Ossian Collection > Gentleman's magazine, and historical chronicle > Volume 66, Part 2

1 2 c,6.] Llangollen VzXedefendcd. — Nuremburg^fZ/ffW. — Curates. ^<^
Thus Aof. Johnfon define the power
of the \tThthnil. The paffrigcs, poiiu-
ed out by the Bntirti Critic as lendcr-
cd nonfenfe by its ule, aie the follow-
ing:
" While more enchanting notes the ear
affail,
Than thriU'd on Ssrga's. bank the love-.le-
voted vale,"
In profe, " More charming notes than
thnii'd, or penetrated, the vale of
Vauclufe ; as Milton fpeaks above of
founds thr tiling the airy revhn. In the
Jqme feiife, which the Reviewer calls
noifettfe, our authqr fpeaks of the
'tones of a fine iEolian hc.rp, and fays,
ihey " thrill the dufk expanlej" and
of thofe of the final trun^vpct th.it, they
" th.ill the murky gloom" of the fe-
f ulciire ;
** T!ie fainted maid, amid the burfting
tomb,
Hears the laft trumpet tLriU its murky
gloom."
Again, the author fays, in another
poem of this col'cftion, that certain
objefts, which Hie dc(cribet,
•< Diaw the foft teur fi nm tlnll'd Remem-
brance fpriing."
In which, as in all the preceding paf-
fages, the Britifti Critic (ays the word
thrill rnakes nonfenfe, or fomething
not much better. iThe quality, of
piercing or penetrating the airy region
IS mttapho icaliy given to the tones
of the jEolian h^rp, and to thofe of
the lalt trumpet: and Remembrance
is IttiraUy tliriUtd when tender images
of former years return to \\. Judden.y.
TA.]/ word, above all others, biji ex-
'jnefl'es the Ihudder of the nerves,
which, like tears, is equally excued
by pleafare, by tender regret, and by
horror. If it may fcsm to have been
ton often applied by our author, kt it
'be recollefted that the paffag^s ci:ed
'are from different poems, wiitten on
vario-js occslions, and moft "of them
at long-divided periods of time.
British Critic is a title of high
Siffuiiipiion, He, who had the teme-
rity to cenfure an experienced poetic
wnter, fli'U d r.t leaH. have provided
'Jiiiiifeif with Johnfon's Diflicmary,
'which vvciu d have mllrufted him in
the cftablilhed of^ges of poetic diftion,
"and in \.\\i foiveri of tite verb.
Yours, &c. fiffNRy White.
P. 4.13, col. 2, I. i9, Jor *' bleak
jauis," read " bleak i.vics."
ATr. Urban, CrtdUoi, Juut%i
TO folve the enquiry of Mr. Knipp,
p. 373, I beg to quote from Pin-
ker.on's Hiftorv of Medals, which
win be a fufficient elucidation for the'
fubje£l. They are in no wife fcarce ;
I have four in my cabinet of the fame
die. They are known by the name
of jettons, or counters; and, Pinker-
ton fays, are apt to confound the un-
fkiiful, who know not what to make
of them ; they are fmall and very thia
pieces, commonly of copper or brafs j
their intention, as implied by both the
Englifh name and the French jetton,
from jetter, to caft, was merely for
culciilation ; th'S was performed bjr
means of a board, marked with paral-
lel lines, &c. Thefe pieces were of
moft cemmon ufe in abbeys and other
places where the revenue was com-
plex and of diffici}It adjuftment j for
this reafon a great number are found
in the tuins of our Englifh abbeys,
whence they are commonly called ab-
bey-pieces. They are of Nuremburg
fabiication, chiefly from the manu-
faflory of Hans Krawincle and Wolf.
Laufer, whole abbreviated names are
found on them, with the abbreviation
of R-ck. Pe. for Reckoningr Piin-.y,
Snelling, in his Treatife on Counters,
has engraved this among a vail num-
ber of others, one of which has tiic
reckoning table and man counting. If
Mr. Urban thinks this die will atnufe
any of his correfpondents, I will fend
him the counter to fill a niche in one
of his mifcefacaoois plates, and many
others of anticfue impreffions *.
The fong of Liiiibuiero E. A. p,
395, may find in Percy's Reliques,
vol. II. p. 367, and the maiic in the
eighteenth edition of the D^hcing
Mafter, vol. I. p. II 6, by pearfon.
Yours, &c. J. LaskeV.
Mr. Urban, June 24.
PERMIT a perfon, who is a fincere
friend to the eftablifhment of the
Church of England, to offer a few ob-
fervations upon the llaie of the infe-
rior Clergy ; with fome praftical re-
maiks on tlie late a6l which obtained
the fanftion of the I^egiflature, with a
view to render their liiuations more
comfortable, and the profeliion more
refpeftable.
This aiil enables the bifhops to aug-
ment the lalaries of the curates to 7 5 I.
* Tney arc uut worth eugifiviug. iiDir.
a year.