18 
gine the fituation of the poor in ficknefs ? 
none but they who have been eye-wit- 
neffes of their mifery. I was next con- 
duéted to a part of the city called Rad- 
cliffe Backs—I went through a long nar- 
row paflage, on each fide of which appeared 
now and then an old docr or a decayed 
ftair cafe; up one of thefe I endeavoured 
to climb ; I got up one flight, and called. 
No found was to be heard—I looked 
_ through the crevices of the old doors, and 
I thought I could perceive nothing but un- 
inhabited old ftore-rooms—I called again. 
I heard a feeble female voice cry ** Who’s 
- there??? I afcended, and I beheld an old 
woman, covered with old dirty rags, lean- 
ing againft an half-opened door—I went 
en, and the old. woman, than whom no 
Sybil could be uglier, flaggered back into 
a garret eight feet {quare—fhe ftaggered 
in fuch a manner that I at firft fuppoted 
fhe had contrived to get fome fpirits with 
which fhe had been endeavouring to forget 
her wretched fituation ; but I was foon 
convinced of my error, and I found that 
fhe was fo debilitated that fhe could fearcely 
fpeak or move. On abedftead which was 
covered with old rotten carpets, lay a man 
on his belly, his head refting on his hands, 
which were clafpedas if he wasin agony: in 
‘the bed lay a girl ten years old, in the 
height of the fever; her fkin was burning 
hot, and her pulfe above 120. 1 immedi- 
ately opened the window, and poured fome 
oil of vitriol upon fome common falt ; the 
marine acid fumes which arofe, had a 
wonderful effect in clearing the room of 
noxious particles. I defired the old wo- 
man, whom the frefh air had to a certain 
degree recovered, to wet the girl’s breaft 
and arms with coid water :—this had not 
been done five minutes, before the girl 
turned round and cried out, ** More wa- 
ter, mother, more water, its very plea- 
fant, | am much better !’"—I mention this 
as an inftance of the beneficial effe& arif- 
ing from the ufe of cold air and cold water 
in the hot and dry ftate of fevers ; and in 
fome meafure to countera& the fatal pre- 
judice, “¢ that people fhould be kept hot 
yn fevers.” ‘The old woman told me that 
her hufband, who was a mafon’s labourer, 
earned nine fhillings a week ; that fhe, her 
gir], and hufband had been ill for fix weeks, 
and during that time they did not want 
any thing to eat, but now imdeed. they 
were very weak, and {carcely able to move 
for want of food. When FE gave. her 
fomething, and defired her to get fome 
meat, and tomake fome good brcth; her 
countenance brightened up, fhe appeared 
to be quite reanimated, and the joyfully 
Concerning the Writings and Readings of Fude. 
‘of Jerufalem. 
[Feb. 1, 
faid—-** Yes, we'll make it very comfort- 
able, and we’ll put a few turnips into it.”” 
Thefe are a few inftances out of a hnndred 
that I could relate; but thefe few are fufi- 
cient to fhew what is the real fituation of 
the poor inlarge towns. Might it not be - 
worth the while of the vifitors of the 
Stranger’s Friends Society to publifh their 
journals, with accounts of the different 
families they vifit, by which we may form 
more accurate eftimates of the difeafes, 
wants, and confequently of the morals of 
the poor? Tam, &c. 
Briffol, Now. 1800. 2 Re 
Ee 
For the Monthly Magazine. 
Concerning the WRITINGS and READINGS 
of JUDE. 
TTEMPTS have lately been made 
by fome theologifts to hitch the book 
of Efdras into further repute ; apparently 
becaufe it offers frefh refources for thofe 
who practice divination by interpreting 
Scripture. In order to precaution the 
public againft a growing pernicious and 
degrading credulity, it may be worth 
while to inveftigate the origin of this 
work, and to indicate the events to which 
it really refers. Some notices of conneéted 
literature may conveniently be appended. 
I. The apocryphal Efdras certainly exe 
ifted before Jofephus wrote; for he makes 
great ufe of it in the eleventh book of the 
Jewith Antiquities; names out of it Ra- 
thumus, and other perfons not mentioned 
in the candnical Ezra; and borrows from 
it the account of Zorobabel’s winning the 
prize of eloquence in a conteft before Da- 
rus. 
Jofephus was collecting the authorities 
for his hiftory under Titus, who prefented 
to him the manufcripts found in the temple. 
Effras, therefore, wasal- 
ready in circulation in the eightieth year 
of the Chriftian zra, and is, no doubt, 
prior to any of the gofpels, with none of 
which Jofephus appears to have been at all 
acquainted. | 
The foregoing obfervations apply only 
to the firft book, which has been quoted 
by Athanafius, Auguftin, and Ambrofe; 
and is plainly one of thofe Greek legen- 
dary modifications, or refaccimentos, of 
Hebrew claffics (like the Jeremiah quoted 
in Matthew) which. were drawn up at 
Alexandria, under the Ptolemies, for the 
inftruction of Egyptian Jews. 
This book is rightly arranged among 
the apocryphal fcriptures of the Jews. | 
II. Of the fecond book of Efdras no 
Hebrew, nor even a Greek, original has 
been difcovered: yet the Latin text feems 
pafied 
