fent war broke out, and enjoyed, on all occasions, the confidence and efteem of the Duke of York. He commanded the advanced guard in the action on the heights of Cateau, in which he fignalized himself in a manner to deferve the particular approbation of the Duke of York. On the 27th of October following, he was wounded at Nimeguen, and conducted the march of the guards from Deventer to Oldenfaal, in the retreat of the British troops out of Holland in the winter of 1794. In August 1795, he was appointed to fucceed Sir Charles Grey as Commander in Chief of the British forces in the West Indies. In March 1796 he took Grenada, and afterwards obtained poffeffion of Demerara and Iffiquibo. Soon after, St. Lucia, St. Vincent's, and Trinidada were added to the British conquests. An unfuccefsful attempt upon the Spanish Island of Porto Rico concluded his campaign in the Weft Indies.

By the failure of this attempt, however, he loft none of his military reputation. On his return to Europe, he was, in reward for fuch important fervices, invefted with the red ribbon, appointed to the command of the Scotch Greys, entrusted with the governments of the Hle of Wight, Fort St. George, and Fort Auguftus, and on the 4th of February 1797 raifed to the rank of Lieutenant General. He was next fixed upon to take the chief command of the forces in Ireland, in which fituation he conducted himself with moderation and firmnefs. Soon afterwards he was employed under the Duke of York in the great enterprize against Holland, where it was confeffed by Dutch, French, and British Officers, that even victory the moft decifive could not have more con

fpicuously proved the talents of this active and intelligent General than the conduct pursued by him in an arduous ftruggle against the difficulties of the ground, the inclemency of the feafon, unavoidable delays, disorderly movements of the Ruffians, and the timid duplicity of the Dutch.

His laft appointment was attended with the approbation of the Public, which repofed confidence in the wifdom, conduct, and bravery which the General was known to poffefs. The Gazette in our prefent Magazine states the lofs which the British Empire has fuftained; and the family and connections of our gallant Officer have to lament, that the expedition fo happily begun has not been terminated by the fame person who had fhewn himself fo capable of conducting the business to a happy conclufion. His remains were removed to Malta, and there interred, and his widow has been ennobled.

The private character of Sir Ralph Abercromby is faid to have been mo deft, difinterested, upright, unftained by any negligence or licentious vice. He was naturally reserved, and extremely filent in mixed fociety, but eafy of accefs; and he was never known to betray the leaft fymptom of haughtinefs. In a word, he was a good fon, brother, father, husband, and friend, as well as an able and heroic General. His conduct, indeed, through life appears to have been founded on the following remarkable lines written by Frederick the Great :

Dans des honneurs obfcurs vous ne vieillirez pas,

Soldats, vouz apprendrez à regir des foldats.

DR. WATTS.

the place. Boniface, who was extremely well qualified to answer thefe enquiries, affured him, with a low bow, that there was no want of entertainment, as the players were in the town, and moreover that it was Size time; accompanying his remarks with a recommendation that the Gentleman thould by all means

go

go to hear the trials that morning, as a highwayman was to be brought up. The stranger made fome objections to this invitation, upon the ground of his being unknown, and the little chance he stood of meeting with proper accommodation. This difficulty was, however, removed, by the loquacious landlord assuring him, that a Gentleman of his appearance would be readily admitted: indeed, to make it more certain, he attended him to the Court-house, and reprefented him in fuch a way to his friends, the Judge's Clerks, that he obtained a feat at a little distance from the Judge, just as the poor highwayman was about to make his defence. The appearance of the ftranger, who was of elegant perfon and polished manners, arrefted, for a moment, the attention of the Court, till the prifoner was afked, if he had any thing to fay. The poor culprit affured the Judge, that he was not guilty of the robbery, and that, if he knew where to find them, there were people who could prove a clear alibi. At this moment the poor wretch happened to catch fight of the ftranger, when he exclaimed, with a degree of frantic joy, "Can it be poffible?" and fell backwards on the floor. He was, however, with fome difficulty, recovered. When the Judge humanely enquired into the cause of his extravagant behaviour, the poor wretch anfwered, with tears in his eyes, “Oh, my Lord, how providential! that Gentleman on your left hand can prove my alibi." "How!" replied the Judge; "is this true? or is it merely a vain pretext to procrastinate the juft fentence of the law? Pray, Sir, let me afk you (continued his Lordship, addreffing himfelf to the ftranger), Do you know any thing of this man? Upon this the traveller furveyed the criminal with the most fcrupulous attention, and then faid, "I am forry to affure your Lordship, that I do not know the prifoner."-"I thought as much," replied the Judge; "it is mere trifling with justice." The prifoner, however, ftill infifted, that the tranger knew him; and the ftranger again as pofitively denied the affertion; till the Judge, difpleafed at his prefumption, was about to receive the verdict of the Jury. The culprit now, on his knees, entreated perniiffion to fay one word. "Indeed, my Lord," cried he, "the Gentleman does know me, though he may have forgotten my perfon; only give me leave to ask him

look at it." "Good God!" exclaime the ftranger; "I do, indeed, perfectly remember the circumftance, and have every reafon to believe this to be the man, though I had entirely forgotten his face: but, my Lord," added the stranger, "I can put it to a certainty, for I have a memorandunt of the day I arrived at Dover from Calais." The date was compared with the day laid in the indictment, and found to be the fame. The whole Court felt the impression, and joy was visible in every face; when, after examining the Gentleman as to his name and place of abode, the foreman of the Jury pronounced, Not Guilty.

A few evenings only elapfed, when the prifoner, the ftranger, and his livery fervant, were recognized upon the road in their original capacities of experienced highwaymen.

The above ftory may ferve as a useful leffon to fhew the power of deception, when it prefents to the imagination a natural allociation of ideas, and connects a probable chain of circumstances together.

Thus much, however, is certain, that a man has never so much reason to be fatisfied with the deception practifed upon him, as when humanity has mif led his judgment. Though rigid juftice might frown at the fraud, mercy would rejoice at the event.

Credulityis feldom unamiable,though frequently imprudent: and perhaps, after all, there is as much danger in being incredulous as in credulity: the

dogmatilt

dogmatist and the sceptic are alike wide from the truth. A reafonable man views a thing on all fides before he determines, and fearches for truth with care and attention, feparating from the confideration the prejudices of fenfe and paffion.

gled with the most horrid fcreams; the poor maid changed countenance, and her red hair flood erect in every direc tion; the husband trembled in his chair; and the philofopher began to look fe rious. At laft the hufband rofe from his feat, and afcended the ftairs in fearch of his wife, when a fecond dreadful fcream was heard; the maid mustered

Thefe extraordinary changes of opinion are generally produced by a new and cafual affociation of ideas, connected strongly by the imagination, and in which reafon has little share.

Thus we become dupes to fancy, and flaves to nonfenfe.

Another of the ftrongest fources of falfe judgment proceeds from the melancholy impreffion of fear. Thus the belief of fupernatural appearances, engendered by fome old nurfe, and foftered by fancy, becomes a fruitful fpring of mifery.

Though the narratives of ghofts and apparitions, fpirits and fupernatural appearances, all want proof, yet frequently the circumstances attending them are fo wrapped up in mystery, that the yet unravelled ftory is fufficient evidence to a weak mind.

Perhaps a more remarkable inftance cannot be easily produced than in the following ftory, authenticated by refpectable perfons now alive.

Some few years fince, before ghofts and spectres were properly introduced among us by means of the pantomimes and novels of the day, a Gentleman of a philofophical turn of mind, who was hardy enough to deny the existence of any thing fupernatural, happened to pay a visit at an old houfe in Gloucetterthire, whofe unfortunate owner had just become a bankrupt, with a view to offer fuch affiftance and confolation as he could beftow; when on one rainy dull evening in the month of March, the family being feated by the kitchen fire-fide,the converfation turned on fupernatural appearances. The philofopher was endeavouring to convince his auditors of the folly and abfurdity of fuch opinions, with rather an unbe coming levity, when the wife left the party, and went up ftairs, but had hardly left the kitchen three minutes before a dreadful noife was heard, min

third fcream enfued. The philofopher, who was not quite at eafe, now thought it high time for him to fet out in fearch of a caufe; when, arriving at the landing-place, he found the maid in a fit; the mafter lying flat, with his face upon the floor, which was ftained with blood; and, on advancing a little further, the miftrefs in nearly the fame condition. To her the philofopher paid immediate attention; and, finding fhe had only fwooned away, brought her in his arms down ftairs, and placed her on the floor of the kitchen; the pump was at hand, and he had the prefence of mind to run to it to get fome water in a glafs; but what was his aftonishment when he found that he pumped only copious ftreams of blood: which extraordinary appearance, joined to the other circumftances, made the unbeliever tremble in every limb; a fudden perfpiration overfpread the furface of his fkin; and the fupernatural poffeffed his imagination in all its true colours of dread and horror; again and again he repeated his efforts, and again and again threw away the loathfome contents of the glass.

Had the story ftopped here, what would not fuperftition have made of it! But the philofopher, who was still pumping, now found the colour grow paler, and at laft pure water filled the veffel. Overjoyed at this obferva "tion, he threw the limpid ftream in the face of the miftrefs, whofe recovery was now affitted by the appearance of her hufband and Betty.

The mystery, when explained, turned out to be fimply this: The good housewife, when the knew that a docquet had been truck against her husband, had taken care to conceal fome of her choice cherry brandy from the rapacious gripe of the Meffenger to the Commiffioners of Bankrupts on fome fhelves in a closet up ftairs, which alfo contained, agreeable to the ancient architecture of the building, the trunk of the pump below; and, in trying to move the jars to get at a drop for the party at the kitchen fire, the fhelf gave way with a tremendous

tremendous crafh, the jars were broken into a hundred pieces, the rich juice defcended in torrents down the trunk of the pump, and filled with its ruby current the fucker beneath, and this was the felf-fame fluid which the philofopher in his fright had fo madly thrown away. The wife had. fwooned at the accident; the husband, in his hafte, had fallen on his nofe; and the maid's legs, in her hurry, coming in contact

G. B.

WHEREAS my Lord Bishop formerly did caufe his MSS. to be numbered fucceffively as they were brought in; that good order was difcontinued divers years before his decease; fo that thofe neceffary marks are wanting in many of them.

2. Many books which have been so marked do now want the faid numbers; either by being newly bound, or by being mangled through negligence or petulancy.

3. Many others which still have their marks cannot easily be found in the printed catalogue, because they were either erroneously marked at firft; or elfe the print is faulty; or both.

4. Divers MSS. of value mentioned in the faid printed Catalogue could not be produced to me, being either lent out, miflaid, or loft. Such are, Two Copies of Suetonius, faid to be lent to Dr. Bentley. A fine Regifter of the See of Hereford, faid to be lent to the prefent Lord Bishop of Hereford. Ovidius de Nuce, an exceeding old copy, lent or mislaid. Tullie's Tufculan Queftions, mentioned in the faid printed Catalogue. No. 32. Original Epiftles of our ancient learned Proteftant Divines. No. 125. Statutes of Norwich Cathedral temp. R. Hen. VIII. No. 203. Charters of Westminster Church. No. 223. Old Chartulary of Ely. No. 236. Books of Queen Elizabeth's Jew els, No. 254, 255. Pars. Tewwopinay cum aliis: Græcis, man vet. No. 87. Index Librorum Græcorum Bibliothecæ Palatine per Dav. Hamaxungum. No. 671. The Original Foundation Charter of the Cathedral Church of Norwich, No. 160. Bedæ Hiftor. Ec

clef. formerly belonging to the Monaftery of Plympton; and many others too tedious here to enumerate.

5. Through the negligence or pētu-, lancy above-mentioned, or else mere ftupidity, books which were out of their bindings have been quite difjoined, fo that their feveral parts cannot be found and put together which is the fault of the Leiger book of Offulveritone and others. In like fort the modern letters were thrown on the ground and trodden under foot; nay, very lately part of them were burned on

purpofe, and others induftriously mangled with the penknife.

6. This management needed not to have been introduced into that place, where my Lord Bishop bought all manufcripts that offered, good, bad, or indifferent, without making any delectus." This custom hath in procefs of time raised the vast number of old books of fmall or no value, which I found there, fuch as vulgar Latin Bibles, Pfalters," Primers, and other Books of Superititious Devotion, Old Scholemen, Poftils, Sermons, and fuch trash; heaps of common place Books and Notes of Divinity, Law, Phyfic, Chirurgery, Heraldry, Philofopher's Stone, &c. Rubbish Re ports and fuch trumpery ftuff that make one fick to look at them, being really fitter for any other room in the house rather than the library.

7. Another thing hath been omitted that might have advanced the price of the Collection; I mean, the putting down fome note of the curiofity and ufefulness of fuch a book or books. My Lord of Ely was certainly apprifed of fuch matters; as that this was the

work