an unhappy creature, who might have lived a life of virtue, if fome one equally cruel with himself had not feduced her from the paths of innocence.

This relation, however melancholy, is, I am apprehenfive too eafily paralleled; nay more, it does not fhew us the most complicated mifery which villainy of this kind has produced.

A

LL kinds of fummer fruit muft be gathered in a morning, or elfe they will eat flat.

Cherries fhould be full ripe before they are gathered, which may be known by their colour; for the reddeft forts will be changed on the fides next the fun to a very deep colour, almost black and those of the paler kinds will be quite red on the fun fide.

In getting them from the trees. their stalks thould be nipt off from the branches by the thumb and forefinger; for pulling breaks off the buds that might produce branches or bloffoms the next year.

When plums are ripe they will quit their stalks eafily, if you give them the least twist.

Peaches and nectarines are much the best when they are ripe enough to fall from the healthy branches of their own accord, and never ought to be gathered too early.

If apricots, in growing, do not touch each other they feldom drop off the tree before they are too ripe for moft palates; nay, fometimes their upper end will become rotten before they naturally quit the ftalk:

they are generally deemed in the greateft perfection when the part next the fun becomes a little foft, or the end begins to open. It is an old, and a very good custom, to gather a fig when there is a drop of water hangs at the end, for that is a certain fign of its being ripe; but there are fome forts that are subje& to burst, and never have a drop, but when the fmall end quite to the ftalk is become nearly of the same colour as the large end; then it is certainly ripe.

Grapes feldom rot upon the vines by being too ripe, and those appearing the most transparent are always the ripeft; but all berries on the fame bunch are feldom ripe alike, efpecially of fome forts; and therefore, before they are brought to the table, the small, unripe, and rotten berries must be picked off.

Some of these bunches may, by the methods before directed, be kept eatable till Christmas, but thefe fhould be gathered from the vines before they are touched by the froits; and after they are picked as before directed, pack them in small jars, between layers of wood-afhes

fifted fine, inftead of mofs.

All fuch pears as would come to , maturity on the trees are better gathered three or four days before they are ripe, otherwife they will eat meally; and feveral kinds will rot at the cores before they will fall fpontaneously from the trees.

Some kinds, when they are full grown, will fall from the trees before they are ripe; these may properly be called winter and autumn pears; and when the healthy ones of these kinds begin to fall, it is a certain fign they want gathering, which ought to be done when the fruit is quite dry; but they are feldom all ready for gathering at the fame time; and this may be easily known by moving the fruit gently upward, and thofe that do not quit their ftuds ought to be left upon the trees fome time longer, for what are gathered by greater force are fubject to fhrivel, and are not well-flavoured.

As pears are the best fruit the winter months afford, they are worthy of the greatest care in preferving; and, if rightly ordered, may be kept fit for ufe till the next feafon will furnish us with a new fupply, which may be easily done if the following directions are carefully observed.

After the pears are gathered, lay them on heaps in the fruitery, and cover them with woollen cloths; this will caufe them to perfpire, which will be received by the cloths. No time can be limited for their continuance in the couch, for fome Kads require more than others; but, when the greateft fweat is over, it is then proper to take them out, and rub them one by one with dry linen cloths: after this the autumn kinds must be divided, every fort

into two parcels, the largest from the fmalleft, for it is a pity that one of the latter fhould damage the former by rotting amongst them; then lay them in fingle layers, and not one upon another, whereby the ripeft may be more easily distinguifhed, and taken for use first, without andling the others; and when any are rotten, they must be picked out as foon as difcovered, otherwife they will decay thofe that touch them.

After winter pears have been couched, dried, and divided as the former, the best of them must be divided a fecond time, that one half of the largest may be kept longer than the others, which is to be done by the following method, viz. get a large quantity of moss well dried, and a number of earthen jars fufficient to hold the fruit, then place a layer of mofs, and another of pears till the jars are full, and ftop them up with plugs as clofe as you poffibly can; which done, cover them with fand a foot thick or more on every fide, and let them be opened one by one as they are wanted for ufe; if a few do happen to rot, the mofs will receive their moisture, and prevent them from injuring the others.

Such as are defigned to be used first after they have been couched, may be laid upon a boarded floor or fhelves in the fruitery, where they ought to be kept dry by opening the windows in fine days; but in rain or frofty weather the windows must be kept clofe ftopt, to prevent the air from having any effect upon the fruit, and if the weather continues fevere, they must be covered with ftraw and cloths.

The propereft rooms for fruit are those with windows on the fouth

fide, and that can either have a fire in them, or are next to fome ftove or other room where one is commonly kept, which ought to be both in frofty and rainy weather; for if pears are not kept dry, they are apt to rot, and will likewife tafte mufty. Such forts of apples as are defigned for the table, must be ordered in every refpect as pears; but thofe for baking, &c. may be laid in large heaps, only obferving to inove them fometimes, and pick out those that are rotten. Walnuts may be preferved by the fame means that grapes are, after they are cleanfed from their husks and rubbed quite dry; as alfo small nuts and filberds, faving that these two forts laft mentioned need nothing to pack them in but their own husks.

Quinces may remain upon the trees till the end of October, and are generally used foon after gathering; but they may be preferved from rotting till February, if it be defired, by the fame method as pears and apples are kept.

Note. If the plugs beforementioned have rofin melted over them, it will cause the fruit to keep better; and where there is conveniency of doing it, I would advife to have the jars placed in a deep cellar.

Medlars ought not to be gathered till the end of October, and then they have a very auftere taste; yet, when they are become rotten, are valued by many; and to caufe their

decay, or to bring them to use early, they may be laid in wheat-bran, made moift with fair water, to cause a fermentation.

They ought to be laid in a box or tub, with a covering of moift bran in the bottom; after that a single layer of fruit, but not to touch each other, and upon them lay a covering of bran, an inch thick; after that, five or fix layers of each may be laid alternately, but there mult be a covering of bran at the top, and as it becomes drier, there muft be more water poured upon them; by this means they will be in perfection in fourteen days time; but if they be laid thin upon dry ftraw they will remain found for two months. For to keep them the longer in eating, I would advife to have three fourths remain dry till others begin to be fit for ufe, then lay a part to ferment as before, and before this laft parcel is confumed, thofe laid dry will begin to decay naturally.

Though currants are a common fruit, yet they are liked at table in fome families, and may be preserved good upon the trees til November and December, admit they are planted against a wall: by only nailing two thickneffes of garden-mats over them in a dry day, when they are ripe, it prevents their withering by the fun's heat; and if the au be dry, a little water given to the roots will be of service.

THE "HE root of yellow water Flower de Luce rubbed on the tooth which is painful, or chewed in the mouth, in an inftant, as if by a

charm, dies away the pai ́s teeth, aning film

ever.

MR

upon the actions of a man, whofe imprudencies have led him into difficulties: for when orce it is the fashion to condemn a character in the grofs, few are willing to diftinguish between the impulfes of neceffity, and the inclinations of the heart. Sensible of the disagreeable fituation he had now reduced himfelf to, our author immediately determined to exert his best endeavours to recover, what he had wantonly thrown away, a decent competence; and being then about thirty years of age, he betook himself to the study of the law. The friendships he met with in the courfe of his ftudies, and indeed through the remainder of his life, from the gentlemen of that profeffion in general, and particularly from fomne, who have fince risen to be the first ornaments of the law, will, for ever do honour to his memory. His application, while he was a student in the Temple, was remarkably intenfe; and though it happened that the early tafte he had taken of pleasure would occafionally return upon him, and confpire with his fpirits and vivacity to carry him into the wild enjoyments of the town, yet it was particular in him that amidst all his diffipations, nothing could fupprefs the thirt he had for knowledge, and the delight he felt in reading; and this prevailed in him to fuch a degree, that he had been frequently known, by his intimates, to retire late at night. from a tavern to his chambers, and there read, and make extracts from the moit abftrufe authors, for fe

R. Fielding had not been long a writer for the ftage, when he married Mifs Craddock, a beauty from Salisbury. About that time his mother dying, a moderate estate at Stower in Dorfetfhire devolved to him. To that place he retired with his wife, on whom he doated, with a refolution to bid adieu to all the follies and intemperanries to which he had addicted himself in the career of a town-life. But unfortunately a kind of family-pride here gained an afcendant over him, and he began immediately to vie in fplendor with the neighbouring country fquires. With an estate not much above two hundred pounds a year, and his wife's fortune, which did not exceed fifteen hundred pounds, he encumbered himself with a large retinue of fervants, all clad in coftly yellow liveries. For their mafter's honour, thefe people could not defcend fo low as to be careful in their apparel, but in a month or two were unfit to be feen; the fquire's dignity required that they fhould be new equipped; and his chief pleasure confifting in fociety and convivial mirth, hofpitality threw open his doors, and, in lefs than three years, entertainments, hounds and horses entirely devoured a little patrimony, which, had it been managed with economy, might have fecured to him a state of independence for the rest of his life; and, with independence, a thing ftill more valuable, a character free from those interpretations, which the feverity of mankind generally puts July 1764.