being forfeited for crimes committed against James VI. his eftate was gif. ted to the Lairds of Buccleugh and Roxburgh, from whom the Marquis of Hamilton acquired all the fuperi ority and patronage of that lordship. The property, which was lefs than the 3d of the lordship, with the Cattle of Bothwell, having been disponed by Hepburn, Earl of Bothwell, to the Earl of Angus, in exchange of the lordship of Liddifdale: The faid William Earl of Angus, and Archibald his fon, in 1630, or thereby, did feu the 3d part of the lordship to the particular tenants and poffeffors thereof, without diminution of the old rent, and referving the Caftle and Mains of Bothwell. It was given off as a patrimonial por tion with the Earl of Forfar, but is again returned to the family of Doug las by the death of Archibald Earl of Forfar, who died at Stirling of his wounds received at Sherrifmuir in the year 1715." The above account is confirmed by this circumftance, that the different parts of the edifice retained each the name of the builder; fuch ANECDOTES OF THE BEHELD, fays M. Herault, a fine figure, noble and placid. Not withstanding he is 78 years old, one would not attribute to him above 60 years; and although he had fpent fixteen fleepless nights,in confequence of being afflicted with the ftone, he looked as fresh as a 'child, and as calm as if in health. His bust, by Hudon, appears to me very like; although the effect of the black eyes and brows is loft. His white hair was accurately is There is this peculiar to that su. perb structure, that all the neighbouring objects are in a great style. The Clyde makes a fine circle round the Caftle; the breadth of the river is confiderable; the streams fpread over a plain rocky bottom; the banks, on both fides, are very high, and adorned with natural wood. The Craig of Blantyre, with the ruins of the old houfe of the Priors upon the top of it, immediately oppofite, has a Atriking effect; while this noble monument of ancient grandeur extends along the fummit of the north bank, with a bold afpect to the fouth, at both ends rears its lofty towers, and dignifies the whole scene. 291507 His voice is frong for his age, and very pleafant in general, when he speaks, his looks are fixed on nothing, but roll unguardedly about. His favourite words are tout ca, and par91 21:53 dieu b.sub James mes, Lord Hamilton, married Eupham Graham, daughter of the Earl of Strathern, and fecond wife and widow of Archibald the 5th Earl of Douglas; and in her right, was in poffeffion of a confiderable part of the lordfhip and barony of Bothwell. Crawford. † Extracted from a MS. journey to Montbard in 1785, by Herault de Sechelles ; the work was in the prefs when Robespierre fent the author to the fcaffold. 2 I told him I read much in his works What are you reading ?" faid he. I answered, the Kues fun la Nature." There are paffages of the highest eloquence in them;"re, plied he inftantly, Stival dieu, which recur perpetually. His convince me, that he, who paffionvanity is undifguiled and prominent ately defires glory, is fure in the end here are a few inftances, bes swer to obtain it. The with must not be a momentary but an every day emotion. Buffon faid to me on this fubject a very ftriking thing-one of those speeches which may be the caufe of a great man hereafter :"Genius is only a greater aptitude to patience." Obferve, that patience must be applied to every thing: patience in finding out one's line, patience in refifting the motives that divert, and patience in bearing what would difcourage a common man. His fon has erected a monument to the father in the gardens of Mont bart. It is fimple column near a lofty tower, and is inscribed Excelfa turri humilis columna Parenti fuo filius BUFFON, 1785. The father burst into tears on fee ing this monument, and faid to the young man," Son, this will do you honour." did gør en C I will mention fame facts of Buffon. He would fometimes return from the fuppers of Paris at two in the morning, when he was young. A boy was ordered to call him at five, however late he returned; and, in cafe of his lingering in bed, to drag him out on the floor. He used to work till fix at night. I had at that time," faid he, " mistress of whom I was very fond but I would never allow myself to go to her till fix, even at the risk of finding her gone out." to stron 66 The fon fhewed me about the grounds. We came to the closet in which this great man laboured; it is in a pavilion, called the tower of Saint Louis, and it is up ftairs. The entrance is by a green folding door, ―The fimplicity of the laboratory, aftonishes. The cieling is vaulted, the walls are green, the floor is in fquares it contains an ordinary He thus diftributes, his day At wooden desk, and an arm chair: but five o'clock he rifes, dreffes, pownot a book nor a paper. This naked- ders, dictates letters, and regulates nefs has its effect: the imagination his houfhold matters. At fix he goes clothes it with the fplendid pages of to the forefaid study, which is a furBuffon. There is another fanctuary long diftant from the houfe, at the in which he was wont to compofe; extremity of the garden. There are "The Cradle of Natural Hiftory." gates to open and terraces to climb as Prince Henry called it, when he by the way. When not engaged in went thither,It was there, that writing, he paces up and down the Rouleau proftrated himself and kiss furrounding avenues. No one may ed the threshold. I mentioned this intrude on his retreat, He often circumstance, to Buffon. "Yes," reads over what he has written, and faid he, Rouleau bowed down to then lays it by for a time. "It is me." This cabinet is wainscoted, important," faid he to me," never furnished with fergens, a fofa, and to be in a hurry: review your com with drawings of birds and beaits. pofitions often, and every time with The chairs are covered with black a fresh eye, and you will always find leather, and the desk is near the that they can be mended." When chimney, and of walnut tree. A he has made many corrections in a A treatife on the load-flone, on which manufcript, he employs an amanuenhe was then employed, lay on it. fis to tranfcribe it, and then he cor rects again. He told M. de S 66 His example and his difcourfes that that the Etudes de la Nature were written over eighteen times. He is very orderly and exact. "I burn," (faid he to me)" every thing which I do not intend to use: not a paper will be found at my death." I refume: the account of his day. At nine, breakfast is brought to him in the study. It confifts of two glaf fes of wine and a bit of bread. He writes for about two hours after breakfaft, and then returns to the house. He does not love to hurry over his dinner; during which he gives vent to all the gaieties and trifles which fuggeft themselves while at table. He loves to talk fmuttily; and the effect of his jokes and laughter are heightened by the natural seriousnefs of his age and calmness of his cha1acter but he is often fo coarfe as to compel the ladies to withdraw.He talks of himfelf with pleasure, and like a critic. He faid to me,"I learn every day to write; in my later works there is infinitely more perfection than in my former. I of ten have my works read to me, and this mostly puts me upon fome im provement. There are, however, paffages which I cannot improve." In this openness there is fomething interefting, original, antique, attractive. Speaking of Rouffeau, he faid, "I loved him much until I read his Confeffions, and then I ceased to esteem him. I cannot fancy the fpirit of the man; an unusual procefs happened to me with respect to him: after his death I loft my reverence for him. This great man is very much of a goffip, and, for at least an hour in the day, will make his hair-dreffer and valets tell all the scandal of the vil. lage. He knows every minute event that furrounds him. His confidence is almost wholly engroffed by a Mademoiselle Bleffeau: a woman now forty years old, well-made, who has been pretty, and has lived with him about 20 years. She is very attentive to him, manages in the house, and is bated by the fervants. Madame de Buffon, who has long been dead, could not endure this woman. She adored her bufband, and is faid to have been very jealous of him. His works demonstrate materialifm; yet they were printed at the royal prefs. "My early volumes appeared," faid he, "at the fame time with the Spirit of Laws. We were teazed by the Sorbonne, both Montefquieu and I, and affailed by the critics. The prefident was quite furious: What fhall you answer?" faid he to me."Nothing at all, prefident," replied I. He could not understand fuch cold-bloodedness. I was reading to Buffon one evening fome verfes of Thomas on the immortality of the foul. “ Pardieu, (faid he) religion would be a noble prefent if all that were true." He criticifed thefe lines feverely: he is inexorable as to ftyle, ond does not love poetry. "Never write verfes, (faid he,) I could have made them as well as others; but I foon abandoned a courfe in which reafon marches in fetters: he has chains enough already, without looking about for new ones." Buffon willingly quits his grounds and walks about the village with his fon among the peafantry. At these times he always appears in a laced coat. He is a fickler about dress, and fcolds his fon for wearing a frockcoat. I was aware of this, and had taken care to arrive in an embroidered waistcoat and laced cloaths.-My precaution fucceeded wonderfully: he fhewed me repeatedly to his fon. "There's a gentleman for you!" He loves to be called Monfieur le Compte. [To be continued.] 255 .- MINUTES OF AGRICULTURE, FROM THE REPORTS OF THE AGRICULTURAL BOARD. [CONTINUED FROM P. 179.] SUFFOLK. Of the principal Improve- AS S well culti ments yet wanting. vated as Suffolk undoubtedly is, yet there are several points in which the management of her farmers might receive great and effential improve. ment. Thefe principally confitt in, 1. Irrigation.-2. Burning.-3. In the general management of grafs land.-4. In fheep walks-5. In rejecting fallows.-6. In live stock. 1. Irrigation. Of all the improvements wanting in this counry, there is not one fo obvious, and of fuch importance, as watering meadows. The rivers, streams, and brooks, in every part, are numerous; few countries are better watered with fmall ftreams; yet there is not a well-watered meadow in the county: at least, not one to my knowledge. Some individuals have been fo truck with the benefit of partial flooding by, accident, that they have thrown water over meadows; but have never done it in a manner to be highly beneficial, and ufually without any attention to take it off again. But of all improvements, this is perhaps the moft unquestionable and important. To view large tracts of poor and unproductive arable land, below thofe levels in which water might be made to flow, is a fpectacle that wounds every feeling of a man that looks about him with an eye of an irrigator; and yet this horrid fight is to be found almoft in every parish of the county, at least in the vicinity of every ftream, and in lands kept in the hands of gentlemen who call themselves Farmers, and are really fond of husbandry. It would be idle to enter at large, into the means of effecting this improvement. It is unEd. Mag. Of. 1796. derstood and practifed, in great per fection, in many of our counties, and men to perform the operation are easy to be had. 2. Burning. The application of fire is as ufeful and effective to land as that of water. There are in Suf. many folk thousands of acres of poor, The dry rough fheep walks cover. ed with ling, furze, broom, &c. fhould alfo be broken up in the fame manner; but univerfally to be laid down again with the graffes fuitable to the foil, and to fheep. On weak thin ftapled lard, two crops of corn, Kk after continued the trial for a few years, they would fee fuch lands conftantly improving: fo that the more sheep were kept, the more might be kept in future. These are experiments very easily made with a quiet breed, and there are not many more important ones. after paring and burning, would be pernicious. Perhaps they might be well laid down without a fingle one, which would be fo much the better. 3. Grafs land. The arable lands of the county are fo much better managed than the grafs, that an improvement in the latter would be attended with great private and na- 4. Sheep walks. I have already tional advantage. Our fifter coun- mentioned the profit of paring and ty of Norfolk, is, if poffible, yet burning thefe at prefent, I would worfe in this refpect. Clearing away only obferve, that many farmers think of bushes, and other rubbish, is not thefe defart waftes neceffary for their commonly done; mole and ant hills flocks, which is a moft egregious rarely cut; drains made only in ar- error. They are undoubtedly very able fields; and as to manuring, I useful; and, if they were converted have very feldom feen any laid to corn, the number of sheep kept upon grafs land rented. The rea- upon a farm would decline; but fon of this general neglect refults good grafs adapted to the foil would not from inattention, but an er- be abundantly more productive for roneous calculation. In the farmer's the flock. Whoever has viewed eftimate, and he is right, there wil be a confiderable benefit remaining to the landlord at the end of a leafe, from all improvements of grafs land; whereas upon arable, there may not be one penny left from the expenditure of a pound. This is true, but the conclufion, that what the landlord gains is at the expence of the tenant, is a very great error; both may gain greatly, but not at the expence of each other. One reafon why improvements of grafs are so rarely feen, and alfo why moft te. nants would, if their landlords allow ed it, plough up every acre of grafs on their farms, refults, in fome meafure, from their making no fair experiments of the value, which is not to be done in ordinary rough land, except by theep only. If they would lock into fuch a field a certain lot of fheep, fuppofe two, two and a half, or three to an acre, and keep them there the whole year, registering the hay given in deep fnows, and on no account folding those sheep on other lands, (as in that cafe no improvement refults from theep-feeding,) they would find the return of fuch lands not contemptible; and if they the immenfe waftes that fill almost the whole country from Newmarket to Thetford, and to Gastropgate, and which are found between Woodbridge and Orford, and thence one way, to Saxmundham, not to mention the numerous heaths that are fcattered every where, must be convinced, that their improvement for grass would enable the county to carry many thousands of sheep more than it does at prefent. 5. Fallows. There is no queftion at all of the merit of fallowing, when compared with bad courfes of crops. If the husbandry is not correct in this relpect, the fallowrift will certainly be a much better farmer than his neighbours: but there are cour fes, which will clean the foulest land as well as any fummer-fallow, by means of plants, which admit all the tillage of a fummer fallow. Cabbages are not planted before June or July: winter tares admit three months tillage, if tillage is wanted. Beans well cultivated will preserve land clean, which has been cleaned by cabbages. And, in any cafe, two fucceffive hoeing-crops are effective in giving pofitive cleannefs. Thefe obfer. |