tions that fave their lives. In fine, we may obferve, that this difeafe proceeds folely from our method of rearing these birds, for it is feldom that thofe fed by the parent birds are ever attacked with it. We ought therefore to be particularly cautious of over. feeding them when we bring them up with the tick: boiled rape feed, a little groundfel without fugar or bifcuit, and in general rather too little than too much food, is the most approved method. When the Canary-bird utters a faint and frequent cry, which feems to iffae from the bottom of his ftomach, he is faid to be afthmatic: he is alfo fubject to a fort of extinction of voice, efpecially after moulting the afthma is cured by adminiftering plantain feed and hard bifcuit foaked in white wine: and the extinction of voice by good food, fuch as yolks of eggs mixed with the crumb of bread; and for drink, a ptifan of liquorice; that is, water in which liquorice root has been fteeped and boiled. Canary Birds are frequently affected with ulcers in the mouth; these proceed likewife from too abundant or too fucculent food, which often produces inflammation in the throat and palate, and must be cured by cooling diet, fuch as lettuce-feed with water, in which fome bruifed melon-feeds have been put. Thefe birds are likewife infefted with a fort of lice and the fcab, owing to the lovenly manner in which they are kept. Therefore care fhould be taken to keep them always very clean, giving them water to bathe in; never putting them into cages of old wood, never covering thefe but with new cloth where there have been no moths, and fifting and washing the feeds and herbs given them for food. Thefe little cares must be bestowed on them if we would have them neat and healthy; they would be fo if they were in a state of liberty; but confined and ill seen to, they are, like all prifoners, fubject to the evils of captivity. Of all those we have mentioned, none feem to be natural except moulting. There are even some of thofe birds which, in this wretched ftare of captivity, are never fick, cuflom feeming to have made it to them a fecond nature. In general, the fault of their temperament is excefs of hear, and therefore they conftantly need water. When wild, they are found near rivulets or moift places : bahing is neceffary for them at all feafons; for if a plateful of fnow is put into their cage, they will lie down in it and turn themfelves upon it with figns of pleasure, even in time of the greatest cold: this fact proves fufficiently, that it is more noxious than ufeul to keep them in very warm places. But there is another difeafe to which the Canary-bird, as well as others, fuch as the Gold-Finch, are fubject to, efpecially in confinement; I mean the Epilepfy. The yellow Canary-B rds are moft liable to this falling-fickuefs, which feizes them in a moment, even when they are finging the loudeft. It is faid they ought not to be touched or taken up when they fall, but that we ought merely to obferve if they have voided a drop of blood at the bill, in which cafe they will come to themselves and recover in a little fpace their fenfe and life; that touching them before would make the drop fall too foon, and would occafion their death. I wifh the truth of this account were well afcertained, for fome facts in it appear to me doubtful. This much is certain, that when they furvive the firft fit, they often live as long after it as if they had never been attacked by it. I believe, however, that they might all be cured by giving them a flight wound in the feet, for in this way Parrots are often cured of the epik pfy. How many evils attend upon flavery! In a flate of freedom would thefe birds be afthmatic, fcabby, or epilep and neither hear nor fee the male; but when they are excited by the fight of him, or by his fong, they lay much more frequently: fuch effect have objects, even at a distance, on the powers of fentient beings. I cannot better conclude this fubject than by extracting the following remarks of a letter from the Honourable Daines Barring ton to M. Maty on the finging of birds: tic? Would they be liable to inflam- Upon the whole, the phyfical temperament of the hen Canary-Bird is Jike that of the females of other birds. She can lay eggs without any communication with the male, but they are addle, and the heat of incubation corrupts instead of vivifying them.~ It has been obferved, that hens feldom lay eggs if they are totally fequeftered, "Most people who keep Canary"Birds, do not know they fing chief"ly either the Tit-Lark or the Nigh"tingale's notes. "Nothing however can be more "marked than the note of a Nightingale, called its Jug, which moft of the Canary-Birds brought from the Tyrol commonly have, as well as " feveral Nightingale strokes, or par "ticular paffages in the fong of that "bird. 66 "I have mentioned the fuperior "knowledge in the inhabitants of "London, because I am convinced, "that if others are confulted in relation "to the finging of birds, they with "only mislead, inftead of giving any "material or useful information." T Anecdote of Monf. Dangeau, the French Grammarian. HIS gentleman flourished towards the end of last century, and was a member of the French academy. He was a very skilful grammarian, and applied himself chiefly to the cultivation and improvement of the French language. His mind was fo engroffed with the particular object of his ftudies, that he difregarded every other purfuit as of inferior importance; and his inattention in company, in confequence of the abstraction of his thoughts from every thing but his favourite fubject, expofed him fometimes to very ludicrous fituations, and to fmile from thofe around him, in which, however, he was very ready to join. He happened one day to be in a mixed company where the conversation turned on the miferies of war, and the calamities likely to happen in confequence of that in which the French nation was then engaged. 'Likely to happen!" fays Dangeau. "Happen what will, I have in my common-place book no less than two thousand French verbs all well conjugated." 66 Continuation Continuation of Mifcellaneous Extracts from the Statistical Account of PARISH OF BATHGATE. Scotland. corn, which produces very ferious Alterations in the Manner of Living. confequences to the inhabitants, as they are obliged to purchafe meal at the difcretionary price of the feller. A Great alteration in the manner of living has taken place in this parish within the last 40 years. A. bout 1750, there were no above 10 families who ufed tea, and now, perhaps, there is not above twice that number who do not use it. Butcher meat was then not more used than tea: fcarcely any cattle or sheep were killed, except at Martiomas, when fome families ufed to falt a whole, or others only a part of an ox or cow, to ferve for provifion*; but now there is a regular flesh market twice a week, and almost every family, who can afford it, eats flesh conftantly. A much greater quantity of wheaten bread is now confumed in the parish in a month, than was in a twelve-month forty years ago. The alteration in drefs fince 1750 is alfo remarkable. When the good man and his fons went to kirk, market, wedding, or burial, they were clothed in a homefpun fuit of freezed cloth, called kelt, pladden hofe, with a blue or brown bonnet; and the good wife and her daughters were dreffed in gowns and petticoats of their own fpinning, with a cloth cloak and hood of the fame, or a tartan or red plaid. But now, the former, when they go abroad, wear fuits of English cloth, good hats, &c.; and the latter the finest printed cottons, and fometimes filk gowns, filk caps, and bonnets, of different fhapes, fizes, and colours, white, ftockings, cloth fhoes, &c. PARISH OF STRANRAER. To remedy this fore evil, about twen- PARISH OF DELTING, IN SHETLAND. Convulfion fits, of a very extraordinary kind, feem peculiar to this country. The patient is first seized with fomething like fainting, and immediately after utters wild cries and fhrieks, the found of which, at what, ever diftance, inmediately puts all who are fubject to the disorder in the fame fituation. It most commonly attacks them when the church is crowded; and often interrupts the fervice in this, and many other churches in the country. On a facramental occafion, 50 or 60 ațe fometimes carried out of the church, and laid in the church-yard, where they struggle and roar with all their ftrength for five or ten minutes, and then rife up without recollecting a This practice is fometimes fill continued. fingle fingle circumitance that had happened them, or being in the leaft hurt or fatigued with the violent exertions they had made during the fit. Oae obfervation occurs on this diforder, that during the late scarce years it was very uncommon; and during the two laft years of plenty it has appeared more frequently. Cattle, c. fummer fishery for a fee of L. 16 tq L. 26 Scots. Sometimes the fees are as high as L. 28 Scots for 10 fummer weeks. When they have been one feafon at the fishing, they generally confider themfelves as men. They are encouraged to marriage by their landlords, in order to prevent them leaving the country; and the confequences commonly are, that they find themfelves involved in debt and large families in a few fet of very old regulations, called years. There is a Country Acks; by one of which it is enacted, that no pair fhall marry un lefs they be poffeffed of L. 40 Scots of free gear. as all the reft, is now not enforced; This regulation, as weil though all of them appear to have been well calculated for the good police of the country. It is faid that these regulations were approved and confirm ed by the parliament of Scotland, in the reign of Queen Mary, or of James VI. The winter of 1784 was very fevere, and cut off a great number of theep and horned cattle in every part of thefe iflands. An account was taken, at the defire of the minifter, in this parish, and the return was 4506 fheep, and 427 black cattle, dead in the courfe of the winter, befides horfes, of which no accurate açcount could be obtained. This, join ed to a year of as great scarcity as the country had experienced, was very hard on the poor tenants; and they have not yet recovered the lofs. In that winter, the fheep were often dug out of the fnow, after continuing un- the parish during the time of the preThere has been no emigration from der it for 20 days; during all which fent incumbent: but, almost every time they had no food, but ate the year, a great number of young lads enwool from the backs of each other. gage with the Greenland fhips, which Some that died after they were taken touch at Briffay Sound on their outout were opened, and a hard ball of ward paffage in the month of March wool was found in their ftomach. and April. They receive from 30s. The general poverty of the inhabitants; to 40s. a-month. their being obliged to be from home men are landed" on the island when Many of thefe during the fishing feafon; the fmall- the thips return from Greenlaud; but nefs of their farms, and the precari- many go at last into the navy. ous tenure by which they hold them; a fact well àfcertained, that in the It is all confpire to keep them in a state of year 1763, there were 900 Shetland indigence. Every man, from the men paid off. What number remainage of 18 to 70, muft attend the fish- ed in the fleet after the peace it is ining from the ift June to the 14th Au- poffible to fay. guft. None are left at home but a wife, with perhaps a number of young children, who require all her attention. Every thing in the farming line must confequently go to wreck, Population. very few batchelors. general, marry young. , when he comes to the 19 years, goes to the PARISH OF LUNAN. One of the minifters, Mr Alexander Pedie, who died in 1713, bequeathed fome plate for the Lord's Supper in the church of Lunan, on this fingular condition, that any Epifcopul congrega tion within feyen miles of Lunan re quiring Mifcellaneous Extracts from the Statistical Account of Scotland. quiring them fhould have the ufe of them for that purpose. There is a marble monument erected in the church to his memory, for upholding which his widow bequeathed an anBuity of L. 4 Scots, payable to the kirk-fellion. PARISH OF AUCHTERDERRAN. General Character of the People. THE inhabitants are very regufar in their attendance on public worhip. Formerly they were fond of long church fervices, and confidered It as a point of duty to continue long in religious exercifes. Perhaps the fervices, though fhorter than before, are ftill too long for anfwering the ends of devotion and fpiritual edification. The people are not illiterate. in common with the reft of Scotland, the vulgar are, for their ftation, literate, perhaps, beyond all other nations. Puritanic and abftrufe divinity comes in for a fufficient share in their little ftock of books; and it is perhaps peculiar to them, as a people, that they endeavour to form opinions, by reading, as well as by frequent converfation, on fome very metaphyfical points connected with religion, and on the deeper doctrines of Chriftianity. They likewife read a variety of other books unconnected with fuch fubjects. The parochial fchools are by no means fupplied with fuch enlightened teachers as thofe that were formerly inftrumental in diffufing knowledge. No one of good education and ability now accepts of this reduced pittance, where the fituation is not favourable for procuring lucrative fcholars; and the village teacher, brought in by the fubféription of needy people, is a still more unqualified perfon. In fuch cafes, the people do not propofe feeking out the beft, but the cheapest. The confequence will be, that the poorer diftricts of the country, and the poor claffes of the people, muft become more ignorant. 99 Although the parish confifts wholly of the poorer ranks of society, newfpapers are generally read and attended to: The defire for them increases; and the reading of them feems to be attended with advantage. With regard to the intellectual character of the people: They are deficient in imagination; vivacity, humour, &c. their apprehenfion and judgment are very good, and they make a decent figure in the common profeffions of life. With refpect to their moral and religious character, they have all a profef fion of religion; but, in the points where their fituation more immediately leads to temptation, they too frequently and even habitually contradict their profeflion. Their civil character is excellent : fome degree capable of reflecting on they seem in the advantages of government; and they obey it peaceably, and on principle. They could, however, be eafilyftirred up to fedition in matters of religion. There is one Burgher meeting in this parish. The religious to leration granted feems to anfwer, in this district, the full ends of good government and public utility: it could hardly ftand on a better footing. Seceffion now begins to diminifh; and the bitterness of contending fects is greatly fubfiding: this partly proceeds from the novelty being over; partly from the great variety of fects which have taken place; and partly, it is hoped, from more enlightened views of true religion. As to holidays for recreation or merry-making, the people have only one in the year, called Handfel-Mondey; and the manner in which this is employed fhews the fober mindedness of the people. Inftead of meeting in large aflemblies for diverfions, each family collects its own kindred from the different parts of the district, provides a feaft, and fpends the time in eating, drinking, and converfation. The holidays, befides Sabbaths, for religious fervices, in the Eftablishment, are three days in the year; among the even |