422 Military Flogging—Lancaster System of Education. [Junet, 
To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. 
sik, 
TWITHSTANDING any differ- 
ence of opinion which may exist in 
the minds of men, respecting the justifia- 
bleness of war, and necessity of military 
establishments, those who interest them 
selves in the welfare of their fellow- 
creatures, whatever their sentiments may 
be as to those points, must greatly re- 
joice at seeing a most severe sort of 
military discipline abolished. For the 
information of your readers, the -in- 
sertion of the following extract from 
the London Chronicle is requested, 
provided. you think it worthy a place 
yy it. . 
 ILTTARY PUNISHMENTS.” 
“We see with infimte gratification 
the new clause introduced into the 
mutiny bill, granting to court martials 
the discretion of commuting the pu- 
nishment of flogging for imprisonment, 
This is a salutary concession to the 
spirit of humanity, which the enlight- 
ening press has aroused and spread 
through all the civilized world, This 
is as much as could be expected per- 
haps from government in the first ine 
stance, and we may safely leave it to 
the feelings of the British officers them. 
selves to do the rest. We know that 
the service is an enemy to this shocking 
practice.” 
A Constant Reaver, 
London Chron. 14-15 Marck, 1811. 
P a 
To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. 
SIR, 
HE numerous subseriptions which 
issue from Lloyd’s, for patriotic 
purposes, are known to every body, 
Permit me, through your Miscellany, to 
suggest a subject (in my opinion, noble 
indeed) for ample support. It is the ex- 
tension of the Lancastrian education 
throughout Ireland, together with other 
methods, adapted to encourage civiliza- 
tion in particular. Some wniters have 
ascribed the fall of the Roman empire to 
the religious disputes, which occupied 
solely the minds of the inhabitants, when 
other subjects should always be the most 
buoyant in society. Accursed pole- 
mics, and an invincible itch to settle the 
affairs of God Almighty and unknown 
worlds, have been attended with national 
injuries of the most serious kind, though 
by no means considered with a proper 
sense of their importance. A wise poli- 
tician will ever fee] regret when any reli- 
gious subject, whatever, becomes a point 
of yeneral interest in the minds of society, 
beyond the conduct of private life. Its 
views are too narrow for a proper poli- 
tical topic in any other relation; and it 
summons into energetic action, preju. 
dices, errors, and absurdities, of various 
kinds, PusLicoa, 
aE 
To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. 
SIR,’ 
HE writer of ‘ Critical Remarks on 
Shakespeare,” in your Jast Number, 
(page 210, vol. 31) sides with Dr. John- 
son in his observations on the word 
“ming.” I am no commentator, and 
profess to have but an accidental ac- 
quaintance with the illustration (excuse 
the vanity of such an expression) which 
I take the liberty of sending you. 
“Ming” is a term frequently used in 
Norfolk, and is applied in the same sense 
as “to mix,” or mingle.” Our bakers 
aad economical house-wives have it in 
constant use; and the ingredients for 
bread and dumplings are said to be 
“ming’d,” or, in some instances, “mung,” 
when by kneading they are formed into 
dough. 
During the scarcity nine or ten years 
ayo, when a mixture of grain was recom- 
mended for bread, the discontented used 
to call out “No barley mung!” Dr. 
Warburton’s therefore appears to me to 
be the true reading. Take the sentence, 
“The composition that your valour 
and fear make in you, is a virtue of 
good ming, 
a good mixture, 
(or) excellent mingle, 
wear well.” The word composition,” 
too, favours this sense, which seems also 
to be that of the lines from the transla. 
tions of Horace and Lucan. 
“¢ He bears the bell in all respects, who good 
and I like the 
5 ae, ming |, 
with sweet doth mingle 
* mings with other 
*¢ Which never wie ee 
Norwich, 5.0. C. 
April 2, 1811.° 
P.S. Since writing the above, I introduced 
the subject while in conversation with a 
theatrical friend, who, unacquainted with its 
local use, conjectured ‘* ming” to be an 
abbreviation of ** mingle:” and, further, £ 
consulted my boy and maid-servant, whose 
definitions exactly correspond with my own, 
and, as they cannot read, I consider them to 
be in this case very high authority. I have 
detained this so long in the vain hope of lei- 
sure, (being much occupied, ) for perusing the 
whole of the play, that I might find the 
quotation, since it does not appear in my 
1 
copys 
