me. I neither write nor am written to, and have neither joys here, nor cares beyond the precincts of my own family,"&c. JOHN MITFORD. June 8th, 1818. ON FORGED NOTES. ALTHOUGH the substitution of promissory notes in place of the precious metals may be, on the whole, an invention of general utility, yet the principal advantage must accrue to him who issues them. Their general good, however, may be disputed, while their evil, in some particulars, is acknowledged and certain. The greatest grievance undoubtedly is their frequent forgery, of which it happens, that all the vexation and loss falls on the public; while the banker, who enjoys the profit, sits secure under the protection of his private marks. If no plan to prevent their forgery can be discovered, (which does not seem likely,) it were better that their services were in a great degree dispensed with; and, however inconvenient in some respects, coin made to supply their place. Counterfeited metal is much more exposed to detection than counterfeited paper; accordingly we find that the counterfeits of the late silver coinage could hardly shew their face, and begin already to disappear. While we possess various pretty certain criteria to discover fraudulent imitation in metal, such as colour, weight, sound, bulk, the application of aqua fortis, &c. it seems difficult by any means to detect an exact imitation on paper. It were on the whole, much preferable, I think, that we endured all the inconveniencies of coin enumerated by Mr. BRIGGS, in your Number for August, p. 492, such as its luggage, its expense, its wear, and its accidental loss, than the dreadful evils of forgery. I could wish, then, that in place of the smaller notes, sovereigns and crown picces were issued, of such weight that government would sustain no degree of loss by their fabrication; and in sufficient quantity fully to satisfy domestic, or even foreign demand. It is impossible, as your correspondent has observed, that any bad consequences could arise from such a measure; the most evident consequences would be an increase of trade by a greater importation of gold and silver, and by the exportation of coin; and an additional supply of employment to our workmen. I confess I feel myself at present somewhat sore on the subject of forged notes, [Oct. 1, having myself lately taken a two pound one. Merelyto oblige a respectable tradesman, my neighbour, I gave him cash for it, but when its forgery was discovered he flatly disclaimed all connexion with it. I had not only the precaution to write his name on the note, but the transaction having taken place only a week before, it was fresh in my mind; it happened also to be remembered by his shopman and by mine. In such circumstances I had not the least doubt of obliging him to indemnify me. But although instigated both by a sense of interest and by provocation at the man's impudence, I felt that after cool deliberation I had not sufficient courage to plunge into the gulf of law, and finally lost the note. I found that I could not summon him to a court of requests, it not being under 40s.; nor could I, in order to accommodate it to that court, reduce the sum like a common debt. On consulting with an attorney, he represented to me the imprudence of risking perhaps 501. expenses or more in a higher court, in pursuit of so small a sum. It was impossible, he observed, to foresee what difficulties might occur, or what defence might be brought forward by the opposite party. I have happily had little experience of law, yet I could not but infer from the candid advice of this gentleman, given contrary to his own interests, that there must be something extremely wrong in the mode of our proceedings, when a point so very simple and clear could not be settled without being first tost backwards and forwards in the maze of antiquated usages; and for little other purpose than to create expense. Criminal cases, when human life is sometimes at stake, and which are equally liable to doubt and perplexity, are surely more deserving of grave protracted deliberation than a matter of 40s.; and yet they are capable of being completely decided at one sitting. Civil cases, as we know by daily experience, may be determined, if we choose, with the same promptitude and certainty. In courts of requests, where a cause is generally decided in the space of a few minutes, and at the expense of a few shillings, wrong sentences are as rare as in courts of the greatest pomp of apparatus. It may be said that the sums litigated in these courts are small; but exact justice is equally necessary on all occasions, and the difficulty or complication of a cause has no kind of connexion with the largeness or smallness of the sum in dispute. It appears to me unaccountable that in the courts of requests in the county of Middlesex the debt sued for must be under two pounds, while in the city, where the value of money is the same, it may amount to five pounds. How very easy would it be for the legislature to revise and to rectify these glaring anomalies; and what an immense favour would it not confer on the whole mass of the nation: an advance to twenty pounds in all these summary courts would be the most salutary measure that could be imagined. That some new plan is necessary to facilitate the recovery of great and small debts, has long been the universal opinion. It is impossible that there could be any danger in simplifying or entirely clearing away most of those ceremonious and expensive forms, which, for the most part, only embarrass and interrupt the execution of justice. On this subject it is that Englishmen have the best reason to lift up their voices in the way of censure and complaint: and I wonder that our reformers do not prefer to dwell on such topics; of which, undoubtedly, the evils are more obvious and striking, and the benefits resulting from their reformation more interesting and more intelligible to the people than the doubtful and remote advantages of shorter parliaments and universal suffrage. This last change, however, would more readily open the way for reformers becoming rulers themselves, whereas the other would only benefit the people. It may perhaps be of service to some of your readers to mention, that in detecting forged notes I find it most useful to attend minutely to the small female figure in the corner. The human face, particularly when in miniature, is of all things the most difficult of imitation. Rejected forged notes may now commonly be had, and by comparing them attentively in this particular part, the difference as well as the superior execu tion of the good ones will soon be discovered. CRISPINI FILIUS. Strand, Sept. 10, 1818. VISIT TO CLAREMONT. MR. EDITOR, AS every circumstance connected with our late revered Princess must be interesting in the highest degree to all classes of society, and to every party in the British dominions, you will, I trust, deposit in your valuable miscellany any thing that may serve to bring this lamented object to remembrance. For this purpose I send you the following acNEW MONTHLY MAG.-No. 57. 225 count of Claremont, which is at present the centre of attraction, owing to the indulgence afforded to visitors by its widowed owner during his absence on the Continent. September 6, 1818. ERNESTUS. Upon your arrival at the park gate you present your ticket, which generally authorizes the admission of yourself and friends, to the porter, who, upon registering your name as a visitor, and returning the ticket situated nearly in the centre of the park. directs you the way to the house, which is The building itself stands upon an eminence, with an elegant portico in front, to which you ascend by a flight of stone steps. On reach ing the entrance, you are received by several pages in waiting, who, on examining your ticket, and ascertaining your title to admission within the walls, introduce you to the first of a suite of four rooms, furnished in a style of great neatness and tasteful elegance, but exhibiting nothing of that magnificence which might be supposed to belong to a Royal residence. The first room is a parlour on the right of the hall, in which there are many cabinets and tablets of curious workmanship; the walls are adorned principally with portraits, the most conspicuous of which are the full length portraits of Prince Leopold and her Royal Highness the Princess Charlotte, which are situated opposite to each other at the ends of the room. There are also in this room her late Royal Highness's harp and piano. Mention execution of these copies is most exquisite. 226 Description of Claremont. of the sister of Prince Leopold, which is characterised not only by great beauty, but by a sweetness of expression which is more easy to be conceived than described. Here ends the inspection of the house: these are the only apartments exhibited. There are four other rooms on the same floor, but these are not open to public inspection: they consist of the bed room, in which her Royal Highness breathed her last; her dressing room and that of the prince, and a breakfast room. In the hall there is a handsome brilliant table. Each room is attended by a female servant, who will give every information the visitors may require, and the whole household are at tired in deep mourning. [Oct. 1, cypress, the yew, and the larch, combining to make it still more gloomy, renders this place admirably calculated for those contemplations which may be supposed best suited to the nature of the building. From this spot you are led through paths bordered by ever-greens, until you suddenly burst upon an extensive circular lake, surrounded by wood, and having in its centre an island covered with foliage, through which it would seem the rays of the sun can scarcely ever penetrate. In making the circuit of this lake, your attention is directed to a little cottage, which is the peculiar work of the Princess herself: it bears all the characteristics of rusticity, but at the same time fills the mind with an idea of perFrom the mansion you are directed to the fect comfort. In this cottage resides pleasure grounds, and in this excursion you woman, eighty years of age, who was a faare attended by a servant, who conducts you vourite object of her Royal Highness's to those objects which are most worthy of bounty. It appears that this poor old creayour attention. You first proceed to the ture had, with her husband, lived servant back front of the house, from whence there in successive families who had formerly is a view of a pleasing vista, between rows occupied this estate: at length worn down of luxuriant trees, whose boughs sweep the by age and infirmity, and unable longer to sloping lawn; the lawn terminates with a support herself by labour, she retired to a rural cottage, intended as a music room, in miserable little hovel which stood on the front of which is a pond, bearing on its sil- scite of the present building, where she ver surface various aquatic birds. From lived upon occasional contributions from the this you are led by a circuitous path to what mansion house, and the small earnings of is called the" Mount: " this is a hill of con- her husband. On the arrival of the Prinsiderable elevation, clothed with shrubs and cess, Dame Bewly, as she is called, soon atoverhanging trees. On the summit is a tracted her notice. Her Royal Highness building called Claremont, from whence discovered her residence, and found her enthe estate takes its title, as appears from an deavouring to read an old bible, the small inscription on its front, bearing these words, print of which, to her enfeebled eyes, was "And Claremont be the name, 1715." almost indistinguishable. Dame Bewly This edifice was, no doubt, erected by the complained of this, but she complained no original proprietors of the place, on account more. The next day she received what she of the beautiful prospect which is command- considered an inestimable treasure, namely, ed from its scite. The view from its sum- a bible and a prayer book of the largest mit, to which you are led, is extremely fine, print, and, in a short time, through the same and extends over the greater part of the benevolence, her old and shattered residence county of Surrey. During the life time of was removed, and the present cottage subthe Princess, it was fitting up as a conser- stituted. To offer a word in praise of the vatory, but this plan was abandoned, a more heart that directed this change would be eligible spot for such a purpose having been superfluous. The nation has already testiselected elsewhere. fied its feelings with regard to her in whose bosom that heart glowed; and sure are we, that there is not an individual who listens to the garrulous encomiums of poor Dame Bewly upon her whose loss she, as well as every inhabitant of the United Kingdom deplores-who will not add one more tear to the millions which have already been shed by those who fondly hoped at some future period to be her subjects. You are next conducted to the New Conservatory, which is not quite completed, but forms a very pleasing object.-From this you proceed, by circuitous paths, through the bosom of a wood to a small and elegant Gothic mausoleum, commenced in the lifetime of the Princess, and since finished under the direction of her heart-torn husband; who, in the completion of a work so peculiarly adapted to his frame of mind, and to the event which has reduced him to a state of "solitude even in the midst of society," seemed to enjoy a melancholy pleasure. In the centre of this little edifice is a pedestal, which also answers the purpose of a stove, and upon which is to be placed a bust of the Princess Charlotte. The limited character of the surrounding scenery, which is extremely circumscribed, consisting only of the varied hues of evergreens and forest foliage, the wide spreading From Dame Bewly's you pursue your course by the side of the lake through a wild, but artificial scene of hanging rooks, and from thence through various lawns and shrubberies, until you once more emerge in front of the mansion. You finally inspect the kitchen garden and green-houses, which are only interesting from the recollection of her under whose direction they have arrived at their present state of perfection. The whole excursion occupies about two hours, and although the pleasure to be de 1818.] Original Letters of Robert Burns and Miss Williams. rived may truly be said to be of a melancholy description, yet it is a pleasure which we would rather seek than avoid. The fond recollection of her who has endeared these scenes to the British heart, as well as the principle upon which that fondness is founded, must, to all who are capable of a refined sentiment, render a visit to Claremont a gratification of no ordinary kind. THE QUERIST. SIR-on reading the other day that singularly curious book, lately published, The Memoirs of John Evelyn, Esq." I was struck with the following passage, ("On the 22d April, 1694, a fiery exhalation rising out of the sea spread itselfe in Montgomeryshire a furlong 227 broad, and many miles in length, burning all straw, hay, thatch and grass, but doing no harm to trees, timber, or any solid things, onely barns or thatched houses. It left such a taint on the grasse as to kill all the cattle that eate of it. I saw the attestations in the hands of the sufferers. It lasted many months.") I have endeavoured to account for this on some acknowledged system, but in vain. I shall therefore feel greatly obliged by your placing it in the list of queries in your useful miscellany, hoping to be favoured, through your superior knowledge, or from some of your learned correspondents, with a solution of the above singular phænomenon. THE CABINET. ORIGINAL LETTERS OF ROBERT BURNS AND HELEN MARIA WILLIAMS. -THE two following articles form part of a selection from the unpublished correspondence of Robert Burns. The first, a letter from the celebrated Helen Maria Williams to the poet, refers chiefly to some occasional verses by Dr. Moore, not in our possession, and about which it does not seem necessary to enquire more particularly. The second is a criticism by Burns, upon a poem of Miss W.'s, which, it appears, she had submitted for his opinion. The critique, though not without some traits of his usualsound judgment and discrimination, appears on the whole to be much in the strain of those gallant and flattering responses which men of genius usually find it incumbent to issue, when consulted upon the productions of their female admirers. "SIR--Your friend Dr. Moore, having a complaint in his eyes, has desired me to become his secretary, and to thank you in his name, for your very humorous poem, entitled, "Auld Willie's Prayer," which he had from Mr. Creech. “ I am happy in this opportunity of expressing my obligations to you for the pleasure your poems have given me. I am sensible enough that my suffrage in their favour is of little value, yet it is natural for me to tell you, that, as far as I am capable of feeling poetic excellence, I have felt the power of your genius. I believe no one has read oftener than myself your "Vision," your "Cotter's Evening," the "Address to the Mouse," and many of your other poems. My mother's family is Scotch, and the dialect has been fami liar to me from my infancy; I was therefore qualified to taste the charm of your native poetry, and as I feel the strongest attachment for Scotland, I share the triumph of your country in producing your laurels. "I know the enclosed poems, which were addressed to me by Dr. Moore, will give you pleasure, and shall therefore risk incurring the imputation of vanity by sending them. I own that I gratify my own pride by so doing: you know enough of his character not to wonder that I am proud of his friendship, and you will not be surprised that he, who can give so many graces of wit and originality to prose, should be able to please in verse, when he turns his thoughts that way. One of these poems was sent to me last summer, from Hamilton House; the other is so local that you must take the trouble to read a little history before you can understand it. My mother removed lately to the house of a Captain Jaques, in Southampton Row, Bloomsbury Square. What endeared this situation not a little to my imagination, was the recollection that Gray the poet had resided in it. I told Dr. Moore, that I had very solid reasons to think that Gray had lived in this very house, and had composed the "Bard" in my little study; there were but fifty chances to one against it, and what is that in poetical calculation? I added, that I was convinced our landlord was a lineal descendant of Shakespeare's Jaques. Dr. Moore laughed, as he has often occasion to do, at my folly; but the fabric which my fancy had reared upon the firm substantial air, soon tottered`; for it became a mat◄ 228 Original Letters of Robert Burns and Miss Williams. ter of doubt if our habitation was in Southampton Row, or in King Street, which runs in a line with it. In the meantime, Dr. Moore called upon me, and left the enclosed verses on my table. It will give me great pleasure, sir, to hear that you find your present retirement agreeable, for indeed I am much interested in your happiness If I only considered the satisfaction I should de rive from your acquaintance, I should wish that your fortune had led you towards London; but I am persuaded that you have had the wisdom to choose the situation most congenial to the Muses. I am sir, with great esteem, your obedient servant. H. M. WILLIAMS, London, June 20th, 1787. A few Strictures on Miss William's Poem on the Slave Trade. I know very little of scientific criticism, so all I can pretend to in that intricate art is, merely to note, as I read along, what passages strike me as uncommonly beautiful, and where the expression secins to me perplexed or faulty. The poem opens finely. There are none of those idle prefatory lines which one may skip over before one comes to the subject. Verses 9th and 10th, in particular, Where ocean's unseen bound, Leaves a drear world of waters round, are truly beautiful. The simile of the hurricane is likewise fine; and indeed, beautiful as the poem is, almost all the similies rise decidedly above it. From verse 31st to verse 50th, is a pretty eulogy on Britain. Verse 36th," that foul drama deep with wrong," is nobly expressive. Verse 45th, I am afraid, is rather unworthy of the rest; "to dare to feel," is an idea that I do not altogether like. The contrast of valour and mercy, from the 46th verse to the 50th, is admirable. Either my apprehension is dull, or there is something a little confused in the apostrophe to Mr. Pitt. Verse 55th is the antecedent to verses 57th and 58th, but in verse 58th the connection seems ungrammatical: Powers With no gradations marked their flight, But rose at once to glory's height. Ris'n should surely be the word instead of rose. Try it in prose. Powerstheir flight marked by no gradations, but (the same powers) risen at once to the height of glory. Likewise, verse, [Oct. 1, 52nd, "For this" is evidently meant to lead on the sense of verses 59th, 60th, 61st and 62nd; but let us try how the thread of connection runs. For this- The deeds of mercy that embrace I beg pardon if I misapprehend the matter, but this appears to me the only imperfect passage in the poem: the comparison of the sun beam is fine. Richmond is, I hope, as just as it is cerThe compliment to the Duke of tainly elegant. The thought Virtue Lends from her unsullied source, From The gems of thought their purest force, is exceedingly beautiful. The idea from verse 81st to the 85th, that the "blest decree" is like the beams of morning ushering in the glorious day of liberty, ought not to pass unnoticed. verse 85th to verse 108th, is an animated contrast between the unfeeling selfishness of the oppressor on the one hand, and the misery of the captive on the other: verse 88th, might perhaps be mended thus, "Nor ever quit her narrow maze." We are said to pass a bound, but we quit a maze. Verse 100, is exquisitely beautiful, They, whom wasted blessings tire. Verse 110 is, I doubt, a clashing of metaphors; to "load a span," is, I am afraid, an unwarrantable expression. In verse 114, Cast the universe in shade," is a fine idea. From the 115th verse to the 142nd, is a striking description of the wrongs of the poor African. Verse 120, "the load of unremitted pain," is a remarkably strong expression. The address to the advocates for abolishing the Slave Trade, from verse 149 to verse 208, is animated with the true life of genius. The picture of oppression, While she links her impious chain, What a tender idea is in verse 180; indeed, that whole description of Home may vie with Thomson's somewhere in the beginning of his Autumn. I do not remember to have seen a stronger expression of misery than is contained in these verses; Condemned, severe extreme, to live |