terly; barometer steady, rather declining. 28th to 31st, pleasant enough, rather cloudy and showery; wind variable; barometer low. July, upon the whole, a cold suininer-month; easterly and northerly winds prevailing, and harvest promising to be later than usual. August 1st to 19th, we had a great deal of heavy rain, often accompanied with thunder-storms, and now and then with thick mists; wind variable, rather inclining to south, often calm. 19th to Sist, at times warm sunshine, often cloudy and hazy; one smart shower almost every day, and usually in the after noon, but no continued rain; during this latter period also, the rain that fell was exceeded by the evaporation; wind SW. sometimes brisk; barometer uniformly low the whole month, and its motions gradual; temperature also pretty uniform, rather agreeable than warm, and somewhat below the usual mean of August. This perhaps the wettest month we have had for some years. Harvest only commenced about the 25th, and even in this neighbourhood had not become general at the end of the month. best; other kinds of grain, as to produce, hold an intermediate rank. October. First three days rather cloudy and close; wind westerly. On the 4th we had continued rain; wind shifting to east. 4th to 9th, mostly cloudy, at times sunshine, air getting cooler; wind easterly. 9th to 15th, rather clear and cold, hoar frost in the mornings; wind SE. 15th to 21st, at times clear, often flying clouds, with some light showers, air mild; wind SW. 21st to 31st, mostly clear, serene, and agreeable; wind SW. often calm: barometer, which during the whole of the two preceding months, ranged almost uniformly below the medium, has this month always kept above it. October proved a very favourable month for the country, as we had very little rain or high winds, and a slight frost only one or two mornings, so that the later crops were harvested in es cellent order. November. First three days mostly clear, with slight frost. 3d to 6th, a good deal of rain fell, with high wind from NE. 7th to 11th, mostly cloudy, but nearly fair; air mild; wind W. 11th and 14th, cloudy and misty, with thin September. First two days nearly fair. rain; wind easterly. 14th to 19th, dry 3d to 9th, very misty and close, often frosty weather, (snow in some parts of thin rain, heary on the 8th; wind east- the country;) wind northerly. 19th to erly; barometer descending slowly. 9th 30th, very unsettled, at times clear and to 17th, often clear, at times cloudy with frosty, but often windy and showery; showers; wind varying rather westerly; wind variable. Till the middle of this barometer steady, hardly rising. A month, barometer kept rather high and heavy rain on the 18th, was followed by steady, but after that it fluctuated. windy and showery weather till the 23d; wind shifting to opposite points; barometer keeping down. 23d to 30th, mostly clear and sharp, with the exception of some heavy rain on the mornings of the 27th and 30th; wind veering between SW. and N. barometer ranging low, and fluctuating. Till about the autumnal equinox, temperature continued uniform, rather agreeable than warın ; but after that it turned a good deal colder, the nights particularly. The bulk of the harvest work in the low part of the country was accomplished in the course of this month, but under rather unfavourable circumstances, the weather being unsettled, not two days in succession quite fair. The change to cold in the latter part of the month was serviceable in giving a check to improper vegetation; wheat, which had suffered both by the spring frosts, and latterly by sprouting or second growth, the effect of too much inoisture, is reckoned the worst crop this season; and oats the December. 1st to 7th, changeable weather, mornings generally clear, with hoar frost, succeeded by windy and rainy days; wind WSW. 7th to 17th, stormy winds, mostly from the west, accompanied with snow and sleet, though seldom heavy; barometer remarkably low. On the 18th, wind shifting to N. barometer rose very suddenly; and till the 26th, though we had at times slight showers, weather continued mostly fair; some days clear and frosty; wind westerly. 26th was gloomy, with continued rain and sleet. 27th clear and frosty; last four days mostly soft open weather, at times windy and showery; wind SW. barometer falling. December, upon the whole, a tempestuous month; but as yet we have not had much severe frost, and little snow on the ground at a time. The gales of the 11th and 15th, did a great deal of damage at sea; that of the 15th being noted by a lower barometer than has been observed here for some years. Edinburgh, Jun. 1810. G.W. For For the Monthly Magazine. JOURNAL of a WINTER TOUR through several of the MIDLAND COUNTIES of ENGLAND, performed in 1810. HA AVING been prevented last sum mer from making my annual tour, with the exception of a short excursion into Norfolk, and having a fortnight to spare in the beginning of February, after a visit made to some friends in Leeds, I resolved, at that dreary sea son, to ride up to London, having first made a little circuit in the neighbour hood, by way of experiment. The chief disadvantage attending such an expedition, consists in the want of opportunities for contemplating manners, occasioned by the absence of travelling companions: the inclemency of the weather can be easily obviated by precaution, or sustained by hardiness; and as to the aspect of the country, it is no very difficult stretch of the imagination to supply foliage to the denuded trees. In the immediate vicinity of Leeds, there are few places worthy of observa tion. Kirkstall Abbey stands very beautifully on the banks of the river Aire; the waters of which, collected into a wier, just opposite to the ruin, form an artificial cascade when again falling into their channel. The ground swells behind the ruin; and is richly clothed in wood. Let this spot be visited in a fine evening, when the moon-beam glistens on the rushing water; when the broken pillars and long aisles are touched with a pale light; and when the silence is only broken by the soft sighs among the trees, or the soft dashing of the fall. KirkstallAbbey was a monastery of the Cistercian order, founded A.D. 1147.* Its value in the king's books is 3291. 2s. 11d. A representation of the ruin, coarse enough, forms the drop-scene of the theatre in Leeds: "Time's gradual touch Has mouldered into beauty many a tower, Which, when it frowned with all its battlements, Was only terrible: and many a fane Monastic, which, when deck'd with all its spires, Serv'd but to feed some pamper'd abbot's pride, And awe th' unletter'd vulgar. Temple Newsom, lately the seat of lady Irving, but now become the property of the marquis of Hertford, lies It was built by Henry de Lacy, and de dicated to the Virgin. about four miles from Leeds, a little to Halfway to Harrowgate, and close to the road-side, is Harewood-house, the princely seat of the nobleman who gives a name to it. In the grounds, nature and art have vied with each other. The many inequalities of hill and dale, have afforded much capability of improve ment; and the tasteful variety of wood and water, shews that ample justice has been done to them. The house is full of immense mirrors, satin beds, silver tables, and rich furniture of all sorts: but O, shame! there is not a single painting, except a few family portraits. They who wish to save themselves the trouble of reading Tooke's Pantheon, will find the whole history painted in fresco on a stair-case ceiling.* It may not be improper to say a few words concerning that Montpellier, the sweet town of Leeds itself. It is con tinually enveloped in a thick smoke, which contains immense quantities of soot and dust, sent up from the different manufactories. This body is too deuse to ascend in the air; and after having been carried a little way by the heat, it falls down in plentiful showers on the inhabitants. The consequence is, that every body looks dirty. I put on two clean shirts every day, and spent half my time in washing my hands; but "the damned spot would ne'er be out." There was no church here but one un til after the reign of Charles I, and it was besieged in the civil wars. There are now four churches, each having a sacrament in the month, and all of them on different Sundays. All the clergy of the tributary churches and chapels in the town and neighbourhood, are com pelled to pay suit and service to the old * At a little distance from the house, the ruins of a castle, built in the time of Edward I. and demolished by Cromwell, impend over the road. The chapel is modest and elegant. It contains a monument to sir W. Gascoigne, who committed Henry Prince of Wales, for a contempt of his authority. church, church, by assisting at the communion every Christmas and Easter-day. These, added to clergymen who may be visitors, elad in surplices, and all officiating at once, render the scene in the highest degree solemn and impressive. The communicants, on these occasions, amounting to seven or eight hundred, kneel in different parts of a large chapel which surrounds the altar; the ministers carry round to them, as in colleges, the sacramental bread and wine, the large organ playing the 100th psalm, There are in Leeds a number of pub lic charities, well managed and liberally supported: an infirmary, a fever-house, and large Sunday-school establishments. The inhabitants will contribute largely to every scheme which promises to be useful; but they have no idea of the ornamental. In the middle of the square in which the infirmary stands, and which ought to be decorated with trees, fountains, and gravel-walks, the space contains long rows of posts, with webs of blue cloth stretched on the tenter-hooks. Owing to the same solidity of understanding and absence of taste, no public amusements ever succeed in Leeds: at least none merely pleasurable. There are assemblies attended like a London church on a Sunday afternoon; concerts at which Orpheus, for lack of men and women, might attempt to move the stone walls; and plays, where the comedians grin, but cannot smile, over a "beggarly account of empty boxes." But let any Dr. Mac-Stirabout from The university of St. Andrew's, arrive in Leeds with a course of lectures on na tural philosophy, and his harvest is made in a fortnight. I went to the theatre one evening, by the way, and heard the hero of the piece call his chariner, his "dear heartless girl;" while one actor talked of his honnor, and another of his "appiness." It was impossible to find fault with this transposition; as it is but reasonable and fair, that if the h is taken away from one word to which it belongs, it should be restored in another quarter where it is superfluous. One of the best stories of the misplacing of this letter, has been related concerning a pious cockney, who being desirous to communicate, went into a circulating library at Brighton, and asked the bookseller if he had a 66 Companion to the Haltar." "No, Sir," said the summer adventurer of Leadenhall-street, "we have got the Newgate Calendar; but the Companion to the Halter has not yet come down." There is a large public library in Leeds, having a handsome external appearance, and a good stock of books; but the most liberal establishment is the news-room, which is open to any stranger of genteel appearance. Leeds contains a presbyterian meet ing-house, where Dr. Priestly formerly held forth: but if I were to recount all the sects who have here cut out different paths to the same place, I should be obliged to get Mr. Evans's Sketch, and copy his title-page. The cloth of Leeds is unrivalled. It is an hour's walk round the cloth-bails. As soon as a bell rings, early in the morning, on the two marketdays, multitudes walk in without any disorder or noise. Each seller of cloth knows his own place; and laying his goods on a table, stands opposite to them, as a shopman behind a counter. The pieces lie long-ways close to one another; and the factors and buyers walk along the lanes, examining different ar ticles. Leaning over to the clothier, they demand the price in a whisper: and the whole is transacted in a moment. Sometimes, in one hour, twenty thousand pounds worth of cloth are bought and sold in this manner. The woollen cloths of Leeds are exported, after being taken to Hull by the water-carriage of the Aire and Calder, which fall into the Humber at Ferrybridge. In Gott's Manufactory, the whole process of making woolien cloths may be seen, from the shearing of the sheep to the packing up of the finished cloth. The greater part of this process is of course carried on by machinery: but the cloth brought to market in the halls, is made by cottagers in their houses. The different parts of the manufacture employ the whole family; and as the children are thos at once kept to industry, and subjected to the eye of their parents, the woollen manufacture, as thus carried on, is more favourable to morals than the cotton business; which is almost wholly conducted in factories. The Yorkshire coals are carried from Leeds and Wakefield to York, from whence the Ouss forwards them to the Humber. They have this advantage over the Newcastle coals, that being borne on the river, they are exempt from the duty of four shillings per chaldron, to which sea-coal is subject. Harrowgate, eighteen miles to the north of Leeds, is too well known for the efficacy of its mineral waters, to detain us in describing it. It consists of two 1810.] Journal of a Winter Tour from Leeds to London. summer resort. little villages, Low and High Harrowgate, chiefly supported by the company who resort from all parts of the United Kingdoms, either for health, pleasure, or gambling. It possesses two advantages over many other places of fashionable The first is that of vicinity to many interesting objects, and much picturesque scenery: among the foriner of which may be reckoned Harewood House, and Ripon Minster; and amongst the latter, the wild confusion of Bramham rocks; the tasteful improvement of nature in Plumpton gardens; the town and river at Knaresborough; and the grounds of Hack Fall and Studleigh. The next advantage attending this assemblage of gaiety, is the variety of company which it draws to gether. The sea is the same in all parts of the coast: and as every body goes to the place nearest his own home, almost all sea-bathing quarters are little better A stranger is than county-meetings. looked upon with curiosity, and almost with suspicion, until he is just going away: and he who wishes to contemplate human nature at large, sees only the manners of a little province. But Harrowgate being, like Bath and Buxton, unique, you have here a delightful medley of Scotch, English, and Irish: the London cockney, the Oxford pedant, the petit-maitre, and the Yorkshire foxhunter. Character is here found in the most luxuriant variety; and the collision of these different individuals, all reduced to an equality, and all throwing off reserve, is whimsically grotesque. 545 The all the briefs: and a methodist meeting- At the distance of a few miles from In High Harrowgate there are three cash to spare, and a fine retinue of horses The lower well of Harrowgate contains sea-salt, purging salt, and sulphur: and the waters are esteemed an excellent alterative, purgative, and anthelminthick medicine. 4 A and and a garden and mock battery at the top: the dripping-well, which is in summer a cool and pleasant spot; but when I saw it in the middle of January, hung round with a fringe of icicles, which shot a sparry lustre:-a museum of petrified wigs and bird's nests: an old castle: a woolly-beaded boy; and many other means of raising the wind. Knaresborough sends two members to parliament: it is nearly encompassed by the river Nid, and has a thriving manu facture of linens. I rode in a cold winter evening from Knaresborough to Ripon, a distance of twelve miles. Ripon is a handsome town, with good houses, a spacious market-place, and cheap inns.* It sends two members to parliament. It is the seat of a rural deanery; and its Minster is truly majestic. It was originally founded during the Saxon heptarchy: underneath it is St. Wilfred's needle, a narrow passage, through which females, who had departed from chastity, were formerly supposed unable to pass. There are many traces of the ancient monastery founded by Wilfred. A few miles to the east of Ripon stands Newby-hall, containing a fine collection of busts and antiques. Tis more from its geographical markets-shall be filled with every article of trade, drugs and commodities of every kind, and the fruits of the industry of many nations Here shall Caffres and Algerines, Chinese and Persians, Abyssinians and Hindoos, Banyans and Jews, Greeks and Armenians, Christians and Musulmen, be seen to meet together. Here shall the jarring discords, the impolitic and rash zeal of religious raucour, together with national prejudice, receive its deathblow, at the side of Europeans and Americans. And hence it is that those sparks shall arise, which are to light a torch of common reason, which shall spread its blaze over the coasts and inmost parts of Africa, the islands of the great Indian ocean, and every corner of the extensive continent of Asia. For a short period there appeared some probability that the army compo sed of philosophers and heroes, which had so fortunately landed in Egypt, might succeed in breaking its national fetters; and would, without difficulty, disperse the phantoms of superstition by which it was haunted, and enliven its drooping energy. There was indeed room to hope, that a people oppressed by a handful of foreigners, would with joy receive their deliverers, and support, to the utmost of their power, everyt improvement in the state which might be proposed. No real good can however be effected, until those obstacles are removed which selfishness has created; the expulsion of the Mamelukes, at the commencement of the business, excited little interest among the Egyptians; for the peasant beheld in the French nothing bat new tyrants, and the citizen trembled for his property; the Musulman conceived I situation than from the fertility it an humiliation to obey whom he for of its soil, and the variety of its productions, that Egypt will and must undoubtedly be an extensive sharer in the commerce of all civilized nations. Placed between the Mediterranean and Red Seas, on the frontiers of Asia and Africa, and equally convenient for Europe and Asia, this country was certainly destined to become the point of contact for every nation of the globe, the centre of union, and the grand staple of all trade. The fleets of all maritime powers shall enter its ports; and its The obelisk in the market-place is sur mounted by a bugle-horn, the arms of the A horn is sounded every night at nine o'clock. town. * A cast of the Hindoos, acting as brokers and agents in the India trade, and serving in the double capacity of book-keepers and interpreters. There are very few Europeans so conversant in the Bengalee tongue as to be able to do without them, on which account a considerable portion of the Indian trade is carried on through their medium. It is not to be forgotten, that the writer of this article is a Frenchman, who boasts of the happiness and customs everywhere to be introduced by men, whose conquests have hitherto been only marked with misery and desolation; he does not reflect, that the happiness of man consists in the pursuit of his own pleasures and inclinations, and that be will never enjoy what he cannot comprehend. Translater. merly |