which broom is the beft, which fhould be very well dryed in the fun fome time before you ufe them, and fhould be free from leaves, and all dirt, moisture, mouldinefs, or offenfive fmell; these branches fhould be laid in bundles like a whisk or befom, their small tops placed as equal together as you can, and then should, with a bill-hook, cut off their thick ends, fo as to you leave them half a foot longer than the distance between each fhelf, that, when the thick ends are fet on the fhelf, the fmall twigs being bended, may bear against the bottom of the shelf which is above it. With thefe twigs you are to form several long arbours, arched at top, quite across each fhelf; the dif tance between the fides of these arbours, fhould leave the arch open quite through, about a foot wide, that there may be room to put in your arm, and feed those worms which are not yet quite ready to fpin.

You must form these arbours by the following method: first place one row of twigs within two or three inches of the edge of your fhelf, bending their tops inward, fo as to bear on the fhelf above; then place another row of twigs, at about a foot distance, with their tops bending fo as to meet and form an • arch with the first row. The third row of twigs, which is

to form one fide of the next arch, must be placed within two or three inches of your fecond row, with the tops bended the contrary way; and the fourth row, which compleats this fecond arbour, at about a foot distance, with the tops bended fo as to meet and arch with the third row: and thus proceed ⚫ till you have formed as many of these arbours as the shelf will contain, which will not be above two in a shelf of three feet fquare, or three on a fhelf of four feet square; because the bushy partitions between the arches, and alfo those of the outer fides, will each be four or five inches in thickness. You must shift the worms afide, to make vacant lanes where each ⚫ partition ranges.

• You should form these arbours fo as to have a fort of bushy appearance without being too thick or too thin, but fo that the worms may have room enough to spin, and yet the vacuities among the twigs not be fo large as that they fhall waste a great deal of their filk before they can fix on a proper place; the fize of their balls, which is that of a pidgeon's egg, will direct you in this matter; and the better to accomplish this end, you may leave the vacant spaces among the partitions of the arbours, pretty large and open, till you have done forming the arbours; and then you may thicken them properly, by placing in these vacancies, either fmall twigs, or fome kinds of large hollow tubes, fuch as thofe of full grown Angelica, and others which have no bad qualities. You should gather

• these

these tubes the year before, when they are white and withered; and if you flit them lengthwife from end to end, they ' will make a very good conveniency for the worms to form their balls in, being very light, and dry, and foft, and smooth on the infide, and of fuch a form that the worm will immediately fall to work in them, and make very little flofs or uselefs Silk; and if you bundle, and lay them by when you have ⚫ done with them, they may ferve you many times over: you may thrust these along the vacancies, into the partitions of 'your arbour, among the twigs and branches, and you will find the advantage of them; fince, as I mentioned before, the more any place is adapted to the fize and figure of the filkbail, the lefs Silk will be wafted in flofs and useless web; befides that the worms will more quickly fet about, and finish their balls.

With these, therefore, or any branchy materials, you may fill up the partitions of your arbours; obferving ftill to leave the arches clear and open, fo that you may readily thrust in your arm, and feed your worms that are placed under them, which must be fupplied with leaves, moderately, till they { climb up among the branches to spin.

I have faid that, whatever materials you make use of, in forming these arbours, they fhould be very dry, and clean; ⚫ for fresh branches with the fap in them are not proper, nor ⚫ should there be any leaves on them, for thefe would so stick ⚫ among the flofs filk of the balls as to render it useless; it is ⚫ beft therefore to cut the branches of broom in winter, and have them dried against fummer, for broom, on account of its pliableness, is very convenient for forming these arbours, the ftructure of which I have given from Ifnard, a French Author, who treats the management of Silkworms.

If the making of fuch arbours as those I have mentioned be thought too nice, and troublesome, it may fufficiently anfwer the fame purpose, to place branches of broom round the fides of the ftands. And to do this; firft furround the stand with a cord tied very loosely to the uprights, fo as to leave ⚫ room to thrust in a fufficient quantity of branches; the branches now may be as long as the height of the ftands, and their thick ends, being thrust down between the cords and the stands, may rest upon the floor; and thus you may thicken them to what degree you please; but you must remember to keep an open on one fide of the ftands, to feed those worms which fhall not yet have climbed the branches; and because the low⚫ers of the branches are not fo bufhy as the upper ends, The

you

6

you may place fome with the bushy part up, and others down, to make it all alike branchy.

If the branches are not tall enough to reach as high as you have worms on the ftands, you must place other branches réfting on these where they end, and supported by other cords; and thus you may quickly furnish your worms with a convenient place for spinning their Silk.

If the hurdles are very broad, you may, when the worms are near spinning, draw them towards the fides where the branches are, by scattering the leaves toward the branches when you feed them; or you may, if neceflary, place them near them with your hands; or, which is eafier, you may make busby partitions across the end of each hurdle, by branches laid horizontally.

• Du Halde, in his Hiftory of China, fays, they there make ufe of matts for their Silkworms to fpin on; in the middle of this a thin ftrip of about an inch broad is fixed on its edge, and forms fpiral rounds, at about an inch distant, over the whole furface of the matt; and between these rounds the worms fpin. There would be lefs flofs made in this method, but then the breadth of mattings muft exceed the breadth of all the hurdles whereon the worms were fed, because a filkpod takes up much more room than a filkworm.

It would be endlefs to recite all the methods which might be contrived for this purpofe, for a filkworm will fpin in any corner where it can ftretch its threads, fo it is able afterwards to form its oval pod upon them; that contrivance which, with little trouble, will have the leaft flofs produced, ⚫ would be the best.

Note, that in placing the broom round the ftands, it may be useful to place fome branches across, mixing them with those which stand upright, to give them fome ftiffness; otherwife the spring of the thread which the worm spins, may, • after it has begun its ball or pod, draw the twiggs too clofe, and not leave it fpace enough to fpin in, which I have fometimes feen happen among fome of the small detached twigs, that were not made firm by others mixing with them.'

The curious Reader will find, in the tenth volume of our Review, p. 492, an account of the manner of breeding and managing Silk-worms in France. In our twelfth volume, p. 9, are alfo fome hints on the fame fubject.

B

athe

The Ruins of Balbec, otherwife Heliopolis, in Coelofyria. Folio. 31. 10s. in fheets. Millar.

OF

F all the antiquities that have been communicated to the world; of all the remains of antient monuments brought from the Eaft, none can be compared with the ruins of Palmyra, and of Balbec; not only on account of their ftupendous magnificence, but for the extraordinary diligence of those gentlemen who have favoured the public with this view of them, and the accuracy, and elegance of the defigns. We are authorised in saying thus much, by the unanimous confent of all the Literati in Euгоре. But it is with peculiar pleasure we observe such a work as this produced at a time when war feemed to have engroffed the attention of mankind. The drawn fword has not yet frightened the muses from their feat: they have more dangerous enemies in the Chinese and Goths, than in the fons of Mars. Such fpecimens of architecture as have already been communicated to the public, by the learned and ingenious Editor of the Ruins of Balbec, with others which are expected of Athens, &c. will, we hope, improve the tafte of our countrymen, and expell the littlenefs and ugliness of the Chinese, and the barbarity of the Goths, that we may fee no more useless and expensive trifles; no more dungeons inftead of fummer houfes.

It will not be expected that we fhould give a description of forty-fix copper-plates: we shall therefore, with the Editor, refer the Reader to them, where his information will be more full and circumftantial, as well as lefs tedious and confufed, ⚫ than could be convey'd by the happieft precifion of language.'

This work begins with an account of the return of our Travellers from Palmyra *. Their Arabian escort was impatient, apprehending a premeditated furprize from the Bedouins, or wandering Arabs; to prevent which, they concealed the real time of their departure, and the road they intended to take. They paffed through the fame tirefome defart, defcribed in their journey to Palmyra, as far as Sudud; and when they arrived at Cara, a village of fome note on the great caravan-road from Damascus to Aleppo, they took leave of the greatest part of their caravan, and fent their manufcripts and marbles, on camels, to their fhip at Tripoli. The houfes in Cara and Damafcus are built of brick made of mud, dried in the fun, which at a distance has the appearance of ftone; but makes the ftreets dirty when there is Fain, and dusty when there is wind. Here they refted only one

See Review, Vol. IX. p. 439:

day,

day, after a month's fatigue in the defart, and fet out the next for Balbec in their way to which place, they passed through no more than one fmall village, forfaken of the inhabitants, the houfes open and empty, occafioned by the encampment of the Governor of Balbec's brother in that neighbourhood, who being then in open rebellion, ravaged the country. Here they staid all night, and in five hours and a half, the next day, reached Balbec. This city was formerly under the government of Damafcus, and the Governor of it fhould have paid fomething to the Bafha of Damafcus, but being under the protection of the Kiflar Aga, or black Eunuch, he evaded it; for which reafon the Bafha of Damafcus, who had civilly granted letters to all other places, excufed himself from giving any to Balbec. Emir Haffein, who commanded this diftrict, received them very civilly, and very friendly, at firft, telling them all that he had was theirs; but being a man of an infamous character, he made demands upon them every day, and at laft declared that they should be attacked and cut to pieces in their way from Balbec: but these menaces not having the effect he expected from them, and they preparing to fet out with about twenty armed fervants, he fent to them to defire that they might interchange prefents, and part friends, and allow his people to guard them as far as Mount Libanus.

The Obfervations the worthy Editor has made upon the hofpitality of the Eaftern people in general, and upon the avarice and extortion of their men in power, are fuch as we shall make no apology for giving in his own words.

No part of oriental manners fhews thofe people in fo amiable a light as their difcharge of the duties of hofpitality indeed the feverities of Eaftern defpotifm have ever been foftened by this virtue, which fo happily flourishes moft where it is moft wanted. The Great forget the infolence of power to the stranger under their roof, and only preferve a dignity, fo tempered by tendernefs and humanity, that it commands no more than that grateful refpect, which is otherwise scarce ⚫ known in a country where inferiors are so much oftener taught to fear than to love,'

• Avarice is no doubt as much an Eastern vice as hofpitality is an eastern virtue; but we muft obferve, that we found the • moft fordid inftances of the former in men of power and public employment, while we experienced much generofity in private retired life: we are therefore cautious of charging to the character of a people what the nature of their govern⚫ment seems to require. For in the uninterrupted series of

• Robert Wood, Efq; now Deputy-Secretary of State.

• fhame