For the Monthly Magazine. NOTES made during a JOURNEY from LONDON to HOLKHAM, YORK, EDINBURGH, and the HIGHLANDS of SCOTLAND, in July and August 1819, by JOHN MIDDLETON, esq. the author of an AGRICULTURAL VIEW of MIDDLESEX, and other works.

ON

[Continued from p. 313.]

N the south side of the line which divides Scotland from England lies Solway Moss; a peat ground of great extent, which is said to belong to Sir James Graham and the inhabitants of Longtown. They dig it ten or twenty feet in depth, in the latter case in two depths, of about ten feet each; the peat is dry towards the top, but holds some water below. The subsoil was shewn to us, and it is a mixture of infertile clay and sand. The stumps and branches of alder and other wood are occasionally dug up near the bottom of the peat; and hazle nuts have also been found. Small quantities of this moss have been brought into cultivation. A specimen of about a dozen acres, west of the road, was shewn to us; it is in grass and makes a poor pasture. It is reported to have been pared thick, then dried and burned; the ashes being spread it was ploughed and sown with rape. It produced a good crop of seed, and it did so the second year; after that a crop of oats with grass seeds. These crops would certainly put money into the pocket of the cultivator, but they had the pernicious effect of exhausting the soil. We found it to be a common practice to place the dust and fragments of peat as a bottom for dunghills; and as a receiver of urine from the cattle. These are commendable instances in the right management of dung heaps which deserve imitation; as does the mixture of some other soil, when they can obtain it, with the ashes and peat in order to render the improvement more certain. But the rape should not stand for seed; on the contrary, it should be eaten while it is green upon the land by sheep, even two or three years in succession, and then if laid down in the spring it should be sown with one bushel per acre of oats, and treble the usual quantity of grass seeds for a permanent pasture.*

From Carlisle towards Penrith for

* When the grass seeds are grown in autumn, it is not advisable to sow any corn with them.

five or six miles the soil is of excellent quality; the surface undulates agreeably, and on the west side of the road it forms a vale of considerable beauty all the way to Penrith. But the road itself passes over ground which is rather hilly and increases in poverty till it is not worth five shillings per acre, for several miles before we arrive within a mile of the town, and from that place is a rapid descent to it. On this poststage we met many parties of women from the corn harvest, all wearing shoes and stockings. These things mark the different characters of the females of England and Scotland; in England they are clothed, in Scotland they are half-naked.

The entrance to Carlisle from the south is marked by a new court-house, erected on each side of the street in a singular style; namely, two very large castellated round towers, with their appurtenances, which approach each other so nearly as rather to encroach on the turnpike-road. If this had been the first town on entering Scotland by this route, these buildings would indicate bulwarks to defend that country against being invaded by the English; but as Carlisle is the second town in England on coming from the north, and the military character is placed towards the south, threatening the friends of the place, it is wholly out of character.

Appleby stands in a fertile vale, but at the end of one mile the road ascends a hill, and then the land does not average more than seven shillings per acre all the way to Brough.

Brough is said to be a manor which belongs to Lord Thanet. The houses and street are clean, mostly whitewashed, and the New Inn is tolerably respectable. But such persons as alight from a carriage at this place, are immediately attended by one, two, or three women, teasing them to buy worsted night caps. And at the same inn we were accosted by a poacher, with "Sir, do you want any birds," (meaning grouse). From Brough over Stainmore, is nearly a barren district for ten or a dozen miles; but a small race of horned sheep, and many grouse subsist upon the most lofty of these hills. We'descended from our carriage to view the remains of a Roman camp, of a square figure and large size upon the line which divides the counties of York and Westmoreland. The south side of this camp is steep and covered with large stones,

and

and there it is inaccessible. The other three sides of it have been ditches and mounds, and they are nearly obliterated. It stands upon a dry hill of free-stone rock, part of the coal measures, and lately worked as a quarry. Thence the road descends a little to a toll-gate; near which stands WestSpittal, a tolerably respectable looking inn, but much frequented by poachers, and five of them walked out in a body with about eight dogs as we approached. The morning was damp, and these men directed their course towards the highest ground; the birds were shy and the dogs started a covey of grouse as we passed, but too distant for shot. These persons are said to keep together for mutual protection, and it is also said they have been known to stop carriages on this part of the road to inquire if the parties want any birds. The next house is called the New Spittal, and it is the middle one of three of this name. This house is kept by a Mr. Hammond, and it is supposed to be the best of the three; but our curiosity induced us to ask permission to view the best bed-chamber, which was granted, and in it were four beds; the landlady informed us they were used by eight or ten persons during the first week of grouse shooting, commencing the 12th of August. Mr. Hammond informed us he is the freeholder of this house and fifty acres of land; he also pays rent for a hundred acres more. A Doctor Edwards has a house and about fiftyacres between the sccond and the third Spittal; he has shewn his superior skill as an agriculturist by draining and liming a peat soil covered with a mixture of heath and coarse grass; for in that manner he has made his land without ploughing much superior to any of his neighbours. It is agreed on all hands that peat should be drained, but we were told that should be done with moderation, and limed plentifully; to which we will add, it would be better if good loam, as well as animal manure was spread upon it.

Greta Bridge is rendered very agreeable by T. B. S. Morrett, Esq. M. P. who has done much towards embellishing the property about it. Rokeby, the residence of Mr. Morrett, has been nearly immortalized by the pen of Walter Scott. Trees, which I remember the planting of rather more than sixty years ago, by the late Sir Thomas Robinson, have been protected till in some places they meet over the roads,

and in this manner afford an agreeable shade in hot weather.* The home grounds of Rokeby are not entirely secluded from public view, and they are rendered very beautiful by an arrangement of lawn and well-grown trees, with shady walks, and the_romantic beds of two rivers. The Tees and Greta, with their rocky sides and bottoms, aided by their well-wooded banks, are very picturesque. The remains of a small camp, said to be Roman, close to the bridge at Greta, as well as the ruins of an abbey, at the distance of a mile, are calculated to gratify the antiquary. The house of Mr. Martin, east of the bridge, is the more pleasant of two good inns.

From Greta Bridge to Catterick Bridge the road passes over ground rather highly elevated; but even there what was a miserable moor covered by furze bushes fifty years ago, is now bearing a variety of agricultural crops. The soil is poor most of this stage, till we came near Catterick Bridge, which crosses the river Swale, where there is an excellent inn; and much good land, the property of Sir Henry Lawson, bart. who resides near this place, and is spoken of in terms of much praise. The gate fastenings of this gentleman are peculiarly his own, and they have much merit. His wheat will yield a good thirty-two bushels per acre, quite clean, though sown broad-cast. Sir Henry has taken a second step towards excellence in agriculture by cultivating tares. He also has many bullocks and sheep fattening, as well as Scotch wethers to supply short-grained mutton for his own table.

In

23d Aug.-From Catterick Bridge to the New Inn in Leeming Lane. this post-stage we observed with some degree of surprise the large proportion of turnips compared to the other crops upon arable land on each side of the road; this induced an inquiry, and then we were informed "they cover one moiety of all the land in tillage ;" this surprised us again, but the matter was easily understood on being told, "the rotation in that district is turnips and corn alternately." The turnips were particularly luxuriant; all in rows, and perfectly clean. No agriculturist can doubt the crops of corn would be equally clean and large..

Turnips in rows universally free the soil from weeds; and eating them upon the same land always enriches it. This is as perfect a preparation for wheat (or any other corn) as can be made; therefore the crops of that grain are as great as they can be, in that climate and upon that soil. This most short rotation is very excellent, and it is only one small step short of perfection; viz. the addition of winter tares put in after broad-sharing and cleansing all the corn stubble, and giving it one ploughing, as soon as possible after harvest, would secure a good crop of tares the following spring, upon the land intended for turnips. By which the rotation would be tares, turnips, and wheat, in two years; which is the most excellent that is known; unless that may be disputed by the advocates for tares, potatoes, and wheat, in two years; on which subject more will be said when we arrive near London. We then travelled through Boroughbridge and Weatherby, to Leeds, without meeting with any thing worth noting: except that two thirds of the corn harvest was housed, and the rest ready. The country was beginning to suffer by drought.

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Leeds. Tuesday (Market day), the 24th August. Viewed the cloth market, and found it filled by sellers and cloths to a great amount in number and value. There were few or no buyers, at least not more than six persons could be buyers, as the rest were obviously attending their cloths for sale. They generally had the appearance of countrymen and poor, but we suppose many of them may be respectable manufacturers; however, in one part of the market they were poor and offered their cloth publicly to us as we walked slowly by. I expressed myself we suppose you would not sell less than a whole piece:" to which several voices replied, "Yes; half a piece." Finished goods on the ground story are offered for sale from half past eight till ten minutes before ten o'clock; and at ten the market up one pair of stairs for white or undyed goods commences. In this town butcher's meat of good quality, together with roots and other vegetables, as well as fruit, are exposed in great abundance for sale. Dyed yarns and even cartloads of the plant woad, for making dye, were exposed in the market for sale. New buildings were being erected which are thought to indicate a town

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to be in a thriving state. factories are now extended to the whole process of carding, spinning, weaving, fulling, shearing, and pressing, all by steam. We were told there are about six hundred persons employed in one manufactory here.

We viewed a road-roller, said to weigh about six tons, in one piece, six feet long, four feet diameter, rim upwards of six inches thick, which, with pierced ends and axle, are in one piece. A scraper to cleanse the rim, and an iron tray to hold ballast, belong to it. The use of it has been discontinued, as no frame has hitherto been contrived, which can turn it without being strained and broken. If the ballast were put within the roller, and one end of it was closed, and the other prepared with a door, the tray might be dispensed with. That would permit the shafts turning over, and drawing the roller the contrary way without turning it; but this would occasion the horses being unyoked, turned the reverse way and reyoked. This roller complete is said to have cost about 1301.; its frame was of stout oak, but it broke by the strain of turning, and the whole is now on sale. There is such difficulty in turning rollers of this weight and length as renders them useless in one piece; they should either be divided into three lengths, or prepared for double shafts to turn over the roller as before spoken of. The road on which it has been used is without loose stones, but it is beginning to show symptoms of flutes, and these, probably, cannot be effectually repaired without picking it up, then adding fresh materials and pressing the old and the new materials together; and that is done in the best manner by' rollers. Messrs. Swan and Clay, of Hunslet, near Leeds, are said to be the road-makers of the place. The White Horse, opposite the church, is the best inn in Leeds.

tions that speak to the mind. Both are the daughters of Pleasure, and should both have the same object. As every age has been productive of improve ment, if in progress of time Virtue has borrowed the charms of both, to make a sweeter and more lively impression on our hearts, as Juno did the girdle of Venus, that she might appear the more amiable in Jupiter's eyes, care should be taken that the moral effect of this benefit conferred upon the arts, and society should not be lessened by injudicious displays of objects calculated to militate against the purer passions. The French are fond of classic subjects, but in borrowing from the imagery of the uncontrouled minds of the ancients, they are not sufficiently attentive to the proprieties of more chastened times. Painting addresses our minds by means of the senses, and by its effect upon these the French seem to appreciate the merit and value of a picture. Among the various attempts which I remarked to give a delineation on the canvas of the fine allegory of Psyche, my attention was particularly attracted to PICOT's "Love quitting Psyche during her Sleep." It is a beautiful picture, the imitation is good, but perspective and dimension are not sufficiently studied. We see in what Socrates reports of the skill of the artists in his time, what Leonardo da Vinci tells us in his treatise on painting, ought to be done in these particulars. We ought to arm ourselves with the rule and compass. The bed, a witness to their embraces, lies the length of the picture. Love faces the spectator just as he is spreading his wings to fly. He casts the last amorous glance on his beautiful mistress, and seems to bid her adieu, as if for ever. Psyche, unconscious of his parting, reclines in perfect, but naked, beauty. The King, on seeing this picture, said to the author in Italian, "Your Love has exhausted all his darts, but will soon find more."

"The Ashes of Phocion," by M.MEYNIER, of the Sorbonne. This is rather an odd name for a picture, yet it is what the artist has given to his piece, The subject is, however, not defective in interesting matter. Phocion, who possessed more virtue than generally falls to the lot of modern statesmen, was the only person in Athens whom Alexander acknowledged to be an honest man. Alexander sent him presents as marks of his high esteem:

Phocion was at the same time drawing water out of his well, and his wife was baking bread: yet he wisely refused the presents. He took up arms in defence of his country, and was successful against Philip of Macedon; yet the Athenians condemned him to death, and ordained that his body should be carried out of the bounds of Attica. They also forbade any citizen from lighting a fire to perform his obsequies. A poor man, who was to bury bodies, took upon himself the execution of the sentence. Having conveyed the corpse of Phocion beyond Eleusina, he took some fire on the territory of Megara, and burnt it. A woman from Megara, an eye-witness to these rites, collected the bones, took them by night to her house, and buried them near her hearth, saying, "I deposit these relics of an honest man, in the hope that they will thus be preserved, in order that they may one day be restored to the burial of his ancestors, when the Athenians shall have found out the fault they have committed." This scene is the subject of M. Meynier's picture. He has not, however, strictly adhered to the circumstances of the narrative. He supposes that the Megarian woman buries the ossals (bones) of Phocion at the foot of the altar of her household gods. This alteration is happy and poetical, for the Lares are thus made interested in the fate of innocence and virtue; and it seems to say, that the ashes of Phocion were considered by the woman as dear to her as her household deities. The husband of the woman, a young girl, a still younger boy, their children, are also introduced into the picture; and a slave is seen moving off in the back-ground. The piece is skilfully executed, and the affecting scene of these rites is made to convey a fine moral lesson. The painter intimates that the father is pointing with his hand to his son the pious work in which his mother is engaged, and is imparting to him the reflections which such a subject gives rise to. children appear to listen with holy and attentive look, while the mother, in a more prominent ground, deposits, on her knees, the bones she has collected, in the burying-place assigned to them. The chief fault in this performance is the want of identity in the remains of the Athenian orator and general; for they may be supposed to belong to any departed worthy, as well as to honest Phocion.

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