1781, and the fifth (which brings down the Hiftory to the acceflion of Hen. VII.) in 1785. The fubje&t of these volumes comprehends the most intricate and obfcure periods of our hiftory; and when we confider the fcanty and fcattered materials which Dr. Henry has digefted, and the accurate and minute information which he has given us under every chapter of his work, we must have a high opinion both of the learning and induftry of the author, and of the vigour and activity of his mind: efpecially when it is added, that he employed no amanuenfis, but completed the manufcript with his own hand; and that, excepting the first volume, the whole book, fuch as it is, was printed from the original copy.Whatever corrections were made on it, were inferted by interlineations, or in reviling the proof-fheets. He found it neceffary, indeed, to confine himself to a firft copy, from an unfortunate tremor in his hand, which made writing extremely inconvenient, which obliged him to write with his paper on a book placed on his knee intead of a table, and which unhappily increafed to fuch a degree, that in the last years of his life he was often unable to take his victuals without affistance. An attempt, which he made after the publication of the firth volume, to employ an amanuenfis, did not fucceed. Never having been accustomed to dictate his compofitions, he found it im * poffible to acquire a new habit; and though he perlevered but a few days in the attempt, it had a fenfible effect on his hearth, which he never afterwards reco vered. He did not profefs to ftudy the ornaments of language; but his arrangement is uniformly regular and natural, and his ftyle fimple and perfpicuous: and, as a book of facts and folid information, fup. ported by authentic documents, his Hitory will stand a comparifon with any other Hiftory of the fame period. Not having been able to tranfact with the bookfellers to his fatisfaction, the five volumes were originally publifhed at the risk of the author. When the first volume appeared, it was cenfured with an unexampled acrimony and perfeverance in feveral magazines, reviews, and newspapers. In compliance with the ufual cuftom, he had permitted a fermon to be publifhed which he had preached before the Society in Scotland for propagating Chriftian Knowledge in 1773; a compofiuon containing plain good fenfe on a common fubject, from which he expect * { ed no reputation. This was eagerly feized-on by the adverfaries of his Hiftory, and torn to pieces with a virulence and afperity which no want of merit in the fermon could justify or explain. An anonymous letter had appeared in a newspaper, to vindicate the Hiftory from fome of the unjust cenfures which had been published, and afferting, from the real merit and accuracy of the book, the author's title to the approbation of the publick. An anfwer appeared in the course of the following week, charging him, in terms equally confident and indecent, with having written this letter in his own praife. The efforts of malignity feldom fail to defeat their purpofe, and to recoil on those who direct them. Dr. Henry had many friends, and till lately had not difcovered that he had any enemies. But the author of the anonymous vindication was unknown to him, till the learned and refpectable Dr. Macqueen, from the indignation excited by the confident petulance of the anfwer, informed him that the letter had been written by him.Thefe anecdotes are fill remembered.The abuse of the Hiftory, which began in Scotland, was renewed in fome of the periodical publications in South Britain; though it is juftice to add (without meaning to refer to the candid obfervations of English criticks), that in both kingdoms the afperity originated in the fame quarter, and that paragraphs and criticifins written at Edinburgh were printed in London. The fame fpirit appeared in Strictures published on the fecond and third volumes; but by this time it had in a great meature loft the attention of the publick. The malevolence was fufficiently underflood, and had long before become fatal to the circulation of the periodical paper from which it origi naily proceeded. The book, though printed for the author, had fold beyond his molt fanguine expectations; and had received both praife and patronage from men of the first literary characters in the kingdom: and though, from the alarm which had been railed, the bookfellers did not venture to purchafe the property till after the publication of the fifth volume, the work was eftablished in the opinion of the publick, and at last rewarded the author with a high degree of celebrity, which he happ:ly lived to enjoy. Dr. Henry was no doubt encouraged from the firit by the decided approbation of fome of his literary friends, who were allowed to be the most competent judges of 910 Memoirs of the late Dr. Robert Henry. of his fubject; and in particular by one of the most eminent hiftorians of the prefent age, whofe hiftory of the fame period, jufly poffeffes the highest reputation. The following character of the first and fecond volumes was drawn up by that gentleman, and is well entitled to be inferted in a narrative of Dr. Henry's life. "Thofe who profefs a high efteem for the firft volume of Dr. Henry's Hiftory, I may venture to fay, are almost as numerous as thofe who have perused it, provided they be competent judges of a work of that nature, and are acquainted with the difficulties which attend fuch an undertaking. Many of thofe who had been fo well pleafed with the firft, were impatient to fee the fecond volume, which advances into a field more delicate and interesting but the Doctor hath fhewn the maturity of his judgement, as in all the reft, fo particularly in giving no performance to the publick that might appear crude or hafly, or compofed before he had fully collected and digefted the materials. I venture with great fincerity to recommend this volume to the perufal of every curious reader who defires to know the ftate of Great Britain in a period which has hitherto been re. garded as very obfcure, ill fupplied with writers, and not poffeffed of a tingle one that deferves the appellation of a good one. It is wonderful what an inftructive, and even entertaining book, the Doctor has been able to compofe from fuch unpromising materials: Tantum feries jun&turaque pollet. When we fee those barbarous ages delineated by fo able a pen, we admire the oddnefs and fingularity of the manners, customs, and opi. nions, of the times, and feem to be introduced into a new world; but we are ftill more furprized, as well as interested, when we reflet that thofe ftrange perfonages were the anceflors of the prefent inhabitants of this island.-The objet of an Antiquary hath been commonly diflingu hed from that of an Hiftorian; for though the latter thou d enter into the province of the former, it is thought that it should only be quanta bafla, that is, fo far as is neceifaiv, without comprehending all the minute difquifitions which gave fuch fupreme pleafure to the mere Antiquary. Our learned author hath fully reconciled thefe two charac [oa. one as well as the other is delivered with great perfpicuity, and no lefs propriety, which are the true ornaments of this kind of writing. All fuperfluous embellifhments are avoided; and the reader will hardly find in our language any per formance that unites together fo perfectly the two great points of entertainment and inftruction."-The gentleman who wrote this character died before the publication of the third volume.-The progrefs of the work introduced Dr. Henry to more extenfive patronage, and in particular to the notice and esteem of the Earl of Mans field. That venerable nobleman, who is fo well entitled to the gratitude and admiration of his country, thought the merit of Dr. Henry's Hifto ry fo confiderable, that, without any fulicitation, after the publication of the fourth volume, he applied perfonally to his Majefty, to beltow on the author fome mark of his royal favour. In confequence of this, Dr. Henry was informed by a letter from Lord Stormont, then Secretary of State, of his Majefty's intention to confer on him an annual penfion for life of a hundred pounds, "confidering his diftinguithed talents, and great literary merit, and the importance of the very ufeful and laborious work in which he was fo fuccefsfully engaged, as titles to his royal countenance and favour." The warrant was iflued on the 28th of May, 1771; and his right to the penfion commenced from the 5th of April preceding. This penfion he enjoyed til his death, and always confidered it as inferring a new obligation to perfevere fteadily in the profecution of his work. From the Earl of Mansfield he received many other teflimonies of eftcem, both as a man and as an author, which he was often heard to mention with the most aff. Ationate gratitude.— The octavo edition of his Hiftory, published in 1788, was infcribed to his Lordfhip. The quarto edition had been dedicated to the King. 2 The property of the work had hitherto remained with himfelt. But in April, 1786, when an octavo edition was intended, he conveyed the property to MT, Cadell and Stralian; referving to himfelt what full remained unfold of the quarto edition, which did not then exceed eights-one comple e fetts. A few copies were afterwards printed of the wolumes of which the first impretion was exhausted, to make up aditional fetts: and before the end of 1786 he fold the whole to Mell. Cadell and Strahan. By the the firft tranfaction he was to receive 1000l. and by the fecond betwixt 300l. and 400l.; about 1400l. in all. Thefe fums may not be abfolutely exact, as they are fet down from memory; but there cannot be a mistake of any confequence on the one fide or the other.-Dr. Henry had kept very accurate accounts of the fales from the time of the original publication; and, after his last transaction with Meff. Cadell and Strahan, he found that his real profits had amounted in the whole to about 3300 pounds; a ftriking proof of the intrinfic merit of a work which had forced its way to the public efteem unprotected by the intereft of the bookfellers, and in fpite of the malignant oppofition with which the first voJumes had to fruggle. The profecution of his Hiftory had been Dr. Henry's favourite object for almoft thirty years of his life. He had naturally a found conftitution, and a more equal and larger portion of animal fpirits than is commonly poffeffed by literary men. But from the year 1785 his bodily ftrength was fenfibly impaired. Notwithstanding this, he perfitted ftea dily in preparing his fixth volume, which brings down the Hiftory to the acceffion of Edward VI. and has left it in the hands of his executors almoft compleat ed. Scarcely any thing remains unfinished but the two fhort chapters on arts and manners; and even for thefe he has left materials and authorities fo diftinctly collected, that there can be no great difficulty in fupplying what is wanting. It is hoped that this volume may be ready for publication fome time in the prefent win ter, or the fpring of 1792; and that it will be found entitled to the fame favourable reception from the publick which has been given to the former volumes. It was written under the difadvantages of bad health and great weaknefs of body. The tremulous motion of his hand had increafed fo as to render writing much more difficult to him then it had ever been: but the vigour of his mind, and his ardour, were unimpaired; and, independent of the general character of his works, the pofthumous volume will be a lafting monument of the ftrength of his faculties, and of the literary industry and perfeverance which ended only with his lite. Dr. Henry's original plan extended. from the invasion of Britain by the Romans to the prefent times. And men of literary curiofity mutt regret that he has not lived to complete his defign; but he has certainly finished the moft difficult parts of his fubject. The periods after the acceffion of Edward VI. afforded materials more ample, better digested, and much more within the reach of common readers. Till the fummer of 1790 he was able to purfue his ftudies, though not with. out interruptions. But at that time he loft his health entirely; and, with a conftitution quite worn out, died on the 24th of November of that year, in the 73d year of his age.-He was buried in the church-yard of Polmont, where it is propofed to erect a monument to his memory. Mr. URBAN, L August 12. OOKING into Dr.Llewelyn's "Hiftorical and Critical Remarks on the British Tongue, and its Connexion with other Languages, founded on its State in the Welsh Bible," published in 1769; [ obferve that, after taking notice that the British tongue is a language fpoken by thoufands, and hundreds of thoufands, in the principality of Wales, and that it is a language in which a number of books have been composed and published, he adds, "The Rev. Mr. Moses Williams, a gentleman to whom his country is many ways indebted, printed, above fifty years ago, a Catalogue of Books published relative to Wales, and moftly in the Welsh tongue, which Catalogue contains the names, and fometimes brief accounts, of near two hundred books, of different fizes ;" and that, fince the printing of the above Catalogue, feveral other books, both original compofitions and tranflations, have been publifhed in the fame language. In a note fubjoined he further fays, that, for the perusal of this curious and uncommon Catalogue, he was obliged to his communicative friend, Richard Morris, efq. the very worthy Prefident of the Cymthedorion Society. This obfervation being communicated to many of my Welth friends, we are become anxious to perufe this curious Catalogue, but are at a lofs how to get at it, unless you will be fo obliging as, through fome of your correfpondents, to favour us with it. The Welsh language moft certainly is raifing its drooping head (notwithstanding the efforts of its late violent enemy, Dr. Squire); and we antient Britons now hope to fee it patronifed and encouraged. Furnishing us with this Catalogue will probably be of fervice to the caufe; and therefore we intreat the affiftance of fuch 912 Latinizing Surnames?—Cure for the Bite of a Mad Dog. [Oct. of your correfpondents as may be wellwifhers to it; further requefting, that the Catalogue may be brought down to the prefent time, with the prices, &c. of the books, and where they may probably be purchased. The very refpectable name of Mofes Williams being mentioned by Dr. Llew. elyn, brings to my recollection a circumftance I have frequently been induced to fuppofe rather ftrange and abfurd; and though I have made the obfervation to many men (whom I thought) of learning, yet I never heard it, poffibly owing to my ignorance, fatisfactorily accounted for. For inflance (among many others which occur in title-pages to many Latin authors), in the title-page to Hywel Dda's Laws it is added, "Quas ex variis codicibus manufcriptis eruit, interpretatione Latinâ, notis & gloffario illuftravit Gulielmus Wottonus, S.T.P. adjuvante Mofe Gulielmio, A.M. R. S. Soc. &c." -Why Gulielmio, and not Williams ?— Why fhould a furname, the name of a family, which I always underflood to be arbitrary and invariable, be Latinized? The Chriftian name may, I admit, be Latinized; but why torture a furname? -If a Welsh relation of Mofes Williams were to look at the title-page alJuded to, he never would be perfuaded that bis cousin had any connexion with the work, as long as Gulielmio appeared in the title page. However, if any of your correfpondents will be fo kind as to give the reafon why this mode of Latinizing furnames is fo univerfally adopted, it will be taken as a particular favour, affuring you that it is not from idle curiofity that you are thus addreffed, but from a defire of being better informed. AN ANTIENT BRITON. N.B. It would alfo be very fatisfactory, if fome of your learned correfpondents would add a gloffary or dictionary of the names and fituations of places famous for battles, or other remarkable occurrences, in the Hiftory of Wales. A Remedy, fimple in its first Appear ince, yet found by Experiment not only to be very efficacious, but even infallible, if early applied, against the tremendous Confequences of the Bite of a mad Dog, made public for the common Benefit of Mankind WHAT can be imagined more dreadful than a fudden tranfition from perfect health to one of the moft miferable conditions to which man is liable?-When the venom of the bite of a mad dog begins to take effect, within a few days or weeks the unhappy fufferer may become hydrophobical, that is, dreading water, or any other liquid, in fuch a manner, that at the very fight of it he falls into terrible convulfions, and, notwithstanding he is tormented with an unquenchable thirst, it is impoffible for him to fwallow one fingle drop. By intervals he is quite out of his fenfes; and when the dilease attacks him to a very high de gree, he becomes raving mad, inclined to wound or bite any body who comes within his reach: and when he is in this miferable ftate, in which no relief can be administered, it has more than once been granted, as an act of mercy, to put an end to the life of fuch an unhappy man, by fmothering him betwixt two beds.What an aweful scene of mifery! Many years ago, this remedy, which I here fend you, has been known in the province of Groningen, and the adjacent diftricts, where my father was phyfician for feveral years, and had often occation to make trial of it. After repeated and conftant fuccefs, my father judged this remedy fo beneficial to the human fpecies, as to communicate it to the Medical Society at Amfterdam, under the motto, Servandis civibus, in a letter dated Groningen, Aug. 17, 1781, under the title of Obfervations on the Canine Madnefs." The manner in which this remedy is to be prepared, and must be taken, the author defcribes in the following manner, viz. Take three yolks of hen's eggs, and oil olive as much as will fill three half egg-thells; put this together into a frying-pan, on a gentle fire; by continually hiring it with a knife, mix it well together, and continue doing this till it turns to a conferve, or thick jelty, which, when made, will fill a great teacup. The manner of ufing it is as follows: He who is bitten must take (the fooner the better after the bite, the effect of the remedy being uncertain, if not applied To an animal, of what kind foever, that is bitten, must be given, two fuccef. five days, a double portion of the fame remedy; and neither meat nor drink, fix hours before, nor fix hours after. Notwithstanding little or no credit will perhaps be given by many readers to this fimple remedy, I mean now, by fome ftriking inftances, to confirm the efficacy of it against the horrible confequences of the bite of a mad dog, both in men and in beafts. I have known this remedy almost from my infancy, and made ufe of it as cafes required. 913 thanked me in a very obliging manner, with great fatisfaction I took my leave. ther, now phyfician in Groningen, was In the month of June, 1770, my brobitten, by a fmall greyhound which we had in our houfe, in one of his fingers so severely, that the wound bled very much; immediately after he bit alfo our two cats. picion that the dog was mad, for nothing Still we had not the leaft sufextraordinary appeared, and the wound He ate and drank that whole day as ufual. was only dreffed up with a linen rag. The next morning the dog was miffling. and told us that our dog, which he had Not long after, a man came to our houfe, feen about the diftance of three miles, muft certainly be mad, for he had bitten feveral dogs, and a fheep which was in had in this remedy prevented any very the fields. The confidence which we great alarm. My brother took the remedy, according to the prefeription, and by the mercy of God was preferved trom every ul confequence. dogs which were bitten, and to whom Likewife the this remedy was given, shewed no fvmp. toms of madness, and remained free from had not taken his remedy, turned mad. every ill effect. But the theep, which remedy polifles in cafes where animals the houfe of Mr. J. Stook, a late re- In the year 1765, in the month of May, on my voyage to my native city, London, to vifit my friends refiding there, paffing through Amfterdam, where I had remained fome days, I came accidentally to the Binnen Amftel, where I faw many people collected together. Enquiring the reafon, fome of the fpectators told me, that there was a man, who had been come home about an hour, bitten by a mad dog, and that he had a wife and three children. Elated with joy and hope that I could help this man, I defired them to let me pafs Coming into the houfe, I found the whole tamily in tears, for it was well known that the dog which had wounded the man was turned mad. I addreffed myfelf to the man, confoled him, and affured them all, that, if they would fubmit to my advice, there was not the leaft danger. I gave them a prefcription of the abovementioned remedy, and the manner in which it was to be taken. In my return home, accord-lated to Mr. Stook, and it alio being reing to the promife I had made them at porte that a little dog in the neighbourmy departure, palling through Amer- kood was become mau, and this being af dam again, which was in the month of terwards confirmed; Mr. Stook defired, Auguit of the fame year, I paid them another vifit. To my great joy, I found that the man had made ule of my remedy, and that he continued quite whole and found. After the whole family had GENT. MAG. O&tober, 1791. the 8th of January, Mr. van der Piepen 4 ficians to deliver to there patients medicines |