304 



Miftake if Mr, Play/air reHtfied, 



[Nov. I, 



•tveavhrg of lijards I did not interfere, as 

 I believed it to be in hands much fitter 

 than my own, only I took the liberty of 

 blotting out whatever I knew not to be 

 tenth. This work was publifhed in 1790. 

 The Hiftoryofthe Land Biids was begun 

 in 1791, and publiflied in 1797, under cir- 

 cumltancts exa£tly fimilar to the ionncr 

 work, excepting that Mr. Hodgfbn had 

 no fhare, and was merely employrd as the 

 piinier. Tit- H'fto.yof the Water Fiids, 

 item Mr. Beilby's declining the engiav 

 ing buffntls, devolved «ho'ly upon ni)reif. 

 In undertaking this 'he vanity of being an 

 author never entered into my mind ; there 

 was no choice ; ahi"..lufe ntcefiity com- 

 pelled nic to ' «ritf -I book." In i?oo 

 death deprivt i us o' Mr. Solomcn Hodg- 

 fon, after he had printed four editions of 

 the Qiiadiuped' and the fir(t volume of the 

 Birds. With him wc mignt hnve gone on 

 peaceablv to the tnd ; but «c ftoii fourd 

 his " widow and executrix'' to be a very 

 different peifon, and ililputes without end 

 were what we had to Icok to. In order 

 to avoid this cloud of mifchief, Mr. Beil- 

 by iold me his fliare in ihe Qu^adrupeds, 

 and left me in the publication of that 

 book to do the beft I could with my new 

 affociate. With our fqusbbles it would 

 be impertinent (o irouble the world j ihey 

 have been pniiiful to me j they have been 

 with the widow of my deceafed friend.— 

 By thefe difputes I was compe'led to in- 

 truft the printing of the Water Birds to 

 another Office, where th's kind of woik 

 had not previoufly been attended to, and 

 conlequently I had to run the liazard of 

 an cx; eriment which might have injured 

 the reputation of the work. Fortunately 

 this experiment fucceeded, and (his. I be- 

 lieve is one motive for Mrs. Hcdgfon's 

 attack. I am, Sir, &c. 



Neivcajlle, Thomas Bewick.* 



Oaober S, 1805. 



To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. 



SIR, 



IN perufing an in'erefting work, jiift 

 publiflied by Mr. Playfair, intitled, 

 " An Inquiry into the Permanent Caul'es 

 of the Decline and Fall of Powerful and 



* We have admitted this letter, as a reply 

 to that of Mrs. H. ; but the dil'pute relating 

 tea mere private aftair, witfi which the pub. 

 lie have no concern, we niuft excufe ourfclves 

 from sfJordiiig a vehicle to carry it on further. 

 — Editor, 



Wealthy Nations," I have been much 

 entertained and inftruffed by the author's 

 ideas on that mod important fubjeft ; and 

 in particular was highly pleafed with his 

 Charts, which enabled me to take at one 

 glance a comprehenfive view of the (late 

 and fluctuation of commerce, wealth, and 

 power, during a ];.ng fuccefTion of ages.— . 

 I do not recolleof to have feen any thing 

 finiilar or fo luminous in any preceding 

 publication. In one inlfance, howevrr, I 

 lufpect Mr. P. ha», fn^m inifi'-formation, 

 been led into too (evere and unmerited 

 remarks relative to the management of 

 •poor-houfes. In a note, p, 253, Mr. P. 

 fays : — 



" In Middlefex, where the expence 

 amounted, in ■ 803, to 113,7001. or about 

 34.0I. a-day, the !'um expendtd to buy 

 materials amounted to no more than 

 4I. IS. iiH. ! I ! It is iinpofTible to com- 

 prehend how this capital (lock could be 

 diftiibiitcd amongit above ten thouland 

 labouiers. It is not cafy to conceive the 

 impertinence of thole who prelented this 

 item to the Houle of Commons, which 

 would have dene well to have committed 

 fo the cuftody of the Seije;fnt at Mace the 

 perfbns who fo grolsly infuited it. The 

 bufinefs altogether is condu^'^ed with ig- 

 iior.tnce, and executed carelefsly and ne- 

 gligently to an extreme and fhanleful de- 

 gree." 



On pointing out this pafTige to a gen- 

 tleman of the higheit rcfpeftahility, who 

 in his official capacity had been concerned 

 ill furnifhlng the items to the account al- 

 luded to, he informed me, that the gover- 

 nors of the poor and workhoufcs m and 

 about the metropolis are never under the 

 necefTity of laying out money for raw ma- 

 terials to be manufaffured by the poor, as 

 a fufficiency of luch woik as i> fittelt for 

 the aged and ivifirm (i. e. eld ropes to pick, 

 fewing, &c.) is fei.t in by fl ip-fcUers, 

 (hlp.chandlers, toje makers, cScc, for 

 which the pioprietois, when the goods are 

 returned, pay a Ifipulattd price. 



In another place Mr. P. draws infe- 

 rences from the I'uppoiition that the ijjhole 

 of the money leviti) by the poor's- rate is 

 exclufively for the maintenance of the 

 poor ; whereas part is applied towards 

 paying the county experces, bridges, 

 railing the militia, rpaintaining militia- 

 mens' families, and OTher parochial ex- 

 pences, too infigr.ificant to have a fepaiate 

 aticflinent m^de for them. 



I am, &c. G*,*. 

 Oi?. 14., 1805. 



To 



