^Retrospective Criticism. 81 



Mr: Loudon as worthy of notice in his Magazine ; which is much as if a 

 countryman were to write to the Royal Society to inform its members, that 

 he had made the notable discovery that the earth moves round the sun, 

 and not, as he had always previously supposed, the sun round the earth. 

 People who liave paid little or no attention to nature are astonishingly 

 ignorant of the commonest phenomena. I really do not know that the 

 hackneyed story, narrated by Joe Miller, or some of his fraternity, of the 

 cockney, who, going into the country, and seeing an elder bush in full 

 flower, observed that he never in his life saw cauliflowers growing before, — 

 I really do not know that this is altogether improbable, or unlikely to have 

 taken place. I was myself once told by a gentlemnn, as a remarkable cir- 

 cumstance, that once in his life he saw what he called the flower of a fern ; 

 he was shooting, he said, and liaving occasion to climb up a bank, he hap- 

 pened to turn aside the fern with his .handy and there on the under side of 

 the leaf was the flower in fulliperfectionil-acxt being) aware,* as it should 

 seem, thatihe miglit, gee the like any (day ihe- chose to«<look'fopit. I would 

 not, howevcii', t(9i;nnd?fstqod-fa$ iwi«hing)t©9 rigorously; toMsxclude from 

 yourip^gqs, all' qu?rie^.iOPi s^jbJQeJisgeneral!y>fa«niii&i7ftoiiiatraraHst&, and well 

 undersjU><?4f» f^isiich qUBBiies.fiOiinetim£S((SeiTr«/diii the ,re^lyvl5ke 7?<^g5, as' it 

 were, lOnixyhji^h.itQ hang .jMnQat ^aindiUsefiaiiiittJeiijistoryof ithe matteriin 

 quf!sti/(?n,( iy^s]tl,•^ted^, pe^rhapfljiby/.further information.- ■ ; Ati the-sartie'tirtie"! 

 would recommend you to ,be'aocasionally a little more sekct in your ichoice^ 

 lest in these enlightened days of knowledge you qhould bechai^ged^ with 

 having filled your pages with remarks and notices' relating to facts already- 

 known to the less ignorant part of the world for some centuries past;' and 

 I trust that all your correspondents will have the good * sense not - to* 'feet 

 offended, should their communications at any time be deemed; lirasuifcable 

 for insertion in your miscellanyw-f-i^f.- ,!«• \'<ir>f- > - .- ' f-liHu/. ^ji* > 



I now take my leave of that portion of thet Magazine of Natural JHistiory 

 on which I have made free to offer my remarks, assuring you that I always 

 look forward with much pleasure to the alternate month for the appearance 

 of your Numbers ; and I heartily unite witih you in the hope you express 

 of " going on in the same course for many years to come, gathering strength 

 as you proceed j and «o rooting ihis j)eriodical into the literature of the country, 

 as that there must alwcii/s. m future he in ilie&e islands a Magazine iff -Natured 

 History" *5 Esto perpetuus.". Y<i\iYs^kc.\^^\B.,Coventry^iNovi^6. 1830. 



Agronome's Paper 071 blobs' s JRomder ilii//;— SiryWith the permission " to 

 pick and cull" (or to reject) ^s you ithoAigbt proper, 1 cannot but express 

 my surprise thatyou should have ^iven an admission into tiie pages of your 

 excellent t and interesting v>^ork, the Magazine of Natural History, to the 

 article uA4^r tJlje signature " Agronome." (Vol. III. p.a09.)i ;What the 

 writer's meaning is, or under what head of natural historj' the subject can 

 be classed, I am quite at a loss to know. He has treated with levity the 

 bodily sufferings of his fellow-beings, when writhing under the effects of a> 

 lamentable accident ; and although he says of himself that " he is no blas- 

 phemer " (and I would fain not think him such), yet there exists, in the 

 language of which he makes use, a familiarity and, a grossness which it ia 

 impossible to read without regret, ahnost without disgust. Pray, Sir, look 

 to this for the future, nor allow an admission into a work of such interest 

 as your.Magazine of articles which cannot, I am sure, be to your ournXostOy 

 nor (I will venture to add) to that of any of your numerous fea4e»st • X 

 am. Sir, your well-wisher, — J. S. Manchester^ Nov. 7. 1830. . "^ ■>■ 



We entirely agree with our correspondent, and regret exceedingly to 

 have admitted such a paper : how we did : so we cannot well tell ; but our 

 readers may rely on our taking better care for the future. — Cond. 



Mr. Ainswortlis Notes on the Pyrenees. (Vol.IH. p. 496-) — Sir, In the 

 last Number of the Magazine of Natural History I perceive a memoir 

 entitled Notes on the Pyre7}ces,\<\'\itex\\)\ myself, and sent to you more 



Vol. IV. — No. 17. o ' 



