Chelsea buns? I bought one to-day in my walk; it was stale, and I did not like 1681. For returning of nonconit as the man said." &c. mont formists 1683. Paid to certain Grætian slaves 1688. Paid the Pariter for a prayer 1689. book for the Prince of Wales Paid the Pariter for a book for the Prince's coming Paid the ringers when the queen landed at Chelsea Paid the ringers when the king landed from Ireland 1692. Paid the ringers at the 4 0 1690. 45 0 1611. Recd of Robert Munden king's return from Holland 0 10 that the men dyd gett by hocking 1632. Given the ringers at his majesties coming to the Duchesses house. 1665. Payed the ringers, when his majestie dined at the Spanish ambassador's Payed the ringers, at the Dutch captives at severall tymes overthrow of the Dutch Payed to a poor scoller Paid for the burialls of three Spaniards 0 7 0 0 0 6 3 0 0 Paid for the buriall of the 3 15 8 1666. Given to 5 powre women that lost by the fire Paid the ringers after the fire Paid for a bonfire and ringing after the fight 1667. Spent upon measuring the Pest House Oct. 12. Payd James Gould for the Pest House in full Dec. 28. Given to the ringers when the king came through the town 0 1 0 Duke of Marlborough 0 10 1766. June 27. Paid the ringers for the taking of Madrid 1708. Paid the ringers for the taking of Lisle taking of the citadel of Tournay . 1710. Paid the ringers for the Aug. 26. second battle in Spain near Saragossa 1711. Collected for the protesApril 9. tants of Orange 32-55 whereof 10 15 5 was collected by Mr. Hare, among the gentlemen of the Royal Hospital 1715. Paid the ringers, and for Jan. 13. hoisting the flag for the landing of King George 0 10 0 10. 32 5 5 0 10 @ 1716. Paid the ringers when the 13 11 8 0 10 0 070 king's arms in the church 0 4 0 Princess visited the 1717. Paid the ringers for the June 12. prince and princess coming up by water 17. Paid the ringers when the prince and princess lay before the town The anonymous author of the Life of Eleanor Gwyn states, that it was at her instigation that this noble charity was established. We will give the writer's own words: "Another act of generosity, which raised the character of this lady above every other courfezan of these or any other times, was her solicitude to effect the institution of Chelsea hospital. One day, when she was rolling about town in Her coach, a poor man came to the coach-door, soliciting charity, who told her a story, whether true or false is immaterial, of his having been wounded in the civil wars, in defence of the royal cause. This circumstance greatly affected the benevolent heart of Miss Gwyn; she considered that, besides the hardships of their being exposed to beg gary by wounds received in defence of their country, that it seemed to be the most monstrous ingratitude in the goverument to suffer those to perish who stood up in their defence, and screened them from the most hazardous attempts at patriotism. Warm with these reflections, and the overflow of pity, she hurried to the king, and represented the misery in which she had found an old servant; intreated that she might suffer some scheme to be proposed to him towards supporting those unfortunate sons of valour, whose old age, wounds, or infirmities, rendered them unfit for service; so that, they might not close their days with repining against fortune, and be oppressed with the misery of want. "This observation she communicated to personages of distinction, who were public-spirited enough to encourage it; and to Nell Gwyn is now owing the comfortable provision which is made for de We hear that Madam Ellen Gwyn's mother, sitting lately by the water side, at her house by the neat houses near Chelsey, fell accidentally into the water, and was drowned.-Domestic Intellig. Aug. 5, 1679. MONTHLY MAe, No. 215. cayed soldiers, and that pleasant retreat they find at Chelsea. We know not if any just degree of credit can be given to the work just cited, and it must still, therefore, remain a doubtful point to whose kind exertions our brave veterans owe their present comfortable asylum, It is, however, well known, that Sir Stephen Fox was one of its most liberal and zealous bene factors; he, with a most princely spirit of generosity, which deserves to be recorded on worthier and more lasting pages than these, contributed above thirteen thou sand pounds towards defraying the expences of the fabric. The edifice, as was before observed, was begun in the year 1682, but not completed till 1690. The whole expense of the building is computed to have amounted to 150,000%, and the three following personages were appointed by patent, March 3, 1691, commissioners for the conduct of Chelsea Hospital: Richard, Earl of Ranelagh, Paymaster-general. Sir Stephen Fox, Knt. Lord Commissioner of the Treasury. *The affairs of the Hospital are managed by commissioners appointed by patent under the great seal. They are, The Lord President of the Council, The Secretary at War, The Governor, and Of these, the latter five only act, and hold boards occasionally for the admission of pensioners, and the internal regulation of the hospital. The establishment of the hospital consists of a governor, a lieutenant-governor, a major, an adjutant and assistant-adju tant, a treasurer, a secretary, two chap lains, a physician, a surgeon, and an apothecary, a comptroller, a steward, a clerk of works, with other warrant officers. There are four hundred and seventysix in-pensioners, divided into the fol lowing classes: Twenty-six captains, one of whom acts as serjeant-major. Thirty-two serjeants, Thirty-two corporals, and Sixteen drummers, Three hundred and thirty-six privates, and Thirty-four light-horsemien. The number of out-pensioners at Christmas, 1809, was twenty-three thousand and fifty, who are paid at dif., ferent rates, according to their length of service, or their disability, from five These are daily allowed the following pence to three shillings and sixpence per provisions each man : One pound of meat, One loaf of bread of twelve ounces, On Wednesdays and Fridays, instead of meat, they have One pint of pease-soup, On Sundays and Tuesdays, mutton. Beef the other three days. They are all annually cloathed in a uniform of scarlet faced with blue. They are lodged in sixteen wards, to each of which two serjeants and two corporals are appointed, with a matron, or nurse under the immediate inspection of the housekeeper, to take care of the linen and beading, and to assist in clean ing each ward. Fires are kept in every ward, and the men have every attendance that can ren der them comfortable. In addition to their provision, clothing, &c. the in-pensioners are allowed weekly pay in the following proportions: The light-horse are generally serjeants of cavalry, and selected for their services or good behaviour while in the hospital. The captains, serjeants, and corporals, are also appointed from the most deserving and orderly men. The hospital being considered as a military station, regular garrison duty is performed by the pensioners. Divine service is performed regularly on Sundays, with prayers on Wednesdays and Fridays; and every ward is provided with Bibles, Prayer-books, and other religious and instructive books. The anniversaries of the Restoration of Charles II., (May 29,) and the King's birth-day, (June 4,) are kept as festivals in the Hospital. The governor and officers dine together, and the pensioners fire three vollies, and have a double allowance of provision and beer. day, agreeable to an Act of Parliament which took place at Christmas, 1806. The expense of the Hospital and outpensioners is defrayed by an annual grant from Parliament, voted with the. It now amounts to: army estimates. about 440,000l. per year. CESAR'S FORd, In concluding the account of Chelses Hospital, we cannot forbear making an extract from Maitland's History of London, respecting the passage of Julius. Cæsar over the Thames, which that author, from his own observation and inquiries, supposes to have taken place near this site. The Britons having been defeated in the reign of Claudius by the Roman Prætor, were obliged to take refuge in their bogs and marshes on the banks of the Thames; but being closely pur sued by the Romans, they forded that river, and the Romans were unable to follow them, until after the arrival of the Emperor Claudius, when be, with his army also passed the river, and completely routed them. "This consideration," Maitland says, "occasioned my attempting to find out the largest marshes on the south side of the Thames, where there was any probability of a ford, when I discover ed that the greatest marshes on that side before the imbanking of the said river, reached from Wandsworth to Woolwich; wherefore I endeavoured, by sounding the said river, at several neap tides, from the first of these places to London Bridge, to discover a ford, which, to my no small satisfaction, I did on the 18th of September, anno 1732, about ninety feet west of the south-west angle of Chelsea College north-east to south-west, I found the garden, where, in a right line from deepest part of the channel to be only four feet seven inches deep, and the day before, it blowing hard from the the water, then, was above a foot lowwest, my waterman assured me that er; and at such tides, before the course of the river was obstructed, either by banks or bridges, it must have been considerably shallower; and, consider. Dion. Cass. Hist. Rom, Lib. 60. ing that this is the lowermost ford in the river Thames, I not only take it to be the place where the Britons passed, but likewise that which Julius Cæsar forced, when he routed the Britons, notwithstanding what has been alledged by Camden, and others, in favour of Cowey Stakes, where the water is not only deeper, but likewise that there are many other places in the said river, between the ford above-mentioned, and Cowey Stakes, which are much shallower." In Antoninus's second Journey, Lonlon appears to have been seventy-seven Roman miles from the port Ritupis, in Kent, where Cæsar landed, to which being added about three of the same miles, from the millarium, (London Stone) in Canon Street, to the aforesaid ford at Chelsey, they will exactly answer to the account of about eighty miles, given by Cæsar of the distance of Cassivelaun's confines from the sea, where he passed the river Thames; whereas seventeen Roman miles, the distance from London to Cowey Stakes, being added to the account in the Itinerary, the same will be thereby increased to ninety-four miles, which can' by no means agree with the account given by Cæsar. DON SALTERO'S COFFEE-HOUSE. This well known coffee-house was first opened in the year 1695, by one Salter, who had been a servant to Sir Hans Sloane, and had accompanied him on his travels, The collection of curiosities, which were principally the gift of Sir Hans Sloane, being the duplicates of his various curious collections, drew from London a multitude of spectators. It existed more than a century, and was at length sold by public auction in the year 1799. Sir Richard Steele, in "The Tatler," No. 84, has given a humourous description of this once far-famed collection of rarities, and of its eccentric proprietor, The curiosities of this collection were deposited in glass cases; and consisted of a great variety of petrefactions, corals, chrystals, ores, shells, animals preserved in spirits, stuffed animals from various parts of the world, idols, curious Chinese manuscripts, missals, birds, suakes, butterflies, medals, models, fire arms, fishes, portraits, prints, &c. A catalogue of the whole was printed with the names of the donors affixed; and, under the management of skilful hands, this collection could not have : failed to produce ample remuneration and profit. Such collections, aided by those of Tradescant, Ashmole, and Thoresby, cherished the infancy of science, and should not be depreciated as the play. things of a boy after he is arrived at manhood. Mr. Pennant's ancestor, who lived at Chelsea, often took his great nephew, Mr. Pennant's father, to the coffee-house, where he used to see poor Richard Cromwell, a little, and very neat, old man, with a most placid countenance, the effect of his innocent and unambitious life. He imagines this was Don Saltero's coffee-house, to which he was a benefactor, and has the honor of having his name mentioned in the collection.. "his Mr. Pennant, when a boy, saw uncle's gift to the great Saltero," which was. "a lignified hog." What Mr. Pennant thus facetiously denominates, in the edition of Saltero's Catalogue that we have seen, is called "a piece of a root of a tree that grew in the shape of a hog." He feared this matchless curiosity was lost, at least it is omitted in the last, or forty-seventh edition of the catalogue. AN ACCOUNT OF The LIFE and CHARACTER of ALEXANDER ADAM, LL.D. Rector of the High School of Edinburgh. HIS EARLY LIFE. The late Dr. ALEXANDER ADAM was born at Coats, of Bergie, in the parish of Rafford, and county of Moray. His fa ther, John Adam, rented one of those small farms which then abounded in the north of Scotland. John Adam and Christian Watson, though respectable, were not rich. They were, however, in such circumstances as enabled them to make good their determination of keeping their son at school, till such time as he should be entitled to become a clainant for a bursary, to enable him to prosecute his studies at one of the univer sities. After going through the routine of the Latin language, as it was then usually taught in a parochial school, Mr. Adam turned his steps towards Aberdeen, with the intention of contending for a bursary, or exhibition of small value, It was at King's College that he made the attempt. But there his pioficiency in Latin was not approved; be was declared incompetent, and in con sequence remanded to his studies under his schoolmaster Mr. Fiddes, of whom nothing has been handed down to us but his name. After a season spent in renewing his for ner former exercises, he was encouraged to go to Edinburgh, about the beginning of the year 1758, by the representations and advice of the Rev. Mr. Watson, then minister of Canongate parish, and a relation of Mrs. Adam. His studies were continued with unremitting vigour, and his finances were so straightened, that, in his anxiety to go forward to the grand object of his career, he even abridged his portion of the necessaries of life. Ile entered the logic class in the university of Edinburgh, on the 4th November, 1758, and about the same time began to assist young Mr. Maconochie, in that capacity which is commonly styled a private teacher. For his services, he received only one guinea in three months; yet, as he had no other method of raising a sixpence, he contrived to subsist upon this sum, and in a manner which will now appear incredible. He lodged in a small room at Restalrig, in the north-eastern suburbs; and for this accommodation he paid fourpence per weck. All his meals, except dinner, uniformly consisted of oatmeal made into porridge, together with small-beer, of which he only allowed himself half a bot tle at a time. When he wished to dine, he purchased a penny-loaf at the nearest baker's shop; and, if the day was fair, he would dispatch his meal in a walk to the Meadows, or Hope Park, which is adjoining to the southern part of the city; but, if the weather was foul, he had recourse to some long and lonely stair, which he would climb, eating his dinner at every step. By this means all expence for cookery was avoided, and he wasted neither coals nor candles; for, when he was chill, he used to run till his blood began to glow, and his even ing studies were always prosecuted under the roof of some one or other of his companions. HIS WORKS. The work which laid the foundation of Mr. Adam's reputation was his Latin Grammar. This book was published in May 1772, and its merits underwent the severest scrutiny; for no sooner was it generally known, or rather no sooner was it generally circulated, than it met with the most violent opposition. After our author had laid at rest the disagreeable controversy respecting his grammar, he proceeded to compile "A Summary of Geography and History," for the use of his pupils. This design was Now a Lord of Session, by the title of Lord Meadowbank, admirably calculated for facilitating their acquirement of a thorough knowledge of the ancient writers. He had now formed a plan for giving to the world a set of works much wanted in their several departments, and which should also en body his ideas of a proper course of study for the perfect attainment of the Latin language. The Roman Antiquities appeared in 1791, and, for the copy-right, the doctor received from his bookseller, the sum of 600l. The emolument which he derived from this work was exceedingly small, in comparison of the vast encrease of respectability which, in a short time, ap. peared from the circulation of such a var luable book. The author's name was now ranked among the first literati in Britain; he was declared to have pro duced the best compendium of Roman antiquities which is extant. It was translated into the German, French, and Italian languages. The Classical Biography was published at Edinburgh in the later end of antunin 1200, and three hundred pounds were given for the copy-right. It was origi nally intended to serve as an appendix to the large Latin dictionary, upon which the rector had been previously employed for almost seven years, when he found that the subordinate work had insensibly increased to the bulk of a separate publication. He evinced much ability and industry, in the Geographical Index appended to the Summary of Geogra phy; and, in the work now under consi deration, he comprised, by the same means, and within moderate limits, a copious fund of information and refer ence. He spared neither time nor la hour, in ascertaining the proper autho rities for every fact and statement which he had occasion to introduce in every progressive step of his undertaking. la this manner our author's works gained undeniable superiority over all others of the same nature; and in this way he has referred the student, in almost every page, to the purest sources of historic truth, and to the best models of eloquence among the ancients. SCHOOLMASTERS' FUND. Upon the 20th of September, 1805, a general meeting of the schoolmasters in Scotland was convened at Edinburgh For about twenty years preceding, it had been regretted by many friends to public improvement, that the instructors of youth often left, at their death, a wife and family without any settled provision, Various suggestions had been made with a view |