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The late Autumn has been the finest remembered for many years past, and the harvest has been every where fecured in fine condition. The products in thrashing have equalled, in all kinds of grain, the high expectations formed of them.

The WHEAT SOWING, which is nearly finished, has been highly favoured by the weather, and the uncommonly fine condition of the ground. The fallows will probably fhew the effects of the high culture received in 1796, for many years to come. It may be added, that the excellent method of dibb ing, now becoming a favourite practice, promifes large additions to our next year's crop WHEAT has fallen in all the markets fince our laft. The average of the kingdom is at this time 61.3. BARLEY, has experienced a confiderable rife in confequence of the diftilleries being again ́ permitted to work,

CATTLE and SHEEP are generally on the advance, particularly the former; the rife in the price of LEAN OF STORE CATTLE is exceffive: in Yorkshire, oxen, which a few years ago fold for 161. to 181. a pair, are now felling for 401. or upwards, to graziers. It is not wonderful, therefore, that in Smithfield the present prices are per stone, for BEEF 25. 10d. to 4s. ; for MUTTON 3s. 6d. to 6d.; for VEAL 45. to 5s. 6d ; and for PORK 4s. 8d. to 5s. 4d. WooL, in confequence of the failure of imports on the Spanish war, has become an object.of brifk fpeculation. In the midland counties the prices are from 19s. to 225. per tod.

The market for hops is dull, in confequence of the rife in barley.

The apple trees having generally failed, rich mellow cYDER has doubled its prices, and is now in the cyder districts, as high as three guineas.

A METEOROLOGICAL JOURNAL, for AUGUST, 1796, at Southgate, Middlesex.

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To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine.

SIR,

BEFORE the commencement of the prefent unhappy conteft, a love of literature, and a spirit of useful discovery were every where prevalent. Afcending from individuals to nations, a fortunate rivalry took place among the European governments, and the maritine ftates in particular feemed to be infpired with a laudable defire of furpaffing each other in enterprise and exertion. The voyages of Cooke, Bougainville, Bering, Malef pina, &c. have greatly extended the boundaries of human knowledge. We have been enabled, by their means, to learn the manners of rude and uncultivated tribes, and to ftudy their genius, their habits, and their purfuits. Geography in particular has reaped many diftinguished advantages, and we now form more precife notions relative to the figure, qualities, and productions of the planet we inhabit.

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The Spaniards, feemingly funk into floth during a whole century and a half, were once the moft adventurous nation in Europe. It was under the aufpices of one of their princes, or rather princeffes, that Columbus difcovered the new world; and it is to the talents of their Cortes, Almagros, and Pizarros, that they are, at this prefent moment, indebted for the poffeffions of their immenfe territories in America. The prefent king, from his infancy, was attached to naval affairs; ́and ́it is but justice to observe, that the marine has attained a greater degree of confideration during his reign, than under that of any of his predeceffors.

The voyages of our Cocke excited the curiofity, and even jealoufy, of the neighbouring ftates; and the Spanish court has fitted out feveral veffels for the exprefs purpose of furpaffing the exploits of the English navigator. The fol. MONTHLYMAG, No. X.

lowing particulars of the laft attempt of this kind, which has made but little noife, and has not even been mentioned

by any English journal, cannot fail to procure attention. A magnificent work is at this prefent moment in the Madrid, prefs, containing a full and ample detail of all the tranfactions that occurred during this voyage of difcovery; and, on its publication, we fhall be gratified with an account of the manners and customs of the Babaco ifles, a non-defcript cluster, then vifited for the firft time by Europeans.

The two floops, called the Discovery and the Subtile, the former commanded by Don Alexander Malefpina, and the latter by Don Jofeph de Baftamente, failed, in company, from the port of Ca diz, on the 30th July, 1789, in order to co-operate with the other maritime powers in the extenfion of human know◄ ledge, and more particularly of naviga tion. The commanders of thefe veffels made correct charts of the coafts of Ame..

rica and the adjacent iflands, from the river La Plata to Cape Horne, and from that cape to the farthermoft northern extremities of that part of the world. Their intention in this was merely to repeat the attempts of the fame kind. formerly undertaken either by foreigners or their own countrymen, and thus acquire a more minute knowledge of the subject.

On their arrival at the north-west coast of America, in lat. 59, 60, and 61°, they fearched, in vain, for a paffage by which they might penetrate into the Atlantic ocean; they accordingly concluded that the predictions of Cooke were founded in found reafoning, and that the gut mentioned by Maldonado, an old Spanish navigator, had not any exiftence, except in his own brain.

In the beginning of the year 1792 the Subtile, and a galleot called the Mexacana, under the command of Don 5 E

Dion

Dion Galeano and Don Cais de Valdès, joined the English fquadron, commanded by captain Vancouver, with an intention to examine the immenfe archipelago, known by the name of the admirals Fonte and Juan de Fuca.

They confumed the greater part of the year 1791 in vifiting the Mariannes and Philippines, as alfo Macas on the coaft of China. They afterwards paffed between the ifle Mendano and the ifles called Mountay, fhaping their courfe along the coafts of New Guinea, and crolling the equator. On this occafion they difcovered a gulph of about 500 maritime leagues in extent, which no former navigator had ever traverfed. They then ftopped at New Zealand and New Holland, and difcovered, in the archipelago called the Friendly Ifles, the Babacos, a range of iflands which had never before been seen by any European mariner.

After a variety of other researches in the fouthern ocean, they arrived, in June, 1793, at Callao. From this port they made other occafional expeditions; and each of the veffels feparately examined the Port of Conception, and the rest of the éoaft of America which extends to the fouth-weft, as well as the western coast of the Moluccas. They then entered the river la Plata, after having furmounted all the dangers incident to those southern latitudes.

Having been equipped and fupplied anew with provifions, at Montecedia, they joined a fleet of frigates and register fhips, and failed for Cadiz, where they arrived after a paffage of ninety days, with cargoes to the amount of eight millions of dollars in money and merchandize.

These voyages have not a little conributed to the extenfion of botany, mineralogy, and navigation. In both hemifpheres, and in a variety of different latitudes, many experiments were made relative to the weight of bodies, which will tend to very important difcoveries, connected with the irregular form of our globe; thefe will alfo be highly useful, To far as refpects a fixed and general measure. While examining the inhabitants, our travellers collected all the monuments that could throw any light either on the migration of nations, or on their progrefs in civilization. Luckily for the interefts of humanity, thefe difcoveries have not caufed a fingle tear to be fhed. On the contrary, all the tribes with whom they had any connection, will blefs the memory of thefe navigators, ha have furnished them with useful

feeds, prefented them with a variety of inftruments, and made them acquainted with feveral arts of which they were before entirely ignorant.

The veffels brought back nearly the whole of their crews; neither of them, in fhort, loft more than three or four men; which is wonderful, if we but confider the unhealthy climate of the torrid zone, to which they were fo long expofed.

Don Antonio de Valdès, the minifter of the marine, who encouraged and fupported this expedition, with his accuftom. ed zeal, is bufied at this moment in drawing up a detailed account of this voyage, fo as to render the enterprize of general utility. It will foon be published; and the curious will be gratified with charts, maps, and engravings, now preparing, to accompany it.

In the mean time he has prefented to the king the captains Don Alex. Malef pina, Don Jofeph de Baftimente, Don Dion Galeano, and the lieutenant Don Carl. de Cevallos. These officers are en. titled to, and will foon experience, the royal munificence.

London, Oct. 20, 1796.

To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine.

SIR,

A

IN the month of January, a gentleman,

who ufes the fignature Curiofus, gavę an intimation to the editor of a cotemporary Magazine, that, if it met with his approbation, to infert a lift of the places of worship occupied by diffenters, in England and Wales, he thought that he fhould have it in his power to transmit fuch an account, from a MS. of the late ingenious Mr. Robinfon, of Cambridge, author of the Hiftory of Baptifm, &c.

Omitting to fulfil his engagement, Mr. Dyer, in the month of July, urges upon him a compliance with his propofal. In the fucceeding number, Curiofus informs Mr. Dyer, and the public, that this MS. of Mr. Robinson's, was, at that time, in the poffeffion of Mr. Lunn, bookfeller, in Cambridge; and that when he made application to buy it, he met with a difappointment, the book being fold. I am the perfon who bought this MS.; and as I think it will be gratifying to many of your readers, I fhall have no objection to tranfcribe it for infertion ir the Monthly Magazine. I fend it re the Monthly Magazine in preference to your cotemporary, as I think an accoun

1796.]

Lift of Diffenting Congregations.

of this nature will be far more agreeable to your readers.

As it is now twenty years fince this account was taken, of courfe many errors need correction, and many defects ought to be fupplied, in order to render it correct. The places of worship in each County are preferved feparate. The counties fucceed in alphabetical order, and the towns or villages, where diffenters have a place of worship, are arranged in the fame manner. As I fhall be able to make several of these county lifts accurate, I intend to do it; and I fhall do it with pleasure if fuch information proves acceptable and gratifying. When fuch additions are made to the MS. they will be printed in Italics.

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765

think them deferving a place in your Mifcellany, feveral county lifts fhall be tranfmitted monthly.

Wareham, Q&. 20, 1796.

B. C.

To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine.

SIR,

CONFESS myself to be one of those,

whom a pretty long experience of mankind has not tended to render highly enamoured of the fpecies, or very con fident of its progrefs towards melioration. I think I fee the fame radical defects of character prevailing in all pe riods, and through all external circumftances; and though diverfely modified, yet ever operating to produce the principal part of the evils under which the human race continually labours. In particular, the difpofition to deceive and to be deceived, appears to me always in full operation in all focieties, whether favage or civilized; and, fince much of the weakness and unhappiness, if not of the vice, of men, proceeds from this fource, I conceive, that to detect and counteract it, will ever be one of the beft fervices that a thinking mind can render its fellow-creatures. An inftance having occurred to me in my reading, which I think remarkably well calculated to difplay the joint action of fraud and credulity, with refpect to a very common object of fuperftition, that of the miraculous cure of difeafe, I beg your af fiftance in laying it before the public, together with the remarks it has fuggested to me.

This

Those who have endeavoured to fupport the reality of the efficacy of the royal touch, in the cure of the fcrophula, or king's evil, have laid particular stress on the teftimony of WISEMAN. perfon was ferjeant-furgeon to Charles II; of high reputation in his profeffion, and the author of a Work in Surgery, long reckoned a standard performance, and which fhows him to have been a fair and modeft man, as well as an excellent practitioner. It contains an exprefs treatife on the king's-evil, in which he fpeaks of the touch, in the following ftrong terms: "I, myself, have been a frequent eye-witnefs of many hundreds of cures performed by his majefty's touch alone, without any affiftance of chirur gery and thofe, many of them, fuch as had tired out the endeavours of able chirugeons before they came thither. It were endlefs to recite what I myself have seen, 5 E 2

and

and what I have received acknowledgments of, by letter, not only from the feveral parts of this nation, but alfo from Ireland, Scotland, Jersey, and Germany." Is it poffible for a teftimony to be more direct and pofitive, or to proceed from a more competent witnefs? Yet, probably, there is fcarcely at prefent a man in England who is not convinced that the whole pretenfion was a falfehood (for that impofture is now worn out). How then are we to account for Wifeman's conduct? Was he himself deceived, or did he knowingly lend his aid to carry on a cheat? Both fuppofitions have their difficulties, yet both are in fome degree probable. His warm attachment to the royal family, and early prejudices, might infpire him with a faith beyond the controul of his judgment. On the other hand, certain paffages in this treatife how a neceffary confcioufnefs of collufion, and are, indeed, the true confutation of that above quoted, which otherwife might ftagger one who judged from direct evidence alone.

It was his office, as ferjeant-furgeon, to felect fuch afflicted objects, as were proper to be prefented for the roval touch. In the hiftory of the disease, when defcribing its various ftates and appearances, he fays, "Thofe which we prefent to his majefty, are chiefly fuch as have this fort of tumour about the mufculus maftoideus, or neck, with whatever circumftances they are accompanied; nor are we difficult in admitting, the thick chapped upper lips, and eyes afflicted with a lippitudo: in other cafes, we give cur judgment more warily." Here is a felection of the lighteft cafes, which moft readily undergo a fpontaneous alteration, and a manifeft doubt expreffed concerning the fuccefs in more inveterate ones. A little below, obferving that the ftruma will often fuppurate, or be refolved unexpectedly from accidental ferments, he fays, "In cafe of the king's touch, the refolution doth often happen, where our endeavours have fignified nothing; yea, the very gummata, infomuch, that I am cautious of predicting concerning them (though they appear never fo bad) till fourteen days be over." From this paffage we may infer, that the touch was by no means infallible, and that the pretence of its fucceeding was not given up, till a fortnight had elapfed without any change for the better.

Indeed, it appears very evident, that the worst kind of cafes were feldom or never offered to the touch; for in no dif

eafe, does Wifeman adduce mere examples from his own practice of difficult and tedious chirurgical treatment, nor do we find, that in one of thefe, he called in the aid of the royal hand. It was proposed in a fingle inftance: but under circumstances that furnish a stronger proof of impofture, than any thing yet mentioned. A young gentlewoman had an obftinate fcrophulous tumour in the right fide of the neck, under the jaw; Wifeman applied a large cauftic to it, brought it to fuppuration, treated it with efcharotics, and cured it. "About a year after," fays he, "I faw her again in town, and felt a fmall gland of the bignefs of a lupin, lying lower on that fide of the neck. I would have perfuaded her to admit of a refolvent emplafter, and to be touched; but he did not, as the faid, believe it to be the king's-evil." Here, after allowing his patient to undergo a course of very fevere furgery, he is willing to truft the relics of the difeafe to the royal touch, affifted by a refolving plafter; but the complaint was now too trifling to engage her attention. Surely, the greatest opponent of the touch could not place it in a more contemptible light.

Thus do the boldeft affertions of won derful and fupernatural occurrences, fhrink into nothing before a patient and critical examination; and thus inconfiftent with itfelf is an extravagant pretenfion ever found to be. It was enough to refute the impudent claims of the alchemifts, that thefe pretended gold-makers were beggars in rags; as it is a very convincing proof, that the royal touch can❤ not cure the king's-evil, when it becomes the evil of kings.

In order fully to prove the reality of an extraordinary cure, three points of evidence are neceffary:that the disease exifted, that it was cured, and that the alledged means were what alone performed the cure. But how feldom have thefe concurred in an authentic form, to establish a wonderful tale of this kind! Yet, men are ftill the dupes of their own credulity; and who can foresee an end to this delufion?

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