1801] 
vile purpofe to which we generally prefer 
a dragon, a Saracen, or a black bull! 
And, parodying the language of Shake- 
fpeare, we exclaimed, ‘* “twas pitiful, 
"tavas wondrous pitiful.” —Had the por- 
trait been 
Be A PIECE OF WOME iy 
So bravely done, fo rich, that it did ftrive 
In workmanfhip and yalue 5” 
or had it been executed with any degree 
of excellence or fidelity ; it might have been 
admitted as a fmall apology for the patrons 
of the undertaking : but they, as if deter- 
termined that the tafte and elegance of the ex- 
ecution fhould correfpond with the liberality 
and grandeur of the defign, wifely com- 
mitted it to the care and dexterity of a 
common fign-painter in Air; and of courfe 
the portrait is a mere daub, and truly 
worthy of the purpofe for which it was 
defigned! Since thefe gentlemen were 
difpofed to honour the memory of Burns, 
he himlelf had pointed out to them the 
proper path, in the delicate compliment he 
paid the afhes of the poet Fergufon, by 
erecting a tone fimply infcribed to his me- 
mory. Something of the fame kind, 
though indeed but a trivial tribute, would 
at leaft have been more to their own cre- 
dit; and, after all, would not have been a 
great deviation from the principle of fru- 
gality which they feem to have laid down 
ras the bafis of their fcheme. 
Were the above fact generally known, 
I have little doubt but it would tend to 
ftimulate many of Burns’s admirers to un- 
dertake the ereftion of a memorial worthy 
of his genius and his fame. Private in- 
dividuals here have already tel(tified their 
benevolence and philanthropy, by their ac- 
tive exertions for the orphan family of the 
oet, among whom John Mair, efq. of 
lantation, deferves to be particulatifed ; 
and I am convinced, there are many fuch 
both in Ayrfhire andthis city, who would 
chearfully difplay their liberality and their 
tate in conttibuting for the purpofe of 
erecting a fuitable monument in the ftead of 
the above-mentioned fign-board,which is as 
difgraceful to every perfon conneéted with 
it, as it is infulting to him whofe fame it 
is meant to perpetuate. I am, &c. 
Glajgow, May 8, 1801. , RLM. 
eee 
For the Monthly Magazine. 
“ACCOUNT of NEWCASTLE UPON TYNE. 
(Continued from Page 310, of our laft Number.) 
EXT to public-buildings for reli- 
gious purpofes, naturally follow 
thofe of a civil nature, as the courts of 
Account of Neweaftle continued. 
' of the celebrated Mr. Howard. 
409 
juftice for the town and county, the Man- 
fion, ‘Trinity, and Cuftom-houfes, and the 
gaols; of which that for the town has no- 
thing particularly to recommend it but the 
humanity and attention of the gaoler, who 
fuccefsfully emulates the examples of his 
two immediate predeceffors, whofe con- 
duét, in thefe refpeéts, obtained the praife 
It is 
built over one of the gates of the town- 
wall; and, though kept as clean and airy 
as its fituation will admit, has no court or 
area except the roof, on which the debtors 
are allowed to walk: there is no provifion 
for folitary confinement; or for the pra- 
tection of the younger prifoners from 
being corrupted by intercourfe with har- 
dened’ offenders.) It is aftonifhing that 
the reports, I do not fay of the Philadel- 
phia-prifon, but of thofe of Manchetter, 
Oxford, and Gloucefter, at home, have 
not excited more of a f{pirit of emulation 
among the magiftrates, and others poffef- 
fing influence throughout the kingdam, 
for improving the conftruétion and police 
of the public gaols. 
But if the prifon for the town be not 
all that one could wifh, what fhall be faid 
of that for the county? a dark, cold, un- 
wholefome dungeon, once the cellar under 
the great tower of the cattle, now con- 
ftantly wet with the water that trickles 
down its fides; the defcent to which, by 
a flight of fleps, is, for fifty weeks in the 
year, made the common receptacle of all 
the filth in the neighbourhood; and to be 
precipitated into which the poor wretches 
who are to take their trials at the affizes 
are annually brought from Morpeth the 
preceding week, and in the mean time 
furnifh a perquifite to the under-ofticers of 
the county, who thew their miferable 
charge, like fo-many wild beafts, to a 
gaping multitude, though many of them, 
perhaps, are on the eve of being publicly 
difcharged, as innocent of the crimes al- 
leged againf{ them. That this fhould be 
known to the Lord Lieutenant, the the- 
riffs, and the grand juries, and year after 
year pafs over without redrefs, is one of 
thofe lamentable fats which it is ealier to 
prove than to account for or excufe. 
Of buildings for public accommodation 
the bridge naturally claims the firft place. 
If this oviginaliy fixed the fituation cf the 
town, the town has fince returned the 
compliment 3 and, on its failure, in 17714, 
by the fame general inundation which cars 
ried down the Solway Mofs, and did other 
incalculable damage in the northern coun- 
ties, prevented that removal of it fome- 
what higher up the river, which, while it 
would 
