[]
THOMAS PENNANT Eſq

Publiſ'd according to Act of Parliament March 1; 1793.

[]

THE LITERARY LIFE OF THE LATE THOMAS PENNANT, Eſq. By HIMSELF.

............cura......
.........eadem ſequitur tellure repoſtum.

LONDON: SOLD BY BENJAMIN AND JOHN WHITE, FLEET-STREET, AND ROBERT FAULDER, NEW BOND-STREET.

M.DCC.XCIII.

ADVERTISEMENT.

[]

THE title page announces the termination of my authorial exiſtence, which took place on March 1ſt, 1791. Since that period, I have glided through the globe a harmleſs ſprite; have pervaded the continents of Europe, Aſia, and Africa, and deſcribed them with the ſame authenticity as Gemelli Careri, or many other travellers, ideal or real, who are to this day read with avidity, and quoted with faith. My great change is not perceived by mortal eyes. I ſtill haunt the bench of juſtices. I am now active in haſtening levies of our generous Britons into the field. However unequal, I ſtill retain the ſame zeal in the ſervices of my country; and twice ſince my departure, have experienced human paſſions, and have grown indignant at injuries offered to my native land; or have incited a vigorous defence againſt the lunatic deſigns of enthuſiaſtic tyranny, or the preſumptuous plans of fanatical atheiſts to ſpread their reign and force their tenets on the contented moral part of their fellow creatures. May I remain poſſeſſed with []the ſame paſſions till the great EXORCIST lays me for ever. The two laſt numbers in the following pages are my poſt-exiſtent performances. Surviving friends, ſmile on the attempts! Surviving enemy, if any I can NOW have, forgive my errors!

Tu manes ne laede meos. THOMAS PENNANT.

CONTENTS.

[]

LITERARY LIFE—Page 1

APPENDIX.
  • Of the Patagonians Page 47
  • Free Thoughts on the Militia Laws Page 71
  • A Letter from a Welſh Freeholder to his Repreſentative Page 89
  • A Letter on the Ladies Affectation of the Military Dreſs Page 97
  • On Imprudency of Conduct in Married Ladies Page 100
  • Flintſhire Petition in 1779 Page 103
  • A Letter to a Member of Parliament on Mail Coaches Page 111
  • Of the Loyal Aſſociations of the preſent Year, in Flintſhire Page 135
[]

THE PORTRAIT to be had ſeparate at Mr. Mazel's, No 7, Bridges-Street, Covent-Garden.

THE Bookbinder is deſired to place the ruins of FOUNTAIN ABBEY at p. 16.

[]
BE AS A FATHER TO THE FATHERLESS AND INSTEAD OF A HUSBAND UNTO THEIR MOTHER. Ecclesiasticus IV. 10.
The Reverend JOHN LLOYD Rector of CAERWIS

Born MARCH 25th. O:S: [...]1733. Died MAY 21st. 1793.

The Conſtant Friend Companion & Aſsistant to THOMAS PENNANT Eſq: in his Tours in WALES.

[...] JURE X LIBERORUM.

OF MY LITERARY LIFE.

[]
‘VIXI ET QUEM DEDERAT CURSUM FORTUNA PEREGI.’

ORIGINAL CAUSE OF MY STUDIES. A PRESENT of the ornithology of Francis Willughby, eſq. made to me, when I was about the age of twelve, by my kinſman the late John Saliſbury,eſq. of Bachegraig, in the county of Flint, father of the fair and celebrated writer Mrs. Piozzi, firſt gave me a taſte for that ſtudy, and incidentally a love for that of natural hiſtory in general, which I have ſince purſued with my conſtitutional ardor.

A TOUR IN CORNWAL, 1746 OR 7. A TOUR I made into Cornwal, from Oxford, in the year 1746 or 1747, gave me a ſtrong paſſion for minerals and foſſils, in which I was greatly encouraged by that able and worthy man, the late reverend doctor William Borlaſe of Ludgvan, who, in the kindeſt manner, communicated to me every thing worthy my notice.

THE firſt thing of mine which appeared in print was inſerted unknown to me; an abſtract of a letter I had written to my ever venerated friend and uncle James Mytton,eſq. on an earthquake which was felt at Downing, April the 2d, 1750. This, with ſeveral ſimilar teſtimonies, may be ſeen in the xth volume of the Abridgment of the Philoſophical Tranſactions, p. 511.

[2] ELECTED FELLOW OF THE SOCIETY OF ANTIQUARIES. HAVING an inclination to the ſtudy of antiquities, I was, on November the 21ſt, 1754, elected a fellow of the ſociety of antiquaries.

RESIGN. THIS honor I reſigned about the year 1760. I had married a moſt amiable woman; my circumſtances at that time were very narrow, my worthy father being alive, and I vainly thought my happineſs would have been permanent, and that I never ſhould have been called again from my retirement to amuſe myſelf in town, or to be of uſe to the ſociety.

VISIT IRELAND IN 1754. IN the ſummer of 1754 I viſited the hoſpitable kingdom of Ireland, and travelled from Dublin to Balli-Caſtle, the Giants-Cauſeway, Colraine, the extremity of the county of Donegal, London-Derry, Strabone, Innis-killen, Galway, Limcrick, the lake of Killarney, Kinſale, Cork, Caſhel, Waterford, Kilkenny, Dublin. But ſuch was the conviviality of the country, that my journal proved as maigre as my entertainment was gras, ſo it never was a diſh fit to be offered to the public.

ACCOUNT OF SOME CORALLOIDS, 1756. In the Philoſophical Tranſactions of 1756, vol. xlix. p. 513, is a trifling paper of mine, on ſeveral coralloid bodies, I had collected at Coal brook-dale, in Shropſhire. It is accompanied by a plate engraven from ſome drawings by Watkin Williams, a perſon who at that time was an humble companion of my father.

IN 1757 ELECTED OF THE R. S. AT UPSAL. On February, 1757, I received the firſt and greateſt of my literary honors. I value myſelf the more on its being conferred on me, at the inſtance of Linnaeus himſelf, with whom I had began a correſpondence in 1755. I had ſent him an account of a recent concha anomia, which I found adhering to a ſea-plant of the Norwegian ſeas, ſent to me by biſhop Pontoppidan. [3]Hanc, ſays the great naturaliſt, recitavi in ſocietatis regiae Upſalienſis, publico conſeſſu, 1757, d. 17 Februarii, quam collegae et ſocii omnes avidiſſimè excipiebant et mirati ſunt; te quoque codem die membrum praefatae ſocietatis unanimo conſenſu elegere omnes, et mibi in mandatis dedere hoc tibi ſignificandi; probè perſuaſi te excepturum hoc eorum officium benevolè, ob amorem quem ſers in ſcientias et omnia quae uſui publico inſerviant. My correſpondence continued with this illuſtrious perſonage till age and infirmities obliged him to deſiſt. He did me the honor of accepting all my labors publiſhed before the year 1774. He ſpoke of them in terms too favorable for me to repeat.

FOLIO EDITION OF THE BRITISH ZOOLOGY, 1761. About the year 1761 I began my Britiſh Zoology, which, when completed, conſiſted of cxxxii plates on imperial paper. They were all engraven by Mr. Peter Mazel, now living, and of whoſe ſkill and integrity I had always occaſion to ſpeak well. The painter was Mr. Peter Pallou, an excellent artiſt, but too fond of giving gaudy colours to his ſubjects. He painted, for my hall, at Downing, ſeveral pictures of birds and animals, attended with ſuitable landſcapes. Four were intended to repreſent the climates. The frigid zone, and an European ſcene of a farm-yard, are particularly well done; all have their merit, but occaſion me to lament his conviviality, which affected his circumſtances and abridged his days.

THE worthy and ingenious George Edwards, that admirable ornithologiſt, at firſt conceived a little jealouſy on my attempt: but it very ſoon ſubſided. We became very intimate, and he continued to his dying day ready and earneſt to promote all my labors. He preſented me, as a proof of his friendſhip, with numbers of the original drawings from which his etchings had [4]been formed. Theſe I keep, not only in reſpect to his memory, but as curious teſtimonies of his faithful and elegant pencil.

I dedicated the Britiſh Zoology to the benefit of the Welſh ſchool, near Gray's-inn-lane, London, and ſupported the far greater part of the expence. I loſt conſiderably by it, notwithſtanding ſeveral gentlemen contributed. My agent was that very honeſt man, Mr. Richard Morris, of the navy office. His widow was left in narrow circumſtances, I therefore permitted her to keep the plates, and make what advantage ſhe could of them. I was, at the time of undertaking this work, unexperienced in theſe affairs, and was ill-adviſed to publiſh on ſuch large paper; had it been originally in quarto, the ſchool would have been conſiderably benefited by it.

JOURNEY TO THE CONTINENT, 1765. THIS work was for a time left unfiniſhed, by reaſon of a ſhort tour I made to the continent. I leſt London on February the 19th, 1765, paſſed through St. Omer, Aire, Arras, Perron, and acroſs the great foreſt to Chantilli, and from thence to Paris. I made ſome ſtay at that capital, and was during the time made happy in the company of the celebrated naturaliſt Le Comte de Buffon, LE COMTE DE BUFFON. with whom I paſſed much of the time. He was ſatiſfied with my proficiency in natural hiſtory, and publickly acknowleged his favorable ſentiments of my ſtudies in the fifteenth volume of his Hiſtoire Naturelle. Unfortunately, long before I had any thoughts of enjoying the honor of his acquaintance, I had, in my Britiſh Zoology, made a compariſon between the free-thinking philoſopher and our great and religious countryman Mr. Ray, much to the advantage of the latter. The ſubject was a Mole, really too ridiculous to have been [5]noticed; but ſuch was his irritability, that, in the firſt volume of his Hiſtoire Naturelle des Oiſeaux, he fell on me moſt unmercifully, but happily often without reaſon. He probably relented, for in the following volumes he frequently made uſe of my authority, which fully atoned for a haſty and miſguided fit of paſſion. I did not wiſh to quarrel with a gentleman I truly eſteemed, yet, unwilling to remain quite paſſive, in my Index to his admirable works, and the Planches Enluminécs, I did venture to repel his principal charge, and, con amore, to retaliate on my illuſtrious aſſailant. Our blows were light, and I hope that neither of us felt any material injury.

I MUST blame the Comte for ſuppreſſing his acknowlegement of ſeveral communications of animals which I ſent to him for the illuſtration of his Hiſtcire Naturelle. One was his Conguar Noir, Suppl. iii. 223. tab. lxii; my Jaguar or Black Tiger, Hiſt. Quadr. 1. No 190. Another was the drawing of his Iſatis, Suppl. iii. tab. xvii. which he attributes to good Peter Collinſon. The third was his Chacal Adive of the ſame work, p. 112. tab. xvi; and my Barbary Fox, Hiſt. Quadr. 1. No 171, of which I furniſhed him with the deſigns. Theſe are no great matters: I lament them only as ſmall defects in a great character.

AT MONBARD. I took the uſual road to Lyon, excepting a ſmall digreſſion in Burgundy, in compliance with the friendly invitation of the Comte, to paſs a few days with him in his ſeat at Monbard. His houſe was built at the foot of a hill crowned with a ruined caſtle: he had converted the caſtle-yard into a garden, and fitted up one of the towers into a ſtudy. To that place he retired every morning, about ſeven o'clock, to compoſe his excellent works, free from all interruption. He continued there [6]till between one and two, when he returned, dined with his family, and gave up the whole remainder of the day to them and his friends, whom he entertained with the moſt agreeable and rational converſation.

VOLTAIRE. AT Ferney, in the extremity of the ſame province, I viſited that wicked wit Voltaire; he happened to be in good-humour, and was very entertaining; but, in his attempt to ſpeak Engliſh, ſatisfied us that he was perfect maſter of our oaths and our curſes.

THE forenoon was not the proper time to viſit Voltaire; he could not bear to have his hours of ſtudy interrupted; this alone was enough to put him in bad humour, and not without reaſon. Leſſer people may have the ſame cauſe of complaint, when a lounger, who has no one thing to do, breaks on their hours of writing, eſtimates the value of their time by his own, and diverts their attention in the moſt pretious hours of the rural morning.

From Lyon I went to Grenoble and the Grand Chartreuſe, Chamberri, and Geneva, and from thence over the greateſt part of Swiſſerland. At Bern I commenced acquaintance with that excellent man the late baron Haller, BARON HALLER. who, on every occaſion, ſhewed the utmoſt alacrity to promote my purſuits. At Zurich with the two Geſners, the poet and the naturaliſt; the laſt the deſcendant of the great Conrad Geſner.

Ulm and Augſburg were the firſt cities I viſited in Germany. Donawert, Nurenberg, Erlang, Bamberg, and Frankfort on the Maine ſucceeded. At the declining city of Nurenberg I viſited doctor Trew, DOCTOR TREW. a venerable patron of natural hiſtory. At Mentz I embarked on the Rhine, and fell down that magnificent river [7]as low as Cologne. From Duſſeldorp I went to Xanten, and from thence reached Holland; few parts of which I left unviſited.

DOCTOR PALLAS. I eſteem my meeting with doctor Pallas, at the Hague, a momentous affair, for it gave riſe to my Synopſis of Quadrupeds, and the ſecond edition, under the name of the Hiſtory of Quadrupeds; a work received by the naturaliſts of different parts of Europe in a manner uncommonly favorable. This and the following year, doctor Pallas reſided at the Hague. From congeniality of diſpoſition we ſoon became ſtrongly attached. Our converſation rolled chiefly on natural hiſtory, and, as we were both enthuſiaſtic admirers of our great Ray, I propoſed his undertaking a hiſtory of quadrupeds on the ſyſtem of our illuſtrious countryman a little reformed. He aſſented to my plan, and, on January the 18th, 1766, he wrote to me a long letter, in which he ſent an outline of his deſign, and his reſolution to purſue it with all the expedition conſiſtent with his other engagements. But this work was fated to be accompliſhed by an inferior genius. In the next year he returned to Berlin, his native place; his abilities began to be highly celebrated; his fame reached the court of Peterſburgh, and the empreſs, not more to her own honor than that of my friend, invited him into her ſervice, and in 1768 placed him at the head of one of the philoſophical expeditions projected for diſcovery in the moſt diſtant parts of her vaſt dominions. This was an expedition worthy of Pallas; it began in June 1768, and was concluded on the 30th of July 1774. It unfolded all his great talents, and eſtabliſhed his fame equal at left to the greateſt philoſophers of the age. He was loſt to me during that period. On hearing of his return I wrote to him at Peterſburgh, and ſent to [8]him all the works I had publiſhed ſince our ſeparation; he received them with the candor which only great minds poſſeſs at the fight of the ſucceſsful labors of others. On November the 4th, 1777, I received from him the firſt letter of our renewed correſpondence, which continued ſeveral years, to my great inſtruction. He ſuppreſſed nothing that could be of ſervice to the cauſe of literature, nor did he deſiſt, till, overpowered with buſineſs, he dropt all epiſtolary duties except thoſe which were official. To this day he convinces me of his friendſhip by conſtant preſents of the productions of his celebrated pen.

MR. GRONOVIUS. AT Leyden I had the pleaſure of making a perſonal acquaintance with my worthy correſpondent doctor Lawrence Theodore Gronovius, deſcended from a race celebrated for their immenſe erudition; his own labors will remain laſting proofs of his being an undegenerated ſon.

On February the 26th, 1767, I was elected Fellow of our Royal Society.

BRITISH ZOOLOCY, SECOND EDITION, 1768. Mr. Benjamin White, bookſeller, propoſed to me the republication of the Britiſh Zoology, which was done in 1768, in two volumes, octavo, illuſtrated with xvii plates; he payed me £.100 for my permiſſion, which I immediately veſted in the Welſh charity ſchool. I may here obſerve, that M. de Murre, of Nurenbergh, tranſlated the folio edition into German and Latin, and publiſhed it in that ſize, with the plates copied and colored by the ingenious artiſts of that city.

IN the May of this year I met Sir Joſeph Banks, then Mr. Banks, at Reveſby Abby, his ſeat in Lincolnſhire; during my ſtay I made many obſervations on the zoology of the country, and muſt acknowlege the various obligations I lie under to that [9]gentleman for his liberal communications reſulting from the uncommon extent of his travels.

I MAY here mention, that our firſt acquaintance commenced on March 19th, 1766, when he called on me at my lodgings in St. James's Street, and preſented me with that ſcarce book Turner de Avibus, &c. a gift I retain as a valuable proof of his eſteem. An unhappy interruption of our friendſhip once took place, but it recommenced, I truſt, to the content of both parties, in a fortunate moment, in March 1790.

A THIRD VOLUME OF FISHES, &c. 1769. IN 1769 I added to the Britiſh Zoology a third volume in, octavo, on the reptiles and fiſhes of Great Britain. This was illuſtrated with xvii plates.

IN the preceding year ſir JOSEPH BANKS communicated to me a new ſpecies of Pinguin, brought by captain Machride from the Falkland iſlands. I drew up an account of it, and of all the other ſpecies then known, and laid it before the Royal Society. They were pleaſed to direct that it ſhould be publiſhed, which was done in this year, in the lviiith volume of the Philoſophical Tranſactions. It was accompanied by a figure. It is not a good one, the ſkin having been too much diſtended: but in the ſecond edition of my Genera of Birds a moſt faithful repreſentation is given, taken from the life by doctor Reinhold Forſter. I named it Patagonian, not only on account of the ſize, but becauſe it is very common in the neighborhood of that race of tall men.

INDIAN ZOOLOGY, 1769. MY mind was always in a progreſſive ſtate, it never could ſtagnate; this carried me farther than the limits of our iſland, and made me deſirous of forming a zoology of ſome diſtant country, by which I might relieve my pen by the pleaſure of [10]the novelty and variety of the ſubjects. I was induced to prefer that of India, from my acquaintance with John Gideon Loten,eſq. who had long been a governor in more than one of the Dutch iſlands in the Indian ocean, and with a laudable zeal had employed ſeveral moſt accurate artiſts in delineating, on the ſpot, the birds, and other ſubjects of natural hiſtory. He offered to me the uſe of them, in a manner that ſhewed his liberal turn. Twelve plates, in ſmall folio, were engraven at the joint expence of ſir Joſeph Banks, Mr. Loten, and myſelf; to which I added deſcriptions and little eſſays. I forget how the work ceaſed to proceed; but remember that, at my perſuaſion, the plates were beſtowed on doctor John Reinhold Forſter, together with three more engraven at my own expence. Theſe he took with him into Germany, faithfully tranſlated the letter-preſs into Latin and German, and added a moſt ingenious differtation on the climate, winds, and ſoil of India, and another on the birds of Paradiſe and the Phoenix, all which he publiſhed at Halle, in Saxony, in 1781.

OF MOSES GRIFFITH. IN the ſpring of this year I acquired that treaſure, Moſes Griſſith, born April 6th, 1749, at Trygain-houſe, in the pariſh of Bryn Groer, in Llein, in Caernarvonſhire, deſcended from very poor parents, and without any other inſtruction than that of reading and writing. He early took to the uſe of his pencil, and, during his long ſervice with me, has diſtinguiſhed himſelf as a good and faithful ſervant, and able artiſt; he can engrave, and he is tolerably ſkilled in muſic. He accompanied me in all my journies, except that of the preſent year. The public may thank him for numberleſs ſcenes and antiquities, which would otherwiſe have remained probably for ever concealed.

[11] FIRST TOUR INTO SCOTLAND. THIS year was a very active one with me; I had the hardineſs to venture on a journey to the remoteſt part of North Britain, a country almoſt as little known to its ſouthern brethren as Kamtſchatka. I brought home a favorable account of the land. Whether it will thank me or not I cannot ſay, but from the report I made, and ſhewing that it might be viſited with ſafety, it has ever ſince been inondée with ſouthern viſitants.

ELECTED FELLOW OF THE R. ACAD. AT DRONTHEIM. IN the ſame year I received a very polite letter from the reverend Jo. Erneſt Gunner, biſhop of Drontheim, in Norway, informing me that I had been elected member of the Royal Academy of Sciences on March the 9th paſt; of which ſociety that prelate was preſident.

IN the midſt of my reigning purſuits, I never neglected the company of my convivial friends, or ſhunned the ſociety of the gay world. At an aſſembly in the ſpring, the lively converſation of an agreeable Fair gave birth to the

ODE, occaſioned by a Lady profeſſing an attachment to INDIFFERENCE.

FLY, INDIFFERENCE, hated maid!
Seek Spitzbergen's barren ſhade:
Where old Winter keeps his court,
There, fit Gueſt, do thou reſort:
And thy froſty breaſt repoſe
'Midſt congenial ice and ſnows.
There reſide, inſipid maid,
But ne'er infeſt my EMMA's head.
Or elſe ſeek the Cloiſter's pale,
Where reluctant Virgins veil:
In the corner of whoſe heart
Earth with Heaven ſtill keeps a part:
There thy fulleſt influence ſhower,
Free poor Grace from Paſſion's power.
[12]Give! give! fond ELOISA reſt;
But ſhun, oh ſhun my EMMA's breaſt.
Or on LYCE, wanton maid!
Be thy chilling finger laid.
Quench the frolic beam that flies
From her bright fantaſtic eyes.
Teach the ſweet Coquet to know
Heart of ice in breaſt of ſnow:
Give peace to her: Give peace to me:
But leave, oh! leave my EMMA free.
But if thou in grave diſguiſe
Seek'ſt to make that Nymph thy prize:
Should that Nymph, deceiv'd by thee,
Liſten to thy ſophiſtry:
Should ſhe court thy cold embraces,
And to thee reſign her graces;
What, alas! is left for me,
But to fly myſelf to thee.

1770. ADDITIONAL PLATES TO THE BRITISH ZOOLOGY. IN 1770 I publiſhed ciii additional plates to the three volumes of Britiſh Zoology, with ſeveral new deſcriptions, beſides reſerences to thoſe which had been before deſcribed; it appeared in an octavo volume of 96 pages, in which is included a liſt of European birds extra Britannic.

1771. PUBLISH THE SYNOPSIS OF QUADRUPEDS. In 1771 I printed, at Cheſter, my Synopſis of Quadrupeds, in one volume, octavo, with xxxi plates.

ON May the 11th, 1771, I was honored by the univerſity of Oxford with the degree of doctor of laws, conferred on me in full convocation. I was preſented (in the abſence of the public orator) by the reverend Mr. Foſter, who made a moſt flattering ſpeech on the occaſion.

[13]IN September, of the ſame year, I took a journey to London, to ſee ſir Joſeph Banks and doctor Solander, on their arrival from their circumnavigation. In my return I viſited Robert Berkeley,eſq. of Spetchly, near Worceſter, to indulge my curioſity with ſeeing and examining Mr. Faulkner, an aged jeſuit, FATHER FAULKNER, A JESUIT. who had paſſed thirty-eight years in Patagonia; his account ſatisfied me of the exiſtence of the tall race of mankind. In the appendix to this work, I have given all I could collect reſpecting that muchdoubted people.

TOUR IN SCOTLAND IN TWO EDITIONS. ABOUT this time I gave to the public my Tour in Scotland, in one volume octavo, containing xviii plates. A candid account of that country was ſuch a novelty, that the impreſſion was inſtantly bought up; and in the next year another was printed, and as ſoon ſold.

IN this tour, as in all the ſucceeding, I labored earneſtly to conciliate the affections of the two nations, ſo wickedly and ſtudiouſly ſet at variance by evil-deſigning people. I received ſeveral very flattering letters on the occaſion. An extract of one, from that reſpectable nobleman, the late earl of Kinnoull, dated February the 27th, 1772, may ſerve inſtar omnium.

‘I PERUSED your book, for which I return my hearty thanks, with the greateſt pleaſure; every reader muſt admire the goodneſs of the author's heart; the inhabitants of this part of the united kingdoms ſhould expreſs the warmeſt gratitude for your candid repreſentation of them and their country. This, unleſs my countrymen wiſh to forfeit the favorable opinion you entertain and endeavor to impreſs upon the minds of their fellow ſubjects, muſt procure you their beſt thanks. [14]It would be a worſe reflection upon us, than any that has fallen from the moſt envenomed pen, if the writer of that account did not meet with the moſt grateful acknowlegement.’

DOCTOR FORSTER's AMERICAN CATALUGUE. IN this year doctor Forſter publiſhed a catalogue of the animals of North America. I had begun the work, by a liſt of the quadrupeds, birds and fiſhes. Doctor Forſter added all the reſt: and afterwards, in a new edition, favored the world with a moſt comprehenſive Flora of that vaſt country, with a catalogue of inſects, and the directions for preſerving natural curioſities. My part in this work is of ſo little merit that it need not be boaſted of. I only lay clame to my proper right.

IT was in this year that I laid before the Royal Society an account of two new ſpecies of Tortoiſes. The one a freſh-water ſpecies, known in North America by the name of the Soft-ſhelled Tortoiſe. It is attended by a very accurate hiſtory of its manners, and two fine figures, communicated to me by the worthy doctor Garden, of Charleſtown, South Caroline. My paper was publiſhed in vol. lxi. of the Tranſactions, attended by a plate. This is the Teſtudo ferox of Gmelin, Lin. iii. 1039. and Le Molle of La Cepede, i. 13. tab. vii.

THE other is a ſmall and new ſpecies, which I name the tuberculated. Le Comte de la Cepede and Mr. Gmelin err in making it the young of the Coriaceous Tortoiſe, Br. Zool. iii. No 1. Le Luthe of de la Cepede, i. 115. tab. iii. and T. Coriacea of Gmelin, 1036. B. T. tuberculata.

THIS year another little poetical piece was produced, by the [15]accident of a lady being choſen, on the ſame day, patroneſs of a Book-ſociety and Hunting-meeting.

THE ſons of the Chace, and of Knowlege convene,
Each to fix on a patroneſs fit;
'Midſt the deities one had DIANA, chaſt Queen!
The other the Goddeſs of Wit.
But on earth, where to find Repreſentatives pat,
For a while did much puzzle each wight;
One Nymph wanting this, and one wanting that,
Diſqualified each clamant quite.
Then ſays CHIRON, the caſe I have hit to a hair,
Since in numbers none equal I find,
I have thought of one Nymph, not VENUS more fair,
In whom is each Goddeſs combin'd.
Over wit then in heaven let MINERVA preſide,
Soft diſcretion DIANA may boaſt.
Amidſt mortals I am ſure none our choice can deride,
When we name bright ELIZA our toaſt.

CHESTER, Sept. 20, 1771.

ON May the 18th, 1772, I began the longeſt of my journies in our iſland. In this year was performed my ſecond tour in Scotland, and my voyage to the Hebrides: my ſucceſs was equal to my hopes; I pointed out every thing I thought would be of ſervice to the country; it was rouzed to look into its advantages; ſocieties have been formed for the improvements of the fiſheries, and for founding of towns in proper places; to all which, I ſincerely wiſh the moſt happy event; vaſt ſums will be flung away; but incidentally numbers will be benefited, and the paſſion of patriots tickled. I confeſs that my own vanity was [16]greatly gratified by the compliments paid to me in every corporated town; Edinburgh itſelf preſented me with its freedom, and I returned rich in civic honors.

GENERA OF BIRDS IN 1773. I PUBLISHED the octavo edition of Genera of Birds in 1773, and gave with it an explanatory plate.

NORTHERN TOUR OF THIS YEAR. THIS likewiſe was a year of great activity. I rode (for almoſt all my tours were on horſeback) to Mr. Graham's of Netherby, beyond Carliſle, through thoſe parts of Lancaſhire, Weſtmoreland, and Cumberland, which I had not before ſeen. I viſited Sefton, Ormſkirk, Blackburne, and Clithero, in Lancaſhire; Malham Coves, Settle, and Ingleborough, in Yorkſhire; Kirkby Lonſdale, Kirkby Stephen, and Orton, in Weſtmoreland; and all the counteſs of Cumberland's caſtles in that county; Naworth, Corbie, and Beucaſtle, in Cumberland. In my way I ſkirted the weſtern ſide of Yorkſhire; I paſſed ſome hours with the reverend doctor Burn at Orton, in Weſtmoreland, a moſt uſeful and worthy character.

FROM Netherby I croſſed Alſton Moor into the biſhoprick of Durham, made ſome ſtay with its prelate, doctor John Egerton, and entered Yorkſhire after croſing the Tees at Barnard Caſtle. From thence I viſited Rokeſby houſe; Catterick bridge; the ſingular circular entrenchments attributed to the Danes: the pictureſque Hackfall, and the venerable remains of Fountaine's abby. The laſt attracted my attention ſo much that I reviſited them in May 1777, and each time they gave full employ to the pencil of Moſes Griffith. He etched two of his drawings: I here give one of the plates, as a ſpecimen of his extenſive genius.

FROM thence I croſſed to Boroughbridge and Knareſborough.

[]

Figure 1. Part of the inside of the CHURCH of FOUNTAINS ABBY.

[17]From Harrogate I viſited the wonderful luſuſes of Bramham crags, and cauſed great numbers of drawings to be made of the moſt ſtriking pieces.

FROM Harrogate I rode to York, where Moſes Griffith was by no means idle. Among many other drawings, I cauſed him, out of veneration to the taſte of Mr. Gray, to make a ſecond drawing * of the chapel, ſo much admired by that elegant genius. From York I rode the great diagonal of the county to Spurnhead. Near Hull, payed a ſecond time my reſpects to my friend William Conſtable,eſq. of Burton Conſtable, WILLIAM CONSTABLE, ESQ., a gentleman the moſt happy in a liberal and munificent turn of mind of any one I know. I kept along the Humber, and from its banks went to Howden, Pontefract, Doncaſter, and Kiveton; viſited Workſop, Welbeck, the antient houſe of Hardwick, Bolſover Caſtle, Derby, Dovedale, Buxton, Leek; and proceeded by Congleton and Cheſter to my own houſe. I kept a journal of the whole I mention, as well as numberleſs places which I omit. In every tour I made I kept a regular journal, all which are placed apart in my library; theſe I wiſh never to be made public, as they may contain inaccuracies, either from haſte or miſinformation: yet, as they contain many deſcriptions of buildings, and accounts of places in the ſtate they were at the time they were made, they ought not totally to be neglected.

Moſes Griffiths made numbers of drawings: my ingenious friend Mr. Groſe honored me with uſing ſeveral for his fine work of the Antiquities of England; MR. HUTCHINSON. and I believe Mr. Hutchinſon, [18]of Bernard Caſtle, will do the ſame in his hiſtory of Durbam.

I COMMENCED a friendſhip with that gentleman in this journey, in a moſt ſingular manner: I was mounted on the famous ſtones in the church-yard of Penrith, to take a nearer view of them, and ſee whether the drawing I had procured, done by the rev. doctor Tod, had the leſt foundation in truth. Thus engaged, a perſon of good appearance, looking up at me, obſerved "what fine work Mr. Pennant had made with thoſe ſtones!" I ſaw he had got into a horrible ſcrape; ſo, unwilling to make bad worſe, deſcended, laid hold of his button, and told him, "I am the man!" After his confuſion was over, I made a ſhort defence, ſhook him by the hand, and we became from that moment faſt friends.

THE ſubject of part of this journey will be found among my poſthumous works, fairly tranſcribed, neatly bound in vellum, and richly illuſtrated with drawings by Moſes Griffith, and with prints. This will take in the ſpace from Downing to Orford, the ſeat of my worthy and venerable friend the late John Blackburne,eſq. From thence to Knowſly, Sephton, Ormſkirk, Latham, and (croſſing the country) to Blackborn, Whalley-abby, Ribcheſter, Mitton, Waddington-hall, and Clithero, moſt of them in the county of Lancaſhire. In that of York, I viſited Sally-abby, Bolton-hall, Malham Coves, Settle, Giggleſwick, and Ingleton.

I THEN croſſed the Lune to Kirkby Lonſdale, and viſited all the parts of Weſtmoreland and Cumberland, omitted in my printed tours of 1769 and 1772: and finally I finiſhed this M.S. volume at Alſton, near the borders of Durham. For a more full [19]account of my various poſthuma I refer the reader to the latter pages of this book.

IN this year I kept a regular journal of the road between my houſe and London, and did the ſame on my return, digreſſing to the right or to the left, as the places which merit notice happened to lie.

I BEGAN the account of this excurſion with ſaying, that almoſt all my tours were performed on horſeback; to that, and to the perfect eaſe of mind I enjoyed in theſe pleaſing journies, I owe my viridis ſenectus; I ſtill retain, as far as poſſible, the ſame ſpecies of removal from place to place. I conſider the abſolute reſignation of one's perſon to the luxury of a carriage, to forebode a very ſhort interval between that, and the vehicle which is to convey us to our laſt ſtage.

1774. THIRD EDITION OF MY FIRST TOUR IN SCOTLAND. IN 1774 I publiſhed a third edition of my Tour in Scotland, 1769, in quarto, with the xxi new plates; but, to accommodate the purchaſers of the firſt edition, I republiſhed, with letter-preſs of the octavo ſize, all thoſe plates.

IN this edition appeared a ſmall poem of mine, in reply to a moſt amiable dignitary, now high on the bench of biſhops, who had written to me, half-jeſt, half-earneſt, on an invidious compariſon I had made between the Engliſh and Scotch clergy. I thought it beſt to make my defence in rhyme, ſo ſent him the lines in p. 173 of that edition, and all was well again; my coloring of the portraits I gave is certainly high, but the likeneſſes are confeſſed by all who have ſeen the originals. The reader need not be informed, that the ſeven firſt lines are borrowed from the inimitable author of the New Bath Guide.

[20]
'FRIEND.
'YOU, you in fiery purgat'ry muſt ſtay
'Till gall, and ink, and dirt of ſcribbling day
'In purifying flames are purg'd away.
'TRAVELLER.
'O truſt me, dear D***, I ne'er would offend
'One pious divine, one virtuous friend:
'From nature alone are my characters drawn,
O truſt me, dear friend, I never did think on
The holies who dwell near th' o'erlooker of Lincoln.
Not a prelate or prieſt did e'er haunt my ſlumber,
Who inſtructively teach betwixt Tweeda and Humber;
Nor in ſouth, eaſt, or weſt do I ſtigmatiſe any
Who ſtick to their texts, and thoſe are the MANY.
But when croſſing and joſtling come queer men of G-d,
In ruſty brown coats, and waiſtcoats of plaid,
With greaſy cropt hair, and hats cut to the quick,
Tight white leathern breaches, and truncheon-like ſtick;
Clear of all that is ſacred from bowſprit to poop, ſir;
Who prophane like a pagan, and ſwear like a trooper;
Who ſhine in the cock-pit, on turf and in ſtable,
And are the prime bucks and arch wags of each table;
Who, if they e'er deign to thump drum eccleſiaſtic,
Spout new-fangled doctrine, enough to make man ſick;
And lay down as goſpel, but not from their Bibles,
That good-natur'd vices are nothing but foibles;
And vice are refining, till vice is no more,
From taking a bottle to taking a*****.

[]

Figure 2. THE CHURCH MILITANT. See Mr. Pennant's literary life. P. 21.

Come jolly Bacchus God of Wine!

Hear me O Lord for I am poor & needy.

Dying in all its Branches. The worst Reds dyed Black; or any Colour be it ever so bad; Enquire at the Key and Crook, in [...] & at the [...], in [...]

March 10. 178 [...]
Sir

—put off three times— due now near six years; besides two new suits—bear it no longer— —not paid by Tuesday next— —will arrest you—go to gaol for you

Yrs. Tho. Thimble
To Capt. [...]
With spear & scarlet now I'm deck'd,
And sing a jolly song;
But pennyleſs I must be wreck'd.
On Limbo's rocks e'er long.
But hope I spy from Bishops kind.
Like Lighthouse plac'd on high;
If for to change I heart can find,
Catches for Psalmody.
My scarlet coat I then will doff,
For qeue a grizzle wear;
The outward man I will put off,
And prim as Bawd appear.
Away let Oxford Curates trudge,
And starve with learning great;
For Bishops ne'er can wrongly judge,
Who've palm'd my empty pate.
I. Sternhold.
[21]
Then if in theſe days ſuch apoſtates appear,
(For ſuch, I am told, are found there and here)
O pardon, dear friend, a well-meaning zeal,
Too unguardedly telling the ſcandal I feel:
It touches not you, let the galled jades winch,
Sound in morals and doctrine you never will flinch.
O friend of paſt youth, let me think of the fable
Oft told with chaſte mirth at your innocent table,
When, inſtructively kind, wiſdom's rules you run o'er,
Reluctant I leave you, inſatiate for more;
So, bleſt be the day that my joys will reſtore!

I AM a ſincere well-wiſher to the pure form of worſhip of the church of England, and am highly ſcandalized if I ſee any thing wrong in the conduct of our hierarchy. Now and then complaint has been made againſt the unguarded admiſſion of perſons of the moſt diſcordant profeſſions into the ſacred pale, who, urged by no other call than that of poverty, do not prove either ornamental or uſeful in their new character. To check the progreſs of a practice injurious to the church, and highly ſo to thoſe who had ſpent their fortune in a courſe of education for the due diſcharge of their duties, I ſent a ſarcaſtic, but ſalutary print, into the world: at which even biſhops themſelves have deigned to ſmile.

VOYAGE TO THE HEBRIDES PUBLISHED. IN the ſame year I publiſhed my journey into Scotland, and my voyage to the Hebrides, in one volume quarto, with xliv plates. In this work the beautiful views of the Baſaltic Staffa appeared. I had the bad fortune to be denied approach to that ſingular iſland; but, by the liberal communication of Sir [22] Joſeph Banks, who touched there the ſame year, in his way to Iceland, the loſs to the public was happily ſupplied.

VOYAGE TO THE ISLE OF MAN. IN this year I viſited the Iſle of Man, in company with the reverend doctor Lort, captain Groſe, Paul Panton, eſq. junior, of Plas Gwyn, in the iſland of Angleſey, and the reverend Hugh Davies, at this time rector of Aber in Caernarvonſhire, whoſe company gave additional pleaſure to the tour. I kept a journal, and was favored with ample materials from the gentlemen of the iſland, moſt of which were unaccountably loſt about a year after, and my deſign of giving an account of that iſland to the public was fruſtrated.

I SHOULD accuſe myſelf of a very undue neglect, if I did not acknowlege the various ſervices I received from the friendſhip of Mr. Davies, at different times, ſince the beginning of our acquaintance. I will in particular mention thoſe which reſulted from his great knowledge in botany. To him I owe the account of our Snowdonian plants; to him I lie under the obligation for undertaking, in June 1775, at my requeſt, another voyage to the Iſle of Man, to take a ſecond review of its vegetable productions. By his labors a Flora of the iſland is rendered as complete as poſſible to be effected by a ſingle perſon, at one ſeaſon of the year. The number of plants he obſerved amounted to about five hundred and fifty.

A TOUR, 1774, INTO NORTHAMPTONSHIRE. IN the ſpring of 1774, on my return from my annual viſit to London, I took the Northamptonſhire road, paſſed by Baldock, Eaton, St. Neots, Kimbolton, Thraipſton, Draiton-houſe, Luffwick and its fine tombs, Broughton-houſe, and the monuments at Warkton, Leiceſter, Aſhby de la Zouch, Bradford-hall, celebrated in [23] Grammont's Memoirs, through Burton on Trent, and by Caverſal Caſtle to my own houſe.

NEWPORT, TONG, OMBRESLEY, MALVERNE, AND TEWKESBURY. ON Auguſt the 26th I brought my ſon David to Hackney ſchool, and placed him under the care of Mr. Newcome. In my way I ſaw Whitchurch, Cumbermere, Newport, Tong Caſtle, and the tombs in the church, Ombreſley, Weſtwood-houſe, Henlip, Crome, the two Malvernes, and Tewkeſbury; and, after paſſing a few days at my reſpected friend's, the then biſhop of St. David's, at Forthampton, proceeded and diſcharged my duty at Hackney by the way of Glouceſter and Cheltenham.

I NEVER loſt an opportunity of enlarging my knowlege of topography: on my return I had the honor of paſſing ſome days with her grace the late dutcheſs dowager of Portland, at her ſeat at Bulſtrode, and viſited from thence Windſor and Eaton; BULSTRODE, WINDSOR, STOKE POCEIS, BEWDLEY. I alſo one morning ſaw the great houſe of Stoke Pogeis, then the ſeat of Mr. Penn; it had gone through many great hands. In the reign of Edward III. it belonged to John de Molin, a potent baron, in right of his wife, daughter of Robert Pogeis. From Bulſtrode, I took the common road to Worceſter, paſſed a day or two, as uſual, at Beverey, with my old and conſtant friend the reverend doctor Naſh, author of the Antiquities of Worceſterſhire: from his houſe went by Stourport and Bewdley to Bridgenorth, and from thence through Newport to Downing.

THIRD VOLUME OF MY TOUR IN SCOTLAND PUELISHED 1775. IN 1775 I publiſhed my third and laſt volume of my Tour in Scotland, 1772, which took in the country from my landing at Armaddie, on the concluſion of my voyage to the Hebrides, to my return into Flintſhire. This was illuſtrated with xlvii plates.

THESE tours were tranſlated into German, and abridged in [24] French, in the Nouveau Recueil de Voyages au Nord, &c. 3 torn, quarto, Geneve, 1785; they were likewiſe reprinted at Dublin, in octavo ſize.

TOUR IN 1776. IN my road, in 1776, from London, I viſited Banbury, Wroxtonhall the ſeat of lord Guildford, Buckingham, Edge-hill, Charlcot the ſeat of the Lucies, Warwick and Kenelworth, and paſſed through Coventry, Atherſton, and Temworth to Downing. At Buckingham I narrowly eſcaped a death ſuited to an antiquary; I viſited the old church at 8 o'clock in the morning of March the 26th. It fell before 6 in the afternoon, and I eſcaped being buried in its ruins.

ON July the 14th I took the route of Oulton-hall, Winnington, and Durham in Cheſhire, viſited Mancheſter, Buxton, Bakewell, Haddon-hall, Matlock, Nottingham, Southwell, Newark, and Lincoln. Near Horn-caſtle I entered the Pais-bas of Great Britain. I viſited Taterſale and Boſton, Spalding, Crowland-abby, Stamford, Burleigh-houſe, Caſtor and Peterborough, Whittleſea-marſh and Ely, Newmarket, St. Edmundſbury, the reverend Mr. Aſhby at Barrow, Cambridge, Ware, and Waltham-abby; paſſed a day with Mr. Gough at Enfield, and concluded my tour in the capital.

IN this journey Moſes Griffith made ſome of his moſt beautiful drawings in the line of antiquity: of ſeveral of the moſt elegant parts of the gothic architecture in the magnificent cathedral at Lincoln; and alſo a few of the groſſer figures in the Saxon remains of the weſt front; and at Southwell he drew the exquiſite interior of the matchleſs chapter, one of the lighteſt and moſt elegant productions of the gothic chizel which we can boaſt of. I wiſh my time would permit me to make a catalogue [25]of the performances of Moſes Griffith. I never ſhould deny copies of them to any gentleman who would make a dignified uſe of them.

BROWN's ILLUSTRATION OF NATURAL HISTORY. IN this year Peter Brown, a Dane by birth, and a very neat limner, publiſhed his illuſtrations of natural hiſtory in large quarto, with L plates. At my recommendation, Mr. Loten lent to him the greateſt part of the drawings to be engraven, being of birds painted in India. I patronized Brown, drew up the greateſt part of the deſcriptions for him, but had not the leſt concern in the preface.

IN 1776 Mr. White publiſhed a new edition of the three volumes of the Britiſh Zoology, in quarto, and in octavo, and inſerted in them the ciii additional plates publiſhed in 1770.

1777. TOUR IN KENT. IN the ſpring of the year 1777 I made an excurſion from town to Canterbury, along the poſt road, and digreſſed from Canterbury to Sandwich, and from thence to Deal, and by St. Margaret's church and Cliff to Dover. In this tour I had the happineſs of making acquaintance with Mr. Latham of Dartford, Mr. Jacobs of Feverſham, and Mr. Boys of Sandwich; all perſons of diſtinguiſhed merit in the ſtudy of natural hiſtory and antiquities.

IN that year I publiſhed a fourth volume of the Britiſh Zoology, which contained the Vermes, the Cruſtaceous, and Teſtaceous animals of our country; this was publiſhed in quarto and octavo, and illuſtrated with xciii plates.

To this volume I prefixed a moſt merited eulogy on my reſpected friend Benjamin Stillingfleet, eſq. who died Dec. 15th, 1771, at his lodgings in Piccadilly, aged 71. His public and private character might demand this tribute: but the many [26]perſonal acts of friendſhip I received from that moſt amiable man, was an irreſiſtible incitement to me to erect this ſmall, but very inadequate, monument of gratitude.

TOUR IN WALES. AFTER ſeveral journies over the ſix counties of North Wales, in which I collected ample materials for their hiſtory, I flung them in the form of a tour, and publiſhed the firſt volume in quarto, 1778. with xxvi plates, in 1778.

1781. SECOND VOLUME. IN 1781 the firſt part of the ſecond volume of the ſame tour appeared, under the title of, A Journey to Snowdon, with xi plates, a frontiſpiece, and 2 vignets. The ſecond part ſoon followed, with xv plates, and a large appendix, which completed the work. In all my journies through Wales, I was attended by my friend the reverend John Lloyd, a native of Llanarmon, and rector of Caerwis: to his great ſkill in the language and antiquities of our country I own myſelf much indebted; for without his aſſiſtance, many things might have eſcaped me, and many errors crept into my labors.

MOSES GRIFFITH's SUPPLEMENTAL PLATES. Moſes Griffith engraved a Supplement of x plates, to which I added a little preface, and a few explanatory pages. Beſides theſe proofs of his ingenuity, he etched ſeveral other (private plates) ſuch as, about a dozen North American birds, two beautiful parts of Fountains-abby, and a few other things.

HISTORY OF QUADRUPEDS. IN this year I alſo publiſhed a new edition of my Synopſis of Quadrupeds, in two volumes, quarto, with lii plates, including the xxxi from the Synopſis, which received conſiderable improvements and corrections from the correſpondence of my friend the illuſtrious Pallas, who beſtowed a long ſeries of letters on this alone; this he performed, as it was a favorite work of his, and by accident transferred from his, to my inferior pen.

[27]To Mr. Zimmerman I was greatly indebted for ſeveral important improvements, from his able performance the Zoologia Geographica, as well as great information from his frequent letters. It is unbecoming in me to expreſs the partiality which that eminant writer, and other of my foreign friends, have ſhewn towards me: if the reader has the curioſity to learn their opinion of me, he may conſult Mr. ZIMMERMAN's Zoologia Geographica, p. 286. The rev. Mr. Cox, in vol. II. p. 440, 441, of his travels, quarto edition, hath recorded the compliment paid to me by LINNAEUS; and PALLAS, in p. 376 of his Nova Species Quadrupedum, hath dealt out his praiſe with much too liberal a hand.

FREE THOUGHTS ON THE MILITIA LAWS. The liberties which the country gentlemen, in the character of deputy-lieutenants, and militia-officers, now and then took with their fellow ſubjects, urged me ſtrongly this year to publiſh Free Thoughts on the Militia Laws.

ON Feb. the 3d, 1781, I was elected honorary member of the Society of Antiquaries at Edinburgh.

OF THE TURKY. IN the Philoſophical Tranſactions of 1781 was publiſhed my hiſtory, and natural hiſtory, of the Turky; it had been doubted whether this was not a bird of the old world; but I flatter myſelf that I have made it apparent that it is peculiar to America, and was unknown before the diſcovery of that continent. My reſpected friend, Mr. Barrington, had taken the other ſide of the queſtion; but this was not publiſhed by me polemically, or in any wiſe inimical to ſo excellent a character.

To this paper is annexed an engraving of a ſingular Luſus, the toe and claw of ſome rapacious bird growing on the thigh of a Turky, bred in my poultry court.

[28]AT the requeſt of Sir Joſeph Banks I drew up an account of the ſeveral earthquakes I had felt in Flintſhire; and remarked they were never felt at the bottom of lead mines, or coal pits, in our country. This paper was publiſhed, in the year 1781, in volume lxxi of the Philoſophical Tranſactions.

1782. JOURNEY TO LONDON. IN 1782 I publiſhed my journey from Cheſter to London; this was formed from journals made at different times in my way to town. I frequently made a conſiderable ſtay at ſeveral places, to give this book all the fulneſs and accuracy in my power. This was republiſhed in Dublin, in 1783, in an octavo form.

ON June the 5th, 1783. 1783, I was honored by my election into the Societas Phyſiographica at Lund, in Sweden; a favor I probably owed to my learned friend, profeſſor Retzius.

IN the ſame month and year I made a ſhort elopement to meet the reverend doctor Naſh, Mrs. and Miſs Naſh, at Shrewſbury, in order to make a partial voyage down the Severn. My ſon met us from Oxford, and we took boat at Atcham-bridge. About four miles diſtant from Salop, we were highly amuſed with the pictureſque ſcenes, eſpecially thoſe from Buildas to Ombreſley. We landed oppoſite to Holmsflat, a little below that village, and concluded our tour at Beverey, the hoſpitable ſeat of doctor Naſh, about three miles diſtant.

IN 1784 appeared my letter from a Welſh freeholder to his repreſentative, 1784. to convert him from his political tenets. My then opinion of the miniſter is daily vindicated.

A WORK deſigned to comprehend the ZOOLOGY of North America had long employed my mind and my pen, on which I intended to have beſtowed that name; but, for the affecting reaſon [29]given in the advertiſement prefixed to that work, (altered, indeed, from its original plan) I thought myſelf under the neceſſity of changing the title. I did ſo; and, after having conſiderably enlarged the work by the addition of the animals and hiſtory of the northern parts of Europe and Aſia, I this year gave it to the public, under the title of the Arctic Zoology. It conſiſts of two volumes, quarto; 1785. ARCTIC ZOOLOGY. the firſt contains a long introduction, and Claſs I. QUADRUPEDS; the ſecond, Claſs II. BIRDS. In this work I received conſiderable improvements from the voyage of Sir Joſeph Banks, to Newfoundland, in 1767. He added greatly to the ornithology by the communication of ſeveral new ſpecies of birds, and ſeveral other ſubjects.

GERMAN EDITION. THIS work was ſpeedily tranſlated into German by profeſſor Zimmerman, and publiſhed in two volumes, quarto, with the prints, which I permitted to be taken from my plates. The introduction was alſo tranſlated into French, FRENCH. under the title of Le Nord du Globe, in two volumes, octavo; and, what is peculiarly flattering to me is, that as much as relates to the north of Europe is to be tranſlated into Swediſh, as an introduction to the natural hiſtory of that celebrated ſeat of the votaries of the great Cybele.

THE Arctic Zoology gave occaſion to my being honored, in the year 1791, on April 15th, by being elected member of the American Philoſophical Society at Philadelphia, (in the preſidentſhip of David Rittenhouſe, eſq.) My labors, relative to that vaſt continent, were there favorably received: but this honor I eſteem as a reward above my merits. There, ſcience of every kind begins to flouriſh; among others, that of natural hiſtory; [30]in which branch I may predict, that my correſpondent and friend doctor Benjamin Smith Barton will ſoon riſe into celebrity, and to his pen I truſt the many errors, reſpecting the zoology of his native country, will be corrected with tenderneſs and candor. In regard to the abilities of the ſociety, the volumes of its Philoſophical Tranſactions, already publiſhed, are moſt inconteſtable proofs.

IN this year came out a ſecond edition of the firſt volume of my Tour in Wales.

IN May 1784, I had the diſtinguiſhed honor of being elected member of the Royal Academy of Sciences at Stockholm. In Sweden I am favored with the correſpondence of doctor Thunberg of Upſal, doctor Sparman of Stockholm, Mr. Wilcke of the ſame city, and Mr. Odman of Wormden, not remote from Stockholm. I muſt not forget a grateful tribute to the memory of departed friends, to that of baron de Geer, profeſſor Wallerius, and above all doctor Solander; the laſt ſo diſtinguiſhed by urbanity of manners, and liberality of communication of the infinite knowlege he poſſeſſed.

ON Jan. the 3d, 1785, I was elected honorary member of the ſociety at Edinburgh for promoting of natural knowledge.

ON March the 5th I received the ſame honor from the Society of Antiquaries at Perth.

AND on December the 24th was honored by being elected member of the Agriculture Society, at Odiham, in Hampſhire.

SUPPLEMENT TO THE ARCTIC ZOOLOGY. IN 1787 I gave a Supplement to the Arctic Zoology; it contains ſeveral additions and corrections, which I owe to the friendſhip of my ſeveral northern correſpondents, and a ſyſtematic [31]account of the reptiles and fiſhes of North America, together with two very beautiful maps of the countries I had treated of in the introduction, (corrected ſince the firſt publication) engraven by that excellent artiſt Mr. William Palmer.

TOUR TO THE LAND'S END. EVER ſince the year 1777 I had quite loſt my ſpirit of rambling. Another happy nuptial connection ſuppreſſed every deſire to leave my fire-ſide. But in the ſpring of this year I was induced once more to renew my journies. My ſon had returned from his firſt tour to the continent, ſo much to my ſatisfaction, that I was determined to give him every advantage that might qualify him for a ſecond, which he was on the point of taking over the kingdoms of France and Spain. I wiſhed him to make a compariſon of the naval ſtrength and commercial advantages and diſadvantages of our iſland, with thoſe of her two powerful rivals; I attended him down the Thames; viſited all our docks; and by land (from Dartford) followed the whole coaſt to the very Land's End. On his return from his ſecond tour, I had great reaſon to boaſt that this excurſion was not thrown away; as to myſelf it was a painful one; long abſence from my family was ſo new to me, that I may ſincerely ſay it caſt an anxiety over the whole journey.

THESE were my greater labors. I, at ſeveral times, gave to the public ſome trifles, which were not ill-received; but few knew the author. Theſe I collected ſome years ago, MISCELLANIES. and printed, for the amuſement of a few friends, thirty copies, by the friendly preſs of George Allan, eſq. at Darlington.

HISTORY OF THE PATAGONIANS. THE principal was my hiſtory of the Patagonians, collected from the account given by father Faulkner, in 1771, and from the ſeveral hiſtories of thoſe people by various writers. I believe [32]that the authenticity of the ſeveral relaters is now very well eſtabliſhed. This was printed at the ſame preſs, in 1788.

BESIDES theſe may be added, the ode on indifference, and the verſes on the lady being choſen patroneſs of a hunt and book-club in the ſame day.

AN eſſay on the improper behaviour of married ladies towards our ſex, 1774.

A RIDICULE on the bold and maſculine faſhion of the ladies wearing riding-habits at all times of the day; which was republiſhed, in 1781, by Mr. Smith, with a good mezzotinto of a modern toilet.

AMERICAN annals, an incitement to parlement-men to inquire into the conduct of our commanders in the American war. I omit this paper, unwilling to revive the memory of the moſt deplorable event in all the annals of Great Britain.

THE Flintſhire petition. The diſcontents of the year 1779 were grown to ſuch a height, that the county of Flint took ſhare in the attempt to produce a redreſs of grievances. I wiſhed to allay the popular fury as far as in me lay; becauſe numbers of the complaints were excited by that bane of this kingdom in all ages, pretended patriots. I formed a ſpeech, which I had not courage enough to ſpeak, ſo printed the lenitive intention, as certainly it could do me no diſcredit. The event ſhewed that impoſſibilities were attempted, and that ſoon as the patriots got into power, no more was thought of the plan once urged with much violence.

AN inſcription over the entrance of the new gaol at Flint is printed in Mr. Howard's account of the principal Lazarettos in Europe.

THE following grateful epitaph, in memory of my faithful [33]ſervant and friend, Louis Gold, may be ſeen on a ſmall braſs plate in Whiteford church, cloſe to which he was interred, Auguſt the 22d, 1785.

This ſmall Monument of eſteem was erected by his lamenting Maſter in Memory of LOUIS GOLD, a Norman by Birth, and above twenty years the faithful Servant and Friend of THOMAS PENNANT, Eſq. of Downing. In his various ſervices he made conſiderable ſavings, which he diſpoſed of by his laſt will (having no relations of his own) with affection to his friends and to his fellow-ſervants, with unmerited gratitude to his Maſter and his family, and with piety to the poor. Every duty of his humble ſtation, and every duty of life, he diſcharged ſo fully, That when the day ſhall come which levels all diſtinction of ranks, He may, By the favour of our bleſſed Mediator. hear theſe joyful words, [34]"Well done, thou good and faithful ſervant, enter thou into the joy of thy Lord." He was born at St. Hermes de Rouvelle, in Normandy, Auguſt 22, 1717; died at Downing, Auguſt 20, 1785; and was interred in the Church-yard near this wall on the 22d of the ſame month.

PREVIOUS to this I could not, in the warmth of my heart, reſiſt giving, in one of the Cheſter papers, the following paragraph as a notification of his death.

‘SATURDAY ſe'nnight, in the morning, died, at Downing, in Flintſhire, Louis Gold, a Norman by birth, and above twenty years the faithful ſervant and friend of Thomas Pennant, of that place, eſq.. He left the ſavings of his different ſervices, which were very conſiderable, to ſeveral of his friends, his fellow-ſervants, and to the poor; and bequeathed to his lamenting maſter, and his four children, handſome remembrances of his affection for them: the remainder to be applied, at the diſcretion of his executor, to charitable uſes.’

1790. ACCOUNT OF LONDON. THIS ſpring I publiſhed an account of our capital. I had ſo often walked about the ſeveral parts of London, with my notebook in my hand, that I could not help forming conſiderable collections of materials. The public received this work with the utmoſt avidity. It went through three large impreſſions in about two years and a half. The firſt, in April 1790; the ſecond, in January 1791; and the third, in the latter end of the laſt year. Many additions were made to the ſecond; together with three more plates by the perſuaſion of that worthy [35]character William Seward, eſq.. One was of the buſt of Charles I. by Bernini, which ſtood over one of the doors in Weſtminſter-hall, but was removed on the preparations for the trial of Mr. Haſtings. I wiſh the drawing had been better executed.

IN this year Mr. White ſent into the world a fifth edition of my Tours in Scotland, with ſeveral additions and corrections.

I AM often aſtoniſhed at the multiplicity of my publications, eſpecially when I reflect on the various duties it has fallen to my lot to diſcharge. As father of a family, landlord of a ſmall but very numerous tenantry, and a not inactive magiſtrate. I had a great ſhare of health during the literary part of my days, much of this was owing to the riding exerciſe of my extenſive tours, to my manner of living, and to my temperance. I go to reſt at ten; and riſe winter and ſummer at ſeven, and ſhave regular at the ſame hour, being a true miſopogon. I avoid the meal of exceſs, a ſupper; and my ſoul riſes with vigour to its employs, and (I truſt) does not diſappoint the end of its Creator.

Quin corpus onuſtum
Heſternis vitiis, animum quoque praegravat una,
Atque affigit humo divinae particulam aurae.
Alter, ubi dicto citiùs curata ſopori
Membra dedit, vegetus praeſcripta ad munia ſurgit.
Behold how pale the ſeated gueſts ariſe
From ſuppers puzzled with varieties!
The body too, with yeſterday's exceſs
Burthen'd and tir'd, ſhall the pure ſoul depreſs;
Weigh down this portion of celeſtial birth,
This breath of God, and fix it to the earth.

So far reſpects my own labors; it will be but juſt to mention [36]thoſe of others, OF OTHERS' WORKS PROMOTED BY ME. which have been produced by my countenance and patronage; for I never can be accuſed of witholding my communications or my mite to aſſiſt my brethren who have wiſhed to aſſume the perilous characters of authors.

DOCTOR JOHN REINHOLD FORSTER. I, VERY early after the arrival of doctor John Reinhold Forſter, had opportunity of introducing him to ſeveral of my friends, which proved of no ſmall ſervice to him during his reſidence in this kingdom. At my perſuaſion, and by my encouragement, he tranſlated Kalm's Voyage into North America, which was publiſhed in 1770, in three volumes octavo.

IN 1771 he publiſhed Oſbeck's Voyage to China, with that of Torcen, and Eckberg's account of the Chineſe huſbandry, in two volumes.

HE alſo added a ſecond volume to his tranſlation of Boſſu's Travels in Louiſiana, containing the life of Loefling, and a catalogue of Spaniſh plants, and thoſe of part of Spaniſh America. By theſe the works of three of the moſt eminent diſciples of the Linnaean ſchool have been made known to the Britiſh nation.

I PUBLISHED, at much expence, in 1777, the Flora Scotica, in two volumes, octavo, with xxxvii plates. This was the elaborate work of my worthy friend, and fellow traveller, the rev. Mr. Lightfoot. REV. JOHN LIGHTFOOT. The lamented loſs of that admirable botaniſt, on February 20th, 1788, I have related in a ſhort account, printed 1788, to be given to the purchaſers of the remaining copies of the Flora Scotica.

MR. GOUGH. THAT indefatigable topographer Richard Gough, eſq.. paid me the compliment of ſubmitting the ſheets of his edition of Camden, which related to North Wales, to my correction; and [37]I flatter myſelf that they would not have come out of my hands unimproved. To him I alſo communicated ſeveral of my manuſcript journals, which I flatter myſelf might in ſome ſmall degree contribute to the improvement of our venerable topographer.

REV. CHARLES CORDINER. As it was my wiſh that no part of North Britain, or its iſlands, ſhould be left unexplored, or any of their advantage loſt for want of notice, I ſupported the reverend Charles Cordiner, epiſcopal miniſter at Banff, in a journey over the countries north of Loch Broom, which I was obliged to deſiſt from attempting; this he performed, much to my ſatisfaction, in 1776. I publiſhed his journal, entitled, Antiquities and Scenery of the North of Scotland, at my own hazard. It is illuſtrated with xxii plates, taken from drawings by the ſkilful pencil of that ingenious traveller. The work ſucceeded. I made him a preſent of the expences which attended his journey.

NUMBERS of other ſubjects of antiquities, views, and natural hiſtory, are now in publication by the ſame gentleman.

REV. GEORGE LOW. I WAS actuated by the ſame zeal in reſpect to the extreme iſlands of the ſame parts of our kingdom. In the reverend Mr. George Low, miniſter of Birſa in the Orknies, I met with a gentleman willing to undertake the viſitation of thoſe iſlands, and of the Schetlands, and to communicate to me his obſervations of every thing he imagined would be of uſe to the kingdom, or afford me pleaſure. His ſurveys were made in the years 1774 and 1778, and he favored me with a moſt inſtructive journal, and ſeveral drawings. It was my wiſh to publiſh his voyages, as I had the travels of Mr. Cordiner; but certain reaſons diſcouraged me. This ought not to be conſidered as [38]any reflection on the performance. Mr. Low gives a good account of the natural hiſtory and antiquities of the ſeveral iſlands; enters deeply into their fiſheries and commercial concerns; and on the whole is highly worthy the attention of the public.

I CANNOT help mentioning the ſervices I did to the profeſſors of the art of engraving, by the multitude of plates performed by them for my ſeveral works; let me enumerate the particulars and total.

  • Britiſh Zoology, folio 132
  • Britiſh Zoology, octavo or quarto 284
  • Hiſtory of Quadrupeds 54
  • Tour in Scotland, the three volumes 134
  • Journey to London 23
  • Tour in Wales, two volumes 53
  • Moſes Griffith's Supplemental Plates 10
  • Some Account of London, ſecond edition 15
  • Indian Zoology, ſecond edition 17
  • Genera of Birds 16
  • Arctic Zoology, two volumes 26
  • Syſtematic Index to de Buffon 1
  • The Rev. Mr. John Lightfoot's Flora Scotica, two volumes 37
  • 802

IF I have omitted Mr. John Ingleby of Halkin, Flintſhire, I did not do juſtice to a very neat drawer. I have often profited of his ſervices: and many of the private copies of my works have been highly ornamented by his labors.

[39]NOTWITHSTANDING my authorial career was finiſhed on the preceding year, yet no ſmall trouble attends my paſt labors. The public continues to flatter me with demands for new editions of my works: to the correction and improvement of which, I am obliged to pay conſiderable attention. Early this year appeared a new edition of my account of London, ACCOUNT OF LONDON, THIRD EDITION. as I have mentioned at p. 34.

NONE of my acquaintance will deny that I write a moſt illegible hand. In order to deliver my labors intelligible to poſterity, on January 1ſt, of this year, I took into my ſervice, as ſecretary, Thomas, the ſon of Roger Jones, our pariſh-clerk, a worthy, ſober, and ſteady young man: I determined to profit of his excellent hand-writing to copy my ſeveral manuſcripts, and he has diſcharged his duty very much to my ſatiſfaction.

1792. HISTORY OF QUADRUPEDS, THIRD EDITION. MR. White, at the latter end of this year, printed a third edition of my Hiſtory of Quadrupeds, with moſt of the old plates re-engraven, and ſeveral new ones. This work was always a favorite one of mine: I beſtowed very true pains on it: and added, I may ſay, every new animal which has to this time reached the knowlege of the naturaliſts.

LETTER ON MAIL COACHES. IN the ſpring of the ſame year appeared my letter on Mail Coaches. I was irreſiſtibly compelled to reſume my pen, from the oppreſſions which the poor labored under, by the demands made on them to repair the roads for the paſſage of the mails, with a nicety, and at an expence beyond their powers. Let the little performance ſpeak my apology for the publication.

[40] INDIAN ZOOLOGY, SECOND EDITION. IN this year came out a ſecond edition of my Indian Zoology, (ſee p. 9) but very conſiderably enlarged by doctor Forſter's eſſay prefixed to the German edition of that work, which was tranſlated by doctor Aikin; and by a tolerably complete Faunula; a labor taken off my hands principally by the friendſhip of the rev. Mr. Hugh Davies and Mr. Latham; the Faunula of inſects fell to Mr. Latham, and coſt him no ſmall pains.

THUS far has paſſed my active life, even till the preſent year 1792, in which I have advanced half way of my 67th year. My body may have abated of its wonted vigour; but my mind ſtill retains its powers, its longing after improvements, its wiſh to receive new lights through chinks which time hath made.

A FEW years ago I grew fond of imaginary tours, and determined on one to climes more ſuited to my years, more genial than that to the frozen north. I ſtill found, or fancied that I found, OUTLINES OF THE GLOBE. abilities to direct my pen. I determined on a voyage to India, formed exactly on the plan of the Introduction to the Arctic Zoology; which commences at ſuch parts of the north as are acceſſible to mortals. From London I follow the coaſts ſouthern to part of our iſland, and from Calais, along the oceanic ſhores of Europe, Africa, and Aſia, till I have attained thoſe of New Guinea. Reſpecting theſe, I have collected every information poſſible, from books antient and modern: from the moſt authentic, and from living travellers of the moſt reſpectable characters of my time. I mingle hiſtory, natural hiſtory, accounts of the coaſts, climates, and every thing which I thought could inſtruct or amuſe. They are written on imperial quarto, and when bound, make a folio of no inconſiderable ſize; and are illuſtrated, at a vaſt expence, by prints taken from books, or [41]by charts and maps, and by drawings by the ſkilful hand of Moſes Griffith, and by preſents from friends. With the bare poſſibility of the volume relative to India, none of theſe books are to be printed in my life-time; but to reſt on my ſhelves, the amuſement of my advancing age. The following is the catalogue of theſe labors, all (excepting the firſt) compoſed in the ſpace of four years, all which will be comprehended under the general title of, OUTLINES OF THE GLOBE.

ARCTIC REGIONS. VOL. I. will contain the Introduction to the Arctic Zoology, with conſiderable additions, in order to make it unite hereafter with China, which will be comprehended in the xiiith volume; but this firſt volume will alſo be augmented very greatly, by accounts of the internal parts of the country, and with the countries to the ſouth, as low as lat. 45, to comprehend the great rivers of the north of Europe and Aſia: not only the coaſts but the internal parts of the United States of America will be deſcribed, as alſo our poor remnant, as far as the mouth of the Miſſiſſippi, and each ſide of that vaſt river as high as its ſource. The plates will be of new ſubjects, and executed by the firſt engravers of the time: the ſize of the books, that of Cook's Voyages. I feel an inclination to have one volume publiſhed in my life, as a model for the remaining twelve. It was impoſſible to omit this arctic volume, otherwiſe the work would have been very imperfect.

KENTISH TOUN, VOL. II. deſcribes a tour, commencing at the Temple-ſtairs, comprehending my paſſage down the Thames as low as Dartford Creek, and from thence to Dover.

[42] FRANCE. VOL. III. and IV. The voyage along the coaſts of France, from Calais to the frontiers of Spain, with a digreſſion up the Loire as far as Orelans; and a ſecond digreſſion from the Garonne, near Toulouſe, above Bourdeaux, along the great canal de Languedoc, to its junction with the Mediterranean ſea near Sette; and a third from Andaye, along the French ſide of the Pyrenecs, as far as its termination on the ſame ſea.

STAIN AND PORTUGAL. VOL. V. comprehends the coaſt of Spain, from the Bidaſſao to the borders of Portugal, the whole coaſt of Portugal; after which thoſe of Spain are reſumed, and continued to the Streights of Gibraltar, and its celebrated rock. This volume is particularly rich in drawings (by Moſes Griffith) of the birds and fiſhes of Gibraltar, communicated to me by the rev. the late Mr. John White, long reſident in that fortreſs.

SOUTHERN FRANCE. VOL. VI. contains the entrance into the Mediterranean ſea, and the ſouthern coaſts of Spain, to the borders of Italy at Nice, comprehending the coaſts of ſouthern France.

MR. IGNATIUS D'ASSO. MR. Ignatius d'Aſſo of Sarragoſſa, author of the Zoologia Aragoniae, and Flora of the ſame country, by his intelligent correſpondence, from the year 1783 to the year 1786, furniſhed me with ſeveral very inſtructive materials for the natural hiſtory of Spain, which were of conſiderable ſervice in my account of that kingdom. I cannot quit the ſubject of the four laſt volumes, without (I truſt) a moſt venial exultation at the ſource from whence I drew a conſiderable part of my account of the coaſts of the kingdoms of France and Spain; and alſo of ſome of the interior country. It would perhaps be affected: but it certainly would be unnatural to ſuppreſs acknowlegements which ſpring warmed from my heart, becauſe I pay them to a ſon. David Pennant [43]began his travels into foreign parts in Auguſt 1785; and from that time, (after intervals paſſed at home) has viſited Switzerland, the Griſons country, all parts of Italy, as low as Paeſtum; almoſt all Germany, and a ſmall part of Hungary; Stiria, Carinthia, and Carniola; almoſt every part of France, and much of Spain. From his journals, which, now fairly tranſcribed, fill eight folio volumes, I borrowed my moſt authentic materials.

NORTHERN AFRICA. VOL. VII. is an account of the coaſts of northern Africa, from Egypt, to the ſtreights of Gibraltar, and from the ſtreights, along the ſhores of weſtern or atlantic Africa, to the Senegal, or borders of Nigritia. This will include the hiſtory of the great rivers of that vaſt continent, as far as has yet been diſcovered, and in particular that of the Nile.

VOL. VIII. is deſcriptive of the coaſts of Nigritia, NIGRITIA. from the river Senegal to Cape Negro; and gives an account of the iſle of Aſcenſion, and other diſtant iſles.

AETHIOPIAN AFRICA. VOL. IX. takes in the coaſts from Cape Negro to the Cape of Good Hope, and again the eaſtern coaſts to the entrance of the Red Sea, and its ſouthern ſhores as far as the Iſthmus of Suez; Madagaſcar, and the ſeveral iſles to the eaſt and to the ſouth of that vaſt iſland.

VOL. X. contains the coaſts of Arabia on the Red Sea, ARABIA. and on the Indian ocean; and on the gulph of Ormuz or Perſian gulph. Some account of the river Euphrates, and the moſt remarkable places from its ſource to its mouth. The coaſts of Perſia, PERSIA. within the gulph, and on the Indian ocean, to the limits of Perſia, as divided from that empire by the river Indus. In this volume will be introduced accounts of ſeveral places mentioned in holy writ.

VOL. XI. gives an account of the river Indus from its ſource; INDIA. [44]of the Penjab; of the weſtern or Malabar coaſt of India to Cape Comorin; of the kingdom of Madura, and of the iſland of Ceylon.

VOL. XII. deſcribes the eaſtern coaſt of India, INDIA. quite to the mouths of the Ganges; and contains an account of that river from its ſources, and the ſeveral great rivers which fall into it; and of the Burrampooter, which, after an equal courſe, and vaſt deviation, falls into the Ganges juſt before it reaches the ſea. In theſe volumes, much hiſtory (party and controverſy avoided) will be given in their proper places.

INDIA BEYOND GANGES. VOL. XIII. reſumes the ſubject at Arracan, the firſt kingdom in the India beyond Ganges. Thoſe of Ava, Pegu, Lower Siam, the archipelago of Mergui, the Andaman and Niccbar iſles, are deſcribed. Then follow the ſtreights of Malacca, and its peninſula on both ſides; the gulph of Siam, and the Upper Siam; the celebrated Ponteamas, Cambodia, Pulo Condor, Ciampa, Cochin-China, and the bay and kingdom of Tonquin. The two laſt favor ſo much of China, that it is in compliment to the common geographical diviſion that I do not place them out of the limits of India. The vaſt and amazing empire of China comes next: future times will read it fully explored by the nobleman ſo judiciouſly ſelected for performing the celebrated embaſſy now on its way. The ſeveral countries dependent on China, bordering on the northern and north-weſtern ſides, the iſlands of Japan, and the land of Jeſo, conclude this volume.

MALAYAN ISLES. VOL. XIV. The vaſt inſular regions of India form the xivth volume, comprehending the great Malaye iſlands, ſuch as Sumatra, Java, Balli, Banca, Madura, and others of leſs note. Cumbava, Flores, Timor, or the iſles which ſtretch eaſt of Balli, to [45]the iſles of Arrou, not very remote from the coaſt of New Guinea.

AFTERWARDS are mentioned Borneo, and Celebes or Macaſſar; BORNEO. and to the north of them, the Manilla or Philippine iſles; and to the eaſt the rich archipelago of the ſpicy iſles, comprehending the Banda and the Moluccas, THE SPICY ISLANDS. and others which may fairly be ranged under that general name. New Holland, and New Guinea, NEW HOLLAND. with its appendages, New Britain and New Ireland, NEW GUINEA. conclude this important liſt, New South Wales, or the weſtern portion of New Holland, is as fully deſcribed as poſſible: the tranſient wonder of the vaſt views of the Britiſh nation, which, annihilating time and ſpace, has dared a plan, which would make other countries ſtartle at the very idea.

A FAR more complete Flora of India (than any that has yet appeared) will follow theſe three volumes, as a ſeparate work, with ſmall hiſtorical notations, and references to the beſt authors on the ſubject. It certainly will prove the beſt Linnaean index to Rumphius, and others of the greater Indian botaniſts.

THE reader may ſmile at the greatneſs of the plan, and my boldneſs in attempting it at ſo late a period of life. I am vain enough to think that the ſucceſs is my vindication. Happy is the age that could thus beguile its fleeting hours, without injury to any one, and, with the addition of years, continue to riſe in its purſuits. But more intereſting, and ſtill more exalted ſubjects, muſt employ my future ſpan.

APPENDIX, No 1.

[47]

TO THE HONORABLE DAINES BARRINGTON.

DEAR SIR,

I NOW execute the promiſe I made in town ſome time ago, of communicating to you the reſult of my viſit to Mr. Falkener, an antient jeſuit, who had paſſed thirty-eight years of his life in the ſouthern part of South America, between the river la Plata and the ſtreights of Magellan. Let me endeavor to prejudice you in favor of my new friend, by aſſuring you, that by his long intercourſe with the inhabitants of Patagonia, he ſeems to have loſt all European guile, and to have acquired all the ſimplicity, and honeſt impetuoſity, of the people he has been ſo long converſant with. I venture to give you only as much of his narrative as he could vouch for the authenticity of; which conſiſts of ſuch facts as he was eye-witneſs to, and ſuch as will (I believe) eſtabliſh paſt contradiction the veracity of our late circumnavigators, [48]navigators, and give new lights into the manners of this ſingular race of men: it will not, I flatter myſelf, be deemed impertinent to lay before you a chronological mention of the ſeveral evidences that will tend to prove the exiſtence of a people of a ſupernatural height inhabiting the ſouthern tract. You will find that the majority of voyagers, who have touched on that coaſt, have ſeen them, and made reports of their ſize, that will very well keep in countenance the verbal account given by Mr. Byron, and the printed by Mr. Clarke: you will obſerve, that if the old voyagers did exaggerate, it was through the novelty and amazement at ſo ſingular a ſight; but the latter, forewarned by the preceding accounts, ſeem to have made their remarks with coolneſs, and confirmed them by the experiment of meaſurement.

A. D. 1519. The firſt who ſaw theſe people was the great Magellan; one of them juſt made his appearance on the banks of the river la Plata, and then made his retreat: but during Magellan's long ſtay at Port St. Julian, he was viſited by numbers of this tall race. The firſt approached him, ſinging, and flinging the duſt over his head; and ſhewed all ſigns of a mild and peaceable diſpoſition: his viſage was painted; his garment the ſkin of ſome animal neatly ſewed; his arms a ſtout and thick bow, a quiver of long arrows feathered at one end, and armed at the other with flint. The height of theſe people was about ſeven feet, (French) but they were not ſo tall as the perſon who approached them firſt, who is repreſented to have been of ſo gigantic a ſize, that Magellan's men did not with their heads reach as high as the waiſt of this Patagonian. They had with them beaſts of burden, on which they placed their wives; by [49] Magellan's deſcription of them, they appear to have been the animals now known by the name of Llama.

THESE interviews ended with the captivating two of the people, who were carried away in two different ſhips; but as ſoon as they arrived in the hot climate each of them died.

I DWELL the longer on this account, as it appears extremely deſerving of credit; as the courage of Magellan made him incapable of giving an exaggerated account through the influence of ſear: nor could there be any miſtake about the height, as he had not only a long intercourſe with them, but the actual poſſeſſion of two, for a very conſiderable ſpace of time. *

It was Magellan who firſt gave them the name of Patagons, becauſe they wore a ſort of ſlipper made of the ſkin of animals: Tellement, ſays M. de Broſſe , quils, paroiſſoit avoir des pattes de Bêtes.

IN 1525, Garcia de Louiſa ſaw, within the ſtreights of Magellan, ſavages of a very great ſtature, but he does not particulariſe their height.

AFTER Louiſa the ſame ſtreights were paſſed in 1535 by Simon de Alcazova, and attempted in 1540, by Alphonſo de Camargo, but without being viſited by our tall people.

THE ſame happened to our countryman ſir Francis Drake; but, becauſe it was not the fortune of that able and popular ſeaman [50]to meet with theſe gigantic people, his contemporaries conſidered the report as the invention of the Spaniards.

IN 1579, Pedro Sarmiento aſſerts, that thoſe he ſaw were three ells high. This is a writer I would never venture to quote ſingly, for he deſtroys his own credibility by ſaying, the ſavage he made priſoner was an errant Cyclops: I only cite him to prove that he had fell in with a tall race, though he mixes fable with truth.

IN 1586, our countryman, ſir Thomas Cavendiſh, in his voyage, had only opportunity of meaſuring one of their footſteps, which was eighteen inches long: he alſo found their graves, and mentions their cuſtoms of burying near the ſhore. *

IN 1591, Anthony Knevet, who ſailed with ſir Thomas Cavendiſh in his ſecond voyage, relates, that he ſaw, at Port Deſire, men fifteen or ſixteen ſpans high, and that he meaſured the bodies of two that had been recently buried, which were fourteen ſpans long.

1599.—Sebald de Veert, who ſailed with admiral de Cordes, was attacked in the ſtreight Magellan by ſavages whom he thought to be ten or eleven feet high: he adds, that they were of reddiſh color, and had long hair.

IN the ſame year Oliver du Nort, a Dutch admiral, had a rencontre with this gigantic race, whom he repreſents to be of a high ſtature and of a terrible aſpect.

[51]1614.—George Spilbergen, another Dutchman, in his paſſage through the ſame ſtreight, ſaw a man, of a gigantic ſtature, climbing a hill as if to take a view of the ſhip. *

1615.—Le Maire and Schouten diſcovered ſome of the burying places of the Patagonians beneath heaps of great ſtones, and found in them ſkeletons ten or eleven feet long.

MR. Falkener ſuppoſes, that formerly there exiſted a race of Patagonians ſuperior to theſe in ſize; for ſkeletons are often found of far greater dimenſions, particularly about the river Texeira. Perhaps he may have heard of the old tradition of the natives mentioned by, Cieza and repeated from him by Garcilaſſo de la Vega §, of certain giants having come by ſea, and landed near the Cape of St. Helena, many ages before the arrival of the Europeans.

1618.—Gracias de Nodal, a Spaniſh commander, in the courſe of his voyage, was informed by John Moore, one of his crew, who landed between Cape St. Eſprit, and Cape St. Arenas, on the ſouth ſide of the ſtreights, that he trafficked with a race of men taller, by the head, than the Europeans. This, and the next, are the only inſtances I ever met with of the tall race being found on that ſide of the ſtreights.

1642.—Henry Brewer, a Dutch admiral, obſerved in the ſtreights le Maire, the footſteps of men which meaſured eighteen inches, this is the laſt evidence in the 17th century of the exiſtence [52]of theſe tall people: but let it be obſerved, that out of the fifteen firſt voyagers who paſſed through the Magellanic ſtreights, not ſewer than nine are undeniable witneſſes of the fact we would eſtabliſh.

IN the preſent century I can produce but two evidences of the exiſtence of the tall Patagonians. The one in 1704, when the crew of a ſhip belonging to St. Maloes, commanded by captain Harrington, ſaw ſeven of theſe giants in Gregory bay. Mention is alſo made of ſix more being ſeen by captain Carman, a native of the ſame town; but whether in the ſame voyage my authority is ſilent. *

BUT as it was not the fortune of the four other voyagers, who ſailed through the ſtreights in the 17th century, to fall in with any of this tall race, it became a faſhion to treat as fabulous the account of the preceding nine, and to hold this lofty race as the mere creation of a warm imagination.

IN ſuch a temper was the public, on the return of Mr. Byron from his circumnavigation, in the year 1766. I had not the honor of having perſonal conference with that gentleman, therefore will not repeat the accounts I have been informed he had given to ſeveral of his friends; I rather chuſe to recapitulate that given by Mr. Clarke, in the Philoſophical Tranſactions for 1767, p. 75. Mr. Clarke was officer in Mr. Byron's ſhip, landed with him in the ſtreights of Magellan, and had for two [53]hours an opportunity of ſtanding within a few yards of this race, and ſeeing them examined and meaſured by Mr. Byron. He repreſents them in general as ſtout and well proportioned, and aſſures us, that none of the men were lower than eight feet, and that ſome even exceeded nine; and that the women were from ſeven feet and an half to eight feet. He ſaw Mr. Byron meaſure one of the men, and, notwithſtanding the commodore was near ſix feet high, he could, when on tip-toe, but juſt reach with his hand the top of the Patagonian's head; and Mr. Clarke is certain, that there were ſeveral taller than him on whom the experiment was made, for there were about five hundred men, women, and children. They ſeemed very happy at the landing of our people, and expreſſed their joy by a rude ſort of ſinging. They were of a copper color, and had long lank hair, and faces hideouſly painted; both ſexes were covered with ſkins, and ſome appeared on horſeback and others on foot.

M. de Premontel makes this an object of ridicule, as if the ſize of the horſes were unequal to the burden of the riders. Our navigators tell us, that the horſes were fifteen or ſixteen hands high. It is well known, that a mill-horſe has been known to carry nine hundred and ten pounds, a weight probably beyon that of any Patagonian they ſaw.

A FEW had on their legs a ſort of boot, with a ſharp-pointed ſtick at the heel inſtead of a ſpur. Their bridles were made of thong, the bit wood; the ſaddle as artleſs as poſſible, and without ſtirrups. The introduction of horſes into theſe parts by the Europeans, introduced likewiſe the only ſpecies of manufacture they appear to be acquainted with. All their ſkill ſeems to extend no farther than theſe rude eſſays at a harneſs; [54]and to equip themſelves for Cavaliers. In other reſpects they would be in the ſame ſtate as our firſt parents juſt turned out of paradiſe, cloathed in coats of ſkins; or at beſt in the ſame condition in which Caeſar found the ancient Britons; for their dreſs was ſimilar, their hair long, and their bodies, like thoſe of our anceſtors, made terrific by wild painting. Theſe people, by ſome means or other, had acquired a few beads and bracelets; otherwiſe not a ſingle article of European fabric appeared among them. Theſe they muſt have gotten by the intercourſe with the other Indian tribes: for had they had any intercourſe with the Spaniards, they never would have neglected procuring knives, the ſtirrups, and other conveniences which the people ſeen by Mr. Wallis had.

I SHOULD have been glad to have cloſed, in this place, the relations of this ſtupendous race of mankind; becauſe the two following accounts given by gentlemen of character and abilities ſeem to contradict great part of what had been before advanced, or at leſt ſerve to give ſcoffers room to ſay, that the preceding navigators had ſeen theſe people through the medium of magnifying glaſſes, inſtead of the ſober eye of obſervation: but before I make my remarks on what has been before related, I ſhall proceed with the other navigators, and then attempt to reconcile the different accounts. In 1767, captain Wallis of the Dolphin, and captain Philip Carteret of the Swallow ſloop, ſaw and meaſured with a pole ſeveral of the Patagonians, who happened to be in the ſtreights of Magellan during his paſſage *, he repreſents them as a fine and friendly people, cloathed in ſkins, [55]and on their legs a ſort of boots, and many of them tied their hair, which was long and black, with a ſort of woven ſtuff of the breadth of a garter, made of ſome kind of wool. That their arms were ſlings formed of two round balls, faſtened one to each end of a cord, which they fling with great force and dexterity. He adds, they hold one ball in their hand, and ſwing the other at the full length of the cord round their head, by which it acquires a prodigious velocity: they will fling it to a great diſtance, and with ſuch exactneſs, as to ſtrike a very ſmall object. Theſe people were alſo mounted on horſes; their ſaddles, bridles, &c. were of their own making; ſome had iron, and others metal bits to their bridles, and one had a Spaniſh broad ſword; but whether the laſt articles were taken by war, or procurred by commerce, is uncertain; but the laſt is moſt probable. It ſeems evident that they had intercourſe with Europeans, and had even adopted ſome of their faſhions; for many had cut their dreſs into form of Spaniſh Punchos, or a ſquare piece of cloth with a hole cut for the head, the reſt hanging looſe as low as the knees. They alſo wore drawers; ſo theſe people had attained a few ſteps farther towards civiliſation than their gigantic neighbors; others again will appear to have made a far greater advance; for theſe ſtill devoured their meat raw, and drank nothing but water.

M. Bougainville, in the ſame year, ſaw another party of the natives of Patagonia: he meaſured ſeveral of them, and declares that none were lower than five feet five inches, French, or taller than five feet ten; i. e. five feet ten, or ſix feet three, Engliſh meaſure. He concludes his account with ſaying, that he afterwards [56]met with a taller people in the South Sea, but I do not recollect that he mentions the place.

I AM ſorry to be obliged to remark, in theſe voyages, a very illiberal propenſity to cavil at and invalidate the account given by Mr. Byron: but at the ſame time exult in having had an opportunity given me by that gentleman of vindicating his and the national honor. M. Bougainville, in order to prove he fell in with the identical people that Mr. Byron converſed with, aſſerts, that he ſaw numbers of them poſſeſſed of knives of an Engliſh manufactory, certainly given them by Mr. Byron; but he ſhould have conſidered that there are more ways than one of coming at a thing, that the commerce between Sheffield and South America, through the port of Cadiz, is moſt uncommonly large; and that his Indians might have got their knives from the Spaniards at the ſame time that they got their gilt nails and Spaniſh harneſs: but for farther ſatisfaction on this ſubject, I have liberty to ſay, from Mr. Byron's authority, that he never gave a ſingle knife to the people he ſaw; that he had not one at that time about him; that, excepting the preſents given with his own hands, and the tobacco brought by lieutenant Cummins, not the leſt trifle was beſtowed. I am furniſhed with one other proof, that theſe leſſer Indians, whom Mr. Wallis ſaw, were not the ſame with thoſe deſcribed by Mr. Byron, as has been inſinuated: for the firſt had with him ſome officers who had been with him on the preceding voyage, and who bear witneſs, not only to the difference of ſize, but declare that theſe people had not a ſingle article among them given by Mr. Byron. *. It is extremely probable [57]that theſe were the Indians that Mr. Bougainville fell in with; for they were furniſhed with bits, a Spaniſh ſcymeter, and braſs ſtirrups as before mentioned.

My laſt evidence of theſe gigantic Americans is that which I received from Mr. Falkener; he acquainted me, that about the year 1742 he was ſent on a miſſion to the vaſt plains of Pampas, which, if I recollect right, lie to the ſouth-weſt of Buenos Ayres, and extend near a thouſand miles towards the Andes. In theſe plains he firſt met with ſome tribes of theſe people, and was taken under the protection of one of the Caziques. The remarks he made on their ſize were as follows; that the talleſt, which he meaſured in the ſame manner that Mr. Byron did, was ſeven feet eight inches high; that the common height, or middle ſize, was ſix feet; that there were numbers that were even ſhorter; and that the talleſt women did not exceed ſix feet. That they were ſcattered from the foot of the Andes, over that vaſt tract which extends to the Atlantic Ocean, and are found as far as the Red River at Bay Anagada, lat. 40. 1; below that the land is too barren to be habitable, and none are found, except accidental migrants, till you arrive at the river Gallego, near the ſtreights of Magellan.

THEY are ſuppoſed to be a race derived from the Chilian Indians, the Puelches who inhabited the eaſtern ſide of the Andes, the ſame brave nation who defeated and deſtroyed the avaricious Spaniard Baldivia, but after that were diſpoſſeſſed of their ſeat.

THEY dwell in large tents covered with the hides of mares, and divided within into apartments, for the different ranks of the family, by a ſort of blanketing. They are a moſt migratory [58]people, and often ſhift their quarters; when the women ſtrike the tents, aſſiſt in putting them on their horſes, and, like the females of all ſavage countries, undergo all the laborious work.

THEY have two motives for ſhifting their quarters; one, for the ſake of getting ſalt, which they find incruſted in the ſhallow pools near the ſea ſide.

THE other inducement is the ſuperſtition they have of burying their dead within a certain diſtance of the ocean. And I may certainly add a third, that of the neceſſity they muſt lie under of ſeeking freſh quarters on account of the chace, which is their principal ſubſiſtence.

THOSE who deny the exiſtence of theſe great people, never conſider the migratory nature of the inhabitants of this prodigious tract, and never reflect that the tribes who may have been ſeen this month on the coaſt, may the next be ſome hundreds of miles inland, and their place occupied by a tribe or nation totally different. Theſe gentlemen ſeem to lay down as a certain poſition, that Patagonia is peopled by only a ſingle nation; and from that falſe principle they draw their arguments, ſneer, inſult, and even groſsly abuſe all that differ in opinion. Among the moſt illiberal of theſe writers is M. de Premontal, who, with the rapid ingenuity of his country, mounts on his headſtrong courſer PREJUDICE, ſets off full ſpeed, rides over all the honeſt fellows that would inform him of his road, and ſpurns even Truth herſelf, though ſhe offers to be his guide: but truth is unadorned, and hated by this fantaſtic writer; it would ſpoil him of all the flowers of fiction, and tropes of abuſe, againſt a rival country; and would teach him facts that would ruin his argument, [59]and reduce his eloquent memoire to a ſingle narrative of unconteſted veracity.

THEIR food is (almoſt entirely) animal: the fleſh of horſes, oxen, guanacoes, and oſtriches, all of which they eat roaſted or boiled. Their drink is water, except in the ſeaſon when certain ſpecies of fruit are ripe, for of thoſe they make a ſort of fermenting liquor called Chucha, common to many parts of South America. One kind is made of a podded fruit called Algarrova, which ſmells like a bug, and when bruiſed in water becomes an inebriating liquor. The ſame fruit is alſo eaten as bread. The other Chucha is made of the Molie, a ſmall fruit, hot and ſweet in the mouth: both theſe cauſe a deep drunkenneſs, eſpecially the laſt, which excites a phrenetic inebriation, and a wildneſs of eyes, which laſts two or three days.

THE cloathing of theſe people is either a mantle of ſkins, or of a woollen * cloth manufactured by themſelves; ſome is ſo ſtrong and compact as even to hold water: the color is various, for ſome are ſtriped and dyed with the richeſt red, made of cochineal and certain roots. They wear a ſhort apron before, which is tucked between the legs, and preſerves a modeſt appearance. They never wear feathered ornaments, except in their dances. Their hair is long, and tied up with a fillet. They have naturally beards , but they generally pluck up the hairs; not but ſome leave muſtaches, as was obſerved by Mr. Carteret and M. Bougainville.

[60]WHEN they go to war, they wear a fourfold coat, of the ſkin of the Tapiir, a cap of bull's hide doubled, and a broad target of the ſame. Their offenſive weapons are bows and arrows, the laſt headed with bone, lances headed with iron, and broad ſwords, both which they procure from the Spaniards: but their native weapons are ſlings; of theſe they have two kinds; one for war, which conſiſts of a thong, headed with ſtone at only one end; and during their campaigns they carry numbers of theſe wrapped about their bodies.

THE ſlings which they uſe in the chace of horſes, cattle, or oſtriches, have a ſtone fixed to each end; and ſometimes another thong, with a third ſtone, is faſtened to the middle of the other: theſe, with amazing dexterity, they fling round the objects of the chace, be they beaſts or oſtriches, which entangle them ſo that they cannot ſtir. The Indians leave them, I may ſay thus tied neck and heels, and go on in purſuit of freſh game; and, having finiſhed their ſport, return to the animals they left ſecured in the ſlings.

THEIR wars are chiefly with the other Indians, for Patagonia is inhabited by variety of people, not a ſingle nation. They have a great deal of intercourſe with the Spaniards, and often come down to Buenos Ayres to trade for iron, bugles, &c.

THIS commerce with the Europeans has corrupted them greatly, taught them the vice of dram-drinking, and been a dreadful obſtacle to their moral improvement. Mr. Falkener informed me, that he once prevaled on about five hundred to form a reduction, but that they grew unruly and ungovernable as ſoon as the Spaniſh traders got among them.

THEIR war and their chace are carried on on horſeback, for [61]they are moſt expert riders, and have multitudes of horſes, with which the country is perfectly over-run, for they go in herds of thouſands. The price of a horſe at preſent is two dollars, or 9s. and 2d. provided it has been broken. About the year 1554 * near the time of the conqueſt of Peru, the common price of one was from four to ſix thouſand to ten thouſand Peſos , or from £.1350 to £.2250 Engliſh.

THE venereal diſtemper is common among them. They do not ſpeak of it as an exotic diſorder, ſo probably it is aboriginal.

IN reſpect to religion, they allow two principles, a good and a bad The good they call, the Creator of all things; but conſider him as one that, after that, never ſolicits himſelf about them. He is ſtyled by ſome Soucha, or chief in the land of ſtrong drink; by others Gauyara-cunnee, or Lord of the dead. The evil principle is called Hueccovoe, or the wanderer without. Sometimes theſe (for there are ſeveral) are ſuppoſed to preſide over particular perſons, protect their own people, or injure others. Theſe are likewiſe called Valichu, or dwellers in the air.

THEY have prieſts and prieſteſſes, whoſe office is to mediate with theſe beings in caſe of ſickneſs or any diſtreſs; by the intervention of the prieſt they are conſulted about future events; at thoſe ſeaſons the prieſt ſhuts himſelf up, and falls into a phrenetic [62]extacy * and appears epileptic. If he gives a wrong anſwer, he lays the fault on the evil principle, who, he ſays, had deceived him by not coming in perſon, but only ſent one of his ſlaves. At theſe times the great people aſſemble about the cabin, from whence the oracle is to be delivered, waiting its report with great anxiety.

IF a Cazique dies, or any public calamity happens; for example, in particular, when the ſmall-pox had made great ravages among the tribes, the prieſts are ſure to ſuffer, for the misfortune is preſumed to have happened through their neglect in not deprecating the evil; in theſe caſes they have no other method of ſaving themſelves, but by laying the blame on others of their brethren.

PRIESTS are choſen from among the young people, the moſt effeminate they can find; but thoſe that are epileptic have always the preference, and theſe dreſs in a female habit.

THE Puelches have a notion of a future ſtate, and imagine that after death they are to be tranſported to a country, where the fruits of inebriation are eternal, there to live in immortal drunkenneſs or the perpetual chace of the oſtrich.

WHEN a perſon of eminence dies, the moſt reſpectable woman in the place goes into the tent, clears the body of all the inteſtines, and ſcrapes off as much of the fleſh from the bones as poſſible, and then burns very carefully both that and the entrails: when that is done, the bones are buried till the reſt of the fleſh is quite decayed; they are taken up within a year; [63]and if any of the bones drop out of their places they are refixed and tied together, and the whole formed into a perfect ſkeleton. Thus complete, it is packed up in a hide, put on the back of a favorite horſe of the deceaſed, and then tranſlated to the tomb of his anceſtor, perhaps 300 miles diſtant, and always within a ſmall ſpace from the ſea.

THE ſkeleton is then taken out, and, decked in its beſt robes, and adorned with plumes and beads, is placed ſitting in a deep ſquare pit, parallel with thoſe buried before, with ſword, lance, and other weapons placed by them; and the ſkins of their horſes, ſtuffed, and ſupported by ſtakes, alſo accompany them. The top of the pit is then covered with turf, placed on tranſverſe beams.

A MATRON is appointed to attend theſe ſepulchres, whoſe office it is to keep the ſkeletons clean, and to new-clothe them annually * I forgot to add, that, on depoſiting a ſkeleton in its tomb, the Puelches make a libation of Chucha, and, like what I have heard of an honeſt Spaniard, drink Viva el morte, Long live the dead.

THEY allow polygamy, and marry promiſcuouſly among other Americans; they are allowed as many as three wives apiece, but if any take more than that number, he is eſteemed a libertine, and held in very little eſteem.

WIDOWS black their faces for a year after their huſbands deceaſe.

IN reſpect to government, the Caziques are hereditary, it is [64]their buſineſs to protect the property of their people, and they have power of life and death: the office is far from being eligible; many reject it, becauſe they are obliged to pay all their people for their ſervices, who may at pleaſure change their Caziques, ſo that ſeveral refuſe to accept new vaſſals, who may offer themſelves; for it is not allowed any Indian to live out of the protection of ſome Cazique: in ſuch a caſe he would certainly be looked on as an outlaw.

ELOQUENCE is in high eſteem with them. If a Cazique wants that talent, he keeps an orator; juſt as leaders in oppoſition have been known to do among us.

THIS cloſes the hiſtory Mr. Falkener favored me with; but I muſt not quit that gentleman without informing you, that he returned to Europe with a ſuit of Patagonian cloth, a cup of horn, and a little pot made of Chilian copper; the whole fruits the Spaniards left him, after the labors of a thirty-eight years miſſion.

FROM the preceding account it appears, that the country, which goes under the name of Patagonia, extending from the river la Plata, lat. 35, to the ſtreights of Magellan, lat. 53 *, and weſtward as far as the Andes, is inhabited by men who may be divided into three different claſſes; and to them may be added a fourth, a combination or mixture of others.

THE firſt is a race of men of common ſize, who have been ſeen by numbers, and whoſe exiſtence is indiſputable. Theſe often are ſeen on the northern ſide of the ſtreights of Magellan, [65]and oftener on the Terra del Fuego ſide, even as low as oppoſite to Cape Horn. Theſe are frequently an exiled race, unhappy fugitives, drove by their enemies to take ſhelter from their fury, in thoſe diſtant parts; for ſuch is the information Mr. Falkener received from ſome Indians he met with in the ſouthern parts of Patagonia, and this will account for the ſettled melancholy of the people obſerved by the navigators in Terra del Fuego.

THE ſecond claſs conſiſts of thoſe who (in general) exceed the common height of Europeans by a few inches, or perhaps the head; ſuch were thoſe who were ſeen by John Moore, who ſailed with Gracias de Nodal, in 1618; by Mr. Carteret, in 1767, and by M. Bougainville, in the ſame year.

THE third claſs is compoſed of thoſe whoſe height is ſo extraordinary as to occaſion ſo great a diſbelief of the accounts of voyagers; and yet they are indiſputably an exiſtent people; they have been ſeen by Magellan, and ſix others, in the 16th century, and by two if not three in the preſent.

THE fourth claſs is a mixed race, who, careleſs about preſerving their generous and exalted breed pure and undegenerate, have degraded themſelves by intermixing with the puny tribes of the country, and from that intercourſe have produced a mongrel breed of every ſize, except that of the original ſtandard; ſome few, as if by accident, ſeem to aſpire to the height of their anceſtors, but are checked in their growth, and ſtop at the ſtature of ſeven feet eight inches, ſcarce the middle ſize of the genuine breed. But another reaſon may be aſſigned for the degeneracy and inequality of ſize in this claſs: they live within the neighborhood of Europeans, they have intercourſe with them, and from them they have acquired the vice of dram-drinking, [66]and all its horrible conſequences; this alone is ſufficient to make a nation of giants dwindle into pygmies.

A THIRD reaſon may ſtill be aſſigned, viz. the introduction of manufactories among them. Thoſe people, who depended on the ſpoils of the chace for their habiliments, were certain of preſerving their full vigor, their ſtrength of conſtitution, and fulneſs of habit; while thoſe who are confined to the loom grow enervate, and loſe much of the force of their bodily faculties. They alſo live in tents lined with woollen manufacture, which doubtleſsly are much more delicate, luxurious, and warm, than the dwellings of the third undegenerate claſs. We are unacquainted with the form of their tents, but we know that they ſtill cloath themſelves with the ſkins of beaſts, and that, among thoſe Mr. Clarke ſaw, there was not the leſt appearance of manufactury, excepting what related to their horſe furniture. Theſe ſeem to have been the genuine remains of the free race; the conquerors of Pedro de Baldivia; the Puelches, whoſe original ſtation was among the Andes of Chiloe, in about latitude 43, and almoſt due eaſt of the iſle of Chiloe. Theſe were the deſcendants of the Indians who retreated to the ſouth, far out of the common track of Europeans, and who retain their primeval grandeur of ſize; the others, who fled north-eaſt, forgetful of their original magnificent ſtature, loſt in general that noble diſtinction by unſuitable alliances, and the uſe of ſpirits, while the firſt probably only marry among themſelves, and certainly have all ſtrong liquor in abhorrence: ſome of this tall race ſeem ſtill to inhabit the ſtations of their anceſtors, or ſome not very remote from them; for M. Frezier was aſſured by Don Pedro Molina, governor of Chiloe, that he once was viſited by [67]ſome of theſe people, who were four varas, or about nine or ten feet high; they came in company with ſome Chiloe Indians *, with whom they were friends, and who probably found them in ſome of their excurſions.

M. de Premontal inſults M. Frezier with much acrimony on account of this relation; and charges him with changing the ſeat of thoſe people from the eaſtern coaſt to the weſtern, or the tract between Chiloe and the Magellanic ſtreights; but the truth is, that Frezier ſays no ſuch thing, but mentions them as a nation living up the country inland, not near the ſhores; M. Premontal alſo ſneers at the evidence of the crews of the Maloe ſhips; but they by no means place theſe tall people on the weſtern coaſt of South America, but at Gregory Bay, a place very little diſtant from the eaſtern entrance of the ſtreights, and near which theſe giants have been more frequently ſeen than any where elſe.

MY remarks on M. de Premontal are but a tribute to the many civilities I have received from doctor Matie, who has been moſt unprovokedly, unjuſtly, and illiberally abuſed by this vague and pragmatical writer.

THUS I conclude all that I collect relating to theſe ſingular people. Let me beg you to receive the account with your uſual candor, and think me, with the moſt regard,

Dear Sir,
Your faithful and affectionate humble ſervant, THOMAS PENNANT.

Copy of a paper tranſmitted from admiral Byron to me; through the hands of the right reverend John Egerton, late biſhop of Durham, after he had peruſed the manuſcript of the foregoing account.

[68]

THE people I ſaw, upon the coaſt of Patagonia, were not the ſame that was ſeen the ſecond voyage. One or two of the officers that ſailed with me, and afterwards with captain Wallace, declared to me that they had not a ſingle thing I had diſtributed amongſt thoſe I ſaw. M. Bougainville remarks that his officers landed amongſt the Indians I had ſeen, as they had many Engliſh knives amongſt them, which were, as he pretends, undoubtedly given by me: now it happened that I never gave a ſingle knife to any of thoſe Indians, nor did I even carry one aſhore with me.

I HAD often heard from the Spaniards, that there were two or three different nations of very tall people, the largeſt of which inhabit thoſe immenſe plains at the back of the Andes. The others ſomewhere near the river Galiegos. I take it to be the former that I ſaw, and for this reaſon:—returning from Port Famine, where I had been to wood and water, I ſaw thoſe peoples' fires a long way to the weſtward of where I had left them, and a great way inland, ſo, as the winter was approaching, they were certainly returning to a better climate. I remarked that they had not one ſingle thing amongſt them that ſhewed they ever had any commerce with Europeans. They were certainly of a moſt amazing ſize: ſo much were their horſes diſproportioned, that all the people that were with me in the boats, when very near the ſhore, ſwore [69]that they were all mounted upon deer; and to this inſtant I believe there is not a man that landed with me, though they were at ſome diſtance from them, but would ſwear they took them to be nine feet high. I do ſuppoſe many of them were between ſeven and eight, and ſtrong in proportion.

Mr. Byron is much obliged to Mr. Pennant for the peruſal of his manuſcript, and thinks his remarks very judicious.

[]

APPENDIX, No 2.

FREE THOUGHTS ON THE MILITIA LAWS, ADDRESSED TO THE POOR INHABITANTS OF NORTH WALES.

1781.

[72]
Stat. L.
The Statutes at Large, publiſhed by OWEN RUFFHEAD, Eſq.
Digeſt.
Digeſt of the Militia Laws, by RICHARD BURN, LL.D. 1781.

FREE THOUGHTS, &c.

[73]
MY DEAR COUNTRYMEN,

AT a time in which you feel the diſtreſſes in common with the reſt of the nation, it behoves every one of you to be made acquainted with the laws, in order (as much as is poſſible) to eaſe yourſelves of the burdens under which you labor, and legally to reſiſt every oppreſſion which may be attempted againſt you.

THE moſt grievous load which you now feel (next to the poor's rate) is that which ariſes from the taxes to ſupport the militia. The laws relating to it are the moſt numerous, and the puniſhments attending the breach of them are ſo hard, that for fear that any of you ſhould offend, by reaſon of ignorance, I ſhall, in the briefeſt manner, ſet before you a few points which concern perſons in every ſtation of life. If I ſhould chance to ſpeak of any piece of hiſtory, or touch on any thing beyond the apprehenſions of any of you, your miniſter is, I truſt, reſident among you, and ready to expound any difficulty.

THE militia has been of very long ſtanding in this kingdom; ſeveral ſtatutes were from very old times enacted for its regulation, which in the reign of Charles II. were reviſed, 13, 14 Ch. II. c. 3. Stat. L. iii. 219. Digeſt 1. and a new body of laws framed. Theſe were continued almoſt to the reign of his preſent majeſty; 30 G. II. c. 25. Stat. L. viii. 80. for after they had undergone ſeveral alterations in the latter part of his grandfather's time, they [74]were totally repealed, and the laws under which we now act were made in their place; but many of the clauſes of the preceding ſtatute were reſtored. The former is called the Old Militia. It certainly was of very little uſe as it then ſtood; but it had one advantage over the preſent; 13, 14 Ch. II. L. iii. ſ. 3. for the expence of raiſing the men was founded on the trueſt juſtice. Thoſe who had great eſtates, palaces, and rich furniture to defend, were charged accordingly. The gentlemen of leſſer fortune, and freeholders, were charged leſs; and the honeſt farmer, who had nothing but his rick-yard, the hard fruit of his labor! his poor dwelling, and his coarſe bed, to care about, was only obliged to pay according to ſuch private agreement as might be made between him and his landlord; The ſame, ſ. 29. Digeſt, p. 8. and all this was done in the arbitrary reign of a Stuart! But at preſent there is, in one inſtance, a more levelling principle. The poor laborer is, in ſome caſes, 2 G. III. ſ. 42. Stat. L. viii. 622. Digeſt 6. obliged to contribute ten pounds (if he can raiſe it) towards the defence of the kingdom; and the greateſt ſquire in the principality is not bound to give a farthing more.

IN the Old Militia, all buſineſs relating to the charging the ſubject with finding ſoldiers, was committed to the lieutenant of the county and his deputies, or to the major part of thoſe preſent; 13, 14 Ch. II. c. 3. ſ. 3. Stat. L. iii. 219. Digeſt 3. or, in the abſence of the lieutenant, to the major part of the deputy lieutenants then preſent; which major part was to be three at leſt. I am ſorry to remark, that even at the firſt framing of the new militia, this important ſecurity of the intereſts of the poor ſubject was weakened: 2 G. III. ſ. 58. Stat. L. viii. 624. for the powers were in that act entruſted to three deputy lieutenants or juſtices only; and ſince that time, 18 G. III. c. 59. ſ. 11. Stat. L. xiii. 288. Digeſt 47. the number (when the militia is in actual ſervice) is reduced to two only.

[75]THIS has been a moſt dangerous and imprudent alteration. Every one knows the hazard of truſting power in few hands. Friendſhip, relationſhip, or an unfortunate congenial turn of mind, may be found in two, which will hardly be met with in a greater number. In fact, two may become but as one, and this reduction be productive of the moſt ſhameful abuſes.

BUT if it were poſſible, that a gentleman ſhould ſo far forget the duty he owes to his country, as to adopt a ſyſtem, in the moſt diſtant view productive of a military government; ſhould he, through miſtaken friendſhip, promote or ſecond any illegality of proceeding; Heaven have mercy upon poor Britain! Not the increaſing power of the crown; not the machinations of a faction; not the corruption of a parlement, will half ſo effectually ruin its conſtitution. Not the force of man can overturn it, if the civil powers are true to their truſt: nor leſs than the intervention of Heaven preſerve it, if they are falſe.

AT preſent perhaps no danger is to be apprehended; but, for the ſake of poſterity, let us guard againſt events; and remember, that ‘an attack by ſtorm may be repulſed, but an unſuſpected ſap is ſure in the end to overturn the ſtrongeſt works.’

Is the militia at preſent that pure aſſemblage of men of rank, fortune, and independence, as it was in the beginning? It may conſiſt of perſons of equal integrity. But is it not poſſible that a few may have crept in, deſtitute of qualification, or deſtitute of heads ſteady enough to bear the great trial of power? Are there no inſtances of their carrying the controul of the camp into private life; none, of their ruffling the tranquillity of the ſocial hour, clouding the bright moments of the gay aſſembly; or pre| [76]venting the impending nap of the quiet magiſtrate, who dared to differ in opinion with them?

I SHALL make no remarks on the method of ballotting, except this: that a power is given to the deputy lieutenants and juſtices to order a freſh ballot, in caſe the lot falls on any perſon who, 18 G. III. c. 14 *. Digeſt, ed. 1778. p. 52. by reaſon of infirmity, or want of ſize, is unfit to ſerve. This is extremely juſt: yet ſtrict attention ſhould be paid to this power; leaſt through too great nicety in the gentlemen, or too great favor to the commanding officer, they ſhould be induced to reject thoſe to whom nothing but the moſt trivial, or perhaps affected objections could be made. Beſides, it moſt commonly happens, that on the day of appeal the liſts are entirely cleared from all objectionable perſons. For the ſake of the people therefore, a ſevere penalty ſhould be enacted, as a guard againſt the abuſe of this power.

IF any of you who are ballotted, do not chuſe to ſerve, you have liberty of offering a ſubſtitute; and that ſubſtitute muſt be five feet four inches high, and fit for ſervice. You muſt offer none but ſuch who are active in body and ſound in mind: who can fully anſwer the purpoſe for which they are called out, that of defending our wives, children, and property. You muſt offer ſuch who will not ſhame you in diſtant counties, or give needleſs trouble to the gentlemen who command them, and who have, in many inſtances, for all our ſakes, given up for a time every comfort of a domeſtic life.

[77]IF you happen to be ſix feet high, and formed as perfect as man can be, the magiſtrates ought not to refuſe a ſubſtitute inferior to you in thoſe advantages; it may be your good (or I may ſay in this caſe) your ill fortune to be ſo made: but ſtill they ought not to refuſe any one you offer, who comes within the above deſcription. Two deputy lieutenants, or one deputy lieutenant and one juſtice, have power to accept or refuſe them. If theſe two are reſolved to plague you, by the refuſal of proper ſubſtitutes, look about the room, and ſee if there are any others preſent, and pérhaps by their interference the former may be ſhamed into compliance; for there are none but have eyes as well as they, to diſcern whether a man is five feet four, and proper to be accepted; and ſenſe enough to know (in caſes where a ſubſtitute is accepted) that a ſingle man will be leſs burdenſome to a pariſh than a married man. A merciful magiſtrate will ſurely never heſitate to prefer the former?

THE poſſible abuſe of the power of rejection, or acceptance of ſubſtitutes, when lodged in two only, ſhews the neceſſity of reſuming the antient mode, and of enlarging the number. At preſent, let the power be ever ſo much abuſed, you are left helpleſs in this act, for there is no puniſhment for thoſe who make ſo wanton an exertion of it.

BUT remember, that in caſe you are at length teized, by the refuſal of ſeveral ſtout ſubſtitutes, into the payment of ten pounds (which, properly ſpeaking, 2 G. III. c. 20. ſ. 42. Stat. L. viii. 622. is only to be levied in caſe you refuſe or neglect to provide a man in your room) remember, I ſay, 2 G. III. c. 20. s;. 51. Stat. L. viii. 624. Digeſt 57. that you are to pay the money into the hands of the church-wardens and overſeers of your reſpective pariſhes only, who are alſo the only perſons appointed by law to receive and pay the [78]ten pounds, or to agree or contract for any ſubſtitutes, unleſs you ſhould chuſe to do it yourſelves, 2 G. III. c. 20. ſ. 52. Digeſt 58. or ſhould chuſe to employ any friend to do it for you.

AND obſerve, that in caſe any of the deputies or juſtices, or even the lord lieutenant himſelf, ſhould offend in any article of the above clauſe, 2 G. III. c. 20. ſ. 51. Stat. L. viii. 624. Digeſt 57, 58. you may lay an information againſt him, and he is liable to be fined one hundred pounds: half of which is to be paid to the proſecutor, and half to the poor of the pariſh in which the offence was committed; and you may recover it in any of his majeſty's courts of record.

IF any deputy or juſtice demands and gets from you more than ten pounds, the offence becomes the dirty crime of extortion. Will not the world ſay, that the offender ſinks the character of the generous Britiſh gentleman, or brave officer, into that of the recruiting ſerjeant; and that he forfeits the confidence of his poor countrymen, who look up to him for protection from every wrong? But you may have more ſubſtantial ſatiſfaction; you may bring an action againſt him, expoſe him in a court of juſtice, and recover full damages. This may atone for the private injury: but the public wrong is of that moment, as only to be expiated before one of our higheſt tribunals; and with all the ſolemnity of public juſtice.

THERE is not one of your fellow-ſubjects, let him be ever ſo great, that can levy on you a farthing more than the law allows. One of our kings loſt his head for trying to raiſe money without conſent of parlement. Surely you have more ſpirit than to ſuffer any private man to tax you of his own authority? At the ſame time you muſt pay quietly the ten pounds penalty; but only in caſe you have by law incurred it. But remember, that [79]this payment does not exempt you from ſerving again at the end of the three years, 2 G. III. c. 20. ſ. 42. Stat. L. viii. 622. or from providing a ſubſtitute.

THE militia is our great and conſtitutional ſecurity: it is the intereſt of us all to preſerve this bulwark of our freedom; but let us all take care that, what was ſo ſtudiouſly intended to be the guardian of our liberties, become not the inſtrument of our ſlavery, in the hands of men who know not the true uſe of power.

IF it was poſſible that any deputy or juſtice ſhould refuſe your ſubſtitutes, and immediately after take thoſe very men in the room of other ballotted people, let his ſhame be his puniſhment, for I fear that the act provides none. But as the preciſe deſcription of fit or unfit is quite unſettled, you will, in ſuch an inſtance, have the comfort of being aſſured by the very magiſtrates themſelves, that you never wiſhed to affront them by the offer of inſufficient people.

IF a poor man is made deſperate by the rejection of ſeveral fit ſubſtitutes, and by the inability of paying the ten pounds, and afterwards abſconds, he is liable to a more ſevere puniſhment: how far it may exceed the offence, I ſubmit to public judgment. At firſt the law provided one which ſeemed equal to the fault, which was a fine of ten pounds, 2 G. III. c. 20. ſ. 42, 128. Stat. L. viii. 621, 637. or for want of diſtreſs, impriſonment in the common jail, there to live for three months among felons, and ſtarve; for I ſuſpect that he is in a worſe ſituation than them, not being comprehended within the king's or county allowance, which the vileſt of felons are entitled to.

THIS clauſe was repealed, and the unhappy wretch is, in time of actual ſervice, liable to be ſeized, his name entered on the [80]roll, be delivered to an officer of the corps he was ballotted for, torn from his family, hand-cuffed, and marched perhaps two hundred miles acroſs the country; 19 G. III. c. 72. ſ. 22. Stat. L. xiii. 485, Digeſt 62. then to ſerve three years under perhaps an irritated commander: and ſhould he again abſcond, be liable to the infamy of whipping, or to be ſhot like the moſt profligate deſerter. In the name of Heaven! let this clauſe be for ever blotted from our ſtatutes.

THIS merits the more attention, becauſe nothing is eaſier to a mercileſs magiſtrate, than to bring a man within this clauſe. A poor creature may be able to raiſe ſix or ſeven pounds to give to the ſubſtitute whom he has engaged, and yet, with all his endeavours, not be able to raiſe ten pounds. The magiſtrates refuſe his ſubſtitutes, and finding neither money or effects to the value of ten pounds, inſtantly convict him of the crime of poverty, and he ſuffers accordingly. Or, he may not be a houſeholder, yet be able to pay the ten pounds; but through indignation at the treatment he has received, by the rejection of his ſubſtitutes, refuſes to depoſit the money, and having no effects, is in like manner ſubject to puniſhment.

IN caſe any militia man is diſapproved by the commanding officer, 19 G. III. c. 72. ſ. 23. Stat. L. xiii. 485. Digeſt 55, 56. after being enrolled, it is lawful for the officer to diſcharge him; but he muſt give his reaſons in writing, and be aſſiſted by two deputy lieutenants: ſo attentive, in this inſtance, have our law-givers been to the prevention of abuſe in the military power! Why have they been ſo remiſs in the former far more important matter?

PLEASE to obſerve, that throughout the militia act, the commanding officer is diſtinguiſhed from the civil power, or the [81]deputy lieutenants and juſtices of the peace. 2 G. III. c. 20. ſ. 28. Stat. L. viii. 618. Digeſt 36. The lord lieutenant alone is permitted to act as colonel: he alone is permitted to unite the civil and military characters, becauſe he can delegate his powers ſo that his abſence may be diſpenſed with. In every other inſtance, they are ſo very carefully ſeparated, as never to appear acting together; except in the inſtance of the diſcharge of a man, in which they have a ſhort correſpondence. The law plainly deſigns, that no perſon inferior to the lord lieutenant, ſhould act in both capacities; much leſs to preſide at the meetings, and brow-beat the deputy lieutenants or juſtices in the diſcharge of their duty. ‘A prince, therefore, never ſhould give to military men a civil employment: on the contrary, they ought to be checked by the civil magiſtrate, that the ſame perſons may not have the confidence of the people, and the power to abuſe it *.’

THE civil power is the ſoul which is to animate the military machine, and put it in motion. 2 G. III. c. 20. ſ. 95. Stat. L. xiii. 631. Digeſt 72. The civil power forms the men into regiments, or in ſmall counties into companies; aſſembles men in convenient ſtations, and even poſts to each company its proper officers.

THE time of training and exerciſing the men, 2 G. III. c. 20. ſ. 99. Stat. L. viii. 632. Digeſt 74. and the place of rendezvous, is alſo entirely in the power of the lieutenant and two deputies; or, in the abſence of the lieutenant, in that of three deputy lieutenants: 2 G. III. c. 20. ſ. 116. 16 G. III. c. 3. ſ. 1. Stat. L. xiii. 634. xii. 431. Digeſt 98. and the power of embodying the militia is entruſted to the ſame, even in time of actual invaſion, or in caſe of rebellion.

[82]IN a few words; it does not appear that the commanding officer has ſcarcely any part to perform till he takes the field: the ballotting, the approving, and the rejecting of volunteers or ſubſtitutes, reſting entirely in the civil magiſtrates. The power of the commandant does not commence till, at ſooneſt, the time of enrolling; for within a month after that, he is at liberty to correct the choice of the deputy lieutenants, and to diſcharge any man whom they have ſuffered to paſs muſter, 2 G. III. c. 20. ſ. 48. Stat. L. viii. 623. Digeſt 102. and who is really unfit for ſervice.

GOOD manners, and even prudence, ſhould induce the magiſtrates to invite any diſcreet officer of the corps to attend the meeting for accepting of ſubſtitutes: or, if the corps is too remote, prudence ſhould urge them to do the ſame to any fit officer of a neighboring corps, be it regular or militia. They ought not; they cannot be partakers of the power entruſted to the civil magiſtrates: but they may be uſefully conſulted on any caſes of acceptance, in which the magiſtrates may have doubts. Every officer is equally a citizen of Great Britain; and I dare to ſay, on this occaſion would, in his advice, not forget that moſt important character.

THE power given to the commandant, of diſcharging any man he diſlikes in one month after enrolling, ſhews, that it is not ſuppoſed he could be preſent at the ballot, or could have any concern in approving of the ſubſtitutes; otherwiſe, he could not poſſibly receive improper men one week, in order to diſcharge them the next.

2 G. III. c. 128. Stat. L. viii. 637. Digeſt 61. I SHALL cloſe this ſuſpicion of the probability of the commanding officer's being excluded from all concern in the raiſing [83]of the militia, with this remark, that the overplus of the penalty of ten pounds, if any remains, is to be paid by the deputy lieutenants and juſtices to the clerk of the regiment or battalion *, who is to account for it to the colonel or commanding officer; a direction which ſufficiently points out the difference of character and diſtinction of the department.

MANY of you, in order to eaſe yourſelves of expence, have formed clubs, in which every perſon liable to be ballotted ſubſcribed a ſmall ſum, and raiſed ſufficient to find a ſubſtitute, in caſe the lot fell on any one of the members. By this means you prevented a heavy load from falling on all ſuch, who by reaſon of ſickneſs, or any other infirmity, were excepted from ſerving; but not from the taxes attendant on the militia. This you did freely: and in caſe the lot fell upon any one of you who choſe to ſerve, you made uſe of the club-money, and ſcorned to put your poor neighbors (for whom you were going to fight) to any more expence than the ſupport of your families.

THE law, by a very particular clauſe, 2 G. III. c. 20. ſ. 53. Stat. L. viii. 624. Digeſt 58. encourages the uſe of theſe clubs, and as it were, renders optional the uſe of a foregoing clauſe; and prevents it from being made burdenſome to any pariſhes, except thoſe which have been imprudent enough not to form theſe clubs, in eaſe to themſelves. But to levy the tax of half the price of a volunteer, as that clauſe directs, 2 G. III. c. 20. ſ. 47. 19 G. III. c. 72. Digeſt 101. Stat. L. viii. 623. xiii. 483. is a mere wanton exertion of power, in all places where clubs have been eſtabliſhed.

[84]HALF the price of a volunteer has been generally fixed at four guineas, or four and a half: yet I have known, in the very week in which ten or twelve guineas have been prodigally beſtowed on a ſubſtitute, men equally good have been inliſted in the regulars for four; and within five weeks after enrolling, a militia ſubſtitute to ſupply a vacancy has been got by one of the pariſhes for four only.

IN caſe half the price of a volunteer is to be raiſed on the country, you have an indulgence of deferring the payment one whole month. Among other reaſons, is this; it gives time to the overſeers of the poor, who are charged with the payment, to collect the money from their poor brethren, it being well known that many who are thus taxed are worſe off than thoſe for whoſe uſe the money is raiſed. Perhaps almoſt the whole month may be required for the diſtreſſed tenant to get in a little money, notwithſtanding all the trouble and ill-will the overſeer has in diſcharge of his office.

BUT our law-makers had another reaſon for giving you a month's time for the payment; becauſe (as I ſaid before) the commanding officer has power to diſcharge any man he diſlikes within one month after enrolling, The ſame, Sect. 48 in one, 14 in the other. and then no ſuch money is to be paid to that perſon, but to the next choſen by lot in his ſtead. Now it may happen, that if you pay it to the firſt perſon on, or ſoon after the day of enrolling, he may die within the month, or he may be diſcharged, and in the laſt caſe moſt probably may have ſpent the money; in ſo much that the pariſh muſt pay the ſame ſum over again to the next perſon, who is as liable to be diſcharged within a day or two, as the other, and the pariſh [85]put, without remedy, to freſh expences. Never, therefore, pay the money till the end of the month, and you will be on the ſure ſide, and within the meaning of the law.

YOU need not fear being put to the expence of maintaining the wives or children of the ſerjeants. In one of your counties, two well-meaning magiſtrates made the trial, but when their order came to the clerk of the peace, who is a very honeſt fellow, he took it, and the matter was totally ſuppreſſed. 2 G. III. c. 20. ſ. 114. Digeſt 84. St. L. viii. 634. 2 G. III. c. 20. ſ. 38. Digeſt 38. Stat. L. viii. 619. 2 G. III. c. 20. ſ. 39. Digeſt 39. One ſhould have thought it impoſſible that they could miſtake a noncommiſſion officer for a common man, or not have read, that ſerjeants were appointed from among the common men, and were, on any miſconduct, liable to be reduced to the rank of common men.

THE above is the only perſonal alluſion in this little piece: but I hope I may make free with myſelf, and thus with ſhame and contrition perform my amende honorable.

IF any of you are oppreſſed in any manner whatſoever, do not deſpair of relief. Remember you live in a free country, where juſtice is open to the poor as well as the rich. It is not many years ago ſince a great lord, a ſecretary of ſtate, made the ſame miſtake as moſt country juſtices have done, and iſſued a general warrant againſt a private gentleman; who had ſpirit to take the law of his lordſhip, and recovered four thouſand pounds damage. And I remember a cobler near London, who went to law with a former king for a foot-path, and caſt his majeſty.

BUT let the law be your laſt reſource. I have not the moſt diſtant thought of ſetting you and the gentry at variance. They [86]are bound to give you protection by the duties of humanity: by their duty as magiſtrates. They are bound by their oaths to do equal juſtice to the poor and to the rich, after their cunning wit and power, and after the laws and cuſtoms of the realm, and the ſtatutes thereof made. You are bound to pay to them a manly reſpect; for on their integrity, knowlege, and power, YOUR OWN SAFETY DEPENDS. In our ſeveral ſtations we are ALL BOUND TO BE PROTECTIONS one to the other. If any of them, through heat, or forgetfulneſs of the law, ſhould have injured you, apply for redreſs in a private manner. I truſt that there are in every Welſh county ſome worthy gentlemen who will undertake your cauſe, and perform the bleſſed office of peacemakers. Thoſe who may have wronged you, need not be aſhamed of making the pooreſt of you amends. Reparation of an injury does honor to the offender, and wipes away the offence. The greateſt man in England may glory in the opportunity.

IN diſtracted times, ſuch as the preſent, petty tyrants are apt to ariſe, who think they can act ſecure in the rage of the ſtorm, The watchman is not to be blamed who, in ſuſpicious ſeaſons, gives the alarm on the ſight of the riſing of a diſtant duſt. I hope, therefore, it will not be thought preſumptuous in me, unbidden, to take the office. Internal impulſes to prevent evils, ought not to be reſiſted. I am not a firſt-rate man among you: but a pygmy armed by juſtice goes forth a giant. Within the county in which I am deſtined to act, I am in a particular manner bound to befriend you; to befriend you in a good cauſe: but if you are wrong, and obſtinately wrong, my utmoſt endeavours ſhall be uſed to inflict on you every puniſhment in the power of the law.

[87]BUT I hope that peace and mutual confidence will ever reign among us; and that rich and poor will, as is their joint intereſt, endeavour to promote, to the utmoſt of their abilities, RESPECT TO THE LAWS, AND RESPECT TO TRUE LIBERTY. Such,

My dear countrymen, is the conſtant wiſh of
Your faſt friend, THOMAS PENNANT.
[]

APPENDIX, No 3.

A LETTER FROM A WELSH FREEHOLDER TO HIS REPRESENTATIVE.

1784.

ADVERTISEMENT.

[]

A FEW nights ago, my maid brought me a parcel directed to me, which ſhe found flung upon my deſk. I have peruſed it carefully, and find nothing in it but good found doctrine, and quite agreeable to the laws and uſage of the land. I cannot but conſider it as a fairy-gift; therefore will not wrong myſelf ſo far as not to print it, thinking myſelf free from blame for turning the penny in an honeſt way. But at the ſame time pledge myſelf to the author (ſhould he hereafter appear) to allow him ſuch a ſhare of profit as ſhall be adjudged by any two of the trade, with a proper umpire.

J. MONK.

A LETTER FROM A WELSH FREEHOLDER TO HIS REPRESENTATIVE.

[91]
February 10, 1784.
DEAR SIR,

I AM obliged to you for your favor of January 24th, and ſhould have been extremely happy to have received an anſwer a little more ſatisfactory. I am moſt willing to believe that your deſigns may at this time be pure, that you have no thought to eradicate monarchy, no more than hundreds of great characters had in the beginning of the troubles of the laſt century, but by the artifices of the popular leaders, they were drawn from violence to violence, till their retreat became impracticable; and when they made the attempt, they were overwhelmed by the tyranny which they unwittingly had helped to eſtabliſh, and [92]which ſoon after totally ſubverted the conſtitution *. You ſeem ſhocked at the idea, and are ready to ſay with Hazael, "Is thy ſervant a dog, that he ſhould do theſe things?" What is the government of our kingdom, but the wiſe mixture of King, Lords, and Commons, each one deſigned to be a check on the ill-conduct of the others: if you deſtroy the powers of any one, and the others ſhould unite, you eſtabliſh the moſt abſolute deſpotiſm, for you take away the ſalutary control of the third. Your ſaying that the preſent majority is not anti-monarchial is ſaying nothing; for if you deprive the King of the power of chuſing his own ſervants, or of the other great executive privilege of appointing to places, you make him merely nominal; an arrant King Log.

Within theſe two months the above has been (as yet happily) in vain attempted; firſt in the endeavour to place in the Commons the diſpoſition of places in India and all its vaſt dependencies; ſecondly, in the interference of Lord ****, in the diſpoſal of the dutchy of Lancaſter; thirdly, in the preſent attempt to wreſt from Majeſty the undoubted right of chuſing his own miniſters: let theſe points be gained by the Commons, and monarchy falls. Have your leaders informed you what government they mean to eſtabliſh? If prerogative is deſtroyed, this cannot ſubſiſt; for I think the King will never ſubmit to be brought from his priſon at St. James's, with the pageantry of majeſty, to give his aſſent to acts ſignified by the pleaſure of the Commons. I truſt that we both look with equal horror on a [93]King without Commons, as Commons without King. The pernicious reſolutions of January the twelfth are without precedent, becauſe unprovoked; the cauſe ought to have been of the firſt magnitude to have produced ſuch effects, which involve all ranks in their deſtructive conſequence. They are like a ſword which paſſes undiſtinguiſhed between innocent and guilty. Your conſtituents feel their ſhare. All buſineſs is obſtructed, and poſſibly in a few days the whole army is to be let looſe on their fellow ſubjects. What crime has majeſty or miniſters committed, to bring on them and our country ſuch calamities? Has not year after year the King quietly aſſented to every bill paſſed by the two other branches of legiſlature for the weakening of his own power? Had he had ill deſigns, his own prerogative might have checked the abridgement of his authority. I inſtance only the act for taking away the vote of revenue officers, and that for the abolition of the board of trade. The county of **** with great zeal petitioned for the taking away of uſeleſs places. Had the inciters of thoſe petitions, when they came into power, purſued the deſign with the ſame ſincerity with which they were ſupported by the duped counties, they would not have leſt room to ſuſpect that the deſire of poſſeſſing the emoluments of Lord North's adminiſtration was not the chief end by them propoſed. Let me name another merit of this reign, for the ſecurity of our liberties, in which the Commons had no ſhare, I mean the ſpontaneous act of the crown which has made the judges independent of the King by giving them their places for life.

To theſe merits of the King, let me oppoſe one glaring demerit of the Commons. Did not the repreſentatives of the people, in 1716, betray their rights by the ſeptennial act, and veſt in [94]themſelves four years more of power than the conſtitution or their conſtituents ever intended? I will not enter into a diſcuſſion of the eventual good or evil. The charge ought to be ſubject of deep conſideration with electors and elected. But if it was wrong, is not the preſent majority particeps criminis, by permitting it to continue unrepealed? But does there not appear the greater probability of its deſign of aſſuming a far longer continuance of its own power, ſhould it not be appalled by the warning voice of the people? I cannot give it a grain of credit for any one act of forbearance, any pretended moderation, ſince the awful ſound begins to roll over its head.

THE King has lately dared to make uſe of his prerogative, in diſmiſſing his late ſervants, for unconſtitutionally trying to divert into another branch of the legiſlature his great prerogative of the diſpoſal of places. Pleaſe to apprehend that to be the only part of Mr. Fox's India bill to which I make any objection. I ſhould hold chartered rights moſt ſacred; but not ſuch which have affected the lives and properties of millions, in the manner in which the abuſe of power is pretended to have done in our Indian empire.

IN place of the miniſtry diſmiſſed, his majeſty has been pleaſed to put at the head of the new one a youth endued, I may ſay, with miraculous abilities; one in whom malice can find as few defects as can be found in human nature. When I had the honor of ſpeaking to you on the ſubject of his virtues, in the ſhort converſation I had with you in your way to town, you ſeemed to have had no objection to him. Has his ſhort adminiſtration been marked by any flagitious deed? Would it not have been fair to have given the man of the King's choice a ſhort trial? Or, is it not becauſe he is the man of the King's [95]choice that the majority of mouths are open againſt him? I hope his virtues are not the object of jealouſy, and that the eloquence of Themiſtocles is not to bear down the virtues of Ariſtides! ſurely the majority do not ſign the ſhell becauſe they are angry at every body calling Ariſtides juſt?

CERTAINLY there are ſtrong contraſts to his character, who unite their force to pull him down. Why ſhould the affairs of the whole nation be ſtopped at the inſtance of ſuch perſons? Could you not ſuffer the buſineſs to go on, with only the proper objections to what was wrong? Surely the taxes might have paſſed, in order to prevent what may poſſibly enſue, univerſal bankruptcy. But moderation muſt not be adopted; it will ſuit neither the views nor intereſts of a ſet of men, whom poverty and ambition have made nearly deſperate. The nonſenſical exploded cry of ſecret influence is for private ends again revived.

EXCUSE me for reminding you (but remind you I muſt) of the declaration you made at the laſt general election, that you would enliſt under no party, follow no ſet of men; the performance is far from impracticable; many illuſtrious characters, who obſerve thoſe excellent rules, exiſt at this very time. Your conſtituents wiſh you to do the ſame. They wiſh to prevale on you to compare your ſentiments with theirs; the ſooner it is done, the leſs will be the violence of the alteration. I firſt ſuggeſted the communication of our ſentiments, and from my model (ſuch as is incloſed) is drawn the declaration which I apprehend has by this time been ſent to you from the gentlemen of ****, with the approbation of many reſpected characters in this end of the county. You need not ſtart at the teſt offered to you. It is not deſigned to bind you to any party, [96]to any ſet of men. It contains only conſtitutional fundamentals, ſuch as you might ſubſcribe without any derogation from your honor. If the name offends, change it to 'inſtructions,' and the offence is done away. Why ſhould the majority be alarmed at ſubſcribing to undeniable duties, who are daily offering to their Sovereign the moſt mortifying covenants? This ſqueamiſh nicety reminds me of the giant in Rabelais, who daily ſwallowed wind-mills for his breakfaſt, and at laſt was choaked with a lump of butter before the mouth of a warm oven.

To conclude: there is not a wiſh to change our repreſentative, provided he acts conſonant to our principles; but none of us ought to give up principle for affection. I truſt that your anſwer will be clear and decided; ſo that in ſupporting you we ſhall ſupport the dictates of our own conſciences. The great majority of your conſtituents are firm friends to the legal prerogative. They will re-elect you; yet how muſt they bluſh at their inconſiſtency if you take an adverſe part! I have been your friend, and I ſhall be ſorry to withdraw my intereſt from you. Excuſe me again if I ſay, with the ſpirit of a freeman, this muſt reſt in yourſelf. If we differ in ſentiments, there ought to be mutual forgiveneſs, for it is impoſſible to expect from either ſide a criminal compliment. I have never yet deceived you; nor will I begin in this late period of life. If we are ſo unhappy to diſagree in opinion, I will not vote againſt you: but cannot vote for you.

I remain, dear Sir, Your affectionate humble ſervant, A WELSH FREEHOLDER.

APPENDIX, No 4.

[97]

TO THE EDITOR OF THE GENERAL EVENING POST.

Havod y lom, Feb. 1781.
SIR,

I HAVE long been very ſenſible of the ſeveral improvements which the military ſpirit, ſo prevalent in theſe kingdoms, and the frequent incampments, have introduced into the moſt diſtant counties. At preſent I ſhall forbear mentioning the happy effects they have had on the morals of the male part of the community, and confine myſelf to that ſex to which we are indebted for every thing which renders life endurable. I was always its ſincere admirer; and am happy to find any occaſion of pointing out whatſoever may add to their charms, or extend their conqueſts.

I WAS laſt ſummer in a gentleman's family in the inland part of England, with whom I had a long and intimate acquaintance. I happened to reach the place in the dog-days; and finding the [98]ladies ſitting in an alcove in their cloth riding habits, inſtead of their cool chintzes, I expreſſed my fear that I prevented them from taking their morning ride. They aſſured me, they did not mean to ſtir out; and one of them, clapping on a vaſt hat with a cockade, declared ſhe would only go for her work, and ſit down for the reſt of the morning. On turning round, how was my ruſticity ſurprized to ſee her hair clubbed behind! another gave me an opportunity of ſeeing a whiſking queue; and a third a greaſy braid, hanging down and dabbing the ſhining cape!

AFTER the morning was far ſpent, Miſs Dorothy (for, in imitation of the quality, there are now no ſuch things as Dollies, Mollies, and Betties) with a great yawn flung her arms over her head, and her legs a yard before her, and informed us, it was dreſſing time: then pulling her watch out of (I believe) a tight leathern breeches, acquainted us, that it was half paſt two; and returned it to its place with a moſt officer-like air.

I SAW the countenance of my good old friend change. As ſoon as the ladies had left the place, he gave vent to his diſcontent in the following terms: "My dear Jack," ſays he, ‘what an alteration is there in the manners of this houſe ſince I laſt had the happineſs of your company! A curſed viſit to Coxheath hath infected my poor girls to a degree that gives me the keeneſt concern. The chaſte and elegant dreſs, which was once their characteriſtic, is now converted into what you have juſt ſeen. Female delicacy is changed into maſculine courage, and as much of the garb aſſumed as at firſt view almoſt leaves the difference of ſex undiſtinguiſhable. The manly habit is put on with the morning, and, as you will ſee preſently, only changed for another of the ſame kind. The [99]watch too has alſo quitted its modeſt ſtation, and the fair wearer, inſtead of conſulting the hour with the former graceful recline of the head, now boldly lugs out the oracle, and aſterwards thruſts it—the lord knows where! My niece Elizabeth, in defence of this new mode, ſays, that its motions are conſiderably altered ſince it had experienced a new ſituation. No wonder, ſince it had quitted the temperate for the torrid zone. A long ſtring, with all the maſculine load of ſeals, &c. now affectedly hangs down the center of the fair frame; ſometimes it is formed of hair, ending with a ſtrange fringe of the ſame. A celebrated antiquarian aſſured me that this was the true love-lock. And a wicked rogue added, that it was an excellent conductor of amorous ideas to our ſex, a remembrancer to our ſlack youth, and, like a ſtrange peculiarity in the dreſs of the ladies of Siam, which ſerves as a whet to the depraved appetites of their copper-coloured gallants. Inſtead of—’ I could no longer bear his proſing, ſo diverted the diſcourſe: but not without giving internal aſſent to part of his reflections, even tinctured as they were by the fooliſh prejudices of old age. Laudable as a due attention is to faſhion in young people, yet I was brought to confeſs that there were indecencies in thoſe of the preſent year, which are the diſguſt of the grave, the ſcoff of the licentious; are marks of a light mind, or bring under ſuſpicion of levity the pureſt heart, which thoughtleſsly adopts the unſuitable manners or habit of our ſex.

I am, Your humble ſervant, CAMBER,

APPENDIX, No 5.

[100]

MISCELLANIES.

Old Bond-ſtreet, Auguſt 10, 1774.
SIR,

I WAS the other day in a coffee-houſe filled with (not the firſt rate) company of this great town, where I long ſate indignant at the topic which employed every tongue. I could have born with patience the common ſubjects of politics, the mere offspring of ignorance and rancour; but when I found their licentious mouths filled with the moſt infamous inferences, drawn from the unhappy conduct of a lady not leſs eminent for her rank than her beauty, I flung down my penny in a rage, and retired to my apartments full of reflections on ſome events unfortunately at this time too well known.

THE love of fame in either ſex is a principle implanted in us for the moſt noble purpoſes, and is often of itſelf productive of the moſt important and generous effects. The character of the tender part of the creation confines them to a narrower ſphere of action: but their duties are not leſs conſequential than thoſe of our ſex, which make more eclat; and are attended with all the rewards that public merit can claim. If it is the lot of the fair to become wives and parents, a virtuous diſcharge of the duties of thoſe relations ſhould be the ſum of their ambition. But if [101]it be their fortune to remain ſingle, an equal fame will attend them by that delicacy and eaſe of behaviour towards the men, which form the genuine characteriſtics of virtue. If once this honeſt ſpecies of ambition forſakes them, and an anxiety after foreign admiration ſeizes them, they become the mark of every profligate wretch, or fluttering inſect; who may perhaps ſinge his wings, but at the ſame time is ſure to impair the brightneſs of the luminary. Every ſoft look, and every little levity, becomes encouragement; and the enduring of one free action is ſure to lay a foundation for another. The man of gallantry preſumes on appearances, miſtakes culpable vanity for vitious inclinations, and in the end, moſt deſervedly, ſuffers for his error: he is diſgracefully driven from the chateau by inſulting domeſtics; or ſuffers ſtill more marked mortifications, at the command of the inſulted fair. She diſtreſſes her poor huſband with her complaints: ſhe wonders at the fellow's impudence. Alas! what can the unhappy ſpouſe reply, but what muſt add to her and his own miſery? He may (but it is more likely his ſuſpicions may take an unhappy turn at the ſame time) he may, I ſay, allow her to be innocent at the bottom; but he will reproach her with having given the gallant every reaſon to expect an eaſy conqueſt: he may alſo unjuſtly conceive a jealouſy that there may have been, or that there ſtill may be, moments when poor virtue may be caught napping, and the ſum of female diſhonour effected. His peace of mind is gone; and mutual wretchedneſs becomes the price of the mere moments of levity, or the love of tranſient admiration.

EVERY attempt for that purpoſe becomes criminal; ſince the concluſion is often as uncertain as it is unexpected. To call [102]aloud in public to men of gaiety; to ſuffer an unmeaning whiſper; or to retire to a remote ſeat; are acts which bring with them the cauſe of the moſt cruel ſcandal. In private company to force yourſelf at table almoſt on the lap of your favorite; to rivet your eye on his; to catch frequently at his hand, or every now and then to place your's on his knee; or mutually to dangle your hands over the elbow chair, that they may come unperceived in contact, give as great diſguſt to the company as they do ſolid injury to the reputation of the fair offender, whether ſhe is married or whether ſhe is ſingle. If the object of attraction be a married man, how aggravated is the offence: how pitiable is the ſituation of the poor injured ſpouſe! And yet this ſpecies of conduct is very frequent, but never is paſſed unnoticed: the encouragement either brings unhappineſs on the thoughtleſs fair; or buſy ſcandal fixes on her an indelible blot: a cruel penalty! yet ſhe falls unpitied, as it is brought on her by a criminal or inſolent inattention to appearances.

CAMBER.

APPENDIX, No 6.
MISCELLANIES. FLINTSHIRE PETITION.

[103]

THE clamors raiſed in the year 1779, and the apparent diſcontents grew to ſuch a height, that I thought it prudent that the county of Flint ſhould add its weight to the petition, ſo that by prevaling on government to leſſen every unneceſſary burden, the minds of the people might be eaſed, and all ill conſequences prevented, for civil war was almoſt threatened. I at all times profeſſed my abhorrence of committees and aſſociations. Sir Roger Moſtyn adviſed me to write to ſome of our principal gentlemen to inform them of the terms on which I undertook to excite the county to petition, ſo that they might decline ſubſcribing to the requiſition, in caſe they diſliked my plan: or if they did ſign it, ſupport me to its full extent. None to whom I wrote appeared at the meeting. Mr. Yonge, one of the friends to whom I wrote, diſliked the petition, and declined ſigning the requiſition. Sir Stephen Glynn, bart. and Philip Lloyd Fletcher, eſq. approved my plan, and promiſed it every ſupport, and to adhere to the very letter of it. Mr. Fletcher alſo [104]ſent my letter along with the requiſition to the gentlemen of his neighborhood, that they might not miſtake the terms on which they were to ſign. I came to the meeting in a full reliance on the faith of my countrymen: but the dean of St. Aſaph, burning after the glory of chairman of a committee, and backed by friends he brought with him, propoſed a committee, and carried his point.

I DID intend to deliver the following ſpeech, but my ſpirits failed me.

BEING totally unuſed to ſpeak in public, I beg leave, in faultering words, to lay before you the motives which induced me to promote this meeting.

THE diſtreſſes of the times are too evident to admit of contradiction. To have recourſe to any legal method of alleviating our ſufferings is extremely natural. The only one which preſents itſelf is, 'by petition to the high court of parliament,' a privilege preſerved to us by the BILL of RIGHTS, and which can never be exerted with more propriety than at preſent, provided reſpect and moderation attend it.

IT is ſaid by an able ſpeaker on the ſide of oppoſition, 'that 300,000l. may be annually ſaved by retrenching the emoluments of offices, and aboliſhing the long train of uſeleſs placemen and penſioners.' As I make no doubt but this gentleman can ſupport his aſſertion, let me obſerve, that the above ſum will, at the rate of five per cent. pay the intereſt of more than ſix millions of money; and of courſe, in the next year, eaſe the all-ſupporting landlord and tenant from a burden equal to that ſum.

THIS alone, in the neceſſitous ſtate of our country (which [105]from the nature of its trade ſuffers more in proportion than others) ought to determine us to make uſe of the propoſed method of relief, leaving it to the wiſdom of parlement ſeverely to ſcrutinize into the nature of our grievances, and to rectify every one which may be diſcovered to exiſt. It is juſt to enquire before we condemn. Let the accuſed, if guilty, ſuffer the penalty of their neglect; if innocent, acquitted with honor. But let the minds of the people be eaſed, by a proper enquiry into the foundation of the national diſcontent.

THAT invaluable compilation the Red-book * furniſhes me with a very ſingular inſtance of a place of little moment, attended with a high ſalary. I cannot but ſmile at ſeeing the repreſentative of one of our firſt cities, and one of the lords commiſſioners of the admiralty, unite with that important charge the poſt of letter-carrier to the court, with the laviſh ſalary of 730l. a year. The duty might perhaps be performed (if any there is) by a leſs reſpectable perſon, for 2s. 6d. a day; and I will not pay a very worthy gentleman ſo bad a compliment, as to ſuppoſe, that his principles will be in the leſt altered by being free from ſuch a degrading office.

MANY ſimilar inſtances may probably be found, all worthy of being lopped off: but let me do the times the juſtice to ſay, that few of them are of recent formation; they are the antient marks of regal ſtate, created in proſperous days. In the progreſs of enquiry, it will be worthy to remark the periods when they ceaſed to be ornaments to the crown, and became the inſtruments of corruption.

[106]THE affair of contracts is beyond my power to ſpeak to. It will be our wiſh that parlement would guard againſt the abuſe of them, and examine whether the princely ſtate in which our contractors live, ariſes from any thing beyond the fair profits of their buſineſs.

IN attending to the report of any party on that ſubject, or any other, we ought to take particular care not to be too credulous. I ſay this becauſe of the alarm that has (I truſt cauſeleſsly) ariſen among us, of a deſign of altering the courts of juſtice in the principality in a manner grievous to the Welch: let us wait with patience till the honorable member has laid open his deſign; and if it is then found to be a grievance, let us reſiſt it with the ſame firmneſs as we did the treaſury warrant. I hereby declare, not only in my own name, but in that of many reſpectable friends, great and ſmall freeholders, that we do not, by ſigning the petition before us, exclude ourſelves from ſeeking legal redreſs from any innovation, which may appear unjuſt and burdenſome, let it come from any quarter whatſoever.

THE body of us petitioners conſiſts of a ſtupendous multitude of perſons, actuated with very different objects. I believe I may ſay with confidence, that there is not an individual in this aſſembly who has not the moſt laudable motives in view, abſtracted from every party ſpirit whatſoever.

THERE are many very worthy and well-meaning gentlemen who think we have choſen an improper ſeaſon for petitioning, amidſt the rage of war. But let it be obſerved, that the ſtrength of government conſiſts in the variety of its reſources, and if we are able to point out a moſt important one, we rather accelerate than impede its motion. In the peaceable times to refuſe ſupplies [107]would be a proper inſult to an obſtinate miniſter; but NOW! in the moment of RETURNING VICTORY *! it would be a meaſure fraught with certain danger and poſſible parricide.

I AM not of conſequence enough to trouble you with profeſſions, eſpecially as I have no other object than to add my mite to ſerve my country; I ſhall only detain you, while I acquaint you with the ſteps I took after I had formed the reſolution of exciting the county to aſſemble on this occaſion. I drew up the requiſition to the ſheriff: I ſent it, accompanied with a letter, experſſive of my ſentiments, to the three worthy gentlemen before mentioned. That I did not ſend it to more, was for want of time, not of reſpect. From my letter, and from the ſubſtance of a petition I ſent with it, they might judge of the utmoſt limits of my intentions, that in caſe they diſapproved of my deſign, they might decline ſubſcribing to my requiſition. It was returned to me, ſigned by an ample number, to whom I beg leave to return thanks for the compliment they were pleaſed to pay me.

I objected in that letter, and I do now in the ſtrongeſt manner object, to all party-aſſociations, and for myſelf decline the honors of committee-man.

THE former may end in combinations injurious to our peace, and perhaps fatal at the laſt to thoſe who embark in them. We MUST not ſend our repreſentative to the houſe with our prayer in one hand, and a dagger in the other. We MUST not attempt to intimidate the houſe from freedom of debate, at the time we are ſtriving to wreſt from men of power the peſtilential baits [108]of corruption: we MUST not wound when we wiſh to amend the diſeaſes of our conſtitution: we MUST be conſiſtent with ourſelves. The parlement will ſuffer a civil death in leſs than a twelvemonth; it will be the fault of the people if they chuſe another compoſed of members with whom they are at preſent ſo diſcontented. They will, when that period arrives, have an opportunity of legally rejecting thoſe candidates whom they diſapprove, and ſelecting thoſe only worthy of their confidence.

MY mention of petitioning with a dagger in one hand gave great offence; but I thought myſelf vindicated by the indecent language of ſome of the petitioners, of which the following is a ſpecimen.

SUCH were the people who agreed to the petition on which I now lean. Oeconomy in the expenditure of the public money is all they aſk. Will any man vote for rejecting ſo modeſt, ſo reaſonable a requeſt? I hope not. Will any man vote that this petition be not brought up? No man, I truſt, will dare do it. The miniſter will not dare do it, becauſe he knows he ought not to dare it. But there is another thing alſo which he ought not to dare; and that is, to attempt to defeat the object of it. If the miniſter is ſo inclined, with the turn of his finger he may deſtroy it: but let him beware how he directs his influence againſt it. Let me adviſe him to beware how he inſtitutes an enquiry into the merits of the petition: it ſpeaks for itſelf; and the petitioners will look upon ſuch an enquiry as a mockery, as a parlementary or miniſterial trick to put an indirect negative upon their petition. When they met to draw it up they were unarmed; they had [109]neither muſkets nor ſtaves; but if you mock them, they will — I'll leave blanks for the ſagacity of the houſe to fill up.

LORD Ongly reprobated the idea of threats, notwithſtanding he was a petitioner, and voted in this inſtance with the minority.

LORD Ongly reprobated, in ſevere terms, the connection that ſubſiſted between the petition and county aſſociations. Threats had been hinted, and more than hinted, if the prayer of this and of other ſimilar petitions ſhould be rejected. This alone, in his lordſhip's opinion, was ſufficient to damn the petition. It puts me in mind, ſaid he, of the man who went about robbing, under pretence of ſelling rabbits. He held out the rabbits in one hand, and a piſtol in the other, and very civilly aſked thoſe he chanced to meet, whether they choſe to buy any rabbits. Such is the conduct of the petitioners in the different counties; a conduct, which, if it is not checked in the bud, may be productive of the moſt fatal conſequences to the liberty and happineſs of this country.

THE clamor continued. I was attacked in the papers, and I put an end to the war by the following anſwer.

MR. MONK,

PERMIT me, through your paper, to thank the gentleman-like freeholder of the county of Flint, for his explanation of the myſterious word Aſſociations. I ſo fully approve the end which he intends, that (provided he would ſecure them from [110]proceeding any farther) I do declare, that had I not ſeen the name of our repreſentative in the glorious liſt of the lamented minority of 186, I would, at the next general election, have voted, but not aſſociated, againſt him. Now! let the gloomy idea of the word, and the air-drawn dagger, vaniſh. But I muſt remain maſter of myſelf. Neither KING nor People ſhall have the ſole keeping of my political conſcience. Free was I born; free have I lived; and free, I truſt, will die

THOMAS PENNANT.
[]

APPENDIX, No 7.

A LETTER TO A MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT, ON MAIL-COACHES.

FACIT INDIGNATIO!

By THOMAS PENNANT, Eſq.

1792.

A LETTER, &c.

[113]
DEAR SIR,

I AM much obliged to you for your favor of the 5th inſtant. I pay ſuch deference to your opinion, that I entirely lay aſide all thoughts of troubling your honorable houſe with the affair of repealing the act of exemption of mail-coaches from the payment of tolls. I would avoid every adventure which does not promiſe ſucceſs, and ſhould be much mortified to be unhorſed and laid ſprawling on the arena of St. Stephen's.

YET I ſhall be extremely ſorry that any member of your houſe ſhould, through any quickneſs of miſapprehenſion, wilful or natural, imagine me to be ſo wild as to think of an attempt that was not founded on reaſonable and honeſt principles.

I AM ſenſible that the exemption of the mails from the payment of tolls commenced very early: I think, firſt by an act of William and Mary, which was afterwards repeated in ſeveral others, till it was oppreſſively confirmed by that of the 25th Geo. III.

THE moſt ſecond-ſighted of your houſe could never have foreſeen that the uſage of the ſingle horſe and poſt-boy, afterwards in many parts converted into the light mail-cart drawn by one horſe, would be ſuperſeded by a royal carriage drawn by four horſes, and filled by paſſengers, who before rode in the common ſtages, and contributed to ſupport the roads which they paſſed over. This unfortunate change proceeded [114]from an extent of prerogative, repined at only when perverted to the injury of the ſubject; as this moſt inconteſtably muſt be allowed to have done.

UNDER the ſanction of the firſt act, turnpike gates were erected, and immenſe ſums of money lent on the national faith. For a long time the ſecurity was eſteemed good; and in Wales, where five per cent. was given, people at firſt were happy to place their money on mortgages they imagined ſo ſafe. The transfer was then eaſy, and the public reſted perfectly content. The commiſſioners did their duty fully: they laid out the money to the beſt advantage; nor did they deſiſt till the lowering of the tolls, by the fatal change of the mode of conveyance, had taken place.

I WILL exemplify the hardſhips only in the country I live. Other places equally remote from the capital muſt come in for their ſhare of the grievance: but they will fall under the common deſcription.

BEFORE the inſtitution of mail-coaches, two ſtage-coaches ran through the county of Flint. And, were it not for an evaſion, the change of horſes between gate and gate in the Moſtyn diſtrict, one of the diſtricts principally aggrieved, each would have paid forty pounds a year. This unhappily was left unguarded in the act. By the help of that evaſion both together only paid that ſum: and even that ſum, had we not been deprived of it, would have enabled us to take up 800l. more; and given us the power of repairing every part of the road which was not unexceptionably good.

MANY parts may have been allowed to have been indifferent; but they were adequate to the uſes of the country, not only for [115]the uſe of the farmers and the carriers, but alſo for the luxury of carriages.

IN this ſtate they were found at the introduction of mailcoaches. Theſe ſoon occaſioned the ſuppreſſion of the common ſtages, and deprived us at once of forty pounds of annual income. In the year 1789, a perſon was ſent from the general poſt-office to ſurvey the roads. From his report, and by the orders of the poſt-office, indictments were preferred at the great ſeſſions at Mold, againſt the whole extent of road in the narrow but long county of Flint. In ſome inſtances, I fear the grand jury made a ſtrain of their conſciences in finding the bills; for ſome of the indicted places were in moſt admirable repair. But we were unwilling to obſtruct any thing that tended to promote the public good.

FINES to the amount of 1200 l. were impoſed on the ſeveral townſhips, many of which were very ſmall, and the inhabitants compoſed of ſmall farmers, and laborers, poor and diſtreſſed to the higheſt degree.

Two of theſe townſhips had a great extent of road, and only a few labourers, and a few miſerable teams, to perform their ſtatute duty. One of theſe townſhips, terrified with the proſpect of ruin, by the execution of the ſummum jus, performed twenty-two days duty upon the road. The other townſhip had only a ſingle farmer living in it, who performed a duty of twenty-eight days.

THE vaſt expences which the commiſſioners had been at in the repairs of the roads, had almoſt exhauſted the credit, in ſome totally; ſo that at preſent 50 l. cannot be obtained for 400l. worth of our parchment ſecurities.

[116]AT this period I was moved with compaſſion at the complaint and diſtreſſes of the poor. This induced me to write my circular letter to the ſeveral grand juries of England and Wales, in order to induce them to unite in a common cauſe. I bluſh at my want of ſucceſs, reſulting from either ignorance of, or indifference to, the firſt principles of ſecurity of property. I was ſimple enough to think that the juſtice of the cauſe would have inſured an approbation of my plan. Inſtead of that, I am told, that in ſome places it was even treated with rudeneſs and contempt. I ventured even to write to two gentlemen with whom I was not perſonally acquainted: they never paid the leſt attention to my letter: they forgot my character, and they forgot their own.

I TOOK the liberty of getting my circular letter conveyed to a third gentleman high in office, with whom I was acquainted. It was returned with (written on a corner of it) "Mr. Pennant is in the wrong, and I will have no concern in the affair." The gentleman may be politically right; but I am confident that Mr. Pennant is not morally wrong.

THERE has certainly been a ſtrong miſapprehenſion of my meaning. I did not intend the abolition of mail-coaches: they have their objections; whether we conſider the barbarity with which the poor horſes are treated, or the very frequent deſtruction of the paſſengers—our old Jehus may have ſlain their thouſands; our modern, their tens of thouſands. I only wiſhed that they might not prove oppreſſive to many of our counties, by cauſes I have before mentioned. True it is, that, in my firſt circular letter, I did moſt raſhly and unadviſedly hint, that they might, without injury, be converted into the mail-cart. [117]The gentlemen of Somerſetſhire, who, I muſt confeſs, did admit that ſomething ſhould be done for us, very juſtly fired on the idea of ſending their Theſpis again into his cart. A worthy friend of mine of that county warmly but kindly expoſtulated with me on the ſubject: but I hope this my declaration of repentance will be admitted, and atone for my error.

THE grand juries of Cheſhire, Berkſhire, Monmouthſhire, and thoſe of North Wales, united in the ſupport of my deſign. The reſt of the counties proved to me the truth of the remark of Swift, ‘That he never knew any perſon who did not bear the misfortunes of another perfectly like a Chriſtian!’

FAR the majority of the roads in England have great revenues, ariſing from the multitude of ſtage-coaches that keep their ground in defiance of mails. Our ſtages the obliged to deſiſt from travelling, and give the former a moſt unjuſt and oppreſſive monopoly. The counties intereſted in them feel not our unhappineſs, and want generoſity to contribute to the alleviation of the diſtreſſes we ſuffer.

WE ſhould have made a claim on the juſtice of the houſe, had we had the moſt diſtant proſpect of ſucceſs. We are now in the caſe of creditors defrauded by the ſuperior cunning of an artful debtor. Had an individual received an adequate mortgage on his eſtate, and had afterwards the dexterity to leſſen the income, what name would he have deſerved? The higheſt term of reproach; but ſuch a one that could never be applied the moſt remotely to any member of your honorable houſe.

THIS affair has never yet been ſeriouſly conſidered. Good men, I truſt, will now awake as from a ſleep; and ſtand amazed and confuſed at the ſad deluſion they diſcovered that they had labored under. Favourite ſyſtems run away with mankind, [118]and totally annihilate all attention to the inconveniences they occaſion. The act was obtained late in the ſeſſions, hurried through a very thin houſe, and with the ſlighteſt oppoſition. The legiſlature obliges a certain time of notice to be given before the introduction of a common turnpike bill. Let me aſk. Should not at leſt the interval of a ſeſſion have been given for the diſcuſſion of ſo ſtrange and unequal a taxation?

WHAT, may I aſk, could make the individual liable to cenſure; and the actions of the collective body be paſſed over without blame? Either the numbers defend, or ſome daemon, like the ghoſtly father of Charles I. has whiſpered in your ears, Have a double conſcience! one that is to make you conſult the plain dictates of honeſty: the other telling you to ſupport ſome fancied public good, at the expence of a certain number of perſons, who, in times not very remote, had truſted their money to the ſecurity of the public faith.

OR may you not hold the ſame doctrine as the nuns in Triſtram Shandy; that the diviſibility of ſin may enable you to fritter it away into almoſt nothing?—You certainly have the advantage, The nuns were but two, you are five hundred and fifty-two to bear the feather-weight of the wrong deciſion, you had moſt unwarily been induced to make.

LET me now aſk, Are there no inſtances of repeal of acts on far leſs important occaſions? I well recollect two. The firſt is the Jew Act, which had in fact no conſequences to be feared, religious or political. The other was the cyder tax, eſteemed like ours a partial grievance; and yet its overthrow was eaſily effected. I reflect on theſe two acts repeated without cauſe, and on our oppreſſions continued in defiance of every principle of juſtice.

[119]SINCE your honorable houſe was determined to weaken our ſecurities, ought it not to have firſt paid off every turnpike mortgage? and then you might have had full liberty of doing what you pleaſed with the income of the gates.

I BEG leave to lay before you a caſe in which your houſe once ſhewed a moſt ſcrupulous attention to the rights of creditors. That was by the repeal of a clauſe in the Kingſland turnpike act. Part of it leads from Shoreditch to Ware, and this part was croſſed by the Newmarket road, and tolls were taken by the commiſſioners of the Ware road, from all travellers to and from that ſeminary of virtue, merely for croſſing the road. On the renewing of the Kingſland turnpike act, the Newmarket people inſiſted that they ſhould paſs free of tolls. A clauſe was inſerted in the new act for that purpoſe, and the croſs-gates were pulled down. The creditors of the Kingſland turnpike petitioned to the houſe of commons for redreſs; they ſucceeded, and the croſs-gates were again erected, and the tolls taken till the whole of the creditors were paid.

NEWMARKET ROAD.

SHOREDITCH TO WARE.

[120]I IMAGINE that there is not a member of the houſe who has not acted as a commiſſioner of the turnpikes. Let me requeſt him to call to mind, whether he has not in that character, or in the character of a magiſtrate, treated with a harſh ſeverity the delinquent who, through poverty, has defrauded the gate of nine-pence. What pleas of conſcience have not the commiſſioners urged for maintaining the intereſts of the gates, and diſcharging their truſt like men of honor? Is there not a Lethean atmoſphere in the chapel of St. Stephen, ſo ſuddenly to efface all memory of tranſactions in the common air of the world? I truſt that there is: otherwiſe the individual who, in one place and in one character, had been ſo ſtrenuous to ſave a poor nine-pence, ſhould in another place, and in another character, vote as a perquiſite to the comptroller-general of the poſt-office, an exemption of the mails from toll, a ſum amounting to not leſs than 90,000l. a year, on which he has a moſt conſiderable poundage, beſides ſome very good pickings from other articles. This I am aſſured of by a worthy member of your houſe. I think his ſalary is but 1500l. per ann. What a monſtrous quantity of ſack is allowed to his halfpennyworth of bread!

So liberally ſupplied as the comptroller has been with the means, cannot ſomething be deducted to relieve our complaint? If the honorable houſe does not chooſe this mode, a ſmall, a very ſmall tax on the paſſengers, and on the immenſe ſums got by the carriage of parcels, would compenſate for the loſs of exemption of tolls. The rich Engliſh diſtricts would be above taking advantage of this diminution of revenue to the comptroller-general. It is only for the poor Welch diſtricts, and a few others like circumſtanced, for which it is humbly aſked.

[121]I HAVE a reſpect for the plan of the mail-coaches, and for the inventor; but I never could think of applying to him as the nizam al muluc, the regulator of the poſting-empire. There ought not to be in our conſtitution ſuch a monſter as a comptroller uncontrollable by his legiſlature, or his ſuperiors in office: legiſlature muſt now ſee its imprudence in permitting a latitude of ſo dangerous a nature. I, an individual, never could bear the thought: I looked for redreſs to the poſt-maſter general, or to the three eſtates of the kingdom.

I FEAR too great a veneration has been paid to this new-created office, and mode of conveying the mail. I always wiſh to pay every individual and every office a due reſpect; but in this caſe I muſt preſerve the independent and uſeful man, and endeavour to correct every abuſe that falls within my ſphere as a provincial magiſtrate. What I am going to ſay may be deemed foreign to a legiſlative friend; yet as it may prove uſeful to many who behold theſe new vehicles with a kind of veneration, I ſhall mention an affair which happened in our county in the laſt autumn. Let me premiſe, that thoſe protectors of the mail, the guards, relying on the name of royalty, had in the courſe of the Iriſh road through North Wales, committed great exceſſes. One, on a trifling quarrel, ſhot dead a poor old gate-keeper: a coroner's jury was huddled up; and, in defiance of the tears of the widow, no judicial notice has been taken of the affair to this very day. In Angleſey, another of theſe guards diſcharged his piſtol wantonly in the face of a chaiſe horſe, drawing his maſter, the Rev. John Bulkely, who was flung out, and died either on the ſpot or ſoon aſter. Theſe guards ſhoot at dogs, hogs, ſheep and poultry, [122]as they paſs the road, and even in towns, to the great terror and danger of the inhabitants. I determined to put a ſtop to theſe exceſſes, and ſoon had an opportunity.

A NEIGHBORING gate-keeper laid before me a complaint, that one of the guards had threatened to blow his brains out; and had actually ſhot a dog that had offended him by his barking. I iſſued out my warrant, had the guard ſeized, and brought before me. He was a man who, for his great beauty and elegant perſon, was called the Prince of Wales. I did not heſitate to play the Judge Gaſcoigne; but from the goodneſs of his appearance, and the propriety of his behaviour, I did not go quite the length that famous magiſtrate did. I took bail for his appearance at our quarter ſeſſions. He appeared before us, when, by the permiſſion of the chairman, I took the lead in ſpeaking. I repreſented to the audience, that the guards were intruſted with arms merely for the protection of the mail and the paſſengers, not for the terror of his Majeſty's ſubjects; that a mail-coach was no ſanctuary; that the bailiff might drag the debtor out of it; the conſtable, the felon; the exciſeman might rummage it for contraband goods, and that with as little ceremony as if it had been a higler's cart. I farther added, had the driver been the offender, as the guard was, he ſhould have been taken into cuſtody, and the poſt-maſter of the diſtrict left to provide another to convey the mail to the next ſtage. The behaviour of the delinquent was ſo becoming his ſituation, that by the leave of the court I diſmiſſed the offender with ſuch a reprimand as became the high ſtation of a Britiſh juſtice of the peace: an office in dignity and conſtitutional utility inferior to none in the land. Young men of the age, early initiate yourſelves into that great character!

[123]I BEG pardon for detaining you ſo long, but ſo much I thought was due to myſelf and to the public. A few papers I have ſubjoined will fling ſome farther light on the ſubject, as well as on my proceedings from the beginning. I remain, with much regard,

DEAR SIR,
Your faithful and affectionate humble ſervant, THOMAS PENNANT.

P. S. Notwithſtanding the lenity ſhewn to the mail guard, the drivers of the coaches continue their inſolencies. It has been a common practice with them to divert themſelves with flinging out their laſhes at harmleſs paſſengers by way of ſun. Very lately one of theſe wretches ſucceeded ſo well as to twiſt his laſh round a poor fellow's neck in the pariſh I live. He dragged the man under the wheels, by which one of his arms was broken. If ample ſatisfaction is not made, an action ſhall be commenced againſt the proprietors of the coach, who are certainly anſwerable for the miſconduct of their people.

LETTER to Thomas Williams,Eſq.. of Llanidan, Member for the Borough of Marlow.

[124]
DEAR SIR,

I AM much indebted to you for your late favor, with an official letter incloſed. I have no kind of doubt but that the comptroller general will, on cool re-conſideration of his deſign of altering the courſe of the Iriſh mail, be induced to lay it totally aſide. He will admit the importance of the county of Cheſter in its ancient ſtaple of the cheeſe, on which our fleets and armies ſo greatly depend. The city itſelf (if I may judge by the frequent advertiſements) is about to enter deeply on the fuſtian manufacture. The great remittances of taxes from the county, and from great part of North Wales, and the remittances to and from Ireland, and thoſe occaſioned by the great biennial linen fairs, muſt be flung into the ſcale.

THE port of Park-Gate has of late years riſen into much conſequence. It at preſent maintains four ſtout pacquets, which uninterruptedly ply between that port and Dublin. The correſpondencies of the numbers of paſſengers embarking or diſembarking, and the great remittances through this channel, are of no ſmall moment, and of great general concern.

THE county of Flint (little as it is of itſelf), thanks to you and other companies, ſettling among us, is now riſing into an amazing ſtate of opulence: few perhaps can rival it. Our ancient [125]cient lead trade was always conſiderable; but by the introduction of the copper and cotton buſineſs, Holywell, its environs, and their dependencies, may boaſt of commercial property, probably to the amount of a million ſterling.

I HAVE always conſidered Mr. Palmer's plan as uſeful to his country, and an honor to himſelf, except in one article. I can never ſuppoſe that he will perſiſt in deviating from the utility of his ſcheme, by diverting the mail from ſuch a country as I have deſcribed. Shrewſbury has already its mail; after Oſweſtry is paſt, the greateſt part of the road to Conwy is mountainous, poor, and half depopulated.

IT gives me concern to find our intereſts claſh with thoſe of the county of Salop. I muſt allow the excellency of the great ſtaples of its capital, brawn and rich cakes; but ſtill we have the balance in our favor; for on the moſt exact and impartial calculation, I do not find that at preſent the annual conſumption (of both together) can poſſibly exceed the ſum of 152,341l. 16s. 9¾d.

THE exceptionable article I allude to is the exemption of the mail-coaches from tolls. This falls heavy on the leſſer diſtricts: poſſibly we might have endured even that, had we not been inſulted with indictments, and compelled to repairs beyond the real wants of the country. That is now over; we only wiſh the reſtoration of our loſt tolls, to enable us to ſupport the roads in the preſent ſtate, and to take away all future grounds of complaint from every quarter. This will induce me to perſiſt in my deſign of applying to parlement for redreſs of the grievance that affects the gates from Cheſter to Conwy, let the rich Engliſh diſtricts take what ſhare they pleaſe in their own concerns. There is one difficulty in Flintſhire in reſpect to the road itſelf—I mean [126] Rhiallt Hill; the alteration is beyond the power of the poor pariſh it lies in, and beyond the power of the poor Moſtyn diſtrict to effect. Poſſibly the improvement may coſt from 300l. to 400l. a ſum adequate to the eſtimate has been raiſed by the voluntary ſubſcription of the neighboring gentlemen: and the placo moſtly complained of, has been moſt nobly improved, at the expence of 221l. 18s. 3d. I wiſh a ſmall ſum might be got from parlement, for that and the relief of a few other poor townſhips. I cannot bear to drive over roads ſmoothed by the bread of the poor peaſantry. If the mail will be permanent, I will cheerfully ſubſcribe fifty guineas towards that improvement. I ſhall conclude with ſaying, that a ſmall addition to the fare of paſſengers between Cheſter and Conwy, will indemnify the coach from the loſs by toll. Let Mr. Palmer, who cannot but be fertile in expedients, conſider of the matter. My earneſt wiſh is to have harmony reſtored, and the ſtrongeſt mutual efforts made for the general good.

I am, DEAR SIR, Your moſt obedient humble ſervant, THOMAS PENNANT.

A LETTER to the worſhipful Peter Broſter, Eſq. Mayor of Cheſter.

[127]
SIR,

ON Thurſday two letters were laid by Mr. Smalley before the commiſſioners of the Flint, Holywell, and Moſtyn diſtricts, ſigned D. Smith, and G. Boulton; in which our attention was requeſted to the repair of the roads which lay in our county in the courſe of the mail. It falls to my lot to deſire you to communicate to your reſpectable corporation, what the commiſſioners have done, and what they intend to do of their own proper motions, not from the fear of any of the very unbecoming menaces ſent forth.

ON the road from Holywell to the extremity of the diſtrict (which is called the Flint), has been laid out, within two years, 953l. in the ſpace of five miles: great part of which, long before the indictments, was in moſt admirable repair.

THE Moſtyn diſtrict begins at the weſtern end of the Flint: much of it is in very good order: part is very indifferent, owing to the impoveriſhed ſtate of the Moſtyn diſtrict, and to the inability of the poor inhabitants of the townſhip in which Rhiallt-hill lies, to repair that part, which is bad by nature. I propoſe a ſubſcription: you ſee my offer in the incloſed. We look up to the city of Cheſter, as both are engaged in a common cauſe.

THE Holywell diſtrict is, excepting near Halkin, in excellent [128]repair. The part complained of will be attended to at the next meeting at Holywell, at eleven o'clock on Wedneſday the 8th of February. We ſhall be happy to ſee any gentlemen on the part of your city.

EXCUSE me if I remind the city of Cheſter, the county, and alſo the county of Flint, that our importance is ſuch, that our demand of a mail is a matter of right; not a petition for favor. How ſuperior is the juſtice of our claim to that of Salop, which had long ſince its independent mail!

IN reſpect to my particular actings, I never will perſiſt in any thing that is wrong; nor deſiſt from any thing that is right. Our clame for aboliſhing the exemption from tolls is founded on common honeſty. My ſeizing on the guard was the act of an attentive magiſtrate, to prevent future murders. Two, if not three, had been committed: one near Conwy; another in Angleſey: beſides the terror ſpread along the whole road by the wanton conduct of the profligate guards. I brought the affair before our quarter-ſeſſion; more to ſet it in the true light than to puniſh the offender. I was aſperſed in your city; but the examination wiped away the dirty paragraph.

I am, SIR, Your moſt obedient humble ſervant, THOMAS PENNANT.
To the worſhipful the Mayor of Cheſter.

To the Printer of the SHREWSBURY CHRONICLE.

[129]
SIR,

I REQUEST you to lay before the public the following advertiſement, addreſſed by the commiſſioners of the Moſtyn turnpike diſtrict, in order to avert in future the hardſhips ſeveral of the townſhips of the county of Flint labor under in the repairs of the roads. The advertiſement itſelf relates to the greater part of the grievances. It was ſent to the paper too late to inform the Engliſh circuits, but has been approved by the grand juries of Cheſhire, Denbighſhire, and Flintſhire, at the Spring aſſizes, and by that of Berkſhire and Monmouthſhire, being the Autumn aſſizes. Let me here inform you, that, by indictments from the General Poſt-Office, fines to the amount of 1200l. have been laid on the ſeveral townſhips lying in the courſe of the poſt-roads in the little county of Flint, many of which are very ſmall, and labour under the greateſt poverty. One in particular has a vaſt extent of road to repair, and only a few labourers, and four miſerable teams to perform their ſtatute labor. Under thoſe circumſtances, terrified with the proſpect of ruin, they performed twenty-two days ſtatute duty. The French corvées, now ſo reaſonably aboliſhed, were introduced on Britiſh ground, yet in vain; for a fine of 82l. 10s. was impoſed on the poor people. So little intereſted were they, and [130]numbers of others of the Welſh townſhips, in the paſſage of the mail-coach, that poſſibly they do not receive a letter in a year; yet theſe townſhips muſt ſuffer equally with the moſt opulent and commercial towns. Many of the roads were unexceptionably repaired; the reſt were in ſufficient repair for the uſes of the farmer, for the uſes of the gentlemen's carriages, and for the uſes of the mail, before the late unguarded innovations. We are, like the Iſraelites, required to make brick without ſtraw. The means of repair are taken from us, and we are fined for not performing impoſſibilities. A poſt-road is a national concern; that to a neighboring kingdom doubly ſo: and certainly that conſideration ſhould induce legiſlature to afford an aid in ſuch caſes in which it is found neceſſary; and if a road muſt be finiſhed with finical perfection, the expence ought never to fall on thoſe who are totally unintereſted in it. Juſtice can never require that the poor ſhould keep pace with the innovations made for the benefit of commerce or luxury. Much of the road-laws calls loudly for a reform: in all laws there ſhould be a point of limitation. The attention of the grand juries is requeſted at the enſuing aſſizes. It is hoped that they will direct their repreſentatives to make the mail-coaches liable to tolls. We mean no injury to Mr. Palmer: let him, before the meeting of parlement, ſuggeſt any remedy for the evil, and we ſhall reſt content. They will certainly do away the great parlementary opprobrium of the act paſſed by their predeceſſors; which leſſens a ſecurity granted on the faith of parlement. And much more may be ſaid on this ſubject; but the detail is reſerved for another occaſion; you may be again [131]troubled with my complaints, as well as ſome account of a townſhip grievance, brought on it by thoſe whoſe peculiar office it was to have guarded againſt the deceptions which impoſed on their judgment, and brought on a moſt erroneous and diſgraceful adjudication.

I am, Sir, Your moſt obedient humble ſervant, THOMAS PENNANT
[132]

GENERAL TURNPIKE CONCERN.

1. AT a meeting of the truſtees of the Moſtyn turnpike, held at the houſe of Joſeph Roberts, at the Blue Bell, on Saturday, July 30, 1791, the ſtate of the roads was taken into conſideration:

2. WHEN it appeared, that parts of the coal-road were greatly out of repair; the trade in which was the original foundation of this turnpike.

3. THAT the preſent annual tolls are very inadequate to remedy the evil.

4. THAT the failure of the tolls does not ariſe from any decay of trade in the country, but from the exemption granted by parliament, by the 25th Geo. III. c. 57, to the mail-coaches from the payment of any tolls.

5. THAT, by ſuch exemption, the common ſtage-coaches have been obliged to deſiſt from travelling, by reaſon of the burthen they are ſingly to ſuſtain, and which the mail-coaches are freed from, and now in many places monopolize the buſineſs.

6. THAT the Moſtyn diſtrict alone ſuffers a loſs of 40l. a year, which is the intereſt of 800l. the loſs of which prevents the truſtees from the repairing of road equal to the expenditure of ſuch a ſum.

7. THAT the clauſe of exemption in favor of the mail-coaches [133]is highly detrimental to the credit of the tolls, and the fecurity of the lenders, who had lent their money under the pledge of parliamentary faith.

8. ORDERED, That the expediency of petitioning parliament on this ſubject be farther taken into conſideration, and that theſe reſolutions be publiſhed in the next Cheſter paper, as they are public concerns; every poſt-road, and its ſeveral creditors, being intereſted therein.

9. THAT the ſum of ten guineas be paid into the hands of the ſolicitor, towards the expences of the propoſed bill, for repealing the exemption of tolls of the mail-coaches, and for ſubjecting them to tolls, in caſe ſuch bill be brought into parliament: and that the commiſſioners of the ſeveral turnpike diſtricts in Great Britain be invited to correſpond, by their treaſurers, on the ſubject, with Samuel Small, treaſurer of the Flint and Holywell diſtricts, and John Lloyd, aſſiſtant treaſurer of that of Moſtyn.

10. THAT the thanks of the commiſſioners be given to the foremen and grand juries of the counties of Cheſhire, Denbighſhire, and Flintſhire, for their liberal concurrence with the reſolutions of the commiſſioners of the Moſtyn diſtrict.

11. THAT it is requeſted of the gentlemen of this county to attend at Mold, on Saturday the 9th of April, to give a ſanction to this propoſal, and to prepare one or more petitions, or to give neceſſary inſtruction to the repreſentatives of the county and borough, &c. as may then be thought proper.

12. AND, in order to give force to this reaſonable clame [134]on parliament, it is recommended to the gentlemen of neighboring counties, who may attend the duty of their country on the enſuing grand juries, to take the above into conſideration, and add their weight to the common cauſe.

Signed, by order of the commiſſioners, JOHN LLOYD, Aſſiſtant Clerk and Treaſurer.

APPENDIX, No 8;
MY LAST AND BEST WORK.

[135]

THE dangerous deſigns of the French at this time became ſo evident as to induce ſome of my neighbors to call on me, and requeſt that I would take the lead, and form an aſſociation for the defence of our religion, conſtitution, and property, after the example of ſome of the Engliſh counties, cities, and towns; my zeal readily prompted me to comply with their requeſt, and I drew up a requiſition for a meeting in the following plain terms.

REQUISITION.
To the INHABITANTS and LAND-OWNERS of the Pariſhes of Holywell and Whitford, in the County of Flint.

WE, whoſe names are underwritten, do earneſtly requeſt you to meet us, on Thurſday the 20th inſtant, at the Antelope, in Holywell, at the hour of Twelve, then and there to declare, and ſubſcribe, our abhorrence of the treaſonable and ſeditious practices of a few diſaffected perſons, which are, to the beſt of their power, helping the French to ruin our trade and [136]manufactures, to deſtroy our religion, our laws, and our king, to leave the poor without any one able to give them bread, or to protect them from wrongs from great or ſmall, and laſtly, to bring confuſion and deſtruction upon this now happy, and flouriſhing, kingdom.

I bawb ſy'n caru Cymru *

  • JOHN WHITTAKER
  • JAMES SHELDON
  • JOHN ELLIS SUTTON
  • BELL GRAHME
  • REV. PHILIP JONES
  • WILLIAM CHAMBERS, grocer
  • JAMES POTTS, publican
  • JOHN LLOYD, farmer
  • JOSEPH ROBERTS, publican
  • SAMUEL WILLIAMSON
  • THOMAS PENNANT
  • J. ELLIS MOSTYN
  • JOHN LLOYD, clerk
  • THO. EDWARDS, Saeth aclwyd
  • CHRISTOPHER SMALLEY
  • ROBERT HUGHES
  • EDWARD HUGHES
  • WM. BRAMWELL, maltſter
  • D. DONBAVAND, Greenfield.

This ADVERTISEMENT produced the following ASSOCIATION.

[137]
At a MEETING of the INHABITANTS of the Pariſhes of
  • Holywell,
  • Whitford,
  • Northop,
  • Flint,
  • Halkin,
  • Kilken,
  • Skeiviog,
  • Nannerch,
  • Caerwys,
  • Newmarket,
  • Llanhaſa,
  • Saint Aſaph,
  • Rhuddlan,
  • Meliden,
  • Diſerth,
  • Cwm,

IN THE COUNTY OF FLINT, Held at the Antelope, in the Town of Holywell, on Thurſday the 20th day of December, 1792;

Reſolved unanimouſly,

THAT it is the opinion of this meeting, that aſſociations of all perſons enjoying the unexampled benefits of the happy and envied conſtitution of Great-Britain, are at this time highly expedient and neceſſary, to aſſiſt in preſerving the eſtabliſhed liberties and growing proſperity of our country.

We do therefore aſſociate ourſelves;—and do profeſs and declare our unalienable attachment to the Conſtitution, our firm and inviolable allegiance to our gracious Sovereign, under whoſe mild and beneficent reign we poſſeſs all the advantages of good [138]government; our obedience to the laws, and our anxious wiſhes for peace and good order in ſociety, which it is our determined reſolution to uſe all our exertions to preſerve; and we do expreſs our abhorrence of every attempt made to deprive us of the invaluable bleſſings we now enjoy.

Thus aſſociated, we feel it our duty to point out, and we requeſt all orders of men in this country to reflect on, the ineſtimable benefits of our excellent conſtitution.

We are governed by known laws, that are juſt and equal, and reſpect not perſons; they alike reſtrain oppreſſion and curb licentiouſneſs: The higheſt (as hath been well obſerved) are within their reach, and the loweſt have their full protection.

All the arts, farming, manufactures, trade, and every employment and labour of man, are encouraged, and flouriſh beyond any thing known in any former period, or in any country; every man poſſeſſes in ſecurity the fruit of his labour. Talents and induſtry are ſure of ſucceſs, and may, as we daily ſee, riſe to wealth and honor.

We enjoy, and have long enjoyed, the perfection of civil liberty in our perſons, our property, and our honeſt opinions: and it is the glory of Britain, that of all the nations of Europe—HERE ONLY ALL MEN ARE FREE.

It is then our duty, and we ſolemnly pledge ourſelves, collectively and individually, to uſe our utmoſt endeavors to preſerve theſe invaluable bleſſings, by a firm and zealous attachment to our King and Conſtitution, a ready and ſtrenuous ſupport of the magiſtracy, and the moſt active and unremitted vigilance to ſuppreſs and prevent all tumult, diſorder, and ſeditious meetings and publications.

[139] Reſolved, That the thanks of this meeting be given to THOMAS PENNANT, Eſq. chairman, for his activity and zeal in promoting this buſineſs, and his ready acceptance of the chair.

Reſolved, That the thanks of this meeting be given to EDWARD JONES, Eſq. of Wepre-hall, for his attention in drawing up the reſolutions of this meeting, above recited.

Reſolved, That a committee be formed of this Aſſociation, conſiſting of the following gentlemen;

  • THOMAS PENNANT, Eſq. Chairman;
  • SIR ROGER MOSTYN, Bart. M. P.
  • SIR EDWARD LLOYD, Bart.
  • WATKIN WILLIAMS, Eſq. M. P.
  • REV. THE DEAN OF ST. ASAPH,
  • ROBERT HUGHES, Eſq.
  • EDW. MORGAN, Eſq.
  • THO. WILLIAMS, Eſq.
  • EDWARD JONES, Eſq.
  • MR. DANIEL DONBAVAND,
  • THO. TOTTY, Eſq.
  • CHRISTOPHER SMALLEY, Eſq.
  • JOHN WHITTAKER, Eſq.
  • JOHN ELLIS MOSTYN, Eſq.
  • SAMUEL SMALL, Eſq.
  • HUGH HUMPHREYS, Eſq.
  • WM. ALLEN, Eſq.
  • REV. JOHN LLOYD, Holywell,
  • REV. PHILIP JONES,
  • THOMAS THOMAS, Eſq.
  • REV. EDW. HUGHES, Greenfield,
  • REV. JOHN POTTER,
  • PAUL PANTON, Eſq.
  • DAVID PENNANT, Eſq.
  • REV. JOHN LLOYD, Caerwys.
  • MR. FRANCIS SMEDLEY,
  • REV. THO. HUGHES, Bagillt,
  • MR. SAMUEL DAVIES, grocer
  • MR. THOMAS THORESBY,
  • MR. SAMUEL WILLIAMSON,
  • JOHN DOUGLAS, Eſq.
  • JOHN LLOYD, Gent.
  • JOHN ELLIS SUTTON, Gent.
  • REV. HENRY PARRY,
  • MR. WILLIAM CHAMBERS,
  • MR. THOMAS SIMON,
  • MR. BELL GRAHME,
  • REV. JOS. TYRER.

Reſolved, That JOHN ELLIS SUTTON be appointed ſecretary to this committee.

[140] Reſolved, That ten of the perſons above mentioned may form a committee.

Reſolved, That a committee be held on every Saturday, till it is forbidden; and that the firſt be held on Saturday the 5th of January, at the hour of eleven, at the Antelope, in Holywell.

Reſolved, That the clergy of the ſeveral aſſociated pariſhes be requeſted to return the books to the ſecretary, on or before January the 5th, being the firſt committee.

Reſolved, That any other pariſh in Flintſhire, which may happen to aſſociate, be requeſted to tranſmit to the ſecretary notice of ſuch aſſociation, that, if needful, they may hereafter correſpond together.

Reſolved, That the proceedings of this day be publiſhed in Adams's Weekly Courant; and that EDMUND MONK be printer to this aſſociation.

THOMAS PENNANT, Chairman.

A BOOK for receiving the ſignatures of the ſeveral pariſhes, was ſent to each, with the above reſolutions, tranſlated into Welſh, prefixed, and alſo a copy of Mr. Juſtice Aſhurſt's ſpeech given in the ſame language, for the benefit of thoſe who did not underſtand Engliſh; and theſe books were ſigned by an incredible number of people.

COUNTY BOUNTIES FOR SEAMEN.
FLINTSHIRE.

[141]

WE, whoſe names are underwritten, members of the committee of the ſixteen aſſociated pariſhes in Flintſhire, this day aſſembled, do hereby offer two guineas (over and above all other bounties) to each of the firſt twenty Able Seamen, natives of Flintſhire, and one guinea apiece to each of the firſt twenty Ordinary Seamen, or Landmen, natives of the ſame county, who are willing to enter into his majeſty's ſervice, to defend their religion, their king, their wives, children, or friends, from a moſt wicked and barbarous enemy.

ANY brave fellow, ſo inclined, is deſired to apply to Mr. John Ellis Sutton, ſecretary of the committee, at Holywell, who [142]will inform him of other particulars, and give him a recommendation to his majeſty's regulating captain at Liverpool.

THIS to continue in force for three months.

  • ROGER MOSTYN 42£.
  • WILLIAM DAVIES SHIPLEY 21£.
  • WATKIN WILLIAMS 21£.
  • HOPE WYNNE EYTON, for five able ſeamen.
  • LEWIS ST. ASAPH 21£. and more, if required.

ANY public-ſpirited Flintſhire men, willing to encourage this undertaking in the ſmalleſt degree, are requeſted to ſend in their names to the chairman, as ſubſcribers to one or more Able Seamen, or Ordinary Seamen, as may ſuit their inclination or conveniency.

THIS was the firſt county-bounty which had been offered. The example was inſtantly followed in Cheſter, and four places in North Wales. The committee of the ſixteen pariſhes were immediately honored with the unſolicited thanks of the Lords of the Admiralty.

THE inſtances of the public ſpirit of the Ladies of Flintſhire muſt not be paſſed over in ſilence.

[143]

To the EDITOR of ADAMS'S COURANT.

SIR,

YOU will be pleaſed to inſert in your next paper the following letter, worthy of a CHARLOTTE DE LA TREMOUILLE * It is not only a tribute due to the lady's public ſpirit, but may prove an incentive to others to follow an example worthy of the imitation of every good man.

*
Counteſs of Derby, in the reign of Charles I.

To the Chairman of the Committee of the Sixteen aſſociated Pariſhes in FLINTSHIRE.

DEAR SIR,

I feel ſo much pleaſed with the ſpirited exertions of yourſelf and the other Flintſhire gentlemen, expreſſed in the advertiſement in Monk's laſt paper, that I muſt beg you to accept of the incloſed, to be applied to the ſame purpoſe; and, as it is a duty that every individual owes to that conſtitution that has protected their life and property, to do their utmoſt to ſupport it at this awful period, if you want my further aſſiſtance, you may command the ſame ſum whenever you chuſe to call for it.

I am, dear Sir, Your affectionate kinſwoman, MARY PULESTON.

[144] At a Meeting of the COMMITTEE of the HOLYWELL ASSOCIATION, Held 16th February 1793, at the Antelope, in Holywell, IT WAS ORDERED, THAT public thanks be given to Mrs. PULESTON, for her above ſpirited donation; and that her letter be printed in Adams's next Courant.

T. PENNANT, Chairman.
Other Contributors ſince February 6th.
  • Mrs. PULESTON of Gwyſaney 10£. 10s. 0d.
  • And an offer of the like ſum, if required.
  • Mrs. EVANS, Holywell 2£. 2s. 0d.
  • Mr. Lewis Hughes St. Aſaph 3£. 3s. 0d.
  • Mr. John Davies of Gop 1£. 1s. 0d.
  • The Rev. Edward Hughes of Kinmael 10£. 10s. 0d.
  • Thomas S. Chamneys,Eſq. and more, if required. 10£. 10s. 0d.
FINIS.
Notes
*
See Memoirs of his Life, &c. p. 294, ſecond edition.
*
Vide Ramuſios Coll. Voyages, Venice 1550; alſo the letter of Maximilian Tranſylvanus, Sec. to Charles V. and in the 1ſt vol. p. 376. A. and B.
This account (as well as the others where I do not quote my authority) are taken from that judicious writer M. de Broſſe.
*
Purchas, i. 58.
Purchas, i. 1232.
Col. Voy. by the Dutch Eaſt India company, &c. London 1703. p. 319.
*
Purchas, i. 80
Ibid. i. 91.
Seventeen years travels of Peter de Cieza, 138.
§
Tranſlated by Ricaut, p. 263.
*
Frezier's Voy. 84.
Sir John Narborough, in 1670; Bartholomew Sharp, in 1680; De Gennes, in 1696; and Beaucheſne Gouin, in 1699.
This able officer commanded the Diſcovery in captain Cook's laſt voyage, and died off Kamtſchatka, Auguſt 22, 1779.
*
Phil. Tranſ. 1770, p. 21. Hawkeſworth's Voy. i. 374.
*
See Mr. Byron's letter at the end.
*
The Puelches have no ſheep but what they purchaſe from the Voluches, who inhabit the Andes, cultivate ſheep, and raiſe corn; the wool is equally fine with that of Old Spain.
M. Premontal roundly aſſerts that they have no beards.
*
Garcilaſſe de la Vega, 377, Engl. tranſlation.
Peſos in the original; perhaps Peſos duros, which makes the above ſum.
M. de Premontal is clear they have no ſort of religion.
*
The pretenders to ſecond ſight, in the Hebrides, and the Awenyddion, or the Inſpired, among the Welch, are ſeized with the ſame extaſies.
*
This account agrees with thoſe given by Lafitau in moſt particulars; vide Moeurs des Sauvages, xi. 438.
*
M. de Premontal will compare Patagonia to the ſpace between the Rivicre des Sardines and the ſtreights of Magellan.
*
Frezier's Voyage, page 86.
*
Abridged, and part of the clauſe omitted, in Mr. Rufſhead's edition. See vol. xiii. 181.
*
Monteſquieu.
*
By the by, an omiſſion in the Digeſt.
*
A fimilar inſtance unhappily may be given in our times, when numbers of the firſt national aſſembly of France have been maſſacred by the very people they labored to free from one of the worſt of governments!
*
Edition 1779, pages 39, 122.
*
Lord Rodney's defeat of the Spaniſh ſleet, January 16th, 1780.
*
To all who love WALES.
Distributed by the University of Oxford under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License

Zitationsvorschlag für dieses Objekt
TextGrid Repository (2020). TEI. 3571 The literary life of the late Thomas Pennant Esq By himself. University of Oxford Text Archive. . https://hdl.handle.net/21.T11991/0000-001A-5CA4-4