the erecting of huts or cottages would be rather amufement than toil.

Any nation may adopt fuch fyftem of confinement. The bountiful hand of Nature has given us, in Britain, an eafy and fafe method of civilizing nations in the article of prifoners of war. Lochlomond contains thirty islands. The largeft, named Inchmurin, is faid to be two miles and a half in length. The combined purposes of public and private duties, viz. of fafety and of humanity, are here attainable; and the proprietors of the islands would be benefited by the expenditure of fome hundreds, possibly of fome thousands, of fixpences a-day. Cal. Merc. PERTINAX.

For the SCOTS MAGAZINE. Questions by Sir ALEXANDER DICK, with Anfwers by the Rev. Mr TEMPLE of Devonshire, concerning the making of CYDER, which it were to be wished

were attended to in Scotland. Communicated by JAMES BOSWELL, Efq; Question 1. Could not a fmall quantity of Cyder, fuch as two hogfheads, be eafily made, without the large rolling-ftone, by bruifing the apples in a large mortar with a peftle, and fqueezing them in a common prefs of fmall dimenfions? And in fqueezing and bruiting them is it ufual to add any water? if fo, in what proportion?

Anfwer. It might, if a fufficient quantity of apples can be bruifed and fqueezed in two days; but this will be very troublefome; and there is a hand-machine to be got in London, which will anfwer the purpofe infinitely better than a peftle and mortar. No water must be ufed.

2.2. Is it common to add fummer and winter apples together? It is the fweet Cyder we want to make.

A. Summer and winter apples fhould not be mixed. Sweet Cyder must be made of fweet apples. Racking, or drawing it off from one cafk into an other, adds greatly to the mellownefs or fweetnefs.

Q3. In what time does the juice of apples commonly ferment in the cafk or hogfhead? And is it common to add yeft? And is it not neceffary to fill the cafk up when it is working?

4. After the juice is put in the cafk, (which, as mentioned above, must be in

two days after beginning to bruise the apples), it must ftand till a brown crust appears at the bung, (its only mode of fermentation); which, if the weather be clear, generally happens in four and twenty hours. You must then try, by means of a peg at the bottom, whether the liquor be clear and fine. If fo, draw it off immediately into another cask: if muddy, wait a few hours longer. No thing works out of the cafk, therefore it needs no filling. Nor is yeft at all u fed.

24. Should the apples be perfectly ripe? And at what time fhould they be put up to sweat? and how long remain fweating in a heap before bruifing and fqueezing?

A. The apples cannot be too ripe They fhould be put in a heap to fwe about a fortnight before they are bruifed

5. At what time is the Cyder in th hoghead to give over fermenting? An when is it fit for bottling and use? Is not Perry made up in the fame man ner?

A. It may be bottled about Ladyday It must be racked three or four times but no more, at the diftance of a fort night between the first and fecond rack a ing. The third racking fhould be about a month before bottling. Fit to drink as foon as bottled.-Perry is made e actly in the fame way.

Q.6. How long will fweet Cyder keep good in the bottles?

A. Sweet Cyder, if well corked and rofined, will keep good in bottles aboa two years.

IMMODERATE STUDY.

From Percival's Moral Tales.

Sophron had paffed the day in very in

tenfe application to his favourite ftudy. The thades of the evening in fenfibly ftole upon him. He called for his lamp, and fupplied it with an extraordinary quantity of oil, that it might burn till midnight. The flame was lan guid and glimmering. He added more oil. It yielded a fill fainter light. A gain he replenished the lamp. They flame became dimmer. He clofed Fis book; and was foon left in total darknefs.

-

Ah! ftudious youth, ufe not with fuch profufion the facred oil of learn ing! Thus lavishly applied, it will extinguifh, not brighten, the intelle&us! lamp that burns within thee.

The

The Hiftory of 1777, continued. [185.]

NORTH AMERICA.

Nothing could exceed the aftonishment and terror which the lofs of Ticonderoga, and its immediate confequences, fpread throughout the New-England provinces. The General's manifefto, in which he displayed the powers and numbers of the favages, added perhaps to the effect. It was remarkable, however, that in the midft of all thefe difafters, ind confequent terrors, no fort of difsofition to fubmit appeared in any quar

er.

The New-England governments in parcalar, though most immediately menaed, did not fink under their apprenhen. on of the common danger. They, as well as the congrefs, acted with vigour and firmness in their efforts to repel the memy. Arnold, whom we have lately en at the engagement at Danbury [66.], as immediately fent to the reinforce tent of the northern army, who carried ith him a train of artillery which he reved from Washington. On his arriil, he drew the American troops back om Saratoga to Still water, a central tuation between that place and the outh of the Mohawk river, where it Is into Hudfon's. This movement as to be the nearer at hand to check progrefs of Col. St Leger, who was advancing upon the former of these ers. His forces were daily increased rough the outrages of the favages, who, otwithstanding the regulations and eneavours of Gen. Burgoyne, were too tone to the exercise of their ufual crueles, to be effectually reftrained by any jeans. The friends of the royal caufe, well as its enemies, were equally vicma to their indifcriminate rage. Among ther inftances of this nature, the murgr of Mifs Macrea, which happened me fmall time after, ftruck every breaft ith horror. Every circumftance of this orrid tranfaction ferved to render it pore calamitous and afflicting. The ung lady is reprefented to have been all the innocence of youth, and bloom beauty. Her father was faid to be ply interested in the royal caufe; and, wind up the catastrophe of this odious agedy, he was to have been married a British officer on the very day that was maffacred. [39.648.] Occafion was thence taken to exafpeate the people, and to blacken the royal VOL. XLI.

party and army. People were too apt to jumble promifcuoufly, and to place in one point of view, the cruelties of thefe barbarians, and the cause in which they were exerted. They equally execrated both. Whilft they abhorred and detefted that army, which fubmitted to accept of fuch an aid, they loudly condemned and reprobated that government, which could call fuch auxiliaries into a civil conteft; thereby endeavouring, as they faid, not to fubdue, but to exterminate, a people whom they affected to confider, and pretended to reclaim, as fubjects. Gen. Gates, in the course of thefe tranfactions, was not wanting by several publications to aggravate and inflame the picture of thefe exceffes; and with no fmall effect.

By this means, the advantages expected from the terror excited by these favage auxiliaries were not only counteracted, but this terror rather, it may be thought, produced a directly contrary effect. The inhabitants of the open and frontier countries had no choice of acting; they had no means of fecurity left, but by abandoning their habitations, and taking up arms. Every man faw the neceffity of becoming a temporary foldier, not only for his own fecurity, but for the protec tion and defence of thofe connections which are dearer than life itself. Thus an army was poured forth by the woods, mountains, and marshes, which in this part were thickly fown with plantations and villages. The Americans recalled their courage; and when their regular army feemed to be entirely wafted, the fpirit of the country produced a much greater and more formidable force.

In the mean time, the army under Gen. Burgoyne, in the neighbourhood of Fort Edward, began to experience thofe difficulties, which increased as it farther advanced, until they at length became infurmountable. From the 30th of July to the 15th of Auguft, the army was continually employed, and every poffible measure used, for the bringing forward of batteaux, provisions, and ammunition, from Fort George to the firft navigable part of Hudfon's river, a diftance of about eighteen miles. The toil was exceffive in this fervice, and the ef fect in no degree equivalent to the expence of labour and time. The roads were in fome parts fteep, and in others required great repairs. Of the horses which had been fupplied by contract in G g

Canada

Canada, through the various delays and accidents attending so long and intricate a combination of paffage by land and carriage by water, not more than one third were yet arrived. The induftry of the General had been able to collect no more than fifty teams of oxen in all the country through which he had marched, or this in which he at prefent fojourned. Thefe refources were totally inadequate to the purposes of fupplying the army with provitions for its current confumption, and to the establishment at the fame time of fuch a magazine as would enable it to profecute the further operations of the campaign. Exceeding heavy rains added to all thefe difficulties; and the impediments to the fervice were fo various and ftubborn, that after the utmoft exertions for fifteen fucceffive days, there was not above four days provifion in store, nor above ten batteaux in the Hudfon's river.

In thefe embarraffing and diftreffing circumftances, the General received intelligence, that Col. St Leger had arrived before, and was conducting his operations against Fort Stanwix. He inftantly and juftly conceived, that a rapid movement forward at this critical juncture would be of the utmost importance. If the enemy proceeded up the Mohawk, and that St Leger fucceeded, he would be liable to get between two fires; or at any rate, Gen. Burgoyne's army would get between him and Albany, fo that he muft either ftand an action, or by paffing the Hudson's river, endeavour to fecure a retreat higher up to the New-England provinces. If, on the other hand, he abandoned Fort Stanwix to its fate, and fell back to Albany, the Mohawk country would of courfe be entirely laid open, the junction with St Leger eftablished, and the combined army at liberty and leifure to prescribe and chufe its future line of operation.

The propriety of the movement was evident; but the difficulty lay, and great indeed it was, in finding means to carry the design into execution. To maintain fuch a communication with Fort George during the whole time of fo extenfiye a movement, as would afford a daily fupply of provifion to an army, whilst its diftance was continually increafing, and its courfe liable to frequent variation, was obviously impracticable. The army was too weak to afford a chain of pofts for fuch an extent; continual escorts for

every separate fupply would be a ftill greater drain; and in either case, the enemy had a body of militia within a night's march, at White Creek, fufficient to break the line of communication.

Some other fource of fupply was there. fore to be fought, or the defign to be dropped, and the profpect of advantage which it prefented totally relinquished. The enemy received large fupplies of live cattle from the New-England provinces, which paffing the upper part of the Con necticut river, took the route of Man chefter, Arlington, and other parts of the New-Hampshire grants, a tract of land difputed between that province and New York, until they were at length de pofited at Bennington, from whence they were conveyed as occafion required to the rebel-army. Bennington lies between the forks of the Hofick river, before their obtaining that name, and without being touched by either, and not twenty mile to the eastward of Hudson's; a place f obfcure, and so incapable from fituation of being otherwise, that nothing but the prefent troubles could have called it int notice. It was, however, at this time befides being a store for cattle, a depof for large quantities of corn and other ne ceffaries; and what rendered it an obi ject of particular attention to the royal army, a large number of wheel-carriages of which they were in particular want were also laid up there. This place wa guarded by a body of militia, which un derwent fuch frequent changes that it number was neceffarily uncertain.

The General faw, that the poffeffio of this deposit would at once remove al the impediments that restrained the ope rations of the army, and enable him to proceed directly in the profecution of hi defign. He accordingly laid a scheme ti surprise the place, and intrusted the exe cution of it to the German Lt-Col. Baum who had been already selected, and wa then preparing to conduct an expedition tending to fimilar purposes, towards the borders of the Connecticut river.

The force allotted to this fervice a mounted to about 500 men, confifting of about zoo of Reidefel's dismounted German dragoons, Capt. Frafer's marksmen, the Canada volunteers, a party of provin cials who were perfectly acquainted with the country, and about 100 Indians; the corps carried with them two light pieces of artillery.

In order to facilitate this operation.

and

and to be ready to take advantage of its fuccefs, the army moved up the east fhore of Hudfon's river, where it incamped nearly oppofite to Saratoga, having at the fame thrown a bridge of rafts over, by which the advanced corps were paffed to that place. At the fame time Lt-Col. Breyman's corps, confifting of the Brunswick grenadiers, light infantry, and chaffeurs, were pofted at Batten Kill, in order if neceffary to fupport Baum.

The latter in his march fell in with a party of the enemy who were escorting fome cattle and provifions, both of which he took with little difficulty, and fent back to the camp. The fame fatal impediment which retarded all the operations of the army, viz. the want of horses and car riages, concurred with the badnefs of the roads in rendering Baum's advance fo tedious, that the enemy were well in formed of his defign, and had time to prepare for his reception. Upon his ap proach to the place, having received in telligence, that the enemy were too ftrong to be attacked by his prefent force with any profpect of fuccefs, he took a tolerable good poft near Santcoick mills, on the nearer branch of what becomes afterwards the Hofick river, which is there called Walloon creek, and at about four miles diftance from Bennington; dispatching at the fame time an exprefs to the General with an account of his fituation.

Col. Breyman was accordingly difpatched from Batten Kill to reinforce Baum. That evil fortune now began to appear, which for fome time after continued to sweep every thing before it. Breyman was fo overlayed by bad weather, fo funk and embarraffed in bad roads, and met with fuch delays from the weakness and tiring of horses, and the difficulty of paffing the artillery-carrlages, through a country fcarcely practicable at any time, and now rendered much worse by the continual rain, that he was from eight in the morning of the 15th of Auguft, to four in the afternoon of the following day, notwithstanding every poffible exertion of men and officers, in getting forward about twenty-four miles.

A General Starke, who commanded the militia at Bennington, determined not to wait for the junction of the two parties, advanced in the morning of Aug. 16. whilft Breyman was yet frug

gling with the difficulties of his march, to attack Baum in his poft, which he had intrenched, and rendered as defenfible as time and its nature would permit. The loyal provincials who were along with him, were fo eager in their hopes to find what they wished to be real, that when the enemy were furrounding his poft on all fides, they for fome time perfuaded him, that they were bodies of armed friends who were coming to his affiftance. The Colonel foon difcovered their error, and made a brave defence. His fmall works being at length carried on every fide, and his two pieces of cannon taken, moft of the Indians, with feveral of the provincials, Canadians, and British markfmen, escaped in the woods. The German dragoons ftill kept together, and when their ammunition was expended, were bravely led by their Colonel to charge with their fwords. They were foon overwhelmed, and the furvivors, a mong whom was their wounded colonel, were made prisoners.

Breyman, who had the hard fortune not to receive the smalleft information of this engagement, arrived near the fame ground about four in the afternoon, where, instead of meeting his friends, he found his detachment attacked on all fides by the enemy. Notwitstanding the fevere fatigue they had undergone, his troops behaved with great vigour and refolution, and drove the Americans in the beginning from two or three different Bills on which they had pofts. were, however, at length overpowered, and their ammunition being unfortunately expended, although each foldier had brought out forty rounds in his pouch, they were obliged, with great reluctance, to abandon the two pieces of artillery they had brought with them, and to retreat in the beft manner they could; a circumftance to which the lateness of the evening was very favourable.

They

The lofs of men sustained by these two engagements could not be less than five or fix hundred; of whom, however, the greater part were prifoners. But this was not the only or the greatest lofs. The reputation and courage which it afforded to the militia, to find that they were able to defeat regular forces; that neither Englishmen nor Germans were invincible, nor invulnerable to their impreflion; and the hope and confidence excited by the artillery, and other trophies of victory, were of much greater G 8-2

confe