above named general principles) and alfo for the better promoting good fellowship, freedom of converfation, innocent mirth, and every focial virtue as good companions. The people being informed by public proclamation, they all bowed and faid, We obey. From thefe civil focieties Nimrod chofe the most eminent to be of his council in matters political, and they framed the fyftem of government by which the Babylonian and after that the other great empires of the world were governed. So that the Bucks are not only the most ancient but the most noble of all focieties, as it was the original foundation of all diftinction, and productive of every bleffing that mortals can enjoy. During the reign of Ninirod and his fucceffors, down to the reign of Tonos Concoleros, by the Greeks and Romans called Sardanapalus, the thirtieth in fucceffion of the Babylonian and Affyrian Emperors, the Order flourished in its greateft dignity and fplendor, and as the people increated, was traniplanted into al the then known parts of the world. Most of the monarchs and great men that have ever lived have been of this order; but by the deftruction of that Prince, (through his degeneracy from Buck principles) and with him, of that noble empire, by Arbaces the governor of Media, and by the progreffive conquefts and government of the Pertians, Grecians, Romans, Parthians, Saracens, Perfian Sophies, and Caliphs, the order has been in a fluctuating and itine rant ftate, and gone band in hand with the fate of kingdoms, ftates, and times; for it is remarkable of the or ler, that as good fenfe and good manners, friendship and fidelity, were ever the criterion of Bucks, fo in what kingdom, flate, or time foever they flourished, thofe valuable qualities infufed themselves into that people among whom they were. As to the Bucks first setting foot.in Britain, it is faid that Julius Cæfar having made conqueft of the eaftern parts, (as well as Britain) was the firft that tranfplanted them from thence into this kingdom; but others allert, that British Bucks were of a nuch more ancient date, though undoubtedly he increased their number. Since Julius Cæfar, though the like fate that, from Sardanapalus, caufed its pere grination into difierent coutries, has at fome times obfcured the iplendor of the order in Britain, yet it has never been totally extinguished, but feems at prefent to be draw ing to its original luftre, as there are now in London the following lodges, of what is called the United Order: they are held on different nights in the week, by which means the Bucks of one lodge have in opportunity of visiting the reft Once a year it is cuftomary for each fociety to pay a grand vifit to a fifter lodge, at which time the Grand and his officers go in their rega and make a splendid appearance. In each lodge the Grand is affifted by a council of twelve or more, that meet a often as the Grand thinks fit for the welfa of the lodge, and any grievance they have alledge, or motion to make for the good the order is prefented to the grand quarter committee, confifting of the Noble Grand, Noble Bucks, and their deputies of ever lodge, who hear, redrefs, and determine a matters laid before them; a copy of the pr ceedings of which committee is figned by k grand fecretary, and fent to-all the lodges the united order. Befides the lodges above mentioned, there are three very refpectable focieties of Bub (though not of the united order), the on called the Mother Lodge, and held at th Caftle Moorgate ;-the Pewter Plan Lodge held in Crofs-street, Hatton Garde, and the Royal Hanoverian Lodge at th Horn Tavern, Doctors Commons. The making of a Buck is 3s. 6d. and who he attends the lodge he spends Is. 2d. b. there is no fine for non-attendance, and o 6d. per annum paid to the fociety as qu rent for the estate of 500l. per year, whic the grand Buck makes a prefent of to ge ry new made brother, and of which is ordered to take poffeffion as foon as can. To the Editor of the Hibernian Magazint, Continuation of a Tour in the South! Ireland. (Continued from p. 598, of our left.) L' EAVING our friends in Corke, w the deepest regret, we set out for Lin erick, which is about 50 miles North Corke. The firft day we rode to Malies. 14 miles, and as this was the season for con pany at the Well, we here spent three days Mallow is often termed the Irith Bath but little of the fplendor and magnificen of the English Bath appears here. The a commodations are tolerably good, thoug dear. The town feemed pretty full of com pany; but from its vicinity to Corke, a the remarkable quality of the water, might expect to fee this town increafing in a far more rapid degree than it does. Whi our nobility and gentry 'fpend their incom abroad; while every individual, from the peer of the realm, to the loweft citizen, and even the farmer, difdains to appear in the manu A Tour through the South of Ireland. 1786. manufacture of our own country; while Ireland affords not a feminary fit for the education of the children of its meanest inhabitints; why fhould we be fatisfied to have our maladies cured at home? Irish phyficians, and Irish waters, muft certainly be as unfashionable as Irish cloth, and Irish education. There is one neat ftreet in Mallow, tho' the houses, new and old, are in the Spanish fashion, fomething like the old wooden houses formerly in Dublin. There is a good afTembly-room, but no coffee-house. The fituation indeed of Mallow is delightul, on the bank of the Blackwater, being, urrounded by an highly improved country, dorned with a confiderable number of neat eats and well planted improvements. A beautiful fhady walk, by the fide of a anal, leads from the town to the well, where the patients drink the water in the open air, there being not even a pump-room. There are a few sedan-chairs kept for hire in he town. There is nothing remarkable between Malow and Limerick, except the ancient boough of Kilmallock, which is defcribed in he Philofophical Survey of the South of reland; the author of which work feems o be a man of fenfe and judgment, very ifferent from other late English writers on his fubject, whofe works are below conempt; yet this writer is not quite free from English prejudice, as might eafily be fhewn, nd a perfon might imagine the Doctor, to whom he wrote, muft be very ignorant to eed seriously to be informed that Ireland is livided into four provinces; that an Irish erch is seven yards, and many other fuch natters. Many little circumstances in fome of our late writers of tours, would make us magine that English writers are more ignoant than Irish peasants. It is worthy of remark, that the turnpike oads are almoft the only roads fit for traveling in Muniter; whereas in other parts the ounty roads are much preferable to the urnpike roads. This muft proceed from inttention or want of public fpirit in the inabitants of the South; for it is fearce coneivable what difference there is between the bads in this part, and those of the other rovinces. It must be owned that in public works, in he elegance of private buildings and imrovements, the South of Ireland is almoft NOT E. * Even the attorney's clerk must be drefd in English cloth. And fuch is the conmpt of Irish woollens in Ireland, that it is mmon for the draper to fell for English, ofe that are really Irish. Survey of S. Ireland. 643 a century behind the reft of the nation, fome parts of Connaught excepted. Half a mile above Limerick, the river Shannon divides itself, forming an island, on the South part of which the Englishtown is built and though it is 63 miles from the fea, veffels of 500 tons burden come up to the quay with fafety. Its communication with the Irish town is by a bridge, on one fide of which a row of houfes have lately been built; this quite obftructs the river, and gives it a very difagreeable appearance. Over the main channel of the river is a bridge of 14 arches, whereby the city has a communication with the county Clare; on this as well as the county Limerick fide are extensive suburbs of half a mile in length. The New Bridge, of three arches, which joins that part of the town, called Newtown-Pery, is an handfome building, the center arch being 41 feet wide. The city and fuburbs are of a great length, perhaps near two English miles, but the breadth is inconfiderable. I know not how many parishes Limerick contains; but the churches in repair are but three; the outfide of a fourth has lately been built by the Rt. Hon. Lord Vif. Newtown Pery, which, doubtlefs, he will not leave unfinished. The cathedral church of St. Mary, is an ancient Gothic building, with a tolerable steeple, and a ring of bells: the other two merit not a particular defcription, being plain buildings without fteeples. There are alfo in this city, a Prefbyterian, Quakers, and Methodifts meeting-houfe, and four Romish parish chapels. The ftreets are in general narrow and mean, except in Newtown-Pery, where two quays, and several streets have been planned, and partly built of brick in an elegant and uniform manner, far exceeding those of any town in the kingdom, the metropolis only excepted In this part of the town is the new cuftom-houfe, erected in 1765, at a vaft expence. An elevation of this elegant building may be fen in the History of Limerick, to which we refer. The number of houfes in Limerick (per Watfon's almanack) in 1767, were 3859, and in 1777, 5257, making an increase of near 1400 in ten years. This is quite erroneous. Were we to form a conjecture, we fhould imagine the number of houfes at prefent to exceed four thoufand. The inhabitants are generally eftimated at 40,000. It is the third city in the kingdom for extent and population, and nearly half as large as Corke. This city was a regular garrifon till 1760, fince which time the walls and 14 gates have been taken down. When cooped within walls, the citizens were much straitened for room. Since the taking down of the walls, Mmm m 2 the the city has been much improved and enlarged, the air, by being lefs confined, is become more wholefome. In the place of the old walls, have been fubftituted the fpacious quays and streets before mentioned, and large commodious houses are daily rifing. The city is adorned with an handfome exchange, two court-houses, a jail,, and two barracks, capable of containing eleven hundred men. They have likewife fpacious and elegant affembly-rooms, lately erected on the new quay. The mayoralty-houfe is but mean, in no wife fuitable for the refidence of the chief magiftrate of fo improving a city as Limerick. It would be well worthy the attention of the corporation (who are poffeffed of a confiderable revenue) to build a large and elegant manfion for their mayors, that might afford them a place of refidence fuitable to their dignity, and at the fame time be an handfome ornament to the city. The imports of Limerick are very confiderable, but its exports inconfiderable, if compared with thofe of Corke or Waterford. There is a confiderable manufacture of ferges carried on here. Several people of fortune refide in this city, and there is a large number of sedanchairs in the fireets. From Limerick we returned Eaft to Clonmel 42 miles. The land in the county Limerick is by far the most fertile in Ireland, therefore fet at very high rents to graziers, by which means there is little or no employment for the few peasants who refide therein. Their habitations are very wretched, and their manner of living much meaner than in the leis fertile parts. Thus it is in every fertile part of this nation, while the land is occupied by cattle, intended to feed foreigners, and often enemies, the poor natives are almoft deftitute of food. From Clonmel we rode eleven miles to Cathel, through a very bleak country, occupied by cattle. Cafhel is ftyled a city; it confifls of feveral hundreds of houfes and cabins, difpofed in irregular streets; a more particular defeription of it, with the ruins of its ancient cathedral, may be feen in the Philofophical Survey of the South of Ire land. From Cafhel we rode 15 miles of a bad road, through a bleak country to Urlingford, when we enter Leinfter province. The country now becomes more populous, better improved, and the roads much more agreeable for travelling. The country between Abbyleix and Durrow is very beautiful, uniting every thing in nature and art. At leaving Cafhel, our intention was to return immediately to Dublin, bavi abfent about nine weeks; but the v continuing favourable, and fome of company being defirous of vifiting the We tern parts of Leinfter, we crofled the ex try from Moneftereven to Portringe This town is fituated in a beautiful we n proved country; the houfes are in good, and moftly inhabited by gentlem but many of them being inclofed with courts, or gardens, have not an hand appearance in the ftreets, which by s means are very irregular. The town a pretty confiderable extent. It is reti a very genteel place; they have font az ney fedan-chairs, and affemblies are freq There are boarding fchools for both here; and from its fituation, muft be eligible place for education, as I look the town and neighbourhood full as polit the petty villages in Lancashire, and parts of England, where our youth nerally educated. The country in Leinster we found better improved, than what we paffed in Munfter; the farms are not exter nor the huts fo miferable. The gener of labour is about 8d. per day ; veft time, the labourer has 1cd, or adsl his food, fometimes more. but in From Portarlington we rode five my Mount-Mellick, a neat well built tow fome bufinefs; and from thence, Shall through Montrath and Burros-in-C two poor towns, to Rofcrea, on the bo of Tipperary county. Rofcrea is a pretty good town, of bufinefs, with an ancient church and a b caftle. The furrounding country (par larly the Leinfter fide) is well plante verfified with hill and dale, and adre with feveral gentlemens feats. From thence we went to Birr, a to: pretty confiderable extent, neatly built, very regular, adorned with a pedeftriant tue of the late Duke of Cumberland, high column. This town feems in a fours ing condition, having the advantage refident landlord. From Birr to Athlone, on the Le fide of the Shannon, the country is n fo well planted, nor fo populous, as the terior and Eaftern parts of the provis however, notwithstanding the foil is turally poor, if compared with the lands Limerick and Tipperary counties, yet, it much better cultivated than thofe bringing a confiderable quantity of g particularly oats Athl *Great part of the country betwee Limerick and Athlone is rough, and fome places mountainous, yet it affent great fb86. A Tour through the South of Ireland. med Athlone is a large town, beautifully fitubated on both fides of the Shannon, in the gf rovinces of Leinfter and Connaught. Its bearincipal manufacture is of woollen hats. to of Listen The town confifting of two parishes, conMains but one church, built by parliament, which the author quoted in the notes, efeems a proof of the poverty of the place. This does not always follow, as it is well teknown, the parliament often grants money o build churches in the richest parishes. gardes, c The inhabitants of Ireland imagine themfelves exempt from the expence, which they think ought to be defrayed by the firft fruits, which, if properly managed, would leave little occafion either to burden the people, or oblige them to apply to parliament. In this town is a large caftle, which ferves for a barrack for a regiment of horse. Hence to Moate of Granoge, about nine miles, the country produces great quantities of oats, fome wheat and barley, and a good part is under cattle. Moate is a long village, with an handfome church, and a very high Danish mount, whence the town has its name. Thence we rode about 18 miles, through a country not very populous, though pretty well cultivated, to Mullingar, the fhire town of this county Weft-Meath. The country fome miles round Mullingar is very beautiful; woods, lawns, and gentlemens feats, on the fides of feveral lakes of a mile or greater extent, diverfifying the fcene in the moft delightful manner. The town itself is pretty large and well built, and from the appearance of the fhops, feems to have a confiderable trade. The affizes of the country, the great wool fairs, and almost a conftant refort of travellers, render this a place of confiderable ftir. There are two great inns in this place. N T E. greater pleasure than the moft fertile parts; for it fhewed incomparably more cultivation, and more figns of population. The houses, I remarked, grew more frequent and lefs wretched, wherever the grounds were bad. For not being fit for pafturage, they are obliged to till them; tillage requires human creatures, who muft fhare fome pittance of their own labours. The bog and the mountain is reclaimed for a (fcanty fubfiftence; the rich foils are eaten up by fheep and bullocks, and the famished fhepherd is made the very fcape-goat of human nature." Philof. Survey S. of Ireland. I have heard a gentleman in the North fay, that if it were not for the extreme poverty of the foil, the numerous inhabitants of Ulfter muft starve. And in fome degree the affertion is good. Yet the Munfter graziers complain very much that tillage will quite impoverish the land, if it, be not timely flopped. 645 From Mullingar we rode to Trim, the fhire town of the county of Eaft-Meath, lefs than the former, the pretty well built. Here are ruins of fome old caftles, and part of the town walls yet flanding. A large new goal has lately been built, after the model of that in Dublin. Thence to Slane, remarkable for a great flour mill, one of the first erected in the kingdom, though now furpaffed by that at Marlfield, near Clonmel. This fertile country, though generally di vided into extenfive farms, is in many places well cu tivated, producing a great quantity of wheat for the Dublin and Northern markets. Likewife, fupplying many parts of Ulfter with beef and mutton. The farms have a peculiar neatnefs, very different from the more fertile lands in the Southern parts. We now came to the famous town of Drogheda, which feems to be the largest in Leinster, next to the metropolis; we imagine the number of houfes in it must exceed two thoufand, though we have not heard that an exact enumeration has been made. This great town at prefent contains only two parishes, feparated by the river Boyne. The parifh of St. Peter, on the North fide, is in every refpect the greater. The church well fituated on a rifing ground, is a large and elegant building, with a good steeple, on which stood a tall fpire, taken down a year or two ago, why not again rebuilt we could not learn. St. Mary's church has no fteeple. Thefe two are the only churches now left in this town, though, by the ruins yet remaining, we imagine there were feveral others, before the dreadful' havock committed here by Cromwell. The tholfel, in the centre of the town, is a handfome building, adorned by a steeple. The houfes are moftly of brick, and of late years, buildings have encreased in number and elegance; fo that the town at pre-' fent appears to be in as flourishing a state, as before Cromwell's devaftation. The principal manufacture carried on in the town and neighbourhood, is that of coarfe fheetings, of which there is a large market weekly. The inhabitants of Drogheda, of the Romish church, far exceed the Proteflants in number, thefe have feveral chapels. The ride from Drogheda back to Dub'in we need not defcribe, being fo near the metropolis, few of your readers require the delineation. Thus have we given a sketch of our journey, which we hope will afford amufement to fome of your readers; and we hope, that the example may induce fome more able hands, from time to time, to favour the public, through the channel of your Maga zine, they come into the fituation requifite to preferve their balance. One of thefe pieces rolling over in this manner, came fo near our fhip, that had it been to or 12 feet nearer, it would have hit her; in which cafe the would undoubtedly have been dashed to pieces, or at leaft very materially damag Origin and Cause of the Mountains of Ice in ed. I mufi confefs that this tremendous Greenland, (Extracted from Foster's Hiftory of the Voyeges and Discoveries made in the North: just published.), THE HE country of Greenland ftretches very far to the northwards, and is full of inlets, running deep into the country, and founds, where, in hard winters, maffes of ice of an astonishing fize are generated by the mountains of inow which are blown down from off the high rocks, and in the fpring, in confequence of the thaws, of Heavy rains, and of the fea-water dafhing upon them, are converted into ice, Thefe mountains of ice are torn off by the tides and torrents of rain-water, and at length carried out to fea. But frequently they are fo numerous, that in the ftraits between Ice land and Greenland they are preifed together by storms, and without previously melting, freeze into one mafs fo as to form large fields of ice; particularly if they happen to be formed on fand-banks and fhallows, and cannot go any farther; for they extend to fuch an aftonishing depth in the water, that hardly one fifteenth part of them is above the furface of it, and fometimes many thoufind feet of fuch a mafs are under water. Now, as by thefe enormous mountains and fields of ice, large tracts of the ocean are entirely covered with ice, and confequently no vapours from the fea, which are ufually mild and damp, can reach the land in Greenland, or at least but in very small quantitie, the cold must be thereby prodigiously augmented, when in addition to this, the north winds, already of themfelves fufficiently cold, blow over these immense fields of ice, and in their courfe are continually cooled more and more, till at laft they are rendered fo cold, as to be abfolutely infupportable. When the mild weather begins to operate upon the islands of ice, upon the enormous mafles of ice called mountains, they will netimes fall to pieces. The breaking up of fuch a huge mals of ice is always accompanied with a very loud noife, fimilar to that of thunder. Two or-t r-three times, in our voyages round the world, we were very near one of these burfling mountains of ice, and confequently heard the noife rrade by it. But as the center of gravity in thefe pieces of ice is quite different from that of the entire mafs, it frequently happens, that they roll over in the water feveral times before fcene is fill present to my imagination in all its horror, and will, I believe, never be erafed from my memory. For furely a more dreadful fituation cannot be conceived than to range about, imprisoned, as it were, in a folitary hip, between dreary maffes of ice, on an immenfe ocean, many hundred miles diftant from any land, and remote from all human affiftance; and in this ftate, conftantly furrounded by gloomy fogs, to be under continual apprehenfion either of running foul of one of thefe glacial mountains, whill under a prefs of fail, in confequence of which the faip must be inevitably dafhed to pieces; or eile, in cafe this enormous mais fhould burft, to behold its fragments (which however are larger than Peter's mountain in the saal district) rolling about in the fea with unwieldy turbulence, approach the vessel with a tremendous noise, and perhaps fuddenly plunge both it and the unfortunate crew to the bottom of the vast abyfs. On the Character of the prefent King of *Prussia. "THE HE Hereditary Prince of Pruffia lives in a îmali houfe in the town of Potfdam. His appointments do not admit of that degree of munificence, which might be expected in the Heir of the Crown; but he difplays a fpirit of hospitality far more oblig. ing than magnificent; and doubly meritori ous, confidering the very moderate revenue allowed him. We generally fup there two or three times a week. • This Prince is not often of the King's parties, nor is it imagined that he enjoys a great fhare of his uncle's favour. In what degree he possesses the talents of a General is not known, as he was too young to have any command during the late war. But he certainly has a very juft understanding, which has been improved by ftudy. He has taken fome pains to acquire the English language, to which he was induced by an admiration of feveral English authors, whole works he had read in French and German. He is now able to read English profe with tolerable facility, and has been of late ftudying Shakspeare, having actually read two or three of his plays. "I took the liberty to obferve,' that as Shakspeare's genius had traced every laby rinth, and penetrated into every recefs of the human heart, his fentiments could not fal to pleafe his Royal Highnefs; but as his an |