99 
this entirely depends upon the accuracy, 
of thofe returns ; and if reafons cah be 
given why, in late periods, there fhould 
be more houfes omitted than in. former 
ones, the Tocion wii fail to the 
ground. Now, I happen to kzow, that, 
in various manufaéturing diftriéts, the 
proportion of omitted houfes is vafily be- 
yond the allowance of former times ; and, 
I am well affured, that this proportionate 
omiifion gis ftill progreifional, being de- 
fended upon the humane principle, that 
every poffible burthen fhould at this time 
be taken from the poor and thrown upon 
the rich. ~ Befides, it is “evident” from 
the enormous augmentation of the poor’s 
yates, that the number of aéval paupers 
in the kingdom, that is, of thofe who 
a no taxes, and of whom there is there- 
ore no return, is now many times what 
It was at the Revolution—a melancholy 
and alarming circumftance, furely! but 
one that does not indicate a diminified 
population. 
That Scotland has much increafed in 
populoutnefs “is demonfirated by the fta- 
.tiftical accounts’ colle€tcd by Sir: Jchn 
‘Sinclair. That Ireland has done fo to a 
fhili greater degree, appears from authen- 
tic documents laid before the parliament 
in’ that country. © And why England 
‘Should Jie under fuch different circum- 
ftances,: I. own, I cannot perceive. I 
hope, however, the fubje&t will be much 
farther elucidated by fome of your cor- 
-ref{pondents, and that fads will be affi- 
duoufly fought for, as the only found 
bafis for arguments. 
Before I. conclude, however, I fhall 
expreis my entire agreement with M. N. 
that deftru€tive wars, ,and overwhelming 
debts, will infallibly bring on the evil of 
-depopulation, as well.as many others; 
and that the two or three laft years have, 
In an alarming degree, diminifhed the 
-people of the manufaéturing towns in 
Lancafhire,, appears from the work 
above-mentioned. J am,-Sir, 
Your’s, &c. AN OBSERVER. 

oTothe Ediior of the Monthly Magazine. 
SIR, Soe ts 
Witt you be kind: enough ‘to allow 
~, "ome room fora. few lines of reply to 
a remarker on my I lluftration of Pope, in 
your PyrftNumber ? Somuch candour and 
Kindnefs,, in union wath fuch elegance of 
ctafte add. reCticude,..of judgment, leave 
but little, room for aught, but-refpeétful | 
acknowledgment on my pait.j< Perhaps, 
AMES Wakefield on Pope-—Of the Sea Kale: 
at different periods. But the_validity of 
[March 
however, one or two exceptions occur, 
which it may not be indecorus, even in 
Me, to controvert. In many inftances, 
the objections are, indeed, Incontrover~ 
tible ; and in thofe of a doubtful nature, 
I fee] no difpofition to oppofe my opinion 
to fuch refpeétable authority. ; 
On that verfe of the Meffiah, 
And heap’d with produéts of Sabean fprings ; 
if the remarker will confult my fecond 
volume of obfervations, he will difcover, 
that I was once miftaken in my concep- 
tion of the paflage, as Ae 1s now. 
On this verfe of the Elegy, 
There the firft rofes of the year fhall blow; - 
the remarkerioppofes my amendment, 
becaufe “ rofes do not blow till fummer.”” 
A fufficient anfwer to this objection 
would be, perhaps, that the fcenery lies 
in another climate, of. a warmer latitude 
than. our own: 
Primus vere rofam: Wirg. Geo. iv. , 
But the direét and proper an{wer is, that 
the frff rofes are primrofes; that is, prime, 
or early, rofes, which flower in the /pring ; 
and are fuch rofes as might be expected 
to grow in a field, or high road, where 
this lady was buried: 
What, though no facred earth allow thee room ? 
With refpeé toa propofed conftruction 
of the remarker, on epift. vi. would not the 
‘notion of a young Jady * Jearning to hear 
a fpark, and /earning to think no danger 
nigh,’ be fomething exceedingly like 
nonfenfe ? But I fubmit this to the ‘deci- 
fion of your readers, with a repetition of 
my thanks to the remarker. 
GILBERT WAKEFIELD, 
Hackney, March 1, 1796, bse 
= la ee 
Or THE Sra KALE. 
To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine, 
SIR, ‘ode g 
F you think that the follgwing com. 
munication will at all tend.to promote 
the cultivation of a very pleafant, and 
nutritious plant, it is entirely at your 
feryice,. and I have the more readily 
drawn it, up, becaufe.1, do not recolleét 
_ever to: have met, wita. the plant in, any 
other county. 
It is here called Sea 
Kale,. and in tafte much refembles Afpa- 
ragus, and is dreffed and ferved up in 
the fame manner. ,lt makes its appear~ 
ancetvery early in.;the year;, viz. in- 
-Febryary and March, and does not, be- 
gin to. fail till.the month of May, fo 
that Afparagus, is as it were a continua- 
tion Of it, f : 
! Ths 
