afore." I neaver thouat ont hafe an hour numerous family; and feen plenty file dier. "This language, to which I was early In "You must know we have had plenty of potatoes, which, from having been warmed in an oven previous to their coming on-board, keep very well; great attention is paid to airing them, throwing away the rotten ones, and bre king off the fhoots, which have prefented our table with the dainties of young potatoes. I have always obferved, when this is done, the Lancashire and Yorkshiremen are very bufy, for naturally does this invalu. able vegetable and our countrymen agree. Among this number there is a big broadfhouldered fellow (God knows how be will ever be brought "to the right, drefs") who drew a waggon feven years. As I thought I cbferved fomething queer about him, I afked him where he came from?" I coam fro Balluk Smethy, mi maifter an I feal out be Lunon, and liloik a fu, moust lask for a for droll, he gained the good withes of the "This man's conduct was fo peculiar and thip; and I with I could add, that he could return once more to his waggon; but he is no more; for, having scratched his leg, foon after his arrival at Madras, and being in a grofs habit of body, he neglected it as too trifling, and refused amputation, until it was making enquiries after the poor old ways too late to benefit by it. This I heard upon goner." Fratrum Obfervantium in civitate Cantuarienfi eirca annun M.cc.VII. propriis fumptibus ftruxit, & ditavit rectâ ferie defcendentis);. necnon Mariæ filiæ et cohæredis D'm'i Thomæ Kempii, equitis aurati, (ex eifdem penatibus quibus eminentiffimus D'm's Johannes Kempius, Archiepifcopus Cantuarienus, et Cardimalis titulo S'c'i Balbini, et poftea S'c'i Rufini, emanavit, prognatæ,) filius natu quintus, qui Juvenis optima fpei, obiter ab hoc folo tranfiit in cœlum vir die Octobris, anno M-DC.XXXVI. æt. xx11." Arms: thofe of Digges, a crofs charged with 5 fpread eagles, with 2 quarterings. This 5th fon of the famous and learned Sir Dudley Digger is not mentioned in Halled's Kent, III. 130, (under the account of Chilham Cafle: which noble feat, rebuilt about 1616, is now reported to be fold by Tho. Heron, Efq. to a Mr. Wildman). He is, however, inferted in The Topogr. IV. 108, as bapzized in 1622, which difagrees with this infcription. As I find by your last Mag. p. 1002, that the editors of the new edition of the Biographia Britannica are now printing the 5th volume of that work, which must include letter D, it may not be too late to fay, that A.Wood (Ath. I. 618) was wrong in fuppofing the birth place of Sir Dudley Digges to have been, Barham, in Kent; not only becaufe his baptifin is not in the parishregister of that place, which 1 bave examined; but because the familyfeat of Digges's Court, in that parith, never belonged to himfeif, his father, er his grand-father, Leonard, who was a younger brother, and purchased a feat, where he refided, in the neighbouring parish of WOOTON, which defcended to his fon Thomas; who, however, fold it #573, (Hafted, III. 762), before the birth of his eldeft fon, the before-mentioned Sir Dudley, which was in 1581; fo that neither was the latter his birth piace; nor are there any traces of the family in the latter church; and the only entries of them I can find in the regifter, which begins in 1546, and is kept very exact, are the three foltowing: "Aug. 10, 1548, Sarah Diggs, the danghter of Leonard Diggs, baptized.” *Sept. 26, 1549, James Diggs, the fonne of Leonard Diggs, baptized." "Nov. 20, 1551 Daniel Diggs, the fonne of Leonard Diggs, gent. baptized. Having entered into thefe particulari ties, I cannot frain from adding a few more. In the north chancel of Barnham church, formerly called the Digges chancel, now neglected and ruinous, there was remaining, 1790, the brass figure of a pricft; who, from the MS pedigrees, and the following note in the Hail. MSS. (I think N° 3917) "Johes. Digge docus in arte fepultus in can cellâ," appears to have been John, Younger fon of Thomas Digg, living s Edward H. whofe eldeft fon, Roger, married Albina, who, according to Weever, (Fun. Mon. 267) and Harl. MSS. ut fupr. had formerly the followe 'ing epitaph in this church: "Albina la femme Rogeri Digge gift icy, Dien de s'alme eit mercy. Amen.” John Digges, grandfon of this match, married Joan, daughter of Sir Maurice Bruyn of Beckenham, knt. and to these two the broken braffes now remaining of a knight in armour, and his wife, feem to have belonged; and to them undoubtedly referred the following inforptions, now gone, preferved by Weever and Harl. MSS. ut fupra. In cineres ftratus jacet hic Jo. Digge vocita Digges's Court, (alienated by the elder branch of the family temp. Eliz.) though now only a farm-house, retains fome traces of an ancient mansion. Sig Dudley's younger fon Dudley was eminent for his writings, (Wood's Ath. II. 32.); and his younger brother Leonard was a poet, and the tranflator of Claudian's Rape of Proferpine, &c. (Wood's Ath. 1. 591, 592.) The other epitaph, I promifed at the beginning of my letter, is on a defcendent of Sir Dudley, by Anne his daugh ter, the wife of Anthony Hammond, of St. Albans in Kent, and is thus copied. From a monument at Florence. "In fomno pacis bic requiefcit Anna Oliveri S'i Johan. Angli, et Elifabet Hammond parentuin nobiliffimorum filia in comitatu Kent òrta, rariflimi exempli fomina, pia, cafta, prudens, polemica Theelogi udio imprimis dedita, ita, adjuvantē See in Harl. MSS. Deo, profecit, ut Catholicæ fidei veritatem invicto animo ampleéti voluerit, tantumque per quadriennium zelo et eruditione potuit, ut ejus exemplo Londinenfes aliquot fœminæ longiffimè eam amplexæ fint: matrimonio 'copulata Florentiam ftatim ac venit, abdicato fæculi luxu, unicè Deo vacans, orationi, faerorumque librorum lectioni inter forores tertii ordinis Sancti Francifci de Paulo adlecta cœleftis Mariæ delicias per fingulas hebdomadas perguftare aufteritate vitæ pruJentia fibi vixit, et Chrifti pauperibus, quos domi fuæ præfertim hyeme læta excepit et aluit, æternitatis amore flagrans, ut effet femper cum Domino, rap a et vii kalend. Februarii, A. R. S. с1515xxx, ætatis fuæ XLVIII. M.VI.D.I. This ftrange infcription, which feems imperfect, being probably copied haftily, is to me scarce "intelligible. The lady, a daughter of Oliver Sir John, fon of the Chief-Juftice, became the wife, by a ftolen marriage, of an Italian painter mentioned in Walpole's Anecdotes, IV. P. 39. Yours, &c. F. S. Mr. URBAN, Bath, Jan. 1. traordinary inftances of the wonderful powers which the human mind has acquired, when confined to one particular branch of fcience; but I accidentally became acquainted with a gentleman laft fummer, whofe intellectual abilities appear to me to equal any in• fance I have ever met with, either in ancient or modern history. Arithmetic has been the object of this gentleman's purfuit for feveral years; and he is become fo fkilful in the fcience, that he very rarely has occafion for pen and ink, generally performing his calculations by an extraordinary exertion of his mental powers. On my expreffing my afton fhment at his thus folving fome very difficult queftions, he acquainted me, that be could anfwer any question by the fame method, in involution and evolution, when the fum was not expreffed by more than 12 figures; and alto multiply and divide the fums of any powers by each other. This affertion I gave but little credit to, as it far exceeded my comprehenfion. I was, however, dehrous of afcertaining the truth of it, and I therefore propofed feveral arithmetical queftions, each of which were precifely answered with equal eafe and expedition. The mo material of them were as follows: r. I desired him to raife 9 to the 12th power, and then extract the fouare, the cube, and the biquadratic, root. In as fhort a period of time as I could have performed the work by the ufual mes thod, he replied, that the 12th power of 9 was 282,420,536,481, that the fquare root of that fum was 531,441, its cube root 6561, and its biquadratic root 729. 2. I defired him to acquaint me what was the 9th root of 10,077,696, the 7th root of 823,543, and the roth root of 9,765,625 (which, by a previous calcu lation, I knew were rational numbers); and be answered, that 6, 7, and 5, were the respective roots required. 3. I requested him to determine what number would refult from multiplying the 6th power of 8, by the 5th power of 8, to which he replied, that the 6th power of 8 was 262,144, that the 5th power of S was 32,768, and the product arifing by multiplying the ifl of thefe fums by the laft was 8,589,934,592. Laftly. I propofed to him to divide the 10th power of 7, by the 6th power of 7; he answered, that the 10th power of 7 was 282,475,249, the 6th power of 7 was 117,649, and the quotient aris fing from dividing the first ium by the laft, was 2401. I carefully examined all these several operations, and found them to be pers fectly accurate. In short, fir, after various trials of the gentleman's abilities, I found that he could raife either of the 9 figures to any power as high as the 12th power, and afterwards extract the fquare, cube, and biquadratic, roots of the fum thus found, provided it was a rational num ber; and also multiply the fum of any power, not exceeding the 6th power of any fingle figure, by itself, or by the fum-of the 5th or any inferior power of the fame number; and alfo divide the fum of any power, under the 12th power, inclufive, by the fum of any inferior power of the fame number. The feveral queftions which I propofed were (as I faid before) all determined by the operation of his mental powers, and with fo much apparent eale and accuracy, that I was much inclined to fufpect, that the gentleman was affited by fome kind of artificial memory, and this fufpicion induced me to turni over a number of arithmetical and other books, which were likely to reflect any light on the subject; and alfo to make many inquiries among other perfons converfant in fuch matters; but all refearches and inquiries proved fruitless. my And, unless any of your correfpondento can clear up the myfiery, and point out fome fome meat Yours, &c. Involution, or the railing of powers, is performed by the continual multiplication of any number by itfelf. The number itself is called the 1ft power, the number multiplied by itself is called the 2d power of that number, and this laft product again multiplied by the original number is called the third power, and fo on. The first power is alfo called the root, the 2d power the fquare, the 3d the cube, and fo on, of the original number. Evolution or extraction of roots is the converse of involution. To extract the fquare, cube, or biquadratic, root of any number, is to find that number, which, being multiplied by itfelf, twice, three times, or four times, will produce the original number. Thus, 3 is the 2d or fquare root of 9, and the 3d or cube root of 27, &c. A number is faid to be rational when its root can be extracted without leaving any remainder; 27 is a rational number, the cube root whereof is 3; but 28 is not a rational number, because its root cannot be extracted without leaving a remainder. S feveral of the admirers of Meff. AL. Morris and the Rev. Gronow Bifbop's-Cafile, am in the center of my bufinefs, who hould come into my head but you! I began to remember how I had been told that you were come home from your voyage, and all fafe and found, but did not know how to believe it (nor fhall I believe it), till I have it under your hand. I wrote you a good while ago in behalf of poor Gronow Owen, the greatest genius, either of this age, or that ever appeared in our country, and perhaps few other countries can fhew the like of him for univerfal knowledge. 1 fhewed you Cywydd y Farn, and fome other pieces of his, when I was laft at Nannau; and I have three or four pieces of his fince, that are the beft that ever were wrote in our language, and will endure while there is good fenfe, good nature, and good learning in the world. It is a pity, and the greatest of pities, that fuch a man as this, who is not only the greatest of poets, but a great maßler of languages, fhould labour under the hardship of keeping a fchool, and ferving a curacy in the middle of carn faefon, and all for the poor income of 261. a year, when at the fame time many a fat parfon (who, their neighbours fay, have hardly common understanding) makes the earth groan under him when he treads it, because he hath fome hundreds a year, for not keeping a school, or ferving his church! But, however, let them contrive it as they will, all that I want is, that our countryman Gronow Owen should have meat to his mouth, and to his wife and two children. But I would chufe of all things to have him in Merionethshire, it being impracticable to get him into Cardiganfhire, but he withes to be in Angletey," his native country. I am told you have good intereft with the bishop of Bangor, if you can get this man a living, you will not only make this man immortal, but make me immortal too; and if you are lo hardhearted as to refufe me immortality, when to be had upon fuch ealy terms, I fhould think you very cruel, My next fhall bring Cywydd y Gem, which is the laft poem he hath wrote; the fubject is a fearch for happinets; Dedwyddyd is the gem he hath fearched for in all corners of the world, and, after a great many fine defcriptions and refearches, with the help of philofophy, and all kind of learning, after confulting Solomon's works, &c. that gem is not to le found among the jewels and crowns, mitres and caps, nor in fhort any where in the world; then he finds a book written by another fon of David, which talls him where it is to be found, and gives a lively defcription of that country (Heaven); this is the fubject, but nothing can come up with the beautiful lines and expreffions throughout the whole, which makes the writer worthy, not only of a paltry rectory, but of the favour of all men of fenfe in our country; and is really not only an honour to the antient Britons, but to human nature in general. I do not remember that I have fent you a copy of his Cywydd, intitled, Bonedd ac Achau 'r Awen, a must excellent piece; the fub Mr. URBAN, ject of that, as well as all his other fub- HA jects, hath fomething new and furprizing in it. He first examines the Greek and Roman writers, and finds the accounts they give of their feigned Mufes to be only the dreams of the poets Breuddwydion y Beirdlydynt; then he finds out an original far more ancient than the father of their Mufes, &c.; he finds that the ftars of the morning fang the praifes of God, and all the hoft of Heaven. They fang fo loud, that the comets or wandering flars heard them, and jumped into their orbs again to join in the chorus: "Fei clywai 'r Ser difperod, Llemain a wnai rhain i'w rhod!" Adam heard them out of paradife, and Joined in the fong; his wife was fo well pleafed with his finging, that the became a proficient in it, and they fang together the praifes of God all day long. Here we have an original of poetry, which the fuperftitious Grecians and Romans know nothing of; hence he carries it to Mofes and David, and gives fome charming fpecimens of Da. vid's poetry: "Deffro fy Nabl parable pêr, Ni ganwn emyn gwiwner," &c. Then he comes to the great poet Solomun, the author of the Song of Songs. "Fe gant Gan gwiwlan y gwau, Can odiaeth y Caniadau; Pwy ni char ei Rôs Saron, Lili, ar Drainllwyni lion?" &c. Thete lines will laft for ever, in fpite of enemies; neither fire nor water can deftroy thefe, nor will they perifh till the world falls in pieces, and man is no Jan. 15. AVING received great pleasure in hearing The Shepherd of St. Andrew, Holborn, on occafion of the prefent times, preach three or four as orthodox fermons as can, I think, be delivered, all replete with truth and zeal (and too much zeal, I think you will agree, cannot be fhewn where there has been a profpect of fo much danger, and when there ftill remains fo much infidelity); it appears to me that it would be no more than a juft compli ment to hint to his flock, that they fhould requeft his leave to print them, or fuch of them he may think most proper. His text, on Sunday laft, from Romans iii. and first part of verfe 8, was most admirably well treated of. And, as it ftruck directly at the root of what we may fairly confider some of the bad tenets of Papifts and Atheiẞls; fure I am, that the printing and diftri buting fuch a fermon would have full as good, if not a better, effect than many of the publications of late distributed. It cannot, I think, be urged, except by the malevolent, that the Clergy, and more particularly the parochial part of them, are more interested than the Laity on the prefent occafion, fo as to make them more zealous; for, every perfon wishing for any government will, AN INHABITANT OF Mr. |