We reluctantly decline printing the long and well-written Letter of SIGISMONDA; but it would produce a neverending altercation on a subject which has already been carried too far.

VICINUS writes, "Though the case of Thomas Redmile was never doubted by any one, who read the statement, and observed the result, I cannot hesitate to comply with the request of your Correspondent:

"We, the Minister, Churchwarden, Overseer of the poor, and Surgeon, of Bourn, to which Dyke is an hamlet, have not the smallest hesitation to corroborate by our official signatures the truth, and shall be very glad to find that this our testimony is instrumental in adding to the subscriptions already received.

JOHN NICHOLSON, Minister of Bourn.
WILLIAM THORPE,Churchwarden of do.
WILLIAM MUNTON, Overseer.
WILLIAM SIMPSON, Surgeon."

C. R. wishes us to notice an Error in the edition of a Delphin Classic generally put into the hands of youth. "The error lies in a note upon the word Crotoniensem, which occurs in the "Bellum Catilinarium" of Sallust, page 35. note a." Crotoniensem.] Duæ fuerunt urbes in Italia, Croton aut Crotona, nominatæ ; altera in extrema Calabria ad ortum, altera in Umbria."-The Author of this note commits a twofold mistake; first, by saying there were two cities of this name, as it will be found on a survey of the Map of Italy, that the city, in Umbria, to which he evidently alludes, was named Cortona, not Crotona. Secondly, By placing the real Croton or Crotona in Calabria, since it was situated in the territory of the Brutii, on the coast of the Tarentine Bay.-See Lloyd's "Dictionarium Historicum, Geographicum," &c. Lempriere's Classical Dict. and Dr. Patrick's Celarius.

ANTIQUATUS asks when the Antient Church Text Characters came first into use, as also those of the Court Hand and Old English. It is much to be regretted, he observes, that the above mentioned characters are now almost lost; and at the public law offices where the Records, &c. till very recently were written in court-hand, they have substistuted the common hand, and often instead of that, printing.

J. M. wishes for information respecting a book in his possession which wants the title, and of which the following is a description.-It is a thick quarto, and begins at signature a. ji.

which has part of "The Preface." That Preface, which purports to be an address to the clergy from one who calls them "deare brethren," is subscribed"From my house at Cantorbury, the xvi of July. In the yeare of our Lord. M. D. lxvi." Then follow some Prayers. The first part of the Work, which is a Postill, contains 312 fol. on the verso of the last of which is-" Here endeth the fyrste part of the Postille." The second part begins thus-" ¶ The seconde parte of this Appostell, beginnyng at the firste Sondaie," &c. and contains 195 fol. At the end is "Thus endeth the Postill upon al the Gospels that be redde in the Churche thorow out the yeare on the Sondayes. To God the Father," &c. -Our Correspondent has examined two Postills in the British Museum, published about the date given above, the one being a translation of a work of Hemmingius, and the other of one of Chytræus, by Arthur Golding: but neither of them corresponds with that in his possession; nor can he find a description of any in Ames's Typographical Antiquities which does. Strype, in his Annals, under the year 1569, bas a reference, not very distinct, to different Postills written and published about this time, and specifies that of N. Hemmingius. It would be a gratification to our Correspondent, to obtain the title, and the general subject of the Contents up to the place where his copy commences.

He has less hope with respect to an imperfect duodecimo copy of the Hore secundum usum Sarum. It wants the title, and the month of January in the Calendar. It has no colophon; but on the last leaves of the signature b, has the following English directions at intervals

-"whan thou goest first oute of thy hous blesse the sayeng-whan thou entrest in thothe chirche, say thus-whan thou takest holy water say th9 - whan thou begynnesth to proye thus begynne kenelyng" and, a little after, "hore intemerate beate Marie Virginis secundum usum Sarum." It has borders of grotesques throughout. Several of the plates are nearly the same as those which are exhibited in Dibdin's Decameron, vol. I; and one is exactly the same as that given a. 65. The character is a sharp Gothic. He does not find any book answering to this in Gough's British Topography.

Mr. BELLAMY's Account of Marston Magna, with a View of the Church, in our next; with a Memoir of the late ISAAC HAWKINS BROWNE, Esq. &c. &c.

such a quantity of thunder and lightning, that many persons perished in consequence. Id. 187.

In 1089 a great earthquake ensued; a late harvest, and the corn not got in till Martinmas; in many places later. Id. 196.

In 1095 another bad season, and in 1103 another, but no particulars specified. Id. 203, 211.

In 1112 was a remarkable plentiful year, no cause given. Id. 217.

In 1114 a comet appeared in May: there was such a want of water, that people, pedestrians and horsemen, crossed the Thames, East of London Bridge. In October and November were very violent winds. Id. 217.

Violent rains, followed by hard frosts, thereby corrected. In 1093 there was a fall of rain beyond memory. The winter succeeding, the rivers were so frozen, that they were passable by men on horseback. (M. Paris, p. 14.) According to this year, heavy autumnal rains require frosts to prevent injury.

Thunder at the commencement of Spring portending a wet Summer. In 1233, 10 Cal. Apr. there were terrible thunders, and during the whole Summer there was such a quantity of rain, that, according to the Chroniclers, even river fish were produced in the water collected by stagnation, around the corn, through the swelling of the brooks." Id. 324.

Wet seasons, followed by high winds. In 1223 there was such continual rain through all the months of the year, and inequality of temperature, that the corn did not ripen till very late, and the crops were scarcely housed in November. In January there were violent storms of wind. M. Puris, 269.

Fine Autumn and Winter followed by Frosts in Spring, its consequences. In 1258 the Autumn continued fine till the end of January, so that there was not a sign of frost. But from Candlemas to Lady-day, the North wind set in, with intolerable cold and snow, so that many young cattle were destroyed, and there was a general destruction of sheep and lambs. Id. 826. Autumnal rains how injurious. The year 1257 was a very barren year, for the autumnal rains destroyed the whole benefit of the Spring and Summer. It was continually rain and fog from Autumn to Candlemas. Id. 822.

North wind in Spring. In 1258 (of` which year before) the North wind blew from April to May and most of June; so that the crops rose very thin above the ground. The harvest failed; and there was a sad mortality among the poor. (Id. 830.) In this dreadful year about Trinity Sunday a pestilence broke out; and through the excessive rains, the harvest was so late, that in many parts of the kingdom it was not housed till the end of November; and the quarter of corn rose to 168. in those days. Id. 832.

These two years, 1257 and 1258, present some couclusive facts. An excessive rainy Autumn was followed by a fine winter. A very frosty spring ensued, and was followed by another very wet autumn. The cold prevented the growth of the young corn; the rain blasted what did appear. So that two wet autumns, with an intervening cold spring, are assuredly very bad.

Charles II. said of the climate of England, that there never was a day in which it rained so incessantly that a person could not take a dry walk for one hour, out of the twenty-four. There is reason to think, from the particular notice of rain taken by the Chroniclers, that it was not antiently so common as now.

a

In 1296 says, Ralph de Diceto, continual fall of showers throughout England for three days terrified many," (Decem Scriptores, 697.) The reason was well fouuded, for in 1286 a terrible storm of rain, thunder, and lightning, fell upon St. Margaret's day, which so drowned the crops, that corn rose in London from three-pence a bushell to two shillings. Decem Scriptores, 2468.

From these scattered facts, it ap pears, that cold Springs and wet Autumns are the most ungenial to this Country, at least so far as concerns the results of tillage. Our late plentiful years have been distinguished by hard wintry frosts, warm springs abounding in showers, dry summers and autumns. It is not perhaps, after all, the quantity of rain, which does us so much injury, as the privation of sun; and it is an unnoticed fact, that during our two last rainy years, the wet has much resulted from changes of the wind, suddenly, in opposite directions; and this was assuredly the cause of the drought in the North in 1816. The rains came in here with

cause

South and South-Westerly winds: but before they could proceed to the Baltick, and adjacent countries, were blown back again by a North and North Wester.

It is certain, that the winds are very well understood by Philosophers; and the effects of the variations of the Polar Ice upon temperature, by inference, upon the rarefaction or condensation of air, so as to affect the action of the winds, in certain directions, are facts, if ascertainable with philosophical precision, of much moment; for upon the propensity of any country to wet or dry seasons, depends its respective capacity for agriculture or pasturage. If the former should predominate for a long time in this country, the grazing husbandry would perhaps proportionally increase.

Yours, &c. WEATHER-WISE.

Dinner given at Paris on the 17th of June, 1818, the Anniversary of the Institution of the ROXBURGHE CLUB, by the Rev. T. F. DIBDIN, the VicePresident.

Among the foreigners of distinguished reputation now in Paris is the celebrated bibliographer, Mr. Dibdin, the author of the Catalogue of Earl Spencer's Library. The titles of Mr. Dibdin's works will be found in the Biographie des Hommes vivans ; but they are scarcely known out of England, on account of their price and rarity. As the King's Library possesses the whole of them, I will here mention the four last, viz. the Bibliomania; the Typographical Antiquities; the Bibliotheca Spenceriana; and the Bibliographical Decameron.

Mr. Dibdin, already known by his bibliographical pursuits, was introduced to me through one of my dearest and most honorauble friends in

England, Dawson Turner, Esq. Mr. Dibdin intends publishing a literary and bibliographical Tour through France, Germany, and the Netherlands; a design which is too much in unison with that kind of study to which I have devoted my life, not to bave cemented our connexion, and our intercourse has now become an intimacy. Mr. Dibdin has shewn me the beautiful drawings which he had executed at Caen, Falaise, Brieux, Rouen, and other places, formerly in the possession, and the residence, of the English. They are executed with admirable accuracy and truth, by Mr. Lewis, an English artist, whom he carries with him. Mr. Dibdin was also desirous to make drawings from some manuscripts, and to describe some rare books, in the Royal Library; my fellow librarians and myself afforded him all those facilities which we think it a duty to afford every one, but which becomes a source of real pleasure when exerted in favour

of men of so much merit.

The 17th of June drew near; the anniversary of that day on which the Marquis of Blandford (now Duke of Marlborough) obtained for £.2260. the celebrated edition of Boccacio, printed by Valdarfer: this purchase the anniversary of which Mr. Dibdin gave birth to a singular institution, in Paris, at the same moment that its was pleased to commemorate this year Members were assembled in London for a like purpose. To this entertainment he had invited M. Denon, to whom France is still indebted for a great part of the manuscripts and rare editions with which it is enriched, and several of the guardians of the Royal Library, as Messrs. Vanpraet, Langlès, Gail, and Millin. Literary history, and bibliography, it may readily be anticipated, became an inexhaustible source of conversation. The meeting presented a mixture of mirth and gravity, suitable to a feast of the Muses; and, in the words of the old proverb, "the guests were more than three, and less than nine." M. Gail recited on the occasion some Latin verses, of which the cheering on drinking the toasts prevented the company from feeling all the wit and spirit at the moment; but they will be printed in the Hermes Romanus.

Mr. Dibdin, the Amphitryon and President of the Feast, gave the first toasts: viz. 1. Earl