_ wr 
4804) 
thers had repeatedly done before, that 
the fmall irregularities made in the floor 
and fides of the cave, by devotees ftudious 
of carrying away a morfel of the ftone, were 
foon reftored by its miraculous growth. 
The other excavations, which have ob- 
tained here the title of the Catacombs, 
appear to have been dwelling-places in 
times of diftrefs, made by the poor inhabi- 
tants, either as a refuge from the Saracens, 
er Turks, or pirates. _The paflages are 
extremely narrow, winding in every di- 
reftion, but perhaps might, if united in 
a right line, extend 70, 80, or 100 yards. 
There appear two bafes for mill-ftones to 
have turned on horizontally ; feveral lit- 
tle cells for individual dormitories and the 
femblance of a chapel, about eight yards 
long, five broad, and three or four high. 
But other fragments of far more indubita- 
ble antiquity are fcattered about Civita 
Vecchia, namely, feveral fine marble capi- 
tals; pieces of fluted marble columns and 
their bafes, with two or three entablatures, 
beautifully carved; all of Corinthian ar- 
chitecture. A 
I fhould fearcely hefitate to deem thefe 
the remains of the temple of Juno related 
to have ftood near the fite of Civita Vec- 
chia. I conceive none of the pillars we faw 
parts of, could have ‘exceeded eighteen 
feet in height; but I am perfuaded who- 
ever was the object of adoration, their vo- 
taries had found means to dedicate to them 
a fpecimen of archite€tural art worthy. of 
the moft refined age. 
We returned toward Valetta from Ci- 
vita Vecchia, by a little detour which 
brought us to the governor’s gardens of 
Saint Antonio, a country-feat of the 
Grand Maiter. Here are ten or twelve 
acres of garden ground, well walled in, 
with fmaller appropriate divifions fxr pea- 
cocks and other choice domeftic fawis ; and 
here for the firft time, I had the pleafure 
of feeing myrtle hedges, ftandard peach- 
trees, oranges and lemons, the former in 
full bloffom, the latter,in full fruit; apri- 
cots, fig-trees, the pepper-tree, inter- 
fperfed with large plots of very good cu- 
linary plants and a fufficient number of 
parterres of flowers, as rofes, pinks, &c. 
to prove that the magic touch of a good 
European gardener, might convert this 
by the bleffing of fo fine a climate into a 
little Eden. The gardens are kept up 
here with much lefs neatnefs than in Eng- 
land; and ftill are extremely beautiful ; 
at leaft as much fo, I am afraid, as under 
the Order. The borders of the carved 
ftone refervoirs are ftill enamelled with 
rofes and choice flowers, and water is {till 
conveyed to every individual tree through- 
@ut the garden. Many of the walks are 
MontTuty Mae. No, 113, 
Ervor in Godwin’s Chaucer—Query. 
17 
cut out of the folid rock ; others are made 
of a certain reddifh compofition, acd, in 
ftead of box, all are fringe! with myrtle. 
We drank Sicilian wine onter a thickly 
fhaded bower framed by a large mulberry. 
tree, and refrefhed ourlelves and fervant 
with a little provifion we had brought 
with us, and, after paffing three or four 
moft agreeable hours, returned to Valet. 
ta with a determination to repeat our vilit. 
(To he continued. ) 
To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. 
SIR, | 
N Mc. Godwin’s valuable Li’e of 
Chaucer, he has given a gloffary of 
fome of the old Englifh words ufed in 
Chaucer’s works; but there is one in- 
ftance in which he appears to have mifun- 
derftood the meaning of one that is ftill 
in ufe, in fome of the northern parts of the 
kingdom. In vol. 1, paze 279, line 22, 
he quotes the following line, 
*¢ But gan to praife and /ackzs whom he left 
The word lacken, he fays, means to 
blame; but it rather means to laugh at, 
or jeft with a perfon. ‘The word is pro- 
nounced /ake or rather Ja-ake; and when 
children have been at work and are re 
leafed from it, they are told they may ga 
and dake,’ which means they may go 
and play. It is alfo ufed by the perfon 
who wrote the Lancafhire dialect, under 
the fictitious name of Tim Bobbin, 
where he reprefents a Lancafhire clown 
telling of an unlucky trick he had been 
played, and was laughed at for it, fays 
“‘ they fet up a geard a laking.”” So 
that Chaucer means to reprefent [riolus, 
not as praifing {ome and b!aming others, 
but as pratfing fome, and joking or laugh. 
ing with others. Iam, your's, &c. 
Liverpool, Fune, 12, 1804. J. K. 
EE 
To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. 
SIR, 
ye will very much oblige me, and I 
. think I may fafely add a confidera- 
ble portion of your readers, if you will 
infert the following query, which I make 
no doubt fome of your fcientific corre- 
fpondents will gladly anfwer; when it is 
confidered that there are many poor clergy- 
men, as well as others, that wear black, 
whofe coats become rufty before they can 
affard to purchafe a new one. 
What is the beft and ch: eh wath, to 
be applied with a fponge, for refrefhing | 
rufty black cloth, whether made of weol- 
len, cotton, or fiik, defcribing the proper 
compofition for each refpe&tively ? 
Oxford, 1804. A BLAcK cOaT. 
B Table 
