Courts turn; for, though certainly irregular, the fettlement of these petty difputes, in a fummary way, has been found fo advantageous to all parties, that the practice of commiffioners interfering in thefe matters, feems, by univerfal confent, to be univerfally adopted. The impreffion upon my mind, therefore, being that thefe fubordinate tribunals are of much greater importance as links of the great chain of caufes and confequences, as integral parts of the general fyftem, than is commonly imagined, I must give to them a warm, though qualified, approbation, inafmuch as I conceive them to be intimately connected with the existence of fociety, the jurifprudence and political economy of the Country: yet I must also obferve, in conclufion, that I fhould be happy to fee a greater uniformity in their operations, a fyftematic arrangement of bufinefs, and ftrong yet regular principles of action inI remain, Sir, Your obedient, humble fervant, JOSEPH MOSER.

fluence the whole.

Smith Street, Westminster, October 7th, 1799.

To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine.

SIR,

NT

OTWITHSTANDING the laudable attempt of your correfpondent G. D. to fupply fome account of the learned Mr. Upton, I am tempted to offer, for your Mifcellany, a fuller article to the memory of that great fcholar; for which I am particularly furnished by the communications of his grandfon, Robert Tripp, Efq. barrister; and from which it was my defign to have formed a memoir in the fupplement to my "Hiftory of TAUNTON;" but as that publication has been poftponed, and probably may not appear for several years, it is but a proper respect to the information which that gentleman politely afforded, and to the name of his worthy ancestor, to give it to the call of your correfpondents. It will, I hope, be deemed excufable, if fome circumstances already stated by G. D. be repeated.

JAMES UPTON, M. A. was the fourth fon of a gentleman of Cheshire, and born at Wimflow, in that county, December 10, 1670. He was educated at Eton, and became a Fellow of King's College, Cambridge. He afterwards, at the request of Dr. Newborough, the head mafter, returned to Eton, where he was tutor to the famous Sir William Wyndham. He married a lady of a refpectable family in that

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neighbourhood, of the name of Proctor. From Eton he removed to Ilminster, in Somerfetfhire, upon the invitation of feveral refpectable gentlemen of the county, and particularly of the Earl Pawlet, to whom he was afterwards chaplain, and all whofe fons were under his tuition at Taunton. He remained a few years at Ilminster, and taught the learned languages there, till he was elected to the care of the Free Grammar School in Taunton: which he conducted with the highest reputation, and raised to be the largeft provincial school at that time ever known in England. The number of his pupils amounted to more than 200; and many of them were from the first families in the Weft of England. He ferved for many years the church of Bishop's-Hull, in which parish the fchool is fituated. So early as 1711 he was in poffeffion of the rectory of Brimpton, near Yeovil, in the prefentation of the Sydenham family. In the year 1712 he was prefented to the rectory of Monkfilver, 14 miles from Taunton. He died August 13, 1749, aged 79.

In 1696 he published, at Cambridge, an excellent edition of Ariftotle de Arte Poetica, with notes. In 1702, at Eton,

In

Dionyfius Halicarnaffenfis de Structura Orationis. In 1711, a revised and corrected edition of Roger Afcham's "SchoolMafter," with explanatory notes. 1726, his Пonian Içogia; Sive Novus Hiftoriarum Fabellarumque Delectus: a very ufeful and much approved felection of paffages from Greek authors, with a Latin Tranflation. He was alfo the author of feveral fingle fermons.

With the name of Mr. JAMES UPTON ought to be preserved that of his fon, Mr. JOHN UPTON, B. D. who received his claffical education in his father's school, at Taunton, from whence he went to Exeter College, Oxford, where he became a fellow; and afterwards tutor to the fons of Lord Chancellor Talbot, and one of his chaplains. This nobleman prefented him to a prebend in the cathedral of Rochefter: he had alfo the rectory of Riffington, in Gloucestershire. He never married; and died at Taunton, December 1760, aged 53: leaving the reputation of a gentleman of diftinguished claffical learning.

His publications were an edition of Arrian's Epictetus, with notes, and a Latin Tranflation, two vols. 4to. 1739: Dr. Harwood calls this " an incomparable edition, and the most perfect that was ever given of a Greek ethical writer:" and HARRIS, in his "Philological Enquiries," reprefents it as the first edition

of

of the kind that had any pretenfions to perfection, vol. i. p. 33. (2.) An edition of Spenser's "Fairie Queen," with numerous notes, replete with learning, taste and judgment: and (3.) Obfervations on Shakespeare. He left many works unfinished.

Both father and fon were men as much efteemed for their piety, philanthropy, and amiable conduct in private life, as celebrated for their genius and erudition.

it is a fincere pleature to bear this tef mony to fingular learning and merit. I am, Sir, your conftant reader, JOSHUA TOULMIN.

Taunton, Sept. 11, 1799.

To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine, Communicated by DR. BENDOES.

I'

SIR,

you think the following communication may meet the talte of fome of your readers, I fhall be obliged to you for inferting it in your Magazine.

Thofe who concur with the author of the Diverfions of Purley, refpecting the original meaning of the word more, may be led like myself to believe the word reckon has a fimilar original meaning.

Raked hay, is hay put together in a heap; hence hay-rick.

Reek in German, fignifies any heap. To reckon is put together, to calculate. Chaucer writes. Than cometh negligence or retcheleinefs, that recketh of nothynge. The Parfon's Tale. With the fame meaning are used at prefent in the North, rackleís and rack. Vide Grofe's Gloffary. To wreke, meaning to revenge, feems to me the fame word.-Chaucer thus uses it,

"Well couth love him wreke tho' Of daunger and of pride alfo, That Narciffus fometyme him bere, He quite him wel his guerdon there." The Romaunt of the Refe. Here love could reckon the daunger and the pride of Narciffus to quite or repay hin, as much.-So in common language, a perfon indebted to another, fays, he is come to reckon with him, when he means to pay him.-Well would it be for mankind, if revenge were never purfued farther than to be even with the injuries received.

It is, perhaps, vain of me to ask indulgence towards a conjecture on a subject fo little attended to as this, refpecting the meaning of words; the readers indifference may fecure to me a quiet poffeffion of any error I may commit; but I should rather meet a correction of the error, than add

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one more to thofe already heaped on language; befides my overthrow.muft prove that the great, and the only exemplar of all rational inquiry into the nature and progrefs of language, was ftudied; I mean the Diverfions of Purley, the only guide to a knowledge of the English language.

My conjecture is, that the word rich, comes from the fame fource as reckon. Wreck, is ufed in the north to mean abundance. Vide Grofe's Glaffary.

Rich I fuppofe the past participle, and that a riked or a rich man was once poffeffed of much land produce; as a monied man, now fignifies a man poffeffsed of much money. I need not adduce proof of the fcarcity of coin in former periods, compared with its prefent abundance; the Hiftory of England abounds with ftriking facts of it; from this fcarcity of it, it is not too much to conclude, that coin was unknown in the concerns of mankind, and that then the abundance of land produce conftituted riches.-If this be true, it affords an example of a word which includes in its meaning the fame conclufion, which the author of the Wealth of Nations has made, viz. that riches or wealth is derived from the foil. Bath.

M. D.

My correfpondent's proofs appear to me cogent; and if he has not arrived at the truth, (which I by no means fay) he has, I think, approached it as nearly as invef tigations of this kind admit. It will occur, that rich was not founded foft by our ancestors; fo that rick and rich were founded alike.-In German, reich means rich and realme. In other northern languages, orthography favours the above deduction.I hope the ingenious author will communicate more of his researches. To counteract the labours of thofe lexicographers, who have fo continually " divorced the foul of a word from its body," is the best way I know, to elucidate lan guage.

4th October, 1799**

T. BEDDOES.

to invite the public attention to thofe circumftances which render this act of juftice neceffary.'

It might have been fuppofed that the intereft which the fate of Chatterton excited in the public mind, would, in fome meature, have fupplied his lofs to his family, by procuring for them active and benevolent friends. The publication of all his works for their emolument, would at that time have fecured to them the comforts of life. Your readers, Sir, will probably learn with furprize, that the whole fum they have ever received from the profits of his productions, amounts only to feventeen guineas and fix pence. In this I do not include the voluntary affiftance of thofe individuals on whofe juftice they had no claim. They remember with gratitude the kindness of Dr. Glynn, of Mr. Bryant, above all of Mifs Hannah More and her fifters.

The papers and poems attributed to Rowley, had been procured from Chatterton, during his life time, chiefly by Mr. Barrett and Mr. Catcott; from the latter, the poems were purchased for fifty pounds, of which fix guineas were given to the mother and fifter. A great part of Mr. Barrett's Hiftory of Bristol is compofed of Chatterton's communications; the only return the family ever received from him was his furgical affiftance, gratuitoufly af. forded to the fifter, Mrs. Newton, once in a complaint of the breaft, once in curing a whitlow on her finger.,

When Chatterton was more particularly the object of public curiofity, a clergyman called upon his fifter, prefented her half a guinea, and requefed to fee whatever letters of her brother fhe had preferved. She produced them. He then begged permiffion to take them away for ane hour, afligning as a reafon, that it would be too painful to his feelings to read them in the prefence of that fifter, to whom they were addreffed. On the fame pretext he procured the letters in Mrs. Chatterton's poffeffion, who lived feparately from her daughter; these alfo, he promised to return in an hour, and the prefent of a guinea, and the language of confolatory friendship prevented all fufpicion; indeed, fo confolatory and fo full of religion was his language to the mother, that the faid the almoft looked upon him as a guardian angel.

A fortnight elapfed, the letters had not been returned, and they knew not the name of the perfon to whom they had entrusted them. At the end of the fortnight Mrs. Chatterton received a letter from that per

fon, Mr. HC, "Be not alarmed, Mrs. Chatterton," he faid, "all the little treafure fhall be faithfully returned to you again;" with the originals he promised to fend tranfcripts of all the letters, with which the curiofity of ftrangers might be gratified, while the hand writing of Chatterton fhould be preferved. He again con-foled Mrs. Chatterton for the fate of her fon. "Perhaps," faid he, " he now beholds with pleasure the deferved progress his reputation is making every day, and the friends and the affiftances which his name brings to you and to his fifter:" the date of the letter was Lincoln's-Inn, July 27th 1778.

Mr. C

In a fecond letter, August 24th 1778, requested the fifter to write to him, whatever the and her mother could recollect, concerning Chatterton. "Believe me you are writing to one who refpects his memory, and withes you both well;" the promife of returning the letters and magazines containing Chatterton's pieces, which he had borrowed at the fame time, were repeated; and in the courfe of the Autumn they were accordingly returned. Nothing more was heard till, in the following July, to the aftonishment of the family, Mr. C published the letters, and the information he had obtained from Mrs. Newton, in his Love and Madnefs. The mother wrote to him, and upbraided him for duplicity; he replied, by fending ten pounds, to be divided between her and her daughter; again profeffing friendship for them, and faying, "Be affured the family of Thomas Chatterton shall never be forgotten by HC.”

Four months afterwards he again wrote to justify himself, and ufed thefe expreffions, "What has been done was with a view to pave the way for fervices to your family; and I hope, fooner than you think, to be of more fervice to you than any perfon who has hitherto enquired about your fon, for I have a true regard for his memory."

In November 1780, he wrote a fifth letter, defiring Mrs. Newton would fend him a particular account of her circumstances, as he was about to promote a public fubfcription for her; and in April 1781, they received a note from him, requiring an acknowledgment of the ten pounds.

Here Mr. C dropt his correfpondence with the family; they heard no more of the future fervices and the public fubfcription. His Love and Madnets had a great and rapid fale, undoubtedly in a confiderable degree owing to the letters of Chatterton; and his purpose was ferved.

Luckily

[The following reply, which has come to us through a known channel, to a paper published in a former number of this work, figned Gregor Mac Nab, would, merely as a literary performance, have been inferted by us with great readiness and fatisfaction, as a full and fair refutation, according to our judgments, of the hiftorical charges brought in that paper against the clan Mac Gregor, and as a valuable article of Scottish hiftory. But we confider ourselves as more particularly called upon to infert it, as the best atonement we can make for very blameable negligence in overlooking the malignant and truly libellous character of that paper, as far as it contains falfe and fcandalous reflexions on the Clan Alpin regiment, its refpc&table commander, and feveral of its officers. Indeed, it is but juftice to fay, that the perfon under whofe infpection papers fent for our mifcellany, ufually pafs, did abfolutely lay this afide as improper for publication. That this firft determination was not followed, is matter of fincere regret to us; as we are now convinced that we were, though without the least bad intention on our parts, made the inftruments of conveying direct falfehoods to the public, for the malevolent purpose of wounding the feelings of refpectable individuals, and of reviving ancient prejudices againft, a body of people who, whatever may have been their politi cal errors, appear to have been treated with merciless rigour. Th's explicit declaration of our fincere concern for having given way to the impofition practifed upon us, will, we hope, be accepted by the gentlemen injured, as the most effectual reparation we can make for our share in the offence; and we wish that the concealed author may be discovered, and brought into deteftation as a calumniator.] To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine.

Gregors and the Clan Alpin regiment, I had not imagined that you could foil your pages with foul detraction; and I can only afcribe to fome accident, that you did not reject fuch matter with difguft, and regard the anonymous author as a perfon who, in offering it, infulted you, as if you were a vender of fcurrility.

In regard to the character of the commander of that regiment, it is fufficient to obferve, that he has been refpectable as a foldier, from an early age, in Europe and in Afia. The farcafms aimed at fome of the inferior officers induced me to make fome inquiries refpecting them.-I thought it ftrange that the minifter of Balquhidder fhould require a cow herd in the narrow limits of an inclofed glebe: fo I find that the gentleman alluded to was not a cow. MONTHLY MAG, NO. LI,

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herd, but, having been educated for the church, had almoft been a fhepherd, and is nephew to a field officer in his Majesty's fervice abroad-There is indeed a gauger, an officer in the regiment, though he has only the honour to carry a balbert-Thus it appears, fo far as my inquiries have yet extended, that the affertions of your correfpondent are but ill fupported.

But fuppofing them to have been true, they would have amounted only to this, that merit had been drawn from obfcurity. The mind ftored with the malevolence which dictated that paper, will be the victim of its own cancerous quality.What the perfonal confequences may be to the writer, if difcovered, is in the bosom of futurity. In the mean time, as he has wantonly afperfed a whole body of people, allow nie to endeavour to rescue them from unfounded calumny.

In all countries, and particularly in the Highlands, tribes occafionally contended with tribes. There is not a fingle clan that has not had its wars. The spirit of the times was well difplayed by the chieftains, who fhewed their drawn fwords as their charters. It was by the policy of allowing, if not encouraging, tribes to weaken one another, and then taking advantage of the contending parties, that leaders of old became principal chieftains

monarchs.-The battles of clans were

frequent for fucceffive ages, till the arm end to them, partly by force, partly by adof the ftate grew ftrong enough to put an drefs, and douceurs to various chieftains. Happily for fociety, that fort of warfare has long ceafed; but it was more excufable, because more dignified and manly, to attack life openly, than to attempt to affaffinate reputation from the dark caverns of malignity.

One of the laft combats of clans was that which occurred in 1602, between the Colquhouns and the Mac Gregors, which, becaufe it is the latest private battle of importance, has left the ftrongeft impreffion, as well as because many individuals, of the generations that are paft, who fought to profit by their fall, had put numbers of them to death, under the authority of the privy council, without the colour or fanction of law, and were confequently deeply interested in juftifying by any means, and by every effort of invention, the feverities exercifed against them. In truth, however, the battle of Glenfroon was just like the battles of other families-there was nothing difloyal to the ftate in the mind of either party-a call to fupport the crown would have united the hostile bands;and, in fact, kindness and friendship have $ G

long