will probably complete the ruin it be has not suffered his mind most woegan. Mr. Pitt, not content with this, fully to betray him into the dirty is determined to carry every thing at drains of petty spite; and instead of home, in the same arbitrary manner; bufletting the waves of wickedness the successor of Lord Melville is said on the ocean of life, they have all to act merely by his advice, and the spat forth the most virulent volcanoes impeachment, from the hints thrown of private spleen, and made a party out by the state lawyers, even business of the whole matter. Flatshould it be successful in establishing his guilt, will most probably, through ministerial influence, fail to produce the punishment so justly merited. I remain, &c. W. B. Morpeth, June 29, 1805. THOUGHTS ON SATIRE AND SATI RISTS. tering themselves as too wise to commend, they dip their pens in ink of the dankest gall, and poison those minds that burn with the eagerness of distinction, and a passion for fame, and crush with the fashionable furor of their criticisms, every good and honest work that is soaring into notice: .... Consulto nauseant Autos údiva xeovov arnow TAs array wovoŃ- Et, ut putentur sapere, nil non vituperant. μενος ισηγορίας. Diony. Itali. Antiq. Rom. Lib. 4. To the Editor of the Universal Mag. Phædrus. Lib. 3. GAUNT NOTEGORE. Oxford, July 8, 1805. HINTS TOWARD A CHARACTER OF SIR, AS there has appeared in the latter numbers of your useful work, an Essay on the comparative Merits of George Lord Lyttleton, and the late Earl of Orford, indulge me with inserting a few desultory remarks on the character of the only Son of the former nobleman. IN an age, which, without the stiffness of a stoic, or the asperity of To the Editor of the Universal Mag. a cynic, may be pronounced to revel in the latitudinarian wilds of licentiousness, it seems to be the particular duty of satire and morality to fix the rigid rein on depraved and unwholesome morals, and to empanel, if possible, within the sanctuary of virtue, every loose departer from his duty, and to impose upon all, who deserve it, the salutary restraints of re- The name of this personage is selproof and of punishment. But when, dom mentioned but with pity or coninstead of assuming, with true urba- tempt; yet there seems to prevail nity, the gentle, and, I had almost only a confused and indistinct idea said, parental authority of just seve- either of his qualifications or his failrity, the satirist stalks forth with the ings. The only son of an amiable grim and unhallowed visage of a ruf- and beloved woman, whose early fan, and brandishes his tomahawk death most tenderly endeared every of defiance, and invades the chastity relic she bequeathed; the late Lord of retirement and of privacy, the Lyttleton was exposed in childhood, good and the great will unite in cor- to all the dangers that indulgence and dial coalition to scowl the monster adulation can present. While the fafrom society, and draw aside the mask ther wept over his child as the image which discovers the image of public of his lost wife, the little world of relavirtue, to open to our view and ab- tions and domestics that surrounded horrence, the pitiful features of ma- the boy, strove to bestow on every budlevolence, and of pique. This obser- ding vice, the semblance of a virtue. vation is drawn from me, in con- Dandled thus into audacity and contemplating the present state of satire in England; and as far as my observation goes, there has not of late appeared one, who, ingenuously professing to guide us all to virtue, and to be actuated by a pure spirit of philanthropy for reforming public abuses, and chastising private morals, that ceit, can we wonder that the first actions of his life, were bold and licentious? That precocity of judgment must be truly singular, which could render them otherwise. Joined to an ardency of temper, the son of Lord Lyttleton possessed the warm feelings of inherent genius. On On reading Milton, when quite a have enabled him to correct: "For boy, a passage so forcibly struck his my own part, I have not that high fancy, that he threw down the book, opinion of their Roman spirit as to and paced the room with tremulous suppose that it will influence them eagerness. On understanding the contentedly to submit to all the hor cause of this emotion, his delighted rors of war, to resign every comfort father clasped him in his arms, and in which they have been bred, to realmost smothered him with caresses. linquish every hope with which they The passage was, He spake and to confirm his words, outflew Millions of flaming swords, drawn from Of mighty Cherubim: the sudden blaze have been flattered, and retire to the howling wilderness for an habitation; and all for a dream of liberty, which, were they to possess to-morrow, would not give them a privilege superior to those which they lately enjoyed; and might, I fear, deprive them of many which they experienced, beneath the clement legislation of the British government." A mind so tenacious of rapturous sentiment, was perhaps the worst soil His judgment is more conspicuous on which flattery and indulgence could in the following brief mention of two Sow their destructive seeds: the sen- very eminent characters. "The two sibilities of genius betrayed him into principal orators of the present age, a thousand errors, from which stu- (and one of them perhaps a greater pidity would have been a preservative. than has been produced in any age,) That his youth was stained by vices are the Earls of Mansfield and Chatof no common magnitude, is but too ham. The former is a great man; well known. The old harper who Ciceronian, but I should think infeattended on his Oxford orgies has rior to Cicero. The latter is a greater told strange tales of his frantic mirth, man; Demosthenian, but superior in those midnight scenes. His mind to Demosthenes. The first formed was habitually cloudy and chearless; himself on the model of the great Ro wine presented a short-lived flow of man orator; he studied, translated, fancy, and ebriety is seldom a solitary rehearsed, and acted his orations: the deviation. Those who best knew him second disdained imitation, and was attributed a portion of his misconduct himself a model of eloquence, of to the effects of a marriage, acceler- which no idea can be formed but by ated by the fond hopes of his father: those who have seen or heard him. they likewise saw great reason to be- His words have sometimes frozen my lieve that the personal responsibility young blood into stagnation, and annexed to the peerage, to which he sometimes made it pace in such a succeeded, and the ardor with which hurry through my veins, that I could he entered into public business, would scarce support it. He however emeffectually wean him from pursuits bellished his ideas by classical amuse, equally unworthy of his understanding ments, and occasionally read the and his rank in life. An immature sermons of Barrow, which he consis death, however, blighted his expec- dered as a mine of nervous expressitation; and it remains only to hold ons; but, not content to correct and inforward his name as a sad instance struct imagination by the works of of the insufficiency of talents without mortal men, he borrowed his noblest the aid of discretion. images from the language of inspiration." His parliamentary life, though short, was honourable. However er- The mind accustomed to specularoneous might be some of his early tions on the probabilities of chance, political sentiments, he never failed will rarely avoid the painful weakness to preserve an independence of cha- of superstition. Where the test of racter. Firm to the opinions he experience affords little or no direcadopted, his eloquence was persuasive tion, preternatural significations are and energetic. On the subject of the fearfully resorted to; every whisper American contest, he thus delivered of the wind is an omen that triumphs ideas which a short experience would over the strongest suggestions of rea son, and involves the happiness of the pressed my sensations to the young anxious enthusiast. Thus, Lord Lyt- lady I accompanied, in such a manner, tleton, who indulged without restraint as to make her cheek as pale as my that propensity to gaming which every own." man fond either of money or pleasure For those dialogues of which he is possesses, was the abject slave of known to be the author, (the perevery trivial accident that interfered sonages of the first, the Saviour of the with the accomplishment of his pur- world and Socrates; and of the sepose. A gloominess of temper, joined cond, king David and Cæsar Borgia) with an aspiring imagination, streng- no excuse can be offered. The infidel thened, to a sad importance, this might plead the levity of his opinions, enervating delusion. The sight of a but he who "believes and trembles,' rustic funeral at Hagley, in any fan- yet throws a string of jests in the face cifully inauspicious hour, would pro- of the Being on whom he rests his duce a fit of the deepest terror and hopes, is faulty beyond conception. alarm. He visited the castle of a They were never directly published, nobleman in the north. The house it is true: but a sufficient number of and its furniture wore a face of vene- copies was circulated to render their rable grandeur. Some tragic scenes purport pretty generally known. The had been performed in the mansion, only resemblance of an apology that and the apartments were shewn can be offered is the early youth of precisely in the same state as when the author.-And may not the same they were the silent witnesses of plea be advanced, in alleviation of his blood and contention. Lyttleton's other errors? Surely, too severe a active fancy overpowered his natural sentence should not be hastily passed fortitude. He forebore to retire till on the man who has no opportunity good-breeding forced him to his of correcting the first mistakes of his chamber. He had not long been there, life? Not to ask so trite a question however, before he returned, with a as what the world would have thought pale and wild countenance, and con- of Henry V. had he died before he fessed he could not venture to sleep gained possession of the crown, suffer in the room assigned him, because me to observe that George Lord Lyt"The boards of the antient flooring tleton himself, eminently amiable cracked so violently as he trod over and useful as he proved, would have them!" left the character of a mere noisy declaimer, and unblushing sceptic, had he died at the same age with his son ; though he lived to shew every requisite talent of the statesman, and to write from sincere conviction, a pious defence of the christian faith. The circumstances attending his death are too well known to allow repetition. His sombre fancies at length fatally disordered his mind, and he sank the victim of a perverted imagination. His religious sentiments were In his person, Lord Lyttleton bore gloomy and indeterminate. He has considerable resemblance to his fabeen supposed a sceptic; but the ther. He was tall and slender, with elastic visions of his fancy tempted a pale and comparatively diminutive him rather to credulity than scepti- face. He was master of a most incism. The mysterious and the awful sinuating address, and too well skilled captivated his imagination; and in the in all those winning arts which enmidst of his vices, when he thought snare the inexperienced and unsusof religion, it was not without symp- pecting. I am Sir, Your's &c. T. R, toms of bigotry. Such an irrational species of faith, as may be supposed, To the Editor of the Universal Mag, added to the horrors of his serious moments;" Will you believe me," says he, "when I tell you that, in a morning's ride which conducted me by some of the tremendous fires employed in the manufactories in my neighbourhood, I shuddered at the sight of their angry flames, and ex SIR, AS many persons seem to imagine that the guillotine, the instrument of such fatal notoriety among the French, is a modern invention, allow a constant reader to remove this mistake. To many, the information, as to the substance of it, is without doubt un necessary; and others may be little not the most dreadful punishment pleased to find our own country the they have it in their power to inflict. framer of so pernicious an engine: Most ardently wishing that the the promulgation of truth however guillotine were in as utter disuse as must at all times be considered as a its original in Yorkshire, desirable circumstance, I remain, Sir, &c. Pontefract, June 2. THE PATTUECOS. S. T. To the Editor of the Universal Mag. At Halifax, in Yorkshire, it was the custom, some centuries back, to put felons to death by means of an instrument precisely similar to the modern guillotine. This mode of punishment appears to have been I BELIEVE it is generally agreed peculiar to Halifax, and was inflicted among the learned, that the Biscayan under singular circumstances, which, speech or idiom is the most ancient as I conceive, are not known to the language of Spain; this is still spoken generality of your readers. A theft to in Guipuscoa, the Asturias, and in the value of 134d. constituted a fe- some places .or patches scattered up lony. The criminal must be taken in and down amongst the Pyrenees; commission of the fact, or in pos- but principally and more especially session of the stolen article, otherwise in the province of Biscay itself, which, he could be convicted only on his as we learn from testimonies of unown confession. Within a week of questionable authority, was never conviction he was conducted to the completely conquered by either the scaffold. If he had stolen an ox or a Carthaginians, Romans, Goths, Vanhorse, the beast was led to the place dals, or Moors; which nations, it is of execution, and the cord that acted well known, successively over-ran, on the axe of the machine fastened to more or less, all the rest of Spain: his neck. On a signal, the animal and I have read in some ancient auwas flogged to exertion, and thus thor, although I cannot positively rendered the retributive executioner vouch for it as a fact, that whenever of the criminal. the king of Spain comes in person On considering the above mode of to visit any part of the territories of procedure, the reluctance with which Biscay, he is obliged, by a custom our simpler forefathers awarded the that has been pertinaciously mainpenalty of death unavoidably occurs. tained, in all ages, to pull off his shoes The strongest suspicions, or plainest upon the frontiers, as if his first step corroborating circumstances, were not were treading upon virgin, holy held sufficient. On no grounds would ground. they cut short all possibility of amend- And as it is highly probable that ment, but the unequivocal circum- the Biscayan is the primitive lanstance of actual detection. The grants guage of Spain, so this very circumof sanctuary, likewise, in these earlier stance seems either directly or indidays of our civil polity, would seem rectly to infer and prove, that the to have originated in charitable lenity people of that country are a remnant rather than superstition. Dr. Johnson, of the aboriginal, or the very first inin considering the impolicy of frequent habitants. For few, I should imaexecutions, has added strength to the gine, will be disposed to question humane arguments of Sir Thomas that if we wish to find out the indiMore on the subject. It is at any genous inhabitants, the most ancient rate incontrovertible that in those people or language of any country, countries where the penal laws are we must look for them among the most rigid, the commission of crime Mountaineers, in their strong places is most frequently to be found. When and inaccessible fastnesses; as, for inany distant country is first named as stance, the people of Albania, ancithe spot for transportation, numbers ently Epirus in Greece, who speak a of convicts solicit death, in preference language in a great measure unknown to the horrors of existing on a wild to either the Greeks or Sclavonians, and unknown shore. This might act the Highlanders in Scotland, and the as a hint to legislators, that death is ancient Britons in Wales. Indeed, it is remarkable enough so celebrated among the ancient that the Spaniards, who pique them- Greeks) to observe the manners of selves more upon the nobility of their many different nations. Yet in the extraction, than any other European whole course of my extensive readnation, confess that the most ancient ing, although I have been particurace of their gentry has been all along larly anxious to read, draw, and preserved in Biscay. So that a Bis- drain out of a multiplicity of authors, cayner is capable of being admitted all that they have written or could as a cavalier of any of the three habits possibly have known, respecting the or degrees of noblesse, without any various nations of this our lower scrutiny being made by the office, world, I must own that till of late, (tantamount, as I conceive, to our I never could arrive to the knowledge office of heralds) whether he be of the people now about to be delimpio de la sangre de los Moros, as scribed. This, Sir, induces me to they express it, that is to say, uncon- hope that the following communicataminated with the blood of the Moors, tion, which I shall insert verbatim or no, if he can but produce undenia- et literatim, quoting my authority, ble evidence that he be a Montanero, and which relates to a particularly or, in other words, that he has been curious and interesting subject, unborn amongst and is descended from known to the generality of readers, the masculine and warlike Moun- will find an early place in your truly taineers of Biscay. The cragginess valuable miscellany, and that it will and steepness of places in the moun- be deemed no unuseful or unaccepttains, has, in all ages, proved a very able present to the admirers of the great advantage to those who dwell Universal Magazine. therein, in cases of war and danger; A TOPOGRAPHER. they serve as fortresses erected by A quotation from Howell's" Innature herself, to protect the natives structions and directions for foreign from all hostile incursions. So true Travel," printed in the year 1650.is that which an ancient classical wri- " And now for further proof that ter reports and complains of, re- the Cantabrian language is the anspecting some places and tracts in tientest of Spain, I think it wil not Scythia: Difficilius erat hostem inve- be much from the purpose, if I insert nire quam vincere. It was more diffi- here a strange di covery that was cult to trace out and discover the ene- made not much above halfe a hundred my than to subdue him. The above years ago, about the very middle of preliminary observations have been Spaine, of the Pattuecos, a peoplę naturally suggested to me, in conse- that were never known upon the face quence of having lately met with a of the earth before; though Spaine most singularly striking account of a hath been a renown'd famous counstill more curious people, and from trey, visited and known by many which I could not but feel a certain warlik nations: They were discodegree of astonishment at not having vered by the flight of a Faulcon, for stumbled upon it before. On this the Duke of Alva, hauking on a time, subject, Sir, I consider myself as em- neer certain hils, not farre from Saboldened to speak somewhat more lamanca, one of his hauks which he knowingly and confidently than many much valued, flew over those mounothers, and not, perhaps, without even taines, and his men not being able a kind of authority, (sit venia verbo) to find her at first, they were sent and this, not merely from the circum- back by the duke after her: these stance of having devoted a great part faulconers, clammering up and down, of my time to studies of this nature, from hill to hill, and luring all along, but because it has occasionally been they lighted at last upon a large pleamy very employment, my peculiar sant valley, where they spied a combusiness and function (although only pany of naked Savage people, locked a sedentary traveller, penned up in between an assembly of huge crags within the four walls of my study) and hils, indented and hemmed in to peregrinate through and anatomise, (as it were) one in another: as simas it were, many a soil, climate, ple and savage they were, as the country, and town, and (like Ulysses, rudest people of any of the two Indies, |