72

The Odiousness of

king triumphant, treading upon his vanquished enemy's neck, and for cing him to submit to the conditions he thinks fit to impose on him. In the mean time, this oppressed prince never feems to have had any thought of making use of this bull, which A had been dispatched for him above ten years before.

the BULL, &c.

Feb.

Do not be surprised, Sir, at my giving this bull the title of odious. You will not think it too hard, if you will but consider, that it not only tends to smooth the way to treachery, to facilitate perjury, but even to perpetuate them. That a pope should have absolved a prince from any particular oath, under any pretence, good or bad, would not be very furprising. The bishops themselves, at a certain time, affumed to themselves the cognizance

Far from designing to break the treaty, we know that, in 1362, he returned into England to furrender himself a prifoner again. This proceeding has very much puzzled the B of those cafes. But that which fur

prizes, is to fee a pope giving to a prince's confeffor an indeterminate power to absolve him not only from the treaties which he has made, but also which he shall make for the future. Furthermore, he grants the same favour to all the fucceffors of this prince, so long as the monarchy shall subsift; that is to say, that the following kings shall have nothing to

hiftorians to account for the true motives of it. The most probable that has been alledged, is, that he had been very much offended at the escape of the duke of Anjou, his second son, who had stolen away from Calais, where he had been left upon his parole. He was one of the hostages for the security of the treaty. The king his father, there fore, repaffed the fea, as well to excuse this fault, as to put an end, with the king of England, to the reft of the difficulties which retarded the execution of the treaty of Bretigni. He had obtained his liberty only on condition of executing it faithfully. He was resolved, therefore, at any rate whatever, to procure the accomplishment of it. They attribute to this prince, on this oc- E years after it had been difpathed.

do but to chuse such a confeffor as they shall think proper, who by prescribing some flight alms to them, D'or fome prayers to mutter over in Latin, shall disengage them afterwards from their oath. The number of years ought not to weaken this fine privilege, so that the bull may have operated also in the revocation of the edict of Nantes, 334

cafion, a faying worthy of being tranfmitted to all posterity, That if truth and honesty were banished from the rest of the world, yet they ought to be found again in the mouths of kings*. It will easily be granted, upon these several passages of hi story, that this prince was a much honester man than the pope, and that it is wronging his memory to afcribe to him the having been earnest to obtain this odious bull. King John had the misfortune to die in England three months after his G return thither.

This is anticipating the future in a manner very dangerous to morality, and to the publick security; it is giving occafion, for a long series of ages, to treachery and perjury.

I believe then, that I have prov Fed, that king John had not follicited such a shocking privilege as this. It is very true, that from Philip the Fair, the kings of France faw with pleasure, that the popes should have their fee at Avignon, in order to have them a little better under their thumb, and in their dependence. But on this occafion the place of the pope's

• This fine saying is afcribed also to Charles V. Both of them may have said it; but it is much better attributed to the king of France, than to that Emperor, robe did not elevays regulate bis conduct by that excellent maxim.

1751.

Character of Pope pope's residence is of no service to excuse his bull.

73

CLEMENT VI.
abundance of horses, which he often
rode for diversion. His manners in
general were most gentleman-like,
and not at all ecclefiaftical. He took
great care to enrich his nephews.

Another salvo may, perhaps, be suggested for this. Some catholick, not well versed in history, will endeavour to attribute to some anti-pope this bull, so infamous for his church. A fion of fome croisades which he had

What is fingular, is, that on occa

in view, he wrote a very severe letter to the knights of Rhodes, known at present by the name of knights of Malta, upbraiding them with the very same faults. He censures them for their too great curiofity in

The date from Avignon seems, at first fight, to favour this conjecture. But were this supposition well-grounded, it would not remedy the bad effects of the bull, because after the extinction of the schism it was decreed in a council, that all the con- B fine horses, and in general for loving

ceffions of those false popes should have force and vigour as before *. But, Sir, if you will but consult any History of the popes, you will see that this fubterfuge cannot take place. Clement VI. never has been put in the class of anti-popes. He C History of Florence, adds, that be

must not be confounded with Clement VII. who was called Robert of Geneva, the last of the male race of the counts of Geneva, who has not been put in the rank of lawful popes. As for Clement V.I. he was elected very regularly by a score D of cardinals affembled in conclave.

expence too much. He asked them whether that is the design of the goods of the church, and the use that is to be made of them? Matthew Villani, who has given us the character of this pope, in his ing archbishop he kept no decencies with the ladies; that when he was ill, he was attended by ladies, in the fame manner as relations take care of the seculars. He died, Dec. 6, 1352 I find a very curious little particular in Ciaconius, a dominican monk, who wrote the Lives of the popes, A poet, who had some fayour to ask of this Clement, believed, that to obtain what he desired, he ought to present him with some Latin verses, which should praise him E very much, and contain wishes for his prosperity. But it was a Norman encomium, which, in cafe of refusal, became a fatire, accompanied with imprecations against the Pontiff, pretty much like the play of Perspective, where, according to the

To fave you the trouble of turning over any author of the Lives of the popes, here are some particulars about Clement VI. He was called Peter Roger, and was the son of a gentleman of the Limofin. He was made a monk in the convent of Au. vergne. He went to study at Paris, where he fucceeded very well. He paffed for learned, and Petrarch, who was his cotemporary, mentions him as a very learned man. You see plainly, this is not a means to have F different point of view, the fame

his bull excused; on the contrary, it is an aggravating circumftance. Although a man of study, when he was raised to the pontificate, his taste was turned entirely to oftentation. He maintained his houshold in a royal manner; his tables were magnificently served. He had a great... number of esquires and gentlemen, February, 1751

figure presents alternately a fine lady and a monster. Here is the encomium seen on its bright fide.

Laus tua, non tua traus, virtus non

copia rerum Scandere te fecit hoc decus eximium. Pauperibus tua das, nunquam stat janua

claufa.

Vivere te faciat hic Deus omnipotens t.
The

K

• See in the Spicilegium, tom. 4. P. 352. Decretum fynodi Laufanenfis, ubi rata volunt patrct que tempore fchifmatis atte funt. + Ciaconius, Vita pontificum, tom. 2. p. 489.

74

Of the Height to which ROCKETS afcend. Fels.

him to practise perjury with those of another communion, by means of a dispensation dispatched by the datary of the Vatican. But this precaution would fignify nothing: The speculatift, who has pointed it out,

The poet was denied, notwith standing this fine encomium; but he revenged himself for it by giving his friends the key. He told them privately, they were retrograde verses, which should be read backwards, beginning with the last word, in this A did not confider, that the pope would

relieve such prince from his second
oath, as well as the first. I am, &c.

Obfervations on the Height to which
Rockets afcend. By Mr. Benjamin
Robins, F. R. S. From the Phi-

Here is fomething of more conse- B losophical Transactions, No. 492.

T

HE ufe of rockets is, or may

be, so confiderable in determining the position of distant places to each other, and in giving fignals for naval or military purposes, that I thought it worth while to examine what height they usually rise to, the better to determine the extent of the country, thro which they can be feen. I therefore, at the exhibition of the late fire-works*, defired a friend of mine, who I knew intended to be only a distant spectator, to observe the angle of elevation to which the greatest part of them rose, and likewise the angle made by the rocket or rockets, which should rife the highest of all.

quence than this joke, and which I must not omit. It is a very curious anecdote, which I draw from the same spring as the bull of Clement VI. I mean from the late bishop of Salisbury, Dr. Burnet. This prelate then told us also at his table, C that about the end of the last century, K. William, and the elector of Brandenburgh, Frederick-William, meeting together to confer about the fituation of the affairs of Europe, lamented the little dependence they could have on treaties, and their not D knowing how to trust the catholick princes. Thereupon the elector said to the king, that he would communicate to him a remark he had made; which was, that in the treaties with the princes of the Roman church, it is better to keep to their fingle promise than to let an oath intervene ; because, in the first case, they sometimes pique themselves upon their honour, and are defirous of paffing for honeft men: But if an oath is added to it, the ecclesiasticks immediately take cognizance of it, and F bett's house in King street, near

do not fail to abfolve the fovereign from it. The bishop of Salisbury had this anecdote from K. William's own mouth.

E inches

A politician has proposed an expedient to give a firmness to the treaties concluded with the catholick G princes; which is, to have the first oath backed with another, wherein fuch foreign should renounce the privilege which his religion gives

My friend was provided with an instrument, whose radius was 38 inche ; and, to avoid all uncertainty in its motion, it was fixed in an invariable position; and its field, which took in ten degrees of alti'tude, was divided by horizontal threads. The station my friend chose was on the top of Dr. Nif

Cheapfide, where he had a fair view of the upper part of the building erected in the Green Park. There he observed, that the single rockets which rose the most erect, were usually elevated at their greatest height about 6° above his bis level; and that amongst these there were 3 which rose to 7°; and that in the laft great flight of rockets, said to be of 6000, the creft of the

• See our Magazine for 1749, p. 191,

destroy'd by Lightning.

75

1751. Polarity of the Compass the arch, formed by their general Nor is this merely matter of spefigure, was elevated about 8°. culation; for I lately saw a dozen From the care and dexterity of my of four pound rockets fired; the friend, and the nature of the inftru- greatest part of which took up near ment, I doubt not but these obfer- 14" in thei their afcent, and were totalvations are true within a few mi-ly obscured in a cloud near 9 or 10"

nutes.

cent must have been attended by a very unusual rife. (See London Magazine for 1749, p. 212.)

A of the time; so that the moment of The distance of this station from their bursting was only observable the building in the Green Park is by a sudden glimmering thro' the 4000 yards, according to the last clouds: And as these rockets, durgreat map of London: And hence ing the time they were visible, were it appears, that the customary far from moving with a languid moheight, to which the fingle, or ho-tion, I cannot but conceive, that norary rockets, as they are stiled, B the extraordinary time of their afascended, was near 440 yards : That three of these rose 526 yards; and that the greatest height of any of those fired in the grand girandole, was about 615 yards : All reckoned above the level of the place of observation, which I efteem to be near 25 yards higher than the Green Park, and little less than 15 yards below the chefts, whence the flight of rockets was discharged. It seems then, there are rockets which rise 600 yards from the place whence they are difcharged: And D 15' weft, from London, met with a this being more than a third part of a mile, it follows, that if their light be sufficiently strong, and the air be not hazy, they may be seen in a level country at above 50 miles distance.

great

A Letter from Captain John Waddell, to Mr. Naphthali Franks, C Merchant, concerning the Effects of Lightning in destroying the Polarity of a Mariners Compass.

N Jan. 9, 1748-9, the new York to London, being then in lat. 47° 30' north, and longitude 22°

very hard storm of wind, attended with thunder and lightning, as ufual, most part of the evening, and sundry very large comazants (as we call them) over-head, some of which fettled on the spintles at the

The observations on the single E top-mast heads, which burnt like

rockets are fufficiently confonant to some experiments I made myself: For I found that several single pound rockets went to various heights between 450 and 500 yards, the altitude of the highest being extremely near this last number, and the time F main-mast about up almost half

of their ascent usually short of 7".

But tho' from all these trials it should seem as if good rockets of all sizes had their heights limited between 400 and 600 yards; yet I am disposed to believe, that they may be made to reach much greater distances. This I in some degree collect from the nature of their composition, and the usual imperfect manner of forming them.

:

very large torches; and at 9 p. m. a fingle loud clap of thunder with lightning ftruck the ship in a violent manner, which disabled myself, and great part of the ship's company, in the eyes and limbs; it struck the thro', and stove the upper deck one carling, and quick-work; part of which lightning got in between decks, started off the bulk-head, drove down all the cabbins on one side of the steerage, stove the lower deck, and one of the lower deck main lodging-knees.

Another part of it went thro' the starboard side, without any hurt to the ceiling (or inside plank); and started

K-2

76

Tradescant's Garden at LAMBETH.

started off from the timbers four outside planks, being the whale upwards; one of which planks, being the second from the whale, was broke quite asunder, and let in, in about 10 or 15 minutes time, 9 feet water in the ship.

1

A

Feb

Some Account of the Remains of John
Tradescant's Garden at Lambeth.

By Mr. W. Watson, F. R. S.
TPON a visit made

U

to Mr. John

Tradeseant's garden at SouthLambeth, May 21, 1749, by Dr. Mitchell and myself, were observed the under-mentioned exotick plants.

It alfo drew the virtue of the loadstone from all the compasses, being four in number, all in good order before, one in a brass and three in wooden boxes. The hanging compass in the cabbin was not quite so much disabled as the rest; B of the Herbal, probably the first bo

This garden was planted by the above-mentioned gentleman about 120 years fince, and was, except. that of Mr. John Gerard, the author

tanical garden in England. The founder, after many years spent in the service of the lord treasurer Salif bury, lord Wotton, &c. travelled several years, and procured a great variety of plants and feeds, before

they were at first very near reversed, the north to the south; and after a little while rambled about so as to be of no service. The storm lasted five days, we lofst our main-mast and mizen-maft, and almost all our fails; arrived at Cowes, Jan. 21, in a very C not known in England; to several shattered condition.

of which at this time the gardners give his name, as a mark of diftinction; as, Tradescant's spiderwort, Tradescant's after, Tradescant's daffodil. He first planted here the Cupressus Americanus acacia foliis deciduis, which has been since so much esteemed, and is now one of the great ornaments of the duke of Argyll's garden at Witton.

Mr. Gowin Knight, having made some remarks on one of these compaffes, which was shewn to the Royal Society, concludes thus : From what has been said it appears, D that this form of needles is very im proper, and ought to be changed for, that of one strait piece of steel; and then if a needle should be inverted, it might still be used. It also shews the absurdity of permitting iron of any kind about the E and ruined; and tho' the garden is

compass-box, or the binacle. Whoever confiders the whole description of this compass, I am perfuaded, he will efteem it a most despicable in-, strument: How then must any one be shocked to hear, that almost all the compasses, made use of by our trading vessels, are of the same fort! the boxes all joined with iron wire, and the fame degree of accuracy observed throughout the whole !

Mr. Tradescant's garden has now been many years totally neglected, and the house belonging to it empty

quite covered with weeds, there remain among them manifest footsteps of its founder. We found there the Borrago latifolia sempervirens of C. B. Polygonatum vulgare latifolium C. B. Aristolochia clematitis recta FC. B. and Dracontium Dod. There are yet remaining two trees of the Arbutus, the largest I have seen; which, from their being so long used to our winters, did not fuffer by the severe colds of 1729 and 1740, when most of their kind were killed throughout England. In the orchard there is a tree of the Rhamnus catharticus, about 20 feet high, and near a foot in diameter, by much the greatest I ever faw.

This I am credibly informed, is the cafe; and that for no other reason, but that one of this fort may be G purchased for 5s. and it will cost about 2s. 6d. more to buy a tolerable good So that the lives and fortunes of thousands are every day hazarded for fuch a trifling confidcration.

one.