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fol. vol. ii. p. 149. The turquoise vessel is eight inches in diameter : vol. i. p. 65.

1776, Feb.

LVI. Sermon in Praise of Derbyshire.
MR. URBAN,
As

your truly valuable Magazine has such a free and general currency in the county of Derby, I shall here present you with an extract from a long old Ms. Sermon, preached, as I think, before a society of Derbyshire men, in London, and in which you will find an eulogium of that county. .

T. Row.

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Ertract, “ If you fall out amongst yourselves, you'll discredit the county that bred ye. For give me leave to tell you, there is hardly a county in England where faction and division lesse thrives than in Derbyshire. Nay, you will also dishonour this honourable city, as if this place and aire (which has greate influence on mens bodyes and minds, say physicians) had much alter'd your naturall temper and disposition. It was the county of Derby (as I am credibly inform’d) that first of all revived these Love-feasts,* which, by reason of our late civill dissensions, were layd aside. By this you may see the naturall genius and disposition of your county, and may easely judge how like ye are still unto yourselves.

“ And now I have mention'd Derbyshire, it may possibly be expected by some that I should make a long description and commendation of it. But that is the business rather of a topographer than of a preacher; of the mappe than of the pulpit. And, indeed, why should I goe about to describe or commend it unto you, who know it as well as, yea better than, myself.t Yet if any one be desirous to have a sight

* They seemed to have dined together, after a sermon. In one place, he mentions in the margin, as condescending to mix with the inferior sort, H. L. Mansfield, Sir S. Sleigh, Sir J. Curzon, Jer. Poole, Esq. Alderman Ireton.

+ As I had this sermon from the Gardiner family, I imagine it was preached by Dr. Gardiner, Rector of Eckington, who was not a Derbyshire man borne * Numb. xiii. 32. + Here in the margin is written, Wonders of the Peake, Pliu, de Campania, lib. 3.

of Derbyshire, they may see it as in a landskip, described by Moses, Deut. viii

. 7, 8, 9, whilst he is setting forth the choicest excellencies of that country that God chose out of all the world to enfeoffe his own beloved people in. 7. It's a good land, a land of brookes of water, of foun

tains, and depths, that spring out of the hills. 8, 9. " A land of wheate and barley, .... wherein ye

may eate bread without scarcenes.... It's a land, whose stones are iron. A land wherein thou shalt not

lacke any thing. “ What's this but a description, as in a type, of our own county Derbyshire? Wbat pen could have drawen it forth more graphically and exactly? It's a good land, not a hungry soile, that eates up the inhabitants,* but one that feedes, even where it's most barren, in the mountainous Peake, thousands of sheepe, and imployes a farr greater number of men.

It's a land there richest where it's poorest by its mines and grooves; where its surface promises Jeast, it yields most, and what's wanting in nature is supplied by miracles or wonders.t

“ It's a land also (like that which flowed with milke and honey) full of brookes of waters, of depths and fountaines, that spring out of the hills. It is not like the dry desarts of Arabia, or the barren sands of Lybia, but like the delicious plaines of Jordan. A land well water'd, even like Paradise, the garden of the Lord. Quot tubera, tot ubera. Every exuberant hill is as one of nature's springing duggs, alwayes running to meete and refresh the thirsty traveller. In shorte, Naturæ gaudentis opus, f a country wherein nature sports itselfe, leaping up and down, as it were, in the pleasant variety of hills and valleys, untill being weary it recreate itselfe at Chatsworth, Boulsover, or Hardicke.

" It's a land whose stones by indefatigable industry are turned into iron, and by labouring men, for their owne worke and sustenance, into bread. Out of whose hills more lead is digged in a yeare, than Canaan afforded brass in ten.

“ What shall I say more! for time would fayle me sooner than matter. A land of wheate and barley, oates and pease,

that affords seed to the sower, and bread to the eater, who takes paines to get a good stomacke.

“ In a word, and what can be said more? Derbyshire is a county where there is lacke of nothing. Sibi sufficit unus. It's England's cornu-copiæ, having almost all necessaries within itselfe, and supplying with its abundance, the wants of other places. It enjoys good aire, fertile ground, pleasant waters; fire and fuel of the best; neighbouring coun. ties fetch her coles from farr, who, being wasmed by her fires, cannot but wisu* and call her blessed. Cattell, corne, sheepe, mill-stones, iron, lead of all sorts and colours, these are her native commodities, which enrich even the Indies, and visit the uttermost coastes of the earth,

“I might goe on even to the tyring both of you and myselfe, yet after all I must still leave Derbyshire ever as it is, most of her worth and riches hid under ground, in the place of silence. In truth, it's almost a pity to breake up so rich a Haddon-fieldt of discourse, unless we had more time to worke it. I shall onely adde, Derbyshire is a county that lyes in all counties, yea in all parts of Christendome, and beyond; the sun's county ;I where it never setts, but upon which it shines perpetually. She parts with her entrayles, and without complaints surfers her bowells to be continually torne out, to serve the necessities of all nations under heaven.''

There was a collection made, I imagine, at the feast, for the benefit of the poor natives of the county resident in town, for after the last observation there follows, as very naturally to be expected, an inference or exhortation :

“Let us be children resembling our deare mother. Let us draw forth our soule, (Is. Iviii. 10.] our bowells of mer. cies, our purses at least, to supply out of our sufficiency the necessitie of others; I shall not propose, much less pre. scribe, I would have it a free-will offering.”

1776, April.

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* I am not sure that this word is read rightly.

+ A large field much famed for its excellent herbage, bere used metapho. rically.

Here in the margin, “ As the Isle of Rhodes was called Insala Solis, az which it shone every day. Pliu. Nat. Hist. 2."

LVII. Dr. Beattie's Account of Second Sight. MR. URBAN, THE following remarks upon the second sight, wherewith some of the inhabitants of the Highlands of Scotland are still supposed to be haunted, are extracted from the truly ingenious“ Essays” of the celebrated Dr. Beattie, lately printed at Edinburgh, in a large quarto volume, consisting of “ Essays on Truth : on Poetry, and Music: on Laughter and Ludicrous Composition: and on the Utility of Classical Learning." Your readers will, I doubt not, be pleased with the sentiments of this philosopher upon so curious a subject. They occur in p. 480, 1, 2, of the work, and will not be deemed unworthy of a place in your valuable Magazine, if an occasional correspondent is not greatly mistaken in his opinion. He has, therefore, taken the trouble of transcribing them, and hopes they will be inserted as soon as possible.

“I do not find sufficient evidence for the reality of second sight, or at least of what is commonly understood by that term. A treatise on the subject was published in the year 1762, in which many tales were told of persons, whom the author believed to have been favoured, or haunted, with these illuminations; but most of the tales were trifing and

} ridiculous : and the whole work betrayed, on the part of the compiler, such extreme credulity, as could not fail to prejudice many readers against his system. That any of these visionaries are liable to be swayed in their declarations by sinister views, I will not say; though a gentleman of character assured me, that one of them offered to sell him this unaccountable talent for half a crown. But this I think may be said with confidence, that none but ignorant people pretend to be gifted in this way. And in them it may be nothing more, perhaps, than short fits of sudden sleep or drowsiness attended with lively dreams, and arising from some bodily disorder, the effect of idleness, low spirits, or a gloomy imagination. For it is admitted, even by the most credulous highlanders, that, as knowledge and industry are propagated in their country, the second sight disappears in proportion ; and nobody ever laid claim to this faculty, who was much employed in the intercourse of social life. Nor is it at all extraordinary, that one should have the appearance of being awake, and should even think one's self so, during these fits of dozing; or that they should come on suddenly, and while one is engaged in some business. Tue

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same thing happens to persons much fatigued, or long kept awake, who frequently fall asleep for a moment, or for a longer space, while they are standing, walking, or riding on horseback. Add but a lively dream to this slumber, and (which is the frequent effect of disease) take away the consciousness of having been asleep; and a superstitious man, who is always hearing and believing tales of second sight, may easily mistake his dream for a waking vision : which, however, is soon forgotten, when no subsequent occurrence recalls it to his memory; but which, if it should be thought to resemble any future event, exalts the poor dreamer into a highland prophet. This conceit makes him more recluse and more melancholy than ever, and so feeds his disease, and multiplies his visions; which, if they are not dissipated by business or society, may continue to haunt him as long as he lives; and which, in their progress through the neighbourhood, receive some new tincture of the marvellous from every mouth that promotes their circulation. As to the prophetical nature of this second sight, it cannot be admitted at all. That the deity should work a miracle, in order to give intimation of the frivolous things that these tales are made up of, the arrival of a stranger, the nailing of a coffin, or the colour of a suit of clothes, and that these intimations should be given for no end, and to those persons only who are idle and solitary, who speak Erse, or who live among mountains and deserts, is like nothing in nature or providence that we are acquainted with ; and must, therefore, unless it were confirmed by satisfactory proof, (which is not the case,) be rejected as absurd and incredible. The visions, such as they are, may reasonably enough be as. cribed to a distempered fancy. And that in them, as well as in our ordinary dreams, certain appearances should, on some rare occasions, resemble certain events, is to be expected from the laws of chance; and seems to have in it nothing more marvellous or supernatural, than that the parrot, wlio deals out his scurrilities at random, should sometimes happen to salute the passenger by his right appellation.”

1777, March.

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