48 CLIMATE, SEASONS, &C. [PART. I. 



1817. 



Dec. 22. our other English people shrug up 

 their shoulders. 



23. Frost greatly abated. Stones show 

 for wet. It will come, in spite of 

 all the fine serene sky, which we 

 now see. 



24. A thaw. Servants made a lot of 

 candles from mutton and beef fat, 

 reserving the coarser parts to make 

 soap. 



25. Rain. Had some English friends. 

 Sirloin of own beef. Spent the 

 evening in light of own candles, as 

 handsome as I ever saw, and, I 

 think, the very best 1 ever saw. 

 The reason is, that the tallow is- 



fresh, and that it is unmixed with 

 grease, which, and staleness, is the 

 cause, 1 believe, of candles running, 

 and plaguing us while we are using 

 them. What an injury is it to the 

 farmers in England, that they dare 

 not, in this way, use their own pro 

 duce ! Is it not a mockery to call a 

 man free, who no more dares turn 

 out his tallow into candles for his 

 own use, than he dares rob upon 

 the highway? Yet, it is only by 

 means of tyranny and extortion like 



