560 
exploring by travellers of all descrip- 
tions: tothe antiquarian, it must afford 
a peculiar treat, abounding, as it does, 
with Roman antiquities. ‘The most re- 
markable of these are: ist. The remains 
of an amphitheatre, a simrcircle of 
which is in great preservation; there are, 
besides, walls, completing the circle, and 
others again withinside these; but these 
are evident'y very modern, and have, I 
suppose, been erected for the purpose of 
bull-baiting, an amusement not unfre- 
quent in this country.—2nd. The ruin of 
an aqueduct, consisting of many lofty 
-and beautiful arches and _pillars.—3d. 
A triumphal arch in very complete pre- 
servation, and of uncommon beauty.— 
4th. Remains of a temple dedicated to 
Diana, but now converted to a dwel- 
ling; there are, however, still standing, 
five very handsome pillars of the Corin- 
thian order: a few statues are also to be 
seen in different parts of the town, but 
all that we could find were in a very mu- 
tilated state; these would, in all proba- 
bility, have attracted much more atten- 
tion from a virtuoso, than I have be- 
stowed upon them, but not professing 
that character, I have contented myself 
with recording that such things are.— 
Here it may not be improper again to 
intimate the impossibility for me to com- 
municate all that information which a 
traveller atleisure naturally obtains, for 
borrowing the uncontrovertible argu- 
ments used by Pangloss, in Voltaire’s 
Candid, and tracing causes to effects, we 
may logically aver, that a man, who is 
seldom permitted to stay a minute in a 
town, cannot say much abeut it; and that 
he who does not understand one word 
of his opponent’s language, cannot ob- 
tain much information. Such has gene- 
rally been my situation; but as my eyes 
are good, though my ears are useless, I 
have, and shall continue to notice, and 
communicate, what I see. 
On the 2d, we again broke ground, 
and proceeded toa village, called Lobon, 
from whence I am just arrived (on a few 
day’s leave), at a towm called Talavera, 
aname which cannot but recall many and 
varioussensations. I have not had time 
to visit the place; and the only observa- 
tion I have yet made is, that my billet 
(the first house I have had to sleep in 
tor many weeks) abounds with mosqui- 
tos and bugs, 
*< Who, hush’d in grim repose, expect their 
evening prey.” 
On the Materia Medica. 
[Jan. ft, 
To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. 
SIR, 
A Sthetenets of popery and protes- 
tanism are so widely different, ana 
held to be so incompatible with each 
other, as not to be encouraged under the 
same government, I shall be glad if some 
of your intelligent correspondents, will 
have the goodness to inform me on what 
rational principles the churches, chapels, 
and burial-grounds, consecrated in for ~ 
mer times by Roman Catholic priests, 
have been ever since, and are to this 
day, considered by protestants in pre- 
cisely the same point of view, as if the 
ceremony had been performed by eccle- 
siastics belonging to their own charch? 
This apparent incongruity may perhaps 
be satisfactorily explained, although I 
confess myself at present very much at 
a loss to comprebend it. 
Your's, &c. 
E. T. PrteRiM. 
Woburn, October 12, 1809. 
To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. 
SIR, 
OUR correspondent, T. M. seems to sup- 
pose, in favouring us with cautions cone 
cerning the use of popular remedies for dis- 
eases, that medicine is a very mysterious 
thing : and so indeed would many of its pro- 
fessors persuade us. How many of the ar- 
ticles in the Materia Medica, are wholly 
‘¢ inert and powerless,” he does not tell us. 
I think that I conld name many, which are 
constantly exhibited by the regular practi- 
tioner, of no medical virtue at all. Common 
sense will, however, decide in each case: 
but it would be libelling human nature to 
suppose, that if I took half an ounce of castor 
oil, I could not describe its operation as well 
as any regular practitioner: the evidence as 
to the cures performed by medicine, whether 
exhibited by the medical practitioner, or the 
empiric, is very often of the same nature and 
subject to the like demonstration; viz. the 
patient’s own feelings. Errors are no doubt 
committed: but we should remember, by 
giving.publicity to insulatec facts, experience 
will ultimately determine their value. 
It were to be wished, that a comprehensive 
manual of medicine, suited to the capacities 
of youth, could be found in all our schools as 
common as Blairs Grammar. The interested ~ 
and the bigot may fear, but human nature 
would be a great gainer. Brown’s theory, 
with modification. should make the ground- 
work: Where is the Beddoes to raise the su- 
perstructure ? 
Your’s, &c. 
James JENNINGS. 
To 
Huntspill, Fuly 15. 
