MS. of Junius — Economical Lights. 



402 



the battle of Hastings decided the con- 

 test between tlie Saxons and Danes, as 

 to wliicli should be stiperior, and the 

 victory resting witli William the Nor- 

 man, the Danes may be said to have 

 acquired the superiority. 



MS. OF JUNIUS. 



To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. 



SIR, 



I AIM in possession of some MSS. 

 found among the papers of the late 

 John Ahnon, and sent to him for " the 

 Foundling Hospital for Wit." 



One of them is a general post letter, 

 stamped Bury, postage 8d.— a large 

 sheet, perhaps charged double; with a 

 seal, identical with the 5th specimen 

 given by Mr. Woodfall, in his edition of 

 the Letters of Junius. The hand-writ- 

 ing exactly accords with some of the 

 specimens given by Mr. W. : and the 

 character of the hand is similar in all 

 of them.* 



It is signed I. H. T., or 1. H. F. 



Queiy — who lived at Bury at that 

 date, likely to send Almon spirited 

 imitations of Horace, Epigrams, &c. ? 

 Had he any connection with the Graf- 

 ton family? Inquisitor. 



ECONOMICAL LIGHTS. 



To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. 



SIR, 



IN these times of poverty and distress 

 eveiy little circumstance of domes- 

 tic economy is worthy attention. 



Perhaps the following statement may 

 be interesting to some of your readei-s, 

 and may induce them to piiictise, or 

 to recommend to the poor, a cheap 

 mode of having light. 



It is in the shape of a letter from the 

 late Mr. White, of Selborne, to Mr. 

 Pennant, in his very elegant and en- 

 tertaining work, " The Natural His- 

 tory and Antiquities of Selborne ;*' a 

 work which is characteristic of a mind 

 feelingly alive to the beauties of natuie, 

 particularly of animated nature, regu- 

 lated by great good sense, and very re- 

 spectable literary and intellectual at- 

 tainments. 



This statement is in part quoted by 

 t|ie first and most useful female writer 

 of the present day, in her story of " The 

 Orphans," shewing in both instances, 

 that no subject however humble, could 

 be beneath the attention of a liberal 

 mind, that concerned the comfort and 

 well being of the poor. T. M. 



Reignte, 2d, May, 1821. 



" I shall make no apology for troubling 

 * They may be seen at our office. 



[June J 5 



you with the detail of a very simple piece 

 of domestic ecouomy, being t^atisfied that 

 you think nothing beneath your attcntiou 

 that tends to utility ; the matter alluded to 

 is the use of rushes instead of caudles, 

 which 1 am well aware prevails in many 

 districts besides this ; but as I know there 

 are countries also where it docs not obtain, 

 and as I have considered the subject with 

 some degree of exactness, 1 shall proceed 

 in my humble story, and leave you to judge 

 of the expediency. 



The proper species of rush for this pur- 

 pose seems to be the jmicus cffusus, or 

 common soft rush, which is to be found in 

 most moistpastures, by the sides of streams, 

 and under hedges. These rushes are in 

 best condition in the heiglit of summer; 

 but may be gathered, so as to serve the 

 purpose well, quite on to autumn. It would 

 be needless to add that the largest and 

 longest are best. Decayed labourers, wo- 

 men and children, make it their business to 

 procure and prepare them. As soon as 

 they are cut they must be flung into water, 

 and kept there ; for otherwise they will 

 dry and shrink, and the peel will not run. 

 At first a person would find it no easy mat- 

 ter to divest a rush of it's peel or rind, so 

 as to leave one regular, narrow, even rib 

 from top to bottom, that may support the 

 pith: but this, like other feats, soon becomes 

 familiar even to children; and we have 

 seen an old woman, stone-blind, perform 

 this business with great dispatch, and sel- 

 dom failing to strip them with the nicest 

 regularity. When these junci are thus far 

 prepared, they must lie out on the grass to 

 be bleached, and take the dew for some 

 nights, and afterwards be dried in the sun. 



Some address is required in dipping 

 these rushes in the scalding fat or grease ; 

 but this knack also is to be attained by 

 practice. The careful wife of an indus- 

 trious Hampshire labourer, obtains all her 

 fat for nothing ; for she saves the scum- 

 niings of her bacon-pot for this use ; and, 

 if the grease abounds with salt, she causes 

 the salt to precipitate to the bottom, by 

 setting the scummings in a warm oven. 

 Where hogs are not much in use, and es- 

 pecially by the sea-side, the coarser animal 

 oils will come very cheap. A pound of 

 common grease may be procured foi- four- 

 pence, and about six pounds of grease will 

 dip a pound of rushes, and one pound of 

 rushes may be bought for one shilling : so 

 that a pouud of rushes, medicated and 

 ready for use, will cost three shillings. If 

 men that keep bees will mix a little wax 

 with the gi-ease, it will give it a consistency 

 and render it more cleanly, and make the 

 rushes burn longer : mutton-suet would 

 have the same effect. 



A good rush, which measured in length 

 two feet four inches and an half, being mi- 

 nuted, burnt only three minutes short of 



