A Letter on the Mischievous Influence of the Spanish IX. INTELLIGENCE LITERARY, PHILOSOPHICAL, Mr. Davy's Sixth and Concluding Geological Lec- Report of the National Vaccine Establishment Case of the Rev. Joshua Rowley Resolutions and Facts relative to Vaccination, pub- Correspondence between the Marquis Wellesley, his Majesty's Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, and William Pinkney, Esq. Minister Plenipotentiary from the United States: and between Mr. Pinkney and R. Smith, Esq. Secretary of the Foreign De- partment to the United States.-Selected from the Extract of a Letter from Mr. Smith to Mr. Pinkney, dated Department of State, Jan. 20, 1810 - Copy of a Letter from Lord Wellesley to Mr. Pink- Copy of a Letter from Mr. Pinkney to Mr. Smith, Copy of a Letter from Lord Wellesley to Mr. Pink- Copy of a Letter from Mr. Pinkney to Lord Welles- ley, dated Great Cumberland Place, May 3, 1810 Copy of a Letter from Lord Wellesley to Mr. Pink- Copy of a Letter from Mr. Smith to Mr. Pinkney, dated Department of State, May 22, 1810 - - Copy of a Letter from Mr. Pinkney to Mr. Smith, Copy of a Letter from Mr. Smith to Mr. Pinkney, dated Department of State, July 2, 18:0 Copy of a Letter from Mr. Smith to Mr. Pinkney, dated Department of State, July 5, 1810 Copy of a Letter from Mr. Pinkney to Lord Welles- ley, dated Great Cumberland Place, July 7, 1810 Copy of Lord Wellesley's Reply to the foregoing, dated Apsley House, July 22, 1810 Copy of a Letter from Mr. Pinkney to Mr. Smith, Copy of a Letter from Mr. Pinkney to Mr. Smith, Copy of a Letter from Mr. Pinkney to Lord Welles- ley, dated Great Cumberland Place, Aug. 25, 1810 Copy of a Letter from Lord Wellesley to Mr. Pink- 520 - Copy of a Letter from Mr. Pinkney to Lord Welles- Copy of a Letter from Mr. Pinkney to Mr. Smith, Copy of a Letter from Mr. Pinkney to Mr. Smith, Copy of a Letter from Mr. Smith to Mr. Pinkney, Extract of a Letter from General Armstrong to Mr. Α A Supplement ΤΟ THE THIRD VOLUME OF THE GENERAL CHRONICLE AND LITERARY MAGAZINE. To the EDITOR of the GENERAL CHRONICLE. SIR, of a very IR,-I observe, that in your Chronicle for October last, page 182, there is some mention of a very old, and very general popular belief, that noxious reptiles (or reptiles reputed to be noxious) cannot live in Ireland; and the subject having been thus brought into my mind, I trouble you with some particulars concerning it. By It is said by our celebrated antiquary, Sir James Ware (Antiq. Hibern.), That this island does not nourish any venomous creature, nor will they breed in it, though they were imported into it from any other country. A privilege (says he) hardly granted by Providence to any other part of the habitable globe.' the words hardly granted,' he had doubtlessly an eye to the islands of Crete and Ebusus, which had the same exemption, as Solinus, cap. 17. and Pliny, lib. viii. cap. 58. say. And Hadrianus Junius has taken occasion to introduce Ireland thus speaking of herself, and her natural qualities : Cui Deus, et melior rerum nascentium origo, GEN. CHRON. VOL. III. NO. XV. 213 I must acknowledge that the poet has proceeded somewhat too far, in asserting that these creatures die upon being brought hither. For I myself have seen vipers brought alive from England, for the use of sick patients, and saw these creatures live several days in this kingdom. And some years ago, a gentleman in the county of Louth, knowing the great use of vipers as a medicine, and perhaps also to satisfy his curiosity, whether they would breed here, imported a considerable number of them, and put them upon his estate in that county. But he paid for his curiosity; for the country-people, hearing of the affair, and being entirely unaccus tomed to these creatures, were so intimidated, that they all refused to work upon his grounds, either to plow, reap, mow, &c. whereby his land became almost waste and useless for a considerable time after, none of his workmen daring to set foot thereon. However, as these vipers did not propagate their species, they were all soon extinct. It is said, that the roof of Westminster-hall is built of oak from Ireland; for that the people, in the days of William Rufus, imagined that Irish wood was possessed of a virtue against the poisonous creatures. It is certain, that there is a tradition that the said hall was roofed with Irish oak, and very probably on account of some such notion, as they had certainly as good timber in England for the purpose as in Ireland. Venerable Bede' asserts, That all things that come from Ireland have a virtue against poison; and I myself have seen (says he) some who have been bitten by serpents, find a remedy in the thin shavings of wood brought out of Ireland, which being infused in water, and given to the patient to drink, has immediately allayed and brought down the swelling, and assuaged the whole venom of the poison.' I do not cite this to prove that our wood has really this virtue, but to show that such an opinion was very ancient. Some years ago, the King of Portugal had oak from this kingdom to build that magnificent church, which was ruined by the late earthquake at Lisbon. Julius Scaliger 2 has been led into a mistake by Cardan,' who asserts that Britain (instead of Ireland) is destitute of vipers, though he solidly confutes the causes assigned by Cardan for that island's immunity from these creatures. and Ireland has spiders and neuts, yet they are not poisonous; possibly they are not so in Britain. Frogs are but new-comers into this island; but they are in great plenty in all parts at present. The method taken to plant them among us, is very humourously, but justly, given in the 236th number of the Tatler. The natives have still a great aversion to them, probably from their likeness to toads, creatures unknown to this country. Eccles. Hist. lib. i. cap. 1. 2 Exercit. 20. 3 De Subtilitate, lib. 10. It |