188 RUSHLIGHTS. 



LETTER LXVIII. 



TO THE HON. DAINES BARRINGTON. 



SELBORNE, November 1, 1775. 

 DEAR SIR, 



Hie tsedse pingues, hie plurimus ignis 



Semper, et assidua postes fuligine nigri. 



I shall make no apology for troubling you with the detail 

 of a very simple piece of domestic economy, being satisfied 

 that you think nothing beneath your attention that tends to 

 utility : the matter alluded to is the use of rushes instead of 

 candles, which I arn well aware prevails in many districts 

 besides this ; but as I know there are countries also where it 

 does not obtain, and as I have considered the subject with 

 some degree of exactness, I shall proceed in my humble 

 story, and leave you to judge of the expediency. 



The proper species of rush for this purpose seems to be the 

 juncus conglomerate, or common soft rush, which is to be 

 found in most moist pastures, by the sides of streams, and 

 under hedges.* These rushes are in best condition in the 

 height 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, 

 women, 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 matter to divest a rush of its 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, performing this business with great des- 

 patch, and seldom failing to strip them with the nicest 



* In many of the northern parts of Scotland rushes were formerly used 

 in place of cotton for wicks to lamps, which, in Perthshire and the 

 adjoining counties, are termed crozeys. They are much more durable than 

 cotton. In Zetland, a shell, the fusus antiquus of Lamark, suspended 

 horizontally by a cord, was formerly used as a lamp, the canal of the 

 shell serving as a cavity for the reception of the rush-wick. In various 

 places of the same districts, ropes for tethering cattle were formed of 

 rushes by the peasantry during their idle hours, and also by herd boys. 

 If firmly platted, they were pretty durable. We have seen them often 

 used in the north. ED. 



