September IX. MONTH. 2. WILLOW HERB, yellow, 282. 1. Lysimachia vulgaris, F. Traveller's joy, 258. Clematis vitalba, F. 5. Grass of Parnussus, 355. Parnassia palustris. 10. Catkins of the hazel 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 still in blow, though some of the fruil has been ripe some time; so that there are green, red, and black berries on the same individual plant at the same time. Ivy, 459. Hedera helix, F. 14. Leaves of the sycamore, birch, lime, mountain ash, elm, begin to change. 16. Furze, 475. Ulex Europaus, F. Catkins of the alder formed. Thermom. 36.75. The highest from the 10th to the end of this month. 17. Herrings. 20. FERN, FEMALE, 124.1. Pteris aquilina, turned brown. 21. SWALLOWS gone. Full moon. 23. Autumnal æquinox. 25. WOOD LARK, 69.2 Alauda arborea, sings. FIELD FARE, 64.3 Turdus pilaris, appears. Leaves of the plane tree, tawney-of the hasel, yellow-of the oak, yellowish green of the sycamore, dirty brown-of the maple, pale yellow-of the ash, fine lemon-of the elm, orange-of the hawthorn, tawny yellow-of the cherry, red-of the thornbeam, bright yellow-of the willow still hoary. 27. BLACK BIRD sings. 29. THRUSH, 64.2. Turdus musicus sings. 30. Bramble, 467.1. Rubus fruticosus, F. 1. Bryony, black, 262. Tamus communis, F.R. Elder, marsh, 460.1. Viburnum opulus, F. R. Elder, 461.1. Sambucus nigra, F. R. Briar, 454.1. Rosa canina, F. R. Alder black, 465. Rhamnus frangula, F. R. Barberry, 465. Berberis vulgaris, F. R. Nightshade, woody, 265. Solauum dulcamara, F. R. 2. Thorn, black,462. 1. Prunus spinosa, F. R. + CROW, ROYSTON, 39. 4. Corvus cornix, returns. 5. Catkins of sallows formed. 6. Leaves of asp, almost all off-of chesnut, yellow-of birch, gold coloured. Thermom, 26.50. Highest this month. 7. BLACK BIRD, 65.1. Turdus merula sings. Wind high: rooks sport and dash about as in play, and repair their nests. 9. Spindle tree, 468. 1. Euvonymus Europeus, F. R. Some ash trees quite stript of their leaves. Leaves of marsh elder of a beautiful red, or rather pink colour. * Autumnal heat, according to Dr. Hales, at a medium is, 18.25. + Linnæus observes in the Systema Natura, and the Panua Sueciea, that this bird is useful to the husbandman, though ill treated by him, 3 Y2 10. WOOD October 10. WOOD LARK sings. * RING DOVE cooes. 14. WOOD LARK sings. Several plants still in flower, as pansy, white behn, black nonesuch, hawkweed, bugloss, gentian, small stichwort, &c. in grounds not broken up. A great mist and perfect calm; not so much as a leaf falls. Spiders webs innumerable appear every where. Woodlark sings. Rooks do not stir, but sit quietly on their nest trees. 16. GEESE, WILD, 136.4. Anas, anser, leave the fens and go to the rye lands. 22. WOODCOCK, 104. Scolopax rusticola, returns. Some ash trees still green. 24. LARK, SKY, 69.1. Alauda arvensis, sings. Privet, 465 1. Ligustrum vulgare, F. R. 26. Thermom. 7. Lowest this month. Honeysuckle, 458.12. Lomicera periclymen, stili in flower in the hedges and mallow and feverfew. WILD GEEES continue going to the rye lands. Now from the north Of Norumbega, and the Samogid shore, Bursting their brazen dungeons, arm'd with ice, And Thrascias rend the woods, and seas 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 sunk to 28.6. and rose to 201. NATURAL HISTORY. Extracts from Mr. PENNANT's British is an amazing instance of rapidity, his Zoology. : §. 1. The Horse. speed having been more than once exerted equal to 824 feet in a second, or near a mile in a minute; the same horse has also HE breed of horses in Great Britain run the round course at Newmarket (which Tises breed of horses it inhabitants: is about 400 yards tas then ques) in sin the frequent introduction of foreign horses Kas given us a variety, that no single coun. try can boast of most other kingdoms produce only one kind, while ours, by a judicious mixture of the several species, by the happy difference of our soils, and by our superior skill in management, may triumph over the rest of Europe, in having brought each quality of this noble animal to the highest perfection. In the annals of Newmarket, may be found instances of horses that have literal Jy outstripped the wind, as the celebrated M. Condamine has lately shewn in his remarks on those of Great Britain. Childers minutes and forty seconds; in which case his flectness 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. Horses of this kind, derive their origin from Arabia; the scat of the purest, and most generous breed. The species used in hunting, is a happy combination of the former with others superior in strength, but inferior in point of speed and lineage: an union of both is nccessary for the fatigues of the chace must Aristotle says, that this bird do not cooe in the winter, unless the weather happens to be mild. be be supported by the spirit of the onc, as well as by the vigour of the other. No country can bring a parallel to the strength and size of our horses destined for the draught; or to the activity and strength united of those that form our cavalry. In our capital there are instances of single 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-horses of Yorkshire, employed in conveying the manufactures of that county to the most remote parts of the kingdom, usually 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 most remark. able proof of the strength of our British horses, is to be drawn from that of our mill-horses; some of these will carry at one load thirteen measures, which at a moderate computation of 70 pounds each, will amount to 910; a weight superior to that which the lesser sort of camels will bear: this will appear less surprising, 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 an opportunity) shewed over those of our allies, as well as of the French, a great superiority both of strength and activity: the enemy was broken through by the impetuous charge of our squadrons; while the German horses, from their great weight and inac. tive make, were unable to second our efforts; though those troops were actu ated by the noblest ardour. The present cavalry of this island only supports its ancient glory; it was eminent in the earliest times: our scythed chariots, and the activity and good discipline of our horses, even struck terror into Caesar's legions: and the Britons, as soon as they became civilized enough to coin, took care to represent on their money the animal for which they were so cele brated. It is now impossible to trace out this species; for those which exist among the indigence of Great Britain, such as the little horses of Wales and Cornwall, the hobbies of Ireland, and the shelties of Scotland, though admirably well adapted to the uses of those countries, could never have been equal to the work of wang but probably we had even then a larger and stronger breed in the more fertile and luxuriant parts of the island. Those we employ for that purpose or for the draught, are an offspring of the German or Flemish breed, meliorated by our soil, and a judicious culture: The English were ever attentive to an exact culture of these animals; and in very early times set a high value on their breed. The esteem that our horses were held in by foreigners so long ago as the reign of Athelstan, may be collected from a law of that monarch prohibiting their exporta tion, except they were designed as presents. These must have been the native kind, or the prohibition would have been needless, for our commerce was at that time too liunited to receive improvement from any but the German kind, to which country their own breed could be of no value. But when our intercourse with the other parts of Europe was enlarged, we soon laid hold of the advantages this gave of improving our breed. Roger de Bellesme, Earl of Shrewsbury, is the first that is on record: he introduced the Spanish stallions into his estate in Powisland, from which that part of Wales was for many ages celebrated for a swift and generous race of horses. Giraldus Cambrensis, who lived in the reign of Henry II. takes notice of it; and Michael Drayton, co. temporary with Shakespeare, sings their excellence in the sixth part of his Polyolbion. This kind was probably destined to mount our gallant nobility, or courteous knights for feats of chivalry, in the generous contests of the tilt-yard. From these sprung, to speak the language of the times, the Flower of Coursers, whose elegant form added charms to the rider; and whose activity and managed dexterity gained him the palm in that field of gal. lantry and romantic honour. Notwithstanding my former supposition,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 diversion. But by his words, it appears not to have been designed for the purposes of gaming, but merely to have sprung from a generous emulation of shewing a superior skill in horsemanship. Races appear to have been in vogue in the reign of queen Elizabeth, and to have been carried to such excess as to injure the fortunes of the nobility. The famous George Earl of Cumberland is recorded to have wasted more of his estate than any 3 Y3 of of his ancestors; and chiefly by his extreme love to horse-races, tiltings, and other expensive diversions. It is probable that the parsimonious queen did not approve of it; for races are not among the diversions exhibited at Kennelworth by her favourite Leicester. In the fol. lowing reign, were places allotted for the sport: Croydon in the South, and Garterly in Yorkshire, were celebrated courses. Camden also says, that in 1607 there were races near York, and the prize was a little golden bell. Not that we deny this diversion to be known in these kingdoms in carlier times; we only assert a 'ifferent mode of it,gentlemen being then their own jockies, and riding their own horses. Lord Herbert of Cherbury enumerates it among the sports that gallant philosopher thought unworthy of a man of honour. "The "exercise (says he) I do not approve of, " is running of horses, there being much "cheating in that kind; neither do I see why a brave man should delight in a "creature whose chief use 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 narigation to convey those manufactures, multiplied the number of our horses, an excess of wealth, before unknown in these islands, increased the luxury of carriages, and added to the necessity of an extraor dinary culture of these animals: their high reputation abroad has also made them a branch of commerce, and proved another cause of their vast increase. As no kingdom can boast of parallel. circumstances, so none can vie with us in the number of these noble quadrupeds: it would be extremely difficult to guess at the exact amount of them, or to form a periodical account of their increase: the number seems very fluctuating; William Fitz-Stephen relates, that in the reign of king Stephen, London aloue poured out 20,000 horsemen in the wars of those times: yet we find that in the beginning of queen Elizabeth's reign, the whole kingdom could not supply 2000 horses to form our cavalry and even in the year 1588, when the nation was in the most imminent danger from the Spanish invasion, all the cavalry which the nation could then furnish amounted only to 3000; to account for this difference we must imagine, that the number of horses which took the field in Stephen's reign, was no more than an undisciplined rabble, the few that appeared under the banners of Elizabeth, a corps well formed and such as might be opposed to so formidable an enemy as was then expected: but such is their present increase, that in the late war, the number employed was 13,575; and such is our improvement in the breed of horses, that most of those which are used in our waggons and carriages of different kinds, might be applied to the same purpose of those, our capital alone employs near 22,000. The learned M. de Buffon has almost exhausted the subject of the natural his tory of the horse, and the other domestic animals; and left very little for after writers to add. We may observe that this most noble and useful quadruped, is endowed with every quality that can make it subservient to the uses of mankind and those qualities appear in a more exalted, or in a less degree, in proportion to our various necessities. Undaunted courage, added to a doci. lity half reasoning, is given to some, which fits them for military services. The spirit and emulation so apparent in others, furnish us with that species, which is admirably adapted for the course; or, the more noble and generous pleasure of the chace. Patience and perseverance appear strongly in that most useful kind destined to bear the burdens we impose on them; or that employed in the slavery of the draught. Though endowed with vast strength and great powers, they very rarely exert either to their master's prejudice; but on the contrary, will endure fatigues even to death, for our benefit. Providence has implanted in them a benevolent disposition, and a fear of the human race, toge ther with a certain consciousness of the services we can render them. Most of the hoofed quadrupeds are domestic, be cause necessity compels them to seek our protection: wild beasts are provided with feet and claws, adapted to the forming dens and retreats from the inclemency of the weather; but the former, destitute of these advantages, are obliged to run to us for artificial shelter, and harvested provisions as nature, in these climates, does not throughout the year supply them with necessary food. But still, many of our tame animals must by accident endure the rigour of the season: to prevent which inconve nience their feet (for the extremities suffer suffer first by cold) are protected by strong hoofs of a horny substance. The tail too is guarded with long bushy hair, that protects it in both extremes of weather; during the summer it serves, by its pliancy and agility, to brush off the swarms of insects which are perpetually attempting either to sting them, or to deposit their eggs in the rectum; the same length of hair contributes to guard them from the cold in winter. But we, by the absurd and cruel custom of docking, a practice peculiar to our country, deprive these animals of both advantages: in the last war our cavalry suffered so much on that account, that we now seem sensible of the error, and if we may judge from Some recent orders in respect to that branch of the service, it will for the future be corrected. Thus is the horse provided against the two greatest evils he is subject to from the seasons: his natural diseases are few: but our ill usage, or neglect, or, which is very frequent, our over care of him, bring on a numerous train, which are often fatal. Among the distempers he is naturally subject to, are the worms, the bots, and the stone: the species of worms that infect him are the lumbrici, and ascarides; both these resemble those found in hu man bodies, only larger: the bots are the cruce, or caterpillars of the oestrus, or gadfly these are found both in the rectum, and in the stomach, and when in the latter bring on convulsions, that often terminate in death. The stone is a disease the horse is not frequently subject to yet we have seen two examples of it; the one in a horse near High Wycombe, that voided sixteen calculi, each of an inch and a half diame. ter; the other was of a stone taken out of the bladder of a horse, and deposited in the cabinet of the late Dr. Mead; weighing eleven ounces. These stones are formed of several crusts, each very smooth and glossy; their form triangular; but their edges rounded, as if by collision against each other. The all-wise Creator hath finely limited the several services of domestic animals towards the human race; and ordered that the parts of such, which in their lives have been the most useful, should after death contribute the least to our benefit. The chief use that the exuvie of the horse can be applied to, is for collars, traces, and other parts of the harness; and thus, even after death, he preserves some analogy with his former employ. The hair of the mane is of use in making wigs; of the tail in making the bottoms of chairs, floor-cloths, and cords; and to the angler in making lines. § 2. The Ox. The climate of Great Britain is above all others productive of the greatest variety and abundance of wholesome vegetables, which, to crown our happiness, are almost equally diffused through all its parts: this general fertility is owing to those clouded skies, which foreigners mistakenly urge as a reproach on our coun try; but let us cheerfully endure a temporary gloom, which clothes not only our meadows but our hills with the richest ver dure. To this we owe the number, variety, and excellence of our cattle, the richness of our dairies, and innumerable other advantages. Cæsar (the earliest writer who describes this island of Great Britain) speaks of the number of our cattle, and adds that we neglected tillage, but lived on milk and flesh. Strabo takes notice of our plenty of milk, but says we were ignorant of the art of making cheesc. Mela informs us, that the wealth of the Britons consisted in cattle and in his account of Ireland, reports that such was the richness of the pastures in that kingdom, that the cattle would even barst if they were suf fered to feed on them long at a time. This preference of pasturage to tillage was delivered down from our British ancestors to much later times; and continued equally prevalent during the whole period of our feodal government; the chieftain, whose power and safety depended on the promptness of his vassals to execute his commands, found it his interest to encourage those employments that favoured that disposition; that vassal, who made it his glory to fly at the first call to the standard of his chieftain, was sure to prefer that employ, which might be transacted by his family with equal success during his absence. Tillage would require an attendance incompatible with the services he owed the baron, while the former occupation not only gave leisure for those duties, but furnished the hospitable board of his lord with ample provision, of which the vassal was equal partaker. The reliques of the larder of the elder Spencer are evident proofs of the plenty of cattle in his days; for after his winter provisions 3 Y 4 may |