6 could not furely have been an English one. A truely British heart must have felt compaffion for the diftreffes of the poor, and would have wifhed for the means of leffening their wants; not have been a prompter to the most cruel methods of increafing them. For the honour of humanity itfelf, therefore, I would hope, that there is but one town in all his majesty's dominions, that could breed men capable of thus hardening themselves against all the impreffions of it. All good fubjects, Britons, and Americans, know, that the intereft of both countries is the fame; and that they are all united under his majesty in one common wealth. Throughout that whole British empire, therefore, let it be known, that the turbulent fpirits of Bofton only are fowing diffention, and publicly taking meafures to feparate them. And may they ever have the merit of being the fingle town in America, that is capable of fending men under the guife of merchants, to act as fpies amongst us; to watch for and give notice of any public calamities; and to inftruct their countrymen how to take advantage of

them.

It will ftill, I hope, be remembered, that I do not in the leaft aim at any particular perfon, as the writer of this letter. I do not mean to lay it to the charge of any particular merchant "whatsoever. But as their Bolton correfpondents have thought fit to let us know of the advice which has been given them, and to fend the letter back to us, all that is intended by this republication, is to let my fellow livery men fee what thefe Bolton people are; and to hand it in among the gentlemen, of the committee, in order to know, whether any of them will take it up, or if it be a conception of too black a feature for them to filiate, to beg that they will find out the father, and pals it on to its proper parent.

In the mean time, the gentlemen will be pleased to fpare their recommendations, and leave the livery of London to judge for themselves; at least, it is hoped, that they will not hold us fo very cheap, as to think, at the very time when the freemen of Boston have come to a public refolution to take nothing from us, that the liverymen of London have fo little understanding as to take a reprefentative from them.

A liveryman of London."

Jan.

THE fable of this comedy is extreme

ly interefting, and most admirably conducted; the fentiments are fuch as will eminently diftinguith, the writer as long as virtue and morality are held refpectable; and the language eafy, elegant, and characteristic.—Indeed we remember no piece fince the Careless Husband, in which the dialogue fo happily imitates the converfation of people of fashion.The part of Cecil bears the ftrongest marks of originality, and affords Mr. King an opportu nity of giving us a fresh proof that his powers in comedy are unlimited, for his performance throws new beauties on the imagination of his author.The fcene between Colonel Rivers and his daughter, in the fourth act, is truly pathetic, and is a demonstration that the writer poffeffes thofe happy talents for touching the tender paffions, in a degree not at all inferior to his abilities for exiting the rifibie faculties.It would be an act of injustice not to mention Mr. Holland's great merit in Colonel Rivers, and Mrs. Dancer's in Mrs. Harley.-Indeed the whole piece was well performed, and bore evident figns (we mean with respect to the Jeu de Theatre) of being brought out under the inspection of Mr. Garrick.In short, we cannot help congratulat ing the public upon this addition to their entertainment, in which the comic mule appears in her native fimplicity, undebauched by ribaldry or licentioufnefs. The prologue and epilogue gave us uncommon fatisfaction, and are faid to be done by a gentleman who has no fuperior in that species of writing, which we are the more inslined to believe, as they abound with

that

1768.

that rich vein of genuine humour which fo ftrongly characterizes all his productions.

To the PRINTER, &c.
SIR,

Mchurch, and accordingly, at a Arcellus was intended for the proper age, was removed from school to Oxford. At this period his heart beat high for fame. His friends too, had the warmest hopes of his future figure in his profeffion. Nor without reason; for he had paffed through his school difcipline with the greateft applaufe, and diftinguished himself by a tafte and genius above his age. His manners too were most engaging; his modefty, generofity, and good nature, gained him univerfal efteem; his character, when known, foon introduced him to the best company of his college, I mean, the worthy and ingenious; for fach will always unite when they know each other's characters. Here a fair field was opened for the most ad vantageous connections; but the bright profpect was foon overcaft by a moft melancholy event, which plunged him into an abyfs of mifery, This was the death of his father, by which his mother's circumftances were fo reduced, as to be unable to afford her fon a genteel allowance. He had indeed other relations who were well able to affift him, and who profefled the most tender regard for him: But none of them on this occafion offered any affiftance towards his education, though they knew his mother's fortune inadequate to the charge. This cruel conduct nipped the fair flower in the bud. He foon found himself ob. liged to decline the amusements of his new acquaintance, and by degrees to detach himself entirely from their company to avoid many meanneffes he otherwife must have been guilty of. This event proved fatal to his peace. To tear up the growing friendship made every fibre of his heart bleed. His behaviour altered from that inftant. His countenance was overfpread with a mournful gloom, and a flow melancholy preyed upon his heart. His ftudies were entirely neglected; the chill hand of penury had numbed the vigour of his genius;

And like the tyrannous breathing of

the north,

Check'd all it's buds from blowing..

7

He had the mortification afterwards to be thrice difappointed of fellowships, and they were beftowed on men who were formerly acknowledged his inferiors in all kinds of learning. He foon after retired into an obfcure part of pounds a year. His habit of idleneis the kingdom, to a curacy of forty and his melancholy, which made him avoid company, entirely thut up every avenue to preferment. So that he continued in this fituation till he was near fifty years of age, when a relation dying without iffue, left Marcellus an eftate of a thousand pounds a year. Had a fmall, a very fmall part of this been bestowed upon his education, it would have been of more fervice than the whole at this time of life. It would have enabled him to have felected the moft amiable of his acquaintance, and contracted the most valuable friendfhips; to have purfued his ftudies with alacrity and fuccefs, and have raised himself to the eminence he once afpired to. But Avaro had not generafity to give fo long as he was capable of enjoying it himself: his utmost bounty never extended beyond some trivial prefent. Marcellus's fortune came now too late. A change in his outward circumftances could not change his temper which was foured by disappointments. His reflections, indeed, on his fituation, were not fuch as gave eafe to a troubled mind. He found himself far advanced in life, without making the proper progrefs, without note in his profeffion, without friends, without any of thofe endearing relations for which alone life is worth enjoying: In the midst of society he found himself savage and forlorn. He died a few years after the acquifition of his fortune, a melancholy proof of the neceffity of a liberal education.

If any perfon concerned in the education of youth fhould read this story, let them not, after a careless perufal, throw it afide as the produce of an idle imagination that feeks to amufe itself with trifles: It is fact, and as fuch merits the attention of every ferious perfon concerned,

8

or I have

the honour to prefent a fpecimen of to this illustrious fociety, I am informed, is very rare, and scarce to be found in any of the cabinets of natural curiofities in Europe. Befides, the authors' who have treated on the Ceraftes, as Alpinus and Bellonius, have given fuch unfatisfactory defcriptions of it, and inaccurate figures, that I thought an exact drawing from nature, together with the belt and latest fyftematical account of it, would be agreeable, as well to the lovers of antiquity as natural history.

The ancient Egyptians moft certainly esteemed it a hieroglyphic of fome importance; for when we examine their monuments of the greatest antiquity, fuch as their obelisks, temples, ftatues, palaces, and even their mummies, we are almoft fure to find many reprefentations of it on them. Those two immenfely large stones, lately brought from Alexandria, in Egypt, now in the court-yard of the British Museum, which appear to be part of the grand cornice of fome magnificent palace, have many figures of the Ceraftes curiously engraved upon them.

Dr. Haffelquift, a pupil of the celebrated Linnæus, who was in Egypt in 1750, has given us a particular defcription of this curious animal; but neither he nor the former writers on Egypt, that mention the Ceraftes, fay any thing about the venom of its bite. This we are informed of only by Dr. Turnbull, who lived many years in Egypt, both at Alexandria and Cairo, and who was fo kind to prefent me with those specimens of it.

Dr. Linnæus, in his fyftem of nature, p. 217, calls it Coluber Ceraftes.

Dr. Haffelquist, in his Iter. p. 315, Coluber Cornutus; the following is an extract from his description.

The bead, between the horns, is much depreffed; the cheeks are fwelled out, fo that the hinder part of the head is confiderably thicker than the neck; the fnout is fhort and

Jan,

blunt; the outward front of the upper and under jaws have a fmall cavity, or depreffion, in both; the noftrils project like thofe of a pug dog.

The eyes have a perpendicular narrow and black pupil; the iris is of a eyes are neatly let round with yellowish grey colour; the orbits of

the

fmall hemifpherical scales.

The tongue is divided at the extremity into two parts.

The teeth. In the upper jaw there are no teeth, but two bones placed. lengthways in the palate; in them are fixed feveral small teeth, generally about ten: they fharp, of an equal length, and bend a little towards the throat. On the fides of the under jaw, near the fnout, are placed three or four teeth; but none quite in the fore part or hinder part.

The horns. Juft above the eyes, near the upper part of their orbit, are two tentacula, which we call horns, about a quarter of an inch long; they are not straight, but bend a little outwards; they are channelled lengthways, fharp pointed, but not very hard; their bafis is furrounded with a circle of fmall erect scales.

The body is narrow towards the neck; the diameter of the thickest part of the middle about one inch; the tail grows fuddenly taper, and ends in a tharp point.

The colour. The top of the head, the back and upper part of the tail, are variegated with large irregular fpots, of a bright ochry colour, or reddifh_brown; the throat, belly, and under part of the tail, are whitish,

The length of this fpecimen (See the PLATE.) is as follows; from the nofe to the anus 22 inches, the tail 3 inches; fo that the whole ferpent is 26 inches long.

The belly is covered with 145 broad fcales, or fcuta; the tail with 43 pair of fmall fcales, or fquamæ..

The number of fquamæ and fcuta have been thought by late authors to be the best method of determining the fpecies of ferpents; but they are not ignorant that they differ a few now and then Haffelquift reckoning 150 fcuta, and 50 pair of fquamæ, to his Coluber cornutus.

I am, my lord, your lordship's
Most obedient humble fervant,
JOHN ELLIS..
The