contradiction to the general belief that Lay tithes were first known under Henry VIII? Is there extant any account of the revenues of the Alien Priories, both spiritual and temporal? are there any records to shew what these revenues were, while they were seized into the hands of the Crown? and if so, where are they to be found? These inquiries, and any other connected with the subject, may fairly be regarded as curious and interesting to the Historical Antiquary: and, how ever obscure the subject may appear to me, I have no doubt that many of your learned Correspondents are able to cast light upon it. If they would do this through the medium of your pages, they would, doubtless, gratify many others, besides

Mr. URBAN,

THE

Σ.

Dec. 12.

HE causes of very thin Congregations in some of our Churches, even where the Service is conducted by worthy and learned Ministers, and the thronged Congregations in others, have very frequently excited my surprise,and led me to no small difficulty in my endeavour to account for them. In order to satisfy myself in this particular, I have, with cautious care to avoid offence, as occasion offered, led to some inquiry on this subject. I have never found that the former arose from any dislike to the Established Minister; but sometimes I have been told that many of the inhabitants of a parish were Dissenters; at others, that most of the houses had been let into separate counting-houses, and the families live out of town: but these causes must be comparatively few some further and more latent reason must operate to injure and reduce the established social worship in those Churches. I am, Sir, very much disinclined towards, and am apt to censure others for, wandering about to hear different Preacherscuriosity seldom begets improvement, though it may create surprise, which is too transient for permanent edification; but I have occasionally, during a course of years past, been at most of the Churches in the Metropolis; and I think the cause may be discovered by a Hearer, when the Preacher himself would never find it out the distinction is probably not known to him, but it is made by his hearers. It is this: The refinement

;

of his own education leads him to reflect philosophically on the duties he would enforce, and he represents them in a light convincing to himself, and to any other scholar in his Congregation; but his people at large are not scholars: even the most respectable of his parish, who are not devoid of the fruits of a good, and, I may say, classical education, are perhaps not inclined, or capable, to trace their duty through a course of reasoning entirely philosophical; therefore, when they hear of the words Virtue-Obligation-Morality—they are led rather to the speculations of the antient or modern Moral Philosophers-their wives and children, apprentices and servants, lose their at tention in the impression that the discourse is either very learned and abstruse, or very dry and tedious, and not intended for them: and thus all parties return home unedified and unimproved! This continues a little time; and then some acquaintance. tells them of a Divine who is very much followed, and they go after him; from whom they hear something which, by the efforts of energy, emphasis, and by the change of the terms abovementioned into those of Godliness, Prayer, Obedience, Righteousness, they better understand, and can more effectually apply in their common modes of life: it is then that their Religion acquires an influence on their conduct and manners, and their minds are kept in a fit state for private devotion, for the public ordinances, and for their last hour! is thus that these Philosophers, although willing to teach the people, and who continue preaching the sermops which they received from their fathers in the beginning of the last century, fail, by adopting the kind of instruction now no louger in use: it is, though we are come to an enlightened period, far too speculative, too abstracted, delicate, and profound; it does not enlighten the common understanding, much less warm the heart! and this must be said, notwithstanding the strides which Educa tion has made during the last thirty years. These excellent men ground their exhortations on moral principles; and they are elucidated by natural objects, the elements, and the progress of the human nind; and they are closed in the name of their Re

It

deemer!

deemer! whereas the distinction is, that scripturally religious principles áre by much the best adapted for a Christian Congregation, and to influence the generality, as being most simple, strong, and most nearly allied to those principles on which ordinary persons act habitually in common life. Those Divines who prefer this mode of instruction take their demonstration from the manner in which our Blessed Lord or his Apostles elucidated their doctrines-illustrations from some fact recited, and most apt to awaken conviction, and dispel every doubt or shadow of speculation -proofs from the corroborating passages of Holy Writ-and their conclusion from the sublime perorations with which on all Christian subjects they are amply furnished in the writings of the New Testament. This seems to be the accepted criterion of a Christian Preacher-he is followed, because he is understood, and he makes the Gospel better known among his people.

In addition to this, their reading the Service would acquire considerably greater interest to themselves, as well as their Congregations, if they would invariably peruse the Psalms and Lessons carefully before they are called upon to read them in public; and every individual would also reap the same advantage, if they would adopt the same plan.

Dr. Hey*, from whose Lectures on Divinity I have taken some of these ideas, and applied them to my present purpose, adds, vol. I. 328;

"If we would have a more particular conception of this matter, we must distinguish Virtue from Religion, and compare the efficacy of one with that of the other. He who performs his duties from any principle which extends not beyond mankind, acts from motives of Virtue, whether he speaks of rectitude, honour, benevolence, prudence, moral sense, the general good, the law of Nature, or the fitness of things:-he who

* Dr. Hey was Norrisian Professor at Cambridge and fellow of Sid. S. Coll.; and published in 1796, his Lectures in 4 vols. 8vo. dedicated to Bp. Porteus; a repubfication of which would be a most ac

ceptable present to every Theological Reader. They constitute perhaps, the best Enlargement of Bp. Pearson on the Creed, which was the design of the venerable Founder.

performs his duties from any view to God, to pleasing him, gaining rewards from him, or avoiding his displeasure, acts from motives of Religion. These latter set of motives seem more intel

ligible than the former :-the obliga

tions of the former are much more easy to be evaded, than Omniscience or Omnipresence-act much less forcibly when any difficulties arise, or strong temptations occur, in the performance of duty, than the firm expectation of rewards or punishments unbounded in their intensity and duration-all this more especially in the case of persons of more ordinary and contracted apprehensions. Moreover, religious principles do not preclude moral ones; on the contrary, religious affections strengthen love of merited praise, sense of honour, beauty, harmony, enlarged prudence; and they

tend to refine benevolence, which of itself may suffice to shew the weakness of Lord Shaftesbury's objections to religious motives. (Leland's View, Letter 6.)"

These practical expedients of preaching, to call back the wandering mind, to place it in a state for the service of God, as well as of man, prove their efficacy by the fact that they are listened to in preference to others; and this also shews that there is a ready disposition in the people for religious instruction, and they throng to those places where they believe that they can procure it. The Rev. Divines who favour their dereliction of the worship in their Churches will, I sincerely hope, pardon me for the hint which is here offered, to adopt the more modern spirit of preaching, and to compose a few new Discourses on the foregoing suggestions; and they will probably recall their wandering flock, and have the pious satisfaction of being beloved, instead of deserted. The experiment repeated, will soon be circulated through their parish; and when their people learn what they have lost in their absence, it is probable that they will return to their seats before the new series can be exhausted. A. H.

circumstances attending the Case of this Hero in humble life is well deserving the attention of the Publick.

On Friday, June 2, 1815, the inflammable gas in a colliery near Newbottle, Durham, exploded; at that time, horrible to relate! seventy-two persons and several horses were in the mine. The state of the air in a mine after an explosion makes it a matter of most serious danger to venture into it; and, though the pitmen are ever ready to risk their lives to save their countrymen, in this particular instance it was considered nearly certain death to make the attempt.

Two hours elapsed before Robson arrived he found many persons at the mouth of the pit, waiting in dreadful anxiety to know the fate of their relatives. Some persons had gone down the shaft, but none of them bad courage to venture into the recesses of the mine where the sufferers were. Robson dauntlessly pushed forward.

Few persons know how to appreciate such conduct: in all human probability, before he had gone 20 yards, the carbonic acid gas would have stupified him, and he would have fallen down never to rise again. The air of the mine was in a dreadful state; yet he persevered, and in a short time came to a place where lay 7 horses miserably scorched. Proceeding for wards, he found 4 men and a boy; these he examined, and they were all dead. The air was now bad to excess. He soon afterwards found 11 men, all with life, but in a state of insensibility; he took one up, and carried him to the shaft. He returned immediately to the recesses of the mine, and carried out two more. He waited some little time to recover himself, and again ventured, when, shocking to relate, his aid came too late, the remaining 8 were no more! On this he went to other parts of the mine; and on examining the bodies of the other unfortunate sufferers, the vital spark was extinct in the whole of them.

It will be a matter of astonishment and admiration to know, that this intrepid fellow was thus employed six hours, almost every minute of which his truly valuable life was in the most imminent danger.

Besides this noble proof that Robson has both a good and a stout heart, it is satisfactory to state, that in his

neighbourhood he bears a most excellent character, as an active and industrious man: he and his wife are both advanced in life; he has a family of two children; and it is hoped that the British Publick will distinguish an effort at once so perilous and successful, by adding a substantial reward to that honorary one already granted by the Royal Humane Society. A Member of the Sunderland Society for preventing Accidents in Coal Mines.

Mr. URBAN,

YOUR

Dec. 18. YOUR Correspondent, G. V. (p. 386.) who is seeking information on the subjects of baking dread and "manufacturing" yest, may con sult with advantage Dr. Thomson's Annals of Philosophy, and the Edinburgh Encyclopædia by Dr. Brewster.

The following observations, on the subjects of his inquiry, I translate for his use, from the recent publications of the eminent French Chemist L. J. Thenard.

"Ferment is a substance which separates, in the form of flakes more or less viscous, from all fruits that undergo the vinous fermentation. It is commonly procured in making beer; and thence it is known in commerce by the name of levure de bière, yest, or barm *. Men called levuriers sell it in Paris in the form of a firm and brittle paste, of a greyish white colour. We shall here consider its properties in that state. Ferment in the form of paste, left to itself in a closed vessel, at a temperature from 15° to 20o (590, to 68° Fahrenheit), is decomposed, and undergoes in a few days the putrid fermentation. Put in contact at the same temperature with oxygen gas in a glass receiver placed over mercury, it absorbs that gas in a few hours, and the results are carbonic acid gas and a little water. Submitted to the action of a gentle heat, it dries, loses more than two-thirds of its weight, becomes hard and brittle, and may then

*"The brewers separate it as much as possible from the beer, and afterward sell it to the levuriers. The latter put it into bags to wash it in a stream, and free it from the beer and from the bitter principle of the hop which it contains by this means they give it the consistency of a firm and brittle paste." The French blue-dyers employ barm in setting their woad-vats.

be

be preserved for an indefinite time. More strongly heated afterward, it undergoes complete decomposition, and gives all the products obtained from the distillation of animal sub stances. It is insoluble in water and in alcohol. Boiling water speedily deprives it of its fermentative property, at least for many days. In effect, when it is put in contact with a solution of sugar, after being held for ten or twelve minutes immersed in boiling water, the solution remains a long time without fermenting: in this operation, the Ferment does not appear to lose any of its principles, nor to acquire others. Its action on the acids, alcalis, and salts, has not yet been well ascertained. The Ferment is used only by bakers for raising their dough, and in places where there are breweries: every where else leven or stale dough (pâte aigrie) is employed.

Flour owes its property of making dough with water to gluten. Dough, in fact, is only a viscous and elastic tissue of gluten, the small cavities of which are filled with starch, albumen, and sugar. Hence it may be conceived that it is also to the gluten that dough is indebted for the property of rising by its mixture with barm or leven. The yest, by acting on the sugar of the flour, gives rise successively to the spirituous and the acid fermentations, and consequently to alcohol, acetic acid, and carbonic acid gas. This gas has a tendency to fly off, which is opposed by the gluten; but the latter giving way, becomes extended like a membrane, and forms numberless small cavities, which impart to the bread lightness and a white colour, and prevent it from being close or heavy. Hence it follows, First, that in panification, too much care cannot be taken to mix the barm well with the paste; for whenever they are not intimately mixed, the bread will be necessarily heavy: Secondly, that the dough will be so much the longer in rising, and be more capable of rising, and the bread will be so much the whiter and lighter, as the flour contains more gluten-bakers are well aware of this, and therefore, when they would judge whether flour is good or bad, they make it into dough, which they extend by pulling it in contrary direc tions, and the longer it can be drawn,

the better the flour is it is for this reason that wheaten flour, independently of its being more nutritive, is preferred to the flour of the other cereal grains: Thirdly, that by kneading either pure starch, or starch that is mixed with parenchyma, such as the flour of manioc (an American shrub, from the root of which a kind of bread is made called cassavi), a mass will result which will never rise, even by the addition of matters fit for developing fermentation, and which will make only a very close heavy bread."

In a tour through part of France, last summer, I was frequently obliged to put up with very unpalatable bread, particularly at Elbeuf, Rheims, and Marle. It was, doubtless, prepared without yest; and this practice, I conceive, must be very general, from the scarcity of breweries. Even the best French bread in Paris, if I may be allowed to decide in a matter of taste, is far inferior to the bread commonly made in London.-Their beer is fined like their wine, and bottled in three days afterward. It is drunk within ten or twelve days, and will spoil in the course of six weeks, or two months. The bottles which I partook of had the character of vapid small beer. French cyder is but little better. "They manage these things better in" England. A French Dic tionary (1810) defines Ale to be a kind of English beer made without hops! Yours, &c.

A. MERRICK.

X. Y. Z. says that a publication upon the subject of Bread was printed in 1805, called "The Art of Breadmaking by A. Edlin of Uxbridge;” and he has a very good work in French, called "Le Parfait Boulanger."

A

Mr. URBAN, Dec. 8. DMITTING the observations of your Correspondent A. B. vol. LXXXVI. p. 502, to be strictly cor rect-suppose that one of those vehi cles runs from the Saracen's Head, Snowhill, to the White Swan, Pavement, York, and back again, those of course are the only Inns which it can be said to set out at; and unless a passenger be booked at one of them, he cannot insist on such measurement.-Now, if one of those ingenious "Makers, or Interpreters," should happen to be obliged to take a place,

at

at a distance from either city to go to the other, and the luggage happen to be above the standard, by reason of which the coach is thrown over, and he gets a couple of broken limbs, with other wounds and bruises whereby his life is despaired of," and for which he brings his action; I presume the Coach-proprietor need only plead that the plaintiff was 66 no pas senger," and by that plea completely bar the action; for, if a person is not a Passenger "within the true intent and meaning of the Act" for the former purpose, he certainly is not for the latter, and consequently must suffer his defeat and injury with patience. No COACH-PROPRIETOR.

Mr.URBAN, Camberwell, Dec. 4. THE HE Query I am about to propose may appear at first sight a little irrational; but, aware that whatever has a tendency to afford relief to suffering human nature always receives attention in your Magazine, I am confident you will permit it to appear before the eyes of your numerous and learned readers, as it may be the means of affording a lasting consolation to the friend of an unfortunate person. My inquiry is for a rational mode of treating mental disorder, in a case of very recent uttack, with a well-grounded prospect of benefit. The subject is a young woman, a native of the sister-kingdom. Her mind has ever been extremely susceptible, and her nervous system inclined to great irritation, which habit has been much aggravated by some afflictive occurrences in life. The first symptom of this melancholy complaint occurred some few weeks back, and resulted more immediately from a tedious confinement of many months in-doors, during a long, constant, and affectionate attendance on a sick friend. The common practice, of merely confining the patient, appears to me to be impossible to do any good, without a strict attention to a number of et cæteras, which I should be happy to have pointed out through the medium of your useful publication. In the late French Imperial Calendar, under the head "Hospice de Charenton," it is remarked: "On reçoit et l'on traite des fous dans quelques maisons; mais si on en excepte un très petit nombre, où la qua

lité d'homme est respectée, ces établissemens sont un objet de pure spéculation. L'Insensé, totalement sequestré de sa famille, victime des calculs de la parcimonie, se voit sou vent exposé à des traitemens cruels, et dont il n'a pas les moyens de se plaindre.

"Des terrasses du grand jardin, sont destinées à la promenade; on conduit dans la campagne les malades dont l'état permet de sortir au dehors; enfin on y reunit tous les genres d'amusemens et de distruction, car l'isolement est un moyen d'augmenter la folie, tandis que la société et la vie commune en sont un de l'adoucir."

These observations appear very just. I believe it frequently happens that the unhappy beings lose what little reason they may be possessed of, by a long, and too often cruel confinement, in those abodes of misery and despair.

This is a case that will not admit of great expence. Should therefore any of your medical friends feel inclined to notice it, and point out a probable mode of relief, it will afford the most sincere gratification and heartfelt pleasure to your constant reader, MALHEUREUX.

Mr. URBAN,

Dec. 6. N Na publication entitled, “A complete Collection of the Papers respecting the York Lunatic Asylum, published originally in the York Newspapers, York, 1816," is the following very striking passage: "I can take care my friend shall be ill-used no more, but I will not advertise him in all the York papers for a Lunatic." This is introduced by Godfrey Higgins, after mentioning his having had the

σε

thanks of numbers for taking up the cause of their relations and friends. Yet in several instances, when I have urged them to let me bring forward their individual case, the answer has been, I can take care my friend shall be ill-used no more, but I will not advertise him in all the York pa pers for a Lunatic'."-The very great impropriety of publishing the names of those unfortunate people alluded to, in Newspapers, must, it might be supposed, be obvious to all considerate men; and that no benevolent person would contribute to encourage this practice, we might also imagine: yet

such