to his own wise purposes, the means he has established himself; but it was operated by the physical causes described in Genesis, and their effects could not but leave strong traces on the earth, and as strong recollections among the descendants of Noah; and both are to be our guides.

So far, I have taken to myself Mr. Farey's ideas, though not directly opposed to me; for, till this place, he had only mentioned Common Sense; but, when he speaks of me, he first points out a mistake of mine, in the following passage: "Mr. De Luc seems to err, in supposing that Common Sense referred only to Mr. Parkinson's Paper on the Strata round Londou; when, indeed, he had not alluded to this, but expressly to his general work, on Organic Remains in all Parts of the World, in three quarto volumes; a work which it astonishes me that the veteran geologist should appear unacquainted with."

This, sir, is a mistake which you had already pointed out yourself in your Number for June, by a note, p. 412, on my paper relating to Common Sense's system, and which I found to be just. But this mistake has had no influence in my remarks on that system; and the cause of it was, that at that time I had recently received, by Mr. Parkinson's kindness, his paper containing observations on some strata in the neighbour hood of London, and on the fossil remains contained in them. This therefore was only present to my memory. I know that his large work is a most valuable collection of organic remains in the strata of various countries; but I know also, that, in consequence of these remains not being found in the undermost strata called primary, he has concluded (as I had done) that they did not exist during the formation of these strata; that their different classes began successively to exist during the formation of the secondary strata, which required a long time. Hence, recurring to the first chapter of Genesis, Mr. Parkinson has also concluded from its context, that the word day is not to be understood as signifying a day of twenty-four hours, but a period of undetermined length: following then the succession of different stratá and of the organic bodies which they contained, he has described the operations in each of these successive periods, agreeably to the words of the text, and nearly in the same manner as I have done in my let ters to Professor Blumenbach, which he does not appear to have known, but

only my first work, Lettres sur l'Histoire de la Terre & de l'Homme. Lastly, (and this is a most essential coincidence to my present purpose,) he mentions the same symptoms of great catastrophes, by fractures and dislocations of the strata during these periods. It is a great satisfaction for me, to see these conformities between us, proceeding from our common study of the organic remains in the succession of the secondary strata, while there are none in the primary.

The next article of Mr. Farey's paper will lead to many important objects; for which reason I shall first copy the whole. "At page 414, Mr. De Luc mentions having proved in his works that coal-beds are submerged peat mosses and of dry-land origin; yet this is a po◄ sition from which I must entirely dissent, after having examined large tracts of carboniferous strata (far more extensive than those scattered patches mentioned by Mr. Williams) with no ordinary care and attention; and assert, that nothing can be more unlike the recent vegetables of peat mosses, than those extinct ones preserved in coal-strata, as Mr. Parkinson's numerous plates and collections, those of Mr. Sowerby, and numerous others, in this and in every other country where geology has been cultivated, will testify. Bog plants, though always saturated with moisture, do not, as is well known, grow under water; and yet, no person can examine the impressions of large plants that abound in coal strata, without being satisfied that they had a subaqueous growth; since hollow tubes of vegetable matter, little thicker than paper, of two to eight or ten, or even twenty or thirty inches in diameter, and many feet high, could not have supported themselves in the air, however sheltered the situation, or even in water that was not very deep and quiescent.

"Those who have doubt on the subject should examine the remarkable grit. stone quarry, called Birchwood, in York. shire, and the gardens of Sir Edward Smith, where two of these vegetable pipes, in a coaly state, filled with perfect grit stone of the quarry, are erected as pillars at the entrance of a grotto; the largest of which is elliptical, thirty by twenty-two inches in diameter, and was twelve feet high, standing erect, in the quarry above-mentioned, which rests on a coal-seam that has been on fire." I shall successively indicate my remarks on the whole of this passage.

The first error of Mr. Farey that I shall point out, is his idea that the bog 3 S2

plants,

plants, of which peat is formed, though always saturated with moisture, do not grow in water. If he had read my Geological Travels, on some parts of the Coasts of the Baltic, and of the North Sea, published in London in the year 1810, he would have seen what labour and attention I had bestowed on peatmosses, and thus have conceived a very different idea of the growth of these plants.

The principal mass of the peat is certainly formed of sub-aqueous plants, and their first bed under water is the conferva, filling the water with its green clouds; in which they grow, and copiously prosper; first, all the aquatic mosses, especially the sphagnum palus tre, very reimarkable by its star-like tufts along a thin thread; then many kinds of reeds and other sub-aquatic plants, which were shown and named to me by the Prof. of Botany of Rostock, (p. 146) not only in the moss itself, but in the peat dug many feet deep; they are, scirpus caspitosus, scarpus maritimus, scirpus pauciflorus, eriophorum vaginatum, equisetum palustre, equisetum fluviatile. I followed very attentively the progress of mosses, along lakes and rivers, sometimes with danger, as it is related in my Travels, by proceeding from the part of the moss already solid, and even culti vated, to those parts where the sort of mattress formed by mere aquatic plants, still in water, yielded to the weight of my body; however, when these aquatic plants are thus matted, various terrestrial plants begin to grow on that soil, which is enriched by a brown powder, produced from the molecule of the vegetables, se parated without putrefaction, or the loss of their combustit te faculty, which is the characteristic of peat; and, as I have proved in these Travels, is owing to some antiseptic quality of moss water.

It is not surprising that the vegetables found in the strata that cover coal-beds are different from those which form the now-existing peat-mosses, since we find so many differences between the fossil and recent organic bodies of other kinds: but there are in the former many of the now existing vegetables, among which are various species of ferns: and I may give an instance of a mere aquatic plant, namely, the sphagnum palustre. In our collection at Geneva we have a number of specimens of the state which forms the 1oof of the coal-beds in Forest, a county of France, on which is impressed that plant, which is absolutely sub-aqueous,

and only shoots up above water some straggling branches, which continue to grow on the surface of the moss; these have left their impression in the stratum of slate, formed after the submersion of the island on which the moss had existed.

I am acquainted with the astonishing vegetable described by Mr. Farey, having seen it near Colebrook Dale. These large, hollow, and thin tubes, branching like reeds, appeared to belong to the stratum above the coals; in some parts also the substance of the plant is con verted into coal, which, agrees with my system of coals being a mineralization of vegetable substances. But what can be said of the manner in which that nowunknown vegetable may have grown, when we see it, not only imbedded in, but filled with, grit-stone?" What we can judge is only, that, after the submersion of the peat-moss, to which it belonged, a new precipitation happened in the aucient sea, of a sand fit to consolidate, with time, into grit. Such were at first all our stoney strata, when organic fossils were imbedded in them, and this stratum in particular was of a nature to consolidate into grit, both in these kind of reeds and in the whole of the strata inclosing them: but they afterwards underwent disruptions, for it was in a cleft that I saw these enormous tubes at Colebrook Dale. J. A. DE Luc.

Windsor.

To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine.

I

SIR,

SEND you the conclusion of Hugh Peters' Dying Father's last Legacy to an only Child.-Some of your readers may be pleased with the knowledge of such other of his writings as I am acquainted with.

In 1646 he published, " God's Doings and Man's Duty, a Sermon preached be fore both Houses of Parliament, the Lord Mayor, and Aldermen of London," &c. and, in the same year," Mr. Peters's last Report of the English Wars, occasioned by the importunity of a friend pressing fin answer for some queries," &c. In 1647 he published a 4to. pamplet of fourteen pages, entitled, "A Word for the Army, and Two Words to the Kingdom, to clear the one and cure the other, forced in much plainness and brevity from their faithful humble servant, Hugh Peters." This tract is reprinted in the Harleian Miscellany. In 1651, an answer was published to Mr. Hugh Peters's "Goo

Work

Work for a good Magistrate, or a short cut to great quiet." This tract of his I have not yet met with.

A small volume of tales and jests was printed soon after his death, and attributed to him. In 1807, Mr. Caulheld, a bookseller of London, reprinted this book, and at the end of the Preface mentions the following circumstance: "The publisher of this edition, having in the year 1791 put forth an account of several remarkable persons,' had an application made to him for a portrait of Peters, occurring in the book, by a reverend-looking divine, in appearance upwards of 80 years of age, who reported himself his grandson, stating, that, on the execution of his ancestor, his mother, the daughter to whom Hugh Peters addressed his dying legacy, had withdrawn herself to America to her mother's relations, that she married and settled in that country, and that he was the youngest of her children. He was a fine looking man, nearly six feet in height, and seemned rather proud than ashamed of his grandfather." If any of your readers can furnish me, by the post, with further information respecting his family, or will communicate any other particulars relative to him than are collected in his Life by James Harris, they would peculiarly oblige, Clifton, near Bristol, November, 1812.

WM. TYSON.

Hugh Peters's last Legacy to his Daughter. (Concluded from vol. 32, p. 462.) I thought Ireland the clearest work, and had the pay of a preacher then and afterward, as I could get it; I was not here at Edge-hill, nor the Bishop of Canterburies troubles or death. Upon my return, was staid again from going home, by the Earl of Warwick, my patron; then by the Earl of Essex, afterwards by the Parliament, who at last gave me an estate, now taken away, I had success to the king about my New-England business: he used me civilly: I, in requital, offered my poor thoughts three times for his safety: I never had hand in contriving or acting his death, as I am scanda lized, but the contrary (to my mean power); I was never in any councils or cabal at any time; I hated it, and had no stowage for counsel, thinking all governments should lye open to all : nor had penny from any general, but lived in debt, as now I am; nor had means for any expences: what I had others shared in. I confess I did what I did strenu ously, though with a weak head, being

overlaid with my own and others' troubles; never was angry with any of the king's party, nor any of them for being so; thought the Parliament authority lawfull, and never studied it much; have not had my hand in any man's blood, but saved many in life and estate. The Parliament, in 1644, gave me the bishop's books, valued at 1401. which I intended for New England, being a part of his private library, which (with all my own) I have often offered for 1501. the mistake about them was and is great, for they never were so considerable; and these were my gettings, who never aimed to be rich, nor ever had means to reach it. The changes grew (as you see) a commonwealth I found, but thus altered; I staid so long at Whitehall, contented with any good government that would keep things together, till the breach of that they call Richard's Parliament, and then I removed, and never returned more, but fell sick long, and in trouble ever since; never was summoned but once by the council, which was in April, about books; of which (lying sick) I craved of the president of the council to excuse me, who sent unto me he had, and I gave him an account of the books; but, hearing that my estate was gone, and I indebted, was private, and did purpose so to live, and so to dye, having a resolution (which I kept) never to meddle with state-matters, but, either here or in New England, to spend my old age in looking into my grave and eternity; and never had to do with any transactions with souldiers or others; nor never would, had I a longer

re, my head and heart be tired, as well as my body craz'd. I thought the Act of Indemnity would have included me, but the hard character upon me excluded me, which I was sensible of, that nature (in its own preservation) carried me to privacy; but free from that report of the manner which is suggested, of which you may be assured, by my zeal (it seems) I have exposed myself to all manner of reproach; but wish you to know, that (besides your mother) I have had no fellowship (that way) with any woman since first I knew her, having a godly wife before also, I biess God.

But, because what is before written may seem my white side only, I shall deal in all plainness with you, that, though for religion, I am and have been really sound and orthodox to my best apprehension, according to the blessed word of God, and the generality of the Protestant confessions; yea, though I travelled

through

Bless God if ever you meet with suitableness in marriage. For my spirit it wanted weight through many tossings, my head that composure others have, credulous and too careless, but never mischievous nor malicious; I thought my work was to serve others, and so mine Own garden not so well cultivated; only this I say, I aimed at a good mark, and trust the Lord in Jesus Christ hath accepted it. My faith in the everlasting covenant was and is, though feeble, yet faith. I could thus continue ripping my whole heart to you, who have very often had great success, even to the last hour of my last preaching, and am preaching the life of faith to myself, to which call in all prayers to the Father in Jesus Christ his dearest Son, to whom let us look, as the author and finisher of our faith, who, for the joy that was set before him, endured the cross, despised the shame, and now sits at the right hand of Majesty, making intercession for transgressors. Heb. xii. 12.-To whom be glory and praise, and thanks for ever. For he is worthy who hath washed us from our sins by his own blood, and made us kings and priests unto God the Father; to him be glory and dominion for ever.

For that part of my Lord Craven's estate which I have took no small place in my trouble. You may know that I was not in the city when that act was made, nor urged my Lord Grey to buy; nor ever advised the said lord (as I had time) but to good and just things and company, against that spirit of levelling then stirring: aud do heartily wish that taken offence might dye, for it was not intended by me, who could and can be as well contented without land as with it, never being ambitious to be great or rich since I knew better things.

31. And now I must return to yourself again, and to give you my thoughts about your own condition. I do first commend you to the Lord, and then to the care of a faithful friend, whom I shall name unto you, if a friend may be found in this juncture that dare own your name, (though there be more of your name); and if such a friend advise it, that you serve in some godly family, to which you seem to incline, and must (it seems); but truly, if not a good family, what will your condition be? Dwell where God dwells, and be in such company as you must be with in Heaven, and then you do but change your place not your company;

though it be unexpected and uncouth, yet remember the best of men have been servants; Moses kept his father's sheep; so Jacob, and the patriarchs; David to Saul, and many more; I have before given thee rules for it; and be sure to be steady to family and private duties, your life will be dead without them: call your condition God's Ordinance, and he can bless it to you. But, if you would go home to New England (which you have much reason to do), go with good company, and trust God there: the church are a tender company: a little will carry us through the world, yea very little: Oh, godliness with content! your faithfulness to me and your mother will find accep tance in heaven I trust. My dear child, tell me how couldst thou be without God's rod? remember he hath a staff also. For your mother (considering her distemper) I have and shall say more unto you. To His grace, who is able to do above all we can ask or think, I commend you both.

And, if I go shortly where time shall be no more, where cock nor clock distinguish hours, sink not, but lay thy head in his bosom who can keep thee, for he sits upon the waves. Farewel.

35. And, since we must part, must part, take my wishes, sighs, and groans, to follow thee, and pity the feebleness of what I have sent, being writ under much, yea very much, discomposure of spirit.