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THE

LONDON MAGAZINE,

FOR MARCH, 1776.

For the LONDON MAGAZINE.

An Account of a Subterraneous Cavern, lately discovered at Stonehouse, near

My Lord,

I

Plymouth.

To the Right Honourable Lord EDGECUMBE.

Have the honour of communicating to your Lordship, an account, which I took on the fpot, of a fubterranean cavern, lately difcovered in your Lordship's demefns at Stonehoufe. The place, at a confiderable extent round, as your Lordthip well knows, belonged formerly to the Monks: part of the wall that inclosed their garden is still to be feen. The cavern was accidentally discovered by fome miners in blowing up a contiguous rock of marble. The aperture, disclosed by the explosion, was about four feet in diameter, and looked not unlike a hole bored with an auger. It was covered with a broad flat ftone cemented with lime and fand; and twelve feet above it the ground feemed to have been made with rubbish brought thither, for what purpose I know not, unless it were for that of concealment. Here indeed, but here only, we saw some appearance of art, and veftige of mafonry. The hill itfelf, at the northern fide of which this vault was found, confifts, for the most part, of lime ftone, or rather marble.

From the mouth of this cave (thro' which we defcended by a ladder) to the first base, or landing place, is 26 feet. At this bafe is an opening, bearing N. W. by W. to which we have given the name of Tent Cave. It resembles a tent at its bafe, and in its circumference, and ftretches upwards, fomewhat pyramidically, to an invifible point. It is, as far as we

Plymouth-Dock, March 1, 1776.

can measure, about ten feet high, feven broad, twenty two long: though there is an opening, which, on account of its narrowness, we could not well examine, and in all probability it has a dangerous flexure. In each fide of this Tent Cave is a cleft; the right runs horizontally inwards ten feet, the left measures fix by four. The fides of the cave are every where deeply and uncouthly indented, and here and there ftrengthened with ribs, naturally formed, which placed at a due distance from each other, give fome ideas of fluted pillars in old churches.

In a direct line from this cave to the oppofite point, is a road 30 feet long. The defcent is fteep and rugged, either from ftones thrown into it from above, fince the difcovery, or from fragments that have fallen off at different times, from different places below. This road is very strongly but rudely arched over, and many holes on both fides are to be feen, but being very narrow do not admit of remote inspection or critical fcrutiny.

Having fcrambled down this deep defcent, we arrive at a natural arch of gothic-like structure, which is four feet from fide to fide, and fix feet high. Here fome petrefactions are feen depending. On the right of this arch is an opening like a funnel, into which a flender perfon might creep; on the left is another correfpondent funnel, the courfe of which is oblique, and the end unknown.

Beyond this gothic pile is a large space, to which the arch is an en

trance.

116

Letter to Lord Edgecumbe on

trance. This fpace, or inner room, (for fo we have termed it) is 11 feet long, to broad, 25 high. Its fides have many large excavations, and here two columns, which feem to be a mals of petrefactions, project confiderably. On the fun faces of thofe pillars, below, are feen fome fantastic protuberances, and on the hanging roofs above, fome cryftal drops that have been petrified in their progrefs. Between thofe columns is a chaẩm capable of containing three or four men.

Returning from this room, we perceive on the left hand, an avenue 30 feet long, naturally floored with clay, and vaulted with one. It bears S. S. W. and before we have crept through it, we fee a paffage of difficult accefs and dangerous investigation. It runs forward 25 feet, and opens 'over the vault 30 feet high near the largeft well. Oppofite to this paffage are two caverns, both on the right hand. The first bears N. W. by W. and running forwards in a ftraight line about 20 feet, forms a curve that verges fomewhat to the N. E. Here we walk and creep in a winding courfe from cell to cell, till we are topped by a well of water, the breadth and depth of which are as yet not fully known. This winding cavern is three feet wide, in fome parts five feet high, in fome eight. Returning to the avenue we find adjoining to this cavern, but feparated by a large and maffy partition of tone, the fecond cavern running weft; and by defcending down fome final piles of limeAlone, or rather broken rocks, the bottom here being theivy flate, or more properly a combination of fiate and lime-ftone, we difcover another well of water. This is the large ft. The depth of it is in one place 23 feet, the width uncertain. Oppofite to this well, on the left hand, by mounting over a fmall ridge of rocks covered with wet and flippery clay, we enter a vault 8 feet broad, 18 long, 30 high. Here, towards the S. E. a road, not eafy of afcent, runs up. wards 72 feet towards the furface of the earth, and fo near to it, that the found of the voice, or of a mallet within, might be diftinctly heard with

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in confequence of which very large opening has been made into

March

it. At the bottom of this vault, in a place not readily obferved, is another well of water, the depth of which, on account of its fituation, cannot be well fathomed, nor the breadth of it afcertained.

:

While the miners were exploring thofe gloomy and grotefque regions, they were alarmed at a murmuring found that feemed to come from the hollows of the cave and one of them who chanced to be near the largest well with a candle in his hand, faw at that inflant, the water rife about half a foot. This phænomenon then could not be explained: but now we think that the feveral wells are nearly on a level, and that the waters fhape their courfe towards the fea, and mix with it in Mill Bay,at the distance of four hundred and twelve feet. It is not certain whether thofe wells, though they lie below the extremity of the lime ftone, have a mutual communication or no: but it is highly probable, as the bottom of the largest well is clay, and its fides. are helvy flate, that there are fprings, and it is certain that this helvy vein of flate, nearly of the fame kind and colour with fome feen at Mount Edgecumbe on the opposite hore, is continued even to the fea, where two, openings at low water have been found, through which it is probable the water of the great well discharges itself. When the tide rifes, it is prefumed that the preffure of the fea without retards the courfe of the water within, and this may account, for the rife and fall fo manifeft at different times of founding: and the fame circumftance is obferved also in a well near the old French prifon, in the environs of Plymouth.

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Each cavern has its arch, each arch is ftrong, and in general curious. The way to the largest well is, in one part, roofed with folid and fmooth, ftone, not unlike the arch of an oven. one feemed to be affected by the damps till he came hither, and then the candles grew dim, and one of the inveftigators, as well as myfelf, felt unufual and uneafy fenfations. However, fince an opening has been made near the arch of the great well, and the air has had a much freer accefs, no fuch fymptoms have been perceived. It is very likely that the hill itfelf is hollow å

1776.

A new difcovered fubterranean Cavern.

hollow; fome of the caverns have reciprocal communications; but the clefts are often too narrow for accurate inspection or minute enquiry. The water here and there is ftill dripping, and incrustations, ufual in fuch grottos, coat the furface of the walls in fome places. There are fome whimfical likeneffes, which the pen need not defcribe nor the pencil delineate. Mr. Cookworthy of Plymouth, a very ingenious man, and an excellent chymift, has been fo obliging as to analize the water of the three wells, and has found, by many experiments, that it is very foft, and fit for every pur

117.

pofe. I therefore beg leave to congratulate your Lordship on the difcovery of this water, which, though there was no want before, cannot fail to be a valuable acquifition to your town of Stonehoufe; a place very delightful, and fuperior to moft for the beauty of its profpects, and the elegancy of its fituation, and what is ftill better, for the goodness of the air; as the longevity of the inhabitants fufficiently evinces. I have the honour to be,

My Lord,

Your Lordship's moft obedient and obliged humble servant, FRANCIS GEACH.

L

For the LONDON MAGAZINE.

THE BRITISH THEATRE.

March 8.

AST night a new comedy of two acts, called The Spleen, or Iflington Spaw, was performed for the first time at the theatre royal in Drury Lane: the characters were as follow, and thus perfonated:

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Mr. King.

Mr. Parfons.
Mr. Baddeley.
Mr. Moody.
Mr. Palmer.

Mr. Brereton.
Mr. Whitefield.
Mrs. Hopkins.
Mifs P. Hopkins.
Mrs. King.
Mrs. Love.
Mrs. Davies.

THE fcene of this petty piece is partly laid in London and partly in Illington: the ftory is fhortly this: Eliza, the daughter of Rubrick, a book feller in Paternofter-Row, is by her father contracted to Doyley, an old woollen-draper, behind St. Clement's church; but previous to the time the action commences, is fecretly married to Merton, a half-pay officer, and an intimate companion of Jack Rubrick, Eliza's brother. The piece opens with a scene between Merton and young Rubrick, in which the former explains his true fituation to his friend and brotherin-law, in confidence; acquaints him, that he had been forbid his father's houfe; and confults him on the most feasible means of effecting a reconciliation. Jack fympathifes with Merton, and affures him, that he will do every thing in his power to extricate him from his prefent embarras. This gives birth to a scheme contrived by Jack Rubrick, and

Afpin, a friend of the Rubrick family, in which Letitia, a coufin of Eliza's, undertakes, in the difguife of Anodyne, a young modern dreffed phyfician, to co-operate with them, in a scheme for defeating the proposed match between Doyley and Eliza. Letitia, in her new character, introduces herself to Doyley and perfuades him that he is troubled with almost every diforder, known or defcribed in the Materia Medica. In the midft of this fcene between the felt-created valetudinarian, and the female mock doctor, Afpin, as had been before concerted, makes his appearance, and charges Doctor Anodyne with having a very improper intimacy with Eliza, no less than paling more than one night in her bedchamber. Doyley, alarmed at fo ftrong an appearance of criminality, endeavours to recede from his engagement; and to recover the bond which he had given in aflurance of the performance of his contract. While this matter occupies the confideration of the parties, Merton and Eliza make their appearance, and Doyley, anxious to get rid of fo difagreeable an affair, confents to forfeit half the penalty. The private marriage between Merton and Eliza is then confeffed, the parents are reconciled, Doctor Anodyne gives fome falutary advice to Doyley, and the piece ends.

This piece has very little merit, either in refpect of plot or character. The former is trifling, uninterefting, and improbable; and though fome of the characters are taken from real life, they fail to ftrike, because they are neither ftrongly marked nor happily felected. The fecond act is unfufferably long, and the intended effect of the principal fcene between Anodyne and Doyley, is to

tally

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Critique on the Spleen; or, Iflington Spaw.

tally loft; and the audience are obliged to endure it with difguft. The Dramatis Perfonæ are too numerous, and more than one half of them ferve only to crowd the ftage and interrupt the bufinefs of the play, by which means it is divided and broken into fuch a variety of parts, that the auditor has fcarcely any leading object on which to fix his attention or to reft his judgement.

Rubrick is the only good character that the author has attempted; but the trait is rather imperfectly conceived, and flovenly executed. It is certainly done after an original; but it is equally certain, that it wants that degree of expreflion and colouring which copies require, in order to preferve the intended likeness. And fo far from thinking that Rubrick is a caricature, we are of opinion, that the author would have fucceeded better, if he had drawn with a freer and a bolder hand. It is unnneceffary to remark, that Mr. King did juftice to the part, and looked as confequential and as buckish, as if he had been just returned from hearing a debate in the House of Commons on fiterary property affairs.

The character of Doyley is evidently borrowed from Moliere. It has no degree of novelty, nor is the fituation Doyley is introduced into, at all improved or varied, in order to give it the appearance of what it really has not. Mr. Paríons made as much of it as it would bear, and if it was deficient no perton could impute any part of its All fuccefs to him.

The character of Machoof is well conceived, and puts us in mind of those fwarms of Scotch porters and pestle and mortar men from Edinburgh, which infeft this metropolis, under the appellation of doctors generated from furgeon's mates. They were pawned during the late war, they were brought into actual existence by Scotch influence, and they have arived at their prefent ftate of maturity, through the natural indolence and credulity of the people of this country. Mr. Moody however feemed to affe&t the manner of an Irish tooth-drawer, much more than that of a Scotch farrier.

Young Rubrick, though generally given the first place in this little dramatic groupe, is not, in our opinion, entitled to it; the technical terms of a very abftrufe dry science, do not come very naturally from the mouth of a man, who feems to have furrendered his thoughts, and directed his whole attention to the fashionable pleatures of the town, and the lordid follies of Newmarket. But fuppofing that this double character could naturally fubfift together in the fame perfon, or that one of them was nothing more than a borrowed appearance, the mere result of affectation, we cannot applaud theauthor's judg ment in bringing the mathematician and the hero of the turf forward, in the fame point

March

of view at the fame inftant. It was done,
we prefume, with intention of giving the
character the air of originality; but we are
of opinion, that the attempt would have fuc-
ceeded much better, and the effect been much
ftronger, if this amateur of fines, lines,
angles, fegments, and tangents, had difplayed
his fcientific knowledge in one fcene and his
tafte for the ten in another. Mr. Palmer
had little more to do than to preferve a rapid
utterance, and appear in good fpirits; thofe
requifites he certainly poffeffed, and was of
courfe well received in the part.

Merton had little to fay, and lefs to do,
and was therefore very characteristically per-
formed by Mr. Brereton.

Mrs. Rubrick was no bad draught of the wife of a citizen of the middle clafs. Mrs. Hopkins filled the part with great propriety. She preferved all that vulgar bauteur that acquired wealth is apt to infpire; and displayed that avidity for fashionable amufements that frequently fprings up in minds in which toil and narrow circumstances have depreffed, not extinguished it in the more early periods of life.

Eliza is a modern young lady, modernly in love, and we applaud the poetical justice of Mr. Colman, in giving her a modern half pay officer, for her caro fpofo. The old retailer of remnants is we think very pro-. enable this deferving perly compelled to young man, to lay a cool hundred at the Bedford or the Rofe; and if Mr. Colman, in imitation of Mr. Gay, fhould oblige the town with a second part of The Spleen, we fhall probably find the family of the Rubricks thus difpofed of; Mrs. Merton on the ton; Merton in the King's-bench prifon ftarving; Mrs. Rubrick dead of poverty and a broken heart; the young Cantab in full poffeffion of a curacy of thirty pounds a year, and old Rubrick keeping a pamphlet shop, and married to his maid. Such we are fure ought to be the effects of a modern education, in the middle walks of life, and fuch we believe are very frequently the confequences of breeding up our youth to be imall gentry, inftead of teaching them to be fober fubftantial citizens, and useful creditable members of fociety.

Mrs. Tabitha makes feveral pertinent obfervations, of the fame tendency with what we have now hinted. They are natural and juft, and were certainly delivered in a very proper manner by Mrs. Love, and in the very fpirit in which they were wrote.

The character of Letitia, or rather the bufinefs the author has affigned her in this piece, is improbable. The difguife was introduced by way of feafoning, but in our opi nion it favoured more of the gallipot, than of joy or cayenne. Mr. Colman's extenfive acquaintance with dramatic writing and the pearance ftage effect, or his folicitude to avoid the ap◄

1776.

PARLIAMENTARY HISTORY.

pearance of plagiarism, perhaps fuggefted the idea. The denouement, however, might have been better accomplished by other means; and Afpin, Jack Rubrick, or Machoof, would have anfwered the other purpofe, that of expofing the imaginary illness of Doyley, without doing that open violence to every rule of living manners, or even dramatic probability. Mrs. King performed the part of Anodyne extremely well; and spoke the epilogue with great propriety and characteriftic fpirit. The herd of critics refufed her the applaufe he was justly entitled to: they forgot perhaps, that Mrs. King's confi dent and unfeeling glare was perfectly natural from an empty, modern, medical coxcomb. On the whole, we pronounce The Spleen to have feveral traits of real character in it. The author has certainly proved himfelf to be poffeffed of the powers of difcrimination and dramatic conception; but he either wanted judgement to arrange them, or abilities to give us one finished portrait. Yet after all we are inclined to hope, that if he had improved the fable and had lengthened the piece into a comedy of five acts, he would have fucceeded much better; for with all its faults it is evident, that most of the characters in The Spleen are taken from real life; which, in our opinion, fo far as fuch a requifite can be fuppofed to operate, gives the

119

author a preference over the greater part of the prefent formidable body of modern playwrights.

March 18. Mr. Webfter appeared on Saturday night at the theatre royal in Covent Garden for the first time as a vocal performer, in the mafque of Comus. Great expectations were formed of his excellence in this walk; but the public appeared to be rather difappointed. His voice is certainly pleafing and contains great variety, but he feems to want feeling and expreffion. As in playing, his conception never reaches beyond the languid and correct; fo his finging is deftitute of that grace, warmth, energy, and animation, which are no lefs effential to the true effect of harmony, than native paffion is to a first rate tragedian. Thofe advantages are only to be derived from nature; and we venture to pronounce, that if he does not open a fecond intercourfe with that bountiful lady, he will never answer the expectations the town, as well as his friends, were first inclined to form of him.

Mrs. Farrel, and Mifs Weller, were well received in this celebrated mafque; the for mer as finging with equal judgment and correctness, and the latter with infinite grace and delicacy of expreffion, though her powers in other refpects at prefent feem to be

limited.

PARLIAMENTARY

HISTORY.

An Abfirat Hiftory of the Proceedings of the fecond Seffion of the fourteenth Parliament of Great Britain. Continued from our Magazine for the Month of February lafi, p. 62.

HOUSE of LORD S.

N the 15th of November, the the of Noveing given previous notice of an intended motion to be directed for the purpose of procuring information refpecting the prefent ftate of America, moved, that the laft returns of the army ferving in America, fpecifying the number of troops employed, and where ftationed; together with an account of the feveral reinforcements now proceeding, or under actual orders for that country, be laid before that Houfe. This propofition having received a negative, his Grace followed it with another, defiring that the fecretary of ftate, in whofe department it was, might lay before the Houfe whatever information he may have received refpecting the ftate, number, and military ftrength of the provin

cial army. This likewife paffed in the negative, without a divifion. His Grace moved two other propofitions, directed to the fame object, which met the fame fate; and carried only the fifth, which was for the laft returns of the army ferving in Great Britain and Ireland, as received in the office of the fecretary at war.

The feveral motions that were rejected, were oppofed on the ground, that either they could not be complied with; or that agreeing to them would be very improper, as conveying intelligence to our enemies. On the first head, it was faid, that it was impoffible that adminiftration could know any thing of the ftrength or numbers of the rebel army, having no intercourfe with them directly or indirectly; that it was an infult to the

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