been involved in uncertainty, must be observed by every Reader of the Historic page. The same difficulty occurs, at a comparatively modern pe To those who for her death are griev'd, She's from the storms of life reliev'd, Mr. URBAN, (SHENSTONE.) Sussex, Feb. 27. S many of the pages of your riod, with regard to the birth-place A Magazine have lately been oc of John Knox; some Writers assert ing that he was born at Haddington, N. B.; and others at a village a few miles from it, named Gifford. The House of which I now send a sketch (Plate I.) is situate in Gifford gate, Haddington (a kind of suburb to that town), and shewn by the inhabitants as the dwelling, where, according to tradition, that celebrated Reformer first drew breath: and the union of both names (Gifford and Haddington) may possibly account for the confusion, prevailing amongst his biographers. The last of that class (Dr. M'Crie) is however inclined to give a preference to the village of Gifford; though, at the same time, he candidly refers his Readers to the opinions of his predecessors, pro and con, in Appendix A. to the first volume of his Memoirs. M. R. Mr. URBAN, THE March 25. HE following Epitaph, written by the late William Shenstone, esq. of the Leasowes, near Halesowen, in the county of Salop, is extracted from a tombstone in the church-yard of that place. I know not whether it has ever been noticed by any your Correspondents; if not, I shall be pleased, as well as many other of your Readers, to see it recorded in your Magazine. of The young lady to whom it applies was highly esteemed by the Writer of her Epitaph. She met her death by a fall from her horse, on a ride between Halesowen and Dudley, although the Epitaph has not any allusion to that fact. L. "Here lyeth interred the body of cupied with amusing and interesting accounts of Tours made through the Northern Departments of France and the Netherlands, permit me, who have during the last Autumn made a journey through the same district, to add by way of Appendix, a few agricultural observations, which I' really think may be useful and beneficial to my own country.-The ge neral cultivation in those countries, of three articles of which we know nothing as matters of husbandry, must forcibly strike every itinerant-I allude to the Poppy; Tobacco; and the Haricot or French Bean. The first of these is cultivated on a very large scale, not with a view to any soporific or narcotic qualities which the plant may contain, and which reside in the capsule or seed-vessel alone, and in no other part in the smallest degree, but on account of the sweet and pleasant oil which abounds in the seed. The Poppy was first introduced into France from Germany about the year 1808, in consequence of the injuries, amounting almost to a general destruction, received by the olive-trees in the Southern Provinces from the severity of the preceding winter. The first planters having been amply recompensed for their expences and labour by the price at which the Poppy oil was sold, others were induced to follow their example; insomuch that, next to wheat, the Poppy in certain extensive districts is the most general article of agricultural pursuit. The flavour of this oil is so sweet and delicate, that it is frequently substituted for that of the olive; and I have been credibly informed that the nature, qualities, taste, and flavour, of these two oils are so similar, and so much resemble each other, that this substitution is scarcely considered to be fraud in commerce. It is extracted by iron cylinders, which crush the seed, and which are put into action by small windmills, of which, in the immediate mediate vicinity of Lille only there are more than two hundred. The pulp, or residuum, is made into oilcake for the fattening of cattle, which is for that purpose of a very superior quality, and the haulme, which is more substantial than straw, is used by the bakers for heating their ovens. The capsule is sometimes sold to the chemists, and from them a decoction is made similar to what is too frequently made by the cottagers of this country under the name of sleeping water. I am aware that true opium is an exudation of, or rather an extraction from, the seed-vessel of the Poppy in its green and unripe state; but it has been suggested that the ingenuity of modern chemists might render these dried capsules serviceable for medicinal purposes in a degree beyond what modern practice has yet attained to. As the soil of the bog marshes of England is very similar to that of Flanders, and as we have large tracts of upland equally rich and fertile with the Poppy-grounds of France, it is very desirable that the experiment ́should be here made of the agricultural tillage of this plant, and there can be but little doubt of the successful result, since no peculiar art, dexterity, or ingenuity appear to be requisite. The varieties of the Poppy are infinite; but the Pink kind, called Oeillel (the French word for the Pink) only is sowed in the field. A person might easily convince himself of the oiliness, and of the delicacy of the flavour, by emptying a capsule of its seed into his hand, and then putting it into his mouth; the taste he would in the first instance find very much like to that of the filbert.If this Letter should attract the notice of the Agriculturists, as I very much wish that it may, and if I should perceive that there is an inclination for the culture of this valuable grain in this country*, I would give farther information as to the management, the harvesting, and the commerce of it, on a future occasion; which I now only abstain from, from a reluctance to the overfilling unnecessarily of your pages. Large quantities of TOBACCO are grown in France and Flanders. In the Agricultural Report of the Com It is largely cultivated in Leicestershire. See vol. LXXXVI. ii. p. 535. mittee of the House of Commons As to the HARICOr, it may be observ ed, that it constitutes a material article of the husbandry of France.— The Dwarf French-bean is in very general cultivation; and it is trusted as a Winter vegetable, in the same manner as we rely on our Potatoes, which root they are only just beginning to make use of-nor do I wish indeed to see the Haricot substituted for the Potatoe, but I would recon mend it as making a variety at a season in which vegetables do not abound. In fact, we may be said to be totally unacquainted with this pulse as a winter dish. I will close this long letter, with observing, that the French may be considered in most respects to be inferior to ourselves in agricultural science. Little or no attention has been paid to the breeding of cattle or sheep; they are as chance may have directed. All their farming utensils are clumsy and ugly; but they have the eminent merit of making use of, and of rendering serviceable, every nook and strip of land. Any portion that may be too small for the operations of the plough, is subdued by the spade; and their general use of storehouses is deserving of the attention of the farmer and of the carrier. A team of Horses, whole and entire, will accomplish infinitely more of direct hard labour than an equal number of Geldings of the same breed aud lineage.—There is a general opinion prevalent through the country, that the alterations which have taken place in regard to the feudal or manorial and the tithing systems, have been highly serviceable to the agriculture of France. But every well-judging person must evidently see that no adequate provision has yet been made for the Clergy, who, together with their churches and parsonage-houses, are in a wretched and deplorable state. In fact, the farmers generally said, that, under the antient regime, it was not the quantum of the provision for the Parochial Clergy of which they complained, for they had not too much; but that their objections were merely to the mode, namely, by tithes. If these observations on the state of the Agriculture of our Neighbours should be acceptable, I may perhaps soon trouble you with another letter on the same topick. Yours, &c. COMPENDIUM OF COUNTY HISTORY. ESSEX. SITUATION AND EXTENT. C. Boundaries. North, Suffolk and Cambridge. East, German Ocean. South, The Thames. West, Middlesex and Hertford. Greatest length 60, greatest breadth 50, circumference 225, square 1525 miles. Province, Canterbury. Diocese, London. Circuit, Home. ANTIENT STATE AND REMAINS. British Inhabitants. Trinobantes. Roman Province. Flavia Cæsariensis. Stations. Camalodunum, (where the Emperor Claudius, suruamed Britannicus, established a colony of the 2d, 9th, and 14th legions,) Colchester or Maiden. Cæsaromagus, Great Duumow or Writtle. Canonium, Canewdon. Ad Ansam, Toleshunt Knights. Iciani, Great Chesterford. Saxon Heptarchy. Essex. Antiquities. Colchester tesselated Pavement, Castle, St. John's Abbey, St. Botolph's Priory, and Moot-house. bow, Pleshy Castle, and Coggeshall-abbey Bridges. Barking, Bileigh, Stratford Langton, Tilting and Waltham Abbeys. Bycknacre, Latton, Lees, and St, Osyth's Priories. Greensted near Ongar, Little Maplestead, Rainham, Saffron Walden, Thaxted (spire 181 feet) and Thundersley Churches. Nether-hail, Layer Marney-hall, Eastbury-house. Camalodunum is said by our ancient English Historians to have been the birth-place of Constantine the Great, whose mother Helena is also said to have been daughter to Coel, a British prince; but these assertions are discredited by modern Authors. In it was erected a Temple to the memory of the Emperor Claudius, who was worshiped as the Ta'elar Deity of the place. St. John's at Colchester was a Mitred Abbey, founded in 1096, by Eudo, sewer or steward to William the Conqueror, who also founded the Castle |