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59% 
the win 1, and quits 4 the original thought 
f the ientence in chace of every, and 
Of 
The i it 
ee the coar! urfelt, fimilt tude. 
any of 
as tittle fer sable. to te  oeehates ‘of 
i au, as Dr. Tohnfon was to the ge- 
nius of lyric poetry in its fublimeft pro- 
duGion—the Bard of Gray. It is cu- 
«} = i EF 
rious that we have never heard of Burke, 
man or boy, makin a verfe, or tagging 
q ¥r 
few rhymes ; ; and £ am inclined not to 
think well of a literary man, who, in fome 
part of his life, has not at leaft made fome 
atiempt of this kind. I dare fay, Sir 
Ifaac Newton himfelf compofed a fonnet, 
which was no doubt confumed in the fire 
that made him exclaim to his favourite 
deg, who was the caufe of it, ‘* Ah, 
Diamond! you little know what mifchief 
you have done !”” 
Duklin, W. DRENNAN. 
Marlborough -ftreet, Aug. 16, 1799. 
SS 
To ihe Editor of the Monthly Magaxine. 
SIR, 
nee of ail thedomeftic inf oe is more 
nevally abhorred than the {pider, 
which, - think, is owing partly to its 
hideous form my and partly” to the idea of 
its being I cannot but con- 
ft alfo was infeéted with this 
r,and joined in the genersi war- 
Weed tall an infect which, by its exter- 
nal appearance, is fo little rualified to re- 
cominend itfelf to our fig! Be till cof late I 
was unexpectedly cur ed of this habitual 
abhorrence. This cure was effetted by 
the perufal of the account of a difcovery, 
made fome years fince by Mr. Quatre 
mére D Isjou: Lal, adjutant-general to the 
famaus Pichegr, which convinced me, 
that this infect is not fo ufelefs as we'gve- 
nerally think, and that we rather ought to 
cont than to loath its fociety. It is ge- 
nera! ly Liooh, that the ftate of the at- 
viofphere has a vifible effet upon certain 
snihats. and that, for inftance, ‘cats, dogs, 
frogs, hogs, ee ry flrong pre- 
fengment: of every ace which is pre- 
paring in it. The abovementioned gen- 
tleman has difcovered that the jp. der pof- 
fefles this quality in a more eminent de- 
eree than all other animals, and is pecu- 
liarly fit to ferve as an unnerring baro- 
meter. <A brief ftatement of his obfer- 
vations will, I think, not be foreign to 
the feope of your uleful and inftrudtive 
Magazine, and reconcile its readers to an 
animal. which they~ hitherto held in ab- 
horrence, or, at leaft, thought to be one 
of the mcf ufelefs in the creationof Ged. 
‘The ipider, fays Mr. 2, D°isjenval, is 
Uje of Spiders as Prognofticators of the Weather. 
_f Sept, 
a moré unerring indicator of impending 
changes in the atmofphere than the bett. 
barometer. Thele infe&ts have two dif. 
ferent ways of weaving their webs, by - 
which we can know what weather we are 
to have. When the weather inclines to 
turn rainy or windy, they mcke the prin- 
cipal threads, which are the foundation, as 
wt were, oi their whole web, very fhort, 
and rather thick ; whereas they fpin then 
much longer, when fine and warm wea 
ther is to be expeéted. ‘Thence it ap 
pears clearly, that the fpiders have net 
only a near, but alfo a diftant prefentiment 
of the changes which are preparing in the 
air. The barometer foretells the “fat e of 
the weather with certainty only for about 
twenty-four hours, whereas we may be 
fure that the weather wil! be fine twelve or 
fourteen days, when the {pider makes the 
principal threads of its web long. Itis 
obvious how important the confequences 
of this infallible indication of the fate of 
_ the weather muft be m many inftances, 
particularly with regard to the operations 
of agriculture; for which reafon it has 
been “frequently lamented, that the Beit ba- 
rometers, hydrometers, cheniceeners and 
eudiometers are principally in the hands of 
the confumers, and very rarely in thofe of 
the planters of the harveft. How fertu- 
nate is it therefore, that provident nature, 
-amongft other gifts, allo has beftowed 
upon ‘the cultivator of the country fuch a 
cheap inftrament, apon the fenfibility and 
infallibility of w hich, with regard to the 
Eee changes in the atmofphere, he 
canrely! The barometers are frequently 
very fallible guides, particularly when 
they parse to fetiled fair; whereas the work 
of the ‘pider never fails to give the moft 
certain information. This infeG, which 
is one of the moit ceconomical animals, 
docs not go to work, nor expends fuch a 
great length of threads, which it draws 
out cf its body, before the moft perfect 
equilibrium of 2il the conftituent parts 
of the air indicates with certainty that 
this creat ex xpenditure will not be made is 
vain. Let the weather be ever fo bad, 
we my conclude with certainty that it 
will not laft long, nd foon ‘change for fet- 
tled fair, when we fee the {pider repair the 
damages which aie web has received. 
Thofe who will take the treuble to watch 
the operations of this ufeful infe&t,will b 
convinced by experience, that Mr. Q. 
D isjonval deferves the thanks of his co- 
temporaries for the communication of his 
impertantdifcovery,and in future fhow more 
indulgenceto this object cf almoft general 
abhorrence, than they have done hitherto. 
Loudon, Aug. 12. Ps es 
. For 
