November, 1807.) The wind indeed on the next day changed from east to west, and blew somewhat fresh, but we have escaped the storm. March 29. Bees are now flying in considerable numbers about the catkins of some species of willows. March 30. Swallows and martins were this day seen in flight. The arrival of these birds is earlier by several days than usual. The rev. Mr. White; in his Natural History of Selborne, states that of the swallow to be generally about the 13th, and that of the martia the 16th of April. Hampshire. MONTHLY AGRICULTURAL REPORT. THE fine weather towards the close of the month has been very favourable to the young wheats in most places, having tended much to recover those of the late sown kinds in different situations, but the great destruction of plants in many cases render them thin upon the ground, and back ward in growth. Vegetation in general has been greatly pushed forward within the two last weeks, as is constantly the case after such cold wet late seasons. The putting in of the seed was perhaps scarcely ever more retarded, from the constant wetness and general unfavourableness of the whole of the last, and the beginning of the present, month. Much work of this sort is in consequence still to be per ormed, especially in the more low districts. Green crops, as we long since suggested, have almost wholly failed, especially turnips of the common kind; this has been particularly the case in many parts of Norfolk, and the neighbouring counties, from which great losses, and vast expenses have been sustained in the sheep-stock for the purchase of other necessary articles. This must of course inhance the price of mutton and lamb, unless the season becomes very fine and warm. The supplies of wheat have lately been much on the decline at the market in Mark Lane, but the further importations that may now be expected from Holland, will most probably obviate the inconvenience, and keep down the price, which must otherwise have advanced.Wheat fetches from 64s. to 86s. per quarter; Rye, 40s. to 48s.; Barley, 34s. to 46s.; Oats, 228. to 28s. The backwardness of the season has, in some degree, rendered the supplies of fat stock, particularly sheep and lambs, less abundant than is mostly the case at this period of the year. -Beef fetches from 5s. to 6s. per stone of 81b.; Mutton, 5s..4d. to 6s 44.; Veal, 5s. to Gs 3d.; Pork, 6s. to 6s 8d; Lamb, 7s. to 8s. 48. The price of hay has lately been somewhat higher in the different London markets. fetches from 51. 10s. to 71,; Straw, 31. to 31. 14s. Hay METEOROLOGICAL REPORT. Observations on the State of the Weather, from the 24th of March 1810, to the 24th of April 1810, inclusive, Four Miles N.N.W. of St. Paul's. The quantity of rain fallen this month is equal to rather more than two inches in depth. On more than half the days since the last report, rain has fallen in greater or less quantities but since the 15th the weather has been remarkably fair and brillant. The average height of the barometer for the whole month is equal to 29-433, and that of the thermometer which marks the temperature is equal to 45° nearly. The wind has been chiefly in the easterly points, and the temperature is lower than usual for the month. The spring, as exhibited by vegetation and the verdure of the fields and gardens, is very backward, a circumstance by no means to be regretted in this changeable climate. The south-easterly winds have several mornings brought us thick fogs, which the sun has usually dispersed with great rapidity. Highgate, April, 1810. PRICES PRICES or STOCKS, from the 26th of MARCH, to the 25th of APRIL, both inclusive. 3 per Ct. Reduc. 28. 6787 994 10 P. 8 P. 69 69% 29. 684 99호 10 P. 73 7 P. 6369 30. 681 6 P. 68369 31. 683 99 951 12 P. 6 P. 69 April 2. 684 991 12 P. 8 P. 69 69 3. 68 991 11 P. 5 P 683 683 99 85 9 P. 4 P. 68 5. 68§ 991 11 P. 7 P. 6868 83 99% 1873% 17 73 67 12 P. 24 P. 687 69 68 68 83 99 18 20 P. 15 P. 68 69 9. 6868769 83 99 18 20 P. 14 P. 10. 68 69 834 991 184 961 19 P. 15 P. 69 11. 68 691 83 99 20 P. 15 P 12. 269 68 | 69 7 841 991/ 18/3/ 187 20 P. 14 P. 68769 693 70 70 70/1/ 13. 269 68 69 84 99% 18-36 186 19 P. 15 P. 69 70 14. 269 684 692 837 99 18 185 15 P. 16 P. 69급 70 16. 269 68 691 837 998 1836 14 P. 68 15 P. 691/ 17. 270 2 18. 270 684 69 834 99 1846 96 1853 15 P. 15 P. 69370 68 69 84 99/1 183 17 P. 14 P. 705 18% 186 17 P. 14 P. 69 69 70 84 994/ 13 186 18 P. 13 P. 703 701 Holiday. Holiday. Holiday. N. B. In the 3 per Cent. Consols the highest and lowest Prices are given; in the other Stocks, the highest only. WM. TURQUAND, Stock and Exchange Broker, No. 9, St. Michael's Alley, Cornhill. Lottery Ticket MONTHLY MAGAZINE. No. 199.] JUNE 1, 1810. [6 of VOL. 29. As long as those who write are ambitious of making Converts, and of giving their Opinions a Maximum of Influence and Celebrity, the most extenfively circulated Mifcellany will repay with the greatest Effect the Curiosity of thofe who read either for Amufement or InstruЯion.-JOHNSON. ORIGINAL COMMUNICATIONS. To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. SIR, HA AVING at a very early age been sent to Helland, in order to qualify myself for commercial pursuits, in which my father was engaged with that country, and afterwards residing for several years in my destined capacity of a merchant at Marseilles, in the south of France, happy in vigorous health, and with a constitutional disposition of the most sanguine character,, it was natural, nay it was almost inevitable, that I should fall in with the luxurious indulgences of that delicious climate. Upon my subsequent return to England, I formed an intimacy scarcely less seductive, with some of the most hospitable and convivial gentlemen-sportsmen in the county of Berks; where I spent some of the happiest moments of iny life in social and high-spirited enjoy ment. time to place myself upright in a chair, where I sat resting myself upon my elbows, and with my feet upon the ground (for I could not bear them in an horizontal posture,) before I underwent a sense, as it were, of immediate suffoca tion. The fits generally continued, with short intermissions, from thirty-six hours to three days and nights successively; during which time I have often, in the seeming agonies of death, given myself over, and even wished for that termina tion of my miseries. It was in a great measure in vain that I consulted the most eminent physicians of the metropolis; Dr. Baillie, sir Walter Farquhar, Dr. Reid, Dr. Blackburne, Dr. Bree, and latterly Mr. Brandish, who was reported to have cured the duke of Sussex; none of these gentlemen afforded me any thing more than a transient and tantalizing relief. But here I must not omit my obligations to Dr. Reid, whose rational practice, and friendly attendance, afforded me the only consolation to be obtained under such an accumulation of suffering; or to Dr. Blackburne, and Dr. Bree, for the most feeling and gentlemanly manners and attention. An amiable friend and most respectable surgeon at Hackney, first persuaded me to smoke the divine stramonium, to which I owe altogether my present freedom from pain, and renewed capacity of enjoyment. It is the root only, and lower part of the stem of this plant, which seem to possess its anti-asthmatic virtue: these should be cut into small pieces, and put into a common tobacco-pipe, and the smoke must be swallowed, together with the saliva produced by the smoke; after which the sufferer will, in a few minutes, The asthmatic paroxysm usually be relieved from all the convulsive heav came on about two o'clock in the mornings, and probably drop into a comforting, when I was suddenly surprised from sleep with violent convulsive heavings of the chest; and I was scarcely allowed MONTHLY MAG, No. 199. This career of pleasure was however soon interrupted by the depredations it produced upon my constitution: the first signs of impaired strength, and clouded vivacity, were soon succeeded by the most severe and afflicting attacks of spasmodic asthma, which returned at intervals of eight or ten days with such cruel violence, that all the agreeable anticipations of life became in a manner extinguished; and during the course of several years, I was afraid to indulge in the hopes of recovery from my complaint. At last, by a most fortunate accident, I was induced to make trial of an herb called stramonium; from which auspicious moment I have been restored, not merely to a tolerable, but to a comfortable and reasonably happy, state of existence. able sleep, from which he will awake refreshed; and, in general, perfectly recovered: at least, this is the invariable SG effect produced upon myself. He should by all means avoid drinking with the pipe, a too ordinary accompaniment of smoking. I once took some brandy and water with the pipe, but it proved a very improper combination: a dish of coffee, however, I often take after it, and find it highly refreshing. I should mention that strong coffee has frequently been recommended to me, but never produced any beneficial effect as a cure for asthma. This plant is delightfully fragrant ; and although it has been regarded hitherto as of a poisonous nature when taken in wardly, yet I have smoked a dozen pipes at a time, without experiencing from them any other inconvenience than a slight excoriation, or soreness of the tongue. Some time ago, at the earnest solicitation of one of his friends, who represented to me the sufferings of the duke of Sussex, I wrote to him an account of the benefit I had derived from stramonium, which attention and sympathy on my part his highness did not think proper to notice; a want of civility, which is to be excused only upon the supposition that he attributed what originated from the purest benevolence, to some paltry motive of mercenary selfinterest: he might have known me better. It is truly urged, and I am perfectly aware, how much the state of the nerves has to do with the disease of the asthmatic; of this I have of late, in `common with others, had ample experience. The nerves at least, if not the credit, of those concerned in large cash-transactions, have lately undergone considerable trials by the extraordinary, and I may say injudicious, conduct of the directors of the Bank of England. My nerves have lately had another trial, as a candidate brought forward on popular grounds in a contested election, during which, in addition to the common-place scurrility and altercation my friendly stramonium has preserved me from the visitation of asthmatic horrors, after having been subject to periodical attacks for several years; all of which I have noted down in my pocketbook, continually "etching another day of misery to add to the heap" and I have now enjoyed a state of perfect freedom from this species of misery for many months, a release for which I never can be sufficiently thankful. In making these circumstances public, my only wish has been, that others who suffer from the same source may derive relief from the same remedy; a remedy which is yet little known among those who are so deeply interested in its virtues. VERAX April 2, 1810. To the Editor of the Monthly Magazing SIR, YOUR JR correspondent, "Entomo philus," page 216 of the Monthly Magazine for April, 1810, has set au example of urbane and judicious criti cism. I shall omit the reprehensible passage in the "Essays on Professional Education," in an octavo edition which will shortly appear. This is the best apology, or rather the best reparation, I can inake. The anatomy of the smallest insect may lead to useful discoveries; and the size of the volume may as justly be imputed to Professional Education as to Lyonet's work. Authors sometimes think it imprudent and derogatory, to notice criticisms that are not denounced er cathedra: I however wish frankly to express, that I feel myself obliged to your correspondent, and to you, sir, for correcting me; and I hope that whilst you continue to treat authors with impartiality, they will set a just value on your Monthly Magazine. Edgeworth Town, R. L. E. Ireland. SIR, HOUGH in every civilized country TH attached peculiarly to such occasions, To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. and which every one expects under similar circumstances, a miscreant made an audacious attack on my character and commercial credit, in which he was supported by an upstart and consequential attorney, which malignity and disappointment, when I brought the offender to a public apology at a late assize, was manifest to the whole court. In spite of all the nervous agitation, which it may be easily supposed I must bave gone through on these occasions, it is the business both of church and state to prevent, by every means in their power, the great body of the peo ple from indulging their propensities beyond what is proper, yet there are in this country many who are allowed to indulge certain propensities to a highly culpable degree, without being consi dered, or even thought, to act amiss; I mean mean those who, year after year, neglect to cut down trees evidently past their prime, and daily tending to decay. When the country was overstocked with wood, and a tree would not pay the expense of cutting it down, there was no crime in allowing it to stand. But circumstances in this respect are now completely altered. It is a maxim in law, as well as in religion and common sense, that a man is only the steward of the good things he possesses; and that, if he raises more corn, cattle, or stock of any kind, on his estate, than serves for his own and his family's support, though he has a right to sell, he bas no right wantonly to destroy it. The same holds with regard to the trees on his estate. While these are rising in value, and in a state of progression, it is his duty to let them grow, unless necessitated to sell them for the support of himself and his family. But when he is certain that they are arrived at their ne plus ultra of growth and perfection, and that the longer they stand they will become less and less valuable, he be comes criminal in not either applying them himself, or permitting others to apply them, to the purposes for which nature intended them. It is no excuse that the trees in question were planted by his father, his grandfather, or other ancestor; that they have a venerable appearance, and that it gives him pleasure to see them. Reasons of this kind signify nothing, either in a moral or political point of view; since, by withholding them, he robs the community at large of what the Author of nature in tended for their good. If a man chooses to be pulled along in a carriage by a couple, or even an individual horse, and to be attended by one or more servants in livery, the wisdom of this country has thought it proper to tax him for indulging a propensity to shew and equipage. Now, if govern ment has seen it proper to tax a man for indulging this propensity, in many cases innocent, how much rather ought they to be taxed, who, notwithstanding the enormous sums paid by government and the community at large to other countries for wood, do not cut down those trees, which, by not being cut down, become every year of considerably less value! To suffer so many trees, Mr. Editor, to rot and become useless, as is done yearly in Britain and Ireland, is an evil that cries loudly for amendment. It is, as the scripture expresses it, not using, but abusing, the talent put into our hand. I am aware, men being generally wedded to their errors, and averse to lay burdens on themselves, that a bill founded on this idea would with difficulty pass either the house of lords, or that of the commons. The cry would be, "What! is the country to be denied wood, and deprived of one of its greatest ornaments?" No; to prevent this, let it be enacted, that for every tree cut down, two shall be planted; and a person appointed in every county to declare, by a mark put on them by him, what trees should be cut In the mean time, down, and what not. I leave it to you, Mr. Editor, and your unprejudiced readers to say, how far it is proper that the day-labourer's very shoes, the beer he drinks at his meals, and almost every article necessary to his existence, should be taxed; while at the same time the land-holders, the destroyers wilfully and wantonly of so impor tant an article as wood, are not taxed by the state in proportion to the injury thus done to it. With a high opinion of your pages, and the judicious selection you make from the mass of materials that &c. monthly flow in upon you, I am, Chesnut Walk, Walthamstow. JAMES HALL. For the Monthly Magazine. HINTS to the SEDENTARY; on EXERCISE, and the PRESERVATION OF HEALTH. A GREAT proportion of the inhabitants of our cities and populous towns, are necessarily devoted to sedentary pursuits. Many of these have not opportunity, or cannot spare the time that is necessary, for taking that exercise which is essential to health. Exercise is best taken in the open air. But where that cannot be done, means should he found of taking it within doors. To the sedentary therefore I address myself, and have no doubt they will find the following hints deserving their attention. I shall describe several effectual methods of taking exercise, which may be performed at all times, in all weathers, and in almost any place, out of doors or in, without any preparation, and without any apparatus or In a study, in a expense whatever. workshop, by a fire-side, even behind a counter, or at a desk, these methods may be followed. I have practised them myself daily for several years past with great benefit. Indeed I am confident, that |
