within fifteen dayes when the place was voy'd, and they to allows,.... Dated 7311."

Near the church is a well, called by the name of St. Chadd's Well, to which many devotees of the Romith religion have been known to refort. Leland, in his Itinerary, vol. IV. p. 111, ed. 2, fays, "Stowe church, in the Eaft end of the town, where is St. Chadd's well, a fpring of pure water, where is feen a ftone in the bottome of it, on the which, fome faye, St. Chadde was wont naked to ftand in the water and praye. At this ftone St. Chadd had his oratory in the tyme of Wulpher, Kinge of the Merches."

There is, within about forty yards from the above well, a chalybeat fpring, once in great repute with Sir John Floyer, a phyfician of Lichfield, who caufed it to be inclofed with a brick building. After Sir John's decease, it fell into difrepute, in which ftate it remained many years, but now feems to recover its priftine reputation, and is much ufed by the inhabitants of this fity.

More to the right hand ftands a neat modern building, erected by the late Rev. Mr. Hinton, canon of Windfor. He lies buried in St. Chadd's church, near the Weft end of the South aile. The Houfe is now occupied by the relift of the late Rev. Mr. Gaftrel, fifter to Mrs. Elizabeth Afton. With thefe ladies Dr Johnson spent much of his time when in Lichfield. The lake in the front of the houfe is called Stowpool.' RICHARD GREENE.

MR. URBAN,

IF it is reckoned among Dr. Johnfon's foibles, that he became apologist for two culprits arraigned for atrocious offences at the bar of justice, viz. Meffeurs Savage and Baretti. Perhaps his friends will not allow that thefe undertakings fhould be imputed to him as blemishes in his character, but rather confidered as the mere effects of humanity. But let us confider the circumftances under which the Doctor is fup. pofed to have compofed the fhort fpeech which Savage fpoke before fentence was paffed upon him. It need not be mentioned what he has offered in the Life he wrote of that unhappy man in extenuation of his guilt. Mankind will judge very differently of his cafe, and the Doctor had no right to pass the judgment he has done upon the event

of Savage's trial. Savage himself fays. that his offence was the effect of a cafual abfence of reafon, and a fudden impulfe of paffion. Dr. Johnson faid, that Savage always denied his being drunk, as had been generally reported. How is this confiftent with the cafual abfence of reafon which Savage mentioned at his trial as an apology for his conduct, &c. What Dr. Johnson faid in behalf of Baretti, as it was taken down at the trial, is exactly as follows:

"Dr. J. I believe I began to be ac-' quainted with Mr. Baretti about the year 1753 or 54. I have been intimate with him. He is a man of literature, a very ftudious man, a man of great diligence. He gets his living by study. I have no reafon to think he was ever difordered with liquor in his life. A man that I never knew to be otherwife than peaceable, and a man that I take to be rather timorous.

Q. Was he addicted to pick up wo men in the ftreets?

Dr. J. I never knew that he was.
Q. How is he as to eye-fight?

Dr. J. He does not fee me now, nor do I fee him. I do not believe he could be capable of affaulting any body in the ftreet, without great provocation."

Obferve. The accufation was, that Baretti had murdered a man by stabbing him, and it was in evidence that he had stabbed two men, one of whom died of his wound. What fays Dr. Johnfon in his defence?" Mr. Baretti, fays he, is a man of letters, and a studious man; he never picks up proftitutes in the street, that I know of; he is fhortfighted, and fo am I; and, I believe, would not affault a man without provo

cation." This puts one in mind of the Dutch printer's defence in anfwer to Milton's accufations. "You are a crafty knave, fays Milton; but, fays the prin ter, I am a good arithmetician." "You fled from your creditors, fays Milton, for debt; but, fays the printer, I publifhed tables of figns and tangents."

When his defence of Baretti was mentioned to Dr. Johnlon, the Doctor" replied, "I was not alone in that affair." It was anfwered, "Your own conduct was no better for that circumstance, unlefs you would have been guided by your fellow deponents in every thing elfe." But Dr. Johnfon's commiferation for unhappy criminals was remarkable. And as he had fome fuccefs in his operations on Savage's account, perhaps he might think that a little of his benevo

lence

lence of the fame kind might fave Dr. Dodd; but the impunity of Savage and Baretti' was not fufficiently edifying to the publick in its confequences to authorise the extending the fame indulgence to the unhappy Divine. Yours, &c.

MR. URBAN,

THE

QUERIST.

HE Parallel Paffages and Remarks on Shakspeare, p. 277, are extremely pleafing and ingenious; but, with great deference, I would fubmit the following Obfervations to your entertaining correfpondent.

The Greek lines ought to have been tranflated literally and verbatim, as far as poffible. This, indeed, fhould be a general rule, not only for the fake of female readers, but also for a vast majority of readers of the other fex, who, though perhaps men of the best underftandings and great information, may not have had the advantage of academical education. It would be ufeful alfo for another purpose: conjectures would be offered with more caution, and writers, when compelled to this teft, would perceive they muft proceed on fure ground; parallels and fimilitudes would then be rigorously exact.

I must take the liberty of mentioning 10 your correfpondent, that there are innumerable thoughts that must be commou to mankind in all ages, in all places, and, probably, are expreffed in nearly the fame manner in all languages. Such as the half of my life, half of my being, balf of my fubflance; and it feems theowing away ingenuity and literature to collect and compare palfiger of that fort.

The fame remark may be made with respect to the word mail, in the next quotation. That word was the common trivial epitiet in thofe days, when defcribing a certain kind of voice. It may not be fo frequent at the prefent time, but is far from having yet gone into general difute. The word, I think, now preferred is thin. A thin voice is commonly faid of certain fingers, and alio of men, either as to familiar difcourfe or to public fpeaking. If fuch phrafes as theic are ever to be taken into confideration, we may expect the following as inftances of plagiarifm, or admirable concurrence, This is fine wea ther very bad-terrilly hot day-excefficely cold, &c. which, foreigners obferve, is the ufval commencement of English convertation when two friends meet.

The note on the epithet delighted is very fatisfactory; but I cannot make fenfe of this paffage, and request it may be explained. No doubt a worthy augmentation of the history, concern"ing the bel of land." A few lines after, "When it is weary of lurking.” The word augmentation may perhaps be cafily understood; but does hel mean a fpirit, and is land put for Iceland ?— I fhould fuppofe fo, only the spelling antiquated.

To-whit! To-whoo! The fimplicity of the two little paftoral fongs, in one of which thofe words form the burthen, is fo delightful, that we feel an anxicty to be certain of the fignificance of every fyllable. To,whit ! To-whoo! are Onomatopeia; and words of that fort, I fhould imagine, never grow out of date. that the common people never ceafe employing them when occafion demands. Is that the cafe with those words? I think. not. I have never obferved the common people, in any part of the three. kingdoms, utter them;-whence this difference? Perhaps the owl is a bird more fcarce now than in the times of our ancestors. This is not unlikely. Population being increafed, our people, more engaged in induftry, are lefs attentive to objects of this fort; and both caufes may have rendered the words obfolete. Some perfons cannot imagine that those words are at all imitative of the cry of the owl; but to me it feems otherwile. The cry of the owl is variable. This may proceed from the difference of male or female, young or old, or the fpecies, of which there is great variety. I doubt not but fkilful naturalifts, or perfons entirely refident in the country, might be able to difcriminate the different voices.The obfervation that has occurred to me is, that in the word To--whit, the first fyllable, To, is long, the last very fhort and acute, followed by a repetition of both fyllables, very quick, acute, and both fhort. In the word To-wboo, the firft fyllable always fhort; whoo, the laft, lengthened out prodigiously, with a very lugubrous tone. The found of the whole produces a pleafing melancholy fenfation, when liftened to from a cottage-window, or wandering through a lonely wood, in the filence of the night. But of thefe nuga perhaps more than enough.

The childing autumn. The term childing, I prefume, is well explained;

but

but if it be an epithet invented by the poet, it is very stiff and far-fetched. I therefore conclude it was, in thofe days, a common popular mode of fpeaking. The lines from Fairfax fhould have been explained; they mean, I fuppofe, that the hundred plants were enchanted into an hundred nymphes. I have not an opportunity of confulting the book; and that must be the cafe with a multitude of your readers.

The paffage from Aulus Gellius is applied with much ingenuity and pleafantry, but with this diftinction, that though Aulus Gellius has expreffed his idea with a very stiff, embarrafted circumlocution, yet he really explains the term obnoxium. Shakspeare, on the contrary, is idem per idem, manifeftly a burlefque; and the word accommodated is not explained at all.

Thefe thoughts arofe on reading the agreeable letter figned T. H. W. If they be worthy a place in your valuable repofitory, Mr. Urban will please to infert them; but, if not, the writer can readily acquiefce in the better judgment of one he fo much refpects and efteems. Yours, &c. A.C.

P. S. P. 288. The Dicum of Johnfon's I heard many years ago, but with fome difference. It was faid of Macklin's conversation, "a conftant renova"tion of hope, with perpetual difap"pointment." -Query, Which was right?

CHA

Anecdotes of ARCHERY in ENGLAND, by Mr. BARRINGTON. (From the Archæologia, Vol. VII.) HARLES the Firft feems, from the dedication of a treatife, intituled, The Bowman's Glory, to have been himfelf an archer; and in the eighth year of his reign he iffued a commillion to the Chancellor, Lord Mayor, and feveral of the Privy Council, to prevent the fields near London being fo inclofed as "to interrupt the neceflary and profit"able exercife of fhooting," as alfo to lower the mounds where they prevented the view frem one mark to another. -The fame commiffion directs that bridges fhould be thrown over the dikes, and that all fhooting marks which had been removed thould be reftored. Under thefe laft claufes, a cowkeeper, named Pitfield, was, fo late as 1746, obliged to renew one of thefe marks, on which the Artillery Company cut the following infcription, viz. Pitfield's Repentance. I am informed alio

that Mr. Scott (the great brick-maker) hath been under the neceffity of making his fubmiffion.

Charles the First likewife iffued two proclamations for the promotion of archery, the laft of which recommends the use of the bow and pike together.

Catherine of Portugal (queen to Charles the Second) feems to have been much pleafed with the fight at leaft of this exercife; for in 1676, by the contributions of Sir Edward Hungerford and others, a filver badge for the marthal of the fraternity was made, weighing twenty five ounces, and reprefenting an archer drawing the longbow (in the proper manner) to his ear, with the following infeription, Regina Catherine Sagittarii. The fupporters are two bowmen, with the arms of England and Portugal.

In 1682 there was a molt magnificent cavalcade and entertainment given by the Finsbury archers, when they be ftowed the titles of Duke of Shoreditch, Marquis of Iflington, &c. upon the most deferving. Charles the Second was prefent upon this occafion but, the day being rainy, he was obliged foon to leave the field.

I do not find any thing relative to the ftate of archery during the fhort reign of James the Second; but it continued, after this, to be used for a manly exercife, as appears by an epitaph on the South fide of Clerkenwell church, on Sir Wm. Wood, who died in 1691, aged 82, which is ftill very legible.There is a very good portrait of this famous archer, belonging to the Artillery Company, at the Blue Anchor, a public-houfe in Bunhill-Row, which looks into the Artillery Ground.

Archery, however, did not entirely die with Sir Wm. Wood, for in 1696, a widow (named Mrs. Eliz. Shakerley) left by her will thirty-five pounds to be diftributed in prizes to this fraternity. Poflibly the had attended the Finsbury archers from the fame curiofity which Ovid afcribes to Penelope *.

In the fucceeding reign of Queen Anne, I have been informed by Gen. Oglethorpe, that, together with the Duke of Rutland and feveral others of confiderable rank, he ufed frequently to fhoot in the neighbourhood of London.

*Penelope juvenum vires tentabat in

arcu,

"Qui latus argueret corneus arcus * erat."

I do not prefume to guess the General's age; but he must be advanced in years, as he was aid-de-camp to Prince Eugene of Savoy, and fill continues to handle his bow in fuch a manner that there is little doubt but that he would diftin guifh himself in this manly exercife *.

I do not find, in the archives of the Company, any memoranda of confe quence during the reign of George the Firft; but till the year 1753 targets were erected in the Finsbury fields during the Eafter and Whitfun holidays, when the best shooter was ftyled captain for the enfuing year; and the fecond, lieutenant. Of these there are only two now surviving, viz. Mr. Benj. Poole and Mr. Philip Conftable, who have frequently obtained thefe titles. The former of thefe is now rather aged and infirm; but the latter hath been fo obliging as to fhew me most of their marks in the Finfbury fields, as well as to communicate feveral anecdotes and bfervations relative to archery.

MR. URBAN,

Bath, July 25.

A Mistake having flipped into your

obituary articles of the month of May laft, relative to the death of Thomas Riddle, Efquire, (who is defcribed as the gentleman who lately fought a duel with the Honourable Col. Cofmo Gordon,) left the error fhould be hurtful, and to the prejudice of the charac'ter of Col. Gordon. As your Magazine is univerfally read, and respectable as to credit, you are requetted to unde ceive the publick.-The nobleman alluded to never had the misfortune to have, during life, but one private vindication, and that was unavoidable, as he was injured, confiftent with the feelings of a gentleman and an officer. That fatal affair happened on the 4th of Sep tember, 1783, in Hyde Park. On the 17th of September, 1784, the Honourable Colonel Cofmo Gordon furrendered himself to the laws of his country, and was tried for his life, by a refpect able jury, at the Old Bailey, who, with out quitting the Court, honourably acquitted bim, to the evident fatisfaction of every perfon prefent, and the candid world in general. B. A.

This gallant Veteran hrs fince been arrefted by Death; and feveral curious parriculars of him may be feen in pp. 517. 572. EDIT.

+ Mr. Riddle's duel was with Mr. Cunningham; fee an account of it in vol, LIII. P. 363. Epit.

MR. URBAN,

THE collector of anecdotes refpeét ing Prefident Bradshaw may not Be apprifed, that, while he lived at the Deanry-houfe at Weftminster, he was faid to have countenanced and fupported Mr. Edward Bagfhaw, the fecond mafter of that fchool, against Dr. Busby, the head mafter. Ibid. p. 603. Bagthaw dedicated to the Prefident his "Practical Difcourfe concerning God's "Decrees, Oxford, 4to, 1659." The epiftle dedicatory is addreffed "To the

Honourable my Lord Bradshaw, Lord "Chief Juftice of Chefter;" and in it he declares how defirous he was to teftify to the world the real efteem he had of his Lordship's fingular worth and eminence in general, and likewife to manifeft, in particular, how mindful he was of thofe many fignal and unparalleled marks of favour he had been pleased to confer on himself, &c.

B. R. in your Magazine for Decem. ber 1783, p. 1028, wishes to know who was the author of "A Hiftory of the "Civil Wars of Great Britain and Ire"land," printed in 1661, under the fignature of J. D. There is a reference to this book in Bishop Kennet's Regifter, p. 527; and, according to him, the fame letters denote a perfon, or perfons, concerned in two other publications. In one of them, at p. 696, he is styled a friend to Henry Turberville, the author of "Enchiridion, or, A Manual of "Controverfies, clearly demonftrating "the Truth of the Catholic Religion,' &c. reprinted in 1686, and to which was then added the author's last controverfial piece in verfe, with feveral fentences out of the Fathers, collected by 7. D. all marked with a ftar. At p. 487, J. D. alfo occurs as the translator into English of David Blondell's treatife of the Sibyls, fo highly celebrated, as well by the ancient heathens as the holy fathers of the church. In the margin this J. D. is mentioned to have been J. Davis of Kidwelly*.-Perhaps the above hints may be a means of difcovering the name of the hiftorian whom your correfpondent is in quest of. That three authors, about the fame time, fhould make choice of the fame fignature, is not very probable. Yours, &c. W. & D.

According to Hearne, J. Davis of Kidwelly published, in 1672, Mickleton's

Account of the Ancient Rites and Monuments of the Monaftical and Cathedral Church of Durham. Gulielm. Neubrig.Tb. Hearne, Nut. us Spicoleg. p. 736.

MR