418 
Paul Jones . —Remarks on Gibbon. 
[Dec. 1, 
den into the presence of an offended John Paul, Mr. Craik’s gardener, who 
Maker, and to seek her last great and remained upwards of forty years in. his 
dread account 
With all her imperfections on her head. 
These, however, are, as we said, the 
imperfections to be expected from a 
young and inexperienced writer; and, 
with Horace, we will add, in conclu¬ 
sion, that when as he 
-Plura nitent in carmine, non ego 
paucis 
Offendar maculis , quas aut incuria fudit, 
Aut humana parum cavit natura.- 
and recommend these Nugae to the 
patronage of our readers. 
service. The master and these two do¬ 
mestics were both married in the same 
week, so far back as the year 1733, and 
the female to whom Mr. Stephens so 
charitably alludes, iiad three daughters 
and one or two sons before the birth of 
the said Paul Jones actually took place. 
It was not late in life when Mr. Craik 
succeeded to his father’s estate of Arbig- 
land, and his having dver been in the 
excise is equally false ; he was, however, 
surveyor general of the customs, in 
which the latter mistake has no doubt 
originated. His legitimate son did not 
perish between Arbigland and Carlisle, 
for this conclusive reason, that the last 
To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. 
SIR, 
1 ^^) r HEN gross misrepresentations mentioned place happens to be situated 
of any description, but more par¬ 
ticularly of an individual nature, are 
laid open to public investigation, it 
then becomes the duty of those better 
acquainted with facts to detect the er¬ 
rors, by giving an authentic statement 
of what actually existed on the subject 
in question. In the 52d volume of the 
at some distance from the ocean. The 
fatal event occurred between his fa¬ 
ther’s house at Arbigland and Allonby, 
on the opposite shore of Cumberland, 
in 1782 ; neither was it a cousin, but 
the son of his eldest sister, who suc¬ 
ceeded to the estate. 
Should any further intelligence on 
Monthly Magazine for Nov. 1821, the existing subject be deemed neces 
an extract is published from MSS. de- sary, application may be made to the 
nominated “Stephensiana;” which ex- writer of the present communication, 
tract is notoriously incorrect in almost who happening to be the sole surviving 
every sentence. I allude to the article daughter of the date Mr. Craik, con¬ 
ceives herself fully as competent as 
Mr. Stephens to answer any questions 
the occasion may henceforth require. 
Helen Craik. 
u Paul Jones,” in which nearly the 
whole detailed communication evinces 
the total misinformation of the writer. 
It is true, the error may appear a venial 
one, inasmuch as the general outline of Flimby Lodge , near Maryport , 
occurrences, is, in some measure, pre¬ 
served ; but nothing ought to be con¬ 
sidered as trifling that affects the cause 
of truth or common justice, where 
feelings o 
are obviously 
either the character or feelings of our 
im- 
fellow creatures 
plicated. 
In the first instance, the late Mr. 
Craik’s Christian namq was not Robert 
but William ; in the next, there is no 
such place as Arbigglings in Dumfries- „ _ 
shire, or any where else in the south of from this representation is too obvious 
Scotland. Arbigland, the real designa- to need either explanation or comment. 
u In their writings andconversation,” 
Cumberland , Nov. 12, 1821. 
To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. 
sin, 
II. GIBBON is not only an ad- 
__ mirer of the enlightened system 
of the Persian Magi, but an implicit 
believer in the pure and perfect ideas 
of religion and morality, entertained by 
the Grecian and Roman philosophers 
in general. The inference deducible 
lutings i 
says this historian, (vol. 1, p. 49.) u the 
philosophers of antiquity asserted the 
independent dignity of reason ; but they 
resigned their actions to the commands 
of law and of custom. Viewing with 
a smile of pity and indulgence the vari¬ 
ous errors of the vulgar, they diligently 
tion of the above gentleman’s estate, is 
situated on the coast of Galloway, not 
sixteen miles from Dumfries, and cer¬ 
tainly in annual amount, more than 
doubles the sum mentioned in the 
Monthly Magazine for November. In¬ 
stead of dying in 1736, or 7, at the ad¬ 
vanced age of 90, Mr. Craik’s decease _ ^ . . . 
happened in 1798, in the 95 th year of his practised the ceremonies ol their fathers; 
yet more prolonged existence. Why Mr. devoutly frequented the temples of the 
Stephens should assert that Paul Jones gods. Reasoners of such a temper were 
was that gentleman’s son by a female scarcely inclined to wrangle about their 
servant, is impossible now to discover, respective modesof faith, or of worship. 
The woman in question was the wife of It was indifferent to them what shape 
tliC* 
