Additional Notes, 539 



the beginning of the century, were sent on long voyages ot 

 discovery, or other important enterprizes, were, in many in- 

 stances, as small as those which are now considered fit only 

 for coasters. 



" The trading vessels of the ancients were, in general, 

 much inferior in size to those of the moderns. Cicero 

 mentions a number of ships of burthen, none of which was 

 below 2000 amphorae (quarum minor nulla era/ duinn mil' 

 Hum ajnp/ioriimj , i. e. about 5Q ton, whicfi he seems to 

 have thouglit a large ship. (Cic. Fam. xii. 15.) There were, 

 however, some ships of enormous bulk. One built by 

 Ptolemy is said to have been 280 cubits, that is, 420 feet 

 long, and another 300 feet: the tonnage of the former being 

 7.182, and of the latter, 3197. (Athenieus.J The ship 

 which brought from Egypt the great Obelisk that stood in 

 the Circus of the Vatican in the time of Caligula, besides 

 the Obelisk itself, had \20, 000 modii oi kntcs, or lenfiles, 

 a kind of pulse for ballast, amounting to about 1 1 38 toi)S. 

 Flin. xvi. 40. § 76." — See Kt>kus's Antiquities, 



Brindley. p. 374. 



James Brindley, the celebrated engineer, was born in 

 Derbyshire, in the year 1716. He early devoted himself to 

 mechanical pursuits; and was bred a mill-wright. His asto- 

 nishing enterprize, and useful improvements in the formation 

 oi aqueducts, canals, &c. are generally known, and will long 

 do honour to his memory. He died in 1772, in the 56th 

 year of his age. 



NOTES ON CHAPTER VIII. 



Cultivation of the Potatoe. p. 382. 



IT is a curious fact, that this most excellent vegetable has 

 been in common use in North-Britain but a few years. In 

 France it has been long known; but was, for many years, 

 expressly proscribed, in consequence of its belonging to the 



