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If that mild and gentle god thou be, _ 
Who doft mankind below with pity fee. Dry den. 
Soft; gentle ; not violent: 
Sylvid, like autumn ripe, yet mild as May, 
More bright than noon, yet frclh as early day. Pope. 
The folding gates diffus’d a fiiver light, 
And with a milder gleam refrefli’d the fight. AddiJ'on. 
Not acrid ; not corrofive ; not acrimonious ; demulcent; 
affuafive ; mollifying; lenitive. — Their qualities are 
changed by rendering them acrimonious or mild. Arbuth- 
not on Aliments. —Not {harp ; mellow ; fvveet; having no 
mixture of acidity.—The Irilh were tranfplanted from 
the woods and mountains into the plains, that, like fruit- 
trees, they might grow the milder, and bear the better and 
fweeter fruit. Davies. 
Suppofe your eyes fent equal rays 
Upon two diftant pots of ale. 
Not knowing which was mild or Hale. Prior. 
MILDENHA'LL, a market-town in the county of 
Suffolk, is fituated on the river Lark, at the diftance of 
12 miles from Bury, and 70 from London. The parifh is 
of great extent, from the diiperf’ed arrangement of its 
ilreets, which in faff form a feries of little villages. That 
part of the town called the Borough, or High Town Mil- 
denhall, is its principal divilion, and contains both the 
church and the manor-Iioufe. The former is a very large 
and handfome Rrudture, and has a rich roof of carved 
work, and a lofty tower, and contains a variety of monu¬ 
ments in honour of the family of the Norths. This church 
is fuppofed to be of very ancient foundation, and is much 
admired for its architecture. The manor-houfe is like- 
wife an old edifice, having been the manfion of fir Thomas 
Hanmer, bart. who in the reign of queen Elizabeth was 
fpeaker of the houfe of commons : it has been-greatly 
altered and repaired of late years, and now conltitutes 
the family refidence of fir Thomas-Charles Bunbury, bart. 
who was one of the reprefentatives for the county in the 
' laft parliament. The ancient manfion of the Norths here 
has a gallery in front, extending the whole length of the 
houfe. Tiiis town was much injured by a fire, which 
broke out on the 17th of May, 1507, and in a few hours 
confumed 37 dwelling-houfes, bolides barns, {tables, and 
other appurtenances. 
Mildenhall is the chief town of the hundred ; and the 
petty lefiions are held here, as well as a weekly market on 
Friday, and a very conliderable annual fair, which lalts 
four days. This town has furnifv d London with two 
lord-mayors, Henry Barton and William Gregory ; the 
former of whom held that honourable office in 1428, and 
the latter in 1451. The vicinity prefents to the view a 
fiat open country, wholly devoid of any interelting fea¬ 
tures, except a few family-feats, the chief of which are 
Ic‘kworth, Rulhbrook, and Culford. Ickworth is diftin- 
guilhed for its noble park, which is no iels than ten miles 
in circumference', and for the beauty and value of its 
woods has fcarcely its equal in the kingdom. Wilkes's 
Britijh Director!/, Appendix, p. 137. 
MIL' DERNIX, or Mil'dervvax, /! A kind of canvafs 
for fail-cloth. Ainfuorth. 
MIL'DEW, f. [mil&eape. Sax.] Mildew is a difeafe in 
plants, caufed by a dewy moifture which falls on them, 
and continuing, for want of the fun’s heat to draw it up, 
by its acrimony corrodes, gnaws, and fpoiis, the plant; 
or, mildew is rather a concrete fubftance, which exfudes 
through the pores of the leaves. What the gardeners 
commonly call mildew is an in feet, found in great plenty, 
preying upon this exfudatioii. Others fay, that mildew 
is a thick clammy vapour, exhaled in the Ipring and ium- 
mer from the plants, blofioms, and even the earth itfelf, 
in dole {till weather, where there is neither fun nor wind. 
Miller thinks the true caufe of the mildew appearing molt 
upon plants which are expofed to the eaft, is a dry tem¬ 
perature in the air when the wind blows from that point. 
M" 1 L 
which flops the pores of the plants, and prevents their 
perfpiration; whereby the juices of the plants are con¬ 
creted upon the lurface of their leaves, which being of a 
fiweetilh nature, inledts are inticed thereto. Hill. —-The 
mildew cometh by clofenefs of air; and therefore in hills, 
or champaign-grounds, it feldom cometh. Bacon. 
M. Duhamel Rates, that the mildew ‘‘attacks the blades 
and Rems of corn, which it covers with a powder of the 
colour of ruR of iron, when at the height of their vegeta¬ 
tion. This fubRance does not adhere Rrongly to the 
blades; foivhe has feen the hair of white fpaniels full of 
this powder, after they have run through a field attacked 
with this difeafe. It is likewife known, that, if the in¬ 
fected wheat is wafhed by a plentiful rain, the ruR dilap- 
pears almoR entirely, and the grain fuffers little from it. 
The French give it the name of rujl, from the colour of 
the powder; and it feems to be the fame diRemper which 
the Roman writers term rubigo. Fie adds, that the caufe 
of this diRemper is ufually laid to be dry gloomy weather, 
happening while the corn is at the 'height of its vegeta¬ 
tion ; and, in efiedt, he has many times oblerved, that 
when a hot fun has fucceeded Inch dry hazy weather, 
corn was ruRed within a few days afterwards. It is not 
fo common in clear, dry, hot, years : but, when the fpring 
is wet, the fineR fields of wheat run great hazard of being 
deRroyed by it, which generally appears upon the break¬ 
ing-out of the fun in the morning, after cloie and fultry 
weather, during which there has not been any dew. The 
ruRy powder then gathers upon the blades in fuch quan¬ 
tities as to cover the earth around. M. de Chateauvieux 
cut oR’ the mildewed blades, and found the trial aniwer: 
the lame plants produced new blades, and throve much 
better than thole on which this operation had not been 
performed ; but this cannot be done, except when the 
corn is very young. It is very fatal; as the fineR wheat 
is fuddenly brought almoR to nothing, when it is entirely 
attacked with it. 
“ If it attacks the plants while they are young, and 
before their Rems begin to rife, the mifehief is fometimes 
not very great, provided there comes on a feafon favour-* 
able to thoir farther growth. In this cafe they are only 
weakened, as if they had been fed or mowed. They Rioot 
out anew, and produce ears; though their Rraw is Ihorter, 
and thole ears are fmaller than they would otherwile 
have been. But, if both blades and Ralks are mildewed 
at the lame time, the further growth of the plant is Hop¬ 
ped, and the grain gets fcarcely any more nouriihment; 
fo that the crop is exceedingly diminiflred.” 
It was oblerved that, “ in the autumns of 1753 and 
1754, when the corn was ruRed, the lecond crop of hay 
was lo likewife. The grafs turned from a fine green to 
the ugly rufty colour of the corn: it was covered with 
thefame kind of powder, and its quantity diminilhed 
fenfibly every day ; and, as the whole of a field of corn is 
not ulually affedted at the fame time, fo this diRemper 
extended only to fome parts of the meadow. The caufe 
of this diRemper is undoubtedly the fame in corn and in 
grafs; but its effedt is not exadbly Rmilar. It may de- 
Rroy annual plants, fuch as corn, entire]}'; but in peren¬ 
nials, like grafs, it deRroys only the leaves or blades.” 
May not the prefervation of thel'e laR be owing to the 
taking olf thole leaves or blades, when they are cut for 
hay ? But this is only conjedture ; for it is confefled, that 
he has not yet made any obfervation on this head. 
It may be noticed that thefe caufes are far from being 
fatisfadtory; but it is a difficult enquiry, and one which 
has lately*'efpecially by botanical writers, been confidered 
in a very different point of view. The fadts that have 
been lately prelented to the public on this i'ubjedt, Ihow 
that it is not much influenced by foil, fituation, or the 
nature of the climate. The anlwers that have been given 
to different enquiries on this matter, may probably lead 
to lome uleful conclulions. On this fubjedt, it is Rated, 
in the 44th volume of the Annals of Agriculture, that in 
LincolrdHire the foils molt liable to it, are, j. In general 
light, 
