Port of London, was as follows, in the Months of January,

February,

March,

67,432

70,8023

88,460

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486 4577

Tons of Scotch and Weft Country.
Chaldron of Coals.

The Importation of Coals into the Port of London, is increafing, partly from its popu lation, fomething from its luxury, an increafe of its manufactures and the ufe of team engines, and a small exportation.

The average of Seven Years, from 1793 to 1799,

Was
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1803

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Laft Year an additional Duty of 1s. 2d. per London Chaldron, was laid on Coals; and a rife took place at Newcastle, of 35. per Newcastle Chaldron, on above is. 6d. per London Chaldron, the beft forts, from the increase of wages to the pitmen.

The Winchester measure, for grain, has, for many ftrong reasons, of convenience, been lately, for the first time, adopted in the East Riding of Yorkshire.

The East India fale of white coaft goods in privilege, and of prohibited piece goods in privilege, and private trade, has been deferred from the 25th of January, to Tuesday the 7th of February. At the fales on the 16th of March next, will be put up 15,170 bags, and 203 baskets of Sugar, the property of the company; 15,246 bags of fugar, under privilege ; and 222 bales and bags of coffee, alfo, under privilege.

The lowest in price of the cottons, in the London market, is, that of Surat, at rod per libs. the higheft is that of Pernambucco, at 2s. 4d.

The 3 per cent. confol. ftock was, on the 20th of January, at 56; bank stock, 153; India stock, on the 19th at 1704; Omnium, on the 20th, at a discount of 3 per cent.

MONTHLY AGRICULTURAL REPORT.

THE unufually open ftate of the feafon, has pushed vegetation forward in a very rapid manner; the young wheat crops, on the more rich and fertile foils, are becoming rank from the want of the useful checks afforded by frofts. On the lefs rich lands, and those of the thinner kinds, they look unufually well and healthy. But though the weather has been fufficiently open; the plough has not been able to make any great progrefs, as the lands,

from

from the almoft inceffant rains, being in many places in a poachy ftate. On the fandy, gravelly, and more dry defcriptions of foil, fome work of this kind has been done.

The operation of putting manure upon the grafs lands has been much retarded, and in fome cafes will perhaps be wholly prevented by the falling of so much rain; as in the more forward diftricts, the grafs will be too much advanced before the lands can become fufficiently dry and firm to admit the dung car.

The fame caufe has been equally unfavourable for the repairing of fences. In the midland counties, the young clover, and ray-grafs is remarkably luxuriant, and a very full plant. If there come a week dry weather, bean-fowing will be begun in many places, as well as black oats, The prices of grain continue much as in our laft; the average price of Wheat throughout England and Wales is 51s. 4d.;' of Barley, 23s. 4d.; and of bats, 20s, 8d.

The continual rain has prevented the farmers from carrying on many of the ufual winter works, fuch as carting manure, &c. which may be a material inconvenience, unless we have fome dry, frosty weather ere long. Corn ftill continues low, much too low, as well as ftock of all forts; except good Cart horfes, which keep up their price.

The great mildness of the feafon, during the whole of the month, has contributed in fome measure, to bring more fat ftock into the market; and the lean stock has been kept with lefs difficulty than ufual. In Smithfield market, Beef yields from 4s. 6d. to 5s. 8d. Mutton, gs. to 6s. Veal, 6s. to Ss. and Pork, 4s. to 5s. per ftone. In Newgate and Leadenhall markets, Beef yields from 3s. 8d. to 5s. Mutton, 4s. to 5s. Veal, 5s. to 7s. 6d. and Pork, 4s. to 5s.

Hay keeps its price, notwithstanding the openness of the weather. In St. James's market, the average price is 51. 25. At Whitechapel, Clover averages 61.

Straw, In St James's market yields about 11. 16d. And at Whitechapel, about 1l. 11s. 6d.

METEOROLOGICAL REPORT.

Obfervations on the State of the Weather, from December 25 1803, to January 241ề 1804, inclufive, two Miles N. W. of St. Paul's.

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The quantity of rain fallen this month is equal to 3.287 inches in depth.

The whole of the month, that is now paft, has been uncommonly ftormy for the feafon, the Barometer has been very variable; the average height of which is 29 464; but the fudden rife and fall of the mercury, of two or three tenths of an inch, have been frequent and in general followed by correfponding weather; though, in fome inftances, our expectations, founded upon paft obfervation and experience, have not been answered.

The temperature of this month is remarkably high, for although the Thermometer has been once eight degrees below the freezing point, yet its mean heighth is 44°839. For the fame month in laft year, it was only 38°, and for January 1802, it was not quite 43°.

In proportion to the warmth of this feafon of the year, we may expect rain; this month the temperature has been high, and the quantity of rain fallen has been proportionally large. The wind has blown chiefly from the S. W. the verdure of the fields, is uncommonly fine, and the early flowers are in full blow.

In

Befides the ufual Retrofpects of Literature, the Supplement contains the Reports of the Weather for the Year, and the Defcription of Queen Matilda's Tapestry. anfwer to the Complaints of the irregular Delivery of the Supplement, we must refer our Correfpondents to their respective Bookfellers, who, by not procuring the Supplement in regular Course, do us as much Injury as our Readers.

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To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine.

H

SIR,

AVING feveral times heard my much refpected friend, Charles Browne Moltyn, Efq. of Kiddington, near Woodstock, mention fome particulars refpecting the fate of the Stuart papers, little known in this country, and which I was fenfible must be interefting to the British public, and, perhaps, to foreign nations, I requested he would do me the favour to ftate the circumstances in writing, and allow me permiffion to difpofe of the communication as I might th nk moft eligible. This he has done with his accuftomed kindnefs and liberality; and I am sure the public in general, and vour readers in particular, will feel their obligations to him.

Mv file object, in which the writer of the following letter participates, is to afcertain whether the Memoirs, &c. are any longer extant; and I have no doubt but that any gentleman who is capable of giving information on this fubject, will have a pleasure in fupplying this defideratum in literary history. I am, Sir, Woodstock, Your's, &c. Feb. 4, 1804. Some Memoranda refpecting the Memoirs, Letters, Papers, &c of the Stuart Family, deposited by King James II in the Scotch College, Rue Foffees St. Victor, at Paris, under the care of his confidential Agent, Principal Gordon, then Superior of that House.

W. MAVOR.

Thefe memoirs, fo interefting to hiftorians, King James, as I always heard fay from the gentlemen of the Scotch College, meant, fhould fome day or other, be put into due order, and prefented to the public; but, during his life, the times were not thought fufficiently ripe for fuch a publication. The prejudices against him and his family were not only recent but deep; and the public mind, in general, too much biaffed in favour of his opponents, to receive fuch a wifh with any degree of candour and impartiality. Truths which militated foftrongly MONTHLY MAG, No. 112.

against the popular opinions, as well in regard to the great events of the Revolution as to thofe which marked the rival reigns of Elizabeth and Mary, and more particularly the cruel fate of the latter, would have been rejected by the prejudiced world as fabulous; and, for a long feries of years, it would have been difficult to fix upon a period, however short, that thofe authentic documents could have been produced with advantage.

But party animofities having now subfided, and prejudices being foftened by time, it is probable that truth would have been eagerly received, and that our hif tory would have been cleared of all that rubbish which intemperate zeal and revolutionary fury have heaped upon it. Indeed I

believe it is pretty generally allowed, that no hiftory is, in some respects, more unfaithful than that of our own country; and that no writer has been lefs careful to verify his affertions, than the favourite Mr. Hume. Could the Stuart papers, therefore, have been preferved, and had the good fortune to fall into the hands of of an unprejudiced, disinterested, and able, as well as bold editor, the mists which error and party have railed, would have vanished before the light of truth.

But to return to the papers in question, and, as far as lies in my power, to fatisty your enquiries relative to their fate, I must obferve, that the masters of the Scotch College, finding it impoffible to efcape the wreck of the French Revolution, which drew every thing that was valuable into its vortex, previous to their difperfion, fent down the whole collection to St. Omers, where I then refided, addreffed to the care of the Rev. Gregory Stapleton, prefident of St. Omer's College, and of the Rev. Mr. Cornthwaite, procurator of the faid houfe, both my very particular friends, but both fince dead. Thefe gentlemen in their turn, finding themselves likely to become the victims of Robefpierre's fury, and folicitous for the prefervation of the treature confided to them, fent for me, and propoted that I fhould take charge of the whole; to which I acceded. I was then at large in

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Rue

own.

Rue St. Bertin, at St. Omer's; and, by they affured us, buried them in a tin-box, night, the great wooden cafe containing along with fome family papers of their the Stuart papers, &c. was fecretly conveyed to my house. Shortly after, however, the clouds gathered over my head too, and I received notice from fome friends among the Jacobins, that it had been determined to convey me and family the next day to prifon, and to confifcate all our effects, which, accordingly, took place. In the fhort interval of liberty I enjoyed, from the time I was warned of my doom, and from which I had no hopes of ever escaping, you will readily imagine I had but little time, occupied as I muft naturally be with the thoughts of felf-prefervation and that of my wife and children, at that moment in fuch imminent danger, to take measures of precaution about other affairs; yet I have ever fince regretted, that I did not myself bury the valuable depofit with which I was entrusted in the ground, after properly fecuring it.

To make hort, after confulting with Mr. Stapleton and Mr. Cornthwaite, it was refolved to confide the papers, &c. to the care of fome trufty Frenchman, who was more likely to furvive the Revolution than we were; and our choice fell upon Citizen Carpentier, a determined revolutionist and jacobin, but a man of integrity; at least he paffed for fuch, and who was then prefident of the diftrict, and a leading man in the town. This per fon had already rendered many fervices to the gentlemen of the English college, and profeffed privately a great regard for our Countrymen. We accordingly propofed the care of the Stuart Collection to him and his wife, who, after much hesitation, and ftarting many difficulties, at lat, confented to undertake the truft, provided we would destroy the fine covers of morocco or red velvet, in which almoft every volume was bound, with the arms of England, crown, &c. richly embroidered or ftamped upon them, circumstances which rendered them the more obnoxious to the republicans, and the more dangerous to the perfons in whofe hands they might be found.

In compliance with this condition, Mr. Cleghorn, now living, and the Rev. Mr. Tuite, now a fecond time prifoner in France, took off and burned the covers and bindings, and tied up the contents in parcels, which Monfieur and Madame Carpentier carried off themfelves, little by little, to their country houfe, fituated at a village, called St. Momelin, about fix miles from St. Omer's, and there, as

Such was the state of things when I left France. As foon as peace was reftored, and a correfpondence could be carried on, Mr. Stapleton, on his part, and I on mine, wrote to our correfpondent, Citizen Dourlen, to defire he would call on Monf. and Mad. Carpentier, and enquire what was become of the Memoirs entrusted to their care. Their anfwer was, "That, finding themfelves in danger of being apprehended, and their papers fearched, felf-preservation had obliged them to make away with them, and that they had burnt them." This they repeated again and again to Mr. Stapleton and to Mr. Tuite, the latter of whom fince then went over to St. Omer's, and applied personally to them, but without fuccefs. The Rev. Mr. M'Pherson and the Rev. Mr. Gordon, alfo made enquiries after thefe important papers, in the name of the Scotch College, and received the fame answer.

Whether they are really burnt, or whe ther Citizen Carpentier may have made a merit of delivering them up to the Directory, who then governed France, or may perhaps have fold them, it is impoffible for me to decide. Time will fhew. The public prints have repeatedly announced that they were found last year by the Hon. Charles Fox, in the great National Library; the fame which was formerly known under the name of the Bibliotheque du Roi. I heartily with it may be fo. I believe Mr. Fox pofleflies all the neceffery abilities, and fpirit to make a proper ufe of them. For my part, could I have been the happy inftrument of preferving them for the public, no selection should have been made from them, nor any partial accounts given. The whole fhould have been faithfully copied, methodically arranged, and then presented to the world, just as they were, without the leaft reflection or comment. This, I am fure, would have been moft fatisfactory, and molt refpectful to the public. As the cafe now ftands, I can only give you the above plain ftatement, which explains all I know refpecting them. At this moment, I am as much in the dark, whether they have furvived the Revolution or not, as any one can be.

I had almost forgot to fay, that two books of the above-mentioned collection, which at the time ftruck my fancy molt, and which, by their fize, feemed eafieft to conceal, I referved for myself, and kept

with me in prison during my four months confinement, and afterwards brought off in fafety, when I fled with my family from France. One of them is a Latin Prayer book, containing the public prayers of the Catholic church, beautifully written on vellum, and ornamented; and in the first page is a memorandum, fuppofed to be in the hand of James II. declaring the book to have belonged to Mary Queen of Scots, and to have been ufed by her Majefty on the fcaffold. The other is alfo a common Latin Prayerbook, or Breviary, which belonged to the fame Queen Mary, given her as a prefent by the then Pope, with the arms of the Holy See richly embroidered on the back. Both books are finely illuminated, and contain numerous paintings; and they are the only ones of this famous Collection which I can answer for. They are now in my poffeffion, and I fhall be ready and happy to thew them to any perfon who may think them an object of curiofity. With great regard, I am,

Dear Sir, your's, &c. CHARLES BROWNE MOSTYN. Kiddington, February 1, 1804.

Before we undertook to publish the preceding very curious communication, we confidered it our duty, as well to the public as to the illuftrious statesman whose name occurs in the latter part, to fend it to Mr. Fox, for bis perufal. That gentleman, when he returned it, favoured us with Some further particulars, which we deem it of importance to prefent to our readers.

LETTER FROM THE HON, C. J. FOX.

SIR,

The account in the enclofed paper correfponds exactly with what I have been able to collect concerning the Stuart papers both here and in France. I had loft all hopes of finding the Scotch College Papers before I went to that country; and the chief object of my journey was to confult the archives of the Secretary of State's Office, &c. Barillon's and D'Avaux's correfpondence. In this I fucceeded, and found much very useful and curious matter. There were not in the National Library any papers that either had, or were pretended to have, belonged to the Scotch College. I can have no doubt but Carpentier's account is true; for if he had them in his poffeffion, he would certainly either have reftored them to the right owners, or have difpofed

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SIR,

OTHING is more natural than that the multiplication of reviewers fhould be proportioned to that of authors; nor, as a friend to literature, would I, were it in my power, impofe the leaft retraint upon the free communication of opinions concerning books, which, being addreffed to the public eye, appeal to the public judgment. Yet, it is obvious, that when criticism becomes a trade, followed by a number of competitors, there is danger left it should be pursued in the fpirit of other overstocked trades; and that its original purpose of utility should be made fubordinate to the aim of catching the attention by finifter arts.

It would be a curious topic to confider all the varieties of character affumed by periodical reviewers, and the different modes of deviation from the plain duty of their office by which they endeavour to make themfelves confpicuous. Such a tafk would, however, exceed the limits to which your correfpondents are expected to confine themselves: and I thall trefpafs upon your patience no farther than to make fome obfervations upon one defcription of critics, who feem to have ufurped a place in the public efteem to which I cannot think them entitled. Indeed, they appear to me, rather the declared foes of literature, than its fervants and guardians. I know not how better to designate the clafs of which they are compofed, than by the familiar appellation they are fo fond of mutually giving and receiving, that of the very clever fellorus. They would formerly have been called men of bright parts; geniuses of too high a caft to require the adventitious aid of reading and reflection, and fit to discuis, at fight, all forts of questions.

When one of these clever fellows fits down to review a book, nothing is farther from his intention than to give an explicit account of what it contains that would be

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