1809.) 
barometer rising very quick. This month 
has been distinguished ,by frequent high 
winds and showery weather, On the 
7th, 8th, 14th, 20th, and 25th, we had 
heavy gales which did a good deal of 
mischief at sea. 
November.—To the 5th, mild weather, 
often quite clear; thence to the 15th, 
dark and gloomy, ‘sometimes inclini ing to 
wet, hut upon the whole, very little either 
of rail or evaporation ; hitherto wind 
was easterly, often calm, cold, thoagh but 
hittle frost, and barometer kept up. On 
the 15th, wind shifting to south- west, we 
had three days of windy showery w Gather, 
Guite mild, “On the 18th, we hada wale 
from the north-east, but on the 19th, 
wind shifted to due west, and continued 
so till the 27th; weather sometimes clear, 
and sometimes cloudy, with slight show- 
ers, coldish, but not frosty. On the 27th 
a frost set in, wind eae but only con- 
tinued to the 29th, vhen a storm of 
wind and rain from the south brought us 
soft weather again. Upon the whole, 
this month has been telerably agreeable; 
no severe cold, and only two or three 
days of hieh wind, 
December.—First fortnight, in general 
soit, mild weather, wind westerly. “Heavy 
showers on the Ast, 2d, 6th, and 9th, 
barometer rising. Ona the 15th, wind 
shifting to north, weather grew sensibly 
colder. On tlie 47th, we -had a heavy 
gale from north, accompanied with a 
little snow, and a most intense frost set 
in which contmued till the 24th. On 
the 23d ‘snow began to fall, and con- 
tinued without intermission tll the mid- 
dle of the next day, when it lay about 
nine inches deep ; that afternoon a thaw 
commenced, which dissolved the snow in 
the low country in four) or five’ days, 
though the hills were still spotted. On 
the 23d, wind shifted from north to east, 
and south-east, in which quarter it re- 
mained alitherest of the month, weather 
very gloomy and: disagreeable, with a 
gfeat deal of rain and sleet. Barometer, 
1st half of the month very steady. 
_ Remaris.—The above Abstract and- 
Register, is forthe sake of a comparison 
arranged, as nearly as possible, in the 
same manner as asimiar conimunication 
from a correspondent aut Carlisle, inserted 
in the Magazine for February. 
By the hivhest and lowest of thermo- 
meter, is to be understood thé mean heat 
of the warmest and coldest days of each 
month, 
_ «The mean heat of each day is ascer- 
tained by” three observauons, conse~ 
Scale for Musical Time. 
241 
quently, the mean heat of each month 
‘is the result of nearly a hundred different 
observations, yet it is astonishing how 
nearly the nx ionthly and annual mean of 
the thermometer, at Edinburgh, agrees 
with that at Carlislé, though the latter 
lies about ninety miles due’south from 
the former, and in a different situation. 
idinburgh bemg contiguous to the east 
coast of Scotland, and Carlisle to the 
west coast of England, 
The barometer is higher at ree 
than at Edi: nburgh, but this may bea 
counted for by the different elevation of 
the two; the place of observation, at 
Carlisie, being only seventeen yards and 
fifty feet gher than the sea, while the 
greater part of Edinburgh, though less 
th an two miles distant ae the sea, 1S 
ore than three hundred feet elevated 
ae bove its level. The variations-of the 
barometer, however, at the two places, 
bear a pay exact proportion to each 
other. 
Kdinbur roh, G. W. 
Feb. 24, 1809. 
To the Editor of the Monthly Afagazine, 
SIR, 
T is, I think, much-to be regretted 
A that, amongst all the modern disco- 
veries and improvements, no method has 
yet been put in practice for communi- 
cating the exact degree of time in which 
& composer of music would have his 
works performed. Dr. Crotch, indeed, 
and perhaps one or two others, have suz- 
gested a method by which this diticaity 
may be surmounted,* but I fear the plan 
is not likely to ‘be venerally adopted. 
Nevertheless, for want of some such 
expedient, it is no uncommon thing to 
hear composers complaining of the in- 
_justice done to their music, even at the 
principal concerts in London, by its being 
performed either too fast, or ‘too stow, - 
although in other respects it may have 
every possible advantage. 
And not only new music, but the 
more ancient is also aifected by this 
want of a eriterion for judging ‘of the 
exact time in which it ought tobe per- 
formed, to sive if proper cffect. 
This must be obvious to any person 
who occasionally trequents different ca- 
thedrals, and pays the least attention to 
this subject, as he will find a cotisider- 
able variation in the time of performing 
the same ‘Services and ‘aatheihs; and- 
age ee ar a 
* See the Monthly } Mage2ie for January, 
1890, p. 944; 
even 
