208 TORPIDITY OF SWALLOWS-LEPROSY. had all departed about the seventh of October, were seen again, for that one morning only, sporting between my fields and the Hanger, and feasting on insects which swarmed in that sheltered district. The preceding day was wet and blustering, but the fourth was dark, and mild, and soft, the wind at south-west, and the thermometer at 58; a pitch not common at that season of the year. Moreover, it may not be amiss to add in this place, that whenever the thermometer is above 50, the bat comes flitting out in every autumnal and winter month. From all these circumstances laid together, it is obvious that torpid insects, reptiles, and quadrupeds, are awakened from their profoundest slumbers by a little untimely warmth; and, therefore, that nothing so much promotes this deathlike stupor as a defect of heat. And farther, it is reasonable to suppose, that two whole species, or at least many individuals of these two species of British hirundines, do never leave this island at all, but partake of the same benumbed state; for we cannot suppose that, after a month's absence, house-martens can return from southern regions to appear for one morning in November, or that house-swallows should leave the districts of Africa to enjoy, in March, the transient summer of a couple of days. LETTER LXXIX. TO THE HON. DAINES BARRINGTON. SELBORNE, January 8, 1778. DEAR SIR, There was, in this village, several years ago, a miserable pauper, who, from his birth, was afflicted with a leprosy, as far as we are aware, of a singular kind, since it affected only the palms of his hands and the soles of his feet. This scaly eruption usually broke out twice in the year, at the spring and fall; and by peeling away, left the skin so thin and tender, that neither his hands nor feet were able to perform their functions; so that the poor object was half his time on crutches, incapable of employ, and languishing in a tiresome state of indolence and inactivity. His habit was lean, lank, and cadaverous. In this sad plight, he dragged on a miserable existence, a burden to himself and his parish, which was obliged to support him, till he was relieved by death, at more than thirty years of age. The good women, who love to account for every defect in children by the doctrine of longing, said that his mother felt a violent propensity for oysters, which she was unable to gratify, and that the black rough scurf on his hands and feet were the shells of that fish. We knew his parents, neither of whom were lepers his father, in particular, lived to be far advanced in years. In all ages, the leprosy has made dreadful havoc among mankind. The Israelites seem to have been greatly afflicted with it from the most remote times, as appears from the peculiar and repeated injunctions given them in the Levitical law.* Nor was the rancour of this foul disorder much abated in the last period of their commonwealth, as may be seen in many passages of the New Testament. Some centuries ago, this horrible distemper prevailed all over Europe; and our forefathers were by no means exempt, as appears by the large provision made for objects labouring under this calamity. There was an hospital for female lepers in the diocese of Lincoln, a noble one near Durham, three in London and Southwark, and perhaps many more in or near our great towns and cities. Moreover, some crowned heads, and other wealthy and charitable personages, bequeathed large legacies to such poor people as languished under this hopeless infirmity. It must, therefore, in these days, be, to a humane and thinking person, a matter of equal wonder and satisfaction, when he contemplates how nearly this pest is eradicated, and observes that a leper is now a rare sight. He will, moreover, when engaged in such a train of thought, naturally inquire for the reason. This happy change, perhaps, may have originated and been continued from the much smaller quantity of salted meat and fish now eaten in these kingdoms-from the use of linen next the skinand from the plenty of better bread from the profusion of fruits, roots, legumes, and greens, so common in every family. † Three or four centuries ago, before there were any enclosures, sown grasses, field turnips, or field carrots, or hay, all the cattle that had grown fat in summer, and were not killed for winter use, were turned out soon after Michaelmas to shift as they could through the dead months; See Leviticus, chap. xiii. and xiv. +In former times many affections of the skin, especially impetiginous eruptions, were mistaken for leprosy, and confounded with scurvy, which is also a different disease. The disuse of salted provisions as a daily article of diet, and the employment of vegetables, sugar, and diluting drinks, have caused the rare occurrence of these diseases in the present, day. -ED. so that no fresh meat could be had in winter or spring. Hence the marvellous account of the vast stores of salted flesh found in the larder of the eldest Spencer,* in the days of Edward the Second, even so late in the spring as the third of May. It was from magazines like these that the turbulent barons supported in idleness their riotous swarms of retainers, ready for any disorder or mischief. But agriculture has now arrived at such a pitch of perfection, that our best and fattest meats are killed in the winter; and no man needs eat salted flesh, unless he prefer it, that has money to buy fresh. One cause of this distemper might be, no doubt, the quantity of wretched fresh and salt fish consumed by the commonalty at all seasons, as well as in Lent, which our poor now would hardly be persuaded to touch. The use of linen changes, shirts or shifts, in the room of sordid or filthy woollen, long worn next the skin, is a matter of neatness comparatively modern, but must prove a great means of preventing cutaneous ails. At this very time, woollen instead of linen prevails among the poorer Welsh, who are subject to foul eruptions. The plenty of good wheaten bread that now is found among all ranks of people in the south, instead of that miserable sort which used in old days to be made of barley or beans, may contribute not a little to the sweetening their blood and correcting their juices; for the inhabitants of mountainous districts, to this day, are still liable to the itch and other cutaneous disorders, from a wretchedness and poverty of diet. As to the produce of a garden, every middle-aged person of observation may perceive, within his own memory, both in town and country, how vastly the consumption of vegetables is increased. Green stalls in cities now support multitudes in a comfortable state, while gardeners get fortunes. Every decent labourer, also, has his garden, which is half his support, as well as his delight; and common farmers provide plenty of beans, pease, and greens, for their hinds to eat with their bacon; and those few that do not are despised for their sordid parsimony, and looked upon as regardless of the welfare of their dependents. Potatoes have prevailed in this little district, by means of premiums, within these twenty years only, and are much esteemed here now by the poor, who would scarce have ventured to taste them in the last reign. Namely, six hundred bacons, eighty carcasses of beef, and six hundred muttons. Our Saxon ancestors certainly had some sort of cabbage, because they call the month of February sprout-cale; * but long after their days, the cultivation of gardens was little attended to. The religious, being men of leisure, and keeping up a constant correspondence with Italy, were the first people among us who had gardens and fruit trees in any perfection, within the walls of their abbeys† and priories. The barons neglected every pursuit that did not lead to war, or tend to the pleasure of the chase. It was not till gentlemen took up the study of horticulture themselves that the knowledge of gardening made such hasty advances. Lord Cobham, Lord Ila, and Mr Waller of Beaconsfield, were some of the first people of rank that promoted the elegant science of ornamenting, without despising the superintendence of the kitchen quarters and fruit walls. I A remark made by the excellent Mr Ray, in his Tour of Europe, at once surprises us, and corroborates what has been advanced above; for we find him observing, so late as his days, that "the Italians use several herbs for salads, which are not yet, or have not been but lately, used in England, viz. selleri, (celery,) which is nothing else but the sweet smallage, the young shoots whereof, with a little of the head of the root cut off, they eat raw with oil and pepper." And farther, he adds, "curled endive, blanched, is much used beyond seas, and, for a raw salad, seemed to excel lettuce itself." Now this journey was undertaken no longer ago than in the year 1663. The Saxons derived the names of their months from similar causes, -March was called stormy month; May, Trimilki, from cows being milked thrice a day in that month; June was called diet and weed month; and September barley month.- - ED. + "In monasteries, the lamp of knowledge continued to burn, however dimly. In them, men of business were formed for the state. The art of writing was cultivated by the monks; they were the only proficients in mechanics, gardening, and architecture.' See DALRYMPLE'S Annals of Scotland. Horticulture has made great progress in Britain since our author's time. Societies have been established, experimental gardens formed, premiums awarded for the best vegetables produced, and an excellent magazine, exclusively devoted to horticultural science, has been published for some years, under the able direction of Mr J. C. Loudon. -ED. . LETTER LXXX. TO THE HON. DAINES BARRINGTON. SELBORNE, February 12, 1778. Fortè puer, comitum seductus ab agmine fido, DEAR SIR,-In a district so diversified as this, so full of hollow vales and hanging woods, it is no wonder that echoes should abound. Many we have discovered, that return the cry of a pack of dogs, the notes of a hunting horn, a tunable ring of bells, or the melody of birds, very agreeably; but we were still at a loss for a polysyllabical articulate echo, till a young gentleman, who had parted from his company in a summer evening walk, and was calling after them, stumbled upon a very curious one, in a spot where it might least be expected. At first, he was much surprised, and could not be persuaded but that he was mocked by some boy; but repeating his trials in several languages, and finding his respondent to be a very adroit polyglot, he then discerned the deception. This echo, in an evening before rural noises cease, would repeat ten syllables most articulately and distinctly, especially if quick dactyls were chosen. The last syllables of Tityre, tu patulæ recubans were as audibly and intelligibly returned as the first; and there is no doubt, could trial have been made, but that at midnight, when the air is very elastic, and a dead stillness prevails, one or two syllables more might have been obtained; but the. distance rendered so late an experiment very inconvenient. Quick dactyls, we observed, succeeded best; for when we came to try its powers in slow, heavy embarrassed spondees, of the same number of syllables, Monstrum horrendum, informe, ingens we could perceive a return but of four or five.* * There is a very extraordinary echo at a ruined fortress near Lourain in France. If a person sings, he only hears his own voice, without any repetition; on the contrary, those who stand at some distance, hear the echo, but not the voice; but then they hear it with surprising variations, sometimes louder, sometimes softer, now more near, then more distant. |