"N. B. All the above directions are for the first year's manuring with salt; afterwards, it is stated by Mr. Hollinshead and others, that an annual application of a much less quantity will always keep the land in a state of the greatest fertility." Mr. Curwen's experience is known to be very great, and he has communicated the result of it in various publications. The quantities of salt which he recommends to be given to live stock are specific, and may be advantageously quoted: April, 1818. December, 1819. oz. oz. Horses......... 4 increased to 6 per day. 4 per day. given at Feeding Oxen 4 increased to 6 per day. Sheep.......... 2 increased to 4 per week. j if feeding on dry pastures; but when feeding on turnips or coles, salt should be given without stint. "In the spring," says Mr. Curwen, " my flock was attacked with an inflammatory disorder, I gave them considerably of salt, some took five ounces a day; the disorder was speedily stopped by it. Salt removes the taste of the turnips from milk and butter. It prevents the grease; I have given a pound a day, with advan-, tage, to horses that have been excessively greased. It is pleasant to say, that numerous trials by my neighbours in Cumberland wholly corroborate my statements, of the usefulness of salt in feeding stock." "Before a free use of salt on a modified duty was granted to the agriculturist, sheep could not be kept on strong wet retentive soils without great risk of loss; salt has been found to preserve them on such pastures perfectly sound, and flocks may now be kept with perfect safety on lands, that heretofore it was by no means prudent to hazard them. The benefit of salt in feeding all kinds of stock, and its value as an alterative medicine, is established on the concurrent testimony of numbers beyond all possibility of doubt." Obs. Mr. Curwen this day, February 20. 1822, informed us, "that before he commenced giving his cattle salt, his farrier's bill for medicine averaged 581. per annum, and that, since the use of salt, he has never paid in any one year five shillings. C. W. J.' The horticulturist will find some very useful hints on the use of salt in a communication of Mr. Johnson; and the cottager will thank Mr. Huish for his directions how to preserve bees in health and during the winter by providing them with salt in a diluted form, mixed with treacle and water. It should not be given to them in its dry crystallized state, (for bees have not the power of feeding on it till it is dissolved or very finely pulverized,) but in a weak solution of four or five ounces to a gallon of spring water. Mr. Cuthbert Johnson published an Essay on the Agricultural Uses of Salt two or three years ago. In this state it is a preservative against dysentery; the malady which is the most frequent and dangerous to these very interesting and valuable animals. Art. 14. Hints to Churchwardens, with a few Illustrations relative to the Repair and Improvement of Parish Churches, with Twelve Plates. 8vo. pp. 30. Price 10s. 6d. Boards. Rodwell and Martin. 1825. This is a delicate and very keen satire on the frequent deformities in church-architecture which disgrace in the present age the taste of our country. Invested with the important degree of churchwarden, the lowest loon, by virtue of his office, assumes to himself the power of directing alterations and improvements in the old church. Let him but be on good terms with the village carpenter, bricklayer, and painter, and you shall soon see the architectural wonders which which will be effected to perpetuate the names of Tim Goose, Churchwardens. Men who would pay unconditional deference to the superior skill of a locksmith, appeal, without hesitation, to their own judgment in the most difficult matters of taste. Nor is the itch for making themselves thus conspicuous confined to country parish officers. Even in London we see such things as the new steeple of St. Anne, Soho. We admire the dexterity with which the author has aimed his blow, and hope it will succeed in deterring, for the future, ignorant petty officers from profaning our holy temples. The style used is much in the manner of the grave irony of Swift when he advises servants to do every thing they ought sedulously to avoid doing: but it is still more in the spirit of a certain satire on "The Committee of Taste," which was published some years ago, intitled " Midas;" and it also brings to mind that "Anticipation of the Exhibition of the Royal Academy" which bore the signature and medallion of " Roger O'Shannaghan, Esquire, Grandson and Nephew of the great Martinus Scriblerus," who, "partly through modesty and partly to avoid envy, suffers the profit and praise of his works to be reaped by others; and for whom the pleasure of reflecting that he hath done well is sufficient reward." On the present Hints' coming into our hands we began to suspect that the long life which the said Martinus professes to have spent in the service of the public is not yet at an end. As in all professions, as well as zealous undertakings,' says the author in his preface, there is a difference of excellence; in the following plans or illustrations, I have endeavoured to select a few, out of the many, very many, splendid, curious, and convenient ideas, which have emanated from those churchwardens, who have attained perfection as planners and architects;' which 'selections' are headed each as follows: How to affix a Porch to an old Church. • How to add a Vestry to an old Church. How to ornament the Top or Battlements of a Tower belonging to an ancient Church. How How to repair Quatre-feuille Windows. How to adapt a new Church to an old Tower with most Taste and Effect. Sundry curious Plans for attaching new Vestries to old Churches, with ornamental Designs for Chimneys. A Design for a new Chancel Window, and End applicable to an old Church. How to block up a Chancel Window. How to ornament a Chancel and Altar-piece. How to place Monuments in the Aisles of Churches. How to substitute a new, grand, and commodious Pulpit in place of an ancient, mean, and inconvenient One. How to place a Pulpit in a suitable and commodious Situation. How to place the Royal Arms in a conspicuous Situation. How to fix a Stove in an eligible and convenient Situation. How to carry the Pipe of a Stove on the Outside of a Chancel with the best Effect.' The following is the instruction conveyed under the third head but the merit of the work cannot be estimated without a sight of the designs, some of which are very facetious: Place on each battlement vases, candlesticks, and pine-apples, alternately, and the effect will be striking. Vases have many votaries amongst those worthy members of society the churchwardens. Candlesticks are of ancient origin, and represent, from the highest authority, the light of the churches: but as in most churches weather-cocks are used, and the weather-cock is become so common, I would here recommend the admirers of novelty and improvement to adopt a pair of snuffers, which might also be considered as a useful emblem for re-invigorating the lights from the candlesticks. The pine-apple ornament having in so many churches been judiciously substituted for the Gothic, cannot fail to please. Some such ornament should also be placed at the top of the church, and at the chancel end. But as this publication does not wish to restrict any churchwarden of real taste, and as the ornaments here recommended are in a common way made of stone, if any one would wish to distinguish his year of office, perhaps he would do it brilliantly by painting them all bright red.' As the aquatinta illustrations are poor and not expensive productions; and as the work is not over burdened with typographical matter, we think the author might have afforded his Hints' at a rather lower price. The practical results to which it designs to lead are, however, such as may stamp the book with incalculable value: we, therefore, recommend it as a purchase worthy of being made by every parish to be laid up in the vestry for the benefit of successive churchwardens; and if the Hints' are taken as they ought to be, the half-guineas will be well laid out. THE MONTHLY REVIEW, For AUGUST, 1825. ART. I. Historical and Literary Tour of a Foreigner in England and Scotland. 2 Vols. 8vo. 17. 8s. Boards. Saunders and Otley. 1825. DE prone, E LOLME justly remarked, in his admirable work on our constitution, that a stranger beholding at once the various parts of that fabric is struck with a kind of admiration, which daily use prevents Englishmen from feeling, and that it is necessary to be thus strongly affected by objects, in order to reach the general principle which regulates them. He compares us in this respect to the recluse inhabitant of a palace, who, from his constant residence within, is incapable of attaining a complete idea of the elevation and effect of the whole structure; or to a man who, having always had a beautiful scene extended before his eyes, is from unvarying habit, to look upon it with indifference. At the first glance one is induced to think, that this observation would apply to our literature and arts, as well as to our constitution, and that a foreigner of critical taste, bringing his mind to bear newly upon them, might be more successful in pointing out their real merits and defects, than we could be, who are accustomed to them almost from our infancy. But a little consideration shews that, so far at least as literature is concerned, this is a mistake. It is not difficult for a Frenchman, like Montesquieu, or a Swiss, like De Lolme, to understand and admire those principles which are the ingredients of our constitution. The criterion of liberty is universal. Every man, of whatever climate he may be, is capable of appreciating the difference between oppression and freedom. The standard of excellence in the fine arts may, perhaps, also be said to be tolerably uniform amongst the civilized nations, because we have pretty generally adopted the models of Greece and Italy. But in literature, particularly in the poetical and dramatic departments of it, almost every country has a peculiar standard of its own. Voltaire was right, according to French rules, in proscribing the works of Shakspeare. We have, with equal justice, repaid the compliment by our contempt for the HenVOL. CVII. A a riade, riade, and our persevering indifference to the boasted attractions of Zaïre. Both nations are justifiable in their different judgments, because each is guided by prepossessions and principles of preference, which are not common to the other, and so they must remain until one uniform rule of taste shall be established in Europe, or, what is equally impossible, till the names of Shakspeare and Racine shall be forgotten. It is true that, within the last twenty years, the French have shaken off some of their antient prejudices, and have approximated very considerably to our notions of poetry and romance. Their dramatic rules are still as inflexible as ever: but the poetry of Lord Byron, and the Waverley novels, have almost as many admirers among them as among ourselves. Nevertheless, it is scarcely possible for a Frenchman, of all other foreigners, to form a true estimate of our literature. It is exceedingly difficult for him to feel the beauties of our language; to gather around his mind those numberless associations which spring out of our scenery, our traditions, and our manners; or to be sufficiently interested by those subjects of national importance, which have the strongest power to rouse and agitate our feelings. The principal link of sympathy between the French and us, is that which Sir Walter Scott has created, that of romance. Beyond this, the French have no feeling in common with us. Upon every other subject, when they come among us, they are liable to commit the most ludicrous mistakes. They class together poets, dramatists, and orators, of the most unequal shades of merit, and of dissimilar genius. Some of undoubted claims to distinction they wholly overlook, while they admire others, whose pre-eminence consists only in a clamorous tone of pretension. : Dr. Pichot, the author of the work before us, is not free from these national defects, though it must be confessed, that he brings a greater portion of enthusiasm, good faith, and sound judgment to the performance of his task, than we have met with in any other of his countrymen, who have treated of our literature. His production will undoubtedly correct many false ideas, which prevail in France concerning some of our poets, but it will also diffuse many erroneous notions as to the merits of others. It gives a very meagre account indeed of our pulpit, parliamentary, and forensic eloquence: it scarcely touches on our prose classics; and pays no more attention to our historical models than if Robertson, Hume, and Gibbon, had never existed. Our political, ethical, and scientific writers are passed over with the same nonchalance. Indeed, Dr. Pichot's acquaintance with our literature seems to be very much con |