f 
1800. ] 
cumftance, and proud of the honour as an 
Englifhman, L immediately applied to Dr. 
_ Hutton’s Distionary of Mathematics, where 
I gueffed an account might be found of Ed. 
ward Wright, as he was a very refpeCtable 
mathematician, and was not alittle plealed 
to find a paragraph under his name, (near 
’ the bottom of col. 1, p. 704, vol. 2) ex- 
preflly mentioning the fact. In that ac- 
count it is ftated, that the firft edition of 
Wright’s book (the ‘* Correttion of Cer- 
tain’ Errors in Navigation’’) was publifhed 
in 1599; and farther, that the paragraph 
relating to the faid ftandard for meafures 
was not introduced till the fecond edition, 
or that of 1610, which paragraph runs in 
thefe words: ** In 1610, a fecond edition 
of Mr. Wright’s book was publifhed, and 
_ dedicated to his royal pupil prince Henry ; 
in which the author inferted farther im- 
provements ; particularly, he propofed an 
excellent way of determining the magnitude 
of the earth; at the fame time recom- 
mending, very judicioufly, the making our 
common meatures in fome certain propor- 
tion to that of a degree on its furface, that 
they might not depend on the uncertain 
Jength of a barley-corny” A recommen- 
dation which certainly comes home to the 
root of the new fyltem of meafures, and 
very properly fneers at the rude notion of 
the barley-corn fy&em. Now, Sir, Tfhould 
be obliged to fome one of your correfpon- 
dents, who will kindly inform us in what 
page of the faid edition of Mr. Wright’s 
book the fubject is treated, as I fhould like 
toread theaccount of it atlarge, if Icanbe 
lucky enough to borrow a copy of the book 
from fome acquaintance who may be pof- 
fefled of fo curious a work. Your's, &c. 
York, March 10, 18900. Ne 
Ee 
To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. 
SIR, 
AVING obferved that fome of your 
pages are devoted to the correction 
of error, and having obferved one in Mr. 
Tooke’s valuable ‘¢ View of the Ruffian 
Empire,” by inferting it, and the authori- 
ties on which I am led to queftion the au- 
thenticity of Mr. Tooke’s relation, you 
will oblige me. 
At page 562, vol. 3, Mr. Tooke men- 
tions R. Chancellor, as being lof? iz the bay 
of St. Nicholas. 
Brice, Salmon, Smollet, Coxe, and a re- 
cent publication (Naval Biography) all 
ftate Chancellor to have been gracioufly 
received by the reigning prince, and fome 
relate in a {ubfequent voyage he was cour- 
teoufly received by the Czar, who deputed 
a perfon with rich prefents to Philip and 
Original Letters of Wafbington 
~ 
545 
Mary, and that Chancellor, in condu@ing 
him to England, was loft, on his return, ox 
the coaft of Scotland. : 
A. Constant REapER, 
Hackney, April 12. if 

To the Editor of the Mouthly Magazine. 
STR, 
"MHE following are extracts from lettersofthe | 
late General Wathington, to whoie papers 
I had free accefs, when refiding at his houfe 
for weeks, while procuring materials for the 
Hiftory of the American Revolution ; and of 
fome written to myfelf. Yeur’s, 
St. Neots, April 14, 13800. W.Gorndon, 
Io Mr. Lund Wafbington, Mount Vernon. 
Wau. 26, v775— 
«© LET the hofpitality of the houfe, 
with refpect to the poor, be kept up. 
Let no one go hungry away. Ifany of 
thefe kind, of people fhould be~in want 
of corn, fupply their neceflities, provided 
it does not encourage them: in idlenefs, 
T have no objection to your giving my 
money in charity, when you think it well 
beftowed. What I mean by having no 
objections 1s, that it is my defire thatit 
fhould be done. “You are toconfider, that 
neither myfelf nor wife are now in the 
way to do thefe good offices. ' 
Warnes G. W. 
In a Letter of fan. 24, 1778, the General 
bus vorites? 
«J HAVE attended to your information 
and remark, on the fuppofed intention of 
placing General L—,—[ meaning Lee, be- 
fore captivation}—at the head of the army : 
whether a ferious defign of that kind had 
ever entered into the head of a member of 
C or not, I never was at the trou- 
ble of enquiring. Iam told a fcheme of 
that kind is now on foot by fome, in be- 
half of another gentlenian—but whether 
true or falfe, whether ferious, or merely 
to try the pulfe, I neither know nor care; 
neither interefted nor ambitious views led 
me into the fervice—I did not folicit the 
command, but accepted it after much en- 
treaty, with all that diffideace which a 
confcious want of ability and experience 
equal to the difcharge of fo important a 
truft, muft naturally create in a mind not 
quite devoid of thought; and after I did 
engage, purfued the great line of my duty, 
and the object in view (as far as my judge- 
ment could direét) as pointedly as the 
needle to the pole. So foon then as-the 
public gets diffatisfied with my fervices, 
or a perfon is found better qualified to 
anfwer her expectation, Ithallquit the helm - 
with 

