1796.] 
one years, that the fituation of this city 
is peculiarly favourable to thofe who are 
liable to fuffer from extreme cold: and, 
with refpeét to the beginning of the laft 
year, many obfervations concur to thow 
that the cold of that rigorous feafon was 
much more intenfe near the eaftern coaft 
of England, than in places farther to the 
weft. In the month of May, there was 
a great and fudden tranfition from heat, 
unufual at that feafon, to cold, not lefs 
unufual. The thermometer, on the 22d, 
at 2, P.M. ftood at 75°, and on the 23d, 
at the fame hour, at 74°.5. At midnight, 
between the 24th and 2sth, it ftood at 
42°, and the following night, at the fame. 
hour, at 40% A perfon of credit, who 
was abroad early in the morning of the 
26th, affirmed, that he fuffered nearly as 
much from the cold as he had done any 
time during the preceding winter. On 
the morning of the zoth of June (after 
the night fo fatal to the newly thorn 
theep) {now was faid to have fallen on 
fome high and expofed ground to the 
north-weft of this place. The month of 
September was ftill more remarkable 
here than in London; its mean heat, 
(as appears by Table II) exceeding that 
of Auguft by 0°04, and that of July by 
20.8%. M. 
{ The concluding part of this Letter, defcrib- 
ing a remarkable Lunar Phenomenon, in 
our next. | 
ee 
CONSUMPTION OF Foop By HORS3Es. 
To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. 
SIR, 
HE late fearcity of food (if it te yet 
proper to call it /ate) has n t been 
without its advantages in pointing out 
fources of economy and _ fubititution, 
hitle thought of in happier times. It has 
likewife given ample oceafion for the dif- 
play of that charitable temper, which is 
one of the things that does real hovour to 
our national charaéter; and thouch the 
opulent have in general been able to grati- 
fy this difpofition with little or no exercife 
of felf-denial, yetmany, even in that rank 
of life, have fhown a very laudable readi- 
nefs to facrifice their habitual comforts, 
for the fake of contributing to the public 
good. I have known thofe who would no 
mere have indulged in a hot roll at 
breakfaft, than have committed one of 
the feven deadly fins; and thofe who 
difcarded all bread from their diet, as 
tigoroufly as a Bramin abftains from beef 
and mutton. I fhall not enquire how 
far a folicitude for wiping away all 
Montuty Mac. No V. | 
Confumption of Ford by Horfes. 
369 
reproach from the prefent bleffed Church 
and King crufade has ufurped the place of 
real regard to the poor, in exciting to thefe 
mortifications—let them have full credit 
for all their apparent humanity ; nor fhall 
I rigoroufly fcrutinize into the good effects 
pruduced by the confumption of the food of 
the poor by the rich ; though it is maniteft, 
that as a!l muft fubaft upon fomething or 
other, the general ftock of provifions could 
not be very effentially aided by a mere in- 
terchange of articles. But my purpofe, in 
the prefent letter, is,to fhuw to the really 
patriotic and humane, a mode by which 
their economical facrifices may be made 
infinitely more efficacious, than by thefe 
trivial and dubious exertions. 
Nothing can be more demonttrable than 
the clear lofs of eatable products, incurred 
by keeping Zorfes not employed in produc- 
tive labour ; and, perhaps, of all the im- 
puted caufes of that deficiency of fupply 
from our own fources, which we have of 
late years experienced, none goes fo far in 
explaining the faét, as the exceflive in- 
creafe of thefe animals, for the ufes of 
luxury. J know not what calculation moft 
to rely upon of the pr sportion of food cen- 
fumed by a horfe and a human being; 
but that of one of the former expending 
as much as three of the latter, cannot but 
be very moderate. Let us now fuppofe 
the common cafe of a married pair retired 
from bufinefs—-a widow lady—an old 
batchelor—or a couple of maiden fifters— 
in circumftances which authorize them to 
keep their chariot and pair. They live, 
perhaps, in a village near town, or in fome 
provincial capital. The carriage is, un- 
doubtedly, a convenience, as well as a 
credit: it takes them a morningairing, a 
dinner or tea vilit, and parades at the 
church door on Sundays. But what ts the 
public coft at which this elegant luxury is 
maintained? Reckoning the quadrupeds 
alone, brought up and trained with great 
care and expence, and certainly the beft 
fed of their fpecies, it is the ttanding 
maintainance of at leaft fix human crea- 
tures, and that, upon the fcanrv eftablith- 
ment of only the pair of coach horfes, 
without the footman’s horfe to attend in 
country excurfions, But the coachman is 
likewife to be confidered—one of the fat- 
teft and lazieft of bs fpecies too; and, 
though adding to the number of human 
beings, yet kept at twice the expence of 
others, at leaft as valuable, and probably 
as happy as he. Let, now, the poffeffors of 
this fober, and apparently innocent luxury 
reflect, that they are thereby confuming 
the entire means of comfortably fubfifting 
2B seven 
