2 
208 
furricane from the south; and on the 
succeeding night, much vivid lightning. 
The barometer, during this month, and 
the latter half of the preceding, was re- 
markably variable: the vibrations of the 
mercury, at times, was equal to two- 
tenths of an inch inan hour. On the 
morning of the 15th, the barometer 
was 28,06 inches, the greatest depres- 
sion “of the mercury that has occurred 
since the commencement of this register: 
it is 1,77 inches below the general 
mean, and makes the extreme range of 
the barometer for the last nine years, 2,8 
inches. The mountains in this neigh- 
bourhood were covered with suow 
nearly the whole of this.month. 
The averave of the thermometer and 
barometer, for the whoie year, is nearly 
equal to the general average; both are a 
small fractional quantity lower. The 
quantity of rain exceeds that of the ge- 
neral average 2,165 inches. 
Carlisle, Jan. 3, 1810. WeePrrr. 
i scutes o-oo 
To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. 
SIR, 
‘N my paper on the Musical Terms 
used by the ancient Greeks, in your 
last Magazine, is an unfortunate omis- 
sion in page 122, column 2, line 17. 
The sentence, if complete, would run 
thus: ‘Because so siinple an instru- 
ment as a bullet, athxed to a piece 
ef tape graduated into inches, would 
give the precise time in which a 
composer intends his movement should 
be played or sung.” The little ivory 
measures used by the ladies, will answer 
this purpose very well: but still better 
if the. case is made of brass, the specific 
gravity of that metal being greater than 
that ofivory. Icannot but regret that our 
old ecclesiastical composers did not trans- 
mit down to posterity the precise time 
jn which their grave and truly devotional 
compositions (if played in a proper 
time) ought to be performed. Young 
and inexpetienced organists would do 
well to consult the specimens of various 
church-composers, published by Dr. 
€rotch, in his second volume of Speci- 
mens; and pay that deference to his 
sound judgment, to which his high 
talents, and the honour conferred upon 
him by a famous university to fill the 
chair of their professor of music, so justly 
entitle him. Much might be said on 
this subject, if professors were inclined’ 
to avail themselves of every opportunity 
of improvement, instead of thinking they 
« were already perfect,” in an art which 
Musical Time.—Esthwaite Water. 
‘April 1, 
requites experience, judgment, taste, and 
feeling, — 
C. I. Suyrz. 
ae Se 
To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. 
SIR, 
Be correspondent T. who has 
addressed you on the subject of 
the scenery of Esthwaite Water, which 
he improperly terms “ Esthwaite Lake,” 
confines his observations to a few acres 
of ground, forming but a small portion, 
and that by no means the most inter- 
esting, of the country he wishes to bring 
into general notice. I reside nearly a 
mile from Esthwaite Water; and I assert 
that the meadows bordering on the water 
abound with innumerable musquitoes 
during the months of July, August, and 
September. Their bite is equal in effect 
to that of the same venomous insect in 
the West Indies. Every gentleman-near 
Hawkshead, as well as Mr. Hawkrigg, 
who rents Strickland Ease, is ready to 
bear testimony to the existence of mus~ 
quitoes at that place. It is about forty 
years since they appeared in the neigh 
bourhood of Esthwaite, and it is sup- 
posed their eggs were brought in asugar- 
cask from Lancaster. Mr. T. shews 
little taste in comparing the peninsula 
to Mr. Curwen’s retreat at Belle-Isle 
on Windermere; and he relates a cir- 
cumstance respecting an offer for Mr. 
Curwen’s island, which I have great 
reason to believe has not taken place. 
Field Head, near Hawkshead. ILL, 
cg 
To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. 
SIR, i 
N answer to the letter of Mr. Mol. 
leson, in your Magazine for last 
month, | beg leave to say, that the ideas 
in my Essay on Musical Genius and 
Composition originated solely with my- 
self. I never saw his essay entitled 
Melody the Soul of Music, nor have I 
ever accidentally heard or read of it. The 
assertion that I make an allusion to his 
essay in the expression “* Body of Music,” 
was certainly premature, and to me ap- 
pears very ridiculous. If atiy oneof your 
numerous readers should have an oppor- 
tunity of comparing the “two coniposi- 
tions, which] have not at present my- 
self, he will much oblige me by declaring 
upon examination, whether the resem- 
blance between them is of so suspiciuus 
a nature, and the coincidences so striking, 
as to entitle mine to the appellation of 
“a literary curiosity.” 
Great Marlow. A.B. Fe 
for 
