Memoirs of the Twentieth Century/London, Chelsea, Dec. 19, 1997

by Samuel Madden

To the Lord High Treasurer.

London, Chelsea, Dec. 19, 1997.

My Lord,

I Had the Pleasure of your Dispatches, of Nov. 3d, some Days since, and am thus early in returning my Thanks, where I hold my self so much oblig'd, both for your Care of the Publick and of me. Your Congratulations on my Advancement were very welcome, for from one so sincere and candid, as I have ever found your Excellency, even Compliments pass for Truths, and we think our selves oblig'd to give Credit to them. At the same Time, my Lord, you have not forgot England so much, by your long Residence at Constantinople, but that you must know, there can be no great pleasure to preside over the Councils of a People, that may almost be called a Nation of prime Ministers; that examine and suspect every Thing, and yet are never pleas'd or in good Humour, and least then, when they can find nothing to blame.

Your Accounts, of the State of Things in Turky, were most entertaining; his Majesty did you the Honour to hear your Letters read, and to express some Satisfaction in them; and therefore you must hasten to us the Remainder of your Observations, that we do not overpay for the Pleasure, by too long Expectation.

Mr. Secretary will, by this Night's Express, by the way of Vienna, communicate to you his Majesty's Pleasure, in Relation to the Treaty, and the Approbation which all the Steps you have hitherto taken, have met with here. His Majesty has particularly order'd me to assure you, that the Bishops and Papa's of the Greek Church, shall be honour'd with his Protection and Favour; and all that are Needy and sincerely Scrupulous to submit to Rome, shall have proper Pensions to prevent their making Shipwreck of their Faith, and selling their Birthright, like Esau, for a little Food to sustain them. I think there has been an inexcusable Negligence, in the Ministry here (tho' I know not realy at whose Door to place it) in Relation to that unhappy neglected Church; which has neither had any Benefit drawn from our Protection at the Port, nor the least Care shewn, by sending Missionaries of our own, to prevent the Artifices of the Jesuits, and keep her steddy to her Principles, as a Sister Church, who has ever abhor'd to join in their Communion. This is a Defect, which all Protestant Churches have much fail'd in, and our own as much as any; but I hope in Time to see this amended, with many other Irregularities, if Providence shall be pleased to lend me Opportunity and Power.

I shall be much oblig'd to your Excellency, if you can inform me if Mr. Biron or Mr. Pearson, have recover'd any choice Manuscripts, either Greek or Arabick, or valuable Medals, or any Rarities or Curiosities in their Travels, which I procur'd his Majesty to send them abroad for, when I was only principal Secretary of State. I thank you for the Curiosities you sent me, and to engage you to this Kind of Traffick, I have given Orders to send you, by the Turky Fleet, an excellent Hogshead of Carolina, (our own Plantation White-Wine) and three or Four fine Pieces of Damask, made of the Silk of that Country; both which we have brought to that Perfection there, as is of vast Advantage to Great Britain, as well as the Colony.

Since you think it will make the Grand Seignior encourage Astronomy, I have also sent you one of the compleatest largest and best reflecting Telescopes in London, which we make with such exquisite Skill and Contrivance, that they exceed tenfold all those that were used by the Astronomers in the last Age. Tho' it be but of a moderate Length, yet it is altogether as good as the larger Ones; and the Expence of fixing it up, much less; and you may discern evidently with this, not only the Hills, Rivers, Vallies, and Forests, but real Cities in the Moon, that seem nearly to resemble our own, and what is still more, even Mountains and Seas in Venus and the other Planets. Nay some of our Astronomers have gone so far, as to aver, they could distinguish the Times of Plowing, and Harvest there, by the Colour of the Face of the Earth, and to specifie those Times, that others might make a Judgment of their Obfervation, and have maintain'd, that they have plainly seen in the Moon, Conflagrations, and the Smoak arising from them.

As I fancy there is more of Imagination than of Truth, in such Opinions, I would not have your Excellency quarrel with this I send you, if it does not perform all these Miracles. I will assure you, beforehand, you will find it magnifie to so prodigious a Degree, as will perfectly astonish you, as much as you are us'd to Telescopes; while it gives you such evident Demonstrations, that all the Planets are not only habitable, but inhabited. I shall desire you only, while you are enjoying those Pleasures, to remember, that you are chiefly indebted for them, to the Bounty and generous Encouragement, with which our Royal Master contributed to the Project, for improving them so highly, without which, they would never have receiv'd the Perfection they have gain'd.

As Mr. Secretary will entirely take off my Hands, to Night, the Province of the Statesman and the Minister, your Excellency will pardon me, if I only entertain you very poorly on Philosophy, and as a Brother Virtuoso, with some small Accounts of what Improvements have been made here in the polite Arts; and also, how far our Trade, and both the Laws and Manufactures of our Country, are advanc'd and regulated within these twenty-five Years, since you left us.

That I may prepossess your Excellency in the best Manner I am able, in Favour of our Improvements here, I shall begin my Account with those elegant Arts, you have so long admir'd and cultivated, Painting, Sculpture, and Architecture; which, tho' greatly encourag'd by his Majesty's Royal Ancestors, have been shewn such extraordinary Favour and Protection, under this Reign, that there have not only Salaries been allow'd to Professors, in each of them, but a Fund of 5000 l. per Ann. establish'd by Subscription of his Majesty, and the Nobility and Gentry, which is divided equally on his Majesty's Birth-Day, in December, to the three best Pictures, Statues, and Houses, that have been made in Great Britain in that Year. Tho' his Majesty subscribes 1500 l. a Year, he has but one Vote in determining who best deserves the Premiums; and that Parties and Factions may be excluded, and only Merit consider'd, all the Subscribers are engag'd, on their Honour, not to solicit any Member for his Vote, and as all is performed by Balloting, it is generally agreed, that nothing can be manag'd with greater Candour and Impartiality.

By this single Method, we have made Great Britain, the Seat of these lovely Arts, and have drawn hither, the first Masters of the World, to contend with Emulation for the generous Rewards, which our Country bestows on their Labours and Merit. I do assure your Excellency, it has such an Effect here, that I am confident, we have better new Pictures and Statues in Great Britain, than in all Europe besides; and perhaps Italy her self, will not, in a little Time, be able to excel the Palaces we have built here, since this Scheme has taken Place. In Sculpture, particularly, we have so far excelled, that no Nation comes near us in cutting in Granite, Serpentine, or Porphyry; and we alone have the Art of Working in that hardest of Stones, the Bisaltes, by the Help of Emery, prepar'd in the new Method; and by having probably found out the Secret of tempering our Steel, after the Manner of the Ancient Greeks and Romans.

I am sorry to tell your Excellency, that we have gone as great Lengths as to Musick, but without assigning Premiums, and am afraid you will put me in Mind of Cicero's Maxim, in his Treatise de Legibus, Mutatâ Musicâ mutantur Mores, and the Rule he lays down for it, which is worth the Consideration of every Nation, Curandum itaque est, ut Musica quam gravissima & sedatissima retineatur. It was with this View, that several of his Majesty's Royal Predecessors, peremptorily drove the Italian Opera and Music twice from Great Britain, and forbid their acting in their Theatres, in St. James's Square and Kensington, as enervating our Spirits, and emasculating the British Genius. George III. would never allow it to be us'd in his Troops, or by any Officers in them; and with Difficulty let it be retain'd in the Church Service, and Anthems. Some States have prohibited the Study and Practice of Musick; with the same Views; and the Spartans, your Excellency knows, made a Decree against Timotheus, for improving soft Musick, and yet we have run into a Passion for it, with that Violence, that it has not only thriven at the Expence of the good Sense, and, almost, the Valour of our Nation, but has, in some measure, supplanted our Ambition, and our Thirst for Wealth and Power.

The Fiddle, particularly, has so far got into the Hands of our Gentlemen, that, I fear, they will at last forget the Use of their Swords; and am jealous, they will set up, in Time, a new Sect of visionary Religionists amongst us, who will worship nothing but that ador'd Instrument, tho' at the same Time, every one knows, 'tis as rare to see a good Fidler without a poor Understanding, as it is in Ireland to see an Harper, that is not blind. It is certain, however, that they have brought the Improvement of it here to a vast Pitch; but your Excellency observes, that this is rather what I am asham'd, than proud of, being heartily concern'd to see our brave People rivalling the Eunuchs of Italy, in so trivial an Excellence, to say no worse of it.

Let me lead you now by the Hand, into the Royal College of St. George at Oxford, which, tho' founded by his Majesty's Ancestors in the Eighteenth Century, has been so vastly improv'd, and it's Revenues so far encreas'd, by the King our Master, that we may almost call it his own Foundation. Your Excellency was well acquainted with it in your Youth, and therefore, I shall only mention to you, such Additions, and new Regulations, as have been made there of late Years. I shall begin with the great Square, all built by his Majesty, which he nam'd the College of the learned World. Here there are Apartments for Twenty-six Fellows, who must be learned Foreigners in Distress, chosen by the Votes of the Nobility, Bishops, and Heads of Colleges, signifying by a sign'd and seal'd Certificate, that the Person to be elected, is a learned Foreigner in Distress, whom they think best deserving the vacant Fellowship, which is worth 50 l. the Year, and Diet, and is conferr'd on him who has the most Votes.

In the old Square, adjoining to this, there are Lodgings for four new Professors, who have each of them 150 l. a-piece per Ann. The First professes and teaches Agriculture and Gardening, and has (near the College) twenty Acres of Ground, which he employs in small Parcels, under the Plow and Spade, in different Methods and Experiments, in those two useful Arts; and has still a Number of Scholars, who are bred under him, to whom, in foul Weather, he reads Lectures; and in fair Day's he instructs them, in all the practical Methods, necessary to the Improving the Culture of the Field and the Garden. They are to assist him in all his Experiments to that End, which he is oblig'd to publish each Year, with their Success or Failure, and the probable Causes and Reasons of both. The King's, and all Noblemen's Gardener's are bred here; and all young Gentlemen, who come to the Universities to learn nothing, are oblig'd, before they take any Degrees in Arts they are perfect Strangers to, to spend six Months under this Professor, in order to make them know something.

The second is called the Weather Professor, and tho' this was establish'd in 1840, yet as his Salary was trebled from 50 l. to 150 l. I reckon him with the others. He is oblig'd to keep exact Diaries and Indexes of the Wind and Weather, of all Storms, Drougths and Rains, and the antecedent concomitant and consequent Circumstances, as well as the Position of the Planets; and collect all other Symptoms indicative of the Changes of the Air and Weather, with Deductions and Conjectures as to all Dearths, great Crops, healthy Seasons, and epidemical Distempers, and the Causes and Remedies of Famines and popular Sicknesses. He is to enter his Observations in regular Calendars, and to add Dissertations on all, and particularly on the Causes of such Accidents, as are occasion'd by Heat or Cold, Rain, Frost, Snow, Lightning, Blasts, Mildews, biting Winds and scorching Suns; and to set down the probable Extents of Coasting Winds, Rains and Snows, and to keep three Clerks at three different Distances of at least Eighty Miles asunder to pursue the same Methods exactly. He is also to keep carefully, and observe constantly, his Statical Hygroscopes, as to the Moisture and Dryness of the Air, how far full or new Moons, and the menstrual or annual Spring-tides, the Multitude or Fewness of the Solar Maculæ, the Approach of Comets, the Aspects of the Planets, their Eclipses, Conjunctions, &c. appear to affect our Atmosphere in this particular. He is to attend with the same Exactness his Weather Engines to express the Strength of the Winds, by their lifting up such and such Weights; and measure the Quantities of Rain that fall throughout the Year, the Thickness of the Ice, and Depth of Snow, the Length, Breadth, and Force of Earthquakes, as well in his Neighbourhood as by his Correspondents throughout Great-Britain, and the neighbouring Coasts of France and Ireland, and whether they move as is supposed generally from East to West, or how otherwise.

Six Volumes in Folio of these Calendars have been publisht from 1840 to 1991, at the King's Expence lately, and it is incredible what a Certainty we are come to in these Matters, and the Advantage thereby, as to Sieges, Campaigns, Harvests, Journeys, Sailing of Ships, Inundations, and Tempests; it being certain from them, that every Revolution of Saturn, we have the same Weather exactly, or with very small Variations. A Discovery, which your Excellency sees at one Glance the Importance of, tho' I fear, as 'tis probable the World will not hold out many Centuries longer, this will be like coming to a great Estate when one is past Seventy, and has no Hopes of enjoying it. The last I shall mention to your Excellency, are the two Professors of Trades, and Mechanical Arts. These divide all the most mysterious Trades between them, such as Dying, Weaving, Tanning, Turning, Carpenters, Masons, Painters, Brewers, Bakers, Spinners, Miners, Wheel, Mill and Ship-wrights, Printing, Glass-making, and such like; and are oblig'd to inspect into all possible or probable Methods to improve those in his Province.

Each Year they give in their Observations or Inventions to the Board of Trade, who, after examining into them, and consulting thereon with the Hall of Tradesmen in that Mystery, give Orders for its being followed and observed by them and their Apprentices, and publisht, if proper, for the common Good. The Professors must be Masters of Arts in one of the Universities, and well vers'd in Experimental Philosophy, and must every seven Years, present his Majesty with an History of the several Trades in their respective Provinces, and the Improvements made in them by their Care and Inspection. I cannot detain your Excellency too long, or I could reckon up many prodigious Advantages the Publick has gain'd, by light'ning the Labour, short'ning the Road, removing old Mistakes, and supplying new Methods and Inventions, to the several Trades and Manufactures of these Nations.

Thus I have gone thro' the new Professors our Royal Master, following the Steps of his glorious Ancestors, has so generously and so happily establisht. The Queen indeed, who is the best of Princesses, and a second Caroline or Elizabeth, would have had his Majesty found a Professorship of Piety, since there was ne'er a one in either University; but he told her pleasantly, There were so many Professors of that Kind already in the World, and so few who put what they profest in Practice, that he would not hear of it, till that matter should be amended. But to shew your Excellency how much the learned World is indebted to his Majesty's Cares, I must describe to you the Royal Printing-house which he has erected and endow'd, and which stands in the middle of the noble Square where your Excellency and I lodg'd. It is of Portland Stone, built on such vast massy Vaults, and with such an huge Profusion of convenient Offices of all kinds, and Apartments for the Printers, Correctors, and Servants, and makes all together so august and magnificent an Appearance, that Sheldon's Theatre would appear but as a Cottage by it. There is 500 l. per Ann. issuable out of the Treasury to the Foundation, besides the Benefit of all Copies they print. They must use no Types or Paper but of the best kind, and they work Night and Day, relieving each other by turns, and are to forfeit 5 s. each for all Erratas, so that their Copies are reckon'd the most correct extant. Over the great Gate there is a large Inscription in a vast Marble Table, in which the Causes of the Foundation are declared to be, the Service of Religion, the Good of the State, and the Benefit of the Learned World. Then it goes on to say, that as the Number of Books is infinite, and rather distract than inform the Mind, by a mix'd and confused Reading, some being well writ, but ill Books, others good Books, but ill writ; some hudled up in haste, others stinking of the Lamp; some without any strength of Reasoning, others over loaded with Arguments, half of which are insignificant; some Books being obscure through too affected a Brevity, others perspicuous through an unnecessary Redundancy of Words (like a bright Day at Sea, where yet there is nothing to be seen but Air and Water;) some treating on Subjects that thousands had handled better before, others publishing useless Trifles, because new and unthought of by others; some Writing as if they had never read any thing, others as if they writ nothing but what they read, and then borrowed; therefore his Majesty decrees, no Book should be printed within those Walls but the Works of the Ancients, and such only as should be voted most proper, by two thirds of the Colleges in his two Universities, and confirmed by the Lord Chancellor, and Arch-bishop of Canterbury for the Time being. I have dwelt the longer on this noble Design, because I had the Honour to propose it to his Majesty, and the Happiness to bring it to Perfection for the good of Mankind; and I must now lead your Excellency, to take a View of the noble Square that surrounds the Royal Printing-House, which is all new built since we lodged in it. It is divided now, besides a large House for the Provost, into twenty different Buildings, each of which belongs to a Fellow, and contains Apartments for twenty Scholars who are his Pupils, and live with him as in one House, of the Door of which he keeps the Key, as also of all their Chambers. By this Means, as none can go in or out but with his Knowledge, and by his Leave, so nothing can be privately transacted or conceald in their Chambers, which he enters by his Key at Pleasure, thereby shutting out idle Visitors, and Cabals; and to prevent all Intriegues with Women, none are allow'd to come into the House. This Rule extends to all Relations except Mothers, and to their very Servants, who are all Men.

To each Building there is a large Hall, where Morning and Evening his Pupils meet, and study under his Eyes four Hours, writing down his Lectures from his Mouth, or contracting the Authors he gives them; and each Saturday they are examined the Repetition of the whole. For each Morning or Evening Lecture the Tutor is absent, there is treble the Sum due for each Day's Tuition deducted, which ensures their Attendance. There are each Year four Examinations of the whole Body of Scholars in publick, divided into four Classes, and each Class into five Divisions. The Examination lasts two Days, four Hours in the Morning, and four in the Evening, each Day. The twenty Fellows are the Examiners, and return Judgments of each Scholar's Answering on their Oaths, and the five best Answerers in each Division are paid 5 l. each in Books, and their Names hung up in the great Hall for ten Days, and opposite to them the Names of the five worst Answerers. After four compleat Years they take their Degrees of Batchellors, except ten of the worst Scholars in each Class, who are constantly stopt for at least one Year more.

After taking their Degrees, their Studies are continued in like manner precisely, as when Under Graduates; when they are lectur'd and examin'd by the Professors, with equal Severity and Constancy, and not allow'd to idle in private. The first of August, each Year, if there are any vacant Fellowships, those Graduates that please sit for them, and are examin'd six Days, and eight Hours each Day, by the publick Professors, who, upon their Oaths, nominate the best Answerers, and distribute in like manner 40 l. apiece of the Royal Annual Bounty to those who miss, but appear to deserve the Fellowship.

After eight compleat Years, they commence Masters, and are dismist the Society, if they desire it, with proper Testimoniums of their Behaviour and Scholarship; and if they continue in the Society, are allow'd 20 l. a Year each, from the Royal Bounty, and are oblig'd to attend the Professors of Divinity, Mathematicks, History, and Civil Law, each of them, two Hours every Day at their publick Lectures for four Years, and then they are declar'd Emeriti, and honour'd with larger Testimoniums, betake themselves to their several Professions in the World.

This truly Royal Foundation, of which I omit many smaller Particulars, costs his Majesty about 3000 l, a Year, besides the Expence of a Regal Visitation every three Years, when the Morals, Learning, and Diligence of the Provosts, Professors, and Fellows, are severally enquir'd into, and all Offenders, either strictly caution'd, remov'd, or expell'd.

The Numbers of admirable Scholars that this Society has sent into the World, and their having deservedly obtain'd, a large Share of all Preferments in Church and State, is the best and plainest Evidence that the Foundation is well modell'd, and will save you the Trouble of my enlarging further on it, unless I venture to add, that were the Discipline of our other Colleges proportionably strict, and the Premiums and Allowances more enlarg'd, it is impossible but a Nation so capable of exerting it's natural Turn for Letters, would send out more exalted Genius's, and excellent Scholars, than we have of late done.

But the Delight I take in this Subject, and my Desire that your Excellency should have your full Share in it, has run this Letter into an unexpected Length, especially from my weak Eyes and Hands. It has perfectly tir'd me, and as the Reader is generally sick, by the Time the Writer is weary, I shall cut off half the Trouble I propos'd to give you, in relation to our late Improvements, as to our Trade, Manufactures, and Laws; and shall reserve those for the next Dispatch, I have the Pleasure to send you.

Since I wrote this, Mr. Secretary tells me he has drawn up his Majesty's Commands for you, in relation to the poor deserted Greek Church, and the State of all Affairs where you are; to which I have nothing to add, but my best Wishes for their Success, and my earnest Entreaties for your Diligence and Vigilance, that nothing may disappoint the Hopes your Excellence has given us, and the kind Expectations I have ever had, of the skillful management of all Matters, that are, to pass through your Hands. When you receive the Carolina Silks, and White-wine, pray let me know sincerely how you approve of them, for they are much admired here.

All your Relations in this Family kiss your Hands, and your good Lady's, and long for your return once more to them and your Country, where there is no Man more desirous, not only to see but to serve you, than,

My Lord, Your Excellencies most, &c.

N———m.