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us; we should have no quiet or sleep in the silentest nights and most solitary places; and we must inevitably be stricken deaf or dead with the noise of a clap of thunder. And the like inconvenience wouid follow, if the sense of feeling were advanced, as the Atheist requires. How could we sustain the pressure of our cloaths in such a condition; much less carry burthens and provide for conveniences of life? We could not bear the assault of an insect, or a feather, or a puff of air, without pain. There are examples now of wounded persons, that have roared for anguish and torment at a discharge of ordnance, though at a very great distance; what insupportable torture then should we be under, when all the whole body would have the tenderness of a wound?" Serm. on Acts xvii. 27. Part 1.

P. 141. All nature is but art, unknown to thee;
All chance, direction which thou canst not see
Thomas Aquinas thus expresses the same thought :
Natura, potentia Dei; fortuna, voluntas.

P. 138. Let earth unbalanc'd from her orbit fly,
Planets and suns rush lawless thro' the sky;
Let ruling angels from their spheres be hurl'd,
Being on being wreck'd, and world on world;
Heaven's whole foundations to their centre nod,
And nature tremble to the throne of God.

The author of the essay hath frequently with great judgment introduced quotations from writers ancient and modern, in which the same doctrine with that of the poet is inculcated, though there may be no reason to suspect an imitation. It is indeed a pleasing and instructive employment to observe a similitude of thought in men of genius on important subjects, and to compare the various illustrations they have used to enforce resembling sentiments. Let me then be permitted to parallel the above sublime lines with the following passage from the venerable Hooker: "Since the time that God did first proclaim the edicts of his law, heaven and earth have hearkened, to his voice, and their labour hath been to do his will; "he made a law for the rain; he gave his decree unto the sea, that the waters should not pass his commandment." Now, if nature should intermit her course, and leave altogether, though it were but for a while, the observation of her own laws, if those

principal and mother elements of the world, whereof all things in this lower world are made, should lose the qualities which now they have; if the frame of that heavenly arch, erected over our heads, should loosen and dissolve itself; if celestial spheres should forget their wonted motions, and by irregular volubility turn themselves any way as it might happen; if the prince of the lights of heaven, which now as a giant doth run his unwearied course, should, as it were, through a languishing faintness, begin to stand, and to rest himself; if the moon should wander from her beaten way, the times and seasons of the year blend themselves by disordered and confused mixture, the winds breathe out their last gasp, the clouds yield no rain, the earth be defeated of heavenly influence, the fruits of the earth pine away, as children at the withered breasts of their mother no longer able to yield them relief; what would become of man himself, whom these things do now all serve? See we not plainly, that obedience of creatures unto the law of nature is the stay of the whale world?"-Hooker, Ecc, Pol. § i. p. 3.

P. 275. Shut, shut the door, good John, &c. &c.

I once had a transient view of a MS, in Pope's hand-writing; it contains hints, seminal thoughts, illustrations, and anecdotes, for occasional use. I recollect to have read in it the following anecdote of Sir Isaac Newton; it was versified, and I suppose intended for a place in the Epistle to ArbuthSir Isaac being often interrupted by ignorant pretenders to the discovery of the longitude, ordered his porter to inquire of every stranger, who desired admission, whether he came about the longitude, and to exclude such as answered in the affirmative.-Two lines, as I recollect, ran

not.

thus:

Is it about the longitude you come?

The porter ask'd: Sir Isaac's not at home.

P. 305. I do not know, whether it has been yet observed that Addison's account of the English poets is an imitation of Drayton's Epistle to Henry Reynolds of poets and poesy. P. 320. In a life of Pope, written by one Ayres, and published by Curll, I found the following advertisement.

"Daily Post of Friday 14th June, 1728.

"WHEREAS there has been a scandalous paper cried about the streets, under the title of "A Popp upon Pope,"

insinuating that I was whipped in Ham walks on Thursday last; This is to give notice, that I did not stir out of my. house at Twickenham, and that the saine is a malicious and ill-grounded report. ALEXANDER POPE."

This is a curious instance of the sore sensibility of the poet.

P. 324. The plan of Middleton's letter from Rome was taken from a work, published in 1675, by Joshua Stopford, B. D. entitled "Pagano-Papismus, or an exact parallel between Rome-Pagan and Rome-Christian in their doctrines and ceremonies."

1784, March.

LXXVII. Bentham and Gray on Saxon and Gothie Architecture. Ely, April 17.

MR. URBAN,

HAVING lately observed Mr. Gray's Treatise on Gothic Architecture, and Mr. Bentham's Account of Saxon, Norman, and Gothic Architecture, frequently cited, and their notions and sentiments generally to coincide, nay, oftentimes to be expressed in the very same words;—Mr. B. quite at a loss to account for these extraordinary circum stances, and how to discover the occasion of so remarkable a concurrence of sentiments, diction, and opinions, made all the inquiry he could to obtain a sight of Mr. Gray's Treatise abovementioned, but in vain. Supposing it therefore still to remain in MS. or, if printed, to have been communicated only to some of Mr. Gray's select friends, he was forced to give over the pursuit. At length, however, by means of your very useful and entertaining Magazine, he has been enabled to unravel the mystery.

Mr. Gray's Treatise, and Mr. Bentham's Account, it seems, are one and the same.

So says your correspondent S. E. in your Magazine for May, 1783, in his remarks on Mr. Ruben D'Moundt. "The

*By Lord Hervey.

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work in which Mr. Gray's very curious and judicious obser vations upon Gothic Architecture occur, is Mr. Bentham's History of the Cathedral of Ely, a book with which I am a good deal surprised Mr. R. D'Moundt should be unac quainted, who has exhibited so great a profusion of antiquarian reading. It is proper also that this gentleman, should be informed, that Mr. Bentham had very little, if any, interference with the Treatise on Architecture inserted therein, and which alone has rendered it a most curious and valuable book,"

After so peremptory an assertion, "That Mr. Bentham had very little, if any, interference, with the Treatise on Architecture inserted in his book," Mr. B. must think himself wanting in that regard he owes to truth, and to his own character, if he did not endeavour to clear up that matter, rectify the mistake, and vindicate himself from the charge of having been obliged to Mr. Gray for that Treatise, and publishing it as his own.

Had Mr. G. been the real author, Mr. B. certainly ought to have been a little more explicit in his acknowledgment of the favour; especially as it would have been no small recommendation of his book, to have informed the reader, that the Treatise on Architecture was composed by so celebrated and distinguished a writer as Mr. Gray.

It was sufficient to Mr. B. that Mr. G. approved of it, and that he furnished him with several hints, of which Mr. B. availed himself, and for which Mr. B. thought proper to make his grateful acknowledgement in his preface; there, indeed, in general terms; but the particulars will appear from Mr. Gray's letter to him inserted below.

The truth is, Mr. B. had written that Treatise long before he had the honour of any acquaintance with Mr. Gray; and it was that which first introduced him to Mr. G.

It may not be improper to observe, that when the first sheet of the Introduction was composed for the press in 1764, a proof of it was shewn (by a friend of Mr. B.) to Mr. G. the contents of which related to the first introduction of Christianity into this kingdom, and its progress, to the conversion of the Saxons, &c. This was thought by Mr. G. to have too slight a connection with the principal subject, the History of the Church of Ely. However Mr. B. was not informed of Gray's opinion till it was too late, and the sheet had been put to press.

Some time after (about the beginning of 1765), Mr. G. having expressed a desire to see the following sheets, Mr. B. then at Cambridge, waited on him at Pembroke Hall,

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with six of them, and begged the favour of his remarks and correction; and this was the first time that Mr. B. had the pleasure of an hour's conversation on the subject with Mr. G. It happened fortunately that the two last sheets were composed, but not worked off, which gave Mr. B. an oppor tunity of inserting several additions hinted in Mr. Gray's letter, which he inclosed when he returned the sheets to Mr. B.

A transcript of Mr. Gray's letter to Mr. B. as it sets this matter in a clear light, and will, no doubt, be acceptable and entertaining to your readers, is here subjoined.

Superscribed,

"To the Rev. Mr. Bentham.

"Mr. Gray returns the papers and prints to Mr. Bentham, with many thanks for the sight of them.

"Concludes, he has laid aside his intention of publishing the first four Sections of his Introduction, that contain the settlement and progress of Christianity among the Saxons: as (however curious and instructive in themselves) they certainly have too slight a connection with the subject in hand to make a part of the present work.

"Has received much entertainment and information from his remarks on the state of Architecture among the Saxons, and thinks he has proved his point against the authority of Stow and Somner. The words of Eddius, Richard of Hexham, &c. must be every where cited in the original tongue, as the most accurate translation is in these cases not to be trusted this Mr. B. has indeed commonly done in the MSS. but not every where.

"P. 31. He says, the instances Sir C. Wren brings, were, some of them at least, undoubtedly erected after the Con quest. Sure they were all so without exception.

"There is much probability in what he inserts with respect to the New Norman mode of building; though this is not, nor perhaps can be, made out with so much precision as the former point.

"P. 35. Here, where the author is giving a compendious view of the peculiarities that distinguish the Saxon style, it might be mentioned, that they had no tabernacles (or niches and canopies), nor any statues to adorn their buildings on the outside, which are the principal grace of what is called the Gothic; the only exception that I can recollect, is a little figure of Bishop Herebert Losing over the north transept door at Norwich, which appears to be of that time: but this

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