224 
to the Philiftines, are ftill held up as the 
obnoxious, nat thofe who apoftatized to the 
religion of the Greeks. Even the grand- 
fon of Jaddua, therefore, flourifhed be- 
fore the completion of the Macedonian 
conqueft of Afia. 
From thefe comparifons of teftimony i 
refults that the Sanballat of Nehemiah, 
hitherto placed under Artaxerxes Longi- 
manus, is the Sanballat of Jofephus, hi- 
therto placed under Alexander, and the 
Parfodes of Diodorus, hitherto placed be- 
fore Cyrus; and that he really flourifhed 
during and after the latter half of the reign 
ot Artaxerxes Mnemon. ‘Thedate of the 
book of Nehemiah too acquires from thefe 
obfervations a new precifion: it can form 
no part of that canon clofed under Artax- 
erxes Longimanus. ~ 
Mi Py eS 
Lo ihe Editor of the Monthly Magazine. 
SIR, . 
WILL thank you for allowing me to 
inform your correfpondent, A poor 
Northumbrian, who has lately communi- 
eated fome very interefting obfervations 
relative to the cuckoo, that a perfon, upon 
whofe judgment and veracity I can fully 
depend, told me, the other day, he acci- 
deatally difcovered a neft, about eight or 
ten wecks ago, in which were depofited the 
egg of a cuckoo, and four others of a dif- 
ferent and {mailer kind. The defcription 
“he gave of the fize and colour of the 
cuckoo’s egg I found, upon enquiry, to 
_ be perfectly agreeable to the opinions of 
the mof experienced naturaliffs ; and am, 
therefore, {atisfied he was’ not deceived in 
this particular. Whenever he approached 
the place where the neft was fituated, he 
generally obferved the old ‘cuckoo near ; 
but a {mall bird, to which he fuppofed the 
other four eggs to belong, fat upon the 
neft, and hatched the young. ‘The laft 
time this perfon faw the brood, they 
confifted of the cuckoo and two of. the 
others. What became of them afterwards 
he could not tell, as the neft was de- 
firoyed. 
T have alfo. been informed by another 
perfon, whofe veracity is unimpeachable, 
and who had greater opportunities than 
moft men for rhaking obfervations upon 
the fubjeét, that he has frequently known 
the old cuckoo remain near the place where 
her ege was laid, until it was hatched, 
when fhe threw the cther young ones out 
of the neft, and then forfook her own off- 
{pring for ever. 
Thefe facts, the authenticity of which 
is indifputable, partly tend to confirm the 
ancient and eftablifled opinion, that the 
The Cuckao—Houfiman’s Tour through Scotland, [Oaober ry. 
cuckoo negle&ts her young. And one 
reafon for tuch negleét may probably be 
the gratuitous affiltance afforded by other 
birds in feeding her offspring, of which 
the latter perfon above-mentioned effured 
me he had more than once been an eye- 
witnefs. 
In an account of the parifh of Skelton, 
given in Mr. Houfiman’s Notes to the 
Hiftory of Cumberland, publithed by Mr. 
Hutchinfon, mention is made of an epi- 
aph, written upon two brothers, by the 
Jate Rev. William Richardfon, of Blen- 
cowe; on which Mr. Hutchinfon remarks, 
that it 1s not an original compofition. In 
juftice, Sir, to the diftinguifhed chara@ter 
Mr. Richardfon fupported, and as a rela- 
tive of that learned manjand very valuable 
member of fociety, I beg leave, through 
the medium of your mifcellany, to ftate to 
the readers of Mr. Hutchinfon's Hiftory, 
that the epitaph in queltion was the pro- 
duction of Mr. Richardion. 
In a work abounding with biographical 
memoirs of eminent and remarkable per- 
fons, as Mr. Hutchinfon’s certainly is, I 
was furprized to obferve fo little (and that 
not very commendable) notice taken of 
Mr. Richardfon. Under his care the 
{chool of Blencowe acquired and main- 
tained a degree of celebrity, unequalled 
at that time by any other feminary in the 
north of England. He was the author of 
*¢ Effays on Divine and Moral Subje&s,”” 
a fecond edition of which, with confider- 
able additions, he publifhed in 17603 of 
a poetical effay ‘* On Moderation ;” and 
of a fermon preached on the faft occa- 
fioned by the earthquake. 
Ravenftonedale, Aug. 6. 
—a 
J. RoBiNson. 
JOURNAL of a TOUR through SCOTLAND, 
made iz 1798, by JOHN HOUSMAN, 
(Continued from page 542, wal. g.) 
NOW enter Tiviotdale, a fine valley, 
watered, by the Tiviot. The hills 
lower, the vale extends irregularly, and 
there are fome haughs or holm lands, pro- 
ducing good barley and oats ; fome tra&s 
of poor.ground, however, intervene, and 
occafionally I pafs fimall plots of woodland, 
and fome pretty feats of different gentle- 
men. Hawick ftands in a low vale, and 
is waflied by the Tiviot. It is a fmalt 
but rather improving town: the ftreets are 
narrow, and moft of the old houfes are 
thatched ; and in the upper ftory the win- 
dows (or fometimes fquare holes ftopped 
occafionally with a board) peeping through 
the thatch, have a groteique appearance. ~ 
2 Tne 
