432 
for teaching poor children to fpin jer- 
fey, partly with the view of rendering 
them able to fupport themfelves more 
comfortably, and partly to introduce the 
woollen manufaéture into this Conny 5 
the fineft wool being produced here in 
the greateft quantities. Unfortunately, 
however, the philanthropic exertions of 
this gentleman have not hitherto been 
attended with all the deferved fuccefs.— 
From Mr. Bowyer, I colleéted much in- 
formation on the feveral fubjcéls of my 
converfation with him. . 
June 9, went from ALFORD to 
SpiusBy, in Lincolnfhire, nine miles ; 
quite a farming country, and rather thin- 
ly inhabited. Soil partly a clay, and 
partly a mixture of fand, flint, and chalk, 
or coke, as it 1s commonly called here. 
Rent 16s. to 20s. per acre ; roads in this 
part of the ess are either formed 
wholly of fand, with a little mixture of 
flinty gravel, or are laid pretty thick 
with chalk. The large breed of fheep 
eccupy a great part of the land; a con- 
fiderable quantity of grain and turnips 
is, however, raifed here : : the latter are 
generally worth about 5]. per acre; 
farms from 60]. to 200]. a-year, inclofed 
with hedges of thorn, and convenient. 
Some vallies and rifing grounds afford a 
variety not unpleafing to the eye. Farm- 
houfes of brick, and generally thatched ; 
a {mall building, with acover of ftraw 
or reeds, in a fequettered vale, neara fo- 
litary farm-houfe, and which appeared 
to mé to be a barn, on a nearer view, [ 
perceived to be a church. 
pretty neat town, ina fine fituation, and 
tolerably well-built : it contains 1850 
inhabitants, of whom few are employed 
in any manufacture. The parith chiefly 
belongs to Sir Peter Burrel, bart. who 
had a feat near the town, which having 
been burned down, it has not been re- 
built fince. 
[To be centinued. | 

fo tea Editor us the Me Monthly Masazine. 
SIR, 
HROUGH the medium of your 
Mifcellany, I take the liberty to en- 
quire .a philofophic explanation of the 
following eleétrical phenomenon : 
On Sunday the 28th of May laft, at 
about 114 P.M. the atmofphere heavily 
cloudy, andthe wind blowing frefh from 
she weft, witha flow driving rain, | faw 
in the fouth, and near the theese re- 
peatedly, for the {pace of half an hour, 
Jbe iéfection of flathes of lightning, at 
icra: of perhaps four or five minutes, 
Meteorological Phenomenen....New French Meafures. 
SPILSBY is. a. 
[ June, 
and almoft uniformly, at three feconds 
after, a report, fimilar in every refpest 
to that of a large piece of ordnance, 
except, that no reverberation of found 
wes perceivable ; it might, perhaps, be 
more aptly compared to the firoke of a 
mufled clapper on a mafly bell. The 
found was always from the fame point, 
and feemed as if carried fmoothly and 
gradually off to leeward, by the wind. 
That the luminous appearance proceeded 
from lightning, I am convinced, by its 
expanfe, its quick effeét, and its inten- 
fity ; the light was fo ftrong, as to enable. 
me to fee the hour by a watch, when the 
night was otherwife too dark ‘for me to. 
fee the hands. 
If any of your readers can either ex- 
plain this philofophical ly, or furnifh me 
with a circumftantial account of a fimi- 
lar appearance at any preceding or fub- 
fequent period, J, and many admirers of 
your Work, will feel ourfelves particu- 
iarly gratified. I am, fir, your’s, 
Lundon , Funeé 9, 1797- Cub as. 

Ta the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. 
SIR, 
I INCLOSE for your perufal, and that 
of your readers, a table of the denomi- 
nations of the new French meafures, as 
decreed by the temporary commiuffion of 
weights and meafures, and afterwards 
reétified and adopted by the legiflature. 
I have actompanied the table with fome 
introductory remarks, and added an ex- 
plication ofall the new meafures found 
in it. Should the above be fuitable to 
the plan of your refpectable Mifcellany, 
I propofe to fend you, for fome future 
Number, ue rules of the decimal cal- 
culation as are connected with the due 
underftanding of the table*. 
The weights and meafures at prefent 
in ufe throughout Europe, were efta- 
blifhed at an epoch of the. profoundeit 
ignorance and barbarifm. ‘The commer- 
cial. relations were then very circum- 
feribed, and at every twenty leagues 
dienes: the traveller, oy voyager, was 
fure to meet with different meafures. 
Louis XI, who was any thing but a phi- 
lofopher, but who, neverthelefs, favoured 
commerce from motives of policy, fet on 
foot a project of reform in this article, 

* The table, with the accompanying remarks, 
are chiefly feleétéd and tranflated from a pam- 
phlet, lately publifhed by Prieur, de /a Cite 
@’Or, who was appointed to draw up and publifh 
inftrutions relative to the new weights and 
meafures, and the decimal calcylatioas, &c. . 
. thE 
