£22 Critical Remarks on Shakespeare, [Oct. 
1)6 ought, by continued exertions, to in¬ 
crease" his means of creating artificial 
light, and to exhaust the.stores of che- 
inistiv and natural history, till he has 
united all the points ot perfection in its 
production and economy. 
What can be more gross and offensive 
than the oil which, to this day, we burn 
in our lamps, — or the tallow which emits 
its fetid smell from our candles ! What 
can be more clumsy and coarse than 
those contrivances as we commonly meet 
with them! Wliat more primitive— 
more barbaric — or more unscientific! 
In this view' I was exceedingly gratified 
by the experiments of Winsor, and I 
am yet at a loss to comprehend how his 
excellent system miscarried, after the 
beautiful demonstrations which he af¬ 
forded the public in Pall Mall. He may 
have calculated, with the over sanguine 
feelings of genius, on tlie commercial 
advantages of bis plans, and may conse¬ 
quently have disappointed some of the 
speculators that flocked about him; but 
in this intellectual age and country, such 
a design ought to be supported by the 
spirit of philosophy and patriotism, and 
not to depend on selfish views for its in¬ 
troduction. It was a design worthy of 
the support of a whole people—worthy 
of the countenance of government — and 
worthy also of one of those countless 
millions voted away every year by Par¬ 
liament, to effect some purposes which 
a future age n)ay better value, but of the 
benefits of which, the present age is 
completely in the dark ! 
If, whet) the process and combustion 
were imperfect, a certain degree of 
smoke sometimes escaped from tlte tubes 
of the gas lights, as it does from tallow 
candles, th.is was a subject for the study 
of our great chemists, who would, in 
my opii)ion, at least, have been in this 
way quite as usefully employed as in che¬ 
mical conjuring, in producing metals 
which nobody values; at tlse same time, 
too, that those gentlemen knew full well, 
that no other metal is wanted in En¬ 
gland but gold ! 
My attention has been excited to this 
subject by a visit lately paid me by a pa¬ 
triotic native of Nova Scotia, who, having 
never been in England, described himself 
as much annoyed by tlie smell and smoke 
emitted from our tallow candles. On en¬ 
quiry, I found that in liis family and pro¬ 
vince, he and his neiglibours burn only 
wax. Yes, w’ax ! — startle not reader, — ■ 
in a beggarly province of Nova Scotia, 
the faisners and labourers burn none but 
Wux caudles! lie informed me that in 
the uncleaned woods there grow abun¬ 
dance of the Myrica Cerifera, wax-bear¬ 
ing myrica,or, vulgarly, tlie caudle-berry 
myrtle. VVitb these wax-berries, he says, 
they make excellent wax candies, fra¬ 
grant instead of noisome, m their odour, 
economical in their consumption, and 
clean ajid agreeable in their use. He 
admitted, however, that the manufacture 
is not perfected, that the wax, which is 
of a green colour, would be imfU'oved by 
being bleached and that some comuron 
processes of purification would greatly 
improve it. He says, that this myrtle de¬ 
lights m moist situations, that it would 
thrive well in England, and that every 
county might grow, on sites now' useless, 
wax enough for all the candles which 
it consumes! 
Is not this then an object worthy of 
the Society of Arts and Board of Agri¬ 
culture? Is th?re any pursuit in wliich, 
by possibility, they can be more advan¬ 
tageously engaged ? It is certainly worth 
as much attention as an improvement in 
a pair of snuffers, or as plans for raising 
rents by consolidating farms ! 
The Monthly ^Magazine at least will, I 
hope, bestow some attention upon it; 
will encourage con)munications from 
Nova Scotia, and other parts of America, 
where this tree flourishes; will record 
experiments made upon it in England; 
and give these wax candles a fair chance 
of naturalization in the native country of 
arts, sciences, and improvements ! 
Common Sense. 
September 6, 1811. 
P. S. The writer is perfectly aware, that 
Mjrica Gale grows in great abundance in 
North Britain, and has been occasionally ap¬ 
plied to the purpose of candle making; he 
has beard also of experiments in Devonshire 
of the same nature; but these facts serve only 
to support his hypothesis in favour of the 
genera! introductor of this vegetable wax. A 
gentleman wlio has made them in Devonshire 
assures him their fragrance is delightful, their 
light brilliant and tlieir economy great. 
Tor the Monthly Magazine, 
CRITICAL PvEMaRKS OU SHAKESPEARE, 
Cy TsT B E LIN E. — A:t L S:fKS 3. 
Kurt him ! his body’s a passible carcass if 
he be not hurt.” 
This passage may be cited as a proof 
of the danger and uncertainty of conjec¬ 
tural emendation. For a passible car¬ 
cass might very plausibly be substituted 
an impassible carcass, if the following 
w'ords did not serve tp fortify the present 
reading. “It is a ihoroiighfare for steel 
if it be Hot hu-lt.*' The meaning'then 
aoi'Srenilv 
