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A METEOROLOGICAL JOURNAL, kept at CLAFTON, in Hackney,
from the 16th of March to the 15th of April, 1811.

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March 18. This evening Cirri becoming Cirro-strati observed. De Luc's electric bells

quite silent

19. Cirro-Cumulus and gentle showers. Electric bells ring weak, but regularly. 20 21 & 22. During this period mild winds and damper air prevailed. Electrie bells pulsated pretty regularly on the evening of the, 22nd. fleecy evanescent Cumuli indicated clear weather. The electric bells became silent at night. 23. Cloudy; fine purple and yellow coloured Sun-set. Bells silent. 24. Very clear; only faint streaks of the Cirrus Linearis.

25. Early I observed Cirrus, ramifying about in all directions, and becoming
Cirro-stratus and Cirro-cumulus: fleet Cumuli floated in the wind be
neath them. Belis silent.

27. Cirrus prevailed this evening, and became the Cirro-stratus Myoides, co.
loured by the setting Suu. Bells begin to ring agaiu.
Cirrus and Cirro-stratus. Bells ring irregularly, or at intervals.
A Meteor seen to S. W. about 9 P. M.

28 & 29.

April 1.

2&3 Cirro-stratus and Cirro-cumulus alternately prevail.

4.

This afternoon fleecy, rocky, and mountainous Cumuli; in a higher region Cirro-stratus and Cirro-cumulus in different places, the latter most abundant during the day, but the former ultimately prevailed, and at night exhibited a Lunar Halo, of the usual diameter, i, e. between 40° and 50o,

6. Cirro-cumulus in the evening.

7. Cirro-stratus seemed to have the Iris colours, &c. at Sun-set.

9 & 10. Cirrus, Cirro-cumulus, Cirro-stratus, and Cumulus, seen.

11. Small rain, only Cumuli afterwards.

13. Cirrus, Cirro-cumulus, Cirro-stratus, &c.

15. Tufts of Cirrus in the evening.

N. B. From the 24th March the electric bells rang irregularly till about the 14th · April, when they rang regularly and loud till the 18th, when they ceased, and have not rang since.

Clapton, April 19, 1811.·

THOMAS FORSTER

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I

Mr. URBAN,

April 1. SEND you two Views of the curious Round Church of Little Maplested (see Plate I.); 49 miles N. E. of London, and three from the town of Halsted in Essex, which has been lately very ably described by your ingenious friend, Mr. Britton, in his "Architectural Antiquities *;" from which elegant Work I take the liberty to transcribe some particulars to my present purpose:

"In the reign of King Stephen, Little Maplested was vested in Robert Dosnelli, or Doisnel, whose daughter and heiress, Juliana, married William Fitz-Audelin, steward to Henry II. This lady, with the consent of her husband, gave the whole parish, with its appurtenances, circa 1186, to the Knights Hospitallers. This donation was confirmed by King John; and Henry III. granted the brethren the liberty of freewarren, &c. A Preceptory was therefore completely established here, under the appellation of Le Hospital; and from the gifts of numerous benefactors, it progressively became extremely flourishing. the Dissolution, its possessions, with Temple Sutton, &c. were granted by Henry VIII. to Henry Harper, esq. From him it has passed through various families; and at present the village, with the church, are nearly deserted, and the latter is suffering gradual decay.

At

"The Church is singular in shape; and,

riod between, or during the reigns of King John and Henry III. 1199 to 1272; both of whom appear to have granted the Knights of Maplested some privileges, &c.

"The principal entrance is at the West end, where a large wooden Porch protects the simple beautiful doorway: This is ornamented with a double range of projecting quatrefoils, in square pannels, running round the whole arch, and with another similar facing over the arch. The circular area within is 26 feet in diameter, and has a peristyle of 6 clustered columns. These consist of three half columns attached to a kind of triangular pier, and at the extreme edge of every column is a string moulding, or bead, extending from the base to the capital.

"The whole length of the Church internally is 60 feet. It is dedicated to St. John of Jerusalem, and is traditionally said to have had the privilege of sanctuary."

It is remarkable that the Porch at the West end has three doors in it, and there is no entrance into the Church but this way.

The Parish was rated to the Land Tax at 4087. 10s.

As the Knights invaded all the tithes wherever they had to do; so they did here, and made this a donative, or perpetual curacy; as it still continues, with a small stipend. B. N.

Mr. URBAN,

Hull, March 14. constituting one of the Round Class, is neither with your desire nor inHOUGH it probably comports

extremely interesting, as displaying a different and later style than either of the structures already described; (viz. St. Sepulchre's, Cambridge; St. Sepulchre's, Northampton; and the Temple, London.) With a circular portion at the West, and a semicircular East end, the plan of this building is, I believe, unique, and therefore deserving of particular illustration. Dr. Stukeley, Dr. Ducarel, and some other Antiquaries, have described the churches with semicircular East ends as very antient; and some of these remark, that such a peculiarity indicates a Saxon origin. But in the present structure there is no mark of the Anglo-Saxon style of Architecture. The windows, arches, columns, door-way, &c. are all of a class or style of building, which certainly did not prevail till the very latter end of the twelfth, or beginning of the thirteenth century. Judging by the peculiarity of these members, which furnish the only clue in the absence of document, I am inclined to refer the erection of this Church to some pe

tention to lead your Readers into the thorny maze of Politicks; yet, as any remarkable aberration, inconsistency, or contradiction, in either of the two great parties into which this country is always divided, may be thought to come sufficiently within the sphere of the Gentleman's Magazine; I avail myself of this latitude to observe that, in looking over the columns of the Opposition prints, a remarkable omission will occur to whoever recollects the transactions of the day, and the language of both parties, at the period so often referred to, when his Majesty laboured under a malady of which his present illness seems decided to be a relapse. A conspicuous reason assigned, both in and out of the House, by the Government, or Mr. Pitt's party, in favour of the arrangement adopted, was, that the health,

*In three beautiful plates of this work, the exterior character, internal peculiarity, ground-plan, and entrance door-way, of Little Maplested Church, are correctly dis played. + The Church at Great Maplested, like that under consideration, has

a semicircular East end. GENT. MAG. April, 1811.

both

both bodily and mental, of our gracious Sovereign, would, on his recovery, be again endangered, by finding his most favoured schemes for the future welfare of the community, those plans his application to which was said, on medical authority, to have originated his disease, totally subverted by certain persons whom, when a free agent, he refused to admit to his councils. The ardent spirit of Edmund Burke could not refrain from hinting at certain promotions to the Peerage that ought to take place, in which he was supposed particularly to allude to the present Lord Erskine: this, however, served only to unite the Cabinet phalanx more closely. The result we will pass by. Had the papers in the pay or under the influence of the Whigs, as they style themselves, confined their argument to the merits of a Regency by address, and with no more restrictions than the most zealous of their leaders could reconcile to his political, or, if you will, his constitutional orthodoxy, you would not, Mr. Urban, have stumbled on my Signature. But when you find it urged with patriotic touches, that his Majesty's precarious health, as well as his increasing years, ought to excite a general sympathy to see him relieved from the cares of Royalty, and consequent fatigue of thought, as much as possible, it is surely worth while to inquire into the probable effects of the projected change on the illustrious Invalid: for the symptoms are obvious, that the adoption of a Regency, in the person of His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales, must be considered synonymous with being themselves in power, or undoubtedly preparatory to it; it is something more than an adjunct; it is nothing less than the cornerstone on which the expectation of the party hinges; but with as little regard to the aforesaid professions, as to his Majesty's presumed feelings on the total relinquishment of the fond hope

he cherishes, in common with nine tenths of his subjects, of seeing the Peninsula become an effectual barrier to "those pests of the human race*." In a weekly paper (the Rockingham) published in this town, professedly as à vehicle for the opinions of Mr. Fox's followers, after a long and spacious column of advice, garnished with lenitives of the above description, they glance very coldly at some recent successes of the Allies in Portugal, which could not be commented on for want of room; the omission, however, is of less moment, for, continues the Editor, "whatever may be the result of Lord Wellington's campaignt, it is impossible 34,000 British should make a successful stand against the hordes that Buonaparte can bring into the field."-A position nobody will controvert. But, as the premises may be safely denied, it is not necessary to jump to the conclusion; there is nothing irregular in supposing his Majesty never understood that the salvation of those countries and of Europe ultimately depended on our quota of troops to the common cause; his views, if we concede him his own opinion, were, to make a powerful diversion in behalf of the Spaniards; to inspirit the Portuguese to show a good countenance towards the enemy, and to mould them into able soldiers by our example, that their own armed hordes may be incessantly opposed to those of the imperial Jacobin: to imbue the peasantry of those kingdoms, like our own, with the imposing but useful notion, that one of them can beat three Frenchmen, provided he is not made of such stuff as certain desponding counsellors.

To those not conversant with the mystics and free-masonry of party, it is inconceivable how his Majesty is to derive a recruit of spirits from learning that our troops are withdrawn from a vantage ground, for their valour and address to be employed only in mock fights at homes, or that the

* This expression we copy from the gallant Nelson's dispatches from Egypt: it is but too consonant to the well-known comment of Sir William Temple on the conduct of the French in his day, in the countries they had overrun.

Spoken of the last campaign.

See Lord Chesterfield on popular prejudices, in his Letters to his Son.

The Rockingham newspaper, before adverted to, which, as some persons of high rank, and others of more than common talents, are among the Proprietors, if not the Conductors, may be safely appealed to in point, professes to see no reason for the war being continued in the Peninsula, but to gratify the military mania of the Wellesley fa mily. The celebrated opinion of the great Chatham, "that America was conquered in Germany," will apply here, to ask whether an invasion is not more rationally prevented in Portugal than at our doors, skilful

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