186 Ufe. of Lime 
world; it is the ftory of the Spanifh. 
Armada, and was done in the glorious 
days of queen Befs.’—** Then give it a 
thorough cleaning, at leaft,’”’ returned I. 
“< If you offer to draw a nail,” rejoined 
fhe, ‘‘ there are fo many private doors 
and fecret paflages made in the wall, you 
will be blinded with duff and mortar; 
and, for aught I know, pull an old houfe 
over, you. head.’”’.»‘* Let me; at leat, 
give a brufhing to the beards of the old 
dens,” replied I. “ A ftroke of the bruth 
would fhake them to pieces,” infifted my 
wife; “ they are as tender as a cobweb, 
J tell you, and I pofitively will not have 
them meddled with. Nobody, who has 
any regard for his anceftors, ‘would think 
of pulling down a venerable fet of hang- 
ings, made in the glorious days of queen 
Elizabeth.”—Now, I care little when a 
thing was made; the queftion is, what is 
it good for ? and I know nothing fo much 
ufelefs lumber is good for, but to cblige 
us to keep a great many fupernumerary 
fervants, at high wages, to look after it. - 
T have ftill another grievance, fir. If 
yot. are a married man, you may chance 
to know, that it is often as much ag a 
man can do to manage his wife; but to 
manage one’s wife and mother too, is a 
tatk too hard for any mortal. Now, my 
mother, fir, lives with us, and I am 
fure I have always behaved myfelf as a 
dutiful and obedient fon; her arm-chair 
is always fet'in the bef place by the fire, 
the eats.of the beft, and drinks of the 
beft, neither do I-grude it her, though 
the pocr children’s bellies are often 
pinched, while fhe is feafting upon nice 
bits. But with all this, I have much 
ado to keep her in good humour. If] 
ftir about a little more brifkly than ordi- 
nary, my mother has weak nerves, and 
the noife I make over her head, will 
throw her into fits. IfI offer hut to 
duf the books in my ftudy, my mother 
is afraid fome,of them fhould fall upon 
her head. Indeed, the old lady did get 
an unlucky blow with one or two of 
them, which has fhaken her not a little. 
Befides which, the infiits, and my wife 
ftands by her in it, that I fhould con- 
fult her in all matters of bufinefs; and 
if I donot, I am cryed out againit as a 
graceleis atheiftical wretch ; and a thou- 
fand idle reports are raifed, that I am 
going to ftrip and. turn my. poor old 
mother out of doors. Then, my mother 
as rather particular in her drefs; and 
the children fometimes will be tittering 
and making game, when fhe is difplay- 
ing fome of her old fallals; upon which, 
- . 
in Agriculture. [April 
my. wife always infifts, I fhould whip 
them,which I ufed to do pretty feverely, 
though, of late, I confefs, I have only 
hung the rod up over the chimney, im ser- 
rorem—on {uch occafions, my wife never 
fails to obferve, “how becoming it is in 
one of my mother’s age to keep the fame 
fafhion in her drefs.’’—This, by the way, 
is not true, for | remember my mother 
fiuck all over with crofies and embroi- 
dery to her very fhoes, with ftrings of 
beads and fuch trumpery; yet fhe fays, 
as well as my wife, that fhe never 
changes any thing. 
Tam, myfelf, Mr. Editor, an. eafy, 
‘peaceable, plain-{poken man as any that 
exifts; and am a man of. littl or no 
expence far my own gratification: yet fo 
it 1s, that, what with the large eftablith- 
ment of fervants, which we are obliged 
to have, and the continual drains upon 
my purfe, to fupply my extravagant 
neighbours, I run out every year, and 
cannot help having many ferious thoughts 
and melancholy -forebodings where all 
this may end. But I apprehend, the 
firft fep ought to be, for my wife and 
I to confult together, and make a re- 
form in the family management where- 
ever there may be occafion, If, there- 
fore, you can perfuade her to lay afide 
her groundlefs jealoufies, and talk a little 
reafon, I fhall be highly obliged to you, 
and am your humble fervant, 
Joun Butt. 

For the Monthly Magazine. 
On THE UsE*or Lime. IN 
AGRICULTURE. 
AS agriculture has been followed from 
the earlieft period, and in almoft 
every climate, we might expeét that the 
principles of it would be well underftood ; 
anc that an art fo extenfively praétifed, 
and {fo indifpenfably neceffary to man, 
would have, long ago, arrived ata high 
degree of perfection: this however, is 
far from being the cafe. In moft coun- 
tries, it is followed only by the ignorant, 
the poor, and the oppreffed, by perfons 
little capable of profiting by obfervation, 
and unable to make thofe experiments 
which would lead to improvement. 
But even in thofe places where it em- 
ploys the attention of the rich and the in- 
telligent, its progrefs to perfe@tion mutt 
be flow. In order to afcertain a fingle 
fact, repeated experiments mutt be made, 
requiring a confiderable length of time, 
and liable to be interrupted by the feafons, 
and-a variety of accidents; and, when 
the fa& is at length eftablithed, it cannot, 
perhaps, 
