1S06.] 



Public Injliiutions. 



211 



margins of the Diftionaries of the lite- 

 rati : perliaps the phui on which I mean 

 to adviuicc inj work to tlie pubHc, may 

 induce theiu to direct their hbrarians 

 and traiilcnbers to poition it from their 

 valt trcalurics of erudition. 



Mr. 8iiiart mull be well aware what 

 incredible labour and perplexity it would 

 cod me to notify the coriefpoiulinc; defi- 

 nitions ot woidb 111 the uiiinncr which he 

 lias fubigclted. lie rei^iets that I have 

 not gone more detailedly into my dclit:n ; 

 but it vviis impracticable to delineate the 

 ichnography, or the afpett of fo llupeii- 

 dous a fabric, in tfie limits of a iNhiga- 

 zine ; and a profpeCius would not have 

 developed more tlian the firll Number, 

 which is now in the prefs. ' The under- 

 taking is bold, but I Ihull have ample 

 means of fupporting it, with the afhft- 

 ancc of well-informed guides ; and it 

 certainly could not have commenced at 

 a period when the public were more dif- 

 pofed to invigorate its execution by 

 their confidence and fuccour. 

 I am, Sir, youi's, &c., 



John Pytches. 

 Groton-Houfe, April 25, 180t>. 



To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. 



SIR, 



THE e/lablifliment of the inftitution 

 called the Refuge for the Dejlitute, 

 (near Nairow-wall, Lambeth,) naturally 

 fuggefts the following inquiries, which it 

 is hoped fome of your Conel'pondents 

 may be kind enough to anfwer. 



What were tiie piirpofes for which 

 Bridewell was founded ? and how are 

 thofe purpofcs anfwered ? 



The fame queltions are likewife afked 

 refpccLiag the London Workhottfe, in Bi- 

 fhopfgate-Ilreet. The prefent Itate of 

 both thofe foundations is particularly re- 

 quefted. 



It appears that the Refuge for the 

 Del'titute embraces in fome mealurc the 

 objects of both, and that if it were pro- 

 perly condiii'ictl, and ably fupportcd, it 

 cannot fail to be one of the iiioli. humane 

 and beueiicial inltitutions in this metro- 

 jjolis. 



I have inquired in vain for the privi- 

 If^zes and objects of many other public 

 thmitable foundations in and near the 

 metropolis, and have generally found an 

 inability or unwiUingncfs in the olficcrs 

 of fuch inftitutions to give the neceflary 

 infonnation. liven the privileges and 

 beuetit* of the gicut City Companies are 

 little underftood by the laeinbera of thefe 

 CoiupMjics, 



Would not the pages of your Maga- 

 zine be advantageoully occipicd in pre- - 

 fenting to the world occalional accountc 

 of the churtcrs, laws, and tbnndations, 

 of the various public ellablillnnents, hol- 

 pitals, alniP-iioufes, corporations, ixc., 

 (S:c., not only in the mctiopolis, but in 

 every part of the empire ? 



]\Iany benefits are loll to individuals 

 for want of fuch information, and thofe 

 who are able to furnilh it, ought to feel it 

 an incumbent duty. 



Thoufands would derive advantage 

 from the information, and it could not 

 be given to the world through any chan- 

 nel by which it would be fo extenlively 

 read as throygh your univerfally intereft- 

 ing Magazine. K. 



Tottenham, Augiifl 14, 1806. 



to the Etlitor of the Monthly Magazine. 



SIR, 



THE devoted attention which, for 

 fome years, I have been in the habit 

 of paying to tiie Works of Miltou, and 

 the adoration with which I contemplate 

 by far the greater part of his divine po- 

 em, occalion me always to feel fome de- 

 gree of jciUoufy when I find him fubmit- 

 ted to the cavil of verbal criticifm ; and 

 I believe it may fafely be alVcrted, that,- 

 in at lealt ninety-nine inliances out of- 

 every hundred wherein fuch cavils have 

 been advanced, a finer perception, and a 

 more accurate invefligation, will lliew ns, 

 that the poet has been in the right, and 

 his critics entirely in the wrong. Moft 

 alTuredly I never yet met with an indivi- 

 dual inilance of propofed correction, 

 that did not remind me of the ichoolboy's 

 experiments upon his pen, who, every 

 time he wended it, made it uorfe. In afi- 

 plying this obfervation moil unequivo- 

 cally to your Correfpoudeiit M. N., 

 (Monthly Mag., p. .S92,) I liope I fhall 

 not wound his feelhigs, fmce 1 oa,y ao- 

 cufc him of failing, where perhaps it is 

 not given to human nature to be cajjabie 

 of fucceediiig. 



I do not mean to affert that the Pai-a- . 

 dife Loll is ail perfection. Tnvtt \t nu-lit 

 liave been rendered ilill raoix) exquilite 

 by fomo retrenehmcuts, cannot, I think, 

 be denied ; and that the fiiolnne gcuius 

 of Miltou might have fubilituted fbmc- 

 thing better in the place of thofe difputa- 

 tious of Icliolaiiio fubtlety and quibbling 

 metaphyUcs that occupy fo many piij;^* 

 of Jiis poem, I am ready cnoui:,li tu ui- 

 mit. But though Milton may foiuetiraes 

 norf, let jiot critieihn (hcam, that, where 

 die pen of mljiiratioi^ has fwitu froia :!.» 

 U d ^ liuad, 



