fcientiously refraining from all worldly they are in England, labour is propor purfuis, our public houses and gin-fhops are fuffered to be open, and are as much, if not more, frequented than on any other day of the week: our gaming tables are acceflible, our great men give dinners, and fometimes too, like thole in lower life, get drunk. It feems that the occafional efforts of useful induftry are beheld with less complacency and toleration, wi h an eye of more jealoufy and fufpicion, than the habitual orgies of riot and intemperance. If these remarks are trueand I fhall lend a willing ear to the difcredit of them-it will not be altogether fo clear, as we are willing to flatter our. felves, on whofe fide the fcale of propriety and decorum in religious conduct prepon derates. There is one more topic, which in an early part of these letters I promised to touch upon, namely, the state of the peafantry. Never having trodden on French ground before, I am very incompetent to give an opinion as to the quality or degree of change which this clats of people may have undergone: on this fubject wellinformed and well-intentioned people dif. fer. I have heard a gentleman who has made a recent excurfion to France, and who had been an ocular witnefs of the wretchedness of the peafantry before the revolution, decidedly affert that their fituation is improved. It may be fo; but I had almost begun to adopt an opinion which one would be forry to harbour, namely, that the people are very little affected by the changes which take place in the government. If provifions are cheaper in France than I remember the following epigram, which was written by fome one who feems to have adopted this opinion in its fullest extent. Poor fellows, what concern have you With King and Conftitution? Still must your days be spent in toil, Whoever rules the nation: Still will the great ones fhare the spoil- The afs must bear his daily load, Still Courtiers will be knaves; tionably paid for: fo that the peasant, probably, is not better off here, where mutton and pork are two-pence halfpenny or three-pence a pound, and the quartern-loaf is at eight-pence or nine-pence, than in England, where thefe, and every other article, are confiderably higher. The advantages, however, to perions of fixed income, are obvicus and great: the exchange of coin against England is not to be compared with the exchange of trovifions in favour of France. I know nothing about the burden of taxation here; houferent is dear, however, and fuel is dear; whether these form a counterpoise to the advantage just mentioned, I am not able to fay. To return to the peafintry : The French are incomparably better managers of their proviton than the English. Nothing can possibly be more comfortleis, more unfociable, more fulky, if I may fo exprefs myself, than the manner in which the labourers of England take their meals. Of the country-labourers I fpeak, with whom I am a good deal converfint: with the domeftic habits of city-workmen, manufactory-labourers, &c. I am totally unacquainted. It is the custom of countrymen to bring in their wallet a large hunch (as it is emphatically called) of coarse and stale brown bread": this is eaten for breakfast, fometimes with a parfimonious accompaniment of cheefe or butter, but this relifher is not always afforded. At dinner the treatures of the wallet are brought forth, and in the depth of winter a cold heavy dumplin, of no mean magnitude indeed, is produced, in the centre of which is a lump of fat bacon, and perhaps a flice of apple! This, however, does not fall to the lot of every one : many a labourer have I feen dine off a hard dry loaf, which he cheerlefs'y eats under a cart-fhed to fhelter him from the weather. The o ly comfortable meal which our labourers get, the only meal, at leaft, which gives ire any idea of comfort, is their fupper: after his day's work, if a man has a careful and induftrious wife, he may expect to fee a pot boiling over his fire when he goes home; he may expect fomething warm and nourishing for his fupper; he may, perhaps, afford himfelt a pint of beerthroughout the day his thirft is quenched at the pump, unle's his mafter finds him a little beer and at last, indeed, as that molt fimple and sweet song of the “Shepherd's Wife" fays— To bed he goes, as wanton then, I ween, For For cares caufe Kings full oft their fleep to Spill, While weary Shepherds lie and fleep their fill, Ah then-Ah then, &c. &c. The French cookery is the most economical in the world, and the lower claffes of people are not excluded from the comfort of it: a great deal of Indian wheat grown, and this is faid to thicken foups in a very profitable degree. About Geneva the bread, which the poor people eat, is made either from this wheat or from barley, which is cultivated on a very extensive scale in the neighbourhood of Nantua, whence it is exported to the town: the bread, which we have fometimes feen in the cottages, where we have ftopt to boil a few eggs, has been dark in colour, and very harth to the palate, but, when softened in foup, may probably be neverthelets extremely nutrit ous and palatable. Tea is a luxury but little known among the poor in the provinces of France: inftead of it, however, they have abundance of coffee, a far greater luxury when fo delicioutly prepared as it is here. We have feen coarfe-looking fellows fit round the kitchen-fire at a post house, drink their hot coffee, and eat their hot rolls, with a great deal of apparent, and no doubt of real, enjoyment. We have occafionally Hopt to change horfes at the hour of dinner, and have feen a number of labourers -at Pont fur Ain there could not be lefs than a dozen of them-collect together and call for their dinner, which the hottefs had already prepared for them. To the water in which meat has been boiled, a large quantity of vegetables of various forts, turnips, carrots, potatoes, garlic, &c. are added; large flices of bread, or fome farinaceous fubftance, is inserted, and together with a proper proportion of pepper, falt, and herbs, form a foup which is thus fociably eaten, and has the appearance at least of giving a comfortable meal to thofe who partake of it. Each peafant drinks his in ordinaire de pays out of a feparate glas; and, with all their abominable filth, the French may, in this particular, teach the English a leffon of cleanliness. In England, not merely at a harvest frolic and a fheepthecring, but at the tables of molt re fpectable and genteel perfons we are in the habit of feafoning our beverage with the copious faliva of half a dozen greaty mouths! But it is time to take leave of this fubject, and proceed to my journal : one remark I fhail make on the general appearance of the peafantry, and that is, that we fee no fine old heads of either fex. We fee many healthy children, many very beautiful girls, and fresh hardylooking boys: but when the men and women approach to fixty years of age, we have very frequently had occafion to obferve, that their complexions are fallow, and their faces fhrunk and unhealthy. How is this to be accounted for? I fhall not top to inquire, but merely fuggeft two circumitances which it ftrikes me inay poffibly co-operate to produce it. Almoit all the hovels, and indeed all the hotels, that it has been our fortune to reft at, are afflicted with fmoky chimneys: in France every body takes fhuff, and many, no doubt, in an immoderate degree. If the peafant and his family, refiding in a dark and filthy room, are ever inhaling the fuf focating particles of wood-fmoke, and ufig, moreover, the vile ftimulus of fnuff, it is not very wonderful, furely, that their countenances fhould prematurely become haggard and unhealthy. We have never feen a drunken man in France, but eau de vie is foid in almost every other shop: if it is habitually drunk by the labouring people, as one is forced to infer, from the frequency of its exposure for fale, a third and very powerful caule prefents itfelt to account for the fact. What an odd thing it is that the inns are much cheaper on this fide of Paris than on the other! From Calais to Paris we had excellent dinners for three livres a head: at Paris we paid four, at Geneva five: after the firit day, indeed, we ftipulated for four; and our dinners were quite as good for this fum as they had been for the other. We can now find scarcely any hotel where they will cook us a good dinner under five livres a head. I beg pardon: you do not want to know how much a mouthrul we pay for our food. The country from Chalons to Autun it extremely rich in vineyards and confields, and is altogether very ftriking: the hills are lofty, and the outline is f that ealy fwelling form-of that fort mamillary thape, which is confeffedly beautiful. The approach to Autun must in fummer-time, I am perfuaded, be delightful beyond any conception that we can have of it at the prefent feafon of the year: the road winds over thefe lovely hills, which, as far as the eye can reach, are covered with an underwood of broum, and crowned with a foreft of beech and fir trees. The city it felf is fimail, and, for a French city, tolerably neat: it does not appear to poffels many good buildings at prefent; but the ruins of fome good houfes are to be feen! The cathedral, I think, is one of the fineft that we have entered: the outfide of the church is nevertheless heavy, and, I think, devoid of magnificence; the infide would certainly have impreffed me with an idea of noblenefs and grandeur had not fome mifcreant churchwarden destroyed the fobernefs and violated the folemnity of its character, by white-washing its pillars and its walls! I have written 'till I am quite tiredgood night! We hope to be in the car riage to-morrow morning by three o'clock. We are not fickle lovers you fee; but as the moon fmiled on us in the loveliness of youth, and in the fulness of beauty, we defeit her not when life is in the wane, and her luftre is fading away. Is the omen aufpicious? Bear it in mind, and may it never deceive you! Joigny, Dec. 28.-Laft night I was too fatigued to write : we role at three in the morning, were on the road before four, and with the exception of one half hour, which we found it neceffary to allow our felves for breakfast, stirred not from the carriage till half paft fix at night. The length of time, however, during which we were encaged, had little to do with the fatigue we fuffered: the roads! the roads! the roads! In good truth I have almoft loft the ufe of my right arm, which, attached to one of the loops of the carriage, bore the weight of my body during great part of the day. We fcarcely travelled a hundred yards without feeling our elves in very imminent danger of breaking down or of being overturned. The car riage of M. Perigord, we are told, broke down here the day before yefterday: I am glad of it, and hope from my heart, that the Fift Conful may be ferved the fame; it will give him a good hint for repairing the roads. But all's well that ends well, and after many a hard knock, which bruited us from head to foot, we arrived fafe and found at Avallon, though none of the party had the flighteft difpofition to eat or drink. This morning, however, we rofe again at four o'clock, travelled by the morning moon-light, and are now fafely houfed at Joigny. How is it poffible for a man who is cooped in a carriage day after day, day after day, in the depth of winter, from twelve to fourteen hours, to make any remarks, or collect any information worth the trouble of noting down in his memoranda. We fee nothing, if you will allow me an Hibernicifm, but a mono'onous variety of hill and valley, wood and water: now and then we pais full gallop through a town; I make no attempt at a journal, having no one thing in the world to fay, but that the country is highly cultivated with vines, which appear to flourish on every foil. The town in which we now are is fituated on the fide of a hill, which reaches down to the Yonne, a navigable river, which I believe falls into the Seine. We have not been able to walk about: it was very da k and rainy when we arrived, and, as ufual, we fhail be off in the morning very early. What nafty places thefe French hotels are! I fhall enjoy a little cleanli nefs and quiet at Ht. Paris, Dec. 31.-From Joigny we had a very hard day's work to reach Melun, where we flept from about half past eight at night till half past eight in the morning: this was making up for loft time. At a little after nine we let off and reached the Hotel de Vendome at three o'clock yesterday. On my return hither I promifed to conduct you into the Statuegallery: but it is impoffible, for our hories are ordered to be at the door by feven to-morrow morning. We have this inftant received our paflports from Mr. Jackfon, who, not being at home when we called at his hotel, has politely fent them to us here. It fnows: this is the fift flight that the Parifians have had this year! During our ablence the weather has been uniformly mild here. Calais, Jan. 5, 1802-Thus far we are arrived fafe and found: but very much against my wishes and my hopes we are now detained here by a north-eaft wind, which prevents us from getting out of the harbour. How provoking this is! I beleve truly that I must be under the influence of the vulgar laws of gravitation: attraction towards home has increafed, I think, as the fquares of my distance from it have diminished. The weather has been extremely turbulent for some time: two wre ks are now within fight from the fhore, the fea is very heavy, and we underitand that the two lait packets which failed from Calais were blown into the Downs. To mend the matter, the French packets have the reputation of being bad failers; and by a regulation agreed on between the two Governments, an English Captain can take no paffengers aboard at Calais, nor a French Captain at Dover, Dover, Jan. 7-Mercy on us, what a paffage have we had! Yefterday morning the wind blew very fresh from the fouth: the French Captain, probably not much acquainted with the navigation, was afraid of the fwell of the fea, and refused to venture out. On a hint, however, we underftand, that as the English Captain had failed, he would lofe his birth if he declined to follow him, he thought it prudent to depart. This indecifion had well nigh been attended with unpleasant confequences to us: on a fudden our bag. gige was hunied to the Cuftom-houfe, and thence down to the vellel: we returned to Durroq's in order to fettle our bill, and in the mean time the Captain, taking French leave, fet fail without us. What a civil fellow this! We inftantly took an open boat, and went two leagues out to fea in pursuit of the packet: it did not appear that we gained much upon her, or that the had feen our fignals. The failors refuted to proceed, under an ap prehenfion that their little boat could not poffibly live out at fea: we were obliged to fubmit, and very reluctantly tacked about and failed back for Calais. Jutt before we made the harbour some one per number of paffengers, and feveral fick ladies: this infamous conduct was not to be fubmitted to, and after having fent repeated meffages, and waited three quarters of an hour on deck, during a bitter cold night, two or three gentlemen forced their way, and we all of us contrived to feramble afhore as well as we could. Mr. Inipector afterwards paid his visit to an empty veffel: thefe fellows give themfelves airs of inlolence and authority on the too-well founded prefumption, that a crew, when once difperfed, is not likely to be collected again, and that no individual will think it worth while to feek redrefs when the firit fit of ill humour is fubfided. The chaife is now at the door, and we are off for town within five minutes: I fhall fee you on Saturday in good health, I hope, and in good fpirits. It is unneceflary to affure you with what fincere affection I remain, Your's, &c. T. S. NORGATE. We and appeared to be tacking about. did not hesitate to renew our attempts to come up with her, and fortunately foon fucceeded: the Captain, it seems, when he got out to fea, had thought it impoff ble to reach Dover that tide, and, without any neceffity, had flackened his fail till it abfolutely was fo! As the fwell was heavy, he prudently preferred tacking backwards and forwards on the French coaft to ftanding out at fea all night; and as the tide at Dover did not ferve till one in the morning, it was not neceffary to make fail before eight at night. Dreadfully ill in a hammock I lay till "A light in the harbour!" was fung out: this cheered me a little, till one of the paffengers, an old failor, went upon deck, and declared that the Captain had fteered his veflel to leeward of the harbour, and it was very probable that by the time he had worked her back againit tide it would not ferve him to get in! At two o'clock th's morning, however, we gained the harbour, after having been at fea fifteen long hours: but our trouble did not end here; for on feuding to the Infpector, or whatever name he is called, whole bufinefs it is to examine the paffengers as they arrive, he refused to rife from his bed, and fent us a cool infolent command to remain on board all night. We had a great der the head “Baker's Manuscripts,” P. 495 of your lat Magazine, that Mr. Baker "LEFT twenty-three volumes of his manuscripts to that great collector, the Earl of Oxford."-Indeed there is a strange inaccuracy in the whole fentence, for in the next line but one he fays "The deed of BARGAIN AND SALE of the manuscripts ta the Earl of Oxford, written in Baker's own hand, was executed December 6, 1716." The deed is not in Baker's handwriting, but in that of Mr. Wanley, librarian to Lord Harley; and if there were a deed of bargain and fale, how could Mr. Baker have LEFT them to Lord Oxford? The fact is, that by this deed, which is bound up with the first volume of the ma. nufcripts, this indefatigable antiquary fls to Edward Lord Harley twenty-one volumes of his collections, all written with his own hand, and specified in a schedule annexed to the deed, in confideration of the fum of one pound one filling and fixpence, "To have and to hold to the firit Edward Lord Harley after my deceafe; but in cate I happen to furvive the faid Lord Harley, then upon my death to the executors and adminiftrators of the faid Lord Harley." The execution of this deed is attested by Mr. Wanley. By a paper alfo bound up with this volume, which is in the hand writing of Mr. Baker, it appears that he had, fince the abovementioned deed, written two other volumes of collections, which in confidera. tion of one guinea, paid him by Mr. Wanley, he had agreed thould belong to Lord Harley, upon the fame terms as the twenty-one volumes, and he authorizes his executors to deliver them upon demand to Lord Harley or his agents. The Editor of Cantabrigiana might alfo have added two lines, which are at the bottom of the page, below the verfes on Fisher, Bishop of Rochester, and which Mr. Baker evidently intended should apply to himself and establish, pretty decifively, the whole to be his own compofition. Purpura mi nocuit; nocuit quoque libera lingua; Dum Regis Thalamum damno, fub Enfe cado. There is, fomewhere in this collection an original letter, from the celebrated antiquary Thomas Hearne to Mr. Baker, from which it appears that the latter had in contemplation a work very fimilar to A. Wood's Athene Oxon. The lines below are contained in Mr. Baker's tranfcript of the Life of Sir Thomas More. vol. 7030 of the Harleian Catalogue, and as I do not recollect to have feen them elsewhere, I have thought them worth tranfcribing. Lines written by Sir Thomas More, on occafion of the King's fecretary having vifited him in the Tower, and affured him "that the King minded not any matter, wherein he fhould have caufe of fcruple from henceforth to trouble his confcience.' To exprefs the comfort which he received Ly flattering Fortune, look thou never fo fair, Ever after the Calme look I for a Storme. To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. SIR, THE and are now placed under flight temporary coverings in the court-yard of the Museum. At either end of the first fhed is a ftatue of white marble, evidently Roman; the first fupposed to be Marcus Aurelius, the fecond Septimus Severus; but both of very interior workmanship. They were dif covered in the refearches at Alexandria, and it is not known whence they originally came. The next fragment is a Ram's Head about four feet in length, carved from a soft red ftone, called by the French rouge grais, and was brought from Upper Egypt. It has part of the right horn broken off; but the workmanship is exquifite, and the expreffion of the eyes exceeding good. The Ram's Head reprefented the Deity called Amoun, whom the Greeks (who borrowed much of their Myby the name of Ammon. Amoun dethology from Egypt,) afterwards adopted noted to the Egyptians the creative power of, God, his b.neficence and diffutive inAuence through the works of nature. His chief temple was at Thebes; whence Ram; which was alfo a reprefentation of the epithet of Theban was given to the the Sun in Aries. They who'defire a further acqaintance with the fymbolical attributes of Amoun, may confult Jablonsky's Pantheon Egyptiacum. We next come roglyphics, and much refembling in their to two Obelisks, richly charged with hiegeneral appearance the one at Mattareah, Obelisks, it is fuppofed, were erected by engraved in Dr. Shaw's Travels. the Egyptians as gnomons for aftronomic, fupported by a very small shaft, the proufes, and had anciently a ball on the top jection of whofe fhadow on the ground near that of the gnomon, formed an ellipfis, by which the middle determined by its pofition exactly enough the height of the centre of the Sun. They are of bafaltes, and were likewife brought from Upper Egypt. Between the Obelisks ftands a ed of what the French call breche verte, large iquare Sarcophagus or cheft, compofand appears to be of an aggregate kind, with which our mineralogifts were before unacquainted. It was brought from the molque of St. Athanafius, in Alexandria. The hieroglyphic language infcribed both infide and out, denote it to have been used for facred purpofes. But whether as a cheft for the images of the Egyptian deities, or as a ciftern for the holy water used in the facred myfteries, does not appear. In form and fize it feems to reprefent the great cheft in the largest of the pyramids of Egypt, These |