506 Original Letters of Visc. Barrington and Lord North. [June, terest as a proof of the ignorance, the barbarity, and idolatry of the ruling powers of this country at a period remote beyond tradition; and being of a similar description of barbarous remains to the immense masses of stone monuments, though even of ruder forms, described by Captain Cook, as standing upon the shores of Easter Islands, in the Pacific Ocean. J. HE following is an original Letter Tof William the second Viscount Barrington, written during the period of his ministry as Secretary of War. It is addressed to the Right Hon. Hans Stanley (see our Feb. number, p. 99.) DEAR SIR, Cavendish Square, July 18th, 1767. Negotiation is not absolutely off, but it can, I think, verily come to nothing. The King says, "I am inclined to widen and strengthen my administration, if it can be properly done, but I will not change it, or turn any body out of those who have supported it." Lord Rockingham, who treats for himself and every body, says, "All my friends, and those of the Bedford and Grenville party, must be provided for." Each of the negociating parties asserts that the first motion for accommodation came from the other, and they seem mutually out of humour. I be lieve the King is firm, and has acted with dignity and propriety: I think the Duke of Grafton will continue, though he wishes himself out*. Nobody says a word to our friend Charles Townshend, who is at Sudbroke. General Conway, I believe, wishes he had not promised the Duke of Richmond to quit; but he did promise him when Lord Edgcombe was removed. The King has wrote to Lord Chatham for advice: the answer was respectful, but declared he was incapable of giving any, and begged his Majesty to do for the best. If I am able by next post to give you better lights, you shall hear from, Dear Stanley, Your most faithfull, BARRINGTON. The Duke of Grafton had been appointed First Lord of the Treasury on the resignation of the Marquis of Rockingham, in August 1766, and continued in office until February 1770, when he was succeeded by Lord North, The following is a Letter of Lord North, when Prime Minister, to Christopher D'Oyly, Esq. who had been Under Secretary of State to Lord George Germaine, and was appointed Commissary-general of Musters in 1776. He was then M.P. for Wareham; and, though he retired from Parliament at the general election in 1780 (the period when the following letter was written), yet was elected for Seaford at the close of that year, and sat till the dissolution in 1784. The exchange of places pro posed by Lord North in this letter, was gazetted two days after, Mr. D'Oyly being appointed Comptroller of the Army accounts in the room of Thomas Bowlby, Esq., and Mr. Bowlby Commissary-general of Musters, in the room of Mr. D'Oyly. Mr. Bowlby at the same time came into Parliament for Launceston. This Mr. Bowlby, who was "of the Bishoprick of Durham," had in 1754 become brother-inlaw to George last Duke of Montagu, K. G. by marrying Lady Mary, widow of Richard Powys, of Hintlesham in Suffolk, Esq. and mother of Elizabeth afterwards Viscountess Sydney, and Mary afterwards Countess of Courtoun. Mr. Bowlby retained the Commissaryship of the Musters until his death, at Jenningsbury in Hertfordshire, in 1795. DEAR SIR, Bushy Park, Sept. 4, 1780. You are now as you wished, out of Parliament, and I suppose it continues to be your resolution never to come into Parliament again; but quot homines, tot sententia. While you are leaving the House of Commons, Mr. Bowlby is resolved to undertake a parliamentary life, and will be recommended by the Duke of Northumberland to one of his boroughs in the West. As you are changing your political situations, I do not see why you should not change places at the same time. The place he now fills is not tenable with a seat in the House of Commons. Your place ought to be held by a Member of Parliament. His place has, I believe, more business; but then you will have more leisure. The two places are, I believe, pretty near the same as to profit; but I hope if there is any advantage on either side in point of income, he will have it; for I am sure you will agree with me, that the person who takes the House of Commons into the bargain, has a 1829.] Mr. D'Oyly.-St. Margaret's, Lothbury. claim to the more profitable of the two Your most faithful, humble servant, On the back of the letter is this memorandum by Mr. D'Oyly: "Received on the 25th of September, at Poultons; set out that day, and waited on Lord North at Bushy, the next morning, when I desired his Lordship to take the first opportunity of moving the King for his Majesty's leave for me to decline the acceptance of the Comptroller's place. The Patent and Bill for passing were brought to me by a Treasury messenger on 1 of November, and by him returned." Mr. D'Oyly thus resigned office altogether, and Sir John Dick, Bart. was appointed Comptroller in his room. Mr. URBAN, London, April 16. A VERY accurate description of the Church of St. Margaret, Lothbury, was given a few months since in "Allen's History of London," vol. ii. p. 403, with which article I have good reason to believe that author was supplied by your truly valuable correspondent E. I. C. In the progress of the description of the then state of that edifice, the sculpture on the Font, admirably executed by Grinlin Gibbons, was fully explained, and justly eulogized; and a bronze Bust of Sir Peter Le Maire, 1631, much admired, and regret expressed that they were both placed in situations so obscure. It will afford the readers of that work gratification to learn that in a recent repair of that fabric, many judicious alterations have been made, some of which I proceed to point out. The confined and dark recess under the organ gallery, in which the Font was previously placed, is now occupied by a stove, and the Font elevated on a new circular platform of black and white marble, placed in the centre of the nave, the wainscotting of the pews 507 having been made circular also, and it is now an object highly ornamental. The Bust alluded to has been removed to a conspicuous situation at the east end of the south aile. The King's Arms, which were over the altar, have been taken down, and affixed to the centre of the southern gallery, a much more appropriate place than that it before occupied, as men approach the altar to bow before the King of kings and Lord of lords;" and not to pay homage to the armorial blazonry of Royalty. 66 The east window has been newly glazed with ground glass and a mosaic the communion-table are cleared away, border. The pews right and left of leaving the whole chancel free and unincumbered, adding to the solemnity and dignity of that portion of the sacred edifice. The pulpit and reading-desk have been placed nearer to the north wall, and the sounding-board removed, leaving an unobstructed view of the altar, which they before partially obscured. The eastern window on the north side, before necessarily closed (an adjoining house having been pulled down), has been opened, and glazed, to correspond with the others. The two side windows of the eastern end, which at a former period had been closed up, and the effigies of Moses and Aaron placed therein, have been now completely walled up, and two semi-oval recesses formed for the reception of those figures, admirably painted in imitation of verd antique, which add much to the embellishments of that end of the fabric. The pillars supporting the south gallery, and the pilasters against the northern wall, as well as two pillars sustaining the organ-gallery, are likewise painted, the former to imitate veined marble, and the latter porphyry. All the pews, instead of being, as heretofore, with two opposite seats, have been made single, with desks for books; and those on the south side, instead of looking east, now run from east to west, looking north, across the body of the Church, and are painted to imitate varnished oak. A gallery has been formed on each side the organ gallery, entirely crossing the west end, intended for the accommodation of that portion of the children of the City of London National Schools, who attend service at this Church. 508 Corruption of Literary Taste. In the recent repair and decoration of this edifice, no expence has been spared, and the parishioners deserve much commendation for their liberality, as well as the taste and sense of propriety they have displayed; it may be truly said, that all the alterations are improvements, and while they are judiciously made for the convenience of the congregation, add to the beauty of the Church; indeed when I recall to mind what it was some forty years ago, with three large naked windows, besides two small circular ones at each end, filled with wretchedly bad green glass in panes scarcely an inch square, fixed in heavy lead work, with the walls danbed over with white-wash, looking cold, dreary, and comfortless; devoid of an organ, with pulpit and pews ponderous, heavy, black and gloomy, beyond description, and compare my former recollections with what I now behold in the interior of this sacred edifice, I must confess myself highly gratified with the change, and say that from one of the most unsightly, it has from progressive improvement become one of the handsomest Churches in this city. Mr. URBAN, X. XI. 5 5 3 8. May 31. IN taking a retrospective glance at the state of literature during the last four or five years, the most casual observer cannot but have noticed the corruption of literary taste that has manifested itself during that period, and the too oft prevailing inclination to substitute the numerous imaginative and fictitious publications of the day for those excellent and instructive intellectual productions which have hitherto been the study and amusement of every candidate for sound knowledge and real pleasure. The great and unprecedented mania for books of a nature purely romantic, which has exhibited (and it is much to be feared still continues to exhibit) itself amongst all classes of society, and the direct tendency that such a mania must necessarily have to lower our character as a literary nation in the estimation of our continental neighbours, and to produce a degeneracy of taste for philosophical, historical, and antiquarian works of acknowledged utility and importance, must be viewed by every ardent lover [June, of letters, and every fond patron of literature, with the most unaffected sorrow and dismay. Novels, while they corrupt the taste by filling the mind with the worthless effusions of over-heated imaginations, and exaggerated and false notions of human nature, are calculated in no slight degree to weaken the powers of the intellect, so as to render them unfit to receive that food which alone affords a wholesome and strengthening nourishment. The attractive form in which novels of the present age are introduced to the public; the highly wrought descriptions of men and manners they contain; the deep coloured relations of the customs and peculiarities of the epoch they depict, clothed in all the beauty of poetic language, and surrounded by all the charms and graces of figurative expression and elegant diction; the glowing but fulsome panegyrics they receive from reviewers evidently interested in their success; and withal, the barefaced and disgusting system of quackery and puffing with which they are ushered forth to the public eye, have mainly contributed to bring about that extensive and increasing call for this class of publications which now but too certainly exists. The effectual means of stemming a torrent that may in time become too impetuous for resistance, too violent for opposition, can only be suggested in the laudable exertions that are now made for the general diffusion of useful knowledge; and if intellectual light, the basis of all national prosperity, the source of all intrinsic happiness, and the gratification of all well ordered minds, does not carry with it a sutfcient counterpoise, it will be extremely difficult to say what will. It has been argued that novels, and romances usually denominated historical, are frequently valuable accompaniments to history, insasmuch as they serve to illustrate its various facts, and to explain what has been necessarily omitted by the historian from confined limits. I admit that to those who are able clearly to discriminate between the truth and falsehood with which these works abound, they may be found very useful aud amusing commentaries on the eventful periods of history; but to the generality of readers, to the superficially informed thousands who greedily 1829.] Novels and Romances.-FLY LEAVES. devour their poisonous contents, and above all, to the young and inexperienced, they perplex the mind, cramp the inlets of understanding, and so blend fact and fiction, truth and falsehood together, as to vitiate the taste, pall the appetite, and give a disrelish for those venerable authors of ancient and modern times, from whom alone sound knowledge and real enjoyment are to be derived. It is almost unnecessary for me to cite the opinions of men of high authority and acknowledged eminence in the pursuit of letters, who have strongly deprecated the habit of reading novels and romances, in support of the observations I have ventured to make, but I cannot resist the temptation of making a quotation from that accomplished scholar, and much admired literary character Lord Chesterfield, who hath so justly and with such exquisite penetration, observed that "Romances confuse and corrupt the mind, instead of forming and instructing it. In short, the reading of them is a most frivolous occupation, and time merely thrown away." While, however, the "March of Mind" continues its slow but steady course, while England possesses such writers as Hallam, Godwin, Southey, and Turner, she may still entertain the hope of one day seeing her standard of literature raised to the lofty pinnacle it assumed in the Elizabethan age, but when that course is interrupted, or receives a decisive check, so long as Scott, Horace Smith, et id genus omne, continue to exercise their influential sway over a reading public, so long will it remain in its present But the low and degraded state. fashion and the too prevalent opinion of the age must, I suppose, run its inglorious race; and when that intellectual light, which now but faintly glimmers, spreads its effulgent rays with the splendour and brightness of a meridian sun, then may we reasonably expect from the pen of the "Noble Peeress," the " Right Hon. Baron," and the "Worthy Commoner," works worthy of their dignity and station in life, and of the advanced state of mental culture; but till that period arrives we cannot cease to exclaim with the poet 66 Apparent rari nautes in gurgite vasto." FLY LEAVES.-No. XLIII. Angling Hooks. GREAT is the satisfaction of the complete Angler in possessing good hooks. The schoolboy, during infantine pursuit, exults in curving the pin with grace and accuracy, which adds no little confidence of success among the tribes of millers-thumbs, With minnows, and stickle-backs. the early professors of the art, it was a mechanical object of importance; and with the adept in preparing the harness,' to supply a cutely bearded, well shaped, hard and highly tempered hook, formed a primary object. In the treatise of Fysshing with an Angle,' anno 1496, the following important instructions are given to the novice: "For smalle fysshe ye shall make your hokes of the small quarell nedlys that ye can fynde of stele, and in this wyse. Ye shall put the quarell in a redde charkcole fyre tyll that it be of the same colour that the fire is. Thenne take hym out, and lete hym kele, and ye shal fynde him well alayd for to fyle. Thenne reyse the berde wyth your knyfe, and make the point sharpe. Thenne alaye hym agayn: for elles he woll breke in the bendyng. Thenne bende hym lyke to the bende fyguryd herafter in example*. And greeter hokes ye shall make in the same wyse of gretter nedles: as broderers nedles, or taylers: or shomakers nedlis spere poyntis, and of shomakers nailes in especyall, the beste for grete fysshe: and that they bende atte the poynt whan they ben assayed, for elles they ben not good. Whan the hoke is bendyd, bete the hynder ende abrode; and fyle it smothe for fretynge of thy lyne. Thenne put it in the fyer agayn: and geve it an easy redde hete; thenne sodaynly quenche it in water, and it shall be hard and strong." To perfect the hooks, the necessary instruments described in the treatise would now appear rude enough for the outlay of a whitesmith, rather than required for the geer of the simple angler; but art in its infancy acquires perfection from practice, and grace from time. The next early description in print of this art is given by Lauson, in the Notes on Denny's poem of the Secrets of Angling, who recommends using 66 Spanish and Milan needles:" but the following line in the poem shows that an angler might have hooks from A modern instructor also supplies examples. See the Fly Fisher's Guide, 1816, again 1828. 510 FLY LEAVES, No. XLIII.-Angling Hooks. the tackle-maker, without impeaching his character as an adept from obtaining materials by purchase instead of labour. "The making and seasoning of hookes. You maie buie of the needle makers in London, cast refuse needles, unhardened, for xijd. a pound. If you can get none such, take other sowing needles made of fine steele. Put them into a red hote charcole fire vntill they be of the colour of the fire. Then take them forth to coole, and being colde, raise the beard of your hooke, making the hookes pointe verie sharp, clensing the hooke from rust, bend the same into his forme, as you like; for divers men like divers fashions. That done, having made a number of hookes, put them all into a little pan of iron, made of a long shank of iron, to holde in your hands, such as men use to make drop shot with for guns. Which pan must haue a couer of iron made close for it, to keepe coles and ashes forth of it, when it is in the fire. Put your hookes into this pan, and covering it close, set it in a glowing hote fire, vntil it be as red as the fire.-Harding. Then cast them suddenly into colde water. Put the hookes thus hardened into a drinking stone iugge, or pot, pouring to them water and sand. Shake and tosse the pot in your hands from side to side, vntil the hookes be made faire and bright. Then take them forth clensyng and drying them. You must have a piece of iron made like a ferula. Which piece of iron you must make hote in the fier, and then take it forth and make it cleane; and it being hote, laie some of your hookes thereon: and so soon as you see the hookes change their brightnes into a fine blew colour on the one side of the hooke, turne the other side of the hooke with a knife's point to the iron, serving everie hooke so, and as soone as you see the hooke blew on both sides, presently throw it off the hot iron, or else it will become soft again." About the middle of the seventeenth century there came into repute the "Kirby hook," and which is still in general estimation with professed [June, anglers. Izaak Walton, in the second edition of the Compleat Angler, 1655, announces Charles Kirby, in Harpalley, in Shoe-lane, as "the most exact and best hook-maker the nation affords." So also Thomas Barker, in his "Delight," 1657, after directing his reader to other dealers for "good would have the best hooks of all sorts, tackle," or "a rod," says, "if you go to Charles Kirby;" and in the "Angler's sure Guide," 1706, Kirby's Carp-hooks are declared the "best for that fish." The eminence of Kirby as a manufacturer, obtained him the patronage of Prince Rupert. That distinguished character retired from public life about 1673-4, settled at Windsor, and seeking recreation in scientific pursuits, is supposed to have communicated to Kirby a better method of tempering hooks. It remains uncertain at what period such improvement was discovered. Sir Humphrey Davy, in the "Salmonia,” implies it took place after Prince Rupert became fellow of the Royal Society, where he was proposed and elected with Charles II. and James Duke of York, on the 14th Sept. 1664. But if the art of tempering hooks was not known to Kirby some years earlier, it could have little to do in founding his fame, however it might afterwards serve to confirm and encrease his popularity as a maker, a circumstance not unimportant. The true Kirby hook still tingles in the fancy of the honest angler for its excellence, and during the last century much labour was taken to impress the public with a belief a charm in handicraft, like medicine, might descend from son to son. In 1722 the public journals teemed with rival advertisements, founded on the claims of "Charles Kirby, son of Timothy Kirby, grandson of old Charles Kirby," as against a " Mr. Kirbee!" At a later period, 1770, Onesimus Ustonson announced as the only maker" Charles Kirby, nephew of Thomas Kirby, lately deceased, and son of Charles Kirby, grandson of Timothy, the original maker of the much admired fish-hookst." Even in 1828, In the first edition of the Compleat Angler, 1653, Walton only names Charles Brandon and Mr. Fletcher as "both honest men, and will fit an angler with what tackling he wants" and two years afterwards, the name of Kirby is introduced with the above eulogy, which seems reasonable evidence he was then first known for supplying superior hooks. In 1676 Walton, in the last edition of his work published by him, alters his recommendation in favour of Mr. Margrave and John Stubs, omitting all the preceding names. + See Advertisement at the end of the True Art of Angling, 1770, a reprint of a work with same title "by J. S. Gent. a brother of the Angle," 1696. |