a 
* 
$66 Description of Cheltenham, and tis Vicinity. — [Now f, 
respectable artists; whose burins would 
defy the imitation of those who at present 
_Support themselves by fergery, and whose 
sacrificed to the 
lives are so frequent! 
Tt was 
offended laws of their country. 
_a remark made many years ago, that if 
at the next conviction or execution of a 
criminal of this description, a Bank Di- 
rector were compelled to share the same 
fate, the evil would immediately be re- 
medied; and it seems as if some exam- 
ple of this kind were now necessary, iA 
order to save the lives, and correct the 
morals, of numbers who are tempted to 
pursue this course of life, by the facility 
of imitating the execrable execution ofa 
modern Bank-note. There is not a mer- 
chant in the kingdom whose bill-cheque 
is not more respectably turned out, and. 
would consequently be more difficult of 
imitation. 
It would be easy to enlarge upon tlre 
great injury sustained by the public, who 
are compelled to take these notes in pay- 
ment, without having the means of de- 
tecting them if forged, (it being stated 
that there is a private office or sanctum 
sanctorum for that express purpose, the 
secret of which is confided to two or three 
persons only); and should one bill or ten 
thousand be deelared by them to be for- | 
geries, withovt any alleged proof, the 
anfortunate holder has no redress what- 
ever, and his character and situation in 
hfe may alone skreen him from prose- 
cution, and perhaps being convicted and 
hanged into the bargain, as an recom. 
 phee inthe fraud, 
Upon this very important subject, the 
result of the enquiries I have made, justify 
‘me in asserting, that nothing is more pos- 
sible than to accomplish the desired end 
of preventing forgery, and at the same 
time of issuing such notes as the country 
has a right to expect, and indeed ought 
to require from an assurance of their 
being genuine. 
Your's, &e. EP. 
Manchester, Sept. 1809. ; 
a 
For the Monthiy Magazine. 
METEOROLOGY. 
accouNnT of a renarkuble METEOR, com- 
municated by an OFFICER of one of his 
MAJESTY'S SHIPS. 
N the 29th of May of the last year 
(1808), at eleven at night, ship time, 
and about 26 minutes after eleven, Green- 
wich time, being on the ehip’s quarter- 
deck, latitude 85. 29. longitude 6. 17, 
Cape Spartel bearing N. E. by E. east- 
erly, distant nine leagues, saw a lumi- 
nous meteor, apparently of the size of the 
mouth of a wine-glass, or, im other 
words, of that of a billiard ball, ina po- 
sition almost due west, and moving slow~ 
ly, ina nearly. horizontal direction, to- 
ward the south. It had a vivid train, like 
that of.a comet, which, when it had shot 
some length, diminished in extent, and 
spread its fan. The meteor now burst, 
and separated into seven or eight smaller 
ones, which preserved -the same nearly 
horizontal direction with the large one, 
until they disappeared. eae” 
—— ; 
To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. 
SIR, 
| aie subjoined specimen of a series 
of Letters, descriptive of the county 
of Glocester generally; but more parti- 
cularly of the town and neighbourhood of 
Cheltenham, should meet your approba- 
tion, your affording it an early insertion. 
in your Magazine, will oblige 2 AA 
Yours, &c. Hi 
Cheltenham, July 6, 1808. 
I hasten, my dear friend, to comply 
with your request, although difident of 
my ability, to describe, and to delineate, 
with that effect, which would be gratify. 
ing to you, and flatteing to myself. But 
before I introduce to your notice this 
fashionable place of resort, and such in- 
teresting objects as are in its immediate - 
vicinity, allow me to present you with a 
brief sketch of the county in which they 
are situated. For this purpose, however, - 
do not expect that I shall have recourse. 
to the voluminous collections of provin- 
cial topography, to ascertain its extent ~ 
and admeasurement, the number of its 
towns and villages, the conjectural ety- 
mology of their names, and the former 
and present possessors of manors and 
mansions; neither shall I fatigue your 
attention with the tedious recapitulation 
of Roman remains, dismantled castles, 
= 
dilapidated abbeys, and extinct genéalo- 
gies. All these I leave to their conside- 
ration who delight to traverse the track- ~ 
less wilds of provincial inquiry, or fa- 
thom the-depths of antiquarian research. 
Think not, however, that 1 am disposed 
to undervalue the labour that has: been. 
bestowed on the relics of past ages, or to 
question the utility of the local historian, 
No! to the one we are indebted for the 
‘discovery, or’preservation, of the many 
remalis of ancient att, that stimulate 
modern ingenuity; and to the other, we 
owe the merit of having filed pp many a 
chasm, 
