MR. URBAN, LXIX. On Apparitions. IN the six original letters you have published between the Rev. J. Hughes, of Jesus College, in Cambridge, the learned editor of St. Chrysostom on the Priesthood, and some of his friends,* is a relation of the apparition of Mr. Naylor, who had been fellow of St. John's, in that university, to a fellow collegian, Mr. Shaw, then rector of Souldern, in Oxfordshire. I have since met with another account of the same story, written by the Rev. Richard Chambre, who was then a member of Sidney College, and afterwards vicar of Loppington, in Shropshire, where he died, Feb. 1752, aged 70. The paper containing this account was put into my hands by his executor, who has assured me, that it is his hand-writing. It has no date, but bears visible marks of its age; and, by the beginning of it, is plainly to be referred to the date of the letters above-mentioned, that is, the year 1707. Your readers will judge as they please of the truth of the story. My business is only to transcribe the paper containing it; which, except in a few instances of spelling, I send you faithfully and exactly done, with its superscription. Yours, &c. R. M. Another Account of the Apparition of Mr. Naylor to Mr. Shaw, from a MS. of the Rev. Richard Chambre. [This account I had in these very words from the Rev. Dr. Whitfield, fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge.] ABOUT the end of last summer, Mr. Grove, the public registrar of the university, was in the country at a small town near Banbury, in Oxfordshire, with his old friend Mr. Shaw, lately fellow of St. John's, and who was presented by the college to the living where he resided. While Mr. Grove tarried with him, which was about four or five days, he told him this remarkable story, viz. that some days before, as he was sitting in his study late one night, after eleven, and [* See pp. 44 and 47 of this volume. E.] while he was smoking tobacco and reading, the spectre of his old companion Mr. Naylor, (who died five years ago in St. John's College) came into the room habited in a gown and cassock, and exactly in the same manner as he used to appear in the college when alive. Mr. Shaw remembered the figure well, and was therefore much surprised; but the spectre took a chair, and sitting down close by him, bid him not be afraid, for he came to acquaint him with something that nearly concerned him. So entering into discourse together, the spectre told him, that "their friend Mr. Orchard* was to die very suddenly, and that he himself should die. soon after him, and therefore he came to forewarn him, that he might prepare himself accordingly." After this they talked of many other things (for their conference lasted two hours), and amongst the rest Mr. Shaw asked him, Whether one might form some sort of a notion of the other world from any thing one saw in this? He answered, No; without giving any farther satisfaction to the question. Upon this, Mr. Shaw said to him, How is it with you? His answer was, I am very well and happy. Whereupon Mr. Shaw asked him farther, Whether any of his old acquaintance were with him? His answer was, that there was not one of them; which answer, Mr. Shaw said (as told the story by Mr. Grove),+ struck him to the heart. At last, after two hours' conference together, the spectre took his leave; and Mr. Shaw desiring him to stay longer, he told him he could not, for he had only three days allotted him to be absent, and they were almost expired. Mr. Shaw then desired that he might at least see him once more before his death. But he told him it could not be, and so left him. After this he walked about his room a considerable time, musing upon what had happened. Mr. Grove is a person of undoubted credit, who tells this story; and (which is the greatest confirmation of it that can be desired, is that) he told it ‡ several times here in college before Mr. Shaw died; who fell down dead in his desk as he was reading prayers. The other gentleman, Mr. Orchard, who was mentioned, died suddenly in his chair, while his Spelt Auchard by Mr. Hughes. + So the MS. Here Mr. Chambre seems to differ from Mr. Hughes, who says, " Mr. Grove kept the business secret, till, hearing of Mr. Shaw's own death, he told the whole story," unless Mr. Hughes means, that Mr. Grove suppressed the PART of the story relating to Mr. Shaw's death; till hearing he was dead, he then told the WHOLE of it. bedmaker went from him to fetch his commons for supper. This story is farther confirmed by two country gentlemen* of Mr. Shaw's acquaintance, to whom he had likewise communicated it. And in truth it hath met with such universal credit here, that I have found very few who made any scruple of believing it. It is remarkable that Mr. Shaw was a noted enemy to the belief of apparitions, and used always in company to dispute against them. 1783, May. LXX. Swallowing Pins or Fish Bones. By W. Turnbull, M.D. THE swallowing of pins has often been the cause of many grievous and even fatal effects; for, upon dissecting patients, who have appeared, from the symptoms, to have died of the iliac passion, or colic, they have been found to have been killed by pins, &c. In April, 1777, a young woman, who had swallowed a very large pin, which stuck fast in that part of the esophagus which enters into the thorax, was brought to the hospital at Bamborough Castle, Northumberland. As I then had the honour of the principal manage ment of that hospital, I was sent for, and found the patient in very great pain. Having, some time before, considered the nature of this accident, and concluded, that if any thing could be given that would pass easily, and, when in the stomach, coagulate into a glairy mass, it might probably bring up whatever was lodged in the passage; Limmediately gave her four grains of tartar emetic dissolved in warm water, and then made her swallow the whites of six eggs; and in about three minutes she brought up the coagulated mass with the pin, and was effectually relieved. The same method was attended with similar success, in an instance nearly resembling the above. A maid-servant to the Hon. Mr. Baillie, of Millerstain, in Scotland, went to bed with twentyfour pins in her mouth; the consequence of which was, that in the night the family were alarmed with her cries. Mr. Baillie ordered her an emetic and the whites of eggs, as above, and the whole number of pins came up, and are *Possibly one of them was Mr. Cartwright, of Aynho. + Mr. Hughes declared himself one of those who believed it. VOL. III. G g now preserved in the family as a curiosity. The same method I have used, with success, for fish and other kinds of sharp bones. 1783, Dec. LXXI. Salting Meat and purifying Water. THE usual way of salting meat is to let it remain till it be cold before it is salted. But in warm climates, or in warm weather, the reverse of this practice should be adopted, viz. to salt the meat as soon as it can be cut up into proper pieces, while it is yet warm, and the juices are flowing. This I have known practised with success on board a ship in a very warm climate, and in close muggy weather, when meat tends fast to putrefaction. It was practised for six or seven weeks successively, without once failing; whilst another ship in company, that was in the same situation with respect to provisions, but followed the usual mode of salting, had seldom more than one or two meals from each hog they killed; for the experiment was made on pork only, being the only fresh meat we then had; our poultry, &c. being all expended. The utility of this practice, to those who sail to the East or West Indies, &c. or who live in any warm climate, or even in our own during the hot summer months, is obvious. A simple easy method of purifying foul and fetid water must be useful too, not only to sea-faring people, but to those who live in such parts of the country as are without wells or rivers, where they are under the necessity of drinking pond water, which, in hot dry summers, becomes low and unwholesome. The method which I would recommend for that purpose is this: Make a vessel or case twelve inches square, and two feet and a half deep, narrowing within about half a foot of the bottom, to four inches square. The top must be open, and the bottom pierced full of small holes. Place this vessel in a frame, with a receiver under it, and fill it with gravel, through which the water is to pass, as in the common filter. ing stone; which being repeated a few times, renders it clear and palatable. The vessel which I used for the purpose was made of four boards, well fitted together, of the size and form that have been mentioned. But both size and form may be varied at pleasure. And, indeed, the deeper the vessel, the better, as the water will then pass through a greater quantity of gravel. The advantage of this artificial filtering stone (as it may be called) above the common one, will be evident. It is not liable to be broken or cracked; it will purify a much greater quantity of water in the same space of time; the gravel, when foul from frequent use, may be taken out and exposed to the wind and sun, upon a piece of canvass on deck, when it will be again fit for use, with little trouble; besides, a few spare bushels of fresh water gravel may easily be put on board for change; whereas it is well known that the common filtering stone, when foul, is not cleansed without much trouble, and, being of a brittle nature, is very liable to be cracked or broken on board of ship. On shore the vessel may be elevated many feet above the receiver, and the air will greatly assist in purifying the water in its fall. 1783, Oct. J. NASEBY. LXXII. Cost of the Fifty new Churches built by Sir Christopher MR. URBAN, Wren. As your Magazine is the common register of every thing memorable, the following account of the cost of the fifty new churches, and the Monument, built by Sir Christopher Wren, may serve perhaps to fill a corner. £. S. d. 736,752 2 31 5641 9 9 3348 7 2 8058 15 6 3165 0 8 |