for the prize given by the Economical Society of Berne on the queftion of the reform of the criminal law. This fociety delayed every year pro nouncing its judgment. In 1782, I advertifed my collection of criminal laws in ten volumes. Marat begged me to infert the memoir which he had addreffed to the fociety. There was a boldness in this effay which might prove disagreeable to government. I asked Marat if he wifhed his name to 66 appear. By no means," anfwered he," for the Baftille is there, and I do not much like to be fhut up" and he left me to run the chance, as my name was at the head of the collection. I met him one day in the Thuilleries, in 1786 or 87: it was a long time fince I had feen him. We talk ed of his works, I asked him why he was fo bent on pursuing natural philofophy, when he had against him all the academies and all the philofophers. I advised him to confecrate his labours to politics. "It is time," I observed to him, " to think of overturning defpotifm: join your labours to mine, and to thofe enlightened men who have fworn its overthrow, and this undertaking will cover you with glory." Marat anfwer ed, that he would rather continue his experiments in peace, because philofophy did not lead to the Baftille; and he made me understand very plainly, that the French people were not fufficiently ripe, nor fufficiently courageous, to fupport a revolution. When the Bastille was overthrown, Marat was no longer afraid of it, and quitted his cave. He even pretended, at this period, that all the honours of this glorious revolution. belonged to himself; and making up fome fort of story about a colonel of dragoons whom he had arrested on the Pont-Neuf, he entreated me to print it in the Patriote Francois. He bestowed fo many extravagant praises on himself in the account, that I could not carry my complaisance fo far. I therefore ftruck out the praifes, and published the fact; which Marat never forgave, As he defpaired of finding journalists who would flatter him, he undertook a journal himself, which I advertised with an eulogium, in order to get him fubfcribers: and in doing him this fervice, which I never refused to any of my brother journalists, I thought I did fervice to the public. Good God! how great was my error! and what was my furprife, when I read fome of his numbers! How was it poffible that a writer who had any refpect for himself could become fo degraded as to make use of a ftyle fo vile, fcandalous and atrocious! MINUTES OF AGRICULTURE, FROM THE REPORTS OF THE AGRICULTURAL BOARD. ed, that Mr Bakewell had let a bull to a gentleman for fifty guineas for the feafon. The gentleman dying in the interim, and the executors not knowing any thing of this tranfaction, fold the bull by auction with the reft of the cattle. When the feafon was ever, Mr Bakewell fent for his bull; and, after inveftigating the matter, found, to his furprise, that the bull had been fold to a butcher for about eight pounds, who had killed it, and fold it for twopence halfpenny per pound. Mr Bakewell, in courfe, applied to the executors for the value, which was fifty guineas for the feafon, (the ftipulated agreement) and two hundred guineas for the bull, The executors refufed payment, thinking, that, as the bull was fold by public auction, before a great number of farmers, and many of them thought to be men of judgment, for only eight pounds, it was an impofition. Mr Bakewell was therefore obliged to bring an action for the amount; and people appearing as witneffes on the trial who were acquainted with this breed, and making oath, that Mr Bakewell had not over-valued his bull, a verdict was given in favour of Mr Bakewell, to the full amount, with cofts of fuit, The perfon that gave me this hiftory, disliked the long-horned breed fo much, that he would not accept of Mr Paget's bull, (which was of the fame breed, though it fold for four hundred guineas,) if he might have him for nothing. Cheefe, Stilton cheefe is made in most of the villages round Melton Mowbray; but I found it impoffible to get at the fecret of making it from the dairy people; and, from the converfation I had with one of the first managers, I fhould fuppofe two cheeses were never made alike, as it depends upon foil, herbage, feasons, heat, cold, wet, dry, &c. There is no doubt but those cheeses require a great deal of care and attention, owing, I fhould fuppofe to their richness and thicknefs. They run from eight to fixteen or eighteen pounds, very feldom larger, and are fold at a fhilling per pound (most of the inns in the country retail them, the price thirteen and fourteen pence per pound.) I was informed by the maker, that they were never better for the table than at a year old, but I believe they are feldom cut fo foon. The best of the other fort of cheefe, made in the county, is, in my opinion, better than the generality of the Stilton, as it is but feldom you meet with a real good one. In refpect to the grand fecret of making Stilton cheese, I should have left the county without acquiring the procefs, if it had not been for the politeness and attention of Major Chefeldon of Somerby, who, upon my acquainting him with my disappointment, kindly undertook to procure it for me from one of his tenants, who was among the first for making it.The following is the receipt : "Take the night's cream, and put it to the morning's new milk, with the rennet; when the curd is come, it is not to be broke, as is done with other cheeses; but take it out with a foil-dish altogether, and place it in a fieve to drain gradually; and, as it drains, keep gradually preffing it till it becomes firm and dry; then place it in a wooden hoop; afterward to be kept dry on boards, turned frequently, with cloth binders round it, which are to be tightened as occafion requires." In the dairies which I vifited, the cheeses, after being taken out of the wooden hoop,were bound tight round with a cloth, which cloth was changed every day until the cheese became firm enough to fupport itself; after the cloth was taken off, they were rubbed every day all over, for two or three months, with a brush; and, if the weather is damp or moist, twice-a-day; and, even before the cloth cloth was taken off, the top and bottom were well rubbed every day. MIDDLESEX. Mr Foot. Britain, as well as to the internal improvement of the country. But this gentleman's discoveries are not folely confined to his fubftitute for madder; he has alfo discovered the article of cudber, and that likewife from the indigenous plants of this country, of which article there are now many manufactories in London; particularly one erected only a few months ago, in Westminster, and carried on under the eye of Mr Modigliani of Lombard-ftreet, and feveral other able and fcientific men. But this is not all; for I am credibly informed, that Dr Gordon has extended his discoveries in the art of dying, to the whole circle of tints, and that he dyes fixed and elegant colours, at a cheap and eafy rate, by means of such indigenous plants, as either abounds fponta Great Britain, or may be easily cultivated in her gardens and nurseries, fo as to fupply, at all times, the utmost demand of trade. To conceal these discoveries from Colours for dying.—A fubftitute for madder, from our own indigenous plants, was introduced, in 1789, into the nursery grounds of Mr William Gordon, at Bow, by the discoverer Dr. C. Gordon; he being authorised, by the Lords of the Committee of Privy Council for trade, to hire one or two acres of land for the cultivation of the madder plant, in order to ascertain to what degree it is capable of improvement, and at what expence it might be cultivated. Various experiments were made, from time to time, to afcertain those facts, and they have been in general fufficiently fatisfactory.-neoufly in the fields and forefts of The plant is found to increase, in all its parts, to at least one-third more by cultivation than when wild and uncultivated in the open fields, and that without injuring its colouring qualities. To effect this, however, a light, foreigners who might take advandeep, and dry land, is indifpenfably tage of the information, the claffes of Receffary; which by a due manage- plants, which have been found capment, equally plain, eafy, and fimple, able of-producing these tinctures, will, at the termination of the fourth have not been named; and more paryear, from the planting out, produce ticulars have not been disclosed, bea crop of three or four tons on every caufe they were conceived by me to acre. The colour that this root gives be unneceffary, as a Committee of the to woollen goods, duly prepared, is Houfe of Commons has already exatruly elegant, and approaches nearer mined into the merits of thefe fpecuto the fcarlet of cochineal than to the lations, and received fatisfactory inred of madder, which, in comparifon, formation on the subject. finks to a fpecies of aukward brown. The top part of the plant anfwers the purpofes of weld, and gives, particularly to cotton and linen, an elegant and durable yellow. The tops may be annually cut down without prejudicing the roots, and may therefore be fent regularly to market, and made to reimburse the cultivator a portion of his expences. This is certainly a valuable difcovery in the art of dying, and an important acquifition to the trade and commerce of Great Haymaking-Haymaking in Middlefex is carried on by a process peculiar to the county, and which, if the weather be favourable, has, by a long courfe of practice and experience, been attended with almost invariable fuccefs. To ftate this procefs clearly to the Board, I fhall particularly defcribe the operations of each day, from the firft employment of the fcythe, until the hay is ftacked in the yard, or field. On the firft day, all the grafs mow ed The bufinefs of the fecond day is, to ted all the grafs which was mowed the preceding day, after nine o'clock, and to ted and treat as above, all that was mowed on this day before nine o'clock. But before the grafs of this day's work is turned, the fmall cocks of the preceding day fhould be well fhaken out into ftraddles, or feparate plats, of five or fix yards fquare. If the crop is fo thin as to leave the Ipaces between the plats, or ftraddles,, pretty large, the spaces must be raked clean. The next bufinefs is to turn the plats or straddles, then to turn the grafs of the fecond day's mowing, as before directed. This fhould always be done, if there are hands fufficient, before one o'clock, that the people may, as the custom is, take one hour for dinner, while all the grafs mowed is drying. After din ner, the traddles are taked into double wind-rows; the grafs into fingle wind-rows; and the hay cock ed into middling-fized cocks, called baftard cocks; the grafs is then cocked as before on the preceding day. On the third day, the grafs mowed on the preceding day, and on the morning of this day, is to be mana ged as before directed. The grafs made the preceding day, and now in grafs-cocks, is to be managed in the fame manner as on the firft and fecond days. The hay now in baftard cocks is fpread again into ftraddles, and the whole is turned before the people go to dinner, that is, the hay, though laft fpread, is fira turned, next that which was in grafs-cocks, and then the grafs. If the weather fhould have been funny, and fine, the Ed. Mag. Feb. 1795. hay that was last night in baftardcocks will, on the afternoon of the third day, be fit to be carried; but if the weather fhould have been cool and cloudy, no part of it probably will be fit to carry ; and, in that case, the first thing done after dinner is to rake the fecond day's hay into doublewind-rows; the grafs into fingle windrows; to make the first day's hay in to cocks with a fork, putting only one cock in a ftraddle; to rake the ground clean, and put the rakings on the top of each cock. The hay raked into double wind-rows is now put into baftard cocks; and the grafs which is in fingle wind-rows is made into cocks as before. Provided there be no rain, even though the weather fhould have been cloudy, the hay row in great cocks ought to be car ried; the hay in baftard-cocks put into great cocks; the grafs cocks made into bastard-cocks; and thattedded this morning into grafs cocks. In the courfe of hay making, the grafs cannot be too much protected from the night-dews or rain by cocking. Care alfo fhould be taken to proportion the number of hay-makers to mowers, fo that their fhould be no more hay or grafs in hand at one time, than can be managed according to the above direction. The hay thus made becomes the object of the fourth day's confideration in order to get it into flacks. The hay-farmer pays great attention to have the ftack well tucked and thatched, and I may venture to affert, that from what I have seen in other counties, there are no hayftacks, when finished, that are so well fecured, and nicely formed, as those in Middlefex. In the neighbourhood of Harrow, Hendon, and Finchley, there are many hay-barns capable of holding from 50 to 100 loads of hay. They are found very convenient in a catching time inhay-making, and alfo at other times, when the weather will not ad mit mit the hay to be cut and truffed out of doors. NORTHUMBERLAND. By Mers Bailey and Culley. Wild cattle.-Thefe are only found in Chillingham Park, belonging to the Earl of Tankerville, and, as it is probable they are the only remains of the true and genuine breed of that fpecies of cattle, we fhall be more particular in our defcription. Their colour is invariably white, muzzle black; the whole of the infide of the ear, and about one-third of the outfide from the tip, downward, red: horns white, with black tips, very fine, and bent upward. Some of the bulls have a thin, upright mane, about an inch and a half, or two inches long. The weight of the oxen is from 35 to 45 ftone, and the cows from 25 to 35 ftone, the four quarters; 14 lb. to the ftone. The beef is finely marbled, and of excellent flavour. From the nature of their pafture, and the frequent agitation they are put into, by the curiosity of trangers, it is fcarce to be expected they fhould get very fat; yet the fix years old oxen are generally very good beef. From whence it may be fairly fuppofed, that in proper fituations, they would feed well. At the first appearance of any perfon they fet off in full gallop; and, at the distance of two or three hundred yards, make a wheel round, and come boldly up again, toffing their heads in a menacing manner. On a fudden they make a full stop, at the distance of forty or fifty yards, looking wildly at the object of their furprife; but upon the leaft motion being made, they all again turn round, and gallop off again with equal fpeed, but not to the fame distance; forming a fhorter circle, and again returning with a bolder, and more threatening afpect than before, they approach much nearer, probably within thirty yards, when they make another stand, and again gallop off. This they do feveral times, fhortening their distance and advancing nearer, till they come within a few yards, when inoft people think it prudent to leave them, not choofing to provoke them further, as it is probable, that in a few turns more they would make an attack. The mode of killing them was, perhaps, the only modern remains of the grandeur of ancient hunting. On notice being given, that a wild bull would be killed upon a certain day, the inhabitants of the neighbourhood came mounted, and armed with guns, &c. fometimes to the amount of a hundred horfe, and four or five hundred foot, who flood upon walls, or got into trees, while the horsemen rode off the bull from the rest of the herd, until he ftood at bay, when a markfman difmounted, and thot. At fome of thefe huntings, twenty or thirty fhots have been fired before he was fubdued. On fuch occafions, the bleeding victim grew defperately fu rious, from the fmarting of his wounds, and the fhouts of favage joy that were echoing from every fide: but, from the number of accidents that happened, this dangerous mode has been little practifed of late years; the parkkeeper alone generally fhooting them with a rifle-gun at one shot. When the cows calve, they hide their calves for a week or ten days, in fome fequeftered fituation, and go and fuckle them two or three times a day. any perfon come near the calves, they clap their heads close to the ground, and lie like a hare in form, to hide themfelves. If This is a proof of their native wildness, and is corroborated by the following circumftance, that happened to the writer of this narrative, who found a hidden calf, two days old, very lean, and very weak. On ftroaking its head, it got up, pawed two or three times like an old bull, bellowed very loud, stepped back a few |