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cefter, which is preferved among the manufcripts of the College of Arms, and entitled, Lamentatio gloriofi regis Edvardi de Karnarvon quam edidit tempore fuæ incarcerationis. Our authors tranfitions from profe to verfe, in the course of a prolix narrative, feem to be made with much eafe; and, when he begins to verify, the hiftorian disappears only by the addition of rhyme and ftanza. In the first edition of his Chronicle, by way of epilogues to his feven books, he has given us The feven joys of the Bleffed Virgin in English Rime.' And under the year 1325, there is a poem to the Virgin; and another on one Badby, a Lollard, under the year 1409. These are fuppreffed in the later editions. He has likewife left a Panegyric on the city of London; but defpairs of doing justice to fo noble a fubject for verfe, even if he had the eloquence of Tully, the morality of Seneca, and the harmony of that faire ladie Calliope. As an hiftorian, (Mr. Warton adds) our author is the dulleft of compilers. He is equally attentive to the fucceffion of the mayors of London, and of the monarchs of England: and feems to have thought the dinners at Guildhall, and the pageantries of the city-companies, more interefting tranfactions, than our victories in France, and our ftruggles for public liberty at home. One of Fabian's historical anecdotes, under the important reign of Henry the Fifth, is, that a new weather-cock was placed on the crufs of St. Paul's fteeple. It is faid that Cardinal Wolfey commanded many copies of this Chronicle to be committed to the flames, because it made too ample a discovery of the exceffive revenues of the clergy. The earlier chapters of thefe childish anuals faithfully record all thofe fabulous traditions, which generally fupply the place of hiftoric monuments in defcribing the origin of a great nation."

The following are the correct titles of the different editions.

1. "The Newe Cronycles of Englande and of France." Fol. Pynfon.

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3.

"The Cronicle of Fabian, which he himself nameth the Concordance of Hiftoryes now newly prynted, and in. many places corrected, as to the diligent reader may appere." Fol. John Raynes. 1542. -Fol. Bonham

4.

1542.

5. "The Chronicle of Fabian whiche he nameth the Concordaunce of Hiftoryes, newly perufed. And continued from the begynnyng of Kyng Henry the feventh to thende of Quene Mary." Fol. Kingston. 1559.

Of these, the first is by far the rareft. In the Prologue he excufes his perfor mance, begging his readers to correct it where it is amifs.

For by hym that never yet any Ordre toke
Or Gre of Scole, or fought for great cunnynge,
This werke is gaderyd, with small un-
derstandynge."

There is a copy in the public library at
Cambridge.

As a favourable fpecimen of his talents, Mr. Rition mentions an Elegy on Henry the Firit, printed in Mrs. Cooper's Mufes' Library, which was in fact a tranflation from a Latin poem by Henry Archdeacon of Huntingdon, the contemporary of that monarch, inferted along with it, in our author's history.

On John king, of England, Otho the emperor, and Philip of France, he has the following lines.

"O quam mirabilia, good Lord, thy workes been

In punythment of fynners by thy myght won-
derfly

As by old ftoryes yt is playnely feen.
One fynner the other hath corrected vtterly,
As Alexander, wyth Julius, Pompey, and
Tholomy,

And many other whych as thy fcourgys were,
To punythe fynners and theym felf alfo dere.
"In lyke wyfe nowe reader, yf thou lyfte take

hyde

And well reuolve in mynde thys hyftorye Of these thre prynces, and loke well on theyr dede,

Thou shalte conceyve that they dyd wyckydly,
I meane kynge John, Phylyppe and Ottony
Whyche vnto fynne made themfelfe fo thrall,
That of pope Innocent they were accurfyd all.
"Wherefore god fufferyd that one the other
to greue,

And warre and chafe wyth dedely hate and
Stryfe.

Glad that one the other to mifcheuc,
Manaflynge eche other wyth fpere fworde,
and knyje,

Wyth cruell batayll durynge theyr fynfall lyfe.

Wherefore

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Marlyng fryed

Crabbys

Leche lombard florysfhed.
Tartys.

"And a fotyltye called a pellycane fytting on hys neft with her byrdes, and an image of faynt Katheryne holdyng a boke and difputyng with the doctours, holding a reafon in her ryghte hande, fayinge Madame le Royne, and the pellycan as an anfwere Ce eft la igne, et du roy, pur tenir joy, et a tout fu gent elle mete la entent. "The feconde Courfe.

Gely coloured wyth columbyne flowers.
Whyte potage or creme of almandes.
Breme of the fee
Counger
Solys
Cheuen.

Barbyll with Roche.

Fresthe Samon.

Halybut

Gurnarde

Rochet broyled.
Smelth fryed.
Creuys or Lobster.

Leche Damask with the kynges worde or prouerbe flouryfhed, Une fans plus. Lamprey fresh baken.

Flampeyne flourished wyth a fefchon royall, and therein, iii. crownes of golde plantyd wyth floure de lyce and floures of camemyle wroughte of confeccions.

And a fotyltye named a panter wyth an image of sayute Katheryne wyth a whele in her hande, and a role wyth a reason in that other haude, faying, La Royne ma file, in cefle ile, per bon refon, aues renount. "The thyrde Course.

Dates in compoft. Crame motle.

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Perche wyth goion.

Fysthe furgeon wyth welkes.
Porperies roiled.
Mennes fryed.

Creuys de eawe douce.
Pranys.

Elys rofted wyth lamprey.

A leche called the whyte leche, flourythed wyth hawthorne leuys and redde hawys.

A march payene garnysfhed wyth dyuers fygurs of angellys, amonge the whych was fet an image of faynt Katheryne holdynge thys reafon Il eft ecrit, pur voir et eit, per mariage pure ceft guerre ne dure. And lastly a fotyltye named a Tigre lokynge in a mirrour, and a man fyttynge on horfebacke clene armed holding in hys armes a tyger whelpe wyth thys reafon Pur force funz refon je ay pryfe ceste befte. And wyth hys one hande makynge a countenance of throw ynge of myrrours at the great tygre. The which held thys reafon, Gile the mirrour ma fete diflour."

his epitaph, in 1511: Bale fays, the 28th He died, according to Stow, who gives of February 1512: and differs as to the place of his interment. Bale and Pits, fays Bithop Nicholfon, fubdivide his works, but I prefume the Concordantiæ Hifto

riarum is the fum of all. (See. Bale. viii. 62. Pits. 690. Tann. Bibl. Brit. Hib. p. 272. Nicholfon Engl. Hift. Lib. p. 57. Ritfon's Bibl. Poet. p. 55.)

"Colloquia et Dictionariolum octo Linguarum, Latina, Gallica, Belgica, Teutonica, Hifpanicæ, Italicæ, Anglica, et Portugallica." 12. Antv. 1630.

In this little volume, the ftrong analogy between the English and the Flemish lauguages is curiously illuftrated. It feems to prove that our vernacular tongue is a nearer relation to the Belgic than the German. The comparifon is perhaps of more importance, as we have but few if any fragments of the antient Belgic to aflimilate with the Anglo-Saxon.

The following inftances are given without felection.

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Peter, my good friend, after all recommendations, know that I am very evil content with you, because you would not fend me your book. I can not think how I have deferved that towards you: now perceive I wel that you will doo very little for me, when you deny mee fo fmall a matter. Your wordes and thoghtes do not agree well one with another: if you had defired mee of thinges of much greater importance, I would not have refufed you. It is most true that men commonly fay: One ought alwayes to prove his friendes before hee have need of them; for to prove them in neceffitie, that were too late. 'Therefore it is enough for me to have proved you.

Flemish.

Peeter myn goede vrient, naer alle ghehiedeniffen, weet dat ick ben feer qualyck te vreden op u, om die fake dat ghy my niet en hebt willen leenen uwen boeck. Ick en kan niet peynfen hoe ickt t'uwaerts verdient hebbe: nu mercke Ick wel, dat ghy foudt doen feer luttel voor my, als ghy my ontfeght foo kleynen duick.

Dwoorden ende ghedachten en ghelycken niet wel d'een den anderen: dat ghy my verfocht haddet van dinghen van veel meerder importancien, ick en foudese u niet gheweygert hebben. Het is wel waer dat men gemeynlyc feyt: Men behoort altoos fyn vrienden te proeven eer dat men fe behoeft: want die te proeven in den noot, dat waer te fpade: Daerom het is my ghenoech u beproeft te hebben.

German.

Mein guter freund Peter, ich wunsch euch alles guts: wiffet das ich nit wol zu frieden bin mit euch, das jhr abgefchlagen habt mir zu leyhen ewer buch. Fürwar ich kan nit gedencken wie ich folches umb euch verdient hab jetzt aber merck ich was jhr von meinent wegen thun würdet, dieweil jhr mihr verfagt habt fo ein klein ding. Euwer wort vnd gemuth bedüncken mich nicht zufammen ftimmen: fo jhr begert hettet von mir fachen daran viel mehr gelegen wer, ich wolts euch nicht verfagt haven. Aber es ift wahr wie dars gemein fprichwort ist; Man fol probieren einen freundt, eche man fyn bedarff: denn in der noth pro

bieren, ist zu fpath: Es ist mir aver genug dafs ich euch probiert hab.

The fame paffages in the Spanish, Portuguese and other tongues afford fimilar opportunities for comparifon.

For the Monthly Magazine. OBSERVATIONS on the NATURAL HISTORY of LEECHES.

THE hiftory of thefe animals is renknown ufe in furgery. One fpecies, the dered interefting from their well Medicinal leeches, (hirudo medicinalis of Linnæus) are employed for the purpose of extracting blood from various parts of the human body, where the lancet would be of no avail; and from fomne parts, as the gums, to which even cupping-glaffes could not poffibly be applied. They are in fuch requeft in fome districts of England, that the poor people derive a great part of their fubfiftence from collecting them for fale; and fome plans have been projected of making ponds for the purpose of breeding them. Such ponds, if in good fituations, and properly managed, would, no doubt, prove extremely lucrative to the owners.

The body of all the fpecies of leeches, when extended, is long and flender, but it is capable of very confiderable dilatation and contraction. It is compofed of a great number of annules, or to fpeak more correctly, of circular mufcles, which are the principal organs of motion. The furface of the kin, in the different species, is more or lefs rough with minute tubercles. To the touch, however, these tu bercles are scarcely fenfible, from the with a viscous fluid indiffoluble in water, circumftance of their being always fmcared which tranfudes from them. By means of this fluid, the progrefs of the animals, in fwimming, as well as in palling through mud, or amongst the carices, reeds, and other aquatic plants, (about the roots and leaves of which they are chiefly to be found,) is greatly facilitated.

The head of thefe animals, in a ftate of dilatation, is confiderably less pointed than their pofterior extremity. They have the power of attaching themfelves and tail; but it is difficult to comprehend to any hard fubftance, both by their head by what precife means this is effected. All we know is, that they form a concavity beneath each of thefe extremities; by which, in the manner of a cupping glafs, they adhere fo firmly, that in some inftances their body has been torn afunder, in attempting to detach them. The

Ttructure

structure of the fleshy difcus, which performs the office of fucker, cannot easily be afcertained, for when the fkin which covers it is removed, we obferve only fome minute fibres interwoven in different directions. In confequence of the vacuum, formed by the contraction of the difcus, the animals are fixed by the preffure of a column of air, correfponding to their diameter.

They fwim like cels, by a ferpentine motion. When they would change their place without fwimming, they begin by fixing their body at one of the extremities, by means of the fucker that terminates it. The circular mufcles of the fkin then feparately act, by which the body is elongated, by duninifhing its diameter. When the free extremity has reached the place to which the animal is delirous of extending it, it is applied and made faft to that pot by the fucker, and becomes the fixed point of a new motion. The animal, having now removed the fucker firit made ufe of, draws it, by the operation of the longitudinal fibres of the skin, towards the other fucker, and proceeds, in this manner, to fix each extremity alternately. Thefe motions are executed with considerable rapidity.

The mouth is a triangular opening, having three ftrong and sharp teeth, which meet in the centre, and are capable of piercing not only the human fkin, but even the tender parts of that of the horfe or ox. At the bottom of the mouth there is a kind of fleshy prominence, in which the tube terminates that conveys the blood from the triple wound, formed by the teeth, into the ftomach of the animal. The ftomach confits of a great number of membranous bags, furnished with small valves, in which blood has fometimes been known to continue for many months without being coagulated. As none of the leeches have more than one principal orifice in their bodies, it is extremely probable, fays Morand, who has publifhed a Memoir refpecting thefe animals, that all thofe particles of the blood they fwallow, which do not affift in nourishing their bodies, may pafs off by tranfpiration, and thus form the viscous fluid which exudes through the skin. This fluid may be obferved in blackifh fila ments, in water in which leeches are kept.

It appears that leeches refpire through their mouth. The greater part are furnished with organs of vifion, varying in number, (according to the fpecies,) front one to eight. In many of them, how

ever, no eyes are to be feen, even with high magnifying powers.

If a lecch be cut in two, that part which contains the head will continue in life, and, after a time, greater or lefs according to the feafon, will become a new animal, differing in no refpect whatever from others of its fpecies. It fhould ap pear from this fact, and from fome other obfervations, that leeches increase in fize, not only by the developement of their parts, but likewife by augmentation, that is to fay, that old leeches have a greater number of mufcular rings than the young

ones.

Leeches are furnished with the organs of both fexes; and are viviparous or produce their offspring alive. In the fame manner as in the fuails, their generative organs are fituated near the fophagus. They ufually breed about the beginning of the fpring, and as many as feventy young leeches have been counted in the body of an old one.

Some fpecies of leeches are found in almost all waters; but the greater part of them prefer fuch as are muddy, and afford growth to numerous aquatic plants. They are common throughout the whole of Europe, but fefs fo in the fouthern than the northern parts. The duration of their life has not been afcertained; but, be fides the general caufes of mortality to which they are fubject, fuch as the drying up, but more particularly the putrefaction (during the heats of fuminer,) of the waters that they inhabit, they have many enemies, which are in continual purfuit of them for food. Thefe are chiefly different fpecies of fifh and water-fowl; but there are also numerous larvæ of waterinfects, and even of perfect infects which prey upon them. Even the leeches themselves deftroy one another. Those that have been long without food fall, without mercy, upon fuch as are gorged, and fuck out of their bodies the juices with which they are replenished. This circumttance has been particularly remarked by Vauquelin and fome other naturalifts.

Thefe animals will not only fuck the blood of each other, and of quadrupeds and fithes, but will faften upon the larvæ of infects, and numerous kind of vermes, &c. that inhabit the fame waters in which they live. Whenever they have opportunity, they gorge themfelves till their ftomach will contain no more. On the contrary, when food is not to be had, they are able to fupport life for many months without receiving any nutriment.

This is particularly the cafe during winter, at the commencement of which they bury themselves deep in the mud; they continue in a femi-torpid ftate, till the warmth of the enfuing fpring again calls them to life, vigour and activity.

Sea-falt, tobacco, and in general all kinds of falt and acrid fubftances, applied to the furface of their bodies, are fatal to leeches. Some of these are always adopted for deftroying fuch as faften upon a man or animal, that happens unfortunately to go into waters where they are in great numbers. When forcibly torn off, they almost always leave in the wound fome part of their head. In this cafe the wound has often been known to fefter and become a troublesome fore, We are informed by Pliny, that Meffalinus, a perfon of confular dignity, even loft his life by an accident of this kind.

Of the leeches employed by furgeons, in phlebotmy, that called the medicinal leech is preferred to all others. It is, however, by no means true, that the black or horfe-leech, as it is ufually denominated, has any poisonous properties, notwithstanding the prejudices which, on this fuppofition, have long been enter tained against it.

Leeches ought to be collected in the fpring of the year, if poffible, and thould be kept in veffels of pure fpring water, which must be changed very frequently, particularly in fummer. If they are very numerous, they ought to have fresh water as often as twice a day; but if they are only in finall quantity, once in two days may be fufficient. All the flime which accumulates upon their bodies, fhould be well cleaned away whenever they are kept in any abundance, otherwife the new water will be tainted, and become prejudicial to them from the moment they are put into it. Violent noifes and powerful fmells are alike injurious to thefe animals; and on the latter account, particularly, an apothecary's or druggift's fhop, is one of the worst places in which they can be kept. The perfon employed in removing them from one veffel into another, fhould have his hands in every refpect as clean as possible.

There is no great art in applying leeches to the body; but a perfon who is accustomed to it, will always do it better than one who is not. In the most experienced bands, however, they will fometimes refufe to faften themselves, either from not being hungry at the time, or from the surface of the skin, or the

blood, on their making the attempt, being unpleasant to their tafte. The wound they make out of water, is more fenfible than what they make in water; but in the latter cafe, particularly when the water is fomewhat warm, the blood flows more freely. When it is neceffary they fhould ceafe from fucking before they have fully gorged themfelves, a finail quantity of falt, tobacco or fnuff, will caufe them to drop off in convulfions, and they foon afterwards die. On the contrary, when it is confidered neceffary that they fhould draw from the wound more blood than their ftomach will contain, it is fometimes cuftomary to cut of the pofterior extremity of their body, out of which the furplus of blood will flow as through a tube.

For fome years it has at different times been afferted, that by means of leeches it is poffible to foretell the various changes of weather, both of heat and cold, of rain and fair. The means of doing this have been variocfly laid down. A French clergyman, who attended to this fubject for many years, has afferted, that a leech kept in a decanter filled with water in a window, will continue at the bottom, without any motion, if the following day is about to be ferene and pleasant. If rain is about to fall, before or after noon, he fays, that the little animal will afcend the tide of the glais, to the furface of the water, and there continue till very nearly the time, when the fine weather returns; and, previously to the commencement of high winds, that it will swim about in the water with great rapidity, and will not ceafe from this motion till the wind begins to blow. At the approach of a ftorm, he informs us, that it will continue entirely out of the water even for feveral of the preceding days, appearing all the time agitated and reftlefs. The fame perfon, in conclufion, afferts, that during frofty weather, the leech will continue aloft motionless, and, as much contracted as poffible, at the bottom of the decanter; and that always during fnow and rain, it will fix itself near the mouth of the decanter, and there remain in a state of perfect tranquillity.

There can be no doubt, but that the variations which take place in the atmosphere, have confiderable influence upon thefe animals; but this influence is by no means fuch, as always to produce the fame effects upon them. An easy and fatisfactory proof may at any time be had, by putting four or five leeches into

different

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