J98 Defence of Lor 



of flame, a whitish cloud appeared. 

 The eft'cct of the steam in the chimney 

 ■was to drive before it all the igneous 

 particles in it to a considerable height 

 above the top of the chimney ; but, had 

 that been the soleeflect,the igneous par- 

 ticles must have been seen for a consi- 

 derable t'me in tbeair. Onthe contrary, 

 they were almost instantaneously ex- 

 tinguished ; which, I apprehend, could 

 be owing only to the power of water 

 over fire. 



Here, however, the steam acted 

 in a narrow compass : the igneous 

 particles M'cre completely enveloped in 

 it. What would be the eflect of steam 

 in a warehouse on fire, is another 

 question. The steam would dilate 

 itself in the apartment, and could not, 

 for some time, act in the manner above 

 mentioned on the parts on fire. What 

 would be the eflect when such a quan- 

 tity of steam should have been thrown 

 in (which would be in a few minutes,) 

 as would, if the fire had not been there, 

 liave filled the room completely with 

 ■vapour, I leave to the sagacity of your 

 readers to determine; being satisfied 

 with opening the way to a discussion, 

 which may enlarge, at any rate, our 

 knowledge of the powers of steam. 



EXEUNETES. 



To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. 



SIR, 



IN the last Number of your Maga- 

 zine, I was much surprised to read 

 amongst the anecdotes, entitled " Ste- 

 phensiana," a tradition, which certainly 

 greatly tends to lessen tbje general 

 respect in which the character of the 

 illustrious Lord Clarendon has ever 

 been held, and also to debase the de- 

 scent of two of our former queens, 

 Mary (wife of William III.) and Anne. 

 I trust, that 1 should never be unwil- 

 ling to nphold the virtuous character 

 of the deceased great and good at any 

 time; but when I state, that I have 

 ])ersonally the honour of bearing a li- 

 neal descent from his grandfather, 

 and that he (Lord Clarendon,) was a 

 native also of this county, 1 think I 

 am peculiarly sanctioned in thus 

 coming forward to refute assertions, 

 untrue in themselves, and highly inju- 

 rious to his memory. 



Any stranger to the history of 

 Lord Clarendon would suppose that 

 he ("one Hyde,") was a needy attor- 

 ney, of a low origin, perhaps little 

 known, and less respected ; that he 



d Clarendon. [April 1, 



was called in by the widow of a 

 brewer (who had first raised her from 

 the lowest servitude to the station of 

 a wife,) to manage her affairs, because 

 she " was unable to read or write ;'* 

 that he, mercenarily " liking her for- 

 tune," married her ; and that thus " a 

 poor country-wench" became the 

 grandmother of the two queens, Mary 

 and Anne. 



In answer to this, sir, it is well re- 

 corded and acknowledged, that Hyde 

 earl of Clarendon sprang from a most 

 respectable family of that name, seated 

 at Hyde and Norbury, in the county 

 of Chester, and that his immediate 

 ancestors in this county held the re- 

 spectable situation of country gentle- 

 men ; that he was sent to Oxford, and 

 afterwards, under the auspices of his 

 uncle, (Chief Justice Nicholas Hyde,) 

 he entered as a student at the Middle 

 Temple ; that he ever moved in the 

 first ranks of society ; and, by his rare 

 union of great talents and exemplary 

 conduct, raised himself to the most 

 exalted station. It appears that he 

 was twice married : first, at about the 

 early age of twenty, to Anne, the 

 daughter of Sir George Aylifl'e, knight, 

 of Hobson, in the parish of Winter- 

 bourne Basset, in this county ; who, 

 within six months, died from a miscar- 

 riage, occasioned by the small-pox. 

 The shock this event gave to his feel- 

 ings prevented his immediate endea- 

 vours again to enter into the marriage 

 state. However, after the lapse of 

 about three years, at the age of twenty- 

 four, and in the year 1632, he married, 

 secondly, Frances, daughter of Sir 

 Thomas Aylesbury, bart. master of 

 requests to the king: by this lady he 

 had four sons, and two daughters, — 

 the eldest of whom (Anne) became 

 the wife of the Duke of York, and, 

 consequently, the mother of the suc- 

 cessive queens, Mary and Anne. This, 

 his (Lord Clarendon's) second wife, 

 died in the year 1670. 



Having thus, sir, I trust, vindicated 

 the honour of the father, you will now 

 allow me to devote a few lines in vin- 

 dication of that of the daughter. The 

 paragraph above quoted says, " James 

 duke of York having debauched one 

 of his daughters, the Earl compelled 

 him to marry her." By these words it 

 Mould appear, that the then future 

 queen had yielded to an illicit con- 

 nexion with the Duke, which her father 

 subsequently improved iniovi marriage. 



This 



