duced, it is fure to deftroy all converfa. one year; taking care always to have tion; fo that you are under the neceffity of proceeding from ballad to ballad till your coach relieves you. What ear, ye Syrens, can endure the peit Of a man roaring like a form at Weft? Or who can bear, that hath an ear at all, To hear fome hoyden Mifs for ev'nings íquall? Give me, ye Gods! my cabbin free from care, And jugging Nightingales in darkling alr. The Report of the Committee of the Board of Agriculture, concerning the Culture of Potatoes, being too expenfive and too voluminous for thofe, to whom it may be most useful, to purchafe, or to read it with neceffary attention, the following Extract of that useful work is fubjoined. ་ CULTIVATION OF THE EARLY POTATOE. "CUT UT the fets, and put them on a room floor, where a ftrong current of air can be introduced at pleafure; lay them thin, about two or three lays in depth, cover them with oat-fhells or faw-duft, to the thickness of about two or three inches: this, at the fame time that it fcreens them from the froft, affords a moderate degree of warmth, which caufes them to vegetate; but, at the fame time, admits air enough to harden the shoots: the doors and win dows are to be open as often as the weather is mild enough to admit of its being done with fafety. The fets muft be frequently examined, and when the fhoots have fprung an inch and a half, or two inches, the covering is to be carefully removed either with a wooden rake or with the fingers. In this manner they muft remain until the planting feafon, taking care to give them all the air poffible by the doors and win dows when it can be done with fafety; by this method the fhoots will become green, put out leaves, and be moderately hardy. In this way four crops have been raised, upon the fame ground, in fets from the repofitory ready to put in as foon as the others are taken up. A crop of winter lettuce is fometimes raised afterwards from the land. "We are enabled to say from experience, that two crops may be obtained from the fame ground yearly, with great eafe, and afterwards a crop of coleworts or greens. "The method that has, from experience, been found moft fuccessful, is, to plant the ground in the fpring, with the beft early potatoe (managed in the way already quoted from the Lancafhire report) thefe will be ready in the beginning of fummer: the foil fhould then be ploughed once, and planted either with the large white Kidney or Killimanca, the fets of which fhould be cut at leaft fix weeks or two months before they are planted. They fhould be kept in a place where both air and light may have free accefs to them, by which means their fhoots will be ftrong and vigorous; and as they will then have no frofts to encounter, they will grow immediately when they are put into the earth. The operations of planting fhould be performed with the greateft care, in order to preserve the fhoots from being broken, as in that cafe the crop will be rendered confiderably later. "Perhaps there is no way of doing this fo completely as with a flick; in this way the plant is not only placed at a proper depth, but the fhoot is preferved and fet upright in fuch a way, that the top is equal with the furface. It will certainly be objected to this mode of planting, that it requires more labour than the ordinary method of dropping the fets into the furrow; but, when properly confidered, this objection will vanish, as three people with dibbles will plant as many in one day, as two perfons could do in the ordinary way. "If this comparison as to the difference of expence is juft, and we believe it is very near the truth, it will appear that dibbling requires only a third more labour than dropping the fets into the furrows; to balance which the young tender fhoots are preserved. none of the plants are liable to be bruifed by the horfes feet, and the work is regularly and accurately performed. "N. B. The Royal or Cumberland early, is moft recommended for the firft crop, it being of large fize, very prolific, of an excellent flavour, and ripens early enough to admit of another crop. The reafon for preferring the Kidney or Killimanca, for the fecond crop, is obvious; both of these are more productive than any of the early potatoes; and as the price, at an advanced period of the feafon, is always confiderably lower, any potatoe that will produce a greater bulk will be more profitable. There is befides another reafon of confiderable weight; it is found, from experience, that when fucceffive crops of potatoes are taken from the fame land, the fecond and fucceeding crops are always more abundant when a different kind of potatoe is planted. This circumftance is well worth the attention of farmers, as, by a due obfervance of it, they may plant potatoes for years upon the fame foil with profit to themfelves, and without injury to the property. feafon was exceedingly dry throughout the crop was very productive." As the extending the culture of pototoes, and in particular the obtaining an early crop, must be extremely beneficial to the poor, it is humbly submitted to the gentlemen of every parish, whether it will not be humane and politic to furnish, at their expence, feed, to all fuch poor as may be inclined to cultivate the fame; and in order to make fuch cultivation as extensive as poffible, will it not promote that end greatly, by fuffering the poor to plant upon all the head lands, and fuch other places where corn cannot be fown; and alfo on the road fides, and all other wafte lands as the poor will take the trouble of breaking up? A late Eccentric Character. DJohn Fyfield of Stanbridge, near IED lately, in his 80th year, Mr. Romfey, in England a man of a molt eccentric turn of mind and great fingu larity of conduct. The manor of Stanbridge he inherited from his ancestors, and it had been many generations in his family. He was of a penurious difpofition, yet would fcarcely ever fuffer any of the timber on his eftate to be felled, though it abounded with the fineft in the county, a great deal of "A crop of this kind of potatoes which was yearly perishing; the price will be ready to take up about the be- of 50 guineas had indeed once tempted ginning or middle of October. Indeed, him to part with his far famed oakif the real kidney is planted, they will tree, but he repented of his bargain, be ready in September, when fufficient and was happy to repurchase it almost time will remain either for a crop of immediately after, at a higher price. greens, coleworts, or a broad caft crop of turnips, to be eaten off in the fpring with fheep. Thefe are not matters of conjecture: the Author of the prefent Memoir had last year two very abundant crops of potatoes from a patch of ground in his garden, which was afterwards planted with coleworts, which were very large before the winter fet in. No manure was made ufe of for the first crop of potatoes, and only a Imall quantity of new earth (part of the fub foil of the fame garden) was given to the fecond. It is worthy of remark, that the fecond crop was not planted till the end of June; and though the Hib. Mag. March, 1796. All repairs of his manfion were prohibited, as an ufelefs extravagance that that would bring him to poverty and whilft fuch a fuperfluity of materials as would amply have repaid the expences, and rendered his habitation comforta ble, were rotting at his door, he chofe rather to refide in it with the roof open in many places to the Heavens, with hardly an apartment that afforded fhelter from the weather, and with the joints and floors rotting with the wet that entered: the out buildings were in a fimilar ftate of decay, and their repair was alike prohibited. He was totally blind for many of the latter years of Hh2 bis his life, when his chief enjoyment was view of immediate fatisfaction, but from a defire of being diftinguished as one of extenfive influence, rigid authority, and peculiar fame. Confidering man to be a creature of fo noble a nature, and endowed with fo many excellent qualities, how muft it be lamented, that in the purfuit of his principal objects, he has deviated fo wretchedly from the calls of honour, and turned fo cold an ear to the cries of humanity; that he has facrificed fo many accomplishments for the gratification of his darling paffion, and fpurned both the dictates of common juftice and com mon propriety, from the impulfe of fordid appetite and inordinate defire. We may perhaps be almoft inclined to pity the effects from the caufe; but in an age where Refinement boafts her progrefs, and Humanity has her vota ries, not to point out the pernicious ef fects of paft times for the improvement of the prefent, and for the welfare of the future, muft eternally degrade the man, and confign the philofopher to oblivion. Every period, then, as I mentioned before, has its peculiar views for An Effay upon the Means of War, as the attainment of happiness-which conducive to our Happiness. happiness is by many called Celebrity, that is, purchasing a proftituted fame from the dubious and inhuman business of war. The Greeks, as well as all other early nations, were ardent in the purfuit of war, and never perfevered more to ferve and adorn their country than by the death or expulfion of a meditated foe. They imagined that no laurel could deck their brow with more honour, or reflect greater excellence upon its wearer, than that which was gathered in the iron fields of war, or obtained by the deftruction of towns and depopulation of fociety:-fuch was the leading thought in their mind, and fuch the object of their actions. 'Tis true, the ingenuity of their countrymen might be great, and the abilities of their ftatefmen and orators be held much in admiration; yet they, as well as all other turbulent republics, looked not up to their legislators for order, but to their heroes for protection; and the subject from whence I have chofen my motto may be a convincing proof to every im partial thinker, that devaftation and felf felf-aggrandizement proved a paffion too predominant to be curbed, and an object too universal not to be followed. It is fomething aftonishing, and feems a depravity almoft too inconfit ent to be accounted for, that peace of mind and fafety of perfon fhould be the refult of hedding blood and razing habitations. Yet fuch is the lamentable fact, that the Greeks were to enjoy "the pleasures of their native fhore" in a more ample and fatisfactory manner after they had razed Troy, flaugh tered thousands, and extirpated race, family, and name. There is undoubtedly, in ambition, fo many objects that dazzle, and fo many qualities which infatuate, that man thinks him felf fupremely bleft when he rides upon the waves of power, and riots in the accumulation of that luxury which he has extorted perhaps by severity or by force from the maintenance of individuals. It feems aftonishing that confcientious reflections have not oftner intruded, and for a while damped the more ardent profpects of the foul, One would imagine that the "work of killing" fhould at fome time or other fatiate the ferocity of the foldier, and the wealth of booty fatisfy the ambition of the conqueror. Yet alas! fuch is the depravity of our nature, and fuch the frequent inftances of human weakness, that an Alexander flushed with the laurel of victory, and elated with the fpoils and profufion of countries; fuch, I fay, is the wretched picture, that this celebrated hero, furrounded by luxury and steeped in debauchery, fhould, in the giddy impulfe of momentary voluptuoufnels, be fwept from the fociety of his captains and courtezans, and be hurried from every earthly fcene of captivation and felicity by the unfore feen fummons of Death, unprepared as ke was and unprofitable as his victories were. To what a degrading view does this contemplation of warlike fame fubject the votaries of fuch a caufe, the fupporters of fuch a fyftem! Surely the recollection of paft triumphs ought to have influenced him to retire "fafe to the pleasures of his native (hore." In tracing the progreffive refinement of early nations, it might be fuppofed that war was its fole criterion; but this is a poor excufe, and an affertion to which Refinement herfelf can have no idea of affenting, and confequently no inclination to fupport; for how few have retired home and found a requiem from all their toils! In the Roman age, we find equal examples of wretchedness as in that of the Grecian. Pompey, the vanquisher of the Eaft, returned but to quell internal commotions; and the plains of Pharfalia hurried him to the completion of his fate! Cæfar conquered but to enter Rome, and there found an unforeseen end by the poinard of a Roman foe! while Brutus himfelf bled at laft, from a conviction that vir tue only exifted in imagination, and that the turns of war had only fubjected him to the mercy of his antagonist, and to a privation of that national gratitude, which a confciousness of his merits juftly led him to expect! Hannibal profecuted and carried on war to extend his native domains and fix his country's reputation; but was ultimately himfelf a wretched example of not finding that peace at home of which he had but too fallacioufly anticipated. Where then are domeftic joys to abound, and how is refinement to be promoted in a nation? Let him who wishes to be ranked among the votaries of refinement, and the fupporters of national excellence, look backwards to paft periods, and fo find the means for the promotion of both in his prefent and future conduct; he will find that the fplendour of war, the riots of the victor, and bloodshed of individuals, exhibit a picture where refinement and felicity find themfelves falfely pourtrayed, and where each attempt of illuftration is an abuse of their qualities. Let me not be cenfured here as wandering from the nature of my effay, if I make obfervations lefs abftract, and conclufions lefs general: let me not be thought cowardly in declaring my fentiments, if I bring them forwards at the latter part of an effay which has touched upon fo ferious a fubject as that of confidering war as beneficial to happiness : let me not, I fay, be deemed inconfiftent, if, in indulging my observations Hh2 uper Defcription of Aleppo" March, above each other, according to the floping hills on which they ftand, the whole variegated with beautiful rows of trees, form all together a fcene magnificent, gay, and delightful; but on entering the town, all thofe expected beauties vanifb, and leave nothing in the streets to meet the eye, but a difmal fucceffion of high ftone walls, gloomy as the receffes of a convent or ftate prifon, and unenlivened by windows, embellished as with us, by "the human face divine.' The ftreets themfelves, not wider than fome of the meaneft alleys in London, overcaft by the height of the prifonhoufes on either fide, are rendered ftill more formidably gloomy by the folitude and filence that pervade them; while here and there a lattice towards the top, barely vifible, ftrikes the foul with the gloomy idea of thraldom, coercion, and imprisonment. upon paft times, I direct them to the nature of the prefentif, in cenfuring war as a pernicious fyftem in earlier ages, I did not, in contemplating it at the prefent moment, ftill continue to confider it in the fame light, I fhould conceive myfelf the moft fantaftic of all logicians, and the moft inconfiftent of all writers; for what claim has the prefent national warfare to extort our approbation, or to demand our ap plaufe? Has not the bayonet ftill continued to reach the heart, and the cannon to lay wafte cities? Has war been ren dered lefs exceptionable from the juft nefs of the caufe, or lefs formidable from the multiplicity of preparations? Have not plans refined upon plans, in order to bring about the fpeedier Daughter of thoufands, and the quicker poffeffion of territories? Thofe countries where harveft glittered in the field and contentment dwelt in the hamlet, have they not been defpoiled from the rapacity of the foldier, and the injunctions of the general? The rocks of Toulon, the thores of Dunkirk, the fands of Quiberon, and the banks of the Rhine, will not tranfmit a memorial to pofterity that war was rendered lefs dreadful from the ambition of Eng land, and the ftruggles of France! I am above declaring thefe opinions from the confideration of party. What the end of this national warfare will be, The city is adorned, it is true, here Omnifcience can alone determine: and there, with mofques and appendant -the merits of each caufe will be judg towers, called minarets, from which ed before a higher tribunal than either cryers call the Faithful to prayers; and the convention of France or the cabinet in fome of the ftreets there are arches of England:both will hope, for their built at certain diftances from each own fakes, that when they are weighed other, fo as to carry the eye directly in the balances, not much wanting may through them, and form a vifta of conbe found. Heavy indeed will be the fiderable grandeur: but all thefe are weight of fin upon hat fide which is far from fufficient to counterbalance the found deficient, and fevere indeed the general afpect of gloominefs and folipunishment and fude which reigns over the whole, and Defcription of Aleppo. CASTOR. Campbell, Efq.) (By Donald A which owes its origin to jealoufy, and This deteftable mode of building, the fcandalous reftraints every man is empowered by the laws and religion of the place to impofe upon the women configned either by fale or birth to his tyranny, extends not to the infide of the houfes, many of which are magnificent and handfome, and all admirably fuited to the exigencies of the climate, and the domeftic cuftoms and manner of living of the inhabitants. renders it fo peculiarly difgufting, par- are extremely numerous in this city; in- their |