ties of peat-moss which distinguish it from I rather think it better to state that, in conformity with the general hypothesis he adopts as to the origin of peat-moss, he clearly shews that all these distinguishing qualities belong to coal, jet, and all the varieties of hituminous matter. All are inflammable, antiseptic, of a similar colour and Consistency; all contain an acidity and all are equally sterile as peat-moss. So that the alliance between all these sub stances becomes more obvious, and their vegetable origin less doubtful, on this account. All I cannot avoid a few remarks on the last essay of the ingenious doctor. It is like the rest, a most masterly production. His object is, V. To classify the different kinds of peat-moss. Of all subjects in natural history this has been least attended to, and therefore least understood. other authors on this subject have classed peat-mosses according to their colour,consistency, or the plants of which they were composed. We were never satisfied with this mode, and the learned doctor has detected the defects of it to our complete satisfaction. His classification is new, and equally correct and important. Correct, for it is founded on chemical principles which cannot be controverted; important, for he has shewn in the most satisfactory manner, that each of these kinds requires different treatment to con vert it into a soil, manure, fuel, or other economical purposes. I rejoice to see a suite of practical essays announced by the same author. If they are in as luminous a style, and display equal talents, they must be a vast acquisition to the interests of agriculture. With eagerness I look for the publi cation of them, and with much pleasure shall embrace the earliest opportunity of pointing out the subject and outlines of them. CANDIDUS. For the Monthly Magazine. STATE of the WEATHER euch MONTA in 1809. January 1st Fhigh SE. wind and smart REQUENTLY snow, with to 6th. frost. On the 6th snow lay about four inches deep; but that day a thaw set in, which soon dissolved the snow. Though cold, the weather continued open tilt the 18th, but often gloomy, with at times rain and sleet, (particularly heavy on the 10th.) On the 13th, a most intense frost set in, which continued exactly a fortnight; wind variable, often calm, barometer moving gradually; little snow on the ground till the 21st, when it fell to the depth of three inches. On the 26th we had another fall of snow, with a high east wind, by which it drifted to a considerable depth in some parts of the country; in this neighbourhood seven or eight inches at a medium. On the 27th, wind shifting to SW. a most rapid thaw took place, which dissolved the whole mass of snow in little more than twenty four E four hours. 27th to 31st showery, wind shifting between SW. and E. and barometer very low; 31st was clear. The cold of this month exceeded that of any other since the beginning of the century. February. Continued heavy rain dur ing the first three days, wind shifting from W. to E. next three days, snow more or less, but not lying above two or three inches deep. 7th and 8th, dry frost. On the 9th we had a fall of snow, with high SE. wind, which lasted till mid-day, lying then about four inches deep; thaw commenced that afternoon, and wind easterly since the Sd, shifted to west. 10th to 14th, at times, a good deal of rain, wind variable. 14th to 28th, mostly seasonable and agreeable enough weather, often windy, and at times slight showers, but not such as to prevent the ground from drying; wind westerly; barometer, till the 20th, in general very low; but after that getting up, and keeping steady. March 1st to 7th. Hoar frost in the mornings, days often clear, sometimes cloudy and hazy, nearly caim. 7th to 11th, mild weather; rather cloudy, except the 9th, which was clear and warm; wind westerly. 11th to 15th, coldish; still clouds; little wind, rather east; 15th to 19th, mild weather, cloudy, at times clear; wind westerly. 19th to 21st, clear and coldish; little wind. 21st to 24th, flying clouds, threatening rain; wind SW. 24th to 31st, gloomy and cold, with frequent showers of rain, sleet, and hail; wind veering between east and north. Barometer till the 21st uniformly high and remarkably steady. 21st to 26th it fell considerably; but since the 26th gradually rose again. During the greater part of this month we had dry weather, javourable for agricultural labour; vegetation also inade sensible progress. April. First four days clear and frosty, at times slight hail showers; wind NE. barometer rising. 5th to 8th, rather cloudy, but tolerably mild and agreeable; wind westerly: barometer falling. 11th to 16th, at times clear, but often showers of sleet and cold rain; wind variable; barometer low. A gale from the NE. on the 16th, accompanied with sleet and snow, was followed by four days of very cold frosty weather, in general clear, now and then showers of snow; wind northerly. 21st to 23d, cold rather abated, wind getting easterly; barometer rising. 24th was clear, serene, and agreeable. Next three days we had almost constant though not heavy raing wind easterly; barometer falling. 28th and 29th were fair, but still cold; wind NE. On the 30th, wind shifting to west, air turned sensibly milder. This probably the coldest April since 1799; vegetation appeared quite at a stand, and the night-frosts proved injurious to the young wheat. 25th May 1st to 6th, rather clear, windy and coldish, sometimes showers of hail and rain; wind NW. barometer rising. 6th to 10th, cloudy and windy, getting gradually warmer, wind W. and SW. barometer keeping up. 10th to 16th, clear warm sun-shine; wind rather easterly, often calm; barometer drooping. 19th to 25th, cloudy, with slight showers, sometimes clear air, agreeably warm; wind variable; barometer rising. to 28th, almost constant rain; barometer falling; wind E. In the evening of the 28th there was a very sudden change of temperature from heat to cold, the thermometer falling twenty degrees in four or five hours; last three days remarkably cold for the season; the cir cumstance of snow lying in the fields round Edinburgh to the depth of two inches so late as the 31st of May, is hardly remembered to have happened before by any person living. The greater part of this month was warm and agree. able, but the last three days were like the middle of winter. June. On the 1st we had a storm of wind and rain from ENE. weather exceedingly cold. 2d to 18th, windy and coldish, with frequent showers; wind variable, rather westerly; barometer keeping down. 18th to 24th, clear warm sunshine; wind westerly; barometer, rising and keeping up. 24th to 30th, at times clear, often cloudy, air getting cooler; wind easterly; bardineter rather declining. July. First two days agreeable enough, rather cloudy. 3d to 7th very cold, gloomy and misty, with a good deal of rain; wind E. and NE. barometer rising. 8th to 10th, clear at times, misty air still sharp and casterly. 11th to 16th, sometimes clear, in general cloudy and windy, with some slight showers; wind westerly; barometer rising. 17th and 18th very sharp; wind northerly. 19th to 22d, cloudy, close, warm weather; wind rather westerly; barometer keeping up. 22d to 27th, at times clear, often cloudy aud misty; rain on the 23d; thunder-storm with heavy rain on the 26th; wind eas terly; terly; barometer steady, rather declinng. 28th to 31st, pleasant enough, rather cloudy and showery; wind variable; barometer low. July, upon the whole, a cold summer-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 mclining to south, often calm. 19th to Sist, at times warm sunshine, often cloudy and hazy; one smart shower al most every day, and usually in the after noon, but no continued rain; during this Jatter period also, the rain that fell was exceeded by the evaporation; wind SW. sometimes brisk; barometer uniformly low the whole ronth, and its motions gradual; temperature also pretty uni form, rather agreeable than warm, and some what 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 cast. 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 calin: barometer, which during the whole of the two preceding months, ranged almost uniformly below the medium, has this month always kept abure 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 excellent order. November. First three days mostly clear, with slight frost. Sd 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, heavy on the 8th; wind cast- 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 excepton of some heavy rain on the mornings of the 27th and S0th; wind veering between SW. and N. barometer ranging low, and tluctuating. Till about the autumnal equinox, temperature continued uniform, rather agreeable than warm; 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 moisture, 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, story 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 HA For the Monthly Magazine. JOURNAL of a WINTER TOUR through several of the MIDLAND COUNTIES of FNGLAND, performed in 1810. AVING been prevented last summer from making my annual tour, with the exception of a short excursion into Norfolk, and having a fortRight to spare in the beginning of February, after a visit made to some friends in Leeds, I resolved, at that dreary seasun, to ride up to London, having first nade a little circuit in the neighbourhood, by way of experiment. The chief disadvantage attending such an expedition, consists in the want of opportuniLies for contemplating manners, occasioned by the absence of travelling companions: the inclemency of the weather can be easily obviated by precaution, or sustained by hardness; and as to the aspect of the country, it is no very difficult stretch of the mingination to supply foliage to the denuded trees. In the immediate vicinity of Leeds, there are few places worthy of observation. 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. 28. 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, ments, Was only terrible: ad many a fane Monastic, which, when deck'd with all its spires, Serv'd but to feed some paniper'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 * It may not be improper to say a few words concerning that Montpellier, the sweet town of Leeds itself. It is continually enveloped in a thick smoke, which contains immense quantities of soot and dust, sent up from the different manufactories. This body is too dense to ascend in the air; and after having been carried a little way by the heat, it falls down in plentiful showers on the in. habitants. The consequence is, that every body looks dirty. I put on two clean shirts every day, and spent half ny time in washing my bands; 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 There was besieged in the civil wars. are now four churches, cach 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 compelled to pay suit and service to the old church, by assisting at the communion every Christmas and Easter-day. These, added to clergymen who may be visitors, clad 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 lie 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 charmer, 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 commu. nicate, went into a circulating library at Brighton, and asked the bookseller if he had a "Companion to the altar." "No, Sir," said the summer adventurer of Leadenhall-street, "we have got the Newgate Calendar; but the Companion to the Halter Iras 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 meeting-house, where Dr. Priestly formerly held forth: but if I were to recount ali 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-halls. 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, stand-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 woollen 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 thus 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 Ouse 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 |