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Recent Journey from Riga to the Crimea.

was much less violent,though still, you may imagine, not very pleasant, over bad road, in a carriage without springs. What would an English lady say to a journey round England in a covered waggon? and yet that would be far preferable to that we have had,because the accommodation on the road would be so very much superior. From Riga we travelled three stages without delay, except to change horses; and then stopped to breakfast: this (to make as quick a meal as possible) unavoidably took up much time,-because so much was necessarily spent in packing and unpacking. Our canteens, tea-kettle, and provisions, which we had purchased at Riga, were regularly unpacked twice a-day no accommodation of this kind is to be had; and, where you stop for horses, they are obliged to find you quarters, that is, to allow you to be in their room; which, during the latter part of our journey, bas, like an Irish cabin, been used for pigs, calves, and poultry also; but nothing more is to be expected from them. We have, I believe, always found a table of some kind, but not always seats,-chairs scarcely ever. After breakfasting, and repacking our stores, we again started; and continued travelling until evening, when we stopped to dine, or drink tea, of which we made one meal: and Mr. Y. having got a very bad cold, and much reason to fear a return of his sore-throat, we purposed remaining here; but the want of accommodation, (for we could not at first put up with that which afterwards, by use, became familiar,) obliged us to proceed. At the next stage we were not more fortunate; and I began to feel extremely uneasy, and to fear that I should never get through our undertaking: however, we journied on, until we reached Kreitzburg, a Polish town, and were very thankful to get into a house, where I had the accommodation of a neat and comfortable room to myself; to this, however, there was one drawback,-I had not been used to the heat of the stoves: for the rooms we occupied at Riga were so large, that they were never oppressively hot; but this little room had been made as hot as a West-India summer, and such effectual pains taken to exelude every particle of cold air from it, that I was very long before I could be sufficiently freed from the fear of suffocation to attempt to sleep; and, as Mr. Y.'s room was next to mine, I was not willing to dis

[Aug. F,.

turb him by any complaint. Whatever
there is of barbarity in this country, and
although, in so many points, they are so
far behind us in the requisites of com-
fort, how strange it is that, in the most
essential,-in that of heating a house,—
they so very far surpass us. The stoves
throw out an immense heat into the
room. Every room that is inhabited is
regularly heated once, and in very cold
weather twice, a-day; and it is incon-
ceivable with how little firing the rooms
in this country are warm throughout:
a man, with his arms full of wood,
comes and makes a fire in your stove;
this is permitted to burn until it is alt
become perfectly clear embers: an iron
damper, that closes up the chimney of
the stove, is then put on; and the heat,
by that means, thrown into the room.
This is repeated in an evening;
and you
have the comfort of a regular heat, which
an English house never knows. To
exclude perfectly the open air, they have
double windows, and the internal has
every crevice in its frame filled up with
tow, over which is pasted a strong
paper; the space at the bottom be-
tween the two windows is filled up with
fine sand: so that it is not possible any
air should enter.

At Kreitzburg there is a country. house belonging to General Korfe Baron Stendal: the gentlemen, understanding there was much game, sent to ask permission to take a few hours' diversion: which was granted; and the General sent a servant, with dogs, to attend them. They hunt the hares here with greyhounds, taking out from ten, or twelve, to twenty, dogs, which are all let loose at once; so that poor puss has, of course, small chance of escape. One may almost suppose they have, by this means, exterminated the breed, or else the game-keeper did not think it requisite to shew where the game was; for the gentlemen soon returned, seeing no chance of finding what they sought. A few stations farther on they told us there had been no hares seen for two years; and, previous to that, they were in great profusion.

We staid at Kreitzburg until Wednesday morning,-not having been able to procure horses the preceding day. There was nothing to be seen in this place worthy a remark, except the houseI have already mentioned. Our delay, however, served to refresh us, and we started better prepared for continuing the journey.

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1818.] Dr. Tyler on Cleaning Chimneys without Climbing-Boys.

From Kreitzburg we proceeded, with little interruption (though very slowly, on account of bad roads), to the next station. The next stage was still more tedious. The horses here are extremely small,-about the size of our poueys; and the largest not bigger than what we call Galloways,-except, in the large towns, some few kept by private gentlemen: they have universally long manes and tails, which are kept on to protect them from the flies, that, in all hot climates, are more partieularly troublesome. The harness of the horses, as it belongs to the owners of the horses, and not of the carriages, may be supposed not very splendid. The horses are fastened by ropes to the carriage, and a rein of rope to each is held by the drivers, while a short rein fastens each horse to the one next it. We have always had four horses a-breast in the brichka; sometimes they drive five and six in heavy carriages; and then they are placed three 2-breast, and two before, with a postillion on one of them; the drivers are called yemshecks.

The costume of the Russian peasant is very different to the English, and consequently very striking to an English eye. Whatever it may want in appearance, it is substantially good, and well adapted to the severity of the climate. The man's dress consists of a shirt of very coarse linen, made with only a sort of binding, or very narrow collar round the top; a pair of very large full breeches, of the sanie material; and a large pair of boots, or sometimes extremely coarse stockings, with shoes of the bark of birch, a sheep-skin made up with the wool inside, in the form of a loose coat; and over this, when the weather is very cold, another coat of extremely coarse woollen cloth, often made with a hood; a cap of coarse woollen cloth, with a broad fur of some common kind, mor more frequently sheep-skin, or lamb-skin around it, about a hand's breadth in depth. Thus equipped, they travel at all hours, and in all weathers; and might, but for their own imprudence, travel with impunity, and without fear of the weather: but they are extremely addicted to drunkenness, and, in this state, many hundred of them perish in a year. When the frosts are severe, and they are travelling in the night, the incautious use of the common spirit they call brandy, overpowers their faculties; and they fall

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asleep while driving, and are frozen to death. The brandy, in common use here, is something like English gin; but not so good: it is drunk in immense quantitics. Ale they have no idea of brewing.. Their common drink is quass, which is not so good as our best small beer: it is sometimes made of flour and water, with herbs; sometimes with different sorts of fruit; and this latter kind is a much pleasanter drink,-though it is all sour; and, therefore, I am yet but little judge of it. The method of making it is very simple: a large barrel is filled with fruit, sometimes plums, sometimes apples, crabs; or, in fact, any fruit which you have in sufficient abundance to make it from. There is then put into the cask as much water as it will hold; and, in fifteen days, it is fit to drink. When a few gallons are drawn off, it is filled up again with water, to make it last out until the time of the year when fresh can be made.

This however is a subject I ought rather to have reserved until I had reach ed the Crimea, where fruit is found in such profusion as to be used for this purpose; but, as remarks rise in my mind, I write them,-assured that my letter will not be read by those who will criticise its contents.

(To be continued.)

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To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine.

SIR,

BEG leave to communicate, through

the medium of your Magazine, a very simple, but effectual, mode of cleaning chimneys; which, if practised, may ultimately do away the necessity. of employing climbing-boys,

I make an opening, about eight inches square, into each funnel, inside the house, as near the roof as possible; through which opening a man introduces a rope, long enough to reach the hearth below; a holly-bush, being fastened to the rope, is repeatedly drawn up and down the chimney, by the assistance of a man with a rope below. A Dutch hoe or scraper is next attached to the upper rope, which the man above pulls within his reach at the opening; and thus he is enabled to scrape the soot from the upper part of the chimney, which is beyond the reach of the bush.

In cities where holly is scarce, a whalebone brush or fan can be had, which will answer the purpose even better than holly: a slate or stone can be fitted to the opening in the funnel, € 2

and

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Mr. Furlong on the Tendency of Literary Pursuits. [Aug. 1,

and fixed with mortar, as a security against fire or smoke.

HENRY H. TYLER, M.D. Newton Limavady; May 19.

P.S. Respecting a cheap place of resi dence, enquired after by some of your correspondents, I can recommend this place as one of the cheapest in Britain.

To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine.

SIR,

T is a maxim very generally received, that no injuries strike deeper or produce a more fatal effect, than those which are received at the hands of a friend; the wound, in some instances, may be given unintentionally, but the impression is still the same. When the clergyman endeavours, either by his conduct or his language, to degrade religion; when the lawyer exposes the little necessary tricks of his calling; when the physician draws on his brethren the scorn of the multitude by opening the secret defects of the profession; in every case of this kind we are apt to consider the attack as the more dangerous in coming from those who should seem the most likely to deliver sentiments of another tendency.Perhaps the same observation will be found equally applicable to those who devote their time and attention to literary vocations; and, at the same time, affect to doubt the usefulness or propriety of them. In the writings of many men of genius there are expressions that certainly indicate a sirit very different from that which characterizes the rest of the world. Men, in general, endeavour to make others imagine that they enjoy more comfort than they are really in possession of: they seem willing to excite not the pity, but the envy, of the rest of their species. With literary characters the case appears entirely different: the satisfaction arising from a conscious sense of superior endowments, the pleasure derived from occasional composition, and, above all, the gratification received from the applause of the wise and the virtuous; these are points that are overlooked,-while the contrary side of the picture is studiously exhibited: one of them, in a moment of illhumour, will exclaim, that a literary life is a life of unending care and anxiety; another of them will say, that poverty, disappointment, and neglect, are its constant attendants; while a third will seriously tell you, that genius merely brings misery to the possessor, that the improvement of the mind gives

but a painful pre-eminence, and that the tree of knowledge, although fair and tempting to the view, will not produce the fruit calculated to nourish and support the wanderer on his way to the dwelling of peace, or of innocence. In some particular instances, it is probable that these complaints may be just; but, on the whole, I imagine the pleasures, if properly estimated, will be found by a considerable proportion to overbalance the pain.

At the head of this murmuring tribe stands the highly gifted, but eccentric, Rousseau,- a man certainly of an extraordinary cast, a man who exerted all his zeal and all his eloquence to prove that the spirit of civilization, or the progress of refinement, to whose salutary influ ence he owed every thing, were,in the end, inimical to the general welfare of society. After what others have said in reply, it need only be asked, what would he have been if left to the guidance of his irritable feelings and ungovernable passions; instead of ranking him with the most celebrated of modern philosophers, we should probably seek for his name in the catalogue of remarkable suicides, fanatics, or assassins.

Imbibing his doctrine with eagerness, there are many who have maintained, that an attachment to letters will generally render men unfit for managing the common transactions of life,-in distracting the attention, by introducing ideas of a foreign character; in giving the feelings an acuteness that may be called painful; and, finally, in weakening or agitating the nerves, so as to leave them unable to sustain the most moderate degree of application or fatigue.

In answer to this, it may be said, that, in men of genius, there is frequently found a delicacy of nerve, and an undefinable quickness of feeling, which, if not corrected in time, will ultimately injure them in their progress through life. It is supposed, however, that it is a failing not essentially dependent on the mind; probably it proceeds, in some degree, from the peculiar organization of the frame. But literary pursuits, when indulged with moderation, will not cause or create a weakness of this sort: on the contrary, they may, when properly directed, tend to effect a cure.

The other remark, that such amusements have a tendency to distract the attention, to lead the mind away from objects of more immediate interest, may be allowed to have some foundation in truth; but it should be remembered, that

1818.] Mr. Furlong on the Tendency of Literary Pursuits.

every leading inclination, when indulged to excess, will produce an effect exactly similar. The theatre, the racecourse, the gaming table, or the lottery, have been the occupation, the amusement, and ultimately the destruction, of thousands; yet they have been allowed to drop into the grave without a remark; in fact, their obscurity has proved their protection: but that is an exemption that the literary character cannot, or would not, be blest with. However, there have been many who have freely indulged their taste for letters, and, at the same time, attended with care and regularity to the calls of business: as a proof, we need only mention the names of Richardson, Dodsley, Glover, and Hoole, with a few others.

Another class of murmurers will admit, that a general acquaintance with the antient and modern classics may seem necessary for those of a professional cast; but that the love of literature, that is, merely for its own sake, will seldom contribute to one's advanceinent in virtue or in happiness. Now, the part of this sentence which relates to happiness can never be thoroughly determined: happiness, or even content, is a blessing that must be estimated by the peculiar feelings or disposition of every individual,-the felicity or the misery of every human being must rest within himself: the mere ignorant, illiterate tradesman may accumulate wealth; he may, as far as eating and drinking are concerned, enjoy the good things of this world; he may pass through life with tranquillity, and sink into the tomb without exciting observation. But there are spirits to whom such a life, or the prospect of such a death, would be absolute torture; there are beings who would readily prefer poverty and distinction to all the comforts attendant on affluence, when accompanied by obscurity.

With regard to the assistance or impediment which literary amusements may give to our progress in virtue, I am afraid but little can be said. Men of every cast, the peasant and the philosopher, the poet and the peer, generally resemble cach other in their faults; they are all too often and too easily misled by their unruly passions. Yet, on the whole, it is probable that the mau of letters will be found to have an advantage. La every situation in life there will be some starts of leisure or idleness; these starts will be employed by every man in those pursuits that are

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consonant with his temper or his disposition: the mere slave of pleasure will resort to the tavern or the brothel; in the latter, spurning the laws of religion, and the maxims of morality; and, in the former, divesting himself of his reason, and impairing, at the same moment, his health and his fortune: the literary character may probably spend his hour at home; his employments may be frivolous or idle, but they will generally be innocent; by the act of reading, or of occa-. sional composition, he is frequently kept from participating in amusements of a more culpable description. These pursuits furnish a gratification to himself, and probably give entertainment or instruction to others: they keep him from feeling the weary weight of time; for, while others are only enduring, he is enjoying, it; and, finally, if he happen to be a man of talent, they may at one period or other yield him some pecuniary advantage.

"We writers, (says the ingenious author of Old Nick,) in our amusements, have one advantage at least:- -while others pay dearly for their enjoyments, we often receive payment for ours."

No writer, however, can derive a lasting satisfaction from his works, if he feel that they are likely to produce a bad effect: the world may applaud, but he must condemn himself. Gibbon the historian, while in sickness, consoled himself with the reflection that, while he lay there in pain and uneasiness, his productions were spreading delight and information from the banks of the Ganges to the borders of the Delaware. How sincere would his enjoyment have been, had he thought them capable of diffusing the precepts of religion, or the maxims of virtue: when they are of the latter character, the author can look back on the moments employed in composing them with a feeling of self-approbation.

On the whole, writers should seldom suffer a complaint to escape them; they should feel, and know, and acknowledge, the advantages that they possess ; they should learn that, as the world is situated, their state is comparatively happy; they may want wealth, they may want ease, they may want those gaudy appendages sometimes attached to rank and fashion, but more frequently allied to folly: still, in the resources of a cultivated mind, they possess every thing; they have a solace in sickness, a companion in solitude, a friend in misfortune; and, even when the childish enjoy

ments

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Church Preferments.-Collectanea Dietetica.

ments of this world grow insipid, the inspiring thought of having their names remembered hereafter can deprive the grave of half its victory, and render death almost desirable.

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SIR,

SHALL feel much obliged by your giving insertion to the following queries in your Magazine of next mouth: -Can a doctor of divinity hold a prebendal stall; a living in the same city, above value; and also a living, under value, in another county; together with a perpetual curacy adjoining the latter place?

The object of the enquiry is to asccrtain whether he can hold the perpetual euracy, according to the present existing laws of the land, and in addition to his other church preferments?

The writer of this article will feel himself particularly obliged to any of your able correspondents for information on this subject, as may determine the question. And also, should the present possessor not be fully justified in holding these different preferments, whether an action may not be brought against him for still retaining the perpetual curacy: and whether he is not required to do the positive duty of the living he holds, unconnected with his prebendal stall, and living annexed to it, as well as of the curacy, if he dismiss his officiating curate, (who has been acknowledged as such by the bishop of the diocese,) without any sufficient cause for such dismission?

A CONSTANT READER.

For the Monthly Magazine. COLLECTANEA DIETETICA.*

BILBERRIES.

ILBERRIES, synonimously black

wind berries, and blea berries, are pleasantly subacid, accompanied with a slight degree of astringency; they are very pleasant, either taken by themselves or with milk and sugar, or made into tarts. They are said to be much employed in Germany and other parts of the continent, for communicating a colour and roughness to the new white wines; by which, aided by the addition of a little alum, they are made to pass

We beg pardon of this intelligent correspondent for the past delay which this valuable article has experienced.

[Aug. 1, Willich men

for genuine red wines.* tions, that the first tender leaves of the plant cannot be distinguished from real tea, when properly gathered and dried in the shade.

BIRCH.

of

The sap of the birch-tree, extracted in spring, has been long remarked for its saccharine qualities, and for furnishing by fermentation agreeable spirituous liquors. The mode of procuring the juice is nearly the same as that mentioned under the article Arrack. Evelyn,† however, has given such particular directions of the custom, at that time, and which are equally applicable to the present, that we shall transcribe them: "About the beginning March, (he says,) when the boughs begin to be proud and turgid, and before they explain into leaves, with a chisel and a mallet, cut a slit almost as deep as the very pith, under some bough or branch, of a well spreading birch; cut it oblique, and not long ways, (as a good chirurgeon would make his orifice in a vein,) inserting a small stone or chip, to keep the lips of the wound a little open. Fasten then a bottle, or some such convenient vessel, appendant; out of this aperture will extil a limpid and clear water, retaining an obscure smack, both of the taste and odour of the tree; and which (as I am credibly informed,) will, in the space of twelve or fourteen days, preponderate and out-weigh the whole tree itself, body and roots." With regard to the part of the tree from which to procure the juice, he observes, " nor is it conceivable, indeed, the difference between the efficacy of that liquid which distils from the bole, or parts of the tree nearer to the root, and that which weeps out from the more sublime branches, more impregnated with this astral virtue, -as not so near the root, which seems to attract rather a cruder and more common water, through fewer strainers, and neither so pure and aerial as in those refined percolations, &c. &c."

Pearson's Materia Medica; page 80. + Evelyn's Sylva, third edition, 1679.

This expression appears to have called upon Evelyn the criticism of Dr. Stubb; in support of it, however, he brings forward the testimony of Dr. Sylvester Rattray, who, in his Treatise on the Nature of Fermented Liquors, published at Glasgow in 1658, has the following words:"Si Mense Martio perforaveris Betulam, extillabit aqua limpida clara, et pura, obscuram Arboris saporem et odorem referens, quæ spacio 12 aut 14 dierum, præponderabit Arbori cum Ramis et Radicibus, &c.

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