nor difregard their responses. We have beheld, in the reign of Vefpafian, Veleda + long reverenced by many as a deity. They formerly alfo venerated Aurinia, and feveral others; but without adulation, or as if they intended to make them goddeffest.' Mr. Aikin acknowledges himself indebted to M. Brotier for the notes on both treatifes, except thofe to which his own fignature is annexed. These notes are selected with judgment and tafte, and make a large and valuable part of the work. * A remarkable inftance of this is given by Cæfar. "When he inquired of the captives the reason why Arioviftus did not engage, he learned, that it was because the matrons, who among the Germans are accustomed to pronounce, from their divinations, whether or no a battle will be favourable, had declared that they would not prove victorious, if they fhould fight before the new moon. "Bell. Gall. I. The cruel manner in which the Cimbrian women performed their divinations, is thus related by Strabo. "The women who follow the Cimbri to war, are accompanied by grey-haired propheteffes, in white vestments, with canvafs mantles faftened by clafps, a brazen girdle, and naked feet. Thefe go with drawn fwords through the camp, and ftriking down thofe of the prifoners they meet, drag them to a brazen kettle, holding about twenty amphora. This has a kind of stage above it, afcending on which, the priestess cuts the throat of the victim, and from the manner in which the blood flows into the veffel, judges of the future event. Others tear open the bodies of the captives thus butchered, and from infpection of the entrails, prefage victory to their own party." Lib. VII. † She was afterwards taken prifoner by Rutilius Gallicus. Statius in his Sylva, I. 4. refers to this event. Tacitus has more concerning her in his Hiftory, IV. 61. ↑ Because at that period, the fuperftition which made deities of them, did not prevail. Thus Tacitus in his account of Veleda— "according to the antient custom of the Germans, which attributed a prophetic character to many of their women, and, as superstition advanced, regarded them as divinities." Hift. IV. 61. They were afterwards fo immoderately addicted to this opinion, that, among the monuments of German antiquity, altars and infcriptions occur, to the matrons of the Suevi, Treveri, Aufani, &c. ART. VI. Defcriptions of some of the Utenfils in Husbandry, Rollingcarriages, Cart-rollers, &c. divided for Land or Gardens, Mills, Weighing Engines, &c. &c. made and fold by James Sharp, No. 15. Leadenhall Street, London; which may be feen at his Manufactory, No. 133, Tooly Street, Southwark. 4to. White, &c. 1778. TH 25. HIS is what the French would call a catalogue raifonée of the implements of husbandry made by Mr. Sharp. It may in English be called a Descriptive Catalogue; but it differs from all other catalogues we have feen, by giving prints of the machines it defcribes. All that falls to our province is to exhibit a lift of the utenfils, in the order of the plates; for it is REV. Jan. 1779. difficult C difficult to form a proper idea of these from the plates alone. Mr. Sharp adds, that horfes are conftantly ready at the manufactory, to fhew the effects of the feveral rakes, ploughs, shovels, &c. or to draw the different forts of carts, waggons, or rollers, whereby judgment may be formed of the utility of each machine. The lowest price is fixed upon each article, and payment will be expected on the delivery of the goods.' Why were the prices omitted in the catalogue? This, for many reafons, would have been a moft ufeful addition. No. 1. A hand crane. 2. A weighing engine for cattle, hay, ftraw, &c. from 5. A horfehoe for weeding, &c. in drill husbandry. 7. Mr. Arbuthnot's draining plough improved. 9. A jointed horfe-rake for couch grafs or ftubble. This laft is a most useful machine, and what no farmer fhould want, and we hope it will quickly become common in every part of the country. One of thefe machines was presented to the Society of Arts, &c. in the Strand, by Mr. Evers, in January 1761, an engraving of which was given in Mr. Bailey's defcription of useful machines and models, plate No. xx. This was, to the best of our remembrance, the firft description of the inftrument that was given in the English language, yet we have been favoured with the history of this machine from a very knowing gentleman, on whofe veraciy we depend, as under: "The winnowing machine was invented in Flanders or Holland, and was introduced from the last named country into the fouth of Scotland, about fifty years ago, where it has been common ever fince. Yet ftrange as it may feem, the knowledge of this useful invention has not yet spread over more than three or four counties. In thefe indeed, no farmer is without one, but in all other parts of the kingdom they feem to be ftill unknown. Is not this an astonishing fact! I muft add, that the original winnowing machines were infinitely less complex in their structure than those now in ufe, and were proportionably more convenient in ufing. This is perhaps the only instance of a new invention being more fimple than it became afterwards." They are called, in the provinces where they are in common ufe, fanners. 11. A hand mill for splitting of beans, grinding malt, 12. A fteel corn mill, with bolting mill, &c. No. 13, is an unneceffary attempt to renew the laborious task of our forefathers, before water or windmills were invented. It is fimply a hand corn mill. 14. A wheel barrow for scattering fand or gravel, &c. 15. A divided garden roller, with balances. 16. A cart roller, with light wheels in three divifions. 17. Rolling carts and waggons. These, inftead of wheels, go upon rollers, for faving the roads. This seems to be an ufeful improvement, efpecially in deep miry countries. In ftony roads, or rocky places, it is probable they would be inconvenient, Legislature encourages thefe carriages, by allowing them to pass at turnpikes, for fome years, without paying any thing, and afterwards for the half of what other carriages pay. Undoubtedly if they fhould become univerfal, inftead of hurting, they would tend to make the roads better. A lift of many other articles, without plates, follows, which we omit. Mr. Sharp feems to be a spirited manufacturer, and we wish him fuccefs in his laudable attempts to ferve himfelf by conferring benefits on the public. ART. VII. Minutes of Agriculture, made on a Farm of 30 Acres of various Soils, near Croydon, Surry. To which is added, a Digest, wherein the Minutes are fyftemized and amplified; and elucidated by Drawings of new Implements, a Farm-yard, &c. The whole being published as a Sketch of the actual Business of a Farm; as Hints to the experienced Agriculturist; as a Check to the present Falfe Spirit of Farming, and as an Overture to Scientific Agriculture. By Mr. Marshall. 4to. 12 s. Boards. Dodfley. 1778. BR RITAIN, at prefent, claims a fuperiority over all the other nations of Europe, in point of naval affairs and agriculture. Should her claim in thefe refpects be allowed, and fhould it then be asked, to what peculiarities in our fituation. do we owe this pre-eminence? we would answer, To the invigorating influence of political freedom, which, by affording to every man full protection of his perfon and property, induces him to exert all his powers to the utmoft, in full confidence that these exertions will prove highly beneficial to himself or his family. In little mechanical arts, the fubjects of defpotic governments may indeed arrive at fome degree of eminence; but in the great employments of agriculture and commerce, thofe who carry them on with spirit muft risk so much of their property, and for fo long a time, that nothing but the fulleft conviction of perfect fecurity can ever induce them to venture far enough. It was in confequence of this circumftance, that all the nations of old which were distinguished for their fill in com C 2 merce merce or agriculture, were free ftates. Tyre and Carthage (in the infancy, at leaft, of the latter) were fuch, and both of them were eminent for their commercial spirit. In Greece, agriculture was in the highest esteem; and in Italy, during the virtuous time of the Roman republic, this science flourished exceedingly; but no fooner did Defpotifm overturn the free conftitution of that ftate, than the rural arts began to decline; and thofe fertile fields which once fuftained millions of inhabitants, are now converted into peftilential marshes. Commerce revived in Venice; and, fo long as fhe preferved her freedom, it profpered abundantly in that ftate; but no fooner were the baneful effects of her cruel ariftocracy felt, than it gradually dwindled to its prefent infignificance... The Netherlands, more favourably fituated for agriculture, next emerged from obfcurity, and, under the influence of a mild government, the cultivation of the foil was carried to a degree of perfection, till then unknown among the western ftates of Europe. From hence we first received a tafte for those improvements in agriculture and commerce, which, under the benign aufpices of our free government, have attained that high degree of vigour which feems to give weight to our claim of fuperiority, in these respects, over the nations around us. Long may Britain retain that happy afcendency! for while she does fo, the muft enjoy all other advantages peculiar to civil fociety. But when agriculture begins to decline, woe to the inhabitants of this land! Let him who is in the fields not return into the house, but flee with the utmoft precipitation to fome happier region; for the inevitable ruin of this kingdom will then be at · hand! Thefe reflections were naturally fuggested by the perufal of the volume, which is the subject of our prefent Review. The Author of this work feems to poffefs, in a very confpicuous degree, that animating fervor and originality of thought, which flows from confcious freedom and independence. He thinks for himself, and he utters thefe thoughts in glowing (fome will think daring) expreffions, infomuch that even we, fhivering in our garrets, felt fome degree of his warmth, and were pleased with his enthufiafm. How happy, exclaimed we, is the man who can allow his mind to be fully occupied by any one object: He goes forward with alacrity, even when furrounded with dangers. Difficulties come in his way, but these he encounters with irresistible firmness, and he overcomes them: He looks back with wonder at his former atchievements; he ftill boldly preffes forward, and performs many noble deeds, which frigid caution would have deemed impoffible. 3 We have read few books on agriculture with greater fatisfaction than the present: not because of any fuperiority that this Author enjoys over other writers, in the knowledge of the art on which he treats, for, in this refpect, he is profefledly a learner: not on account of the purity of his language, or the elegant flow of his periods, for in these refpects, the tendereft critic will find much to blame; but it is the vivacity, the originality, the candour, and ingenuity of the Author, fo confpicuous in every page, that we admire. In fine, it is impoffible for a georgical Reviewer, not to be pleafed with a work which exhibits a more lively picture of the bufinefs of a farmer, and the objects that ought to claim his attention, than is to be found in any other book,-at leaft, in any that hath fallen into our hands. On thefe accounts, Mr. Marshall's minutes muft be fingularly useful to those who are beginning to practife agriculture, as they will thus obtain a more adequate idea of the pleasures and difficulties, the profits and loffes, which they may expect from the practice of farming, than they could from the perufal of any other treatise extant. A book of this kind, we look upon as peculiarly neceffary at this time, because it will help to counteract the pernicious influence of those flattering pictures, of the amazing profits that may be drawn from agriculture, which have been held up to public view by a modern popular author. No perfon, we are bold to fay, can more ardently wish to promote the advancement of rural improvements than the Authors of the Monthly Review; but as this can only be done effectually by those who profecute that bufinefs with a rational profpect of fuccefs, we cannot help difapproving every thing that has a tendency to induce the unwary, rafhly to engage in a business attended with difficulmany ties, and which demands the whole attention of those who practife it, if they ever hope to follow it with fuccefs. The work before us confifts of two parts. The firft, is a feries of MINUTES of agriculture, exhibiting the various incidents that occurred to the Author, with his reflections upon them at the time, in a continued journal, beginning the 18th of July 1774, and ending the 15th of July 1777. In the fecond part, thefe minutes are arranged under regular heads, so that the reader may fee at one view, all that occurs under each head, in the different parts of the journal. This our Author calls a DIGEST. It is properly a fyftematic index to the whole, with a few reflections interfperfed, tending to supply the deficiencies of the journal. The Author of the following pages, he tells us, in a fhort preface *, was born a farmer, bred to traffic, and returned to the * Inftead of Preface the Author denominates this the Approach, which we confider as an unneceffary, and therefore, a faulty in C 3 novation. |