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pounds would be in the 18th century,) in a day; but that foldiers or failors, if detected in playing for money, fhall be fined at will, or whipped, or ducked-Brompton. Benedic. Abbas.

Theatrical entertainments were not wholly unknown. . The miracles of faints and the fufferings of martyrs were the fubjects of dramatic reprefentations, in London, as Fitz-Stephens writes; and we find, by M. Paris, that Geoffrey, an abbot of St Albans, was the author of a play of St Katharine; and that he borrowed from the facriftan, the holy vestments of the abbey, to adorn the actors.

The more grofs amusements of the Norman nobility, in the pantomime style, have been mentioned in a former note from John of Salisbury, who, though a fevere, was a tolerably candid critic on the times he lived in.

The common people were not without their diversions. Bull-baiting, cock fighting, and horfe-racing, were known to the men of London: the fports on the Thames, the fkaiting, and the various exercises and entertainments of the twelfth century, are accurately, and even elegantly, painted by Fitz-Stephens in his defcription of London.

The Normans were sober, and rather delicate at their meals, when they first invaded England. It was not long, however, before they equalled their predeceffors in feasting, and even added coftly epicurifm to brutal gluttony. Yet two meals each day fupplied the place of the Anglo-Saxons' four, and Robert de Mellent, prime-minifter and favourite of Henry Beauclerc, ftrove hard to reduce these two to one.-W. Mal

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Various kinds of bread were in use.

The panis piperatus was a fort of gingerbread. Wastel cakes and fimnel cakes, as they were part of the royal allowance of the king of Scots, when in England, were, probably, made of the finest meal. -Rym. Fad.

There was great inconfiftency in the general and national character of the Anglo-Normans. They were at the fame time acutely difcerning, and grofsly credulous; honourably brave and atrociously cruel; refpectful to the fair fex, even to adoration, yet brutally licentious in their conduct to individuals; effeminate in their drefs and manners, yet patient of almost intolerable farigues.

During more than an hundred years, the Normans in England fhaved their faces. W. de Percy (who accompanied Duke Robert, in 1097, to Palestine;) was styled, on account of fingularity as to this point," William. Alfgernons," "William with the whiskers."

or

The drefs of the Anglo-Normans was, in the eleventh century, fimple if not elegant. The great wore a long and clofe gown, which reached down to their heels, and had its bottom frequently embroidered with gold. Over this hung an equally long cloak which was generally buckled over the breast. When riding or walking abroad, a hood always hung behind the cloak. The clofe gown was put over the head like a fhirt, and fastened round the waist by a girdle, which was often embroidered and fet with precious ftones.Strutt from Ant. Paintings.

They wore breaches and ftockings, made of fine cloth, and fometimes very coftly. The abfurd long-toed fhoes came in with William Rufus. The queen and the women of fashion, wore loofe gowns, trailing on the ground, and girt round the waist. The married women had an additional robe over the gown, hanging down before, not unlike a facerdotal garment. To the girdle a large purfe or pouch was fufpended. The men wore their hair long, except E 2

fome

fometimes when fuddenly wrought on by fanaticifm.

In the approaching centuries we fhall find ftrange variations from this fimplicity of habit. The crufades, indeed, feem to have introduced to Northern

Europe, among other vices, luxury and effeminacy in drefs to a degree which a modern man of fashion would blush to imitate.

The umbrella was in ufe as early as the reign of king Stephen.-Struct. From Andrew's Hiftory of Great Britain.

OBSERVATIONS ON OUR INTERCOURSE WITH THE
WORLD.

THE end of our existence was evidently intended, not for the benefit of ourselves alone, but that of our fellowcreatures. More noble employments do not engage the mind of man, than when he is bufy in unfolding his latent powers towards the benefit and inftruction of his fellow creatures.

As we are not all endowed with an equal fhare of reafon, as we do not all poffefs the fame forefight, or the fame feelings, the love of our friends, the love of our country, the love of fame, naturally cali aloud for a communication of the fuperior knowledge we may enjoy. It is not to my purpose to enter into the various methods each man will take to diffuse his knowledge, or the reafons which may induce him to counterfeit the real language of his heart, and mislead his fellow-creatures. It is enough to fhew, that we are all eager to convey instruction, and unwilling to let our intellectual faculties lie dormant. From this it evidently appears, that the ufe of our reafon, as well as the fine cmotions of the heart, were intended for the benefit of others, as well as ourfelves.

Let us next confider the advantages of thus communicating ourselves to the world. The tyranny and defpotifm Rome experienced under its laft Emperors, promoted the total extinction of every fpark of literature, art, and science, which it originally boafted; and, at length, plunged the whole of Europe into a state of Gothic barbarity. The fpirit of improvement being thus extinguished, and its benefits deftroyed, there remained no incentive to awake the mind, till that happy change in liberty took place, and the flame of ge

nius was again rekindled under the reigns of Charlemagne, and our renown ed Alfred. And although the feudal fyftem tended to the production of another age of darkness, there still remained fome whofe minds were not wholly unacquainted with literature, or infenfible to its utility. In this ftate of ignorance we might have remained to this day, had thefe expofitors of literature, these projectors of art and science, fuffered their different improvements to have been buried in their own breasts, or confined to the knowledge of a few; but we happily find the bright fun of literature fet in our weftern hemifphere, but to fhine in redoubled splendour.

Let us pursue it farther, by confidering the information we derive from the intercourse there exifts between one nation and another. Not fatisfied with a knowledge of the various productions his own country afford, the enterprizing fpirit will dare to explore the customs and manners, the arts and inventions other countries enjoy.. Engaged in fuch an undertaking, an honeft enthufiafm infufes a fpirit of discovery within him, fupports him in the midst of dangers, buoys him up with the advantages his fellow-citizens will receive; and when his refolutions begin to fail, when his fpirits begin to droop, a greater name than patriots can boaff, or conquerors afpire to, will again infpire him with fresh vigour in his undertaking, and in the end will crown him with laurels, fuch as the lovers of mankind richly deserve.

Nor can I believe that Columbus, in profecuting his difcovery of America, was actuated by any other motive than the benefits of his country, or that any thing fhort of this laudable and noble

him in fo great an enterprize. Human forefight cannot remove the veil from futurity, nor is it to be wished it could; and although the bloodfhed, mifery, and ruin, entailed on many innocent inhabitants of that country, is a scene the feeling mind cannot contemplate without the most lively emotions of pity and difguft; yet the enlightened minds many of the inhabitants now poffefs, contrafted with their former ignorance and fuperftition, and the advantages pofterity have received, are fuch treasures as make Columbus and other discoverers, in my opinion, characters worthy of our utmost admiration, and well entitle them to the name of the patriots of mankind at large.

fpirit of enthufiafm could have fupported and fatisfaction his own breast may image to itself. There is a chafm to be filled up: his fellow creatures demand a participation of his works, and in that reciprocation of ideas which there exists between man and man, must he look for the fulness of reward. His private speculations, if they proceed no further than his clofet, tend no more to public utility than the natural benevolence of his own heart. How would the moral inftructions of an Addison, the profound refearches of a Johnson, and the benevolent intentions of an Howard, be depreciated, had they been confined to their own feparate narrow fphere! In juftification of fuch conduct he may alledge the uncertainty of public favour and approbation; that the most perfect are not free from the machinations of envy and flander, and the thousand inftances of the partial and biaffed opinion of the world. But this furely is not the doctrine the liberal and enlightened would inculcate-it is childish and futile.

I will now defcend from its grand advantages to thofe which are more relative to the public good of our own day, and refult more nearly to ourselves as individuals. Was every man to make known the various projects and difcoveries his own mind might fuggeft, in what luftre would philofophy and its appendages then fhine. The nobleft difcoveries have originated from the moft trivial incidents, and the greatest genius' have not difdained to attend to the leffons of their progenitors. Newton projected the laws of gravity from the fall of an apple, and rofe to his fublimity of character on the foundation laid by Bacon and Boyle. And let me ask the man of genius, In what employment does he find delight more exquifite, than when the mind is exerting its powers in all their unbounded and gigantic forms? This of itfelf is pleasure fufficient to compenfate for the many folitary hours genius must endure, and the many focial enjoyments it must be debarred the felicity of enjoying; and yet even this, added to the approbation of a man's own mind, is but a fecondary enjoyment, and an imperfect fenfation, however pleafing a one it may be. Man is not an infulated being, fhut out from the pale of fociety, that the fulfilment of his labours should be completed in the rewards

It is not at all confiftent with reafon to fuppofe, that among a multitude no perfon is to be found, whom jealousy has left untainted, and whofe opinion is immaculate. There is not a fingle Mævius who does not blame the public for their blindness to the beauties of his works; and are not the works of Mævius worthy of obfcurity?

It is in the fervice therefore of our fellow-creatures we ought to employ what fuperior faculties we enjoy. On this the very enjoyment of our lives depends; for without a friendfhip and connection with each other, what are the comforts of life? and by the ordeal of the public opinion, the ufefulness of our endeavours must be tried. From this the felfish only will fly with precipitation, and the illiberal alone will fear to contend. Where is the man who will avow himself regardless of its favour? In vain does his fancied independent fpirit buoy him up; the world he defies rifes up in judgment against him, and weak indeed is his fingle arm against it.

C.

ACCOUNT OF A NEW CHURN;
INVENTED BY MR WILLIAM BOWLER *.

"THIS churn," fays Mr Berwick, in his letter to the Secretary of the Society for the encouragement of Arts, &c." is, upon trial, much fuperior to any thing that I know of now in ufe. My fervant has been, for the two laft times of churning with the butter-churn, ten or twelve hours: I have known many farmers who have been two days before they have got butter; and, upon a fair trial with this new invented churn, it produced good butter within the hour."

DESCRIPTION OF THE CHURN.

THE churn itself is of the barrel kind, being a cylinder, eighteen inches diameter, and nine inches wide; the fides wood, and the rim tin-plate, having two openings; the one, eight inches and a half long, by four inches wide, through which the cream is put into the churn, and the hand introduced for cleaning it; the other, a fhort pipe, one inch diameter, by which the butter-milk runs out of the churn when the operation is finished. The first of thefe openings has a wooden cover, faftened down by two fcrews, and the other a cork fitted to it, while the butter is churning. There is alfo, near the larger opening, a fmall vent-hole with a peg, to allow a

paffage for any air difcharged from the cream at the beginning of the operation. An axle paffes through the churn, terminating in two gudgeons on which it hangs, its lower part being immersed in a trough, to hold occafionally hot or cold water according to the feason of the year; and on the infide of the rim are four projecting pieces of wood, with holes in them, ferving to beat the cream by the motion of the churn. This motion is caused by a pendulum, three feet fix inches long, having an iron bob, weighing ten pounds, and its upper end turning a pulley, ten inches diameter, from which goes a rope twice round another pulley, about three inches diameter, fixed on the axis of the churn, and caufing it to make a partial revolution by each vibration of the pendulum. There are fliding covers to the machi nery, and also a cover to the watertrough, in order, when the hot water is ufed, to fecure the steam, and keep the cream in a due and neceffary degree of warmth. The motion of the pendulum is given and kept up by a wooden rod, about three feet nine inches long, turning on a pin about three inches above the bob of the pendulum.

STATISTICAL ACCOUNT OF LANCASHIRE.
MANUFACTURES.

MANUFACTURES have been carried on to a very great extent in Lancafhire. The cotton manufactory through all its branches, which includes a number of leading trades, bleachers, dyers, printers, &c. has become of aftonishing extent and importance. The first piece of cotton, manufactured from British growth, was at Manchester, from cotton grown in the grounds of J. Blackbourne, Efq; M. P. of Orford, in Lancafhire, feven yards and a half, yard wide muflin, from four ounces of raw materials. It was a moft beautiful piece of cloth, proposed to have been made up into a drefs for Mrs Blackbourne, in which the intended to have appeared

at court, June 4. 1793, but was prevented by a change of drefs occafioned by the loss of a relation.

To what a degree of perfection the muflin manufactory is arrived, the following may serve to convey fome idea: In the year 1791, a fingle pound of cotton was fpun to a fineness of ninety-feven poft miles in length; the muflin, after being fpun, was fent to Glasgow to be wrought, and after that was prefented to her Majefty. Three pound of cotton, which, in its raw flate, coft 7s. 6d. cot the fum of 221. in this stage, when it was wrought into yarn only. It was fpun by one Lomat, at Manchester, upon the machinery called mules.

The other manufactures are the filk

The Society for the Encouragement of Arts voted him a premium of Thirty guineas.

trade,

trade, from the raw filk, through its fubfequent branches the woollen manufactory, through all its brancheshats the fame-caft iron, copper-works, paper-manufactory, pins and needles. An incorporated company for making plated glafs, vitriol works, glass works, ftockings, glue, lamp-black works, white lead works, falt works, nailers, tobacco-pipe makers, tobacco and fnuff manufactories, black and brown earthen ware, English porcelain, clock and watch-makers, tool-makers for both thefe branches for all the world, fugarrefiners, long bow, &c. makers. A large manufactory, for the fabrication of fancy goods, has lately been established at Tildefley, by Thomas Johnfon, Efq; where a village has been built fince the year 1780, which had then only two farm hourfes, and nine cottages, and has, in 1793, 162 houses, and a new chapel erected. The village contains 976 inhabitants, which employ 325 looms.

Manchester being the principal repofitory for these manufactures, has become the great center, to which not only the country retailers, but merchants from all quarters of the kingdom, and foreigners refort; and this has induced feveral capital woollen houses to fettle at the town; and this mart is chiefly confined to one street, (Peeleftreet,) in which a fingle room frequently lets from fifty to eighty guineas per annum. Two cellars were let in October 1793, one fixty three yards fquare, and the other feventy-eight yards fquare, for eighty guineas per annum.

The trades and different occupations, upon which the maritime ftate depends, have not on this occafion been noticed; because they are the fame in all counties where navigation is carried on. With refpect to the good or bad effects that manufactures may have had upon agriculture, this important queftion merits much attention; the answers to which, in fome letters, have been concife, and difcharged by one fingle word; ex. gr. one anfwer has been advantageous; anether anfwer injurious; but without

either argument or proofs to fupport thefe laconic affertions.

Manufactures have wrought a change in the agriculture of the county; the growth of grain is annually and gradually on the decreafe. The importation from foreign countries is, of course, upon the advance; the diminished state of cultivation is one caufe, and the increafing population is another; and, by the joint operation of these two, the importation of grain and flour, ufed chiefly in this country, is almost incre dible. The advance of wages, and the preference given to the manufacturing employment, by labourers in general, where they may work by the piece, and under cover; have induced many to forfake the spade for the shuttle, and have embaraffed the farmers, by the scarcity of workmen, and, of course, advanced the price of labour. The poor rates, with equal burden, fall upon the farmer, as upon the mafter manufacturer. The water is fometimes fo damaged by dye-houses, and other works erected upon rivers, as to be rendered not wholesome to the cattle, and deftructive to fish. On the other hand, the advantages that have been held forth, have been an increase of population; as that which conftitutes the riches and ftrength of a country.

GRAIN.

THE grain principally cultivated is oats, which, when ground into meal, is the food of the labouring clafs, particularly in the northern and eaftern borders of the county, made up in bread cakes, of which there are varieties prepared, by fermentation with four leaven; others without leaven, and rolled very thin; alfo water, boiled and thickened with meal into porridge; and this eaten with fuet, or butter milk, fmall beer fweetened with treacle, or treacle only, was in many families, about forty years ago, both the breakfast and fupper meal.

This cuftom was fo rigorously observed by a certain family, (three brothers, batchelors,) the last of whom died only

in

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