1809. ] 
The fire-man on duty at each station, 
who should be an intelligent man of some 
education, should be furnished with a 
Jarge good map of the metropolis and 
suburbs, divided accurately into as many 
divisions as there are signals, either of 
geometrical squares drawn across, or 
(which may be better) into as many irre- 
gular islands of houses, and_ streets, 
bounded by some principal street, dif- 
ferently coloured and numbered, tallying 
with its signal. The fire-patroles should 
be directed immediately on a fire being 
discovered, to give information to the 
nearest station; the men there on duty, 
should immediately set the machine on 
the abacus, to the number of the district 
corresponding in his sighal-book. A — 
rendezvous should also be appointed in 
the most public street for each dis- 
_ trict, where the engine-driver is then or- 
dered to drive to; and a patrole who is 
there to be stationary, informs each suc- 
cessive engine that arrives, of the particu- 
Jar street, or lane, he is to drive to; as 
for instance :— 
A fire breaks out in Duchess-street, 
St. Mary-le-bone; a patrole flies to the 
nearest signal-column, and they set the 
machine fo a number whose rendezvous 
is fixed for the corner of Princes-street, 
Oxford-street, whither he immediately re- 
turns, and waits the arrival of the en- 
gines, Each driver has been told from 
his station,~to drive to Princes-street, 
Oxford-street, for farther directions, which 
he instantly receives, to the very street 
and house where the fire lies. 
Such is my plan, let it speak for itself: 
yet let me observe, what increased 
beauty the metropolis would receive 
from such buildings, and what an in- 
creased sense of security would pervade 
all its inhabitants. Your’s, &c. 
19, College Hill, James EvMmes. 
Queen-sireet, Cheapside, 
a 
For the Monthly Magazine. 
THE. ANTIQUARY, No. XVII. 
@BSERVATIONS on the ‘‘ WISTORIA REG} 
NUM ANGLIZ” by RoUS. 
T was the observation of Lord Orford, 
that the generality of historians have 
proved themselves so incompetent for 
the province they have undertaken, that 
it is almost a question, whether, if the 
dead of past ages could revive, they 
would be able to recognize ‘the events 
of their own times, as transmitted to us 
‘by ignorance and misrepresentation ? 
The remark will be found, at the open- 
The Antiquary—No. XVII. 259 
ing of the preface to his Lordship’s 
“ Historic Doubts ;’ and the careful 
reader, who compares the testimonies of 
historians, not only with each other, but 
with original records, will find it as ape 
plicable to almost every reign of Britists 
history, as to that of Richard the Third, 
My intention in the present letter, is to 
point out a few errors in the work of one 
writer, whose labours have hitherto beeiy 
considered as forming an accurate source 
of information. John Rosse, or Rous, 
says Bishop Nicolson, was “ a man of 
tolerable parts, and singular industry. 
He was born at Warwick, and bred at 
Oxford. He travelled over the greatest 
part of England; and, having made 
large collections out of the libraries 
where he came, relating to the history 
and antiquities of this kingdom, he az 
last retired to Guy’s Cliff, about a mile 
from Warwick, on the banks of Avon, 
where he spent the remainder of his life, 
and died, A.D, 1491. His History of 
our Kings is still extant, wherein are 
‘many collections, illustrating the anti- 
quities of our Universities. Hereupon 
he is frequently quoted by our Oxford an- 
tiquary, who, nevertheless, will not allow 
that his judgment equalled his pains.”* 
Bryan Pwyne, Pits, and more espe- 
cially, Leland, speak of him ina higher 
strain ; 
“* Inter cetera tamen inecredibili usug 
est diligentia legendis autoribus, qui de 
rebus nostris scripserunt. Unde tam ex= 
actam, tam variam, tam denique luculens 
tam Britannice Antiquiiatis cognitionena 
sibé comparavit, ut multos ex nostris 
longo, inquam, longo przcesserit inter- 
vallo.f | 
The “ Historia Regum Anglie” was 
originally edited by Hearne, at Oxford, 
in 1716; and again, in a more enlarged 
form, in 17**. It begins with the expule 
sion of our first parents from Eden; re- 
lates how naturally they must have diss 
covered the necessity of buildmg an ha- 
bitation; mentions Cain’s murder of his 
brother, and his building the city of 
Enoch; observing that, though Moses is 
silent upon the foundation of any other 
cities before the deluge, eight more are 
mentioned by that excellent man, Ber« 
nard de Breydenbach, who visited the 
Holy Land, in 1483. In short, as far 
as very early history is concerned, Rous’s, 
Judgment might fairly have been called in 
question by Wood, since the testime- 
* Engl. Hist. Libr. p, 57. 
+ Leland de Script. Brit. p. 473, 
OO eee St ee 
