bouillet, after having paffed the winter in the neighbourhood of Bourdeaux; and from the time of their original departure to that of their final arrival, about three fcore of them died. The furvivors gave rife to the extenfive flock now kept at Rambouillet; and to the confiderable number which have been fold to individuals, as the breed progreffively increafed. At first, several rams and ewes were given to encourage enterprising farmers; but as it appeared that these were defpifed merely because they were a gift, a fale was fubftituted. The provincial administrations, then established, made application for them, and had a preference. Since that time, and especially of late, the prices at Rambouillet have been much increased, and have indeed reached a height, which appears extraordinary in a country, where it is not cuftomary, as in England, to expend confiderable fums for the purpofe of acquiring a fleep particularly fuited to the breeder's purpose. The Merino race having thus beeu proved to carry as valuable a fleece in France as in Spain, an oppofition has next been made to the mutton; thofe, who wifhed to depreciate it, having asserted that the animal was not disposed to fatten kindly, and that its flesh was very coarse; affertions, which have both been experimentally proved to be totally deititute of foundation. There are at prefent in France more than fifteen thousand of the pure Merino breed, besides an immenfe number improved by the crofs.

"HOLLAND.

"There are few regions of Europe, whofe temperature and foil differ more than thofe of Spain and Holland. The Merino fheep, transported from a fcorching climate to a cold and marthy country, have, nevertheless, preferved, in Holland, the qualities which diftinguish them from other breeds, and have remained vigoronfly healthy. It was not till 1789, that Mr. Twent made the firft finall importation, which he placed upon his farm between Leyden and the Hague. It confifted of two rams and four ewes, which are now increased to two hundred, befides thofe fold from it, this being the number to which Mr. T. is obliged to confine himfelf by the limits of his farm. It is by parting with the leaft perfect animals, and preserving thofe which bear the longeft as well as finest wool, that he has formed a valuable flock; preferable, indeed, to any in Holland. Mr. Twent has alfo croffed the different breeds of Holland, particularly thofe of the Texel

"Agriculturists have told us that animals, which are tranfported from North to South, viz. from a climate lefs warm than that to which they are removed, will de generate, whether they breed among themfelves, or crofs any other race of the country; and that, vice verfa, animals taken from South to North, improve thofe with which they are connected. Many facts, however exift, in opposition to this opinion; befides which, it is easy to prove that the degeneracy complained of, fhould be afcribed to other caufes than those which are adduced. When a fufficient number of experiments fhall have been made by accurate obfervers, it will be found from a comparifon of them, that want of knowledge, a bad choice, neglect, and improper nutriment, tend as much and even more towards degeneration of the fpecies, than the greater or lefs degree of heat which prevails under a different latitude. The fuccefs of finewooled fheep at the Cape of Good Hope, proves that this general opinion is not founded upon facts. I am convinced, indeed, after the obfervations which I have collected in Spain, upon the breeds of that country, upon their mode of rearing, upon the nature of the foil and cli mate, that the general caufes of their fine wools are not thofe ufually fuppofed. The prefervation in its utmoft purity of the Merino race, at the Cape of Good Hope, in the marthes of Holland, and under the rigorous climate of Sweden, add an additional proof to this my unalterable principle: fine-wooled sheep may be reared wherever induftrious men and intelligent breeders exift. The Spanish breed was taken to the Cape in 1782, and Lord Somerville received fpecimens of its excellence, with an affurance from his correfpondent, that the wool had rather gained than loft in quality, from its growth of eighteen years in that colony.

ITALY.

extent and labour, is deemed by perfons who poffefs the belt information refpećting multifarious fubjects treated in it, to contain a confiderable number of errors and inadvertencies; fuch indeed as are fcarcely to be avoided in a compilation of this nature, and which that gentleman will, no doubt, be glad to correct. I fhall beg leave to point out a few which happen to come within the compafs of my own perfonal knowledge or immediate obfervation.

Page 2. Edward the Elder is faid by Mr. Lyfons to have built a fortrefs at Bedford, on the fouth fide of the river Oufe. In the fame page we are told that Bedford Caftle was built by the Beauchamps, probably on the fcite of King Edward's fortrets. Nevertheless, Mr. L. truly remarks, p. 46, "that the veftiges of the Caftle are to be feen at the back of the Swan Inn. On the Keep is now a Bowling Green." But the Swan Inn is, and the Cattle was, not on the fouth, but the north, fide of the river Oufe. Mr. L. fubjoins "that the fcite of the Caftle, with the Swan Inn, is now the property of the Duke of Bedford, and it is prefumed that it paled from the Goftwicks, by purchafe, to the Marlborough family, and from then: with feveral other eftates which had been in the Goftwicks, to the Duke of Bedford's grandfather." But why rifque random prefumptions in a work, whole ellence it is to exhibit plain matter of fact? The Swan Inn and Castle Clofe adjoining, were purchafed by the late Duke of Bedford foon after he came of age, of John Staines, efq. of Biddenham, a village near Bedford, who inherited the eftate from his father, to whom it was about half a century ago deviled by the will of Mr. Henry Horton, an attorney of great eminence and refpectability, many years refident in Bedford.

P. 3. We are informed that Sir Samuel Luke's houfe was either Hawnes or Wood-end. But this was never before fuppofed to admit of a doubt. Sir Samuel Luke's houfe was unquestionably fituated at Wood-end, in the parish of Cople, about five miles from Bedford. It is now a farm-houfe, belonging to the Duke of Bedford, and contains many curious remains of antiquity. In his account of Copla, p. 71, Mr. L. exprefsly affirms,. that Wood-end was the refidence of the family of the Lukes; to the memory of whom various monuments are erected in the parish-church. Mr. L. obferves, p. 92, "that the manor of Hawnes is

fuppofid to have paffed by purchale from

the Newdigates to the Lukes of Cople, who appear from the parith-register, to have refided at Hawnes occafionally, from 1626 to 1654." Some of that family may poffibly have refided at Hawnes, but the ancient estate and refidence of the Lukes, according to univerfal tradition, was at Wood-end, which is ftill vifited as an object of historical attention, and established celebrity.

P. 14. "The eftates of the Duke of Bedford now form (Mr. L. affirms) what may be confidered as by far the largeft landed property in the County." This is not perfectly correct. The Duke of Bedford is certainly the principal landproprietor, but Lord St. John and Mr. Whitbread are not very far inferior to him. Their united poffeffions in this finall County, of which the rental is, however, in proportion to the extent very large, (not lefs it is fuppofed than three hundred thousand pounds per annum) are estimated at more than forty thoufand pounds yearly value; and are probably little inferior to thofe of any other ten proprietors. The Marquis of Bute, the Earl of Offory, Lord Hampden, Lady Lucas, Sir Philip Monoux, Sir George Otborne, and Mr. Pym, rank high in the fecond clafs.

P. 16. Flitwick Houfe is not in the occupation of the Right Honourable John Trevor, who relides at Bromham, the Bedfordshire Seat of his brother Lord Vifcount Hampden, but of Robert Trevor, efq. a different branch of the fame family.

P. 18. The village of Lidlington, where, occupying a farm of the Duke of Bedford's, lives the ruftic Poet Batchelor, author of "Village Scenes," &c. affords very pleasing prospects, as does the neighbourhood of Houghton Conqueft, Flawnes and Harlington; but for the most beautitul and picturefque fcenery in the County, is to be found on the north-west fide of it along the fertile and fecluded vale, through which the Oufe, fince the publication of Cowper's charming Talk, a claffical ftream, winds its placid meandering courfe, occafionally fpreading into broad and magnificent expanfes of water. From Chellington, Odell, and Felmersham, the views are particularly rich and striking.

P. 23. There is no turnpike-road from Bedford to Eaton Socon, on the north. fide of the Oufe. The old and new roads join, not at Barford bridge, but at the foot of Wroxton hill, beyond the village of Great Barford.

P. 47. Caldwell priory near Bedford,

Was

was, till about the year 1790, the property of a family of the name not of Gar diner, but of Garnow. The last pro prietor of that name, was a merchant refident in the City of London.

P. 51. "A confiderable trade," Mr. L. remarks, "is carried on in coals brought by the Oufe to Bedford from Lynn and Yarinouth." Bedford being the head of the navigation, a confiderable trade is not only carried on with Lynn for coals, but for corn, timber, iron, falt, and various other commodities. There is no conimunication whatever between Bedford and the port of Yarmouth.

Ibid. The population of Bedford has not increased, as Mr. L. afferts from erroneous information, of late years. Per haps no town in the kingdom has remained more ftationary than Bedford, for feveral centuries paft. From Speed's Map, of which the date is 1603, it appears to have been at that period of almott exactly the fame dimenfions as at prefent. The number of houfes is fomewhat dininifhed of late years, in confequence of the fire mentioned by Mr. L. which happened on the 25th of May, 1802, by which about feventy habitations were burnt down, moft of them very inean and miferable cottages, wattled and thatched. The far greater proportion of them has fince been re-built in a manner that reflects credit upon the town. Many other tenements, old and ruinous, have alfo been taken down within thefe few years, and new habitations erected, to the great improvement, but by no means the general enlargement of the town.

P. 53. There is no houfe now occupied by the fingle brethren in the fociety of the Moravians. It was fome years tince converted into a school. The number of thefe reclufe and inoffenfive fectaries has of late confiderably declined, and that enthufiaftic fpirit by which they were once fo much diftinguifhed, has very much abated. It might have been mentioned that there has been at Bedford, for forty years paft, a Method:ft Chapel of the Welleyan perfuafion. Mr. Wetley is reported to have faid, that the Methodifts would not flourish at Bedford, because they experienced no perfecution. Within thefe few years, however, their numbers have, as in almost all other places, greatly increafed, and a handtone chapel has been newly raised on the feite of the old Que. A fmall Jewish fynagogue alfo has been established within the laft three years, encouraged by the fpirit of toleration which remarkably prevails in this place. The Jews settled at Bedford are

perfons of unexceptionable conduct and morals.

Mr. Lyfons' has noticed the recent erection of the County Goal, the County Infirmary, and the houfe of Industry; all of them buildings remarkably well adapted to their refpective purposes, and planned by the fame excellent architect, Mr. John Wing, of Bedford, a man equally efteemed for his talents and integrity. In confequence of the laudable exertions of the inhabitants, very great improvements in the courfe of the laft ten or fifteen years have been made, chiefly under the fuperintendance of Mr. Wing, in this ancient, but by no means unpleasant or unfocial town; and many others of confiderable magnitude are in no diftant contemplation.

P. 82. Elfton is not a vicarage, but a perpetual curacy or donative, tenable with any preferment, and in the gift of Mr. Whitbread; by whom it was a short time fince prefented, in a moft generous manner, to the worthy and refpectable clergyman who now enjoys it, without the leaft folicitation or expectation on his part.

P. 85. Jemima Marchionefs Grey, grand-daughter and heirefs of the laft Duke of Kent, was not the wife of the Lord Chancellor Hardwicke, as ftated by Mr. L. but of the late Earl of Hardwicke, fon of the Chancellor, and uncle of the prefent Nobleman of that name.

P. 86. The only fon of the Duke of Kent was not known by the title of Earl of Harold, but fimply Lord Harold: his father being Duke, Marquis, and Earl of Kent, and Baron of Harold. He died when juft of age, (and faid to have been a young man of great accomplishments). in the year 1723, by a very fingular accident; being choaked with an ear of bar ley, inadvertently taken into his mouth, and which working its way into the throat, it was found impoffible to extract.

P. 89. No manor in Goldington or elsewhere, could have been purchased by the grandfather of the prefent Duke of Bedford, of the Duke of Marlborough, or of any other perfon in the year 1774, as John Duke of Bedford died in the month of January, 1771. The fame mistake occurs in the account of the parish of Ras vensden, p. 126.

I make no apology for troubling you with thefe obfervations, which, if not wholly undeferving of notice, you will have the goodness to infert in your excellent mifcellany. Your's, &c. Bedford, WM. BELSHAM.

Jun. 12th, 1807.

For