224 
difguife moft Englifi names'they have oc- 
cafion to mention, tiat it is almoft im- 
poffibls to trace out to whom they belong. 
IT will give an iniftance or two. In a 
Fournal d'un Veyase fait aux Indes Orten- 
tales, in 3 volumes, 8vo. Rouen, 17217, 
by Menjficur des Challes, though no name 
is put to it, at page rg of vol. III. m-n- 
tion is made of a Monfieur de Quickpatrick, 
premier commis de M. de Louveis. Tam 
much difpefed to think, that this is an 
Infh or Scotch name, Kirkpatrick Frenchi- 
fied. In. ‘Tavernier’s Voyage, vol. III. 
page 325, ediv. 1552, 8vo. he mentions 
** compofte de Peklearin.’ It would puzzle 
fome people te find out what preferve this 
might be; and pofibly might make him 
Jaugh to find it only pickled-herring. 
Mr. Geugs, in his Anecdotes of Bri- 
tifa Topoorapiy, pages 29, 30, Lond. 
ato. 1768, has given a Ieng litt of thefe 
blurders commitied by Mons. Bellin, im 
his Efai Geograpbique fur les Iles Britan- 
niques, 2757; where; among others of the 
fame fort of fpelling, Endfield-Wath cnd 
Melion-Mowbray, are thus difguifed— 
*¢ Jafieldzvafh” and  Mittomowbray.” 
The French tranflator of Laffells’s Voy- 
ages, vol. I. page 110, calis the Duke of 
Buckingham, “ Bucquincanw” Thismut 
be mecr affectation, as he had Laffels*s 
book before him, if he had chofen to have 
fpelled right. 
Mr. Fofter, the tranflator of Monfeur 
Bougainville's Voyage rourd the World, 
printed 1772, p3pe20r, in a note, ob- 
ferves—-** That he, (viz. Bougainville,) 
and. moft writers of his nation, miitilate 
all fore:gn names, not ‘only inadvertently, 
but often cn purpoie,. through mete ca- 
price.” 
Mr. Harcciiet, the writer cf Hifoire 
des Perfonnes qui ont vecu plufeurs Siécles, 
GF quit ont rajcunt, at page 104, mention- 
ing Parre, wiiomhez calls Parke, fays, that 
he was of the Comré de Strophime; by 
which, I fuppofe, he means Shropfhire. - 
There may “de fome excule for a French- 
_ aman oeing put to'difficulties m pionounc- 
ang a word of tex letters, t2vo only of 
which were vowels. 
In the French tianflstion’ of Laffels’s 
‘Travelsy vot. If. pige 107, the author 
fays; that when he was at Rome, there 
‘were in the College Delia Sapienza, two 
Englith Profeffers, «* /cawvoir le Dofeur 
Hart & le Doéteur Gibly, poete, et I’ Ho- 
race dé notre tems.” No doubt it means 
the celebrated James Gibbes, though thus 
_difguifd” through French affectation of 
never fpelling fercign names right. » | 
Extraordinary Darknefs off Newfoundland. [O&.1, 
To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. 
SIR, : 
HE following account of an extra. — 
ordinary darknefs which occured on 
the coaft.of Newfoundland, abcut the time 
of the fummer folftice, and waich I re- 
ceived a few days fince from my brother, 
will probally be acceptable to yourreaders, 
and may recall to the recoileétion of thofe 
who are in the habit of making meteorolo~ 
gical obfervations, an extraordinary ep- 
pearance in the atmofphere in this coun- 
try about the fame time, which I think 
there is reafon to believe may be attributed 
to the {ame caufe, and be connected with 
the appearance noticed on the coalt of 
America. My brother was on his paflage 
from Newfoundland to Miramichi, im 
Nova Scotia, and I fhall give his account 
in his own words, sa 
Extra of a Letter from Mr. Henry brif- 
towe, commanding the Slip Poole, dated 
Miramichi, 2810 Fune, 1804. 
“ On my p2fiage to this place an extra- 
ordinary. circumftance occured, which I 
believe mult have been feen in fome parts 
of Newfoundland though the people here 
{aw nothing ot it. I was, on Sunday, the 
17:h inftant, about two leasms to the 
fouthward of the Ifland of St. Peter; at 
day break it was dark and gloomy, the 
fun rofe like a ball of fire, and difappear- 
ed in an inttant, obfcured in thick, dark, 
red and yellow clouds ;—and at’8 o'clock, 
T could {carcely fee to get my breakfatt 
‘without a light ; at intervals it lightened | 
up a little, and continued fo till eleven 
‘o'clock, when. it became totally dark, fo 
mucn fo, that f put my head down to the 
binnacle aad could no more fee the’ com- 
pats, than E could at 12 o’clock in ‘a very 
dark night, without a light: my cook 
was ubliged to get-a light to fee if his cop- 
per boiled. The. fire burned pale, or ra- 
ther af a purple cait. It continued total- — 
ly dark for about twenty minutes, when 
it clearcd away; firft to the northward. 
The Hfland of St. Pcter locked juft as the 
land does in the nght when the moon 
emerges from a thick black cioud, which 
hangs over the land, and a yard or two of 
ciear fky (to appearance) between the 
jand and clouds, and ail round the horizon 
befides as dark as pitch. The clouds all 
the day were of a blood red and yellow 
coiour—ne rain, and but little wind from 
the weft north. weft. My people were all 
frightened—it was a grand, but awful 
fight. I think you would have been glad 
to have feen it.” os 
sie HEN. BrisTowe. 
