VOL. 3.] Family History. .387 There are manufactories which have two: the Lying-in Hospital, in which 30 to 70,000 spindles, and make weekly 500,000 yards. Of late years the manufacture has been very active, for which reason the goods are now sold so cheap. not only poor women are received, but which also affords assistance to those mothers in indigent circunstances who lie in at their own houses; and the Society of Friends of Foreigners. The The trade of Manchester now extends object of the latter is to assist poor forover the whole world. The variety of eigners, and this is done without respect its productions is almost numberless. to religion. It was founded by the MeAn idea may be formed of it from the thodists in 1791. pattern cards. In less than six months, such cards habeen shewn which contain from 5 to 8,000 different patterns. The sewing cotton is a new article. The progressive improvement of the machines, which is a constant object of attention, insures to the merchants of Manchester advantages over all others. There are in the town twelve churches and three chapels, of the established religion; the Dissenters have a chapel, the Catholics two, the Independents two, the Methodists two; the Quakers, the Unitarians, the Anabaptists, the Swedenborgians (the New Jerusalem) have all their own chapels. Of the numerous hospitals and charitable institutions, we will mention only Manchester has a Bible Society, a Missionary Society founded by the Methodists, a Literary aud Philosoph ical, and an Agricultural Society. There is also an establishment in which female works of all kinds are deposited. They are exposed to sale at the prices affixed to them, and one penny in a shilling is deducted from the produce, for the expenses of the establishment. There is no description of the manufactories of Manchester, and descriptions of this sort are in general wanting in England, where on the other hand, there are such voluminous works upon every thing relative to architecture and antiquities. W From the European Magazine, May 1818. EXTRACTS FROM A LAWYER'S PORT-FOLIO. FAMILY HISTORY. single volume, not even Burns or the HOEVER has visited the central "Tales of my Landlord."-Such an inn at Carlisle in a wet day, must evidence of good taste induced me to remember how vainly the traveller looks cast my eyes on his portmanteau, where from the windows for amusement, unless on I saw the name of Ben Johnson inhe understands horses sufficiently well to scribed, with a sentiment of respect admire the var kinds which bring which a second glance at his honest two or three de st-country graziers countenance confirmed. Even an Anand as many shrewd northern drovers nandale farmer must retain, I supposed, into the stable-yard fro, a Whitson- something of the literary inspiration attryste. It was more amusement to me tached to that name, and we began a to remark the gradations between the long discourse on the merits of the Ayrwell-filled grey coat and oil-skin cap shire ploughman and Ettrick shepherd, which distinguished the plump English- which ended in my new friend Benjaman, and the weather-beaten plaid of min's renewed regrets that we had neithhis competitors. One of the latter, a er Guy Mannering nor Rob Roy.— lean, sinewy, russet-faced man, whose Sir," continued he, "I know very well attire promised more acquaintance with who he means by Dandie Dinmont, cattle than books, began one with me by though some people say it is I-and Í lamenting that the rain would not allow know Rob Roy too, for I lived many a him to walk on the castle walls or the year with his second cousin's aunt's race-ground, as the ion did not afford a grandsons, and he was the only one of 66 the family that deserved to be hanged. Lord! how true it is what he says there of Skipton in Craven! But the worst is, though I know all those stories by heart, and could tell them just as he tells 'em, I always want to be reading them again, and feel just as if I did not know how they would end." "You have supplied the reason," was my answer: "your historian paints from truth, and truth has the same advantage over fable which your strong plaid has over my black silk gown. But since truth delights us in the dress of romance, as an honest man looks well in your many-coloured tartan, here is the fragment of an old memoir sufficiently mysterious and true, and therefore both respectable and touching."-My auditor filled his glass, laid his mull aside, and lighted his indispensable pipe, while I opened the first sheet of the old pamphlet I had found behind the shining grate of the best inn-parlour, dated 1710. [VOL 3 and the next day the Princess received this letter. "Having something to say to you, which I know will not be very pleasing, I choose rather to write it first, being onwilling to surprize you, though I think what I am going to tell you should act, if you give yourself time to think that never any body was suffered to live at court in my Lord M―'s circumstances.-I hope you do me the justice to believe, it is much against my will that I now tell you, it is very unfit Lady Mshould stay with you, since that gives her husband so just a pretence of being where he ought not to be. "I think I might have expected you should have spoke to me of it. But now I must tell you it was very unkind in a relative, would have been uncivil in an equal, and I need not say I have more to claim. Which, though my kindness would make me never exact, yet when I see the use you would make of it, I must tell you, Lady M— must not continue with you. At some other time we shall reason the business calmly; which I shall willingly do, or any thing else which any shew it shall never be at her my fault if we do not live kindly togethown earnest request I was added to her er. Nor will I ever be by choice but household, possibly because the first your truly loving and affectionate lady of the bed-chamber was a person whose discourse and manner (though the Princess thought they agreed very well together) could not recommend her to so young a mistress. For she looked like a madwoman, and talked like a schol "The beginning of the Princess's kindness for me had an early date; we used to play together when she was a child, and she even then expressed a particular fondness for me. On her marriage with Prince ar. Favour with a princess engaged me to her by a sentiment which I choose to call honour rather than gratitude or duty; because while it implies all the justice and affection of both, it seems to express a more disinterested principle of action than either. - Regina.' "When my mistress received this singular letter, she did not forget that it related to the faithful person whom she had once been advised to rely on and keep as her 'most kind and true friend ;' that it was written by one whose want of sensibility had been proved by her cold and careless entrance into the bedchamber where the late King (still living, though displaced) had always slept, and where she amused herself with viewing the counterpane and trimming, as idle "Every body knows that the cold- travellers examine an inn-keeper's. The ness between the Princess and Queen Princess might have removed all this arose from the former desiring an inde- cause of dissension between her and the pendent settlement, which, as she was highest person in the realm, bad she actold, ought to have been taken in any cepted my frank offer to depart, but it way her superiors pleased. But she an- was refused with fears and trembling. swered, "that she could not think her- And she rather chose to encounter the self wrong in desiring a security for what insolence of the Queen's messengers, was to support her."-The Queen re- who, when they brought an inquiry replied, with an imperious air-What specting the Prince, actually passed her, friends have you but the King and me?' while sitting in the same room, to ad VOL. 3.] Time's Telescope for August, 1818 389 Can dress themselves to him. Yet the Prin- and he is so far from being of another cess strove to conciliate the Queen; and opinion, if there had been occasion he when her condition compelled her to would have strengthened me in my resoconfine herself on a sofa, and a danger- lutions, and we both beg of you never ous period was approaching, she sent a to mention so cruel a thing more. dutiful message, alleging them as excuses you think either of us so wretched, that, for not waiting on her Majesty. Once, for the sake of £.20,000, and to be torand only once, the Queen visited her in mented from morning to night by flatterher forlorn indisposition. The saluta- ing knaves and fools, we should forsake tion, without expressing the least concern those to whom we have such obligations, respecting her health, or even touching and whose misfortunes we have caused? her hand, was this I have made the Besides, can you believe we will stoop first step by coming to you, and I now to *who from the first moment 66 expect you should make the next by re- has used us at this rate? How would moving Lady M.' The Princess only answered faltering, and as the with having got the better? And, which laugh at me, and please himself Queen herself remarked, looking paler is much more, how would than death, conscience my I have never in all my life reproach me for having sacrificed it, my disobeyed your Majesty, except in this honour, reputation, and all the substanone particular, which will some time or tial comforts of life, for transitory interother appear as unreasonable to the re- est, which even to those who make it quester as to me." Upon which the their idol never affords any real satisfacQueen rose up, and went away, repeat- tion, much less to a virtuous mind. No, ing to the Prince as he led her to the my dear -, never believe your coach, the same thing she had said to faithful will ever submit. She the Princess. They never met more, can wait with patience for a sunshine day; and company was forbidden to wait up- and if she does not live to see it, yet she on my mistress, to whom, wishing to hopes England will flourish again. Once save her from indignities seldom offered more give me leave to beg you would be to the heir of a crown, I again proposed so kind as never to speak of parting my voluntary retirement, and received more; for let what will happen, it is the this letter, which I transcribe, not be- only thing that can make me miserable.' cause it was the most fervent and affec- Tuesday morning. * * * * * tionate, but because it was the briefest of very many which remain in my possession. "In obedience to my dear I have told the Prince all he desired me; and of this narrative were published under the Duch • These blanks are in the originals. Copies of them ess of M.'s authority, by Geo. Hawkins, at Milton's Head, between the two Temple Gates. To be concluded in our next. NATURE'S DIARY FOR AUGUST. O'er fields embrowned, lo! August slowly bends! THE powerful influence of the solar rays now contributes to ripen the various sorts of grain, which are benevolently given for the food of man and cattle. Fine weather is very desirable, that the principal source of the farmer's wealth may be safely housed; for sudden storms beat down the nearly ripe corn, and materially injure it. The time of commencing the harvest varies greatly in different districts. The manner of taking the harvest is not more various than the periods at which it begins. In some cases it is the custom to reap or cut the corn with a sickle, and bind it up into sheaves of a moderate size; in others, the cutting of the grain is executed by the scythe in some particular method, and often left, without being tied up, or bound into a sort of bundles. A toothed sickle is employsickle with a cutting edge. ed by some farmers; while others use a when reaped or mown, is, in some coun The grain, 390 Ancient Ceremonies of" Harvest Home," &c. ties set up into a sort of hattock, and capped or covered with sheaves of the same; but, in others, the practice is widely different, Some cut the grain high, so as to leave a rough stubble; while others cut it close to the land. In Surry and Kent, women may be seen wielding the sickle. Rye and oats usually become ripe first; but this depends upon the time of sowing, though grain of every species may, sometimes, be seen at once fit for the sickle. The utmost diligence is now exerted, and laborers from all parts are eagerly engaged to give their assistance in this delightful occupation; all is bustle and activity. The labors of the sickle completed, those who have toiled in securing the wealth of their employer, now receive the welcome reward of a harvest supper, or festival. Many curious ceremonies were formerly practised by rustics at the celebration of Harvest Home, • Come, sons of Summer, by whose toile By whose tough labours, and rough hands, ⚫ Crowned with the eares of corne, now come, The horses, mares, and frisking fillies, ⚫ Of rural younglings raise the shout; ⚫ Those with a shout, and these with laughter. * Run after with their garments rent.' Herrick's Hesperides. [VOL 3 Mr. White has given us a most pleas ing description of a Harvest Scene,' in the poems appended to his excellent Natural History of Selborne : Waked by the gentle gleaming of the morn, All day they ply their task; with mutual chat But when high noon invites to short repast, The harvest, to be viewed, in perfection, should be seen in one of those extensive parishes which are as yet uninclosed. When the fields are white with harvest,' they exhibit a rich expanse of wavy corn' of every hue, from the white of the oat and barley, to the golden red of the wheat. It is a scene of repose, interrupted only by the breezes and the billowing of the corn. When the reapers enter, all becomes life and motion. They are seen in all directions, reaping, sheafing, and shocking, with the haste suitable to so important a season. The mowers also take their turn at the barley and the oats. The carts and waggous then enter the field with speed, but leave it piled up with sheaves of wheat, or loads of loose corn, with a slow and stately pace, looking,at a distance,like a ship sailing over the ocean. The rich splendour of the sunset, the solemn gloom of the twilight, and the sober brightness of the harvest moon, are fresh occasions of admiration and gratitude. Images made of straw, or stubble, were carried home from the harvest-field, followed by a piper and a drum, the men That beautiful little insect, the ladyand women singing round it. Some bird, or lady cow, now seen, and so of sixty years ago, in the north, a figure ten charged with being the cause of like this was dressed up, at harvest time, blights in apple-trees, is in reality the and was called the kern-baby. In the best remedy against that disease. The Hebrides, the strokes of the sickle are lady-bird, both when perfect and in its timed by the modulation of the harvest larva state, feeds entirely upon the aphis, song, in which all the voices of the reap- a genus, of which the blight in question is a species. The utility of this insect ers are united. VOL. 3.] Solomon's and Alexander's Use of Ice-Artificial Congelation. 391 The heat of this month is sometimes excessive, and we are then led to exclaim with the poet of nature, in destroying the blight, is well known cellars in France. However, before the in the hop countries. See a pretty little end of the seventeenth century, the luxpoem on the lady-bird, in Atheneum ury of ice was very common in France; vol. 1, p. 928. for about that time there were many persons who were professed dealers in snow and ice; and in 1676 there were not less than two hundred and fifty shops in Paris alone for the sale of liquors of different sorts cooled with ice. An ice-house, it is probable might be employed with advantage during the summer months in preserving meat. We know that from the salmon fisheries · Welcome, ye shades! ye bowery thickets, hail! Ye lofty pines! ye venerable oaks! Ye ashes wild, resounding o'er the steep! and, regarding coolness and freshness as indispensable to the enjoyment of Nature's bounties at this season, those who are confined in large cities luxuriate in Scotland and the north of England, themselves with the frequent ice,' and employ every means in their power to cool the various liquors, which the heat renders necessary to relieve the parched and fevered lip' of thirst. To such, as well as to our country readers, we recommend the following observations on 'cooling liquors,' chiefly from the ⚫ Chemical Essays' of Mr. Parkes. the fish are sent to the metropolis during the greater part of the season, packed with ice, in boxes about four feet long and eighteen inches deep. When packed, the ice, which is previously broken as smal! as bay-salt, is put over them, and beaten down as hard as can be without bruising the salmon. In this manner they are kept perfectly fresh for two or three weeks. The most antient, and perhaps the most universal, mode of reducing the Another way of modifying heat is by temperature of bodies, was by means of the use of certain saline bodies. Toice and snow. That these were used for wards the latter end of the 17th century, this purpose in the time of Solomon, we Mr. Boyle made experiments with vahave the testimony of some of the most rious kinds of salts and other substances antient writings; and we are told that for reducing the temperature of water, Alexander the Great, when he lay before and in the year 1638 published his Exthe besieged city of Petra, having an eye periments and Observations touching to the delicacies of his table, caused thir- Cold;' a work of great labour and inty trenches to be dug, and filled with snow, which was defended from the sun by oak branches, and preserved for a long time. genuity. By these researches he discovered that either common salt, alum, vitriol, sal ammoniac, lump-sugar, oil of vitriol, nitrous acid, caustic ammonia, or The snow of Lebanon was in high alcohol, when mixed with snow, had estimation in the days of the prophet the power of freezing water, and thus Jeremiah; and, according to Mr. Har- laid the foundation for the modern dismer, the present inhabitants of Palestine coveries on frigorific mixtures. collect snow during the summer months About this time the use of a mixture from the top of the same mountain, and of snow and common salt had become carry it two or three days' journey, that very common in several countries in Eubeing (as he says) mixed with wine, it rope; but a long period intervened before may keep it as cold as ice.'* any facts of importance were added to those which Mr. Boyle had publisheđ on this subject. The practice of cooling liquors at the tables of the great was not usual in any country of Europe, except in Italy and the neighbouring states, before the end of the sixteenth century; and there is a direct testimony on record, that in the middle of that century there were no ice **As the cold of snow in the time of harvest, so is a faithful messenger to them that send him ; for he refresheth the soul of his masters.'-Proverbs xxv, 13. The art of making ice was for many years practised only as an amusement, and no one suspected that it would ever be applied to such important purposes, both of science and luxury. Like gunpowder, and many other valuable discoveries, it was at first considered to be of very trifling consequence,, |