422 
every day how reludtantly a man of rank 
will wed with a plebeian, or allow his 
children fo to do ; butall this is obvioufly 
to no purpofe, while the practice of fo- 
reign nurfing is continued. Children 
fuckled by the vulgar will naturally have 
a hankering after the vulgar. What fo 
plain and demonftrable ? 
¥ou have, doubtlefs, often heard, when 
the conv.rfaticn has turned on any vice 
or virtue practifed by a man of rank, that 
‘tt has been faid, in excufe, or in com- 
mendatien, “ QO! it is natural to him, 
he facked it in with his milk.’’—A ftonifh- 
ing! that fuch an expreffion as this fhould 
have been almoft proverbial for fo many 
centurics, without awakening the atten- 
tion, and alarming the family-pride of 
men of rank ; that the fame thing fhould 
have been repeated over and over again, 
without their adverting to the meaning of 
thofe words, and: the important doétrine 
they contain. Sil more wonderful ts it 
that people will ftrain at agnat, and {wallow 
a camel, that they will, for example, ab- 
tolotely prohibit their children from any 
communication with their za#ferzors in the 
kitchen, and yet allow their children to 
be compounded of the very fame materi- 
als of which dichen-inferiors are made. 
I have now, Mr. Editor, explained the 
purpofe of this Jetter. Ihave laid before 
perfons of rank, the caufe of thefe unhap- 
py deviations from family virtues, thoie 
unfortunate breaks in the chain of famvy 
worth,. which has threatened to level the 
great with the f{mall; and I have pointed 
out the remedy. 1t only remains for me to 
advert to a remark which may be made on 
the fubjeét, and itis this: it maybe re- 
marked that it is pofible fome of the virtues 
of illuftrious families may defcend, by the 
practice I have reprobated, to the cottage, 
and, perhaps by this change of place only, 
the fame quantum of virtue may be found 
to exift in the world. I fhall not beftow 
much pains to fhow that this remark, al- 
‘though wel founded as to faét, is ufeledfs 
as to any inference to be drawn from it. 
We do not expeé from cottages what we 
expeét from palaces; of what ufe would 
hereditary virtues be toa man who had 
not a foot of hereditary land ?—So much 
for this remark---another which likewife 
wears fome appearance of an objeétion to 
my principle,is that, perhaps, (mind you, : 
it is only a perhaps) fome acceffion of 
virtue may be procured from a plebeian 
family, which may be of infinite 
fervice in fupplying the defects of a pa- 
trician. J aim not quite prepared to combat 
Letter from Mr. Capel Lofes. | 
[Decé 
this argument, but, like the former, ie) 
ought not to have weight as an encourage- 
-ment tothe pra@tiice | have cenfured. IT 
have not been pleading for the increafe 
of family virtues, any more than for an ~ 
increafe of family eftates. My objeét is 
the tranfmiffion, pure and inviolate, of fa- 
mily blood and virtues, from vein to vein,’ 
and generation to generation, without’ 
alteration, mixture or diminution. And 
I flatter myfelf that I have advanced my 
do&trine vpon no infecure grounds, and 
I will conclude with 4 queition, in the form 
of an appeal, to the great fenfe of perfons 
of diftinétion : ‘* Can you for a moment 
{uppofe that the qualities inherent in the 
right hon. lady Anna Maria, &c. &c. can 
be imparted to her children, by Jane 
Wilkins, the hind’s wife?” Iam fir, - 
Your humble fervant. 
* AIMAPHILUS. 
— ae 
Toa the Editor of ibe Monthly Magazine. 
SIR, 
ACCEPT an imperfeét account of a 
large folar fpor, which was feen here 
Fridry 1, in the forenoon, and had difap- 
peared Friday 7. 
It advanced from near the centre to the 
fouth-weft fide of the fun’s disk, near the 
edge of which it was.on the sth. \ It was 
remarkably opaque, regular, and well de- 
fined, very like Mercury on the fun’s 
disk, but larger. J have no micrometer 
meafurement of it, but I apprehend it 
was of greater f{uperficial magnitude than — 
the earth is. 
Thefe fpots have of late become rather 
infrequent. No other was then apparent 
on the fun’s disk. Its time of continuance 
to appear well agrees, and the direétion 
of its motion, with a folar {pot carried by 
the known period of the fun’s rotation on 
its axis, otherwife it might have been fuf- 
pected, from its unequal regularity of 
figure, to have been a come? tranfitting the 
fun’s disk ; which, however rare a phes 
nomenon, is evidently poffible. 

MR. PITT'S TRIPLE ASSESSMENT. 
I take for granted fome obfervations 
will appear from fome. of your corre- 
fpondents on Mr. Pitt’s delufive, oppref« 
five, and moft unequal, fcheme of aggra- 
vated taxation. I have oppofed it through 
what temporary channels I could. I am 
forry that by the /ecefion of many n¥em- 
bers, whofe abilities and f{pirit have often 
profited their country on many fevere 
, _ exigencies 
x 
