38 
ang that the iabeuring claffes are lirtle 
acquainted with their ufe. Potatoes are 
éonfidered as a poor, weak, and unfub- 
ftantial food, and not fufficient to form 
the~principal part of a meal. This is a 
grcat miftake ; that fort of food muft be 
allowed by all ro be extremely cheep, and 
that it is alfo nutritive, is witneffed by 
thowfands in the north of England and in 
Ireland, who make pstatoes a great part of > 
their food, and notwithftanding work as 
well, look aswell, and are equaliy 
happy and content as “thefe _ with 
more deiicate palates in the fouth of 
England, and, I believe, more fo. How- 
ever, I ata told, every where that there 
has been double the quantity, at leaft, fet 
this year than in former years, and-that 
the idea was fuggefted principally by the 
recommendations of the Board of Agricul- 
sare, which is one good effect of that ex- 
cellent inftitutions SovuTHaM is a {mall 
market town, containing 750 inhabitants, 
who are farmers, labourers, and tradef- 
meh. Farms in that neighbourhood are 
worth from zo}. to 3001. a year, but gene- 
rally from gol. to sol.: average rent about 
zi.‘an acre. 
Auguft 4, ] went from SouTHAM toe 
CoveENTRY, in Warwick fhire, 13 miles. 
Road very bad moft of the wav; the foil 
is clay til! within a few miles of CovEN- 
TRY, where a lightith fandy loam pre- 
wails; and the road there 1s alfo better. 
This diftriét refembled the laft I paffed, 
except near COVENTRY,where the alpeét 
ef the country is more pleafant. Corn is 
there in great forwardnels, | obferved a 
feld of oats cut for the firft time this 
feafon, and fome barley will be ready for 
the fcythe in a few days. The country 
round CovENLRY is rather open, dry, 
and extremrely pleafant, while the city is 
the moft dirry and difagreeable I have 
feen ; which ts occafioned by the extreme 
pnarrownefs of the ftreets, and high old 
hoevfes with projecting fronts. Its popu- 
‘jation ts eftimated at 23,0co0 inhabitants. 
CoviNTRY contains three  parifh 
churches, one of which (St. Michaels) 
has a fpire 303 feet high. Coals are 
brought in here by means of a canal, and 
fold at prefent for 8d. per cwt. The ftaple 
manufaéture of this city is weaving rib- 
bons, a great deal of which is done by 
women; which they perform fo quickly, 
that they ufually weave about nine yards 
for 1s. Farms in the neighbourhood of 
Coventry Jet for rsl- to sool. a year, 
but generally about 12o0].: average rent 
@f land 30s. or 36s. per acre. 
Augutt 7, CoveNnTRY to BIRMING. 
Afr. Houfeman’s Tour continued. 
fJan; 
HAM, in Warwickfhire, 18 miles. Here 
I..found pretty good roads made. with 
gravel, the fuil various, fometimes gra= 
yelly, fometimes a fandy loam, and fomie- 
times clayey. The farms feem rather 
{mall. in this: diftriét. The Warwick= 
fhire cattle refemble thdfe of Lancafhire 3 
the theep are a fhorr: white-faced breed, 
want horns, and. continue to wear bells 
about their necks. faw fome double 
plows, fomewhat fimilar to thofe ufed by 
Mr. Ducket of sEfher Park. I do nor 
recolleé&t feeing-a fingle plow drawn by a 
pair of horfes fince I left Suffolk, at which 
I am very much furprifed; neither is 2 
fingle horfe-cart for the purpofes of huf- 
bandry to be met with. . In this day’s 
journey I obferved. fome fine red and 
white . free-ftone quarries tlofe by the 
road, exaftly like thofe m Cumberland, 
the firft inftance of the fort I have feen 
fince I left: the North. Buildings all 
along are very good, and gencraily of 
fione. - The furface of the coumtry 4s 
pretty level ia general, rather open than. 
otherwife, and contains a regular mixture 
of corn and grafs land) BirMINGRAM 
emits a cloud of fmoke, which is feen at a 
diftance before rhe town is difcovered, 
which at laft prefents itfelf in rather a 
grim afpeét; hut the buildings have a 
noble and modern fizure, and the whole 
has the appearance of a great magnitude. 
The road croffes a canal, not yet finifhed, 
alittle before it enters the town. After 
having feen the principal parts of this “great 
toy-fhop.of Europg’ I am firuck with 
the increafed demand for baubles, which 
eccafions a great influx ef wealth and of 
inhabitants; the confequences of which 
are, a rapid increafe of elegant ftreets and 
buildings, as well as vice, immorality, 
luxury, and, partially, a moft abjeét po- 
vertvy. At prefent every thing is in a 
dead ftate, owing tothe war, except muf- 
kets, bayonets, &c. The wages of ma- 
nufacturers are extravagantly high when 
they have empioy, but of which the nu- 
merous inn-keepers or ale-feilers reap the 
principal advantage, while the manufac- 
turer too often ruins his health, his mo- 
rals, and his family thereby, and 1s fome- 
tinpes led to the moft defperate aéts. Such 
are the effeéts of drawing together a great 
body of men without education or princi- 
ples, and which I have uniformly found 
to be the cafe, more or lefs, in all large 
manufacturing towns. Buttons, buckles, 
&c. are the ftaple manufaétures of this 
town, with which articles it fupplies moft 
part of Europe; guns, piftols, fwords, 
bayonets, and fuch like weapons of of- 
Pikes fence, 
