1823.] 
had his mind prepared for joining in 
this royal hunt: to which, 1 blush to 
name it, a new head-officer has very 
lately been appointed, instead of the 
stag-hunt being totally abolished, as 
the intelligence of the age, not less 
than the pressure of public burthens, 
loudly calls for. 
Humanitas must often have read of 
persons whe amuse themselves, and an 
idle group of spectators, by shooting 
at pigeons, let singly out of a basket 
for the purpose, and in order to win 
bets, and boast-of their skill in shoot- 
ing flying; but he may not perhaps 
have strolled out past Chalk-farm, and 
others of the tea-garden taverns, in the 
vicinity of London, where almost daily 
the massacre takes place by scores, 
not-only of pigeons, but of sparrows, 
and other small birds, not intended 
for food, but which are slaughtered or 
wounded for the gratification of idle 
persons, toe many of whom, it is to be 
feared, are but practising as poachers. 
I recommend, also, to the animadver- 
sions of Humanitas, the frequent prac- 
dice of fox-hunters, turning such out 
of a bag before their hounds. 
London ; Oct. 6. L. M. N.S. 
— 
To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. 
SIR, 
ANY rivers,—as the Medway, 
Darent, and others,—have the 
course of their waters much impeded 
by immense quantities of rushes grow- 
ing spontaneously in the various beds 
of their streams. Such prolific ex- 
crescences greatly impede navigation, 
and form a depét for water-rats, otters, 
and other mischievous aquatic animals, 
to breed and conceal themselves in,— 
especially when growing near any 
rivers’ banks. 
An acquaintance of mine, who keeps 
large paper-mills, has lately divested 
that part of the river over which he 
holds right (about a mile in extent.) of 
all the thick clustering rushes which 
till lately obstructed its progress; and 
the result is, that he has procured 
several loads of the said rushes, which 
he has had dried in his meadows, and 
now uses them instead of straw, as 
beds for his cattle and pigs: they are 
soft and yielding to the animals’ bo- 
dies, and perfectly free from smell. 
Kuowing your predilection for every 
species of national economy, | forward 
you this trifling communication. 1 
must observe, that the work is done 
by his apprentice-boys, in their leisure 
River-Rushes serviceable as Bedding for Cattle, &c. 
323 
hours. The various fish in the river, 
(trout in particular,) by their more 
than usual sportings on the surface 
seem delighted with the change. 
Banks of the Darent. ENort. 
P.S.—Rivers are rendered much more 
safe for bathing, when divested of the 
aforesaid superfluous ap pendages—weeds, 
as many an expert swimmer has been 
drowned by being entangled among them. 
But I fear, by recommending this great 
trespass npon the privileges of the High 
Court of Poesy, that I shall incur the dis- 
pleasure of the youthful enamoured vota- 
ries of that pleasing pursuit ; besides incur- 
ring the danger of being dragged into some 
“vreedy depth’? by an incensed water- 
god, and his train of Nereids, But orna- 
ment, when a preference between itself 
and general utility is required, should 
always make way for the wiser adoptions 
of the latter, 
— 
For the Monthly Magazine. 
ON USURIOUS ANNUITIES. 
HERE is a particular description 
of annuities which may be deno- 
minated usurious annuities, to distin- 
guish them from other annuities ; for, 
though they are legal, being recognised 
by Acts of Parliament, still they are 
nothing more than an artful device to 
evade the penalties of the Usury Laws, 
and to obtain for the lender a higher 
rate of interest than five per cent. 
If money be lent on mortgage, or ‘any 
other security whatever, at a higher 
rate of interest than five per cent. to 
be paid in perpetuum, or for a fixed 
period not subject to any contingency, 
then it is usury, and the payment of 
the interest may be resisted, the money 
advanced cannot be recovered, and 
the lender may be sued for treble the 
amount. Of being so sued and losing 
the action, there is little risk; but, of 
losing the sum he has advanced, there 
will be no doubt, if the borrower choose 
to take advantage. Now, to evade 
these laws, it has been contrived to 
lend money at a high rate of interest, 
to be paid, not for ver, but so long 
as any one of certain persons named 
in the deed shall be alive; and, al- 
though one life be yery uncertain, yet 
in three or four well-chosen lives there 
is little or no risk, experience having 
shown, that the duration in such cases 
is uniformly regulated by a fixed and 
Known rate of mortality, Supposing 
by all tables of mortality there be every 
reason to expect that one of the persons 
at least will be alive at the end of forty 
years, yet still it is legal to lend money 
at 
