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3. Barley cut.

5. Tanfey, 188.1. Tanacetum vulgare, F.
Onion, 1115. H. Allium cepa, F.

7. Horehound, 239. Marrubium vulgare, F.
Mint, water, 233.6. Mentha aquat. F.
Nettle, 139. Urtica dioica, F.

Orpine, 269.1. Sedum telephium, F. NUTHATCH, 47. Sitta Europæa, chatters. 8. Thermom. 20. Lowest to the 27th of this month. 9. Mint, red, 232.5. Mentha gentilis, F.

Wormwood, 188.1. Artemifia abfinthium, F. 12. Horehound, water, 236.1. Lycopus Europeus, F. Thiftle, lady's, 195.12. Carduus marianus, F.

Burdock, 196. Aretium lappa, F.

ROOKS come to the neft trees in the evening, but do not rooft there.

14. Clary, wild, 237.1. Salvia verbenaca, F.

STONE CURLEW, 108. Charadrius oedienemus, whiftles at night.

15. Mallow, vervain, 252. Malva alcea, F.

16.

GOAT SUCKER, 26.1. Caprimulgus Europaeus, makes a noife in the evening and young owls.

Thermom. 35. The highest to the 27th of this month.

17. Orach, wild, 154.1. Chenopodium album.

ROOKS rooft on their neft trees.

GOAT SUCKER, no longer heard.

21. Peas and wheat cut.

Devil's bit, yellow, 164.1. Leontodon, autumnal. F.

26. ROBIN RED BREAST, 78.3. Motacilla rubecula, fings.

Goule, 443. Myrica gale, F. R.

Golden rod, marsh, 176.2. Senecio paludofus, F.

29. Smailage, 214. Apium graveolens, F.

Teafel, 192.2. Dipfacus fullenum, F.

Vipers come out of their holes ftill.

* From the 27th of this month to the roth of September I was from home, and therefore cannot

be fure that I faw the first blow of the plants during that interval.

IX. MONTH.

September

IX. MONT H.

2. WILLOW HERB, yellow, 282.1. Lyfimachia vulgaris, F. Traveller's joy, 258. Clematis vitalba, F.

5. Grafs of Parnaffus, 355. Parnaffiapaluftris.

10. Catkins of the bafel formed.

Thermom. 17. The lowest from the 10th to the end of this month.

11. Catkins of the birch formed.

Leaves of the Scotch fir fall.

Bramble ftill in blow, though fome of the fruit has been ripe fome time; fo that there are green, red, and black berries on the fame individual plant at the fame time. Ivy, 459. Hedera helix, f.

14. Leaves of the fycomore, birch, lime, mountain afh, elm, begin to change. 16. Furze, 475. Ulex Europaus, F.

Catkins of the alder formed.

Thermom. 36.75· The bigbeft from the 10th to the end of this month.
CHAFFINCH, 88. Fringilla calebs, chirps.

17. Herrings.

20. FERN, FEMALE, 124.1. Pteris aquilina, turned brown.
Ash, mountain, 452.2. Sorbus aucuparia, F. R.
Laurel 1549. H. Prunus laurocerafus, f. r.
HOPs, humulus lupulus, 137.1. f. r.

21. SWALLOWS

gone.

23. Autumnal æquinox.

25. WOOD LARK, 69.2.

Full moon.

Alauda arborea, fings.

FIELD FARE, 64.3. Turdus pilaris, appears.

Leaves of the plane tree, tawny-of the bafel, yellow of the oak, yellowish greenof the fycomore, dirty brown-of the maple, pale yellow of the afb, fine lemonof the elm, orange-of the hawthorn, tawny yellow of the cherry, red-of the hornbeam, bright yellow-of the willow, fill hoary.

27. BLACK BIRD fings.

29. THRUSH, 64.2. Turdus muficus, fings. 30. Bramble, 467.1. Rubus fruticofus, F.

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October

1. Bryony, black, 262. Tamus communis, F. R.
Elder, marsh, 46c.1. Viburnum opulus, F. R.
Elder, 461.1. Sambucus nigra, F. R.

Briar, 454.1. Rofa canina, F. R.

Alder, black, 465. Rhamnus frangula, F. R.

Holly, 466. Ilex aquifolium, F. R.

Barberry, 465. Berberis vulgaris, F. R.

Nightshade, woody, 265. Solanum dulcamara, F. R.

2. Thorn, black, 462.1. Prunus fpinofa, F. R.

+ CROW, ROYSTON, 39.4.

5. Catkins of fallows formed.

Corvus cornix, returns.

6. Leaves of afp almost all off of chefnut, yellow of birch, gold-coloured.
Thermom. 26.50. Highest this month.

7. BLACK BIRD, 65.1. Turdus merula, fings.

Wind high; rocks jport and dash about as in play, and repair their nefts.

9. Spindle tree, 468.1. Euvonymus Europeus, F. R.

Some afh trees quite fripped of their leaves.

Leaves of marjh elder of a beautiful red, or rather pink colour.

Autumnal heat, according to Dr. Hales, at a medium, is 18.25.

+ Linnæus obferves in the Syftema Natura, and the Fauna Suecica, that this bird is ufeful to the hufbandman, tho' ill treated by hn.

10. WOOD

October

10. WOOD LARK fings. *RING DOVE cooes.

14. WOOD LARK fings.

Several plants fill in flower, as panfy, white behn, black nonefuch, barwkweed, bu glofs, gentian, fmall stitchwort, c. in grounds not broken

up.

A great mift and perfect calm; not fo much as a leaf falls. Spiders webs innumerable appear every where. Woodlark fings. Rooks do not stir, but fit quietly on their neft trees.

16. GEESE, WILD, 136.4. Anas, anfer, leave the fens and go to the rye lands. 22. WOODCOCK, 104. Scolopax rufticola, returns.

Some afb-trees ftill green.

24. LARK, SKY, 69.1. Alauda ar-venfis, fings.

Privet, 465.1. Liguftrum vulgare, F. R.

26. Thermom. 7. Lowest this month.

Honeyfuckle, 458.1,2. Lomicera periclymen. ftill in flower in the hedges, and mallow and feverfew.

WILD GEESE continue going to the rye lands.

Now from the north

Of Norumbega, and the Samoeïd fhore,
Burfting their brazen dungeons, arm'd with ice,
And fnow, and hail, and ftormy guft, and flaw,
Boreas, and Cæcias, and Argeftes loud,

And Thrascias rend the woods, and feas up-turn.

MILTON.

Here ends the Calendar, being interrupted by my going to London. During the whole time it was kept, the barometer fluctuated between 29.1. and 29.9. except a few days, when it funk to 28.6. and rofe to 30%.

NATURAL

Extras from Mr. PENNANT's British Zoology.

T

§ 1. The HORSE.

HE breed of horfes in Great Britain is as mixed as that of its inhabitants: the frequent introduction of foreign horfes has given us a variety, that no fingle country can boast of most other kingdoms produce only one kind, while ours, by a judicious mixture of the feveral fpecies, by the happy difference of our foils, and by our superior skill in management, may triumph over the reft of Europe, in having brought each quality of this noble animal to the highest perfection.

In the annals of Newmarket, may be found inftances of horses that have literally out-ftripped the wind, as the celebrated M. Condamine has lately fhewn in his remarks on thofe of Great Britain. Childers

HISTORY.

is an amazing inftance of rapidity, his fpeed having been more than once exerted equal to 82 feet in a fecond, or near a mile in a minute: the fame horse has alfo run the round course at Newmarket (which is about 400 yards lefs than 4 miles) in fix minutes and forty feconds; in which cafe his fleetness is to that of the swiftest Barb, as four to three; the former, according to Doctor Maty's computation, covering at every bound a space of ground equal in length to twenty-three feet royal, the latter only that of eighteen feet and a half royal.

Horfes of this kind, derive their origia from Arabia; the feat of the pureft, and molt generous breed.

The fpecies ufed in hunting, is a happy combination of the former with others fuperior in ftrength, but inferior in point of fpeed and lineage: an union of both is neceflary; for the fatigues of the chace must

* Aristotle says, that this bird does not cooe in the winter, unless the weather happens to be mild.

be

be fupported by the spirit of the one, as well as by the vigour of the other.

or for the draught, are an offspring of the German or Flemish breed, meliorated by our foil, and a judicious culture.

No country can bring a parallel to the ftrength and fize of our horfes destined for. The English were ever attentive to an

the draught; or to the activity and strength unitd of thofe that form our cavalry.

In our capital there are inftances of fingle horses that are able to draw on a plain, for a small space, the weight of three tons; but could with ease, and for a continuance draw half that weight. The pack-horfes of Yorkshire, employed in conveying the manufactures of that county to the moft remote parts of the kingdom, ufually carry a burden of 420 pounds; and that indifferently over the highest hills of the north, as well as the most level roads; but the moft remarkable proof of the ftrength of our British horfes, is to be drawn from that of our mill-horses: fome of thefe will carry at one load thirteen measures, which at a moderate computation of 70 pounds each, will amount to 910; a weight fuperior to that which the leffer fort of camels will bear: this will appear lefs furprising, as these horses are by degrees accustomed to the weight; and the distance they travel no greater than to and from the adjacent hamlets.

Our cavalry in the late campaigns (when they had opportunity) fhewed over thofe of our allies, as well as of the French, a great fuperiority both of strength and activity: the enemy was broken through by the impetuous charge of our fquadrons; while the German horses, from their great weight, and inactive make, were unable to second our efforts; though thofe troops were actuated by the nobleft ardour.

The prefent cavalry of this island only fupports its ancient glory; it was eminent in the earliest times: our fcythed chariots, and the activity and good difcipline of our horfes, even ftruck terror into Cæfar's legions and the Britains, as foon as they became civilized enough to coin, took care to reprefent on their money the animal for which they were fo celebrated. It is now impoffible to trace out this fpecies; for those which exift among the indigene of Great Britain, fuch as the little horses of Wales and Cornwall, the hobbies of Ireland, and the fhelties of Scotland, though admirably well adapted to the uses of those countries, could never have been equal to the work of war; but probably we had even then a larger and ftronger breed in the more fertile and luxuriant parts of the ifland. Those we employ for that purpofe,

exact culture of thefe animals; and in very early times fet a high value on their breed. The esteem that our horfes were held in by foreigners fo long ago as the reign of Athelftan, may be collected from a law of that monarch prohibiting their exportation, except they were defigned as prefents. These must have been the native kind, or the prohibition would have been needlefs, for our commerce was at that time too limited to receive improvement from any but the German kind, to which country their own breed could be of no value.

But when our intercourfe with the other parts of Europe was enlarged, we soon laid hold of the advantages this gave of improving our breed. Roger de Belefme, Earl of Shrewsbury, is the first that is on record: he introduced the Spanish stallions into his estate in Powifland, from which that part of Wales was for many ages celebrated for a fwift and generous race of horfes. Giraldus Cambrenfis, who lived in the reign of Henry II. takes notice of it; and Michael Drayton, cotemporary with Shakespeare, fings their excellence in the fixth part of his Polyolbion. This kind was probably deftined to mount our gallant nobility, or courteous knights for feats of chivalry, in the generous contests of the tilt-yard. From these fprung, to speak the language of the times, the Flower of Courfers, whofe elegant form added charms to the rider; and whose activity and managed dexterity gained him the palm in that field of gallantry and romantic honour.

Notwithstanding my former fuppofition, races were known in England in very early times. Fitz-Stephen, who wrote in the days of Henry II. mentions the great delight that the citizens of London took in the diverfion. But by his words, it appears not to have been defigned for the purposes of gaming, but merely to have fprung from a generous emulation of shewing a fuperior skill in horfemanship.

Races appear to have been in vogue in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, and to have been carried to fuch excefs as to injure the fortunes of the nobility. The famous George Earl of Cumberland is recorded to have wafted more of his eftate than any of his ancestors; and chiefly by his extreme love to horfe-races, tiltings, and 3 e

other

other expenfive diverfions. It is probable that the parfimonious queen did not approve of it; for races are not among the diverfions exhibited at Kennelworth by her favourite Leicester. In the following reign, were places allotted for the fport: Croydon in the South, and Garterly in Yorkfhire, were celebrated courses. Camden alfo fays, that in 1607 there were races near York, and the prize was a little golden bell.

Not that we deny this diverfion to be known in these kingdoms in earlier times; we only affert a different mode of it, gentlemen being then their own jockies, and riding their own horfes. Lord Herbert of Cherbury enumerates it among the fports that gallant philofopher thought unworthy of a man of honour. «The exercife (fays "he) I do not approve of, is running of "horfes, there being much cheating in that "kind; neither do I fee why a brave man "fhould delight in a creature whofe chief "ufe is to help him to run away."

The increase of our inhabitants, and the extent of our manufactures, together with the former neglect of internal navigation to convey thofe manufactures, multiplied the number of our horfes: an excefs of wealth, before unknown in these islands, increased the luxury of carriages, and added to the neceflity of an extraordinary culture of these animals: their high reputation abroad, has also made them a branch of commerce, and proved another caufe of their vaft increase.

As no kingdom can boast of parallel circumstances, fo none can vie with us in the number of these noble quadrupeds; it would be extremely difficult to guefs at the exact amount of them, or to form a periodical account of their increase: the num

ber feems very fluctuating: William FitzStephen relates, that in the reign of king Stephen, London alone poured out 20,000 horiemen in the wars of thofe times: yet, we find that in the beginning of Queen Elizabeth's reign, the whole kingdom could not fupply 2000 horfes to form our cavalry: and even in the year 1588, when the nation was in the most imminent danger from the Spanish invafion, all the cavalry which the nation could then furnish amounted only to 3000: to account for this difference we muft imagine, that the number of horfes which took the field in Stephen's reign was no more than an undifciplined rabble; the few that appeared under the banners of Elizabeth, a corps

well formed, and fuch as might be oppofed to fo formidable an enemy as was then expected: but fuch is their prefent increase, that in the late war, the number employed was 13,575; and fuch is our improvement in the breed of horses, that most of those which are ufed in our waggons and carriages of different kinds, might be applied to the fame purpose: of thofe, our capital alone employs near 22,000.

The learned M. de Buffon has almost exhaufted the subject of the natural hiftory of the horfe, and the other domestic ani. mals; and left very little for after writers to add. We may obferve, that this moft noble and useful quadruped is endowed with every quality that can make it fubfervient to the ufes of mankind; and thofe qualities appear in a more exalted, or in a lefs degree, in proportion to our various neceffities.

Undaunted courage, added to a docility half reasoning, is given to fome, which fits them for military fervices. The spirit and emulation fo apparent in others, furnish us with that fpecies, which is admirably adapted for the courfe; or, the more noble and generous pleasure of the chace.

Patience and perfeverance appear ftrongly in that most useful kind deftined to bear the burdens we impofe on them; or that employed in the flavery of the draught.

Though endowed with vaft ftrength, and great powers, they very rarely exert either to their mafter's prejudice; but on the contrary, will endure fatigues, even to death, for our benefit. Providence has implanted in them a benevolent difpofition, and a fear of the human race, together with a certain confcioufnefs of the fervices we can render them. Most of the hoofed quadrupeds are domeftic, because neceffity compels them to feek our protection: wild beafts are provided with feet and claws, adapted to the forming dens and retreats from the inclemency of the weather; but the former, deftitute of these advantages, are obliged to run to us for artificial fhelter, and harvested provifions: as nature, in these climates, does not throughout the year fupply them with neceffary food.

But still, many of our tame animals muft by accident endure the rigour of the feafon: to prevent which inconvenience, their feet (for the extremities fuffer firit by cold) are protected by strong hoofs of a horny fubftance.

The tail too is guarded with long bushy hair that protects it in both extremes of

weather;

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